Chapter Text
The sound of the lake water rushing down a small waterfall was heard in the distance, sharp and peaceful. The peacefulness that came with it was a man in a black mask, balancing himself on a fallen log. He hops off it and his boots plant on the hard pavement with the sound of a gentle thud. His body rocks with each step he takes as he walks deeper and deeper into the woods.
“Illu!”
He looks up and sees large, golden-like wings in the air. The sun blocks his vision, as he tries to adjust his eyes to the bright lights to get a better picture of what had been flying in the sky.
There was no time, as a man wearing a golden crown and large golden wings finally ascended, gently placing his shoes on the pavement in front of Illumina. He wore round glasses that took up a lot of his facial features and he was visibly sweating, probably from the summer heat.
“Couri,” Illumina greets, turning his full attention towards Couri. “How are you?”
Couri smiles weakly and ruffles the feathers on his wings. He wipes his forehead with his sleeve and leans back slightly. “Could be better. How are you not dealing with heat stroke?”
“The whole dragon thing. I don’t feel heat as badly as normal humans.” Illumina admits. It’s almost as if Couri’s eyes shine as Illumina brings up the word ‘dragon’, though he doesn’t say anything. He could trust Couri. He has trusted him this far, anyway. He didn’t tell anyone about his abnormalities, aside from his roommate and Couriway, the guardian angel of their group.
“That’s… Whew,” Couri takes a deep breath, thinking of what to say. “I would kill for this heatstroke to go away.”
Illumina smiles from underneath his mask. “You could say that again. So, did you need anything?”
“Some of the boys are thinking how to run the next set seed run. Are you in?”
Illumina looks at Couri blankly and blinks. “You don’t run SSG, though?”
Couri breathes through his nose, suppressing a chuckle and smiles at his friend. “Fruit asked me to help.”
“Fruit doesn’t run SSG.”
“Kayfour asked.”
“Kayfour’s doing set seed again?”
Couri rolls his eyes playfully. “Listen, Fruit asked for you so let’s go. C’mon.” He seemed rather giddy.
Illumina shrugs his shoulders and nods. “Fine, fine. What’s the seed?”
“14754…” The rest of the numbers are like static to Illumina’s brain. He doesn’t process it at first and realizes that maybe asking what the seed is to a set seed run is a stupid idea, considering he hasn’t run SSG in years.
“Illu, are you even listening?” Couri asks. Illumina shakes his head and smiles sheepishly from underneath his mask.
“Sorry.” He mumbles. Couri smiles in an attempt to comfort his friend.
“It’s alright. We have the layout back at Reign’s house.”
Illumina takes a deep breath and nods. “Alright, let's go.” He turns on his heel and starts walking back from where he came from. Couri looks at him dumbfounded.
“…Or we can just use our wings.” The sentence came out more like a question. Illumina looks at Couri and blinks. It takes him a moment to process what Couri had just said.
“I don’t fly.” He responds, deadpan.
“Of course you do!” Couri points his finger at Illumina’s shoulder. “Aren’t you a dragon?”
Illumina subconsciously grabs his own wrist and rubs his bandages using his thumb. He feels the paper bandages on his flesh, which calms him down for a moment. “I haven’t flown in months.”
“Then It’ll be a great time to stretch your wings.” Couri gently flaps his own wings, motioning to them with his hand. “Flying is fun. I’m surprised you haven’t used your wings in god knows how long.”
Illumina looks around, taking in the scenery and the river right beside them. For a moment, he thinks about pushing Couriway into said river and booking it, but instead Illumina takes a deep breath in, and squeezes his eyes shut.
Large, purple wings emerge from under his small cloak and out from his upper back. Couri watches in delight, trying to take in every detail of Illumina’s dragon wings as if he was inspecting a painting . The wings were outlined with a dark shade of purple and they seemed to be made out of scales. Couri and Illumina were almost opposites, with Couri’s wings being angelic like, feathery and golden. Illumina’s wings were different shades of purple and black and they were made of scales. For a moment, Couri questions if Illumina had anything else to show off.
“How the hell did you manage to hide that?” Couri was astonished, which caused Illumina to chuckle out loud and smile at his friend.
Illumina stretches his arms upwards as he stretches his wings. They spread out, slicing through a few bushes and hitting a few trees. He shrieks when he feels something hit the side of his wing, which causes Couri to burst out laughing.
“How do you even do this?” Illumina says to himself, but loud enough so that Couri could hear. Couri shrugs, half ignoring his question.
