Awaken (Hermitcraft Fanfiction)

XI. Finale Strikes

TW: fire, simulated death, injuries, threats

^-^

Pearl glanced at the sky again, anxiously fiddling with her armor trim. She had played the other emperors off her story, having come up with effective excuses for her behavior. However, Sausage refused to leave her alone, especially since he lived in the neighboring kingdom.

Another explosion went off in the distance, another sign of the calamity that had befallen the server. She glanced at her communicator again, watching the timestamps on the messages move further into the past.

Footsteps pounded on the dirt as Scott landed, his ice-blue cloak swirling around him as he ran to his spot in the circle. The other emperors arrived seconds later, dropping from the sky as they deactivated their elytras.

Pearl glanced around. "Where's Fwhip?" she asked, noticing the distinct lack of red in the group.

The engineer ran in, covered in soot. A burn covered the right side of his body, raw and covered in grime. How he was still alive was a mystery. The pieces began to fall in place when he explained.

"Jim and I... we were trying to make... another Codfather head," he gasped, clutching his side. He winced as he came in contact with the burn. "Explosion happened. Save your Empires." He fell forward, failing to catch himself before he hit the dusty ground. Gem rushed forward to her twin's side, hands fumbling as she tried to recall any healing spell she had learned.

Pearl stepped forward and placed her hand against Fwhip's neck, searching for a pulse. It was there, faint and fluttering. "I can save him," she whispered, reaching for the magic flowing through the universe. Why am I doing this? It's a mission. I shouldn't care. She brushed away the uncomfortable thoughts and took a small strand, watching as it formed the familiar silver string. She placed it over his brow, letting it sink in.

Fwhip remained unmoving. Gem choked on her tears, throwing herself across his body in a final goodbye. "I thought you could save him!" she cried, glaring at Pearl. "He should still be here!"

Pearl made eye contact. "Not in this life, Gem." Turning to the rest of the group, she swept her hand outward. "We have to do what Fwhip asked. We need to save our Empires." Tears brimmed in her eyes as she wove the spell over her server mates – no, friends. She staggered, sinking to one knee. "None of you will die."

She grabbed her elytra, shrugging on her back and fastening the clasps. The artificial wings brushed the raised skin her wings would burst from if she required it. She grabbed a firework and lit it, preparing to be launched into the sky alongside it. Gem cried out in grief, and she hazarded a glance behind her to see Fwhip's body disappearing into the ground as if a silver shadow had come over it and pulled it under.

A tear ran down her cheek as the rocket yanked her into the sky, and she opened her elytra, using it to soar toward her empire. The other Emperors did the same behind her, rocketing away to their kingdoms. Pearl grits her teeth as the charm she'd placed a few days prior affects her.

She felt a pang of guilt for stealing the Codfather hat off Jimmy's head while he was asleep. However, the theft had gotten the reaction she had hoped for, save for Fwhip's death. She swallowed tightly as she soared over Sausage's base and saw it overrun with Blood Sheep.

The explosion is affecting us differently she thought as the smoke came into view. An immense fire swept through Gilded Helianthia, scorching the buildings and burning the crops. Pearl dove into the center of the blaze, freeing her trapped animals and allowing them to scamper to safety.

"Pearl!" Sausage's voice rang across the rooftops as he arrived, swooping into the inferno with her. He coughed violently, pulling his shirt over his mouth to filter out the deadly vapor. "Pearl, you need to get out of this," he choked, tears – from smoke or sorrow, she couldn't say – running down his face and tracing lines through the grime.