"You did what?"
Gem's voice echoed through the room. "Keep it down!" said Jimmy, glancing anxiously towards Scott's sleeping figure. It was late, and everyone had gone to sleep.
Jimmy had texted Gem to meet up with him. He expected her to reply the next morning, but the red-haired wizard got less sleep than he originally thought.
Something told him not to talk to the other version of Scott - Red Scott, as Scott called him - but he did. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all.
Jimmy came over to Gem's place and explained what he had done, to her. She was the best at magic, and seemed to know what she was doing.
Which led to this, getting yelled at by Gem in the middle of the night. "He was calm about it! Besides Scott doesn't have to know..."
"What, that he nearly died and you made a deal with his past self to revive him? I'm no social expert, Jimmy, but I have a feeling that you're supposed to tell your friends something like that."
Jimmy winced at the venom behind her words. It reminded him of getting scolded by a teacher. "Also... Xornoth has been hearing voices in their head."
Gem sighed, as though trying to calm herself. "Okay, okay, one thing at a time. Voices from who? Also, did you say their head?"
"Xornoth came out as non-binary!"
"To you before his - uh - their brother?"
"Scott knew and was trying not to out them. Besides, he was kinda dying."
Gem pinched the bridge of her nose, "And they told you this while their brother was dying?"
"They may have been drunk."
"Drunk? Wh- You know what, they can legally do that. Anyway, you said they were hearing voices? From...?"
Jimmy shook himself, getting back to the topic at hand, "Right. They were getting voices from Exor."
Gem's eyes widened, "Exor?! And you didn't think to tell me?!" Jimmy really didn't mean to say what he said next, but maybe it was the delusion of the lateness of the night but he said, "I kinda just did."
Gem rolled her eyes, "Yeah, after the damage was done. You can't go around making deals like that! You're literally bargaining with fate."
Jimmy sighed, "I know! I know. I'm sorry, okay? I was scared. Scott was freezing to death and I... I didn't want to lose him." Gem shook her head, "It's fine. This will be fine. I'll talk to Aeor... what was Exor saying to Xornoth?"
Jimmy thought for a moment before saying, "He was saying something like 'free me' and 'be my vessel' and 'he only wants what is good for his sunflower, not you' and other stuff along those lines."
"So he wants to be free and use Xornoth as a vessel? But then, who is the 'he' in this situation? And what about a sunflower?" Gem closed her eyes as her thoughts pounded painfully against her head.
Jimmy frowned, concerned for his friend, "I think the 'he' is Scott, and I'm his sunflower. Red Scott mentioned a sunflower, saying it was all that bound him to Earth and I'm the only thing that's binding him to Earth..."
"What does that imply?" mumbled Gem, more to herself than to Jimmy.
"I've been able to figure out that there was a past life of some sort and I have a feeling that Scott and I were husbands? And we lived in a flower valley and life was perfect until... The tricks? He often mentions a gravestone."
Gem's eyebrows rose, "Does he mention whose gravestone?" Jimmy looked down and whispered, "Mine."
Gem could say nothing but 'oh'. She shook herself. "If Exor doesn't like him, he must be good, right? But then Aeor doesn't like him either... What is he?"
"Lost soul." Jimmy's voice was quiet enough to be the wind, but Gem heard it. She recognised the term. "Yeah, that makes sense. If Dead Jimmy - sorry - was his husband, and he died without being able to apologise, that would make him a lost soul. How do you know what a lost soul is?"
Jimmy fidgeted with his ring and said, "Scott told me. He was talking about lost souls and Red just responded. I couldn't tell whether it was positive or what, but he sent a jolt through my head. But Red apologised to dead me. Who would he need to say sorry to?"
"Himself. He needs to say sorry to himself for putting himself through all that grief," said Gem.
Jimmy suddenly winced as a pain shot through his head. He clutched his head with his hands in a desperate attempt to stop it. "Jimmy!" exclaimed Gem, "Are you okay?!"
Jimmy shook his head, "He's screaming. He wants vengeance for stealing me away. He thinks Scott took away his sunflower... I'm not Sunflower. Please, Red, stop."
"Call me Scott!" Jimmy's voice was no longer his own. Instead it was Red Scott shouting in his voice. "Gem it hurts!" pleaded Jimmy.
Gem panicked as she watched Jimmy go through pain. Tears streamed down his face and his eyes were squeezed shut. "What do I do?" she asked, but Jimmy couldn't hear her.
"I am the one true Scott! The other is an imposter! Stop stop stop stop stop!" Gem watched as the two personalities went to war inside Jimmy.
Gem remembered something she had in her room, but would it be safe to leave Jimmy/Red alone with a sleeping Scott? What if Red did something to him?
"Come with me." Gem tugged Jimmy by the arm to her room. On the shelf of the potions she used often, sat a little grey potion. It looked so... anticlimactic for a potion to save the day. But it would do the trick.
Gem grabbed Jimmy and tried to get him to drink the grey liquid, but he resisted, and Gem realised it was Red in control. She was strong though, stronger than Jimmy's human form, but if Red could take his god form...
Gem didn't think about it longer. She held Jimmy down and shoved the potion down his throat. As soon as the last drop was gone, Jimmy went sluggish.
"Thanks..." he mumbled before drifting off to sleep. Gem looked at Jim's quietly snoring body and sighed. It looks like another friend is staying the night at her place.
She pulled out a mattress and set it up in her room, digging out old bedsheets that she forgot she had. Being as gentle as she could, she laid Jimmy into it.
Gem sighed and went into the kitchen. A quick check told her that there was enough food to feed everyone there. She silently thanked Pearl for sleeping at her friend's place.
The night was quiet, and Gem sat at her desk, thinking. Her desk had a window that looked out into the starry sky. What if Exor could do what Red Scott did? What if Aeor could? What would that mean? How would Red Scott be a part of this?
With those thoughts, she fell asleep on her desk, glad that time let her have her friends with her for that one night.
~~~~
Word count: 1199
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THIS BOOK! Can you believe it's been a year since I started this? Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me! Also, on the same note, 2K reads! Does anyone realise how happy I am?
<RubyBlueWrites left the game>
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Hidden Worlds (EmpiresSMP)
Fanfiction"So show it to me," The people said their kind was gone, lost to the sands of time. Never to return. They said these magic-users were evil. They said all that lay in their chest was a heart of stone. They said not to worry - their kind was now nothi...
