Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I guess this is the intro chapter idk I'm new to AO3 so pls bc nice to me 

I am however not new to writing so you can bully me all you want over it /j

Chapter Text

"I look ridiculous." 

"You look amazing!" 

Planet and Jaron went back and forth between how the costume looked on the former.  The silly, floppy eared jester hat and matching blue and purple circus outfit was picked out by Bacon, but the idea sprung from one of Jaron's late night sessions, as they always did, and Planet just so happened to be the bait of the plan. 

"I told you, Branzy isn't into clowns, he's into Clown," the inverted said, putting heavy emphasis on the lack of plurality. 

"Yeah, well, there's gotta be something he sees in him, and maybe it's the aesthetic, you never know!"  Jaron argued back. 

"Why couldn't we at least get Bacon to do it?"  Planet asked. 

"Because I don't look good in a circus fit," Bacon reasoned, stifling a laugh. 

"Trust me, Planet, you'll forget all about this when we get our spare hearts.  Branzy's easy to trap, you just have to stand there and look pretty, and you're already doing both of those, so we'll do the rest."  Jaron assured. 

"If this doesn't work, I'm selling you out to Pangi," Planet threatened.  Jaron visibly cringed. 

"No amount of money can put me in a maid dress again-" he said, being partially cut off by Bacon suddenly shushing him.  The two went to their hiding spots, and Planet stood alone in front of a pitfall covered in concrete powder.

No time at all passed before an avian landed softly on the ground just across from the disguised trap.  

"Heyyyy... Planet?"  Branzy greeted, growing increasingly confused as he stepped closer.  As much as they hated it, Planet knew the show had to go on. 

"Yeah, it's me," they said, adjusting the spiky jester collar so it would stop brushing annoyingly against their neck, "I figured you'd be a little nervous to meet up, so I put on something more... comfortable." 

"I appreciate the sentiment," Branzy said, clearly holding back a snicker, "but you look cursed." 

Planet kept himself from devolving into a rant at Jaron, only because the human had to stay hidden.  "Yeah, I know.  Just follow me, I'll show you around the base while we talk." 

"So," Branzy said, walking up to follow Planet, "about this 'marketing tactic' you mentioned-" 

As soon as he landed himself in the middle of the powder, the signs holding up the blocks let loose and sent him down into an obsidian box, only open at its top to let him in, and his flight magic was nowhere near strong enough to get him to take off against the cobwebs now sticking to him.  Planet leaned over the side, keeping in a laugh of his own as he maintained his composure. 

"Now, I didn't mention this before, but the marketing tactic is actually blackmail," Planet explained.  "If we're not mistaken, Clown's on 20 hearts, sooo all we want is 17 of them, and we'll let you go."

"17?!"  Branzy cried.  "But aren't you guys the 3 heart trio?"

"Yeah, you die pretty often when you're only on 3," Planet explained.  "We gotta get extras from somewhere, right-... boys..?" 

As he looked to his sides and realized his teammates weren't popping up to gloat like he knew they would, he heard a deep, chilling voice from across the room. 

"17 is a bit outrageous, don't you think?"  Clown asked rhetorically, an unseen smirk hidden under his mask and only shown through his bright orange and cyan eyes.  "I'm willing to negotiate a more fair price, though." 

Being held by the collars of their shirts in each of Clown's hands, Jaron and Bacon dangled like two misbehaving cats that'd been picked up by the scruffs of their necks.  

"Partners for partner?"  Clown offered. 

If they were on any other server, on any other team, Planet would've jumped to PVP as soon as they could.  But with only 3 hearts to spare, they instead, very reluctantly, poured water into the trapped box and let the cobwebs holding Branzy dissolve. 

"Oh, and by the way, Planet," Clown added, "you look great, you should do this look more often." 

As soon as Branzy flew out of the hole, Clown tossed the 2 players he had at their 3rd, all of them crashing into each other and tumbling into the wall behind them. 

"Well... guess it's back to the drawing board," Jaron concluded as Branzy and Clown flew away, brushing himself off and dusting the concrete powder from his hat.  As he did so, though, Planet put a firm hand on the human's shoulder. 

"No," they said, their grip growing inescapably tight as they took out their communicator and began to type, "it's back to the maid cafe with you."

Chapter Text

Squiddo tossed her bag to the side of the doorway, knowing nothing fragile was inside and having just come back from her work.  As they closed the door behind them, they looked around the living room and then up to the stairs. 

"Honey, I'm home!"  She called out, knowing Ash had to have been in their room if not on the couch.  

"Welcome home love!"  Ash called back from upstairs.  "Did you want me to make you anything?" 

"Don't worry about it, I still have leftovers!  I'll be up in a bit!"  Squiddo responded, walking to the kitchen to grab her dinner.  Maybe it was just because they were hungry, but the rabbit stew smelled even better the second time it was heated. 

Halfway through eating it, though, the squirrel spotted something just outside their backdoor.  Hoping that whatever flew by the window wasn't the stray arrow of a skeleton, she leaned over the countertop to get a closer look. 

It was a dog, what looked to be a husky, with light grey and white, thick fur and a purple collar.  It jumped up to catch a bone that was thrown to it, running happily back to the cat that threw it.  Ken gave it a very generous pet before taking the bone back and throwing it again. 

