Chapter Three - Lost Hope
Autumn was slowly passing on the island of Skaia, the golden fallen leaves being replaced by thick ice and even some snow here and there. The chill in the air could bring even the most brazen person to shiver slightly.
Preparations for revolution were forming swiftly. In a few months, with the efforts of each of the realm's involved leaders, everyone was slowly understanding what their task was and how they were to carry it out.
Today, many of the leaders were up in Earth Derse's castle. This doubled up as both a revolution meeting and a joint preparation for the Winter Ball that would take place the following evening. With Dirk and the others so busy, they had no time to organise a ball! So those who had no desire to actually fight in the revolution had been left up to party planning.
The knights were currently discussing and teaching each other tactics. Or that's what they were meant to be doing.
"This cape is a fucking stupid idea, Strider!" Karkat shouted, jabbing it with his sword.
"Fuck off! This cape's cooler than everything you own put together," Dave frowned, meeting Karkat's sword with his own.
"But it's a fucking pain! How many times have you tripped over it while trying to fight?"
"At least four," Rose called from where she was sitting in the sidelines, then returned to her conversation with Kanaya.
"Exactly. What use is a fucking cool looking cape going to be in a revolution? Fuck you can't fight but you'll look great (well actually you won't because it looks fucking stupid)" Karkat said.
"Well it isn't as stupid as your fucking useless sickle that we had to yank off you."
"I can assure you it wouldn't be 'fucking useless' when you're pinned up against a wall with it at your neck!"
This continued for a while, Latula egging the two of them on, until finally all of the knights had given up on their practice, watching Karkat and Dave argue half-jokingly about petty things. The two seemed to be getting a kick out of the banter, but were getting pretty wound up about things.
Just as Karkat finally challenged Dave to a duel, Kanaya sighed, apologised to Rose and went over to the crowd of laughing knights to break Dave and Karkat up.
"Surely you should be teaching rather than fighting amongst yourselves?" she cocked an eyebrow, gently signalling for them both to lower their raised swords. Slowly the two obeyed, sliding them back into their belts safely. "Good. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to return to my conversation with Rose in peace. Try to actually get things done."
Karkat frowned but obeyed.
"Very well handled," Rose said with a chuckle as Kanaya sat herself back down beside Rose, their hips touching ever-so-slightly.
"When growing up with Karkat and Kankri you need to know how to silence what could be an incredibly long-winded and pointless argument," Kanaya said, smiling. "Where were we?"
"I believe we were coming up with some form of battle strategy," Rose looked down at the table in front of them, maps and books scattered across it. They had one large sheet of parchment which upon it were the beginnings of a map of Alternia Prospit's castle, and little figures drawn on it; the positions that people should hold during the revolution.
Kanaya sighed, "I must say, although I know this is incredibly important... It is awfully boring. Especially when I'm sat beside a very interesting woman."
Rose chuckled, "speak for yourself, Kanaya. But I have to agree, it's rare I get to see you and I hate to waste it doing such a boring task."
"It's a shame; I've heard Eridan Ampora has a passion for maps. If he'd agreed to join then we might be able to escape for a little while," Kanaya sighed.
Rose frowned, looking at the knights, who were once again joking about. "Well they're slacking off. I daresay we've done at least double the work they've done," she clapped her hands together lightly, "right I think we should call it a day. It's nearly Christmas, we should be allowed to leave early."
Kanaya smirked, "I like your thinking. What do you plan on doing with your newfound free time?"
"Well," Rose said, never once breaking eye contact with Kanaya, "I've had some new dresses that I'm particularly fond of. Would you care to take a look?"
"Certainly," Kanaya smirked back, almost waggling her eyebrows, but she controlled herself.
The two got up and quickly slipped away, holding their long skirts up as they hurried down the stairs. Once they were on equal ground, Rose slipped her hand into Kanaya's, neither saying a word nor looking at each other, but sharing internal warm smiles.
"Morning Rose," Dirk said, rushing past the pair of them.
"Morning," Rose said, nodding her hair. "You look rushed."
"Busy day," Dirk said simply. "Have you seen Jake around?"
"He's with Jane and Roxy. They're over in the town on their lunch break."
