Oh. This is familiar, he thinks dazedly. Except last time was all the way back in the desert arena, it was sharpened metal twine, and he'd known the person murdering him.

This is maybe a little better in a weird 'still going to die painfully' sort of way. He closes his eyes and grits his fangs. In just a little while he's be back in his own room, whole and healthy without horrible burns and a cracked horn. He'll eat some proper food for the first time in weeks and then he'll find Karkat and hug him for as long as physically possible and everything will be marginally less terrible than it is right now.