Slowly Terezi was following the trail of brown blood that ran from Tavros's body to the transportalizer. She didn't know how long ago Vriska had killed him, but she hoped she still had enough time to stop her before she left and tried to fight Jack on her own.
Suddenly she got a message from Karkat asking if she was ok, which she thought was odd…
"What?! no! everything is Fine! Perfectly fine!" He promised, making her curious.
"Are you sure? You answered that kind of quickly…" she said giggling.
"Yes, I'm fucking sure!" He yelled, "It's fine! I'm handling it!"
She frowned, "Handling what?"
"Nothing!" He said stubbornly.
"Karkat! just tell me what's going on!"
"No! I can handle it! Everything is under fucking control!"
She groaned in annoyance, "Stop being a wriggler and tell me already! Otherwise I'm going to have to try and find out on my own!"
"Terezi! No!" He said quickly, "Stay where you are! Wait… where are you? Tell me!"
She sighed again, sometimes he could be too protective, and she didn't even think that he thought of her as his morial, "I'm looking for Vriska… And you haven't seen Nepeta or Equius have you? We should probably try to find them before she gets them too…"
He sighed, "No! I mean exact. Fucking. Location."
She frowned taking a deep breath of her surroundings, Other than the faint smell of bronze blood, she thought she might be able to smell a transportalizer nearby, "Um… I don't really know…" she began, "I think I'm by one of the transportalizers… I was trying to follow the blood but I think I might have basically lost it now…"
"Get someplace safe… Now." He ordered.
She let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine… I'll go back to the lab… but only if you tell me what's going on!"
"No! not the lab!" He said just as soon as she said it, "No no no! Don't go in there!"
She sniffed the words with suspicion, "Why?" She replied slowly, "What happened?"
He sighed, "Just… Don't…"
She growled, this constant dodging her questions was making her angry, "KARKAT GOGDAMMIT! WHAT HAPPENED!"
"Go to your respite block." He said slowly.
"No! Answer me first!" She said stubbornly.
He ran his hand over his face in annoyance, "Terezi, I'm saving your ass! Go and I'll tell you!"
"I have to go and stop Vriska though! Otherwise your 'saving' me isn't going to make a lick of difference!" She said urgently, before she slowly let out a breath, "But fine! If you want me to go to my Respite block while Vriska causes even more damage, fine!"
She went through the transportalizer and to her respite block, jumping into her pile of scalemates before replying, "Ok, now tell me what is going on!" she demanded again.
He sighed in relief, "I had to stop you from going into the lab…"
More of this question dodgy stuff, "Why?" She asked.
"Don't freak out…" He said wearily.
She groaned in annoyance again, she knew she should have kept on with what she was doing! "Did Vriska already make it in there and kill everybody? Blarg! I knew I should have spent less time 'investigating' when I already knew who killed him!"
"No!" He assured her, "Well… Almost everyone… I'm… I'm from the future… Future Karkat here!"
She giggled, he was probably just trying to tease her, or maybe see if he could mess up the timeline, "Oh… Well Hey future Karkat then! So what kind of future knowledge stuff do you hold that made you feel the need to keep me out of the lab?" She teased, Maybe he was planning a stupid romcom marathon and he had to tell her not to come yet because she had found out too early and ruined it or something…
He cleared his throat before taking a deep breath, "uh… Dead me"
She froze at the words; it had to be a joke! He was too much of a fighter to lose to Vriska, even if she rolled 8 8's! She laughed nervously, "Haha! Nice one Karkat! What a good one!"
He sighed sadly, "I'm not joking, Terezi… If you want, you can go look yourself…"
She was on the verge of tears, "No! you can't… I mean… I… No!" She said in denial, doing her best to fight away the tears, when a sudden last ditch hope crossed her mind, "But… If you're dead… Then how are you contacting me?! Karkat! This is just sick and cruel!" She hissed, wiping the angry tears away. She knew that was a stupid last ditch hope, she knew Aradia could still use pesterchum even after her death, but she refused to accept it.
"Terezi, I don't have time to explain… But I'm trying to help you make it through this!" He said, "I'm sorry…"
She still couldn't wrap her think pan around it, "What… What happened? I… I don't…"
"Terezi, I was killed…" He said quietly.
