Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A young Jade blood sighed as she climbed up the tall, unstable dunes of the desert. Grains of sand scattered about her sandaled feet, long skirt flapping against her legs as she ran. Unlike most Trolls would be, she was unafraid of the coming dawn. She looked forward to it, honestly. She loved feeling the blazing, bright sun hit her face and arms, twirling in the early light as the sun rose up over the horizon. It was liberating. And incredibly beautiful to witness. Would if she could she would take all the colors she saw in the sunrise and put them all into something lovely to wear. Like a scarf. Maybe a skirt if she was feeling bold.

As she hopped over a few shards of rock jammed into the sand at various odd angles (strangely new to her, though she had been this way several times before and they weren't there before), she paused, and looked around. Some sort of sound was being carried around on the dawning breeze. High and keening, needy. And... familiar.

With a frown on her face, she hopped over more of the rocks, to where they seemed to grow more numerous. Until finally she came to the source, eyes widening.

A small grub lay in the center of the rocks, cradled in a rock which looked like it had been carved out in the middle like a bowl. The small thing lay on its back, legs waving fruitlessly in the air as it tried and failed to turn over. Small mouth open wide in a clearly unhappy wail.

What on Beforus was a grub doing out in the desert like this? Did it crawl away from the caverns without a lusus somehow? Oh dear, what if it didn't find one? It could be culled, sure, but that always seemed a bit of a shame to have a Troll with no real lusus.

She none too gracefully scrambled over the rocks, until she finally managed to get to it, and picked it up out of its resting place. She gasped with surprise when she saw in it its entirety. When she'd first seen it, she'd thought it was the dark and light playing tricks on her. But now she saw it for what it really was.

Red. Bright, bright red. Brighter than looking at the Beforan sun for too long. Far brighter than even the richest of burgundy grubs. Ah, of course. It was a mutant. No wonder it had no lusus. But still, how had it gotten so far away from the caverns...

A glimmer in the horizon caught her eye, and she pulled the grub up to her chest. Oh no, sunrise. If the grub stayed out here, it would surely be cooked by the unforgiving rays she loved to frolic in. She had to do something, it was her job (well, future job, anyway). With a decisive grunt, she pulled up her shirt and put the grub under it, pressed against the skin of her stomach. It wiggled and whined in complaint, but it would have to deal. She was trying to save its life, after all. Hopefully her shirt would be enough to protect it from the sun until she made it.

With that, she was off. Racing with all her might over the sands, doing her best to hold firm to the tiny burden she carried under her clothes. She could swear she was going faster than she could ever recall having gone before. Even when she finally came to the settlement she didn't stop. Racing past shopkeeps shutting up their businesses and stands, ignoring the people around who waved at her as she passed. Until finally she nearly skidded to a halt right through the entrance to the Caverns, where two of the older Jades standing guard watched with bemusement as she zipped right between them, then proceeded to share a look that said they were mutually wondering what had bitten that young one's backside.

Finally inside, and where it was safe, she pulled the grub from under her shirt, cradling it in her arms once more. Well, that danger was over, time to get this one settled in. Hopefully it wasn't too late. Maybe even if it was a mutant, it could still be found a lusus. It was honestly sort of fascinating to watch it now that it wasn't screaming its head off. It was still very noisy, gurgling and swiveling its eyes every which way. Hardly what she would call cute, but... endearing, maybe?

She made her way through the high hallways of the Brooding Caverns, under arching doorways and through halls wide as surface streets, worn smooth by the hands of so many who had come before.

At last she found someone of what she deemed reasonable authority. A much older Jade who was widely recognized to the others as handmaiden to the Grand Elder. She would know what to do.

“Um... Pardon me, ma'am?” Said older Jade sighed with annoyance, looking over a clipboard, no doubt of important Cavern duties that needed to be attended to.

“Yes? What is it, young one. Please make it fast, I'm very busy.” The much younger Jade swallowed, and held out her find slightly.

