Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The story will begin shortly.

“Xelqua, are you sure you don’t want to join the others at the meeting place? Your first story you played a hand in making since being back is quite a big deal.”

“I’m sure. I’d rather watch on my own. Some of them have a special meaning to me, you may remember.”

“As you wish.” The Watcher fades away.

Grian flies quickly to his scrying room, uncovering a hidden stash of clothes and supplies. This was his chance to get away. To try and save his friends. He changes quickly to the outfit he hid away. The one he was removed from Evolution in.

3…2…1! He sends himself into the story at the same time the other Watchers send in and activate the players, false memories filling their minds.

——————

“Thirteen. There were only supposed to be thirteen players in here. Who is-oh…?”

“Well this is certainly interesting.”

“Should we pull him out before the memories are set?”

“No, leave him. This could be interesting.”

“Xelqua knows the story, though. And he’s been shifty lately.”

“What if he uses this to try and forget again?”

“Fool, he can’t forget anything regardless of if he loses. He’s not a player like the others.”

“But one of them is-“

“-a player, as far as anyone but Xelqua is concerned. One that no longer even knows the title of his true identity. Perhaps, if Xelqua were to mess things up, we could make use of his…special abilities.”

“Let the game begin.”

——————

Ren never wanted to be king, not here. His predecessors were cruel, cold, and unkind men. Always putting themselves above the needs of their people. The only thing stopping a threat of revolution is a larger threat of death to all who oppose the crown.

He grew up in lavish palace walls, blessed with great knowledge and access to many books. He read often, his brain hungering for ever more knowledge. But the more he learned, the more he resented his home.

He longed to escape it all and run away, but where could he even possibly go? There was no goal to aim for, a place where he knew he’d be safe. Running with no plan was an unwise choice.

But one day, stuffed inside a book about monsters, he found something odd. A royal birth certificate, dated two years after his birthday. The name was smudged and impossible to read, but the name of the mother did not match his own. He confronted his father, who admitted to having an affair with another woman. She ran away days after giving birth, and they were never found.

This was it. A goal. To find his missing brother. Over the course of several weeks, he slowly built up a supply of resources and money for the journey ahead. He plans to share wealth and knowledge wherever he goes.

He also packs his crown away, if ever he needs it for emergency cash. He debates on if he keeps his pendant hidden with it or not. No, it’s best to keep it elsewhere. He slips the chain over his head. The metal charm, with its three green crystals inlaid into the design, weighed slightly heavy. But it also would clearly mark him as royalty. He tucks it below his shirt before he leaves.

Though as time goes on, his supplies and money begin to grow short. That, and the wind has a slight chill to it now. The fall grows cold, and winter follows it. Though winter has never been something that worried him, as the fur on his body did great to keep him warm.

Regardless, he will have to set up somewhere in order to replenish his pockets. Perhaps he will set up a shop, one where he can share his knowledge of enchanting items to others. But where to go…

——————

Skizz closes his bag angrily. “Seriously man!? You don’t see where what you had done was wrong!?” He turns to Scar, anger shown across his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Scar shrugs. “A man’s gotta make money somehow, and the best way for it is through business! You sell things to people and you get money in return. Declare no refunds and they can’t take it back.” He smirks, leaning back against the wall of their run-down shack while sat on his bed.

“Dude, you sold sand in a bag calling it ‘gold gunpowder’. Not only is that not a real thing, but it’s a total scam! I keep telling you to make a legit business over and over again, but no matter what, you keep doing this. We have like no money, and if I keep living here, everyone in town will hate me too.” He pulls the bag across his body and over his wing, a couple of loose white feathers floating to the floor.

Scar frowns, sitting up and scrambling to stand “Wait, hold on, what do you mean by that?” It was true that pretty much the whole town disliked him, he often had to disguise as a traveler in order to get in. So he didn’t have many friends. In fact, Skizz was his only friend.

“I mean I’m out. I’m getting my own place, away from this stupid desert, and away from you. I only stuck around this long because I thought you would change and do better. But you just proved that you can’t. And I can’t be friends with someone like that.” He turns away, heading out the door. He’d have slammed it behind him, but that probably would have caused the building to collapse.

Scar stands there a little bit, just staring at the door. He is trying to process what just happened. Skizz, who had been with him through thick and thin, just left him. He was alone now. He sighs, playing with the three little green beads on his bracelet. Maybe going for a walk will help clear his head.

——————

Scott grew up among a noble family of a magnificent kingdom. He had many things, anything he could ever want. Except for one thing. The ability to be with his lover.

Ever since the day the yellow-winged avian entered his life, he’d been infatuated with him. He would often sneak away to go see him, whether to chat, go on secret dates, or just watch him work.

But the problem lied in Jimmy’s status. Where Scott was a nobleman, Jimmy was the son of a farmer. His family forbade him from seeing him, ashamed that their son would ever think to be with someone like him. So Scott would continue to sneak.

But one day, his parents sat him down. They made arrangements to have him married to the son of another noble family. The wedding was in three days’ time. Scott rushed out of the room, sobbing. He packed his things that very night, carrying it out of the home and making his way to the farm.

“Jimmy, wake up.” He nudges the avian gently, not wanting to scare him. Last thing he needs is a loud noise waking everyone up.

Jimmy groans, muttering something and turning his face away from the noise. He’s not ready to wake up yet. No sun, no Jimmy. That’s his motto.

Scott sighs, leaning over to kiss his head “Please, Jim, I really need you to be awake right now. I only have so much time, this can’t wait for morning to come.”

Jimmy scrunches his face, rolling to lay on his side and sitting up, stretching his wings/back and arms. “What time even is it? Looks pitch black out there.” He rubs his eyes

“I don’t know. I just know I can’t be here when morning is here. My parents want to marry me off to someone in three days.” He grabs his hands. “You are worth more to me than anything else I’ve ever had in my life. No amount of clothes, or jewels, or gold could ever replace you. So I need to know if you feel the same. If you do, I want you to run away with me, so we can be together.” He looks in his eyes, desperate and pleading.

Jimmy hesitates. He’s still waking up, and processing what Scott has just asked him. “Wait, hold on, give me a moment…I’m really that valuable to you…?” He knows Scott often says how he loves him, and Jimmy loves him too, but he’s never really expressed it that way before.

Scott nods, a bit nervous now. Jimmy frees a hand, cupping Scott’s cheek. “I’ll do it. Just give me some time to get dressed and packed, and I’ll be ready to go. Did you have somewhere in mind? Or are we just running?” He pulls away to get off the bed, gathering his things.

“I have a vague idea. I don’t know about anywhere specific, but I’ve read about a place that’s peaceful and quiet. We could start a new life there, just us.” Scott smiles as he watches Jimmy pack.

Morning comes, and the pair are long gone. They travel for many weeks, stopping in a small town on the way to their future home and eloping, exchanging matching rings adorned with three green gemstones. Something just sort of called to them about these rings. Like it was meant to be.

Eventually, they reach the area Scott had mentioned from before. A land with nothing to it but a small village and a couple homes dotted about. They stumble upon a hidden valley, covered in flowers and closed in on multiple sides by steep cliffs. A river with a pond runs through it as well. This is it. This is home.

——————

Cleo is trapped under rubble, coughing her lungs out as she desperately claws to free herself. The smoke is getting thicker, the flames growing closer and hotter. Her vision blurs in and out of focus, and before she knows it, she falls unconscious.

She has strange dreams of a person in a black and silver cloak. Taking her from the rubble. Trying to keep her from decomposing. Stitching her hand back onto her arm. It was all rather disturbing. In another dream, they hit her in a fit of rage. She retaliates, and they begin to fight. But the person has the upper hand and knocks her out.

She wakes with a sharp inhale, coughing as a result. Why is it so dark? And so hard to move? She feels around and discovers she’s in some sort of wooden box. She’s also lying on her back. Oh no. She tries her best to make as much sound as she can, yelling for help and banging against the lid of the box.

Lucky for her, a young man happens to be on the forest trail nearby. He pauses in place, looking around. “Hello? Is someone there?” Bdubs calls out.

“Help! I’m stuck in a box, I don’t know where I am!” Cleo calls out to the voice. She will take any help she can get. Just get her out of this damn thing!

“Keep making sounds, I’ll try and find you!” The man steps off the path, venturing into the woods. He eventually stumbles upon a patch of upturned dirt, where the noise is definitely coming from. He starts to dig away at the ground, thankful there’s probably not even a foot of dirt over top of the box. He uses one of his tools to pry open the lid, which had been nailed shut.

Though his face fills with horror once the lid is gone. “ZOMBIE!” He shouts, turning to run.

Cleo blinks in confusion. “What are you talking about? Come back, please! I don’t know-“ she pulls herself out of the box, but as she reaches a hand forwards, she stops in her tracks. Her skin is green. Her hand and arm has stitches on it, just where they were in the dream. She screams.

Bdubs pauses as he hears her scream. Then the processes. He’s never heard a zombie speak before. Something isn’t adding up, and that zombie seems to be scared of the situation too. Hesitantly, he heads back. He peeks around trees until he spots her checking her reflection in a nearby pond.

“Who are you? And how can you talk? Zombies can’t normally speak.” He says, still mostly behind the tree.

She jumps and turns around, spotting him. “My name is Cleo. And…I don’t really know…last I remember…well, the only thing I can remember, is being trapped in some rubble during a fire, then having really weird dreams. But now…I’m not too sure if those were dreams…” she turns back to the pond again. Not all the stitches matched. Some were colorful, some were neater, and one small set of them on her collarbone had three green beads on it.

“You promise not to attack if I come closer?” Bdubs asks, nervously. She promises, and he comes over. For as frightened as he was, he could tell she was more scared in this moment. “Do you want to talk about it? It’s going to be dark soon, and I know about a safe house just a bit down the path from here.”

“I guess…? I’m just really confused, honestly.” Cleo shrugs. Bdubs nods. “Let’s get going then. Oh, I’m Bdubs by the way, since you already said your name.”

The pair head down the path and to the safe house. Really all it was was just a little home with a few beds, a fireplace, and a small stable out back for anyone traveling with an animal. Cleo doesn’t have very many stories to share, so she mostly listens to what Bdubs has to say. She welcomes the kindness after what little memories she has were so grim.

In the morning, Bdubs asks if she wants to join him on his travels. He’s looking for a place to go after fleeing from his home. He’s been to that area before to deliver goods, so he knows the way. She agrees. Not like she has anywhere that she knows to look for.

So they travel together for a while, following paths and signs. Until they come across a man on the side of the path, clutching his arm in pain. “Woah, are you okay? I have some bandages if you’re injured-“ “Does it look like I’m okay!?” The man cuts off Bdubs.

“Hey, there’s no need to be so rude. We could have just gone on our way, you know.” Cleo glares at the man, putting a hand on Bdubs’ shoulder, almost protectively. She can tell this guy isn’t exactly human, even if he appeared to be.

“Fine, sorry, I just really could use some help as soon as possible, I tried to take a shortcut and got attacked by some bandits.” The man still doesn’t move his hand away from his upper arm.

Bdubs reaches into his bag and takes out a roll of bandages. He gets to work on helping him out. The man introduces himself as Impulse. Bandits had taken over his home and he was on the run from them. Clearly, he hasn’t completely outrun the ones chasing him yet. Bdubs invites him to join, to Cleo’s distaste. But she’s not one to speak for him. Impulse agrees to come along.

The trio continue on their way until they eventually reach a river. “The town is pretty close by, if I remember correctly. But I don’t think we’ll be able to make it before it gets dark. We should set up camp again.” Bdubs says. The other two agree, and quickly get to work on putting together their makeshift refugee camp.

——————

A floating book. A long red cape. Settled snow with the smell of spruce. The sounds of a war. An echoey, distorted voice telling him to find the king.

Martyn wakes with a start, sitting up in his bed. This was the third night in a row he’d had the same dream. Though the first one where something unseen had spoken to him. But one thing was for sure. He needed to figure out what this was.

Dreams don’t just repeat themselves. No, these were visions. They had to be. If he could discover what the visions all meant, maybe he’d find this king the voice told him to find.

He tells the elven council of his visions, and how a voice had called out to him. It wasn’t unusual for him to hear things others couldn’t. Martyn had always had a heightened sense of hearing. The council give him their blessing to go and seek out these visions. They gift him a necklace with three wooden beads painted green as a symbol of good luck.

He gathers his items, receiving supplies from the council to aid him in his journey. Though they hesitate to let him go, as his powers are useful, they are not ones to question a higher power.

And so Martyn sets out, searching the lands for any of the signs. But no town he visits feels right.

Spring turns summer, and summer turns fall. He has been traveling for a very long time, and the wind is starting to cool. It’s definitely winter in the visions. If he’s meant to stop or participate in some kind of war, he doesn’t have much time left to find it.

He’s not much further from the next town when he stumbles upon another traveler.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know the way to the next town, would you? I’m getting low on food and need to know if I gotta make it last longer.” The traveler asks.

Martyn nods “It’s not that far, actually. I was just headed over that way. Want to come with me?” He offers

“Sure. I’m BigB, by the way.” BigB holds out his hand.

Martyn shakes it “I’m Martyn. Come on, let’s get going before nightfall. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not come face to face with any monsters right now.”

——————

As a baby, Joel was left off in a basket on a doorstep. The only two things accompanying him was a note with the name Joel written on it and a metal pendant with three green crystals inlaid into the design.

His adoptive parents waited as long as they could to tell him the truth. But when one day he just suddenly shape shifted to look like his younger brother, they couldn’t hide it any more. They explained what they knew, showing the note and pendant.

Once he got older, he decided he would try to find an answer. Without much to go on, he decides to set out to larger towns and cities, hoping that he can find out more information there.

He hugs his family, promising to return no matter what he finds out. After all, they raised him. He just wants closure. As he turns to head out, his dog, Gerald, blocks the way. “It will be fine, bud. I’ll be back.” He pets the dog to reassure him, but Gerald does not budge.

“I think he wants to join you.” His mom suggests. Joel looks back to her with a frown. “I can’t just take him with me, it could be dangerous. He could get really hurt.”

She shrugs “Well you’ll be there to care for him. I think he’s worried about the same thing as you. You can look out for each other this way.”

Joel sighs, looking to the dog “You wanna go on an adventure, Gerald?” He can’t help but smile at seeing his companion’s face light up, tail wagging. “Right then, I’ll grab some of your stuff too, and then we’ll go.”

The pair set off, visiting different villages in hopes for anyone who may know anything. But there’s not much luck. If he got suggested to another village he’d been to before, he’d move along to somewhere twice as far away.

Finally, he gets something. In one town, he meets some people who tell him the pendant is from a distant kingdom. They admittedly don’t know much, other than the fact that their king is a cruel person. They provide him with a map and some directions, suggesting some stops to make along the way.

He ventures on, though as he draws nearer to a village, he takes notice of the chill in the breeze. Fall has already set in, and winter will be coming. He doesn’t want to make Gerald have to travel through the cold snow. He decides that once he finds where the village is, he’ll look for a good spot nearby and set up a temporary home until spring arrives.

As they draw closer, Joel can spot a campfire in a clearing ahead. He approaches with caution. The man sat by the campfire looks over, hearing footsteps. He holds up his hands “Hey man, I swear I have nothing of value on me, so if you’re planning to rob me, you’re wasting time.”

Joel stops and looks to him. “That’s not a ploy to lower my guard so you can rob me, right? Because I don’t have much either. Especially since I gotta split resources.” He motions to Gerald, who has moved up to the man, sniffing him.

The man chuckles “Not at all. Feel free to take a seat if you want. My name’s Tango.” He motions to a rock across the fire from him.

“You can call Joel, and him Gerald.” He sits, rather glad for the small break. He smiles seeing Gerald get excited for pets. If Gerald trusts this guy, Joel can trust him.

The men chat for a while longer, mostly about Gerald and their lack of supplies, and both decide that when morning comes around, they’ll go hunting and then meet up here to share their resources.

Chapter Text

Grian looks around. He’s appeared beside the broken portal, with the village not too far off from here. If he remembers correctly, everyone should be relatively close to this land by now, if not in it.

He flies up, getting a view over as much of the land as he can. The village, the woods, the spruce forest, the mountains, the desert. He goes around over every place, looking down, trying to take note of where everything is, and where everything will go, so he can better visualize his hiding spot.

He spends his day observing, sneaking around and doing his best to not be seen. He has a couple close calls, especially when sneaking around Ren.

As the sun sets, he knows tomorrow is when things really get started. He gets back to where he appeared, hiding for the night.

In the morning, he loots the materials from beside the portal. It wasn’t the best items, but it was pretty good to get started. He decides to make his way to the village, where he knows BigB and Martyn to be.

He spots BigB at a merchant stand, purchasing some coal. BigB is a good person to start with, he’s super friendly. He goes to walk up to him, but trips on a raised cobblestone and falls into him instead.

The pair fall over. “Shoot, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to knock you over, I tripped on something.” Grian explains, moving off the much taller man and scrambling to stand. He offers out a hand to help him up.

“No worries man, accidents happen.” He takes the offer, and gets up to his feet, the pair brushing themselves off. “Woah, your wings are so cool! I’ve never met an avian with wings like that before. Where are you from?” BigB asks

“Oh, uh, thanks! And I’m from uh…very far away from here. My name’s Grian. What about you?” Change subject, pivot to different topic!

“I’m BigB. Nice to meet you, Grian. Mind if I ask what brings you over this way?”

“I’m…looking for some people. Last I heard they were somewhere in these lands, so I’m here to search for them. Or at least look for clues to who or where they are.” Not fully wrong, he supposes.