“You get used to it, I guess. Now, where’s the nearest cliff?”
“Down the river, to the waterfall.” Illumina points past Couri. He turns on his heel and stomps off in a playful manner.
“Alright, let's go!” Couri says and Illumina starts running up to him. They walk in a comfortable silence for a while, the sound of the rushing water getting louder and louder. Illumina mindlessly followed Couri, looking at the nature around the two. Couri kept his head high, a small half smile on his face. Until they finally made it to the waterfall.
Couri looks down the steep fall. There was a river sitting at the bottom of the mountain. Illumina peers over Couri’s shoulder and watches as the falling water hits the body. The sound was almost deafening.
Couri swings one arm over the other, stretches, and asks, “Are ya ready?” Illumina doesn’t respond, his eyes laying low at the steep drop. One wrong move and he’ll fall in the water and probably, most likely splat.
He gulps, anxious, and mumbles, “No, no.” Illumina tries to knock some sense into himself and takes a deep breath. Couri stares at him, a half smile playing at his lips. “Alright, yeah. Let’s do this.” Illumina is finally able to say.
Couri smirks. “Now that sounds like the confidence I wanna hear. I’ll jump first, you go second.”
“Jump?!” Illumina shrieks as Couri nods.
“Yeah, jump? That’s like— the first rule of flying.” Couri takes a few steps back and breathes in the spring air. It fills his lungs and he attempts to clear his mind, only focusing on which direction the gentle wind was going. Illumina watches, dumbfounded as his left wing twitches in anxiousness.
Couri then goes for it. He sprints as fast as he can, one leg over the other. He leaps once he gets to the edge of the cliff and his wings spread, shimmering in the sunlight. Couri ascends into the air, not too far off. Illumina watches as his friend falls for a moment, before picking himself up again and flying towards Illumina. The wind beneath his wings carries him upwards. Couri’s wings create a cool breeze, which relieves Illumina.
“Oh, Jeez—“ Illumina says nervously and looks down the mountain. “I have to do that ?” To Illumina, Couri looked and felt surreal when he ascended, despite Illumina seeing him do it so many times. The way his wingspan stretched out as the wind carried him into the sky, and the small golden-like feathers detaching themselves from his wings. The sun, playing with the colours of the feathers. Illumina always stared at Couri’s wings a little longer than he would have preferred. He just couldn’t help it; they were beautiful.
“If you want to fly, yes.” Couri smiles. “It will be quicker.” He places a hand on his waist.
Illumina copies Couri’s earlier movements and takes a few steps back. He moves his mask out of his face to take a deep breath of air. Couri is slightly surprised. He quickly takes in Illumina’s facial features. He has a rounder face and a scar on right eyebrow and his lip. He seems so serious, compared to everyone else in HBG. Funny thing is, he really isn’t.
“C’mon, Illu.” Couri tries to send a smile to calm down Illumina’s nerves. “You will be fine. Don’t worry.”
Illumina pulls his mask back up as his wings twitch once again. Couri notices, but does not say anything. Illumina takes a few steps backwards and starts sprinting, until he gets to the edge of the cliff. Illumina could feel something collide with his boot. He doesn’t have time to react.
“Oh shoot—“
Illumina could feel himself fall through the sky. He tripped on what he could only assume was a rock he didn’t notice earlier and he suddenly regrets ever agreeing to this plan.
“Illu! Your wings!”
Illumina suddenly remembers.
“Oh yeah.”
The draconic man stretches his wings outwards as the air beneath gets caught and he ascends into the air. Couri starts slowly clapping once Illumina flaps his wings and finally reaches Couri.
“Oh my god—“ Illumina gasps for air, despite only being in the air for a moment or two. “I completely forgot I could fly.”
Couri bursts out in laughter. “You are an idiot.”
Illumina smiles sheepishly once again from underneath his mask.
“Shall we go?”
Couri smiles.
“We shall.”
“Way to make it dramatic. What are we in, a movie?”
“Oh, come on. It’s fun.”
—
The sun started to set by the time Illumina and Couri both got to the base. They found themselves in front of a half built wooden structure. There were vines and a bit of mould growing in the crooks of the wood, which makes sense considering the building was quite old now. Couri and Fein had built it together and they both argued on what wood they should use.
Illumina and Couri both land on the grass, Illumina landing a bit slower and more careful than Couri. Couri’s wings fold inwards and he breathes in the air. It had gotten just a bit colder, but the summer air was growing strong and the smell of baked potatoes was as cosy as ever.
