A/N: Updates will hopefully be more speedy, but the quality and in-depthness might suffer. And I'll be in a rush to finally finish up this whole darn thing, just to let you know.
OR I COULD DROP IT RIGHT NOW. Absence of reader feedback makes me wonder if anyone would miss it. :) But I hate it when authors abandon really good fics, and don't want to do that to myself and my readers. So I think I'll try to reach the end. We'll see how it goes.
Karkat: Suddenly understand everything. ===+
"No one wwill be able to doubt my skills wwhen..."
The wwizard was a fake.
"I told you that he had enough power, Eridan. I knew he would do it…"
The Headmistress was his Empress.
'The best strategy for unitin' people…is to givve them somethin' to unite against.'
The lusii were being silenced.
'Let the past rest in the past, and look towward a hopeful future.'
The wwizard was their enemy and had been all along.
No matter how frantic and fast he ran, Karkat couldn't escape the pain. It couldn't be true. It shouldn't be true. This was worse than any chucklevoodo nightmare brought to life and he couldn't believe it was fucking true, dammit. But it was, it was, with each beat of his mutated heart pulsing in his ears and through his brain, with each ragged sob, Karkat knew that it was.
The wwizard, Eridan, had said so right to his face. Literally looked straight into Karkat's eyes with his own stone cold violet ones and admitted to everything. Karkat had seen no softness, no doubt hidden there. There had been no trace of a guilty conscience for his deeds. Eridan's belief in his battle plan for Oz was fueled by reasoning as heartless and analytical as the machines he relied on.
What had happened back there? For a few minutes Karkat's pathetic, cursed life had been complete. The wwizard had offered him a place in his care. A sea dweller with one of the highest blood colors openly recognized his skill and praised him. He had even known the encouragement of a friend. And then the lusii's transformation had exposed their true characters like drawing back a thick curtain. Those poor, poor lusii… and the sick joy of Eridan and Feferi.
Everything had gone from so good to so wrong in so little time. He had run.
It was wrong, it was wrong, it was all so wrong! Karkat's foodsack twisted with a red-hot mixture of bitterness and rage. Tears of deep regret seared his eyes shut to block out what they had seen. He had known anger many, many times but never had his fury been interwoven so closely with sadness. A singly question ripped through his head: "Why?" The word pounded through his body and mind, striking as heavily and regularly as a hammer and yet never losing strength. Why, dammit why, goddamn it WHY? Karkat felt wounded right down to his soul despite not having suffered even a single scratch.
His dreams had all burst right before his eyes like a glass balloon. For most of his life Karkat had been sure that the wizard would help him and be his savior from a life of ridicule and persecution. Karkat just had to prove that he was more than a walking mistake of nature. Once he did that then he would be worthy. The wizard would be his reward for all the times he had apologized for being hatched. The wizard would be able to fix everything. Karkat had known that he could. Karkat had believed the wizard could do anything. The wizard was…he was…he was supposed to…
Karkat choked on what might have been a sob. The wwizard was a fake.
The mutant troll raced through the bone white palace halls. His eyes scanned for side routes and alternate pathways. He had to get out of this place! He couldn't stay any longer, knowing what he did now and with the wwizard himself as an opponent. At least Karkat thought he was getting farther away from the wwizard's hivveblock. Maybe.
"Fuck!" Karkat exclaimed as he pounded on the doors to a dead end. There were a flight of stairs to his right but they lead upwards and not onwards. He had already made two completely blind decisions between intersecting hallways. Where was the grubshitting exit? Karkat almost imagined the wwizard using his Aspect to disappear-ify all the ways to escape, but remembered that Eridan had not a single shred of those powers. It all hurt again.
"Karkat!" A voice made the troll jump. Karkat dashed over to the staircase with the speed of a deserter and began to ascend.
"It's me! Don't run, I want to help-" John's voice finished behind him.
On the staircase Karkat clenched his mouth tightly shut to avoid screaming out his panic and frustration. Especially here, he couldn't risk releasing a Vast Expletive. But how could they all—himself and the people he knew included—have been fooled so easily? Eridan and Feferi appeared to have everything under their control. Eridan truly was the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings of Oz from behind his fireworks and manufactured magic. And Feferi…Karkat didn't even want to imagine what she would do as Empress.
