Purple shards stuck to Ash's grey body and to my own hoodie as we ran through the Nether portal and into the bright overworld where Ash quickly jumped down the blackstone stairs towards the Community House.

Someone had removed the waterfalls that had poured over the broken house, revealing just how damaged it was. The doorways were large enough to let a horse, like Ash, through.

We passed under the shambled bricks and onto the temporary dirt bridges connecting the four entrances, something catching my eye.

I pulled on Ash's reins, making her stop. Her sides heaved under my calves, pulse and heart beating fast. She briefly shook her head, sending her mane flying.

Lines of people were milling around, some teary-eyed and others with serious expressions. My friends and family were amongst the group, talking quietly to each other.

Armor was being passed between them all, along with weapons and potions. I caught sight of golden apples being shoved into pockets with hurried secrecy.

Puffy turned her head at the sound of hooves cantering, her red pirate coat swishing in the cold winter breeze. The wind caught her white curly hair, almost pulling the soft feather from her black hat.

"Y/n? What are you doing here?" She asked, coming over. Others turned their heads with surprise.

"Which direction did they go?" I answered her question with my own.

There wasn't enough time for small talk.

Puffy fished in her coat for something, her hand emerging with a compass. It glowed and the needle stayed dead behind me, pointing in the direction of its anchor.

"Tommy made a replica of the one Dream left for him, leaving it for you." She pressed it into my hand, taking a step back after.

There was something like pride hidden behind the worry and slight tears in her eyes. Sam came up behind her, his mask pulled to the side to reveal the same expression as he placed his hand on Puffy's shoulder.

"Save them, they're going to need your help against that green bastard," She said. Then she winked and gave me an almost-hidden smirk. "If you need anything, we'll be right behind you."

I nodded, gazing out at my friends and family once more. They all looked back at me, wonder and curiosity on their faces.

There was something going on with the weapons and readying of a fight.

Punz stepped to the front, peering up at me on my mount. A gold chain stuck out against his enchanted netherite chest plate and his blonde hair fluttered.

For a moment I was back before L'manberg, tackling Punz to the ground when I thought he was an intruder to our makeshift camp. We were young and reckless, unmatured by war.

Now, there was a plan in his eyes and the slight nod of confirmation he gave me.

Then I kicked Ash back into motion, following the red needle.

-

We ran through the forests behind Eret's stone castle, dark spruce leaves turning into light oak leaves as winter lost its hold on the warmer biomes. Balmy breezes kissed my faces as Ash ran as fast as she could around trees and roots.

Her hooves carefully avoided ruts, jumping over the small streams filled with rocks and pebbles. Sun rays glinted off of them and they caught my eye, salmon swimming in a blur of scales.

Somehow, even with the distance, Ash never tired. She kept pushing herself, breaking through low branches and tall grass without a problem.

The trees began thinning out ahead of us, my horse noticing and picking up her speed. The grass began to give away to loose sand, flying as Ash came to a staggering halt.

I stared at the lapping waves of blue water then looking down at the compass clutched in my palm.

The needle still stayed forward.

Tommy and Tubbo had crossed the ocean long before I had gotten here. Not even their tiny dots were on the clear horizon.

But I could faintly make out land in the distance if I squinted my eyes.

I swung myself out of the saddle, plopping onto the soft sand. Ash huffed and pawed at the ground, still wanting to run and push her limbs long after they should be.

White foam brushed my toes where I stood at the edge of the sand. Water met land here, the ocean floor dipping down into the depths just a few feet out with darker water.

Ash snorted through her speckled nose behind me, stomping her hoof. She was impatient, waiting for me to find a way to the teens with her taking me there.

I turned to face her, coming up to rest my brow on her forehead with my hands on her muzzle. For a moment, it was quiet and peaceful with only the sounds of lapping water and the swaying leaves.

If I tried hard enough, I could even push out the distant feel of darkness and hear the chirping of birds where they nested in the oak trees by the kind sea.

"I have to go by myself from here, girl," I whispered into her soft fur. "Go on home, you know the way."

She sighed, understanding my words. There was a quiet goodbye passing between a horse and her owner, possibly the last one to their dismay.

I patted her gently, taking a step back and turning to look out at the ocean once more.

A long time ago, I had tried to cross the ocean and conquer it in the journey to first save Tommy. It had almost killed me, the monsters below pulling me below the murky surface as soldiers do.

But I wouldn't go down this time, not after training with my magic. And I had learned that I couldn't conquer the ocean.

No, there was no conquering Mother Nature.

I took a deep breath, sinking into my magic and the pulse running through me. Everything was alive around me, beating with the earth's gentle but harsh heart.

Mother Nature was cruel but too kind at the same time. She was kind in the shape of warm summer days and buzzing bees, and cruel with freezing winters and angry oceans that would pull anyone into the depths.

More often than not, I was forced to work with both of those sides. A piece of me has even intertwined with nature thanks to my naturalist powers.

So I couldn't take control of the earth with my fist, I would have to befriend Mother Nature herself and work together.

Then I was running towards the ocean, water splashing around me for a moment before going still. My magic sunk to my feet and into the ocean like oil spilling into it.

I was running on top of the water, ripples echoing around each step on the still water. A faint glow illuminated under my feet as I stepped on invisible stepping stones, crossing the ocean in great strides.

The ocean was calm enough today for me to run across its surface with ease. If gurglers were below, waiting with their tridents aimed for me, I was too quick for them to throw.

