Extended Summary:
Fix It Fic for "everything that kills me makes me feel alive" by Princex_N
Dave has voices in his head. He can hear all the Dead!Daves condemning him for his actions, for letting them die, for not getting shit right.
He hears Bro's recriminations, why couldn't you save me's.
No-one noticed til Dave bashed his skull in trying to make the voices stop.
Now they think he's crazy, and they've taken action to keep him from hurting himself.
Except he's not insane, he's just unable to deal with this aspect of his time powers.
Karkat sees this and decides to kidnap him, so he and Gamzee can protect him til he gets his feet back under him.
ForeNote:
This work was inspired by and is a continuation of "everything that kills me makes me feel alive" by Princex_N on AO3 done with full permission by the Original Author. I am fully capable of providing proof of permissions if necessary.
This is a Fanwork, I make no money from the writing or publishing of this work, and I do not own Homestuck.
There's some necessary stuff in the End Note, about how my universe is different from the others. I just didn't want to spam y'all with it at the beginning of the chapter like a douche.
I need to apologize if people are Out of Character, cause this is my first Homestuck fic and I'm not really sure I know their personalities as well as I should.
Ch. 1 Karkat: Save Dave From Well Meaning Torture By Friends Who Don't Get ItKarkat was the one who figured it out.
The humans thought he was hallucinating... that he'd gone insane, but Karkat remembered Sollux talking about the voices.
It made sense, it just did and fuck the other humans trying to figure out what to do with the insane boy.
Karkat knew though, just like he knew when the voices in Gamzee's head were real and not just him, but someone else in his mind twisting him up.
He shouts at them all to get out of the room.
They've done enough, tying him to his fucking bed? "FUCK YOU HE'S NOT EVEN CONSCIOUS YOU PAN ROTTED PIECES OF HUMAN EXCREMENT! WHAT DO YOU THINK HE'S GONNA DO ANYWAY?! YOU THINK HE'LL RUN AWAY? HE COULDN'T EVEN MOVE HIS ARMS IF HE WANTED! JUST GET OUT!"
Karkat gets it, he just knows Dave isn't insane it's just that he's having trouble with a secondary power.
Flashback
When Karkat finally got the code for soper, he didn't hesitate to start giving it to Gamzee.
Everyone else thought he was crazy but Karkat knew that it helped dampen Gamzee's susceptibility to scionic interference.
He knew that Soper stopped the day terrors which all trolls got, he also knew that those were
They all just thought it made him high, and the humans thought it was like pot; but when Gamzee calmed down they stopped trying to stop Karkat.
They figured if anyone could handle Gamzee it was Karkat. The trolls thought that if Karkat got hurt because of Gamzee's rages than he deserved it for not just culling the troll. The humans just thought that they would get revenge if that happened.
Present
Karkat waited a while after the humans and trolls had all left the room, before tapping on the vent in the corner.
Gamzee dropped down, and loomed over the two smaller forms, one of which was tied to a bed.
A deep rattling sound started in the larger trolls thorax, "WhAt dId tHoSe uNmIrAcUlOuS MoThErFuCkErS Do tO HiM? tHiS AiN'T EvEn rIgHt!" Gamzee starts getting louder toward the end.
"SHOOSH YOU'LL GET US CAUGHT. WE GOTTA GET HIM OUT OF HERE SO WE CAN TAKE CARE OF HIM. WE CAN'T LET THEM KEEP HIM LIKE THIS OR HE'LL NEVER GET HIS SHIT UNDER CONTROL." Karkat whispered as quietly as he could. "JUST CUT HIM LOOSE AND GET HIM IN THE VENT..." The shouty troll slumped in resignation, "GOTTA GET HIM AWAY FROM THEM BEFORE THEY MESS HIM UP WORSE THAN HE DID TO HIMSELF."
Gamzee paused in his assessment of the DaveHuman to look up at Karkat before papping his cheek. "No kArBrO YoU CaN'T Be dOiNg tHaT To yOuRsElF. i gOt nO KnOwLeDgE Of hOw tHiS AlL Up aNd hApPeNeD BuT I KnOw mY BeSt fRiEnD DiDn't cAuSe iT."
Karkat smiled shakily at Gamzee for a moment before he heard John talking super loud and getting closer. Karkat looks at Gamzee in fear for a moment before Gamzee slices the ropes holding the human to the concupiscent platform and hauls ass into the vent. Then he jumps back down and grabs Karkat to shove him in the vent frantically before shutting the vent behind him. He then leads the smaller troll through the maze of vents quickly, while managing to carry Dave gently in one arm like a baby. It was weird how well he was managing that considering their respective sizes and also how rail-thin-skinny Gamzee is.
"GoNnA HaVe tO Go uNdErWaTeR In a mInUtE KaRbRo cAn't hAvE AnY UnFuNnY MoThErFuCkErS FiNdInG Us." Gamzee said as they came to another drop down, this one into quite a bit of water.(My headcanon has the meteor having all kinds of shit like the pipeburst that left a ton of the meteor flooded, and also trolls are insect based, so I think they'd have different biology.)
"SHIT GAMZEE NO! HUMANS CANT HOLD THEIR BREATH WHEN THEY'RE ASLEEP. I'VE BEEN WATCHING THEIR MOVIES AND IT'S A COMMON THING. IF A HUMAN IS ASLEEP WHEN THEY GO IN THE WATER THEIR HUMAN LUNGS BREATH IN THE WATER AND THEY DIE!"Karkat grabbed Gamzee before he could lower himself into the flooded passage with the human. "ISN'T THERE ANOTHER WAY?"
