Otherbloodly

It was too cold.

He sat there, back to most of his home. Back to his world. To his certain death. Red blood streaked his grey palms. Claw-like nails bit into his skin. His shoulders were hunched, a long brown cloak hiding his small, bony frame. His weak demeanor. He heard the sounds of magic, of people, of civilization.

God, he fucking hated those sounds.

He let his mind wander, let himself wonder for a brief moment. What would it be like to live in Veil? Where there was nothing, nobody, just vast expanses of rock, caves, the occasional plant, what would it be like to rarely come across civilization? What if he found his brother?

Karkat stood, looking down at the dirt road beneath him. If he went one way, back the way he'd come, he'd go home. Home to death, and persecution. To the east- Veil, and probably more death. West? Derse. He could survive there.

Couldn't he?

He began walking, it was dark all the time in Alternia, so he didn't know if it was night or day in the other regions.

After at least an hour, the sky was beginning to get lighter, and he saw the sun peeking over the horizon. At least, he thought it was the sun. Alternia was underground- the sun was a rare sight if you grew up there. He heard the sound of a horse and carriage, and quickly moved to the side of the road, out of sight.

"...and Prospit keeps meddling ."

"That's to be expected, Dirk. Their goddamn queen and princess are determined to free Earth from Skaia. Derse's efforts to keep that from happening are being ruined. Honestly, if you expected everything to go smoothly, I don't know how you're going to run a kingdom…"

The voices faded into the distance. Karkat frowned, ears straining, hoping to pick up more of the conversation. He couldn't hear anything other than a low murmur, so he gave up on it. After a minute, he began walking again. He squinted, it was too bright for his comfort. He pulled his hood down, trying to block some of the light. The terrain around him was becoming darker, although the sky was bright. The dirt road had a purple tint to it, the bushes seemed to have a deep purple glow. He looked up from the ground, and stopped in his tracks.

He could see the main city of Derse in front of him. Tall, purple-brick buildings, towers and spires poking above the walls surrounding the city. Wooden gates were wide open, allowing entrance into the city. The castle was also visible, the sun reflected off of the roof of the building.

It was quite gorgeous.

After a few more minutes of walking, he was at the gates. He managed to slip into the city easily, he wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but he was going to take a look around. He noticed plenty of people who definitely weren't Derse-born. Other trolls, Prospitians, he even saw a few pixie sprites flitting around. Derse was a place for outcasts. He bet none of them were as freakish as he was. He kept his head low, avoiding the gazes of passerby, albeit none really looked in his direction.

He still was unsure of what the fuck he was going to do- and then someone ran right into him. At least, he thought so. For a moment there was nothing in front of him- then a dark blue-cloaked girl with blonde hair and pale skin- much paler than his own, human, definitely human, was looking down at him, eyes wide with concern yet a tiny bit unfocused.

"Sssorry about that, you… okay?" She definitely seemed to be a little drunk.

"I'm fine." Karkat stood, frowning. "But you certainly don't seem okay."

The girl waved her hand dismissively. "I jussst…. had a biiit too much to drink today."

Karkat's frown deepened. She could possibly get killed stumbling back to her house like that- he might as well try to make a friend. Or- at least an ally. He needed to know at least one person that knew their way around here- and this girl had invisibility magic, she probably did her fair share of sneaking around the city.

"What's your name, and where do you live? I could take you there." So you don't pass out in the streets or something.

The girl yawned, grinning. "M'Roxy. Roxy Lalonde, sir. I live in the castle."

Karkat opened his mouth to respond when the statement fully hit him. The castle. "You're royalty?"

Roxy blinked a few times. "Yyyeah. Royalty. I guess. I'm not directly royalty I'm a cousin of the prince, n'shit."

Karkat nodded a little. "I uh, that still kind of counts. As royalty. Come on, let's get you home so you don't pass out in the goddamn street."

Roxy giggled. "Pretty sure I won't. And I never got your name, tell me what it is."

The two began walking, and Karkat frowned slightly. "... Karkat, I'm Karkat."

Roxy hummed, mumbling that it was a nice name, and then quietly followed Karkat to the castle. She grabbed his arm, using her magic to make the both of them invisible, pulling him around the side and then leading the way up and over the outer wall, into the gardens. Karkat looked around, he had never seen so many plants all in one place. It was gorgeous. His head snapped up at footsteps, ears shifting slightly. A red-cloaked knight was walking towards them, a frown on his face and- was he wearing fucking goggles. He didn't need tinted eyewear it wasn't that fucking bright out. Who the fuck is this asshole. Why is he wearing goggles? Those are very fucking fancy goggles actually. What the fuck.

All Karkat knew was that he definitely already did not like this guy. The attitude in the way he walked, his outfit, his posture- everything about him screamed arrogant goddamn asshole.

"Roxy, I've been looking for you everywhere, and- who's this?"

