Haha you don't get to read about the Wither fight yet

Get ready for another dark chapter of Sausage being evil!

-Indigo

~~~

I scratched another tally into the stone wall.

Six days since I had woken up in the cell. Six days since I had smashed the dream communicator. And six days of death over and over again while Sausage and Joey tried to get me to tell them something.

Moonlight came in through the tiny window. Today, nobody had come in. It had been nice, but it made me scared for what tomorrow would bring. What if they had spent today making some elaborate new torture method?

I heard a clock somewhere above me chime ten times. I thought that I should go to bed. I had to be well-rested if they had figured out some crazy way to get me to tell them where the Emperors were.

They knew where the egg was now. But that meant that they were trying to get me to tell them how to get it.

I laid in bed and eventually fell into a shallow rest.

I was already up when my captors climbed down the dungeon ladder. I sat on my cot, waiting for whatever method they had planned for me today.

I seemed to be their weapons testing device. The first day had just been Joey's axe, but on Day 2, they brought in the scythe that Sausage had used to knock me out. It killed me with one shot, and they seemed satisfied with its ability.

On Day 3, they had started using magic. They threw splash potions of poison and harm on me until I died. Although poison felt like I was being injected with acid, harming was almost painless, but I screamed plenty in hopes that they would decide to use it again instead of decapitating me with an axe or scythe again.

Days 4 and 5 had been mostly them perfecting those methods, and using a few other weapons as well. All I could think about was that dream I had had where Xornoth said, "Finally, another test subject."

And Day 6 was surprisingly quiet.

I had been here for a week now. They didn't seem to have weapons of any kind, but maybe they were hidden.

Sausage was the first to speak. "So, remember a week ago, when you decided it would be a good idea to smash one of the most valuable tools in the Empires?"

I didn't say anything. I had a strict rule to give them the silent treatment. Screaming did not count.

Without waiting for me to answer, Sausage continued. "Well, you're not the only one who can create communication devices."

To my horror, he held up a gemstone - a huge ruby the color of blood. It glowed faintly on the inside. And it radiated the same power mine had.

"We'll find those missing Emperors," Joey said. "There's nothing you can do to stop us."

I angrily reached through the bars, but Sausage held the crystal out of reach.

"You won't be able to take them out of there," I said, the first words I had spoken to them in several days. My voice was hoarse from disuse.

"Demonic magic is more powerful than you think," Joey replied, and then they both went up the ladder.

All the missing Emperors were in danger. I could only hope that the same being who had stopped me over and over again would also stop Sausage and Joey.

I paced my cell, wondering why they hadn't been trying me for information lately. They had obviously been excited about the whole "we can now enter people's dreams and turn them into nightmares" thing. Maybe they were too preoccupied with that to really notice me.

One thing was for sure, though: I needed to get out, fast. I looked out the window.

It was much too small to escape through. But it wasn't the window itself that was my chance, it was the light that came through it.

I pulled one of the shards of the dream communicator crystal out from under the cot. It was a larger one, still big enough to enchant. I didn't have my communicator bracelet, but this would do. Now all I needed to do was wait.

I was too excited to even scratch another tally by nightfall. The moon rose, and silver light flooded into my cell.

I put the crystal in the square of moonlight that appeared on the floor. I knelt next to it, and started to chant a spell. This one, I had memorized. It was a simple spell to make a communication device.

Why hadn't I thought of this before? I was too busy wallowing in my own misery.

I finished the spell. The purple crystal fragment didn't glow, but it did start vibrating when a message popped up. I had succeeded.

I picked up the crystal. The message was from Shubble. Does anyone have any cobble I can use?

On the surface of the crystal, a keyboard appeared in silver light. I typed one simple word: help. The message appeared in the chat.

FWhip immediately responded. GEM! WHERE ARE YOU?!

Then I realized that Sausage and Joey would get these, too. I had to hurry. In a dungeon somewhere. I don't know where, all I can see out the window is trees and sky. But I can hear a clock chiming every hour.

What kind of trees?

They're a custom breed.

I think you're in Mythland. Hang tight.

I heard creaking on the wooden floorboards as someone, probably Sausage if this was Mythland, ran to the ladder. I saw a pair of black boots appear as he quickly started to climb down.

Cursing, Sausage threw open the barred cell door and wrested the communication device out of my hand. He threw it on the floor, shattering it, but the damage had already been done. FWhip was on his way.

Sausage then grabbed a rope off of his belt and used it to tie my hands. He grabbed his scythe from its place on the wall and prodded me to the ladder.

