"Hehe they look so cute."

"Shh, you don't want to wake them."

"They need their rest after all."

"It's just so adorable."

"Mrn."

"Ah he's waking up, quick quick get out before he sees us hehehe."

Light footsteps exited the room as the Cancer stirred. Karkat woke up to find himself in a recuperacoon, arm sticking out of the entrance. His first thought was that he was at home until he scanned the room and saw the fancy furniture and decorations. With a sigh he lifted his arms to stretch, but he found that something was holding onto the hand of the arm sticking out of the coon. With a yawn he rubbed his eyes and slowly peeked out of the recuperacoon to see John sleeping on a chair, leaning against the coon.

And holding his hand.

It took exactly three seconds for Karkat to process the information before his quickly snatched his hand away and backed up into his coon. He could feel his face heating up. How long was he sleeping? How long was John there? Did John intentionally hold his hand the entire time or was it subconsciously? Crap did that wake him? The Cancer cautiously peeked outside of the coon to find John had just flipped over and had his back facing the entrance. He wasn't wearing his new blue pajamas and just some ordinary clothes. Karkat let out a breath. It was probably a subconscious action, meaning that John wouldn't remember when he woke up.

After stretching he began to climb out of the recuperacoon. First his right foot came out and then his left. He had completely forgotten about his twisted ankle, it didn't hurt as much as before but the pain was still there. Once he put pressure on it he cursed and quickly put weight on his other leg. He was still groggy so he ended up falling over instead, right into John's lap.

"Wha huh what? No that wasn't me didn't do it," John suddenly sputtered. He blinked and looked around before looking down at the sudden weight change on his lap, "Oh morning Karkat."

"Ugh fuck I'm too tired for this. Fucking ankle," usually in this kind of situation, Karkat would have shoved himself off John and risked hitting the floor, but this time he decided not to since he was still in a sleepy state and his ankle hurt like a bitch.

"Haha I'll help you," the human wasn't freaked out at all, even if he was covered in spoor slime thanks to Karkat.

John helped Karkat over to the ablution trap and then left to find Karkat some clean clothes. When Karkat looked in the mirror he realised that all he was wearing was boxer shorts and that made his face go red. He quickly got into the shower and turned the water on, cursing at the water's temperature and cursing some more when it didn't get to the temperature he wanted. When he finished he peeked outside to find a set of clothes neatly folded at the sink. That Cancer shirt he was wearing before was thankfully washed already. Once he was done and changed, he found John had cleaned up as well. The blue pajamas and ridiculously long hood returned.

"Here," John handed him Terezi's cane, "Red looks good on you. So apparently it's not even morning any more haha, it's a little past lunch. You hungry?"

Karkat's stomach growled on cue, "Yes."

"To the dining room it is," John headed out and Karkat followed.

"Hey how long have I been out and how is everyone?" Karkat asked as he looked down at the red insignia on his shirt.

"Mmm about a day and a half I think. Sollux is still out though. Zylpha has been walking around even though she shouldn't be. Feferi's kind of mopey but otherwise okay since Jade and Aradia are hanging around to cheer her up. Gamzee came to check up on you once and everyone else is okay."

"So the fuck did we even get here? You guys shouldn't have even arrived at the hotel yet or just barely arrived."

"Yeah we just arrived and we didn't want to wait a whole day or two for you guys so Jade used her awesome powers combined with Rose to find you guys. She has like spacey powers and stuff that she used to I guess teleport you here. She's the witch of space after all," John explained.

"So what the hell is Rose."

"Seer of Light."

"That sounds like the dumbest title of all. Does she even have any powers related to her title at all? From what I've seen, she turned into a fucking wizard and blasts through walls with her wands."

"Well she can see a bit of the future or see what's going on in different places right now. Hence the word Seer."

"She can see anything?"

"I dunno, depends I guess."

Well that was an interesting bit of information. Karkat didn't dwell on it longer for his stomach growled again. John chuckled and the two entered the dining room. The only ones there were Gamzee and Tavros who were sitting at a table, spoor slime pie in front of them and Gamzee was poking it with a fork.

"Oh uh hi Karkat, hi John," Tavros greeted and Gamzee immediately looked up.

"Hey there best friend. We were all worried about you ya know. Glad to see you up and about," Gamzee greeted. It was different, his voice wasn't wavy like usual, it even sounded a little shaky.

