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Someone knocked at the door.
The door that was hastily put back on the half destroyed house. That really wasn’t protecting them from anything but a zombie or stray creeper.
Cleo looked over at Etho. Grian was dozing in a pile of blankets, only cushioned by some carpet below him. “I’m not getting up,” she said, leaning further back on their “couch” (which was really a few beds laterally side by side, with a “headboard” around the back, supported with wool).
Etho raised his brows. Almost a mocking question of “you want me to get it?” He sighed exaggeratedly. “But all I did to protect you…”
Cleo rolled her eyes.
“I’m tired,” he whined. Cleo almost attempted to shove him before sinking back into the couch again.
“You’re fine.” There was another knock. “Be a gentleman and go see who it is.”
He huffed as he pushed himself up, scuffed his feet along the floor. Cleo laughed lightly. He didn’t rush to get there, taking his sweet time as if to mock Cleo.
He opened the door.
It was Gem.
“What do you want?” Etho’s question wasn’t as interrogative as it was mildly annoyed and exhausted.
Though Gem didn’t seem to mind, as she leaned forward, forcing him into a hug. Etho, trapped in said hug, looked over at Cleo with a bit of bewilderment.
“Is everything ok, Gem?” Cleo asked, getting up to her feet.
“Oh, now you get up.”
“Big baby.” Cleo was ready to be pulled into the hug too, but Gem didn’t move much. Quiet in a way she never was. Timid. “Can you tell us what’s wrong?” Hopefully her words didn't come off condescending.
“I don’t want to go home,” she said, voice muffled as she pressed her face against Etho’s chest. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, before slowly walking her to the couch. “Sorry for… for having Scar kill you,” she mumbled.
“It’s just a game,” Etho answered, almost as quietly.
Cleo would sit at Gem’s other side, but Gem was against the end of the couch, still clinging on to Etho. (Cleo was pretty bewildered herself.)
“They won’t be mad at you,” he said after a moment.
“You don’t know,” Gem answered, argued. Then, very quietly she said, “I killed them. Or, tried to, with Scott. He’ll want his revenge, probably. You know how he is. Cleo knows how he is.”
Cleo stayed at a pause. Gem made a point. She and Scott both could hold grudges like no other.
“Can I stay here? Please?”
Etho looked over at Cleo. She shrugged, though was more leaning on the no side of things, after all that had happened. “Just tonight. Then we’re going back.” Cleo was surprised, really, that Etho was so easily willing to give up the base for someone else. The someone who plotted murder on the whole server just a handful of hours ago.
“Th-thank you. I- well, I knew you might not- that- you don’t really-” There was something unsettling about Gem being so nervous, it being so very unlike herself. “I know you won’t hate me.”
“Nobody hates you,” he said, seeming unbothered by her state. Which was weird. This wasn’t normal. How wasn’t Etho at least slightly worried? “It’ll be ok.”
“Can I stay here if-”
“As long as Grian and Cleo are ok with it.”
Cleo shrugged again. If it came down to it, they would manage, even if it wasn’t her first preference.
Cleo got up not much later, getting ready for bed now that she could get some sleep. Not that she’d be as apt to get it, given their “intruder.” Gem wouldn’t be any harm though, it seemed. Etho didn’t try to leave Gem’s side, and as Grian was in the pile of blankets, fully asleep, Cleo had the bedroom to herself.
- - -
Etho was somewhat surprised when Gem crashed fairly easily. Maybe she was just a bit emotionally wound up from being so exhausted. Maybe just overthinking a bit and by tomorrow she’d be more than willing to head back to her own base, with her own teammates.
Not that he minded, but he also figured it wouldn’t bode super well with Grian and Cleo. …though Gem could be a good ally, if only for the pvp aspect. She probably wouldn’t do much fighting after this session though. Etho also didn’t want Impulse and Scott to think he’d somehow kidnapped her. Granted, Etho couldn’t beat Gem in any fight, so it would be rather funny if they assumed that had happened.
He stayed up a while, waiting vigilantly. Maybe he should message Scott or Impulse. Gem might not like it, but they could be worried. (They’d be getting revenge on Etho instead of Gem in that case.) He decided he was too lazy to bother messaging, but he’d answer if either of them posed a question to the group.
When he was nearly asleep, Etho felt a small buzz of the comm from his pocket.
<impulseSV> - - > Main Chat: Anyone seen Gem? She hasn’t come back to our base and Scott and I are worried.
