Chapter Text
Emotions flowed through Jack like they never had before. Rage, betrayal, confusion, disappointment. He was enraged because of his so-called friends. The ones that had turned on each other, slowly. The betrayal was felt because he tried so hard to keep them together, but they didn’t listen, no matter how many times they said they would. Confusion that he could even feel this level of malice. Disappointed that they didn’t try to make him happy. Try to please him, make sure his efforts to establish peace weren’t in vain. He was never King, never required respect. He requested it. Never verbally, no, not out loud, never asked them. Instead, he attempted to be upstanding, someone to look up to. To admire. To respect.
But really, he thought, as he walked through the dungeon and took the crown off his head to admire the golden shine, it would have never lasted. Not with them. They would have denied him eventually. Thrown him out like a piece of garbage. Useless. He would prove to them that he could keep them together. The source of aggression needed to be destroyed. He would find it. And he would fix it. By breaking it into a thousand pieces.
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Michael kicked and threw himself against the door. “Damn it, open!” He yelled, gritting his teeth.
Geoff sighed. “Michael, stop, it’s not going to open by you yelling at it.” He said, standing up and putting a hand on Michael’s shoulder.
Michael turned and pushed him into Ray, who yelped and braced himself against the wall. “Shut up, Geoff! I don’t see you doing anything!” Michael growled before beating on the door.
Ray huffed and pushed Geoff off of him. “Michael, seriously man, give it a rest. We’re stuck in here until the citizens come back. And by then it’ll probably be too late anyways.” He said, standing and walking to the window. “I mean, Jack has no one to stop him. We’re finished.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. There has to be a way out.” He looked around the cell for weak points, to which Geoff huffed.
“Jack built this cell himself. He wouldn’t have left us in it if there was a way to escape.” He pointed out.
Ryan blinked before crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. “I suppose you’re right.”
Ray sighed and pushed his forehead in between two bars. “This is madness.” He mumbled.
“What’s madness?” A voice asked from in front of Ray. Ray yelped and jumped back into Michael. A milk bottle appeared out of nowhere, and a second later, so did Roy. He peered into the cell. “Why are you guys all in here? And why is Your Majesty with you?”
Ray and Michael gaped. “Roy, what the hell are you doing here?” Michael asked, grabbing the bars to look outside.
Roy shrugged. “Ray took me along to rescue you.” Michael glared at Ray, who looked away quickly. Roy continued. “Are you all locked in here?”
Geoff nodded vigorously. “Yes, please, get us out of here, there’s a key in the head warden’s office.”
Roy glanced at Ryan, but nodded before running off. Michael frowned and looked at Geoff. “Why is he still here? Why didn’t he disappear with the rest of them?”
Geoff leaned against the wall. “Magic is intelligent.” He quoted. Michael frowned. Geoff stood again. “The magic senses a danger, it sends the citizens away. Our competition for the crown is dangerous enough.”
Michael sighed. “Okay, that explains why everyone else is gone, but why not Roy?”
Ryan hummed. “Would you protect him?”
Michael nodded. “Of course, with my life. He helped me.”
Ryan gestured. “Then there’s your answer. He’s not in danger if you’re protecting him.” Michael nodded slowly.
Roy came back with a key ring in hand. “Got it!”
Geoff put his hands up. “Yes, please, hurry, the cell is getting smaller.” Roy nodded and started trying keys at random. Geoff watched closely before the cell door swung open and he launched out to grab Roy in a hug. “Oh, God, thank you!” He cried. Roy let out a strangled, “No problem.”
Ryan sighed. “Put the boy down, Geoff.” Geoff did so, and Roy looked at Ryan with apprehension. Ryan sighed again. “What?” Roy shook his head, so Ryan rolled his eyes.
Michael grabbed a sword that a guard had dropped and grabbed Ryan, spinning the man into the wall. Ryan stayed placid as Michael glared at him. “You're fucking insane, Ryan. I don't know when we’ll fucking learn.”
