"I'm sorry John." The troll whispered weakly as his eyes fluttered closed, "Sorry..."
It was late at night at Vantas's hive and both he and John were sleeping; John was cuddled against Karkat's chest with the others arms wrapped around him protectively. They no longer slept on the floor but on an actual bed that John had flown in from his house. Slowly but surely the boy was spending more and more time in the hive then in his old house. This night would have passed just like all the others, except for one thing. Karkat had woken up.
It wasn't just a normal wake up either. He didn't need to go to the abulationroom, nor did he feel restless sleeping through the night anymore. Not after he had finally gotten his inner clock to match Johns. No, this was something external that had roused him. Something really external.
There was something in the hive.
Things like this never used to wake him, because before he had Crabdad to take care of it. But in the years after Crabdad had passed, what with the dangers of the game and all, his hearing had become sharp. Especially so when he slept.
At first he hadn't known why he had woken up, until a few moments later when he could make out the soft swing of hinges. It was faint, but he could also hear the faint scuffling of feet of somekind in the lower portion of his hive. He'd have thought it was John except the boy was securely sleeping against him. The Cancer's senses flared as his body pumped the proper fluids to his thinkpan in order to prep him for battle if needed. And it was. No one broke into his hive and threatened the safety of his matesprite or himself and got away with it.
Carefully sliding his arms from around John, Karkat covered the boy with a heavy blanket to keep him warn in his absence. He didn't want to wake him unless absolutely necessary. Pulling his sickles off the dresser near the door Karkat slowly and quietly opened the aforesaid door to the hallway, listening closely for any sign that whoever it was knew he was awake. When he was sure they didn't he slipped out and closed the door, wishing he could lock it from the outside.
He made it to the stairs and looked down them, his night vision carving them out clearly despite the shadows. Stepping down each step like it were glass Karkat took his time in decending. There was no need to rush this after all. He stood between the intruder and John which was his main concern. Knowing this he felt calm enough to take it slow, to think and hopefully not make a mistake.
There was a shifting of furnature and Karkat froze in place midway down. It had sounded close. His ears twitched as he tried to locate the other. The hive was quiet on the surface, but Karkat could find all the hidden sounds inside. The hum of the tempurate control cubicle, the near silent buzzing of electricity through the walls, John's breathing upstairs. He didn't realize he had focused in on it until he realized it was all he was hearing; listening to make sure he was still alseep, still safe. Shaking his head the troll tried once more to find the tresspasser by sound and damn near jumped out of his skin when he could hear the other's breath at the bottom of the stairs, just around the corner.
Karkat raised his sickles defensively, silently hoping whoever it was would move away. He had the high ground and with his fighting style this was ideal, but he still felt uneasy. This would be his first time defending his hive on his own after all. Despite his desire to do this and do it right he felt an anxious knot settle in his gut.
What happened next was something akin to chaos contained in a mere instant of time. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl as the figure below moved out from behind the corner, coming into full view of the stairs. Karkat raised his sickles higher and lurched forward at the form, not even getting a chance to get a proper look at it. He could feel every muscle in his legs as he kicked off the step, feel the lack of wind resistance against his blades as they curved down towards the offender. The next instant everything seemed to be in hyper speed. There was a sharp sound of metal hitting metal and the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. Scuffling, pounding, more sounds of metal on metal. There was the shattering of glass and a yelped gasp of pain.
After a moment Karkat's mind finally caught up with him. He was slumped against the door frame that lead into the kitchen. He couldn't feel the majority of his body and his limbs felt like they were weighted down with lead. He tried moving his head to inspect the damage but his head throbbed and he choked out a whimper of pain. There was a dulled noise that seemed to float around in his head, but he was unable to focus on it. It started to sound desprite and although he didn't know what it was it broke his heart to hear it.
John's eyes jolted open at the sudden resonance of metal against metal and when there was a heavy thud he sat straight up in bed.
"Karkat?" He asked in alarm and confusion looking around at the empty room.
From down stairs John could hear the sounds of a scuffle, one where weapons were obviously involved. John snatched his glasses from the nightstand and leapt from the bed heading for the door as fast as he could, stumbling over his feet as he did so. His body froze at the sound of a voice yelping, a sliver of ice traveling up his spine. Not taking the time to grab his own weapon John hooved it down the hall with all the speed and grace of a stampede.
By the time he had reached the stairs, however, everything had gone quiet. He couldn't see anything in the dark no matter how hard he squinted.
"Karkat?" He called out tentatively.
When there was no reply John took a deep breath and started his own slow decent. Near the bottom there was a noise that caught his attention. A pathetic whimpering from the kitchen. He called out Karkat's name again in his half whisper only to continue to get no reply. Once John reached the bottom step his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped.
There against the far end of the room, propped up poorly on the door frame was Karkat. Even in the dark from where he stood John could make out the glint of a knive handle protruding from the trolls chest.
"KARKAT!" The boy shrieked as he literally flew across the room and knelt by the other, "Karkat, can you hear me?! Karkat!"
