Chapter Text
Deep breaths. Remember what your therapist said.. deep breaths.
GOD DAMN IT THEY'RE NOT HELPING.
Hello! This is Pickle. Pickle currently has a huge problem!
You see, Pickle is what the industry calls 'The Legendary Miner'. He earned this title by facing the trials and tribulations of the Infinity Tower like.. a month ago, and got dragged back into it with no choice of his own! #BlameSprout. But, currently, he's in a nether castle built by his older brother, Axel [The Legendary Builder] and also kind of not really on a rescue mission with his YOUNGER brother, Brushle [The Legendary Archaeologist].
That wouldn't be much of an issue if Axel wasn't acting batshit insane as of currently.
He swears, ever since their first run through of the Infinity Tower, everybody's changed for the absolute worst. Sprout's become bossy and power hungry and again- the ENTIRE REASON they're here for the 2nd time in the first place, Spark barely cares about the rest of the team anymore and is in some romantic relationship with a literal SWORD, Axel's crazy as stated before, and honestly he thinks Brushle is the only one who's even remotely normal. Aside from himself, of course.
But he needs to get that all out of his mind now. He needs to find the Star Knights! They have to be in here somewhere, he knows it.
"This way!"
Brushle pulled him in the opposite direction, making him almost trip over himself before he stood straight up and nodded. This castle almost seemed like a maze at times. Though he wouldn't be surprised. Axel probably did this on purpose, knowing him. He paused once he heard a sniffle, looking over at Brushle to see tears streaming down his face.
"Brushle-"
"I'm fine- .. I think. I just.."
He lifted the goggles off of his face, wiping his eyes with a sniffle.
"I'm upset 'cus we still don't know what's wrong with Axel! He's not sick or anything and Sprout's dead so that- throws my whole 'zombie plant' theory out the damn window-"
He hiccuped, Pickle freezing up for a moment before reaching a hesitant hand out to pat Brushle's shoulder.
"Look- After we find and save the Star Knights, we can find Axel and.. I'm sure we can talk some sense into him! He still listens. Not like Sprout."
And that's why Sprout's dead.
Pickle shook his head, getting the morbid thought out of his head. Brushle seemed to cheer up slightly. Still crying, but not on the brink of sobbing anymore. He put on his goggles again and looked at the ground for a moment, pointing forward.
"They- still went this way."
Pickle nodded and ran forward, Brushle following after him. Again, he swears this castle is more like a maze and it's REALLY agitating him. He suddenly tripped on.. well- a tripwire and fell flat on his face. OW. A lot of ow, he bit his tongue too, ow. He heard arrows firing and a wince from Brushle who, as you guessed, took the blow. Pickle felt a pang of guilt run through him, but figured more formal apologies could come later.
"Sorry! So sorry."
"It's fine.."
They both heard a yell from around the corner, Pickle scrambling to get up before him and Brushle made their way through the hallway. Actually watching out for more tripwires and pressure plates and such. After clearing that, they round the corner.
The Star Knights were all caught in cobwebs hanging above lava. Not even their miner could move his arm around enough to get rid of a substantial amount of webs. Their builder soon saw him.
"Please-! Help us!"
"Don't worry, I got you guys!"
Brandishing his pickaxe named 'Cucumber' [hardy har har, Infinity Tower.] he swiftly cut down all the cobwebs in one fell swoop. Well, that's a job well do-
"PICKLE!"
Rudely interrupted by Brushle's shriek, Pickle looked back to find all the Star Knights in the lava. Oh. Oh no.
"Oh my infinity- I'm so sorry!"
"eh, it's fine. you tried your best."
One of the Star Knights shrugged, seeming too nonchalant for a person currently burning to death. Look- he knows that you don't PERMA DIE if you die in the Infinity Tower, but that still has to hurt.
"Team 3 eliminated."
Brushle and Pickle stood there in awkward silence for a moment. Well, Pickle now has a kill count of like. 6. In the Infinity Tower alone.
This fact is going to haunt him for the rest of eternity.
"Finally, my brother! I always knew you were a flesh-hungry beast under all that cowardice and introversion."
Axel round the corner on the other side of the hall, that less-than-sane smile STILL on his face. Pickle took a step back, putting a protective arm in front of Brushle by instinct. Axel merely tilted his head.
"What for? I've not an intention of harming either of you! We're still blood at the end of the day, we."
He summoned more nether bricks under him as the crossed the lava with ease. Even if Axel wasn't really on his or Brushle's side right now, he still felt worry for him.
"No- you tricked me!"
