Chapter Text
He doesn’t know where he is, which isn’t out of the ordinary at all. It’s quite possibly the only familiar feeling he has left, being lost. All he does know is that he’s been here before, even if the bright blue eyes that argue with him through an opening in the tall oak door say otherwise.
“Dude just let me in,” Karl sighs, frustrated without any true reason, he just needs to get in somehow.
“ Dude, don’t call me dude, tell me the password or move on, dude,” The accented voice scoffs and rolls it’s eyes, the gesture is familiar and childish, it makes it almost endearing.
“I don’t know the stupid password just let me in anyways, I’m in here all the time!” He says and it doesn’t feel like a lie coming out of his mouth, even though it should because he doesn’t remember being here, ever. He doesn’t dwell on it though, just crosses his arms as the blue eyes glare harder and harder.
“You're annoying, I'm getting the bossman,” is all the boy says before the small opening is covered again by a wooden flap.
“You're annoying,” Karl grumbles under his breath, kicking at the stray bits of garbage and rocks at his feet. He takes the moment of solitude to take in his surroundings for the first time.
It’s an empty back alley, cobblestone streets and high buildings, there’s a slight fog in the overcast night, he can hear the faint trace of music coming from behind the door. Inconspicuous in the quiet night.
A speakeasy, he concludes. He touches a hand to the door, simply to feel something beneath his palm. He can’t remember what time he had been trying to travel too, can’t remember if he was running from or to something. All he knows is he knows this door and what’s behind it, he’ll figure the rest as he goes along.
He’s dressed for the occasion at least, he notices. There’s white ruffles along the collar of his shirt and sleeves, tucked into pinstriped pants, adorned almost obnoxiously with heavy jewelry and gold fastenings.
The clattering of the opening moving draws his attention, looking up to see dark eyes replace the blue. Karl watches recollection pool in them, quickly replaced by something warm enough to melt to adoration. It makes his heart quicken and a smile tug at his lips, it feels like he can’t help it, he knows those eyes. He raises a shaky hand to wave as the latches of the door open.
“Boss-“ the boy’s voice chips in, unsure.
“Let him in. He never remembers the password,” The door opens to reveal the face the dark eyes belong to and Karl thanks the gods he doesn’t topple over immediately at how he swoons. The eyes are framed by darker hair, slightly concealed due to the hat on his head, but stray locks curl around freckled cheekbones that lead to perfectly plush bowed lips that are formed in a smile in Karl’s direction. It takes him too long to realize the man was still talking to him, busy staring at the soft shadows the dim lamps cast across golden tufts of feathers and wings. “Sorry about that, we just got a new kid and I forgot to tell him about you.”
“I’m not a kid!” The kid interjects and the man sighs good naturedly, reaching up to ruffle through blonde unruly curls.
“Sure sure, go back to watching the door please Tom,” The man says as he wraps his fingers around one of his wrists and pulls Karl deeper into the building. Karl doesn’t breathe, too focused on the point of contact, almost embarrassingly sure he could feel his heart rate skyrocketing against his skin.
There’s no words, only the sound of them descending stairs and the music and sounds of people getting louder. It’s only until they’re standing in front of yet another heavy door that the man turns to him again. Karl smiles, sure he looks as sheepish as he feels but the man laughs softly, reaching up to lay his hands flat across Karl’s collarbones, close enough for Karl to smell the cologne and cigarettes that cling to him, close enough to make Karl forget to breathe, again.
“You look pretty,” The man says softly, it feels like smoke against his skin, he can’t get enough. “And spooked.” He finishes, laughing at his own joke and Karl can’t help the grin that finds him.
“i well- you know,” He stutters, blushing dumbly as lithe fingers fiddle with the fabric of his collar, occasionally grazing the skin of his neck. “been traveling.”
“Like always then,” The man finishes and Karl nods, mentally glad he remembers enough to keep the same excuses every time.
“Yeah,” he says for no real reason, then glances back down toward him, his dark eyes staring back and it feels like a breath of fresh air, it feels familiar, it feels like he’s truly known. “I’m Karl.” He states and wishes the floor would open up and eat him as soon as he said it because why the fuck would you say that Karl?
But the man rewards him with a bright laugh, easy and musical, reaching until his fingers are linked behind Karl’s neck and tugging him slightly down, until their noses brush and Karl can count the beauty marks on his face.
“Hi Karl,” he says softly, naturally, letting Karl know he’s said so many times before. “I’m Q, it’s nice to see you again.” The man, Q, finishes before placing a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth, leaving Karl wanting so so much more.
“That’s a funny name,” Karl says, breathless and overwhelmed in the best of ways. Q only laughs some more, letting his hand’s fall to rest against Karl’s waist.
“Says the guy named Karl,” Q drags the one syllable on his tongue and Karl would give anything to feel it on his skin. Karl laughs, letting it fill his head and make him dizzy, letting his head slightly bump against Q’s forehead, until he's staring into deep eyes again.
“I’ve missed you,” the words spill out of Karl, tumble past his teeth as if he couldn’t help himself, the realization hits like a brick wall, that it’s true, despite the lack of memories it’s true, he missed him so much. It feels almost desperate, it feels so deep, ingrained into the fibers of his being.
Q smiles like he understands, nuzzles his cheek with his own like he knows, lays kisses like whispers across his jaw like he’s starved of it. “Me too, Doll.” The pet name makes him fuzzy, knees weak and enamored.
“Wanna watch the show with me?” Q asks sweetly, smiling like he knows the answer, Karl can’t help but think it’s a good look on him.
“I will watch whatever you want with you,” Karl says, too fast to be embarrassed. Q laughs and nods, reaching out towards the door and rapping his knuckles against it in a quick melody, the sound of another latch unlocking follows it.
“Come on then,” He says and Karl doesn’t need any further prompting following Q into the dimly lit bar. “Welcome back to HQ darling,” Q says above the music and Karl gapes at their surroundings.
It’s pretty, overly decorated and seedy in a way that excites him. There’s many patrons, some even raise their glass to him as he passes by, a greeting Karl only extends in a shy wave, struggling to piece together any of their names. The stage is occupied by a man, tall and smug as he sings, a melancholy tune Karl thinks he recognizes.
Q leads them to a private booth, a corner table with walls covered in small potted plants, a crawling ivy tickles his forehead as he settles into the seat.
“Weird place for plants,” Karl comments and Q shrugs smiling as he reaches over to link their fingers together over the table.
“That’s what I said but you insisted, said it brought some life to the place,” Q says, nonchalantly as if he knew Karl would not remember saying that.
