Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Andrew Hussie. Yep.
He keeps his eyes trained on his hands. They're closed around a shovel, and he's digging a hole in the middle of the garden, waiting for Nepeta to get back with the wheel barrow of pregrown flowers. He doesn't understand the flowers, he never will - he's always found them necessary and too cheery, but it's not his palace. No, this palace rests on the sea and not further inland like he'd prefer and these flowers take salt water only and they're too pink and blue and purple for him.
But he can't complain. He won't complain. For someone like him, he's in the best possible position.
"Karkitty!" Nepeta calls. He stops shoveling for a moment to glance behind him. There's Nepeta running as fast as she can on her short legs, pulling the wheel barrow behind her. He thinks she's sort of odd, what with her obsession with cats, and how she's found a way to attach a tale to her scrap of a coat. But she's grown on him, and even if he won't admit it, he likes having her around.
Instead he scowls at her as she runs up, stopping and panting in what any other person but him would find in an adorable fashion, and she's adjusting the cat cap on her head before making sure her fingerless gloves are pulled on tight. "So!" she says, and her grin reveals her fangs, and even those resemble a cat's. He can't blame her - her lusus was a cat, and she's been completely in league with felines since she left her. He finds the fact that she'll nuzzle up to him and narrate everything she does annoying, but he won't let it show.
He won't let anything show.
"We'd best start on planting these purrfect blossoms, right?" she asks, and she's still grinning up at him. Her tail is swishing in her excitement, and her horns, shaped like cat ears, almost perk up as a cat's would. This is the part of her he finds charming, her childlike demeanor and unmistakable happiness, even given their social rank. He has to resist the urge to smile softly at her, instead shaking his head and moving on to dig the next hole. "Go ahead," he says, forcefully, because that's what he does.
He is forceful and pushy, and most people would probably hate him with his first three words, but he doesn't care. That's how he prefers it. That's how he will keep it. That's how he needs it. He needs to make sure no one gets close, because if they get close, he might lose his life.
With a laugh and a shrill squeal, Nepeta jumps and lands on her knees on the ground, very lightly and soundlessly, beginning to hum as she planted. Karkat supposes the skill came from her lusus. He'd found her hunting in the forest near the ocean one night, and she'd pounced on him, squealing with her glee at catching him. She'd followed him back, and from then on she'd been around.
Karkat looks up when Nepeta's stopped humming, and he knows why. There's a carriage pulling up the gravel way, headed for the front steps and grand entrance of the palace. His lips purse and his eyes narrow, and Nepeta's standing behind him, grasping onto his own coat and curling her fingers into it.
"Karkitty...? Is that...?"
"Captain Vriska Serket? Yes. Yes it is."
Nepeta doesn't say anymore, and Karkat's grip on his shovel tightens as they watch the black as night horses pull the cerulean blue carriage up. It's decorated with patterns of webs and even the flag that sails on Serket's ship is painted onto the door of the carriage. It is a head, a spider's head, and below it are eight blue, triangular dice. It chills Karkat to see it, and he knows why.
Vriska Serket is a pirate. On the seas she is known as Mindfang. But on land, she is known as a Blueblood, and she is one of three Bluebloods that consult with the Empress. The Empress knows, and Karkat knows that the Empress knows. What he can't understand is why exactly the Empress consorts with such people.
Nepeta whimpers as the carriage stops and the Captain exits it. Karkat's grip on the shovel tightens even more, until he's sure his palms will be blistered and full of splinters. The Captain only glances over at them, her hair wild and untamed, stiff from seawater. Her face is split in a grin, lips painted the same color as her blood. Her clothes are worn and just as stiff as her hair.
Karkat freezes completely and Nepeta ducks behind him when Serket's gaze flicks over them. Her grin widens and Karkat can just barely see her eyes narrow. His entire body shudders when she calls over, "Not important enough to serve inside, are you?"
He bites his tongue to avoid spitting an answer back at her; doing so would be disrespectful, and he does not want any amount of trouble that could lead to his death or the revelation of his secret. Whatever his disobedience would lead to he did not want to think about.
He watches as Serket climbs the stairs and the carriage departs, making sure to turn and pat Nepeta's back awkwardly. "Right," she says, and she releases his coat and once again does her tiny jump to land on the ground, going to work. Karkat watches her for a moment before throwing his shovel into the ground and pulling on his hood.
"Karkitty?" Nepeta asks, looking up as he starts walking for the side entrance of the palace. "Where are you going?" Karkat turns to look over her once, grinning behind the shadow of the hood.
