The Peacekeeper

Chapter 18

"Nightmare I'm assuming." Rose uttered as she calmly turned the page of her book. Karkat was sitting up and breathing heavily, his hands balled up into fists and his nails making small tears in Kanaya's sheets. The troll nodded slowly as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Let me take a guess what it was about. Did it happen to involve the evil fake Dave who previously seduced you into nearly murdering real Dave?" Karkat looked taken aback. How did Rose know all that?

"How did you know all that?" Karkat mumbled incredulously. Rose chuckled and set her book to the side.

"You talk in your sleep a lot. I must be honest, it was a tad bit surprising hearing you talk about a "sexy" evil version of my brother seducing you into killing Dave in his sleep. It was also interesting hearing you talk about that said evil clone return to taunt you about not killing him." Karkat looked down sheepishly. If Rose had heard that then what else did she hear? Did Karkat say anything else that could've been potentially embarrassing? He didn't think so...

"Ah, so he has finally woken up." Kanaya smiled as she walked in, holding a tray with teacups and a small stack of pancakes. "Honestly I expected you to wake up much sooner, but I suppose the more rest you get the better." Kanaya sat down on the edge of the bed and handed Rose a cup before setting the tray down on Karkat's lap. "Eat up, we don't need you passing out due to the lack of proper nutrients in your system." The cancer troll nodded and began slowly picking at the pancakes. "So, what were the two of you talking about?"

"We were just talking about how Dave's red-hot evil dream clone was attempting, and sort of failed, to seduce Karkat into killing Dave. The real Dave that is." Kanaya blinked in confusion. Karkat didn't blame her, if someone told him that he'd be confused as well.

"I...I can honestly say I have no clue what any of that sentence meant and quite frankly I'm scared to find out." Rose chuckled and shifted in her seat before speaking.

"Apparently Karkat has been having wet dreams about killing people." The jade blooded troll only looked even more confused with that explanation. "Let me elaborate Kanaya, Karkat here has a secret imaginary friend that wants to kill off Dave, but I'm assuming it's not just Dave that you want dead, correct?" Karkat clenched his jaw down and his gaze down at the pancakes. He nodded stiffly. "I'm assuming the other days actions means that perhaps you would enjoy Vriska to meet a violent death by your hands...and perhaps a couple other of your friends. Hell i even have a feeling you'd enjoy seeing my own demise but that's probably because I'm only annoying you." Rose had the smuggest grin on her face as Karkat nodded stiffly once more. As much as he hated to admit it, Rose was right.

"Karkat, I have to ask why the fuck you want to kill so many people. Vriska I can understand, she can be aggravating from time to time but Dave? I just want some sort of explanation and Rose's explanation only made me more confused." Karkat stabbed his pancakes, refusing to look up at the two intimidating ladies in front of him. "Karkat. Explanation." The cancer troll groaned and glanced up at the two staring down.

"Fine, what do you want me to say?"

"I believe Kanaya and I would like an explanation as to why you want to kill people and why an evil Dave is seducing you to do so. Actually, explain why there is an apparently evil and seductive version of my brother lurking your mind."

"I will if you just stop saying he was seducing me!" Rose nodded, a shit eating grin lingering on her face. "Thank you..." The cancer troll sighed and eased back down. He honestly wasn't looking forward to telling them this, or anyone this really. Sure he had managed to open up to Kanaya before but that was...different. Somehow.

"Dave...was used against me. In a way." Karkat frowned and bit his lower lip, trying to think of a proper way to explain this. "You see...he was something good in my mind when times were crazy as fuck. Kind of like a weird safe place for me. And that little 'safe haven' for me made me stronger and get through harsh times, so of course someone decided to turn him into a nightmare for me. The image I used to have of Dave was soiled. He was turned into a fucking demon and it sucked. The worst part was that the asshole who made Dave into a monster for me did it slowly and made me slowly go insane and made me doubt myself... Actually, now that I think about it that was a pretty smart idea." Karkat gave out a little half-hearted chuckle and continued.

"With the one thing I had to keep me going destroyed, it was easier for the enemy to attempt to take over. But then of course I found another thing- two actually!- to keep me going and...things got better. Sort of." Fuck. Karkat didn't know any sort of way to explain this without sounding like a complete moron. "Dave...was still around. The idiotically persistent fuck who put him in my thinkpan made him continue going back every single time I went to sleep, which wasn't often but still. He figured that if Dave had weakened me before he could still wear me down over time, but that only made me terrified of Dave." The troll sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. "Even now that I'm out of that shithole Dave continues to return, along with a few other unexpected visitors but Dave has been showing up an awful lot. He is most likely a permanent part of my thinkpan now and I will probably never be able to get him out which sucks a tremendous amount of ass. Even now that I'm not asleep I can just...feel him here. Watching and waiting for me to fall asleep so he can torment me or try to convince me that the real Dave is an enemy that needs to be dealt with."

"That is all very..." Kanaya thought for a moment, looking for the appropriate word, "...interesting...but I have one question." Karkat nodded and motioned for her to ask. "Who was the asshole who made the evil Dave appear repeatedly in your mind?"

"Oh, it was Vriska's matesprit."

"That doesn't exactly give Rose and I any general clue as to whom it was."

"It was Gamzee."