Red.

Everything was red.

He could see a moment ago, but not now. Now everything was just vivid shades of red, sharp and angry. Not since he had seen John.

John.

Just the name brought waves of stabbing pain though him again. It pierced him like he was nothing. It seared everything it touched and lit him on fire. And everything was red.

John was red.

John.

The moment Karkat had seen John's blood covered body on the floor, one of his own sickles jutting awkwardly from his neck, his mind shut down. His adrenaline and defensive instincts went into overtime and prepared to deal with his matesprites murderer. Even the lusi had noticed the change in him, both in his scent and by the feral sounds he was emitting now. When it had attacked the troll earlier it took little more then a stab from its stinger and the knife to put him down. But fighting a rabid troll was nothing like fighting a troll in its normal state of mind. It didn't know what had set the thing off, but it was definitely pissed.

The lusi took a step back to steady itself in preparation for the attack, an action which set the troll in motion. Karkat, his body ignoring the pain from his earlier wound, darted forward and leapt clear over the back of the couch. Landing for only a moment at its feet Karkat launched himself up and swiped, his claws connecting and managing to to draw blood. The lusi swung down with one of the troll's sickles and clipped him on the shoulder. Jumping back a step the Cancer sidestepped and, using the broken coffee table, he once more threw himself at the beast. Latching onto its back the troll clawed and even bit anything and everything he could reach.

There was no plan or tactic to his attacks and reason had left him the moment John had. John, the blue eyed Heir of Breath. He was gone. He was gone and so help him Karkat was going to do the same to the bastard responsible.

The rogue lusi shook and rampaged trying to dislodge its unwelcome rider. It swiped with the stolen blades, tried clipping him with its own claws and biting him whenever a limb came close enough to grab. Karkat dug his fingers into the creatures shell-like body where ever he could, where the shell was weak, and started to pull and rip pieces of it off. It bled heavily as it was literally being torn into and with a final heave it managed to toss the troll from its back.

Karkat slammed into the wall and landed on the floor with a heavy thud. Picking himself up as quickly as he could the Knight wasn't even fully to his feet before he was moving towards the lusi again. Running at the thing, fangs bared and claws extended, the troll lunged. The lusi was quicker this time, however, and swung one of its larger arms connecting solidly with the Cancer's middle.

He landed once more on the floor as dead weight as the wind had been forced from his lungs. Coughing heavily Karkat tried to lift himself back up, though the amount of pain his body was in was starting to break past the barrier that the adrenaline had created. Once he could suck in enough air to manage a breath he resumed the snarling that resonated through his whole being. He was about to dive into the battle once more when something caught his eye.

A flickering of light.

He turned to look towards the glow but didn't get the chance to see what it was. All he could feel was a sharp searing pain penetrate his back and rip through him.

Things were slow, so very slow. There was pain, but he couldn't really feel it, not now. He could hear snarling, but he knew it wasn't there. There wasn't even an growling at this point. Echos of ripping fabric and even the sickening sound of tearing flesh rolled around in the dark. But that wasn't happening now either. Those sounds weren't really there...Right?

Furniture was trampled and glass shattered somewhere in the background. The struggle ended abruptly with the sound of a final ripping of flesh. Blood spattering onto the floor and other such surfaces. But, that wasn't real. It wasn't. It couldn't be. The black was lying. It couldn't be real. It didn't hurt anymore. It couldn't be real if it didn't hurt. Right?

Then there was that sound again. He couldn't remember what it was, but he recognized it. He had heard it before. That same heartbreaking sound.

Mehehehehe. B)