Karkat woke up, just like any other day. And he got dressed, just like any other day. What made today any different? Well, it, officially, had been a month since the last knight, Dave Strider, went to the tower to rescue the princess, Jade Harley, and he hadn't come back to the castle. Honestly, Karkat had no idea why the king even cared so much about her, he had two sons, one of which was likely to succeed the throne, another daughter, alliances with two of the neighboring countries, and they hadn't been to war in, like, a century. He thought this knight business was bullshit. But it paid well, so there he was. Anyways, like aforementioned, it had been a month, meaning some (un)lucky knight was going to get to go look for her. Well, more like convince the dragon to let her go. They knew exactly where she was being held, the trouble was the dragon.

Karkat was interrupted from his thoughts by one of the pages, "Uh, Karkat, sir, the king wants you to, uh, see him."

Karkat scowled, this was just his luck, "Tell the fu- his majesty, that I'll be there shortly," another reason to hate the job, he wasn't allowed to curse. Being a knight was supposed to be an honor, so why did he hate it so much? Nevertheless, he went to see the royal man.

"Sir Karkat!" The king yelled, even thought Karkat was literally five feet in front of him, "I need you to rescue my daughter. It is an important mission. . ." blah, blah, blah, he said the same thing to every knight going out to do whatever, even when that one guy went just to get a pint of cream! The formality was sickening.

"Yes, sir," Karkat said, bowing before exiting, muttering curses under his breath. So, it was his turn? Maybe he'd get lucky, and the dragon would kill him so he wouldn't have to go back to this stupid job.

One long walk later, Karkat had arrived at the tower Princess Jade was being kept in. Surprisingly, it was missing the evil dragon he had heard so much about. He rolled his eyes, and opened the door, surprised to find it unlocked. If it was this easy to get out, why was Jade even in here? He shrugged off the question, taking a torch and going the long set of stairs. What was it with dragons and towers? Why can't they make something easy, like a cave? By the time he got to the top, he was panting, hard, and just plopped on the ground for a while.

"Karkat?" A familiar voice asked, "what are you doing here?"

"King. . . Wanted. . . Rescue," he muttered between pants, looking at the girl who was leaning over him.

Jade frowned, "I thought they got the message when Terrzi dropped Dave's bones."

"What?!" Karkat shot up, knocking his head into Jade's, "Dave's dead?" He rubbed his head, "fuck! That hurt!"

Jade grimaced, both at the blow and Karkat's accusation, "No! Dave's not actually dead! We just wanted to make sure no one would come!"

Karkat sighed in relief, he and Dave were good friends, despite fighting daily, and narrowed his eyes, "We?"

Jade looked away, not making eye contact with Karkat, "Yeah. I actually kind of. . . like it here," she looked guilty, not that Karkat understood why.

"What?! Why?" Karkat scowled, the whole trip was worthless, and as much as he loved seeing Jade again, he hated finding out his precious energy was wasted on the trip.

"Well, it's nice. I don't have to deal with any of that princess stuff, Terezi brings me food, and I can do whatever I want! You want to see some of my experiments?" Jade's eyes brightened at the idea of company, and Karkat found it hard to say no when looking at her. He just hoped his face wasn't as hot as it felt.

"Wait, who the fuck is Terezi? Do have a fucking roommate?" He said, following Jade into the room that occupied most of the top of the tower.

"She's a dragon," Jade said, matter-of-factly, pulling out some gadget to show off.

"You live with a fucking dragon," Karkat said, astounded.

"Well, she's more of a caretaker, if I'm being honest. She hasn't been here as much since Dave showed up. She's really taken a liking to him."

Karkat was confused, a dragon as a caretaker? The very thought was absolutely insane! Dragons hated humans! Or at least that's what he was told. He realized just how big the tower was at that moment, a dragon could get in and move around pretty easily. Maybe there was another room somewhere in here. Karkat relished the thought, not having to deal with any knight bullshit, or needy nobles, it was like a dream. "Hey, Jade?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I could stay here? All that knight stuff is fucking bullshit anyway."

Q: well, I should update other stuff soon but. . . Yeah not feeling it right now, so take this instead. Or maybe as well? We'll find out at some point. And thanks to everyone that's read my stuff! I greatly appreciate it