"WHAT YOU FUCKING SAID" Karkat screeched, his voice echoing throughout the whole cafeteria, temporarily halting conversation before it carried on like normal, leaving a strange, moments long stretch of silence as he rose to his feet, teeth grinding together angrily, hands clenched into fists.

Nepeta glanced rapidly between Equius, Karkat, and Tavros, swallowing deeply as she felt a chill run down her spine. She hadn't been listening to Tavros' conversation, instead having been eating and listening to Karkat talking to Jade and John, albeit a bit rudely. Her mind raced, thinking of a way to break off this conversation, whatever it was, but for now, caught in the moment, her mind remained utterly blank.

Tavros visibly flinched at the harsh tone, staring wide-eyed as he sort of sunk back in his chair a bit. What? What did he say that could have caused Karkat to look so pissed. Quickly the male pulled up the last thing he had said, that had to have been it right? "O-oh... um. I was just saying th-that after you and, and Gamzee vanished, we uh, were worried and... didn't know what happened, and uh... yeah."

Okay, now Gamzee knew what had caught the Cancer's attention. Oh mirthful hell, this was not going to end fucking well.

"What do you mean, when me and Gamzee vanished?" Karkat demanded slowly, hissing the words from between his teeth.

"Uh... A-about three sweeps ago. Gamzee stopped log," Tavros paused to swallow and awkward lump in his throat, "logging on, and then you did t-to..." the male was officially confused. Did he say something wrong?

Karkat stared for a few, very uncomfortable moments at Tavros that seemed to stretch into the length of an entire day. Those eyes were angry, and clouded, as things came to mind, the past few weeks, mainly, the way Sollux acted, small things here and there.

The way everyone who knew Sollux seemed to know him as well, even if he had never heard of them. The way that his mind always skipped around his past, the way that, whenever he really, honestly tried to think about it, something always distracted him, or he suffered from some panic attack. The way his nightmares got worse and worse ever since he came to this fucking school.

They knew who he was.

And they weren't telling him.

It was that that pissed him off more than anything. Why would they lie?

A low growl escaped the troll's throat, before he shoved his tray away from himself, and stomped away from the group, leaving the cafeteria behind him.

"Wh-what... what did I say?"

Gamzee was silent as he stared after Karkat, deaf to Tavros' question, and the sudden quiet that occupied the previously buzzing table. Before suddenly the Capricorn stood up, looking first to Equius and Nepeta, "Get some proper explanation slamming with Tavros will ya?" Then his gaze turned to the Summoner a smile on his lips, "Don't lean into worry bro, it wasn't your fault. My handle's still the same, slip some words my way and I'll respond so you can get your relocation to my dorm later." And then he took off, jogging towards the same doors Karkat had stepped through before shouting over his shoulder, "Jarren, put up my motherfucking tray for me!"

"AHM NOT YER FUCKIN' MAID!" but Jarren's harsh retort was in vain because the Capricorn had already left the cafeteria. Leaving him alone amidst five strangers. Well, wasn't this just fan-fucking-tastic.

Gamzee left the cafeteria, glancing around quickly, trying to spot the Cancer but he was no where to be seen. Shit! He could be fucking anywhere. Indigo irises darted around, before spotting a small group of two humans and a troll, sitting on one of the outside benches. "Hey motherfuckers! Did any of you get your see around a short troll with nub-horns, and what direction he navigated off to?"

The troll and one of the humans seemed confused, but the second human nodded, saying he had taken off in the direction of the dormitory. Gamzee thanked them, and then took off as fast as he was capable. Which in truth, was pretty freaking quick. There was more than one reason, why the Capricorn had only ever been beaten twice in Strife 101 duels. He was all the more quicker, without the presence of slime blurring his world and weighing down his mind. When he neared the dorm, he pause briefly to confirm that a troll matching Karkat's description had entered. He nearly sighed in relief, but instead opted for getting to the Cancer's room as fast as possible.

Karkat slammed into his room, the door swinging shut behind him and slapping against the frame harshly, bouncing off, but he seemed to ignore that it swung wide open. Instead of stopping to fix it, he moved into the small kitchen area, grabbing one of the folding chairs, and moving back towards the door, slamming it shut again, and shoving the chair up under the knob, keeping it shut.

He then stalked over to the window, and pulled the blinds down, leaving it almost completely dark in the room save for the tiny slivers of light that penetrated the blinds. After that, he moved back towards the door, eyes squeezing shut as his head began to pound again, and he leaned against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position.

