The Peacekeeper

Chapter 31

He opened his eyes slowly, the sunlight was bright enough to make Karkat shield his eyes. There was a sharp pain on his left side and on his chest. That probably wasn't a good thing. The troll let out a groan and slowly stood up off the somewhat muddy dirt. He stretched, his back cracking as he did, and finally took a good look at his surroundings.

It was all trees. Giant trees with leaves that overlapped one another and created a sort of roof that provided pretty great protection from the small spots of sunlight that was poking through. The trees were an unusually darker color than the ones he's seen lately. These had black bark with purple leaves. Karkat blinked, staring blankly up at the small sliver of sunlight that managed to poke through the holes of the tree's makeshift roof. Curiosity got the best of him and he slowly stuck his hand out and into the sunlight, yanking it back a second later.

It burned him.

He examined the appearing red mark on his grey skin and suddenly it hit him. He was on Beforus. It worked.

Karkat let out a breathless laugh, tears prickling his eyes (happy, excited, unbelievable tears of course). He was back on Beforus. He was home.  It worked.

"Oh my god..." he laughed and wiped his eyes. He just couldn't believe it. Slowly, he began walking forward. He was hoping he would at least walk out and find himself somewhere near civilization or at least in someplace he somewhat recognized.

He walked for hours, sickles in hands and ready to pounce at the very first sign of a threat. When the sky was beginning to fade into a pinkish-purplish color he stumbled upon the one place he for sure knew. The entrance of the small village that surrounded the Empress' palace. The gate was not guarded and from the looks of it no one was really awake. Karkat let out a small laugh, the grin on his face not showing any sign of leaving, and began jogging into the village.

As suspected, there was no one out and about. It was pretty early after all, the moon was barely poking out from behind the mountains. Karkat tightened his grip on the handles of his sickles as he strolled through the small pathway up to the palace. Everything seemed so...calm. So serene. Hopefully because the war was fully over and any threat against Her Imperial Radiance had vanished. If threat was still hanging over their heads than it probably wasn't in their best interest to have the very gate to the palace left unguarded.

As he made his way up the many steps to the front doors, Karkat stopped himself. He couldn't just stroll on in. He'd probably get his head cut off before they realized who he was. The troll thought for a  moment before backtracking and walking around the gigantic building to a small door on the left side. It was an entrance to the kitchen- nutritionblock, he had to get used to calling things their correct names- that really only Kanaya used. All the Empress' cooks had different duties that did not exactly involve leaving the kitchen. The small wooden door was slightly ajar, a glowing white light coming from inside. Karkat smiled and walk in slowly, keeping his back against the wall.

The rainbow drinker was hunched over a large crate, digging around in it. Two large grubs, they seemed nearly ready to pupate and become full-fledged trolls, were sleeping peacefully in a basket besides her. Karkat had to stop himself from speaking. Safety first after all. He took a couple more steps back, his back still pressed against the wall.

"Hello." The jade blood tensed and immediately turned around. She stood protectively in front of the grubs. Her tense pose relaxed slightly when she saw the familiar face of the troll who spoke a weird, alien language. She tilted her head in confusion and Karkat realized he had spoken English on accident. "Pardon me, I meant to say hello Caretaker." He smiled a little, hoping that would make her calm down some more.