Okay! Here it is! Later than ever, my apologies! I was just really really busy with tech week for my school's musical, so I didn't have a lot of time. Im sorry! Also, I realized I had an error w/ Karkats trollian/pesterchum name thingie (totally my fault, turns out I've been reading it wrong the whole time…) And so…yeah. OH! I wanted to thank aimlessNovelist who has been an awesome reviewer, and always keeps me on my heels for updates! So here ya go guys:

John's POV:

The whole way there, Karkat kept grumbling about his moirail. When he was exceptionally exasperated in his complaining, he hands would fly into the air and wave around as if he were trying to brush away the annoyance. I smiled to myself at his exasperation, he kept getting so worked up about it and it was positively adorable.

"Now let me tell you, John Egbert, because even though you may have been on this planet before and met a few trolls, Gamzee is fucking insane. You know that sopor in my reacouperacon that helps me sleep at night? Yeah? Well Gamzee fucking ingests the shit. He makes it into pies and shit and eats it. I have no idea whatever gave him that fucking ludicrous idea, but now his think-pan is all sloshed up and melted in his thick skull. He does weird fucking shit and is just…..really dumb I guess." At the end of his rant, Karkat was running his hands through his unruly hair, staring blankly at the ground. I smiled and patted my trolly friend on the back.

"It's okay; I think I'll be able to handle him!" Karkat stares at me like I've grown three heads.

"You haven't even met him yet, how do you know you'll be able to handle his bat-shit insanity?" I shrugged my shoulders and looked away from Karkat, thinking about my whole life on Earth.

"I've probably seen worse." I said quietly. Karkat didn't say anything after that, and I wondered about how much of my life he'd seen. The rest of the way to Gamzee's hive was silent.

#0#

We walked up to a large, tall building with a bright green door. Karkat was still grumbling to himself and had on his best 'I-am-so-pissed-off-holy-fuck' face as he went up to the door, knocking upon its brightly colored wood.

"Uh, j-just a, uh, second!" a muffled voice came from inside. Karkat groaned and face palmed.

"Jegus Christ, not him!" I was surprised when the door opened to a small, meek looking troll with long, bull-like horns coming out of the side of his head.

"Oh! Uh, hi, Karkat! And, uh, friend, I guess….um, Come in!" The little troll blushed a tan color as he stepped back to let us in. I punched Karkat in the shoulder in exasperation. Gamzee was adorable!

"Karkat! Gamzee is absolutely nothing like you said he would be!" I crossed my arms and frowned at him. Karkat visibly stiffened and gave me a strange look before crying out in annoyance and throwing his arms into the air.

"THIS ISN'T GAMZEE YOU FUCKWAD!" I just rolled my eyes and looked to the troll whose expression seemed a bit taken back by Karkat's out-burst.

"Well if he isn't Gamzee then who the hell is he, Karkat?!" I said, equally irritated now. This was getting a bit out of hand in my own, personal opinion.

"Oh! Um, hi! My name is, uh, T-Tavros!" Karkat slumped his shoulders and sighed as if this ordeal was the worst thing to ever grace is all-knowing presence.

"See? I fucking told you." I elbowed Karkat in the ribs, but decided to otherwise completely and blatantly ignore him.

"Well, then. My apologies, Tavros. It is very nice to me-" Suddenly the door closed sharply behind us and hands gripped my face from behind me, cutting off my vision.

I immediately began struggling, kicking and screaming for my life. I hated feeling like I was trapped, and right then I felt like I was trapped. I was sure someone was trying to kidnap me. My heart was beating faster than it had ever been in my life. I screamed and held out my arms, reaching desperately for something to grab onto.

"K-Karkat! Help me!" I cried out, tears beginning to well up in my eyes. What if this person kidnapped me and I would never be able to see Karkat again, so soon after I had finally found him?

The world just as suddenly came back to me as strong hands gripped my wrists and pulled me out of the grip of my captor. I saw Karkat, eyes wide and seething with anger. I didn't care if he was mad at me though; I threw myself at him and buried my face in his shoulder.

"Holy fucking Christ. Why in the LIVING HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT GAMZEE?!" I heard a soft chuckle from behind me.

"Man, there's no need to get your panties all up in a motherfuckin' twist bro! I was just surprising a cute little motherfucker." I slowly turned around to face an exceptionally tall and skinny troll; he had face paint all over his face, a grin plastered to his clown-like expression. Was this some kind of sick joke?

This "Gamzee" character bent over and frowned, staring at me. I coward back and found myself in Karkat's arms. I felt my cheeks flush slightly at this and looked to the ground, trying to avoid him.

"Aw, I'm motherfuckin sorry if I scared you bro, I never all up and meant to!" I sighed and stepped forward, away from Karkat and closer to Gamzee, who still terrified me, but less so since I put a face to the strange guy.

