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Rae panicked as his spy glass lined up with Sherbert’s. He quickly retracted it and tucked it away hoping Sherbert would think they had just mistaken something else for a spyglass but when he glanced back up Sherbert still stared down at him. Frantically he held out his arms only to realize to his horror that he was very much visible. He jumped backwards, his spine hitting the rough cliffside as Sherbert fell down before him, effectively cornering him. The alchemist laughed and Rae squirmed. He wedged his way between the wooden support pillar and the jagged dirt wall, desperately trying to put space between himself and Sherbert.
“Raeee,” Sherbert taunted, drawing out his name.
“Hi- Sherbert,” He replied helplessly.
“What are you… what are you doing here?” Sherbert interrogated. They stared him down through their spyglass just to mock him more.
“Just, checking up on David’s,” he responded. Sherbert raised an eyebrow as if to ask ‘seriously?’ and Rae tried to keep his face neutral. The corrupted realized they weren’t getting anymore and mockingly played along.
“yeah, no, it looks um- looks- it looks pretty good huh?”
“That’s- a word for it,” Rae reluctantly half agreed. He inched forward to get a better view of the area in question just as Sherbert stepped back, putting the two shoulder to shoulder on the narrow ridge. Rae quickly backed up, bracing himself back between the pillar and the hillside.
“Heh, what ar- what are you doing?” Sherbert jeered.
“You know what i was just leaving,” Rae tried to excuse. He began backing slowly down the hill, switching from looking behind himself for safe footings to glancing back at Sherbert who followed him with much more ease.
“Ermm no, no, no,” Sherbert scolded.
“No, it's okay we're good- we're good- we're just gonna go,” Rae stammered.
“No, no, no, where are you going? Where are you going?” Sherbert insisted.
“Look I just- I'm just-,” Rae cut off. The rain poured down on him now that he was out from beneath the overlook and the heavy droplets obscured his view. He ran backwards doing his best to avoid stray skeleton arrows as he tried to leave.
“Where are you- where are you trying to go?” Sherbert demanded.
“You know what I'm just gonna go.”
“Hey, no no, I wi- I- I’m gonna- I can go with you,” Sherbert blurted. They advanced, getting uncomfortably close in Rae’s personal space.
“You know what? You don't- you really don't need to do that- I think I'd rather you-”
“Yeah, but I am,” Sherbert interrupted.
“Stay away from me actually,” Rae finished.
“I-I am coming with you,” Sherbert concluded. Both paused, staring each other down. Rae put away his spyglass and moved his hand to the hilt of his sword. Sherbert copied the motion and Rae drew his blade to match them.
“Look, can you just like-” Rae trailed off. He realized the other far out geared him and quickly pulled out his armor. He tossed his boots to the ground, only briefly glancing at them to make sure he was stepping into the right ones as he fashioned the straps on his shin, knee, and thigh guards. He threw on the heavy chestplate that sat coldly against his soaked tunic and he longed for the wool undershirt that usually kept the armor inplace and away from his skin. It sat lopsided on his shoulders but he didn’t bother adjusting it instead choosing to focus on the laces on the bracers on his arms. He pulled the cord tight, not bothering to tie it in his rush. He set the helmet upon his head and tried to ignore the feeling of the armor slowly sliding out of place from his hasteful attempt of equipping it. He steadied his footing and set his other hand on the handle of the sword after adjusting his quiver to be more reachable on the side of his hip.
“Look I don’t-” He began.
“Oh wow, look at you- hmm yes,” Sherbert mocked. They nodded over exaggeratedly and not only rolled their eyes but their whole head.
“You don't have a choice about this,” Sherbert asserted.
“Yeah? Let's see about that,” Rae challenged. He lunged, hoping to get the element of surprise on his side. He swung his sword at Sherbert’s exposed chest aiming for a nonlethal blow but something that would incapacitate them long enough for his escape. The alchemist was more skilled in combat though and dodged the blow, only the lining of their jacket getting caught by the blade’s tip, tearing a small gash. Rae booked it, sprinting for his life as Sherbert chuckled and followed behind.
