Chapter Text
The sun is rising, a burning ball of flames, engulfing the terrain in a scorching heat.
Few players remain- Joel, Scar, Pearl, Bdubs and himself.
He knows he must ally with either one of the pairs as at the moment he was the prime target.
The Mounders, Joel and Bdubs, to his knowledge seemed to be tight whilst Pearl and Scar were also close.
“For the Bad Boys.” Joel had messaged the words, episodes prior, when gifting him a heart in his time of need- Joel who had been his “soulmate” back in episode three.
To form an alliance with the two players with more hearts would be flimsy, Scar or Pearl could turn on him in a matter of seconds with no consequence, Joel on the other hand had been close to him all season- Bdubs too who had formed an alliance? With Etho and maybe Cleo.
Yes, he knew his game plan from here.
—
“Joel!” He whispers, pressed against the shadow of the secret keeper, the cloak of darkness sends shivers down his spine, “Joel! Get over here!”
The red name in question is tense, sword raised as he’s rapidly looking around- Grian rolls his eyes, grabbing Joel’s shoulder and yanking him into the shade the Secret Keeper has cast, concealing them from view.
“AH!” He yelps, jumping violently, Grian barley contains a cackle, “GRIAN.” Joel’s red eyes are bright, he’s trying to present himself as powerful, a player to be wary of but he knows that Joel won’t kill him- not yet at least- he was far more interested in finding out what Grian wants.
“Joel.” He replies simply, a grin on his face despite the hollow grief in his heart, he removes his hands from Joel’s shoulders and moves them to cross over his chest presenting himself as almost bored.
“What do you want, Grian?” Joel’s voices wavers ever so slightly, he’s been set on edge after the deaths of Gem and the Scott’s, “It was you who killed them, right?”
Grian is silent for a moment, letting the suspense build in the tense atmosphere, “Yes. A three versus one.” He grins again, feeling devilish but emotions aren’t working right at the moment and he can’t find it in himself to care that he may seem psychopathic. “Look Joel, I’ve come here to make a deal.” He continues smoothly, stepping towards the other red-name, “To have us work together until the final, for the Bad Boys. Bdubs too, if you want.”
Joel seems to hesitate, he’s unsure on how to act- Grian understands all too well not being able to trust.
“What’s in it for you?” Joel demands, “How can we trust you?” His red eyes are narrowed, he’s leaning on the hilt of his diamond sword.
Grian pauses and replies in a more gentle tone, “I’m doing it for Etho, for Cleo.” Joel’s eyes widened at the mention of his ‘Boat Boy,’ “I can’t let their deaths be in vain, I want to make them proud.”
Now this is something Joel understands, he gives a quick jerk of his head- a nod- and holds out his hand, “Not an alliance but a truce.” He says, Grian clasps his hand, “Once Scar and Pearl are dead the deals are over. Understand?”
And Grian does understand, he understands that Joel can’t get tangled up in Grian’s web of problems, he understands that Joel doesn’t want to form new alliances at the very end, he has a team to fall back on, a team he wants to win.
So Grian shakes, their hands bound as they make their mutual agreement, Bdubs and Joel won’t target him until their mutual opponents are dead.
They don’t speak again, leaving in opposite directions- Grian heads to the one place he knows no one goes, to the ruins of his first base, the charred stairs that lead to nothing and the crumbled pieces of the egg.
For the first time in days he sits down upon an abandoned chest, pulling out a loaf of bread from his inventory to eat without the fear of someone hunting him, without having to worry about his teammates.
Every splinter from the wooden chest digs into his skin, he feels each fibre grating against his flesh- he’s hyper aware of his surroundings, the cool breeze washing over him, the hard, flat earth beneath his feet- the bread crumbs dropping through the cracks between his fingers as he takes a bite.
He’s in the eye of the storm, a calmness before the final battles begin- he’s in the top five once again but he’s far worse off than them.
They have rows of hearts that they’ve obtained during the zombie apocalypse, they’ve had the time to gain hearts that exceed the amount a yellow or green life could gather.
Grian had a mere twenty six hearts.
He’s at impossible odds- his kills from the day prior were by chance, the stars aligned and he was able to set off a TNT minecart, that luck would be unlikely to happen again.
Leaves crunch under something- someone’s foot, it’s the smallest of sounds but he’s alert in milliseconds, springing to the balls of his feet, sword in hand- he spins around sharply, red eyes scanning the clearing intensely.
“Grian.” He jumps, glaring over his shoulder and quickly raising his shield, before him is Pearl in full glory of her red life. “How did you do it?” The question is a whisper, he must answer though, he needs to play for time, “The three of them had over a hundred hearts.”
“TNT minecart.” He responded simply, waving his hand to the side to play it off, making it seem like it was no big deal, “It was a thing of luck, really.”
“I’m sure.” His sister’s response is sinister, dark, the end of the grace period is drawing near, he needs to think of a plan, “So Grian, how many hearts do you have now? Four kills, what would that make? 70? That is, only if you took no damage.” He shudders- remembering the explosion that awaited for him as he awoke to his red life- how he instantly lost over a row of hearts, crippled for the next session to come.
