As determined as Karkat was not to cry, his resolve broke when Dave caught him looking and bit down hard on John's neck until the Heir cried out in pain. When Karkat saw the red leaking from the bite wound, translucent red tears escaped his eyes and pooled on top of Dave's hand, which was still locked over his mouth, even though he blinked furiously in attempt to restrain them. As much as he hated degrading himself, he thought he probably would have said or done anything at this point if he could have helped John.
"Do you like this, John?" Dave asked as he continued to rock his hips forward, into John's unwelcoming body.
Silently, John sniffled and shook his head.
"Well, tell me that you do. I want to hear how much you want this…" Dave said, his voice silky smooth, but ever so dangerous at the same time. "Or you know what will happen…"
At the same time that John cracked his eyes open, Karkat felt the cold metal of future Dave's sword press back against his throat. As much as he wanted to say anything – fucking ANYTHING – Karkat still couldn't speak for the hand over his mouth and John closed his eyes again with a pained expression. "I- I… love this…" John whimpered out, his voice uneven and shaky as he struggled to form the words.
Thrashing violently against the body holding him down, Karkat managed to nick himself yet again on the sword though he succeeded in biting Dave's hand in the process. Hissing, future Dave ripped his hand back, startled by the depth of the ragged wound – but then again, humans shouldn't underestimate a troll's fangs. Blood welled up and dripped freely down Dave's hand and arm, onto the white sheets, but Karkat didn't wait for the Knight of Time to try and silence him again or punish him somehow.
"John, don't give in to him!" Karkat yelled, anger and fear both pulling at him. He didn't want to risk John's life or his own, but he couldn't very well sit back and just let Dave do whatever he pleased!
It wasn't that the Heir looked weak, exactly, but Karkat wanted to protect him just the same. Even if it cost him his life. Feh, maybe it honestly didn't matter whether he was Godtier or not. Despite his surly nature, Karkat would probably always find some stupid cause to die heroically for. Just like the Sufferer. Attempting to protect John from his best friend in some dingy little bedroom in a lab on a fucking meteor in the middle of nowhere was probably not especially heroic, but no one could deny that sacrifice for love always was. And really… Karkat was flushed for this absolutely idiotic, freaking oblivious human, even if he was currently glaring at him as though this was all his fault.
"Karkat…" John began, before moaning slightly and arching his back as Dave dug his fingers into his hips and thrust harder into him, abusing his prostate. God damn that Strider for getting John to make sounds like that. "I don't want him to hurt you," John finished, recoiling from Dave who tried to grab his mouth in attempt to silence him.
"Unfortunately, John, that's kind of an unavoidable outcome… or did you miss the part that I plan to kill him?" future Dave said as he pushed Karkat back against the bed, one hand gripping his chin tightly. His other hand was still dripping blood and he looked pretty irate. "Shall I take an eye for an eye?" he growled, frowning slightly. His sword hovered over Karkat, as though he was deciding which part of him to injure. A hand for a hand perhaps?
"No!" John interrupted, "Please, punish me instead…" the Heir pleaded, watching the pair with distress, completely forgetting his own suffering. That stupid…
Wrenching his head away from Dave, Karkat yelled back at John, a fury in his voice as though he held John personally accountable for all of this. "Quit trying to protect me, fuckass! I don't want your pity!"
At this, John flinched. The point here wasn't to punish him, and yet… he seemed like he was suffering worse than any of them, if only because he was far more of an open book than Karkat was… and incredibly caring when it came to his friends.
"Ah, poor John. Does it hurt? Maybe I can help you by cutting out that pesky heart…" Future Dave said, his voice silky smooth as he rose from Karkat and, in a flash of metal, buried his sword in John's chest.
Gasping breathlessly, the Heir stared at the sword protruding from his torso. For once speechless, Karkat stared blankly, his mouth hanging agape.
Future Dave pulled the sword back from John's chest, freeing the blood to bubble after it like a natural spring of death. "You know I don't like to be ignored," he scolded as he wiped his blade off on the edge of the bed.
"Hgk…" John started coughing after a few seconds. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. The sword must have punctured his wind pipe or perhaps a lung. Red began to stain the bedsheets beneath John, blooming beneath him like the beautiful fatal flower. The human's hands clenched and unclenched above his head before they began to go limp and it didn't take long for John to pale, turning far whiter than Karkat would have thought possible.
"No, please, no… Hang in there, John," Karkat whispered, completely ignoring the two Daves, who seemed to be getting into some sort of argument at the foot of John's bed. But hopefully… John's death couldn't be heroic, could it? No way. And no chance that it was just. No point in even fucking thinking about that. John, stupid asshat that he was, could never do anything that would deserve a just death.
