Eridan draped his cape over his shoulders, the violet article having several litres of fuchsia blood covered in it after his most recent victory against Her Imperious Condescension, all the fresh liquid slowly dripping onto his sweater to connect with the splotch near his stomach, leaving his top half drenched. A feeling he wasn't unused to for sure, but one he wasn't sure he wanted to be used to anymore. He felt almost… like there was a knot in his stomach after his last kill. This couldn't be guilt, could it? The Empress was an evil person, why the hell would he feel such a thing after being drenched in her blood of all people? It felt different from the meteor, from the previous timeline, ones where he murdered his closest friends, where people purposely guilted him for his actions, where he deserved it. Or maybe it was something else? Something he had never felt or known before…

"Eridan?" Kanaya called for him, snapping him out of his trance. He regained the awareness of his situation, glancing up ahead of him at the giant, 2D, human hive that stood menacingly above them, a single door located in the bottom middle of the thing. The surviving members of all sessions stood around him, all having won their respecting battles before meeting him, Kanaya, John, Roxy, and Rose at the platform. Even Jade, having overcome her mind control, stood content with the rest of the group. To his direct right stood Kanaya and Rose, while to his direct left was John, Terezi and Roxy all six lined up at the back of the single plaform the whole group stood on, while the other members where scattered about in front of them. Karkat and Dave stood together just ahead, in front of the door; Jane, Jake, Jade, and Dirk just off to the side of the platform with what seemed like an awfully patriarchal figure in a suit; and a single other figure just loitering about the middle he had never seen before.

"by GOG wwho the FUCK is here noww?" Eridan asked, stamping his foot lightly on the light grey metal and folding his arms.

Roxy yelped out and jumped in front of everyone, placing her arm around the green lady, turning her around to reveal her to Eridan. To his surprise, she wasn't human or troll, but what seemed like a skeleton with tight green skin, though it looked rather smooth to him, as well as a pair of colourless eyes in the sockets. She seemed to be quite bulky for some sort of skeleton monster, filling out her same coloured pantsuit out about the same as the lanky John would, though just as short as the Rogue that stood beside her.

"to everyone who hasnt had the absolute pleasure of meetin her this is calliope!" Roxy exclaimed, "she helped us with finding her alternate universe self yada yada yada e t freakin c and now she gets to join us in the new universe!"

"you never mentioned anything about her yo," Dave replied, turning to the two. "i mean its cool the more the god damned merrier if full house was anything to learn from but it seems like it wouldve been necessary to know so it doesnt turn into a disappointing sequel."

"Nah, no disappointing sequels in this God-damned universe riddled with them, Calliope's cool," Dirk told the rest, stepping beside her. "Least compared to her sleazebag brother who wanted to kill everyone and," Dirk exaggerated a shudder, "make me draw people holding hands."

"Yes, it is accurate that I do not share the same disgusting fetishes my brother had a knack for," Calliope said, in an accent similar to Eridan's, if a little clearer, "and I do not wish death upon any of you! I am in your debt for giving me a chance like this, and for keeping me alive with this ring!" She raised her hand, revealing the Ring of Life on her sharp claw of a ring-finger.

"wwait i thought id lost that in the dream bubbles," Eridan claimed.

"You lost it?" Calliope pondered, before letting out a chuckle. "Well I suppose I must thank you for doing so! I would never had found it if you had not done such a thing."

"wwell glad i wwas of some help," Eridan replied, feeling slight accomplishment.

"YEAH YEAH, WELCOME TO OUR MYRIAD OF SCREWUPS AND DUMBASSES WHO STUMBLED THEIR WAY TO VICTORY AGAINST A BUNCH OF LITERAL GODS AND SUPERVILLAINS, HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR STAY," the Knight greeted her, mocking a bow. "BUT THE REAL QUESTION REMAINS AS TO WHO THE FUCK GETS THE PLEASURE OF OPENING OUR STOCK STANDARD UNIVERSE."

"Why do we not all do it?" Calliope asked.

"PFFFFFFFTTTT AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-" Karkat looked up from his laughing fit to see a confused look on Calliopes' face. "OH MY GOG YOU'RE SERIOUS. HOW DO YOU THINK THE TWELVE OF US WOULD DO THAT WITHOUT IT BEING ANTICLIMATIC?"

