Hey everybody! How's it going? This next chapter came out better than I thought it would, though I guess that depends on how all of you feel. Hopefully you like what I've got in store for you, because it's a lot more world building.

I won't say anymore. I'll see you at the end of the chapter!

The Ghost Zone was a peaceful place sometimes, and sometimes that was what Karkat needed after a long day of mayhem. Being Phantom insured that his life had plenty of it, which somehow made the dimension filled with ghosts more palatable to him.

"Hey, Karkles, how often do you actually wash that jumpsuit? I'm surprised I can't smell it from all the way over here."

"I'm pretty sure I've only seen you wear that thing when you're in your ghost form. Don't you have literally anything else?"

Then again, Terezi and Vriska teaming up on him was also a distraction from that calm. He guessed that they were starting to become friends now, which was terrifying beyond belief for him.

"I do wash it, but do you even know how hard it is? Seriously, try and clean a hazmat suit that constantly gets ectoplasm on it." Karkat didn't realize how meticulous his dad had to be in order to keep them clean until he had to look up an instruction manual. "You can't just put that shit in the dryer."

"Maybe Horuss can find a better way to do it. It's not like he's unfamiliar with it thanks to last week." Nepeta stopped before deciding to rescind that offer. "Actually, wait, last time he built something that was meant to wash clothes fast, he ended up flooding his workshop. It smelled nice, but only from a distance."

"Are we going to ignore the fact that Karkat complained about having to clean ectoplasm off of himself? I'm willing, but I think it's worth mentioning." Tavros nervously kept an eye on the halfa as he said this, trying to figure out if some was on his hands right now. "I'd at least like to know if it's yours or someone else's."

"It's usually mine. Not the time to really focus on that, though." Karkat turned to Terezi, giving her an unamused stare. "Where exactly did those ghosts say we needed to meet them at? I'm really hoping this isn't some kind of trap."

They'd finally gotten a response about the Noir ring Dualscar had, hoping to return it to whoever he stole it from. Karkat had taken up the offer to meet them immediately since things out in the human world were crazy right now. Ever since Darkleer decided to livestream their entire fight, people have been going on about it and never letting it go.

Not only was there now video confirmation of ghosts, or at least somethings with powers running about, people collectively lost their shit like the presentation did. Blame was thrown about everywhere, on his dad, the town, or even the government. That didn't even cover how he felt knowing that Phantom was now not just a rumor.

Karkat was not prepared for the memes especially. Nobody ever covered how to deal with your face being the part of the local meme culture in superhero comics.

"As far as we know, we just need to head to the coordinates they sent to us and we'll be able to drop it off no problem. So, of course it's some kind of trap." Terezi just shrugged, handling her cane carefully. "We wouldn't be heading out together otherwise. Either they're legit, or I get a few more arrests."

"And I get some more freedoms after this!" Vriska was starting to get some more leeway now considering her 'good' behavior. They'd even started letting her play a few discrete shows, along with letting Aranea starting her job at the prison. "Man, it'll feel a lot better not having Redglare's boot on my neck."

"I'm pretty sure she'll be glad that she won't need to keep an eye on you anymore either. She complains about you to my mom sometimes." Nepeta laughed as the rocker ghost fumed. "I'm just joking. A little."

Tavros made sure to get out of the blast radius as the two started bickering, moving to Karkat despite the concern earlier.

"Is this just going to be like this for the whole trip?" Tavros did his best not to shiver as Vriska lowered the temperature of the area around them just by getting a little heated. "I'm not sure we'll even survive if they keep this up."

"Just let them tire themselves out. Aranea has been wanting Vriska to make more friends or something." Terezi stopped, checking around the area first before settling. "We're here. Everybody square up."

The place itself really wasn't all that special, more, or less another set of floating rocks. There wasn't a lot of hiding places for anyone to actually ambush them in, but there were a few places they could use. It was honestly a good place for a deal or an exchange, which made it hard to tell if this made anyone feel better about this or not.

