It's A Wrecking of the Heart {Private Mousen} {PG-13}

Terezi hopped down the slight slope that obscured the view of the massive lake. She smiled to herself and then began hopping faster. She was rather excited to see the others, but more specifically, Karkat. She didn't notice the voice that called from behind her to tell her to wait. She didn't care, all she cared about was seeing Karkat again! She hoped even faster, and than stopped at the lake, which she had hopped ahead to get to. She smiled and than laid her head down next to it to take a sniff. It smelled rather nice!

Kanaya sighed as she dragged Eridan around by his scarf behind her. She didn't enjoy forcing him to do things, but she knew that this was mentally taxing for him. She should have just told him that they were going for a walk, a very long walk. She listened to the banter that Eridan spewed for a few hours, but after that, she just got frustrated. She sighed and then looked back, tears were rolling down his face now, and no sounds could be heard. She looked over at him and sighed. "Eridan, are you okay?" He shook his head. She stopped and allowed him to sit up. "They all hate me and you know this! How will anyone forgive me? How did YOU or Ter forgive me?" He said, sniffling slightly. His accent was thick with sadness. Kanaya sighed and than continued to drag him along. "You just snapped, and I forgive you," She said.

Once she dragged Eridan far enough, she caught up with Terezi who was buzzing with excitement. "Your excited huh?" Kanaya said with an amused smile. Terezi nodded vigorously, almost knocking her glasses off. "I can't wait to see my red friend again!" She said with a giggle. She jumped in the air and than sniffed a few times to see if she could smell him. Kanaya laughed and than settled down next to the lake. It was odd being here with these two, but she would get used to it.

Karkat was in a bad mood. While that was nothing surprising, since 'irritated' and 'grumpy' were constant sates of being for him, he was in a worse mood than usual. The cause of this? Gamzee Makara. Since coming to Aeris, Gamzee seemed to have found an interest in trees of all things. And he'd gotten it into his head that climbing up a tree would be a good idea, well, that was until one of the branches snapped and he landed on top of Karkat who'd been looking for him. Now, covered in leaves with several twigs stuck in his hair, Karkat was fuming.

Gamzee's slightly slurred attempt at an apology hadn't really helped all that much. And to add insult to injury, the twig in his hair was completely and utterly stuck. Now he was going to look like even more of an idiot infront of Terezi. Great. Wonderful. Just what he wanted. The jackalope gritted his teeth as he hopped, quickly trying to get to the right side of the lake before they were even later than they were already. Some distance behind him, Gamzee sauntered along, obviously in no hurry to get where he was going.

"Terezi!" Karkat yelled, catching sight of her. For one moment forgetting that he looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. If asked, he'd deny it, but he really was exited to see her. The last time they'd spoken properly... Well, it hadn't ended well for either of them, since they'd both ended up dead. Or... kind of dead and reincarnated as jackalope... It didn't make any sense, but nevertheless. "...Hi." Karkat said, everything he had been going to say vanishing the minute he got within three feet of Terezi, giving up on saying anything useful for the time being, he then nodded towards Kanaya. It was good to see she was oka- Wait a second, was that...?

"What's he doing here?" Karkat asked bluntly, blocking out Eridan completely and glaring at Kanaya. Just behind him Gamzee said something about miracles and fluffy ears, the grey and black jacklope ignored him.

Terezi's ears perked at the noises of approaching footsteps. She jumped up, and smiled widely at him. She was about to say hello, but of course, Karkat would always cut the the chase with things. She sighed slightly and then listened to the conversation, but she had all intentions of tackling him down to the ground once business was taken care of. Kanaya nodded back at Karkat, a slight smile on her face, but it faded when Karkat asked about Eridan. She bit her lip slightly, and than looked at Karkat. "Presumably.. The same way we got here," She said, not letting her tone slip. Eridan whimpered slightly and looked over at Karkat, and gave him a meek smile. "H-Hi Kar... Gam... Nice to see you again..," He said, hiding behind Kanaya.

Terezi rolled her eyes, or what was left of them. She was ready to tackle her red friend! "KARKAT!" She said, and with one fluent hop, she landed on Karkat, causing them to roll a bit, and land in the lake, luckily the shallower part. Terezi cackled as she laid on top of Karkat, soaking wet now. She smiled and than sniffed his hair, smelling the twig and laughed. She combed through his hair and pulled the stick out of the mangled mess. She cackled again, and licked his cheeck before pulling herself off of him, and walking to shore, and shacking the water off of her and onto Kanaya and Gamzee.

