Chapter Text
They all knew about the curse. It loomed over their heads and taunted them by solidifying the fact that in this world, you can't trust anybody. It was different from the last world in many ways because of that— allies were even more of a gamble, and safety could never be guaranteed in any situation and Scott hated it.
He had already been a victim to Joel under the influence of the curse, and quite frankly it terrified him. The glazed, panicked look in Joel's eyes as soon as he pulled out his weapon with trembling hands just felt so… wrong; inhuman, even.
His deaths from his past life in the flower forest all had real intent behind them, but the boogeyman curse seemed to just rip humanity out of the afflicted. Scott shuddered, nope he wasn't going to think about that any longer. He had work to do around his and Pearl's base and worrying wouldn't do any good.
The day was still young so he went outside to start marking an area for a decoy storage shed (because somehow everyone seemed to know about their bunker and a little distraction wouldn't hurt) mainly just to do something with his hands. Building was kind of a stress reliever for Scott— and at the very least it served as a distraction.
After deciding on the plot, he had to think about what he was actually going to build it with; he had some supplies stored up in the bunker to get started, at least. He might as well use the extra materials from the house to keep the buildings consistent (plus spruce was his favourite, after all).
He let himself get lost in the rhythm of setting posts and laying foundation— it sure as hell beat actually putting effort into thinking about things. He almost managed to let himself be completely consumed by it until the sound of footsteps pulled him out of it,
"Scott! There you are."
Pearl rushed up behind him.
"Oh hey! What's up?"
Pearl paused and give him a look,
"What, did you lose track of time? The boogeyman is about to be chosen."
Oh yeah. Shit. He looked back at his work to see he managed to put up the main support beams and shape of the shed. Honestly not bad work for someone who hadn't been focusing on his surroundings for the past what? 20, 30 minutes?
"I guess I got distracted building."
An unreadable expression flashed across Pearl's face for a moment before she shrugged,
"Whatever, I just wanted to head up here with you for the countdown– it's kinda tradition at this point y'know?"
"Ah, right."
Just what he was trying not to think about.
The sky shuttered as it readied to curse yet another person. The unfortunately familiar ticks of the countdown began to crackle through the air.
He stared into Pearl's eyes; it was honestly a little unsettling but at this point it would be weird not to. At least it was something to focus on as the timer slowly counted down.
As it reached one he could hear his heart pounding in his chest— this was way too stressful of a thing to have to go through every single day.
Then it was all quiet, just for a moment.
He heard Pearl breathe a sigh of relief moments before his ears started ringing and he felt a haze consume his thoughts. The tips of his fingers felt like they were being pricked by little pins and needles as a veil of red obscured his vision– but only for a moment.
Fuck.
He felt his throat tighten as he kept staring at Pearl, her face had twisted into… concern? Possibly fear, and he could see she was saying something but the ringing hadn't subsided and he couldn't make out a word she was saying.
He felt like he was going to be sick, he couldn't believe it was him, he couldn't believe–
"SCOTT!"
He flinched back at the voice, Pearl had grabbed him by the shoulders and had apparently managed to bring him back to reality. His hands were shaking at his sides and he could feel that his face was burning and wet with tears.
Pearl looked scared but she didn't back down,
"Please, please don't tell me…"
He couldn't manage to bring himself to speak so instead he nodded.
He was the boogeyman.
She finally pulled her hands away and took a step back. He didn't blame her– they'd both already lost lives from the curse, she had reason to be afraid of him.
"So what are you going to do?"
He paused. He probably shouldn't have been shoving these thoughts aside for the past 3 days.
He took a breath,
"I… don't know."
His voice was shaky– how the hell could the others hide this so well? He felt awful and jittery and… and that he really wanted to just take that out on someone. Wait no. No. It has been one minute he is not gonna let this curse muddle his thoughts and cloud his judgment just yet.
"I think I need some time to… plan and try to calm down. It's still early in the day so I can just stay here at our base and you should… probably go off on your own for a while."
He didn't want to hurt her. She was really his only ally at this point and he was not jeopardizing that because of a stupid curse.
