Ripples on the Waters of Love (Eridan x Reader)

Chapter 7

The next few days were uneventful. You explained to Eridan some more about human life on Earth, interrupted only by the occasional question (usually about murder and if it was legal), and he talked a bit more about his friends.

It turns out, there were eleven other trolls in their session, much more than the few he had mentioned before. There was Ara, Sol, Kar, Nep, Kan, Ter, Vvris, Eq, Gam, and Fef. They all had such strange names and you wondered why Eridan's was much longer, but you didn't question it, assuming it was because he was "royalty" or something.

He explained a bit more about Alternia and it's customs too, including the hemospectrum. Apparently, trolls had different colored blood and the color determined what your social status was. You found this ridiculous, but Eridan seemed to practically worship this "hemospectrum" thing. As you thought about the whole different colored blood thing though, the splatters of multicolored liquid from your dream came to mind. You couldn't help but think about all of the purple in it, and looking at Eridan's matching apparel and the violet tint to his cheeks when he looked at you, you felt a bit sick.

It was just a dream though. Nothing to worry about. You told yourself. It didn't sound convincing though, and you began to wonder what was going to happen in the future.

One day though, when Eridan arrived in the lake, he seemed a bit...upset.

"Hey, are you alright?" You asked him, seeing the look in his eyes.

"Nothing, it's just..." He trailed off, looking out into the distance. "Today, I wwas just killin angels and all that shit, and I noticed Kar wwas on one of his goddamn memos, blabbering on about some stupid nonsense about a magic wwand or some shit. I thought I'd strike up a convversation wwith him since wwe havven't talked in a wwhile, but..." Eridan paused.

"...He just wasn't makin sense. He kept sayin that I wwas killin people. And then he told me I wwas dead to him and he wwas gonna kill me. At first I thought he wwas comin on to me. Hate-flirtin you knoww? But he denied it. Then I thought he wwas tryin to cheer me up about the wwhole Fef thing since he doesn't knoww about you but...he seemed to actually MEAN it. It disturbed me since wwe're pretty good friends... I thought that I'd go ahead and invvite him to LOWWAA anywways though. Wwe don't hang out much and...I guess I wwas feelin a bit lonely evven wwith you and all. It turns out it wwas future him, but I asked him to tell past him anywways and...he just kept sayin I killed her. I dunno wwho her is but...he blocked me from respondin and he said that the next time he saww the color of my text it wwould be comin outta my body..."

You stared at him in shock, barely even able to comprehend that Kar, the angry little crab boy that Eridan was basically best friends with, had said anything like that. And the threat... Once again, your dream came to mind. Was it some sort of premonition? No, it couldn't be...

"Y/N..." Eridan started, tearing you from your thoughts. "Kar's alwways been like my best friend. I evven used to think wwe could havve a morailegience or somethin one day... Wwe wwere close and...for wwhatevver reason, in the future, he wwants me dead..." His expression suddenly changed from sadness to rage. "First Fef hates me, then Nep, then fuckin Kar! It's like evvery friend I havve, evveryone I lovve turns on me at some point!"

"Eridan, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding! It's Kar, right? He wouldn't just hate you for no reason!" You protested, trying to calm his down.

He turned, glaring at you now, and you could see there was something dark and threatening in those sickly yellow eyes. "I don't need your pathetic wwords, Y/N. Just shut your mouth. I need to be alone for a wwhile." He growled. It was silent for a while before he said, in a softer, almost defeated sounding, voice. "I'll see ya tomorroww." The violetblooded troll walked off back to the center of the lake and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving you to stare off at where he once was and wonder what you did wrong.

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but things are starting to get good now. I've always thought that the conversation between past Eridan and Karkat was one of Eridan's final breaking points and it was really cool being able to put it into words. Again, please leave a comment or vote if you're enjoying this story so far. Thanks!