Have We Met?

For those who ship Erikar, I will try to make Eridan as in character as I possibly can, but I apologize in advance if he seems slightly OOC. I will say that this is a fanfiction that takes place in the 1800's and present day (as mentioned before). Italized is the stuff going on in the 1800's. Karkat is only female in the 1800's and his name in the 1800's is Karina and of course in the present it's Karkat. Eridan's past name is Edward, and if I hafe left anything out I will be sure to add in the next chapter. I will try to update every week, the amount of times I update in that week will vary! I will be introducing bit by bit of the story from the 1800's so you kind of have two parts to keep up with, don't worry, I won't make it too difficult!

Prologue

The sound of the violin was so majestic. It was like she was dancing on clouds. Her mind was relaxed as she listened to the soothing sound of the orchestra playing. It was her 16th birthday, and Karina's father wanted to throw her a party which involved dancing and men who could potentially become her husband. Of course, Karina thought this was very ignorant. She wanted to be married to someone she actually loved, not someone who was a complete stranger to her.

It was an early summer morning, and the first thing Karina hears is, "What are you still doing in bed m'lady, you're father expects you to be bathed and dressed to have breakfast soon." How dreadful, who wanted to wake up at the crack of dawn? Seriously. No one willingly wakes up that early unless they're excited about something. Thus, Karina had to get up as told. She knew it wasn't her maids fault, if anything, her maid most likely would have let her sleep in. Sadly, it was her father's wishes that she'd be up and down in a few minutes.

"Aurgh, remind me again why we have to listen to him." The short brunette asked in a whining tone.

"Because your father is of high class and expects his daughter to meet his requirements." The maid responded as if she had memorized that saying long ago.

"It just isn't fair, it's Saturday morning. We should be sleeping in, not waking up before the damn birds." Karina was least amused to the fact that she was up well before there was even any daylight in the sky. Looking out, she could see it was stil l pitch black.

"Please ma'dam watch your language; I know you don't like it, but we cannot go against your father."

That was an understatement. Through out the process of getting ready to meet her father, Karina thought of the possibilities that could happen later this evening. Today was her 16th birthday, and her father had planned a huge ball for her. She had a dress and everything needed for the occasion. Turns out her father invited just about every male within 100 miles of the city. Apparently she was to choose a husband. Hooray..

Once Karina was presented to her father, she sat in the chair beside him. He spoke of things that were to be done at the ball, how she was to dance with as many men as possible before they came before her and told her father about themselves and what they could offer. How absolutely wonderful, nothing like spending time dancing with complete strangers then having her father judge them.

All she could do was nod though, as the maid said before, she could not go against her father, it was impossible. After the talk with her father, she walked to her room where she was to wait to be called for her morning dance lessons. She, honestly, was furious. Her father knew all she wanted was to find true love, not that fake bullshit people lied about just for money. She wanted the real deal.

It just wasn't fair.

Once finishing her dance lessons and returning to her room, Karina saw her trusted and beloved maid waiting. Sadly, the elderly woman was waiting to dress Karkat for the dance the young female was dreading. As the woman began to strip her, Karina took the opportunity to ask a question.

"Do you believe in true love?" Karina held onto the footboard of her bed while the older woman tightened her corset, god she hated these things.

"Well," the maid hesitated before humming a little, "I suppose there could be someone out there for anyone, why do you ask Miss?"

"Do you think I will ever find my true love?" Karina asked, looking down as she thought. Was there even such a person out there for her? If so, would she ever find him? Those were the two major questions she always asked herself.

"I cannot say ma'dam."

The best thing about the maid was that she would never tell you anything she sought to be untrue. Unfortunately, this also disappointed Karina. She wanted to know, was there someone special out there for her? If there is, who is it and would she ever meet him? Without another word, only giving small grunts due to the corset, Karina thought to herself. Maybe tonight could be here night. If not though, that meant she had a possibility of having no choice but to marry aa total stranger.

Why did her life have to be so complex. Why did love have to be so hard to find? Why did there have to be so many obstacles in such short amount of time? She honestly couldn't hate anything more than this date. She had to have a soulmate, and he had to be at this party. For her sake, he just had to be. The last thing Karina wanted was to live her life in utter misery because she failed to find the one perosn who could make her life worth something.

One question really popped out to her though, how was she suppose to know if the guy was her true love? It's not like he was going to come over to her and say 'hey, I'm your soulmate.' This was going to be a lot of work in one day.