As bits of consciousness made their way back to her, her limbs shivered. When she sat up, her thoughts were still hazy from the excess of feelings that had exploded in her. She looked around her, only to be greeted by the light of the sun – she couldn't tell whether it was sunrise or sunset. Then she saw him, sitting not far from her. She moaned slightly as she started to remember all that had happened before she fainted. He turned around to look at her.
"Ah, you're awake! I almost started to worry."
She batted her eyelashes, still trying to make sense of her surroundings.
"Where are we?"
"Right now, we're in my dream bubble. I hope you don't mind."
When he saw the bafflement that remained on her face, he added:
"As for the place we're at, I think you can guess for yourself."
She stood up, looked around her and finally realized they were on top of a cliff. But not any cliff, it was the one off which she had pushed him.
Suddenly she was very awake, and to be honest, she was freaking out. Was he going to throw her off that cliff the same way she had done to him? A tidal wave of guilt overwhelmed her. She quickly glanced back at Tavros, expecting him to grin evilly, plotting her demise. But there was none on that – the expression he had on his face was otherwise harder to decipher. It was a smile full of pain and regret – full of nostalgia, too. He spoke again:
"You probably wonder why we're here."
She noticed that he was barely stuttering – and somehow he looked more mature and calm. He turned away, looking at the sea in front of them. She nodded to express her bewilderment, but then realized he wasn't looking her way anymore. She swallowed a bit of saliva, and quietly replied:
"Yes…"
He looked at her again, and patted the square of grass next to him, asking her to sit there. He himself was sitting on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling in the emptiness. She must have looked wary, because he chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to push you. Not that you would die anyway – I mean, once again. Since it already uh, happened."
She thought she would deserve to die again, once and for all.
She finally complied with his demand and sat down beside him, her feet joining his in their swinging movement. She looked at the sun reflected on the waves below them. She didn't remember the scenery there was so pretty. They sat silently for some minutes, before Tavros decided to initiate the discussion. They both knew they still had things to say, to explain.
"You know, ever since I died, I've come back here often – well, my memories did. I've spent a long time just sitting here, thinking. About how I had always been a coward, mostly. I still remember what you said that day when you pushed me off that cliff. "Advance or abscond." When you think about it, it applies to pretty much anything. And the more I looked back, the more I realized I had been absconding all my life."
She interrupted him – her voice was raspy.
"You didn't die a coward."
His blank eyes widened for a second, before he gave in to laughter. It was a somewhat bitter laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.
"What's the point of being brave if you die?"
His laughter seemed to be slightly infectious, because she found herself giggling along with him, even though she still had a lump in her throat.
"Guess so!"
The conversation had become a bit odd, with the two of them laughing at life and death on the edge of a cliff. The pleasing sensation of fun from their days as Sgrub players was coming back, minus Tavros' nervousness. After all, now that they were both dead and off the chessboard, many things stopped being important. Especially since it was just the two of them. Alternia was long gone, along with its social order. Right here and now, they were equals. And somehow, the atmosphere between them was completely different from what it used to be when they were on Alternia – or even on the meteor.
All the heaviness looming above them had vanished away, especially for Vriska. Blood didn't really matter anymore, and that was a relief. Nobody expected anything from her anymore. As if mirroring her thoughts, a fresh breeze of wind suddenly blew in their faces – her long hair was in a mess, with locks flying all around her, some even lightly hitting Tavro's face. He didn't seem to mind – his eyes were closed, a quiet smile stretching his lips, as if to enjoy the feeling of the wind on his skin.
The wind calmed down eventually, and he let out a sigh.
"The only thing I miss is being able to fly around. Even if it was with a machine, that was so fun!"
She smiled.
"Yes, it really was."
They stopped talking, both of them busy with their own thoughts. The longer they remained quiet, the more it felt that they still had things to talk about. Their pre-fainting conversation hadn't been a proper conversation – a one-sided breakdown wasn't exactly what Vriska had planned. She coughed slightly.
"Tavros, about what I said earlier…"
He tore his eyes away from the ocean to set them on her. His childish smile had disappeared, replaced by a much more serious expression. He apparently knew the conversation would come back to that. He simply invited her to carry on:
"Yes?"
As she remembered her earlier babbling, her cheeks slightly flushed – she had been a complete wuss, and that was damn embarrassing. But that wasn't her main concern.
"You know, I meant it – the fact that I regretted killing you."
He brought his knees up to his chest, letting his chin rest on them. He looked away, maybe to admire the scenery, maybe so that she wouldn't see his face. She'd never know.
"Does it surprise you? I'd understand. I'm a spiderbitch after all."
He briefly glanced at her.
"You're not a bitch. Can't deny the spider part though."
He paused.
"But it was still surprising. Everything you said was surprising. Also, seeing you being, uh…"
"Lame? Yeah, sorry about that."
He rolled his slightly ivory eyes, and actually even dared to flick her cheek. What was the worst that could happen? He was already dead anyway.
"You're not lame. I'm the lame one. It's me."
