And here we go again! These next two chapters will be a sort of break from the main story, focusing more on worldbuilding. Then we get to the more serious stuff again.

I'll explain who is replacing who at the end of this chapter. Either way, I'll see you all at the end!

Karkat, when he wasn't doing schoolwork or dealing with his new hobby of fighting ghosts, usually had a lot of time to think. This was especially apparent as he simply zoned out while Horuss worked on the portal.

It would be pretty obvious to people that knew him, if they themselves weren't busy doing their own thing, that he was still digesting the Serket incidents.

Primarily, his obsession crazy moment.

Despite the amount of shit that had been going on in his life, time was still a thing he paid attention too. And it had been one month since the accident occurred, including his death, powers, and all the ghosts that came with it. It felt longer in some cases, shorter in others, but it was still a month.

But out of everything that happened, coming in second to his own fucking temporary death, the obsession crazy moment stayed with him the most. It had come back to him in bits and pieces later, when everything calmed down enough, and everyone could breathe normally.

Every memory of it was clouded by one emotion: rage. Unrestrained, cold, calculating rage. Karkat wasn't unfamiliar with that feeling. He was an angry, temperamental person, so it was something he would feel commonly.

But those few moments, remembering the burning feeling flowing in his veins, power flitting through his fingers, and the terrified look on Aranea's face as he prepared to chop her fucking head off, he couldn't compare it to his usual bouts of anger. Hell, he couldn't reconcile the fact that the person doing those things were himself.

Of course, it was him. There was no disputing that fact, especially since two other people saw him about to kill someone in broad daylight. And didn't that kill him in a different way.

The thing about the accident was that he hoped that it wouldn't change him. Sure, after finally accepting that things had went this way, he knew things weren't going to be the same. However, he did expect that, spooky little powers aside, he'd still be the same guy throughout it all. As long he had complete control, he'd be fine.

In that moment, there wasn't any control. Just rage.

He had an obsession now. Was there any turning back on this now?

"…Vantas?"

Karkat snapped out of his funk, blinking rapidly at the sound of Horuss's voice. "Yeah?" He made it sound like he hadn't been thinking about his existence and rapidly spiraling. "Something wrong man?"

Horuss hesitantly darted his eyes towards the portal, frown growing the slightest bit before answering. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say yes. I might not be able to continue working on this portal any longer."

"What?" Sollux, having been busy working on his laptop, closed it quickly. "What's the issue? I thought messing around with technology was a whole part of your powerset."

"Sollux!" Aradia swatted the back of his head. She gave a comforting smile towards the Zahhak. "Sorry, he's been testy since the concert stuff. He doesn't mean what he said."

"No, he has a point there. It is within my powerset." The ghost rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "But I think I can say with the utmost confidence that this device has bested me."

"How?" Karkat somehow knew something like this was going to happen, but he'd been pushing that thought away and considering it just his natural pessimism slipping through. "Did my dad put in some weird fail switch?"

"Not exactly." Horuss took a deep sigh, an actual annoyed look passing onto his face as he looked over in the portal's direction again. "Your father's design, while genius in the fact that it works, is still very complicated and nearly insane. Building a device such as this requires a lot of complex machinery behind it. Plenty of things that rely on each other, not only to work, but to also make sure it doesn't implode in on itself."

"…The portal can't be turned off without something going wrong." Sollux said it as a statement rather than a question. "If you don't turn it off the exact right way, it'll explode and possibly cause an even worse disaster."

Horuss nervously nodded. He looked embarrassed and even slightly guilty.

"What about your powers though?" Aradia tried to find the loophole, hopping on one foot to another. "Isn't there some way you can use them?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid even my control is limited." The ghost shrugged, seemingly already giving up in the face of the losing battle. "The nature of the technology actually makes it harder for me to control it. And since I'd need precision in order to turn it off, otherwise disaster is sure to follow."

Horuss looked away too, looking even more guilty then before. "There's also to another matter that I've been investigating since I've gotten here. It turns out your father, after finding out the secret of opening up portals, started on something else."