"Okay, see you later. Have fun with... whatever you might be doing."
Rose chuckled, assuring him she would as Kanaya blushed. The blush only made Rose's grin widen as the two made their way to her bedroom.
Dirk found Jake where Rose had promised; sure enough, he was playing cards with Jane and Roxy. Judging by the amount of noise they were generating, they were certainly having fun. Dirk almost wanted to sit down and join them.
"Well ladies, I hate to admit it but you have me well and truly beaten," Jake threw down his cards as the girls high-fived in victory.
"Oh Dirk, hiya!" Roxy grinned, waving energetically as she saw him. Jake and Jane turned around, greeting Dirk, who'd begun walking over.
"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Dirk asked.
"Nope, we just finished a game," Jane said with a smile. "Can we help you with anything?"
"Well I was looking to speak with Jake if that wasn't a problem?"
"Me? Oh, sure," Jake got up, grinning awkwardly. Dirk beckoned for Jake to follow him.
The two walked awkwardly in silence for a while. Jake decided to break the silence as smoothly as he could.
"So um... That play we went to see last week was pretty great!" he said weakly. Jake was about as smooth as sandpaper.
Dirk smiled slightly, "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hear there's another pretty good one next week. If I get some free time, you're welcome to come with me."
"I'll definitely try and make it! Me and Jade are going out hunting sometime soon, you should tag along if you get time to," Jake grinned.
Dirk felt his chest lighten at Jake's reply. He didn't realise that Jake was enthusiastic about their meetings; actually Dirk had begun to worry a little that he was irritating Jake. Though then again the Page had not been gifted with perfect social eloquence, so he was quite easily misinterpreted. It could be quite frustrating.
"Say, Jake. Would you ever be up for going somewhere alone with me?" Dirk asked, trying to sound casual. Jake didn't seem to pick up on the tension.
"We've been going places alone already," Jake said, confused.
"Oh, I mean... maybe if we thought of it in a different way. A more... romantic way, for instance."
There was a silence as Jake actually realised what Dirk was saying. "Dirk are you...?"
"You're an interesting guy, Jake. I feel my attraction towards you isn't just friendly."
Jake blinked, clueless as to how to react. "Well... um... I..." Jake managed, looking at Dirk, very unsure as to what on earth he should say.
Dirk smirked inwardly. He should've expected this outcome. Fucking figured.
"I - I really have to go," Jake stuttered, bowing his head to avoid any further eye contact with Dirk. Away he jogged, stiffly and awkwardly. Dirk would've found it hilarious and almost cute if he didn't feel so... numb.
Great. After a few months of knowing him, Dirk had fucked up his chances with the only person he'd ever found himself actually romantically liking. Fucking brilliant. Though then again, Jake hadn't said no. Dirk hadn't been rejected; he'd been left as some sort of Schrodinger's cat. He sank to the floor of the corridor that he and Jake had been standing in, resting his head in his arms, both confused and quite upset. He had prince-y stuff to be doing, but right now that was the last thing he wanted to be doing.
He could stay here for a little while. That would be okay. No one was coming down the corridor, by the looks of things, so he'd be okay. Dirk sighed. If only he could stay in the corridor for the rest of his life and not have to face up to remotely difficult things.
The Winter Ball had been a success for some and an utter disaster for others. Among the smug attendees were, of course, Rose and Kanaya and John and Dave. Rose and Kanaya were both now very forward about their blossoming romantic feelings for one another; neither even bothering to hide it in front of others. Everyone knew exactly what was going on between those two. John and Dave, although still playing with excuses and pretences and awkwardness were slowly getting closer and closer in a more-than-friendly way, though neither were brave enough to bring up the discussion of "do we want to make this an actual dating thing?". 'Skinny love' was the term used a lot when they were being gossiped about.
Then of course were the more... unsuccessful of the romantic pursuits. Dirk had spent the entire ball blatantly ignoring anyone bar Roxy, not even attempting to look entertained as he was putting together some sort of miniature contraption and 'reading through some paperwork' which was actually just a lot of blank pages bound together.
