To whomever found this,

I commend you for finding this and surviving. I will admit, I set some very deadly traps. I apologise for any harm that may have come to you.

As some of you, those who read my sister's letter, would know, I am not native to the Grimlands. None of my family is! We are Shimmer Valleyites. And again, as those who read Gem's letter would know, she explained the fall of my home from her perspective.

Now, as she told me all those years ago when we came together to write these letters, it's my turn.

'You have to show those who are curious what happened,' she said, 'and then you can tell them what happened.'

I miss her and Violet, and everyone already, even though I can visit them whenever.

But anyhow, here you go.

My beginnings.

----

fWhip's POV

fWhip scrambled into his sister's room, searching for something. As he tossed aside a pair of blankets, taking what was underneath, he heard the door click open behind him and froze.

"What are you up to, my prince?" He spun around, clinging an object wrapped in a sheet.

"Sir Ranboo!" He yelped. "What are you-"

The black-and-white-haired soldier raised his arm. "Just Ranboo, please." He smiled. "And I came to check on her highness Gemma's room. I was alerted that she was leaving for the day to practice magic and I heard scuffling in her room, so I came to investigate." He said.

"Okay. Don't tell her I was here." fWhip put a finger to his lips.

"Of course, Prince fWhip." Ranboo responded.

"Also, you're practically family Ranboo; you've been dating my cousin Tubbo for over three years. You can call me and my sister by our first names." He smiled to the boy. Ranboo nodded and closed the door softly.

fWhip opened the door once Ranboo's footsteps had faded, the item still clung to his chest. As he snuck through the hallway, his sister rounded the corner. "Flippity Whippers!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

fWhip winced at her using his nickname. "Just bringing something back to my room." He said, breezing past her.

Gem nodded, continuing down the path. When fWhip finally made it into his room, he slammed the door shut and unwrapped it. It read: 'A beginner's guide to explosives'. His gaze flashed over the table of contents, searching for the TNT recipe.

He flipped over to the page, reading along the instructions.

His eyes flicked over the page, skimming down the rules before he set it down beside him, cracking his knuckles and standing up determinedly, going to his desk.

He left the book open on his desk on a bookstand, fetching the ingredients from the box under his desk. He poured them over the desk.

As he was working, a loud meow sounded from the window. His head shot up. "Gandalf?" He exclaimed upon seeing his twin sister's beloved cat prowling on the windowsill. "What are you doing here?" He stood up and ran his fingers over his silky gray coat. The cat 'mrrowed' against his palm, pushing his whiskers against it. fWhip laughed as Gandalf turned away flicking his tail. fWhip picked the kitten up and grinned. "I can finally play with you!" He said, racing out of the room.

He ran outside, Gandalf tucked under his arm, yowling. fWhip spotted Gem almost immediately, chatting with their mother. "Hey Gem!" He called.

His sister turned and paled. "GANDALF!" She screamed, racing towards her brother.

fWhip laughed, running away from his sister. "Come and get him!"

Gem spun around. "fWhip Ardere Taylor!!!! GET BACK HERE WITH MY CAT!!!!" She bolted after her twin brother.

"Try to catch me first!" fWhip called back teasingly, and his sister grabbed wildly for her gray kitten, Gandalf.

"Give him back!" Gem cried.

"Come on, Gemma." fWhip said.

"Give. Gandalf. Back." She said slowly and menacingly, advancing across the grassy hill towards her brother.

"Gem?" fWhip sounded scared, but Gem seemingly didn't hear that

"GIVE HIM BACK FWHIP!!!!" She screamed. "HOW MANY TIMES HAS IT BEEN IN THE PAST HOUR??!!!! I'M TIRED OF YOU STEALING MY KITTEN!!" Her eyes began to glow a deep violet and her hair flew free of it's ponytail and whipped around her head. The sky shifted, darkening a bit around them. She stepped forward again.

The pair was frozen there for a few moments. Then fWhip began to shake, holding Gandalf out in front of him, shaking in fear.

The light in Gem's eyes died and the purple glow faded, leaving her green eyes glimmering in the sunshine. She fell to her knees, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She whispered to her brother, feeling his arms around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry, fWhip. I-I don't know what happened."

"fWhip? Everything okay over there?" Called their watching mother. "Is your sister okay?"

"Yes mom! Yes, she's fine! She's just tired." He ran off to their parents.

