"What do you mean, you can't find Gem?" Lizzie asked.

Fwhip sniffled loudly and Sausage put his hand in his shoulder. "I mean, I can't find her," he said, trying his hardest not to burst out sobbing. "She's not in her room, and her door was unlocked, I-" He turned into Sausage, who wrapped his arms around him as he started cry.

"She wasn't in the bathroom, either," Sausage said, then sighed and whispered, "I wish I had my power..."

Pix winced when he said that. Typically, it would be Borealis whispering to him, It's all your fault. You did this. You've ruined everything. But this time, he was telling it to himself. Whether he actually believed it or subconsciously thought it because he missed Borealis, he didn't know. But he didn't like it either way. It made him feel funny.

"My little sister's gone," Fwhip sobbed.

Sausage rubbed his back. "It's okay, we'll find her," he whispered, which only made Fwhip cry more. "It's okay."

The door to the dining hall opened and Gem walked out in her night clothes with a bowl of ice cream. She stopped when everybody turned to give her a variety of absurd looks, then noticed Fwhip clinging to Sausage and sobbing. "Why's Fwhip crying?" she asked with a frown.

Fwhip looked up and over his shoulder, though he didn't let go of his boyfriend. "Wha- Gem?"

She stepped closer. "Are you o-"

"Gem, you- you asshole," Fwhip sobbed, letting go of Sausage now. "You scared me!"

"Sorry."

Fwhip huffed. "You sure look sorry," he pouted, hesitating for just a moment before rushing forward to hug his sister. "You really scared me, you jerk," he mumbled.

Gem hugged him back. "I didn't mean to," she said. "I'm sorry."

Sausage let out a relieved sigh. "Well, I'm glad that's settled," he said softly, then yawned. "I'm going to bed now. Fwhip, are you coming?"

The ginger nodded and kissed Gem's cheek - something he hadn't been able to do since she was little - before walking back over to Sausage, who laced their fingers together.

"Goodnight," Sausage said for the both of them, the rest of them replying with their own goodnights.

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

Pix held his hands out with his eyes closed and felt heat build up in his arms before a bolt of lightning struck from his hands and pushed him backward, where Joel was ready to catch him.

"There you go," Joel said proudly, but Pix felt exhausted. "Now you just have to work on not falling over when you do that." He laughed lightheartedly as he helped Pix get back on his feet.

Joel spent the entire morning trying to get Pix to learn how to at least control when he uses his new abilities, starting with summoning lightning. It had taken hours for Pix to get it to work, too afraid of the amount of heat that came just before.

"Can we take a break?" Pix groaned. "I'm tired."

"Nope," Joel said. "You have to keep going."

Pix sighed and held his hands out again. Like before, he felt heat building up in his arms before lightning struck out of them, sending him into Joel again.

"Joel, please, I'm tired-"

"Again."

Pix groaned before trying again. He was pushed back against Joel, just like the last two times.

"Again," Joel ordered.

Pix looked at him. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

This guy- Pix got back on his feet, stumbling. Just one more time, right? But this time when he held out his hands, his entire body heated up. He ignored it at first, figuring he was just more sensitive to the temperature because he was tired, but he stopped when he got dizzy.

Joel frowned. "Pix-" He froze and watched as Pix fell over, unconscious. "Oh." He sighed and slapped himself in the face. "Of course he passed out, you idiot," he grumbled. "He's not used to this." He looked down at Pix, waiting only a moment before picking him up. Thanks to Katherine's super strength, Pix was extremely light. "I wonder why she doesn't use her power so much."

As he carried Pix to his dorm, he thought about the former's performance. He was pretty skilled already, even though he was still getting the jist of it. It took Joel months just to be able to handle the heat that bubbled in his body when he used his abilities, much less actually use them.

He thought back to the argument he and Pix had about the Honos and how Pix said... They made a mistake.

But that's not possible.

Joel stopped after lying Pix down on his bed, staring at him blankly. "Maybe they didn't make a mistake," he thought aloud, "they were just... waiting for this moment." He gasped and covered his mouth, tears flooding his eyes. "Those powers were never mine. They were for Pixl..." He tried his hardest not to start crying, but as soon as the first sob was choked out, everything else broke loose.

