You are now Dave, and you are glad yet a little surprised by this change. It was like on second no one knew that Karkat was even here, and then next it's like he came back from the dead and they're all celebrating. You can tell Karkat's shocked by this turn of events, and maybe even a little uncomfortable – okay maybe a lot, he seriously does not seem be able to handle this sudden attention. Well, who wouldn't be? Hardly being acknowledged for years, and then suddenly you're surrounded. You decide you should let him alone for a while, since everyone else is doing the bothering for you, but you keep an eye on him. You still don't fully trust him, and you're a little worried as to what will happen when the month ends and he goes back home. Will he try to kill himself again? There's a chance, but you hope he doesn't try, or even think about trying. Will he stop cutting? He's not cutting himself as much as he did during the game, but he still does. You think he makes a few cuts every few months, rather than several cuts every week. You wish he didn't do that. You know how difficult it is to stop.
It's been a day since his attempt at jumping, and you're beginning to wonder if someone had overheard you're conversation in his camper. You're not really sure, since your attention was all on him at the time. For all you know, several people could have been at the door, although, Karkat would have noticed. You're not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Well, it means more people can help him and show that they care and he's not alone, or it might just tick him off, and cause more trouble, as well as make him angry with himself more – and you, he'll definitely be pissed at you.
Terezi, Jade, Feferi, and Eridan all dragged Karkat down to the beach. He didn't want to, but Eridan said, "Come on, Kar, don't be such a downer," in which he retorted, "You can't stop me from being a downer, I'm the king of downers. Do you wish to dethrone me, Eridan, do you?" Admittedly, it was amusing. You know he was trying so hard to hold back a smile then. Nepeta, Equius, Jake, Jane, John, Vriska, Tavros, and Gamzee all went to the beach, and were later followed by Cronus, Porrim, Meenah, Roxy, Dirk, Mituna, and Latula. The rest of you stayed behind. As much as you would love to throw Karkat in the lake and start water gun wars, you decided to lay back and relax.
Okay, that's not really why you decided to stay behind. Rose, is why. Just before the others left, Rose gave a look that could only mean she knows something and wants to talk about it. Hell, maybe it's about Karkat. Maybe she heard your conversation. Oh god, it was her wasn't it. Well, you're glad that mostly everyone is including Karkat again, but still. This is Rose. Who knows what she's got planned. An advantage to this conversation you're about to have with her is that you might just find out why people were shutting out Karkat in the first place.
You are currently sipping at your apple juice, when Rose gestures to you. Reluctantly, you follow her to her camper. You can't help but feel a little nervous; Rose has that effect on you all the time. It's just the look in her eye, like she knows the secrets to the world and will use it to take away all the AJ, and make you suffer. Though, you don't let it show, you never let it show. It gives her the advantage.
Once, you're in your camper, she looks at you expectantly. "Yeah?" That's all you can really say. She might not even be aware of what's going on, and you can't give anything away. No yet, Karkat doesn't want anyone to know yet, and you'll be a good bro and follow his request.
"I know you're aware of Karkat's attempt at suicide." Wow, she got straight to the point. No riddles or cryptic talk here.
"Wow, Rose, it's not very polite to eavesdrop, you know. Honestly, how many times have you told me that on the meteor?"
"I wasn't eavesdropping; I was conversing with Kanaya, while you had your conversation with Karkat." She says simply.
"Wait, then how?"
"John." You raise a brow, and she continues. "He was planning to set up a prank to would blow everyone away, so to speak, and as he was passing by Karkat's camper he overheard." Well, shit. You'd thought he'd still be asleep. But then when it comes to pranks, he'll do what must be done. "After having heard you say, 'you don't have to tell anyone you killed yourself', he gathered us up and told us what apparently was going on."
You stay silent.
"Were you going to tell us any of this?" She asks.
"No, because Karkat doesn't want anyone to know. He'll tell when he's ready to."
"David, this isn't something he can deal with alone,"
"He's not alone," you cut her off. "He has me. And, unlike everyone else who decided to cut him off, I stayed and listened to him rant. I stayed and bothered him back. I stayed and kept being the bro I was. You guys probably don't even know what his life is like now." You can't help it. You feel a rush of anger flow through you, and you're just barely keeping up your cool kid façade.
"I understand that, but we are his friends as well, and we have the right to care for him as much as you do."
