Prince of Heart- I know I know, late as always. But this fic ain't dyin as long as I breathe. I plan on finishing it, whether y'all want it or not.

Eridan pulled himself up onto a series of reddish rocks, bringing his cape up with him, until he stood upon the small pile with a widespread view of the Dream Bubble he was in. His attention was first drawn up, as he adjusted his glasses, at the sky, cracked and crumbling in on itself, almost like a glass window pane that had been smashed with a bat. The cracks flashed on and off in sparkles of blue, black, and white, some of which almost seemed to drip off the sky, a magnificent sight to see for a former sceptic like him. He followed the horizon down, all the way to the safety of the ground, where he was headed to. Wherever the hell that was. He followed where the wind lead him, blowing through the short green grass and cracks in the thick, red rocks. A natural rock arch stood proudly in the distance, hiding the path to another dream bubble up ahead, though he had no use of it. His objective was here. SHE was here.

He looked to his right side, a long, empty field greeting him with an awkward, ghostly silence, his cape wavering in his view. He attempted to push the flappy article down, though the moment he let go, it just went to do it again to his annoyance. He then looked to his left, where he finally saw something familiar amidst the tall grass and solid rocks. Two figures sat on the ground against a large rock, legs pulled up to their stomachs and hands interlocked, staring up into the sky as it continued to crack and fall apart, the very fabric of space seeming to tear into seams. As he approached, the figures got clearer to him; the one on the right with her recognisable shoulder length messy hair and teal tinted eyes, but the other less recognisable surprisingly. Her clothes seemed unlike her, a sleeveless top with short denim shorts overlapping a pair of black leggings as well as a pair of red lace up sneakers, with her hair tied into several braids that laid amongst her and various piercings on her face and ears, almost like that fish girl that was so much cooler to him than Feferi.

He gave a wave to the characters and greeted with, "heya vvris," he then nodded awkwardly, specifically to the second figure, "terezi."

Vriska chuckled in surprised response to the fish boy, while Terezi narrowed her eyes at the boy and hesitantly replied, "H3Y F1SH DOUCH3."

Vriska tapped Terezi's leg lightly, scolding her, "C'mon 8a8e, play nice!" She then proceeded to greet Eridan back, "Hiya Eridan, it's gr8 to see you again!"

Eridan raised an eyebrow. "uh wwhat? havve i missed something or did you snap fina fuckin ly?"

Vriska shook her head and sighed, "No 8uddy, you're looking at a new and improved Vriska Serket here! After all that 8s at the pir8 adventure, I dated Meenah for a while, and that kid and I had a few laughs sure, 8ut I mean of COURSE it wasn't meant to last. I mean, my gog the gill-" she smacked her own cheek in some sort of realisation, "sorry, GIRL, was six years older than me! SIX!"

Terezi pursed her mouth slightly, interrupting, "M33N4H DUMP3D H3R FOR TH3 N3W VR1SK4."

The punkish Vriska sighed sadly, her arms going limp. "Yeah… 8ut on the 8right side, I met up with Terezi again!" She pulled Terezi inwards, the shorter girl gladly placing her head on her shoulder.

Eridan took a second, but he eventually replied, "oooooh fuck so are you girls like… matesprits noww then?"

Vriska smiled smugly. "What do you think Eridan?"

Eridan placed his hands on his hips and kicked the ground beneath him. "damn i owwe nepeta so much grist noww."

Terezi opened her eyes slightly, so that she squinted at Eridan. "WHY 4R3 YOU H3R3 3R1D4N? H3R3 TO FUCK 3V3RYTH1NG UP 4G41N?"

"ter cmon noww it wwasnt my fault! i had no idea aranea wwould attack like that."

"Wait WHAT?" Vriska squealed, before bursting out laughing. "She fucking WHAT? You're telling me that fucking ARANEA, that 8ORING 8ROAD, ATTACKED THE GROUP?"

"SURPR1S1NGLY SH3 K1CK3D OUR 4SS3S; 3SP3C14LLY W1TH TH3 H3LP OF H3R BOYFR13ND OV3R H3R3," Terezi scowled, directed at the Prince.

"i didnt evven fuckin knoww she wwas doin that wwhole shindig! i wwas too busy bein beaten by that fuckin wwitch to evven realise she made it there!"

"SO WH4T, YOU'R3 ST1LL R3SPONS1BL3 FOR K1LL1NG L1K3 FOUR P3OPL3."