He crumbled to the floor and cried. He was wrong his whole life. He wasn't important. He wasn't special. He wasn't going to grow up to be someone great. He was a conduit, a way of getting those gifts where they needed to be. Which meant all of those years went to utter waste. Everything his image was built upon was a lie.

Everything was a lie.

He was useless.

Nothing about him ever mattered.

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

"Hey, Katherine," Shelby said, making Katherine jump from her spot on her bed and slam her book closed. "Oh- Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." She giggled and Katherine's face turned red.

"N-no, you- it's- it's okay," Katherine said, laughing nervously to herself. "How are you?"

Shelby shrugged and sat next to the other girl. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm still getting used to not being able to lie about anything. Honestly, I really feel bad for Jimmy to have to deal with this all the time."

Katherine nodded. "I can imagine," she said. "Is it cool to know when other people are lying, though?"

Shelby grinned. "I'd be lying if I said no."

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

"Alright, Fwhip," Lizzie said, handing him the same map Pix used when he went to the Nether. "I'll distract the guards while you sneak into the portal with Sausage."

Sausage looked nervous as he held his hand up slightly. "Uh, why do I have to go?" he asked with a nervous laugh. "Not that I don't want to help Fwhip, I just- ...why?"

"Because you're back-up."

"I have a power I don't know how to use, Liz," he deadpanned. "And the power I do know how to use isn't very... back-up-y."

"Just try to use it," Lizzie said before going out in front of the guards and shouting, "Help! Help!" The guards followed her out of the room and Sausage sighed.

"Here goes nothing, I guess." He let Fwhip lead him through the portal and he set a dizzy, uncoordinated foot into the Nether. "Woah-" He gasped and shrieked as he tripped and fell on top of Fwhip. "Sorry." He got off of Fwhip and looked up to see a hoglin staring him in the face. "FWHIP, OH MY GOD-"

Fwhip laughed. "It's fine," he said as he tried to keep Sausage from going back through the portal. "Babe, we're wearing gold jewelry, remember?"

Sausage paused. "Oh, right." He laughed. "Sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Fwhip said, kissing Sausage's cheek before holding his hand and leading him through the crimson forest. "They won't hurt you as long as you don't antagonise them."

Sausage nodded, but still kept close to Fwhip. It was strange, though, because Fwhip was almost taller than him now that he was human. But being human made him even more adorable when he was embarrassed because his pale skin turned completely red every time Sausage made some kind of innuendo. It was easier to tease him.

Sausage quickly began to overheat, though. His silk robe clung to his sweaty skin, making him even hotter. He thought he might pass out when he remembered he brought ice with him.

The thing about bringing water into the Nether was that it evaporated as soon as you opened the bottle, even if the bottle was insulated. But ice needed the chance to melt before evaporating, so as long as you were able to drink it fast enough, you could have water with you. And it was a nice relief for the few moments that it lasted.

"Jeez, do humans really get hot this quickly?" Fwhip asked, drinking his own water.

"According to the history of evolution, our ancestors were even more sensitive to temperature," Sausage said. "They couldn't stand temperatures above twenty-four degrees celsius. Or below fifteen degrees. There are records of many people complaing about it. We're lucky we evolved to be comfortable in temperatures up to one hundred and ninety degrees."

Fwhip sighed. "But you guys still get hot quickly?"

Sausage paused. "Yes."

Groaning, Fwhip moved more vegatation out of the way. They tried to find the path Pix took, but they couldn't so they made their own way. "The human body is so lame," he said. "Goblins can handle these temperatures, no problem."

"Well, you'll just have to deal with it," Sausage teased.

It wasn't long before they got to the ranch, and now they needed to find the gem. Pix had drawn a picture of what he saw, but... it wasn't very hepful. Just netherrack with a bunch of-

"Barrels around," Fwhip murmured, finding a work station in the corner of the fence. "Perhaps-" He peeped his head over the table to look behind it, the gem glowing at him from the ground. "Ha! I found it, Sausage!" he called as he picked it up. There was a heavy gust of wind around him when he held it, then it died down and the gem stopped glowing. "Huh?"

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

"Pixl Riffs!" Fwhip shouted at Pix's sleeping body, startling him awake.