Ryan smirked. “Am I the crazy one? Jack is looking to kill us all, himself included, right now.” He grabbed Michael's hood and spun them to pin Michael instead, his eyes flaring with a sudden rage. “Don’t fucking touch me again!” He roared, and Roy flinched, though he was the only one. Ryan dropped Michael before taking off at a brisk walk down the hallway, cloak flowing behind him. The men glanced at each other before following.
Ray jogged alongside Ryan. “Where are we going?” Ryan stopped at a cell full of mooing cows. He opened the door without a word and blasted a vortex of fire into the dark cell. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air, and everyone except Ryan gagged. Ryan shut the cell door and continued on.
“The armory, and then the throne room.” He stated, finally answering Ray's question.
Ray swallowed. “Oh. Okay. Why the throne room?” He asked, wary.
Ryan hummed. “Maps. We need to know where Jack is, where he’s searching.” He explained, not looking back as he continued. “Geoff, where is the Tower?” Everyone stopped to look at Geoff.
Geoff looked back. “Well, you’ve never seen the place I hid it, neither has he. You two were sick.”
Ryan sighed. “That obviously doesn't help.”
Geoff rolled his eyes. “You didn't let me finish. It's somewhere you can't just find randomly. I enchanted it so you have to be looking for it.”
Michael hummed. “Oh, you put it on your little fortress that you tormented us from.”
Geoff scoffed. “I’d hardly call it torment.”
Ray laughed. “You dropped lava on my head.” Geoff just shrugged, so they kept walking.
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When Gavin came to, he almost didn’t know where he was. Above, there was the night sky, and around him, the soft noises of animals. “Edward.” He whispers, and the voice comes back with an answer.
“Fool.”
“Are we back?”
“I cannot tell. Ask that man over there.”
Gavin blinks. “What? Where?” He looks around, just in time to spot another man there, laying on the ground with dirt in his hair, illuminated by moonlight. He’s half naked, and Gavin feels confusion invade him. What was this man doing here? Was he a hobo? Did Gavin just... drop in on some homeless guy that would freak out if he woke up and saw the thought to be dead Gavin standing there with an arrow through his chest?
Well, it was too late now, because the man was waking up. He sat up fast, gasping, and reaches down to touch his own body. He laughs, after a second, and raises his fists up. “I’m back! I’m normal!” He says, before he looks at Gavin. “Oh, it’s you!” He says, with an accent a lot like Gavin’s, but not as thick. There were a few people in the kingdom with accents like Gavin’s, though none of them were quite the same. Gavin is about to say something, but he can’t get out words before the man hugs him tight, avoiding the arrow, laughing. “We did it! We got back. Fuck, I thought I’d never get away from the pull of that place.”
Gavin shoves him away after a second. “Hold on. Who the fuck are you?” He asks, and the man smiles.
“Aw, c’mon, you can’t tell me you don’t recognize me.” He says, before he looks around. He grabs a flower, pulls it up root and stem, and holds it over his head. He makes a noise that sounds a lot like an enderman. Gavin’s eyes go wide.
“Dan?” He whispers in disbelief.
The man nods. “Yeah!” He puts the flower back in the hole, carefully patting the dirt back around it. “Daniel Gruchy, at your service, Lord Free.” He says, holding out a hand for Gavin to shake. Gavin stares at him, getting to his feet, and grabs his hand.
“Good to... meet you, hold on. You were an enderman just a few moments ago, in the End.” He says, and Dan nods.
“Yup.”
“But now you’re not.”
“Correct.”
“How?”
“I’m not sure.” Dan says, finally. “All I know is that... I was there for a while. A long while.”
Gavin frowns, and then something clicks. “You didn’t belong there.”
Dan snorts. “No shit, B.” He mutters, but Gavin raises a hand.
“No, no, like... you weren’t supposed to be there. Not like me, and the others. You went there on accident, didn’t you?”
Dan pauses. “I took a hunting job, to provide for my son...” He said, quietly. “I got lost, one day, chasing a chicken, and... I fell. Down a hole. I couldn’t get back up, so I just kept going down, hoping I would find some way out. Some mine shaft with people working in it, even an abandoned one, anything really. I found some old ruins. And then I found that portal. I didn’t have any other option, especially when those fucking silverfish came after me. So, I jumped. Suddenly, I was in the End, and I was an enderman. I think the Dragon thought I was just one of the others, so... she just. Told me what to do. And I had no choice but to listen. Until you came along, with... him, and... reminded me that I didn’t belong there. I was starting to forget, see.”
