Prince of Heart- It's been a while. Sorry for the delay folks, but you know how life goes.
S: Game Over.
Eridan came to, much too used to the feeling of teleportation via others by now, and felt himself slump to the ground as his captor let go of him. He hit the concrete hard, a wave of heat hitting him, the ground slightly warmed and hurting Eridan slightly. He landed on his back, giving him full view of his captor and attacker, Jade, her ears twitching, hands balled up into fists, and a large snarl on her face as a light source illuminated behind her.
He slowly backed up, his pain disregarded for his newfound fear, as the girl barked, "what have you DONE! what the FUCK HAVE YOU DONE!"
Eridan froze up, ironic for such a heated location, and said nothing.
"oh for- come here," she demanded, barging over to him, grabbing him by the collar of his cape, and pulling him up, giving him full view of where he was, and the problem Jade seemed upset for. He was back on Dave's planet, easily told by the lava sliming its way around the platform the two were on, as well as Dave's house seen in the background. But the planet seemed in disrepair, obvious bits of it broken off and destroyed from some sort of impact from an extremely large object over the horizon. The problem seemed to generate from whatever that was, Jade gesturing to the horizon, before throwing him down and hurting his back just to add to the list.
He made a grunt as he hit the floor, the concrete doing nothing to help his wounds, as Jade screamed at him, "what the actual FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? i told you to stay in your fucking cell!"
Eridan huffed, "i fuckin tried wench! but things changed!"
"well congratulations you idiot! now look what YOU did!" Jade teleported the short distance between them, ending in her kicking Eridan's head and knocking him back to the ground. Eridan felt blood spout from his nose, landing somewhere on the ground behind him, before he felt a hand grab the collar of his sweater and pull him up.
He felt Jade's warm breath against his face, and she snarled, "i thought i was doing myself a favour by keeping you alive but i guess i was WRONG!"
She kneed Eridan in the stomach, receiving a grunt from him in response, before throwing him across the space. Eridan felt himself float in the air for a moment, before he hit and slid across the ground for a couple of seconds and stopping at the edge of the concrete platform, just over the lava that was less than a few dozen feet below him.
"i mean how hard is it to do as you are told?" Jade asked him rhetorically, stomping towards him. Eridan's whole body ached, and he found himself almost too weak to get up, before Jade got to him and placed her foot over his chest and slowly slid him over the edge, but not enough to fall. "how hard is it to stay in your GOD DAMN CELL?"
Eridan gave a groan in response, barely able to speak with the small amount of blood swishing in his mouth, emoting an angered growl from Jade, but the two were interrupted by another voice in the mix.
"jade!" Eridan heard Dave shout, garnering the dog-girls attention to behind her. "paws off the fish dude you damn furry."
Jade narrowed her eyes, and slid the Prince back from the edge, earning at least a tiny bit of relief from him, if none at all in his wounded state. He managed to crane his head up and gaze at the sight before him: the Knight of Time and Witch of Space, the Knight with his sword drawn and the Witch with her fists clenched. The Knight floated down, landing lightly across from the two as the Witch approached him.
"dave what are you DOING?" Jade demanded to know.
"i heard you screaming and i thought there was a mosh or something that fur people are into but turns out youre just beating on fish dude. you need to stop jade."
"why do you care?" Jade smirked, "i thought youd be making out with the mayor or something?"
Dave pointed a finger at her. "hes too innocent for that and you know that."
"so what dave? are you going to kill me?"
"you know i wont jade. but im going to snap you out of whatever the fuck this is one way or another damn it."
Jade cracked her neck slightly, before pulling out some unknown sword from her strife deck, the silver lining gleaming off the light around them, and quickly teleporting away from her current position. She reappeared a short while later, now in front of Dave just a dozen feet in front of her, and brung her sword down to him, but not before it was blocked by another sword coming from Dave's side, appearing to be a second version of Dave. The second version then pushed her back, allowing for the actual Dave to jump forward and slam a kick into Jade's face. She flew back, hitting the ground with a thump, but regained her composure and landed on her hands and knees after the first bounce. The second Dave disappeared back to wherever, and the original raised his own sword to block his body. Jade jumped up, and sprinted back into Dave, taking her sword upwards as she approached. Dave dodged to the left, the sword just narrowly missing, and brung his sword across to block Jade's obviously telegraphed attack. The swords clashed, a loud clank sounding, and Jade growled and pulled herself towards him in an attempt to intimidate her foe.
