Chapter 39

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Vriska washes all the blood off her face and chest in the galley's slop sink, breathing heavily as she collected herself mentally. When she felt the blood was mostly rinsed off of her skin, she finally got her top back on along with her coat. The girl lets out a low sigh and looks down to see her reflection in the water, held by the sink, only to see a devilish woman drenched in blood stared back at her with a wicked grin. Gritting her teeth, she smashed her fist into the water making it splash all over the place. Her eyes darted over to Eridan who only stared at her with so much concern leaving an uneasy feeling in the air. She growls shifting her eyes back down to her reflection only to see her normal self in it. Seeing the people she cared about look at her with such horrific expressions only reminded her that there was still this unbridled rage and false grasp on reality within her she couldn't control and it made her worry that they would begin to fear her and that fear would make them leave.

Vriska sighs, "… Eridan…"

"Yes…" he responds in with an underlying timid tone in his voice, but regardless of being scared of her or not he approached.

She swallows her concerns and looks over with a friendly smile to hide her true emotions. "How do I look? Not too fucked up right?" she giggles.

He chuckles some his body language shifting from tense discomfort to relaxation. "Wwell… You'vve seen better days I can say that much," he teased.
"Well it is hard to see better days when you only have one eye… At least the bleeding has stopped thanks to the swelling…" she laughs.

Her gaze then shifts over to Cronus, who was now unconscious, and their new ally who was trying his best to tend to him. She walks over to stare over the man's shoulder who was stitching up Cronus' wound with a rather neat stitch. As silly as it may seem, it is rather handy for a pirate or a sailor for that matter to have sewing in his or her skill set because you never knew when you'd need to patch up something or someone. Vriska had learned that skill on this very ship just so she was able to maintain some sort of dignity with wearable clothing.

"How is he?" she asks.

"… He's lost a lot of blood and I am not sure how well this will hold up… I don't got much to work with, girly…" he sighs. "I don't know if he will ma-"

"Don't say it…" Vriska growls cutting him off.

Vriska kneels down next to Cronus and touches his face only to feel his skin was clammy from a cold sweat. His color was fading from him, even the bright violet tint from the tips of his ear fins had completely vanished only leaving grey skin. There was a wheeze between each pained and labored breath, but at least there was that, he could still breath. Eridan knelt beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder in some attempt to console her. He could tell she wanted to cry, but the girl had to save every ounce of energy for her final battle. Her hand moves up to greet his as she let out a sigh before once again putting on a smile to look at Eridan.

"I think it will be better if you take him to the surface and find our friends…" she tells Eridan.

"I thought you wwanted me to go to the brig wwith you," he responds.

"Yeah, but a strange man carrying Cronus up to our friends might not be good idea now that I think about it. Things could get… messy…We can handle the freeing slaves can't we," she says turning to the ally.

Cronus starts to cough. "I'm sorry…" he wheezes.

"Shhh…" she says with a slight hum. "It's okay," she says with soft comforting tone.

"It's not okay…" he coughs spitting up blood. "I am… a burden… Leave me…"

Vriska just laughs. "Damn right you're a burden… But so am I… Burdens got to stick together…" she whispered.

The girl did her best to hide her true emotions from Cronus, but in reality, she did want to ball her eyes, well eye, out like Eridan had sensed. She rests her hand on his cheek and he just shifted his face into the warmth of her touch. Leaning in she placed a small kiss on the corner of his mouth, not caring that a bit of his blood got on her lips.

"You'll be fine…" she states before standing up along with Eridan. "Take him… I got to finish this…"

Eridan nods, "I knoww…"

"Thanks for everything… You've been a good friend… Just know I appreciate it," she says with a sad smile.

"You say that like you're not comin' back," he states a bit worried.

"… I just want you to know that… Because… This might be the last time I see you… I mean look at me… I don't know how much longer I can keep this stride going… This final fight might be the end…" She says in a morbid tone.

Eridan growls and slaps her across the face. "Shut up! You don't get to say that! Wwe all fought so hard for this! You don't get to prematurely say you might not make it! Look at wwhat you havve done so far… You don't get to get all gloom and doom. You are goin' to make it back and you wwill take those wwords back," he yells.

Vriska rubs the sting in her cheek before smiling at him wickedly. "Now you've done it you sonuva-" She uppercuts him in the stomach as hard as she could making him fly back on his rear.

Eridan coughs a bit from the pain, but that didn't stop him from having a grin cross his face. He grabbed his stomach some, knowing that hit she had delivered onto him was going to leave a nasty bruise. Vriska walked up to him and offered out her hand which he took without hesitation to help himself up off the floor.