"I'm pretty sure this is what setting up a drug deal feels like." Nepeta helpfully added, making things at least a little lighter. "I'm guessing we'll just hide behind some stuff while Karkat makes the deal?"

"Sounds good to me. Let Phantom do all the leg work here." Vriska grabbed Tavros by the back of his shirt, pulling him over to one of the rocks. "Let's have this goody-goody shit done now before I lose it. I have a show to prepare for anyway."

"Hey, don't stretch the tights! I don't know where I'll even get another pair." Tavros tried to struggle, but it was a losing battle as Vriska was still much stronger than him. "At least let me choose where I want to go hide."

Again, protests were ignored. Story of Tavros's life.

Karkat sighed, watching everyone go hide out carefully. Terezi handed him the ring, which he made sure to grip tightly as he moved toward the location itself.

He didn't really know what to do next, considering they made the plan as simple as possible. They assumed that they'd find somebody hiding somewhere already, but since nothing happened pretty much immediately, they assumed that it was not going to be that easy.

"Hey, is anybody out there? I've got that ring you're looking for!" Karkat tried his luck, seeing if he could bait the person out. At the very least, it would provide him an excuse to leave if they bailed on them. "If you want it, you might need to hurry up! I can't just stay here all day!"

…Nothing. Figures. He might be acting a little impatient, but that doesn't mean he didn't have a point that making them wait was rude.

Karkat looked over the ring again, frowning deeply. He would've liked using it as a proper tool, but Dualscar having his dirty paws on it made him hesitant. This thing had been used as a murder weapon, whether or not that murder actually went through.

Besides, it would bring him some more answers about the other halfa anyway. Or at least get him a few more allies. He was a Blood Aspect, so working within those boundaries required socializing with others.

Karkat really hoped that being a friend magnet was an actual thing, otherwise this could get really dicey.

Bark.

Karkat shifted, turning as he heard the sound of a dog. He didn't see anything, however, only being greeted by empty air.

Bark.

The halfa looked up and down, starting to get frustrated. He swears to god if this was some type of prank from some rando ghost…

Bark.

A flash, bright and loud, immediately banished the thought. He was primed for a fight before he actually got a glimpse at what he was looking for.

Karkat likened the dog in front of him to be almost a counterpart to Noir, in virtually every way. The dog was eerily calm, deathly still as it floated in the void of the Infinite Realms. Its fur was pure white, and while it wasn't entirely neat, it certainly looked much more taken care of.

There was also the fact that, instead of rows of teeth, the dog didn't have a face.

"…ok. Dog without a face. I guess it's better than one with too many faces. Or is this worse." Karkat shook his head, looking at one of the floating rocks he figured his friends were hiding behind. "Hey, have any of you seen this dog before?"

Nepeta looked over the rock, squinting at where Karkat was standing. "What dog?"

"Wha- the one standing right here? You know, casually floating in front of me?!" Karkat waved at the no-faced dog. It wasn't being helpful as it just stood there, and he couldn't help but think it was watching him intensely. "It doesn't have a fucking face! How do you not see it?!"

"Is Karkles going insane again?" Terezi didn't even bother looking over the rock. Then again, she was blind, so she wouldn't have been able to see the dog anyway. "Just calm down, Karkat. It's most likely nothing."

Karkat raised his arms briefly before dropping them. He smothered the urge to scream, looking at the dog with a great amount of irritation. It didn't give off any reaction except for tilting its head at him.

"Don't act cute. You're making me look insane." Karkat huffed, keeping his voice lowered. Didn't need to draw more attention to himself. "Must have some type of power that lets you hide from everyone. Like Tavros. Not sure why you're using it now though."

The dog slowly tilted its head back into a straight position, which was honestly really creepy. It then leaned its head forward slowly. It moved a lot like an animatronic, too smooth to have ever been properly alive.

