Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Hermits didn’t question the laws of magic and physics in the land, they just knew how it worked. Gravel and Sand fell if the supporting block was removed, TNT floated in the air until hit, and other blocks simply didn’t move at all. Most blocks could moved by pistons, and others, such as chests, couldn’t. There was a system to everything, sorted into lines and squares and cubes and chunks.

Magic was much less predictable. It was fluid and chaotic and wild. It was circles and squiggles and spheres and wisps. Everyone benefited from some magic, like respawn, fast healing and inventories. Some magic had to be hunted down, like ender pearls or redstone. Some magic was blessed to users, and that was the most unpredictable.

Xisuma could last longer in the Void then anyone before succumbing to its will (some say he even spoke with it, but that’s a story for another day). Doc, Mumbo and Iskall could feel the redstone under the ground, and draw it to the surface to make incredible machines the others could only dream off. Stress could control ice, False had supersonic reflexes, Tango could bathe in lava like water, and Grian floated through the air effortlessly with his Elytra. The Universe granted all of it’s patrons gifts, but some more powerful then others.

Take the ConVex, for example. Vex magic was unstable and dangerous. The villagers that attempted to wield it became twisted and deranged. However, when two innocent pranksters caught the Vex’s eye, it desired to use them like it used the Evoker’s. It desired to turn the duo against their friends, to warp and destroy and cause chaos and bloodshed and fear and confusion.

The Universe’s gift was not giving them the power of the Vex, it saving Scar and Cub from it.

It took years, but eventually Cub and Scar learnt to manage the Vex. Some chaotic pranks here and there (as well as some cake) allowed them to have access to unimaginable power. Their movements were faster, their weapons sharper, and their luck was better. In moments of peril, Vex magic helped them live. It carried them when their elytra broke, saved them from lava, and gave them boosts of power and strength when fighting. It often left Scar and Cub exhausted, shaking, numb- but alive.

The first time it had been used was in a cave, thousands of blocks away from his main base. Scar had been mining, and fell into a double zombie spawner. Quickly overwhelmed with fear and the undead tearing at his flesh, Scar had reached out in panic to anything that could help him, that could save him.

The Vex responded, wrapping him in cold magic that froze his blood and stopped his heart. After the cold came a flash of unbearable heart, making Scar’s heart beat faster then it ever should, shooting waves of destructive magic over the monsters, turning them and the spawners to ash. Scar couldn’t say what happened next, his vision turning white and his head filled with static.

He woke at Cub’s, his items intact, lungs aching and his friend looking worried. Two Vex masks laid on the bedside table, pristine and glowing with power.
This power wasn’t used often, it was too unpredictable and damaging to themselves and the area around them.

Today, however, was one of the days where it was used. The End, usually quiet, was filled with the sounds of laughter and swords clanging.

“I’ve got them!” Cub called out, crouching to pick up a few shulker shells that had dropped. “How’re you doing, Scar?”

“I’m having a little bit of trouble,” Scar admitted with a laugh, floating upside down from the levitation effect of a nearby shulker. “When I get down, I’ll raid this place with the passion of a thousand Scar’s!”

“Can’t do that if there’s nothing to raid!” Cub said, smiling as he aimed his bow at the last shulker of the End City they were raiding.

“Hey! No fair!” Scar said, kicking frantically to try and dispel the effects of the shulker faster. “Cuuub!”

“Too late!” Cub said, releasing his arrow. It met it’s target, and the shulker fell, it’s shell cracking into two pieces.

“Oh, when I get down from here I’ll-“ Scar’s joking threat was cut off with a surprised shout as the effect lifted, making the builder fall and hit the ground with a loud thunk.

“You’ll what?” Cub asked, offering a hand to his friend.

“I’ll do something! I just have to think of it first.” Scar said, sitting up and rubbing his back. “That was a good tumble. Ow-chie!”

“You’ll definitely feel that in the morning.” Cub agreed. “Are you about ready to head back? I think I have enough resources.”

“Uh, yeah,” Scar said, his eyes glazing over as he shifted through his inventory, taking note of all his treasure. “I think I’m good. I forgot an Ender Chest.”

“Good thing I’m organized.” Cub said with a chuckle, placing one down.

Scar smiled in agreement, opening the Ender Chest and pulling out some shulker boxes to organize his inventory. Enchanted weapons in one box, shulker shells in another, spare elytra, enchanted books… and finally, his diamonds.

Scar smiled at the 48 diamonds he managed to collect with Cub. That, on top of the gear they grabbed, made them a little richer and ConCorp a little more powerful.

“I’m heading back, are you coming?” Cub asked, taking off his gear in preparation to throw himself into the void.

“Give me one second,” Scar said, distracted. He put all the shulker boxes in the chest except one. His treasure box sat on the ground, and Scar took off his armor, putting it in the box. “Okay, ready to go!”

Cub gave him a thumbs up, and sprinted to the edge of the island, throwing himself off the edge with a flip. Scar laughed.

“Show off!”

[ cubfan135 fell out of the world. ]

Scar ran to the edge, laughing, and jumped backwards, taking a final look at the view, the purple of the End City and the yellow of his treasure box glowing against the void.

Wait-

“My shulker box!” Scar gasped, already tumbling into the void.

All his valuables were there, loosing them meant going back to square one and that couldn’t happen, not with Sahara open! He didn’t have an elytra on either, how could he be so stupid!

“No, no no no!” Scar cried out, and in panic, reached for the only thing that could help him get back to the island- Vex magic.

It laughed joyfully when he reached for it, eating up the panic and fear Scar had. He felt calm as it embraced him, rushing over him in waves of heat. The burning sensation was always strange, but not painful. Scar silently thanked the Vex as he felt tendrils of magic lift him up towards the island, which was growing ever closer. Only a few more blocks and-

Scar and the Vex screamed when cold cold cold c o l d burnt his leg. Looking down, vision enhanced by the magic, Scar tried to kick away the invisible hand dragging him downwards, pain seeping into his bones. He released wave after wave of magic, trying to release the iron grip. Nothing seemed to work, and panic began to overtake Scar’s mind. What was keeping him down? Why wasn’t Vex magic working?

The Vex magic, as suddenly as it came, left. Scar fell into the arms of the void, anger flooding his vision.

How could the Vex betray him like this?

[ GoodTimesWithScar f̻̫̘̺̟ͮ́e̦̪̼̙̣̬͝l̻͎͚̰̤͂͠l̥̬̣͍͚̆͡ ̬̳̘ͤo̟̱̬̯͆̽̃ͨu̶̝̾ͥ̎ͥt͈͚̺̣͑͒͗ ̙̠̬͎̤̖̫ͩͯͦo̻̟̓ͭ̏̿ͅf̢̼͔ͅ ͧ̒̈́ͤ͐ͮt̺̞͉͔̠ͦͤhͨe̱̘͓͖͚̩ ̜̱̭͠w̘̞ͪ̌ͦ̅ͤ̏ͥǫͩ̋͑r̤̭͊̿̂͌̃̽́ḻ͍̏̓̿̈ͪ͛ͅd̪͢ ͈̖̀]̣̰̦ͬ̃̐̔̉̑͟

He woke, and it was empty. There was no void, no respawn. Just, black. Scar wasn’t standing on anything, but he wasn’t falling either.
“Hello?” He called out, hesitant. His voice neither carried or echoed. “Is anyone there?”

Y̸̢̟̩̯̣̮̺̖ͪ̓ͧ́ǫ̦̼̲̩͈̆ͧ̐̏̕u̷̢͈ͨ̀ ̶̛̩͈̟̦ͬ͗̀ͅh̸̸̰̩̪͉͇̝̬̭͈ͩͬ̋̒̉̀̍̈ạ̵̦̬̄ͩ̋ͥ͘vͪͧ̌ͨͧ҉̗̜͈͇͓̱̮ê̒̑ͤ́҉̡̣̳͉̀ ̭̠̗ͩ̿b̵̪̲̭͛ͤ̊͟r̒͆ͪ̐ͭ͂҉̶͚̼ȯ̉̇̋̃͋͑̍ͧ͢͏̝̱̦ú̯̝̤̥̭͈͇͖ͭ̾ͥ̐̄͢͝g̤̞̼͇ͦ̐ͮ̑ͯ̎ͥ̇͟h̛͍̘̪̠̺̺͎̞ͦ͆ͪͯ͗̐͛ͯ͢͠t̶̬̩̻̖̹̋͒ͧ̔͆͐ͬ͊ ̗̬̾ͭͭ̓̚͡f͇̻͌͊ͭ͛ͦ̈́͠o̳̭̖̠̳͕̿̕͢ȑ̹̹̈̏̾̽b̄̽̿̊ͨ̚͏̴̫͎̺̘̺͇͚̪͍i̯͔̫̣̽͑̓ͮͣ̀d̅ͭͬ́̿̌ͥ҉̵̫̟̀d̨͔̣̣̼̟̅̉ͪ͆ͫ͢e̱̝̪̜͙̠̼͕̔͛ͤ̀̈̓ͦ͢͜n̨͙̪͎̘͈̏͗̕ ̧̨̪͉͖͓̰͍̼̌͆̎̚͢m̪ͩ̅̔̀́͢ḁ͖̠̭̐̽͘g̼̙͕̙ͭ̃̂̀̆͗́i̧͕͙͖̲̩̐ͮ̑c̜̼̟̥̆͌͆̈ͩ̑̓̃͠ ̶̷̯̌̌̅̀ͨ̿̚͡ṱ̴̺̘͍͈͊̀̚oͩͯ̾ͩ҉͝҉͓͔̭̯̺̯ͅ ̴̼̝̞͎̲̤̹ͫ̐̃̑̊ͯ̽ͅm̡̗̲̀ͩ̏͒͞ẙ̡̯̣̗̬̫͔̈́ͩ̾̐́́͊͘ ̨̻͍̼͗̔͗͂͠͝r̪̣͕͑̔̓ͣͨ̓͢͡ȇ̷̜̠̰̫͐̿̃͟a̴͊̏̃ͪ̈҉̻̩͎̝͍͞ļ̱̗͈̠̦ͦ͊̋͢m͕̘̩̹͎͓̩̳̉͛̍̅̀̕.ͮͤ̄̍҉̠̟̯͙͙̱ ̢̃̌̓̒̂̚̕҉̭̪̹̘

The voice was everywhere- inside his head, a thousand kilometres away, spoken from Scar’s own mouth while being nowhere at all.
“What?” Scar said, his head aching. “Forbidden magic?”

