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lunarsands · 2 years ago

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ALSMP Fanfic: Along The Roads To Sanctuary Ch 3

Bonus also Empires SMP S2 fanfic! I just didn’t want to make the title field too long ^_^;

Characters: PearlescentMoon, Scott Smajor, MythicalSausage, Eddie the Rabbit, Joel Smallishbeans, Bubbles the Dog, Empires Hermes, mentions of other Empires S2 characters, including a certain misplaced warlock… Sausage Supreme

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor

Tags: Canon Divergent, fictional religion, scosage, Afterlife SMP meets Empires SMP S2 but in an AU way

Warnings: violence, surrealism via magic auras, humorous misunderstandings about infidelity (tfw your husband cheats on you…with you), kidnapping (although we know how that went in canon)

(Sequel to Echoing Through To You, When The Skies Cry, Until The Blood Moon Descends, Then We’ll Rewrite The Stars, Wherever These Flowers May Grow)

Summary: A happily ever afterlife is interrupted by the distant past; Sausage receives another calling and is sent into a different mortal world from their old one, with Scott insisting on following so they won’t be separated. They both lead brand new lives but only Scott regains memories of the previous one on his own, and he isn’t allowed to remind Sausage about any of it without jeopardizing the mission the angel was sent to complete – a mission someone else was supposed to have dealt with.

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ]

[A/N: English translations for the Spanish dialogue are included at the end of the chapter.]

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Chapter Three

Sausage busied himself with collecting various supplies from around the lands to take his mind off things. Stocking up on more terracotta never hurt, and he needed a few more stacks of mud bricks for a project he had in mind. Some extra wool could be useful, too…

By the time he headed home, it was nightfall again. Well, at least he’d had a productive day, if not accomplishing the one thing he had set out to do. It was just as well; on his way back from Glimmergrove, he had come up with the idea of using some magic to try to duplicate the special flowers and put a few into pots to give to Scott so he could propagate them in Chromia.

The first thing Sausage noticed as he swooped down from the sky to choose his landing spot was stomping footsteps, then his ears caught the sound of an ominous heartbeat. That shouldn’t be happening… Dolores was usually standing still focused on the noise machine in their cave.

He looked down as he circled an extra turn over the area. He saw the dark turquoise of the Warden’s branching ears as they twitched while Dolores followed on the trail of a wandering Panda.

Well, this wasn’t good.

He landed a fair distance away and began sneaking in the direction of the cave to make sure that it actually was Dolores and not some other Warden. Right away he could hear that the noise machine had stopped. “Wait, where did the magical barrier go?? And who shut off the machine without getting splattered all over the walls??”

He turned toward the sound of a Warden roar. He held his breath as a wave of darkness swept over the area. When the light returned, he quickly but cautiously crept in Dolores’ direction, calling out in a quiet voice, “Bubbles! Do you know what happened – uh, Bubbles? Where are you, girl?” With something this dangerous happening, she should have come to alert him as soon as she saw him approaching Sanctuary.

Sausage looked around with a slight bit of panic, trying to keep track of where Dolores was heading and attempting to locate Bubbles at the same time. He didn’t want either of them to tangle with the other, but there were also the villagers at risk, and while Dolores never seemed interested in chasing Hermes, he would rather the child not end up involved in any way.

Yet also, aside from the stomping and the heartbeat, things were unnervingly quiet.

“All right, all I have to do is restart the machine and lead Dolores back to the cave, and then the magic should put a new barrier in place. This should be easy – probably easier than the first time.” Sausage chuckled nervously to himself as he returned to the cave to reactivate the machine.

He still would have liked to find Bubbles first, but Dolores was wandering close to the trading hall, and he needed to get them off that particular path before there was any sonically-charged shrieking about to happen. He took out his bow and fired an arrow at the Warden’s feet. “Hey! Dolores! ¡Mira aquí!”

Rather ponderously they turned and sniffed, then roared as he fired another arrow. “¡Aquí por favor! Follow me, follow me! You know you want to go back to your nice little cave! Next time you really want to go for a walk, just ask – Ohno!” He yelped and started running as Dolores charged toward him.

When he neared the cave, he engaged his elytra and launched upward at the last second. He breathed a sigh of relief as Dolores continued forward inside, the noise machine catching their attention again. Sausage came back down a few meters away and waited for the magical barrier to return, but just in case it didn’t, he readied himself to run in and place some fences to act as a temporary barrier.

“Let’s go, magic,” he hissed as he found that he did, indeed, need to block the entrance with the fences. “This is your cue to keep Dolores safe – and keep everyone safe from them!”

There was no sign of the barrier reappearing. Sausage again felt aware of a surrounding uneasiness.

It was then that several figures stepped out of the forest shadows, all with their faces hidden by garb of black or dark red; his eyes widened in realization. The barrier magic hadn’t randomly decided to stop working – it had been dispelled, or perhaps even absorbed. He glanced among the figures but none looked the right height or build to be the one person he feared most – but these were still foes to be wary of.

The king’s assassins.

He raised his broadsword and shield, undaunted, and with a bold shout he leapt at the nearest one before any could go for him first. He was soon pleased to discover that they had underestimated him, their intel possibly missing the fact that he was even stronger now. It didn’t take too many blows to lay them out flat.

However, he in turn underestimated how many of them there were, as the first wave lay defeated and another dozen emerged from the shadows. He realized that with all the allies he had made through trading, he probably should have thought of a way to summon them for aid. Even just one specific firework rocket could have signaled Pirate Joe, since he was so close by.

Worried that Joel wouldn’t answer this time if he was the one to call out for him, he tried a different strategy. “Hermes!!” he shouted, “If you can hear me, tell Thunder Daddy your papa needs a hand!”

He was not expecting such as immediate answer in the form of a purple shooting star that streaked down directly behind him. Yet as a figure stood up from the smoking impact spot, he wondered if it had to do with Hermes at all.

The person – if it was a person and not some mystical bipedal creature – had skin that ran a gradient from purple to black along the limbs, which twinkled with thousands of pinpoints of light. They wore a shimmering garment of gold and silver, and held two scimitars that also glowed. Bright violet eyes shining out from a black fabric mask were framed by purple hair that had a halo of silver sparkles around it.

Their appearance stunned him as much as it did for the assassins, but rather than ask questions, Sausage turned to bash his shield into the nearest enemy, while the stranger went for the next closest targets. The two of them were soon covering each other’s blind spots and Sausage gained a sense that he had fought beside this person before. Perhaps this was the spirit of one of his lost comrades from his old home, although no one who dual-wielded swords like that came to mind.

