Chapter 1: Who is this young… What even is he?
You are now part of a milling crowd of some kind of beings. You don't really know who you are, just that you are arguing. "I told you this was a stupid idea! I mean seriously, why would you just do something like…? uh, who are you?"
"I don't know Karkat, it's all a bit… Huh… Wait, what?"
"Who is Karkat? Is that me?" You say, trying the name on, and finding that it fits. Apparently your name is Karkat.
Your name is Karkat, and you have no idea who or where you are. You look at the milling crowd of horned beings and somehow feel something like a feeling of community, which is stupid, and the thought occurs that you must be a horrible person if these are who you consider friends, which is less stupid. You also get the feeling that the confusion is somehow your fault, which of course makes perfect sense, and the idea elicits a surprising amount of guilt. Perhaps you should try to fix this somehow.
"Everybody shut up!" you scream. They quiet down. That'll have to do. "Does anyone know who anyone else is!?" Silence, from all sides. "No? Alright then; you," you say pointing at the one you were just talking to, "you knew my name. So who are they?
"We-ell," he says, the word drawn out like he's trying to remember. "If y'all've really forgotten, I guess I should say… I'm Gamzee" he begins, pointing at himself, then continues, "You're Karkat," you knew that already.
He points at one of the nearest people, "That's Kanaya," he points to who's wearing probably the most colorful clothes of anyone here, (Wearing a bright red skirt while everyone else is wearing black and grey) it kind of drowns out any other features. She's standing nervously by one of the others, who Gamzee points to next. "That's Vriska," She has one robotic eye and she looks like she knows what's going on, which annoys you. "That's Tavros," he says, pointing at someone stocky, and strong looking, albeit kind of uneasy, and his legs are odd, maybe robotic, you really noticed his legs mostly because they were edging him away from Vriska.
"That's Eridan," Gamzee continues, moving on to another group. Fins, you notice, and a purple streak in his hair. Otherwise, you aren't sure what to think about him (Yes you do. You just know that this guy is a trigger-happy maniac with no respect). "Feferi," another with fins, and strangely huge hair, which, once it gets away from her head, seems to come out of nowhere, taking up most of the space near her. "Sollux," double horns, and his eyes, behind his red and blue glasses, are brighter than they should be, maybe glowing? "Aradia," smiling slightly despite the circumstances, and in a way that suggests that it's not insanity, but excitement, not like Gamzee, who is mostly smiling in an oblivious way (This is at odds with your instincts, as they are, you recall her being, what, gloomier?).
"Equius," probably the heaviest built person here and angry, and almost disturbed, he's wearing cracked glasses that have one lens missing (And what's with those blue blotches under his eyes?). "Nepeta," looks kind of the opposite of Equius, but you get the feeling that she could probably kill you, if she wanted to. A few the stains on her jacket look suspiciously like dried blood, for one thing.
"That's Terezi," Gamzee finishes. She's wearing red glasses, and is actually facing almost a bit away to the left of you, at a wall. Her hand is held slightly out in front of her, as if she's usually holding something, maybe a cane? (Yes, definitely a cane, you are absolutely certain of that)
These names fit in your mind, and fit with the faces. You won't forget them, or not again, anyway, because you know exactly who they are, and you aren't the guy who forgot them anyway, that was your past self.
You turn to Gamzee, ready to ask him what else he knows, just in time to see him walking away. As he goes, he stumbles, and catches himself on a wall. Well, on something in the wall. Probably a safe, you bet. Whatever it is, it slides open. As if purely coincidentally, his hand slips into the hole, bringing out two sticklike things. He keeps moving, shaking his head, as if trying to shake off a thought, and then vanishes in a blur of light. Nobody notices that either, or if they do, they just start arguing about it. It's like something blunted their ability to think straight. (A bit of you suggests that it didn't work on you because you didn't think straight anyway, you yell at it until it shuts up.)
In your mind, though, the room goes quiet, as you look at the place where Gamzee got those things he has. You walk over to the thing, and reach inside.
Inside, you find a few seeds, which present themselves to you as 'grubseeds,' (an image of scaly, round fruits appears in your mind, which is strange, because you're pretty sure they don't exist.) some torches, some wood, a strange U-shaped device, which you just know is called a matter manipulator, and a whole mess of pure white weapons. You stow it all in your inventory… Wait, what?
You examine your inventory. There really isn't that much to say. All you have is what you just picked up. On a more interesting note, you find something like a logbook in a similar manner. All it really tells you is that you are trolls, can't remember anything, and that your ship is crippled. Wait, you're on a ship? What kind?
Instead of further examining your inventory, you look around. You are in a strange room. The walls are made of a sleek material, which is both shinyand bare, the floor is much the same. Only a few small things stop the sleekness from perfection. On the wall is the thing you filled your inventory with, probably the ship's locker. On the floor is a stone-like disc, (welded to the floor, and patterned with strange triangular shapes) which you notice is right where Gamzee vanished. You'll have to remember that. There is also a door, which you go through.
Through the door, you find yourself in a small room, which has a single chair, a bunch of instruments that you don't recognize, and a massive window. You look through the window, which at first glance seems to be a computer screen, until you realize that what you are seeing is real.
You look through the window, and see space.
The skies are filled. Light flows through the void, as if playing a cosmic instrument, or, say, a visual symphony. A familiar note is produced; it's the one the gods play when they wish to inspire awe.
You can't remember anything really, so something is obviously missing. The memories currently eluding you are likely only the latest in a thousand plots against you by something that you don't have a name for, because you can't remember it. Actually, who cares, thinking about this is useless, both to you, and the others waiting outside. Well, outside is relative right now.
