The Peacekeeper

Chapter 25

Karkat waited until he was sure Dave was asleep. It was around one-thirty in the morning when he finally decided to pry off Dave's grip from his waist and slide out of bed. He was doing nothing wrong. He would just go and come back. Dave would never know he was gone. Karkat slid his shoes on and grabbed his spare keys, pocketing them and snatching the small journal of sketches off the bedside table. He would be able to do this no problem.

The troll silently tip-toed out the room and out the small apartment into the cold night. He was doing it. He was making it happen.

The walk over was no big deal. Equius' house was just a short walk over. Karkat already had a spare key into his home from his short time spent there, so it wouldn't be too difficult to actually get in. Still, even if Equius' house was right next door Karkat would still be a bit scared. This was an entire world filled with new trolls, humans, carapaces, and all sort of other potentially deadly things. He didn't know what to expect, so the entire walk over he kept his head down and the grip on the small knife in his pocket tight. His heart was racing for no apparent reason. He wasn't in any danger. He didn't have a gang of blood thirsty people wielding weapons chasing him. The only real threat here was that Dave wakes up, notices he's gone and goes out out to look for him only to find him trying to convince Equius to build a machine to take him back home. Sure it wouldn't hurt Karkat physically but emotionally it would wreck him.

It'd hurt like hell seeing Dave's reaction to finding out Karkat wanted to go back. He could almost see it now. Dave would blink and bite his lip, trying to stop himself from crying. His dark sunglasses would hide the appearing tears but Karkat would know. Next, Dave would clear his throat and shrug, pretending everything is okay. He'd probably laugh a little and rock back and forth on his heels. 'Hey man, whatever makes you happier. I'll be happy when you're happy,' he'd say while choking back tears. His cool kid facade would come in handy for about five seconds before he would excuse himself and run to the bathroom to have his break down in private. He'd cry for hours and it'd be all Karkat's fault.

The troll sighed and shook his head. He couldn't think of that now. No, instead he should be thinking about how he was going to convince Equius to build that fucking machine.

The troll unlocked the door and slid the key back into his pocket. He still had no plan whatsoever and he was now stepping into the blue blood's house. His mind was completely blank and he was starting to question whether or not this was a good idea.

He shut the door and walked in slowly and quietly. The mess Sollux brought with him when Karkat moved in was gone. Instead Nepeta's mess had replaced it. He had almost forgotten that Nepeta was Equius' moirail, in all honesty he was just trying to convince himself she wasn't. Equius and Nepeta were great moirails and all but Karkat was selfish and he just wanted to believe that Nepeta hadn't replaced him as Equius' moirail (though not really). As he walked down the hall he could hear the Equius awake in a small room he had used as a workshop of sorts. Perfect, now he wouldn't risk getting punched in the face.

"Hey Equius." The red blooded troll said, trying to sound as casual as possible though that failed. The blue blood broke the hammer in his hand in surprise. He sighed and turned around, wiping some sweat off of his forehead.

"Hello Karkat, it's a bit too late for a visit isn't it?" Karkat couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yes. It is. But I couldn't find a better time that would make...make more comfortable going out on my own. I'm paranoid as fuck that I'm going to get jumped in broad daylight. Plus my eyes are more used to night like before. Unlike you guys...living in the sun for so long..." the Sagittarius troll grunted in response and leaned idly against his workbench.

"What is it exactly that brings you back? And why alone? The streets aren't dangerous but you. You can hurt someone and we do not need that here. Our society is peaceful and we don't need you running amok, destroying the tranquility." Ouch. That stung Karkat quite a bit.

"I have a favor I need to ask you."

"A favor? Whatever it is, I'm just going to tell you no now and save you the trouble of explaining. I don't think any favors you need are going to be too safe and I don't exactly need Nepeta getting mixed up with all this."

"First of all Nepeta won't. Okay? There goes your number one concern. Second of all, put some more faith in me. I had to go through constant shit and I just want one thing from you. One. That is all I'm asking. Yeah I know I was a pain in your ass when I first came back but I'm getting better. Dave's helping me. I'm eating and sleeping again Equius! Remember when you had to awkwardly convince me to eat or sleep? When Sollux had to lay with me until I finally passed out? I can do all that myself now. So just...please, believe in me a little more. Besides, the favor is more for...my Equius than anything." Karkat glanced up at the other troll who seemed to be slightly interested. The other nodded stiffly, motioning for Karkat to continue. "Not to brag but my moirail was innovative. He constantly had new ideas and new machines to go along with them. Of course not all of them worked but a great deal did... anyway, before he died, he was working on something. Something he felt would change everything. It was...a machine that would allow people to step into the dreams of others..." Karkat's heart was racing but he kept a collected face. That idea was stupid. Equius would never believe that. They had pretty much the same thing back in the game!

"That...is a very interesting idea he had." Karkat nodded. "How did he think of such a thing?"

"Well...the times I was home I would often have horrible dreams. He thought that maybe I wouldn't have those dreams if he helped me eradicate it. So he began building that machine. Of course it was unfinished but..." Karkat tossed the small journal that was overflowing with papers of sketches of different machines. Equius opened up the journal to the bookmarked page and scanned over the drawing. "I was hoping you could finish his final project. As a sort of...real final goodbye to him. He was a great moirail and I need closure too..." The blue blood said nothing for a short while, still reading over the little notes his other-self had written. The silence was making Karkat panic more but he willed himself to at lest try to calm down. He had to pull this off he wanted any chance of getting back home.

But back home to what if those that you love are dead?

Not now. Shut up.

"All right," Equius finally spoke, "I will do it. But only because this machine actually seems somewhat useful. And partially because I want to see just have 'innovative' my other self was." Karkat grinned and let out a long breath of relief.

"Fuck, Thank you Equius. Thank you so much. You don't understand how much this means to me."

"A great deal I presume. Just please leave now, I need to finish up my own work and head to bed." He handed Karkat the journal once more and began leading him to the front door. "Come back in a couple of days with the journal again, we'll begin planning for this then." Karkat nodded enthusiastically as he was pushed out into the cold night. He didn't mind though. He was too happy to care. Things were turning out for the better.

At least he thought they were.