The Furthest Ring – In-Between Dream-Bubbles

Lord English floated there in empty space, breathing heavily as he observed the destruction he'd wrought with painstaking precision to the Dream-Bubbles. Many scores of ghosts had died by his hands, and the whole experience had left him feeling invigorated. But while the cacophony of multicolored destruction had been a fun exercise of his strength after eons of imprisonment, there was more to be done.

Ever since his rebirth he'd been fighting causality, forced to flit back and forth across time and space, racing to ensure that the events that had caused his release would happen in the first place. Entire months from his perspective, where'd he'd had no choice but to help along coincidence after coincidence, failures and successes. It had been frustrating to be constrained so, but now at last he was here. And there was only one loose end to tie up before he could move on, bringing destruction to every universe as he pleased. He had to find his sister, and he had to kill her once more.

She was the only one left that could stop him; he could hear it, almost sung, on the chords of fate themselves. Every other threat to his power had been eliminated or subverted. Ironically save for the one he'd thought vanquished all those years ago. His first triumph.

Her ghost was hiding somewhere out there, and she was clever. He had no doubt that finding her would be a chore, a near impossible task. But impossible tasks were his bread-and-butter, and just as when he killed her in life, he had a plan, if one that was brutally straightforward.

He wouldn't waste time checking the likely hiding spots, the esoteric spaces, this-place-and-that. He was going to do a grid search, pure and simple. He was going to scour every inch of blank space, every Dream-Bubble, every corner of the Furthest Ring. He was going to find her and he was going to kill her.

The only obstacle to that plat was the issue of navigation. Before he'd arrived, The Furthest Ring had been a blank slate. No references, the pathways twisting and folding, in time as well as space. But he'd fixed that with his gratuitous destruction of the Dream-Bubbles. The violence he'd caused could now be used as a compass, acting as a before and after, a here and there. A way to track through time and space during his tedious and methodical search.

This was it. This was all that was left. Kill his sister. Spend the few moments needed to shrug aside his old petty rivals. Then go. Ascending beyond anything anyone had every done before or would ever do again. Because he'd kill them all.

Any hope Reality had was forfeit. The Denizens, the Horror-Terrors, the Players. All their actions had only served as a delaying action, and now they could delay him no further.

He was, after all, already here.

The Dream-Bubbles

From where she stood, Aradia saw everyone to be in good spirits, and that made her glad. It gave her Hope. They deserved a victory, no matter how small.

They'd found Feferi, of course, and that had relieved the last bit of tension that had remained. They could see their goal coming to completion. It was a festive atmosphere, an impromptu celebration having kicked off when Feferi, upon seeing their group, rushed up to Sollux and kissed him; cheers coming forth from all others present.

Everyone had been excitedly conversing, making plans for what to do after finding Eridan, planning for a new day. It was nice.

However, Aradia herself had moved off to the side after saying hi to Feferi; choosing to let the other five mingle together as she watched the shifting colors up above. Alone.

She didn't mean to be a party-pooper, she was just keeping her distance, having hashed out most of what she wanted to say to them previously. There was only one thing left for her to say to them; and saying goodbye wouldn't be easy.

She looked back over and saw Sollux glancing back at her, he must have finally noticed her absence. He said something to Feferi, then pecked her on the cheek, eliciting a blush from the pink-blooded Troll. He let go of her hand for what was probably the first time in the last 20 minutes, and then walked over to the distant spot where Aradia stood.

Aradia gave a smile as he walked up. "The two of you look happy together, I'm glad it's working out better than you'd anticipated."

Sollux looked chagrined at that and rubbed his neck nervously. "Yea, it is. I'd like to apologize for being an ass during the whole journey. I was… out of line." He shifted his posture; turning to indicate where the others still stood talking. "But hey, you're missing out on the party. You should come on over."

Her smile turned lukewarm. As she finally said what she had to. "I'd love to Sollux, but it's time for me to go."

Confusion was evident on his face. "Go? What do you mean? Go where?"

"I'm still alive, and while I enjoy all your company, I need to return to the realm of the living. There are things I need to do, things I've been putting off for a while. I have to leave in order to ensure a future for us all. We won't see each other for a while. But I believe we will again."

Sollux became sullen at the news, as she'd expected, dropping back into his characteristic slouch. But Aradia gripped his shoulder in tender affection. "Hey it's going to be ok; you have the others, you have Feferi, and they all have you. On top of that, well… I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I don't think there's anything you can do to break causality at this point, and I needto tell someone else this; it's just so exciting!"

Sollux looked at her expectantly; wondering what she could be talking about. She leaned in close and whispered into his ear, his blank eyes managing to go wide at the revelation.

"You're sure?" He said breathlessly.

"Yes." She said. "But this needs to stay between the two of us." She added hurriedly, before stepping back to unfurl her wings. Her gaze once again turned upwards to view the swirling colors.

"I need to leave now. The window's closing and I'll need to move fast to make it. You'll tell the others that I've gone?" She said, her feet already leaving the ground.

Sollux nodded in confirmation. Not quite sure what she meant by 'window', but confidant enough in her not to question.

"Good. Look after the others. Especially Feferi and Equius. I look forwards to seeing you all again. And don't tell them about that secret!" And with that she ascended rapidly, taking off into the distance.

Watching her go, he pondered her specific mention of Equius. He looked over, seeing Equius laugh heartily at some joke he and the others seemed to be enjoying. It was a mystery what she could possibly see in him after all this time. He still had his problems, even if Sollux had to begrudgingly admit his earnestness to get better. "Lunatics, both of them." He muttered to himself, though without his usual vitriol.

With Aradia fading into the distance, no longer visible, he turned to walk over to the rest of the now-smaller party. Working out how to break the news.

He was sure he could do that, at least, without everything going horribly wrong.

END OF PART 1