Sollux knew better than to chase after him right away, so he stayed and conversed with Aradia and, although rather awkwardly, Equius.
Eridan's rage-filled screaming in the distance caught his attention and he dashed in the direction it sounded from. "Eridan?" he called.
"Oh, look, your knight in shining armor is here to save you. You never could fight for yourself, Ampora."
"Shut your fuckin' mouth!" Sollux heard someone being shoved hard. "I'll have you know I could fight you an' win anytime, anywhere!"
"Ed, no!" Sollux cried, bursting through the brush and staring first at him, then at the figure across from him.
"You?" Vriska snorted. "It's you of all people that would come to rescue this raving douchebag?"
"Hemospectrum or no hemospectrum, I'm still worlds better than you'll ever be, Serket," Eridan growled, desperately wishing he had his gun on him. He'd end this miserable woman's existence right here. "There are bein's who shouldn't be permitted to breathe."
"Who made you the authority on that sort of thing?"
Sollux watched as the two drew ever closer, not sensing any black passion between them, just pure platonic rage.
"You wouldn't dare hit a lady."
"I see no lady here, just a bitch who don't know when to keep her trap shut." With that, Eridan grabbed her collar and dragged her up to eye level. She could smell the mead on his breath and smirked.
"You're drunk."
"I'm sober enough to think straight, an' you sure as hell wouldn't like what I'm thinkin' o'. We settle this. Now." He threw her to the ground and stormed for a short distance before reaching his ship. Sollux tagged along, feeling more powerless by the minute. Suddenly, Eridan turned, grabbing Sollux's shoulders and kissing him hard. "Stay here, Sol. Only one o' us is comin' back from this in one piece, an I'm makin' sure it'll be me."
Sollux swallowed hard, unable to speak, unable to breathe.
"Stay at my place." He handed Sollux the keys just as Vriska appeared, then climbed aboard his ship and fastened a cape on with a cold, menacing glare that was made even more frightening by the increasing darkness and lack of the glasses he had never truly needed.
"Board yer ship, wench, an' prepare for a battle th' likes o' which this world has never seen!"
Sollux glanced up from the keys in his hand in surprise. Eridan's accent had become fully apparent at last. The darkness made him look like nothing more than a silhouette and the wind caused his cape to whip behind him. Seeing him at the helm in all of his glory made Sollux's heart pound. He had to wonder why Eridan wasn't fighting Vriska on land, though.
"Hoist the anchor, imbeciles," he heard her bark, probably to illegal Carapacian servants.
"Give her hell, baby," he muttered under his breath as the ships departed, holding Eridan's keys tightly in his hand. "Give her hell."
—-
Eridan called out the small Carapacian crew that had been living on his ship.
"Captain?" One of them gaped at him in disbelief.
"No time, man th' helm! You!" He pointed to a second crew member. "Get in th' crow's nest, alert me the moment Serket's crew even looks about t' strike." He held Ahab's Crosshairs at his hip. "We'll be ready."
"Keep an eye on that son of a bitch!" Vriska screamed at the servants on her ship. "Attack when he's got his guard down!"
This ex-kismesis of mine ain't as spineless as he used to be.
Vriska was ready to leap onto Eridan's ship and ambush him with not only a blade, but her dice if the need arose. As her ship drew near enough and she jumped, she was met with Eridan's pointy-toothed smirk. "Fuck!" She drew the blade after landing on the deck, swinging at him. He blocked the blows this the harpoon end of his rifle, the clashing of their weapons ringing into the night.
"Just like old times, eh, Ampora?"
"Not even close, ya psycho." He leapt back and fired his rifle, hitting Vriska in the arm not holding the sword. She swung furiously at him, slicing his gills on one side and causing him to cry out in pain. Violet blood spilled onto the wooden deck. "Shit," he hissed. He fired shots madly at her, the fighting continuing well into the night and the deck of Eridan's ship becoming a sea of cerulean and violet. As the red dawn began to break, Eridan limped to where Vriska laid in a pool of blood. He snatched her blade and used it to lift her shirt so that her stomach was visible; then he pressed the blade to her skin, carving his sign into it and raising loud cries of pain from her. "Don't dare forget who conquered whom on this night," he panted, blood seeping from the various wounds on his body. "Don't forget that Eridan Ampora was the one who carved these waves." He seized the Fluorite Octet, and picked up her body, tossing it to one of her slaves on her own ship that had managed to stay nearby. Afterwards, he grimaced and tore off a piece of his cape, pressing it to the gaping wound on his side that was still pouring violet liquid and throbbing in time with his elevated heartbeat. "Get me a clean towel," he murmured to a member of his crew, "an' tell th' one at th' helm t' go back t' shore." Eridan leaned against the mainmast. "Sol's gonna be pissed."
—-
Sollux paced the shore late in the morning, watching for Eridan with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He had seen Vriska's ship come in hours ago, Prospitians carrying her body frantically to some destination. Sollux had caught a glimpse of a pair of waves carved into her abdomen, coagulated cerulean fluid making it ever prominent. But it wasn't the reassurance Sollux needed.
An hour or two passed before Sollux spotted a ship on the horizon, and when he saw that it was Eridan's, his heart leapt.
"Boys, we've had a good run together, but this is where we part ways," Sollux heard him saying as his ship reached close to the dock.
Something's not right with his voice…
"Captain, you're delirious!"
"Nay, I've never been more lucid. I can handle thin's from here."
"But what of future sea battles? Please, captain!"
"Yes," another voice piped up, "your ship will fall into disrepair with no one to take care of it!"
"You're too kind," Eridan replied, his civilized manner returning. "Alright. You can stay."
"Eridan!"
He glanced over the edge of his ship, his bloodied face lighting up as much as it could at the sight of Sollux.
"Sol," he uttered tiredly. The crew let down a ramp after dropping anchor, and Eridan limped to him.
Sollux's spirits sunk as he took in the sight of Eridan: his torn and tattered clothes, the blood he was coated in, his numerous wounds, and the violet-stained towel he was clutching to his side.
"Oh my god," he breathed.
"It's alright, Sol, ain't much more than a couple o' scratches."
"No, no, no, no, Eridan, let me see it."
He reluctantly peeled away the towel to reveal his slashed gills, swollen and sickly purple, weeping pus and fluttering aimlessly, functionless. "Crew said they might be infected."
"What 'might'? They are! Your fucking bravado got you fucked up yet again!" Sollux screamed. Eridan didn't even flinch, and Sollux's glare softened. "Let's get you cleaned up. I'm just thankful you're alive."
