You never wanted this. You didn't think it would happen like this, if you did you would have, you would have done something to at least-

You're getting ahead of your self.

Your name is Karkat Vantas and you just got everyone killed. Lead them all to a horrible, gut-wrenching death and you, you just fucking watched like you were the king of incompetence watching over his loyal subjects as they tore them selves and your kingdom apart.

You were never meant to be a leader and you regret every thing you have chosen to be.

The humans. The humans don't know whats happening, and by the time every thing settles down they never will know what became of you and your friends because you'll all be dead. Unless you can get to one of the computers, send a message to one of them, tell them that you're sorry, tell them-

Your husk-top on the other side of the room lights up and you almost keel over right then and there at the small chirp it makes to tell you you're being messaged. You all but make a mad scramble towards the ridiculous piece of junk to mute it, and as quietly as you can muster, drag it back in to your hiding spot.

As cruel fate would have it, it turns out the person messaging you is one of the humans.

ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at ?:?

EB: oh man!

EB: karkat, is that really you?

EB: your name just suddenly litup on my computer out of the blue!

CG: JOHN

CG: HOLY SHIT, I HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS HAPPY IN MY LIFE TO SEE YOUR STUPID BLUE TEXT.

EB: hehe :P

CG: LISTEN, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER I HAVE.

CG: EVERY ONE IS DEAD HERE

CG: ONE OF MY FRIENDS, OH GOD

CG: GAMZEE'S KILLED EVERY ONE, JOHN, HE'S GONE BITCH TITS FUCKING INSANE.

EB: what? gamzee? karkat, what?

CG: I'M FUCKING NEXT AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

CG: I'VE BEEN HIDING FOR HOURS NOW, I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG I CAN KEEP RUNNING AND HIDING BEFORE HE FINDS ME OH GOD OH MAN

EB: karkat, what's happening? didn't something like this happen before? is that the friend that was killing people before?

CG: WHAT?

CG: JOHN, THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO BE PULLING ONE OF YOUR HUMAN PRANKS.

CG: THIS IS FUCKING LIFE OR DEATH HERE AND ITS SAFE TO SAY I'M NOT AT THE LEAST BIT IN THE GRUB FUCKING MOOD FOR THIS!

EB: no!

EB: why would you think this was a prank?

EB: are dave and rose alright? did gamzee get to them too?

EB: karkat?

CG: OKAY, SO YOUR THINKPAN HAS REVERTED TO JELLY IN YOUR FLIMSY HUMAN SKULL

CG: GOOD

CG: YOU GOING INSANE IS JUST WHAT I NEED AT THE MOMENT

CG: NO, IT'S FINE. KEEP DROOLING ON TO YOUR SHIRT AND NOT RETAIN A SINGLE ONE OF MY LAST WORDS BEFORE I DIE

CG: IT'S FUCKING FINE!

CG: IF YOU CAN'T TELL I'M BEING FUCKING SARCASTIC, YOU PIECE OF DEFORMED FECAL MATTER!

EB: what are you talking about?

CG: I'M TALKING ABOUT HOW NOT ONLY HAS MY BEST FRIEND SNAPPED AND GONE ON A MURDEROUS RAMPAGE, BUT THE ONLY HOPE I HAVE FOR NOT DIEING A LONLY AND UNHEARD DEATH HAS LOST HIS MARBLES AS WELL!

CG: FOR FUCKING REAL, JOHN, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

CG: IF SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENED BEFORE I WOULD PROBABLY NOT BE HERE TO RELIVE IT AGAIN

CG: AND ON TOP OF THAT WHAT IN THE EVER LOVING JIGGLING FUCKS DOES THAT PRICK AND GRIM FUCK, WHO, MUST I REMIND YOU FOR SOME GOD FORSAKEN REASON, ARE IN *YOUR* SESSION AND HAVE NOTHING TO FUCKING DO WITH WHATS HAPPENING RIGHT HERE AND NOW!

EB: what?

EB: you are not making any sense!

EB: that session has been over for like a year now, karkat, don't you remember?

EB: we scratched it and left for a new one, me and jade are traveling the yellow yard while you, rose, and dave are traveling on the meteor thing or something.

