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Under normal circumstances you would be plotting the ways that you were going to kill Karkat when you finally got your hands on him again. As it was though, you were feeling little more than mildly annoyed, which was strange. It was like your emotions didn't reach quite so deeply into each end of the spectrum now that you didn't have a thousand dying voices ringing through your head.
You had dreamed about what it would be like to be without the voices, trying to imagine how quiet everything would be, and now it was. You could hear everything, and it was so quiet that everything was almost ringing. It was especially helpful to have unimpaired hearing now that you were blind. You could only imagine what it would be like if you had to navigate while listening to all those disembodied voices.
Not having teeth wasn't as unpleasant as it sounded. At first you felt like your mouth was mushy and empty, but the longer you had to get used to it the better it felt. You knew your teeth had been ridiculously oversized before, trying to bust out of your face and mangling your speech. Even if it wasn't perfect, the loss of most of your teeth did wonders for your pronunciation. It wasn't like you were going to need them to eat any time soon, since you were going to die sometime in the near future.
When you first woke up Karkat was pretty hard to miss mid freak out. Unfortunately his help ended pretty shortly after you woke up when an especially close 'honk' scared him off. You tried to follow him but after running headlong into your third wall you were too disoriented to pursue him anymore, and irrevocably lost. You sat on the ground and tried to collect yourself.
You were left with two options, either sit and hope someone who didn't want you dead would find you, or get up and try to find a friend. Even if staying in one place sounded more appealing, the chances that someone would be able to find you in the vast laboratories was pretty small. So you hauled yourself up and found the closest wall.
There was a puzzle logic you learned once when you were a wriggler that if you just followed one wall of a maze you would eventually find the end. Except this wasn't a maze and there was no end, but it was your best bet for finding someone without backtracking too much. Your plan worked for a little while, at least until you found the first set of stairs, that's when it became apparent that your original plan probably wasn't going to work.
It took a long time, and you ended up sliding down most of the stairs on your butt, but you made it to the bottom. It was musty and you could feel the grit on your fingers from touching the floor so much. You had to shuffle around the room for a good few minutes before you even found the wall, the whole escapade was feeling hopeless. Even if you did eventually find your friends it wasn't like you were going to be of much use.
After nearly falling down another flight of stairs you decided that this was getting you nowhere fast, and one of these times you really were going to fall down a flight of stairs and break your neck. You sank to the floor, shivering from the cold metal, and wondered if you were in a room or a hall. The game had been so exhausting and loud with everyone spending so much time together, it wasn't your ideal situation to begin with.
Now that everything was quiet, with nothing being urgently demanded of you, it was easy to close your empty eyes and just lie still. There was the occasional noise around the lab, ventilation humming to life and off again, metal plates popping and creaking with changing temperatures, sometimes a buzzing spark could be heard from within the walls. Before, when you had to deal with the voices, you had thought all the halls were eerily quiet. But now you could hear the small noises that made up all the white noise of the place.
You missed the sound of bees in your hive, the hum of processing and thousands of tiny feet working together. You even missed the pounding of your lusus's feet on the ceiling, it had never been a welcome interruption but now you wished you would have appreciated it while it lasted. It wasn't like you hadn't known that everything was going to change one day, but it was hard not to wish for what you used to have, even the bad parts.
The floor was cold and uncomfortable but you were tired all the way to your bones and sleep crept up on your without you noticing. Every part of you felt so heavy and the closer you got to sleep the more your aching body numbed. It wasn't smart to fall asleep in plain sight where anyone could find you, but you couldn't help it.
Some part of your brain could hear someone approaching but didn't recognize it as such, you were left wondering about falling through the metal plating. If the screws holding the plates down failed how far down you could fall. The location of the footsteps was fuzzy to you until something brushed one of your legs, drawing you an inch out of your doze, enough that you started questioning if someone was really there or if you were dreaming.
You were made very aware of the fact that someone else was there when icy fingers touched at your neck. You jolted and kicked at the floor with a sharp hiss, snapping your empty eyes open and became alarmingly awake all at once.
“Oh my, apologies Sollux, I thought you were... you know, dead.” it took you a few moments to recognize the voice as Kanaya, you had never had to recognize people by just their voice before.
“Not yet anyways.” you had to take a deep breath, bringing a hand up to cover the side of your neck where it still felt cold.
“You are lucky that I found you, these labs are not safe to be alone in right now.” her voice moved from above you down to your level.
“No, really?” you gestured vaguely to yourself, grimacing so she could see your presumably disgusting gums.
“Yes, well, perhaps we should stick together until we find Terezi and Karkat again. I believe I should be able to navigate both of us through the darker parts of the labs without difficulty.” her cold fingers touched your bare arm and you couldn't help but flinch.
