The two of them stayed out there under the starry sky, enjoying each other's company. They fed one another the tuna sandwiches (those were Karkat's favorite) Dave made in a semi-panicked rush and had a nice desert of multi-flavored jelly beans, the kind that range from flavors such as strawberry cheesecake to vomit although Dave was sure to pick out only the ones that tasted good. When it had finally gotten so cold that cuddling one another under a blanket couldn't help them, they packed their things and went back downstairs. 

Karkat took a relaxing, warm shower. His mind wandered to his life this past year. Like Dave said, he improved. A lot. He remembered those times when he would wake up in tears and shaking from dreams where he relived the senseless killing he used to do. The many faces of the innocent trolls that just happened to be taken under the control of The Persuader haunted his dreams. Those days he was too scared to walk out into the small living room and talk. No, instead he would stay locked in the room and allow his mind to toy with his latest nightmare. He'd allow himself to see Dave, the other Dave, standing there trying to convince him that he was better off gone. gone being either back on Beforus and working as a knight or dead. Either was fine just as long as he wasn't here.

Then there were nights where his nightmares were worse. Nothing gruesome in his dreams. No bloodshed or violence of any kind instead it was something more emotionally painful. He'd have dreams of himself just sitting alone in his old hive. A pile of papers in one corner and a pile of scrap metals in the other. Those dreams he was slow in realizing what was going on. He'd call out their names. "Sollux...? Equius...?" When there was no response he would rise and wander around. Soon enough after he had walked into a couple of empty rooms he'd realize what happened. 

In those dreams Karkat would wake up slowly, it was as if his eyes didn't want to open. His face was fairly wet from the tears and his lower lip would quiver. His mind toyed with him and made him believe either one or both of his old quadrantmates were there. Sollux would have his head leaned against Karkat's shoulder, Equius would be holding his moirail's hand gently. The entire time Karkat would quietly sob to himself, apologizing over and over again. 

Those dreams were the worst.

But now he didn't mind them. Now they didn't hurt him as much as they did before. Now he has the confidence in himself and others to actually talk about this shitty dreams and feelings and thoughts he constantly had. And now, everyday he wakes up with a smile on his face grateful to have someone he can talk to and even though that someone doesn't always have a response at least he's there. 

Karkat turned the water off and stepped out. As he dried himself off Karkat glanced over at the window. It was all fogged up from his shower. He stared at it a moment before wiping it clean with his slightly damp towel. Now he could clearly see himself and his still badly scarred body. 

It isn't that bad.

Yeah, it wasn't. Now looking at it it wasn't that bad. He remembered looking at it before and being disgusted with his scars, every single one representing a dark moment from his life but it was over now. It was okay now. His eyes continued wandering over his body, scanning every brand and scar in sight. His finger tips eventually grazed over the brands on his arms, specifically the two that classified him as one of the most important trolls in Beforus. 

"Karkat? You still in there? I seriously have to piss dude, I can't hold it any longer." The troll pulled his hand away from the sign forever engraved in his skin and began gathering his things before wrapping a towel around his waist.

When he was n bed, Karkat stared blankly up at the ceiling. He was shirtless this time which felt weird to him, he was used to having himself covered it most of the time. Plus Dave hasn't really spent so much time staring at Karkat's bare chest to get used to seeing his scars so it may be a bit awkward for him as well.

The albino flopped down onto the bed, instantly attaching himself to his matesprits side. Dave's head rested atop Karkat's chest and he tried his hardest to not grimace at the scars.

"Karkat?" Dave spoke as he set his signature shades down on the bedside table just behind him. "Ya know, I was thinking the other day about today and about how things...are different. Fuck, I feel like I'm just repeating myself over and over again. Sorry. Okay, from the top. I was thinking about today and our friends, specifically your friends. Last time you saw your friends all together you were...you weren't in the best of places so I set up a sort of a reunion kind of shindig for you and your troll buddies. But that's not all! I figured that you'd want to 'reconnect' with everyone so after you have your troll party the rest of us will join. If that's okay. If any of what I just said is okay. This would all be tomorrow by the way, I kind of set literally everything up during my lunch break today." Dave looked up at Karkat hopefully. He really had his heart set on having Karkat patch things up with, well, everyone. He had done a fairly successful job at doing that with Sollux, Equius, and Kanaya but it there was still work to be done with the others.

"Okay." Karkat finally answered after a minute. He didn't see the harm in it. He did kind of owe Terezi and Vriska an apology from what he did the last time he saw them. He could probably apologize to everyone else as well. Aradia, Eridan, Tavros...

Gamzee.

Ugh. That name sent a shiver up his spine. It's been a year and just the thought of that maniac clown's name still fired him up. Like that one name brought back some part of the Peacekeeper. He wondered...what if...

