I AM SO, SO, SO, SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE. I HAVE NO EXCUSE GOMEN. This chapter introduces another character! And surprises!And legit plot development! Yay!
KARKAT'S POV:
I chose to blatantly ignore the pounding in my chest cavity and the rush I felt through my mutant veins as I sat next to the utterly dork-ifiable John Egbert. He scowled with frustration at the television, muttering little things under his breath as the screen went through the newest episode of Troll Desperate Housewives. Normally I would be engrossed in the vicious nature of the characters and their insane lives, but I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt from building in my abdomen. I knew exactly what John had been talking about. I'd learned enough from watching his life go by, all the men that had told him they loved him. It made me feel so ashamed; how could John just say something like that so suddenly? He hadn't been here long enough, known me long enough, to admit something to precious like that to someone. I felt my blood-pusher squeeze at the thought, but one day…one day Egbert would learn that no one could be flushed for such a despicable creature like me.
My self-loathing was interrupted by an obnoxious buzzing in my pocket. Curious, I opened my phone to find a message from Terezi.
gallowsCalibrator began trolling carcinoGeneticist:
GC: H3Y. YOU'D B3TT3R G3T DOWN H3R3 K4RKL3S. TH3 W31RD H4CK3R DUD3 FOUND SOM3TH1NG 1NT3R3ST1NG.
CG: OH YEAH? LIKE WHAT? ANOTHER STUPID VIRUS THAT HE CONCOCTED HIMSELF? I THINK ILL BE FINE SPENDING MY PRECIOUS LIFE ELSEWHERE AND AWAY FROM YOU ASSHOLES.
GC: : ( TH4TS NO W4Y TO TR34T YOUR B3ST BUD K4RKL3S! H3H3H3H3H3! COME ON, 1TS SOM3TH1NG 4BOUT YOUR JOHNNY BOY.
CG:…FINE. WE'LL BE THERE IN A LITTLE BIT. IT HAD BETTER BE FUCKING WORTH IT.
GC: OH TRUST M3, YOU WON'T R3GR3T TH1S.
gallowsCalibrator [GC]ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]
when I looked up from my phone I found John spying at the messages.
"I'm your… 'Johnny Boy'?" John asked curiously. I swatted him away so he wouldn't see the heat that'd collected in my face.
"No. shut up. We're going back to the lab."
#O#
After John's pleading to let him put the grey paint back on his face and the ridiculous process of actually covering all his pretty pink skin in the obnoxious shit, we were on the road. I took the back roads around the forest to get to the lab, just in case we met anymore assholes on the way there. It wasn't John I was afraid of being messed around with anymore; Kanaya had done a great job of making him up to be a blue blood, what with his dark blue eyes and the blue swirly symbol on his black t-shirt. But everybody in this part of Alternia knew I was hiding something. And in this world, you have no reason to hide anything unless you're ashamed of it.
We arrived at the lab about a half hour later. John was grinning with excitement; he kept saying something about getting to see Terezi again. After taking out my key and opening the door we both entered the cese pool I happen to have the luck of working at, and navigated the labyrinth-like hallways to find Terezi and the hacker douche bag who proclaimed to have found something worth my while.
"Oh hey there Karkles! You're just in time!" Terezi popped out from behind a corner, blocking off our path. John's eyes lit up as he jumped forward, pulling the blind girl into one of his suffocating hugs.
"John? Is that you?! But you don't smell…pink anymore!" Terezi frowned, grabbing John's face in her hands and smooshing his cheeks together. John tried to smile, but his contorted face just made him look like a guppy. An adorable guppy.
"Yeah! Kanaya gave me some face paint so I would look just like you guys! Pretty cool, huh?" Terezi cackled and let her toothy smile spread over her face.
"Pretty freaking rad, John! Now come over here, you've got another troll to meet!" I growled as I followed John and Terezi down the hallway. I only wished that I didn't have to meet him as well.
Walking into a dimly-lit room, the only light coming from the various computer and surveillance screens scattered about the room, my ears were hit with the vivid sound of whirring machinery. To my right, in the farthest corner of the room was a dark silhouette with a double set of horns. This troll sat in front of the largest computer screen; a huge set of codes and smaller windows displayed on its glass. There was a flurry of clicks and taps on the keyboard before the screen went to bee-picture desktop and the darkened figure turned around.
