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Of course, he arrives just in time to watch you kill Vriska.
You try not to flinch as the sword enters her body. You can feel warm give as the blade pushes through. You can smell the blurb of cerulean blossoming across her chest, and you can hear the thud as she hits the ground.
It wasn't like you were on the best terms as of late. She was a troublemaker. A danger. But, hell, you would still call her your friend. Your sister.
You killed her, and it's not something you wanted to do.
You hear something behind you and turn. You sniff, and you can see it all. Karkat stands there, stunned. A crumpled note clenched in his hand. You inhale once more - ugh, his face, his face makes you want to hide your face, it makes you want to run away.
He has just seen you kill. True, it's not like he was close to Vriska, but a death is a death. When they've already sat through so much carnage of those close to them. Vriska was on the blue team with them. You can almost hear Karkat yelling before you can get a word in edgewise, something like WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU JUST DO WE'VE ALREADY LOST ENOUGH GODDAMN PEOPLE.
You are ashamed. Even though it was necessary to kill Vriska, even though you had no choice, even though you did it to save his doomed-timeline ass, it is shameful that he saw you do that. Almost embarrassing. You open your mouth, an excuse on the tip of your tongue.
But he doesn't do any of the things that ran through your brain. Instead, he walks over to crush you in his embrace.
You hesitate for a second, surprised, before returning the action whole-heartedly and swallowing your tears. You feel as if you are warmed from within. You feel momentary calm. You feel forgiven, even as you hold the knowledge it was essential as hell to bring Vriska down.
You hug him tighter, the vision you saw just moments before still branded behind your eyes. A future you just prevented, a future with both of you cold and dead. But right now, this timeline, he is here - warm, alive, and here.
Karkat knows you have Vriska's blood on your hands. He saw you do it. But he hugs you anyway, a hug that thanks you for simply being alive.
The End