Chapter Text
The embrace lasted for mere seconds before a voice Martyn was getting real sick of shook him from his memories.
“Welcome to Secret Life…”
The words bounced right off Martyn who simply stood, frozen in the circle of players, glaring up at the sky. He knew what was happening now and he couldn't let it happen to someone else. His glare at the sky was only interrupted by a familiar hand on his shoulder.
“I'm sorry I couldn't warn you about how the memories feel when they come back,”
“You were already in danger by just confirming what I already knew Scott, I wouldn't want you to put yourself in more danger by warning me,”
Martyn moved his gaze to meet the three pairs of eyes locked onto the ground in a way of understanding what he was going through. He saw their expressions of pain and the only wish in his heart was to find the person who would win next and warn them that the glory came for such a price. He began to step away from the other winners but was stopped by an arm.
“You can't tell anyone.”
Every ounce of the joking tone Grian's voice usually carried was gone, replaced by a sternness that didn't quite fit him. As Martyn opened his mouth to ask just what the avian would do about it if he did tell the next winner what fate would befall them, Pearl's voice cut him off.
“They'll hunt you down, make your life hell for every iteration after this. You thought remembering the past was bad- at least you have the good parts now. If you tell them, I can't promise you'll remember anything but the lives you ended.”
Martyn ran. He wasn't ashamed that he ran from such a blatant threat coming from a voice just barely not Pearl's. Any wish he had of saving the winners of the next rounds faded as the reality of the meaninglessness of his actions sank in.
Crashing through the caves was a death wish but why should he care? Even if he asked not to be in the next game, he'd be back! Anything he did that defied them wouldn't matter in the end! They still held the strings that puppeteered him through everything.
Eventually he would learn to be numb to the pain like every other winner but now, he was allowed to be angry at them.
—---------------[‘,]-------------------
The faces of people rushing past Scar blurred together into one big vaguely familiar situation. Everything was new to him so why did the faces of those people standing around some guy named Martyn make Scar feel so on edge? Every step he took nagged at the back of his mind.
It got so bad that Scar could swear he was hearing people tell him to run from any person that walked his way. He ignored them as anyone else would do, assuming his lack of sleep over his task had just gotten to him.
It was all new but old.
The present but also the past.
It could be small; something like a patch of sugar cane or some sand. Or it was something that seemed more important like the way loneliness stung in his new shop.
Anything he noticed he just pushed to the back of his mind to worry about later, clearly he was in no danger here.
—---------------[‘,]-------------------
Reds flooded the server, every last green and yellow had been hunted down already but the bloodshed was not yet over.
Players were falling all around Scar but he never once backed away from a fight. He kept swinging and kept hitting. His strikes hit those who had more hearts than him and took them down one by one.
Tango was the first he took completely out of this world. One small shove off just too high of a ledge and Tango was gone.
[A desert void of any danger other than the man in front of him. A desert they fought so hard to protect together, but now, only one could stay and win, the other must die.]
The next was Etho, a few slashes with a diamond sword enough to slice through his armor like butter.
[A mountain with a small lonely hut on it overlooking every other base. It stood proud until the last day where the enchanting it had once possessed was taken and its owner was slain.]
Then there was Cleo, standing in front of Scar as resilient as ever. And then there was no one.
[A tower overlooking a panda sanctuary he had spent so much time building. An avian protected Scar from the others but it was all in vain, an arrow took both of them to red together. ]
Gem fell next. Her screams still hurt him to hear, even if he was the one who killed her.
[A clock tower gleaned against the rock it was built upon. Sure, a few holes littered the roof but it was still Scar's home. A home he would fight his old alliance to the death for. A home he never got the chance to peacefully live in.]
The last one was Pearl. She fought hard but the final arrow to her head knocking her into a ravine was enough to finish her off.
Scar watched her fall. He saw her disappear behind the cliff and knew he was done this time. He saw his past return to him as he stood at the edge of the ravine. He felt everything come back, all the pain, heartbreak, betrayals, alliances, enemies. Everything. He could do nothing as he felt his consciousness slip into his memories of better times, of the first game.
His world went dark as it did for every other winner before him and as it will for every winner after him.
For now he could revel in his past joy until a voice he wished he never heard echoed through his mind. But that day is yet to come. Another game is yet to begin. Now the players may rest, the next game will require their energy but only those who have won know what to be ready for.