Karkat Vantas, 16, feral, couldn't comprehend much of the human language and definitely cannot speak it. He wandered through the forest, having escaped the village where he had been held captive after he had stolen and eaten, three young children. He was a cannibal, surviving on instinct alone, a mindless zombie at times it would seem. He crept around, hiding when he saw a bright light. He growled and peered closer, seeing people entering and exiting. Karkat saw one particular person straggling behind. A feral smile came up on his face and he licked his lips, creeping silently he ran and circled the vicinity of his target. He got on all fours and jumped, biting any part of the body that hit him first.
Sollux Captor, 19, a genius with a lisp and a split personality that could kill. An olden day Jekyll and Hyde. His Jekyll side was sweet and kind. Loving almost, this side was the genius. But his Hyde side had killed 6 people who had pissed him off, an angry side that wanted to kill everyone. He was chased out of his town by his own family and he came to work with a psycho clown named gamzee. Lost in thought he didn't hear anything around him. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in his ass that drew blood. Turning his head he noticed a kid, around 16. "What the fuck are you doing?" Sollux asked. Grabbing the boys shoulder and shoving him into the nearest tree. His Hyde side wanted to come out and rip the boy to shreds, but the Jekyll side just wanted to know what was going on
Karkat let out a snarl and tried biting the older's hand. "AAHHGrrrnmmn!" He shrieked whilst attempting to do so. "Fuck!"
Sollux glared at the kid. Holding the teen at arm's length, Sollux pushed the kid around the back, roughly pushing him onto the ground with his weight on top. "Gamzee!" Sollux yelled, waiting for the ringleader to enter the room. "This brat bit my ass." Sollux Jekyll side snarled, "can I rip him apart?" The Hyde side cut in, smiling a feral smile of his own at the teen.
Gamzee poked his head around the corner. "What's the mother fucking problem sol?" He asked, while the pair was distracted Karkat managed to get a hold of Sollux' hand and bit down, ripping a painful layer of skin off, chewing hungrily.
"Ow! Fuck!" Sollux yelled, kneeing the kid in the groin. 'At least maybe he'll stay still now' Sollux thought to himself, moving his hand away from the teen's mouth.
"Ah!" Karkats eyes widened and he squirmed in pain. He let out a string of ridiculous gibberish and tried to attack Sollux again.
"If you don't sit still I swear ill tie you to a stone and throw you in the river!" Sollux promised as he turned back to gamzee. "Like I said, this brat came out of nowhere and bit me. What the fuck am I meant to do with him?" He questioned the ring leader. Gamzee simply turned and started to leave the room. Throwing a casual, "train the mother fucker." Over his shoulder.
Karkat screamed at Sollux some more and tackled him, trying to get to his flesh, his nails digging into the older's skin.
Holding the teens head away from him Sollux tried to reason with the kid. "If I get you some fucking food, will you stop biting me? It's a pain." He was amazed his angry side was shutting up and letting the calm side take the lead. Using his own strength, Sollux rolled them over so he was on top again.
Karkat kicked up at him, trying to get him off. He screamed and screamed in attempts to make him back off, he was just hungry, was that so bad?
Sighing, Sollux jumped up and away from the younger. Against the wall he tried to think of a plan. He could feel blood running down his fingers and his legs. Looking around the only thing he could try to restrain the kid was a big cage for Tavros' bull. He walked over in front of the open cage. Waiting for the teen to charge at him.
Karkat glared and ran at him again, but didn't collide with him, instead he was locked into a cage. "..Uh?" He made a surprised noise then whipped around.
Locking the cage, Sollux quickly left the room, returning with a body he accidently killed before the show. Walking over he quickly put the body into the cage and sat down, bandaging his hand and ass
Karkat leaped at the opportunity to eat, ripping apart the body and swallowing without chewing. It really was quite disgusting, and disturbing.
As the sound of eating stopped, Sollux turned to the cage. "Looks like an animal did it." He remarked, walking over to the cage. "Now will you stop biting me?" Sollux questioned the teen.
Karkat growled and narrowed his eyes; he launched himself forward and made a grab for Sollux through the bars.
