Chapter 26: Picking Up the Pieces

Lalia's POV:

The next day was just as grey as the previous one and the air was filled with a mix of grief and tension that you could cut with a sword.

I sat at the table eating breakfast with Nate, having previously accompanied Ruma and Eteri on their morning walk/fly. I had made myself eggs and bacon, but while eating it had ironically arranged it to look like a sad face. Looking around the table I saw everyone's faces were quite opposite of their normal selves, except Tom who looked as grumpy as he did every morning. Ally - understandably - had lost her usual aura of optimism and joy, her face dripping with sorrow and regret and shaded with self-loathing. Ruma had retreated into himself, and Sam wasn't eating with his usual gusto. Sera was even more reclusive than usual, Ria looked both sad and slightly offended at being accused of betraying everyone, Rose looked downtrodden but I think she had seen it coming, and Nate and I were just wondering what we had done wrong that we had somehow allowed for this to happen in our group. It was almost certainly an inside job: the Endermen would have gloated by now if it was their own handy work, and I don't think anyone else would have been able to locate and board us so easily. I wished it weren't true and tried to believe otherwise, but it just couldn't be explained by anything else.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss," Kira said, sitting down in the empty seat where I think we had all imagined Finn was seated. "I apologize for my behaviour the other day. I do not receive many visitors and am afraid I was too harsh upon your arrival. If there is anything I may do to help, I am at your service."

"We do need some more supplies," I said. We still had a fair amount of stone and most of the important weapons and armour, however we still needed more food and plenty more basic blocks for building and crafting. Not to mention a ship or upgraded boats if we were going to leave this island in the first place.

"You may stay until you have everything you need to depart. I'm afraid you'll have to collect the provisions yourselves though."

"How far is it to land?" Nate asked.

"I've never left the island myself, but I would assume quite a number of chunks as I rarely see ships passing by."

"If I reinforced our small boats with just a bit more wood, we could continue on our way and just pull over to land at night to set up camp and the boats should last until we reach the next large land body on our course," Ruma suggested, looking hopefully around the group.

"How do we know you aren't going to just make our boats more likely to sink?" Tom argued.

"Well I think it's a fine idea Ruma," I complimented.

"And it's not really your place to go around accusing others, Tom the Traitor. Hey, that has a nice ring to it," Sam mocked.

"Well look who's talking, Mr Sam Saboteur!" Tom fired back in reply.

"Can you two just stop already!" Ria said, raising her voice and rolling her eyes.

"Like you're less of a suspect," Sam replied.

"Just because I'm somewhat new?!"

…

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Ugh, men."

"Really, it could be anyone except for Nate and Lia. Rose is probably unlikely since she can see the future and would've figured out a better plot than sinking the ship," Tom reasoned.

"I'm flattered you do not suspect me, Mr Loner," Rose said.

"Rose wouldn't even think about doing something like this," Sam added.

"Plus, she's too smart to think that sabotage is a good idea," Ruma added to the addition.

"And that isn't even touching on the fact all my friends and family were killed by the beasts we seek to destroy, so I am far more likely to rip out their throats than to make a deal with them if I happened upon them."

"Well, that still leaves an awful lot of suspects, although Sera's in the same 'you destroyed everything I loved' boat, so she's less of a threat," Sam reasoned.

"Are we really debating this again," I sighed, wishing everyone would stop playing the blame game.

"But we have to do something before they strike again!" Tom insisted.

"Says a prime suspect," Sam muttered.

"Hey, look who's talking!"

"Regardless, they do have a point Lia, we need to get to the bottom of this before someone else dies. If anything we lost two people on that ship considering how devastated Ally is," I looked over at the sobbing girl, who was currently soaking the pink carpet of a corner of the living room. The tears hadn't stopped since we left the ship, much to her roommate's despair.

"Well, fighting isn't going to make her feel better," I told them.

"But if she knew who was to blame-"

"We'd have another murder on our hands," I interjected, and no one argued my point. "We just need to stay vigilant and remember that our true enemy is the Enderdragon, the Wither King and their minions, not each other."

There was an uncomfortable silence, but no one continued to argue. Kira had left soon after they began to argue, while we had told her what had happened, she made it pretty clear she wanted to stay out of it.

