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(Tavros' POV)
"Ne-ne-n-nep-nepeta...? Wh-what...?"
Her facial expression showed nothing. No emotion. No feeling.
Or so I assumed.
She took a step, leaving a track of blood on the floor. Then another. And another.
"A-a-ahh-ehh, Nepe-"
And she dug her heel into the ground as she leapt at me, pulling her short, skinny arms around my neck, as she hugged me back onto the bed. Her hold was extremely tight, and it didn't help that I had no clue what was going on.
"U-ummm...?"
She pulled back from me, her legs split over my chest, knees resting on the soft folds on blankets around me. She reached out and grabbed my shirt, pulling me up and shaking me back and forth.
"Taaavrrros! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?! I'm just glad he's okay! But for you, the shock must be...!"
He?
Shock?
She's sorry?!
For what?
"Nep-pe-pe-petaa-a-a you ca-a-an sto-stop sha-aking me now-w!"
She ceased her shaking, and let go of my shirt, dropping me against the wall.
"Oh no! I've gotten his blood all over your shirt!" I'm really sorry, Tavros!"
"H-huh? Nepeta, what are you talking about? I-is someone hurt?"
She blinked, looking stunned.
"E-ehh? Wait... are you trying to tell me that you don't know yet?"
Suddenly I was tired of this little game she was trying to play, or whatever she was doing. I grabbed her by the sleeves of her rumpled dress shirt, and pulled her up to my face.
"Nepeta. Tell me what's happening. I need to know what's going on. Does this have anything to do with Gamzee?"
Her look hardened, and all of the sudden my hands received painful swats from her, and she leapt backwards nimbly, landing on the ground without a sound.
"Tavros. I like you. But, right now, I'm warning you. Don't touch me, please."
She stared at me for a moment, then shuffled her feet awkwardly, and she tugged at her plaid skirt nervously.
"About the blood... and everything... Well... You see... I was walking back to my room on the fifth floor just now, and... I-I found Gamzee in there... He was covered in blood and all this purple stuff... And he was lying on my bed, and I- I thought he was unconscious, so I went to get him, but he turned around with this really weird look in his eyes, and he seemed kind of senile, so I... I just kind of..."
She made a little chopping action with her hand in midair, then let her hand drop to her side.
My eyes were wide, and breaths rapid, short. I didn't believe what was happening...!
Gamzee...! Bloody, insane, in Nepeta's room? What's going on?!
She looked guilty at this point, and her gaze tilted to the floor.
"I... I kind of knocked him out... So I dragged him down to the nurse's office... And he hasn't woken up yet... I- I thought that someone had told you, so... I kind of came to apologize..."
She looked up again, and my stomach lurched as I saw that she had tears in her bright mocha eyes. She was blaming herself, wasn't she...? I couldn't stand it when people blamed themselves for choices they had made, and things they had done...
It wasn't their fault...!
"Tavros... Are you mad at me...? I'm so sorry! Please..."
I took a step towards her, and she flinched back.
"Don't touch me!"
My eyes widened, and I stayed in my spot briefly.
What had happened to her...? Why was she acting like this...? Poor, poor Nepeta...
I came closer to her, letting my emotions show in my eyes, wanting her to know I felt pity for her.
She flinched again, and drew back against the wall.
"I said don't fucking touch me!"
A slash was delivered to my chest, and I only smiled darkly as the pain seeped into my consciousness. A weak blow like that only brought me humor, pleasure. It wouldn't affect me. It never did.
She looked extremely intimidated as I confronted her, and the look in my gaze never wavered.
"Nepeta... I'm sorry."
I extended my arms and wrapped them around her body, crushing her to me, and I rested my head on her shoulder. I let my warmth, my comfort seep into her, letting her know her position as the one being comforted.
I heard a sob, and her arms slid around me as she shook horribly.
"Ta-a-a-aavvro-s-s! Y-you! I'm so sorry, so sor-sorry for hur-rting you!"
I smiled, genuinely. So many people... So many people needed just the comfort of another person to know that they weren't alone in this world... So many people were hurt, their souls in agony from the pain that the world could deliver. So many broken people, so many people who hurt because they themselves were hurt. So many people that didn't care what happened to them. So many people with problems... All gathered here, in this concentration of hell on earth. And what no one understood, what none of the staff could ever fathom, was that every single person here, especially those that didn't want affection, just needed exactly that to fix them. Not pills, not treatments.
Just love.
And Gamzee needed that, most of all.
Planting a firm kiss to Nepeta's forehead, I looked at her blushing face and smiled.
"I'm sorry, Nepeta. But Gamzee needs me more than anyone. Please don't forget that you are one of my friends, and you can always come to me, no matter what. You aren't alone anymore, Nepeta. Because... you have me!"
Tears came streaming down her cheeks, and she grinned finally, then shoved me away from her.
"Get out the door, Tavros. All this sappy talking is making me pawsitively sick! Now go to Gamzee, ya' dummy!"
I grinned back, then ran out the door.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~
I found my way down to the nurse's office on the second floor, to find a nurse of some sort and Mr. Ampora surrounding a steel bed lined with paper in the left corner.
As I entered, Ampora turned, and walked towards me, looking w[w]orried.
"Tavros! I just sent somwwone up to wwarn you about wwhat just happened to your friend! How did that go? Are you doing alright?"
I nodded.
"Mmhn. Yeah, I'm fine. What about...?"
Ampora and I turned out gazes to the bed where Gamzee lay.