I̞̪̙̲̻͔͓ͧ̈́ͤͧ͌ ̴̻̺͕͇͎͚͂ͨ͋̓ͪ̑̚m̅ͩ͂̅ͤͣȃ͚͕͎͕d̫̮̠͙̎̇ͫ̿́̂͘ė̵̥̲̪͇̘̪ͧ̂ͅ ̹͔͖̃ͭͪ͆̐ͯa̬̓ͨ̊ͧ͂̽͠ ̩͖̫̯̉͝d̩̼͓͎̿̊̉͐͗ͫ̚ė̵̤̼͇̳̖̖̊ͫ̉ͪa̎̀͑l̬͙̩ ̬̦̈́̂̎͆͑̚w̮͉̼ͭ̐̄̒̍ͨ̌́i̤͚͓̤͖͈t̬̲̪̊̀ͅĥ̺̉ͥ ̳t̻̤h̼͇̰̙̩͚̞ͮ̀ͦ̍̎ë͓̺͑ ̨͍̩͕͚̰V̊͗̒ͦ̂ͥ̓́e̶ͨͩ̒̾xͯ̄̑ͩ͂̔̓͢.͕̼̬̰͓͕͋̌̉ ̖ͯͤ̎̽̀͒
ͮ̈́
͚͔͉ͯ̅͛ͨ̃̉͌́Y̛̥̺̜̜̟͋̔̈͗̆o͕̦̯̓͋ͣͪũ҉͎͓ ̦̆̇͟ẘ̆ͭͤ̌̿̑ẹ͔̪̽̎͒͊͘rͫ̀̂̍ͥ͞e̡͉͕̻ ̢̏̒ͭ̎ͫͬt̥͇̺͚̮͈̎o̙̯̝͎̘̞̓̑̓ ̢̣̘͌̍̿b͇̜̋̽̏̋̊̒e͙͔̫̻̘͖̞ͣ ͙̪͒t̘͙ͦ̇̋ͭͨͪh̬̖̿͂́̎̇̌̌ẽ̥̪̖͙͊ͥ̑̆̿͢ͅị̜̳̥̱͆̒r̲͎̊̀ͧ͜ ̸͖͎̲̻̾̏̎ͥp̠̝̣̣͖̳͛̍ḫ̸ͣ̐̾̓ͣͥy̖̯̥̪̔̅͆ͩ͂͝s͇i̟̝͕̰̬̿ċ̜̤̭͙̻̾̃͘a̪̬̜̱͚̯͛ͨ̿̃̽ͭ́l͓̥̼̅͂̎̏͌ ͕̩̻̣͆͆͆͂ͪ̏f̙͚̘̋̍̃̀o̪̪̼̩ͦ͂̓͊̾̍͘r͉̮͕̭̜̮̰̆͛͋̔ͨ͆m̌̍͋ͧͬ͗͝,̋́ ̶̥̥̩͂̑͋̒̚b̷͇̞͛́u̫͚̞̦̻̮̗ͥ̂t̎͛͒ ̬̟̣̝̐̔͋ͪ̊̄̋t̻̪̮͋ͭ̔h̀͆ͫ̽͐͋ȇ̽̅͐҉̭̰̜̺y̨̾ͯ̚ ̤̳̙͓͍ͣͭ̂̌ͭc̠͚̺̞̟̦͗̑̑ͪ̉͛ͪ̕ö̘̗̼́ͬͪ͊ͬ͑u̗̬͈͆̉ͨ̿̋l͚̘͈̼̂̒̊̓ͫd̙͈̟̃́ ͇̞̖̲͇͚ͨ͑͘ņ̗̲̩̱͍ͦ͂̉͑̇͂ȯ̅̽ͦ҉̥̦̯̥͈t̟̝͎̝̦̱̰ͧ͒ ̳̦̹̲̲̱ì̓̑ͦ̈́̇̓͏̬nͩ̀ͥ̃̓̂ͮ҉̙͓͇tͥ̋͒͌̆̓̓e̪̣͔̘̖̘r̠̣̖̜̭̮̱ͫͤͣͩ͒̚a̝̟̳͚͓̰͋̆̓̄͟c̈̍͌͆̄͋̍͝t̂̿̓̎̆͌͝ ͈̤̩̰̅̎ͣ̀ͧ̌w̗̝̗̠̱̋͛ͧi̩̫̲̞ṯ̫̬͕̜͓͉h̜̓ͪ̆͆ ̂̓̇ͬ̑̈̐̀m̴̱ȇ̥͎̝̖͍͙ͦͦͪ̃͊̂.̥̣̩̻͑ͯ̄ͦͨ ̙̞͓̺͙͛ͩ̽̅͐
̴̜̟̮̻̿̐
̶̈T͈̺̫͕͖̞ͭ̑ͫ̐̋͂̇h̠̭̰̹̃ͩͪ̎͟ȩ̱̠͈͖͛y̩͖̥̺͕͈ ̰̮͈̓̔̒̎ͮh̬͎̱̜͆̎͒̅̅̈́͆a͈̜͔ͫ͆ͤ̍̉̾̚v͙̤̍ͬͬ̈̓e̢͓̼̯̖̲͈̤̊͋ͦ̔̓ ̻͖̳̜̮͒͆̀ͅb̤̯̯̫̾r̩̤̘̯͈̀͆̒̊͘o̎̆̐̎ͫͣ̇k̍̃e̡̙̗̲̳̝̭̥ň̳̠͒͛̿͆̂͝ ̼͍̏tͭ̅̓͒̋ͩḧ͔͔̪͍͉̚i̘ͥs̿̃̉ͭ͗͂ ̯̘̺̉̔̾̾c̙̥̙̗̩̦̔ͧ͝o̢̳ṉt̘͔̞͍͈̘̞͗̽̈͗ͤ̒r̵͕͉ͪ̽͋͒ͦa̧͇͕̪͖͌ͧ́͐́c̜̱͚͐͆̔̚͡t̬̩̭͕̆ͯ̾,̢̠̥ ͈̖̤͈̼̃̅̒̌a͇̮͍͛̽n̋̈ͮ̆̌̕ḏ̴̦͑̓̓̅ͪ ̮̕a͔ͣ͒̒s̋ͯ̾ͯͬ̎͋ ͓͔̣̜̪͛̓̉͊a̡̪̤̋ͥ̈́ͬ̐ ̘͉͈̠ͬ́r͍̞̫̫̰͕͐ͭ͋̄͗͆͡e͔̬̙͚͗͆̚͝s̙̟̘̔̈̂͌̕u̫̙̱͇̖̪ͣ̓ͅl̖̭̟ͣ̎͆̍ͤ͌̇͜t̯͙̰̮̙͡,͇ͯͨͮ ̄̽̑̈͛͜y̗͇̞̩͎̿ͨͤ̏̍̿͌o͇͎͕̭͈͉̩̔̊͐ͨu̷̥̝̬͇̤ ̻̺͚̮h̶̬ͨ̍̓ͨa̷̩̲̙̗̔͗v̤͕̓͊ͬ̿ͧẹ̦̻̝͓̼ͬ̂͛̒̆̌̓ ̪̭͎̱̺ͩͣͤ̌́̕b̩̣̻̰̿r̤̙̱̫͙͉̓̽o͏̰̖͈̲̖̮̮ķ͛ͣͥͧ̿͆ȇ͍͓̘̳͚͉nͬ̏ ̑̽the ͔̟̿̌̊̍͗ͤc̴̩͎̼͈̞̣͆̅͑̀o̢̟͍̹͐̀̓͗ͮn̶̟t̅̆͂ͩṟ̜̳̰̙̤͒ͦa̜̾̊ͯ͆̕c̥̓ͪ͛ͨ͌̑͂̀t̮ͤ̃̊ͬ.͇̺̤̹̙̖̏ ̜̳͍̬̺̗̂ͮ
“Who are you?” Scar gasped, the piercing pain in his head only getting worse.
T͉͈͔̳̞̳he̥͕̮̻̯͟ ̛̰̮V̰̗͖̬̗̮ͅo͏̯̟iḍ̲̲̱̮͈.͟ ̟͉̗͟T̳̱́h̛̫͎e͙͚̤̬͙͈͡ ͖̬̻̼̥E͚͉ͅn̘̫d͏̝͙͍̣͓.͡ ̳̪T̜̪͖͕̻̫h̵̝͚̦̥͇͚ͅḙ̼̺̹͢ͅ ̹̫͇͓̺̯U͈̦̫̫̻̭͠n̶̖͔͓̯͈į̹̱̪͕͇v̰̹̼͍̲͎ę̭rs̱͉͉̘͕e̷͎͉̰̮ͅ. ̳̪́G̘͉̕o̦͍̪͚̬̠̳d͓̤̦̝͝.̕ ̭͉̬I̲͕̯̱͡ ̖͕͙́a͏̠̱m m̫͚̜̹a̖̱̰̼͡n̷̖y̬̰̮̦͖ͅ,̠͔̀ a̹͎n̘̫͎̳͞d̫̫̜̀ ̷̱̞I̙̬͈̣ ̮̭̜̥͖ͅa̮͖̞̟m͍̮ ͏͉n̯̲̰̩͙̫ͅo̡̥̩͔͙͇̫ͅt͏̟̠̤̖̰̤̪h͇̺͖̩̪͈͕i̢̘̮n̨͈̣̯̫͈͔g͎͎̗̼̹͙ͅ.͙ ̳̪͉̩̼̜̟

“Please,” Scar begged, clutching his head. The voice made the headache unbearable. “You’re hurting me. Please, stop speaking.”

“Is this better for your human form to comprehend?”

Scar squinted through the pain, trying to see the voice that spoke. He was met with his face, identical to his own. Well, almost identical. This version of him had cyan eyes instead of green, and their hair was longer. They also had more scars across his face. The pain in Scar’s head was beginning to subside as the void no longer broadcasted itself into his atoms.

“What is going on?” Scar asked, panic rising as he tried to figure out the scenario. “Why am I here? Where is here? Who are you?”

“The Vex broke a contract.” The other Scar said impassively. “You are here to repair that contract. Here is nowhere, and I am you.”

“That made even less sense.” Scar said, running a hand through his hair. “I wish I hadn’t asked.”

“You don’t get much of a choice of what you control here, Oscar.”

Scar flinched at the mention of his full name. “I don’t- what? How did you-?”

“Oscar,” the other Scar was suddenly in close front of him, grasping Scar’s face between his rough hands. “I am the Void. You belong to me. I know all, and I know off the anger and greed that plagues your essence.”

There was a pause. Scar couldn’t breathe.

“You have many sins to atone for. You must prove your place, or I will replace you.”

Scar’s vision went dark, glowing cyan eyes the last thing he saw.

[ G̡̡̲͖̱̮͕̝ͪ̇͐ͨ̂̀͛́ͅo̸̳̹ͣ͐ͪ̾̃ô̰̼̰̟͎̮̺̈́̀̅ͩ̀͡d̵͈̯̜ͮ̌T͔͓͙̏͠͡ì̶̳͕̖͚̝̰͕ͥ͋̑̉ͬͅm̨͕̥͚̣͆͊͐e̵͎͍̖̹̞̻͐ͧ͋̂s̷̝͈̗̼̖͇̭̬̗ͨͫ͛̓̋ͯ͜Ẉ̻̻̭̱̬ͯ͛ï͇͈̃̃͒͌ͯ͐͐ͭ͞t̳͉̣̥̼̖̳̲͑ͧ̎͛̐ͅh̢̡̳͎̙̾̂ͩͬS̸̨̬͚͉͌̑̊̄̽ͅͅc̢̞̟̹̩ͯͪ̂̂ͪ̏ͬa̧̠̺͇ͩ͑̑ͩ͑ͩrͤ͒̀̈́̏҉̬̬̟͢ ̩̮̙̥̣̳̾͐̎ͦ͛̓͐͠h̜̘̘͓͍̅̇ͅͅa̦̩̻͎̥̟̹̫͉͂̾́̿s̡̙͙̘̭͓̬͇̪̽́ ͍̬̳͕̦͇̤ͪ̆d̨̻̮͖͕̠̟̗̥̈́̈̿ͫ̿ͧͫͣi͕̤̱̯̳͐̈́̊̑ͪ̏͑e̢̼͎̠̠̮̲͙͉̓̅͐̄̒̎̀͝d̡̘̙͒͑̂̍ͯͣ͒́.̙͕̜̤̣̲͕͖͑͌ͪ̀ͧ̽͠]

[ B̡̡͔͉̗̘̣̭̲͖̖̬̻̺̟̭̿̆͋̍ͨ͢͟a̯̬̭̤̮̬̖͔̖ͯ̃̀͒̈ͨͮͫ̀͞͝d̛͇̗̟̖̱̳̗͇̝̼̞̰͉̝̰̭̥̒͆ͪ̿̿ͩT̴͍̺̼̳̘̤͎̝̩̬̱͖͈̃͆͗ͣ̓̓͢͝i̛̺͓̖͚̖̠͉̯͎̳̜͎̞͕͊͆̆̈́͒͑̏͑͞m̸̨̖͇̝̰̹̀ͤ̃̄ͯ̈́ͫ̎͊̚e̶̙̯͎̼̲̤̭͓̜̝̜͖̗̰͚̦͈̯ͦ̐ͩͥͦ́̏̉̎́ͦ̒̓̕͟͜͠ş̴͙̪̩͖͍̺̭ͧ́ͥ̓ͣ̑͒̔̐̀͡Ẁ̴̴̶̧̱̻̹̺͎̩͔͇̙̳͔̯̹̳͖̞̙͖ͤ͂ͦ̍̎̂ͪͣ͌ͮ͐̋͑ͬ͐̎̂͝ͅi̢̢͎̞͕̟͙̣̙̱̪̘̼͚̐ͬ̌̒̈́̆̅̂̽́̐͞ͅt̸̡͈͙͓̪̰͆͒ͤ̇͌͂͡h̄ͥ͗̆̈́ͬͮͣ̚͟͢͏̡̖̥̦S̡̜̤͓̩͈̜̝̼̬̻̼ͦͮ͆c̸̷̡̺̟̤͙͖̱̰̼̎̓̑͛̾ͭͩ͘a̾ͪ̔̒̓̌͝҉̀͏̲̫̦̥̣̤̣̦͈̲̭̠̬̪͚̘͓͢r̴̙͕̞̹͚̟̦͕̪̖͂̑ͣ́͘̕͝ ̶̵̰̪͍͕̘̘̮͎͇̟̔̑͒̎͑͒̊̑̆͐̿ͯ͘͘͠j̵̴̰̙̱͍̗̮̪̟̏̽̓͊ͣ̈́̐́̔͆̑̐͋ơ̪̬͓̱̮͖̹͙̝̮͚̳͙̯̗̣͎̤̽̑͑̏ͥ͆ͤ͐ͪ̍͛͌̄̍ͭͪ̀́͢ͅi̷̛ͫ͗̾́͋͐̏ͬ͛̓ͫͣ͂ͩ҉̵͔͓̞͠n̷̷̡̯͚̤̻̤̘̪̦̱͕̪͚̹͙̪̭̼͕̏̎́̒̆̀ͅe̴̡̽̎ͩ͆ͦ́͠͏͖̱̖͇̩̥̤̤̘̟̞͇͎ͅd̸̐͛̾͂̑̎́ͩ̋̿́͏͚͚͇͇̜̯͕͓̜̰̻͍̩̹ ̢̘̘̟̲͖͍̤̯̹͉̫̣̰̰̣̩̈̈́̄ͮ̏ͭ̉ͮͩͪ̂̎ͪ̐ͪͣͫ͘t̵̠͔̭̣̰̰͖̪̣͇̮͕͗ͣͩ̄ͮ̓ͬ̃̄ͯ̇ͧ̀̂͑̽́͒̕h̵̋̓̍͗͛ͨ̈̏ͮ͛̈̉̑͒̑̏ͭͯ҉͍̣̙̥̀͢͡e̖͓͇͚̥̗̤̻͔̦͓͎ͧ̔͌͌͆̓̄͆̚̕ ̵̝͚͚̩̟̣̺͖ͣ͆ͮ̃̆͋͑̔͌̂g̈́̇ͬ͒͐̿ͫͨ̅͊̓ͬ͛ͣ̓ͬ͏̵̻͓̼̩̘͓̝̻̦̙̭̠̠̳̭̻̹̭͜ͅa̲̺̖̹͔̗̻̟̩̠̻̒ͧͧ̃̐̅ͤ̕͡ͅͅm͋̀͌̃ͨͩͪ́̆̽̇̀̕͘͡҉̞̼̙̹̩͖̺͕ͅę̷̡̪͉͖̪̺̓ͯ̓̂̇͋̓̄͞͠ ̶̪͕̤͚̰̟̙̗͖̭̩̪̺̠̲̖̰̹ͥ̊ͪ̎͐̌̍ͫ̃͒͗͛̓̈́͑̾̕͠͝]̋̀̄ͦ̾̋͆ͤ̆ͮ҉͈̣̦͔͎̻̹̙͕͕̥

Chapter Text

[ cubfan135 fell into the void. ]

[GoodTimesWithScar fell into the void. ]

Xisumavoid wasn’t worried when the death messages popped up on his screen. He knew the duo was End busting, and throwing yourself into the void when you were done wasn't uncommon.

What he was worried about, however, was the large, concentrated ball of Vex magic that appeared in the centre of the Shopping District a few moments after the messages, creating a giant crater where the ConCorp Cherry Shop used to be.

"Oh dear." Xisuma sighed. He wasn't well versed with the Vex, and this looked potent. Glitches, bugs and what-not he could deal with just fine, but Vex magic? That was Cub and Scar's domain. The admin sighed again, pulling out his communicator.

Xisuma: Hey Cub? Scar?

cubfan135: Yeah?

Xisuma: Need you both in the shopping district at the Cherry shop

Xisuma: like

Xisuma: now. Vex magic is here.

cubfan135: on my way

Xisuma tucked the small black box into his pocket. He didn't have to wait long for one of the ConVex to arrive, as rockets were quickly heard overhead. Cub landed a few paces behind Xisuma, jogging to reach his side.

"Wow," Cub said, taking in the pulsing waves of magic and the general destruction of the area. "Is that Vex magic?"

"It certainly isn't Void magic." Xisuma said.