“Well I was right, it does,” Karl says after a beat and Q nods, slinking closer and closer until he is pressed seamlessly to Karl’s side, head tucked against his neck as he eyes the stage.
“How long will I have you tonight?” Q asks after the song ends and another begins. The question startles Karl, for how easy it comes. He doesn’t turn to look at him, only squeezes the hand in his own, feels the ridges of Q’s rings against his fingers and looks forward, letting the obvious importance of Q sink in.
It seems he knows so much already about Karl, his lapse in memories and disappearances, Karl doesn’t know how much he knows or how much he can even give away, the dangers lie in memories he can’t seem to retrace. He turns his head to press a kiss to Q’s temple closing his eyes as he tries to flood his mind with endless timelines and days before sighing.
“I can promise you tonight,” he whispers to Q, it makes him sit up, their faces close again, enough to see the shadows his eyelashes cast across his cheeks.
“I can work with that,” Q says, before kissing him deeply, openly, desperate and wanting equally as fierce as Karl. It’s the kiss that sparks a fire of memories in his mind, a blazing trail of important events, core moments. It’s a kiss he’s felt so many different times before, always framed by the same eyes and lips and soul.
Quackity . The name echoes in his head, making him dizzy as his vision frays at the edges, as his skin pulls with the ticking of a clock, overwhelmed with equal parts relief and fear. He feels Q kiss him again, hungry and caring, like he always does. He feels the kisses melt away, along with everything else around him, he doesn’t open his eyes, not until the room stops spinning and the light behind his eyelids is too bright to ignore.
The Inbetween is obnoxiously bright and synthetically warm. Karl can still feel Q’s hands in his own and struggles on unsteady legs to reach the many books strewn around him and across shelves. He’s running on borrowed time as he reaches an empty page, shaking hands as he writes and writes every single thing he can still remember before it’s too late. There’s spilled ink drying on his palms when he hears the harsh creak of a door opening in the distance, far away in one of the long corridors.
“Kicking me out so soon?” He says bitterly to the empty rooms, despite it always being barren he always feels watched. Still no matter the amount of tantrums and breakdowns he has in the Inbetween, no one ever answers, he doesn’t know what he’ll do if anyone ever does so he settles with the silence. “Fine then. Just next time, can I have like ten extra minutes, things were getting good,” he says as he steps through the doors and into nothing.
When he wakes up he’s warm. There’s sun streaming through the windows and a body pressed to his side.
“You're finally up,” the words a muffled around a yawn and Karl smiles at the voice it belongs too. He turns in his arms, pushing until he’s holding his chin in hands propped against a warm chest.
“Hi,” He greets and smiles at the sleep dumb look in Sapnap’s eyes.
“Hey,” Sapnap greets back, wrapping his hands around Karl’s waist and pulling until he is laying on top of him. “Sleep well?” he asks and Karl pauses and shrugs, the vestiges of a memory leaving him.
“I think I had a good dream,” Karl says, “and then a nightmare, I think.” he finished and Sapnap mumbles something into his hair Karl can’t make out. “I can’t really remember,” he whispers and Sapnap presses a kiss to his hair.
“Dream’s are like that,” Sapnap says.
“Yeah, I guess they are,” Karl replies, staring out into the miles of empty mattress next to them, wondering why he feels like he’s forgotten something important again.
The feeling sticks with him the entire day, it’s not entirely new, it’s a feeling he gets quite often, worn like a second skin after his bouts in the Inbetween. But this time it’s not as easy to ignore and he’s not entirely sure but he’s quite sure it has something to do with the missing space of his dreams.
He strays from Sapnap after they eat at their breakfast table, lets Sapnap plant kisses on each of his eyelids before telling him to be careful on his way out.
“I’m just going to the library, you worry too much,” Karl mumbles against Sapnaps shoulder where his head is laying. Sapnap huffs, wraps his arms around him and squeezes until Karl can’t breathe.
“Yeah cause I care about you, now be careful,” he emphasizes and Karl rolls his eyes, endeared.
The library is a mess, only a short distance from their house on the outskirts of Kinoko, he passes the small tree hut that houses George’s sleeping body, making note to visit sometime that day.
Books cover the walls, saving space for a singular small window where the sunshine can just barely creep in. Most of the lighting is candlelit, a sure fire hazard but no more than having his netherborn partner in there with him so he doesn’t pay it too much mind.
He reaches the small writing desk in the corner, silently hoping that whatever magic or power or god that houses his books in the Inbetween will still allow him to view it here. It always does, he doesn’t understand how it works and has long since stopped truly trying, but the many expansive libraries in the Inbetween and their books can be found in his own rather quaint one.
Karl opens the book to a random page, knowing his scribbles from wherever he had gone must be there still. He always takes the words with a grain of salt, after all who is to say the words in there are really his own, but each page is marked up with his horrible handwriting and really, no one in a thousand cosmos has a penmanship like his.
The words are fast, sharp and running. Bouncing from page to page, small words to large texts of descriptors all painting out the picture of a seedy bar in a sleepy city.
He’s gorgeous. The words strike him, he trails a finger along the sentences, following its detail and care. Gorgeous and funny and golden. He kissed me, it felt like home, like he’s known for so long, so much longer than I can remember. It wasn’t our first time and I swear it better not be the last. I don’t know the password to get in but ask for Q, that’s his name, what a silly name, his name is Q and I’ve known him before when his name was different, i’ll know him forever. Find him, you must find him.
He’s blushing, he’s not sure why he’s blushing but once he realizes he knows it gets ten times worse, probably smudging his face in countless bright colors and swirling across his cheeks and nose. The note is more desperate than lovesick but still it's undeniable, this Q, whoever he is, has consumed him, apparently in many different ways and lives.
It stumps him, wounds him deeply to not be able to remember more than the few words he has in front of him.
Known him before when his name was different , the words echo in his head, he takes a moment to berate whatever self of his that feels the need to be so vague and mysterious, before plucking another book from the shelf and getting to work.
The edges are frayed and torn, it’s binding barely holding on by its loose thread, it’s cover faded and covered in a thin layer of ash that no matter what Karl does, never truly goes away.
L’manburg: A history. The name of its author has been scratched out long before Karl ever got his hands on it, yet he feels like he knows them anyways.
There’s writing in every page, annotations he’s made as he lives through the events sometimes for the first time, sometimes for the hundredth time, each detailing what went wrong in that timeline and its effects throughout. It’s how he keeps track, or well tries too at least.
Karl goes slowly, staring at the fading pictures and their descriptions as if he doesn’t know the content of its page by heart. He’s scribbled over the beginning glossary, adding his own pictures and series of events to keep track of. Trying to remedy the book's lack of coverage of anything past or before the country's formation and fall.