"You boys lost?"  Squiddo asked lightheartedly after opening the back door.  Despite her smiling, Ken looked embarrassed, messing with the ends of his hoodie sleeves and looking at the grass. 

"Ah- sorry," he said, "I was cleaning up some of the mobs from last night and your dog saw I had bones-" 

"Our dog?"  Squiddo asked.  "We don't have a dog." 

"...are you sure?"  Ken asked back, looking down at the husky as it happily chewed on the bone a few blocks away. 

"I thought it was yours'," Squiddo responded.  "Purple collar, Wifies's color is purple..." 

Ken shook his head.  "Wifies doesn't have a dog- he was in your backyard, I thought he was Ash's." 

"I don't even know where Ash would get a dog like this," Squiddo said, looking up at the sky.  "We should probably find out who it belongs to before it gets dark." 

"Yeah, um... do you know anyone around here?"  Ken asked.  "I- who'd have one, I mean." 

"Hmm..." Squiddo thought for a moment.  "Maybe..." 

***

"...it's because I'm a dog, isn't it?"  Bacon asked, looking at the two players who came knocking on his front door. 

"I thought it was because you were lonely," Ken said, more focused on petting the mystery husky as it sniffed at his hoodie pocket.  

"No, no to both of those!"  Squiddo desperately clarified as Ken tossed a chunk of steak to the husky.  "You just seemed like a dog person." 

Bacon's folded ears twitched a bit, and Squiddo sighed. 

"You know what I mean," she said, defeatedly. 

"Hm, you said it wasn't Ash's, right?"  Bacon asked.  "I can give you a good guess." 

***

"How high can it jump?"  Jumper asked. 

"Wh- huh?"  Ken asked back, wondering if he even heard her right. 

"I mean, if it was really my dog, I would at least teach it to jump."  She explained. 

"Um..." Squiddo pulled Ken to the side for a moment to ask, "how do we make him jump?"  

"How should I know?"  Ken asked back, only for the husky to prod its snout into his hoodie pocket again.  When the cat pulled out a chunk of steak to get it to stop, he thought for a moment longer and instead backed away a bit. 

"You want it boy?"  He coerced, getting the dog to wag its tail and yap excitedly.  "Go get it!" 

Ken threw the steak into the air, letting the dog jump as high as it could to catch its treat.  It made it about a block into the air before it landed, though, and simply let the chunk fall into its mouth instead.  Jumper let out a hearty chuckle. 

"That was actually kinda sick, but I was joking!"  She admitted.  "I don't have a dog!" 

"Wh- Jumper!"  Squiddo exasperated as the kangaroo hybrid laughed for a bit longer.  "We're trying to find his home before it gets dark, you know!" 

"I mean- haha-" Jumper said, "I mean I could point you to someone I think would love a dog."

***

"I don't really have time for a dog like this," Rek said, kneeling down to pet the husky, "this guy's cute, don't get me wrong, but like... with everything going on, I feel like I wouldn't be home enough for him." 

"Then what about Clown?"  Squiddo asked.  To both her and Ken's surprise, the response came from behind them. 

"Ditto," Clown said, walking up with a satchel slung over his shoulder. 

"We need to get you a bell collar or something," Ken said, his fur still sticking up, "I swear you just appear places when I'm not looking!" 

"Who says I'm not?"  Clown asked, shrugging lightheartedly as he walked past Rek in the doorway to slink inside of their house.  The dog bumped its head on Ken's paw, and Ken unconsciously gave it a pat.

"You guys should probably just keep him safe somewhere until tomorrow," Rek suggested, "it's getting kinda late." 

***

As the two walked down the path back to Squiddo's house, Ken occasionally tossed a bone to the dog to keep it entertained before Squiddo spoke up again. 

"You know, there's a chance it could be abandoned," she suggested. 

"...who died?"  Ken asked, the fur on his ears standing up for a moment before Squiddo clarified. 

"Nono, I mean, this place looked like it had players before us," she explained, "I was just thinking, if it doesn't have an owner, maybe you could take it back to your place." 

Ken looked down at the dog as it eagerly waited for him to take the bone from its mouth and throw it again.  He thought fondly for a bit, before giving it a pet and letting it fetch the bone again. 

"That... that doesn't sound too-" he went to respond, but he was cut off by a player making his way towards them. 

"Squiddo!"  Ash called.  The dog picked up its head as did the squirrel, but while Squiddo went to greet him back, the dog took off in a run with the bone still in its mouth. 

"Oh, there you are Ashswag Jr.!"  Ash cheered, kneeling down to give the dog a hug and thorough pet. 

"Wait- what?!"  Squiddo asked.  "Ash, when did you get a dog?!" 

"While you were out," Ash said matter-of-factly.  "I was looking around, saw some wolves, had some extra bones in my inventory, and I was... getting kinda lonely staying at home all the time, so... dog." 

"We were out looking everywhere for who this guy belonged to!"  Squiddo chuckled a bit.  "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"It was gonna be a surprise," Ash said. 

Ken looked over at the dog as the couple continued to discuss their new friend.  It looked up at Ash with the bone in its mouth the same way it looked at Ken just moments before, and he reached out of habit to pet the dog, but stopped himself before he could.  He sighed, taking in a breath. 

"Well, I'm glad that puzzle had an answer," he said, pulling out the fishing rod he attached to his stasis chamber back home.  "I'll see you guys next time someone's dog gets loose." 

