Apparently, a normal day of school was not too much to ask. In fact, Karkat got to experience several normal weeks, which surprised him far too much.
He began to fall into a routine: he would go to school, avoid John, ride the bus home, and do homework for an hour, after which Sollux would come over and teach Karkat hero skills until around ten, when Sollux had to go patrolling in the city. The main goal of most of their meetings was to discover Karkat's hidden powers.
One eventful evening, Sollux flew both of them to the beach near the city and dropped Karkat unceremoniously into the water.
"I wath trying to thee if you had aquatic powerth," he lisped when Karkat screamed in his face after nearly drowning.
"I'm not a fucking good swimmer! I've only been to the beach about five times in my entire fucking life, you dumbass, how would I have aquatic powers?"
"We have to try everything," Sollux grinned, his hero form fangs pointing untidily in every direction. Karkat couldn't help but think that the guy really needed braces.
Another time, Sollux didn't even bother with the water—he just dropped Karkat in midair, before catching him with telekinesis less than five feet off the ground.
This time, Karkat's only response was "FUUUUUUCK!"
In the end, their constant attempts came to nothing—it seemed Karkat's powers were more elusive than Sollux had originally hoped. The only hint of something that might have been a power had been Karkat's terrible nightmare.
It kept repeating itself, playing over and over in his head. The screams of the dying and the pleading of Karkat's friends haunted him at all hours. He couldn't sleep at night anymore, because every night he would see the same images, of everyone dying in a blur of rainbow blood. Every time, he couldn't move.
He never did ask Jack about Snowman. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to know who she was, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. There had been a look in her eyes all throughout their encounter, and he knew it had to mean something. She'd called him a Blood Knight, whatever that meant, and it clearly meant something.
Three weeks passed since the first day of school, and the air turned sharp and crisp. The first few leaves dropped from the trees, and the sky was filled with puffy white clouds.
Karkat dragged himself to the bus stop, bags under his eyes. He didn't have time or energy to admire the beautiful day, because the sun had only just risen and he was so fucking done. This public school thing was the worst idea he had ever had, he decided. He'd had the nightmare again last night, and screams of pain kept echoing in his ears.
The school bus smelled like pot that day. Karkat settled himself in the back as usual, pausing only to flip off John when he tried to fool Karkat with a hand buzzer. A couple assholes were sitting a few seats in front of Karkat, passing around a bong. Karkat resisted the urge to shove it up their asses.
"Hi, Karkat." Great. The last thing he needed was a conversation with fucking Nepeta. He turned slightly, acknowledging her presence with a grunt, but something about her seemed…off. Her cat-shaped knit hat, which he'd never seen her without, was pulled down over her eyes, and she was huddling inside of her olive-green jacket without even putting her arms through the sleeves.
"You feeling okay?" he asked bluntly, casting a tired glance at the petite girl.
"Huh? Oh…I'm fine," she answered. "Just tired."
"Me too." Karkat slumped against the back window, his eyes almost fluttering shut before THE BLOOD AND SCREAMING SHIT FUCK SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK crashed into his conscious mind and scared him back to alertness. He sat bolt upright, painfully aware of the sound of his own heartbeat. His pulse almost calmed him as it pounded in his ears. Nepeta didn't even turn to glance in his direction.
He forced himself to take a deep breath, imagining that he could sense the blood pulsing through his veins and imagining the calmness spreading through him, like a warming light.
For a few moments, he almost thought that he could actually sense every single blood cell making its way through the pathways of his body, forming the shape that was him, but then the sensation passed.
Why the fuck was the bus so quiet? Karkat sat up straighter, looking over the top of the seat in front of him. The students sitting there, who had previously been arguing over their weed, were collapsed, smiling placidly, against each other. It wouldn't have been weird (they were stoners, after all), except for the fact that everyone on the bus was doing the same thing. All down the aisle, students were lolling calmly and quietly in their seats, smiling contentedly. It was creepy as fuck.
Nepeta sighed. She pulled off her omnipresent cat hat to reveal a matted tuft of strawberry-blonde hair, clutching the knit garment to her chest. She was the only person on the bus who wasn't smiling.
What. The. Fuck. Was this one of John's pranks? Had he pumped laughing gas into the school bus or something? Karkat groaned, unzipping his backpack and retrieving his unfinished Physics homework, and everything suddenly snapped back to normal.
"Karkitty? Did you feel that?" Nepeta asked, putting her hat back on.
"How the fuck could I not? Just…fuck off, okay? I'm doing my homework." Karkat began scribbling numbers, completely ignoring everyone else around him. He was so fucking DONE.
"Hey! Kaaaaaaaarkaaaaaaaat!" Great. Vriska was yelling at him.
