First Decree (Homestuck)
Author: Ashynarr
Summary: So what if she was dead? That didn't mean she couldn't lead an army or a people, and that didn't mean she had to give up on living just yet.
Disclaimer: Homestuck's not mine.
Warning: Possibly to be continued, slightly differs from Act 7, but still spoilery
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Meenah grit her teeth as she pushed herself back to her feet, looking up at the green monstrosity that had caused so much destruction across Paradox Space. He seemed untouchable, able to take on and take out anything the ghost army could dish at him. Heck, the only reason she hadn't been obliterated like a good third of them at this point was sheer luck and tenacity, and she knew she couldn't count on that to last forever.
And where the hell was Vriska with the weapon? Shouldn't she have deployed it by now? Ah wait, there she was, looking somewhat roughed up but pleased with herself.
Davepeta landed softly to her left, bruised and ruffled all around, though still raring to have a go at Lord English. "It's not gonna do what she thinks it will."
Wait, what? "Wait, what?"
"The weapon. It's not…" The square sprite frowned, focused on the box. "It's not really a weapon, you know? It's a door, and she's gonna be opening it again."
"And how do you know that?" Meenah asked, frowning.
"Because I'm in there too. Sort of. It's hard to explain," The sprite shrugged. "But what you do need to know is that that door will stay open once we're out, but only until the breach reaches here."
As if they'd timed it to the second, the slowly shrinking green sun above and the cracks in the heavens met, and there was darkness and blinding white all at once. Nearby, the blind Sollux's head snapped up, as if the object were radiating his aspect at an obscene rate.
Before them, Vriska had opened the box, the weapon rising up out of it and growing, until it was almost the size of…
"Is that the victory doorway?" She asked, recognizing the general shape even if her session's had been twelve pieces, and also glitched to the point of being unsalvageable.
"Like I said, it's a door, but it'll get destroyed with everything else once that white void hits us."
Meenah, however, was no longer focused on the sprite, instead noting something unusual sneaking her way up behind Vriska. It was an older troll, long horns instantly putting a name to the unnaturally pretty face - Condesce. Her living alternate self.
And she was about to stab that oblivious cerulean in the back while she was gloating at Lord English, the weapon hanging overhead while it did whatever the hell it was doing to power itself up and do its job. She looked down to her 2x3dent, looked back up at the adult, and didn't even stop to consider the fact that the other was still stuck between life and death for a very good reason.
More than a sweep of trying to spear that frustrating elusive blue human steadied her aim and her arm, and when she let loose, she already knew she'd hit the mark before the prongs had even gone through her spine. The Condesce screamed and fell to her knee, her own trident gripped tightly in her hand, and Meenah knew she had mere seconds until the adult got back to her feet and paid her back for the injury.
Luckily, she'd already been sprinting after her weapon, grabbing the handle half a second after the woman had fallen and putting everything into pulling enough life to keep her out of the fight -
Only to shudder as everything came, a brief memory of Meulin once explaining that the aspect one was most vulnerable to was your own crossing her mind even as she felt her bloodpusher start pumping and her body go cold and warm. The Condesce, already weakened by whatever had sent her to the dream bubbles, slowly collapsed to the ground and stopped moving, while Meenah brimmed with more Life than she'd even known throughout her entire session.
She didn't know what to do with it, her hands shaking around their grip on her reclaimed trident with the urge to use it somehow. She could use it as one large strike against English, possibly, not even he could handle this much power, could he?
A warm hand rested on her shoulder, and she glanced up to see Egbert with a grin. Wait, when had he gotten there? Oh, the door was open, like Davepeta had said, and the other three humans he was friends with were already taking on English alongside Vriska. "What do you want?"
"Me and the others are already in the new universe - well, the main versions of us, anyways. Rose said you helped a lot with that, by killing off the Condesce before Lord English's magic stuff could bring her back to life. She also said to tell you that you have two options - you can get in one big strike on that guy that'll end the fight here and now, or you can use all your lifey magic to bring everyone here back once and let them through the door to the new universe, but it's up to you to decide."
On one hand, she'd be the hero, taking out the monster that had thwarted so many and ruined everything. She'd even have enough time, perhaps, to run for that door, as she was alive now and could pass through to whatever waited and leaving the ghosts to die as irrelevant pieces to her glory.
Or, she could have her empire, the one she'd run from as a wriggler and the one she'd destroyed as the Condesce. She'd only just tasted the crown, and ruling over the living seemed a lot more appealing than ruling over the dead.
Well, it wasn't even really a question when put like that, was it?
She turned to her army, who had fallen back to watch the fight, the ever approaching End, or herself, and with a wave of her trident threw out almost everything she'd just stolen, a wash of blue-green that seemed to bring forth a thousand dim lights of Life as all the ghosts gained just enough to pass through the doorway.
"C'mon, you codsuckers! Those of you not interested in dying today betta get yo asses through that door, ya hear me?"
Really, these suckers would be useless without her, so it was better she got them in order before they did something stupid like sat around until they died of their own helplessness. They'd all be so thankful later on that they'd even make her a few statues in her honor without having to tell them to do so!
(And maybe she'd have to thank that rust-blooded pixie for getting them moving and buying them enough time to all get through. Eh, she'd think of something eventually.)
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AN: Because all of us have our own ideas for how things went down, and I decided this was how I wanted my ending to go down. Meenah is one of my faves by far, and she deserves the chance to prove to be awesome without anyone hogging the spotlight.
I might do more things along this line, with the other dead or alive characters getting through to the new world maybe perhaps? Depends on interest and mood I suppose.