Despite the joking tone he tried to have before he reeled in the rod and disappeared, his somberness didn't go unnoticed. 

"Hey, where'd you get Junior anyway?"  Squiddo asked.

***

The next morning, Ken stretched as he walked over to the kitchen.  

"You got home late last night," Wifies said, sitting at the table with a breakfast burrito in his hand. 

"And you got me food too?"  Ken asked, smiling as Wifies lightheartedly sighed and pulled a fillet-o-fish from his inventory.  As Ken happily speedran eating it, Wifies pulled out a bundle to follow. 

"And you got mail," he said, handing it to the cat.  Ken swallowed the bite he took before taking the bundle and speaking. 

"From who?"  He asked. 

"Uhh... Squiddo and Ash, I think."  Wifies guessed.  "I'm pretty sure that's their address on the return side." 

Ken opened the bundle to find a handful of skeleton bones and a piece of lime dye, along with a small note attached.  

'Have fun :) -Squiddo' 

Confused, he put the items back in the bundle and decided to just keep it in his inventory.  

But as he finished his breakfast and stepped outside, ready to check the surrounding forest for any stray mobs as he always did, his routine was interrupted by a bark and a ball of spotted brown fluff.

Chapter Text

Jaron folded his hands in on themselves, holding his head up as he leaned and set his elbows on the table.  Jumper leaned back in her chair, but she was clearly still in wait, staring the human across from her down.  They sat like that for what felt like minutes, until they both suddenly reached into their inventories and slammed a book onto the table separating them. 

"Sharpness five, Looting three," Jaron listed. 

"Starting off strong, huh?"  Jumper asked.  "And I thought max Bane of Arthropods would be good enough." 

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Jaron smirked, reaching back into his inventory. 

"Fine, I'll bite this time," Jumper said, doing the same.  They both threw down another book.  "Unbreaking, Loyalty, Sharpness, Mending.  All max."

"Try a fully maxed out mace," Jaron said.  "Unbreaking and Mending included." 

"Jeez, who's trading hall did you have to borrow for that?"  Jumper joked. 

"Zam's," Jaron answered, only getting Jumper to laugh harder, "but that's not the point!  You better have something good unless you want me to clean sweep you." 

"Hmm... I dunno," Jumper seemed to contemplate, her foot tapping a couple times on the wooden floor.  

"...fine, I'll let you go first," Jaron rolled his eyes, "but it's out of pity and not because I'm getting bored of waiting!" 

"Not because you're bored, got it," Jumper chuckled, finally taking out another book and placing it down.  To Jaron's surprise, she slid it over to him.  

"Read it for yourself."  She said.  Jaron looked down at the book, then back up at her. 

"...why?"  Jaron asked. 

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  Jumper answered. 

"What, do you think a maxed out pickaxe would impress me-" Jaron spoke before opening the book completely.  He laughed for a second. 

"Multishot, Piercing one?"  He read.  His laughter died down, though, when he realized Jumper was just smiling at him.  He thought about it, then froze. 

"You... you can't have Multishot on the same book as Piercing..." Jaron concluded.  "Jumper, how did you get this?" 

"Wouldn't you like to know," Jumper responded. 

"I- you can't even play an unstable book, that's like one of the first rules we gave!"  Jaron argued. 

"Then tell me, when there's no one around to enforce the laws, what's the incentive to follow them?"  Jumper asked, still smiling as she took out another book.

"Jumper- Jumper we can talk about this," Jaron pleaded, pushing his chair away from the table a milliblock.  Jumper slid the new book to him again, but this time, he looked away.  

"Read it."  Jumper commanded. 

"I'm not- that's forbidden knowledge, I'm not reading that!"  Jaron refused.  He heard the clicking of a loaded crossbow, but he couldn't do anything but watch as Jumper now had a firework pointed at his head. 

"Read it."  Jumper demanded again.  Jaron's hands shook as he picked up the book and, hesitantly, looked at its contents. 

"...maxed out, fully enchanted armor," he concluded. 

"Yeah, max Prot, and max Fire Prot, and max Blast Prot, you know, the usual," Jumper said.  Jaron shoved both of the glitched books into his inventory.

"If you kill me, I'll take these books and burn them," Jaron threatened. 

"You can burn those all you want, I have more," Jumper said, "more than you'll ever know." 

"...what's on that crossbow?"  Jaron asked, noticing the purple glint of the weapon aimed at his head.  

"Wouldn't you like to know," Jumper repeated. 

"You're bluffing!  You wouldn't!"  Jaron cried. 

"And if I said I was, would you even believe me?"  Jumper countered.  "Tell me, do you feel that, Jaron?  Do you feel your heart beating where it should?  Do you feel that sick weight in your gut?  I don't have to pull a trigger to get you where I want you.  All I have to do is show you a weapon pointed at you, and you'll want to run.  Or stand there.  Whatever your instincts tell you to do.  It's different for everyone.  But, to be completely honest with you, I don't have good trigger discipline, so maybe, just maybe, even I won't know when-" 

"JARON!  JUMPER!"  A shrill voice suddenly called from just outside of the room.  The door swung open, and Rek threw the light switch to the room on.  "What did I tell you two about playing Enchanted Book Poker in the house?!" 

