Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The Ice Plague

‘Skeppy just admit it, we’re lost.’

‘No! No we’re not!’

Skeppy looked up indignantly from where he’d been hunched over his map laid across the lodestone. Puffy was standing there with her arms folded not looking convinced. Red in the face, black and white hair frazzled and with strands plastered to her sweaty skin, she was faring less well in the Nether than he was on account of her being a sheep-hybrid.

‘We’re not lost,’ insisted Skeppy, pointing down at the map, showing the dot that was their location, ‘I’m just doing some triangulation to make sure we’re still headed in the right direction.’

‘The right direction? We don’t know where we’re going or for how far!’ she cried, ‘Look around dude, the Nether all looks fine here!’

‘Exactly!’ said Skeppy in agreement, ‘We’re not looking for anything strange or weird, we’re looking for the opposite, we’re looking for what isn’t affected by the ice.’

His companion rolled her eyes, ‘I know you have this epicentre theory Skeppy-‘

‘Yes, and you said you believed me-‘

‘I do, I do believe you dude, but we’ve been walking for thousands and thousands of blocks, how will we know when we find it?’

‘We’re close, I can feel it,’ said Skeppy insistently, ‘My calculations show we’re not far off and you know me, I’m fucking good at finding things.’ It was true; Skeppy was very good at navigating and able to sense ores and structures in the earth. Albeit,  that was in the Overworld, here in the Nether it was proving trickier; everything was slightly misaligned. But he had a hunch, backed up by his maps and careful analysis of the evidence, what they were looking for couldn’t be very far away now.

‘Fine, but we’re heading back once we run out of food, we can come back another day,’ said Puffy, ‘I’ll grab Tubbo,’ and with that she turned and walked the short distance across the Nether Wastes towards their third companion and final member of the group.

Poor Tubbo was struggling the most out of the three of them. He’d leapt at the chance to do some Nether exploring, keen to get quartz and gold resources for his factory machines. But in his haste he’d not packed the most thoroughly. His boots had broken a few thousand blocks back and Puffy had had to fashion him some new ones from golden nuggets, and they’d had to stretch their rations as he’d not brought enough food. Avocado toast now seemed only a distant memory, they were reduced to just bread, nowhere near as filling or as delicious.

Skeppy took a final long look at his map - the latest in a long line of maps now bundled in his backpack, all heading south, all heading to what he hoped was the cause or the source of the serious problem they were facing.

The Nether was sick.

There was a plague of ice slowly but surely marching its way across the dimension and leaving a trail of devastation. Tendrils of cold, creeping slowly over the nylium, winding their way up the crimson stems and over the warped logs, freezing everything it touched. The ice was unforgiving, it moved slowly but unrelenting, spreading uncontrolled like an infection, plant life was smothered, mobs doused. Even the lava solidified; rivers, lakes and seas all hardened and cold. All that was left was a barren, frozen wasteland.

It was called the Subzero Hypogeal.

It was slow enough to observe if one watched it for long enough. The spread was not dissimilar to mycelium from the Overworld, only this Nether-version did not create a playground for Mooshrooms and conditions for friendly fungal growth. No, this, was a subverted variant, one substantially more destructive and callous.

The Nether was losing its heat, was dying, and no-one knew why.

The initial sign, although hardly any of them had noticed at the time, was the disappearance of the Magma Cubes. Whilst at first almost undetectable, the mob’s spawn rates had exponentially declined over time. This, coupled with oblivious and intense farming by the Overworlders, had led to a decimation of Magma Cube numbers to the point where the creatures were now critically endangered and on the brink of extinction.

And it hadn’t stopped there.

Gradually, the local and highly frequented Blaze spawners had begun to fizzle out, producing less and less Blazes until one, by one, they’d all gone cold. In response, the Overworlders had been forced to start travelling further and further afield to find active spawners but those too had started to extinguish.

Then the ice had begun creeping across the ground, growing like a shadow in the long evening of the day, spreading its frosty fingers over anything it could reach, strangling the life out of everything it touched.

That’s when the Overworlders realised something was wrong, very wrong.

Skeppy, more sensitive than the majority of Overworlders and Netherborn to deep tectonic shifts and geological disruptions, set out to determine the cause of this destructive ice. Whilst the Netherborn were fleeing and the Overworlders scratching their heads in confusion he’d taken a more systematic approach to the problem. And after days and weeks of portal-hopping around the Nether, observing the Subzero Hypogeal from different co-ordinates, he’d been able to detect a pattern. Through perseverance, an ear to the ground and rapid familiarisation with Nether geography he’d realised that the ice, rather than spreading out from a midpoint, actually seemed to all be converging in on one.

Skeppy was all too aware that if they didn’t find out the cause of the Subzero Hypogeal then they were all going to suffer, Overworlders and Netherborn alike. Because what was to stop the plague of frost coming into the Overworld? Sure, so far it had avoided the portals, but once it had swallowed the Nether would it stop there? Would it seek more heat? More mobs for sustenance?

So, that was why Skeppy, along with Puffy and Tubbo - the only two to believe his wild theory- had ventured deep into the Nether in search of the epicentre of the Subzero Hypogeal.

Speaking of, Puffy had now gathered Tubbo together and was shepherding him over towards Skeppy. The young man was trailing, dragging his pickaxe on the floor, head bowed and moaning loudly, ‘I want to go hommmmme. There’s no fucking point anymore, please can we go hommmmmme?’

Skeppy gathered his energy, ‘Tubbo!’ he cried, ‘Come on dude, we’re so nearly there! And think about how much quartz you got for your machines! You’ll have that avocado toast factory in no time!’

Tubbo just wailed, ‘Oh but I’m hungrryyyyyyyyyyyyy,’

Skeppy looked to Puffy for support, she merely patted Tubbo on the arm before handing him one of her remaining precious jam sandwiches. ‘It’s no toast, but it’s sweet,’ she said.

Tubbo took the sandwich with eyes as wide as saucers, ‘Oh Puffy! You’re the best dude!’ and he shoved most of the sandwich in his mouth with a grin.

Laughing at the ridiculousness that was Tubbo, Skeppy laughed.

Pocketing his compass and map he said, ‘Right team, we’ve not got far to go now! Let’s go!’ and after giving the lodestone a soft kick in goodbye they headed out, leaving the block behind them as a set point in their exploration.

The travellers were currently in a patch of Nether Wastes, pretty standard terrain for the dimension but no less treacherous. They’d long left the icicle infected region behind, effortlessly outstripping the glacial pace of the spreading frost. But it didn’t make their journey any easier however, as the Nether, whether hot or cold, remained a hostile environment.

An additional issue was the lack of fire resistance potions; with no more Magma Cubes or Blazes, there was no way to make the potentially life-saving potions. All they had were limited fire protection enchantments on their armour.

After an hour or so of traversing the perilous Wastes, staying out of the way of Zombie Piglins, and dodging hovering Ghasts they came upon a thick wall of netherrack, spreading for hundreds of blocks in each direction. Skeppy took out his trusted diamond pickaxe and set about mining a tunnel through the obstacle in front of them. His pick mined through the netherrack like butter with his efficiency five enchantment. The sound of the blocks crumbling before him was a satisfying one as he burrowed his way through the dense wall.

There better fucking be something on the other side…

He rolled his shoulders and carried on swinging his pickaxe, hardening the palms of his hands into diamond to stop the chafing of the handle. His diamond-variegated exterior helped keep him cool, reflecting a lot of the heat and exposure away from his body, enabling him to power through and lead the way with mining. He could hear Puffy and Tubbo someways behind him, placing torches and hoovering up the exposed gold and quartz from the sides of this tunnel he was making.

Skeppy turned his head to call back to his friends behind him, ‘Keep up slow pokes!’  but this meant he didn’t look at the blocks which he’d just mined, and he stepped forward into nothing.

Skeppy plummeted.

They’d been up high. Very high.

The Nether wall he’d been mining had just opened up into air, with a gargantuan lava lake hundreds of blocks below.

Skeppy couldn’t even get breath into his lungs to scream - he was dropping so fast, hot air whistling past him.

There was nothing to grab onto, nothing to slow or break his fall. He was going to land into the lava lake. It was massive, he didn’t think he’d ever seen one this big, the shoreline was almost out of sight.

Fuck this isn’t good, this isn’t good.

He could hear shouts and screams from above him, his friends calling out his name.

Fuck, this is not good.

He closed his eyes and braced for impact.

He landed in the lava with an almighty splash, plunging into the viscous liquid. It didn’t immediately start to burn him; the enchantments on his armour protecting him for now. But with no fire res potion, he knew he had mere minutes before he was in serious trouble.

He broke the surface and tried to look around for nearby rocks or the shore, anything he could get to and haul himself out of the lava. With the exception of a couple of very surprised Striders, now fleeing from the commotion, there was nothing on the lake’s surface. Just endless firey liquid.

His feet were starting to warm.

‘SKEPPY!’ Puffy was screaming his name from up high. Looking up, he could just make out her miniscule form, hundreds of blocks above him.

He tried to start swimming towards the only shoreline he could see, but the lava wasn’t like water, it was thicker, and his armour, whilst offering fire protection was weighing him down. He discarded his pick and shield, shedding the weight to try and propel himself forwards.

He managed a couple of strokes but he hardly moved. The shoreline was still miles off. Skeppy was sweating now, his armour starting to get hot.

His feet were burning up. His hands were starting to blister.

I’m not gonna make it.

Fuck.

I’m not gonna make it.

‘Skeppy! SKEPPY!’

I’m not gonna make it.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Left with no choice as his body was reaching unbearable temperatures, in panic, Skeppy did the only thing he could; in a last-ditch attempt of self-preservation the gem-hybrid turned himself to diamond. Starting at his feet, the conversion of flesh to diamond spread, protecting him from the lava’s heat and burning. He felt his body lock and get heavy. He knew it would cause him to sink below the surface. He hoped the lake wasn’t deep.

The transformation spread upwards, and he looked up. The last thing he saw were his friend’s terrified faces, high up in the Nether Wall.

He took one last breath as his face completely crystalised and he sank beneath the magma waves and out of sight.

A disturbance in the lake

BadBoyHalo lay idly on his back, eyes heavy-lidded as he basked on the magma blocks patterning the lavalake bed. The intense heat that would spell doom for most other creatures was instead a comforting embrace, the lava bubbling up from the cracks in the rocky floor wrapping around his body cozily.

As a human-fish hybrid - an Anguillipyroscion- he was in his natural element. He stretched, a full body experience as his arms reached over his head. His tail, well-muscled and powerful tensed then flexed, smaller fins flaring out mid-way down, before the end fanned into breath-takingly gorgeous dark flukes, wafting in the lava currents. Black, iridescent scales rippled and shimmered in the movement, onyx hues glowing as they reflected the light of the red-hot lava.

If Bad’s tail was stunning then his upper half was even more extraordinary. From the waist up he resembled a human, well…sort of. His features were a little too eldritch to be considered fully human. He had an angular face with bright white eyes, perfectly adapted to see through the lava as if it were clear and able to adjust to the differing light levels of the many Nether biomes adjoining his lake. He had inky skin and long black hair that flowed loosely in the eddies of the lava but turned a burning red upon leaving the magma. On top of his head two small pointed horns were just visible peeking out from the strands of hair. His torso was bare from any garment, but he had a dusting of scales covering his shoulders and arms. A dorsal fin stretched down his back to his tail and gills trailed across his torso underneath his ribs, enabling him to breathe both above and below the lava. Sharp claws at the end of his webbed fingers were ideal for catching, dismembering, and eating his prey - usually the fish that inhabited the lake, although sometimes if he was sneaky he could catch a Soul Vulture.

Content in his solitude, Bad was the undisputed king of the subterranean world and a happy purr emanated from him, rippling out through the lava.

A similar vibration echoed back at him, radiating from the deepest most isolated part of the lava-depths, reassuring him all was safe and secure.

After an indeterminable amount of time Bad supposed he really should move and do something with his day.

 Oh but it’s just too tempting to stay here and not move.

Just then one of the giant leviathans swam overhead, casting him in shadow. She tilted her neck looking down at him with four bright yellow eyes as he lounged on the lake-bed. Bad recognised the matriarch, she was a revered elder, evidenced by the size of her colossal shell, dark rings of growth indicating her age. He smiled, curled his tail under himself and propelled upwards, until he could wrap a hand around the lip of her shell to swing his body over to sit on her back.

‘Good day,’ she intoned to him, her voice deep and soft. Leviathans, for all their size and formidable looking shape, were the gentlest of the creatures inhabiting the lake alongside Bad.

‘Hi,’ he said brightly, ‘Where are you headed?’

‘North. You want to come along?’

That was the direction of his home, ‘Sounds good to me,’ he replied, and he settled himself more securely on her back as she flapped her fins and pushed through in the lava with more speed.

‘The Piglins are excitable today,’ she told him as they were travelling.

‘Oh? Any reason why?’

‘I’m not sure, but the Wither Skeletons are getting antsy about it.’

Bad groaned, ‘Of course they are.’

Bad generally got on with most of his neighbours in the lake, but their obsession with gossip, numerous petty squabbles and ability to hold a grudge long past remembering the initial reason for the complaint did get under his scales.

The Leviathan matriarch chuckled, and Bad felt the vibrations through the shell he was perched on, ‘There are more rumours of Overworlders,’ she said, clicking her tongue.

‘Again?’ said Bad exasperatedly. It felt like recently the topic of conversation across the lake had been dominated by news of the Overworlders. Everyone, from Bone Serpents to Straddlers seemed to be obsessing over reports of Overworlders venturing deeper into the Nether, no longer content to stay in the local areas around their portals, they were exploring further and with an intensity and determination not seen before. There was a nervousness in the air amongst the lakeside residents, a wariness of what trouble the Overworlders might bring with them.

Not from everyone, the Piglins were probably the only community in the Nether to directly benefit from the Overworlders presence, and Bad knew his shoreline Piglin neighbours would be keen to see an increase in their profits from gold trading.

Bad was firmly in the camp of undecided about Overworlders. He was equal parts curious and cautious.

Curious because he knew himself that the Overworlders were great craftspeople. In his younger years, before settling in his lake Bad had traversed many, many blocks along the lavaways spanning the Nether like arteries. And there, every so often he’d come across objects left behind from the visitors. They were often dumped near the lava, the materials tumbling down the slopes and cliffs towards the fiery waters where Bad was able to swipe them before they burned up in the magma.

One mobs’ trash is another mob’s treasure and all that.

Bad loved collecting these items that got discarded. He kept all his treasures in his under-lava cave which he called his home, in the mid-depths of the magma. He loved to see new and interesting objects and marvelled over them, wondering what they were all for. It was known far and wide across the lake that the Anguillipyroscion had a fondness for gathering Overworld items and his neighbours often went out of their way to give him stuff for his collection; items that they themselves deemed worthless but to Bad were priceless.

But Bad was also cautious of the Overworlders because all they seemed to do was come into the Nether to disturb the peace. They were noisy and messy (clearly evidenced by the ever growing mound of objects in Bad’s cave) and tended to destroy things carelessly. It wasn’t that he was opposed to them hunting and killing mobs for resources, there was a pecking order in the Nether and it was often kill or be killed. It was more the way they went about doing it that bothered him. Bad’s home here in this lake was idyllic, was ordered and in balance. A visit by Overworlders would disrupt the equilibrium for sure.

‘We’ve gone undisturbed for such a very long time,’ said the Leviathan matriarch, ‘With any luck the Overworlders will bypass this lake entirely. Thus there will be no need to deal with the chaos they bring.’

Bad hummed noncommittedly, he didn’t disagree, but he couldn’t deny he was intrigued at the prospect of meeting an Overworlder. If he got the chance to speak to them, to ask them questions about some of the more obscure objects in his collection….. even to ask them about their dimension, to hear more about the Sun and the Sky….

. They’d come back altered into zombie-form, wide-eyed and in shock, almost inarticulate. Bad had spent hours plying them with golden nuggets, coaxing them to talk, only able to snatch extracts of stories. They’d told him of the vast, endless sky. No roof. Just open air. It sounded absolutely terrifying, Bad could hardly bear to imagine it.

The Leviathan turned her head to look back at him atop her shell. Her gaze was piercing, ‘I know you are curious little one, but for all our sakes, we do not want the peace of the lake to be interrupted.’

She glanced pointedly below them, her sightline directed at the deepest point of the lake, the lava so thick even Bad had difficulty seeing through it. But he didn’t need to follow her gaze to know what she was referring to.

He swallowed, ‘No we don’t want that,’ he said, and he knew she also felt the vibration that passed through him, and she also heard the whispers that echoed in his mind.

They continued on in silence until they were well past the deepest part of the lake with the darkest secret. The Leviathan swam upwards and broke the surface of the fiery waters. Bad swept his now glowing hair over his shoulder as it clung wetly to his skin. They’d come up on the North side of the lake. The shoreline ahead of them was still about a hundred blocks or so away, Warped forest to the Northeast and Nether Wastes to the Northwest.

Bad opened his mouth to speak to the Leviathan for the first time since they’d had their shared understanding, but he was interrupted by a commotion from his left. Something had impacted the lake’s surface with a large splash, sending ripples and shockwaves through the magma, startling the Toads and Striders and causing a large Bone Serpent to rear up in aggression. 

Bad felt the jolt though his body as he was buffeted by a wave causing him to be dislodged from the Leviathan’s shell.

What the…?

Something had landed in the lake. Something foreign.

Oh fudge.

‘Go!’ the Leviathan called. Bad didn’t need telling twice, he whipped his tail around and sped off in the direction of the disturbance. He was the fastest creature in the lake, easily able to outstrip anything else in the magma. Not that anyone else was racing towards what had fallen into the lake. In fact he had to avoid a large school of Zombie Carp coming in the opposite direction, spooked by whatever had happened.

There were screams from up above and he could make out a figure struggling weakly in the lava many blocks away, debris burning up around them.

He flared his fins and put on an extra burst of speed to investigate, but even so, by the time he came upon the creature, they had stopped moving altogether and were now rapidly sinking below the waves. Bad swam as close as he dared and saw a shape, solid and blue descending like a stone into the depths of the lake. He dived down after them, trying to get a better look.

It looked like some sort of statue, not unlike the ones in Piglin Bastions. But this one was blue rather than gold. Blue and shiny.

It was odd, only moments before, he’d seen them moving, struggling to keep afloat in the lake, but now they were inert, except for the fact they kept sinking lower and lower in the lake.

Bad did a wide circle around the statue as it continued to descend.

He glanced around to get his bearings. They were some distance from the shoreline and so were past the shallows, however they weren’t so far out as to be by the shelf where the floor dropped off into the really deep part of the lake. In fact, they weren’t too far  from Bad’s home cave.

Bad stared at the thing and was confused.

Why aren’t you moving? Can’t you swim?

He couldn’t see a tail or fins, therefore he concluded it probably couldn’t swim. He frowned as he tried to make sense of its shape; it seemed to have four limbs, maybe it was a Straddler cousin?

‘Hello?’ he called out, but there was no answer. The individual carried on falling until they came to rest on the sandy lake floor.

Bad hovered, unsure of how close he should get. He stayed a safe distance away in case it was dangerous.

‘Hello?’ he tried again, ‘Are you okay?’

Again, no answer.

The Bone Serpent from earlier shuddered its way through the lava behind him. Its large white face coming alongside Bad as it observed the blue statue.

‘Oh…dead….’ It said caustically, teeth scraping as it spoke.

‘Dead?’ asked Bad, tearing his gaze away from the figure to look at the Bone Serpent.

‘Not….moving…’ The Bone Serpent twisted its head away and slunk off into another part of the lake.

Bad turned back towards the statue. If the Bone Serpent had stopped its aggression then that usually meant something was dead.

Bad frowned, maybe the creature was actually deceased? He’d seen a few items burning up on the lava near where the creature had fallen in; maybe that had been its loot drops upon death?

It was odd.

What are you? Where did you come from?

Well, it didn’t look like this creature was going anywhere soon. Bad looked up towards the surface, he thought he could still hear something. Maybe there was someone still up there?

He flicked his tail and swam upwards, rising rapidly and stopping just short of breaking the surface. His white eyes could make out two figures high up in the Nether wall. A small opening had been made and their faces were poking out, and shouting.

Wait….Are those Overworlders?

‘Skeppy! Skeppy!’

‘Skeppy where are you?’

Bad floated upwards, so he was just under the surface of the lava.

‘Skeppy! SKEPPY!’

What’s a Skeppy?

Curious, he broke the surface and poked his head out. There was a shriek from up above.

‘OH SHIT! What is that?’

Bad twitched, well that’s just rude.

‘Oh fuck. It’s fucking EATEN him. THEY’VE FUCKING EATEN HIM… Skeppppppppyyyyyyy!!!!’

Bad bobbed up and down in the gentle waves of the lake, he wasn’t sure what to do. He was pretty sure those were Overworlders up there. So was the thing that had died in his lake also an Overworlder? Bad hadn’t looked too closely…but maybe it did have the shape of an Overworlder now he came to think about it.

An Overworlder in MY lake?

He was desperate to dive again and check it out, but there was still the matter of the people above him. He turned his gaze upwards; he could see two small faces poking out from the hole in the Nether cliff. There was no way down from that high up, it was a sheer drop to the lake below and there was no way Bad could get up there.

They were still speaking, ‘Tubbo I think he’s dead.’

‘Yeah that thing’s fucking eaten him. It’s swallowed him whole, ripped him limb from limb oh my goddddd Skeppppppyyyyyyy!’

‘We should go back to Spawn and get him.’

Just then, a Ghast which had been drifting over the Eastern side of the lake, came into range and screamed piercingly.

So they ARE Overworlders then!

Bad’s tail flicked excitedly but before he could call out a ‘hello’, the Overworlders in question were busy yelling in panic and scrabbling back into the Nether wall, disappearing from view as they shouted ‘Run Tubbo RUN!’

‘Fuck! Fuck! I’m going! I’m going!’

And then the voices were fading out. Bad swam as far as he could in their direction but he came to a halt upon the shoreline and the towering and impenetrable Nether cliff to the North of the lake….well, impenetrable up until now.

He had so many questions, why were they here? Will they come back? And what is at the bottom of my lake?

With one last wistful look at the tiny hole in the Nether cliff overhang he turned and dove beneath the lava surface, swimming strongly back towards the sunken statue.

It was exactly where he’d left it. Still and solid.

He approached warily.

Coming closer he could make out more detail of the blue figure. It was an Overworlder, he could see that now. It had two legs and two arms but wasn’t a skeleton body and had no pig-snout features. Its feet were resting on the gravel and sand floor of the lake, and its arms were reaching up towards the surface, as if it were stretching towards the Nether ceiling.

Or the sky? Thought Bad, remembering what the zombie-piglins had said about the other dimension and the lack of a roof.

He moved in closer still. He started to see more features, the person seemed to be wearing armour, with plates covering his feet, legs and chest and a helmet on its head. He recognised these as similar to the armour the Skeles from the Soul Sand Valleys wore.

Bad circled around, taking in the finer features, until he returned to the individual’s face. And he was struck by how handsome it was.

There was a fine profile, nose and jawline. The person’s eyes were open and if he came in closer he could even see their eyelashes. They were staring, unseeing towards the ceiling.

Why are you frozen? Are you really dead?

Bad reached out carefully, cautiously and touched a black clawed finger to the person’s shoulder.

Nothing.

Hmmmm very odd.

Bad hovered for a long while, observing the sculpture. It didn’t move a millimetre in all the time. Given the information Bad had on hand -unmoving, debris scattered about, no aggro from the Bone Serpent and its companions declaring it deceased - he concluded that it was indeed dead and the rigid structure that was now residing practically on his front yard was the beast’s carcass, perfectly preserved.

But what do I do with you?

He couldn’t leave it where it was. It was right in the way of one of the key swim lanes for the lake, the undermagma currents tugging the liquid in an Easterly direction. It was only a matter of time before a Leviathan or Bone Serpent clattered into it.

Besides, it was an Overworlder. Bad had never seen one so close before. Even though it was dead it was still pretty cool. He wanted to inspect it more closely. It would be a fine addition to his collection!

Matter decided, he set about moving it to his cave.

It was much heavier than it looked. The entire sculpture was solid and dense and Bad struggled even with his substantial strength to get it to move just a few blocks closer to his cave entrance. However he had more tricks than just muscle and with a bit of coaxing, managed to persuade the lava around him to assist. The now pliable and willing lava buoyed up the statue, lifting it from the lake-bed and so all Bad had to do was steer it towards his cave doorway. He even got the lava to set it down gently in his underlava entrance hall, orienting it so the creature’s face was looking inwards towards his abode.

He was just about to start a more thorough investigation of the figure when the lava above him was disturbed by a drudge of Wither Skeletons. Bad didn’t have a doorbell as such but smacking blaze rods on the surface of the lake above his home would do a similar job and his persnickety upstairs neighbours knew it.

Bad flicked his fins in annoyance. News travelled fast across the lake, no doubt the Wither Skeles had come straight away upon hearing the gossip, wanting to know all about the unexpected arrival now newly installed in Bad’s foyer.

Examination of the Overworld carcass would have to wait. Bad couldn’t afford to keep the Wither Skeles waiting, they were not ones you wanted to get on the wrong side off. Hopefully they could be appeased by the news the intruder was dead and its companions had been chased off by a Ghast.

With a longing look at the blue statue, Bad swished his flukes and left to go chin-wag with his neighbours.

It’s not like it’s going anywhere after all.

Chapter Text

Hunting and gathering

The grizzled Soul Vulture was stood on a rocky basalt outcrop by the edge of the lava lake. Its claws were deep into the carcass of an unfortunate Piglin Brute and it dipped its feathered head to shred some more of the creature’s soul from its lifeless form. It was a magnificent specimen of bird; tall and majestic it swallowed down some more soul essence and flared its wings slightly in pleasure.

Unbeknownst to the feasting bird, it was being hunted.

The predator was about to become the prey.

Just deep enough that he couldn’t be spotted, Bad hovered beneath the lava’s surface.

He’d been tracking this Vulture for days, watching as it had stolen four more souls from Piglin and Piglin Brutes, this being its fifth victim. It was a remarkable hunter and was going to make for a great prize.

Bad had been patient, following the bird all around the lake, noting each time it had devoured a soul and had bided his time. He slowly, ever so slowly inched forwards to the edge of the lake, and from where the Vulture was, he’d dipped into its blind spot, right at the bottom of the basalt blocks. His eyes never left the bird, observing as it took another beakful.

It’s chest and eyes were glowing blue, bloated by the soul feast it was enjoying, it was thoroughly distracted and oblivious to the danger lurking beneath the lava waves.

The timing was perfect. Bad sank vertically down to the bottom of the lava shallows, he steadied his fins, coiled his tail muscles slightly and his flukes started vibrating, not unlike the way a large cat wiggles right before it springs. His eyes locked onto the spot where he knew the vulture was above the surface and he pounced. In an instant he sprang up like a shot, up out of the magma and slammed into the Soul Vulture. Its neck was snapped before it had even noticed what had hit it.

Bad lay panting with the exertion, laid on his side from where he’d landed. The dead bird in his arms. He let his head drop back onto the basalt and stared at the Nether roof. He could see a few more Soul Vultures circling way up high, but none so large and blue as his prize.

He couldn’t rest long this far out of the lava as he would start to cool, so he sat up rather ungainly- his tail cumbersome now he was out of the lava- and looked down properly at the dead vulture. Its eyes were no longer glowing, but its breast was. Bad used his claws to crack open the chest cavity of the bird and found his prize, the key thing he was after.

There, beating and glowing, was a Soul Heart. They were rare and extremely hard to get given Soul Vultures hardly ever landed and tended to stay away from the lake’s edge because Bone Serpents (and BadBoyHalos) liked to leap out of the water to catch them.

Speaking of, Bad looked up to see a large white skull peeking out of the lava. He rolled his eyes.

‘Fine, here you go,’ and he tossed the lifeless carcass to the Bone Serpent who caught it in its mouth and crunched it down.

‘Thank you BadBoyHalo,’ it spoke around mouthfuls of Soul Vulture.

‘You’re very welcome,’ he replied, putting the Soul Heart into his inventory, and proceeding to awkwardly shuffle his way back to the lava’s edge. ‘See, I always hold up my end of the bargain.’

‘Shiny blue heart taste yuck.’

‘I’m not going to eat it silly,’ said Bad, sliding back into the lava and immediately feeling warmed. ‘It’s for my collection.’

‘BadBoyHalo is strange.’

‘Says you,’ said Bad sticking out his tongue at the Bone Serpent.

‘Shiny blue man tastes yuck too.’

‘Ah!’ Bad was brought up short with that statement, ‘How do you know about the shiny blue man?’ The Skeppy his mind supplied.