“Well, you see. I was, well, around, and when I was looking, I found this grub out-”

“How many times must I tell you young ones? You're not to be in the part of the Caverns where the grubs are kept without permission. If you're not properly trained, you could disturb the real workers, or harm some of the grubs. I have enough on my plate without a bunch of feckless wrigglers getting underfoot, sitting on grubs, or anything like-” she let out a loud gasp and her clipboard fell to her feet with a clatter. Finally she had turned her head, and saw the grub the younger Jade was holding out in her arms. Said grub gurgling and babbling away without a care. “What in the- where did you find this?!”

“I found it out-” She didn't get the chance to finish, as she was grabbed by one arm and made to stumble along behind her elder. Difficult to try and explain her story while being dragged along and being careful not to drop a soft, helpless grub. She was marched right into an area of the Caverns she had never been before, and was made to stand there with the grub in her arms while the adults all talked over her and about her. Or, they spoke about the grub, at least, but it still felt very exacting to be at the center of all of this attention. Like being under a magnifying glass by every single one of the most intimidating people in all of the Brooding Caverns.

After much fussing and talking over her head, and all the rest being a general hullabaloo, they seemed to come to a decision. One which involved snatching the grub out of her hands and carting it off without her. A few others decided to pat her on the head, but that was about it before they made their way off.

Well, seeing as they hadn't said not to follow, it was only right that she take it upon herself to do so. With that determined mindset, she trailed after them through the Caverns at a brisk pace, however difficult it was to keep up when the adults' legs were all about twice as long as her own.

However, when she finally managed to catch up to them, she saw it was all for naught. Already the older Jades had pulled a scuttlebuggy around near the entrance, and she got only one last look at the bright red grub in someone's arms before that someone stepped inside and closed the door shut. The scuttlebuggy started up, sending up a draft that roused both her hair and the sand around her feet, before rolling off into the distance with a trailing cloud of dust.

Almost wistfully, she leaned against the entrance, cheek pressed into the warming stone as the car became a speck in the distance and the sun finally began to light up the horizon.

The young Jade named Kanaya sighed to herself, and wondered just where that little red grub would go off to now.

Chapter Text

The Troll known as the Empyrean stalked through the halls of the Imperial palace. His long, silver embroidered cape trailed out behind him like a rippling wave of violet silk. The two guards who stood outside the entrance to the deeper chambers of the palace, her private chambers, gave recognizing nods as he marched past them through the door, hearing it shut behind him. A private audience with the Empress was serious business, always to be taken with the utmost attention.

“Erifin~” The violet blood grimaced as the old nickname reached his earfins, and saw the Empress descend from her throne. “It's been too long~” She threw her arms around her moirail, and he blushed, but gave her an awkward hug back. No matter how long they had been together, he still wasn't used to her bone-crushing hugs.

“We saw each other at the gala last week, Empress,” he replied awkwardly as he extricated himself from her embrace. “And I keep asking you not to call me that. It's a wriggler's nickname.”

“You're always too uptight,” she chided, giving him a playful thwap on the chest. “You need to loosen up, go with the flow~” He sighed, ah she was in one of those moods again.

“Emp-” he saw the look she gave him, and switched gears. “Fef, you said you had something important to discuss with me? What was it you needed to talk about?”

His moirail clapped her hands together, positively beaming.

“Ah! That's right! We should really get going on this. Come on.” She indicated he should follow, and he did, keeping pace just behind her as she chattered on. “Now, Erifin, you know I'm always giving it my all. I want to always do everything I can for the Empire, but I need my own private joys from time to time. Something that makes me really happy that reminds me how it's all worth it.” He really didn't know where she was going with all of this. “And you also know how I've been having a lot of deliveries to the palace lately?” He raised his eyebrow, at the seeming non sequitor in her ramble. Quietly noting in the back of his mind just how deep into her inner sanctum they were going.

“I've been made aware,” he replied.