"I'm going to cut down some trees so we can get on with our journey," Ruma awkwardly excused himself, walking out into the gloom of outdoors with Eteri toddling behind him.

"I'll go mine some stuff since it's kinda what I do," Sam said, scraping his chair back along the wooden floor and exiting down the long staircase to the mine.

"I lost several potions in the shipwreck, but managed to save most of my ingredients, so I shall be collecting sand for new glass bottles and replenishing our potions supply," and with that Rose also left the room.

Sera whispered something I didn't quite hear and moved off, Ally shuffled back to her room sobbing and before I knew it Nate and I were the only ones left at the table.

I buried my face into my hands and sighed.

"Nate, what are we going to do?" I groaned.

"What do you mean?"

"I just… I just feel like a total failure as a leader. I mean, one of our group members died and we weren't even in battle!"

"Everywhere's a battlefield when the world's at stake," He replied, fiddling with his pendant subconsciously.

"I know, but I just thought I had better judgement."

"We don't know for sure if it was one of them, and I know in my gut that they weren't doing it without some level of regret. I'm just glad I'm still here really. I'll always owe Finn one for helping free me, and I won't forget that anyone can change if they have the motivation to."

He held my hands soothingly in his, and for a moment we sat in silence together.

"Nate, I'm afraid. I'm worried that we won't win, that it's just an impossible dream. I'm worried that we won't have a future together, that we'll never be wed, that we'll never have kids, that we'll lose all our friends and that we'll lose each other."

Nate put his arm around me and I snuggled into his shoulder, letting my hands absentmindedly trace his toned torso through the blue material of his blue hoodie. In the still silence I could hear his heart beating.

"I'll never let that happen," Nate promised, and I took a deep breath.

I cried. Out of relief, out of sorrow, out of exhaustion - out of a lot of things. I felt Nate's chest shudder once, twice, and knew he was finding it hard too. All the pressure, the fate of Minecraftia on your shoulders and all that. The loss of a friend we were just beginning to know.

Minutes passed with him just holding me, running his fingers through my hair. Us comforting each other just by being there.

"I love you," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear it.

"I love you too," he replied, and I felt the words rumble in his chest.

We kissed softly, and I felt my troubles momentarily melt away as we lost all sense of anything around us. It was just him and me, the Fire god and his Queen, and I felt his fire course through my veins as we wrapped our arms around each other.

Eventually the calls of the real world echoed in our minds and we reluctantly drew away from each other to work on restoring our lost property, but I felt he had put a tiny ray of sunshine in this gloomy day.

Ruma's POV:

I got Sam (my dog, not the person) and Eteri to follow me out on my log collecting quest, but for once just their company didn't seem enough. I still felt alone, although maybe that was just what I needed.

I don't know how I feel about Rose. I don't know how I should feel about her! On one hand she's so smart, and quite beautiful too, but on the other hand I wish she was easier to joke around with. She's also terribly stubborn and feisty at times, and I just don't know what to think.

Plus, the way she looks at Sam, the way they look together, they just click together like two pieces of a puzzle. Sure she's a brilliant… friend and a great person to work with- she's so intelligent- but the way she looks at Sam when she thinks no one's watching. He's her world, and I don't think anything I can do will make her stop feeling that way about him. Some instinct in me tells me that if I ever truly loved her, I would let her go, but some part of my soul is so deeply infatuated with her I can't even bear the thought. I feel like I'm fighting myself in a battle no one else can see, and the problem with fighting yourself is that you always lose.

If we forget about my complex network of feelings for Rose, there is the more pressing matter of the betrayal, but I've had enough of that rubbish in the past few days to last a lifetime.

I find the tree plantation of the island and get to work, making sure to replant the saplings as I go. Sammie helps me pick up the logs that go flying off into the distance and Eteri helps me find the best trees to cut down.

"Eteri," I sigh, "I don't know what to do."

"Isn't that always the case?" She replies. She's beginning to move into her tween phase (Moas mature quickly if fed a properly) and is starting to push boundaries.

"That's not always the case, but when it concerns Rose you might just be right."

"Oh, not this mussy rubbish again! 'But Eteri, I love her!' You've known her for like, a week. I might have only been born a few days ago, but I can tell that you're only gonna get your heart broken."