Meanwhile, Scott was doing his best to stay completely silent, not wanting to risk the faintest hint that might lead to him being recognized as the ruler of Chromia in disguise, hence the mask to soften the lines of his face. Sausage’s sword fighting tactics were still the same, though, so Scott automatically stepped in to fill the gaps; he hoped Sausage was too focused on the enemy to put any pieces together.

When the second wave was felled, there was wariness in case a third showed up, but after several minutes ticked by and the tense atmosphere dissipated back to normal, Sausage lowered his shield and looked at the stranger. “Thank you. But, um… who are you?”

Scott was reluctant to answer, but being this close to Sausage in his true form was making it difficult for him to simply leave without saying anything. He sheathed the scimitars behind his back, then decided to try adding a distant, distorted resonance to his voice. “The starborne.”

“Where did you come from? Did Hermes send you? I didn’t think it would work that quickly! I mean, if not, then that’s okay, I’m happy to have gotten any help! Those are some cool swords by the way! Are they star magic? Mine was made by magic, too!”

Knowing full well he would just keep babbling and asking questions, Scott fought back a fond smile and interrupted with an amiable tone, “I must go now. My time for assistance has ended.”

“Wait, please – if not Hermes, then… did Santa Perla send you…? Are you maybe an angel?”

“No, you are—” Scott had to catch his words again. “—close, though, you’re close. I’m a guardian, so… I’m a bit like an angel, I suppose.”

Sausage bowed, then took one of Scott’s hands and leaned his head over it. Scott had to stop himself from full on hugging him in return. “Gracias, salvador de las estrellas.”

“Y-You’re welcome,” Scott stammered. He could no longer help himself; he didn’t care, either. He leaned in and kissed Sausage on the forehead, lingering and wishing he could kiss him on the lips. But that might be too telling. “Take care of yourself, Protector of Sanctuary. I… will try to aid you again, but I can’t promise to always be around.”

He pulled his hand from Sausage’s grasp and gently trailed it along the side of his jaw, then turned away and leapt upward, arcing toward the tallest of the nearby trees. From there he took another leap out of sight, leaving Sausage to watch the trail of twinkling purple sparkles slowly wink out.

An insistent bark finally drew his attention away from the sky. “¿Viste eso, Bubbles? ¡Una persona de las estrellas bajó para ayudarme a luchar contra todos esos enemigos! ¡Nosotros ganamos la pelea!” Sausage then blinked. “Wait, where were you this whole time?!”

Bubbles barked then whined.

“You were guarding Hermes and thought that was more important? You are absolutely right, that was the correct decision! But you know what? I think we’re pretty lucky here! We’ve got the nature magic and Santa Perla to watch over us during the day, and a mysterious stranger with star magic to help us at night! ¡Milagro! I think we’ll be all right after all, Bubbles!”

~*~

Scott was now rather glad that the villagers of Chromia were asleep in their own little area, and he could easily sneak back to his house with only the llamas as witnesses before he resumed his human disguise. He then went straight to the pond to see if he could contact Pearl.

She answered within a minute. “You’re looking frazzled. It’s rather late for a call, isn’t it?”

“I just got back from you-know-where. That danger we expected? It’s ramping up. I went to help out. He didn’t recognize my other form, so we’re still good there, but I can only use that at night.”

“Keep doing what you can for now. Maybe try to get some of those extra magic items into his hands. He has power from this world he can use, even if he can’t access his angel powers, and a little extra could always help.”

Scott watched her as she glanced aside and he saw the very familiar feeling of guilt in her expression. “Pearl, is there anything at all you can tell me about what else to watch out for? You… can trust me with anything important that involves him, you know that – right?”

Pearl looked back at him with a more guarded expression. “It’s not my place to tell, in this case. Hopefully I can explain it all later. Please just do what you can but let things play out as they need to.”

Scott nodded. “Okay. I’ll figure something out. I’ll contact you again if anything else big happens, providing it isn’t the real purpose we’re here and we can finally bring it to a peaceful conclusion.”

~*~

Sausage regretted his words to Bubbles later, when he had fallen asleep and found himself locked in a torrent of juxtaposed dreams. To his right was a group of four people with indistinct features, standing around on a sunny day with soul sand on the ground and wither roses seeming to be jokingly passed back and forth. To his left was a view of a garden with tall, colorful blooms and a tiny patch of wither roses hidden under them.

A shadow of what seemed to be a bird in flight passed over the garden. He instinctively looked up, and saw someone with long brown hair and a green dress flying with an elytra and heading left to right – but intersecting paths with someone that had golden hair and sunset-colored wings, who passed from right to left.

Clouds rushed in to fill the sky, obscuring the two figures before he could make out any other details about them. To the left side came a rumble of thunder and flash of lightning, while to the right the clouds were abruptly pushed upward by an orange-tinged explosion. He followed the line of the explosion downward to find out what the source might be.

The source itself, however, was gone, because only a crater remained in the middle of what might once have been a walled city. Only a few dingy rooftops and spikes on gray stone and deepslate walls remained, with pulverized white towers in between. He had never seen any place like it in all of his travels. Yet why did he feel like he knew it…?

He started to walk toward it to see if there were any signposts with clues, but had to stop short as a lake abruptly appeared in front of him. It stretched around to both sides until the only land remaining was a strip of grass directly behind him. Sausage looked into the water, trying to judge how deep it might be.

A fish-like humanoid form that was dull green and brown swam toward the left, and like earlier, crossed paths with someone that had green hair and pink seashells decorating their blue bodysuit, and who was swimming toward the right.

Sausage staggered back a step then turned to the strip of grass to retreat. He made it half a meter before the water to either side drained away, then sunflowers sprouted on both sides. He thought he should feel relieved, since that was at least a sign of Santa Perla, then the ground began to rumble. To his right a giant beanstalk shot up, winding its way into the sky. To his left, a similarly viny plant sprawled out of the soil but remained horizontal. Near the middle it produced a single variegated purple and pale orange flower.

He saw someone with leafy hair emerge from thin air and start walking toward the giant flower; Sausage quickly glanced right, and saw the figure in the green dress walking toward the beanstalk. Was the first figure the person his mind had substituted into the moment when he thought he was seeing Scott with spring-green eyes?

But… who were any of these people?

There was a crackle, and then the sound of an explosion rocked the land. A wave of darkness engulfed the figure to his left, and meanwhile a rain of fire began to pour down to his right. He then clearly saw himself holding the still-indistinct form of the person in the green dress, his own face contorted in terror.

Sausage glanced left, and saw himself holding the golden-haired figure from earlier, who also still had obscured features, but it was clear that the feathers were falling out of their wings.

Who were they? They were important to him – surely, they had to be, if the pain in his heart was anything to go by.