Eridan groaned, his wounds aching him, and spat out a glob of blood. He shook his head lightly, before attempting to stand up and utterly failing as he fell onto his back as soon as he attempted to push himself up with the palms of his hands.
Dave flew forward fist first, cracking it across the furry girls face and pushing her back a little on the heels of her red slippers. She stopped, barked at the Knight, and swung her sword in a counter-attack, clashing with Dave's own sword. She quickly moved back and swung again, and again, and again, but Dave managed to block each subsequent swing with more and more strain on himself. Eventually he gave out, and Jade pushed his sword away and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying. He landed and slid a few feet away, eliciting a loud groan from him as he stopped. He regained himself and jumped up, but not before Jade teleported herself towards him and punched him square in the nose, bonking him away from her.
Eridan huffed and puffed, looking directly above him and bracing himself, before rolling over onto his stomach for a better chance at getting up. He laid his arms out and used them to push himself up, shaking very heavily as he wriggled up to his wobbly knees. He managed to push himself up and stay still for a moment, gazing at the beat-down of the Knight in front of him. He gazed to the skies, watching as another planet flew through space, disappearing over the horizon of Skaia and out of Eridan's view for God knows how long. His head fell in line with the now one sided fight in front of him, and he watched the Knight get kicked in the groin again and fall backwards onto the floor, finally taken enough as he groaned out loud to no one in particular. The Witch paced over to him, her sword glinting in the Lava's light, but stopped when the Prince screamed out to her.
"WWITCH!" Eridan shouted, progressively slinking up with all his strength. "lay off the fuckin human. if anyones goin to beat up their friends…" he finally used the last of his strength to push himself to his feet, clutching his stomach in pain, "its gonna be ME."
The Witch fell silent, before grinning slyly. "oh well this is sweet! im driven to tears of joy." She turned to Eridan, and snarled at the fish boy.
Five.
Eridan pulled his wand from his Strife Specubis with his free hand, huffing and puffing as he counted his individual deep breaths in between the fastly paced ones.
Four.
Jade growled lowly, approaching Eridan slowly with her sword raised in front of her.
Three.
Dave slowly raised himself up, seeing the two with weapons raised, looked towards Eridan and shouted, "eridan don't! let me handle this!"
Two.
Jade scowled, a toothy one made to scare and frighten, and screamed, "everything would have been fine if you had just stayed IN YOUR FUCKING CELL!"
One.
Eridan felt his heart stop, but in the time around him seemingly slowed, he waited a moment with his wand raised for something. Anything really. Just to make an excuse not to fire. But the Witch started at him, teleporting the distance in an instant, and he was left no choice. Just like the Witch before her. Just like that stupid Witch. And he let off a burst of blinding white magic at her, covering the few feet between them, but not before a voice shouted something incomprehensible and a figure made it in time between them to catch the initial blast. It took a few seconds before Eridan had realised what he'd done, his wand letting off a significant heat compared to the lava, and his wrong doing literally staring him in the face.
Dave.
The Knight of Time stared at Eridan blankly, his glasses eventually falling off his face to reveal his candy red eyes widely opened in shock. His mouth soon gaped open, and Eridan's own attention was soon drawn to Dave's stomach, which stood transparent and heavily bleeding in a perfect hole formation, Dave's hands slowly covering it. The Knight looked behind him, to see if his foolhardy martyr attempt worked, but saw instead the Witches body strewn on the ground behind him, another gaping hole in her stomach.
Jade Harley: Just Death.
The Knight turned back to Eridan, still and silent, before Eridan opened his mouth and stumbled out, "i… i didnt mean to. i wwas just tryin… tryin to…"
Dave coughed and sputtered heavily, falling to the ground on his hands and knees and spitting blood on the concrete while wobbling heavily, almost as if living was a strain on him. "im fine. im… fine. i…" he slowly looked up to Eridan, his eyes looking heavy, and continued, "i dont blame you. its not your fault dude i… i was… stupid. dont beat yourself up over it. youre… youre not a bad guy…"
Eridan felt a chill run down his spine, as he watched Dave fall to the ground, finally out of breath, out of life, out of Time.
Dave Strider: Heroic Death.
