"WELL?"
":33 well what?"
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU CHOOSE?!" Karkat said with exasperation. "QUITE A MELODRAMATIC STOPPING POINT DON'T YOU THINK?" Nepeta sighed, and then reached inside her shirt with her organic hand. After a moment, she withdrew it, grasping a thin silver chain from around her neck. On it were two pendants, small circles about half an inch in diameter. Though both pendants were a uniform silver color, each bore an engraving of the aspect symbols: one Heart, the other Rage.
"I couldn't choose. Too much all at once... I couldn't clear my head to make the right one..." She told him. "So I asked if I could choose later. And he gave me this."
"SO YOU DIDN'T CHOOSE EITHER?"
"No... he said that at some point... I'll have to." She said. "I just put it off." She slid the necklace back into her shirt. "When I do, he said to break off the pendant opposite my choice. And then..." Karkat looked at her expectantly. "He didn't say what would happen after."
She wrapped up her account of events in a bit of a rush. Using the Trollian time-line memo feature, she'd managed to get in touch with a version of Aradia, and gain enough knowledge to operate the music box time machines. She'd then snuck into Gamzee's hive where he'd been storing trophies taken from his victims, stole the music boxes, and then arrived on the meteor.
"What he said... about not having anyone to stand with..." She told him. "I was sure that if I came back in time to when everyone was alive, that I could save everyone without... you know..." She looked away. Karkat could guess what she meant. The "inversion" Yaladboth had apparently offered her was contrary to her nature. If she went through with it, she'd have to live with becoming what she hated. She was certainly stronger and more battle hardened, and much less cheerful than the original... but Karkat just couldn't believe it in her nature to be malicious.
"WHAT I DON'T GET IS... IF YOU WERE SHOOTING TO TRAVEL BACK TO BEFORE HE KILLED ANYONE, HOW COME YOU WOUND UP HERE?"
":33 AC purronders that question... I did just what Aradia said..."
"MAYBE WE SHOULD ASK HER THEN."
"She's here?" Nepeta asked with surprise.
"WELL, NOT HERE HERE. BUT WE CAN TALK WITH HER." Nepeta looked at him curiously. "OK, THERE'S SOMETHING I MIGHT HAVE LEFT OUT WHILE DISCUSSING THIS TIMELINE, MAINLY BECAUSE I COULDN'T GIVE LESS OF A FUCK ABOUT IT, BUT AFTER FEFERI DIED..."
As the meteor traveled through the empty depths of paradox space, Karkat and Nepeta impatiently waited for the rock to collide with a dream bubble. They still experienced normal dreams in their sleep, but had no control over what form they would take or with whom they could speak. Awaiting the bubble was not simply a matter of talking to Aradia, but Nepeta had become ecstatic upon learning that even in death, her friends still existed in some form. Karkat warned her that the bubbles were difficult to predict and that the particular ghosts she were looking for might be hard to find, but she became undeterred in her assertion that she'd be seeing Equius again. Karkat also had a hope... to NOT encounter the ghost of his timeline's Nepeta, because that would make things more awkward then he could find an adjective for.
Nepeta still remained on high alert, wary of Gamzee's presence somewhere in the labyrinth of the lab. Karkat, hoping to avoid a Clown vs Cat face off for as long as possible, did his best to keep Nepeta distracted. He'd still not seen his moirail since Nepeta had arrived, and with the time apart he was becoming less and less comfortable with describing their relationship as moirailegience. The rest of his friends and traveling companions were slowly becoming more and more scarce. Terezi and Dave were, he assumed, off being disgustingly flirtacious and possibly other things with each other. Rose and Kanaya, he did not have to assume, as they spent time in each other's company in the open rather than off on their own. And then there was the mayor, but he wasn't much for conversation.
So with little other choice, but by no means unwillingly, Karkat passed his days with Nepeta. There were no movies on the meteor with which Karkat could make good on his alternate self's promise, but the lab was stocked with books, which they read together. They talked, not simply about their timelines, but the times before Sgrub. Karkat found it much easier to talk to her in person than over a chat client, not just because it skipped the typing, but that she now used her third-person roleplay speak far less often. For her part, Nepeta seemed content to put-off confronting Gamzee, so long as Karkat was holding her attention.
Karkat found Nepeta a room on that second night, just down the hall from his. One heavy, lockable door and no vents; he made sure, so that she wouldn't have to fear honks in the night. She seemed appreciative of the thought, but still complained of the cold in the morning, as Karkat had himself the first week. He reassured her she would adapt like the rest of them had.
On the seventh day since their arrival, Nepeta had finally begun to open up to the others. Karkat sat in the common room with one of his books as she had a spirited three way conversation with Rose and Kanaya. Nearby, The Mayor sat on the floor, fumbling clumsily through another book. It surprised him... Karkat didn't think he could speak... but could he actually read? He haphazardly jumped around the "Etiquette for Dumbgrubs" book that had turned up in the ectobiology lab, not seemingly paying enough attention to any one page to actually be reading it. This had been going on for about an hour, so Karkat had tuned the antics out and refocused on his own book, when he felt a tug on his pant leg. The Mayor pushed his book aside and held up the Etiquette book to Karkat's face with one hand, and pointed to the three girls talking on the other side of the room with the other. A glance at the page revealed it to be from the section regarding romance, in particular a page detailing matespritship.
"WHAT?" Karkat asked him. The Mayor pointed at Karkat, then back to the girls and shook the pointing hand while looking at him expectantly. "I DON'T SPEAK CHARADES." Karkat said with annoyance. "I DON'T THINK ANY OF THEM WANT TO BE YOUR MATESPRIT LITTLE GUY." The Mayor closed the book, then smacked himself lightly in the face with the hardcover edition.