“Funny you say that, actually. My new buddy Martyn is looking for someone he doesn’t know as well. He said he was told to find some sort of king. Maybe you two could help one another.” BigB suggests, scanning the marketplace to look for him.

Once he spots him, he leads Grian over. “Hey, Martyn! I think I found someone you might want to talk to.” He motions to the parrot-winged avian beside him.

Martyn looks over. “Wait, really? Has he seen something that I told you about?” He looks down towards Grian, holding out his hand. “Name’s Martyn, but you probably guessed that from B here telling you.”

Grian shakes it. “I’m Grian. And yeah, he mentioned you’re trying to find someone you don’t know too.” Obviously, Grian knows where everyone should be.

“Yeah! I’m being told to find a king-“ Martyn continues to explain his visions. Grian makes up a story about someone he knows doesn’t actually exist. They agree to help each other out with the other’s search if they find anything.

The trio momentarily split for resources, but when they reconvene, Martyn hands a sword each to BigB and Grian. “To new friends, may these swords treat you well on your journeys.” He smiles.

Grian blinks. That’s not meant to happen. Yeah, a sword to BigB, but not him as well. Perhaps if he gifts something to Martyn, it could balance things out. He reaches in his bag and hands him a gold apple. “Here, have this. In exchange for the sword you got me.”

Martyn takes it, thanking him, but noting it was a gift, and he didn’t have to. Grian shakes his head “No, trust me, I did. It means a lot.” He smiles, hoping it’s enough to hide his inner stress over the situation.

“How about now that we’ve gotten supplies, we wander around town and see if anyone knows anything?” Grian suggests. The other two agree, and Grian heads off. He ducks into an alleyway and takes a moment to breathe and settle down. That could have gone bad.

He looks down to the sword now placed at his hip. This sword was meant to end up with Ren, he can feel it. Martyn was supposed to buy himself a backup, but give it to Ren in exchange for taking him in. Hopefully, the golden apple is enough to balance things out.

He doesn’t have much time to think on this more, though, as he can hear a commotion outside. Right, the bandits. He stays hid in the alley, not wanting to cause another issue he has to balance. Any time now, BigB should come in to help.

But then he doesn’t turn up. Right. They split up and he went where BigB was supposed to go. He has to fix the issue. Because if this village is gone, the story will completely unravel.

He flies out of the alleyway, swooping down at the bandits and fighting them off. He knows their moves, and knows how to counterattack. He helped write this part.

The remaining bandits flee, and Grian turns to look back around him. The villagers thank him for his help, it’s not often a traveler is willing to put themselves at risk in order to protect a place they’re just passing through. They offer to reward him.

He shakes his head. “No thanks, I don’t need anything. I just hate to see innocent people getting hurt for no reason.” He knows the other Watchers can see and hear him. He’s fully speaking to them and the villagers as he says that.

——————

As Ren travels through the woods, he comes upon a clearing with a large hill up on top of it. At first he thinks it could be a good spot to set up, or at least get a vantage point to view over the area. But then he can hear the sound of someone humming to themselves, as well as the clinks and thuds of bricks and stones hitting against each other.

He carefully makes his way up the hill atop his horse, choosing to leave the cart with his belongings behind for now. As he gets closer, he hears the humming and clinks pause, and a man with large white wings walks into view, sword drawn.

“I thought I said-oh. Sorry, I thought you were someone else.” The man’s expression goes from annoyance to surprise and slight embarrassment. He lowers his weapon, but does not yet re-sheath it.

“No worries, my good man. One can never be too careful out in the woods. May I ask who you thought I was? Clearly they’re someone who poses a threat to one’s own safety.” Ren holds up a hand to show he means no harm, the other keeping a hold on the reins.

“Oh, he’s no threat in that sort of regard. A threat to your wealth, perhaps, but he wouldn’t hurt you. He’s a scam artist, not a bandit.” The avian shrugs, feeling a little bit more at ease. “I don’t recognize you. Traveling through the area?” He asks

Ren nods “Indeed. I’m a traveling merchant, you see. But I’m actually starting to run low on supplies and such, and with winter coming soon I was hoping to set up shop nearby until the spring returns. You wouldn’t happen to know a good spot, would you?” He holds out a map

The other man takes it and looks it over, pointing to a couple of different spots “I think any of those would work. They’re close enough to town, but they will give you enough space to do your own thing.”

“Thank you ever so much, friend. I will go check them out, and once I have enough set up, I shall be ready for business. The name’s Ren, by the way.” He holds out a hand

The man smiles a bit, putting his sword away. He shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you, Ren. I’m Skizz.”

Ren makes his way to the areas Skizz mentioned, pausing as he approaches one. A scent of spruce woods ahead fills his nose. It brings back some of the fonder memories he has of home, venturing into the forest to find a place where it can be quiet.

He crosses the river, and as he crests the hill, he knows he’s at the perfect spot. He will begin construction right away.

——————

Scar steps out of the shack, heading a bit into the treeline and locating his llama. It’s not the best setup for his companion, being just a haphazardly put together fence with a bucket on one fence post for water and another for food.

But Skizz wouldn’t let him keep the llama in the shack, insistent there was no room now that he’d moved in with Scar. More likely he just got angry that Pizza kept trying to eat his nest-like bed. Not his fault Skizz wanted a bed made of Pizza’s food!

“Let’s go on a walk, buddy. Been a minute since we went around just because.” He hops the fence, putting on Pizza’s gear. He opens the gate and leads him out, and they begin their walk.

He chats with Pizza, making up a voice to pretend like the llama is responding to him. Obviously Pizza agrees with Scar, especially since Skizz was the meanie who kicked him out. At some point he spots something gold and shiny in the mud. A pocket watch! But just the clock part. He stuffs it into Pizza’s saddle pack.

As they approach their usual break spot, Scar stops in his tracks. There’s a camp set up in that area, and more importantly, there’s people at it. He wanders closer. “Hello there! I’ve not seen any of you before, are you guys passing through?” He has a friendly smile on his face, one hand waving, the other holding Pizza’s lead.

All three look over. The shorter of the two men speaks up. “Sort of! We’re headed towards the village. I’m guessing you live nearby if you asked us that?”

Scar nods “I do indeed. I’m out by the desert, actually. Just taking Pizza here on a little walk around, getting some exercise in.” He pets Pizza, who leans into the touch.

“Could you possibly point us in the direction of the village? Bdubs here swears he knew exactly where it was, but this is the third time we’ve had to return to camp because we couldn’t find it.” The zombie lady says, gesturing to the first guy.

“It’s not my fault all the forest paths are so confusing and look the exact same!” He pouts. “Worst part is that I lost my clock from my pocket watch yesterday, so I can’t even tell the time anymore.”

“Oh! One moment!” Scar ruffles around in the saddle pack, pulling out the muddy clock “Is it this one? I found it in some mud on my way here.” He holds it up to Bdubs.

“Yes! Thank you so much! And it still works, thank goodness.” Bdubs pulls out the chain, gold with three green gems on it, and reattaches the clock to it. He begins to fiddle with the part that attaches to try and prevent it from breaking again.

“My name’s Scar, by the way. So who are you guys and where are you all from?” He asks, leading Pizza over to the water and setting his lead out of his way so he can get some water without a lead in his face.

“Well I’m Cleo, and I honestly don’t really remember very much. Earliest I can remember is dying. I assume it’s dying, given I’m now a zombie and all.” She seems to not yet be used to it, looking over her arms at her stitches and patches of skin, all various shades of the same tone of green.

“Impulse. I lived a couple towns away, until bandits raided it.” The other man says, fiddling with his hands. Scar blinks, “Oh is it the one that was having issues with some sort of trickster person or magic or something?” Impulse just silently nods in response.

“There, that should stay on now.” Bdubs pockets his clock. “Anyway, I’m Bdubs. My home got attacked by the army of this huge kingdom, so I got out of there as fast as I could.”

“I see. So you’re all looking for a new home, then?” Scar puts on a concerned front, but inside, he can’t help but to feel a little bit excited. New people in the area means new potential friends. And there’s plenty of positions open for the role of being friends with him.

“Pretty much, yeah. I mean, I just know I’ve been here once before pretty briefly and it was quiet and nice. Give staying here a try, especially since it’s starting to get colder, and give it some time to see if I wanna stay. At least that was my plan, I can’t speak for them.” Bdubs responds, taking a seat on a tree stump.

“Well I mean, I know I’m a biased party, but these lands are really nice. There’s the desert near my home, there’s a whole patch of forest covered in flowers, there's spruce woods, there’s a swamp, the village in the plains, such a wide variety of locations!” He gestures in the direction of each place he mentions, even if they can’t see them from here.

“Could you lead us to the village now? It’d be nice to get there before dark, so we don’t have to cross paths with too many monsters.” Cleo stands, stretching her arms “That, and this camp isn’t what I would exactly call comfortable.”

Scar nods, grabbing Pizza’s lead. “Of course I can. Pizza and I shall guide you to town! Right this way, folks!” He heads off, waving them over to follow behind.

He chats with them as they travel, getting to know them and telling a bit about himself as well. It’s nice, talking and laughing with multiple people. He’s really hoping he makes a good enough impression, on at least one of them, that they will be friends with him.

As they reach the village, the sun has already started to reach sunset. It will be night soon. “You guys want to go see anything first? Like if you need something or want to know where something is?” Scar asks, lifting the hood of his short cloak up.

“Nope, I want to get to a bed as soon as possible. We haven’t had an actual bed to sleep on since before Impulse joined us.” Bdubs comments. “My back is really starting to hurt.”

“I agree,” Cleo adds, “get to bed, sleep as long as possible. Just because I’m a zombie doesn’t mean I don’t ache or get tired. It’s actually alleviating some of the hurt I feel constantly.”

They walk up towards the nearest inn, Scar motioning them to go ahead. As he looks for a place to set Pizza for the night, he hears screaming and yelling behind him.

He turns to see the group being chased out the door by a woman with a broom, telling off the two travelers for leading a zombie inside. She slams the door shut. Right. He didn’t think about the zombie thing.

They try again at two other spots, and it’s a very similar story at both. By now, the four are having to deal with the monsters that show up in the darkness. A ghost-like shriek from above indicates that phantoms have made an appearance.

One is just about to swoop down at him, and he braces for impact. But it doesn’t come. He looks up, to see the sky cleared of the green-eyed beasts. Instead, in the moonlight, he can see the outline of someone with large wings fighting off monsters.

He wonders for just a slight moment if perhaps it’s Skizz, but the figure is too short, and Skizz can’t fly. He looks to Pizza, and spots a scarlet feather that’s landed on him. He carefully tucks it into the saddle bag.

“Man, this was a bust. None of these people will listen that you’re not going to hurt them!” Impulse growls, glaring at the most recent inn they tried.

“On one hand, it’s fair, since I’m a zombie, but on the other it’s not, as I don’t seem to be enough of a zombie for the other monsters. I’m being attacked anywhere I go.” Cleo huffs, crossing her arms.

“I didn’t want it to come to this, but I know one more place we could try. It doesn’t have any beds, and I just gotta hope it’s still empty.” Scar leads the way towards the outskirts of town, to one of the homes. It’s in a bit of disrepair, and one look inside tells him nobody lives there, just overgrown plants. He ushers everyone inside, including Pizza, and they wait out the night.

The next day comes, and Scar wakes up still laying against Pizza. One look around tells him he’s the first up. Fair enough, those guys have been through quite a bit to get here. Being in civilization must have been enough for them to be able to actually rest.

He sneaks out with Pizza, not wanting to wake them. He’s gonna go see about getting something for all of them to eat. Hopefully, the cloak he’s wearing is enough of a disguise for him to get around.

He weaves his way through the marketplace, avoiding eye contact and doing his best to act like he doesn’t know where exactly to go to get the things he needs. Every shop is exactly where they’d been as he grew up. He knew these streets pretty well over the years.

He heard mentions from various groups of a new traveler in town. An avian, one with vibrant colored wings and sandy-blonde hair. How the other day he’d saved them from bandits and spent the past two nights helping fend off monsters, asking nothing in return.

Scar is quite intrigued by this. Not often does some traveler just show up and put themselves at risk expecting nothing. He wants, no, he needs to find this guy. Figure out what his deal is.

For now, he’s gathered the food and returns to the old house to see everyone is awake now. “Good morning guys! I got some breakfast for you guys at the marketplace, I didn’t want to wake you up.” He reaches into the saddle bag and pulls out some of the food he bought.

Cleo takes some bread, yawning. “Thank you. Honestly I probably would have actually killed you if you woke me up, I haven’t slept like that in…well I assume since I was alive.”

Impulse and Bdubs take some food as well, thanking him. Scar gives a carrot to Pizza, petting him.

Impulse looks to Cleo “Maybe we should try to get you a disguise so they can’t tell you’re a zombie. That way we can actually go into town together.”

They raise their eyebrow “And how do we do that from here when we don’t have anything to make a disguise?”

Impulse shrugs “I’m not saying we do it here. I meant the rest of us go into town and buy things to make you a disguise. Since, you know, you’re the one they take issue with. You could hang out by yourself here for a little bit, right?” The last sentence seems to have a bit of teasing mixed into the tone.

Cleo growls, glaring at Impulse. “If I’m that much of an inconvenience to you, why don’t you just head off, then? We got you to town, that’s what you wanted to do.”

It’s clear to Scar that those two don’t exactly like or trust each other. He looks at Bdubs, who has a slightly annoyed, yet worried expression on his face. “Guys, come on, deep breaths, like we said.” Bdubs pipes up. “It’s not Cleo’s fault these people don’t want to give her a chance, and if Impulse wanted to ditch us as soon as possible, he already could have.”

The other two sigh and roll their eyes, muttering enough of an apology to each other to satisfy Bdubs. Cleo agrees to stay behind and see about maybe clearing out some of the plants or fixing the walls while Impulse and Bdubs go to get a disguise for her.

Scar shows them to the marketplace, but splits up from them to see about getting some materials he needs back home. Really, he’s going to try and find that avian he keeps hearing about.

He looks everywhere. The market, the square, among homes, the farms, the church, even a quick peek into a cave close by. No luck. He’s about to give up when he hears wings flapping. He looks up.

A streak of red with bits of yellow and blue dart past him overhead, in the direction of the market. He grins, following, running through the streets with Pizza following behind.

He cuts through alleyways and makes odd turns. Following someone flying freely above him is difficult from the ground. They make it all the way to the outskirts of town, not too far from the house Cleo’s at. But he also loses sight of him.

“Why are you stalking me?” A voice behind him asks.

Scar jumps, turning around. There, looking up at him, was the avian traveler. His arms were crossed, an annoyed expression on his face, with some feathers on his wings slightly puffed.

“I…I uh…I was actually wanting to talk to you about something. I was looking all over town and that was the first I saw of you, so I had to follow you to try and get a word in.” It takes Scar’s brain a moment to get a response out at first. Something about this guy, he feels…different. Like almost suspiciously so.

The avian blinks, confused. “You know you could have just called up to me rather than chase me, right? Said ‘hey, excuse me, could I talk to you?’ It’s kinda weird to just get followed.”

Ah, right. “I didn’t even think about that…but anyways, I was wondering something. I hear you’ve been defending this place for nothing in return, even though people are offering. Why?”

The other man shrugs “It’s just the right thing to do. Not everything has to be for a profit. Not that I expect you to get that.” He looks right at Scar’s face.

“What do you mean by that? You don’t know me at all.” Scar is realizing this guy can see through the disguise, as well as probably seen-

“Your wanted posters are located in quite a few places around the village, Scar. Any traveler knows that they need to keep an eye out for those so that they can watch out for danger.” He smirks up at him. “You don’t seem all that dangerous though, everyone has said you’re more a nuisance than a threat.”

Scar pouts, standing up a bit taller and trying to appear more intimidating, even if it’s not his normal vibe. “Oh yeah? And how do you know that’s just for them? What if I only don’t attack the town because I’m from there? I could very well be a threat to adventurers such as yourself.” He takes a step closer.

The avian doesn’t flinch, keeping his smug expression. “Then why did you help three other travelers last night? You do realize I saw you guys going around while I was flying.”

Riiiiiight. This guy is good. “…Yeah you got me there, uh…what’s your name, by the way? Since you seem to have learned mine.”

“Grian.” He holds out his hand, looking up to him. Scar shakes it, noting his hands are surprisingly soft for an adventurer.

“Well then, Grian, if you’ve just come directly here, you probably haven’t explored the area very much. I’d love to show you around. Maybe we could get to know each other. I learn why you’re helping random villages, and you can learn my tragic backstory.” He puts the back of his hand to his forehead, for dramatic effect.

Grian chuckles a bit. “You know what? Why not. Get a lay of the land from a local. But I’m coming right back here once we’re done. I’ve got a job I gotta do.”

Scar nods. “Perfect! Here, you can even ride on Pizza if you want! And if he lets you. He’s not always a fan of some people.” He pets Pizza, then picks up his lead.

Grian climbs onto the llama and the pair head off. Scar completely forgetting about mentioning anything to the people he led to the village in favor of giving someone else a tour. They talk for hours, and Scar can tell that this guy is either a bad liar, or a really good liar pretending to be a bad one.

They reach the other edge of the forest a short bit before sunset, and walk out into the area where grass fades to dirt, and dirt fades to sand. “And here is the desert. If we make our way over here, I can show you where I live with my…llama.” Almost said friend, out of habit, but Skizz is gone.

“You hesitated there.”

