Core Life

Chapter 10: Party?

Sorry if the plot seems slightly rushed! It's been really fun getting back into the hang of writing though!

He'd done it. He stopped Pearl from killing his allies. They were safe now.

He'd failed. He let Pearl get killed right in front of him. She was gone now.

Scott didn't know what to think, and was wordless as he helped Joel up.
'I may be strong and mighty but I am rather weak right now so can you help me back up the cliff?' Joel rambled. He rambled a lot.
Scott simply nodded, letting Joel rest on him as they started to ascend on a less steep portion of the cliff-face. As it was near the birch forest, there was a bit of foliage on the ground here, which helped Scott to feel more calm. That was, until he heard a very exhausted Grian from the forest edge.
'FINALLY I AM OUT OF THAT RAVINE.' Grian sighed with annoyance, before noticing a slightly frightening Scott and a badly hurt Joel.
'Who's this?' Ren asked, almost a bit shaky from his recent experiences.
.Fwhip and Ren had descended to their position and were now in view for Grian as well.
'Grian.' Scott simply said, looking down.
'He's another ally. And I think it's best that Grian takes Scott home now.' Fwhip announced, taking over Scott's job of holding Joel. 'I'll be at your place later to talk.'

Jimmy watched as Grian and Scott came through the door. He was able to stand now, and happily greeted the two, despite one looking incredibly tired and the other looking downright miserable.
'Soooo... What happened?' Jimmy asked, trying to make some kind of conversation.
'I watched Pearl die.' Scott said, turning away.
'Now it's only us three. And those four in the mountain alliance, of course.' Grian added before promptly plopping onto his bed to lie down.
'Are we going to count Joel as an ally?' Scott turned to Grian. 'He killed her!'
'He did it in self defence, didn't he? I can understand you holding resentment for what he's done to you,' Grian gently held his damaged wing as he spoke. 'But he'll become an ally now.'
Scott really hated the idea of Joel being an ally. He had the highest kill count in Last Life, and he'd already killed one of his closest friends in this world. But, it was the only real option.
Scott sighed in defeat. 'Okayy...'

The rest of the morning went by without any real incidents. Grian took a rest while Scott made sure that Jimmy was okay. Eventually, however, they heard a knock on the door.
Scott answered it, revealing a Fwhip on the other side.
'Hey! I know our houses are practically connected, but I figured this was more polite.'
'Well, you can come in.' Scott's mood had improved a bit. 'Grian, wake up.' He shook the avian until he opened his eyes.
'Hrhrhhhg... oh, Fwhip!' Grian jolted up, scaring Fwhip and Scott but causing Jimmy to laugh a little.
'So you said earlier that you wanted to talk?'
'Yeah. I wanted to know if you guys knew where to find-' Fwhip was interrupted by another knock on the door.
'What is this, a party?' Scott joked before opening the door to a very anxious blonde looking down. 'Martyn?'
He looked up. 'Oh uh hey Scott! Can I come in?'
'Sure.' Martyn walked into the house at Scott's response.
'Well speak of the devil. I was just about to ask these guys if they knew where you were.' Fwhip said, a tinge of friendliness in his indiscernible tone.
'Oh umm... I just came here to apologise to Scott, actually. For running away, that is.' Martyn explained.
'Grian, could you stay with Jimmy for a moment? I think both me and Fwhip want to talk to Martyn for a second.' Scott said, to which Grian nodded in reply. The three went outside.

'Right, so... I know that you know about Last Life, Martyn.' Scott spoke bluntly. 'I won, so I remember too. But that's not why we're speaking.'
Martyn shuddered. 'How much do you remember?'
'All of it... the only other one that remembers parts of it is Grian, but he's pretty tired. Plus I needed someone to look after Jimmy.'
'Anyway, I need you to answer something to me.' Fwhip had a very serious undertone to his casual form of speaking. 'And, please don't run.'
'What is it...?' Martyn was a bit unsure of his safety, seeing how quickly Fwhip changed.
'What do you know about the Watchers?'
Fwhip's sentence hit Martyn like a ton of bricks. How did this newcomer know of them? 'Well... I know they run this game. They tried to use me in Last Life, mostly to target Scott and Grian. They really hated Scott for failing the curse, and, as for Grian... their reasoning was something along the lines of 'he was only meant to watch', or something.'
'Only meant to watch? Like, spectate the game?' Scott was puzzled.
'What if... Grian's got more of a connection to the Watchers than we first realised?' Martyn hoped that it wasn't what he was suspecting.
'We'll just have to ask him when we go back in. I wanted to ask one more thing, first. Did the Watchers mention anyone named Gem?'
'Nope.' Martyn replied to Fwhip.
'Okay... Well, let's go back in.'

Grian had actually gotten up by the time that the three returned. Jimmy now had some proper time to introduce himself to Martyn, but Fwhip pulled Grian aside for a moment.
Fwhip spoke in a hushed tone. 'Sorry if this is blunt, and I won't hold it against you if you answer with a yes, but..
Are you a watcher?'
Grian shifted his weight with anxiety. 'It's... complicated.'
'What do you mea-'

Thunder.

'Great.' Grian spoke normally again. 'Do you two want to stay here until the boogeyman is chosen?'
'Well I don't really have a base, so I don't see why not!' Martyn chuckled.
'You'll have to tell me what you meant after the curse' Fwhip whispered to Grian, before carrying on as if nothing had happened.
'How many do you think will happen this week?' Jimmy questioned, sparking a conversation.
'Well, hopefully only one. I don't wanna deal with two again.' Fwhip responded.
'Right. Didn't Ren get it, too?' Scott chimed in.
'Yup. Pushed Skizz off of that cliff we were on this morning.'
Scott found that death slightly strange, especially considering that Skizz dying from falling was exactly how Ren got his boogeyman kill back in Last Life.
'Can we all make a promise?' Grian spoke.
'Hm?'
'If any of us gets the boogeyman, promise to not kill anyone in here.'
'Okay.' Scott.
'I'll try my best not to.' Martyn.
'Same.' Fwhip.
'Word.' Jimmy.
'Word??' Grian was slightly confused by his friend's response, but Jimmy didn't elaborate further.
And before they knew it, the countdown began once more.

<The boogemen is about to be chosen>
3.
2.
1.
You are...

Scott clutched his head in pain.

[1161 words, neat! I'm sure Scott's okay... right?]