The tip of a shining diamond sword coated in blood was dragged along the floor of the throne room, leaving a trail of smudged crimson in its wake. Even his footsteps dirtied the floor with a mixture of mud from the caverns underneath King Ryan's house and blood from the now-dead creature that inhabited it.
The King was sat on the throne when the victor of his 'games' won, and he raised an eyebrow when he saw who it was. Even the others watched in stunned silence as the exhausted footsteps broke it, the muted shuffling and the scratching of his sword on the stone tiles leading up to the golden throne.
After what felt like an age, the weary fighter reached the foot of the throne and he knelt on one knee on the royal red carpet, laying his sword on the floor in front of the throne for the King to examine.
"The monster is dead," he rasped, still out of breath from the fight.
"And you killed him?" King Ryan asked the man clad in green – though red was a more prominent colour on him now – but he had a disbelieving tone to his regal voice.
"Yes, my liege." Gavin answered, ignoring the sniggers and scoffs of doubt from behind him.
"You sure you killed him?" Geoff queried almost patronisingly. "It could've just been any old monster you killed down in that cave."
Instead of retorting and fuelling Geoff's fire, Gavin chose to ignore him and watch in anticipation as Ryan stood from the throne to pick up Gavin's sword.
"This is Edgar's blood." He announced after examining it for a few seconds; Ryan was Edgar's creator, it went without saying that he knew what his blood was like. "Stay knelt, Gavin."
His heart pounded in his chest as he stared at Ryan's feet. He noticed Ryan put the sword back down onto the floor, a few more marks of dark blood tainting the regal red carpet in front of the throne; even the smoothstone leading up to the red carpet had a trail of blood leading from the iron gate entrance. Gavin felt like he was about to start shaking in anticipation so his eyes darted to the side in order to watch Ryan's looming shadow reach up to his head and remove his crown.
The silence in the room felt heavy, but not as heavy as the crown that Ryan had just placed on his head. He couldn't believe it; nobody ever expected him to win, he was always the underdog, always the loser, always there for comic relief more than actual competition.
And now he was the King.
"You may rise, King Gavin." Ryan declared, but the smirk was evident in his voice. Obviously he hadn't expected Gavin to win either. In fact, Gavin wouldn't be surprised if Ryan tried to find a way to take back his crown in the next few days.
Gavin's knees shook as he rose to his feet – he was still physically exhausted from the fight with Edgar. It had almost killed him a few times but he managed to persevere and he managed to win. Shouldn't they be proud of him?
As he turned around to view the rest of the court consisting of Ray, Jack, Michael and Geoff, he only had to look at the grimace on Michael's face to realise that the answer was 'probably not.'
"You're allowed to sit on the throne, y'know." Ryan snarked, shrugging his shoulders at Gavin before he walked over to the middle of the throne room to join the others.
The golden throne was lightly padded with rich red cushions, and redstone lamps had been embedded by Ryan into the side to give it a slight golden-crimson glow. It was more comfortable than it looked and the red of the blood splattered over Gavin's clothes matched it. If he wasn't as nervous or tired as he was he could probably grin maniacally and give Ryan a run for his money by becoming Mad King Gavin.
He was broken out of his thoughts by Ray's exasperated sigh. "I still think this is bullshit," he snapped.
"Yeah, if anyone won it should've been Ray." Michael gestured to Ray's complete Tower of Pimps that had been completely disregarded when Ryan changed the rules.
"No offense Gav, but Ray was a pretty good King." Geoff patted Ray sympathetically on the shoulder. "Next time, buddy."
"Hey, I think I earned my kingship. I almost bloody died down in those caves!" Gavin was getting pretty pissed off if he was honest. He had earned his crown. The aim was to fight Edgar and win, and Gavin had won fair and square. If he remembered rightly Ray had been stuck with a horde of zombies, Geoff and Michael got lost together after being chased away by two angered endermen, and although Jack hadn't been too far behind Gavin in the caves, he still hadn't been the one to slay the beast.
"It was a fucking fluke." Michael sheathed his sword and crossed his arms over his chest; the rugged bearskin he wore made him look far more intimidating in Gavin's opinion. "All of us struggled in those caves."