“Couldn’t think of the word for a moment.” He turns and looks back.

Grian frowns. “You’re tearing up. Are you okay?”

“…my friend used to live here, but he left. So it’s just me and Pizza now. Like the old days.” He turns back forwards, they’re getting close to the shack. “There it is, home!”

“…it’s literally swaying in the wind. Please tell me you’re working on building a different home and this is temporary.” Grian dismounts.

“Nah, it’s good enough! I’ve got protection from the elements and from monsters, that’s all I need.” He opens the door and motions the other man inside.

“You couldn’t pay me to go in that thing.” He crosses his arms. “Unless you can pay for a lot of healing materials or a funeral after the roof and walls collapse.”

“Fine, alright. But it’s getting dark after taking all day to show you around, so unless you can build something you think is sturdier in under an hour or want to deal with monsters all night, I suggest you come make yourself comfortable.” Scar gives him a smug look, knowing there’s really only one choice.

“…you’re lucky I haven’t had a good, full sleep in a few days, or I’d have just made myself comfortable in one of those trees. I learned the hard way phantoms are able to weave through branches.” Grian sighs, heading into the shack.

Scar chuckles, calling Pizza inside and closing the door behind them. He was excited about a possible friendship forming here.

Chapter Text

Morning came, and Joel woke up still laying on the ground. Gerald had his head resting on Joel’s chest, still asleep. He smiles, glad his buddy insisted on joining him. It’d be pretty lonely if he hadn’t.

Gerald opens his eyes and looks to his face, wagging his tail seeing him awake. “Morning, Gerald.” Joel sleepily pets him, speaking softly. He continues petting him until Gerald lifts his head and looks to the side.

Joel sits up and looks over to see Tango walking back towards where the two of them had decided to rest. “I scouted this small area around us while you were still asleep, I couldn’t find anything that was actually edible around here.”

Joel nods. “We’ll have to just make our way towards the village nearby and hope we spot something along the way, then. Something enough to get us there.” He stretches and stands. “It will take a couple days, so try and make what you have last you.”

The two men set out, walking through forest trails and alongside rivers. Taking turns throwing a stick for Gerald to chase and bring back.

But then Gerald runs ahead and stops at a fork in the path ahead, by where the stick landed. He looks down one of the other paths. Joel frowns. There’s someone or something ahead. And Gerald doesn’t seem sure about it.

He jogs ahead, Tango following behind. He looks where Gerald does, and sees a man with white hair upon a grey horse, a cart behind him. He stands ready to pull out his weapon at any moment.

The man spots this action and holds up his hands. “I mean no harm. I’m just trying to find the village. If you mean harm, I will fight back.” His tone remains calm, but it was hard to tell what his expression was, with a cloth covering the bottom of his face.

Tango speaks up “Well you’re headed the right way, we’re going there too.”

“Oh good! I lost my map, and was trying my best to remember the way. You wouldn’t mind if I joined you gentlemen, would you?” The man asks.

Joel isn’t quite sure about it. He can see Gerald is a little on edge. Whether because of the man or because of the horse. He knows his buddy isn’t a fan of the large creatures, so he doesn’t like them either.

“I don’t see why not. What do you think, Joel?” Tango looks to him.

Joel sighs “I guess…? But we might have to either be far ahead or far behind. Gerald doesn’t like horses very much.” He tries to get him to relax with some reassuring pets.

“Whichever is easier for you guys. I’m Etho.” Etho reaches a hand down towards the two men. They shake his hand and introduce themselves in turn. It’s decided that Joel will go ahead since he’s the one with direct instructions on how to reach the village. So off they go.

——————

After splitting up from Grian and BigB, Martyn ventures into the woods. In his journal, he begins to write out his own map of the land. A flower-ridden area where he spots some gaps to a valley, which he will look more into later. Various mountains. The entrance to a vast desert. A murky swamplands.

Night and day has passed, and it’s turning to another night again as he ventures into the spruce woods. He decides to try and find a spot to sleep for the night.

But it grows darker, and he cannot find anywhere safe from monsters. He hears ghostly shrieks from above. He runs, veering off the path and into the trees, hoping to outrun the phantoms easier.

He can see some light ahead, and the outline of a humanoid figure headed towards the source. “Help! They’re after me!” He calls out ahead, hoping the person is willing to provide some shelter.

The figure turns, waving him over “Come inside! Quickly!” He calls back.

Martyn reaches the clearing and makes a beeline for the door, only stopping as he trips over a pile of wood and lands on the floor. “I’m so sorry, thank you for letting me in.” He pulls himself up to a crouch quickly, reassembling the pile.

“It’s no problem, I’m not concerned over a strewn pile of wood. Seems you haven’t been resting well either lately, from the phantoms you had following you.” The man closes the door and walks over, crouching beside him.

Martyn looks up, taken aback for a moment seeing a werewolf in front of him. He’s not come across any before, as many of them live in much more northern and cold environments than the elven city where he’s from. He realizes he’s staring and saying nothing and slightly flushes in embarrassment. “Sorry, I uh, I’ve never seen a werewolf in person before, I didn’t mean to stare.”

The man chuckles to himself “I can tell from your attire you’re not accustomed to colder climates, it is of no surprise to me you’ve never met my kind.” He stands back up and holds out his hand. “The name’s Ren.”

“I’m Martyn.” He takes his hand and is helped back to standing on his feet. “And it’s true, I’m from much further south than this place.” He looks around the room. It’s clear this was an unfinished building. But there was enough built up to guard from monsters, and that’s what was important for the time being. “I’m guessing from looking around you’re not from this area either?”

Ren shakes his head. “That I am not. I come from much further north.” He chuckles “How odd, two people from vastly different places meeting each other here where they’d have otherwise not met.”

Martyn smiles “As long as someone’s a friendly person, I don’t think it’s so odd to meet anyone. So, what brings you here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Me? I’m on a search for someone. My brother, although I don’t know his name or his face. I’m hoping by traveling from place to place I’ll be able to find clues to where he went. I’ve stopped here to replenish my supplies and gold to last through the coming winter. This place will be both my shop and my home. In spring, I’ll be on my way.”

“What are you planning to sell at this shop?” Martyn asks.

The werewolf grins, headed over to a corner of the room, where a red cloth covers something there. In a dramatic flourish, Ren whisks the cloth off, and the room is hit with a soft purple glow. An intricately designed pedestal of a dark-colored material, the top having a plate of inlaid gems and a small red cover.

But what particularly drew Martyn’s attention was the book. How being exposed to the world caused it to be surrounded in a purple aura, floating up and opening its pages, flicking through them as it turns itself to face Ren.

Ren, who has set the red cloth upon his shoulder. The way it hangs there, like a red cape draped off of him.

“I plan to sell enchantments and knowledge. Too long has the art of imbuing items with magic been kept away from most people. Fortunately, I wish to share what I know with the world. Teach them how, and make deals so they can make use of my setup.” He grins as he tells him, moving his arms for dramatic effect.

“Wow…that’s amazing. And how exactly did you come about this item as well as the knowledge of how to use it? In your words, this art was kept from most people. You must have been pretty important back home.” He walks closer, investigating the pedestal and taking in every little detail.

“Ah, that, I’m afraid, I cannot tell you. Not until I can get to know you better. I may trust you enough to let you enter my home, and why I am venturing far, but I cannot share with you all the details of my life.” He smiles, “I’m sure you can understand.”

“I respect it.” Martyn nods. But in his gut, he can feel it. He’s definitely found his guy. He just needs to be absolutely sure before he can commit. Everything else may have fallen to mere coincidence, and this could be someone else entirely. He cannot commit unless he knows for certain this is the king.

“But I digress. I shared why I’ve traveled. Can you tell me why you’ve done so?” He asks, leaning against the wall as he watches Martyn study the pedestal.

“I had strange visions come to me in my sleep. And this voice, echoed and warped, telling me to find someone. But I never got a name or face. Just vague images and sensations. I knew to go north because one vision was inside of a snow-covered woods.” He chooses not to disclose anything else. On top of not wanting to accidentally commit himself to the wrong guy, it would seem strange to basically say he was looking exactly for him.

“I see we both are looking for people we’ve never known.” He shakes his head. “Unless you happened to know if you or someone back in your home was initially from the north and came down that way with only their mother?”

“Afraid not. And I don’t really have any sort of lead that would allow you to help me. I’m completely on my own here.” He covers his ears as the shriek of phantoms grows louder outside. “Those things are way too loud, honestly, it feels like they’re right next to me.”

“Elves have heightened hearing too?” Ren raises an eyebrow. He’s met other elves, but they’ve never seemed to have an issue with noise.

Martyn shakes his head “Just me, that I’m aware of. I’ve got sound-based magic. Which means I can both hear things others can’t, and-“ he nods, laughing seeing Ren jump at the sound of a creeper hiss behind him. Of course, it’s just a disembodied sound.

“Goodness! That sounded exactly like one of those beasts! You could certainly get someone with that if you’re not too careful.” He gasps, settling himself down.

“Aw it’s never caused any physical harm. Just keeping people on their toes is all, it’s practically harmless.” Martyn chuckles, shrugging it off.

“Well you’ve shown me your magic skills, and I can show you mine. For a deal, that is.” Ren rests an elbow onto the top of the pedestal, leaning into it. The side of his face is lined by the purple glow, almost making the grin Ren has feel ominous.

Martyn crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? And what sort of a deal would that be? You must have an idea or you’d have waited for me to make an offer earlier.”

Ren nods “Yes, you are rather observant. See, a shop is good and all, but it’s not much of a shop if there’s no customers. And while I’ve been lucky with my interactions so far, not everyone is willing to hear out a werewolf. Especially regular humans. But, they would trust an elf if he were to spread word of a friendly werewolf setting up an enchanting business. Ren’s Enchanted Emporium. Promise to promote my shop to others in the land, especially at the village, and I will show you the ways of enchanting.”

“Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. One thing though…in my opinion, I think it should be called ‘Renchanting’. One word, rolls off the tongue and flows better.” Martyn copies Ren’s dramatic arm movements from before, making his words seem all the more intriguing.

“Ooh, Renchanting, I like it. I’m honestly a little bit disappointed I hadn’t thought of it on my own. Nevertheless, if you’re set on making the deal, then come close and I shall teach you what I know of enchanting.” He beckons Martyn over.

The men make a deal, and Ren shows Martyn how to enchant, before the pair inevitably grow tired and sleep for the night. Martyn’s visions persist, growing more intense.

He wakes up in the morning first. Quietly, he starts to head out. If Ren heard him and woke up, he never said anything about it. As much as he feels like that was possibly the king, he has to be sure. That, and he started his map, so he’d like to finish it.

He continues to explore. The village isn’t far. He could see it earlier that morning from the top of the hill where Renchanting sat. He passes by a cave entrance, and would have continued on, if only he hadn’t heard a panicked yell from inside.

That sounded like BigB.

He heads in, sword at the ready. He fights through the monsters hiding in the dark, calling out to BigB. Trying to find where he was at.

Eventually, he stumbles upon the pile of rocks where BigB had hid himself behind. “B, I’m here, I’ve got you.” He comes around back, looking down to the other man.

BigB had quite a few injuries, none too serious except for the arrow lodged in his dominant arm. Martyn crouches beside BigB and uses some of his materials to patch up the smaller cuts and scrapes.

“Martyn, you are a lifesaver. I’m so glad I wasn’t too deep in here so you could hear me. Unless you came in here to explore too?” BigB asks, sitting up a bit more as Martyn wraps his knee in some cloth.

“Nah, I was passing by and heard you. Lucky you, because I could only quietly hear your voice. Anyone else might not have heard anything.” He ties the cloth over the knee. “This next part is gonna hurt.” He positions some cloth behind BigB’s shoulder. “You hold these ends out of the way, I’m going to pull this out carefully.”

“Wait hold on-anyone else wouldn’t have heard me? Do you have enhanced hearing or something with those ears?” BigB is genuinely a little confused, but also trying to delay the pain from the arrow as much as he can.

Martyn shakes his head. “Nah, sound magic. I can also do this-“ he again makes the creeper hissing sound, chuckling at BigB’s panic. “Now are you going to change the subject again or do I gotta scare you into letting me help you out?”

After a bit of careful maneuvering, and lots of winces and pained noises from BigB, Martyn successfully dislodges the arrow, quickly wrapping up the wound tightly and tying it up.

“There. Now let’s get you out of here and back to the village. Hopefully there’s a potion vendor somewhere so we can get you fully healed.” He pulls BigB to his feet, holding the other man up.

They hobble out of the cave, which Martyn had thankfully cleared, and make their way back towards the village.

——————

Night came, and Tango, Joel, and Etho still hadn’t reached the village quite yet. “We should set up camp again, I’ll get a fire started.” Tango says, also calling ahead towards Joel.

Without waiting for a response, Tango starts to gather some sticks and branches and leaves. He puts them into a pile, and gets some rocks set up in a barrier around them. All the while, he can hear the sound of the other two chatting with their animals behind him.

Aaaaand…light! “Fire’s ready!” Tango motions the other guys over. Etho ties his horse’s reins to a low branch before heading over. Gerald runs ahead of Joel up to Tango. He smiles, petting him. He just loves how soft the fur is.

They gather around, chatting a little bit before calling it a night. All the while, Tango had noticed Gerald avoided Etho, and Joel seemed a bit uncomfortable. But perhaps Etho still somewhat smelled like the horse and Gerald didn’t like that?

The next morning, Tango wakes to see Joel and Gerald walking away. “You guys looking for something we can eat?” He asks, pushing himself up.

Joel shakes his head. “No. There’s something about that guy…I’m not sure about him. Gerald definitely doesn’t like him, and I don’t want to be there to find out why. The village is close enough, once you follow the path out of the forest you’ll see it. I’m gonna go find somewhere to get a home of some sort set up.”

“That’s it, you were just going to leave me, someone sleeping, with a guy you didn’t trust?” Tango walks closer, the ends of his hair whisping with little bits of fire.

“I’ve only known you what, twelve hours longer?” Joel sighs, still not looking back at Tango. “I put a note in your bag explaining this. Didn’t want to wake you. Bye.” And he runs off into the trees, Gerald following behind.

Tango frowns. So much for that. At least it wasn’t because of him being part blaze. That’s what usually made people so put off by him. He looks back at Etho, still asleep on the ground. He couldn’t tell what was so off putting by him.

And yet, he debates if he should leave or not as well. He ultimately decides against it. Whether he split off or not, they were headed in the same direction. He’d come across this guy again, and he’d rather it not be a confrontation about leaving him by himself.

Etho wakes, asking where Joel went. Tango lies, and explains that Gerald had run off in the night and Joel went after him, and he’d hopefully meet them in the village. The other man nods silently.

They get ready, and resume on the trail towards the town. “I didn’t really get to ask before, but what brings you out this way, exactly?” Tango asks, hoping to break the awkward silence.

“Just helping people, really. I go from town to town and help them a bit before moving on.” Etho shrugs. “What about you? You don’t hear of many people who are part blaze straying too far from nether portals.”

Tango stops and looks up. He didn’t tell either of them that. “Wait-how did you know that? I never said anything about that to you guys.”

Etho just continues on, looking forwards. He puts a hand by the back of his head and does a little motion with his hands. “Your hair flickered and smoked a little bit when you got excited last night. I don’t think Joel saw, but I did.”

Tango jogs to catch up, resuming his pace from before once he’s next to Etho. “I normally have a bit better control of that, I must have been kinda tired.”

“It’s no problem. I’ve met several people like you before, and you’re by far the most in tune with yourself out of all of them. A little smoke here and there is nothing. Ah, there it is.” Etho motions ahead.

Tango looks forwards, and in the distance among the plains is a town. “Let’s get going, then.”

Chapter Text

Grian found it slightly difficult to sleep in that safety hazard of a shack. For one, he was worried about the wind blowing it over or a phantom knocking into it, thus toppling it over. For two, the bed options were Scar’s bed, which was creaky and uncomfortable, or what was Skizz’s nest-bed-thing.

He opted for the second, putting a blanket between himself and the hay. Despite being poked in a few places, it was genuinely more comfortable to sleep in. The main drawback was that Pizza would be taking bites from the straw every so often, so he’d feel some of the material be pulled away and hear the animal’s chewing.

At the very least, Grian was thankful that Scar didn’t snore or move around in his sleep. The extra noise would have had him awake all night.

When he wakes up, both Scar and Pizza are gone. He peeks outside and sees the pair walking into the treeline. Good, he can get back to the village now. More people are supposed to be getting there today.

He flies off through the air, passing by some of the other places people should be. Skizz at his hill, Joel running from his group, Martyn at Ren’s. So far, so good. He flies over to the flower forest. He knows Scott and Jimmy should be in a large closed off area.

He also knows there’s a smaller closed in area somewhat close to it, small enough to be somewhat hidden, but large enough to have a space for him to set up base.

He specifically implemented this place into the landscape. He wanted to keep himself somewhat close to Jimmy, the guilt of cursing him by accident still weighing heavily on him. And a tragic one at that.

The Canary Curse. A player is doomed to die first in every story they’re involved in. The first one to be written out. The one who spends the longest in the dark, unfeeling void.

Perhaps, if Grian can just keep Jimmy alive for a little bit longer than he was meant to be, he can break his curse. Then he won’t have to spend an eternity of being the sacrificial lamb.

He works for a little bit on getting a home started, just enough to have room to store things for now. Once he’s satisfied for the moment, he makes his way to the village.

And just in time. Etho and Tango are approaching town from one side, and Martyn from an-wait. Is that BigB? Why is he injured? Grian flies in their direction.