Eridan slumped his arms beside him, the wand now ice cold in his right, and stared down at the limp bodies in front of him. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault. Dear God, it wasn't his fucking fault. He was just defending himself, and that Witch gave him no other choice. The Witch… another Witch. Another bout of self-defence.
He was interrupted when he heard a couple of female gasps from his left, turning suddenly to see Rose and Kanaya standing on the edge of a gear that connected to the concrete platform Eridan was on. "Eridan What Has Happened Here?" Kanaya asked.
Eridan opened his mouth and shook his head lightly. "i… i didnt… didnt mean to he just…"
Rose held Kanaya back, a sceptical and judging look on her face as she gazed from Eridan to the bodies, and questioned, "Eridan, did… did YOU kill them?"
"jade ran at me and… and i had to then davve… davve just…"
Kanaya scoffed, "Eridan I Can Not Believe This. I Thought You Had Changed!"
"i did! i havve! it wwas an accident and he just jumped… he just…"
Kanaya scowled, "I Just Can Not Trust You On This Eridan. You Did This Once Before And I Trusted You. You Have Absolutely Disappointed Me."
"Eridan… we all trusted you," Rose scolded him, pushing forward until she was on the same concrete platform. In the distance, just a few what seemed like miles away from them, a battle raged on with a large beam shooting off and various objects flying around the space.
"i didnt… i wwasnt tryin to…"
"Shut it," Rose demanded, pulling her wands out of her Specubis. "We're done Eridan. You want to murder your friends? Betray us all? We learned from Roxy about killing her friend out of jealousy. And now Dave and Jade? I'm sorry it came to this Eridan. Really."
Before Eridan could protest again, Rose raised her wands up and shot two Light filled beams from each, before they combined together mid-air to make a larger beam. Eridan reacted tellingly, scared and confused, and shot a beam of Hope from his own wand, and the two collided between the two strifers. Eridan felt himself pushed back, unprepared for such an attack, but managed to dig his shoes into the dirt to prevent himself from being thrown back, and managed to hold Roses beam back with his own. He was still in heavy pain from earlier, but managed to hold off his wounds to repel his attacker. He looked up to see Rose ahead of him, backed by Kanaya with a hand on her shoulder, and a determined look on her face.
Eridan looked back down to his feet, seeing even with his heels dug he was slowly backing up from the force. Why were they attacking him? It wasn't his fault he killed them. It was self-defence. Jade attacked him, and Dave jumped in the way. There was nothing he could do, wasn't there? He couldn't have helped it. Right? It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault.
Eridan looked back up, now a wide scowl on his face. He felt his anger swell, all focused on his former friends. They wouldn't listen. They just wouldn't listen. So what? It's not his fault. It's self de-fucking-fence. As his anger grew, the beam became stronger, beginning to push back and back, further and further. And as it went further, it pierced through Roses beam, making its way quickly to the Seer and the Sylph, and he noticed Roses look fall, before his beam pierced directly through both of his attackers. In a moment, Roses beam fell along with her body, before deactivating, and she and Kanaya fell to the ground, Kanaya dead on contact with Rose just barely alive. Eridan huffed as they did, Rose letting out an ear piercing scream of pain and proceeding it with a series of grunts and groans.
"Oh you… damn you to hell Eridan!" Rose yelled out, as Eridan's anger welled up inside of him. "I can't… can not… believe you. I thought you were… were better… but I guess you proved me wrong, huh? I hope you… hope you rot… in… hel… l…"
Eridan felt a little bit of him fall, something inside break, though his expression remained unchanged, as he watched Rose fall limp on the ground.
Rose Lalonde: Heroic Death.
Eridan's scowl remained as his gaze lingered, his wand now slowly cooling down. He felt so angry. Furious even. He tried to tell them. But they gave him no choice. Jade, Rose, Kanaya… they didn't leave him any other option. They didn't… did they? And now… now there's nothing. The land was silent. Four bodies lay around him, two behind and two in front. All his fault. But at the same time, he couldn't help it. It was self-defence. Wasn't it?
Eridan lost his interest in the bodies, looking over in the distance beside him where he saw the blast a few miles from him. It was his only chance. Whatever the hell happened over there was his only interest, the only way to get his mind away. So he turned, and walked along the platform towards it, the concrete clacking against the heels of his shoes, and crossed over onto another platform.
