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eloquentornot · 4 months

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"Hey, False!"

"Oh! Gem, hi!"

Just as Gem had hoped, False seemed startled by her sudden appearance by elytra, but recovered quickly! Gem giggled.

"Are you ready to teach me PvP?"

"Wait, what?"

"You know, like you promised me the other day?" Gem asked, slightly confused.

"Oh… oh, yeah, right!" False laughed nervously. "Sorry, my… memory… isn't always great. I remember now!"

"Oh… well, that's okay!" Gem tried not to let her disappointment show. "If you're not ready now, we can always-"

"Hey, now! I didn't say I wasn't ready for PvP. You know about me, right?" False smiled confidently, and Gem grinned in return.

"The Queen of Hearts, Heads and Body Parts! Oh, thank you so much! This is going to be so fun!! Don't go easy on me, okay?"

False brandished her sword, but then stopped to consider something.

"I mean… are you sure about that? You want to last long enough to learn something from it, right?"

"Well…" It was a good point. Gem couldn't hide behind the excuse of it being a lesson, for what she really wanted. "Okay, when we start doing proper lessons, go easy on me at first, but right now I just want to see what you can do!" She already knew what False could do, of course, but to see it up close, to be slain by the famous Falsesymmetry… "Come on, fight me! Let's go!" She swung her own sword enthusiastically, an attack that False easily dodged!

"If you say so…" False chuckled, and prepared to strike…

The battle was over even faster than Gem expected!

She lay on the path in spawn village, freshly respawned but head still spinning from adrenaline, grinning wildly as she tried to make sense of what she'd seen. One moment, False had been posed elegantly in front of her, the next…

She had so much to learn. This new life promised to be the most fun yet!

"I'm on Hermitcraft!!" she cheered!

"You sure are!" replied a familiar voice, as False landed somewhere in front of her. "Are you ready to start your PvP training today, like we said?"

Gem sat up, confused.

"False, you literally just killed me."

"Oh? Yeah… yeah! I have done that!" False answered awkwardly, and Gem was concerned for a moment. Was her memory really that bad?

But then Gem understood the joke.

"Oh, right! Killing me as a demonstration was so easy, you're ready to start actually training me right away? I'm up for it, sure!" She leapt to her feet, but then her vision blurred for just a moment. "Whoa, maybe gimmie a minute, though…" she giggled.

"Right, yes!" False replied. "You just wait right there, and I'll grab your stuff for you."

"Wait, you didn't bring my stuff with you just now?"

"No, I… left it in a chest! I didn't realise you'd respawn here. Sorry."

"Okay…" Gem was still a bit too dizzy to fully process what was going on, and then False was flying off, and then Gem sat down once more, this time against a wall, and took a deep breath. Within moments, she was totally fine. Nothing had even been wrong, just, new life, new body. She'd get used to pushing herself a bit more, soon enough.

After all, Gem was great, as the newly coined saying went…

*****

It was time to practice jump-crits, and Gem leapt high!

…And higher, and higher, and higher, screaming louder, until finally she landed with an unceremonious thud, all thoughts of the weapon in her hands now a distant memory.

"Whoa, are you okay?!" False crouched down beside her. "Hey, you haven't been taking Jump Boost potions, have you?" she joked, when she saw no sign of physical injury.

"That wasn't a potion effect!" Gem said in a panic, half forgotten Celestial instincts screaming, telling her exactly what had happened but not why… "It was like… gravity… changed?"

If False said anything in response to that, Gem didn't hear it. She almost left, then and there, but she knew that would only cause more panic for False. For all her friends, on Hermitcraft. She promised herself, there and then, that whatever happened next, even if things started to get serious, she wouldn't just abandon them.

*****

"Gem! Gem, where are you?! Gem!"

"False!!" she called in reply. The quakes were getting worse, blocks flying everywhere… Stress hadn't been seen in weeks…

But she still wasn't giving up on that promise!

"Oh, there you are!" False sighed in relief, as the two began running hand-in-hand away from the worst of the fractures in the land around them. "Listen, I was thinking, earlier, and…"

"We have to get back to the bunker! I think this one will pass soon!"

