Karkat glanced nervously at Nepeta, who was tucked under sheets. Her eyes were closed, her skin clammy and hot from fever. She whimpered in pain, turning a little, knocking off the cloth on her forehead. Karkat picked it up, plonked it into a tub of water, wrung it out, then placed it back on her head, smoothing hair out of her face.

He was nervous and on edge. Nepeta had gotten sick five days ago, and seemed to worsen each day. Everyone was worried, but Karkat was the worst. He had not left her room since she had fallen ill, keeping an eye on her and barely sleeping. He had bags under his eyes, which were a little bloodshot.

He felt a large, strong hand on his shoulder. He looked into the hidden eyes of Nepeta's moirail, Equius.

"Karkat, I suggest... no, I order you to take a break and sleep. I will take over. Nepeta will be fine."

Karkat nodded. His vision began to tunnel as he headed down to his room, crashed onto his bed (they had been unable to acquire recuperacoons) and fell into a dreamless sleep.

^.v.^

He didn't know why he woke up. It was dark outside, with small bits of light. Then he heard it again- the sound of a chair scraping along the floor. Karkat got up, and made it to the door when he heard glass breaking. He practically yanked the door off its hinges, and raced for the room that was the source.

Thrusting open Nepeta's door, he glimpsed the troll girl's horns disappearing below the windowsill. Glass was all over the floor, the window shattered. Taking care of the glass, Karkat looked down. Nepeta's silhouette disappeared into the woods, and a chair sat on the ground.

"Bro?" He heard Gamzee, still half asleep, ask. He turned to see everyone gathered at the door, still in their sleepwear.

"Nepeta, she just..."

He didn't say anything else. In a few seconds, everyone was leaping out the window, taking off in Nepeta's direction. She was hard to follow, being small and somewhat quiet, but she would occasionaly make a large crash pinpointing her location.

Finally, they made it to the mouth of a large cave at the base of a cliff. It was not the same one that held so much meaning to Karkat, rather, it was a different section of it. The sand around the mouth of the cave had been disturbed, so it was obvious where Nepeta had headed off to.

The trolls headed inside, brandishing their weapons. Karkat was worried for his matesprit, and didn't do anything when Gamzee made a long drawn out statement about the darkness of the cave and their lack of lights, which was punctuated by 'miracles' and 'motherfuck' multiple times.

Finally, they made it to a large open area. Stalactites dangled menacingly from the top, and Nepeta, all dressed as if nothing was wrong, was standing with her back to them.

"Nepeta! Thank Gog you're okay! Don't ever fucking scare me like that again!" Karkat yelled in relief.

Nepeta did not move, or make any notion of having heard him.

"N-Nepeta?" Equius asked, clearly distressed for his moirail, which was noticable from the torrents of sweat coming off of him.

Nepeta finally turned. Chills went up Karkat's spine as he noticed her eyes; they were cloudy, like someone who was dead.

No one spoke until Tavros did.

"Um, what is, going on?"

Nepeta's eyes widened, and she dashed at them, claws extended. All of the trolls scattered, but Nepeta swerved to match Tavros. Using his horns for leverage, she bounded up and over him, swinging down to kick him square in the face, sending him careening into Vriska.

"Gog, Pupa! You 'kay?" she asked.

"Fine." He said through the blood streaming out of his nose.

"Nepeta, stop it! This isn't like you!" Karkat yelled. Nepeta whipped around and ran at him. He blocked her claws with his sickle. They strained aganist each other, playing a sick game of 'I-push-you-pull,' but it was more like 'I-push-you-bend.'

Sweat poured off of Karkat. Nepeta's face was stone, resembling Dave and his eternal pokerface.

"Please Nepeta," Karkat said, practically begging now, "Please stop. I don't want to hurt you."

Something in Nepeta's face twitched. Her eyes began to clear. "Kar-Karkitty?"

Karkat expanded on the small hole of opportunity. "Yeah, it's me Nepeta. Karkitty, your matesprit."

With every word that Karkat said, Nepeta's eyes cleared. Finally, they were the olive-ringed orbs he knew and loved.

"Kar...kitty..." Nepeta's eyes began to fill with tears. She fell onto him sobbing, babbling. Karkat just hugged her, rubbing her back the way she liked.

Suddenly Nepeta froze, and she began to back up, holding her head. Tears still fell down her face, and spit began to foam in the corners of her mouth. She grasped the sides of her head, and shook it, like there was water in her ears.

"No, getoutgetoutgetoutgetout..."

Karkat took a small step towards her. "Nepeta?"

She wrenched her head up to look at him, her face a mask of pain. She screeched, an ear-splitting sound that tore through all of the trolls eardrums. Karkat ran at her before a dark shape swooped down, throwing a bag that exploded upon contact with the floor, releasing a white powder.

Coughing echoed through the cave, and one by one, the trolls began to fall to the ground, unconcious.

Karkat held his arm to his nose. "Nepeta! NEPETA!" He yelled. Then he saw her, sleeping and tossed over the shoulder of a beast.

Then all he saw was black.

^.v.^

"Get up!"

That was the only warning Karkat had before he was slapped across the face.

Terezi stood over him, smiling. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that, Karkles."

Karkat rubbed his cheek. "Oh, I think I do." He stood up and looked around. All of the trolls were up, and Vriska was being nice for once, trying to help Tavros stop the bleeding from his nose. There were huge tracks, but they were swiped out at a point, with no way to track them.

"Tez," Sollux said, heading over to the two, "can you smell whoever the hell that was?"

Terezi's face wrinkled. "No, I've still got a noseful of that powder. What the fuck was it anyway, it smelled weird."

"Sleeping powder, probably. And that shit would be a motherfucking miracle if it hadn't been used like that." Gamzee said. He looked serious, but from his speech pattern and swaying, he was not sober yet.

Karkat hung his head. Someone, or something, had taken his matesprit. Gog only knew what would happen to the little olive-blood he loved so much.

Sollux patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, KK. We'll find her."

Karkat cracked a smile. "Thanks, asshole." He shrugged off Sollux and began to head out of the cave, back to the computer. Like or not, the people he didn't want to talk to were probably his only hope for help right now.

PLW: Soo, yeah. I've had this in my head for a while now, so I finally decided to make it happen. And let me explain some stuff.

This is post-Sburb/Sgrub. The game became a legit reality, so now Earth and Alternia are part of the game. The trolls live together, all alive. Terezi is still blind, Tavros is not paralyzed or have metal legs. This is also a continuation of 'Don't Change' and 'Summer Night,' so Karkat and Nepeta are matesprits. The humans live together, but I will say it now: Dirk, Jake, Jane, and Roxy will not be making an apperance, mainly because I haven't gotten there yet, and I planned this without them in mind. There will be some talking about them, but they will not play a pivotal role in the story.

So please, enjoy this first chapter. Review as always!