Coming Out Hard

Part 3

When Kanaya woke up, it was to the blurry but welcome image of an incredibly pretty blonde girl. As her vision cleared however, she realized she was instead looking at the vaguely worried face of a blonde male. She briefly wondered where the fuck she was and who this man is before her eyes moved down and she saw the faded red surcoat he was wearing and everything clicked back into place.

"Dave?"

"Damn girl, about time you woke up. Hey Karkat! Maryam's waken up, stop crying in the corner and get over here."

" Fuck you I am not fucking crying!"

She heard footsteps quickly approaching before seeing Karkat in the corner of her vision. "Shit Kanaya, are you alright?"

She didn't feel alright, not at first. Her head was pounding, everything was sore, and she felt like her whole body was frozen and immobile. But as her eyes fell upon the small fire in the corner of the otherwise empty room, identical to the one they found in the courtyard, she felt a warm, contented feelng wash over her. As seconds past she felt it all fade away, not just the pain and numbness but also that unpleasant feeling of hopelessness and resignation that had been chewing on the back of her mind ever since she first felt the knights tightening the ropes around her wrists. She pushed herself into a sitting position, telling Karkat that she was indeed alright, apparently.

"Gods damn it no you are not, your head is…the hell?"

"What? What's wrong with my head?"

"Nothing apparently. fuck, did the fire do this?"

Dave stepped forward, pushing an indignant Karkat out of the way and helping Kanaya back on her feet. "Apparently the magic fire has magic powers, yeah, that's a huge shocker. Glad to see you're okay Maryam but we've got to get moving."

"Fuck you Strider, this is the first place we've been in that doesn't have corpses either trying to kill us or falling out of the sky."

Dave opened his mouth to reply but Kanaya, sensing an argument, shot out "No karkat, I believe Dave is right. That we are not under attack from hollows only means that they haven't found us yet."

"…Fine"

"Awesome" Dave said, fitting his helmet back on his head and drawing what was left of his sword.

Karkat handed Kanaya an old wooden plank with a strap tied around it, meant to be a shield she presumed, and together they made their way away from the fire and towards the exit.

Or at least they were, until Dave suddenly jumped away from the opening and straight into Karkat, narrowly dodging an arrow aimed right for his head.

Karkat gave a surprised shout as both he and Dave fell to the ground.

"God damn that was close."

"Godamnit you cocksucker, get the fuck off me!"

Dave instead merely turned his head to stare right at Karkat and with an almost audible smirk said to him "Simmer down Vantas, I just had a near death experience here. Give me second."

Kanaya, certain that Karkat will lose his head and seriously attack Dave, immediately runs over and nudges the armored knight upward. Dave, thankfully, takes the hint and gets off Karkat of his own volition, brushing imaginary dust off his surcoat.

"Dave that was childish and you know it."

"Sorry mom."

"I hope you fucking…"

"And that's enough from you too. We should be focusing on the matter at hand, not wasting time with your petty fights."

"Alright, fair enough. Hey Vantas, get off your ass and come check this out."

Kanaya, fully expecting to have to restrain Karkat, was surprised to see her angry friend simply get up and walk over towards the wall next to Dave, carefully peeking out over the edge of the wall into a ceiling-less hallway lined with dilapidated cells. Kanaya assumed it would be unwise to dash across the opening to the other side, where there would be room for her to see what was going on herself, and instead asked for a status report.

"What Is Out There Exactly?"

"Hollow with a bow and arrow. And bitchin aim, apparently."

"BUT JUST AS STUPID AS THE REST. HOLY SHIT IS HE ACTUALLY KNOCKING ANOTHER ARROW? LIKE WE CAN'T JUST DUCK OUR HEADS BACK IN THE MOMENT HE LETS IT FLY? FUCK YES! THIS IS PERFECT! WE CAN JUST SIT TIGHT AND LET HIM RUN OUT OF ARROWS, THEN RUSH HIS DECAYING ASS."

"Yeah, fuck that."

"…EXCUSE ME?"

"That plans all well and good, but would take forever and is lame as shit."

"OH! FUCKING OH! IT'S TOO SLOW AND TOO LAME HUH? WELL FUCK, I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA!?"

Before Dave could reply both he and Karkat ducked back into the room to avoid an arrow.

"Okay, you saw the cell ahead of us to the left right? With the body in it? What I'm going to do is run up there, grab the body, use it as a shield, and get close enough to hit him with my…."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…shit"

"WITH YOUR WHAT? WELL STRIDER, WHAT, IF I MAY BE SO KIND AS TO ASK, DID YOU INTEND TO HIT THE HOLLOW WITH, HMM?"

"Okay look, I'm a little forgetful alright. It happens sometimes."

"YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE BLOOD STAINED HUNK OF METAL STRAPPED ON YOUR ARM, THE SAME GODS DAMNED HUNK OF METAL YOU'VE BEEN USING AS YOUR PRIMARY WEAPON?!"

"Wow Dave That Is Just…Wow."

