*hides behind shield* I'm sure I don't need this thing, but this is my first story in a new fandom, so a couple precautions can't hurt. As I said, this is my first fanfic here, though I have done a bit of reading. With any luck, I'll have support for this crazy AU idea of mine. Yes, this is an AU, though it doesn't fall into a particular category like Humanstuck or Highschoolstuck. The only thing I tweaked was the concept of dream bubbles, and only for one specific character: Vriska. Basically, instead of Vriska (who, for the purposes of now and this fanfic, we will refer to as Alpha Vriska, sort of like Alpha Dave) dying when Terezi stabbed her, her subconscious began to exist in the same plane as the dream bubbles but not within the dream bubbles themselves. This means that she, like all the trolls who are still alive, can visit dream bubbles but has no control of which ones she visits. Unlike the trolls who are still alive, she cannot exist outside of them, which means Alpha Vriska is constantly jumping from dream bubble and become Beta Vriska (the dead Vriskas who exist within the dream bubbles) and then leaving. This would make her like a traveling Beta Vriska, except that Alpha Vriska has all the memories of her real life self, which means that she's consciously aware of all the mistakes that she has made. That being said, that happens to be what this entire fanfic is about, although it may not seem this way in this first chapter. I apologize for that. With any luck, this will get better and more interesting later on. I just sort of needed to establish a basis for the plot, which means just please try to endure my crappy second-person writing so that you understand what's happening next chapter. Please enjoy and leave a review. A nice one, preferably.
Chapter 1- Vriska: Receive mission.
You have another massive headache. Of all the places to be banished for your atrocious crimes, why had Fate chosen to send you to a place without aspirin? You decide that the headache is simply because of the heat and that you do not need the human miracle known as aspirin; you just need some water. Unfortunately, simply needing something does not make Fate any more inclined to send you to a dream bubble with water in it; you had found that out long ago. Knowing that there's nothing you can do to control what goes on around you does not make you any less angry about it, though. You're still stuck in the damn desert dream bubble, and you're still pretty damn upset about it.
You continue walking through the deserted desert. The sun bears down on you like a giant golden eye and briefly reminds you of your god tier outfit, which you haven't worn in perigees. Or maybe it's been sweeps; you lost grasp on the passage of time long ago. Time doesn't matter when you have longer than forever to travel between dream bubbles, though.
This particular dream bubble bothers you very much. You haven't met any of your dead comrades here yet, or anyone, for that matter. The silence is very unnerving; dream bubbles are usually full of lucky douches who get many shots at reliving their lives. You've seen trolls and humans alike who got to die peacefully but live on as figments within the dream bubbles. They have the luxury of peace, which is something that you haven't had for awhile. You envy the fact that they get to continuing living without the mistakes of their real selves. Your mistakes have followed you here, and they refuse to leave, no matter how many times you've tried to get rid of them.
You're thoughts are interrupted as you here footsteps. You look around, but the desert remains as still and undisturbed as ever. You can see you trail of footsteps stretching across the span of golden sand. If there actually was someone else here, it would be easy for them to follow you.
"Vriska!"
You turn around again, and this time, you find yourself face to face with another troll. It is not one of your friends; you have never seen this troll before. She has blue eyeliner that surrounds her dead white eyes, blue lipstick, a blue dress with a white Scorpio sign, a black belt, and a white necklace that has Karkat's symbol on it. She also has horns exactly like yours…
"Thank troll Jegus I finally caught up with you!" she exclaims.
You grimace; you really don't want to deal with this troll. "I don't know who you are, but I'm not your Vriska, so leave me alone."
If the troll still had pupils, you imagine she'd be rolling her eyes. "I know you're not the Vriska from this dream bubble."
You frown. This troll has successfully piqued your interests. "You do?"
"Yes. Of coooooooourse you aren't!" the troll insists. "You're Alpha Vriska."
You aren't quite sure what the 'alpha' part means, but if she's referring to the fact that you have all the memories of your real self, then yes, you are Alpha Vriska. You are still not sure what this troll wants, though, or who she is. She is obviously familiar with you.
"And who are you?" you demand.
"I am Aranea," she explains. "I've come here to give you a chance to be free."
You arch an eyebrow quizzically. "What do you mean? This sounds highly suspicious."
"Do you ever get tired of being Alpha Vriska?" Aranea asks.
"I get tired of not being able to just die and move on," you admit. You're not sure why you're telling this random girl, but you'll never see her again after you leave this dream bubble, so it doesn't matter anyway.
"What if you could move on?"
You laugh bitterly. "Sorry, Deadfangs, but I've already tried suicide. It doesn't work. I'm not moving on any time soon."
"Well what if you could?" Aranea repeats. You can hear a growing frustration in her voice.
"That would be awesome," you respond. "But I can't. You're magic dead powers can't change Fate."
"There's something that can, though," Aranea insists.
You don't reply at first. You're head is whirling through different possibilities. What if you could finally move on? What if she's just pulling your robotic arm, though? She could be tricking you; she could just be getting your hopes up for nothing. But what if she's not? Then you could have an actual chance to move on from this eternal hellhole.
"And what is this powerful thing that can change Fate?" you ask.
"It's a task," Aranea explains. "A task that, if fulfilled, will allow Alpha Vriska to finally die. You will be able to move on, and any trace of Vriska will be only in dream bubbles."
It is a fairly tempting deal. "And what is this task?"
You can see a slight smirk forming on Aranea's blue lips. "How many of your original troll friends were left when you died?"
You frown. These were not statistics you often thought about, mostly because they are severely depressing to think about. "Karkat, Kanaya, Terezi, Sollux, and Gamzee." Only five. The revelation makes your heart hurt.
"How many of those deaths were your fault?" Aranea asks.
"Just Tavros and Aradia!" you exclaimed indignantly. "And it wasn't even my fault for Aradia's death this time around! She chose to explode herself! Is that why I'm here? Because I killed a couple people?"
"You also blinded Terezi," Aranea reminds you.
You are about to protest that you had had a good reason for blinding Terezi, but you realize that you're getting off topic. You want to find out what this damn task is so you can get it done and finally be rid of this hellhole.
"What does this even have to do with anything?" you demand.
"It has to do with your task," Aranea answers.
"Which is?" you ask. You are becoming severely vexed by these riddles.
"You have to create the perfect session," she explains. "There are ample dream bubbles in here where you have not yet made your biggest mistakes, and maybe if you change them, then everything will go right when you play the game."
"What difference would it make?" you demand. "How will my dream bubble affect the real world?"
Aranea's smirk widens. "This is your real world now, and it always will be unless you can fix your mistakes."
You keep staring at her. How can she say that like it's that simple? It will take forever to fix every single mistake you ever made! It may take even longer to find a dream bubble that actually takes place before your session. You wonder: is it really worth it? Would it be easier just to accept your punishment and live forever, traveling from dream bubble to dream bubble?
"This would be easier, you know."
You blink at Aranea, who is staring at you with her white dead eyes. Did she just read your mind?
"You're a very easy troll to read, Vriska," Aranea explains. "Either that, or I'm just really good at it." She shrugs offhandedly. "Not like it matters. This will be our only meeting. I need to know whether you accept your task or not."
You hesitate once more. "Yes. I do accept this task," you finally say.
The smirk on Aranea's face transforms into a genuine smile. As you try to decipher exactly what that smile means, her image begins to blur along with the desert surrounding you. As the dream bubble continues to blur and fade out of existence, you can't help but wonder if you have committed the rest of your life (which, simply put, is forever) to doing an impossible task.