He smiles at a small burned picture, Sapnap stands in front of the community house flanked by George and what remains of Dream’s arm thrown around their shoulders. Sapnap found the picture once, and in his emotion turned Dream’s smiling face to ash in his hands before Karl could salvage it.
Still Sapnap looked happy in it, childish and untouched by the moments to come, innocent. It’s one of his favorite pictures of him, despite the way it makes his heart heavy. He wishes he could tell him, the Sapnap in the picture, what’s going to happen and when and to run and leave, to try and save that smile from the pain he’ll endure. But Karl has tried before, multiple times, to change what happens, it very rarely works out in his favor. Usually something else just ends up happening anyways and it’s never anything better.
It’s cruel, his gift. This ability, he lives so many lives, has seen so many lives yet has nothing of value to truly show for it. Besides too many wars he couldn’t stop, Doomsday’s that never end, red festivals and banquets he’s both ignored and been witness to. Those never change, they always happen, no matter how hard he tries.
He moves along the pages, trying not to get so caught up in the pain that’s built into him as he traverses through time, he smiles slightly as he turns to a page with a smiling Tommy and Tubbo, waving in their uniform red and blues. The story of the country’s birth is a sweet paragraph beneath the photo, the next few pages hold more photo’s and small bits of trivia, Karl chuckles at the arrows that point to each person in the pictures, their names stated beneath. A helpful guide for a Karl who can’t remember his friends name, which happens so often now he has to laugh or he will cry about it.
He turns the pages and pauses as a title catches his eye.
The Election.
There’s multiple newspaper clippings bound together on the page’s edge, as he flips through them he realizes they’re all from different times, with different results and it’s corresponding event’s scribbled alongside it.
Pog2020 Wins Election!
- it still blows up, this time it’s dream though, wilbur dies and philza shows up, war and more war until there’s nothing left.
Swag2020 Wins Election!
- Wilbur is a sore loser in this, like usual, that’s never changing apparently. It blows up, Tubbo never becomes president, he dies in its explosions alongside tommy.
Coconut2020 Wins Election! Surprisingly!
- things are actually good for like two days, then dream ruins it, niki and fundy arent the best fighters, war isn’t their strong suit and that’s never a bad thing right? It shouldn’t be at least i think
Schlatt2020 Wins Election! Voter Fraud?
- all things considered, this is the only outcome and like …what the fuck.
The next page he always forgets to brace for.
The Red Festival.
There’s before and after pictures because of course there are. Grimy and hard to swallow, from a smiling President to two small shaky hands reaching out past iron bars.
He can’t look at the picture too long, it makes him sick, and too many memories of that day flood his mind. He goes to turn the page when a figure in the picture’s catches his eye. Hard to see clearly as he stands in Schlatt’s shadow, and even harder to make out in the pictures of the chaos that follow. There’s an ever helpful arrow however that makes Karl glad he did that for the first time in forever.
Quackity :]. It’s written with obvious care, different to the scrawlings on every other page. The small smile next to it makes him smile, familiar and cute.
Quackity. The name has a weight in his head, in his body and heart. It’s important, Karl just doesn’t know how. The rest of the book is of little help, less pictures and more paragraphs and storylines Karl struggles to keep up with as the name swirls in his mind.
It’s a lost cause when he realizes he’s been reading the same sentence about Tommy’s trial over and over again, deciding instead to go on a walk down memory lane would help, literally.
The path is easy to follow, the sun is still high in the sky with plenty of time before it sets for the day, plenty of time before Sapnap will become too worried and come after him. He takes the steps slowly, carefully, more just because Sapnap asked him than for his own safety.
It’s only a few minutes and a few portal’s later that his feet land on the yellowing wood of the Prime Path, he follows it down, taking time to fully take in his surroundings as he passes, remembering how different they used to be.
He passes multiple of Kinoko’s flyers, scowling slightly when he sees other’s plastered on top of theirs, he doesn’t stop to read them though, doesn't have the time.
Eret’s museum is grand like Eret always manages to be. It’s pillars seem to stretch miles up from the earth, it’s slight cracks showing its age and battles it’s survived. Karl isn’t really sure what he’s looking for, knows the history housed in the museum is slightly one sided as most historic retellings often are, all he knows is that he’s wandering, up and down until he ends up in the statue room staring at the gilded plaque with Quackity’s name.
He’s handsome, Karl thinks. Even if there’s no life in the stone features, he’s handsome. The statue was clearly made with great adoration and care, slightly more so than the others in the room. There’s an obvious bias in the way each individual feather was carved, the soft slope of his cheeks, the detail in lithe fingers and emotion behind the smile the statue wears.
The statue stands out as its plaque only states a name and no events, no historical backing for such a piece, it’s simply just, Quackity, next to past presidents and royals and leaders. Yet somehow, it doesn’t feel inferior or out of place.
“That one took me the longest,” Eret’s voice startles Karl out of his musings, he turns to see Eret chuckling slightly, hands raised in apologies for scaring him. They’re dressed down for all their usual regalness. Just a dainty crown resting upon long curls, no jewels to match with besides a few simple rings and earrings.
“Sorry didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No no it’s okay. Lost in thought you know?”
“Hmm,” Eret says, stopping next to Karl and staring at the statue for a moment.
“You said this one took you the longest?” Karl prompts when Eret lets the silence stretch.
Eret chuckles, a fair hand raising to cover their mouth as they nod. “He just wouldn’t stand still, absolutely refused too. Still, I think it turned out well enough.” The words are kind, obviously lost in a sweet memory as he tells Karl. Karl hums, staring at the stone face and wishing for a burst of something to shine through the dark nothing in his head.
“How was he with you?” Karl asks, clumsy like a blind hand fumbling in the dark.
“Quackity?,” it’s the first time he’s heard the name said out loud, it makes his heart hammer in his chest, it’s syllables falling so right in the air. “Well I adored him in that sweet way when you’re not aware you’re falling in love but you are? He was good to me, as all first loves are.”
Karl had not anticipated that.
“You were together?”
Eret’s eyebrows scrunch together slightly before nodding again.
“We were engaged.”
“Engaged?” he repeats and Eret’s eyes soften slightly.
“You didn’t know?”
“No I didn't, at least I don’t think I did,” he replies honestly. That wasn’t in any of the books.
“Yeah well it didn’t work out obviously, but he was lovely I’m sure you know,” Eret adds and Karl struggles to shake his head, to argue because no he doesn’t know and what does that mean? Should he? Wouldn’t he remember if it was that important?