Everything went dark for a moment, then a glow faded in to either side of him. To his right was a crescent moon, to his left was a star with ten points of varying lengths. Sausage staggered backward as the two grew larger. He was unable to stop himself from glancing back and forth between them.

“Who are you?? Please, I need to know! Am I supposed to find you and try to save you? Did I… fail to save you, and made myself forget? What is all of this?? Someone, please, tell me! I don’t know what any of this is!!”

Sausage whimpered in his sleep. He awoke a moment later to the feeling of Bubbles licking his face. He gave a start, then realized it was her and gently patted her head. As she sniffed his hand, he could only wonder. Why was this happening to him? Was the magic of Sanctuary trying to tell him something? Were these actually meant to be things that were going to happen? The last parts of the dream stuck with him the most. The person in the dress, and the ailing person with sunset-colored wings…

Was he supposed to choose between them and would only be able to save one of them? After sunset came night, and with night came the moon and the stars. He wasn’t sure yet what that meant in terms of who to pick…

~*~

Scott spent the next few nights watching over Sanctuary from atop the trees, keeping an eye out for anyone slinking around the outskirts. When Sausage returned one evening after dropping Hermes off at Stratos, Scott saw an opening to try to pass along the magic rings he had collected.

He scurried along branches behind Sausage as the man meandered, apparently lost in thought, until Sausage started walking toward where there were fewer trees for cover, then Scott leapt to the ground with a minimal emission of sparkles. He remembered to add the distant distortion to his voice before saying, “Protector of Sanctuary, good evening.” He waited for Sausage to turn – a startled, then worried look coming to his bearded face – then continued, “Don’t fear, there is no danger found yet tonight. I merely wish to give you a gift that might aid you when I cannot.” Scott removed one of the rings from his own hand and held it up. “A protection spell, for the protector.” He offered an encouraging smile along with it.

Sausage gave a nervous smile in return. “Oh, uh, thank you! Is that made from star magic, too?”

“No, these are human-made. Or… mortal-made,” Scott amended. Not everyone in this world was human, after all. He reflexively reached for Sausage’s left hand to slip the ring on for him.

“Uhm, maybe not that hand?” Sausage pointed out in confusion. “I’m kind of – sort of? – married already, I guess. Not technically, I suppose, there was nothing official, but I have a thing with the local god, Joel. I’m not sure. We have a child together, if that counts.”

“Joe-l?” Scott stretched out the pronunciation of the name to sound extra bewildered. “What does ‘married’ mean?” he added.

“N-Never mind. I can just put the ring on, myself. Unless this is a custom for giving gifts among your people – then, please do share your culture with me! I can show you some of Sanctuary’s culture in exchange! Is there a community of star-people, or do you have a home up in the sky, or—?”

“It’s currently only me. Well, there is a young prince, too, but he’s somewhere else.” Scott smiled again then held out the ring.

Before Sausage could either take the ring or finish with his expression somersaulting from curious to empathetic, they were both startled by a jolt of odd energy that rent the air, followed by a strange, piercing sound. Movement from one of the windows in the mossy, white tower on the hill above them drew their mutually paranoid attention.

A dark figure was there, seeming to lean out the window and look around before withdrawing, although it wasn’t clear if they had spotted the two on the ground below.

Scott clenched his fist around the ring then shoved it into Sausage’s hands so he could unsheathe both scimitars. “I’ll check it out – I can get up there faster. Stay wary, there could be more than one.” He stepped away, then launched himself in a stream of purple sparks, showing off in hopes of intimidating the intruder.

As he sailed up to the window, Scott prepared to alter the ambient gravity so he could be lighter on his feet while the intruder would be thrown off guard by the change. Upon landing on the windowsill, he quickly took in their appearance. Dressed in gray and dark red with a black cloak, they definitely reminded him of the other assassins. Only one meant this might be just a scout, and possibly easier to handle.

Then they turned, drawn by the glow he was emitting. Scott was shocked to see a face identical to Sausage’s but with red eyes.

“What an annoying firebug,” the double said with a strange resonance to his voice. He sounded similar to Sausage beneath it, with a mocking tone to boot. “I suppose it was too much to ask to be able to just sneak right in and start causing chaos. Oh well!” His cloak flared, and Scott now saw it was actually a pair of wings, segmented and leathery like a dragon’s or a bat’s.

Scott started to raise his scimitars, forgetting about his intended tactic, but the intruder abruptly dived at him, shoving him backward out of the window – then the intruder immediately followed and yanked one of the scimitars from his hand. The look-alike then spread his wings and flew toward Sausage. The glow on the stolen scimitar faded out, separated from Scott’s starborne influence, but was still a formidable weapon with its own enchantments.

Having not gotten a good look at the intruder yet, Sausage had taken out the Staff of Sanctuary to fire off some magic bolts while they were still in flight. All of his shots missed, and then it was too late as the figure swooped down. Sausage had to dodge a slash of the scimitar, then the intruder hauled around and grabbed hold on the Staff of Sanctuary with their free hand and attempted to fly off with it.

Sausage used all his strength to pull back on the Staff, forcing the intruder to the ground. A mocking laugh met him as they settled onto their feet and grinned at him, keeping a grip on the Staff. Sausage stared, mouth agape. “W-What is this? Who in the Nether are you??”

“What, you don’t remember?”

“I certainly don’t remember having an evil-looking twin brother!!”

His red-eyed double laughed again. “Did reality hopping so many times end up poking holes in your memory, too?”

“What? N-No, I—” Sausage went stock still. Was this the explanation for his dreams and weird visions?

“Let me jog your rusty sieve of a brain. Have you never heard of Xornoth’s champion, Sausage Supreme? A most powerful warlock and bane of any reality he sets foot into!”

“I—”

“His soul torn apart and banished, he seeks those lost pieces along with revenge on all who wronged him. Sound familiar yet?”

“I – I—” Sausage tried again.

“Hmph. The centuries seem to have turned you into a slow-witted fool. Give me that!!” Sausage Supreme stabbed toward Sausage’s face with the scimitar, forcing him to back up – but not causing him to lose his hold on the Staff. The result was them standing the Staff’s length apart, each holding one end of it.

Unfortunately, Sausage Supreme had the crook portion, giving the Protector of Sanctuary less to keep a grip on. “A fool, and with such a pathetic look in your eyes. You seem so confused! Do you truly not remember me? I’m not your brother, I AM you!!”

Two visions flashed before Sausage’s eyes; one, of the figure before him as they clashed underneath a red dome, and the second of himself and someone with a Blaze-like appearance, both apparently trapped under some stone rubble.