"Thanks… I needed that," she says with a light chuckle.

Eridan reaches into his coat and hands over an industrial waterproof walkie talkie to her. "Take this. Cro and I carried a pair just in case wwe got separated, but since wwe are noww parting our wways for noww I think you should take it."

She grabs the walkie talkie from him and hooks it onto her belt next to her sword. "Thanks," she says with a smile.

The girl seemed mentally absent for a moment as if her mind had drifted off somewhere else, completely blocking out any of the world around her. She then, once again, gave a fanged smile with that somber energy emanating behind it. With a nod she went out into the hall parting ways from her friends, perhaps for the last time. Allie in tow, she descended to the bowels of the ship where she'd find the slaves being held in the brig.

Up on the deck of the ship, Dualscar continued his battle with his former lover, the two going at it with blades like back in the old days, except this time there was no sexual tension. There was just an unsettling hate hanging in the air, both of them loathing what the other had become. Mindfang formally a free-spirited hardheaded rebel was now a disturbed power corrupt monster, who only cared for the obliteration of anyone who dared to stand up to her. Then there was Dualscar, a selfish fearsome man who had been known for the control he had over the seas and his lack of mercy towards anyone who wronged him, had changed into a sympathetic nostalgic soul who just wanted to help the people he cared for rather than himself. The two both had a sort of devolution in their character, but it was for the better in the end. They had always been an unhealthy match to begin with, and their toxic relationship caused plenty of concern in Alternia. It was finally time it came to an end, and ironically enough it was Mindfang's now former biggest fan to spearhead it.

"Ye old fool. Ye have had plenty of times to strike me down 8ut ye missing them… or should I say avoiding them!" Mindfang hissed.

Dualscar didn't respond because he didn't want to let her know that she was in fact correct about that. After an incident involving a certain jade blood, the man didn't like the idea of killing women, even if they deserved it. He knew that this was the wrong mindset he should have currently, but like sticking a hand in fire for the first time, it was something he wouldn't do again. The thoughts rushing through his head brought him back to something an old friend had once said to him.

It was a time back when Vriska was still rather new in his life, a time that seemed so long ago after everything that has happen since then. It was around the time he felt like he was developing some sort of feelings towards the girl, those feelings yet to be romantic in any form, but feelings nonetheless. He was sitting in his quarters charting maps when that cheerful, and now yearned for, face strolled into his office. His first mate leaned against the captain's desk and let out a bit of a sigh. Despite this man's face never faltering from joyful disposition it was clear that something was on his mind.

"There is something I want to talk to you about?" the man says with a small huff.

"Wvhat is that?" Dualscar responds, his eyes not shifting from his maps, but there was care in his tone.

"I don't think Vriska should kill Mindfang," he says a frown crossing his face, which was rather uncommon.

"It is wvhat the girl wvants. Wvho am I keep Mindfang from gettin' killed?" the captain responds.

"I am not saying Mindfang shouldn't die, but Vriska shouldn't kill her…"

"Wvhat are ye gettin' at?"

"You need to be the one to kill Mindfang."

"Wvhy though? She wvants to kill her…"
"She just wants Mindfang dead," the man sighs. "Killing Mindfang will hurt you… but her doing it will destroy her… I know you know that. She's a little messed up… sure… But she's got a good heart…"

"She's killed before… I think she could handle it…"

"She's never killed someone she really cared about… Mindfang was her whole world… and despite her being betrayed by her there is still a piece of her that probably wishes it didn't have to be this way. "

Dualscar sighs. "Ye're most likely correct, but I don't think I havwe the wvill powver to do it."

"You need to… You need to if you don't want to crush her. You'll need to take matters into your own hands. You can bounce back… There's a chance she won't…" the first mate argued.

If Dualscar listened to the first mate and ended this whole ordeal when he had the many opportunities, he could have stopped so much heartache. His first mate would still be alive, he himself wouldn't have died, Vriska wouldn't have nearly killed herself, so many members of his crew would have been saved, but he was too stubborn to go against his own morals. However, he was coming to terms with the idea that some women deserve to die, and some women are perfectly capable of performing evil and despicable acts just like men. Screw his morals. This bitch needed to die.

"Look at ye! Pathetic!" Mindfang taunts. "Ye are goin' to get yerself killed again if ye keep puttin' others 8efore yerself! Carin' for others doesn't get ye anywhere!"