"…You want me to pet you?" Karkat felt his hands twitch, the sudden urge to pet it being quite strong. It did look pretty fluffy. "And why in the world would I do that, exactly? You're the one making me look crazy right now."

The dog didn't move in the slightest. Karkat almost took that for insistence.

"…Fine. I'll pet you, but you have to make yourself appear in front of everyone, got it?" Karkat actually got a nod from that, which made him almost ecstatic. "Hey guys, check this shit out!"

Karkat casually put his hand between the dog's ears, ruffling them softly. The fur was actually quite comfortable, even if it was dulled thanks to his gloves.

He saw Vriska look over, blink and start muttering something along the lines of, "What the fuck?"

And then, with a flash, he disappeared with the dog.

Kanaya was not proud to say that she had lost sleep the past few days, mostly because she did pride herself on at least having a functioning schedule. She knew she had some flaws, like failing to keep her room organized, sometimes overanalyzing certain things, and maybe meddling in things she shouldn't. She at least kept up a good sleep schedule despite all of that.

Then again, her sleep being disturbed was justified considering ghosts were not only a thing, but one of them might be someone she knew personally. Or, at the very least, had a connecting with.

She did her best not to interfere with that ghost fight between "Phantom" and "Darkleer" as best she could after she followed that ghost to it. Kanaya didn't even know what she could do if she even wanted to interfere. The fact that she was actually witnessing it was enough to put her in a trance.

Kanaya admittedly didn't hear much from the fight, dialogue wise. Considering the mass number of explosions, fire, and general mayhem, it wasn't until the end that she even heard the two friendly(?) ghosts talking.

And refer to the one doing most of the fighting as 'Mr. Vantas."

She may have not taken that as well as she thought.

Kanaya was on her third cup of coffee for today, which was three more than usual. The shop here was a nice place and she really did enjoy it, despite her tastes usually keeping her away from places like this. Her grip on the tablet was tight to prevent the caffeine in her system from making it shake.

She'd spent the day here coming up with a variety of theories and only had three that she could work with that didn't sound too insane.

Theory One: She'd simply misheard what that one ghost had said.

That was the simplest and most possible theory considering the situation had been so chaotic. Not only was there plenty of noise going about, but her sense had been assaulted since she happened upon the fight. Not to mention that, as Occam's Razor would attest, the simplest solution was often the most correct.

On the other hand, it had been awfully quiet when they were talking. And that didn't really sit right with her, something in her gut telling her no. Since she wanted to be thorough, she eventually came up with the second theory…

Theory Two: Phantom is actually Kankri Vantas, Karkat's dad.

This theory was a quite a bit more complicated and admittedly one she didn't want to explore too much. She never actually got to meet Kankri whatsoever, but he was the only other Vantas she knew about. Not to mention that Phantom did seem somewhat familiar, even with a hood and gasmask covering a good amount of his face.

The problem with that was that Phantom was much too young to actually be Kankri. Unless her technical brother was apparently very short for his age, he died much too old to look that young. He had been a father before that, and Phantom couldn't be older than teenager.

And if that theory was true? She would have no idea how to parse out that with her mother, who never truly got over Kankri's death.

This led her down the rabbit hole that was the third one…

Theory Three: Karkat is Phantom.

…This one made a horrible amount of sense in a way. Karkat not only matched physically up to Phantom, but the fact that the ghost was familiar also applied here. He'd have the most access to any ecto-based technology, be able to find the ghosts the quickest, and would probably have access to equipment like a hazmat suit and a gas mask. That wasn't even mentioning the strange interaction Phantom had had with Spades before he disappeared, as if he was desperately trying to get away from him.

The evidence fit, but there was only one major problem to this that undid the knot; Karkat seemed very much alive for a dead person.

Kanaya had stopped at three theories for a reason, mostly because things started to get even stranger. Clones, doppelgangers, and even undead twin came to mind, which she did her best to shut down before she could trick herself into believing them. She focused on psychology in her spare time, not on the other sciences, so she couldn't make such wild accusations.

