Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I guess happy endings do exist.” – Smajor, ep39

Scott was enjoying the peace that his dream world was bringing him. No death games, demon brothers, uncontrollable ice powers, or constant pressure to be the perfect king. Instead, he had his non-demon brother back, a peaceful empire, and Jimmy. Oh, Jimmy. His former husband … kind of.

They’d never talked about what had happened in that flower forest during the death game, Jimmy didn’t remember after all, no one did. The prize of the winners was remembering all they’d done to stay alive after all. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to remember the first game, but he did and both haunted him. He’d been so glad to see Jimmy and the others safe and alive, only to almost breakdown upon discovering they didn’t even remember it all. It was a mercy he hadn’t been afforded.

He'd tried to keep his distance from Jimmy first but he couldn’t help himself, he’d set up their alliance date in hopes of rekindling the relationship Jimmy didn’t even know they’d had. Maybe it would have gone somewhere, but Xornoth had got in the way with the chaos he unleashed upon the server … and he guessed he’d never know what could have been now.

But here in this dream world, he didn’t have to worry about all that – if he could ignore how the dream versions of his friends were just a bit off, how he was still haunted by the death games and uncontrollable ice powers, and that everything just felt wrong. It seemed his nightmares could still plague him here, although they were easier to distract himself from without constant trouble around every corner. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

He didn’t know how long he’d been in his dream world, time was weird here, but he knew Xornoth was starting to get suspicious. His brother kept giving him suspicious glances and asking questions he didn’t know the answers to. History in this dream world differed enough for him to be mystified when asked certain questions. Scott had spent the first few days after his ‘arrival’ hiding away in his room reading any relevant history book he could get his hand on. But that didn’t help with more personal questions, and while dream Jimmy seemed happy to skim over his ‘husband’s’ oddities, Xornoth was not.

He wasn’t helping himself with the way he kept glancing at his brother every time he saw them, still shocked to see Xornoth as the familiar purple eyed and haired elf instead of the horned demon that had taken to terrorising the server. He’d thought he had lost his brother a long, long time ago and it had taken him far too long to place why the demon was familiar when he’d first appeared. The millennia since his shared childhood with his brother and all that had happened since, along with the grief of his loss had led to him burying those fonder memories deep down. They had only been dragged back to the surface when Xornoth had started trying to corrupt the server. It had led to too many nights of him locked up in his room crying over a past he couldn’t change.

He didn’t know if his dream world had given him his real brother or created a fake, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. It had been so long since his childhood with his brother for him to really remember how Xornoth had behaved back then making it difficult to differentiate potential ‘dream Xornoth’ from ‘real Xornoth’.

So, he was ignoring his issues, ignoring his nightmares, ignoring the way his friends didn’t quite feel real, ignoring the concerned glances both Xornoth and Jimmy kept giving him, ignoring it all. He was fine, he was. Really. The dream world totally wasn’t another isolation attempt in another form. That would be ridiculous!

Everything was fine, just fine. This was his dream world after all, everything he could ever want. Why would anything be wrong?

Jimmy flew as fast as he could to spawn, rocket spamming his way through the air. He could see most of the group already hanging around, waiting for the last stragglers to arrive before they departed this world. Everything had gone so wrong so quickly and their only choice was to move on to a new world before they couldn’t escape anymore.

He couldn’t help the sadness that sank to the bottom of his stomach; they’d had some good times on this world but there were no other options apart from leaving if they all wanted to survive. He’d heard horror stories about what happened to players trapped on collapsing worlds and he didn’t want to see if any of them were true. He’d had a close shave in the past and it wasn’t something eh wanted to repeat now.

As he landed (rather clumsily going by Lizzie and Joel’s chuckles) he counted the group. Lizzie and Joel were chatting quietly, expressions and posture tense; and it was very weird to see his sister looking human rather than her blue axolotl self (he’d have to ask about that later, was that a consequence of the server’s destruction?). Gem was keeping an eye on Fwhip and Sausage who were both looking at something on Fwhip’s communicator. Katherine and Shubble were sitting next to each other mumbling worriedly. Joey sat near the two, his eyes darting around the glade. He was glad both Sauage and Joey seemed okay after their deaths, he’d noticed the messages in the chat before he’d flown back; thankfully neither of them appeared to be suffering any long-term consequences. Pearl had already left, trying to let some of their friends know what had happened and prepare somewhere for them to escape to; and Pix had left a while ago to deal with some personal business. That accounted for everyone … everyone except a certain winged Elf.

“Ah, Jimmy! You’re late.” Fwhip looked up from his communicator upon seeing Jimmy’s landing. Jimmy didn’t bother with an excuse, his focus on the missing member of their group.

“Where’s Scott?” Jimmy’s gaze darted around spawn hoping the cyanette would magically appear, maybe he was just hiding waiting to play a poorly timed prank?

Fwhip’s expression turned grim as his eyes darted around the onlooking group, everyone had stopped their conversations to focus on Jimmy’s arrival. “We don’t know.” He finally admitted, “He’s not answering his communicator and it’s not like him to be late.”

That was putting it lightly, Scott was near meticulous about being on time and his absence was not promising. After their doomsday meeting, they’d split up to check on the remains of their empires and gather the last of their belongings so they could evacuate the doomed world. They’d all known that was the plan, and that they’d have to be quick about it, so where was Scott?

“Why are we all just waiting around here for him?! Shouldn’t someone be looking for him or something!” Maybe he was a bit harsh but he was panicking now, his mind racing with all the potential horrible fates that could have befallen his husband? Friend? It was complicated, okay, but either way he was worried!

Lizzie made her way over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder which he hadn’t even realised has started to shake in his worry. “We were waiting on you first. We figured if he still hadn’t arrived by the time you had, something was really wrong.” Despite the teasing words, Jimmy could see the concern in his seablings face.

“So, what are we waiting for? Let’s find him!” Jimmy said, already turning to take off with a rocket in his hand before Fwhip stepped in front of him with a placating hand. He couldn’t help but wonder if Fwhip was feeling as much guilt about causing the destruction of the server as he was.

“I know you’re worried Jimmy, we all are, but we need to be smart about this. We’re on limited time as it is, we can’t all go off randomly in hopes we find him before it’s too late. We need a plan.” Fwhip tried to explain to Jimmy, eyes darting to his communicator every so often in hopes Scott would message them to explain it was all a misunderstanding and he was on his way.

Jimmy nodded, reluctantly caving to logic but he kept a tight grip on a rocket ready to fly off at any moment to start the search.

“A few of us should stay here in case he does turn up late.” Katherine suggested, the rest of the group all coming closer, planning faces on. One of their own was missing and they were going to do everything in their power to fix that. Preferably before they ran out of time.

“Good idea, Katherine.” Fwhip nodded, “Any volunteers?”

No one bothered glancing at Jimmy, knowing full well he’d never accept being told to stay behind right now. After a moment Joey put his hand up, and then a few moments later Sausage did as well after seeing no one else wanted to stay at spawn. Neither really wanted too, but they knew their determination to find Scott was outmatched by the others. Plus they hadn’t been allies with Scott in a long time, they weren’t as familiar with his normal haunts.

Gem made motions to speak before stopping, considering her words for a moment, then giving herself a firm nod, she spoke up. “I don’t think you’re going to like this Fwhip, but I think you should stay behind too. You’re admin, and it means you’re here and ready if something goes wrong suddenly.”

Gem was right, Fwhip didn’t look happy about the suggestion but with a glance around the stubborn group in front of him and one down at the blank communicator he let out a sigh, “Fine. I hate that you’re right. So that leaves six of you as a search party.”

“Two groups of three?” Shubble suggested, earning nods of agreement from the group. It was the simplest way of doing things and meant no one was alone. They needed to cover their bases and if they all went to his empire and Scott wasn’t there then they may not have any chance to look elsewhere. Breaking into groups would allow them to cover more areas and create a higher chance of finding their missing friend.

“One group should check his empire, that’s where he was going when we last saw him.” Joel spoke up, “Where else did he frequent?” He wasn’t one of Scott’s allies and hadn’t spent much time with him on this world, not enough to know where he was likely to be anyway.

The group took a moment to think about it, trying to think about where Scott would fly off to during the end of the world (apart from his empire). They all knew their own empires were Scott-free as they’d come from there recently.

“Maybe his isolation palace?” Shubble suggested, “He might have left something important there, he did leave it rather suddenly because of the … you know … Xornoth crystal thing.” She shuffled a bit uncomfortably at the reminder that mess had been, at least partially, her fault. No one had any other thoughts about where the missing elf could be, so they nodded in agreement.

“Great.” Fwhip said looking around the six players, “Lizzie, Joel, and Jimmy can check the isolation palace; and Gem, Katherine and Shubble can check his empire. The girls were closer allies with Scott so they should know more about the places Scott may be hiding.”

“No.” Jimmy spoke up even as the others were making sounds of agreement to the logical plan. He shuffled a bit uncomfortably at everyone’s eyes landed on him at his outburst but he stood firm. “I was his ally too; I want to be one of the people who search his empire. And none of us know where Scott’s isolation palace is.” He added the logical at the end, knowing it gave him a higher chance of getting his way.

The chances of Scott being there were a lot higher than his isolation palace and they all knew that, he really wanted to be the one to find Scott. For no reason other than to quell the panic building in his mind, he couldn’t help but flash back to the unspoken days in a flower forest during a death game.

The memories of the death game had started sneaking back to him in his dreams (although some felt more like nightmares). He would have thought they were just that, dreams, but they felt too real. He wasn’t sure if Scott remembered; Joel didn’t, but he’d seen how Scott looked at him out of the corner of his eye sometimes and Jimmy couldn’t let go off the hope that Scott did remember. He’d just never got a chance to actually broach the topic. He had to be the one to find Scott.

Fwhip watched him for a second, noting his determination; “Okay then. Change of plan. Lizzie, Joel, and Shubble will go to Scott’s isolation palace, as Shubble knows where it is, she can guide them. That means Katherine, Gem and Jimmy will go to his empire.”

Upon seeing no disagreements this time, Fwhip glanced up to check the suns position in the sky, “You have until sunset. If you haven’t found anything by then, come back here and we’ll think of something else. If you find him, message us immediately and we can all congregate back here.”

The six players nodded their understanding of the plan, getting into their trios as they got ready to set off on their final quest on this world. “Be careful.” Sauage spoke up from where he’d settled on one of the slabs around their spawn circle, Joey settling next to him.

Without any more words, the six determined players took off to their destinations, leaving the remaining three behind to do nothing but wait.

“I hope they find him quickly.” Fwhip said solemnly, eyes still darting down to the silent communicator very so often. They were almost on borrowed time as it was, and as horrible as it seemed, if the others hadn’t found Scott by sunset they may have to leave anyway. And that wasn’t something he wanted to make the call for, knowing the arguments that would ensue and not wanting to abandon a friend like that.

“We all do.” Sausage grimaced, worry for his friend gnawing at him, “We all do.”

“It’s Scott.” Joey spoke up, “He’ll be fine. He has to be.” Neither of the others commented on Joey’s shaky words, all hoping he was right despite the bad feeling growing in the pit of their stomachs. They could only hope the others had luck finding their missing friend and soon.

Chapter Text

Gem, Katherine and Jimmy wasted no time, flying as fast as they could across the remains of the world, the sound of rockets being spammed echoing through the air. Their worry over Scott helped them focus on their flight rather than their sorrow over the destruction of the empires they’d spent so much time and effort building from the ground up. The end had been sudden and unexpected enough that the players were all still in some state of shock, choosing to put aside their grief in favour of getting everyone to safety.

Jimmy led the trio as they flew the final stretch of the relatively short flight. Rivendell was located relatively near the spawn area; the most difficult part was the final ascent up the mountain to where the empire lay upon the snowy peaks.

He almost fell out of the sky in shock as Rivendell finally appeared in his line of sight. The normally beautiful and snowy empire had lava streams streaking across it, tumbling down cliffs and setting the local flora on fire. Large curving red tentacles reached into the sky, evidence for Xornoth’s return and not a promising sign in their search for Scott.

The sight only made him more determined as he flew the last few metres to land nearby his embassy building. He only stumbled slightly in his hasty landing, falling forward a bit before catching himself. Katherine and Gem landed much more gratefully, but no less hastily. The three former rulers stood at the edge of Rivendell, sharing worried looks at the haunting silence that filled the normally bustling empire. The crackling of fires the only noticeable sound.

Warily the three moved forward on foot, starting to moving along the remains of the path from Jimmy’s embassy towards Scott’s house, deciding that would be the best place to start their search, without any conversation.

The corruption was a worrying visage as they’d all thought they’d managed to get rid of it after Xornoth’s first defeat, the giant gold crystals in the sky over Rivendell designed for that purpose. Yet here it was, tendrils of red corruption curling around areas of Scott’s empire. As Jimmy looked around desperately for any sign of Scott, he ruminated on the rumours of Xornoth’s return. He knew Shubble had stolen the crystal and the demon had been rumoured to have been released but he’d been lucky enough to not be terrorised by Xornoth the second time around. Apparently the same couldn’t be said for Scott.

He grabbed his sword out of his inventory, and noticed Katherine do the same as Gem tightened her grip on her wizard staff. All three were prepared for any danger lurking around the corner, they hoped.

“Do you think it’s Xornoth?” Katherine asked quietly. “The reason why Scott’s missing?”

“Maybe.” Gem answered just as quiet, neither of them wanting to alert anyone dangerous to their arrival even as they looked around the scenery in horror. “I don’t think we can rule it out, especially with all … this.” She gestured vaguely to the scene around them, not that any of them needed it pointed out.

