The Peacekeeper

Chapter 7

It was five in the morning and Dave was awake making a breakfast so fucking delicious that Gordon Ramsey himself would be bawling on the floor and clutching the leg of the table over how angelic Dave's cooking was. Okay it was just some oatmeal and a milkshake but Dave tried, he really did try. This, of course, was just the first part of his plan to attempt to get Karkat back into the swing of things. How would a delicious (and nutritious) breakfast help? Simple. From Dave's perfect memory he distinctly remembered Karkat loving to ramble on during breakfast, it was quite possibly the only meal the entire meteor gang shared and it was Karkat's time to shine.

Once Dave finished up making a breakfast that would be easy on Karkat's newly fixed teeth and sensitive stomach, he quickly knocked on his bedroom door and waited. A minute passed and absolute silence was Dave's only response. He knocked again and this time he could hear Karkat slowly shuffling over to the door and unlocking it. The troll greeted Dave with a small nod, his iron tight grip on his blood stained sickle loosened only slightly.

"Come on out, I made you a pretty great breakfast."

"I'm not hungry." Karkat replied curtly and shut the door before anything else could be said. The human blinked and stood there, appalled. After a moment he knocked again and when Karkat answered he put his foot on the door to stop it from closing.

"What do you mean you're 'not hungry'? I made you some bomb ass oatmeal with a nice lil milkshake." There was a slight hint of hurt in Dave's voice but he tried his best to hide it. "Is your stomach hurting? Is it the medication? Do you need me to take you to the doctor?" Karkat shook his head. "Then what is it? Want me to make you something else? I'll make you like, waffles or something if you want."

"No thank you, I'm just not hungry." The troll gently nudged Dave's foot away from the door and closed it again, leaving Dave alone.

This was going to be more difficult then expected.

~

A small pile of bloody horns, a tattered book with some pages too large for the binding sticking out, a blue and red visor, and a beat up metal sign with even more beat up looking Gemini, Sagittarius, and Cancer symbols stuck onto it. These were some of the things Karkat had taken out of his sylladex. Some of the things he had kept and was more than unwilling to let go of. He needed to see them again, for reassurance. He needed to know that what happened before was real and he didn't just make it up. Luckily for him blood stained horns were enough physical proof for him.

A knock on the door signaled that Dave was trying to get his attention again. Don't get him wrong, Karkat appreciated what Dave was trying to do but he just wanted to be left alone. Ignoring the door, he stared down at the pile once more.

It was all still there.

Okay, okay. This was okay. So it happened. This was...okay. Karkat took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, trying to relax before he sat down on the ground and picked up one of the items. He picked up on the of the horns, an arrow shaped one covered in indigo blood. This was the horn of his moirail. His dead moirail. He set it down and closed his eyes. He was still okay. This was all okay. He was fine.

He was not okay. He was not fine. This was bringing back horrible memories to the poor troll's brain. Memories of metal against metal, screaming cries of innocent and brainwashed soldiers being forced to fight for something they never believed in. It brought back memories of many many painful wounds. Of nights where he was lying on the ground, half dead with tears in his eyes and a blank stare on his face as he thought of the sweet blissful release of death.

It brought back memories of the weird and oddly comforting smell of oil and old books. Memories of stacks upon stacks of papers and random piles of scraps of metal, of rare but cherished nights of laughing and actual relaxation. It brought back memories of Karkat's home for the past six years.

Fuck, he was not okay. Karkat looked down at the horn in his hand and down by his feet where there were four horns covered in dried yellow blood. Karkat had to admit, ripping the horns off of his dead quadrantmates was a bit extreme but in his defense he wasn't thinking straight. His emotions were overlapping and overwhelming him. At that moment he just wanted something to remind himself that they existed. Maybe that wasn't the best decision but what's done is done.

~

There was a small knock on the door followed by a quiet creak. Dave walked in slowly with small plate of food, keeping his head down and eyes on the ground in front of him. Of course because of that awkward walking stance he was in he didn't notice that Karkat was very much awake on his bed and staring at the human as he tried to sneakily place the food on the desk besides him.

"Thank you." Karkat whispered, but even the whisper was enough to startle Dave. The Strider quickly composed himself and nodded.

"Yeah man, no problem. I couldn't just have you starving..." Karkat nodded. Now the two just stood there in awkward silence. Karkat didn't bother to clean up the mess he had made earlier so the piles of bloodied horns, the book, visor, and the sign were all out in the open and easy for Dave to see. Dave of course, didn't say anything at all. He just kept his mouth shut and tried to focus on the troll in front of him.

"I...I'm sorry for you having to deal with this...with my moronic and melodramatic bullshit. It isn't fair to you since you have to spend time out of your day watching me as if I were some useless grub." Dave shook his head and took a tentative step towards his friend.

"It's fine, don't make yourself think that I'm suffering because I get to take care of you. I enjoy having you around this much. I like knowing that at least you're here and safe. And you aren't a grub, you're just...immobilized. Well not immobilized...you just can't do the things we do...at the moment. Fuck, that makes it sound like you're useless. I'm just...you're just...not able to do the things you'd normally be able to do due to some pretty serious medical conditions...sort of. Fuck, okay you just...you aren't able to do things at the moment but you aren't useless. But don't think that I'm suffering each day because I get to take care of you. You already know my point of view on this entire ordeal and hell, if you want me to I'll remind you every so often so you don't don't go into that part of your mind where you think you're burdening me." Karkat smiled ever so slightly and nodded.

"I'm glad to know you're not starting to loathe me...I mean, I'd loathe anyone who basically forced me to sleep on a couch instead of my own goddamn respiteblock on a semi-comfortable sleeping mat." Dave chuckled and shook his head.

"I wasn't forced. I happily volunteered to sleep on the actually pretty comfortable couch. You sleep in my room as long as you need to dude. Hell, sleep wherever you want as long as you're comfortable and happy." Dave grinned and walked back to the door. "And feel free to strike up a conversation with me any time you want. You won't be bothering me seeing as I have next to nothing to do." Karkat nodded, a small smile still playing on his lips, and Dave left the room with a wave.

Maybe Karkat would be fine.