Sausage Supreme took the abrupt blank stare of the Protector as an opportunity to yank on the Staff – only to have to dance aside as Scott landed in a burst of sparks beside him and lashed out with his remaining scimitar. Supreme threw his stolen weapon aside so he could put both hands on the Staff, then pivoted sharply, swinging Sausage into Scott and finally causing the Protector’s hand to slip. Supreme then launched upward with a triumphant laugh, the Staff of Sanctuary clutched tightly in his grasp.

Scott and Sausage tumbled to the ground, with Scott immediately scrambling to his feet, but a whimper from Sausage stopped him from pursuing the thief. The Protector was seated with the heel of his palms pressed to the sides of his head. “M-M… Myth…”

Scott gasped. That name… That would be the seraph memories coming through. That probably wasn’t supposed to be happening – whoever this Sausage Supreme was, he knew a different version of Sausage, and it couldn’t possibly be the cursed angel…

“M-Mythland,” Sausage finished stammering, his tone full of despair. Scott breathed a sigh of relief, although he remained concerned. “I – I let him… destroy Mythland… But… No, I’ve never heard of that place! What am I talking about?? Where… have I seen black wings like that before??”

Scott was unsure what to do next. When Pearl had said Sausage’s mission required other memories, Scott had come to assume that meant the memories made during this mortal life. But it sounded like there was an entire other parallel universe involved… Again.

Oh, this must be the complicated part that Pearl had also mentioned.

Without really thinking, Scott asked, “Sausage, are you all right?”

A quick jerk of the Protector’s head and a shocked stare answered him. Scott realized too late that he forgot to distort his voice.

“W-Why do you sound like Scott?”

“Who’s—”

“No, don’t play dumb! I just saw an exact copy of myself! I’ve got memories swimming around my head of seeing him before, but I don’t remember where they came from! Who are you, really?! Show me your face!” Sausage reached up to snatch at the black mask, rocking upward onto his feet as he did so. Scott ducked and tried to turn away to compose himself—

That, however, gave Sausage the opportunity to grab one side of the tied part of the mask and pull the knot loose, allowing him to remove the mask. Then he put a hand on Scott’s shoulder to make him turn to face him.

Scott didn’t protest for a second, and only looked at Sausage with a solemn expression.

Sausage stared. He squeezed the mask in his fist. “I do know you…”

Scott waved a hand over his face and gazed back at Sausage with one green eye and one yellow. He waved his hand again to return them to violet.

“No,” Sausage murmured, “I figured that part out. You’re not just Scott of Chromia or el salvador de las estrellas. Where do I know you from?”

Scott sighed softly. “I don’t know if you were supposed to remember yet – or maybe it should be which side of things you were supposed to remember first, because I have no idea who that guy was, but… you seem to have something rattling around in your head about him.”

“Scott, I don’t care about him right now.” Sausage’s tone was on the verge of breaking. “I want to know who you are. Do you have anything to do with the person who had yellow and orange wings?” When Scott gave him a startled look, Sausage responded, “I had a dream that was full of these parallel events. At one point, I was holding two dying people. One was someone in a green dress, the other was… an angel. Yes, they were an angel,” he said with certainty. “But I couldn’t see what anyone’s faces looked like.”

Calling up the magic he normally utilized to disguise his starborne form, Scott changed his hair and eyes to gold, then used some star stuff to create a pair of wings behind him. “Like thi—”

“Yes! It was you! Scott, what exactly are you?”

“Was that the only unidentified form you saw?”

“No, there were others, but… they were on specific sides, I think.” Sausage held out his hands and spread them apart. He thought back to the dream and tried to remember the pattern. “There was someone with green hair – like kelp – swimming in a lake. And someone with bright leaves in their hair, like new growth in Spring. A big flower, kind of like a lily… and a little patch of wither roses hidden in a garden. That… That one seems the most sad, for some reason…”

Scott changed his appearance to his merling self, then to his floran self from before he became a starborne. Sausage’s expression turned to fascination with each one until Scott switched to his Chromian human appearance.

“Sausage, I’m not the only one to have cycled through different lives and appearances like this. It happened to you, too. You know those birthmarks on your back? Those are where your wings were. Or are. I can see them, with this eye.” He pointed to the left side of his face.

“Wings? Are you saying I was an angel, too? Or… was at one time, if I was cycling through other forms? But, wait, there are six of them – wouldn’t there be only two?”

“You became a seraph at the end, the highest order of angels, and the most powerful. But that meant you could no longer stay in the mortal realm and had to return to the celestial plane.”

Sausage looked like he needed a moment to digest that. Then his cheeks reddened as he thought of something else. “Wait, okay, soooo… I might have overheard you talking to someone about your, um, husband, and uh, you and I were – uh…”

Scott laughed softly. “My husband is you, silly. That’s why I was flirting with you to begin with.”

“Oh…” Now it took a few seconds for that information to sink in. “Oh, um. This is awkward. I’ve, uh, got a child with another man.”

Scott patted his arm. “Don’t worry about it. I can be Hermes’ godfather or something.”

“So, you and I… were in a different mortal world, and were husbands?”

“We weren’t married yet, but we were together through a lot of stuff before the whole seraph thing.”

“So, the way this sounds, I just… left you behind? Did I forget all of this when I went back to the celestial realm? Which I, um, don’t actually remember anything about right now, either.”

“No, you were taken away through a portal by the goddess you were serving before all of the cycling began. You weren’t allowed to come back without completing a challenge. You weren’t able to, but I found a way to get to you instead. And then we got married. Does any of this sound familiar yet?”

Sausage went quiet to ponder everything. “That means… I’ve lived an entire new life here without remembering you. You were the most important person to come into my life and I… forgot?”

“You knew enough to build a sanctuary where we – and others – could be safe. That part of you hasn’t changed.”

“Safe? With an evil version of some parallel of me running around, not to mention the assassins! … … Uh, we should probably do something about that guy, huh?”

“I guess you needed to prepare for his arrival, and that meant no distractions like your memories of your previous life. Unfortunately, that means we’re missing a piece to this puzzle. I get the feeling Pearl won’t be able to tell us, either. The answer must still be locked in your head somewhere.”

Sausage let out a distressed noise. “P-Pearl?”

“Uh oh,” Scott mumbled, “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to mention her by name yet…”

Sausage gasped as if about to start sobbing, then looked down at his hands. “Pearl… she… w-withered away in my arms. I – I couldn’t do anything to save her. I tried – I tried everything I could! Over and over, I tried! S-So many times… and everyone else kept suffering! All I could think about was trying to save Pearl!”

