Chapter Text
Luz was on a Wizard’s quest. How fun! She loved the idea of getting to go on a quest! It was the foundation of any good isekai story after all. Even if she could go home anytime she wanted.
As she walked, following the map, her gaze was focused on the map and the path. Not on the sky. Which perhaps she should have been focusing on. Because she was knocked off her feet when someone collided with her, falling out of the sky.
“Ow.” she said, trying to climb out from whoever it was.
She turned to look at them when they said nothing.
They had grey skin, and black hair. Solid black, practically shining in the light, except for a streak of violet in the front. They were wearing a blue scarf, but it was loose enough to see gills underneath. They had fin-like appendages in place of ears, and horns that had stripes of red, yellow, and orange. Their shirt was black, with a violet Aquarius symbol, covered by a violet cloak. Wow, this kid loved violet. Plus blue and black striped pants.
The… whatever they were, seemed panicked. They lifted their shirt, running their fingers over their stomach, as if something was supposed to be there.
“Umm, hello?” asked Liz, annoyed.
They gave a small shriek. “Oh my gog, wwho are you?”
“Luz, who are you? Just falling out of the sky? Why do you talk like that? Are you a witch?”
“I’m Eridan Ampora, and I was just… cut in half.” It doesn’t seem like that was what he wanted to say. “I talk like this because it’s howw I talk. And no, I’m a Prince class. Prince of Hope to be exact.”
“Prince?” Luz looked him up and down. Hot. “What does Prince of Hope mean?”
“Prince is a destroyer class.” explained Eridan. “As the Prince of Hope, I destroy hope, and destroy through it.”
“Oh.” Well that was depressing. “Wait, cut it half?”
“My… someone I kneww wwas mad at me. So she cut me in half, as revenge.”
“That seems… harsh.” There was no other word for it.
“Not really.” Eridan shook his head, and his fin-ears seemed to bunch up at the memory. “I deservved it.”
“Well, I don’t think anyone deserves to be cut in half. Except, maybe Nazis. But that’s not the point. A wizard gave me a quest, do you want to join me?”
“A wwizard?” Eridan’s head snapped up at the word, and he held out his hand. A thin, white wand appeared in his hand. “Yes!”
This seemed to make Eridan happy for the first time. Not that Luz had a lot of time to compare it to, of course.
Luz smiled and took his hand. “Come on, I have this really cool map.” As she showed off the map, Eridan looked at it curiously.
“This looks like something Vvriska wwould make for FLARPin.”
“FLARPing?”
“It’s a game from Alternia. The place I livved before. Vvriska was my kismesis and my FLARPin partner. She wwas alwways really into making maps for it.”
“So what, are you calling this fake?” Luz challenged.
“No, if anything this is appreciation for Vvriska’s ability to make maps.”
They continued to walk for a while, before Luz asked another question. “What’s a kismesis?”
Eridan blinked. “Right, humans don’t have them. It’s like… you hate them, but you also fuck.”
“Oh, so like hate fucking?”
“Mhm, it’s a type of romance for us, it’s blackrom, or pitch. And Vvriska wwas mine. She broke up wwith me though.”
“Oh, I’m… sorry?” Luz had no idea whether condolences were proper for such a toxic sounding type of romance.
“It’s fine, wwe wweren’t meant for each other anywway.”
“How old are you?” asked Luz abruptly.
“Six swweeps old!” said Eridan with a smile. At Luz’s horrified look, he continued. “I think that’s roughly equivvalent to 13 Earth Years.” He did some rapid calculations. “Actually, I think I’m closer to 14 Earth Years noww.”
“We’re the same age.” said Luz in surprise. Eridan was quite short compared to her. “So you have hate romance, what other types of romance are there?”
“Wwell there’s– Holy shit.” Eridan froze in shock.
Luz turned to look. It was a water fountain in the middle of a picturesque town. Climbing out of the water was a very handsome boy.
“Hello,” he said smoothly. “I hear you’re the chosen one.”