“We should be prepared, just in case.” Jimmy added, eyes scanning their surroundings for any sign of trouble, carefully dodging the lava streams with a sad look. He could only imagine Scott’s despair as his hard work was ruined.

Carefully the three snuck forward further into Rivendell carefully avoiding all obstacles, looking around for either trouble or their missing friend. One of those they would prefer but the other was more likely knowing their luck. They moved past lava streams and around burning buildings as they gingerly moved towards their intended destination in silence, none of them quite sure what to say.

They helped each other across the bridge, jumping gaps and being careful of the broken railings. Jimmy eyed the roof warily, hoping they would get across before it collapsed down on them. They all let out a sigh of relief when they managed to cross it without any disaster. A rare achievement for them.

The three players followed the snaking path through the ruins of Rivendell. Katherine stopped in front of the burning remains of her embassy, her expression fell at the destruction of her hard work. Her own empire had been destroyed but this felt like she was being punched when she was down, apparently her creations couldn’t escape destruction even when not in her own empire. Gem put a comforting hand on Katherine’s shoulder, giving her an understanding look even as Jimmy itched to keep moving, very aware of how fast they were losing precious time.

Eventually, after what feels like hours but was realistically only minutes, they made it to Scott’s house. Or rather, what remained of Scott’s house. What was once a grand and beautiful house that Scott had painstakingly worked on for days was now a burnt-out husk.

Jimmy wavered by what was once the door, his concern over Scott’s fate only growing with every moment. Gem and Katherine crept inside, moving past the frozen Jimmy and exploring the remains of Scott’s house for any sign of their missing friend. Gem parkoured up the burning stairs to search the top floor as Katherine went through the ground floor, Jimmy couldn’t bring himself to move from his spot at the door.

Jumping down with little care, Gem quickly returned from her exploration of the top floor as Katherine popped back from whatever remained of Scott’s storage area. They both shared trouble looks, Jimmy finally managed to shake himself out of his frozen state - telling himself it wouldn’t be useful to anyone right now.

“Anything?” Jimmy asked desperately, despite already knowing the answer.

“Nothing.” Gem shook her head, “Don’t worry Jimmy, we’ve still got places to look.”

“Let’s go up to the church.” Katherine suggested, “Maybe he went there to talk to his god or something?”

With no other real options, the trio made their way out of the burning building, and moved past the crumbling deer statue. Jimmy couldn’t help but glance back at Scott’s house, unspoken emotions clotting his throat, with a nod of his head he turned a determined look to the path in front of them. They would find Scott, they had to. Jimmy wasn’t sure what they’d do if they didn’t.

They followed the remains of the formerly well cultivated path up the hill, towards the sheep barn and large church that Scott had spent so much time and resources building. As with the rest of the buildings the sheep shack was crumbling, areas still on fire and all the sheep were missing. Jimmy noticed Katherine grimace at the sight, all of them aware of the likely fate of Scott’s sheep.

They didn’t waste any time looking around the building itself – they could already see there was nothing inside outside of the remains of the shearing stations. Instead, they turned their eyes on to the large church in front of them. For a second, they just stood outside, taking in the sight of the burning church that Scott had put so much care and attention into building.

Gem was the first to move, carefully navigating the burning foundations to enter the remains. The church was another likely place for Scott to have retreated into at the first sign of the demon. The three players gingerly made their way down the aisle, carefully navigating rotten floorboards and avoiding broken glass from the window. They split up, Katherine and Gem moving to either side while Jimmy continued down the middle. They strategically looked under broken pews and around fallen building blocks until they met back up at the altar.

The three shared a worried glance, the possible places where Scott could be were dwindling quickly. Between that and his lack of communication it spelt out a horrible picture of his fate. Jimmy’s gaze was drawn to the golden antlers on the back wall of the church, he remembered Scott mentioning they were the symbol of his god Aeor, and he knows Scott had a crown that mimicked the symbol. The once shining symbol, now however, was broken and covered in ash. Jimmy didn’t like the idea of the symbolism.

With increasing concern, and decreasing confidence the three moved swiftly out of the church, wanting to get clear of the building in case of further collapses.

“Where else would he be?” Katherine asked, her brows furrowed in both concern and consideration, mentally going through a map of Rivendell and crossing off places the winged elf was unlikely to be.

“We have to think it through.” Gem started, “Put ourselves in his boots. Scott comes back from the meeting to see his empire on fire and corruption everywhere, where does he go?”

“His library maybe?” Katherine suggested, grasping at straws and very aware of that fact.

Gem shook her head, “No, he knows time is limited and he’s combed through it a million times already, there’s nothing that would help. Maybe he was checking on his villagers?”

While the girls continued to debate where Scott could have been, Jimmy’s attention was on something further up the hill. He’d been scanning the horizon, taking advantage of the high ground the church was built upon to look across Scott’s once mighty empire.  As he’d glanced behind the apiary (whose glass was shattered and flora burnt, leaving nothing but a burning husk of a once beautiful building – all bees dead or missing), he could have sworn he’d spotted something red.

Ignoring the girls, he started out past the church and sheep shack towards the apiary. The bad feeling that had been clawing at him since he learnt Scott was missing was now clawing frantically at his throat.

“Jimmy, where are you going!” Katherine called out as she noticed Jimmy had left the two of them. Jimmy ignored them, only picking up speed as he aimed for the apiary, more red appearing in his vision. He noticed the other two start to run after him but he kept going. More and more red rapidly appeared in front of him as he cleared the sheep shack and church, the broken apiary his only obstacle – one he quickly cleared in his haste.

The sight that greeted him in the hills behind Rivendell was something that would haunt his nightmares for a long time. Red clouded his vision; large curling tendrils framed a large circle of red corruption across the floor. And in the middle of the circle was Scott.

He was lying prone on the ground, his cyan hair standing out against the red of the corruption. His icy blue eyes stared blankly into the sky. The red of his blood mixed with the red of the corruption that trapped the winged elf. His wings, his beautiful white owl wings which he normally took so much pride in were limp and askew on the ground. Feathers broken and bent, some missing in places, blood staining several of the normally snowy white feathers.

But what really got Jimmy was the ornate blade sticking out of Scott’s stomach, a limp hand still attached to the handle, revealing part of the story they’d missed. The gaping wound was largely blocked by the blade, but all the crimson blood originated from there, spreading out and staining Scott’s white, gold and cyan formal wear. A stray thought whispered across Jimmy’s head about how hard the blood stain would be to get out of the outfit before he pushed it aside and continued to take in the sight in front of him in horrified shock.

Jimmy heard Katherine and Gem arrive, feet thundering as they sprinted to catch up with him. They both let out audible gasps as they finally saw what had frozen Jimmy in his place at the edge of the corrupted circle. Their arrival was enough to unfreeze Jimmy, as he finally managed to regain control of his body, lunging forward to collapse at Scott’s side. Katherine and Gem swiftly followed, moving to the opposite side of Scott’s body to Jimmy.

“Scott! Scott, come on, wake up. Please!” Jimmy begged, shaking Scott’s shoulders in an attempt to get a response, but Scott acted like a rag doll, rolling with the shakes in a sickening matter.

Gem grabbed the hand not around the sword to check for a pulse – nothing, eyes focused on the unmoving chest.

“Jimmy! Jimmy! Stop it!” Katherine pleaded with Jimmy, voice choked up with emotion, “He’s dead! He’s not going to answer!”

Jimmy shook his head frantically, gaze sweeping up and down the prone body as he searched for any sign of life. “No! No, he’s not! He can’t be! This is all just some stupid joke of his. You hear that, Scott! I know it’s a prank! You can stop now. Please Scott.” His voice broke at the end as he collapsed back, kneeling on his heels.

He ignored the pitying look Gem and Katherine gave him, he didn’t care if they didn’t believe him. Scott couldn’t be dead … he just couldn’t. “Please Scott.” Jimmy cried.

“How is he … how is he dead?” Katherine asked, voice wavering as she said the dreaded word. Tears were already trailing down her face, and she didn’t even care about the blood now staining her dress as she looked upon her friend’s broken body. “Why didn’t he just respawn?” Pearl had been sent off server by her ‘final’ death, but she was alive and safe; and there had been no body. And Joey and Sausage had respawned quickly with no consequences, why was Scott any different?

“The sword.” Gem stated, eyes tracing the fatal blade piercing Scott’s chest, “There’s some strong magic on it, it must be what stopped him respawning.”

“So, we just need to remove it and he’ll be fine? Right” Jimmy immediately leapt onto the trickle of hope, forcing his gaze away from Scott’s body for a second in favour of pleading with Gem.

“Jimmy …” Gem started, not wanting to break the horrible news.

“Please Gem! He can’t be dead!” Jimmy pleaded, hand fidgeting with one of Scott’s bloody feathers that he’d unconsciously picked up from the ground.

“I don’t know if it will help. Magic like this is complicated.” Gem sighed, she hated to be the one bearing bad news especially as she wanted it to work like that as much as Jimmy did. She glanced around the circle, recognising the pattern with a sinking feeling in her stomach. “I think Xornoth tried to trap Scott like we trapped him. The circle is the same. But Scott decided to stop him.”

“At the cost of himself.” Katherine finished, “He mentioned he’d found another prophecy. If he dies then so did Xornoth, they were linked.” She looked around the circle, finally spotting the other inhabitant.

Xornoth lay near the edge of the circle, no obvious wound on him but very clearly dead. One of his hands clutched a phantom wound in the same place Scott’s fatal wound, and the other was reaching out towards his younger brother. Katherine couldn’t help but wonder if Xornoth had found it in himself to regret his decisions as he died alongside his little brother.

Gem had apparently seen Xornoth too, “He must have decided the sacrifice was worthwhile to protect everyone else from his brother. Scott …” Her voice broke at the end, finally caving in to her grief as tears fell from her eyes.

“No, no, no.” Jimmy shook his head in firm denial, leaning forward towards Scott’s body. “You idiot! You self-sacrificing idiot! This wsn’t supposed to be how it ended.” He’d thought they’d have more time. More time to finally talk about their time in that flower forest, more time to discuss what exactly they were to each other, more time together.

“We need to tell the others.” Katherine said, voice defeated as she looked anywhere but her friend’s body. “They deserve to know.”

Gem nodded, swallowing a sob as she put on a determined face, glad for a distraction from her grief. “I’ll message Fwhip and Shubble, tell them we found them and we’re coming back to spawn. We should bring him back to spawn, try and remove the sword there. Maybe Fwhip might be able to do something as admin.” She trailed off, eyes on her communicator as she sent the messages, not giving any hints to the state of their friend. Their replies were quick agreements and she didn’t linger to answer any questions, immediately shoving her communicator back into her pocket.

Katherine nodded in agreement with the plan, pushing herself into a standing position. She froze for a moment at the sight of the blood on her hands and the crimson stains on her dress. She’d have to burn it all later, but for now they didn’t have time for them to hesitate, time was already running out. “And if it doesn’t work?” She asked reluctantly, everything in her screaming against that possibility.

Gem met her eyes, the normally cheerful wizard, filled with sorrow. “Then at least we have a body to burry.” Neither of them commented on the choked noise Jimmy let out at her declaration, his grip tightening on Scott’s body.

Gem moved to pick up his body, but was stopped by Jimmy. “Jimmy-.” She started, unsure if it was a good idea for him to carry Scott in his state.

Jimmy’s face turned determine, more determined than she’d ever seen him. “No, I want to do it.” He looked between Gem and Katherine, “I need to do this.” The pair nodded their consent, knowing this was not a battle they were ever going to win.

“Wait!” Katherine interrupted as Jimmy moved to pick up Scott, Jimmy looked ready to argue but she didn’t go to lift him herself. Instead, she kneeled back down, almost reverently, and gently closed his eyes. It felt final, but it didn’t feel right to leave Scott staring blankly at nothing. She pulled herself back to her feet and gave a final nod at Jimmy.

With great care Jimmy tucked one arm under Scott’s knees and the other around his back, lifting him off the ground in a bridal carry - the irony not lost on him. He took care not to ruin Scott’s wings any further, the giant limbs trailing just above the ground, horribly limp and in a horrid state. He couldn’t help but think how long it would take Scott to fix them, and then the fact that Scott may never get to preen them again crossed his mind and he turned his focus firmly elsewhere.

He did his best not to jostle the sword sticking out of the winged elf’s stomach, in a useless attempt to not make the wound any worse (not that it mattered a horrible part of his mind pointed out, he pushed that thought aside). He moved Scott’s head to rest against his shoulder, making him feel slightly better than when it was left hanging prone. The winged elf was normally very light – the bonus of having hollow bones to allow for him to fly – and another glance at Scott revealed he was thinner than normal (had he been taking care of himself?); but Jimmy couldn’t help but think Scott’s body was one of the heaviest things he’d ever carried.

With one final glance around at Katherine and Gem preparing themselves for the flight back, he turned his gaze onto the horizon, knowing that if he looked at Scott’s body again, he’d just break down there and then.

“Let’s go.” With that the three took off back to spawn. Three players and their broken friend.

Chapter Text

Once again everyone was already waiting as they reached spawn. Shubble, Lizzie and Joel had beat them back – while Scott’s ice isolation palace was further away there hadn’t been as many areas to check leaving them to return to spawn disheartened. NO other choice but to wait with the others in hopes that the last group would find Scott.

Katherine and Gem landed ahead of Jimmy, expressions grim as the group all clambered over themselves to approach and ask about Scott. Gem’s message had revealed nothing other than they had found Scott, and none of them had missed how only three of them had flown in. Jimmy was glad for the extra second of peace, glancing down at Scott’s slack face as he held him tighter. Taking a deep breath, he moved forward into the crowd of his friends – they couldn’t put this off any longer.

