"What do mean you guys didn't save Kankri?!" I growled at the group around me as Jade stitched up my hand. They all looked amongst each other, but couldn't seem to figure out what they were going to say.

Dave and Dirk exchanged glances. "Your brother wasn't going anywhere with the time we had to work with, unless he lost some limbs. They had him chained by his neck, wrists, ankles, gagged, blindfolded, and in a metal box that was locked shut. He wasn't even doing well when we got there, twitching and spazzing out in his chains. We unlocked the door by the time the Makaras were on our tail. If only we had more time." Dirk looked over to Dave.

"Hell no. We just have to work with regular time."

"What do you mean? Do one of you happen to be a time traveler and thought that with our limited time span it wouldn't be useful? Oh hey, it's not like some murderous ass clown duo are running around, possibly hurting your friends or anything!" I glared between the two. Jade smacked my head. "What was that for?"

"For being an ass. If Dave doesn't want to time travel he doesn't have to." She finished off the last stitch. "You aren't exactly the prime example of confidence in your abilities."

"How do you think I got out? Magic?"

"Then why didn't you do that with the cuffs when we had you?"

"I was weak and I don't need an audience when using my abilities." Jade looked like she was done dealing with me. "I haven't seen you use your abilities."

"That's because I haven't had to! You know what?" She stepped back, a shower of sparks rained down around her until a moment later she was across the barn. She walked over to Jake and sat on the hay bale next to him with a huff. "At least the trip wasn't for nothing."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll show ya'." Roxy grabbed my good hand, dragging me into a stable with her. There in the big jar with the cork pulled out, was a very nervous looking fish boy squinting at us before ducking underwater again. I recognized him from the freak show tent immediately, and he definitely would be easier to carry off then my brother. I went over to the jar but he still was squinting at me from where he was. He stopped squinting, a kick and he was leaning on the edge of the jar.

"Kankri? Is that you?" He asked, almost seeming excited although his tone stuck more to annoyed.

"No, I'm Kankri's brother, Karkat. Kankri is still at the carnival unfortunately."

"Wait," his voice sort of warbled his w's," I'm not at the carnival anymore? Where am I?"

"You're at a secret hideout. Why, did you want to stay at the carnival?"

"Oh fuck no. My brother joined them willingly and dragged me along, you know, because of my appearance. After that they kept me locked up in the trailer my brother stays in, the only time I leave is when I'm asleep and in this stupid container."

"How do you know Kankri?"

"He's been around the longest. They locked him up at night first and for effect for the freak show, but otherwise he tried helping them. He thought he could try getting Kurloz to let him go, and when that didn't work he tried running and trying to get people out, then finally he tried to stab them. After that they chained him up all the time, and they laughed when he could no longer run off and hide when his visions came in." He frowned. "Do you know how hard it is to be stuck next to him? Fucking crybaby, going on about some car accident he was supposed to prevent." He paused. "Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

"So are your parents alive?"

"They didn't make it. Same with yours I'm guessing?"

He frowned. "Only the Makaras have parents at the carnival. Thanks for reminding me." He sunk back into the jar.

"Oh no you don't." I had to stack up two wooden crates to be able to even be able to reach in the jar that was barely taller than him. Everyone was too fucking tall for their own good. I sat on my knees on the splintering crates, holding the edge of the jar to keep balance. "You want to sulk then I won't let you sulk in this damn jar. Come on." I held out a hand to him, drenching my flannel sleeve in the process. He just gave me a questioning look. "I will come in there after you, don't doubt me for a second, because I fucking will."

He grabbed my hand, and then with a smirk dragged me in. I managed to keep from going in completely, pulling back and managing to get my head above water again and hear him laugh at me. "I thought you were pulling me out not coming in."

"Laugh it up fishdick, you're the one who weighs a ton!"

"Soaking wet you maybe reach ninety pounds. I was going to be able to pull you in easy."

"It's on fuck face!" I pulled as hard as I could, Roxy catching the jar as it, the crates, myself, and fish face toppled over. The hard floors of the barn are not welcoming or great to land on, and I look up to see I cut my leg on the wood crate and fish breath. "Of fucking course this happens. No, it can't just go good for once, I have to fall on sharp crates."

"You're definitely related to Kankri with the amount of complaining you do."

"Can I at least know your name before we continue with our back and forth insults?"

"Eridan. Eridan Ampora. You wouldn't happen to have any clothes I could borrow would you?"

"If you get off of me and I will get you clothes." He got off of me immediately, and I sat up and threw him my hoodie. Roxy set the jar back up, then led Eridan out of the room. I looked to be sure they left before trying to practice my ability on my leg. I think I had broken a sweat fixing the long scrape, and I still dripped blood on the floor, but it was fixed up. I kicked spilled water at the drops of blood before sitting down to wipe the blood off my leg. I spotted Dave standing in the corner as soon as I had sat down. "How long have you been standing there?!"

"Long enough to watch your freaky blood bender powers."

"That should at least allow me to know your powers."

"I can't show you them right now..."

"Why the fuck not?"

