/ This was written for an Internship requirement, so it lacks the usual Karkat brashness. But please, enjoy. :) /
SEIN ZUM TODE
"The hell are you doing here?" Karkat asked his moirail, which actually sounded more like a demand. But that was how Karkat showed that he cared, so Sollux took no offense. He didn't answer either, however, toeing at the edge of the cliff he was perched on with his back to the Cancer.
"Hey, nookstain, I'm talking to you," Karkat growled. "And get away from the edge, jegus."
"I'm not going to die," Sollux answered. "Not now and by falling off this cliff, anyway."
Karkat's expression softened as he took in what his moirail had said. "You shouldn't listen to them."
"It's hard not to." The Gemini stepped closer to the edge, prompting his moirail to run towards him in panic. But red and blue sparks it the air, holding Karkat still, painfully far from the troll he needed to shoosh-pap until he calmed down.
"Sollux…"
"They tell me the world is going to end." The psionic paused and cocked his head to the side, as if thinking, and amended his statement. "No, they told me the universe is going to end."
"And I'm telling you not to listen to them!" Karkat exclaimed, struggling against his bonds futilely. "They're just in your head, Sollux. They don't tell the truth."
"Don't they? Really?" Sollux asked, sounding wistful. "How are you so sure?"
Karkat was taken aback. "I-"
"You just know nothing, Karkat." He finally turned to face his moirail, his signature red and blue glasses missing from his face and golden tear tracks staining his cheeks. "You just don't understand."
"What is there to understand, Sollux? It's all in your head. You've just been hanging out with that creep Aradia too much," Karkat retorted.
"We are doomed, Karkat," the Gemini said, freeing his friend from his psionics. "Doomed."
"Sollux-"
"Because I'm stupid. Because I didn't code a stupid game-"
"What game?"
"Because I can never save anybody!" Sollux ended with a cry and dropped to his knees. Karkat was beside him in an instant, pulling his hysteric moirail in his arms and shoosh-papping him. He shoosh-papped the taller troll until the sobbing stopped but held on, moving his fingers instead to the base of one of Sollux's horns.
"Nothing's going to happen, Sollux," Karkat whispered, surprisingly soft for someone who yelled all the time. "You didn't fail to save anybody. You don't have to save anybody."
"You just don't understand…" is the adamant reply.
"What, then, do I have to understand?"
"My head's messed up; I know that. But this… it's not just me, okay? I want you to first believe me when I say that it's not just me imagining things. Please tell me you believe me."
"Sollux-"
"Please…" It was a plea, and Karkat couldn't resist it anymore.
He sighed. "Okay, fine. I believe you. This is the real thing. What then?"
"We're all going to die."
"I'm taking it back."
"No." Sollux held on to his moirail tighter. "We're all going to die. Sooner or later. We are Sein zum Tode, Karkat. Beings towards death. From the moment we were born, we are to die. We all live to die."
"But for now we'll live. It's that simple."
Karkat could feel the head on his shoulder shaking itself no. "Sein zum Tode. Beings towards death."
He huffed. "Fine. But our death wouldn't mean the end of the world."
"The world is us, Karkat. There is no world without us. When we die, the world dies with us."
"We can die with a snap of the Condesce's fingers!" Karkat snapped. He knew he was supposed to be listening to his moirail, but this was getting ridiculous. "We're not so important that the world will die with us. Let alone the universe."
"The world is us. There is no world without us." Sollux was insistent, however. "As for the universe…" He wiggled out of the Cancer's hold and wiped his eyes. "I met myself. From the alpha timeline."
Yeah, ridiculous, Karkat thought. "Sollux-"
"Look into my eyes, Karkat, and tell me what you see."
"Your freaky mismatched eyes are what I see. What else?"
"Look again."
Karkat looked again. He stared at red and blue orbs, pulsing with psionics. He stared intently at them until he thought he's cry.
"Nothing changed, Sollux."
"Look again."
"It's not going to change no matter how long I look-"
"Look. Again."
And so Karkat looked again. He stared at red and blue orbs, pulsing with psionics. He stared intently at them until they turned white.
"What the hell?"
"So what do you see?"
"What… How? Why… Why did they become white?" the shorter troll stammered. "Are... Did mine turn white too?"
Sollux nodded solemnly. "Sein zum Tode, Karkat."
The two moirails stared impassively at each other but beneath it, Karkat hid an expression of apprehension.
They were doomed. Sein zum Tode.
Sein zum Tode. Sein zum Tode. Sein zum Tode.
They were beings towards death and it was time their world ended.
/ Please review. /