“Goodness, what happened? You guys need help?” Grian lands nearby to them. He’s definitely panicked. This really wasn’t supposed to happen.

“I was wandering around and decided to explore one of the caves. It was filled with so many monsters, I got overwhelmed. But the way out was blocked by them, I had to hide and hope someone heard me.” BigB says, his voice pained.

Martyn nods “Lucky him, I was walking past the entrance, and I have sound magic, so I could just about hear him. Think you could fly ahead and find a health potion or somewhere we can take him to?”

“Certainly. Yeah, I’ll-“ he’s cut off by the noise of a hiss behind him, panicking and flying up a bit as he draws his sword and turns around. But nothing is there.

Martyn laughs “Oh that’s just way too fun! You definitely have given me the best reaction so far!”

Hm. That…was also not meant to happen. Whatever, it’s not a big deal, that’s not something to worry about right now. Grian rolls his eyes and flies to town.

He gets a potion for BigB and helps Martyn to getting him into an inn to rest. They head out, letting BigB rest and recover while the potion does its work.

“Oh by the way, I came across this really cool place last night. There’s this werewolf, out in the woods, and he’s making a shop where he teaches people how to imbue items with magic. It was really cool. And he was so generous too, letting me inside while phantoms chased me and allowed me to take shelter there for the night. We made a deal where if I spread the word about it, he taught me how to enchant things.” Martyn chats with Grian as they walk through the town.

“Seems really nice. I’ll have to check it out sometime.” Grian is really only half-listening to the promotional pitch. He already knows these things. He’s more focused on watching everything else. Everyone who should be in the village is here, good.

“Excuse me, and sorry if we’re mixing you up, but are you that Grian guy everyone is talking about?” A man’s voice asks from behind them.

Grian turns to see Bdubs, Impulse, and a disguised Cleo. They’ve got her fully bundled up, using a scarf to block some of her face and some badly cut long bangs to cover the rest of it.

Grian nods “Yeah, I am. What can I do for you guys?” He already knows. This was supposed to be BigB’s role, but in the current circumstances, he’ll have to fill in the gap.

“Not here, we have a favor to ask of you. And we don’t want to alarm anyone in town with it. Please…?” Bdubs asks, with pleading eyes.

Grian is about to respond, or at least pretend to, when there’s a sudden commotion on the other side of the market. The group looks over and sees people backing away from a man patting out the fire in his hair.

Grian spots a couple of people drawing their weapons, and immediately flies up. “Hey! Fire guy! This way!” He waves him over. He watches Tango spot him and fly towards his direction. Grian slowly lands. “Come on, let’s all get moving.”

He leads the way towards the outskirts of town, where he knows very few, if any, people are living. He stops and turns to see Martyn, Bdubs, Impulse, Cleo, and Tango have all followed. Good.

“Right. So you,” he looks to Tango “You do know you were about to be attacked, right? These people aren’t fans of monsters or part-monsters.”

Bdubs pipes up, “Tell me about it! We kept getting turned away from inns because my friend here is a zombie. But she’s really nice and doesn’t want to attack anyone! We noticed these guys trust you and were hoping you could tell them that.”

Grian nods “I saw you guys before. The night you all got here. I’ll see what I can do, but I’m pretty new to the area too.” Back to Tango “As for you…what happened back there?”

“I got spooked. You see, I heard this hissing-“ Tango starts, but Martyn interrupts him. “Oh, that would be my bad…” he explains how he’d been using his magic to prank people. They have a little back and forth at each other.

Grian watches. Just let them blow over, they’ll settle down in- “Oh Scar there you are! We were wondering where you’d gone off to, we couldn’t find you anywhere in town.” Bdubs says behind him.

Grian turns around quickly. Scar is approaching the group, Pizza still by his side. “Oh I went back home for a bit. Didn’t want to haul around a lot of stuff. Plus I was showing someone around the area!” Scar smiles, approaching the trio.

“He’s not supposed to be here…” Grian quietly mutters to himself.

Martyn, done arguing with Tango, stands by Grian and gives him a puzzled look “What do you mean by that?” He whispers.

“Oh um…he’s on some wanted posters, but he lives out by the desert, so he shouldn’t be here.” Seeing Martyn’s further confused face, he adds on “He was showing me around yesterday. He’s a nice guy, he’s wanted for running business scams.”

Martyn looks over at the group chatting with Scar. A mischievous smirk grows on his face. “Think I could scare him off?”

Before Grian can respond, the group of four are jumping in panic over a hissing sound from somewhere nearby. Martyn laughs. “It never gets old!”

“You-!” Cleo starts, turning over to look at Martyn. She brushes her bangs away and glares at him. “You can’t just do something like that! Nearly gave me a heart attack!”

While everyone has their attention on Martyn, Grian looks around the area. It’s starting to get dark, and some monsters have begun to emerge. He spots a creeper, and wordlessly slips away.

Nobody ever said Grian can’t pull a harmless little prank as well. Lure it close, let it hiss so people get spooked, and then kill it quickly. After all, Martyn should get a taste of his own medicine.

He captures the creature’s attention, carefully leading it to everyone. Tango and Cleo have spotted him, but that’s not an issue. They aren’t his target.

He passes nearby Scar, but the creeper stops in its tracks. It hisses, and before he can react, it explodes.

——————

Scar didn’t even have time to register the hissing. He just felt a burst of energy behind him, the smell of gunpowder, his disguise cloak becoming singed, his back burning, and his body being flung forwards towards the ground. He lands with a hard thud.

He can’t move. He can’t hear. He feels numb. The lights behind his eyelids start off as fuzzy shades of green, but slowly fade into yellows.

His first feeling is on his wrist. A small burst on his bracelet. Then his body aches. He is able to move his fingers. He can slightly open his eyes, although he can’t see very well. It's all blurry. He can hear muffled voices, talking and arguing.

Everything slowly starts to become clearer and he coughs, pushing himself to sit up. Wait, how’d he get on his back? He fell forward. He looks up and around at the people all looking at him, mixed reactions across their faces.

“…why’s everyone looking at me like that? What did I miss?” Scar frowns.

——————

As Scar’s body lands on the ground, everyone just stares for a moment.

They feel something odd.

From their green-beaded accessories, there’s a pulse.

Even those far from the group can feel it.

Without knowing how, they all come to understand this as a death.

A soft rumble of distant thunder rumbles in the open, clear sky.

For some, the name Scar appears in green magic before them, shifting into yellow.

——————

“What. The hell. Was that!?” Cleo yells, looking directly at Grian. “You just killed Scar!”

Grian looks towards her “I didn’t mean to! And he’s not dead dead, he-“ he covers his mouth. He wasn’t supposed to say that. But now everyone is looking at him suspiciously.

Impulse crosses his arms, squinting at Grian. “What do you mean by he’s not dead dead? A creeper blew up and some weird magic stuff happened. Sounds pretty dead to me.”

“I…um…okay, we all felt a pulse, yeah? We all reached to different accessories?” He’s really gotta make up a story on the fly now. “There’s this uh, legend, yeah? About how there will come a time where a group of people will live three times rather than one. I didn’t really believe it, until…well…” he can tell he’s losing them. They’re not believing him.

Then Etho walks out from behind a nearby building. “I know that legend.” He says.

People look over. Grian blinks in disbelief. That legend isn’t a thing. It wasn’t part of the story. Either the other Watchers are covering for him, or he is changing things from inside, somehow.

Etho walks over to Scar’s body. He carefully rolls Scar over onto his back. “The group will each have something on them to represent the lives they live. A tracker of how many they have left to go. On the loss of one’s life, it will change. All others will know of a life lost.” He stands back up once he’s satisfied that Scar will be in a more comfortable position once he wakes.

“I didn’t think it was real until I saw a lot of people here with a similar theme to their accessories. Like three green beads, or gems, or whatever. Especially since not many of us are wearing green anywhere else.” Grian adds on. He doesn’t know what just happened, but he’s glad to not be about to get attacked.

“So you thought to fast your theory by killing a guy with a creeper?” Martyn asks.

Grian shakes his head “No! I didn’t mean to kill anyone! I was just going to scare you with the hissing and then kill it before it could explode! Give you a taste of your own medicine, in a way.”

“Oh yeah, you were doing that! What is wrong with you?” Cleo shoots a look at Martyn. She had moved down to the ground by Bdubs, who had gotten injured by the blast and was wincing as he tried moving his leg.

“It was just meant to be a prank! I didn’t know it would lead to a murder!” He raises his voice in defense. And so, an argument breaks out.

Of course, then Scar wakes up.

Grian comes over and helps Scar up to his feet as they all try to explain the events that occurred.

“Scar, could I talk to you alone for a minute?” Grian asks. He can’t believe what he’s about to do, but he has to make things right. That’s what he came here to do, after all.

He leads Scar away from the group, out of earshot. Maybe not for Martyn, but he looked preoccupied.

“So what do you want then? I hope it’s to give me an apology.” Scar crosses his arms over his chest.

Grian nods. “Yes. I am so, so, so sorry for that. It was meant to be a prank to just scare Martyn, that elf back there. But I’m determined to make it up to you. So,” Grian holds his sword pointed downwards in front of him as he kneels before Scar, his head bowed, much like how a knight would take stance.

“I swear, that until I lose my first life, I will do whatever you want, within reason. I will keep you company, I will build you a home, things like that. But once that life is gone, I will go on my own way.”

“…so you’d help me in taking control of the desert?”

Grian looks up, a quizzical look on his face and the regret already sinking in. “I…guess so?”

Scar grins wide “Perfect! Oh we’re going to have so much fun.” He heads back towards the group, making a beeline for Pizza.

Grian sighs and follows behind. They reach everyone else, and he tells them about what he’s just done. Some people seem satisfied he’s done that to make it up, although he can see that Martyn in particular seemed to have issue with it, given his facial expression.

“Before I leave the village, I promise I’ll let people know that all of you guys are fine and won’t bother anybody. That sound good?” He looks around.

They nod and agree on it.

Grian heads off to let the villagers know of the other players, and how they are not a threat.

Chapter Text

The next morning has Grian bidding farewell to the village as well as the other adventurers who are still staying within it. He meets with Scar on the outskirts of town where they first interacted.

“Ready to go?” Scar asks, finishing adjusting Pizza’s gear.

“Yeah. But we have to make one stop first before we return to the desert. I had set up a small space for a shelter and left some supplies there. They should come in handy for making a new house in the desert.” Grian starts to lead the way, but looks back feeling Scar grab his arm.

“Hold on, who said anything about a new house? We already have the shack.”

“…You can’t be serious. That thing is one strong wind from falling. I wouldn’t be surprised if it collapsed by the time we got back.” He sighs, seeing Scar look down. “I can try and reinforce it so it can be a house for the llama, but I insist you let me build a sturdy home.”

Scar smiles and nods. “Deal!” He pats Pizza’s saddle, and Grian flies up to land sitting on top of it. He tells Scar where to go, and he gathers his things from the unfinished home before they head back to the desert.

——————

As they get close to the desert, the sun is still up, even if it’s starting to set. And after multiple long days of walking, and this time now also having to help haul some materials all the way here, Scar was feeling really hot. The first thing he does once they’re in the shack is remove his now very burnt and singed cloak.

He hears a squawk-like sound behind him and he turns around to see Grian slightly flushed and covering his eyes. “Scar, maybe give me a heads up if you’re about to change clothes so I can give you some space!”

Scar chuckles “Relax, Grian, I will! I’m just taking my cloak off. It’s really hot and is burned because someone let a creeper explode.” He teases, putting one hand on Grian’s shoulder, and holding the cloak with the other.

Grian sighs and groans, removing his hands and looking up at Scar. “Fair enough…but put a shirt on, I know deserts get really cold at night and you could freeze in here.”

“I’ve lived in this shack for a while now, I’m pretty sure I know how cold the desert gets.” He smirks. “Or do you just want me to put on a shirt so you’re not distracted by me all night?”

Grian squints at him. “That is absolutely not the case. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Aw, what? Am I not your type or something?” Scar is fully just joking around with Grian at this point.

“No. Now I’m going to bed, we’ll talk more in the morning.” Grian turns away and climbs into the nest, laying with his back towards Scar.

Scar makes sure Pizza is all settled before pulling on shirt and then going to bed.

——————

Skizz wipes sweat off his forehead. He’s been working on his house for a few days now, and even woke up early this morning to work. Nobody had been by until that new avian, Jimmy, had wandered into the area yesterday. Around the same time that Scar had died. He doesn’t really know how he knows it. But it seemed really, really strange.

He starts to wonder if that werewolf, Ren, was it? -has set up a spot anywhere. He could use a break from building, so he decides to go out and check.

After very little searching, he spots the new building among the spruce, Ren outside and unloading some of his things from his cart. He looks over and smiles, waving him over.

Skizz approaches. “Glad to see you took my suggestion. Need any help with moving things?” He smiles.

“If you’re offering, absolutely I would appreciate the help.” Ren hands Skizz a crate of books. “If you could set those next to the pedestal with the red cloth over it, that would be great.”

“Sure thing!” Skizz carries the crate inside, looking around. There’s stuff sort of piled everywhere, but considering they’re separate piles he assumes it must be organized to some extent. He makes his way back towards the pedestal, setting the books down as Ren walks in.

“So why’s this covered up, then? To protect it from dust or something?” Skizz asks, looking from the pedestal to Ren.

Ren smiles. “That my friend, is a very special thing. The basis of my shop.” He proceeds to explain everything to Skizz, as he’d done so with Martyn. “You know, if you help me unload everything else and help get this cleaned up a little bit, I’ll consider it a fair trade to be able to get your things enchanted.” He holds out his hand.

Skizz grins and shakes his hand. “You’ve got a deal, my friend.” Man, it feels nice to not make a deal that ends with him being scammed.

He continues to help Ren, and in exchange, Ren follows through with his promise of teaching Skizz about enchanting, and letting him use the pedestal. After all is said and done, Skizz goes on his way. A little walk will do him some good.

——————

After Joel had split apart, he took a break to catch up on his breathing once he was sure he was out of earshot. Overnight, he found himself growing warmer despite the fire being out. Something was wrong.

He didn’t really have the best control over his shape shifting abilities, and his magic would often “drift” and pick up on the features of people or creatures nearby. For this reason, he always took a mirror with him wherever he went.

He pulled out the mirror and just about jumped. His eyes have gone completely red, and his green strip of hair now fiery up front. He feels the back of his head, thankful it still feels normal. But his powers drifted. Someone here is a part blaze, and he picked up their features.

He needs to spend time by himself in order to fix this. He can’t let people know what he is. It’s almost a slight relief, as this means he will be able to get away from this Etho guy. He feels bad having to leave Tango, so he rips a page from his journal and leaves him a note. One unwanted conversation later, and he’s gone.

He spends some time wandering the forest once he can breathe easy, and stumbles upon a clearing at the top of a hill. He can somewhat see the village from over the top of the trees, so he knows he’s a good distance to and from more people.

He sets his things on an old tree stump, and gets to work right away on hunting some food and planning out his shelter.

He goes into the treeline to gather some wood. He’s about to start swinging when he hears the sound of what he assumes is an injured dog nearby. He looks around. “Gerald, is that you? Where are you buddy, did you get caught on something?”

Another whine in response. He follows the noise all the way until he sees it. A dog, with its foot entangled in some thorny bushes. The dog was incredibly skinny and dirty, so it was likely to be either stray or feral.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m gonna help you…” he walks up carefully, crouching down and avoiding eye contact so he doesn’t accidentally intimidate the dog. Last thing he needs is an already scared animal to be even more fearful. He reaches out to the paw, causing the dog to try and pull away, whining more.

“No no no, stay still, I got you, it will be alright, I promise.” He waits for the dog to settle before he reaches out again. He very carefully starts to move the vines and branches one by one until he’s able to guide the paw to freedom.

The dog tries to run off, but limps on the injured foot and stops, laying down to try and lick at its injuries. This lets Joel get a good look at the dog. For one, definitely a girl. There’s signs that she’s likely had puppies somewhat recently.

He rips a strip of cloth from his shirt, slowly going up towards her. He pauses when she stops to stare at him. “Please just let me help you…I promise you’re okay…” he begs, though he doesn’t know if she will listen.

He waits a moment before he starts to move closer again, and she lets him. He carefully begins to wrap the foot up, tying the cloth to keep it in place. “There you go. That should help.” He reaches into his bag, and pulls out some stale bread he still had, which was meant to be a snack for himself. He wasn’t fully normal again, so he couldn’t go to town yet.

He sets the bread down in front of the dog. “There you go. It’s not much, but you seem really hungry and it’s all I’ve got on me.” He smiles seeing her sniff at it, then look up at him. “Don’t worry about me, I have more food at home. That’s all yours.”

The dog carefully picks up the bread, stands up, and then leaves, walking off around the trees. He goes to try and follow, but she just stops moving and looks back at him every time he gets closer, and won’t move again until he steps back. As much as he wants to see if there are pups out there and if he can help, their mama doesn’t want him getting there. So he heads home.

But on the way, he feels something odd, and a very faint rumble of thunder. There’s a pulse coming from the medallion. He takes it out from under his shirt, looking at it in horror and confusion. Why does he know someone had died?

Written in magic, the name Scar appears before him, changing colors before it disappears. He’s very confused.

The next day, Joel wakes to see two dogs by him instead of one. He sits up to see better. The one up by where his chest was is definitely Gerald. But the other by his feet…is the dog from yesterday. He smiles a bit as the dog looks at him.