"What kind of project?" Karkat knew he should've been paying attention to his dad more, but he'd been busy and hadn't had the time to check in on his inventions for a while. "Wait, you've been looking into my dad's plans?!"

"Only a little!" Horuss raised his hands defensively. "It was only just in case he invented any better ectoplasm detection devices. I happened to stumble on a few concerning ones."

The three patiently waited for him to continue as he pulled out a rectangular device, pushing a button that caused it to glow. A light beamed out, showing a schematic for something that looked like…

"Your father was working on a mini-portal this entire time." Horuss messed with the blueprints more, showing a "complete" product. It looked sleek and thinner than the original model. "This was most likely to better show off to people at his apparent showing. Even if we turned off the original one, it looks like he already has a portable version waiting in the wings."

If the morale in the room hadn't already been low, that little revelation would've sent it plummeting. From what they could tell, the portable portal would've only worked for an hour at most. However, that was enough to catch attention. Enough to show that Spades tech worked to people that would actively want to study it.

The plan was fucked no matter how you put it.

"God damnit." Karkat slumped into an open chair rubbing at his temples. So much for that plan. Looks like he was screwed after all. He looked up at Horuss, making sure to let him know it wasn't his fault. "You did your best. Thanks for the help on that. Any good news?"

Zahhak did nod at that, a small smile moving onto his face. "I've been studying those little artifacts you handed me in my spare time and while some things have yet to be unraveled, I have made a significant amount of progress."

Karkat numbly nodded, trying to let that positivity enter his system. He almost felt his body reject it, but that was neither here nor there. "Good. Knowing how those tick might prevent other ghosts from slipping by here unnoticed in the future."

"I just hope that's a rare thing. Can't imagine what it'd be like if a more powerful ghost got their hands on something like that." Aradia looked at her friends warily. "What do we do with those things after we figure them out? I don't know if we can give them back to the Serkets."

"Hopefully, they only work on them. That way we can just tuck them away and forget about them." Sollux was doing his best to distract everyone before a thought occurred. "Hey, have we heard anything from Terezi about them just yet? I mean, she did take them to her mom, but we don't know what happened to her."

"That's because I've been busy, Captor."

The four jumped as Terezi lazily floated through the portal opening, rubbing at her eyes. She looked positively tired, almost literally dragging her feet on the floor. Her cane scratched at it for her, though.

"Morning to you too, Pyrope." Sollux chuckled, ignoring the glare sent his way. "Somebody wake up on the wrong side of the dragon's hoard?"

"Your mother's been running you ragged, huh?" Aradia winced, noticing the full extent of her state. "Sorry about that. I guess the whole Serket thing has made things hard at home?"

"Not really at home, but it's definitely been busy at work." Terezi floated towards Karkat, stopping herself from yawning. "I intern at my mom's courthouse and their little stunt has my mom on overdrive." She stopped in front of the halfa, handing him a piece of paper. "Also, here's this."

Karkat plucked the parchment out of her hand, a confused expression falling onto his face. It looked official, the glowing parchment giving it an eerie quality that he wasn't sure how to feel about. From what he could tell, it was saying that…

The halfa blinked. "I'm being summoned to court? Wait, are the Serket's suing me?!"

"No, fuck that." The draconic girl waved off his panic, settling into a chair and relaxing into it. "They were judged to be in the wrong here. You are being summoned as a witness to their behavior and my mom wants to be as thorough as possible. I didn't tell her everything about what happened, though, so this might be a roundabout way of interrogating you."

"Yeah, that's so much better to hear." Sollux pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath. "Jesus Christ, Karkat's getting summoned to ghost court. The universe really likes to top off the latest weird thing to happen to us periodically, doesn't it?"

"I'm guessing we aren't invited." Aradia's expression got a little bit worried, looking between Karkat and the portal. "And none of us have actually been inside the infinite realms before. This might be the first time any of us will step inside of it."