No. You're better than that. You can behave yourself for one damn day.

Yeah. He could, and he was going to. 

It wouldn't be that bad.

~

"Ready Karkat?" Dave asked the troll who was currently just staring at himself in the mirror. "If not they can all wait a couple more minutes..." The chatter from the other room was loud and only making Karkat more nervous than he already was.

Don't be afraid.

He wasn't afraid. Karkat cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. Good enough. "I'm ready." He turned around to face Dave. The other nodded and took his hand, leading him out to the living room where the crowd of trolls waited eagerly. 

It was like Dave had frozen all time. As soon as Karkat stepped into the living room everyone froze. All conversation stopped and everyone turned to stare at the man of the hour. Karkat stood there awkwardly staring back at everyone. Finally someone was brave enough to break the silence.

"So is he safe to approach this time or am I going to have to hold a chair in front of me so he doesn't bite my head off this time?" Vriska asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Of course I'm safe, I'm not a fucking animal."

"That's debatable." Terezi nudged her moirail in the ribs before going over to hug Karkat. After that everyone else followed suit and hugged the Cancer troll although Karkat did tense up when a couple of trolls embraced him. 

When all that was done with Karkat sat down, the others sitting around him as if he was going to tell an elaborate story which was most likely going to happen considering more than half his friends knew nothing of who he used to be.

"So??" Feferi asked. She was sitting cross legged just in front of Karkat. Aradia was just beside her, their arms linked together.

"So...what?"

"So tell us everything!" The seadweller exclaimed, her shoulders rising up in excitement. "We haven't seen you in so glubbing long! Tell us everything!" Sollux, who was standing not too far from her nudged her thigh with her foot. "oh, right, if you're okay with it."

"Yeah...Yeah I'm okay with it. If anything I actually like talking about that shit at this point. I just don't know where to start."

"If I could offer a suggestion I would say just start with yourself." Karkat glanced over at Kanaya. "I am at a slight advantage, I know all about you and your previous lifestyle but our friends aren't exactly in the same boat as I so start with that." The red blooded troll nodded stiffly, staying quiet for a moment.

When he spoke again his words were awkward. His retelling of the story of his life was...uncomfortable in a way. It was hard to tell his friends who were now his friends again that in Beforus he had considered most of them wastes of perfectly good trolls. He didn't like saying it but, hey, they wanted to know his story and that was a part of it. 

As he told more and more of his story his words came flowing out easier. He sounded more passionate as he retold the time he had first laid eyes upon his soon to be matesprit (that had earned some understandable but still highly embarrassing teasing from his friends). When he spoke about his fights with The Purple blood and The Persuader his friends leaned forward, chins on their hands and elbows on their knees, hungry for more and more details of how his battles went down, although Gamzee did feel slightly awkward and maybe a tad bit guilty at hearing his 'other self' do that to his friend. Sounds of fear and shock emitted from the crowd as he told of days gone without food or water or sleep, just pure fighting. Finally, tears were most definitely shed by Karkat and his friends as he had to tell of the day he lost the two most important trolls in his life.

When he was done there was silence. A hand shot up into the air.

"I want to know more about us." Tavros spoke confidently. Karkat smiled.

"What do you want to know?"

"I want to know about...myself. You said something about me- him...about him being...a general...? Or something...I dunno. It's just interesting hearing about that, a completely different me living a completely different life." 

"Yeah!" Feferi nodded in agreement. "It's amazing hearing this! I've always had that dream of runnin' a troll kingdom that was peaceful and in a way it's like I did it! Ya know, minus the glubbing war that was going on while you were there."

"Easy for you all to say!" The Scorpio troll had been mostly quiet this entire time, only whispering snide comments into Terezi's ear while Karkat was talking. "I was a total fucking bitch! And I would like to mention that I would never ever date that chucklefuck over there. Not in my life time." 

"Yeah yeah we all know you said that eighty times during the goddamn story Vriska." Before Vriska could retaliate to what Karkat said, he had begun talking again. 

As asked, he talked about the others. Tavros was first. It felt amazing talking about The Cavalier, Beforus' version of Tavros, and how his confidence and generally amazing skills helped out the kingdom and it felt equally as amazing seeing Tavros' eyes light up and smile spread across his face as he heard someone talk so highly of him.

Terezi's Beforian self, The Decider, had a more action packed beginning. She was the kingdom's Judge. Any lawbreaker went to her and she decided whether they were guilty or not and decided on the punishment. She was amazing at what she did and The Persuader despised her for it, so the Persuader did what was necessary and forced The Decider to scratch her own eyes out. If that wasn't enough she was also accused of letting those who were aiding The Persuader run free so she was put to death. Luckily for her Karkat was the one tasked with killing her and she managed to save him.

