=== Karkat: Dream

"Egbert?" He isn't moving. Fuck, you can't die on me, shitbag. "John, come on, wake up."

And then I bring his body closer to me, and it isn't Egbert anymore. Even the viscous scarlet blood is revealed to be dark blue.

"Aranea!" It's a scream, ripped from my throat, a sob from the depths of my soul. "No, please no, you can't fucking die on me, Aranea, please!"

Flicker again, and the blood's the same color, only she isn't in my arms, she's sobbing in the corner, and dark blue-tinted eyes look up to me fearfully, but they're wrong. They're scared, terrified, hurt, screaming for help I can't even give. "I… I'm sorry… Serket, please… Vriska…"

But the room spins, and he's replaced her, sliding down the wall, covered in blood again, unseeing eyes fixed on mine. "Egbert, no, you can't die, you have to be fucking fine-"

Then his eyes blink slowly and I find myself scrambling toward her, a scream on my lips as I scramble to fix her, make her better, help her, SOMETHING-

Her hand reaches up to my hair and, shaking heavily, softly caresses my cheek. "Farewell," she breathes, and her eyes shut too.

"Aranea, no!" I scream, sobbing again, clutching her close.

But she melts away in my arms and Vriska's sitting in front of me, eyes locked with mine, accusing, wondering, helpless. The wall behind her is smeared with her blue blood, mixed with the slightly lighter shade of Aranea's cobalt and Aradia's maroon and Tavros' rust and Sollux's yellow and Eridan's violet and Nepeta's olive and Kanaya's jade and Feferi's fuchsia and Equius' indigo and, in front of it all, there's just that haunting purple smiley. Her eyes are empty, screaming-

I blink and he's smiling up deliriously at me. "Am I gonna die?"

"No, you're gonna be fucking fine," I hiss, but his eyes are closing, and she's breathing shallowly, and her hands are clutching my shirt, shaking with uncontrollable terror. Then her breath catches once… twice… three times and it's gone, her grip tight in death. And the complete desolation, the absolute agony I feel, bubbles up into a scream, and-

I sit up, and there's a scream somewhere- oh, wait, that's me- and there are warm arms wrapping around my shoulders pulling me close. There's a soft shushing in my ear, and his hand runs through my hair, seeking to calm me down. With an effort, I calm my breathing, but it breaks through the already-weak barriers I've managed to build up. I find myself clinging to him, arms wrapped tightly around his neck, sobbing heavily into his shirt. In return, his hands go around my chest, rocking me slightly.

"I couldn't save her, Gam," I whisper past sobs that make my shoulders shake helplessly. "She was… she was dying… and I couldn't fucking save her."

"I'm sorry, Karkat." His voice is similarly low, rumbling through his chest warmly. "I'm so… motherfucking… sorry." His hand continues running through my hair, and I find myself relaxing into him, not feeling the need to cling to him quite so closely.

Ironic, that I feel safest around him.

After a few minutes, I relax enough to lean up and press a soft kiss to the underside or his jaw, sitting up so I can look him in the eyes. I know how much this topic absolutely tears him apart. "It wasn't your fault," I sigh, "and I would never blame you."

"I know," he replies quietly. I can tell how much it still hurts, how much he agonizes over it, but I wouldn't push this subject. Instead, I just lie back down on his chest, eyes closing quietly.

Moirails are fucking helpful sometimes.

"I kinda like you, you shitty clownfuck."

He chuckles gently. "I love you too, little motherfucker."

Short chapter, yeye, but it didn't make sense to add more.