Chapter Text
--------
The twilight night faded into the golden rays of the dangerous Alternian sun. Aradia laid down on the rocky beach, facing the dark night sky, glimmering with stars light years away. Nearby, her hive sat underwater, and the windows glowed faintly with a calming, orange light. She gazed longingly at the pink Alternian moon, she always found the moon relaxing in times of turmoil. She sighed. Tomorrow was her wriggling day.
Tomorrow, she will turn 6 sweeps old.
Tomorrow, her training as the proper heiress to the throne began.
She breathed in and held her breath. Flashes of fuchsia blood and blades echoed in her mind, she has always had a vivid imagination.
A cold wind blew across her face and moved her hair to in front of her gaunderbulbs (or as humans put it, eyes), but she couldn’t even be bothered to move it away. She’d just have to deal with this obstructed vision for now. Aradia’s eyes flickered from one star to another, counting each individual one in her head. She usually counted stars to relax and take a break from things that were happening in her life, but in this case, it didn’t help her rapid descent into her thoughts.
“Everyfin will be alright,” Aradia whispered to herself, “y( )u’ll d( ) g( )( )d, Aradia.”.
She closed her eyes and began fantasising a world where maybe she wouldn’t have to fight her Eminence for the throne. She would be a half-decent queen, making adjustments and changes to how Alternia’s governing system worked. Her moirail, Karkat, would also be a member of her court, helping her make decisions towards a better world, a better Alternia. All her friends, Sollux, Nepeta, Eridan, and more, would live in a happy world where no one would get hurt. Everyone would be in the welcoming embrace of her rulership.
Aradia grinned slightly.
In the depths of her mind though, her inner monologue whispered of a world where she wasn’t a Fuschiablood and didn’t have to fight for the throne whatsoever. A world where she was a Rustblood. Deep inside, she knows that in a way she wants this, but she’d rather get culled than admit it. She winced upon thinking that thought, she should be grateful for even having this opportunity, she countered. She tried to banish the thoughts of not being a Fuschiablood back to the deep abyss of her mind. She inhaled, and began fantasizing of other things.
Soon, she dozed off on the stoney beach. Distantly, her grouchy moirail called distantly, expecting her to heed his call.
— 🔱—
When she woke up, Aradia wasn’t met with the stoney, cold beach of Alternia. She was met with the dark, glistening palaces of Derse. She was wearing a purple nightgown and a purple tiara. She frowned. Not even when she’s sleeping can she escape the fact that she has to fight for the throne soon. Reluctantly, her dream self arose from the neatly paved purple tiles of the street and hovered into the air. Aradia’s body felt heavy and numb as she flew around Derse. Automatically, her hands reached for the tiara that was placed precariously on her dark hair. She felt the cold, smooth metal of it, before grasping it and chucking it out into the void that separated Derse and the Furthest Ring. She sighed and flew up further to really take a gander at everything on Derse. She gazed at everything with a longing look. Even here, she was a princess, the princess of Derse.
She closed her eyes again, not in her dreams, not when she’s awake, not ever can she escape the peril of fighting her Eminence. She held back silent tears that began to pile in the corners of her eyes.
She begrudgingly opened her eyes again, immediately though, she felt the ghost of a smile appear on her face, then waved quickly. Her heartbeat quickened and she felt a blush creep up her neck to her face. Standing (very confused) in front of her was Eridan. One of the princes of Derse. She was his best friend, but she had flushed feelings towards him for the longest time ever. She’s never gotten the opportunity to confess her feelings towards him though. Aradia’s eyes moved towards Eridan’s face. His dark hair with bits dyed with cerulean flowed in the breeze, and his dark eyes blinked at her. He smiled at her. She felt her heart leap out of her chest and she grinned from ear to ear back. Was she being too creepy? Whatevver!
“hey aradia 8888],” Eridan waved, attempting to put his hands in his pockets, only to find that there were no pockets in his nightgown, “wwhats up????????”. He reached out to fist bump her and Aradia quickly returned the gesture.
“hell( )!” She spoke, trying to contain as much of her excitement as possible, Eridan chuckled, and Aradia’s heart skipped a beat. His laugh was like music to her ears.
“long time no see, yeah?” he suggested
“yeah! it’s g( )( )d seeing y( )u. luckily we’re DERS--E dreamers, ( )bvi( )usly Derse is SURP-- ERIOR.” Aradia laughed half-heartedly.
“totally.” Eridan commented with a smart tone in his voice.
“i knoww you’vve been *vvery* 8usy wwith your heiress duties.” Eridan said, his voice practically radiating a sickly amount of pride. Aradia’s heart sank to the bottom of her chest, to the darkest depths. Her shoulders dropped and she frowned.
“yeah… very busy…” she faltered before swallowing and trying to grin again, “I uhm… AM happy t( ) see y( )u th( )ugh, R--EGARDL--ESS.”