"Yeah. Certainly isn't. I've never seen the Vex act like this before." Cub admitted, taking a step forwards. Almost immediately, a wave of white light burst from the centre of the sphere, pushing the bearded man backwards, almost knocking him off his feet.

"Huh," Cub said, sounding much more worried. "Never had that happen before."

Xisuma hummed in agreement, frowning. "I don't want to contact the Void to help remove this, who knows what will happen. Do you know how to stop it?"

"I have an idea," Cub said. "When Scar and I first met the Vex, there was a force field kind of like this one. We just soldiered on through it. We can try the same now."

"Well, good idea in all aspects except one. I'm Void magic, and you’re Vex magic. The two don't exactly mix."

“I could call up Scar,” Cub offered. “Maybe he has a better idea.”

“I actually asked him to come earlier but he never answered.” Xisuma said, pulling out his communicator. Still no answer from the builder. A few inquiries from other Hermits about the sudden and violent lag, but Xisuma ignored them, putting his box away. A sudden spike of lag hit the two, and Xisuma felt himself glitch around the premise, his atoms shaking and jerking.

“I wonder if-“ Cub said, taking a step forwards.

“I wonder-“ Cub said, taking a step-

“I-“ Cub said,

“I-“

Xisuma cried out, clutching his head. Lag was unpleasant, but never painful. This had to be. Void magic. Cold crept into his veins, Void magic sinking its teeth into his bones. The familiar ringing and head splitting pain smashed its way past the lag directly into Xisuma’s brain.

Y̱͚͈̬͖̼͇͡o̧̼͍̻̮͠͞u̡͍̜̣͖͕̠͔̩͚ ͔m̸̡̻̣̞̻͕̯͘a̷͚y͇̺̱̖͉͘͜ ̡̮̻̘͖̙͔h̵̩̫̫͇a̸̞͕̦̲̥͡ͅv̷̪͎͟e̛͙͕̞͟ ̩̭̙̥͚͕ͅh̩̝̳̖͉̹̼i̡̛̬̪͚̝̺͉̣̙̳m̪̝͘͘ ͚̫̞̝̗͚̘b̠̮̱͖̰̝̭̀̕a͡҉͙̲͚̥̤̤͎͉ć͏̯̪͈̹̺͈k͈̞̮͍̫̫͘.̸̨̗͔... ̺͍̟̲̮̘͕̀͘͟I̴̜̼̥̟̩̬̩̙͜ ̦̩̯h͕͖̣̜̦̗̖͈ͅa̱͠v̻̪̖͕̞͍͚̘͠͝ę̛̤̦̩̞̹̩̫̦̘͞ ̺̭̦͔̙̲͕͜ͅf̶̟̤̭į͍͙̗͕̫ͅn̶͍̘̻i̤̬̰s͏̛͎͙̰̼͎͍̥͍ͅh̵̢̙ę̷̟̱͇̼͍ͅd̴̸͚͇͚͡ ̱̞̞̤̣͚̬͠w̷̮͉͎̞̺̬͠ì̜̱̰̰͕̖̜̰t̵̴̬̻̠h̶̞͇̝̫̲͙͓̕͞ ̵̟̞̮́ͅh͔̜̝͇͖͓̲́i͟͏͚̫̤̙͈͕̗͕̕m̨̡̤͕.̷̧̤͇̰͚̣͔͎̳ ̷̪̰̯̦̟͘ͅ

And as soon as the pain and lag had come, it disappeared. Cub stumbled over his feet, catching himself, while Xisuma curled in on himself, dropping to his knees, gasping for air as the cold of the Void left his system.

“Xisuma! Are you alright? What happened?” Cub asked, rushing to the aid of his friend.

“I’m fine,” Xisuma gasped, and with trembling hands removed his helmet to try and warm his freezing face. “The Void just spoke to me. It’s what caused the lag spike.”

“The Void?” Cub asked.

“Yeah. Doesn’t happen often.” Xisuma took another shaky breath before standing back up, his joints aching. “Leaves me freezing and out of breath. Nasty bugger.”

“Xisuma, what did the Void say.” Cub pressed.

“That it was done with ‘him’, whoever that is.” Xisuma said, pondering the identity of the mysterious person while sliding his helmet back on. A sudden thought struck him. “Didn’t you and Scar just finish end busting?”

“Shit,” Cub said, running a hand through his beard. “We threw ourselves into the Void.”

“Scar didn’t answer our messages.” Xisuma said, heart dropping. He turned and looked at the ball of blue magic. “And that’s very powerful Vex magic.”

“Scar’s in that!” Cub cried out, booking it past Xisuma to the powerful sphere of magic. “Scar! Scar! Answer me! Please!”

“Cub! Wait!” Xisuma shouted, and followed his friend, trying to stop him. The closer they got to the center of the sphere, the hotter the temperature was around them. His armor was heating up, and he could see Cub’s skin beginning to redden. “Scar’s causing this magic! You’ll kill yourself before you get to him! He’s to powerful!”

“The magic’ll burn him alive!” Cub shouted back, the whistling of the wind overpowering his voice. “I have to get to him!”

Before Xisuma could answer, and sudden burst of magic from the epicenter of the sphere knocked them both to the ground, causing Xisuma’s vision to go black for a few moments, his head ringing.

Blinking away the darkness, the admin rolled onto his back and sat up. Cub was already crawling onto his feet, heading towards the figure floating a few feet above the ground. There was no more Vex magic, just a destroyed shop and Scar, hovering. His eyes glowed inhumanly and he shook violently. Xisuma had never seen the Vex possess someone before, and it was terrifying to see his usually carefree friend seem so cold and distant.

“Scar, buddy, it’s me! Cub!” Scar turned and faced Cub, his face vacant and his eyes still glowing brightly. Cub gently grabbed his face, placing his forehead against Scar’s. “It’s time to go home, Scar. Let the Vex go.”

Xisuma held his breath. After a few painful moments, Scar’s eyes fluttered closed, and he stopped hovering, collapsing unconscious to the ground. Cub attempted to catch him, but cried out in pain when his friend landed on his burnt arms. Xisuma sprung into action, helping Cub pick up Scar. Pulling one arm over his shoulder, Xisuma helped Cub lift the unconscious builder.

“Whose house is closest?” Cub asked, adjusting Scar’s arm to wrap around his neck.

“TinFoilChef,” Xisuma answered. “He’s online, so hopefully he’ll answer the door.”

The few dozen blocks to TFC’s vault was a slow journey. Cub had to stop every few steps to catch his breath, the burns on his arms and torso making the process of carrying Scar painful and exhausting. Eventually, they made it, and TFC rushed them in.

“What happened?” TinFoilChef asked, rummaging in a chest. “It looks like you guys got beat up quite a bit.”

“I’m not sure,” Xisuma replied, helping lay Scar on a spare bed in the Vault. Cub sat on the floor, wincing. “There was an immense amount of Vex magic, and Scar was in the center of it.”

“Hm,” TFC hummed, handing Cub a potion of healing. The engineer took it with a soft ‘Thanks.’ and downed it in one go, watching the burns on his arms start to mend.

“It is a little bit of a conundrum.” Xisuma admitted.

“We could always ask Scar himself.” TFC offered, looking at the unconscious builder.

Even though unconscious, Scar’s brows were furrowed, and he was sweating. He looked like he was in pain.

“How do we wake him up?” Cub asked.

"With this," TFC answered, holding up a bottle filled with a clear liquid.

"What is that? A potion of regeneration?" Xisuma asked.

"A healing potion?" Cub asked.

"It's ice water." TFC said, and popped the cork off the bottle unceremoniously before dumping it over Scar's face.

Scar sputtered and coughed, eyes fluttering open. Blinking rapidly, the builder looked around, confused. Cub threw his arms around his friend's neck.

"Scar! You're awake!"

"What's goin' on?" Scar slurred, patting Cub on the back lightly. "Why am I wet?"

"That would be my fault." TFC said cheerfully. Scar's brow furrowed as he tried to connect how being soaking wet was TinFoilChef's fault, but he gave up rather quickly.

"I'm glad you're awake," Xisuma said. "But I have a few questions."

"Whatever happened, it's probably Cub's fault." Scar said, wincing as he sat up in the bed. "Jeez, what happened to make me so sore?"

"Y...You don't remember?" Cub said, sharing a concerned look with Xisuma.

"I was in the End with you, Cub." Scar said, tapping his cheek as he tried to remember. "We finished there, so we tossed ourselves into the Void to come home."

"And?" Xisuma prompted.

"And then I woke up here." Scar said with a shrug.

"What about the Vex?" Cub asked. "Did you do anything with the Vex between End Busting and waking up here?"

"The Vex didn't call on me," Scar said, frowning. "Why, did they-"

A sharp, sudden and powerful pain in his head caused Scar to interrupt his sentence with a cry of pain. Doubling over, Scar clutched his head. The pain was cold and numbing, overwhelming his senses with static. Cub, Xisuma and TFC were saying something, but his hearing was gone, replaced with an incessant buzzing. It was getting louder, and even though his eyes were open, Scar's vision began to go black.

H̲̱͙͟o̢̝̜w҉̲̪͈̻̦̥ ̀q̠̹̪͜uį̬̼c̙̲͍̦k̵̫̻ ̲̺͓̱͍͞ỵo̸͖̮u̦ ͖̱̼͎̤̬̞a̶̪͎͚̺͔͍̳re̦͓̭͡ͅ ͉̹̬̙̭̺to ͅfó͍r̛̠͚̹̟͍̝͉g̼͔͔̟̱͇̫é̞̣̳̰̟̼̹t̢̟̣̱̗̳̲.̛̼̮͔

The scenario came rushing back to Scar. The Void, the Vex and the other him. The burning, the cold and indescribable pain. He never wanted that again.

“No! I didn’t!” Scar shouted, desperate to get rid of the pain from the Void speaking to him. “I didn’t forget! Please, let me go! I promise I’ll fix it, please stop talking! I won’t forget! I promise I won’t!”

Ç̳͉͈̬̖̥h̫̥͈oo̟s̷̹͍ḛ͉͞ ̰̤̠͚͉̕y͎͖o͖̠̩u͎̜̮̰̯̹̕r͈ p̢r͓̪̤̻o͓͈̞̟m̯̮̀ͅi͙sḙ̤͖̘͙͢s̙̻̙̲̤ ̠̲̣̹͇̰w͚̙̟̙͙͉̳i͙̮̹͍ͅs̷̲̻e̻l̠̪̳͕̲̼͘y̫͎̮̺͔͙͜.͎̪͙̦̹͕ͅ

As soon as the Void came, it left. Scar’s senses slammed into him, causing the builder to tilt dangerously as he was overwhelmed. He was shaking, coated in sweat. Nausea swept over him, and Scar became aware that the only reason he was still sitting was because he was leaning heavily on Cub.

“Scar, it’s okay!” Cub was saying, his voice nervous. “It’s okay! It’s okay, whatever you forgot, don’t worry about it. You’ll be alright!”

Xisuma was crouched by the side of the bed also soothing Scar, and noticed when the builder snapped back into reality. TFC had left to get more ice water to snap Scar out of it.

“Back with us, Scar?” Xisuma asked. Scar nodded, panting.
“Y-yeah.” Scar took a shaky breath. “Yeah, I think so.”

“You spoke with the Void.” Xisuma said. It wasn’t a question. Scar closed his eyes and turned more into Cub’s coat so he didn’t have to see Xisuma’s stare. “Scar. You spoke with the Void.”

Scar nodded, exhausted.

“What did It say, Scar?” Xisuma asked.

“I can’t tell you.” Scar said, shakily pushing away from Cub and stumbling out of bed.

“Scar, it’s important- the Void doesn’t just speak to people!”

“I’ve got to go,” Scar said, taking a few wobbling steps towards the exit when Xisuma grabbed his arm. His touch was freezing, like the Void’s, and Scar flinched. Xisuma let go, his hand hovering.

“Scar-”

Scar slammed the Vault door shut behind him, stumbling to the nearest Ender Chest to grab his Elytra and some fireworks. By the time Xisuma and Cub had opened the Vault door, Scar was long gone.

“Fuck,” Xisuma said, kicking a stray pebble angerly.

“Yeah,” Cub agreed.

“I suppose we didn’t need the water.” TFC commented, joining the two other men at the door.

“I suppose not.” Cub said, bigger worries on his mind.

What was wrong with his friend?

Chapter Text

Scar had been avoiding everything for the past few days. His builds plateaued, his shop’s stocks dwindled, and Scarassic Island was quiet. Cub and Xisuma had flown in a few times to check on him, but Scar had hidden away, Jellie purring softly as he shoved his face into her soft fur and waited for his friends to leave.

Scar was tired, miserable, and in so much pain. His wounds from the Void hadn’t healed, and his Vex magic had been taken from him, leaving him drained, empty and lethargic. The Void said it would return when he finished his end of the deal, but Scar wasn’t sure. He continued on, however, packing shulker box after shulker box full of supplies. Jellie meowed softly, watching Scar pack more dirt with trembling hands.

You’re overworking yourself. She seemed to say.

“I know,” Scar answered, stepping on another chest to reach the last of his wood. “I have to do this. The Void told me too. I wish I could cuddle, Jellie, but I don’t have time to risk it.”

Jellie meowed in response, sulking away. Scar watched for a moment, saddened, then shook his head and went back to work. The Void hadn’t left him alone after it destroyed Cherry. In fact, it’s insistence had gotten worse. Every night he dreamt of the Other Him, with their cold hands and harsh voice. They gave him instructions on what to build, how to build it and what to use. The Other Him promised to give back his Vex magic when he finished to the Void’s and the Other’s standards.

God, did Scar miss Vex magic. He missed fooling around with Cub and playing silly pranks. He missed the warmth and the fire that burned inside of him when he had it. He missed eating cake and not feeling sick to his stomach after a bite. Scar really, really hated the cold of the Void. He didn’t know how Xisuma dealt with it. The constant chill sank into his bones, and his layers of clothes never seemed to help his shaking hands.

Closing his last Shulker box, Scar put them into his inventory, and then fastened his Elytra, mentally preparing himself to go back to the Shopping District. The Shopping District meant Hermits, and Hermits meant questions. He was going to fix Cherry, put the redstone stock away, and then come back to work on the Void’s project. Scar made his way to the surface, lighting a rocket and shooting into the sky.

The wind rushing in his hair was a blessed relief from the previous cramped quarters of his base, and the fresh air helped clear his head. Scar mentally compartilized the item’s he needed for the Void’s build, as they’d be more difficult to get. Obsidian, quartz, end stone, end bricks, bedrock, dark oak and maybe some spruce wood?