“Well good morning. Come by for some breakfast?” He stands up and stretches, making his way to the spot where the little bit of food he’d hunted was at. He tosses some to Gerald and the other dog before getting some himself. He was glad to see the other dog eating, too.

Once he’d had his fill, he checks his reflection then starts putting a bag together. Mostly empty, honestly, but also containing some money and some materials for trade. “Right, I’m headed to the town over there. Do you guys wanna come or stay here?” Obviously they can’t respond, so he starts heading off. And both dogs follow behind him.

He enters the village, making his way to the marketplace. There, he gets fresh food and materials, chatting with the villagers and trying to ask around about different things. Is anyone missing a dog? Is there a library here and if so, where is it? Does anyone know what the floating Scar thing was?

No lost dog. Only a small library. And most people seem pretty uncomfortable by the ‘Scar’ thing. Until he is approached by an elf, who introduces himself as Martyn. He explains everything, from the deaths, the three lives, and how seemingly almost everyone involved in this strange, not very well known legend has been drawn to these lands.

“So how does this legend go, then? I’ve not heard of it either.” He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow, looking to Martyn.

“I actually don’t know anything beyond what Grian and Etho mentioned. There’s a group of people that live three lives and they have something that represents how many they have. It changes on death, and if someone else dies, everyone knows. Mine is this lucky necklace from the elven council back home.” He shows Joel the three wooden beads. “So what’s yours?”

“Oh, uh, I actually would rather keep that information to myself…it’s pretty personal.” Joel doesn’t really trust this guy quite yet. And nothing says he’s required to share about anything.

Martyn seems a bit disappointed, but he nods and shrugs it off. “Fair enough. Anyways, I was just about to go meet with the other people and escort them to Renchanting. Would you like to come?”

“What or where is ‘Renchanting’?” Joel asks, to which Martyn explains the premise. It seems interesting enough. And like it could be useful in helping him get set up properly for the winter. So he agrees.

Unfortunately, that group does involve both Tango and Etho, who he’d just run away from yesterday morning. They wave him over and Etho notes that Joel seems to have found Gerald. Joel nods, looking at Tango, a silent understanding that Tango must have lied to Etho.

“Is this everyone? Wasn’t Bdubs going to come along too?” Martyn asks, looking to the zombie woman. She shakes her head. “No, he’s still sore from that blast. He’s just going to lay low for a little bit while he recovers.” Martyn nods. “I see. So off we go, then!”

After a trek through the woods, chatting with others and fighting off monsters and such, they reach it. A wooden building atop a steep hill in a clearing surrounded by spruce. It was all lovely, really, but something about this felt…wrong. Like he’s not supposed to be here.

Martyn opens the door for everyone. “Ren, I’ve got you some customers! And some news about what that weird magic pulse was.” “Excellent Martyn! Everyone, please do come in!” A voice inside, Ren, calls.

They all enter, and before them stands the beginnings of a small shop, and a werewolf proudly standing behind a covered pedestal. Yeah, something really feels off now. He sticks towards the back of the room with Gerald and the stray dog while the others go forward.

As he listens to Ren promote himself and his business, he takes the time to really look around the room. It seems like a good start was made in unpacking things, but it wasn’t quite finished yet. Everything was neatly organized, sure, but there were also some piles. Objects, materials, mostly books.

“You, sir, at the back, may want to come closer for this.” That snaps Joel back to attention. Everyone is looking at him, and Ren motions him forward. He walks up to the rest of the group.

“I thought I would provide you all with a demonstration on how this works. That way I won’t have to individually show you all one by one. Let’s see…Martyn, can you bring me the sword from the case over by you?”

Martyn nods, opening a case and then carrying over a sword while Ren uncovers the pedestal.

“Thank you. Now, I will balance my sword here so it doesn’t fall off the top. I will then place three lapis stones onto the surface-“ as he places each stone, the floating book flips between different pages. “-and I will be given a choice to make. Let me see…” he flicks between the pages, eventually settling on one. “Once I’ve made a choice, I will set one hand over my sword, and the other over the page, and focus on sending the energy down into it.” He closes his eyes.

Everyone watches in amazement as purple strands of magic move up into one hand, then down from the other onto the sword. The magic wraps itself around the blade, until it is entirely covered in a purple sheen. Ren opens his eyes and picks the sword up, tilting it at different angles.

“Now, let’s talk business. I can be a fair businessman, and am willing to take favors as a form of payment. And I have an idea of one in mind if you so wish to take that over paying in coin.” He grins. Something about that smile gives Joel a sense of dread, like a pit forming in his stomach.

“And what kind of favor would that be? I don’t exactly have much money on me.” Impulse asks. Cleo adds on “You’re one to talk, I’ve got no money. I came because Martyn said we could probably do favors instead of paying.”

Ren chuckles “I want to be sure that anyone regardless of their wealth has access to this knowledge. Now, you five are a pretty sizable group. Letting you all use this at once would take a large chunk out of my stores of lapis. Once a stone is used, it cannot be used again. So I will need a large favor in exchange. Follow me.” Ren walks around the group back to the front door.

Joel lingers a moment, taking a glance at some of the books. There are quite a lot of them, some he’s never seen. He wonders if any might have an answer to his past. He’ll see if he can browse later. He walks outside.

Ren motions his arm in the direction of the village. “I would like for you guys to work together and form a clear pathway from here to the village. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, just some cleared ground wide enough to haul a cart back and forth between. That way it’s much easier for customers to come and go.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you know how many trees that would be?” Tango is the first to speak up. Everyone else, including Joel, aren’t too big a fan of the idea either. “Can’t I just go around the land promoting the business or something?” Tango asks.

“Excuse me, but that role is taken, I already snagged that deal with Ren.” Martyn shoots a look at Tango, who chuckles. “Oh yeah? And how’s that going?” “I literally escorted all of you here!” Martyn shouts.

Chaos ensues. Joel notices Etho slip inside. He peeks in to see Etho go to the pedestal and set his sword on it. Cleo and Impulse then both head in, followed by Tango, who is being chased by Martyn. Tango shuts the door in Martyn’s face. He walks around the building, out of sight.

“You scoundrels! We haven't settled on anything yet! You better clear that path, now that you’ve done this without permission!” Ren pounds on the door to his shop. Someone must have blocked it inside. He looks back at Joel. “You, at least you seem to have some sort of decency. How’d you get mixed up with this group?”

“Oh, no, I’m not with them. I’m just me and my dogs. Martyn heard me talking to people in the village about stuff and invited me.” Joel holds up his hands. He knows better than to mess with an angered werewolf.

That’s when the door opens, Martyn ushering everyone out of the building. Ren turns back to them with his arms crossed. “You should all feel deep shame, taking advantage of my business. Pay now, or spend time to clear a path to the village.” His voice is stern, commanding, and angered.

“…fine. We’ll clear a path. It’s going to take a while though. We gotta find someplace to settle first.” Cleo says.

Ren softly growls. “So be it. But I expect to see work started soon. Now go. All four of you.” Ren turns to Joel as the group scampers off. “As for you, you’ll have to make a separate deal. Do you have any money though, first?”

Joel shakes his head. “No, I just spent quite a lot back in the village. I’ll be honest, I don’t really have anything right now, and I don’t want to be left in an I-owe-you situation. I don’t like owing things to people. I’ll come back when I have something to trade for that…but any chance I could look at some books?”

“Seeking any particular knowledge? I could help you search.” Ren asks.

Joel nods “Yeah, I really just need to find some information on the northern kingdoms.”

“It’s your lucky day my friend, I myself hail from the north! I certainly have books with information on them. Is there anything in particular you want to find out?” Ren ushers Joel back inside, headed to the piles of books.

“Like basic history, symbols, banners, things like that.” Joel isn’t really entirely sure what will give him what he’s looking for. And he’s not keen on showing his medallion. Especially if there’s a possibility Ren may ask for it as payment.

Ren shuffles through a pile, before pulling out a book. “History of the North. It ends about fifty years ago, but it should be good enough for your needs.” He looks to Joel “What are you needing with that information, exactly?”

“Just curious about history, you know. Where I’m from we don’t know much at all about the northern kingdoms.” A total lie. But again, he’s in no way inclined to share the medallion.

Ren nods “A fellow enjoyer of knowledge and history, I can respect it. Now let’s see…either you can pay to purchase it, or I can smell some bread in your bag there, and I’d gladly trade for that.”

Without hesitation, Joel takes out the loaf of bread and exchanges it for the book. “I’ll be off, then. Like I said, I will come back when I have something to exchange for using that magic pedestal. Farewell.” Joel leaves semi-quickly. He has some more information to go off of now. And he can get away from that place.

The further away he goes, the more the feeling goes away. He relaxes once he’s finally back home that evening. He starts a fire, puts his things away, and falls asleep reading.

Chapter Text

Grian didn’t sleep very well again. He stayed asleep, yes, but this time he had a terrible nightmare. No doubt an influence from the other Watchers. He wakes up to see Scar staring at him from across the shack on his bed.

“You alright? Seemed like you were having a pretty bad dream.” Scar asks him, concerned.

Grian stares back, confused. “How did you know that? I literally just woke up.”

“You were really tense and kept moving around. Almost looked and sounded in pain…muttering something I couldn’t understand. Every time I woke up last night I could see and hear you.” Scar comes over to sit on the pile of hay by Grian’s feet.

Grian sighs. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t even really understand it. It was just kinda nonsense I wouldn’t know how to describe.” He sits up. “Let’s not dwell on that. What’s the plan for today?”

“Well, I was thinking. If you’re going to want to build a house, we’re going to need lots of stuff. And if other people are new here, they need to build houses too if they don’t stay in the village. And lots of houses are made of wood. Now, there’s a pretty uncommon tree not too far from here. It’s got this super dark wood I think other people might want.” Scar stands, digging through his clothes and pulling out a non-singed cloak.

Grian furrows his brows. “Where are you going with this…? Because it feels off-track from your initial thought.”

Scar pulls the cloak over his shirt, continuing as if Grian hadn’t spoke. “I think we should go collect it and have people buy it off of us! Of course you can use as much of it as you want, if you want to use it. But this way there’s only one way to get it. We could make a lot of money!”

“Is this just you trying to delay me building a house because you’re attached to this shack?” Grian stands

Scar pauses, and slowly looks to Grian. “…no…? Well, a little, but also no! What kind of a businessman would I be if I had no business? I’d just be a man!”

Grian crosses his arms. “This seems too legit. Everyone talked about you being a scam artist. Where’s the scam here?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now come on, we’ve got to get moving if we are going to go chop all those trees!” Scar rushes outside.

By late morning, the pair had reached the patch of dark oak trees. Scar left Pizza back home to let him rest after an eventful few days with near constant walking. So it was just the two of them as they get a tent from Scar’s supplies set up.

Grian questions how exactly he got here. How, in the supposedly near infinite decisions he’s made in his life, whether he actually remembers them or not, has he gotten to this point. Where he’s about to work with a known scam artist to chop down a whole group of trees needed for a scam he knows nothing about.

——————

Skizz hadn’t taken a long walk by himself in a while. It was pretty nice. And quiet. Oh boy, was it quiet. He didn’t have to hear about the next big scam, or get talked into being in one, or have to hear that llama bleating every couple of minutes the whole time.

As he makes his way to the swamp, he can see movement across the water in the distance. Someone was over there, chopping some of the trees. Seems like they’re having a bit of trouble with it. Perhaps he could go over and help.

He makes his way over, using an abandoned rowboat he found along the edge of the water. As he gets closer, he can see the person better, even if from behind.

For one, they’re another avian. Bright red wings with yellow and blue feathers towards the ends. Seemed like they take good care of their wings. They also have sandy-blond hair that was cut short and had a very slight wave to it.

“Need a hand there? Looks like you’re struggling with that tree.” Skizz calls out as the approaches the edge of the water.

The man jumps and turns. “Oh, um, sorry, you scared me there, I didn’t hear you coming up behind me in the water there.”

Skizz chuckles “My bad. I was trying to see if I’d have seen you before. But I don’t think I have. The name’s Skizz.” He holds out his hand.

“Grian.” Grian shakes his hand. “And you wouldn’t, I’m new to this area.”

“I see! Gathering up some wood to build something, then? Do you need any help?” He investigates the axe currently wedged in the tree. He recalls something Ren said about the pedestal working to make tools more effective at their jobs.

“I’ve got it handled, these trees are just very thick and are taking a while to get through.” Grian says, tugging the axe free from the wood.

“You know, I think I know a guy who could make it easier if you want to do it on your own. His name is Ren, he has this business where he shows you how to make things magic! It could make your axe there better at chopping.” He smiles.

Grian nods. “I heard about it, but haven't had a chance to look for it though. I’m a little bit preoccupied for the time being.”

“Trust me, you want to get there before you take another swing. It’s totally worth it! Here, I can even show you the way-“ Skizz puts an arm behind Grian to start leading him along, but gets interrupted by another, extremely familiar, voice behind him.

“Hands off Skizz, that’s my new friend, not yours.”

Skizz turns to see Scar standing by some other trees, resting an axe over his shoulder. Grian steps aside as well to get out of the way.

“Scar. I see you’re already scamming a newcomer into doing your dirty work? Gonna charge people to come see trees just for them to conveniently have become stumps?” Skizz crosses his arms.

“I wasn’t scammed actually, I made this decision myself because I accidentally blew him up.” Grian pipes up.

“Wait hold up-what?” Skizz looks between Grian and Scar. Grian explains, and Skizz just laughs.

Scar frowns “You could at least pretend to show some sympathy. We spent most of our lives as friends together. I literally died, Skizz. It’s like you’re laughing at a funeral right now.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re living and breathing in front of me right now. You seem fine to me. And you even have a new scheme underway.” He motions to the partially chopped-into tree in front of him.

Scar huffs. “For your information, I’m not scheming. This is for building. And my new buddy Grian here is assisting. Nothing shady or suspicious here.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” He looks to Grian. “If you ever want out of this or need help, you come find me. I have plenty of experience dealing with this guy.”

Grian nods, and with that, Skizz gets back into the boat and leaves. His walk was ruined at that point. He was too riled up. So he makes his way home.

——————

Scar glares at Skizz as he rows away back through the swamp. “You think you know a guy, and then just one day he leaves you. Maybe…” he sighs, setting the axe down on the ground and sitting on a conveniently positioned rock, “maybe I never really actually knew him after we started getting older…”

Scar buries his face in his hands, hearing Grian walk over towards him. “Do you want to talk about it…? I’m not always the best with feelings, but maybe it will help if you get it out of your system.” He can feel as Grian sits beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“…I didn’t have any friends in school. People thought I was a magnet for bad luck. Until Skizz came along. His family moved to the village, in the house right next door to where my family lived. We clicked right away. Causing mischief, running around. If you saw one, the other was certainly nearby, and you better hope the other wasn’t behind you or you were about to be pranked.” He chuckles sadly.

“Then one day, I noticed he started acting a little bit…different. He was definitely still friendly with me, but…I don’t know. He would spend more and more time with other people. I’d ask if I could come, and he always asked, or at least said he did, but it was always a no. So I was basically just alone again…” he doesn’t know when the tears formed. But he was choking on them now, fighting against the urge to sob.

He feels as Grian moves his hand from one shoulder to the other, giving him a side hug. He also feels a wing accompany it. “I know what that’s like…to be alone. It’s terrible. Even worse if you’ve known what it’s like to have someone there, someone who totally gets you, just for them to go away. But you can’t make them come back if they don’t want to. You can’t make them stay if they want to go. That only makes it worse in the long run. Give them the opportunity to return on their own, and maybe you can start again.”

“…Thank you, Grian…I really needed that…” Scar manages to get those few words out after a moment of silence. Maybe the time he shared with Skizz will forever be part of the past now. And he’ll just have to accept that.

They spend a long time sat there in silence, just two lonely souls in each other’s company. Eventually, though, they get back to the task.

It takes a long time, quite a few days in fact, but eventually they’ve done it. They chopped down every single dark oak tree.

In those days, they’ve gotten to chat and get to know each other a bit better. Scar found Grian to be pretty fun when he wasn’t so serious and uptight. And he could tell that Grian was definitely starting to be a bit more relaxed around him. Not just conversationally, but also physically. His shoulders weren’t so tensed, he didn’t have his wings ready and set to fly up at any moment.

Scar wishes he could be happier about this. But the same thoughts always keep coming back. Grian will leave. Once he loses his first life, he’ll pack his things and go. It could happen at any moment. You can’t make him come back if he doesn’t want to. He can’t make Grian stay if he wants to go. Just as Grian himself said.

——————

It had been several days since Etho had returned to the village with the others after leaving Renchanting. As he was the first person of them to slip away and steal from the shop, he’s put it upon himself to be the one in charge of the project that Ren gave them.

The others argued at first, but Etho convinced them by saying he will personally take the majority of the responsibility for himself, with planning where it goes and communicating with Ren and so on. The least they could do is show up and help with the actual heavy work.

So of course when he sees Ren headed towards town one morning, he instantly makes his way up to him at the edge of the village.

“Good morning, Ren. Nice to see you again. How’s business going?” He asks.

Ren lets out a quiet growl. “Would be a bit better if more people could find me easier. But thankfully it’s had some ounce of success. Any plans to start on that path soon? Before it gets too cold.” He walks towards the marketplace, and Etho walks alongside him.

“I’m working on it, but I definitely wanted to work with you for some of the finer details before we get started on things.”

Ren pauses and looks at Etho “You’re working on it? But what about everyone else who was involved?”