From the roof of the base, there was the sound of distant chatting and some bright lights illuminating something the two couldn’t see.
Illumina finally plants his boots on the grass and looks around, afraid someone might see him. Couri could practically feel the anxiety radiating off of him. He looks back at Illumina, who landed a bit farther from Couri and smiles, worried.
“Alright, you can put them away now.” Couri says as Illumina nods.
“Thanks.” He mutters, loud enough for Couri to hear. Illumina’s dragon wings retract back behind the small cloak he had worn. Couri watches as the wings disappear, almost as if they were never there to begin with.
Without another word, Illumina and Couri both climb the ladders, leading to the top of the building. There, Illumina could see the back of Kayfour’s head. Fruit and Reign were both standing beside each other, their eyes glued to the maps and papers on the table. They don’t seem to notice Couri or Illumina entering the scene.
“So, from the Nether, you have to keep on sprinting until you get to the portal?” Fruit’s voice could be heard from the other side of the table. His face was just out of Illumina‘s vision.
“But you’d run out of hunger quickly.” Kayfour said, pointing their finger down on the map.
“So then we’ll grab some extra hay from the village.” Fruit responds. He turns towards Reign. “Did you check the chests?”
Reign stands there, dumbfounded, before Fruit’s question is finally processed. He smiles sheepishly in response. “Whoops…?”
“Jesus Christ— Illumina!” Fruit looks over. Illumina smiles once he sees his friend and walks up to the group. Couri was standing right beside him.
“Hey,” Illumina greets. “So, what are we working on?”
“Reign is an idiot.” Kayfour laughs as Reign hits them upside the head. “Ow!”
“Kayfour is right.” Fruit sighs. “Reign really is a dumbass.”
“Okay, look—“ Reign sighs. “Can we just check out the seed tomorrow? I’ve been running all day and I’m exhausted. Learning AA is difficult.”
Illumina frowns. “But I just got here.”
Fruit shakes his head. “You can go, Reign. Me and Illu will stay back.”
Reign nods and yawns. “I’ll be downstairs if anyone needs me.”
“Uh huh.” Kayfour says, eyeing the map on the table. They don’t seem to realize what Reign is saying or doing. They’re too entranced on the numbers and map.
“Yep,” Reign sighs and passes Illumina. He whispers an apology, in which Illumina shakes his head and smiles from underneath his mask. Reign smiles in response and goes down the ladder. Illumina finally takes a good look at the map. A village is in place and farther away is a ruined Nether portal.
“It almost looks like Illu’s no F3 run.” Couri says. Kayfour nods in agreement.
“That’s what I said earlier.” Kayfour mutters and shakes their head gently. “If we assume that the houses have chests that also have food, plus the two golden carrots in the ruined portal chest, then we would have enough stamina to run said seed.”
Couri smiles at Kayfour. “Good thinking, Kay. Does anyone want to go check out the seed?”
“I’ll go.”
Everyone turns towards Illumina, who is standing at the end of the table. He could feel all eyes on him, as if he had said something insane.
“I haven’t—“
“You don’t run SSG anymore, Illu.” Kayfour pipes up.
“I’ll go with.” Fruit says. Illumina raises his head and meets Fruit’s eyes, who just winks in response. He grins.
“You don’t run SSG either.”
“So? We aren’t running the seed anyway,” Fruit says with a smile. “We’re just checking it out. Plus, you two have been doing this all night. A break won’t hurt.”
Kayfour and Couri both look at each other for a sign of approval. Fruit and Illumina watch as Kayfour and Couri have a staring match, until they finally turn their heads back towards the duo.
“Sure, go ahead. I’ll put the seed in the chat.” Kayfour says. Fruit and Illumina both smile at each other.
“I’ll start the server up.” Illumina says. It seems like he’s talking to Fruit, more than he is talking to Couri and Kayfour.
“Thanks. We’ll go over this tomorrow.” Fruit turns towards Couri, who sends him a thumbs up. “You two should get some sleep.”
Just like that, Kayfour yawns and stretches their arms. “I’m exhausted.”
“Your sleeping schedule is shit, Kay. Don’t start.” Couri glares at Kayfour, who rolls their eyes.
“You woke me up at the crack of dawn just to do duos, Couri. I really don’t want to hear it.” Kayfour says. Couri laughs in response.
“Fine, fine. I don’t want to see you awake, running again.”
“No promises.”
