The slight argument by the two lowbloods had Gamzee worried. He was trying his best to not seem like a threat. He wasn't a threat, he wanted to keep Karkat safe. Gamzee had expected to be long dead after his training and all the horrific things he had seen trolls that were off the hemospectrum get subjected to. They were marred and either killed on sight or slowly bled out for their hue to be sold to painters. It wasn't a pleasant fate, even lowerbloods were willing to sell off trolls like this for hopes of a reward of riches beyond anything their cast had ever seen. He hoped Karkat was being careful. He hoped that no one else knew outside of their small circle. Gamzee looked down at the hand that had held Karkat only moments before. He had him, he had him right there in his grasp. He can't let him go again.

Soon enough the duo would come back and give Gamzee some actual good news for once, They would head out to Karkat's hive so he can get patched up and so they can talk. Gamzee's hand itched to reach out and touch Karkat again, to pull him in against his skin. Just have that tangible feedback that this was reality. It was nice, if only a bit surprising. He could tell that Sollux was as happy with his presence. He couldn't exactly blame him. It was still slightly frustrating.

Regardless they started back towards the hive and Gamzee couldn't help but hover over Karkat every so often. Just wanting to be close, but he wasn't going to squeeze his way between Karkat and Sollux being almost shoulder to shoulder. I may have looked peculiar the way this troll followed like a lost little puppy. But he couldn't help himself, his purple eyes glued on Karkat. Glancing to Sollux every so often since he would get side eyes right back. Gamzee was told they would have to go through the back of the hive due to not scare others that Karkat may be living with.

That was… strange. He wondered if it was normal for lowbloods to live with each other. Most high bloods wouldn't trust anyone outside their own quadrants to be that close while they are in the most vulnerable state like sleeping. Things really have changed since he has scurried off to his own little world. At least that was what things felt like. Maybe it was always like this and he had just been so out of the loop that it was now new to him. Part of him had regret for these past sweeps, even though he had no real control of what happened to him. Yet all he could feel was guilt.

The hive they made it to looked quite different from the one he remembered in pictures. It must have been new. It was larger and seemed to be in the middle of this town, not skirting it. He wondered if Karkat felt better with all these trolls around? Could he ever feel relaxed around another troll with everything going on? Would he feel okay even being around a troll like Gamzee? So many things started to rush through the clown's head as he stepped up. Even with how much larger the hive was Gamzee was forced to bend down to fit in, with his height and then horns on top of that this is all too common. Lowblood hives are not meant for trolls like him.

It really seemed like Karkat was doing extremely well for himself. Honestly, Gamzee was proud of his small ex moirail. Or maybe ex? He really wasn't completely sure what their relationship was. He did receive a few little paps from Karkat before, but that may be because he was scared of what Gamzee may do. He wasn't excited about telling Karkat everything but he needed to be up front. He had read a bit through the logs, so he knew sort of about Karkat's operation, but he couldn't read too far back without getting extremely upset. Karkat had held on so long. The trio snuck through the kitchen and into Karkat's block, Gamzee didn't see another troll but he guessed that was a good thing. He knew he would scare the absolute shit out of anyone with half a pan. Even seadwellers were weary of some purple bloods. They all made it to the hive block and Gamzee settled himself down in the closest cushion slab he could find so he wasn't so hunched over. It was starting to hurt his back honestly.

The air was filled with so much silence that it weighed everything down and made it feel hard to breathe at times. Sollux would glance from Gamzee to Karkat and vice versa. It was a three way staring contest that none of them really wanted to break from. Karkat settled down close to the Clown, sitting to his right so they could talk, while Sollux leaned on the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest and his expression soured. There was finally a clearing of the throat from said yellow blood.

"Well 'GZ' what do you have to th-ay for your-th-elf? You have been gone for three fucking th-weep-th. Got any excu-th-e-th?" Sollux did air quotes with his fingers when saying Gamzee's nickname. Emphasizing that he really didn't buy that he was the real deal.Gamzee honestly didn't expect this much push back from him of all trolls. Granted he rarely spoke to the yellow blood back in the day. He was hesitant to recount the atrocities he had committed in that training camp. The lives he took on a whim.

"I uh, shit brother puttin me on the spot like that." Gamzee sighed and he looked at Karkat for a moment, tired and worried. But he looked down and shook his head. "I got asked, well not really asked, they didn't take no for an answer. So I guessed motherfuckin forced into Subjugglator trainin. Been there for the last three sweeps, got out about a week or two ago, when I first messaged back." His explanation brought back the silence.

"You've got to be shitting me" Karkat spoke this time, just staring at the purple blood before him. "How the absolute fuck did they drag you into that?!" He hissed standing up, even standing Gamzee was almost his height, but that didn't deter him at all. "So you came here even though you work for the damn empire? Are you fucking stupid? Not just putting my life in danger but she will fuck you up if she hears about this. Hears about any of this! Well one thing didn't change, your goddamn self preservation skills." Karkat growled and hissed at him. But Gamzee could tell that he wasn't really speaking what was on his mind. His anger wasn't really towards all this.

"Karbro-"

"Don't you 'Karbro' me! Here I am worried fucking sick for sweeps Makara. Do you hear me! SWEEPS! You couldn't have messaged or something? Called out for some sort of help? We could have done something, helped you escape. God just look at you, at least you are eating but you look like nothing but scars. What did they do to you there? Put you through a damn meat grinder?" He kept shooting back at him, not giving Gamzee or Sollux a word in. He was angry, he was hurt. Knowing Gamzee was alive almost hurt worse than him being dead. Knowing he had been trapped in some place that left him like this. All those scars, even some fresher wounds still on him. In the middle he started to feel his eyes water, but he wasn't going to stop.

Gamzee stayed quiet as he was yelled at, spoken to about how much Karkat missed him, how much his disappearance had hurt him. But Gamzee had no control in that situation, what could he have done? He had already asked himself that much more times than he could count. So he got a tad bit agorvated, even though he saw the tears.

"I tried, I motherfucking tried! Every day there was hell! I couldn't have sopor I damn sure wasn't allowed my husktop or even a palm husk. I didn't even want to motherfucking fight. I got beat within an inch of my life nightly but I stuck through it because I was supposed to get here. I lived so I could come here and see my best motherfuckign friend" He growled back some, baring his teeth in frustration and anger, something he had never done in the past. Not with Karkat. He caught himself, realizing he was now standing over the much smaller troll, growling his words. His claws clenched into fists."I… I tried Karkat"