Wait, bedrock? How did The Void expect him to get bedrock?

Scar made a surprised noise, backtracking on his thoughts. It was impossible for him to get bedrock, and Xisuma would start to question his motives if he asked for some. Biting his lip, Scar circled the crater that used to be Cherry before landing on the edge. The bedrock problem could wait, Cherry was more important.

“Oh dear.” Scar whispered, surveying the damage.

Whatever Vex magic he had used was impossibly powerful. Neither Scar nor Cub had seen it destroy blocks before, only mobs. The redstone shop was long gone, not even a slab left. Where the foundation used to be was now a gaping pit, about 16 blocks deep and 16 blocks wide. A whole chunk was missing. It looked like dozens of supercharged creepers had gathered in the centre and blown up. The ground was charred, barren and still smoking. A shiver ran through Scar as he realized he had involuntarily caused this. He felt sick when he realized that if it wasn’t for the Vex, he wouldn’t be alive.

“Okay,” Scar said, taking a grounding breath. “Let’s just… let’s just start with filling in the hole. I can do that. Just filling the big, gaping hole that I made. Yeah.”

Scar placed a few shulker boxes, and dug out the dozens of stacks of cobble and dirt he had brought.

“I hope there’s enough,” Scar muttered to himself. “I’d hate to go back and grind more.”

Climbing to the bottom of the pit, he began painstakingly filling all the missing blocks. It was a slow process, as there were lots of nooks and crannies that he originally couldn’t see. About four hours later he crawled out of the pit and took off his hat and jacket, folding them gently and placing them on the outskirts of the danger zone near his storage. Dirt and dust covered his once clean shirt, but it felt nice to be productive. He had filled half the pit, and had lots of supplies left. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Scar took a moment to look at the setting sun. He had started mid-afternoon, and skipped dinner. He was starving. Reaching into one of the scattered chests, he looked for some baked potatoes he had packed.

“Here,” A voice said and Scar jumped, smashing his head into the lid of the chest.

Spinning around, he saw Cub holding out a bottle of water and a plate with baked potatoes on it. Scar hesitantly reached for it, accepting it from his friend. Cub’s new coat had sneaked up on his arms, and the bandages that covered his burns peaked through, making Scar lose his appetite.

I did that to Cub. Scar thought to himself, accepting the water and food.

“Thank you,” Scar said, nervous around his friend. Did Cub hate him for hurting him? Was he scared of the Vex power Scar had used? Did he see Scar as the same person?

“Can I eat with you? I haven’t seen you in a few days.” Cub asked, sitting on a double chest and patting the spot next to him.

Scar figured he didn’t have much of a choice, and sat down next to him. Cub pulled out his own meal (which was really not a meal, but just cake) and they ate in silence for a while. Every bite Scar swallowed got stuck in his throat with guilt. Watching Cub eat cake made Scar want to vomit. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m sorry for hurting you.” Scar said abruptly, and Cub made a surprised noise.

“What? You didn’t hurt me.” Cub said, looking genuinely confused. “When did you hurt me?”

“Yes I did!” Scar scowled, gesturing to Cub’s bandaged arms. “When I let the Vex get out of control, I hurt you!”

Cub looked at his burnt arms in surprise, then back at Scar, who was tearing up and staring at the ground with determination not to look at his friend.

“Scar, that wasn’t you.” Cub said. Scar opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly interrupted by Cub. “Seriously, dude. It may have been your body, but it definitely wasn’t you. That Vex magic was super powerful. Like, original time we found it type powerful, not Scar using it powerful.”

A shiver went down Scar’s spine as he remembered the first time Cub and he had stumbled upon the Vex. How they were both beaten and desperate, and how the Vex had embraced them and used it’s magic to tear through them and make their atoms separate at the seams and their voices disappear before shoving them back together again.

“Oh,” Scar said. “I didn’t…. I wasn’t…”

He took a deep breath, and Cub waited patiently.

“I wasn’t there, mentally.” Scar finally said. “I had no idea where I was. I couldn’t see or control anything my physical body was doing. Um, I didn’t even know my body was there. I thought I had attacked you when the Vex possessed me.”

Scar felt sick at the thought of the Vex having complete control over his body while he was mentally checked out. The Vex were immensely powerful, and if they had a suitable vessel then a repeat of what happened with Cub and Cherry would be far more common. If the Hermit wasn’t ConVex, they might be dead.

“It won’t happen again.” Scar said, frowning. The Void had taken his Vex magic, the warmth of it long chilled. “It can’t happen again.”

“I’ll be there if it does.” Cub said reassuringly, patting Scar’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Cub.” Scar smiled.

“Any time. Do you need some help filling the pit?” Cub asked, gesturing to the half-filled hole.

“No thanks,” Scar said. “I’m almost finished, and you should rest your wounds anyways.”

Cub snorted. “My burns aren’t that bad. The bandages are just to protect the scabs. Anyways, I came to drop this off.”

Scar’s eyes widened as Cub pulled a familiar yellow shulker box from his inventory and placed it on the ground.

“No way!” Scar cried out, opening the lid. It was his treasure chest! He thought he had lost it back on the End Island, but there it was, sitting in front of him. “You found it! How?”

“The Vex guided me.” Cub admitted with a shrug. “They seemed… guilty, in a way? They wanted this back to you. It was tricky to find, you really managed to misplace it!”

“Thank you, Cub! This is amazing!” Scar spun on his heels, launching himself at Cub and entrapping him in a huge hug.

“It’s no problem, dude.” Cub laughed, returning his hug. There was a pause, and Cub gently pulled away, holding onto Scar’s shoulders firmly. “Scar, if there’s something bothering you, you know you can talk to me, right?”

Scar frowned. He should’ve seen this coming. His friend was worried, naturally, but he couldn’t tell Cub what the Void wanted from him.

“I will. Don’t worry.” Scar said, plastering a forced smile on his face. Cub looked relieved, and nodded.

“Awesome. I have to head back to ConCorp, but’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Sounds good!” Scar said, and waved as Cub lit a firework and took off into the sky.

Taking a deep breath, Scar turned back to the partially filled crater. The sun was beginning to set, and he had a lot more work to do.

“This is going to take forever.” Scar muttered to himself.

“It certainly is.” A voice said, and Scar froze, ice running through his veins as a hand clasped his shoulder.. “It’s also not what the Void wanted you to work on. Breaking our deal already?”

Scar turned his head to see the Void version of himself looking impassively over the crater. His cyan eyes seemed to glow in the dimming light. After taking a moment to look, the other turned his bored gaze to meet Scar’s fearful one.

“This isn’t a pillar.” They said. Scar didn’t respond, choosing to keep his mouth shut.

“Oscar. This isn’t what the Void asked for.”

“Stop calling me that!” Scar snapped, taking a step away from the other, jerking the icy hand from his shoulder.

“Oh, rude now, aren’t we?” They said with an amused smirk. “Well, if you don’t like your full name. I’ll just use it. ‘Oscar’. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it, Scar?”

Scar balked at Oscar, rare anger flooding his veins. “Wha- no! You don’t get to take my name! Even if I don’t like people using it! You’re not me!”

Oscar rolled his eyes, and disappeared. Scar whipped his head around, looking for his doppelganger. Cold hands clawed over his mouth and gripped around his chest from behind, pinning Scar in one place. Scar couldn’t help the muffled gasp of surprise and fear escape, before immediately squirming and trying to escape. Icy bands of Void magic began to creep around his body, and Scar cried out in pain as it burnt his body.

“I don’t think you understand the situation you’re in, sweetheart.” Oscar snarled into Scar’s ear. “If you don’t do what the Void says, I will replace you. You’ll be stuck in the Void with a front row seat to the Oscar Show. I’ll destroy everything you care about. This world is ugly and scarred, and I want it fixed. Every block needs to be perfect, and if you won’t do it, I will. I’ll destroy your friends if I have to.”

Scar blanked, terrified for his friends safety, straining against the burning bands of magic. “No! Please, I’ll do it. I’ll stop working on Cherry, I’ll- I’ll leave ConCorp to Cub, I’ll do the Void’s pillars and terraforming. Don’t hurt my friends. Please.”

“I don’t believe you.” Oscar said, but he let go. The bands of magic disappeared, and Scar dropped to his knees, legs shaking and limbs burning. Oscar walked past him, and picked up Scar’s jacket and hat that he had folded aside earlier in the day.

“Why don’t we start with a test run, hm?”
“What?” Scar said, watching Oscar put on the jacket and hat.

“It’s simple, really.” Oscar said, adjusting the hat to tilt a little to the right. “I replace you for a day, and you watch what I plan to do. Maybe you’ll actually follow through on your promise that way.”

“Wait, I-” Scar reached out, and Oscar smiled.

“See you in twenty-four hours.”

[GoodTimesWithScar left the game.]

Chapter Text

[ GoodTimesWithScar left the game.]

Scar’s form glitched and pixelated a little before vanishing from sight, the builder reaching out in sheer panic towards Oscar. The other smiled, watching Scar disappear.

“Finally,” Oscar said, tucking his hands into the jacket he had stolen from Scar, “Some time to myself. Time to get going.”

Humming softly to himself, Oscar opened his inventory with a flick of his wrist, accessing the creative menu with ease. Being a creation of the Void had its perks. Sure, he still had a health bar and needed to eat like any other Hermit, but the Void offered him all the building supplies he needed. As long as Oscar completed the towers the Void wanted, he was also going to complete his own projects. The landscape of the Island was a mess, and he intended to fix it all. Sure, the builds could stay, but the land could look so much better.

“Let’s start with this disaster,” Oscar muttered, looking at the hole Scar had been trying to fill.

“A good place for your first pillar, hm?” He said, speaking to the Void. The Void responded with a freezing touch, seemingly pushing Oscar forwards to say Go, and hurry.

Quickly, Oscar took some dirt from his inventory and got to work. Not having to replace stacks of resources made the process a lot faster. By the time night fell, Oscar had finished filling in the chunk. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Oscar hummed at his handi-work, tilting his head to imagine the pillar. It would be large, probably a hundred odd blocks tall.

“Should it go deep into the ground too?” Oscar asked, and the freezing touch of the Void made itself known.

F̲̝͎̫͎͙̥ͨ̌̾̿̂iͯ̒ͩ̽ͥ̎̓l̖̱̘̠̼̳̊̌̆l̟̥̲ ͇̳̣̞͓̋̐̄ȉ̹̠͉̙̘̂t̖͇͕̠ͥ͋͋͌͑́ ̟͍̫͊ͦ̃ǎ̯̟̺͙l͎̟̮̪͆̏̋́̒̈ͅľ͙̻̖̥̼̩̈̔ͅ.̮͇̦̟̝ͤ̽ͭ̃

The Void whispered back, making the hair on Oscar’s neck stand straight up.

F̠̺̩͌ͧͬ̒i͓̱̝ͫͬl͒ͫͣ̑͐̚l̦̞͓̎̉ͯ̎ ̠̬͈̩̓ͫ̂̆ͣ̓ͯi͍͉̱̘̬̲ͮͭ̂̌t͕̰͕͓͍ ͖̲͓̤̹̳̱̂͐ͥ̂͗w͓͐̉̑̿i̤͓̼t͎͑͂ͨ͌͋̐̔h̜̙͚̓̈̀ ̝͔̚ṯ͆̈́ͩṛ̼̪͕͓̥̫ͣȇ͉̠̲̜̣á̋̃̍̅ͪ̓s̘̼̦̗͉̖͉̏uͣ̾̄ͯ̚r̺͚̝̭̊ͯe̫͕̞̮͍̫̝ͯ̈́͌͒̚ ̗̩͌͊͑ͣͤͬͩa̱͑ň̻͈ͨ̑̏̈͗ḏ̼̤͚̽͋̃̃ͥ̊ͣ ͈̋͑͛̃ͮͤt̪̳͎̰̥͔̮͑ͥr̤̼͚̻͖͈͙̓̊ͯa̘̱̻̤ͯ̅̑̄͛̋p̤̅s͎̫͂ͩ̓ͪ̍̏̾.̩͂́͗ͬͨ ̲̪͓̬͔̅ͯ̀̏

“Traps, huh?” Oscar frowned, trying to imagine how to damage the players without ruining the structure. “Deadly?”

No͍̹͓͍̬̱͍͆̃̉͋ͫ͂͂.͚̺͖̔̔ͦ ̘I̘͉̘͓̍̀͋͂̏̆ͩ ̘̞̥̤͇͖̥̃̽́d̙̗̪̱ͨͭ̅̋ͦ̚o̬̻̤̊͆ ͇͖͕n̼͔̠ͬͪ̇ͩ̅̑̏ͅo̳̳̞̝͉t̩̤̉̀̅ ̜͉̩̲̥̯ͨ͆̀͗̀͛w͈̅ͣ͑a͍̍̓̃n͚̗ͤ̈̈t̰͇̔̇̈́ ̺̒̌ͪ̓ͨͨ̒t͙̐̂̈́̎ȍ̠̞̬̠̹̦̺̉̋͒̓ ̪̊̌ͯ͑̚s͚̮̅c̻̝̖̭̄̎à̤̳̞̟̃͛́͋̎r̼͔̰̭͎̟̅̍e͊̐ ̍̂ͯ̔th̞̭͕̏̒ͤ̌͒ͅé͙̜̔̋̚ͅm̫͊̐ͤ.̫͇̦͋̎ ̤̱̗ͨ͌̽͊ͯͣJ̱͓̝͊͑uͬs͙̲̼̫ͤ̆͐ͅt̘͙̪̲̬͔ͨ͑͆ ̜̞̫̰̯̝͉͐̇̃̿r̦̺̲͎̎ͯ̀̏́͐̚e̪̦̦̖̘͉̊m͇͎i̇͊̀̈́n͇̺̺̙̻̥ͬ̈́̑̊͑̈́ḏ̅̚ ̺̱͕͊͂͌ͨͣͧṫ̩̏̎ͩͯ͌ḥ͖ͤ͒ͩͥͧ͛̚èͮ̃͑͒̂m̭̺̻̏̄̑ͭ ͔̏̍ͨo̪̗̲̟͋ͭ̉ͧ̽f̲͇͕͐͆̿̑ ͐ͩw͍̠̙̟̤̬̘̉͐ͥ͗͒h̳̦̘̮̳ͧ̽̆̏ͣͅŏ̥͊͑̓ ̝͎͔͙̩͕̞m̘̺̩͓ͮͅͅa͉̺̥̤̝͉ͪ̊͑d̰͔̖̺̼͆ͯe̮̠̺ ̻͉͚̩͔̬ͯ͛̅̈́͌̎ͪt͎͔͙͚̫̳̞ͮͦͭ̂̾̌h͖̻̝̃̍͒ͪ͆e̞ͬ͆́̎ͯ̇ͩm̼̰ͤ.̬̤

“I think I can do that.” Oscar said, reaching back into his inventory. He was so focused on getting blocks he didn’t hear someone land behind him.