She rubbed her cheek that had taken a delicate cerulean shade, frowning. She pretended to be offended – but the corners of her mouth going up betrayed her fun.
"What the hell is wrong with you? What happened to the boy-skylark I knew and antagonized?"
He chuckled.
"He became like Pupa Pan, well, uh, except he can't fly. So I guess he isn't really exactly like Pupa."
"Maybe some special stardust along with happy thoughts would do the trick!"
Wait, this sounded very familiar. She had already said that before. When was it again? Then she remembered everything – him crashing in her hive in his pupa pan outfit, her wearing her fairy dress, the "special stardust" that didn't do anything, and the happy thoughts-giving kiss. Judging by the toffee color that had appeared on Tavros' cheeks, he remembered too.
The two young trolls quickly looked away in separate directions, their feet swinging fiercely. Vriska finally stuttered:
"Sorry about that. That was very stupid. And kind of mean I guess…"
He rubbed the back of his head nervously, as if he was trying to make his hair catch fire. His nervousness had come back in full strength. Also, it had brought its friend Blush. His cheeks looked like oranges at full maturity. Well that's what Vriska would have thought if she knew what oranges were.
They once again stopped talking – this time, to let their faces cool down from the sudden blushing.
"You know, I've been thinking that it would have been nice if we were humans."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"We would've had it so easy! John told me a bit about life on his planet. Well, how it was before it was destroyed by meteors."
"John? Is that one of the humans we were trolling?"
She nodded, smiling.
"Yeah. He's the red text kid's best friend. His "best bro", to use his words."
Tavros shuddered a bit at the reminiscence of his conversations with Dave Strider. He winced when he remembered the lewdness of the human kid's language.
"Uh yeah, I see who you're talking about."
"Well I've been talking to John quite a lot – actually, I've helped him reach god tier. He said that culling wasn't a thing on his planet, and that killing other people was quite a big deal. Their young aren't tested, so even the tamest and the weakest ones have the possibility to reach adulthood. Also, social order is much less strict."
She sighed.
"My life would have been so different… Not having to kill anybody sure seems nice…"
"Yeah."
She looked thoughtfully at the sky above them, swinging her legs.
"I would have been so much nicer to you too, I think."
He looked at her, surprised.
"Uh, really? Why would you uh, have been nicer?"
"You aren't a bad guy Tavros. In fact, you are too nice for your own good and our own species. It's a wonder you lived so old, when you think about it."
"That's uh, rather mean to say that. I'll have you know that I'm very fierce and all!"
But the look on Vriska's face made it clear that she wasn't making fun of him. She resumed her explanations.
"Then, there was also the fact that you were low on the hemospectrum – opposite to me, even. I was expected to mistreat you, not be friends with you. Also, I was very stupid. I mean, more stupid than now."
"Uh yeah, I guess the hemospectrum was very strict… I've never given it much thought since uh, we didn't really have the choice."
"I didn't think about it either, until I started talking to John. He's a nice kid. Very goofy and all."
She smiled to herself.
"He reminds me of you in some ways."
She didn't further her point.
"The more John and I talked about our respective worlds, the more I wished I had been a human. Had you been one too, maybe we would have been friends. But now it's too late for that."
Pause.
"Maybe not…" hesitated Tavros.
She stared at him, before cackling.
"See? You're too nice for your own good. You can't even hate the person who killed you after ruining your life. That's no good! Maybe you should try punching me or something. That would be a good start."
He looked completely shocked by her advice. She let out a sigh.
"Gosh, you really need to be spoon-fed, huh?"
She turned a bit around to face him, took off her glasses, and put them on the side next to her.
"Alright, watch well."
"Wait Vriska, what are you going to–––"
He hadn't finished asking before a loud crack was heard. Blue blood started dripping onto Vriska's chest from her nose. She nonchalantly rubbed off some of it with her sleeve.
"And this, Tavros, is how you throw a punch. Notice that the whole upper body moved forward to accompany the arm."
He wasn't really listening, despite her detailing the move with her fist now drenched in blue. He was too busy panicking.
"Oh my god, you're bleeding a lot!"
She once again pressed her sleeve against her face.
"No shit, troll Sherlock." she snickered.
She felt her nose through the fabric of her jacket.
"I think it's broken.", she noted indifferently.
If he hadn't heard the words she had spoken, he would have thought she was talking about the weather.
"Geez, calm down you goddamn blubbering pansy!", she impatiently said. "It's your turn now. Do you want me to wear my glasses?"
He was slightly freaking out.
"I'm not going to punch you…!"
"Oh come on, lots of people would kill to be in your place! I'm sure you'll have fun!"
"I'm not going to punch you!" he repeated, more firmly this time.
She smirked.
"Oh, you just like to watch? Didn't think you were the type."
"No, I didn't mean it that way, I just––– No!"
He interrupted himself when she prepared to land another punch on her face, this time aiming for the jaw. He grabbed her arm with force. But he wasn't angry. On the contrary, chocolate tears were appearing at the corner of his eyes. She looked at him blankly, before shrugging.
"Too nice for your own good."