‘Fofoca,’ said the Bone Serpent, and with a flick of its bony tail it started to swim off, ‘Overworlders means bad news, even dead ones. Be careful BadBoyHalo.’

‘I will, don’t worry,’ called out Bad watching the Bone Serpent slink off into the direction of the soul valley shallows, no doubt looking for more vultures to eat. It had been about to try and get the one Bad had killed, but Bad had made a deal with it to hold off until the Vulture had consumed its fifth soul, on the promise the merman would get the Soul Heart and the Bone Serpent would get the meat.

Thinking of the blue glowing heart now in his inventory Bad smiled to himself, job well done. I wonder if the Skeppy will like it because they are both blue?

He swam at a leisurely pace through the boiling waters of the lake, deciding to swing by the Magma Cube nursery on his way back home. He popped up out of the lava and rested his forearms on the edge blocks to watch the baby cubes bouncing around in the naturally formed basalt nursery pens which had pools of lava in the middle and magma blocks lining the sides.

One of the giant Mama Magma Cubes hopped over to see him with several large squelches.

‘Aren’t they adorable?’ she said to Bad, looking fondly over her brood.

‘They’re very cute,’ agreed Bad, he smiled as one of the more adventurous little cubes pogoed it’s way over to him, curious. Bad picked it up gently, careful not to disrupt the soft and not yet fully developed magma cube and held it in his hands.

‘You’re gonna grow up big and strong like your Mama?’ he asked it. It simply squelched in his hands, leaking hot residue which did him no harm.

‘You want these?’ asked the Mama Magma Cube, and without waiting for an answer she threw some magma creams at Bad.

‘Oh thank you!’ said Bad pleasantly surprised; he liked snacking on the magma creams, they were a tasty treat.

He gingerly set the baby cube down and prodded it lightly back towards the middle of the pen to join the others. Hands now free he scooped up the discarded magma creams and added them into his inventory.

He exchanged a few more simple pleasantries with the mama Magma Cube but their conversation was cut short. She spared him an apologetic glance and with a large lurch she bounced off, having noticed two of her unruly teenage children starting beef with one of the straddler youths. Bad decided this was his moment to leave.

He bid goodbye to the baby cubes and dipped away into the magma slipstream, heading for home.

He had just rounded the Nether Waste headland of the small bay where his cave was when something twinkling above the lava’s surface caught Bad’s eye and he paused from where he’d been about to dive down to his cave.

He squinted, trying to make out what was glinting in the Nether gloom. Approaching the signal he quickly realised it was a Wither Skele, and it was flagging him down by waving a shiny tool in its hand.

Bad punctured the surface of the lake and came over to the shoreline to greet the Wither Skele.

‘Good Day Sir!’

‘Hello,’ Bad replied, trying not to smile. Wither Skeles are always so formal.

‘I have here something you might enjoy my good chap!’ said the Wither Skele brandishing the shiny object at Bad.

Bad rose up out of the lava to take the object, it wasn’t heavy, but it was solidly built.

‘What is it?’ he asked quizzically, looking over the item. It had a handle made of wood and then what looked like a series of irregular circles and two pointy pinchers. He noticed it was of good quality as there was gold plating detail along the top. It looked to be some sort of tool, but Bad had never seen anything like it.

‘No idea my good fellow, haven’t the foggiest!’ cried the Wither Skele with a guffaw that boomed out across the lake.

‘Do you think it’s a weapon?’

‘Well if it is my fluked friend then it didn’t serve the poor soul who dropped it very well did it?’

‘Can I keep it?’ asked Bad looking up at the dark skull of the Wither Skele.

‘Of course! Of course old bean! Knew you liked this odd stuff, fancy yourself as a collector.’  The Wither Skele was doing a good job of looking Bad up and down despite having no eyes and only black sockets where eyes should have been.

‘Kinda...’

‘Heard you got a shiny blue new addition the other day?’ said the Wither Skele with a knowing look at Bad.

‘What the fudge? How- How do you know?’

‘News travels fast my good sir! Especially on this gossip-ridden lake. Now, I would caution you when in close proximity with those pesky Overworlders. Ne-er do wells the whole bally lot of them. However,’ and here the Wither Skele paused, giving Bad the once over, ‘I hear the dreadful scoundrel is pushing up Wither Roses, so we have nothing to fear. Is that true?’

It took Bad a moment to make sense of what the Wither Skeleton was talking about, ‘Oh! Oh yes, it’s quite dead. Don’t worry.’

The Wither Skele harrumphed in approval, ‘Ah well, good. Good stuff my dear chum. Spiffing! Chuffed to bits! Well, I best be off, things to do, patrols to make. You know how it is. Keep up the good work. Good work I say!’

‘Ah, thanks,’ replied Bad and he watched the Wither Skeleton rattle off back in the direction the of the Nether Fortress on the South Edge of the lake. It had a fair trek to make, Bad was grateful it had come all the way to near his home, that was some journey.

Bad clutched the strange new object in his hands and stored it alongside the Soul Heart and Magma Creams in his inventory. He’d managed a very good haul of things today.

I wonder which will be the Skeppy’s favourite?

And with a swish of his tail he was off, racing back towards his home.

Sharing and Spying

Bad arrived at the entrance to his under-lava cave. It was located in the North-West corner of the lake away from the main thoroughfares and really busy areas of the lake, but still close enough to be aware of the happenings and goings on.

The entrance was not visible from the surface of the lake, the only way to access it was to swim into it. Bad dove down and reached the narrow opening to his home in a few powerful strokes. It was a gap wide enough for two mermen to swim through and enter side by side but tight enough so that the Leviathans or Bone Serpents couldn’t access, which was a good thing because Bad’s neighbours were all too nosey for their own good.

You’d think they’d have better things to gossip about, he thought to himself as he entered his cave.

The entryway initially appeared to be a chamber completely full of lava, but at the back, the walls sloped upwards and opened out to a cavern that contained an air-pocket. And it was this second part of the cave that was essential for Bad’s collection of oddities.

Items typically burned up in the lava when dropped, unless they were made of precious and rare netherite. So, for Bad to store the items he had gathered, he required a secure spot above the lava, but away from prying eyes. And this half-and-half cave was perfect.

However, upon getting home, he didn’t immediately rush to his storage system to itemise and categorise the things he’d gathered today, instead he hovered and looked happily at the blue statue waiting for him. It looked the same as it had since it had sunk into his lake some time ago, it had not corroded or decayed in any way.

‘Hello,’ he said brightly to the Skeppy. That was the name it had heard its companions call out to it, it sounded funny on his tongue, ‘S’geppy,’ he tried, but huffed in annoyance, it didn’t sound quite right when he tried to say the name. He wasn’t sure what “Skeppy” meant, whether it was the name of the creature’s species or an honorific or even term of endearment. But it was all he knew about the creature, so he decided to call it by that.

It didn’t answer back.

But this did not deter Bad, and he twisted himself in the lava, so he came to float in front of the dead creature’s face.

‘Look what I got S’geppy,’ he said, and he held up the weird object the Wither Skele had given him, so long as he held it in his grasp it wouldn’t burn, the moment he let go it would be destroyed so he gripped it firmly. ‘Maybe you know what this is? It’s weird, that’s for sure but its shiny and got gold on it, see here? There’s gold plating! I wouldn’t have got this from the Piglins, no way! I’m lucky the Wither Skele gave it to me huh!’

He was met with the everlasting blank stare from the blue statue, but Bad lifted the object higher to make sure the object did cross the line of sight of the Skeppy as it was currently looking up at the roof of his cave. As he did so he spotted some markings on the handle of the object.

Carved into the wood were the letters T.U.B.B.O.

What’s a Tubbo? thought Bad, the word was familiar, did one of the Overworlders say it? He couldn’t remember, there was just a lot of yelling, swearing and shouting of the word “Skeppy”.

It was a mystery.

Bad put the item back in his inventory and drew out a magma cream, ‘Look S’geppy, I also got a bunch of these, they’re really tasty…mmmm….mmpphmmm’ he popped it into his mouth and bit down, the outer skin bursting and the chewy centre flooding his mouth. He chewed happily, and said around the marshmallow-like texture, ‘Good thing you can’t have these, all the more for me!’

He licked the sticky residue off his clawed fingers and swallowed the last of the magma cream before pulling out the final object, the Soul Heart. He’d been saving this one until last.

‘Aha!’ he cried, waving the blue glowing heart at the dead, frozen Overworlder, ‘It’s blue just like you! What do you think?’

Moving in closer he held the Soul Heart close to the Skeppy’s chiselled face. The emanating light illuminated its features and Bad’s own heart skipped a beat in his chest.

‘Were you this pretty when you were alive?’ he whispered.

There was a high-pitched tittering from behind him. Bad whirled around, blue heart in hand and spotted the culprit, a Lava-Lobster, black and with bulbous eyes it was perched on a rock at his cave entrance. It giggled again.

‘OOooh BadBoyHalo likes the pretty blue Overworlder,’ it trilled.

‘I’ll flippin’ kill you,’ growled Bad, charging at the Lobster but it hopped off the rock and swam out of his cave and straight into the protective jaws of a Bone Serpent.

The Bone Serpent grinned at Bad, the Lobster sitting prim on one of its giant teeth.

‘Do me a favour and swallow  that spy of a Lobster,’ spat Bad.

‘Fofoca,’ said the Bone Serpent and it turned and left with a flick of its tail.

Bad seriously considered pursuing the gossipy criminals but he didn’t know what he’d do when he caught up with them. He was not stupid enough to take on a Bone Serpent bodyguard however much he was longing to snap the vexatious Lobster in half. Also, it would only create more gossip if he did somehow manage to get hold of and kill the Lobster and Bad tried to stay out of the dramas in the lake wherever he could.

He kicked his flukes against one of the boulders outside his house in frustration before taking a few deep breaths and trying to settle himself.

It’s fine, it’s fine.

The main thing was that the frozen Overworlder had not disturbed the equilibrium of the lake or caused any danger.

Aside from a few light touches to his mind, enquiring as to what was getting some of the residents in a stir, Bad had been left alone. A dead Overworlder posed no threat to the lake or to its most powerful inhabitant lurking in the depths. No, it just caused some gossip and chatter, but no real problems.

Bad was able to do what he liked with the statue.

Upon returning to his cave he looked again at the Skeppy. Whilst it made for a lavish entrance hall decoration, it was too noticeable where it was and could easily be seen from the opening. It needed to be moved. It wasn’t too difficult to nudge the statue towards the back wall of his cave. But getting it out of the lava and into his collection hall was going to be trickier.

He once again called on the lava for help, using his voice to ply and persuade it to help him. Warm and runny currents swirled at the Skeppy’s feet, lifting it off the sandy floor. Bad exited the lava, shuffling his way up the little beach and laying himself flat he reached out, wrapped his arms around the Skeppy, under its armpits and pulled. Aided by the lava the Skeppy sculpture began to move and slowly its head and shoulders emerged from the magma.

Bad was just starting to readjust his grip to the waist of the statue when it moved.

Huh? What the FUDGE?

He dropped the now wriggling creature like a hot cake and scuttling to the side dove back into the lava pool with a splash, seeking the safety of the waters.

Surprise! You’re not Dead

The first thing Skeppy realised was that his lungs were burning.

He coughed and spluttered and clawed at his chest as he tried to get vital oxygen into his lungs. But there was a chestplate in the way and his hands merely skidded across the diamond surface. His heart pounded in panic.

 Sensations were overwhelming him. His chest heaved as he gulped down the hot air around him. His vision was blurred red, he could hear the bubbling of lava, there was a bitter taste in his mouth. His limbs, once heavy and stiff were loosening up slowly.

In the ensuing seconds where he increasingly regained sensation of his body thoughts began to flood into his brain. Reliving his last memories.

He’d been mining through the netherrack when he’d fallen into the lava lake below. He shuddered, partly from still trying to catch his breath and partly from the visceral memory of plummeting several hundred blocks. Images of his friends’ faces as he looked up at them, of his feet scalding, of the panic as he metamorphosed into diamond to protect himself.

He tried to calm his quickened breathing, it didn’t seem like he was in immediate danger, he was no longer burning up in lava, he had come back to himself.

Skeppy wriggled his fingers and toes, okay, feels like everything is still attached.

He groaned and rubbed a hand across his eyes. They felt grainy and he blinked a few times trying to clear them as he took in his surroundings. He was laid on his back on something solid, the ceiling above him was mottled red and black and the air he was still shakily breathing was stiflingly hot.

He was still in the Nether then.

He rolled himself over and gingerly tried to sit up. His limbs were slow to co-ordinate, even though they were no longer made of diamond.

It appeared he was in some sort of cave. There was a lava pool taking up around half of the cavern, the glowing magma casting patterns across the roof. And then all alongside the walls of the cave were…well it looked like a junkyard. The strangest collection of items was covering almost every spare inch of the walls and there were piles and piles of things across the floor. Skeppy realised the ground he was sat on was covered in a coarse dark sand.

He slowly stood up, knees trembling but feet holding steady, and took a moment to centre himself. Then, more confident in his stance, he marvelled in absurd fascination at the litany of items stored in this cavern. There were entire sets of tools, from wooden pickaxes to iron swords and everything in between, a particularly shiny diamond axe glinted in the lava-light, indicating it was heavily enchanted. There were stacks of books, some enchanted, some plain, in no particular order, just haphazardly built up in little towers. There were plant pots, an old clock, bundles of arrows, rabbit hides, even what looked like a bucket of puffer fish. It was extremely odd.

What is this? Some sort of treasure trove? It was especially confusing because the things Skeppy immediately identified as valuable and useful like fucking blaze rods and netherite scrap were often hidden or underneath some of the other objects. Whereas the completely useless things like soup bowls and feathers were in item frames on the wall. Indeed, there was a bundle of string, pinned to the wall front and centre. It was a complete medley of objects with no discernible sorting system.

Skeppy took a few steps forward, scanning to see what else there was under the clutter, he spotted something gold with emerald eyes poking out from underneath an iron helmet, is that a fucking TOTEM?! As he reached towards it, there was a sound like a gasp from behind him.

He jumped, and spun quickly but whatever had let out the noise disappeared with a splash in the lava.

Skeppy reached for the enchanted axe and holding it in his grasp he approached the edge of the lava cautiously.

‘Hello?’ he called out much more boldly than he was feeling, ‘Who’s there?’

The surface of the lava was still rippling from where whatever creature had been there had ducked underneath the hot waves.

The seconds ticked by and the lava began to still, but Skeppy couldn’t make out anything below the magma.

‘Who are you?!’ he cried, ‘Show yourself!’

Then, a dark shape began to rise to the surface and Skeppy staggered backwards in fear, tripping over the handle of a golden hoe and landing on his ass with a thump. His jaw dropped as the creature’s head emerged from the lava.

It was a person.

Or was it?

Whilst it had features in the general shape of a person, the more Skeppy looked at it, the less he thought it was a human; it was markedly different. It had big white glowing eyes that were staring straight at him. It had hair that was long and dark when it was in the lava but as it rose up the strands began to change colour to red, mirroring the magma it had just left. It looked like lava was cascading down its head except it was hair. And there, on top of its head were two small horns.

Oh fuck, I’m in hell. This is the devil.

‘Get back demon!’ Skeppy cried, shuffling backwards and brandishing the axe.

‘Rude,’ said the creature with a voice that sounded slightly grating. It gave him a disapproving look.

Skeppy was flabbergasted, ‘You can talk?!’

‘No, you talk!’ it shot back at him. ‘You were dead five seconds ago! How the fudge are you now alive?’

‘I- what? Huh?’

The creature rose up out of the water some more and crossed its arms. Skeppy’s eyes boggled, this creature had the torso of a man, clearly evident by the lack of clothes it was wearing. It had dark skin with a trail of shiny scales across its shoulders. Its arms were well-muscled and defined and it had webbed hands with sharp, clawed fingertips. Skeppy gulped, although it didn’t hold a weapon, he was pretty sure this creature could probably kill him with its bare hands. 

‘Who-who are you?’ he stammered, still clutching at the axe.

‘Who are you?’ it repeated back at him.

Okay, fair question. Better answer it as this guy looks angry and I don’t want to be ripped to shreds.

‘I, um , my name’s Skeppy,’ he said.

It cocked its head, ‘S’geppy?’

‘S-k-eppy,’

‘Sss geppy,’

‘Nearly, S-k-eppy.’

‘Skeppy,’

‘There you go,’ said Skeppy with a smile. It had been quite endearing watching the creature try to pronounce his name properly, maybe it wasn’t a cold-blooded killer after all. ‘What’s your name?’ he asked.

‘BadBoyHalo,’ it replied.

‘BadBoyHalo,’ echoed Skeppy, the creature nodded, clearly pleased he’d got it in one.

‘And um, do you mind me asking, um what you are?’ He winced as he said it. Even I know that sounded bad.

‘You are a rude Overworlder.’

‘Yeah that was deserved,’ said Skeppy sheepishly, ‘Sorry, I’ve just never met someone who can apparently be in lava with no clothes on and not catch fire. Are you using a potion or are you naturally fire resistant?’

The creature rolled its eyes, ‘Clearly you’ve never met Anguillipyroscions.’

‘The fuck?’

Angy-fucking-what now?

Bad grumbled and leaning back raised up a dark tail, a flash of iridescent black before it disappeared under the surface once more.

Skeppy’s jaw was on the floor.

What the actual fuck? Skeppy was processing what he’d just seen… a tail.  He kinda looks like a merman, but like a lava one, not a water one. Did I know about this? Skeppy tried to think back to all of his recent research into the Nether biomes, residents and their habitats. He’d seen no mention of lava-merpeople or whatever the fuck species this BadBoyHalo was. This seemed an incredible oversight.

‘You’re a hybrid?’

‘Obviously’ said the BadBoyHalo dryly.

‘Okay, Mr Snarky-pants, I mean tail, Mr Snarky-tail, whatever, I was only asking...’ said Skeppy, ‘But, like….wow dude, I had no idea you guys even existed. This is awesome!’ but then he paused in his enthusiasm, a horrifying thought crossing his mind, ‘You’re not gonna eat me are you?’

‘Ewwwwww!’ cried BadBoyHalo pulling such a face it made Skeppy laugh.

‘Just wanted to check, just wanted to check! There’s a lot of things in the Nether that would like to eat me, that’s all.’

‘Mmm that’s fair,’ replied BadBoyHalo. ‘Not everyone likes Overworlders.’

‘What about you?’ asked Skeppy, ‘Do you like Overworlders?’

BadBoyHalo paused before saying, ‘I’ve never met any before.’

‘Oh! Well nice to meet you!’ said Skeppy pleasantly. ‘I’ve never met an Angwee, angry, angul…’

‘Anguillipyroscion?’

Skeppy huffed, ‘Yeah that.’ He looked around the cave once more; there didn’t appear to be a way out, he felt a bit silly to be still holding the axe, he set it down on the sandy floor. ‘So um, where am I? How did I get here? And how do I get back home?’

There was a pause, ‘You’re in my home,’ said BadBoyHalo.

‘Oh shit, wow, okay, um nice place you’re got. You’ve got loads of crap in here wow,’ but he stopped as he saw BadBoyHalo’s expression change from one of irritation into looking like a puppy that had just been kicked, ‘-Stuff, I meant to say stuff’ said Skeppy quickly.

Oh shit now I’ve done it, gone and insulted the only person who can help me seeing as I appear to be trapped in a cave.

‘It’s really all worthless?’ BadBoyHalo asked, he swam closer into the shallows of the lava pool and Skeppy saw the tail in its entirety.

It was magnificent. Dark shiny scales glinted from under the surface and BadBoyHalo’s flukes rippled in the boiling water, trailing long and delicate. It also looked fucking powerful. Whilst BadBoyHalo was appearing less and less like a demon hungry for blood he also was clearly someone not to mess with.

I mean, anyone self-assured enough to be walking- I mean swimming- around without a shirt on is clearly confident in their abilities to beat others in a fight.

‘No it’s not, it’s just a very strange collection that’s all. Dude you’ve got netherite here, and blaze rods and oh shit! Is that a magma cream?!’ Skeppy reached out for one that was lying on the sand by the lava-shore, just beyond his feet.

Quick as a shot BadBoyHalo snatched out a hand and seized the magma cream. ‘These are mine!’ he said loudly, ‘All of this is mine! Are you a thief?’

‘No! No no no!’ cried Skeppy, holding out his empty hands in innocence. ‘I was just curious dude, magma creams are so rare you know, they’re really valuable!’

BadboyHalo was looking at him incredulously, ‘Huh? They’re worth something? Do you also find them tasty?’

‘Tasty? Eww no,’ now Skeppy was pulling a face, ‘Yuck man, that’s gross, no they’re used for potion making, fire resistance potions you know, to be able to go in lava and not get burned? Speaking of! Do you have any of those?’

The other man was looking at Skeppy like the diamond-hybrid had grown a second head, ‘Magma creams are delicious,’ he said and to Skeppy’s absolute horror he popped the red and green globule into his mouth.

‘Oh….um….okay then,’ said Skeppy watching as BadBoyHalo chewed the magma cream in front of him, green juices dribbling down his chin as he grinned widely. It was disgusting, and such a waste of precious magma cream, that could have made three potions! But Skeppy thought better of insulting the person who’s cave he was currently trapped in.

‘Where’s your home?’ asked BadBoyHalo, mouth still full of magma cream, ‘Assuming it’s in the Overworld?’

‘Yeah it is, do you know where there’s a portal nearby? I need to get back there.’

‘I might do,’ said BadBoyHalo dismissively, ‘But you have to answer my questions first.’

‘I um…..okay I guess,’ said Skeppy, not like I really have a choice do I? I’m trapped here. He leaned back on his hands and stretched his legs out in front of him, ‘What are your questions? Ask away.’

BadBoyHalo seemed very distracted looking at his legs for a second then blinked a few times to refocus and came forwards so he was at the very very edge of the lava and propped himself up on his elbows; lying in the shallows.

‘Can you tell me about the Sky?’

It turned out, BadBoyHalo the angle-something-something had some very astute questions about the Overworld, mostly about the Sky. Which made sense if you were a Netherborn and had only ever experienced a roof overhead, reasoned Skeppy.

He tried to answer the questions to the best of his knowledge which admittedly wasn’t that great on how things like the Sun, atmosphere and weather worked, but he focused instead on how things felt to experience them. How daytime was safe and nighttime was filled with dangerous mobs, how the Sun could feel so hot it burned, and rain could be a fine mist or lashing down, and then he thought BadBoyHalo’s brain might explode when he mentioned snow.

‘Well wait until you see the Subzero Hypogeal!’ he said offhandedly. Then realised what he’d said and regretted it. The oncoming ice wasn’t something to joke about.

‘The what?’ asked BadBoyHalo, confused.

‘The ice! The ice that’s plaguing the Nether,’ when the lava-merman continued to look blank Skeppy said,’ Surely you’ve seen it! You’ve heard of the ice eating up the Nether? It’s destroying everything in its path.’

BadBoyHalo shook his head, ‘Nope, don’t know what you are talking about.’

‘But this lake, it’s connected to different lakes, right? Surely… you must have heard something, seen hints of it?’

Unless he hasn’t, thought Skeppy. Unless the lake is unscathed, unless it’s the epicentre….

An uneasy feeling started to form heavy in Skeppy’s stomach. He opened his inventory, pulling at the strings of his backpack, hands fumbling a little in his haste to open it up. But there, inside, safe and untarnished were bundles of rolled up parchment.

My maps……oh thank fuck they’re all here.

His maps detailing the trek he’d made with Puffy and Tubbo, across the Nether plotting out the potential path of the advancing ice, trying to locate the convergence. Could it be this place? This lake he’d fallen into? He needed to get back home, needed to lay out all the maps, see the bigger picture.

Only issue was, he was trapped in a cave.

‘I need to get back home,’ he announced to the other man, ‘I’ve answered your questions,  can you show me the way out of here?’

‘Yeah sure,’ said BadBoyHalo, he didn’t seem bothered at all by Skeppy mentioning the ice, it seemed like he didn’t believe him, otherwise surely he’d be worried or concerned?  ‘You’ve been kind to answer my questions thank you.’

‘So how do I leave?’

‘You’ll need to swim, can you follow me?’

‘Dude I can’t step foot in the lava, I’ll burn and have to turn to diamond again.’

‘Oh that’s what you were, you were diamond!’ Realisation dawned on BadBoyHalo’s face.

Skeppy nodded, ‘Yes I’m diamond hybrid, see?’ he showed the other man the patches of diamond on his skin, ‘But I hardly ever go full diamond like that, only when I’m in danger.’

‘Like a defence mechanism?’

‘Yes exactly!’

BadBoyHalo seemed to be in contemplation, ‘So you need that potion you mentioned…’

‘Yeah, pretty much,’ said Skeppy, ‘That or I mine my way out? But I don’t want to damage your home.’

Bad shook his head, ‘You can’t mine out, we’re under lava right now, we’re in my lake.’

‘Your lake?’

‘Well it’s my lake as much as it’s anyone’s who lives here,’ said BadBoyHalo defensively.

Skeppy held up his hands, ‘No, you’re right, fair enough.’

It was then BadBoyHalo told him to check one of the small chests off to the left side of the cave. Skeppy crawled over and knelt in front of it. Moving some detritus off the top he lifted the lid.

‘Holy shit! You’re stocked up!’

The inside of the chest was full of glowing potion bottles. Skeppy started rummaging through them, BadBoyHalo had a lot of the regular ones but also some more fruity ones as well, slow falling, well that would have helped earlier, but no. Levitation, fun but no, blindness, no. He kept going through them, Inversion…weird…Wither, fuck no let’s not touch that one. Until finally, an orange glowing bottle was revealed to be Fire Resistance yes!

‘Aha!’ he crowed, ‘Got it!’ He turned around triumphantly, holding the potion aloft.

BadBoyHalo beamed at him and Skeppy faltered. The other man had a wide smile across his face, and his eyes had gone squinty as he shared in Skeppy’s infectious delight, it stopped Skeppy in his tracks.

Oh fuck he’s kinda cute. Fuck.

‘Um….’

‘Mmmhmm?’ BadBoyHalo was looking at him expectantly.

‘Um, yeah, so er, how come you have all this stuff here?’ Skeppy cleared his throat, keen to keep the conversation moving on, ‘How did you get it?’

‘I found it all. You Overworlders are very messy.’

Skeppy looked around at the hoard of items in the cave, ‘Jeez, I guess we are.’

He stood up and approached the edge of the lava, before staring down at the orange glowing bottle in his hand with no small amount of trepidation, ‘I hope potions don’t have use-by-dates,’ and unstoppering the bottle he downed it in one go.

‘What’s a use-by-date?’ asked BadBoyHalo quizzically.

Skeppy gasped as the potion burned down the back of his throat, ‘Don’t… worry…about it,’  he managed hoarsely.

Okay that one was a little spicy….maybe it’s the magma creams? Huh, guess I’ve never stopped to think about what they might taste like. The disturbing image of BadBoyHalo happily chewing on a magma cream was not going to leave his mind anytime soon. Skeppy shuddered at how foul it was, yeah he was sure they were not supposed to just be snacked on like candy.

He put the empty bottle in his inventory and checked the rest of his items. He was missing his good pick and shield; he remembered he’d thrown them away when he’d fallen in the lava. Luckily he had an old iron one for backup although its durability wasn’t great. He still had some food on him and necessary tools for survival in his backpack. As tempted as he was to take some more stuff from BadBoyHalo’s cave, that totem in the corner dude, just on the floor…. He didn’t want to piss off his only ticket out of here.

‘Okay how do we do this?’ he said, dipping a toe in the lava to test and feeling no scorching.

‘Follow me,’ said BadBoyHalo and he turned gracefully in the lava and backed up to give Skeppy room to enter. Skeppy waded in, the floor rapidly descending and then he was treading lava. His armour was heavy, but he could manage to keep himself afloat, at least he wasn’t solid diamond this time.

BadBoyHalo nodded at him then in one smooth movement dove down and out of sight the lava hardly rippling.

Skeppy took a deep breath and followed.

Or, well tried too.

He couldn’t see more than one block in front of him. All around him was orange. There was no black tail in sight.

He thrashed in the lava, panicking slightly, and returned to the surface, taking in lungfuls of air again.

BadBoyHalo’s head popped up seconds later.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Can’t see a fucking thing,’ panted Skeppy.

BadBoyHalo’s eyes widened and suddenly Skeppy understood why they were so large and white. The man-lavafish-hybrid -whatever-he-was, was perfectly adapted for his environment; he could see in the lava.

Why do I know nothing about these people? They are so fucking cool!