Martyn’s death was the lifeline he held onto when killing Gem, without those bonus ten hearts he would’ve been dead before Impulse had joined the fight.
“You know I can’t tell you that Pearl.” He glances over her shoulder, upon the horizon- by the Secret Keeper statue he sees figures moving, fighting. “It wouldn’t be very beneficial to me.” As he speaks he’s scanning through his inventory- a singular Ender Pearl is all he has, a singular chance to win.
“You’re right about that.” Her sword is flying down upon him in a matter of seconds, he flings the pearl, towards the statue, before raising his shield to defend her second hit.
Pearl is lethal, she has a record through these death games to be a maniac, in the haze of her red life Grian knew that she would not hold back even when faced against her brother.
She jumps back from the rebounding force, raising an axe to split his wooden protection in half- he jumps to the side, plunging his diamond sword into her thigh before yanking it back, watching disinterested as blood drips from the blade.
She raises her bow, drawing back the string and he panics- his expedition with Skizz during the zombie apocalypse informed him of how deadly that bow is, he ducks, the tip of the arrow just grazing over the skin of his arm- searing it but taking no hearts.
When was that blasted Ender Pearl going to land?
She’s rearing back, sword above his hand, it strikes his back painfully and he’s stumbling to the ground, throwing out his own weapon to swipe across both her ankles- his nineteen hearts flash in warning and he rolls away from the next blow- an attack that would’ve left him with a sword through the neck.
He’s filthy, Gem’s blood is dried and cracked across his own flesh, dirt clings to every fibre of his clothing.
He stares at her eyes, from his place on the ground and sees the utter bloodlust that’s encapsulated them before he watches his world tip and disappear in a cloud of purple particles.
He blinks once, he’s underwater, in an instant he begins to swim up, thankful that the blood was being washed from his clothes, skin and hair- as he gasps for breath when he rises to the surface his stomach flips.
Scar has shot Bdubs, the man’s large eyes widen once before his body disappears in a flash, BANG, Grian shudders as he remembers the deaths of Gem, of Etho, of Scott, Impulse and Martyn.
Joel is roaring in fury but he stands no chance, Scar is a force to be reckoned with, his heart count reaching an impossible height.
Grian leaps out of the shallows, plunging his sword into Scar’s back while he’s distracted with Joel, he feels the bones crunch, hears Scar wince as he turns around to shoot him with an arrow.
Nineteen hearts narrow down to fifteen- if it weren’t for his netherite chest plate he feared he’d be worse off.
Joel is charging at Scar again, rolling down to the floor and hacking at Scar’s flesh once with his axe- Scar rears back ferociously- what happened this season?
When did Scar get so strong?
He remembers the desert plains, following Scar around in desperation as the man nearly got himself killed at every opportunity.
He sees now what this season has done to Scar, sweet, clumsy Scar- all his tasks of villainous destruction, the numerous deaths that he caused- he was out to win.
Grian shoots his own arrow, it hits Scar’s shoulder but the man is preoccupied in killing Joel, when Grian goes to shoot another it hits his shield and he knows he must get closer to the fight.
Joel throws a pearl, placing down a swarm of mobs before he teleports- Scar turns on him, swinging viciously with his sword.
Every cut, every swing, hurts incredibly- he barely stays on his feet as he swipes back, over and over.
His hearts are ticking down, seven remain- he knows he cannot win, the odds are impossible for Scar’s heart count is surely over five times his own.
Joel on the other hand- Joel who too was matched with odds that he could no way match- Joel wasn’t going to give up yet, Grian knew that but he would also be close to getting low.
“Joel!” He yells, running from Scar, he sees Pearl in the distance rushing to join the fight, “Joel, kill me!” He’s not sure why he’s chosen this, maybe it was because he knew he couldn’t win.
Maybe it was him making up for last season, when he’d offered Joel a chance to kill him in Joel’s final moments so he could live longer only for Joel to die before he could.
Joel doesn’t hesitate, of course he doesn’t hesitate, they weren’t allies, they weren’t even friends.
The arrow shoots through his heart and he feels himself fading- his body crumples to the floor and everything goes white- blinding, magnificent white.
BANG.
He’s staring at his own body, transfixed as it disappears, he watches now how Joel is matched against Pearl and Scar but he at least had more hearts to stand a small quiver of a chance in fighting.
“Grian..” he turns quickly at the voice, non-existent tears rushing to his eyes at the pale, ghostly forms of Etho and Cleo, he runs forward, clasping them in a hug so tight that if they could still breath he knew they’d be squirming for air.
“I’m sorry.” He gasps out as their arms both cradle him, hugging him back close to their bodies, “I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t win for you…”
“Grian.” Etho hushes him, he glances up at both of their faces.
“We’re so proud of you.” Cleo finishes and he all but collapses in their embrace.