Prince of Heart- Aranea is best girl, don't even try to argue otherwise.

Actually scratch that; both Serkets are best girls.

Why am I so obsessed with the morally bad characters of Homestuck? Send help.

Eridan looked in disbelief for a few seconds, examining the new Vriska looking girl and all her new features, before screaming and jumping back in fright. In the process, he managed to trip over the end of his cape and fall flat on his cape, wrapping himself in it in panic. Aranea gasped as she watched the Prince wriggle around to get himself out of his cape, worried that her entrance may have been too extravagant for him. Eridan managed to escape his capes' grasp, scurrying backwards on his elbows and feet, with a startled look on his face.

"wwhat the fuck?!" Eridan cried out, taking in deep breath. "wwhat science is this? wwhy are your eyes wwhite? wwheres vvris?"

Aranea smiled sweetly and attempted to reply, "Well if you'll jus-"

Eridan frantically turned his head to where the three tied up trolls had sat, seeing they had too disappeared. "wwhat happened to them? wwhere am i evven? im so confused as to wwhat is happenin!"

"ERIDAN!" Aranea interrupted him, causing Eridan to shut up and give her his attention. She sighed, content with his attention, and continued. "Now, as I said 8efore, I am Aranea, and I understand that you may be quite confused right now."

"thats a fuckin understatement," Eridan spat, sitting up.

"I've 8een watching you and your friends for a long time now. I've even managed to watch your entire timeline from the 8u88les. Oh, the stories your ancestors weaved! Piracy, re88elion, intrigue, so very interesting."

Eridan looked at her suspiciously. "howw wwould that evven be possible? wwhat are you?"

Aranea chuckled, "Oh, that's quite simple. I am a ghost."

Eridan stared at her blankly for a second, before growing angry and even more confused. "a ghost? wwhat the fuck does that mean? if you're a ghost, howw the hell can i see you and talk to you?"

"8ecause you're asleep!"

"i knoww im asleep, but wwhy can i see you?"

"As well as allowing you to relive memories, the Dream 8u88les now allow you to communicate with ghosts; 8oth from this universe and the previous. I guess it's the closest to magic we have!"

"but that's impossible considerin magic isnt fuckin real! it must be somethin that wwitch did wwith her wwhite sciences." Eridan jumped up, and crossed his arms in front of him.

"No Eridan, I'm afraid it wasn't Rose, but it was the Witch from your session. Feferi I 8elieve her name was? All the people from yours' and my session now are a8le to live 8eyond death as ghosts, reliving various memories."

Aranea spun around, and gestured for Eridan to follow her, which he reluctantly complied with, dusting himself off as he walked over to her. She led him over across the deck over to the cabin door originally leading to the captain's quarters, but opened it to reveal a long and winding vine leading to a giant black sphere. She was the first to step off into the new world, hopping down onto the vine with grace, while Eridan carefully sat on the edge and jumped down onto the vine behind her.

Eridan looked over the edge of the vine into the deep abyss, seemingly endless to the little Prince. He gave a nervous sigh, prepping himself for the trek across the narrow pathway, but he felt Aranea place a hand of his shoulder. He looked up to face her, seeing her caring smile and feeling her grip tighten, giving him a vote of confidence. She let go of him, and turned to walk down the road, Eridan following closely after.

"so," Eridan began, "wwhat wwas it you said about 'in this univverse and the prevvious?"

"Oh! Yes, you may have guessed that I am not from your universe, on account of us never interacting. Well, to make this simple, I am from a previous universe."

Eridan held out his arms to keep his balance over the chasm. "howw does that evven wwork?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Aranea said excitedly, as if she had been wanting to tell someone for a long time. "Well, for the sake of simplicity, say you have two kingdoms: Kingdom A and Kingdom 8."

"twwo kingdoms? that i owwn?" Eridan perked up. "im likin the sound of this story already."

Aranea chuckled, "I knew you would. So, in this scenario, Kingdom A is 8ecoming a complete failure: your people have revolted and are now at each other's throats, the world is 8arren, and you're una8le to control any aspect of the kingdom. Tell me Eridan, what would you do?"

"genocide," Eridan mentioned, but rethought his answer. "or just movve to kingdom b, i guess. if i havve to."

"Right, Eridan. 8ut the only way you're a8le to move to Kingdom 8 is 8y completely scrapping Kingdom A and remaking yourself, wiping your memory and creating a completely new personality for yourself. You will not remember anything from Kingdom A, and it's not even certain the new Kingdom will succeed. Would you take that risk, rather than remaining in the old doomed Kingdom?"

Eridan attempted to comprehend the question, eventually answering, "if it means i could havve a do-ovver? i guess i wwouldnt havve a choice, wwould i?"

"Right. Now think of those Kingdoms as universes. My universe was Kingdom A, yours' was Kingdom 8. Our universe fell upon hard times; a lot of stuff happened, people turned against each other, and we were forced to scratch our session, and it completely rebooted to create your universe. A second chance. It created 8oth us and new versions of us, though our actual post scratch selves manifested as your ancestors."

"uh, im not followwing."

"I guess what I'm saying is, I am both Vriska's ancestor Spinneret Mindfang, and Vriska herself, though her first incarnation from a previous universe."

Eridan raised his eyebrows. "youre vvris?"

"Technically, 8ut not quite."

"but that cant be true. youre wway nicer than vvris."

Aranea chuckled, "Thank you, Eridan. For what it's worth, you're much more pleasant to talk to than your pre-scratch counterpart."

The two approached the giant sphere, which seemed to make a light hum as they got nearer. "so if theres twwo versions of you in your univverse, wwould there happen to be a wworld conquerin vversion of me in your univverse?"

Aranea nodded. "Yes."

"holy fuck, you need to tell me about him sometime."

Aranea rubbed the back off her head. "It's kind of a long story full of intrigue and 8etrayal and a lot of murder."

"i dont care, i wwould lovve to hear about us. all the stories of evvery one of us. evven wwhat happened to your session."

Aranea looked surprised. "You… would? Well, it'd be my pleasure to tell them!"

Eridan smiled, something he rarely did. "you must havve been vvery popular in your group."

Aranea frowned. "You'd think, but people just find me 8oring most of the time."

"howw? youre pretty, interestin, nice, and you have a soothin vvoice."

Aranea laughed, "That's nice of you to say. That might 8e why my version of Peixes even bothered filling a quadrant with me."

The two looked at each other for a few moments, an awkward silence befalling Aranea as she nervously smiled at the oblivious Prince.

"I should go," she finally said, thumbing a different bubble far away.

"wwhen wwill i see you again?"

"Not too long, just need to grab one more guest and we'll meet again, 8ut we'll be too busy to talk then. How about, when you enter another dream 8u88le, you come and find me. I'd be glad to talk your ear off."

"id be glad to havve it talked off."

Aranea put a hand on his shoulder as an affectionate gesture, giving it a tight squeeze before letting go again. She then turned away, sprouting a pair of cerulean blue wings that curved in and out of themselves, and taking off of the platform. Her wings flapped behind her vigorously, leaving a trail of pixie dust behind her. Eridan sighed, looking into the bubble and placing his hands on the layer in front of him. He gave a hardy push, and fell into the bubble.