She nods,
"Okay. I'll probably go mining or something." She fidgets with her hands, "I'll be out of your way so you can set up traps or whatever it is you plan on doing. I don't really want to get involved so I don't get caught up in the crossfire, alright?"
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and waved goodbye to Pearl. After, he just went right back to building.
They got enough visitors in the past few days that Scott was confident that he wouldn't need to leave his base. Every time he builds he gets interrupted by something stupid so there's no reason to assume that's not going to happen again. He could just focus on making this shed and an opportunity will present itself to him.
But it quickly dawned on him that it's a lot harder to focus on building with the curse looming over him. His hands would twitch at inopportune times and cause him to drop his materials, and his mind would quickly wander to how he would much rather be plunging his sword into another person's throat and watch them choke on their own blood than be putting up a wall. Not ideal building conditions if he was being perfectly honest.
Yet he somehow managed to actually finish the shed and make it presentable despite the inner turmoil. The craftsmanship was shabby in some areas but he couldn't bother to concern himself with the nitty gritty while he had things like bloodlust looming in the back of his mind at all times. He filled the room up with empty chests and even spruced the place up with some nice hanging lamps and a flower in a pot. Really not his greatest work but he was doing his best.
While building, he was interrupted a grand total of one time and it was Cleo and BigB coming by to trade for some more arrows. Unfortunately they never really gave him an opportunity to strike— they stuck to the other's side like glue and made it impossible to get a surprise hit in. It was honestly annoying.
There was a part of his brain that recognized that these people were partially allied with him and that it would be bad to kill one of them but… that part of his brain just got completely overshadowed by the curse. He only reasoned his way out of attacking because he wouldn't be able to fight the two of them at once, so at least there was some self preservation there.
As the hours ticked by Scott started to feel more antsy. He kept himself in his base the entire day thus far because he thought it would be simple and he would have a bunch of opportunities but he was clearly mistaken in his judgment. He wasted most of the day building when he should have been out finding a victim or something.
He couldn't wait any longer, he was running out of time and had to find someone before it was too late.
He started heading off towards spawn in hopes of finding someone to lure back to his base. It was too risky to fight someone in the open; they could just run away or call for help so he had no choice but to convince them to come with him.
He didn't have the foresight to set any traps but he figured that catching someone alone and by surprise was really all he needed to get a kill.
He let his legs carry him along the path to spawn and was incredibly disappointed to see a large gathering there. He didn't really pay attention to who, he noticed his vision was getting a little blurry and it was difficult to really pick out one voice. Plus there was no way he could rip someone away from a group and not raise suspicion. Just keep moving, there has to be someone wandering alone somewhere.
His surroundings started to blend together into useless noise— he had to find someone, anyone that was weak enough to kill on his own. Scott was starting to lose hope until he finally noticed a body heading towards the Southlands
Jimmy.
He was still only suited in iron armor and was completely alone, plus the two of them were generally on friendly terms. This had to be it. He picked up the pace to catch up with him before he reached the gate.
"Jimmy!"
The man in question stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder with a pleasant smile on his face that he quickly steeled into a neutral line.
"Oh! Um, hi Scott! What brings you here to the Southlands?"
Oh fuck he hadn't thought that far ahead,
"Oh just…" oh god how was he going to word this and not sound suspicious,
"Wondering if you'd be willing to come back to my base to discuss something? Oh and I just finished another build that really nobody's seen yet so you can check that out too? If you want."
Jimmy paused to think and glanced back over to the Southlands before turning to Scott,
"Um, sure! I've been running errands all day so I could take a little break to visit."
A small dopey grin spread across his face that still managed to make Scott's chest flutter. Wait no, no , they agreed to set things aside for this life. It only ended up making the fall hurt a lot more last time and they weren't going to let it happen again. This was just going to be a friendly conversation— wait fuck no it wasn't, he was planning on killing Jimmy. God his emotions were a mess, at least the murder fog in his brain seemed to partially subside for the time being.
He realized Jimmy had started staring at him and he felt heat rise to his face, Scott quickly cleared is throat and turned away from him,
"Uh sorry, let's get going."