"You said you were fine with it!"  Jaron argued, turning around in his chair as Jumper lowered her crossbow. 

"I was until our house almost burned down in the middle of the night!"  Rek argued back.  

"But we promised we wouldn't use flint and steel since then!"  Jumper said.  "...or fire charges." 

"You have a crossbow loaded with a firework in your hand!"  Rek said. 

"...three fireworks, it has Multishot," Jumper corrected.  Rek let out an exasperated 'oh my gosh' as he rubbed his face in his hands. 

"Look, it's late, I'm going to bed, just... just move this somewhere else, please."  Rek pleaded, leaving the room and closing the door behind him, leaving the two players alone again. 

"...you wanna make a secret base at SB's and move this over there?"  Jaron asked.  

"You know what, yeah," Jumper agreed, "I miss lighting the floor on fire."

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there was a god by the name of Aeor that ruled over all deer and ice.  

He loved to take the form of a stag and roam any forest he would come across.

One day, during his travels, he nearly treaded over a wilting flower, all on its lonesome. 

Not wanting its life to go to waste, Aeor would nurse the flower until it bloomed again.  It was a bright red poppy. 

Aeor, by now, had many problems of his own, however.  His brother, Exor, would soon challenge him for rule over all things, and Aeor wasn't sure if he would ever see the living world as a god again. 

For what he believed to be his last day, he returned to the poppy to care for it one last time. 

"I may not live tomorrow," Aeor told it, "and with a life like your's, you may not live long enough to remember me.  But do know, that above all else I have seen, I love you.  I love you more than the purest snow and softest elk, and if you were to love me even half as much, then I shall tell the universe to never have us apart.  Beyond worlds and realms and places we cannot go, if that is where you are, then I will follow.  And if I cannot follow, you will be where I am.  And if we cannot follow, then we will love across wherever we may stay.  Eyes or ears, alive or dead, land or sea, across however many lives we may live, I promise, we will always find each other, and we will always love each other."

After the dawn of the next day, Aeor was nowhere to be found.  

But hundreds of years later, a village of elves who still worshipped and passed down the tales of their stag god would find a pair of animals by their statue of Aeor. 

A tall, white coated deer with a small, yellow bird perched on its antlers would lay beside the statue.  And when they left, a patch of poppy flowers would grow in the spot where they would lay.

Chapter Text

Rek's paws sifted through the old cardboard box, his eyes scanning to find anything even remotely decorative at this point.  He thought he and his parents would've packed some kind of Christmas decor when he moved out, but that was proving to not be the case. 

He heard wings flapping and descending behind him as Couri landed at the bottom of the stairs, the avian putting down the box he was carrying with a small thud.  

"I mean, worse case scenario, we can stop by the Blockmart tomorrow and get you something," Couri said, grabbing a box cutter and slicing the tape, "better yet, we can see if any of the HBG have anything lying around." 

"Yeah, but it's just not the same," Rek sighed.  "This is the first Christmas I'm not spending with my family, I was hoping I'd have, like, something from home."

"I hear you,” Couri said, “this is the last box you had up there, so- oh, dude!”

Rek turned around to see the avian holding up a picture, held in a small, black plastic frame.  It was of the two of them, still in elementary school, smiling for the camera.  “You framed it?”  Couri asked in disbelief. 

“Aww, that was the first pic we ever took together!”  Rek cheered, leaving the box he was looking through to step closer to Couri and take the frame.  “5th grade, remember?”

“Yeah, the year I told my family I’d look good with a bowl cut…” Couri said, pressing his face into his hands out of embarrassment.  

“You did not look that bad!”  Rek argued. 

“I looked like a Victorian child!”  Couri argued back, his wings fluttering as he clasped his hands together.  “Oh please, sire, a few more beans please!  We have been dreadfully famished, these times have made us not but skin and bone!”

Rek laughed, nudging Couri by the shoulder as the other laughed along.  The cheetah put the picture on the nearby nightstand beside his couch.  “I wonder if there’s anything else I got in here?”  He thought out loud as he began to rifle through the box.

Couri watched as he did so, but stopped him to pull something out.  It was a yellow feather, shining as he turned it in the light.  “So do you just normally keep these, or..?”  He joked. 

“Nonono, that’s not your’s, I swear,” Rek explained.  He moved the hand Couri held the feather in towards the avian’s wing, finding that his plumage was slightly more orange compared to the paler yellow.  “See?” 

“Yeah, yeah, you told me about your uncle Jim before,” Couri said, pushing Rek’s paw away but letting him take the feather from him.  “For real, though, I feel like you actually could bring me to one of your family gatherings and tell everyone I’m your cousin or something.”  

“Probably- oh, bingo!”  Rek cheered, pulling out an ornament made for a Christmas tree.  It was a little gingerbread cat made of clay, icing spots and whiskers and all, held by a hook at the top of its head.  “I made this back in, like, kindergarten or something… and I don’t have a tree to put this on.”

“Don’t you have some leftover wall hooks?  You could hang it on one of those,” Couri suggested.

“Oh, yeah!  I could put it on the front door,” Rek agreed.

“You sure no one’s gonna steal it if you leave it outside?”  Couri asked. 

“Aren’t you and Fein the only other players that live down this road?”  Rek asked back. 

“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Couri joked.

Chapter Text

Derapchu blew up often.  Both literally and not. 