He looks at Quackity’s face again and feels nothing but loss. “Oh I’m sorry,” he says to simply fill the air between them, head too lost in questions and missing moments to really be there.
Eret laughs soft and quiet in the open room. “Don't be it’s in the past,” They say, offering Karl a warm smile, Karl can only bare to smile back.
“Right. The past.” He wonders if what he’s looking for is supposed to stay there. The statue stares unseeing, Karl doesn’t understand why he wishes they would look at him.
The sun is barely setting as he starts his trek back, casting hazy oranges and pinks across the sky, he takes the long way back, cutting through deserted paths, all the while trying to work up the courage to say Quackity’s name out loud. It felt weird, like he wasn’t allowed to, like it would make the mystery man all the more real and shatter the blurry spell around him.
He walks with his head down, a habit Sapnap finds annoying in that worried way of his. It makes him clumsy, not seeing where he’s going, that’s why it’s no real shock when he bumps straight into what looks like a decaying billboard.
“Ouch,” he says to no one, rubbing at the shoulder that rammed into the wood, looking up to be more shocked as he’s met with what looks like his body plastered onto the tattered canvas.
He squints as he barely makes out the words, piecing together Sapnap and George’s familiar torsos around the lettering.
El Rapids.
It’s a jolt of fear and a strike of pain behind his ribs and eyes, the world darkens, frays and spins, his skin tugs in that sickeningly known way as he’s pulled through time and space.
When the world stops spinning for him he’s on his knees, there’s blood on his hands from where he’s holding his ribs, it’s warm, his body shakes from the loss of it. The taste of iron is fresh on his tongue as the sharp tip of a blade digs and drags his chin upward, made to look up at who had hurt him.
It’s…
“Quackity?” He gasps, shocked and pained as the gash along his side burns and bleeds. He’s confused and he’s hurt and nothing about this makes any sense. “Quackity? What-“
The sword digs a little deeper, pulled up to leave a scratch across his cheekbone, Quackity smiles, a nasty cruel thing. It doesn’t feel right, artificially mean, but his mind is running too fast and he’s losing too much blood and fear is the only thing coursing through his body to think .
“You said you’d die for this country. My country, such a pretty sacrificial lamb!” It's Quackity’s voice, he’s sure of it, it doesn’t feel like his words. But they’re shaped around a grin and bloody sword and Karl hurts so bad.
“No please, it hurts,” he cries, clutching and pleading as his vision weakens along with his resolve. “Don’t, please.”
“Oh shush,” Quackity says, voice like poisoned molasses as the sword rises and rises, holding in a paused swing above Karl’s head. “It’ll only hurt for a second.”
Karl opens his mouth to beg, to scream, to ask why? But it never comes, the swing of the sword catches his last breath, then there’s nothing.
Not even the Inbetween or a Limbo or a heaven, just, nothing.
When he comes back he’s kneeling on the same ground, this time covered in cold sweat instead of blood, the sun has barely even moved from its spot across the horizon. Fireflies have started to buzz around him, the cold breeze chills him even more.
He stares up at the sign and thinks, bitterly, Quackity was right at least, it was only a second.
-
Karl skips past the house when he finally enters Kinoko, making a beeline straight to his library, where his stray books greet him, open and waiting for his latest discovery.
His hands shake, he’s still sweating, crying and unable to keep hold on his many forms long enough to write anything slightly coherent so he settles for muddled single words and the pearlescent globs of tears that fall onto the paper.
Known him before when his name was different. I’ll know him forever.
The past words mock him, past Karl has no idea what he’s talking about.
He killed me. He killed me. I died because of him. I’ll know him forever, my murderer, Quackity.
He slams the book shut and the door in quick succession, all but running towards his house, grateful that it's empty as he stumbles into the large bed.
Karl cries, open and tired, as the memory replays itself over and over again in his head. The pain, the anguish, the heartbreak . He knows he’s soaking the pillow, knows he’s working himself up and exhausting himself but he can’t stop.
How could he have forgotten? Something, someone, as important as the reason he died? He didn’t even know he had died until then.
If he could forget that? What more is he forgetting?
He trails a hand across his chest, feeling the ghost trace of a fatal wound across his skin, as he mourns everything else he doesn’t even know he’s lost yet.
When sleep finds Karl it’s easy, a blessing to overwhelmed and tired eyes. It creeps and creeps until his hiccuping body can’t fight it anymore. The last thing he feels are warm lips at his temple and arms crowding around him, a sweet feeling of something like home for just a second.
“Hey the night is young and so are we, don’t go falling asleep on me,” Q whispers against his temple as Karl blinks bleary eyes open to the dim familiar bar.
“Oh,” he says outloud, moving to sit up slightly, Q still has their hands interlaced, smiling kindly as Karl looks down at him. “I didn’t notice I fell asleep, sorry.”
Q shakes his head softly, “Don’t worry, a man needs his rest, especially one as busy as you. Dream of anything?”
Karl hums, wonders why the question feels so familiar before nodding. “Yeah, I don’t think it was good though.” Karl says, as blurry images come to the forefront. Nothing concrete, nothing to spark a real memory, except the vagueness from before. “I think it was a memory actually.”
Q blinks at him, gives him a sad sort of smile, knowing. “Some people say that’s all dreams are really. Memories. Even some we haven’t lived through yet.” Q muses and Karl smiles.
“That’s one way to look at it.”
“So what are you doing here tonight? Don’t get me wrong I’m more than glad to see you but what’s the occasion?” Q asks, eyelids heavy as he looks at Karl through thick lashes. It makes his heart beat, and he’s sure his face flushes a thousand different shades of pink if the way Q smirks is of any indicator.
“I- uh,” he gulps, trying desperately to ignore the hand Q snakes behind his neck that starts twirling a lock of his hair around a thin finger. “I just wanted to see you.” Karl manages the words without stuttering, smiling at the way Q’s eyes widen along with his grin.
“Just me?” Q whispers, suddenly pressed closer to him than before, a hair width from his lips. Q is smiling, eyes dancing with an unconcealed mirth that Karl can’t get enough of. Karl goes to nod, shaky enough to hopefully brush their lips together coyly but Q pulls away, laughing softly. “Now while I love having all your attention, it simply wouldn’t be fair to him would it?”
Him? Karl doesn’t get the chance to ask when suddenly a body is pushing and sitting against his other side, all but engulfing Karl in heat and smoke. He’s turning before his brain can catch up with his mouth, eyes landing on a recognizable set of blazing eyes and overbearing warmth.
“ Sapnap?” He whispers, so quiet it gets lost in the music. His hand not wrapped up in Q’s trembles with a need to reach out and touch him, feel his heated skin under his own. Q presses up behind him, pushing Karl against a broad chest, his brain momentarily reboots at the sensation, coming back only to the sound of heady laughter.
