#shrubnoth au

[rose-lizzzy]

Gem lands in the Overgrown, looking around. "Katherine?" She calls.

Searching around, she couldn't find the fairy anywhere. But she started to hear faint begging.

"Please! There has to be some way! Just answer me! I need to help her!" Katherine cries out.

Gem finally tracks her down in the Spring. "There you are!"

Katherine's head snaps to look at her. "Gem! You're alright!"

"Yeah..." The wizard laughs nervously. "Just a....small little side effect I suppose. But it wore off."

The fairy's eyes go wide and she turns. "Do you think that-"

A hand grabs her arm. "No." Gem answers with a sad smile. "It's not going to have done the same for her. Not yet anyway."

Katherine runs her hands through her hair. "Ugh...I don't know how to help her, and the Spring isn't giving me any advice! What should I do?! How do I help her see that she matters! That she won't hurt us!"

After a pause, Gem responds. "I think, from my experience, I might have an answer for you, though I doubt you're going to like it."

The fairy grabs her shoulders, begging for anything. "What?!"

Gem takes her hands, pulling her to sit. "Let her figure it out on her own."

Before Katherine can protest, Gem continues. "She's not going to get anywhere with everyone trying to force her to return. She needs time, Katherine. Time to accept reality. Time to process everything. Shrub just needs some alone time to grow and reflect. She'll be back when she's ready."

Katherine sighs and lays back, staring at the mossy ceiling of the Spring. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just....so hard."

"Well than....why don't we focus our energy elsewhere in the meantime? For example....I could give you some magic lessons."

The fairy gasps with excitement. "Yes!!"

Tucked in the Undergrove, Shrub scribbles furiously in a notebook.

A muzzle nudges her arm, but she pushes it away. "Not now....I need to figure this out."

It continues to pester her until she turns, locking eyes with the Mother Wolf, gasping sharply.

[rose-lizzzy]

Joey lands in front of Pearls house, and Katherine comes out of one nearby.

"Joey? What are you doing here?" Katherine asks.

The Lost Emperor turns to her. "What are you doing here?" He asks in confusion.

Katherine shakes her head with a laugh. "You must be very out of the loop."

"Am not!" He folds his arms defensively.

The fairy giggles. "Well, Scott froze Gem accidentally, Shrub went to check on her and help her out, but stumbled across the crystal with Xornoth that Scott had dropped in his panic. Which in turn led to Shrub accidentally feeding Gem stew that was tainted with Xornoth stuff. So Gem got corrupted and then forced Shrub to drink some and then they were both corrupted. Which caused a lot of chaos and then they were mostly fixed but there's still stuff that's wrong. Shrub may have almost killed me, but she didn't mean to. Pearls been an absolute angel helping me heal up."

Joey gapes at her.

"......Alright. I am out of the loop. That....also explains quite a lot." He looks back over where he came from

Katherine looks over. "What do you mean?"

He sighs. "Let's get to Pearl, and I'll explain."

[rose-lizzzy]

She reaches through the gap in the stem, trying to comfort Shrub.

"Shrubby...please....I'm okay now..."

The gnome recoils, shaking her head. "No....you won't be if you stay..." She steps back.

Katherine continues to reach for her. "Hey....I don't care. I can handle it. I just want you to be okay."

Shrub looks away, trembling. "I'm not okay. I just need to be left alone."

The fairy sighs, pulling her hand back. "Alright.....what happened to your communicator? None of my messages have gone through.."

"I don't need it." Shrub answers quickly. "I only hurt you all. I brought Xornoth, I brought the corruption, I brought so much pain.....no one benefits from me being here."

Katherine gasps, offended. "I need you here! You're amazing, Shrubby! It's not your fault that Xornoth used you to come here! That he used you to spread corruption and chaos. We love you, Shrubby. I love you. Please ....let us in..."

Her fists clench, tears forming in her eyes. "I can't. For your own good." She takes off, away, dropping into her hole into her cave as her emotions build, her amber eye turning red as she punches the rock wall hard, tears falling

[rose-lizzzy]

Scott brushes him off, trying to get to his feet.

"No! Scott! What was that?!"

The el Hint, f sighs. "Look, basically I froze Gem, somehow Shrub got the crystal and accidentally corrupted the both of them, and then Gem retaliated by ... essentially permanently burning my insides."

