"Wwhy wwouldn't he wwant it, though? Howw wwere wwe supposed to know he didn't?"
"Indeed, someone of such prestige being interested in you is quite an honor."
Karkat's voice replied. "Yeah, save your talk of honor till you see what else they did to him. I doubt even you could find honor in that."
"Why don't you come and look right now?" Gamzee snarled. The crowd turned to face him. He took a deep breath. Everyone was going to find out, might as well get it over with. He reached up, pushed Tinkerbull off his shoulder, and pulled his hood down.
Some of the onlookers gasped. One screamed. Tavros looked shocked. Vriska looked torn between horror and glee. Eridan whimpered and hid behind Equius, who simply stared for a moment, then spoke.
"Gamzee? What did you do?"
Equius' almost-whispered words seemed loud enough to fill the entire cave system. Gamzee tensed, the words burning into his thinkpan. Not "what happened?" What did you do?
"What did I do? What did I do!" His voice slowly raised in volume. "Does this look like something I would just motherfucking do to myself?" Every troll around him backed up, no doubt feeling the rage rolling off of him. Equius looked at him in something akin to surprise.
"Highblood-"
Gamzee growled and advanced, baring the stubs of his fangs. "Don't you dare motherfucking call me that. If I never hear that word again I might get a little motherfucking happy. I asked you a fucking question, does this look like I'd ask for it?" He took a few steps forward so he could reach Equius.
"N-not really," Equius said lamely, backing up slightly and almost tripping over Eridan.
"You wanna know what it was like?" The volume of Gamzee's voice started to slip out of his control, all his focus on keeping himself from simply launching himself at his foes. He took another step forward. "How about I tear your MOTHERFUCKING HORN out of your MOTHERFUCKING SKULL and SHOVE IT up your MOTHERFUCKING SEEDFLAP so you can FIND OUT?"
Tavros blinked, cuddled Tinkerbull, and murmured "Oh, Gamzee…" as realisation hit him. Gamzee didn't notice.
Both Eridan and Equius jumped and proceeded to back up a bit more. Gamzee refused to let them escape this. He could feel his posture lower. Both Equius and Eridan were trying to shrink away from him, but the wall was approaching fast. He would have laughed but he didn't have it in him; instead, a smile found its way onto his lips.
"You wanted," he whispered again, "to serve. THEN I'LL LET YOU SERVE!"
Equius and Eridan ducked around Gamzee and ran for their lives. Gamzee followed them, loping along like a wolf after a pair of rabbits; even after two months in a cell he could keep pace with them, particularly with anger lending him strength. Karkat and Feferi followed him, running flat out, Feferi shouting "Don't kill them! Please don't kill them!", and several other trolls came behind them, either intending to stop Gamzee or not wanting to miss the show. Even now, Equius and Eridan were arguing, their shouts ensuring they were easily tracked.
"Wwhy are you running? I thought you liked pain!"
"I also like being alive to enjoy it! Shut up and run!"
"Look, one punch from him and I'm dowwn, so can't you just distract him or somefin?"
"I refuse to be your meatshield, coward!"
"Wwhy am I the cowward? You're running too!"
"Call it-" A door slammed. "-a strategic withdrawal!"
"Are you scared of me?" Gamzee growled, skidding to a halt, looking at the closet door. Rage built up in him, but something kept him from just shoving it all forward and out of him. His fingers wrapped around the handle. "Tell me, what did you think was going to happen? DID YOU THINK IT WAS GOING TO TURN OUT ALL GOOD?" His stubby claws slid down the door. "I asked for advice, I'm just going to MOTHERFUCKING MAKE YOU DO THE SAME MOTHERFUCKING THING."
"Take it as a compliment! Wwe thought you couldn't possibly be stupid enough not to know!"
"Shut up shut up shut up!"
"Are you sure you can hold that door?"
"Of course I can-"
There was an ominous click, and Equius fell backwards as the door opened to reveal Gamzee, grinning horribly. He placed one foot on Equius' unbroken horn, pinning it to the floor, and looked Eridan in the eye.
"This door opens outwards. WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT ME BEING STUPID, FUCKER?"
Eridan giggled nervously. "Aww, c'mon, Gam, be fair, wwe wwere in a hurry!"
