if i could eat your cancer, i would

[heartlessglitch]

WHO: karkat & danger.
WHERE: karkat's place.
WHEN: after this conversation.
WARNINGS: sad trolls and robots.
SUMMARY: danger broke her promise.
FORMAT: quickie.


[ danger stands outside of karkat's door for several long moments after arriving. she doesn't knock, lingering there and dwelling on the uncomfortable feeling of pressure in her chest-- a tightness she seems to have no pathological origin, no physical cause that she can place. but when she thinks about the tone of karkat's voice, what he said to her, it almost hurts. she presses her knuckles against her chest hard for a moment, willing the sensation to go away before she finally announces her presence by knocking on the door.

she has to explain. she owes him that much. ]

Comments

[crab]

[ he tenses, instinctively, when she wraps her arms around him -- he's always been wary of physical contact, particularly when it involves being held by someone else -- but he doesn't push her away, either.

after a few moments of awkward stillness, he brings his arms up, and reciprocates her embrace. his next words come out muffled against her chest. ]

So why did you do it?

[heartlessglitch]

[ she tightens her grip on him, just slightly. she feels hyperaware of how he seems so small and fragile against her taller frame. when she answers, her voice comes low, private, as if what she says is meant for karkat and only karkat. ]

When Madison was removed from this universe, a literal piece of me-- the hardware that connected our minds-- began to malfunction. It was as if a void had suddenly opened inside my head. I suffered a processing error, and I irrationally attempted to physically rectify it.

[ a beat. then, almost reluctantly, and in a plainer way, with all the technical words stripped aside: ]

Also, I felt a great despair.