"You can hit the lights TZ, I'm good now." The light switch was clicked and an eerie glow filled the room. Sitting on the black swivel chair in front of us was quite possibly one of the most annoying trolls known to Alternia. And his lisp was infuriating.
Said troll rose from his spot and sauntered over to us, hands in his pockets. He had two different shoes on his feet, a yellow Gemini symbol on his black t-shirt and those ridiculous blue and red glasses on his face. The heterochromial asshole smirked, showing his crooked as fuck teeth.
"Hey there KK, long time no see." I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. I hated it when he called me that.
"Yes, and I had hoped to keep it that way." The troll chuckled lightly before turning his attention to John.
"So this is the infamous 'Johnny', hmm? Doesn't look much like a human if you ask me." The irritation built up in my chest as said douche bag continued to look over John with impenetrable curiosity.
"He's got fucking face paint on, dipshit." John smiled wide and held out a hand to the twin-horned troll that satisfied himself with being the bane of my existence.
"Hi! I'm John Egbert! It's very nice to meet you!" the troll opposite John took his hand and shook it firmly; the sight of his grey fingers curling around John's own sent my stomach lurching. Nobody touches John…but me.
"And I'm Sollux Captor. Computer hacker and programmer extraordinaire. Your buddy KK over here hired me because he was too much of a loser to do it himself. So if you need anything, come to me EB." Sollux's sly smile went from John to me, as his eyes moved about the room. His aggravating presence was wearing my patience a bit too thin for comfort.
"Shut up Sollux! You're a worthless sack of shit. You wouldn't help anybody unless there was something in it for you, asshole." John looked back at me shocked, but my attention was on the halcyon troll with those dumb fucking glasses. Sollux took a step around John so he was face to face with me, our chests nearly touching. He was looking down at me, which only added to my boiling acrimony.
"Whoever said there wasn't something in it for me working here? Especially when I get such affable visits from you, KK?" Sollux's shit-eating grin spread across his face like wildfire as his hand grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. What in the ever loving FUCK was this asshole doing?! I felt my traitorous chop start to heat. This can't be fucking happening… Sollux didn't know about my mutant blood color. And while he was a lower blood and had…dated a rust blood before, there was no telling what he would do if he found out, which would be happening very soon if he saw the state of my cheeks anytime soon.
"Fuck you Sollux. Get the hell away from me!" I growled, slapping his hand away from my face and spinning around so I was next to John. He had a perturbed look on his face, but it disappeared when I caught him.
"Fine. Whatever KK." Sollux sighed and turned back to one of his computers. Terezi switched off the lights again.
"I'm going to go back to the other lab, see if I can work anything with the ectomachine." I nodded her off and turned to the annoying as FUCK computer hacker.
"Now what is it that's so important you had to show me, shit stain?" Sollux frowned at me over his shoulder before turning back to his computer and navigating the mouse to a movie file.
"Here, take a look at this. This is the surveillance footage in the basement of the mansion that John was staying at." I heard John shift uncomfortably behind me as we both leaned forward to catch a look. Sollux pressed play and the nightmare began.
There were screams. It was practically the only thing you could hear from the audio. Screams and the roar of fire and padding feet. The video was pretty shitty quality, but I could see a figure in a light blue t-shirt and jeans run down the hallway in a blur; he was running for his life. The kid twisted his head back and forth as if he was searching for something before he came across a giant blue door, opened it, and ran into the room. Sollux pressed some buttons on the keyboard and the screen switched from the hallway to inside the room. It was dimly lit, a small, block-glass window was at the ceiling, and in every corner were these giant, white machines. At this point, Sollux paused the video and turned to me.
"Now, I might be imagining things, though I'm pretty sure my powers of observation are fairly spectacular, but do those machines look familiar to you KK?" I learned further and inspected the room. The kid, which by now I'd figured out was John, was sitting crouched in the furthest corner on a giant, circular platform with a wired-up rod thing coming down from the ceiling over the middle of the circle. My eyes widened in recognition at the huge machine.
"Is that…a transmaterializer?" I said eyes wide with shock. I looked straight at Sollux, my mind whirring with confusion.
