Walking towards the staircase, I was bombarded by Egbert's continuous stream of declarations and rhetorical questions. As always, I nodded along to what he said, chiming in with a snarky comment when needed, before excusing myself.
John let me go on my way, knowing that I needed my vice to get through the day, no matter how much he hated it when I disappeared for one of my smoke breaks.
I climbed the staircase, already fumbling through my pockets, trying to find that ever elusive lighter of mine, gog, when had I become so dependent on these things.
Pushing the rooftop door closed with a well-placed bump of my hip, cigarette already lit, smoke drawling upwards, I saw I wasn't alone of the roof top. This in itself was odd, as far as the student population was concerned, the rooftop stairway was locked up, and I for one had perfected the art of picking the lock after many months of practice.
The figure standing at the fencing didn't so much as flinch as the door slammed shut, instead remaining surveying the expanse of lawn and mingling students, going about their lunch hour business. As I got closer, I recognised the ratty sweater and bad-dye job.
"Tz and John have been looking for you Karkat," I stated, inhaling and exhaling, making my way towards him. "If I were you I'd let them know where I was, gog himself knows what they'd resort to." He gave no indication that he'd heard what I'd said, he just stood there, on the other side of the fence, wait, what.
I rushed forwards, shit this didn't look good, calling his name out, trying to plead with him as he lifted shaking hands of the safety rail he'd previously anchored himself to. By now, a few of the students bellow had heard the ruckus I was making, the tell-tale high pitched scream of a girl alerted the both of us the steadily growing crowd beneath us.
He turned his head slightly, and I froze in place. Karkat Vantas was a short-tempered, overly angry kid. He didn't know the meaning of inside voice and was treated with contempt by most parents due to his broken profanity filter. He smiled at me, an expression that I hadn't seen on his face since we both were littler shits, back when we lived in the same apartment complex.
He smiled, showing me a defeated boy, who looked so, so very tired. He looked so sad, and I wondered how we all could have missed this for so long. It went so deep.
He smiled at me, and jumped, falling down into the suddenly silent crowd below. That only lasted momentarily, a heavy thud being the cue for the crowd to erupt in screams and cries.
Thinking fast, I picked up his previously discarded satchel, and ran down the stairs, someone had to run damage control before this got out of hand.
As soon as I got to the scene, I was glad to see that Equius had already made a start on clearing some space, getting people to back off and get help, Nepeta sat to the side, head resting on her knees, shoulders shaking.
I made my way over to Karkat, kneeling beside Sollux as I got there. The guy was really shaken up, but despite that, he'd pulled on a stoic face and was going about taking Karkat's vitals, or that's at least what it looked like he was trying to do. His hands were shaking, fumbling around on the pale body lying before him, patting recently windswept hair, straightening rumpled clothing, not caring that his hands and knees were gradually getting stained by the red slowly spreading out, engulfing Karkat's head like a halo.
I pulled him up with me as the ambulance arrived, pulling and whisking away the small frame in no time, leaving behind nothing, the only indication that he'd been there, the seemingly giant red mark on the pavement. He rested is head on my chest, breaths coming short and fast.
Rubbing his back, I attempted to soothe him, doing everything in my power to push down what I'd had front row seats to, fuck that, you're Dave Strider, nothing can scar you more than all those puppet dongs that'd been shoved in your face since you could remember. As Sollux had his little breakdown, I surveyed the now desolate area, guess the teachers must have gotten everyone inside.
Apparently we weren't the only ones outside still, sobbing now no longer silent. Nepeta had latched herself to Equius, who was soothingly rubbing circles in her back whilst murmuring what I presumed to be reassurances to her. I couldn't blame the girl on being so distraught though, it's not every day that you see your brother go and kill himself, no, stop that thought Dave, attempted to kill himself, shit, that wasn't much better.
I felt a weight rest on my free shoulder, turning to see Terezi leaning on me, silent for once. I used my free hand to wrap around her shoulder, bringing her closer to me. I think this was the right move to make, being rewarded with a supressed sob, before she flung her arms around my neck, pushing Sollux aside.
"D-D-D-Dave, why di-," tears rolling down from sightless eyes, I wiped her damp cheeks with my sleeve, doing my best to keep my cool despite the situation. I couldn't let on how scared and upset I was, someone had to be strong, and if a Strider were to break down then people would think that the world was ending or some shit.
Making sure my poker face was ass chill as ever, I sat there comforting two of Karkat's best friends, while his younger sister was being comforted by her pseudo brother. When did shit get so real.
