A Ghost In The Dark @carnationsghost - Tumblr Blog

> Ghost: Wake up.

When you wake up, you’re in pain. Your body hurts and you can’t move. Your right leg hurts the worst, and you’re too afraid to actually look. You try to push yourself up, but you feel the flat of a beam press itself against your shoulderblades. The crackling of flames as your hearing returns to you makes your fins twitch and you struggle to lift your head, but even if you could, you wouldn’t be able to see around the metal plating and beams around you.

You have a sneaking suspicion you know why your leg hurts. You manage to get your hand to your ear to tap your earpiece. “Sollux,” you rasp. “Sollux, are you there? Gamz - ” you break off, coughing harshly. That axe wound is starting to disagree with you, and you grimace. If you weren’t a fuchsia you would be dead and that would be the end of it.

But you were alive, and you needed help.

All that came through your earpiece was static.

“Anyone, come in. I can’t - ” Another cough. Copper filled his mouth. “ - can’t get out, in the bridge,” his breaths were coming in harsh wheezes now. He didn’t think help was on the way. The ship was falling apart, no one would be stupid enough to -

“Karkat!”

Gamzee. Gamzee! “Gamzee!” You barely have enough strength in your lungs to call out. “Ga - ” You break off, coughing. But you have to let him know. “Here, I’m - Here!”

You hear the groan of metal above you and nearly panicked, only to find the world around him suddenly filled with light again as the weight above him vanished with the metal plates and beams, tossed aside by the giant purple that was his moirail.

“Gamz....” The relief in your voice was palpable, and you reach out for him, only to cry out as the movement sends a rush of pain through your leg. You finally look, and wish you hadn’t.

One of the beams had pierced through your leg. You weren’t sure, but you think it had taken out the part of bone there with it.

What you were sure of was that that beam wasn’t coming out.

The roar of flames grew closer.

“Gamzee - Gamzee we have to take it off.” The horror that filled your moirail’s face when he realized what you meant hurt your soul, but - “Gamzee, if we don’t, I’ll die, and I already know you won’t leave me. I’m not letting us die here, Gamzee. We have to cut it off or we won’t get out of here.”

“I - Brother, even if I up an’ want - I. I can’t, brother, I ain’t got - ”

“There was a blueblood - near the entry portal, not far from here. He had an axe, go get it, use that.”

“I can’t leave - ”

“Gamzee!” You feel bad for yelling, but he needs to understand. “Gamzee, we will die. You have to. Go get the axe. Bring it back. That’s not me asking as your moirail, that’s an order!” You could see the conflict in his face, but. He has no choice. He exits, and time seems to drag on as you wait for your moirail’s return.

He returns with the axe.

He’s hesitant. He doesn’t want to hurt you - the last thing he wants is to hurt his moirail, to spill any more of your fuchsia blood. It’s killing him to see you laying there, you know, and be helpless.

“Gamzee. Please.”

And then all there is is pain.

---------------------------------------------------

Gamzee supports you as he all but carries you. He wanted to carry you completely, but you wanted to walk on your own feet.

Well. Foot.

A makeshift tourniquet is wrapped around your upper thigh, your right leg missing from there down. You hobble out of the ship with Gamzee’s support, the two of you making your way to safety.

You look up, and -

And your people look back at you. Bodies litter the ground, the rebellion’s and the imperials’, but it’s the remaining imperials on their knees, the rebellion outnumbering them and holding them at gunpoint.

You and your moirail leave the burning ship, the rebellion raises their weapons with a roar of victory. You stare in shock as they cheer, looking up to your moirail. He still looks like he’s going to be sick, your blood staining his hands, but he smiles at you all the same.

As your gaze turns back to your people, your gaze catches sight of the remaining broadcasting drone. It’s focused on you, and you suddenly feel at a loss. But the Condesce’s crown is in your hand, taken from her as you left. You hold it up, and the cheers redouble.

Your stomach twists. You killed the Condesce. These people are your responsibility. Feferi is gone, and god knows how many with her. You don’t know who else is alive. But one thing is for certain - you killed the Condesce. You fought her, injured as you were, and won, and now you had to face the consequences of that.

As someone shut down the broadcasting drone rather violently, you just prayed that you were ready for that.

#{ NO ONE SEES THESE OLD GHOSTS (timeline/plot) }#{ AWAY FROM PRYING EYES (solo rp) }#blood //#death //#violence //#ask to tag

The second you lunge forward, and explosion rocks the ship. The flashing red lights you had been ignoring suddenly seems a lot more urgent, but you don’t care.

Your vision is red as you charge the Condesce, but she’s ready. As you swipe with your blade, she leans back, then swats you aside with her trident, the staff of it slamming into your injured side and sending you to the ground. You snarl in pain, but you have no intention of letting her win - no intention of letting her get away with what she had done.

