Damn Jane, back at it again with those feels! It's time for another chapter! Sorry this one is a little late. To be perfectly honest, I was avoiding writing this chapter. I had no motivation to write it. But here it is!

DISCLAIMER: This Homestuck trash does not belong to my trash can. It belongs to the dumpster of Andrew Hussie.

Chapter 12

"What are you doing? Run Aradia! Get out of here!" Sollux yelled at the brunnette girl who was standing in the middle of the gang gunfight.

Before he could say anything else, the sound of a gunshot rang through his ears. He checked himself, making sure it wasn't him that was hit. Wait. If it wasn't me then… He heard a yell, and looked up to see Aradia on the ground, a few blood spatters around her. Hell no. Why now. How could this happen?

The other Crew members had ceased fire, running back to their vehicles and yelling for a retreat. "My lady Snowman. We must leave." Slick yelled, running into one of their black vans.

Heartbeat pulsing through his ears, the boy looked at Snowman, who had turned to look at him. She stared him down and flashed a wide and borderline maniacal grin. "Have fun at your girlfriend's funeral." She sauntered into the black car, which immediately shut its doors and drove off.

Sollux ran towards the girl, dropping to his knees. "Aradia! What do you think you're doing?" He started checking her over, trying to find where she was shot. Oh God. There's so much blood. It's all over her. What if she was hit in her stomach. She could die! This isn't good.

"Sollux." Aradia whispered. She looked up at him and placed her hand on his cheek. "Oh Sollux you're alright. I was so worried."

He shook his head, his chocolate hair falling in front of his glasses. It was only then that Sollux found the bullet wound: in the arm Aradia had just lifted. "Don't. Now is not the time. Do you realize you've been shot?" He gingerly held her arm, placing it down on her torso. "We have to get you to a medic. Come here." He grabbed her, one arm under the crook of her knees, the other under her shoulders, and stood up, running as fast as he could towards his base.

"Oh." The girl exclaimed, voice getting noticeably weaker. "It seems I have been."

Sollux made it inside the main doors. "Medic!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Come now. The coast is clear, but we have one shot!" He found the nearest bed, which had been placed just inside the entrance in order to tend to the wounded.

Kanaya, their best medic on hand, even though not technically part of the gang, came running with her medical supply kit. "How bad is it?" She asked the gang leader.

"Pretty bad." Sollux fought back the sting in his eyes. "Oh God. Just do something. Please." He looked down at Aradia, who looked like she was fading in and out of consciousness.

The medic sighed. "Alright." She pulled out a pair of tweezers. "The bullet is still lodged in her arm. I'm going to have to dig it out." She faced Aradia. "Alright Aradia. This is gonna hurt. Brace yourself." With that, she plunged the tweezers into the girl's forearm, pulling out a standard 22 millimeter bullet.

The only thing that was heard next was a deafening scream ringing throughout the whole base. Sollux stifled back a sob as he watched Aradia's eyes go wide with the scream, before slumping down unconscious.

I can't watch this anymore. Sollux took off running, making his way to his own room in the base and slamming the door. He slumped down on his makeshift bed and tears started to stream down his face, his body racked with sobs. How could this happen? I told her I would protect her. That nothing bad would ever happen to her. It's completely my fault. I should have never left her side, let the others handle it. She isn't ever going to trust me again. After I felt like I had made some real progress with her, too. And I was finally going to tell her that I… he sighed, reaching a shaking hand towards his spare cigarette pack and lighter. He fumbled with the box, pulling out one cigarette and lighting it, taking a long drag.

A few more minutes passed, and a knock sounded on the door. "Can I come in?" A voice asked through the door.

"It's open." Sollux responded, taking another drag as his partner-in-crime Karkat walked in.

The redhead scoffed. "Dude. I thought you said you would stop that. You know how bad it can be for you."

The older boy took the cigarette between his fingers. "Key word can. And besides, it's still better than your way of coping. One big fight with Dave and I had to rush you to the hospital to get stitches all up your arms. So don't try me." He snapped. Seeing the hurt in his friend's eyes softened him. "Hey. KK I'm sorry. I shouldn't bring that up. That was insensitive of me. It's just been a hard day for me, you know?"

"Yes. I do actually." Karkat sat down next to him on the bed. "I've been in the same situation. Let's not forget that time that Dave almost died because he wanted to act tough and try to take on one of our best hand-to-hand combat fighters just to impress me when we started going out. He was out for days, and he still has the scars from the stitches he needed. I'll never forgive myself for letting him go through with it."

The brunette took one last drag of his cigarette stub before standing up and putting it out in the nearest ashtray. "I remember that. But that was different. You were worried because you two were dating. You looked out for each other because you were in love."

"Right…" Karkat responded. "And explain to me how your situation is any different?"

Sollux paused. "What do you mean? I'm not dating Aradia, so of course it's different from your situation!"

The younger boy smirked. "You're right. You aren't dating her. But… you didn't say you weren't in love with her, which you totally are. Dude, I watch enough rom-coms to know what love looks like, and you're the definition of lovestruck, my friend."

The older boy sighed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Fine. You caught me, okay? Yes. I am totally in love with Aradia. She's all I think about. Man, I never thought I would be in love with anyone ever again, but it happened. I just want to hold her and protect her and never let her leave my side and if that is what love is then make me immortal and call me Aphrodite cause I am living it full force. It's just… what if she doesn't survive that shot? I know it wasn't that serious, but she lost a lot of blood. I don't know what I would do if I lost her." Tears started to sting his eyes once more, but he held them back.

"That," Karkat said, standing up. "Is actually why I came to talk to you in the first place. She's okay, man. Kanaya managed to take out the bullet and patch up the hole to stop the bleeding." He pat Sollux's back. "She's gonna be fine."

With that, Sollux's eyes lit up. "Really? Aw man I have to go see her right now!" He jumped up and raced back to the bed she was laying on. Its sheets were covered in her blood. He knelt beside the bed, gazing upon the scene.

Aradia was still unconscious, but she was breathing. Her clothes were stained on her left side with the blood from her arm. Her upper arm was wrapped with clean white gauze. Sollux took her right hand and held it. "Aradia. You're alright. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I did this to you." He sniffed. "Don't you worry. Those men are going to pay for what they've done tonight. They will pay tenfold... I love you, Aradia." He kissed her hand, and stood up, turning around to go sit in the chair opposite her bed.

"Sollux?" A girl's voice asked weakly. The boy turned back around to see the girl he loved with her eyes fluttering open, revealing her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. "Sollux? Is that you?"

Yay! She's okay! Now, I know this chapter was kinda short, but fear not! Next chapter is probably going to be quite lengthy. A lot of stuff is planned for that chapter…

Until next time.

~Jane