She needed evidence that either Karkat was dead or alive. She couldn't just point out something like this out of the blue, when he could easily deny it. Medical tests were out the window since that would be an invasion of his privacy, and also way too obvious. And Karkat didn't seem easy to trick. If she could find out exactly what, then she'd… she would…

…She didn't know what she would do. Something, at the very least. If Karkat is dead, there has to be a reason for why it happened.

Again, this would kill her mother if she found out about it.

Kanaya sighed, turning screen of the tablet off for now. She had a plan of action ready anyway, something that would hopefully shed some more light on everything.

She'd been debating on who exactly to go for about this and came up with very few options. Not only was she still a stranger around here, but the people she did know were too close to Karkat in every way. Spades was out due to him being his father. Aradia and Sollux would certainly know what was going on with their friend, but also wouldn't tell her if they thought it would keep him safe. Eridan should've been viable, but something told her he was even less likely to talk.

That's why she chose Feferi.

The ring of a bell caused Kanaya to look up. Feferi was right on schedule.

"Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting and all, but I had to do some things first." Feferi moved into the seat across the other girl. Kanaya really was surprised that she was so nice despite definitely coming from a rich background. "Seriously, I'm not even sure what held me up."

"It's quite alright." Kanaya offered good naturedly. A part of her felt truly guilty that she was going to exploit Feferi's possible crush on Karkat like this. But she needed to know what was going on here. "I wasn't waiting too long."

She hoped that she wouldn't come to regret this.

Karkat wouldn't say that he woke up. That would imply he fell asleep at some point without knowing it. But that was the feeling he had when the dog had teleported him away from the others.

Karkat instinctively drew breath the moment he felt the world suddenly quicken, and then stop, snatching his hand away from the dog instantly. It was probably only a second, but the feeling seemed to be etched into his mind for an eternity. Something itched at the edge of his brain, trying to remind him of something that he seemed to forget.

He didn't have time to think about it before somebody spoke.

"Huh. I didn't think that would actually work."

The halfa tried to whirl around to face the speaker, but the teleportation had messed with his senses. He nearly tripped over air itself before getting a good look and instantly recognizing who it was.

"Hey, you're one of those assholes with the robes!" Karkat, almost drunkenly, pointed at the girl wearing black and green. He could actually see her face this time, the dark skin, glasses, and dog ears sticking out in his mind. "Did you send your dog to kidnap me?"

"Kidnapped is such a strong word. But accurate!" The ghost didn't make any move to get closer, which was wise. The dog itself appeared right beside her, as if it'd always been there. "Becquerel can't really tell you what he wanted, so you can't really blame him."

"I don't think he's really blaming the dog here."

Karkat looked over to see another one of the robed assholes floating towards them. He didn't whether to be weirded out that a cultist looked like a boyband member wearing douchey sunglasses, but this was happening whether he liked it or not.

"Well, I knew that. It's a little thing called humor. It's not the same as irony, or whatever you're doing nowadays." The green one waved at the red one with snort. She looked back at Karkat with a raised eyebrow. "He's a sarcastic little shit. Don't mind him."

"Hey, I'm not sarcastic at all. I'm completely serious, all the time." The red hood pointed his thumbs at himself sarcastically. "I wouldn't ever lower myself into being sarcastic."

Karkat just stared at the exchange, unsure of how to process it. An eye twitched and he put his face into his hands. He was kidnapped by lunatics. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"What do you want?" Karkat let out an exhausted sigh. It wouldn't do well to lose his mind right here where no one could find him. "Who even are you? Some kind of cultists? Priests for the Aspects?"

