Chapter Text
It’s been a week since Avery found Derek. Slumped over at his desk surrounded by empty bottles and covered in soiled clothes. His eyes wide open, blood shot with yellow irises. Dark red blood that came from his nose and tear ducts pooled on his desk mat. His pulse was faint but still there. The doctors said if he had found him even an hour later he would have been dead. Well more dead than he is now.
He might as well be. He hasn’t moved an inch since he was placed in that bed. The only sign he was still alive are the monitors tracking his vitals. Avery has come here everyday only leaving to go back to Derek’s apartment and do some cleaning, shower and sleep. Other than that he’s been in this white sterile hospital room. He pulled out of school for the quarter under the guise of “mental health issues” to take care of. His mother wasn’t exactly thrilled but eventually let him stop. But just for the quarter. Which means he has 12 weeks to figure out how to fix his friend before he gets swamped with school work.
“Good morning Derek!” Avery says, opening the door to the room. The only response he gets is the cold silence, reminding him of what was taken away. He takes his seat next to Derek’s body and slips his hand back into his. “You feel like waking up today?”
Avery swallows the lump in his throat and pushes his hair out of his face. This isn’t about him. It’s about Derek. It’s about him and his comfort. Avery runs his thumb up and down across Derek’s soft hand.
“Your mom is coming. She’s on a plane now. I called her yesterday when I found your phone.” Avery says, ignoring the lump in his throat. “Gonna have a hard time explaining our relationship and how we met. You have any ideas on what to tell her?”
Derek’s body remains silent, not a single twitch or flutter of the eyelids. But his chest still moves up and down. He’s alive. Avery has to remind himself of that. He’s alive. He’s not hooked up to machines breathing for him or pumping his heart. His brain still works. He just can’t wake up. He’s trapped in there fighting an unwinnable battle.
“I think I’m just gonna say we met in Minecraft. I mean it’s sort of the truth. I dunno. If you have any ideas, now's the time to speak up.”
Nothing.
Avery moves closer, clutching Derek’s hand. He presses his head up against the tangle of fingers and waits.
He just needs more time. Derek is the smartest person in the universe, he’ll find a way out. He can’t be dead. The King was powerful but he can’t be powerful enough to take Derek from this earth.
Avery sighs and places Derek’s back on the bed. If he’s not going to talk he might as well get some work done. He pulls out his gaming laptop from his backpack and throws it open. For the first time in its life it’s getting used for something other than gaming. Research.
Ugh even the thought is disgusting. Avery was in school to design video games, not to learn biology or English or whatever those other majors do. Research that couldn’t be done in a game or code and requires sources and a minimum amount of pages was just not for him. Yet here he is, scrolling through a Wikipedia page for the King In Yellow.
He knew nothing, less than nothing, before this whole incident. Even now it feels like he’s scratching the surface of an iceberg the size of the titanic. The only result is a book, or a play, something that involves writing. Apparently four stories about a play that drives people mad. Which would be interesting if it wasn't so unhelpful. He’s looking for the god, the thing that wanted to possess him, the thing that took Derek away from him. This was all fiction within fiction. Okay time to try a new route.
“King in Yellow God -AI”
Just a bunch of fandom wiki websites for people looking into lovecraftian fiction.He scrolls past it and tries to find more but it’s all fiction. Nothing of a village summoning him, and certainly nothing of a God in Minecraft.
Avery lulls his head over to Derek and sighs. He would know where to look. He’d be able to read this all and comprehend what it means. Avery got a C in remedial English senior year of high school. A D in English 101 and 103. Reading just isn’t his thing. He just can’t remember and understand any of it unless it’s put into gaming terms.
“You still owe me answers.” Avery mumbles to Derek’s still body, clicking on another useless Reddit link. “You swore that you’d tell me what all this was. So the least you can do is wake up and explain this to me.”
None of this makes sense. Maybe it will never make sense. Maybe Derek will rot in this bed and Avery will rot next to him. Maybe this fictional god ruined both their lives and this is the consequence they have to live with. Curiosity killed that cat and all that.
Avery clicks through link after link, hours of people discussing a book that makes Avery’s insides twist into a knot. Dead end after dead end, nothing. No one knows anything real of this god. He nearly shuts his laptop when the grass block on the hotbar catches his eye. He hasn’t touched Minecraft let alone the world since New Years.
He just spent the first day of the New Year tracking down Derek with the limited information he had and waiting in a hospital waiting room for hours as Derek got a million and one tests. Then everyday after that was in this hospice building. He didn’t have time for Minecraft.
“You have ten seconds to stop me. Squeeze my hand, or finger, open your eyes, do literally anything and I’ll stop. I won’t open the world.”
But he just breathes. A husk of a body, of a man. Husk of a person that Avery will never know. Avery turns back to his laptop and clicks open the world. He respawns in his bed near the mine that started it all. He follows the moss and odd trees to the atrium, then the mudblock hallway, the broken stone gates, the yellow village, then left at the crossroads where the first gate remains open. It’s just as bright and intimidating as it was the first time. Nothing’s gonna be behind it but it still leaves a knot in Avery’s stomach. He glances back at Derek but there's no reaction. He takes a peak inside and not even the gold block that was in there remains. It’s just a black abyss.