"Well, I guess you'll be glad to hear I've decided to try to ignore my feelings and just let life happen."

Eteri squawked with laughter, "Ha! Like that's gonna last!"

"A bit of support would be nice," I grumbled.

"Sorry Ruma, but I can tell that's not going to end well either. You've got it bad Ruma, and love doesn't like being ignored."

"For a baby bird, you're pretty wise Eteri."

"Thanks! We Moas pride ourselves on being portable wisdom units, continuing in each of us the wisdom of our ancestors."

Suddenly, I heard a twig snap somewhere nearby.

"Who's there?" I asked, holding out my axe for protection. Eteri ruffled up her feathers and made a menacing sound, and Sam growled harshly, his hackles raised.

"Relax, tis I," Rose stepped out from behind a tree. She looked heavenly in the soft dappled lighting of the grove, small rays of sunlight illuminating her curly auburn hair and dancing across her patchwork skirt.

"Speaking of Herobrine, look who it is," Eteri teased, knowing Rose couldn't understand her. "How's the 'forget about love' thing going?"

"Shut up Eteri," I whispered back, and turned to face Rose, trying to look manly as I leant against the tree I was about to hack into, my axe in my hand.

"Hi! What are you doing out here?" I asked, curious as to her sudden appearance.

"I'm looking for potion ingredients. Have you by any chance seen any red mushrooms? I want to experiment with something…"

"I haven't seen any so far, but if I do I'll let you know," I replied perhaps slightly too quickly. I felt blood rush to my cheeks, and hoped she didn't notice my blush.

"How are you Ruma?" Rose asked softly, stepping towards me as she spoke.

"I-I'm fine, thanks Rose," I stuttered, finding it harder to concentrate as the beautiful scent of Rose flooded into my nostrils.

"I just know these past few days have been tough on everyone."

A comfortable silence filled the air and I turned back to begin chopping down another tree. I heard her footsteps as she began to walk away.

"Rose!"

"Yes Ruma?"

"Did… Did you know this was going to happen?"

She paused for a second, considering her response.

"I know of many events that will be and have been, but I am beginning to realize that some are more forewarnings of the inevitable rather than cautions of what not to do. More momentous events, such as deaths, seem inescapable, and can only be prevented by another giving their life to save the other. For example, I had seen several outcomes of the boat's sinking but in every single one death was present. The one thing that frustrates me most is I cannot see the face of our betrayer, no matter how desperately I try. I feel like I am failing in the one thing I should be brilliant at. But then again, I suppose the reveal is another such event that is too momentous for it to be shifted, therefore I cannot know before that time."

"Oh. Have you ever seen anything about your future, like who you marry or your kids or anything?"

"You would be surprised by how many variations of the future I have seen. I dislike knowing so much though, hence I try to not plan too far ahead of time."

"I wish I knew about my future like you do."

"Therein lies the problem, for I know naught. The future is not yet past, so the future is not yet fixed. I could foresee hundreds of events that never happen. A Foretelling which is important and/or quite likely to happen often has a sharper quality than most, and drains more of my energy. Some of the more significant or forced Foretellings may be involuntarily spoke out loud and the most important Foretellings have been said to conjure a scroll of the Foretelling. I am yet to produce a scroll, however if I fail to do so, perhaps the next user of my powers will be able to."

"Rose, you never cease to amaze me. Hey! I just remembered I have to tell you about the potion launcher. It's going pretty well, but still needs some tweaking. There's a flaw somewhere-"

"In the firing system which causes the potions to shatter before they are launched, I am aware of that much. Do you require my assistance on the issue?"

"I just wanted your opinion on my idea for a way to fix it before I actually use any resources on it."

"Of course I can do that for you! We are a team, after all," Rose smiled and stared expectantly at me with her big hazel eyes.

"I was uh, I was thinking that perhaps, if I could use another material, a wider one, on the area of the string which held the potion, perhaps it would cushion the potion enough for it to survive launch. Also, I may have to add to the tilt of the ramp which the potion is propelled up by a few millimetres to avoid collision with any metallic components. Obviously we don't want a potion of harming splashing all over you," I laughed nervously.

"It think that's a wonderful idea! Leather may be a good material to use, and a loose pouch may be better than a plain strap as it would minimize-"

"Risk of incorrect trajectory! Yes, that's brilliant! You're a genius Rose!"