‘Come here,’ and then BadBoyHalo was coming in close, too close and was scooping Skeppy into his arms, ‘Deep breath,’ and it dawned on Skeppy what was about to happen but he had no time to protest, he only had chance to take a huge breath and then they were sinking rapidly.

Skeppy couldn’t see anything but orange, he squeezed his eyes shut and clung to BadBoyHalo as he struck out in the lava, powerful tail propelling them forward and guided them through what felt like a narrow opening in the rocky cave wall.

And then they were free… and that’s when Skeppy felt the speed.

They were tonning through the lava. He could feel the resistance of the liquid against his skin and armour as they rushed through it, not burning as he was protected by the potion but it sure was an odd experience.

Even more unusual was being held in the arms of an incredibly muscular man. Skeppy ducked his head into the crook of BadBoyHalo’s neck, trying to get into the slipstream.

They were travelling fast.

The lava-merman’s strong tail was propelling them forwards at pace. Skeppy might have been worried about falling away but the grip BadBoyHalo had on him was firm; he was pressed against a very naked chest and wasn’t going anywhere except where BadBoyHalo wanted him to go.

Skeppy felt his lungs begin to burn again as the seconds passed, but just as he felt like he might need to signal to the lava-merman that he needed to breathe they were breaking the surface. Skeppy gasped for air and felt himself pushed up onto firm ground; a shoreline.

He flopped ungainly onto warped nylium, lava running off his body and pooling under him. It took him a minute to get his breath back. His limbs felt shaky again. He’d be happy if he didn’t have to go in lava for a good long while.

He almost missed the strong arms around him.

Get a grip!

He pushed his wet hair out of his eyes and gazed at his surroundings. He was in a warped forest biome. A fat Warped Toad was watching him from a few blocks away, and there, off to the side was a netherrack and magma block pedestal where a ruined portal would normally sit only there was hardly anything to indicate a portal frame, just one singular obsidian block.

‘Sheesh,’ said Skeppy, ‘It’s not much huh?’

‘Can you fix it?’ asked BadBoyHalo.  Skeppy looked back at the lakeside, the other man was  resting in the shallows, sitting up, his tail mostly under him. ‘It used to be working a long, long time ago,  but it was destroyed, I don’t know who did it.’

‘I can,’ said Skeppy, ‘A good Nether adventurer always comes prepared!’

He got to his feet steadily and made his way over to the portal. Taking out nine blocks of obsidian from his inventory he slotted them in place one by one, completing the frame. Then he retrieved his flint and steel and struck it. The portal flared to life with the familiar purple swirly dimension membrane appearing.

‘Okay, well thank you BadBoyHalo,’ said Skeppy, turning back to the hybrid watching him from the shoreline.

‘Call me Bad.’

‘Oh okay! Bad. Well thanks, really I mean it.’

‘You’re welcome. Thanks for answering my questions.’

Skeppy hesitated. He wasn’t sure why; he needed to get home, he didn’t know how long he’d been gone, time was different here. He needed to find Puffy and Tubbo, he needed to get to his house, he needed a fucking bath.

He was desperate to plot the co-ordinates of this lake and cross reference with his maps and see if his hunch was true, that this was the epicentre of the Subzero Hypogeal. He needed to go back.

But he wasn’t quite ready to leave. He glanced back at Bad, he remembered those strong arms around him, the way he’d looked when Skeppy was talking about the Overworld, his questions, his curiosity for Skeppy’s home dimension, his smile….

‘I can come visit?’ he asked, whilst at the same exact time Bad blurted, ‘You’ll come back?’

They both laughed, the sounds complimenting each other.

‘I have so many more questions!’ said Bad.

‘Dude, so do I,’ said Skeppy with a smile, ‘I’ll see you soon yeah? Take care of yourself.’

‘Goodbye, S’geppy, I mean, Skeppy,’ said Bad and his wave was the last thing Skeppy saw as he stepped through the portal.

Chapter Text

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

It took Skeppy days to get back home, and that was with good fortune. He’d had to hike across impossibly tall mountains, traverse deep ravines, scurry across savannah and plains, even part of a jungle until he’d come to a rocky shore and camped out for a night until Puffy and Tubbo pulled up in a speed boat and whisked him back to civilisation.

‘SKEPPPPPPPYYYYY! Bro, it’s been so long! Where’ve you been!?’ yelled Tubbo as soon as they were in earshot.

‘Skeppy!’ cried Puffy, pulling the boat up alongside the rocks where the land met the sea, and scrambling out to pull Skeppy into a fierce hug. She didn’t need to say too much more, Skeppy could feel in the way she clutched at him that she was beyond relieved to see him.

‘We thought you were full on dead bro,’ said Tubbo, ‘When you didn’t respawn, we thought you’d gone to the void.’

Skeppy was the first to pull away from Puffy’s hug, but he caught her hand and gave it a squeeze, ‘Nah, I’m good,’ he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. She met his gaze with a tremulous expression and squeezed his hand back as if she was confirming he was really here.

‘Yeah,’ she said with a hoarse voice, ‘Tubbo was gonna auction your stuff, I had to seal off your house.’

‘Broooo, what the fuck?’

‘I wasn’t serious!’ protested Tubbo frantically, ‘It was a joke! Well, okay it was a little serious…but only cos we thought you weren’t coming back! I even asked Phil to see if he knew if you’d died died-‘

‘Oh yeah?’ said Skeppy as he made his way behind Puffy, clambering over the slippery rocks and joined Tubbo in the boat, ‘And what did the old Crow say?’

‘Ah… well… Phil told me to piss off-‘

Skeppy started laughing.

Puffy settled herself in the driver’s seat of the boat and ignited the engine, retreating out of the natural cove, before turning and then speeding off in the direction of home. Skeppy leaned back in his seat, getting comfy ahead of the long journey back.

Tubbo kept up a constant stream of chatter the whole way. Skeppy let him, occasionally looking over to Puffy. They sometimes caught each other’s eyes and exchanged looks as Tubbo’s stories got wilder and wilder.

Skeppy was just so happy to be back in the Overworld; the air was fresh, the water was cool and the sun was bright. The Nether always felt stifling.

Skeppy thought back to BadBoyHalo, Bad, asking him about the Sky.

‘Is it true you don’t have a roof in the Overworld? That you have something called The Sky?’

Skeppy had nodded and Bad’s eyes had widened in astonishment.

‘But how do you not just fall out of the world?’

‘Ummm gravity?’ Skeppy had answered but the lava-merman hadn’t been convinced.

‘That feels very scary,’ he’d said, ‘I want to see it but it sounds terrifying. All that…openness…’

‘You get used to it,’ Skeppy had explained, ‘And we don’t live outside all the time, we have houses and bases and stuff. And remember, I’m a diamond hybrid, I’m just as comfortable underground in the mines as above ground outside and I quite like the Sky.’

Bad had looked contemplative, he’d really hung on Skeppy’s every word, listening and taking it all in.

Speaking of, Skeppy was only half listening to Tubbo prattle on about some new machine he’d devised which would automatically make avocado toast. Skeppy felt his stomach rumble; all he’d had for breakfast was a few scrounged apples and his last slice of bread.

Puffy gestured to the back of the boat where there was a backpack of goodies. Skeppy withdrew a tupperware of chocolate chip cookies and handed them around.

The journey back, although long, was largely uneventful, the only potential danger being an Underwater Temple but Puffy gave it a wide berth in the speedboat.

Despite the in-boat entertainment provided by Tubbo, Puffy still seemed a little subdued so when they eventually came into dock at their neighbourhood quayside, Skeppy made sure to give her another long hug once they’d disembarked. It was night and there was a full moon out.

‘I’m okay,’ he told her, ‘I really am.’

‘I know,’ she replied, ‘I was just so worried. Why the fuck didn’t you just respawn?’

‘I panicked,’ Skeppy said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair, ‘I didn’t want to lose all my stuff, all the maps we made to get to that lake. I’m pretty sure it’s the epicentre by the way, but yeah, I just turned to diamond to protect myself.’

‘We tried to find you,’ said Puffy, ‘But it was so far into the Nether, I wasn’t sure we’d find the lake again, and then I don’t even know how we’d have got you out of there.’

‘Yeah how did you get out of the lava?’

Skeppy turned to Tubbo who had tied up the boat and came beside them as they started making their way back up to their motley village, where they lived alongside their friends.

‘Oh um, so yeah this is the crazy thing, you’re not going to fucking believe it. There was a lava-merman-‘

‘A what?’

‘The fuck?’

Skeppy laughed at their incredulous faces, ‘Yeah I’m being serious! It was a lava-merman, I woke up in his cave-‘

Tubbo interrupted with a snort.

‘Oh fuck off Tubbo, not like that. No I mean I was literally in this underwater, um I mean underlava cave. And it was crazy, there was all this loot in there. like stuff left from Overworlders and stuff, it was insane. And yeah there’s just this dude, there in the lava with a tail. And he’s a fucking angul-something-something, I’ll need to look up the proper name. Anyway, we chatted for a bit and then he took me back to a ruined portal and I had the obsidian on me so fixed it up, lit it and here I am.’

‘I….how do you always get into the craziest adventures?’ said Puffy shaking her head. ‘I didn’t even know lava-mermen existed.’

‘Neither did I!’ cried Skeppy, ‘Apparent there’s a whole bunch of them in the Nether and none of us knew.’

They made their way through the village square, a misshapen fountain in the middle that had once been pretty but after one of Skeppy’s pranks was now an upside-down Ranboo with water coming out of its feet. Skeppy had meant to change it back but Ranboo had loved it so much it had stayed.

‘Yeah well they’re all about to become popsicles if we don’t stop the ice bro,’ said Tubbo, ‘It’s getting worse than ever dude, last week we another Nether Fortresses and a Bastion the week before that-‘

Skeppy stopped in his tracks, ‘Wait, what do you mean last week?’

‘Er, I mean last week?’

Something not unlike the ice of the subzero hypogeal felt like it was trickling down the back of Skeppy’s neck. ‘How long was I gone for?’ he said quietly.

Puffy came around to stand in front of Skeppy and she took his hands, ‘We’re just glad to have you back is all,’ she said, ‘You know time works differently in the Nether, I mean on our adventure we were in there for ten days. And then after we lost you it took us several days to find a portal to come back through from, and then it took us ages to get home-‘

‘Puffy,’ interrupted Skeppy, ‘How long has it been?’

She bit her lip, ‘A month.’

‘A MONTH? I’ve been gone a MONTH?’

Skeppy had thought it could have only been a few days at most. It had felt like no time at all since he’d frozen into diamond and then reawoken. And it could have only been a few hours he was chatting with BadBoyHalo for……but a whole month? More precious time lost to the plague of ice consuming the Nether.

We can’t afford to lose any more of the Nether. His heart sank thinking about the mobs that would have been lost to the subzero hypogeal. And something in him twinged thinking about the guy in the lake who seemingly had no idea of the oncoming danger.

‘Skeppy we really thought you’d died and would just respawn here. We had no idea you were still trapped in the lake,’ said Puffy, she looked miserable.

‘Dude if you think about it, it’s really your own fault,’ interjected Tubbo.

Puffy glared at him, and the younger man started protesting, ‘What? What?! It is! He’s the one who turned himself into fucking diamond or whatever and sank down to the bottom of a lavalake and then got kidnapped by a lava-mermaid-‘

‘Lava-merman’ corrected Skeppy.

‘Oh well that makes all the difference I guess,’ said Tubbo sarcastically.

‘Can we please all just stop arguing!’ cried Puffy. ‘Mistakes were made, but Skeppy you’re back now, and you said you had the maps still, so that’s good right? We can still plot the path of the ice and try and work out what’s happening? There’s still chance to save the Nether.’

Skeppy sighed, ‘No, you’re right Puffy, yelling isn’t going to get us anywhere. Let’s just, I dunno, go home and then work out what we’re gonna do tomorrow I guess.’

‘That sounds like a good plan,’ said Puffy, ‘I think we are all in need of a good sleep.’

And with that, the three exchanged hugs before going their separate ways to their own abodes.

Skeppy made his way along the long road to his own mansion, his brain racing as he worried over the time lost in the Nether.

He’d not thought through the consequences of turning to diamond. He’d assumed….

I’d assumed they’d come and get me he thought.

It wasn’t fair of him to assume that. The Nether was incredibly hostile and Puffy and Tubbo had been struggling behind him for thousands of blocks, wilting in the relentless heat of the Nether. They supported him in his quest and exploration, but they were poorly suited for survival in the underworld dimension. And for them to attempt a rescue mission when none of them had access to fire resistance potions and there were all sorts of aggressive mobs in there. And of course they’d thought he’d just respawn…..

Tubbo wasn’t wrong, Skeppy was the one responsible for his own actions which had cost him a month of time, and could have so easily been so much longer. He was lucky Bad had found him and brought him above the lava so he could turn back to his human-hybrid form. If the anguil-ugh what was the name he said again? I need to look it up! If the lava-merman hadn’t have found him, who knows how long Skeppy would have been down in the bottom of the lava lake? He wouldn’t have decayed in his diamond form, he could have lasted eons down there.

Skeppy made his way up the steps to his house. He had a moment where he had to jimmy the door open due to Puffy putting several security devices on the entrance, but the diamond padlocks she’d placed all over the door, responded almost immediately to his touch and unlocked. And then he was inside, standing in his entrance hall.

It felt cold. He rubbed his arms, a chill running over him.

Still, it’s good to be home.

Despite what Puffy had said, Skeppy had no intention of going to bed and sleeping. He’d been immobile at the bottom of a lavalake for the better part of an entire month, all while the Nether had continued to be under attack from the subzero hypogeal. There wasn’t time to waste in sleep.

He set off up the stairs two at a time to get to his investigation room.

Upon entering he could see it was largely untouched, the only signs of disturbance were the noticeable lack of coffee cups. Someone, likely Puffy, had come in here and cleaned up.

This was Skeppy’s main study room where he had holed up to research the Nether, trying to glean everything he could to better understand the Subzero Hypogeal. And it was not lost on him that he had a safe place from which to do that.

The Overworlders, by virtue of being not of the underworld dimension had the choice to leave. No such luck for the Netherborn, they either got snuffed by the slowly rampaging ice, or they fled, trying to escape its inexorable march.

There was a large central table in the middle of the space, maps and parchment spread across it. Moonlight flooded into the room from the large bay windows at the far end, illuminating the items in the room in a soft white light. Skeppy turned on one of the lamps adding enough light to read by as he moved across the floor.

One full wall of the study was lined with bookshelves containing books all related to the Nether. Skeppy skimmed some of the older, dustier tomes he’d previously overlooked. He traced fingers over the spines looking for one book in particular, ah, there it was!  “Netherborn Natives: A comprehensive Guide to the Underworld Mobs”.  Skeppy hadn’t looked through the book before, preferring to use the more recent “Nether Mob Field Guide” by Edwina Enderson to learn about the inhabitants of the other dimension. But now, on reflection, he wondered if by unconsciously using a more and slimmed down almanac, there were details missed out. The author of the Netherborn Natives book, Winston Witherstone, whilst certainly old-school with his use of florid language, seemed to be much more well-travelled in the Nether.

Skeppy flicked through the pages and was shocked that almost the first page he turned too had a double page spread with an image of a creature who looked just like BadBoyHalo. He sat down in one of the chairs to read the text:

Anguillipyroscion (Ahn-gwill-e-pie-ro-sigh-on)

The eel’s fiery offspring.

Category: Elusive

Biome: All hot Nether biomes

Appearance: The Anguillipyroscions are a most singular race of hybrid beings, bearing a striking resemblance to their eel progenitors, yet are imbued with traits reminiscent of the Overworld humans. A harmonious blend of the two, they possess elongated, serpentine forms, comprising robust human-like torsos and potent tails. Their skin is as dark as obsidian and Their hair, whilst appearing as black as the void under the lava, transforms upon emerging from the molten waves into a vibrant tableau of molten reds and oranges, mirroring the flowing lava that surrounds them. Their eyes glow white with an inner fire, perfectly adapted to pierce through the thick lava and in the relative gloom of the Nether environment.

Habitat: Dwelling in lava, the Anguillipyroscions have adapted to life in extreme heat. These beings lead a nomadic existence, perpetually in motion with the ebb and flow of the lava, navigating the fiery arteries of the Nether. Rarely do they linger in one location, save for the nurturing of their young. Their preferred resting places are the backs of colossal leviathans, fellow denizens of their lava habitat. It is a sight most astounding, entire families slumbering atop these gargantuan creatures amidst the molten waves. 

They are experts at adapting to change, experienced when it comes to the capricious nature of the lava flows in the Nether. As the lava flows change direction and intensity, they must be ready to relocate at a moment’s notice. This has made them incredibly resilient and adaptable, able to quickly pack up their belongings and establish a new temporary settlement in a different part of the Underworld.

Culture and Traditions: The Anguillipyroscions have a rich culture shaped by their unique environment. They are known for their “Magma Migrations”, where they move en-masse following the flow of the lava. This migration is not only a necessity for survival but has also become a central cultural event, marked with communal feasts and storytelling.

Sustainable Living: Living a nomadic lifestyle has also made the Anguillipyroscions experts in sustainable living. They take only what they need from the environment, ensuring that they leave no trace when they move on. This respect for their environment is a key part of their culture and identity.

Diet: Their diet consists of a variety of lava fish (Zombie-Carp, Magma Mackerel and Pyro Pufferfish).  In addition to these lava fish, the Anguillipyroscions partake in the consumption of Soul Vultures. Despite these avian creatures predominantly soaring in the sky, the Anguillipyroscions are more than capable of stalking and hunting their prey. They employ powerful pounces, a testament to their strength and agility, to stun and dispatch these large birds. The successful hunter shares their bounty with the community, a tradition that reinforces the strong bonds of mutual aid and cooperation within their society.

Community: Despite the challenges of their nomadic lifestyle, the Anguillipyroscions have a strong sense of community. They rely on each other for survival, and this mutual dependence has fostered deep bonds between them. Their nomadic lifestyle is not just about survival, but is also a testament to their resilience, adaptability, and the strength of their community. They believe in sharing and mutual aid, values that have enabled them to thrive in such extreme conditions.

Skeppy let the heavy book drop onto the table with a thud. He sat back and rubbed his tired eyes.

He’d had no idea that this race of people existed in the Nether. It was incredible. Yet whilst the book told him many facts about the Anguillipyroscions, he still wanted to know more.

A bit like how Bad had had all those questions for him.

Well good thing I have a friend among them, he thought to himself. Maybe it was a bit of a reach to call Bad his friend but they’d both enjoyed talking to one another and Bad had swum him to a portal to get home and had asked if Skeppy would come back…..

Skeppy wanted to go back. Was itching to get back.

But first, the maps.

He pulled the stack of maps from his backpack and started setting them out on the table. It took some time to arrange them in the right order, even with his skills at geography Skeppy’s unfamiliarity with the Nether was a hindrance. However, after an hour or so, the maps were all laid out correctly, like a huge jigsaw puzzle the picture revealed was unmistakeable.

The lake Skeppy had accidentally fallen into, Bad’s lake, was the epicentre of the subzero hypogeal. It was as clear as day, the ice was convening in on the midpoint that was the lake.

That lake held the answers.

A Watched Portal Never Whooshes

Bad wasn’t sure how much time had passed since Skeppy the Overworlder had left through the Nether Portal. It had been several cycles at least because he’d eaten more than a few meals.

He found himself doing long laps of the lake, just to have an excuse to swim past the portal. Sometimes he lingered in the shallows, trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of the overworld beyond. But he knew he couldn’t, the portal just swirled its usual purple particles but stayed quiet.

He thought back on the goodbye as he’d waved the Overworlder off back to his home dimension. Slightly soggy from the lava, but very much alive and moving. Couldn’t be more different to the immobile statue he’d been.

The Anguillipyroscion still couldn’t believe it. He’d really thought the statue was a carcass, that the young man who’d fallen into his lake had died.

He flushed with embarrassment, and his fins vibrated as he tried to overcome the feeling of foolishness. He’s spent hours staring at him. Wondering who he was, what he’d been like, what he’d been doing this deep into the Nether that he’d fallen into the lake and perished.

To have him come alive and wiggling in Bad’s arms…..shock seemed too tame a word to describe it.

And he could have been dangerous and hostile and Bad had let him into his home! Luckily however, Skeppy had seemed just as startled and confused to his situation as Bad had been. Only pointing a weapon at Bad because he’d felt threatened himself. Bad surmised of the two of them Skeppy had probably had the greater surprise at waking up and being in a completely unknown space and unable to escape.

At least he seemed nice.

He’d initially been a little rude, but Bad thought again, given the circumstances some of the fronting was understandable. Because Skeppy had soon warmed up; he’d answered Bad’s questions about the Overworld with kindness and even good humour towards the end. They’d been laughing together as Skeppy had struggled to describe rain. Bad was dubious as to the fact that stuff could just fall from the Sky apparently. It frightened him. A roof was much safer, his only worry of projectiles falling from high up was apparently handsome Overworlders.

Because he was so pretty.

The other lake residents could tease him but there was no denying it. Skeppy crystalised or alive was one of the most beautiful beings Bad had ever seen.

The other thing Bad couldn’t forget was the feeling of Skeppy in his arms as he’d swum him over to the ruined portal.

The Overworlders were really not good when it came to lava, no natural fire resistance, no tails or fins and their puny little eyes couldn’t see anything in or through the molten magma. Bad had taken one long look at Skeppy floundering in the lava. Legs kicking wildly as he’d tried to keep himself afloat and Bad had taken the executive decision to scoop him up and carry the man to the portal himself.

He’d expected some resistance, but Skeppy had just clung to him as he’d put on a burst of speed and beelined for the portal. The man was not weak in Bad’s arms, he could feel how solidly built Skeppy was underneath the armour, but the way he’d tucked his head under Bad’s chin and let himself be carried…..

He couldn’t stop thinking about him. He wanted to see him again so desperately. He’d even wondered about making his way through the portal himself to try and find Skeppy. But the thought had barely even crossed his mind before it had been swept away on a tide of no absolutely not. you must stay. stay here. in the lake. safe and protected. do not leave.  

His mind flooded with whispers and he’d come to his senses. Yes. Why would he leave? That was silly. He would just wait. Skeppy said he’d come back. Bad just needed to wait.

He knew from the disapproving buzz under his skin that emanated from the murky depths of the lake that him waiting for the Overworlder to return was not ideal. But he shrugged the feeling on unease off, he, BadBoyHalo was keen for Skeppy to return even if one inhabitant was not.  

On his fourth pass of the portal, the familiar Leviathan Matriarch caught up with him. She only had to gesture with her head for Bad to accompany her. And he did so; settling himself on her back as she glided through the lava, going deep under the surface and away from the portal.

‘Nothing to be gained from watching it,’ she said to him in her measured tone.  

‘I know,’ he sighed, ‘He said he’d come back is all.’

‘Then trust.’

‘You don’t think we can trust the Overworlders though,’ said Bad, picking at an old scale on his tail and dislodging it to reveal a fresh one underneath.

‘Generally I like to avoid Overworlders, for the sake of this lake you know I’d prefer they gave us a wide berth. But on an individual basis, I have no reason this far to distrust this Overworlder. I don’t know him. Has he given you reason to distrust him?’

‘No but-‘

‘Then wait little one. A watched portal never whooshes.’

‘Yes I know,’ sighed Bad in agreement, and then he tapped her shell with his clawed hand, ‘And hey, I’m not little! I’m at least as old as you!’

She chuckled, the sound reverberating through her shell, ‘Rest, you’ll know when he returns.’

Bad nodded and curled his tail up tighter, letting the slow flap of the Leviathan’s fins carry him far across the lake.

Common Ground

It just so happened Bad was in his cave sorting through his collection of overworld items when a click click click, interrupted his concentrated inventory and storage sorting.

It was the black Lava-Lobster.

Bad launched himself at it and quick as a flash had it grabbed by the tail. Holding it before him he bared his sharp teeth.

‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t snap your neck and eat you for dinner,’ he growled.

The Lobster did not seem intimidated whatsoever, in fact it merely grinned and said gleefully ‘Knock-knock your boyfriend’s here.’

‘I…. what?’

Bad could have sworn if it was able to, the Lobster would have rolled its beady black eyes at him.

‘Your pretty blue shiny Overworlder is back,’ it said, ‘He’s looking a little lost by the portal, also fairly sure the Bone Serpents have caught his scent-‘

Bad was out of the cave before the Lobster finished its sentence.

-‘and are stalking him already- okay whatever, don’t thank me I guess…’ but then the snide voice was out of earshot as Bad hurtled through the lava at breakneck speed to get to the obsidian portal.

Skeppy is back!

Bad felt the excitement reverberate through his body.

He came back!

His fins pulsed as he whistled through the molten waters, speeding to the warped forest island in the lake where the portal was.

He was almost there when he caught sight of a large Bone Serpent, its tail wiggling in anticipation of what Bad knew would be a giant leap out of the lava to pounce and snap Skeppy up in its jaws. Bad screeched to a halt in front of it and whacked it firmly on its bony snout with his tail.

‘No!’ he yelled, ‘Not food!’

The Bone Serpent looked at him, shocked.

‘Not food,’  Bad reiterated, ‘He’s a friend!’ He gestured up to the surface where through the lava he could see Skeppy walking cautiously around the small island.

‘Overworlders aren’t friends,’ said the Bone Serpent.

‘This one is.’

The Bone Serpent pouted and snorted, jets of lava gushing from its nostrils, but Bad held firm and stared it down, his white eyes glaring into the dark sockets of the Bone Serpent.

After several long moments it huffed, clearly sulking that Bad had ruined it’s fun.

‘Go pick one of the Soul Vultures,’ said Bad, ‘Or better yet, that pesky Lava-Lobster. They’d make a good snack.’

The Bone Serpent chuckled, ‘They supply me tasty fofoca, won’t eat them.’

Bad threw up his hands, ‘Well get outta here, okay? The Overworlder is my friend, okay?’

The Bone Serpent backed off, shaking its head but it swam away in a southerly direction. Bad watched it go until he was certain it was actually leaving and not sneaking back in the hopes of a quick bite.

Major nuisance and potential deadly threat dealt with, he swam up and broke the surface startling Skeppy.

‘Wahhhh!’

‘Oops sorry,’ Bad giggled, it was funny seeing the man jump, both his feet practically left the ground.

‘You’re not sorry at all! you know I can’t see a thing in the lava, there could be all sorts of creatures lurking in there waiting to eat me.’

‘Mmmm there could be,’ said Bad with a wide grin. He decided against telling Skeppy he’d chased the predators off; it was more fun this way.

‘Oh I see how it is,’ said Skeppy smiling back at him and Bad felt the breath in his gills catch at the sight. The Skeppy in his memory was nothing to the one in front of him now.

‘How are you dude?’ asked Skeppy. ‘How’ve you been?’

Skeppy had come back. Had come back to see him, BadBoyHalo. Bad felt warm in his scales.

‘I’m good, I’m good,’ he replied, ‘You?’

‘Yeah bro, I’m doing good. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back here. My house is really far away in the Overworld, and I had a bunch of stuff to do before I could come back.’

Bad shrugged, ‘S’okay.’ He didn’t think it had been too long. He had worried Skeppy wouldn’t come back at all, he didn’t mind waiting if he knew he was going to get to see the other man.

‘Yeah? Oh, cool. Well, it’s good to see you again.’

‘You too,’ replied Bad.

There was a pause where they both looked at one another.

‘Yeah, well anyway bro, Bad… Um,’ Skeppy seemed to be unsure of what to say, he was running a hand through his black hair, it’s so fluffy thought Bad. His own hair was long and always wet, like the lava flows. He kind of wanted to touch and feel Skeppy’s hair, it looked soft. He crept forwards in the lava until he was just in the shallows.

‘Nice to see your lake properly,’ continued Skeppy, he came right to the shoreline, where the lava lapped gently at black sand, a natural beach in the cove on the Island. ‘Kinda wasn’t paying all that much attention last time.’

‘Yeah, you might not have fallen in if you were,’ responded Bad, teasingly.

‘Woahhhh! Call me out why don’t you!’ protested Skeppy, but then he said, ‘I guess that’s called for, hah, I’m an idiot. I’ve already had Puffy lecture me twice on it.’

‘Puffy?’

‘Oh yeah, she’s one of my friends in the Overworld,’ said Skeppy. ‘But I get it, she was really worried about me. She thought I was just gonna die and respawn back in the Overworld, and then when I didn’t show up….yeah.....turning to diamond wasn’t my best move.’ He sighed heavily.