Nepeta was asked for next, twice, by both Equius and Nepeta herself. Equius was more eager to learn what she was than Nepeta. The Huntress was her title and she was, well, a hunter. She was fierce and merciless in battle and has ever only lost once. That loss was the one that cost her life. She was so determined she could successfully take out the highest threat, The Purple Blood, out that she went straight for him. Sure it seemed like she was winning at first but one bone-cracking hit later and he had his hands firmly grasping her sides and with one terrifyingly strong pull she was  now two halves of one dead troll.

Kanaya's story was a lot calmer than the others. She wasn't a warrior and she didn't exactly fight unless it was needed. Her title was The Caretaker and she did what her title intended. She cared for Her Imperial Radiance, being a sort of 'second lusus' for the Empress while on land. Before Karkat was around she acted as her body-guard, killing anyone who meant any harm to the Empress. She also was medic to The Peacekeeper, in fact it was thanks to her that he's managed to live this long.

The stories of the others left everyone feeling more awkward than fascinated. Eridan, The Warlorde, was an all around jerk. He was overprotective of the Empress, which was understandable, he did not allow Karkat many breaks, little less understandable, and would order the death of anyone he thought was a threat, a lot less understandable. However he did go into battle more often than expected of someone as high up as he was. The Mortuus, Aradia, had a somewhat sadder tale. She was living an exceptional life with her moirail, The Architect, until she had been taken under the control of The Persuader. After that she was shunned by everyone and eventually killed.

The Persuader and The Purple Blood's stories were brief as to avoid any more awkwardness. They were matesprits and leaders of the rebellion against the kingdom. Karkat managed to kill them both and took in the grubs they had together. That was all.

It was silent, painfully silent. The curiosity from before died down and now people were avoiding the eyes of the 'bad guys' of Karkat's past. 

"Wait here, I have something from over there." He stood up and quickly rushed to the bedroom where Dave was leisurly sitting on the bed, dicking around on his laptop.

"Whatcha doing?" The human glanced at his matesprit who was digging around in the closet.

"Oh, shit got awkward so I'm going to try to spark up people's curiosity or some crap." He pulled out a large book and tucked it under his arm. Dave stood up and walked over to the troll.

"Should I call the human half of this shindig? Tell 'em it's time to come over?" Karkat nodded and leaned in for a hug. 

"God, interacting with people is so exhausting. I am physically tired, I feel like I just ran twenty miles nonstop." Dave chuckled.

"First of all, I don't care if you used to be super troll, that is physically impossible. Unless...no. It is physically impossible. Second, want me to go out there? I can be your body guard." The Knight kissed his boyfriend's cheek. Karkat giggled. "I can shoo them away with a chair, 'Sorry but Mr.Vantas is no longer taking any questions, come back later!'" This earned some more laughs out of the troll.

"Oh shut up you." Karkat rolled his eyes and stepped away from the hug. "Just let the others know that they can come over know." 

"Will do." The two shared a quick kiss before Karkat returned to the still deafening and awkward silence of his friends.  He dropped the book down on the coffee table with a loud thud and everyone scooted closer.

"What's this for?" Eridan raised an eyebrow and picked the book up.

"For you guys. It has pictures of what you all looked over there and background information. Like a history book. Except it's kind of old. It still talks as if the war was going on and the two leaders of the rebellion were still alive." That sparked up his friends attention. they opened the book and began flipping through the pages.

"Is no one going to question why he carried this around over there?" Vriska grumbled as she tried to push Eridan out the way to allow Terezi room to see.

"Oh, you see while I was out all day I would some times read this calm myself down or keep the boredom away. I also just liked to look at the pictures of The Architect and The Marksman to remind myself that there was some good out there. Plus it was basically the only entertainment I had..." Vriska grunted. It seemed as if his question was enough to satisfy her.

The trolls all crowded around the book, flipping the pages and gazing at the amazing pictures. Not too long after Karkat had given them the book the human half of the party arrived. The rest of the party went off without a hitch. Everyone had a nice time. No one else brought up Beforus or The Peacekeeper, mostly old times in Karkat's hilarious group chats. Karkat even spoke fondly of his old times with Gamzee during the game (which surprised everyone given his relationship with Gamzee's Beforian self wasn't exactly friendly). By the time the party was over everyone was a giant mess of smiles and laughs. 

"Good night everyone." Karkat smiled, holding the door open for his friends. He was dead tired and ready to crawl into bed. Equius was the last one to leave. 

"Karkat," he leaned in and whispered in his ear, "It is done. The machine is ready for you." The blue blooded troll walked out without another word.

It was done.