"Thank you, but you are quite intelligent yourself," she smiled.

"I wouldn't have thought of the idea for this in the first place without you."

She paused for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was strangely serious, "Ruma, if… if anything happens to me, do not let it change your cheerful disposition-"

"Rose," I interrupted, "what have you seen?"

"It most likely will not occur, but I just want you to know that I never want you to lose your spark of positivity or your ingenuity. Even if I leave - if anyone leaves for that matter - do not doubt your own ability to create amazing things without my help."

"What makes you say that?"

"I have seen many paths of the future, some I wish I hadn't. This is my way of ensuring those paths are prevented. My gift is also my burden, however with it I have some limited power to prevent things. I hated to see you like I did…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. See me like how? What do you mean Rose?"

"It's not for you to know," she sighed. "Sometimes I question if I should know these things myself. Sometimes I wish I didn't…"

"Everyone questions themselves Rose. And just for the record, I believe in you too, so never think your powers are all anyone sees in you." I pause. "I know Sam believes in you too, and… and he loves you very much" I add, even though it breaks my heart to say it. My heart longs to add that I love her too, but it's too late now.

I see in the way she reacts to his name, blushing softly and looking at the ground: she's already chosen.

"Thank you, truly," She says, still blushing. "I'm afraid I must depart."

"Okay, goodbye,"

I love you

"Farewell."

I watch her as she weaves her way back through the leaves and the trees, elegant and mysterious as the late afternoon sunlight dances through the foliage and onto her hair. I watch her stop it a clearing to bless a group of saplings, the green dust sparkling like her eyes as she gracefully weaves her spell and continues onwards. Not once do I see her look back, even though I seem unable to turn away.

Nate's POV:

It took a couple of days to replenish our supplies, and the whole time tensions were high. You could feel an edge in the air, like a strained bow string about to snap.

In spite of that, we managed to become reasonably good friends with Miss Mechiana, who turns out to have a humorous side beneath her 'I will murder you' initial impression.

"So, Kira, would you think about joining us?" Lia asked as we ate lunch with the group on the second day.

"I'm afraid I cannot leave, for I am horribly allergic to water," She paused, as if considering whether she should elaborate further.

"Hey, I can't touch water either normally, but I got that fixed recently, but I still don't like the stuff." I told her.

She sighed, "No, no. That's not the problem. You see, there is something I have not told you that you must know: I am not a Minecraftian. I am a robot."

Stunned silence. We knew she wasn't completely normal, but this is something else. Under the table I see Tom reluctantly hand something to Ria.

"What kind of wiring do you have?" Ruma asks like a kid at a museum. Here we go.

The rest of the meal was mostly Ruma and occasionally Rose asking her scientific questions while the rest of us made small talk, except for Sam who was trying to understand what Rose was going on about.

Eventually, it gets to that awkward question.

"So who made you?" Ruma asked. "I mean, if you don't mind sharing. You don't have to if it's too personal or you just don't trust us or whatever."

"I'm afraid that may be slightly too personal, however I will tell you they occupied the other half of this home which most of you are staying in. They created me as a companion, but then left me alone and without purpose. I cannot find them as I cannot leave the island, however I equally have no purpose without them. So I am forced to wait for them to return, not knowing if they ever will."

There was a brief silence, then Ruma insisted, "Surely there must be some way we could get you off this island. Like, can't you just come with us?"

"I was never completed, so I have no water resistance. Even a few drops, if they got into my core circuits, could doom me. While I would love to go, I must wait. And what if my creator comes back while I am leaving, and so we never meet again. I'm afraid that the risk of that is too high for me to leave. However, would you mind if you look for her on my behalf? Her name is… her name… I… I can't remember her name. I can't remember her name! Oh, I'm so useless! The one person who was meant to be my friend…"

She made mechanical sobbing sounds, and Sera, who was sitting next to her, put her arm around her. I think all of us would've if we had been sitting in Sera's place. Well, except for Tom.

"It must have deleted from your memory do-thingy for some reason. It's not your fault Kira," Sam told her comfortingly, and we all nodded in agreement.

"And we'll find her, once all this is over. Who knows, we might even find a way to waterproof your system so you can find her yourself," Ruma promised.

