Chapter Text
Cathy was startled awake by a scream nearby her. Confused, she looked around, catching sight of a woman a couple yards away from her scratching at her neck desperately. Cathy scrambled to her feet, running over to the woman.
“Hey, you’re gonna make yourself bleed,” Cathy pointed out, carefully grabbing the woman’s hands and holding them. “Can you breathe with me?” Parr exaggerated her inhales and exhales, hoping the panicking girl would follow her. It didn’t seem to be working. That was Cathy’s only idea, but she needed to help her. Cathy brought her hand up a bit to scratch her chin, forgetting that she was still holding hands with another person. The other hand paused before it was pressed to Parr’s chest. Cathy blinked in confusion before realizing what was happening. The woman was feeling her breathing in and out to help ground her. They sat together for a few minutes like that, the woman slowly calming down. She let out a shaky breath.
“Thank you,” the voice was still a little weak but she sounded slightly better. Cathy smiled at her.
“Of course. What is your name?”
“Oh. It’s Anne. Anne Boleyn.” Cathy felt her eyes widen. The Anne Boleyn? Images of Elizabeth flashed through her mind, but she pushed them away, along with the self-hatred that reared its head with them.
“I’m Catherine Parr, but you can call me Cathy. I was also married to Henry. His last wife.” Maybe this was God’s way of letting her right her wrongs. Giving her a second chance.
“Oh, really? How many did he have?”
“Six in total.”
“Always knew he was a bastard,” Anne said, a smirk on her face. Cathy smiled back.
Anne and Cathy both stood, looking around in confusion. They were currently on a beach, a forest sprawling out behind them. It was a beautiful scene, Cathy thought absentmindedly, before snapping at herself to focus.
“Hey, why is everything made out of fucking blocks?” The tone wasn't aggressive, Anne just sounded confused.
“I think our focus should be more on survival at the moment. We can ask questions later.”
Anne sighed. “Yeah, that's true. At least there are a decent amount of resources here.” Cathy nodded, laying her hand onto a tree to lean on. She was shocked to look over and see it cracking. She jumped back, a surprised yelp flying from her mouth. Anne glanced over. Cathy stared as the cracks immediately disappeared from the wood.
Baffled, the final queen reached her hand out again. The cracks appeared again. She tapped it and the more she did the more cracks formed.
“Uh, Cathy, maybe you should stop?” Anne asked nervously, but at this point she'd almost broken the tree. There was no turning back now.
She expected the whole tree to come barrelling down on her but instead she just heard a small pop sound as the wood disappeared, a smaller version flying out and spinning on the grass. Cathy moved to pick it up and it absorbed into her. Cathy blinked, an instinctual feeling in her causing her finger to swipe up.
A screen flew up before her eyes. Your inventory and crafting menu, her brain supplied. It was the same instinct that got Cathy to open the menu in the first place, so she didn't have any reason not to believe it.
Almost second-naturedly, Parr dragged the log to the crafting grid, grabbing the planks and arranging them in the grid with one in each spot. A crafting table could come in handy, she said to herself, grabbing it. She swiped her finger down and the menu disappeared as quickly as it had come. Cathy turned to Anne, who was staring at her in concern.
“Are you okay, Cathy? You were really zoning out there.”
“Yeah, fine! I got us this!” Cathy placed down the crafting table before showing Anne what she'd just learned.
“Now that we actually know how, it's probably wise to build a shelter,” Anne commented.
“You build a shelter and I'll see if I can find some stronger tools. We can meet back here!” Anne nodded and with that they parted.
When Cathy stumbled across a cave, she knew that was just what they needed. Can’t have too much stone, right? So Parr trotted in confidently, mining stone and even managing to find some iron and coal. But then she heard it. A distant hiss. Something in her gut was screaming at her to run, but morbid curiosity kept her from doing so. She watched as the thing came into view. It looked mossy, almost like a tall hedge with legs. When it started glowing, Cathy knew she had to get out of there. She almost tripped over her own feet fleeing from the beast.
“What a li’l creep,” Cath grumbled as she made her way back to the meeting spot she and Anne agreed on. Pushing some leaves out of the way, she spotted Anne a bit ways away in a clearing, working on a house.
“Hey! Is there a way I can help with the house?” Cathy called up to her. Anne turned to her.
“Welcome back! You wanna work on the inside?”
“Sure, sure!” Cathy hopped into the half-finished house, placing their crafting table first and adding things around it. Two furnaces were put near the crafting table, smelting iron. Thinking some chests might be useful, Cathy added four against one wall. Going to the crafting table to see what other things looked helpful, Parr’s eyes were drawn to two things. The first, a bucket. If they filled it with water they could start a farm near the house. Cathy did have some seeds from accidentally hitting some grass. And the second was a bed. Cathy had a feeling neither of them would get much sleep without beds, so she probably should make a couple. She needed wool.
“I’ll be right back Anne!” Cathy ran off, looking for sheep. She spotted a herd a few blocks away and made a beeline for them. She hit them a few times with her sword until she had six blocks of wool and could turn back. Beds placed and a couple chest added to their porch area for good measure, the house was pretty much done. They might want to add decorations later but it was definitely functional.
“We should start a farm. I have seeds and a bucket we can fill with water,” Cathy suggested.
“That’s a good idea, we’re gonna get hungry at some point. Once we have enough seeds we could wrap the farm around the house,” Anne added.
Finding a river a bit away, the two of them started a small farm on one side of the house. At this point the sun was going down, and they both appreciated the beds being there. It was the end of day one in this new world.