But Avery is smarter than that now. He just has to wait a moment and the hall of gates will open. He’ll find that spot where Derek sacrificed himself or that book he wanted him to read. He still doesn’t fully understand it but maybe there's a clue or a spell or something in those books that will tell him how to undo this. It mentioned something about closing the doors but he wouldn’t even know to begin with that. His computer crashed at just the mention of it. Even now his world feels like it lagged a little bit just by him thinking of it. He just has to keep going forward.
Rows upon rows of gates and worlds that Avery will never fully understand but there's only one that matters. Avery builds across the bridges completely ignoring the gates and the worlds behind them. He enters through the final gate, the one that leads to a world of andiste, the odd trees, and the temple at the center of it all. It’s just as dead and quiet as it was before. Avery goes down the long hallway, unafraid and determined this time. Nothing is going to stop him. He will be the hero. He will save Derek. He won’t let this go.
The temple is empty, barren of all life. No eyes, no god, no Derek to save him. Nothing except a single item, bobbing up and down, the same item that started all of this. A book and quill. Waiting for him.
Avery clicks it open and another 70 pages of text awaits him. Avery sighs and grabs Derek’s hand. It's the only thing that’s gonna get him through this.
“Any chance you want to explain this book to me?” Avery says sarcastically flipping through the pages, barely giving them a glance. But there is one thing that makes Avery perk up just a bit. Bold red text in all capitals, screaming at him. Like it was made just for him to find.
I STAND AND GIVE
MY EYES TO YOU
ONE BY ONE
SHADOWED SHORE
FAR UNDONE
TO YOU I POUR
CORRODED SUN
WAKE ME
AS ONE
This is what Derek typed in chat just before Avery found him. The thing that made the King and Derek merge into one. Avery glances over at Derek’s body then back to the screen.
It’s a long shot for sure, but maybe if he reads the words it’ll reverse the spell. The King will get sucked back into Minecraft and take all his infinite knowledge with it. And Derek will wake up. He’ll be back to normal and they can go do normal things and live a normal life.
All of this will just be a distant memory. Something that will be just a video on a channel. An urban legend.
It’s worth a try.
“I stand and give my eyes to you.” The words feel odd on Avery’s tongue. The world grows fuzzy and grey. He can feel his eyes starting to glaze over, his mind numb like it was in the cemetery.
“Worry not, you are safe here. Nothing can hurt you.”
All that exists, all that ever has and ever will exist are the words on the page. The screen in front of him.
“Nothing can follow you here.”
“One by one. Shadowed shore far undone.” He feels hollow. Like his existence was missing from his body.
“Here where twins suns sink. And strange moons circle in the skies.”
Was it even his body in the first place? Does he even truly exist? He was born for a purpose, to be a vessel, no- a God. To rule the world and conquer all those who oppose. He can see that. Clearer than the morning sun on a summer’s day.
“Here you are safe.”
He was going to fulfill a purpose.
“Here in this place you are safe.”
All those years people called him stupid, said he’d end up working for minimum wage flipping burgers. Won’t they be sorry. They’ll be the first to go in his new world. Old teachers, friends that abandoned him, anyone who wronged him. Anyone who got in his way. They’ll be fucking sorry.
“You are nothing.”
He’ll be everything.
“You are mine.”
“To you I pour corroded sun. Wake- ” Four fingers press into his hand.
“You are real. You are special. Remember who you are. I’m here. I’m here, Avery. You are loved.”
He knows that voice. He knows those words.
It feels like his soul reenters his body. The heavy cotton stuffed in his brain, blocking his thoughts, burns away. He can feel the warmth of the sunshine coming from the open window, the fake leather of the recliner chair. He can smell the blossoming flowers he brought in just a few days ago. And the sound of Derek’s heart monitor beeping rapidly.
He’s real. He’s real.
But he forgot.
Avery’s laptop crashes to the floor as he stands up, rushing back to Derek’s side. He cradles his face with his palm and slips the other into Derek’s.
What had he done?
He promised he wouldn’t forget! He did it again! Fuck! How could he so fucking stupid. Of course it was a trap! Of course it was! Derek would never have done something so stupid!
“Derek! Derek! It’s okay! It’s okay!” Avery cries “I stopped! I stopped! I didn’t finish it! It’s okay! You can calm down now! You can calm down!” Derek’s body relaxes and his head lulls over his lips barely brushing against Avery’s hand.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just want you back. I barely got to you and I just want…I just want to know you. I’m sorry.”
Avery rubs his thumb back and forth against Derek’s lips, the little stubble on his mouth brushing against his skin. His heart rate steadily declines back to his baseline. He’s okay. Avery didn’t fuck him up anymore than he already did.
“I’m here. I’m here. I won’t do it again. I swear.”
Derek’s still there. He responded. He squeezed Avery’s hand. He can be saved. He’s alive.
“Don’t worry, Derek. I’ll find a way to save you.”