Chapter Text
Karkat never thought he’d actually be able to make it.
From the moment he was hatched and realized what his blood color meant, the odds had been stacked against him. Fighting through the trials, snagging a lusus on pure chance, avoiding the imperial drones… It had all seemed too good to be true. The threat of culling hung constantly over his shoulder, and whenever he got too cocky, he would have to look back and give himself a wake-up call.
He wasn’t meant to survive.
But somehow, he kept surviving.
He was lucky enough to make friends who (mostly) didn’t care about the caste system. He was even luckier that said friends were skilled enough to hide him. He lived undercover, claiming maroon blood, and for seven sweeps, no one was the wiser.
It wasn’t until the draft that things got tough. The drones came a-knocking and scooped him away, and before he knew it, he had been dumped in an imperial ship beside thousands of other young trolls. They were given a pep talk and a uniform, and then they were locked into the ship that would be their new home.
For the next sweep, they would be drilled, ranked, and drilled again. They existed to train. They would be Alternia’s perfect killing machines, and the star system they were set out to conquer would never know what had hit it!
In theory, it was all Karkat had ever dreamed of. Fighting for the glory of his planet, earning respect and rising through the ranks of the imperial fleet, maybe even high enough to become a threshecutioner.
It would’ve been the perfect opportunity, if it weren’t for the mutant red blood running through his veins. He could never be a threshecutioner. He could never be anything more than a soldier, for fear, for constant fear.
So, there he was. Eight sweeps old and flying through galaxies. There was only one window in his sector of the ship, in the communal block. When he wasn’t training, eating, or talking with his friends, Karkat would spend hours staring out into the black depths of outer space. If he squinted, he could see stars in the distance. Planets and systems ripe for the conquering. Constellations, patterns given names. Proverbial stars in which the fates scrawled the destinies of all life.
They were all out there, somewhere. His own destiny was written just like anyone else’s. He didn’t need to see it, he already knew what it would say.
But if Karkat kept looking, maybe he could find a way past it. Maybe he could break away, and travel beyond the stars to paradise.
Maybe out there, somewhere, there was a place where the universe would deem him worthy to live.
***
-- caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] --
CA: kar
CA: kar
CA: kar answwer already cod damnit
CG: HOLY FUCK, ERIDAN. CHILL OUT. I’M HERE.
CG: WHAT’S HAPPENING.
CG: YOU SOUND A LITTLE MORE DESPERATE TO TALK TO ME THAN USUAL.
CA: ha fuckin ha
CA: did you hear the wword
CG: NO. WHEN THE DRONES CAME AROUND BENEVOLENTLY DISPENSING “THE WWORD,” I WAS SHOCKINGLY OVERLOOKED.
CA: gee lets all play make fun of eridans quirk
CA: havvent heard THAT one before
CA: the wword is wwere landin soon, dipshit
CG: WAIT.
CG: WAIT, ARE YOU SERIOUS?
CA: i think theyre tellin all the high rankin officers first so all you foot soldiers dont get antsy
CA: but yeah wwere set to touch down in a few hours
CG: HOLY SHIT.
CG: I…
CG: IT DOESN’T EVEN FEEL REAL. I’VE SPENT SO LONG IN THIS CABIN-FEVER INDUCING HELLHOLE... I’VE FORGOTTEN WHAT NON-MUNICIPALLY DISTRIBUTED FOOD TASTES LIKE. I’VE FORGOTTEN WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BREATHE AIR THAT HASN’T BEEN FILTERED THROUGH SOMEONE ELSE’S RESPIRATORY SYSTEM FIFTY TIMES. I HAVEN’T HEARD THE SOUND OF THE FEATHERBEASTS SINGING IN SWEEPS!
CG: YOU KNOW WHAT THOUGH, THIS STUFFY ASSHOLE ATMOSPHERE HAS BECOME WHAT’S FAMILIAR TO ME.
CG: MAYBE I’LL LEARN TO MISS THIS PLACE.
CG: JUST KIDDING THAT WAS THE WORST FUCKING JOKE I’VE EVER TOLD.
CG: THE PLANET WE’RE HEADED TO COULD BE MADE OF LITERAL FUCKING HOOFBEAST FECES AND IT WOULD BE LESS DESPICABLE THAN THIS PLACE.
CG: IT ISN’T MADE OF HOOFBEAST FECES THOUGH, THANK GOD. IT DOESN’T ACTUALLY SEEM THAT BAD.
