Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Hang on, Momo!" John shouted, snapping his glider open with a practiced flick of his wrist. Karkat looked on with only a little bit of jealousy, and a whole lot of longing, as the younger boy showed off both his bending skills and his physical prowess, leaping into the air and zooming towards the cage that held not just their flying lemur companion, but also a trio of rather plump hog monkeys.

Karkat's stomach grumbled in protest as he watched his crush, the bridge between his world and the spirit world, free several game animals without a second thought. He reached for his water pouch on his left hip, feeling the way the water sloshed eagerly within the leather. It called to him, not as strong as the ocean back home, but still enough to make him smile as he took a sip.

"We could have used those," Rose complained, his nonbender sister cocking her arm, boomerang raised as she watched the hog monkeys scamper away. "I understand John's dietary restrictions, but would we not have an easier time preparing his portion of the meal if we were able to forgo consuming some of his rather small nut pickings?"

"Rose, I know you're the plan guy, but I think you worry  too much," John said with a laugh as he landed. "I really don't mind sharing, and besides, if we let Appa fly us to the next town, we can just—"

"We're not flying," Rose snapped, and Karkat rolled his eyes. 

"Why the fuck not?" he asked, crossing his arms. "We've been walking for hours, and I'm fed the hell up with it." His feet hurt, and unlike John, he couldn't just ask his element to carry him when he got tired.

Rose snorted, crossing her arms right back. His big sister was taller than him, the bitch, and she knew how to loom. "Because Fire Prince David and The Orphaner General never catch up to us on the days we're walking, even if it's much slower." She turned to John, who was giving her his inquisitive head tilt. She sighed. "Clearly, they're navigating by your furry friend's prodigious girth."

Appa mooed plaintively at this, and Karkat wondered if the animal guide of an Avatar was gifted with sapience. He'd been wondering this for the past five weeks of their journey, and each time Appa reacted to someone other than John , he added another tick to the maybe column. 

"Maybe it should be John's decision, not yours," Karkat snapped back. "He's the leader, he's the one who knows what kind of risk we're taking if we don't hurry up and get to the North Pole!"

Karkat really wanted to say that it didn't matter if the disgraced Prince followed them, not if they made it behind the walls of their sister tribe's homeland. With a sky Bison, it's not like they were restricted to follow the ocean or the roads. But his sister took being the oldest seriously, and would never approve a plan that put the Last Southern Waterbender in danger. 

It was while the trio were bickering that Rose began walking again, her long legs allowing her to pull ahead of them quickly, even when she turned and walked backwards, gesturing with her boomerang to punctuate each sentence.

Thus, when Rose shoved herself between some thick bushes, Karkat had to watch in horror as Rose nearly fell ass-backwards into the Fire Nation soldiers hidden behind it.

"SHIT," Karkat swore, scrabbling for the mouth of his water pouch. His sister turned with a snarl towards the soldiers, who were standing from their cooking fire, their faces already twisted in fiery rage. 

"Get separated from the rest of your kind, you filthy barbarians?" One of the men taunted, a spear in his hand. Beside him, a woman lit her fists in a hot fwmp of sound.

"We mean you no harm," John tried weakly, but the soldiers didn't listen- didn't care, more like, and they edged in closer, laughing cruelly. 

"Too bad, pretty thing," one of the soldiers purred, hand ablaze. "We're going to harm you anyway." He licked his lips, and took a step forward–

And with a wet, meaty thwack , a small dagger struck true, landing dead center of the soldier's throat. He looked down in shock, a choked gurgling escaping his lips along with his life's blood, the flame in his hand guttering out as he fell. John whimpered at the sight from somewhere near Karkat, and his heart clenched for the pacifist. 

Taking that as her invitation, Rose screamed a battle cry, leaping towards the man with the spear, her own warclub in hand. John blasted his air at the flame fisted woman, joining the fray despite the death.

And then Karkat had no attention left for anyone else, focusing on taking down anyone in his way. He lept and spun, his limber frame not quite as quick as John's, but still allowing him to flow like water past the lumbering bulk of adults in full plate.

He tried to focus on what the scroll had taught him, taking the water in his hands and pushing it at the head of his opponent, then pulling it back towards him to create a bubble around his face. The man began to writhe wildly, and Karkat hoped grimly that John wouldn't notice.

Instead, it was Karkat that didn't notice the flames coming for his back, not until a lightfooted figure— John?— collided with him, a strong arm wrapping around Karkat's slim waist and lifting him off the ground entirely.

"John, holy FUCK," Karkat shouted, twisting his wrist to make the water follow him into the sky. 

"Sorry, not John, but if you're comparin' me to a real life Airbender, it means I'm doin' my job right," a deeper voice than he expected brushed his ears, and then they reached the apex of their trajectory, apparently a large branch that the stranger dumped him on. 

"Name's Eridan, by the way," the shaggy haired boy called, Karkat watching open mouthed as the rope swung the guy back towards the carnage, swinging his gleaming hooksword towards the naked belly of a solider who'd clearly been woken up by the battle. His gut exploded in a dark mixture of offal and viscera, releasing a sickly scent that made Karkat gag, even from up here. Other strangers, clad in dark oranges and browns like the autumn leaves, were joining the fray, each leaving a bloody splash across the grass to rival Rose's own.

Karkat had lost his water in the rescue. By the time he'd worked up the ability to retrieve it, the fight was over, and bloody children were counting the bodies, whooping over the spoils.