Gem wouldn’t like everyone knowing where she was, but Etho was more than confident that no one would actually be enacting revenge on her for anything that had happened over the past week.
<Etho>: She’s with our group. I’ll bring her back tomorrow.
He might’ve underthought the reply too much. It might sound too ominous, at least, that was the smallest concern upon reflection.
<impulseSV> - - > <Etho>: So she’s good then?
He debated over brushing off Impulse’s concern, but given he moved the conversation away from main chat…
<Etho>: Sort of. Probably just worked up from the session.
Granted, there was still a part of him that knew he didn’t need to over explain things. Gem needed to be the one to talk about everything to Impulse.
<Etho>: Gem’s asleep right now.
Maybe that would be enough to calm any concerns Impulse had. Everyone knew how Impulse was, protective over whoever he considered part of his family.
<impulseSV>: Mind if I come by?
For fair reason, too. It had to sting to know that Gem was going somewhere else for comfort.
<Etho>: We’ll head over tomorrow morning.
He had to hope he was responding the right way, because he had a small feeling that Gem would be worse off if Impulse came over now than if she had the decision to head home herself. Though he couldn’t stop Impulse if he decided to come over himself.
<impulseSV>: Ok
Unfortunately that quick exchange woke him up to where he was no longer as tired. Whatever. There would be another break day over their little weekend. Plenty more time to sleep later.
- - -
Grian woke up in the middle of the night to the rustle of noise in the base.
“Weird,” he barely was able to think as he blearily looked around the room around him. He really should have gone to bed instead of sleeping on a pile of blankets, pillows, and carpet. A moment later, his vision cleared enough to understand what he was seeing. Which was… Gem? Cuddled up against Etho?
“Weird,” he thought again.
Gem mumbled something pretty incomprehensible, she seemed even less awake than Grian. Etho moved a bit, sitting properly upright, seeming to coax Gem to sit up too. “I’m here,” he said quietly though clearly. It was hard to tell what Gem tried to say in response though.
Grian only tried to strain to hear so much. He debated over getting up, stretching his legs, asking what was going on. Maybe it was better that he wasn’t nosey now though. He could wait until later.
Even though it was properly odd to have Gem suddenly show up in his base. She was not here before he fell asleep.
“It’s ok. It’s not real.” A moment later, Gem was once again pressed up against Etho, looking like she was shaking like a leaf.
Grian got up to sit beside them. “What’s going on?”
“Night terror, I think,” Etho said, fairly calmly. “You can go to bed, G. Just be quiet. Cleo’s asleep.”
He felt a bit off kilter as he tried to walk around the room. Getting up the small staircase would be a nightmare, and Etho seemed to notice. “Hey, Gem, you’re with me, Grian, and Cleo. We’re going to walk Grian upstairs before he falls on his face.”
She barely acknowledged him, only following with a slightly better footing than Grian. It was unnecessary on Etho’s part, pulling an arm around Grian, leading him upstairs to the bedroom. Grian promptly crashed beside Cleo, forgetting any weirdness of Gem being at their base.
- - -
The room felt oddly warm as Gem woke up. It took her an awfully long time to understand why. She was lying across the couch, with Etho directly beside her, his arm wrapped around her, keeping Gem from rolling off. If squished human contact didn’t make someone hot, then the blanket over both of them did.
She only fairly remembered falling asleep. Faintly remembered getting up, panicking about killing everyone, being the last left on the server. Last on the server, unwilling to go home because everyone would hate her.
She was right, though. She wasn’t hated here. Even though Impulse and Scott might—
Cleo crouched down in front of the couch. “Good morning.” Still half asleep, all Gem could do was blink in response. “Feeling better?”
Gem gave an indecisive hum. She supposed she could face Scott and Impulse today, even if they weren’t ready to forgive her. At the very least, she could apologize.
Not that Etho would give her a choice once he was awake.
“Impulse and Scott were wanting to check in on you,” Cleo said.
That explained why Cleo was checking on her.
They probably wanted to come over to finalize the severing of her alliance. At least she’d be with Etho, Cleo, and Grian when it happened. Some people who might be convinced that she could stay. Or maybe, maybe even if they didn’t let her stay fully, they might let her base nearby and wouldn't actively attack her. It was a lot to ask to be allies so late in the game.
“I can tell them no.” Gem must have been taking too long to respond.
“You can tell them— they can come over.” Better to be here when she got the news than to have to walk all the way to her old base then to be told to leave.