Even if I didn't have Noemi to directly connect me to the gods above, I could feel their presence all around me in a faint halo. They flattened their palms on the ocean surface, smoothing a trail for me.

And there she was, Mother Nature amongst them all. She wasn't a goddess or even a higher power.

She was the heartbeat in my chest and the ocean's salty air. She was the dolphins jumping beside me and the driftwood floating by.

My powers bloomed like a flower, developing with the understanding of the world and its center.

I didn't chance to look behind me to see if Ash had remained. There was too much focus needed to not let myself sink down like a dead weight.

Blue sky passed over my head as I skipped across the ocean like I was the goddess of the ocean herself.

If I wasn't on my way to risk my life, I would've been having the time of my life with warm breezes whipping my braid behind me and the tiny droplets spraying my face. The air smelled of salt and tangy fruit.

Huge mountains covered in almost-brown grass and shrubs jutted abruptly out of the water in the form of a large island. Acacia trees' broad canopies swayed in the mocking gusts.

The air seemed to raise several degrees as my feet stepped off of water and onto dry land, sand and seaweed crunching under my boots. Any sign of winter was gone here, tropical air replacing it.

I jumped up the sand dunes and sprinted under leafy shadows and through clear plains with the compass guiding my every step.

The needle led me up to one of the largest pieces of land I had ever seen.

It climbed high into the sky, my head tilting all the way back and I couldn't even see the top. Stone poked out on the sides under the crumbling dirt and weeds, some out of place wooden planks placed.

My eyes narrowed on what was obviously Tommy and Tubbo's path up the mountain. It was sloppy and dangerous, clinging to the side, but it would be enough.

I dropped the compass, hearing the glass crack on the dull grass. The smooth exterior of an ender pearl slipped in my sweating hands as I tugged one from the pouch.

Before I could back out of it, I took a step back and threw my ender pearl as high as it could go, becoming a speck in my eyes.

I braced my knees, waiting for the moment I would be pulled apart and then put back together again to be teleported.

My breath caught as the temperature abruptly dropped and the world became black. Blue skies and fluffy clouds disappeared into the suffocating void.

Then a second later, I stumbled onto an oak plank with my arms pinwheeling.

I didn't dare look down, where I had previously been several hundred feet below where a herd of wild horses now galloped by as tiny dots.

The platform was thin and little, just giving me enough space to plant my feet and look up again.

I did the same motion twice more, getting steadier with each landing I made. My arms no longer spun wildly to grasp the air for a brace and my feet were always ready for impact.

But as the air thinned and trees vanished into green specks, my magic became weary as it picked up on dark and foreign power flooding over the top of the mountain.

Dream's godly manipulator was fighting up there, battling through his puppet. His powers spat and burned me like a heatwave blasting me.

So as I pulled my arm back to throw the last pearl, I burrowed deep into my magic's reserves and mentally ran over the routine I had practiced with Foolish only the night before.

It sped through my veins with thrill mixed with worry and power, ready to be unleashed.

My magic knew as well as I did that this was the last shot.

It's time to get that green bastard we love back.

The voice, my voice, whispered in my mind. It sounded exactly like me but with a celestial elegance that I could never muster in a human body.

Everything went dark one last time, taking me up to where evil power filled the air and not even my magic had to tell me that this was bad.

I took off with quick steps as soon as the grass and roots reappeared. Now I was moving with my own moral and magical needle, its target pinned around the corner.

Cackling split through the air, shaking my bones. I knew who it belonged to before I even came around the side of the mountain where there was a small clearing.

But what I saw made me freeze, my magic stammering to a stop.

Dream was clutching Tubbo with his armor-clad arm around his neck, almost choking the boy. The faint outline of DreamXD was behind him, his hands raised with red threads holding Dream's arm in place.

Then there was Tommy, standing a few feet away with his muscles tense. His blue eyes were glued to his best friend, not even breathing in fear.

And in his lowered hand was mellohi, the purple and white shining in the orange light of the savannah sun.

He had gotten it. Tommy and Tubbo got the disc, but at what cost?

Tubbo was now pinned to Dream's chest, his enchanted diamond sword thrown in front of him. His face was pale as he stared at Tommy with a plea.

But it wasn't a plea for help.

No, it was for Tommy to take the disc and leave Tubbo.

"Give me the disc back, Tommy," Dream said smoothly, lifting his other hand slightly. "Or Tubbo dies."

The razor-sharp edge of Dream's netherite ax reflected Tommy's fear and conflict as clear as day.

"What?" Tommy said, his voice cracking.

I watched, frozen in place by my instincts. Everything human told me to turn around and get as far away from here as possible.

Yet, my magic and heart urged me to fight tooth and nail for these boys and the man trapped by a god.

And I would fight till my last breath, even if that was sooner than I hoped.

So I forced myself out of the fog and into broad daylight, no longer hidden by the shade of the rising mountain.

"Oh c'mon, Tommy, just hand it over," Dream hummed. Then he noticed me, his grip tightening around Tubbo's neck. His voice became cooler, more confident, "And look who crashed the party."

Triumph briefly flashed across both teens' faces before disappearing back into fear. Tubbo wasn't free from Dream's grasp, yet, and Tommy was still caught in the middle.

In response, I only smirked at Dream's chilling mask and let poison fill my voice as my hands raised,

"It wasn't a real party without me."

Then in one swift motion, I was kneeling with my hands slamming onto the ground, making the very ground we stood on split into two.

~~~~

let's get this party started >:)