Karkat twitched at the mention of it, trying to avoid everyone turning their looks toward him. That was true, even if he wished Aradia hadn't said it. Despite having a record of four different friends inside the Ghost Zone, none of them had made any effort of trying to get inside. Admittedly, for two out of three of them, it was due to the fact they couldn't fly.

For Karkat? He simply didn't think about it. The idea just seemed to be off limits and he simply didn't try to go in, even though he was the one to most likely survive in there. Of course, that didn't mean he wanted to.

He couldn't help but feel a fuckton of fear anytime he looked into the portal for too long. He did think that anything that spawned the likes of Horuss, Terezi, and Skulker was most likely dangerous, but really it was simply due to the fact that portal fucking killed him. He didn't want it to be the source of his death again.

"What happen if I don't show up?" Karkat's eyes darted to Terezi. "I mean, she can't really force me to come there. Hopefully."

"Then she might have to let the Serkets go. Nepeta and I might be good enough as eyewitnesses, but we did have to mention that another ghost helped us. And my mother is anything but careless about procedure." Terezi looked at him sympathetically. "Sorry Karkles but looks like your first visit into the Infinite Realms is for business."

Karkat took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, eyes flicking back towards the portal. Okay, that wasn't really ideal. Actually, this wasn't close to ideal in the slightest. They were really expecting him to just jump in there and pretend he knew everything about the place. Or that he was even remotely like anyone else in there.

"If I may say something," Horuss started, causing everyone to jump. They almost forgot about him for a second. "I do believe you're imagining the Infinite Realms to be worse than it actually is. I will admit to it being somewhat lawless for the most part, but there are plenty of civilized places within it. Not everyone there is like Skulker."

"…He's got a point, KK." The Captor didn't look happy to admit that, but it wasn't like there was anything else they could do. "If she lets the Serkets go, there's no telling what kind of damage they could do on their own. They might even come back and try and get revenge if they aren't punished."

"This could even be a research mission too!" Megido piped up, the suggestion bringing up some kind of interest among them. "You get to see how ghost society actually does law. And some actual architecture too! Imagine what a ghost court looks like."

Karkat wanted to protest against that, but they both had a point. The Serket's were dangerous when left unchecked and he didn't want to see what would happen if they were actively vengeful. Not to mention his studies on ghosts would benefit from seeing one their courts in action.

Karkat checked the clock. It was still pretty early in the morning and his dad wouldn't be home all day. Final preparations. He was apparently calling in some favors at the activity center to hold his presentation/reunion there.

"Fine." He put down his backpack, grabbing his journal on ghosts out before he could change his mind. "That just means if I double die, it's on your head Pyrope."

"As long you use common sense, you'll be fine." She waved it off. She pointed at the other kids, waving at them vaguely. "Hold down the fort for us. This might take all day, so get comfortable."

"I'll get the snacks." Sollux rose up, though he said one final thing before Karkat slipped into the portal. "Don't get your ass killed. If you do, I'll Frankenstein the hell out of your corpse."

"I'll probably just do a séance myself." Aradia joked, waving goodbye. It was hesitant and neither human would admit to finding this nothing less than nerve wracking.

Karkat only nodded back before facing the portal, bright rings going across his form. After fully turning into Phantom, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted into the portal.

He really hoped Future Karkat wouldn't be pissed at this decision.

The halfa wasn't sure what to expect of the Ghost Zone when he finally went inside of it. If he had to take a guess, though, he'd say it was somehow exactly he imagined it as a kid, but also different in the strangest ways.

As for what he got right, it was mostly the feeling of abject emptiness within it. Or maybe it was the realization of its scope. He figured a land of the dead would be intimidating in size, eerily deep and almost incomprehensible. And that many of the creatures within it would only get stranger the further he went inside it.

Like the ocean, in a strange way. He always wanted to study it, to find out more about the creatures in it. Humans have traveled further into space than their own oceans and he wanted to be the first to change that.

In a way that was similar to the ocean, but contrary to what he thought the Ghost Zone would be like, there were plenty of dead cities in it.