How could people live like this? Anger blazed inside him again like the battle cry of a beast. Feelings of wrath began to take shape against this world, this hiveblock, and this city where it was all allowed to happen.
The Ruby Cityhub was not a paradise. It was built upon lies and deception! Karkat was currently inside one of the major cogs in the wwizard's machine—the biggest part of his terrible mask. The noticeable absence of lusii within the city now made horrifying sense. The people pranced about in their vain fashions and absurd vehicles, happy because they knew their city was free from worthless, inhuman lusii. And maybe carapaces too. Trolls and humans felt great pride in their successful interspecies city, but prejudice was still alive and cruel. It remained in their society, with the wwizard both fueling and directing such actions.
The Ruby Cityhub was enchanting at its surface but this red apple was rotten to the core. Fakey-fake-fake, as his sister always liked to say. If Karkat managed to escape from this place alive he knew that things would be different. He couldn't possibly keep silent about what had happened.
But at the moment Karkat was lost, stunned and alone, perhaps being chased by all the forces at the 'wizard''s command. The world around him that once seemed so stable now shifted and spun. Even Karkat's environment seemed to be twisting and breaking down around him, falling away to reveal the ugly truth hidden underneath. Everything within sight appeared painfully different to his peepholes.
At last he came to a door, burst through it, and stood panting inside of some simple, dimly-lit room. Karkat leaned back against the wall and waited for his head to stop thinking.
The wwizard had promised to help them with all his power. But his true power was nothing.
Karkat and John: Now look at what you've done. ===+
Karkat soon became aware of someone shuffling around outside the door. A puff of air ghosted underneath the barrier, blowing past Karkat's feet. "Just open the bilgebarfing door, dickhat," Karkat sighed. "I didn't lock it."
The breeze dissapated. For a moment all was quiet. Then the door slowly swung open. Timidly, John's head poked into view. "…Oh," he said.
The human moved into the dark room and shut the door behind him. "Hang on, I'll just lock it behind us," John muttered. Once he had set the lock he looked over to Karkat. His blue eyes brimmed with concern.
"Karkat…are you okay?" John asked. The troll turned away and refused to look at him.
"Well, I mean, obviously you're not, but…Goodness I just wanted to help," he explained. "At least the Breeze was able to trace your path for me."
John looked towards the black edges of the room and frowned. "We've got to get you out of here," he declared, suddenly all-business. He walked further into the room and peered ahead. "That guy sent the guards after you, Karkat. Do you know how serious that is? You are literally becoming a criminal within minutes of meeting the Wwizard of Oz. And then there's also the sorcery stuff, and book-stealing, and then running away..." He shrugged. "Well, that didn't look good."
John's remarks were probably meant to be compassionate, but Karkat was practically a powder keg.
"Shut up!" came the explosion. "Just shut the fuck up, John! You know why I had to do those things. You saw what happened. Didn't you fucking hear what he said about Oz? I couldn't stay there after all the shit they spewed about 'hope' and 'progress' out of their slimy chewholes at us with a mutated lusus right in front of them. And you shouldn't have either!" He snarled. "There's more important things out there to wet our diapers over than someone's oh-so-precious reputation."
"Hey, I ran after you!" John said, hurt. "I excused myself from the wwizard in a very rude manner and rushed off because I didn't want something terrible to happen to you. If that-"
"Whatever," Karkat snapped. He actually didn't want to argue with John. He didn't need another person angry at him. Karkat took a moment to take a breath and said, "Let's just go."
He strode off. John followed behind him, although clearly still resentful. "I think we're almost out-" Karkat said.
…and then came face-to-slab with a solid concrete wall.
It took a moment for his think pan to process this information. Karkat held a two-second staring contest with the gray surface before finally comprehending. "No way," he muttered.
Karkat turned his head from side to side. His crimson eyes flicked over the smooth expanse, scanning for something, anything that was noteworthy. When nothing was found Karkat leaned over to look into the corners. He was still trying to cling on to a tattered shred of hope, but his eyes pierced clearly through the darkness and saw no clever secrets.
"You're shitting me." Karkat slapped both hands to the wall and began to feel around. There had to be a lever here somewhere or a button to push. His groping became more frantic, getting desperate for maybe a doorknob instead. "You're shitting me," Karkat repeated.