Gavin stares in disbelief. “So... now you’re just...”
Dan nods. “Just me. And...” He kneels in front of Gavin. “I pledge my life to you.” He looks up. “I can fight as well as I can farm, I promise.”
Gavin stares down at him. “Stand up already. You don’t need to do that. I don’t think I even need you to pledge your life right now.”
“Already did, y’never know what’s out there.” Dan says as he gets to his feet again. “But considering... what did you do, exactly, to make that huge explosion?”
Gavin blinks. He remembers... Kdin, she shot a spell at him. A powerful one. But Gavin had caught it. And then... fired it right back. She hadn’t been hurt, of course, but the rest of the floating island had been pretty damn beat up. “Magic,” was all he could think of.
Dan nods. “Right. Okay.” He looks around. “So, where are we?” He asks. “I need to get home. Roy probably misses me like hell.”
Gavin looks around. “I’m not sure, honestly.” He says, before looking back at Dan. “I thought we’d show up at the Spawn Point, but... this definitely isn’t it...” He pushes his fingers through his hair to get it out of the way, and frowns. “Shit. My hand. The arrow...” He looks down at himself, grunting and trying to pull it out. Nothing. If anything, it just hurt. “I can’t walk around like this... if people think I’m dead, and they see me like this, they’ll think I’m a fucking zombie...” He looks up at Dan. “Where’s your house then?”
Dan looks around. “Well...” He looks up, and around. “Wait, there’s...” He points, in the distance. “A light...”
Gavin turns, and frowns. “Oh. So there is...” He says, and starts walking forwards. “Well, if it’s a farm, we can borrow their horses.” Dan moves to catch up with him.
“Feels weird having to walk everywhere again. But we can’t just steal them.”
“Not steal. Borrow.”
“I don’t see what the difference is.”
“Well, when this is all over, I’ll be giving the horses back to whomever owns them, along with two more for the trouble. Four horses.” He nods. “Perfect exchange, if you ask me.”
Dan just sighs. “Whatever you say, B.” He grumbles.
Gavin glances at him. “What’s that then? B? That my nickname?”
Dan smiles. “Well, yeah! B for buddy, brother. I thought it was cute.”
Gavin pauses, and then smiles. “Yeah, it is pretty cute. Now, shh. We need to be quiet.”
As they get closer and closer, the light reveals itself to be a singular flickering torch attached to a hut. Gavin peers at the front of it, getting a look at a sign. It reads: “Madame Meg’s Palm Reading and Fortune Telling.” It’s a rather well-made sign. Upon not seeing any horses around, Gavin sighs. “Well, let’s see if she can give us directions. Dan, go knock on the door.”
Dan frowns. “Me? Why do I have to- oh. Right.” He sighs, flicks the arrow in Gavin’s chest, and starts to walk towards the door. He knocks on it, waits a minute, and then knocks again. “Hello? I’m afraid I’m lost.” He says, and then looks at where Gavin is hiding. He shrugs. “Maybe she’s not home.”
Gavin stands up and starts forwards. “Why would she leave that torch lit if she wasn’t home? Or take it with her?” He shakes his head. “Something’s not right.” He mumbles, moving to the window that looks into the kitchen. On the table sits a plate of still steaming food. “Shit. Something’s really not right, Dan.” He moves back around to the door, and looks down at his hand. In a moment, he punches through the door knob with his metal hand, just to let it swing open.
Dan jumps. “Oi! What if she’s asleep?” He hisses, and Gavin shakes his head.
“She’s not. She’s gone...” He murmurs, creeping into the home. The parlor is the main room, a table sitting there with a crystal ball in the center. A candle flickers from two curtains, and Gavin walks behind them to see a small table with a book open to a fresh page, newly dried ink writing out hurried words.