“Do what?” Xisuma asked, placing his fireworks back into his pocket.

Oscar cursed under his breath. Xisuma was a Voidwalker, which meant he could probably sense the Void in the area. If he wanted to pass as Scar, he’d need to be extra careful around Xisuma.

“Make two levels for Cherry.” Oscar lied. “It’s so popular, I figured I could make double the profit with double the floors.”

Xisuma gave a small chuckle, joining Oscar at his side. “I suppose that’s true. You’ve certainly made a lot of progress with the hole, haven’t you?”

“I guess so.” Oscar said.

“Cub said when he popped by earlier you still had half of it to fill,” Xisuma commented. “And now you’re done! It’s only been a few hours.”

“You know me,” Oscar said, a small smile breaking across his face. “Once I start a project, I just can’t stop.”

“Very true,” Xisuma said with another laugh. “Am I allowed to interrupt you for a few moments?”

“You already have.” Oscar said, irritation growing in his chest. He had things to do, and Xisuma was bothering him with his worthless chitchat. The helmeted Hermit looked a little surprised at the blunt answer.

“Right,” Xisuma said. “I’ll cut to the point, since you’re busy.”

“Please, do. I have important things to do elsewhere.”

Xisuma frowned at the answer.

“I wanted to know what you spoke to the Void about.”

“What are you talking about?” Oscar said, putting on his best confused face.

“Scar. You know what I’m talking about.” Xisuma said, exasperated. Oscar’s mouth tasted bitter when Xisuma said the wrong name. “Since you fell in the End and spoke with the Void, you’ve been different.”

“Really? I haven’t thought so. Just a little more sleepy.” Oscar said, resting his cheek in his hand in a thoughtful position. “I’ve always been pretty sleepy, though.”

“Please, Scar.” Xisuma said, taking a hold of Oscar’s shoulders. “I’m worried about you. Whatever happened in the End, I can help! I can talk with the Void for you. Cub says you haven’t responded to the Vex all week, and they’ve called more often than usual.”

“Shit.” Oscar muttered. The Void had taken the influence of the Vex from Scar and given it to him, meaning that Scar would have no way to hear and communicate with them. Of course that would seem suspicious.

Xisuma let out a surprised noise at Oscar’s curse, and dropped his grip.

“I’ve never heard you swear before.” Xisuma said. “Is it really that bad?”

“No! I-” Oscar scowled, realizing his slip-up. “Sorry. You’re right, it was bothering me.”

Xisuma relaxed a little, thinking he was breaking down Scar’s wall. Oscar paused, trying to think of a lie to use to cover why Scar might not have access to the Vex.

“I, um, I am a little scared.” Oscar finally said, turning his head and looking at the ground in pretend shame. “Of the Vex, that is.”

“Oh,” Xisuma said, sympathy washing over his gaze. “Want to talk about it?”

“It’s just- well, look at Cherry.” Oscar gestured to the empty plot of land. “I lost control of the Vex. Imagine if people had been inside that blast radius when it happened. Look at what happened to Cub! He wasn’t even in the danger zone and he still got hurt.”

“Right,” Xisuma said, voice soft. “That is pretty terrifying.”

Idiot actually bought it. Oscar thought to himself.

“Yeah, it was.” Oscar said, frowning. He wished that Xisuma would leave him alone. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Are you sure?” Xisuma asked kindly. “Sometimes ranting helps get the topic off your mind.”

“I’m sure.” Oscar snapped. He was tired of Xisuma’s meddling. He pushed past the Voidwalker and pulled fireworks from his inventory, lighting one. “Leave me alone.”

Xisuma looked sorrowful. “Scar, I’m s-”

“Save it.” Oscar rolled his eyes. “I have things to do.”

He did a little jump off the ground, and his elytra carried him high into the air. Oscar looked at the shrinking form of Xisuma.

“Fuck you and your meddling.” Oscar muttered, sticking his tongue out at the Hermit when he was far enough away that Xisuma couldn’t see him.

He flew aimlessly for a few minutes, before passing over Scarassic Island and landing. Jellie trotted up to him.

“Ugh.” Oscar said, and Jellie hissed at him. Oscar hissed back, and the grey and white cat scampered away, hiding under a barrell.

Rolling his eyes, Oscar surveyed the island. Scar hadn’t done a bad job. A few mountains and a volcano, the pirate town and then the cursed nether island. Oscar hummed, surveying his options.

“That’d be a good spot for a pillar, since the VoidWalker is in the shopping district.” Oscar said, pointing to Black Sand Island, and the Void brushed against his back in agreeance, sending it’s icy grip down his spine.

Pulling bedrock and obsidian from his inventory, Oscar smiled, and got to work.

---

Scar didn’t know where he was. All he knew was panic. It crept into his bones and his lungs, closing his throat and causing him to gasp for air. Was there even air here? The overwhelming dark around him was shrinking (was it expanding?) and crawling into his every atom (he was so, so hollow) and Scar couldn’t focus on anything but his struggling breath.

D̝͈͔͍͆ͭo̴̫ͬ̅̈ͤ̍̎ ̭̲̥̼͓͎̒ͣn̵̥͚̳ͨo̍͊ͮͥ̎҉̦̼̩̲t̼ͫ̊͑̚ ̟̞̘̭̦̖͊̚f͋̄ȅ̪͂ͧͧ͗̐͠a̧̱̹̗̬̤͂͛ͮ̏ͦ̐̚r̟̩̱̮̩̪̉ͮͅ.̗͎̞͋͗̂́

Cold burnt his lungs, and Scar cried out in pain as the Void surrounded him.

I̺͚͍̙ͬͩ̎͛͝t̸͈͋́ͧ͑̽ͨ ̛̬̪̰̼̯̾̒ͥw͛̍̉i̡̬͖͈̼̞͇ͮͪ͋̈́̒ͧĺ̯ĺ̖̥̮̠͔̥̅ͮͣ̽͐ ̦̘̪̍͂́̑͋̔b͆̄͛ͬ̿̃͡e̴͈͍̘ͅ ̞̫̤̦̻̽ͨ͋ó̍͏͎v̰̩̩͙̰̜̪͆̂͒͢e̮͓̘͙͘r̮͇̀ ̯̱̲̰͎̭̎̑s̷̠͈ͯȯ̌͏̟͈̱̤̠̱ȍ̢ͩͣ̄n̘̬ͨ̎ͪͧ͐͐ͣ.́̂̂͏͇̟

Scar sobbed, his bones aching. He cried out for anything to save him. His friends, Cub, the Vex.

Ĩ͙̥͔̳ͤ̾̚͡ ̴̲̫̲̹̺ͨͫͮͩa̘̓̄̋̀̉̅̓m̩͓̌̏͋͋ ̔t̗͕̙̱̥̜̿͌̎͌͒ͤh̩͈̘̳̳͠ͅe͇͇̜̎ͪ͋͌ ̬̅̒o̥͚͍̤͐̈͌̓̿̂͑͡ͅn̼͙̮͟ḽ̣̰̳̱͈͛ͮ͆͑ͫͅyͬ ͗ͯͬ͘o͉̘̘̣̮̹̖̔̀n̥̺̰̦̜͊̿ͦ̔͂̌e̴̙̔͆̌̄̚ ̆̎̀ͥ͜t̂͐ͮͬ͏̺̳̞͕̥̼̩ḣ͙̹͕̙̑̑ͤǎ̶̪̰̼͕̹̓̿͋t̅ͨ̎ͯ͌͛̃͝ ̜̳̤̦ͯ͊̑̂ͤ̓͘ͅc͚͎ͅa̦̫̮̝ͩ̓͛n͖͖̗͙̻͇͔͛̃ͭ̑̋ ͓͉̋̓s̩͙̥ͮͭͮą͓͙̎̔ͪ̅̎v̢̻̫̥ͅe̢̜̭̭̱̹͌̐̀ͧ ͇̺̙̲̊̑ͣ̈ͭ͝y҉̪̟̲̮o̟̖͇̩̒ͮ̊ͮu͎͋̽̿͒̾͂ͭ.

Scar closed his eyes, welcoming the darkness, and slept.

Chapter Text

Scar woke up.

He was no longer in the dark space that tore at his lungs and dismembered his thoughts. He was home, tangled in his sheets with Jellie sleeping at the foot of his bed.

Did any of that even happen? Scar thought to himself, sitting up slowly. His muscles were still tender, but if it was from filling in the Cherry hole or the Vex incident, he wasn’t sure.

“Hi, Jellie.” Scar murmured, and the cat stretched, chirping as she settled in his lap, purring loudly. “Yeah, it’s been a weird week. I hope it’s over.”

Scar’s communicator pinged, and he reached to the bedside table to look at it.

Grian: Cool build Scar! Looks awesome!!
Grian: Fits in nice with the aesthetic of the nether portal

“What?” Scar said, his stomach dropping. He hadn’t built anything lately, especially not on Black Sands Island. Jellie meowed at him, rubbing her cheek against his communicator.

Panic raced through Scar’s mind. The Void version of himself, the time in the endless expanse, it was all real. What did he build? Throwing off the covers, Scar stumbled to his feet. He reached for his jacket, but it didn’t hang on the back of the door like usual.

“No,” Scar said staring at the empty hook before throwing open the door and fumbling with fireworks and his Elytra. “No, no no no!This can’t be happening. This- it- it can’t be.”

Finally managing to light the firework, Scar took off, clipping the side of the volcano in his rush. He saw the build as soon as he flew past the tip of the volcano. A pure black column, the size of a chunk, was rooted right beside Black Sand Island, the bottom extending and swallowing part of the island. The rest of the column went into the sky to build height, and Scar could only assume that it also went to bedrock. Grian was on the base, hopping from block to block and examining the base of the pillar. Scar landed on the sand beside it, his legs shaking.

“Scar!” Grian called out with a smile and a wave. “This is amazing! How in the world did you get bedrock into this build?”

Scar didn’t answer, instead covering his mouth in shock. The build was formed of various black blocks, like coal, concrete, concrete powder, obsidian and bedrock. It was imposing, looming over everything and making panic rise in Scar’s chest.

“Scar?” Grian asked, hopping off a block of bedrock to walk to his friend’s side. “Are you alright? You look pale.”

Scar just shook his head, unable to form a coherent thought. Panic buzzed in his veins and blurred his thoughts. Oscar had done this in a day. What else had he done? What were his plans? He felt weak. How had he gotten bedrock? What else could he do?

“Do you need to sit down?” Grian asked, already helping Scar onto the soft sand. “Do you want me to get Cub?”

“No,” Scar said, remembering Oscar’s threats. His fists clenched around the black sand. “I just… didn’t build this.”

“Wait, really?” Grian asked, looking surprised. “I thought I saw you working on it yesterday. Are you pulling a joke on me?”

Scar bit his lip. Did he tell Grian? He didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He opened his mouth to say something, but the whooshing of rockets interrupted him. Xisuma landed on the sand nearby, taking off his helmet and staring in awe at the pillar.

“Isn’t it stunning?” Grian asked with a wide smile and gestured to the pillar, oblivious to Scar’s panic. Xisuma frowned and looked at Scar.

“Did you build this?” Xisuma asked, looking at Scar, worry crossing his face. Scar shook his head and looked at the ground, nervous.

“Hey Grian?” Xisuma asked.

“Yeah?”

“I need to talk to Scar for a bit, if that’s okay?”

Grian smiled, looking more concerned. Taking the hint, he said: “Sure! I’m working on Sahara today anyways, so it’s time for me to go. See ya!”

Xisuma waited until Grian had flown far enough away, before sitting on the ground in front of Scar. Scar hugged himself tighter. Even if Xisuma was a Void Walker, both the Void and Oscar made it clear that he couldn’t tell anyone what was going on.

“Hey,” Xisuma said softly. “I wasn’t talking to you yesterday, was I?”

Scar hugged himself tighter, looking away from Xisuma’s soft gaze. He bit his lip, refusing to answer.

“The Void was different around them,” Xisuma continued. “It was colder than usual. You’re also not as rude.”

Scar snorted a little at that, but still said nothing. Oscar was very rude.

“Scar, I don’t know what’s going on with the Void or the other you, but I want to help-”

“I can’t tell you what they’re doing.” Scar said, tears slipping down his face despite his best efforts. “They said they’ll perma-kill whoever I told. I can’t have that happen to you. You can’t help me.”

Xisuma said nothing, simply moving closer and wrapping Scar in a big hug. Scar froze, then fell into Xisuma’s embrace, clutching onto the Void Walker with desperation.

“You don’t have to tell me anything,” Xisuma muttered, and Scar shoved his face deeper into Xisuma’s shoulder, touch starved. Xisuma hugged back, a solid foundation as Scar simply ignored everything that had happened that week and savoured the moment of support.

“Thank you,” Scar muttered after a few minutes and let go of the hug, sitting up on his own. He wiped a stray tear away and smiled. “Really.”

Xisuma smiled back. “Any time. Can I ask a favour of you?”

Scar frowned a little. “I can’t do much,” he admitted.

“That’s okay. I was hoping for company while working on some server issues,” Xisuma said, “Can I stay with you while you build?”

Can I stay and make sure you’re okay?Was what Xisuma was really trying to say, and Scar smiled.

“That would be great.” Scar said. “Can we go to Cherry? I need to rebuild shop.”

“Of course.” Xisuma said.

The bedrock in Scar’s inventory was heavy. His chest felt lighter, however, knowing he had a friend to help him if anything went wrong.

---

The grey mask in Cub’s hand was hot. It buzzed with magic and burnt against his skin. Vex whispered around him, swirling in his head in an unpleasant tickling manner.

Where is he? The Vex demanded. He hasn’t answered our calls.

“I don’t know.” Cub responded, his own mask already on his face.

He needs to come. The Vex snarled. Blue lit up his vision, and Scar’s mask grew hotter in his hands, glowing with untapped magic. Cub’s mask was cool against his face.