Once I had climbed, I saw that we were indeed in Mythland. We were inside Sausage's starter house, and the dungeon was his basement.

Sausage led me to his summoning circle, where he had first met Xornoth and brought him back from banishment. At the bottom of the circular trench that surrounded it was a door, and that door led to a room. Sausage shoved me inside the room and slammed the thick wooden door. I heard a lock click.

I banged on the door with my fists, yelling for help. It wasn't long before I heard someone knocking on it from the other side.

I heard muffled yells and the clang of sword against scythe as Sausage attacked FWhip. Then I heard the jangle of keys, and the door opened.

FWhip stood alone, next to a pile of gear that used to be Sausage's.

Without really thinking, I hugged him. After a week of constant fear and suspense, I had made it through. I was free.

"What was that all about?" FWhip asked.

"They wanted to know where the missing Emperors were and how to get the dragon egg," I replied, shuddering.

"What did you tell them?"

"That if Xornoth hadn't told them already, they wouldn't find out. But remember the dream communicator crystal? That was destroyed, but they made a new one, and now Sausage has it!"

"Wait, what? Who is 'they'?"

"Sausage and Joey. They're going to find out where Blue and Scott and the others are and then they're going to do something to them and they don't know that Sausage is the bad guy now and WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING, FWHIP."

FWhip looked a little overwhelmed by the amount of information. "Let's go back to the Grimlands before he respawns."

I unsteadily agreed. "But only after we get my stuff."

We went back into the starter home. FWhip went up to Sausage's bedroom to kill him again when he respawned, while I searched the house for a barrel or chest containing my staff and elytra.

I found it in the dungeon that I had originally been put into. I grabbed all of my stuff and headed out. By the time we left, FWhip had killed Sausage four times at his bed.

We flew back to the Grimlands and landed in the salmon sanctuary. FWhip knew that that area was much more peaceful and quiet than the bustling village below, so he brought me there to calm down.

After I had taken several deep breaths and counted to a hundred, I told FWhip all about what had happened while I was a prisoner. He told me that people had noticed I was missing and sent out search parties when I didn't answer any messages. Several of those searchers had gone to Mythland, but either through bribery, threats, or just plain trickery, they hadn't come back with any information.

"But that's a problem," he said on the subject of the dream communicator.

I nodded. "We need to find it and destroy it."

"But what's to stop them from just making another? We need to get to the source of Sausage's power."

That made sense. "But he gets his power from Xornoth."

"True. We just need to cut off the connection."

"The summoning circle!" I said triumphantly. If there was any place where Sausage could connect to the demon, it was there.

"Sausage is probably going to come back for you and try to capture you again."

"I can be bait!"

"What? No, that's not what I-"

"Sausage will come back for me, and you can go to Mythland and destroy the circle."

"But I don't want to-"

"I'll be fine. Go!"

"But-"

"DO IT. I want normal Sausage back. Or as normal as Sausage can be."

FWhip pursed his lips but flew off. I took off as well, heading to the Crystal Cliffs. I went up to my terrace and wrote about my misadventures in my journal. I wanted to remember everything they tried on me, and I also wrote down my theories as to why they had been so desperate to get to the missing Emperors.

For the third time both asleep and awake, I saw an enemy standing next to the dragon egg.

Sausage hadn't noticed me on top of my terrace, but he was trying to get through the force field. It wasn't working very well.

Like an idiot, I flew down to meet him.

Sausage whipped out his scythe and attacked once he saw me. I parried with my staff and shot a fire spell at him, which he dodged.

I had never been the best at combat. That was more Blue's forte. But Sausage wasn't very good either, so we were about evenly matched.

"You can't win this, Gem," Sausage warned. "Come back to Mythland peacefully, and we'll leave your allies alone."

"Over my dead body," I spat.

"Suit yourself."

We fought next to the dragon egg for a moment longer before Sausage took off and flew around my corrupted watchtower. He landed in front of the door, where I engaged him once again.

"Even a demon can't give you the power to beat me," I said. "Because the power he gives you is temporary. It'll only last until he's done with you. Then you'll be just another human."

I had hit him where it hurt. Sausage took off again and flew up to my terrace.

I followed him. "This is where you want to fight? This is where I'm strongest!"

"Which makes it that much better to take you down," he growled.

I shot spell after spell at him. He cast a few spells of his own, but he was still mastering his power and they were quite weak. But his scythe seemed to be immune to my magic, blocking the spells with ease.