There were no more stairs.
"There has got to be a way forward. We can't go back the way we came!" The initial shock of realization was starting to buzz into an overwhelming sense of panic.
"Oh no no no…" John groaned. He began to copy Karkat in searching the wall and examining all four corners. But there was no further path. They were stuck at a possibly very literal dead end. "The guards are gonna catch us. Karkat this is all your fault!"
"I WILL HATE A HOLE RIGHT THROUGH THIS WALL IF I HAVE TO," the troll bellowed. He pounded on the wall with one red fist.
"I told you not run this way," John moaned. "I warned you about the stairs. I told you, man!"
He continued to shout at the troll while Karkat rushed back over to the door and began to block it with heavy equipment. "If you had just stayed calm then we wouldn't be in this mess! Look at your life, these are your choices!"
I hope you're happy,
I hope you're happy now,
I hope you're thrilled now that you've,
Fucked your cause up over,
Forever and forever,
"I hope you're happy!" Karkat snapped back. He whipped around and stomped in John's direction. "I hope you're happy too."
I hope you're proud of how you'd,
Choose your own ambition,
Above others' suffer-tation,
Karkat gestured emphatically towards the door. "I mean, what was that back there? 'Thank you Mister Wizard'? Oh, 'Thank you dear mister wwizard for BEING A MASSIVE FUCKING TOOL IN DISGUISE, MAY I JOIN YOUR EVIL LEAGUE OF DOUCHEBAGGERY'? Would you actually have agreed to follow him if I hadn't absconded the fuck out of there?" asked Karkat. "You're as big a fakey-fake nice guy as he is!"
The two boy's already damaged nerves broke again. Within seconds they were shouting over each other, accusations and defenses hurling back and forth.
Although I can't imagine how!
I hope you're happy,
Right…now
All of these "I hope you-" insults were making Karkat's eyes burn with emotion-droplets. It reminded him of the wwizard's bullshit claims about bringing hope for "all" of Oz. Hah! He was more like a destroyer of hope.
Feferi: Seek the mutant. ===+
But Karkat and John's fighting was soon interrupted.
A strong psychic wave pulsed through the room, bringing a vision to the front of their brains and words to their head. It was the Empress.
'Trolls and humans of Oz," she announced over the psychic broadcast. Her pink eyes were as hardened and focused as those of a predator. 'Something horrend-ible has happened. A mutant troll has betrayed the wwizard's trust. He invaded our Ruby Cityhub and used illegal sorcery to harm numerous innocents. Look!' The vision blurred and refocused upon a dozen bull lusii with gossamer wings. They twitched pitifully on the ground and moaned in distress.
'Sea what the mutant has done to these poor, gentle lusii!' The Empress reappeared. She was using her more formal voice for this, but behind her act of concern was a subtle gleam of confidence. Karkat would not last long with all of the lands after him.
'He has declared himself anemone of the wwizard, and threatens both you and your hive! Our society must protect itself against this crimson cancer. His repulsive red skin and horns are the mark of a corrupt soul. Everything that he says is a lie as hideous as his own face! We must all seek to eliminate this enemy. This distortion,' Her voice curdled like sour milk.
'This…abomination,' she shuddered. 'This…WICKED MUTANT!' The last words were shouted loud enough to split their heads it seemed, and echoed long after the wave had passed.
It was enough to halt even their heated argument. Karkat and John were both silent in the wake of Feferi's mental attack.
John could only imagine how horrid, how unspeakably painful it must have been for Karkat to hear. Feferi had never used words like those when she acted as their Headmistress. But now that was just a tainted memory in their past. And to call someone Wicked…it stung John's heart to hear such a despicable insult. Plus, that had been a large-scale public psychic broadcast. Almost everyone in Oz would have heard it.
John snuck a sideways look at Karkat to judge the troll's mood. He was silent and still, like a mountain after enduring a vicious storm. Wow. John was starting to feel terrible for blowing up at his sort-of-friend.
"They should be afraid," spoke Karkat. His fists clenched. "Those shitskulls better be afraid of me."
"Wait Karkat, don't do anything stupid," John said. "The lusii weren't that bad before. You saw them yourself. I think they were…drugged or something. So you don't need to…to…" he floundered for words. "I'm here for you," he said at last.