“S-Sausage?” Scott listened to him go on with growing horror. That wasn’t his Sausage’s memories – were they? Scott blinked then rubbed at his left eye. If there was ever a time for this to give me real insight, now is it! He forcibly blinked several more times, then got the response he wanted. The subtle aura of Sausage’s wings brightened, then he saw – superimposed over Sausage’s form – a roiling haze of silver mixed with pale blue. Currently, the pale blue was dominating the area around his head.

Was this some kind of representation of the memories jumbled around in Sausage’s brain? Scott blinked to try to make it fade out, and saw Sausage was now clutching at his head again while whimpering, “Pearl… Pearl… I’m sorry…”

Scott tried to make sense of it, since it would clearly be a bad idea to try to get Sausage to explain, if the mere mention of Pearl ended up doing this to him. Unless this was something that happened when he was a younger angel. But how could a goddess wither away? And she was fine now, so if something had happened to her in the past, wouldn’t that mean that Sausage had saved her? Or maybe someone else had saved her, and Sausage had been carrying some very incredibly well-buried guilt about it this whole time…

Scott decided he needed to distract him with a more recent memory on the seraph side. He clasped Sausage’s arm then pulled him toward the border of Sanctuary and the deeper bamboo jungle. “I need to show you something that might help you find some peace with whatever it is that you’re remembering right now.”

Sausage stumbled along after him. The feeling of the starborne squeezing his hand began to ground him, and he tried to fight down the swell of distraught emotions clawing at his heart. He soon noticed the golden motes of light floating through the air, and recognition broke through his sorrow. “That’s from the flowers Hermes found…”

[ Chapter Four ]

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End note: Translations for this chapter:

¡Mira aquí! = Look here!

¡Aquí por favor! = Here please!

Gracias, salvador que vino de las estrellas. = Thank you, savior who came from the stars

¿Viste eso, Bubbles? ¡Una persona de las estrellas bajó para ayudarme a luchar contra todos esos enemigos! ¡Nosotros ganamos la pelea! = Did you see that, Bubbles? A person from the stars came down to help me fight all those enemies! We won the fight!

¡Milagro! = A miracle!

#alsmp #alsmp fanfic #alsmp shipping #scosage #empires smp #empiressmpshipping #mythicalsausage #scott smajor #dangthatsalongname #sausage supreme #empires smp fanfic #soul liminality 2 #lunar yarns

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lunarsands · 2 years ago

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ALSMP Fanfic: Along The Roads To Sanctuary Ch 2

Bonus also Empires SMP S2 fanfic! I just didn’t want to make the title field too long ^_^;

Relationships: MythicalSausage/Scott Smajor

Tags: Canon Divergent, fictional religion, scosage, Afterlife SMP meets Empires SMP S2 but in an AU way

Warnings: violence, surrealism via magic auras, humorous misunderstandings about infidelity (tfw your husband cheats on you…with you), kidnapping (although we know how that went in canon)

(Sequel to Echoing Through To You, When The Skies Cry, Until The Blood Moon Descends, Then We’ll Rewrite The Stars, Wherever These Flowers May Grow)

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ]

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Chapter Two

Elsewhere in the world, Sausage was pushing his way through thick stands of bamboo, trying to keep sights on a small child that had pale yellow hair with a purple streak down the middle, giggling as they ran. Bubbles the interdimensional yorkie was also in pursuit, although maybe she was adding to the child’s mischievous running.

“Hermes! Slow down! I’m a bit bigger than you, you know! I can’t fit through here that easily!”

They were going a little too far outside of Sanctuary for his liking. Even though he had plenty more construction planned, a border would still remain after a certain distance. Natural camouflage was also a safety precaution. Dangers were still out there from his old home.

Just because he had formed an odd co-parent relationship out of the blue with the local god didn’t mean he himself was under divine protection.

Sausage stopped to catch his breath, muttering, “Joel, why did you make this kid the equivalent of a hyperactive toddler instead of an actual infant so there wouldn’t have to be so much running?!” He set off at a jog then realized he had actually lost sight of both Hermes and Bubbles. He sighed in exasperation. “Hey, Thunder Daddy! Answer my prayer and help me find our son!”

There was a boom of thunder. In a flash of light, the towering weather god appeared …in the middle of a cluster of bamboo. “Oh gosh – Sausage! I told you to be out in the open when you called me. How are you having this much trouble keeping up with one child?”

Sausage feigned leaning over from exhaustion, hands on his legs as if he was worn out and still out of breath. Then he lifted his head and grinned. “I’m not really having that much trouble, I just wanted to see if you would respond this time!”

“Right, right. Well, where is he, then?” Joel cast a doubtful glance at the bamboo and vine-covered trees.

“Around here somewhere. Can’t you sense their demigod energy?”

“That would be cheating.”

“Wasn’t this all your idea?”

“I thought it was yours. You were the one who said you missed having a family.”

“I said I was missing my family, as in, I didn’t know where they were!”

“Well, now our child seems to be missing, so, let’s go. Where did you last see them?”

“This way, I think.” Sausage looked around for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Bubbles! Where’d you go, girl?”

“Sausage, why didn’t you say the dog was with them? He’s perfectly safe with her around.”

A bark answered from the other side of a rock outcropping. Joel gave the human an annoyed look and put out an arm to stop him, taking the lead instead and heading past yet another stand of bamboo. Sausage shrugged then followed, running his hand over the surface of the rock on the way. He paused when he felt a series of bumps and grooves. Then he heard Joel chatting to Hermes from the other side of the bamboo and knew it was all right to let himself be distracted.

He took a step back and tilted his head, studying the rock face. “Hey, this is kind of cool! Looks like there’s an actual carving here! It’s really worn… Must be centuries old.” He reached up and ran his hand across the topmost part of it. There appeared to be two different figures, although they were standing close together. He touched the face of the one on the right, trying to make out more of the details.

“Could be,” Joel replied, not sounding very interested. He lifted Hermes and put them on his shoulders, then wandered over. “There are relics of the past all over the place. Who knows who actually made them.”

“Well, you’re a god. Weren’t you paying attention for the past, I don’t know, half millennium?”

“I told you already – big fight amongst the gods, chunks of time gone missing, new legends of ancient history springing up, me crawling out of the metaphorical wreckage not remembering most of it. Plus, I’m specifically a weather god. Someone else was, like, the patron of artists. They might know. If they were still around.”

Hermes began to lean forward over Joel’s head making grabby hands at something beyond the outcropping. Joel ducked around it and chuckled. “Like whoever planted these things. There’s even a little sign. Apparently, someone thought to repaint that but didn’t bother preserving the carving.”

The thing that had caught Hermes’ attention was a small patch of flowers surrounded by a border of round stones. One type of flower was white with silvery edges to the petals, of which there were six main ones with smaller, feathery ones in between. The others were dark blue with a dusting of gold along the petals. Hermes continued to reach toward them until Joel put him down and let the child inspect the blossoms.