"im pretty sure we passed climatic when we started having this conversation," Dave added, "plus itd be super gay."

"It would be super gay," Dirk agreed, crossing his arms.

"Can you really be calling things gay Dirk?" Jane jabbed.

"Hey, I just call them how I see them lady."

"so since that's off the table what the shit do we do?" Dave questioned the group. "maybe we pull straws."

"WHAT FUCKING STRAWS? HEY, HERE'S A BRILLIANT IDEA! WHILE WE'RE DISCUSSING DUMB AND STUPID IDEAS HOW ABOUT HOW TO DECIDE THIS, WHY DON'T WE JUST FUCKING PUNCH THE FLOOR AND THEN MAKE WHOEVER PUNCHES THE HARDEST GETS TO OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR?"

"Now there's an idea…" Rose mockingly replied.

"hey!" John exclaimed, garnering everyone's attention. "as the friend-leader of group one i nominate Roxy as the leader of group a to open the door."

Roxy placed her hands on her heart, and stepped outwards to say, "naaaw! thats so cute but i gotta reject! if any leader here deserves to open the open the door it's the guy that started all this!"

"well i can't possibly-"

John started his argument, before Karkat interrupted the two, "HOLY FUCKING HELL, SHUT THE FUCK UP. HOW ABOUT WE WHEEL IT BACK A BIT, AND THE TWO OF YOU BULGE-HUGGERS CAN GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM US."

John and Roxy looked at each other for a moment, before Roxy smiled at the Heir and shrugged, pacing forward towards the door.

Calliope added, "Why don't you go for it too Karkat? You were a leader too, after all!"

Karkat crossed his arms and pursed his lips, before answering, "FUCK, WHY NOT? NOT LIKE I WANT TO ARGUE ABOUT THIS FOR ANOTHER SWEEP DAMN IT." He stepped up with the two others, and the three of them surrounded the door, just narrowly taller than John, and proceeded to lay their hands on the knob.

Eridan stared the trio down, his heart swelling up as he watched the scene before him. As the planets seemed to surround them, and the endless void of space widened away from him, his heart beat faster and faster. He realised this was it. He realised that through all the pain and suffering he caused, all that had been inflicted upon him; for all the teams had lost and forgotten: he was still here. Despite everything, he was still fucking here. He knew he should have died on that meteor: Gog knows he was the only one who truly deserved it, but he was given the second chance he never knew he yearned for until now. He had friends now, he had made up for his mistakes. Maybe he would never be forgiven by the one's he had hurt, but he knew he had suffered enough for his mistakes. This universe wasn't just his new beginning as part of the team: but as a better him entirely. He'd killed so many: his hands were soaked with the blood of friend and foe, but now? Now, his hands were washed in water. The blood was gone… from his mind at least. His mind emptied, and he watched the trio twist the handle slowly to open the door.

He was the Slayer of Dictators. He was the Protector of Man.

He was the Prince of Hope.

Prince of Heart- Hey. So. It's been a while. A LONG while. I guess I got swept up in things. My life was crazy for the past few months. Y'know, I'm surprised I even got to this point. I haven't had a good track record when it comes to writing stories. Books I've wanted to write never make it past a few pages, other Fanfics I've written are currently on "Hiatus", an even my other Homestuck fic never got past the first dozen chapters. So what was it about Not Really A Prince that stuck? Maybe it had to do with the fact that I liked Eridan so much as a potential character. Maybe it was just easier to write. Who the hell knows. This thing wasn't even intended to be a full thing: it was a side project to my other Homestuck fanfic that I'd work on occasionally. But then it got popular: REALLY popular. As in as of this chapter being released, it's in the top 200 Homestuck Fanfics by follows. Now, that might not sound like much, but if you look by Follows on the website, it comes up on page 7. Of 664. I can't believe it came this far. I had to finish it. I don't know whether this WILL be the last chapter: I may write some sort of epilogue, but this sure as hell is the end of the main story. I knew I could do it.

Thanks to every one of you that followed me. It's been a blast. Remember this one as one of the few that actually had a fucking ending, mi amigos.