You go back to where you started from, where the others still are. Why are they all arguing again, you wonder? Surely they aren't all such idiots that they can't think enough to look around. Well, you can test that theory easily enough.
You walk back through the crowd, still silent. They barely notice, you, until you walk over to the place where Gamzee vanished. You step onto the thing, and vanish.
You don't feel the movement. Perhaps you just can't remember it. One way or another, you are standing on solid ground, which is good, even if that ground is a dirty yellow. Also good is the fact that you can breathe. You didn't think to try and find out beforehand. Of course, the air smells metallic, and you can smell some kind of rotting, but that's beside the point. What is the point is that you're alive, and Gamzee probably is too.
After these few seconds, you open your inventory, to… What, exactly? What can you really do? Well, you're here, anyway, standing in the light of the moons… You blink, and look up. There are no moons, just a single sun. Something in you screams to get inside, even though there is no inside to get to. Still, nothing's happened yet, and you don't really know how to get back up to the ship.
When you opened up your inventory, you noticed something. Checking again, you see a notice, telling you to make something. Following its instructions, you somehow turn some wood into a table, without tools, in a matter of minutes. Well, you won't complain if things are ridiculously easy to make. As you put the table on the ground, you simultaneously notice that you just used the matter manipulator, without thinking about it, and that you feel something behind you. They must have followed you. Good, you asked them to. You turn around.
Well, it's not all of them. It's just Terezi. Now that you have time, you take a closer look at her. Her glasses are cracked, you now notice, and you can see her eyes behind them. They are bright red, which even without your memories, you know is weird, generally speaking.
"Hello," you say.
"Hello," she responds, in a voice that makes you both sad, and… You cut that thought off. You didn't know where it was going, and don't really want to know. Besides, whatever you were going to think, you are pretty sure it wouldn't be objective and leaderly (the idea that you might not be in charge doesn't occur to you). You are trapped on an alien planet. Unless it's yours, in the future or something, (which also doesn't occur to you).
"Are the others coming, Terezi?" You say.
"Not yet. That's not why I'm here."
"Well, why are you here?" you ask.
"I have two reasons," she says, "I saw you take those weapons. I want the cane."
"And?" you say, when she doesn't continue her thought.
"And, there's trouble up there," she continues, "and something tells me that they're going to need somebody a bit shoutier than me to make them listen."
You just sort of stand there for a second or two, not sure what to say. "Fine," you say finally, both angry that you were just dragooned into being leader, and satisfied because you were just wanting to be in charge. You guess you can live with it.
"How am I supposed to get up there, though?" you ask.
She holds up a hand, and points slightly below a metal band on her wrist. "With these, I assume," she says, "I don't recognize them, which makes me think they're part of the ship". (Oh great, you were only the first one to leave because you didn't think.)
You check your own wrist, and sure enough, you find one. Well, fair enough.
You toss the cane and the U-shaped thing to Terezi because you just have a feeling and then use the thing on your wrist. You vanish just before you would have seen Terezi grin.
You appear on the ship just in time to see Tavros fly at the teleporter, and jump back just in time for him to land almost at your feet, and vanish in a flash. You look around. There is nobody where he apparently came from, but you think you know what happened. Looking around shows you that there really is a division up here. Eridan is off on one side, looking at where you just came from. Vriska is on the other side, smirking, further cementing your guess that she made Tavros do that, although, in retrospect, you have no idea what made you think that. A few other people are near them, maybe on their side, maybe trying to calm them down. You don't pay attention to who.
As you notice all of this, they have gone back to arguing. You sigh, and scream, "SHUT UP!"
Like before, they slowly quiet down. You can't see yourself, but you just know you look. "What's going on in here?!" you shout.
"I don't see that it's any a' your concern what we highbloods do." Eridan says. Now, you are well and truly angry, because this is your concern; nothing is not your concern on this ship.
Your voice changes, not filled with mere anger, but with fury. "NOT MY CONCERN!? HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF BELIEVE THAT THIS IS NOT MY CONCERN!? FOR ONE THING, WE'RE ALL STUCK HERE TOGETHER, IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE." Your voice quiets, but just a bit, "and you were talking about who would take over, right? Don't deny it, there's no way it could be anything else. You apparently cannot see the obvious fact that literally the only person in this ship at all fit to be a leader is ME!"
As you finish, you feel something kind of like a velvet cloth descend over your mind. You are suddenly utterly calm except for a little core of you which is almost exclusively angry.
After a few seconds, you realize you're handing control over to Vriska. This will not stand because A. you are going to be in charge one way or another, and B. this is your mind, and you do not like anyone controlling it. The anger at your core flares up. You stomp over to Vriska. You pull out a sickle and walk directly up to her. You put your sickle near her throat in an explicitly threatening motion. "Don't, do it, again. Or…" at which point you enter into a rant which is practically intranscribeable because a good portion of it is essentially gibberish, and the rest does not conform to any known law of grammar. The only part which makes any sense is the bit at the end which is just you saying, "So don't even try it!" in a tone that suggests that you are almost out of breath and want to finish your sentence without taking another breath, and are also extremely angry.
When you stormed over to her, she seemed surprised, but her expression has changed to one that suggests that she thinks you're completely harmless and she finds you amusing.
"Sure," she says in a voice which clearly says to all listening that she will try that again, when she gets the chance. Still, she definitely didn't expect you to break out of that. Maybe you never did before, and you somehow doubt that anyone has ever gotten into her face and shouted at her. Looks like you got rid of one of the only people standing in your way.
"First find true anger, and only then shall you find true peace." – Troll Gandhi
(You are absolutely certain that troll Gandhi said that.)