“Well, all that has been for one reason.” She stopped outside of a room with a large silver lock on it, her symbol carved into the wood around head height and then inlaid with some sort of fuschia colored gemstone. She retrieved a key from a pocket in her skirts (odd, he thought, given how she usually kept everything in her sylladex), and opened the door with it. She walked right on in, not even giving mention for him to follow before he realized he was supposed to. By the time he was inside, she was already leaning over what looked like... A crib?

“Oh my fuckin god, don't tell me,” he muttered, the inkling suspicion in the back of his mind growing more pronounced.

With a smile and a turn almost like a flourish, Feferi turned around, positively beaming as she held a small shape to her chest. Bright bright red, moreso than any burgundy, a color one might compare to crimson or even candy, or that swill that the Purples liked to guzzle. Feferi just smiled back at him, giving the little form in her arms a slight bounce as it started to murmur and squirm in her grip.

“The Jades found him in the Caverns, and since they had never seen one like him before, they brought him to me to ask what should be done with him. And he was just so... so unique. I just knew that I had to have him,” she grinned. “So I decided I would be his culler. Isn't he just perfect? He's so red, like a little boiled crab. So I decided to name him Karkat~” She gingerly tickled under its chin with the edge of her claw, making it squirm and vocalize loudly. Whether it was a sound of irritation or joy, Eridan couldn't tell. It all sounded like so much mushy, disgusting noise to him. Just the way it looked. Mushy and disgusting. Not to mention a great, big drain on his moirail's time and energy.

“You- Fef! For fuck's sakes! You're the Empress! Not some grubsitter! How do you expect to be able to cull a wriggler and run an Empire. You're busy enough as it is!”

“Well... You're right about that, Erifin.” He blinked with surprise. She was... agreeing with him? “I adore him, and I wish I could spend more time with him. But between the meetings and the diplomats and the off-world treaties, holding court, all of everything... I put every spare moment I have with him, but it's just not enough. I feel like I'm neglecting him. He needs a proper culler, I know that. Someone who will watch out for him, who can always be there for him. But I don't just want to give him up...” Her expression changed, as if flipping a switch from despondent to cheerful. “And that's where you come in~”

It took a few moments for him to grasp what she meant. The record needle of his mind skipping over the microscopic grooves before the music picked back up. And it played a melody which he really did not like.

“Wait... you want me to cull this wriggler for you?!”

“Oh, it'll just be wonderful~” Feferi grinned. “Your hive is so nice and big, perfect for a growing wriggler! He loves listening to the ocean during the day while he's drifting off to sleep, so I know it will be just as soothing there as here for him.”

“Fef-”

“I've really been meaning to insist you try culling at least once. So many highbloods I've talked to say it's just such a delightful and fulfilling experience. I really would want to cull little Karkat for his whole lifespan, but it's just not practical for me. But he's a mutant and he runs so hot, so his lifespan should be even shorter than a Burgundy. If you end up liking it, he'll be a perfect starter cull for you.”

“Fef-”

“And best of all, I'll still get to be close to him! Once you've got him taught about court, I can bring him to all the parties and balls and galas~ Oh, I can already see him wearing suits and things when he's grown up! I'll be seeing him every spare moment I can, of course, and I'll miss him, but I know that you could really-”

“FEF!!!” Feferi startled out of her ramble, looking at her moirail with surprise.

“You don't need to shout, Erifin. What is it?”

“Fef, you cannot possibly expect me to be able to cull a wriggler for you like this out of the blue. For god's sake, I know you're busy, but I have shit on my plate, too.” She made a face at the curse, but he went on. “My job is to be aide and adviser to you. To help in all matters of the state and with everything of importance to you. I can't have my precious time taken up being a culler!” Feferi fixed him with a solid, stern look, cradling the now screeing and babbling crimson grub to her chest.

“Well, Erifin. I'll have you know that little Karkat is very important to me. And, like you just said, it's your job to help me with everything that's important, isn't it?” He opened his mouth, but no rebuttal came, and so he closed it again with a quiet 'click' of his teeth. “I suppose I could always find someone else to help me take care of my most precious treasure. Since apparently he's not 'important' enough for you to care about. Even though I happen to care about him more than anything outside the Empire.”

