The Peacekeeper

Chapter 13

Karkat wanted to lunge at her. Throw her out of the apartment and keep her miles and miles away from him. From the very first word she said his instincts began flooding back in. Karkat couldn't think straight.

Vriska was there. Vriska, of all people Dave could of invited he invited her. Vriska, that disgusting troll who forced innocent trolls into her and her matesprits army. Who practically forced Karkat to kill those innocent trolls who didn't want to fight but had no choice. Vriska who captured and tortured him for days as revenge for him killing her matesprit. This disgusting blue blood was here and laughing just a mere feet within Karkat's perimeter. It was horrible.

Karkat would glance over to glare at Vriska every once in a while and everyone noticed it. Karkat couldn't help himself, his brain had been hot wired to attack her and he was using every bit of strength he had in order to not do that but it was getting increasingly difficult.

"Karkat," Dave whispered into the troll's ear, "are you okay? You're kind of glaring at Vriska..." Karkat's jaw clenched.

"I'm fine." He responded curtly, loud enough for everyone to momentarily glance over to the two of them. Karkat had to relax, he couldn't let something so stupid take him over. This wasn't the Vriska that did those horrible things. This Vriska was someone who did different things, slightly less horrible things but horrible nonetheless. Karkat had to calm down before he did something stupid.

"What's your problem Vantas?" Ohhhh fuck. Fuck this was going to be way more difficult than expected. Vriska spoke and when she did Karkat had to remind himself once more that this Vriska wasn't the Vriska that had wronged him. This Vriska didn't deserve whatever Karkat was thinking of doing to her.

"Nothing Vriska." Karkat spoke through clenched teeth. The once happy and lighthearted atmosphere quickly turned tense. Dave was ready to spring up and stop Karkat in case he tried to do something he would regret later on.

"Seriously, what the fuck is your deal? If you have something to say then say it. If not then keep your eyes to yourself and untwist you panties." Okay. Okay that was it. Karkat glanced at Dave apologetically for a moment before going back to glaring at Vriska.

"My 'deal' is your entire existence, you filthy murderer." Then tension rose dramatically when Karkat uttered that. Even if he wasn't facing them, Karkat could see Kanaya and Rose tense up. He knew Dave was mentally freaking out and hoping Karkat would calm down. The truth here was that Karkat was already too far gone to calm down, although Karkat did subconsciously hope he didn't take things too far...

"Oh really?" Vriska scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm the filthy murderer here? I'm not the one who showed up out of nowhere covered in blood. I'm not the one who jumped on Aradia or tried to snap Gamzee's neck now am I? No, I wasn't." Karkat snarled and Vriska snapped her fingers, a look of fake realization on her face. "Maybe I'm the one who kept carrying around dirty and useless weapons everywhere! Or maybe I'm the one who can't take care of himself! Oh no wait, that was you."

"I swear to fucking god Vriska, if you don't shut up you'll regret it." Karkat was on the edge of his seat, his muscles were tense and he was honestly trying his best to calm down. This Vriska wasn't the same Vriska. This Vriska was not this same Vriska. This Vriska was not the same Vriska.

"I'll regret it?" The Thief of Light scoffed and waved Terezi's hand, which was resting on top of her shoulder, away. "Really? What are you going to do about it?"

"Vriska," Dave said anxiously, "maybe you shouldn't--" The blue blood cut him off, lifting a hand up and staring Karkat down.

"No Dave. I want to know what he'll do. Go on Karkat, since you're soooooooo keen on showing off what an apparent "bad ass" you are suddenly, go on and tell me what you'll do. I fucking dare you. I bet you don't even have the guts to do anything." Karkat stood up and briskly walked into Dave's room. Dave was clearly panicking now, he didn't know what Karkat was about to do and he was just so stressed out and he just wanted everyone to have a nice time. Dave's frustrations were not eased when Karkat came out of the room with a sword that was covered in blood, the most prominent being the certain shade of blue of the troll currently antagonizing him.