"Shut the fuck up and leave me alone," he hollered back. "I'm doing my fucking homework, okay? I don't have time for your ridiculous bullshit."
"But Karkat, I want your attention! Pleeeeeeeease?" Vriska leaned over the top of the seat, grinning. She was wearing a Pirates of the Caribbean T-shirt and for some unexplainable reason, an eyepatch over her left eye.
"Fuck it, you have ten seconds. Ten…nine…eight…"
"John wants to talk to you when we get to school."
"Why couldn't John fucking tell me himself?"
"You're no fuuuuuuuun," Vriska complained, grinning. She really didn't look that offended. "He says it's impoooooooortant, though, so you better show."
"Fuck off." Karkat turned back to his Physics homework. When the bus arrived at school, he high-tailed it past John and Vriska and towards his locker. The dorky prankster dumbass could handle it if Karkat dissed his offer.
Mr. Hussie barely blinked an eye as Karkat sped past him. For some reason, the teacher was wearing a fake knock-off horn headband with the hero horns of Seamstress. It wasn't exactly typical school dress code.
Karkat rounded a corner headed for his first-period Physics class, and nearly collided head-on with Sollux. If it wasn't for Sollux's excellent reflexes, then they would have bowled straight into each other.
"What the fuck?"
"John," Karkat said by way of explanation.
"Ah."
"Where the fuck are you even going? The portable is that way, dumbass," Karkat informed his friend. Sollux pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose in response.
"It'th thecret."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"…Hero thtuff," Sollux muttered.
"Explain yourself right the fuck now, please."
"Jethuth, KK, when did you get tho controlling? I am the mathter here. It ith me. I don't need to tell you everything."
"You're an asshole."
"Tho are you."
"Why the fuck can't you tell me what you're talking about? Seriously, dude, I'm a mutant freak too. Can't I be an unofficial part of your fruity asshole rumpus?" Karkat demanded sarcastically.
"Calm your titth. Lithen, you're going to be late for clath. I'll tell you when I get there."
"You'll be late for class too, idiot." Sollux flipped Karkat off and continued on his way towards the front of the school.
Karkat groaned loudly, muttering obscenities under his breath, and ran for the portables, sliding in the door just as the bell rang for the start of the day.
Sollux didn't reappear, but when Karkat checked the news on his phone in the bathroom during lunch he noticed a headline stating that Psionic had foiled a major bank robbery in the city, seemingly appearing out of nowhere outside of his regular patrolling hours.
Karkat didn't see Sollux again until fourth period Foundations of Tech, which the hero-in-hiding was forced to take by the school system. They hadn't let him test out of it, something that Sollux mourned loudly every time he was given the opportunity to do so.
"Thorry about earlier," he grumbled.
"I saw the headline, you're good."
"That wathn't why I left, though—that'th the fruthtrating thing." Sollux lowered his voice, glancing sideways at his father. Karkat was currently unclear as to whether or not Mr. Captor was aware of Sollux's alter ego, but it wasn't a good idea to talk loudly about heroism in the middle of the high school.
"Why'd you fucking leave, then?"
"You know the power detector? The thing I carry around when we're trying to figure out what you can do? It thomehow found itth way into my backpack thith morning, and it went off big-time a few minuteth before I ran into you. I've never had it do that before, tho I left to find the thourthe, but then I got thidetracked," Sollux whispered. He sat completely still and quiet as Mr. Captor passed out a worksheet, and Karkat glared at him.
"What the fuck. That is my only comment on the level of ridiculously stupid that that is."
"Out of theer curiouthity, did you notithe anything weird thith morning?"
"Only that every single person on my school bus randomly actually shut the fuck up for once, with no discernible reason."
"Thit." Karkat stared blankly at Sollux. "KK, you ride Buth 175, don't you?"
"…Yeah."
"That'th pretty much the wortht buth there ith. It'th full of idiotth and people who couldn't underthtand the conthept of quiet if they tried. They all actually thut up?"
"Now that I think about it, it was pretty fucking bizarre. They were all grinning. Grinning at nothing."
"What happened immediately before that?"
"Uh…I don't remember. I fucking zoned out, asshole, seeing as I was sleep deprived and suffering from a recurring nightmare? I'm pretty sure I've told you about the nightmares." Sollux gave Karkat a strange look.
"No. No, you haven't."
"Listen, I—"
"Kaaaaaaaarkaaaaaaaat, you're needed in Guiiiiiiiidaaaaaaaance," rang a frustratingly familiar voice from the door of the classroom. The one and only Vriska Serket leaned against the doorframe, holding a pink slip of paper. She grinned venomously at Mr. Captor.
Karkat groaned, pushing his chair out slowly and allowing it to creak and squeal against the ground before slouching inch by inch towards Vriska.