"Thank you, all of you. Now I can truly see why you have been chosen to protect this world. Suddenly it doesn't matter so much if I find my creator or not, because I know there are other friends out there who will care for me just as much as she did. Thank you so much for showing me that I didn't have to remain alone."

"FRICK! I… err… forgot something, I'll be right back!" Sam suddenly yelled, rushing off without an explanation.

"I am accompanying you, whether you like it or not," Rose declared, hauling up the green with multicolour patches fabric of her skirt in so she could catch up with him.

"I swear, every f #$%# time we're ready to leave…"

"LANGUAGE THOMAS!" Rose's voice echoed from down the hall.

If looks could kill…

Sam's POV:

I rushed through Kira's home towards the stairs to the mines, sprinting down the stone corridor and wrenching open the oak door so hard it almost flew off.

"Samson… please… slow down," Rose wheezed as she tried to keep up with my long strides.

"Can't. Sorry," I replied, and I heard her sigh that 'I'm rolling my eyes so hard I just saw my brains' sigh and her footfalls continued to echo in harmony with mine down the stone staircase which descended into the mines.

"Sam, where are you even going?" She asked exasperatedly.

"Important. Almost forgot."

"I gathered that, could you perhaps be more specific?"

"Mining. Very important."

"Do you even know where we are headed?"

"Down. Mines."

"I can see that! Anything more precise?"

"Nope."

"Oh dear."

"I didn't tell you to come along!"

"I could not let you come down here on your own!"

"Maybe I want to be alone!" I yelled. I regretted it the moment it came out of my mouth.

She paused for a second, "Nobody truly wants to be alone. Not at a time like this, Sam."

"I'm sorry I shouted. I just, ugh," I sighed, stopping at the bottom of the staircase, resting against the cold stone wall.

"Whatever is the matter?" Rose asked, looking at me through her glasses with those big, stunning hazel eyes and suddenly I have a flashback to when she asked me the exact same thing before I told her me and my family were leaving town.

"I just feel so… so… useless. I can't do anything cool, I'm not really anyone super special. I'm not the son of a god, or a Queen, or a Mob-born, I'm just Sam. Plain ol' Sam. I can't Foretell the future, and I've been pretty unimportant in most of the fights so far, and I just feel like a spare part. Perhaps it should have been me who went down with that ship-"

"SAMSON MINER!" Rose exclaimed, aghast by my last statement, "Never say that again! You are highly valued by a surprising amount of people and I believe you to be just as important as any other member of this team is. You are by no means a spare and I have seen you die in that shipwreck so do not even joke about something like that! Yes, it was an unclear vision, so I knew it was unlikely, but it scared the life out of me that it was even a possibility. I care deeply about you Sam, and I'm sure that once people get to know you better they will start wondering how they managed without you. You are funny, strong and have a big heart, so I am unsure as to how anyone could think you are anything but a big sweetheart. Never wish you died instead of someone else, and never doubt your self-worth, promise me to at least try to uphold those notions!"

"Okay, I promise to do my best, but I don't know if I'll always be able to fend off those thoughts."

She sighed, "Oh Sam, how I wish we could go back to when we were young and unafraid. Before we were plunged into a battle over the fate of this land. Before I could be scarred by the endless possibilities of the future, and before we knew what it was to lose people we loved."

"If I had stayed, do you think we would have… gone out?"

"Sam, to be completely honest with you, I… I have held a candle for you for a long time."

I internally breathed a sigh of relief, "So is that a yes?"

"I believe it would have been a distinct possibility," she replied with a sly smile.

"What about in our reality?" I held my breath, hardly believing I could even ask the question.

"It is a distinct possibility," she smiled shyly, and swiftly planted a kiss on my cheek. She had to stand on her tip-toes to reach, and it lasted for no more than a second, but it was a beautiful thing. Soft and delicate, her lips gingerly brushed my left cheek as if I would break if she pressed any harder. I felt a warmth spread through my body, probably turning my cheeks a furious shade of red. I couldn't help but smile.

"I suppose it would be wise for you to retrieve what you came for," Rose said, still studying the ground intently.

"Oh, yeah, right! The stuff…"

"You didn't have an object in mind when you came down here, did you?"

"Honestly, I had no clue. I just knew I needed a breather from everything."

