Chapter Text
Sometimes you wonder how the drone even has the audacity to approach your throne and ask in its monotone voice for your bucket. You know that you do not fill it, and you thought maybe the drone would learn the same, but the fact that it doesn't is obvious. There it stands, its bug-like eyes staring into yours blankly, its hideous mandibles clicking occasionally. You would get mad at it, if it made a difference.
"ONCE AGAIN, I DON'T HAVE ANY MATERIAL TO GIVE YOU. GET LOST." You have no empathy for the heartless creature, as it would not have any for you if you were any lower in blood color.
Your bodyguards, Equius and Nepeta, tense up. They always do, even though you know the drone cannot kill the ruler of the planet. Besides, even if it tried, it would be mauled or crushed without mercy. You're glad you chose your friends from the game to be your personal protectors. For what one lacks, the other makes up for. Leijon, agile with her claws and witty with her sharp tongue, and Zahhak, with knowledge of many things and a strength beyond most, if not all, Alternians.
The drone eyes them warily, registering for a moment that you are of a higher status than the bug can ever dream to be. You are above the law. Not only that, you are the law, and this fucking drone can eat shit. You would revolutionize the world's thinking and eliminate the insect's purpose if you could, but the Mother Grub has a necessity for material, and it cannot change its functions. Besides, with you being the new ruler, you think that if you changed too many rules at once, the underlings would revolt. They listen to your words, but not all are glad to have change. The highbloods with their ignorant minds are disgusted with the fact that you allowed the lower castes to be treated as equals. They still are not widely given those rights, but they are coming to be more accepted, and already couplings between the upper and lower classes are occurring in public.
The drone says no more and simply turns away, not even blinking at His Royal Aggressiveness. Yes, that is your title. You like it, in a way, though it is annoying when your friends mockingly refer to you as that. If they were not your own companions, you'd have them all beheaded. You do tend to get very violent without a second thought. (Maybe that's why the underlings haven't revolted yet?)
Equius speaks up, sighing in relief once the insect moves away. "I dislike that creature."
Nepeta shrugs - you assume that means she doesn't particularly care about it. "same."
"IF WE KILLED IT, IT'D JUST WASTE TIME BEFORE ANOTHER ONE WAS MADE." Your voice is always dominant over everyone else. You were born to lead, and you know this. You always held it over their heads, and it's also why you demanded to be the leader of one team with Vriska on the other. Vriska refused to be associated with the lowbloods, and as the gracious heir to the throne with a knack for being generous, you led them. There was no way you were letting Terezi or either of the greenbloods lead them.
Your opinion about the caste itself is varied. You believe the lowbloods should be treated the same as the highbloods, though you also believe that their status is inherently much lower than everyone else's. Then again, you think the same of most landwellers. You agree with Eridan whenever he says that they are very unpleasant (though this is mostly because of how frequently they pollute the oceans). There isn't much else you agree with him about, besides the fact that he's mentally unstable and potentially murderous. You were shocked when you watched him murder your friends, and you were even more shocked when you saw him live again once the apocalyptic game of Sgrub ended. You never saw the humans again, and it was like life was back to normal. It was sad in a way, but it didn't matter. You had a nation to run, and worrying about fragile sacks of flesh besides the ones under your own command wasn't worth your time or your thoughts (even if the human Wind and Time players had a significant potential to be quadrantmates).
Your Royal Advisor, Kanaya, came out of her chambers, elegantly dressed as always. She took a likening to the outfits of the palace, wearing most of the wardrobe the previous ruler (who was female) wore. You had no use for them, though you did like the jewelry, and kept all of it. It made Eridan jealous for quite some time, much to your pleasure, and you have a reason to believe it still does. Sucks for him.
When she spoke, everyone in the courtroom listened to her clear voice, smoothly ringing out in her even and calming tone. She had a talent of doing that, which almost made you even more angry than usual. No wonder they used to kill off the jadebloods. "You Know Karkat, I Think That You Should Take Your Mating Options Seriously. I Don't Mean To Impede On Your Absolute Rule, Or Attempt To Make You Do Something You Despise Doing, But We Will Need Someone To Eventually Take The Throne After You."
You stare at her, and shake your head. You hate the rules, you hate the Mother Grub, you hate your own society. You should be able to change everything and anything you want, but you can't because of how your race's reproductive systems work. You need that fatass to make more newborn Alternians, as much as you hate to admit it. Maybe Kanaya is right in a way, though. You've denied every request that has been asked of you, and there have been many. She has taken you on 'BL1ND D4T3S', as Terezi (the court's imperial judge) likes to call it, (apparently she heard the term from the humans?) and each time you refused to consider mating with them. Their blood color wasn't even taken into account, as you refused to have them segregated. Rustbloods to violetbloods alike were sat at a table in the palace across from you, and they would sing you praises and try to say something remarkable, anything to get you interested. You hated every single one of them, and you wanted to grab the chair you sat on and throw it at each of them. You didn't even listen to them on those days, your knuckles turned a lighter shade of gray on your chair's arms as you tried to not release your pure fury. Even now, as Kanaya suggested this, your fins fluttered in spite, and your blood felt significantly closer to boiling. "DON'T SAY THAT."