Roxy spoke up almost immediately. "His name is Karkat, aaaand he's really nice and he made sure I didn't collapse in the street."

The knight certainly didn't look amused. "...Roxy seriously, you need to stop going out every goddamn day to drink."

"Daaavey."

Everything seemed to slow around the three. Time magic, Karkat had been exposed to it a few times. The knight- or Dave, anyways, was the one using it.

"In all seriousness, who the hell are you?" The question was directed at him.

"I'm… a troll. That's really it."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Most trolls that come here have a reason. What's your reason?"

Karkat avoided eye contact, eyes narrow and ears tilted down and back. "... I was going to be persecuted."

The two Dersite humans looked concerned, and mildly suspicious now. "Why would you be persecuted?"

Karkat shrugged, glancing down at his hands. He realized he hadn't washed them of his blood- fuck, he balled his hands into fists, hoping to hide the streaks. "I think it might have been because of my blood. Uh, my magic. It's stronger than most trolls'. Like, way stronger. I could possibly kill the Empress if I had a desire to burn myself out and die from exhaustion."

Roxy snorted a little. "Well then we should hide you. I bet you could hide in Skaia, or Earth. That sound good? Just gotta sneak ya through the castle, all the way to the other side, and skedaddle on outta the city, into Dersite wilderness. And then go for Skaia! Or Earth. Hm. Maybe we should take you to Veil."

Karkat tensed up. "No! No, not Veil, Veil is way too close to Alternia."

"Oh." Roxy frowned. "Earth it is then. Come ooon let's get going!"

Karkat frowned. "... maybe I could rest, first. Wash off, eat something, maybe sleep for the first time in two days. I've been walking all day."

"I don't think the queen would like having an exiled criminal resting in her castle."

Roxy grinned widely, and Dave sighed. "Roxy, we are not going to hide him in the castle."

"Yes we are." She grabbed Karkat's arm and dragged him along.

Dave grabbed his other arm. "No, we aren't. We'll hide him in the stables, wait for night time to come around, then we sneak him around the castle."

Roxy pouted. "You're no fun. I thought you 'lived for danger'. Do you not do that anymore?"

Karkat tuned out of the conversation, letting the two argue. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to stay around them. He hardly even knew who they were, and he was trusting them already? Trusting people was difficult in Alternia, and here he was, not giving two shits about whether these people were safe to be around

“Okay, okay, since you two don’t seem like you’re going to stop arguing anytime soon, I say that we go with this guy’s plan, because I’m not risking getting caught.” Karkat jabbed a finger at Dave, who looked mighty pleased with himself. At least, Karkat thought so. He didn’t show much emotion at all, now that Karkat really looked at him.

“Sweet. Come on, you can chill with the horses until the sun goes down.” Dave led the way, and Roxy was on lookout, watching for guards or just random castle faculty.

The stables were a grand wooden building, with a large, fenced in area next to it for the horses to run in. Karkat followed the two inside, the only sound being footsteps on the hay-covered wood. There weren’t many horses in the stables- it was clear that some were out. And wouldn’t be coming back until later, Karkat figured from his encounter earlier on the road. Roxy and Dave stopped towards the back, Roxy easily opening a door that seemed to have been locked before.

“Ta-da, back room that nobody goes into. Ever. So this’ll be your hiding space. You’re a troll, too, so it’s nice and dark for you.”

Karkat peered into the dark room- it looked like a closet. “Not very roomy.”

Dave shrugged. “It’s either this or you don’t get a hiding spot.

Karkat scowled, tilting his head slightly. “It works. Or will for a few hours, anyways.”

Roxy grinned, clapping her hands together. “Okay! I’ll be back in a little while with some food and water, there’s a hose out back if you wanna wash up and all that. We’ll both be back by midnight- sound good?” She pulled up her hood.

“... yeah, sure.” Karkat watched the two leave the building, then took off his cloak and went out back. There was a hose there, just like they said. He turned it on, washing off his bloody hands. He watched the water run down his dark grey skin, slowly washing away the dried red blood. He had to scrub at it, and he was only satisfied once his hands felt raw. He decided to wash his face while he was at it, then turned off the hose and went back inside. He didn’t want to be caught, but he also didn’t want to sit in a dark room for multiple hours with nothing to do.

There was one horse in the stables- pure white. Karkat walked on over, and realized that it definitely wasn’t a horse- it was a lusus in the shape of a horse. Why did the Dersite kingdom have a lusus in their stables? Karkat studied the creature for a minute, and it stared back with its unblinking grey eyes. His ears tilted downwards in slight discomfort- that thing was creeping him out. He turned away from it and studied the rest of the stables, most of the horses had been outside so there were only a few others inside. Karkat ended up going back into the closet- or back room, whatever, it was totally a closet. He ended up sitting in the corner, waiting for midnight to arrive.

He had a while.