John took the others head in his hands gently and tried to get him to respond. The trolls eyes were glossy and dulled, but he could still feel him breathing. Shallowly, but breathing none the less.
"Karkat, please say something." John pleaded.
He reached for the trolls wrist and felt for a pulse.
Had to find out how much time he had before-
It was weaker then normal, but he at least still had time. John looked at the blade lodged in the others chest and swallowed thickly, blinking back his tears of panic.
He had to pull it out, had to stop the bleeding.
Reaching up gingerly for the handle John winced when he touched it. Karkat didn't respond though. Taking a deep breath John tightened his grip on it and started to pull. At this Karkat's eyes widened before squeezing shut, a yelp jumping from his throat before he coughed thickly; a spray of bright red
blood leaving his mouth. John's grip on the knive was white knuckled now as he used his free hand to hold the other still. With a quick tug he pulled it free earning another cry of pain from the troll.
Tossing the knive away John immeadiately covered the now freely bleeding wound with his hand, cursing himself for not remembering to grab a med kit before pulling it out. Raising his other hand John used his windy ability to whip the blanket from the couch over towards him. Pulling Karkat away from the wall as gently as he could he laid the troll down and wrapped him up. Jumping to his feet he raced to the closet and ripped through it trying despritely to find one of the medical kit's he knew he had placed there at some point. He could hear the troll coughing up more blood on the opposite side of the room, causing his search to become more frantic.
Karkat weezed from his position on the floor, trying to swallow the brightly colored liquid that was bubbling up his throat. He could feel the searing pain rolling over him from his chest, could feel more of his blood seeping out of the wound that sat there. The Cancer still couldn't move his arms, though he tried. He could hear banging from somewhere in the room and tried to speak but only ended up coughing heavily, painting the blanket over him as well as his lips with red.
After what seemed like an hour he felt something move beside him, a hand wiping his forehead of prespiration he didn't even know was there. The voice was distorted and his image fuzzy, but Karkat was sure it was John. He could feel the boys hands shaking as they moved over his body, pulling his shirt up and wiping away at the blood that had spilled out of him already. He knew he had cried out at one point because the form above him jolted and muttered something over and over.
He whimperd and choked out sobs as the boy did his best to bandage the injury. It hurt so much, so very very much. He could hardly breath at this point and his already shallow breathes became shakey and strained. He had been stabbed before, a few times actually, but this time was different. It was higher up, deeper and it hurt more, so much more. He didn't know if it was that his body had just become unaccustomed to the feel or if the damage was just that much greater.
John was full on panicing now. He tried to saunch the bleeding but the trolls blood seeped through all the bandages he put on him. All he could do was keep pressure on it and beg for some kind of solution to come to him. Looking around the room for something useful his heart nearly skipped a beat when he could see Karkat's phone on the table near the front door, still on it's charger. Bolting up to get it John flipped it open and hit speed dial for whoever happened to be his last call, returning to Karkat's side.
The troll was struggling to breath now, whimpers drifting from him pitifully. John's heart cringed at the noise every time. Taking the trolls hand he tried to comfort him as best he could. The phone rang on and on and every moment it went unanswered John felt his anxiety grow worse and worse.
"Kk? Your up late, what'th up?" A familiar voice broke over the cell.
"Sollux?" John's voice cracked.
"Jn? What'th wrong?" The Psiiconic asked, now serious upon hearing the boys paniced voice.
"Sollux, I-I don't know what to do. I can't stop the bleeding and-"
"Bleeding? John, what'th happened? Where'th Karkat?"
"He's hurt. I don't know what happened, but when I found him- Fuck Sollux I don't what to do." John's voice broke into sobs as his tears rolled down his cheeks, unable to hold them back any longer.
"John. John, lithten to me okay. Focuth" Sollux ordered through the phone, "Jutht cover up what you can and try to get him into hith recuperacoon. The thlime will help. I'm on my way, jutht keep it together okay?"
John tried to reply but could do little more then choke back a heavy sob.
"John. Do you underthtand me?"
He made a sound to show he understood which seemed to be all the other troll needed to hear.
"Good, now get him into the thlime." The Gemini repeated before hanging up.
John placed the cell phone on the floor and tried to slide his arms under the injured troll. He could feel the pool of blood that had built up and soaked through the others clothing. Karkat gasped and whined at the pain caused by the sudden movement.
"It's okay Karkat, I got you. Everything is going to be okay. I p-promise." John consoled as best he could, "I'm not going t-to let anything happen to you."
Another weak whimper crawled from the Cancer's throat followed by a gargled cough as John turned both as quickly and gently as he could towards the stairs. The boy's heart was beating like crazy in his chest to the point where he was almost certain it was going to give out on him. All he could do was hope he could get the troll into his recuperacoon before that happened.
Best hang on to that ledge there folks.
This is how this is going to work. I am going to give you numbers 1 through 3 and you are going to are going to give me a review with one of these numbers for the ending.
1 - if you just want to cry.
2 - if you want to cry and clutch your chest a little.
3 - for feeling the utter devistation true sadstuck can inflict.