"Okay yeah fuck you guys too. Now if you don't mind I've got a hollow to gut, outta my way assholes."

Dave raised his shield and dashed around the corner and down the corridor, heading straight for the hollow archer. It was actually kind of heroic, Kanaya thought, dashing forward with nothing but his shield to grant them safe passage. Or rather it would have been heroic had what they assumed was only a corpse not lurched forward as Dave ran by, tripping him up and causing him to fall flat on his face.

Kanaya gasped when the hollow climbed on top of Dave, pinning him down as the archer readied another arrow. She was about to rush over to Dave and, well, she wasn't sure exactly what she would have done but thankfully Karkat beat her to it, pushing past her and running towards Dave's pinned form.

Karkat lifted up the slowly flailing hollow and slammed it's head into the wall, grabbing up Dave's broken sword and rushing the archer.

Kanaya saw the arrow fly and thought for certain she was about to watch her new friend die. To her surprise however Karkat swatted the arrow away with the remains of Dave's sword. She saw blood fly from his wrist, but it was far from the fatal wound it would have been. Karkat jumped onto the taller hollow, forcing it to the ground and repeatedly stabbing it in the neck, splattering his face and chest with thick black blood.

Kanaya ran forward to help Dave back to his feet, but had trouble tearing her eyes away from Karkat, who had yet to rise off of the slain hollow. She couldn't help but begin reconsidering Karkat's claim to knighthood.

"Did he just…"

"Yes."

"With his…"

"I Believe So."

"…well damn."

Once Dave was steady and on his feet he and Kanaya made their way to Karkat, who was kneeling down next to the dead hollow and wrapping his injured wrist with cloth. Karkat finished and stood right as Dave got to him.

Had Dave not had his helmet's visor down Kanaya would have born witness to the incredibly rare sight of a Strider at a loss for words. As it was, all she saw was Dave raise his first outwards towards Karkat in what was to her a strange and unfamiliar gesture. Karkat shot the other knight a glare before mimicking Dave's stance, bumping their fists together.

Kanaya simply looked on, bemused at the unfamiliar gesture of what she could only assume was some sort of weird pseudo-friendship type thing.

~)

Kanaya went ahead of her companions into the next passage, which led her to another hallway overlooking the courtyard she and Karkat found Dave in. She could make out two ascending staircases around each corner of the overlook, one of which had long since collapsed, that as far as she could tell led up towards an area above the large door which led to the room that contained the Demon. Excited about possibly being able to bypass the monster, she immediately went to her right, turned the corner, and headed up the staircase, noting a parallel staircase next to it leading back down towards the courtyard for future exploration. It was dark near the top, so she couldn't see anything, but she could certainly hear a strange sound, almost like someone was rolling something heavy.

She heard the giant metal ball make contact with the first of the stairs, each roll breaking off bits of stone from the floor of the stairs on impact. She did not instinctively jump off the side of the staircase, which she would later begrudgingly admit is exactly what a trained knight would have done. Instead, she looked upwards towards the shadows with what she would have described as "Mildly Concerned Curiosity." When she realized what was happening Kanaya quickly attempted to jump off the side but was too late to avoid the sphere completely. It hit her legs mid-air, making her scream out in both surprise and pain as she's suddenly set spinning in the air, only stopping when she lands on her back on the second set of stairs below.

As she laid there, the edges of the stairs digging into her back, she could vaguely here the sound Dave's metal boots hitting the stone floor, followed closely by the comparatively soft patter of Karkat's bare feet.

She wanted to call out to them, but instead decided she was best off staying still and not moving, waiting for the pain enveloping her body to subside while being quietly grateful that she could still feel pain, especially in her legs. She couldn't imagine how a hollow would fare without the use of their legs.

She heard Karkat calling her name from somewhere above her, and heard the sound of metal tearing through decaying flesh somewhere above that. Grimacing, she forced herself upright calling out to her friend. "I'm Down Here Karkat."

Karkat ran down the stairs, getting to her right as she unsteadily made it to her feet, one hand braced against the wall. "SHIT, KANAYA, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"My Back And Legs Are Both In A Great Deal Of Pain, But None Of The Damage Is Permanent I Think. Come To Think Of It What With Our Magic Healing Fire I Suppose No Damage Would Have Been Permanent Beyond Death Of Course But Still In Light Of The Worst Case Scenario I…"

"OKAY IM JUST GONNA CUT YOU OFF THERE AND TAKE THAT AS A YES."

"Sorry. Yes, I Am Fine."

"GOOD. C'MON, LETS HEAD BACK UP AND WAIT FOR THAT ASSHAT TO FINISH KILLING THE HOLLOW."

Kanaya and Karkat made their way back up the stairs, Kanaya limping and leaning on Karkat for support. They walked into a room made accessible by the giant steel ball breaking the wall down, said ball resting innocently against the wall. Kanaya resisted the childish urge to glare at it as Karkat helped her reach a small and conveniently arranged pile of loose stone bricks near the back of the room.

