Work Text:
The nice thing about the nether is how close together it makes everything.
Planet is only a couple of paces away from the nearest fortress, having just collected a satchel-full of bricks. He doesn't have much space with the amount of potions he's keeping on him, but it's an alternative to staying at the base and replacing a lectern a hundred times over.
In the end, it's just an excuse to get out for a few moments. And in the end, he's glad he did it.
Since everything is so close, he hears the voices as soon as they step out of the portal. A layer below him - he's on a ledge, now crouching down out of instinct - and completely unaware of his presence. They're arguing about something. They're being far too loud.
Planet's fingers are already wrapping around the hilt of his weapon. The nether is warm, and it matches the rushing blood in his veins. It feels somewhat new to have this much power.
This isn't the time to be thinking about it, though. He stays crouched and silent until he's close enough to the ledge. And then as soon as he can place the two figures in front of him, he's smashing broken glass underneath his heels and landing hard on his feet.
Planet doesn't say a single word as he drops down. He's aware that he's completely expressionless - too busy focusing on the fight in front of him.
And it's exhilarating .
The world is exploding into colour and noise and light. He's in full control of the situation, even if it feels like his body is being puppeteered by something that he can't even comprehend. He knows every move to make before he makes it, but his mind is a million miles away.
Mapicc is in front of him. Wearing iron and looking like he truly believes he has a chance of winning. There's a cut on his cheek that's bleeding, the same hot red that pulses through the nether floor and flushes Planet's cheeks.
He lifts a weapon to parry, but Planet is faster. He's stronger and he's prepared and he's so high on the thrill of winning and being the one that's feared. Mapicc is pushed to the side in only a couple of blows. His arms are wheeling around to stop himself from losing balance and falling into the lava behind him. He barely has time to lift his sword again.
Then he's gone, and the rush is like everything that Planet has been dreaming about.
He can physically feel himself grow stronger. Another rush of blood to the head, a stronger tint of colour to the world in front of him. It all comes into focus at once. There's blood on the blade of his sword, and bruises on his arms.
It's not enough.
Mapicc had been with a teammate, and Planet spins around in one fluid motion.
Bacon is standing there. He has one hand at his side, where he must have been reaching for a weapon - maybe startled by the noise. Planet draws nearer and all that happens is his expression widens slightly.
It all happens in the blink of an eye.
Planet pushes the sword through his chest. There's no resistance. His iron armour hadn't been well-made, and the strength potion causes his blade to push the metal away like a warm knife through butter.
Bacon looks up, his hand still not having moved from his side. There's something about his face, the way that it looks, but Planet has already moved and it's all happening way too fast.
He's smiling. There isn't a moment where it looks like he's going to fight. His hand won't move from his side, the weapon that he'd only gone to out of shock. He seems like he's looking at an old friend - maybe he's hallucinating or something, since Planet's the only one there, and he's stabbed him through the gut.
They make eye-contact.
There's a single moment where the strike registers. Bacon's expression doesn't change to one of pain, but instead shock. His eyes widen. There's a single crease of a line in his forehead. It's too fast for him to really process what is happening. This is only the beginning.
Maybe he's about to say something, since his mouth is open slightly. But before a single word can be said, he's gone. Planet is alone and stronger than ever.
It's a brilliant feeling.
There's no one around, but he doesn't smile. He checks his stats without needing to. He can feel the effect of the two extra hearts already. Even as the potions wear off and the addictive sharp-point focus of his vision begins to fade, he can feel the strength that they're lending him. The world still feels slightly warmer. It's a warmth that he knows will carry through, even when he leaves the nether.
He's still holding his sword out, so he brings it back to his body and slides it away. There are dropped items on the ground, so he sorts them into piles of what's useful and what isn't. Some of it fell off the ledge and into the lava, but he collects anything that catches his fancy before he leaves.
They didn't have much of worth. Iron armour, iron tools, not a single potion between the two of them.
Planet doesn't feel bad about killing them, though.
It's a ruthless world out there. Dog eat dog, and all that. He's just pushed himself slightly further up the food chain, made himself two enemies in exchange for not being quite such an easy kill. It's worth it for the power and the fact that someone else could have done the same thing, just a few minutes later.
He doesn't think about it again. There are more targets. Mapicc sends a couple of angry messages in the world chat, but Planet swipes them away and doesn't think about it any more.
It's only a couple of days later that he remembers something.
They're crossing paths. That's what happens at spawn - that's why it's designated an area of peace - because the way that Mapicc glares at Planet seems slightly like overkill.
It's the nature of the game to kill and get killed. That's just how the cycle works. But Mapicc's hand goes straight to his weapon as he sees Planet. Whatever he'd been saying before suddenly isn't worth it - he's yelling something about the fact they could have taken him, the only reason he won was because he was so overgeared.
Planet won't argue with that. He's not sure he could have taken the two of them had they been equally prepared. But that hadn't been the case, and they should have thought about that before stepping into the nether in the first place.
Mapicc keeps his hand on his sword as he talks. Either he thinks that Planet is going to jump him again, or he's trying to hold himself back from attacking.
It doesn't really matter. Spoke is by his side, so it would be a fair fight, and Planet is confident enough in his ability to escape. He remembers that Mapicc's companion hadn't even fought back the first time that they'd fought, the incident in the nether that caused Mapicc to declare him as an enemy in the first place.
He thinks back.
When they'd stood, there had been a split second before Planet had killed him. A flicker in his expression that he'd forgotten about.
Bacon had smiled at him.
"We'll get the hearts back at some point," Mapicc tells him. Planet shrugs and tells him that he's free to try. He might even be successful - there's a heart gap between them, but he knows from experience that Mapicc would beat him in most fair fights. "You're our enemy now. Don't forget that."
He looks for some back-up, and nudges Bacon when he stays silent for a little too long.
"Yeah," Bacon says, like he means it. He hasn't looked Planet in the eyes this entire time. When they'd first approached, his hand had gone to his stomach like there was still a wound there. His tone of voice says that he's being truthful when he replies to Mapicc. The way he refuses to look at Planet says that whatever happened between them is long gone.
Planet believes Mapicc when he says he would hunt him down. He thinks that he could be the last person on Earth, and Mapicc would be the one to point the blade of a sword to his neck. He would lead the hunt against him.
His anger is as bright red as the bloodlust that bubbles in Planet's veins. It's as red and true as the heart that he'd taken from him.
But when Bacon speaks, all Planet can see is the smile that had been on his face.
Half a second before he'd killed him and it had all shifted. He'd been smiling at a friend. He'd been smiling at Planet .
Planet would kill him again in a second.
Yet he doesn't believe it when Bacon says that they're enemies. He knows it as surely as he knows that he's addicted to the rush of power. It's not something that can even be questioned. He thinks of the smile and he knows that Bacon could never be anything but a friend - when it comes down to it.
Planet would kill him without giving it a second thought, but he also knows he'd follow him to the end of the world. He'd jump off if he gave the word.
And he doesn't know why, he just knows that it's as true as the stars in the sky and the grass beneath their feet. It's as clear as the air that fills their lungs. It's something written into the fabric of the universe. He knows it with an undeniable, incomprehensible clarity.
"You could never be my enemy," he tells Bacon right back. "We're friends!"
Maybe it doesn't seem quite true enough. He's finally looked up, but his expression is more similar to the second than the first: the shock and horror, rather than the way his eyes had lit up. His mouth has hardened into a line. His hand has gone to hover over his own sword. It’s nothing like those moments in the nether, but it’s a mirror all the same.
When Planet smiles back at him, despite it all, it's a perfect replica.