Warning! This chapter contains quite a bit of blood so if you get upset or anxious at the mention of it stop reading at the warning below!

~~~~

Sulfur and gunpowder filled the air, thick with dust and smoke.

The explosions were the loudest sounds I had ever heard, making my ears ring. But even under the bombs, there was silence among the five of us standing there in shock.

In the distance, I could hear Techno cackling, the darkness enjoying every bit of this. If the darkness weren't inside of him, I knew he would still try to destroy L'manberg but he wouldn't have teamed with Dream.

Not after I told him what the masked man had done to me and his family.

Tommy broke the silence, falling onto my shoulder with quaking knees. "L'manberg..."

Disbelief and grief were written all over Tommy and Tubbo's faces, the look of defeat. Even if it hadn't been admitted yet, they had lost and L'manberg was gone for good, at least physically.

The world quite literally was disappearing in front of us. Houses were being destroyed, the teal water now brown and flooding everywhere. Banners and flags were torn from posts by the impact of eruptions.

It reminded me of the Manberg Revolution when the world had been torn in two. Stone and ores poked out but quickly disappeared when more bombs dropped on them.

The TnT didn't stop falling, coming down as fast as the rain was. I could barely hear the thunder over the noise.

"It's all gone," Ranboo muttered, staring at the void blankly.

I shook my head. Techno was right, this had been inevitable.

From the very first L'manberg war, the nation was never meant to be.

The symphony was never meant to be finished.

Even if I wanted the nation destroyed and the government brought to its knees, there was something that broke inside me at the sight of this. It was disturbing to see a place go from happy and full of nature to a place of destruction and cold stone.

And the looks on the teens' faces only made it worse.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, there was a whizzing sound and I quickly glanced over my shoulder. Everything in me tensed and screamed in warning.

But it was too late.

I sent a gust of wind out around me, flinging the teens and Quackity away from where the wither skull's target was on our group. They stumbled and somersaulted, landing on top of one another.

It was all I could do before the skull struck the ground at my feet.

My body got thrown backward from the sheer force of the skull hitting the grass and tearing the atoms of the world apart. The air got knocked from my lungs and with the last of it, I screamed in utter fear.

It had been a stupid idea to stand right next to the giant crater the TnT was making.

The ground disappeared below my feet as I was flung into the massive pit like a bug being flicked away. My limbs flailed, trying to grasp onto anything to stop myself from falling to the bedrock below.

Everything was happening too fast, my mind no longer in control of my magic. It had been sent spinning from the sudden explosion and I couldn't focus enough to find the strength to grasp it.

"Y/n!" All four boys shouted as I went over the edge and disappeared from their eyesight.

My fingertips caught onto something, bringing my body to an abrupt stop with a jerk. My arm was definitely out of its proper socket and the bandages under my now ripped hoodie were destroyed and covered with blood.

But I didn't care, the pain was numb with the ice of fear and bittersweet relief that I had caught myself.

Explosions continued to fall next to me, close enough that I could probably reach out and touch the falling red streaks. The ringing in my ears was almost unbearable, but again, I was still alive so I didn't care.

Shouting was happening above me, people screaming my name and at each other to hoist me up. Everything was foggy with ringing and smoke, but I could faintly hear Tommy's voice above them all.

You're stronger than this.

The words sounded familiar, a voice that's always been there but never realized. It sent a rush of strength through me.

You have survived worse than this, don't you dare die to a stupid wither skull.

Either from the deliriousness or pain, I almost laughed out loud at the voice's encouragement. I kept the crazed giggle down and instead grit my teeth and blocked out my pain.

What would Techno or Dream think about you falling to your death?

It was right, I wasn't going to die to a wither skull after every single thing I've been through.

So I wrapped my fingers tighter around the strange material I was clinging to like a buoy and pulled myself higher so that I could grab onto it with the other hand. Heat shot through both arms but I ignored it.

I couldn't see what I was holding onto thanks to the smoke and rain I but clung to it. It was my lifeline at the moment.

When I thought I would have to climb all the way back up to the surface, the thing I was holding onto began to slide upward, dragging me with it. Stone and roots stabbed into my body, but at least I was moving up.

After what felt like a lifetime, I felt wet grass below me and several sets of hands grab onto me. Smoke and dust cleared from my eyes yet everything remained fuzzy.

I wrapped myself around the item I stuck to, scared to let go even though I was on solid ground once more. One of my hands grasped at the grass to make sure I was actually safe.

Someone's arm gently scooped me into their lap and pulled my hand away from the death grip I had on the poor grass. The item I was clutching remained with me, covering me like a blanket.

"You're okay, y/n," They whispered, somehow audible above the background noise of destruction. "The wither's dead now. All of them are."

The last part made me blink several times, the dense fog of pain lifting. Craters came back into view, my back to the great hole in the ground where I had just fallen in.

Soul sand piles were everywhere with the faint shapes of heads severed from the bodies. No fires burned in the eyes and the heads didn't so much as twitch.