Sausage was starting to get the upper hand, just because he had a better weapon. Until suddenly, he collapsed. He sat on the ground at the edge of the terrace, trembling. It would have been so easy to push him off, but I just couldn't. I couldn't kill him.

"Take the scythe..." he wheezed.

Startled, I didn't do anything.

"Take it..."

This time, I did. I grabbed his scythe and felt the power humming through it.

"Destroy its magic... before I respawn." Then, he let go of his staff as well and rolled off the edge of the terrace.

I screamed and reached for him. He had been himself for a minute there, but now he would be dead.

I stood there for a long time, staring down the side of my tower, clutching my staff in one hand and the Dark Scythe in the other.

His last words came back to me. Destroy its magic before I respawn.

Strapping my own amethyst staff to its place on my back, I picked up Sausage's. It was gold, with a blue orb of energy at the top. I senses the power in it.

Sausage had potential to be a great wizard. He did have magic, whether he knew it or not.

But we had all seen what Sausage did with magic. I would keep the staff u til he was ready for it.

I went into my study and spent a few minutes tinkering with the spell on the scythe until it was harmless. It became a normal Netherite hoe. After stashing Sausage's staff in a hiding place, I flew to the Grimlands to see if FWhip had succeeded.

He had. He had blown up the summoning circle with TNT.

I told him about my theory that the scythe was the power gateway, not the circle. FWhip was not disappointed that his work was for nothing. In fact, he had had fun blowing up the summoning circle.

It reminded me of someone else I knew, who nobody except Pix and Pearl knew that I knew. That person liked TNT way more than was healthy. But I digress.

We went back to Mythland to give Sausage his hoe back. Hopefully, the demon was out of his head.

We went to the bridge that went over the river and to Sausage's house. Sausage ran outside to meet us. "Hi!"

Instead of the red and dark green robes he had worn earlier, now he just wore a simple off-white tunic and trousers.

"Hi, Sausage," I said warily.

"I feel a lot better now. I don't know what came over me!"

"Sausage, are you aware that you and Joey imprisoned and tortured Gem over and over for information?" FWhip said, his eyes burning with anger and hate.

"Wait, WHAT?"

I nodded. "The dungeon I was trapped in is in your basement."

Sausage immediately ran up the staircase and into his house, probably to see if it was true.

A minute later, he emerged again, wringing his hands. "I don't remember building that, but it's my style and everything. If I did that, Gem... I'm really, really sorry."

FWhip narrowed his eyes.

"Sausage, what was the last thing you remember?" I said. Was it possible that he didn't remember anything that had happened?

"Uh, the Ender Dragon fight... wait, HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN?"

"I think it's been... a little over a month since the fight?" FWhip looked at me for confirmation.

"About," I agreed.

Sausage blanched. "I don't remember anything since the dragon fight. What did I do?" He seemed scared to ask.

I was still a little nervous around him. I hadn't forgiven him, even if he didn't remember what he had done. He had sold his soul to the demon.

We told Sausage about all the events of the past month, from the missing Emperors to the dream communicator, in most of which he was the enemy. He was devastated about the damage and problems he had caused, but he didn't remember any of it because at that point, Xornoth had taken over his mind to the point that it wasn't his anymore. He remembered the end of the fight between me and him, although when he finally came to himself he didn't know why he was trying to kill me, only that the scythe was the cause of it.

Speaking of the scythe, when I tried to give it to him, he paled and said, "Get that thing away from me."

"It's harmless now," I insisted. "I took the spell off."

Sausage reluctantly took it and found that my statement was true.

"How can I make it up to you guys?" he said. "I gave myself over to the demon right after the Battle of the Ender Dragon. But I still made a deal with him. Even though I didn't actually do any of that stuff you said, it's still my fault."

"Make it up to me by getting Joey to see reason," I said. "He's still on Xornoth's side."

Sausage shook his head. "I was being controlled by a demon. Joey was and still is doing it of his own free will."

FWhip pursed his lips. "Where is that crystal?"

Sausage stopped to think for a minute. "I can't remember," he said finally. "Like I said, that wasn't me."

A horrible theory grew in my head, and I tried to swallow the lump of dread in my throat. "Sausage, did Joey know where the crystal is?"

"I already told you, I don't-"

He sucked in his breath, realizing what that meant. "Yes, I probably told him."

"He can contact the missing Emperors," FWhip said nervously. "They don't know he's on the wrong side."

Sausage put his head in his hands. "What have I done? I'm such an idiot!"

We didn't deny his claim.

We were too full of dread for what was to come, because this small victory was short-lived. Even though we had won, we had also lost.