"Good."Cathy sighed, rubbing her eyes. "fWhip, whatever am I to do with you...." She mumbled.

fWhip laughed and turned away. "I don't know, mom, but good luck finding out!" He called cheerily over his shoulder as he ran back to his room, feet pounding on the stairs as he whizzed up them. He threw open the door of his room, hearing it thud against the wall, and slammed it closed once he was inside.

He grabbed his safety goggles from their hook on the wall, above his bed, and quickly put them on. He turned back to his work with a smile.

————

fWhip snuck out, his sack of TNT slung over his shoulder, a solemn look on his face as he tiptoed out of their house in the Grimlands. He passed Ranboo, who was chatting softly with their cousin Tubbo as they walked back towards Ranboo's home, in Crystal Cliffs. fWhip slipped past them and then broke into a run. He bolted up the hill to a secluded, forested area and stepped into the little clearing where he normally held his 'experiments'.

He quietly began the setup, placing his TNT around the little meadow, that was still covered in ash from his previous experiments, and as he put the last one down, he paused. "Drat, I forgot my redstone!" He grumbled, fumbling around is pockets. He turned and ran back a few paces, the stopped in tracks. "Wh-"

A small sack overflowing with redstone and a small redstone torch sat near his feet, the torch holding down a note:

'You forgot this in your room, and I decided to give it to you.

-Ranboo'

fWhip grinned, picking it up and stuffing the note in his back pocket. He turned and ran back, pouring the redstone in a crisscrossing pattern on the cold grass. He moved far away, setting the torch on the ground and ran. A loud 'BANG' came from the clearing and fWhip was blown forward.

————

He woke a few minutes later, curled up on the grass, covered in soot, and looked back. "Wow, I was really pushed by that." He said, ignoring the strong, lingering smell of smoke as he hurried back up the hill. He thought he was the connector, the small cluster of houses on a huge bridge, crumbling, but cast it off as a hallucination.

He wasn't expecting what he saw when he crested the hill.

He froze, heart pounding. The entirety of Sky Burrow, the upper district of Shimmer Valley, was ablaze. He ran forward, skirting the edge of the fire, shock evident on his face. "What happened...?" He looked back to the smoking clearing and thought he saw a shadow of a creature with huge, curved antlers standing in the glare of the flames, but he blinked and the silhouette vanished.

He turned back to the fire, not noticing the tears bubbling in his eyes.

"FWHIP!" fWhip looked up at his name being called, seeing his sister racing through the inferno toward him, glowing with a spell. She muttered something, casting the spell away, and grabbed his wrists. "What happened to you?"

fWhip gazed up at her with terrified eyes. "I didn't mean to!" He wailed, breaking into tears and throwing himself onto her chest, pressing his face into the fabric of her violet cape and green nightdress.

She nearly stepped back from surprise. fWhip was surprised too, he never cried to his sister like this.

"fWhip, what's wrong?" She asked again, her arms around him now, comforting him.

"I didn't mean to." He whispered once more, looking up at her tearfully. "I'm sorry, Gem."

"fWhip. fWhip, look at me. What did you do? I promise I won't be mad." She soothed, running her fingers through his hair.

fWhip looked down shamefully. "I set off an explosion." He whispered sorrowfully.

Gem froze. "You did what?!" She asked shakily.

"I set off a TNT." fWhip confessed, upset for breaking her trust. "And the upper district caught fire."

Gem grabbed his shoulders. "Are mom and dad okay?"

fWhip nodded vigorously. "Yes, they were with me in the Grimlands district last night." He assured her, rubbing his eyes.

"What about Lady Herrilein? And Tubbo and Ranboo and-" Her voice was filled with panic.

"I don't know!" fWhip wailed again, tears streaming down his face.

Gem hugged him fiercely. "It's okay, fWhip." She soothed. "We'll be fine." fWhip cried into her shoulder as the young wizard-in-training doused the fire with her magic water.

"They're here! Your majesties, I found them!" fWhip looked up, his sister doing the same. Above them was Ranboo, riding one of the Crystal Cliffs district dragon guardians, Jaylen, Tubbo peering over the taller's shoulder. Gem waved frantically, signalling at them to land nearby to help.

"We're fine!" She called as the pair landed. Jaylen landed and after Ranboo and Tubbo slid off, she turned to the fire and began to smother the flames with her wings as well.

