It was the next morning that Karkat came to again.

The police were the first ones to go see him. Afterwords, everyone urged Gamzee to go visit him. He refused and stayed put, so they gave up and sent Sollux back there. He let himself into his friend's room and pulled up a chair next to the bed.

"Hey, kk. How are you feeling?"

"Like death. I feel like death."

"Well, with how things are going, I don't doubt that."

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"A couple weeks."

"There's no way I'm going to stay here that long."

"Karkat, you have to."

"Is he here, too?"

"Yes."

"That's it, I'm leaving."

He began to get out of bed, Sollux watched nervously as Karkat got to his feet. Karkat made a loud, pained sound in his throat almost as soon as he stood up, causing Sollux to rush to his side. He got there in time to steady the other when his knees started to buckle underneath him.

"Karkat! You need to rest!" Sollux lectured. He gazed down at the smaller boy, frowning when he saw that his head was bowed and his arms were wrapped over his chest. He was starting to shake.

"It hurts, Sollux."

"I know."

"It hurts so much."

Sollux knelt down in front of Karkat. That's when he saw the tears streaming down Karkat's cheeks. He gently grabbed the boy's wrists and peered up at him.

"Can I see?"

Karat nodded and allowed his arms to be pulled away. Sollux carefully pushed the hospital gown upwards, but still got a small whimper from the boy. He had to blink back tears when he saw the wounds. Large, dark bruises most of the area that was previously covered by the gown, and the cut on his chest had started oozing blood again in spots. It made him angry. An almost homicidal rage bubbled up in his chest. It blinded him, so much so that he didn't notice when Karkat began crying for him to stop. He finally snapped out of it when he felt Karkat's nails digging into his shoulders.

He looked up at his friend, who was currently shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. Karkat's face was almost paper-white. At this point, the crying had turned into violent sobbing.

"Sollux, stop. Please!"

Sollux looked down at his hands. He had Karkat in a vice-like grip right where his ribcage came to an end. Right where there were a couple of especially painful looking bruises. Sollux immediately dropped his hands, disgusted with himself.

"Holy shit. Karkat, I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"I know, I know. I remember..."

"Are you okay?"

"If I said yes I'd be lying and you know that."

"You should lay back down."

"No, fuck that noise."

"God damn it, Karkat! You need to rest so you can get better."

"I can rest and get better somewhere that's preferably far away from this God forsaken place and the asshole lurking somewhere in it."

"Karkat, I don't want to hurt you again, but it might end up happening if I have to force you to lay down."

"It's not like it fucking matters! Even breathing hurts thanks to that bulgelicking douchenozzle. I don't want to be anywhere near him. He ruined my life!"

"Karkat, you know what's going to happen, right?"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" He blared, lifting his head and staring at Sollux.

"You may not want to, but you need to! He wants to press charges on Gamzee, and he'll probably try to make sure you're in his custody again. You're not quite eighteen yet, Karkat! We were lucky enough to get you away from him the first time, and Roxy was nice enough to sign the lease on your house so you could live there. We helped you graduate early. We did everything we could to get you started on a life without having to go into witness protection or into some fucking adoption agency. Like hell we're going to let him take you again."

"They're not going to listen to us! We aren't going to win this!"

"Karkat-"

"WE'RE JUST A BUNCH OF FUCKING KIDS, SOLLUX!"

"I know, but-"

"WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST GIVE UP NOW!"

"Karkat! Shut the fuck up for a second!"

"Whatever you're going to say won't make a difference," he sighed, crossing his arms, "but go ahead."

"We're going to pool our money and get the best lawyer we can. We aren't going down without a fight, kk. I told you before, you aren't alone."

Karkat couldn't help the small smile that spread across his lips. Sollux smiled back, reaching out and ruffling the smaller boy's hair.

"Do you feel a little better now?" He asked. Karkat nodded. "Good. Now rest up."