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New love. Weddings. Happiness, tranquillity.
—
There’s someone living on the mountain and they need to give a good first impression.
Mikey picks the flowers at random, deciding a gift would be the best way to make friends.
The trek up the hill is difficult, but Mikey hopes it’ll become easier over time. Xe swats those thoughts away. Don’t get attached . Their leather boots stop them from sinking into the snow, but his hooves make them slip weirdly. Ellios is fine, their height allowing them to stride up the mountain with ease. Mikey trots beside them, hopping through the snow.
“Hello?” Mikey calls, knocking on the door and then opening it without waiting for an answer. Ellios waits outside, too tall for the house. There’s someone inside, crouched over a chest. They have green skin and two sets of horns.
“Oh, hi,” They stand. Lops, Mikey’s brain fills in from the beginning introductions. He seems suspicious.
Mikey starts talking quickly, cir greatest skill. “Hi! We were wandering around earlier and we saw the house up on the hill and we thought ‘Woah! Neighbours!’, so we came to say hi. We live down in the valley, just down the hill.”
Lops considers them for a moment, watching them in silence. “Hi. It’s nice to have more neighbours.”
“And we thought, well, since we’re neighbours, we should maybe be on good terms. So we brought you flowers.”
At that, he pulls the flowers from his inventory, handing them over to Lops. Red tulip. Peonies. Lilacs.
“Thank you,” Lops accepts the flowers. There’s a calculated distance in his movements, but Mikey doesn’t really mind. Xe’s willing to put xemself out there to gain allies, even if it makes people perceive xem as weak.
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Love, romance. Happiness, tranquillity. Weddings.
—
They run into Fetsy on the way to Mercury and Cain’s base.
Mercury and Cain themselves aren’t home, but it’s nighttime, so Mikey perches on the wall while Ellios and Fetsy stand below.
They talk alliances. He can see Elliot fidgeting with bloodlust - he’s actually proud they haven’t tried to kill Fetsy yet. Mikey drops a hint, even if we were in a two versus one situation , but Fetsy doesn’t seem to notice.
Fetsy has no allies. It makes cir heart twinge a little. She seems so sweet, so kind. Mercury and Cain have adopted them, apparently, but xe’s not sure how far that counts for alliances.
Ve offers the alliance there and then.
It’s a spontaneous thing, really. He can’t even remember why they were out here in the first place. But xe has flowers in xyr inventory, and they worked before to get an ally.
Roses. Peonies. Lilacs.
Fetsy seems delighted at the gift, committing far more openly to the alliance than Lops.
It’s fine.
Mikey isn’t going to judge levels of alliance.
It’s just him and Ellios for now, with Mattie missing, so they need as many allies as they can get.
It’s nice.
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Loyalty, adoration.
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The banners Fetsy made are yellow, with a big red heart in the middle. They’re bright and flashy and sweet and Mikey loves them. He takes great care pinning the banner to his shield, and helps gather the dye to make the rest of them.
Mattie had returned, and they’d shown Fetsy and Lops the secret base, making the alliance official.
But an official alliance needs official banners, and Fetsy had provided those with ease.
Mikey loves the banners so much.
“We need an alliance name.”
Xe doesn’t remember who suggests it, but as soon as they do everyone starts suggesting ideas. None of them seem quite right though.
“How about- Sunflower Alliance?” Mikey suggests. Everyone turns to look at cir. “Cuz, like. The Hobbit Hole is surrounded by sunflowers, and there’s more flowers everywhere, and it’s the sunflowers we used to get the yellow dye for the banners. It fits.”
The Sunflower Alliance, everyone agrees, is perfect.
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Loyalty, adoration. Innocence, love, forgiveness.
—
The wedding is impulsive and silly and rushed but Mikey has never been happier.
Violence is still happening everyday. In fact, Mikey and Mattie are the only yellows left in their alliance. To top it all off, Mikey has the curse, bloodlust thrumming below his skin. But xe ignores it, for now.
Ve’s too full of love for the bloodlust to get ahold of vem.