The two sea dwellers stood their ground, staring one another down over the matter at hand. All while the small grub squirming in the Empress's arms, making noise all the while, was unaware as to its importance in the tense discussion it was the subject of. Mostly it wanted to either be fed or put down. Or both, really.

This tense silence went on for a good long while until, as always, the weaker side of it crumbled under the weight.

“Alright. Fine. I will be a culler for you just this once. If it makes you happy.” The Empress was beyond her days of squealing with delight, but the way her whole face lit up made his blood pusher ache with the memory of those days. This little monster really made her that happy, did he?

“Oh Erifin, thank you so much~ I just know you won't let me down~ You're going to love it, I just know it!” She walked up to him and, without much warning, pushed the grub into his arms, leaving him to fumble for a moment before he got a good hold on it. Holding it gingerly in his arms. As if taking hold of a big tangled mat of seaweed that had been floating around and you didn't know where it came from or where it's been or what kinds of nasty creepy crawlies have been scuttling around in it. “We'll have to get everything ready right away! We'll clear out one of your spare rooms, you really have too many. It's just excellent that you have an amphibious hive already, it means we won't have to do any renovations to make this work. We can move his crib and get him all sorts of things for his nursery. Oh, maybe we should make it a big room so that he can still live in it once he's grown! Yeah, that would work. But anyway, he'll need dressers and a nice big closet, and a big window with a view of the ocean. We'll have to stock your kitchens with plenty of grub food. And get him toys and books and-”

Eridan grimaced as he hefted the small thing in his arms, ignoring Feferi babbling excitedly about how great this would all be as she planned how to uproot his life just for the sake of raising this creature. Instead looking down at the newest in a series of misfortunes he was to be saddled with in his life. It was hot like a sandy beach cooling in the dimming dusk after having baked in the sun all day, but squishy to the touch like a half rotted sea cucumber. Save the large, grey head which was bulbous in contrast to the bright red body. Utterly disgusting, really. He had no idea how his moirail could find this thing at all intriguing.

You are just going to be a giant pain in my ass, aren't you? He wondered, as if the creature could at all be aware of his thoughts. Whether it heard him or not, it didn't seem to care either way. The grub simply turned itself in his arms, and started gnawing on the edge of his sleeve.

Chapter Text

The sea dweller muttered under his breath as he looked at the documents on his desk. Analyzing the looping signatures and small type down his nose through his glasses. One of his claws ticked against the wood as he analyzed it. As time passed, the sound of his claw grew louder and louder, slowly coming to compete with the other ambient sound which was currently filling the air. In a constant, not so quiet drone.

For a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief when there seemed to be a dip in the volume. Only for it to pick up louder than before. He growled and slapped his pen against his desk. His chair squealed against the floor with the force he shoved it back with, and he stalked towards his least favorite room in his hive.

When he slammed the door open, there was a harried looking Bronze blood butler and a Burgundy maid. The maid had food smeared up and down her forearms, the Bronze holding many colorful jars of mashed up wriggler food. They both cringed when he opened the door, clearly not wanting to have this confrontation.

Well, had they actually done their jobs, it wouldn't be needed at all, would it.

“Is it really such a difficult job shoving food down a grub's food chute that it's a two person job to do it?!” he snapped. “I have important work to do, and I have relieved you two of all other duties for one reason. Keeping this... cullee, quiet. Are you really so incapable of this one job?!”

“M-my apologies, Sir Ampora.” The maid winced as she spoke, rubbing at one of her arms. “It- I mean, he, refuses to eat. We've tried so many different foods, but he won't always take to them. He just keeps crying.” Eridan looked at the grub in the crub, which was indeed wailing its tiny air sacs out as it lay there. Face stained with different types of food which had apparently been refused. The maid scooped out another spoonful of something that looked gloopy and green into a spoon, putting it partially into the wriggler's mouth, careful to avoid the tiny grublegs. The grub just shrieked and writhed, pushing the food away from its mouth. She sighed with despair and motioned helplessly to the fussy grub.

