Work Text:
The sun’s last vestiges shining over the volcano that bore witness to the greatest tragedy, aided by a number of torches lining the inner walls of the colosseum illuminated their black and yellow arena from where only one of them would come out alive. The building meant to entertain the masses and serve as punishment for the criminals of Westhealm was a poetic location for their story to end.
saps had brought a few people from the worldwide coalition that had finally brought down Infernus and all the criminals they sheltered, including the most infamous of them all: Fluixon. Flux himself wasn’t alone either, even after the server-wide war ended in disaster for his faction, both him and one of his co-conspirators were able to escape the chaos and head to the site of the duel. Now both parties would spectate as the relationship that defined the lives of one thousand people met its end.
saps entered the arena down below and soon locked eyes with Flux. With the myriad tricks he had pulled on all members of this civilisation in mind, he was surprized to see that Flux had kept his word.
“Wow, you actually showed up.” He faced up to see Flux on the spectator’s area.
“Can’t say no to a friend, can I?” Fluixon responded crafting the last few items he needed for the duel about to commence.
“Let’s make this a fair fight, okay?” With each passing second, death messages and the grief they brought with them littered the chat. All the fighting that resulted from Flux’s paranoia of Island 1... In the end, the actions he took out of his fear had ended the lives of hundreds.
“Flux, look at all these people dying right now because of you.” Saps confronted him.
“You know saps.” Flux picked up his crafting table and anvil and dropped to a lower level of the colosseum before continuing: “None of this would’ve happened, if you had died, like you were supposed to. I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through.” After finishing those words, he gappled and dropped down to the arena. Saps followed suit and their long-awaited duel began.
Arrows and particle effects from their regeneration effects flew about the battlefield, as both parties tested each other. Following a short bout of this, Flux ran out of patience and rushed in to land the first axe crit. The battle was still very tense, both Flux and saps constantly backed off into their shields and waited for the other to slip up. Rhythmically dancing around the centre of the arena.
“I still don’t understand why you did all of this Flux. You told me you didn’t want power. I believed you just wanted what was best for us. How did that lead you down this road?”
“Can you still not see the bigger picture, saps? As they cause the largest war this land has ever seen, as they mercilessly use or butcher our friends from Island 2, as they pit us against each other… I was never wrong about them saps, our old leaders were just too blinded by visions of an ideal world to do the right thing. They had to be taken out. The people of Island 1 are the cause of all our misfortunes. Do you really believe Schpood cares about your friendship? Do you really believe he won’t take advantage of our ravaged forces to claim our paradise as his own?”
Their blades clashed once more. Durability on their armour sets and shields turned orange. Their healing items and arrows began running out. The glint of their blue sets continued angling down as the sun continued its course down the sky.
“But that isn’t the whole story Flux. These events were all the results of one another. The situation we find ourselves in now can be traced back to that fateful day when you murdered the leadership of Island 2 for disagreeing with you. Even when justice finally caught up to you, you murdered your people to run away from it. Is this what you call protecting Island 2?”
“All my fault you, huh? HAH I daresay it was all thanks to me. The Island turned its back on me when I warned them of the futility of diplomacy with these brutes. I could have protected them, but they called me a madman. Even when they all believed you to be evil and protected by Island 1 they still weren’t willing to fight them. They just sat back and watched as the Cynikka garnered more and more power. The only reason they finally chose to fight was in order to kill me. I saved this server even as its villain.”
Their health bars kept dropping lower. A weapon or two broke. Axes and swords kept flinging. Flux and saps were locked in an intense battle, not only physically but also ideologically.
“Schpood came to the volcano willing to die today, not for glory, but to avenge his fallen comrades like 5pyder. Everybody in that army shared the same goal. You are wrong Flux; the people of Island 1 aren’t savages to fear. They are us born to a different island, where conditions melded them into fierce survivors. If your claim that they couldn’t be reasoned with were true, then Turntapp wouldn’t have sacrificed his influence and respect to keep me safe even though he gained no real benefit from doing so. The people of Island 2 would not have formed such deep bonds between each other; they wouldn’t have befriended us as equals.”
snaps caught Flux off guard and was able to place lava on him. As Flux scrambled to put out the fire spreading across his body, snaps kept critting him with his sword, dealing great damage.
“But they DON’T saps, ITS ALL A TRICK FOR POWER, A TRICK FOR OUR RESOURCES.*pant* YOU CANNOT TRUST ANYBODY IN THIS SERVER. THEY ALL CRAVE TO BE *pant* IMPORTANT. THEY ALL WANT TO BE REGARDED WITH REVERANCE.”
saps took a step back, watching his old friend struggle to walk properly before him, shouting like a maniac. His words exposed his most primal fears. But those fears reflected something deeper about him.
“You know Flux, I realized something during our discussion. In your pursuit to defend us from this barbarism, YOU have become the brute yourself. You manipulated others for power. You brutally murdered people to further your agenda. You wanted to be the main character who united Island 2. And this is why you failed. People of both islands weren’t interested in your stories. We just wished to live peacefully and coexist with Island 1. People like 3BelowZero died by your hands working for this goal. CallMeCass’s success is the proof of your lies. She is the sole survivor of the first generation. She was able to live and rule for the entirety of this event without resorting to cruelty.”
Completely out of healing items, Flux lunged at snaps with his last energy…
Just for his head to hit the sharp edge of a diamond axe.
**************************************************************************************************
saps finished placing the last blocks around his tomb, a task nobody else would do, for a person only he wished to remember. Just down from his house, where everything started, the grave would be, decorated by the murder weapons they were both too familiar with. Engraved on the sign:
Fluixon
Goodbye,
friend.