Prince of Heart- God damn one of these days I'm gonna have a solid release schedule, mark my words.

Eridan slid his arms beneath his cape, hiding his metaphorically blood soaked hands from the world and prevent further blood shedding. As if there was more to shed than he'd already done. The conversation with Dirk left him starved; he needed to find someone else that survived, literally anyone else that he could just… talk to someone he knew. What about he had no idea. Roxy despised his guts, John was wherever the fuck in the universe, Karkat probably died doing something good for his friends, Jane was off being evil, Terezi was doing whatever the fuck, and Gamzee was scumming around somewhere being a bad person. Maybe he didn't want to see Gamzee, but the rest he would just love.

He walked from platform to platform, the lava bubbling and coursing around the concrete in an attempt to travel to some unknown point. Eridan had no idea where to walk to. He didn't particularly care though. All he had in mind that staved off any sort of depressive thoughts and the sort was to just keep walking forward until he found something- anything- to give him a reason to keep going. He really didn't want to go but… he also felt like he had nothing. No reason to stay in the universe. No reason to be alive right now. But not only that but… he felt like he didn't deserve to be alive? What reason would there be to keep him here other than pure luck? That hooky about luck and magic can't have been real… could it? Eridan had begun to believe that maybe miracles were real, after all, what else could explain him being alive right now?

"Oh," he heard a metallic and cold voice speak up, shocking him out of his stupor, "it's you."

He looked up from his feet, looking at the source of his disruption, and saw that it was, in fact, Jane, still alive after everything. She was completely still, frozen in mid-air, formerly staring over the body of Jade and now glazing over Eridan. Eridan must've walked far, having walked all the way back to the scene of his multiple murders without even realising it, spacing out hard along the way.

"oh uh hey," Eridan nervously replied to the metallic woman. "i thought you wwould havve been dead."

"The same can be said for everyone here, but it's wise to assume that until proven otherwise. I assume this is your work?" She claimed, gesturing to the dead bodies below her.

"is it obvvious?" Eridan coyly asked.

"It has pangs of you all over the place. But the smell of magic in the air is the dead give away."

"magic? huh." Eridan limped himself forward, crouching over the bodies.

"Why'd you do it? I thought these were your friends? Jade excluded."

"so did i. but people make mistakes."

"Not of this calibre. Seems like you were harbouring some ill intentions to have killed four people, three of w-"

"sevven people," Eridan corrected. "se… sevven people."

"Seven? I only calculated four here."

"aranea her condescension and jake. remember?"

"Oh, that was you who killed our glorious empress? The guts on you. I should throw you into the lava and watch your skin melt off your bones for your insubordination."

"then wwhy dont you? i wont stop you."

"What's the point? I don't have a leader anymore."

"then do wwhat you think is best. wwhy the fuck are you still a robot under her control if shes dead?"
"I don't know. I guess I really got nothing else. Don't see a reason to turn back to being an unconfident loser with no confidence." Eridan stared at her for a moment, her gaze falling away from him as he remained silent and falling it back towards the fallen. "I suppose nothing matters now. Most of the needed people are dead, supposedly mostly by your hand, and I just can't find myself the energy to be angry anymore. Frustrated yes. But what do I really have a reason to care that much anymore?"

"does it fuckin matter? nothin happens for a reason youvve gotta make that choice yourself. i just dont knoww wwhat im supposed to do."

"Does anybody?" Jane asked, tilting her head a little. "We're just in a situation that turned on us, and nothing can really change that. We've got no Time players, I can't revive any of these people, and my leader just fucked off to the afterlife."

"wwhat do you mean you cant revvivve them? could you do it before?"

"Yes, quite easily. But I suppose to do that I needed the confidence that my leader provided and… and I dunno."

"did you try?"

"Yes. I have spent the last hour trying. But it just doesn't work anymore."

"sounds like you failed."

"Coming from a murderer." Jane turned and looked him directly, her eyes cold and unmoving. "You have some nerve judging me after the things you did. After royally fucking everything up. But truly, it does. Not. Matter. And some good news came out of it. Jake isn't dead anymore. It seems you gave him neither a Heroic nor Just death and he revived some time ago."

"really?"

"He seemed betrayed, but the dumbass kept repeating that it was his fault after all, that he should've been 'more forceful in pushing that vampire alien mama away.' God damn. I really regret what I was forcing him to do."

"so… wwhere is he?"

"On the Derse moon probably. Talking to Roxy when I left him." The girl sighed. "I really wish I could find the confidence to apologise. For everything I did. I… I miss them."

"howw do i get to them?"

"I think the Derse moon crashed into the planet that simultaneously crashed into this planet. Just find some way to climb up there." Particles began to form around the girl as she limped down, the world glitching out in front of Eridan. "Oh, and do me a favour Eridan. Do everyone a favour. When you're done talking to everyone, how about you just do everyone the biggest solid… and kill yourself."

Eridan watched the girl finally get consumed by the glitches, a shiver going down his spine. He looked away, towards the planet that crashed into Daves, and started making his way to the purple spot that seemed to him like Derse.