“I know.”

Bring him to us. He is not answering our call. He needs us.

Cub sighed. The Vex were always so impatient. Scar had been avoiding the call all week and that was a dangerous game. If the Vex called, you had to answer. Cub didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t. He didn’t want to find out.

“He’s been avoiding me.” Cub admitted. The Vex hissed. Cub placed the mask on the table. It shook with untapped power.

“Me? Never.” A familiar voice said.

“Scar!” Cub said, and turned his own mask to the side, blinking the blue tint out of his vision. He smiled upon seeing his friend leaning against the doorway. Scar’s jacket was cloaked on his shoulders, and he tipped his hat in greeting.

The Vex screamed louder, seeming to be in outrage. Cub ignored this, overjoyed to see his friend.

“You changed your hair,” Cub said, and gave a little tug on the ponytail his friend now wore. Scar’s smile didn’t quite reach his blue eyes.

Blue eyes? Cub thought for a split moment. Must be leftover tint from Vex. Scar has green eyes.

“Needed a change of pace,” Scar said with a light laugh, and embraced his friend. “I thought my hair was a good place to start.”

“It looks good.” Cub smiled. He had missed his friend. “And you’re still my friend, pigtails or ponytails or no tails at all.”

Scar laughed again. “Glad to hear it. It would be so tragic if a ponytail ruined our friendship.”

“Maybe now you’re going for ponytails, I can start doing pigtails.” Cub gently split his beard into two sections, mimicking the pigtails Scar usually wore. “What do you think?”

“I think you better stick with a normal beard. Thosepigtails might drive us apart.” Scar nudged Cub in a teasing manner. Cub rolled his eyes while smiling.

“Anyways,” Cub said, and held out Scar’s Vex mask. “I’m assuming this is what you came for?”

“You bet.” Scar said, a wicked smile overcoming his face. He looked at the mask greedily.

Cub frowned, suddenly uneasy. The Vex, instead of calming as they usually did when the two answered their calls, screamed louder as Scar grabbed the mask. Cub winced at the unintelligible noise, growing steadily the longer Scar held the mask. Scar didn’t seem bothered by the noise. It was almost if he couldn’t hear the Vex screaming at all.

“Is something the matter, Cub?” Scar asked, looking worried. His blue eyes met Cub’s brown.

Scar doesn’t have blue eyes. Cub thought. Scar doesn’t wear his hair in ponytails.

“No,” Cub said.

“That’s good,” Scar said, and donned the Vex mask. “I wouldn’t want any problems.”

The mask slid easily over Scar’s face and for the first time in a very long time, Cub couldn’t hear the Vex at all.

---

Xisuma watched from the sidelines of the Cherry shop as Scar built. He had command screens open, but there really wasn’t anything to work on. He was there to keep an eye on Scar, and both of them knew it. Whatever Scar was building, it wasn’t Cherry.

The dopplegänger from yesterday had made quick work of their pillar, but Scar worked slow and thoughtfully. Even when forced to build something under ransom, Scar was the only person Xisuma knew that would still take his time in making it look good. He watched Scar hum and haw over placing a block of obsidian or bedrock.

“Maybe another block of coal?” Xisuma offered.

“Yeah, that’d look right.” Scar agreed and gazed into the distance for a moment before pulling coal from his inventory. “Thanks!”

Xisuma didn’t ask how Scar had bedrock or seemingly endless supplies of black materials. He knew the Void provided it to him, and if there wasn’t a need for conflict with the Void then Xisuma would rather avoid it. He wasn’t sure what It was up too. He had never known It to force players to build before, and certainly not to replace players.

A cold feeling crept into his chest, and Xisuma stood, startled. The Void was contacting him? Now? The Void never contacted him while he was with people. To speak to the Void was sacred, and It usually called out to him when he was alone.

“Hey Scar?” Xisuma called out, and Scar turned around. He was about 50 blocks into the air on his tower, the walls made but the middle hollow.

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to pass out for a couple of seconds, okay?” Xisuma’s breath was short, the cold overriding his lungs and spreading into his veins. He’d fall unconscious to speak with the Void, and he didn’t want to scare Scar.

Scar looked distressed. “What?”

“The Void. When it speaks, it usually knocks me unconscious.” Xisuma said, his head buzzing. His joints ached with cold, and he winced as he called out, the freezing burning his limbs. The Void didn’t wait. Despite his best efforts, Xisuma curled in on himself, the pain overriding his determination to seem fine. Gasping for air and trying to hold onto consciousness, he didn’t hear Scar land beside him.

“Xisuma? Xisuma?” Scar’s panicked voice reached his ears, but it was too late.

God, he hated this part of being a Void Walker. The pain that came with speaking to the Void was unbearable. He felt himself slump against Scar, and suddenly he was surrounded by darkness.

Floating in the emptiness, Xisuma took a deep breath, placing his head in his hands. He had probably scared Scar senseless. He didn’t know what the Void wanted, and Its recent actions towards Scar scared him.

I̡̩̼̻͉͇ ̰̥̪̻̜̙͕n̲̰̲̕e͜e̸̤̺̜̜ḓ̖͙̫͇͇̪͠ ̤̜̣̹̱̻̙y̡͇̰̬̬̥o͔u̘͉̪̜͞r͏͇̰̫ͅ ̦̟͕͍h̹̦̜e̵͔̥̞l̤͖̮̮̹̺p͎̭̳̠̣͚̺͠.̼̜

“What?” Xisuma asked, surprised, lifting his head. The Void neverasked for help. It simply told him what to do.

Y͉͍͉̺͙o̪̭̳͉̺͔̪̅̑̑ͫͣu̖̭̬̭̝͇̓̏r̓ͤ̈ ̖̙̰͂̏ͯ̌w̻ͤͨͭ̇̑ͯo͕͛̋̀͗ͮ͊ͅr̃ͧl̩̹͒d͈̤͎̟̳̙̙ i̜̓̉͂s͚͓ ͓ͥ̈i̳̗ͦ̿n̘̏̚ ̘̘̣͓̯̌̆ͬͤ͆̑t̖̘̭̲̹̔ͩͦ̈̿͆̅r̠̯͙̓ͨo̜̥̞̔u̳̯̯̞̤̺̞̎̅̃͌̀̓b͕͎͕̭̿̔l̮̞̝͋ê͉̠ͮ̾͑͐ͯ.͕̺̩ ͬ̈́S̤̞̯̜o̳̣̬̭̍̎̏̆̂͂ͥm͙̫͙̠̌ͪ̍e͓̞̲̦ͮ͛͐̄̏͐͌t͎̮̝̠̰̻̿ḥ̙̺ͬ̓î̳͙̭̲̝̦͌͆ͤͫ͛̎n̺͓ͅg͕͙͓̐ ̩̯̫̜͔̗ͥ̿ͪ͊̍̊ẖ̺̙͙̝̦̾̆͐̆ͭ̀̌a̞̠̪͇̩̥̗̒ͣ̆̇̌͗ͧs ͕ͅc̭̻̳̯͙͚̟͆̏h̤̼͊̿ͬ̍ͧ̽a͎͈̤͚̻͕͎n̈ͨg̘͙̺̯̯̒̎ͨ̿̄̚e̠̬d̝̝̭͔̜̞̜̈́ͦ͊,̪͓̘ ̤̙͓̰̫̒a͋̀̄̌ͧ̚n̮̣̬͇̜̟̱̐̈́͂ḍ͔̙̆͗̋̃̌̆ͤ ̭ͭ̄I̜̹̫ͧ͆̐ͅ ̬͓̟̥͚͇͋̃c̤̏̃̓͊ͮ͛ͮa̬͎͉͓ͫ̽͊́̀n̥̜̺̲̖͔͈ͥ̓̓̈́̒n͖͚̜̩̹̆ͥ̈́̍ͫ͐ọ͖̖̗̼ẗ͈̟͎͇̜͋͛ͣͤ̀ ͧf̱̯̤̹̤̘͛͐ͪ͌i̻̹̦̻͈͔ͬ̉ͧx̲̤̦̞ͬͣ̈́̆̐̔͋ ̥̘̮͖̝͇͆̋i̝͓̜̿ͧͦ̀t̙̖̐ͬͩͨ.̥̬̞͒ͤ͆́ͬ̒

“…You can’t?” Xisuma frowned. “Is this to do with your threats to Scar?”

T͉̮̩͉͙̀ͪͪḫ̭̌̔͋͑̋̈́o̥̗̥͍̟̺ͪ̐́̉̐ͅs̖̖̳̞̫͎̋ͯ͐̓ͫ̋̈́ͅe̥̫̓̈́ͨ ̘̳̟̊͂̑̊ͅa̪͚̟̣̾̓̌͛r̟̦͒ē̮̣͎͍̐̇ͭͮ̃ ͚̭̫̤͙̣͓̏ͦ̐̃̃̏ͧn̠̾͌͌̋͌̐͊ọ̪̻̻̣̫͍͂̏̅t̰̹̘̦͍̽͂ ̝̩͓͍̗͑ͮ̏m̹̮̩̼͙̈́ͣ̃̒̉̑̀y͇̻̻͍̣̯̋̽ ͨ̀̆ͦ͛ț̤̘͍̺͈̓̽ͥ̒h̫̪r̻̜̘͖ͭ̈́̍e̋͂̑̑ầ̰̩͇͂͊̈͐̚t͓̅s͕̱͙͌.͔͖̦͍͚͉̈ͪ͌̀̈̉ͪ ̮̮͊̋̅̓͆

The Void snarled, and Xisuma winced at the burning in his head that followed with it.

Ḿy p̛u͠ni̷sh͘me͢n̛t͟ ̴f͟o͢r ҉t̛he̕ Vęx t҉ram͜p͏l̀ing͝ ͘on͏ ́m̛y҉ ͘r͞e͘alm w͡as ̨to̵ r͠em̵ơv͢e҉ them f̸rom̧ ́the̛ir ̀Ho͏st ̸for ́à ̧w͘h̀i̷le̵.̀ The͡ Vex̷ ̀se͝paŕa҉ted̢ t̕hemsęlves͏ ̛an̷d̵ inf͞u͢s͡ed ̛t҉hem̵s̷el̀v͝es ͟w̡it̀h͡ ̢my ҉m͢a͡gi͘c̕. ҉That̡ ͏is̡ w͏ha͝t p̷l͢agués̶ you̢r͜ frie̵n͠d.͘

Xisuma’s head spun. “But… the towers…? The perma-death…?”

Th̴ę ̶f̛alse V̶o̢id ͟h҉as ͞i͘mm̧ęn͜se power̨s҉.҉ ̧Ţh̷ey͠ a͘re ͠t̛he͘ cḩi͝l̡d͡ ̷of pa͞i̕n̸ ànd̵ ḑesper̴atio̴n ̷and ͘the ̀spli͢t͜t̢ing of̡ the V̡ex ̛and̛ t̴h͢é ̀Ho͟st. ̸T͞hey ha̷ve t̴a̛k͜e̵n͜ ͏t̛he͝ir ow̸ǹ ac͜tio̡ns,͞ a̷n̡d ͞I ̵canno͠t́ stop ́the͘m.̸

“That would be like killing yourself.” Xisuma realized. Scar’s dopplegänger was the result of the Vex trying to control the Void and failing. The Void couldn’t destroy Itself.

The Void was silent.

“You need me to kill the other Scar.” Xisuma said softly. He had never killed someone before.

I n̴e͜e͢d y͜oư make the͏ ̕H̴os̀t̀ ͞ki̸ll t̴h͘e͏ ̢Vex C̀hild. To brin̶g ͠t́hemse͠lve҉s̸ b̵a̛ck͝ to̡ ͝one ͘b́e̵in͡g.̶ Or ̢the͡ V͞e͟x C̷h͘il͟d́ ̕w͘i̶l͘l͟ ͜destr̢oy ́th̛e̕ ̶un͘i̧verse҉ ̀ùnd͟e͞r ҉my ͏na͘m͡e̸,͝ ̷a͠n͘d̕ your ͢f͢rien̷d̕s w̵i͡l͘l̢ ̷d͜i͡e a̛long͘sid͡e̡ ͜i̷t.̸

“But how do we kill something that’s Vex and Void magic?” Xisuma asked.

Y̗̥͍̕ou̷̦̻͎̟̱ ̲̦͓͇m̫͓̤̻̬̕ụ͘ş̱̙͎̤t̷̥-̵--

A sudden burst of magic tore Xisuma from the Void, and he screamed the cold searing his limbs and burning his lungs and he was being torn to pieces atom by atom and he wouldn’t survive this he w o u l d n’ t-

Xisuma’s eyes flew open, and he saw Scar hovering over him, blue eyes filled with concern. Xisuma rolled onto his side, coughing and gasping for air as the phantom pains of being torn from the Void wracked his body. He clumsily tore his helmet off his head, tears leaking from his eyes as he pressed his forehead to the Endstone, trying to find some grounding.

“Oh my god,” Scar said, relief overcoming him. “Thank goodness you’re awake. I was so worried.”

Still wheezing, Xisuma winced at the sickly-sweet stench of Chorus fruit. He tried to focus on Scar and rolled back onto his back to face his friend.

“Scar,” Xisuma said, and Scar looked at him, concerned. “Scar, I know what to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“The Void doesn’t want you to build those pillars, it’s the dopplegänger. You have to kill him before he ruins the server.”

“Correct.” Scar said, impassively.

“…What?” Xisuma’s heart sank, his heart pounding in panic. Why was Scar so calm?

Xisuma sat up, leaning heavily on the Endstone beside him.

Endstone? Wait. That’s not right. He was just at Cherry and-

“Fuck,” Xisuma said, putting the pieces together. Oscar smiled, leaning over Xisuma, who was too exhausted to defend himself.

“I’m part of the Void, remember? I can sense when you’re speaking to it. I knocked Scar out, got Cub to move you here under the guise of a prank, and now you’re stuck.”

Xisuma didn’t answer, instead attempting to pull up his admin screens. Typing in the first command he thought of, Xisuma cursed when it didn’t go through.

[ COMMAND NOT RECONIZED. ]

“You didn’t really think I was that stupid, did you?” Oscar rolled his eyes, standing and pulling up his own admin screens.

“Oh! Look here! It seems the only admin on the server is…. BadTimesWithScar! Good news, Xisuma! No one can interfere now.” He snarled.

Xisuma’s heart sank.

