Words cannot describe to you how sorry I am that this wasn't updated sooner, but hay, I'd much rather take my sweet ass time on something, and give you my best work (semi decent shit), rather than submit to you complete and utter shit. I can assure to you there is in fact a huge difference between the two!

I do not own Homestuck, nor do I own any of the characters, all credited rights for the fandom belong to Hussie.

Ch3. The tri-challenge

It's been about three months since I was brought into America, and everything still seems so unreal to me. It's hard when one goes through as much as I have to be expected to be back up on my feet within a month. That doctor was a fucking liar, "A little more than a month" was the understatement of the fucking century, in fact, it was a completely submerged statement.

Let's let that serve as the fucking quote to end all quotes here. A completely submerged statement.

I quite honestly want to know were he gets off throwing out such idiocy like a optimistic ass licker clinging to the hopes of world piece. He's probably the type of dick-weed who posts inspirational quotes on Facebook about how "you only live once," and "If you do it right, once is enough." The fucker needs to pull his head out of his ass and bash some cents into his head like Kankri stored coins in a fucking piggy bank as I child!

My fingers trumed against the hard wood of my bedroom windowsill as I watched the crazed and well sought after night of city life down below. Men and women alike, some of them dressed to the nines and ready to party, wile others sluggishly trudging along the battered and crackled pavement of the city sidewalks on there way home from a long days work. All normal people living normal live.

I wish I had a normal life, the sound of that was too pure though, too far out of my reach by this point to even fathom achieving. Instead ill have to settle for watching normal people wandering along and completely unaware of my struggles. Not like they would know something so tragic, like myself was wallowing up on the fifth floor of one of the many apartment complexes spanning these city streets.

I wish that could be me sauntering down the sidewalk like my shit don't stink, tailcoat flickering in the breeze without a care in the world; but the reality of my situation hits me like a fucking bus, more or less humbling even. Being as weak as I am, I'm crippled under the weigh, no pun ever intended. Never.

My eyes flicker to the shimmering stainless steel of the robotic prosthetics now attached to my shins. It's nothing special, though I guess it could be worse, I mean I could be wheelchair bound for the rest of my life. They aren't as high-tech as all the other modeled prosthetics designed and manufactured by the joint duo of the Makara and Zahhak medical companies. Like the ones that give the user the mobility to do anything athletic such as climb a tree, perhaps run laps for a wile, or dance for that matter; but they were affordable. I could walk and move around, that's all that really mattered at the moment.

I huffed out a sigh, standing on my feet. The joints in my legs gave a bit of protest still, and a bit of pain still surged up my legs like the prosthetics own little fucking reminder that, yes, they were in fact still a thing that was happening. A frown tugged at the corners of my lips. That would go away eventually. That's what the doctor said anyhow. I know how fucking reliably they can be, now don't I? This whole situation was complete bullshit. If dad were here… If he was here he would know what to do… He always did, he had this special knack of knowing what was wrong… he could fix anything, that's just how he was.

A burning hot tier trailed down the cold pail skin of my face, "Now when did that happen?"

My body slumped up against the cold biting surface of the white washed walls of my room. More tiers slipped down my cheeks as the pain in my legs progressively got worse and worse. My vision became blurred as I frantically searched for my crutches, hands frantically moving in a desperate attempt to locate them. With my hands clumsy and unsteadily shaking, I groped at the surrounding walls I had perched the crutches up against not too long ago. Without any luck I fell back into the chair by the window.

I know Kankri was working his hardest to make things easier for me… He set up all the paper work for me to start going to school again, but… I-I'm scared… so much has changed in the past three months… He expects me to go to school, deal with the still adjusting prosthetics, and deal with new people…

Try as he might, Kankri isn't dad… I want to wake up from this hellish nightmare, but I'm fucking trapped. How does Kankri expect me to start school on Monday? How do I expect myself to go to school?

