Author's Note: This is a collection of thirty one-shots all set in the Homestuck-verse. They might contradict each other, since, unless otherwise noted, they aren't directly related to each other.
Prompt: "Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold."-Thomas Jefferson
Summary: Terezi makes a decision.
Character(s): Terezi Pyrope; light TerezixKarkat
Spoilers: Through a significant part of Act 5 Part 2, albeit dealing with an alternate timeline event, but if you're anywhere near current then none, really. It's from nearer to the beginning of visiting Doc Scratch.
Terezi watches Vriska fly away and clutches her dragon-headed cane tight in both hands. She stares at the blue blood's back, open and completely unguarded. She watches her perfect chance to strike drift farther and farther away. This one moment is her only chance to stop what she sees as inevitability, but… Despite everything, Terezi can't bring herself to do it.
She isn't sure what stays her hand. Affection for her "sister" has been gone since the Team Charge debacle. Persuasion has clearly already failed. Hope has been foreign since she realized how much blood was covering the station, counted the tastes and came up with an unhappy conclusion of rampant murder and mayhem. Acceptance of what is to come is what Aradia preached after her death, not something Terezi was ever interested in.
The only possible explanation is pride. Terezi can't take pride in beating Vriska by stabbing her in the back, and she so wants to boast when she finally takes Spidertroll down.
Terezi's pride in her work keeps her from stabbing her former "sister" in the back, and she watches the Thief of Light fly away before heading back down to find Karkat. His delicious candy blood wasn't spilled all over the hallways, so she knows the grumpy would-be leader is probably still around. She has to warn him.
She arrives in time to hear the demon stick his hand through Karkat's stomach. Her matesprit is dead. His candy red blood is spilling out everywhere, nothing hiding the freakish color anymore. She can't find it in her to resist when the demon turns his attention to her. She doesn't even go down fighting. She just accepts it as her due.
If there is a next time, Terezi vows with her dying gurgle to swallow the accursed pride that clings to the Sisters Scourge.