But beyond and underneath them was ugly wreckage. The van was destroyed, holes in the glass bee apiary, and no grass remained.

I tried to turn to look at how much worse it was behind me, but the person holding me stopped my head with their hand.

"Don't look yet, you need to breathe."

I finally looked up, seeing green.

Sam's dark hair was even darker with rain and his mask was dripping. Below the mask, there was a thin line of concern on his lips.

"Sam?" My voice came out like a croak, my throat raw with dust and screaming.

A friendly smile replaced the concern, the green freckles just barely visible below the mask. Despite the war going on around us, he seemed calm and focused on my safety.

"You took a tumble there," He said amusingly. "But you saved the teens and Quackity."

Some of my humor and magic returned, along with the traces of pain in my arms and face.

I rolled my eyes and joked, "Well no shit." A small smile grazed my cracked lips. "I did almost just fall face-first onto the bedrock in the hella big hole."

His own smile widened. "Good to see your humor didn't take a hit."

I laughed but winced, everything in my upper body aching. There definitely was something wrong with my shoulder and my other wound from last night was open and dripping from getting caught on roots.

Sam noticed, his mask aimed at my shoulder. "Your arm is dislocated so I have to push it back into place, alright?"

I nodded, digging my fingernails deeper into the object that saved my life. I've had limbs out of place before and it hurt like hell getting them back into place if not done right.

Sam put his hands in place and faster than I was ready pushed my shoulder into place with a sickening pop. I bit down on my scream and blinked back the involuntary tears.

I moved my shoulder in a circle to test it. It was still sore and painful but not like it was before.

"Better?" Sam asked.

"Yes, thank you."

I finally looked at what had caught my fall, strewn across me.

It was ripped and almost completely brown with dirt, but the stripes and X's of the L'manberg flag were undeniable. A long rip was at the other end near my feet, my boot poking through.

Sam noticed me looking at it. "You're lucky that flag was stuck on the root. The ends of it were ripping and fraying on the tip of the wood by the time Quackity called me over and Tommy had begun to use his wings to pull you up."

Huh, of course it was a L'manberg flag that saved you.

That same voice, echoing through my head and weaving through my slow thoughts. It sounded familiar in a way that I had never noticed.

I pushed it aside, for now, considering it didn't feel dangerous, glancing back down at the flag.

Maybe it was a sign that the flag had saved me, of all objects. After all the prophecies and gods, I wouldn't put superstition in the crazy category anymore.

"-No! You guys watched!"

There was an argument going on behind me now, their yelling almost as loud as the still-falling TnT. I hadn't noticed before through the chaos of almost losing my life.

Now I turned, Sam letting me, seeing Tommy and Tubbo slightly in front of me and Techno standing a distance away, near the base of the once green-filled hill.

Somehow the split in L'manberg had completely turned into a hole in the map. L'manberg was gone, destroyed, and in heaps of rubble.

"You know what I did?" I turned at the sound of Techno's voice, seeing anger and hurt written all over his face.

Tommy's face mirrored his and his eyes darted to the destruction on his left every few seconds.

"Yesterday when you were surrounded? I was willing to fight all those people for you, Tommy! I would've been there for you!"

Despite the darkness in Techno, his words sounded chillingly human. These words were real, not the puppet master speaking through the puppet.

His hurt overpowered the darkness just enough to get his words to his brother.

"You were my friend and you betrayed us!" Tommy shouted.

"You never thought of me as a friend! I was just The Blade!" Techno shot back, his chest heaving with fury and unspoken words.

I released my iron grip on the flag in my lap, pushing on my good elbow into a sitting position. My knees braced and I attempted to stand up but Sam placed a hand on my forearm.

"We need to bandage your arm again. It may need stitches after-"

I shook my head, getting up on wobbly knees. "I can do that later. I have an idea."

Sam nodded, getting up to brace me. After a second the blood stopped rushing to my head and I could stand on my own.

"I tried being peaceful, but it didn't work." Techno's voice dipped at the end, going darker. He was losing control.

I dropped the L'manberg flag, pushed off of Sam, and made my way towards Tommy. His wings that had been used to save me were back in and out of the way.

He jumped slightly as I placed my hand on his shoulder, Tubbo grabbing my hand to support me. Tears streaked down his face with Tommy's eyes being silver-lined.

"So I took matters into my own hands," Techno finished, the darkness fully in control once more.

He raised his crossbow with a red striped firework loaded in the center, aimed right at Tommy's heart. There was a steadiness in his hand that only the darkness could bring.

I took my hand out of Tubbo's and cupped it around my bloodied wound from the roof. Crimson instantly painted my palm.

"Techno, stop." My voice was even once more with control and magic.

The finger around the trigger froze, my words striking something in him.

I pushed forward, slowly taking steps towards him. The crossbow was now aimed at me, dead-set on my chest where my heart beat.

Light and kindness had worked before with Dream and I when we were flushing out the darkness. That didn't seem to be enough for Techno.

No, the Blood God was different.

So I ignored the weapon in his hands, the explosions falling around us, and the people who were watching us. Every set of eyes were on me, even the one pair from above.

I was close enough to Techno now that I could see the dark pools in his brown eyes. The red was a little less than last night, but still present.

