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Shrub was so close to home, and she was terrified. She could feel her heart racing inside her chest as she stared down the swirling purple of the Nether … no. It wasn’t the Nether anymore: It was the wasteland that was ruined by Corruption that was once her home. And the portal was one of the last bastions of hope that her family, her people, her true home was out there. It didn’t matter how far she had to go to find them. It was all she had left. The world and friends and … everything she built was figuratively and literally burning around her. She couldn’t stay; there was nothing left here. Now it was just her and her pack against the world.
“No you can’t stop it.” She said to Mother Wolf as she began to climb up the cliff towards where the edge of the fire was. Shrub quickly grabbed her lead and began to gently guide her down back towards the portal. “We have to leave.” She repeated, looking up towards where the other kingdoms lay just beyond her vision. “We have to let it go.”
She was going to miss the Undergrove. But a new journey awaited.
“SHRUB!!”
“Gem?” The wizard’s voice cutting across her thoughts was not what she was expecting this moment to go. But she was happy nonetheless to see purple robes and ginger hair bounding her way. “What are you doing here? It’s dangerous! You should be worrying about protecting the crystal cliffs or … not dying!”
“I am protecting the people that matter most to me in my life.” She smiled, lifting up Shrub’s Wolf Spirit Mask to better see her face. “And that includes you. I have some dragons and me and fWhip are going to get out of here but I want you to come with us.”
“I … can’t, Gem.” She shook her head, turning away. It would make it even harder than it already was to say these words than to say them to Gem’s big pleading eyes. “I’m so close to finding my people again. I can’t give up on that. Not when it’s right there.”
“Then we can find them together.” Shrub felt Gem’s hand on her shoulder but still refused to look at her. “We can use my magic or fWhip’s inventions and help you. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“No. This is … it’s all I have left, Gem. It’s everything I’ve been fighting for this whole time and I’ve been teased with visions of it only to be stripped away and …” Shrub could feel the tears streaming down her face and her voice choked on her words, “To know they might be alive in there is all I have right now and I just can’t give that up. Everything I’ve built is burning away and this is it. My future is through that portal. Any sense of hope for my people is through that portal.”
“What about hope for us?” The question made Shrub pause, and Gem continued in the silence, “Have you ever imagined a future for us, or are you so used to running away when things go wrong that it feels unnatural to even think of staying?”
“I do see a future for us!” Shrub yelled, whipping herself around to once more look at Gem. She was certainly a bit taken aback from the outburst but there was still that slight air of confidence she always carried for us. “Ever since he was defeated, ever since you helped save me … I have thought of nothing but a future for us! I can see you running a new magic academy and having a little garden and teaching about plants and fungi and … I want that so much!”
“Then why don’t we make that happen? I’m giving you the ability to make that happen.” Gem’s touch on her cheek felt calm and comforting, and Shrub could melt into it if this was the right situation. But this wasn’t lessons on spells in the Crystal Cliffs, or quiet nights with tea in an empty hobbit house. Right now, it is the end of the world.
“Because I need to know. You taught me that feeling, about that endless curiosity about the unknown.” Gem nodded, eyes becoming more solemn with each of Shrub’s words. “I think … no, they ARE out there. I just need to find the proof.”
“Wow, you really are starting to sound like me.” Gem chuckled, causing Shrub to crack a smile as well. “But I respect the pursuit of knowledge.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just … I have to do this.”
“I know. And I'm going to help you do it.”
“Wait, hold on! When did … huh?” Shrub couldn’t get the words out as she practically pushed Gem away in shock. “I didn’t say you could …”
“Well I did.” Gem looked dead into Shrub’s eyes with a determined look, a look where there was no convincing her of anything else. A look she was very familiar with. “I am not just letting you simply walk out of my life. I care too much about you, and you know that. I said when I first came down here that I was protecting the people I cared about in my life. And at the top of that list is you. So I’m going to go back to fWhip…”
“No, Gem you don’t …” Shrub tried her best to talk over Gem’s plan but her soft demeanor didn’t help. She kept talking on with such certainty as if she had thought of this situation before and planned for it.
“…I mean we probably need provisions but I don’t know what’s alive right now with everything going on …”
“I’m not going to …”
“… Oh but the dogs too we have to keep them in mind,”
“GEM!” The raise in volume finally got Gem to slow down and let Shrub actually get her thoughts out. “I’m not going to make you choose between your twin and … me.”
“And so what? You’re just going to choose for me? Push me away so it doesn’t hurt so bad?”
“Yes because I thought you were leaving me first!!” And now the truth comes out. “Everyone just left me to take care of themselves and their empires and I was alone. Again.”
Gem’s touch on both sides of her face brought Shrub down to Earth. “I would never leave you. I promise. I never wanted to make you feel that way and sorry I ever did.”
The words of reassurance from Gem finally got Shrub’s walls to break down. She buries herself into Gem’s chest as the emotions finally flow out. For the first time in a long time, all the fear and uncertainty in herself, in her future, in her place in the world seem to melt into Gem’s warm embrace. Gem placed a small kiss onto Shrub’s forehead that seemed magical, dissipating the last bit of tension left in her shoulders. She felt … safe. It was weird feeling like she didn’t have to run from something or didn’t feel so alone. She actually felt like her pipe dream of spending a peaceful long life with people she cares so deeply was … here. Maybe one day she could find her family and birthplace, but in the moment, Gem was home.
“Gem?” Shrub began, as she broke away and let reality finally begin to set in once more. “How are we not … on fire?”
“Oh come now.” Gem smiled, “A magician never reveals her secret. But I had to make sure I could protect you and make sure you had all the time you needed.”
“Did you actually ..?” Shrub’s eyes grew wide at the possibility, but Gem shook her head.
“Just a simple protection forcefield. Now c’mon, we have a ride waiting for us.”
“So about that …” Shrub looked around at her pack and the Mother Wolf she called family. “How much room do you have?”