Chapter Text
Scott woke up in some kind of cell. He remembered what had happened.
“Gem? Are you here?”
“Scott! I’m right next to you.” Sure enough, Gem’s cell was right next to his.
“How long have we been out?”
“Well, you got more of the potion then I did, so I was only out for like a day.”
“What about me?”
She winced. “3 days.”
“What! That means tomorrow’s Christmas Eve!”
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here.” Joey came out of the shadows. He had on some kind of bracelet, and his eyes were as red as Xornoth’s.
“Joey? Why are you doing this?” Gem asked.
“For my boyfriend, obviously. After we get rid of you, me and them can be together forever!”
“Joey, they're clearly using you!” Scott said, but Joey shook his head.
“You’re just jealous.”
“Of my sibling?”
“Yes!” Joey looked at his watch. “Oh, I’d better get back to the workshop. We’re gonna continue to look for you guys today.” Joey laughed. “Oh those fools.” He walked over to Scott's cell. “Maybe Jimmy can also mysteriously vanish next.”
“Don’t you DARE lay a finger on him.” Scott growled. Joey laughed again before leaving.
“Can you use your magic to get us outta here?” Scott asked.
“No, something's blocking it. What about yours? Maybe you can freeze the bars off?”
“I can try.” As soon as Scott touched the bars, his head felt wobbly again. “I think these bars have the same potion he used on us.”
“Why would he do all of this?”
“Because he was obsessed with Xornoth. I thought he was mostly over it, but apparently not.” He sat down on the bed. “Now he’s gonna do something to Jimmy.”
“Maybe you can’t touch the bars directly, but maybe you can make some kind of ice flare.”
“Through the ceiling? We don’t know how far down we are.”
“It’s worth a try.”
“I also still can’t control it.”
“Then let’s work on it.” Scott looked unsure. “Do it for Jimmy.”
Scott took a deep breath. “Where do we start?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pearl was walking around Scott’s house. Joey had tried to convince them all that morning that Scott had probably taken Gem, but Pearl couldn’t believe that. She could tell the others couldn’t either. Joey had also been gone when Gem left, and had been acting pretty suspicious ever since. Now that she thought about it, he had been acting strange ever since the first time they met at the workshop.
Pearl went around to the pond behind the house. There was a lot more ice and snow than usual.
“Well, Scott was definitely here.” She went over to the tree she knew he loved to sit under. Her eye caught on something gleaming in the snow. She walked over to it, and picked it up. It was her and Gem’s friendship bracelet.
“Gem would never just leave this here.”
“Leave what?” Jimmy had come to the pond as well, looking like a normal elf again. The previous day, they had discovered they could turn their hybrid features “on and off”.
“Her bracelet.” She looked around. She saw some glass nearby. “Looks like a potion bottle.”
“Why would Gem leave her bracelet here?” Pearl ran up to him.
“Think about it Jimmy. Scott can’t control his magic right now. If he tried to kidnap Gem, the ice would be way more chaotic. The fact that there’s just a lot of it means he was here, but didn’t really do anything. The bottle probably had some kind of sleeping potion in it.”
Jimmy looked dumbfounded. “H-how did you figure all that out!”
Pearl shrugged, and Jimmy sighed. “So if Scott didn’t take Gem, who did?” he asked
Pearl leaned closer to Jimmy. “I’ve been pretty suspicious of Joey.” She whispered.
“Now that you mention it, he has been pretty off.”
“Let’s look for them tonight.”
“One of us should make sure Joey stays at his house.” Jimmy suggested.
“Wow, that’s actually a good idea.”
Jimmy crossed his arms. “Hey, I have good ideas!”
“I’ll be the lookout.” She stepped away from Jimmy. “Let’s save my girlfriend.”
“And my boyfr- wait, WHAT?!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I think I’m getting it!” Scott shot another ice stream at the wall. Joey had come down to check on them for the night not too long before.
“See, I told you so!” Gem looked tired, but proud. “When are you gonna set off the flare?”
“I know for a fact that Joey goes to bed at 9:00 every single night. I’ll do it after.” He sat down. “God I miss Jimmy.”
“You really love him, do you?”
Scott smiled. “Yeah, I do. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here right now. He just has this personality that makes me smile every time I think about him.” He sighed. “But I messed it up. Instead of working through this together, I pushed him away.”
“I bet he forgives you.”
“I still want to apologize.” He stood up. “I think it’s time.”
He started shooting ice at the ceiling of the cell. Ten minutes later, he managed to break through to the surface. He set off 5 icicles every 5 minutes.
30 minutes later, they heard someone walking towards the entrance of the dungeon. They started to think it was Joey.”
“Scott? Are you down there?”
“JIMMY!! HELP US!!”
They heard the dungeon door open, and Jimmy's footsteps were heard coming down the ladder.
“How did you find us?” Gem asked.
“Scott’s flare.” Jimmy opened the cages, and when they climbed up, two reindeer were waiting for them.
“Wait, why are there only two?” Gem asked. Jimmy groaned. “The others were being difficult, and these two only followed after I gave them extra treats.”
“We need to get everyone ready. I bet Xornoth’s coming back tonight or at the latest tomorrow morning.” Gem hopped on the back of Vixen and started flying. Jimmy sat on Dasher, and Scott sat behind him, holding his waist.
“Jimmy, I-I’m really sorry.” Scott started as they started flying.
“Scott-”
“Please let me finish. I should have never pushed you away. And I definitely should not have yelled at you like that. You were just trying to help.” Scott hugged his waist tighter.
“And I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. I never want you to go away.”
“I love you so much.” Scott said.
“I love you too.”
“Scott and Jimmy landed next to Gem by the stables, where everyone but Joey was waiting for them. Fwhip, Pearl, and Sausage immediately tackled Gem.
“We were so worried about you!” Fwhip said. “Never do that again!”
Pearl took her, spun her around, and kissed her. Everyone’s jaw dropped.
“Since when!” Scott exclaimed.
“The night before she disappeared.” Pearl said. “She finally confessed.”
“What’s next, Fwhip and Sausage are going to announce they’ve been dating this whole time!” Joel exclaimed. Sausage and Fwhip looked at each other sheepishly. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.”
“3 years!” Sausage yelled.
“Why’d you keep it a secret?” Katherine asked.
Fwhip shrugged. “Felt like it.”
“Secret couples aside, do we all know what’s going on?” Scott asked.
“Yeah, Joey’s a spy, and Xornoth is probably coming back here tonight.” Pix said.
“Joey has to be mind controlled, right?” Shubble asked.
Gem nodded. “Absolutely. We need to find a way to undo that.” Suddenly, a red lightning strike struck a hill not too far away.
“Everyone, grab a reindeer.” Pix instructed. “Tonight we stop Xornoth.”
Gem and Pearl shared Vixen, Jimmy went on Dasher, Lizzie brought Joel onto Cupid after convincing him reindeer are not like horses, Katherine and Shrub hopped on Dancer, Pix took Donner, Sausage took Prancer, Fwhip went to Blitzen, and Scott rode Comet.
They all flew off into the night towards the biggest battle any of them were ever going to face.