She didn’t realize she’d started crying until Cleo outstretched her arms for Gem to fall into. Gem moved off the couch, accidentally stirring Etho in the process. As Cleo and Gem were mid-hug, Etho sat up, almost immediately falling to action. No questions asked, he just stood up and sandwiched Gem into another hug, enough of a reminder that she was loved, she had somewhere to stay despite how awful she was last season.
She deserved nothing but hate filled revenge.
It only made her cry harder. “They don’t have to come over just yet,” Cleo told her, hugging her a little tighter.
“No–” she was barely able to say. “I need to—” She took a deep breath, trying to quell the crying, though she didn’t do much about the hitches of breath and the tears running down her cheeks. “I need to get it over with.”
“Nobody hates you, Gem,” Etho said, much like last night, knowing exactly what the matter was to the point where it hurt. “Impulse and Scott love you. They won’t kick you out.”
It didn’t feel true. It couldn’t be true. Gem was awful and mean and blood thirsty. Still, she tried to push away the crying so at least she wouldn’t be an annoying burdensome broken record. At least she could pretend to believe them, so they wouldn’t worry.
“I’m going to get you some water and breakfast,” Cleo said, pulling away from the hug.
Stupidly, even that made her want to cry. Just feeling alone , even though she knew Cleo was only being helpful. Etho pulled her back to the couch, and Gem didn’t attempt to fight back, just curling up again. Etho handed her a tissue without a word.
“Thanks.” Her voice was still awfully watery.
“Mhm.” Etho didn’t seem to mind much, despite Gem throwing all her problems on him and Cleo to deal with.
- - -
“Are you going to knock?” Scott asked.
Impulse was standing at the door for an awfully long time without doing anything. Heart racing unnaturally. There wasn’t anything to be worried about. Gem was in good hands. Things were alright.
He knocked after Scott gave him a weird look. Cleo opened the door promptly. “Hi!”
“Is Gem o—”
“We’re over here,” Etho called from further inside.
Impulse stepped foot in the house first, but Scott made his way over to the two more quickly. Impulse shouldn’t be hesitating. He shouldn’t be worried. But Gem didn’t want to go to him. Didn’t trust him with whatever was wrong. Somehow wanted to go to Cleo and Etho before him.
It hurt more when he noticed how Gem cowered away. How anxious she looked.
What did he do?
“Gem?” he asked hesitantly. She looked up, just as hesitant, cheeks and eyes red. Not to mention how unkept her hair was and how she barely could hold herself upright. She looked nearly about to break down again, and it only shattered his heart more. “What’s wrong, Gem?”
She turned around, hiding against Etho. She struggled on her breaths, before turning around again, and saying weakly, “I understand if you hate me after last–”
“Oh, Gem, you idiot,” Scott said.
“But I— I– I chased after you, and— I had Impulse killed, and— everyone killed. And I liked it and I— I’m mean and I’m horrible and I didn’t even care about my own team.”
Seeing Gem cry made Impulse want to cry. Just breaking him that much more. “Oh, Gem, that doesn’t mean anything.” His voice was already getting a bit stuffy. “We love you and that’s final. ” Maybe Gem didn’t want him near her, maybe she just wanted to cower away, but Impulse didn’t let her, forcing Gem into a hug.
“But— I deserve to be killed. You should hate me. You do, obviously. You’re lying to yourself or to me or—” She pushed away weakly, but Impulse had her in a death grip. She wasn’t leaving before she got everything straight.
“Gem, Impulse wouldn’t lie to you like that,” Scott said clearly, seriously. “We don’t see what you did as betrayal and that’s not going to change, even if you think it should.”
“Told you,” Etho added lightly.
“It’s not right,” Gem said.
“It doesn’t have to be right or wrong. That’s what love is, Gem. It’s not conditional on you being the best teammate ever. What you did wasn’t pretty, but you’re clearly sorry about it.”
She nodded. “Sorry for— for doubting you and– not going to you sooner.”
“I love you,” he said, his voice almost shaking again.
“And we forgive you,” Scott added. “Just in case you need to hear it again.”
Gem laughed weakly, a very relieved laugh.
Grian woke up not much later, wondering what all the commotion was about. Cleo gave him the rundown of the night before as the two of them finished fixing breakfast. After they finished breakfast, Etho got the proper sleep he needed and Gem went home with her two Scotts.
The world was at a sort of peace again. And they still had one more break day to enjoy it before the server came back to life again.