John breathed in deeply and then exhaled slowly. His element seemed to give him composure and help him to refocus. "Listen," he began. "I'll-I'll make it work. I'll go back to those…to them and totally humble myself out. I'll apologize for everything. I can say that you and I were just not ready yet and needed some time to think," he offered. "Maybe I can change their minds. I'll make them forgive you for running off, and we can all get along again. It'll be alright."
No answer.
"Karkat," John pleaded. His eyes squeezed shut in emphasis. "You've worked so hard for this, for a place with the wwizard and a chance to help change the world. And no one deserves it more than you do. It's just not fair-" he broke off.
You can still be with the wwizard,
What you've worked and wished for,
You could have all you ever wanted….
"Yes," Karkat admitted. His voice was soft, softer than John could have imagined it could be. But it was sure. "But…I don't want it. No, I can't want it…anymore."
Karkat: Defy Gravity. ===+
Something has changed within me,
Something is not the same,
Karkat spoke as if in a trance. His eyes searched the red palm of one of his hands.
I'm done obeying all the rules,
Of someone else's game
Too late for hesitation,
Too late to close my eyes,
He was speaking mostly to himself, but Karkat's words held John silent with their power.
It's time to trust myself now,
Take a breath…
And fly
The troll looked up towards the veiled heavens, his eyes focused upon some far away point. An uncanny calm had descended upon him.
It was the sort that often comes to people who no longer have a choice but to follow their instinct against the weight of the world. It comes to all leaders who strive to bring a kind, immense change. It is a song woven into their hearts that lights their uncommon path and drives them to keep going even despite the threat of oppression and the shackles of the past. It is inner faith wholly united with themself and their cause.
Almost like I'd,
Be defying gravity,
"I think I'll try, Defying Gravity," said Karkat with the air of someone either enlightened or insane. "And they can't hold me down," he finished with the beginnings of a smile on his lips.
John watched stunned as Karkat suddenly sprung into action. The troll strode over to the most open part of the room and started rifling aggressively through his sylladex. What? What was Karkat saying? It was impossible to act against gravity, just as impossible as defying the wwizard!
"How can I make you understand," John pleaded. "Some visions aren't meant to come true-" He stepped forward to argue with Karkat and was met with a gentle shoosh. Karkat spared a few seconds to silence his pestering with a few soft hand pats to the face. John stood stupefied in confusion as the troll returned back to his task.
"I'm through accepting LIMITS," Karkat yelled as he selected the Daunting Text. "That someone else has set,"
Some things I cannot change
But damned if I'm not beaten yet!
Too long I've been afraid of,
Feeling love in case I lost,
"But if that's love," declared Karkat. "It comes at much too high a cost!"
John gasped. What a brash thing to say. And yet… His time with Gamzee floated to the front of his mind. John's heart filled with sorrow. John almost wished that he could do the same—be confident enough to take love on his own terms and demand nothing but the best. But he was afraid of taking the risk. He didn't want to live through life alone.
John wondered which way of thinking would hurt people the least.
Meanwhile, Karkat knew he should be full of despair and resignation at the moment. But that seemed impossible with this glorious feeling running through him. It felt less like he was breaking his chains and more that he was becoming synchronous with them, his wants and his limitations humming together at impossible speeds until they melted into one and merged into boundless energy. Karkat felt that his soul could hardly contain it.
He heaved the book into his arms, triumphantly declaring:
I'd sooner try,
Defying gravity,
Bid me goodbye,
I'm defying gravity,
And you can't pull me down!
Karkat set the large volume on the floor because the desk was busy blocking the door. He turned to a page near the back and began to read.
Karkat: Ascend. ===+
"What are you doing?" John exclaimed when Karkat started to chant. "That's how we got into this whole mess!"
The spell began to weave together, mixing and twisting into a tapestry of words. Sorcery magic activated at Karkat's command to perform the ancient and powerful rite, guarded since ancient times by an Eldritch language.
The book began to glow and Karkat with it. He chanted through all of it as spirographs formed and began to entwine together in a circle beneath him. Sparks ignited and were absorbed into the sublime light of candy red and rusted brown. John brought up his arms to shield his face. By squinting through the gap between them, he could see the outline of Karkat's body rising a few inches up off the ground.
