"Kan's meaner than you give her credit for," he insists, doing his best to balance his desire not to be overheard with his desire to shout at the top of his lungs. "You didn't see the fuckin' look she had in her eyes while she was hacking them off."
"Oh, you're always saying that about people," Feferi says blithely. "She had the new legs all ready, now didn't she? She was just being a good friend! Why would anybody want to be mean to Tavros?"
Eridan boggles. How can you explain something so obvious? "Fef, Vris-"
"That's different," she says, waving a hand. "That's just how Vriska is. She's spades to everyone."
"...yeah," Eridan says.
"Sorry! I didn't mean - "
"No, it's okay..." He shrugs and tries to smile.
"I don't mean that you and she..." Feferi trails off. She's never had much to say about the concupiscent side of things. "What you two had was different. Everyone was always saying you two had the perfect kismesistude."
"Well everyone isn't fuckin' always right," Eridan says. "They're not right, or nice, or honest, or good, or, or - you shouldn't trust things to work out! They don't work out! They didn't! There's some demon out there - and did you see Aradia's logs of what that looked like?! None of us can beat that, and it's taken the prize and our way out and we're trapped in here with some - some angel, a fuckin' angel Fef, and Kan's lost it and Kar's given up and sayin' we can't even sleep now and - and -" He kicks, foot connecting with one of Gamzee's horns from his absurd pile and knocking it across the room. It hits the wall with an unsatisfying HONK. "An' it's over, all of it!" He storms over to the transportalizer.
He stops to take a couple deep breaths. That doesn't work so he punches the wall. The clanging sound it makes is far more satisfying than Gamzee's horn, as is the pain across his knuckles.
He doesn't feel much better. Being alone, surrounded by the bare metal hallway of the Veil station makes it impossible to forget where he is and with that, why he's there. Why they're all there, hiding like scared, weak children. He punches the wall again, in the dent left from the first time, and watches the metal plating deform further around his fist. All the levels, all the power, all the weapons and fraymotifs and it came to nothing before the demon invading their session.
"It's going to be okay, Eridan," Feferi says behind him. "You'll see."
He turns to see her standing on the transportalizer. "How on - " Alternia could she think that, only it isn't like they're on Alternia any longer. He isn't even sure if Alternia exists by now, after all those meteors, which might be the only good news since at least then that means all those agents Vriska exiled wouldn't be coming back for revenge, except that the only thing he's really learned in this game is there is no "now" or "then" except when you wished there wasn't. Like when a demon appears. Like when you try to kill someone's moirail. He leans back against the cold metal and slides down to the floor. "Jus...it's not. Not goin' to."
"It will," she says. She sits in front of him cross-legged.
He stares down at the gray floor between his feet and the drops of purple blood on it from his knuckles. "It'll show up and it'll be over, if we don't all kill ourselves first. Didn't you see it Fef?" His hands are starting to shake and he presses them against his legs, not looking up. "Those horrible feathery wings. It's death. It's our death. It's the fuckin' end. It's - "
She hugs him. He's so startled that for a couple seconds he just sits like a stunned fish. Then he wraps his arms around her and hugs back.
"It'll be okay, it'll be okay, it'll be okay," she keeps saying, and then she says, "There's always a way, that's how these things work, you'll see. The Outer Gods are still there for us, and our new friends..."
