Escape

Chapter 1

A knock. A simple knock. It wasn't  frantic, and it wasn't too loud. Not like other knocks the Amporas have heard. They've heard the military a few times, each time they were asking for Orvil. He always went. This time, however, it was not the military. This was a knock from Kankri Vantas.

Cronus reluctantly opened the door, his eyes widened as he saw the two small Vantas's standing in his door way. "Get in." He commanded as the two scrambled inside.

"Karkat, go find Eridan. I need to talk to Cronus, okay? We're fine..." Kankri gave a faint smile to his younger brother. Despite karkat being eight, he knew when something was wrong. Everything was wrong.

"Kankri, where's Silas?" Cronus asked as soon as the smaller of the two had left. "Why are you here? How did you get here? Did anyone see you?"

Kankri's eyes filled with tears, but he held them back. "I don't know...Silas ran off...he said he was protecting us and that I needed to take care of karkat. The only place I could think of was your house... I-I panicked...no one saw us...everything's gone...we couldn't stay where we were. There wasn't any food left, it was freezing. Karkat's sick and hungry. I don't know where anyone is...I'm scared..."

"Oh god...c'mere chief." Cronus hugged the crying Vantas. "It's okay...you're safe for now... Just- just wait here. We can work something out...? Just stay here for the moment. Go find Karkat, I'll go put some stuff in the attic. It's the best we got..." He sighed, shrugging and walking off.

Kankri went to go find his younger brother, he was sitting with Eridan in bed. "Karkat?" 

"Kankri? What's going on..." Eridan asked once he entered the room. "Karkat's not talkin... Is something wrong? What's happening? Are you okay? Is Karkat okay?" He was a bit frantic with the questions, but Kankri remained calm.

"It's going to be fine... We just need to stay here for a bit. We won't get you in trouble. If it gets bad, hide Karkat and say I was here and I broke in. Got it?" Kankri explained, picking up Karkat. He was terrified, but he had to keep Karkat safe; He was the sick one after all.

"W-what? U-uh... Okay??" Eridan hopped out of bed as the two left the room. He watched them climb into the attic.

Cronus climbed down and looked at his brother. "Look, they need to stay here for a bit. Nothing's gonna happen. Everything's fine, eri..." He hugged his younger brother, on edge about everything.

Meanwhile, up in the attic, Karkat was glaring at Kankri. "Karkat, you need to speak if you want me to understand you. This is only a temporary home. It's better than what we had-"

"No." Karkat interrupted. "I want to go home."

"We don't have a home, Karkat! That's what I'm saying! We can't-"

"NO!!"

"Karkat! Shh! Quiet, please."

"I want to go home! I want dad! I want mom! I want rosa, kanaya, and porrim! I want psiya! I want mituna! I want sollux! I want nepeta and I want meulin!!" Karkat started crying and wiping his tears away with the heels of his hands.

"I know...I don't know where they are..." Kankri scooted close to Karkat, putting an arm around him.

"Like hell you don't... You saw them! You fucking saw them either get killed or taken!! You fucking know!!" Karkat started yelling again.

"Karkat! Shush! Please! Someone is going to hear! They weren't killed! We'll see them again! Rosa and them were on a train to Switzerland! It's okay..." Kankri pulled his knees up, putting one arm around them. "You're sick, let's just take care of that first..."

"I don't care..." Karkat mumbled.

Kankri sighed again. "Well, let's at least get some sleep? Okay? That'll make you feel better." He got up and grabbed the blankets Cronus had left. "We won't be staying here long. Just as soon as we can move, we will." He laid out the large blanket on the ground and gave a smaller one to Karkat. "It'll be alright."

Karkat snatched the blanket and held it in his hand. "...no it won't..." He muttered.

"Just...-just get some sleep? Okay, Karkat?" Kankri said, laying down on the large blanket. "At least we're out of the snow."

"Yeah..." Karkat muttered again, crawling over to the blanket and sitting. "Why couldn't we have gone to gamzee...?"

"He's too far away and I don't know what his dad would do! We're lucky to have had Cronus open the door. Eridan might've said something and I don't know what we would've done if their dad opened it." Kankri put his hands over his face. "God...this was stupid...I put you in danger. Even coming here was a danger! Everything is! I know. I know. We're safe now though."

"Kankri." Karkat stated, staring at his brother. "I have no idea what you're saying..."

"It's nothing... Just go to sleep." He rolled over, trying to fall asleep on the blanket.

Soon enough they were both asleep.