CA: yeah
CA: i think this is wwhy they told the high rankin officers first
CG: SHUT THE FUCK UP.
CG: CAN YOU AT LEAST PRETEND TO BE EXCITED? LIKE, DOES THIS REALLY NOT BRING ANY JOY TO YOUR COLLAPSING AND EXPANDING BLADDER BASED AQUATIC VASCULAR SYSTEM?
CG: I’LL TYPE SLOWLY SO YOU’LL UNDERSTAND.
CG: WE.
CG: ARE.
CG: GETTING.
CG: OFF.
CG: THIS.
CG: SHIP.
CA: i am excited im just not paradin it about like a fuckin emotional wiggler
CG: OH.
CG: OH, ERIDAN, YOU WOUND ME. THESE BARBS, THEY ARE TOO SHARP.
CA: just sayin man not evverybody is such a fuckin fanatic for this new planet as you are
CG: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.
CA: you learned their language
CA: or part of one of them at least
CG: WHAT, SO I NEED TO BE CRUCIFIED FOR HAVING A LITTLE CROSS-CULTURAL INTEREST? THIS SHIP GETS BORING, NEED I REMIND YOU.
CA: okay yeah but
CA: you wwatched their movvies
CA: you wwatched their movvies kar that aint normal
CG: ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME THIS PLANET HAS A VERSION OF WILL SMITH HOW COULD I NOT WATCH THEIR MOVIES.
CA: wwhatevver man keep tellin yourself that
CA: ill see you at docking maybe
CA: hope youre in my squadron
CG: WAIT, WHAT?
CA: theyre divvidin us into groups for battle
CA: ivve been tryin to get you into my group so you dont havve to wworry about your blood or anythin but i dunno howw wwell its goin
CA: i gotta go sea you later kar
-- caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] --
Karkat closed his husktop with a sigh.
Now that he thought of it, the highbloods had been looking awfully smug at evening mealtime. He guessed this must be why.
He turned the idea over in his head. He would finally be able to walk down the landing board, breathe the air of a planet that was not his own, and set his blaster to kill mode. It would be fucking glorious. But he couldn’t believe it was really happening.
Was he really about to leave? To finally escape the watchful eye of the drones, if but for a moment?
Karkat hoped so. But the battle posed a problem; if he was injured, and someone else saw his blood, it would be game over. Yet again, his fate lay with his friends. Karkat had to be in a battle group with someone he knew. It was his only chance.
He opened his husktop.
-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling terminallyCapricious [TC] --
CG: I ASSUME YOU’RE A HIGH ENOUGH RANK THAT THEY’VE TOLD YOU THE NEWS.
TC: fOr SuRe mY bRoThEr
TC: hOnK HoNk :o)
CG: OKAY, GOOD. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THEY’RE DIVIDING THE SQUADRONS?
TC: uHhH
TC: wAiT wHaT?
TC: yOu lOsT mE tHeRe BrO
CG: RIGHT.
CG: OF COURSE, I SHOULD NEVER HAVE ASSUMED YOU ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT I MEANT.
CG: I’M TALKING ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE’RE LANDING SOON, YOU OBTUSE PIECE OF FUCK, AND THEY’RE GOING TO BE SEPARATING US. ERIDAN LEFT BEFORE HE TOLD ME ANYTHING MORE, BUT THIS IS BAD FUCKING NEWS FOR ME.
CG: SO. HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THAT AT ALL.
TC: oH yEaH tHeY dId sAy SoMeThInG aBoUT tHaT
CG: I’M GOING TO CUT YOU OFF RIGHT THERE BEFORE YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MIRACLES.
CG: JUDGING BY YOUR RANK AND BLOOD COLOR, I’M ASSUMING YOU’LL BE ONE OF THE SQUADRON LEADERS. HELL IF I KNOW THOUGH. MAYBE THE HIGHER-UPS TOOK INTO ACCOUNT YOUR SOPOR HABITS AND YOU’LL JUST BE A SOLDIER LIKE ME.
CG: ANYWAY. I NEED TO END UP ON A TEAM WITH AT LEAST ONE PERSON I KNOW, OR I’M CULLED. EVEN VRISKA WOULD BE A RELIEF AT THIS POINT. I’M STARTING TO GET A LITTLE NERVOUS.
TC: aW bRo DoNt bE gEtTiN yOuR fEaRs On :o(
TC: i HaVeNt SeEn YoU iN aLl oF fOrEvEr WhY dOnT yOu CoMe OvEr?