“With all due respect, sir,” the butler spoke up. “We're not Jade bloods. Surely it would be better to hire a Jade? Or maybe just an experienced culler to assist?” A withering glare from Eridan quieted him down fairly quickly.

“Am I to understand that you cannot do such a simple job as feeding a fussy grub,” he asked icily. He stalked forward and snatched up a spoon with food still on it. Resolutely, he rolled up his sleeve and went to the crib and shoved his arm in, not caring how close the grub got to touching him.

Little Karkat wailed, still flailing his tiny legs in the air, until they felt something familiar and cool under their weak grasp. He clamped onto the arm near his body with all six of them, only after that and quieting down a bit did he finally smell something. He sniffed the air near his face, where the spoon sat, and licked a bit at the bottom. Finding the taste serviceable, and glad to not have the sensation of the spoon just being shoved in his mouth, he started sucking the food from the spoon. Not letting go until it was empty of everything. And even then waving his legs and squealing demandingly for more.

Eridan gave both of his servants a dry look, before shoving the spoon back at the Burgundy who was utterly red in the face with humiliation. Given that her employer had managed in the span of a minute what she and one of her fellows couldn't accomplish in an hour.

“And don't be stingy either,” he said coldly as he stalked out of the room. “The mediculler Fef sent last time was saying he's underweight.”

The two, thoroughly chastised, went back to their attempts to feed the grub. Which were wholly unsuccessful and ended with their employer having to return to the room and finish the feeding himself.

They were promptly returned to their usual duties after that.

–

Karkat's small, insistent wails echoed through the hive. As they had been. For the past four days. Eridan rolled over on his respite platform, grunting as he tried his damndest to block out the noise. But if nothing else the grub was persistent on this cry for attention. It didn't help that Feferi insisted he sleep in a respite block closer to Karkat's while he was still in grubhood. So he could hear the crying from just down the hallway. But Feferi didn't have to put up with a grub screaming itself hoarse a few rooms down, didn't she!!!

At last, after enduring almost an hour and a half of this, he growled and shoved himself out of his comfortable cocoon of blankets. Forcing his slippers onto his feet, he stalked towards the grub's room.

He didn't honestly care that he slammed the door open, given that Karkat was already awake and screaming. The only one in there besides the screaming grub was an exhausted looking gold blood who was in a chair next to the grub's crib. The crib itself was full of stuffed toys (from Feferi), and hard toys (also from Feferi), and the Gold had lifted the whole crib with their psionics and were gently moving it back and forth in the air, trying to simulate the gentle rocking motion of a cradle. To no apparent avail, it seemed.

“For fuck's sake. Will you put that down already?!” he snapped irritably. “It's clearly not fucking working, so why even bother?!” The Gold sighed and let the cradle drift gently to the floor again.

“I'm sorry, sir, but I've tried everything I can think of,” they said (though half of it was lost in a yawn). “It just won't shut up. It's not dirty, or hungry, or wants toys. It just keeps crying.”

“Well have you checked if it's sick?” Eridan asked with annoyance. God forbid if this fucking little monster got sick with some mutant disease and died on his watch. His moirail would never let him hear the end of it. He was starting to wonder if that might be a genuine possibility, honestly. The grub seemed to be getting thinner with each passing day, even though it was getting fed.

The Gold cringed, looking at the screaming mutant grub in the cradle.

“I mean... I guess not? I kind of didn't want to... you know, touch it? It's just all... gross, and squishy. And hot.” Eridan, having been kept up by this little monster for three nights, glared at his servant.

“Is that a fact? Well, I'm not paying you to complain about what job you're given to do, am I?” He went to the cradle, looking down in disgust at the tiny, soft form of the grub. He did understand where they were coming from. But he valued his sleep more than he valued some Gold's aversion to touching a grub. “Grab a thermometer from over there. Maybe we'll see if it has a temperature.” This thing was hot to the touch all the time, but maybe they could compare it to the mediculler's notes?