Terezi had still yet to show up out of her dragon cave, something that was worrying Karkat, and therefore make him even more angry than usual. This had then led to Jade getting snapped at by him when she asked him what was wrong, and then Jade's feelings were hurt too. Generally Karkat felt like a piece of shit.
Eridan was also angry at himself. Not only had he still not managed to get a dance with Feferi, she'd been with Sollux for the majority of the night, not even dancing with others now. Everything was just one continuous dance with Sollux. Why him!? Eridan had spent the majority of the night sulking by wherever the wine was. He'd gotten talking to Roxy while there, though communication was minimal as he couldn't understand what she was saying through her slurring, and she couldn't understand his stupid accident. He'd mainly just moaned to himself about stupid Sollux taking Feferi away from him.
And that, Eridan told himself, was exactly what he was planning on discussing with the Princess once they were back home. He'd already planned it all out; it was impossible not to, what with a ridiculously long journey home with nothing to do but ride a horse and mull over your thoughts.
Once horses had been tied up and goodbyes had been exchanged, Eridan and Feferi along with a few others made their way up tiredly up to the castle.
"It's times like these I really hate having to walk down so many stairs to get to my room," Feferi sighed, beginning her decent to the lower rooms. The only reason she took the basement rooms, is because they were connected to the part of the castle which was submerged in water, and obviously a mermaid had to live in an underwater castle. Only when she had her magical legs could she actually step foot out of it.
Eridan followed her; his room was also down below, for the sole reason of it being closer to Feferi. "Fef, um," Eridan said on their way down. "Can I have a word with you about somethin'?"
Feferi hopped down the last few steps, "sure thing! But you're gunna have to follow me because I'm gunna get changed into some more comfortable clothes!" She made her way over to her room, throwing off her high heels as she walked.
Eridan hesitated at the door, but as soon as he saw Feferi was standing behind her screen at the back of the room to get changed, he happily followed her in.
"So what was it you needed?" She called while jewellery, hairclips and bits of clothing were flung out from behind the screen.
"Well... Um... It's about Sollux."
"Oh? What about him?"
"What is he to you?" Eridan asked quickly.
Feferi paused, more clothing was flung away. "Well... He's a lovely guy," she said simply, pausing, unsure how to phrase what she was to say next. "No... it's not that he's a lovely guy... he's a different guy. You meet him and he is certainly not a lovely guy! But then slowly you get to know him, he opens up, and you see a nice side to him. I don't even know if he can see the nice side of him, yet. I hope he can see it one day."
Sighing, Eridan sat down on one of the many armchairs. That really wasn't the answer he wanted.
"Eridan? Why'd you want to know?"
"I... well..." Eridan sighed, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes in frustrated concentration, trying to phrase what he wanted to say in the least offensive way possible. In the end he just decided to come out with it. "I feel like I'm losin' you, Fef."
"What do you mean?"
Standing up and beginning to frustrated pace around the room quickly, Eridan said, "well... fuck how do I say this. It feels like you're not even here anymore, Fef. Obviously we're physically in the same room, but it's not the same as it used to be. Before I knew I meant somethin' to you; I wasn't just a Prince, I was Eridan. But now, fuck I don't know who the hell I am to you."
Feferi appeared from out behind her screen, wearing a simple violate night gown and looking very concerned as she made her way over to Eridan. "Eridan what are you saying? Of course you're important to me! We see each other every day, I can tell you anything and you can tell me anything! We trust each other, don't we? We're the prince and princess of Southern Alternia, and though we might not be romantically involved with one another that doesn't mean we're not close!"
Eridan looked hesitant to agree.
"What is it, Eridan?" she asked as softly as she could, trying not to sound too frustrated.
"It's fuckin' stupid..." Eridan grumbled. "I... fuck I may as well tell you. These past few balls, well, I've been really lookin' to get a dance or two with you, Fef. Nothin' special, just a little dance, y'know? Or even just sit and talk with you. But... well fuckin' Sollux has been with you the entire time, hasn't he? Or some worthless lowblood, and I just haven't had chance to... to be with you. At all."
"I had no idea you felt like that Eridan! But why didn't you just ask for a dance?"