Bad disagreed. If Skeppy hadn’t turned to diamond and had just died in the lava then Bad wouldn’t have had a statue in his entrance hall for ages and then accidentally brought him back to life. He’d never have met Skeppy! Having the opportunity to meet and talk to the Overworlder was just so exciting! Bad’s mind was brimming with questions.

Bad watched the way the other man moved, how he was toeing at the black sand, digging his diamond boots into it, making impressions.

‘What do you like to eat?’ he blurted out.

Skeppy stopped and looked back up at Bad, the question seemed to have brought him out of his thoughts. ‘Ummm I dunno, like loads of things I guess-‘

‘Only because you said you wouldn’t eat Magma creams,’ clarified Bad, ‘So I’ve been wondering what Overworlders eat. For all your messiness you don’t tend to leave food behind.’

‘No I guess we wouldn’t,’ said Skeppy, ‘Well, I like pizza… um... I like avocado toast, Tubbo -he’s another one of my friends in the Overworld- he’s just made this avocado toast factory which churns out like a million-a-minute or something crazy. Look! I’ve got stacks of it, have you ever had avocado toast before?’ and then when Bad shook his head, ‘You want to try?’

Bad shrugged. He really, really did want to try it, but he didn’t want to seem too eager. Sharing of food was a serious custom amongst Anguillipyroscions. He wasn’t sure what it was like in the Overworld. Maybe Skeppy was just being polite?

But the other man was kneeling down and removing his backpack. Bad pulled himself up the beach until he was propped up on the sand and next to Skeppy. The diamond-hybrid withdrew something that was square shaped with a green paste covering it. He offered it to Bad.

Bad reached out with his hand, careful to not scratch Skeppy with his claws and took the item. It was light and held its square shape, he sniffed it, it smelled…interesting.

‘Go on, try it!’

Bad took a bite. It was unlike anything he’d ever tasted, but it didn’t taste disgusting, in fact it was quite delicious. He chewed, taking more and more bites until he’d eaten the whole slice.

‘Yeah?’ said Skeppy, ‘What d’ya think?’

‘Mmmm, I’ve never had Overworld food before, it’s weird. A good weird though!’

‘Awesome! Well I’ve got loads more where that came from, a whole factory’s worth,’ grinned Skeppy and he flopped down fully next to Bad. Bad watched, fascinated as Skeppy crossed his legs and sat leaning back on his hands. Bad still found it weird to look at legs sometimes and the ways they could bend.

 Bad also leant back on his hands, copying except with his tail stretched before him, flukes neatly resting in the lava lapping at the shore. Bad was close enough to brush shoulders with Skeppy if he wanted to, but he kept the space between them.

They both looked out onto the lake, stretching far and vast before them.

‘What’s pizza?’ asked Bad.

‘Oh shit, you’ve never even heard of pizza?’ Skeppy seemed shocked. Bad shook his head again. ‘Ugh it’s only the best fucking food ever! You have to try it sometime. Maybe I’ll bring some next time I visit-‘

Next time? There’s going to be a next time?

Bad’s stomach did a little flip at that.

Skeppy was still talking, although it was more to himself, ‘I wonder if you’re a pepperoni sorta guy… but wait! Oh! Maybe you’d like anchovies or something?’

Then he was rummaging in his backpack again. Bad watched, was he going to pull out whatever a pizza was? But no, the Overworlder took out a large book and a roll of parchment.

‘I read up on your species, Anguillipyroscions’ he said proudly, holding up the book to show Bad before passing it over. ‘Page eight, take a look. I don’t know how accurate it is, so tell me if anything’s wrong. But it says you guys eat fish and stuff. OH MY GOD, I could bring you SUSHI! Have you ever had sushi? Wait, I’m being dumb you guys probably have your own version of lava-sushi or something right?’

Bad couldn’t answer the question, he was too busy being dumbstruck by the book. He couldn’t believe this Overworlder was just handing him a book, so casually, as if he did it all the time. Skeppy seemed confused at his hesitancy to take it, he stretched out his arms further, almost pressing the book into Bad’s hands.

Bad took the book reverently. He had books in his cave, sure, but they were things he’d found or that his neighbours had tossed out. Things Skeppy had called junk. They were items that hadn’t belonged. This book belonged; this was Skeppy’s book. And the Overworlder was letting him look.

He stroked his clawed fingertips over the cover, tracing the words on the front. The script was in the Overworld language. He could read it, but he had to give his brain a moment to let the letters arrange themselves in his mind.  “Netherborn Natives: A comprehensive Guide to the Underworld Mobs” by Winston Witherstone, said the swirly text.

He opened the book and turned carefully to the page Skeppy had indicated. Immediately his eye was caught by a striking illustration of a fellow Anguillipyroscion. They were perched on a rock, long hair cascading down their shoulders, red and glowing.

Bad started to read the page. He laughed a bit at the fancy writing.

‘What’s funny?’ asked Skeppy.

‘It’s weird seeing this written about your own kind.’

‘Is it all just bullshit?’ Skeppy leaned over to look at the pages. Bad inhaled as the other man was close to him. He smelled different; not of the Nether, it was a cool, fresh sort of smell, but not unpleasant.

‘No it’s not wrong, just, how is anyone supposed to understand an entire civilisation from some words in a book?’

‘True,’ said Skeppy, he leaned back on his hands, ‘So go on tell me, what’s something interesting that’s not in the book.’

Bad let his eyes wander over the rest of the text and take in the information, ‘Hmmmm, well the bit about magma migrations-‘

‘Oh yeah! That sounds really cool!’ interrupted Skeppy. Bad couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm.

‘Yeah it’s a big event, but there’s lots more rituals and traditions we have when we migrate. You know, the lava doesn’t always behave, doesn’t always flow, or settle like it’s supposed to. So we give it a helping hand.’

‘Oh yeah? How do you do that?’

‘Well, we sing to it.’

‘Sing?!’

‘Yeah, why? Is that weird?’

‘No! Well, it’s different, it’s…that’s insanely cool dude. Okay…..but like how? Why? How does that even work?’ It was a role reversal of how they were last time, with Skeppy now being the curious one asking all the questions and being astounded at what Bad was telling him.

‘Well we just coax it a little, it runs quick, it doesn’t need much encouragement, it makes it go from sluggish to runny.’

‘That is…..’  Skeppy seemed lost for words.

‘What?’ Bad laughed nervously.

‘That is so fucking cool. I’ve never heard of anything like that. I didn’t know lava could even be made to do something.’

‘Well, you can’t force it,’ said Bad, ‘Brute force doesn’t work, you risk turning it to cobble or obsidian and then that’s no good at all. That’s a whole mess that takes ages to sort out.’

‘Yeah not good if you live in the lava I guess.’

Bad nodded, pleased that Skeppy was such an attentive listener, ‘Exactly, so you can’t force it, you just have to persuade it, encourage it, convince it your way is the right way, and it soon sees sense.’

‘You make it sound like the lava is alive dude-‘

‘It’s not alive in the sense you and I are alive,’ explained Bad, ‘But it can be manipulated, like how you can change the direction of a river by using rocks to dam, but we use our voices instead.’

‘I get it, I get it,’ nodded Skeppy, ‘And singing? That’s….that’s amazing. Can I hear it?’

Bad shook his head, suddenly feeling really shy, ‘No!’

‘Oh really? Why?’

‘Um… just I don’t really- I’m not very good-‘

‘Oh come on! I’m sure you’re amazing!’

Bad flushed. ‘No I’m really not, I was never that good in school.’

‘You have school?!’

‘Yes, don’t you?’

‘Yes of course we have school. I was great in school. Got top of the class in geography and geology. And I dominated in the prank war.’

Bad frowned, ‘War?’

‘Not a real war, a prank war. Like a fight, or a competition to see who can do the best pranks. I did it with the rest of my class. Do you like pranks?’

‘I don’t really know what a prank is-‘

‘The fuck?’ Skeppy looked at him, dumbfounded. Bad ducked his head some more, he felt stupid, embarrassed. These Overworlders, I’ll never understand them.

‘Language,’ he whispered.

But then Skeppy was reaching out a hand and placing it on his shoulder.

‘Hey Bad, I’m sorry. It’s okay, I was just surprised that’s all. Pranks are such a big part of diamond-hybrid culture. Like we’re a really playful sort you know? And it’s just like how I didn’t know you guys sang to lava! You don’t think I’m stupid for not knowing that right?’

‘No,’ replied Bad looking up into Skeppy’s face. The place where his cool palm rested on Bad’s scaled shoulder was burning, he’s touching me, oh my goodness!

But then Skeppy was withdrawing his hand and then he launched into a story about how when he was a teenager he’d performed one of his most elaborate pranks on the last day of school. It involved a clever piece of trickery where he’d moved every block in the corridor to the classroom over by one more block and then had painstakingly recreated a duplicate classroom block by block.

‘And no-one, I mean no-one even noticed that they weren’t in the original classroom!’ laughed Skeppy, clutching at his belly as he wheezed.

‘Not even the teacher?’ Bad was also laughing hard; Skeppy’s humour was infectious.

‘NO! That’s the best bit! She kept wondering where her chalks were because that’s the only thing I forgot to copy over. And in the end she just accepted it dude! She just thought she’d lost them!’

‘So what did they say when you told everyone they were in a fake classroom?’

Skeppy was laughing so much he couldn’t answer Bad for a full minute. Eventually, whilst wiping tears from his eyes, he managed to calm himself enough to say. ‘But that’s the thing…..hahahaha, I NEVER TOLD THEM!’  and then he dissolved once more into hysterics.

Bad thought the avocado toast he’d eaten a little while ago might make a reappearance he was laughing so much at Skeppy’s story. ‘What the f-f-fudge? You- you, oh haha, I can’t breathe, S’geppy! Wait….you never told them?’

Skeppy shrieked in peals of laughter, ‘NO! Dude! Far as I know they’re still teaching in the copy classroom I made, and the original is literally only two or three blocks away!’

The two hybrids fell about laughing on the beach, crying and clutching their stomachs as they giggled and laughed for a good long while. Bad’s tail splashed in the shallows from where he couldn’t contain himself.

‘Oh my goodness, that’s really, really funny,’ said Bad, wiping his face as he sat back up, and tucking his hair behind his ears. ‘Pranks sound really fun.’

‘Oh they are,’ said Skeppy chuckling, ‘The main thing is to prank hard but clean up harder. Although in this case I didn’t, but apart from the chalks literally nothing else was missing. I moved it all over and seeing as the teacher didn’t notice, well it was funnier to leave it. But yeah, normally, always plan a clean-up or back-up. Otherwise it’s just bad manners.’

‘Mmmm,’ Bad nodded, understanding. It made sense. It was nice getting an insight into Skeppy’s life.

‘I still do loads of pranks, just with my friends now. They’re used to it!’

‘You said you had a house; do you live with your family and friends?’

‘Kinda. Diamond-hybrids, we tend to live apart from each other. We need to explore and make our own way in the world. Make our own mines, y’know? But my friends are a mix of humans and different hybrids, we each have our own houses, but we live in like a town-kinda-thing, basically in the same area. Kind of like how you’ve got loads of different creatures living in your lake I’ll bet!’

‘I see,’ said Bad.

‘What about you?’ Skeppy questioned in return, ‘The book says you guys are all about community. Can I meet some of the other Anguillipyroscions in this lake?’

‘There aren’t any other Anguillipyroscions in this lake,’ replied Bad, ‘It’s just me,’

‘Oh really? But the book says you have really strong communal bonds, and your lake is massive, I thought there would be lots of you,’ Skeppy seemed confused.

Bad glanced at the book on the sand between them, he didn’t really know how to respond. The book wasn’t wrong…

‘Plus it said you guys were nomadic, how come you’ve got like a whole home and treasure cave and everything? I thought you guys didn’t make permanent homes?’

‘I….ummm’ Bad’s brain wasn’t working, things one the edges seemed fuzzy, except for the clear words in his mind: This lake is safe.

‘The lake is safe’ he said.

You stay here where it is safe.

‘I stay here where it’s safe.’

Skeppy looked puzzled but he didn’t press any further. He retrieved the book and put it back in his backpack, ‘Well Winston doesn’t know everything,’ he said and then, ‘besides, given the issues in the rest of the Nether, this lake probably is the safest place right now.’

‘Mmmm?’ Bad still felt a bit dazed, but he refocused on Skeppy.

‘Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, but do you really not know about the Subzero Hypogeal? Or, well, other Netherborn call it “The Curse”.’

‘The what?’

‘The ice. I mentioned it last time I was here. There’s a plague of ice spreading across the Nether, freezing everything in its path.’

Bad frowned, ‘I…yeah, I’m sorry Skeppy, I really don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said Bad. Ice? Here in the Nether? The only ice he’d ever encountered was left behind from Overworlders.

‘Really? No but look! Then Skeppy was pulling out a roll of parchment and unfolding it in front of Bad. The other man scooched over so they were sat right next to one another, showing him a map.

Bad had seen maps before but never one of his own lake. He marvelled over it; his lake was so small on the map. When he asked about it Skeppy told him it was because of the scale.

‘This is the super zoomed-out version’ he explained to Bad, ‘I needed to do this to show the ice. See here? All of this grey-white? This is the ice.’

Bad looked at the map, trying to make sense. There was grey-white covering at least half of the map.

‘Ice?’ he asked, confused.

‘Yes! Ice!’ cried Skeppy, ‘And look, it’s forming what looks like a circle see here?’ he traced over the border of the grey-white area on the map with his finger. ‘This shows the path of the ice, it’s closing in, it’s destroying everything in its path. And here’s the crazy fucking thing, your lake, this lake is the middle of that circle. I’m positive. I’ve looked across all the maps, I’ve tracked the ice. It’s converging on this lake. I don’t know what’s causing it, but the answer has to be here. You must know something.’

Bad looked at Skeppy’s face, the Overworlder looked concerned, almost frantic as he spoke. But Bad didn’t feel concerned. His mind was getting fuzzy again.

This Overworlder is mistaken.

‘I think you’ve made a mistake,’ said Bad.

‘Oh?’ said Skeppy and he peered hurriedly at the map, trying to see if there was a flaw.

Everything is fine here. Look how beautiful the lake is.

‘Everything is so beautiful here, there’s nothing wrong with this lake,’ Bad gestured around him, there were signs everywhere that life was flourishing here in the lava lake.

‘I know that,’ said Skeppy and he seemed exasperated. Bad felt himself growing annoyed at the Overworlder’s tone. ‘Your lake is perfect. That’s the problem. Everywhere else is sick and being corrupted by ice, here it’s untouched. Something  is going on. Something is causing the ice.’

There’s no problem. Everything is fine here. This lake is safe.

‘Skeppy I think you are mistaken,’ said Bad, trying to placate the Overworlder, ‘There’s nothing wrong with the lake. It’s fine. It’s safe here.’

‘When was that last time you left?’ asked Skeppy sharply.

Bad took an inhale of breath, ‘I-‘

‘You are supposed to be nomadic. You’d know there was a problem if you left your damn lake for five minutes and saw.’

Do NOT leave. This is your HOME. You belong here. Protection. Safe. There is nothing wrong.

Bad’s dorsal fin flared in annoyance. ‘You don’t get to come here, to my home and tell me something is wrong. You don’t get to lecture me on my culture. You don’t know anything about me!’

Skeppy wilted under Bad’s gaze and backtracked, ‘No, you’re right, you’re right Bad. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t know, you’re right. I’m just so concerned for the rest of the Nether that’s all.’

‘You don’t live here, you’re not from here!’ Bad couldn’t stand it. There were words spinning in his mind.

Stay here. Come here. Protection. Come here.

Before he even registered his limbs were moving he was shuffling back into the lava and then swimming away.

‘Bad! BAD!’ Skeppy’s cries chased after him, over the lava’s surface but the Overworlder couldn’t follow. Bad dove down into the lava and headed into the deep.

Come my darling. Protection. Come here.

Deeper and deeper he went. Emotions were running through him and he was struggling for breath even though his gills were working fine.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Until there, in the deepest, thickest part of the lake, the EGG, sat on its nest of Bedrock, beckoning. The red, kelp-like vines surrounding it swayed gently in the lava currents and Bad wove in and out of them as he approached.

Safe. It said to him.

Bad nodded, exhausted from the voice it had put in his mind. It wasn’t normally this insistent, this overpowering.

He reached out and pulled himself close to it, settling on the top where there was space to lay.

Rest. Safe.

Bad only managed one last thought before he curled up and passed out.

Was it talking about him or itself?

Chapter Text

Not above Bribery

Skeppy knew he’d fucked up. He’d been rude, condescending and had pushed too hard. The last he’d seen of Bad was the dip of his flukes as he dove down in the lava and out of sight. He’d stood there for a long time after Bad had left, shouting his name until he was hoarse, but unable to follow him down into the deep. Eventually, Skeppy had had to leave, retreating into his home dimension.

It had been days and even though Skeppy had returned to the Nether several times, and waited, patiently at the shoreline of the small island where the portal stood, the Anguillipyroscion never showed.

Bad had to know Skeppy was there.

He has to know I keep coming back.

There was no way the lava merman didn’t know, not when Skeppy had called out to him to the point that he’d almost lost his voice. But there was never any sign of him.

He was left alone in the Nether for the most part; the Warped Toads and Striders looked at him curiously but didn’t bother him, and whilst there was the occasional Ghast floating languidly over the lake and the odd Bone Serpent peeking out of the lava, the hostile mobs didn’t come near enough to threaten him.

After the argument with Bad, Skeppy had had to examine his own thoughts. So maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with the lake? Maybe his hypothesis about what was causing the subzero hypogeal was wrong?

Maybe I’ve got this all wrong?

Bad lived in this lake; it was his home. He knew it far, far better than Skeppy. He’d insisted there was nothing wrong with it, and to look at it you’d never suspect anything was awry.

Skeppy had paced all around the little island where the portal was stood, spyglass in hand, studying the shores of the lake in the distance; it was healthy, and life was thriving here, there were so many species all living happily and harmoniously.

I thought I was looking for something just like this….but maybe I am wrong……

In any case, Skeppy was cross at himself for letting his single-mindedness about the subzero-hypogeal mean that he’d completely overstepped the mark when chatting to Bad. He was so used to other Overworlders -aside from Tubbo and Puffy- questioning him and then getting into heated discussions about how much the Nether even mattered, that he’d immediately got his back up when Bad disagreed with him. This meant that he’d slipped into a tone and attitude that he wasn’t proud of.

He’d questioned Bad’s apparent lack of a nomadic lifestyle...well that had been seriously poor manners. Skeppy completely held his hands up to that one.

He wanted to apologise so badly but without the other man appearing he hadn’t yet had the chance.

He missed him.

It was weird. They’d met twice, but it felt like they knew each other on a deeper level, it felt strangely like they’d known each other a lot longer. It hurt knowing he’d upset Bad, and the thought of not being able to speak to him again….

Just let me apologise dude, I’m really, really sorry…..

Skeppy didn’t know what else to do but keep coming back to the lake and waiting. It was only after the third time he’d gone back to his make-shift camp on the Overworld-side, next to the portal that he realised he’d been potentially going about this all wrong. He’d used the Warpstone Puffy had lent him – along with a slightly unrealistic promise to not get himself into trouble - and warped back to his house, beelining straight to his storage system to open up the console.

Now, hovering on a block at the edge of the lava lake, in line of sight from where Skeppy was half hiding behind the obsidian of the portal, was a nautilus shell.

Skeppy knew he was being sneaky by tossing it out and not placing it. It had five minutes before it de-spawned, Bad better be quick…..

He’d been careful about where he’d left the shell, he hadn’t wanted to leave it on the beach, that would mean that Bad would need to haul himself out of the lava, which was more exposing. No, Skeppy had found a patch of the lake’s edge where the lava was deeper, and this way Bad could swim right up and take the item with ease.

Skeppy drummed his fingers impatiently on the obsidian, he could almost hear the ticking seconds in his mind, no clock needed. It was the longest five minutes of his life. And just when he was about to sigh and give up, a dark, webbed hand reached out of the lava and caught the shell in its claws.

Skeppy stumbled in shock before picking up his feet and running over to the lava’s edge, ‘BAD! Bad are you there!? Wait, wait! I want to say…..sorry….’ there was no sign of the Anguillipyroscion: the lava was still apart from the occasional bubble.

‘Bad, please, if you’re still there I’m really, really sorry okay?’

Nothing. No fins or tail or glowing eyes.

He gave it another few minutes but still nothing.

Skeppy’s shoulders slumped, guess that’s all I’m going to get for today. He traipsed back to the portal, ‘I’ll come tomorrow yeah?’ he called out, before shimmering away.

~

The next day was the same; Skeppy dropped the goat horn on the block and retreated back to his spot by the portal, only this time he leant against it in plain sight. He resisted the urge to get out his spyglass and scour the lava, instead forcing himself to wait patiently for any black fluke or fin.

Again, almost to the wire, seconds before the horn was about to de-spawn, a hand came out and snatched it. Skeppy rushed over.

‘Bad? Bad, seriously, can we talk? Just talk? Please? I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I can say it a hundred times if you want me to….I just want to talk….please?’

He stood there, waiting, watching the lava but unable to see anything more than a block under the surface due to his poorly adapted eyesight. However, like the day before there was no further sign of Bad.

~

The next day, Skeppy arrived in the Nether with another gift in his hands only this time he didn’t leave it in such an easy spot. He dropped the compass a few blocks away from the edge of the Nether lake.

If Bad wants something this time, he’s gotta come out of the lake properly.

Skeppy retreated back to the portal and sat down, this time he’d brought an old stuffed armchair form his attic with him. He positioned it so it was facing the lake and sat down.

Might as well be comfy if I’m going to be spending all my time waiting for this dude.

Crossing his ankle over his knee he took out Winston Witherstone and pretended to read the book, all the time with half an eye on the edge of the lake and the bobbing compass.

Like clockwork, towards the end of the five minutes, Skeppy saw out of the corner of his eye as he turned the page of the book, a black figure hauling themselves out of the magma.

He looked up from his book.

BadBoyHalo was laying awkwardly on the rocky edge of the lake, one arm holding himself up as he was half out of the lava, the other hand closed in a fist around the compass. His beautiful, red glowing hair was spilling over his shoulder down his torso, as if it were cascading molten rock itself. His white eyes glowed as he stared at Skeppy.

Skeppy caught Bad’s eyes and winced. The Anguillipyroscion was glaring daggers at him, whether it was because he was still mad at Skeppy for what he’d said, or whether it was at being made to emerge from the lava more fully to get the item Skeppy couldn’t tell.

As he stood up and opened his mouth to apologise, Bad turned and slipped back into the lava without a trace. Skeppy ran over but reached the bank seconds after the other man had  disappeared.

‘Bad…..please….’ he said, resigned. He lingered but couldn’t see a trace of a fin or anything.

Just as he was about to give up and leave, something was jettisoned out of the lava and arced towards him. Unthinkingly, he caught it in his hands, it was light and sticky.

It was a magma cream.

Skeppy’s eyes widened. No shot.

This was huge. This was tantamount to a peace offering. He knew how much Bad valued these as a delicacy, and Bad knew how much he valued them as a potion ingredient. Skeppy looked from the magma cream in his hands to the blank surface of the lava lake.

He knew what he had to do.

Oh if Puffy and Tubbo knew what I was about to do…..this is so rare, this could make three potions…..ugh….but I cant….

And so, instead of pocketing the magma cream to take back home, Skeppy raised it to his lips and took a bite-

-And nearly chipped a tooth, as the surprisingly hard object glanced off his teeth and his jaw jolted.

The fuck?!

Skeppy looked at the magma cream, except it wasn’t a magma cream it was a lump of rock painted to look like a magma cream and covered in slime.

‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’ he yelled, looking up from the stone in his hand.

Laughter was ringing out across the surface of the lava lake. BadBoyHalo was clutching his sides as he barrel-rolled in peals of laughter.

‘You, you, you fucking pranked me?!’

Bad fell back against the hot waters with a splash his tail coming up to thump the surface of the lava, creating more and more splashes of magma, glowing brilliantly in the Nether gloom.

Skeppy stood motionless, stunned.

‘You fucking pranked me. You……oh my god!’ Skeppy met Bad’s eyes across the lava as the Anguillipyroscion sank so only his face was visible. He appeared to be trying to contain his humour but failing, a toothy grin visible.

‘You sneaky piece of shit,’ said Skeppy grudgingly, ‘Well done, you got me. That was good.’ He let out a chuckle, and rubbed his jaw, ‘That was good I’ll admit.’

‘Yeah?’ said Bad, still with amusement lacing his tone, he swam closer to the shoreline.

‘Yeah,’ Skeppy let out a huff and dropped the false magma cream, it tumbled to the nylium and rolled to the side, he kicked the offending object into the thicket of warped stems.

‘Are we talking now?’ he asked the Anguillipyroscion, ‘Dude, I’m sorry I-‘

‘It’s okay Skeppy,’ said Bad, ‘I know you’re sorry. Thank you for the gifts.’

‘I knew bribery wouldn’t fail me,’ replied Skeppy with a grin, then danced out of the way as Bad gently splashed lava his way, ‘Hey watch it!’

Bad simply floated gracefully about in the lava with a large smile on his face.

‘I have questions,’ he said.

‘Of course you do-‘

‘This horn, which beast did you slay to get it?’ Bad retrieved something from his inventory, lifting up his arm to show Skeppy the goat horn which had been yesterday’s gift.

‘Oh!’ Skeppy giggled, ‘No! It’s a goat horn! They drop them if you get them to charge you and you jump out of the way!’

Bad cocked his head, clearly confused.

Fucking hell he looks so cute when he does that.

‘Like this!’ Skeppy gestured with his hands on his head pretending to be horns and did a mock charge towards one of the nearby trees.

‘Huh’ said Bad, ‘And so what’s it used for?’

Skeppy turned to face the other man, ‘Blow it.’

Bad spluttered, ‘What the fudge-‘

‘The horn silly, what did you think I meant? Get your head out of the gutter Bad-‘

Bad looked affronted, ‘Excuse me!’ but then he stopped himself when he realised Skeppy was cracking a joke, ‘Oh you son of a gun,’ he said.

Skeppy giggled again, there was something about Bad which made him laugh, he’d missed this.

‘I’m being serious,’ he said, ‘Blow the horn.’

Bad brought the horn to his lips and a musical sounding note trilled. The Anguillipyroscion’s eyes widened to the size of saucers at the sound.

‘I got you the best one,’ said Skeppy, ‘I’ve got one too, see?’ and he took out his own Goat horn and responded with “Sing” to Bad’s “Ponder”.

‘There’s different sounds?’ Bad exclaimed in wonder.

‘Yeah and some of them are shit,’ replied Skeppy.

‘I want to hear them all!’

Skeppy shook his head in amusement ‘Of course you do-‘

‘You keep saying that,’ pointed out Bad, ‘Why?’

‘Because I keep getting surprised by how much stuff you don’t know, and you have all these questions about…It’s…well I was going to say weird, but you know it’s kinda charming,’ said Skeppy.

Bad’s face brightened.

But then Skeppy carried on ‘For a four-year old maybe-‘

Bad’s face fell, ‘You’re mean.’

‘I’m teasing!’ said Skeppy, ‘Don’t worry I only do it to those I like. I mean, you know, to like good friends.’

Bad looked somewhat mollified, ‘We’re good friends?’ he asked and Skeppy thought his heart might jump out of his chest at how earnest the other man said it.

‘Sure!’ he replied with a certainty he felt to his bones.

Bad looked at him and Skeppy met the other man’s eyes for a lingering moment that last a fair few seconds. He broke the eye contact with a cough, trying to think of something to say.

‘I missed you.’

‘I missed you too.’

There was another long pause, then-

 ‘Skeppy, what’s a goat?’

Prank War

It was great to be back on speaking terms with Bad, it really was. It gave Skeppy a warm feeling in his chest.

However, Skeppy wasn’t sure it was going to last. Because you see Bad had done quite the unexpected thing, unbelievable even.

He’d pranked Skeppy.

And pranked him good. Skeppy was kinda impressed with the fake magma cream trick, it had certainly taken him by surprise. Only a few days ago this person had no concept of what a prank war was.

Well, now he was about to, because Skeppy absolutely couldn’t, physically couldn’t let it lie.

I tried okay? I really tried.

He’d tried to go overnight and let it slide, ignore it, get on with other things. Things like revisiting and revising his theory about the subzero-hypogeal, racking his brain to work out what might be causing the ice. But he couldn’t concentrate on his maps, his eyes went blurry trying to read the books in his study, he just didn’t have the focus to push through the dead-ends and brick walls he kept running into regarding the origin of the frost plague.

His mind kept wandering off thinking about the handsome Anguillipyroscion and the trick he’d pulled on Skeppy.

Skeppy could see as clear as day the giggling man, rolling in glee in the lava. His face bright, his eyes sparkling.