"Agreed." Ray nodded, giving Gavin on his throne a sceptical and disapproving look before turning to Ryan. "You seriously believe Gavin killed Edgar?"
"If the proof wasn't there then I'd absolutely think he was lying." Ryan answered with a sly smirk. "Maybe I should create another monster and you lot can have a re-match."
Gavin sighed, staring at his hands in his lap as he fiddled with a piece of frayed fabric on the hem of his shirt. Of course they'd immediately look down on him as the King of Achievement City. He wasn't sure why he'd thought his status as King would make them think any better of him, they had always thought of him as the fool, the jester, the joke.
He tuned out the conversation going on in the room but he still picked up on Ryan commenting on his new kingship. "Who would've thought a fool for a king?" He queried, bringing Geoff, Michael, and Ray to laugh along with him.
There was one voice which remained absent from the conversation, although Gavin had no idea why. Jack was stood to the side of them, listening to the conversation but he wore an expression Gavin didn't recognise. It wasn't his typical joyful and pleasant smile, yet it still wasn't his solemn frown; it was more of a contemplative look, his brows were furrowed slightly and he looked to be deep in thought.
When he turned abruptly to face the throne Gavin sat upon, the King did his best not to look too tired, bored or downtrodden. However, instead of challenging Gavin's worth as King, Jack continued to walk down the blood-tainted carpeting that led up to the throne. Once he reached the golden chair, he smiled respectfully at Gavin before lowering onto one knee.
"My liege, I hereby swear my fealty to you. My loyalty and allegiance remains with you and the throne for as long as you may reign." Gavin's jaw slackened in shock at Jack's words; his voice was strong and calm as ever but held a certain tone of seriousness to them. Glancing up at Gavin, Jack uttered four more words Gavin honestly never thought he'd hear in his entire reign as King.
"Long live King Gavin." Jack announced with a wide, proud grin.
No one else echoed it, but Gavin found that he didn't particularly care. He was far too busy being transfixed by the completely pure faith and trust Jack had in Gavin; the sincerity in his voice was overwhelming and it had Gavin thankful for the mere fact that he was already sat down.
The stunned silence in the throne room was deafening but comforting at the same time. Gavin was still processing the mere idea that Jack truthfully had so much faith in him as a King that he would pledge his loyalty right then and there for all to witness. In fact, he was surprised that anyone had wanted to swear their fealty to him at all.
It took Gavin a whole minute to tear his gaze from Jack's face, instead glancing over at the ex-Kings who all wore similar expressions of confusion and shock. Clearly none of them had expected such a declaration of faith from Jack, most likely because none of them held any similar sentiments towards their newly crowned King.
The silence seemed to stretch but the shock and surprised stayed constant; Geoff still thought it suitable to break the silence though. "Jesus, and I thought Ryan was mad."
"Fucking Christ," Michael muttered under his breath depreciatively.
"Permission to be excused, my liege?" Ryan snarled, his lip curling upwards in a sly smirk as he put a mocking emphasis on the way he addressed Gavin as King just to make sure everyone knew how much he wasn't happy with the new crowning.
"Yeah, whatever. Leave." Gavin replied with a half-hearted wave of his hand to dismiss them.
He didn't care about them. Right now, only Jack really mattered. He wanted to know why Jack had so much faith in Gavin, he wanted to know why he swore his fealty so early on in Gavin's reign.
Gavin hesitated for exactly five seconds after the other four had left the throne room before he spoke.
"You didn't have to do that, you know." Gavin muttered, adjusting the crown on his head so it no longer sat jaunty on his head. It was a little bit big for him but he'd have his own personal one made soon anyway just like Ryan had, just like Ray had, and just like Michael had.
"My liege, believe it or not but I think you're going to be a fantastic King." Jack informed, and Gavin recognised the honesty in his voice from earlier when he pledged his allegiance.
"You really think so?" Gavin glanced up at Jack with wide, curious eyes.
"Yes, my King." He answered with confidence and a smile; the way Jack said 'my King' with such an air of respect had butterflies fluttering in Gavin's stomach. It appeared to be that Jack sincerely enjoyed calling him King. It was a strange prospect, but not one that Gavin was going to put a stop to.
