Saved

I was walking back to the dorm at the stupidest time of night. I had had a night class, Geological Science, and then I had gone to get something to eat because I had been absurdly hungry for some reason.

It was about 10:30 at night, and I was halfway back to my dorm. Not too far, maybe another five minutes if I didn’t run into anyone? I shouldn’t, there was some campus event going on tonight.

I didn’t think I would run into anyone. I didn’t think I would run into anyone at all, it was late and I didn’t hear anyone walking by me or talking.

I didn’t even hear him until I walked right into him.

“There you are sis, I’ve been looking for you.”

I scrambled backward, panic singing notes higher than heaven in my blood as every instinct told me to run as fast as I could as far away from here as physically possible.

“What are you doing here you stupid clown?” I forced myself to speak evenly through gritted teeth, and somehow it worked.

Gamzee’s hand came down on my shoulder, “We didn’t exactly leave off on good terms last time we talked, I was hoping we could get our reconciliation on there motherfucker.”

I opened my mouth to speak but adrenaline had seized my vocal chords and I couldn’t speak. If I could move I would be running, but despite the literal fear surging through my veins I couldn’t move my feet.

“Well what’s it gonna be Terezi? Am I going to have to follow through on all the unpleasantries that I informed you of the last time we fucking spoke?”

That snapped my limbs out of the deep freeze they were in, and the next thing I knew I had smacked my cane upward and hit him in the head before swerving around him and running toward the direction of my dorm. I wasn’t using my cane, but if I tripped and fell I was doomed.

My lungs burned and I could hear him tailing me, yelling, “Get the fuck back here motherfucker!”

“Fuck off you piece of juggalo trash!” I yelled back at him. I knew the path back to my room by heart by now, and at this pace I was going to get back there in at least two minutes flat.

That is, if I didn’t run out of breath or trip and fall.

Those two minutes seemed to take years when you have a insane juggalo no more than ten feet behind you, but I ran almost face first into the door to the building, scanned my ID in record time to unlock it, and almost ripped the door off it’s hinges to get the door open .

I didn’t have time to take the stairs without use of my cane, so I ran straight for the elevator, slamming my hand on the button more times than probably necessary as I could hear Gamzee trying to break down the glass window of the door. Vriska had described most of the building to me with a smug tone. I don’t think she realizes that I don’t care what anything looks like since, ya know, I can’t see it.

The door miraculously opened quickly and I threw myself into it, pressing the button for my floor a few times before slamming my palm against the close door button.

The elevator door shut at the same time as I heard the glass on the front door shatter.

The trip up took ages, but once it got to the third floor I ran straight to the nearest room I knew to the elevator and slammed my fists against it over and over again.

“What the fuuuuuuuuck do you want!?” Vriska yelled in rage. “It’s the middle of the night!”

“It’s me damnit! Let me in I’m running for my goddamn life right now!” I yelled back, continuously pounding on the door. I could still hear Gamzee’s shoes hitting the stairs, he was almost here.

“Stop hitting my door, I’m unlocking it,” she growled irritably before she opened the door, grabbing my by the wrist, and hauling me inside her room. She slammed the door behind me and locked it.

Gamzee yelled my name as he got to this floor and started pounding on Vriska’s door. Vriska grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me to face her, “Care to explain who the fuck that is?”

“Gamzee!” I gasped, panting for air.

She ran her left hand through her hair, the metal sounds almost comforting to hear right now, cursing under her breath.

“Okay, I’m going to kick this fuckers ass from here aaaaaaaall the way back to Prospit,” she growled.

“Vriska don’t be stupid he’s always carrying juggling pins and you’re unarmed! He’ll smash your head open!” I yelled, exasperated. She couldn’t go out there, he’d kill her to get to me. He was a mad man, and if he was willing to kill me, he would kill her too.

She tossed her hair back, “I’m rolling my eyes Terezi, did you forget that my left hand is made of metal? On top of that, I keep a switchblade in here.”

“You realize that switchblades are illegal right?”

“Are you really going to complain right now?”

That shut me up.

“Come on out Terezi! I know you’ve been hiding the fuck out in there!” Gamzee yelled through the door and the unmistakable sound of pins hitting wood crashed into my eardrums and I nearly jumped six feet up.

I heard Vriska growl almost animalistically and she pulled her desk drawer open somewhere nearby, pulling her knife out and flipping it open, “Get the fuck out of here Makara! I might just have to fuck you up!”

“I just wanna get my communicating on with Terezi sis, not going to lay a hand on her, now open the fucking door!” he yelled back at her, the hit of a snarl in his voice.

“Yeah, right, you assmunching clown!” I yelled, my voice surprisingly clear.

I heard him kick the door, “Let me in!”

“No!” We yelled in unison.

I held my cane in both hands, ready to hit him with it again if he were to somehow break down a solid wood door. When I heard it crack, I knew for a fact that he could. My cane wouldn’t do much, but it could be a distraction.

“I swear to God if you break my door I’m going to stab you!” Vriska snarled.

Her door cracked again. I had mistakenly forgotten how strong he was, even though he had broken my arm at one point.

I sighed. I shouldn’t have come here, I should have just hid in my room and waited for him to come to me. Now I have put Vriska in danger, and he was going to hurt her too.

