A More Public Sacrifice

I was looking through my fanfic ideas for some inspiration to write and stumbled upon this. (I also projected some of my angtsy feelings into this but let's ignore that.) Please heed the tags. I'll still restate them here as always, but please take care of yourselves.

Trigger warnings: Major character death, graphic descriptions of violence, wounds, blood and suicide

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The ground violently shook from the explosion. Its vibrations could be felt for miles. From the highest peak in Rivendell to the very depths of the ocean. Nothing and no one was exempt from feeling the massive shockwaves. Luckily, the shaking did not last long but it certainly frightened all of the rulers. None more so than the two who had caused the explosion and subsequent earthquake in the first place, but that was besides the point.

All of the emperors were filled with dread. Those who were not involved had myriads of questions running through their minds. What the hell was that? Did anyone get hurt? Is this a sign of something greater? There were so many possibilities but so few answers they could get alone. So, everyone decided to gather at the place where it all began. Spawn.

The forested area was almost exactly as it had been all that time ago. It was lush with flora and had an air of tranquility. Said tranquility was disrupted as the emperors arrived. Words of worry and demanding questions all muddling together in the space.

"What is going on?"

"Is everyone okay?"

"Did everyone feel that?"

"Whose fault is this?"

The incessant questioning stopped as the Codfather emerged from a line of trees. Lizzie gasped as she took in the appearance of her younger seabling. His clothes were torn and singed at what used to be purposely frayed ends. A few burns could be seen along his arms and a particularly nasty one on his right cheek that stopped just beneath his eye. He seemed to be in a bit of a daze as he walked closer to the group. Jimmy's eyes also showed that he was mentally far removed from the situation at hand. Was he even aware that he was on the move?

"Jimmy!" Lizzie cried out in worry, rushing to his side and catching him as he stumbled, "What happened to you? Why are you covered in burns?"

"fWhip's gone."

"What?" Lizzie asked, her hands cupping Jimmy's face and forcing him to look at her, "What do you mean fWhip's gone? Why were you with him?"

"fWhip's gone," Jimmy repeated, his eyes focusing on Lizzie, "We... The reactor! We put cod and salmon in the reactor and it just... We had finally put our differences aside. Our feud was over but now... he's just gone."

A beat of silence passed over the gathered rulers. Did they hear Jimmy correctly? fWhip was dead? And by an explosion no less. which was quite ironic considering the Count's main export was gunpowder.

"Wait," Joey spoke, his voice cutting through the heavy silence, "This is your fault?!"

"Joey," Lizzie spoke calmly, "now is not the ti-"

"Now is the perfect time!" Joey interrupted, "My empire is in ruins because of the debris from the explosion because of Jimmy and fWhip!"

"And my brother is dead!" Gem shouted, stalking closer to him, "You can rebuild your empire but not even dark magic can bring fWhip back."

An even heavier silence fell over the group as Gem and Joey stared each other down. Unshed tears glistened in the former's eyes. A mix of sadness and anger raged within the green of her irises. Anger was evident in Joey's eyes as well and was only made more obvious as he drew his bow. Gem was quick to aim her staff at him and both were ready to attack the other but the sound of a twig breaking in the distance stopped them. Both rulers whipped their heads in the direction it came from before aiming their weapons that way too. The tense wait wasn't long as a figure finally emerged from the trees.