Simon awoke. He was surprisingly refreshed, given that he did technically just die. And suddenly, for some odd reason, he knew exactly where he needed to go to get to Sriviramen.
And so, he sent off. You, know... For plot reasons.
********
"Oh, god. What happened?" Asked Jesse has he held the cold pack to his head, looking at one of the pony nurses, Redheart.
"You got in a bad fight."
"Did I win?"
"Well, define win." she said, looking him over, "Literally, yes, you knocked Sjin out before he did to you. as far as injuries go, however..." she got an odd expression, "I'd say you lost pretty bad."
"What's the damage?"
"Well, you have two fractured ribs, a broken upper forearm, a splintered kneecap, and a skull indentation I'm pretty sure isn't supposed to be there."
"You never know." Jesse said. He, succumbing to his baser instinct, asked, "So you're a nurse?"
"Technically, yes." Redheart replied, "But I'm only in this to pay for my house. You know with the economy these days, what can you do?"
Completely disregarding political talks, Jesse replied, "You know I've always liked nurses."
Nurse Redheart chuckled, "Aw, that's sweet. But I have a Stallion. And besides, you're not even in the same genus as me."
"That's never stopped me before," Jesse said slyly, a grin inching across his face.
Nurse Redheart looked at him, unnerved, and said, "Okay. Now just be quiet and sleep so I can help you with your wounds."
********
Sjin and the other Yogscast members were in their own tent, recovering. The aftermath of the fight was that Sjin was knocked out by Jesse, Crendor was beaten out cold by Duncan's Stocky build, Hannah had ashamedly succumbed to Dodger, TB had fallen to Ridge and Josh had also emerged victorious over Rythian. And they all were showing their wounds.
"What has happened to us?" Sjin murmured as Hannah dapped a wet cloth on his head, wiping away some dried blood.
"I don't know," Hannah replied, "Ever since Lewis, I just..." Sjin could hear her slightly choke on the words, "I've just felt lost. Like I can't trust anybody."
Duncan sat in the corner, watching Rythian and Ridge play cards. Sure, Rythian had taken a beating, but it was nothing much, and Duncan and Ridge had fixed him up, as well as Hannah. "I don't know, Sjin," Duncan said, "I think it was all Simon. Everyone knows he's the Yogscast favorite. With him and Lewis gone, who are we? We're nobody."
"I wouldn't say nobody," said Sjin, "I mean, we all have our friends. We all have our own little Yogscasts. Duncan, you have the second most popular Yogscast, only beside Lew and Simon themselves! And then there's me and Sips, but we only need... Each other." A tear ran off Sjin's cheek and fell to the floor. "My point is, we are all our own Yogscasts. We don't need Simon. Or Lewis."
"But, it's not about the Yogscast," Hannah said, "It's about Lewis. He's dead. Dead! Some of us just..." She sobbed, "Can't live with that."
Ridge patted her on the shoulder, "I know it's hard, but..."
Hannah turned on him in a flash, "You think this is hard?! You think you know what this is?! YOU DON'T! Don't act like you do! You don't know what it's like to lose someone... someone you love."
Duncan tried to step in, but Ridge raised a hand to stop him. "Actually, Hannah." he said, "That's where you're wrong. I did lose someone I loved. Someone who meant the world to me. Just last month, before I came here, just after Lewis and Simon disappeared, my mother finally lost to a battle with cancer. She meant everything to me. She was my childhood. She supported me through my younger years, and she helped me along later in life. If it wasn't for her encouragement, I never would have had the courage to join the Voxelbox, and in extension, if it weren't for my mother, I wouldn't be a part of this great family! and now... she's dead. I'll never see her again. Trust me. I know how you feel."
Everyone looked at Ridgedog in awe. Hannah hugged him hard. "I'm sorry, Ridge. I just... I don't know how I can go on without Lewis."
"It'll be hard. For all of us. But we'll learn to live with it, we'll work around it, and we'll become a happy Yogscast family again."
"Is that even possible?" Rythian asked, "I mean, I'm all fore getting over this and going back to normal as soon as possible, but... can that even happen? Lewis and Simon embodied the Yogscast. They started what all this has become. They are the Yogscast. And now, Lewis is dead, and Simon's gone off to who the hell knows where! We'll never be quite the same. We'll never be the Yogscast again without them."
"But have you forgotten why we're even here? Why we're risking our lives and the lives of our friends? To find the one thing that could being Lewis back! And Simon... he's gone off to find it on his own, I can only hope! To find someone who can help us! But for now, yes, we aren't who we came together as. We're not the Yogscast." Sjin paused, "But we're friends. We're comrades. We're blood-brothers of sorts. We're family, even if it isn't the Yogscast family."
Duncan stood, "Sjin's right. We have bonds. To each other. And who would we be if we just gave up on those bonds? Then we'd be nobody. Let's not forget who we are at heart. Sjin. Where did the name Yogscast come from?"
Sjin thought, as revelation hit him. "YOGS. Ye Olde Goone Squade!"
"Yes! They didn't start the Yogscast! The Goone Squade did! And if we aren't still Yogscast family, I have no doubt we're all Goones at heart."
Everyone in the room gave a hearty "Here, here!"
And Duncan finished, with, "And if we're Goones, who says Jesse Cox can't be too."
Sjin replied, "Duncan's right. There's no point to this feud if it's obviously Yogs VS Butterflies. We're all goones at heart, and we all have ties to keep! SO why not make ties with them?"