Sollux found himself unable to comment, unable to speak as Karkat buried his face deeper to hide his tears from him. He could hide his tears, but he couldn't stop Sollux from hearing the sound of his crying, wrecked up and confused.

The information rapidly sunk in and processed in Sollux's mind, and he felt hate grow in his heart. Pure, platonic hate flushing heated rage through his system and just as surely, he felt the power sear at the corners of his dual-colored eyes and gather at his fingertips, just waiting to be released to exact torturously painful revenge upon the very troll who lacked enough sanity to dare to destroy his precious student.

Killing this "Gamzee" was an action that could be done with just the flick of his wrist, a power precisely in his grasp…

But a flash of logic hit him like a charging musclebeast and reminded him of his lack of information and foresight. He had no idea where he was or what he looked like, and without that, he could do nothing. Not only that, he was reminded of his pathetically low rank on the hemospectrum scale and if he took Karkat's explanation into account, he couldn't do a damn thing without suffering fatal consequences immediately afterward, even if he did know. The psychic energy slowly receded as his thoughts became rational once more.

Perhaps he should first turn the authorities against him. That would be the best idea and the easiest, though he would have to have Karkat's consent first. And God, he had to stop his crying; it was heartbreaking and they would go nowhere if he was lost in an event passed.

"Karkat…"

Sollux stood up and walked around his desk and reached out, but he stopped himself before touching him. He was a teacher. He couldn't go around hugging his students, no matter how much they needed it. He wanted to with all the compassion in his aching heart, but it was wrong. His hand still found its way forward and his resistance to natural urges forced him to give Karkat an awkward pat. It happened to be comfort enough.

"God, I'm such a miserable fuck…" he muttered hoarsely.

"No, you're not," Sollux objected. It was easy for him to make his voice firm at this comment. "Karkat, I think I might have a solution for you."

Karkat wiped his eyes on his sleeves and looked up at him, still scared, but hopeful now.

"What?" he asked.

"We should report Gamzee to the imperials."

Immediately, Karkat's eyes went wide with fear. "What? No! We can't!"

Now it was Sollux who was confused. "Why? It's the perfect solution. He would never bother you again; he'd be relocated somewhere you'd never have to see him."

"It wouldn't work unless somebody of his rank or higher were to be the ones reporting him."

"We have to at least try," Sollux insisted. "There's no use just doing nothing."

"I don't want to report him, Goddammit!" Karkat snapped.

Sollux's lips sealed shut and he pulled his hand away as if electrified, concerned that he would upset him further by mere touch. This made Karkat, in turn, felt a little guilty for yelling at him. He was there to help and he had lost his temper at no provocation.

"God fuck, I got lost in the fucking story and forgot why I came here. That- I wasn't looking for a completely new solution, I had one in mind and I needed help in that way," he said, turning back to stare at the desk. "I know there are plenty of certifiably insane trolls attending this school, but I'm not one of them." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sollux take a seat next to him on the desk, feeling the other chair was insignificant then. "Gamzee, when he isn't fucking crazy, is a completely different person. That Gamzee doesn't deserve to be shut up in a shithole for the rest of his life for something he didn't do. I know that he's the same Gamzee that beat the crap out of me, but at the same time he isn't. I don't know if you get this, but-"

"I understand," Sollux cut in. "I understand how you're feeling. The court of justice seems to be one sided and you don't want him to be subject to their judgment. We'll rule out calling in the legislacerators. For now. Right now, why don't you continue. The more information I have, the better."

Karkat gave him a glance and sighed.

"Okay. So my think pan wasn't entirely rusted and I knew that I couldn't continue to take his beatings any more as it would endanger a life other than mine… and that wouldn't be fair, to kill an innocent just because I was an idiot. I knew I couldn't take him. That's when I resolved to get out of harm's way by literally moving myself out of it. I had a friend of mine, Tavros, help me.

"He, along with another friend of my from Alternia Academy, helped me get away. He transported me way out where nobody else could find me so I could stay whenever Gamzee was scheduled to… turn into the other Gamzee. I don't know how to describe it. Change I guess. This way, he couldn't hurt me or the wriggler. I would sneak out right before he entered my room so he wouldn't know what happened and my lusus wouldn't have time to check on me. This way, neither of them would know where I went and stop me.

"Nobody knows where Terezi lives except for Tavros and, because of what we agreed to, me. This made her hive perfect for the plan. She would tell me when it was safe to go back, and she always told me the perfect fucking time. I would go back to my hive and go to school the next day or something. This worked for a while and it seemed like he was clueless about it. I was always worried that Gamzee would tell him I wasn't there, but whenever I came back, it seemed he was none the wiser. Or so I thought. I should have known that it wouldn't be that easy. Terezi even told me that it wouldn't last.

"I should have thought that crabassfuck knew something was up because he started to get more violent, but I just thought he was doing it for no apparent reason because he would lash out at me whenever it he felt like and it looked to be fucking random as well as unpredictable.

"When I finally noticed, it was too late. Last night, I was sitting on my windowsill, waiting for Tavros to come to take me out of there. They usually talk for a while at the door and Gamzee would come up to my room by himself if I didn't come get him, but that's not how it happened. Crabdad opened the door for them and went straight to my room, kicked open the door, and saw me on the windowsill. He was going to claw me and drag me back in, but Tavros came in the nick of fucking time and took me to Terezi's. I knew I couldn't go back because he finally found out, so Tavros took me from her hive to school and I haven't gone back since…"

"So that's what happened…" Sollux said quietly.

"Yeah. Now I need a permanent place to stay. I can't keep commuting from Terezi's hive, it's too fucking far and Tavros has his own problems to worry about."

"And you have nowhere else to stay?"

"Not where he can't find me."

"Hmm…" Sollux mulled over some ideas, many of which were risky. He had to find a safe solution for him, and yet, the safest solution was the most risqué. "Karkat?"

The said troll looked up at him with a questioning glance. "What?"

"Come live with me."

Would have made into a third person scene instead of telling the story, but I didn't. Karkat. Your story. It's long. It's too long. But it's not over. It's far from over.