The Peacekeeper

==> Is It Really Over?

Karkat woke up on the floor in a cold sweat. His claw-like nails had made some very noticeable scratches on the floor. Pushing himself up off the ground with a groan, he tried to blink himself into a clearer mind.

Dave. Dave was chained up. He was crying. Karkat was crying too. Why was Dave chained up? Fuck, he couldn't remember. Okay. Okay. Dave was crying, Karkat was crying. It was cold. It reeked of death. His cheek was red and bleeding a bit. There was someone yelling...yelling something. Yelling at Karkat. God, what were they saying? Wait. Dave was saying something too. Yes yes yes. Dave was saying something too. God what was it?

It's not your fault.

It wasn't his fault? It wasn't his fault. What wasn't his fault?

Karkat stood up, his legs shaking underneath him, and looked around. Dave was still asleep in bed, looking as peaceful and angelic as someone with the grossest sleeping face could. As he laid down in bed besides his matesprit he felt weirdly relieved. As if something had happened, something extremely life changing. Karkat just couldn't put his finger on it though. He shrugged and stretched out on the bed. It couldn't be that important if he didn't remember.

It's not your fault.

Never mind. It was bugging him. What wasn't his fault?

It's.

Not.

Your.

Fault.

It all hit him like a truck.

Beforus, Dave, The Warlorde. Instantly a huge knot of guilt formed in his gut as he looked over at Dave. It was a dream. He didn't go. He didn't go back to Beforus. Dave didn't go. Dave didn't get imprisoned. Dave didn't get hurt. Dave wasn't dead. Dave wasn't dead. But either way, he thought about it. He thought about it and his mind, ever eager to torture Karkat at every turn, showed him what would happen. At least it showed him what his subconscious thought would happen. The troll sighed in relief, still feeling guilty. But why? It didn't happen. Nothing happened. No one fucked up. It was all a-okay.

"Congratulations. You did something completely reasonable for once in your unbearably painful and terribly miserable life. I hope you're proud of yourself." He looked up at the source of the voice and found himself sitting there. The exact same troll that had appeared in his dream a while back and tried to argue with the armor-clad troll and convince Karkat to stay home.

"Am I still asleep?" The younger version of Karkat nodded.

"Yes you are and you fucking have been since before you even stepped foot into your own hive. Seriously, you conked out like a grub who tired itself out by screeching its annoying little head off." He sat up and pulled his knees to his chest. Just as Karkat was about to open his mouth to talk, his younger self spoke once more. "I know what you're thinking, obviously since I'm a part of your shit-filled thinkpan but that is besides the point. None of it was real. Not Equius, not Dirk, not Beforus. Your dumbass couldn't think for himself and you were scouring any and every crevice looking for something to convince yourself to stay or go. And we gave you a little taste of what we— you think would happen."

"Yes, well," The Peacekeeper emerged from who knows where and stood proudly besides the younger troll, "the whole statue in Her Imperial Radiance's underwater palace was entirely his idea. I simply added in the extra decorations in our memory." Karkat let out a breathy laugh, certain things starting to make sense now. "I must admit, we're pretty good at creating incredibly stressful situations and harping on them. But I hope you know and understand that if we were to go back to our old home it'd be much more...upsetting, to say in the least. That was the best of a bad situation."