"Woah- Huh- Wha-" Pix sat upright and looked around, clearly confused and not quite awake yet. He shook his head and shut his eyes tightly. "No, I don't want more pie, Uncle Winchester-"

"I'm not your uncle," Fwhip said, then shoved the gem in Pix's face. "Why did it stop glowing when I touched it?"

Pix opened his eyes and looked up at Fwhip. "Huh?"

Fwhip sighed. "I went to the Nether to get the dumb gem," he explained slowly, "and when I picked it up, there was a lot of like- wind? And it stopped glowing. What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Pix said. "How would I know?"

"Because you did all this."

Pix frownes. "I did not."

"Did, too."

"I didn't!"

"You so did-"

"Get out of my room!"

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

"Oh, dammit."

Fwhip looked over at Sausage, who was bending over to pick something off the ground. They were spending time in the meditation garden because Sausage said Fwhip being upset with Pix disrupted Sausage's own energy.

As the brunette picked up whatever he was looking at, the same thing that happened to Fwhip in the Nether happened to him. A gust of wind swirled around him, ripping roughly at his robes, before settling again and leaving Sausage's hair a mess.

"Look at that. My gem was here the whole time. How convenient for me."

Fwhip groaned. "Gosh, Sausage," he said, "how are you so lucky all the time?"

Sausage looked over and smiled. "I have good energy," he said simply. "And I give back to nature. If you give good to nature, then you get good back. Karma is very real, my dear."

Fwhip snickered. "Are you saying this because I complained about the temperatures in the Nether?" he asked jokingly.

Sausage just smiled at him and went back to caring for the plants in the garden. Fwhip couldn't be upset with his boyfriend, though. How could he when he was so damn pretty?

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

Pix wandered around the class building as he looked for the dining hall. It was so hard to remember where things were when he had no clue where anything was. He couldn't tell his left from his right, his up from his down, his north from his south. He could hardly remembed which way was forward and which was backward. Losing his compass was the worst possible thing to happen to him.

He did found the dining hall, though. Eventually. After maybe half an hour. And he was the last person to dinner. Even Jimmy and Gem were there before him, and they hardly left their rooms anymore.

"Maybe it gave you your powers back?" Katherine suggested as Pix walked into the hall.

Fwhip sighed. "If that were the case, you'd be a human and I'd be a goblin," he said.

"We might have to collect all of them first before we get out powers back," Lizzie said.

"But why did it stop glowing, though?" Fwhip asked. "And why was it glowing in the first place?"

"You should ask Borealis," Pix suggested. "She would probably know. She's the one who wanted it in the first place. She knows how it works."

Gem looked up from her dinner. "Huh?"

Fwhip moved to sit down across from her and she almost seemed to try and shrink away from him, like a nervous animal. "Can you ask Borealis why the gems were glowing, then stopped when we picked them up?" he requested, and she hesitated before nodding.

There was a beat of silence before Gem answered.

"She said it's because they, uh..." She paused again. "They imprinted to you."

Sausage blinked. "Like a baby bird?" he asked. "But they're crystals. How does that work?"

Gem shrugged. "That's what Borealis said."

"Borealis told me that the bracelet was sentient when Scott put it on," Pix mentioned.

"That doesn't mean that we can't put them back in the bracelet, does it?" Jimmy asked.

Gem paused again. "...Borealis says it doesn't, but," she stopped to listen to Borealis before speaking again, "it means that they're attached to you now."

Sausage groaned. "What does that mean?" he whined.

"It'll amplify your powers when you activate it," Gem said. "But... Borealis doesn't know how that's done."

"Do you think we'll have to have our own abilities back for them to activate?" Katherine asked.

"Will they do this to all of us?" asked Joey.

"What about-"

"Shut up!" Gem screamed, and suddenly everyone in the room fell dead silent. "Oh, s-sorry," she immediately apologised, laughing nervously as she slumped in her seat. "It's... pretty overwhelming with all of you asking questions at once."

Shelby sighed. "I think we need to figure out where the rest of the gems are before we worry about this, uh... 'imprinting' stuff," she said. "If we get those crystals, they might be able to heal Scott and give us our powers back. We need to focus on just finding out where they are."

Joel looked at Pix. "Which means you need to have another vision."