"now that's fucking adorable."
Karkat turned to see Dave standing behind him.
"THE FUCK STRIDER, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?" Karkat demanded.
"about thirty seconds." Dave walked next to the chair and sat down on the floor next to it to be eye level with the caprician. "sup Mayor?" He held up his hand, which the Mayor enthusiastically slapped. With a simple gesture of the hand, he requested the book, which the Mayor handed to him, and then ran to stand behind Dave and look over his shoulder after he opened it. "so the quadrant thing is still bullshit, but I still know a thing when I see a thing..."
"FUCK OFF STRIDER." Karkat demanded before holding his book up to his face, intent on ignoring the line of conversation.
"I mean even the Mayor sees it I guess, which is really saying something..." Dave ignored him.
"THIS BETTER BE FUCKING GOING SOMEWHERE." Karkat said with annoyance.
"well like, OK, I get the heart bit because that's what we've got, but how's this supposed to work with the diamond thing with the clown when she's also with the clown in the spades thing, so does that mean your also the club with both of them? is that a thing or is that considered polygamy?"
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT STRIDER YOU IGNORANT JACKASS." Karkat seethed. "THAT IS NOT WHAT IS GOING ON HERE AND EVEN IF IT FUCKING WAS THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSSINESS, AND THEN... AND THEN..." He added for emphasis. "EVEN PAST THAT, YOU STILL HAVE NO FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW QUADRANTS WORK AND WHAT THEY ENTAIL! HASN'T TEREZI TOLD YOU ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS?!"
"nah. we were just pretty strictly into the heart thing so I didn't really care."
"WERE?" Karkat sneered. "YOU TWO HAVE BEEN OFF ALONE TOGETHER ALL WEEK! I'D SAY YOU STILL ARE, AS MUCH AS IT DISGUSTS ME TO SAY SO."
"nah man, you can drop the jelly."
"JELLY?"
"jealous."
"I'M NOT JEALOUS YOU DOUCHE, I JUST STILL FIND THIS INTERSPECIES STUFF SQUICKY!"
"well whatever you wanna call it, we kinda broke it off." Dave told him.
"WHAT."
"yeah, long story. I guess there's some kind of black thing going on now and as you said, I clearly don't understand that sort of thing."
"HAHAHA..." Karkat chuckled. "YOU JUST TOGGLED FROM RED TO BLACK. THAT'S A THING THAT HAPPENS. YOU'D KNOW THAT IF YOU EVER PAID ATTENTION."
"nah, not black with me. c'mon, how can anyone hate this?" Dave grinned.
"WAIT, THEN WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Karkat questioned.
"the clown." Dave said calmly. "which brings me to the next question, if she's spades for him and SHE'S..." he nodded at Nepeta, "... in spades for him, is that a cheating thing?"
Karkat lay in his bed that night, in a state of confusion perhaps worse than Dave's. He utterly refused to admit to it anyone, but yes... he was finally red for her. And yet Strider had brought to his attention something that he hadn't even thought of... that she was potentially black for Gamzee, his moirail. It was a quadrant conflict of interests he'd seen in romcoms but never in real life. And even in those romcoms, the situation was usually resolved with someone dead. He supposed that technically she wasn't actually black for him, since she had been in full on murderous intent mode and still was. That kind of "unromantic" hate he'd felt for Eridan after the wand murders. He supposed if he just let her go through with it and take Gamzee out of the picture... FUCK.
"HOW THE HELL AM I EVEN THINKING ABOUT THAT?" He muttered, shocked at himself. Despite recent events, Gamzee had still been a close friend for most of his life. He'd been so sure that he'd be able to hold him back from the madness as his moirail... well, he'd clearly done a shitty job. Couldn't even find him. Couldn't even keep tabs on him enough to know that he was now in black with his red-ex. He turned over and muttered his favored curse into his pillow. Maybe the humans were onto something with the one quadrant thing... it was certainly easier.
*knock knock*
He walked to his door, rubbing his eyes and cursing.
"YEAH?" He opened the door with his eyes closed to block out the bright hall lights.
"Karkitty..." He heard her wavering voice as his eyes shot open. She stood in the hall, shaking slightly and with a disturbed look on her face.
"WHAT'S WRONG?" Karkat asked with concern. She shook her head back and forth.
"Um..." She hesitated. "I know it's gonna sound silly but... I just had a really awful dream..." She told him with her head bowed.
"WAS IT A NORMAL DREAM?" Karkat asked her. "OR DO YOU THINK IT WAS A BUBBLE?"
"I dunno, I..." She shook again. "It was sort of a memory but... I can't explain..." Karkat didn't press her for more details... he didn't see much a point in it. Instead, he did something without really thinking about it... just reached out and wrapped his arms around her. As he held her tight, he could feel that she was very cold... and could also feel that she hadn't been expecting that either, as she tensed with surprise at the embrace, but then relaxed and leaned her head on his shoulder. Karkat felt the blood rush to his face as he turned red.
"JUST... JUST STAY HERE TONIGHT, OK?" He told her. "IF IT IS A BUBBLE, THEN MAYBE I CAN GO IN WITH YOU?" Nepeta also blushed.
"Ok..." she said nervously, as both of them took a step into the room and Karkat closed and locked the door. When they broke away from each other, he saw that she was a green as he was red. She awkwardly lay down in the bed first, and Karkat slowly followed, pulling the warm layers of sheets over the two of them.
Nothing really happened, and neither of them tried to make anything happen. They just lay facing each other, sharing warmth, gradually inching closer to each other in the dark. As they were close enough to feel each other's breath, their hands met, their fingers intertwined, and both smiled though neither of them could see it. A wordless agreement passed between them as they drifted to sleep... from that night on, neither of them would sleep alone...
