Work Text:
The first time Grian uses dripstone to hurt someone, it's a last resort. He had been following Scar around the server for hours—if not days—and the man still hadn’t realized they were soulmates.
“Scar, I’ve got something really important to show you,” he shouted, placing a piece of dripstone on a low-hanging tree branch. “I’ve found a new trick, it’s really important.”
No response, except for cooing and the sound of bamboo being eaten by pandas.
“SCAR!”
“They didn’t breed Grian!”
An exasperated laugh bubbled out before he replied, “Come over here and stop messing with the pandas!”
Scar made his way toward Grian, pandas and Jellie following behind.
“...But could you explain why they didn’t breed?”
“SCAR!”
The taller man looked up, pointed dripstone staring back from above him as he asked, “Oh, why am I doing this?”
“Now look–, look directly at me.”
Grian swung his pickaxe at the base of the dripstone, sending it crashing into Scar’s head.
Crack!
Pain ran through Grian’s skull, a diluted mirror of what he knew Scar was feeling. He looked up, only to see Scar giggling at a rouge panda pushing his hand for more bamboo.
“Look at ‘em!”
“Scar–”
“Sorry–, ok, I’m looking at you.”
Grian stared at the man in front of him in disbelief.
“Scar–,” Grian started as he glanced down at his health bar, “ok, I can only do this one more.” He placed another stalactite on the tree branch.
“Ready?”
Scar stared at him. “Yeah.”
Grian took a breath and swung the pickaxe.
Crack!
The two men made eye contact as the dripstone hit Scar’s head for the second time.
Silence.
Jellie meowed impatiently.
The panda pushed Scar’s hand again.
Absentmindedly, Grian wiped away a trickle of blood that had started to run down his forehead.
The matching line of blood on Scar’s forehead stayed untouched.
“Oh my god.”
Grian burst into hysterics, cackling while Scar looked down at his hands before looking at Grian, as if looking for a green string of fate connecting them. (Only a Watcher could see the strings, of course, but both people would have to realize the bond for it to appear.)
“THIS WHOLE TIME???”
(Later, while the pair were walking back towards the base Grian built for them, Scar would ask, “Why didn’t you just punch me? Why bother with the dripstone?”
And instead of replying “I can’t stand the thought of punching you”, or “It brings back bad memories”, or even worse “Punching you would bring me right back to the desert and the sun burning above us and the ghosts of our friends cheering for a fight and the fire of being red coursing and tearing through our veins and I don’t think I would be able to live with myself if I had your blood on my knuckles one more time– ”, Grian would simply answer,
“That doesn’t have near enough drama, though, does it?” and laugh.)
The second time Grian uses dripstone to hurt someone, it’s a prank. A misguided prank, but a prank nonetheless.
“Scar,” Grian stood in front of a patch of dirt. “You wanna– you wanna come out of the hole now?”
Above the dirt sat a small bit of dripstone attached to a small overhang.
“I like my cocoon,” a muffled voice answered.
Grian dug out part of the side of the hill, only to meet Scar halfway. The man stood in his small hideout, dirt pieces staining his zookeeper outfit and floating in his hair from a night spent beneath the earth. Jellie briefly stood on his shoulders before meowing and hopping to the ground.
Scar smiled up at him. “Hello.”
Snickering, Grian broke the dirt overhang.
Crack!
Pain wracked through the pair, sending them both to their knees. Through the blood rushing in his ears, Grian could distantly make out the sound of Jellie meowing and circling him before moving to Scar.
He shakily stood up, and after a moment Scar asked, “What was that?”
Grian looked down at their health bar, guilt flooding his system. ‘Two hearts. A prank that nearly killed us.’
“Oh my–, I am so sorry.” A small part of him instantly wondered how this information could be used to get rid of some of the other teams in the world. An even smaller part of him wondered if he should be having these thoughts while not being red.
Scar climbed out of the hole in the hill as Grian walked towards their current base and tried to lighten the mood. “Ok so dripstone, even from like three blocks away, nearly killed us!”
Scar peers back into the hole and the dripstone shards that lie in it before whipping back around the Grian.
“YOU PUT DRIPSTONE OVER MY LITTLE COCOON???”
Grian’s eyes flitted between the clear sky, their measly belongings, even Jellie, who was attempting to climb up Scar’s pant leg. Anywhere but his soulmate’s face.
“... Yeah.”
He summoned the courage to meet Scar’s eyes, only to find his normally expressive face set like stone.
“I’m so sorry–”
Scar broke eye contact before turning to face the cactus next to their hideout.
(Even though neither one knew how the cactus found its way into the middle of an acacia biome, both secretly found comfort in its presence, like a small bit of home in enemy territory.)
Desperate to move on, Grian started, “Ok, right–”
Scar jumped into the cactus.
Grian froze .
Scar met Grian’s eyes again.
Jellie, who despised the cactus with every fiber of her being, sat down at Grian’s feet and meowed up at him.
“Scar, stop.”
The man in question stayed silent, a defiant tilt of his chin present in his stare.
‘You can kill me.’
‘What? No–’
Ice shot down Grian’s spine.
“Scar. Stop.”
No response.
Memories swirled around him, ensnaring him in place.
