Chapter Text
Your name is KARKAT VANTAS, you are seven solar sweeps old, and you have just done something monumentally stupid.
Actually, no. "Stupid" doesn't begin to cover it. "Stupid" is what Sollux was for not saving backups of the game code he wrote for Aradia a sweep ago before his computer exploded. "Stupid" is what you'd call the kind of person who hangs fake shame globes off the back of their scuttlebuggy. What you've done is so staggeringly idiotic that it loops around the scale and back into pure genius.
Past you. This is all his fault. How did that gaper-panned idiot ever manage to convince you this was a good idea? Sure, he's screwed you over pretty often before, but this is the first time he has actively tried to murder you. One day, you're going to make Sollux figure out how to stab someone over the Alternet, and when you do, the fucking streets will run with that guy's disgusting red mutant slop, and you will disappear in a poof of paradox and the entire goddamn world will be better for it.
You have to get help, no way around it. You stumble your way up to your room, no help from your lusus because he's out hunting or doing whatever the fuck it is lusii do right after sunrise, which apparently doesn't involve being at his charge's hive and doing anything that could be even remotely useful.
You're pretty sure you left Trollian open at your computer, at least, but trying to contact any specific person is going to be a crapshoot. You double-click around your screen until you hear the "new conversation" chime, then you pray you managed to get in touch with someone you can stand.
>Be one of Karkat's friends.
You are TAVROS NITRAM, and you are still getting used to these robotic legs Equius built for you. Actually, it was thanks to Nepeta that you have them at all; she kind of pressured him into it. You're still kind of clumsy at using them, but even that beats the four-wheeled device you had to use before getting them.
Oh hey, your computer is beeping. Looks like you've got a new message.
>Tavros: Check messages.
You manage to only trip and fall once on your way from the table to your desk. You're getting better at this!
-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling adiosToreador [AT] --
CG: zzzzzzzzzzzfuck i hope i got someone here.'
CG: IS aNYONE Zzzzzzzthere/?
CG: HELLO;
CG: afor the lolbe og god if youjr'e there say something
CG: zhello////////////
CG: GOD DMANIKT Zzzzzzzcome om
AT: oH, HI kARKAT,
AT: iS, UH, SOMETHING WRONG?
CG: OZh thnank god
CG: listen'
CG: I NEED YOU Tzo start an audio chat, whoever uuou are
CG: cAN YOU DO THAT
CG: ONE REZZzzzzply for yes, ywo for no
AT: yES, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT UH, i CAN DEFINITELY DO, AT THIS TIME,
CG: OKAy good
CG: do ikt
adiosToreador [AT] wants to begin audio chat. Accept/decline?
Accepted! Audio chat is now active.
You reach for your headset and power it on before hanging it off one of your horns. "Hey, uh, Karkat, what's going on?"
"Oh thank God, it's Tavros." You can hear him breathe a sigh of relief. "Okay, this is good. Fuck, I could have done so much worse."
"What are you talking about?"
"Tavros, I just did something completely moronic and now I'm hurt, which is the understatement of the goddamned sweep. I'm talking world record for stupidity here. Historians decasweeps from now will find records of my idiocy and I will become some legendary representation of failure. People will offer sacrifices to me in hopes that my gaze will be averted, thus sparing them from tasting of my shame."
"Uh, that definitely doesn't sound good."
"No shit. Listen, I need you to get help. You need to talk to some people, and only those people, understand? I definitely don't need the fucking bluebloods knowing about this, okay?"
"Hey, uh, Vriska's not that bad! That is, um, once you get to know her, of course."
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Listen, Tavros, I need you to get a hold of Sollux and Terezi, and tell them to come to my hive, okay?"
"Um, yeah, don't worry, I've got this."
"I'm fucking trusting you, okay? I'm putting my goddamn life in your hands. It's up to you to contact everyone I said to and get them to come. I'm going to rest a bit after I get off here, while I wait for them. Understand? It is priority fucking one that you do this for me."