Ugh, I need to wipe that gorgeous smile off his face…….wait….hang on…..

BadBoyHalo was good-looking, that was just an objective fact. From his long flaming hair to his impressively muscular torso -which couldn’t help but be looked at, the dude didn’t wear any clothing – to his stunning tail.

Am I…..do I really have a crush on a lava-merman?

There was something about him that just drew Skeppy in. And no, it wasn’t just the thought of Bad’s strong arms pinning Skeppy against the his body -although that memory lived in his head rent free. No, it something about his nature, sweet and curious, but capable and powerful, naive but assured, questioning but also a good listener, and above all, he seemed genuine and kind. He was like no-one Skeppy had ever met before, but he’d felt an instant connection, and it seemed Bad had too.

Skeppy had not expected the Anguillipyroscion to prank him.

But he was delighted that Bad had done so.

Oh, the game is ON.

He had to prank Bad back.

He pushed his chair back from the table in the study and stood up, a smile spreading across his face, devious plans already forming in his mind. He left the room and the maps and books behind, they could wait for a little while… he had some trolling to do.

As things went it was a fairly easy one to set up. He ferried over a few chickens from his house, stuffing them into the back of Puffy’s speedboat to travel over to his now semi-permanent camp on the Overworld side of the Nether, set them up in breeding pen above the portal on the overworld side, got the eggs filtering into dispensers that then fired the eggs into another pen backed up against the portal. As the chickens crowded the second pen, they pushed each other into the other dimension.

So what if several thousand chickens wandered into the Nether over the course of a few hours? He was sure Bad would love the new additions to the lakeside ecosystem….

To be honest he wasn’t sure if many chickens would survive, given their two braincells and being surrounded by lava and mobs that would be clamouring to eat them.

Er, yeah, about that….

When Skeppy sauntered though the portal a day later he was met with chaos. Turns out the chickens were not as dumb as he’d assumed and the Nether mobs were so spooked by the strange arrivals from the Overworld, that the small portal island in the lavalake was swarming with chickens.

It was chaos, especially when a Ghast spotted him and began hurling fireballs with a piercing shriek.

‘S’GEPPY!’ came a shout barely audible over the cacophony of chickens and Ghast screams. All Skeppy could see was flame and feathers as a fireball struck the mass of chickens in front of him.

‘Yo Bad what’s up? You seem to have a little bit of a problem,’ he said as nonchalantly as he could, amid feathers raining down around him. He couldn’t even see Bad, it was pure pandemonium.

‘Whoops another fireball!’ said Skeppy and he jumped out of the way and somehow leapt past a flurry of shrieking hens to the shoreline.

There, he got a glimpse of BadBoyHalo bobbing up and down in the lava waves, the lake’s hot waters rough today. The Anguillipyroscion looked downright furious.

‘What the FUDGE Skeppy?!’ he yelled at the diamond-hybrid, quite literally spitting feathers.HEFUDGE ‘Did you do this? What are these creatures?’

‘They’re chickens,’ replied Skeppy calmly, knowing Bad was unlikely to know what a chicken was.

‘Are they dangerous?’ cried Bad, ‘None of the others will come near!’

‘Oh very.’

‘What the fudge Skeppy? Get away from them!’

Skeppy took out his sword as another fireball came in from the Ghast, he parried it back to the balloon-like mob and it died with a piercing shriek. Skeppy looked around. The Island now had divots and pockets of fire from previous flaming missiles.

‘I’m joking, I’m joking! They’re chickens, they’re harmless look!’ and he swiped at a heap of the birds with his diamond enchanted sword. They died with a collective scream and all that was left was cooked chicken on the ground.

Skeppy had made sure to bring his flame aspect sword of course….for a little dramatic flair. Besides, he didn’t want all the chicken to go to waste. He picked up some of the cooked chicken and ate it.

‘See? Tasty.’ He gestured a drumstick to Bad. ‘You want some?’

Bad looked disgusted, he wrinkled his nose.

‘Suit yourself,’ Skeppy took another bite. ‘I thought you’d be happy to see some Overworld creatures and try new food.’

Bad watched on as Skeppy just stood their eating whilst a hoard of chickens surrounded him.

I give him five seconds, four, three, two-

‘YOU DID THIS?! WHY? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY?!’ exploded Bad, ‘There must be HUNDREDS of them!’

Skeppy shrugged.

‘DON’T SHRUG AT ME!’

Bad looked like he was minutes away from having an aneurysm.

He’s kinda hot when he’s like this.

‘You pranked me,’ explained Skeppy keeping his cool, it was so very fun riling the other man up like this, anger was not a bad look on him. ‘It was a declaration. I had to retaliate.’

‘You- you- you-‘ Bad was stuttering.

Skeppy chucked the chicken bone onto the floor and licked his fingers. He glanced at Bad, the Anguillipyroscion’s hair had gone from red to white hot.

That’s cool, like a heat gauge Skeppy noted.

‘How the FUDGE are you going to clear this up?’

‘Oh, I won’t be clearing this up,’ said Skeppy.

‘NO! NO! Put them back in the Overworld!’ yelled Bad, ‘Right now Skeppy, do it! Put them back!’

‘Nah.’

‘NAH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN “NAH”?’

‘I mean nah, I don’t need to clear anything up. They’ll wander into the lava eventually and burn or why don’t you get the Bone Serpents to help? They can eat a couple hundred each!’

‘SKEPPY! No! You don’t understand what you’ve done! This is, you can’t just do something like this! Everyone else is like- well- it’s not-‘ Bad seemed to be really struggling to articulate what he meant, ‘OH MY GOODNESS! Can’t you just fix this?!’

Skeppy shrugged, ‘It’s really not my problem.’ He knew he was being a troll at this point. But it was too funny to see Bad so incensed.

‘What happened to always plan a clean-up or back-up?’ demanded Bad.

‘I don’t need to, they’ll die eventually from stupidity or from being eaten,’ said Skeppy, ‘Besides, what was your back-up the other day? What if I’d properly chipped a tooth on that rock you tried to get me to eat?’

‘Your teeth are diamond, don’t even pretend like you were in any danger of losing a tooth,’ said Bad flatly.

Skeppy snorted at the ridiculous statement, ‘Right well. Listen I’ll leave you to sort this mess out.’

‘Wait…you’re just going to LEAVE?!’

‘Yes, I don’t fancy staying here on chicken island, it’s too noisy and a bit crammed for my liking,’ said Skeppy, ‘I’ll come back tomorrow yeah?’ and with a puff of his goat horn he all but skipped home through the portal. Bad’s indignant cries behind him.

Oh so sweet! What are you going to do now BadBoyHalo?

Between a tooth and a hard place

It took so long to clear the island of the chickens. The majority of time spent was Bad coaxing the Bone Serpents over with promises of fofoca and trying to convince them the birds were edible, like Overworld cousins of Soul Vultures, but much smaller and way more stupid.

Even then the Bone Serpents wouldn’t come any closer than ten blocks from the island, so Bad was reluctantly forced to divulge some of his conversations with Skeppy to tempt them nearer. However, his leverage was limited because he clammed up anytime they started asking about whether he found the Overworlder handsome, so it was an agonising back and forth until they approached the shoreline. Eventually, with more leaked details than he really wanted to share, the Bone Serpents were encouraged to approach the Island. Whereupon they watched a hapless bird wander into the lava, burning up to leave a charred carcass, and this stoked their curiosity enough to try a nibble.

From there on out it was a feeding frenzy as the Bone Serpents leapt and jumped all over the island, jaws wide, scooping tens of birds at a time and feasting well. The Island was clear in a remarkably short time after that and five fat, satiated Bone Serpents now lay all around the island, lethargic and content.

‘Mmmmmm Bad fed us well,’ they murmured to each other sleepily.

‘Glad we got there in the end,’ said Bad, exhausted physically and mentally. Between the Serpent wrangling, the extermination of a thousand or so chickens and the responsibility of keeping a semblance of calm and peace on the lake he was so done.

He was astounded at the audacity of Skeppy. He hadn’t thought his little rock-magma-cream trick would lead to this, to a flippin’ invasion from the Overworld.

It had been such a shock as the chicken-creatures had started flooding through the portal. None of the Netherborn had known what the chickens were, and there we so many of them, and they were so loud.

They had definitely disturbed the peace.

Bad had heard the voice in his mind and felt the thrum of great unease through his body.

What is happening?

Bad had rushed over to the island to see the small creatures clucking and squawking all over every available block. The lake’s molten waters were bubbling and brewing around him, other residents circling, sensing the EGG’s agitation and responding in kind.

Bad didn’t think these small white feathery creatures were a threat. But it was hard to calm everyone down given the turbulence emanating from the middle of the lake.

They don’t seem to be a threat, he thought to the EGG.

Bad was the only one who dared to get close, his neighbours watching on warily. And that’s when Skeppy had popped through the portal and set off a nearby Ghast. More chaos, fire and feathers.

The voice now echoed in Bad’s mind, The Overworlder…… a threat?

No, no threat, a prank. A bit of fun. Harmless.

The EGG- after some firm insistence from Bad that there was nothing to get so defensive about - had withdrawn, returning to relative inactivity. But the turmoil it had stirred up in the lake took a while to dissipate.

Skeppy confirmed the whole thing was a joke, the chickens were not dangerous.

Bad had completely lost it at the diamond-hybrid, shouting and yelling. But the other man had taken it in his stride, he found the whole thing hilarious. This only served to wind Bad up even more.

A prank, a flipping prank.

Skeppy said it was retaliation because of Bad’s trick on him….

Oh you’ve got another thing coming thought Bad determinedly. Now he felt like he understood what Skeppy had meant when he’d described the concept of a prank war to Bad. It was so frustrating, you just wanted to get them back…

But what to do, what to do….

He looked around him, and at the five lazing Bone Serpents for whom he was in their good graces and an idea began to form in his mind.

~

When Skeppy strolled through the portal a cycle later, he’d barely got the words ‘Aha! I knew you’d get it cleaned up!’ before the jaws of a waiting Bone Serpent closed around him.

‘AAAAAAAH!’ he shrieked and thrashed but the Serpent held him firmly, there was no escape.

Of course Bad wasn’t going to let the Serpent actually eat his friend, but as he watched gleefully from underneath the lava, he thought he’d let Skeppy panic for a few more seconds until he showed himself.

Is there a threat? Came the voice in his mind.

No, it’s not a threat it’s the silly Overworlder

Again? I don’t like it coming so often. It’s not safe.

It’s fine replied Bad firmly in his mind, and he shucked off the influence of the EGG.

After the chicken debacle its tendrils had left a slight but lingering sour feeling in Bad’s mind, however this wasn’t as bad as it had been in the past. Before, he used to have a headache for hours on the rare occasions it pervaded his mind.

Maybe he was building a tolerance to it or something now it was talking to him more frequently?

Ah well, he didn’t have time to dwell on it now, he had more fun things to focus on at hand. Chiefly, the handsome wriggling diamond-hybrid in between two large teeth in the Bone Serpent’s mouth.

‘Bad! Bad! Help! HELP!’

Ah, well now he was calling for Bad. Something hot flared inside Bad, pleased.

He emerged from the lava, ‘Hello,’ he said pleasantly.

‘BAD! Bad! Help I’m being eaten!!’

Skeppy was in no such danger, Bad had strictly instructed the Bone Serpent to merely hold the Overworlder in place for a time, maybe play with him for a bit, like predators do with their prey. Besides, the Bone Serpent was still so full from yesterday, Bad was positive it couldn’t swallow a single further morsel.

But Skeppy didn’t need to know that.

‘Oh dear what a shame.’

‘You can’t be fucking serious!’

‘You did advise me to get the Bone Serpents to eat all the chicken-creatures, I think maybe they mistook you for one.’

‘Oh fuck off, no they didn’t!’

‘You did say they were dumb and tasty, shall we see how similar to a chicken you are?’

‘BAD!’

Bad chuckled and swam closer to the shoreline. The Bone Serpent was almost fully laid out across the small Island, only the last couple of vertebrae in the lava. Its giant Skull had been resting the blocks next to the portal, ready to capture the unsuspecting Overworlder when he appeared.

‘This is NOT FUNNY!’ Skeppy squirmed in the Bone Serpent’s mouth, ‘Put me down!’ he demanded, ‘PUT ME DOWN!’

The Bone Serpent ignored Skeppy. As Bad approached it swung its head around so that Skeppy was now suspended over the little beach area. His head and arms poking out one side, his feet sticking out the other. ‘Okay, wait, wait, WAIT!’ Skeppy let out a high-pitched squeal as one of the teeth scraped against his chest plate. ‘BadBadBadBadBad! Come on, we can talk about this, yeah?’

Bad pulled himself up onto the beach and lay on his back underneath the jaws of the Bone Serpent to look up at Skeppy. ‘Can we? I recall you left me to deal with a thousand birds, maybe I will just leave you to get out of this by yourself.’

‘Okay! Okay! Fuck, I cant move, Bad! Bad, okay, okay, you got me, you’ve got me, good troll, good prank okay? I’m stuck.’

‘Yeah I know,’ grinned Bad, he put his arms behind his head casually relaxing.

‘So are you going to tell this guy to let me go or what?’

‘Mmmmm, that depends.’

‘Depends on what?’

‘Say I’m the winner of the prank war,’

Skeppy paused, he seemed amused, ‘I can’t do that Bad,.

‘Why not? It’s easy, just say BadBoyHalo you win the prank war.’

‘Nahh, that’s not how this works,’ said Skeppy shaking his head with a small laugh.

‘I’ll tell you how it works,’ said Bad, ‘You are the one trapped, I’m the only one who can tell the Bone Serpent to let you free. I win. I win Skeppy!’

‘No, no no no no no no!’ laughed Skeppy, he tried to push with his arms against the Bone Serpent’s teeth, ‘No, just you wait Bad, I’ll get free…and when I do… it’s so over for you! You’re going down, it’s the end for you. The prank war crown is mine!’

‘Oh really?’ laughed Bad in return, ‘I don’t think so!’

He watched Skeppy struggle some more. The diamond-hybrid was going absolutely nowhere but it was extremely fun to see him try. The Bone Serpent lowered Skeppy a little bit so he was now within arms reach of Bad.

Bad grabbed one of Skeppy’s arms which was trying to leverage himself against the ivory teeth. The man stilled and looked down at Bad, eyes meeting.

Bad felt his heart skip. Skeppy’s large brown eyes were staring into him, Bad fell like he was falling into them, even though his back was pressed firmly against the sand.

‘I’ll let you free.’

‘Yeah?’ Skeppy smiled and it beamed like glowstone.

Bad’s breath caught in his throat, ‘Say the magic word,’ he managed

Skeppy opened his mouth and licked his lips, an unconscious act causing Bad to stare, fixated.

Then, suddenly, a shit-eating grin and ‘Let me go you fucking bitch.’

‘LANGUAGE!’ shrieked Bad, as the Bone Serpent roared its own laughter, jaws opening and Skeppy tumbled out, landing heavily on top of Bad with a grunt.

Bad was scrabbling to get out from under the diamond-clad Overworlder who had just been unceremoniously dropped on him. ‘Forget you! I’M LEAVING!’ His tail thrashed as he tried to roll away and back into the magma.

‘No Bad! Wait! Please! Please! Pleaaaaassssseeee!’ Skeppy was all limbs as he tried to gather himself up, but his legs were pinning Bad’s body and tail.

‘No way! I don’t want to listen to you talk to me like that!’

‘I’m sorry! Bad! I’m sorry! Please don’t leave!’

The Bone Serpent was retreating into the lava, still laughing at the two of them now arguing on the shoreline.

‘No! I don’t want to hear it, no way!’

‘Bad I didn’t mean it! I was joking!’ Skeppy had managed to kneel up and was on his hands and knees over Bad. Bad felt trapped, he refused to look at Skeppy and folded his arms across his chest.

‘Listen to me!’ Skeppy panted, ‘You got me good, you trapped me and then you baited me with the line about the magic word,’

‘Oh I baited you? I baited you?’ repeated Bad.

‘Yeah and I’m sorry, you know me, I cuss, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it! I like you! We’re friends!’

Bad pulled a face.

‘We are! ...Right?’ Skeppy seemed to falter.

‘Yeah we are,’ said Bad and he met Skeppy’s gaze again. They were close, very close.

‘I don’t want you to leave like last time,’ said Skeppy sincerely, ‘I can’t follow you into the lava.’

‘I wasn’t going to leave like last time,’ admitted Bad. And it was true, he’d only been planning on retreating back into the shallows.

‘Okay, good.’

‘Okay…’

There was a long pause, then they both seemed to realise the position they were in, Skeppy kneeling over Bad in a compromising position. The diamond-hybrid rolled to the side hurriedly and Bad sat up. There was an awkward kind of silence.

Bad sneaked a look at Skeppy, the other man was straightening his clothes and armour and ran a hand through his hair. Bad itched to touch it.

I might have a problem with how much I like you he thought.

Is it a problem?

‘Skeppy?’ he asked.

‘Yeah?’

‘I’m glad you fell into my lake.’

Skeppy laughed, ‘You know Bad, weirdly, I am also glad I fell into your lake.’

~

Crystal Kisses

Bad should have known by now that Skeppy, always, always had to have the last word.

After Bad’s successful prank on Skeppy a short while ago, he should have known there’d be a return gesture.

He hadn’t seen the Overworlder for a few cycles, they’d said their goodbyes after a long conversation about refrigerators and how overworld food was preserved for longer if it was kept cool.

For Bad who ate all his meals fresh, he couldn’t see the point of keeping food. If he was hungry he ate. Why would he store food? Interesting objects and items? Yes. Food, no. Everything he needed for nourishment was in his lake. Lava destroyed most items, it was use them whilst you had them or see them burned up.

The debate over food preservation was fun, the back and forth between them was becoming more familiar. Each time they interacted they were figuring out their boundaries and how far they could push. Skeppy often toed it close to the line, but he was always quick to apologise, and Bad was getting better at not taking so much to heart each time Skeppy teased.

They argued and bickered but didn’t fall out like that first time.

He was alerted to Skeppy’s presence by a Piglin on a Strider, making their way across the lava lake to the very southern most shore where Bad had been chatting with a couple of blazes at the foot of the Nether Fortress.

It was a long swim to the portal island but he made good time whizzing through the lava as fast as he could. As he swum over the deepest part of the lake where the EGG nested, he felt its slithery prescence in his mind.

Again?

Again, thought Bad but he was too happy thinking about seeing Skeppy again the uneasy presence of the EGG was soon swept away like the current of magma he was riding.

Bad could see something was up from around a hundred blocks away but it was only as he got closer it became clearer as to what it was.

‘No!’ he cried, leaping from the lava to get a better look, ‘No! SKEPPY STOP!’ he dove back down and made it to the shoreline in a few final strokes.

Skeppy looked up from where he’d been placing the last couple of blocks, he grinned widely.

‘Hey Bad! What do you think?’ He stood proudly on top of his creation.

Bad looked on, horrified, words failing him.

‘Good right?’ Skeppy had replaced every single block of the Island and replaced them with what Bad assumed were diamond blocks; they were the exact same shade as the diamond patches mottling his brown skin. And then, right behind the portal he’d constructed a caricature of his face, only it was dopey looking and was sticking its tongue out.

‘No, no no no, Skeppy, no you cant do this!’

‘I can, look! I’ve made it so much better see! This island now has me on it! This way you wont miss me! I’ll always be here!’

‘I- I- what the fudge Skeppy?!’

Skeppy started laughing. Bad hovered in the lava, gazing in absolute horror at the monstrosity Skeppy had built. It looked so awful.

‘This cannot stay here. This cannot, this, this has to go! Very funny Skeppy, but now please put all the blocks back!’

‘Why? It’s an improvement? Don’t you think so?’ Skeppy came forwards to the edge of the lava, there was no longer a sandy beach, it was just all diamond blocks. He knelt down and looked at Bad in the magma.

‘No!’ Bad spluttered, ‘It’s looks terrible!’

‘WHAT?’ cried Skeppy in mock offense, ‘You mean you don’t like my beautiful face?’

Bad looked between the giant dopey Skeppy and the real thing, ‘Yeah actually, that thing is more good looking now I think about it.’

Skeppy gasped, ‘You take that back! You take that right back you-‘

But he was stopped from talking by Bad’s mouth on his.

Bad didn’t know what possessed him to do it. He was just gazing into Skeppy’s beautiful face one second, thinking yes I’m sorry, you are so beautiful-  and the next thing he knew he was rising up out of the lava to kiss him.

The kiss lasted a long glorious moment.

And then Skeppy pulled back enough to look Bad properly in the face, ‘You idiot’ he breathed and then he kissed Bad back.

Kissing Skeppy was how Bad imagined cold would taste. The diamond-hybrid was cool to the touch, his lips a contrast to Bad’s warmth. He gently took Bad’s face in his hands, palms causing Bad to break out in goosebumps all along his exposed skin. He was then able to angle Bad’s face to better kiss him.

Skeppy was a good kisser. He moved his lips against Bad’s, his tongue swiping wetly over the bottom lip, encouraging him to open his mouth more so that he could deepen the kiss.

Bad’s fins started vibrating all the way down to his flukes.

I’m kissing him. Oh my goodness! He’s kissing me!

When Skeppy’s tongue pushed into his mouth and brushed against his own it became too much and Bad ducked down into the lava.

‘What- Bad?!’ cried Skeppy, leaning further over the edge, trying to see him in the lava but he couldn’t.

Bad’s gills were working overtime as he tried to catch his breath.

‘Bad come back! What’s wrong?’

Bad let himself float to the surface, ‘Nothing’s wrong,’ he mumbled.

‘So why’d you disappear? Did you not like the kissing? Did I do something wrong?’

Bad shook his head, ‘No, you- it’s fine, I- I liked the kissing,’ he stammered.

Skeppy smiled fondly down at him, ‘Come here,’ he said and held out a hand. Bad took it in his own, watching as Skeppy threaded his fingers with Bad’s webbed ones.

‘You are full of surprises,’ he said to Bad, ‘Can I kiss you again? I liked the kissing too.’

This time when their lips met they were both smiling. They laughed into each other’s mouths as they kissed and kissed.

Chapter Text

Taste of fire

Kissing BadBoyHalo back was possibly the best thing Skeppy had ever done in his life.

Because it now meant he got to kiss him a lot. He got to kiss him every day, multiple times a day, sometimes all day.

His prank of turning the portal island in a diamond block platform was tidied up very quickly when Bad had difficulty getting out of the lava to sit on the shore. The beach returned, the trees were replanted and the statue of Skeppy’s face dismantled. A small pile of diamond blocks were left by the portal as a memento. But Skeppy found it hilarious that Bad just had no interest in the valuable blocks whatsoever. He just complained they were out of keeping with the rest of the natural terrain and vegetation.

Skeppy usually just shut his complaints up with a kiss. It was awesome he could do that now.

Kissing Bad was just awesome in general.

Skeppy had known he found the Anguillipyroscion attractive, had felt drawn to him, but he hadn’t expected anything to progress beyond a crush. To suddenly have this hunk of a lava-merman kiss him on the lips, well it had been a surprise, but certainly not an unwelcome one.

Skeppy continuously found Bad to be a mess of contradictions, he was shy and got embarrassed easily and hated swearing, but when they got kissing to the point of making-out Bad would lose himself and switch to take control of the kiss, pinning Skeppy down and raking his hands over his body.

‘What is all this stuff?’ he said one time, tugging at Skeppy’s armour.

‘It’s armour dude, protection against the fire, I don’t have fire res potions remember? I need magma creams and blaze rods.’

Bad had muttered darkly and then the next day, Skeppy had found both magma creams and blaze rods pushed into his hands when he arrived in the Nether. He’d laughed under his breath, amused at essentially being given ingredients with the sole purpose of meaning that Skeppy could now take his clothes off.

Sure enough, after Skeppy had brewed a batch of potions and drunk one, he found himself stripped of his armour and pressed down into the sand of the beach, a heavy Anguillipyroscion lying between his legs, kissing him with a fervour.

He kissed back happily, he wasn’t complaining. It was nice to not have to always wear the bulky protection, and not worry if his feet accidentally dipped into the lava. As his bottom lip was sucked on by Bad, he felt a webbed hand begin to push its way under his hoodie, he moaned and arched his back.

‘Oh there’s even more clothes,’ murmured Bad, pulling back to look down between them.

‘What?’ asked Skeppy, slightly dazed, brain turned to mush.

‘I understood the armour thing, but why all these layers? Are you not too hot? I thought you liked it cooler?’ Bad was pulling at his hoodie and shirt now, lifting them up to reveal his stomach.

Skeppy could only giggle, ‘Decency you weirdo! We don’t all go around half-naked like you do!’

Bad shook his head, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever understand, and then he ducked his head to kiss at Skeppy’s stomach.

‘Oh!’ cried Skeppy. Bad stopped immediately, worry causing his gorgeous face to crease, ‘What?’

‘It’s fine! It’s fine!’ said Skeppy, ‘Just caught me by surprise that’s all. Didn’t know we were going there, but I’m good with that, so long as I can kiss you back?’

Bad nodded and returned to lick at Skeppy’s abs.

It was different, for sure. Bad didn’t have legs for one thing, but Skeppy didn’t really find that to be a problem, not for the time being anyway, everything so far was above the waistline. And sometimes a tail was an advantage, especially in the lava.

Now that Skeppy could regularly brew fire resistance potions Bad wasted very little time before dragging Skeppy into the magma and kissing him there in the shallows, pressing him up against blocks and boulders, sometimes even pulling him below the surface and kissing him in the surrounding molten liquid, the only limit being for how long Skeppy could hold his breath.

It was hot, figuratively and literally.

Skeppy loved it.

In between the kisses they talked and talked. Bad asking a million questions about the Overworld, Skeppy trying to explain as best he could. He still brought Bad gifts; things that didn’t exist in his dimension. Bad seemed fascinated by anything green, he was obsessed with moss, holding the blocks in his hands and feeling the sponge-like texture, he marvelled over glazed green terracotta and lime wool, but it was the emeralds which were his favourite.

Skeppy tried not to take it personally as someone who was part-diamond, that Bad apparently preferred the shiny green currency over the shiny blue one.

Bad noticed him pouting and after prodding to find out the cause, reassured Skeppy that his liking for emeralds was not a reflection on Skeppy.

He pressed Skeppy up against a basalt pillar and kissed him breathless, repeating over and over how much he liked Skeppy. ‘I just don’t get to see the colour green very often, if ever,’ he said against Skeppy’s kiss-swollen lips, before moving to lathe kisses over his neck. ‘You are my favourite thing from the Overworld, don’t worry.’

Skeppy sighed and ran his hands down the bare back of the Anguillipyroscion, feeling the strong muscles, moving lower and lower until he came to where the scales started.

‘Promise?’ he asked, the sound slightly strangled as Bad sucked a love-bite into the skin.

‘Promise,’ said Bad with a smile against his neck. He manoeuvred so his tail slipped between Skeppy’s legs, and curled, secure around his right leg, keeping the diamond-hybrid in place as he worked his way down to Skeppy’s clavicle.

It was wonderful.

Distractions

Skeppy lost count of the days he spent so much time in the other dimension. It was incredibly easy to spend longer than expected in the Nether, no Sun or Moon to keep track of the passage of time. He often stumbled out of the portal bleary-eyed, warped home, showered, ate, slept and then he was returning back to the Nether to see Bad again.

One afternoon, Skeppy was sat at the kitchen counter in his house munching on a bacon sandwich, a brewing stand on the worktop bubbling away as fire resistance potions were being concocted.

He was musing on how difficult it’d be to convert his backyard into a lava pool.

It can’t be that hard, surely?

He didn’t mind going to the Nether to see Bad, he was perfectly happy visiting, especially now he was able to brew fire res pots. But Bad was so fascinated by things from the Overworld, Skeppy just wanted to straight up bring him through the portal.

He’d offhandedly mentioned it once, casually with a laugh at the end, ‘Hey maybe you could come visit the Overworld sometime, I’ll sort it out for you, make sure you’re kept warm and stuff.’

Bad had looked hesitant. Skeppy hadn’t wanted to push, ‘Or, not, it’s fine. It’s so easy to come here and visit you.’

And nothing more had been said.

But Skeppy had been serious, he thought about how much Bad would like it.

He’d be overwhelmed, sure, but fuck, imagine all the cool things I could just SHOW him, rather than describe them? Oh it’d be so good!

He’d also be cold, hence why Skeppy was planning out the measurement of a miniature lava-lake in his backyard.

Anguillipyroscions were not warm-blooded like humans, they conducted the extreme heat of the magma. Bad could come out of the lava, but after a while he had to go back in as he started shivering.

