Prompt: Before we Fade

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It was late autumn, and the Hermitcraft server had never been such a barren, dead-looking place to be. Even though the vicious game that had killed all but one of the server's members had finally come to an end, it's effects were still there. The fallen leaves where nearly grey, and frost covered every surface.

And the demised themselves... something grave was happening to the server's members, something that might be irreversible.

"Stress?-" Ren murmured before falling on top of his friend, like a limp ragdoll.

"REN!" Stress cried, holding onto Ren. Of course she was no expert, being dead herself, but it felt almost like his life was fading.

Demise ended. And no one knew how to reverse it's effects. Xisuma couldn't help, since his control panels for disabled after he met his ending to Ren's trap, and Ex was still too untrustworthy to take over admin duties, in many hermits' eyes.

"Ren? Please don't leave me-"

"Sorry Stress, we were barely hanging on in demise, we were going to fade from Hermitcraft anyway."

"Ren-"

"So count this as a goodbye, okay?"

"Wait Ren-"

"Sorry Stress....." Ren whispered before fading.

"REN, NO-" Stress tried to get out, but her voice crackled to a stop once she opened her eyes to see Ren... gone.

And when the other demised returned, all they saw laying there was a pair of cracked sunglasses and a wilted flower crown.

Xisuma stared at Ren's scattered items on the ground, horrified.

Oh, no no, no... he thought, shaking his head. He turned around, trying to deny it. Ren was already dead, already demised... he couldn't just vanish any further!

He frantically began to search the logs, searching for their names. Ren and Stress. Any sort of sign they were still alive. Anything. But he found nothing. Not a scrap.

It was his fault. He let this happen. This game was a mistake.

Xisuma gasped, feeling a twinge of pain in his chest. He stumbled forward, and his communicator clattered to the ground.

He felt his vision blur up, his peripheral vision going dark. He tried to regain his balance, determined to stop the problem before his own death. But he kept falling forward.

Scar ran over, concern clear on his grayed out face. "X, are you okay? What happened to Stress and Ren?" Scar said quickly, his panic rushing out his words.

He tried to respond, to form some semblance of a thought, but no words came out. He felt himself shift out of reality. His hands grasped onto Scar's shoulders, trying to hold on.

"S-scar, tell the others I-I love them..."

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Score: 9