I began to wipe away the tiers streaming from my now reddening face. My forehead pressed up against the crisp cold glass of the window, a choked sob retched it way through my body, "I can't do this… I can't do this…" I began to whisper over and over again. Everything was too much, I'm living in a new country, I have new legs, and now I'm forced to attend a new school. A new school meant new people, and that meant the non relenting harassment of classmates, I can't do this.

It wasn't much later that there was a knock on my door, "Karkat, Is everything alright?" It was Kankri.

I don't want him here, I want dad. Kankri isn't dad, "Go away." My voice was soft, I doubt he heard me.

"Karkat? Honey I'm coming in." I slumped down further, my head now resting on the windowsill.

"Kankri go away!" I said with more force than the last time, "Leave me alone!" I shouted. Turning around to see Kankri is standing in the doorway. His facial expression is that of concern, his lips pulled down in a soft frown, his eyes shone with the type of concern that only seemed to anger me more than I was before, "Kankri Get the fuck out!" More tiers ran down my face, my voice dripping with a venomous detest for my brother at the moment.

Kankri didn't go away, "Karkat..." My name fell from his lips, crestfallen, "Karkat, please…" The more I heard him speak, the more his effeminate little voice pissed me off even further.

It was Ironic, really it was. Kankri, Mr. Thousand words a minute, completely speechless. "Will you just leave?" my voice was barely above a whisper, yet it still held the same amount of venom it had before. I curled up again, forehead pressed back against the window sill.

I felt my brothers hand on my shoulder and my whole body tensed up, "Karkat, I'm here for you. You can talk to me."

"Will you just go away? I don't want you here!" I snapped at my brother, who looked completely taken aback, removing his hand from my shoulder, but not moving from where he stood behind me "I want dad." I choked out, "I want dad, and…" I paused, "…and you're not him…" I whispered, though I was sure he herd.

We stayed in an uncomfortable silence for a wile; me sitting by my bedroom window, hunched over and crying, and him standing next to me, not knowing what to say and being useless.

After quite a few moments of this, I felt his arms wrap around me, Kankri was kneeling beside me, "I'm here for you…" He said softly, "I'll always be hear for you when you need me." He paused for only a moment, "I may not be Dad, god I know I wont ever be half as good as him with things like this. But I am here for you." He paused again, thinking, and then, "The Captor's are there for you too, Sollux hasn't heard from you since the move. He's worried sick"

My crying began to slow, if only by a little bit. Our eyes locked, the same unwavering look of concern from Kankri washed over me. Kankri's hand caressed my face and brushed the hair out of my eyes, "I promise things will get better, you just need to give this a chance." His look went from concern to comforting as he began to dry my face using the soft fabric sleeve of his favorite red sweater.

Than a joking smirk stretched across his face, "But really, your nerd is blowing up my phone." He gave a soft laugh. My lips twitched up a little. That sounded like Sollux. He was always worrying over me, even though he would say otherwise. That was so like him… But I don't think I'm ready to talk to him again just yet. There was still so much I had to get through first. Like the impending first day of school.

"Kankri can you get me some Tylenol? My legs are hurting again…" Instantly he was moving, facial expression going from joking to urgent as he sprang to his feet and out of my bedroom, only to reappear moments later with a bottle of pain killer and package of peanut butter crackers in one hand and in the other a glass of milk, "Here you go Karkat, after you take the medicine eat these. You haven't eaten much all day and if you don't the Tylenol could cause damage to your stomach. Be sure to drink the whole glass of milk too. I will not leave until you have eaten that whole package of crackers." I gave him a deadpanned look. It didn't take much for him to go back to his usual self, now did it?

"I'll be fine-"

"I will not have any of it, Karkat, You remember what happened last time." He gave me a look, that of a chastising parent, and a frowned again.

"Now Karkat, don't give me that look, I'm doing this for you. I don want you to be in any more pain than you're already in."

"Whatever." I mumbled and took the medication.