“I apologize for the unusually cold temperature of my body, as it turns out I am now a rainbow drinker.” she took you by your arm and you let her help you to your feet.
She was colder than usual, not that you had spent a whole lot of time touching her before, but the whole rainbow drinker thing sounded preposterous.
“Sure.” you went to roll your eyes before realizing there was nothing.
“I believe that was sarcasm on your part. However I was not being sarcastic, I am a rainbow drinker now. It would be easy to prove if you could see me, but I hope you will take me at my word.” she hooked your arm around hers and you slouched next to her, she was taller than you without your slouching anyways.
“You're not shitting me, like hey lets pick on the recently blinded chump because it's easy?”
“No, I really am not 'shitting you'.” her voice was flat while she lead you forward easily, and it was nice not to run into walls every ten seconds.
“I don't know why you'd lie about dumb shit like that, so I guess I believe you.” you forced a shrug but it made your shoulders ache, reminding you of your recent tumbles down the stairs.
The two of you walked in silence for a long time, her arm was making your hand cold but you held back complaints. After all she was leading you out of the hell hole that was the lower labs.
“If you thought I was dead why were you poking me in the neck?” you asked. It had occurred to you while walking with her, when she first found you she was surprised that you were alive. Meaning that she expected you to be dead.
“Oh, that.” she sighed and it drew attention to the fact that she hadn't been breathing up until then, making you force back a shudder.
“I find myself... very thirsty for blood. I do not know if it is simply an effect of my recent transformation and will abate with time, or if it will remain this intense.” her other hand rested on top of yours hooked over her arm, giving you a small cold pat.
“So... you were going to drink my blood?” you weren't especially disturbed by the thought.
“Yes, that was the plan. As it turns out there is a limited supply on this meteor for the time being, so I am left little choice but to take it when an opportunity arises. I would not want to take it by force though.” she quickened her pace marginally and you couldn't tell if it was because of where you were or the topic of conversation.
It left you wondering if your bloodstained shirt was bothering her. You couldn't see it for yourself, but the smell was stuck in your nose at this point, and you could feel the flaky dried blood right on top of your symbol. She was able to show surprising restraint by leading you around all bloody and disgusting.
“You could have some my blood if you wanted it.” you offered, surprising yourself a little and causing Kanaya to stop mid stride. You nearly pulled your hand out of her grip before you could stop in time, not expecting her to stop so abruptly.
“You would offer?” you could hear the thinly veiled hunger in her voice.
“Yeah, I guess. It's not like I'm going to live too much longer anyways.” you managed a one shouldered shrug, it didn't hurt too badly if you kept your movements small.
“You're going to die soon?” she spoke quietly, just a touch of sadness in her voice that surprised you.
“Pretty soon, yeah. One of the last voices I heard before the lights went out was mine.” you tapped at your temple with a wry smirk in what you thought was her general direction.
“I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be so soon.” her cold touch brushed your arm.
“Are you giving me condolences for my own death, the one that I've known is coming for a long time?”
“Oh, I suppose that is a little silly, isn't it?” you could just hear a small chuckle from her, a deep velvet sound that you had never taken time to appreciate before.
“So do you want a donation or what?” you cut in, not wanting to draw any of this out any longer than it needed to be.
“I would very much appreciate it.” she leaned in close enough that you could smell her breath, just a subtle air of blood on it telling you to recoil.
Her hands landed on your upper arms, forcing a shiver out of you and making you rethink your offer. It wasn't that you didn't want to help Kanaya, but every fiber of your body was telling you she was a predator and you should run.
“I apologize if it hurts a little, I am new at this and most of my practice was on the previously deceased.” she spoke calmly, very close to her usual manner, but you could tell her attention was divided. She was already thinking about biting you.
“Yeah well just make sure I'm not about to be imminently deceased, okay? I'm not supposed to go down like this.” you had to swallow hard and your mouth was dry.
“I would not do that to you Sollux, you can trust me.” one of her hands brushed up the side of your arm and gripped your shoulder through your shirt. Her grip was still icy but less intensely so with the layer of fabric between the two of you.
You tried to remain relaxed when she moved a hand to to the back of your neck, gently tilting your head to the side. The hair rose on the back of your neck with her cold fingers touching your warm skin. Her breath brushed the side of your neck with a chill and you locked up. You're sure your face was stretched in to a grimace but Kanaya's attentions were elsewhere.
In a strange moment of comfort her cold lips touched the thin skin on your neck, you could smell the wax lipstick she was always wearing. Her hand squeezed the back of your neck while her other arm snaked around your waist. She was so close and you were sure she could hear how fast your heart was beating.
There was a second before she actually bit you where you could feel sharp teeth prickle at your skin and you held your breath. You had never been bitten by anyone before, being bitten was usually a sign of submission reserved for established black romances which you never got deep enough in to with Eridan. You didn't know quite what to expect and it was nerve wracking.