"How the fuck did they get a transmaterializer on Earth? That's Alternian technology, and it's not like any pirates have been to that side of the universe!" Sollux shrugged.
"Don't ask me. I'm just showing you what I saw. But look at the other machines; that shit is all yellow-blood creation. Even we don't have half that crap." I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. The occurrence of these devices on Earth was just…impossible. I looked to John, to see if he would have any kind of answer, but he looked just as confused as I felt so I turned back to the screen were Sollux had pressed play.
The roaring of the fire from outside got louder and John, in the video, was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest in the furthest corner of the transmaterializer. His shoulders were shaking and his face glistened in the soft light the barely made it through the room. I realized that he must've been crying, but why? But then John wasn't crying. He was sobbing. His head was thrown back and the audio was filled with his gut-wrenching sobs. Sollux shifted uncomfortably and rose from his seat.
"I have to use the bathroom. Be right back." I quickly pushed his chair out of the way to get a closer look. The flames started to trickle in through the corner of the room, and his eyes filled with a fear unlike anything I'd ever seen. I couldn't imagine what it would've been like to see those approaching flames and know…know that they were going to burn you alive. My blood-pusher was throbbing in my chest to hear his cries and see him in so distress.
I looked over my shoulder to see how John was doing watching this; I knew I wouldn't be able to fucking watch my own death…or near death I guess. But what I saw was far from anything I expected. John's face was completely stoic. He had absolutely no expression anywhere; his shoulders were rigid and his body was frozen. It didn't even look like he was breathing. I quickly paused the video and turned back to John; he still hadn't moved.
"John…are you okay?" John blinked and looked down at me without moving the rest of his body.
"I'm fine." He deadpanned. I gulped as his eyes turned back, robot like, to the video. The screens glow gave his face a very eerie look to it, but John didn't move. So I pressed play again.
My grip on the desk tightened as my anxiety increased. John was still crying in the video, but his sobs had died down as the flames got closer, as if he'd accepted his fate and was just waiting for the end. Tears were flowing steadily down his cheeks, but now I couldn't tell if it was because of his emotional state or the smoke that had begun to fill the room. John's lips were parted and moving, but whatever he'd said that night was lost forever; his voice was too quiet for the video to pick up and the quality too shitty to read his lips. The flames continued to engulf the room, and soon they were flickering closer and closer to him. I kept a hand tightly clasped over my mouth to hide the fact that is wide open in horror and shock, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen. The images were too vivid. I had to find out what was so peculiar about this moment, so significant, that I could've brought him here.
And just as suddenly as the flames had entered the room, they were on him. I saw his clothing on fire, his skin burning to a crisp, his hair smoking in the singe. John's eyes widened in pain, his agonizing scream cutting through the silence like a serrated knife. I cringed at the sound, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw John flinch.
One of his hands shot into the air, burning and screaming and crying. It was at that moment that I noticed something strange. On his arm were a bunch of jagged-looking red marks. His fist punched through the air, grasping at smoke. I couldn't see his face anymore; it was hidden by the bright, red-hot flames. His arm fell into the haze and there was one final agonizing scream before he howled out, "I want to go home!"
Something whirred to life and there was a blinding flash of bright blue light. Then the screen went dark and all I was staring at was a dark, charred room, and an empty, burnt transmaterializer.
I sat there in silence and shock. What had I just seen? My heart was thudding wildly in my chest, my hands were balled up into fists, and my breathing was ragged and heavy; as if I'd been the one in that fire. Slowly, I turned to face John. Kneeling down, I was eye-level with his waist. His grey-painted hands were balled into fists just like mine, but his hands were shaking. His chest was heaving, but much more irregularly than mine and his face was nothing if emotional. His buckteeth were jutting out, biting at his terribly trembling bottom lip and his bright, cerulean eyes were glossed over with unshed tears. It was the most heart breaking thing I'd ever seen.
