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Gem was all alone, everyone knew it. No allies now that Xornoth was defeated, no safe place to rest and worst of all she was being hunted down. The empire leaders had every advantage over her and it was inevitable that she would make a mistake. She was tired and she missed the crystal cliffs.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of the lack of food she'd had the past few days. It was so tempting to surrender, they were her friends after all. They wouldn't hurt her. No, that was just the exhaustion talking. She needed a place to spend the night where she wouldn't feel terrified.
She didn't have that many rockets left and the only bases nearby where Scott's and ... Pearls! Of course, Pearl had been kind to sausage after he had been 'corrupted'. She might let Gem stay the night! Gem chewed her lip, she wouldn't have enough rockets to get there and back.
She may have to make a pit stop at Scott's. He wouldn't miss a few rockets would he? She set off, heading towards Scott's base. It was dark so hopefully he wouldn't be about. Rivendell came into view, it was rather pretty at night time.
She scowled as she saw the statue of Aeor. If she had time she might have defaced it but she was in a rush. She entered the building next to the stupid statue. She had never really taken the time to look around Rivendell and now she wished she had.
The inside was decorated from head to toe. The carpet was detailed and colourful, the banners were intricately designed and the staircase was grand. She loved a good base. She looked around for chests and sure enough there were some, slightly out of view, just behind the stairs.
She tip-toed over, rummaging in the chests for any rockets. They were all labelled but she checked them all just in case. To her dismay she couldn't find them. Her eyes scanned back over the labels. "Seriously Scott, you have a whole chest for green dye, but not rockets? " she muttered, angrily, under her breath.
"Well wool is my main export" Scott reasoned as he strode down the stairs, cornering her. She put one foot back, ready to defend herself if he tried anything. "Look, I don't want trouble" she put her hands up in a surrender position.
Scott's eyes flickered to the chests and then back to her. "Just my rockets? " he raised his eyebrows. She looked away. His eyes softened " look I know you're scared and probably exhausted because of us, but we have to do this. I hope you understand, we can't just abandon our friend." He sounded exasperated.
He took a few cautious steps towards her, she stayed where she was. "We don't want to hurt you, we never did. " his tone was soft and gentle. He tried to take her hands but she recoiled, her eyes were full of distrust and fear. "But we will if that's what it takes to get our Gem back" he continued.
His sudden change of tone scared her. She wanted to leave, to go far away. Hopefully Scott hadn't told the other empires where she was. If they all gathered it would be impossible to escape.
She pushed past him and he let her, a look of regret washing over his face. He grabbed his bow and arrow and fired. The arrow itself barely hurt her but the poison effect did. She began coughing and stumbled, grasping the table for support.
Scott readied his bow and arrow. "You know you can't win, you're alone " Scott's words had barely left his mouth when she had taken off, flying in zig zags through the sky. He lowered his bow and let her fly, no matter how terrible of a flyer she was.
Gem's flying obviously hadn't been her best, even without being poisened she hadn't travelled by air in a while as her crystal wings stood out against the night sky. She was also short of rockets and so would occasionally drift towards the ground before shooting back up.
Gilded Helianthia came into view just as soon as gem ran out of rockets. She landed as smooth as she could, which was not very smooth as her wings got caught on the windmill. She tumbled down the roof before landing on the floor.
Even though she was sure Pearl knew she was here, she knocked anyway. Pearl answered the door a few seconds after. When she saw who it was, her face lit up in hope. "Have you ... reconsidered?" Pearl asked. Gem felt a wave of guilt wash over her, but it disappeared so quickly that she thought she had imagined it.
"Oh, umm I'm not sure yet. It's been hard to think recently" Gem admitted. Pearl's face was sympathetic and worried as she chewed the inside of her cheek. "Come in and we can catch up" Pearl finally said. Gem smiled, gratefully and walked inside.
She was instantly met with a type of warmth that the corruption couldn't give her. She felt safe here and she let herself relax, if only a bit. Pearl gestured at a table and they both sat down. "So why did you come here? " Peal asked, softly.