Sausage gazed at the flowers in fascination as well. “Wow… I’ve never seen anything like these before! And I’ve got Sanctuary’s magic creating all sorts of things all the time!”

Joel attempted to hunch over enough to read the sign. Then he simply plucked it from the ground to hold it closer to his face. “Hmm, maybe the paint isn’t so well-maintained, after all. Something something ‘seen nowhere else in the world’ something ‘memorial to two lovers’ something something ‘a sign of your own eternal dedication’…” He stuck the sign back in the ground. Then he gave a start. “Hey, Hermes, don’t break any of—”

He was too late, as the child snapped one of the stems of a white flower. Hermes stared at it for a second, then smiled and held it out to Sausage, who smiled back and knelt to accept it, then tucked it into his hair above his right ear. “Thank you, Hermes. It’s very lovely.” Sausage then picked one of the blue flowers and helped the child affix it in their hair. “Which one do you want to give to Thunder Daddy?”

“Ah, no, I’ll… pass…” Joel trailed off as Sausage looked up at him; something about the sight of the white flower, in that particular spot in his hair, struck Joel as familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He had seen Sausage with a hibiscus blossom in his hair before, so it wasn’t the flower in general doing it.

Hermes tugged on Sausage’s hand, drawing his attention back down, and the odd feeling slipped away from Joel’s mind. “Oh, you’re right, Hermes! The gold! How silly of me to forget! I didn’t really need to ask, huh?”

With a promise to Hermes to tidy up the area and make a path out from Sanctuary to the patch of unique flowers, Sausage took his leave to get some lumber work done while Joel brought the child back to Stratos with him. First Sausage checked inventory at the warehouse, making a list of what was running low, then went over orders that had come in via messengers.

Not wanting to ruin the flower Hermes had gifted him, he took an empty potion bottle – perfect for holding a single blossom – and filled it with plain water then carefully set the flower into it. The stem had, admittedly, ended up a bit too short to be sustained for long, but Hermes meant well. Sausage would merely have to top off the water often. He placed it on the windowsill of the bakery so he could look at it whenever he had a break for a snack. Then he grabbed an ax and got to work.

Within a couple of days, he had refilled the lumber yard as well as gotten all of his orders completed. He prepared to head out with a set of neatly organized shulker boxes for a trip around the empires that was planned out so he would reach Stratos’ region last and pick up Hermes.

However, just as he was about to leave, he heard Bubbles barking and growling. He hastily followed the sound to the small dock where he had first arrived in what would become Sanctuary. “What is it, girl? What did you see, or scent – or whichever?”

The small yorkie was bristling and she barked a warning toward a patch of reeds near the water’s edge.

“You thought you saw someone suspicious over there? Someone who… looked like they were trying to scout out the place? Are you sure it wasn’t a friend from home just trying to find us?”

Bubbles barked then whined.

“You think it was someone trying to find us who wasn’t a friend. Got it…” Sausage frowned in worry. They had fled as far as possible, yet with the hopes of being reachable if their actual friends and family came looking for a safe haven. Of course, it would be inevitable that the king’s assassins might follow any scrap of a lead they caught wind of. His hope had been that by the time that happened, Sanctuary would be built up into not just a new home but a defensible land where the tyrant would find himself powerless and unable to steal any more magic.

Sausage and Bubbles made a circuit around the area to hunt for signs of intruders, but came up empty. He made one last check from the air as he took off to begin his deliveries. He didn’t see anything suspicious for the moment.

~*~

By the time Sausage reached the end of his route, the weather had turned, making for a rain-soaked landing in Chromia. He hurried along the paths, looking for a good place to take shelter while calling out to also try to locate the colorful ruler. “Scooottttt! Scott! Are you hooomme?? It’s a little wet out here! Sorry if I ruin anything, but I need to get inside somewhere!”

He finally figured that the tavern was his best option, since other travelers would be tracking in mud and dust from the road, anyway. Just as he pushed the door open – and got a side-eyed look from the llama stationed inside – he heard Scott’s voice behind him.

“Sausage! Sorry, I was in the middle of something when I heard you. Go on in, you can dry off in there.” Scott jogged through the door after him, considerably less soggy since he had recently been inside a different building. “Let me get you a towel. Owen, why isn’t the fireplace lit on a day like this?”

The llama snorted and turned its back on them.

Scott sighed in exasperation. “You’re rubbish at this. I’ll give the job to someone else at this rate.”

“I think I can manage to get a fire going on my own,” Sausage offered with a chuckle.

“Just don’t use any of that wood I ordered,” Scott joked. “That’s for building, not to be tossed away lightly.”

“Or be lit alight,” Sausage quipped.

Scott returned with a towel and bathrobe taken from one of the rooms just as Sausage, facing the now blazing fireplace, was pulling his drenched shirt up over his head. An unintentional noise left Scott’s throat as his left eye’s magic activated and revealed something he hadn’t seen up until that moment.

Sausage heard and turned, now holding his shirt out toward the fire to start it drying, a playful little smirk on his face. “Hm, you’re not used to seeing me from the back – the marks, right? Don’t worry. I know they look bad, but I’ve had them my whole life.”

Scott uttered another noise, having to stop himself from saying no, not those, although the implications from the first part of what he said nearly made him blush. The marks in question were six vertical blotches, the lowest pair mostly covered by his waistband. The sight honestly made Scott’s stomach queasy for a split second, making him think of scars from something removed; but what was actually before his eyes – the left eye, of course, giving feedback to his brain to see with both – were the glowing outlines of six feathered wings, each pair a different size. He blinked and they faded to a mere subtle aura.

“Ah – um,” Scott stammered. “Right. Just birthmarks. Sorry, I… Yeah, I hadn’t noticed them before. I was always too busy looking at your handsome face.”

Sausage leaned over to spread his shirt out on the hearth in front of the fireplace, then looked over his shoulder and winked. “Just my face, huh?”

Scott rustled up a flirtatious smile. “Well, it is easy to get caught up gazing into a pair of lovely blue eyes, you know…” He crossed the room and pushed the towel into Sausage’s hands. “Why don’t I get us something to drink while you dry off? The rain seems like it will keep up for a while, so we might as well relax for a bit and chat.”

“That sounds like a great idea! I have to pick up Hermes before I go back to Sanctuary, but I don’t think another hour or two will matter! And we can find something to do to wait out the weather if it lasts longer...”

Scott went off to the kitchen without adding any thoughts to Sausage’s hints, also avoiding any further glimpses of him as he changed out of the rest of his wet clothes into the robe.