CG: YOU…
CG: I MEAN, I CAN DO THAT? I DIDN’T THINK I HAD CLEARANCE.
TC: yOu CaN dO wHaTeVeR yOu wAnT oN oRdErS fRoM mE bRo
CG: DO YOU MEAN TO FUCKING TELL ME I COULD HAVE VISITED ANY OF MY FRIENDS OVER THE PAST SWEEP IF I JUST ACTED LIKE THEY HAD ORDERED ME TO.
TC: lIfE’s jUsT a MiRaClE lIkE tHaT :o)
CG: OKAY, TIME TO STOP TALKING.
CG: WHAT SECTOR ARE YOU IN?
TC: uHhHhH
TC: hOlD oN i gOt ThIs
TC: sEcToR a WiNg 2? SoMe WiCkEd ShIt LiKe ThAt hAhAhA
TC: lOoK fOr ThE hAlLwAy WiTh AlL tHe PuRpLeS aNd ThE rAiNbOwS
CG: THAT’S MILDLY TERRIFYING BUT OKAY. I’LL SEE IF I CAN GET THERE.
TC: :o)
CG: WAIT HOLY SHIT I JUST HAD A THOUGHT.
CG: DO YOU
CG: DO YOU HAVE A WINDOW OVER THERE?
TC: hElL yEaH mOtHeRfUcKeR wE gOt WaLl LeNgTh WiNdoWs AlL uP iN tHiS bItCh!
CG: CAN YOU SEE THE NEW PLANET??
TC: hOlD uP lEt mE lOoK
TC: yEaH tHeReS a PrEtTy BlUe AnD gReEn mOtHeRfUcKeR gEtTiN iTs ChIlL oN oUt ThErE
TC: hOnK
CG: I’M COMING OVER.
-- carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling terminallyCapricious [TC] --
Karkat threw his husktop to the side and grabbed his uniform. He would be demoted if seen wandering the halls without it on. He pulled the jacket on over his long-sleeved black shirt, and changed his pants before heading out the door.
Outside his respiteblock was the communal block, where any trolls with free time could lounge around and do jack shit. Now that they had spent so long on the ship, the drones had been getting lax with their schedules; many of the soldiers ended up sitting in the communal block on their husktops for hours on end. Today must have been a training day for some of the midbloods. As Karkat walked through the open area it was much less populated than was typical, and he thanked his lucky stars for that. Though with orders from Gamzee he could arguably go anywhere he wanted, he still didn’t want to get hassled by some random troll when they saw him heading into the highbloods’ sector.
He passed through the block and to the corridor beyond with no confrontation. It was eerily quiet, but with an underlying sense of anticipation. Behind the walls, all the staff would be working to prepare for docking. Karkat shivered.
At the exit to his sector, a drone was stationed. Karkat swallowed hard as he approached it.
“I’m going to Sector A, Wing Two,” he said cautiously. “Official orders from Gamzee Makara.”
The drone eyed him with mechanical disinterest. There was a quiet whir as something inside it activated, and after a moment, it trudged to the side to allow Karkat through.
He walked as quickly as he could without seeming suspicious.
It was a long way to the highbloods’ part of the ship, and Karkat had never actually been there. But if they could see the planet ahead, they must have been right at the front, in the bow. He could feel the hall curve to the right as he walked. He trailed his fingers along the wall. Layers and layers of construction that began there and ended outside were all that protected him from the endless vacuum of space.
There was another drone stationed at the entrance to Sector Two.
Karkat stated his business, and this one took a bit longer to deem him harmless, but moved aside in the end. Behind it, the corridor split into two paths. One was paved with a carpet of plush violet, and the other with a slightly rougher one of deep purple.
The purple hall had what Karkat prayed was rainbow paint splattered across the walls and floor.
He started down it, giving the colored stains in the carpet a wide berth. After a while, doors began to appear, each with a symbol carved into them. He could heard laughter coming from behind some of them, but it was low and sinister, rather than cheerful. There was the occasional honking noise. Karkat shivered again and continued on until he spied a familiar mark.
Before he could even knock, the door swung open and he was being lifted high into the air.
“What the fuck is up, my brother?” Gamzee squeezed Karkat tightly.
“Gamzee, put me down right this second or I swear to God I will dump the contents of your recuperacoon out into the void.”