"How many pies have you eaten since you got here?" Karkat asked. Gamzee just looked back down at the pie in front of him and continued to poke it.

"He uh, just ate one yesterday, that's it. He keeps saying uh he's not in the mood for it, or something," Tavros explained, "But um he's been okay, hasn't flipped out or uh anything."

"Not yet. Gamzee just eat the thing already."

"Not in the mood bro."

". . . . Fine as long as you don't flip out at me or anyone else then whatever," Karkat sat down at a table a few away from theirs by a window.

"I'll get us some food and be right back okay?" John offered and smiled.

"Yeah yeah," Karkat waved him away and looked outside. He scanned the area and found that there was a nice field extended along the hotel before it turned into a beach. He looked down and saw a cool rock setting that looked like seats and tables. Occupying those rock tables were the Dolorosa, Mindfang, Redglare, Kanaya, Rose, Vriska, Terezi, and Zylpha. They all looked like they were talking seriously. Down at the beach Karkat could see the backs of Aradia and Feferi just sitting there. Running along the beach was Nepeta and Jade, carrying bu- containers of water and making a sand castle with Equius and surprisingly Dave.

"Hey bro, my pops said something about wanting to meet you. I'll go along with you after you get your nutrition on and done," Gamzee suddenly appeared. Karkat jumped in his seat and pressed his back against the window.

"Fuck Gamzee! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Karkat yelled. Suddenly he felt a bunch of gazes directed at him so he looked back down out the window to find all the ladies looking at him. All of them were either smiling or smirking at him, except for Zylpha, she looked away as soon as they made eye contact.

"Oh hey what are you looking at?" John returned and pressed his face to the window. He waved when he saw the girls and they waved back. Their food was already placed out on the table.

Karkat dug in right away, "Why the hell would your dad want to see me?"

"Dunno, pop's just saying he wants to see you."

"Fine after I'm done," Karkat looked back at the table where Tavros sighed and got up from. The pie was still sitting there.

"Oh I'll come too. Me and Tavros," John volunteered.

"Uh sure I guess. Not like we have anything, better to do."

Karkat ate and kept an eye on Gamzee. The clown didn't look dazed like he usually did. This time he looked awake and sensitive to the things around him. That's when Karkat noticed the big purple bruise on the Capricorn's arm.

"Where the fuck did you get this?" Karkat pointed with his spoon.

"Hm? Oh yeah, pops kind of went berserk instead. He hit me by accident when we were trying to calm him down."

"Please do not tell me he wants to meet me because he wants to maul me into a wall as revenge for saving my dad causing him to end up in prison."

"Uh no don't think so," Gamzee's brows furrowed at the thought that never crossed his mind.

"Karkat," a soft voice called. Karkat looked up, looked down out the window to find the stone tables empty and looked up again to see at the ladies file in.

"About time you woke up," Vriska walked ahead and sat at the edge of the table.

"Hi Vriska!" "Sup bitchtits." "Uh hi Vriska." The three boys greeted.

"Would you mind getting off? I'm losing my fucking appetite knowing there's spider bitch ass on the table," Karkat looked at her flatly.

Vriska merely flipped her hair, "He seems perfectly fine to me."

"I'm glad you're alright," The Dolorosa came over and kissed his head, "You shouldn't have scared us like that. We thought you were seriously injured but it looked like you just passed out from lack of sleep and stress."

"Yeah sorry for worrying you Gran," Karkat continued eating but then stopped and glared at Vriska, "Seriously get off."

"Vriska do you like tormenting him that much?" Zylpha asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vriska frowned and got off.

"I asked first."

"If all you're going to do is be annoying then you can leave," Karkat said loudly.

"Yup perfectly fine," Terezi cackled.

" . . . How's your back?" Karkat asked when he felt Terezi 'looking' at him.

"It's fine," she smiled.

"Come on bro let's hurry and go before pops gets all mad. You were all in dream land when he said he wanted to see you so he's in grump mode right now. Any longer and it'll change to subjugglator mode," Gamzee had crouched down and rested his head on the table so when he looked up to Karkat it looked like he was making puppy dog eyes.

"Alright alright almost done."

"Where are you going?" Kanaya inquired.

"Gamzee said something about meeting with his dad," Karkat waved it off as nothing and continued eating. He didn't notice the glances that Redglare and Mindfang had exchanged.

"Maybe we should go with you," Terezi offered.