Whoa, he's serious about this. Something must be REALLY wrong. "Don't worry, Karkat. Your friend Tavros has, um, got your back."
"Okay. I'm off. And, um... thanks. For helping me, even though I'm a complete dipshit."
>Tavros: Alert Sollux and Terezi of Karkat's distress.
-- adiosToreador [AT] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA] and gallowsCalibrator [GC] --
AT: hEY, UH, GUYS,
AT: sOMETHING IS VERY WRONG, WITH kARKAT,
AT: hE JUST SENT ME A, UM, WEIRD MESSAGE,
AT: aND THEN WE DID AUDIO CHAT FOR A BIT,
AT: hE SAYS HE NEEDS YOU TO, UH, GO TO HIS HIVE,
AT: aND THAT HE NEEDS HELP, RIGHT NOW, IS WHAT HE SAYS,
TA: diid he 2ay what wa2 wrong?
AT: nO, HE DIDN'T,
AT: hE JUST SAID THAT, UH, i NEEDED TO CONTACT YOU TWO,
AT: iT SOUNDED LIKE, HE WAS REALLY IN TROUBLE, THOUGH,
GC: WH4TS TH4T? K4RKL3S 1S 1N TROUBL3?
GC: 1F H3 N33DS OUR H3LP, WHY NOT CONT4CT US D1R3CTLY?
AT: i, DON'T KNOW,
AT: iT WAS KIND OF, UM, STRANGE,
AT: hE DIDN'T SEEM LIKE, HE KNEW HE WAS MESSAGING ME,
AT: mORE LIKE, UM, HE WAS TRYING TO GET A MESSAGE OUT TO, ANYONE,
TA: no
TA: NO
TA: 2hiit!
TA: ii 2hould have seen thii2 fuckiing comiing.
TA: godDAMNIIT!
TA: what kiind of fuckiing friiend am ii?
GC: S33N WH4T COM1NG >:?
TA: KK paniicked ye2terday about hii2 eye color 2tarting two come iin.
TA: ii told hiim iit wa2 no biig deal.
TA: but he kept raviing about how iit wa2 goiing two reveal hii2 2ecret or 2ome 2hiit.
TA: and then ii got mad and told hiim two go bliind hiim2elf iif hii2 eye color bothered hiim 2o much.
TA: ii diidn't thiink he'd actually fuckiing go and do iit!
TA: fuck guy2, what have ii done?
TA: thii2 ii2 all my fault
TA: why can't ii keep my wiindhole 2hut?
TA: FUCK
GC: SOLLUX!
GC: C4N 1T
GC: 1TS PROB4BLY NOTH1NG
GC: BUT W3 SHOULD PROB4BLY GO CH3CK ON H1M TO B3 SUR3 H3S OK4Y
GC: M33T YOU GUYS 4T H1S H1V3?
AT: wAIT, "yOU GUYS?"
GC: Y3S
GC: YOU COM3 TOO
GC: 1F 1TS S3R1OUS, W3 M1GHT N33D TH3 3XTR4 H3LP
AT: wHAT, ABOUT gAMZEE, HE'S HERE WITH ME,
AT: i DON'T WANT TO JUST LEAVE HIM HERE, BY HIMSELF,
GC: BR1NG H1M TH3N
GC: 1V3 GOT TO G3T R34DY, TH3 D4YSU1T T4K3S FOR3V3R TO PUT ON >:/
TA: 2ee you there, TZ.
-- gallowsCalibrator [GC] left the conversation --
TA: ii 2hould get goiing two, ii liive further away from KK than 2he doe2, after all.
TA: thank2 for the head2 up, TR.
AT: nO PROBLEM,
-- twinArmageddons [TA] left the conversation --
-- terminallyCapricious [TC] joined the conversation --
TC: HeY GuYs, WhAt tHe mOtHeRfUcK Is uP!
TC: hOnK :o)
TC: AwW, eVeRyBoDy aLrEaDy uP AnD LeFt!