He growls, "Ye act like carin' for others is a bad thing! I wvould proudly givwe my life for Vwriska… or Eridan or Cronus! They are going to be my legacy wvhen I pass and they wvill carry on my legend. A soul is only truly gone if it is forgotten!" he shouts. "Wvhat do you havwe to say for yerself? Ye got one descendent that hates yer guts and wvants ye dead and one that ran off cod knowvs wvhere wvith the Empress' elder descendent! Ye don't fuckin' care either, but ye wvill regret that wvhen yer end comes. Ye wvill be fuckin' forgotten wvhen ye die and yer soul wvill rot. No one wvill speak of the name Mindfang and no one wvill care about carryin' on yer story! Yer the pathetic one for that thinkin' carin' for others isn't wvorth it!"

The Orphaner gives a hungry grin as he swung his blade towards the area where the mechanical arm joined her flesh. If he could get that damned overpowered contraption off her body, she would be literally disarmed, and this battle would be put to an end. There would be no way the woman could be able to take him on with a handicap such as that. Mindfang snarled at realization at his plan and jumped out of the way to dodge the finishing move, sheathing her sword in the process. The woman knew better than to take on the man now that he was seriously trying to kill her. This was no longer a silly game like she had expected it to be, figuring Dualscar would never actually have the gall to end her life. She knew of his feelings towards the murdering of the fairer sex, and figured he'd just hold her off until someone else, most likely that little twat descendent, tried to do the dirty work for him. Vriska, she assumed she could take on easily, but an aggressive Highblood who was a good two feet taller and had about a hundred or so more pounds of muscle was a different story.

Mindfang began to run towards one of her crew members that she had noticed hiding behind a knocked over barrel with a rather large rifle in his hands. He would peek out occasionally to fire at someone from the opposing team before ducking back down the barrel for safety. She figured if she could take the mighty Orphaner out with a bullet once, she could do it again. She lunged behind the barrel next to the crewman, who seemed surprised that his captain had joined him in hiding.

"C-captain.. " the man stammered.

"Ey lad. Imma need that," she chuckles while panting heavily.

"My-my gun?"

"Yes, ye fuckin' idiot," she snarled.

The man shook his head telling her no for it was clear he was becoming desperate to stay alive, and if that involved disobeying a direct order from his Captain, he'd do it. The woman growls trying to wrestle the weapon out of the man's hand in a manner one might see two wrigglers do if they were fighting over the same toy. In the dispute the ship rocked due to another lusii bumping into the side of it, and this caused their cover to literally roll away from them. Together, they look over seeing a rather aggressive seadweller marching towards them with crosshairs in hands. They stand up still wrestling over the weapon, but this time actions were a bit more frantic.

Dualscar stops when he feels he's close enough and pulls up Ahab so he can look through the scope. The woman knees the man in the groin causing him to release his rifle from his grasp before she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him in front of her. In that second, the Orphaner pulled the trigger releasing a blast that completely obliterated the man Mindfang threw in the way. The second she released the man from her grasp she had started to run, which was the only thing that spared her from also taking a lethal hit from the blow. However, this didn't mean she didn't suffer from any effects of the blast, the back of one of her legs had become scorched to a third degree burn spanning from her knee to the upper half of her thigh. If she wasn't fueled by adrenaline and utter rage she would have most likely collapsed in pain, which would have spelled out her end.

The woman continued to sprint needing to get some distance from Dualscar so she could take him out with the rifle. She was far more agile than him, even if she was seriously wounded, so she knew she had that in him. That didn't mean he was slow by any nature; in fact, the man was pretty fast so it wouldn't take him too long to catch up with her. About three seconds was all the time she would get once she stopped running to turn, aim, and shoot before he'd get close enough to put her in Ahab's unholy blast range. She had to time everything perfectly, along with not missing the shot, in order to slay him and save herself. Ascending the stairs that lead to the upper back deck of the ship, she soon stopped and turned to take her aim. The rifle didn't have a scope so this shot needed all the luck she could summon. Between the eyes. Between the eyes. Between the eyes. She kept repeating in her head over and over. Her finger rested on the trigger as she steadily lined up her aim at the Orphaner's forehead. Holding her breath, she moved her finger to pull the trigger, but another force intervened that knocked Mindfang down and out.

A massive explosion happened from the lowest level of the ship causing the deck to start to crack in half. Water flooded the bowels of the ship quickly causing the vessel to begin the process of sinking. The structure of the ship was critically unstable, and the two halves of the ship began to cave in on each other. Anyone couldn't hold their footing was thrown to the middle which was now a meat grinder of broken wood and rushing water. Eridan runs up to Dualscar carrying an unconscious Cronus over his shoulders. Behind the two young Amporas was a group of slaves, but no sign of Vriska or even their new ally.