Pulling back just in time, Sollux heard his shirt rip. Looking down he noticed the entire front of his shirt was in shreds. Sollux Hyde took over. "You little ass!" He yelled grabbing the teen out of the cage and throwing him to the ground. Placing a foot in the middle of the younger's chest and holding him down, Sollux slipped off his shirt and inspected it. He smiled an evil smile, and turned back to the kid. "Your gonna pay for that."
Karkat looked shocked and a tiny bit fearful, but snarled and spat in Sollux's face.
Whipping the spit off his face, Sollux erupted into a hateful laugh. He always had this laugh when he killed those 6 people. Maybe it was about to become 7. Sollux's dark side was much stronger than his good side. Grabbing the teen's shirt, Sollux threw his across the room. Before the teen moved again Sollux kicked his ribs. "That was my best shirt." He snarled kicking the teen's ribs again.
Karkat yelped in pain and scrambled up on to his feet, he lunged at Sollux, tackling him to the ground. He tried to scratch his face, but missed a majority of the time out of blind rage.
"Fuck fuckufkuFUCK!"
Laughing at the pain pushed the teen away, swaying slightly as he got to his feet. "This is fun." He said, smiling sadistically at the teen. Placing a foot in the middle of the teens back, Sollux pushed him down to the ground, holding him down. Looking around, Sollux found one of Equius' knives he used for the tough guy act. Picking it up, he gently ran the blade up the younger's back, not drawing any blood yet.
Karkat froze up, he realized that he was in real danger but with no way of escaping. "Fuck! U-Uhhh!" he tried wriggling out, attempting to shake Sollux off of him.
"If you move again, I will shove this into your back." Sollux whispered in Karkats ear, once again running the blade against the teens back. Before he could hurt the teen in any real way, gamzee re-entered the room. Smiling at the pair, Sollux changed back to his Jekyll side. Standing up, he placed the blade into the ground next to Karkats head.
"I don't think that's how you train something." Gamzee mused, watching Sollux walk out of the room. He heard some noise come up behind him. "Tavbro, you think you can train this beast?" Gamzee asked the boy who rolled up next to him.
"Ill, uh, try gamzee." He said before wheeling over and beginning with some training. Karkat jumped up and snarled at the paraplegic boy, eyes narrowing and he started yelling, keeping his distance from him.
Tavros hummed in a low soothing tone and petted the side of karkats head. "uh..You'll be fine" he assured. Karkat felt himself relax and lean into the touch.
After 2 hours Sollux returned to the room, finally managing to calm himself down. Walking into the room, Sollux stopped dead in his tracks. That kid was sitting on the ground. Just sitting. Not biting or anything. He just sat there. Walking over to gamzee, Sollux stayed skeptical about being bitten again. "What the fuck happened?" He asked, not bothering to hide his shock
Gamzee smiled and nodded to Tavros who was quietly talking to Karkat about his day. "Tavbro's what happened mother fucker, he's amazing with animals...fuck, that kid was probably raised like one, it only makes sense"
Sollux walked over to Tavros, patting him on the shoulder. "Good one kid." Sollux whispered. He never usually gave praise to anyone, but someone who was able to do that had skill. Walking over to the knife that was still in the ground, Sollux picked it up and put it back where he got it. Equius could be an ass if someone touched his stuff.
Tavros smiled and continued talking to Karkat. Gamzee went over and told Tav that the kid needed to go to sleep so they could analyze him more in the morning, he then turned to Sollux "Also, the mother fucker is sleepin' with you~"
Sollux stood there, watching gamzee. "You're kidding me." He whispered as gamzee shook his head. "Why the fuck do I have to do it?" He questioned, trying to keep his voice low. Gamzee and Tavros walked out of the room before Sollux could get an answer. Turning slowly, he looked over at the teen, waiting to see if he got bitten.
Karkat was still in a pleasant daze after Tavros talked to him, no-one ever talked to him like that, his breathing was heavy and slow, a tell tale sign he was tired. "Mnnn..." He yawned and looked over to Sollux, visibly stiffening, eyes narrowing slightly.