"That little girl just kept killing them," John's voice announced him before Karkat registered the airbender's arrival, so light was his landing on the branch. "This war has turned children into murderers." His voice cracked as he spoke, and Karkat wished he could protect the boy from the destroyed world he'd inherited.

But the Avatar's duty was to save the world, and Karkat had to hold onto hope that John was strong enough to do that duty, even if the world that was left was a cruel, violent mockery of the one the airbender remembered.

"It's not murder," a reedy voice scoffed, and they both looked up. Clinging to another branch above them, a crossbow in hand, was a hollow-cheeked boy with a lisp. One eye was grey-blue, the other a reddish-umber. "You have to be human for it to be murder." 

"Well said, Sol," praised the boy with the hookswords, his face splashed with blood, as he swung back up to their branch with ease. He turned to Karkat and John, his eyes, a strange, near-purple shade of grey, wide open and earnest.

Look in my eyes / they lie

"My freedom fighters aren't killers, we're only taking out the trash."

Karkat swallowed roughly. This guy, Eridan, was ridiculously handsome. He'd done something to his hair, put a streak of henna through it that matched the dark, burnt-leaf color of his clothes. Dressed darker than John's nomad robes, the stranger seemed more wild than John. He was older, and evidently well-trained with the gore coated weapons in his hands, which gave him rather well developed muscles in comparison to Karkat's crush.

John looked like he wanted to argue, so Karkat cut in. "Thank you for saving us. I'm Karkat, this is John. My sister Rose is the maniac with the warclub. You said you're the Freedom Fighters?" He snuck a glance at Eridan's legs, wondering if they were just as muscular as his arms.

Eridan smiled coyly, as though he'd noticed Karkat's wandering gaze. "These are our woods, but the ashmaker scum keep sending patrols. You're lucky we were planning a raid on this one." He gestured at the ground, and Karkat looks down to see the other Fighters carrying supplies out of the solider's tents. One of the smaller figures, a girl with a red bandana tied across her eyes, seemed to be plucking daggers from the soldier's corpses. "Terezi's one of my best fighters, and Sollux here is one of my brightest. They help me train and protect the rest of the kids."

John snapped his glider back open. "I'm gonna check on Rose," he said, and jumped off the tree before Karkat could stop him. Eridan's gaze tracked the airbender as he descended.

"The bastards would've loved to kill a real airbender," Eridan said, a wistful edge to his voice. It sent two shudders through Karkat, one part of him wanting to question the older boy's tone, but the... other part of him felt a sudden pulse of arousal. It was something about the way Eridan tilted his head as he spoke, his eyes heavy-lidded.  

Trying to regain some measure of control over his thoughts, Karkat made the mistake of looking down.

"Well, I'm just a waterbender, I can't fly my way out of this tree." Karkat's voice cracked as he spoke. Being on Appa was one thing, the bison wasn't exactly likely to bow under his weight. He couldn't say the same about a tree branch. He still felt his stomach swooping from John dragging him and Rose away on his glider from those pirates, and that was four days ago! 

Eridan chuckled, extending a hand to Karkat. "If you wanted a ride down, all you had to do was ask." 

Karkat felt heat rising in his cheeks, and carefully took the proffered hand—

And gasped, as Eridan used it to tug his body inward along the branch, pulling him close until Karkat was slotted against his chest, pinned tightly by Eridan's arm around his waist. With the other hand, Eridan grasped the rope, then jumped, pulling Karkat with him.

"FUUUUUUUUUUCK" Karkat shouted in terror as they dropped at a controlled, but still way-too-fast, speed. Somehow, Eridan was laughing, loud and spirited, as the winds of their descent whipped his hair, and the sound reverberated through his chest and consequently, through Karkat.

Thankfully, it was soon over, and Karkat leaped away from the tall drink of temptation— but not before his sister got an eyeful, and she scowled mightily. He gulped, resolving to control himself before she gave him an earful on the subject of discretion. 

"Hey Tz, what we got?" came the voice of Sollux, and Karkat looked over to see the scrawny boy had followed them down on a rope of his own, and now approached the knife girl (Terezi?), who was rapping her tiny fists against the side of a large barrel, leaving bloody smears where she touched it.

"I'll bet you two copper this is blasting jelly," she replied, her voice nasally. 

Sollux whooped in excitement, hurrying over. "That would be so sick," he praised the girl, producing some thin metal device that he used to tear open the barrel lid, eagerly peering inside. 

"You can give me the coins later, nerd," the girl replied, patting her companion on the shoulder.

"And what, pray tell, does a group of wayward urchins need with blasting jelly?" Rose asked, eying the display distrustfully. 

"None of your business," Terezi sneered, and Karkat's hackles raised defensively. 

"Now now, let's not treat our guests of honor so snappishly," Eridan said, raising his hands in placation. "They're from the south, they don't know what those monsters do to places like this. They don't know that every barrel we secure, we're keeping the enemy from using to destroy our forest."

John gasped. "Like Hei Bai's forest?"

Karkat felt the fight drain out of him at those words. The ashen wasteland of Hei Bai's home had shaken all of them, even after Rose was rescued and the last of the burned expanse vanished behind the horizon.

"I don't know that name, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they used. These monsters aren't above any sort of sick, dirty trick, when it comes to destroying us." 

went to hell a couple time

Eridan's face darkened with passionate anger. "I've seen the things they do to us, close up and personal."