Fins flushing purple, Eridan stuttered, "W-well you see this is what's so fuckin' stupid. I was tryin' my best all night, but every single time I was about to go up to you, some glubbing useless human or Sollux or whatever would come up and demand to dance with you. Every fuckin' time, I swear."
Feferi frowned to herself, thinking. Then, without a word she made her way over to the little music box collection she had on her desk. She carefully picked one up and opened it as the simple and sweet melody began to play. She set it down, walking back over to Eridan, thrusting out her hand.
"Dance with me, Eridan!"
"But now I feel fuckin' ridiculous!"
"Eridan stop being so fussy! You wanted a dance, well, as your princess I am commanding you dance with me!"
Part of Eridan wanted to continue protesting, but most of him was actually very pleased by this turn of events. He took hold of Feferi's outstretched hand, pulling the two of them together and they began to slowly dance to the melodic tune of the music box.
Eridan felt utterly ridiculous; there he was, properly dressed in all of his formal wear he'd been wearing for the ball, and he was dancing with one of the prettiest women he'd ever met who was wearing only a loose fitting night gown and still managed to be stunning. As much as he felt awkward in such a situation, the overbearing glee he got from it overtook the embarrassment.
Neither said anything as they danced, they didn't even look at each other, they both felt too bashful for once. However, they were both smiling, and though they didn't look at one another, they knew the smile was there. Feferi began to giggle a little.
"This situation - it's so... obscure and wonderful!" Feferi explained her giggles with a smile, "I'm a mermaid; I shouldn't even be able to dance with you! Let alone in my bedroom in the middle of the night while you're dressed up as if you're about to go to a wedding!"
"Perhaps I'm not stupidly over dressed, maybe you're ridiculously underdressed!" Eridan retorted with a small smile.
"Certainly not," Feferi grinned, "I had to grow legs for this, so I'm automatically right!"
"How does that work!?"
"It works because I'm a princess and I said so!" She giggled more, making Eridan chuckle a little.
In retort, Eridan spun the two of them a little quicker, pretending to drop Feferi in time with the music, but caught her with both arms, her legs flying up in the air as they laughed.
Suddenly, however, there came a terrifyingly loud crack, and Eridan and Feferi were engulfed in a cloud of multicoloured smoke. The two blinked, wondering what on earth had happened. Feferi then realised what had happened.
"Um, Eridan it's a good job you're holding me right now because, well, look at my legs."
Eridan tried to look at her legs, but couldn't. There weren't any legs there. Just a big, smooth, mermaid tail.
"You transformed back! But we're mid dance!" Eridan cried.
"I can't help the transformation - I just go poof, back into a mermaid after 48 hours! Just - Just don't drop me, Eridan!" Feferi said, feeling Eridan beginning to loosen his grip on her.
"Oh shit you can't walk can you?" Eridan hoisted her up, supporting her back with one arm and hooking her extravagant fin over the other arm. "It's like you're my fuckin' damsel in distress."
"Well I'm more of a mermaid in distress right now. Let's head back over to the water part of the castle, yeah?"
Eridan nodded, carrying her through the lower parts of the castle. While walking, though he began to chuckle, the chuckle turned into a laugh and soon he was at risk of dropping Feferi from his guffaws of amusement.
"You - I - we -" he tried to explain his laughter, and Feferi began helplessly laughing along as well, though she wasn't sure why.
"You're a fuckin' mermaid," he tried again, "and you just go and transform on me like that - I - it's so fuckin' ridiculous. You're in your fuckin' nighty and I'm dressed like I'm going to visit some sorta king!"
The two collapsed into laughter as they reached the part of the castle where the water met land. Eridan helped Feferi out of her now unnecessary clothing, sliding her into the water, chuckling as they did so. The pair sat, Eridan on land, Feferi in the water, letting the last of their giggles fade away.
"Damn I love this place," Eridan muttered as they sat, neither wanting to leave.