"Oh, yeah, and ignoring him was a way of showing you care and that he's still apart of us. Why did you all cut him off anyway? I seriously cannot find any reason why. Is it because he's T-human, cause it's that the reason then that's a double standard. Kankri is T-human and he's not getting ignored."
Rose, looks at you, a little shocked, like you don't know something. Well, obviously, you don't and it's starting to annoy you.
"You don't know?"
"What? What should I know here? That Karkat's crabbier than usual, cause I can handle that."
"You don't know." She states this time. She sighs, and she gains an expression of empathy which, for some reason, seems to bother you more.
"How about you just tell me what I should know." Crap, your apple juice is all gone.
"Dave, when mutant trolls or t-human go through maturation, the likelihood of them surviving it is slim. Kankri and the Signless were very lucky to have survived, but Karkat might not be as much. Karkat might die once maturation starts for him."
What.
You sort of blank out after that. Rose explained to you that they were cutting him off, because they were trying to prevent themselves from hurting to much when–IF he dies. Only they realized, that it wouldn't do anything, they'd still hurt. Especially when John told them about what Karkat had tried to do, they decided they should be supportive friends and make sure he lives his life as long as he can – they had no idea how much they were hurting him by neglecting him.
You understand that, but it didn't change anything of how selfish it was. Honestly, even with this information you'll continue to be Karkat's bro. Of course, if you die here, you won't come back. This isn't Sburb. But even in the game, you didn't think that anyone who died would come back. That's why when everyone found each other it was a giant reunion of feelings.
You're sitting on a bench at a small park. There's no one there, only you, since most people are likely at the beach or at their campsites. You sit here to drown in your thoughts. You forgot to bring your phone with you to play games on in case you didn't want to think anymore, but you'll have to deal.
Karkat's eyes are already a crimson color, so there's not a whole lot of time left before he hits maturation – which could also be classified as the end for him. After having saved him from taking his own life, his own mutation decided to finish the job. And this time there's nothing you can really do other than be a supportive friend.
Why can't you all just have a break from all this painful drama? Why can't you be perfectly happy for once? Why does the universe always have to fuck you all over? And who's the universe going to fuck over next, once it's gotten rid of Karkat? God, sometimes you just hate the universe.
You love Karkat. Everyone loves Karkat. There's just something about him that makes it impossible to not like him. If he goes, everything might go to shit after. Everything would really go to shit if anyone died, but the difference with Karkat is that fact that they cut him off and they'd feel nothing but guilt if he died. If anyone else were to go, it would be heart breaking, but at least there wouldn't be any loose ends. Now, they're going to fix that, and be the friends they should have been before.
You should really stop thinking like it's mainly there fault, because there are plenty of other things that are responsible. For instance, you're pretty sure you could have said some pretty rude things that had no intention of actually hurting Karkat, but with Karkat being himself could have taken it seriously. Also, you are pretty sure that Karkat has put up with bullies during highschool. Just because Canada is considered to be nice place with nice people, doesn't mean there aren't any moronic idiots who think they're better than others there. Another thing is that, he himself didn't really bother to at least try and find out the real reason for everyone cutting him off, instead of coming up with false conclusions. So basically, there are plenty of factors that take part in this situation.
You don't realize how long you've been sitting there until Jade comes and finds you, and then drags you back for supper.
You find that everyone has returned from the beach, and are either helping with the food, dishing themselves up, or already eating. There's a campfire going with beach chairs set around it, some occupied while others remain empty. You dish yourself up and sit in an unoccupied spot next in between John and Karkat.
The two of them were discussing over some movie, whether it was terrible or great, and they try to get you your opinion on the movie. You end up siding with John, because that movie they were talking about – you haven't seen it – sounded terrible.
You converse for the next couple of hours, having a break to make s'mores, and then continuing. You've managed to make Karkat laugh a few times, and break through his grumpy façade, but most of the time he continues to hold back his smile.
You want to see that smile, but he won't show it for you. It's like he knows that's what you want, and plans on making you fight for it. You sure as hell will fight for it.
You will fight for that smile until you have won, or until you die. Whichever comes first.
Sorry for taking so long. Had trouble figuring out where to go with this chapter. Also, sorry if Rose seems out of character. I apologize for any grammar mistakes as well.
There has been some foreshadowing in this chapter, just like there was in the previous. Have fun trying to figure out what it is that i'm foreshadowing (hint: it's not Karkat's undecided death)
-klmj01