“Uh, uh huh.” Luz said. She was distracted.
“I’m a dark and brooding prince from a fallen kingdom.” he said, swooping his hair.
“Clearly a trap.” said Eridan, shoving Luz behind him. He raised his wand, and power began to build up in it. Hope, that was what the power was. Luz could feel it pulsing.
“No, no, that’s just how quests are.” said Luz cheerfully, shoving him to the side.
“I’ve been on quests. None of them havve had such suspicious people unless it wwas a trap.”
“But your quests were games.” Luz pointed out. “This is a real quest.”
Eridan couldn’t argue with that logic, because despite everything, he was still six sweeps old.
Eridan let his wand reenter his strife specibus and pulled out a snack, passing some to the Prince. “Here, forgive me for doubting you.”
“Forgiven, I understand your caution.” said the Prince, taking the snack. “I too, am cautious, since the fall of my home land.” he dramatically posed.
Luz and Eridan continued on their quest, joined by this mysterious, broody, Prince.
Their quest was grand. Eridan clearly had trust issues, clear to everyone. Luz tried to keep him calm, patting him gently to calm him down.
“Calm down, these are our allies.” she reminded him.
“Right, sorry.” Eridan kept blushing, a deep violet color.
“Why do you blush that color? Is it because your skin is gray?” asked their Fairy companion.
Eridan looked at her. “No. It’s because I’m a vviolet-blood. Second highest on the hemospectrum.” He sliced his hands against a sword he had been given, revealing his blood was, in fact, a rich violet color. “Highest wwas fuchsia, like Feferi wwas. Vviolet and fuchsia are sea dwwellers.”
“That’s really cool.” said the dark and brooding Prince guy.
“Of course it is.” Eridan preened. “Sea-dwwellers are much better than land-dwwellers.” The words, though sounding harsh, were spoken with no venom or heat behind them.
Luz giggled slightly at that. He clearly enjoyed being complimented.
“Was?” asked the brooding Prince, noting the past tense.
“Alternia, alon wwith the entire univverse wwe livved in, wwas destroyed in the game I played. Playin is the only reason wwe survvived.” Eridan shrunk into himself as he did so, as if remembering physically hurt him.
“I’m sorry.” said the brooding Prince, seeming empathetic. Luz patted Eridan’s hair gently.
As they approached the end of the Quest, Eridan stepped in closer to Luz.
"That's the staff." said Luz, breathing softly.
"Wwoww." Eridan muttered, looking forward, eyes wide.
Luz rushed forward. "I knew it!" she said, holding the staff above her head. "I am the chosen one! I always suspected there was a reason no one understood me back home."
Eridan smiled and stepped forward to congratulate her when the scenery around them fell away, along with the staff.
"Fuck." Eridan held out his hand, summoning a blue… was that a harpoon gun!? How was he hiding that?
The staff wrapped around Luz's arms, holding them captive, while the sword at Eridan's side wrapped around his waist.
"Luz!" he yelled, ear fins unfolding and re-folding violently.
Then a tentacle monster appeared. Eridan did not seem concerned, baring his teeth in a grim smile.
"Of course it's a horror-terror knockoff." he hissed out, leveling his harpoon gun, which, once again, how did he get that? He most definitely did not have it earlier.
The creature laughed, holding out a puppet of the Wizard.
"Your hubris has failed you, witch apprentice! I’m no wizard, and you’re no chosen one!" it cried, laughing.
Eridan grit his teeth and pulled out his wand, aiming it carefully at his waist. A thin beam of light snaked out and sliced neatly through the… thing holding his waist. No, Luz realized abruptly. That wasn't light. That was Hope. Hope in its purest form.
Used for destruction.
This, Luz suddenly understood, was what it meant to be the Prince of Hope.
"So all my companions?" she asked the creature, trying to distract him from the seadweller.
"Puppets, to keep you in my clutches." he hissed.
"And Eridan?" she was actually curious where Eridan came from.
The creature turned to glance at said boy, who had glazed eyes, seeming to be looking at something neither of them could see.