Dan follows him in. “What do you mean she’s gone?” He asks, before he glances out the back window and squints. A dirt road is just through the trees, and on it sits a cart with no driver, a torch still burning laying on the ground next to it. “The competition...”
Gavin nods. “Must be. But... I don’t know why they would do it again, after what happened the last time. And so soon.” He sits down. “Hold on a sec, Dan. Look at this.” He starts reading the page aloud.
“I can feel it coming, the presence that whisks us common folk away to safety. But there is no danger that I can sense otherwise. Not yet, anyways. I had a dream tonight, though, one that woke me up right afterwards. I’ll make myself some food and go back to bed. Maybe I’ll be taken in my sleep. I hope that’s the case.
In the dream, I saw the Lords, all six of them, standing in a circle. And on the outside, spirits lingered. Faces long dead, but not completely gone. The spirits grabbed hold of the Lords, and in an instant the six of them began to fight, maiming and cutting until only one remained. The other Lords did not get back up, not like they usually did. I was so frightened that I woke in a cold sweat. Now, I write this, and I can feel a storm coming.”
Edward speaks for the first time since mentioning Dan. “She’s talking about my... former allies.”
Gavin sits up. “What do you mean?” He asks.
Dan looks up. “Yeah, what do you mean?”
“You can still hear him?”
“Yeah, but it’s fuzzier.”
Gavin nods, and Edward explains. “Well... I only came to occupy your mind when you put on the crown. I was fighting the hardest to get my chance, do the same that the Crazed had.”
“What are you talking about?” Gavin asks, before he hears Edward take a breath.
“We were all of us dead. Even after they broke my vessel, I was still floating in the ether, asleep. My mind, my memories, slipping away as my soul carried on. And then, suddenly, I was awake again. But... I was trapped. As were my former friends. All six of us bouncing around inside a ring of gold. Your crown. Of course, I had no idea who they were, I had been floating far longer than they had before that, and they seemed to have no desire to communicate with me. But we felt a connection, some life force, and the Crazed was the first to figure out what to do. Suddenly he was gone, and none of us knew where he went, just that it felt like a window had shattered, just to be reformed again.”
“And then... I put it on.”
“Yes, and I wasn’t about to let the others get out before me. I think it was my willpower that did it, that got me free. I was suddenly looking through foreign eyes, not able to move myself. Then... well... I suppose you know what happened then.”
“Well... I suppose... I fell down the stairs.”
“You did. And your friends laughed at you. And I think I subconciously recognized them to be like my allies. At least, on the surface. It angered me, and drew me to pity you, and so I found my voice.”
“And you told me to kill them.”
“Yes. But now that I’ve remembered my old life, how my old allies were, I know that... well, that your friends didn’t mean any ill will towards you. Not like mine had.”
“So... the Crazed is in Ryan’s head, then? That’s why he acted the way he did.”
“It’s the only explanation, yes.”
“And the rest of my friends?”
“That’s harder to say. If they’ve put the crown on, then what was in the witch’s dream might very well be true. That they’re all free, and they all have their own agendas. I heard them talking to one another. They believe that Henry, the First, had lied to them. That he’d promised them eternal life, and didn’t deliver. If they got access to new, younger bodies, then...”
“Then we’re fucked.” Dan says, interjecting. “If they’re as bad as you’re making them out to be, then that’s why everyone is gone. They want the crown. It’s not your friends fighting over it, Gavin, it’s them. They want whatever power it gives you blokes.”
Gavin stares at the table. “Fuck...” He breathes out, closing the book. “So... so we need to stop this. How do we stop this?” He asks.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Edward says, materializing for Gavin’s benefit. “The... well, the simplest answer would be to destroy the crown.” He says, after a second. “That was our vessel. Without it, we have no connection to your Tower.”
“Alright.” Gavin says, standing. “So, we find the crown, and we destroy it.”
Dan smiles. “Guess it couldn’t hurt if I came with you, could it B?” He asks, and Gavin looks at him.
“Actually, it could hurt a lot. If you got hurt, or killed, then that’s it. You don’t come back.”