Slowly walking over, Sollux kneeled in front of the teen. "Come on, there's a warm bed in my tent you can sleep in." Standing he offered the kid his good hand to help him up.
Karkat scrambled up on his own and cautiously followed Sollux back to the room, staying a good distance away and growling whenever Sollux tried to look at him.
Sighing in defeat, Sollux denied his better judgment and didn't watch his back. Sollux had two beds, one for when he went to bed like Jekyll, and one when he went to bed as Hyde. Motioning to the Jekyll bed, Sollux flopped onto the other bed, falling asleep instantly on his stomach, because his ass was on fire.
Karkat looked at the bed like it was a foreign creature, instead choosing to curl up on the floor and watched Sollux sleep, not trusting the other nearly as much as to sleep in the same place as him. Every time he moved Karkat snarled and growled, but eventually passed out.
Waking up in the middle of the night, Sollux noticed the teen on the floor. Careful not to wake him, Sollux lifted the teen into the bed. Tucking him in, before going back to his own bed.
Karkat woke up the next morning and looked around, then realized he was on a bed, he tried getting up but got tangled up in the blanket. "AHHH!" he screamed fighting with the tapestry, nearly tearing it apart.
Sollux jumped up and rushed over to the other bed. He noticed a while ago that he was sickly sweet first thing in the morning. "Shh," he tried to hush the teen as he ripped the blanket. "There your fine." He smiled before backing away.
Karkat was panting from his tiff with the blanket and his eyes were darting around He looked over at Sollux and snarled, teeth bared, he looked like he was about to run at him again.
Holding up his hands in surrender, Sollux sighed irritably. "What's it gonna take for you to trust me. I don't wanna wake up one day with no leg or something." Sitting down on the floor, Sollux started doing a puzzle, trying hard to keep calm again.
Karkat turned his attention to the puzzle, he tilted his head and watched Sollux solve it, when the tiles were swapped enough times they made a picture. Karkat knelt down and prodded the puzzle curiously.
Slowing down his movements, Sollux showed what he was doing. After finishing the first one, he pulled out another offering the teen a chance to try
Karkat poked the puzzle again, sliding the tiles around, he had no idea what he was doing, but it was amusing enough to keep him occupied, after a while began getting frustrated and growled, becoming more aggressive with his prods at the thing.
Slightly taking the teens hand, Sollux showed him movements. Pretty soon the puzzle was finished. It was a picture of a nice circus. Showing happy people. Smiling softly, Sollux remembered when he was younger and his family had taken him to one of them. Lost in the memory, Sollux didn't notice the tears that had started.
Karkat had a smug victorious look on when they finished, but was put into another confused stir when Sollux started crying. He tilted his head, not being old enough to remember the last time the salty tracks touched his face.
Looking up, Sollux quickly whipped the tears away, smiling softly at the confused look on the teens face. "We haven't really met properly." He whispered. "I'm Sollux."
Karkat tilted his head; Sollux pointed to himself and repeated his name to emphasize his point. Karkat realized what he was trying to get across, he pointed to himself. "K..Kawwr...Ka..kar...ket, kat..Karkat" He said, painfully slowly and with practically shattered English.
Smiling, Sollux laughed softly. Making a motion that looked like he was eating, "hungry?" He asked, getting up very slowly without sharp moves. Offering a hand once again to the teen on the ground
Karkat got up on his own, rejecting the hand once again. He nodded to Sollux's question of hunger, his stomach rumbling.
Keeping the smile on his face, Sollux lead the way to one of the tents. Finding Gamzee instantly. "So, what's your bright idea to feed him?" He asked the clown as the pair entered the room. "I'm not playing chew toy every time the kid gets hungry." He remarked.
Gamzee shrugged, "We'll fuckin' find something bro." Karkat licked his lips as he saw all of the people setting up in the tent that the clown was supervising. He attempted to sneak off, just to pick of one of the smaller ones around.
"Uh, hey." Tavros stopped in front of Karkat smiling. "How did you sleep?"