Chapter Text

Karkat was still turning that over in his mind as the group loaded the supplies on Appa, John eager enough to see the Freedom Fighters hideout that he acquiesced to loaning his sky bison to make transportation easier. He'd seen a thing or two himself since they'd left the village, but never had he felt the heat of loathing like what Eridan just displayed.

Due to the inattention, he nearly missed the snipping Rose had begun to throw at Terezi, chalking it up to his sister's irritation at leading them into a trap. Thus, it was a bit of a surprise when Rose suddenly yelped, being yanked upwards by, of course, a rope. Karkat groaned, starting to notice a theme, and not liking it one bit.

"My pulley system gets them every time," Sollux snickered, fistbumping Terezi, who Karkat was starting to suspect wasn't really blind, based on how effortlessly their fists connected despite the blindfold.

"That's a dirty prank," John said, but he was laughing a little himself, and eagerly accepted the rope. "I want a go!" he shouted gleefully, and was rewarded by being yanked upward and out of sight, his "wheeeeeeeee" following his pulley-assisted-flight.

"He's a real airbender, and he still took the pulley? Didn't expect that," Terezi commented, and there it was again, the way she said real airbender , just as wistful (though not nearly as erotic) as her leader.

"John still remembers when kids were allowed to have fun," Karkat said, feeling embarrassed on John's behalf.

"Perks a bein' born in another time, ain' it?" Eridan said, head tilted backwards, as though still trying to watch John. His throat was displayed, the bob prominent, though mottled by a scar. A burn?

While Eridan stood there in contemplative silence, his lieutenants wandered towards Appa, apparently to help the other kids unload the supplies. Karkat waited a few heartbeats, watching the other boy watch the wind dancing through the trees. He was almost afraid to interrupt. 

"Is there any way to get me up there without going at top speed like some kind of daredevil?" Karkat finally asked apprehensively, wary of the answer.

"Pulley ain' so fast when it carries two," Eridan replied, looking over with a smile. "I promise to hold you tight."

With that, Karkat was blushing again, and stumbled through something that must have been taken for acquiescence, because he once again found himself tight against Eridan's chest.

Thankfully, this was a much slower ascent than the rescue had been, but that just gave Karkat more time to admire the raw masculinity of his rescuer. The wind once again caressed his hair, and the sunlight filtered through the autumn leaves to paint him in burnished gold as they ascended. Even with the armor, Karkat could feel the muscles— how could he not, with his body so close to them? But what made his heat begin to quicken was the smell of him, more than anything. Karkat had never thought sweat was an attractive smell, not after years of helping Gran-Gran wash Rose's training gear, but maybe it was just his inexperience talking. It wasn't like there were any boys their age left, not after Dad took all the men of the tribe to war.

Karkat knew the pain he felt from being left behind was stupid. The whole point of Dad leaving was to protect him, so even if he'd been old enough, he probably wouldn't have been allowed to go anyway.

But deep down, the part of him that still struggled to prove his manhood, despite the unfortunate circumstances of his birth, wished he'd been told he'd been man enough to go to war.

Thankfully, his turn towards the past had stopped the wetness that Eridan's smell had triggered, enough that he could be totally normal when they reached their destination, a series of wooden pathways and huts, hidden among the canopy.

"It's beautiful up here," he said truthfully, and glowed as Eridan treated him to another smile. A bit down the pathway, Rose sniffed derisively.

"Beautiful, and safe," Eridan said proudly, sweeping his hand out across the expanse of platforms. "The ashmakers can't find us. They're not clever enough to look up."

"And they'd love to get their sooty hands on you, ED," Sollux pronounced, the boy ascending on a large flat platform, clinging to the rope in one corner. Another kid clung to each of the others, holding it steady and keeping the supplies balanced. Momo sat on his head, chewing on a crossbow bolt.

"Never gonna happen, Sol," Eridan smirked proudly, and waved his hand at the group. "Cmon, this way."

John, who was apparently making use of a series of zip lines above the structure, let go and floated down to join them. "Why do they want to find you so bad?"

Eridan chuckled, "you could say I've been causin' them trouble, ever since they made the mistake of takin' Gaipan."

Sollux chimed in. "we've been ambushing troops, cutting off supply lines, whatever we can to stop the bastards from taking over another inch of this forest."

Eridan nodded solemnly. "An' one day we'll have the numbers and the strength to slaughter them all, wash their sooty stain on the forest clean with their blood."

"That's..." Karkat trailed off, unsure what to say. Around him, the other kids were nodding and cheering, only John silent in his discomfort. Karkat knew war was bloody, usually accepted his new role in the war as John's companion as coming hand in hand with violence, but he'd never relished it. The deep well of rage he felt at the Fire Nation, however, rose up in recognition of the passion in Eridan's words. 

Rose, however, was never short of sharp retorts. "How very arrogant of you, to presume your motley tree house crew could eliminate hardened soldiers entrenched in their stolen towns. I somehow doubt your guerrilla tactics transfer well."

Karkat winced. Realistic, maybe, but also very harsh of her. He touched Eridan's sleeve, the boy slowing down with him as the rest of the group continued onto a suspension bridge. "She's just in a bitchy mood today, doesn't like being reminded what kind of odds we're up against."

Eridan turned to him, his eyes dark. "When John disappeared, those kinds of odds were set in stone. We all live in this tree house , not because we're kids playing pretend. All of them are here because the Fire Nation destroyed us, until we had to become the ones doin' the destroying."

can't say I don't try / I tried

They were alone, the setting sun setting fire to the gleam in Eridan's eyes. "Kar- can I call you Kar?"

Karkat blushed, nodding at the nickname. 