"Well I thought it would be safe here". Gem lied. Pearl raised her eyebrows, of course she knew Gem lied. She knew Gem better than Gem knew Gem. Gem sighed "I miss being around my friends. It gets quite lonely being on the run you know" Gem told her.
Pearl was a good listener, it felt like Gem could offload all her problems and thoughts onto her and Pearl would help her. "I guess I miss ... you" Gem added. Pearl nodded, encouragingly. "My head has just been really loud, recently." Gem continued. "It uh- sometimes feels like it's being split in two."
Pearl nodded, trying to not show any excitement on her face. These were good signs, signs that maybe Gem was naturally kicking out the corruption. Pearl had hoped when Gem had knocked that she was here to get help and it may not have been Gem's conscious intention but maybe actual Gem was resurfacing and fighting.
"You sound tired, when was the last time you slept? " Pearl sounded concerned. Gem frowned, trying to remember. "It was last nigh-" "No, really slept. Like not woken up still exhausted the next morning" Pearl interrupted.
Gem paused, and thought about it. It hadn't been long before Xornoth had corrupte- showed her the truth. And that was a while ago but she wasn't sure how long, wizards had never been good at keeping track of time. "I take it's a long time if your having to put that much thought into it." Pearl answered for her.
Pearl got up and dragged Gem out of her seat. "C'mon, you need rest" Pearl led the way to a spare bedroom and said good night. "I'll be in the room across so if you need anything... " Pearl trailed off when she saw Gem already fast asleep on the bed.
Gem, for once, did not have a dream that night. She woke, happy and content. She heard voices coming from outside so she slipped out of bed and went to check. They were hushed but angry. She peeked out the door and her heart dropped. She saw Scott and Pearl, arguing at the table.
Why was Scott here and why was Pearl just talking to him? Her breathing quickened, she tried not to panic. Scott being here wasn't a coincidence, there was no such thing as coincidences. He knew. She thought she could trust Pearl but instead, another stab to the back. Just like Xornoth had said.
Another reason not to give in. All her friends did were lie to her. She had to escape. She locked the door, the clicking sound made Pearl and Scott stop speaking. Damn it, she had been hoping to sneak away. She clambered over to the window, trying to prise it open as she heard footsteps outside the door.
"Gem? " Pearl called out. Gem froze, not even daring to breath. "Are you up? " Pearl asked. Gem swallowed and slowly went back to working the lock on the window. She unclasped the lock and laid it carefully down so it wouldn't make a sound.
"Gem, please" Pearl breathed. Gem tried to tune her out as she popped the window open and began crawling through it. She could still hear Pearl begging her as she closed the window. Gem stood up straight and took a shaky breath.
She needed to get as far away from here as possible. She still didn't have any rockets so the best she could do was maybe glide away. She needed to get high up first. She glanced up at the windmill, that would do. She began her climb.
She heard the door open and Scott walked out. He began calling her name but she bitterly ignored him and made her way to the top of the windmill. She found her elytra, dangling off a blade. She took it and thankfully it wasn't too broken.
She crouched below one of the blades and looked around. To her left, a field of wheat. She may be able to lose them in there. The forest looked pretty promising but it was out of reach without rockets.
If she went that way they would have more chance of catching her before she actually entered. But the higher the risk the higher the reward. She leapt off the windmill and the wind carried her. She spotted Scott below, he locked eyes with her before he fired his bow and arrow.
It hit her arm and bounced off her cloak. Scott and those stupid arrows. She shuddered but no harm done, right? The forest was getting closer and she was sure she was going to make it. It didn't matter that she was tilting slightly, it was to try and use the wind to her advantage.
She just needed to turn a bit more right and she would be fine. So why wasn't she turning? Her body was turning kind of numb and her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier to open each time they closed. It was like watching a poorly done stop motion.
She was falling now and the ground was coming up to meet her. She crashed into the wheat, her body refusing to stand up. What a predicament the wizard has gotten herself into. Whatever shall we do? Xornoth's voice rang in her head. Before she fell asleep she heard a woosh above her and then it went black