Sunlight part 2

12:00 a.m. (midnight for trolls)

Nepeta woke up.

Well, "woke up" isn't exactly accurate, because she had been but dozing for the past hour, and before that she'd been lying awake worrying. What before had been a nagging worry in her mind was now a fully fledged panic.

Something was wrong with Karkat. She didn't care what anybody else thought about it, she knew in her heart and soul that he needed someone, anyone, right now. And that someone was going to be her.

She hopped out of her recuperacoon and threw all her slimy clothing off. Pulling on the outfit she'd worn the day before (which was just lying on her floor,) she called for Pounce. Obviously she couldn't make it to Karkat's hive herself, because it was broad daylight and she wouldn't be able to open her eyes unless she wanted to blind herself. Luckily she wore long pants and a coat, or she'd get sunburned too.

Pounce did not like her plan at all. She meowed anxiously, rubbing against Nepeta's stomach and legs. But Nepeta would not be deterred. Karkat was just too precious to risk losing. As a precaution for her own safety, she threw on an old cosplay cat-face mask with sunglass-type eye sockets, then cautiously opened the door.

Even with her eyes covered and shaded with her hand, the sunlight hit her like a punch to the face. The world was wavering as if heat waves were rising from every surface, and the brilliant light pieced and seared her retinas. Gritting her teeth, she let Pounce go past her, then slammed the door shut and hopped onto her faithful lusus's back. Gripping Pounce's flanks with her knees and twining her fingers into the ruff of fur at her neck, Nepeta hunched over and tucked her head to her chest as much as possible.

"Go!" she hissed, and Pounce took off running in an urgent leaping bound towards Karkat's hive. Nepeta squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could, but even through her closed lids she could still feel the heat on her face and her fingers, which weren't protected by her claw gloves. She tried to bury them into Pounce's fur, which was what was protecting the cat herself from the sun, but knew that it wouldn't be enough.

Every minute that Pounce spent running through the woods was sheer agony for Nepeta, but she grimly hung on. Unable to see, unable to feel her fingers or her face, unable to do anything but cling like a burr, Nepeta fixed her mind on Karkat's face and imagined him hurt, bleeding, needing someone, anyone. The torture of this mental picture was almost worse than the fire in her hands.

Suddenly Pounce skidded to a stop. Nepeta, whose grasp had been growing weaker as her hands boiled under the sun, was nearly thrown from her back. Pounce meowed urgently, but Nepeta was already swinging her leg over Pounce's side and shading her eyes to look across the clearing.

They were at Karkat's hive, and Karkat was standing in front of his door, covered from head to toe in dark clothing, except for his face. He was staring straight at the sun.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Nepeta yelled. As she ran across his lawnring towards him, she saw his fists clench, but he didn't move. As she got closer, she saw with shock and horror that his eyes were turning red as she watched.

She didn't think, but leapt and tackled him to the ground.

"Fuck!" he yelled as she slapped her hand over his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Nepeta panted, her breath nearly gone and her voice like a sob. Karkat grabbed her hand tried to prise it off of his face, but she wouldn't let him.

"Karkat, no, you'll go blind," she said desperately. The pain in her hands and the pain in her heart made her cry out. "Of all the stupid things you've done, why this?"

"Get off of me, bitch!"

Karkat tried to roll over, and succeeded in throwing Nepeta forcibly off of him. Squinting against the sun, aware that she had maybe seconds left before she couldn't fight him anymore, she caught him around the chest and started forcibly dragging him back to his door. Pounce helped her, and together, in spite of his struggles, they pulled Karkat back into his hive.

Inside the blessed cool, Nepeta could barely see for the huge bright spots covering her vision. She wouldn't have known that Crabdad was standing right there in front of her if he hadn't immediately started to screech when he saw them. Nepeta tried to pinpoint the source of the sound, then held her claws up in its general direction.

"Stay away, or so help me gog, somebody is going to be bleeding grey all over his lawnring," she growled. Pounce hissed ferociously in agreement.

Crabdad kept screeching, but then Karkat said miserably, "Oh fuck, just leave it. Fuck. I'm such a failure."

The larger lusus backed off, and Nepeta let go of Karkat and collapsed against the door, pushing her mask off with the heel of her hand. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about her hands.

"Why the fuck did you have to come here?" Karkat yelled. "Why didn't you just stay at your stupid little hive sleeping like any fucking normal troll? What the fuck did you think you were doing?" She heard him come towards her, but then he fell over her legs – because, of course, he couldn't see either.

"FUCK!!!"