Gamzee set his friend down. Once Karkat was on the ground, he was significantly shorter than the other troll. He actually had to look up to make eye contact.
“Well, fuck. I didn’t think you could get any taller,” he grumbled.
“Aw, bro, don’t be givin’ up on your potential.” Gamzee ruffled his hair. “There’s always a miracle in store. Maybe you’ll all up and shoot up higher than me!”
Karkat stalked into Gamzee’s respiteblock. “Gamzee, nothing can be higher than you. If the universe had an award for ‘most stoned and also tallest,’ you’d win it. You’d be the crowning champion of being stoned and tall, and you would hold that title for the rest of your freakishly extended lifespan.”
“Man, I motherfucking missed you,” Gamzee laughed.
Karkat didn’t respond. He was busy staring in shock out the window that encompassed most of Gamzee’s wall.
“You have one of these in your block?” he whispered. “When you said you had a window, I thought you meant in the communal area. This is…”
Gamzee came to stand beside him, gazing out contentedly. “Pretty motherfuckin’ chill view, right?”
“Better than chill, this is fucking amazing.” Karkat took a step closer to the thick glass and pressed a hand to it. The surface was slightly curved as to blend smoothly with the exterior of the ship, and if he leaned out far enough, he almost felt like he could fall through. It was a dizzying sensation.
“Where’s the planet?” he asked.
Gamzee did not speak, merely pointing a little ways to the right. Karkat followed his gaze, and his eyes landed on something he had never seen before.
So, that was Earth.
It looked kind of weird. There was only a singular pale moon instead of two colored ones. And it was smaller than Alternia, if Karkat recalled correctly. One of many ways in which the two planets differed. This one had vast blue oceans flooding across most of its surface, only confined by swatches of green and brown land. There was a cap of white at each pole, and thick clouds obscured a good percentage of the view. Nothing like Alternia’s endless gray landscape and dull waters.
But the two were alike in that somewhere, down on their native grounds, they held life.
Humans were an interesting species, Karkat had to admit. Or, at least, they seemed to have a good grasp of romance and how to translate it to film. He had originally discovered their archive of movies while kicking around on his husktop one day. Apparently the drones had made much of Earth’s internet available, should any troll want to make use of it.
Karkat, to his knowledge, was the only one to make use of it.
It had started with one movie. He had turned it on out of sheer boredom. But the main focus of the movie was a flushed couple, and no other quadrants came into play at all. It was too shitty to keep watching. So he had picked another, only to encounter the same problem.
After doing a bit of research, he found that the species known as “humans” had only one quadrant. Fucking aliens. After that he had dismissed them as a race, and refused anything to do with them.
Until he got so bored wandering around the ship that he accepted defeat and turned his husktop back on.
The appearances and culture of the human race were strange, and Karkat didn’t wonder why the Condesce had decided they needed to be eradicated. But he did make an effort to understand them. It was the least he could do before he helped to slaughter them all. If he didn’t absorb their film history for posterity, who would?
The movies weren’t so bad, once you got used to the singular quadrant system. They were actually pretty okay. Karkat wouldn’t go so far as to call them “good,” but watching them didn’t make him want to projectile vomit. That was better than he could say of some Alternian works. And the humans, though strange, seemed to have some measure of intelligence. They were docile, for the most part, and simple in their thought processes, but not stone cold dumb. They were not the worst race ever to be ejected from the universe’s glistening asshole.
Not to say he didn’t loathe them. He did. He hated every stinking human that had ever been “born” with a burning passion, and he couldn’t wait to watch their fragile pink bodies dropping to the ground by the thousand. It was his duty as a troll to feel this way, and he accepted it readily.
The fact that they all wore their candy red blood on their sleeves didn’t help their case, either. God. Being a mutant was something to be ashamed of, and no matter how his friends told him otherwise, that was something Karkat knew. These humans had no sense of decency.
“What’s up, bro?” Gamzee said, jolting Karkat from his hateful reverie.
He scowled. “I’m excited to land.”
Gamzee raised his eyebrows. “You don’t look too motherfuckin’ excited. Actually, you look like you’re all up and about to go off on a murder spree.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be the same thing?” Karkat snapped.
Gamzee nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess that’s what some people’d motherfuckin’ want. But you can’t be basin’ your whole self on what other people want for you. It’s okay to not want to kill people.”
Karkat shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “I never said I don’t want to kill anyone, where the fuck did you get that idea? I’m just as trigger-happy as everyone else here. Every living being on this new planet can choke on my bulge for all I care.”
