Chapter Text
TWELVE YEARS AGO
Grian sat on a brown couch in his living room, listening to the soft sound of static from the radio and the creaking of footsteps in the house. He turned away from the book he was holding, facing the window instead.
Small flakes of snow were falling from the sky, coating the ground in a sheet of white. “It’s snowing!” shouted Grian. “Let’s go play!” The eleven-year-old dashed through the old house and up the stairs, bolting to his and Pearl’s room.
“Grian, wait for me!” exclaimed a squeaky voice, getting louder, and Jimmy appeared at the door. He was nine years old, yet still pretty small and weak for his age. They just assumed it was developmental delays, never considering that it could be anything greater. A soft, yellow pin feather fell from Jimmy’s still-growing wings, and he looked up at Grian in excitement.
“Go grab gloves and wear a sweater. And get Pearl too. And Martyn, and Big B.” Grian turned away from the door, excitement riling up inside of him. This was the first snow this season, and he was ready to play.
A drawer was half-open, a thick winter jacket dangling off the edge. Grian grabbed the jacket, slowly slipping it on in a way that wouldn’t fold the fabric all funny. He then opened another drawer on the left, and grabbed a pair of red wool gloves. A blue hat with a pom-pom on top sat at the very back of the drawer, and Grian grabbed that too.
He ran back downstairs, his parrot wings fluttering in excitement. Stumbling through the house, he was met by a taller, blond man. He was all dressed up in winter gear, and a few strands of hair were on top of the green headband he wore.
“Martyn! You’re ready! Where’s Pearl ‘n Big B?” asked Grian, his brown eyes wide.
The thirteen-year-old flipped his short ponytail back, and pointed outside. “Already outside. Where’s Jimmy?”
“Tim’s upstairs, I think at least. I told him to change!”
Jimmy came clobbering down the stairs, a scarf in his hand. “Gri, you forgot this!”
“Thanks!” exclaimed Grian, carefully tying the cloth around his neck. He then put his hat on and slipped the gloves onto his hands. “C’mon Martyn, hurry up! The others are already outside!” He tugged at Martyn’s green sleeve, his eyes pleading.
“Okay, okay!”
Grian had a beaming smile on his face, and dashed to the mud room. A small pair of leather snow boots sat in the corner, and he grabbed them. After placing them onto the ground, he slipped his feet one by one into the brown boots. Grian hastily tied the laces of the shoes, first left, then right.
He bolted back up, and pushed open the creaky spruce door in the corner of the mud room. Grian ran outside, soft snowflakes beginning to fall onto his face. He noticed Martyn, Pearl, Jimmy, and Big B already playing—well, Jimmy was just sitting there—, and headed over to them.
Grian stuck his gloved hand into the snow, and grabbed a giant clump. He shaped it into a sphere with his other hand, and chucked the snowball at his older sister’s head.
“Hey!” exclaimed Pearl, globs of snow falling out of her brown hair. “Grian! Took you long enough to get ready, ya’ goofball!” She grabbed snow from below her feet, shaping it into a ball. Pearl threw it back at Grian, and it landed right on his chest.
A small laugh escaped Grian’s mouth, and he dusted snow from his coat. Another snowball came flying towards his head, and he ducked down, covering his face with his arms. The snowball flew over his head and landed behind him, collapsing onto the snow-covered ground.
Jimmy looked at Grian and Pearl with a weak smile, as if he was trying to laugh but was too frail. The canary sat on a rock, just watching the rest of them play in the snow. He almost looked as if he was in pain, but not quite. Perhaps something else, Grian thought. His brother was fine, he was healthy, he had to be.
“Who wants to build a snowman?” suggested Martyn, who was leaning against a tree.
Big B walked to the dirt path that ran perpendicular to the frozen river near their house. “Or we could go ice boating!”
Everyone’s faces lit up at the idea, even Jimmy’s. “I’ll get the boats!” exclaimed Grian, dashing back inside.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
Grian was the last to get into his boat, which was a dull red mangrove. He began to move forward, the ice of the frozen river speeding him up due to a lack of friction. Everyone was already a bit ahead of him, but Grian caught up quickly.
“Whoo!” shouted Pearl, holding onto the sides of her boat. The five of them slid along the river for about a hundred metres, eventually ending up in an iceberg-filled frozen lake.
Grian pushed hard, and the boat slid on the giant lake. He tried to turn the boat, but an iceberg was getting closer and closer to him. Grian squeezed his eyes shut, and crashed right into the iceberg.
“Grian!” exclaimed someone, but it was too late for him to tell who it was anyways. He could vaguely hear footsteps, but it may have just been the wind.
Feeling slightly dizzy, Grian opened his eyes again. A small bit of blood dripped down his cheek and fell onto the ice below him. Annoyed and in pain, he got up, shaking his completely messed up wings back into place. Looking onto the ground, Grian noticed his boat was now dented in the front, and the metal stuck out in odd positions.
PRESENT DAY
“I just want to say one last thing: No matter how far I go, I will always remember and love you all.”
Grian stared at the last line of the note he was holding. It was written in clean, smooth strokes of a black pen. The paper was still smooth, almost in perfect condition. He was starting to get a headache, staring at the dancing black letters against the searing white paper. Holding back tears, Grian put the paper back in the folder, feelings of guilt and sadness ripping him apart from the inside.
Taking a deep breath, Grian left the building that he called his bedroom. He stepped out into Midnight Alley, taking in the sights of the artificial starry sky and slanted buildings lining the walls. The sky had just been finished, and Grian was quite proud of it.
“He’s gone, stop thinking about him,” Grian thought to himself. “Your brother is gone.”