“Scott!” Shubble shouted as she noticed the prone form in Jimmy’s arms, immediately pushing closer as the others started to notice what she’d seen. “Is he okay? I think I have some potions in my inventory.”

“Shubble …” Gem started, unsure how to break the news to the rest of the group. Of course, they’d all thought Scott was just unconscious, the idea of permadeath was inconceivable to them after all the times they’d respawned without bother. And there was no reason why this should have been any different.

The tone of her voice made the gnome pause, eyes turning to Gem questioningly. It also gave the others a chance to crowd around Jimmy, taking in Scott’s prone form with shocked and concerned eyes, the sword very prominently sticking out of his chest.

Jimmy ignored all that, pushing past everyone else to gently lie Scott down on the grass, taking great care to not hurt his wings any further or jostle the sword. He didn’t want to let him go but he knew he couldn’t keep him safe in his arms. He knelt next to Scott’s head, taking the hand which wasn’t attached to the sword in his own. Scott’s hand was cold, not the cold that came from his new found ice powers, but cold from death.

“What’s wrong with him?” Sausage asked worried, following the others to where Jimmy had lain Scott on the ground. Jimmy ignored then all, his focus on Scott, while Katherine and Gem exchanged a glance – neither wanting to break the news or quite sure how to do so.

“You mean beside the giant sword sticking out of his chest?” Joel asked with an incredulous look at Sausage for the stupid question.

“Why haven’t you taken it out?” Lizzie asked, settling next to Jimmy, her gaze focused on the ornate sword. “Did you not have any bandages?”

“I’m surprised he hasn’t just respawned from that kind of wound.” Joey said, arms crossed as he stared down at Scott.

That’s what made Jimmy snap, none of them had noticed that Scott wasn’t breathing, all acting like everything was fine. “He’s dead! Stop it! He’s dead.” His voice broke at the end, tears clouding his vision.

“What do you mean he’s dead?” Shubble asked, breaking the tense violent that had formed with Jimmy’s words, “How can he be …. Dead?” Her voice broke with the last word, eyes wide as she tried to comprehend the idea.

Fwhip was frantically typing away on his communicator, face determined as the rest of the group started firing questions at the trio.

“They’re right.” Fwhip’s shocked words broke through the noise, he didn’t look up from the communicator screen. Normally Jimmy would be annoyed they didn’t believe him, especially with such evidence in front of him, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care right now. “His status is all weird, words in an old language I can’t read and changing constantly. Everything else … everything else suggests that he’s dead.  But server respawn hasn’t been altered. What happened?” The last command was an order, eyes locked on the trio for an explanation.

“Xornoth.” Gem started to explain, “We think he tried to trap Scott like we trapped him; get him out of the way so Xornoth could cause chaos but Scott … Scott stopped him.”

“He killed himself, stabbed himself in the chest to stop the demon. He killed himself to protect all of us.” Katherine finished where Gem had trailed of, almost leaning on Shubble as her grief started to catch up to her full force.

“Surely there’s something we can do!” Sausage said frantically, glancing between Scott’s broken form and Fwhip. “He can’t just be dead!”

All eyes fell on Fwhip, desperately hoping their admin would be able to find a magical solution to save their friend. “I don’t … I can’t…” Fwhip floundered, no idea what to do and very aware of time ticking away quickly. 

“We think there’s a solution.” Jimmy spoke up, eyes determined. There was no other option, it had to work.

“Jimmy…” Gem started; voice soft. “We don’t know if it will work.”

“What will work?” Lizzie asked, glancing between the two for answers. “If there’s even a chance, we can save him, we need to take it!”

“The sword is magic, that’s why he’s dead and didn’t just respawn. Or that’s what I believe at least.” Gem explained, moving closer to her twin. “I think that if we remove it there’s a chance, we could bring him back. It’s not high, but there’s a chance.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Shubble asked, moving forward as if to reach for the sword. She stopped just before, hand falling as Jimmy stood up.

“I just don’t want to get your hopes up.” Gem said, she was just as eager for it to work but she didn’t want to give everyone false hope. She didn’t have a good understanding of the sword’s magic, and they didn’t have time to do any research.

“We won’t know if we don’t try.” Sausage announced. The group all nodded, hope rising despite themselves.

“I want to do it.” Jimmy announced, expression stern.

“Jimmy, are you sure?” Lizzie asked, concerned for her seabling. He was taking Scott’s death hard; they all were (though most were still in a state of shock for it to have really settled in), but Jimmy was taking it harder than most. Maybe she’d missed something between the pair.

“Yes.” Jimmy lied through his teeth. He gently removed Scott’s hand from the sword, lying it gently to the side, before he braced both his hands on the hilt of the sword. With a sickening squelch he pulled it clean of Scott’s chest and practically threw it to the side.

More blood flowed from the wound now that the sword wasn’t blocking it, and if he had bandages, he’d patch it up – Scott had lost enough blood as it was. Thankfully, the others had the same idea as Sausage moved forward and carefully bandaged Scott’s chest, the white immediately getting stained red, but it was better than leaving the gaping wound.

“Now what?” Joel asked upon seeing there was no immediate change from Scott. He was still lying on the ground, completely still and unmoving.

“Now, we wait.” Gem said solemnly. “Now we wait and we hope.” Her eyes darted to the setting sun; time was something they didn’t have much of. For Scott, however, they would wait as long as they could.

“C’mon Scott.” Jimmy muttered pleadingly, “Please Scott, come home to us. Come home to me.”

All of them were so focused on Scott’s unmoving form that no one noticed the abandoned sword start to glow.

Scott was feeding the sheep and ignoring all of his problems when Xornoth caught him.

It was nice to be doing normal chores and not have to worry about much else. The dream world was very peaceful compared to the real world. His parents were still alive here so he had significantly less responsibilities as opposed to when he was king. Thankfully his parents were away travelling (their return being delayed), as he wasn’t sure he’d be able to face them without breaking down. It had been a long, long time since he’d seen his parents alive.

Dream-Jimmy was visiting his empire, which was a bonus. As much as he hated to say it, spending time with Jimmy was painful. He was just a bit off. It was all starting to wear down on him, so he was happily hiding with the sheep.

“So, this is where you’ve been hiding.” Scott would forever deny jumping as his brother’s voice came from nearby. Slowly turning around, fully aware he was caught, he was greeted with the sight of Xornoth, arms crossed and a pointed look being sent his way upon finding him hiding amongst the fluffy sheep.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He tried hopeless to deny the accusations, going back to feeding the sheep wheat, “I’m just doing my chores.”

Xornoth snorted at that, “Please Scott, we both know that’s not true.”

Scott continued to ignore him, hoping he could out stubborn him with his silence. Unfortunately, for him, he’d forgotten that stubbornness ran in the family.

Xornoth sighed, entering the pen of multicoloured sheep, carefully navigating the baaing animals to get closer to Scott. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Scott continued to deny everything even though he knew it was a failing battle.

His brother just shot him another look. “You’re acting weird. And I mean weirder than normal.”

“Hey!” Scott protested, head whipping round to face his brother who had managed to get significantly closer.

“You’re avoiding your husband, you get uncomfortable and try to run away from any conversation regarding our parents, and you keep looking at me strangely.” Xornoth rattled off, ticking items off his fingers.

“You look strangely.” Scott argued back, petting a nearby cyan sheep that kept nuzzling into his side.

“Stop trying to avoid the topic.” Xornoth’s patience was clearly running out, as he shuffled closer. “I know we’re not ones for emotional conversations, but something’s seriously wrong Scott. I just want to help.”

Scott stayed silent for a moment, mentally working out a strategy to escape this conversation. Avoidance and ignorance weren’t working, distraction was a possibility but he didn’t think that would fly right now. “Well, you can’t.” Sometimes honesty really was the best policy, or int his case the only feasible one.

“You don’t know that if you won’t tell me what’s wrong Scott!” Xornoth argued, arms thrown into the air in frustration.

“I told you, you can’t!” Scott argued back, apologetically patting the cyan sheep who had shrunk back a bit at his outburst, “Just leave me alone Xornoth.” 

“No! Why, won’t you just tell me! Or if not me, Jimmy? As much as fish boy annoys me, he’s your husband Scott! Why won’t you let us help you?” Xornoth was right in front of him now, voice dipping from frustration into defeat as he continued.

“That’s the problem! He’s not!” Scott’s eyes widened, hands shooting up to cover his mouth as he realised exactly what he’d unintentionally revealed.

Xornoth blinked in shock at his brother’s outburst, “What do you mean by that? Scott, what does that mean?”

Scott backed up shaking his head frantically, mentally panicking. Recognising that, Xornoth moved slowly forward, hands out to show he meant no harm, as if approaching a spooked animal. It was a stark difference from the demon he’d spent so long fighting.

As soon as he stumbled clear of the sheep pen, Scott turned around, only just managing to avoid tripping over his feet – all elven grace gone in the face of his rising panic. He desperately flapped his giant snowy wings, taking to the sky and ignoring his brother’s shouts as he fled the scene.

He barely paid any attention to where he was flying, panic at the forefront of his mind. It was only when he started to recognise the scenery that he managed to reclaim some semblance of control over his racing mind.

He’d flown south-east, heading towards the Crystal Cliffs, only stopping as he found a familiar cliff overlooking a lake, near the edge of Rivendell’s borders. He’d made the trip to the Ancient Elven Library so many times over the last few days, trying to work out where exactly he was that in his panic he must have gone on autopilot. He practically collapsed on a cliff overlooking the teal tower that poked out of the ground. He settled on the edge, legs tucked into, head on his knees, with his wings curled around him protectively as he tried to calm his frantic breathing, eyes closed tightly.

He thought he’d been so careful! But apparently Xornoth knew him better than he’d thought, that or he wasn’t as good as hiding his response to everything as he’d thought he was. He hadn’t expected Xornoth to corner him. His brother’s behaviour was still a mystery to him, he half expected him to just turn back into a demon or hurt him which was a horrible thing to think of your brother. He couldn’t help it though, he hadn’t spent time with normal Xornoth since he left home all those years ago, and the only time he’d seen him since he’d been a demon.

Scott curled up on himself further, mind spiralling down a depressive rabbit hole of guilt that he couldn’t escape. Apparently, he couldn’t find peace even in a dream world – what did that say about him? Ice snaked around him, responding to his emotions – both running quickly out of any semblance of control.

“Since when could you do that?” That was the second time Xornoth had managed to sneak up on him today, his observation skills were clearly slipping.

Scott’s head shot up at his brother’s voice, finding him standing behind him, hand gesturing to the new icy patch he had created unknowingly. “What are you doing here?” He asked angrily, going straight on the defensive. He hadn’t thought anyone knew about the secret elven library, so how had Xornoth found him?

Xornoth gave him an unimpressed look, “My baby brother flew off in a panic after admitting something was very wrong and you expect me to not follow him?”

“Yes.” Xornoth somehow managed to get less impressed, a real achievement. Sighing, the elder moved to sit beside his younger brother, legs dangling off the cliff carelessly. While his eyes were looking out onto the snowy horizon, his focus was on the elf next to him.

“Scott.”

“No.” Scott remained stubborn, uncurling to match his brother’s position albeit much tenser and ready to bolt at the first opportunity. “How did you find this place?” He knew he hadn’t been followed, and it may be his pride talking but he’d always been an excellent flier – as fast and silent as the owls his wings matched.

Xornoth raised an eyebrow, not being fooled by the attempt to distract him but going along with it for now. “You’re not as sneaky as you think you are. I noticed you kept disappearing off this way and followed you once, figured you could keep your secrets as long as you were okay. But you’re not Scott, and I don’t know how to help you.”

“You can’t.” Scott immediately fired back.

“Now we’re just going in circles.” Xornoth was remaining much calmer than his brother, “I know stubbornness is a family trait, but this is getting ridiculous Scott.”

“Fine, I don’t want your help.” Scott changed his answer, keeping his aggressive tone hoping it would get Xornoth angry or make him leave – either would be easier to deal with than this calm and supportive version of this brother that he hadn’t known for many, many years.

“You never want help Scott; you’ve always been too independent for that.” Xornoth finally turned to face him, “But that doesn’t mean you don’t need help.”

“Well, I don’t.”

“Scott, please. You’re my little brother and you’re hurting; I just want to help.” Scott practically deflated at that, his resolve crumbling under the weight of Xornoth’s sincere concern, wings drooping in reflex.

He tucked his knees back up, head falling to sit upon them, and wings tucked in tightly, and arms wrapped around his legs, any idea of running gone in the face of his brother’s concern. “You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Try me.” Xornoth answered back, a stubborn resolve in his voice telling Scott he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d heard him out.

Scott took a deep breath, trying to gain extra time as he worked out where to start in what was a long-complicated story. “I’m not from here. Or at least not this version of here? I don’t know how … this … all works.”

“Scott, you’re not making any sense.” Xornoth interrupted his brother’s rambles, “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

Scott snorted at the request, “That’s a lot harder to do than you think.”

“Then try your best.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“Not nearly as annoying as you.”

“I take offense to that.” Scott finally met his brother’s gaze, finding only care and patience in the purple eyes. He was still getting used to that – Xornoth having purple eyes and not red, corrupted ones.

“Of course, you do.” Xornoth smiled fondly as his brother’s wings ruffled at the teasing insult, “Now, you have a story for me?”

Scott was silent for a moment, trying to consider where was best to start so he didn’t end up rambling again. “I died.”

Xoroth blinked, surprised at the blunt statement. “No, you didn’t. You’re right here.” He looked up and down his brother, mentally judging him.

