The Peacekeeper

Chapter 28

"Is it done yet?" Karkat asked into the phone in a hushed voice. Equius, who was on the other line, sighed loudly.

"No, Karkat. It is not done yet. It may get done a lot sooner if you stopped calling me so many times a day to ask if it is done. I have already assured you that I will call you when it is ready. Understand?"

"Yes," Karkat sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Sorry, this shit is making me anxious and I just really want to see it done already."

"Well you have to wait, you cannot rush my work Vantas." There was an awkward silence for a moment then Equius spoke again. "I hear you and the Time God, Dave, are officially in the flushed quadrant." Karkat chuckled.

"Yeah. Let me guess, you heard it from Kanaya?" Equius grunted. "Yeah she's been going around spreading that shit like crazy. It's like the second coming of that one guy humans worship. She seems really really fucking happy because of it..."

"She has a right to. When you came back you practically bit his head off, now you're off on dates with him. I have to admit it is a remarkable improvement for you, I thought you'd never get past the incredibly embarrassing stage of your life when you clung to my hand and believed me to be your moirail. If that had gone any longer Nepeta would've let her jealousy get the best of her and that would not have of ended well for either of us."

"Heh, yeah. I don't think I'd want to face her in a shitty mood like that. The Nepeta on Beforus wasn't exactly the nicest person when she was pissed off so I can pretty much assume Nepeta here would be the same."

"...If it wouldn't be...too much strain on you I want to know what your Nepeta was like. She seems interesting." Karkat bit his lip and and checked the time.

"Equius as much as I would love to reminisce about my old days in Beforus with my old pitch flame Nepeta but Dave's coming home in like five minutes."

"I understand. We shall continue this conversation another time. Have fun out on your date with your matesprit."The two hung up and Karkat sat there on the couch, waiting for his matesprit to come home.

His matesprit.

Just thinking of it made Karkat's stomach turn to butterflies. He was so fucking happy now. Dave was his matesprit. They were dating and flushed and it was wonderful. It was like now that Karkat knew Dave was there for him, now that he knew for a fact he for sure wasn't a major nuisance, he felt better. He had Dave now and he was assured he had him. 

It had been a little over a month since he had that dream. The dream with The Peacekeeper and his younger self. He still didn't know what to make of it but he was almost positive it was something. It was always something. The one thing that stuck out at him, however, was the way he changed. It was weird seeing himself but it really wasn't himself.

Three to four sweeps ago he was a small fireball of fake confidence and an aura of anger. He cursed to assert his authority and had a seemingly permanent scowl on his face. Seeing himself in that way again seemed so...childish. All the needless curse words were kind of surprising and the glare he had on looked unnecessary. But it was how he managed to stay sane in his younger years on Alternia and during SGRUB.

Then there was his personality just a little over a year ago, on Beforus. The Peacekeeper was...a special kind of troll in Karkat's eyes. He changed so much, from the passionate young troll to an older, more mature troll. The Peacekeeper spoke like an ancient dignitary with such a strong voice. Really he reminded Karkat of his ancestors, or at least Vriska's ancestor. Her ancestor seemed to have spoken with the same confidence and the same goofy manner of putting words together that Karkat didn't really seem to get. Overall he was just so much...different.