"Close, but also completely wrong." The green one cleared her throat, raising her hands up in a grandiose manner. She made her voice go deeper in a way that made it even harder to take her seriously. "We have many titles you can call us by, young one! We are known as Princes and as Bards! As Witches and as Maids! You might even call us Muses or Lords-"

"I am not calling you any of those things whatsoever." The halfa knew that was rude, but so was kidnapping, so he was just paying it back in kind. He pointed at the green hood and then the red hood. "I'm calling you Jade, and you Dave. Try and make me call you lords, ladies, or masters, and I will cut you."

"Oh, it's because I'm green, isn't it?" Jade scoffed in mock offense, sticking her tongue out at the halfa. "Wow can't believe a superhero judges people based off the colors of their clothes. People would have a field day with that."

"Wait, why am I Dave?" Dave actually seemed offended, putting a hand over his chest. "She gets a decent name that sounds cool, and I get Dave."

"Deal with it. Besides, you look like a Dave, so you should just get used to it." Karkat just rolled his eyes as the ghost slumped, looking over at Jade with a raised eyebrow. "And considering I just answered one of my questions for you, I expect you to answer the other one."

"Fine, fine. But only because you've been really funny so far." Jade started floating off the, her dog getting up with her. "Come on, Bec. You too, Dave."

Dave did glare at his friend for a brief second before resigning himself to his new name. Karkat was almost disappointed that he didn't fight back more on it, but at least it got the ball rolling. He, hesitantly, followed behind so they didn't have an excuse to leave him.

The halfa did feel the gravity of the situation fall on him slowly. It may have been joking at first, he was just kidnapped while also not being put into chains. That either made them cocky or powerful, neither of which was good.

"It's more that we're on the powerful side, but we're not going to hurt you. At least, we hope we're not gonna need to." Dave said without looking in his direction. Karkat was startled by this, stopping for a second. "You were going to ask that. Or maybe I read your mind? You figure it out."

Karkat suffocated a growl before it could slip past his lips. They were reaching towards a set of doors with the Space symbol on them, so he decided not to comment.

Though, when the doors opened, he was sorely tempted too.

The state of the lab itself was a place of controlled chaos, with various instruments that he could and couldn't recognize strewn about everywhere. Experiments were either ongoing, already done, or barely started. There was also a bunch of strings on a single table, which Jade immediately went over to, tying some onto one of her fingers.

This was honestly a familiar scene. And so was the one outside of the window.

Karkat could see the Aspect Towers. They were in the same place he saw them the first time, all in the same pattern as before. Except this time they weren't surrounding him. And the Space Tower was missing.

…Fuck, he was inside it.

"Okay," Karkat looked around the room again, making sure Dave and Jade hadn't done something to trap him. Dave was just relaxing as Jade was fiddling with an instrument. "You've proven your point. You're important or something. I'm guessing the ring is yours?"

"The what? Oh, right, that stupid thing." Jade had looked at one of her hands before realizing what they were talking about. Were those supposed to remind of her of certain things? "No, its not ours. But the delivery of it is pretty important to all of us."

"All of us? You're saying there's more than just you two?" Karkat technically knew that already, but that didn't mean he completely threw out the idea that the stuff pre-Fright Knight was just a set of hallucinations just yet. "And what do you mean the delivery of it?"

"That ring isn't exactly a game breaker by any means if that's what you're wondering. It's nothing to laugh at, but definitely nothing too terrifying." Dave moved towards the window, looking out of it thoughtfully. "You asked us if we were cultists earlier. We're not. But we do serve an ultimate goal here."

"And that is?" Karkat really didn't want to ask anymore questions than he already has. But speaking in riddles made it a consequence. "I'm not going to do anything you say unless you give me an explanation of some kind."

The two looked at each other before sighing deeply.

"We know. We can only give you short rundown, though." Jade moved toward the window, waving her hand. The view changed, the window darkening until it turned into a black screen. A line formed on it, eventually branching off into other ones. "I'm sure you're already familiar with time travel and alternate universes. In a way, that's what we're concerned about."

"By that she means we're concerned about this one. The one we technically live in." Dave lazily pointed to one of the lines, which continued branching off more and more. "We make sure that it doesn't become a Doomed Timeline. Do I have to explain what that is?"