“Hi Nicky, where have you been all night?” Q asks, well, flirts. It makes Karl heat at his collar, especially with how the man, nicky(?) reacts, all sharp teeth and pride.
“I’ve been slaving away manning your bar while you're hogging Karl!” The words are heavily accented in the way his Sapnap gets only when he’s angry, or sleepy, or drunk. It makes his head spin as memories flood his brain.
“Who else was gonna keep him company? Soot? I’d chew off my arm before leaving Karl with him, Nikolai ,” Q responds, easy and light, Karl is still stuck on the name.
“Nikolai,” he says, just to say it, to feel it. It feels right, in the same way Sapnap feels right, the same way Q does.
“That’s me darling,” Nikolai answers and Karl wasn’t prepared just yet to have his full attention, blushing at the way fire seems to spark in his expressive eyes when Karl is caught staring. “Missed me?”
Karl is nodding before he finishes asking, throwing his arms around his neck and all but sighing at the feeling of Nikolai laughing against his neck as Q trails his fingers up and down his back.
“So so much,” He says and means it, knowing he’s always meant it when he says it too. Nikolai is smiling when he pulls away, it isn’t lopsidedly charming in the way Sapnap’s is, it’s firm and wide and perfect like he always is no matter the time.
“So checklist?” Nikolai says, looking past Karl to Q whose mouth opens in a slight ‘O’.
“I was waiting for you, easier that way.”
“What is?” Karl asks and Nikolai’s eyes turn softer along with the touches Q keeps laying on his skin.
“Oh you are really far gone tonight huh?” Nikolai says though Karl figures he isn’t really expecting an answer, so instead Karl just stares, questions swirling in his eyes.
“We made a checklist, to gauge how much you remember and how much you don’t, where exactly you are in that pretty little head of yours,” Nikolai explains, Q threads his fingers through his curls at the comment and Karl struggles to keep focus on Nikolai’s words. “Makes things easier when we see each other again.”
“Oh, oh wow.” Is all Karl can think to say. “I must be here pretty often then huh?”
“You didn’t remember at all tonight?” Q questions next to him, eyes wide. “You kissed me earlier I thought you-“
“No, I remember you. Sort of. Not really not in the way you guys do, I can’t remember us meeting. I just know I knew you, and that I like you and trust you, and really like you,” Karl interrupts and rushes to correct himself and put the two at ease.
It works, both of them breathing out sighs of relief before smiling.
“You knew without even knowing me that you liked me?” Q teases and Karl can’t ever get enough of this.
“And I knew that you liked me too,” Karl responds, finally finding his footing in their flirting, it makes Q blush, eyes rolling slightly as his fingers trail down Karl’s neck.
“Okay lovebirds, checklist,” Nikolai butts in and the nickname feels worn and used, like a loved coat. Karl turns then to plant a kiss against Nikolai’s cheek, melting at the familiar scruff and heat beneath his skin. Always born in fire, his Sapnap.
“Okay you can start,” Karl says and the other two laugh, endearing.
“What’s your name?”
Oh wow he’s been that far gone before? “Karl.”
“Good. What are you Karl?”
What a loaded, looooaaaded question. “A traveler.”
“Where are you now?”
“HQ?”
“The city sweetheart?” Q adds in and Karl draws a blank. “Nelaved.” Q fills in and Karl scowls, what a name.
“Do you feel safe?” Nikolai asks and Karl blinks.
“I’m feeling a lot right now, I won't lie to you. All good things though, very good things.”
Nikolai and Q laugh, Q tucks his chin over Karl’s shoulder and Karl turns easily to press a kiss where his hat meets hair.
“Okay now your turn to ask questions,” Q says and Karl eyes widen.
“I get questions?”
“Of course, unlimited ones too.”
“Oh how special,” He mumbles and Nikolai chuckles softly. “Okay uhhh, what am I to you guys?”
“In the literal sense, an amnesiatic traveling veteran. In the romantic sense, our partner.” Nikolai answers and half of the answer leaves him reeling.
“Veteran?” Karl asks, glances down at his hands as if expecting to find dirt and blood and scars but finds nothing. The same usual skin and fingers and veins.
“Yeah darling, You fought in the Luman war. So did I, different units though, one to many of those shells left you with a spacey memory,” Nikolai explains and Karl catches the glint of dog tags hanging from his neck for the first time.
“Oh,” he says and Karl doesn’t know if to strangle or kiss the Karl that decided on that backstory. Melodramatic much. Then again it might not be a cover up at all, maybe he did fight in that war, seems to follow him no matter where he goes. “Wait our?”
Q laughs in that charming way of his, presses himself closer to link his thin fingers with Nikolai’s stronger ones. “Yes, ours.”
Karl gapes, staring at the two men. “I can do that?” He whispers to no one in particular, the revelation surely painting his cheeks an even brighter red.
“You can do a lot more than that,” Q breathes onto the side of his neck and Karl takes a moment to breathe deeply. His mind swimming with a desire and want that feels bone deep and known . He’s so warm between them, comfortable and sated, it feels right, Q’s fingers in his hair and Nikolai’s eyes on him. Karl can’t remember the last time he’s felt so grounded, bound to something so good.
“You're killing me,” Karl whines under his breath at the soft feeling of lips against his jaw and the chuckle that puffs against his skin afterwards.
“Kill you? I’d never darling, I’d miss you too much,” Q responds and something in the way he says it makes the phantom wound of a sword at his throat pulse, hot and violent.
“Really?” Karl says, voice soft and lost in swimming thoughts. “Even if it wasn’t really you but another version of you from a different time and maybe a different world completely? Would you kill me then?”
Karl stares at the wood grain of their table, mind flashing with distant or maybe future, he can’t really tell, memories. A smile just like Q’s and a pain like no other. There’s silence, he can practically hear the other two blinking owlishly at him. Karl goes to open his mouth, backtrack and apologize for the words, not sure where they even came from himself.
“You always have the strangest questions,” Q says, lightly, as if used to it but not tired. There’s another kiss to his cheek and Nikolai’s hand in his own as Q’s words fill his head. “No I wouldn’t, no matter what I can promise you that.”
“You can't though. Not really. You don’t even know what I’m talking about,” Karl says with a weak chuckle, melting into the embrace around him as his thoughts rush too fast to catch up.