“Wait, do you know what you’re doing? You’ll ruin everything, including your chance at living here. It’ll all be gone!”

“I know.” Oscar said. “I’ll see you in Hell when I get there.”

Xisuma scampered to his feet, reaching for Oscar, but he teleported himself outside the iron bars that surrounded Xisuma’s prison.

“Please, you can’t do this!” Xisuma called out, holding onto the iron bars. “We can work something out, just listen to me! Everything will be gone!”

Oscar looked up from his admin screens, uninterested. Instead of responding, he gave a mock salute and disappeared, teleporting to who knows where.

Xisuma was left in the End, abandoned.

Chapter Text

Cub knew it was wrong. He knew helping Scar carry the AFK Xisuma to the End was wrong (was he really AFK?), and he knew Scar shooing him away to hide Xisuma screamed bad. But he did it anyways, because Scar was his best friend.

Except Xisuma had been missing for three days now, and Scar was adamant he didn’t remember helping with the prank. Scar was also avoiding everyone, working at night and skipping social activities to work on the strange black tower in the shopping district.

He was still working on the large black pillar in the shopping district when Cub flew by, determined to catch him in person. It looked almost finished, imposing and dark against the other shops. Scar was at the base, humming as he dug through some chests. The sun was setting, and the torches began to let off some light.

“Scar,” Cub said, and the other builder jumped, smacking his head against the chest lid.

“Oh! Cub!” Scar said nervously, rubbing his head. He avoided eye contact, choosing to look at his scuffed shoes instead.

“I haven’t seen you in a while.” Cub said softly, placing a hand on Scar’s shoulder. He wasn’t wearing his jacket. “How’re you?”

“Busy as always,” Scar said, gesturing vaguely to the tower and still avoiding looking Cub in the eyes. Cub frowned.

“Are you okay, though?” Cub asked, concerned. Scar’s behavior was off.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scar said, tugging on a pigtail nervously.

“You aren’t, though.” Cub said softly. “Scar, you’ve been acting strange lately.”

“Have I?” Scar frowned, looking concerned. “Guess I’m just tired.”

“Grian and False found both their bases aggressively terraformed, and they both said they hadn’t requested or paid for it. Black pillars have popped up all over the map. Jellie’s been sleeping at ConCorp. With me.” Cub said. Scar looked surprised at that final note, and finally looked at Cub.

Green eyes. Cub thought. Not blue.

“Is that where she’s been?” He asked, ignoring all the other points. “I was worried, I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Jellie never sleeps with me.” Cub continued. “Please Scar, tell me what’s wrong.”

Scar looked away again. “I can’t. I’m sorry, Cub.”

“Three days ago, you and I moved an AFK Xisuma from here to the End. He hasn’t returned, and you refused to let me know where you put him.” Cub said, and watched Scar turn from sadness to confusion to horror.

“Scar, something has been seriously wrong for a while, hasn’t it? Since we both fell into the Void a week ago?”

Scar bit his lip, on the verge of tears. He wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and nodded.

No jacket. Green eyes. Pigtails. Cub noted to himself.

“I’m really sorry Cub. Once I finish this build it’ll all go back to normal, I swear!” He said, and turned away, kneeling on the ground and re-opening the chest.

“Scar! Please!” Cub begged. He was so damn worried.

“Cub, I can’t-“ Scar suddenly fell quiet, doubling over and clutching his head for a moment before blinking rapidly and jerking upright, slamming the chest lid shut.

“Scar?” Cub asked, concerned. Scar turned to him, looking forlorn.

“Can we not talk about this?” He asked, an annoyed tone to his voice. He put a hand on Cub’s shoulder, leading him away from the tower. “Let’s do something else. Golf, maybe? We haven’t played golf in a while.”

“Scar-“ The grip on his shoulder tightened, and Cub fell silent, looking at his friend, panic leaping in his chest.

Blue eyes? Scar just had green eyes. What is going on?

“… Golf sounds great.” Cub finished, and Scar (this isn’t Scar) smiled, pulling his pigtails from his hair and re-arranging it into a ponytail.

“Super,” Scar said enthusiastically, pulling a rocket from his inventory. “Race you there?”

“Sure.” Cub said, hesitantly grabbing his own. “Should we invite some people to join us?”

“I think it’ll be a fun game between just you and I,” Scar said. “Besides, we haven’t gotten to have some quality time together in a while.”

“Right,” Cub said. “Of course.”

He needed to find out what was going on, and if he had to do it by being close to the enemy, so be it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The End was cold, as it usually was. Xisuma could usually spend lots of time in it just fine, but extended periods would even make the most well weathered Hermit a little chilly.

Xisuma was freezing.

Oscar had put him in Adventure mode, able to survive but not interact with most things. Xisuma had paced around the small cell, trying to get warm before realizing he was getting hungry and the Oscar hadn’t left him with food. He had then taken a few moments to figure out where he was. Xisuma came to the conclusion he was under an End Island, iron bars confining him to the small seven by seven block area. Oscar hadn’t left any food or water. Just Xisuma, his helmet and the emptiness of the Void. The doppelgänger had even taken his comm box.

“Bastard.” Xisuma had snarled, kicking an end stone through the bars and retreating to a corner to try and huddle and save body warmth.

That was a few days ago, now. Well, Xisuma thought it was a few days ago. Keeping track of time had never been a strong suit of his, and it was harder when there were no day cycles. It was also hard to focus when you were starving and freezing to death. He had stopped being nauseous from hunger a while back, the gnawing at the inside of his stomach taking second place to the violent shivers that wracked his body. He was exhausted but refused to fall asleep. Death had never bothered the Hermits before, but Xisuma was confident he wouldn’t wake up if he let his eyes shut.

A bright flash of white made Xisuma wince and weakly covered his eyes. Great. He was having hallucinations now. That’s cool.

“Finally.” A familiar voice said, and Xisuma uncovered his eyes, struggling to sit up. “It was terrible being banned. Nice of you to let me back.”

“Evil Xisuma?” Xisuma whispered, not willing to believe his eyes. There was his counterpart, dressed in red and stretching, seeming to not have taken notice of Xisuma quite yet.

“The one and only. Hey, where the fuck are we? The End??? God, you really didn’t want me to destroy the server if we’re all the way out here, huh.” EX said, touching his toes.

Xisuma was speechless. Evil X was banned. He shouldn’t be able to come back, let alone be summoned to him in this prison cell. This was definitely a hallucination. It had to be.

“Speechless, Xisuma? I know, it’s cause- oh shit,” EX said, finally looking at his counterpart. “Dude, you look terrible.”

Rushing to his side, EX helped Xisuma sit up and lean against him. Xisuma shut his eyes, dizzy from the lack of food and water.

“Fuck, Xisuma.” EX said. “You didn’t unban me, did you?”

“No,” Xisuma said. Evil X dug through his inventory for a moment before pulling out a water bottle and some bread.

“Here, start with this. Slowly.” EX cautioned. Xisuma tore a small chunk off the bread and nibbled on it. His stomach growled. He felt sick from eating.

“If you didn’t bring me here, who did?” EX frowned, looking around. “Are we in a prison cell?”

“I don’t know who brought you,” Xisuma admitted, swallowing some water. “And we are. Scar’s evil counterpart put me here.”

“Hey, he’s stealing my style.” EX said. “I’m supposed to be the only evil twin here.”

“He’s dangerous.” Xisuma cautioned.

“And I’m not?” EX said. Xisuma chose to take another bite of bread instead of answering.

“If you’re here, you’re probably stuck in adventure mode with me.” Xisuma said.

EX frowned, opening his inventory. “Uh, no. I’m in survival. I have some stuff from last time and- holy shit Xisuma!”

“What?”

“I have admin controls!” EX said, thrilled. Xisuma perked up.

“You do?”

“Yeah, look!”

Evil Xisuma threw open a command screen. Xisuma was shocked. How was this happening?

“I haven’t been able to access this shit since season one.” EX said, typing in some commands.
/give golden carrots [64].

Xisuma gaped in surprise as 64 golden carrots popped into his otherwise empty inventory.

“Hell yeah,” EX said. “Now I can do whatever the fuck I want.”

“You need to help me,” Xisuma pleaded, grabbing onto Evil Xisuma’s arms. “Please, EX, the whole server is in danger.”

“You always say that when I’m around too,” EX snarled, looking unhappy.

“This is different.”

“How so?” EX asked.

“This evil version of Scar-“

“Oscar.” EX said.

“- right, Oscar, he's taking over the server by replacing Scar. He’s building towers everywhere and forcing the land in unnatural ways. You didn’t replace me, so- wait.” Xisuma stopped his explanation and struggled backwards, EX cocking an eyebrow.

“How do you know his name?”

“Because he spoke to me in the Void? Dude, we’re both results of Void death mis-happenings. He promised me admin powers if I came and helped him.”

Xisuma clenched his jaw. “And here you are with admin powers.”

“Yeah,” EX agreed, but he looked confused. “But I told him no. I thought you brought me back to help fuck him over or something. I’m not sure why I have admin abilities.”

“You gave that up?” Xisuma was rendered speechless for the second time.

“Hm?”

“You gave up being an admin and getting revenge on the server?”

“I’m not a dick,” EX snorted. “I just want a bit of mischief. Y'all are to uptight for your own good. Oscar’s a full-blown asshole. He wanted to ‘ruin everyones lives’ and ‘replace everything with death’ or whatever. Not my style. Anyways,” EX pulled up his command screens again.

/set gamemode creative
/give cheats

Xisuma felt better instantly. The cold that had frozen his limbs dissipated, and the hunger gnawing at his insides left. He felt energized and alive for the first time in many days.

“Thank you,” Xisuma said. “Really, I mean it.”

“Can I ask a favour from you?” EX asked, suddenly looking very serious. Xisuma nodded, unsure once more.

“Let me live with you all- peacefully. And also let me kick Oscar’s ass.”

Xisuma snorted in laughter and smiled, sticking out his hand. Evil Xisuma took it, shaking it.

“Deal.”

Chapter Text

Xisuma hit the ground running with EX close behind. They had come out near the golf course, having been able to locate Cub and Oscar through a whispered message from Cub.

Cubfan135 [whispered to Xisuma]: at concorp golf course with fake scar hurry

“Cub! Scar?” Xisuma shouted, pulling out his admin screen and giving himself some rockets and an elytra. “Where are you?”

EX smacked his arm, angry.

“Ow! Hey-“

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” EX snarled. “Cub is with a dangerous void-hell-spawn thing and you’re yelling at them? Are you trying to ruin the element of surprise?”

“Oh,” Xisuma said, his stomach sinking. “I didn’t think about that.”

“No shit. They’re over there,” EX said, pointing into the distance. Xisuma saw the faint outline of an enderpearl and trident being launched in the air.

“What’s the plan?” Xisuma asked.

“Go beat the jackass up,” EX replied, firing a rocket and taking off.

“Good plan,” Xisuma rolled his eyes, and took off after EX.

—-

Scar felt sick. Well, he assumed he felt sick. He couldn’t really feel anything at all. Being shoved out of his body didn’t really give him a wide range of physical feelings.

Everything felt off, like Scar was watching a screen that was moments behind the footage. His sight was tinted a cyan colour, and every movement that wasn’t his own felt sluggish and tight.

He could see Cub and his body playing golf. He could hear Oscar saying things, smiling and laughing like nothing was wrong.

This sucks. Scar thought to himself.

Shut up. Oscar’s voice replied.

Oh, you can hear me?

Yes, and you’re annoying.

Fuck you. Scar snarled, and forced his body to drop the trident, making Cub look surprised.

“Do you have butterfingers today?” Cub joked.

“You know me,” Oscar laughed, and the grin felt tight on his face.

A burning feeling hit the arm Scar was in control of, and he relinquished it, the pain being to much.

Fuck you.

Scar bit his tongue, trying to scheme a new way to take control of his body. He didn’t have long to think, as Xisuma and EX suddenly showed up in his field of vision, distracting him. Scar couldn’t tell what they were saying, but EX looked angry (when did he not?) and both Cub and Xisuma looked concerned. Oscar moves his (Scar’s?) hand to his belt, curling his fingers around the hilt of the diamond sword. Xisuma saw the movement and raised his hands in a placating gesture.

Let me talk with them. Scar pleaded. He needed to tell them to run away, Oscar was too dangerous and he couldn’t control his own body.

No. These are your sins you’re atoning for, and if I have to spill the blood of your friends to justify them, so be it.

Don’t hurt them! Scar struggled for control, fighting through the burning to reach out.

No! Get back!

Scar slowly retook his body, fighting Oscar with every muscle. His bones aches and his muscles burnt like hellfire.

Scar heard screaming, and felt his knees his the ground and his body curl in on itself in response to his pain.

Wait- his pain. His screaming. He was in control again! Voices swarmed into his senses and he was suddenly overloaded with sights, sounds and stimulation, causing Scar to shut his eyes and cover his ears.

Damnit!

“Scar, what-“

“Give him some space-“

“R-run.” Scar gasped out, feeling Oscar taking control again. He was so damn tired.

“What?” Cub asked, dropping to his friends side.

You cannot stop me.

“Run! I can’t-“ Scar winced, the burning in his torso snatching his breath. “- run! Please, I don’t know how-“

You cannot control me.

Scar gave out a pained cry, the burning getting stronger.

“Scar!” Cub cried out, before turning to Xisuma and EX, desperation apparent in his voice. ”Help him!”

“He’s too much! Run!” Scar gasped out, and he was floating in the dark space again, shoved out of control.

No!

“Do not cross me again.” Oscar’s voice echoed through Scar’s consciousness and from his physical form. “I will always win.”

Scar screamed as he watched his own hands stab Cub, diamond cutting through flesh as if air. Cub’s expression turned from concern to horror, blood staining his white jacket.

“Asshole!” Ex cried out, slamming Oscar into the ground as Xisuma ran to Cub’s side, helping him stay upright.

Scar felt the pressure of Ex’s sword on his throat and felt buzzing in his veins.

“This is your problem now.” Oscar snarled, and suddenly his presence disappeared from Scar.

Scar inhaled sharply as he was thrust back into his own body, senses overstimulated. Everything was too loud, too bright and too harsh, but all Scar could think about was Cub. He felt Ex lift the sword from his neck, hesitant, apparently able to sense that something had changed

“Let me see Cub,” Scar coughed, and Ex snarled.

“You fucker, you don’t get to play that card.”

“Please, it’s me,” Scar begged, desperate.

