The sound of his ringtone woke Karkat from his sleep. Not that he
really could sleep anyways. Giving the silent night a groan, he wanted
to ignore it, but the ringtone that was playing signaled it was
Gamzee. What could he possibly want at 4 in the morning?

The young man desperately in need of sleep begrudgingly leaned over to
grab his phone from his nightstand. Glaring at the bright light of his
screen that bathed his face in a glowing purple to confirm it indeed
was his best friend, he brought his phone tiredly to his ear.

"What could you possibly want at 4 in the morning, Gamzee? You know I
can barely sleep as it is, what's the point in calling me up to make
it more of a pain in the ass?" He grumbled to the other male angrily,
closing his stinging eyes. He rubbed the side of his face with the
hand that was unoccupied, falling back down to the bed as he let his
friend answer.

"Tavros is in the hospital," Gamzee answered. His voice was completely
void of emotion, causing Karkat's eyes to open up wide again. From the
way his normally goofy and idiotic best friend sounded, it wasn't
good. Tavros was in the hospital. He could be seriously injured, or
even worse- dying.

Karkat didn't answer for a while. He stayed still, his eyes wide.
Gamzee's voice was completely emotionless- no pain, no fear, no worry,
not even in the slightest. The Cancer went over several scenarios in
his head- Tavros could be terribly injured. Diagnosed with a horrible
illness. He could be dying. He could be dead at that moment.

"...Karkat?" the whisper of Gamzee's voice over the phone brought him
back to earth. At least he could hear some pain in the way he said his
name, and, oh, it hurt Karkat himself. Right in the chest.

"Yeah. I'll be there in a bit," Karkat replied after gulping down a
lump in his throat and hung up after a few seconds. He sat up slowly
with a sigh, depositing his phone back on his nightstand as he moved
to his closet to throw some clothes on. He slipped into the chilly
night air outside and got in his car, rubbing his face again before
pulling out of his driveway to make the trip to the hospital.

When Karkat saw Gamzee in the waiting room outside the door Tavros was
(presumably) in, his heart sunk. The Capricorn's eyes were drooping,
yet emotionless, his face blank and his shoulders slouched. His
facepaint was smudged and his fingers were fighting themselves in
worry. He didn't move when his best friend approached him. The sight
made Karkat less angry about having to drive to the hospital at 4 in
the morning to console Gamzee.

He reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, the slight touch making
the other flinch and look up at Karkat, his back straightening
slightly and a small spark in his eyes. "Hey."

"Hey Gamzee," Karkat spoke gently and moved to sit next to the taller
man, who looked back towards the door. The two sat in silence for what
seemed like forever. Karkat's hand had eventually slipped from
Gamzee's shoulder. The sound of the ticking clock and the distant
clamoring of people and doctors were the only sounds that they heard.

Karkat was the first to (hesitantly) break the silence. "What
happened?" His voice was merely a whispering squeak, his ears hearing
nothing but silence after his voice. Gamzee turned his head slowly to
look at his best friend, then turned back to the door without a sound.

"A church set fire. He went in to rescue a few kids," Gamzee answered
simply after a long while. His shoulders slumped again as Karkat
brought him to lean on his shoulder while stroking his hair.

Karkat decided not to say anything, opting to listen to the clock and
the clamoring people instead.

A doctor eventually stepped out and let the two boys see him. Gamzee
rushed in quickly, ignoring the nurse's whisper to be careful as she
stepped out with the doctor. Gamzee stared intently at the boy, taking
in every detail of his appearance. The shade of his dark skin had
become pale, scattered with a few burns. His clothes were burned and
he had a smoky smell to him. He didn't look peaceful, as Karkat
thought he would, instead looking in very, very much pain. Karkat
didn't blame him.

Gamzee reached out to move the bangs out of his eyes, slowly leaning
in to study him further. Karkat watched from behind Gamzee, following
the slow and barely noticeable rise and fall of the sleeping boy's
chest with his gaze.

"Tav?" Gamzee tried whispering to Tavros in hopes of getting his
attention, but received no reply. "...Tavbro?"

Karkat made a small step towards him. "Let him sleep Gamzee," he
commanded quietly but made no move to leave the room, studying Tavros
almost as closely as his best friend was. "We know he's okay, we
should go."

Gamzee continued to slowly stroke Tavros's hair, his movements gentle
but slightly shaky. He tuned out Karkat's words and stared at Tavros's
pained face with his own blank one.

"...Gamzee," Karkat tried again, touching the clown's arm. He finally
got his attention and the taller looked at him while ceasing his
movements. "Let's go."

Gamzee's steel blue eyes looked back to the sleeping boy and lingered
before finally giving in and nodding, following Karkat out of the
hospital and back to his house.