"It's alright. I guess I kind of over reacted, too. Truce?" I held out my hand and smiled at the lanky troll. Gamzee stared at my hand, mesmerized. He crouched down so he was eye level with it, his mouth hanging open in awe.

"What the motherfuck is this? Your hand is all pink and tiny, bro. Did you know that?" I smiled and nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'm a human, so I don't have grey skin or horns." Gamzee straightened up, shaking his head back and forth.

"Motherfuckin miracles, bro." It was at this point in time Karkat decided to speak.

"Fuck. You. Gamzee, I already told you John was human! Great, and now that you know each other, yes very nice to see your perturbed face, nice to see you Tavros, we'll be on our merry fucking way." Karkat grabbed my hand and started towards the door, but Gamzee was faster and stepped in front of him, blocking the door.

"Come on, bro! Live a little! Haven't motherfuckin seen you since you got all up and depressed about not being able to find John-bro. But now you found him! So we can motherfuckin chill over a little pie, now can't we?" Gamzee asked eyes wide with hope. I smiled, prankster mood at one hundred percent.

"You got sad cause you couldn't find me?" Karkat flushed bright red, eyes widening with surprise. I giggled and nudged him the shoulder. His grumpy face was back and he shoved me to the side.

"Fine! I guess we'll fucking stay for a little while…" Gamzee smiled wide and stepped away from the door, towards Tavros, who was standing quietly in the corner.

"Miracles. Let's go over here!" Gamzee swooped and picked up Tavros bridal-style, walking him grandly into what appeared to be the living room.

"Ah! Uh, Gamzee! P-put me down!" Gamzee just smiled even wider and sat down on the couch, plopping Tavros into his lap. The cute little troll blushed slightly and sighed.

"Th-thanks Gamzee." Karkat and I sat on the other couch opposite theirs. Gamzee and Karkat launched into conversation; updating each other on the lives they had been living. Tavros stared awkwardly at me before sliding off Gamzee's lap and coming towards me.

"Do you, uh, want me to uh, show you around?" I smiled and stood up, saluting Tavros with my left hand.

"That would be lovely, comrade! Thank you!" Tavros smiled back and led me out of the living room, where Karkat and Gamzee continued talking as if we'd never left. We took a left down the hallway and started walking up a flight of stairs.

"So…you live with Gamzee?" Tavros blushed tan again and nodded his head shyly.

"Yeah. Uh, somebody burned down my, uh, hive one day. So Gamzee, uh, let me and my lusus stay with him." Tavros' smile was positively endearing, and I smiled back.

"Then is Gamzee always like this?" Tavros nodded again.

"Yes. Sorry about before! He, uh, can be a little hard to handle…..at times….but he's, uh, really nice!" Tavros smiled as he led me up to the top floor of the hive. We were in an attic of sorts; there were miscellaneous items strewn all over the hard wooden floor and a giant window streaming in pale fuchsia light from the Alternian moon.

"Well, this is, uh, the top floor. We don't really go up here cause, uh, it's kinda a mess. But it's, uh, got a nice view of the, uh ocean." Tavros' smile was small but bright as he walked over to the large, floor-to-ceiling contraption. Looking out was a view unlike any I had ever seen.

Below me was a color-laden world filled with houses and trees and shrubbery, cliffs and mountains and forests in such a variety of texture, content, and color it made my head swim! To the right of this magnificent view were dark waters painted with the purple reflection of the moon. I was in awe of its beauty, how could such a beautiful place have ever existed without a care in the world? I pointed excitedly to the water, gripping with my free hand Tavros' shoulder.

"Tavros! Is that…..is that the ocean?" Tavros nodded and sat down, holding his head in his hands as he stared at the view.

"Pretty isn't it?" I nodded my head vigorously and joined him on the floor. Staring at the waves crashing upon the sand of a nearby beach, I saw a giant white creature shoot out of the ocean's surface and then crash back into its depths. I gaped, wide eyed, at the magnificent beast. It slithered under the surface of the ocean's waves, coming closer and closer to the shore. Tavros yelped when I pointed out the beautiful creature to him and jumped into a standing position. He looked startled as he turned and started running towards the exit.

"Tavros! Is something wrong?" The boy turned around and smiled apologetically.

"No, uh not really, I'm sorry, this is just, uh really important to, uh Gamzee. I have to go, uh tell him!" I followed the worried troll all the way back down to the first floor, Where Gamzee and Karkat were still talking; Gamzee nodding his head knowingly while Karkat's hands were pulling through his hair in exasperation. They both looked up in surprise, but Gamzee was the first to speak.

"What's got your face all up and worrisome, Tavbro?"

"Goatdad is here."