While nothing of note was too close to the portal, the farther he went in with Terezi as his guide, the more signs of civilization popped up. Usually it was the occasional "ghost lair" that Pyrope away from, but there were occasionally other kinds of buildings he could see in the distance.

Karkat could even see a city way off, with building that looked like they came from Greece. He'd asked about it, almost joking about how it could be Atlantis and that people were looking for it in the wrong places

Terezi corrected him in saying that it was a ghostly version of Pompei. Apparently sites where mass amounts of death occurred sometimes caused the populations to appear en masse.

She warned him not to go there on its "death day." He didn't bother questioning why that was.

Karkat regretted not bringing more pencils with him. If he stayed in here any longer, he'd sharpen the one he brought in with him until it was a nub.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for them to actually find the courthouse with Terezi at the wheel. It didn't make sense to Karkat at first, but he figured if he made more expeditions in here he could make a map. Though, that thought was put to the wayside when he drank in the scenery.

The courthouse itself looked a little like the United States Supreme Court building, though with a more gothic twist, like it came straight out of an evil alternate universe. With four columns supporting the building, the two at the opposite sides of the building had dragon statues wrapped around, heads outstretched to look into the depths of the Ghost Zone. Their eyes were a deep red.

As for the carvings, they depicted more monstrous ghosts sitting together, speaking as a figure in the middle stared outwards as well. The only thing was they were all blindfolded. Under those carvings, a saying was etched into the stone.

Justice for All, At Any Cost.

"Ominous, I know." Terezi laughed at the slightly freaked out look from Karkat. "But that's my mom for ya. She's an awesome lady who hunts down criminals, but she has the weirdest dramatic sense."

"Is that where you get it from?" He said it sarcastically, but he figured that explained a lot about her. He looked at the closed black doors, on edge. "Can you tell me what to expect in there? I haven't been to a lot of courthouses in the human world."

The scaly ghost shrugged. "I can't really say. It can get pretty intense in there, but it's not like she'll hang you from the rafters as soon as you walk in." A thought did seem to occur to her, causing her to shift into serious mode. "One suggestion, though; do not lie to her directly. She can tell practically instantly if you're actively trying to lie. If you have to trick her, speak in half-truths, or lie by omission. Trust me, I wouldn't have gotten away with anything if I didn't know any of that."

Karkat nodded, mulling that over. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind." He floated towards to door before putting his hands tentatively on the handle. "Alright, here we go. Wish me luck."

As soon as he opened the door, he was met with a cacophony of noise, hitting him like a wave. The sight in front of him almost knocked him back as well.

A congregation of ghosts littered the benches leading into the building, all on black wood and watching raptly as a court case seemed to be finishing up. The walls leading towards the front were covered in red curtains, giving him flashbacks to the few times he watched Twin Peaks with his dad. However, they stopped when they reached the gates leading towards the actual court.

The only strange thing about it was the one person standing at the judges table and god did it show how much Terezi looked like her mother.

The uniform was similar, and they shared as similar haircut, but the uniform looked much older, intimidating while the hair was jet black. She looked more serious as well, face hidden in the shadows as she towered over most of the people in the room. Two red eyes glowed from that darkness, slit pupils looking over the latest defendant with a blank stare.

They looked probing, as if searching for all the answers within the trembling man.

"Ms. Redglare," The defendant had a deep voice, though it sounded higher due to the stress he was obviously under. "I-I get why my word isn't exactly trustworthy to you, but I've served my time in the living world. I don't… I don't get I must-"

"Zachariah," Redglare's voice cut through his protesting, sharp teeth seen briefly as she reigned in a scowl. "Your history in the living world, while useful in weighing in on the verdict, is not what you're being tried for. You are being tried for the amount of attempted murders you tried to commit ever since you've arrived here."