Scott shot him an annoyed look, “I thought you said you were going to listen?”

Xornoth rolled his eyes even as he held his hands up in surrender, “I am, I am. Continue. So, you died?”

“I killed myself.” Scott nodded, continuing quickly as he saw Xornoth jerk in his seat, mouth dropping open and eyes wide about to speak. “And then I woke up here. I killed myself with this sword I found – the Rune Blade. I was told it separated the soul from the body and sends them to an afterlife chosen by the wielder. When I killed myself, I hoped for a happy life in Rivendell, where I could find peace, and I woke up here.”

Xornoth opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to verbalise the million thoughts Scott could clearly see flying through his head. Finally, he seemed to settle on something, “That day you were acting weird, well even weirder than normal, that’s when you ‘arrived’ here, wasn’t it?”

Scott just nodded, giving his brother a minute to absorb everything he’d said. “Can … can I ask … Can I ask why you killed yourself?” Xornoth was unusually nervous asking his question.

“You won’t like the answer.” Scott glanced at his brother before he fixed his gaze onto the horizon.

Xornoth grimaced, “I’m not liking any of this conversation, I doubt it can get much worse.”

Scott snorted at that, “Oh it can. Do you remember the story of the Clash of Stags?”

Xornoth blinked in confusion at the change in topic. “Of course I do, but how is that relevant?”

“On my world, where I’m from, it happened like the tales said it would. Aeor and Exor chose new champions, a demon ran lose on our server causing destruction and mayhem until we trapped them. Peace didn’t last long though, Jimmy and Count Fwhip from the Grimlands created an explosion that caused the server’s destruction and the demon got lose again.” Scott explained, eyes never leaving the horizon, and tone as carefully blank as possible.

“That sounds like a nightmare.” Xornoth started carefully, “But I still don’t see how that’s relevant to you … to you killing yourself.”

“I was Aeor’s champion, it was my duty to defeat the demon … as Aeor’s champion and King of Rivendell. I didn’t have a choice.” Scott explained, talking around the real matter. He was hoping Xornoth would make the connection about the demon’s identity so he didn’t have to outright say it.

“Oh, Scott.” Xornoth’s voice was unbelievably sad, “Where … where was I?” Surely, he had been around trying to help? How would Scott’s version of him have reacted upon finding his little brother dead by his own blade? He was horrified by the very idea of it. But, why was Scott king? Had something happened to him?

Scott glanced at him, expression unreadable, and suddenly all Xornoth could think about was how way Scott had been ever since he ‘arrived’, how he’d been so surprised to see Xornoth. “Am I … am I dead on your world?”

“I think that would have been kinder.” Scott answered, voice hoarse as the grief over his brother’s fate. He’d not ever really been given a chance to grieve him – the first time or any time after that and it was just hitting him hard now.

His brother looked at him confused before his eyes widened dramatically in realisation, “In the stories the champions were brothers … I … I was the demon. I was the demon, wasn’t I?” His body tensed, turning to face his younger brother, hand reaching out to land on Scott’s shoulder. “I was the demon, wasn’t I Scott?”

Scott nodded slowly, “Yes, yes you were the demon.” He’d tensed initially when Xornoth’s hand had landed on his shoulder, but relaxed after a moment of nothing. He could clearly see his brother start to panic at the revelation.

“What did … what did I do?” Xornoth asked desperately, “No, no, never mind that. More important than that. I was the reason you killed yourself … Aeor, Scott, I’m so sorry.”

“What?” It was Scott’s turn to be surprised by the turn of events. “Why are you apologising?”

Xornoth looked at him like he was the crazy one, “Why am I apologising? Scott are you crazy? I hurt you! I caused destruction on your server! It got so bad that I made you kill yourself! How is any of that okay with you?”

Scott shrugged, “That wasn’t you. And even the Xornoth on my world was long gone, corrupted by Exor a long time ago.” Despite his nonchalant attitude, his wings kept twitching, folding and unfolding against his back.

“That doesn’t make it much better Scott!” Xornoth protested, arms waving in the air in his frustration. Scott couldn’t deny there was a bit of humour in the reversal of roles with Xornoth now being panicked as he remained calm. “I don’t know how you’re so relaxed about all this! I killed you!”

“But you didn’t! I killed myself!” Scott argued, not understanding how Xornoth wasn’t getting this.

“That’s worse!” Xornoth shouted. He visibly took a deep breath, eyes closed tightly as he tried to calm himself down. “Okay, okay. I was a demon, you killed yourself and ended up here. There’s definitely more to that story too. Let’s just say I’m not okay with that, and I’m not going to pretend I am but let’s move on for now, for my sanity. So where is here? An alternative reality?”

“I don’t actually know.” Scott shrugged, “I thought it was a dream world or an afterlife made for me, but I don’t really know. Somethings feel too real and others are just wrong. I kept coming here because I hoped to find something in the library, but nothing, nada, zilch.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” Xornoth asked quietly, eyes turned to the horizon, arms back by his side.

Scott was quiet at that, “I don’t know.” He finally answered slowly, “I guess I’m stuck here.”

Xornoth bumped his shoulder into Scott, jostling him and starting the winged Elf (if the panicked eyes were to be believed), “There’s worse places to be trapped.”

Scott turned a scowl on him, “I don’t know about that, you’re here after all.”

The joke normally would have earned him a snarky reply, but after everything he’d just learned Xornoth couldn’t help but flinch.

“Sorry, maybe a bit too soon.” Scott muttered an apology.

“No kidding.” Xornoth snorted. The pair sat in a comfortable silence for several minutes just watching the horizon as they both digested everything that had occurred over the last hour or so.

Xornoth finally broke the silence, a new question on his mind as he recounted his first confrontation with Scott today, “You mentioned Jimmy wasn’t your husband earlier, what’s that about? You and fish boy are sickeningly in love.”

Scott’s cheeks turned red in embarrassment, nudging his brother and earning a grin from Xornoth as he realised he’d managed to embarrass his brother, “Shut up! No, I had hopes for something …” Scott trailed off, eyes far away before he brought himself back to the moment, “We were barely allies at times, and then everything happened with well ... you … and we just didn’t get a chance. I guess we never will now.”

Xornoth nodded in understanding, “Which explains why you’ve been behaving so oddly around Jimmy.” Every revelation left him reeling with just how bad Scott’s world seemed to be, he was sure there were good things (Aeor, he hoped there were good things) but there just seemed to be one disaster after another.

“If you were given the choice to go home, would you take it?” Xornoth asked, giving his brother a chance to gather himself instead of continuing to try and embarrass him (for now), his tone turning more sombre.

His question made Scott pause, really considering it. In theory it shouldn’t be a hard question, but reality was rarely so simple. “Yes.” He answered finally, “I want a chance to see my friends again, maybe a chance to tell Jimmy how I feel. Aeor, I can just imagine Nox’s face if I never came back, he’d complain about who would make his teams for MCC.” He chuckled, lost in his own thoughts, “I think Lauren would find a way to bring me back to life just to kill me herself! And she probably wouldn’t be alone.”

He looked over to Xornoth only to find his brother watching him with a fond expression. “What?” He asked, shaking his head.

“Nothing,” Xornoth chuckled, “This is just the most animated I’ve seen you in a while. You really love your friends, don’t you?”

Scott smiled fondly off into the distance, “I do … I do.” He’d tried to use his abilities to go back home after the first few days in this dream world, but nothing had happened – which was a first for him. Normally there was no server he couldn’t escape, his ability to world-hop not even stopped by whitelists, but something about this world made it impossible for him to escape. He’d almost given up hope about every getting home. The Rune Blade had some ancient and powerful magic, he could only pray there was a counter to it if he wanted to ever see his friends again.

“It’s been a long time since you were with me in Rivendell, your version of me anyway, hasn’t it?” Xornoth sighed, the version of Scott he knew had never left home apart from visiting other empires, but this Scott was much older and had seen so much more than he could likely imagine.

“A very long time.” Scott nodded; eyes closed as memories flashed through his mind. “There’s so much out there, so many worlds, so many players.”

Xornoth nodded in response, unsure what to say to that, Scott’s voice told of his awe of all he’d seen and experienced but his smile was starting to dim as the realisation he may never see it again set in. With a (slightly forced) grin he decided to change the topic, “So what’s this MCC you mentioned? Why do you need to make teams for it?”

The grin on Scott’s face was worth the distraction as he immediately started rambling on about the inter-server tournament, he was apparently involved in organising with the Nox he’d mentioned, Xornoth only needing to prompt him every so often to keep him happily rambling.

He kept prodding his brother with questions, trying to keep him distracted from the grief that was bound to hit as soon as they stopped. He had another question on the tip of his tongue but was interrupted before he could vocalise it by an almost warbling sound echoing across the valley below them. In sync, the brothers looked over the edge of the cliff they were sitting on, immediately spotting a spiralling white and cyan portal. If not for the colour and lack of obsidian they would have thought someone had created a nether portal below them.

“What’s that?” Xornoth asked, turning his gaze to his brother only to find the spot where he’d previously been empty of his brother. “Scott?!” He called panicked something had happened to the younger elf.

“I’m here idiot!” Scott called out from his place in the valley below. While Xornoth’s gaze had been on the strange portal he had glided down the cliff, to gracefully land in the valley below.

Quickly, and much more clumsily than his younger brother, Xornoth made his way down to stand beside his brother at the base of the cliff, berating the elf before he even reached the bottom. “Don’t do that! I thought something had happened to you!”

Scott snorted, arms crossed, “Like what? I can look after myself.”

Xornoth’s expression softened, “Doesn’t mean I can’t worry about you.” The confused expression Scott gave him only reminded him of the conversation they’d just had, clearly alternative him had done some damage to Scott’s trust issues. Not a nice thought. Best to change the subject.

“What do you think that is?” He asked, his gaze drawn back to the swirling light in front of them as they both slowly approached, “And where did it come from?”

He risked a glance at Scott’s face only to find his brother’s forehead crinkled in confusion, an almost dazed look in his eyes, “I don’t … I don’t know. It feels like it’s … calling me almost.” Scott answered, a hand reaching out to the portal but falling short of actually touching the swirling colours.

“Do you think it’s something from your world?” Xornoth kept glancing between Scott and the portal, not willing to take his eyes off either of them in case something happened. He wasn’t sure about trusting this.

“I’m not … sure. I …” Scott’s expression was pained as he gazed into the light. “It feels familiar like … home.”

The pair were interrupted as a familiar voice echoed through the portal, tone painfully sad and pleading. “Please Scott, come home to us. Come home to me.”

“Jimmy.” Scott breathed out quietly, voice in awe. He managed to turn his gaze away from the portal to look at his brother.

Xornoth was smiling sadly at him, expression more relaxed than it had been earlier. “I think your friends want you home.”

“But how?” Scott asked hesitantly, “I died.”

“I don’t think that matters. I think the important thing is do you want to go back?” Xornoth asked gently, moving closer to his brother.

Scott looked back and forth between the portal and Xornoth for a while, unsure and hesitant. “I …”

“Scott, look at me.” Xornoth, put both hands on Scott’s shoulders, forcing him to meet his gaze, “Forget everything else. Forget your responsibilities and duties. Do you want to go home?”

“Yes.” Scott finally admitted, staring into Xornoth’s caring and patient purple eyes. “I do.”

Xornoth gave him a sad smile then pulled him into a hug. Scott immediately tensed, unused to friendly contact like hugs. Slowly he relaxed into it, wrapping his hands around Xornoth to join the hug. It was several moments before he pulled back, Xornoth letting him go.

“Go home little brother.” Xornoth gave him a bittersweet smile, “Go back to your friends.”

Scott hesitated before turning back to the portal in front of them. Now that the option was available, he was unbelievably nervous. Steeling himself he took a deep breath and moved forward, stopping an inch away from the light. He turned back one last time, Xornoth have him a small wave, eyes sad but encouraging as he watched his brother leave. Scott hoped this was a dream world and he hadn’t accidentally replaced this world’s Scott, it felt too cruel after all he’d discussed with Xornoth.

Turning back to the swirling light, he took a deep breath and made the final step inside the portal. White filled his vision as the sensation of falling took over everything else.

He was going home.

Chapter Text

Scott’s return to consciousness was slow, but he was quickly made aware of a strong stabbing pain in his chest – a stark reminder of how he ended up in this situation. He felt like he was moving through slime as he pulled himself back to awareness. As painful as it was, hope was blooming in his chest, was he home? Had it worked?

Opening his eyes was a marathon task when they felt weighed down by anvils. Forcing his eyes to focus, squinting a bit in the fading light, he took in his surroundings from his position on the ground. The sight of the familiar jungle surrounding spawn was a surprise as he specifically remembered dying on the snowy peaks behind his bee apiary. Had someone moved him?

The answer was obvious a second later when he spotted the group of people hanging around the area. He was surprised it had taken him so long to notice with how loud the group was. Fwhip looked like he was trying to say something, communicator being waved around in one hand while the sun set behind him. Whatever he was trying to say, however, was drowned out by everyone else protesting, and loudly. Their voices overlapped so much that it was impossible to actually tell what exactly they were protesting, but for all of them to be united over it, it must be serious.

With a grunt and pained grimace, he managed to push himself into a sitting position, hand going to grip the wound in his chest as the movement sent spikes of pain through him. He looked down to the source of his pain and troubles, only to find the gaping wound bandaged neatly. He wasn’t sure who had done it, but the bandages were already stained red with his blood, a bit of a gruesome sight. He let out a quiet annoyed sigh as he realised his normally pristine white and gold robes were also stained crimson – blood stains were never fun to get out, and he didn’t think he’d get a chance to change before they had to leave, and it wasn’t like much had survived Rivendell’s destruction.