Gem hadn't been wrong, before, getting a sense of how the forces holding the world together were… interacting, with what was coming. The moon. It was clear now, what was going on. But still, the hermits held out hope. No-one wanted to leave, while there were still people missing.

"Gem, I… okay, I trust you."

Had False been about to say something else? It didn't matter.

"Wait…"

"What is it?" Gem asked, as the two of them suddenly stopped.

"I just realised… I guess it doesn't really matter now… but we would have been having our weekly sparring practice, around now…"

"Oh." She was right, Gem realised, and she disagreed. It did matter. It mattered a lot, actually, that things were getting bad enough that even the parts of the schedule the hermits actually managed to stick to consistently were coming undone. "Yeah. That's… I guess we'll have to do more work next week, then!" Assuming it all blows over by then. You just had to assume, right? After all, Hermitcraft didn't do unhappy endings. Did it?

"Right…"

Then, something happened.

The moonlight, already so much brighter than it ought to have been, seemed to brighten yet again, highlighting everything in blurry white, casting colour away as the two were swept upwards, now clutching both of each others' hands.

It was getting worse, worse, worse, this time they floated higher than ever before, but this time there was no screaming. Just this once, Gem allowed herself to feel some of the peace she so desperately needed, the celestial peace she could easily grasp in full if she just… let go.

But she held on. To this life, and to False, her dearest friend…

All around them, the roaring storm seemed to be pure silence, Gem's whisper carrying loud and clear:

"False… I promise, I will never leave you."

False's eyes widened, glimmering in the moonlight. The expression on her face suddenly seemed so familiar to Gem, from a distant childhood memory. It was a face she'd never seen since, until now. That intensity of emotion, which drew the great celestials towards humanity and other such creatures, the indescribable beauty that people could bring, even to tragedy…

Oh. From what she'd learned since she last saw it, that face wasn't a positive emotion. But before Gem could think on it any more, the moment ended, moonlight dimmed by a passing cloud, and the two of them gently lowered to the ground.

It was exactly as if a raging storm had passed, and neither of them spoke for a few moments.

Soon, they returned to the bunker, still hand-in-hand.

Days later, Gem wiped away a tear, as she stepped through the portal she had crafted.

*****

Things were a lot different, this season. Gem had started out a bit out of practice, and after a few more weeks, had approached False, both to apologise and to ask for more lessons. Thankfully, the feeling was mutual.

"Let's leave the past in the past, yeah?" False had said. "Things got weird last season… I'll be more than glad to teach you again, how's tomorrow?"

But the next day, things seemed… different. False apologised, again, and so did Gem, but then suddenly everything was fine, but then…

Gem wondered just how much of a memory problem False had. Her mood sometimes seemed to alternate each week, but Gem was too polite to point it out. She decided to think nothing of it.

Now, months later, Gem was almost winning more than False! Some weeks, False was going easy on her, full teacher mode, focused on technique and keeping things as even as she could. But other times, when she seemed more tired or stressed… Those times, Gem knew she was winning for real! It was fun to see False, the Falsesymmetry, actually struggle to keep up with her!

She was getting so good at PvP, starting to collect as many heads from the other hermits as she could, Geminislay!

But at some point, something changed. Gem didn't know what, only that it started when False missed one week. After that, she was always more reserved. She still seemed a bit stressed, sometimes, but kept the lessons even more professional than ever. She didn't even seem to respond to some of the in-jokes they'd made, during those more intense battles…

Was it just False's memory problem? Gem wondered if she'd done something wrong, but she didn't want to make things awkward by asking.

One day, she brought up the possibility of practicing less often, if False was getting too busy with her base or anything, and…

It almost hurt, how quickly False agreed.

Still, by this point, Gem was used to relationships coming and going. And with more free time on her hands… there was always that other world she had recently noticed, wasn't there?

*****

Gem sighed contentedly, gazing out across her little kingdom.

The Princess of Dawn. It was a nice title, if she did say so herself. She'd say she had big plans for this place, but really she was just going with the flow and creating whatever came to mind, in between how busy she was with everything else…

Compared to Hermitcraft, this place was somehow more peaceful and less so. Everyone was so much more dedicated to the roleplaying!

