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It’s been a few days since Scar left Hermitcraft in order to complete the long list of things he needs to buy for his mega base. He really wants to say that it’s been going smoothly, but considering how drenched he is from his own sweat as the words in his comm dance and multiply at the same time, it’s going terribly to say the least.
He shudders as the handle of his cane has never been this drenched of his sweat and right now, he really wants to throw it away even if it means he has to crawl his way through the streets.
Wait, no. That’ll just make his journey slower.
Dang it.
Why the heck did he come to this busy world in the middle of summer, of all times?
Agh, he wants to go home and sleep in his treehouse all day. He wants to cuddle Jellie and caress her fluffy fur for the rest of his life. He wants to be out of this heat already!
But alas, he can’t.
He’s perfectly aware that it’s been a ten-year old dream of his to build a theme park after visiting Disneyland and inspired him to spread joy to the people, but the hurdle is pretty high at the moment. If only he asked a Hermit to at least accompany him, this would’ve been easier.
Well, the past is in the past.
(Reference intended.)
Ugh, just remembering a certain ice castle on a snowy mountain makes him want to escape this scorching heat again!
Focus, Scar!
If he buys all the things sooner, he can liberate himself from this burning sun. Plus, he can say goodbye to this bustling city faster and go back to his comfortable home that is with the Hermits. With a new motivation in mind, his body reinvigorates as he smirks and heads to the next shop.
After what feels like forever, Scar wheezes a heaving breath as he leans to the wall in an alleyway to rest for a few moments. For now, the shade helps alleviate his throbbing headache as he regains his bearings.
Okay, one more item and he can finally get the heck out of th—
Something soft and heavy covers his mouth and nose, preventing him from intaking air as he tries to scream but comes out muffled. He struggles and resists against someone pulling him further into the dark and scary alley but suddenly, strength leaves his body as his limbs become heavier by the second. His eyelids flutter close against his will and everything blacks out.
Scar’s sticky eyelids weakly opens as he groggily regains consciousness. His heavy eyes flutter close but fights the sleepiness with a shake of his head, causing the previous headache to multiply and weakly groans in pain.
Where is he?
Why are his surroundings dark and eerily quiet?
A wave of energy spreads throughout his body once he realizes his perilous situation, heart drumming against his chest as the forming lump clogs in his throat and restricts air from entering his lungs.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
A dark voice echoes as Scar violently jumps in surprise, darting his gaze left to right to try and find the owner but with everything so dark, it’s a fruitless effort.
“W-Who are you? Show yourself!” Scar demands with wide eyes, forces to make his voice even as his trembling body grows cold from anxiety.
Someone emerges from the dark, chocolate messy hair opposing their white bunny ears as their crimson eyes filled with bloodlust and crooked ear to ear grin greets him, causing the chill to run up his spine.
“Hello, Scar Goodtime. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Bunny man greets with a bow.
“How- W-Who are you and how did you know my name?” Scar shrinks into the wall as he stammers, heart skipping a beat as he hears clanking of metal matching his movement.
Scar’s gaze slowly moves down and sees his ankle decorated with a silver ring of the handcuffs, tracing the long chain towards a metallic pipe attached to the wall and sees the other ring.
He’s trapped.
He’s stuck here for the rest of his life.
“I’m just a random guy on the street, don’t worry about it.” Bunny man waves a dismissive hand as he slowly beelines to his direction, loud footsteps the only thing filling the suffocating room.
“If- If that’s true, t-then wh-what do you w-w-want from me?” Scar pleads in a quiet voice, almost a whisper.
Beads of sweat drip from Scar’s forehead as he waits in bated breath for the man to speak up, heart rate increasing in every ticking second as the dead air being left by Bunny man keeps getting thicker and thicker and harder to breathe.
Amidst his blurry vision, he can register a silhouette moving about but with how distorted the detail is, he’s unable to trace or guess where or what the scary man is doing—what he is about to do to Scar.
His chest churn and winces as his cheeks are pinched harshly with one hand, forcing his face to look up with a pull as he’s met face to face with the smiling Bunny man while the latter’s glinting gaze looks more blood red than brown, boring two holes onto his face.
In an instant, something cool is lodged onto his mouth and tries to move his head away from it but with how strong the grip of the man is to his face, he can only muffled scream as the dread twists his stomach further into a knot. He gasps as something liquid continuously flows from the bottle into his mouth and chokes as it’s caught in his throat, tears rapidly escaping through the dams as he’s been forced to drink an unknown substance without any power to resist it.
