Chapter Text
Karkat awoke early. It was Friday, and Karkat was just grumpy. Looking outside, he noticed it was raining heavily. "Ugh..." Another day in school. Hoo-fucking-ray. The albino slipped on his clothes and walked downstairs, yawning loudly.
He greeted Kanaya with a small wave and looked around.
"Hey, where's Porrim?"
"Working."
Karkat narrowed his eyes. Kanaya was cooking, apparently. "She won't come back until later. Now, come here. Breakfast is ready."
They ate in an uncomfortable silence and got ready for school, taking out their umbrellas! since it was raining. On their way there, Terezi came up to them.
"Heeeeey Karkles! Hehehe, you smell like vanilla ice cream. Is that your hair?" She crackled loudly.
The three of them walked, talking. Well, Kanaya and Terezi were talking, Karkat was more like grumbling. At the school entrance, they were joined by Gamzee and another boy, which were sharing umbrellas. Karkat took this time to study all of them more specifically. Terezi had bright red hair and pale white skin, making her look like a ginger. Her eyes were hidden behind red oval shades. Her uniform was a black jumper with a teal Libra sign and grey pants.
Gamzee was tall, with neck long messy black hair. Seriously, did the guy ever brush his hair?!... On second thought, Karkat wouldn't be surprised if Gamzee didn't know what a comb was. His skin was also white, and his face covered in clown makeup, though Karkat could see his purple eyes. Freaky. His uniform composed of a black long sleeved shirt with a purple Capricorn sign and baggy polka dotted pants.
He then stared at the newcomer. The boy was smaller than him. Around 4'10", if Karkat had to guess., making the little boy seem smaller next to Gamzee, who should be at least 6 feet tall at 16 years old. His skin was brownish, his hair cut in a Mohawk, his eyes chocolate brown and his look uncertain. He was wearing a grey zipper hoodie, over a black t-shirt with a brown Taurus sign and grey pants. The boy talked lowly. "Um.. H-hi... I'm Tavros... Uh, Tavros Nitram..."Gamzee wrapped his arms around Tavros, smiling widely. "This little bro right here is a motherfuckin miracle, I tell ya!" Apparently, he was unaware of the light blush that covered the Taurus' face. Were these two...? Karkat couldn't figure it out yet, but with his experience in romance, he could at least tell they both had a thing for each other.
The bell rang at this moment, and everyone looked at each other before running inside the school. Karkat took the moment to notice that Tavros had prosthetic legs. First class they had was History, with none other than Gamzee's father, Mr. Makara, who eyed Karkat weirdly, making the boy uncomfortable. It was because of his hair, wasn't it? Karkat tried to ignore it and focus on the class.
They were talking about the myth of the Ancestors. Well, the proper term was Gods of the Pre-Scratch. A tale pretty known in the whole world. According to it, there were a multitude of gods on a parallele version of Earth called Alternia. They were ruled tyrannically, and soon, some Signless God started preached Equality. He was followed closely by Mother Rosa, the Psiioniic and the Disciple. But the Empress didn't like that. So she sent her minions to capture them. Unable to kill them because they were gods, she settled to torture the Signless for eternity, who, through all this suffering, became the Sufferer, as he was weakened. Mother Rosa became the Servant Rosa, who was sold to slavery, bought soon by Mindfang. And the Psiioniic became the Helsman, destined to pilot the Empress' ship with his gifted powers. And the Disciple became the Renegade, who managed to escape thanks to the Executioner's pity. A few centuries later, the Revolutionary, previously known as the Summoner, raised an army to free the three main revolutionaries. But the Grand Highblood stopped the revolution with his army, capturing the Revolutionary. At a final point, he escaped, freeing Mother Rosa, Psiioniic and Signless, and they all fled to Earth. Enraged, the Empress, with the Grand Highblood and her other subordinates, Dualscar and Darkleer, followed them. It is said they are still searching for the revolutionaries.
It's a weird tale, but Karkat didn't care. They were just going to explore it in more details throughout the year and talk about the minor tales, such as the Demoness' influence, Dualscar's relationship with Mindfang and such things. Class ended with the History teacher giving them homework.