"I have no idea where he came from," he admitted. "Almost threw a wrench in my plans. Thankfully he was just as foolish as you." He smiled.
"Why didn't you just prevent me from leaving the castle that one time? Seems more efficient?" As long as she could distract him, Eridan could come up with whatever plan he was clearly thinking up.
The creature seemed not to have thought about this.
"Luz!" yelled a new voice. Eda and King had arrived.
Eridan glanced up. He looked at Luz. "Keep distracting him." he mouthed.
Abruptly, a volley of knives launched out of the air in front of him, landing in the creature.
What the fuck was this guy on?
The knives did not work.
Eridan frowned and this time raised his harpoon gun, as the creature turned around.
"Cower before me!" the creature yelled.
"Bitch, you're less scary than Gl'Bgolyb, you're gonna havve to try harder than that!" Eridan shouted back. Whoever that was.
A blast of Hope blasted out of the harpoon gun, as well as a fucking harpoon. It landed on the creature and blasted it to bits.
This did not help because it then promptly reformed.
However, it did lose its grip on Luz, which was helpful. Luz dropped to the ground and ran to Eridan.
Looking at her, Eridan frowned. "Run." he said, sounding very commanding. "Get out of here, I can handle this."
"But I can help."
Eridan shook his head. "I can do it on my owwn. I'vve been hunting lusii since I wwas a wwriggler." He smiled slightly. "This one just… refuses to die."
"Kid!" yelled Eda. "Blast him again for me, I have an idea!"
Eridan turned to look at her. Then he glanced at Luz, who nodded. Trustworthy.
Eridan shrugged and raised the harpoon gun. He waited a moment, aiming, and then fired.
Time seemed to slow for a second, as Luz and King held their breath that it would work.
When the creature was blasted to shreds for the second time in as many minutes, Eda rushed forward and scooped it into a jar. Eridan then held out his hand and the jar vanished.
"Where did you put it?" asked Eda suspiciously.
"In my captchalogue? Obvviously. I can givve it to you if you wwant?" he turned and tilted his head, eyes glazing over for a moment, the jar reappearing in front of them.
"Is that how you summoned those knives, and your harpoon gun?" Luz asked.
"Ah, the knivves, yes. My harpoon gun and wwand wwere in my strife specibus."
Eda nodded appreciatively. "Who is this kid?" she asked Luz.
"His name is Eridan, and he's a troll from another universe that was destroyed, then he got cut in half, and now he's here." Luz explained happily. "And he's my new best friend!"
"You don't look cut in half." Eda noted dryly.
Eridan shrugged. "I got better." Then he lifted his shirt, revealing a thin line of scar tissue running through his torso.
"This is Eda, my new witch mentor, and this is King!" Luz explained, introducing them.
"Hello Eda, hello King. It's a pleasure to meet you." Eridan smiled slightly, fins bunching up happily. Then he leaned into Luz. "She doesn't look like a human or a troll." he whispered.
"She's a witch. It's a species that is almost indistinguishable from humans, except for their ears and they can use magic." Liz muttered back.
"Oh. So she's an adult?"
"I… yeah? Obviously?"
"What do I do then? I'vve nevver met an adult before."
A moment of silence.
"You haven't?" said three voices in unison.
Eridan seemed surprised and shook his head. "Trolls don't havve parents like Humans do, wwe're created by feeding slurry to the Mother Grub, wwho lays our eggs. And wwe livve on Alternia, wwhere Adults are banned. Wwe're raised by lusii."
All three stared at him in abject horror.
"That's so sad!" said King. "Even I, the mighty King of Demons, have parents. I don't remember them, but I have them."
"It's okay, it's just howw life is."
"You're living with us now kid." Eda announced, grabbing him and bringing Eridan into a hug. "What's one more stray?"
Eridan hesitated for a moment. "Can I learn magic?" he asked softly, eyes wide with hope.
"Sure kid, you can try."
Then Eda leaned back. "Come on, I'm going to show you something."