Flashes of a death and a man so similar yet not familiar to Q burst in his head,
“No but I know me and I know I would never do that, no matter the universe, time or world,” Q says, after a few moments of contemplating Karl’s words and sudden unease. “You and him, you’re all I’ve ever wanted, one thing I will do no matter what, is tear the world apart to get you back if I lost you.” The words are said with a quiet but solid conviction, enough to stop the sinking feeling in his body, pulling him back into the sweet way Q smiles at him when he looks back up.
“Who knew you could be such a sap,” Nikolai says, making Q stick his tongue out at him and Karl laugh in relief at the brighter tone change.
“Sorry,” He breathes out, shaking his head slightly as if to get the residual unease off. “Dunno why I asked.”
Q shakes his head, pressing a kiss to Karl’s cheek that makes him smile and lightheaded. “Nothing to apologize for, if it helps make sense of whatever you have going on in that head of yours, i’ll answer a million of your questions.” Q says, so devoted and true it nearly makes Karl cry.
Next to him Nikolai is nodding, holding his one hand in both of his own, sweet molting heat holding Karl together. “So will I.”
Karl can only nod slowly, swallow around the lump in his throat and blink past the tears in his eyes at the kind professions. “Okay,” he whispers.
Q and Nikolai share a smile, before turning to him again.
“Will you dance with us?” Q asks softly, Karl looks out into the dim bar, breathing in the smooth music and voice that croons from the stage. His heart leaps at the thought of their hands on his waist, hair and hands, moving to whatever lilting love song played.
“Yes,” he nods quickly, eager enough it makes Nikolai laugh. “Yes please.”
“No need to beg darling, it’s our pleasure,” Nikolai says, sweeping Karl up to stand and into his arms in one dizzying move. Karl blushes so heatedly he’s positive he could melt.
“Hey don’t hog him,” Q complains as he stands to join them, Nikolai rolls his eyes fondly, manhandling Q until they’re all on the slightly crowded dance floor, Q in between them both. Karl smiles at the way Q looks up at them both, enamored and overwhelmed.
“Insatiable,” Nikolai mumbles against Q’s cheek, that darkens a luscious pink. Q reaches a hand behind him to pull Karl flush to his back, linking them together again.
“Well can anyone really blame me?” Q whispers back and Karl shakes his head, closing his eyes and lowering to plant a lingering kiss to Q’s freckled neck.
He listens to Nikolai laugh, to the breathless stutter Q gives when they kiss deeply, the soft tapping of a song ending and a new beginning. He can taste Q’s cologne on his tongue and feel Nikolai’s heat persist against the bones of his hips. The piano melody only interrupted by a persistent flow of words, he burrows deeper into Q’s neck, an effort to drown out whatever conversation that only seemed to get louder and louder. He feels Q shift in his arms. He opens his mouth to complain but is cut off.
“- If you really want the fountains, I’ll make them but it’s going to be at least another few days,” Foolish says, standing in front of him with blueprints under his arm. They’re in one of the houses at Kinoko, the afternoon sun streams in through the dusty windows, Karl stares at the blueprints in his hands.
“I’m sorry what?” He asks kindly, mind spinning as he reorients himself. He shakes his head lightly, flexes his fingers and lets his form go slightly loose, longer limbed and colorful, in the way others would stare at him when he didn’t care to shapeshift to look more “ human.” “Sorry Foolish, I got all lost, what were you saying?” He says, tries to shake the feeling that he is forgetting something important away, it happens all the time now and usually he remembers, eventually.
Foolish squints as if he’s staring directly at the sun. “I always forget how colorful you actually are, especially your eyes,” Foolish says with a smile before moving to spread a blueprint across the lone table in the room. “Here’s the plans I drew up, tell me which ones are your favorite and I’ll start it. Personally this one is mine, a break from the usual mushroom decal.”
Karl nods, glancing at the many drawings Foolish laid in front of him, moving to stare out the window to the patches of open land , trying to envision which design he would like more.
“Have you asked Sap his opinion?”
Foolish huffed, thick gold bangled arms crossing. “Yeah he said to have you choose, so here I am.”
“Classic Sapnap,” Karl mumbles with a smile. “I think your pick is the perfect fit.” He decides, glancing from the window to the plans, stopping when he catches a blur of movement from just outside the house. “Have you seen h-“
“Karlllll? Karl are you up there?” Sapnaps voice interrupts him, followed by the sound of two separate footfalls across the oak stairs.
“Yeah I’m up here!” He calls back, ear straining to hear bits of conversation that get louder as the steps approach.
“-Don’t think this is a good idea.”
“-It’ll be fine!”
Karl waits, leaning against the table, nervously drumming his fingers against it as his body shifts into a more contained form. It’s only a few seconds before he sees Sapnap’s familiar head of hair reach the top of the stairs.
“Karl! There you are!” Sapnap says when he spots him, smiling wide and overexcited, the usual way that reminds Karl of a puppy. Karl waves, his own small smile on his lips when Sapnap all but swallows him into his arms. “I've been looking everywhere for you! Look who I found!” Sapnap says, pulling away slightly. Karl looks up at him confused, until a noise of sputtering disagreement reaches him.
“I should go,” the familiar voice says, Sapnap turns completely away from Karl, leaving only faint traces of his heat behind.
“No it’s okay!” Sapnap reassures in a tone Karl’s only heard reserved for him, to the form still hidden behind him. “Karl, look! It’s Quackity!”
Quackity. His mind jolts, distantly he can feel his face swirling and painting itself distracting shades of red as shock and fear turns to anger in his stomach.
“Oh,” He says as smoothly and quietly as he can manage with all the emotions held behind his teeth. “Quackity.” The name feels like stinging nettle in his mouth. Quackity flinches at the tone, it makes something simmer in Karl’s gut.
Quackity looks different, still it’s undeniable that it’s Quackity. The Quackity that laughed and smiled as he took Karl’s life. There’s a new fading scar across his face, one that he seems to try and hide by stepping slightly into the unfinished shade of the house. His hands are rough and bitten, clothes ruffled and dirty along with wings that aren’t nearly as bright and golden as Karl remembers. But it’s Quackity, who’s looking at Karl like he’s a crack on a window that’s stretching on and on.
Anticipating and afraid.
More than a beat of silence passes, stretches on enough for Foolish to cough and fling his trident through the openings in the wall and into the coming storm. Karl only scowls slightly, extending a hand that he refuses to let tremble toward Sapnap, who takes it looking confused.
Pain flashes across Quackity’s eyes as their hands meet, fast enough Karl isn’t sure if he'd imagined it or not.
“Karl? What’s going on? Aren't you excited!? It’s Quackity!” Sapnap says, tone fluctuating in a sweet tone as the sharp syllables of Quackity’s name slip out of his mouth. It stings, it makes his stomach twist, he doesn’t understand. How could he say his name with the same sugary tone he says Karl’s?
