Work Text:
Gem growled under her breath, shoving her way through trees as she raced back to the Crystal Cliffs. She needed a plan, to sit down and figure out her next moves, but she didn’t have time.
Not with the others hunting her down.
She cursed how the corruption had a physical affect, instantly separating her from everyone else. There was no way to blend in, to hide her allegiance until she was ready to reveal it, and it was making her life incredibly difficult.
The grass slowly turned to soul soil beneath her feet as she ran into the Grimlands, praying she’d be able to make it into the tunnel connecting her and Fwhip’s empires. Despite their... current differences, he was still her brother. If she could trust anyone to not turn her in, it would be him.
“Gem?”
Apparently, it was too much to hope that she’d go undetected. She turned, resisting the urge to collapse into his arms. The temporary comfort wouldn’t be worth getting caught.
“Fwhip,” she said, forcing neutrality into her voice. “I don’t want to fight. If you’re not going to join me, let me leave.”
His face was an open book of worry and concern as he stepped forward, gently grabbing her arm. “You know I can’t do that, Gem. Please come with me. We’ll help you, bring you to the right side.”
Gem scowled, wrenching her arm out of his grip and walking backwards. Of course he couldn’t see, of course he thought he was in the right. He hadn’t seen what she had, he didn’t know.
She knew she shouldn’t hold it against him.
But that was incredibly hard when his concern suddenly seemed like condescension.
“I am on the right side! That doesn’t change just because you all think I’m some kind of traitor!”
He looked hurt at her words, continuing to walk towards her even as she backed away. “You’re not thinking clearly. I know Scott hurt you, trust me, he’s not been forgiven for that, but please don’t let that stop you from doing the right thing.”
Scoffing, Gem slapped his reaching hand away. “I never thought I’d say this, but getting frozen was the best thing that could have happened to me. It’s why I’m apparently the only one who has any common sense anymore!”
Fwhip went to speak again, but Gem was done listening. She’d been avoiding using her elytra, the crystals obvious against the sky, but it was the only way she could hope to get out of the situation.
“Don’t come after me. You’ll regret it.”
And despite the aching of her heart as she snarled, he nodded and backed off.
“I hope you see reason soon.”
A rocket lifted her into the sky, and she excused the stinging in her eyes as the wind.
Gem landed in Rivendell, pulling her cloak tighter around herself. The cold seemed to seep into her very bones, and she had to fight the urge to flee into the warmth of the nether.
As much as she wanted to leave, she had a mission. Xornoth’s crystal had been kept here longer than anywhere else, and though they were free now, she needed to find anything that even had a chance of making them stronger.
Aeor’s statue loomed over the kingdom, and she could feel the stone eyes looking at her with judgement. She scowled, glaring up at it with pure hatred in her eyes.
“This is entirely your fault,” she hissed. “If you’d had better control over your champion-”
“Are you... arguing with a statue?”
She whirled around, glaring as Scott watched her with a raised eyebrow. Fire jumped to her palm as she opened her hand, holding it towards him warningly. “Leave.”
There was no time to waste arguing. If he knew she was here, he knew what she was looking for. And she couldn’t afford to have him stop her.
“This is my kingdom,” he said, crossing his arms. “You’re the intruder here, and even despite your allegiance to the wrong stag-”
Scott yelped as a fireball shot past him, barely missing his head.
“Shut up. You’re the one who grew up learning the legends, you know which of them is supposed to come out on top! It’s not too late though, you can still make the right decision.”
“Don’t you think that would make me more knowledgeable about this? I know everything there is to know, which means you should be the one following my lead.”
Gem scoffed, starting to back away while shaking her head. “So self-righteous, even after everything your precious god has done. Even after everything you’ve done to me.”
His eyes narrowed at that, a nerve clearly struck. Good. Anger would make him sloppy, and she needed all the advantages she could get.
“No one will take your side in this.”
And just like that, the fight in Gem died. It was one thing to know that everyone was against her. It was another to hear it from someone else.
“You have no allies anymore. You can’t return to your empire since we’ll find you there. You’re alone.”
Her control over the fire slipped and it flickered out of existence, leaving her defenceless as tears pricked at her eyes. Scott walked towards her, a pitying expression on his face.