Dan puffs up his chest. “And what, exactly, is gonna kill me? Your friends? Since we can’t hear the sounds of war, or buildings exploding, or anything like that, I’m gonna assume that we still have time before they all go completely...” He pauses. “Well, nuts isn’t the right word. But you know what I mean. And until then, I’m going to help you.” Gavin purses his lips together in a thin line.
“Fine. I suppose there’s no way to stop you, is there?”
“Nope.”
“Alright. We go to the castle first, then. That’s where they’d be, right?”
“Makes sense to me.” Dan says, shrugging and starting to walk outside. He stops dead in the doorway. ”Gavin. Gavin, we have a problem.” He hisses, and Gavin stands to follow.
“What do you mean... oh. Fuck.”
Out of the forest around them, creepers have started to trickle in. Just one at first, but now there were at least ten of them. Gavin swallows. “Shit.”
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As it turns out, leaving the dungeons was rather easy. Since there weren’t any guards, or any sort of alarm system set in place to tell Jack they were escaping, it was easy for them to slip up to the armory. Looking around at the guard standard weapons, Michael sighs. “These are all so small.” He mumbles, and Geoff shrugs.
“Well, yeah. Don’t want to use too much metal.”
“Are there any big swords?”
“There’s the one I confiscated from you a couple days ago.” Geoff says, before giving Michael an apologetic smile.
Michael rolls his eyes. “Where is it? Your room?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll be back.”
“Don’t be long.”
Michael waves him off. “Yeah, yeah.” He mumbles before he walks off.
He moves by torchlight, all the way up the stairs, flight after flight. Did Geoff really need to have his room so high up? Michael’s was only on the fourth floor; Geoff’s was on the sixth. He settles on the final landing, and shakes his head. “Need to get one of Matt’s elevators out of him.” He mumbles, before he hears footsteps. Heavy ones. Getting closer. He moves fast, pressing himself up against the wall next to the opening archway, out of sight. He didn’t think Jack would still be here. He must have realized Geoff hid the Tower and searched the most obvious places first..
The footsteps stop, and Michael swallows. He closes his eyes, and faces forwards, only to be met with a view of the biggest man that he’s ever seen. His eyes go wide. “Who the hell are you?” He asks, going to draw his sword before he realizes he doesn’t have one. The larger man doesn’t speak, not at first. Michael doesn’t know what to do, he’s never seen this man before in his life.
“I am a friend.” The bigger man says, after almost a minute. “The Warrior.”
Michael swallows. “The Warrior... right... well... you should get the hell out of here if you know what’s good for you. If you’re here to try anything funny, I’ll throw you down those stairs.”
“They’re going to betray you.”
“...What?”
“The man in the armor. He’s already done it once before, hasn’t he? Lied to you, and then locked you up. Tried to tell you that you were crazy. Told everyone else you were a menace.” He looks down the hallway past the door. “You should go get your weapon before they wonder what’s keeping you.”
Michael moves into motion. “That’s not true. Geoff didn’t want me to think less of him for who he used to be.” He mumbles.
“Really? It’s not because you’re dangerous? You’re a better fighter than he is, than any of them are. He was just looking for a reason to get you out of the way.”
“You’re wrong.” Michael says as he steps into Geoff’s room. It’s decorated simplistically, nothing too fancy. There’s a painting of the six of them hung above the bed, a rendition of their first competition. They all looked so happy, like it was all in good fun. Back then, being King didn’t mean very much. They all ran the kingdom together. The crown was just a hat.
“You should kill them before they kill you.”
“They?”
“Yes. You can’t seriously believe that he’s the only one that thinks of you that way.”
Michael finds his sword in the chest at the foot of Geoff’s desk. A diamond blade, twice as long as the standard. He’d found the materials himself. “You can stop trying to trick me. It’s not going to work.” He says.
“The Fool tricked you. And he was far, far dumber than me. You killed him, too. It would be so easy.”
Michael’s grip tightens on the sword, and he yells, swinging in an arc, aiming at where the voice had been coming from, where the man had to be. He cuts nothing but air. The sword falls to the ground with a clunk, and Michael kneels down, once again wrought with grief and guilt over Gavin’s death.