Despite it being overwhelming, Karkat has felt all of this before. It isn't new -- merely intense and unexpected. It dawns on him that Ruka has collapsed, he remembers how the emotions she picks up are permanent, takes note of the tremble in her limbs, and it's the sight of her suffering -- suffering because of him, his stupid need to prove himself -- that yanks him out of the memory of imprisonment.

"Fuck," he gasps, and drops to his knees in front of her, grasping at the collar, trying to pry her fingers off of it, pull it from her grip. "Ruka, let go!"