Karkat woke up tired the next morning. He hadn't been able to sleep comfortably with Aradia's cryptic message lingering in his mind. Who does she think she is, coming up out of nowhere and telling me shit like that? The least she could have done was explain some of it, but no; she had to go and be all mysterious about it. I swear when I get back I'm gonna- His train of thought was lost as the idea of returning home came to him. For some reason it no longer seemed as appealing as it would have a few days ago. Now… he was almost… anxious about it. He looked over to the rest of the group, who were already awake. He had grown rather fond of them over the short time he had been with them, not that he'd admit it, and the idea of leaving them felt… wrong. He felt as his anxiety slowly turned into defiance. You know what? Screw Aradia and her vague-ass warning. I'm not going anywhere. So whatever this "bad thing" is, let it happen. I don't give a fuck. I'm not leaving unless I get an actual gog-damn reason. With his mind now set, he got up and moved toward the others, who turned to greet him. All of them were as cheery as they usually were, although Signless still seemed a bit off. He still had a concerned look in his eye. Apparently whatever had been up with him the night before hadn't completely passed yet. Karkat just shrugged it off and went into a conversation with the others. They talked for a while until Psii said he was going to head back into town to take another look around. Disciple decided to go with him, saying she wanted to see as much of the city as possible before they left, and the two of them set off. Rosa went to go find a stream to clean Karkat's shirt in so she could mend it, which then left him and Signless sitting awkwardly silent in the cave by themselves. Karkat shuffled, unsure of what he should do. Signless did nothing for a while, only staring at the ground in deep thought. Just as Karkat opened his mouth to say something, Signless lifted his head. "Karkat." He spoke with a serious tone to his voice, his red eyes staring directly at the younger troll. "I want you to be honest with me." Karkat looked at him in confusion. "Okay…" Signless sighed, his tired eyes closing a moment before he spoke again. "Are you absolutely positive that you have no home to return to?" Karkat felt his heart skip a beat. Had Signless begun to catch on? Did he realize that he wasn't from this timeline? What do I say? Damn! What am I supposed to say?! He didn't want to lie but… could he really risk telling the truth? What would Signless say if he did? He struggled to come up with a response as Signless continued to stare at him silently, his sharp red gaze unwavering. Karkat was having an all out war in his head. He had come to trust Signless and the others, so shouldn't he return the favor? But what if he ended up causing more of a mess by doing so? Should he continue to tell them the lies he had started with, or should he finally fess up? Karkat was pretty sure that no matter what choice he made at this point, he would have serious consequences to pay.
