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Diamonds are tough they are strong and hard and extremely difficult to break.
It was L'manburg, Niki was so happy to have found this peaceful nation to settle down in, she had friends, a successful bakery, and most importantly she was happy.
"Niki!" she turned towards the voice, pausing her motion of kneading out a tough batch of dough. Wil smiles at her "It's been quite busy around here huh," she returns his smile,
"Nations I suppose." she replies with a small giggle and a roll of her eyes, "How have you been?" she asks, her tone turning gentle. Lately Niki has noticed Wilbur getting thinner, his eyebags getting heavier, his hair gaining small white patches that look like snowflakes dancing over his scalp.
Although he is too proud to admit it, he's struggling. "I'm very well thank you," he says quickly, brushing off her concern. He seems to do that a lot recently.
He pulls out a stool from behind the counter "We're friends, yes?." he asks, "Certainly." she confirms, Wilbur will always be her friend as she will be his.
"You're acting strange." Niki says, careful with her tone, Wilbur never seems to want others to help him.
Wilbur never seems to want her help.
"Nevermind that," he pulls out a small pouch from his pocket, three small diamonds fall out of it, "these are for you, they are strong like our friendship, our nation," he pauses "like you."
She reaches out for them, handling them like they were the most precious things to ever exist.
"Thank you, Wil," she smiles, "really, thank you."
She pops the diamonds into her enderchest to ensure their safety. "Here, try this new cake recipe I've been testing." She pushes a small but beautiful cake onto the countertop, handing him a knife.
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Niki yawns as she wakes up, another nightmare stole hours of sleep from her, she gets those very often now.
Her library is coming along nicely, she has some books that Technoblade gifted her on the shelves, they look nice.
She shoves her cloak on and marches out the door, she has no time for books or libraries or warmness she has work to do. She walks through the forests until she finds her way to a ravine she frequents.
The trip was going quite well up until her pickaxe broke and she had forgotten to bring a spare. She lets out a groan and climbs her way out of the ravine, of course this had to happen to her, of course it had to happen today when she was so busy.
Her chests are unorganised and messy, she has no time for cleaning when she has a library to build. She searches through the chests that are scattered around the hole in the wall she calls the storage room but she is unable to find any pickaxes.
She opens up her enderchest, her last resort, she swears if she finds none in here she will blow this entire room up.
There is no pickaxe to be found, although something else catches her eye, three small diamonds shining brightly like little stars.
She reaches in and pulls them out oh so gently, her eyes start to well up with tears from anger or sadness she cannot tell, she-
Oh.
One of the three falls to the ground and breaks into smithereens, leaving nothing but tiny fragments behind.
While diamonds are difficult to break they are not indestructible. Nothing is.
She stares at the pieces, a part of her wants to fall to her knees and collect them all so she can desperately try and glue them back together, but another part of her wishes to stomp on all of them, breaking the pieces until there is nothing left.
She wishes she could do something, anything, but she simply drops the other two to the ground and watches as they shatter.
Her diamonds are no longer strong, they no longer shine up at her brightly.
Diamonds cannot be put back together when broken, although they can be re-cut into a healthier shape.
She should meet with the syndicate today, perhaps they could help her with her city.