“of course you are, evven if being the queen… or actually heiress in this case of course youre happy to see me. its just because im THAT COOL and awwesome and handsome…” Eridan rambled on and on. Subconsciously, Aradia’s head tuned his voice out. Her head ricocheted thoughts of killing the queen, being killed, among other related thoughts. I don’t wanna- be -fight the queen, she thought over and over again, as if thinking about it hard enough could erase the fact that she was ever going to be one.
“‘radia you alright?’ Eridan looked at her somewhat worryingly, he lifted his hands to the side of his head, to presumably read Aradia’s thoughts, but decided against it.
She shook her head and furrowed her brow, she sighed, “it’s been t( )ugh being the heiress y( )u kn( )w. A l( )ts at stake here, Eridan. My life is at stake-”. She shivered upon saying that, she shut herself up before Eridan would think Aradia had pale feelings towards him.
“I……..” A hush fell over the both of them as they stared at each other. The tension was thick in the air, in fact it was almost palpable. He heard Eridan sigh very loudly, clearly this isn’t what Eridan wanted the conversation to go.
“uhm. anywway, aradia, i wwanted to talk to you a8out something.” Eridan started again awkwardly, shuffling around before reaching for Aradia’s hands, Eridan then leaned in but then stopped. He grumbled under his breath and he moved his hands to his temple.
Before she knew it, Aradia wasn’t in control of her body anymore. Eridan grabbed her nightdress and pulled her mouth across from his. Her heart began beating faster, she stared at Eridan. Even if she had flushed feelings for Eridan, she felt disgusted by this action. He should have just… asked. A grossed out feeling pooled in her stomach. She shut her eyes and braced but nothing came. She shut her eyes for a couple seconds more before she heard her name being called distantly.
“ARADIA PEIXES!” She sat up quickly, her heart pounding in her chest, and she opened her eyes. She wasn’t greeted with Eridan’s sly smile, instead she was greeted with a fuming Karkat rapidly approaching her. She stood up from the rocky beach where she was resting and brushed her hand through her hair. Karkat wasn’t going to be happy. He stepped right in front of her, moving some dust in the process.
“ARADIA!”
“Karkat Amp( )ra.” She responding with a calm voice, looking at Karkat with the smallest grin ever.
“ARADIA FUCKING PEIXES I WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU. YOURE LITERALLY TRAINING TO- eugh, sorry, 6eat Her Eminence, you have NO REASON foolin round like this.” He exclaimed, Aradia loved her moirail, but sometimes he was very extreme with his emotions.
“I kn( )w, Karkat, I’m just taking a break bef( )re the metaph( )rical st( )rm arrives.” She sighed, looking down at the ground in shame. Her mind flashed back to Eridan’s grin and his smug voice.
“YEAH YEAH WHATEVER, I JUST… don’t want you to get hurt,” He swallowed and then returned his attention back to Aradia, “come ON DUDE, THE NIGHT’S NEARLY OVER, I really DO NOT want to die in the 6listerin Alternian heat today so lets GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.”
Karkat grumbled and started walking towards the ocean, where they were safe from the blazing Alternian sun. He gestured to Aradia and she quickly followed him into the waters. She slowly submerged herself in the cold, smooth water. Once fully in the water, she propelled herself towards her hive, Karkat in tow.
Karkat tapped her shoulder before signing (talking underwater is a nuisance, so sea dwellers have developed a strategy to talk using hand signals), “LETS JUST GO… sleep yeah?”. She nodded and guided Karkat to her hive, despite Karkat living there too. He was assigned to be his Imperial Assistant, and was tasked to protect and help the heiress at all costs. Her Exalted Eminence, the current queen of Alternia, simply could not lose an heir, and she did not trust lowbloods whatsoever, so she tasked a violetblood instead.
“were you on DERSE again?” Karkat gestured, Aradia nodded slightly, looking slightly shaken from the interaction. Eridan was going to KISS Aradia. She shivered.
“yeah, I was.” she looked ahead to castle laid ahead, it was her hive, and to say that it was big is an understatement.
“did you see HIM… AGAIN?” Karkat asked with no malice in his tone, Aradia frowned and simply shook her head in agreement again. Karkat sighed, he sighed far too much, he was a very avid sigher, Aradia thought.
“I’m TELLING YOU! Avoid him at ALL COSTS, he gives off MAJOR WEIRD PERSON ENERGY,” He looked at Aradia right in the eyes, “I know you have flushed feelings 6ut DON’T BE ALLLLLL UP IN HIS BULGE ABOUT IT!!”
“I guess..”
“YOU HEAR THAT HEIRESS? STAY. AWAY. FROM ERIDAN. FUCKING. SERKET!!” He vigorously signed in anger.