Gamzee’s eyes closed as he nodded. “That’s okay too. Do whatever feels natural to you, bro. Just don’t motherfuckin’ force anything.”
Karkat sighed and turned his gaze back to Earth.
The planet was so weird-looking, it was almost a little bit beautiful.
“All soldiers report to the deck,” an automated voice blared. Karkat jumped. “All soldiers and officers report to the deck.”
Gamzee tilted his head to listen. “Sounds like… we should be headin’ on up to the deck. C’mon.”
He scooped Karkat into his arms, only to drop him again when the smaller troll began squirming uncontrollably. “Don’t fucking carry me, douchespigot, I can walk fine on my own.”
Karkat smoothed out his uniform and glared at Gamzee before stepping out into the hall.
A steady stream of purple-bloods was migrating down the hall, and Karkat grabbed onto the back of Gamzee’s jacket to avoid being swept away. They moved with the group down the halls, up the stairs, and through to the ship’s main deck. Waiting for them was their supervisor.
An intimidating violet-blood female, she stood on a stage-like platform and glared at the soldiers beginning to file in. Karkat moved behind Gamzee. He tried to look through the crowd for any of his friends, but he couldn’t see over the mass of purple-bloods. Stupid highblood height genes. Stupid incredibly intimidating trolls and their creepy smiles…
The quiet hum of a crowd began to build and fill the block. “Gamzee,” Karkat hissed. “Can you see anyone we know?”
Gamze surveyed the crowd. “Mmm… Yeah.”
“Who?”
“I see Tavbro.” Gamzee smiled down at Karkat, who raised his eyebrows.
“Huh. I’m surprised he survived the training process. Anyone else?”
“Well, I see little meowbeast girl over there with, uh… I forgot his name.”
“Equius?”
“Motherfuck, yeah.” Gamzee turned around. “And there’s your buddy over with the officers.”
Karkat stood on his tiptoes, but to no avail. He couldn’t see anything, god damnit! “Eridan? Where is he?”
Gamzee put his hands beneath Karkat’s arms and lifted him into the air. “This better?”
“No, that is NOT BETTER PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN.”
Karkat stumbled as he landed back on his feet. His face felt hot as he avoided the amused stares of the trolls around him. Oh, fuck, fuck he couldn’t blush or his blood would show, and he knew for a fact that those around him would not hesitate to cull him on the spot. Purple-bloods had a notorious reputation for violence and extremism. Gamzee was probably the only harmless one in existence.
“I assume you all know what is ahead,” their supervisor called. The chatter died out in a single moment, and the sudden silence left Karkat’s hear ducts ringing. “Even your officers are utter shit at keeping secrets, so I will proceed with the assumption that you all know we are about to land. But before that can happen, you will need to be divided into groups, as we will be initiating invasion the moment we land.
“Each group will have a leader and five foot soldiers. The blood colors of your teammates may vary wildly, but you will all have a highblood officer to lead you. I will now read out the names of the trolls who have been chosen to lead squadrons. God knows there are far too many of you, so this will take a long fucking time, but you’d better keep your chitinous windholes clamped shut until I’m done or I’ll personally have you culled. If I call your name, come up here and wait onstage.” She pulled out a long sheet and began to read off names. “Nechta Caspan. Corvus Nekima. Kaslin Tespor. Lestra Bellos. Gamzee Makara.”
Gamzee grinned as Karkat gave him a light punch in the arm. As he walked up to the stage, the crowd parted for him, and he ambled up the steps with his hands shoved casually into his pockets. He looked like an idiot, slouching there next to all the other, perfectly attentive officers, and it was fucking beautiful. Karkat would shed drops of dismay fluid if they weren’t red-tinted enough to give him away.
But without his friend to stand beneath, Karkat was left feeling vulnerable surrounded by the gigantic highbloods. Their reputation for violence was again brought to mind as one gave him a toothy smirk. He stooped down a little, as to be smaller and less noticeable, and began to weave his way through the sea of bodies.
Once he broke away from the mass of highbloods and entered the crowd made up of mostly middle hues, he started to feel better. These people were shorter and much less threatening. In fact, one particular face was the least threatening thing he could think of. He made his way over as fast as he could. As she caught sight of him, her face broke into a wide smile.
“Hello, Karkat.”