“It sure is,” Karl strains and falters when Sapnap’s face falls more and more. “Hey Quackity.” He offers, clinging tightly to Sapnap’s fingers. Quackity’s eyes glance from Karl to Sapnap, a brief moment of all around confusion passes.
“Uh, Hey?” Quackity repeats, slow, still just as cautious. “That’s…? All?” He adds and Karl frowns, shakes slightly from the emotions tumbling inside him.
“Why are you here?” He says and Sapnap’s eyes widen at his tone, Quackity looks as if he’s been slapped, Karl feels it in his own skin when Sapnap abruptly rips himself away from Karl again, turning to stand in front of Quackity. Shielding him.
“Okay what is happening?” Sapnap starts, Karl notices the flinch Quackity fails to hide at the rise in volume. “Why are you being like this? We should be celebrating!”
“Sap I really should go-“
“Celebrating-?!”
They cut each other off, Karl glares heatedly, walks on shaky legs to jab a finger at Sapnap’s chest, phantom hurt and betrayal clawing at his ankles.
“Celebrating what exactly?! He killed me ! And you brought him here!” Karl shouts, breathless and pained. Sapnap’s eyes only widen more, mouth open in confusion, but where Sapnap’s words seem to fail him, Quackity fills the space.
“Excuse me?!” He starts, voice a practiced tone of authority, “What the actual fuck are you talking about? I never did that! I would never do that Karl. If you don’t want me here fine! But to lie about something like that?!” Quackity’s voice drips with a hurt so genuine it shocks Karl, makes him take a singular step back as the sudden rush to want to fix whatever is making Quackity feel like that bursts to the front of his chest. He stamps it down as fast as it comes, beating it back with vivid bloody and painful memories of his last moments.
“Lie?? Why would I lie? Are you just here to do it again? Is this all just some sick joke to you?!” Karl yells, refusing to back down, ignoring the soft pleas coming from Sapnap between them.
“I didn’t come here for this bullshit. I didn’t wanna come here at all for your information Karl! ” Quackity states, wings trembling slightly. Outside thunder snaps and lightning cracks, the heavy sound of rain follows after. “Is this what you wanted?” Quackity turns to Sapnap, who looks stung and confused, as if someone had dumped a bucket of water on his hot head. “Did you just wanna flaunt how well you’re doing without me? How Karl feels about me now?”
Sapnap shakes his head, raises his hands in an aborted manner to reach towards Quackity, who backs further away from them.
“Now?” Karl scoffs, crosses his arms and shakes his head lightly. “What are you talking about? It’s always been like this between me and you .” He spits out and the amount of venom his voice is laced with surprises everyone in the room.
Quackity blinks, angry red rimmed eyes at him, takes a few steps closer, enough for Sapnap to get in between for fear of whatever altercation might come. Karl stands proudly, open and waiting, prepared for the sharp finger thay jabs itself against his chest once Quackity starts speaking. “I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, but I’m over you acting like our history didn’t exist!”
“What history?!” Karl exclaims, winded and overwhelmed, the words seem to hit both of the men at the same time, leaving Karl to stare at the reactions with mixed feelings of shame and confusion. “What? You killing me? Yeah that’s some history!” Karl says around humorless laughter. He raises his hands to press against his eyes, suddenly exhausted at the sudden interaction.
“What… History?” Quackity says quietly while Sapnap bustles up completely into Karl’s space.
“Karl baby , what are you talking about? This isn’t funny anymore,” Sapnap says lowly, worried and frustrated. His eyes are so soft as they stare up at Karl, it makes his stomach turn and skin shiver at the thought that he has upset Sapnap. Karl only shakes his head, tapped out of energy and fight, head swimming with too many moments and things that he couldn’t even begin to set straight.
“I’m going to my room,” Karl mumbles pushing past Sapnap and Quackity, who presses against the wall seeming to ensure their skin not brushing at all. “Sapnap can show you the way out.” He says, slamming the door of the house for good measure and for dramatics. It doesn’t make him feel any better as the doorknob vibrates in his hand from the force.
He can hear the muffled sounds of Sapnap and Quackity talking, he fights the urge to press an ear to the door and listen. Instead he does what he says, walks mindlessly into his house, ignoring the heated anger that rises whenever he sees any of Sapnap’s things strewn about. Karl didnt wanna have to think about him then.
His room is bare, a reminder that he doesn’t sleep alone, instead lays his head down in Sapnap’s much bigger bed every single night. He hasn’t spent much time in his own room. It’s a silent comfort in the moment, moving to lay on the solitary bed in the room, listening to the splatter of rain on the window.
Karl can still hear the shouts of arguing travelling along thunder and rain, it drenches his heart heavy in a pain he doesn’t understand. He reaches a hand out to the dim room, feels the universe shift around his palm as he asks.
“Anywhere but here.”
It’s not how time travelling works really, he very rarely has a say in it when it happens but he hopes, whatever entity or deity or grand power that throws him from time to time will take mercy on him in that moment.
“Please,” he whispers, as the light around his eyes go darker, enough to no longer be able to see the hand in front of him. Encased in a solid like night, Karl feels the world around him shifting, silent as if not to disturb his fragile state.
He hadn’t realized his eyes were closed until he opened them. There’s sunlight creeping through the curtainless windows, Karl’s back is stiff from how he fell asleep.
He groans slightly as he stretches. He doesn’t remember going to sleep, in fact he doesn’t recognize the room he’s in at all. He huffs slightly at the realization, did he have too much to drink? Karl laughs at that, his otherworldly body is able to outdrink most people under the sun. So no, not a hangover. He shrugs his shoulders, hobbling around the house that looks well lived in, with cute knick knacks and clothes strewn about here and there.
He’s drawn to the walls of the house with a blurry adoration growing inside him, it feels misplaced in a way. He doesn’t know these walls, yet why does he feel so at home.
Outside there’s ivy growing up the side of the quaint home, Karl marvels at the sight of mushrooms and colorful flowers nearly every place he looks. It’s beautiful, he thinks. Charmed by the pretty sights that he can’t help but feel attached too. He wanders around, off the cobble paths and along flowerbed bordered ones, awed by the statues and fountains and treehouses he finds.
He takes a break at one of the fountains, a main one he figures. It’s bigger than all the rest, right in the middle of the path. He watches with delight, the fish swim around in the clear water, swimming up to him as if to say hi. Karl giggles as his fingers dance just lightly above the water, watching the fish follow his movements back and forth.
Karl loses track of time there enough for the sun to start going down and lanterns to start flickering on. It casts everything a hazy glow of orange, the soft heat of their collective fire feels familiar on his skin, the feeling makes him smile.