#0#

Karkat's POV (a little while earlier):

I watched as Tavros led John away and up the stairs. I growled to myself and slumped my face into my hands. Something had to be wrong with me. Gamzee had stopped talking about how he'd gotten Tavros to try some of his pie and was staring at me with a rapt expression on his face.

"Come on, bro. I can practically hear ya all up and motherfuckin screamin your head off. Spill your motherfuckin guts, haven't had a good feelings jam in a while, have we?" I groaned and threw my head back in annoyance. The damn clown could practically read my thoughts, which I guess was probably a good thing if he was my moirail. I sighed and began my rant.

"Fuck it all to hell, Gamzee! I'm sick of all this feelings bullshit, it doesn't make any sense and it just keeps pushing through my think-pan more than a gog damned worm through the dirt. You know how I was! I had tried so fucking hard to get him back here! I attempted every little theory and experiment to push through the barrier and get him back over here, but nothing fucking worked. I had to just sit and watch him every, single, long, meticulous day just to make sure he was okay! And then that asshole took him away from his hive with all the strange little pink children with no lusus' and to that fucking scum bag shit wagon of a place. They did horrible things to him, Gamzee. Shit-brain crazy horrible things to him, and he couldn't do anything to change it! He was helpless to his tormentors, and I was helpless to help him. I couldn't save him. And then he started hurting himself because he couldn't handle it anymore, and it killed me, Gamzee! It fucking killed me! It felt like a huge hole was being ripped slowly through my chest cavity, ripping me to pieces as I watched him cave in on himself. And then….just when I'd lost any and all hope that I'd ever had…he was back. I don't know how he did it, Gamzee. He was just…there one second and here the next. All burnt up and scared, I could hardly believe it. Then, to add insult to injury, he was here, but he couldn't remember a Gog damned thing! He didn't have a fucking clue who he was, who I was, who his own fucking lusus was, hell he didn't even know what a lusus was! It was horrible. I felt horrible. It was all my fault.

"But then he started to remember, slowly, but surely. I showed him Impdad, and his hive, and it started coming back to him. And he just did the stupidest shit ever! He kept insisting I was with him every fucking minute of the live-long day, and it was infuriating. He even wanted me to sleep in his dumb little nest of blankets, which was insane because I had horrible dreams." I shuddered at the memory as images of John, dead and bleeding filled my mind. My hands were shaking and my pulse was at its peak as I told my story.

"And then he remembered me, and I thought I was…I don't know. Shit! I was just really fucking happy, okay? There I said it, Karkat the eternal grouch was actually fucking happy for once." Gamzee smiled lazily at me and shook his head with amusement

"Miracles, bro, mother fucking miracles." I rolled my eyes. Gog, not his miracle speech again. I'd definitely had enough of that.

"But I don't want to be happy, Gamzee. Cause I only get hurt when I'm happy. Everything hurts, and I don't know why. It's all just so fucking confusing and I can't fucking take it!" Gamzee sighed and walked over, sitting beside me and patted my head.

"The motherfucking red quadrant can up and do that to you, bro. Its motherfucking miraculous though." Gamzee starred off into space, but upon hearing his words I went rigid with fear. There was no way. Right? I couldn't possibly be flushed for John that would be stupid. He'd only been here for what, five days? How could I have possibly fallen red for him in such a short amount of time? Besides, there was no way in all Alternia he would ever feel flushed for me, so it would be pointless to think otherwise. I sighed and tried calming myself down. No. I wasn't flushed for John. There was no way.

"Fuck that, Gamzee. I don't think a red quadrant even fucking exists for me. I'm too much a mutant. I should be lucky I even managed to fill the pale quadrant!" Gamzee clucked his tongue, an action that seemed befitting one of those "mother hens" I'd heard about from observing John's Earth world.

"Don't get motherfucking down on yourself, Karbro! You're a freakin bitchtits guy! Any troll, or, I guess…pink human friend alien thing would be motherfucking happy to have you. You are the motherfucking miraculous shit, and I betcha that little pink friend of yours is all up and flushed for you to!" I felt my cheeks turning bright red and shook my head back and forth exasperated.

"Shit! Gamzee! This can't be fucking happening!" I cried out, pulling my hands through my hair in despair. Gamzee just chuckled and patted my head again.

"You just gotta motherfucking chill, bro."

Suddenly footsteps were heard running down the stairs and stopped abruptly in front of us. I looked up to find Tavros, looking quite worried, and John with his classic look of utter confusion plastered to his face.

"What's got your face all up and worrisome, Tavbro?" Tavros frowned and stared at Gamzee with a look that said it before he did.

"Goatdad is here."

#0#

The four of us went completely still for a moment, but just as suddenly as the two little cretins ran down the stairs, Gamzee was running out the door before any of us could stop him. I sighed and I got up, following him with Tavros close behind me. As I ran out the door, I heard John crying out "Wait! What's a….Goatdad?" I growled and turned to Tavros.

