Pix glanced blankly at the door as he heard someone knocking on it from the other side. "Piiiix. You still in your room?" It was Sausage.

"What do you think?" He called back with a tired expression, glancing away from the half-repaired crystal on the desk in front of him as the door opened.

"I think that sitting in your room just because you're sad isn't a good idea." His friend commented wryly. "Even with my magic and Shelby's old spell-books, it still takes a bunch of effort and time to reattach one piece of the crystal. And it broke into like- a bajillion pieces! It'll take forever!" Sausage protested.

"About thirty pieces, actually. And it may take a while, yes, but- I have to fix it." Pix finished quietly, glancing away from the half of the previously smashed amethyst crystal that Oli had broken.

Pix had gotten to work repairing the broken necklace almost as soon as he had left the mangrove forest. He wasn't sure why, but he had to repair it. Even though he had been completely rejected by Oli, the archaeologist wanted to fix the necklace and give it to the bard. A small part of him might have thought that maybe if he did that, Oli would snap out of it- come to his senses, maybe.

Pix had no way to know that for sure, it was true, but he could still try.

Sausage sighed, shooting him a sympathetic look. "This isn't healthy, Pix." He said with a slight frown.

"Yes it is. It's fine. I just need to fix this and then I'll leave." Pix reassured him.

Sausage pulled a face. "What if I... told you that you could have a chance to see Oli?"

"What?" He stared at his friend with a confused expression.

"All the emperors got a letter. I was debating whether to give it to you or not, and we've already collectively decided that going is a terrible idea, but..." Sausage produced a piece of folded-up paper from his pockets, passing it to Pix.

"I- wait a minute, what do you mean 'collectively decided'? Did you guys have a meeting without me?" Pix asked, sitting back in his chair in a slightly more comfortable position.

"With all due respect Pix, you are in no way in the right state of mind to be part of a decision like this." Sausage said with a shrug. "Then again, I'm still presenting you with the option to attend, so..." He shrugged again. "If you decide to go and anybody asks, Jimmy gave you the letter, not me, as far as anyone else knows!" The brunette added with a yelp, stepping out of the door and closing it behind him.

Pix stared after him incredulously for a moment before glancing back at the piece of paper in his hands and unfolding it quickly, scanning the words written on it in neatly printed handwriting that he knew to be False's.

Greetings Emperors.

You have been invited to a party hosted by the members of what has been dubbed the 'Sculk Alliance' (or the 'infected people', as you uneducated people have been calling us).

It will be held in Chromia, in a building constructed purely for this party, and nothing bad will happen to you if you attend. That is a promise.

There is no ill will between the Sculk Alliance and the other emperors. We simply wish to regain the bonds we once had in a more friendly environment.

It will be held on Friday next week.

We shall see you there, if you chose to attend.

Signed,

False
Ｓｈｅｌｂｙ
Sƈσƚƚ

Pix paused, running his thumb gently over the last written name at the bottom of the page (clearly the person who had been writing had been pressing incredibly hard with his pen, as he always did).

𝙾𝚕𝚒

Do I go? He was completely aware that the other emperors had decided against going, but... it wouldn't hurt to look around, surely.

Yes, the archaeologist would probably make an excuse to leave if he saw Oli (Pix was determined to only speak to the bard once he had a fully repaired necklace to present to him), but if nothing bad was going to happen...

It wouldn't hurt to look around. Pix repeated silently to himself, folding up the letter again.

——

Pix froze, ducking behind a tree at the sound of voices. Oh, crap- wait, didn't everyone else say that they weren't going to go?

He could see Jimmy and FWhip talking quietly to each other. "Isn't it sliiiightly immoral to go to the party anyway when we promised not to go?" FWhip queried with a laugh. Pix bit back a laugh of his own as someone else spoke.

"Yeaaah, kind of. But who cares?" It was Joey, who was swiftly followed by Katherine.

Jimmy paused, staring behind them. "Okay, did we all just show up even though we agreed not to?" He asked with a disappointed sigh as Sausage and Gem appeared.

"I think so." Joel said thoughtfully as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere, Lizzie following close behind.

Sausage sighed. "Okay, Pix, you can come out now." The brunette said wryly as Pix stepped out from behind the tree.

"So we all just showed up anyway?" He asked with an unimpressed expression.

"Yep." Lizzie said brightly, glancing at the newly-constructed building that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Is the party in there?"

There was a general murmur of agreement from the group as Katherine nodded. "It would appear so." The black haired woman said slowly.

Pix watched silently as everyone but him and Katherine entered. He was still slightly scared to go in- and he could see that Katherine felt the same way. "Are you okay?" The brunette whispered as he approached her.

She shot him a nervous smile. "Yeah. I just- Shelby." Katherine finished, frowning.

"I know how you feel. But... we kind of have to go in now. And you don't have to talk to her. I'm kind of scared as well, but oh well. Come on." Pix smiled. "Let's go."

Oooo party