"Wwe need to retreat!" Eridan yells.

"Havwe you seen Vwriska?" Dualscar responds.

"Wwho do you think caused this all this mayhem? She's on a wwar path," the younger boy shouts. "Wwe need to get on the ship before wwe become a part of the causalities!"

Dualscar hesitates before nodding and letting out a loud whistle, signaling to his men that it was time to go. They all turned to their leader in unison and began to make their escape in a surprisingly orderly manner. Dualscar's crew was well trained for an incident such as this because the conditions of their work could involve their ship potentially getting destroyed by lusii. They patiently waited for connecting planks to come over from the Orphaner's ship while the Grand Highblood fended off any of Mindfang's scoundrels who tried to attack while backs were turned. Within just a few minutes they were all loaded up on Dualscar's ship, including the slaves, and they pulled the planks quickly away from the opposing crew, who were trying to scramble on them for safety. Many desperate attempts to avoid going down with Mindfang's ship caused some of the wicked men to fall overboard, where they got torn apart and eaten by the frenzied lusii. The intact ship began to move away getting a small distance away of only about fifty feet from the sinking vessel. Dualscar demanded they wait for any sign of Vriska even if that meant they were put in danger by the ravenous lusii.

Shortly after had Vriska parted the galley from Eridan and Cronus, she and her companion made it to the brig where the slaves were held. There was twelve of them huddled in one of the cells completely terrified with all the sounds of battle and confused to what exactly was going on. Most of the slaves appeared to be low blooded women, who were dressed in filthy rags, and Vriska had no doubt that they were going to be sold into the pail trade. The girl growls pulling on the door finding it locked, but she already figured that it wouldn't be that easy. The two rescuers look around the brig in search of a key or at least something that could get the door open.

"Huh?" Vriska mutters looking in one the cells bars to see it was full of an obscene number of boxes containing gun powder. "What a weird place to put that…"

The friendly walks over and chuckled a bit, "We recently knocked off a trading ship. We ended up getting a shit ton of that… Way too much to keep in the main storage so we started stashing it wherever there was space. That's why we have all the slaves in one cell…"

Vriska turns to face the man, only to tense up at the sight of a crew member trying to ambush them. She pushed the man aside so she could runs forward unsheathing her sword her sword in the process. The adversary didn't have time to really react other than putting a hand up trying to grab her blade, which was a dumb move given that the sharp steel sliced his fingers off as if they were made of butter. The man howls jumping back before holding out the cell door's key with his unmaimed hand.

"Ya want this right?!" He chuckled seeming almost unphased that his other hand had been mutilated.

"Give those to me and I will spare you," Vriska states lowering her sword.

"Fuck you bitch!" The man laughed manically as he tilted his head back and opened his mouth wide before holding the key over it.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Vriska yells.

The man dropped the key into his mouth and swallowed it with a twisted smile growing across his face. The girl rolls her eyes with an annoyed groan as she lifted her sword back up with the intent to kill. The onlookers just look away with a good idea of what was about to happen and with that a few wet slices and loud screams could be heard. Vriska crouched over the slain body of the crew member and jabs her sword into his abdomen slicing it open. With an irritated scowl, she sheathed her blade before she reached her arms into the insides feeling around in his warm organs for the key. She scrunched her nose up in disgust as she accidently perforated the bowel causing the smell of bile to rise in the air which made the ally to begin to puke in the corner.

"Grow up," she huffed. "You think the smell is bad? I have a man's literal shit and bloody juices on my hands." She grunts before yanking the key out and holding it up. "There it is."

Kicking the gross disemboweled body out of her way she walked over to the cell door and unlocks it. The slaves just stare at the bloody and mangy girl in horror unsure if she was here to save them or brutalize them. She sighs jerking her head to the side as a gesture for them to exit, which they complied. They still just stared at her like a herd of deer in headlights before following her as she began to walk.

"Alright let's get-," she abruptly stopped talking when she came up on the cell full of gun powder. "Take them safety… try to do it quickly…" she says to the ally.

"What are ya going to do?" he muttered.

"A shit ton of damage!" she laughs.

The man does as he is told and disappears with the slaves as he led them out of the brig. Vriska goes over to the cell full of gun powder and pulls out one of her eight ball bombs from her pocket with a smirk. She then grabs the walkie talkie off of her belt and turns it on in order to get in contact with Eridan.

"Hey, Eridan come in… Eridan… You there…" she says into the device before waiting for a response.

After a few seconds there was a crackle of static before his voice came through. "Yeah wwhat's up?"

"Are you and Cronus on deck yet?" she asks.

