Part Of Their World | Homestuck AU

|Chapter 10|

The Condesce cackles as she keeps Cronus tight in the grasp of her tentacles, the mertroll crying out in pain as he struggles. "Poor little prince~ It ain't you I'm after, I've a much bigger fish to-" She stops in the midst of her sentence with a sly smirk as she watches a familiar merking approach, Dualscar growling as he tightens his grip on his harpoon gun. "Condesce, stop!" He barks angrily, Cronus looking over with wide, frightened eyes. "DAD!"

"Why, King Dualscar~! Hehe, how ARE you~?" She asks with a slight sneer, the smirk still very much there as she tightens her grip on Cronus enough to get him to shut up. Dualscar growls in reply as he shoots her an angry glare, his only worry for his son. "Let him go. NOW-W!" He barks once again, the sea witch only laughing in response.

She tilts her head coyly at the merking before giggling softly under her breath, narrowing her eyes, "Not a chance, Dualscar. He's mine now, we made a deal~" She says smugly, Cronus whimpering as he continues to try and break free from the tentacle's grip. "D-Dad I'm sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to! I didn't know!" He cries, his violet, fearful eyes meeting Dualscar's violet and grey angry ones, which soon soften as he and Cronus make eye contact.

Dualscar frowns as Condesce shows the contract she and Cronus had made from afar, suddenly arming himself with his harpoon gun and shooting a bright beam right at it. To no avail, the contract remains undamaged, Dualscar now gritting his teeth as the Condesce snickers, "You sea? The contract's legal, binding and COMPLETELY unbreakable — even for YOU~! Of course, I was always a girl with a fisheye for a bargain~ The son of the great Sea King is a very precious prize...but I might be willing to make an exchange for someone even BETTER...~"

Meanwhile on the surface, Kankri has boarded a lifeboat and is now rowing away from the ship, Porrim calling to him from the said ship out of worry, "Kankri! What are you doing!?" She asks, Kankri panting as he continues to row away but looking up to her and calling back, "Porrim, I lost him once! I'm not going to lose him again!" He says as he continues to row, completely unaware of the new contract being laid out beneath him in the sea.

"Now, do we have a deal~?" The Condesce asks Dualscar with a smirk, watching as he takes one more sad look at Cronus before signing the contract to put himself in place of his son. "Hah! It's done then~!" She laughs and watches as Dualscar begins to wither, letting Cronus go and smirking as she stands back. Dualscar groans as he's now reduced to nothing more than a sea polyp on the seabed, Cronus gasping as he quickly swims to what used to be his father. "N-No! Dad no!"

Karkat pants as he quickly scuttles over, his eyes wide since he had watched everything unfold as he desperately attempted to make his way over in time. But it seems he was too late. "Oh...fuck...your Majesty I'm so sorry..." He says with genuine sorrow, Cronus whimpering as he gently places a hand on the alive sea polyp. "D-Dad...I-I'm so sorry..."

The sea witch grins widely as she reaches down now, picking up the crown Dualscar was once wearing and placing it upon her own head, "At last...it's mine~! It's MINE~! AHAHA~!" She laughs evilly and Cronus turns to her, rage overcoming as he watches the Condesce pick up his father's harpoon gun. "You...you MONSTER!" He yells and lunges at her, trying to get a grip around her neck only to be thrown against an undersea rock with a pained cry.

"Don't fool me you little brat! Contract or no- AGH!" The witch cries out and hisses as she whirls around, looking up and spotting Kankri glaring at her. He had thrown a harpoon he had grabbed from the ship, having only just barely managed to knick her shoulder. "Why you little troll!" She snarls and quickly restrains Cronus against the rock with her tentacles, pointing to the human as the two eels, Mituna and Sollux, appear by her side, crackling with electricity. "AFTER HIM!"