“There you go. It’s that easy, right?” Bunny man pulls out the glass container and crinkles his bloodthirsty eyes with a stretched smile. “If only you obediently complied earlier, it wouldn’t have to hurt.” He adds between gritted teeth before pulling his hand away and walks back into the darkness.
What just happened?
What did the man forced him to drink?
Is he going to die?
He wants to go back home.
More and more questions flood Scar’s head like a tsunami but first and foremost, he releases a breath he unknowingly holds once the scary man has left the room. It might be temporary, but at least he can finally let his guard down for a little while.
As if on cue, his tense body falls limp and loosens up, feeling relaxed for the first time since he’s brought to this place against his will. His eyelids fall down from time to time, but he willfully opens them again as he hates to fall asleep on a place like this.
Especially when he’s still in the lion’s den.
Once he blinks, he flinches to see Bunny man already sitting on a chair a few meters ahead of him.
What?
Since when did they—?
“Okay, Gree-on’s friend.” Bunny man seethes as he starts, making Scar jump again at the weird pronunciation of Grian’s name.
Wait, Scar has heard about it once when Grian was under the influence of alcohol when the stress of not seeing Mumbo for months had been too much for him. He remembers his blond friend saying something about a ‘Sam’ with white rabbit ears, threatening him with a knife whenever Grian didn’t listen to whatever the guy demanded and once lodged a plastic into his throat just because he didn’t want to eat the chips.
And the most defining feature about the man was his unique pronunciation of Grian’s name.
His heart skips a beat at the sudden realization.
Oh, no.
“Where is Gree-on?” Bunny man or Sam snaps Scar out of his stupor.
Why is Sam asking him about that? Does he think that Scar will easily give him that information that easily? With how nervous he feels, he expects his heart to rapidly drum against his chest, but it’s eerily calm and slow.
“Well?” Sam casually points something shiny towards Scar’s direction.
It’s a knife.
Scar’s vision blacks out for a second before jumping fully alert.
What should he do? His eyes keep on fluttering shut against his will and he hates to admit it but right now, it’s really tempting to give in to his drowsiness and just sleep like there’s no tomorrow.
It’s been a long day after buying so much stuff for his theme park, and he’s tired.
It’s tiring to talk, it’s tiring to keep himself awake, and it’s tiring to think.
Can he sleep now?
He can hear a muffled voice from the background as his droopy eyelids fall and open them back with a jerk.
“I’m awake! I’m awake…” Scar yelps with a sudden burst of energy before melting to the floor like a slime.
He’s like Jevin!
“Where’s Gree-on?”
A muffled voice gains Scar’s attention, feeling like he should not be answering but thinking is too hard for him right now.
Don’t tell him where Grian is!
Hi, tiny voice friends! It’s been a while since they last talked!
He can’t really hear them properly right now with how everything is going so slow and keeps fading in and out of existence, but hello there!
“Jungle Bandit, I know him.” Scar huffs fondly as he barely opens his tingly mouth and weakly mumbles. “He keeps stealing my dang doors. He lives in the hole on a mountain like a real Hermit and everything.”
Scar chuckles as he reminisces about the time when he and Grian kept on pestering Bdubs when the brunet was trying to sleep, but being the menaces they were, the two of them didn’t stop him from interrupting his beauty sleep until they finally had their laughs and continued to build the town hall.
Oh, good times.
“What… this… talking about?” Bunny man’s voice fades in and out.
In the blink of an eye, Sam is suddenly in front of Scar.
How the heck does he do that?
Does he have some sort of teleportation device?
Oh, right. Ender pearls.
Scar grunts as he senses searing pain from his scalp while his head tilts upward without him realizing it.
“Well, hello there.” Scar blinks as he stares blankly at Sam’s blurry face.
“How… get in… Hermit world… yours?” Sam’s muffled and fading voice snaps.
What did he just say? Get in, hermit world…
Oh! Does he want to visit Hermitcraft?
Don’t tell him!
“Hm? Oh, you can’t.” Scar solemnly confesses. “Only a few selected people can enter it since everyone there needs to agree to let someone in.”
It’s been a while since the Hermits invited a new member to join them, so it’s probably about time they do it for this season, right? But somehow, some part of his instincts is screaming at him that Bunny man can’t be invited at all costs.