Skeppy found this out because he’d been pinning Bad down on the sand one time, making-out, his legs straddling Bad’s tail as his mouth made his way down that perfectly chiselled chest of his. Bad had started shivering and Skeppy had taken it as encouragement, licking and sucking at the dark skin more enthusiastically, until Bad had tapped him -almost politely for fuck’s sake- and had Skeppy finally noticed Bad’s lips had gone blue.

Oops.

There was also the matter of Bad having no legs to walk, but Skeppy figured he could wrap him up, warp them both to his house and then get Bad situated in the newly installed lava-pond. Yes, Bad wouldn’t be able to go many places, but he could at least experience part of the Overworld and he could meet all of Skeppy’s friends.

Speaking of, Skeppy had an errand to run today. He polished off the rest of the sandwich, gulped down the remainder of his coffee, grabbed his bag and was out the door. He had a visit to pay to a certain teen-genius.

Yesterday Skeppy had been telling Bad a story about Puffy and Tubbo and had mentioned more of Tubbo’s create machines whereupon Bad had let out a cry and shot off back towards his home, returning about ten minutes later with a familiar gold wrench.

‘That’s Tubbo’s create wrench!’ Skeppy exclaimed, pointing with a finger to the inscription on the handle: T.U.B.B.O.

‘Yes! I’ve been meaning to give it back for a while,’ said Bad, ‘but well, I’ve been a little distracted of late,’ he’d flushed so prettily, sinking into the lava so only his white eyes were visible.

‘Mmmm, I wonder what the cause of that might have been,’ Skeppy had almost purred, coaxing Bad towards him so he could duck and press a kiss to the sensitive spot under Bad’s ear. Bad had let out a small growl and it had been another twenty minutes until they’d come up for air. The wrench laying on the sand, forgotten in favour of kisses.

Upon approaching Tubbo’s industrial district, Skeppy noticed that several new factories had sprung up.

When did these happen?

He found the inventor round the back of his latest workshop. Skeppy didn’t even begin to pretend to understand what was going on, there were an awful lot of conveyor belts and cogs whirring and grinding.

‘Hey Pookie!’ cried Tubbo, clambering down a ladder to where Skeppy stood at the factory entrance.

‘Don’t ever call me that again,’ winced Skeppy.

‘Oh alright,’ giggled Tubbo. He wiped oily, greasy hands on a rag and accompanied Skeppy as they moved away from the clattering noise of the machines. ‘What’s up dude? I haven’t seen you in so long!’

‘Yeah I guess it’s been a while,’ said Skeppy gesturing around them, ‘You’ve been busy!’

‘Ahh well you know me, I’m all about that grind!’ Tubbo winked mischievously and skipped around, his energy unable to be contained.

‘I’ve got something for you dude,’ and with that Skeppy retrieved Tubbo’s wrench from his backpack and handed it over.

The young man was overjoyed. ‘My wrench!’ he cried, ‘Oh my one true love, I’ve missed you! I had another but she wasn’t the same. She was just a side-piece. You’re the only girl for me!’ He fell about laughing.

Skeppy watched on amused. Tubbo said the most outrageous things sometimes.

‘Say, Tubbo,’ he started, a hare-brained idea coming into his mind.

‘Uh huh?’

‘Would you be able set up one of your mining machines in my backyard? I need to clear a load of blocks and replace them with lava.’

Tubbo’s eyes had lit up, ‘Give me a day!’ he cried, ‘I’ll come up with a machine that not only clears the blocks but puts down the lava too!’

‘Sweet dude!’ Skeppy gave him a hug. It’s all coming together.

But then the penny seemed to drop for Tubbo, ‘Hey, what do you need a lava pool in your backyard for huh?’ he side-eyed Skeppy suspiciously.

‘Nothing.’

‘Yeah nothing my ass. This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain lava-merman would it?’

‘Nope,’ lied Skeppy.

‘IT SO IS!’ Tubbo shrieked, pointing the wrench at Skeppy, ‘It so is! You want to bring him here right?’

Skeppy shrugged, ‘Maybe.’

‘Yeah alright, fair enough, better he lives in your back garden that be a block of ice in the Nether. Such a shame we never figured out the cause of the ice dude.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Skeppy sharply, ‘We’re pretty close to figuring it out!’

‘It’s too late though isn’t it? I mean it’s nearly all frozen now. That’s why I’ve upped my factory production. I’m not gonna get quartz or gold from the Nether any more, gotta rely on the Overworld dude.’

‘It’s not too late! We’ve still got time!’

‘I dunno dude, there’s really only that lake left. The rest of it gone….wait… you know that right? You- I thought you’d been holed up in your house trying to figure it all out! You’re saying you don’t know? Skeppy! What’s going on?’

‘Tubbo, what’s going on?’ Skeppy felt something like the ice plague creep down his spine.

It can’t be that bad? It was moving so slow. We had time.

I thought we had time.

He’d been distracted. He’d been so distracted.

For months he’d been focused on trying to save the Nether, trying to figure out and stop the subzero hypogeal.

And then the past few weeks….images of BadBoyHalo flashed in his mind, the other man’s eyes, his smile, his mouth, his kisses.

Fuck.

Skeppy had been wasting time. The Nether was still under attack and he’d been too busy making out to be bothered to care.

He’d not pressed Bad any more about the Lake, about the epicentre. He’d not wanted to push the Anguillipyroscion away. He hadn’t wanted to lose him.

But now I might lose him anyway because I can’t stop the ice.

Fuck.

‘Tubbo…I’ve fucked up,’ Skeppy felt his lower lip tremble. The thought of losing Bad was so dreadful he couldn’t even comprehend it.

‘NO! No no no no no Skeppy you haven’t! Well maybe you have but it can’t be that bad right? Right?’ Tubbo was visibly starting to panic.

‘I should have asked him…’ Skeppy whispered, ‘I was ignoring it, I thought maybe I was wrong. But I’m not wrong. There is something about that lake. Oh I’m a fucking idiot,’

I’ve been blinded by my feelings for Bad. Other creatures- a whole fucking dimension is about to be wiped out because I got distracted by a hot man.

He hadn’t realised he’d said the last part out loud until Tubbo was nodding sagely and saying, ‘Yeah, well we’ve all been there don’t you worry. Can’t say I’ve fucked someone that’s a different species to me, but hey dude, whatever floats your boat-‘

Skeppy whacked Tubbo upside the head, ‘Tubbo!’

‘What?!’ cried the young man, ‘I don’t have a problem with you putting your dick-‘

Skeppy grabbed Tubbo by his shirt, ‘One more word and I will shove your beloved wrench-’

‘-Okayokayokayokay! Chill! CHILL dude!’

Skeppy released Tubbo with a huff, ‘We don’t have time for this. We’ve got to stop the ice or else we’re going to lose the Nether and everyone in it.’

Tubbo nodded, ‘What are you going to do?’

Skeppy drew himself up to his highest height and rolled his shoulders back, ‘I think I’m about to kidnap a lava-merman,’ he said.

Heads or Tails

Bad felt like he was currently living in a dream. Or well, at least an alternate reality.

Somehow, he’d managed to catch himself the prize of a Skeppy. Every time he saw the other man, he constantly wondered how he’d achieved this. He’s so beautiful.

He’d got his chance to run his hands through Skeppy’s hair and it was every bit as soft and fluffy as it had looked. Bad adored running his fingers through the strands, enjoying the way the other man would moan into his mouth when he used a bit of light pressure and tugged mid-kiss.

He also loved the feel of Skeppy’s skin. It was soft and always warm as the Overworlder generated his own heat. But where there were patches of diamond, such as over his knuckles or along his cheekbones it was cooler. It reminded Bad of how statue Skeppy had felt when he’d first found him as a sunk replica on the lava-bed floor. Bad’s favourite patch was the crystal that trailed enticingly along Skeppy’s collarbone, he adored drawing his tongue across it not least because of the reaction it got from the diamond-hybrid.

The big scoop had been giving Skeppy the ingredients to make fire resistance potions. This meant that Bad could pull the other man below the lava waves and have him in his domain. There, in the magma Bad was not hindered by gravity pulling on his tail, or the cold creeping under his skin and into his bones. And Skeppy was so malleable, so pliant under his attentions.

Bad loved the way the man would spread his legs and wrap them around him, enabling them to press close together. It was intoxicating.

All thoughts went out of Bad’s head when he was kissing Skeppy, even the intrusive ones. The constant hum of the EGG was quietened and Bad felt himself emboldened, felt more confident, more independent.

He found himself growing further in his curiosity for the Overworld as well. Where before he was content to scavenge treasure, happy to just hold a piece of the other dimension in his hands. Now, he found himself daydreaming about the Overworld, imagining what it might look like. He wanted to know more, to see it for himself. Skeppy told him about the mountains, impossibly high with snow on the peaks, about deep ravines with gold, emeralds and diamonds at the bottom and oceans, filled with water as wide as the horizon.

But more than that, Skeppy had told him about his home, his village, his friends. Bad had found himself wanting to be a part of this. Wanting something that had never bothered him too much before, wanting community.

Bad hadn’t thought he was lonely until he met Skeppy.

The other man made him feel complete.

How have I gone my whole life missing a half I never knew was meant to be there?

Bad didn’t want to name what he felt for Skeppy. Mainly because he didn’t know, I’ve never felt this way before. All he knew was that they were meant to be together.

Bad found himself seriously contemplating leaving the Nether.

Skeppy had offered, offered to take him through, ensure Bad would be kept safe and warm. He’d told Bad about the lava lakes in his world, dotted around, some small ones at the surface, some larger ones at the bottom of his world, nothing as big as his own lake, but somewhere for him to rest and warm his scales.

Bad lay on the shore of the lava lake, on the little island in the northeast corner of his lake. He looked at the obsidian frame, with the glowing, swirling purple particles, the portal looked so inviting.

He’d never heard of an Anguillipyroscion going through.

Why would we? We stay in the lavaways. We can travel where we want to.

Except he didn’t travel. He stayed put.

Why did I stop travelling?

He was jolted from his thoughts by the arrival of Skeppy through the portal.

The diamond-hybrid stopped in his tracks upon seeing Bad, and then his face split into the widest grin.

Bad felt his heart swell.

You make it all right he thought.

‘Hey Bad,’ said Skeppy, flopping himself down on the black sand next to him.

‘Skeppy! Hi,’ replied Bad, wondering if Skeppy would mind if Bad just kissed him right away.

The answer was no, Skeppy did not mind. The diamond-hybrid sighed into the kiss as if he’d been waiting for it all day and was finally relieved to be kissing Bad back.

Well if that’s not an ego boost I don’t know what is.

Skeppy let himself be pressed down into the sand as Bad rolled over him, pinning him in place. Skeppy’s legs parted, letting Bad settle between them. His flukes flicked lazily in the lava as he deepened the kiss between them, swirling his tongue around Skeppy’s mouth.

They kissed for a few long glorious moments, but as Bad nibbled along Skeppy’s jawline, he noticed the other man seemed more clingy than usual. His arms tight around Bad’s torso, digging in.

Bad pulled back and Skeppy followed him with a whine, seeking his lips. Bad let himself be kissed for a few seconds but then gently pushed Skeppy back.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ Skeppy came back quickly.

Bad raised his eyebrows.

Skeppy sighed, ‘I’ve missed you is all.’

‘I missed you too,’ said Bad, he ran his hands up Skeppy’s clothed arms in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. ‘But is there something else?’

Skeppy wasn’t looking at him, Bad could tell the other man was in his head. He waited patiently.

In a few short beats Skeppy turned back to him and said, in a hesitant tone, ‘Bad, would you come to the Overworld with me?’

Bad paused. He looked down at the man under him, lips swollen from kisses, gazing up at him tremulously.

‘I-‘

‘I don’t want to force you, I want it to be your own choice, I want you to want it.’

‘I want you,’ smiled Bad. He knew it was a non-answer. He was buying himself some thinking time.

He couldn’t really think of a reason to say no.

His mind was clear of interference. He only had his own thoughts, and they weren’t telling him to stay.

Skeppy rolled his eyes at Bad, ‘Yeah I want you too, I’d fucking hope you’d want me considering you’ve had your hand up my top many times.’

Bad huffed, amused.

‘But anyway, will you come? Please?’

Still there was nothing in his head telling him to stay, telling him this was a bad idea, telling him no.

So that means a yes then?

Who am I asking?

He knew.

He knew.

There was no answer from the EGG. It was silent.

And then, Yes,  a voice from within, from his own heart.

I’d follow you anywhere.

‘Yes I’ll come,’ he said, the bravest words he’d ever spoken.

Skeppy’s face lit up, ‘You will?!’

Bad nodded, ‘I will.’

Skeppy threw his arms around Bad and crashed his mouth to his in a joyous kiss.

With surprising strength, he rolled them over so Bad was the one on his back, Skeppy hovering over him. Bad expected more kisses but Skeppy was withdrawing, moving away to the side. And then arms were scooping under Bad’s back and tail and he was hoisted up into Skeppy’s arms, bridal style. The movement was so sudden Bad immediately threw his arms up around Skeppy’s neck.

Bad let out a cry of shock ‘Wait, wait, Skeppy, wait! You mean now?!’

‘Yes!’ huffed Skeppy, readjusting Bad in his arms for a more secure position.

I had no idea he was this strong. Skeppy have you been holding back on me?

‘But- but- but- I didn’t think you meant straight away!’

‘Now’s the best time dude! No time like the present!’ Skeppy was starting to march steadily over to the portal. The jostling movement caused Bad to cling on tighter.

‘Skeppy, I don’t know about this-‘

‘Bad, you’ve gotta trust me on this,’

‘I trust you,’ said Bad, ‘But what’s the rush? Can’t I at least get a few things before we go?’

‘I can get you all new things in the Overworld,’ promised Skeppy, making his way up the steps to the portal dais.

‘Okay but-‘

‘Bad, we’re going through, everything’s going to be fine, I swear it.’

‘If you say so,’ said Bad with a small amount of trepidation; they were almost at the portal. Bad could feel the energy pulsing from the obsidian frame.

I’m going to see SKY, and RAIN, and WATER, and LEAVES.

He closed his eyes and buried his head into the crook of Skeppy’s shoulder as the man stepped into the portal. The particles whooshed around them, all Bad could see was purple.

He felt nauseous, like he was going to be sick. He pressed into Skeppy more, the other man tightened his arms around him.

The whooshing intensified, Bad’s ears were ringing. He felt weird, something was pouring over him, it felt like swimming under a lava-fall, the heat spreading from his head to his toes.

His toes.

His…..toes.

‘Bad-‘

‘Skeppy?’

‘Bad did you know this was going to happen?’ Panic was lacing Skeppy’s tone.

Bad felt so weird. He looked down at his body.

There was no tail, no scales, no fins, no flukes.

Instead….legs, feet, toes.

He wriggled them.

So weird.

‘Holy fucking shit’ whispered Skeppy.

Feet on Solid Ground

Skeppy was in shock.

BadBoyHalo had legs, had feet, had fucking toes that he was now wiggling in curiosity.

Somehow, travelling through the portal had transformed him into a…human? Maybe? Skeppy looked at Bad’s face. It was still the same, the pointed ears, the white eyes, the horns and the glowing hair, he was still far too eldritch to be a full human. But everything on top seemed to be the same, only his lower half seemed to have changed.

Skeppy looked back down again and realised, somewhat belatedly that Bad was also very naked. Like humanly naked.

Oh fuck.

Skeppy wrenched his eyes forward but not before he’d seen-Okay, well good to know Bad’s got all the right equipment in that department.

‘Bad, what the fuck is going on?’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘Language,’ said Bad softly. His head was still nestled under Skeppy’s chin. The diamond-hybrid hadn’t even taken a moment to really cherish the posture, he’d been so laser-focused on extracting Bad from the Nether.

Bad finally looked away from his feet and instead on Skeppy, he seemed a little dazed, ‘And I don’t know, I’ve never heard of an Anguillipyroscion going into the Overworld before. I didn’t know we got legs. That’s so weird.’

‘Weird, weird?’ Skeppy felt like he might be on the verge of hysterics, ‘How are you so calm right now? You’ve swapped your tail for fucking legs!’

But Bad wasn’t listening, he’d looked away from Skeppy’s face and had caught sight of the Sky.

‘Oh’ he said simply, his eyes wide and unblinking as he stared upwards.

Skeppy didn’t know what to think, holding Bad in his arms, cradling him. He’d relied on his diamond-strength to pick up the heavy Anguillipyroscion, and it had been manageable, getting up the steps to the portal and coming through.

He’d just been so desperate to get Bad out of the Nether, to safety. He was so relieved when Bad said yes to coming, he’d not been at all sure what to do if Bad had said no. Kidnapping a strong, powerful lava-merman from his natural habitat, against his will would not have been easy. And morally dubious.

But it’s this or he dies. And I can’t lose him.

Skeppy had dipped into a few of the other portals on his way to the one which led to Bad’s lake. He’d been able to witness and confirm what Tubbo had said was true. The Ice had spread, unrelenting. It was almost at the perimeter of Bad’s lake. Another day and the lava would have started to solidify.

He looked at Bad again, the man was still fixated on the Sky.

I can’t lose him.

Tubbo was busy excavating his back lawn right this very moment, turning it into a lava-pool. But would they still need a magma pond if Bad no longer had a tail? Skeppy had not reckoned on Bad undergoing a transformation upon arriving into the Overworld.

Can he even walk? No…right? He’s never had fucking legs.

There’s so much going on, holy fucking shit.

‘You okay?’ he asked, squeezing Bad a little so the other man heard him. Bad dropped his gaze to look at Skeppy and nodded tremulously, then went back to staring upwards again.

Skeppy didn’t want to stay so close to the portal, the whooshing noise was annoying him. He moved forwards a little, away from the obsidian and towards the Waystone which would take them wherever they wanted to go.

‘It’s so…open…’ Bad whispered, then he spasmed in Skeppy’s arms and started trembling violently.

Skeppy assumed it was from the cold, there was a breeze coming down the valley they were in, mountains to either side of them.

‘Let’s get you back to my place yeah?’ he said, as cheerfully as he could manage. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you there, a lava-pond to keep you warm, how about that?’

Bad didn’t seem to be able to answer, his eyes were still staring, almost unseeingly upwards.

Skeppy readjusted the man in his arms, so he was able to get a few fingers on the Waystone. It flared into life, and he warped them home.

 ~

Skeppy staggered a little on the landing from the Warpstone and scrambled to get his feet under him, somehow managing to not drop Bad who was still shivering tremendously in his arms, his eyes were scrunched shut, he looked like he was in pain.

‘Shit,’  Skeppy swore and started to move his legs as fast as he could, skirting around the side of his house, making a beeline straight to the backyard.

The sight of a large crane-like machine came into view and Skeppy yelled ‘TUBBO!’

‘WAHHHHHHH’ there was a yell and then a whimper, ‘Holy fucking shit dude. I just fucking nearly died.’

‘Tubbo! Get the lava in! Now!’

Tubbo looked up from where he’d been perched on his machine, a hand over his heart from the surprise Skeppy had given him and saw the two of them, Bad in Skeppy’s arms.

‘Fuck! Okay, um, okay, um, shit, bugger, fuck, where’s the lever?’ he scrabbled around and then there was a clattering sound and lava buckets started being deployed filling up the carved out hollow Tubbo’s machine had dug in Skeppy’s backgarden.

In reality the lava was being poured in very quickly but for Skeppy it seemed to take forever, he clutched Bad to his chest tightly, trying to feed the man warmth.

As soon as the lava was a block or so deep Skeppy rushed forwards and leapt down the blocky sloping sides of the pond, his shins plunging into the hot magma. He still had a minute or so of fire resistance so he was okay for the time being. He knelt and tried to set Bad down in the lava.

‘You know, I thought you had a naked merman for a boyfriend not a naked man,’ said Tubbo who had climbed down from his machine and come around the edge of the rapidly filling lava pond.

‘Bad? Bad you okay?’ Skeppy was trying to extricate himself from Bad’s arms around his neck, trying to set the man down so most of his body was covered by lava. Bad’s eyes were still closed, he was moaning softly. He didn’t look well at all.

‘Is he…is he okay?’ asked Tubbo concerned.

‘I don’t…I don’t know!’ cried Skeppy, ‘I thought he was just cold, that the lava would help but- Bad, BAD! Can you hear me?’ He tried to splash the lava over Bad’s arms, tried to get the cold blood flowing through his veins.

But as he grasped Bad’s arm he gasped.

Red markings were spreading across the dark skin of Bad’s forearm Skeppy followed the trail with his eyes as he watched in horror as something which looked like vines twisted and wrapped themselves over and under his arm and spread across his chest.

It was not unlike how the subzero hypogeal ice tendrils spread across the Nether.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

Skeppy leapt up. ‘Call Puffy!’ he yelled at Tubbo, as he sloshed his way through the lava to the edge of the pond and hauled himself out.

‘What?! What the fuck?! Skeppy where are you going? You can’t just- What am I supposed to do with him?’

‘I need to get the books, call her! Yell for me if anything else changes!’ Skeppy sprinted off into his house.

Something is infecting Bad the way something is infecting the Nether. What the FUCK is it?’

Chapter Text

Sky’s the limit

No matter how many times he’d be asked later, Bad genuinely had no idea that his tail would turn to legs when he entered into the Overworld through the portal. He’d never met another Anguillipyroscion who’d gone to the other dimension; he’d not spoken to any of his own kind in so long, it wasn’t like he had anyone to ask.

He was bemused at the urgency the diamond-hybrid had for bringing him into the Overworld. He’d interpreted the restlessness as excitement; Skeppy probably just had something really cool to show him.

And the voice in his head, the feeling of staying put was hardly there in his mind and so he’d gone along with Skeppy, had gone through the portal with a thrill of anticipation.

He could feel Skeppy’s arms around him and felt safe in that embrace, yet the whooshing noise was so loud, and all he could see was purple. He closed his eyes and ducked his head into Skeppy’s chest and Skeppy pulled him tighter into him.

Bad started to feel a warm sensation pour over him, running down his spine, flooding through his tail. It was the oddest thing, like he was under a lavafall, but he wasn’t in the Nether anymore, he was in the Overworld. He felt the molten feeling like lava continue all the way down to his toes.

His eyes flew open.

His toes.

-His toes.

He wiggled them.

Okay that’s weird.

He had feet now, and knobbly knees and thighs.

He wiggled his toes again. They looked so weird. They felt so weird.

‘Bad, what the fuck is going on?’ Skeppy said above him, he sounded stressed.

‘Language,’ said Bad softly. He shifted so he could see Skeppy, ‘I don’t know, I’ve never heard of an Anguillipyroscion going into the Overworld before. I didn’t know we got legs. This is so weird.’

‘Weird, weird?’ Skeppy’s voice went quite high-pitched; he was definitely stressed. Bad didn’t quite know why, nothing hurt, it just felt very odd.  ‘How are you so calm right now? You’ve swapped your tail for fucking legs!’ he yelled.

But Bad wasn’t listening, his gaze captivated by the colour green. He looked past his toes and noticed an eruption of vibrant green plant life all around— coarse and bristly- so different to the nylium and spongy warped fungus spores of his home world. His eyes landed on the base of a tree, like crimson stem however this was a deep brown with a rugged texture. He followed the trunk upward, tracing its path to a dense canopy of leaves swaying gently in the breeze. The myriad shades of green painted an absorbing picture. It then that he saw it.

The Sky.

Bad froze, eyes wide, transfixed by the boundless expanse above him. The vast emptiness of the sky seemed to swallow him whole, its sheer magnitude overwhelming. Scattered across the sky were white, fluffy formations, which he vaguely recalled were clouds. Yet, these clouds did little to interrupt the infinite stretch of open space. The sky was a kaleidoscope of blues, not just a single shade, but a symphony of rich, deep hues merging seamlessly into faint, delicate tints. The openness was both liberating and daunting, endless and vast, a chasmic unknown.

It was terrifying.

Bad stared up into it and felt like he might fall off the earth entirely. What was keeping him in place? There was no roof, no protection, no security. He felt unbound, in freefall.

‘Oh,’ he sighed, ‘It’s so open.’

Skeppy had tried to explain it to him. Had tried to tell him about the Sky. But his words could never have hoped to capture just the whopping great space it was.

Bad had lived his whole life under a roof. He desperately wanted to scuttle back under it. To go deep under the lava, back to his cave, where he felt surrounded and safe. Back to what he knew, this felt like too much-

-Where ARE you?!

The voice pierced his mind like a hammer to a nail.  

His eyes squeezed shut. It hurts.

You left? You LEFT?!

The question reverbed around his brain.

Why would you leave me? I gave you everything. It’s not safe there!

I know, I know, I know, Bad thought as he shuddered and tried to move in Skeppy’s arms. He needed to get back. Back to safety. Away from the Sky, from the green, from the open.

But Skeppy only held him tighter.

‘Let’s get you back to my place yeah?’ he said, as cheerfully as he could manage. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you there, a lava-pond to keep you warm, how about that?’

Bad tried to open his mouth, tried to protest but the EGG was screaming at him again.

Don’t leave me! COME BACK.

But there was more whooshing, more purple and they were travelling through another portal.

They emerged into a new place. Bad didn’t see much of anything, his eyes were still tightly closed from the pain blooming in his mind now. They were further from the EGG and so its words were harder to make out, but the insistent nature of its demands was intensifying. He couldn’t contain the gasp that spilled from his lips.

Skeppy seemed to be yelling, someone else was yelling back. It was like it was far across the other side of his lake, words indistinguishable.

Bad wanted to be back in his lake. He needed to be back in his lake.

He didn’t feel in control of his limbs. Something was burning at the back of his neck, but not from heat, from cold. Tendrils were twisting their way viciously down his arms, searing his dark skin, the icy feeling clutching at him.

The EGG wanted him back and it would stop at nothing to get him.

Bad didn’t feel like his body was his own anymore, his mind was being assaulted by the EGG, it was ordering him to return, commanding him to. He was finding it hard to breathe; his lungs weren’t getting enough oxygen either from his mouth and nose or his gills which were beating hard against his sides.

Then he was being jostled; Skeppy was moving, rushing towards something and Bad found himself lowered into blessed heat. Shallow magma surrounded his legs and warmed him up, but the cruel vines of cold were still twisting their way along his upper arms, dancing maliciously over the soft insides of his elbows now.

Skeppy was setting him down and with nothing to lean on, Bad found himself unable to keep upright, and he slumped even further into the lava, he wanted to press his hands against his throbbing temples but that would mean he had to move them and that would be excruciating because of the cold divots being currently carved into his forearms.

Skeppy was yelling again, Bad couldn’t decipher the words, he squinted through the migraine of pain and saw Skeppy’s panicked face and then the man was off - dashing into a building leaving lava footprints on a neatly manicured path.

‘Oh fuck, oh fuck. Dude, are you okay? Oh shut the fuck up you idiot Toby, of course he isn’t. Right, call Puffy, ring her, tell her it’s an emergency. Oh shitting, fucking hell. If Skeppy isn’t back in two minutes I’m saying hell to this dude. I’m making a portal. You need to be back in the Nether. You shouldn’t be here. But oh fuck the Nether’s all fucking ICE. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!! Puffy? Oh thank fuck, Puffy, you need to get to Skeppy’s house NOW. The back garden, he’s brought his fucking boyfriend into the Overworld and the guy’s dying- no not Skeppy, the boyfriend is the one dying. Please just get here as fast as you can. Okay, okay. I’m TRYING TO STAY FUCKING CALM – okay, no I’m sorry, sorry for yelling. I’m just panicking. Yeah, okay, please hurry.’

Bad let out a gasp as the ice tendrils were now spreading over his clavicle and down his chest. They were digging in and searing.

‘Hey, hey, pal? Try lying down yeah? Try just that’s it, does this help? If you lay in the lava, put your head under? You can breathe in the stuff right? Does this help? At all?’

A very young and worried face swam across Bad’s vision as he found himself being lowered even further down in the lava until eventually his head was submerged.

It did help a tiny bit. He was able to take breaths of the lava in through his mouth and gills and it stabilised him. The twisting vines on his body didn’t let up however, nor did the shrieking of the EGG in his mind.

Why would you leave me?

After everything?

You BELONG to me.

You can’t leave darling. I will drag you back here myself.

The pain will be over if you come back.

Come back to me

Darling, I hate how you make me do this to you.

You want it to stop hurting don’t you?

Please, Bad thought to the EGG. Please, please I’ll come back, I will, please just- I CAN’T THINK.

At that the tendrils continued to wind their way across his body but the icy burn of them lessened somewhat.

Bad could have sobbed in relief.

See? I am merciful darling. Now you need to come back to me.

