Prince of Heart- Man do you like dream bubbles? I fucking love dream bubbles. Glad we're in agreement because there's a lot more where this comes from.
The roof was fairly barren, adequate grounds for the showdown. The grey concrete drew contrasts with the starry space above, filled with countless other asteroids all tumbling around. To his left stood the Thief: Vriska Serket, a former Caliginous romantic conquest of his. She stood there, recoiling away from the other two murderers, in her full orange and yellow God Tier outfit. Her face, which popped out of the hood, showed genuine terror in the presence of her two adversaries, and she readied her dice in her right hand. To Eridan's right stood the Bard: Gamzee Makara. Eridan was confused by the clowns' presence, as he had previously been such a passive member of their team, but never-the-less, Eridan prepared to slay him. It was curious though, as the Purple blood had a large scratch across his face, and wore both Equius' glasses and Nepeta's hat. Eridan didn't need to be a wizard to understand what happened.
Eridan had discarded his own cape long ago, somewhere within the halls of the base, in a matter of frustration. All he wanted was what was best for her. But she insisted, and insisted, and Eridan had to do it. Finish off his former Moirail, and the mustard blooded swine that called himself her Matesprit. If anything, he regretted his actions against the Sylph, destroying her Matriorb and blasting her through the stomach. She was only trying to help their race, but in a fit of anger, Eridan destroyed that last bit of hope for the troll race.
He examined Vriska for a moment, watching her blue wings flap behind her. A scowl creeped up to his face, and he felt his heart stop. This was it. The moment of truth. He felt the heat come off of his wand, so much power in such a little object. In the brief moment, he thought about who he'd kill first. On one hand, he didn't know anything about Gamzee, aside from the time when he lost his mind and caused the most damage to the Black King. God knows what else he was capable of. On the other, he actually did know what Vriska was capable of, with her luck thieving powers. He knew she was actually a danger to him.
A second passed, and Eridan got the fleeting feeling that something else was supposed to happen; a moment of de je vu that gave him an uneasy feeling, in spite of the creepy clown to one side of him. He felt like his mind should be on the bigger issue right now, but the feeling just wouldn't go away, and it sort of gnawed at him. He slowly glanced around confusedly, before laying his eyes on the Thief, a nervous, yet curious expression on her face. Eridan scowled at her, placing the de je vu beside him and slightly raising his wand, looking over to the Bard, and back to Vriska. She nodded in the direction of Gamzee in a subtle manner, and Eridan knew what she wanted to do. He turned to face Gamzee, just as Vriska was, and started counting down in his head.
Five.
Eridan took in a deep breath in and closed his eyes.
Four.
He let out a large gust of air, and opened his eyes back up.
Three.
He glanced one more time at Vriska, whom was glaring directly at the clown. He wondered whether she felt as he did, that strange sense that things weren't supposed to be this way. Something was supposed to happen.
Two.
He looked back towards Gamzee, the clown's unsettling smile giving him a sense of dread.
One.
Then, time slowed down for Eridan as he saw Vriska in the corner of his eye throw down her dice, and a faint glow come off from Gamzee. Eridan raised his wand, the glaring white hope/science dripping from it, and aimed it at his purple-blooded former friend. Gamzee opened his mouth, and let out a deafening HONK, and Eridan fired his wand. A beam emerged, and it made its way across the roof in an instant, plunging itself straight through the Bard. Gamzee stood there, dazed for a moment, as a stream of blood started falling from his mouth and newly found stomach hole. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell backwards off the roof and somewhere into the depths of the meteor base.
Eridan took a series of deep breaths, huffing and puffing from the nerve-racking situation. He glanced over at his temporary ally, and quickly pulled himself together, turning his body and raising a wand at her. She did the same, pulling her dice back to her hand and raising them above her head. The two stood still, staring at each other with slight scowls on their faces. Eridan examined her up and down, feeling the beads of sweat fall down his forehead, caused by the heat from the wand and the stress of the situation. And when it came to finally kill his old black fling…
He couldn't.
Eridan threw his hand down to his side and stomped his foot. "damn it!" he shouted, twisting his body away from his caliginous ex. He placed his wand back in his Strife Deck, and sat down on the concrete roof with his head in his hands. He heard footsteps approach, and looked up to see the Thief walk over to him and sit down next to him, wrapping her arms around her legs.
The two sat in silence for a moment, before Vriska spoke up, "Well, there goes the showdown I was hoping for. I would've thought that clown could've put on a 8etter fight! Like, ONE hit at least! 8ut we showed him, huh?" She softly elbowed him in the side. "Teaches him to mess with Team Pir8, right?"
Eridan rolled his eyes. "wwhy the fuck are you here vvris? ju0st fuckin kill me like i knoww you wwant to and do wwhatevver the fuck you came up here to do."
Vriska shifted uncomfortably. "Well I would, 8ut now that you've told me to I'm pretty much o8lig8ed to not do it." She chuckled at her own joke and proceeded to sigh. "So, what're you doing up here anyways? You never did answer me 8efore."
Eridan shrugged. "to join jack i guess. lookin back maybe fef wwas right it wwas a stupid idea."
"Guess you owe her an apology then."