With a squeak, Eridan pulled Kanaya's waist band over himself to stop his hair from getting ruined. Kanaya scoffed slightly, and than turned to Eridan with an annoyed look. She shook herself off slightly, and than turned to Karkat. "So, now that we're all here, what is the line of business Karkat?" She asked, adjusting her ribbon.

"Oh, yes. Very funny, Kanaya, your sarcasm totally makes everything okay. Yes, like the fact he killed two of you and nearly killed Sollux." Karkat growled, ignoring the fact his own moirail, Gamzee had murdered two trolls when he'd rampaged. The grey and black jackalope simply rolled his eyes at Eridan's whimpering. Spirits, he was pathetic. "And what about you?" He asked Kanaya suddenly. "You're the one who sawed him in half."

Occupied with his own thoughts, Gamzee nodded at Eridan. "Yeah... Whatever you say, bro."

As Terezi tackled him, Karkat tried to yell something, though his mouth was soon flooded with water as the two of them rolled into the lake. He spluttered, coughing, trying to make sure his head stayed above the fairly shallow water, which was more difficult than it looked, especially with Terezi sat on top of him. When she walked to shore he rolled to his feet and his expression seemed to waver between surprise and something else... It was then he relented and he smiled. Karkat Vantas actually smiled! He walked towards the shore, dripping wet and a little way from where the other jackalope stood he shook the water from his coat.

"It's nice to see you to, Terezi." He managed sheepishly. Being affectionate was not his strong point.
Gamzee looked over towards Terezi and then back to Karkat and a ridiculous Cheshire cat grin made it's way onto his face. Karkat glared at him.

"Our first order of business?" He echoed, looking around. "I find the others, I guess. After that? I don't really know. We're all supposed to be dead, and we're not, and we're all freaking bunny rabbits... I don't think that there's a protocol for this."

Kanaya frowned slightly at Karkat, but was happy for Terezi's interruption. She felt bad for Eridan. She was the one who sawed him in half and then he ended up here. She felt as though it was her fault. She sighed slightly and waited for Karkat to recompose himself after being knocked into the river. Terezi smiled at Karkat as he said its nice to see her. She giggled and walked over to sit next to him. She sat close, there bodies rubbing slightly. She smiled at Gamzee. She really was happy to see him again, just watching as they're lifeless bodies bled out on the ground was a depressing thing.

Kanaya nodded. She wasn't exactly sure if there were others, but it was always worth the try. She looked at Karkat. "Are you sure there are other trolls here? Have you seen any of them?" Kanaya asked. She, herself, hadn't seen any. Terezi sniffed slightly, and looked around. She smelt the trees and all the growing things around. She missed the sight, because here, the sun wouldn't blind her. She enjoyed it's warmth on her fur. Eridan scooted slightly off from behind Kanaya, and than straitened himself up.

Karkat blinked at Kanaya's question, leaning his head on top of Terezi's. No doubt if the other trolls had been about, he might have been a little more guarded with his affections towards Terezi, as it stood, Kanaya was one of his best friends, and he couldn't care less about what Eridan thought. As for Gamzee, well, he was just Gamzee wasn't he? "Well, I just sort-of assumed they'd be here. Eridan was killed before alot of the others died, so I just sort of... assumed they'd be here."

Oh gog. A worried look came into the jackalope's eyes as he remembered something: the humans. Sure, he didn't particularly like Dave, though jealousy might have something to do with that, but he'd been friends with John and Jade in a round about sort of way. Not to mention the fact that Kanaya was good friends with Rose. "Er, Kanaya? What do you think the chances are of finding the humans here too? Noir could have went after them after deciding to... Well, kill us."

Gamzee settled on leaning up against a tree, casually watching the conversation. Perhaps so he was still in earshot when he wanted to give his perfectly inspiring political speech on the state of things.

... Then again, perhaps not. Unless one counts 'Motherf***ing miracles' as an inspiring political speech.

Kanaya smiled slightly as Karkat laid his head on Terezi's. It was rather adorable. She nodded at his logic. It would only make sense if the others where here too, wouldn't it? Terezi smiled as she felt Karkat's head lay on hers, and she pushed her head into the small crook his neck made. She closed her eyes, and just took in all the scents that Karkat had, something she had missed. Kanaya nodded slightly for a bit, and then her ears twitched. She sensed the fear that suddenly filled Karkat's heart, and She listened to him.