Sollux walked over, "I'll be back soon. Stay with Tavros and I'll come back with food." He said sternly to Karkat before walking off to get the kid breakfast. Sollux had no doubts that when he returned, blood would be on his hands.
Karkat pouted at the lost chance to get food, but perked up at the chance to talk to Tavros. "Uuuuh" Karkat nodded, eyes flicking over to the people walking around.
Returning an hour later, Sollux carried a girl's body over to the two who were still talking. He could feel blood running down his body. His Hyde side had gotten out of control, but at least it was a painless death. Dropping the body beside the two, Sollux dropped like a dead body himself, closing his eyes and resting.
Karkats eyes widen at the smell of food and he pounced on the body, ripping it to shreds and eating just as messily. Everyone who was around him scrunched their noses and or screamed, both options leaving the vicinity. Tavros and Gamzee helped Sollux up, Tavros giving him some water.
"Why the fuck do I always have to be Hyde?" Sollux whined. "He gives me a fucking head ache when I kill someone." Groaning Sollux drank the water and stood up. After gamzee and Tavros had moved away, Sollux dropped backwards again. Making a loud thump.
"U-Uh, Sollux, are you okay?" He asked worried.
"Yeah mother fucker, if you need to lay down for a bit bro, we can look after cannibal here"
"I'm staying here." Sollux's voice was laced with anger. "Wake me up and I'll kill you both." He groaned again and fell asleep on the floor.
The pair just shrugged and looked over to karkats, who had devoured nearly the whole body, his face and hands covered in blood.
"Uh, gamzee. Should we really just, uh, leave him there?" Tavros asked, worried someone would hurt the now unconscious Sollux.
"We'll just sit here with the sleepin' bro, y'know, till the mother fucker's normal~" He snickered.
"Um okay gamzee." Tavros smiled, trying not to make a face at the smell of blood.
Sollux woke up a few hours later. Doing a quick once over, he realized he was still covered in blood. "What happened?" He asked innocently as the days earlier memories flooded his mind. "Oh yeah."
Tavros made sure he was okay whilst karkat had gotten the body down to the bones, chewing on one mindlessly while lying down.
"uh, how're you feeling sol?"
"Like someone bashed my head in." Sollux replied. His head was pounding. "What did I miss?" He asked Tavros while sitting up and looking at Karkat.
"uh...Well your work wasn't in vain..THATS for sure" He said motioning to Karkat, who was now picking off any bits of meat left.
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say Tavros." Sollux waved his hand dismissively. Trying to stand Sollux noticed just how much blood had gotten on him. Surprised that Karkat hadn't tried to eat him as well.
"Uh..he's actually kinda thankful you got him food I think, cause he kept his distance from you". True enough, the whole time he was asleep Karkat stayed with Tavros, away from Sollux.
"Yea, I'm sure it's not cause I beat the crap out of him yesterday and he hates me." Sollux remarked sarcastically. Back to his normal bi-polar self, Sollux turned, "thanks Tav." Before getting up to take a bath.
Karkat looked upset, he furrowed his brow and yelled at Sollux as he walked off. "Uh, don't worry buddy" Tavros assured putting a hand on his shoulder. "He's uh, pretty temperamental, you weren't exactly the nicest yesterday either." Karkat huffed and kneeled on the ground, he had kept his distance because Sollux had gotten him food.
After a long bath, Sollux changed into clean pants but without a shirt. He only had two. One was covered in blood the other was torn to shreds. Walking back to the main tent, he walked in to Tavros. "Tav, do you have a spare shirt?" Sollux questioned. Picking up a piece of his destroyed shirt.
Tavros went to get him a shirt, leaving him alone with Karkat momentarily. Karkat looked up at him and narrowed his eyes, snarling.
Sollux didn't pay attention, and instead played with the scrap of clothing, that was once his favorite shirt. Sitting on the ground, Sollux looked at Karkat from the corner of his eye. Playing with the scrap, Sollux didn't hear Tavros returning
A shirt way hung over his head as Tavros started laughing. Smiling Sollux slipped on the shirt. "Thanks Tavros." He laughed.
