Chapter Text
A lone troll staggers into the room, bleeding from the gut. She’s tied a long piece of cloth around herself to staunch the seepage. Her skin illuminates the room, an unnatural shining white. Her eyes are feral, shifting as they survey the room.
As wild as she seems, she is taken aback when her light illuminates the scene: an obliterated wall, a bow, a long curving horn impaled in the floor, and your unconscious form holding a body. And blood, so much blood. It was the smell of the blood that lead her to this room, and it is the smell of blood that pulls her forward again. Her hunger is greater than her fear.
She approaches you and your deceased moirail. There is a trail of green leading from the middle of the room to where you are propped up against the wall. You are cradling her body in your arms and in your lap, your face bent over hers. Trails of blue stains run down your cheeks, still wet. Dried blood is smeared on your knuckles, a purple paste atop your black gloves.
The female troll looks over her shoulder at the rest of the room nervously. The hole in the wall has flecks of purple around it, like confetti. In the next room, she sees “honk” written on the wall in the same purple, and shudders. She turns her attention back to you.
She does not like what she is about to do.
She brings her lips close to your neck, her mouth suddenly salivating. She tries once to break your skin gingerly with her fangs. It is almost apologetic, but it doesn’t work. She pulls back, the taste of sweat on her tongue. It makes her frustrated, and she tries again, this time with more force. The fangs sink under your skin.
Her eyes dilate as she begins sucking. It’s much easier than with Feferi; your still-beating heart pushes more blood into her mouth. She cradles your head away from her, as to elongate your neck.
It is several minutes before she detaches. She listens a moment to your breathing, concerned she took too much. But your breathing is rhythmic, the rise and fall of your chest steady. She breathes a sigh of relief, and then looks down. Her stomach turns.
Trolls are used to blood and violence, it is familiar territory to all. But Nepeta’s lifeless form is something else entirely. It is a destruction of innocence, a flower with its petals singed off. She can’t stare too long at her head, it’s too…misshapen. The most she can bear to look at is the blood.
The flow has ebbed with her heart’s lack of beating, and you sit in a pool of green. The female troll can’t bring herself to look away from the pool. Her eyes dilate once more, but this time they focus on Nepeta’s corpse. She can’t help it; she’s compelled to draw in closer to Nepeta’s neck, and-
She doesn’t have any time to react, even with her now unreasonably fast reflexes. Your backhanded swing launches her across the room. She at least lands on her feet, but she clutches at her gut, where your arm snagged her. Her eyes lock onto your’s, her ferocity and pain and fear meeting your’s.
You don’t know what’s going on. You are lightheaded, lead-limbed, and the room is spinning. But somebody tried to bring harm to Nepeta again.
Anguish invades your eyes. Again. It all comes back to you: Gamzee’s clubs throwing sprays of green about, your horror as you saw the life snap from her crying eyes, the betrayal and loss you felt towards the system you revered your entire life, a deep pit of uselessness, and your rage. Without her, all the vicious fury she kept in check spilled out. You don’t remember thinking after that, the rest was a primal bloodlust that rang from your very core.
You felt an echo of that terrible rage bubble forth when the obscenely bright troll put her hands on Nepeta again, but it has subsided now. You’re too weak to be angry, drained as you are. The troll across the room sees this, and stands up from her crouch. You hold a hand in front of your eyes and look through your fingers to see who it is.
“K-Kanaya?” you venture breathlessly, suddenly very tired.
Kanaya looks back at you, the menace in her eyes replaced by concern. “Equius, are you okay?” she asks. “What happened here?” You try to respond, but you can’t keep focus.
“I was told… Karkat said you were…” your breathing is labored, it’s hard to talk. “How..?” is the most you can manage.
Faster than you can keep up with, Kanaya rushes to your side as your head begins to loll. “Shh,” she says in her modulated voice. She holds your head up between her hands, and realizes your cheeks are wet. You’ve been crying since you woke up. “Do you remember what happened?”
Your eyes are blurring, and you’re slipping towards unconsciousness again. “G-amz-“ is all you’re able to manage before the darkness swallows you once again.