"Oh, and Vantas? Come here, will you?" He added as Karkat was packing up. He came up to the terrifying teacher, because really, that's what Mr. Makara was. Terrifying. Unlike his son, the teacher was clearly muscular. He had a large mane of hair, half brushed half wild. Deep purple eyes stared into Karkat's soul. "Welcome to the school, little one." He simply said, stretching his arm at the albino. Karkat hesitantly shook the teacher's hand, which was at least twice the size of the red-eyed's. Then he simply ran off for break.
"You know... You just had more affection from, uh, Mr. Makara than, uh, Gamzee has daily..." Tavros said as he was searching for his books in the hallway.
"What?! It was just aaa... W-what the...?" Karkat clutched his head, suddenly taken by a huge headache.
"Um.. Do you need to, uh, go to the nurse?" The stuttering boy looked at Karkat.
"N-no... I'm fine. I'm fan-fucking-tastic." He answered, letting go of his head. It had passed already... What even was that?
"If you, uh, say so..."
Until the end of school, nothing interesting happened. They had classes, and in multiple occasions, Karkat learnt new things. But it's not like there was some sort of diagram measuring his Knowledge or anything.
After school, Gamzee chimed. "Hey motherfuckers! Let's go to Sburb!"
"Oh, uh... I can't. I have to help at the store..." Tavros said, sounding sad.
"I have other things to do as well." Said Kanaya. "I'll see you at home, Karkat."
"Wait, FUCK, I never said I was going to go with those rainbow-fucking asshole!"
"C'mon Karkles! To Sburb!"
"I just said I won't go, you-" Karkat wanted to say more, but Gamzee grabbed his arms and pulled him as the three went to Sburb, a local supermarket. damn, Gamzee looked so thin, but he was incredibly strong! Along the way, Karkat swore in his magnificent colorful language, Gamzee and Terezi replying with laughter.
Sburb had a food court in the roof, where Gamzee and Terezi had kidnapped Karkat for some socialisation. Something Karkat hated. Sat around a table, Terezi crackled loudly. "Hey, you guys heard of the Midnight Channel?" "
The what now?" Terezi smi- okay, grinned.
"They say that at midnight during rainy nights, as you stare at your reflection on a turned off TV, you'll see your soulmate!"
"Wow! That's some bitchtits miracle you talkin' about, Tezsis!" Gamzee said. The dude was probably dreaming of seeing Tavros in there.
"That's just so fucking dumb.... But since I'm a romance expert, I'll fucking check it out you, you pussysniffers." "It's gonna all up an' rain tonight anyways. Tavbro told he had to bring back in some animals an' stuff."
Nobody cares! Thought Karkat. And so, at night....
"This has to fucking be the dumbest shit I've ever done." Grumbled Karkat. The clock showed 11:55pm. Five minutes. Rain was crashing loudly outside, so the albino turned his head towards the TV in his room. It was a small, crappy one, but it'll do the trick, won't it? A few minutes passed, and Karkat sighed. "Nothing... God dammit, Pyrope! I just wa-"
He was cut off by a yellowish light coming from the screen. His TV was off, right?! Maybe he just stepped on the remote... Wait, his TV wasn't even plugged in! The screen was fuzzy, but he could make out something... It was a boy, probably Latino, or from some island, considering the tanned skin. He wore what seemed to be a green jacket, over a white shirt with something green on it and beige shorts... But that's all he could make out. It was too blurry to see the face or recognize anyone. Was a guy his soulmate?! Just when he was about to turn away, a headache struck him.
I am Thou. Thou art I.
"The... Fuck...?" Karkat clutched his head. Now he was hearing voices. How could it get worse?
Thou hast opened the Gate between the worlds.
A gate...?
Without him realizing it, Karkat's body inched forwards, towards the screen of the TV, his arm stretched, as if to reach something. It only struck the Cancer when his hand sank into the screen.
"WHOA!! WHAT THE HELL?!" The screen then started to pull him in, but the TV was too small. Right after Karkat's head entered, his shoulders got stuck.
"God... DAMMIT!" With a strong push from his hands, the confused romancer pulled himself away, making him stumble backwards and fall, head first, on the edge of his small desk, hitting his head. The Boy looked up at the screen, face pale with fear.
"What the hell just happened?!"