Being part Cobblemon gave him a set of, albeit limited, elemental abilities, mostly electric attacks as was expected of a Pikachu hybrid.  

But he couldn’t use them on his own, he had to control them.  And he couldn’t quite control his temper. 

Some would say he overreacted often.  He didn’t think they reacted enough.  Things pushed his buttons, and even after he thought he’d warned them enough, he would still end up exploding into a ball of lightning strong enough to scorch the terrain.  

And they hated him for it. 

Server after server, world after world, it didn’t matter.  Players didn’t give him the time of day, and if they did, they came to regret it.  He finally decided that, if he couldn’t live with anyone else, he would have to live alone. 

And that was the plan.  Until one night. 

Derap made the trek down to his base on the server for the last time.  The admins on this one wanted him banned, but they allowed him to take whatever items that belonged to him and finish whatever he could before then.  Zombies and skeletons in the forests beside him groaned and rattled, avoidant of the torch lit trail he was taking. 

He’d made it home and was in the middle of packing up when he heard a knock on his front door.  He didn’t want to answer it, but whoever it was was insistent and the knocking was starting to piss him off, so he did.

It was one of the admins, Spoke.  He told Derap that he didn’t agree with the others, and while he couldn’t prevent his ban, he could offer him a new place.  A server he called the Unstable Universe, just a place with a handful of other players where they’d hang out, nothing more.  

Derap already had plans to go through the end portal and find some single player world, but he’d never been offered to a server like this, and so, intrigued, he agreed to leave in the morning.  

Part of him believed that Unstable would be just like every other place.  They’d accept him until he’d “overreact” and suddenly he’d be gone.  

He’d joined a small team with Jumper and Ro, and agreed to help Spoke protect the builds they called the Wonders, so when one of the Wonders was suddenly destroyed, with no warning or any way to prevent it, Derap was beyond pissed.

He felt the sparks of electricity wrap around his fingers and arms, curling his hands into fists.  He was waiting to hear it.  “It’s just a build,” “Why are you getting worked up over blocks?”

But then Jumper leapt forward.  With rubble under her paws and an anger in her eyes that nearly mirrored Derap’s, she demanded to know who would do such a thing.  Ro followed her, fists tightened to their “rock” form, beginning their discussion of what happened to the Wonder.

Derap didn’t feel any less angry, but the shockwave never came.  Instead, as he cracked his knuckles in a threat, the lightning rolled around his hands like gloves, still there, still infuriated and crackling to other parts of him as well, but not at the ones around him.

Even after Unstable was destroyed and Derap had to be led back to his friends by Pangi, nothing much changed.  Being angry was just part of him.  Jumper would either laugh with him or share his frustration, Ro would help with whatever was ticking him off that day, and anyone else they shared the Lifesteal server with never treated him like an outcast.  

In fact, he’d be more than happy to call them his friends.

Chapter Text

“Gem!  Get the ship ready!” 

The call was followed by a laughter that could only be described as maniacal as Pearl clutched the treasure chest to her side, using her two free hands to fire at the horde of mobs behind her.  Loony focused more on steering, but it was a straight shot towards the black sailed pirate ship that he was sure his unicorn could follow on its own, so he relaxed his grip and laughed with her.

Pearl’s first mate heard her loud and clear, ordering the crew to lower the sails and raise the anchor.  She would’ve waited a few more seconds, but after years of knowing her, she knew the moth hybrid’s calls were made to be done immediately, not a moment before and not a moment later.  As she expected, the ship began departing from the shoreline before the steed and its riders were halfway across the coast.  

“Hey, this thing can jump pretty far, right?”  Pearl asked, firing a few more shots as she spoke. 

“June can float, if that’s what you’re asking,” Loony answered.  “Not fast and not far with the extra weight, but it can do it.” 

“Well that’s an issue, I was kinda bagging on that,” Pearl said.  “Ship’s gonna be out of reach if we get there as we are now, and I can’t think of anything that doesn’t involve abandoning you.” 

“Why me?”  Loony asked incredulously. 

“Love ya lil’ bro, but I’m not abandoning a horse for you, it’d be like trading a fishing rod for the pole,” Pearl teased.  The unicorn hybrid couldn’t even huff before a cannonball flew past their heads, forcing them to duck.  Pearl had to hold on to Loony for a moment as June leaped over the newly made obstacle that landed in the sand in front of them. 

“Do you know how to ride a unicorn?”  Loony asked. 

“If it’s anything like a nautilus, I’m confident,” Pearl answered.

“Then hand me the chest,” Loony said. 

“You don’t usually get a response to that, do you?”  Pearl joked, handing him the treasure. 

“Just take the reins,” Loony sighed affectionately, letting go to heave the treasure chest over one shoulder and slide off of his steed mid run.  Pearl scooched to the front to follow her brother’s orders, finding that June was noticeably faster with only the weight of a bug on its back, while Loony rolled in the sand to get back on his feet as quickly as possible.  It didn’t take long for the horde to hard focus on him, and he began to run as far as he could before he knew he’d be caught up to.

At the flick of his wrist and in a flash of light, a hammer appeared in his free hand, a mallet that was built to be a weapon more than anything else.  Realizing something, Loony checked its stats to find that this server’s code counted it as a mace, to which the unicorn hybrid let out a sigh of relief. 

