More Priceless than Gold - Emperor x Reader

The Finals

"Afterwards you can confess to him~"
"UHM-"

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<Your POV>

Semi-finals went by a little too quickly. No accidents have happened thus far (thankfully), and we secured our spot in the finals. At this point, I can feel the pressure weigh heavily on my shoulders. I bet I could say the same for the others as well. All of us had a lot on the line, but we still somewhat kept our cool.

We rose up out of our spawn. The air was buzzing with excitement and anticipation. The crowd was surprisingly silent as the host introduced us. While that was happening, I took some deep breaths to try and calm myself. I couldn't let my feelings distract me from what was about to happen. We've made it this far, I told myself. I can't just mess it up now.

The stage we were sent to was Moray Towers. Ian, being an E-Liter user, was very excited. Even now he's bouncing up and down with impatience. The rest of us laughed to ourselves in amusement. I've never seen him so out of character. Seeing my teammates getting ready to enjoy them selves put me at ease.

<3rd Person POV>

Both teams watched Judd as he prepared to give the signal.

"GO!"

And just like that, all 8 inklings rushed forward with the need for victory lingering in the back of their minds. Ian and (Y/N) rushed forward, while Ember and Levi got to work on the side ramps.

Ian found a good place to perch, and (Y/N) went in a different direction. She was being very cautious and highly alert due to the fact that she was the closest to the center. The second she felt safe, Eging jumped out of nowhere in an attempt to splat her. Luckily the E-liter took notice of this and sniped in his direction, forcing him to draw back.

While he was preoccupied with avoiding the sniper, (Y/N) decided to be stealthy and inked the wall next to the steep ramp. She jumped into it and remained still. As soon as she heard footsteps approaching, (Y/N) swam upwards and shot her weapon, which resulted in a successful splat. A part of her hoped she splatted the king, but it was actually Prince.

<Your POV>

Holy carp, I actually got someone! I couldn't celebrate for long though, I've got to be wary of their sniper. Where was she? Suddenly I felt a presence above me. I didn't care to see who it was, my first instinct was to ink and run. I threw my (sub) down in hopes of slowing them down, but I was pretty much in enemy territory.

I was forced to refill my ink tank, and I knew it wouldn't end well for me. Ember and Levi weren't too far away, plus I could just super jump to them. Before I could, however, someone pulled me out of the puddle I was in. "Who do we have here?~" I immediately knew it was Emperor. "You really shouldn't let your guard down, sweetheart. Though it was impressive how you managed to splat Prince."

SNIPE. N-Pacer had shot me while Emperor was holding me. He gave her a brief annoyed glance, then went back to inking turf as if nothing had happened. It did look like he was about to say something else...

So far it was really even. No one was giving an inch. Ian did eventually manage to snipe Eging, which gave us a bit of time to ink more turf. All of us were feeling pumped.

30 seconds left. Still very even. I became even more skittish. Pressure can be a good motivator sometimes... Ian decided to go on the offensive and snipe from the ground. And as always, we were there for him. It turned into a 4-on-4 showdown in the middle of the stage.

Again, I tried to be sneaky and slip away to the side route when I thought no one was looking. I carefully inked some more turf that would hopefully cause our half of the battlefield to grow. Then, just because I wanted to poke fun at them, I made my way up the ramp behind the monarch team and started shooting in their direction.

10...

9...

I jumped down from the ramp, but I tripped again.

8...

I felt myself falling and braced myself for the impact.

7...

6...

I land on something soft.

5...

"AGH!"

4...

I opened my eyes and looked at what I landed on.

3...

Not a what, but a who.

I landed on top of Emperor. He was staring straight up at me in shock.

2...

I blushed from embarrassment. He smirked ever so slightly and brought me down into a hug.

1...

Is this really happening?

"TIME!"

We both got up and dusted ourselves off, waiting for the results. Judd and Lil' Judd were calculating the percentages. After what seemed like forever, they finally came to a final percentage. The winner was...
.
.
.
.
"(Your Team)!"

All of us stood there in disbelief. The crowd roared with applause from the sidelines. Ember was the first to break. "HOLY FISH CAKES GUYS!! WE BEAT THE MONARCHS!" She then pulled all of us into a rather uncomfortable group hug. "Ember...I'd like t-to breathe- Please-" Levi choked. "Whoops!" She let us go, and we all caught our breaths.

"Sorry, I'm just incredibly excited about this!" Ember grinned from ear to ear. Ian laughed. "It's to be expected! All that hard work really paid off. I'm proud of all you guys!" "WHOO!!"

Afterwards, Emperor and his team came over to congratulate us. "You all fought well, and it obviously paid off in the end. Great job." He stuck his hand out for me to shake, and I tried not to blush while I did.

Suddenly Emperor came close and whispered in my ear. "Meet me in front of the square as soon as you can." He drew back, smiling as he walked away with his team.

Of course, Ember was the first to ask. "Soo? What's gonna happen, (Y/N)?~" I sighed and laughed. "He and I are gonna have some 1-on-1 time, I guess."

A/N: aaaahh I'm terribly sorry if this seems rushed...but I don't want to make you all wait any longer than you have to ;w;