Another day passed. Karkat had come and they had spent their short time together getting to know each other again until Karkat, once again, had to leave. That day turned into a week and soon they established a steady routine. It was something Karkat had come to look forward to everyday. He had started to finish his duties faster just so he could see her for longer. The more he came, the more he wished that this would never have to end.

Now Terezi awaited him a third time, but she knew this talk wouldn't be as cheery as their previous ones. She wished she could just keep him naïve, but this was going to be her last chance to tell him, and keeping it from him would be cruel. She didn't want to cause him any more heartbreak than she had to.

"Sorry I'm late." Said Karkat as he sat down in front of her cell.

"It's okay." Said Terezi simply, looking at the floor.

Karkat tilted his head. "What's wrong?"

"Karkles, there. . .There's something I haven't been telling you."

A pang of worry shot through Karkat's chest. He paused before speaking again. "And what's that, Terezi?"

"I. . .I haven't been on trial yet."

Karkat's jaw dropped. "What?!"

Terezi sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. It's just, I wanted this to last for as long as I could. The thing is, whatever they sentence me to tomorrow, it's not going to be good. I may never see you again. . .or they'll have me killed."

"WHAT?!" Karkat felt his heart speed up.

"But," Said Terezi quickly. "I have been doing things to hopefully improve my chances."

"Oh really? Like what?" Asked Karkat skeptically.

Terezi lowered her voice. "They all think I'm helplessly blind. That should keep me out of slavery, because I'd be useless for work. Also, I know my way through a standard trial. If I play my cards right, I can prove I'm too smart and worth too much to kill, hopefully. I know my walking free isn't an option, I've already confessed, but if I can just land imprisonment, my chance of eventual release is higher, not to mention you'd be here."

Karkat looked at the floor, finding little comfort in her plan. "Terezi. . ."

"What?"

"Promise me you'll do your best, please." He gripped the bars of her cell. "Stay alive."

Terezi nodded, turquoise tears gathering at the corners of her eyes as she tried to pretend she wasn't scared. "I'll do everything I can, Karkles, I promise."

Karkat took a deep breath and let go of the bars. "Thankyou. I. . .I don't want to lose you again."

"I know, me neither. . .thankyou for the past couple of days by the way. It means a lot that I got to see you again, and I hope to be back in a day or two, but if not, just know. . ." She took a deep breath. "I love you, Karkat."

Karkat's eyes widened, and his face flushed red as his heart sped up. For a moment he stared at her, speechless, but quickly pulled himself together. This was no time to just sit there gawking like an idiot. "I. . .I love you too, Terezi."

Terezi smiled a bit and the two sat in silence, savoring each other's company, until Karkat said goodbye, seeing his supervisor coming, and left.

Karkat woke up early, though it barely counted seeing as he'd only managed to dose that night, so he could sneak out of his quarters and run to Terezi's cell in an attempt to talk to her once last time. It didn't matter if he got punished for it. It was worth it. She'd left his heart in a state were it just wouldn't calm. She loved him. Flushed bright candy red. The thought made him so extremely happy, and embarrassed, and angry, he could hardly deal. Happy, because secretly he'd always felt the same way for her, embarrassed, because he'd spent so long denying it, and angry because that may have been the last time he'd see her and he had been such an awkward doofus about it.

In short, he felt his feet could not move fast enough.

He quickly turned the corner to her cell. A nervous tingling exploded in his torso as he neared it desperately. His stomach fluttered wildly, and his heart pounded painfully in his chest. For awhile he felt a nervous high, which quickly became heavy and hard when he saw that the guards had beat him to her. The cell was empty. Terezi was gone.

Karkat dropped to his knees, red tears streaming down the side of his face as he stared into the empty cell. He sat there for awhile, before wiping the tears away, picking himself up, and forcing himself to wander back to his quarters, wondering why he should even try to avoid his supervisor. Maybe a good session of discipline, a verbal lashing, and some rough, merciless pain infliction, would clear up his head, bring him back to reality. He wanted to believe Terezi really knew what she was doing, but that was hard. Chances were so slim, and things never seemed to work for the better in this cursed place. Hope usually only crushed him in the end.

When he made it back to his quarters, he lied down on his cot, and spent whatever time he had left to himself trying to pull himself together and convince himself that she'd be back.

Karkat had begun to wonder long ago if he enjoyed causing himself pain. Maybe he just liked it more than feeling nothing and giving into the dull reality of his life. He didn't want to accept it. He didn't want to get used to it. Bending the rules and getting caught sometimes reminded him that he still had a will he could exercise, and that he wasn't helpless. Reopening his old emotional scars and dredging up the past reminded him that he was strong enough to accept it without having to forget it. Striving to rub salt in his newest emotional wound was not something he would put past himself.

The next day he found himself coming back to Terezi's cell whenever he could, hoping to see her there again. He looked out for her on his rounds, even went as far to ask his supervisor about it. Every time he got the same answer. She wasn't there. She was never there. His supervisor only got annoyed, and said he knew nothing about it, and that it wasn't Karkat's place to be asking about things like that.

By the time the day had come to an end, Karkat's discouragement was horribly deep. The trial was probably long over. They wouldn't spend that much time convicting a rebel who's already confessed. Terezi was probably was far from his reach, if she was even still alive. As he prepared himself for another hopelessly sleepless night, he cursed himself for ever having been hopeful in the first place.

He laid down on his stomach on the cot, getting sick of staring at the stone wall, and gave in to the pressure in his throat and behind his eyes. He buried his face into the thin mattress, wrapped his arms around his head and let the sobbing come, hoping only that his supervisor would leave him alone for the night. The last thing he wanted was to be seen as pathetic by his superiors.

Then there was a knock on the door.

Karkat cursed under his breath and went about quickly wiping away the transparent tears, taking deep breaths, and trying to appear calm before getting up and answering the door. Outside stood his supervisor, who gave him his standard irritated glare before motioning to two guards behind him. One guard held a bundle in his arms, a person, wrapped up in a grey blanket that was dark and wet in places. Was that. . .blood?

The guard shoved the bundle into Karkat's arms, and Karkat attempted not to buckle as the weight of another person was put on his burns. He looked down at the bundle, then at his supervisor in confusion. In response, his supervisor only tossed a bag into the room and shut the door in Karkat's face. He could hear as it was locked from the outside for the night.

Karkat looked down at the bundle. Could it be? No. No way it could.

He laid the limp fabric wrapped body quickly on the cot, then carefully removed the cloth from the face. His breath caught when he saw the conical horns and matted hair. There, in his arms, pale and unresponsive, her eyes closed, her body limp and motionless, was Terezi.