Jimmy's face drops to horror. "What?! Well... Surely someone can help!"

"Well..."Scott groans from a wave of heat. "Katherine is half dead, being treated by Pearl and Pix, Sausage and Fwhip are taking care of Gem last I heard....." He sighs. "Really, Jimmy, I'm fine."

The codfather shakes his head insistently. "I'm taking you to Lizzie "

[rose-lizzzy]

Pearl had Katherine in an extra room at her empire, wrapped in so many bandages around her torso.

It had been a few days, and she still hasn't woken up once.

Her first worry had been keeping her breathing, keeping Katherine alive.

While she could've let her go and let her respawn, respawning is painful and unreliable.

She finally had started to look less....corpse like. Her color had started returning, and the wounds looked much cleaner and she could tell they were healing.

They hadn't heard from Shrub or Scott at all, but it had only been a few days.

Pearl sits at Katherines bedside, reading, when she hears a sharp gasp.

The farmers head snaps up and she looks at Katherine, who was laying there, eyes wide.

Her breathing quickens, and Pearl quickly grabs her by the shoulders.

"Katherine! Katherine. Hey. Look at me!"

Her wide eyes meet Pearls.

"You're okay. Alright? Take a breath. You're really hurt."

Katherine slows her breath, shaking.

"Alright." Pearl lets her go. "How do you feel?"

After Katherine catches her breath, she looks around.

"Well...I feel...okay.." she takes a breath, wincing. "Ouch.." she whispers, her chest aching.

"Take your time." Pearl smiles.

Katherine continues looking around.

".....Where....where's Shrub...?" She asks, searching for the gnome.

Pearl rubs the back of her neck. "Well .....she....she went off....no one's actually seen her in the few days you've been out. My guess is she feels incredibly bad and will come back with some coaxing."

Katherine gasps, tearing up "can....can I have my communicator...?"

Pearl nods, handing it over and helping adjust Katherine to sit up.

"Hey take your time waking up, you've been out for a few days.."

The fairy shakes her head. "I need to check on her." She croaks out

Katherine rapidly starts typing after Pearl sighs.

Hey Shrubby...I hope you're doing okay! I just woke up, and I'm feeling pretty great! Pearls taking care of me, and I miss you so much. Don't blame yourself, k? Come visit soon.

The communicator drops in her lap and she relaxes against the back of the bed.

Pearl pats her shoulder lightly. "Hey, she'll come around. Meantime, want some food? I bet you're starvin."

Katherine nods enthusiastically. "Very much so. Thanks, Pearl."

Deep in the few books she had, Shrub hears her communicator go off.

It'd gone off before, but she reluctantly checks it this once, seeing the amount of pings she got.

Sausage- Getting Gem under control, don't be afraid to shout for help if you need it!

Pearl- Hey Shrub, I'm taking care of Katherine at Gilded Hilenthia. Feel free to visit or stay!

Pearl- Just an update on Katherine, she's looking better, and I believe she'll make it without needing respawn

And the one that went off today

Katherine- Hey Shrubby...I hope you're doing okay! I just woke up, and I'm feeling pretty great! Pearls taking care of me, and I miss you so much. Don't blame yourself, k? Come visit soon.

She stares at the words for a minute, tears welling in her eyes before suddenly her communicator smashes against the wall opposite from her.

The notes she had been working on scattered as she slams a fist into the wall, the red coloring leaking into her amber eye.

Paper ripped and objects shatter. Even if Katherine didn't blame her, she should. She's clearly unstable, a threat.

If she almost killed Katherine once, she could do it again.

She didn't have control, she only ever hurt them.

After her emotions wore off, she sunk to the floor, her mixed eyes staring at the shattered communicator.

They'd be better off without her. The sooner she got home, the better.

[rose-lizzzy]

It burned ..so bad.

Everything was on fire.

Scott didn't even know how he managed to make it back to Rivendell, but he did.

Even in the icy empire, laying in a pile of snow, he was sweating.

Jimmy hadn't talked to Scott in a while, so he flew in to check on the elf, only to find a block of ice in his room, his head barely peeking out.

"...Scott?" He asks, frowning.

Scott looks up, surprised. "Oh! Jimmy!"

The ice quickly melts. It surprises Scott how fast it melted. But it was easy for him to think about melting things. After all, he constantly felt like he was melting.