"its fuckin FIVVE people as a matter of fact and three of them wwere self defense one wwas an accident and the other wwas me killin my FUCKIN GIRLFRIEND," Eridan exclaimed, stompling his shoe on the ground to emit a loud crunch. "i didnt mean for any of that to happen i wwas just tryin to defend myself wwhich quite fuckin frankly is more than you actually did! i dont knoww wwhat the fuck wwent down wwith you or wwhy you had gams blood on you but i knoww for absolute CERTAIN that it wwasnt anythin fuckin useful!"

Terezi gritted her teeth, before barking back, "G4MZ33 W4S 4 FUCK1NG PHSYCHOP4TH TH4T H4D TO B3 STOPP3D R3M3MB3R? 1 W4S DO1NG 3V3RYON3 4 F4VOUR!.

"a FAVOUR? i wwas bein torn asunder and tryin to survvivve wwhile you wwere flippin around wwith your kismesis!"

"H8LY SH8T will you ladies stop it! No-one's the 8ad guy here! AND it doesn't matter anymore! The new universe is thriving and the people alive have a chance to actually win this, for everyone, and all you focus on is the past?"

Terezi scrunched up her face in confusion. "H3 K1LL3D FOUR OF OUR FR13NDS!"

"I know Eridan 8etter than you T, if he says it was an accident or self-defence, then it pro8a8ly was! Don't you think he'd 8e a little more open a8out his kills if he had the intent? Gog, and I thought YOU were the detective."

Terezi glanced at Eridan, her blank, white slates of eyes burning into his soul, before she sighed, "Y34H, 1 GU3SS. 1F 1T W4S 4NOTH3R SOL SL4SH F3F3R1 S1TU4T1ON H3'D 4DM1T 1T."

"damn right i wwould," Eridan said, placing his hands on his hips, "wwait wwas that a good thing?"

"MURD3R1NG YOUR FR13NDS 1S N3V3R 4 GOOD TH1NG DUMB4SS, BUT 1F YOU S4Y 1T W4SN'T YOUR F4ULT, 1 B3L13V3 YOU." The girl smiled, slightly showing her pointed jaws. "B3S1D3S, 1'V3 GOT 3T3RN1TY NOW, NO PO1NT 1N HOLD1NG 4 GRUDG3 FOR TH4T LONG. 1 M34N, 1'M NOT VR1SK4!"

"Hey!" Vriska exclaimed, playfully jabbing her partner in the side.

"wwell thats wwhy im here actually. to apologise for everything i did."

"Eridan…" Vriska sighed, before the Prince waved her off.

"no vvris i gotta. im sorry to you ter for evverything i did in the broken univverse. for killin your boyfriend and not finishin off gam wwhile i had the chance. and vvris im sorry for wwhat i said or did in the session and the dream bubbles. im sorry for turnin against you and im sorry for almost killin you on that rooftop like 3 swweeps ago. and i guess i-"

"Eridan, just stop, okay? I appreciate you feeling sorry and all that 8oring 8s 8ut that's not who you are! That's not the Eridan I had a kismesis with all that time ago. The Eridan I knew then was a semi-8adass, who i saw 8reak down a ships hull 8y ramming his own into it, who struck fear into every scurvy dog that dared cross his path. I know it's supposed to be good or whatever that you're owning up to your mistakes, 8ut that defiance you showed in the 8u88le? Christ, on the ROOF? THAT was where you really shine. All this apologising and humility just aren't you, y'know?"

The Thief looked into the distance, and a smile formed on her blue lips. "8ut what IS you is going 8ack to your new session as a new and improved guy! You've said what needed to be said, admitted to your faults, 8ut now you can really shine 8y 8ringing that 8itch of an empress down! I KNOW you Eridan, and you've got my forgiveness, fuck, you had it 8efore you even came here, 8ut now you have to shine as the warrior you are. YOU can finally 8ring whatever 8ullshit Hope you wanted to on that meteor to your group in the session. You finally have your shot. Are you gonna take it? Or throw it the fuck away like every other one you had in our session?"

Eridan squinted his eyes at her for a moment, pursing his lips as he thought. He unknowingly began to twist the Ring of Death around his finger, as a sort of relief to his sanity, before coming to the conclusion:

"im not throwwin awway this fuckin shot. i am eridan gog damn empora the bringer of pain and warload of death. i am the fuckin prince of hope and fuck ANYONE wwho says anythin else!"

He put his hand around the ring on his finger, pawing a little at the edge, before Vriska told him, "Thank you Eridan, you descendant of a 8itch. Give that fish girl a kick in the ribs for me huh?"

Eridan nodded, doing the same to Terezi, then smiled to himself. Everything he done couldn't be forgiven, not in a million sweeps, but fuck anyone who says he couldn't be a good guy if he tried. He was a fucking hero, whether he liked it or not.

And with a yank of the ring off his finger, he returned to the land of the living.