Eridan smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Kar, I wanna tell you somethin' personal, that'll make you understand me an' my lieutenants a little more."

Karkat looked at this boy, who seemed to be shouldering responsibility for a dozen orphans. He thought of his sister, left behind to train the next generation of warriors, and felt his sympathy grow. "You can tell me."

Eridan leaned in close. "You're from the southern watertribe, right?"

 Karkat nodded slowly, suddenly studying Eridan's purple eyes in a new light. There was something odd about that color. 

"My parents were both born in a brothel, in Cranefish Town. It's one of the places the ashmakers first took, one of their most established colonies. My father was descended from one of the last Northern Watertribesmen captured before they went into isolation. And my mother... She was descended from a Western Air Nomad."

Karkat gasped, suddenly understanding the eerie shade of his companion's eyes. The boy was born of war-spoils, multiple generations of them...

"You're part Air Nomad," he whispered reverently. But then he frowned. "How can you be so..." he gestured to the hook swords on Eridan's belt, one of them tangled with flesh, the other slick with blood. "So deadly."

"I had to become that way to survive, Kar. I couldn't let the ashmakers defile me like that. I escaped, thinkin' I could just quietly disappear." His voice was choked with pain. 

Karkat reached for the boy's hands, which were clenched into fists. "What happened?" he asked gently. 

"The madam dragged my parents out into the street and made them call my name," he whispered. "I was scared to be whipped, so I hid.... When I didn't come out, she burned them alive." He paused, eyes closed, taking a moment to collect himself. "I was only eight years old. That day changed me forever."

now there's nowhere left to hide

Karkat felt his heart ache for this boy, for what had happened to him. Despite usually hating too much contact, he pulled Eridan for a hug. "The Fire Nation killed our mother, and it was my fault, too." He said, feeling like the words pulled themselves out of him. "They were looking for the waterbender." He admitted. "They wanted me, and killed her because they couldn't find me." The self-hatred he felt for that day nearly matched the rage he felt for his mother's killer. He'd remember that face forever.

Eridan's arms, which had sorta been limply pressed between them, came up to hold Karkat in return. "I'm so sorry, Karkat."

They stood in a silent embrace for a time, as the light faded around them.

Chapter Text

"So you can feel objects around you through the air currents?" John asked Terezi, awe in his voice. The blind girl, as it turned out, was part Nomad too, and while they all sat together to enjoy a communal meal, she'd humored the Avatar's questions about how she was safe up here, despite being blind. Karkat, still emotionally raw from his talk with Eridan, ate quietly next to him.

"I'm not a real airbender, really, that's all I can do," the girl said, her voice scratchy. "After the ashmakers burned my town and I lost my eyes, I started to feel the breeze calling to me, like it was alive and wanted to warn me before I got lost or hurt. It took a long time before I was able to use it for combat."

"That's still amazing," John said, eyes wide. "Knowing my people aren't entirely gone, that's the greatest gift you could give me."

"I've got a little in me too," Sollux admitted. "At least, we think I do. The Air Nomads were really spiritual, weren't they?"

"Of course we are," John said, nodding emphatically. "The monks once told me that the winds were made up of hundreds of tiny spirits, and the reason we didn't eat animals is because anything that drew in breath was beloved by the wind-spirits. We honor them by abstaining from the creatures they give life." He looked down at Sollux's plate, noticing the meat there. "Uhm, why do you ask?"

"Sometimes, I get feelings about people. Like, I know when a pathetic old man is actually an ashmaker assassin in disguise, or when the new huntress trapping hogmonkeys is actually a traitorous spy. I sense their bad intentions, and how much danger they'd be if I let them get near us. I knew the soldiers were coming for Gaipan before they arrived, helped get some of the kids out."

"He likes to call it his doom sense, because he's a bit of a downer," Terezi informed the group. The rest of the kids laughed, like it was an old joke. Given the stories Karkat had heard, maybe it was.

"That almost feels like woo, to be quite frank," Rose said, brows arched. "I can't imagine being raised so close to the war wouldn't instill you with some measure of paranoia. Perhaps you're suffering from confirmation bias?"

Karkat didn't know what bone was stuck up Rose's craw, but she was pricklier than usual. He delivered a measure of sibling chastisement in the form of an elbow to her ribs. She swatted him.

"I don't know, Rose, but I think Sollux is on to something." John said, rubbing his chin. "Monk Gyatso told me he was friends with a firebender who could read auras, who'd died before I was born..." John trailed off, his eyes widening to a comical degree. "Wait, I think he was talking about Roku!" He leaned across the table to Sollux, grinning. "My past life could do that!"

Sollux winced, looking less than happy. "Are you saying it's a fire nation ability?" His voice was sharp.

John shook his head, putting his hands up. "No, no, not at all! It's primarily a Western ability, yeah, but it actually comes from the Lambak Clan, an independent island people. Monk Gyatso was one of the first Air Nomads to meet them," he added proudly, "and he said people from all four elements lived there in harmony, enjoying the prosperity of great spiritual energy. It's where Roku learned to see auras."

That proclamation was met with bewildered looks. "Uh, John?" Karkat said gently, his hand on the boy's shoulder. He tugged him back down to his seat. "I think the Lambak Clan might be another one of those things that just... isn't around anymore."

"...Oh," John said softly, the joy slumping out of him. He looked at Sollux again. "I guess you're probably one of the last ones left. Like me."

