Karkat's Neighbor

How It Started

I looked out the window of my respite block. Someone was yelling outside. Probably just my neighbor, he's always yelling. But he sounded different today. There was more distress in his voice. I glanced toward his hive. He was at the edge of his lawn ring, with four other trolls around him. Oh, fuck... I remember those kids. They're probably going to kick that kid's ass. Oh, HELL no, I was not about to let them make that kid another victim. I'd never let them do what they did to me to anyone else as long as I could help it. I hurried out of my room, yelling to my lusus I'd be back soon. I got to my front door and took a breath. They'd finally get what was coming to them.

I stepped outside and the wind whipped my hair around. I shut the door behind me and looked down towards the group of trolls. One, a lower blue blood, was holding the kid's arms back as he struggled, the sickle in his hand getting yanked away by another, a higher yellowblood than me. The tallest of the group, another blueblood, took a step forward, getting ready to throw a punch. Grinning, I waited until the last moment. A second before impact, I snapped my fingers. Immediately, flames burst into life, clinging to the ringleader, a higher blueblood than the others. He screamed out in pain as I turned up the heat. The troll about to punch my neighbor whipped around in confusion. The other two dropped the kid and his weapon, knowing who was behind this, looking for me. I started walking towards them all, snapping my fingers again, and setting a fire to each one.

The kid looked confused as hell, an admittedly cute look for him instead of his usual grumpy demeanor, scrambling to retrieve his sickle. He saw me walking closer and furrowed his eyebrows. I grinned wider. With his assailants writhing on the ground, he wasn't sure how to react to the situation. I stopped in front of them.

"Hey boys, long time no see. How rude of you. You haven't asked how my lusus has been," I could feel the rage boiling inside me. Seeing their ugly fucking faces, I wanted nothing more than to burn them all to death slowly and delight in their agonized shrieks. "Ask me how she's been you bulgefucking cretin!" I leaned down into the highest blueblood's face. I knew he was the one who'd come up with the idea.

I let the flames engulfing them burn hotter, relishing in their screams. I could see my glowing eyes reflecting in his. The look of fear and pain on his face...delicious. I could feel my smile growing. I heard laughter, realizing a moment later that it was mine. I could finally get back at them all. I looked over at their latest would-be victim. And the look on his face made me stop laughing, stop smiling. I slapped my hands together, cutting out the flames. The trolls on the ground were covered in burns. They would have those scars forever. That bit of pride radiated in me, but the thought in my mind reflected the look my neighbor gave me. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

I sighed and stood, looking at the bodies around me. All still moving, not dead. I took a deep breath to steady myself. I closed my eyes and breathed out "Don't ever let me see your ugly faces again. Got it?" They struggled to their feet, wounds healing already, thanks to the stupid yellowblood. That's his little psychic trick. But they'll never fully heal. Good.

Once they were out of sight I turned back to the kid, "Sorry about that Shouty. Went a little overboard I guess."

"Why?" He muttered.

"Why? Um, I don't know I guess seeing their faces made me lose it-"

"No, why did you help me? What do you want?" Ah, there, he's back to shouting.

I looked him over. I might as well tell him part of the truth. No need to tell him I was doing it to save him as well as get revenge. "I just wanted to get back at them. About a sweep ago they used to beat me up a lot. They're all higher blood than me, and at the time I didn't know I had any psychic shit, so I was a pretty easy target. I mean, that was all for me. Helping you wasn't part of the plan at all. It didn't even occur to me." Fuck me, I'm a terrible liar. Should not have added that last bit.

He looked at me skeptically, eyebrow raised. "Whatever. I don't really fucking care anyway. But don't you think you were just a little bit dramatic with the fucking villainous laughter? They're like, all fucking bluebloods, they'll probably kill you for that shit!"

"Well they deserved it! They hurt my lusus! She can't even fly anymore because of them!" I flashed back to that night. They'd broken into my hive since I'd tried to stand up to them. I'd been their personal punching bag for weeks and finally I punched back, actually managing the make one of them bleed. They told me I'd regret that. They knocked down my front door, looking for me. Of course, I was out at the time, so instead they'd just found my owl lusus. They figured hurting her would be a better idea anyway, since hurting me wasn't emotionally damaging enough.

I'd gotten home just in time to see her, bloody with a broken wing, the four of them laughing and walking to the front door. I'd hidden so they wouldn't try to beat me up too. I'd tried to bandage her up and set her wing so it would heal, but it would never be completely healed. She'd never fly again. And that wasn't even the end of it. After all, they still hadn't gotten me yet. They'd be back...

I pulled back to reality and looked at him. He looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to ask for clarification. I sighed and looked back at my hive. I relayed the memory to him. "And after they hurt her, they came back. They set my fucking hive on fire. We were both still in it. They didn't even have the decency to let me have a fighting chance. They just wanted me dead. We were both surrounded in fire. It was burning so hot and out of nowhere, I just...stopped it. Like instinct. I clapped my hands together and it stopped. It's like I'd figured it out. I went outside and saw their stupid faces looking all confused. They saw my eyes glowing and figured it out pretty fast. I snapped my fingers and a little fire started. I had no idea what I was even doing so of course I couldn't use it as a weapon yet. But they didn't know that yet. Heh. You should've seen them run. Nice abscond, jackasses." Glancing back at him I realized I'd said more than I meant to. "Sorry, got caught up in the moment there."

He gave me a quizzical look. "What's your name?"

"Oh, um, Kaitra. Guess we've haven't really talked before, huh? What's yours?"

"We've never fucking talked. And it's Karkat." He crossed his arms and stood up straighter. Shorty's trying to look taller. Cute. Not sure why that would do anything though. Even though he was short, he was still taller than me. I noticed a tear on his sleeve.

"Awe man did they cut you?" I asked, figuring it happened when they were trying to take his sickle away. I had to admit, since his symbol on his shirt was gray, I was curious. I could just barely make out a bit of red.