"No… Did you get the slaves?"

"Yeah… They are headed up right now…"

"Wwhere are you?"
"That doesn't really matter… Do you know about how long it will take you to get up on deck?" she says opening up a panel on the bomb. As she waited for him to speak, she put the walkie between her ear and shoulder so she could tinker with its settings.

"I don't knoww maybe fivve minutes… I am a little slowwed dowwn wwith Cro, but luckily, I havven't encountered any of her creww. Wwhy do you ask?"

She closes the panel on the bomb before grabbing the walkie to push the talk button. "Do you think you can get up on deck in four minutes? That looks like the most time I can give you…"

"Wwhat are you gonna do?"

"Just hurry up, and fast!" she commands before turning the walkie off and hooking it back on her belt loop.

Vriska pulls out more bombs and began to set them throughout the boxes of gun powder. She then took the one she had tinkered with and set the timer to the highest amount it would allow, which was only four minutes. Given that they were small bombs designed to have a powerful explosion while being a quick detonation they couldn't handle building up all that energy for a longer amount of time. She puts it on top of the box carefully and takes a deep breath as she engaged the timer on it. It began to count backwards beeping with every second that passed, and for those first few seconds she got cold feet before she began to run.

The girl knew for a fact there was no way she could make it all the way up on deck in four minutes, but she figured that if she could get far enough away, she could be spared from the enormous blast. As she ran, she felt like her feet were made of lead due to the weight of fear that seemed to engulf her out of nowhere. She didn't even understand why she was scared; it was as if some instinct inside her forced her to fear the idea of death. She growls angrily forcing her body to move faster because she wasn't about to let herself blow up. Those four minutes came quickly though and when the bombs went off, she was only just a little bit past the galley. The massive explosion violently shook the ship and unfortunately this caused her to be forcefully thrown to the ground. Her head slammed hard into the floor and this knocked her out at such an inconvenient time.

After several minutes she woke up to the feel of cold water rushing over her body. She loudly gasps before jolting up to her feet and looking around at what was happening. Water was flooding in rather rapidly as the ship began to sink into the ocean due to such extensive damage. The corridor she was in was quickly filling with water while she attempted to find an exit. One second it was at her calves, the next second was at her waist, and eventually she was wadding water as she gasped in the little amount of air near the ceiling. It kept flooding in so she took a deep breath before diving down so she could swim through the hallway. Her jacket was giving her too much resistance as she swam so she pulled it off under water, letting it float away.

Noticing a room with a sizeable window she could get through she swims towards it putting her hands up on the glass. She grabs the hilt of the sword and slams it repeatedly into the glass, becoming a bit frantic as she felt her lungs becoming desperate for air. The glass begins to crack so she starts to slam quicker before it finally shattered underwater. She squeezed through broken window, her stomach, and arms getting cut up by jagged pieces of glass still attach to the frame. Bubbles escape her lips in pain as her blood was released into the water, but now she was free from the ship, so she was more focused on swimming to the surface. Blood seeped from her which drew in the attention of a nearby shark, who was now on course straight for her. Her eye widens at the sight of the predator and she began to panic trying to get away as fast as she could. Just before the shark got her with its open jaws and large fish lusii about double the size scooped it up in its mouth. She was relieved for a brief moment before realizing she really needed to get out of this water if she didn't want to be next on the menu.

Dualscar scans the waters through a spyglass with hopes of spotting Vriska somewhere amongst the splashing men and hungry lusii. He grits his teeth bringing the spyglass down and forcefully handing it over to Eridan. The younger boy grabs it from him and brings it to his eyes so he could view what was happening. The Orphaner pulls off Ahab's crosshairs carelessly tossing his prized possession aside for there was something that he found far more important he needed to take care of. The man began to unhook his cape which caused the little Ampora to grow a bit concerned at what he was planning to do.

"Dual… Wwhat are you doing?" He asked.

"I am not about to sit here and let Vwris potentially drowvn. She could still be dowvn in the ship struggling to get out!" He shouts.

"You can't be serious about jumping in… It is a feedin' frenzy!" Eridan growled.

"SO I LET HER DIE WVITHOUT EVWEN TRYIN' TO HELP!" he yells tears welling up in his eyes.

One of the crewmen begins to holler and signal frantically in the direction of the debris. "Look over thar!"

Eridan pulls up the spyglass to look through it again before smiling at the sight of Serket horns breaking through the surface of the water. "It's Vvris!"

