History Fanfic / EverythingTurnsToGold

* PastLifeMemories: They're mostly [[MythologyGag passing mentions]], but Jimmy has had brief memory flashes to [[WebVideo/LifeSMP 3rd Life]], mainly the Battle of the Red Desert.
-->Harsh light leaked between Exors fangs. '''''"Of course you refuse to lay down and die. I see other worlds in your eyes, mortal--you didn't know when to give up then, either."'''''\\
The image of a crown dripping with blood flickered in Jimmy's mind. A burning red banner. A desert rigged to blow. He jerked free of Exor's grip. \\

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34568404/chapters/86048773 Everything Turns To Gold]]'' is an ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP'' Season 1 fanfiction co-authored by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkleweather/pseuds/darkleweather darkleweather]] and [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedWinterRoses/pseuds/RedWinterRoses RedWinterRoses]]. It is a retelling of the Demon-arc, canon divergent from the dragon fight onward.

* ShockAndAwe: Pix's preferred weapon is a trident, and the Channeling enchantment on it allows him to summon lightning to strike his target, indirectly giving him this power.[[note]]While Channeling technically only works while it's raining or in water in the game, the EternalWinter and resultant snow probably counts for the precipitation requirement in-universe.[[/note]]

* EternalWinter: The start of which sets in soon after the beginning of the fic. After the death of the Ender Dragon, Xornoth has become powerful enough to summon a massive snowstorm, blotting out the sun and causing heavy snowfall even in the desert kingdoms of Mezalea and Pixandria.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: For most of ''Gold'' thus far, Gem and Lizzie are the main two female rulers involved in the dragon egg and rescue mission. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in Chapter 27 when a resurrected fWhip brings along Pearl, Katherine, and Shrub as TheCavalry.]]

* AndShowItToYou: [[spoiler:Exor tries to do this to Scott, by physically digging his claws into his chest and trying to tear out his heart. Fortunately, [[BigDamnHeroes Pix and the others intervene before he can]].]]

* BrokenBird: Gem becomes one after [[spoiler:[[AngstySurvivingTwin fWhip's death]]]] in Chapter 20, as a result of AdaptationalAngstUpgrade. She flies into a screaming rage when Lizzie has to drag her away from the top of the pyramid, spends most of the trip to Mezalea completely despondent, and when they arrive, she immediately throws herself fully into taking care of Scott. When Pix attempts to get her to take a break, she quietly admits that she can't stop, afraid that she'll start seeing [[spoiler:her brother's death]] again if she does. She finally breaks down the next day after [[spoiler:Scott accidentally slaps her during a traumatic flashback]], and cries into his chest while continuing to insist [[spoiler:fWhip is going to come back]].

* TraumaButton: [[spoiler:Anything that brings up memories of the torture and attempted sacrifice sends Scott spiraling into a panic. Triggers include the sight of the puncture wounds in his chest, his wings or hands being restrained, the taste of a healing potion (since he'd been given one by Sausage right before Exor took over his body), and ''especially'' people pulling on his feathers or hair. When Gem accidentally pulls on some of the feathers while preening his wing in Chapter 23, he has a flashback so intense that he momentarily sees her as Exor, and winds up smacking her in the face.]]

* AdaptationDyeJob: Both Jimmy and Joel have brown eyes in the source material, if going by their Minecraft skins, but have green eyes in this fic.

* BreatherEpisode: After the WhamEpisode that was Chapter 20, Chapters 21 through 23 have basically no action in them. [[spoiler:After traveling to Mezalea, the group finally has time to rest, bring Joel up to speed, treat Scott's injuries and mourn the loss of fWhip.]]
* BrokenBird: [[spoiler:[[AngstySurvivingTwin Gem]]]] becomes one after [[spoiler:fWhip's death]] in Chapter 20, as a result of AdaptationalAngstUpgrade. [[spoiler:She flies into a screaming rage when Lizzie has to drag her away from the top of the pyramid, spends most of the trip to Mezalea completely despondent, and when they arrive, she immediately throws herself fully into taking care of Scott. When Pix attempts to get her to take a break, she quietly admits that she can't stop, afraid that she'll start seeing her brother's death again if she does. She finally breaks down the next day after Scott accidentally slaps her during a traumatic flashback, and cries into his chest while continuing to insist fWhip is going to come back.]]
* CainAndAbel: Scott and Xornoth ''loathe'' one another. Xornoth has absolutely zero qualms about torturing the living hell out of Scott, and Scott takes whatever opportunity he can to bite back, physically or verbally. [[spoiler:This eventually culminates in their fight in the Nether in Chapter 18, where, after a few failed escape attempts on Scott's part, Xornoth drags him to the edge of a cliff and dangles him over a lava lake by his hair, while absolutely salivating over how easy it would be to kill him now.]]
-->[[spoiler:''"You have no idea how tempted I am to just let you fall,"'' Xornoth hissed in his ear. ''"How many centuries I’ve fantasized about doing just that. [[NeverSuicide How no one would know you didn’t jump yourself]]—[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident I could tell Exor whatever I wanted.]]"''\\