AT: uH, gAMZEE, WHAT ARE YOU, DOING,
TC: jUsT ChEcKiNg oUt tHiS LiTtLe mEeTiNg eVeRyOnE WaS In.
TC: BuT... iT LoOkS LiKe i fUcKiN' mIsSeD It!
AT: yEAH, BUT, WE NEED TO GET GOING,
AT: wE'RE SUPPOSED TO GO TO kARKAT'S,
TC: ThAnKs fOr tElLiN' a bRo aBoUt wHaT AlL'S GoInG DoWn.
TC: nOw lEt's gEt oUr mOtHeRfUcKiN' mOvE On!
TC: BuT YoU'Ll hAvE To dRiVe, I sTiLl aIn't pAsSeD ThAt fUcKiN' tEsT YeT!
AT: nO PROBLEM,
AT: lET'S GO,
-- adiosToreador [AT] left the conversation --
-- terminallyCapricious [TC] left the conversation --
>Be the best friend.
You are now SOLLUX CAPTOR, and you are practically kicking yourself for being this stupid. Not literally, of course, that would be silly and accomplish nothing. But you'd probably deserve it, and mentally, you are giving yourself quite the thrashing for putting the idea in your best friend's thinkpan.
Of course, you aren't 100% certain that this is what happened, but all of the evidence points toward it. No time to think about that now, though, you've got to get to Karkat's hive and help him. You pack some medical supplies (bandages, disinfectants, painkillers) into your sylladex and make your way to your communial hivestem's parking garage.
You open the door to your scuttlebuggy, start the engine, activate the antisolar cover, and drive off. The sun's coming up, and it's a long way to KK's place, after all.
>Be the girl.
You are now TEREZI PYROPE, and you are very worried for your friend. One sweep ago, you were made to stare into the sun via mind control, courtesy of one Vriska Serket, and what is unfolding now is an eerie reminder of what happened last sweep.
You don't have a scuttlebuggy, on account of being blind and thus not legally allowed to drive one, and in any case, you'd have nowhere to park it. Fortunately for you, the forest you live in will provide enough shade and cover to get you most of the way to Karkat's house without frying you. You'll have to use the daysuit to go the final distance; it's cumbersome, heavy, and it's still hot as hell wearing it, but you'll gladly endure it. Karkat is one of your best friends, and he needs your help.
>Be the stoned guy.
You are now GAMZEE MAKARA, and you know something isn't right. You were rapping with your bro Tavros when the call came through; your buddy Karkat is in trouble, and it's up to you to bail him out.
No motherfuckin' problem, you thought. But the more you think about it, the more you don't like it. This all seems so familiar, like it all already went down before and you're just watching it again like a bad rerun.
Wait, fuuuuuck, it did! Isn't someone sending a weird message the biggest sign of trouble there is? Tavros sent everyone messages for help when he got paralyzed, Terezi tried to send out messages when she went blind, and now Karkat sent Tavros a strange message.
That's downright motherfuckin' ominous, is what that is.
>Karkat: Rest.
Try as you might, you can't.
It's the middle of the day, you should be dead tired right now, but circumstances have left you with an inability to sleep. The sopor slime of the recuperacoon does nothing to ease you now.
You only have yourself to blame, you know. Past you may ultimately be responsible but you were him not that long ago. If you had stopped to think for even a second, you wouldn't be in this mess. But, of course, you didn't. You decided to act on impulse and to hell with the consequences. A lot of fucking good that did you!
What the fuck were you thinking? Seriously, what the hell made you think this was a good idea? Maybe you could have gotten away with not being culled. Maybe Feferi's revolution will succeed, maybe you could have argued your case and just been forbidden a matesprit or kismesis to keep you from contaminating the gene pool if you could prove you're more valuable to the empire alive than dead. But no, you decided you had to act, that anything was better than someone finding your secret, and now they're going to cull you for sure. Nice job, fucko!
The worst scenarios are racing through your mind now. What if they react badly? What if they decide to leave you to your fate? What if they decide to cull you themselves? Surely not. Surely they'll help you, these are your friends you're talking about. Surely they'll still help you.