“he tried to kiss me.” Aradia signaled simply. Karkat’s eyes widened and he stuttered on his hand signs for a bit before forming an actual coherent sentence.
“He what.” he stopped swimming and just looked at Aradia in the eyes.
“Nothing.” she retorted. Karkat squinted at her but decided not to press her for answers. He knew that she was already very stressed, and he didn’t want to bother her with quadrant bullshit.
They swam on, the rest of the journey to Aradia’s hive was pretty quiet.
— 🔱—
When they were at the doors of her hive (moreso mansion), the gold accents were beginning to reflect and shimmer, showing that the sun was already rising. It was past Aradia’s bedtime, and a good day’s sleep is equal to good performance the next night. She kicked off her sandals and placed them on the rack. She then walked to her Respiteblock upstairs, then sauntered over to her recuperacoon and slid in. Not really caring for the fact that her clothes would be wet the next bilunar perigee. She immersed herself in the comforting ooze and it quickly washed away all her worrying thoughts.
“G( )( )D NIGHT!!” She yelled, her voice echoing through the halls.
While she slept, Aradia actively tried to fly away from Derse, not wanting to encounter Eridan again.
— 🔱—
She started the next bilunar perigee like any other, she woke up, went to go get her breakfast (also greeting Karkat, who was not in a good mood whatsoever), and grabbed her 2x3dentkind before it dawned on her. She was late to her first training session. Her Eminence was going to KILL HER!! Literally and metaphorically.
Without bidding farewell to Karkat, she bolted out the door and swam as quickly as possible to the designated location.
Aradia’s mind wandered to who was actually going to be the one to teach her. A violetblood? Indigo? Cerulean? Maybe even Her Exalted Eminence herself? Whoever it was, it was most definitely going to be a highblood. As she sped towards the location, an impending sense of doom had begun to build in the pit of her stomach. The visions of fuchsia blood and blades banged in her head, growing louder and more vivid each second. Distantly, Aradia spotted a building in the distance, it most definitely belonged to Her Eminence. She took a long and deep breath.
Swimming inside the building, her nose instantly picked up a flowery scent. Growing up, she always associated the scent with Her Eminence. Every time Her Eminence stayed at her hive temporarily, the floral scent flooded the building. She frowned, she actually hasn’t seen Her Eminence in 3 Sweeps. She most definitely wasn’t looking forward to this encounter.
Aradia stopped in front of the throne like structure, atop, Her Eminence sat. She was adorned with golden and silver jewelry and her long horns protruded from her head.
“Hello, Heiress.” Her Eminence said coldly, glaring at Aradia with a look that threatened to kill her right there and then.
“Hell( ), y( )ur Exalted Eminence.” She replied with elegance, an element that Aradia has practiced and perfected over many sweeps. She started to quiver but stopped herself before it could get out of hand.
“You’re here today to hone your skills with the blade,” Her Eminence explained, “You are potentially the future queen to all of Alternia. 2 Sweeps from now, you’ll be dueling me for the throne.”.
Aradia grimaced, she knew that one of them had to be killed in order for a queen to emerge victorious. She really wasn’t in the mood for dying.
“I have graciously tasked an advisor to guide you in your perils of training for the throne, he’ll be approaching momentarily.”
Right as Her Exalted Eminence finished her sentence, a ceruleanblood arose from behind the throne, as if waiting for this very moment to happen. Aradia looked at the ceruleanblood intently, she recognized this person. In fact, only a perigee ago she had seen this person.
Of course, it was none other than Eridan.
Her heart sank yet rose at the same time. After yesterday’s encounter with him, Aradia really didn’t know what to think of him.
“Hello, Aradia,” He greeted with the same smug tone he used yesterday. Her Eminence nodded at Eridan then at Aradia. As if acknowledging the tension in the air that lingered for an uncomfortable amount of time. As if bracing for something, she reached for her 2x3dentkind in her Strife Sbecibus and readied herself.
Eridan instantly jumped at her with his Daggerkind and slashed at her, Aradia jumped back, dodging the attack narrowly, before pointing her 2x3dent at him. Eridan lunged left and attempted to attack her from the side. She looked ahead at Eridan’s face again, noting down the fact that he had the infamous red tiara on his head. I have to aim for that, Aradia thought. Quickly though, Eridan grabbed the other half of her 2x3dent and pinned her down with the bladed part of the trident. She felt a pang of pain and numbness as the cool metal slid against the neck, piercing it.
A small amount of fuchsia poured out from the minor wound and began staining her clothes. Walking forwards, her Eminence embraced a rare smirk.
“See you in 2 sweeps, Heiress,” she taunted, before exiting the building, leaving Aradia and Eridan in the throneroom.
--------
ok i hope you had fun reading allat enjoy a drawing of aradia and karkat (sorry for the bad quality i had to make do with what i had)