Equius could have thrown Gamzee off easily, but he remained still, gritted his teeth, and growled "Ampora, I platonically despise you for worsening our fate and I sincerely hope he chokes you with your own babbling tongue!"
"Thanks for the suggestion, BUT IT AIN'T GONNA MOTHERFUCKING SAVE YOU." Gamzee fell on them, and the screaming started in earnest.
Tavros looked on nervously, and stuttered "Uhh, shouldn't we be stopping him?"
Karkat smirked. "Why?"
Gamzee kicked Eridan to the side, watching him crumple and clutch his stomach. His hand wrapped around Equius' throat, and he pressed his foot against Eridan's arm. Keeping him pinned, making sure he didn't lose either of them.
Equius was gasping, his hands fighting to move up to Gamzee's hand around his throat. Gamzee's fingers dug in deeper. If he had claws he would be drawing blood, digging in enough to rip out the blueblood's throat. Eridan struggled under his foot and he pressed down.
"You don't get to run off AND MOTHERFUCKING HIDE," he hissed. "You get to watch and feel all this MOTHERFUCKING HAPPEN." Eridan tried to yank away and shimmy out from his grip. Gamzee growled, shoving Equius down to the floor, and he let go of his rage. He could feel both of them freeze, fears sliding around their heads, and he seeped into their hearts. He took the moment of both of them remaining still to pin Eridan by his horn. He could feel how easy it would be to snap the keratin.
Sporadic and excited energy shuddered over his muscles, and he landed a kick on Equius' stomach. The blueblood gasped, taken out of the stupor of fear. He tried to struggle back, and Gamzee grabbed him by the hair.
"Don't you motherfucking like kneeling? Don't stop now, YOU'RE DOING SO MOTHERFUCKING WELL." He yanked him forward. Equius' balance was shaky at best, and he fell. Right into another hit. "I am going to break THE REST OF YOUR MOTHERFUCKING TEETH," he hissed, leaning down, pressing his foot harder against Eridan. The violetblood screamed. "And I'm going to break open your horn, AND MAKE YOU SUCK OUT THE INSIDES."
The gathering crowd watched in mixed horror and awe as the strongest troll hatched in centuries took a thorough beating at the hands of an unarmed, half-starved sopor addict. A bronzeblood with broken horns waved her fists and started to shout "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and several others took the chant up. Equius tried to free himself, his reverence for higher blood battling with his desire to live and losing, but he was hampered by his attempts not to cause Gamzee serious harm; he was aware Karkat was watching, and upsetting Karkat in front of the Sufferists would not bode well. Eridan kept up a backdrop of sobs and whimpers of "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!"
Finally Karkat stepped forward and yelled "STOP!"
Gamzee paused in his attempts to throttle Equius with his own hair, faced Karkat, and roared with anger. The crowd backed away, going for their weapons. Few had seen a subjugglator in battle rage before, and Gamzee was deep in wrath, only made more terrifying by his scars and sickly features. Chucklevoodoos blazed, terror flaring in the watchers as the light seemed to flicker and faint ghost images surrounded him; if they'd been in any condition to notice, the watchers may have thought it was odd that the ghostly figures seemed to be trying to hold Gamzee back. The deep roar echoed through the caverns, shaking dust from the ceiling, as the crowd watched the tiny mutant face the storm.
"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!"
Gamzee raised a hand and swung it, but Karkat ducked under it and rested his own hand on Gamzee's shoulder. Slowly, he raised it, and brought it back down with a pap.
"Shoosh. Shooooosh."
Gamzee froze, unsure whether he wanted to throw Karkat's hand off himself. The gesture was pale, very pale, and that kind of thing was what had got him into this mess, but at the same time he craved the affection. Gamzee growled again, lunging at Karkat, something yanking him back and making him stumble forward enough to miss. Karkat, eyes squeezed closed as if expecting a blow, raised his hand again and slid it along Gamzee's cheek, avoiding the cuts.
"Shoosh," he said again, softly. Rage shook in Gamzee's muscles, trying to avoid being evicted. Another pap and slide along his chest. He shivered; both trolls he wanted to hurt were crawling away. He went to turn and there was another touch along his cheek.