The two finally leave down the ladder. Fruit approaches Illumina and opens his mouth, but is immediately interrupted by yelling erupting downstairs.
“Reign! Go back to bed!”
Fruit and Illumina both stare at the ladders, until Fruit bursts out in laughter. Illumina joins him. Eventually, the laughter dies down and Illumina finally looks at Fruit with a smile.
“So…” Illumina starts, “What’s the plan?”
—
Illumina forgot how much he loved Fruit’s company.
“Watch! Watch!” Fruit yells out, holding some wood in his hands. Illumina crosses his arms as Fruit jumps backwards and places yet another piece of wood under him, catching his fall. This goes on for a while, until Fruit accidentally misses and goes tumbling down into the grass. Illumina laughs.
“Fuck,” Fruit mutters. He throws the wood away and looks at Illumina. “See? I haven’t lost my skill.”
“Uh huh.” Illumina says, unconvinced. “Weren’t we supposed to be scouting out the seed?”
“We have.” Fruit responds with a smirk plastered on his face. “We’re just fucking around now.”
Illumina shrugs. “I guess so.” He looks at the stars. The sun had already set and it had been quite a few hours after they spawned in the world. Kayfour was right. There were chests and there was quite a bit of bread. Illumina and Fruit both tried running the seed, only to figure out that they needed only a few pieces of bread. Fruit’s best time was two minutes and five seconds, Illumina’s best time was two minutes and two and a half seconds. They both bickered over it for thirty minutes straight.
Illumina pulls a map out from his inventory. He places it down on the grass and points at one of the houses. “That’s the one.”
Fruit throws away the wood in his hands and scurries over to Illumina. He sits down in front of the amp and crosses his legs. “Yep.” The two eye down the map. Fruit tries to figure out a way to run it quicker, while Illumina just yawns.
“Great,” Illumina says. “I needed the practice. I might run tomorrow.”
“We should do duos sometime.”
Illumina looks at Fruit. He has a look on his face that throws Illumina off. Almost like he accidentally let that slip.
“Sure,” Illumina says with glee. “I miss duos.”
Fruit smiles with him and nods. “Me too.”
The two sit in a comfortable silence in the field, both eyeing the map. Illumina tries to think of other ways to run the seed, thinking about how the Speedrunner Council would change the run. Maybe they have better ideas than Reign being a total idiot and completely forgetting to check the stupid chests.
“Oh, here,” Fruit says. “I baked potatoes for all of us, but I had a few leftovers. We haven’t eaten yet.”
Illumina smiles from under his mask as Fruit pulls out two cooked potatoes from his inventory. He reaches out for Illumina to take it, so he does. Illumina pulls down his mask and takes a good look at the potato, trying to figure out a good place to take the first bite. Fruit watches in anticipation as Illumina finally bites down. Fruit could see his sharp teeth poking out and the multiple scars littering his face. I guess that’s why he wears the mask. Fruit couldn’t judge though. Almost every speedrunner has some type of scar.
“This really is good.” Illumina looks down at the potato. “It tastes a lil’ funky, though.”
Fruit cocks his head to the side and holds back a smile. “Really? How?”
Illumina shrugs. “I dunno, but it’s good.” Illumina basks in the taste of the potato. It had gotten a little stale, but it was still warm and tasted like every other cooked potato he has ever eaten. That is, considering Illumina doesn’t eat a lot outside of bread and apples.
Fruit finally lets himself smile. “I’m glad.”
Illumina finishes his food and wipes his hand on his cloak. He yawns and picks up the map again, folding it and putting it back into his inventory. Fruit stands up.
“Ready to go?” Fruit says as he puts a hand on his waist. Illumina nods and pushes himself up. Just as he gets on his feet, an overwhelming headache comes on. His vision starts to go spotty. Illumina tries to fight against it, but to no avail. He loses his footing and falls to the ground.
“Illu!” Fruit yells, placing his hands under Illumina before he could hit the ground. Illumina tries to open his eyes, but his eyelids feel heavy and he suddenly feels weak. He tries to bring an arm out, in an attempt to push himself away from Fruit.
“I’m fine, I…” Illumina mutters. His hand falls to his side.
“Jeez,” Fruit mutters in annoyance. “You really are heavy.”
Illumina laughs weakly and closes his eyes. “Yeah, I… bring me back to the SMP.”
Just as Illumina closes his eyes, Fruit smiles and runs a hand through the man’s hair. “Yeah, I will. No worries. Now go to sleep. You must be exhausted.”