She sighed slightly, knowing what exactly he was asking. "Well... If your hypothesis proves correct then the chances of them being here after they die.... I would say is a higher possibility... It would be the first time we met them as well... Anyways, I think we should start heading over to look for the others soon. It might be for the best to get together as soon as possible, so nothing happens," Kanaya said.

Terezi grabbed Karkat's paw, and pulled him closer. She just didn't want to go from him. She missed him in the few days that they were away from each other. Is this what they call true love? She sighed slightly and then said, "Hey Karkat? Where are you guys staying? We should probably all move into a large group together, just so we all know where everyone is and keep track of them?" She said. She really hoped he would say yes. She just wanted to be near him.

Eridan shuddered slightly. He looked around. He hoped to all of everything, that Sollux or Feferi was here. He hated the fact that he had killed her, but he was scared of the outcome. He bit his lip. He knew he would just break down if he saw either of them. It was hard for him to bear seeing Kanaya.

"It makes sense, I guess." He hoped they were all right, knowing how stupid they were could be in so much trouble already. Not that he was going to let anyone else know he was worried about the humans, he didn't care that much. "Sounds fine, to me, but we better make sure no-one is looking for revenge." He looked over at Gamzee as he said this, what Feferi was going to say to Eridan was his own business but he wasn't sure how Equius or Nepeta were going to react to seeing Gamzee again.

"I couldn't help it." Gamzee said quietly, not looking up.

Karkat frowned a little, a look of concern flitting across his face. He was Gamzee, happy go lucky, never living in the past, how guilty did he actually feel...? As stupid as it was, Karkat hadn't considered the fact that the guilt wasn't just minimal, was he tearing himself apart over it? Sure he looked fine, but was he hiding complex emotions beneath ravings of miracles.

A single butterfly flew across the field surrounding the lake, Gamzee watched it for a moment muttering something about miracles before chasing after it. The minute he was in range he clamped his jaws around and swallowed it. Complex emotions? What had Karkat been thinking? Gamzee hopped back towards them as if eating butterflies was the most natural thing in the world.

"Uhh, somewhere in Logmarr woods, away from the majority of Jackalope and aures though, I get enough weird looks as it is." It struck him that wasn't her sole intention for having them all move in together, Karkat couldn't really blame her, though. Especially since he'd been going to say something similar.

Over on the otherside of the lake, something moved. It held it's paw against it's face and looked over toward the group of jackalope, Karkat who happened to be looking over in that direction tensed up, raising his head and stepping away from Terezi so he could get a better look at whatever was over the other side of the lake. It was moving towards them, whatever it was. "Tezzie, Kanaya you see that, right?"

The shape was obviously another jackalope, but who was it and why did have such an interest in them? Well, they'd find out soon enough.


Monkjack looked across at the other jackalope as he walked towards them, he knew who two of them where atleast, he'd briefly met Kanaya when they'd been looking for the spirits, and Eridan, well, he'd saved his life twice over. It was hard not to warm up to people after something like that happens. Monkjack considered them friends, which was surprising as the buck was mostly a solitary creature apart from his mate(? It was a complicated relationship), Diesel.

"Eridan?" He hollered, standing a good few metres away from the group. "I see you've found yourself a nice cult. Good for you."

"Who the hell are you?" Karkat demanded flatly.

A sigh was heard from behind Kanaya. Eridan wasn't looking forward to seeing the others. He just hoped he wouldn't be in to much of hot water. Kanaya watched Gamzee, guilt flowing through her as well, and it didn't help with the sigh from Eridan. She was about to move next to Gamzee to try and comfort him, but he hoped away. She laughed slightly as he ate a butterfly and then came hoping back to the group. Kanaya nodded at the suggestion of them all moving in together. "We'll... Just need to monitor... Some of them," She said with a slight nod.

Terezi smiled widely at Karkat as he answered her question. She was already excited about this idea, even if they're might be some risks involved. She didn't care if Vriska was there, she only cared about being around Karkat. She smiled, and scooted closer to him, only to have him move. A disappointed look fell across her face. Kanaya nodded in response to Karkat. Terezi took a deep breath, listening to Karkat. She smelled something green with... Candy red blood! She smiled and then took a few steps towards the creature. A look of curiosity fell on her face when she heard that it recognized Eridan. How long had he really been here? Kanaya nodded in response to Karakt as well.

