Betrayed (A Yogscast Cornerstone Fanfiction)

Week 1/Day 1

Sjin tapped his foot impatiently, pulling out the gold clock from his pocket and then looking up at the sun to make sure the time was correct. Almost everyone had arrived already. Benji was talking with Hannah at the stone table while Strippin stood with Rythian across from them. Kirby sat on the tabletop, giggling like a little kid as Rythian conjured small purple animals in front of her. Right now a purple cat was winding around her ankles while they discussed potion ingredients.

For their anniversary Sjin had built Kirby a brewing stand to give her something to do on their completely automated farm. She had taken to potion making immediately, and during the weeks leading up to their journey to corner stone she couldn't stop talking about how excited she was to learn from Hannah and Rythian about the finer points of brewing.

Duncan sat across from Sjin at the end of the table, his arms crossed over his chest skeptically. Sjin knew he wasn't keen on the idea of working with others, but it wasn't the farmer that he bore the most animosity towards. Kim sat on his lap and draped herself over him, trying to pacify him, but she didn't look as if she was making any progress. Not only would he have to worry about how Kirby would react to this group of late arrivals, but also the drama that was to ensue with Duncan.

This wasn't the first time Sjin felt doubt settle into his stomach. He didn't want to be remembered as the grumpy farmer anymore, but this project was ambitious even for him. Sjin sighed and dropped his head into his hands; who was he kidding? Trying to bring a bunch of haughty, proud, and mischievous groups together and asking them to play nice is like herding ocelots.

There was a soft hushing sound and Sjin was pulled out of his moment of self doubt; the farmer looked around the sky for the source to see three flying figures quickly approaching the group. He bristled to see the jetpacks, knowing he gave specific instructions to bring nothing but enough provisions to get them to the meeting place. The whole point was to be equal and share everything, not for some to have unfair advantages.

Sjin looked towards his partner who seemed to have not noticed the three men approaching them, because she was laughing at a purple creeper in her lap that swelled and exploded into fireworks. However, there was no way she could ignore the whoops and yells that could be heard above us as the three of them fell in an uncoordinated and flashy landing.

It was as if Sjin was watching it all in slow motion. A confused look crossed Kirby's face as she turned to see who had arrived, and her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in an unflattering expression as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. As soon as Hat Films had slung off their jet packs, their eyes landed on her and their smirks and amused expressions also fell to disbelief. There was a second where no one moved and even the wind settled into silence.

Kirby planted a foot on the bench in front of her and jumped up onto the table. Running over and leaping off the edge, she didn't even pause before she was closing the distance between them and throwing her arms around all three men in an encompassing hug. Sjin felt like he was going to throw up from the guilt as he saw the first of her tears start to slip down her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Hat Films yelled her name and held onto her as if they didn't believe she was real. They all talked at once, shouting question after question without letting her answer any of them.

"We thought you were dead!" Smiffy cried.

"We heard you were captured by Ridge," Trott said, "We thought you died."

"But you guys were blown up by the nukes!" she exclaimed in disbelief, "I heard you all die."

Ross suddenly broke through the other two and threw his arms around Kirby, burying his face in her hair. "I thought you died," he said through his tears, "We didn't think you made it out of Ridge's castle."