Well, if it insists so much, Scar doesn’t have any reason to refuse. He just wants to lie down on his bouncy bed and cuddle with Jellie, so he allows his instincts to think for him.
A scorching sensation snaps Scar out of his dancing thoughts and screams in pain, frantically looking around as to why his shoulder suddenly hurts so much. From in front of him, Sam looms over him with his glinting and narrowed eyes as all his teeth are exposed with a crooked grin. He traces the man’s arm and gasps as he can see a blade going through his bleeding shoulder.
“Stop playing games! Why do you keep making it hard for yourself?” Sam clicks his tongue as the creepy smile never left his face. “You just need to tell me one simple thing and you can’t even do it. You’re just as useless as Gree-on.” He adds between clenched teeth, sentence unexpectedly clear compared to earlier.
“Wh-What do you m-mean? I- I don’t u-understand.” Scar wavers as his cheeks are drenched with cool tears.
“I’m gonna ask you one- last- time, and if you won’t give me what I want…” Sam pulls out the knife as Scar shrieks at the newfound amplified pain. “This thing won’t only be on your shoulder next time.”
“Wh-What d-d-do you w-want?” Scar’s chest rapidly rises and falls as he tries to intake air, wincing at the same time when his jerky movement is making his shoulder hurt more.
“How. Do. You. Get. In. The. Hermitcraft. World?” Sam grunts every syllable between his gritted teeth as he scowls like a rabid dog.
Wh-Why would Sam want to enter Hermitcraft?
His vision won’t stop flickering between black and Sam’s seething face, so it’s very difficult more than usual to focus on what he needs to do.
What is he doing again?
His body feels like a burden as it weighs him down into the depths of the suffocating ocean like an anvil.
“I…” Scar tries to speak but his breath is caught in his throat, mouth gaping as he trembles and shrinks in place. “You need to get X.”
Something blurry and swift passes by Scar’s vision, followed by a deafening silence as everything seems to stop. Before he realizes it, he chokes on something liquid and rusty before coughing it, dripping over his numb lips as the floor moves closer and closer.
The ground blurs along with the legs in front of him as black spots fill his vision. His eyelids are overwhelmingly heavy and instead of fighting it, he allows it to drop as his mind blanks.
One last time, Scar exhales his final breath before his eyes finally flutter close.
Scar violently sits up with a loud cry as his quivering hand quickly hovers to his burning throat. Tears quickly flood his cheeks as he hesitantly touches his respiratory tract, feeling a soft, ragged line from left to right of his neck. He opens his mouth and tries to speak, only for a croak to escape.
His breath hitches as he can only bring his knees to his throbbing chest, hugging himself to try and provide some comfort from what happened seconds before.
He died.
It’s not the first time, considering death isn’t permanent in their world.
But the sensation he experienced from earlier must be the closest feeling of inevitable death, where he thought that he will never see the light again. It should be fine. He should be fine. He’s alive and finally home.
And yet…
Why doesn’t Scar feel relieved?
In fact, his body won’t stop trembling from the chilling sensation as he desperately gasps for air, wishing for his suffering to finally end. His breath quickens together with the drumming in his ears and throbbing in his hollowed chest.
He’s dying again!
Someone, help…
This time, nothing can save him. Earlier, he only got lucky that the pain was instant and one blink, he’s back here in his supposed comfortable home. At the moment, it’s anything but as the tree shrinks at tremendous speed, threatening to squish him from the inside.
Please, wait…
He doesn’t want to die yet!
There’s still so much he wants to do, things he hasn’t accomplished. He finally has friends he can rely on, just a call away to rush by his side to reassure him that he’s safe with their protective hold and promise that no one will hurt him again.
Scar has never felt this lonely.
No no no no no no no!
He yelps when something touches him, hurriedly shrinking further to his headboard as he frantically tries to get away from danger danger death pain, but he can’t feel any sensation on his legs despite the world’s magic enabling him to walk again.
A soft meow breaks him out of his spiral, hesitantly peeks from his clutched knees and sees Jellie rubbing her cheek against his foot.
In an instant, the dam breaks and Scar cries his heart out, feeling the soft fur brushing against his limbs as Jellie climbs to his torso and leans to his heaving chest. Without hesitation, he brings his shaking arms around her and embraces her, showering himself with the comfort his family provides.
“Thank you, Jellie.”