Kanaya eased herself into a semi comfortable reclining position, absently staring at the surprisingly clean water that filled the center of the room up to her ankles and being privately amused by Karkat's dedicated but failing attempts to not look concerned for her. Right as she's about to question Karkat as to what's taking Dave so long she notices something shining in the water next to her makeshift chair, almost entirely buried beneath crumbled bits of stone.

She manages to clear off enough of the debris to reveal a brilliant emerald colored flask. Picking it up, she notices two more beneath it, also held in place by stone but miraculously un-cracked. The pain in her legs momentarily forgotten, she gets up off her seat to begin moving away the obstructing rocks, determined to reach the flasks. Vaguely she registers that Dave has returned and has embroiled himself in another argument with Karkat.

Setting aside the three flasks, she picks up one small pebble in each hand and tosses one each at her companions. One bounces off Dave's helmet and the other off Karkat's skull, Dave looking up in surprise at Kanaya, and Karkat getting interrupted mid-sentence and giving Kanaya an incredulous, opened mouth look that, personally, she found just incredibly silly.

"THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?"

Kanaya simply smiled and lifted one of the flasks she uncovered and held it out towards Karkat, who took it out of her hand and began inspecting it.

"SO, WHAT? WHATS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A FEW FUCKING BOTTLES."

"Be a good a way to store some of this water, kind of redundant for us I guess but a sip of cold water would be nice sometime."

Kanaya simply sat there, stunned, while Dave picked up one of the two remaining flasks up and began filling it with water from the center of the room. "Do Neither Of You Really Have No Idea Regarding What We May Have Found Here?"

"uh, no."

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT. THEY'RE JUST FLASKS AREN'T THEY?"

"I Understand That The Dark Tales Are Not Required Reading Outside Of Thorolund But Really? Nearly Every Book With An Undead In It Makes At The Very Least A Passing Mention Of The Fabled Estus Flasks."

"WELL FUCKING EXCUSE ME FOR HAVING BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH MY TIME THAN READING SHITTY MAKE-BELIEVE NOVELS!"

"Yeah, not much of a reader myself here Maryam. You're gonna have to fill us in."

"Well, Supposedly These Flasks Contain A Powerful Regenerative Potion, Said To Derive Its Energy From The First Flame Itself. There Are Of Course Many Other Myths And Legends Surrounding The Flasks, But The Magic Potion Theory Is The Only One Considered Church Canon. It Is Actually The Origin Of The White Talismans So Often Attributed To Thorolunds Cleric Knights. The Story Is That They Block The Use Of Such Potions By The Undead. "

"Well I hate to break it to you but these were empty, and the water I put in mine doesn't look very magical."

"SOUNDS LIKE SOME FANATIC CHURCH BULLSHIT TO ME."

"Well, Maybe You Are Right. Still, Three Flasks Matching The Description Of The Estus Flasks, Found Buried Beneath Part Of A Collapsed Wall In An Undead Asylum And, Despite Being Made Of Glass, Not So Much As Scratched? It's Almost Like Fate Isn't It?"

"…WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK ARE YOU EVEN FUCKING SAYING."

"Actually, against all odds I think I might kind of get what you're saying there Maryam. I vote we keep the magic bottles."

"FINE, WHATEVER, LIKE IT EVEN FUCKING MATTERS. ARE WE ALL DONE HERE, CAUSE I PERSONALLY WOULD JUST LOVE TO GET BACK TO WANDERING AIMLESSLY AROUND THIS FUCKING DEATH TRAP LOOKING FOR SOME ASSHOLE WHO PROBABLY ISN'T EVEN HERE ANYMORE."

"After you Karkles."

"FUCK YOU!"

~)~)

Kanaya decided she would be better off sticking behind Dave and Karkat, a decision proven very wise when the three undead ascended the now much safer stairs and, with a liberal amount of kicking and cursing, managed to force open the rusty gate blocking their progress only to be greeted by two very nimble hollows with relatively sharp daggers and yet another archer. Kanaya was right when she assumed that the stairs would allow them to bypass the demon, the short hallway leading to a large balcony overlooking a small graveyard set on what seemed to be the very peak of the mountain, a small path winding through its middle leading all the way up to the top before dropping off into oblivion.

Kanaya thought that despite the gray, cloud covered sky it made for a lovely sight. She could see herself looking out at this view as her brain slowly rotted and she went insane. Or perhaps she'd end it herself before then, die while she was still Kanaya Maryam and not some flesh hungry hollow who might potentially murder a brave knight like Dave or Karkat.

Their time together was coming to a close. She knew that they had as of now, between the three of them, been everywhere in the Asylum. There was no sign of Dave's mysterious target, meaning he would be beginning his descent back down the mountain. She also knew that Karkat, with his miraculously regained strength and his natural vigor would likely take after Dave in a few days, if not sooner. She knew that she was simply not fit enough to join him, that she would be left here to whither and rot and, gods willing, one day eventually die. Completely and totally alone.