At least, that's what she told herself. If everyone here truly believed the stories they'd shared, at that campfire…

Well, one way or another, it was another world, wasn't it?

Suddenly, her daydreaming was interrupted, as she noticed the approach of a familiar face! One she hadn't had a chance to speak to one-on-one, yet.

"Falsesymmetry! How do you do?" she called, from her balcony.

False looked up, something in her eyes, almost startled.

"Um. You're Geminitay, right?"

"Princess Gem, yes," she corrected, but not too harshly. To make it clear there was no harm done, she smiled brilliantly.

"Right, we already know each others' names… Well, I just… I know we've probably never met before, but I just have this… feeling… about you…"

"Go on…" Gem leaned over the wall, not bothering to conceal much of her excitement. Oh, everything was so new, and interesting, and here, somehow, was False… what was she up to? How was she here? Was it really the same one, if she decided her character was feeling that way? Or was it memories leaking through the multiverse to a different person?

After a few seconds of silence, False decided what to say.

"Do you… want to practice sparring, some time? I mean, I'm not challenging you, or anything, it's only if you want to…"

"…Oh." Well, this was a little awkward. Gem probably should have seen this coming. "I'm sorry, False, I'm… a pacifist. The only challenge I've ever accepted was my own, to never so much as hold a weapon…"

"What? Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I don't know why I asked. Stupid of me, really, I mean you are a princess, it makes sense that you wouldn't fight…" She turned away, started walking, faster than she'd approached. "Sorry…"

"False, wait! It's okay!" Gem clarified, holding out her hand as if she could stop False from leaving. "I'm not offended at all! You can still hang out with me here, we'll just have to find something else to do, that's all!"

False looked back.

"…Right. Thanks, Princess Gem. I'll… think about it. Again, sorry. I don't even know why I came here…"

And before Gem could say anything else, False was gone.

"Huh. What is up with her?"

*****

All the way from Halloween to Christmas. That was how the length of time was measured by the hermits, anyway, the empires had a different system. But however they chose to recount it, it had been months of chaos, two worlds collided… and now everything was back to normal for both.

It certainly wasn't as if it had never happened, for one thing she now had a raid farm to look at from both of her shores…

Gem sighed. On a more positive note, her head collection was looking better than ever! The basement of her elven palace was now lavishly decorated, heads organised in various categories, cells full!

"Gem? Are you down here?"

"Oh, False! Is it time for our practice already?" Gem leapt playfully in the direction of the voice, and in less than a second, both of them had a blade pointed at the other's throat!

"Ah, there you are!" False grinned, and wow Gem had missed this!

Come to think of it, she hadn't spoken to False much during that whole crossover. Strange, really, given that her secret was finally out to most hermits and also Pixlriffs somehow, but she'd heard no word of anything similar happening to False. Even stranger if it was the other option, and she just had an alternate universe counterpart there, that no-one had seen two Falsesymmetries together…

But suddenly, that thought sparked an odd sense of deja vu for Gem, and she was distracted, False gaining the upper hand in their sudden battle.

Her disadvantage didn't last long, however, as she swiftly dodged around the stairs to gain the high ground!

"Ooh, too slow, False!" she teased.

"Oh yeah? What if I've got you right where I want you?" False jokingly bluffed.

Again, a flash of memory. But this time…

"Ahahaha! Now I've got you right where I want you!"

"False! This isn't funny, you know I can't fight back!!"

"Exactly! Might as well get the easy heads out of the way for my collection…"

"Hold on, time out, what is going on? What kind of character are you playing here? Who are you??"

"Oh, this isn't a game, Princess…"

"What? Oh, fine… Don't do this! I'll… I'll tell everyone!"

"No. You won't."

Gem gasped, stumbled backwards and found herself sitting on the stairs. What was that?!

"Wait, Gem, are you okay?" False lowered her sword immediately, and sat down next to Gem.

"I… I think I just… remembered something? But how did I forget? How did I forget… that?"

"Forget what?"

