My Child

Safe

~Equius' POV~

"He's gone, Equius," Darkleer says as he struggles to keep his hold on me.

"NO!" I shout, fighting as hard as I can. "He can't be dead!"

"But he is dead, Equius," he firmly states, turning me around to face him. He wipes away some of my tears as he continues, "The arrow may not have hit his heart like I had hoped it would, but a chest wound is a chest wound. You can't survive that."

"You're an idiot," I hiss a moment before finally being able to focus enough to teleport. Not even a second later, both Darkleer and I are much closer to Signless. "Does he look dead to you?"

In his shock, Darkleer's grip loosens enough for me to turn away and move to assess Signless' new injury. A few inches to the right, and the arrow would've missed him entirely. Instead, it's lodged in his chest, close to the grub scar his right side.

"E-equius?" Signless calls. The pain in his voice breaks my heart, but I force a smile in an attempt to comfort him, like he's done for me so many times.

"I'm right here," I whisper, gently brushing his bangs out of his face. "You're going to be okay. Feferi's almost here." He's having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "No, Signless, keep your eyes open. You need to stay awake. Please! Just stay awake a little longer for me. Okay? Can you do that?" He nods his head weakly.

"Equius," Feferi calls as she runs over. She's out of breath by the time she, Karkat, Dave, Gamzee, and Tavros reach us. "What am I working with?" she inquires as she carefully removes the arrow, earning a pained whimper from Signless. "I'm sorry."

"Punctured lung and second degree burns on his wrists," I inform.

"There's nothing you can do, young lady," Darkleer says. Any further explanation is lost to the sickle and broadsword held to his throat.

"Hey, Kitkat, how about you do some crowd control before someone actually drops dead," Dave suggests, nodding to the lowbloods. Each one of them looks like they're ready to kill, and Summoner's losing control of them.

Feferi turns around and huffs, "That attitude is absolutely unacceptabubble," she snaps before turning back around to heal Signless' injuries. "Is there any chance we can get him down?" she asks me.

I shake my head, "Not until that metal cools."

Tavros, who's been very quiet, says, "I could, uh, try t-to cool it." He moves his hand in a circular motion, drawing a strong gust of wind with it. "It might, uh, take a little while, though," he elaborates, once again looking down to his bright yellow shoes. "I'm n-not as powerful as John, but I, uh, I can do m-my best."

~Karkat's POV~

I look over my shoulder for a second to check on my ancestor while I try to calm the raging crowd of lowbloods. Feferi's doing her best to heal him, but it's going slowly. His injuries must be really bad. Tavros is hovering close to the glowing hot metal. He must be directing the wind to cool it. John's been trying to teach him when they meet in the dream bubbles, but progress has been slow. They have Tavros' Class to thank for that.

A hard shove from one of the lowbloods I'm trying to help calm down brings me out of my thoughts. Without hesitation, I shove back. Bad idea, very bad idea! The olive blood, about twice my size, retaliates by pushing me to the ground and kicking me. I growl as I focus on stopping her from kicking me again. I can feel her blood flowing in her veins. With a lot of concentration, I'm able to control the blood in her leg, effectively halting her assault mid-kick.

"Are you okay?" Summoner inquires when he reaches me. He helps me to my feet before noticing the frozen, and now panicking, olive blood in front of me. His eyes widen slightly in shock. "Are you okay?"