The Blood in their Breath (JohnKat) [IT'S CANCELLED]

Chapter 1: A Few Introductions

My name is Karkat Vantas. I am sixteen years old. I am in perfect health, and my brother, Kankri, and I get along perfectly, and I get on just fine with my sisters, Meulin and Nepeta, too. I go to the school nearby, and my grades are decent. Alright... There are a few lies there. I don't go to school. Okay, maybe there are only two things I've said so far that were true:

My name is Karkat Vantas.

I am sixteen years old.

Let me correct myself:

My brother, Kankri, and get along like shit. My relationships with my sisters could be better if I saw Nepeta on a regular basis (she's always online in her bedroom, and I mainly only see her at dinner), and if Meulin wasn't deaf. I've been too busy Having Cancer to learn sign language.

My dad thinks I'm depressed, so he takes me to this support group that he runs. And I might be, but that's a side effect of dying. Depression, I mean. Everything I do seems to be a side effect of dying.

So, here I am, at the Support Group, with a bunch of other dying teenagers. My dad used to be a priest, but then my mom came, and that wasn't the case anymore. And I get it; it's been hard on him, as a father. But the only reason I was born was because they thought that Kankri wasn't going to make it. He had about a .3 chance of survival. But the guy will never cease to amaze you, and with treatment, all the cancer was drained from his body. Not mine, though. I have a terminal cancer in my lungs. If you want the medical term, it's 'pulmonary carcinoma'. I have to carry an oxygen tank wherever I go, now, and have these little plastic tubes called cannula in my nose all the time. Damn, it's annoying! You know what else is annoying? My star sign is actually Cancer. What the fuck, God? You gave me the worst possible star sign I can possible have! You know what else is annoying? I can't stand up for long amounts of time. Stairs are also difficult, but not impossible. I just need to rest when I get to the top or bottom of them.

Anyways... Support Group. There's a new kid there, sitting beside a boy named Dave Strider, who has this rare eye cancer called 'Intraoculat melanoma', and he wears these huge, dark shades to hide his one missing eye. Dave has blond hair that he slicked in a way he deems 'cool' (I wouldn't be too sure of that), and he wears a white shirt with red sleeves with a scratched disk or something on it. I've never really talked to him with words, but he usually sits beside me, and nudges me, or makes a movement that would signify 'rolling his eyes', if only anyone could see the one he still has. The boy sitting next to Dave is kind of cute, I guess, if you want one word for it. He has black hair that looks kind of messy, but is also tame. He wears these glasses that look a bit dorky, but he, like I said before, makes them look cute. He also has buck teeth. He wears a white T-shirt with a ghost from Ghostbusters or something. His eyes are ocean blue, and even seem to have the waves, and these amazing blue eyes are staring right at me.

I'm about to call (more likely cuss) him out for staring, but my dad decides right then to start the thing. God, Dad... We all stand up, and recite the prayers. I notice the boy stumbling over his words, because he doesn't know them, and people laughing lightly. He laughs with them, because there is no hiding the fact that the idiot doesn't know what he's doing (what he's doing was being extremely cute). Pull yourself together, Karkat! my mind yells at me. You haven't even talked to him! You don't even know his name! And Dad finishes the prayer.

"Today," he continues, "we have someone new joining us. He's a survivor of osteosarcoma, and his name is John Egbert. John, would you care to share your story? Only if it's alright with you."

"It's fine with me," he says, with a bit of a grin. "I was diagnosed when I was ten, then I got an amputation in my mid-thy. And I'd like to say that I was strong, and laughing when I came out of surgery, but, honestly, I may as well have been dead. By the way people were reacting, just endless tears... And I found out that my twin sister Jane... Wasn't as lucky as me... I swear to God, though! The doctors flipped a coin over us! I guess I'm lucky that my younger siblings, Jade and Jake, are free of cancer." Dad nods.