Eridan, who'd been mostly silent as well, suddenly slammed his fist on the table. "It's that kind of shit that makes me proud to lead my Freedom Fighters, to be unafraid to use violence. The Fire Nation destroyed people who lived in harmony ," he gestured to Sollux, "destroyed nations of monks who couldn't even kill to eat." He swept his hand back at John. 

 "They had power and might on their side, and they slaughtered the real Air Nomads until the only ones left were the mutts they'd made for their own sick amusement." With that, he stabbed a finger into his own chest. "Until we were so orphaned from the lessons of our forefathers, learning at the knee of violence and death, that we had no choice but to take up the blade and become death ourselves." He slapped Terezi on the shoulder.

Now it's done / I'm undone / everything I've become

Eridan snarled, standing up. "I'm sorry, John, but your people are entirely gone. We aren't pacifists. We can't afford to be. Did you know what the Fire Nation says about you? To them, your people are the Air Nation Army , and you were the ones planning to conquer the world, until the brave soldiers of the Fire Nation saved us." 

Eridan spit, his lip curling in disgust. "The little ashmaker babies are brought up to fear airbending, taught that you'll steal the life out of their fires, the air out of their bodies."

John's face was pale as he stared up at Eridan, and Karkat put a protective arm around the boy. He, too, was staring up at Eridan, whose face was painted with the shadows, his hair haloed by the lantern behind him. He was larger than life, like a dark spirit brought to life. More like Hei Bai than a person, so full of rage and pain.

Let me show you my darkness

Full of rage and pain. Just like Karkat.

It's dark

"I've studied their histories. I know the way they think, the way they fight. If the ashmakers are so scared of an Air Nation Army, then I say, I'm going to become the thing they fear. I'm bringing their boogyman to life, and I'm going to terrify them until they're the little children cowering in the dark, and we're the ones unafraid to walk freely in the light."

yeah / I've gone mad

He drew his hook-swords with a flourish, holding them up above his head.

don't try to understand

"I carry my weapons proudly, and I always aim to kill. If the Fire Nation has a problem with that, well, that's what they get for slaughtering all the pacifists. Now they're stuck with me."

The Freedom Fighters erupted into cheers and applause, thundering their feet against the floor, whooping and hollering. Karkat couldn't help himself, clapping as he stared at Eridan, whose chest heaved with the passion of his words. For Karkat, it had awakened that wet hunger inside him again. He wanted Eridan, more than he'd ever felt for John.

When the noise finally began to die down, Eridan pointed at John and Karkat. "I need your help to protect the forest from those bastards. I can't let them burn another inch."

"Fuck yes, we'll help," Karkat said without thinking, but the smile Eridan gave him was all he needed to know he'd made the right choice. He ignored the daggers Rose was glaring into his back.

Chapter Text

The next day, Karkat was staring at the leaves, listening to John hum and thinking about Eridan, when Rose stomped up to them, scowling mightily. "He's a fucking monster," she shouted. "He murdered a harmless old man!"

"Far from harmless," Eridan scoffed, following behind her. "You're conveniently leavin' out that Sol–"

"I don't believe in killing people because you had a bad feeling!" She shouted angrily, darkening. "Karkat, get your things. We're leaving."

Karkat stared at his sister, then at his new crush. "I think I'm missing something here."

"No! You're! Not!" Rose snapped, grabbing for Karkat's arm. "I'm the big sister here, you're the little one. Come, now!"

Karkat jerked his arm away, feeling burned. "Fuck you, I'm not going anywhere. Not until Eridan explains!"

"I was right, is what there is to explain," Sollux said, finally catching up with the arguing pair. He reached into a blood splattered bag, and pulled out a knife, wicked and curved. "I got a chance to examine this on the way back."

"So what if he had a knife in his bag?" Rose snapped. "He wasn't armed when you killed him, I doubt he could have reached it in time!"

"Shut up for one second," Sollux said, and twisted the pomel of the knife, pulling out some sort of internal compartment. It was a glass tube filled with a sinister liquid. "This is poison, stupid. We killed an assassin, not some old grandpa." 

Karkat sighed. "See, that makes sense." He knew Eridan had been very passionate last night, but obviously he wouldn't kill someone who was actually harmless. 

"You never showed me that on the entire walk back," Rose said, doubling down for some fucking reason. "I think you planted it. And I'm packing our things." She looked down at Karkat, lip curling derisively. "When you come to your senses, catch up with me."

She stomped away, and Karkat grimaced. What was wrong with her?

"You can't leave now!" Eridan said, grabbing Karkat's hand. 

now I fight with dirty hands

"I need you, Karkat. The Fire Nation is going to burn down our forest, and there hasn't been enough rainfall to fill the reservoir. Without your help, they'll destroy the whole valley!"

John, who'd been silent during the exchange, chimed in. "Well, of course we'll help. I won't let them take your home from you."

Chapter Text

"Eridan, I'm sorry how Rose's been acting," Karkat said as Eridan led him and John to the thin trickle of a river leading to the reservoir. 

I know the rules / it’s true / they weren't built for me to use

"She stormed off to sulk last night," he added, frowning at his sister's absence that morning. "I hope she didn't yell at you again." 

Trouble made me / it breaks me / easier to lie than tell the truth

"Actually, she came to apologize early this morning, an' we sorted it all out." Eridan said, his voice light. "You must have gotten through to her, she went to help Terezi on a scouting mission."

John and Karkat exchanged incredulous glances. "Woah, nice work Karkat," John said, and Karkat smiled. 