Come back to me or I’ll make them hurt again.

I’m coming, I’m coming Bad managed to think. He took in lungfuls of the lava, breathing deeply, Trying to regain some strength. He could see more clearly now. There was a young man above him, looking down at him in the lava goggles on his forehead. Then there was another face beside him, a young woman, her hair wild and fuzzy.

Bad sat up gingerly.

‘Oh, okay, you’re sitting up? Right, are you okay?’ the woman was asking him. She looked like she might want to lend him a hand, but she didn’t touch him.

‘Dude, you good? You had us really worried there,’ said the man, Bad thought this might be Skeppy’s friend Tubbo. And that would make the woman, Puffy.

‘I need to go home-‘ he said, his voice was hoarse even though he hadn’t been screaming. The tendrils on his body tightened but didn’t flare in pain….for the moment.

‘Yeah? Okay, we can sort that,’ said Puffy.

‘Wait though, Skeppy told us we needed to wait for him.’

‘What’s he doing? We can’t wait, this guy’s – it’s Bad right?’ she asked Bad. He nodded. That was a mistake, his head felt like it might fall off, ‘Bad says he needs to go home, and I think he probably is the one who knows what’s best for him, right?’

‘Right…’ said Tubbo but he didn’t look convinced. ‘But the Nether’s all ice now, it’ll be no good for you Bad.’

‘I have to go home,’ Bad said looking between the two of them, ‘Please, help me. Where’s the nearest portal.’

Tubbo and Puffy looked at one another, ‘Er, it’s in the town centre,’ said Puffy, ‘Can you walk?’

What is taking so long Darling? Do I need to persuade you again?

The pain flared in the vines twisting across Bad’s torso, he gasped and whimpered.

‘Okay no time, I’m speedrunning it!’ cried Tubbo and he was splashing his way across the shallows in his diamond boots throwing down blocks and getting out a bucket.

I’m coming thought Bad, I’m trying.

Hurry darling, I haven’t got all day.

The pain was building, increasing in intensity, the icy tendrils were worming their way across his ribs now and sending tiny fingers of cold in between his gills. Bad felt tears run down his face, it stung.

‘Nearly there!’ called out Tubbo, placing buckets of lava down against a structure with water. A few more quick beats and an obsidian portal had been built. ‘Tada!’ Tubbo cried, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

Bad sighed in relief, he began to move towards the portal.

I’m coming. I’m coming.

He didn’t know how to move his legs yet, so he pulled himself along with his hands. Tubbo was holding out a hand and Bad took it, throwing out the other one to stabilise himself on the obsidian.

As soon as his fingers touched it, the world went black.

Isn’t it Ob-vious?

Skeppy tore up the staircase, three at a time, racing across the landing to his map room. He flung open the door with such force it banged against the wall with a jolt.

Where is it? Where is it?

He was throwing aside paper, quills, notebooks, desperately searching for the book with the information on Anguillipyroscions. He could hear yelling from outside his window. He was pulling books haphazardly off the bookshelves now, they tumbled to the floor, spines splaying open, pages getting dented.

Where is it? Where is it?

It was not under the piles of scrolls, they went cascading to the floor as well, an avalanche of paper. Nor was it in any of the chests or in the barrels, it wasn’t propped up on the table not down the side of the desk.

Skeppy punched the dark oak bookshelf in frustration. Luckily his diamond-coated knuckles prevented him from breaking his fingers, but the bookshelf now had a serious dent in it and the wood was cracked.

Fuck! Where is it??

He looked around in the debris of the room, ransacked and not a single leaf from the book in sight.

Then his stomach fell through the floor as realisation hit him.

The book.“Netherborn Natives: A comprehensive Guide to the Underworld Mobs” by Winston Witherstone. He given it to Bad.

He’d given the book to Bad. It was in the Nether, in Bad’s cave, probably ice by now.

Skeppy slumped to his hands and knees on the floor.

What have I done?

I don’t know what to do. How do I fix this?

He can’t go back to the Nether, but something in the Overworld is making him sick.

Have I just condemned my best friend, my boyfriend….to death?

Tears dropped fat and heavy onto his hands rolling down onto the floorboards.

He can’t… he can’t…die.

‘No, please,’ he whispered, he begged.

‘SKEPPY! SKEPPY!’ shouts were coming from down below, there was the sound of feet hammering on the stairs and then Puffy was bursting into the room. Skeppy looked up at her tremulously, fearing the worst.

‘Skeppy! Bad’s passed out in the lava. He touched the obsidian and fainted,’ she announced, panting and out of breath. She then seemed to take in the wreckage of the room, ‘Skeppy? Are you okay?’

Skeppy shook his head, tears still streaking down his face, ‘I’ve as good as killed him,’ he croaked.

‘No you haven’t! he’s still breathing down there, come on Skeppy! We just need to get him back to the Nether and he’ll be okay!’

‘There’s no Nether for him to go back to,’ said Skeppy weakly, ‘It’s all Ice.’

‘No, it can’t be!’ breathed Puffy looking horrified, ‘You were working on fixing it! You were gonna figure out how to fix it!’

‘I didn’t manage it in time,’ Skeppy just wanted to curl up in a ball and fall into the deep dark. Maybe let a Warden take him out a few times. It was as good as he deserved. He’d respawn. Bad wouldn’t, there was no Nether spawn for him to return too. If he died he was gone gone.

‘Skeppy stop this. You still have time, it’s not over-‘

‘-It is! It’s over Puffy! The Nether is destroyed into ice and Bad’s going to die. It’s over.’

‘Well excuse me if I don’t join this sorry excuse for a pity party,’ said Puffy giving him a look of utter disgust. ‘Tubbo and I are going to find a solution. Join us if you want. Or don’t.’

And with that she left, slamming the door behind her.

Skeppy felt completely miserable. If he hadn’t been so distracted with Bad he could have avoided this. He’d spent so long over stupid prank wars and kissing. And it had been fun and so very lovely to kiss Bad but now he was going to lose him because Skeppy couldn’t focus on the bigger picture.

Skeppy had been ultimately very selfish, he’d put his needs above all the other needs of the creatures in an entire dimension. He’d even put his needs above Bad’s as well, as good as kidnapping him from his home and now he was in pain and unconscious and going to die.

He looked at all the scraps of paper on the floor, notepages, maps, scrolls. He’d put so much work into trying to find out what was causing the ice, to try and find the epicentre. Hopping around the Nether, through portal after portal, the ice spreading across everything, across all terrain, its clutches digging in and taking root.

Not unlike the patterns that were spreading across Bad’s skin. Icy tendrils weaving their way around him, clutching at him.

Skeppy’s brain was thinking very fast right now.

The Ice had covered everything in the Nether.

The lavaways, the nether wastes, the basalt deltas, the soul sand valleys, the crimson and warped forests, bastions, fortresses, but not the ruined portals.

Not the portals.

It had never tainted the portals.

Skeppy was stumbling to his feet and staggering out of the room, down the stairs and out the back door.

He found Puffy propping up Bad against the Obsidian frame of a hastily erected Nether portal as she and Tubbo were preparing to go into the Nether.

‘Wait!’ Skeppy cried, ‘Tubbo wait!’ Skeppy fumbled for a fire resistance potion from his inventory and chugged it down. He waded as quickly as he could through the lava pool to Tubbo and Puffy.

Bad was still breathing, his waist and gills under the lava, he seemed to be getting enough air to breath for now. Puffy was holding his hand gently, offering reassurance.

Skeppy looked at the horrible ice-blue vines burned into Bad’s skin. He watched them. Then blinked, then stared.

Hang on a second-

‘Oh you’ve come to join us then?’ asked Puffy acerbically.

‘I- um, wait-‘ he breathed, hope fluttering in his chest like a caged bird as he continued to observe Bad.

‘Wait for what dude? We need to get him back to the Nether now. Tubbo go in and see what it’s like on the other side,’ Puffy ordered. Tubbo made to climb into the portal.

‘Do you see that?’ Skeppy knelt in the shallow lava, the heat not bothering him, and took Bad’s limp arm very gently holding it up so the others could better see the marks marring his black skin.

‘What?’ Puffy seemed to be far past the limit of her patience. Her hair was almost so charged with static electricity, she was practically sparking.

‘Look.’

Three pairs of eyes watched the icy vine-like markings on Bad’s arm appear to shiver then retreat. They were receding back up his arm, slowly, yes, but fading all the same. They also weren’t leaving behind any scars or enduring marks, just goosebumps.

‘Oh my fucking god?’ exclaimed Tubbo, looking up excitedly.

Puffy seemed confused, ‘What’s happening?’  

Skeppy lowered Bad’s arm and put it back into the lava, and if he laced his fingers with Bad’s under the surface so no-one could see then that was his own business. ‘I think-‘ he gazed at the Nether portal frame, the obsidian dark and permanent, ‘I think it’s the obsidian. The Ice can’t go past obsidian.’

‘Wait what?!’ Tubbo was looking at the portal frame too, he rapped it with his knuckles. ‘You think the obsidian is making him better?’

‘I don’t know, maybe, I hope so-‘ started Skeppy,  ‘Remember in the Nether, when we were exploring? We went through lots of portals, the Ice never took over the portals, never even tangled itself around the obsidian. The portals were always fine.’

‘Pristine even,’ breathed Tubbo, he swung his goggle-covered head and tousled curls to look at the purple membrane; the boundary between the Overworld and the Nether. ‘I’m going in lads, I need to see for myself.’ And then he was whooshing away, Skeppy blinked, and he was gone.

‘Can we get Bad closer to the obsidian?’ asked Skeppy, ‘Can you help me lie him against it?’

‘Do you think it will help?’ Puffy was looking at Bad with concern, ‘We can make more?’

‘Yes!’ Skeppy jumped at the idea, he got out a water bucket from his inventory and stepping back a little he spilled it on the lava.

Immediately it began to hiss and turn to the dark material, the hardest block besides bedrock. Skeppy scooped the water back up quickly, so it didn’t spread too far. He’d created a small four-by-four platform of obsidian.

‘Let’s lay him on it,’ said Skeppy and between the two of them they turned Bad so he was laying on his front on the obsidian.

‘Your boyfriend is very naked,’ teased Puffy, ‘Did he have any clothes on in the Nether?’

‘He had a tail!’ squeaked Skeppy blushing and trying to look anywhere but Bad’s lower half.

‘He’s got a cute butt,’ said Puffy.

‘I’m not looking!’ cried Skeppy.

Puffy rolled her eyes but took her jacket off and lay it over Bad’s midriff and ass to give him some dignity. ‘Is it helping? The obsidian?’

Skeppy leant down to better see Bad’s arms, he could see the icy vines retreating quicker now, moving back up to his shoulders. Bad shuddered and groaned, he seemed to be coming round. Skeppy reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together once more and squeezing.

The Nether portal whooshed and Tubbo was back and predictably he was yelling.

‘Guys! GUYS!’

‘What? What is it?’ Puffy cried.

‘The portal is clear! It’s Ice all around, I dropped a pufferfish on it-‘

Puffy was incredulous ‘Why, of all things, did you have a bucket of pufferfish on you?’

‘For emergencies obviously,’ drawled Tubbo, but he continued, words tumbling out of his mouth quick and fast, ‘The water dried up as usual, but the Ice grabbed the pufferfish and sort of strangled it to death with its Icy stem thingies. It was hungry dudes, I watched it try to come to the portal but as soon as it got close it stayed back. It wouldn’t come near the obsidian at all. I even put an obsidian block down and it wouldn’t touch it!’

‘That’s it then,’ said Skeppy, the energy from Tubbo was infectious, his hunch was true. ‘Obsidian is it’s weakness.’

There is a way to beat this thing.

‘Is what’s weakness?’ Puffy was looking between Tubbo and Skeppy now, ‘The Ice isn’t an entity, it’s a symptom of the problem, not the cause!’

‘Yes but we know where the entity can be found, and we know how to contain it,’ said Skeppy, counting these points out on his fingers. ‘It’s at the centre of Bad’s lake.’

Bad let out a little whimper and Skeppy was right by his side once more, ‘Hey, Bad? Bad it’s okay, it’s me, I’m here, you’re okay.’

‘S’geppy,’ said Bad wetly.

‘How do you feel?’

‘Sore,’ Bad complained, ‘Head hurts.’

Skeppy stroked a gentle hand through Bad’s molten hair, his fire resistance keeping him from burning. Bad’s hair was as soft as ever and he let out a relieved sort of moan as Skeppy pressed firm fingers into his scalp and massaged.

‘It’s going to be okay Bad,’ he said quietly to his boyfriend, ‘We know how to defeat the Ice. We just need you to tell us what’s at the bottom of your lake.’

‘Mmmph?’ Bad seemed so out of it, ‘Just tell me what’s down there sweetheart?’

Was it bad to take advantage of him like this? To use Bad’s confusion for his own gain to plumb for answers?

Maybe.

Probably.

But I need to do this to save him thought Skeppy, to save them all in the Nether. Better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

He dragged his fingers through Bad’s hair, lowering his face to plant a kiss on Bad’s forehead, it was cruel to be this kind for a purpose.

‘What’s in the bottom of the lake Bad?’ he repeated.

‘The EGG,’ sighed Bad a molten tear leaked from his white eye and Skeppy caught it on his thumb.

‘The EGG?’

‘Mmm.’

‘Okay darling,’ he said and pressed a final kiss to Bad’s cheek. Then he withdrew.

Bad keened at the loss and Skeppy tried to steel his heart. I’m doing this for you. So you can live, so you can be free. He thought of all the ways Bad was trapped, in the Nether, in his lake, in secrets with this EGG creature.

 He stood up and took out his sword.

‘We’ve got to kill it, this EGG,’ he announced.

Puffy gasped, ‘You don’t know anything about any EGG? Bad’s not making sense, he’s not well Skeppy-‘

‘We’ll trap it in obsidian,’ continued Skeppy, ignoring Puffy’s protests; he knew he was straying dangerously close into the land of “two wrongs don’t make a right” and he’d fucked up by being distracted and then kidnapping Bad and now stealing info from him when he couldn’t think straight. How many wrongs must you do? His conscious -who sounded scarily like Puffy- echoed in his mind.

I’ve got to make this right. I’ve got to save Bad and the Nether.

Skeppy hopped down from the obsidian platform Bad was laying on and made his way over to the portal.

‘Anybody know how to turn an entire lava lake into obsidian?’ he joked weakly.

Puffy just stared at him as if he’d lost his fucking mind. Skeppy supposed he had.

‘Yes actually.’

Skeppy turned his head almost comically slowly to Tubbo, eyes wide.

‘The fuck?’

‘Yes, actually I do know how to turn an entire lava lake into obsidian,’ said Tubbo.

‘Fucking…How?’

‘Remember when we first when into the Nether and saw the Ice? There were these weird crystals everywhere?’

Skeppy wracked his brain trying to remember, he’d been less focused on shiny things and more focused on you know, the fact that there was Ice in the Nether….

‘Well I took some-‘

‘You took some dangerous Ice crystals from the Nether not knowing what they were and whether they could be dangerous?’ Puffy looked like she was ready to murder the pair of them. ‘When I said we needed to come up with a plan, crazy experiments weren’t what I had in mind!’

‘Yes, well turns out if you put them in a lodestone they do weird things,’ said Tubbo.

‘Weird things how?’ Puffy narrowed her eyes at Tubbo.

‘Er just like they cause snow, and mobs take freezing damage, and they turn lava to obsidian. Like, lots of lava.’

‘Do you have the crystals?’ Skeppy asked, hoping the answer was yes.

‘No I used them all,’ said Tubbo and Skeppy’s heart sank, ‘But! I know where to get them!’ said Tubbo, ‘Because our resident cartographer here’ he pointed at Skeppy, ‘Just happened to leave a trail of lodestones from Bad’s lake to the outer reaches of the Nether.’

‘Tubbo-‘

‘Skeppy-‘

‘Come on dude! Let’s go!’

‘Yeah fine, leave me here with the sick lava-merman why don’t you?’ cried Puffy, ‘Do you even care about him Skeppy?’

‘Yes of course I do!’ snapped Skeppy, ‘I’m doing this for him Puffy. I’m doing this to save the Nether! Tubbo come on!’ and with that he was jumping into the portal, and the purple particles were whooshing him away.

The last thing he saw was Bad turning his face towards Skeppy, white eyes confused, a hand reaching for him.

Chapter Text

Ice Scream

Skeppy was talking about killing the EGG. Bad’s forehead creased, that can’t be real.

He tried to open his mouth to protest, to seek reassurance from Skeppy. But Skeppy was moving away, was talking to Tubbo and Puffy was getting armour from his inventory and equipping it.

He missed the gentle hands in his hair, the strong fingers relieving some of the pressure in his head. The obsidian he was lying on was blissfully warm and he could no longer feel the sting of the EGG’s icy vines. His head was pounding, he tried to press his face into the dark block even more, seeking relief.

He could hear arguing.

Why is Skeppy yelling at his friends?

Bad tried opening his eyes, it was hard, it was all so bright here in the Overworld. He saw Skeppy and Tubbo stepping up to the Nether portal.

No, don’t leave.

Bad stretched out his clawed hand.

Come back!

‘S’geppy’ he croaked. But it was no use, Skeppy whooshed away in a mirage of purple particles.

‘Bad? Hey pal, how are you feeling?’ it was Puffy, her face was flushed pink, and her hair was sticking up in wild tufts, she had an expression of concern on her face.

‘Where’s Skeppy?’ he managed.

‘He’s gone to the Nether to try and stop the EGG at the bottom of your lake,’ she said.

Bad started to shake his head. No no no no no!

‘No! He- can’t-‘

‘Tell me about the EGG-‘ pleaded Puffy, she was kneeling by his side, her felt her grasp his hand up in hers. Her skin was softer than Skeppy’s. ‘What is it? Is it alive? Is it evil?’

‘Its-‘ Bad didn’t know what to say.

How does one describe the giant entity living at the bottom of the lake, drawing endless power to itself, always hungry. It was in their heads, all the residents of the lake, they all felt its pull. Bad couldn’t remember when it had arrived, or had it always been there? He couldn’t remember a time before the EGG.

Skeppy had asked him about his family, his clan. But Bad couldn’t remember. How did he get to be living on his own in a lava lake? He must have had parents once, must have travelled the lavaways with them. Hazy shapes swam before his vision, but he couldn’t focus on them.

He was just Bad. In his lava lake, collecting things from the overworld. Life was simple, it was easy, it was secure. He was safe in the lake. Safe from anything that might harm him.

That was the EGG’s doing.

‘The EGG keeps us safe,’ he said.

‘Keeps you safe?’ Puffy seemed confused, ‘But the EGG is causing the Ice?’

Bad still didn’t understand the Ice. Skeppy had seemed so worried about it, but Bad had never seen it. His lake was pristine, safe.

‘The lake is safe, the EGG keeps us safe.’

‘Bad honey I don’t think it does,’ said Puffy, ‘Or it only keeps you safe to protect itself. It’s destroying the rest of the Nether.’

Bad shook his head but the movement hurt so he stilled.

‘I need to go back,’ he said, looking up and meeting Puffy’s eyes, ‘Please, I want to go home,’

‘I’m not sure you have a home to go to Bad.’

Bad started to cry, the Nether was all he’d ever known. It was his home.

‘I don’t want to stay here. I can’t stay here. Please’ he sounded wretched, he knew it. He was weak, trembling with exhaustion and the shock from the EGG’s icy vines.

He watched as Puffy but her lip. ‘I suppose there’s a chance that if Skeppy gets the crystals in time and manages to trap the EGG then your lake will remain safe.’

‘Crystals?’

‘Did you hear? Tubbo said there’s these crystals that can turn whole lava lakes into obsidian-‘ started Puffy.

‘What? No, NO!’ Bad was pressing up, trying to sit up but his arms hurt, and he didn’t want to take them off the warm obsidian platform. He collapsed back down, trembling. ‘No he can’t that’s my home!’

‘Yeah well I don’t think either of them has exactly thought any of this through,’ said Puffy uneasily.

‘Please,’ begged Bad. ‘Please take me home.’

Puffy looked at him for a long hard minute. ‘Fine, we’ll meet them at your lake and talk things through. I make no promises on the obsidian Bad, if there’s a way to stop the Ice, we’ve gotta take it, or we lose the Nether for everyone for ever.’

~

The journey was arduous. Puffy didn’t have the strength of Skeppy to lift Bad and carry him so she bundled him into a rowing boat, stowing him snug behind her. This was after she’d retrieved some clothing for him from Skeppy’s house. Bad was now wearing black trousers and a blue hoodie. It smelled like Skeppy, and he tucked his nose under the collar to imagine he was enveloped in Skeppy’s embrace as Puffy used the boat to warp the two of them to the far away Nether portal that led directly to Bad’s lake.

Even just the short trip from the obsidian was enough to cause Bad severe pain. The Icy vines were back snaking along his skin, blistering and stabbing him with cold. He shivered and shook in the boat.

But even worse was the EGG’s voice in his head.

Oh darling, I am NOT happy with you

You think you can escape me? You can’t.

I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming Bad repeated the thought over and over in his mind as the migraine-like pain from before returned with a vengeance.

The EGG was displeased with him. What would it do if it knew Skeppy and Tubbo planned to turn the entire lavalake into obsidian? Bad tried to hide his thoughts from it, he’d never been particularly successful in the past. He just hoped in its anger it would overlook him and not thing to dig deeper.

Bad squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breath through the pain but all that came out was a low whine.

‘Nearly there Bad, I promise,’ said Puffy, she’d taken them through the Warpstone and they were now at the portal leading to Bad’s lake, ‘Just one more trip and then we’ll be there.’

She boated them up to the obsidian frame and Bad was granted a moment of peace and calm and lessening pain as they went through the purple plasma and shifted dimensions. He tucked his nose into Skeppy’s hoodie once more and breathed deeply.

They arrived on the little island in Bad’s lake. Puffy boated them down from the obsidian platform and Bad was almost immediately trying to leap from the boat, only he was getting tangled up in the clothes as he now had his tail back.

Oh thank the roof, I’m home!

‘Bad, wait, wait!’ Puffy was crying out but Bad jolted the boat so much it flipped and they both tipped out. Bad dragged himself forwards and then, then he was slipping into the lava and if felt glorious.

The Icy vines on his arms instantly evaporated and the pressure in his mind lessened.

Darling you are home. Come here, come to me.

Bad sunk in the lava, wanting nothing more than to drift down into the deep, where the magma roiled and bubbled white hot, where it was peaceful and secure.

But curiosity was a powerful thing.

It’ll just be a moment he thought, and he let his fins -oh how wonderful to have fins again- and tail propel him upwards to burst through the surface of the lava lake. He’d strayed from the shoreline a bit, northwards, towards the outer shore of the lake. He could see the figure of Puffy at the lava’s edge, she was shouting for him and waving trying to get his attention.

He wasn’t focusing on her however, he was instead taking in the horrific view behind her.

Ice.

The shores of his lake were grey-white, no longer the warped forest, no longer the Nether wastes. Only barren grey blocks, off-white particles floating in the air.

There was Ice. And it was here.

Skeppy was right.

There were shrieks to his left he looked over, one of the bone serpents was barrelling towards him a pile of piglins on his back, they were crying, parents were holding their children in their arms, wailing. Bad wheeled aside, letting them pass, the bone serpent was followed by two more, similarly ferrying more piglin families on their backs.

‘What’s going on?’ Bad cried.

‘To the fortress,’ the lead serpent called out, ‘Not safe here,’ Bad watched as the procession continued. He then noticed a stream of straddlers migrating across the lake’s surface fifty blocks or so in the distance, going in the same direction. They were all trying to escape the ice.

Bad spun around and headed the opposite way, trying to get a better look at the shore.

As he approached there were more refugees fleeing the banks of the lava lake. He could see a huddle of piglins on the shoreline, clambering onto another bone serpent, Bad passed them and moved closer.

Bad looked at it, the Ice was slow, but it was moving. It spread over the nylium, the tendrils so unnervingly like the ones that had only minutes ago been spreading over his skin. And the vines that were on his skin were because of the EGG, so this means the Ice plague that he was witnessing was also from the EGG.

Horror spread through Bad.

Why would it do this? This is our home!

 He watched at the ice continued making it’s way down to the banks of the lake. The last ferry of piglins on the bone serpent set off across the lava.

Bad’s ears were pricked buy raucous croaking to his right. A knot of warped toads was still hanging around on the shoreline and one of their brethren was been caught in the Ice. It was wrapping it up and freezing it.

Bad whipped his way forwards, trying to shove past the toads all croaking in panic, he leant out of the lava and grabbed the legs of the toad and pulled, drawing on his Anguillipyroscion strength. The toad was tugged free with a sharp noise as the Ice shards around it broke. Bad went careening back into the lava, suddenly with an armful of warty toad.

They were all croaking their thanks to him for freeing their kin.

‘Get to the fortress,’ he panted, ‘Go, go!’

They swam off without a second look back. Bad watched in morbid fascination as the Ice finally reached the shoreline and after a beat, the lava started sizzling then turned solid.

And not solid in the way obsidian did where it still felt warm, where it could be malleable under his song, no this was solid and cold and awful.

Darling, where are you?

Don’t make me drag you down here.

Bad shivered almost pre-emptively from the memory of the ice vines. He backed up and swam back to the centre of his lake.

Is the Ice you? he knew it was. He didn’t know why he asked.

Is what me darling?

The Ice he thought angrily, You brought Ice here to the lake!

Oh is it here finally?

Bad was almost incandescent with rage. How could you do this? He yelled at the EGG in his mind.

I’m just so hungry darling, now come to me. Nestle with me, I will keep you safe.

You brought the Ice here, it will destroy everything, my home!

Im all the home you need darling.

What about all the others?

They’re not YOU darling, come here, don’t make me drag you. I can you know.

Bad was swimming to the EGG now, racing downwards, not because it called to him, but because he was so angry. Rage was thrumming through his body, he felt so betrayed.

You promised to keep us all safe!

Only you darling, you are special to me.

Bad saw the EGG through the tangles of red vines at the bottom of the lake. It was huge, engorged on whatever power it was sucking from the rest of the Nether. It had wide cracks running across its shell as if it was splitting open from the inside. It was humming, rhythmic vibrations emanating from it as it drew ever more power as the Ice started to transform the edges of the lava lake.

‘You can’t do this!’ Bad screamed, aloud this time instead of in his mind.

I can, I must. I am so hungry  it said to him.

‘Stop! STOP!’

Come closer darling, you are special to me. My strongest warrior, you were so faithful to me. See how I reward those who are good to me.

‘What are you talking about?’ Bad said through gritted teeth.

You kept them all so nice and neat and ordered in this lake. Kept it so perfect for me. Kept me nice and safe all this time so I could feed. Come closer darling.

Bad stared at the EGG in horror, no, I didn’t- I…I couldn’t have-

Darling don’t panic, I will keep you safe.

There was no reasoning with it. It wasn’t listening, so drunk on power and energy.

‘You cant do this,’ he growled, ‘You cant do this. This is our home! The Nether is our home! You’ve taken everything from us, you won’t do this!’

Oh darling I already have. It’s almost complete. Stay with me, curl up with me like you do. I do so like you darling.

Bad felt disgusted. He couldn’t believe he’d ever trusted it, listened to it, let it sway him, control him. He couldn’t remember a time before the EGG, what else had it taken from him? His family, his home, his autonomy. He used to find comfort in the EGG, he used to sleep on its shell, he found it calming, the vibrations pleasant. His lake was safe, it was perfect, everyone got on so well, all in harmonious balance.

It was all a lie.

A very pretty lie, a convincing, persuasive lie. But a lie all the same.

He’d been deceived. They all had.

He was so stupid.

How could I be so stupid?!

He wanted to break its fudging shell. Using his tail for momentum he charged and slammed into it. But it was no use, he didn’t even make a dent and Bad wasn’t weak.

He was stupid though, so stupid to think he could overcome it. It had been mind-controlling him for….how long?

‘You can’t do this!’ he yelled again, ‘Stop! Please! STOP!’

Oh darling, nothing can stop me now.

Bad felt panic rise in him, bubbling up like the hot magma at the bottom of the lake. It was no use arguing with the EGG. It had its own mind, its own agenda, it wasn’t going to stop. It was never going to stop.

What could he do? The Ice was coming, it was marching across the lava lake consuming all it its path. All his friends, his neighbours were making for the fortress but that wouldn’t offer safety for long. They were all going to perish.

The EGG wanted to keep him for some reason. But he wasn’t going to stay. How could he when everything he loved and held dear was going to be destroyed.

