He was bleeding and he was pretty damn sure he was going to pass out or die if he didn't treat his wound soon, but that was the least of Karkat's worries at the moment. There was a rumor going around that the enemy's forces were hiding out in the far south side of the kingdom, hidden behind the forest. That was close to where Karkat lived. That was where Karkat lived with his moirail. He snuck away from The Warlorde's angry yelling and borrowed a horse. He was just going to make sure Equius was fine. He was just going to make sure the rumors were false. He had to, his moirail was all he had, he couldn't lose that.

The rumors weren't false and Karkat was ambushed. Luckily it was only three trolls, it was a simple and quick fight though a split second distraction caused Karkat to be injured. Now he was bleeding and trying to make it back to his hive to see if Equius was alright. He could do this, he's made it through worse. He could survive a simple injury.

Karkat was panting and holding onto the trees as he walked, praying to any horrorterror that Equius was fine and that he'd miraculously jump out of nowhere and take him back to Her Imperial Radiance's palace so his wounds could be properly treated. However, instead of the blue blood he was praying for, someone else came into view.

"Oh fuck!" Karkat glanced over to where he heard the voice and saw a troll with four horns and bi-colored eyes. "You're going to die if you keep bleeding at this rate...hold on. There's a huge hive near here. I'm going to get you help." Electricity made the air crackle around Karkat and suddenly he was being lifted up. The red-blood wanted to protest but he had to admit, it was nice not using up his energy to walk. "I'm Sollux Captor, The Empress' Architect. Don't worry, I'm going to get you help." Karkat smiled and tried to muster up the energy to say some words of gratitude but nothing came out before he blacked out.

~

"Thanks Kanaya. You can stop by anytime. You guys too." Dave waved goodbye as the three trolls left Dave's small apartment. Karkat was sitting on the couch, reading one of the books Dave had bought for him. The human walked over and sat down besides the reading troll.

"Where did you go?" Karkat barely glanced over to Dave when he spoke. He had to admit, he was slightly worried when he woke up and didn't see Dave there. The albino shrugged and took off his jacket, laying it over the top of the sofa.

"I was feeling stressed so Egbert and I had a guys night out in the town. We basically just watched the latest movies before going to the park and terrorizing geese. John got one so pissed off that it started chasing him." Dave cracked a grin and turned his body more towards Karkat. "Oh man, you should've seen him. John started flying thinking that the goose wouldn't get him but he forgot that they could fly too. Dude it was hilarious, John was screaming like a little kid." Karkat smiled ever so slightly. He had to admit, imagining one of the Gods who helped create this universe flying away in terror from a goose was pretty funny. Karkat's smile didn't last long though. It instead turned into a slight frown.

"Are you stressed because of me?" The troll asked quietly. He already knew the answer was yes but he wanted Dave to lie to him and tell him it wasn't, he wanted the false hope. As Karkat expected, Dave shook his head.

"No, not at all..." The human shook his head and wracked his brain trying to come up with a believable lie. "It''s just....work. I can't keep up with all these new songs and the DJ job is pretty intense these days..." Dave laughed nervously and shrugged. "Just work that's stressing me out, it's no biggie though." Karkat nodded, not convinced whatsoever. He was sort of hoping that Dave would be a good liar and convince him that it wasn't Karkat's fault he was stressed all the time.

Awkward silence slowly seeped into the air between them and Karkat slowly returned to his book. He wished he never asked that question, he was having nice conversation with Dave and he had to go and ruin it. Fuck, the silence might just be making Dave even more stressed. Oh my god, why would Karkat ever ask that? Now Dave knew that he knew he was causing so much stress which would only stress him out even more. Oh god, oh god why would he do that? Why would he--?

"You took a bath." Karkatlet out  a small breath of relief. Dave spoke and broke the awkward silence and Karkat couldn't of been more grateful. He nodded and bookmarked his page before setting the book down and turning to face Dave.

"I did and did you really need to get Kanaya, Equius, and Sollux over here to give me a bath?" Dave chuckled and shrugged. 

"Dunno dude. You seemed pretty bent on staying dirty as shit. Thought I needed to pull out the big guns y'know?" Karkat rolled his eyes. "Come on, I was only looking out for your best interest...it must've been depressing as shit looking in the mirror every day and seeing yourself like that...I know I felt that way when I was back in the game...when I wore those time jammies...but enough about me. What did you guys talk about?" Dave already knew what Karkat talked about. Well he knew the subject, thanks to Kanaya, he didn't know all the details though. Karkat merely shrugged when the question was asked and picked at the lint on his pants.

"Just...what I did these past couple of sweeps...what the marks on my chest mean..and stuff..." Dave nodded. 