Karkat didn't like having no attention on him, he had never been indulged with nice attention, so to have it suddenly stop, and he felt sad. He mumbled gibberish and curled up, face away from them, licking the drying blood off of his fingers.
Sollux looked over at Karkat. "Hey Karkat. Wanna go for a walk." He asked, keeping his tone soft.
Sollux stood and stopped a few step short of being next to the teen. "I'll show you around if you want?" He asked smiling
"..." Karkat wearily nodded and got up, standing next to Sollux, he suddenly realized how much taller Sollux was, he growled, intimidated by the height.
Still smiling, Sollux had no idea why he was in such a good mood. Waving at Tavros, Sollux lead the way around the tents. "So um, where to start?" He questioned himself and decided to start at the main entrance and work their way back.
An hour later, Sollux had successfully showed Karkat the entire camp. Ending up back where Sollux's room was.
During the tour Karkat bit at Sollux 3 times, all three Sollux had put his hand to close to his face, and he started yelling on numerous occasions, because of people saying hello.
Sollux flopped onto his bed and examined his hand that was bitten yesterday. It looked worse than it was. He had also successfully, stopped himself from snapping at Karkat. "You know, you have really sharp teeth." Sollux noted smiling like an idiot towards Karkat.
Karkat looked at him like he was an idiot. He snarled at him in a daring manner, practically asking him to make him mad. "gaa..mnnn...fuck...MYAHH!" He gabbled at Sollux.
"Go ahead. Kill me." Sollux smiled again, his eyes slowly turning a red color. Maybe pain was something that he needed. Just to take his mind off everything. Closing his eyes Sollux kept the smile on his face. "If you really want to. Kill me."
Sollux had been here his entire life, and wondered if he really wanted to die. "If you hate me. Go ahead. I wonder if Tavros will be sad?"
Karkat would've considered it until he brought up Tavros, who'd been nothing but nice to him since he'd attack Sollux, he glared and turned away from him.
Sollux opened his eyes that were once again blue. "You really like Tavros don't you?" He questioned, not really expecting an answer. "I love that little guy." Whispering almost to himself. "Gamzee's the only who wanted to take me in."
Karkat tilted his head, wanting to know more about whatever Sollux was talking about. "Uh?" He asked.
"I was kicked out of my home because I killed 6 people. They pissed me off and I turned into 'Sollux Hyde'." He explained. "Covered in blood. Tavros was scared of me. Gamzee just turned to me and said-"
"Welcome to the mother fucking family bro." Gamzee showed up, finishing the story. "And solbro has been here ever since. I gotta mother fucking go but I'll check on you's later." With that the clown disappeared from the tent.
Karkat made an 'o' shape with his mouth, but he still had wonders, he suddenly felt very upset that he couldn't speak, or the fact he could only vaguely understand what was being said. He just tilted his head again.
Smiling sadly Sollux shook his head clearing the thoughts of death from his mind. "I have a family here now. And if you want, you do to." Standing up slowly, he knew he'd get bitten by Karkat, and placed a hand on the teens shoulder. "Tavros already loves you; I don't think your half bad. You can stay here as long as you want." With that Sollux walked back to the puzzles from earlier and started playing.
"..fa..fam..ilay..iley..ily..fam..ily.." Karkat practiced the word that had been reoccurring in the conversation. Quite chuffed with himself his said it some more "family..famalyan familey" he said it a bit wrong each time, it was like teaching a baby how to speak.
"Yep, family." Smiling Sollux looked up from his puzzle. Trying to help the teen say the word. "Family." He repeated.
Karkat spent about 5 minutes trying to say it until.."..family!" He shouted. Looking towards Sollux for confirmation.
Nodding, Sollux smiled and finished all the puzzles. "Come on. When we see Tavros, say that to him okay." Walking out of the tent Sollux found the boy instantly. Sollux pointed at Tavros while looking at Karkat. "Family."
Karkat Shuffled his feet "F-family!" He blurted out, wanting to make it right for the crippled boy, his opinion meaning a lot to the feral child.