"But those were all self-defense!" The man cowered as Redglare narrowed her eyes. "Ok, ok, not all of them were. But we're all dead here, why does that even matter? Plus, I was only targeting some people, I wasn't just going around and-"

"Zachariah," She said his name much more roughly, voice lilting towards dangerous. "Just because this happens to be your afterlife doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want. This place, despite what you think, has laws. While not everyone acknowledges those laws due to the vast expanse of the Infinite Realms, that doesn't mean they're immune to it under territories that do recognize it. And since you've committed these crimes in them, that means you are subject to being judged for them."

"This isn't fair!" It was honestly pathetic watching an attempted murderer start to whine like a spoiled child, but Karkat would admit that looking into Redglare's eyes would make anyone feel like a scared kid. "You don't even rule this territory! You can't just-"

"I can enforce the law because the people here give me the power too." Redglare pulled out a pulsing cube, eyes narrowing. "I'm declaring your verdict, Zachariah. Since you are not only a present danger to everyone within this territory with your violent tendencies, and your apparent unwillingness to change them, you will be incarcerated until further notice. We'll see if you shape up after 40 years."

"Wait, don't-"

A flash of light from the cube silence further protest, the ghost disappearing instantly. The crowd hushed at the display, shifting in their seats. Redglare looked out to the crowd.

"Case dismissed."

The ghosts got up to mingle, while other groups moving out in a hurry. He suspected that they were friends with that guy who got 40 years. He couldn't think on it too much as while he was distracted by the variety of ghosts here, Terezi pulled him by the sleeve of his hazmat suit.

If it weren't for the fact Redglare was so fucking tall, Karkat wouldn't have been able to tell that he'd gotten closer to her until Terezi started to speak.

"Hey, mom. I brought that guy I mentioned that was involved with… well, y'know what I'm talking about." The scaly girl's casual way of speaking to her mother almost felt inappropriate considering the earlier display, but they are family. "All of them. Including Nepeta's stuff."

"Is that so?" Her tone was a lot softer and when her gaze turned to him, it wasn't out of suspicion or malice. It only comforted Karkat a little, as he knew she could lock him up in that box anytime. Redglare's eyes wandered over his form. "Have to admit, I wasn't sure what to expect. A little on the scrawny side."

Indignance washed over Karkat, but he held his tongue. "I hear that a lot." It came out nervous, something he couldn't help but kick himself for. "And to be fair, I had some help stopping all of that stuff."

"It doesn't sound like that was the case during your little stint with Skulker." Ms. Pyrope (which he hoped he could call her without being smite where he stood) was almost amused. "What made you want to fight a walking armory so much, anyway?"

"He had a teenage girl in a cage. Who wouldn't want to throw hands after seeing that?" The sarcasm came out before his mind caught up with his mouth. "Plus, he was defeated by a gorilla instead of me or Nepeta, so the scoreboard isn't exactly decided there."

"True, true." Redglare chuckled. Karkat almost dared himself to think he passed some sort of test, though he remained on his toes. "Though I'm not here to question you about that. Or the incident involving my daughter's amulet either."

Terezi winced at that. Looks like her mother had caught on after all.

"I'm guessing since my daughter brought you here that you already know what this is about?"

"Yeah. You want me as a witness for the Serket's trial to help determine a punishment." Karkat shuffled his feet, still trying his best to be respectful. "Since I'd rather they didn't come barreling out of the Ghost Zone for revenge, I figured it would best I came here."

"Not like they'd get out of here for long. Then we can have attempted murder on their rap sheet." Terezi scoffed, though quieted at the look from her mother. "Hey, it's true. Cool band names or not, they pulled some shit."

"Kids these days and their taste in music." Ms. Pyrope tutted, though it was in good nature. It was switched quickly to something more fitting to her title as judge. "Though, I'm ashamed to admit, the Serket case isn't the only problem here- Mr. Phantom, is it?"

"Just Phantom is fine." Karkat straightened up at that. Of course there was something else to this crap. "What else did you want to talk about?"

"I suppose I want to know why you seem to hang out in the human world." She leaned forward, making sure he could look into her eyes. "Especially since, from what my daughter told me, there's actual ghost hunters within this "Amit Park."

