"No. Absolutely not."
"Well, I don't think we should-"
"Rythian, you're not honestly considering this, are you? She tried to kill us! Rythian, Listen to me!" Lalna was shouting, watching as Rythian searched through some chests.
"Lalna, I am listening. I just think I know what I'm doing a bit better than you."
"Rythian, I came over here to give you the parts for that new weapon, but I'm not handing them over until you see reason. You can't do this! Rythian!"
"Lalna, I'd appreciate it if you didn't shout at me in my own home," Rythian said, walking away from the scientist. He was searching for the key to the stash of weapons he had created. Zoey had hidden it somewhere, and refused to tell Rythian where so he could not use them until they left.
"I think I have every right to shout in a life or death situation! Rythian, this is such an obvious trap. There is absolutely no way I am letting you go out to do this with Terra."
Rythian stopped searching and faced Lalna. "I've been thinking, and you're right. This is a really obvious trap. She'll get me alone and kill me."
Lalna sighed. "Good, you're coming to your sen-"
"But then I kept thinking," he continued. "Remember the last time she was here? She set up a really huge, elaborate trap. Even this time, she could have recovered, then come and killed us easily. Instead, she chose to alert the Queen of the End. Terra loves dramatic schemes, and something as simple as getting me alone like this doesn't seem like something she'd do. It's too simple."
"What happened to protecting us? You said you were only leaving so you could keep us safe. I doubt teaming up with someone that wants us all dead is going to keep us safe."
Rythian paused. "Certain things have been brought to my attention that imply that, should I fail, you all would not be as safe as I had originally hoped."
"Did Terra tell you that? Because we both know that monster is completely full of—"
"Lalna, you just said I'm leaving because I want to keep you all safe. That's entirely right. I'm going to protect you all to the best of my ability, and as twisted as it is, this is the best way I can protect you. Teaming up with Terra is my best chance at defeating the Queen. You need to trust me."
Lalna sighed. "You need to think about this. When is Terra coming back for an answer?"
"I told her to be back here in three days."
"And when was that?"
Rythian hesitated before speaking. "About three days ago."
"What?" Lalna roared. "You waited until now to tell me? Have you even mentioned this to anyone else? Tell me, when was I going to find out about this if I hadn't come over to bring you the weapon parts today?"
"Lalna, Zoey isn't very far away. Could you please not yell like that?"
"How are you staying so calm about this? Rythian, your life is quite literally on the line here!"
"I'm in danger no matter what I do."
"Rythian, are you honestly going to do this? You're really going to go work with your attempted murderer to — "
"Now boys, play nice."
Lalna couldn't keep a small noise from escaping his mouth when he heard Terra's voice. Even Rythian, who had been expecting her, had jumped a bit.
Terra appeared at the edge of the base. She grinned, but her eyes were apprehensive, and she didn't move any closer to the pair. "So Rythian, it's been three days. Do you have an answer?"
"His answer is no!" Lalna yelled. "Rythian is not going anywhere with you!"
"I'm sorry Lalna," Terra snarled, "I didn't know you are speaking for Rythian now. I believe I asked Rythian a question, and I wouldn't interrupt it I were you." Terra took a step forward, Lalna a step back. Even though there was more than 20 feet between them, Lalna was terrified.
"Terra, don't scare him. I'm going with you, but I have some conditions."
Terra narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"
"When this is all over, you can't come back. I never want to see you again. I never even want to hear your name again, unless it's news of your death."
"A bit harsh," Terra muttered.
"Any grudges you might have against anyone here will be gone. You will not try to kill any of us, and you will not have anyone else try to kill any of us. What you choose to or choose not to do will in no way influence our deaths. Got that?"
"Sure. You help me, I won't kill you. Now, I know you probably have some kind of big plan to keep the others safe while we fight the Queen, and I'm going to tell you right now whatever it is, it isn't going to work."
"What? Why?"
"Well for starters, was your plan dependent on the closest Ender Portal being nowhere hear here?" she asked smugly. Rythian stayed silent, because that was exactly what his plan was based on. "I thought so. I hate to break it to you, but the nearest Ender Portal isn't even fifteen miles away. Not nearly far enough for you to get any form of a head start."
"Impossible. Fifteen miles? I would have known if it were that close," Rythian said. He tried to keep himself calm, but if Terra was telling the truth, he had every right to be afraid.
"There is—well, was — a village over it."
"Was?" Rythian asked.
"I destroyed it."
"You see, Rythian? She just admitted to destroying another village! She hasn't changed at all! I can't let you go with her, Rythian," Lalna shouted.
Terra looked like she was barely restraining herself from strangling Lalna. "Look, Lalna. It isn't exactly uncommon knowledge that I'm not a good person, but I know you're a little slow on the uptake, so I'm going to spell this out for you," she said condescendingly. Lalna bristled while Terra continued slowly, as if talking to a child.
"I am literally doing this for the sole purpose of saving my own ass. The fact that I'm saving all of you in the process is simply a very unfortunate side effect. I never once claimed have turned into a good person or to have improved myself in any way since you saw me last, because that isn't true. I am evil. I do hurt people. After this battle, if I survive, I'm probably going to go back to killing people for fun. So can you stop saying I'm still evil like it's some big new discovery?"
Lalna glared at her. I'm simply pointing out that aiding the person that tried to kill us is a completely idiotic move on Rythian's pa-"
"Lalna," Rythian said, his voice full of warning. "You've made your point. I'm still helping Terra, so you really should stop this."
"I'm really sorry, Rythian, but I can't let you do this," Lalna said, before pulling out what looked like two modified mining lasers and training one each of them. "I'm going to kill Terra, and I'll shoot you in the leg if you try to stop-"
Before he had even finished the sentence, Terra had teleported behind him and pulled the lasers from his grasp. She kicked in the backs of his knees and made him fall over onto his stomach. She dropped to the ground, planted one knee on the small of his back, pulled his head up by his hair, and held a large knife under his chin.
She looked ready to kill him, but she stopped and threw a pleading glance in Rythian's direction. "Rythian, please."
"Let him go, Terra," he deadpanned.
"Please, Rythian, I won't kill anyone else, just Lalna, please."
"Terra, I said let him go."
"But he threatened us both! Please, at least just let me cut him up a little so he'll learn not to mess with either of-"
"Terra," he cut her off. "The deal was that you wouldn't harm anyone here. Are you really planning on going back on it this soon?"
Terra sighed, then pulled Lalna's hair harder so he was looking up at her. "You. Got. Lucky," she growled each word, then pushed Lalna's head into the sand and teleported back to where she'd been standing.
He stood, visibly shaken, and turned to Rythian. "She almost killed me!"
"And I could have let her."
Lalna's eyes went wide. "You wouldn't have. You made her let me go."
"Only because your death would have broken our deal. Lalna, you threatened us with guns, for Christ's sake! You really didn't expect her to try to stop you?" He took a deep breath before he continued. "Look, I warned you and everything. Thanks for the weapon parts, but I really think you should go now, Lalna."
"Fine. But when she kills you and comes for us, my last words are going to be 'I fucking knew it'."
Lalna picked his lasers up off the ground where Terra had dropped them, and left. Never once did he look back.
Terra turned to Rythian. "Alright. Now that he's finally gone, I think we need to start planning."