"You follow him, I'll be right behind you, I just have to get John or else he'll get lost or some shit." Tavros nodded and ran off after Gamzee. I sighed; I hope this didn't turn out like last time…

John was standing in the doorway, looking completely out of place. I growled and grabbed his hand, pulling him after me.

"Come on, asshole. We've got a moirail to save from himself." John groaned and threw his hands into the air.

"What do you mean? I'm so confused! Whose Goatdad and what the hell did he do to Gamzee to make him so upset?" my eyes widened as I realized what John had said; I hadn't anticipated him even having that much understanding of the situation at hand. I sighed and continued running towards the beach.

"You know how I have a lusus, and you have a lusus, and every troll on Alternia has a lusus, unless of course they are orphaned by unfortunate events?" John nodded his head.

"Well, Gamzee's lusus is none of those. He lives in the sea, even though Gamzee lives on the land, and hardly ever visits him. It's due to his lack of lusai instruction and protection that Gamzee became addicted to the sopor and got so messed up the way he did. So whenever Goatdad does visit Gamzee, my stupid moirail does everything he can to spend as much time with him as he can. But Goatdad always leaves, and Gamzee always feels abandoned afterwards. The two are never a good mix." John's expression softened and he nodded his head.

"That's really sad." John spoke quietly. I looked over my shoulder as I ran and saw a sad look in his cerulean eyes.

"That's life." I said bitterly, and we kept running.

When we finally reached the beach, Gamzee was holding Goatdad's head in his lap, talking to him softly. Tavros was standing a ways behind, not wanting to disturb the pair. I walked up to the bull-horned boy, catching my breath.

"How's it going?" Tavros cringed and sighed.

"As good as, uh, it can be, I guess…he's going to, uh, leave soon though." As if on cue, the giant sea-dwelling lusus lifted its giant head and softly nuzzled its face against Gamzee's. It was a strange sight to see; every time Gamzee was with his lusus, he reverted to the mindset of a child. He looked younger, more vulnerable at that time more than ever. As the giant began to move away, Gamzee stood up and reached out for him.

"No! Dad! Don't go, please!" I cringed; the desperation in his voice was pitiful. Goatdad turned away and started sinking back into the depths of the sea. Gamzee followed him into the water, toppling over and landing face first into its tides. Tavros stepped forward until he was at the water's edge, making sure Gamzee didn't go too far.

My moirail jumped up and started swimming after his lusus, but couldn't get very far due to his poor swimming capabilities. I sighed and ran towards the sea, taking off my shirt and diving in after him. I shuddered at the ice-cold waters of the sea, but kept swimming until I made it to my doggy-paddling friend.

"Gamzee, come on, it's time to go home." Gamzee turned to me, dark purple tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Bro! But…Goatdad! I've gotta find him!" I shook my head and wrapped an arm around Gamzee's too-thin waist.

"He's gone, Gamzee. He'll be back again, I promise. Now come on, we've gotta get you out of here before the sea-dwellers find us in here." Gamzee struggled, but he was weak from exerting himself. I managed to pull him back to shore without trouble, where he curled up into as tiny a ball of depressing troll flesh he could and let his purple tears flow from his bright yellow eyes. I waved Tavros over and together we got Gamzee standing and half-way back to normal. John followed us back to the hive, and stood quietly out of the way as Tavros and I changed Gamzee out of his wet clothes and wrapped him up in a blanket on the couch. I looked to Tavros as he sat, stroking Gamzee's hair as the poor guy slept.

"Will you be okay if I leave?" Tavros nodded his little head, smiling slightly.

"Yeah. I'll uh, contact you, if, uh, he needs you." I nodded my head and led John out of the hive and back onto the street.

"Well that was quite the eventful day, wasn't it?" John nodded, but something about him was off again. He wasn't smiling; he just looked sad. I stopped and turned him to face me. I thought about what Gamzee had said earlier, and immediately regretted it. I fought my own blush, and patted John on the head, trying to copy Gamzee's soothing gesture.

"What's wrong you dumb-butt?" John's lips curved into an amused smile and shook his head.

"It's nothing, I'm all good. Let's just go home." I nodded and wrapped an arm experimentally around his shoulders, holding him close to let him know I was there if he needed me, although I'm sure he already knew that. Ugh. This was stupid. I was being stupid. Whatever made me think this would ever work? I growled to myself and started to pull my arm away, but John rested his head on my shoulder and we continued walking.

Maybe I wasn't as dumb as I thought.

Alright. Tell the truth, now. How was Gamzee and Tavros characterization wise? I felt like Tavros wasn't very good. I'm sorry this chapter was kind of a sad one, but it will get even more depressing far into the future, so watch out folks. Love you all and Review to let me know if you liked it!