"I… it was something on Empires. I mean, in that other world. You know, the one through the Rift?"

"Oh… Right, I remember hearing something about you living there too? I'm… sorry the Rift closed. Thanks for choosing to stay here…"

"No, no, it's fine! I didn't even know about the Rift, I have my own way of getting there and back! So… is that why I haven't seen you there, since then? Were you using the Rift to get between lives?"

"What? You haven't seen her- uh, me?"

Gem frowned.

"Actually, I've been wanting to ask, but I wasn't sure how. Is it you, in that other world? Like, set aside the roleplay for a minute, is it really? I'm actually confused, here."

"Gem, what do you mean roleplay?"

"I mean… like, you know! Stories! Games! Like… those times, when we used to spar every week, and sometimes you'd get really intense and mad, but it was always just an act, afterwards it was all fine?"

But False didn't look fine. She looked… horrified?

"But that's… It was you!!" she gasped, suddenly enraged! "You did this to her! It was your fault!! Ugh, all those times I thought she was blaming me! All those notes she made for herself, 'she did this not you' and I thought she meant me but she meant YOU!!"

"What?? False, stop! Slow down, what are you talking about?"

"She's not me! And she's not my alternate universe counterpart, either!" Tears ran down False's face, but Gem had too many questions to stop now.

"Then who is she?"

"She's my sister! My twin! Or my clone, or I'm her clone, or something! I don't know! The point is, we were always together. The two of us. The two of me. We were the False Symmetry. Until you came along with your oh-so-innocent charm, using us to get stronger and egging her on even after she started to snap…" Realisation dawned. "Treating everything like a game!! That's what was going on, wasn't it? All along! You thought it was all a game, so you never stopped when it was clear she was getting too violent!!"

"Wait… what…?" Gem was horrified. How could this be true? "But that means… she was here? Both of you were hermits?"

"A hermit. We were a hermit. Together. We were exactly the same. Until she started to change… How could I have been so blind? Of course it wasn't just this season. Of course we couldn't leave behind all that nonsense… it wasn't just the moon. It was you."

"False… I'm so sorry…"

A moment of silence.

"Well, it's too late now," False said. "The Rift is closed, and either way, I made sure she can't be a threat anymore."

"…What did you do?"

"I made her forget. I sent her through it, ages ago, long before the whole crossover thing. That was around the time you offered to stop bothering me so much… I guess I never was as close to you as she was."

"Hang on…" Gem thought back on some of her moments with False. "Which one of you was it when…"

"It doesn't matter. She's gone, and when we were all stuck there I checked up on her. She's fine now, happy… Wait, but you said you hadn't seen her in a while?"

"No, but… there's something else… are you sure she's not a threat?"

False's face dropped.

"No. Wait, no nono no no… when you said you remembered something you'd forgotten, just now… you don't mean…"

"Something… I'm not sure, maybe, but if you said it was never a game to you, or to her…" Gem gasps. It all comes flooding back, full clarity!

The Princess of Dawn strolled down the elegant cobbled street she had just finished laying, admiring her handiwork in the golden light of the setting sun. It was bedtime, so she made sure her wandering took her towards her bedroom, but just a few more minutes of fresh air couldn't hurt…

A cold silver glint of light caught her eye, and Gem's head swiveled towards the shadows, instincts from another life telling her to reach for a sword she didn't carry as she peered into the darkness.

In moments, the silhouette of a cloaked figure appeared, stepping menacingly into the lamplight. The sharp iron knife in their hand glinted once more.

"Uh… H-hello… Who are you?" Gem politely asked.

The figure said nothing, only took one step towards her, then another, slow, methodical, purposeful.

Gem stood frozen, until she heard a familiar laugh echo from beneath the cloak.

"False?" she asked. "Is that you?"

The figure stopped. Then, Falsesymmetry raised her free hand, and threw off the cumbersome black cape in one fluid motion.

Her eyes seemed blank.

"Looks like I lost my element of surprise… Oh well."

In the next moment, False darted forward, knife gleaming!

Gem screamed, and ran into the nearest building, but unfortunately this one only had one door! She was trapped!