Illumina weakly nods. “Th…” Eventually, the only thing he can feel is the darkness swallowing him whole.
—
Illumina wakes up to the freezing floor. It was definitely a change to falling asleep in Fruit’s arms. He flinches at the cold and tries to get up from the ground. Illumina pushes himself up. His arms feel sore, as if he just lifted a million weights and there’s a sudden sharp pain in his back.
He looks down and realizes he’s only wearing his thin layered hoodie, His large cloak is gone and he’s missing his combat boots.
Finally, the door creaks open. Illumina shoots his head upwards to see who it is.
“Couri—“ Illumina tries to wheeze out, but his throat aches and he wishes he hadn’t spoken to begin with. He swallows thickly, hoping that maybe his salvia would help his throat.
“Hush, Illu.” Couriway says with gentleness laced in his voice. Though, he almost seems to be glaring at Illumina and Illumina definitely notices. Illumina takes a deep breath before speaking again.
“What’s going on?” He is able to say, louder this time. Couri just looks at him with sad eyes. His golden wings are the only thing illuminating the cold, dark room.
“You haven’t noticed?” Couri asks. “I’ll call him in and then you two can discuss.”
Illumina’s eyes fill with confusion, almost like a lost puppy. Couriway sighs and takes a step out of the room. The wooden door creaks closed, which leaves Illumina stuck in the empty room.
It’s cold. It’s so cold.
“Couri, wait—“ Illumina tries to call out, but is interrupted by a bunch of coughing. His throat aches like a hellfire.
The door then creaks open again and Illumina finally looks up.
“Fruit.” Illumina was able to say, just above a whisper. For a moment, he thought he was saved. Maybe Fruit would pick him up and take him away, give him some food and water and let him rest back at home.
“Hi, Illumina.”
“What’s going on?”
Illumina feels something cold and wet on his hand. Confused, he turns his hand and looks at his palm. His hand is covered in sticky blood. He looks over his shoulder and sees pieces of purple scales, stuck to his back and dripping blood. He can feel his heart drop and he finally looks up at Fruit, who is frowning.
“You took my wings.”
Fruit sighs. “Couri said—“
“Couri?” Illumina immediately interrupts. “Couri?!” He screeches. His throat burns even more, but he ignores it. His eyes brim with tears and he aggressively wipes them away.
“Illu,” Fruit leans down, trying to get on the same level as Illumina. Illumina looks at Fruit in disgust. “Listen, we had to.”
“My wings!” Illumina sobs loudly. “You took my wings. I trusted you!”
Fruit looks away, feeling guilt shoot through his chest. He tries to place a hand on Illumina’s shoulder, but Illumina flinches and pushes him away.
“Don’t touch me!” Illumina screams and pulls away. He could feel his legs soak in his own blood, but he didn’t care. All he cared about right now was getting away from the man who stole his wings. “You— You—“
Fruit frowns once again. “Illumina, I’m sorry.”
“Return my wings.” Illumina says sternly. “Give me my wings back now.”
Fruit fights back a smile and shakes his head. “We can’t do that.”
“Why?!”
“You are the first dragon hybrid we have met.” Fruit explains. “Your powers can change speedrunning forever.”
“The speedrunning council would never let you do that.” Illumina tries to hope. His hands are sitting in his pool of blood. He feels as if it is trickling up his wrists and seeping back into his veins. He could still feel his wings, despite missing them.
“We’ve already talked to the speedrunning council.”
“ What ?” Illumina couldn’t believe it. Fruit looks at his shoes, trying to avoid eye contact at his best. “Why would you do that? I’m going to get exiled, aren’t I?”
Fruit immediately looks back at Illumina. “Oh, god no. They’re just going to forbid you from ever submitting a run again. They don’t trust you anymore, Illu.”
“No, no, no–” Illumina starts crying. His heart aches and he suddenly wishes he could go back to sitting in that field with Fruit. He wishes he could stop himself from eating that dumb potato. He wishes he’s never met Fruit. “That’s my job, my–”
“I’m sorry.” Fruit apologizes. “There was really nothing else I could have done.” He could feel guilt shoot through him all over, as if someone had stabbed him. He felt awful, of course, but he still did it. Even if he regretted it, he could never turn back the clock to redo everything that had happened.
“You could’ve stopped it! You could’ve stopped Couri…” He buries his hands into his face. “How could you? I thought we were friends.”
“We’re not
friends
, Illumina.”