Xornoth was breathing hard. ''"Exor doesn’t need Aeor’s power to defeat this pathetic land. With that stupid desert king gone, you won’t come back and oh—"'' he sucked a long breath through his teeth, his fingers curling tighter in Scott’s hair. ''"Oh, how satisfying it would be to watch Aeor’s void-cursed champion turn to cinders in front of my eyes. All it takes..."'' he pressed his knee harder into Scott’s back. ''"All it takes is one... little... shove."]]''

** Jimmy is given an invisibility potion in Chapter 11 to spy on Mythland with Lizzie and scout out Scott's location. While he doesn't use the potion during the mission, it is finally put to use in Chapter [[spoiler:20 for him to sneak close enough to the altar to put Aeor's antlers on Scott's head, putting him into GoldenSuperMode.]]

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Jimmy. He's consistently treated as if he's slow or incompetent for asking seemingly dumb questions and being more than a little clumsy, and he's not nearly as skilled in combat as some of the others are. However, he's a ''lot'' smarter than he's given credit for, and his split-second decision making has saved the day multiple times. The fact that people see him as not worth paying attention to works in his favor during [[spoiler:the confrontation with Exor in the Lost Empire in Chapter 20, as it allows him to slip into the background, drink an invisibility potion, and sneak close enough to the altar to put Aeor's antlers on Scott's head.]]

* GoldenSuperMode: When wearing Aeor's antlers, Scott starts to glow golden, and becomes significantly stronger. This comes with the caveat that he starts to become more and more dependent on the antlers to function, to the point that he nearly gives up the dragon egg in exchange. [[spoiler:When he finally gets them back on his head, however, the antlers themselves take over the fighting for him.]]
-->[[spoiler:Golden light burst from Scott’s eyes, and Jimmy tumbled back—directly into Joey, who snatched blindly at him, fumbling to tackle him. [...]\\

And then it exploded. The light burst outward in a ring of energy, slamming into Exor and Xornoth. Xornoth flew backward, smashing into the pillar beside Jimmy with a sharp crack of bone and stone. The stone split upward from where he’d impacted, and chunks of deepslate crumbled down, peppering the demon’s prone form.]]

** [[spoiler:After two days of torture and numerous failed escape attempts, Scott's body finally gives out when he's on the altar about to be sacrificed to Exor. His friends save him, but he has to be carried out of the Lost Empire by Jimmy, and spends the majority of the next two chapters either unconscious, mumbling incoherently to himself while wildly hallucinating, or begging for death.]]
** [[spoiler:While Scott recovers enough to be able to fight in the war for Mezalea, the torture and liberal use of his Champion-abilities burns him up completely. After he defeats Xornoth, the gold consumes his entire body, and Pix and Jimmy find him collapsed in the snow, barely conscious and actively dying as the gold starts to consume his organs. He only survives after Jimmy decides to become Aeor's new Champion, taking the power out of his body, stopping (or at least slowing) the gold's spread to Scott's heart.]]

* HumanSacrifice: Well, ''Elven'' Sacrifice. Xornoth and Joey's goal is to sacrifice Scott to Exor, so he can absorb Aeor's power and take over the world. [[spoiler:Scott is eventually taken to the Lost Empire, chained to an altar, has runes painted on him with his own blood, and would've had his heart ripped out of his chest by Exor if Pix and the other rulers hadn't intervened.]]

