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

Chapter Eighteen: Problems and Solutions

It had been a few weeks, and Gem and fWhip had finally come up with a plan. Gem fidgeted and fWhip paced as they waited for the others to come so they could explain their plans.

"We did it, Gem. We can do this, we can be done with this stupid demon - forever. Then we can have our own, controlled forms of chaos. It'll be so great..." fWhip smiled.

"I can't wait to get back to teaching at my academy. I'll have to rebuild it first, of course, but I'm just so excited. Seeing my students and watching their magic grow..." Gem smiled and stared off into the middle distance, thinking about her wonderfully smart students. Her academy was just the best...

The doors to Scott's grand hall opened, and Scott led the other emperors in. One advantage of this whole stuck-in-two-empires thing was that all of the emperors came at the same time.

"So? Do you have a plan to fix this? Some way to make it permanent?" Rarran asked, hope glittering in his eyes.

Gem smiled. "We do. We've done some testing, and the problem with the old prison was that while it was magically powerful enough to hold a demon for some time, it was dropped, or something, at some point. It cracked, and Xornoth was able to influence the outside world.

"So, I theorised that what we need is something magically powerful and unbreakable. Bedrock is unbreakable, but not magically powerful. However, there is some bedrock in existence that is right next to a very powerful portal, and was connected to the ender dragon, which weakens Xornoth. The bedrock around the portal out of the End. All of my theories and experiments point to it working.

"However, there is a slight problem with this plan: We don't have access to the End. Lizzie's portal is buried in corruption and lava. The other one is far away, across corrupted territory. So, we need someone to go and dig up Lizzie's portal." Gem sighed. "It will be dangerous, and only one person should go, since more people make it more likely to be seen. Xornoth's probably watching for us, and it's very risky. Are there any volunteers?"

Jimmy raised his hand slightly. "I'll go. My people don't really need me, they're pretty good on their own for a little bit."

"Alright. Wait till it's night. Do it under the cover of darkness, and do it fast. Do you have Efficiency IV Netherite tools?" fWhip asked.

"Yeah. That's a recent development, but yeah." Jimmy smiled, but there was fear in his eyes.

"Okay. Once Jimmy's dug up the Ender portal, we go in, we set up the ritual, then we get Xornoth to come to us, and we trap him. We can do this." Gem was smiling. She had hope.

~*~

The Ocean Empire could get very cold, and some people didn't take well to the cold. There were lots of cases of the common cold, and falling into the water was not a pleasant experience. More, warmer clothing was needed, along with more towels and blankets. That was why Pearl was meandering through the Nether, to Scott's portal.

She stepped through, then broke into a run to get away from the grasping bits of corruption coating the little cave. Why Scott hadn't made a new portal, she didn't know. Sprinting across the bridge to the grand hall was sort of exhilarating, though, so she didn't really mind. She ran up to the door and knocked. She went in without waiting for an answer.

"Scott! I need wool. The Ocean Empire gets really cold at night." She waited for a response, but none came. "Scott?" She started walking up the staircase to his bedroom.

Scott was sitting on his bed, head in his hands, shoulders shaking.

"Scott!" Pearl ran up to him, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "Are you okay?"

He looked up. His eyes were slightly red. "Am I- No! How the heck would I be okay? So much has happened, most of it bad! Xornoth's back, my kingdom's corrupted, Jimmy was taken by Xornoth, I've got the entirety of the Grimlands and fWhip's chaotic experiments in my empire, Pix is still missing, and on top of all that I've been having annoying recurring dreams with a husband whose face and name I can't remember. I'm not okay!"

Pearl paused. There was a lot to process there. "Jimmy was taken?"

Scott held out a piece of paper to her. A note was scrawled on it.

We have the Codfather. We also have people posted at the entrances to the End. If they see you or die, we will kill the Codfather. I have the Runeblade. We will come for you next.

Love from Xornoth.

"The... Rune Blade? What is that?" Pearl asked.

Scott groaned. "It's a magical sword with the power to permanently kill anyone you want. I had it, stored in one of these barrels," Scott gestured to the headrest of the bed. "But it's not there anymore, so I can only assume Joey or Sausage stole it at some point. It's super powerful and dangerous. Jimmy also never returned from going to dig up the Ender portal, so it's probably true that they have him."

"Okay... That's bad. Uh, there was another question I wanted to ask..." Pearl thought for a moment. "Oh! Recurring dreams?"

"Yeah... There's this world - it's called Third Life-"

Pearl cut him off. "And there's another one called Last Life and in both of them you have limited lives and then you die and the last one standing wins?" She leaned forward.

"I- yeah. How did you know?"

"They were real, memories not dreams, and I was there. For Last Life, anyways. We had partnered up, do you remember?"

"That was you? Actually, that fits. I can definitely see you being Scarlet Pearl."

"Yeah! Also, the husband you can't remember? It's Jimmy."

"Yeah... I've heard myself saying that name, but I get the feeling that's not what it actually is." Scott bit his lip.

"You can't hear it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I said the real name. He's here, and I've spoken to him. He's been having weird recurring dreams too. He couldn't hear your name, or anything about you other than the fact that you were here."

Scott's eyes widened. "He's here?"

"Yeah. It's so painful, being able to remember your relationship, and seeing you interact, but not remembering yourselves..."

"So... It's real?"

"Yeah. I get the feeling you'll remember in time. I wish I knew why we're remembering, though."

"Me too." Scott laughed. "It feels a little less terrible to know what this is and why it's happening... Thanks, Pearl."

Pearl smiled. "I also have a solution to some of your other problems. We have Shubble's dogs track Jimmy, then we get him out of wherever he is. After that, we can trap Xornoth and get rid of the corruption, which will let you kick out fWhip. I've got no solution to the missing Pix problem, but that's most of your problems, right?"

Scott smiled. "Yeah. Thanks, Pearl."