"I'm going to find out just why exactly Empress Peixes has called Vriska Serket to her."
He never sees Nepeta's worried frown.
The floor felt cold beneath her feet, even with the the slippers covering her feet. The bedsheets she carries in her arms are warm from just being pulled from drying outside, and she was hurrying along within the palace walls, determined to get the Captain's guest room before the Captain did.
The bed had yet to be made and she was determined to get there before Aradia was asked to do it. The Captain had a very rough past with Aradia, and Kanaya was determined to keep the Captain and Aradia from meeting in such a way again.
The Empress had asked Kanaya personally to keep them apart. Kanaya would do what she could. The Captain was a friend of hers, and she did not want to see her or Aradia hurt from their next encounter.
The Captain walks in just as Kanaya pulls the blankets into place. Clapping her hands together, Kanaya gives the bed a once over, before glancing up to meet Vriska's eye. Vriska is grinning, a sharp grin that Kanaya recognizes."Well," Vriska says, "it seems our dearest Empress has yet to promote you, Maryam."
"I have no desire to be promoted, Serket," Kanaya answers, and she makes her way for the door, eyeing the horn on Vriska's head that resembles one of her own. Vriska opens her mouth to say something, something sharp, Kanaya knows it, but she cuts the Captain off. "A raise, however, wouldn't be bad."
Vriska's open mouth reverts back into a grin.
"I have a question for you, however, and I am curious as to the answer. Please give me a straight answer and not what you have given me in the past, Vriska," Kanaya says. Vriska's grin falls, and her eyebrows come together in thought. She tilts her head, and her hair, so weighed down by salty air and water, actually falls with the tilt.
"You see, Kanaya, I have yet to speak with the Empress about why I'm here. I simply greeted her and came up to my room." Vriska stops for a moment, sitting on the edge of her bed and crossing her legs. She bends over and pulls off her boots, holding her legs out one after the other to wiggle her toes. The skin on her left leg is scarred, and the glasses that have one eye completely blocked out and the robotic arm she wears are signs of a previous injury.
An injury brought about by past actions. An injury that was retalition from a fifth party in an endless cycle of revenge, one that just so happened to involved Aradia. Kanaya frowns as Vriska rubs at the scar tissue, moving to sit behind the Captain to pull her coat off. Vriska sighs as Kanaya rubs at the place where the metal arm meets skin, and Kanaya says, "Equius could have done better in making this more comfortable."
Vriska waves her off. "You know me; I love pain." She gives a bitter laugh before tilting her head again as Kanaya's hands work at the seem. "Speaking of Zahhak, he's coming here, too. Peixes called all of us Bluebloods to her. She said it was urgent and that we were the only ones who could help her. Given the fact that I'm sailing in her waters under her name, I had no choice but to come."
Kanaya stops massaging Vriska's shoulder and stands. She gathers Vriska's boots and tosses them into a corner, turning to watch as Vriska throws herself back onto her bed. "But what about Pyrope, Vriska?"
Vriska sits up again, removing her glasses. The vacant hole in the place where her eye should've been had quit unnerving Kanaya years ago. If anything, the black hole had become as much as part of Captain Serket as her fanged personality. Kanaya does nothing as Vriska rubs at her nose. Before Vriska places her glasses back into place, she asks, "What aboutPyrope?"
Kanaya frowns again and goes to look in Vriska's mirror. She fixes the jade green lipstick on her lips before answering. "Have you to managed to sort out your differences, or are you still close to ripping each other's throats out?"
Vriska laughs loudly, falling back onto her bed and letting the bitter sound of it fill the room. Kanaya looks back at her over her shoulder, lips pursed and eyes narrowed in a worrisome curiousity. "Vriska?"
Vriska stops laughing, chuckling until her breathing returns to normal. She turns her head to meet Kanaya's gaze, and what Kanaya sees in her friend's eyes is almost as unnerving as the laughter that had just permeated the air. And the next thing Vriska says chills Kanaya to the bone.
"Oh, Kanaya. We're still sisters. We're just sisters who would kill the other."
AN: So I'm writing an AU. I usually don't really bother with AUs, but I got this idea, wrote down a plot outline, and now I've got the next nine chapters of this written.
My plan of updating was originally one chapter each Saturday. However, if I keep writing this at the rate I'm going, updates may be on Saturdays and Wednesdays. We'll see what happens.
I'm kind of excited about this. Let me know what you think.
Enjoy~