"You challenged Edgar and you won, it could have killed you but it didn't, you could have backed out but you didn't. It should've been impossible to kill that beast… but you did it." Jack explained with a proud grin. He really did seem to have a lot of faith in Gavin. He wasn't really sure how to react to it.
"Well yeah, but like Michael said, it was probably just a fluke." Gavin insisted that Jack was wrong simply because he couldn't be a good King. He wasn't even sure why Jack believed in him so much, nobody else seemed to do so.
Jack tilted his head to the side and frowned disbelievingly. "Michael came back without a scratch, Ray returned with a spring in his step, I was too slow, and Geoff wasn't even out of breath." Gavin easily recalled how casual and almost unaffected the other men had been after returning from the caverns underneath Ryan's house. "On the other hand, you emerged from that cave beaten, bloodied, exhausted, but most of all, victorious."
"I guess that is pretty true…" He shrugged noncommittally and gave Jack a half-smile. He didn't want to sound too cocky but even he had to admit that it was a spectacular feat he pulled off.
"You looked insanely badass walking across the throne room dragging the bloody sword with red smudged all over your clothes and skin."
Gavin could do nothing but grin, no matter how hard he fought it off. "Thanks, Jack."
"Hey, I think even some of the others would admit how awesome you looked." Jack reassured with a grin, his eyes sparking in the daylight of the early evening.
"No, I mean thank you for being so loyal." A faint blush of pink painted itself on Jack's cheeks when Gavin said this. He averted his gaze for a few moments before looking back at Gavin.
"Well, it's uh…" Jack appeared almost bashful in his acceptance of the praise Gavin was now handing him. "It's my duty to be loyal to the throne and King."
Gavin looked at him studiously, trying in vain to read his body language and find out what else Jack had to say because that certainly wasn't the only reason he held so much faith for Gavin. When that didn't work - and Gavin cursed himself for not learning anything from all the times Ryan saw straight through any lies he told - the King decided that a more upfront approach would most likely work better.
"You never pledged allegiance to any of the others…" The 'why me' went unsaid but hung in the air like a mist; not entirely uncomfortable but obvious nonetheless.
"You wanna know why you're different?" Jack asked, an element of his usual friendly confidence seeping into his voice and leaving Gavin with a faint smile on his face. Jack's joy and humour never failed to lighten his mood and brighten his day.
The King nodded, but brought a hand up to steady the crown once again after it wobbled slightly on his head.
"Because, my King, while Geoff was highly unprepared for the tolls of the role, and while Ryan was too blood-thirsty, and while Ray couldn't lead anyone into battle, and while Michael was too stubborn, you're different." Jack explained with a reassuring yet almost cunning smirk as though he knew a secret that Gavin didn't and he was slowly revealing it to him, piece by piece. "You've waited a long time for this, you're gonna know what to do and what to avoid-"
"And if I get it wrong?" Gavin asked curiously in a soft voice, almost undaring to stop Jack from speaking.
"You're not as afraid of failure as the others have been, you're determined to get it right and you'll try and try again until it's perfect. You've got something the others didn't have and that's a strong-willed persistence and an enigmatic personality." Jack declared with a confident grin, one that Gavin returned, however disbelieving it might've been.
The hand now on his shoulder was the single act which anchored Gavin, the weight of Jack's words sinking in and leaving a pleasant warm sensation curling in his stomach. He opened his mouth to speak but found that words had completely failed him. Gavin wanted to not believe what Jack had just said, he wanted to wave it off with Jack being Jack and leave it at that.
But Gavin knew there was something else, something which he would still have to figure out for himself.
That, however, could wait because for now Gavin was throwing himself forwards, arms wrapping around Jack's neck to bring him into a tight embrace which was returned eagerly, Jack's own arms circling around Gavin's waist.
A soft clanging sound told Gavin that his crown had fallen to the floor in his haste, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he smothered his face in Jack's shoulder.
"Thank you, Jack." Gavin squeaked, although he knew his voice was muffled by the soft material of Jack's shirt. He lifted it just enough to pull back, his hands still on Jack's shoulders as he muttered a soft proclamation of "I won't let you down."
Jack smiled a proud, knowing smile, crouching momentarily to pick up the fallen crown and carefully place it back on Gavin's head. "I know you won't."