A disappointed sigh fell from Eridan's mouth when Karkat didn't even bother asking if he had seen what they were looking at. He understood him not asking Gamzee, but he was a fully functional, non drunk or high Jackalope! His expression exploded with happiness at the sight of a Jackalope who didn't have a grudge on him, or wanted him dead, or even felt that he was a useless piece of garbage left on the side of the road to be ran over multiple times till he bleed to death. "Mon! It's nice to see you!" He said as he happily hoped over to him. "Well, I wouldn't really said... Found, but, sure. Oh, and guys, this is Monkjack. He's a Jackalope that I've managed to make friends with my time here," He said.

Terezi cackled. "You made a friend? Wow, next joke please!" She said with a grin, obviously joking. Eridan sighed. "Thats Terezi, you've met Kanaya, the angry one is Karkat, and the stoned one is Gamzee," He said, gestering to each of them with his paw.

Monitor was an understatement, twenty-four hour surveillance complete with security guards was more like it. "... Or restrain." The grey jackalope added under his breath, in response to Kanaya's statement. Gamzee's ears pricked up and he turned his head towards Monkjack, he smiled that slightly creepy smile of his. To a stranger it could be quite unnerving, especially since despite the fact jackalope had slightly canine-ish teeth, no one had teeth quite like the trolls, except perhaps sharks or vampires with porcelain veneers. "Nice to meetcha, brother" His words slightly and Monkjack pulled a face. Why? Why did he always end up near the weirdos? He could hope with Eridan, but Gamzee was starting to freak him out a little already. Had he known what Gamzee had done back in the other dimension, he probably wouldn't have gone anywhere near him.

"Friends?"[/color] Karkat echoed, looking surprised. "What did you do to him? There has to be something wrong with him." He turned his attention back to Monkjack who glared right back at him. "I mean, no one in their right mind would ever be friends with such a blubbering, pathetic --"
"I'd hardly call him pathetic. He saved my life. Twice." The python jackalope growled, taking a step towards Karkat.
"See, Karkat? Maybe he isn't all that bad, it's like one of those miracles I keep telling you about..."
"Stay out of it, Gamzee! Ah, so you feel obliged to be nice to him, frog eyes?"
Monkjack rolled his so called 'frog' eyes. "Lay off the eyes, seriously, you're just as bad as all those archaic idiots that think feral jackalope are a lesser form of being. Seriously, it's not like I'm a mutant. Anyway, what about you? Did someone attack your antlers with a pencil sharpener or what?!"
It wasn't the pencil sharpener quip that stung. Karkat had been in a similar position to Monkjack himself, way to be a bloody hypocrite. "Fair enough." He conceded, still glaring. Why was it always the horns? No one could leave him alone for five minutes, could they?

It was kind of impressive that Eridan had someone that was willing to stick up for him, quite ferociously too. Still, perhaps he was being too soft because Monkjack's species, he didn't think that Aeris was governed by prejudice. Then again, archaic suggested it was something that was falling out of favour. The last time he'd felt empathetic towards someone, well, that didn't exactly end well. Though, Monkjack hadn't stabbed him yet, atleast that was a start, right?

"So you've met both Kanaya and Eridan before."[/color] Karkat said warily.
"Diesel knows Kanaya better than me, I mean. Er, Diesel's my uh..."
"Matespirit?" He knew where this was going.
"That's one way to put it."

He was not going to interfere. No. He'd already been agony aunt to enough trolls, he was not going to start with the freaking jackalope and aures. No way. That was where he drew the line. God forbid Feferi ever showing up. That was one mess he was not sorting through. He walked toward Terezi again, sitting by her, while Monkjack stood by the edge of the lake. He waited until he was preoccupied with something else before whispering to Terezi. "What do you think? He seems to trust Eridan quite a bit, can you smell something off?" He hadn't realized how much Terezi's little lie-detector shnoz could come in handy until then.

"Kanaya, Eridan," Monkjack began. "I mean, I've kinda accepted the fact that you guys aren't from... here. I mean, can to elaborate on that? It's just that I get the feeling I'm kind of missing the picture here."