Jimmy gives him a quizzical look. "What's that all about?"

Scott winces. "Nothing. Just a...little warm." He opens the window, and the codfather instantly shivers at the cold blast of air, but Scott doesn't even react.

"I can't imagine how you'd be warm here. It's freezing!"

The elf turns, seeing how Jimmy's face and fingers were turning blue, how he was trying hard to warm himself up.

Scott reluctantly shuts the window. He could suffer for Jimmy's warmth.

He lights the fireplace in his room, and instantly recoils from the extra heat.

The room got filled with a suffocating heat for Scott. While the flames under his skin didn't grow, he felt like the flames in the fireplace were beating into him further.

He stumbles away from the fire, catching the bedpost to try to steady himself.

"Scott?" Jimmy calls, but he sounded miles away.

The elf slides to the floor, sweating heavily. He couldn't even form an ice cube, he was too hot, and the heat made it impossible for him to focus enough to push past it.

The heat lessoned, and he sits there panting, struggling, head spinning.

When he had his bearings, he looks up, seeing Jimmy staring down at him.

"What the heck was that?!"

[rose-lizzzy]

Gem whirls around, glaring at her brother.

"Rampage? I'm just giving people what they deserve!! And guess what you deserve!"

Her eyes had returned to mostly red, and her staff started to glow.

She then gets tackled unexpectedly by Sausage. "Gem! Quit it!"

She growls at him slightly, but he'd snatched the staff away from her.

"Sausage! Don't make me hurt you too!"

Sausage slaps her. "Get yourself under control!"

Red recedes, and her eyes widen.

"...Oh."

Looking at sausage and her brother, the red gets smaller, as Sausage hadn't been holding her, just hugging her.

Gem lets out a big sigh and grumbles. "Stupid empires and emperors wasting my time.....Thanks, Sausage."

Sausage lets her go, handing over the staff. "Of course, Gem. Will you be okay?"

She lets out another sigh. "I better be. Long as people leave me alone." Her eyes narrow at Fwhip.

His hands go up. "What did I do?! Sausage told me to check on you!!"

"....You're always the problem." Gem decides, and Sausage doesn't disagree.

Fwhip glares back at her. "You little..."

Gem laughs, and they help her finish the classroom she was working on.

[rose-lizzzy]

Sausage walks Shrub slowly out of the Crystal Cliffs, holding her hand and half pulling her softly.

He softly drags her like a child, while she lets him, staring at the potted mushroom in her other hand.

Glancing just behind him to see her every now and then, he walks silently, thinking about what she said about Gem.

While passing the Grimlands, he finds a bench and leads her to it.

"Hey, Shrub?" He asks softly, and she finally looks up from the mushroom, for the first time in hours.

"Hm...?" She whispers, and he sets her onto the bench.

Sausage glances at the gate to the town, and what lay behind it, and then turns back. "Give me a few minutes. Just stay right here okay?"

Shrub nods, and he hurries into the city, before pounding on the door to the Forge.

"One minute!" A response comes, and Sausage just forces the door open.

"I- Hey! Sausage!" Fwhip turns to look at him, annoyed but also with a slight smile. "It's nice to see you but can you not break my door?"

"You need to control your sister." He declares. "She went too far with Shrub."

Fwhip groans. "What if she was justified -"

Sausage narrows his eyes. "Shrub said that Gem told her Katherine got what she deserved. Katherine is on the brink of death, Fwhip. No one, especially not Katherine, deserves that. And Shrub doesn't deserve to hear that."

The tinkerer sighs. "Fine. I guess I can at least go see what's up."

"She's not right, that's what. She was cured but not quite enough. I'm taking Shrub home and then we need to be the ones to reign her in until Katherine is able to be back in commission. Who knows how long that'll be."

Fwhip narrows his eyes at the kings wise words. "Since when were you the reasonable one?!"

Sausage gives his shoulder a light punch and sticks his tongue out before leaving, returning to Shrub. "Alright, let's go!"

She doesn't respond as he took her hand, leading her the rest of the way. She looks up once her mushrooms came into view, and she just stares, like she was picturing something.

Sausage got her to the center of her valley. "Hey, will you be okay here on your own?"

At his words, she came to life. Her eyes brighten and she looks around hurriedly. "Yeah! Of course! Bye!" She rushes off, and Sausage shrugs before retreating to go back to deal with Gem.