Gamzee took a good long moment to think before he shook his head, "SoRrY KaRbRo, BuT ThIs tHe oNlY MoThErFuCkInG WaY AiN'T GoNnA Be tRaCkEd bY ThE BlInD-SiS. sHe'lL FoLlOw tHaT TrAiL Of mIrAcUlOuS CaNdY ReD YoU BeEn dRiPpIn tHe wHoLe wAy."
Karkat took a long moment to think, "COULD YOU TAKE HIM A DIFFERENT ROUTE IF I TOOK THIS ONE TO GET RID OF MY TRAIL?"
Gamzee shook his head, "NaH ThAt wOuLdN'T WoRk nOnE CaUsE ShE'D SmElL HiS BlOoD GoIn a dIfFeReNt wAy." Gamzee said pointing at the bloody bandages wrapped around Dave's head.
Karkat snarled as he punched the wall. "FUCK! BULGE BLISTERING SHIT HUMPING NOOK SNIFFING FUCK!" Then they both froze as they heard the sound of voices and banging coming closer. "GAMZEE!"
Gamzee looked down at the two smaller bodies and made a decision. "SoRrY KaRbRo…" He grabbed the smaller troll and jumped into the water.
Gamzee had never learned to swim before, no point if he couldn't stay with his Lusus in the water. Once he found the submerged corridors though he had nothing better to do than learn to swim through them. He found out he was actually really good at swimming, and that those vestigial gills were actually somewhat functional. He probably couldn't survive using them long term but they had done the job when he got lost and couldn't find the surface for longer than he had stored air in his bellowsacs.
He doesn't waste time though cause Karbro wouldn't joke about the DaveHuman's ability to hold his breath. Gamzee swims as fast as he can through as many turnarounds as he can with both arms full, but this is important and he will not mess this up. He has to lose her, and he has to get Dave out of the water before he dies. The human is moving strangely, like he's jerking or shaking or something.
Gamzee: Hurry The Fuck Up
Gamzee speeds the fuck up, swimming faster than he knew he even could. Cause he doesn't want to kill anyone else, and if he killed Dave trying to save him…
He sees the door, and lets go of Karkat for a moment to open it up. Then he's in and he yanks Karkat through before it closes and he swims up the stairs, and into his room. He pulls Karkat and Dave out of the water and the human flails himself out of Gamzee's arms and starts convulsing and retching up water.
Dave slumps against the ground and turns to stare at the two trolls with… candy red eyes. "MiRaClEs…" Gamzee breathes out in awe, "KaRbRo hE'S A ReDbLoOd, IsN'T ThAt jUsT A MoThErFuCkInG MiRaClE? yOuR EyEs gOnNa lOoK LiKe tHaT WhEn yOu hIt yOuR AdUlT MoLt dIaMoNd mInE?"
Karkat just looked between the two boys and around the room in awe. "WE ALL THOUGHT YOU WERE HIDING OUT IN THAT ROOM WITH ALL THE HEADS." Karkat says dazed, and Gamzee takes a moment to really look him over. "HEY!" Karkat shouts as Gamzee grabs him. "GAMZEE STOP!"
Gamzee is sniffing at the wounds on Karkat's arms and then literally tears the shirt off of him, just rips it down the front and kneels down in front of Karkat licking at his wounds. Gamzee was licking at the grubscars that turned out were actually thorax gills to get them to close up and stop making Karkat wheeze, when Dave made a loud noise. "Wow ok all about the free porn just as much as the next guy, but I'm gonna get out of here so y'all can have this block all to yourselves… or I can just sit down so the murder clown doesn't kill me, can do that too." Dave said when Gamzee started emitting that thorax rattle again. "Could you at least tell me why my strife specibus is empty? Please?"
The room was strikingly similar to Gamzee's room in his hive, with the distinct difference of the recuperacoon being replaced by a concupiscent platform or Bed as Dave saw it, which was actually rather large.
Gamzee was still blocking the door and Karkat was too busy being taken care of for once. Dave deciding he had nothing to lose, climbed on the bed and eventually fell asleep to Gamzee whispering Pale-Nothings to Karkat.
It never even occurred to him to ask why he wasn't being inundated with chatter from Dead!Daves and Bro.
Endnotes:
Ok so I'm of the opinion that seers are not the only ones with knowledge. I mean everyone somehow knows instinctively how to use their powers, so I think that everyone has some intimate knowing of things with no way to explain how they know them.
Gamzee knows how to use the Chucklevoodoos. Dave knows how to change time. It's just there instinctively, but only some of the characters realize this.
Karkat has the innate ability to know why someone is freaking out. Because Lime Bloods were there to soothe Highblood rages, and to soothe those rages you have to know why they are happening. Karkat was confused by Gamzee's rage to begin with because Gamzee wasn't to blame for it. His rages were triggered by the voices but they weren't a part of Gamzee.
Now Gamzee is back on Soper.
Now don't get me wrong, Gamzee is back on Soper, but Karkat limits his intake. Makes sure he eats real food with it, just basically takes care of him. Anyway Gamzee is back on Soper, but he isn't High. It's a medication, but he's not abusing it ok? He's not HighBloodRage!Gamzee, but he's not High!Gamzee either, he's somewhere in the middle probably where he would have been if he'd never got addicted in the first place, and made it so he couldn't maintain barriers on his mind.
Also Karkat is not a pale!slut or any other such abhorrent slur, it is natural for him to want to fix things. He's still young and sometimes the urge to help will cause him to stray from the conventional romantic script. He will learn how to maintain a distance from let's call them his patients, but that's a long time coming.