"thatd be kinda difficult wwith her bein dead and all."
"Really dude? Well, I guess we're in the same 8oat there. THAT is why you never give a shit a8out people. Just keep to yourself I say."
"yeah. but it's a fuckin lonely existence."
Vriska looked at him for a second. "You know, for what it IS worth, I missed our adventures."
"obvviously not enough," Eridan sulked.
"Oh, get over yourself! Eridan, you need to understand, not everyone likes your needy, suffoc8ing shit! Not all of us have the patience of a God damn saint. I have no idea how the shit Feferi even managed to handle you all those years!"
"oh wwell thats fuckin rich!" Eridan replied. "puttin tavv and that wwhole situation aside lets go ahead and look at your former moirail. at fuckin least mine wwanted to stay friends howwevver insultin that is. in fact compared to you i handled my rejection quite wwell!"
"Even though you just murdered her?"
"fuck. you. that wwas self defence! she came at me!" Eridan bore his sharp teeth. "dammit noww i wwant to fuckin kill someone else!"
"HA HA!" Vriska exclaimed0, standing up and outstretching her hand. "That's the spirit! Well let's put that attitude towards Jack then!"
Eridan looked up at her, and thought for a moment. "like formin team pirate one last time?" The girl nodded enthusiastically. "wwell fuck it wwhy the hell not. not like i wwas any good at negotiatin anyway!"
"YEAH!" Vriska replied, taking his hand and pulling him directly into a caliginous kiss.
Vriska pulled away, giving Eridan a moment to process a few feelings; first, a rekindled kismesitude between him and Vriska, secondly, a sense of anger directed towards Jack, and finally, a strange dream like feeling, as if the situation at hand wasn't actually happening, though he chalked that one up to the fast pace at which everything seemed to be going.
Vriska grinned and looked directly into his eyes. "Now let's go fuck shit up and kill a demi-god."
Before Eridan could reply, Vriska had already begun to rise by flapping her wings, clasping Eridan's armpits with her own arms and lifting him off the ground. The pair flew off towards a distant platform together, intent on murdering Jack.
The two arrived a little after, spotting Jack by his noticeable green aura caused by the Black Queens ring and his First Guardian genes. Vriska descended with Eridan, dropping him when the two were close enough to the ground, and taking her place beside him. Jack cocked his head to the left, and quickly turned around to face the two. Eridan had second thoughts as he examined Jack's figure: his lanky, black body was coated in fur, his mouth enlarged outwards in a dog-like snout and a pair of pointed ears on the side of his head. One arm was cut off at the elbow, and the sword that was formerly sheathed in his chest held in his intact hand, while his wings spread out to either side.
Jack snarled, and Eridan pulled his wand from his Strife Deck. "you sure wwe can take him vvris?"
"Easily!" Vriska replied, pulling her dice out as well. "There's two of us, what could go wrong?"
Jack bore his teeth, before perking his head up and taking in a deep sniff. He glanced up, and back down at the pair of trolls, before teleporting behind the two and flying off.
"HEY!" Vriska yelled, turning around. "WHAT THE HELL?"
"maybe hes fuckin scared."
"Nah, it has to 8e something else." Vriska walked to the edge of the platform. "May8e he's going to gra8 some important it-" Vriska gasped with realization, and her eyes widened. "Oh fuck. OH FUCK!"
"oh fuck wwhat?"
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! I'm so fucking stupid! C'mon we need to go!"
"wwhat wwhy wwhat the fucks happenin?"
"The fairy dust! It leads back to the base! We gotta get 8a-"
A loud explosion sounded back towards where they'd come from, and Eridan looked just in time to see a gigantic green circle encompass the base. Vriska let out an agonizing scream, falling to her knees and holding her head with her hands. Eridan simply stared, watching the explosion dance on the horizon, before he heard Jack teleport behind the two. The two turned around, Vriska standing up with tears in her eyes, and faced their foe. He dropped a couple of objects in front of them, both covered in red and teal.
Eridan stared, before coming to a realisation that the bodies of Karkat and Terezi laid in front of him, both maimed with heavy cuts. Vriska gasped, holding her hands to her mouth, before growling and looking up at Jack. Though Eridan continued to stare at the bodies. Not out of shock, no. But some type of confusion. Like it wasn't supposed to happen like this.
"no," Eridan mumbled, causing Vriska to glance over at him.
"Wh8t? What th8 fuck is wr8ng with y8u?"
"this didnt… oh my fuckin gog!" He punched the air angrily. "this is a dream!"
"A dream? Wh8t the fuckin8 hell ar8 you 8n a8out? I… this… man, I feel really weird all of a sudden."
Eridan gasped, "and it isnt evven my dream? are you serious im bein pulled into other peoples bs dreams?" Eridan rolled his eyes, and walked past Vriska to the edge of the platform, waving his arm and causing a portal to another memory to open, confirming Eridan's suspicions. "you can fuckin deal wwith this cause im pretty sure youre dead or wwhatevver."
"Wait, dead? I-"
"nope dont givve a shit im gonna go find ara and get my mind off this shit. enjoy bein dead doomed vvris!" Eridan gave the confused girl a wave, and stepped through the portal.