Dualscar yanks the spyglass back over and peers through it with a smile as he watches the Serket horns and a mess of black hair swim towards a large floating chunk of the deck. The woman hoists herself up onto the platform and that was when Dualscar's smile faded. He hands the spyglass back over to his descendant with disgust coming over his face.

"That's not Vwris…. It is Mindfang…" he said with a low growl.

Mindfang stands up on the platform panting heavily as she tries to catch her breath. The large almost raft-like piece of debris she was on was a part of the upper deck that had broken away when the lusii began to swarm the ship, breaking it down further. Surprisingly and luckily enough, it was light enough to float while being sturdy enough to hold a good amount of weight. The buoyant refuge was a decent enough size as well, being around a ten foot by ten foot space. She looks around at the destruction around her, seeing the mast and sails of her ship

start to sink down. The Serket pirate flag flapping sporadically in the wind before being engulfed by the sea water and vanishing into the abyss. The woman runs her hand through her wet frizzy hair with a look of distress as she watches her beloved ship be claimed by the ocean. There was the sound of water splashing followed by a wet thud noise as something heaved itself onto the platform.

Mindfang turns growling at the sight she saw. "Don't ye fuckin' die?" She scoffs.

"I could ask you the same thing," Vriska responded panting heavily.

"Vvris!" Eridan exclaimed with joy handing the spyglass back over to his ancestor.

"Starting to think that girl is impervwious to death," Dualscar chuckles lightly before letting out a sigh. "But this isn't ovwer… There wvill only be one wvinner," he lamented.

Both Serket's took a moment to gain a little strength trying to steady their breath and their footing because despite their dreams, their bodies weren't designed for the sea. They didn't look away from each other however, because they knew the moment they'd glance away for even a second the other would be at their throat. The piece of debris had now become a floating battle arena that only allowed for close range fighting and no place to truly retreat too. They remained at a stand still for now, both meticulously planning out when and how they would

strike. Nature decided to speed the process along, well rather the back up the Summoner had spoken of, when a large tentacle ascended from the water and slammed back down near the platform causing it to rock in its wake.

"Is that…" Eridan muttered trailing off.

Dualscar lowers his spyglass in awe a single word escaping his lips. "Gl'bgolyb…"

Vriska being first to recover her footing from the massive splash took the opportunity to make the first move. She makes a dash for Mindfang unsheathing 'Pay 8ack 8itch' in one fluid motion. The beldam pulls out her blade blocking the blow with all her might, but her footing wasn't the greatest due to the pain of the burnt leg starting to kick in. Seeing they were at an impasse, Vriska jumps back to give a wide berth of space for them. The younger girl knew this fight would just be dragged out if they kept clashing swords, and with the giant kraken beast below them they didn't exactly have all the time in the world. They began to circle along the edges of the platform, their eyes locking once more.

"I see ye lost an eye. What sort of sad mistake did ye make for that to happen?" Mindfang taunts.

"Big talk coming from a bitch with one arm," Vriska remarks. "Tell me… How did you lose that arm again?" She laughs.

The wicked Serket snarls and runs at the girl, which the young girl mirrored acting as if she was going to clash swords again. Just as Mindfang got close enough to swing her sword, the little Serket dropped to her knees within a split second. The woman's blade only sliced off the very tips of the girl's hair, while the girl delivered a powerful uppercut into the one spot on the torso where the armor corset didn't cover. The groin. Vriska had to thank Aradia for that idea because even if someone has a nook a strong enough hit could cause a huge amount of disorienting pain. Mindfang does her best to move back, sharp labored breaths escaping her lungs, while the other girl just rises to her feet.

"What a dirty fuckin' move!" she spits trying to overcome the pain in her womanhood.

"Is it as dirty of a move as knowingly sending an unaware little girl to be gang raped?" Vriska scoffed.

"Jeez. Yer a fuckin' 8roken record with that shit!"

"That 'shit' was my personal hell for a fucking sweep! You act like me wanting to get fucking vengeance is such a horrible inconvenience to you! Well having a god damn unwanted bulge shoved into my orifices every few hours every fucking day was a fucking horrible inconvenience to me!" Vriska screams.

Another gargantuan tentacle rose out of the water and crashed down near the platform almost flipping it over from yet another massive wave produced by the splash. Mindfang's sword fell from her hands sliding near the edge almost on the brink of going overboard. Vriska stands up straight and sheathes her sword narrowing her eye at the woman.

"I'll do one thing you never did for me and make this a fair fight," she says gesturing to the sword in its holster.

"Honora8le, 8ut who gives a shit a8out honor in a fight to the death," Mindfang growls.