And yet, in the back of your mind, you can't help but think the worst.
Maybe you should just stay quiet when they get here. If you're lucky, they'll give up and leave.
>Anyone: Be the first to arrive.
When you approach Karkat's hive, you find the door is still open. This isn't a good sign. His lusus doesn't seem to be in, so you make your way inside as you remove the mask of the daysuit.
"Karkat? Are you here?" You call to him as you peel off the rest of the daysuit but there's no response, only silence. You sniff the air, but you get nothing. Then you make your way to the stairs because you remember his respiteblock is on the second floor.
"Where are you, Karkat? You're scaring me." First, Tavros tells you Karkat says he needs help, and now this. Something is most definitely not right. You feel your way along to the door of his respiteblock and knock three times.
"It's Terezi. Are you okay?" You listen intently but there's no response from the other side. You turn to leave and search elsewhere in his hive when you barely hear it, a sniffling sound from behind the door.
He's here.
You try the door; it's unlocked. You step into his respiteblock and inhale sharply. There, against the wall, the unmistakable licorice black of his shirt and iron grey of his skin.
You think he might be crying, but he's hugging his knees and his head is buried in his arms. You approach him slowly, carefully. If he was trying to avoid help, then something terrible must have happened.
"There you are. What's wrong?"
You bring an arm up to rub his shoulder but he swats it away. "Leave me alone."
"You're the one who asked for help. What happened?"
"I said, go away. I fucked up, I'll deal with it myself."
"Karkat, please. If you're hurt, let me help."
"I said leave!" he shouts, and he turns his face toward you, eyes wide open. You breathe in to get a read on his expression but it's not one of anger, it's fear. But the worst part, the worst part, is the cherry red that his eyes are practically screaming.
"Oh... oh, Karkat, no... not you..." The flashbacks come fast and hard. You've been there before, the memories of the time this very thing happened to you keep flowing. You know what he must be going through right now. The anxiety, the doubt, the self-loathing, not to mention the pain, you were no stranger to it. The sudden deprivation is fucking terrifying and no one understands but you.
He speaks, voice shaky and rasping. Who knows how long he was like this before he decided to get help? "F-f-fuck you. You probably think this is some fucking party, don't you? Like we're goddamn blind buddies now or some shit. Well, fuck you, Terezi, fuck youuuuu..." His words devolve into sobbing as he stops trying to fight you.
"We'll get you through this, Karkat. I promise." You take hold of his hand; rather than pull away, like you're expecting, he grasps your hand as though it's the only thing keeping him safe.
You hear footsteps downstairs. The others are here, too.
>Sollux: Meet up with Tavros and Gamzee.
You, Tavros and Gamzee arrive at Karkat's hive at almost the same time. The door's still open, which doesn't bode well. The three of you walk in and you shut the door behind you before splitting up to look for him.
"KK? Where are you?" you call out.
"Up here," a voice you think is Terezi's responds from upstairs. She must have gotten here first.
The three of you climb the stairs and enter his respiteblock. Karkat is sitting, back against the far wall, and Terezi sits next to him, arm slung around his shoulders. You open your mouth to speak and get as far as "Hey KK, what's--" before he opens his eyes and you instinctively flinch at the sight.
They're bright, solid red. Just like... just like hers.
You stop, try to catch your breath for a moment. You actually feel physically ill from knowing what happened to your best friend, from seeing his ruined eyes and the dark grey burns on his face. This is your fault, you snapped at him and told him to do this and he actually went through with it.
"Oh my God, KK, fuck, I wasn't serious! Shiiiit, why did I say those things?! I didn't think you'd actually do it!"
"Don't fucking do this right now, Sollux, I can't handle you feeling sorry for yourself on top of all this!"
"It's my fault, all my fault!" you reply, barely even aware he's speaking. "I should have fucking known you might actually do it. What kind of friend am I?"
"Sollux, man, don't do this, it was an accident, I swear!" Karkat responds.
