Chapter Text
When you met Kankri Vantas at first, he didn't seem like a complete Asshole. He was walking through the dreambubbles in that stupid fuzzy red sweater, head bent and red tears falling down his face. You don't remember much, other than the fact that you thought it was just you seeing your future self and that you didn't want to talk to him. But, like the idiot you were, you decided to talk to him anyway.
You walked up to him when he sat down on a golden bench. He was curled up in a tight ball, muttering to himself and crying softly. you walked up to him and tapped on his shoulder. "Excuse me, mister, why are you crying?" you asked. He looked up at you cautiously with blank white eyes, and they scared you a little bit. He wiped his eyes and stood up. He was taller than you by a long shot. You realized he couldn't be an older version of you because he was neater, more groomed. He laughed silently and said:
"hey, you're a cute little kid, aren't you? What's your name?" You thought about telling him for a minute, because you aren't fucking stupid and Crabdad has told you on multiple occasions never to talk to strangers, but this guy seemed trustworthy.
"My name is Karkat Vantas! What's your name, stranger?" The man seemed a little shocked at this for a second, but he composed himself. He sure was weird.
"My name is Kankri, and i suspect we will be meeting soon. When you are older. It was nice to meet you, little Karkat" He ruffled your hair and smiled warmly. You decided you liked Kankri, he didn't seem to want to cull you like all the mean older people. Also, his sweater was in your blood color. Did that mean something?
He begins to walk away. "But you didn't tell me why you were crying!" You shout, running and trying to keep up with him. He turns around and smiles at you sadly.
"Some day you will figure it out, but not today. See you soon, young Karkat" He says and walks away.
That was 10 years ago.
-
Your name is KARKAT VANTAS and you have just woken up from a strange dream. Well, a repeat of a dream. You are often plagued by this certain dream because you really wanted to know who that person was. But now that alternia was gone, you might never know.
You glance at your clock and notice that you should have been awake hours ago. Gogdamnit. You quickly throw on your black sweater and skinny jeans and make a lousy attempt to brush your hair by running your fingers through it but failing miserably as it flops right back in place. Oh well. You quickly run out of your bedroom, strange dream already forgotten.
Soon you were in the common room, panting for breath. Stupid room being too far away. Kanaya and Rose were sitting together and skimming over a long novel. Kanaya sees you and wave you over. "Oh, good morning Karkat! Could you come over here for a moment?"
You walk over to the table they were at and pick up a mug of coffee from the human coffee machine. "what's up?" You ask and sit down next to rose. Rose warmly smiles and grabs Kanayas hand. You try to brush of a twinge of jealousy, seeing those two together and so happy. You wish you had someone like that.
"Kanaya and i were just discussing some things that we thought you might like to see" Rose says politely. It's amazing how alike she and Kanaya are.
"Sure. It's not like i had anything better to do anyway" You mutter and set your coffee mug down on the table. Ah, sweet coffee, what would the world do without you? Kanaya seems to hear your bitterness and clears her throat.
"Well, we learned some things about our session, well, the one we are headed to currently." she says casually. "Well, we learned things about that session that we could mirror towards our session that we had never known about. Like, say... a scratch perhaps?" You look at her with interest.
"But we never activated a scratch. Our session was fucking perfect until some certain humans came along and jacked it up" Kanaya nods earnestly.
"Yes, but what if we weren't the FIRST alternian session? Like, what if we were the result of a scratch session and we never knew because our guardians were actually scratched?"
"I never thought of it that way..." You trail off and look toward the door. At that moment, Terezi and Gamzee walk in hand in hand, (probably crushing the life out of each other like regular kismesis would) and you quickly turn around. Terezi was kind of a sore subject for you currently.
"I know, but Kanaya will not listen to me when i remind her that you guys were raised by, well, animals" Rose chimes in. Terezi overhears, walking over towards you guys and giggling.
"Silly humans, did you not know that we did have alternian lineage somewhere along the line? What, did you think that grubs just appeared out of thin air? Well, we did, we were alchemized, right? But didn't Karkles make extra versions of us? Well, if we were to link it to your session even more, we could say that those were our alternian ancestors. And that would also mean that they would be the session before us, if there even was one. And that would mean that we would be the ancestors in their session!" She exclaims with a laugh. You look down at your lap in self pity even though you know that self pity is fucking stupid and no one's gonna notice and if you don't say anything and No one's gonna feel sorry for you anyway.
"Well that would make sense" Rose nods her head and you just want to leave, which is a new record for you. This is the shortest time you've been able to stand these assholes. You contemplate running out when Strider walks up. Yep, that just puts the icing on top of the asshole cake. you stand up to leave, excusing yourself and take off down the hall before the asshat can make his next move. You just can't take any more of this shit. You just want to curl up and die. Soon, before you know it, you're asleep on your bed.
-
You wake up in a memory of Prospit. Well, at least you think it's a memory, seeing as you're not wearing prospitan clothes and all versions of Prospit had been destroyed. This version looked slightly different from your version, though. Could it possibly be the human's version? Did that mean tat Egbert or Harley had been here recently? You wanted to talk to them- they might understand what you're going through.
you decide to walk around to see if you could run into the humans or your dead friends. Or sollux. fuck it all, you just needed SOMEONE other than the assholes on the meteor. You feel tears falling down your face, and you think fuck, i've made it to my breaking point.