"I see you have not changed too much over the years," Rose said with a bemused smile.

"Yeah, I'm just same ol', same ol', only with a lower self-esteem" I shrugged.

"I would not be so sure that is the only change. I guess if you didn't have anything in mind, we should head back up to the others now, don't want to keep them waiting," she started up the staircase, but turned back around when she realized I wasn't following her. She held out her hand, "Come along Sam, we shan't kept them waiting."

I hesitated for a second, then intertwined my hand with hers, my larger, rough and callous hand surrounding her small elegant one. We remained that way the entire walk up the stairs, pretending we were the innocent children we had once been.

But as we reached the door to reality, our hands parted ways, not wanting to cause any more of a stir than we probably had already by disappearing for so long.

"What took you two so long? I hope you didn't do anything naughty," Tom joked suggestively.

"Grow up, zombie brains," Ria called from across the room.

"After you, swamp girl!"

Ria just rolled her eyes, but even their insults felt forced after the loss of Finn.

Lia cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Okay, if we're all ready, I guess it's time to go!"

Lalia's POV:

We stood in the early afternoon sun on the beach, our reinforced boats ready in the water in front of us. Ruma, assisted by Sera, was just ushering the last of the horses onto the boats.

"I do hope we can find your creator, or at least develop a way to get you off of this island so you can look for her yourself," I told Kira. I was going to miss our robot friend who wore an excessive amount of pink.

"As do I, Eulalia, as do I," she said with a smile.

It wasn't long before we were sailing away, and Kira waved fervently as we ventured off after the Eyes. Catching them was definitely the hardest part, but somehow we managed to not lose any. We rode through the afternoon but didn't see a single town, nor much habitable land at all.

As the sun began to set, a large mountain drew closer on the horizon. It was straight ahead, and as we got closer we realized that the ocean ended at the base of the snowy peak.

Wanting to get a better look at where we were, so, aided by our horses, we made the climb up the luckily-not-too-steep mountain. The wind howled up on top of the peak, and almost the entire mountain was covered in a snowy carpet.

Standing at the peak surveying the snow-covered land as the sun set in the west, it felt pretty epic.

"Wait… it can't be…" Ruma uttered, squinting at something off in the distance on our right.

"What is it Ruma?" I asked, trying to see what he saw. All I could see before me were more snowy plains, with a few hills and the occasional mountain off to the west where Ruma was staring so furiously.

"Guys… I'm pretty sure I live in that valley right there…" He pointed at a narrow gap between two hills in the distance.

"Weren't we travelling west? And now we're traveling east…" I trailed off.

"Which means WE WENT IN AN F #$%& CIRCLE!" Tom bellowed, and I'm pretty sure everyone inched away from him ever so slightly.

"At least we have somewhere to stay tonight," Ally tried to be positive, but she didn't sound convinced by her own optimism anymore.

So, as the sun set in front of us, we once again rode across the icy plains towards a valley with a hidden sanctuary, where perhaps we could try to put the betrayal behind us and focus on the bigger battle looming up ahead.

A/N:

Hello dear readers,

I hope you all had a great first month of 2016! I can't believe it's February already. I'm back at school, and have just survived my first week of year 12.

This story now has a new cover! I drew it myself first with good old pencil on paper and then added in the black background, 'special effects' and the text on my computer. Hopefully it has uploaded properly *Crosses fingers*

Also, over in the edition of this story on Wattpad, you can see in the pictures at the beginning of the chapter both the notes to Rose's Lullaby (The lyrics are that of an earlier draft version, but you get the idea) and a drawing of Ruma! Yep, that's right, our favourite red-stone nerd is the first character to get a detailed drawing of himself. (He's so adorable!) Thank you so much to the amazing SoulErrorArwitch who brought him to life (I hope you think he looks a little bit like the guy you imagined!)

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was a bit of a non-action chapter, but I hope you found it enjoyable regardless. You never know where a vital clue to the identity of the traitor may be hidden ;) Some of the theories I've gotten have been amazing, but you're going to have to wait to find out who the traitor is.

Anyway, as always, if you're enjoying this story and haven't done so already, don't forget to favourite and follow, and make sure to leave a review, I love hearing from you fabulous people!

Have an awesome week and I will see you in the next chapter!

~Lark~