"There wasn't an OUNCE of deceitful intent put into the trap, you are merely an idiot!"
Axel snapped, pointing the axe at Pickle. Admittedly, Pickle jumped a bit. He took another few steps back until he heard Brushle's back hit the wall. Shit. Axel took a few seconds of heavy breathing to calm down.
"I.. would not. Intentionally deceive you. Either of you. This was merely one of many trials. I figured from the start neither of you would join me in my domination of this Tower with mere words. Especially after our floral companion's failure in her own challenge. And yet, I still wanted to double check. Foolish decision, was it not? It's obvious!"
He stepped off the bridge and onto the floor Pickle and Brushle were on.
"With your failure of this trial, that means... you've marked yourself as the enemy."
". . . what??"
Pickle's grip on his pickaxe increased slightly. Brushle was practically trembling behind him.
"Have you gone deaf from that hood? The Tower hasn't addressed this floor as cleared quite yet. Which could only mean your traitorous actions have even turned the Tower against you! Isn't that just quaint!"
NO, IT'S NOT.
"Spark, help!?"
Brushle shouted, only leading Axel to suck his teeth.
"He's fast asleep. You're both aware of how lazy that bot is."
"Well- you said you weren't going to hurt us! Where did that go!?"
Axel paused at that for a moment
"I never said I wouldn't VERBALLY deceive you.."
"Axel. Don't you think we can just.. talk this out?? Like you said we're still brothers! Even if we're.. the 'enemy'. Which we're not, by the way!"
Brushle nodded rapidly in agreement, leading Axel to give a small laugh.
"You've already proven your loyalty is able to change. Why would I even give you a second chance?? That'd be idiotic!"
Axel made a move towards them and somehow before Pickle could react, Brushle threw his brush straight at Axel's face. Axel staggered a bit, a huge cloud of dust suddenly sprouting from the brush. It covered the entire area, and it was thick too. Pickle could hardly breathe.
He felt himself get pushed out of the dust cloud, continuing to cough before trying to reach for Brushle. Before he could reach back in, there was both a hit sound and a crunch. A crunch he didn't enjoy the sound of. Brushle screamed.
"Brush-!"
"Just go!"
He froze for a moment, taking a few steps back before gathering his wits and SPRINTING off. He found himself back at the entrance of the castle. Joll and his friends were stepping inside the castle, but apparently all of them were BLIND since they didn't see the very obvious pressure plates on the ground.
"Stop! Don't. Move."
Even if they were BLIND, they could still listen well enough to immediately stop moving.
"If you step on the pressure plates it'll summon- something- I don't know- I need your help, please!"
Tears were coming to his eyes again, holding his pickaxe tighter. Golem stepped over the pressure plates.
"Aren't you on their side??"
"No- nono, not at all! Axel's-"
Lava suddenly pooled around Pickle, making him jump over it and god damn it land on a pressure plate. Golem muttered something under his breath while the rest of the team [and Pickle] quickly got out of the castle.
"ROXAS!"
Pickle immediately stiffened up at the sound of Axel's yell. The builder walked out of the hallway, his face speckled with dust and.. blood. There was more blood staining both his shirt and vest. He didn't want to think about it. He couldn't. He'd just end up sobbing again.
Joll and his friends were clearly trying to say something, but everything sounded muffled. He could practically feel Axel's hatred through the sunglasses.
The few minutes that followed just happened in a blur. Axel's convoluted speech that he could barely understand, the amount of heat from he lava and Axel's attack in themselves, Demon Chest, speedy pick. The only thing on his mind was just to destroy anything Axel made. He could hardly think in the first place. Where's Brushle? Why hadn't he come out yet?? Why was there BLOOD on Axel that wasn't his own??
Yet, something gold brought him back. He thought it was Spark at first, finally coming to knock some sense into Axel. But it was just Axel's bloodied hand holding a golden block.
"As brothers shall be... our bones.. intertwined... into a creation worthy of praise!"
He let it roll out of his hand and onto the ground, gold blocks starting to overtake the blackstone and rapidly approaching Pickle. Pickle tried to mine it, but it was too much, even for his speedy pick.
And yet, Axel was pleased.
"Yes.. yes! Build us!"
Or, maybe he was just crazy.
"I- I can't! It's too much! I'm sorry!"
A sob escaped Pickle as the gold surrounded him. Darkness filled his vision. He couldn't breathe. He suddenly missed the air he took for granted before, but he knew mining the blocks would be futile.
Axel suffocated.
Oh.
Brushle suffocated.
oh.
...
okay.