Karkat watched a few branches thin before eventually dying off. They disappeared from the screen soon enough, new ones forming in their wake.

"No," Karkat gulped, the message being completely clear. "I don't think you do."

"Good. You'd be surprised to know that preventing a Doomed Timeline from occurring is a lot harder than you'd think. While time and space branch off multiple times, not all of them survive." Jade huffed in annoyance, though it only mask. Karkat figured that it was more than that judging from her glare at the screen. "Certain timelines are really fickle about what they want to occur. Even if something appears to be good, it can be seen as a violation of what the timeline actually wants."

"And trust me, you don't want to know what happens when it starts to go bad." The screen flickered at Dave's interjection, showing… something. It felt like Karkat's head was filled with static again. "A lot of different factors to consider and a strict deadline for some meant that we had to bring you here."

"…Because I need to deliver the ring to the right person. Or at least do it the right way." Karkat wasn't totally sure if he believed them, but the fact that he wasn't strapped to a lab table made sure to give them the benefit of the doubt. "And you couldn't tell me this because?"

"You could say that the presentation was needed for this. You know, certain things need to be shown in order to be believed." Jade shrugged. It wasn't a satisfying explanation, but more than he expected. "We just need to make sure you know how important this is. You delivering the ring changes more than you'd think, and the fact you already decided to return it has set some stuff in motion."

"And we want to make sure that it goes well. Which meant making sure the gravity of it got to you first." Dave leaned against a wall casually. "No pressure, of course."

"Yeah, none whatsoever. If that's the case then, maybe you tell me where to bring it? I certainly don't have a clue." Karkat pointed at them accusingly, narrowing his eyes as well. "And I mean actually leading me there visibly with the others. I'm not going to look crazy anymore in front of them."

"Fair enough." Dave didn't even put up a fight, moving off the wall. He did get close for a few seconds, voice becoming serious. "Remember; we aren't joking about any of this. One thing goes wrong…"

Karkat saw Dave's form flicker between a child, a teenager, and an adult version of himself. All of them looked wounded, damaged in some kind of way. It sent a message.

"Crystal. Can somebody send me back now?" Karkat wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. "I'm ninety percent sure my friends are going to be panicking if they don't hear from me soon enough. Even if I have to suffer some jokes about being kidnapped by a dog."

"Sure. Bec, can you take him back where he was? His friends are going to be worried." Becquerel responded to Jade's call, appearing beside the halfa instantly. "Make sure to close your eyes when he starts glowing. You'll see things you don't want to if you don't."

Karkat wordlessly touched the top of Bec's head, disappearing in a glow of green light. The two were relieved at how well the meeting went. Dave sent a look towards Jade.

"You think we're doing the right thing here? Trusting him to do this?" Dave squeezed a hand on the handle of his sword, which he'd been able to hide the entire time. "I know this was my idea, but level with me here."

"We won't know anything until this is all over. We'll have to wait." Jade had supported this plan, even if some of the others hadn't. "He didn't attack us on sight, so maybe we'll probably be fine."

"Yeah. Yeah, you got a point." Dave sighed, rubbing at his forehead. "Just a lot of things to consider. A lot of ways it could go down even before some of the more crucial bits."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If we're in a Doomed Timeline, we'll know it and be able to prepare for it." Jade clapped her friend on the back with a big smile. "Isn't that right, Dave?"

The glare she received was worth any silent treatment he was going to give here.

Yeah, this one is kinda going to be an original arc on its own. It will contain some elements of what would turn out to be a later episode (and I mean season three later) but otherwise will be something new. I'm not sure how it'll play out, but judging from how I paced this, it will be a four parter.

Either way, other than this, I do have some stuff planned for some of my readers. Make sure to keep an eye out, but I won't say anything until I figure out some of the logistics.

Either way, I hope you all enjoy and that I see you all next chapter.