When her teeth finally sank into you it was unforgiving and painful, forcing a choked noise from between your clenched teeth and you reached up to grip at her. You weren't well versed in rainbow drinker lore, but you had the understanding that their bites were supposed to be a stand in for sex; this was not a pleasant experience.
Once the initial sharp pain of her teeth burying in your neck began to fade you could feel her cold wet tongue move against your skin. You sucked in a strained breath and her arm cinched around your waist, dragging you up against her cold form, sapping the warmth from you. She was taller than you and you had to bend backwards to accommodate her leaning over you. Her hand on the back of your neck tightened and pulled at your hair, forcing your head back farther. You felt like a worm on a hook.
This wasn't what you had imagined when you made her the offer. She was overbearing and you were completely stuck in her grasp. Her lips worked against your neck and you felt her make the first draw, heard a gulp of her swallowing and a sudden feeling of vertigo. You felt so off balance with her forcing you to lean back and your head spinning, struggling to keep breathing.
You tried shifting your footing and pushing at one of her shoulders, wondering if she even knew she was hurting you. You were guessing not since she just locked her grip on you tighter and forced you back until she was the one holding you up and all you could do was cling to her. Your weak struggles were futile with your hands fisted in her shirt sleeves and your feet scraping on the ground for purchase.
She drew another mouth full of your blood and your feet went numb. Another and you couldn't feel your hands, a strange buzzing in the back of your skull just above where her hand gripped your neck. You blinked your empty eyes and there were fuzzy colors, oscillating in time with your thrumming heart beat. There was a strange feeling of giddiness underneath the panic.
Her mouth vibrated against your skin with a soft moan and her teeth dug in again, shooting pain all the way down to your shoulder. You let out an undignified whimper and got a grip on her hair, pulling with your numb and tingling fingers to no avail. You felt like you were going to be sick as soon as you weren't fighting gravity. She growled into your neck and took a vicious draw, making your face tingle and you lost your grip on her.
You tried to say her name, to remember how to speak and pull her out of this before your heart collapsed, but none of your muscles were cooperating. You couldn't tell which way was up anymore, her iron grip was the only thing grounding you. She drew one more mouthful of blood and her rough tongue scraped over your broken skin like sandpaper over a sunburn.
Her grip on you finally loosened and you felt like you could breathe again but there wasn't enough air. Much as you tried to stay up you sagged in her grip, relying on her to keep you from the ground.
“Sollux? Oh my, Sollux?” she sounded like she was far away, a buzzing you could barely understand.
You were lowered to the ground and it was a relief to be on something so solid. Your cheek was cold and an overpowering smell of your own blood swept over you again, making your stomach turn.
“Can you hear me? I'm so sorry, this is my fault.” she sounded closer now but you couldn't discern where she was.
You took a deep breath and awareness rushed into you again, your fingertips itching and the deafness receding. The first thing you tried to do was open your eyes, still surprised to find everything was black. A throbbing pain was stuck in your neck, building up as the coolness faded from your skin.
“Sollux?” Kanaya's voice was soft, worried, and you felt her hand brush your bangs from your face.
“Fuck, I think you could use a little more practice...” you muttered but most of the words came out unintelligible through your thick tongue. You reached an arm up to wipe over your face but ended up more just hitting yourself in the face.
“I apologize, I got a little carried away. You're awfully... warm, I didn't realize what an effect that would have on me.” she sounded mortified and you realized she had your head pillowed in her lap. It was a nice thought, but she was just making you feel colder.
“You managed not to kill me though, so mission accomplished.” you gave her a shaky thumbs up.
“Still, I should have had more restraint.”
“Whatever, it just means less blood for me to splatter around later.” you forced yourself into a sitting position, hiccuping when a wave of nausea hit you. Kanaya chose not to comment further.
You managed to make it to your feet without her help only to double over a moment later and heave your guts up. It was stupid and embarrassing but Kanaya surprised you by running her hand along your back while you were on your hands and knees. The nausea passed relatively quickly and you were grateful for Kanaya's cold hands on the back of your neck.
She wiped your mouth for you with a cloth before you could get her off of you, you would have flushed yellow if you had any extra blood for it. This time you asked for her help standing and she hooked a gentle arm around your waist, leading you to your feet.
“Lets go find our friends before they all kill each other.” you took a deep breath and held on to Kanaya's arm to steady yourself.
“I want to thank you, Sollux.” she lead you forward with slow steps and you were grateful for the pace.
“Don't mention it, I mean seriously, KK will get the wrong idea.” you had to lean on her more than you wanted to, but the ground still felt unsteady under your feet.
“You're probably right, my lips are sealed.” she gently squeezed your hand between her arm and waist, back to the regular Kanaya you knew.