The Peacekeeper

Chapter 12

Dave was out again and Karkat was alone. This wasn't a good idea, Dave knew it wasn't. After what happened the last time Karkat was alone Dave didn't want Karkat to be alone again. He couldn't do anything though, the troll clearly told Dave he didn't want to be babysat and what if Dave called Kanaya over to watch Karkat while he was out? That probably wouldn't end well for anyone. So instead Dave just swallowed his fears and told Karkat where he was going and exactly how he could be contacted if he needed anything. Once all that was settled, Dave hesitantly left.

Karkat didn't like being alone. Being alone gave him more of an opportunity to snap. Another opportunity to see them. Then again, if Karkat wanted to learn to live like this he'd have to be alone eventually. This was a good a time as any.

He reached for  his small bag of belongings and dumped its contents on to Dave's floor before dumping the remaining contents of his sylladex on to the floor as well. Now with everything out in one pile, Karkat realized he had more stuff than he thought. A majority of it being weapons. Swords were the most prominent weapons of the bunch. He didn't know why he had them, or even bothered to learn how to use them. He was always horrible with them but for some strange reason he used that weapon the most. Its latest victim was a certain cerulean blooded troll with a passion of mind controlling people. Karkat quickly set that sword aside, not wanting any unwanted memories to resurface.

There was a lance in the pile, a nice black metal lance with the Empress' symbol engraved on the handle. Karkat smiled, remembering who it was for. The lance was a gift for none other than The Cavalier. An un-confident yet brave bronze blood who was eager to learn everything there was to know about being the leader of an army. That's right, Tavros Nitram himself had eagerly set himself under Karkat's wing and was ready to learn everything there needed to be learned about being a brave Knight and soldier like he was. Karkat of course had no idea what to teach Tavros but Tavros learned. Unfortunately, Karkat would never get the satisfaction of seeing Tavros in action and knowing he taught him how to be great. Oh well.

Setting the lance aside, Karkat picked up a small bag. He shook it and from inside it sounded like bones rattling. The troll frowned and set it aside. Inside was something gruesome he did in a fit of overlapping emotions, the memories of that day flooding back into his head. He had a few moments alone with the corpses of his quadrantmates. He needed something to remember them by but he couldn't think straight. All of his emotions were mixing together and he did something drastic, he ripped the horns off of their heads and hid them. It was creepy and just plain wrong, even if he was distraught. But what was done was done.

Karkat spent the next couple of hours digging through his pile of possessions, trying to figure what he could keep out and what he would have to hide away in the closet for no one to see. He finally settled on keeping out only his sickles and the few books he had always kept in his sylladex. Everything else was shoved inside the closet, hidden from anyone to ever see and leaving his sylladex empty.

The troll sighed and stood in the middle of the room, his eyes closed. He felt calmer now that most of the physical things that reminded him of the bad times were out of sight, therefore out of mind. Things would hopefully get better from here.

~

"Long time no see huh cool kid?" Terezi grinned from ear to ear as Dave laughed breathlessly, nodding.

"Sure has Terezi." Dave shuffled awkwardly outside the door and Terezi invited him in. Vriska was in there, sitting leisurely on the couch with the remote in her hand, this was her hive as well after all.

"So what brings you to our humble abode Strider?" Vriska asked, still flipping through channels.

"I actually need to borrow both of you for a bit. I'm getting the old meteor gang back together, you know, in hopes that maybe seeing some familiar faces will break him out of his shell. Kanaya and Rose are already in so I just need both of you to agree." Terezi and Vriska hummed in unision and turned away from Dave, mumbling to one another. After a moment they nodded.

"Alright Mr.Strider, we'll come to your Karkat Party!" Vriska nodded with her moirail.

"Just make sure the little freak doesn't go and killer mode like he did back when he first showed up, or else I'll be forced to stop him myself." Dave rolled his eyes at the cerulean troll and stood up, thanking them before leaving. Hopefully this would work.

~

"Come on Karkat, it's just a little get together. It won't do you any harm." Dave sighed in exasperation. Karkat refused to leave the room when Dave told him how many people would be coming over. He didn't think he was ready, he didn't want to lose it and do something horrible to someone. He just wasn't ready. "It's just a couple people. Kanaya will be here so you'll be fine. Just trust me dude, it'll only be for a couple of minutes!" Karkat refused to speak. "Alright, if you come out this one time and don't enjoy yourself then I promise I won't have anyone coming by unless you want them to. Deal?" Fuck. That actually did sound like a good deal. The troll pondered the offer and bit his lip before opening the door. Dave grinned from ear to ear as he watched Karkat walk to the couch and sit down. Now all they had to do was wait for their guests to arrive.

They didn't have to wait long, in just a short while Kanaya and Rose knocked on the door and gracefully strode in. Kanaya gave Karkat a firm hug, momentarily forgetting that he still had some things that needed to heal up, and Rose behind her girlfriend. The Seer of Light greeted Karkat warmly and offered her hand to him, being careful with her distance since she knew that Karkat had some negative feelings towards her. All was well though and Karkat nodded to Rose stiffly, taking her hand awkwardly and shaking it.

They all sat around making small talk, Karkat was actually beginning to warm up. His posture relaxed and he allowed himself to smile ever so slightly. Things were beginning to look up for him. A little while passed and a knock from the door was heard. Karkat ignored it and continued talking to Kanaya and Rose about how life was here on "new Earth", after that everything went downhill.

"Hey Karkat, long time no see huh?