What I saw filled me with dread and... exhilaration.
Gamzee was lying on the steel bed, brows furrowed, muscles clenched extremely tight, even as he was unconscious. Some sort of a purple substance covered his entire shirt, and deep, long gashes in his chest had slashed through his black shirt revealing other scars, smaller, but much more numerous, ones I had seen upon overwhelming curiosity and a slight change of mind, also called a bad idea.
Curiously, the actual blood was further down, more on his pants, and on his neck and shoulders.
The purple was concentrated around his wound, and it almost seemed as if it were his real blood.
His matted black hair stuck to his forehead and perspiration was on his forehead and arms. His white and gray makeup was slightly smeared with even more blood.
I felt a rush of nausea, and I hit the ground, feeling almost as if I would throw up right then and there.
Gamzee...!
Ampora stirred above me.
"Tavros! Are you okay? Wwhat happened? Do you feel unwwell?"
I tried to tell him that I was fine, then started coughing dryly, shuddering onto the cold tile.
Clacking on the ground suggested that the nurse had moved to check on me. The black high heels stopped, and a hand (larger than I would have expected) rested on my back, checking my pulse, or something.
And then, the voice.
A male voice called.
"Yeah, he's okay. But you'll have to give him a second for his lungs to clear up. Mostly, I'd guess it's shock. But he'll be fine, no need to wworry, Eridan."
I heard a stifled laugh from above me, and I could feel Mr. Ampora's irritation in the air.
"Diiirk! Shut the hell up! That's not even that funny, and you knoww it!"
Eyes watering, and morbidly confused as to why the nurse was a male, I turned to find a man in a woman's dress, and I just about choked again.
A grinning man with black, pointed shades positioned under light blonde hair that stuck out to the side stood, looking devilishly cool. He had a sort of a don't-fuck-with-me-but-I'm-still-kind-of-a-fun-guy air to him and had his arms crossed, fingerless, black leather gloves on his hands with little metal studs. This clashed with his girly fashion sense somewhat well, in an extremely strange and attractive way.
He was wearing a nurse's dress, that stopped mid thigh, with a white turtleneck, and an apron that ruffled around the shoulders, and the shirt sleeves puffed out at the edges and had red lining. The apron was tied firmly around the waist by a silvery, slick-looking white ribbon, and white socks that came up just above his knees were fitted over black converse.
The sight was so bizarre, and so unrealistic, I found myself staring at him, dumbfounded, forgetting Gamzee momentarily.
But my head was cleared as... Dirk, I suppose...? looked down at me, frowning slightly.
"Yeah, what're you lookin' at? You need somethin'? Ehh, anyways, I think your friend'll be okay, he'll just need to stay here for a few days'n then he'll be cool... But how in Derse did he get those wounds...?"
"H-huh...? Derse...? What do you mean, uhh, Mister..."
He looked over, his head balanced on the top of his fist, thumb extended behind his chin.
"Eh? Oh, sorry, slip of the tongue. Heh. And my last name s' Strider, but you can call me Dirk, it's fine. It feels weird to have people call me Mr. Strider. Feels wrong, dunno..."
I smiled.
Heh. I like this guy.
I heard a humph behind me, and I turned to find Vantas looking slightly miffed.
"You're really wweird, you knoww that, don't you, Dirk?"
He turned to me.
"Right, Tavros? Isn't he wweird? Don't wworry, it's just him. If you wwant, though, you can call me Eridan! I wwouldn't mind wwone bit!"
Grinning at me at first, an annoyed expression took his face as Dirk scoffed.
You're calling me wweird, Ampora? You're not really wwone to talk, are ya'? And it's okay if he calls you by your shitty first name? What the hell?"
They continued to belittle each other, and I put a hand to my mouth as I started to giggle. They both turned to me, looking dumbfounded at my amusement.
"E-e-ehh? Tavros, wwhaaa?" Eridan exclaimed as I continued to snicker.
"Yeah, what is it? What'd we do?"
Dirk looked slightly challenging, and this made it even funnier, and after a moment, I inhaled, and began speaking to both of them.
"Haha... Nothing, just... both of you are like overly cute right now... Arguing like typical homosexuals, or something..."
Both of them exclaimed in surprise, and looked horrified.
"Ho-homosexuals?!"
I burst out laughing and managed to get out that I was joking.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~
Trying to find air, trying to find any strength that could only get his fingers away from my neck, trying to chase away the surprise, trying to save any oxygen I could that hadn't already been crushed out of my airway when he had suddenly awoken, attacking me.
Dirk and Eridan work at calming him, getting him to stow away his fury, pull his madness away from his target, Tavros Nitram.
But I can't hold on much longer. And as everything begins to fade, everything also comes back into focus, as his hands lose their will, and they fall from my neck.
His last words before he sleeps againare these:
"I hate you."
I was literally screaming as I finished this oh my godd THAT IMAGE OF DIRK AS A FUCKING NURSE WOULD NOT GET OUT OF MY HEAD AHAHAHAH HOW CUTE
Hehe... Please, pray for Gamzee, once again... I'm just too mean to him~ Maybe some blessings would help his situation...? ( (-^-) )
Annnd, by the way, I do not ship Eridan and Dirk. I don't support any unrealistic pairings, and them as a couple just sounds stupid. I kind of wanted Tavros to tease them for some reason...? 0 w 0 Maybe since both of them are extremely homosexual in the actual Homestuck story...? I love both of them to death, don't get me wrong...!
RE-vieeew, my lovelies~