"By who?!" She sobbed angrily, "Was it Gamzee?! I swear I should have smashed in his stupid grinning face in the first time he flipped out! but I didn't because I was busy! UGH! If you're lying to me I'm going to be so… so… Angry!"
"Terezi… I'm not lying…" He said slowly, "Just… go look…"
"No… I… I don't want to…" She sobbed bitterly.
"…Terezi…" He said gently.
"No!"
He sighed, knowingly, "Please… I already know that you look… so just get it over with… Future Karkat, remember?"
She didn't want to, but if he was telling the truth, maybe she could still save him…
"Fine…" She said quietly, "But how… How do I help?"
"You help by letting me help you…" He said, "But for me to do that, you need to know how I died…"
She sighed unhappily, trying to wipe the tears away, "Fine…"
Slowly she walked back to the transportalizer, her knees shaking as she walked. She really didn't want to smell it, her flushed crush dead on the ground, and nothing she could do to save him. She transportalized to the lab, and was almost knocked flat from the overwhelming smell of cherry cough syrup, making her begin to sob again.
"Oh gog…" She gasped, falling to her knees beside his body, "how do I… Aren't our dream selves dead? I mean… how…"
"Yeah… they are… but I don't have time to explain if I want to save you…" He said quietly.
"I don't care about me!" She cried bitterly, "What do I do to help you! I can't just… I can't leave you here!"
"Terezi… look at me…" he said quietly, "Er… Dead me… you can't do anything…"
She didn't even have the heart to correct him… She buried her face in her hands, "But I… I needed to say…" She started quietly before she burst into tears again, the teal mixing with the red to make almost a slightly purple color, "Oh gog… why did I have to go off on my own like that!" she cried bitterly.
"Terezi! it wasn't your fault, I had to die anyway…" He assured her, "And… I… I don't think I'm dead in your timeline yet…"
"Then how do I fix you!" She sobbed, smelling around for anything to stop the bleeding, but coming up empty, "Gog… there's so much cherry!"
She heard a raspy breath and she gave up the search in frustration, before she clasped her hands over the hole in his chest, doing her best to try to stop the bleeding, begging for him to stay awake.
"Terezi… You can't fix me… I have to die…"
"Why?" She yelled, sobbing, "Why do you have to die? I needed to think of… of what I can say!" She felt like she was going to be sick, and clutched her head, "I… I can't… my think pan isn't…"
"If my past dying self tries talking to you… please… don't listen to him… But now you need to get back to your Respite block!"
She ignored him, clasping her hands over his wound again, trying to get him to wake up.
"Why, what did you try to tell me?" She asked bitterly, "I need to tell him… well… you… that… that I'm sorry!"
"Terezi No! I'm trying to save you!" he pleaded.
"I don't care!" She yelled, the teal streaming down her cheeks effortlessly, "Maybe I don't want to be saved! What does your memory tell you? Do I bother to listen to you? Or do I continue to do what I know I need to!"
"Terezi please! I can't let you die! Just leave me and get someplace safe, Goddammit! Now!" He begged urgently.
"…Terezi…" She heard him say weakly as she tried to stop the bleeding. His eyes were fluttering closed and he was really pale, She knew she couldn't save him… he was too far gone… but she couldn't just leave him…
"…Terezi… I… I'm s-sorry…" He managed quietly, before he began coughing violently, his face contorted in pain as he began coughing up blood. Soon his expression began to relax, and she couldn't think straight any more.
"K-Karkat?" She said, shaking him by the front of his shirt, "Karkat?! No! You-You have to wake up!" She sobbed into his shirt, "You have to wake up!" She had to try, she didn't care if his dream self was dead; so was Kanaya's but he somehow managed to bring her back, even if she was a rainbow drinker! She kissed his cool lips, but when nothing happened she decided there was nothing else she could do. She lay down next to him in the little pool of blood and tears that was forming, staring up at the ceiling, holding his hand, even though she knew he couldn't feel it.
"Maybe I need to die too… Maybe this isn't the Alpha timeline after all…" She said, smiling sadly.
"Terezi, stop it!" He demanded.
