Chapter 24

After making sure Gamzee wasn't suffering from any lasting damage from the head trauma he had earlier, Rose had him accompany her back to John's room with the medicine, as well as the orb. Gamzee could smell the leftover pheromones from halfway down the hall, wrinkling his nose. "Why the motherfuck do I have to be here too?" he griped, still half-asleep and uncomfortable with the hormones.

Rose sighed, easing the door open. "A protective measure," she replied, quietly using her Grimdarks to keep the pair on the cot asleep. "I need to be sure this kismesissitude isn't affecting John negatively, and if Karkat gets possessive, I'll need you to try to calm him down."

Gamzee grimaced, rubbing his face. "Didn't work well last time," he muttered.

"Muscle him down, then." Rose crept up to the pair, noticing a plethora of scabbing scratches and bite marks on both bodies, though John's neck having more bruising and Karkat's thighs and back torn to shreds. Despite the Caliginous nature of their relationship, Karkat looked almost peaceful dozing on John's chest, and John had a hand on Karkat's scarred back, albeit having his claws pressing into the skin.

Rose quietly took out her medicines, gently lifting John's hand from Karkat's back and applying the medicine in its place, having Gamzee hand her things when indicated. "This is definitely going to scar," she murmured. "I'm amazed he hasn't bled out."

Gamzee growled softly in the back of his throat, glowering at John. Rose shushed him. "It's perfectly natural, Gamzee," she replied. "And it was fully reciprocal." She gestured to John's bruised throat before putting the medicine on Karkat's thighs, making sure she got all the deep wounds before turning her attention to John.

"Even in a Caliginous mindset, the Grimdark in John remained dormant," she murmured, mostly to herself. "So it's not violence itself that triggers it…"

"Can we hurry the motherfuck up?" Gamzee said, his hands flexing. "I don't like bein' near this motherfucker unless I gotta be."

"Just a few moments, Gamzee," Rose said, taking out the orb. "Hold this for a moment." She passed it to him, settling her fingertips on John's temples quietly.

Gamzee stared at the orb in his hands curiously, getting bored of it when it failed to do anything substantial, about to put it on the table when it rippled slightly in his hands. He blinked, eyes narrowing as he looked at it harder.

'…Gamzee…'

Okay, that was a definite whisper he heard. The ripples became more defined as he stared into the orb harder, whispering reaching into his mind that seemed to be coming from the orb itself.

"Gamzee?"

Rose had tried to get his attention twice, looking over and seeing him staring into the orb. She dropped the cloth she was holding, shaking his shoulder. "Gamzee! Gamzee, give me the orb!" No response. "GAMZEE!"

Karkat jerked awake at the commotion, taking a few moments to realize several points, including him being naked on top of John, Rose and Gamzee in the room, and in full view of his indecency. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK!?" he screeched, falling off the cot and snatching a sheet to cover himself with. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

"NOT NOW!" Rose shouted back, trying to wrestle the orb from Gamzee. "GAMZEE, LET GO OF IT!" She reached up to cover his eyes to try to break the trance, only to be hurled back with a loud roar from Gamzee, crashing into John on the cot.

John had just started waking up from Karkat's screaming, getting an even ruder awakening when Rose crashed into him and knocked the wind out of him. He jerked up, sitting her up off him. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" he shouted, not even bothered by his nudity by this point.

Rose hoisted herself off of the bed and onto the floor. "Gamzee's got the orb! Something inside has a hold of him!" she replied. "If we can at LEAST cover his face to break the orb's hold on him, it'll be SOMETHING!"

John growled, snatching the spare sheet. "Gladly," he hissed, diving on Gamzee and tying the sheet around the taller troll's head, pulling it taut more tightly than was necessary. Gamzee screamed shrilly, letting go of the orb with one hand to swipe and claw behind him, jerking around to try to throw John off.

Rose hurried up to get the orb just as Dave kicked the door in, sword at the ready with everyone else behind him, wholly unprepared for the hot mess of what-the-fuck in front of him. "What the—"

Terezi pushed ahead of everyone, eyes going wide. "DON'T TOUCH HIM—" she shouted, just a second too late as Rose overshot her grab for the orb and instead grabbed Gamzee's arm.

A blast of what felt like the universe's strongest heartbeat pulsed through the block from the orb, throwing everyone back save for John, Rose, and Gamzee.

Dave threw his shattered shades aside, struggling to sit up against the throbs in the air that were pulsing from the trio in the middle of the block. He tried to call out to them, only for his voice to be lost in the pulses in the air.