"Okay, you two, there's geysers all along the riverbank. The water wants to come up–" Eridan neatly leaped (And wow, if that wasn't air heritage lightening his jump, Karkat would eat his shorts) just in time to evade the hot burst of steam. "All you gotta do it get it into the river, where it belongs."

Karkat grimaced, his voice hesitant as he approached the gyser. "I get that you probably don't know many waterbenders, but, I'm really just a novice. Until John and I liberated a waterbending scroll from some pirates last week, the only instruction I had was the stories my grandmother used to tell me. It's been over fifty years since the last waterbender from the south was stolen from us, and I've had to learn everything through guesswork and fumbling." He shook his head. "I don't think I can find water under the ground like this."

"Kar," Eridan said softly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and bringing him closer to the geyser. "You're incredible. You're a survivor, just like me, fighting and learning despite the ashmakers doing everything they can to take your heritage away. I promise you, you're stronger than you think. You can do this."

The warmth in his voice felt so right, that it filled Karkat with inspiration. His friend was right. Everything was stacked against him, and he'd still survived, was still powerful enough that his rage could crack open icebergs and free the savior of the world.

"What about me?" John asked with a laugh. "Or do avatars not need pep talks?"

Eridan chuckled, slowly releasing Karkat. "You told me you're the youngest Nomad ever awarded the title of Master. You don't need anyone to tell you that you're a natural."

"I'll take what I can get," John said, and took his place opposite Karkat, right near the edge. "You ready?"

"I am," Karkat replied, and they took an opening stance, feet firmly planted, palms reaching down. Together, they breathed in, and as they did, they pulled, raising their arms up slowly until they were above their heads. It was like the motion from the scroll, but instead of a visible bubble on the surface of a stream, he felt something hum in his blood as the call was answered from deep below.

"Again," he whispered as he exhaled, bringing his arms back down, John perfectly in sync. 

After several tugs, the head of the water finally began to emerge, until it was visibly bobbing up-and-down with each arm movement. They waited until it was above their head, then bent it through the air towards the thin river, where it splashed in with a hiss of heat, a new torrent of water to add to the reservoir.

"That's amazin'! I gotta head to the reservoir. I'll see you back at the hideout." Eridan waved at them, then turned and began jogging downriver. Karkat watched him go, admiring—

"Here's another!" John shouted, and Karkat sighed, hurrying to join his friend.

Chapter Text

I'm your nightmare

"What have we done?" Karkat gasped, eyes wide. John had gone back to the hideout without him, hoping to catch up with Rose, but Karkat had wanted to see if Eridan needed anything else.

Now, as the sun set, he stood at the edge of a cliff, a perfect view of what was once the wall of the reservoir, Eridan at his side. He turned to the older boy, trembling.

Don't stare

"Eridan, what the fuck? There's a whole town down there!" He shouted, grabbing at Eridan's shoulders. His eyes burning with tears, he shook Eridan violently. 

promise you're not prepared

Behind Eridan, he saw the water, the water he had bended, streaming violently through the ragged edges of shrapnel where there once was a barrier. Rushing without anything that could possibly stop it from destroying the town below, from drowning everyone.

I'm so heartless 

"Think about it Kar, really think . The Fire Nation took our mothers, took our cultures, took our people's dignity. I had to stop them from doing that to anyone else."

no heart / yeah / I'm a demon

Eridan reached up for Karkat's face, trying to rub away the tears.

I'm a rebel / Now I fight with dirty hands

Karkat jerked away, shaking his head. "Gaipan wasn't a Fire Nation military outpost, it was an occupied Earth Kingdom town. You just made me complicit in— we killed mothers and fathers, Eridan! We just murdered innocents, and you want to talk about how you saved them?" 

(don't try to understand)

He backed away, rubbing at his eyes, body trembling. "Rose was right. I don't know you at all. You're a monster."

Eridan followed his retreat, his hands splayed open, his eyes wide. "Kar, no, you have to listen. I know you. You hold all this rage and pain too, you're just scared to let it out, but. I saw you during the battle, drowning the enemy alive. They're the monsters, and that's what they deserve."

"I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!" Karkat screamed, launching himself at the other boy. He slammed into Eridan's chest, taking both of them down to the ground. 

You can follow me down 

"Kar—" 

don't be scared what you may find

Afraid of what Eridan would say next, he grabbed Eridan's throat, thumbs slotting perfectly into the scars over Eridan's larynx. He screamed in Eridan's face inarticulately, drowning out the other's pleas. His vision swam red, like water stained with blood.

Some say I'm different now 

He was snapped out of his trance when Eridan seized his body upwards suddenly, breaking Karkat's grip and tearing his neck free. Dark, purpling marks mottled his neck, and the veins in Eridan's eyes had burst. 

Karkat gasped, trying to scramble backwards, rationality snapping back into place. He didn't want to kill Eridan, even if he was angry. And he was so very angry.

"Eridan, I—"

I think I've lost my mind

And now it was Eridan who slammed into him, shoving him backwards and pinning him to the ground, shins like weights against his forearms. Eridan leaned in close, chest heaving as he drew ragged breaths, hands slamming into the ground above Karkat's head. 

"There you are, little monster. Why don't you come out and play with me?" Despite the broken sound of his throat, the words were raw, and undeniably sexual. Karkat gasped, feeling Eridan's voice thrum through where their bodies were pressed together. Despite himself, he felt his own animal heat awaken, slick and wet in his pants.

 With the ground at his back, he was trapped. He'd provoked a murderer, and now Eridan had the upper hand. Karkat didn't even have his waterskin, John having wandered off with it. 