“Karl?” He’s brought out of his musings by a voice and footsteps, he turns towards it. He smiles brightly at the man who is staring at him as if Karl swallowed a star in front of him, it makes Karl laugh a bit.
“Oh is my form all weird? Sorry I’m not used to managing it yet,” he mumbles, feeling the muscles and skin of his body shift to something more human , less otherworldly . He looks the man up and down, eyes settling on the horns protruding around his forehead and gasping in awe. “That’s cool! I want!” Karl says, peering over the waters edge towards his reflection, smiling more when the horns shift on his head, colorful like the rest of him. “Tada!” He exclaims and the man seems to find it hard to breathe.
“Karl,” the man says slowly, pretty green eyes wide as he looks at him. Karl smiles, takes in the rest of the man's handsome features, strong jaw and nose and full plush lips, small fading scars littered among fair skin. He’s pretty, Karl concludes, very pretty,
Karl hums, nods his head turning completely towards the man, looking up at him from where he’s sitting, if he bats his eyelashes a bit at the man, well who can really blame him. “That’s me handsome, bit unfair i don’t know your name though but that seems easily fixed, no?” He says, giddy as the man’s sculpted eyebrows furrow and his head shakes.
“Okay Karl,” he breathes a steadying breath, lowering himself to crouch slightly in front of Karl. Karl thinks he’s even more handsome up close, but that handsome face is looking at him with growing distraught and Karl wants to do everything in his power to make it stop. “You need to tell me what’s going on here.” The man states and Karl draws a blank, multiple blanks.
He giggles nervously, tugs at his fingers and blinks to try and retrace any steps. But besides the walk he took today he can’t remember much of anything. Karl shakes his head slightly, at the growing panic and fear that starts to settle in his stomach.
“Karl,” The man prompts and Karl can only look at him. Mouth agape with nothing to say.
“I-“ he tries anyways, because even if he can’t remember the man in front of him he knows he’s important to Karl, he can feel it in his skin. “I don’t know.” He decides to go with the truth not even having the thought to try lying. “I don’t know, I woke up. I don’t know where I am, I think I’m new here but you know me, no? You know my name.” Karl says and by the time he finishes his eyes are watery and words heavy with an emotion Karl can’t even begin to name. “You know me, right?” He whispers, holding back tears that spill into the shoulder of the mans shirt when he pulls Karl into a blazing embrace.
“You’re so warm,” he mumbles into the fabric and smiles something slightly delirious when the man laughs back. It’s a good laugh, it feels soft against his neck.
“Yeah you’ve said that before,” The man says, pulling away just enough to look Karl in the eyes, his eyes are teary too, but he smiles at Karl anyways and it’s genuine, kind and lovely. He pulls Karl slightly to plant a kiss against his forehead that turns Karl all shades of pink. “Okay baby listen to me,” The man starts and Karl would walk miles into hell if he told him too while calling him sweet names. “I do know you, very well. I’m Sapnap, we’re engaged-“
“We’re fiances?” Karl’s gasps clutching onto Sapnap’s shirt. Sapnap laughs somewhat breathless. “No way. Me and You?!”
Sapnap nods, he seems to ponder something before talking again. “Me, you and our other fiancé.” He says quietly, almost worried. Karl only gapes some more.
“Three of us?” He says in wonder and Sapnap breathes a sigh of relief. “Are they pretty like you?” Karl asks and Sapnap blushes before nodding.
“Prettier I think,” He answers shyly and Karl smiles wide.
“Wow, I'm real lucky.”
“We both are starlight,” Sapnap says before continuing, moving to hold Karl’s hands in his own. Karl notices the rings adorning Sapnap’s fingers, and notices sadly the lack of rings on his own. “You’ve been gone for a couple days darling, and now you’re back and can’t even remember a whole lot. Any ideas why?”
Karl frowns slightly, squeezing Sapnap’s hands in his grip. “Big questions to ask the apparent amnesiac.”
“Hey I’m trying my best, not a lot to work with here,” Sapnap says around a chuckle and Karl joins in.
The suns gone down fully, Sapnap glows slightly under the lantern light, it reflects orange and yellow along the water. He looks around at the places he’d walked just hours before and wonders how he could’ve forgotten something so magical. In the distance a clock strikes, bells tolling to signal the falling night. Karl feels the strikes in his bones, each ticking pass of the seconds in the fibers of his being, he understands suddenly for just a fraction of a moment.
He reaches a trembling hand to Sapnaps cheek, as hazy memories cloud and fracture in his mind, he smiles brokenly at the eyes that greet him.
“I don’t have a lot of time Sap,” Karl says, bringing a finger to trace Sapnap’s lips as he opens them to ask why. “I don’t know how much I’ll remember when I see you next. I don’t know who I’ll be to you, but I love you,” he wills the words out around the knot in his throat, smiling through the well of tears in his eyes.
“I love you, I’ll always love you. No matter what, no matter the time.” The edges of his vision gray, time runs and runs, he can feel it tugging at his skin. “Tell him too, tell him I’m sorry. I’ll find you both I promise, I’ll come back to you both.” He states, steady despite the way his heart races, despite how the world twists and shifts around him.
He’s sure Sapnap shouts, sure its question filled and wondering, sure he left him fumbling for nothing less than a memory in the dark. When the world stops moving beneath his feet, and his eyes open again, the wind blows, stinging with city smoke and fog.
Karl stares at the tall oak door next to him, knocks three times and waits for the familiar blue eyes that will greet him, squinting and annoyed. He takes a moment to breathe, to piece together the whirlwind couple of days he’s had, days in between worlds and times and places. He can remember it all in that moment, vividly and fluid, memories flooding to amount to a singular thought.
One that when dark almond eyes greet him instead of blue he smiles, because he knows those eyes, would know them anywhere, anytime.
Quackity, his heart beats his name, fills his bloodstream with it, makes him dizzy with a want that’s near primal.
Q’s eyes crinkle at the sides to show he’s smiling, Karl smiles back, and when Q holds him in his arms, out of the frozen night air and into the HQ main floor Karl holds on tighter, clinging onto the memories of his fiance .
If Karl is anything along with being memory loss prone, it’s determined , a time traveller and one hell of a historian.
I’m coming back home, he thinks, professes it to whatever force drags him through time and space. I’m coming back home and bringing him back with me.
In Kinoko, shrouded in night, the sentiment echoes itself as Sapnap reads along scrawled words and documents of Karl’s library. It drifts over the separating river, on desert winds to wrap around the rings hanging around Quackity’s neck, a promise.
It’s only a matter of time.