A.N: Haha... Sorry, Writers block! I'm back though!
She was dead.
Without even getting to the area where her body was split into a thousand different pieces, scattered around the ground, hanging in the trees, painting the green forest a reddish purple, Jade knew.
She was dead.
Jade cursed at herself as she ran after Nepeta, tripping over roots and rocks as she stumbled through the forest, her eyes widening as the tainted trees came into view. It was all planned so perfectly. She knew it was! She had thought the whole thing through, put Aradia on a Quest Bed, timed her death and placement perfectly, sent the wagon flying at the drones, took all of them out. It was all so perfect!
Her assumption, though, was not.
She tripped onward, her shoes slowly turning a light pink with the blood she stepped through. She finally stopped in front of Sollux, who stood with his mouth slightly open, yellow tears streaming quietly down his face, catching ever so slightly on his glasses before plummeting to his chin. He swallowed as his eyes trailed after Equius, who was currently picking up the ever so small remains of Aradia-Bot, cursing as the chunks of charred metal shattered like glass under his muscled fingers, blue tears streaming down his face as well. As she stared at the two broken hearted trolls, Jade finally felt the guilt strike her in the chest, causing her to flinch slightly when Equius angrily cursed again, lobbing the broken pieces of metal at a tree. She flinched a second time as the tree groaned and squealed in protest as the metal lodged itself into the wood, 7 feet off the ground, sending blood covered splinters flying in every which way direction.
No! This wasn't supposed to happen! She was a witch of life! She was supposed to LIVE! Jade's own angry attempts at pointing the blame elsewhere barely sated the extreme pain settling deep in her chest. Logic was too strong in her brain. Somewhere deep inside her, she knew this was going to happen. She knew Feferi was going to be the one to die.
Even a Witch of Life can't heal herself if she's blown into a thousand pieces...
Silence fell over the whole party as the rest of the crew came petering to a halt behind Jade. She winced again as Eridan's voice broke the silence.
"Oh Cod Fef." He sucked in a breath, not knowing where to look as he twisted his head in every direction, his face blanching as he couldn't find a piece of her body larger than a thimble.
"Aradia'th gone too." Sollux mumbled numbly. "They're both gone." Jade couldn't stop the cold chills that enveloped her face as she stared at 3 men's defeated faces. What was this? She had saved their lives, but all she could feel was this extreme guilt. None of them knew Aradia was still alive and better than ever (Albiet a little lonely at the moment, with only the HorrorTerrors to talk to...). None of them knew that if Fef didn't die, they all would have. None of them knew how lucky they were. But she knew...
Then why do I feel so guilty? She felt her shoulders slump as Nepeta walked sadly to Equius, resting her hand on his shoulder, and Eridan walked over to Sollux, only to get a killer death glare, and back away to grieve in his own emo corner.
"I'm... I'm so sorry..." She couldn't help but whisper, a small tear catching on her eyelashes. Vriska let out an evil snorting laugh, only making Jade hate herself even more. The tear fell from her eyelashes, running slowly down her face as she backed away, her throat catching. "I'm going to... uhh... Wake Karkat..." She turned on her heels, hating herself even more for fleeing as she ran full speed away from the grieving trolls.
No one followed her.
"Hey... uhh... Gamzee?"
"Yeah, Tavbro?"
"Uhh... Where are we going?"
"Oh hey, mother fucker, don't you up and worry bout that shit kay? We're just up and meeting with some of the trolls, yo. Honk. You can up and see em right there!" Gamzee smiled a goofy smile as nine trolls slowly came into view, two of which Tavros had never seen before. It took the small brown troll a few moments to understand the situation, but when his feet squished slightly, and he looked down to see the metal of his robot legs painted slightly pink, it all clicked into place. He took a small breath, his eyes shooting from Gamzee to Equius being comforted by Nepeta, to Sollux numbly standing, paying no attention to Terezi's constant pestering, and licking. Kanaya stood near the edge of a tree, her head down, as a female troll he had never seen before rested her hand lightly on her shoulder. Eridan had gathered quite a few pieces of Feferi's scattered body, and was attempting to put her back together, to no avail, as another male troll stood near, watching him with his arms crossed. Vriska leaned against a tree near Kanaya and the mystery female troll, one of her legs leaning against the bloodstained wood, an evil grin on her face as she caught Tavros's eye.
He had a feeling she knew something that no one else did. He blinked a few times, and looked away from her, walking slowly to where Kanaya stood. He stopped where the charred ground near Aradia's remains started, and turned around to see if Gamzee had followed him.
He did not.
He was nowhere to be found, but Tavros, at this moment, did not mind. He continued his Trek to Kanaya, worry crossing his face.
She figured since that was what she said she was going to do, that she should check on Karkat. She returned to the ruins of their wagon, and silently took a seat next to Karkat's sleeping form, letting out a soft sigh as she pulled her knees to her chest.
Before now, the deaths she had caused through the use of her manipulation had been limited simply to stuck up High Blood attackers who wanted her dead, and wandering Lusus. But now she had killed an innocent troll who had saved her own Lusus's life, let alone her own. She let her head fall onto her knees, choking slightly as guilt closed her throat up a second time.
"Hey," Jade flinched as a voice randomly started to speak. "You know saving the lives of 14 trolls and only having one die is mother fucking bitch tits miraculous, right mother fucker?" She lifted her head to see Gamzee half an inch from her nose, a goofy smile on his face. "One troll dead, one troll blew up. 12 were saved, including the two new mother fuckers that up and appeared out of mother fucking nowhere, man. And you know as well as I that Aradia is up and about as dead as you are." At that last sentence, he leaned back just enough to be able to flick her nose, as if to prove to her that she was alive. She frowned, looking down again.