And for some reason, the danger was making him horny.

Fuck.  

There is evil inside

He wiggled, trying to see if there was any give to Eridan's grip. Instead of success, he found instead a lump in Eridan's pants, which pressed against his chest as he bucked up, clearly hardening further as he struggled. 

He moaned, half fear and half arousal, and struggled more. Eridan was laughing at his pathetic attempts to free himself, but Karkat couldn't see his face, the disappearing rays of sunset casting him in shadow.

shadows haunt me at night

"I'm not a monster," Karkat said, but his words felt as weak as his body. After bending for hours, he wasn't at his best. "And whatever sick game this is, I don't want to play ."

"Big words for such a little man," Eridan replied, and dragged one of his hands down, worming it in between them. Karkat gasped as he felt questing fingers dip beneath the hem of his tunic to graze the front of his pants, pressing down and seeking him out. Seeking out his secret . 

I try to win but lose the fight  

"L-let me up, please ," he whined, bucking involuntarily against the motion. He felt another hot pulse of wetness from the sensation of those fingers, the rhythmic motion so different from the few, fumbled attempts he'd once made at satisfying himself, before his own shame had stifled him. There was no hesitation there, even though Eridan must have felt what was missing, what separated Karkat from being man enough . 

He whimpered, trying to separate himself from the sensations, trying to grab for that anger again. His mind was hazing from the touching, even with the fabric between them. He'd never been wanted like this before.

"I don' think you really want that, Kar." Eridan whispered, leaning down to bring his lips to Karkat's neck. He nipped at the tender skin, making Karkat gasp at the sharp pinch of pain. 

"I think you want me , and just like the monster inside, you've been pushing down your desires far too long." Eridan bit Karkat again, harder this time, and as Karkat keened, Eridan slipped his hand inside Karkat's pants.

"No one is around to see, Kar," Eridan whispered, fingers moving rhythmically against Karkat's clit through the soaked cloth of his undergarment. "We're alone in the dark."

Don't turn out the light 

Karkat gave in to temptation, turning his head down until he could brush his own lips clumsily against Eridan's exposed collar. "Give me back my arms, you manipulative fuck," he growled, grazing the skin with his teeth. 

"What are you goin' to do with them?" Eridan teased. "If you're just gonna choke me again, I think I'll just keep you pinned down . I'm enjoying watchin' you squirm."

As Eridan said this, he slipped his hand down past the base of Karkat's clit, darting a finger under the last layer of cloth to seek between Karkat's folds and press against his entrance. 

"I—" Karkat gasped, jerking at the sensation. "I've never—" 

Eridan smothered his words with the rough press of his lips to Karkat's open mouth, the warmth of his tongue pressing the advantage to explore inside, somehow large enough to trap Karkat's own tongue down beneath it entirely. 

"Mmmph!" Karkat protested, but with Eridan still bearing down on him, it was all he could do, his heart thundering with fear-tinged-excitement as that questing finger pressed with more insistence against his leaking hole. He could feel his pulse pounding where the finger had begun to oh-so-slowly slip inside, and it seemed to ache with strange hunger that made him, rather than shy away from the foreign sensations, buck his hips up insistantly. 

He wanted more , he realized, and faster too, and this gentleness , contrasted with the rest of Eridan's bruteish, forceful  behavior— as even now, the older boy was biting at Karkat's lips more than he was kissing them— was only making his mind fog with frenzied need. He moaned again, trying to convey his desires, chasing Eridan's finger even as he pulled it away.

"I'm taking these off," Eridan growled, and suddenly, Karkat wasn't pinned down anymore, Eridan retreating down his body, bringing wet-slick fingers to tug on one side of his waistband, dirt-dry fingers to firmly grasp the other. 

"Fuck, fine, do it," Karkat's voice shook, fear and shame twisting with desire, afraid to be seen, to have his weaknesses exposed.

"Gladly," Eridan replied, and that was all the warning he gave as he yanked Karkat's pants and underwear both down, leaving them bunched somewhere at his knees, where Karkat's boots prevented any further attempts at removal.

While the back of Karkat's tunic was between his naked flesh and the ground, Eridan roughly shoved the front flap up to bunch at Karkat's middle, leaving his wet, pulsing heat exposed to the night air. Karkat flinched at the motion, heart racing. What if someone was watching?

"Spirits, you look amazing," Eridan breathed, the older boy having retreated enough to put his face directly over Karkat's groin. Karkat's hands, now freed, darted towards his crotch, as though it wasn't already far too late to cover himself.

"You can't tell anyone," Karkat demanded, trembling from unsatisfied desires and that ever-present fear, his stomach curdling. 

"I don' kiss an' tell, Kar. You're man enough for me," Eridan murmured. "I want you. Try not to overthink it."

Eridan made to lean down again, and Karkat scrambled for something, anything—

"What about my boots?" He blurted out, jerking up into a sitting position. "They're in the way, my pants are fucking tangled—"

"I like you that way," Eridan's reply was teasing. "Your legs all encumbered jus' means I've got the upper hand. Now why don' you—" he put his hand on Karkat's chest, shoving with enough force to send him horizontal with an oomph. "Lay back an' get comfy."

Karkat thought about protesting more, raising location as an issue, or the fact that Eridan had just tricked him into murder , but Eridan was shucking off armor and cloth, his own shoes easily discarded, pants and undergarment quickly following, until he stood, bronze and slick with sweat, the glow of the full moon illuminating the curve of his muscle and the hardening length of his cock.