"What is everyone going to come along?"

"No," Rose declared. Karkat wasn't surprised.

"Well the Grand Highblood isn't exactly safe to be around. Especially with what happened yesterday," Mindfang had a look of discontent.

"Whatever, whoever is coming should just come," Karkat finished his food along with John and stood up.

"When you're finished could you gather everyone back here? I have something that I need to share with the group," Rose requested.

"Sure thing Rose," John replied as everyone else headed out. They were intercepted by The Psiionic who looked out of breath like he was running around.

"Hath anyone theen Dave?" the elder Gemini asked.

"Why the hell are you looking for Dave?"

"Oh little Thignleth ith awake. Ah any wayth Tholluckth woke up."

"Jade had taken Dave out to the beach to get some fresh air and to try to cheer him up," Rose pointed out the window.

Karkat's eyes widened, "Wha, so soon!? Gamzee we'll go meet your dad later I'm going to see Sollux first."

"Sure thing bro I'll meet you there," Gamzee headed in a different direction as Karkat hobbled off.

"Dude do you even knew where you're going?" John asked as he easily matched the wounded troll's pace.

"No show me," Karkat demanded.

John just chuckled before grabbing Karkat's free hand and pulling him down the hall. Karkat would have blushed if his mind wasn't preoccupied with Sollux. Karkat soon found himself in front of a fancy looking door. John slowly opened it to find Sollux lying on the bed and the Handmaid sitting in a chair beside it.

"Looks like your father got excited and went and told everyone," the Handmaid stated in an amused tone.

"Great, any minute now KK and Dave are going to come crath'hing in and thobbing and calling me an idiot."

"That's because you are a fucking idiot."

"Hey I heard you pathed out too fuckath."

Karkat felt relieved to hear the lisping troll's comebacks. The Cancer carefully came in and looked at the Gemini, the skinny troll practically looked like a mummy.

"How you feeling."

"Like thomeone ran me over with a truck at full thpeed and wath thuch an ath'hole that he backed up over my body and ran me over again."

"Yeah looks like it."

The door suddenly slammed open behind them. Karkat turned to see Dave panting and out of breath. He obviously booked it over there.

"Thup," Sollux turned his head and looked at Dave with his red and blue eyes. He would have waved if he could feel his arms or the rest of his body for that matter. Karkat and John stepped to the side as Dave walked over and fell to his knees at the bed. He didn't even care at how uncool he looked at the moment.

"Fuck don't ever do that again," Dave put his face into the bed sheets.

"I can't make any promitheth."

"Not fucking funny," Dave voice said, his voice muffled by the blanket. Sollux chuckled weakly.

"So uh Rose wants all of us to meet in the dining room soon so whenever you guys can we'll see you there alright?" John began to lead Karkat out.

"Yes we'll be there, thank you for informing us," The Handmaid smiled at them as they left.

"So next is visiting Gamzee's dad and meeting up with everyone in the dining room," John checked off an imaginary list before pulling Karkat off into another direction.

Karkat stopped when they got to the room The Grand Highblood was supposedly in. The door looked fancy like the Sollux' room but it just gave of a scary feeling. Tavros was seen waiting outside with The Summoner.

"Everyone is already waiting, in the dining room and, Gamzee is uh, in there with his dad."

"If anything happens just scream and we'll come in to get you," The Summoner ordered.

"Right, John wait out here," Karkat took the door handle and inhaled.

"You sure?"

"Yeah best not to rile up the crazy guy. He asked for only me after all," Karkat exhaled and knocked on the door.

"Come in," a low gruff voice called.

Slowly, Karkat turned the door handle and peeked in side. The lights were off and it was dark, Karkat could see the Grand Highblood's enormous figure sitting on a bunch of furniture that was put together to make a large chair like a throne. Standing beside him was Gamzee, he looked so small compared to his father.

"I said come in," the voice demanded.

After glancing at John once more, Karkat slipped in and closed the door behind him, blocking off all the light in the room.

"Come closer."

Karkat quietly steeped forward until he was standing before the large troll. Even when he was sitting, Karkat still had to look quite a bit up to him. He glanced over to Gamzee who was looking at him with violet eyes. When he looked back at the Grand Highblood the subjugglator looked back at him with darker glowing violet eyes.

"You look just like your father . . . Those motherfucking red eyes."

Karkat noticed Gamzee quickly look between him and his dad as if he was ready to do something if something happened.