“Oh- you, you want to do that? You want to do that? You want to do that? You want to do that do you? Want to do that right now? I can do that,” Sherbert taunted. They dove using the wings to glide and aimed their sword at the back of Rae’s legs. It dug into one of the leather straps almost severing it but Rae sprinted on as a dribble of blood flowed down his thigh as the blade edge was wrenched from his leg. Sherbert rounded in front of Rae who was slowed from the cut while they flew quickly. They slashed at his chest but the armor reflected most of the blow giving the startled scientist another chance to turn and high tail it out of there. He flailed his sword wildly, untrained, while Sherbert landed precise hits, aiming for gaps in his armor. His only advantage came at that the armor wasn’t designed to coordinate with elytra so Sherbert was left with just their thick coat instead of a chestplate. They gave up fighting when a spider momentarily distracted the alchemist and once again resorted to fleeing. They were running off of adrenaline to keep moving at all at this point.
“Look we don't need to do this, I'm just-” Rae tried to reason but was once again cut off by Sherbert.
“No I- we don't need to, exactly I agree. We don't need to do that.”
“Why don't you just stay away from me? I've seen you up on the freaking island things, just leave me alone,” Rae pleaded.
“Yeah no, it happened, it's been a little hard to see you guys lately but it seems like you kind of wanted to be found,” Sherbert bantered back as they once again pursued Rae down the path. Rae backed away, panicked, and Sherbert smirked.
“Look I'm just gonna leave and just- just- just stay away from me okay,” Rae begged. A trail of their own blood was diffusing into the rain soaked ground. They tried to get one last hit in to define their message but they barely clipped Sherbert’s shoulder and they returned a counterblow to his shoulder where the chestplate had shifted off of. The enchanted blade sunk deep into the flesh and with the rain pouring down the fire magic didn’t cause it to cauterize letting magenta flood out. Rae fell backwards landing on his butt in a fetal position as he clutched his bleeding out shoulder. He forced himself back up quickly though retaliating with four solid strikes to Sherbert’s chest with his good arm. It knocked the alchemist back some but all were clearly intended to be non-lethal and with his limited strength left that made them even weaker, just four small, shallow, cuts.
“Now where- where are you going? What have you been working on Rae? What have you been
working on?” Sherbert demanded.
“Why would I tell you that?”
“Because I'm your friend and I'm wondering?” Sherbert mocked.
“You are not my friend,” Rae retaliated. He went silent after realizing the truth in those words though, instead insistently glaring at Sherbert as he clutched his shoulder. This wasn’t his friend, it was some imposter in their body.
“Maybe— maybe,” Sherbert replied, almost sadly but any trace of that emotion was whipped from their voice and face a moment later. “Doesn't mean I don't want to know what you're working on you know? You- you know you're you're you're investigating my house and everything!”
“Yeah just noticed your uh your lovely wool rooftop it's a real interesting choice,” Rae bantered back.
“Yeah, it sure is,” Sherbert answered harshly. They ate chicken casually, a taunt of ‘look your so insignificant that I can eat peacefully for minor injuries while you’re too scared to put the sword away for a second’.
“No what if- what have you guys been working on? I know that you guys are kind of unionizing or something,” Sherbert questioned. Rae hummed his acknowledgement, keeping his eyes on the dual wielded trident and sword. “Kind of a little rude, I'm not gonna lie.”
“Huh yeah, we're the rude ones, yep,” Rae snarked back.
“Oh come on, straight down, show me, show me, stupid- do you- do you have a new lab somewhere?”
“No.”
“Hmm, I doubt that.”
“Look I don't need to tell you anything.”
“No you don't; but you're going to,” Sherbert insisted.
“Why would I? I'm not going to. Go away,” Rae refused. He struck at Sherbert twice but the alchemist didn’t even flinch or attempt to dodge or block as the blade sliced into their flesh. They just stared back unimpressed, mocking.
“You're not gonna get me to leave,” Sherbert declared. “You know I can do this or I can kill you. Would you rather have that? Because you won't win this fight. So how about you just show me what you're working on.”
“I don't think you're gonna kill me,” Rae replied. His shoulder had slowly but surely healed some, not that it could be noticed from an outsider’s perspective beneath the magenta soaked cloth but he felt strong enough at least to refix both hands on the hilt. He walked away backwards, trying to seem confident.