'Liars, all of them, aren't they?' a voice asked from the room around him. He tried to ignore it, knew it wasn't really there, but his eyes still opened, shutting quickly as they caught a darkened glimpse of that nightmarish form of himself. Fuck, Karkat didn't want to deal with this right now, none of it. He just wanted a fucking second to think about things and not have some sort of gogdamn breakdown.

Small breaths rose and fell from Gamzee's chest, the only sign of any labored breathing from his run. He was staring at door number seven, a small twist in his gut. Man, today was just a fucking roller coaster of bull shit wisharmzy. The Capricorn stepped forward, took a deep breath, curled his fingers in a tight fist, and knocked four times, a soft rap against the door. When it didn't move or swing open, Gamzee had been surprised, before it processed that Karkat probably blocked the door. Damn...

"Karkat?"

"Go away" Karkat replied, almost immediately, talking to both Gamzee and the hallucination sitting across from him, empty smile plastered all over it's bloody face. Today had been fucking ridiculous, he was worn out, angry, and oddly enough, he felt like he'd been betrayed somehow by not being told this, if any of it was true. It was probably one of the only times in his life he would ever rather be asleep than awake.

A long pause came from the doorway before, "No."

Gamzee lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged in front of the wooden surface, shuffling as close as he possibly could, before leaning forward and pressing his fore-head against the door. He was looking at the blurred grooves in the wood, as if he could see right through it, as if he were looking directly at the room's occupant. "I'm not fucking leaving you again Karkat." Hell, cat was out of the bag, may as well rap a noose around it's neck and dangle it above a river of crocodiles.

Karkat bit down on the inside of his cheek, feeling the musty taste of his own blood as his teeth dug into the thin flesh there, out of frustration. Eyes closed, making the darkness in the room seem utterly complete, he didn't respond, merely sat there in silence, refusing to answer. Maybe if he didn't talk, Gamzee would go away.

But the Capricorn didn't go away, he just continued to sit there, silent for a moment, as his mind desperately tried to pull up anything that actually might be of help. He was half tempted to go eat sopor before trying to talk to Karkat, before trying to explain. Shit was always easier to deal with when he had the green haze coating his think pan. And fuck, he was half tempted to go get his clubs, cut through the wood piece by piece. Ding, ding, ding, get through the door, get a prize.

Gamzee blinked, giving his head a small shake. Mirthful hell, he had to stay focused. His hands curled tight into fists, his claws digging into the slightly calloused flesh on his palms, the small shot of pain up his arms, helping him to focus. "Karkat, we didn't want you to get in the know." Wait, shit that could be taken wrong, "It's fucking like... something real bad happened to you bro. Apparently it's wicked dark, because you started having motherfucking memory black-outs about everyone. We..."

No that wasn't right. Sollux never said he couldn't tell Karkat anything. Gamzee had decided that for himself, the others, to his knowledge, did the same. No one had really told Tavros though, because the whole thing had been a sort of unspoken knowledge thing. "I didn't want you to get situated in knowledge, because we don't know what curmudgeon shit you went through, didn't know if you started to fucking remember us, if you'd be all scratching at that glass."

The Capricorn hesitated, turning one of his palms upward to peer at his own indigo blood, curling his fingers so that they rubbed over that same palm, smearing the warm liquid over his gray tinted flesh, "No knowledge on if that motherfucker breaks, what would happen to you."

Karkat hugged his legs a bit tighter, face buried in his knees as he took the words in, wanting to ignore them and just be angry, because that was so much better than being confused. But he couldn't help but listen and he hated himself a little for even considering these stupid excuses as they came from the other side of the door. It was easier to pretend that they were just lying to him because they had done something horrible, to believe that if he just got away from them that the nightmares and the insomnia would go away. But it wouldn't be right.

He let the words circle themselves around in his head, still refusing to answer.

Gamzee waited... and waited... and waited.

No other sound came from the room. However, he couldn't hear shuffling or movement either, so he wagered to assume that Karkat was probably staying in one place. Maybe he was trying to process what he said? Knowing the Cancer, he was probably trying to judge if what he was saying was true. Gamzee buried that small painful sting in his chest, and he silently scolded himself before hurt by something like that. He had to just keep up a reminder that this Karkat didn't know him, this Cancer didn't consider him a moirail. Hell, he didn't even know if when Karkat did remember, if he would still want them to be diamond brothers.

Well damn, he had to keep his mind focused. He could talk, but that wouldn't do any good, just be rambling at the door. That still would make his think pan get all rambled. But then an idea found it's way to him. Man, while Karkat was getting angry thought breakdown's going on, he'd just rap until he was ready to talk. That way he could pass some time until he prompted the Cancer to talk again... or tried to. Gamzee wasn't to good at actually help talking, he always preferred trying to help his brothers with actions. Though that was pretty hard to do when he was blocked from a room.