“I was the one who stole from you first. If I hadn’t slipped away and done it, the others probably wouldn’t have done so either. It’s my fault, so I am taking most of the responsibility. Besides, those guys are certainly more down on their luck than I am. I think they could use a little extra time to get situated first.” Etho continues walking on ahead of Ren, turning back to look at him once he finishes talking.

Ren sighs. “I suppose. It’s a very noble thing to do for your fellow traveler, whether you’ve known each other for long or not. I commend you for it.” He stops at a stall to purchase some food.

“Perhaps you could show me about where you’d like for the path to run through, so I can get a better idea of what we’re working with and plan accordingly.” Etho suggests.

Ren ponders a moment. “I suppose that would be a good idea. I did have a spot in mind for where the path would be on my end, and I’d prefer it to end there.”

“It’s a deal, then.” Etho nods to Ren.

They continue to walk about the marketplace, and Etho joins Ren as he heads out into the woods. They walk around the trees, ducking under branches, and careful to not trip on any roots. They end up coming out exactly where Ren wishes the path on his end to be.

They go up to Renchanting, and Ren stops inside to drop off his things. During their time, they also made an agreement to walk some existing paths in the area together, get a lay of the land and see if there’s any paths they would possibly want to link up with.

One path leads them to a clearing with a hill, a place Ren states he’s been before, and he knows someone familiar with the area lives up top. They head on up to see a mostly built stone home.

“Skizz? Are you here?” Ren asks, peering through the door.

“Ren? Is that you out there?” A voice calls from inside.

“Yes it is. I could use your assistance once more, my friend. Etho here and I are exploring the area and we could use someone who knows his way around.” Ren responds.

Skizz walks out. “Sure, I guess. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little out of it for a couple days now. Had a…bad encounter with a former friend.” His eyes were dark, and his hair was certainly a mess.

“My goodness, Skizz. You certainly look like you could use some fresh air! Don’t even worry about telling us where to go, just let us know if we’re headed in a dead end or a dangerous direction.

Skizz agrees to it, and they all talk some more as they get moving. The sky begins to slowly grow darker, and they are much too far from anywhere they know to go. They press on, looking for any sort of clearing, only to find themselves out of the woods and on the edge of a vast desert.

“Look, there’s some sort of shack over there.” Etho points out. In the distance, he can see a small building of sorts. He’s about to walk in that direction when Skizz grabs him.

“No, absolutely not. Trust me, you do not want to go over that way. I know the guy that lives there, and he’s bad news. We should-“ Skizz turns to scan and look around the area, but he goes pale. “Oh no, I looked at it!”

Etho and Ren look as well, but by then it was already teleporting its way towards Skizz. The enderman, the species so named as there was a time they were believed to end-all-men. Skizz tries to run and flee, to stall for time . It seems his sword was stuck in its sheath.

Etho and Ren follow behind, pulling out their swords. But the enderman manages to get a hold of Skizz’s neck, teleporting him with it to a further away spot.

Etho and Ren run desperately towards them, but a pulsing sensation and soft rumble in the sky lets them know they were too late. Regardless, they still approach and slay the creature.

Ren takes Skizz’s unconscious body in his arms, and carries him back towards the treeline while Etho does his best to fend off monsters.

They set up a campfire and wait for Skizz to wake up to see what he would like to do after that happened. Neither Etho or Ren are surprised that Skizz just wants to go to sleep and then get back home.

And so they did.

Chapter Text

Scott and Jimmy get to work on their new home as soon as they can. Scott plans out their house in one of the cliff faces while Jimmy goes about setting up a farm. Each playing to their strengths.

They work to gather materials, though Jimmy makes use of his wings to be able to explore further and survey the surrounding area. Sometimes he returns with supplies, sometimes with information. If he’s lucky, he’ll have both!

At night, they lay inside a makeshift tent on top of a blanket draped over a pile of leaves. Just until they’re able to get a proper bed. It’s not the most comfortable, but they make do. Jimmy lays on his stomach, with one of his wings resting on top of Scott, providing him with a little bit of extra warmth.

One day, Jimmy wakes up really early to be able to surprise Scott with something. He sneaks away and starts to build a structure on the opposite cliff face from their home. He wants to put together a storage area where they can keep their materials and some crops.

Scott wakes up alone. “Jimmy…? Where are you…?” He sits up lazily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He hears the sound of a hammer building outside the tent, so he shuffles over and peeks out. There, he sees Jimmy building a…structure, that’s for sure.

He walks over, pulling his jacket closer around him. “Jimmy…what is this?” He looks up at where Jimmy is perched, nailing some wood down to look like a roof of sorts.

Jimmy grins down at Scott. “It’s a storage area! This way we don’t have to keep all the spare building materials in the house or cluttered on the ground. Or at least, once it’s hollowed out it will be that. I was building up a front part for it so it’s nicer than just something propped up against a hollowed out hole. What do you think?” He flies down and lands beside Scott, very proud of himself.

Scott…doesn’t want to say how actually ugly it is. He can’t be so mean to that face! And it’s a really thoughtful gesture, too. “I think it’s a great idea, Jimmy. Look at you, thinking ahead about those sorts of things.” He smiles, holding his hands. “Would it be alright if I added some stuff to it at some point? Just some of the finer details.”

Jimmy nods “Yeah, of course you can! It’s our home, you should get a say in things like that.” He kisses Scott’s cheek as he finishes speaking. “Now I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely starving for some breakfast, I am not used to waking up that early and then also not eating.”

——————

Later that day, Jimmy flies out to survey the area again. He makes a stop at the village first, listening in to conversations to hear about anything new. That one farmer still hasn’t found his cows, a con artist was spotted nearby, there’s that business in the forest, some guy keeps getting mentioned, eh, nothing exactly new.

He heads off, going in a different direction this time than he had the previous days. And subsequently, he keeps getting distracted by different things. A cute animal, an interesting plant, spotting people, the sort.

Unfortunately, he ends up miscalculating as he weaves through some branches and full-on smacks his wing against a particularly sturdy one. He lands as quickly and safely as he can on the ground to investigate.

He gets a good look, and can see part of it is scraped up and some small feathers are missing. He tries moving his wing, but any way he keeps it other than tucked against his back hurts way too much. He recalls from flying that he saw a clearing nearby where someone was building a house.

He makes his way there, careful of every moment so as not to hurt his wing. He starts up the hill, calling out ahead of him. “Hello? Is there someone there? Anyone?”

“Yeah, but I’m back here. Who are you?” Jimmy honestly jumps a bit hearing a voice behind him instead of ahead of him. He turns to see another avian standing there.

“Hello, uh, my name’s Jimmy. I just injured my wing, and I remembered seeing a house here while flying. I was hoping that perhaps whoever lived there could spare some bandages.” He winces as he moves his wing out, revealing the scrape, along with the feathers around it slowly being stained in red.

“Oh ouch, I know that’s gotta hurt bad. Come on, let’s get that wrapped up for ya.” The man leads the way up the hill, and Jimmy follows.

Through conversation, he learns his name is Skizz, and he’s lived in this area for a really long time. He’s making his own place to have a fresh start for himself. Jimmy shares how he’s come to this place with his husband after they ran away together.

That’s when both men jump, feeling a strange pulse. They both get the same sinking feeling. Someone was dead. Jimmy immediately thinks to how it’s started to grow dark, and Scott is alone.

“You felt that too…?” Jimmy asks, putting a hand on his ring. Skizz nods in reply, a hand over his ear.

Then, the word ‘Scar’ shows up. And Jimmy can see how Skizz goes through many facial expressions at once, before settling on nonchalant.

“I don’t know what happened, but that jerk…for all he’s done, honestly, he deserved it.” Skizz shrugs and goes back to looking at Jimmy.

That very much unsettles Jimmy. “How can you just shrug something like that off? Through some kind of strange phenomenon, someone died and for some reason we know about it! That doesn’t just usually happen here, does it?” His feathers are all puffed.

Skizz shakes his head “No, it doesn’t. But I knew that guy. He used to be my friend, but then he became a professional con artist and made a living off scamming people. Cared about money more than…friendship.” He hesitates on the last word. Like he thought over what he was going to say and changed his mind.

“I see. I um…I should try to make my way back home. Scott’s probably wondering where I am, I was supposed to get back before now.” Jimmy gets to his feet and heads towards the door.

“You might want to bring a torch if you plan to walk in the dark. One moment,” Skizz gets up, grabbing an unlit torch. He’s about to poke it into his fireplace, when Jimmy interrupts.

“Actually, uh, now that we’ve wrapped up the injured spot it feels a little bit better, I think I can just fly enough to get home like this. But I appreciate the thought!” He leaves quickly before Skizz can get another word in, painfully flying his way back home.

——————

Scott spends the day finishing and fixing up a lot of what Jimmy had built that morning. He loves his husband dearly, but Jimmy is not one for design. The basic structure wasn’t bad, it was surprisingly sturdy for what it was, but it was very plain and ugly.

As he finishes up and takes a step back to admire his work, he realizes how much of the day has gone by. He frowns. Jimmy should have been home by now. It’s going to start getting dark soon.

He works on tending to other things while he waits, all outside so he can keep an eye out for Jimmy. Dealing with plants, adjusting the tent, things like that. It begins to start getting dark.

And then there’s a pulse in his ring, and the sinking feeling of somehow knowing a person had died.

Jimmy still isn’t home.

Scott’s mind is racing. He starts pulling together supplies to go set out to find Jimmy, completely missing when the word ‘Scar’ shows up before him.

He sets out from the valley, torch in one hand and sword in another. As he makes his way through the woods, he fends off monsters and calls out for Jimmy. He wanders for nearly an hour before- “Scott!”

Scott looks up through an opening in the trees, just in time to see Jimmy land very awkwardly onto the ground in front of him. Immediately, they envelop each other into a close hug. Jimmy nestles his face against Scott’s neck/shoulder, and Scott tilts his head to lean against Jimmy’s.

“Where were you? You had me so worried! I thought you’d…” Scott starts, before tears well up into his eyes, and he chokes a bit on his words.

Jimmy rubs Scott’s back, helping him to settle down or let it out. “I was worried about you, too. Until I saw someone else’s name appear…all I could think was you were all alone back at home…”

“Wait-what do you mean a name appeared?” Scott pulls back a bit, looking to Jimmy’s face.

“I can explain more once we’re back home safe. But I don’t exactly understand what happened myself…I’ll try my best.”

——————

Once back home, the pair immediately duck into their tent and Jimmy explains everything that he can to Scott.

Meanwhile, Scott gets out the last bit of healing potion they have left and applies it to Jimmy’s wing. They only had one when they left home, and agreed to use it sparingly until it ran out or they could get more. Pouring a bit at a time onto a cloth and putting it up against a cut or scrape. Most often to Jimmy.

“So some guy named Scar died, we all knew about it, even though only one of us actually knew him, and this isn’t a regular occurrence here so it’s just some sort of odd magic affecting us…?” Scott frowns. Something about all that just isn’t adding up.

Jimmy yawns, nodding. “I’m sure we can work it out sometime in the morning…? I’ve been flying almost all day, and about an hour of it was on an injured wing.” He leans against Scott, head resting on his shoulder.

Scott sighs. “Fine…but tomorrow I’m gonna get down to business. Something strange happened magically, and I’m going to figure it out. It may be a good idea for me to create an enchanting pedestal too, soon. I’ll have to get the materials for it…”

As he spoke, he was very gently coaxed into laying down on the makeshift bed with Jimmy, who fell asleep almost immediately once he was cuddled up to Scott. He keeps muttering to himself as he slowly drifts off as well.

——————

The next few days are rather uneventful. They continue to build while Scott struggles to find an explanation for everything.

Skizz died as well at some point, and Jimmy mentions that was the man he’d met. So now the plot thickens.

Now more than ever, Scott wants to put a pedestal together. Which means he has to get geared up to go to a very dangerous place.

——————

“Xelqua has thrown this story off the rails already, we have to pull him out of there, now.”

“Fool, you can’t do that! He’s already woven himself deep into it. It could break if you did that.”

“Surely it can’t have gone that far off, right? Almost everything is exactly as it needs to be at this moment. So what if one player has a little extra help right now? Xelqua is sure to lose a life soon. Then he’s less involved.”

“Right. Perhaps we can wait until then.”

“That Listener is still doing well in following our story, even if it’s slightly off.”

“This can still end our way.”

“Our will be done.”

Chapter Text

It was really hard for Cleo to be able to do anything in the village. Even with Grian’s vouch and her never actually doing anything to anyone, she noticed how all the people in the village would avoid her. So she spent most of the time while Bdubs was recovering from the blast taking care of him.

“I think I just have to stay away from this place, Bdubs. Nobody from this place will even get close to me, much less talk to me or sell wares.” Cleo sighs, checking up on his scraped knee. Looks better than it had been, but she still wraps it back up again.

“So where are we going, then?” He asks, looking from his knee to her face.

She pauses a moment and looks back at him. “What do you mean we? I’m the one the people have a problem with, you’re fine to stay here. It’s what you traveled here for.”

“Yeah, but you’re my friend now. And I wanna stick with you if you’re alright with that. We could set up somewhere nearby and I could come to town if we needed anything. We can help each other!” He smiles wide.

She gives him a small smile back. “Are you absolutely sure? I don’t want to hold you back just because you feel bad for me.”

“I’m completely sure! Cleo, we’re both here to build new lives, and it’s much easier to do with others, especially if you’re friends. I say tomorrow we will go scouting for a spot! Sound good?” He holds out a hand.

Cleo nods, shaking it. “It’s a plan. Now rest up, if we’re going to search for a place to get set, we should make sure to get enough shut eye.”

The duo soon go to sleep, and first thing in the morning, they gather their things and set out. Cleo happens upon an overgrown path, and they follow it out of curiosity. Paths, even overgrown ones, means there’s something significant on the other end.

And that’s exactly what they find.

They both let out a small gasp, leaving the treeline and spotting a small, dilapidated looking, castle-like structure. Well, small may not be the best to describe it, it appeared to have multiple floors, but it was certainly not the size of a regular castle.

“Woah…this place is so cool…I wonder how long it’s been abandoned? That whole section of the roof up there is entirely caved in.” Cleo walks closer to the building, inspecting it.

Bdubs follows suit, walking right into the open doorway. “I don’t know, but it could definitely do with some repairs…might be easier than building a whole new spot. Maybe. I don’t actually know, I’m just trying to imagine actually living here, it’d be pretty neat.”

“Yeah, it would. I say we go for it!” Cleo smiles, looking around at the messy room surrounding them.

They start getting to work, cleaning up the main room they’re in and making a temporary setup. Just enough so that they can get a start and work their way up to cleaning and repairing the other floors.

As they get working, they start to run into some issues. Namely that they don’t have enough materials to patch up everything. Gathering some stones isn’t too much of an issue, just incredibly laborious. No, the problem lies within that the wood is dark oak, which is hard to come by in this area.

That being said, they overheard people in the village talking about how they spotted Scar and Grian gathering dark oak wood recently. So while Bdubs gets to work on gathering stone and patching up the walls, Cleo is sent off to the desert with some of Bdubs’ money.

Now, Bdubs specifically told her to ask to get some saplings, so that this way they wouldn’t need to haul wood back and forth for days on end. He sent her with money just in case they want some financial compensation in exchange for those.

——————

Grian stands atop the mountain in the desert, surveying the area. He and Scar had agreed to build up top to have a view over the entire desert. He’s already made a small start on construction, beginning on setting up a foundation.

But meanwhile, Scar spent a lot of time transporting most of the wood they gathered from the swamp to the desert. Grian had helped for a bit, but Scar told him to start on the house, so he did as he was told.

He spots Scar with Pizza in the distance, returning from the swamp with a smaller pile of wood than they’d had returned with previously. Perhaps this was the last of it.

He flies down to them, landing just a few feet from Scar. “Welcome back, I just got some foundations laid out for your house, I gotta get onto the framework next. Is this the last haul of wood from the swamp?” He walks alongside him as they make their way towards the base of the mountain.

“First off, yes, it is the last of it. Second, you keep calling it my house…you are aware you’re living here too, at least until you leave? It’s our house until then.” He walks on, giving Grian a small smile.

Grian nods. “Yeah, I guess…I don’t know. It doesn’t exactly seem right to me to call this home if I’m going to leave at any moment. It’s just your house that I’m crashing in for now.” He cannot let himself get too attached to any of the players. It’s only going to hurt himself in the long run. He knows that. He’s only here to fix his mistake, and then he can go.

They make their way up the back of the mountain, into a cave where Scar decided to store all of the wood and saplings for now. He helps to unload it all. “So how much are you going to sell for the wood?”

“I don’t really know yet, but what I do know is that the saplings are going to be way more expensive. Especially since you need four to grow a tree.” Scar responds, setting some wood into a pile.

Grian pauses to look over at Scar. “Why would you sell the saplings? They’re not going to bother buying wood if they can just get their own trees. Doesn’t matter what you charge, it will be a better deal in the long haul to only sell wood.”

He watches as Scar slowly turns to him. “…I didn’t even think about that…you’re totally right, I can’t have a monopoly if other people can get it themselves! See Grian, this is why it’s a great thing we’re working together, we can share ideas and make it even better!” He puts his hands on Grian’s shoulders, a proud smile on his face.

Grian smiles back, gently grabbing Scar’s wrists and pulling his hands off of him. “You have no clue what kind of a mess you’d have if I didn’t point that out to you. Now come on, I want to show you the layout I’ve got going.”

“Okay, but just a minute first? Pizza’s a bit tired so I want to get him to the shed so he can get rested up.” Scar pets Pizza’s neck as he explains.