“Maybe doing things before checking runs in the family,” he muttered to himself.  He trailed over to a player-sized rock jutting out of the ground, quickly making his way to the top as the edge of the horde surrounded him at the bottom.  Doing it with one hand was slightly awkward, but he still managed to jump off and bonk the nearest mob on the head, getting a burst of wind to emanate from the head of the hammer and send him flying into the air.  

It only took a couple more times of doing this before he got exactly what he wanted: a cannonball heading straight towards him.  Letting go of the chest for a moment but still keeping it on his shoulder, he swung at the projectile as hard as he could, getting the wind burst to fling him in the direction of the ship.  With maybe a block or two of distance to spare, as Pearl and June jumped and landed gracefully on the ship, Loony crashed onto the wooden deck, treasure in tow as his hammer faded back into the realm of his inventory.  

“WOO!  The Broken Death Pirates win again!  Without a hitch!”  Pearl cheered.

“...you two almost died.”  Gem said bluntly. 

“Yeah, well, we didn’t,” Pearl said, not a lick of her confidence fading.  “Speaking of we, Loony, where’re your friends?”

Loony didn’t get the chance to open his mouth before a loud and sudden crash rang out.  Looking behind him, he found a new broken hole in the top deck’s floor, a dragonborne and a cheetah shoved into it.  Wunba opened his mouth as he crawled out, however nothing but a plume of smoke came out in place of his usual words.  Rek, on the contrary, had nothing but words.

“You guys didn’t tell us we’d be distracting the water based mobs!”  Rek shouted from across the ship.  

“I’m guessing it went well?”  Pearl asked. 

“Wunba’s a fire dragon!”  Rek responded.  Gem sighed as Pearl and Loony shrugged awkwardly.

“I’ll go get Bdubs to fix the hole,” the sorcerer said, “and by the way, that’s a combination lock.  Good luck figuring it out.”

As her first mate walked away, Pearl kneeled down to examine the treasure chest, finding that Gem’s quick assessment was correct.

“I know I keep asking you this, but you sure you don’t wanna join the crew?”  Pearl asked as Loony joined her side, not bothering to figure out the lock and instead blowing it clean off with a flintlock.  “You make a real good pirate.” 

Loony seemed to think about it, but a quick glance over at Rek and Wunba trying to help the crew fix the hole they made gave him the same conviction he always had. 

“And I know I keep answering with it, but I already have a home, and I make a real good protector.”  Loony responded. 

“Worth a shot,” Pearl shrugged, smiling as she took off what remained of the lock and tossed it to the side, letting the top of the chest creak open.  

It turned out that most of the weight belonged to the chest itself, as the only two items inside were small, decorative pins; one of a star, and one of a moon.

“Huh…” was all that Pearl could muster out at the sight.  Loony took the charms out of the chest to examine them himself.

“Well, good news, they’re definitely some kind of metal,” he said.  “Might not be gold, but-”

“Hey, wait,” Pearl spotted, taking the moon shaped charm and one of the aglets at the end of her hoodie’s drawstrings, “they kinda match, don’t they?” 

Even disregarding the moon shape they both had, Loony couldn’t deny that they were the same pale-ish yellow color.  He nodded.

“I’d be down for just keeping these,” Pearl suggested, though she was already pinning one to her hoodie.  “I’ll take the moon one for my username, you take the star one for whatcha did to get here.”

Loony smiled, not bothering to verbalize his agreement as he pinned the star charm to his jacket.

Chapter Text

A noise that the buried structure hadn't heard in a long time echoed throughout the prismarine walls.  Footsteps.  One set that walked tentatively, and one set that sauntered.  And along the second set, the occasional scrape of iron against stone echoed too.

“So when’re we getting to that last room?”  Mini asked, settling on resting his spear horizontally across the back of his shoulders.  Mog sighed, not looking up from his book to see the dumb smirk he knew the human was wearing. 

“I know you’ve been asking that in every room to be annoying, but it’s actually the one coming up this time,” the vampire answered.  “I just don’t get it, though…” 

Mog looked up from his book to the sides of the corridor, platforms of prismarine and sea lanterns holding up nothing lining the hallway with broken scraps of sponges torn apart sitting sadly beside them.  “...this temple’s been unexplored according to everything I have on it, but with the way it’s looking so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if the structure blocks were already taken.” 

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about traps,” Mini joked, “wonder what poor soul had to deal with monsters coming from above.” 

“Those are cages, for players,” Mog corrected, leaning his book over to the man to show the diagram of the open obsidian boxes floating above their heads.  “Combined with the elder guardians that used to be here, the mining fatigue would've made it take weeks to mine one block, and the effort would've depleted hunger beyond any reasonable food supply-” 

Cutting off the vampire's rambling, Mini let out an overexaggerated yawn.  Shutting his book closed, Mog groaned in annoyance. 

“I thought you were trying to be nicer,” he said.

“It’s a… work in progress,” Mini responded.

“Why did you even agree to come with me if all you’re gonna do is complain the whole time?”  Mog asked. 

“Hey, I’m just like you,” Mini answered, shrugging, “I thought all the fun stuff was still active.  And I can't leave someone like you to deal with all that alone.  How’s that for nicer?”

“...debatable.”  Mog said.