"But..." For some reason, she did not question how he knew what he knew, but instead let a few more tears fall down her face as she sniffled. "But I killed someone."
He smacked her head rather hard, and she looked up in protest only to be interrupted by the serious look on his face. "If you didn't do what you did, you would have the murder of 14 trolls on your head, not including John.
"Whose John?"
"Never mother fucking mind. You'll figure it out later." he touched her nose lightly, his goofy smile returning. "Just know this. You did good today. A mother fucking miracle that you were here."
His smile was contagious, and she couldn't help but smile slightly in return.
"Thanks...
"No, mother fucker, thank you!" He grinned even wider, if that was possible, and then turned his face to a slumbering Karkat. Even in his sleep, he looked like something crawled up his ass and died. "Now to up and fix this little bitch tits of a mother fucker." He crawled away from Jade, reaching over to Karkat, and lifting his head off the ground, cradling it slightly in his hands. "Hey mother fucker. Wake up." Karkat did not stir, but let out a small snore. "Mother fucker." Gamzee's voice grew in volume slightly. Karkat stirred slightly, but otherwise stayed completely still.
Jade watched, smirking slightly as Gamzee spoke louder and louder, and started to shake Karkat slightly. Karkat barely moved, letting out a small "Fuck you." She giggled slightly, enjoying watching their interaction. Gamzee let out a small sigh, and looked over to Jade, winking. He stood, and lifted Karkat to his feet, balancing him with one hand as he reached his other hand reached downward.
Suddenly, her giggling halted and her jaw dropped open, her face turning bright red. She sucked in her breath, and looked away quickly, covering her face with her hands. After half a second, she looked back through her fingers, and her ears turned red as well. She couldn't stop the snort that escaped, nor the rolling on the floor belly laughter that followed.
Gamzee had, with relative ease, ripped Karkat's pants off of him, leaving them dangling at his ankles.
Leaving Karkat's "My Little Pony" underwear perfectly open for viewing.
Pinkie Pie pranced all over his nether regions, laughing and giggling, spouting some of her best quotes all over his inner thighs, including "FOREVER!," "I'm not giving him cake! I'm ASSAULTING him with cake!," and "Hold on to your hooves, I'm about to be BRILLIANT!"
Gamzee stared at Karkat's VERY TIGHT briefs, his eyes wide, and his jaw dropped. "Mother... Fucking... Miracles..." He whispered. Jade laughed even harder.
That was about the time Karkat woke up. He opened his eyes to see Gamzee staring downward, and hear Jade's laughter. "WHat the FUCK are you laughing about?"
Jade could respond about as well as she could breath. She choked on the ground. Karkat stared at her for a moment, and then noticed the slight and pleasant breeze around his knees. His eyebrows squinted slightly, his brain telling him that something was not quite right... He looked down. "OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!" He bent down, pulling his pants up, and shooting a glare at Gamzee. "What the fuck, Gamzee? That's just wrong."
"Nice... underwear!" Jade giggled, wiping the tears from her eyes. Karkat flipped her off.
"Shouldn't we be, i don't know, worrying about the fact that our wagon is fucking up in FLAMES, and there are only THREE of us here right now? Where the fuck are the others?" His serious face quickly snapped Jade out of her giggling fit, and she looked down at the ground, a frown resettling on her face.
She stood, brushing her clothes off. "They... They are over there." She ushered in the direction of the rest of the trolls. "We should take you there now."
"So they're alive?"
"Most of them." Jade responded, guilt hitting her again.
"Who died?"
"Feferi and Aradia."
"Oh." The three trolls fell silent, and Jade took that moment to walk in the direction of the remaining trolls. Karkat silently followed, and Gamzee, for once, understood the serious nature surrounding the red and lime trolls, and he trotted behind, biting his lower lip, smiling slightly at his accomplishment at making Jade smile for even a little bit.
When they reached the rest of the trolls, not much had changed in the atmosphere. The trolls themselves had slowly drifted further and further apart from each other, and were now each seperated by at least 10 feet each, the exceptions being the pairs of Nepeta and Equius, Kanaya, Rose, and Tavros, and Terezi (Who seemed to be skipping from person to person, collecting "Clues"). Jade felt her shoulders slump again as she looked from troll to troll, hating herself even more. She felt Karkat pass by her, and looked up. He calmly walked to the center of the spread out group, and took a deep breath.
"Alright, fuckasses. Listen up." Each troll seemed to perk their ears slightly, but did nothing else. He pressed forward. "Aradia and Feferi are dead." The trolls flinched in unison, Karkat's frown deepening. "But what kind of a fucking team leader would I be if I let us fall to fucking shambles with a little death here and there? No fuck this shit, we're getting over this little bitch of a mishap, and moving forward." He turned to Sollux. "Sorry your girl and your EX died, but frankly, no one seriously gives a fuck about how sad you are. You're suicidal to begin with." He turned to Eridan. "She broke up with you and turned you down. You had no chance." He turned to Equius. "You loved a robot." he turned to Kanaya. "Why do you even give a fuck? Are you sad because some females are dead, and you were thinking about seducing them? Face it, you can get whatever female you want, so stop bitching about your 'choices' going down a bit." he turned to Vriska. "Fuck you." He turned to Jade. "And i bet you fucking blame yourself for some weird ass shit tastic reason. Whatever. Just quit this shit, and let's keep going." He turned to the trolls. "So stop your fucking emo corner shit, and get the hell over here so we can talk like civilized trolls."
No one moved. He raised an eyebrow, and crossed his arms. Slowly, the trolls floated toward each other, their heads still down, more than a few fuming with anger at Karkat's words. He flipped them off. "Okay good. Now."
He looked at all of them, acknowledging Dave and Rose with a slight now.
"What the fuck do we do now?"