Tubbo grabbed her and her brother, hugging them. "I thought you both died!" He exclaimed.

"How are you alive?" Gem demanded.

"I was at Ranboo's in Crystal Cliffs last night." Tubbo explained as the twins' parents arrived.

"Gemini! fWhip!" They exclaimed. "Thank goodness, you're okay." They were grabbled into a hug.

"Mom!" fWhip grabbed her arms. "Mom, have you seen the connector?"

Cathy looked worriedly at her husband. "No. Why?"

"The connector collapsed."

The group froze. Gem, who had moved to dig around in the remains of the city that once stood on the great peaks, snapped around.

"What?"

fWhip nodded. "Yes, it's true." He said softly. "I passed it on my way over."

Gem turned back to the charred wooden beams and the ash-covered stone, searching for something. "Mother, father, is Lady Herrilein with you at the house?" She asked frantically.

"No, she was here!" Cathy gasped and began to search through the wreckage. "Mike, help me look!"

fWhip felt another jolt of fear blaze through him and he scrabbled to help Gem.

The group spread out, the villagers who had gathered also helping in the search. After about a half hour, Tubbo gave a shout of horror. "RANBOOOOO!!!" He screamed. The tall boy raced over, fWhip's sister following close behind him.

"Bee, what is it?" Ranboo wrapped him arms around the sobbing boy. "What happened?"

"I-it's-" Tubbo buried his face deeper into his boyfriend's chest. He waved a hand at the ground, his voice muffled and incoherent due to it being in Ranboo's shirt.

Gem looked down and screamed. fWhip ran to her side immediately. "NO!" Gem had fallen to her knees, her hands buried in the ash. Lady Herrilein, their childhood caretaker, was dead. Her clothes were sooty and her face was burned. Gem covered her face in distress, the ash on her hands now smeared on her face and through her orange hair. "She can't be gone." She whispered.

Ranboo, Tubbo and fWhip crouched beside her, the three hugging her as they cried over their caretaker. Gem and Ranboo cleared the soot from her face, gazing down. Gem stared at the person who had been there since the beginning, who had taught her everything, fWhip crouched next to her, his arms around his beloved sister.

And they both cried.

----

Gem sat atop the hill, overlooking the ceremony from the dais. She was wearing a violet, gold-embroidered dress and a dusky green overcoat. fWhips stood beside her, his red scarf flapping in the wind, he himself wearing a white button-up shirt and long gray jacket.

"Gemma Night Taylor and fWhip Ardere Taylor, please join us." His parents spoke and Gem stood up, looking at her brother, who was fiddling with the tassels of his red scarf. She smiled and took his hand, and he smiled gratefully up at her as she led the way to their parents.

"As many of you know, we have three children." Her mother began. "There names are Gemma, more commonly known as Gem, fWhip, and Sausage. We sent Sausage to live with his Mythlandite family, to become their king when the time comes. Originally, we were going to have Shimmer Valley be ruled under a joint leadership. But now that Sky Burrow has been destroyed, we've decided that Shimmer Valley will be divided between the remaining two districts. Now," Cathy explained, "Shimmer Valley is the empires of Crystal Cliffs and the Grimlands."

"And Gem, you shall lead the Crystal Cliffs and fWhip shall lead the Grimlands." Her father added.

"What about you?" Gem asked. "What will you do?"

Her parents glanced at each other. "We will retire." They announced.

Gem stood, shocked. She was a leader! On her own! Her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you." She cried, hugging them, fWhip following suit. Then she turned towards the people. Her people. "I won't let you down!"

"We won't, we promise." fWhip said. "I've made mistakes, and I won't make them again. I swear on my life, my one priority is to keep everyone safe here in the Grimlands."

————

I'm not a very good storyteller, my deepest apologies.

I know I might not be a good ruler to some of you, but I have tried my hardest to make my empire the best it can be.

I just hope Gem's proud of me....

-fWhip Ardere Taylor (fWhip)

————

Here it is at last! I'm sorry it took so long, guys. The last chapter will be posted tomorrow, I promise. But in the meantime, I was thinking of doing a Q/A for this story. If you have any questions for either me or the characters, please leave them in the comments of this chapter, and I'll answer them in a Q/A chapter. 

Have a wonderful day, and I'll get the final chapter up tomorrow!

*Edit: I marked the story completed Friday, March 24th 2023 because I forgot to beforehand*