“Hey, Kanaya.” Karkat pulled her into a hug, lingering a moment before letting her go. “Now isn’t exactly the time for heartfelt reunions,” he whispered. “But I missed you like fuck.”
Kanaya patted his back gently. “A curse be upon all drones for dividing their keep by blood color.”
Karkat smiled as he turned back towards the stage to listen. Being surrounded by so many dangers was stressful, but with Kanaya, it became a little easier. They had never made their relationship official, but everyone in a twenty foot radius knew they were pale as hell. She put her hand on his arm as they listened to the supervisor drone on with her list of names.
“Eridan Ampora.”
Karkat watched as Eridan ascended the stairs and took his place next to the other leaders. His posture was regal, and he looked down on the crowd with an arrogant sneer befitting of a violet-blood such as himself.
Gamzee or Eridan. Having a friend in his group would help Karkat exponentially, but having a friend as his leader would practically erase his struggle. He crossed his fingers and hoped. He even sent a little message out to the clown gods Gamzee always rambled about. Please, mirthful messiahs, if you’re real, give me this one fucking favor and let me be with someone I know. I’ll never ask for anything again. He left out the part where he wouldn’t be asking again because the mirthful messiahs were shitty delusions made up by clowns high on sopor slime.
The supervisor tore her sheet in half with a loud ripping noise, and Karkat looked up from his prayer. “That’s it,” she announced. “Each leader has a list of trolls who will be on their teams. They’re in charge of reading it, not me, so knock yourselves out.” She retreated to the back of the stage and took a seat on a chair that had been brought up for her by a lowblood.
Eridan moved to center stage to go first, and no one dared to question his air of confidence. “Sollux Captor,” he called. Karkat sniggered. Eridan, leading Sollux? That squad would be having a fun time.
“Terezi Pyrope.” Karkat blinked as the blind girl skipped out from the crowd to join Eridan and Sollux. He hadn’t seen her in the crowd, but he wished he had. They probably wouldn’t get to speak again for a very long time.
“Vriska Serket.” Ooh. Vriska, an old flame of Eridan’s, and Sollux, a possible new one. Karkat would have to get the juicy details from him later on.
“Kanaya Maryam.”
Karkat’s pump biscuit lept into his throat.
“I’m sorry,” Kanaya murmured. “But this is where I must leave you.” She squeezed Karkat’s hand before moving up to join her new squadron. As she left, the crowd around him instantly seemed to swell. He steadied his breathing as best he could and waited for Eridan to read the final name.
“Karkat Vantas.”
Holy shit on a fuckstick.
Not a team with someone he knew, a team made of only people he knew! He was safe! As long as he didn’t fuck up in battle, he was safe, and he was going to live!
Karkat forced himself forward, and approached the stage as if in a dream. Eridan smiled briefly as Karkat fell in line, and then the new team filed down the steps together. A drone appeared by their side and directed them into a small block. Several panels made up one wall. Another was composed of what looked thrillingly like a door.
“You may now commence squadron activity,” the drone addressed Eridan. Its robotic voice held no emotion, and as soon as it was finished speaking, it zoomed away. When it did, Eridan’s regal attitude crumbled. He looked exhausted.
“Thank fuckin’ cod.”
Kanaya threw her arms around Karkat, and he would be lying if he said a little bit of dismay fluid didn’t leak from his lookstubs, he was so relieved. Terezi leaped forward to run her tongue along his face, and before he knew it, he was surrounded by his friends.
“Do you know how fucking hard it wath to coordinate thith?” Sollux was complaining. “Imperial firewallth are no trick, I’m telling you. Getting uth all together wath the biggetht job I’ve ever taken on and I didn’t even get paid for it, tho you’d better be fucking grateful.”
“Don’t act like I had no part in it,” Eridan objected. “You wouldn’t have gotten anything done if I didn’t give you those access codes--”
“Shut up, you revolting bulgemanglers,” Karkat choked. “I’m so fucking glad to see all of you.”
“Stop being so emotional, it’s making you taste all sappy.” Terezi stuck out her tongue.
“I thought I was going to end up on a team full of strangers who would kill me the second I got cut!”
“And instead, you ended up on a team of pansies who won’t kill anybody for fear it’ll hurt their feelings,” Vriska grumbled. “God. What I wouldn’t give to be in a different squad.” Terezi papped her on the cheek.
“Shush, you, don’t be so rude. You’ve got me to kill people with.”
“I do hate to interrupt this long overdue reunion, but are we not meant to be ‘commencing squadron activity,’ whatever that means?” said Kanaya.