"Oh," Karkat uttered, the sound near-involuntary as he took in every inch of Eridan. Eridan smirked, lowering himself back down, one knee going between Karkat's parted thighs, the velvet soft skin of Eridan's cock pressing against Karkat. He felt a bead of precum smear off the head, sticky against his skin.

"I'm not fucking you until you beg for it," Eridan warned, "but I will take great pleasure in makin' you scream my name."

He was so arrogant that Karkat snarled, his hand darting in to grasp Eridan's cock. "If that's the game you want to play," he replied, all false-bravado. He had no idea what he was doing, but gave an experimental tug, and was rewarded with the hot flesh in his hand hardening further.

" There's the man I want," Eridan grunted, his hips bucking with the motion. "But can you keep it up?" he taunted, and slid his finger back inside Karkat, sinking deeper inside than before in one smooth motion, a motion that had Karkat's hips bucking too, his mind stuttering with the sensation. He could smell his own slickness, and as Eridan retracted his finger to pump it in again, he couldn't help but marvel at how easily he swallowed the length of the digit. 

"Fuck you," Karkat snapped, at a loss for comebacks, and stroked Eridan, squeezing slightly as he dragged his hand down the length of his erection. He was rewarded by another guttural noise from Eridan, and he quickly went to slide his hand back down to the base of the shaft. Eridan's precum caught on his palm and came with him, making the motion easier.

Eridan continued to pump his finger into Karkat, curling it just slightly as he pulled it back out, his thumb pressing against Karkat's clit to add a second pleasure point. Karkat moaned at the additional sensation, and jutted his hips upward, chasing that feeling, wanting to envelop it. 

"Already eager for more?" Eridan teased, voice rough, and—

"FUCK," Karkat yelped, shock mixing with pleasure as Eridan shoved a second finger inside him to match the first, the two moving together in tandem. The addition threw off Karkat's stroking, his hand stuttering as he spasmed. It was just so much , his clit and hole both pounding in rhythm with the thunder of his heart. "Spirits, Eridan," he gasped, and resumed stroking Eridan, trying to give as much as he took.

"Needy little man, aren't you," Eridan murmured, and dipped his thumb down into Karkat's wetness, bringing it back up to rub even faster circles into Karkat's clit. "Do you want me?" he demanded, crooking his fingers harshly, brushing up against some internal spot that made Karkat keen. "Want me to fill you?"

"How can you," he panted, "make something so stupid," he bucked his hips, "sound so hot ." He moaned as Eridan hit that spot again. "I don't know," he stuttered, "what you're, doing," he stroked Eridan, movements hopelessly jerk-y, "but I want," he gasped as Eridan increased the speed of his fingers, " more ." 

"I love watchin' you squirm," Eridan praised him, darting his head down to deliver another bruising, forceful mix of teeth-and-tongue kiss. "Love the way you clench around my fingers," he punctuated the statement with a particularly forceful motion of said fingers against that place inside him. "If you want more, take it, " he demanded harshly, and shoved a third finger inside, where it crowded against the other two and made Karkat's vision white out. 

"O– oh, Eridan, I—" Karkat writhed, unable to articulate beyond Eridan's name and simple syllables. His hand abandoned its task, flopping to his side, joining its twin to grab at the dirt and scrabble for purchase as he keened, voice ringing out, caution be damned, hips bucking with each thrust of the fingers.

"There we go," Eridan pressed kisses against Karkat's neck, alternating with bites that made Karkat's nerves burn with pleasure-tinged-pain.

"I—, I—" he bucked, feeling sweat clinging, feeling his wetness drip down his body to puddle against the scrap of tunic barely underneath him.

"You want more than this, don' you? I can feel your desperation."

Karkat moaned wordlessly, trying to nod through the haze of his thoughts. "More," he gasped, "please," he cried, "more!"

Suddenly, Eridan jerked his hand away, leaving Karkat empty, whining at the loss.

And then, Eridan shoved his other knee in between Karkat's thighs, and without warning, thrust his penis inside him.

"Oh spirits," Karkat sobbed as the head touched the end of him, so much larger and thicker than three fingers could ever hope to match. 

"You're so tight," Eridan moaned, pulling back, then thrusting forward again.

"Eridan!" Karkat shouted, hands flying from the dirt to grasp at the bare skin of Eridan's back, desperate for something to anchor him.

"Karkat," Eridan's voice was like a prayer, and he began to chant the name like a mantra, punctuating each thrust with the word. Each thrust felt just as intense as the first, each parting Karkat deeper and wider than he ever thought he could open.

"Eridan," Karkat's nails dug in deeper with each perfect thrust, his own voice growing louder, sharper, each time he was filled utterly.

"Karkat," Eridan's voice was raw, raw with lust and raw with pain, and the knowledge of Karkat's hands leaving marks on Eridan's flesh only made him moan louder, clench around Eridan tighter.

Eridan's rhythm shifted slightly, his thrusting taking on a more intense, desperate pattern, his speed increasing and his chanting devolving into animalistic grunts.

Karkat's vision began to haze, each sensation blending into each other as his ability to even process the pleasure seemed to reach some crescendo.

Just as Karkat tipped over that threshold, his vision exploding into sparkles, electricity racing up and down his body, seizing from the waves of pleasure coursing through him, Eridan's cock pulsed, a new, wet heat exploding from the head deep inside him, and Eridan let out a broken, final moan, before collapsing upon him.

Now I fight with dirty hands