You ignore Sollux screaming in your ear - Gamzee’s worried voice echoing after it, calling for you (you ignore your relief at knowing your moirail is okay threatening to take you to your knees) and focus on the attack. You can feel the Condesce’s surprise in your movements - surprise in each step she takes backwards as you stage a relentless assault, slashing and ducking and lunging.

It occurs to you that she didn’t expect you to have this much fight left in you.

You press your advantage relentlessly, baring your teeth and flaring your fins. Sollux and Gamzee’s voices echo in your ears, and from outside you can hear the sound of a resounding cheer as the sound of fighting kicks up again. On the broadcast, a drone outside would show the rebellion rallying for a few moments before switching back to you and the Condesce.

She recovers more quickly than you would like, starting to press back as she meets your blows with her own, and you’re fast, but she’s stronger, and if you don’t take her down soon, she’s going to kill you.

Another explosion makes the ship tremble and floors you both. You recover first, lunging for you with full intent to run her through, but she barely manages to block in time, kicking you in the abdomen and all but sending you flying.

Finding yourself dazed for a moment, you struggle to get back to your feet. You hear her before you see her, and roll to the side just as a trident buries itself in the wall where your head had been moments before. The ship trembles again and the whole thing shifts, sending you both to the floor once again. Your weapon falls from your hand.

“KARKAT GET UP!” Sollux screams, and you roll to your feet in time to avoid another attack, but you stumble over a body - Feferi’s.

You hear Sollux and Gamzee in your ear - their voices are joined by others, coming both through your earpiece and from outside. A feeling burns in your chest - not rage, anymore, but just as red and just as hot.

You grab Feferi’s trident, silently asking her forgiveness.

The Condesce advances.

Red coils around your hand.

You free the trident from Feferi’s torso and lunge.

On the broadcast, everyone watching sees the weapon glow as red as the feeling in your chest as you thrust the trident into the Empress’s.

The Condesce falls, expression shocked.

You glare at the broadcasting drone and bare your teeth.

That’s when the ship crashes down around you.

#{ NO ONE SEES THESE OLD GHOSTS (timeline/plot) }#{ AWAY FROM PRYING EYES (solo rp) }#blood //#violence //#death //#ask to tag

Your name is Karkat “Ghost” Vantas, and you have lost everything.

(( Read this first > link ))

Upon clicking the link, a broadcast will be made available.

You can see the bot direct itself towards you, and you already know that the first thing anyone just tuning in will see is you, bleeding all over yourself and staring at the scene before you with a broken expression as Sollux begs for responses from missing friends into your earpiece. You find yourself absently, almost hysterically, wishing you had worn your binder.

Feferi Peixes lays dead on the ground before you, her vivid pink eyes dull and glassy as she stares lifelessly up at the ceiling. Her own trident is buried in her abdomen, but it was clearly put there after she had died - it was obvious to anyone with eyes that the cause of death was her crushed throat and the hole in her chest.

You don’t even want to know what the Condesce used for that.

Kanaya and Aradia lay nearby. Neither of them are moving.

The Condesce’s eyes widen upon seeing you, seeing your color, seeing your fins. Her eyes widen, but then she grins. She waves a hand and another drone appears, you aren’t sure from where. This one focuses on her, and you can all but see the split screen now. You’re glad that you opted against the visor - you would hate to see yourself in the broadcast likely forced onto anything with a screen.

“My, my, look at you!” The Condesce cackles, shaking her head. “What in the fish shell are you doin’ here? Came to take a shot whale I’m weakened? Or - No, don’t tell me - Ha! A fishchia followin’ another fishchia?” She laughed cruelly. “How the shell did sea conchvince you to join her?”

For a long moment, you just. You just stare. You can hear Sollux in your ear - he’s calling for you, now, asking what’s happening, why you’re just standing there. He’s telling you to run, to get out of there - He’s called the retreat, you need to get out while you still can.

You don’t move. You still have what remains of your weapon, the blade and part of the hilt, in your hand. You’ll owe Infrared an apology if you see him again.

You hope you see him again.

Your hand falls from your injury and something in your chest burns. The despair you had initially felt is swept away and you grip your weapon tightly. The Condesce has been talking the whole time, taunting and insulting you, though she seems to grow tired of you ignoring her. Sollux screams in your ear.

You grip your weapon and lunge forward.

#{ NO ONE SEES THESE OLD GHOSTS (timeline/plot) }#{ AWAY FROM PRYING EYES (solo rp) }#blood //#violence //#death //#ask to tag

Your name is Ghost, and this is it.

The final fight with the Condesce has arrived. There is a plan in place and everyone is ready for it.

You absolutely hate this.

The plan is a half-baked recipe for disaster that would only work in a children’s tale. You hope for the best, but.

You’re expecting the worst.

The Battleship Condescension and its entourage comes in to land and Sollux fucks with the landing controls. The ships crash into the ground and almost immediately imperial soldiers are charging out. Feferi’s army rushes out of hiding, swarming the ships and their soldiers.