I took a step forward toward the door, and Vriska grabbed my shoulder, hissing, “What in the actual fuck are you doing?”

I wrenched my shoulder out of her grasp, “I’m not gonna let him break your stuff and hurt you too. It’s me he wants, not you. I might as well accept my fate.”

“Pyrope you don’t take me as someone who would just give up like that. I’m not going to just let you go out there and get beaten!” she didn’t sound mad per se, she almost sounded more worried than anything else.

I shook my head, “I’m not giving up, I’m going to give it a good fight. I thought I would have gotten here in time for him not to know which door I went into, but he got to this floor first. How he knew which floor I was on is beyond me.

“I didn’t mean to drag you into this mess, and for that I’m really sorry. If he tries to hurt you, do what you can to fight him off but do not let him touch you. He’s incredibly strong.”

She shook her head, saying, “It’s too late now Terezi…” as I turned and walked to the door.

I opened it and Gamzee spoke loudly, “That’s my girl, now give me a hug.”

I could hear the sadistic smile on his face. I knew he had his arms out, I could sense that much. Instead of giving him a hug, I punched him square in the middle of the chest.

He staggered back, but as soon as he hit the wall he shoved himself forward back toward me. Before I even had the chance to move he had already slammed a pin on my shoulder, effectively breaking it.

I cried out at the same time Vriska did, and I cursed everything I knew about religion that most of the floor was gone for that campus event.

I heard Vriska surge forward with a cry of rage. She shoved me aside, and stopped in front of me and yelled, “Get out now or I swear to God I’ll stab you 64 times. Leave her alone.”

His hair shifted but I couldn’t tell what direction he moved his head. He got quiet after all that yelling, which told me that he was going absolutely insane. You didn’t want him to alternate between yelling and soft spoken. If he does that, you better run for your life.

“I’d like to see you try sis,” he said quietly, and before I could warn her to run, Vriska cried out her rage and rushed forward. Gamzee honked almost boredly and swung his arm down and connected with Vriska’s right arm, breaking the bone with a loud crack !

I suddenly wished that she was left handed.

She screamed in pain, dropping her knife and dropping to the ground to what I assumed was to grab her knife. I didn’t pay much attention after that because I was jabbing my cane in Gamzee’s face. He honked louder this time and took a step forward, raising his arm with a shuffle of fabric.

That was about the moment that Vriska found her knife and stabbed Gamzee in the leg.

He screamed and slammed his pin down on her head, cracking her skull with another crack ! She didn’t didn’t make a sound beyond a unconscious groan and a thump as her body hit the ground.

“Vriska!” I cried out. “Gamzee you piece of shit! The prosecution will see you hanged!”

I swung my cane and slammed it into the side of his head, swung back, and slammed it against the other side of his head. Thankfully I was right handed, and my broken shoulder was on my left.

He screamed in rage and as I heard him raise both his pins over his head, somehow still standing despite having a stab wound in his leg. I knew he was going to smash my skull in, and I tilted my head up to face him, showing no fear on my face. He was going to kill me and I didn’t care anymore.

It was at this moment that I heard our Resident Assistant, Kanaya, come in from the stairwell, drop her bag, and run forward yelling, “Enough!”

Our RA suddenly shoved me backward and shoved Gamzee’s head into the wall while kicking Vriska’s knife away. I stumbled back into the doorway and I heard Gamzee’s pins hit the carpeted floor.

“Stop!” Kanaya yelled again and I heard her pull out her cell phone and dial what I assumed was security. It was then that I heard Gamzee’s fist connect with her face with a grunt and he started running toward the stairwell.

“Oh no you don’t!” I took off running after him. He was fast, but I was smaller and faster, so I caught up to him quickly. I jabbed the end of my cane into the back of his left knee and he cried out in pain. Good, I actually hit him and I hit the leg that Vriska stabbed.

He fell forward and I heard him fall straight down the stairs.

I panted from exertion, my blood still singing with adrenaline, “Kanaya! Please tell me he’s unconscious at the bottom of this stairwell!”

She ran over and leaned over the railing, “He’s definitely down for the count. Go sit with Vriska, she’s also going to be down for awhile. She’s not bleeding too bad, and it doesn’t look like you are either.”

I nodded. My shoulder had been hurting before but as my body slowed down, the pain became more and more prominent. I walked back over by where Vriska had hit the ground and kneeled by her, using my cane to hold myself upright. It was definitely not designed to do that, but I have leaned on it so many times that I know it could hold my weight for short periods of time.

I could hear Kanaya speaking quickly to the security office on the other line, barely concealing her emotions that I couldn’t quite read. Was it panic? Was it anger? Was it both?

The pain was making me dizzy and I swayed and for a moment wondered if I was going to pass out. My shoulder was definitely dislocated and broken that was for sure.

Security arrived first with paramedics hot on their heels. I heard them confiscate Vriska’s knife. She was going to be pissed.

They managed to get me off the ground and into an ambulance, with Vriska being loaded into the one next to it. I heard them handcuff Gamzee to his stretcher, but by the way he breathed he was definitely unconscious.

I couldn’t move my shoulder, and every bump the ambulance hit on the ten minute drive to Skaia Memorial Hospital sent shockwaves of pain through both my shoulder and my arm.

At some point during those ten minutes I passed out from the pain, static coming in from the edges of my senses and soon overtaking everything.