War-Torn Hearts - An Empires SMP S2 War AU

Chapter 13

Strap in and enjoy Chapter 13 everyone! And trust me when I tell you that Minnie and I are only getting started.

Sausage awoke with a start to the smell of smoke. He opened his eyes groggily, looking around the room, yet his vision was obscured by thick black clouds, smelling bitter as a strange feeling of déjà vu washed over him. His eyes burned as the blanket that spoke of fatality and death clung to his skin and made contact with his tired eyes, now alert.

Springing out of bed, he ran up the stairs, snatching his elytra off the armour stand he had previously hung it up on and putting it on.
When he reached the top of the tower, he was met with a terrifying sight:

Fire.

It cackled and howled, emitting darkened clouds of smoke and shrouding Sanctuary in what seemed like an eternal darkness . They danced along the streets, greedily claiming the town piece by piece.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

This couldn't be happening.

Not again.

Sausage fought away the memories of his old town, instead pulling the cord to his elytra a tad bit more aggressively than was necessary and leapt down.

"What's happening!!" he yelled over the crackling laughter of the fire. "Where did the fire start?"

The town was completely deserted, eerily silent other than the loud roar of the greedy flames. The breath was being knocked out of him by the second, slipping through his fingers - his burning, calloused fingers.

He broke into a sprint, pressure steadily easing off his shoulders as he looked around to an abandoned street. Eddie and Maria must have already evacuated the town.

The silhouette of a small dog appeared through the thickening smoke, followed by a squeaky bark of relief.
"Bubbles!" Sausage exclaimed, kneeling down to tickle behind the Yorkshire Terrier's ear and she contentedly rubbed her head against his palm, before stepping back.
"Hermes is up in his playroom," she informed him, and reality dawned on him. "Eddie, Maria and I are checking for any more civilians,"

Sausage nodded frantically, saying a quick "Thank you girl!" before spinning on his heel and running towards the house.

"HERMES!!!" Sausage yelled at the top of his lungs, gasping for the choking air after yelling it repeatedly. "HERMES, I'M COMING!!"

He caught sight of the demigod peering over the side of the railing with wide eyes. Sausage could only imagine the sort of terror pulsating through his son's head as he looked over upon the Empire consumed by flames.

He was a fully grown man, looking at this for what felt like the hundredth time - Lizzie and Jimmy's empires, drained of their life as the waters washed away; Katherine and Joel's empires torn apart by the savage earthquakes that shook the lands; Scott's empire riddled with the corruption of evil; Gem's empire destroyed by the debris of the Grimlands catapulting from the heavens; Both fWhip and his very own empires obliterated by explosions beyond their control; raging, blazing fires consuming the empires' of Shrub, Joey and Pearl...

Pearl - his greatest friend, spending her last moments in his arms-

No, he thought sternly, pulling away from the topic before it could get to his head and make his chest tighten in the already-toxic atmosphere. Now's not the time to think about Pearl.

What he was trying to say was that he was a fully grown man who had experienced looking upon shit like that time and time again, and he still shuddered and sobbed and screamed and cried even thinking about it. And now...