"That's right, we're, uh, family." Tavros giggled, pointing back to Karkat, a huge smile on his face. Gamzee walked over. Pointing to each of them, Sollux, Tavros and Karkat, "family!" he yelled. Sollux joined in. Pointing to the other three. "Family."
Karkat smiled, not one of his satisfied or smug ones, but a genuine smile, he didn't know what family meant, but it felt like a good thing. "FAMILY" He yelled again.
They all laughed, smiling gamzee hugged Tavros, motioning for Sollux to join the hug. As he did, Tavros held his arms out to Karkat, wanting him to be in the hug as well.
Karkat eyed the hug cautiously, and toed his way over, copying what everyone else was doing. He was pulled in by Sollux and Tavros, gamzee hugging them all close.
"Family." Tavros whispered again as he laughed. They stayed like that for a few minutes before pulling back. Everyone was smiling at one another. "Family." Gamzee and Sollux said together.
"I'll see you mother fuckers later. There's still a mother fucking show to put on." Gamzee smiled as he wheeled Tavros to another tent. Turning slightly, Tavros waved at the last two before disappearing with the clown
For the first time in karkats life, he didn't feel the need to eat, for once he was just content, but, he wanted to know more, more words. He remembered being locked up in churches, people trying to 'fix' him, yelling at him to learns the way of god. 'Learn' Karkat mulled over. And figured he could use it in the right context. He poked himself in the chest "Lare..Le..earn Learn!" Karkat shouted.
"Okay," Sollux nodded. "How about a name?" Thinking it over. He pointed to a picture of Tavros. "Tavros. Tav-ros."
"T..Taahvv...rosse..tavross..". Karkat gave a hopeful look, hoping that he'd gotten it right
"yeah, that's right. Tavros." Sollux repeated, sitting down with the picture.
Karkat went over and sat with him. He started licking his hands, A) because of the dried blood caked on, and B) Because it was a habitual thing anyways. "Tavros" He confirmed, putting a finger on the picture
Nodding Sollux smiled, pointing to the picture as well. "Tavros family." he said, trying to stop his lisp but failing. Karkat concentrated and poked the picture.
"Taaavroos...Fam..Fam..ross...Famtav...Tavross...Fam..family!" Karkat finally, enraged to spurt out.
"yeah that's right." moving Sollux pointed to himself. "thollux." he hated how his lisp got in the way
Karkat looked confused for a second. "Thhhb...tthhhhhb...Thhhhollux...Thullox...Thollux!"
"fuck." Sollux said. 'this wasn't the best idea' he thought to himself. "Tavros, I need your help."
"What is it?" Tavros asked as he wheeled in.
"Can you teach the kid my name. My lisp is in the way." Sollux replied.
"Thollux! Thoooollluuuxx!" Karkat kept saying, proud of himself, thinking that he had gotten it right.
"Actually, forget it Tav. He's happy." looking back at the teen, Sollux nodded, pointing to himself again "thollux."
Karkat suddenly remembered the other thing that Sollux had taught him, he turned to Tavros. "Taavroos...Familhy" He managed to get out as perfectly as he could.
A huge smile appeared on Tavros' face. Nodding quickly, he wheeled over to the teen. "Yeah, uh Karkat family." he said pointing to the teen.
Sollux stepped out of the way and bumped onto gamzee. Quickly stopping the bi-polar boy gamzee leaned over to whisper in his ear.
"You know that mother fucker has no pants on right?" Sollux nodded walking off
"Your problem now gamzee." Sollux replied, looking over at Karkat and Tavros again.
Karkat grinned, an unfamiliar, but not unwelcome expression on the boys face. All he'd ever known was hate for what he was; he was only trying to survive. Gamzee lead him over to a costumes closet and picked out a pair of pants for him.
"Here you go mother fucker" He smiled. Karkat took the pants, looked at them and put them on his head.
Across the room, Sollux couldn't stop the laugh that came from him. Walking over Sollux took the pants from karkats head. Kneeling in front of the teen, Sollux gently pat his ankle and pointed to the pants left side
Karkat glared at the pants like they had wronged him and put them on properly. He looked up at Sollux for the 'okay'.