Good Things Never Last

Chapter 8

"Guys, I have something I need to show you all"

Eret had stopped in front of us all, a shaky smile on his face as the last rays of the day reflected off their dark glasses.

"What do you mean?"
Tubbo was the first to speak up after Eret's peculiar statement.
"Well, for the past several weeks in preparation for the war, I made a secret weapon..."
"This is exactly when Eret pulls out a giant missile or something, isn't it?"

The group burst out laughing at Fundy's weird remark and everyone began following Eret into L'manburg, excitement filling the air. But something seemed off to me, just an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I couldn't work out why they hadn't told us about this beforehand or why he had waited at all.

We strolled across L'manburg until we came to a complete stop in front of a hill. All of us just stared at Eret, who sighed deeply before pulling aside the branches of a bush to show a barely lit tunnel.

"This way guys. We need to hurry"
Everyone else followed suit into the tunnel, but something stopped me in my tracks.
"Y/N, what is it?"
Tommy smiled as he turned to face me. It was both puzzling and reassuring all at once.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that they only mention this now Tommy? I know I don't know them all that well, but surely if it's 'preparation' for the war that literally started this morning, she should have mentioned it then?"
"Y/N, I know you're a little sceptical about this all, but you need to trust him, to trust us okay? I'm not going to let anything go wrong. You need to trust me"

He extended a reassuring hand to me, and I took it. He turned away from me and began jogging down the tunnel in an attempt to catch up to the others, pulling me along with him. The tunnel was only around one metre wide, meaning I was being dragged along behind Tommy. Its rough stone walls created a thick atmosphere surrounding them. It was poorly lit by redstone lamps, making it almost impossible to see ahead.

Tommy came to a complete stop about a minute later, sending me flying into the back of him, confused. Standing on my tiptoes, I peered over his shoulder and saw a dark room ahead with six evenly spaced chests. A stone button rested in the midst of the dimly lit room, with no evident justification for it to be there at all. Then I saw the sign that stood right in front of Tommy.

"The final control room"
Letting go of Tommy's hand, I took a step into the room. A sign on one of the chests to my right caught my eye, with what appeared to be my name written on it in bold cursive letters. With curiosity getting the better of me, I walked towards it before opening it to see...

Nothing.

The chest was completely empty. I wracked through it for another minute or so before the confusion set in.

"Eret, what does this button do?"
Tommy's voice shattered the eerie silence before it hit me.
"Tommy don't...."

Too late. His palm had pressed the button inwards, causing it to vanish into the floor. A screaming sound could be heard from the room's back two corners after that. When I raised my eyes, I noticed two figures in one corner and another in the other.

"What the fuck..."
They all walked forward, stepping out of the shadows.

In comparison to the other two, the boy on the far left was rather short, but he was still taller than me. Under his armour, a bright blue t-shirt could be seen. With a sheepish look on his lips, his hazelnut eyes darted about the room he was currently standing in. Shining white clout goggles sat upon his tuff of brown hair. It was the boy that shot at Tommy earlier with a sword held in his left hand and a shield hung over his right.

The boy on the far right sat with a confident look on his face, slightly taller than the goggles boy. Behind his dark netherite armour, he wore a white t-shirt and a white bandana was tied tightly around his forehead, keeping his black hair out of his dark brown eyes. He was the one I'd manage to shoot at the tower. As Tommy took a step back, he raised a crossbow and aimed it between his eyes.

And in the middle stood a boy who towered over his two companions, standing tall and confident. The iconic neon green hood sat on his head but strands of dirty blond hair had fallen on top of the mask, which stuck out like a sore thumb, the psychotic smiley face staring right back at me and I examined every inch of it. As he gazed down at me and Tubbo with a dazzling netherite axe slung over his right shoulder, he studied us as if we were a book.

My hand reached down to my right side and grasped on to the handle of my sword, which was fastened to my belt. I pushed Tubbo behind me and became his barrier against the threatening men that stood before us. He had a firm grip on my left hand, and I could feel his whole body trembling.

"A traitor"

For the first time that day, Wilbur stuttered, clearly in shock. Eret took a couple of steps backwards, heading towards the opening that had just appeared in the left corner of the room.

"Down with the revolution boys.
It was never meant to be"

He then disappeared through the gap in the wall which quickly closed behind him. As his words sank in, all havoc broke loose. I sharply turned, facing Tubbo.

"Tubbo I want you to run, run as far away from here until you know that you're safe, okay? I don't want you to get hurt. I can't risk losing you Tubs"
I looked into his eyes, pleading that he understood. I knew he wasn't particularly skilled with a sword and couldn't bear the thought of hurting someone with one. He stood completely still, just staring back at me before nodding and sprinting down the corridor we'd all walked through minutes before.

I was watching him sprint away when a cold object was pressed on my neck. At first, it seemed gentle, but I could feel it steadily burrowing into my flesh, causing me to hiss in pain.

"So who might you be, princess?"