Karkat's Lessons

The Peacekeeper: Part Three

"Even though The Peacekeeper was adored by the residents of Beforus, and by The Empress herself, doesn't mean he recieved royal treatment." Kankri began, sitting back down after a quick stretch. "He was sadly, rarely allowed to eat or rest, that wasn't the Empress's rule, no. Her Imperial Radiance would've showered him in food if she found out he ate small meals every few days, or she would've let him go back to his hive if she found out that he hardly slept when he was on duty. The Warlorde made sure The Empress never knew of these things since he was the one restricting these basic necessities. He never thought badly of the lack of food or rest my ancestor had, he was just trying to take extra precautions in ensuring the Empress's safety, though this does not justify his actions."

"The Royal treatment that my ancestor did receive was from when he would return to the Empress from a battle, too wounded to be able to do his work. The Empress would immediately ask her caretaker to patch up his wounds and see that he returned to his hive safely so he would rest. Those times, and times when his matesprit and moirail were alive did he "deserve" royal like treatment."

Karkat nodded, feeling sick to his stomach.This was just too fucked up. Kankri's ancestor, was basically deprived of food and sleep even though he was doing an excellent job of keeping their Empress alive? Kankri frowned, seeing the disgust in his descendents face. He had to admit, the story of The Peacekeeper wasn't the prettiest....but it surely was interesting.

"Now, this book has several pictures of paintings found of the Peacekeeper and several other trolls. Now, before we look at them, I must warn of you several things. Some of these might be triggering to you." Karkat rolled his eyes and nodded. "Excellent, for one there's a picture of him shirtless to show off the scars and brands. Oh, there's a heavy amount of scarring and branding done to his body. and, some of the images about to be shown are slightly...gory. Are any of the things i just said triggering in any way to you?" Kankri questioned, receiving a shake of the head from Karkat. "Alright then, let's take a look, shall we?"

Kankri slid his thumb underneath the cover of the book and flipped it open. He thumbed through the pages until he found the page he was searching for. Karkat peeked over to examine the page he had stopped on, looking at picture of his pre-scratch self.

One full page, that's how much space the picture took. One full page of showing the horror show that was The Peacekeeper's upper body. His left upper arm had two brands on it, Feferi's and Eridan's. His upper right arm had his own sign burned on, along with the word "Peacekeeper" underneath. On his right hip, just above his pants line was Equius's sign branded onto his grey flesh, and Sollux's sign was burned onto his leftmost area of his chest. Just underneath Sollux's sign, there was some sort of face carved on. Karkat leaned in, squinting to get a better view of the face, gasping when he realised what it was. Carved onto his chest was the cute little face Gamzee always made, the one he had tried to make Karkat type out every chance he got. On his chest, the ":o)" face was carved on.

Karkat grimaced, looking at it a second longer before he tore his eyes away, looking at the other scars. Most of them were scars were typical slashes or stabs, a couple burn marks or bruises. There were a couple unusual looking ones, but the one that stood out was a giant scar on his left side. It looked as if someone had taken a giant bite out of him, was disappointed with what he tasted like, and slashed him up.

"That," Kankri said, pointing at the enormous scar, "was given to him by the Purple Blood. The raging highblood bit him and proceeded to scratch him with his claws when the Peacekeeper attempted to escape his grasp. That fight was also the one where The Peacekeeper killed the Purple Blood. This one," Kankri moved his finger to the little carved face, "Was one given to him by the Persuader after she captured and tortured him after he killed her matesprit. Soon enough though, he managed to kill her, and she soon joined her matesprit."

"What about the brands?" Karkat asked curiously.

"Well, These two." Kankri pointed at the sea dwellers' signs. "Having the Warlorde's sign showed that that troll worked for the Empress, but not really for her like he did...this was more like...a soldier's brand or a lowly guard's. Having the Empress's sign meant that you actually worked for her, like he did. Not many trolls had her sign and it was considered a great honor. Your own sign branded onto your skin meant that you had earned a title. And...these two..." Kankri's finger slid between the Gemini and the Sagittarius's signs. "These two were more tributes of his deceased quadrants."

Karkat nodded, staring at all the different scars and brands and such. He was amazed at the things his pre-scratch self had gone through. He was also disgusted at how he was treated and what he was forced to do. Karkat also admired his pre-scratch self, he had gone through hell and back and he was still standing. Well he wasn't technically standing now, but back then he was.

Karkat studied his face. He had Karkat's usual glare and a look in his eyes that said he'd kill any and everyone that stood in his path. But there was also a certain....kindness in his features. Sure his shoulders were broad and scars intimidating, but he looked like the kind of troll that someone could talk about their feelings with. That made Karkat happy, because that was who he was. He was an angry and spiteful little mutated troll that screeched every word he said, but he was also a kind and incredibly caring troll, he had tried his best to make every one of his friends happy.

"Karkat." Kankri spoke, pulling the younger cancer troll out of his thoughts. He tore his eyes away from the picture to look at his dancestor. "I know you might have many questions.." Karkat blinked, nodding a bit. Questions upon questions popped up in his pan.

Who was Kanaya here? What about Aradia? Nepeta? Did he have to execute any more trolls? When did he die? How did he die?

"Well, i think it would be better for you to find those answers yourself. I'm allowing you to borrow this book and another so you can read and learn about him and the other ancestors."

"Will that even fucking work? I mean, these books are memories." Kankri shrugged, standing up and moving to his bookshelf, grabbing a smaller book and walking back.

"If you put them in your sylladex, they may make it to the real world with you, and if not, you're welcome to come back and read them whenever you'd like to." Karkat nodded and stood up, stretching a bit.

"Alright Kankri...thanks for the lessons and shit. This was actually not as pan numbingly boring as I expected it to be."

"Ah...thank you...I suppose..." Kankri gave Karkat a small smile, and this time, Karkat returned it. The Cancer troll put both books in his sylladex and bade his farewells.

If this worked, and the books stayed the way they were here out on the meteor, he wouldn't come out of his block for days. He'd end up worrying his friends. He'd probably end up getting scolded by Kanaya. But, he'd also learn more on The Peacekeeper. And at the moment, that's all he was worried about.