~~~~

~~~~

I stopped near enough that I had the rocket point almost touching the base of my neck.

"Techno, I know you're in there," I whispered, searching his eyes. "It's now or never."

The darkness stared blankly at me, only cocking his head to the side an inch in confusion.

Faster than he could register, I knocked the crossbow to the ground with my clean hand and wrapped my blood-covered hand around his bare wrist.

Instead of retaliating, his body went completely still and I could feel his pulse racing under my fingers.

Red mixed with the rain on my arm and on his wrist, a small pool already forming below our locked connection. I wouldn't bleed out but I could feel a faint light headache blooming.

My free hand grasped at the emerald necklace below my hoodie. It pulsed and had a green glow to it in the weak light.

There was a flicker in his eyes with a reflection of the emerald's light, the red increasing in size. Soon the darkness would be pushed out by the voices.

I smirked as the red totally swept out the black blots, the brown recovering. "Blood for the Blood God."

He blinked once, twice, then humanity returned. The voices receded despite the blood on his wrist.

I knew and trusted Techno enough to know that he had learned to block the voices naturally when he was around me. He couldn't help but to be gentle around me and only that.

"That was smart," He muttered, his voice once more normal and monotone.

Then his eyes rolled back and he passed out into my arms, back to normal once more.

I groaned as his weight fell into my arms, pulling on my just-dislocated shoulder. Muscles and tendons became taut with stress and pressure.

"Ugh, get up you big oaf," I mumbled, smacking him lightly on the head with my clean hand. "Just because you escaped the darkness doesn't mean you get to collapse on me."

He stirred, grumbling something under his breath.

I shoved him more into a standing position so he was leaning on my good shoulder.

His golden crown tilted slightly, tugging a few pieces of pink hair free from his braid. The apple red cape swished around him and I tugged it tighter around his shoulders.

"Techno, I just survived a trip into that pit and a dislocated shoulder, wake up." I raised my palm to the rain, letting the blood run off of it.

"Fine, fine." His brown eyes blinked open, not even bothered by the wound on my arm. He looked around at the destruction. "I did a good job on this."

I rolled my eyes and fought off a smile. Some pink liquid sloshed free as I downed a healing potion, already feeling the blood begin to slow in my arm.

Exhaust and drowsiness would come soon with the potion, but I should have enough time to stop this mess before I passed out.

"You definitely did. But wake up cause we need to deal with this mess now."

~~~~

SURPRISE SHAWTY IM EARLY

i got home earlier than I thought from the college tour so I got to finish this >:)

guys we're actually so close to the ending, I'm sad :( I'm really excited to start my new book but I'm scared too lol. I'll miss you all if you don't come to the next one lol

anyway, all the sappy stuff is saved for the final words. Ily all and I hope you have an amazing day or night! remember that you are loved and wanted, and I'm so so proud of you.

keep going, it always gets better