The 5 Seablings AU

Chapter 13- Wither Roses

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

because halloween, im posting 2 chapters today. my brain is dead a little bit.

ANYWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Chapter. Warning for violence, death (but respawn so its fINEEEE), and difficulty talking.

Pearl slashed with her scythe, taking down her foe. The sun was bright and hot, but she had the upper hand. Humans typically had the upper hand when fighting wheat. Wheat doesn't even have hands. The farmer queen paused to compact the wheat she'd gathered into hay bales, then tucked them back into her inventory.

The wheat behind her rustled more than it should've for the amount of wind there was. Pearl spun around. "Who's there?" She pointed her scythe at where the noise came from, but whatever had been there was gone. Pearl rolled her eyes, continuing her harvest.

Out of the corner of her eye, Pearl spotted a figure standing on the roof of a barn. When she looked at it again, though, it wasn't there. The next few hay bales got cut much more vigorously. If she couldn't solve the mystery, Pearl could at least be violent to some plants about it.

Somebody was standing right behind Pearl. She could hear them breathing scratchily. She kicked backwards, hoping to knock them off-balance. As she turned to see how well she did, she took in the person's appearance. They had dark purple hair, black horns, eerie glowing eyes, and were dressed in a punk style. They, unfortunately, didn't seem the least bit destabilized by Pearl's attack.

Pearl backed up a few steps. "Are you..." She gasped. "You're that demon that Katherine was talking about! Xornoth, right?"

Xornoth narrowed their eyes. After a long moment, they nodded.

"Well, I would say it's nice to meet you, but I've heard you're not very nice," Pearl said. "Or are they wrong?"

The demon snarled. "Your alliances will be splintered and your kingdom will burn."

"Got it, not a nice demon." Pearl giggled.

"Enough with the flippant attitude," Xornoth growled.

"Eh... I'd rather not. Hey, I've got an idea. You wanna have a little fight?"

Xornoth poofed into black smoke.

"Wha- hey, where'd ya go?" Pearl turned around, spotting Xornoth about fifty blocks away, deeper into the wheat field. As Pearl started jogging towards them, Xornoth teleported behind her.

"You silly goose, what was the point of that?" Pearl quipped as she swung her scythe, but Xornoth stopped it with one hand.

"Oh wow, you're pretty strong!" Pearl commented. She stepped away, readying for another attack. Then she stopped being able to see Xornoth. She could only see a short distance around her, and everything else had faded into blackness. "What's this all about?"

A strike hit her from behind, and Pearl stumbled forward. She lashed out with her scythe, not hitting anything. Then, it was yanked out of her grip. "Oi! That's not fair!"

A zombie groaned from somewhere to Pearl's left. Zombies during the day? Was it nighttime already? It couldn't be, it was barely after noon just a few minutes prior, before the unnatural darkness set in. The zombie shambled towards Pearl, and she punched it until it fell down dead.

"Xornoth!" Pearl shouted. "What's your problem? Are you hiding behind darkness and zombies so I don't get a fair shot at fighting you?"

"Am I hiding, or are you just bad at finding me?" Xornoth whispered. A chill went down Pearl's spine as she heard Xornoth right behind her. A dagger pressed against her throat.