“But you don’t have to be. Come back to us, we can help you. Please. We miss our friend.”
A gentle hand squeezed her shoulder and her resolve almost crumbled right then and there. But she couldn’t give in.
Thinking as quickly as she could to come up with a plan, Gem leaned into his touch. The corruption made it warm, despite all of Aeor’s ice and snow, and she couldn’t help but let out a small hum of content.
His grip relaxed ever so slightly, clearly assuming that she’d surrendered, and that was all the opening she needed.
She turned, elbowing him harshly and shooting into the sky as soon as she heard his grunt of pain.
Nowhere was safe. She couldn’t even rest in her own empire, the place undoubtedly being under watch. Katherine might have been an option, but her fields had turned red with corruption and fire weeks ago.
There was no more neutrality after that.
Tears blurred her vision and she couldn’t think straight, Scott’s words echoing in her head over and over again.
“You’re alone.”
Too lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even notice as she started to tilt downwards, the ground approaching far too quickly for her to pull up.
She crashed in the middle of a field of wheat, and all went dark.
Gem groaned, holding a hand to her head as she sat up. From the way she wasn’t in chains or having her mind messed with, no one had noticed her crash landing.
The moon was high in the sky, the cool night air tainted with the musk and heat of the corruption dotted throughout Gilded Helianthia. Guilt filled her for a moment before she pushed it down. She hadn’t even been able to move, there was nothing she could have done.
She needed to escape, find somewhere safe to lie low, but when she tried to stand her leg gave way under her. There was no way she could make it anywhere far like this, and staying in the fields would leave her vulnerable.
But maybe...
Pearl hadn’t turned her back on Sausage when he’d been corrupted. Sure, it was mostly just because they were still sparring buddies, but maybe she could rely on that same kindness again. Even if just for a night.
It turned out she didn’t even need to try and hobble over; her cry of pain having drawn attention. Pearl’s expression of soft concern was enough to make her start crying all over again, and she didn’t say a word of protest as she was carefully helped inside.
Neither of them spoke for a while. Both had things they wanted to say, but they couldn’t find the right words.
The silence was only broken by the occasional clinking from the kitchen as Pearl made them both hot chocolate, and Gem smiled gratefully as a mug was pushed over to her.
“You can stay here as long as you need. I won’t push you.”
There were no words to describe how relieved she felt, so she just let so much of the tension she’d been carrying drain out of her.
“You’re- you’re not going to try and pull me to your side? Like the others?”
Pearl just shook her head, giving her a soft smile. “You don’t have to worry. Just drink your chocolate.”
Gem took a small sip, before immediately starting to choke. She pushed the cup away, the bitter and somehow familiar taste lingering on her tongue. “Note to self, corruption messes with taste buds.”
She glanced up to find Pearl drinking from her own mug like nothing was wrong. And maybe there wasn’t. Maybe she was just being paranoid. But it was hard to think when she was suddenly so tired...
“How dare you!”
The cup shattered as she shoved it onto the ground, fury entering the eyes she was struggling to keep open. Pearl sighed sadly, shaking her head as she got up.
“This would have been easier for you if you’d just taken the potion. I don’t want to hurt you, so please let us help you.”
There was so much concern and pleading in her voice that Gem faltered, which was all the opening Pearl needed to wrap an arm around her and guide her outside. She didn’t have any energy to protest, focusing everything she had on staying awake.
Any hope of escape she may have had was gone when she saw every other ruler waiting outside, fully prepared to stop her if she tried to run.
“Please,” she begged quietly. “I know you think you’re in the right, but you need to let me go.”
The only answer Pearl gave was gently rubbing her arm, a silent comfort as a pressing heat started to fill the air.
“Well well, it seems the Wizard has gotten herself into a bit of a predicament.”
Xornoth appeared in front of her, pulling her out of Pearl’s arms with ease.
“My corrupted and my soon to be so, all in one place. How convenient.”
Gem scanned the crowd desperately, looking for anyone who may help, but she found no sympathy in the sea of red eyes.
She was the last one left uncorrupted.
And as Xornoth jerked her around like a rag doll, victorious smirk clear on their face, she knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
They had won.