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"This is all your fault!" Gem held fWhip's hand tightly as the two of them ran as fast as they could through the courtyard.
"My fault?!" fWhip glared. "How's'it my fault?! You're the one who cast the spell!" He stumbled briefly as Gem yanked him towards her, pulling him away from a column he almost ran into.
"You're the one who gave me the idea!" She pointed ahead to a hallway decorated with paintings and fWhip nodded.
"But you're the one who actually did it!" He pulled her to the side and they ducked down behind a large potted plant in perfect unison.
"Only 'cause—"
"Sh!" The sound of footsteps — the distinct clack! of the shoes of their tutor — accompanied by a angry muttering of a few choice words about their less than satisfactory paycheck for dealing with such ungrateful children — echoed down the hall.
"Don't shush me!" she whispered as soon as they quieted, "I only did it 'cause you wouldn't stop pestering me!" fWhip rolled his eyes as he let go of her hand to open the trick painting with a practiced precision.
"Well, yeah, but you were curious, too, right? And besides, how was I supposed to know you can't control your magic?" He helped her make the big step up into the small room behind the painting.
"Uh, 'cause I tell you that every time you try to get me to do something stupid?" As soon as her feet were firmly planted, she turned back to help him up.
"Well, practish makes perfect! It'll all be fine!" He declared, swinging the painting shut behind him, leaving them lit only by the cracks around the painting. Gem reached for a candle but fWhip caught her hand with a wicked grin, "Hey, you should practish now! You should try the light spell again!"
"Are you serious?!" Gem glared as fWhip shushed her again. "Do you want another explosion?! Jeez, you're inpossiple. And it's pronounced practice." Her attempt to look smug was quickly thwarted by fWhip wrenching the matches from her hands.
"Well kids shouldn't play with fire, 'member? It'll be fine! And it's pronounced impossible."
"Oh, I'll give you a fire—"
~~~
"This is all your fault!" fWhip coughed. Gem slowed a bit to match his pace.
"How on Earth is it my fault?!" She thrust out her arm to stop him in his tracks for a moment. fWhip followed her gaze behind him to see the long trail of soot marking his footsteps.
"You asked to see how it worked!" He accused, crossing his arms as Gem grabbed his shoulders, muttering something under her breath— and suddenly he was clean as a whistle.
"I don't see how that correlates to me somehow making your machine explode. You said it'd be fine!" She started running again, fWhip not far behind her.
"'Correlates?' Fancy word, nerd." He grabbed her hand just in time to pull her back from rounding a corner in the direction of their no-doubt livid parents.
"Okay, geek, I can dumb it down for you if you want—" Gem expertly pivoted back on course, her running now perfectly in sync with his.
"Ouch! Not all of us are studying all the time, Oh Wizard Gemini—" He let go of her hand to dash behind a potted plant, Gem taking the nearer one next to it.
"Well then what do you—"
"Shh!" Footsteps bearing the distinct thu-thump! of the guards' boots raced down the hall— faintly they could hear the unforgettable rumble of the head guard's voice, ordering his men to find them.
"Don't shush me." Gem whispered, glaring daggers at fWhip. "What do you call all your tinkering with machinery if not studying?" fWhip rolled his eyes as opened the trick painting, motioning for her to dash in.
"Uh, I call it tinkering, duh." Gem rolled her own eyes as she obliged, waiting for fWhip to follow after her before closing the painting behind him.
"You are so annoying." She closed her eyes for a moment, her hand diving into her pocket and clutching the amethyst crystal she always carried. A breath later, and an orb of light appeared floating above them— revealing fWhip wearing a catlike grin.
"Yeah, but you love me though!"
~~~
"Remind me why I'm helping you again?" Gem huffed, readjusting her grip on fWhip, whom she was currently carrying piggyback. A soft purple glow surrounded him — as well as Gem's shoes — allowing her to run full speed despite his weight.
"Uh, cause we're best friends?" fWhip said all-too-cheerfully, cocking his head to the side. "Best buds? Pals? Allies? The best pair of twins to grace the world? The Great Wizard Gem and her dear brother Count fWhip— an unstoppable duo!" Gem glared.
"We can see just how unstoppable you are when I get fed up carrying you and you have to run back to the Grimlands yourself, dear brother." fWhip scrambled back into position, adjusting his own grip on her to be more like a hug.
"No, no! I'm sorry, don't drop me!" He chuckled nervously. "Did I mention how awesome and powerful you are? And how you're so kind that you wouldn't just leave your dear br— your— your ally behind even when he's gravely injured?"
"I'd hardly call getting a sprained ankle a grave injury."