The effects became more intense. A vivid heat was now being added to the mix.
The spirographs lept off the ground one by one and drew close around the floating figure. The glow now radiated from his skin, a ruby color so pure and mesmerizing that John wondered if he would ever see anything like it again. The sparks and temperature reached a peak as the dancing designs convulsed one final time and imploded into the being that was once Karkat.
John screamed, "STOP!"
And the spell completed. A final, victorious blast of air swept through the room and escaped. Carried with it was the scent of fresh blood.
The two figures stayed frozen still in silence. Karkat was kneeling down in the same position that he had been at the start. He wore an expression of shock on his face.
"I told you this was a mistake…" John said once the final sparks had faded. "Well? Where's your magic carpet, Karkat?" He sounded exhausted, almost too tired to joke.
Karkat did not say a word and just stared off into the distance. Slowly, he turned around.
On his back was a pair of wings.
They were small and nubby like his horns. The back of his shirt was ripped at where they had come through. Their color was the exact same red as the blood flowing through Karkat's veins. They were shaped strikingly similar to butterfly wings, with two large upper sections and two slightly smaller connected sections below. Each one looked like a large drop of blood. A single darker eyespot decorated each of the top two sections. From those, a stripe curled and bent away opposite from each other, mimicking the c6nc9r sign. Slowly, the wings unfurled like a human baby opening its eyes.
John's shock could not be expressed in words. He had gasped loud as a gale wind when Karkat turned around but seemed unable to do anything beyond that but stare.
Karkat looked back over his shoulder with eyes wide as coins. "I told you," he said.
"That's not fair!" John exclaimed belatedly.
Before they could react any further there was a loud pounding outside the door. "We've found the intruders!"
Oh no. John took a step back from the fortified doorway. Karkat snatched the Daunting Text up into his sylladex and hurried over to his side. "You are ordered to open the door in the name of His Wizardly Goodness, or face his wrath!"
Karkat growled at their reverence for the figure who was actually Eridan. He let a defiant silence serve as his answer.
"Fine, then," came the scornful reply. "There will be no further chance for surrender." Karkat and John listened in horror as the all-troll guard began to call for someone with battering-ramkind weapons.
"We can't let them find you," John said. He looked towards Karkat's back meaningfully. "Especially not now. I don't know if you can really fly with those…small wings," he said apologetically.
Karkat did not respond to his words. Without a word, he withdrew a sickle from his strife specibus. The tricolored blade flashed in the low light as he turned to John, radiating a menacing aura.
John flinched and drew back in fear. Was Karkat actually going to hurt him? His mind raced. What had he done to deserve this-
And then Karkat flipped the sickle around, presenting the handle to John. "Not alone, I can't," he replied.
John looked up in disbelief to meet Karkat's fiery red eyes. "Come with me. Imagine what we could do, John. Think of the world we could create."
Unlimited,
Together we're unlimited,
Together we'd be the best leaders,
In history,
John…
"We'll make all our dreams come true. Fuck!" Karkat offered, swearing with excitement.
John's own eyes began to light up with a spark of the visions Karkat was describing. "Both of us, me and you…" A smile finally broke through the gloom on his face.
There's no fight we cannot win,
With you and I,
Defying gravity,
Both you and I,
Defying gravity,
"They'll never keep us down," Karkat promised.
A resurgence of activity from beyond the doorway alerted the two that they were out of time. Karkat held his sickle at the ready and shook the loose fabric away from his wings. He started to walk off towards the far end of the room. "John, are you coming or-"
He was cut off by the sight he saw over his shoulder. John hadn't moved to follow him. Instead, the human was standing with his eyes cast down towards the ground and his teeth biting down lightly on his bottom lip. The air around him seemed chilled and quiet. His fists were clenched and arms tense. Karkat almost couldn't believe it.
After all that, John's answer was a no.
"Karkat," John began. "I can't leave. Some people still need me here. Especially with what we know now, someone should stay and…and look after them. I think they'd need you too."
Struggle filled his sky blue eyes. "But I know that you can't stay, so…I will. I can help by telling Dave and Rose what really happened with the wwizard. I'll tell anyone who will listen. If I make myself into a great Heir of Breath one day, with even half of your skill, maybe they'll listen to me. And then there's my dad to think about, and all our classmates…"
"Karkat," he confessed. "I think I may be able to do more Good by staying here. I won't forget you, though," he promised. "And I won't forget what you're fighting for."