His muscles relaxed against his will, his body shuddered. Rage dissipating slowly, but leaving him in the cold. Calmed under pale affection, his rage bubbled but another well timed shoosh stopped him from doing more than just letting out a little honk. Another pap and he went slack, the room making more sense to the onlookers. No longer clouded in darkness and fear.
"Gamzee?" Karkat tried. The purpleblood, partially leaning against him, let out a little honk. "Are you done?" Another little honk. A teal-blooded onlooker stepped forward. "Don't you even fucking start," Karkat told him, and he backed off.
Karkat helped Gamzee to the floor. It was overwhelming, the need to get him calm and keep him that way, despite Karkat's mind being fogged by the fear attack Gamzee had managed earlier. The purpleblooded troll was like an overgrown doll, going slack and just letting himself be moved. Karkat looked over to Equius and Eridan, who were still in the tiny storage room they had tried to lock themselves in, both of them pressed against the far wall and nursing wounds.
"Look, Gamzee, I appreciate you're mad at them, but if you hurt them any more, you risk killing them. Our medical team is surprisingly good, but our supplies are utter shit, so we might not be able to do anything if you hurt them too badly. I admit I think this whole thing about universal peace and love is hoofbeastshit, but I agree with Me Mark One on one thing, and that is that I will have no killing here. We left conscription to escape death, I'm not having it follow us!" Karkat scowled in the direction of the two wounded trolls, and added "Besides, if you kill them now you can't beat them up again later."
"Hey, that wwas uncalled for!" Eridan protested.
Karkat whirled on him and hissed, softly enough for the crowd not to catch the words, "Shut up, you treacherous bucketslut! Next time, pail your own fucking mentor. Vriska told me you already did everyone else on your ship! Is that the only way you could convince them not to cull you for being the most annoying thing that ever lived?" He whirled on Equius. "And you, you might happily cut your own head off if someone ordered you to, but maybe instead you should try using the fucking thing!" Karkat sighed and looked at the two with contempt, resuming a normal speaking tone. "And, for the record, if you piss Gamzee off or hurt him in any way again and make this worse, I'm taking the shuttle and personally handing you over to Her Imperious Bitchness with shiny Twelfth Perigee's Eve bows on your horns."
"Howw wwere wwe supposed to knoww?" Eridan muttered. "It's not our fault he didn't realize wwhat was going to happen."
Equius made a nudging gesture in Eridan's direction, careful not to actually connect for risk of injuring him. "Ampora, remember I told you to shut up?"
"Equ, I'm serious, howw wwere wwe supposed to knoww?" Gamzee growled against Karkat's shoulder. The smaller troll patted his back to make sure that the growl didn't turn into another fight.
"Listen, everyone, we are going to go to sleep. Then we are going to wake up and not let there be another fight, do you understand?" There was a murmur from the watching crowd. "I asked if everyone understood," Karkat growled. The crowd thinned out. The onlookers were soon gone, leaving the few trolls who Karkat mostly considered friends.
Equius looked up at Terezi, hoping a fellow blue-blood, even a teal, would understand. From the way she frowned, he guessed quickly that he was wrong.
"Equius, we need to find Nepeta and Aradia and tell them what happened - everything, not just the fight - and we need to tell them right now." She reached out and offered a hand, mostly a symbolic gesture as she wasn't strong enough to actually pull him up. "I think it's better they hear it from you rather than just picking up rumours, and I'd better be there when you tell Aradia. Come on, I think they're feeding their lusii at the moment."
Equius hauled himself to his feet and followed Terezi, leaving Eridan alone. Feferi stood over the other sea-troll, an expression of shocked disapproval on her face.
"Fef!" he said hopefully. "I'm so glad to see-"
She grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him upright, and punched him in the gut hard enough to knock him down again. Eridan collapsed, gasping and clutching his body, tears rising in his eyes. He looked back up at her.
"So wwhat, wwe're flippin' back to black this wweek?"
"Eridan." Feferi shook her head, backing away. "You're insufferable, I don't want to see you."
"Fef. I- but Fef. Wwait." Eridan tried to scramble up to his feet to follow the quickly-leaving Heiress. He managed to stumble after her fast enough to catch her. "Fef?" He wrapped his hand around her wrist.
"Go away, just go away." She yanked her hand away, turning to leave. Eridan stood there, his hand still where she had shaken it off.