EB: are you alright karkat?

CG: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

EB: uh oh...

EB: I think I know whats going on... :(

CG: I SURLY HOPE SO, JONH, BECAUSE I AM STILL AT A COMPLEAT LOSS TO THAT JUMBLE OF WORDS YOU THOUGHT WOULD MAKE ANY SENSE.

EB: oh man.

EB: karkat, i think you are in one of those dead time lines...

CG: SHIT

You think you hear a honk.

You captchalogue the husk-top and start running again.

The halls gently echo with your foot falls as you run away from the source of the faint honk you heard.

It won't be long now, he'll find you. He'll catch you, and then he will-

You can't let your self think about that right now, you need to keep running.

You find a dark corner in a dusty old storage room and push around some boxes to help hide your self better. You would be keeping your self from escaping if he manages to get close but you just hope it will keep you hidden long enough to maybe cry and beg the horror terrors once more for this nightmare to end.

Then you remember your husk-top and carefully set it up where the lit screen hopefully can't be seen by any passerby.

Blue text greets you as you try to catch your breath.

EB: what?

EB: did something happen?

EB: hello?

carcinoGeneticist [CG] went idle chum!

EB: shit

EB: karkat, please tell me your clown friend didn't find you...

EB: uh, okay maybe i can help you some how even with you being in a dead time line!

EB: okay, um.

EB: my karkat, the one from the time line i am from, had the same friend rampage like yours did but he stopped him i think!

EB: but he didn't really tell me how he did it or gave me really clear picture of what happened...

EB: shit, i guess that's not very helpful. :(

EB: ...

EB: karkat?

EB: come on, please don't be dead yet.

CG: I HAD TO RUN, BUT I FOUND A NEW PLACE TO HIDE.

EB: oh my god, karkat!

EB: i was really starting to think you got caught there!

CG: I THINK I'M OKAY FOR NOW BUT I DON'T THINK I'LL BE ABLE TO HIDE HERE FOR VERY LONG.

CG: ITS BEEN LIKE THIS FOR I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW LONG, I'VE HAD TO BOB AND WEAVE MY WAY AROUND THIS METEOR AND RUNNING IN AND OUT OF BLOOD FILLED ROOMS TO TRY AND KEEP OUT OF MY FORMER BEST FRIENDS FACE PAINT AND BLOOD STAINED GRASP.

CG: I'M STARTING WONDER IF HE'S JUST LETTING ME RUN AROUND LIKE A CLUCKBEAST WITH OUT IT'S HEAD. THAT MAYBE HE'S JUST PLAYING WITH ME BEFORE HE FINALLY CLOSES IN FOR THE KILL AND THAT ALL THIS RUNNING AND HIDING IS FUCKING USELESS.

CG: THE FUCKER IS PROBABLY GETTING OFF ON ME RUNNING BACK AND FORTH LIKE A HORROR MOVIE DAMSEL, GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!

EB: don't worry, karkat, i'm sure we can think of something to save you!

CG: OH MY GOD, YOU IDIOT.

CG: JOHN

CG: WHAT YOU'VE TALKING ABOUT

CG: ABOUT THIS BEING A DEAD TIME LINE

CG: IF YOU'RE RIGHT

CG: AND I AM BEGINNING TO HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT THIS BEING A DEAD TIME LINE BECAUSE OF HOW FUCKING FAR DOWN THE LODEGAPER THINGS HAVE GONE

CG: IF YOU'RE RIGHT, I'M GOING TO DIE.

EB: no!

EB: i can't let that happen, karkat!

CG: EVEN IF I CAN STOP GAMZEE I'LL JUST BE LEFT TO ROT ALONE IN A DEAD END TIME LINE FOR FUCK KNOWS HOW LONG.

EB: shit!

EB: i can't let you die! there has to be some way to help you.

CG: JOHN.

EB: try talking to dave!

EB: or rose, or jade, or even your time lines john, maybe they will know what to do?

CG: ... OKAY.

He just... won't give up on you.

You should be use to his heroic tendencies but your still a bit surprised.

The idiot...

But if there's any hope in it, you're willing to try it.

