The lights stayed bright in Mr. Cinder's Grocery. They never seemed to flicker, and always left a welcoming glow to the many customers that flocked to its aisles. John loved the friendliness of this place, or most of it at least. It would have been a little bit more bearable, if Tom, the checkouts supervisor didn't look down his nose at the spikey black haired eighteen year old so much.

Yet John didn't really mind. He was lucky, after all, to have found such a sturdy job in such a small town when he wasn't even attending school. It's not like he didn't want to go to college, but he had no idea what he wanted to do at this point, and besides, his Dad wasn't concerned with him attending school just yet, even though he did have a fund set up for when the time came through his business.

Tick. Tock.

His blue eyes glanced to the clock in the break room. He only had one more minute before work would pull him in again. He stretched out his legs under the table, only to retract them, scooting back his chair and giving a small yawn. "Oh man, I'm kind of tired already!" He mused, chuckling slightly to himself. "Well I guess that means that I'm going to bed early tonight." He turned his heel, walking out of the break room, and punching back in for work.

His job went fairly easily as the night went on. Not too many people expected much out of him, although occasionally he got asked the location of a specific food item. Though despite his job being somewhat new, he never seemed to have a problem directing them in the right direction.

Only when he had an hour and a half left did he hear the gruff but professional tone of Mr. Cinders, himself. "Egbert."

John whirled his head around, to face his boss with a toothy grin. "Huh? What is it?"

His boss sighed, rubbing his neck and letting his forehead crease into a small frown. "Look son, I know that we promised you extra hours tonight, but sales have been short, and it seems that you're going to have to clock out early."

John's face fell, but only slightly. He knew that he needed the hours, but he didn't want to worry his boss by showing him that he was upset. "It's okay." He said, producing a cheery tone. "Hehe, after all, I did my best while I was here."

His boss nodded, beginning to walk away. "I'll get you those extra hours next week. You do good, son. I'm glad that I hired ya."

"Thanks!" John beamed, turning to get his stuff, and heading out into the cool fall air.

He couldn't drive, despite being of age, so instead he began his mile long trudge to his small apartment on the edge of town. Man, he had never thought about it, but this was going to be a really cold walk in the winter months. Maybe he could bum a ride off of someone who actually had a car. It would make sense, rather than freezing himself.

Once home, he slid his key into his door, walking in and throwing his coat over a kitchen chair. "You wouldn't believe how slow business was today Casey!" John stated, looking at a small fish tank in the corner of the living room. "I guess it is our slowest day of the week, but hey! At least I got some money out of it!"

He crouched down beside the tank, studying the goldfish with a small fondness. "So how did your day go today? I bet you swam a lot!"

The fish released a small bubble from its mouth, flicking its tail and swimming off to its little underwater castle prop.

"Fair enough." John shrugged, going over and lying down on the couch. "I was pretty tired earlier, so I'm just going to crash here for the night." He mumbled, as his eyes drifted close and his thought began to wander away to dreamland.

XXXXXXXX

That fucking piece of shit. So this was where he was hiding! It only took three god damn months to find him. Three agonizing months…

Karkat Vantas stood across the street from a two story tall white apartment complex with a scowl on his face and a hand on his hip. The day John had disappeared with no warning; everyone who knew him had spread out to look for the boy. It wasn't fair to anyone, but the troll felt that it was definitely not fair to him.

He tugged at a bracelet around his wrist with an irritated sigh. This place John had gone to wasn't exactly safe for him to be lounging around at. When they had won the game the second time, this planet was created, but they had screwed up once again. ONCE AGAIN it was a human populated planet, and as it grew trolls were nothing but a myth. If he were to show himself here, at this point the human population would have the power to erase him from existence. Which was PRETTY FUCKING STUPID, considering that ONCE AGAIN, he was a God. This game surely was meant to show no respect.

Ah yes, so what did he have to do to not be seen? He looked down at the bracelet with a dissatisfied taste. The bracelet was a cloaking device, and it was as simple as that. With it, his body had the power to appear human. It was humiliating, but that was beside the point.

He marched across the street, going up to the apartment that he was almost certain was John's and gave a very loud rap against the door's wooden surface.

He heard a thud and then shuffling. "I'll be right there!" Came a groggy call.

That voice…

This was John's hive. There was no denying it now.

The door opened slightly as the teenage boy peeked out. "Hi? Can I help you?"

Karkat wasn't about to wait for John to open the door. He brushes a long black sleeved hand against its frame, pushing it open and walking into his apartment without further notice.

John stumbled back, a look of shock on his face. "You know that you're not supposed to just walk into houses, right? Who are you?" He choked out, staring at this newcomer who had shoved his way into his home.

Karkat spun around to face the boy, taking in what had been missing for so long. "Look, I know that I don't look like myself right now, but it's me." He folded his arms. "It's Karkat. Who the fuck else?"

John blinked, staring at him for a good long couple of seconds, before raising a hand as if to say something but putting it back down immediately. "I don't think I know you? That's kind of a funny name. Hehe…Karkat…Also, you are kind of loud."

Karkat's hand slowly graced his face. "You are just as idiotic as I remember, John Human."

John was about to open his mouth, but paused, shooting the disguised troll a quizzical look. "Human? But you're human too silly!"

Karkat did the same thing as John in that moment, opening his mouth but closing it as his red eyes were unable to contain the hurt that weld up in them. "Jesus fucking shit…." He remarked, sleeved hands falling to his side as he stared at John. "I'm such an idiot for not seeing this." He walked up to John, placing a hand on his shoulder hesitantly. "You don't have a clue who I am, because your think pan doesn't register my existence. You don't remember anything about your friends, about us. This is just my fucking luck. I come all the way out here to find that I have to fix your fucking memory streams."

John blinked, still staring slightly. "Uh…"

"Don't you "uh" me. You're coming with me now, whether you like it or not." Karkat scoffed, running a hand through his red humanish hair. "We have to get you back to the others."

John took a step back, completely confused. "Woah dude, like I said, I don't even know you! You're kind of weirding me out, you know…I mean don't you think that I would need some sort of proof that you know me? Or wait! Are you a secret agent, because that would be pretty sweet and explain everything!"

"I'm not a secret…" Karkat stopped himself, trying not to start growling in frustration. "Fuck it." He muttered. "You want proof? I'll give you all of the proof you fucking need." He took a step closer, cornering John against the wall. "I can't tell you everything all over again. Not only would that be utterly pointless, but also extremely time consuming." He brought his face closed to John's, as the human stared at him with a lost expression.

"Did you know that you're really close?" John stated, blinking from behind his glasses.

Karkat scowled, ignoring what John had said, and bringing his face closer, until his lips pressed against the one he had missed since he ran away three long months ago. He brought his lips away, staring at John intensely from behind his spiky bangs. "Listen up Egbert, because I am only going to say this once. I am your fucking God, as you should rightfully understand, but you…" He took a step back, folding his arms. "You are the only one I would call my matesprite. So try to wrap your feeble mind around that."