He stays up late sewing his dress, making sure it’s perfect. He keeps it a secret, and doesn’t let any of them see him without his armour until they meet in the secret alliance room for the wedding.
They decide not to do it on the Life Altar.
Later, Mikey will realise that saved xyr life.
The wedding is a quiet affair. Val’s ghostly presence spectates, whispering congratulations in his ear as he stumbles through an improvised speech.
He gives them all a little kiss, and roughly crafted iron rings.
Mattie hands out sunflowers.
Fetsy hands out white tulips.
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Hope for love, life.
—
“If you’re so desperate to do this, I won’t stop you,” It’s hard to get the words out. How else is one meant to react to the news that their husband wants to kill himself and take down the Life Altar with him?
Xe’s already cried. Ve’s already yelled.
Now ce just feels numb.
“Just- What flowers do you you want. On your grave.”
Lops laughs, a fragile sound that Mikey wants to keep in his heart forever.
“Cornflowers. They’ve always been my favourite.”
“Cornflowers,” Mikey repeats, sniffling. “Okay.”
He gives Lops all his TNT minecarts.
If his husband has to die, he at least wants it to be quick and painless.
—
New love. Weddings. Happiness, tranquillity.
—
He finds the flowers in Lops’ secret chest, and wonders for a moment why they’re there.
They’re just flowers.
A red tulip, a bundle of peonies, and some lilac stems.
Xe places them outside of Lops’ house, a flimsy barrier to ward off anyone who might try to rob the dead.
It’s a feeble attempt, but it feels like something.
It’s not until much later, having had time to process the grief, that ve realises how familiar those flowers were.
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Happiness, confidence.
—
The pale pink petals of the tulip crumple beneath Mikey’s fingers, and he curses his clunky weird hoof fingers at that moment more than he ever has in his life. Xe tries xyr best to smooth the petals as xe continues to loot the chest.
Fetsy is dead.
Ve had gone from grief to emptiness so quickly it had almost scared vem, falling silent and marching to Cain’s house without a word to Ellios, vir worried partner trailing behind, trying to work out what ve was doing.
The house had burnt.
It meant nothing, in the grand scheme of things, but it makes petty satisfaction curl in his gut.
Now, they’re hunkered down in Fetsy’s house, waiting for Mattie to get back.
If only they knew.
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Growth, hope, healing.
—
Ellios is next to fall, and Mikey is too busy running to process it.
His lungs burn, knees twinging painfully as he falls down the ravine, not having enough time to collect himself at the bottom as he keeps running, running, running.
Dandelions, he remembers.
As bright and joyful as sunflowers, but smaller, more basic. Often overlooked.
Of course those were Ellios’ favourite.
Xe doesn’t know if they have any dandelions back at the base, but xe hopes so.
Dandelions, cornflowers, pink tulips.
They work well together.
The graves will look nice together.
(Ce barely manages to dig into the hill and block up the gap before ce collapses from exhaustion, blacking out).
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Peaceful death. Return to happiness.
—
The worst part is he’s not even conscious when Mattie dies.
Actually, the worst part is the voices.
Xe can hear them all, every single one of them, all of the ghosts, all whispering yelling muttering chatting talking talking talking.
Lops is the loudest.
Lops talks directly to vem, encouraging vem, trying to help vem wake up.
When ce does wake up, Mattie is dead, and Mikey is alone.
He walks through the valley, to the world border, before heading up the mountain, planning on making a big loop around to the Hobbit Hole. Safety.
There are bees, and poppies.
The bees are trying to reach the flowers outside the border, and that’s the final straw.
Mikey sobs.
“You’re just as trapped here as the rest of us, little bee. There’s no escape. No way out.”
The bee doesn’t respond, just keeps bonking its fuzzy little head into the glowing blue border.
Mikey keeps walking.
On the way past, ce stops to pick a lily of the valley for Mattie’s grave.
Standing atop the hill, looking at the flowers placed around the freshly built graves, Mikey makes his decision.
He will not win.
Xe will not give the universe the satisfaction of a final showdown.
Ce will go out on cir own terms.
And ve will be with vir loves again.