Pix pursed his lips, resisting the urge to just say no. This was important. His friends were suffering because of what he did. He had to do this. If not for himself, the for the rest of them.

It took a long time for Pix to manifest the first vision, but when he did, he could see a bright red crystal in dirt nearby some kind of dock. The class decided as a whole it was too vague, so he tried having another vision, which showed him a lighthouse.

"That can mean one of two places," Lizzie said. "Sanctuary or Eversea."

"Sanctuary's dock doesn't look anything like that," Sausage said, "so it must be in Eversea. Which also means that it must be Joey's."

Joey quirked an unimpressed brow. "I'm not going all the way to Eversea for a tiny little crystal."

"Joey, you have to!" Katherine said.

The boy blushed a bit and turned his head away. "Okay, fine," he pouted, and Katherine rolled her eyes. "How do I get there?"

The entire class exchanged looks, murmuring a collective, "Um..."

"You guys are useless," Joey sighed. "I'll just go to the dock here in Arcania and sail to Eversea."

Lizzie blinked at him. "Joey, I have your power."

Joey's shoulders slumped. "Right." He groaned. "Then how do you want me to get there?!"

"We'll have to pay for transportation," Joel said. "But that means we'll also have to asked the dean for permission to do that."

"And how do you think that's going to go?" Joey deadpanned, looking Joel up and down.

Joel shrugged. "Pretty well, actually," he said. "I can't predict the future, but if we're iust honest like before, then Ms. Luz will probably give us permission this time."

Scowling, Joey huffed and turned away dramatically. "She didn't let us last time," he said.

"But this is the Overworld, before we wanted to go to the Nether," Joel said. "Which... we did anyway, but that's beside the point. She trusts the Overworld more than the Nether, so she'll have to let us."

Pix sighed. "I'm not so sure about that, Joel," he said. "Aunt Sa- Ms. Luz isn't very-"

"Wait, did you just say 'Aunt'?" Sausage asked.

"Uh... yeah?"

"Ms. Luz is your aunt?!"

Pix blinked. "Yeah..." He shook his head. "That's not the point. I just don't think she'll let Joey go all the way to Eversea. Besides, it could take days."

"Which is a good point," Katherine said, "but while Joey is away, we can continue to look for whatever gems are here on campus."

Shelby hummed to herself. "Perhaps..." She shook her head, dismissing whatever thought she had. "Never mind. Joey, why don't you head down to the dean's office and ask her about transportation while we stay and figure out where the other gems are? ...And also who they belong to. That's a very important part." She laughed. "Can't forget that."

Joey nodded. "I'll be back in a few."

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

"Come on, just one more," Joel insisted to Pix, who had his forehead resting on the table. "Then you can rest."

Pix groaned. He was exhausted, and angry. Joel just wouldn't let up. Almost three hours had past, Joey got the okay from Ms. Luz and was already on his way to Eversea, and most everyone else had gone to bed already. "Joel, I'm not doing another one," he mumbled, so tired that his words melted into one another.

"Pix, come on-"

Pix lifted his head and flipped Joel off. "No." He got up from the table and stumbled out of the dining hall, though not before running straight into the wall.

What reason did Joel have to push him so hard to the point where he's so exhausted he'll pass out? It wasn't fair. Didn't he understand that he can't just... push people like that...

Pix paused, stopping in the common area. "Wait a minute." He thought back to his first day, when he continuously went back in time and exhausted himself just to prove himself to Professor Raven, then how Joel said Raven had been his tutor his whole life...

Oh.

Suddenly it made sense.

Joel was only pushing him so hard because that's how he was taught. He probably grew up thinking his entire life that he had to prove himself, so maybe he was making Pix prove himself because that's how he grew up...

Pix turned around- or, at least he tried to, before slamming right into Joel and knocking them both on the ground. "Oh, sorry-"

"It's fine," Joel said, sniffling and turning his face away. "Just... watch where you're going." He stood up and walked around Pix, keeping his face out of view by using his hand. "You can follow me to our suite."

Pix nodded and took a moment to get up off the ground to clumsily follow Joel down the hallway. Pix knew Joel was crying by the way he sniffled and took deep breaths every other second.

"Joel-"

"Goodnight, Pixl," Joel said, then went inside his room and closed the door behind him.