The battle is bloody, but you don’t see most of it.

You, Feferi, Kanaya, Aradia and Equius make your way into the Battleship Condescension. You and Equius take on the crew, while Feferi goes for the Condesce on the bridge of the ship. There isn’t much time before she leaves, so it’s best to trap her here.

As you and Equius take on the crew, Terezi joins you. She grins, demanding to know if you really thought she was going to let you all have all of the fun. You’re not even angry, her arrival turning the tide of the fight. You and Equius were skilled, but outnumbered ten to one. Terezi showing up evens the odds a little. You almost find yourself hopeful as their numbers dwindle by your weapons.

Your weapon, excellently crafted as it was, eventually breaks under an overhead slash from a blueblood’s axe. You yelp, throwing yourself backwards, and he swings it again. You twist to get out of the way, but you’re barely too slow, and a nasty slash opens on your side. You snarl, taking the blade of your weapon along with what’s left of the handle, and thrust it into the blueblood’s chest.

His attack had cut right through your armor, and wearing it becomes more of a hazard than a help. You drop the broken handle of your weapon, but you keep the part with the blade as red lights begin to flash in the ship.

You blink, eyes widening as a metallic voice announces, “System status critical, destruction of ship imminent. Please evacuate the ship.” The message repeated on a loop, making you grimace in irritation.

Your ear piece beeps and you lift a hand to accept the message, seeing Terezi and Equius do the same once they’ve finished off the last of their opponents.

“By Imperial order, you are required to watch this linked broadcast. To ensure the least amount of culling being required, we have taken the liberty of linking this broadcast to your hatefriends to ensure it is seen. Failure to obey will result in being immediately slated for culling.”

Equius and Terezi look to you, and you look back to them with just as much confusion. An imperial broadcast? Why would the Condesce -

It hits you like a truck and numbness floods you, the slash in your side spilling your blood feeling like nothing. “Get the fuck off the ship! I’m going to find Feferi!” You hear their protests as you dart towards the bridge.

As you enter the bridge, the first thing you see is blood. There’s a vast variety of it, colors ranging mostly from cerulean to purple.

But then you see the pool of fuchsia, and the Condesce standing with a recording drone floating nearby.

Feferi lays motionless on the ground, and you feel the hope drain from your body.

Feferi is dead.

-------------------------------------

> By Imperial order, you are required to watch this linked broadcast. To ensure the least amount of culling being required, we have taken the liberty of linking this broadcast to your hatefriends to ensure it is seen. Failure to obey will result in being immediately slated for culling.

> All hail the Empire.

#{ NO ONE SEES THESE OLD GHOSTS (timeline/plot) }#{ AWAY FROM PRYING EYES (solo rp) }#blood //#violence //#ask to tag #tagging to be safe

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you are already sick of this war.

You’ve been fighting with your friends’ revolution for four perigees now, and this month marks the fifth sweep since the very beginning of said revolution.

You’ve lost plenty of trolls, but one hit the hardest - Nepeta Leijon fell to an ambush not too long ago. But things are starting to fall into place. The allies your group has made have finally started filling in their end of the bargain. Thousands of trolls have pledged their allegiance to Feferi within the span of a few perigees, though you’re terrified that that won’t be enough - for good reason.

Her Imperious Condescension has a lot more trolls at her beck and call than you all do.

Still, there’s only so much that can be done, and an opportunity is soon to arise - you’ve received intel that the Empress is coming back to Alternia. No one is sure what it’s for - it could well be to squash your rebellion, but allegedly it’s only the Battleship Condescension and a few smaller fighter ships coming back, not an entire army.

But either way, this is an opportunity.

You hatch a plan. When the Condesce returns and all of the ships have landed and started releasing trolls to the planet, Sollux will hack into the ships, shutting down and sabotaging their weaponry. A party of trolls will slip into each ship to cause havoc on the inside while the trolls outside cause a distraction for them to enter. Your group, with a few exceptions, will either enter the Battleship Condescension or confront the Empress outside - hopefully the former.

Then Feferi kills her.

It’s a shitty plan.

You try to convince them to reconsider, telling them that they aren’t thinking this through, but they’ve been at this for five sweeps. They’ve already lost far too many trolls. They don’t want to drag it on any longer.

They want to get it over with.

They don’t listen when you try to convince them that it’ll be over with all right - for them.

You exchange a glance with Gamzee, furrowing your brow, but he doesn’t know how to convince them any better than you do.

You haven’t slept well since the decision was made.

The Condesce will be landing two weeks from tomorrow.

And in two weeks, the revolution will be coming for her.

You pray that she doesn’t bring it down instead.

#{ AWAY FROM PRYING EYES (solo rp) }#{ NO ONE SEES THESE OLD GHOSTS (timeline/plot) }

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