#Gem at peace getting her rest before she kills off the entire server

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

Before Gem could register it, Scar’s sword ran her through, taking out the last of her hearts.

The death screen flashed in front of her. She instinctively pressed the respawn button, and all of the weight in her body disappeared, leaving her lighter than a feather.

She looked down at her hands. They were transparent. No weight, no colour. A ghost.

She was dead. And she’d respawned in her bed.

Oh, God…

Scott.

She’d always known from day one that in the end there would be a final battle, that there would’ve been kills she didn’t want to make. But it had always been hazy in her mind.

She’d gone along cheerfully, picking off anyone who wasn’t on her side, never thinking that when it came down to it she would have to kill someone she called an ally.

More than that. A friend.

She remembered Scott’s blue eyes. Not staring at her in his final moments, but focusing on his inventory, and her diamond blade swinging down, and the lightning blinding her for half a second…

Gem gasped and clutched her head. Those few seconds kept replaying in her mind.

“You have to kill me, Gem.”

She knew even now that Scar and, and, Pearl were probably fighting it out, deciding the winner, or whatever. Winning didn’t seem to matter now.

The lightning flashed again, in front of her eyes.

She hadn’t wanted to be the leader! Why had Scott kept looking to her as if she was, telling her to kill him? Why did he have to die like that? She didn’t want to do this anymore.

Gem tried to lean against the wall to stabilise herself, but she fell right through and ended up outside, floating anxiously.

The cherry leaves were still falling, like nothing had happened. As if the base could stay in its pink, cherry, happy state forever.

(The crater by the entrance disagreed.)

Scott’s voice, her sword, the lightning, her gasp after she’d done it were all confused in her mind. Overwhelmed, she squeezed her eyes shut, but it wouldn’t stop ringing.

“Gem! Gem, you okay?”

Gem, nearly hyperventilating, barely heard Impulse but looked up.

“It’s okay, we’ve all been there,” Impulse said soothingly as she practically collapsed into his grasp, relieved for something real.

“She’s up here?… Oh, Gem,” Scott ran into earshot. Gem broke away and looked at Scott uncertainly, still breathing fast, her heart pumping. What felt like her heart. She didn’t know how ghosts worked.

“Scott?”

“You did so good,” he said, smiling but not moving closer, as if unsure of how she would react.

“Scott, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that, uh, I’d have to kill you, and I just got caught up in the moment, and, you know,” Gem rambled hysterically.

“I don’t regret it. You carried the band so, so well. You’re safe now, alright? All good.”

Gem slowly nodded as she tried to recollect herself. “Right.”

“It’s always like this on the first series. I remember in Third Life everyone was so shocked after they died.” Impulse said, grinning as he pat Gem on the shoulder.

“Nah, in Double Life when Pearl died was even worse. Ready to kill everyone, more like.”

Gem’s head snapped up. “Pearl! She— she and Scar…”

She hadn’t expected it, she hadn’t expected Pearl to swoop in for a blow as she was fending Scar off. And then she’d just stood back and let Scar kill Gem. Entirely indifferent. Betrayal without a word.

She hadn’t understood, Cleo had been right. She hadn’t understood a single thing about the death game, and it wasn’t a game, it was just death—

Gem started to panic again, gasping for air. Scott quickly put his arm around her.

“Shh, don’t worry about that. It happens every time. You get used to it. For now, just relax, okay?” Scott said reassuringly.

“Okay, okay,” Gem said, half in tears.

There was no sound for a while, except for the wind extending its wispy fingers through the cherry leaves.

“Come on, let’s sit on the plank,” Impulse said.

So they did. Since they weren’t solid it couldn’t be done, but they decided to float above it instead and look out on the rest of the server, empty but, finally, peaceful.

“The band’s back together,” Scott joked.

Gem sighed, and smiled. For now, for that brief moment in time, everything was okay.