~You Could Be Happy~

As always, the world still went on, the people living in the city still got up in the morning, still got ready for work, and the world continued to turn. Despite what was going on in my life, they remain happily unaware of the struggles of the teenage boy living on the fifth floor of one of the many apartment complexes on the cityscape. The world did go on, I swear to you, It always will.

~You Could Be Happy~

Despite my constant fear of the first day of school, I was prepared for it. Or at least I thought I was. I got up earlier than necessary that morning, I showered and got dressed, wearing my favorite grey and blue gradient turtleneck with a silhouette of a dead tree stretching across its front, and a pair of grey skinny jeans that despite them being skinny jeans, were still a bit baggy around my body. Oh well though.

I blow dried my hair, not really bothering to do much with the mop of curly black hair that grew atop my head. Looking at my completion in the mirror, I huffed out irritably. "Why was my skin always so god damn pail." I mumbled under my breath, as I tried to fix my bangs, if anything I could at least try and get my hair to cooperate for once. The dark bags under my eyes were apparent as hell, but I really didn't feel like doing anything about it today.

Once I was done adjusting my hair and ripping apart my complexion in the mirror, I walked over to the kitchen to get something to eat. I still had a half an hour before I needed to be at school, and it wasn't that far from the apartment. Kankri was cooking something, smelt like eggs and toast.

"Eat something before you take your medication Karkat," Kankri said, turning around. I smirked at his appearance, apron clad, wearing strawberry oven mitts, and holding a spatula in one hand and a pan wit cooking eggs in the other. Not to mention the fact he literally couldn't give a shit about how his appearance looked. That's what I call true confidence.

That was always the one thing I admired about Kankri. His ability to not care about what others thought of him. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and wouldn't take any hit from anybody if it was dished out. No matter what happened his confidence remained the same. That in its self was an incredibly admirable thing in my eyes.

"Whatever." I mumbled, taking a seat at the counter peninsula, sitting atop one of the three mismatched stools that stood around it, then leaning my crutches up against it. Kankri put together a plate of eggs and toast for me, and got me a glass of milk, along with some pain medication. I began to eat.

"So are you excited for your first day of school?" Kankri asked as he began to clean the dishes.

I gave a grunt in response, popping the medication in my mouth and taking a swig of milk, "No, not really." I deadpanned before starting on my eggs, to be honest I really didn't want to go to school, especially the school I'm going to now. Kankri told me about it, even going so far as to show m the website, along with the many technical programs the school ran. Technical programs meaning that this was a Tech school. Every other week I would be attending academic classes, wile the others I'll be attending whatever program the school decides to put me in. The website showed the different shops and what ones had openings for what grade levels. There was one that caught my eye a bit, but it only stood out as another reminder of what I could no longer do. There were only a few out of the open shops I would be able to try out before a final placement would be made, what with my limitations, it wouldn't be much use for me to get put in a hard labor shop like plumbing, automotive or metal fabrication. Since half my legs were made up of metal, that bumped out of shops like electrical and HVAC. The only shops I could be placed in are Business and Applied Technologies, early child care, design and visual communications, and lastly performing arts.

To be quite honest, I don't want to be in the performing arts shop, despite Kankri's encouragement to join. I was good at dance, like really good. But with these legs I wouldn't be able to do that without breaking them, not to mention the risk of further damaging what was left of my legs. Had I been able to keep my legs, I would join in a heart beat, but that was not the case, now was it.

Kankri looked at my with the corner of his eye and sighed, "Now I know you don't want to go, and I understand that. But legally you have too, and going through this school gives you the best scholarships for collage."

I huffed, finishing off the rest of my eggs and taking a bit out of a piece of toast before putting it back and pushing my plate away from me, "I just want this day to be over with." I huffed, "When are we going?"

"Soon." He said.

~You Could Be Happy~

How was I supposed to know everything that happened on that day would change my life forever? It might not have been an immediate change, but little did I know that my eyes would be opened up to everything by a chance first encounter on this fateful day…

To Be Continued…

That's chapter three everybody! I'll try and update more frequently, But there are no promises. ^_^