Beach or Mountains

Chapter 10: FINALE: Far Away

I'm so sorry (although, I'm guessing most of you knew this was coming). Aside from that, it's a really short and abrupt chapter. This is intentional, due to the nature of the end of the Empires SMP. So... I hope you enjoy, and stay tuned for my next fic!

Warnings: Major Character Death (!), Heartbreak, Blood

All of the fish were dead. Jimmy walked numbly around his deserted "empire," if it could even be called that anymore.

I have to leave, he told himself. I have to grab my pets, and leave. Then his thoughts went to Scott. I assume Rivendell is in a similar state. We can leave together, find a new place. He nodded to himself, taking one last look around his old home before leaving for the last time.

——-

Scott was trapped, and his brother was standing just feet away, taunting him. He was very tempted to throw the Rune Blade at Xornoth, but knew that would kill him too. 

Wait. The message of the prophecy came back to him in a flash. If one dies, so does the other. He knew what he had to do, at long last.

———

Jimmy could see Rivendell, despite the smoke and ash pouring from the buildings. Before that, it had been a cloudless, sunny day. How ironic. He landed in the grass near the crater that had been the church, around where he had first met Scott for their first "date."

He saw a flash of movement up on a mountainside covered in corruption. He launched back up into the sky.

————

Scott saw a flash of green in the sky, right as he plunged his sword blindly inward. The pain in his chest was rivaled only by two things: The pain from knowing that the love of his life (he had found this to be true long ago) was seeing his death, and the triumph that came from seeing his brother double over, a look of pure shock on his face, his black robes soaked red. Finally, he thought with satisfaction, you will hurt no one else. Finally, we can all be free. Finally, the story ends. And with that, his darkening vision went black, just as a blond haired head bobbed into his field of view.

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Jimmy saw it all. He heard the yelling, then the screams of somebody in pain. As he circled down to the red hilltop, he heard Scott yelling,  then saw, with numb horror, the tip of his blade, facing inward, and then...

"No! Nonononono..." He swooped down as both figures collapsed. He saw, with sickening clarity, the moment both stopped moving. He saw, through blurred vision, his one true ally laying, arms askew, on the red earth. 

"You said you would see me again! You promised!" He sobbed, falling to his knees next to Scott. "I thought you would be the one to- to make this bearable!" He laid his head on the elf's silken robes, listening for a heartbeat he knew wasn't there. "Please, you said forever, forever we'd be together. Please..." He laid there, across his lover, friend, and ally, for what could have been minutes or days. The span of years could have passed, and he wouldn't have known. Maybe they did.

Their headstone reads, "for all the lives I lived and lost, you were always there."