He reached into the crib and picked out the grub, pulling it up to hold it against his chest.

Almost instantly, Karkat quieted, and clung on tightly to him. Tiny grublegs clamping down in his arm and shoving his face against Eridan's nightshirt. Eridan stared at him, amazed that he had gone quiet that quickly. He looked to the Gold, who was standing there, likewise dumbfounded with a grub thermometer in their hands.

“... I... guess it just wanted to be held?” the Gold suggested helplessly.

“No shit, Troll Sherlock,” Eridan replied dryly. He carefully pried the grub's legs off of him and shoved Karkat at the Gold. “Now for fuck's sake, please keep him quiet so the rest of us can get some sleep.” He turned around just after he handed him off to them, but got not even three paces away before Karkat started to sniffle and whine in the Gold's arms again. Eridan quickly snatched him back just as he opened his mouth to let out another deep-gut wail, and then Karkat quieted down again, curling up into his arms.

Eridan glared at the Gold, as if the clear favoritism was somehow their fault. They took the hint to get out of there as quickly as they could.

With a deep sigh, Eridan carried Karkat to his a nearby rocking chair, sitting back and gently pushing his feet as he watched Karkat squirm occasionally in his arms. Occasionally letting out a soft chirr or click. He'd just hold him long enough to get him to go to sleep. Then he'd go back to his own room.

He closed his eyes in the middle of this thought, yet somehow when he opened them again, it was night once more, his neck was stiff, and he had a grub gnawing at his sleeve.

–

After several more instances of trial and error, Eridan resigned himself to the fact that this grub, for whatever reason, would not be calm at all unless he was somewhere nearby. He was not a damn lusus, but the grub sure as hell was intent on treating him like one.

Thankfully, at least, Karkat seemed to be putting on weight again. His wailing was almost gone, save when especially upset or cold or hungry or whatever else bothered him. His steady weight gain was felt constantly on Eridan's lap, arm, or shoulder whenever he sat and worked with Karkat crawling or dozing on him. He constantly complained at the grub, letting Karkat know just how annoying he was and how he hoped he'd pupate soon so at least he would leave him the hell alone soon once he was walking around on two fully developed legs.

The unspoken 'if' of his potentially not surviving the pupation process seemed something he could never really get out, for all his complaining.

Slowly Eridan went from complaining, to reading his important letters and documents as a way to sort out his thoughts to his ill understanding audience of one, to eventually reading aloud his leisure books as Karkat rested on his lap. Little Karkat almost seemed entranced when he read aloud to him, watching him with wide, curious eyes. There was no way he could possibly understand the words, but just hearing his voice as he reflected the tones of the dashing sea dweller protagonist and his matesprit seemed to lull him to ease. It was almost gratifying. Though it would be moreso if he could be understood, of course.

The routine they settled into became a normal one, full of lots of messy eating, seeing stuffed toys ripped to shreds and summarily replaced, reading, and all the other dull yet complex tasks of caring for a grub.

Then, he woke up one night, and he found his usual sleeping companion was no longer resting on his platform. There was a brief moment of concerned (not panicked, definitely not even worried) looking for him before he laid eyes on the structure in the corner of his respite block. A large cocoon spun over on the floor. Somehow gauzy looking despite the solid surface, and a bright, bright shade of red like that tiny body he had become accustomed to carrying around in his daily life.

He pressed his lips together, eyeing the cocoon silently.

Without a word, he left the room, retrieved his paperwork from his office, and brought it back to his desk in his temporary respite block. Where he studiously attended to it for several hours.

Once he felt he had done an adequate amount of work, and had ordered himself a decent midnight meal, he picked up the book from the bedside table. He moved his chair closer to the bright red cocoon, flipped open the pages to the bookmark, and picked up reading where they had last left off.