Gritting his teeth he staggered to his feet, breathing heavily to try and deal with the pain. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his wings; instead of them being their neat and carefully preened selves, they were a complete mess. He hadn’t seen them this bad in a while; feathers were out of place or missing, crimson blood staining some and clumps of dirt mis-coloured others. That was going to be a nightmare to preen, maybe a few hours work to try and get them back in a state where he could fly. Based on the uncomfortable feeling resonating through the limbs, he may even have to ask for help to get the areas he couldn’t quite reach, and he wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.

Glancing back to the arguing group he found them still stuck in a shouting match, none of them having glanced over to notice his state. Seriously what were they arguing about to keep their attention like that? Curiosity getting the better of him, he managed to stumble towards the group, hand clutched to the bandages around his chest, stopping at the back of the crowd of angry players he listened in for a moment. It didn’t help, their voices overlapped and words were so unintelligible that he was still left clueless.

“What are you all arguing about?” He spoke up from his position at the back of the arguing group, voice fairly quiet in comparison to everyone else’s loud protests but it still managed to make everyone else stop.

The way the group all froze at his voice, before they whipped round to face him in near sync was borderline creepy. Had he missed something? “What?” He asked, as the group just stared at him in shock, “What did I miss?”

“Scott!” Jimmy was the first to break from the trance that had overtaken the players. The cod hybrid lunged forward from the front of the crowd, almost tackling the winged elf to the ground. Scott managed to brace himself at the last second, wings flared back to balance himself as Jimmy hit him in a running hug.

Scott grit his teeth as the contact caused the pain to spike, “Jimmy, careful.” He protested; more than a bit breathless as he struggled through the pain.

Jimmy immediately backed off, mumbling apologies in rapid succession, “Sorry! Sorry, are you okay? What am I talking about? Of course, you’re not okay! Scott!”

Thankfully Lizzie chose that moment to step forward, pulling her brother back and interrupting his rambling apologies. “Good to see you alive Scott.” She said unusually sincere, “But don’t you ever do something like that again!” She punctuated her words with a firm punch to his arm, making him wince. Lizzie was unfairly strong and wasn’t often one for pulling her punches (literally, unfortunately).

Her words were a silent cue for everyone else to crowd around him. Scott glanced around the group of concerned, worried and relieved faces still confused. “I feel like I’m missing something here.” He said, hoping for someone to actually provide answers instead of get him in trouble for something he didn’t know he’d done.

Joel scoffed, “Oh you know, you decided to be dramatic and kill yourself with a magic sword.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah ‘ah’.” Gem stepped forward, eyes narrowed and a stern expression on her face that made Scott want to take a step back and hide behind someone else. Gem could be scary when she wanted to. “Scott whatever-your-middle-name-is Smajor! Don’t you ever dare to do something like that again! Do you know how panicked you had us? What were you thinking?”

Scott shuffled, feeling very much like a kid getting scolded, “It was Xornoth … I couldn’t let him hurt any of you, not again.” He spluttered out a protest to the scolding, words trailing off at the looks he was getting from the group which made him want to squirm.

“And you decided the only way to do that was to kill yourself!?” Katherine crossed her arms, shooting Scott an incredulous look. For all his attempts to remain distanced and proper as king, he was surprisingly soft towards those he cared about if you knew how to read him.

Scott frowned, not understanding what Katherine was trying to get at, “There wasn’t another option.” 

Fwhip shook his head in exasperation, though relief was clear on his face, “You’re something else Scott, you know that?”

Scott did not get what Fwhip was trying to get to, but there were more important matters at hand. “What were you all arguing about?”

He was definitely missing something, based on the almost guilty expressions the group were sharing, but whatever it was no one was willing to outright tell him. “That’s not important. Not anymore.” Fwhip waved him off, “More importantly, we’re out of time. It’s far past time we got out of here.”

That sparked the group into action. Fwhip was typing away on his communicator trying to pull up a server portal to get them all back to the relative safety of the hub. Gem was looking around the group, counting them like school children for her brother. Jimmy was immediately back at his side, eyes not leaving him as if scared he would disappear if he looked away for too long.

Jimmy offered his arm, noticing Scott’s grimace of pain, “Do you want a hand?” He asked quietly.

Scott hesitated for a moment, not wanting to appear weak but giving in as another wave of pain made him screw his eyes closed tightly as he tried to breathe through it. “I’d appreciate it, thank you.” He muttered back to Jimmy, taking the offered arm and leaning against the other player.

Shubble moved closer, wincing at the clear pain he was in, guilt for her part in the mess an ugly feeling sitting in the pit of her stomach, “Sorry! We don’t have any potions but I’m sure we can grab something when we get to the hub!”

“Of course, we can!” Sausage joined the group, slinging one arm round Jimmy’s shoulder that Scott wasn’t using as a crutch. “Pearl will be there to meet us. I’m sure she’ll have something.” Scott just nodded in the face of Sausage’s exuberance, he really didn’t have the energy to match him right now. Honestly all he wanted to do was take some painkillers, fix his wings then sleep for a week. Unfortunately, he didn’t think he was going to get his wish anytime soon.

“Right!” Fwhip shouted, drawing the group’s attention to the more familiar portal he’d constructed. It was almost identical to a nether portal, built using obsidian and everything. The only difference was the white colour rather than the typical purple. “Time to go people!”

With a last glance around the collapsing world, the group started to trail through the portal at hand. Joey went first, followed closely by Sausage. Shubble strolled through with Katherine right beside her. Lizzie shot Jimmy a last look before dragging her husband into the light. Jimmy smiled softly at Scott who was feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything that had happened over the last day (few days? Time was weird). 

“I think that’s our cue.” Jimmy said, slowly leading Scott towards the portal. “I’m going to miss this place.”

Scott smiled back, only slightly strained with the pain as they hobbled forward, “I am too. We’ve had some good times here.”

Jimmy grinned, “We have. But I’m sure there’s lots more good times for us in the future.”

Scott chuckled, his smile getting a bit brighter, “Definitely, though it’s going to take some time to create a new server.”

They were almost at the portal now. Scott would forever deny thinking that the way Jimmy tilted his head as he thought was cute. “Isn’t it your turn to host the next server? Do you have any ideas yet?” 

Scott shook his head, “Wasn’t expecting this sever to end so quickly or dramatically, but I’ll come up with something … maybe after I deal with the next MCC. I forgot how quickly that was coming up and I still need to finish most of the teams.”

“Going to give me any hints?” Jimmy tried, grin lighting up the clearing in a way the setting sun was failing to match.

“Nope, you’re going to have to wait like everyone else.” Scott laughed, ignoring the way it pulled at the wound in his chest. He smothered a grimace, Nox wasn’t going to be happy when he heard what had happened here, he made a mental note to never tell him what he’d just done.

The pair stopped right in front of the portal; conversation cut short. Scott glanced back to the remaining two players. Gem was squabbling with Fwhip, likely making sure her brother wasn’t doing anything dumb, and providing the two privacy for their conversation.

“Thank you, Jimmy.” Both of them knew he wasn’t just saying thank you for the support.

Jimmy’s smile softened, “Anytime Scott … I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come back to us. When I saw your body lying there …” He trailed off, unable to verbalise the grief he’d felt.

Scott smiled sadly at him, understanding what the other was trying to say. He punched Jimmy in the shoulder gently, “Good for you that I’m not going anywhere anytime soon then. You’re going to get sick of me.”

Jimmy’s expression was unbelievably soft as he replied, “I don’t think I could ever get sick of you Scott.”

Scott flushed at that declaration, unsure how to respond to such a sincere statement. He chose deflection, “I think it’s time we go.”

Jimmy nodded, and with that the pair made the last steps into the portal. White consumed their vision as the familiar dizzy feeling of server-to-server teleportation took over. Thankfully it only lasted a few moments, but Scott almost fell to the ground as he stumbled out of the portal and into the hub. He likely would have if Jimmy didn’t catch him at the last second.

“Woah, there. Don’t want to add scraped knees to your already long list of injuries.” Jimmy muttered worriedly, helping Scott stabilise himself.

“Ugh,” Scott groaned, hand lifted to rub at his aching forehead, “Inter-server transport doesn’t usually hit me that hard.”

Jimmy frowned, “You’ve been through a lot over the last day. I’m half surprised your still standing.” Scott hated it when Jimmy made sense.

He turned his attention to the group congregating in front of the labelled portal behind him. Mentally he ticked people off the list, glad to see everyone had safely made it to the hub. He heard the familiar whoop of the portal signalling someone coming through and turned just in time to watch Gem appear, swiftly followed by Fwhip. They were all safe.

It seemed their exit was just in time as well. Moments after Fwhip cleared the portal, the swirling white portal crackled as it turned a red, reminiscent of the corruption, before collapsing in on itself and leaving an empty area in the long corridor of portals, the frame labelled ‘Empires SMP’.

“Well then.” Sausage said what they were all thinking. The ten of them watching their home collapse with a sinking finality.

“What do we do now?” Joey asked, arms crossed with a scowl. It was a good question. Several of them had other servers that they called home, travelling between them like Gem and Pearl on Hermitcraft, or himself with Origins SMP (and the MCC server – it wasn’t supposed to be residential for anyone outside of the Noxcrew but he spent so much time there that he’d carved out his own area). But not everyone had that safety net, and it would take some time before they could create a new server for them all to settle on together.

The group was interrupted by a shout. As one the ten players turned to look down the corridor to find Pearl leading a collection of familiar faces their way, and at speed. Pearl had clearly got their message, and had finally arrived with back-up.

“Hey! Did everyone get out in time?” Pearl asked worriedly, glancing around the group trying to make sure everyone was safe. The players she’d dragged along with her stumbled to a stop before the group, and they seemed to be doing something similar – scanning the group to check they were all there and to see if they were all safe and unharmed. They must have been a sight; ten players loitering around in the corridor in various states of wear, some covered in blood and bandages, but all of them bedraggled (just some more significantly than others).

Fwhip nodded, moving forward as admin to great Pearl and the others happily. “Everyone’s here, ran into a bit of trouble which delayed us.” He glanced back at Scott which made him want to hide behind Jimmy, suddenly remembering the very clearly blood-stained clothes and bandages wrapped around him. Those would be hard to explain seeing as it wouldn’t be an issue if he had just respawned. “But we all got out … just in time too.” He sent a grimace at the frame where the portal once stood.

Pearl followed his gaze to the empty frame and winced. She’d known the server was collapsing but seeing the portal connecting it to the hub was gone felt very final. “Yikes, we’ve had no luck recently. First Hermitcraft and now Empires?”

Gem snorted in agreement at Pearl’s comment, moving forward to hug the other woman. “Maybe we’re just cursed Pearl.”

She only pulled back from her hug to punch Sausage for his comment, “Wouldn’t surprise me with you two.” And then ignored his whines as he rubbed his shoulder with a pout. Scott winced a bit in sympathy, Gem hit hard.

He tried to sneakily inspect who Pearl had dragged along to help without being noticed himself. He blinked as he spotted some very good friends, he didn’t know how Pearl had managed to find them, let alone get them all in one place so quickly. He spotted Seapeekay, with Oli right next to him as the pair wandered over to check on Lizzie and Joel. Katherine, Shubble, Joey and Sausage were happily chatting with Pix, likely catching the man up on everything he’d missed.

Sticking close to Pearl were a couple of hermits who had likely come to help when hearing two of their members were in trouble. They were friendly with most of the rest of the group too; they may not remember the death games but been part of the ‘missing’ and MCC did help bring the different groups together – something he was very proud of. Impulse was checking up on Gem under Fwhip’s watchful eye (he would absolutely fight to defend his title as Gem’s brother). Cleo was grinning at the trio, while keeping a watchful eye on Tango who was teasing Bdubs (likely about his height, as normal).

Jimmy nudged him, bringing his attention to the pair approaching them with clear intent. Scott grimaced slightly as he noticed the familiar purple hair of Lauren, and the goggles that sat proudly on top of Noxite’s head. This was going to be fun.

He was very tempted to try and retreat in an attempt to escape the oncoming trouble he was about to get into. However, he was in the unfortunate position where he was pretty sure he would just fall over if he tried to move on his own, and based on Jimmy’s chuckles he wasn’t about to help him retreat anytime soon.

“Scott!” Lauren shouted, walking straight for him at pace intent in her eyes, Noxite at her side matching her step by step. He could see the exact moment when the pair noticed his bloody state. They stumbled to a stop, still several steps away as their eyes widened, then they crossed the last part of the gap even quicker than the first. “Are you alright? What happened? What did you do?” The last question showed exactly how well Lauren knew him.

He was very prepared to try and come up with excuse to wave his injuries away, but Jimmy beat him to answering. “He decided to be a self-sacrificing idiot and killed himself with a magic sword to stop his demon brother. He didn’t even properly respawn, hence the wound.”

Scott shot him a betrayed look, he thought he could trust Jimmy to protect him! Jimmy just shrugged unrepentant, he wasn’t willing to risk Lauren and Nox’s wrath by lying to them.

“There is so much to unpack in that statement.” Noxite said, arms crossed with a raised eyebrow at Scott who winced, once again feeling like a little kid getting in trouble. “But I’m going to start off by saying - You’re an idiot Scott.”

“It’s been mentioned, yes.” Scott muttered. He might have not killed himself if he knew this was how everyone was going to react.

“Scott Smajor! What were you thinking?!” Lauren had apparently decided to take a more aggressive approach, “How dare you try and die on us!”