John's eyes were blacker than a void, impossibly wide and staring out at nothing, black veins seeping from his eye sockets and over his face. Rose's glowing white eyes seemed brighter than a star, the light illuminating under her flesh. In their hold was Gamzee, face uncovered from the blast tearing the sheet away, his own eyes flickering between red and green so fast it was almost impossible to tell what the colors were, the orb in his hands expanding slowly and crackling with sparks.

Terezi, punched Dave in the shoulder to get his attention. "WE HAVE TO BREAK THEM APART!" she shouted, though her voice barely registered as a whisper. "HURRY!"

Dave could only nod in understanding, forcing himself to stand, feeling like he was moving through sludge, reaching out and grabbing hold of Rose—

"KARKAT! JUST STAY BACK, PLEASE, TRUST ME!"

Karkat's nearly-broken body floating in a void next to Gamzee, Terezi, Vriska, and Kanaya's, looking hardly in shape to be alive, let alone reaching out for him—

Karkat reached out for John, knowing instinctively that this was wrong and something had to be done. He lurched up and grabbed onto John's arm—

John pushing Karkat back with his wind, waving his arms in a circular motion, encasing the five trolls within a ball of compressed air.

"ROSE, DO IT NOW!"

A bright flash—

Dave and Karkat jerked Rose and John away from Gamzee in a quick motion as Terezi leapt over everyone to kick the orb out of Gamzee's hands, shove him down, and cover his face with her hands.

There was one last pulse from the orb before it stopped, the orb shrinking back to a nondescript black object. Rose's eyes stopped glowing, and she sat up straight, gasping and looking around wildly.

Karkat looked down at John, who was convulsing on the floor, eyes still black, screeching out something in an ungodly tone. John lurched up, claws extended for Karkat's throat, when Dave jerked Karkat out of John's reach as Rose hurried over and pressed her hands to his head, forcing the darkness back, though she seemed to have trouble this time.

Dave felt Karkat cling to him tightly as John continued to struggle and scream, occasionally getting a swipe in at Rose, who ignored the injuries he was inflicting to focus on pushing the darkness back. Finally, John went limp and the black veins around his eyes vanished.

There was no time for relief before Gamzee started to freak out, flailing Terezi off of him and backing into a corner, pupils almost slits and flicking around at everything like it would attack him at any moment. Rose reached out for him, and he let out an animalistic shriek, swiping out at her.

Dave let go of Karkat and pulled Rose back, glancing at everyone else. "Back into the hallway," he commanded, giving them a sharp hiss when they didn't move right away. "Rose, take John out, and for fuck's sake, put that goddamn orb someplace where nobody can get to it!" He waited until everyone had complied before crouching low to the floor.

"Shoosh," he crooned softly, shifting closer to Gamzee slowly, keeping his movements calm and hands in clear view. Gamzee growled softly, staring unblinking, but didn't swipe out. Dave slowly reached out and rested his hands on Gamzee's face, shooshing him softly until Gamzee's body unclenched and relaxed.

Dave glanced over across the room where Karkat was still sitting, him having been the only one to not leave the room. He could practically sense the turmoil and jealousy, and mentally sighed, resisting the urge to punch the wall and ruin his progress with Gamzee. Instead, he reached out with one hand and gestured for Karkat to come over, conveying to do so slowly.

Karkat was close to petulantly refusing and instead sitting where he was, but Dave's pleading look quickly changed his mind. He sighed, shifting closer, pausing twice when Gamzee started to growl, but eventually made his way over. Dave quietly pulled him over and had Karkat take his place. "What th—"

"He needs you, man," Dave said, his voice thick with an emotion Karkat couldn't place. "He needs something REAL." Karkat was about to ask what the fuck he was talking about when Gamzee's arms suddenly wound around him and pulled him close.

"…Karbro…" Gamzee whimpered, his voice almost pupa-like and broken, burying his face into Karkat's hair. Karkat froze, remaining still for a long few moments before hugging Gamzee back, clenching his eyes shut.

"…God…fucking….damn it…" he bit out with zero conviction in his voice. "…Shoosh, you damn clown…nothing's gonna fucking hurt you…" Gamzee just hugged him tighter and let out a soft, whining honk.

Dave leaned against the wall, running a shaking hand through his hair as he closed his eyes and calmed his own nerves. He was in no position to even TRY a Proteus in the state he was in, and was glad his gamble of having a past Pale flame of Gamzee's take over work out.

He figured he'd have to even out some complicated emotions between them later on, but right now, he wished he had someone of his own to help him through THIS.