You pull up the time line view port and find out that its up right freaking the fuck out, the preview window is blank and the time stamp is glitching and jumping up and down the time line.

Maybe you can still message them despite the obvious technical difficulties...

CG: DAVE, ARE YOU THERE?

Failed to send.

CG: JADE, HOLY SHIT, PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE AWAKE AND ABLE TO TALK TO MY SORRY ASS.

Failed to send.

CG: ROSE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S JUST AND GOOD IN WHAT'S LEFT OF THIS DAMNED MULTIVERSE, TELL ME YOU'RE THERE!

Failed to fucking send...

You close Rose's chat window, and look at the last name on the list and try to blink your eyes in to focus (When did you start crying?) while you move to open up the second chat window for ectoBiologist.

CG: JOHN, PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE THERE, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

What typed stays on the screen for a moment but then the faild-to-send error pops up and you almost make a frustrated moan at it, and you would if you weren't in a position where if you did it could kill you.

Feeling even more defeated you close the unresponsive window and return to the first one.

CG: I THINK THE TIME LINE FUNCTION ON TROLLIAN IS BROKEN, OR SOMETHING MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU GUYS OVER THERE, OR BOTH BECAUSE I CAN'T GET A SINGLE FUCKING MESSAGE OVER.

EB: shit, okay, fuck.

EB: uh

CG: JOHN.

EB: oh, i know!

EB: i can go ask dave sprite, maybe he will know what to do!

CG: JOHN, NO.

EB: what is it?

CG: JUST

CG: STOP.

CG: THE FEATHERY ORANGE ASSHOLE IS JUST GOING TO TELL YOU IT'S A LOST CAUSE, BECAUSE LETS FACE IT, IT FUCKING IS.

CG: YOU KNOW IT, JOHN. WE BOTH DO.

CG: JUST, STOP IT.

CG: ... JOHN?

EB: i'm here...

EB: i just

EB: don't know what to fucking do.

EB: you are going to die and i can't do a fucking thing to stop it!

EB: this is shit! all i can do is talk to you but what good will that do? it won't save you!

EB: i feel like absolute shit right now, and i don't know if i want to lie down and cry or scream and punch something!

CG: I'M SORRY.

EB: what?

EB: no no no, don't say that, i'm not the one about to die here!

EB: shit, i must sound like an asshole making a big fuss about how i feel right now...

CG: NO YOU CLUCKFUCK, I WASN'T APOLOGIZING FOR BEING IN SHIT SITUATION THAT MADE YOU SAD.

CG: I GUESS MY TIMING THERE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER BUT WHAT I MEAN IS

CG: I'M SORRY FOR BEING AN ENORMOUS GAPING ASSHOLE TO YOU THROUGH OUT YOUR TIME LINE.

CG: I'VE BEEN FUCKING HORRIBLE TO YOU GUYS AND I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON AND

CG: I JUST

CG: I'M SORRY.

EB: no, its okay, you weren't that bad!

EB: okay, you were kind of bad to begin with. but then we got to know you guys better you kind of grew on us.

EB: like very angry moss. :B

CG: GEE, THANKS... I:B

EB: hehehe

CG: HEY...

CG: CAN YOU DO SOMETHING FOR ME?

EB: huh? like what?

CG: NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME

CG: YOUR KARKAT I MEAN

CG: CAN YOU TELL HIM SOMETHING FOR ME?

EB: sure, what do you want me to say?

xCG: TELL HIM THAT HE'S AN IDIOT FOR EVER HATING YOU.x

[Your last message failed to send! try again? Y/N]

No.

No no no no no no no no no shit shit shit!

You try to send it again and it just gives you the same error.

What ever force of paradox space that was keeping the window open for you to talk to John with seemed to have closed it in your face, leaving you to the overwhelming silence.

Your hands are shaking and you can't control the tears and snot running down your face, and it takes effort to keep from just letting loose harsh sobs while you try to breath.

Your throat is tight and your mouth is dry and you've been running for too long and you've been scared for your life for WAY too fucking long.

You're tired.

So fucking tired.

You don't even register the honk from the other side of the boxes you're hiding behind.