She chuckled darkly, "It was fun while it lasted though… I have to admit…"
She could tell he was on the verge of tears, "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry!"
"No… Don't be sorry, I Probably should have seen this coming anyway… After all… I am the Seer of Mind…" She said sadly. She was almost in a kind of stupor; she couldn't feel anything anymore, the whole world felt like just a nightmare, "I'm sorry about Dave… And Gamzee… Now you… you were great! And a great leader too!" She said smiling.
"Pyrope! Stop it!" He begged.
"Stop what?" She asked dreamily, "I'm not going to keep lying just to make you jealous…"
"I don't want you to die!"
"Karkat… It's ok…" She promised, "It happens a lot in this game…"
She sighed, "And If it's Jack Noir… We never stood a chance anyway… At least not without the mayor's friend here with us…"
He sighed, "…Okay"
She chuckled, "And if it's any consolation… I really used to flush for you…" She smiled.
"Y-You did?" He asked quietly, stunned, "But I thought… Dave… and…"
She giggled, "That was because you started to get a little wishy washy on the quadrants and I figured I might be able to make you jealous enough that you'd make up your mind…" she said teasingly.
"Wow, thanks Pyrope..." He said.
She chuckled, "Yeah… I guess I didn't think it through all the way, hu?"
"It's fine," He assured her.
"I'm still sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you in person…" She said sadly, "Oh well… Maybe when Jack comes back…"
"You're right next to me…" He said quietly, "You could tell me now…"
She smiled, "Yeah… Well, hm… Maybe I will…"
"I'm sorry though…" He continued quietly.
"Sorry for what?" She asked.
"Dying…"
She sighed deeply, "Me too…"
She lay there quietly in the silence. She had failed, before she had a chance to piece together what Vriska's plan was, she had left to fight Jack Noir, leaving him with a trail to follow straight back to the meteor, and the rest of the trolls. By some cruel twist of fate, Karkat was the first one to die… Maybe if she hunted him down, she could make it easier for the rest of the trolls to finish him off… maybe the Knight of Blood and the Seer of Mind could be the only 2 casualties…
Suddenly she got up angrily, she wouldn't let him win; they would be the last 2 casualties of Jack Noir if she had anything to say about it.
"… You know what?" She hissed angrily, "I am going to cut that nooksucker's snout off! This is not fucking ok!"
"Terezi…" He said gently.
"What!"
"It's fine…"
"No it's not!" She protested, "We were supposed to win! Even Mr. Vanilla Milkshake said so! And… And we can't win now! Not without you!"
"Yes you can" He promised, "I wasn't even that great of a leader!"
"Karkat! Shut up!" She hissed, "You were a great leader! And I am not winning! I don't want to win anymore! Besides! I'm not very important any way, I'm just a Seer, and plus I'm freeking blind!" She said, frustrated, "Let Kanaya, and Rose, and Dave win! They deserve it! I'll go fight Jack, Get his health down as much as I can, and then they can finish him off… Now that's a plan if I've ever heard one!"
"Terezi, I was a shitty leader and you know it!" He said quietly.
"You were better than I ever could have been!" She assured him, "I don't know why Sollux wanted me to be the leader in the first place! You did a great job!" She said smiling, "I mean you did things your own way sometimes, but you always did what you thought was best… Signless would be proud of you…"
"…You think so?" He asked quietly.
"I know so!" She promised, "I am the Seer of Mind after all!" Slowly she closed her sightless eyes, "Well… I'd better go find Jack before he finds anyone else…" She said quietly, "If luck would have it… I hope to see you again soon…"
He was quiet, he didn't want her to die just because of him… but… he knew she wouldn't listen to him anyway…
"… Hey Karkat?" She asked quietly after a while.
"Hm?"
"… Does it hurt?"
"Does what hurt?"
"… Dying…"
He was silent for a moment, trying not to cry, "Please… Please… don't go looking for Jack…"
"…I didn't have to…" She coughed, smiling weakly. He had been waiting in the dark around the corner when she had left the lab. She hadn't smelled him, and before she could react, he had run her through from behind, "… I-It seems… I may be joining you sooner… than I had hoped…" She said apologetically, before taking her last breath.