It's warm in Soulfire's underground base, no matter how cold the surface is. There's lava below the earth and fires burning in the corners, their little patch of greenery and safety in the burning wastes of purgatory.
Pac sits between Forever and Mike, a bowl of melted ice on his lap. He swaps the rags on their foreheads for fresh ones, and looks over the group - so many of their team have fallen sick, the frozen outsides coming to spite them. Somehow, Pac has avoided it; Fit has as well, and Bad is pretending not to be suffering for the sake of morale. Tubbo worked through the worst of it and is nearly back to full form, Bagi is just starting to come down with it in turn...
Tina fell sick most recently, caring for everyone else both taking its toll and exposing her. Pac wonders if he'll follow her soon - and if he does, if Fit will catch him when he falls.
ElQuackity he isn't sure about, the man having already left before everyone else woke up.
Luzu (Arin) vanished a few days in, and nobody knows what happened to him at all.
"Will you be alright?" Bagi asks, eyes checking him over.
"Yes," Pac nods as he says it. "You go to the meeting; I'll look after them."
"You sure, king?" it's Tubbo asking. "You don't need someone else to stay too?"
"The eye said everyone available," Fit points out. "Even leaving Pac is pushing it; and if we disobey..."
It doesn't really bare thinking about; Pac smiles at them, "go get this all sorted. Good luck, Tubbo, I hope you win and save the eggs."
Pac knows Richarlyson is as safe as possible - Cellbit is awake and on their opposition, and, for all his recent crimes, will save their son if there is any chance, plus Philza will account for Felps (he hopes, if only because Philza will be praying Missa is counted by Soulfire). And even if three are in fever dreams and Pac himself is caring for them, he trusts Tubbo to remember how many of the boy's fathers had his back.
It's Dapper, and Ramon, and Leo, and Chayanne and Tallulah, that people are really fighting over.
"Tell me if anything happens?" Pac asks.
"Of course," Fit promises first.
"We need to head out," Tubbo says, checking his comms. "You shouldn't have trouble, but call if you do?"
"We'll come straight back," Bagi promises. "Just stay safe, okay? Even if they break the truce, they've never hurt the sick before - just hide."
"I know," Pac... trusts the enemy just enough to know only he is in any danger. "You should go."
"Later!" Tubbo calls, and the rest also make their farewells. It's Fit who lingers longest, saying nothing else but meeting Pac's eyes.
Pac wants to reach out and squeeze his hands for reassurance, for safety, for protection - instead he wrings out another cloth, and leans over to wipe down Mike's face.
By the time he swaps to Forever, the others are gone; he's careful they don't see the strange nether-marks on Forever's cheek. Those seem to come with their own sickness, for Forever's fever sits deeper than the rest, his sleep more restless, his dreams more terrifying and more desperate. Pac soothes what he can, and then stands.
He doesn't want to, but there are more than just his two fellow Brazilians to attend.
Tina did so well keeping the group together, but suffers so much now - he redoes the braids keeping her hair from her face, a little confused Bagi did not do it before leaving. Rivers is half-awake when he gets to her, so he gives her some painkillers and a glass of water to help.
They're taken without complaint, and Pac is pretty sure that means it's bad.
Pol and Lenay, Mariana and Pierre, Kameto and Niki and Missa - the last is hard, because Pac knows he shouldn't remove his mask. Rather than intrude on privacy he does as Tina did, and tucks the cloth behind his neck instead.
He checks on everyone, before quickly stepping outside. He collects more water, sees the burning red sky, and quickly flees back inside.
Unless something changes, they'll be alright for a little while; Pac still sits himself between Mike and Forever, one hand clinging to each of them.
Mike was in the hospital even before they were all dragged out here, thrown into purgatory unconscious and having not woken up since. Forever... Was doing better at the start, but the burning heat of sickness has been building all these two weeks.
Pac just prays that, after whatever meeting the eye summoned them for, everyone can go home. The island is terrible, but at least there's medicine and beds and no worries your neighbours will come murder you in your sleep because a great Eye has stated that you kill or your children die.
Just a few hours more, and they can get everyone proper medicine. And beds. And they can find out if the reason he hasn't seen Felps all week - and so many others - is also sickness and being hidden away to recover, or something else.
A few more hours, and everyone will be safe. Just a few more hours to hold on - Pac clings to his friends and promises himself its just a few hours more.
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My telling of q!Jaiden’s death. Wrote this one a while ago and posted it on AO3, but wanted it here too! (This is slightly edited from my AO3 version)
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Jaiden was exhausted.
Resting on the cold bedrock, she could hear the her team, her pack, her family.
She could hear them shouting as their dad lead them to victory.
She could hear their terrified screams as the walls around their children crumbled.
She could hear them running for their lives as fire rained from the sky.
And when she couldn’t hear them anymore, she waited.
Waited for her boy. And eventually, he came to her.
She opened her eyes, waking up after what could have been a day, or a week, or a month. She had lost track of time ages ago, the days bleeding together in the cave.
He was crouched next to her, and as she started to wake up, he jumped up, placing a sign.
[Mamá?]
“Bobby?”
He crouched next to her, and she wrapped him in a hug. She could feel his shell against her.
She knew he was real. He must be real.
If he wasn’t real, that meant that she wasn’t either.
“I missed you, mi huevo. My sweet boy.”
She clung to him, sobbing.
When her tears dried, she let go of him.
He stayed in her arms, placing another sign.
[Follow me, tengo cosas que mostrarte]
“You lead the way, Bobby Chingon.”
So Bobby lead the way out of the cave, and Jaiden followed, leaving her cold, long-dead body on the ground behind them.
They stepped into a field of roses, illuminated by the sun rising over the hill in front of them.
She was going home, finally reunited with her son.
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excited for tonight i have absolutely 0 clue on whats gonna happen
we have no idea if a team getting knocked out may end up being the cursed team and so far have no way of even knowing how we could avoid that without a tie - which even if they did try it would be very difficult to achieve with the disasters and mobs everywhere just 1 death could throw off the balance
we have 0 clue what happens to the team that gets knocked out, the tweet says that team "completely dies" which we still have 0 context for what that means for the players.
i doubt theyd not be allowed to play since that would be pretty sad for the ccs probably and the admins have always done their best to make it playable for everyone (like on friday for blue) but also that might be exactly it we have NO idea!
and after friday red teams opinion on the other two teams has definitely changed so we cant say for certain which team theyd help to win if any team at all - thats even if theyre given the opportunity to help the two teams
i have absolutely 0 clue whats gonna happen tonight and the rest of the purgatory event but im veerrry excited to find out
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