The wicked bitch once again makes a move for Vriska, who was putting up her fists ready to fight. The elder Serket swings for the girl's head with her fleshed fist, which the girl just barely managed to dodge. Vriska, not really thinking things out, goes to punch Mindfang in the gut only to feel her knuckles collide into a metal corset. The younger girl hisses shaking her hand in pain before feeling herself get punched in the gut knocking the wind out of her. As Vriska gags trying to catch her breath she feels cold metal slam into the side of her face causing her to fall back.

Mindfang gives a wicked laugh, "I am typically right handed, 8ut the left one has far more power…" She walks up to Vriska hovering over her. "That wasn't even me full strength with that punch, 8ut let me give ye a taste of that."

The younger troll chokes on a few loose molars trying to spit them out before her eye grew big at the sight of Mindfang in the process cocking her left arm back so she could bring it down through the girl's head with full force. Luckily, she managed to roll out of the way before the metal smash into her skull because that punch cleanly went through the wooden planks with no resistance. Vriska looks at the hand that was stuck in the wood then at Mindfang, who looked over at her with hatred as she tried to pull the arm out. The girl stands up and shoves two fingers into her mouth to sweep the teeth out of her throat so she could breathe. However, this triggered a violent gag reflex and made the girl forcefully vomit. Vomit which went all over Mindfang's neck and back, but on the bright side at least those pesky teeth were dislodged from her esophagus.

"Did… DID YE JUST FUCKIN' THROW UP ON ME?!" The woman screeched.

"Yeah… sums up how I feel about you better than any words could," Vriska remarks wiping her mouth with her wrist.

"YE FUCKIN' CUNT!" Mindfang screams at the top of her lungs.

The beldam pulls her arm out of the wood causing Vriska to step back quickly so she could get a bit of distance from her. Getting a bit behind Mindfang, the girl was able to see how badly wounded the back of her leg was. Another tentacle appeared but this time it was near the edge where the Marquise's sword was. Once again it crashed down causing a gigantic wake which made the platform rock drastically. This time Mindfang was prepared and reached down in the hole that she had created with her punch to use it as a hand hold so she could keep her footing. The littler Serket got tossed down like a rag doll, and unfortunately this time she fell on a large jagged piece of wood impaling her side on it. The girl screams out in pain grabbing the wood and pulling it out before providing pressure to the new wound.

Within moments the platform had leveled allowing the two to regain their composure, Mindfang more than Vriska. Her sword had slid across the platform from the rocking and right back at her feet. She grins wickedly as she grabbed her blade before looking over at the wounded girl who was rolling over onto her back.

"I have to admit ye put up a decent fight, 8ut it is time to put an end to your little game, " Mindfang hums smugly.

With a proud demeanor, she cockily sauntered over to Vriska and stood over the wounded girl. She tapped her metallic fingers along her cobalt blade wanting to take her time to taunt the girl about her impending doom. The little Serket just pants heavily gripping her bloody side with both hands.

"I told ye from the start that ye were not goin' to succeed and that I was goin' to kill ye," she chuckles. "To make sure ye don't survive this I am goin' to split ye in fuckin' half."

The Marquise raises the sword high above her head, her dementedly pleased smile growing larger. Vriska snarls through gritted teeth watching as she brings the weapon down with full force. Instead of the satisfying sound of flesh being cut open Mindfang was expecting to hear, she ended up hearing the sound of metal clanking. With quick thinking, the girl had unhooked her bracelet and held it up to stop herself from being cut open. Sapphires were a rather durable gemstone, only ranking second to diamonds, so it would take more than sharpened steel to break it. Using all the strength she could muster, she moved sword aside letting it hit the floor. Adrenaline was flowing through the girl's body giving her the rush she needed to move onto her hands and knees to crawl between Mindfang's legs so she could get behind the woman.

Vriska jumps up to her feet behind the other Serket, their backs facing each other. She kicked her heel back, jamming the back of the steel shoe hard into the woman's burned leg. Mindfang hisses in pain as the knee could no longer support her and buckled, dropping to floor. With a swift motion, the determined girl unsheathed her sword and jabbed it over her shoulder into the woman behind her. 'Pay 8ack 8itch' perfectly threaded its way in between the small gap where the metal corset laced up and made its way into the back of the woman. The girl screams pushing harder as the blade was stopped by the inside of the front half of the corset, but soon it managed to hit a weak point in the armor and bust all the way through the chest cavity.

"It was time to put an end to your little game," she snarled.