John gave him an apologetic but relieved smile. His refusal itself felt like a blow, and Karkat could already feel the bruise spreading across his heart. But the troll had neither time nor words to refute it. The door thudded with the force of the guards beginning to break in.
"Here," John said to him. "I, um, don't know if you'll want it or not, but…" He withdrew a dark bundle from his sylladex and unfolded it. A dark gray cloak stretched itself out and reached down to the floor. "This was supposed to be a thank-you present for inviting me to the Cityhub," John explained. He approached the troll gently. "I bought it in secret while we were out and thought I'd give it to you after we got back. But I guess it's now or never."
Karkat took the clothing from John when it was offered. He pulled the fabric over his head, letting John help to pull up the hood. As it draped around his face, Karkat felt he could guess why John seemed so solemn. Karkat now had the look of a true outlaw.
And still the human smiled at him. "Now you have a disguise," John said. Although his tone was light, a trace of worry remained in his eyes.
I hope you're happy,
Now that you're choosing this,
Karkat muttered thanks as he drew the cloth around himself. Suddenly everything felt surreal, as if it were happening to a red-skinned puppet and not actually to him. Only the thoughts inside Karkat's head felt solid enough for him to grasp. This was the third thing John had given him. There had been the necklace, the long pants, and now a cloak. Not to mention the gift of his friendship.
"Yeah," he managed. "I hope that you find bliss. But can I just…fuck, can I just say something before the grand shitfest bonanza hits the whirling device?" Dammit, he was always saying things too fast and too late. Karkat took a breath.
"I don't hate you. In fact I don't think that was ever really it. I was being stupid and…and deluding myself," he confessed. "Deep down I'm pretty sure I was always, actually, almost okay with you."
"Aw," John said. "Thanks, Karkat."
"It wasn't a fucking compliment, barfslug," Karkat replied, sounding exhausted. It just wasn't worth the effort to correct John on the intricacies of troll relationships.
BOOM, BOOM. The door cracked and buckled under the guards' battering-ram barrage. Each enormous knock shook its frame and rattled the paltry furniture blockade.
Karkat and John turned to each other in a rush, all of their words and warnings and feelings all coming out at once and swirling over each other like a whirlwind.
"Good luck, Karkat," John shouted over the banging while at the same time trying to push the troll to the far end of the room. "I believe in you! I'll be fine so don't worry! Everything will be alright. You can do it Karkat, I know that you can do it better than anyone-"
Karkat shouted back his own assurances and swear words and hurried well-wishes to John as they shared one final encouraging hand-squeeze goodbye.
I really hope you succeed
And don't regret all your deeds,
I have you're happy in the end!
I hope you're happy,
My…friend
Karkat had called John his friend before, just once before they were called in to meet the wwizard. But this time he truly meant it. He meant it so much more than he could have ever imagined.
Refrigerator: Level up for holding the barricade. ===+
Unfortunately the barricade was not held.
The long-suffering door burst half-off of its hinges and broke into a pile of jagged pieces as the post was finally driven through. Yells of victory came from the guards. The boys' enemies began to force their way into the room, shoving aside two desks and a chest of drawers which fell to the ground with a splintering crash. One brave human thermal hull was sliced in two by a swordkind weapon. The guards were delayed for all of three seconds.
"Go, Karkat!" John screamed before turning to face their attackers. "Stay away, you dumb brutes!" He began to summon the Breeze to his aid, ephemeral strokes of blue curving through the air and circling around him.
The lead guard barked an order to a troll behind him. The troll nodded and brought both arms up to her head, spreading her fingers at the base of her horns. John had a split-second to recognize the pose as one used by psychically-gifted trolls to enhance their powers. Then an invisible force crashed down upon him, forcing him to his knees and dissipating all of his Breath powers.
John gasped for air, feeling his lungs struggle under the weight of what felt like a huge, imagined boulder. He looked up at the guards closing in and could barely feel it when they grabbed hold of his arms and yanked him roughly to his feet. This was it; he had been captured. John just hoped that Karkat had gotten enough time to escape…
"HEY SHITSTAINS, OVER HERE!" came Karkat's voice. The guards' focus switched over to their real target—the mutated troll standing by the far wall and yelling at them.
