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

Chapter Twenty: Failure to Redeem

Sausage knelt at the foot of Xornoth's throne.

"The Codfather is now your responsibility. This is your chance to redeem yourself after failing with the wizard and the gnome. However, if you fail again..." Xornoth let the threat hang in the air.

"I won't." Sausage promised.

"Good. You can go, then." Xornoth waved his hand as Sausage dismissively.

Sausage bit his tongue to avoid talking back, stood up, and left the Fire Temple.

He wore a mask of calm servitude when in front of Xornoth, but anger seethed and boiled beneath. He was supposed to have taken Xornoth's power, and been a god! And now, here he was, bowing and scraping for the tiniest sliver of power granted to him by Xornoth, and it was all Joey's fault. If he hadn't taken and broken the crystal, Sausage could have taken all of Xornoth's power for himself.

Now, he would die if the Codfather escaped. It didn't matter, though. Sausage would know before Xornoth if Jimmy got out. Then, Sausage would go to the Undergrove with its Greater Nether portal, leave behind the normal, not evil Sausage and run. The normal Sausage would deal with the fallout of an escape.

Evil Sausage had a plan, and he was happy with it.

~*~

"So, how do you feel about your king right now?" Joel asked the villager trapped in the tree.

"I think he's possessed again. Don't tell anyone I said that, though, because it might be treason." The librarian responded.

"I'm actually here to deal with that. He's taken one of my friends, though. Do you know where he would keep a prisoner?" Joel was trying to find out where Jimmy was from the villagers.

"The only place I can think of is the dungeon in his basement, but everyone knows about that and I doubt King Sausage would put him there." The librarian shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

"That's okay." Joel sighed.

This wasn't going to work, was it?

~*~

Scott just wanted to be sure. It was going to be a waste of time, probably, but just in case...

Scott slipped into Sausage's starter home, flipped up the floorboards to reveal the ladder to the basement and slid down. The hall was exactly the same as when he had been trapped, except the Nether portal was gone. Why would Sausage do that? Unless...

Scott darted down the hall. If Sausage was here, he was probably screwed. But if Jimmy was here, it was worth the risk.

As before, there were two cells. The first one was empty, but the second one wasn't.

"Jimmy!" Scott hissed, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one was there.

Jimmy didn't move. He was lying on the bed in the cell, facing away from Scott. He was very still. Too still. Scott started to panic. If Jimmy had died... Scott would never forgive himself. He didn't do anything to cause this, but he also didn't do anything to prevent it. He'd also be too dead to forgive himself, because Lizzie would kill him. But that didn't matter as much.

He pulled out his pickaxe and broke the bars separating him from the Codfather. He ran to Jimmy's side, kneeling. The fear of what Xornoth may have done to Jimmy weighed heavily on his shoulders. Taking a deep breath, he reached out and pulled Jimmy closer, turning him over.

~*~

Lizzie was scared. If any of them didn't make it through this disaster - including Joey and Sausage - life would never be the same.