"What the fuck do they want? And why did they send you?" Karkat demanded as soon as the classroom door was closed. "Since when do you of all people, I mean really—you—help out in Guidance? You are quite possibly the most twisted person I know apart from maybe your dumbass boyfriend. You are a psychopathic lunatic who takes sick pleasure in—"
"Seriously, though, Vantas, you need to shut up now," Vriska interrupted, stepping in front of Karkat to block his path. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyes were narrowed. Her voice seemed somehow different.
"Get the fuck out of my way, didn't you just tell me to go to Guidance? I'm going to fucking Guidance."
"That was a lie, loser, I need to talk to you." Karkat tried to push past Vriska, but she moved to intercept him. "You're not getting away, just hear me out, alright?"
"Fuck off."
"I'm serious, Vantas. Look at me. Do I look like I'm fucking around?" Vriska stared at Karkat and forced him to make eye contact.
"I'm going back to the classroom where things make sense. Good-fucking-bye." Karkat turned around, and Vriska grabbed his shoulder faster than he'd thought possible.
"You're not going anywhere until you tell me what you did on the bus this morning."
"What?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"No. No I fucking don't and if you'll fucking excuse me, I need to get back to class." Don't kill the spiderbitch, don't kill the spiderbitch… Karkat growled a few curse words to himself, then turned to face Vriska again. "Fuck off."
"Tell me what you did on the bus. That wasn't normal, and believe me—I know about what's not normal. You did something, and made everyone calm down and start giggling like pathetic little shits for no good reason. If that wasn't you, then I'm a motherfucking butterfly," Vriska hissed. "I want an explanation."
Karkat raised his middle finger, shoved Vriska's hand off his shoulder, and marched solidly towards the classroom door.
Suddenly, Vriska was in front of him again.
"Explanation. Now."
"Oh my fucking god, you're persistent. Look, I don't even know what you're talking about, okay? Just calm the fuck down and leave me alone. Go make out with John in the bathroom or something." Vriska made a face.
"Soooooooo not my style, and you're getting off-topic. The thing on the bus. What the hell was it? Tell me or I will sic my pet tarantula on you."
"You don't have a fucking pet tarantula."
"Of course I do, I brought her in for a class demonstration, and she's currently in my purse right now. There is nothing stopping me from putting the large hairy spider on your face. Nothing. Now spill." Vriska reached into her cerulean handbag, all the while never letting her eyes leave Karkat's.
"Get the fuck out of my way and go back to whatever hole you crawled out of." Vriska pulled her hand from the purse, and perched on it was a very large spider. It was a very, very very large spider.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Karkat hollered, his voice moving up several octaves.
"Wow. Very manly," Vriska commented sarcastically. "I will find out, though, mark my words. I will find out." She spun neatly on her heel and dashed down the hallway as soon as the first few teachers came out of their rooms to investigate.
"Nothing to see here. That totally wasn't me," Karkat grunted, walking calmly back into Tech Ed.
He slid into the seat next to Sollux in the back row, and when everyone else was staring out the door in search of the cause of the commotion, Karkat leaned in to whisper to his hero friend. "Sollux. Sollux, I think I might have found my first real superpower."
A/N: I'm sorry. The amount of time I took to add this chapter was inexcusable. Needless to say, since it is late Thursday night there will not be a Friday update (sorry again). I actually do have reasons for the delay, and I will offer them in a sad attempt to pacify you guys (but mostly myself. I feel really guilty right now). I'm taking two AP classes this year and a third class that may as well be AP itself, and all of my teachers love to assign a shit ton of homework-and I don't say that lightly, either. It's ridiculous. On top of that, I'm on my school's varsity field hockey team and due to practice I don't even get home to start my homework until around 5:30. I'm often lucky to get a good thirty minutes of writing time on a week day. My update schedule was calibrated for a summer schedule, before I realized that I would actually have homework this year.
Well then. I apologize again (jeez I'm doing a lot of this) due to the size of this chapter. It's really mostly filler to get to the next major plot point. I'd also like to announce that I will be having a necessary intermission soon, probably after chapter 7 or 8. The intermission will consist of three short chapters that will provide some interesting context for future events, and it will also update VERY slowly. I need to write some more story so that a break like this one doesn't happen again. I don't know how Hussie does it. I will announce the time of the intermission for certain when I actually decide. Also, I have a tumblr now (the url is the same as my username) and I will be posting stuff there that might pertain to this story, if anyone cares. You don't have to care. That's optional.
This is the only note that actually directly pertains to this chapter: Oh hey it's Vriska. And she seems very suspicious. It's almost like she's hiding something too... O.O (nobody is actually shocked by this revelation).
XD I'll shut up now.