No one else got word of Tavros being in the hospital until Nepeta
asked Karkat where the Taurus was. She had been pestering him over
pesterchum but there was no answer. She tried calling him, but still
no answer.

"Oh no! Tafurros what happened?!" Nepeta had squealed, yelling
something to Equius before hanging up, most likely rushing to the
hospital to visit her 'furriend'.

Gamzee already beat her there and was whispering to the still sleeping
Tavros. Nepeta couldn't keep her energy down and was asking so many
questions in such a fast pace in such a loud voice, a nurse had popped
in and scolded her. Yet, she still couldn't keep it down and Gamzee
took it upon himself to let a not-too-nice growl escape his throat.
Equius had quickly removed Nepeta from the room after that.

After numerous days of visiting a sleeping Tavros in the hospital, the
boy finally woke up. Gamzee was absolutely delighted to see him awake.
It was difficult to tone down how excited he had been after being in a
grumpy mood for the past week. He had received a warning from a nurse
before he got his act together. Tavros just gave a weak giggle.

"How you feeling brother?" Gamzee asked one day as he waltzed into the
room to the younger boy, receiving a smile, which dissolved into a
frown as he seemed to remember something.

"I, uh, am in pain, but I feel okay," he answered, looking down at his
legs and back up to Gamzee, holding his breath. "And, uh..."

Gamzee waited patiently. When Tavros didn't continue he urged him on.
"Yeah?"

"I... May be, uh... Crippled for the... For the rest of my life," he
sniffled, looking back down. The Taurus bit his lip and fiddled with
the band around his wrist, careful not to bump any burns. "A, um,
burning beam fell on my back... But, uh, at least it didn't... Uhm...
Kill me..."

Tavros didn't look back up until he was gently, and slightly awkwardly
hugged. It seemed as though Gamzee knew exactly where very burn and
pain was in his body as nothing was brushed or bumped. He let out a
small squeak in surprise, reaching up slowly to hug him back
(hopefully without pain) but stopped when an unrecognizable voice left
from the body embracing him.

"You didn't have to save those little snot-nosed motherfuckers from
that church Tav," Gamzee growled. God, he forgot to take his
medication from being so excited to see his best bro. That wasn't good
for anyone.

"You could've left them to motherfucking burn and you wouldn't be like
this," he continued, Tavros frozen in shock. Gamzee released him
quickly, staring at him intensely, studying him once more.

"I... I couldn't do that..." Tavros gulped, afraid to say anything
more. He couldn't say anything more anyways as Gamzee left the room in
a huff.

A few more visits to the hospital had been made. Gamzee actually
remembered to take his meds those times, apologizing for the day he
didn't.

One day when Gamzee tried to visit, Karkat in tow, the doctor stopped
them.

"I'm sorry boys, but your friend is dying."

They both froze. Their eyes went wide, then Gamzee narrowed his. "I-I
need to see him." He reached for his back pocket but stopped when
Karkat grabbed his arm. However, the doctor finally broke down and let
them see their friend in his final moments.

"T-Tav..." Gamzee called, running over to the boy. His body was paler
than usual and he was squirming in pain, struggling to stay alive.

"G-Ga... Zee..." he whimpered, cracking his eyes open. Gamzee's heart
might've stopped beating right there and then. He couldn't help but
stroke the Taurus's face.

"You're- you're gonna be fine, Tav..." Gamzee choked out, his body
struggling not to crumple.

"Yeah..." Tavros whispered with a pained smile, reaching up to touch
Gamzee's chin with cold fingers. "Stay... Stay golden, Z-Zee..." He
whispered before his arm fell and his eyes slipped shut, the rise and
fall of his chest coming to a stop.

Gamzee's hand didn't leave Tavros's face. It did, however stop its
movements. "Tav... Tavros, no... Please, god no... No..."

Karkat could only watch from afar, biting his lip and looking at
Tavros's body. His attention snapped back to Gamzee as he threw
himself against the wall, punching it in hopes it would meet his
command and keep Tavros alive.

"No!" he wailed, grasping his face in his hands before he ran out of
the room and through the hall. Karkat stared at the door that Gamzee
left out of, but didn't take a step forward. His eyes moved to the
shell of what a sweet, innocent and caring boy once lived in. Tavros
was too innocent to die, Karkat actually couldn't believe he was gone.

"And he was the only thing Gamzee really loved..." Karkat whispered to
himself, leaning back against the wall. Gamzee loved Tavros. He loved
Tavros so much. And now he was gone. Tavros was gone- what was left
for Gamzee to love?