-->[[spoiler:He looked up at Pix, but there was no recognition in his face. Pix wasn’t sure Scott could even see him. "Please... make it stop," Scott begged, his voice breaking and dissolving into a trailing murmur of broken phrases. "Just... kill me. Stop tormenting me... please... just let me ''die—''"]]

** [[spoiler:After being rescued, Scott spends hours alternating between unconsciousness, mumbling to himself while hallucinating, and begging for the pain to stop. Jimmy especially is ''incredibly'' disturbed by this, to the point where he drops the fireplace poker once Scott starts pleading for Pix to kill him, and flees the room as soon as he can. Even when Scott is lucid enough to hold a conversation again, Jimmy is disturbed by how subdued and exhausted he sounds. His internal monologue constantly remarks how this is not what Scott is supposed to sound like, and he's very noticeably relieved when Scott recovers enough to start joke-flirting with him again.]]

* TakenForGranite: Taking the full power of a ''god'' into yourself turns out to be quite a bit more than a mortal body can handle. Throughout the fic, Scott's body slowly starts to turn to gold, starting with his fingers and slowly creeping up his arms to the rest of his body. [[spoiler:In flashbacks, it's revealed that the same thing happened to Alinar, who died by turning into a golden statue of himself, and during their final battle in Chapter 25, Scott turns Xornoth into a golden statue simply by touching his skin.]]

** In Chapter 20, [[spoiler:Pix tries to offer himself up in exchange for Scott, by allowing Aeor's power to enter his body and becoming the new Champion. This fails, however, as he's already the Keeper of the Vigil, meaning his body has no more room left for Aeor's powers.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: While absolutely nobody is having a good time, Scott is ''really'' put through the wringer. He's injured in multiple fights, kidnapped, tortured for information, [[spoiler:watched Sausage's body get slowly and painfully taken over by Exor during their escape attempt, is dangled over lava by Xornoth, and nearly has his ''heart ripped out of his chest'' by Exor, all the while he can only watch as his own body slowly turns to gold. By the time his friends manage to save him, he's barely clinging to life, can't hang onto consciousness for more than a few minutes at a time, and whenever he's lucid enough to string a sentence together, [[ICannotSelfTerminate he's begging them to just let him die]].]]

-->Xornoth tilted his head, regarding Scott for a moment. ''"You’ve experienced barely half an hour of torment and it made you scream like a child. Look at you—you can barely stand. Do you think I don’t have other ways of torturing you?"'' He smiled slowly, his abnormally-wide mouth curling back toward his ears. ''"How long do you think you could hold out, little king of Rivendell, if I took my time plucking each and every feather from your wings? Snapped every bone in them?"'' He took another step forward. ''"Or perhaps… removed them altogether?"''

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: The Seablings' canonical backstory of being amnesiac demi-gods is disregarded in the fanfic due to the fanfic's release pre-dating the ''Empires'' episodes when this was revealed.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Jimmy's Minecraft skin canonically has brown eyes, but they're "bright green" in this continuity.

** [[spoiler:Before his HeelFaceDoorSlam,]] Sausage's eyes turn from blue to "lightless, a dull, flat black that didn't even reflect the flickering torchlight" when he's [[spoiler:possessed by Exor]].

* DeadpanSnarker: Scott tends to use sarcasm and snippy comments to hide his emotions. Given the [[TraumaCongaLine sheer amount of anguish he's put through]], he gets to do ''plenty'' of that.

* BrokenBird: [[spoiler:[[AngstySurvivingTwin Gem]]]] becomes one after [[spoiler:fWhip's death]] in Chapter 20. [[spoiler:She flies into a screaming rage when Lizzie has to drag her away from the top of the pyramid, spends most of the trip to Mezalea completely despondent, and when they arrive, she immediately throws herself fully into taking care of Scott. When Pix attempts to get her to take a break, she quietly admits that she can't stop, afraid that she'll start seeing her brother's death again if she does. She finally breaks down the next day after Scott accidentally slaps her during a traumatic flashback, and cries into his chest while continuing to insist fWhip is going to come back.]]

* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: In ''Everything Turns to Gold'', Aeor's magic is primarily associated with [[PlayingWithFire heat]], while Exor's is associated with cold. This is the exact inverse of canon, where Scott develops [[AnIcePerson cryokinesis]] and Xornoth's corruption turns water into lava. According to the authors, this is because these details had not fully been fleshed out in canon yet by the time they started writing.

* {{Determinator}}: ''Scott.'' He manages to resist two full days of torture, holds his own against Xornoth despite barely being able to ''walk'', and continues to sass him the entire time.

* GoldenSuperMode: When wearing Aeor's antlers, Scott starts to glow golden, and becomes significantly stronger. This comes with the caveat that he starts to become more and more dependent on the antlers to function, to the point that he nearly gives up the dragon egg in exchange. [[spoiler:When he finally gets them back on his head however, the antlers themselves take over the fighting for him.]]