“Oh yeah, go right ahead. I’ll just wait up top.” He turns, heading out the cave and flying to the mountaintop, which wasn’t really too far away. He sits beside the remains of a campfire from the night before, thinking things over in his head as he waits.

Scar returns eventually, and Grian gets to explaining his plans. He flies around to give Scar an idea of what all the dimensions will be. All the while using terms like ‘your room’ and ‘your roof’. The first part of not getting attached is to keep himself separate from anything he does here. It’s all a favor, a debt to repay, until he can go…

He takes so long to explain, night falls and he looks over to see Scar asleep by a campfire he’d lit. He sighs. “Guess I’ll finish in the morning…” he lands, across the slowly burning out fire from Scar. He watches him for a minute, thinking of the story he was meant to follow.

Scar wasn’t supposed to lose his first life yet. He was supposed to be in the village when Joel showed up, and they were going to work together, bond over their love of their animal companions. He was going to trick his way into Renchanting and steal some books for Joel, and they’d resist against them when Ren rose to power. He’d fall to Martyn during the final stand. But that first step is gone…so what’s going to happen now?

He doesn’t want to think about it too much. He can only hope everything will balance itself out. Maybe there’s still a chance for them to work together. He’s going to leave, and Scar will need a new friend. A friend. He’ll need a friend.

The fire is getting really low now, and the desert air is cold. Grian quickly gets some more wood for the fire, but it’s slow to catch. He sees Scar shivering there. He can’t just let him stay cold like that…

Hesitantly, he lays on the ground nearby Scar, but not too close. Only just enough distance that he can rest a wing over him, acting as a makeshift blanket. He sighs in relief that it’s enough to keep Scar warm. And soon, he falls asleep himself.

——————

Scar wakes in the morning to the remains of a fire in front of him, the sun rising over the horizon, and a blanket of red feathers resting over him. He stares in confusion, almost jumping a bit as he looks over to see Grian asleep nearby, his one wing extended over him while the other is tucked close to himself. He’s very careful to not move around any more than he already has, seeing Grian actually sleeping peacefully instead of how he has been while they’ve been working together.

He tries to remember what Grian was saying last night, about plans for their house. It seems so…big. The bedroom itself is bigger than the shack, for crying out loud! He doesn’t really know what he’s going to do with all that space. Especially if Grian plans to leave.

He feels the wing begin to shift a bit, and he comes back into focus to see Grian starting to wake up. He smirks, an idea popping into his head. “If you wanted to cuddle, you could have just asked.” He teases, chuckling.

Grian’s eyes snap open and he sits up quickly, his face turning a similar shade as his feathers, which were now puffed up. “Shit-sorry-I just-you were cold and-“

“Relax, I’m just teasing you. I don’t mind it, I was getting pretty cold, almost woke up. Thanks for that.” He gives him a warm smile. He really didn’t mind. It kept him warm, and Grian was able to sleep fine.

Grian was about to reply, but his gaze was averted to something else. “-there’s someone climbing the mountain.”

Scar gets up, walking over to where Grian was staring. There, he sees a man with spiky blond hair making his way up, with some slight difficulty. “Who goes there? What business do you have with the desert?”

The man looks up, and Scar recognizes him as one of the people who watched him die to the creeper. What was his name? Rango? Ranger?

“Tango, right? What are you doing here?” Grian asks, standing beside Scar.

“Yeah, that’s me. I was looking for you, actually. But then on the way I saw this shack, and I peeked inside and got a little spooked by the llama in there, a little corner of the roof caught fire-“

Scar doesn’t wait to hear Tango finish, immediately running down the mountain and directly to the shack. “Pizza! Pizza I’m coming!” He’s relieved to see the shack intact, and Pizza unharmed inside.

He turns to see Grian and Tango running up as well, both wide eyed. “Scar, you didn’t let him finish explaining-“

“I heard shack, llama, and fire, Grian. Pizza means everything to me, I needed to be absolutely sure he was alright. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.” He looks to Tango. “Explain yourself.”

Tango takes a breath before he continues. “I’m part blaze, so if my emotions are out of hand or I’m spooked, fire happens. I keep a large flask of water on me just in case, which I used to put out the little bit that lit up.” He motions to his flask, then points out the small bit of singed corner above him. “I wouldn’t have walked away without putting the fire out, especially with an animal involved.”

“Fine. But what did you come here for in the first place?” Scar crosses his arms. He’s obviously still a bit grumpy. The shack was still a little bit on fire, Pizza was still in the potential of being in danger.

“Right! I was looking for you guys. I heard people mentioning in the village that one of them had seen you guys getting a lot of dark oak wood and saplings, and they wanted to know if you happened to find any saplings, since it’s an uncommon tree and all.”

“Oh, well-“ Scar starts, but sees someone walk out of the treeline. Cleo, if he’s remembering the name correctly. “Oh hello there! What brings you out to the desert?” Nice, an excuse to change topic.

“Hello again, Scar. Been a bit over a week since I last saw you, how are you doing?” She walks up to the group. “And you too, Grian. What have you guys been up to lately?”

“Oh we’re both doing just fine, Cleo. We’re working on building ourselves a house on that mountain over there, so we can see over the whole desert!” He puts one hand on Grian’s shoulder, using the other to gesture up at the mountain.

“You wouldn’t happen to be building with…oh I don’t know…dark oak, perhaps…?” Cleo smiles, knowingly. “Because I could really do with some saplings, if you name a price.”

“About that, um…” He looks to Grian, who shakes his head. “…maybe…if you give us something…we can keep that in mind…if we find any…”

“But we don’t have any.” Grian quickly adds on.

“Yes, right, we have none. But you could give us something in exchange for…reputation! Like friendship, but it goes for the whole desert, and the more favorable your reputation with it, and us, the more you can have access to within the desert.” He smiles, making everything up on the spot, but doing his best to make it seem convincing. “So yeah, even though we don’t have any saplings, we could keep it in mind if you have a high enough reputation over here.”

Tango and Cleo both frown. “But isn’t the desert just you two…?” Tango asks.

“And Pizza!” Scar insists.

Cleo sighs. “Fine, whatever. What do you want.” She starts to shuffle through a large satchel, but a purple glint off of the black cloak catches his eye.

“Wait-why did your cloak look purple for a second there? Is it just really really dark purple?” Scar walks closer, investigating closer.

“No, it’s black. The purple thing is because it’s got some magic in it.” She continues to look through the satchel.

Scar’s eyes widen. “Magic you say? How? Where did you get it? I haven’t heard of anyone who could make magic clothes!” He grins

Cleo stops digging and looks up at Scar. “Oh the cloak was just a regular one from in town. The magic was done at this shop called Renchanting. Word of advice: don’t steal from there, or you might have to build a road.”

“Would you be willing to part with the cloak in exchange for reputation? You can even have the one I’m wearing right now as a bonus!” He motions to the dark yellow cloak he’s currently wearing. Nevermind he just wore it all yesterday while hauling wood and then even slept in it. But she doesn’t need to know that.

She hesitates. “…you promise that you’ll give me some saplings?” She grips onto the cloak.

“If we come across any, you will receive some.” Scar smiles. He removes his cloak as she slowly pulls hers off, and they exchange them. He pulls the black cloak on, moving the cloth around to look at the purple sheen.

“So where’s the saplings, then? You have to have gathered some.” Cleo crosses her arms. “You don’t just chop a small forest and not gather materials to regrow.”

“…the desert is now closed. Grian, please escort these two back into the treeline.” He looks at Grian.

Grian sighs, drawing his sword. “Come on you two, this way-ahhh!” Grian’s sleeve is suddenly on fire. Tango’s hair is on fire, and he’s panicking too. “Oh no oh no I’m so sorry!” Tango pleads. Grian runs for the river, and Tango chases him. Scar follows, concerned about his friend.

——————

Cleo watches the men run. The audacity. They have to have saplings. And she’s absolutely not spending days on days transporting all the wood she and Bdubs needs. Now she’s down a brand new, magic cloak, and up and old and frankly smelly one. It smells just like-

She jumps, hearing a noise from inside of the shack. “What the hell was that…” she asks herself, taking a peek inside.

The llama.

An idea pops in her head. If they’re going to play dirty, she’s going to play dirty. “You, my friend, are going to be a very useful bargaining tool…feeling up for a little walk?” She approaches carefully, holding a hand out to Pizza.

He stands up, approaching her. He can smell Scar on the cloak she’s wearing. She very carefully pets him, letting him get used to her for a moment while she takes the reins in her other hand. She moves her hand away from petting him and starts backing up, leading Pizza out slowly.

In doing so, she accidentally bumps into the doorway and cuts her arm on an exposed nail. “Ow, shit! Oh gods, oh no, uh…” she quickly rips some cloth from her skirt and haphazardly puts it over her arm. She hears voices coming back. No time to waste. She makes off into the woods with Pizza.

Chapter Text

Grian runs as fast as he can towards the river, hearing Tango and Scar shouting behind him. In the corner of his eye, he can see someone running out of the treeline towards their group. He can’t focus on that now. His sleeve is burning and his skin is starting to burn.

He practically leaps into the water, shoving his arm ahead of him as he plunges below its surface. He feels the flames hiss as they go out, his skin feeling both very raw and stinging with cold. Once he’s all good, he comes back to the surface to see Scar and Tango with…Scott. Scott’s here. Which means he’s just one step closer to hopefully saving Jimmy.

Grian makes his way to the riverbank, soaking wet. He sees Scar spot him and come over, and he takes his hand when offered to help get him pulled out. “Grian, are you okay? Did you get hurt? Show me your arm!” Scar asks him frantically, grabbing his other hand and pulling it towards him to look over Grian’s arm.

“Scar, I’m fine-agh!” Grian winces as Scar pulls back the burnt sleeve, revealing a small patch of bright red skin, a couple of small blisters already forming.

Scar widens his eyes. “No, you’re not! Let’s get this back in the water, I think I might have a half-full healing potion back at the shack? I’ll go get it-“ he leads Grian back down to the water, looking back towards the shack.

“I can grab it for you, you can stay with him.” Scott offers, a worried and sympathetic expression on his face.

“Thank you. I think it’s underneath the bed inside of a box with a couple other potions. If it’s there. I want to have a word with you, Tango.” Scar looks to Tango as Scott heads to the shack, repeating to himself the directions for finding the potion.

“Grian, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ Tango starts, but is interrupted by Scar. “Burning my shack and burning my friend are no way to get anything out of me. He wasn’t even going to actually attack, just lead the way for you guys! He-“

“Scar. Take a deep breath.” Grian gently smacks Scar with one of his wings. “It’s not too serious. He’s told us if he panics, fire can just happen. I doubt he even had control over it. Right?” Grian looks up at Tango. He doesn’t need Scar to be making enemies with people right now.

Tango nods. “I’m really sorry, Grian. I was trying to use my flask to put you out, too, but I don’t know if you heard me.”

Scott comes running back with the potion bottle in hand. “Found it. I also carry some bandages on me if you need them.” He hands the bottle and a roll of bandages to Scar.

“Thank you so much, uh…” Scar pauses “…you didn’t say your name yet, you just ran up and checked what was going on…”

“My name is Scott. My husband, Jimmy, and I recently moved into a flower valley in the area. I was just going for a walk to get familiar with this place and I saw you two on fire and getting chased by him through the treeline over there.” Scott points to where he ran out from.

Meanwhile, Scar has poured some of the potion on Grian’s burn and is now carefully wrapping the bandages around it. It still kinda stings a bit, and he can’t help but to flinch and quietly gasp/hiss throughout the process. He’s honestly pretty relieved that Scar is being patient with him though he process.

“There you go. We’ll check up on that later, hopefully the potion actually does its thing. It’s kinda old, so I don’t know how potent it is anymore.” He ties off the bandage, carefully moving Grian’s arm around to make sure it’s secure.

Grian smiles. It honestly kind of hurts how much of a lonely, kind soul Scar is meant to play in this story. “Thank you, Scar. And you, Scott, thanks for the bandages. It’s smart thinking to carry them on you.”

“I honestly kind of have to, my husband is so accident prone. He’s always getting scrapes and bruis-“ he pauses. “Wait, I just remembered something…” he looks at Scar. “He kept calling you Scar…is that a nickname, or…?”

“Nope, my name is Scar. Name didn't quite fit the face for several years. Why do you ask? Was it the village people?” He’s still making sure the bandages are secure, lightly pulling a couple spots where he knows the burn isn’t directly underneath.

Scott is slightly more panicked. “Either there’s two people named Scar, or you’re supposed to be dead is why…and I don’t know how in the world I know that, but it’s a long story…”

Scar looks up at him. “No, that was me. I died. But there’s apparently some sort of…what was it, Grian?” Looks back at Grian.

He sighs. “There’s a legend about a group of people who live three lives, and long story short, if one dies, the others know. Wherever you felt those pulses is what keeps track of your lives. You die, one green thing breaks, and the two remaining turn yellow.” Grian uses his free hand to display Scar’s bracelet on his wrist.

“I’ve never come across this legend before…the library back home was massive, too, you’d think there was something that would mention it.” Scott crosses his arms.

“Only Grian and another guy back at the village seem to know about it. But Etho doesn’t remember from where…do you, Grian?” Tango asks.

Grian shakes his head. “Afraid not, sorry. But back to what you were talking about before, your husband sounds pretty clumsy, then.” Change the subject. He’s gotta play into this now. Especially since he made it up.

Scott chuckles “I didn’t marry him for how graceful he was, that’s for sure. Honestly it’s pretty cute sometimes. And if he gets hurt, I get an excuse to patch him up and just sit and cuddle for a little bit.” His cheeks and the tips of his ears turn a little bit pink at the thought.

Scar smiles. “Aw, that’s so sweet! Grian, do you-“

“Absolutely not.”

“But you were technically cuddling me last night~” Scar teases him again, smirking.

Grian feels his face get really warm. “It was just my wing! And you were cold. We went over this this morning!”

“Whatever you say.” Scar chuckles, finally letting go of Grian’s hand and arm. He stands, holding his hand back out again pretty much right away. Grian takes hold and gets himself up.

“Grian, could I possibly ask you a few questions to the side? I won’t take too long.” Scott asks.

“Yeah sure. You alright with that Scar?” He looks up between the two of them.

“Go ahead. I wanna have a chat with Tango about stuff. I promise I’m not going to yell at him.” He adds on the last part seeing Grian make a face.

Grian nods. “Fine. Scott, lead the way.”

——————

Scar watches as Scott and Grian move just out of earshot, but are still within eyesight. Then he looks over to Tango. “Gotta say, those stunts you pulled, your reputation is pretty low, and without having built up any, it’s definitely in the negatives right now.”

He’s gotta build up on the reputation thing now. He did it right in front of Tango with Cleo, and if word spreads, he’s really gotta keep it up. Even if he’s making up as he goes.

Tango raises an eyebrow. “Uh huh…and this supposed reputation system is legitimate? It’s not just an excuse to gatekeep a valuable resource from people?”

Scar waves his hand “Oh of course it isn’t an excuse! See, Tango, look what happened with Cleo. We traded cloaks, and now I’ll remember that if I stumble on anything she might be looking for! It’s as simple as that.”

“Okay…but I don’t really have anything that exciting on me…I also stole some enchanting from that guy, but it’s all back at the village, so that’s not exactly helpful in the now.” Tango looks over what he does have.

“Surely you would have something fireproof? That would be pretty neat.” Scar suggests, watching him.

Tango pauses. “I can’t give you my bag, I need that…can’t give my vest either…I think you’re too big for my shirt…” he thinks through everything on him that’s fireproof. “…so pretty much leaves my pants or my shoes.”

“Pants would be more useful than shoes. And I can give you my pants in exchange, like how I swapped with Cleo!” He smiles, extending his hand. “We got a deal?”

“Yeah, sure.” Tango shakes it, and looks behind Scar. “Oh, Grian’s coming back over.”

Scar turns around, smiling. “Good news Grian, we’ve made a deal with Tango! How’d things go with him?”

“It was good. And I’m glad to hear you guys made some peace.” He walks up beside Scar.

“Oh you might actually want to look away, we’re going to be trading pants with each other. I know you freaked out when I was shirtless.” Scar says, a chuckle in his voice.

Grian turns red again and immediately turns around. “Why do you keep wording it like that? You were actively taking your cloak off before bed, I thought you were getting changed.”

“What have you guys been up to out here…?” Tango looks between the two men.

“Oh I’ve been messing with him, it’s pretty funny to see his face practically blend in with his feathers.” Scar grins, giving Grian a small nudge. “Nothing much more than that, honestly. Now, let’s get to swapping pants!”

Tango and Scar both turn around, hand their pants back to the other person, don their new pants, and then turn back around. “And Tango, just like that, you’ve gained some positive reputation here!”

“So you’ll also keep me in mind in regards for the saplings?” Tango finishes adjusting the pants. They were a little bit longer than expected so he has to roll up the bottom a bit.

“If we find any, sure. But we don’t have any. Just like we’ve been saying. Anything else we could possibly do for you while you’re here?” Scar inquires.

Tango shakes his head. “Nah, not yet. I’ll just get heading back to the village now, maybe see if I can still catch up to Cleo. You two have fun…doing whatever it is you guys are doing out here.” He waves and heads off

——————

“It’s not what you-“ Grian starts, sighing as Tango disappears into the trees. “Scar, you need to work on how you word things. People are going to think we’re more than friends.”

“Best friends?” Scar asks, leaning against him with a grin.