Noxite snorted at that, “If you were dead who’s going to create my MCC teams?”

Scott rolled his eyes at that, biting back a bittersweet smile as he remembered what he’d told Xornoth, “I’m sure you could find someone else to do that Nox.”

The four of them were interrupted by the rest of the group making their way over to join them where they’d been lurking near the broken portal. Tango whistled lowly upon seeing the state Scott was in. “Yikes Smajor, what happened to you?”

“I decided to try and protect my friends which makes me an idiot … or so everyone’s told me.” Scott sighed, all remaining energy draining out of him with every passing second.

“And being an idiot involves a gaping wound in the stomach?” Bdubs spoke up, clearly confused and too curious to let the matter go.

“The idiot decided to stab himself with a magic sword which almost left him perma-dead.” Gem explained for him, arms crossed, the gasps from the rest of the group that hadn’t already heard the story made him wince.

“Perma-dead? How’s he here then?” Seapeekay asked, eyes scanning Scott worriedly, question directed at Gem. “Not that I’m not glad!” He quickly added as he realised how his question sounded. “I’m very glad he’s safe and not dead!”

Gem turned her eyes on Scott with a searching gaze that made his squirm, “Magic. Apparently. We’re not quite sure but we’re not questioning it.” Gem was absolutely going to question it, just not at this second.

Scott hadn’t been given a chance to divulge any details of his death and subsequent dream world, let alone how he came back. Mostly due to the server collapse, but he had a feeling he was going to be interrogated on those topics later. He hadn’t decided how much he wanted to tell them yet, there were still some things about him that they didn’t know after all. He shared a quick glance with Nox who nodded his understanding – they’d talk later.

Cleo clapped her hands together, much like a teacher, drawing everyone’s eyes to her. “We can catch up later. We need to figure out where these guys are going to stay in the meantime while they set up a new sever. I presume you’re wanting to set up a new server, at least?” She looked to Fwhip for the last part, as he had been admin for Empires, but it was Scott who answered.

“Yes.” Everyone’s attention was back on him, “It’s my turn to be admin, but it’s going to take some time before I can set up a server.” He and Fwhip were the only two with admin powers in their group and usually took turns to be admin for the servers they hosted. It was just a tradition at this point as it gave them both down time without having to worry constantly about all the extra responsibilities that came with being admin.

“Do you have anywhere to stay in the meantime?” Impulse asked, glancing around the now serverless players. They could technically stay in some of the hub accommodation but that wasn’t good for the long term and they didn’t know how long it would take to set up the new server.

“Gem and I are going to be spending the time on Hermitcraft, obviously.” Pearl spoke up, nodding to the hermits. Season nine was going to be starting within the next few days and Xisuma had already set up a place for them to stay before then, so that was two of them sorted.

Fwhip glanced at his sister, glad she had somewhere to go, but already resigning himself to being on separate servers again. “I was thinking about setting up a hardcore world to try and explore some of the new updates.” He shrugged, “I guess now would work to do it.”

“Oh, oh, oh! Sausage perked up, “I was thinking about that too! Snap!”

“Ooh, that sounds like a good idea. I’m going to try one too.” Shubble decided. That accounted for five of them.

Joel shrugged, “I can spend it on Grian’s hardcore server, I wanted to go bother him anyway. I think Scar’s going to join us as well.” The hermits chuckled at that, already picturing Grian’s (amusing) reaction to Joel and Scar invading the world he’d been talking about.

Katherine nodded, “I was thinking about starting a modded 1.18 world, now’s just a good time as any.”

Pix shrugged, “I’ve been staying with Zloy as I create my survival guide. I don’t think he’ll have an issue with me staying longer.”

“Joey?” Fwhip asked, turning to one of the remaining four players who hadn’t revealed their plans yet.

“I think I’m going to catch up with some old friends, I can stay with one of them.” Joey answered with a shrug, hand going to grab his communicator out his pocket to type out a message.

Lizzie and Jimmy shared a glance, neither quite sure where they could go, neither of them keen to start a hardcore world.

Seapeekay spoke up to save them, “Lizzie, Jimmy, and Scott are welcome to stay with me and Oli.” He offered giving a smile at the three remaining players, Oli nodding his agreement at his side.

Lizzie smiled gratefully, “Thanks Callum, we’d appreciate it.”  

“Actually, Scott will be coming back to the MCC server with me. I want to keep an eye on him and we’ve got an event coming up soon anyway.” Nox interrupted, not giving Scott a chance to protest, as he dropped a hand to settle on Scott’s shoulder.

They both knew he could have gone to Origins SMP but there was always a chance that Wilbur and Tommy would decide to restart at any point (as they’d proven they were prone to). Scott rolled his eyes at Nox, aware this was just an excuse for him to interrogate Scott on what had happened, but didn’t protest. MCC was somewhere that had become consistent for him, it was familiar and dare he say it … home. Plus, Nox was right, he did have teams to make up for the upcoming event.

Fwhip nodded, “Great, that’s everyone sorted then. Scott?” He turned to the wounded member of the group, “You’ll message us when everything’s ready?”

Scott nodded, “Of course. I’ll send you all the information as soon as I have it. Callum, Oli, Lauren? You three want to join us again this time?” The three had taken a break this time, not joining them in favour of having some time to chase other adventures, but the option was always open.

Lauren snorted, “If you think I’m letting you get into any more trouble without me, than you really are an idiot.”

“We’re in.” Seapeekay grinned, glad for the invitation. “Maybe Oli will even remember to come on more than a few times.” The group laughed as Oli let out dramatic protests at the perceived slight against his honour.

With that the group started to disperse; people saying their goodbyes and starting to leave to their new destinations. The exhaustion was setting in for all of them and a safe bed was sounding more and more appealing with every passing second.

Scott watched them all go, muttering his goodbyes and trying to ignore the concerned glances that kept dipping to the bloody bandages. He was practically running on empty at this point. Nox took up Jimmy’s previous position, allowing him to lean heavily against the other man as Jimmy was dragged away by his sister as she spoke to Seapeekay, Oli trailing beside the trio laughing at Jimmy.

Jimmy managed to shoot him a smile before he got too far out of view, which he answered with his own. They were both safe and alive; they’d get another chance to finish their conversation and maybe actually address all the unspoken things soon.

“Ready to go home?” Scott’s attention was dragged away from Jimmy by Nox. Slowly but steadily, they started shuffling the opposite way down the corridor towards the MCC server portal. It was right next to the MCC practise server and while both were whitelist only, the MCC server only let in the Noxcrew, Scott himself, and their select team of testers during periods between events. It would give them a chance to find some peace, and was a safe space to hide for a while.

“Yeah.” Scott found himself answering as they approached the portal, “Let’s go home.”

Chapter Text

Nox helped him stumble his way past the colourful decision dome. They moved slowly through the lobby down the path towards the crew housing which sat near the edge of the server, hidden away from contestants and audience members alike. It was only the crew themselves that knew of its existence, not out of secrecy it just wasn’t relevant to other players, as only the crew ever used it.

Scott couldn’t help the smile that graced his face upon seeing the familiar row of little cottages, each decorated to their owner’s taste. His was near the end, a cute little wooden cottage in his normal colour palette with a well-cared for garden. Small and cosy, big enough for him and a guest if needed. A home during the long days planning, during the time between servers, a home where he could be himself.

“C’mon Scott, almost there.” Nox muttered as they staggered down the end of the path, he knocked open the door with his foot and led Scott to the couch, gently helping him lie down, which was only slightly awkward with his wings. He stepped back, inspecting Scott for a second before shaking his head and moving around through the cottage. He’d been a visitor often enough to know his way around.

Scott shook his head to himself as he listened to Nox move around the cottage, muttering himself. He was enjoying the moment of peace, very aware of the interrogation that was about to ensue when Nox was done … with whatever he was doing. Everything had happened so quickly that he hadn’t really been given a chance to deal with it – the server had started collapsing, Xornoth had come back, he’d died, trapped himself in a dream world, came back from said dream world, escaped the crumbling server barely, and then been semi-kidnapped by Nox. It was a lot to deal with individually, let alone all together.

“Aha!” Nox announced his return. He emerged triumphantly back into the main room of the cottage; a basin, towels, bandages and pile of clothes delicately balanced in his arms. “Let’s get you cleaned up. I don’t think blood stains are part of your aesthetic Scott.”

“Not really no.” Scott grimaced at the reminder of the bloodstained clothes he was currently wearing. Nox helped him remove his top, and the bloodied bandages - who he still didn’t know put them on him. There was a comfortable silence between them as Nox carefully cleaned the site of the sword wound, muttering in disapproval at the sight of it, Scott wincing in pain every so often. Gently, but securely, he wrapped a layer of clean bandages around the now cleaned wound and chucked the bloodied clothes and bandages to the side to deal with later.

“Here.” Nox chucked a Noxcrew hoodie in Scott’s face, “Put this on.” Scott grumbled at the sight of the red hoodie with the familiar MCC logo but put it on, enjoying the comfort and familiarity it provided. It wasn’t his preferred colour, and it was a bit awkward (and painful) to pull his wings through the slits cut in the back, but it was better than the bloodied clothes he’d previously been wearing. He’d need to have a proper shower later but this would do for now. Nox and he needed to talk, and based on the look Nox as giving him – he wasn’t willing to wait any longer.

“So …” Scott started, trailing off as shuffled himself (with only a few winces) into a sitting position, messy wings tucked in tightly to his back as Nox settled into an armchair across from him. Apparently, interrogation time was here.

“So,” Nox mimicked with a raised eyebrow, then sighed, “What happened Scott?”

“We’re getting straight into it then.” Scott sighed, “It was Xornoth.”

Nox blinked at that name, recognising it from the stories Scott had mentioned in the rare moments he talked about his past. “Your brother? I thought he was dead.”

Scott shook his head, “I think it would have been kinder if he was. No, Exor corrupted him, made him his champion. Turned him into a demon that terrorised our server until …”

“Until…” Nox prompted.

“Until he trapped me. He was going to trap me in a crystal like we had to him, then he was going to cause chaos on the server. He was going to hurt the others.” Scott sighed, not meeting Nox’s eyes.

“So, you decided to stop him.” Nox continued bluntly, aware of Scott’s self-sacrificing attitude when it came to the people he cared about the most.

“Yes.”

“And the only way to do that, was to kill yourself?” Nox raised an eyebrow.

“We were linked. If I died, then so did he. I was trapped with no way out, the only option I had was to turn my sword on myself. The sword was something called the Rune Blade - a weapon known to sever your soul from your body and send it to an afterlife of the wielder’s choosing.” Scott explained. “I was stuck in a sort of dream world until the group removed it, but … I was dead to them. No pulse, no breath, nothing.”

Nox let out a sharp exhale, “Scott! You were dead! That shouldn’t even be possible! You’re …” Nox trailed off, hands gesturing in the air as emphasis.

“A god? I know, but I wasn’t born that way Noxite. That sword is ancient, with powerful magic … dangerous magic.” Scott’s eyes met Nox, unusually serious.

Scott’s from flickered briefly; one moment he was the graceful winged elf he currently was, the next his hair and eyes were purple and he was covered in stars; then he looked almost human apart from twirling lights of green around his head that changed to yellow then red; then his eyes were blinding yellow matching the streak in his hair as he seemed to glow with blinding light, then he was completely other. Not even recognisable as human, eyes in wrong places, extra limbs in strange areas, something distinctly not human. His form continued to flicker, as everything around the pair faded only to be replaced by a snowy house, then a custom cave in a giant mountain, then the darkness of the deep dark, then a blinding light, a hobbit hole in a flower field, followed by a palace far underwater, then void. Black, cold, unforgiving void.

Scott took a deep breath, and the MCC cottage returned as Scott’s form settled with him looking almost human, the giant wings the only strange thing remaining. Even his elf ears reduced to look more like a normal human. He more often than not kept his wings when changing forms, allowing everyone to make the incorrect assumption that he was simply an avian. The actual design of his wings often changed, but he liked the snowy owl wings he had at the moment, so they stayed.

No one had ever questioned the way his appearance changed between servers, it wasn’t exactly unusual amongst their friends, and they were too kind to pry if he didn’t want to talk about it as he so clearly didn’t. Still, he didn’t usually try to make it so obvious what he was. But Nox had known him a long time. Nox knew him because of what he was.

“What happened to it? The sword?” Nox asked, tone just as serious as Scott’s. A weapon like that out in the world was dangerous, and not something they could afford.

“I don’t know.” Scott admitted, “But no one had it when we left the server. It must have been destroyed alongside it.”

“That’s not good, Scott. If there’s even a chance that thing escapes the destruction… A weapon like that?” Nox muttered worriedly.

“A sword that can kill gods.” Scott said solemnly, “Is not a weapon that can be left to chance.” But it was also not something they could do anything about right now. The Rune Blade was a problem for future Scott; present Scott just wanted a nap.

“No, it’s not.” Nox agreed, then paused for a moment. “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

It startled a laugh out of Scott, and the pain it caused was almost worth it (he really needed to find a potion for it, but he could last a bit longer first). “I told you Nox, I’m sure you could find someone else to create your teams.”

Nox smirked, “Who better to choose my teams than the god of champions? There’s a reason I tracked you down all those years ago.” When Scott raised an eyebrow at that, he waved a hand, “And god of all the other stuff too, I know, it just isn’t relevant.”

Nox’s expression dimmed, “Are you doing alright, Scott? A lot has happened in a short period of time.”