"Ahahaha! Now I've got you right where I want you!" False grinned madly, stalking towards where Gem cowered in the corner.

"False! This isn't funny, you know I can't fight back!!" Gem's heart hammered.

"Exactly! Might as well get the easy heads out of the way for my collection…"

"Hold on, time out, what is going on? What kind of character are you playing here? Who are you??"

"Oh, this isn't a game, Princess…" False had reached Gem now, and held the knife to her chin, and said the word 'Princess' with such venom that Gem could no longer believe it. She felt foolish for breaking character, this was an incredible plot twist after all!

"What? Oh, fine… Don't do this! I'll… I'll tell everyone!"

"No. You won't."

False lifted a small vial of dark grey liquid, and smashed it into Gem's forehead, before going for the kill.

"I remember now! She was terrifying! Did that potion make me forget? And she didn't think it was a game??"

"No… no, that can't be right! She was happy, she was back to normal… But wait, if she used the amnesia potion on you, how did you remember? Gem, what are you?"

"I'm… a Celestial. I can jump through worlds whenever I want, and… I forget that not everything's a game, I guess."

"Celestial…?" False frowned. "I guess we never tested the potion on those…" But then something else dawned on her. "But she can't have just been pretending, when I was watching her. I know her, I know me! The amnesia potion did work on her, but sometimes it breaks? And, and, when she started going crazy, she talked about all kinds of stuff I had no idea about, but maybe she wasn't making stuff up, maybe she was remembering what happened before! Gem, maybe just being around you breaks her amnesia!"

"What do you mean, before?"

"Oh, well… It's like I said. We don't know which one of us is older. But, if I'm a clone… maybe something happened to her before I came along, that she forgot?"

"So whether it was the PvP, or my magic interfering with her mental block… Oh, it really is my fault! And every time she killed me in revenge I thought it was a game! Oh, False!" Gem started to cry, now. How had she been so naive?

"Hey, it's okay… wait, have you been sparring with her in that world too?"

"No! At least I didn't make it worse there! I don't fight on Empires, and when I told her that, she didn't seem to want to be my friend anymore… I didn't know what to do, that's why I never asked what was going on!" Gem suddenly stood, and dashed up the stairs. "But I can fix it! I'll go take a nap, get to Empires, find her and fix things! I'll… apologise! I mean, you said she was the one who…"

"Wait," False said, running after her, "if you being there makes it worse, what if she can only get better when you're not there?"

"Or, what if it's too late and she's remembered everything, and I can make things better with the real her?" Gem was desperate, but she had to keep believing. Everything always turned out for the best on Hermitcraft… except…

"Gem, wait!"

Reaching the top of the stairs, Gem turned around.

"And why does she keep her head collection a secret?? Why did you send her to a world where everyone takes murder so seriously for no reason!!"

False stopped.

"I… I didn't know where I was sending her… I just thought she needed to get away from… me…"

"Why? What did you do to her?" Gem thought for a moment. "Other than erase her memories."

"That was my last resort!" False insisted. "I didn't just wipe her mind straight away! I… kept her locked up, for… a while. Tried some… experiments. I was just trying to work out what had gone wrong!"

Gem stared. With effort, she didn't laugh.

"So, it's not all my fault, then?" she said slowly.

"I… guess not." False sighed. "Hey. If you do manage to get through to her… can you tell her I'm sorry, too?"

Gem nodded, with a sad smile.

"And don't worry. I'll try to keep all of this a secret… in both worlds."

"Thanks," False smiled weakly. "Good luck!" she whispered, as Gem dashed away.

*****

"Tick… tock… tick… tock…" sang a deep, heavily distorted voice. "So… a ruler of an empire of iron, with a dark side… And, either the wizard managed to ascend, or we have a very interesting visitor from another reality entirely… And the Sculk… Oh, there's so much fun to be had! Not long now… tick… tock… tick… tock!"

*****

From the "Sparring Practice" prompt of Geminitay appreciation week by @dronepikachu, sorry it's late!

#geminitay appreciation week #gemweek #fanfic #geminitay #falsesymmetry #two of her #hermitcraft #empires smp

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