Then he thought of Skeppy. In that moment when everything he cared abut was flashing in front of his eyes. The man with diamonds on his skin who shone brilliantly, who laughed wildly, who loved deeply. The man who pranked hard but cleaned up harder. Bad thought of the way Skeppy’s eyes sparkled with mischief, with determination, and when he looked at Bad, with love. Bad thought about the way Skeppy embraced him, holding him tenderly, kissing him passionately, loving on him unashamedly.

Skeppy.

Skeppy.

Skeppy was coming here, was going to try and stop the EGG. Bad knew it wasn’t going to work. This was it. This was the end of the Nether and everything in it. Even him.

He needed to get Skeppy out. He needed him back in the Overworld. Safe with his friends.

Bad was backing up, was turning, was swimming back to the surface as fast as he could manage, back to find his love, to save his love.

Diamond Imperious

Charging headlong into the Nether was not one of Skeppy’s better plans he’d be the first to admit. The careful forays and meticulous mapmaking were a thing of the past. They didn’t have time and they didn’t really have a plan.

Well the plan was to save the Nether.

Not too ambitious then…

‘Tubbo please tell me it’s not far,’ he pleaded.

He couldn’t get the image of Bad’s crumpled face as he went through the portal out of his mind.

‘It’s not far dude!’ cried Tubbo, leaping across a four-block jump without heeding the danger below. Just because there was no lava anymore didn’t mean fall damage wouldn’t get them. If they died here, it was a long way to come back too.

Skeppy lined up the jump and followed Tubbo, not daring to look down to see how high up they were. We continue.

It was strange, even though the Nether wasn’t as diverse with biomes as the Overworld, seeing it be so…monotone was unsettling.

‘I miss the crimson forests,’ he said to Tubbo as they wandered down a valley and back up the other side, still heading North by Skeppy’s reckoning, further and further away from Bad and further and further away from the evil in the middle of the lake.

‘I guess,’ said Tubbo, ‘I don’t miss the hoglins though, they could really fuck your shit up.’

‘I hope they all come back if we stop this thing’ said Skeppy, traversing an outcrop of ice. ‘Even the hoglins.’

‘Do you think they will?’ asked Tubbo, holding out a hand to help Skeppy up the side of a five-block-high wall of ice.

‘I really hope so,’ said Skeppy, hauling himself up onto the ledge. ‘Bad must have had a family, they’re not meant to be solitary his kind.’

‘I don’t think he can live in the Overworld Skeppy,’ said Tubbo looking pensive, ‘He really wasn’t doing so good.’

‘It’s the EGG thing,’ said Skeppy with a confidence he didn’t entirely feel. It was hope more than anything, he prayed it wasn’t false hope. ‘It’s infected him somehow, it’s controlling him. Every time I tried to ask about it, it’s like his mind just went blank, he checked out, he was parroting nonsense back to me about being safe. Being protected. God I’m so stupid to fall for it.’

‘You weren’t stupid, you trusted him. If the EGG was controlling him, that’s who’s the fucking problem,’ said Tubbo. The young man wiped frost from his goggles and pointed, ‘Look! There’s one of your lodestones! We can’t be far now, and then it’s a straight path to the lake pretty much after we’ve got the crystals.’

‘We’ve got to stop the EGG Tubbo,’ said Skeppy, quickening his pace now. ‘We’ve got to kill it and save the Nether.’

‘Well the obsidian will trap it,’ said Tubbo, ‘But how are you going to kill it?’

‘Stab it with a sword?’ offered Skeppy hesitantly.

Tubbo snorted, ‘Yeah I’m sure an evil EGG wont expect someone to stab it with a sword.’

‘Do you have anything better in mind?’ snapped Skeppy.

‘If I had two months I’d build an EGG scrambler dude, but I don’t, I have about twenty minutes so yeah, we’re pretty fucked. Let’s to do the first half of the plan and then figure out the second half I guess.’

Tubbo came to a halt and Skeppy almost walked into the back of him. ‘What?’

‘We’re here dude! Grab the subzerocrystals, use fortune three we need as many as possible. I’ll silk-touch a few of the buds for future research,’ Skeppy did not miss the ‘if we get out of here,’ that Tubbo muttered when he thought Skeppy couldn’t hear him.

They were in a cavern-like place, white shimmering crystals were budding up all around them and the air was thick with soft grey particles, like snow but they didn’t melt when Skeppy held out his hand to catch a few. It was bizarre.

Skeppy leaned in for a closer look at the crystals growing across the floor and all up the walls and roof of the cave.

He wasn’t impressed, they were like knock-off versions of diamonds, trying to imitate but not quite managing it. They had many facets that reflected the light, bouncing it around the cavern in a refraction of blue light. But compared to the diamond on his skin, the diamond he could become, they were mimics.

So it was with a little vicious pleasure that he set about swinging his diamond pickaxe at as many of the crystals he could find, soon he had stacks and stacks of them, the drops multiplied by his fortune enchantments. He had to chuck a few things out of his inventory to make space.

When Tubbo was satisfied that they’d got thirty stacks of crystals between them- ‘Bad’s lake is massive dude we’re gonna need the lodestones to be on max power!- they set off South and  each time they came to one of Skeppy’s lodestones from his mapmaking explorations they picked it up and kept running.

The good thing about retracing their steps was that platforms and bridges had already been made, a safe-ish path for them to follow. There was still the Ice of course, it had transformed a basalt bridge Puffy had made into ice blocks but the structure still remained, albeit slippery.

They passed bastions and fortresses, eerily silent, through frozen forests, across deep valleys and chasms, everything whited out and so unlike the normal Nether it was awful. Skeppy was fervently wishing for the classic netherrack red to return.

The lodestones kept them on their path, closing in on the lake, Skeppy now had six in his inventory. As they ran across the Nether Tubbo was trying to explain how the subzero hypogeal crystals worked with the lodestones. It involved a crafting recipe to turn the lodestones into something call the Hypogeal Imperium – a Tubbo invention -   and then these machines, powered with the crystals were what turned any lava in their radius into obsidian.

‘If we-‘ panted Tubbo as they sprinted across another one of Puffy’s bridges, ‘If we set them up around the middle of the lake, around the EGG, then it will trap it in obsidian.’

‘Excellent,’ said Skeppy, leaping over a hole in the bridge and narrowly avoiding plummeting to his death. I’m not falling down again, this was how it all started. Mind you, I did get to meet Bad from it so maybe it wasn’t all bad….

Just thinking of Bad make his heart clench in his chest. He really hoped he was okay.

I’m doing this for him, to save him and his home and everyone in the Nether.

And it was this thought that gave Skeppy renewed determination and motivation and he grabbed a flagging Tubbo and continued running South.

~

They made good progress across the thousands of blocks in the Nether and Skeppy could tell they were getting close to Bad’s lake because it was getting warmer. Just like the game! He laughed to himself.

It was like the Ice hadn’t sunk it’s claws deep into the terrain yet, it was freshly iced. Some of the scorching heat of the Nether still lingered. It was like a volcano cooling, a residual heat still remained.

They picked up the final lodestone as they came to a halt at the top of a cliff over looking Bad’s lake.

Or, what should have been Bad’s lake. It was shrinking by the minute. Ice was steadily spreading its way across the lava with a hissing noise. It was almost to the bottom pillars of the fortress on the south side.

Tubbo slammed down a crafting bench and starting upgrading the lodestones into the Hypogeal Imperiums. Tubbo’s expertise came to the forefront as he swiftly and efficiently started churning out the devices. He tossed some to Skeppy once he was done. Skeppy threw them into his inventory and made sure he had the subzero crystals handy and ready to go.

‘SKEPPY! TUBBO!’

The two of them swivelled their heads to look at the source of the yelling.

Puffy was stood on the portal island in Bad’s lake waving and screaming at them.

Skeppy swore; if Puffy was here it meant Bad was also here. He desperately scanned the island but couldn’t see any sign of the Anguillipyroscion. He hoped beyond belief that Bad wasn’t in  the lava lake but his hopes weren’t high.

Oh Bad, please please please be okay!

‘You go see Puffy and find Bad,’ said Tubbo, ‘I’ve got eight Imperiums I’ll run around and set them up on the perimeter, if you set up as many as you can as well, we can trap the EGG.’

‘Good luck,’ said Skeppy pulling Tubbo in for a quick but tight hug, ‘You’re a great friend, you know that right?’

‘Dude, stop it! Stop it!’ cried Tubbo, pulling away and wiping at his eyes. He gave Skeppy a wet but cheeky grin and before Skeppy could say anything else the engineer was off running to the west side of the lake.

Skeppy started to make his way over to Puffy, he could practically walk across to the island now, the ice was almost at the bank of the portal outcrop.

‘Puffy! Where’s Bad?’ he cried, jumping the last couple of blocks to meet her on the island.

‘He’s gone into the lava, I’m sorry Skeppy’ she said, her face was a mess of tears and phlegm, she’d been crying heavily.

‘Why did you bring him here?’ he demanded of her.

‘he wanted to come h-home,’ she wailed. ‘I- its his home Skeppy. We don’t have a right to keep him from that. I know you want him to be safe but this is his realm. We can’t trap him in the Overworld.’

Skeppy felt himself deflate. He hated arguing with Puffy, she was his best friend and she was most often right.

‘I know we can’t trap him,’ he said dejectedly, ‘But I just want him to be okay, I- I I love him?’

It wasn’t until that moment until he realised how much those words were true.

I love him.

Oh fucking hell! NOW I realise that?!

Puffy was smiling at him, ‘Yeah you do.’

‘I do.’

She stepped forwards and pulled him into a hug, patting him on the back, ‘Come on, we’ve got work to do, an evil EGG to defeat and a boyfriend to try and save, along with an entire dimension, should be easy right?’

‘Here’s the Hypogeal Imperiums,’ said Skeppy, passing her a few from his inventory. They need to be laid out around the lake.’ He explained how they worked, passing on the instructions from Tubo on how to load the crystals to keep them powered as they would turn the lava into obsidian.

‘I’m on it,’ she said and with a quick salute she also left, heading East and South this time.

Skeppy rolled his shoulders back. He set down one of the Imperiums on the south side of the island where there was still lava. The Ice was just starting to invade the North side, but was staying away from the portal because of its aversion to obsidian.

Skeppy scanned the lava in front of him, he didn’t want to set off the Imperium just yet, Bad was in this lake somewhere.

Where are you? Please don’t be with the EGG, please!

There was absolutely no sign of life. No vultures overheard, no warped toads croaking, no pesky bone serpents lying in wait to eat him… Skeppy was surprised to realise how much he missed them all.

For someone who’d never liked the Nether, with its heat and its dangerous and everything in it trying to eat or kill you, it was very much something to be endured until you got what you wanted. Netherite, gold, end rods and magma creams.

Now, though. Now he saw it for a world it its own right. A world with diversity and a delicately balanced ecosystem. With Mobs that all lived amongst each other, harmonious for the most part. They had languages, customs and cultures.

Bad had a clan somewhere, a family.

They needed to bring it back. The Nether was important and Skeppy now knew just how special it was.

‘Bad?’ he called out across the lava, ‘Bad? Please be here, please?’

His eyes strained for any sign of life, of movement.

The Ice was getting closer, he was going to have to set off the Imperium soon or he’d miss the chance.

Skeppy closed his eyes and sighed.

‘Skeppy!’

His eyes flew open.

‘Bad!’ he cried with joy.

‘Skeppy! The EGG, it’s- it’s causing the Ice. I’m sorry!’ Bad was gliding through the lava waves to Skeppy, he was distressed.

‘It’s okay Bad, we’re going to stop it! We have the machines! We’re going to turn the lava in to Obsidian and we can trap the EGG then we can kill it.’

‘You cant kill it!’ Bad was shaking his head. He reached the shore and hauled himself up onto the beach, tail trailing into the magma.

He’s got his tail back.

Much as it was a fun surprise that Bad got legs when he came to the Overworld, this  was his true form and he was magnificent.

I couldn’t have denied him this, thought Skeppy. I was a fool to steal him away.

‘We can try!’ said Skeppy resolutely. ‘We have to try Bad, we have to try and stop it. This is your home! I’m sorry for taking you away from it! I was just trying to keep you safe!’

‘You need to go Skeppy!’ said Bad, pushing at him now, webbed hands forcing him to step back, ‘You need to get out now, with your friends. It’s over. The Nether is done. We’re gone.’

‘Bad no. What are you talking about? We’ve still got a chance,’ Skeppy glanced back at the Ice, it was still advancing. ‘We can defeat the EGG and stop this!’

‘Leave Skeppy! GO!’ Bad was shouting now, ‘Please, please. If I know you are safe at least. It’ll be okay. I can…I can be happy.’

‘Shut up!’ said Skeppy, he fell to his knees and refused to go, ‘Stop this! We can save the Nether! I’m not leaving you! I love you!’

It slipped out accidentally, or exceedingly naturally depended on how you looked at things.

‘I love you too,’ Bad said with an almost humorous huff, ‘Silly Overworlder. Now go back home.’

‘No!’ cried Skeppy, ‘No I wont leave you.’

‘It’s over Skeppy,’ said Bad gently, far softer than someone should speak when they’re about to be obliterated by an evil entity sucking the life-force out of an entire dimension. ‘It’s time for me to go. I’d like to go be with my friends. You need to leave with yours. That will make me happy.’

‘No, you’re not doing this, I refuse,’ said Skeppy, he reached for Bad’s hand, lacing his fingers through and feeling the webbing between his digits, he’d missed the feeling of that in the Overworld.

‘Skeppy, please. I am begging you. Love. Do it for me.’

Skeppy was crying now. No. Were not doing this. We’re not saying I love you then parting forever! I love you! I LOVE YOU. That’s got to mean something! I only just found you!

Bad was leaning in and pressing a kiss to his forehead. Skeppy gulped down a sob.

No. I’m not leaving. I’m going to try and stop the EGG or die trying!

And with that he turned and slammed a crystal into the Imperium.

At once the white particles from the cave appeared, spreading outwards.

Bad let out a yelp and lifted his tail. Black was spreading across the lake. The lava was turning into obsidian. Skeppy loaded more crystals into the Imperium, until it was thrumming on max power.

‘I’m not giving up Bad!’ he yelled.

Across the lake he could see more black spreading, like ink on paper the obsidian was spreading as Tubbo and Puffy also powered up their Imperiums.

‘Skeppy no! No, no no no!’ Bad was writhing on the ground, gripping his head.

‘Bad?’ Skeppy cried, panicked.

‘The EGG! The EGG!’ Bad was whimpering in pain now, he was clawing at his hair, tearing strands of red and yellow from his scalp.

‘Stop! Stop Bad you’re hurting yourself!’ Skeppy grabbed Bad’s hands and forced them away from his skull. Bad was strong but Skeppy had diamond-strength.

Diamond strength.

That’s it!

Skeppy was up and running before he’d even finished the thought. He pumped his legs hard as he raced across the obsidian to the centre of the lake.

The obsidian was still spreading, it was quick, quicker than the Ice, it was joining up, the spills from the separate Imperiums merging and forming one large, ever growing circle moving inwards.

A barrier between the Ice and the EGG in the centre.

As Skeppy neared the centre he felt the EGG before he saw it.

Bass-deep vibrations were radiating from the EGG in waves, each one almost brought Skeppy to his knees they were so strong, pushing through the hot air of the Nether almost like physical pulses.

Skeppy was slowed but he wasn’t stopped, he pressed forwards every couple of steps having to brace himself against the force the EGG was pushing out.

‘SKEPPY!’ a shout came from across the Obsidian. It was Tubbo, he was trying to make his way across the solid black lake too, ‘What are you doing?!’

Skeppy found he didn’t even have the breath left to shout, he simply held up his pickaxe, knowing full well it wouldn’t mean anything to Tubbo.

I’m going to stop the EGG.

Slowly, surely he followed the spread of the obsidian until only a small circle of lava was left. Skeppy looked down and saw the cause of all their problems.

The EGG was a dark purple colour, giant and visible to even Skeppy form under the lava. It had bright blue cracks down its sides glowing with each pulsating vibration.

Who are YOU darling?

Skeppy screamed. It felt like his brain was being stabbed.

You are too late. I have all the power I need.

Need for what? He thought. What was the EGG planning to do? It had already conquered the Nether.

Oh this is just the beginning darling it said, splitting his head open.

I don’t have time for this.

Skeppy wasn’t going to waste valuable time talking to an evil entity with world domination ambitions. He got a stack of dirt blocks from his hotbar and began speed bridging up and over the EGG.

‘SKEPPY! Skeppy!!’ Tubbo was running around the edge of the obsidian circle, it was getting closer and closer in, the black blocks would soon encase the EGG and trap it.

Trapping it isn’t good enough. We have to destroy it.

His focus narrowed down on a few select things, placing the blocks: shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place, he got into a rhythm as then he could see below him the ever-shrinking circle of obsidian.

He was only going to get one shot at this, he had to time it perfectly.

Shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place.

The lava below was fast disappearing, the circumference was twelve blocks, eleven blocks-

Shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place

Eight blocks, seven blocks,

shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place, shift-place-jump-place

Five blocks.

It’ll have to do!

Skeppy plummeted.

He’d been up high. Very high.

The dirt speed-bridge he’d made staircasing upwards had left off right over the epicentre and there was now only a tiny sliver of lava lake below him.

The hot air was whistling past him, he couldn’t breathe. He was dropping so fast in part because he was transforming himself into diamond -consciously, and not out of panic this time- starting at his feet the conversion rippled across his body, the weight speeding him up immeasurably.

There was nothing to grab onto, nothing to slow or break his fall and this was exactly what he wanted. He twisted, turning mid-air so he was facing downwards, falling headfirst. He was going to land into the lava! It was tiny, shrinking, now only three blocks in diameter, a puddle really.

This better be good enough!

He could hear shouts and screams Tubbo, from Puffy.

I survived the first time. I can do it again. I’ll see you guys soon I hope!

With the last movement available to him before he completely solidified he swung his pickaxe above his head, closed his eyes and braced for impact.

~

He didn’t know how much time had passed but the horridly familiar sensation of burning lungs was what brought him suddenly back to consciousness, spluttering and gasping.

His arms which had been raised about his head, dropped heavily, his diamond pickaxe clattering to the floor with a clunk.

There were arms around his chest tugging him upwards, his head lolled, disoriented as he tried to get his bearings.

‘Stop squirming for five seconds!’ came a wonderfully known voice.

‘B-Bad?’ he rasped, throat on fire at trying to get his vocal chords to work.

‘Yes it’s me, hold still!’

Skeppy tried to do as he was asked but he wanted to see, he turned in Bad’s arms – for they were Bad’s arms around him, muscled and strong, webbed fingers clutching at his hoodie as he was tugging Skeppy out of the lava and onto an obsidian shoreline.

They landed, entangled on the dark blocks, warm and solid. Skeppy’s legs -now out of the lava and able to freely move- were enmeshed with Bad’s tail which coiled around him.

Bad was here, Skeppy was in his arms, life was pretty good. Skeppy gazed up at the Anguillipyroscion lying on his side, propped up on an elbow, holding Skeppy in an embrace, his tail tight around Skeppy’s legs. He never wanted to move again.

Can I just stay here forever?

If Skeppy’s gaze was wonderous and starstruck, Bad’s was flinty; his white eyes were narrowed, ‘You idiot,’ he said, ‘Why did you throw yourself at the EGG?’

‘The EGG? The EGG!’ Skeppy had somehow in the delirious joy of seeing Bad again had forgotten all about the EGG. ‘What happened?’

He twisted, trying to look for it but Bad held him firmly.

‘You broke it alright, cracked it right open. All its energy exploded out, it’s miracle you didn’t destroy the entire dimension.’

‘It’s gone? I killed it?’

Bad shrugged, ‘If such a thing can be killed.’

Skeppy was puzzled, ‘You don’t seem impressed.’

Bad looked at him incredulously, ‘Skeppy! You expect me to- to – to be impressed? Impressed with the fact that you ran off to sacrifice yourself to try and kill the EGG with absolutely no idea if it would work and you’d survive?’

‘Er yeah?’

Bad was bristling, Skeppy felt the arms around him tighten.

‘You- what the fudge Skeppy!’

‘It worked didn’t it?’ Skeppy reached up to trace Bad’s jaw. The other man turned his head away, still frustrated. ‘Didn’t it?’

‘Well I’d hardly call turning my entire lake into obsidian and exploding a giant EGG so it’s guts splattered all across the realm as working. But fine, sure, it’s gone.’

‘It’s gone? It’s really gone!’

Bad nodded and sighed, ‘Yes, it’s gone. Somehow your diamond power broke it and with its power source of the Ice cut off by the obsidian it was unable to heal and so exploded. It’s gone. But it was a stupid thing to do Skeppy!’

‘It worked though!’ Skeppy laughed, ‘Huh! Wow! Although….how did I survive?’

Bad frowned, Skeppy wanted desperately to smooth the lines in his forehead away. He also desperately wanted to kiss him, but Bad was still clearly very cross with him, so he held himself in check.

‘You- being diamond saved you. The obsidian saved the rest of us. It kept the explosion contained. If you hadn’t been solid diamond you’d have been evaporated.’

‘And how did I get…here?’ Skeppy finally was able to rotate in Bad’s arms and looked around them.

For all the Bad said the explosion was contained the scene before him looked pretty devastated. The lake was almost entirely obsidian except for the middle where there were pockets of lava source blocks spilling down into a pit which looked to go all the way to bedrock level.

There were Piglins swarming the pit forming a sort of chain-gang passing what looked like fragments of EGG shell, covered in blue gooey yolk all the way to the top of the obsidian plateau where piles of fragment and debris were being sorted.

Mama Magma cubes were bouncing up and down trying to keep their numerous baby cubes together on the Obsidian, the Basalt Delta nursery all flat and frozen.

Wither Skeletons were pouring lava onto beached bone serpents and leviathans, trying to keep them warm, whilst a group of warped toads were taking it in turns to hop in and out of tiny lava pools in the obsidian.

‘I got you out,’ said Bad, also watching the scene in front of them, it was barely organised chaos.

‘Huh? How? Oh god, how are we going to turn your lake back into lava?’ It was suddenly dawning on Skeppy that they had turned every single lava source block into obsidian. And Bad’s lake was gargantuan Even Tubbo’s lava machine would struggle to break all the obsidian and then place lava.

‘Oh, thinking of that just now are you?’ said Bad bitterly, ‘You really had no plan at all did you?’

‘I er- well we were kinda in a rush-‘ protest Skeppy, but it was weak.

Just then there were shouts and footsteps coming towards them.

‘Skeppy!’

‘Skeppy oh my fucking god!’

It was Puffy and Tubbo, they were covered in blue goop and carrying multiple buckets in their hands.

‘Thank god you’re okay! Don’t EVER do that again!’ Puffy was yelling at him. Skeppy didn’t mind, he was just so glad to see them. So glad that they were all okay.

Bad’s arms around him loosened and Skeppy felt bereft, the Anguillipyroscion was pushing up so he was sitting. Skeppy did the same, looking up at his friends.

‘Dude, you practically nuked the Nether!’ cried Tubbo, ‘Lucky the obsidian trapped the EGG and it basically blew itself up, you could have obliterated us all.’

‘Er- yeah, sorry about that,’ said Skeppy sheepishly, ‘But it all worked out though?’

‘I GUESS?!’ shouted Puffy, ‘You are SUCH an idiot! We’ve gotta get back to work, the leviathans are going to shiver to death if we don’t get them warmed up soon. Don’t for one second think I’m finished yelling at you-‘ she pointed an angry finger at Skeppy, ‘ But Bad, we could do with your help again, now you’ve got Skeppy out.’

‘Yeah of course, I’ll come help said Bad and he was shuffling back towards one of the lava pockets which was flowing over the edge of the pit.

That must be how he got me out, swam up with me to here thought Skeppy. He stood up and walked carefully to the edge of the pit to observe what Bad was doing.

‘You-‘ said Puffy, ‘You stay here and don’t dare think about moving.’

‘I can help-‘ protested Skeppy.

‘Nope. Stay where we can all see you,’ she ordered and with that she scooped up some of the lava into her buckets and began to carry it back to where the leviathans lay, shivering violently on the obsidian.

‘She was so worried dude, we all were. Thank fuck for Bad’s powers dude. We’d never have got you out, the obsidian is a hundred blocks deep in places and easily several thousand wide. The Imperiums are all very good, but I never exactly made a way to reverse the mechanism.’

‘What- what are you talking about? Bad’s powers?’

‘Do as Puffy says and wait here, you’ll see. I best go and help, it’s the least I can do for ruining the lake.’

Skeppy sat on the edge of the obsidian, his legs dangling over the edge. He saw Bad reach the bottom of the pit, there was a shallow lava pool a few blocks deep at the bottom. Bad swam  to the other side and set a webbed hand to the obsidian, and then he miraculously began to sing.

Epilogue -3 Months Later

Skeppy was in his workshop mass brewing the latest batch of fire resistance potions to sell at his shop in the town centre. He’d set up in one of the spare lots -it had been Puffy’s idea really, a way to stop people raiding the Nether and depleting the resources before the dimension could recover. The Overworlders had been reckless in their plundering before, they depleted a lot of the spawners and structures with no thought as to the sustainability of their actions.

Now, Skeppy sold fire-resistance potions, blaze rods, magma creams aplenty in his shop, he had a steady and ethical supply from the Nether. His customers were happy and the Nether was left to recover.

It was making good progress. Skeppy visited every few days and each time the Ice was receding further and further, the red netherrack revealed under the frost and the nycelium growing back steadily. It would take time before the forests returned to their lushness and for the lavaways to thaw, but he had every confidence it would.

Why! Even just the other day, hoglins were spawning back in the crimson forest which bordered Bad’s lake, and other wildlife such as the magma mackeral and zombie carp were also returning to the lava lake, much to the relief of the carnivorous mobs which inhabited it.

Bad’s lake was now mostly back to being full of lava, only a few pesky blocks of obsidian remained, Bad’s singing had done wonders and transformed the lake back to its former size and glory.

Skeppy smiled as he deposited a stack of potions into a shulker box to transport to the shop. The sight and sound of Bad singing the obsidian back into lava would never get old. It was an unearthly sound, it shimmered and resonated with the block, convincing it, persuading it to turn back into lava, to its original state.

It was gruelling work though and for the first few days Skeppy, Puffy and Tubbo had had to keep Bad from overworking himself to death trying to restore his lake through sheer willpower.

It was enough that he managed to get a fairly large swimming pool sized area done that the bone serpents and leviathans could cram themselves into to stop from cooling to death. Then, over the weeks and months since, he’d expanded the volume bit by bit until now his lake was once more an actual lava lake and not an immovable chunk of obsidian.

Skeppy was just about to pack up all of his stuff to ship it over to the shop when a whooshing noise erupted from outside.

It was the portal in his backyard! He rushed out from his workshop to see. His backgarden was still a hot mess with the attempted lava pool still in existence and the speedrunner portal Tubbo had crafted on the fly so many weeks ago. Skeppy hadn’t got around to clearing it up.

But maybe it was a good thing because stepping down from the obsidian portal frame, on spindly legs that wobbled under him and looking like he might topple any minute was Bad.

‘Bad?’

‘Skeppy!’ Bad’s voice was bright with happiness.

Skeppy ran over, desperately keen to hug his boyfriend and also because Bad was quite literally about to keel over, unaccustomed to walking. He gathered the taller man in his arms, propping him up. Bad was dressed in what appeared to be spare Piglin clothing.

‘What? What are you doing here?’ it came out as a laugh.

‘I thought I’d visit!’

‘Visit?!’

‘Well, you always come to me and hey, I thought I deserved a break from all the work I’ve been dong on the lake. There’s a restored lavaway in the Nether all the way to this portal now, so I can travel here.’

‘Oh yeah? And the Ice has disappeared that much has it?’ asked Skeppy somewhat sceptically.

Bad seemed a bit abashed, ‘Well, no, but-‘

‘I’m teasing!’  cried Skeppy.

‘Oh okay,’ smiled Bad.

‘Let’s get you inside and sat down, what on earth  aree you wearing?!’

‘Oh, well Puffy impressed on me the importance of wearing clothes last time I was here,’ explained Bad, ‘So I asked the Piglins,’

‘Yeah, well they’re not known for their fashion sense,’ laughed Skeppy, ‘I’ve got some stuff for you, don’t worry, we’ll get you looking hot. So long as I’m the only one to see you with your shirt off in the Overworld.’

‘You Overworlders are so strange,’ Bad shook his head but he had a fond expression on his face.

‘Shush, we’re perfectly normal thank you very much.’ Skeppy pushed open the door to his kitchen and led and unsteady Bad inside and sat him down on a chair at the kitchen table, ‘Now, have I introduced you to the delicacy of chocolate chip cookies?’