"I know, it's so beautiful," Feferi said. She was right. It was the perfect mad-made fusion of land and water; the marble floor which had a slightly blue tint to it formed the stairs that led up into the main castle, and a corridor which led off into a number of rooms; two of which were Eridan and Feferi's bedrooms. Then came the most dramatic part; where the marble met the clear, almost crystal-like water that Feferi most of her days in. The floor sloped naturally downward as the water lapped at it, much like the ocean. Below that was the underwater castle that Eridan had never actually seen. Feferi had assured him it was breathtakingly wonderful.
Eridan began mindlessly playing with a lock of Feferi's hair as they sat. He would've gone to bed, but he wanted to be with Feferi, and by the looks of things, she wanted to be with him too. He continued to twiddle with the hair, just thinking to himself. Feferi sighed happily to herself, relaxing into the water, her tail contentedly swaying ever so slightly. Before he knew it, Eridan realised he was braiding her hair.
"I didn't know you could braid," Feferi smiled, admiring her hair.
"Neither did I..." Eridan said, bemused, continuing to pleat her hair. "I'm really fuckin' tired..."
Feferi yawned, "so am I, cod, it must be pretty late..."
Neither were quite sure when it happened but slowly their eyes slid closed and they slipped into the world of sleep almost simultaneously, leaning against one another. They dozed contentedly, before finally both fell into a peaceful, deep sleep.
It was hours before Eridan woke up. His face had been resting in very shallow water, leaving one side of his face and hair soaking wet. He stretched, yawning. That was one of the most peaceful sleeps he'd had in an awful long time. However, sleeping on a marble floor in formal wear was not exactly comfortable.
Climbing to his feet, Eridan was about to make his way into his bedroom before he realised... Where was Feferi?
She'd probably just woken up before him and swam into her bed.
However Eridan felt uneasy, so he knocked thrice on her bedroom door, letting himself in and walked over to the little area of the room which merged into a pool, and a little area of rocks and coral that Feferi called her bed.
She wasn't sleeping in it.
Eridan began to panic. He ran back out to where he and Feferi had been sleeping, pulling off his coat as he ran and prepared to dive straight into the deepest part of the water to search for her. However, just as he was about to jump he saw something he'd missed in his sleepy state before.
There, right where Feferi had been sleeping was a small, black flag. Eridan picked it up, turning it over and felt his blood go cold as he gritted his teeth and bawled his fists in anger.
It wasn't just any flag, it was Vriska Serket's flag, and attached to it was a tiny note.
" Your princess is in another castle! 8etter find her 8efore something 8ad happens!"
Eridan could feel the bloodlust fill his veins like poison as he loosened his cravat and pulled on a cloak, totally enraged in fury. He didn't care about what time it was, he marched straight through the castle out to the stables, getting a few concerned comments from random maids which he ignored. He climbed on top of his horse and wordlessly left the castle's grounds at a ridiculously fast galloping pace. He didn't care if this horse crumbled beneath him from energy loss; nothing was stopping him.
"Have we finished yet? It's six in the morning and I'm really tired," John moaned, resting his face in his hands.
"Shut the fuck up, John. We've discussed tactics, weapons, dates..." Karkat faded off, mumbling to himself and checking his mental list. "Yes okay we're fucking done. Unless anyone wants to add anything but we all know there's a right and wrong answer to that."
There were grumbles of agreement as the members of the revolution meeting grumbled, climbing to their feet and stretching. After spending the night at a ball, and then discussing revolutions for a further six hours, no one was in the best of moods.
"Hold on!" Came a call as the door slammed open. Standing there was Eridan, trying to catch his breath.
No one had the energy to express any form of surprise, so the only reaction he got were annoyed grunts off a few people.
"What the fuck are you doing here," Karkat said hopelessly.
"I -" Eridan was quite taken aback at the anticlimactic entrance, but then realised it didn't matter. He dropped to the floor in a bow, his head lowered, "Feferi is being held hostage by Vriska Serket and her pirates. I request - no, I beg - that you let me join your revolution in hope to overthrow the monsters of our seas. Everything in my kingdom is yours; just help me get Feferi back."
A/N
I haven't proof read this because I'm really tired *bad writer* so sorry about that!
Also if you wanna know how Feferi gets from room to room in her castle when she's in mermaid form, there's like a massive stream network in the castle that she swims in. Like a bus lane but for mermaids.
Thank you for lovely feedback!