"No one around here likes keeping up with requirements."

"Well, what do you need?"

"I've got two options. A human child's blood... or a troll's blood."

"I'm sorry, and you were worried I was going to eat you?"

"The irony of the situation is at the front of my mind." Dave frowned. "Don't worry, I only go after the dangerous ones. Dirk found out that troll blood and and child's blood were so similar they both work for me, so unless you're willing to give me blood I can't show you."

"Oh, and you think you're going to scare me off by saying that?" He did a little, but that wasn't the point. I had to figure out what his powers were, even if it made me uncomfortable, because I was already uncomfortable with him knowing. "Well too bad, I'm not scared at all! I'm a troll, go ahead and tell me if I have to do anything."

He slid the stable door completely shut, sliding the door bolt in place. "This is just because I don't need them seeing me while using my powers." He was in front of me almost a second after, almost like he skipped a moment. "Are you sure you're fine with me drinking your blood?"

"Did I stutter? Just tell me what to do. Are you like a vampire and go for the neck? Do I just offer you my arm or leg?"

"Just offer me something here, otherwise I will just go with your neck." I leaned forward for him, pulling back my flannel shirt collar. He wasn't too happy with it, but I felt his teeth at my neck soon after his face disappeared from view.

"Fuck!" It hurt, but that's sort of expected. He bit quickly and sort of lingered over the cut to lap up what dripped down my neck. It was weird, end of story. He pulled away with unnaturally bright red painting his lips and smudged on his face. He took a step back, grabbing my hand before opening the door.

Everyone was completely still, no movement at all and John in a position he couldn't hope to keep balanced for this long. "I can pause time. You can probably tell now." Dave stated. I looked over to him to see his appearance had changed. The Dave holding my hand looked like he was a little younger, features a little softer, and had white wings sheltered around me and him as we looked over everyone. "You don't know how hard it is to continue on like nothing happened when you get pushed back at least a few months in age every time you eat something you have to, or even just because you got sick. You understand why I didn't want to share this openly? Probably not, since you'll never look a day over twenty in your life."

"You can get younger by being sick?"

"Yeah. It's my body's way of helping me out. 'Hey he's sick, what should we do?' 'Make this kid age backwards the whole time. Case of Benjamin Buttons his ass.'" He sighed, pushing up his shades. "Fresh blood hits me hard, the younger they are the younger I become."

"What's the absolute worst?"

He sighed. "Blood from an older troll that's been sitting in my fridge for almost a month is disgusting, but it's the best since it doesn't really age me visible as much. The worst my mother had, which is the only way I know of it, but the heart of a newborn human baby. Of course, rough on Bro, who then killed her for doing so."

"That's sort of harsh."

Dave shrugged. "He made point to protect humans and at the time she was a monster. He never knew what she was until that moment, and as soon as he found out I thought he would do the same to me. Instead of occasional visits he became my guardian, and eventually we figured out the troll thing."

"What did you do in the meantime?"

"Rose, Roxy, and Dirk were more than willing stick there necks out for me, literally. Bro didn't trust me at first and put the blood in sippy cups instead for a few years."

"So, are you some weird form of vampire?"

"Vampires can't eat hearts, just blood." He replied. "None of us really know what I am name wise. Dirk does know some fantastic fucking wards against me though."

"Wait, you can be warded against? How much of you is human?"

"Half."

"Your Bro is completely human?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Nothing, just thought your mom would have been at least a little human."

"Well, she wasn't." Dave dragged me back with him into the stable, closing and bolting the door before letting go of my hand. He must have done something else because he looked completely normal when I turned around to look at him.

"How did you hide your wings? Or are they just showing when you time travel?"

"They are showing all the time, I am just good at hiding them when I haven't just changed age."

"That's... a fair point." I watched him turn to stare at the door. He unbolted the door, but he didn't seem like he wanted to open it. He sat on a crate off to the side, away from the door. It was definitely late, or rather early since I could see the sun rising out the window. I walked out of the stable, quickly closing it behind me for Dave. "I've got to be heading home. It is pretty early."

"Why not stay here?" Dirk offered.

"He should head home." Dave piped in. "Come on Karkat." He quickly dragged me out the barn door. We had a long, silent walk home... That is, until Dave nudged me roughly another way. "I hate to tell you, but we have some gum on our shoes." I looked down and couldn't find gum on my shoes, but his words clicked as I realized the sound of a car motor was a bit behind us at this early an hour. "You know, we can't go home, but we can't stay here either. Our best bet is the gas station right now."

"No heading back now I guess. It's straight down this road another block or so." I was already taking a step forward. Dave was walking along with me, hands buried in his pockets. Of course, lonely road at the crack of dawn, the vehicle had no problem pulling up to us. Now, I've seen my share of creepy vans, but when a beat up black van pulls up in front of you on the sidewalk, you generally don't walk the other way in a slow or calm manner. Since we both decided to run the other way, we ran head first into someone I didn't get to exactly see before I was knocked out yet again. From the blurry image that danced in my image as I faded into unconsciousness, I'm pretty sure I'm headed back to the carnival.