He stared down the huge troll with defiance. Though he couldn't move, he was defensive, and he felt nothing but contempt for him. His mouth opened, and he spoke in the strange voice that was his but wasn't. "You are angry, because of the hate bred into you. I am sorry you must feel this way." The huge troll growled, and lunged at him, clawing scratches into his flesh, exposing his candy red blood. He grinned, and said "NOW ALL CAN SEE THE MUTANT FREAK FOR WHAT HE REALLY IS."

Everything faded to white, and there was that large troll again. Except, he was much older. A club came crashing down on his head, and his final screams rang.

Karkat woke up gasping, his eyes wide with fear. He was shaking, because the troll he saw in his dream, the huge one. Looked like Gamzee. He had started to hyperventilate, and it took longer than it should have to calm down. He kept telling himself 'It was only a dream, it was only a dream. Its not real, its not real.'

When he was finally able to calm himself down, he looked at the clock. Shit, he was late. He had promised Terezi he would help her with something. Gog only knows what she would want him to do. He trudged out of his 'coon, and got ready to go over to her hive. He grabbed some toast, and ate on his walk over.

When he arrived, he saw Terezi cutting down some of the older scalemates, the ones that were rotten.

"H3Y K4RKL3S." She grinned in his direction as she sliced through another rope.

"HEY TEREZI. SORRY IM LATE, I SLEPT IN."

"NO PROBL3M! 1LL JUST H4V3 TO WORK YOU H4RD3R TH3N!" She cackled, and he could tell she was joking, so he chuckled softly. "R34LLY, 1 JUST W4NT3D FOR US TO H4NG OUT." She jumped down from the branch she was balancing on, and landed perfectly on her feet. Karkat couldn't help but smile at her.

"I STILL DONT KNOW HOW YOU CAN DO THAT WITHOUT BREAKING EVERYTHING IN YOUR BODY."

"SW33PS 4ND SW33PS OF PR4CT1CE." She grinned widely and hugged Karkat close, smiling into his shoulder. "iTS R34LLY GOOD TO SM3LL YOU 4G41N K4RK4T. 1 M1SS3D YOUR SC3NT."

"ITS GOOD TO SEE YOU TEREZI. I DIDNT REALIZE HOW MUCH I REALLY MISSED YOU. IM SORRY IVE BEEN AVOIDING EVERYONE. I JUST…" He drifted off and looked away, sitting down on a nearby stump. Terezi frowned and followed him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"1TS OK K4R. WH4TS WRONG?" She looked at him worriedly.

"I JUST…IVE BEEN HAVING THESE HORRIBLE DREAMS. I MEAN, MORE HORRIBLE THAN USUAL. WELL, THEY ARENT SO MUCH HORRIBLE AS HORRIBLY CONFUSING. UGH. I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE THEM."

"WH4T H4PP3NS 1N TH3S3 DR34MS K4RKL3S?"

"IM SEEING OUR FRIENDS, BUT THEY ARENT REALLY OUR FRIENDS." She looked confused, so he continued. "I MEAN, I GUESS IM SEEING OLDER VERSIONS OF THEM. WELL, MAINLY, AT LEAST UNTIL LAST NIGHT, KANAYA, SOLLUX, AND NEPETA. THEN LAST NIGHT, AFTER I SPENT THE WHOLE DAY WITH GAMZEE, HIS OLDER VERSION SHOWED UP INSTEAD OF THE OTHERS." He shook his head and looked pointedly at the ground. "AND…IN HIS ONE, I SAW HIS OLDER SELF..DIE."

Terezi's eyes grew wide, but she just pulled him close to her, and rubbed his back. "1TS OK K4RKL3S, 1TLL B3 4LL R1GHT."

"I JUST DONT WANT TO THINK ABOUT THEM ANYMORE. HAVING TO THINK ABOUT THEM WHILE IM ASLEEP IS SCARY ENOUGH. I DONT WANT TO HAVE TO HAVE THEM IN MY PAN WHILE IM AWAKE TOO."

Terezi grinned at him and stood up, pulling him up with her. "TH3N 1 H4V3 TH3 P3RF3CT PL4N!" She cackled and dragged Karkat off into the woods, where they proceeded to find Nepeta and have the silliest game of hide-and-seek any of them had played in sweeps. Karkat hadn't been this happy since his fourth wriggling day.