Pix blinked. "I was going to ask if you could open the door..."

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

The next morning, everyone was up and ready to go search for their gem. They couldn't quite tell whose were whose and Pix refused to manifest any more visions because of a headache, so the best they could do was guess based off of Sausage's and Fwhip's.

"They must have to do with our personalities and our abilities," Pix said thoughtfully, tapping his foot on the ground as he stared at nothing in particular. "Sausage found his in the meditation garden, probably because he's a very calm person and his ability calms others. Fwhip's was in the Nether, probably because the hoglin farm is owned by the goblins. If we were right about Joey's in Eversea, then we can confirm my hypothesis."

Joel snickered. "He's using science terms now."

Pix rolled his eyes, but he smiled a bit anyway. "We just have to put the pieces together," he said.

Sausage let out a sharp, "Oh!" before standing up. "Joey got his!"

"That was quick," Lizzie commented.

"He took the National Tram," Fwhip told her. "It goes fast. Goblins waste no time or resources on regular rails. They're all powered."

Lizzie's eyebrow lifted and she nodded.

"That must mean you were right, Pix," Katherine said.

Shelby hummed. "Yep!"

Pix nodded. "Right." He looked down at the eight drawings of his visions on the table. "There's one at the top of the class building," he said. "I'm assuming that it's Joel's because only somebody with wings would be able to get that high."

"But you have my wings," Joel said.

Pix blinked. "Oh. Right, uh..." He hummed to himself. "How about we come back to that one?" he said as he set that drawing aside to grab another. "This one looks like it's in a court yard of some kind. I would say it's Scott's, but he still has his in the bracelet."

"What if it's Shelby's?" Gem asked. "She lived in a forest and she does a lot of plant magic."

Shelby shrugged. "I don't know," she said, staring down at the drawings. "I grew up in the Witch's District in the Evermore, so I think mine would be in the Mangrove behind the campus."

"Is it Lizzie's?" Fwhip asked. "Animalia has a lot of courtyards, right?"

Lizzie shrugged. "I can try it," she said. "Is it the one on the main campus?"

Pix nodded. "I think so."

"Okay. I'll go there now, then." She waved and left the dining hall for the main courtyard.

"I'll go to the Mangroves," Shelby said, then left after saying her temporary goodbyes and 'see you later's.

"Right, so next is the chandelier in the common area," Pix said. "I think that one is yours, Gem, since your power and your religion has to do with light."

Gem nodded. "I'll go get a ladder, then," she said with a laugh, then left the dining hall.

"These last ones are tricky," Pix sighed. "There's one in the Ancient Capitol's froglight fruit farm, one in the Goddess Peril's temple, one in the library, and one in a landfill. I don't know whose is whose. They're pretty abstract for those of us left." He laughed. "Well, besides the one in the froglight fruit farm. That one is probably mine or Katherine's."

"Wait," Katherine said. "There's only three of us left. You, me, and Jimmy."

Pix blinked at her before looking down at the drawings again. He counted the ones set aside, then counted on his fingers the amount of his classmates. "Maybe False gets one, too."

"She's a robot, though," Sausage said.

"And she's out of commission," Fwhip added. "She has been since all this happened."

Pix hummed. "That makes all of this harder," he groaned.

"Well," Katherine began, "I think you and I should take the Tram to the Capitol to check out the two gems there, and Jimmy can check the library and landfill."

Jimmy grimaced. "If mine is not in the library, I will cry," he said decisively. That was the first time he spoke that morning since he was the only one who actually got breakfast.

"Then check the library first," Pix said. "And when Katherine and I get back, we'll assess who has their crystal and who doesn't."

Jimmy nodded. "I'll go do that now."

Joel sighed and stretched his arms over his head. "And I guess I'll figure out how to get on the roof."

"I can try to help," Sausage offered, but Joel shook his head.

"I'm good."

Sausage rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Alright, Katherine," Pix said. "Let's go visit home."

*°•☆ ● ☆•°*

LORE. Again. More lore. And angst. A lot of it. All of it. Lore and Angst. Angst and Lore.

Anyway, I feel like this might just be updated once a month, since that's the pattern I've been (unintentionally) experiencing lmao

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!!! Love y'all <33 /gen/p