Eridan ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Nah, it’s whatever. That just means we introduce ourselves and figure out how we’ll be best at fighting together. We already know all that stuff.”
“Good,” Sollux said. “All the more time to talk. I haven’t heard a thingle fucking thank you from anyone, and I’m not going to take a thingle thtep on that planet until I hear at leatht two.”
“Thank you, Sollux,” Karkat and Kanaya said in unison. They looked at each other and blushed.
“Get a block, you two,” Vriska snorted.
“Oh, there’s one more thing we have to do,” Eridan said suddenly. He pressed a button in the wall, and one of its panels flipped to reveal a rack of outfits. They were similar in design to the uniforms Karkat had become accustomed to, but instead of having two pieces, a jacket and pants, they were full-body suits. There were grey pads sewn into the black fabric along the limbs and torso. They ended at the joints, and then began again past them. Karkat poked one of the pads. It was as hard as a rock, but the black cloth around it was cool and flexible.
“This must be the work of Imperial engineering,” Kanaya noted as she touched the stiff fabric. “Blaster-proof, I expect.”
“They’re battle armor,” said Eridan. “Put them on, we’re going to need them soon. Remember what the lady said? We’re starting to invade the second we land.” He pushed another button, and a set of helmets emerged beside the armor. “These have wireless communicators built in, so if we get separated, we can find each other.”
Karkat put one on. It was less bulky than it appeared, and when he slipped the visor down over his lookstubs, he found the clear material easy to see through.
“That’ll display thermal vision,” Eridan said, pointing at the visor. “It has a few different settings you can use to see.” He sounded pleased with himself, explaining all the equipment the others could make no sense of. “Now get changed.”
Karkat shrugged off his uniform jacket, and, after a moment of hesitation, decided to leave his pants on underneath the armor. Terezi had made a different decision, and Karkat caught a glimpse of a pair of boxers adorned with brightly colored dragons before she was fully clothed.
He slipped on the armor as quickly as he could. It fit him snugly, but not in an uncomfortable way. He held out his arms, testing the fit, and the fabric stretched with his movement. He could see Kanaya nodding in approval. On her uniform’s chest, he noticed, was her symbol, stitched in green. He looked down.
There was his own, stitched in gray. He breathed a sigh of relief. There wasn’t a trace of red on him, unless you counted the hot pink logo of Her Imperious Condescension on the side of his helmet.
“Commencing landing mode,” the same automated voice that had bid them to the deck now informed them.
A set of handles popped out of the walls, and Karkat grabbed onto one as the ship began to vibrate. He felt the floor tilt beneath his feet, and he grabbed Kanaya’s free hand with his.
“One more thing!” Eridan shouted over the rising roar of the engines. He snatched a blaster from the uniform rack and tossed it to Karkat. “Everybody get a weapon!”
There was a scramble to receive a gun before the floor tilted too sharply. The vibrations had increased to shaking, and Karkat bit down on his tongue by mistake. Hot blood filled his mouth, and spat it out. It landed on the floor and began to run, a trickle of bright, accusatory red.
Soon, he would carve out rivers of red, but the blood would not be his own.
The ship settled.
They were on Earth.
And as one wall opened to reveal a planet teeming with life, Karkat knew. All Earth’s oceans would run with red. The red that crucified him and made him unworthy would be their sentence. He would punish every abominable human for their freedom to bleed, and oh, would they bleed.
He clicked the safety on his blaster off, and walked down the landing board. Around the ship, he could see other squads emerging from similar doors. They went out to meet their destinies on this new planet that was both so fascinating and so abhorrent.
Karkat stepped off the board onto enemy land.
This was his hatchright.
This was his destiny.
And if the fates who commanded the stars said any differently, they could shove it up their asses. He was in control now. They said he was a mutant? They said he was a freak, barely able to be called a troll? They condemned him for existing? Fuck that.
He was going to make this planet pay, for the glory of the Alternian empire. He was going to snap it in half and rip out its core, all for the sake of his hatred. The humans with their silly fantasies of worth and desire. None of it would last.
Fuck his blood, and fuck the expectations it brought. Karkat was more a troll than anyone. He would show them. He would destroy this planet, and against the red it would bleed, no one would notice the hue running through his veins. He would prove himself worthy.
If there was no place he could go to be accepted, he would make his own.
The stars held no mercy. Not for him.
And so, he would hold none for them.