"Well you don't know that! Maybe it— shortcut to your right!" Gem nodded and veered instantly. "Maybe it's much worse! Maybe it's broken! Maybe it's infected! Oh, Gem, what if it has to be amputated?! I can't put pressure on this!" Gem held back a remark about just how glad she would be to be holding the blade.
"So why aren't we flying?" She wiggled her wings for emphasis and fWhip scrambled to hold on.
"You want me to land on this leg?!" He tried to angle his face so he could look her in the eye, but had to quickly duck out of the way of a low-hanging tree branch. "Besides, you need the cardio! You're moving into a wizard tower soon, right? You're gonna be too busy studying to exercise!"
Gem grumbled something or other but made no real fuss. fWhip took this as a sign to keep talking.
"And besides, you said it was a good idea!" She shot a glare at him.
"I said separating the Cod Empire and Mythland was a good idea. Not continuing to antagonize Jimmy!"
"Oh, come on, he deserved it! And he'll get over it…" He paused to think. "Eventually, anyway."
"You are the worst—"
"Uh, hey, Gem?" fWhip glanced around. "We, uh, we passed the turn to the Grimlands just there."
"That's cause we're not going to the Grimlands." She glanced back at him. "There's an apothecary in the Crystal Cliffs that I saw to the construction to since I knew someone was going to get into trouble!"
"Hey, I don't get into trouble that often!"
"I was talking about Sausage," she said, stopping an impassioned rant from fWhip before it started. She was only half-telling the truth — she built it for all of them, her included.
"He has been acting weird lately," fWhip agreed, "It's probably just the stress of Jimmy being annoying or something. It'll all be fine. Oh, hey! Aren't you glad I'm giving you the chance to test out the apothecary, then?"
~~~
"You've got a good grip on it, yeah?" fWhip kept his head on a swivel, one of his wings extended out to cover Gem's back. He matched Gem's pace — a normal walking speed — though it was clear he was eager to go much faster.
"Yeah," Gem nodded, clutching the large dragon egg to her chest with both arms, "don't worry, I'm not letting go of this without a fight." fWhip nodded in turn.
"If someone tries something, you fly back and I'll take care of them." His grip tightened on his crossbow for emphasis.
"I am not leaving you behind." She shot a glare at him. "We can handle it together." fWhip glared right back at her.
"No, you need to keep that egg safe!" He quickly resumed his fervent glancing around. Gem sighed and shook her head.
"Nobody's going to attack us," she said, only half-believing it herself. "Everybody's too tired to try anything after that fight. I'm sure it's fine."
"That demon guy didn't seem so tired…" fWhip grumbled, taking a step closer to her. Gem sighed.
"Yeah, well, I'm sure he has other priorities." She failed to hold back a sneer as she remembered the delighted looks on Sausage and Joey's faces. "And if he doesn't, then we'll handle it." fWhip nodded, trying to look stoic.
"Yeah! Yeah, sure, we just failed at one fight," — the flash of bitterness on his face was quickly replaced by unending optimism — "but that doesn't mean we won't win the next!"
"Very inspiring, fWhip." Gem's face remained incredulous but her body did relax somewhat.
"Geez, well sorry I'm not that good at inspiring speeches," he said, curling his wing to pull Gem closer to him. She shot him a short glare, making a show of gripping the egg tighter. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I caused a demon to be let loose, so I'm not exactly—"
"It wasn't just you!" Gem stopped in her tracks, causing him to stumble. "Me and Pearl, we helped! We didn't know that the dragon— Sausage and Joey wanted this to happen! A lot of people are at fault, fWhip, its not just you." fWhip looked at her silently for a moment, then looked away a moment or two more.
"Let's get that egg back to your base."
~~~
"Come on, keep going!" fWhip pushed Gem forward again.
"I'm going, I'm going," she rolled her eyes, "It's really not a big deal, though." fWhip tutted, pushing her yet again.
"That is for Katherine to decide!" Gem frowned at his matter-of-fact tone.
"What, don't I know what's best for me? I feel the best I've felt in ages! Shrub seemed to think I was fine!" She crossed her arms, continuing to drag her feet along the path. "I'm fine, fWhip."
"Sure you are!" he said with a shove, "And when Katherine says you're fine, too, then you can go on your merry way, but until then, let's keep moving!"
"Fine," she grumbled.
"Fine!" He said ever-cheerfully. Gem stepped to the side as he went to shove her again and he stumbled forward. "Hey!"
"Hey, yourself!" She dug her heels in the dirt as she pivoted around to point at him. "You're the one pushing me all the way there!" fWhip scoffed.
"I wouldn't have to if you were actually walking that way and not just shuffling!" Gem opened her mouth to say something but before she could fWhip grabbed the brim of her hat and pulled it down, covering her eyes.