The Advisor sighed, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm Sorry Karkat, But That Is The Way That It Has To Be. You Know That. The Only Reason I Say This Is Because You're Not Going To Live Forever."
You grit your teeth as you remember a few assassination attempts in particular. The first was by Vriska. It was because she felt as though your rule was impossible to abide by, and you watched as Equius was given no choice but to crush her neck. He cried but clenched his jaw, not allowing himself to show any further signs of mourning than his blue tears. The blood was particularly difficult to clean up, and Eridan was sent off to execute the giant spider her lusus was in order to feed it to your own lusus. Even wih you in power, the Great Glub was still a power to be feared. Eridan was the official executor of the lusi of the deceased, since their lifespans generally surpassed the ones of Alternians. It was a job that had to be done, and he was the most eligible to do it.
The second attempt was by your former moirail, Gamzee. You knew he was demented. He was murderous without those poisonous... things of his. You don't even know if calling them 'food' would be accurate. They were disgusting. Faygo and slime pies... You sometimes gag at the thought of eating them. When Gamzee was sober, his hemophobia ran deeper than ever. He was hard to pacify as it was, but he flew into an uncontrollable rage when you declared that you were changing the way the blood caste worked. Nepeta was the one who took him down, and you could've sworn you saw a smile on her face as she relentlessly gouged his eyes out, yowling the entire time. He was so disfigured that it was difficult to identify his corpse afterward.
Two of your friends, one of them being close to you, were unable to accept your new laws, and if friends couldn't accept it, then there was a lot of danger for you. More than you my ever know. Sollux is responsible for keeping eyes on the media, watching for news and propaganda against you, and Aradia personally goes out into the world to look for anarchists wishing to overthrow your rule. As the one with the lowest of blood, besides Feferi, she is easily disguised. Feferi is your emissary, who delivers letters to and from you. She is always near you, with pen and paper ready to write. Her penmanship is renowned around the world to be elegant and bubbly, like her own personality. You also have her ink color in fuchsia, just like your blood. It makes it more official that way, you think.
"KANAYA, I REALLY DON'T NEED A MATESPRIT RIGHT NOW. OR A KISMESIS." Your eyes shift to your scribe, who is currently scribbling in her personal journal. Maybe there should be notes everywhere about how unnecessary it is for you to find someone to mate with.
"I'm Serious Your Royal Aggressiveness, This Needs To Be Addressed And Taken Into Consideration For Your Own Sake."
"NO."
"Please Listen. Just Try To Find Someone You Can Actually Bring Yourself To Enjoy Being Around And Maybe You Won't Have To Hear Me Talk About It Anymore."
You sneer at her, and stand up. She's the closest thing to a moirail you currently have, so offending her too greatly isn't in your best interest. "I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO HEAR YOU TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL. I'LL FIND SOMEONE TO FUCK WHEN I FIND SOMEONE. THIS IS MY PERSONAL BUSINESS, AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO WORRY YOURSELF WITH ANY OF THE DETAILS." Of course, you'd tell her what's on your mind in private later. The two of you have already arranged this, and she understands that this is all for show. She manages to act wounded every time, however. You wonder how much of it is acting and how much of it is real. She strides away without another word, a frown on her features.
At that time, Tavros walked into the throne room, out of his chambers. Was this some kind of shitty reunion? He is the royal ambassador, who isn't seen in the throne room often. He goes to the other nations around the world to read out your laws, his metal legs serving him well by carrying him around the world (when not traveling by plane). He also hears from the other countries' rulers and reports back to the head of the world, which is you. That's how your government works. You changed that too, since your kingdom was too far for you to rule over all of it. It's much more efficient to have representatives. You allowed the countries to vote whoever they wanted into office, and the 10 nations gave Tavros the names of those who were elected, and then he told you. You didn't even bother remembering their names or blood colors, it didn't matter to you. Though if you asked, Tavros would easily tell you off of the top of his head. It was his duty to know everything about the other nations, and having an official government job made him much more confident (plus the death of Vriska cleared his mind significantly). He spoke with a different dialect most of the time, vastly different than the one with his old nervous attitude.
"So what was that all about? 1s someth1ng wrong?"
"NO, NOTHING IS WRONG. JUST THE USUAL."
"You yell1ng at other people?"
"YEAH."
"Oh. Okay."
The only person missing from the throne room now is your purple-blooded companion, who is - oh. Apparently he's walking in through the doors unannounced. Great. You sit back down for this, because this will probably be great to hear.