Collision (HermitcraftxEmpires Au)

Decisions

Grian

"Good luck" Xisuma nodded, "I hope you find him".

"I hope so too" I spun around and beat my wings so I lifted into the air, followed by Pearl whom I had chosen to accompany me.

It was morning now, which meant it was time to find Bdubs. Xisuma and a few others had gone off in search of the two False's, so everyone was busy.

"What's the plan?" Pearl piped up.

"We'll drink an invisibility potion then go inside to find Bdubs" I strained to be heard over the wind, "we'll talk to him and hopefully convince him to help us".

"Sounds good" Pearl nodded, "hopefully he'll see sense".

"Yeah, I think he will" I agreed.

The two of us flew on in silence. As Hermitopia slowly loaded into view we began to dip down and fly closer to the ground. The last thing we wanted was to get seen. I dove down and landed at the base of the hill Hermitopia was on. Pearl quickly followed.

"Here, drink this" I handed her a vial of silvery liquid. Pearl took it and quickly drank it, visibly gagging at its bitter taste. I quickly downed mine. After a couple minutes we began to fade from view as the potion kicked in.

"Let's go" Grian said, "grab my hand so we don't lose each other". Pearl obeyed and took my hand and we began to walk quickly up the hill. The tall walls of Hermitopia were soon visible.

"Stay as quiet as possible now" I whispered, "we need to locate Bdubs without anyone else finding us".

"Yep" Pearl responded, "where would he be?"

"He'll probably be with Ren or in wherever he's sleeping is my best guess" I shrugged, "hopefully he's actually here".

The two of us carefully crept through one of the many entrances to the interior. I noticed that a new staircase had popped up. I immediately decided to investigate. I tugged on Pearl's hand, signalling for her to follow.

We slowly but surely made our way up, conscious not to make any noise. We came out into a large room which was dimly lit with lanterns and had a throne situated as the end of it. The throne was made from black stone with twisted spires protruding from the top. On the throne sat Ren himself, Bdubs stood at his side. They appeared to be talking.

"-need to do something soon" Ren growled, "this has dragged on far too long".

"Yes indeed" Bdubs nodded.

"I will speak to Etho later" Ren sighed, "I have a plan but I need his opinion".

"What is your plan my liege?" Bdubs asked. I listened carefully, hoping to find out something good. Next to me I could tell Pearl was doing the same.

"I will tell you later" Ren dismissed him, "now leave me I must ponder".

"Of course" Bdubs bowed and backed away.

Pearl and I scuffled out of the way as Bdubs walked past them and down the staircase. I quickly followed him. We made it back to ground level to see Bdubs just standing there, looking zoned out.

"Bdubs" I whispered. I saw Bdub's head whip around to the direction of my voice.

"Hello?" Bdubs said suspiciously, "is someone there?"

"Bdubs come outside" I whispered again, "we need to talk to you".

"This better not be a trap" Bdubs glanced around searching for the source. But he began to move outside.
Hurry up, I thought. The invisibility potion was beginning to wear off and I could see a faint shimmer of my hands.

"Into the trees" I said. Bdub's eyes widened as he saw the two of us, but the mossy man followed us anyway. When we were safely out of sight we could talk.

"What do you want?" Bdubs said, "you shouldn't be here".

"We need your help" I explained, "we know you're meant to be our enemy and all but I think we can work things out".

"We know you're not happy Bdubs" Pearl added, "it pains you to see your friends like that. It pains you to see Etho like that". Bdubs was silent, clearly processing our words.

"Come to Animalia with us" I pleaded, "if you don't help the Watchers will use Ren to take all of our minds".

"If this continues no one will be themselves anymore, or dead. Including you." Pearl said, "do you really want this?"

"No, no I don't" Bdubs murmured, "I never wanted this. I just wanted Ren to be a good king and help the server".

"We thought so" I smiled, "will you come with us?" Bdubs looked me in the eye.

"No, I won't" he said firmly, "no matter what I'm not leaving Etho alone. He needs me".

"You could still help us" Pearl suggested, "you could be our spy".

"Hmm" Bdubs mused, "maybe I could do that".

"Yes, that's a great idea. We could send someone to meet you every now and then to get information" I proposed, "will you do it?"

"Yes, I can't bear to see them like this anymore" Bdubs bit his lip, "Etho, Tango... they scare me. Sometimes they're normal, other times they're just evil".

"I'm sorry" I said sympathetically, "do you know of any plans that Ren has?"

"He isn't telling me anything" Bdubs shook his head, "he's either discussing stuff with Etho or mumbling to himself".

"But is it really Ren that's doing this?" Pearl asked, "this Ren is not the one I know".

"I agree with you on that" Bdubs agreed, "I highly doubt his mind is his own".

"I hope it is" I said, "if it's a glitch we can fix, we can stop this. If it's him acting on his own will... then it's a much more complicated". Suddenly firework rockets sounded above us and we looked up to see a flash of cyan and yellow. Tango and Scott.

"You guys should probably go" Bdubs sighed, "if we get caught then all this was useless".

"Okay" I agreed, "someone will be here to meet with you in one or two days". Bdubs nodded and turned away. I watched him make the walk back to Hermitopia, feeling relieved.

"Well, that's one problem solved" Pearl grinned, "Bdubs is back on our side".

"Yeah, but if Ren isn't telling him anything there's not much point" I narrowed my eyes, "this is not as successful as I had anticipated".

"At least that's one less person to fight" Pearl offered, "we outnumber them greatly but they're too strong". I nodded in agreement. I glanced once more towards Hermitopia. It seemed safe enough to leave now.

"Come on" I grinned, "let's go home".

Bdubs

Bdubs glanced up at Etho, who was pacing back and forth across the room in a panic. His hand covered his currently mask less face. Bdubs had returned inside to discover Etho hiding in his room.
"I can't go out without my mask" Etho whispered, muffled. The strap on his mask was broken, rendering it useless.
"Hey, it's okay" Bdubs stood up, "we can fix it".
He approached Etho and cupped his hand with his own. He slowly lifted it away, revealing Etho's face. A sight not many people saw. Bdubs stared at him. It had been a while since he'd seem him fully. His jaw had a long thin scar that ran from the bridge of his nose down through the right corner of his lips. Another smaller one was on the left side of his jaw and went down to his neck. Etho's eyes widened.
"It's okay Etho" Bdubs smiled, "you're beautiful, you don't need to hide".
Tears poured out Etho's eyes as he pulled Bdubs into a hug. Bdubs knew the compliment meant a lot to him. Etho wore the mask for a variety of reasons, one being his allergy to red stone. He also used it so he was immune to any harmful splash potions that may be thrown his way. But his main reason was his insecurities. He figured because of his scars he was ugly, which just simply wasn't true.
"Thank you Bdubs" Etho choked. Bdubs hugged him tighter, letting him cry. After a few minutes they pulled away.
"Come on" Bdubs smiled, "let's fix it".
Etho smiled back, looking visibly happier. He walked over to the table where his broken mask lay.
Bdubs watched him, feeling guilt course through him. How could he bring himself to betray him? It was Etho.
He knew it was for the better, but that didn't make it hurt less.