The two continued their trek up the stairs and to the next hallway.  It was much shorter and more narrow than the previous corridor, with prismarine statues of player-like figures lining the way to the next room, leaning on axes and swords and a plethora of other weapons.  

“These things don't come to life, do they?”  Mini asked, prodding at one of the statues with his spear.  

“Never read anything that says they do,” Mog answered, “why?  Are you scared of statues?” 

“I’m just saying, if it’s alive, it should look alive,” Mini said.

“Oh my god, did that one just blink?”  Mog said, pointing to one of the statues behind Mini.  In less than a tick, Mini whipped around, spear in both hands as he pointed it to whichever statue was closest to him. 

“Which one?”  He demanded, only letting his stiffened stance drop when he heard Mog snickering to himself instead of answering.  Mini let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, turning back to Mog.  “Alright, I’ll let you get away with it this time, but next time, I won't hesitate to break this thing in half and use it as a wooden stake.” 

“Save the weapon,” Mog said, still smiling, “it doesn't have to be wood to-...”  

As he stepped ahead into the next and final room, he found a sight even worse than what he was half expecting to find.  The ceiling and walls torn open in several spots and a layer of water on the ground floor, the place looked as if it had been broken apart wildly.  To the side was a staircase leading up to a balcony of sorts, the staircase itself having chunks of blocks crumpled and missing.  In the middle of it all, faced down and kneeling, was another prismarine statue, this one seemingly taller than the room itself.  

“Oh my god…” was all Mog could muster for a moment. 

“So… someone's been here,” Mini said, unsure of any other words to form. 

“They haven't just been here,” Mog pointed out, motioning to the immobile statue in the middle, “they were attacked by a Titan!  You remember those statues in the first room?” 

“Yeah, but you said those weren't Titans,” Mini answered. 

“They're not,” Mog said, “not yet.  Structures like these are only considered Titans after an admin uses them as a vessel.  But the last time an admin was seen in this world was over 60 years ago by now.” 

“Sounds like whoever made it here didn't live to tell the tale,” Mini suggested, “good news for us, the structure blocks must still be here.” 

“Yeah… let’s just be careful.”  Mog said. 

Bridging and jumping over the gaps in the stairs, the two made it up to the platform at the top, where two stands stood in front of galactic text.  One stand had just what they were looking for: a structure block.  But the second stand was completely empty. 

“...there’s no way.”  Mini denied.  “That other structure block has gotta be around here somewhere.” 

“It’s not that far-fetched, didn't you survive a Titan?”  Mog pointed out. 

“I survived a Titan with like 4 other people, not to mention it was only being manned by some players with a command block.”  Mini said.  “You said this one had to have been controlled by an actual admin.” 

“Admins aren't any smarter than players, they just have more tools,” Mog said.  “Look, if they made it out of a temple like this, there's gotta be a record of it somewhere in this world.  Let’s just take the one we have and see if we can look through any of the libraries at the spawn chunks.” 

“Fine, whatever works,” Mini said, walking over to the structure block still on its podium.  Just behind it was the structure attached, a wall of quartz and obsidian. 

“‘Wall of the Builder’,” Mog read the galactic on the wall behind.  Mini didn't care to listen before taking the block, a soft, light pink glow illuminating from its surface.  As soon as he did so, however, they heard a heavy thud from the hallway leading into the room.  It became rapid, and the scraping of stone against stone began to follow with it.

“Mog,” Mini said, “you said those statues didn't come to life, right?” 

“I said I never read anything about them coming to life, but I also didn't read about anyone passing through this temple!”  Mog answered. 

They watched as an army of prismarine guards flooded from the hallway, groaning and creaking as most of them ran towards the staircase.  Mini would've made a quip about them not being able to jump the gaps, but he couldn't even open his mouth before they did just that. 

“Hold them off with the structure block, I-I’ll think of something!”  Mog said, looking around frantically for an escape route.  They couldn't come back the way they came, and they couldn't even go to the ground floor or anywhere past the staircase.  He then spotted the hole in the ceiling, directly above the deactivated Titan, and noticed that while there was water on the outside, it wasn't flowing down like it should've been.  

Just as Mini put down a third wall, watching nervously as the once statues still slammed into the first, Mog gave him a nudge.  “Do you think you can throw something into that hole up there?” 

“Like what?”  Mini asked. 

“Anything you don't care about,” Mog answered.  Mini nodded, taking a cobblestone block from his inventory and throwing it as hard as he could into the hole.  It hit the floating water with a splash, and Mog almost cheered before Mini had to push both of them down, barely avoiding a shower of prismarine arrows from hitting them. 

“It’s not held by anything, the water’s just been cut off by commands,” Mog said. 

“Which means?”  Mini asked. 

“All we have to do is update the sources and it’ll flow down again, so you can jump to it and swim up.”  Mog answered.  “I can fly, and the walls are holding pretty well, just watch my back for me, got it?” 

“Aye aye, captain,” Mini said, giving a lighthearted salute. 

They both stood back up, Mini putting down another wall to protect himself from the archers and Mog picking out a dirt block to place at the water.  As soon as the vampire took on his form of a bat, the two nodded at each other and he took off.  Mini whistled as loudly as he could, gaining the guards’ attention just in case, and began to play a game of chicken with the arrows coming his way, seeing just how long he could stand outside of his cover before he had to move back.  At one point, he noticed some of the guards not focusing on either of them, instead climbing up to the top of the Titan, but he couldn’t get a good look at what exactly they were doing before the firing squad came back.  

