Disclaimer: As far as I'm aware I'm still not Andrew Hussie. Which means, nope, none of this is mine.
"Brooding again, Eridan?" a voice asked. It was a voice he had grown used to hearing, a voice that most people cringed at but he personally found furiously invigorating. His fingers tightened in his stripped pants, not even bothering to answer and face her, not saying a word in return, which was odd for him. He always fought for the last word.
"Aw, come on, Eridan, surely it's not thaaaaaaaat bad."
"...What would you know about this, landdweller?"
She gave a bitter laugh, one that pierced the air. He could feel her wings fluttering as she approached, and suddenly she was in front of him, face uncomfortably close to his. She was grinning, her orange hood pulled up, strange eyes and lips ringed and colored with cerulean.
"I'm hated, too."
He didn't get a chance to think about those three words before she flew back, boots landing with clacks on the gray ground in front of him. Her feet were spread, and he didn't dare look up to her. Looking up meant not looking down, and he would never not be looked up to.
It was this thought that spurred him to his feet. His fingers flexed and clenched as he watched her, and he wanted, more than anything, to make her bow. But she had the wings and the luck, and he just knew she would never bow to his will. She would always fly one step higher, roll the di one more time, always cause his plans to come crumbling down before he ever got the chance to fix them.
Sure enough her fanged grin was still in place, her hands moving from her hips to cross over her chest, leaning her weight on one leg. He could almost see her flipping her hair, if it wasn't for the fact that it was all tucked in behind that ridiculous orange hood.
"Seeeeeeee, Eridan? You can stand up under the pressure. You're strong enough."
"I don't want your compliments." His voice was cracking, feeling the furious and desperate rage fittle through his body, feeling the purple tears pricking at his eyes, could feel every hopeless, lost, angry wail bubble in his throat.
But her grin grew, and she stepped closer to him, her wings fluttering. They gave off a bit of that stupid special stardust she, Gamzee, and Tavros were such giant fans of. He hated it. He hated her. He hated them. He hated it all.
"Being by yourself doesn't help the loneliness."
He didn't answer her, just continued watching her as she got closer, and soon enough she was close to him again. Except this time her hands were on his shoulders, and he was actually taller than her so she had to lift herself off the ground to meet his gaze evenly, which angered him even more that she'd do that.
He grabbed at her hands and ripped them off of him, and she flew back into the air with another laugh. He cursed at her, felt the beginnings of his tears flow over and down his cheeks. "You what I think, Eridan?" she asked, facing him again. "I think you never really wanted to kill all of us landdwellers. I think you just wanted attention."
His hand reached up to pull at his hair, one to his scarf to pull on that, and he dropped to his knees and shrieked. When he was finished, he looked up at her, actually looked up for once in his life to a landdweller - the only troll he'd ever looked up to had been Feferi - and with his lips trembling, he asked, "Why are you doing this to me?"
He realized with a shock that she was frowning. She bent over to once again meet his eyes evenly, her lips pursed around her fangs. She looked into his eyes for a good moment, and his gaze was inexplicably drawn to her seven pupils, watching them flicker as they moved. With a grand sigh she pulled back and turned.
She spun on her heel, and continued walking backwards, frown never leaving her face until she reached the edge of the rooftop on the building on the meteor. She perched precariously on the ends of the building, the grin back in place.
He knew she wouldn't fall. She would always catch herself, always march herself back to the top, sparing no expense or troll. She had certainly proven that with Tavros, and Aradia, and Terezi. And he could feel she was about to prove it with him.
"Because only the stroooooooong survive."
With that, she tossed herself over the side of the building. He knew she wasn't dead and yet he still found the need to watch her flit through the air and to another place, to watch the troll who had just completely thrown his perspective into the wind.
He wiped away the purple tears from his eyes, sniffed once, and found himself wishing to prove to more than just her that he was stronger than anyone had ever given him credit for.
AN: I was itching to write something and I've had Eridan and Vriska inside my head for a while. So this happened. Aaaaaaaand I like it. What're you gonna do?
(Okay I really like their dynamic and I'm just sayin' - I could jump on board with this ship. But I ship fifty million other things when it comes to Homstuck so I'm not sure that's saying much.)
Enjoy~