"Bullshit, you're just trying to get me to shut up! Screw you! You're a bulge!"
"Oh yeah, yell at the blind guy! Some friend you are, asshole! Get the fuck out of my hive before I call the legislacerators!"
"Oh God KK you're right, what am I even doing, I'm the worst friend ever--"
"No, I am, you're just trying to help and I'm being a complete nookwipe--"
"--needed my help and I just started shouting at you--"
"--what kind of douchebag even snaps at people like that--"
"Ahem."
The sound of Terezi clearing her throat makes the two of you stop bickering. Geez, what an embarrassing display that was.
"So, what happened?" you ask, to change the subject.
"I told you, it was an accident. I was out later than I thought, the sun was coming up and I was running back here as fast as I could. I tried to shield my eyes but my hive was in the same direction as the sunrise. I thought I could make it back in time. I was wrong. That's all there is to it, okay?"
You nod. "Alright. Sorry I blew up just now." If it really was an accident, then the last thing he needs is you being a sad sack about it.
"Not a goddamned word about this to anyone, you fucking hear me?" he adds. Not that he needed to, this is the kind of thing people get culled over. You will keep this secret until he learns to adjust.
Gamzee is the only one who responds. "Duuuuuuuude... this is some motherfuckin' heavy shit, bro. Can you even fuckin' see out of those?"
Karkat gives off an annoyed sigh. "No, I can't see shit, Gamzee. Kind of why I called you guys out here. Wait, why are you even here?"
"I asked Tavros to come over in case we needed his help," Terezi replies. "Gamzee was with him, so I told him to just bring Gamzee with him. I'm sorry, I didn't know all this had happened."
That makes you remember why you came in the first place. "I-I brought some stuff from my hive, first aid, gauze and ointments and shit like that."
You eject your sylladex and sort through what you've brought for the relevant items; namely, the bandages, the burn cream, and the bottle of painkillers, wherever the fuck it is in this pile of bullshit. Tavros and Gamzee approach Karkat, unsure of what to do.
"Hey, uh, Karkat? Is there anything that, uh, Gamzee and I can do, to help, that is?"
He thinks for a moment. "I guess. You two clowns go downstairs and stand guard. I don't want some opportunistic jackass noticing I'm blind and thinking it's okay to take my shit."
"Um, okay! Can do, Karkat. Don't worry, Gamzee and I have, uh, got this," Tavros says as you hear the flash of his strife specibus activating and placing a lance in his hand.
"Ain't nobody gettin' the motherfuck past us!" Gamzee adds, clubs cutting the air as he twirls them round.
They exit and make for the first floor. You start applying the balm to one of the bandages before affixing it to Karkat's face.
"You really think someone taking your stuff is the biggest problem you have right now, KK?"
"No, but they're here, they might as well make themselves useful. If I thought I was in any real danger yet, I would have sent Terezi."
"You think the blind girl's a better fighter than TR and GZ?" You earn a punch to the shoulder from said blind girl for that one.
"Better than the reigning champion of absconding and the guy who gets distracted by his own sylladex? Do I really have to fucking explain?"
"...Good point." You have to concede that one.
"Fuck, you guys, what the hell did I just do to myself? I'm going to get culled for sure. Shit, maybe I deserve it for being a stupid fuckup."
That gives you an idea. "Shiiiiiit, KK, you think maybe Equius can make robot eyes for--"
"NO." He tries to poke you in the chest but misses and hits your arm. Do not tell Equius about this. Don't tell anyone about this, you fucking hear me? The second this gets out, I'm as good as dead. You can't fucking tell anyone!"
"Then how are you gonna--"
"I'll teach him. It didn't take me long to learn how to taste colors, so I bet I can do it, no problem." Terezi's interjection surprises you, but it's a sound plan if she can actually pull it off.
"I think it's thirty days until the next patrols. Think you can teach him smell-o-vision by then?"
She smiles wide, all the confidence in the world radiating from her face. "I know I can."