Meanwhile, Mog only had to glide out of the path of an arrow or two before the attention was off of him, and he began a straight path towards the water.  For a brief moment, he had to shift back into a player to place the dirt block, but as soon as he did, the water began to cascade down into the temple, dousing the guards standing below.  

Back as a bat, he squeaked in delight just before he heard the sound of rock against rock again, this time much heavier, and much closer.  He didn’t get the chance to turn around before he was met with a prismarine hand, a hundred times his size, slamming into him and throwing him down into the water below.  Mini tried to call out for him, but he was already too late.  He realized what the guards were doing.

They were climbing into a spot on the back of the Titan’s head, and now they were controlling it.  

As soon as Mog was out of sight, the Titan slowly turned to where Mini was.  The human dashed and fell out of the way just as it slammed its hand down, splitting the balcony in half.  Remembering the bottom of the temple was already flooded with water, Mini jumped down, going into the closest corner he could find in the hopes that the Titan would lose him. 

Thankfully, that seemed to work.  The behemoth looked around the room after trying to follow Mini, and he took that time to wade through the water and look for Mog.  When he did find him, morphed back into his player form in an even further corner in the room, it looked like the water around him was turning purple. 

“Mog,” Mini called out, albeit quietly in fear of the guards hearing him.  He was already making his way towards him, but he sped up a bit when he didn’t get a response.  

Suffice to say, he wasn’t in a state to be making responses.  He coughed as Mini brought his head up over the water, but he didn’t open his eyes.  Blood pooled from a gash in his head, and if he were anyone else, Mini would’ve looked away from the bone poking out of his equally bleeding leg.  

Still holding onto Mog, Mini peeked from behind the corner, seeing if he was clear to make his way to the waterfall.  He thought he would’ve been, but as slow as its head moved, the Titan was scanning the area too quickly for him to have enough time to swim up, especially one handed.  He thought for a moment, and ultimately decided that he’d just apologize to him later as he looked through Mog’s now free to take inventory.  He knew he had a trident, but between the different enchantments, he needed it to have Riptide.  

And it did.  Riptide I.  With 2 durability on it.

He wasn’t quite caught up on the differences between the levels or if using it on its own cost durability, but he couldn’t stop to complain.  Waiting for the Titan to look away, Mini rushed to the water.  He swore he never felt as slow as he did then, even with his experience of being tick frozen.  Between the water slowing his sprint and the very time sensitive matter, he’d be more confident in pushing against powdered snow. 

But as soon as he made it, he charged up the trident and let it rip them both at full speed upwards.  Would he also have to apologize for whiplash if Mog was unconscious?  Eh, it didn’t matter.  

He watched the eyes of the Titan lock with his own just as his view was covered by the roof of the temple, now surrounded by coral and tropical fish alike.  A low growl shook the ocean floor, but if it couldn’t leave before, why would it leave now?  

Mini had now survived two Titans.  No one would ever hear the end of it.

Chapter Text

The world blurred and spun when he tried to open his eyes.  Something leaked into his mouth and nose, but he couldn’t push himself off of the ground to escape it for long.  Even after he was finally lifted out of what he was slowly remembering to be water, he could feel it sloshing in his lungs, mere droplets if anything coming out no matter how hard he coughed and heaved.  But the water, as burning and frustrating as it was, couldn’t compare to the rest of the pain.  

The headache was horrible, don’t get him wrong, but if it had nothing to do with his haziness, he wasn’t sure he’d have noticed it over the scorching pain in his leg.  It felt wrong, out of place and jagged, like he was a statue that had been dropped and fractured.  The water, packed with salt and whatever else was carried in the current, seeped under his skin.  The agony came in waves, and every time he’d think it was calming down, it would come back tenfold.  He couldn't move, and when he could, it caused nothing but more pain. 

So he stopped moving.  And the world stopped with him. 

Except it didn't. 

The first thing that came back to Mog was the world.  Something soft coddled his body, threads of care and comfort staving off any initial panic.  Something was wrapped around his head as well as his leg, which he would later find was keeping him from moving said leg from its straightened out position.  Something was softly crackling, warming him up despite the cold of the space. 

After what felt like minutes, maybe even hours, Mog slowly opened his eyes.  Stars shined down through the leaves of the trees, their glow masked by a campfire to his side.  He found that he was rested on a makeshift sleeping bag, an equally makeshift cast of string and sticks holding his leg.  He shifted a bit, trying to sit himself up, but found that raising his head anywhere above his pillow made the world spin again.  When he laid back down, he immediately recognized the voice that addressed him.

“Oh, you’re up early,” Mini said.  “How’s it going?”

“Everything hurts…” Mog groaned.

“Well yeah, you took a lot of damage,” Mini pointed out, “you're just hungry.  Here, I made soup.” 

“I can’t have mushrooms, only-” Mog started, but Mini cut him off. 

“Only fruits and vegetables, I know, that’s why I made your’s watermelon.”  He said, putting the bowl down next to the vampire.  Mog didn’t even have to turn over to know that he was genuine, he could smell the melon juice from where he was.  

They talked for a little longer, but of what, Mog didn’t remember.  He just remembered being too tired and lightheaded to eat at the moment, and he eventually went back to sleep.