“Like hell it is,” Ex spat, the sword returning to Scar’s neck.

“Ex!” Xisuma called out, who was helping Cub down a potion of regeneration. “What colour are his eyes?”

Ex stared down Scar, and the builder felt his piercing gaze from behind his helmet.

“They’re green.” Ex answered after a moment.

“Let him go, that’s Scar.” Xisuma said. “Help me put pressure on Cub’s wound.”

Ex said nothing as he sheathed his sword, walking over to Cub and pouring another potion on the wound. Scar scampered to his feet, tripping over himself to reach his friend.

“Cub,” Scar said, crying and clutching his friends face. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve tried harder to control-“

“I knew it wasn’t you.” Cub muttered, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. “It’s okay.”

Scar let out a choked sob, and Cub leaned forwards, bumping their heads together.

“Do me a favour?” Cub asked, breathless.

“Anything.” Scar replied.

“Go kill the bastard for me.”

< Cubfan135 was slain by BadTimesWithScar >

< GoodTimesWithScar was teleported to BadTimesWithScar >

Chapter Text

Scar was in the End. He had never seen the End like this, an empty stretch of End Stone that went on in every direction with nothing else in sight.

“We had a deal.” Oscar snarled, and Scar turned around to face them. They stood a few meters away, a gleaming diamond sword in their hand.

“You were going to build those damn towers, and I’d give your Vex power back.”

“You said you weren’t going to hurt my friends. I was building the towers, and you hurt them anyways.” Scar said. He reached into his inventory to look for a weapon. There was nothing.

“You were taking too long. People kept interfering.”

“You were never going to leave us alone, were you?” Scar said, coming to a realization. Oscar snarled, their eyes glowing in the dark of the End. “You were just using me as a cover.”

“Congratulations,” Oscar spat, gripping the sword tighter. “You figured it out. Unfortunately for you, there’s no prize.”

“Are you even part of the Void?” Scar asked, trying to delay the inevitable fight. He had no armour or weapon; he would be killed in an instant. He needed a plan.

“I’m worse than the Void,” Oscar stalked forwards, and Scar tripped on his feet walking backwards to avoid them getting closer. “I’m the pure magic of the Vex and the End. I’m the worst of both in one form. I’m going to rule them both, and I am going to rule you and your stupid, bullshit overworld too. I don’t serve anyone but myself, unlike you weak players, who are subject to the whim of magic.”

“I don’t understand,” Scar said, still backing up. “Why didn’t you just take over?”

“I needed that Void Walker and ConVex to disperse of their human vessels. You were the perfect opportunity when Void and Vex met to interact with the over-world.”

Scar tripped on a rock, falling onto his back. Hitting the ground hard, Scar found himself straddled and a sword to his throat within moments. Breathing heavily, Scar turned his head away, trying to avoid its sharp point.

“Xisuma will be here soon,” Scar said. “My friends will help me, even if you kill me.”

“They won’t be coming,” Oscar hissed. “There’s no magic here. They can’t find us.”

Scar’s eyes widened. Oscar was a being of magic. If there was none here, that meant that Oscar was as tangible and vulnerable as Scar was!

Scar took in Oscar’s being for a quick moment. There was sweat on their brow, and they were breathing heavily. Scar noted that Oscar was shaking ever-so-slightly as well. Scar quickly made his move, elbowing Oscar in the face as hard as he could and then shoving them off his body. Oscar cried out, clutching their nose and crumpling to the side, leaving Scar to escape. Stumbling to his feet, Scar snatched the sword from the ground, spinning around to face Oscar. His doppelgänger was still on the ground, their lungs heaving with pain and anger. Wiping the blood from their face, Oscar stood, scowling. They drew a secondary sword from their inventory, just as sharp as the first. Oscar readied himself, shifting his balance to be sturdier. Blood streamed from their nose, and Scar was sure he had broken it.

With no warning taunt, Oscar flung themselves towards Scar. The flat edge of the sword hit Scar’s ribs, knocking the breath from him. Still standing, Scar swung his own weapon, cutting across Oscar’s chest.

“Shit!” They gasped. The wound was shallow but long. Scar winced. He hadn’t seen that much blood in a long time.

Despite this thought, Scar didn’t pause for long. Lunging forwards, metal sung against metal as the swords met. The weapons locked in a cross shape, Scar could see the fear in Oscar’s eyes.

He’s never been vulnerable before. Scar realized. Remembering his promise to Cub, Scar grit his teeth. He hated to admit it, but he’d rather see Oscar bleeding then see Cub injured.

Oscar broke the crossed lock and thrust forwards, making a wild stab at Scar. Scar easily sidestepped the attack, bringing his sword down and lunging forwards, this time slicing Oscar’s right arm.

Crying out in pain, Oscar made another unhinged swipe, missing completely. They stepped forwards, lunging again, and Scar parried his attack.

“Fuck you!” Oscar said, panting heavily. The two wounds they had sustained were bleeding heavily. Scar suspected they wouldn’t stop bleeding without medical attention.

“I can get you medical help, but you have to promise to leave us alone.” Scar said. “You’re really injured.”

“I don’t want your help,” Oscar scowled. They were pale. “I want you dead.”

Scar inhaled sharply. He didn’t want to kill anyone, especially when there was no resurrection out here. He didn’t have much of a choice.

Oscar swung his weapon desperately, missing Scar again. Scar stepped behind Oscar, shifting his stance to ground himself. Oscar turned and laughed.

Scar took a steadying breath, inhaling deeply.

“You really think you can stop me?” Oscar screamed. “I am everything! I am the Void! I am the Vex! I am everything you pathetic hermits want to be! I am the sun, I am the stars-“

Scar exhaled.

“-I am the source of all magic! I am in your dreams; I am your future! I am the End! I am- “

Oscar choked as Scar’s sword ran through him.

“Sorry.” Scar whispered.

The sword in Oscar’s chest made a disgusting noise as it was pushed further. Oscar didn’t make a noise when they fell to the ground, the sickening thump ringing through Scar’s head. Scar had been expecting some dramatic speech, or a curse. He had expected screaming or sobbing or something when Oscar was defeated, not a quiet, dead body. The lack of retorts and breath made the silence of the End much more unnerving then it used to be. Scar decided he hated it, and the bloodied sword slipped from his hand.

< BadTimesWithScar was slain by GoodTimesWithScar >

< XisumaVoid teleported to GoodTimesWithScar >

“Scar!” Xisuma cried out, racing towards his friend.

“You know,” Scar didn’t take his eyes off Oscar’s body. “I kinda expected them to respawn. It’d be just my luck, wouldn’t it?”

“Are you hurt?”

Scar shook his head. Xisuma noticed he was pale.

“Are you alright?”

Scar shook his head again, ripping his eyes off the lifeless form. Stumbling a few steps backwards, the gravity of what he had done finally settled in Scar’s mind. He vomited onto the ground, tears rolling down his face.

“Oh my God,” Scar dropped to his knees. “I killed them.”

“Scar, it’s okay.” Xisuma dropped to his side, wrapping his arms around Scar and gently turning him away.

“I killed them! I killed-“ Scar took a heavy, shuddering gasp.

“Scar, you had to. There was no other way.” Xisuma said, pulling Scar in close. “It was self-defence.”

“Please don’t ban me!” Scar begged. “I didn’t mean to kill them!”

“I won’t.” Xisuma said, “You’ve done nothing wrong. They were going to kill you.”

“I killed them.” Scar said, his breath heaving, and Xisuma began to realize that Scar wasn’t really listening to him. “I killed them.”

Xisuma turned his gaze to the corpse lying on the ground a few feet away, blood staining the EndStone.

“I killed them.” Scar said again, as if repeating the words would make them hurt any less.

“Yeah,” Xisuma agreed. “You did.”

Scar leaned into Xisuma, falling quiet. Xisuma wanted to get out of the End as soon as possible, but allowed his friend a moment to collect himself. A loud crash made Xisuma and Scar jump.

“They’re back?” Scar said, scrambling to his feet.

“No,” Xisuma said, inhaling sharply and pointing to a spot a few meters away. “The End is falling apart!”

Where there had once been endless endstone there were now gaping holes in the land. The void could be seen through it, as unforgiving as ever. Loud crashes and bangs filled the air as the ground beneath them began to crumble away.

“Scar, we need to go! This section hasn’t loaded, and now it’s falling apart!” Xisuma shouted, running to his left to avoid falling with the ground.

“Xisuma-“ Scar reached out, and the Admin watched in horror as the ground beneath Scar fell out. The builder didn’t scream as he plummeted, to sheep shocked to do anything.

“Scar!” Xisuma shouted, and whipped out his administration screens, quickly typing in a command. He then jumped into the Void, praying he’d catch Scar. His armor was heavier than Scar’s clothing, and it allowed him to sink faster.

“Scar!” He shouted again, reaching out. “Grab my hand!”

Scar shouted something back, tears flying from his eyes. The builder reached forwards, and their fingertips brushed. The cold of the Void was starting to sink into Xisuma’s skin, and he knew Scar was hurting worse than we was. A few more moments and they’d both be dead.

“Dammit!” Xisuma cried, reaching out as far as he could. Scar tried to reach out as well, ice creeping over his fingers. Xisuma fired a rocket from his belt and—

< XisumaVoid and GoodTimeWithScar teleported to Cubfab135 >

---

Cub, by some miracle, was not dead.

Sure, he had died, but he wasn’t dead , which was surprising. With Oscar’s weird-ass abilities and the fact that he had bled Cub thought he perma-died. But he hadn’t. And now Cub didn’t really know what to do.

“I even had cool last words,” Cub huffed, not really annoyed he was alive.

“Cub?” A voice yelled from outside. “Yo, are you alive?”

“Ex?” Cub called out, sitting up. He winced, phantom pain throbbing where he had been stabbed.

Not dead, Cub noted. But also not unscathed.

“Holy shit! You’re alive!” Ex threw open the front door, racing in and grabbing Cub roughly by his arms. “Wow! Thank God! I don’t know how to plan a funeral.”

“I believe we have bigger problems than a funeral.” Cub said, wiggling his way out of Ex’s grip. “We need to find Scar and help him.”

“Yeah, so small problem,” Ex said. “Dickface took Scar to some remote corner of the End, and then cut out all magic… which includes any Admin abilities.”

“Xisuma can’t get to him,” Cub said, inhaling sharply and throwing his feet over the edge of his bed.

“Yeah, Scar is on his own.” Ex frowned. “Where is Xisuma? He was right behind me.”

A loud ping from the communicators on their hips drew their attention.

< BadTimesWithScar was slain by GoodTimesWithScar >

< XisumaVoid teleported to GoodTimesWithScar >

“He survived?” Ex said, sounding impressed.

“He killed Oscar,” Cub said, breathless.

Cub’s eyes widened, horrified. Was he bleeding out? Almost dead? Trapped in some weird, End induced coma that he would never be able to leave?

< XisumaVoid and GoodTimesWithScar teleported to Cubfab135 >

The train of thought was Interrupted with Scar and Xisuma crashing from a portal into the room.

Xisuma was carrying most of Scar’s weight, the builder awake but unresponsive. They were both shivering, and Cub could see the ice from the Void melting on Scar. Cub inhaled sharply, seeing that Scar was covered in blood. Cub stumbled from his bed and opened his bedside chest, pulling out potions of healing and bandages.

“Put him on the bed Xisuma, I need to bandage his wounds!”

“I’m not hurt.” Scar said quietly, refusing to look at anyone while speaking. He rubbed his hands along his arms, trying to warm himself up.

“There’s blood on you,” Cub said frantically, “Are you sure-”

“It’s not mine.” Scar mumbled, and the room froze. Even Ex was at a loss for words, looking uncomfortable with the idea that Scar had actually killed Oscar. Blood wasn’t present unless it was permanent.

“We should sit you down anyways,” Xisuma said gently, breaking the silence. Scar nodded, seemingly off in another world.

He sat on the edge of the bed, and Cub quietly put the bandages and potions away while Ex and Xisuma had a hushed conversation, something about restoring the balance and a deal they made. Cub didn’t really care, his friend being the main concern.

“Scar,” Cub said, sitting on the bed. Scar blinked a few times, and turned his attention to Cub. “Thank you.”

Scar’s eyes welled with tears, and a few slipped down his face. Cub pulled his friend into a tight hug, letting his friend cry. There wasn’t much else he could do.

---

Settling back into routine took a long time. Explaining to the other Hermits what had happened was an ordeal in itself, filled with questions and many, many concerns.

(Doc had asked Xisuma to bring Oscar back so he could kill him again. Xisuma had declined.)

The mood of Hermits had changed as well. The idea of someone being permanently offed made them all more cautious to death. Inventories were always stacked with potions, and rarely was anyone alone.

Scar, however, was never alone. After sleeping for an entire week, he began building again. Xisuma and Ex had cleared the dark buildings that Oscar had made, doing their best to avoid leaving gaping holes where they had once been.

Cherry was still non-existent, and Scar had been finishing fixing his portal when Cub had dragged him to the shopping district.

“Cub, why are we here? Do you need help building a new shop?” Scar asked, walking alongside his friend.

“No, I just want to show you a new one.”

“Oh, whose it is?” Scar asked, confused. “You don’t usually show me new shops.”

“Actually,” A new voice said, and Scar frowned in confusion as Grian came up from behind and threw an arm around his shoulders. “It’s yours!”

“Tada!” Grian said, spinning Scar around to face the newly built Cherry.

“Oh my gosh.” Scar said, covering his mouth as Iskall and Mumbo lit a concerning amount of fireworks.

Before him stood Cherry, identical to how it had been before it had been destroyed. Scar walked up to the entrance, running a hand along the wood.

“We even restocked it for you!” Iskall said, patting Scar on the back and then walking past to open a chest. Peaking into it, Scar saw that it was filled with redstone.

“This is amazing,” Scar said, breathless. “Thank you.”

“And the best part,” Grian said cheerfully, “is that the only payment is that you have to shop at Sahara for the rest of your life!”

“Grian!” Mumbo scolded. “We talked about this!”

“Dude, you were the only one who said we should do it for free! You were outvoted.” Iskall said.

Scar burst out into laughter.

“Hey! I’m not joking.” Grian chided, failing to keep a large smile off his face. Mumbo looked horrified.

“He’s joking,” Mumbo said, turning to Scar with a worried look on his face. “You’re joking, right?”

Scar smiled as Cub laughed as well.

Despite everything that had happened, Scar was going to be okay.