So it was with little less fanfare than that, that the Capricorn ran his tongue over the palms of his hand to clean up the shallow cuts on his hand and slow the bleeding before he began to tap out a simple beat on his knees.

"I'm like a motherfucking arsonist, larcenist, creationist,
Fighting with these thoughts in mind- analysis.
Looking at the sky trying to get high,
To realize,
What I've got to rationalize, in these lies, these rhymes.
I've been up, been down, like a motherfucking rolling coaster,
Slipped into the frame of a world with my ancestor.
But shits getting real, when the Messiahs appeal,
The fucking subjugglators steal, what the world reveals.

But here I stay, the dealer, the concealer, the fucking believer.
Looking to the stars for prayers- relievers.
Yet all i see, is this haze, this maze, this motherfucking blaze,
In my mind,
This rhyme,
Is taking up nothing but time."

He continued the beat after that, still listening to the words echoing in his mind as he churned over his think pan to come up with more. Gamzee could always think better when he rapped, always word better what was in his thoughts so that he could somewhat understand his own self. Granted, most of his raps ended up being about nonsense or his religion, but shit still made him feel better afterwords. And just like it's purpose, it passed some time as he waited. Giving Karkat some moments, before he tried to speak with him again.

There was still silence behind that door, a few moments lingering where nothing came from the room.

And then, finally, a somewhat hesitant, irate voice.

"...What were we?"

The tapping beat Gamzee was playing on his knees slowed, until with two more notes, it stopped. The Capricorn stared at the door, imitating the silence that Karkat had previously presented. Debating if he should ask him to clarify... but no, he knew what the Cancer meant. He was done playing these motherfucking mind games, especially when he was sober and knew what he meant.

"We..." and he hesitated before saying the second word, a masked emotion as he said, "were best friends." Gamzee clasped his hands together, slouching as his eyes traced over where those long bony fingers of his snaked together, "You... were my motherfucking diamond brother... my moirail."

Silence again.

And then, movement, a shuffling noise, and then a louder, grating noise, the knob jingling as something was scraped against it, moved away from blocking the door.

Gamzee tilted his head, listening to the sound of movement from within, waiting until it fell silent, before he stood and tested the door, pulsating relief flowing into his limbs as it gently swung open. He poked his head in first, a small smile pulling at his lips, as his indigo eyes fell on Karkat, sitting on the floor a little ways from the door. He still looked pissed (he nearly always looked pissed though), but it also nearly appeared like he was pouting.

The Capricorn slipped the rest of the way in to the room carefully, closing the door so that it would remain shut, unless pressure was put on it from the outside of course. In one smooth movement, he turned, slipping his hands silently into the sleeves of his coat to conceal his still slightly bleeding hands, as he stepped in front of Karkat, turned, and then lowered himself to a cross-legged position facing the Cancer, letting his cloth covered hands fall idle in his lap. That small smile stayed. "Thanks for letting me in motherfucker, my think pan had bottom lined and I couldn't think of any more rhymes."

"I can't tell if you are a really good friend" Karkat stated, not even seeming to have heard Gamzee speaking. "Or an absolutely shitty one" He finished, and then wrinkled his nose a little bit, as if getting ready to eat some rather foul medication.

"But I guess either way, I'm lucky"

"Some motherfuckers think you'd be the exact opposite of that," but Gamzee was smiling, because he honestly didn't give three flying chunks of waste about what others thought, "I'm just fuckin' grateful I still fall under that designation. Gotta send some serious prayers of thanks up later. Don't know what I'd do if you got your pan around legit anger for me."

Karkat just bit down on his tongue, swallowing harshly as he shuffled about on the floor a little, that glare turning into a frown. He still wasn't sure about the situation... but...

"No more secrets then, I want you to tell me everything you know about me" He stated simply, staring very intently at Gamzee. "It's kinda horrible being a stranger to yourself, I want to know all that you can remember, I don't care if it's stupid, embarrassing, or whatever."

And he did.

And that was how the entire night was spent.

AN

Yes I made up that rhyme rap thing... yes I'm kind of proud of it. XD
And to Anon Ed, don't forget that this is an AU-Alternate Universe. In this timeline/place, Gamzee hasn't killed Equius or Nepeta. So they don't technically have a reason to dislike him. If you recall in the comic as well, any interaction they had with Gamzee was generally friendly. : D
... even the one where Equius asked to be 'punished' Gamzee didn't show any real violence or anything towards him. ~
Until the actual even anyway. x)

Anyway, a continuous thanks for all the love! I'm glad to see that we are still able to entertain everyone with our madness. : D

-Aussie B. Lemming