“I can,” Sherbert pressed. Rae watched them skillfully swap their elytra with a chestplate. It sat evenly on their shoulders and didn’t seem to dig into or uncover any of their skin beneath. Rae panicked pacing for a second before grabbing his trident.
“I don't know where you think you're about to go,” Sherbert teased.
“Away from you,” Rae answered. He launched the trident through the rain and let it pull him with it. It tore at his bad shoulder as he clung to the slick, wet, weapon and he ignored the shower of magenta drops that fell as he spiraled through the air. He could hear Sherbert take off behind him but he didn’t look back, not wanting to waste a second that could cost him his life.
“Yeah you're so much faster than me, because you were just so much faster than me. You're not, you're not getting away,” Sherbert taunted. Rae landed beside the tree with Sherbert gracefully gliding down next to him not a moment later, elytra somehow already back on. Their blades crashed against each other as they fought beneath the expansive foliage. Any strikes that weren’t emedient paired mostly bounced off of armor but some stabs still landed in flesh. The alchemists' arms took a few hits and so did the scientist’s but his were far more deep from a more aggressive intent. He backed away slowly, trying to round Sherbert so he would have the forest at his back so he might run and hide, escape to his new base. The magenta trail he left though gave away his plan as it clearly arched into a circle.
“Look I'm not- I don't exactly have a lab to be working on right now, what do you expect me to be working on?” Rae replied, feigning innocence. Sherbert once again cocked their eyebrow in disbelief.
“I, I, I am fairly certain you have something, pretty sure all of you do,” Sherbert insisted. Rae knew he wasn’t doing good, the fighting had opened his shoulder back up and that along with the plenty of other cuts and gashes littering his skin were leaving him to bleed out. His communicator would be beeping soon, warning him that his health was dangerously low. Stall, he needed to stall and hope for an opportunity to heal up at least some.
“Only thing I'm working on is trying to make sure I see Athena stays safe and stays the hell away from you.”
“Athena doesn't want to be with you, they’ve made that very clear,” Sherbert argued.
“Well hopefully they can see that they shouldn’t be near you either,” Rae retaliated. He swung his sword angrily, cleaving a deep gash in Sherbert’s side. Sherbert fought back, targeting his bad shoulder and hitting it with scary accuracy. Rae nearly cried out in pain as Sherbert used his shoulder as a starting point to tear their blade downwards through his chest, it could only go so far before the armor couldn’t move out of its way anymore but it was agony. He retreated towards the tree and as much as he wanted to pull out food so he could heal, he once again feared being disarmed for even a second and he clung tight to the bloody handle of his weapon.
“Well I think that choice is theirs not not yours,” Sherbert countered between bite of chicken.
“Yeah well then maybe you should let them pick it instead of whatever manipulation you're doing to them,” Rae retaliated. He glared at Sherbert ignoring their protest that Athena was just simply picking them.
“Such a strong word,” Sherbert mocked.
“Yeah, I have a few strong words I would like to use on you,” Rae replied. The both stared each other down for a minute before Sherbert broke the silence.
“No. Come on you can just- this- you can make this so much easier on yourself. You don't- I don't even need to put you- I don't want to hurt you, I don't but I will. I absolutely will,” Sherbert threatened.
“I don't really care if you threatened to hurt me,” Rae answered.
“Do you want to play this game again?”
“I don’t really care.”
“I don’t have to threaten you,” Sherbert smirked.
“Look, leave everyone else out of this,” Rae insisted.
“How about you take them out of it? Just, make this easier. You know, I don't- I don't want to hurt anybody, not you, not Athena, not- not anybody. That doesn't mean I won't; and that's on you.”
“Fine,” Rae relented. He knew this wasn’t a fight he was winning but he at least had to try before but with Athena and who knew who else on the line he backed down. Maybe at least he’d get a chance to eat and regenerate although he doubted Sherbert would take their eyes off him for even a moment, lest he disappear again. The Temple of Creation would have to be good enough for Sherbert because he wasn’t taking them anywhere near the people he cared about.