"So, what made you decide to help my dad? I thought you fucking hated lowbloods."

The Grand Highblood let out a low dark chuckle that made Karkat shiver. It sounded so strange, dark and scary yet for some reason, comfortable, "Straight forward. You are exactly like him."

"No fucking duh he's my dad."

"Not everyone is like their parents. Take my shit son for motherfucking example."

"Your son is not shit. He may be out of it all the time but he's a good moirail and a matesprit. You have no fucking right to say anything about him since you don't know anything about him. You haven't even been around to fucking take care of him! His Goatdad visits probably ten times more than you do and that's saying a lot because his Goatdad barely visits. Guess what it's probably best that he didn't turn out like you or else he'd be some fucked up killer and not have any friends at all like you."

Gamzee looked at Karkat with wide eyes. Well most trolls would if they saw some short little red blood telling off The Grand Highblood. They both were taken aback when the man in question let out a loud hearty laugh.

"Your father told me off in the exact SAME MOTHERFUCKING WAY," The Grand Highblood put his finger to his face as if he was wiping away a tear of amusement. Karkat took a step back cautiously.

"It's a good thing sometimes when the kids AREN'T like their MOTHERFUCKING PARENTS. Like Feferi. How on earth she is her mother's daughter, I will never know. First troll I motherfucking see when your group got here was her. Running up to me all motherfucking SMILEY. . . and calling me Dad. Me, THIS MOETHFUCKING MESS, a father to her. IT'S A MOTHERFUCKING JOKE. But she doesn't give a hoofbeast shit. I'm still her motherfucking dad even though THAT BITCH keeps telling her she has no father. Haha . . . I don't deserve to be a dad at all."

And awkward silence hung through the air. Gamzee was looking down now.

"At least you fucking realize what's wrong with you."

This time the elder Capricorn looked at him with surprise.

"You made a decision and your decision was 'fuck the empress' and you did your own thing. You realize that you've been neglecting Feferi and Gamzee unlike The Condesce. That woman doesn't even let herself believe Gamzee even exists. You probably deserve to be a dad a million times more than that fucking woman deserves to be a mother. You're not the worst out there. You should be happy that someone even considers you as father so take it and go instead of feeling sorry about yourself and moping around like a wriggler thinking that you don't deserve kids."

The Grand Highblood was speechless. He didn't respond and just blinked at the small troll before him.

"Well if we're done here, there's a group meeting I have to go to. If you want to mope around here by yourself then I'll leave you too it," Karkat turned around, "You coming Gamzee?"

Gamzee shook himself out of his shocked state, "Uh yeah."

The Capricorn followed the Cancer out into the hall.

"Vantas," the Grand Highblood called making Karkat stop and wait, "Take care of them."

Karkat let out a huff, " I'll do my job like I usually do as a friend and a moirail. You're the one that should be doing his job as a dad."

Karkat opened the door without another second though and exited with Gamzee. John and Tavros were there waiting with smiles.

"The Summoner already went ahead to the dining room, we should go too," John informed.

Karkat nodded and the four headed to the dining room.

"Thanks best friend," Gamzee said with a small smile.

"Nothing to thank me for, all we did was talk."

Everyone was already waiting in the dining room. Even Sollux, the Gemini was sitting in a comfortable chair with a blanket on his lap. It didn't look like he could move though. The Handmaid and Psiionic probably levitated him there from his room. The tables were moved around and put together to form a large table and the seats surrounded it like it was some big meeting room table.

"Jeez about time Karkat," Jade teased with a smile.

"My speed limit has a fucking limit thanks to this," Karkat motioned to his foot before he sat down with the rest.

"Um is Dad not going to come?" Feferi whispered when Gamzee sat down next to her.

"Naw don't think so, he's getting his think on after his chat with Karkat."

"Glad you all could make it," Rose started, "I would like to start off by apologizing to all of you."

"Whatever for?" Kanaya quirked an eyebrow at her matesprit.

"I knew what was going to happen the week before you were taken away."

"I sort of knew too," Terezi guilty confessed, "But I didn't think it would have actually happened."

"Then you saw it too."

"What I got lost, saw what? How did you two know?" Karkat interrupted.

"I didn't see everything but I saw the basics."

"Hey Lalonde guess what, a proper fucking explanation would be nice."

"It seems I saw the future in my dreams."