Work Text
The dreambubbles aren’t the greatest place for anyone to be in, even after Lord English’s defeat. In the timeless fracturing realities orbiting a cosmically unfathomable black hole, there are uncountable billions of dead possibilities, the ghosts of gods that might have been, lingering symbiotic bacteriums clinging to the afterbirth of a universe with a particularly fucked-up conception. They are all the dreams of gods greater yet than they are, ephemeral glimpses miraculously granted the right to a measure of peace before the ultimate oblivion.
And yet, they are still children. And they still find time to squabble.
“I
did
give you a chance! I gave you
all
the chances!” Nepeta Leijon stamps her foot, olive wings vibrating intensely, her white-eyed glare almost all the more unsettling. Off to the side, her fellow ghosts Jade Harley and Dr. Roxanne Lalonde sit awkwardly and amusedly watching (respectively). Dr. Lalonde contemplates making popcorn (they
are
in a memory of her house), but she’s not quite that meanspirited. Jade contemplates intervening, but knowing trolls, she doesn’t want to accidentally make an ashen pass at them.
Standing across from Nepeta, arms crossed and a scowl on his face, Eridan Ampora snarls. “You could’ve at least said it to my face!”
“This
is
to your face!”
“Yeah, in
public!
In front of your moirail and - what is she, your new lusus?! You’re never even gonna be able to grow up, what’s the point of -”
“DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!”
Life after death, such as it is, continues.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!”
The deceased child-goddess Rose Lalonde pays her suitor little mind as she flies. “I told you before, I’m not interested,” she calls behind her without looking. The adult ghost of the alien Empress is pink in the face as she chases down her target. “My desire to fuck with you is purely platonic, the result of every awful thing you’ve done to my friends.”
“THEN STOP BEING SUCH A FUCKING TEASE! IF YOU HATE ME THEN HATE ME PROPERLY!”
Rose turns in the middle of the void, leg extended and prepared to kick Her Imperious Condescension backwards if she catches up. “Do you really have nothing better to do with your time? I’m sure there’s an alternate version of you out there somewhere who would
love
to stab you in the gut in more ways than one, and is also
much
closer to you in age.”
The Condesce slows as she approaches, licking her lips as she looks the sixteen-year-old ghost up and down. Rose stays still, doing her best not to betray the fact her skin is
crawling
. “None of them
I’ve
met. Nobubbly’s ever bothered to hatecourt me before, and even by
accident
, even for a little
human beach
, you’ve made yourshelf so
hateable
. I
never
take ‘no’ for an answer. I just
take
.”
The Empress makes a seemingly playful grab for Rose, which the girl dodges. “Has it occurred to you that seeing an adolescent as a viable rival is actually somewhat pathetic?”
“SEE IT’S
THAT SHIP RIGHT THERE
THAT MAKES YOU
IRRESISTABLE
!”
The chase begins anew. Rose curses under her breath, throwing obstacles behind her in an attempt to regain the ground she lost. The cracked bubble she and her equally-dead friends call a safe haven is so close, and yet so far away...