Chapter Text
Sherbert opened their eyes.
Although, that may have been a mistake because as soon as their eyelid lifted, it was hit with a drop of water. That wasn’t unusual though, the rain hadn’t stopped at all in the last two months and Sherbert had gotten used to always being damp. The one upside to it was that the blood that had stained the collar of their coat had finally washed away. It’s not like there wouldn’t be more to come though.
Sherbert rubbed their eyes and finally sat up. They didn’t know how long they’d been up here this time, but they were starting to get used to sleeping on feathers against cold end stone. Like most things, Sherbert had no idea how the end islands had appeared in the sky… but they had their uses.
The alchemist stretched their arms, and their wings by association, and stood up. Everything looked normal, or at least the same as it was when they had laid down. Sherbert peered at the dark oak treeline to the north. They had to be hiding there.
Over the last 2 months, Sherbert had eliminated most of the buildings near spawn as possible entrance points to a “secret base,” with little to no success. Rae’s area was completely destroyed, most of the nearby houses had been searched for secret doors, any possible entrance in the tree was now filled with TNT, and still nothing. It had to be somewhere in that dark oak forest, but they didn’t have the time or energy to search through every corner. Burning it all down was the only possible solution, but that wasn’t possible because of the constant rain.
Sherbet’s wings flapped out to the side, shaking off the water covering their feathers, and they took off away from the island. That was enough of that for today. The wind was something they had grown to appreciate when flying. It was so cold and loud that it drowned out all the other sounds around them, and when they lit a firework for a speed boost everything looked like it was moving in slow motion. It was a break from the stress and tension of it all. Sherbert liked to think that’s why they flew around spawn so much, even though everyone else might have disagreed. They’d heard the name “Stalkerquake” in whispers of the blocks around them, but they didn’t like to think about why they were doing what they were doing for too long. They flew past their house, red wool for the roof this time.
Great. Guess I have to write down another one for today. After spinning around a couple times to stick a safe landing, Sherbert’s shoes landed on the now very soft wool roof of their house. The alchemist reached past the bottles hanging front their belt to unclasp a leather strap holding a book to their side. The front of the journal was very ornate, with purple and yellow designs running around and across the cover of the book with the word “wack” written in messy handwriting in the center. Sherbert flipped through the first couple pages, then unclasped the pen attached to the side of the page and wrote:
- Mushroom roof changed to red wool (again)
It was just getting ridiculous at this point. They quickly closed and attached the book to their side again before taking off towards the bottom of the observatory next to their stables. At this point, Sherbert had become pretty good at flying straight into the entry cave to Ominous Bane without touching the ground; they had been trying to get more precise with their flying technique in case they needed to fight midair.
Approaching the doorway, they stepped on the pressure plated floor and the stone in front of them separated, creating a makeshift doorway in the wall. The alchemist walked through the doorway and jumped down the hole leading to the rest of the base. As soon as Sherbert splashed in the water, they could hear excited footsteps coming from the hallway to the left.
“Hi Sherbert! How was-”
“Not now Athena,” Sherbert stated, not even taking the time to look at the child. They just needed a break from their work, they didn’t have the time to worry about their living breathing leverage. Sherbert moved towards their seat at the meeting table and slumped into the chair.
“Sorry…” Athena muttered under their breath, then paused, “You’re soaked… do you need something to warm up?”
“If you need to dry off I can retrieve a towel for you,” a robotic voice spoke from the end of the table, startling Sherbert and making them jump up from their seat.
“Gods- Seven- I didn’t see you there,” Sherbert exclaimed. The robot was sitting at one of the heads of the table, completely still. He didn’t breathe or have any reason to move so he often blended in with other objects and furniture in the room.
“Did I startle you? I’m sorry. I can turn my volume down if you’d like,” Seven stated while turning towards Sherbert.
“No- Seven it’s fine,” the alchemist adjusted themself in their seat and leaned onto the table in front of them, “Have you seen Swipnn or Centross today?”
“I actually saw-” Athena piped up from behind Sherbert.
“I’m pretty sure I asked Seven a question,” Sherbert interrupted, turning to Athena for the first time after entering the base, “not you.”
Athena’s face dropped. They didn’t respond, and instead walked over to the table and sat down across from Sherbert silently.
“Centross came by earlier to retrieve some supplies, and I don’t have any record of seeing Swipnn today,” Seven stated blankly.
“Thank you Seven,” Sherbert replied before sinking back into their chair. What did Centross even need supplies for? If he told me what he was planning then maybe I could help instead of just sitting around waiting for something to happen. And where has Swipnn been? I haven’t seen anything from them on my communicator for weeks, they can’t have just gone completely off the grid-
“…was thinking maybe we could go out and do something together?” Sherbert zoned back into the conversation and Athena was talking, as per usual, “Not that I don’t like it here, I just figured you might want some company when you go out and do your… stuff…”
Sherbert almost snapped back at Athena again, but stopped themself: this was a learning opportunity.
“Athena, I don’t want to put you in danger,” Sherbert said, making direct eye contact with the Nether hybrid, “You’re important, and that’s why you have to stay here. Who knows what the others would say or do to take you from here and I know that you don’t want that.”
“Yeah… I guess you’re right. I’m sorry I asked,” Athena responded, looking down at the wooden floors of the base. Sherbert smirked.