* TheHeart: Jimmy is a lot less skilled in combat than his fellow rulers, but what he lacks in combat prowess, he makes up for in emotional intelligence. Pix [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in Chapter 22, telling Jimmy outright that they need his "heart and intuition" in the war against Xornoth.

-->[[spoiler:fWhip]] yelped, dropping his sword, both hands going to his throat as [[spoiler: Exor]] jerked him back, winding the scarf around his claws. [[spoiler: fWhip]]'s feet kicked and slipped on the slick ground, wide-eyed with sheer panic.\\

* ShoutOut: The chapter titles are derived from the lyrics of several songs, including "Paradise Is Burning" and "Monster In The Mirror" by Outline In Color, and "Warriors" and "Gold" by Music/ImagineDragons. The latter also provides the title of the fanfic.

* PastLifeMemories: They're mostly [[MythologyGag passing mentions]], but Jimmy has had brief memory flashes to [[LetsPlay/LifeSMP 3rd Life]], mainly the Battle of the Red Desert.

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34568404/chapters/86048773 Everything Turns To Gold]]'' is an ''LetsPlay/EmpiresSMP'' Season 1 fanfiction co-authored by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkleweather/pseuds/darkleweather darkleweather]] and [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedWinterRoses/pseuds/RedWinterRoses RedWinterRoses]]. It is a retelling of the Demon-arc, canon divergent from the dragon fight onward.

* HoldYourHippogriffs: A few of them are in use in the fic, including one case of "Go to[[labelnote:the Void]]Hell[[/labelnote]]" in Chapter 9, another case of "Hold your [[labelnote:seahorses]]horses[[/labelnote]]" courtesy of Lizzie in Chapter 14, and a mention of "[not] a [[labelnote:raindrop's]]snowball's[[/labelnote]] chance in [[labelnote:the Nether]]Hell[[/labelnote]]" in Chapter 25.

* EyeColourChange: [[spoiler:Before his HeelFaceDoorSlam,]] Sausage's eyes turn from blue to "lightless, a dull, flat black that didn't even reflect the flickering torchlight" when he's [[spoiler:possessed by Exor]].

** [[spoiler:While Scott recovers enough to be able to fight in the war for Mezalea, the torture and liberal use of his Champion-abilities burns him up completely. After he defeats Xornoth, the gold consumes his entire body, and Pix and Jimmy find him collapsed in the snow, barely conscious and actively dying as the gold starts to consume his organs. He only survives after Jimmy decides to become Aeor's new champion, taking the power out of his body, stopping (or at least slowing) the gold's spread to Scott's heart.]]

* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: In ''Everything Turns to Gold'', Aeor's magic is primarily associated with heat, while Exor's is associated with cold. This is the exact inverse of canon, where Scott develops [[AnIcePerson cryokinesis]] and Xornoth's corruption turns water into lava. According to the authors, this is because these details had not fully been fleshed out in canon yet by the time they started writing.

* ChekhovsGun: Jimmy is given an invisibility potion in Chapter 11 to spy on Mythland with Lizzie and scout out Scott's location. While he doesn't use the potion during the mission, it is finally put to use in Chapter [[spoiler:20 for him to sneak close enough to the altar to put Aeor's antlers on Scott's head, putting him into GoldenSuperMode.]]

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Jimmy. He's consistently treated as if he's slow or incompetent for asking seemingly dumb questions and being more than a little clumsy, and he's not nearly as skilled in combat as some of the others are. However, he's a ''lot'' smarter than he's given credit for, and his split-second decision making has saved the day multiple times. The fact that people see him as not worth paying attention to works in his favor during [[spoiler:the confrontation with Exor in the Lost Empire, as it allows him to slip into the background, drink an invisibility potion, and sneak close enough to the altar to put Aeor's antlers on Scott's head.]]

* DeathIsCheap: At first played straight, then ''horribly'' subverted. The Vigil, and the candles lit within them, are meant to anchor people's souls to the world, ensuring that even if they die, they can come back to life no worse for wear. However, the Vigil is destroyed by Xornoth in Chapter 8, taking away people's ability to respawn, [[spoiler:[[KilledOffForReal as fWhip finds out the hard way]]. He only ''barely'' makes it out of the void by the light of Pix's candle, and when he does respawn, he's still very badly injured.]]