"Do you...do you wanna talk about it? With me I mean. I totally get if you don't. You don't have to but uh, you know...you can. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious, but again, I won't make you tell me. I know shit like that may not be the most comfortable thing to discuss..." Karkat sighed. He knew this was coming. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Dave was asking this already, Karkat had been suppressing precious information from Dave for so long. And after all that Dave has done for Karkat, this shouldn't be too big of a deal to share right?

Karkat slowly took off his shirt, exposing his bare chest and arms that was covered in scars and wounds. The most prominent things were the brands. Dave's breath caught in his throat as his eyes looked over Karkat's dark grey chest. He wanted to reach out and run a finger over them but no, that'd be too weird.

"This one," Karkat pointed at an Aquarius brand on his upper right arm, "meant that I was...basically working in The Warlorde's military. This one," he pointed to a Pisces brand right above the Aquarius, "meant that I was working for Her Imperial Radiance exclusively. This one," Karkat pointed to his own symbol branded on his upper left arm. This one had some alien language branded underneath it as well, "meant that I have my own title. The words under it say 'The Peacekeeper'. That was my title." Karkat sighed and pressed a finger against the Gemini sign on the left of his chest and the Sagittarius sign on his left hip. "These two...they're tributes...these two trolls...they died." Dave's nodded glumly and Karkat put his hands down on his lap.

"What about this...?" Dave asked as he ran a finger over something on Karkat's chest. It was right underneath the Gemini sign branded on. It looked like the stupid little smiling clown face Gamzee always took the time to awkwardly type out. This one; however; didn't look like it was branded, it looked like it had been carved into Karkat's chest.

"Oh...that one's a reminder."

"A reminder...? A reminder for what?"

"A reminder that no matter what, I'm always going to be stuck with what happened to me and no matter how long I try to forget it, it'll always come back." The troll said matter-of-factly with a slight hint of sadness- or was it pain?- in his voice. Dave frowned and pulled his hand away from Karkat's chest.

"...Tell me about the two people who died. I want to know what happened to them." Karkat was taken aback by the sudden question but he hesitantly nodded. Dave was honestly scared to know the story behind those two brands but it would be good for Karkat. Karkat would let it out and it'd bring him one step closer to becoming better. Plus he was curious.

"It was Sollux and Equius, obviously. Sollux was...his title was The Architect. He was the Empress' official Architect and created everything she had. Her palace, the giant buildings in her kingdom. Hell, he even created an underwater palace for her whenever she decided to spend some time among the sea dwellers. He was also my matesprit, for a sweep and a half we were...very happy together. Anyway, Equius was The Marksman. He was basically a blacksmith but exclusively for Her Imperial Radiance's army. He created the best weapons and was loyal to her. Soon enough he became my moirail over there..." Karkat smiled at the memory of the two trolls he was so close to back in his previous years. It seemed like so long ago now.

"Sollux and Equius were extremely loyal to the Empress, they wouldn't do anything to harm her...but they were accused of treason. It was said that Sollux was building secret bases inside the kingdom for the enemy and that Equius was selling weapons to them as well...and with me being well...what I was over there, I was tasked to kill them." Karkat sniffed and wiped the tears that were quickly streaming out of his eyes. "I had to cut their heads off. You know how much that fucking sucked?" Karkat's voice rose, he was beginning to yell as the red tainted tears just kept coming. Maybe Dave shouldn't of asked... "You know how badly it hurt seeing my moirail look at me with a forgiving smile on his face right before I chopped his head off? You know how much it hurt when my matesprit whispered to me that he loved me and that it was okay just before my sickle swung through his neck?" Karkat was trying his best not to fully breakdown but the memory of it and knowledge that he didn't exactly have to hold anything in anymore was making it difficult for him to now stop crying. "I...I couldn't stop it. I couldn't let them go. Not like I had with another one...I couldn't protect them. I had to stand there and watch stoically as they dragged their heads and bodies away! And I couldn't say a damn thing! I couldn't even say a simple fucking goodbye to them!" Tears were streaming down Karkat's face and he didn't know whether it was from grief or because he was digging his nails into his knees so deep that he was starting to think he was bleeding.

"Karkat...Karkat I'm sorry, I had no idea that...I'm sorry..." Dave felt bad. He shouldn't of asked Karkat to tell him. He should've just kept his mouth shut and asked Kanaya if she knew, though it was unlikely considering Kanaya hadn't mentioned anything about his past quadrantmates. Dave slowly reached a hand out to reassuringly squeeze Karkat's hand but the crying troll stood up and out of Dave's reach.

"It's fine...I'm going to bed..." Karkat sniffed and walked back inside Dave's room, slamming the door shut behind him.