Karkat thought of himself but snorted. No way. He was such a terrible
best friend to Gamzee, there was nothing else he could- Karkat
stopped. He knew what Gamzee was going to do. His eyes widened and he
pushed himself off of the wall, sparing Tavros a last glance before he
rushed out of the hospital and into the night. He rushed into the
parking lot, finding Gamzee's car gone. He'd have to walk. And only
god knows where Gamzee could be right now.

He walked along the streets, pulling his jacket tight around him. It
was fucking cold out, that was for sure. He barely registered a car
pulling up beside him and he nearly screamed his lungs out when
someone yelled "Hey!" at him.

He looked over and stared into the eyes of Eridan. God was he such a
desperate douchebag sometimes. They did gossip about something or the
other, though, so I guess Karkat could call him... Not-an-enemy? He
wouldn't call Eridan a friend.

He also saw Sollux in the back seat on his laptop, probably coding. He
could call Sollux a friend.

"Need a lift?" Eridan asked him, pointing to the passenger's seat to
his left. Yes, his left. Stupid British people and their stupid
British cars.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess," Karkat grumbled before rushing into the
warmth of the car. He buckled himself and sighed, glancing at Sollux
in the back seat, who gave him a small smirk behind his stupid 3D
glasses that matched his eye color. Curse those glasses.

"Where to, Kar?" Eridan asked, rolling up the window and turning the
volume of his music to a tolerable level. (It still irked Sollux
though- he hated Eridan's music.)

"Uh..." Karkat thought for a moment. Where would Gamzee be? And, oh
god, did it already happen? He's been walking for a while.

"I'm waitin'..." Eridan piped up, receiving a kick to his seat from
Sollux.

"Don't rush him," he demanded, typing away on his computer.

"Shut the fuck up Sol!"

And the fighting commenced.

"Shut the fuck up you two!" Karkat shouted, earning their attention.
"Get me to Gamzee's house, and dear god step on it!" Eridan
(thankfully) didn't question the orders he was given and got back on
to the road to Gamzee's house.

Karkat nearly burst in the door when he got there. He studied the
apartment, seeing nothing but darkness. He jumped at a familiar
ringtone and fished his phone out of his pocket to answer it.

"Hello?" he gasped, not giving time for the other to talk as he
continued, "where in the hell are you Gamzee?"

Eridan watched him from the bottom of the stairs. "Oh my god, Gamzee
just got caught stealing from the supermarket, we gotta go get him!"
Karkat yelled, closing the door again and nearly tripping down the
stairs. (Stairs that Gamzee's roommate hated very much, piping in with
a "I need to warn you about the stairs bro" every time he traveled
down them, causing Gamzee to nearly push him down the stairs.)

Eridan furrowed his brows but said nothing more as he climbed into the
car again, taking off as soon as Karkat sat down. He traveled quickly
towards the parking lot of the market, already seeing Gamzee running
towards them. Police cars gathered across from the lot. By then,
everyone (even Sollux (a police officer in training)) had gotten out
of the car, watching Gamzee move under the circle of the street light.
He reached for something in his pocket, Karkat immediately recognizing
what it was and shouted out for him. Gamzee ignored him and pulled it
out- pointing it directly at the officers.

Everything seemed to play in slow motion as the bullets rang through
the silent night air. Karkat's mouth fell wide and he wanted to scream
and shout and stop Gamzee's body from crumpling to the ground.

He tried to run forward but Eridan held him back. His vision was
blurry and his ears rung. He didn't know how loud he was screaming and
he struggled against Eridan to get to Gamzee. All he wanted was to get
to Gamzee.

He finally broke free and full out sprinted to the body of his best
friend lying on the ground. He was too late. He knew this would happen
and he knew he could stop him- but he was too late.

He didn't mind how his hands became sticky and red as he screamed and
cried and wailed over Gamzee's cold body. The expression etched onto
his face was of triumph- and pain. So much pain it made Karkat's heart
break in two.

He screamed at his friend's body before he was being dragged away. He
was an absolute mess- covered in blood and tears. He struggled again-
this time in an officer's grasp, being stood up and away from Gamzee's
body. He swayed on his feet and his vision was spotted in black.
Eridan reached out to catch him, but wasn't quick enough and Karkat's
face was introduced to the ground.

The dead expressions of Gamzee and Tavros flashed in his mind before
he fully blacked out.

Gamzee loved Tavros more than anything in the world. He never left his
side. They were inseperable. Gamzee would die for Tavros.

And die for Tavros he did.

A/N: I'm so sorry for this. I really am. There's a reason why I wrote this though- and the entire idea wasn't originally mine. I guess.

Anyone who can guess what this is based off of gets a cookie.

Thanks for reading. Review and favorite if you want.