Scott grimaced, if it was anyone else, he would try to lie but Nox knew him well enough to see through any lie he could try to come up with. “Not yet … but I think I will be, with some time.” His eyes were sad as he turned his gaze out the window, looking but not really seeing, “Seeing Xornoth again, after so long, was … difficult. I rebuilt Rivendell to try and get some peace with my past, I didn’t expect to have it haunt me in the way it did. But it will be okay. It has to be.”

Nox nodded in understanding at that, his eyes caught Scott’s wings and his expression turned to a grimace. “We can finish talking later when you’ve had a chance to rest. Do you want some help with your wings?”

Scott glanced over his shoulder, quickly being reminded of the sorry state his wings were in. There was no way he could fix them all himself, “If you don’t mind?”

Nox smiled fondly, “I think I can find the time to spare.” He moved forward as Scott shuffled himself round so Nox could reach his wings. Things were going to be okay; it might just take some time.

Over two weeks later, Scott was revising the newest MCC teams for the last time. He wanted to check over them one last time before he set out to deliver the prepared invitations. He was biting the pen lid as he scribbled over some of his notes, checking that he had balanced the teams enough to not face much backlash.

With a confident nod he decided they were finally done. Creating the teams had been a good distraction from everything that had happened, and one of the only things he was allowed to do under Nox’s strict rules for his recovery. As much as he hated to admit it, it had helped. The inactivity had given his wound a chance to heal and him some time to rest without too many worries.

Scott shuffled the invitations around on his desk, organising them by server. It was a tradition at this point that he hand delivered them to all participants, and it was a job he enjoyed as it gave him a chance to catch up with several friends he rarely got to see outside of events. It had sparked the (very amusing) rumours that Scott could find you everywhere and anywhere you were, no matter the server. Even whitelists couldn’t stop him. Being the god of champions certainly helped in that aspect, but no one needed to know that. Another thing that helped was his ability to jump servers without using the hub portals, an ability that not even admins possessed, but one that made his job so much easier.

Grabbing the piles of invitations, he shoved them into a satchel which he slung over his shoulder as he made his way to the door of his cottage. Making his way down the path towards the lobby and the decision dome, he was greeted by many familiar faces – he waved back to all the Noxcrew members who greeted him on his way.

He didn’t technically need to go to spawn to jump servers but it was a tradition at this point. Nox was waiting at spawn, arms crossed as he watched Scott approach. “Invitations ready to go?”

Scott lifted the satchel up slightly, “Yep! All done, and I think they’re my most balanced ones yet.”

Nox nodded in acknowledgement, “Are you sure you’re ready to be server hoping?”

“Yes, Nox.” Scott rolled his eyes, even if he was touched by the concern. “I’m not a little kid, and I’m almost all healed up.”

“Almost.” Nox didn’t miss Scott’s choice of words, raising an eyebrow.

“Nox.” Scott pressed. Crossing his own arms, with a stubborn glare.

Nox sighed, “Fine, just be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“You’re never careful.” Nox countered with a snort, “I swear you enjoy it.”

Scott smirked, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh.” Nox didn’t believe any of it based on his expression but he wasn’t going to push it for once. “Go on then, I’ll see you later.”

“See you later Nox.” Scott grinned, and with that he disappeared.

Travelling through the void between servers was always an unusual experience. To most players, the void was a cold and dark abyss waiting to swallow anyone careless enough to fall into it. That wasn’t how it was with Scott. The abyss was warm and comforting, a familiar embrace as he moved between worlds, it almost seemed to cradle him and he couldn’t help but grin as he took a deep breath, “I’ve missed you too.”

Focusing his attention back on the mission, he moved with a purposed through the void towards his first destination - Hermitcraft.

Season 9 had started and the Hermits were up to their normal craziness - Gem and Pearl had happily shared the news in the group chat they all still shared. Hermitcraft was always one of Scott’s favourite places to visit, the Hermits were a crazy group of people who created amazing builds, and despite them being in the relatively early days, he could already predict the outlandish builds that had already been created.

He appeared at the spawn of the Hermit’s new world, glancing around with a grin as he took a deep breath of fresh air. He was right. A giant tree (which could only be a Scar creation – that man was crazy even by Hermit standards) stood tall on one side of a river that snaked through the spawn. A giant pie factory was sitting across from spawn, a giant eagle perched on an equally massive log was right next door. And they were only a few of the amazing builds he was greeted with. He’d said it once and he’d say it again, the Hermits were crazy. Good crazy, but crazy.

“Hello Smajor.” Xisuma greeted him, approaching from the direction of a large beige castle. Hermitcraft’s admin was one of the few that still greeted him whenever he visited with MCC invitations, and it was a familiar tradition that he enjoyed. “That time again?”

“Hi Xisuma.” Scott grinned, lifting his shoulder bag up slightly, “Yep! That time again. I have invitations for Ren, False, Cub, Pearl, Gem, Scar and Grian. Do you know where I could find them?”

Xisuma nodded, “I think Ren and False were hanging around here last time I saw them, maybe try across at the pie factory? Ren built it and False’s eagle is next door. Scar is likely at his tree, and I heard Cub was lurking in his basement so you’ll likely find the pair over there. Pearl and Gem are basing next to Impulse over there,” He pointed off into the distance, “Just look for the alien landscape and dwarven keep. Grian is in the other direction, just look for the pile of floating giant boulders.”

It was Scott’s turn to nod, listening carefully to Xisuma guide, it made his life much easier to know where to look for the collection of Hermits he needed. “Thanks, I’ll try around here first then. Good to see things are going well for season 9.”

Xisuma chuckled, “Yep! We’re back to normal after the dramatic ending to our last season.” He hesitated for a second before continuing, “Though from what I’ve heard, you had a rather dramatic ending to yours too.”

Scott grimaced at the reminder, “Guess the rumours have been going round then.”

“Having Gem and Pearl around helps.” Xisuma nodded. Rumours weren’t needed when you had first person perspectives of the incident in question.

“Ah. It was certainly one way to end a server.” Scott shrugged. Xisuma raised an eyebrow at him, making Scott question exactly what Gem and Pearl had shared, but he thankfully didn’t pry any further.

“Well then, my friend. Good luck on finding the Hermits you need, and I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” Xisuma waved as he headed back to work, his duty done.

“Thank you Xisuma, I’m sure you will.” With that Scott turned his attention on the factory across the water, deciding Ren and False were his first target.

Thankfully there was a bridge nearby, making the river crossing an easy task. Luckily, he didn’t have to go any further than poking his head in the (very impressive) factory to find his targets.

Ren noticed the non-Hermit immediately, ears perking up as he waved with a loud shout, “Major! Is it MCC invite time already?” False turned around from where she’d been talking with Ren, back to the door, giving her own wave upon spotting Scott.

“Hi Scott.” False’s welcome was less exuberant but no less welcoming.

“Hello False, hello Ren. Yes, it’s that time again. Got two matching invites for you right here.” Scott fished around in his bag to find the appropriate invites, passing them out to the pair that had come to meet him at the door. “Impressive builds by the way, not that I expect any different from you lot anymore.”

“Ooh, exciting! And thanks, got lots of plans this season.” Ren happily grabbed his invite, tail wagging unconsciously in excitement.

“I have no doubts about that.” Scott smiled, before turning to leave, “Well, I’ll see you soon. Got lots more invites to hand out today.”

“Thanks Scott.” False waved him off as Ren was distracted tearing open his invite, “See you soon!”

Scott chuckled at the pair as he wandered off down the bank of the river, heading towards a cobble bridge that would let him cross the river again next to Scar’s mega tree. He gazed around in awe at Scar’s landscaping skills as he wandered down the carefully built paths around the beautiful tree. With a mischievous grin he spotted Scar facing away from him, unable to help himself he snuck up closer to the player in question.

“Hey Scar!” He exclaimed once he was right behind the man (elf? Were those elf ears that he was wearing? When had that happened?)

“Ah!” Scott snickered as he received a patented Scar shriek for his anticks. “Smajor!” Scar whipped round, hand on his (racing) heart only to spy the culprit.

“Sorry Scar, couldn’t help myself.” He grinned, grabbing out Scar’s invite from his bag and holding it out as a peace offering, “I have your MCC invite. Do you know if Cub’s around?”

Scar’s eyes lit up upon seeing the invite, immediately reaching out to grab it, “Thank you! Oh, Cub’s working on some kind of redstone contraption at the moment, probably best not to disturb him. I can pass it on if you want?”

“That would be great, thank you.” Scott passed along Cub’s invite as well, glad to have two more sorted. “I’ll see you during the tournament then.”

“Thanks again!” Scar shouted with a wave as Scott retreated away from the tree, past a giant boulder and overgrown vault. Gem and Pearl were next on his list.

Adjusting the bag on his shoulder he set out on what was guaranteed to be a long stroll across the (admittedly beautiful) continent, with only a vague idea of Gem and Pearl’s location from Xisuma’s introduction. He didn’t mind the walk though, enjoying the time to himself with the occasional amazing structure breaking up the natural scenery.

Thankfully it wasn’t that long before what could only be the ‘dwarven keep’ Xisuma described came into view. Large tower frameworks sat on top of the mountain in Gem’s familiar style, and across the water was Pearl’s signature landscaping – this time focused more in an alien style. He’d reached his next goal.

With a smile, he made his way froward towards the towers on top of the dwarven keep figuring he was more likely to find Gem there than try to navigate Pearl’s alien landscape. He gazed up at the towers which were only half built; the Hermits were amazing builders but even they weren’t that quick and it still was relatively early days.

“Scott?” The familiar sound of rockets being set off and the whistle of elytra signalled the arrival of a Hermit. However, the voice told him that it wasn’t one of the ones he was looking for, but it was a friendly face.

“Hey Impulse.” Scott grinned at the Hermit as he landed with only a little stumble in front of him. “I don’t suppose Gem or Pearl are around?”

“MCC team time already?” Impulse grinned, noticing the satchel. “I think they were working in the nether last I heard, but I can message them if you’d like?”

“That would be great, thanks Impulse.” Scott nodded as Impulse immediately pulled out his communicator typing out a message to the other two parts of the soup trio. “Your build looks amazing by the way.”

“Thanks, Smajor! I’m working on a dwarven theme this season if you couldn’t tell and Gem’s doing a matching elven one up here.” Impulse hesitated, “How are you doing? Ya know … with how things ended.”

Scott snorted. Apparently, he should be prepared for everyone to have heard what had happened. He really should have expected that, gossip moved quick in their circles and Impulse had been around to see them straight after their escape. “That’s one word for it, I’m a bit nervous to ask what Gem and Pearl have told you. But I am doing as well as I can, I guess.”

Impulse nodded his understanding, “I get that feeling, after season eight’s … destructive … ending I think we all do.”

Scott winced at the reminder, “How are Gem and Pearl doing by the way? Having two servers destroyed in such quick succession can’t have been fun.” He hadn’t talked to the rest of the group much; they’d all done their best to distract themselves. Creating MCC teams always took time and brain power, add on that he’d been looking into other server ideas in the small amounts of free time he found meant he didn’t have to think about everything that had occurred – something he was glad for.

Impulse grimaced then sighed, “They’re doing as well as they can, but they’ve got lots of support here for when they need it.”

“Good.” Scott nodded, “I’m glad.” The support of their friends was invaluable, especially in times like this.

The pair were interrupted by thundering footsteps. In sync the two whipped around to find Pearl and Gem running across the hill towards them at pace. They’d gotten Impulse’s message then.

“Scott!” Gem cried, tackling Scott in a running hug. The pair were sent tumbling to the ground as Pearl smirked, coming to a stop next to Impulse as they watched the pair on the ground.

“Hi Scott.” Pearl laughed.

“Hi Pearl.” Scott groaned, he may be mostly healed but a tackle like that still hurt, “Hi Gem.”

“Oops, sorry Scott!” Gem scrambled off the other, and offering a helping hand to help Scott back to his feet. “How are you doing? Are you all healed up? Any lasting side effects? Oh, we still know nothing about the magic …” She started rambling, gesturing wildly.

“Gem, Gem, Gem!” Scott interrupted with fond exasperation, “I’m okay, almost healed up and no obvious side effects. Your builds are looking great.” He attempted to distract the overeager former-wizard (now elf? Was there a trend he’s missed or something?), talking about their builds was always a great way to do it.

“Thank you!” Gem grinned, perking up and making her way over to the laughing Impulse and Pearl.

“So, what are you here for Scott?” Pearl asked. “Friendly visit?”

It was Scott’s turn to laugh, “Afraid not.” He dug out the appropriate invitations from his bag, “It’s almost MCC time and I have two invites for you, right here.”

“Ooh, I forgot about MCC.” Pearl grinned, happily grabbing the offered invite. “This will be fun!”

“MCC is always a great time. Thanks Scott!” Gem tore open her invite with a matching grin.

“No worries. Not to be rude but I have lots of invites to still hand out, so I need to be heading. Do you know the best way to Grian’s base?” Scott asked, as much as he loved Hermitcraft he still had lots of places to visit, lots of people to talk to and limited time to do it all in.

“Ah, you’re looking for the collection of floating rocks then.” Impulse grinned, “The best way’s probably through the nether, it should be relatively safe with all the tunnels that have been built and the portals are usually labelled.”

“Good to know, thanks. I’ll ty the nether then.” Scott nodded at the dwarf; both the women were busy chatting happily about their invites behind them.

“Nice to see you as always Smajor!” Impulse waved goodbye as Scott started heading towards where Impulse indicated the portal was, “Just shout if you get lost!”

“Will do. Thanks again!” Scott waved as he found Gem’s portal, the familiar feeling of inter dimensional travel quickly taking over all other sensations. Thankfully, Impulse was right and the tunnels were fairly easy to navigate. He only got turned around a few times on his way to Grian’s base, which was a real bonus.

