January 1 2012

5:00 pm

"Kar, we're almost there okay?" Eridan glanced to the passenger seat were Karkat sat slumped in the seat, holding the bloody towel against his mouth. "Jesus Christ," Eridan breathed his voice shaking as he turned his attention back to the road.

"Eri-dan," Karkat's voice wobbled weakly, "Its fine. It doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's what I'm worried about," Eridan murmured quietly, his grip tightening on the steering wheel to the point where his knuckled were beginning to turn white.

"Eridan, don't tell anyone else, please." Eridan made his next turn a bit sharp, his brows furrowing in frustration.

"What do ya mean?"

"If they ask where we are, don't tell them."

"Why? They should know."

"I don't want them to—" Karkat curled forward and coughed into the towel while Eridan grit his teeth. "To worry," He finished after his fit of coughing.

"Fine, I won't tell em," Eridan responded bitterly, ceasing any more talk about I as they neared their destination. When Eridan managed to find a parking spot close to the hospital he took it, suddenly worried.

"Can ya walk?" Eridan asked, turning the key until the engine cut off and rested.

"I think so, you want to help me out fuckass?"

Eridan unbuckled himself and slid out of the car. He slammed his door an made his way around to open Karkat's and help out the unstable man. Karkat slid out and stood up fine, although his legs were a bit wobbly.

Karkat insisted that he could walk across the parking lot just fine yet he wrapped an arm around Eridan's middle. "Just in case," Karkat mumbled. Thankfully Karkat had no fits until they had stepped through the automatic sliding doors. Eridan took the opportunity to slip out of Karkat's grasp and rush to the front desk.

"My friend needs help," Eridan said instantly, slapping his palms flat on the counter. The secretary nurse person looked up and calmly folded her arms.

"What seem to be the situation, sir?"

"He's been feelin' under the weather and today he started coughing up a lot a blood which I'm pretty sure is a bad thing," Eridan said quickly. At the mention of coughing up blood the woman stood up and searched the concourse behind Eridan until spotting Karkat.

"Is that him?" The woman asked, indicating Karkat. Eridan nodded and the nurse signaled for Eridan to wait in the seating area before she rushed off into the clinic.

A few minutes later the nurse returned with a doctor by her side. The new woman had shoulder length black hair and big blue eyes framed by blue eye shadow. A pair of thin white framed glasses perched on her nose.

"Hello, I'm ," She introduced, making Eridan tense. He knew a Vriska Serket and he didn't get along with that one at all. "Karkat if you'll come with me we'll see what we can figure out, okay?" This woman seemed much nicer than any Serket Eridan knew.

Eridan started to rise, ready to follow when she held up her hand to stop him.

"I'm going to need you to wait here, please."

Eridan flunked back down into his seat with a frown and watched Karkat and the Doctor walk away. Eridan did his best to distract himself. In the end he was still just a worried boy twiddling his thumbs until the doctor came back. Ten minutes went by okay at first, and then ten more dragged on and by the point Eridan was starting to get freaked out.

The doctor finally returned looking a bit flustered, a clip-board tucked under her arm. She stopped by the main desk to swap the information, or at least that's what it looked like, before striding over to where Eridan sat.

"Alright, sir, I'm sorry to make you wait but your friend wasn't the most… willing to give us information."

"That's Kar for ya," Eridan replied, standing up, "Any news though?"

"Very little, I'm afraid. We do have a suspicion but that requires us to run some scans."

"Like MRI or some shit?"

"Precisely! You're friend though isn't so keen, he say money is an issue-"

"I'll pay," Eridan interjected quickly, "Whatever it costs, I'll pay."

"You're very kind, I'll just need you to fill out a form then and a few questions," The doctor smiled softly before handing Eridan the clip-board she had swapped for and a pen. "Please take your time, we've already handled the forms for Karkat being administered to the hospital and we'll start the test soon."

Eridan nodded numbly and slowly sat down again, staring at the clip-board in front of him. "Dr. Serket!" He called, looking up, "What's the worst case scenario?"

The doctor only half turned to look at Eridan, sympathy swimming in her eyes. "The worst case?" She repeated, "That would be incurable cancer."

"Is that really a possibility?"

"A large one."

Eridan dropped his gaze and looked at the board in his hands again. His hands were shaking badly, and the letters swirled in his vision. How was he supposed to fill this out now? Why did he have to ask that question?

Karkat could die from this.

Karkat could –

Eridan jumped as his phone produced an awful buzzing from somewhere in his back pocket. He managed to wriggle it out and sighed at the contact name. After a moment of hesitation her answered it and raised it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, were you ever planning on bringing my car back?" Sollux asked, another voice murmuring in the background.

"No," Eridan replied, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand.

"Well at least you're honest… what the fuck are you doing anyways, I though you were just going to visit Karkat or some shit."

"I did," Eridan paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Plans… changed." Eridan lowered the phone and promptly hung up and turned it off. Tears stung the corners of his eyes and it was only a matter of time before they broke free.

They broke Eridan. After losing Sollux, Karkat was his rock to lean on. For Eridan that was amazing, considering he wasn't always the best at making friends when he was younger because everyone thought he was a rich asshole. Some cruel god had given him two great people and now he could lose them both forever.

There was still hope for Sollux that he might wake up and remember everything. Even if he only remembered the smallest bits they could build off that and bring back what they had lost. Lately hope had been wavering between the lines. One day Sollux would be with him, and other days he'd be with Dave. The worst part was that Sollux didn't even realize the extent to which he was doing these things. He literally didn't know.

Now there was Karkat. A ball of fury that one was but no matter how badass he tried to be her was really a big dork at heart. He loved all the cheesiest romantic movies and still believed in innocence and fairy tales. He looked at life with an equal portion on bitterness and awe. Karkat was literally two opposites rolled. Somehow he had become one of the most important people in Eridan's life in two weeks.

The form in front of him came back into focus and Eridan scanned over it. Relationship status? Like he would be able to figure that one out. Eridan started with the simplest thing he could find on the form.

His name.

Ampora, Eridan.