TW/CW:

•Brief Suicid@l Ideation (kinda? It's just kind of Pix being like 'there's no point living if I can't be with Oli' but idk, here's a trigger warning just in case)

•Mentioned/Implied Violence and Gore

Pix paused at the sound of footsteps behind him, sighing. "You know even when you're infected, you're still not that great at sneaking up on me, Oli." The brunette said quietly, turning around. Oh-

He glanced over at Oli, who was watching him silently, gripping a netherite sword. He looks worse than the last time I saw him. The vines wrapped around the blonde haired man seemed to have tightened slightly, and there were also small burns dappled across his body and clothes. "Pix."

"Oh- were you in the forest? I, uh- heard that it burnt down." The archaeologist said slowly, reaching for his own sword just in case. He then glanced at it hesitantly. Do I really want to fight Oli?

"No. And don't pretend you aren't the one who burnt it down, Pix." Oli said slowly, his voice slightly cracked from lack of use. His eyes were an even brighter blue than they had been previously, and his sclerae (the white parts of his eyes) were now pitch black- a trait that Pix hadn't seen on any other infected people, oddly enough.

"I mean, really it was like- a joint effort between me and- actually, doesn't matter. What are you doing here?" Pix asked, his confidence faltering slightly as the bard's grip on his sword tightened (if that was possible).

"What do you think I'm doing here, Pix? You've been a total nuisance since the Sculk Alliance started, always trying to 'fix this' and 'stop that'." Oli said mockingly. "Needless to say, we got sick of it, and the mangrove forest... that was the last straw." He smiled cruelly. "It'd be preferable if you were out of our way."

Pix paused. "Are you like- asking me to back down? And stop trying to get rid of the infection? Because that- doesn't- yeah, no, I'm not doing that." He said slowly.

"Oh, I wasn't asking." Oli said with a shrug, his eyes narrowing. "We want you out of the way for good." He sighed as Pix shrugged. "I'm going to kill you, Pix. How ignorant are you?!" The blonde added in a hiss as the brunette's face fell slightly. Oh, I don't- well I don't want to die, but I also really- don't want to fight Oli? He shot Oli an uncertain look, his heart rate increasing drastically.

"Are you- sure you didn't mishear the others?" Pix added in a whisper, his free hand reaching for the emerald necklace still around his neck.

Oli paused, his gaze flicking to Pix's necklace before he nodded. "I'm sure. Now are you gonna try and fight me and be annoying? Because it's just a waste of time, we both know you're going to lose anyway." He added with an unimpressed expression.

Pix paused, before dropping his sword, his hands shaking slightly. I can't fight Oli. I can't- I don't want to- He kicked the sword away from him, and he had to try very hard to stop his voice from trembling. "Go ahead. I'm not going to stop you." I don't think there's really any point going on anyway, if I can't be with Oli.

This was the first time during their conversation that he'd seen Oli hesitate. His mouth opened slightly, as if he was going to say something, before he shook his head silently.

Pix didn't remember much of what happened next. It was just a lot of noise, and blood, and pain- oh my god, so much pain.

Pix vaguely felt himself collapse onto the floor at one point, and the brunette was pretty sure he heard the creaking of his door opening, although by that point a significant amount of blood had trickled down into Pix's eyes, so he couldn't make out what was going on.

As he attempted to see what was going on, black spots began to cloud his vision as Pix saw a brief flash of metal falling to the ground. Then his gaze went completely dark.

——

Pix sat up swiftly, blinking. Where- why am I- wait, Pearl? No, that's not Pearl. Wait, Saint... Pearl? Santa Pearla? Is that what- nope, not important, where am I-

"You're not dead, before you start panicking." The woman said with a laugh as Pix got to his feet.

"I find that hard to believe-" He glanced briefly back at the castle behind them. "-based on what happened before I ended up- here."

Pearl paused thoughtfully. "Well, you aren't dead, but you aren't exactly... alive, either. You're dead enough to be here with me, but you're alive enough to not be dead in the real world." She added brightly. "This is great, actually, because I've been meaning to talk to one of the emperors!"

Pix blinked, mildly confused. "Can't you just... talk to Sausage? Doesn't he like- worship you?" The brunette added awkwardly.

"Well, yes, but with all that's been going on, he hasn't visited my church in months. So it's best to speak to you, I think." Pearl added, smiling.

"About what?" The archaeologist queried thoughtfully, trying to focus on what the goddess was saying instead of what had just happened.

"About the sculk. I've been studying it up here- in a place where it cannot spread- and I believe I've discovered a way to prevent it spreading. You'd have to destroy the rest yourself, but... it won't spread." Pearl made an exaggerated hand gesture and an end rod appeared in her other hand. "These appear to stop the sculk veins from spreading. I'm not sure why- maybe because of the light they emit, or the dimension they're from- but they're certainly good at preventing the sculk from spreading." Pearl added with a smile.

"Oh. I mean, cool. I guess? Can I go back now?" Pearl smiled awkwardly.

"Not until you've fully healed which, if all goes well, should be in about an hour or so." The brunette woman shot him a wry smile. "Or, if we're referring to the way time passes in the Overworld, a couple of months."

Luckily for Oli the idiot he was trying to kill is in love with him so good for Oli ig

Not so good for Pix :,D

Anyway Pix knows how to stop it spreading now and maybe by the time he'd theoretically wake up in the Overworld, his friends will have a way to get rid of the sculk for good? 👀

Also yeah, time in Pearl's Realm passes differently to time in the Overworld. An hour in Pearl's realm is... oh, three or four months in the Overworld? So yeah

Anyways angst go brrr sorry about that

13 is an unlucky number for some people, and Pix is certainly one of those people.

And Oli, I suppose.

I've never really talked about the way the infection works for the people infected, but it's like they're watching their body in third person (like a video game) and it's very hard for them to take control again.

So Oli had to watch that whole thing unfold :,D

Anyways hope you enjoyedddd (I'll make a less angsty Olix au after Isychia ends I promise) (maybe)