"Oh John. John I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I whispered, standing up and enveloping him in a hug. The boy let out a strangled noise and it felt like he let out a giant breath of air he'd been holding for a long time. His whole body was shaking and his head was crooked into my neck. I felt his fingers curled tightly into the chest of my shirt, and his hot, clear tears wetting my neck. Gog what the hell was wrong with me? Why did I let him watch that? Anybody would've been traumatized, and here this kid was, on an alien planet, with a bunch of aliens, reliving his last, horrifying moments on Earth. I curled my fingers into his smooth, dark hair and held him as close to me as I could without crushing him. I felt horrible, it was so strange. I was baffled by how this kid could affect me. When he was gone, it felt like there was a huge part of my life that was missing. And for a long time, I thought it was just because I'd lost a quadrant. But then I'd gotten Gamzee, and that feeling never left. Then he comes back, and I almost feel whole again. All I ever do is fuck up and mess with things that shouldn't be messed with. It's like I'm a magnet for bad things.
"shhhhhh, its okay now John. I'm here. Everything's going to be okay." I rocked him back and forth, but he just kept crying. Gog I was a failure; I couldn't even calm down my…my…what the hell even was John to me? Frowning, I hugged him closer, his shaking starting to ebb off. John let out a shaky sob before his entire body went limp, startled, I fell to the ground with him, holding him against my body as we fell. John was still crying, but he was silent. His fingers were clutched to the front of my shirt as he just stared into space and sniffled his little nose. I sighed sadly and brushed a few black strands of hair out of his face. To my surprise, John closed his eyes and leaned his head into the touch. I frowned, the agony in his stance, his tears, made me feel like I was being ripped in two. I hated it. It made me feel vulnerable, it made me feel weak. I was growing too attached to him…but even with those idioms plaguing my think pan, I couldn't bring myself to tear away from him. He was too fucking precious.
"Karkat?" John's voice was small and still trembling slightly. Without a second thought, I brought my head down to his and placed a small, quick kiss to the side of his head.
"Yeah?" John was quite for a while, and I wondered if the kiss was a bad idea. But John was always good at surprises, as his fingers just curled right back around my shirt and his eyes closed again.
"Thank you."
#O#
After a little while John's breath slowed and his tears dried in sleep. Sollux came into the room, and upon seeing us on the floor, stopped in his tracks.
"What the hell is this?" he asked, gesturing to the heap of sleep that was John Egbert. I frowned and tightened my grip on his body, holding him close.
"What the hell does it look like? He just re-lived getting himself burnt alive, you wouldn't be all happy daisies and shit eating grins either lispy." Sollux glared and walked back to his chair, sitting down.
"He's a fucking human KK. What the shit is he doing here." I bared my teeth at this dipshit; he did nothing but rile my anger.
"Why don't you tell me?! All I saw was a flash of blue light and BOOM no more John on Earth." Sollux rolled his eyes.
"Figures you would be the illiterate one of the group." He muttered. I growled and refused to grace his asinine retort with any other kind of response.
"Well, if your done having your pity-party, hear me out." I glared at him, but didn't say anything. I was curious about what he had to say…but there was no way in hell I would ever admit it.
"The transmaterializer is a combo machine; it has the same functions as a sendificator and an appearifyer. In our lab, we only have an appearifyer, but it was limited functions. When John was sitting on that platform, he was prime target for being sent to a different location if given the right circumstances. These circumstances, to put it simply for your feeble mind, would be the pressing of buttons. However, if the transmaterializer it put under harsh conditions, i.e. flames, it's possible that it could have operated and sent John here." I frowned. I didn't thoroughly enjoy his little comment about my think-pan, but I let it slide.
"But with the functions of a sendificator, don't you have to have a specific location punched into the machine so the object your sending doesn't just...fly off to fuck-knows where?" Sollux frowned and sighed, turning back to his computer, bringing back his black coding screen.
"Yes, but in John's case, he didn't type up any location. And he couldn't have known anything about Alternia, which leads me to conclude that the transmaterializer works in more ways than one. It could be so advanced as to be able to detect a location from the thought of a single individual with the closest proximity to the machine." Sollux paused, looking at me expectantly. I frowned; looking back at john's sleeping form. But John was the only person in that room, and Sollux was right that he couldn't have known anything about Alternia to send him here. My brooding was interrupted by Sollux's sigh of impatience.
"Really, KK, you are so thick sometimes." I watched in silence as he pulled up the video screen again and replayed the last few seconds of footage. There was John, burning alive, and then; "I want to go home!"
Once again, I am so sorry it took me so long to update! Please leave a review to let me know how much you want to kill me. (really though, I am so, so, so sorry.)