"Please," Karkat whispered, wishing he could just gnaw his fucking wrists off or something if it would let him get to John. The Heir would be revived. No doubt about it, right? But… that didn't make it any less difficult to watch. "Strider, you monster," Karkat growled as John's body slowly drained of its life fluid. At best, the Heir had a few minutes of unconsciousness left before death, but even Kanaya wouldn't be able to save him from a wound like that in such a short time.
Dave walked forward and ran his hand over John's blood slicked chest. Going to Karkat, he traced one bloody finger along Karkat's bottom lip. "Hurt me, I hurt you. For all your royal fucking posturing, you sure don't learn very quickly."
Resisting the urge to bite Dave's finger right off of his hand, Karkat averted his eyes. That was when he noticed that future Dave was no longer there. Maybe it had to do with whatever he and Dave had been arguing about or maybe it was the bite wound? Karkat was sure he hadn't bitten any bones, but he'd probably gouged the muscles. Maybe Strider wouldn't be able to spin discs anymore. Would serve him right.
"Just kill me, will you? What's the point of all this bullshit? John doesn't deserve any of it. He never did anything to you," Karkat said, still staring away from both Dave and John.
"You already know the point. You love him, don't you? No use in denying it… it's obvious. I've known for a while now. I don't get all that much enjoyment from hurting him, but it really is the best way to hurt you…" Dave said, stroking Karkat's cheek lightly before he leaned in to press their lips together. Twisting his head away, Karkat glared daggers at Dave who only smirked and licked the blood off of his lips.
The way he was acting… this was definitely some twisted form of kismesis. Had Dave actually waxed black for him or was he just teasing him? Maybe he was jealous of Karkat's flushed feelings for John? Whatever he was doing, whatever he had learned about kismeses, he was taking things way too far. "You know you can only have one kismesis," Karkat teased, earning him a scowl from Dave.
"I don't want any of your troll romance quadrant bullshit. This isn't some blackrom and I'm not interested in either you or John. I don't have any 'concupiscent' feelings toward either of you," he countered, to which Karkat smirked. He was sounding awfully defensive for someone who wasn't interested. Way too knowledgeable about concupiscent pairings for an ignorant human...
"And who is it that thinks fucking is the most effective way to punish me then?" The troll had a knowing and condescending expression that he knew would royally piss off the human. Maybe he was pushing his luck, but on the flip side perhaps this would be the most effective way to free John. Clearly Dave just wanted attention and if Karkat could somehow satisfy him, he wouldn't have to get his kicks from hurting John anymore.
Either that or he would end up enraging Dave to the point that he would figure out a way to permanently kill John. It was a fine line he was treading.
"You just never learn, do you? Or maybe you're just more selfish than I thought. Do you even care about his suffering?" Dave asked with a scowl, as though he was one to talk about caring for John.
"To be honest," Karkat replied, glaring at his own reflection in Dave's stupid sunglasses. "I don't care about any of you fucking humans. We were planning to murder all of you humans once we got to the Earth and take it over as the new Alternia. Maybe you don't know much about troll history, but we sort of have this thing where we go to new worlds, kill off all of the inhabitants, and take over the planet. Mass genocide is kind of our specialty." All the while he spoke, Karkat kept his face straight and emotionless, lest Dave sense that he was lying. It didn't hurt that the story was mostly true anyway – Feferi's ancestor had made a point of conquering as many worlds as possible, slaying all of the inhabitants as she and her imperial army swept through.
Dave stared at him for a moment after he stopped speaking and then sat back, letting go of his chin. "You're more terrible than I thought," the human admitted. "But thank you for removing any doubt from my mind as to what has to be done. I'm sure John feels differently about you now, too."
Karkat half expected Dave to smirk, teasing him yet again, but he was serious and somber this time as he stared over at the other bed. Swallowing thickly, Karkat let his gaze drift to the other bed where John had revived during their little exchange and was staring at him with wide blue eyes. As always, John's emotions were displayed prominently on his face, but Karkat hated what he saw there now.
Blatant betrayal.
Hi again everyone! Thank you for all of the reviews. They were really nice. I love hearing from you guys. As always, please review, especially if you have questions or suggestions.
Once again, I will respond to you all in return for your reviews. ^^
VioletJay:
I wouldn't want you to die! Don't worry, though. I have a lot planned ahead (and probably a good portion of the next two chapters already written) so I'm not too worried about this not being completed.
Wub a Dub Dub:
Dave got his satisfaction. Dammit. Well, he'll probably get karmic retribution eventually. Right? Also, I hope the time travel thing isn't too confusing. Future Dave is gone for now, but he'll be back. If anything does seem too confusing though, you should let me know so I can clarify it in the story though. :)
Gazate Vantas:
Hehe. I enjoy your reviews so much. xD Hope this chapter was all you wanted it to be. I'm looking forward to the next one, though (or maybe the one after that), because they will soon be leaving the bedroom! How? Stay tuned!
Once more, thanks everyone and I will see you in the next chapter!