He heard Jimmy quietly chuckle behind him as they started heading back towards his base.
The walk back wasn't too long so they didn't really talk much. Scott was too focused on trying to sort out his thoughts to really make small talk anyways. He knew this had to be it; the day was slipping away and he probably had less than an hour before the curse properly took hold. This was it.
He could feel the haze coming back into his brain and muddling his thoughts; his nervous energy shifting into almost excitement at the thought of plunging his sword into Jimmy's back. It would be perfect— despite not being together in this life he still trusted Scott enough to follow him without question, he probably wouldn't even fight back. Sweet, stupid Jimmy.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a tug on his arm, Jimmy was looking at him with a raised eyebrow,
"You alright over there? You've been quiet."
Shit he couldn't give himself away, he shook his head and tried to plaster on a kind smile,
"I'm fine, just… thinking."
"Ooh, that's dangerous." Yet again a stupid smile spread across his face.
Scott's forced smile morphed into a smirk,
"That's rich coming from you, Jim"
Jimmy put his hands on his chest feigning hurt,
"You wound me so, Scott Smajor."
Scott chuckled at that but it quickly died down. He really has to do this, huh.
They made their way over the wall and Jimmy immediately rushed over to the shed,
"Oh wow you finally made a real storage area! And it matches the house really well!"
Scott put on another fake smile,
"Yeah, and I actually bothered to decorate the inside."
No turning back now.
Jimmy goes in without a second thought and Scott trails behind him, the shed itself isn't all that big; it's ever so slightly smaller than his house and only a single floor. It didn't need to be extravagant, it was just a distraction after all.
Jimmy busies himself with checking out the shelves and lamps before finally sneaking a peak into a couple of the chests only to tense up and turn around to face Scott with a slight waver in his voice,
"Uh, why are all of these empty? Have you not moved things over yet?"
Scott takes a deep breath. This is his chance.
In a moment he's drawn his weapon and has Jimmy pinned against the wall with one arm, he yelps in fear and struggles against Scott to little avail. Scott presses his body flush against Jimmy and can hear hear his breathing start to pick up and his heart race, his face close enough to the other's to feel the heat radiating off of him,
"Scott? Scott! What's happening?? What are you doing?!"
He brandishes his sword into view from behind his back and he relishes the fear in Jimmy's eyes.
"Please, you don't have to do this!"
He feels a twinge of anger start to swell in the back of his mind, he thinks he has any control in this situation? He pushes even more of his weight onto Jimmy and shoves a knee between his legs to keep him flush against the wall. His armor groans and really feels in the way right now but he's too focused on Jimmy to care. He finally presses the blade against his throat,
" Don't tell me what to do ."
He almost doesn't recognize his own voice; it's surprisingly hoarse and laced with venom.
He can see tears streaming down Jimmy's face but at the moment it means nothing to him. Nothing matters but killing Jimmy and ending the curse.
But before he slices open his throat something catches his eye. A little pop of red in the corner of his eye. The flower he had absent mindedly potted for decoration; a poppy.
Just like the one Jimmy had given to him in their previous life together. The poppy that led to quiet dances under the moonlight and soft nights where they let their worries drift away to instead focus on eachother. The one bit of respite in a world full of fighting and death. Jimmy…
God what the hell was he doing?!
The look of raw terror that once enticed him to keep pushing forward immediately bittered and instead felt like a sharp pain in his chest. His sword clatters to the floor and he takes a step back from Jimmy before collapsing,
"I can't, I… I just can't"
Hot tears spill onto the floor as labored breaths hitch in his throat, his next words are barely a whisper,
"I'm so fucking sorry what was I thinking."
He looks up to see Jimmy pointing his sword down at him with shaking hands,
"You… YOU TRIED TO KILL ME! YOU'RE THE BOOGEYMAN!"
Scott can't muster any more words, he just crumples into a sobbing mess.
Jimmy is still for a moment before bolting out the door. God he ruined everything, Jimmy definitely hated him now and he… he wasn't even able to cure himself. After all that shit he was still cursed . He was so fucking stupid; he was stupid and in love.
Shit.
"Fuck I'm still in love with him"