…Yeah, that would be one of her first questions, wouldn't it? Karkat, even if knowing that made perfect sense, still felt his skin crawl. If it wasn't for Terezi's warning, he would've felt the urge to lie.

"There's a lot of stuff going on there and ghosts keep slipping through the portal. I've been trying to keep an eye on things." It was as close to the truth as possible, but he could feel her dissatisfaction with it.

Eyes narrowed only slightly at that admission, but Redglare left it at that. "I suppose I'll figure out more as this trial goes on." She flicked her eyes over to Terezi. "Are you willing to be his legal counsel as the trial goes forward? He is a key part of this."

"Wait, what?" Terezi went rigid herself, looking at her mom like she went crazy. "You're letting me participate? I thought I'd have to wait a few more years until I was allowed to do that."

"Considering you've brought in two criminals at your age, it seems like you're ready for this." Redglare didn't seem too surprised to see her daughters shock. "Of course, I can't play favorites here, so your sister's going to be defending the Serkets."

That took the wind out of the girl's wings, though not enough to dim the excitement completely.

Karkat was pretty sure this wasn't how human court was run, but he didn't feel like complaining. At least Terezi should know what to expect, or at least know how procedure is done.

Though he couldn't help but feel like he was still on trial here. Redglare's wayward glance towards him made him feel like bacteria under a microscope. About to be studied to hell and back.

"When do we exactly start this. I don't have a place to be, but just in case." His father wouldn't be home all day, but he didn't want to worry the others too much if he had to stay here a while. "Considering there's a good amount of shit to go through, I don't think it'll be a speedy trial."

"I figured you'd want to get this out of the way, so I kept the schedule clear. There aren't any other pressing trials right now, so," Redglare raised her hand, getting into a snapping motion. "Let's get this show started. Everyone's waiting for it."

When she snapped, Karkat could feel the entire courthouse move, yet somehow remain stationary. Even though he hadn't moved from his spot in front of Ms. Pyrope, he was suddenly at one of the tables, Terezi beside him. She didn't appear bothered by the sudden case of teleportation, even though he certainly was. Redglare was within her own seat, of course.

It was also the crowd behind them that bothered Karkat. Their chattering had suddenly turned to silence, a variety of eyes staring down the aisle at them. Redglare's comment about everyone waiting for this made him wonder if it was the trial itself that interested them, himself, or the rumor of the open portal. He really hoped it was the first one, because he doubted he could deal with the latter two.

Redglare stopped any further noise with a clearing of her throat, standing up.

"We stand here today, facing a particularly interesting trial. One that involves not only one of the territories you entrust me to enforce law in, but one that concerns the realm outside of this one." It was fairly dramatic, though there wasn't any mirth in it. All the attention was on her at this point. "As such, I'd like to make sure that everyone here follows the rules more so than usual. We have several special ghosts here today, on both sides of the bench."

She motioned towards Karkat. "On one end, we have the ghost called Phantom, the one bringing up most of the charges towards the defendants. He'll be represented by my youngest. Make sure to remember that she is as dangerous as I am and was able to help bring the defendants in."

"On the other hand though," She snapped her fingers once more and people could feel space change as the two Serkets appeared on the other side, another figure with them. She looked down at those two, as neutrally as she could. "We have our defendants. Aranea and Vriska Serket have been accused of mind control, mass panic, and assault of several people. All in the human world."

Murmurs rose up but fell quickly as Ms. Pyrope looked towards the crowd.

"We'll be figuring out how exactly to punish these two today. Especially since this is a special case." Redglare sat down, steepling her hands as she looked down towards the two tables. "And I think it's about time to begin."

Karkat gulped, ignoring the glare Vriska sent his way.

God, how did he get himself into this mess?

Yeah, Redglare is the Walker of this dimension. Maybe a little more forgiving, though just as law abiding. Lawful neutral would work.

Hopefully you all enjoy this and the upcoming court drama. See you all next chapter!