The ruler of Chromia returned with a pitcher of pink lemonade and a plate of cookies, which he put on one of the tables next to the fireplace. He poured a glass for each of them, then sat for what turned into a gossip session, since the Protector of Sanctuary wasn’t much one for protecting other people’s secrets, it seemed. The irony was not lost on Scott, who smiled absently when he caught his own gaze drifting to the faint aura of Sausage’s top pair of wings.

After a while Sausage went quiet and munched on a cookie while apparently contemplating the far wall. He glanced toward the fireplace as if to check if his clothes were dry, then attempted to be casual about sipping his second glass of lemonade before asking, “Say, uh… Have you happened to have seen any suspicious strangers around? Not just, like, wandering travelers, but like… y’know, anyone acting a little weird and maybe… entrometido? Uhm, nosy?”

“Nosy as in looking for gossip?” Scott teased, but inside he felt wary.

“Not like that! Come on, now! I’m serious!”

“Sorry. There hasn’t been anyone that I’ve noticed. Why?”

“Well… you see… I, um…” Sausage then blurted out, “I might have assassins coming after me for something that happened in the kingdom where I used to live. I didn’t commit any actual crimes, I swear!” He hastily lowered his voice and hissed, “But the king wanted everyone who had any magical abilities to be hunted down! And Bubbles thought she saw someone earlier today, so I just want to make sure no one else has seen anyone snooping around!”

“That’s pretty serious.” Scott tried to keep his voice even, and took a sip of lemonade to give himself time to think. Why hadn’t Pearl mentioned that detail to him? Well, probably to keep him from rushing off to be even more protective over Sausage.

“Yeah, I, um. I was hoping I’d gone far enough that no one could track me down. But word is getting out that Sanctuary exists. I mean, I hoped it would, so that my surviving friends from back then could make their way to it and reunite somewhere safe, but without the magic part reaching the king’s ears.” Sausage pushed the glass back and forth between his hands, then pressed them against it and looked down at the table top. “Sorry. I suppose our relationship isn’t really the type for heavy stuff like that. F-Forget I mentioned it, we’ll go back to, uh, occasional visits for wood delivery. Thanks for the lemonade and warm fire this time around, though.”

He offered a smile then got up and gathered his mostly-dry clothes. He retreated to one of the rooms to change back into them, leaving Scott to wonder if he had been being too distant this entire time to avoid triggering Sausage’s memory. He slugged back the rest of his lemonade, then hastily cleaned up everything to bring it to the kitchen.

He was checking over his patchwork elytra when Sausage emerged. The Protector of Sanctuary raised an eyebrow. “Are you heading out, too? Was I keeping you from something?”

“No, I just thought I’d take a little flight over to Stratos with you and say hi to Hermes before you two go.” Scott smiled cheerfully. “Not a lot of children around here, you know, so I wouldn’t mind seeing how Hermes is doing. I’ve mostly just got llamas for company.”

“Oh… uh, if that’s what you want to do! I’m sure Joel won’t mind! He’s usually not around when I drop off or pick up Hermes. Must be doing important godly stuff somewhere, I guess!”

They headed out under still-overcast skies, but at least the rain had stopped. It was a very short flight to Stratos, and as Sausage had predicted, Joel was absent, and meanwhile Hermes was waiting just inside a doorway. They ran out when they saw Sausage, who scooped the little demigod up into his arms. “Hermes! Hi! Sorry if I kept you waiting! Thunder Daddy wasn’t paying attention to that storm, was he?”

Scott found himself staring yet again when he caught sight of a dark blue flower in the child’s pale hair. He shook his head, glad Sausage hadn’t witnessed his reaction. “Hello, Hermes. That’s a beautiful flower you have there. Is that something your… Daddy Joel came up with? I see that gold on there – that’s his kind of thing, isn’t it?”

“Oh, no, Joel didn’t know about them, either!” Sausage said blithely. “That’s one of the flowers we found outside Sanctuary, right, Hermes? You discovered them first! Maybe you could come up with names for them!”

“Huh,” Scott feigned nonchalance. “Well, bold of you to have a variety of flower that I don’t already have in Chromia. Do you mind showing me? Or is this a little secret between just you guys?” He leaned over to wink at Hermes.

Hermes didn’t offer an opinion, but waved a hand in front of Scott’s left eye.

Scott blinked and wondered if the silent demigod child could sense something that neither of his parents had picked up on. Of course, Scott’s eye wasn’t revealing anything about Hermes at the moment, despite how the aura around Sausage’s angelic wings was still present, if not dimmed by the sunlight as the clouds began to move off.

“Actually,” Sausage said thoughtfully, “Maybe since you’re so familiar with flowers, you could identify the other one. I mean, even if you don’t know what this one is.”

“I might have an idea, now that you mention it, but a closer look at the leaves could help,” Scott lied. He bit back an extra comment about seeing the flowers at nightfall. That might happen by coincidence.

“Okay then! Um, there’s only a small patch of them, so I might have to ask you to not try to uproot any to take back with you.”

“That’s fine. I could always come by for another visit to study them again later.”

“Huh… You haven’t been by very often, have you? But then again, you can always count on me to make deliveries.” Sausage smiled. “But you should still visit more often. We’re a colorful place, too!”

“Believe me, I’m definitely considering it.”

A small bit of travel later and Sausage had gotten Hermes settled in his room, then, after an offhand comment from Scott about the presence of a Warden when they passed by Dolores’ cave, he led the Chromian on a stroll out to where the flowers had been found.

Scott was coming to realize that he needed to be constantly aware of new revelations about this world that might shock him to silence. He pretended to be in awe of the beautiful flowers, but what had grabbed his attention first was the rock outcropping with its weathered relief of two figures. Two florans. Two faces and other features that he knew the details of even if they had been eroded by the elements. He was almost grateful it wasn’t closer to what might have been its original condition, because it might have risked triggering Sausage’s memory.

And meanwhile, he himself had realized the patch of flowers was a result of he and Sausage dying in that very spot however many hundreds of years ago in this world’s past. It was fascinating to think about how their missions could involve different points of time in the same world.

“I guess this was someone’s special spot, somewhere in the past,” Scott finally managed to comment, “If they went to all the trouble to include a rock carving.”

“Yeah, I asked Joel about that, since as a god you would think he had been around long enough to know about things like this, but he said he had lost a bunch of memories and figured some other god oversaw stuff like sculptures and random unique flower patches in the middle of a bamboo jungle!”