Vriska yanks her sword out of the woman's body and just walks away from her not even caring to look back at her. Mindfang collapses to the ground in a heap, desperately gasping for hair while gripping at her wound. Cheers could be heard from the ship in the distance as they saw who came out victorious. The girl taps her heels together, but instead of blasting out in rocket propelled flight they just sputtered a bit before smoking. She continues to click her heels a few times, but nothing happened which caused her heart to sink at the realization that there was no escape for her.

"Come on Vwris. Wvhy aren't ye flying ovwer here yet?" Dualscar said to himself as he peered through the spy glass.

The walkie talkie in Eridan's jacket pocket crackled as the sound of Vriska's voice came over the air. "Eridan… You there…"

"Yeah Vvris! You did it! Come on! Get out of there so wve can go home!" Eridan cheers.

"… Can… Can you please pass the walkie talkie to Dualscar?" she muttered.

"Vvris…"

"Just do it!" she snarled.

Eridan frowns turning to Dualscar holding out the walkie talkie for him to take. The Orphaner raised a brow as he lowered his spy glass to see what was being handed to him. He gives the spyglass to his little descendent so he could grab the device and bring it up to his face.

"Vwris. Is evwerythin' okay?" he spoke.

Vriska lets out a deep breath pushing the button down so she could reply to him. She parted her lips, but no words came out. There was just silence coming from her, her hand unable to stop shaking. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head trying to collect her thoughts before she finally spoke.

"Dualscar… Don't speak, but listen," she muttered. "I want you to know you have been the best thing in my life and I want to thank you for everything. You have taught me so much about the world and myself… I never knew what real love was until you came into my life." She begins to sniffle. "Please don't miss me when I am gone… Don't let it destroy you… It will be hard… But I want you to be happy… You will be able to love again… You'll find new love and move on and be happy… Don't cling to me… Don't let my death ruin your life…" Tears stream down her face. "I… I love you so much Dualscar… I will always love you… and one day we could be together again, but I want you to have a full life till that happens…" She sighs staying silent for a moment, but still keeping her finger on the button so he can't talk. "I don't have the heart to listen to what you will say… It will only make this harder… Just… Let me go…"

Vriska then holds the walkie talkie over her head before throwing the device as far as she could into the water. She puts her hand over her mouth beginning to sob at the hardest thing she ever had to do. Those were the last words she'd hear from her matesprit. "Is everything okay?" She wipes her tears watching as the sun started to rise in the distance.

"I guess everything is okay," she says with a somber smile.

The girl then goes over to where Mindfang was and grabs her bracelet off the ground so she could put it back on. She watched as Mindfang weakly tried to reach for her sword, but Vriska just kicks it over the edge into the ocean. She then grabs the dying woman and flips her over before helping her sit up in a slumped fashion. The little Serket then sits across from her watching the blood pool around the body as she wheezed.

"You're still hanging on. I guess us Serket's are too stubborn to die huh?" Vriska laughs sadly.

"Ye think I am evil, 8ut ye are just as 8ad of a person… I hope ye know that… Ye are not some innocent little girl or some hero… Ye've destroyed plenty of lives all in a mission for revenge… Look around at all the death ye have caused…" Mindfang growls grabbing her fatal wound.

"You aren't wrong… I know I am not a good person," she chuckles rubbing her eye. "I have been trying so hard to deny that I am like you, but we have so much in common…"

"Ye and I are 8lood. That will never change…" the woman huffed. "I guess I made a mistake…"

Vriska looked over raising a brow. "What?"

"I never took into consider8tion of what ye could 8e capa8le of. I should have taken ye as an apprentice, 8ut I made that mistake," the woman mumbled.

"Wow… Is that humility coming from the great Mindfang?" Vriska teases.

"Shut up!" she snarled.

The girl just chuckles. "Honestly I need to thank you that you didn't because you ended up teaching me a valuable lesson."

"Aye? And what might that 8e?"

"You taught me to choose the right path…"

"If that's how ye feel, 8ut a Serket is a Serket."

"And luckily for Alternia the Serkets will end with us," Vriska sighs before giggling a bit.

"What is so funny?"

"You know… This is all I ever wanted when I was a wriggler… To just talk to you like this…" she laughs.

"Well, things didn't go as planned, did they?" Mindfang laughs with her before coughing up blood.

"How do you think it will end for us?"

"Well me guess is Gl'8goly8 will destroy this platform were on, casting us out into the water. Then if we don't get eaten right away, we will pro8a8ly drown rather quickly 8ecause I dou8t either of us have enough energy to swim," she chuckles.

"Either way… I guess I had a good life…" Vriska hums.

Mindfang gives a slight melancholy smile. "Aye…"

The two turn their heads to watch the sun rise together as they waited for death to embrace them.