"Wrong guy, douchewaffles! I'm the one you're after," Karkat declared in open defiance. His scarlet eyes were devoid of fear. "He's not involved in any of this. It's just me! Now look at what I can fucking do as the dark master of forbidden sorcery I am! It's me," he cried as magic power began to collect around him.
And then, still clutching his sickle, Karkat began to fly.
Look at meeeeeeeeeee!
Karkat: Rise Up. ===+
He ascended slowly at first, but then started to steadily gain altitude. The guards around John one by one began to gape at the figure before them, jaws falling open and eyes going wide as they tipped their heads back more and more to see Karkat lifting into the air.
A sorcerer flying would not ordinarily have surprised them. Humans and trolls had advanced technology far beyond the usual planetary-bound airplanes. Aspects like Breath could also be used to give a person the appearance of autonomous flight. But it wasn't Karkat flying that struck the elite Wizard's Guard into inaction and ineptness. It was what they could see on his back.
Karkat's wings had become surrounded in a twinkling red haze that added strength and lift to every flap, making them functional. The red fog grew, expanding their shape and spreading further out behind him into a big, heart-stopping backdrop the color of crimson blood.
Down below, John secretly called upon a wisp of Breath. With a whisper he directed the Breeze to help speed Karkat on his way. The guards were too caught up in the miracle in front of them to notice.
Karkat: Rise Up. ===+
It was an awe-inspiring sight to behold. Fury and power blazed in Karkat's eyes as his gaze seared down upon those below. His sickle was raised and pointed in challenge toward the heavens. His impossible wings beat sure and strong to lift him high above any troll or human's reach. His entire being brimmed with extraordinary energy from within.
The grounded audience listened in a stupor as Karkat decreed to them with a determined scowl and righteous heart:
If you fuckers dare to find me then,
Look to the Land of Pulse and Haze,
As someone trolled me lately,
"Everyone should hope one day they'll fly",
-They say and though I'm alone,
At least I am still free,
To those who'd stop me!
Take a message back from me,
He snarled and pointed a finger sharp as a sword down to them below. Stuck on the ground, each person felt it almost as a jab to their own heart. Some of the guards had even fallen over onto their backs from the force of Karkat's dramatic reveal. They trembled before him, unable to look away. The mutantblood was now the one up high, glaring down at them and damning them for what they were. His voice bit through their ears:
Tell them how I,
Am defying gravity!
I'm flying high,
Defying gravity!
So tell them I don't want their crown,
"And nobody," Karkat growled, just loud enough for them to hear. "In all of Oz,"
No wwizard that there is or was,
Is ever gonna bring,
Me down!
He yelled out clear and sure, raising one triumphant fist up to the sky.
The guards finally snapped out of their trance at the sound of his final screamed word. A handful stayed to brandish their weapons uselessly at Karkat while the rest hurried out of the room to alert the wizard. They dragged a human dressed in blue along with them. As he was taken away, John fought to turn around and yell out one final wish to his friend: "I hope you're happy!"
A hole was blasted through the roof and Karkat ascended upward and through, followed by the echoes of his treasonous vows. He was off, free from the bigotry of society and using the power of his own wings to fly away to do whatever the hell he pleased. And right now that was fighting the wwizard and exposing Oz for the beautiful lie it really was, even if it meant he was an outlaw.
Karkat imagined the news beginning to spread behind him. Alarms would soon begin to sound throughout the lands. The wwizard's forces would race to warn every Good citizen of this new, terrible, mutant enemy. But he wasn't afraid.
Look at him, he's Wicked!
He wasn't going to run.
Get him!
BRING ME DOWN!
He was going to make them pay.
No one mourns the Wicked!
Even if he had to do it alone.
So we've got to bring him…
Even if it made him Wicked.
AHHH!
DOWN!
Let them come.
Wickedstuck: End Act 1. ===+
Afterword: Defying Gravity is and has always been my favorite part of the play, so I hope I managed to do it some justice here. Oh god, just look at all of the in-jokes that I've been waiting to make...
Also I'll be sure to change Karkat's wings once they're revealed in-canon.