Ah, so that finally explained it, Scott thought to himself. He meandered over to the flowers. He smiled softly as he crouched down to pretend to inspect them. It was nice to have a little hint of home… Then his expression turned sad as he realized how much time had passed since they had last been home together. He tried to cover it up by smirking and proclaiming, “Maybe Joel just wanted to keep such gorgeous flowers a secret. I know I would hide these away if I had discovered them in Chromia – and then I would charge people their best trades to see them, and charge double for partners, if going by this sign is anything.”

Sausage laughed, amused by the idea of Scott trying to fleece two or more people over some flowers, but then he abruptly went still as he was gripped by a waking vision. He was looking at Scott similar to how he was now, but his eyes were red. Sausage blinked and then they were gold. Then they were ocean-blue. Then one was gold and the other blue, although not in the way they were right now. Then came another change, and another. His head began to feel like it was spinning, until the vision halted upon the sight of spring-green eyes and numerous flowers in Scott’s hair.

Not just as if they were woven into a flower crown. Sausage had a sense that the flowers were growing there. The appearance of nature magic, like Sanctuary’s…

Cyan hair and flowers.

Flowers… in cyan hair.

Sausage stared hard at Scott as the vision faded out, then grabbed a blue blossom and stuck it into the Chromian’s hair over his ear.

Scott attempted to laugh lightly. “And you said I shouldn’t take any of these. What was that for? …Sausage?”

But Sausage only stared at him again.

“What is it?” Scott laughed again, nervously this time.

“Why do I know you?”

“What do you mean? You do know me – ruler of Chromia, friend of llamas, greatest dye trades in the world—”

“No,” Sausage corrected quietly, “I know you. From… somewhere else. Some… other time.”

“Ummm, no? I had literally never seen you before the day we all met up at the trade summit,” Scott lied, his heart doing cartwheels in his chest. “Do you really think I’d forget if I had? You’re quite… memorable.” He forced a flirty look onto his face.

Sausage wasn’t in the mood to humor that game. “Stop playing around. I’m serious. Look, there’s something else I haven’t told anyone yet, even Bubbles. I’ve started having all sorts of weird memories popping up in my head at random, but none of them make sense – I don’t remember experiencing any of them! It’s like I lived a dozen other lifetimes somewhere else, because they’re not from around my old home or Sanctuary!”

Scott froze. He dearly hoped the ‘dozen’ was a generalization and not specific, since he could personally account for ten of those. Maybe eleven, if he counted the time they were florans together.

“Th-this is the first time it happened so strongly around someone else. It has mostly been quick glimpses or in a dream, but both always feel so real. I just saw—”

“You know what,” Scott cut him off, forcing his tone to sound brusque, “You were right about heavy topics kind of stuff. I think you just have an overactive imagination. All I really know about you is how you like to gossip, and if this is some ploy to get me to compare hidden mysteries about my memories and past, please stop.”

“But that’s not what I meant—”

“I have to go. Take care of your flowers, and don’t go handing them out so lightly.”

Scott dearly wanted to remove the starflower and drop it at Sausage’s feet to enforce the act he was putting on, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Instead, he stalked off through the bamboo to find a clear spot to take off from. He needed to talk to Pearl. He needed to know if Sausage was supposed to be remembering things, or if this was a bad sign and he would have to intervene somehow.

~*~

Sausage stared numbly at the patch of flowers. Why did they have to spark such a weird vision – was it actually a memory of something, or just his imagination, like Scott said? Maybe… Maybe there was someone else he had known in the past and had forgotten, and maybe they only had a passing resemblance to Scott, or something…

He felt like he was missing a piece of this puzzle. He wasn’t sure how to find it… unless it was something back in his old home. He wondered if he should ask Eddie, yet at the same time didn’t want to make him or Bubbles worry. Maybe he should wait, and just keep a record of what he was seeing to try to put it all together later.

As the sun dipped toward the horizon, he realized he should get back to Hermes. When he turned, however, he saw a flicker of golden light. Similar motes appeared as the sky continued to darken. They weren’t fireflies. Too small, and the wrong color. It was coming from… the dark blue flowers.

He gazed at them wistfully. “You sure are something special. I wonder who planted you? Funny how you were here the whole time, with Sanctuary and its magic so close by. Did you guide me here? Were the magics connecting to each other, saying this is would be a safe haven? ...It’s a cool idea, but it’s probably just coincidence.”

He chuckled quietly, then sighed and started on the walk back. The range of the golden motes was limited to that area, and soon he found himself among regular green fireflies as night settled over the land. Up ahead, over the treetops, he saw a shooting star. He gave thought to making a wish, but then only gave a rueful smile. Really, all he could hope for was that Sanctuary would remain protected and safe. Wishing for his own mental turmoil to be sorted out felt a little selfish.

The next morning, Sausage went back to Chromia, planning to try to smooth things over with Scott. He enjoyed their casual flings, and maybe that’s all their relationship needed to be, if it continued to work for both of them. If yesterday had been too much, then he would politely make deliveries and go on his way without flirting anymore.

Speaking of being polite, he landed at the outskirts instead of intrusively flying overhead to locate him. A few extra minutes to iron out his thoughts wouldn’t hurt, either. Chromia did have such nice flower fields to wander past, after all.

It was as he was coming up on a supply shed when he heard Scott’s voice coming from the other side. Sausage hesitated and stopped to wait since it sounded like he was talking to someone else.

“Can you give me any kind of time frame? Will it really be much longer? I miss our real home. I miss my angel… I miss my husband.”

Sausage grimaced, eyes going wide, and he barely contained an alarmed squeak before pressing his back against the wall of the shed. His… what? Had he unwittingly been part of another man’s affair? Scott didn’t wear a wedding ring – that Sausage had noticed, anyway – or ever said anything about a significant other. So how was he supposed to have known??

Although, from the sound of it, maybe Scott was hiding undercover from something, too. Maybe that was why he had gotten so defensive all of a sudden yesterday. It made some sense… A sympathetic smile crossed Sausage’s face. He wouldn’t pry or hint about it, but he would still like to get past yesterday’s incident.

He snuck away, deciding to wait for a different chance to sort things out, giving Scott and whoever he was talking to the privacy to finish their own rendezvous. Besides, if Scott was concerned about reuniting with his actual husband, seeing the person he was cheating on him with – even if it was only to keep up his cover story – probably wouldn’t be the best thing at that moment.

With a wry smile, Sausage accepted that keeping up that particular part of this assumed cover story could be his favor to Scott to make up for what had happened the day before.

[ Chapter Three ]

[Post A/N: A certain scene in this chapter was inspired by this artwork by Cynthrey! ]

#alsmp #alsmp fanfic #alsmpshipping #scosage #empires smp #empiressmpshipping #mythicalsausage #scott smajor #dangthatsalongname #joel smallishbeans #empires hermes #empires smp fanfic #soul liminality 2 #lunar yarns

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