You just walk around, crying, until you come to a familiar setting. "Where have i seen this before..." you ask yourself and look around. You distinctly remember that you woke up on prospit once, but you were only in a golden room that resembled your room and you died. So how could you have seen this place?
Then you hear crying in the distance. You turn to see a familiar figure in a red sweater sitting on a bench and crying. Then it hits you- your dream. You had met this person in a dream and then you had dreamed about that meeting for years. you had hoped to meet that mysterious person but those hopes vanished the first time you actually gave it thought while you were playing the game. Now you were going to meet him. Wow he cried a lot.
"Excuse me, but why are you crying?" you ask, tapping him on the shoulder. He looks up at you with those blank white eyes and you can sense surprise from him. He wipes his eyes and stands up. Now he's not much taller than you.
"You are crying as well, i see no need to be concerned for me when you are facing problems of your own," He says politely, offering you a handkerchief. You shyly accept it, looking at your feet. This was the first time you noticed his tears were the same color as yours. As if reading your thoughts, he comments "Pardon me for asking, and feel free to tell me if i am triggering you, but does your blood color happen to be candy red?"
"Y-yeah, it does... Is yours the same?" you ask nervously. Just because you're older doesn't mean this guy intimidates you any less.
"Yes, mine happens to share the same mutation as yours. My name is Kankri, it is nice to meet you" He says, holding out his hand. You just stare at it blankly. He notices you and blushes, putting his hand down back at his side like offering it was a stupid idea.
"Do you remember me at all? My name is Karkat, and i met you when i was almost three sweeps old, and you told me we would meet later on...?" you ask hesitantly. You might have just imagined him but you wanted to ask in case the two of you really met.
He perked up instantly. "you're little Karkat? Wow, you grew up quite a lot! I thought i would never get the chance to see you! I'm Kankri, and i'm your ancestor. Well, not ancestor exactly, the scratch version of the person who you called your ancestor, if you even believed in them, i know most people did not... but anyway, i'm your ancestor and in my session, you were mine! What would you call that exactly..." He trails off and you roll your eyes. You can already tell you are going to hate this guy. Great.
"Yes, i'm 'little Karkat' the same guy that you met sweeps ago. And secondly, how the hell could you be my ancestor? I didn't even know you guys were real, and if you were, didn't you die as an adult? Unless you really were from the scratch. Then that;s just fucking confusing." Kankri stiffens and glares at you. "What?" you ask and shrug your shoulders.
"Karkat, i would appreciate it if you didn't use such triggering language around me, seeing as i do not agree with using such profanities at your age, or any age as a matter of fact. I find it rather vulgar and inappropriate. Of course, if you prefer using it, you should just be mindful of my triggers and refrain from using it around me. Anywhere else is fine. And yes, i am the scratch version of your ancestor. I believe you knew him as the signless, or the sufferer? As for you in my universe, you were known as the cancerous, your name differing from the traditional eight letter ancestor name. You were a great leader, and many looked up to you until you were killed by your moirail, who's name i am not aware of. Although i DO know that you and him were moirails in your session, as well." He notices you have grown more and more angry and the mention of Gamzee. "Oh, did i trigger you? Should I call said moirail for you?" Gog, he would not SHUT UP?
You clench your fists and do all you can to not shout in his face. "He and i aren't moirails anymore, thank you very much for bringing that up. He and i broke up after he became too involved with his kismesis, Pyrope- " you spit, noticing Kankri's distaste at that and do a mental happy dance and continue: "and did i ask you for a lecture? No, i did not. So, therefore, i do not want a lecture on whatever the hell triggers are-" cringe. "And i would like to be on my way now. I have met you, and therefore i do not need nor do i want to meet you again. Good day." You say and turn to walk away until Kankri walks in front of you and stops you. Great, he was one of those PERSISTENT lecturers.
"Now, i know my lect- ahem, conversations come off as long and boring, but i only wish to spread the knowledge that i think everyone should posses and if they had it, they might be able to create a more peaceful environment for everyone to be able to coexist in. Now, if you would let me continue..." He begins and you begin to space out. If he was going to be persistent, you might as well go along with it and at least pretend to listen. You knew enough about people to understand that he wasn't trying to piss you off, or even aware of the fact, he really was just trying to 'talk'.
Gog, you feel so sleepy, you might just... fall asleep...
-
Hours later, or at least you assume it's been hours, because Kankri is still talking to you but there are actually people walking around now because the sun started setting when a tall girl wearing a teal bodysuit and red sunglasses that remind you distinctly of Terezi walks up and begins talking to Kankri. You only catch snippets of the conversation, but none of it makes sense until Kankri turns to you with a regretful expression on his face. "I apologize for cutting our conversation short, Karkat, but i appears i have some very pressing matters to attend to that cannot be avoided. I hope we meet again soon." He says plainly and walks away with the Pyrope Look-alike.
Then the girl named Meenah comes up and pushes you down the flight of stairs. "Ow, what the fuck are you doing?" You shout, hoping not to attract the insufferable again.
She puts a finger to her lips and begins pushing you faster, towards the memory door you made earlier. "We're getting away from Kranki" She whispers and pushes you in front of the door. "Now, be a good little buoy and open it if you want to get away from him with your sanity still intact" you quickly open the door and run off, yelling a quick thanks and heading to the memory of your hive, where you can hide.