And before he knew it, another.
And another.
The time passed and Eridan never even realised it. He got closer by the minute, but he never realised it, instead only focused on whatever was happening over here, and before he even knew, he was there, almost like magic. In front of him floated around various debris from the destruction before wherein Dave's planet and another unknown planet were collided, as well as two figures up a series of stairs, one holding the other by the neck. One Eridan easily recognised, Her Imperious Condescension herself, and…
Aranea.
His heart skipped a beat at that moment, watching the Cerulean-Blood's scared expression scream out for help. The love of his life, the only matesprit he'd ever had, and the same person who hurt him immensely just half an hour ago, though it seemed like sweeps by now. He felt something well up in him, something different from his usual anger. From the anger he experienced one and a half sweeps ago. From any anger on the meteor. From the anger he felt just minutes ago. It was larger, seething, barely containable. And it wasn't like he planned on containing it.
He raised his wand, aiming the slender thing up at the two figures, and fired off a quick beam, though not aimed towards his ex-matesprit. Instead, this beam was fired into Her Imperious Condescension, passing directly through the older troll, and making her stop in her tracks. Her grip loosened on Aranea, letting her drop to the floor below, and she looked off into the distance for a moment, before falling down, over the edge of the concrete and into the bright lava below. Aranea slowly slunk up onto her hands and knees, coughing and wheezing, before looking over at Eridan and freezing.
She slowly stood up as Eridan upped the stairs, and nervously exclaimed, "Erida-" a series of hacks and coughs, "Eridan! I… uh… I can't 8elieve you uh… you saved me!" She stood up finally, the wobbling of her legs subsiding. "Thank you so much!" Eridan stood still at the top of the stairs, and Aranea began to approach. "I can not even 8egin to thank-"
Within a moment Eridan raised his wand, and shot off a beam directly through Aranea, stopping her in her tracks. "THAT wwas for betrayin my trust." He began to walk forward, firing another beam directly through the shocked girl, who seemed pained but somehow undamaged from the beam before. "THAT wwas for insultin me."
She raised an arm slowly as she held her stomach. "Eridan…" then another beam was shot through her, causing her to scream out in pain.
"THAT wwas for throwwin me around like some ragdoll." Eridan finally made his way to Aranea, grabbing the wounded girls arm and bringing it up. It was mesmerising; she seemed to be healing very quickly before his eyes, which confused the Prince. He then realised she wasn't even looking at him, but at her hand, which contained a small ring around one of her fingers. Then Eridan remembered a story, long ago, that she told him about; about a ring that brought ghosts back to life. And so he slowly guided his hand up her wrist, wrapping his thumb below her ring.
He saw the girl quiver, and flicked his thumb up, flicking the ring off and bouncing it off onto the ground beside Eridan's feet. "No!" she cried out, to no avail.
"and THIS is for betrayin my lovve and fuckin usin me you lowwly wwench."
Aranea's lip quivered, and she cried out one thing, "Eridan, please! I love you!"
Eridan stared at her for a moment that seemed to last forever, before finally letting out a final blast from his wand directly into her stomach, prompting a loud cry of pain from the girl. Eridan then pulled away, letting the girl fall backwards and over the edge of the concrete, into the lava below. Eridan shed no tears but… he felt a sort of empty now. And fell to his knees, letting his wand fall beside him, as he stared out into the vast empty sea of lava.
His name was Eridan Ampora. He was one of the twelve trolls to create our universe. Like the others, he had played through the game, won the prize, only to have it swiftly taken from him by the monstrosity Jack Noir. Like the others, he had fallen back to a secret base on a meteor far from Skaia, and began hassling the four kids that had created said monstrosity. Like the others, he was scared, and sad, and found himself devoid of all hope.
But now he'd snapped, for a second time in almost two sweeps. He'd just killed the Sylph he loved, the friends he'd been grateful for, and the human girl he despised beyond all measure. Ironic, was it not? The Hero of Hope destroying all hope there was for a happy ending for his team? He supposed it was a common occurrence by now, but he'd never get used to it. And now he knelt on the concrete platform of the planet he'd been teleported to, the lava flowing in and out below him.
He'd lost. Everything was gone. All thanks to him. The Destroyer of Aspirations. The Angel of Wrath.
The Prince of Hope.