“Woah!” His eyes widened in surprise as he exited the portal back to the overworld. Grian’s portal was suspended high in the air – easy to reach for anyone with wings but almost certain death for anyone unprepared. Scott shook his head, that was so typical Grian.

Suddenly very thankful for his wings, he glided down to the rocky bridge, gracefully landing and turning back to get an overview of Grian’s base. Xisuma and Impulse’s descriptions of floating rocks made a lot more sense upon seeing exactly that in front of him. The Hermits really were a crazy bunch.

“Scott? What are you doing here?” Grian’s face popped up from the building sitting on the main body of the biggest rock, from the looks of it he’d been going through the chests and shulkers that littered the area. Upon spotting Scott, he closed the chest and made his way out to the bridge to meet him, his own brightly coloured parrot wings tucked close to his back.

Scott gave him a little wave as he approached, “Hey Grian. I have your invite to MCC.” He dug through his bag, drawing out the last of the invites marked for Hermitcraft.

“Ooh! Thank you.” Grian grabbed the invite eagerly, “Who am I teamed with this time?”

Scott chuckled, “You’ll have to open it to find out.” He was turning, ready to leave back through the stunning floating portal as he figured Grian would immediately go to open his invite. He was stopped by a hand latching onto his wrist. He halted his movement, turning back to look at Grian confused.

Grian’s invite was in his other hand, unopened and almost forgotten as he looked at Scott, expression unusually serious. “Wait, Scott. Can we talk?”

“Okay?” Scott replied, unsure where this was going. “Is everything okay Grian?” Grian didn’t reply, instead he glanced around, searching the surroundings for anyone who could potentially eavesdrop which piqued Scott’s curiosity.

Deciding it was clear but not willing to risk it, he waved at Scott to follow him and flew up to his portal. Scott followed him as instructed, settling beside Grian who perched on top of the floating series of rocks that made up his portal decoration, legs swinging childishly through the air.

They sat in silence for several moments, just gazing out into the distance. After a while, Scott couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer. “What do you want to talk about Grian?” As much as he was enjoying the view, he had lots of other places to cover today.

“You remember everything, don’t you?” Grian answered his question with another. Scott didn’t need to question what he meant though, expression sinking.

“Ah.” It was going to be one of those conversations then. “Yes, you know I do.” They’d talked during the early days of the second death game; Scott had covered Grian in secrecy and revealed that he remembered the first death game before grilling him for information about how it was all happening again.

“But why?” Grian asked, shaking his head, “I remember the first game because I won, and the second because of … because they wanted me too. You remember the second game because you won, but how do you remember the first? Why?” Scott may not be close friends with Grian, but he likely knew more than most his close friends about his life between Evolution and Hermitcraft.

Scott knew exactly why. Being a deity meant he was on a similar if not higher level of power than the Watchers that Grian was running from. He knew why he kept his memories but he didn’t know how they had managed to drag him into the games to begin with. He didn’t tell Grian that, “I don’t know.”

Grian was gesturing frantically with his hands, wings ruffled in his agitation. “I’m missing something. What am I missing?” He muttered to himself.

“What’s this actually about Grian?” Scott asked bluntly, something was bothering Grian, something bigger than missing memories.

“Hermitcraft ended in an apocalyptic event with the moon crashing down on us. Then Empires ends in destruction and server collapse. Two big servers ending dramatically and in quick succession; both hosting most of the people that took part in the death games. Neither server has ever ended like that before.” Grian explained, eyes burning as he stared Scott down. “The timing is weird.”

Scott bit his lip as he thought. “You think it’s all connected?”

Grian nodded, “I’m just saying we never found out why we were all chosen for the games, or how.”  Some people made sense – Grian himself and the other former Evolutionists - Martyn, Jimmy, BigB and Pearl - but why were certain hermits chosen and not others? Why were Skizzle, Joel, Lizzie, and himself all chosen?

Scott sighed, “It is strange, but I don’t know if … if they have that power.” Names had powers and Grian was being careful not to invoke any watching eyes so he would be courteous and do the same.

“I just don’t like it.” Grian sighed, “I want it to be over.”

“But you don’t think it is?” Scott grimaced; he wasn’t sure he should be glad that he wasn’t alone in that feeling, but he couldn’t help it.

“Do you?” Grian asked with a searching gaze.

“No, no I don’t.” Scott agreed. Grian’s theory was worrying, and unfortunately something he’d thought about too in quiet moments.

“When does this all end?” Grian asked the empty air, the fight draining out of him.

Scott sighed, “I don’t know. We should be careful but don’t let it ruin your time here, Grian. We can’t live in fear of what might happen.”

Grian grimaced, “I know. I just don’t like it.”

“None of us do, but that doesn’t mean there’s much we can do about it.” Scott answered before hesitating, “You know the others would support you if you told them?”

That made Grian hesitate, “I know. In theory I know that but I just can’t bring myself to tell them … I just can’t.”

Scott nodded his understanding, “Well I’m here if you need anything, but I think you should tell them. If we told them what we were really dealing with we might be able to do something about it. There’s very little a group of determined players can’t do, and between all of us? Well, I think they are the ones that should be scared.”

“I’ll think about it.” Grian nodded, “And I’m not just saying that.”

“Good.” Scott stood up, stretching his wings as he enjoyed the slight breeze. “Well, I’ll see you during MCC.” He got ready to take off, figuring he would just fly back to spawn (he was pretty sure he knew which direction to fly in), he looked back first to find Grian still sitting there staring worriedly into the distance, “Just think about what I said, okay Grian?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Grian gave a forced smile, “Thanks again for the invite, Scott. I’ll see you at MCC.”

“See you soon.” Scott nodded as he launched himself into the air, enjoying the familiar feeling of the wind in his feathers. It was nice to be able to fly without the lingering pain from the incident, and making his way back to spawn let him have a moment of peace to consider his conversation with Grian.

His theory was worrying. The Watchers were no small fish, and the death games had been weighing heavily on his mind for some time. As much as he’d talked about doing something, he wasn’t sure what they could actually do. They were a well-connected and influential group as far as players went; but a runaway Watcher, a hiding god and a collection of hybrids and other semi-famous players weren’t going to do much against a cult (for lack of better words) of powerful, disillusioned eldritch beings with the ability to see and influence servers.   

It didn’t help that only Grian and Scott held their memories of the time playing the death games; while the others deserved a full explanation, it was a long story that would take some time to share.

Seeing spawn appear in front of him, he came in for a graceful landing, pushing the matter out of his mind for the moment. That was a problem for future Scott. First, he had to sort out these MCC invites.

With a second of concentration, he found himself back in the void between worlds, enjoying the comforting embrace as he quickly planned out his next destination. He gave himself a moment to brace himself for the chaos that always ensued whenever he was brave enough to visit the Dream SMP. He wriggled his fingers to get feeling back in them (the void always left a weird after feeling) as he appeared on solid land once again, and adjusted his satchel as he mentally went through who he needed to find here.

The difference between the Hermitcraft spawn and Dream SMP spawn was immediately visible. Large mega-builds like those created on Hermitcraft didn’t tend to last long on the Dream SMP, not with all the tnt happy arsonists on the server, or the teenagers (both were equally troublesome). But the SMP was no less amazing in its own ways (if not more troubled at times).

He made his tour around the server quickly, not lingering longer than pleasantries and handing out the invites. As much as he was friends with many of them, he’d lost enough time in Hermitcraft to spend too much here. Thankfully, no one asked any questions about what had happened – either the rumours hadn’t reached here yet or they were too kind to inquire further.

He delivered the rest of the invites quickly, bouncing between worlds in his normal fashion and finding the relevant players as swiftly as he could. He just wanted to be back in his bed at this point; get a chance to enjoy the few days of peace before the tournament itself started and maybe spend some time working on the new server.

Conversations with Fwhip, Katherine, Shubble and Joel took a bit longer than the others. All eager to check on Scott, inform him about their latest adventures and ask about how the new server was coming along.

Soon he was left with just one server left; Seapeekay, Oli and Jimmy’s invites weighed heavily in his almost empty satchel. As he floated in the dark abyss of the void, he gathered the remaining energy he had in preparation. With a deep breath he forced himself to appear.

Callum and Oli’s world was simple, a decent sized cottage cobbled together in a peaceful world. A collection of animals was moving around in wooden pens, and a wheat farm grew slowly nearby.  Scott couldn’t help but smile at the little world Callum and Oli had made, it was peaceful here and a nice place to spend time recovering from the chaos they were used to. It had given the pair time to focus on their other interests as they took a break from being on a big server with the rest of them.

As he wandered down the rough path towards the cottage, the door opened and Jimmy exited. He didn’t notice Scott’s approach, instead he made his way to the wheat farm and started to harvest the fully grown pieces. With a mischievous grin Scott snuck closer, taking advantage of Jimmy’s concentration on the task at hand.

“Hey Jimmy!” Jimmy’s shriek as he jumped slightly, trampling some of the crops by accident, sent him cackling. Jimmy whipped around, harvested wheat still hung loosely in one hand as he spotted Scott.

“Scott!” Jimmy exclaimed, forgetting the wheat as he moved to greet his former husband. “What are you doing here? Is the server ready already?”

Scott calmed down, still grinning at his little prank but no longer cackling (scaring Jimmy was always fun, just like scaring Scar). “Not yet, I have MCC invites for you, Callum and Oli.” He grabbed Jimmy’s out and held it out.

“Ooh, is that what you’ve been cooped up doing since we all parted?” Jimmy asked, reaching for the offered invite.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that.” Scott grinned, “Where’s everyone else?”

Jimmy glanced back at the cottage, “They’ve gone exploring, I think they mentioned something about trying to find an amethyst geode for some reason? I decided to stay behind and look after things.”

Scott took out the last two invites, “Can I leave these with you then?” He offered the invites to Jimmy, as much as he wouldn’t mind seeing the others, he didn’t really have time to wait around for them to come back.

“Sure.” Jimmy agreed happily, grabbing the last two invites. “How … How are you doing?”

Scott sighed; he’d known this was coming. “I’m doing better, Nox has had me under strict bed rest until I healed up. How are you and Lizzie dealing?”

Jimmy looked unconvinced but went along with the attempted distraction, “We’re doing okay. Lizzie has some memory issues with the shift back to being mostly human, but we’ve been trying to help her remember. Joel’s visited a lot between causing chaos with Grian and Scar on their hardcore world.”

Scott frowned at the new information. In the rush of leaving the server he’d vaguely noticed Lizzie looked human again but he hadn’t realised there had been memory issues (new memory issues anyway). “Let me know if I can do anything to help with that, I hadn’t realised she’d lost memories.”

Jimmy nodded, “We will do, thanks Scott.” They both hesitated, silence settling as neither was sure what to say.

Scott shuffled, nervously adjusting the satchel with the lack of anything else to do, “Okay then. I’ve got to head back then. Thanks again Jimmy.” He turned to leave again, only slightly hesitant.

“Scott …” Jimmy’s voice made him pause, turning around to face him, several steps away now.

“Yes?” Scott asked.

It was Jimmy’s turn to hesitant, shaking his head, “Never mind. I’ll see you soon.”

Scott nodded reluctantly, “I’ll see you soon.” Apparently, they were going to dance around what they were for a while longer. They weren’t having that conversation today.

This time he didn’t look back as he moved away from the cottage, and then back into the embrace of the void. He lingered there for several minutes, enjoying the familiar safety, before making his way back to the MCC server. He had some research to do and plans to make.

Two weeks later, after an enjoyable MCC, 15 players stood in the midst of one of the numerous World Hub corridors, facing a brand-new active portal. Ten of the former twelve emperors, minus Pearl (who had decided to focus on Hermitcraft for a while) and Pix, who was still busy with other projects, plus Seapeekay, Oli, Lauren, Mika and Megan, were finally ready to join their new server for the first time.

Scott stood at the front of the group, closest to the newly created portal. He had his communicator in hand, scrolling through some information as the rest of the group chattered away. Finally, looking up from his communicator he cleared his throat to catch everyone’s attention.

“Hello everyone. So, I know I sent out all the information a few days ago, but I just wanted to make sure you all knew what you were getting into. This is the time to back out if you’re unsure or wanted to ask some questions.” He rambled a bit nervous. He’d decided to go for a modded server in the end, really wanting to revisit some of his fonder memories.

Lizzie waved her hand dismissively, “Yeah, yeah, yeah Scott. We know what we’re getting into, we wouldn’t be here otherwise.” She was bouncing in her spot, eager to start the new world – as were several other members of the group.

“I just want to make sure you’re all certain.” Scott defended himself, the plug in he’d found to allow them to change their species temporarily was a big change.

“We’re sure Scott.” Gem grinned, “It’ll be fun to get a chance to experience other origins, see how other people live.”

“Yeah!” Shubble cut in, “Walk in someone else’s shoes … literally!”

Scott smiled at the group’s enthusiasm, “Okay, okay. If you’re all sure …” He hesitated for a moment for anyone to bring up their objections, the group stared at him with silent grins, “Well then, I guess I have nothing else to say apart from; Welcome to Afterlife SMP!”

The group let out a loud cheer at his declaration, drawing curious glances from other players wandering past, but they didn’t care. One by one they started trailing through the new portal, getting assigned a new origin and starting their new adventure on a brand-new world.

Scott watched them all go fondly, wanting to make sure they all made it through safely before he entered himself. Lauren was the last to enter, nudging him with her shoulder and a grin on her way past.

Taking a deep breath he took one last glance at the hub corridor around him, then stepped forward into the light. Here they went again, off on a new adventure. One that would hopefully end better than the last.

Time to see what the future would hold.