Betrayed (A Yogscast Cornerstone Fanfiction)

Week 3/ Day 1

Right in the middle of elections that morning, Kirby and Strippin had appeared, their bags bulging with supplies. They were greeted back with warm welcomes and the drama and tension between everyone seemed to melt away with their arrival. 

"Kirby? Strippin? Would you like to vote?" Hannah asked once they were all settled and the supplies were sorted away into chests. 

Sjin watched his partners eyes travel across the room, passing over Ross as they landed on him where he stood on the podium. "I vote for Sjin," she said, her voice passive and unreadable but not showing any malice. He was surprised at this, considering Ross was on the ballot as well. He would have to get her alone to talk to her, she might have had a change of heart over her break.

"I vote for Sjin too," Strippin said quickly, pulling him out of his thoughts, "But we have some things to report before we start assigning jobs and leaving for our tasks." 

Kirby looked towards Strippin, nodding. "Some things happened that I think we all need to know," she said, locking eyes with Sjin again. 

"While out one night, Kirby had spotted what she thought was another coven witch. Chasing it down however, we discovered that it wasn't a mob at all," he said, waiting for the murmuring to settle before he continued to talk, "It had set a TNT trap for us, with a pressure plate and red stone." 

Suddenly everyone was talking at once. "What did it look like?" "How close were you to the base?" "Are you guys hurt?" "Did anything else suspicious happen?" 

"It looked to be male," Kirby said, quieting everyone, "It was tall and pale, but it didn't act like a mob. It was intelligent." 

Sjin, Hannah, and Duncan all exchanged looks, having been the three oldest people of this world present. Sjin made a mental note to talk to the both of them in private when he had the chance. 

"Alright, alright!" Sjin said over the crowd that was forming around Strippin and Kirby, "It's obvious that whatever this thing is, it is dangerous. But we are also a big group, and even if it wasn't alone, nothing would be stupid enough to attack us all at once. The best thing that we can do right now is to stay in our groups and stay close to the base. We will start posting watches and Duncan and Kim are very close to getting us all armor and weapons. We can't let them scare us because they managed to catch one of our groups off guard." 

The farmer watched everyone visibly relax at his words, and everyone spread out to look at their new mayor. "So, what we're really lacking here is resources. I would like Hat Films to stay up here and sort out the chests, but I want the rest of the teams down in the mines. Iron is a big one, but copper and gold are also on our list. Diamonds, if you see them. I want you all to bring them to the smeltery upstairs so Duncan and Kim can finish our weapons and armor as quickly as they can. This is our home now, and we have to defend it." 

With determination in their eyes, everyone nodded and went off to work. 

Sjin watched as Kirby approached him, but he had to tell her to wait where she was because Duncan and Hannah were furiously whispering to each other as they ascended the stairs up into the community bedroom. 

"Sjin, you don't really thing it's-" Duncan started as soon as he saw the farmer enter the room, but he cut him off. 

"There's a million other explanations for it," he said, raising up a hand, "I don't want either of you jumping to that sort of conclusion so quickly and scarring everyone."

"I just don't think we should totally rule it out," Hannah said, shaking her head, "That trap sounded awfully familiar." 

"Yeah, because all of us have done it at least once," Sjin countered, "I'm sure Sips and I have done that to you Duncan." 

The scientist let the comment slide. "I wouldn't worry too much about it Hannah," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure we've just angered some locals who have the crude means of setting up a TNT trap." 

"Some tall, pale locals?!" she shot back, "I saw your face when she said that Duncan, you were thinking the same thing I was." 

"So there's some similarities, big deal," Duncan said, waving off the comment, "Sjin's right. Don't start scarring people when we barely have any evidence towards that." 

"Well if it turns out I'm right and someone gets hurt, it will be on your guys' heads," Hannah said sternly and then stalked off and down the stairs. 

Duncan looked towards Sjin after she left. "So what's your plan?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm going to go see my girlfriend because she's been gone an entire week," Sjin said nonchalantly, walking towards the stairs. "I'm not going to act paranoid and keep us all locked up in here, we've still got a lot to do before I'll feel comfortable with our living situation enough to give people breaks," he added, turning back to the scientist, "And I mean that. If you want to prepare for whatever might attack us, then get us some armor and better swords." 

Duncan rolled his eyes at Sjin's bossy speech, not feeling intimidated. He went to go find Kim, intent on not leaving he side until they figure out what was going on in this new world.

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Kirby had left a note on the mine shaft door that she was down the west tunnel when Sjin went to look for her, so he started the long trek down the stairs and through the tunnel. They had set up a mining base down there on the lake of obsidian, and it was there that he found Kirby, pacing and biting a nail (a habit she had only just seemed to acquire).

"H... hey Kirby," he said through the open door, catching her attention. Her head swiveled to look at him, and Sjin could see the panic and torture that was going through her mind.  

She ran up to him and threw her arms around his back, burying her face in his chest. Sjin was caught off guard by this sudden behavior, but he didn't have time to question it. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed his cheek to her forehead. "Oh Kirby," he sighed, "What's happened? What's wrong?" He was almost scared; she almost never acted this vulnerable anymore. 

She pulled back to look up at him. "Sjin, I'm so sorry," she said, more tears trailing down her cheek to wrap around her jaw, "I thought about a lot when I was gone and... and I'm so sorry about what happened. You didn't deserve my anger when you did everything in your power to protect me and... and I-" 

Sjin felt a lump form in his throat. He knew Kirby, and he knew what it took for her to apologize. Sjin quieted her. "Sh, it's alright. I'm not mad at you. A lot was thrown at you at once and I understand that you were angry and confused. I just..." he let out a sigh, "I was just afraid to loose you Kirby. And I got angry too. I know that it wasn't the correct response but I couldn't stand the thought of someone else taking you away from me." 

"I acted like a child, like a spoiled brat," she said, stepping away and shaking her head, her eyes clearing, "I inconvenienced everyone here and I hurt you and Ross both." She went to Sjin again, grabbing his face in her hands and tilting his forehead to hers. "I know now though that I can never love Ross like I can you, not after everything we've been through. I... I feel awful for this whole thing." 

Sjin saw the sincerity in her eyes, and realized that this drama was ending. He breathed a sigh of relief; with this new threat, they couldn't be fighting and divided. "I love you Kirby, more than I can ever express," he told her, "I know I'm not perfect, but I will never let you down again; I promise." 

She kissed him with a hunger that surprised Sjin. It felt good to be on the same page with her again, like the universe was finally back on track. He stroked her back as they held each other, and Sjin's broken pieces felt like they were being melded back together again in the warmth of his partner's arms.

Meanwhile, outside of the mining base, Ross kicked over the drum of lava that he was collecting, ignoring the pain in his foot. He had heard the whole exchange over the lake of lava that separated the west mining base with the north end of the ravine it was in. He felt bitter and angry at Sjin, even though deep down he knew he had no place in Kirby's heart with everything that had gone wrong with their relationship. 

With a bad taste in his mouth, Ross stalked away to be alone.