"W— hey!" fWhip quickly span her around, putting an hand on each of her shoulders, and pushed her along the path. Gem stumbled to keep up, quickly adjusting her hat back to normal and turning her head to glare at him.
"I'm not gonna stop until we get the okay from Katherine," he said before she could get a word in, "so, sooner you visit her, the sooner you get rid of me!" Gem huffed, hands still on the brim of her hat to prevent him from grabbing it again.
"Fine." She picked up the pace, marching forward. "Let's get this nonsense over with."
~~~
"The dogs are holding on alright?" Gem asked as she turned back to fWhip, who was crouched with his arms around his dogs.
"Yep!" He moved his arms a bit to show he wasn't holding them down— they were just sitting there on their own. "It's a more stable ride than I thought it'd be, honestly." Gem chuckled.
"Dragons are very graceful fliers." She turned to look at the baby dragon, who was sitting up ahead from them, eyes full of wonder. "You're going to be just as great at flying someday, too, Violet." Gem turned back to look at fWhip, only to see him frowning.
"fWhip?" He glanced back up at her, startled out of his thoughts.
"Huh? Yeah, don't worry, it's all fine!" He smiled. Gem waited a moment before nodding with a smile herself.
"Yeah, it's all fine! Gandalf can take care of the Crystal Cliffs— maybe even the Grimlands, too!" fWhip flinched, but he kept his smile on his face.
"Yeah…" he chuckled nervously, "I'm not sure there's much Grimlands left for him to take care of…"
"Oh." Gem's face fell.
"It's all fine, though!" He cheered much to brightly to be genuine. "We're alive and together, and that's what matters, right?" He smoothed out the fur of his dogs.
"Right." Gem nodded, not bothering with a fake smile as she turned to look back ahead. "I'm sure it's fine."
They sat in that silence for a while, mutually trying to assure each other.
"Um," fWhip finally piped up, "That, uh, that demon— Xornoth? We don't— we don't have to worry about that guy anymore, right?"
"Of course!" Gem smiled at him, a little less confident than she let on. "Scott can handle all that." fWhip scoffed.
"Yeah, sure," he grumbled, looking back down at his dogs. Gem furrowed her brows.
"What do you mean, sure?"
"He can handle it!" His tone shifted. "Just like how he handled you. And his empire. Oh, yeah, and Xornoth the first time!" Gem sighed.
"That all worked out in the end, didn't it? Please, just have some faith in our friend!"
"Friend?!" fWhip straightened his posture. "Did you forget what he did to you?" Gem reached up and pinched her brow, trying to smooth it out before she got a headache.
"He didn't have control, fWhip. You can't blame him for that!"
"He hurt you—"
"I was fine! I am fine! We're both fine! It's all—"
"No, you weren't! You were nearly frozen alive!" fWhip's dogs pinned their ears back.
"Do you remember how I was when I first tried using magic?" Violet turned to look at the commotion.
"Uh, yeah, you made a bunch of cool explosions!" fWhip beamed fondly. Gem had a much different expression.
"The spells weren't supposed to be explosions!" Gem made as if she were about to stand up, but quickly determined she wasn't going to attempt that while actively on the back of a flying dragon, so she sat up on her knees to give her some height.
"They were still cool!" He gave another cheerful smile.
"Yeah, and it's a miracle no one got hurt!"
"Pretty sure our tutor burst a few blood vessels, to be fair."
"God, fWhip, you are—" Gem cut herself off. She stared at him blankly for a moment.
"Gem?" His smile faltered briefly. Gem blinked rapidly for a moment, before cocking her head to the side, exasperated.
"Did you just start an argument with me to try and get my mind off of… all of this?" fWhip's eyes widened and he glanced away, forcing his smile to widen.
"Whaaaaat? No, I wouldn't—" Gem shot him a glare. "Okay, yes I did do that, but, in my defense it was working!" Gem shook her head in disbelief.
"Were you doing that intentionally this whole time?" Her tone was still a bit harsh, but a faint smile betrayed her.
"I mean, not all the time, but y'know…" He shrugged. "It's a good distraction."
Gem paused a moment more.
"I can't believe you." She crossed her arms and furrowed her brows, but the faint smile wouldn't leave her face. "There are so many better ways to comfort people, fWhip." He looked back at her, then grinned, crossing his own arms and leaning up on his knees.
"Well, yeah, but the Oh-So-Brilliant-and-Great-Wizard-Gem is different, isn't she?" fWhip then sighed dreamily. "It just feels like home, doesn't it?" Gem shook her head, still smiling.
"You are impossible."
"Well, practice makes perfect!"