Grian sat down on the cobbled deepslate floor, running his hand against the smooth stones that made up the ground.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
“Dude, are you okay?” asked Scar, looking slightly ridiculous in that monopoly man hat of his.
Grian realised he had fallen asleep on the street of Midnight Alley, and sleepily got back up to his feet. Patting down the mess that was his hair, he felt the burning guilt still tearing through his body.
“Haha, guess I just fell asleep.” Grian yawned, rubbing his eye. “I finished the roof, how do you like it? I even decided to add end rods to make fake stars!”
“It looks amazing!” Scar exclaimed, looking up in awe towards the ceiling of the cavern. “That looks- like- so cool. You’re crazy good at this.”
Grian blushed, beaming at the compliment. “Thanks! It took forever to make. All that glass… all those wither roses…”
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
Gliding through the air, Grian flapped his wings, propelling him further upwards. He saw the Big Eye’s drive-thru gas station, and nose-dived straight for the entrance.
Diving into the pavement, he hit too hard, and collapsed onto the ground. He could feel a sharp pain everywhere, which quickly faded into a soft, dull type of pain. Confetti and glitter fluttered around him, falling into the ground and disintegrating. Looking down on his left hand, where Grian was previously holding a totem, was nothing.
An ender chest sat inside the drive-thru. Grian got up, and opened the chest. Grabbing a few diamonds and another totem, he equipped the golden little man, saving himself from a painful death.
Press the button. Watch the stream of experience points circle around each tool he had, repairing their worn states. Place a diamond in the chest. Repairing tools this way was quite simple compared to the long trek to another dimension to use the Ender Ender or the time-consuming process of using the gold farm, and Grian was grateful. Despite Big Eyes being Boatem’s business rivals, they were still good friends.
With a running start, Grain jumped off into the sky. Unlike most on the server, who used elytra, he had actual wings. He soared through the air, flying over mountains and forests to get to X’s Evil Emporium—whose owner has been presenting as an alter ego called “Evil X”. New items had come to Xisuma’s shop, and he wanted to see if anything piqued his interest.
His mind went back to the note. Grian still wasn’t over it, still can’t stop thinking about him. Seeing him so sick was horrifying, but did he need to go like that? Was it Grian’s fault if he was dead? His brother, his best friend, gone, just like that. No closure.
Grian looked at the different items in the dark building, and nothing seemed worth it. Sighing, he walked back out, and spread out his wings. He jumped into the air, and quickly flapped his wings, slowing down as he got higher.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
“Idiot,” breathed Pearl, watching Scar collapse onto the ground, all the shulker boxes he was carrying falling around him.
“Hey!” Scar retorted, getting back up. The laughter he was hiding was quite obvious. “That’s it, I’m leaving the shulkers here. If you want them, fly down here or move them yourself!” Scar
Grian was laying down, somewhat close to the Boatem Pole. He had a bottle of preen oil that Cleo made for him laying in the grass next to him, and squirted a drop more on his finger. Methodically sifting through blue, yellow, and red feathers, Grian applied the oil and readjusted them to their correct position.
He sighed, watching the two of them try to gather resources for… some build they were doing. Scar appeared to be sketching some extra details onto what looked like a blueprint, and he was mumbling something under his breath.
“Are you gonna help us, you lazy bum?” Pearl lightly nudged Grian A stupid looking grin was plastered on her face, and her moth wings flapped around in joy. She really liked bugging others, didn’t she? She waved her hands around the shulkers. “We need wood. A lot of it.”
He always felt a bit of guilt around Pearl. She was—still is—his sister, but so much has changed. Why can Grian remember but not her? Why did he get the chance to escape? Why did Grian get so lucky when he didn’t deserve it? It should have been Pearl!
Grian rolled his eyes at Pearl, and slowly stood up. He grabbed the backpack, slinging it over his shoulders, and began to walk back to the Midnight Alley. From the ground, the Gigabase that they had built looked quite impressive, the mountains towering over Boatem and casting looming shadows onto Cub’s biome.
Snowflakes began to flutter down from the sky, coating the ground with tiny patches of white. It reminded Grian of back when he had his family. He could vividly remember that snow day where they all went ice boating, and he crashed face first into an iceberg.
Grian missed them so much, more than he could ever express with words. They were his family, his everything . Pearl and Jimmy, his sister and brother. And Martyn and Big B, who weren’t blood related but were practically their siblings anyways. He loved them, and would always love them, no matter what.
A shulker box sat around the corner of the cave entrance to Midnight Alley. Grian opened it, and stacks of spruce saplings sat inside. He suddenly remembered the task, and grabbed the saplings. Opening the shulker next to it, stacks of spruce logs for some project Grian was never going to get to. He closed the box up again, and picked it up. Placing the saplings on top of the shulker, he spread out his wings. With a jump, Grian soared back from the Midnight Alley to the location that Pearl and Scar were previously.
Landing on the soft, warm grass, Grian dropped the shulker box, the saplings rolling all over the ground. He folded his wings to his back, and looked up for the others. Pearl was still there, now surrounded by shulkers. Scar was gone, and instead, Impulse was there, sleeping inside a spruce boat.
“I got the logs you asked for.” Grian opened the box, revealing spruce logs tightly packed inside. He bent down, and picked up a spruce sapling off the ground. “And I can harvest some more wood if you want.”
Pearl typed something into her communicator, and slipped it back into her pocket. “Good, now convert it to planks and put it in these shulker boxes. We’re going to Big Eye’s.”
“Dude, what is this plan of yours? What are you trying to do?”
“Basically, we’re going to flood Big Eye’s ocean with boats.” Pearl had a mischievous smile on her face, and sat on a nearby chest.
“You’re going to what? ”
“Flood Big Eye’s ocean with boats!”
“Why am I not surprised…”