A Path to a Different Happy Ending (Flower Husbands Empires Fic)

Chapter Fifteen: A Crimson Sign

Lizzie waited for the people of Crystal Cliffs to come through her portal. The little ender dragon darted around her feet, impatient for Gem's return.

"That way, please. If that house is full, go to the next one on the right." Lizzie directed the people.

She glanced at the portal. No one more had come through the portal in a while...

Something fell out of it.

Lizzie's brow furrowed, and she walked over and bent down to look at it. It was a crimson wood sign. The message on it wasn't long:

I have her.

Your friend, Xornoth

"Hey! Hey, you!" Lizzie called at the last person who came through the portal. "Was Gem with you when you came through?"

The person paused. "I was mostly focused on not getting killed by the creatures of the Nether, but... I'm not sure she even entered the Nether. I didn't really glance behind me much, but... I don't think she was there."

"Shoot." She looked for the other emperors. She called out to the first she saw. "Jimmy! Jimmy, get over here!"

He walked up to her. "What's up, Lizzie?"

She held up the sign. "Gem never came through the portal. But this did."

"We need to tell the others."

"Another meeting?"

"Another meeting."

~*~

Gem awoke to the screechy sound of an unoiled trapdoor opening. She was in an obsidian box, mining fatigued, nothing in her inventory. Shubble was there too. There was an iron trapdoor in the ceiling, and it was open. Through it, she could see the deformed face of Xornoth.

"Hello, Gem. I have a question for you. Where's the ender dragon?" Xornoth smiled.

"It's safe, and there's nothing you can do about it! You can't get to it!" Gem cried, somewhat panicked. How in the Nether was she gonna get out?

"Mm. Okay. It would be easier if you had told me, but it can't harm me. Once I destroy all your pitiful little empires, I'll be able to get to it and kill it, then there will be nothing more to threaten me. Ever!." The trapdoor slammed shut.

Gem turned to Shubble. "Hey. Hi. How are you? How did you get here?"

Shubble smiled, but it was tense. "I'm fine. Some company will be nice... Um, I was sneaking around the Lost Empire, and Joey didn't like that, so he locked me in here. The ceiling's too high to reach the trapdoor, and you can't break obsidian while mining fatigued. How did you get caught?"

"We were moving our people into the Ocean Empire, since it has the protection of the water, and won't be corrupted. I was about to go through the Crystal Cliffs portal so that I could bring my people there - the Ocean Empire is surrounded by lava so hot it burns your elytra - when a corruption tentacle grabbed my ankle. It picked me up and smacked the ground with me. I got knocked out. Then I was here. How do we get out, though..."

"I've tried everything... I can't reach the ceiling, and that trapdoor is the only way out." Shubble sighed dejectedly.

"You know, some people got trapped in the Ocean Empire because of the lava. They tried everything. Flying, block paths, dying... Hey, I could kill you and you could get out! Wait, that would only free one of us..." Gem said.

"Our spawn points are also set here, so it won't work." Shubble pointed out.

"That wasn't where I was going, though. The last thing the people trapped in the Ocean Empire tried, the thing that got them out, was the Nether. I'm a fire wizard. I don't need my staff to summon sparks." Gem smiled.

Shubble's eyes lit up. "Your right! We could get out! As long as we don't show up in a crimson forest. Xornoth has control over the corruption there. I did some research on our Nether as well as the Greater Nether."

"It's still a chance! Just let me..." Gem trailed off, looking at the ceiling. "Shoot."

Shubble stood up. "What? What is it?"

"The ceiling is crying obsidian. We can't make a portal." Gem's shoulders slumped.

"No! We- ugh! You got my hopes up..."

"We don't have to give up yet! It's only four blocks tall here!"

"What does that- there are two of us. If I stand on your shoulders when Sausage comes by with food for us..." Shubble looked at Gem, and Gem smiled.

~*~

"So, we've lost Gem, now, too." Joel said.

"Yeah... She was taken before she entered the Nether." Lizzie explained.

"Okay... We need to tell fWhip and Scott." Jimmy said. "fWhip will want to know that this happened to his sister, and Scott can probably help us." Jimmy also wanted to see Scott again, but he didn't need to mention that, did he?

"They're in Rivendell. We can go through the Nether, but we'll have to get out fast, because the outside of Scott's Nether portal is heavily corrupted." Rarran said.

"No worse than anywhere else. I've been to my empire recently, and it's dying." Pearl said. "The corruption is strangling everything."

"We'll, let's go then! We need to do something!" Joel said, no longer ignoring the problem.

~*~

After the most rushed journey through the Nether, the emperors emerged into Rivendell. They didn't stop running, since the corruption around the Nether portal grasped at their feet. As a group, they bolted across the bridge, running to the safety of Aeor's statue.

Once their mad dash was done, Jimmy realised he had forgotten to wear the cloak Scott had given him, and was high up in the mountains. He shivered, then turned to the great hall, from which Scott and fWhip were emerging.

"Guys? What's going on?" fWhip said, looking at their worried faces.

"Gem's been taken by Xornoth." Lizzie said. "We- we need to do something. We-"

"Dang it, yeah we do! That's my sister! We have to get her out! Now!" fWhip burst out.

"Yeah, but where is she? We can't find her if we don't know where she is!" Pearl said.

"I- Shubble's dogs. They're trained to track. We can get them to find her." fWhip said.

"Shubble's dogs only listen to Shubble." Katherine said.

"Then we find Shubble!" fWhip exclaimed. "We know where she is. The Lost Empire!"

"Then that's where we should go." Joel said.

"We really need those two back. We need Gem's magical knowledge and Shubble's knowledge of the Nether." Scott said.

"Then let's go!" fWhip gestured to the portal. "Your Nether portal is right over there, and we can go straight into the Lost Empire through that!"