* HoldYourHippogriffs: A few of them are in use in the fic, including one case of "Go to[[labelnote:the Void]]Hell[[/labelnote]]!", as well as another case of "Hold your [[labelnote:seahorses]]horses[[/labelnote]]" courtesy of Lizzie.

* PrecisionFStrike: ''Gold'' adheres mostly to the rules of its PG source material, meaning characters either don't swear or use words like "[[GoshDangItToHeck void]]" where one would normally use "fuck". During [[spoiler:his final fight with Xornoth]] however, Scott decides to forego this rule.

* SwitchingPOV: ''Gold'' alternates between Scott, Jimmy, and Pix's perspectives of the events.
* TakenForGranite: Taking the full power of a ''god'' into yourself turns out to be quite a bit more than a mortal body can handle. Throughout the fic, Scott's body slowly starts to turn to gold, starting with his fingers and slowly creeping up his arms to the rest of his body. [[spoiler:In flashbacks, it's revealed that the same thing happened to Alinar, who died by turning into a golden statue of himself, and during their final battle, Scott turns Xornoth into a golden statue simply by touching his skin.]]

** [[spoiler:In Chapter 20, Pix tries to offer himself up in exchange for Scott, by allowing Aeor's power to enter his body and becoming the new Champion. This fails, however, as he's already the Keeper of the Vigil, meaning his body has no more room left for Aeor's powers.]]
** [[spoiler:After Scott's body is entirely consumed by gold and he lays dying in Pix's arms, Jimmy offers himself up as Aeor's new Champion, since Pix can't do it himself, despite both Pix and Scott begging him to stop. Jimmy is taken over by Aeor, which not only stops (or at least slows) the spreading of the gold inside Scott's body, it also gives the Empires a fighting chance against Exor again.]]

* VillainsWantMercy:

* WreckedWeapon: During their battle, [[spoiler:Xornoth]] shatters [[spoiler:Scott]]'s sword when the latter tries to block a strike with it. [[spoiler:Scott, out of desperation, attacks Xornoth with his bare hands, resulting in him touching Xornoth's skin, triggering his MidasTouch and slowly transforming Xornoth into a golden statue]].

* ChekhovsGun: Jimmy is given an invisibility potion in Chapter 11 to spy on Mythland with Lizzie and scout out Scott's location. While he doesn't use the potion during the mission, it is finally put to use in Chapter [[20 for him to sneak close enough to the altar to put Aeor's antlers on Scott's head, putting him into GoldenSuperMode.]]

** [[spoiler:Pix tries to offer himself up in exchange for Scott, by allowing Aeor's power to enter his body and becoming the new Champion. This fails, however, as he's already the Keeper of the Vigil, meaning his body has no more room left for Aeor's powers.]]

* ToThePain:

* TraumaButton: [[spoiler:Anything that brings up memories of the torture and attempted sacrifice sends Scott spiraling into a panic. Triggers include the sight of the puncture wounds in his chest, his wings or hands being restrained, the taste of a healing potion (since he'd been given one by Sausage right before Exor took over his body), and ''especially'' people pulling on his feathers or hair. When Gem accidentally pulls on some of the feathers while preening his wing, he has a flashback so intense that he momentarily sees her as Exor, and winds up smacking her in the face.]]

* TheHeart: Jimmy is a lot less skilled in combat than his fellow rulers, but what he lacks in combat prowess, he makes up for in emotional intelligence. Pix [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this, telling Jimmy outright that they need his "heart and intuition" in the war against Xornoth.

* CainAndAbel: Scott and Xornoth ''loathe'' one another. Xornoth has absolutely zero qualms about torturing the living hell out of Scott, and Scott takes whatever opportunity he can to bite back, physically or verbally. [[spoiler:This eventually culminates in their fight in the Nether, where, after a few failed escape attempts on Scott's part, Xornoth drags him to the edge of a cliff and dangles him over a lava lake by his hair, while absolutely salivating over how easy it would be to kill him now.]]

* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Sausage was already not too thrilled about the plans he was getting roped into, so he eventually decides to help Scott escape the Mythland dungeon. [[spoiler:Exor figures out what he's doing, however, and responds by fully taking over Sausage's body, transforming him into a new vessel for himself and knocking Scott out cold before he can get away.]]

* ICannotSelfTerminate:

* ShoutOut: The chapter titles are derived from the lyrics of several songs, including "Paradise Is Burning" and "Monster In The Mirror" by Outline In Color, and "Warriors" and "Gold" by Music/ImagineDragons. The latter also provides the title of the of the fanfic.