Xtreme Wagon Riding
I wrote this for @ask-fablestuck in her au. The adventures of Karkat and Rose.
Karkat was sitting against the wall, watching the others chatter and fuss about the room. He decided that he wasn’t a fan of this party game, ESPECIALLY after being stuck in a closet with Strider. But after some hugs from his moirail he was feeling much better, not the best, but better than he had been feeling. Still, he wasn’t super enthusiastic about playing this game anymore.
“I apologize for what happened earlier.” Karkat looked up to find the purple-clad vampire standing above him. “May I sit?” She asked.
“...Sure.” He responded, scooting over and patting the space beside him. Rose slid down the wall and sat on the floor beside him, smoothing out the skirt of her nightgown.
“I can tell you’re still upset about Dave,” She gently papped him on the shoulder. “He should’ve been more considerate of your feelings.”
“Stupid Strider…” He growled. In an attempt to help calm her friend, Rose looked around the room searching for something to distract the angry kitsune. She spied a bright red wagon sitting in the corner of the room and a thought came to her. Tapping Karkat on the shoulder to gain his attention, she pointed to the gleaming red wagon. He seemed to get the same idea.
Stirring through the basket of names, Nepeta pulled out two more slips of paper. “Karkitty and Ro-” She couldn’t finish as the sound of rolling wheels sounded from behind her. Whirling around she caught a blur of red and purple heading towards the door. “Wait!! Karkitty, Rose no!!!” A lot of concerned and panicked shouting came from behind the two as they burst through the door and out into the night.
Karkat quickly leapt over the edge of the wagon, sitting behind Rose as their ride tipped down the hill that the house was set on. The laughter of the two drowned out the shouting coming from the house as they hurtled down the hill. The wind stung their faces as they raced faster and faster down the slope. Wheels rattling over the dirt, sounding like they were about to fall off, were covered by the joyous squeals coming from a very enthusiastic Karkat and Rose.
They hit a rock.
The wagon was launched into the air, sending the two flying into the brush at the bottom of the hill. They crashed into the ground, skidding to a stop in the dirt. Karkat’s eyes began glowing a bright blue, using his magic to stop the wagon from crashing into them and was able to divert it off to the side and into a bush. Rose glanced at her royal companion who was looking just as disastrous as she was. Both were slightly shaken from their wild ride and it clearly showed, from the dirt covering their clothes from where they skidded to a stop and the fact that the wind had severely messed with their hair.
Rose stood first, extending her hand to Karkat and helping him to his feet. Peeking into the bush where the wagon had crashed, the two discovered that the two of the wheels had fallen off. “Well,” Rose began. “That was fun while it lasted.” Looking back up towards the house and the hill they just rolled down, it was definitely too steep to climb back up.
“Looks like we’ll have to go around,” Karkat said, following Rose’s gaze back up to the house. Agreeing to this plan, Rose began leading the way through the brush to the front of the house.
Rose could see very easily in the dark, being a vampire. Karkat could also see fairly well, making it easy for the pair to traverse the dark woods. Shuffling through bushes and stepping over roots and branches, they were both wishing they were wearing shoes. There was the snap of a branch and the shuffling of leaves. They froze.
Karkat focused his senses, trying to pinpoint what and where the noise came from. “We need to keep moving…” He whispered. Rose nodded and picked up the pace while trying to be as quiet as possible. More rustling came from behind them, they tried to move faster. Whatever was following them was having no trouble keeping up with their pace.
A snarl was heard as the beast pounced. Karkat wrapped an arm around Rose and pulled her aside, hurling blue flames towards their attacker. A yowl was heard from the creature as the fire made contact. It whirled around to face the pair once again. It was a strange looking beast, a six-legged wolf looking creature with a scorpion's stinger.
A low growl rumbled in Karkat’s chest, perhaps their wagon adventure could’ve had a little more thought put into it. He hurled another wave of flames towards the beast, hoping to drive it away. It darted to the left and leapt again towards the two, managing to grab and tear the sleeve of Karkat’s top.
Rose quickly equipped her Needlewands, sending a crackle of dark lightning into the creature’s side. It shrieked in pain as it attempted to use its stinger to attack the vampire, ripping through the hem of her nightgown and jabbing into her leg. She yelped in pain and dashed forward and stabbed the needles into the beast’s side, electrocuting it once again. It slammed against her, knocking her to the ground.
Karkat pounced on the creature, digging his claws into it and setting it ablaze with his mythical flames. The beast howled, sinking its teeth into the kitsune’s arm. It hurt for sure, but Karkat was determined to kill the thing now. Leaping back into battle after retrieving her needles which had been knocked aside, Rose plunged one into the skull of the creature that Karkat had knocked to the ground. It let out one more cry before stilling.
Breathing heavily, the two took the moment to relish in the temporary safety. “Karkat… your arm…” Rose took notice of the bite mark on the royal’s upper arm.
He waved it off, not without wincing. “I’ll be fine, Gamzee is going to throw a fucking fit though. What about your leg?”
As the adrenaline wore off, Rose could feel the burning of the venom in the wound. Looking down at her leg she could see where the creature had hit her and it wasn’t a pretty sight. “It’ll get worse if we don’t get back soon.” She pointed out, wincing at its appearance.
Agreeing and not wanting to be out there any longer, Karkat took the lead back to the house, moving a lot quicker despite Rose’s new limp. It didn’t help that they could swear that they heard more of those beasts out in the woods. Sprinting up the path to the house, they burst through the door before slamming it behind them and sliding to the ground. A little worse for wear but still alive.
One thing was for sure, that would be the last time they were doing that for a while.