Of Dragons and Poets

Sister

[ AN/ this part is told from Nepeta's point of view, and is semi graphic. ]

Oh, close up camera two,
'cause the hero dies in this scene.
Your inspiration is the loss of absolutely
Everything.

You're woken in the middle of the night by your cousin, Equius, who holds the phone out to you and explains that your brother's on the line, and he sounds distressed. Of course, you take it; you expect it to be Kankri calling about Karkat's nightmares, but instead get a sobbing Karkat telling you that your father is drunk and he's just left with Kankri. You get a sinking feeling, like you always used to, and tell Karkat to call the police and you're going to try and get a hold of Kankri. He doesn't hang up for a while, but he tells you before he does that he loves you and Meu. A sharp click lets you know he's hung up, and then you call Kankri's phone.

"Hello?" His lofty voice is an abnormally soft whisper, laced with fear and anger. "It's Nepeta," you whisper back with a glance at Equius, who quirks a thick, dark brow over royal blue eyes. "Nepeta, I can't talk right now. Dad's a little snockered and we're in the truck." You know what this means. It means 'Help me, he's trashed,' and that scares you. The rattling of the ancient truck's motor can be heard the background, along with Sik'is rattling off a stream of swears and tires squealing and rain. Thunder claps mightily for the dissonant, orchestral chaos that comes through the receiver, and Kankri withholds a squeal like never before, a quiver of fear. "Did you call Karkat about it?"
"He called me. Is the car swerving?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a crazy blackout." Smart guy, he answers you without letting his dad know you're talking about him.
"The police are looking for you."
"Nep, there's a car about to hit us head on, tell Karkat I love hi-."
A loud scream and a sickening, world-shattering crunch follow his words. Skidding, another crunch, and a shatter of glass. Laboured breathing and a groan of pain. "Kankri? Kankri! Oh my god, Kanny, talk to me! I'm gonna kill you if you're messing around!" You've started crying by now. You know what's happened; they've just wrecked, and Kankri's probably dead. Equius seems to realize this only a moment after, and he pulls you into his arms, stroking your hair and telling you to calm down. You don't understand how you could - you quite possibly just heard your elder brother die on the phone. So, instead of heeding his words, you simply tremble and sob into your cousin's shoulder and hope Kankri makes it out alive.

He's still breathing, for the most part, when you reach the hospital. Sik'is is in police custody and Karkat desperately grips his hand, weeping softly into his chest in the other room. Your uncle, one Daniel Zahhak, goes to speak with your father and ends up with a surprisingly hefty punch to the chest - your father's kinda little, both scrawny and short, so it's astonishing that he nearly knocks Uncle Daniel to the ground - because he's from your mother's side of the family, and your father simply hates anything to do with your mother.
You knock quietly, but all Karkat does to acknowledge you is stop crying. Horuss pats his shoulder gently and Equius glances at him, both slightly afraid, but Meulin gets him out of the chair to pull him into just about the biggest bear hug you've ever seen. It's sad, really. Kankri was Karkat's soft spot, whether he'd admit it or not. You hate to think he'd go numb - worse yet, become entirely aggressive - because he's about to lose his brother. But no, there he is hiding his face in Meulin's shoulder as his breathing picks up again. Not docile, not hostile. Just ... Karkat. The Karkat you know and love, with a rough, dissonant voice and an absolutely unbreakable bond with the whole of his family - even for father.
He sits down as soon as Meu releases him, and you climb into his lap to keep him busy, to try and distract him from the body in front of you. Kankri is horribly marred, small cuts and bruises peppering his face and a huge gash crossing his features, moving from his right temple to cross the bridge of his nose and end at his jawline. They didn't clean him up well enough, and some of the blood sticks to his cheek, his lips. You use your sleeve to wipe it away, card a careful hand through his soft, fluffy hair. You can feel the dampness of where they washed blood away, out of his hair and off of the back of his neck where yet another set of stitches resides. You don't even want to see his actual torso - you're scared.
Karkat sets his chin on the crown of your head, bringing you back into reality as your uncle enters the room. He explains that Kankri was thrown through the windshield, and you identify the shatter you heard as Kankri hitting the glass. Karkat nods sullenly, distant. You pat his cheek and he jumps, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. "You zoned out," you whisper, "are you okay?" He shakes his head, visibly upset now.
"I've never been worse." This is when you realize how hard it's hit him. He doesn't swear, doesn't even growl, just gives out a pitiful whimper. "I've lost them, haven't I? Both of them?" His voice breaks. Meulin goes in for another hug, and you note Equius motioning you over, pointing towards the door. With cocked eyebrows, you follow him out into the hallway.
"What does he mean, 'both of them'?" Equius tilts his head a bit to the left, staring at you. Karkat is complicated, so you only hope you explain it right when you tell him that Karkat is fiercely protective of his family, and while he'll probably never forgive his father for this, he probably never wanted to see Sik'is go to prison, much less jail. He never wanted to see his eldest sibling lying in a hospital bed, clinging to life by a thread. "Forget what you thought. Karkat doesn't hate Sik'is. He never did. He just held protecting Kankri as a higher priority."
"Why?"
"Why do you protect Horuss?"
"I love him."
It clicks. Equius nods in understanding, makes sure you yourself are alright before going back into the room. Karkat is curled in Meu's lap as she tries to get him to calm [ he's crying again, tears trailing down his cheeks and eyes closed, a marble statue with tears, and she's holding back tears herself ], Kankri's monitor gives out the steady, shrill death wail of a flatline. Horuss and your uncle are coving him with the blanket. A group of Doctors hurry in, and
Your father waits in the hallway, obviously more sober than he was twenty minutes ago. He asks to see Karkat, to see the son he brutalized so long, and is met with a hug from his son, a trembling mess, gripping the back of his tshirt with white knuckles. "You did this to him," he mutters angrily, stepping back to look the man in the face. "Fix yourself."

You don't have the courage to ask where Karkat's going, but your father does, and you learn that Karkat is going with you - you have to take him home to get his things, and then you're going, and you're bringing him with you. You're curious to see what your old home looks like.

... It's horrendous.