‘For–, For everything you did for me to keep me alive this long, you may slay me and take the enchanter.’
‘No. I can’t. No I– I literally can’t. I can’t do it.’
Jellie circled Grian’s legs, still meowing.
Grian squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to look at the health bar.
“Scar. Stop!”
He opened his eyes. (If Grian wasn't preoccupied, he might have noticed that their lime green soul string had managed to wrap itself around the cactus, fraying on the spines of the plant.)
Scar met them once more, stare never wavering.
‘Scar, I don’t feel good about this.’
Blood trickled down Grian’s right side, invisible pricks stacking on top of each other.
Jellie continued to cry.
“SCAR. STOP.”
The wind rustled the leaves of the surrounding acacia trees.
Ringing in his ears, Grian tore his eyes away from Scar’s face to gaze at their health bar.
‘Scar, I’m sorry.’
‘I’m sorry too.’
Looking up again, Grian searched for a sign of something, any emotion , on Scar’s face.
The face that stared back could have been carved from marble.
“SCAR, STOP!”
Tears bubbled from Grian’s eyes.
Jellie attempted to climb Grian’s leg.
‘I’m so sorry!’
He looked down at their health bar again. Two hearts.
He willed his feet to move from their spot, slowly sinking into the sand. Or at least, it felt like they were.
“NO!!”
Grian finally lunged towards Scar and broke the cactus, its parts falling into the sand. (The string fell to the ground as well, damaged but alive.)
(Later, after stopping Scar from jumping into another cactus, Grian would overhear the man quietly talking to Jellie in their little hole in the hill while he attempted to get sand out of his boots.
“Look Jels, I’m fine! It was just a couple of scratches.”
A pause.
“No, I wasn’t going to actually… y’know. I just–, I guess I wanted to prove to myself that he still cared– cares about me. That maybe he even–, no, no, that’s dumb. Even if he doesn’t want to be stuck with me, maybe– hopefully, he doesn’t want me to die, either. Although it could be because our lives are literally tied together, huh?”
A wet laugh.
Grian would look down at his right hand, where the green string wraps itself around his fourth finger before winding over to the hole where Scar sat.
“Hey Scar, you ready to go?”
A small sniffle before Scar’s head would pop up. “Yeah! Just had to give Jellie some food.”
Grian would search his face for any indication of the conversation he just overheard.
Nothing.
Scar would pick up the conversation, asking, “So, I heard the pool party was interesting! What did I miss?”
And Grian would smile and joke and ignore the slight red tinge to Scar’s eyes as they go to face the rest of the server.)
The third time Grian uses dripstone to hurt someone, it’s for revenge. Even though Ren technically didn’t kill him and Scar, they did set up the zombie army, and that counts enough, right?
Grian looked out the window again. In the distance, he could see BigB and Ren running towards their house as its face turned to ash. On the floors below, Joel and Etho continued chanting about their ship burning. Next to him, Scar stood watch, rapid heartbeat matching his own. Although if the pace of their heartbeats were from nerves or excitement or simply the now familiar feeling of red running through their bodies, Grian couldn’t tell which.
As Ren and BigB approached, their shouting came floating through the windows.
“This is outrageous! Box cannot go down like this! You ready to go, dude?”
“I’m ready I’m ready I’m ready!”
Above the entrance to their house hung the sharpest stalactite available.
Grian looked at Scar, who nodded eagerly. He brought out his pickaxe before taking a deep breath.
He swung.
Crack!
The dripstone fell for what felt like an eternity.
Then, just as Ren entered the door, the spike met its mark.
As Ren’s body hit the ground, euphoria sparked and snapped through every cell in Grian’s body. (Out of his view, BigB also dropped, clutching his heart.)
The next few minutes were a blur, mainly consisting of Scar all but launching himself down the ladder to loot Ren’s body and Etho and Joel’s comments of disbelief and screaming for joy at the top of his lungs because he hasn’t felt this good since that enchanting table trap ended up working. ‘Ironic, I killed Ren with that one as well.’
Grian opened up his communicator to read everyone’s messages when one in particular stopped him dead in his tracks.
bigbst4tz2 died
The communicator bounced as it hit the cobblestone floor. For a moment, time stood still.
“Oh, BigB I’m so sorry!”
The raw delight and satisfaction that comes from killing as a red life seeped out of Grian from every pore, as acrid as raw sourdough starter.
Climbing down the ladder, Grian slowly reached the bottom floor where Scar was finishing picking up any useful items. Upon seeing Grian, he bounded toward the shorter man, arms full of his secret soulmate's stuff. ‘Does he still count as a secret soulmate if Scar knows?’
Scar dragged Grian to the corner of the room before excitedly whispering, “I got their gear!”
Grian stared.
“We need to have another funeral.”
Scar, to his credit, did not deflate at all. He simply nodded and said “Ok.”
(Later, when they had returned to their base, Scar would sit on the top of the hill and look out on the world, Jellie by his side. Above, the stars would blink sleepily and the grass beside him would wave in the gentle breeze. Grian would be nowhere in sight. When he squinted, he would be able to make out the flickering of a red string tied around his ring finger that snaked its way towards BigB’s grave.
Scar would sigh.)