He turns to look up at him, unimpressed. “I know you have to know what I mean. Or you wouldn’t be making the comments that you do. Did you do this with Skizz, too?”

Scar’s face drops. “No. Gods, no, he wasn’t-“ pause… “…he and I were really close as kids, I almost sorta saw him as like a brother at times. Less so as we got older and kinda drifted apart, but still. That would be a bit awkward for me.”

“That’s entirely fair. I wou-“ something catches his eye. He looks over.

Joel.

Joel is in the desert.

“Someone is over there.” Grian points. This could be it. This can be how he can fix this part of the story. Just so long as Scar doesn’t act the way he did with Tango. The only part of the story Grian wants to change is keeping Jimmy alive until someone else dies first. Break the curse, and he can go.

“Woah, how in the world did you see them so quickly? And in your peripheral vision, too! I wouldn’t have spotted them if you weren’t pointing them out.” Scar starts to walk in the direction of Joel.

“I just have really good eyesight. You gotta be able to spot things quickly while you’re flying.” He walks alongside him. As they walk, he really starts to take in just how hot wearing his sweater is. Yes, it’s good sun protection, but he’s getting really sweaty. He stops a moment and quickly pulls it off, leaving him with his white undershirt. He throws it over his shoulder and catches up to Scar.

Scar notices, of course. “Oh so you’re allowed to shed a layer of clothes but I can’t?”

“I’m wearing a shirt underneath my sweater. You don’t always have a shirt under your cloak. I was overheating, and you just like to show off and mess with me. There’s a difference.” Grian rolls his eyes.

Scar chuckles “We can get you your own cloak, you know. So you can cover up but still get a breeze so you don’t get too warm. We’ll just have to go to the village unless you want to take one of my other ones.”

Grian smiles, raising an eyebrow. “I think I’d be drowning in fabric if I took one of yours. I’ll need a smaller one. Maybe we could head out that way tomorrow, and bring some wood along to sell while we’re there.”

They’re now within earshot of Joel, who turns around hearing voices. He’s digging around in the sand, and looks slightly frantic. “You lot wouldn’t happen to have some shovels or something to dig through this sand? I dropped something and I can’t find it in this mess.”

“No we do not, but do you mind me asking who you are and why you’re in our desert?” Scar crouches near Joel, immediately helping him to look through the sand. Grian joins in.

Joel resumes his digging. “Call me Joel. I was just going for a wander around the area looking for some people and ended up here. Then I stupidly dropped my pin while I was trying to get it back onto my bag because the wind was blowing sand in my face.” He gets excited for a second, but sighs at just finding a small rock.

“What’s so important about this pin?” Scar also finds a small handful of rocks. “Is it valuable?”

Joel nods. “To me, at least. I don’t know how much value it’d have to others. It’s got an ‘L’ carved into it along with some flowers, for my girlfriend back home. She’s got one with my initial as well.”

“Ah, found it!” Grian announces, unearthing the painted-pink pin. He hands it to Joel, who immediately secures it to his bag. “You said you were looking for some people. Is that in general or anyone specific?”

“Specific. I overheard people in the village mention these guys that live out this direction who gathered a lot of dark oak. Wouldn’t happen to be you two, would it?” He looks between them.

“Oh it very much indeed is! Looking to buy some dark oak wood for a project? We’ve certainly got plenty available!” Scar smiles, standing up and helping pull Joel up to his feet.

So far, so good. Scar is being friendly with Joel. This is perfect-

“I was actually curious if you were selling saplings. They’d be really helpful.” Joel responds.

-Ah. There it is. Now Scar is going to scam him. Like he did to Cleo and Tango.

Scar goes on about the lack of saplings and the reputation system that he told the other two before. As he’s speaking, Grian notices that Scar keeps glancing at Joel’s sword. It looks remarkably similar to his own, the hilt poking out being almost the exact same.

“I don’t have much of value on me, sorry. I just have money, a little bit of food, a map, and a couple little oddities.” Joel shrugs. “I basically have got payment or nothing.”

“Oh, but you do have something you could trade.” Scar motions to the sword on Joel’s hip. “You got a really nice looking sword there. I think I recognize the hilt design, did you get it in town, perchance?”

Joel frowns, putting one hand rested on the sword’s hilt. “Yeah, but I kinda need this in order to deal with monsters. It’s quite clearly the only sword I’ve got.”

Scar adjusts his cloak to display the hilt of his own sword to Joel. “How would you feel about a trade, then? Sword for a sword and some reputation? Seems like a pretty good deal to me. I’ll certainly keep you in mind if we find the saplings that you’re looking for.”

Grian watches as Joel considers his options. It seems like he’s extremely hesitant about this option. But, ultimately, unless he leaves and comes back, there’s not really much he can do about this situation. “Fine. I’ll trade.” He unsheaths the sword, handing it over, and taking Scar’s sword in return. “I live on a hill in the forest near the village, if you find those saplings and are looking for me.”

“Thank you ever so much, Joel, the desert will remember this. Grian and I will come find you once we’ve got a hold of those for you. Right Grian?” Scar puts an arm around his shoulders, and actually is really good about not nudging his wings as he does so.

“Right. Though I’ll probably be doing the finding since I can get an aerial view of the surroundings.” He lightly flutters a wing for emphasis.

Joel nods, understanding. “Right. Well, I’ll be off then. I’ll be keeping an eye out for anything red in the sky. Just a heads up that I’ve got some dogs, though. So be careful of them if you’re not a fan of dogs.”

“I’ll certainly keep them in mind, sir Joel. Until we meet again!” Scar smiles and waves as Joel heads back towards the treeline. Once he’s gone, Scar looks to Grian. “Grian look! Now we have matching swords!”

Grian can’t help but laugh a bit, shaking his head. “I don’t understand how you just convinced three different people into downgrading their things for imaginary reputation.”

“Now who said anything about imaginary, Grian? We can make that into a thing! I can make a board to keep track of it, and we can respond to people accordingly! Obviously not giving out any saplings, of course. Oh! I can put it near our house! Come on, let’s get to work on it, I fell asleep while you were telling me about it.” Scar removes his arm from Grian’s shoulder, making arm gestures as he speaks. He then grabs the hand of Grian’s good arm and starts leading the way back, excited to get to work.

Grian just follows along, practically running to have to keep up with Scar. He has half a mind to ask if Scar was just really tired last night or if it was so boring to hear him talk about their house that he was lulled into sleep.

His house.

Not theirs.

Don’t. Get. Attached.

Chapter Text

Scott arrives back home, seeing Jimmy…and some other guy chatting there. He comes closer, relieved to hear it’s a friendly conversation and not a confrontation. “Jimmy, I’m back!” He calls over.

Both men immediately look over, and Jimmy grins, waving. “I was just talking about you! Scott, this is Martyn. Martyn, this is my husband, Scott.” Jimmy moves over by Scott, holding his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Scott. Jimmy here was a bit scared of my presence at first, something about I can’t take you guys back there? I said I had no clue what he’s on about and he wouldn’t elaborate.” Martyn explains.

“Why was-oh-“ Scott sees the familiar purple gleam of an enchantment reflect off of Martyn’s gear. Many of the guards back where they’re from wear similar enchanted gear. “I see. Just a question, you weren’t looking for a runaway nobleman, were you?”

Martyn raises an eyebrow. “No, but I am trying to find someone. I think I may have found him, but I’m not quite sure yet. He’s supposed to be a king, not a nobleman. Why do you ask? You on the run from someone?”

“You wouldn’t turn us in if we were, would you?” Scott squints, and as he does so, faint little green lights float around his head. His free hand hovers near the hilt of his sheathed sword, and he subtly moves his foot in front of Jimmy.

Martyn furrows his brows. “Depends on what you’ve done…if you’re threatening me, I’m not afraid to retaliate. Just as a heads up.”

Jimmy takes a step forward. “We ran away in order to stay together, he was going to be in an arranged marriage to someone else. That’s it, please don’t start fighting each other.”

Martyn immediately relaxes, looking at Jimmy. “Is that it? I was thinking you guys might have murdered or kidnapped someone with the way you were acting. No, that’s actually really sweet. Why would I turn in some people who just wanted to get married?”

Scott doesn’t relax until Martyn finishes speaking. He moves his hand away from his sword, and the little lights disappear. “I just needed to be sure. I just want to live a nice and peaceful life with Jimmy, and I’m not willing to let anything get in the way of that. Not after all the trouble we’ve been through to get here.”

He really truly does not like to fight at all. It seems so barbaric and unnecessary. But yet, physical violence is sometimes necessary to be taken seriously. Or even to survive. He’d prefer the use of words over a blade, but if someone cannot listen, words mean nothing.

The pair chat with Martyn for a little bit, talking about where they’re each from. That’s when Martyn stops mid-sentence and looks towards the entrance to the valley. “There’s someone over there. I can hear them. Stay here, I’ll check if it might be someone after you.” Martyn makes his way over.

“How in the world can he hear that? It’s so far away.” Scott frowns, watching Martyn exit the valley.

Jimmy looks to him. “He was telling me that he had some sort of sound magic, and he could hear things really far away. But he can also make noises. He demonstrated that by making it sound like one of those creepers was hissing right behind me. It was really freakishly good. Oh! And I got an explanation on the pulsing thing from him, too!” Jimmy smiles

Scott gives him a small smile. “I was going to tell you, while I was wandering around, I actually met this Scar guy. Him and his partner Grian very briefly explained what went down to me. At least we both know now…I just wish I knew more about this legend Grian was talking about.” He crosses his arms, and turns his focus back to the valley entrance, where Martyn is re-entering, now accompanied by a man with brown and green hair.

“Don’t worry, he’s not a threat. He’s another traveler.” Martyn explains as the duo get closer. “I’ve chatted with him before pretty briefly. He’s got three lives just like all the rest of us.”

“There’s even more people with this? And how’ve we all ended up here?” Scott asks, genuinely a bit flabbergasted.

The new guy shrugs. “How should we know? Regardless, this is a really nice area you’ve got here. I’m not far from this place, myself. Guess we’re practically neighbors.” He walks up to Scott and Jimmy, holding out his hand. “Call me Joel, by the way.”

Jimmy shakes his hand first. “I’m Jimmy, and this is my husband, Scott. Well, unless you meet some guards in full armor looking for us, then we’re not even here.”

Joel raises an eyebrow. Scott quickly adds on “I ran from an arranged marriage so I could marry Jimmy. Knowing my family, they’d likely send people after me. We’re not criminals, just lovers.”

“Ah, no worries. I’d do the same with my girlfriend if I had to. I can’t imagine ever being with anyone else.” Joel smiles. “I’m just glad those guys in the desert helped me find my pin after I dropped it.”

Martyn looks at Joel. “You mean Scar and Grian, right? I haven’t seen them since they headed back to the desert from the village.”

Joel sighs “Well, I heard people in town mention them gathering wood, and I was hoping to buy some saplings, but they insisted they didn’t have any. I traded my sword for the promise they’d bring me some if they found any.” He crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. “If they hadn’t gotten rid of the only dark oak trees in the area, I wouldn’t be putting up with this.”

Scott and Jimmy both look at each other in confusion. They both had just seen dark oak trees earlier that day. Scott had, in fact, just passed by them on his way back here from the desert. He looks back over to Martyn and Joel, who are discussing what happened.

“There’s literally a bunch of dark oak trees not far from here…I just passed by on my way back from the desert.” Scott speaks up. He sees both of them snap their heads over to look at him, eyes wide. “I can show you where, if you’re interested. So you can get whatever it is you’re needing.”

Martyn and Joel both take the offer immediately. Joel in order to get himself some materials, Martyn just for fun. They head out that way as a group, and Martyn proposes an idea to the others.

“What if we just made a tree grow in front of them? If they’re not going to supply people with saplings, show them that we could. So they can’t scam other people out of swords or anything.” He catches a sapling-branch as it falls from the tree.

“Oh, please, can we? I want to see the look on their faces when that happens. Maybe I can get my sword back right away.” Joel grins, sat up in the tree among the large branches, rifling through the smaller ones to search for the ones that can become saplings.

Scott looks through his bag “I have materials for a spell that makes them grow faster on me, I’m kinda rusty on the words though. I don’t usually dabble in plant magic.”

Martyn pats his shoulder “Don’t you worry about it, I can help with that part. My main skill may be in sound, but pretty much any elf has a bit of plant magic knowledge.”

And so, the group makes their way into the desert, passing by the shack and towards the mountain where they can see a bit of a frame to a house going up, Grian perched atop. He clearly had been working, but was now watching them all approach.

As they reach the top, Scar is standing there, now wearing some metal greaves on his legs, and a man with white hair is standing nearby behind him. Scott notices the man is wearing some worn leather greaves similar to the ones he saw Scar wearing earlier. Also that Scar is wearing different pants.

Scar smiles to Joel. “Well hello again! Nice to see you back so soon, Joel! Martyn, haven’t seen you since we left the village. And Scott, too! Still so glad you happened to come by when you did. Who’s this you’ve all brought with you?” He looks down the line at everyone, ending with Jimmy.

“This is my husband, Jimmy. The one I carry the bandages and such for.” Scott lifts to show their held hands to Scar. He finds it slightly ironic they both happen to have avian partners and his first interaction with them was helping with Grian getting injured, when Jimmy’s the one getting hurt left and right. If he didn’t know other avians, he’d think it was just an avian thing.

Grian flies down from where he was perched, landing beside Scar. “Nice to meet you Jimmy. I’m Scar, and this here is Grian. We live here in the desert, and we are very grateful your husband happened to stop by when he did. He’s very generous.”

Jimmy beams. “Yeah, he is! Scott was telling us on the way here what happened. Guess my clumsiness can sometimes come in useful, huh?” He chuckles a bit.

Grian nods in agreement. “Indeed. But, anyways, what brings all of you here? Especially since two of you were just here earlier. I saw you all come from that treeline over there as a group.” He motions way into the distance at where they’d come from.

“Oh we wanted to show you something we found! But we’ll have to go closer to the trees for this. It won’t work in the sand here.” Martyn turns around and heads down the mountain first. Everyone else follows behind, including the white haired man Scott doesn’t know the name of.

“Right, now you all have to turn around while we get set up. That way we can properly demonstrate.” Scott says, gesturing for the other three men to turn around.

Scar turns right away, as does the white haired man. Grian frowns, hesitating. “I don’t like the sound of this…I don’t like it one bit.” He shakes his head as he turns, sticking close to Scar.

“You’ll be fine, we’ll let you know when it’s ready. I promise it’s completely safe. I wouldn’t have brought Jimmy if it wasn’t.” Scott reassures him, taking supplies out of his bag.

“Excuse me, what?” Jimmy says, pausing searching in his bag to look up at Scott. “I can handle myself, in most cases! Yeah I tend to get injured a little bit, but nothing too serious.” He crosses his arms, a slight pout on his face.

“Better safe than sorry. As much as I enjoy taking care of you when it happens, I don’t like seeing you get hurt.” Scott goes over and kisses his cheek. “Now come on, we can’t leave them hanging for too long.”

Jimmy smiles and gives him a nod, and the group resumes setting up. They place the saplings into the ground, and Scott and Martyn set up the spell. They watch as the saplings grow and merge into a big, tall tree before their eyes. Jimmy grabs the others’ attention and they turn, with Scar and Grian going into a slight panic.

“What-how-what!?” Grian practically shrieks, flying up to investigate the tree, pulling at some of the branches. Scar runs up and tries to climb his way into the branches with Grian. “How have you done this? Where did you find saplings?” Grian asks, pulling some sapling-branches from the tree.

Martyn pauses his laughing with Joel to exclaim “As if we’re gonna tell about that! You will never know, oooo~” he wiggles his fingers, making his voice slightly echo as he speaks.

“And now, we leave!” Jimmy states, taking Scott’s hand and turning to run off. Scott runs away alongside him, and the pair laugh as they get further and further into the trees. They eventually find their way to a path, and make their way back home, just as the sun nears sunset.

——————

Cleo carefully guides Pizza through the trees, not wanting to be too close to the path in case she gets followed and spotted. But she also doesn’t stay too far in case she gets lost or needs a clear path to run.

“Here we go, come on, that’s a good llama. Just keep following auntie Cleo. Taking a nice long walk to stretch your legs, that’s all.” She coaxes Pizza anytime he starts to turn or stop for too long. The more delays, the more chances of getting caught red-handed.

By midday, she reaches a clearing with a large hill, where she pauses to take a break. She’s been walking for hours at this point, and just needs a bit of a rest. Thanks to her being a zombie, she can go for longer periods of time before growing tired, but even then it has its limits.

“You alright down there?” A voice calls from somewhere, presumably above.

Cleo jumps, looking up towards the hill. On the side of it, she spots a man with damaged white wings. He’s making his way down and over.

Cleo stands up, ready to defend herself. “I was just taking a quick rest, there’s no need for a fight, I’ll be getting going-“

“-Nono, I’m not going to fight you, I just hadn’t seen you…are…you a zombie?” The man pauses, stopping his approach.

Cleo nods “I won’t hurt you, though. Not unless you give me a reason to.”

She watches as the man’s eyes wander to beside and behind her, and he widens his eyes, some feathers puffing up a bit in alarm. “Hold on a second…I think I…is that Pizza?” He carefully tiptoes closer.

Pizza stares the man down. She’s never seen a llama have such rage in its eyes. As soon as he’s too close, Pizza spits right at his face, causing him to stumble and fall back.

“Agh! Yep, that’s Pizza for sure! How in the world-who even are you? Scar doesn’t usually like going anywhere without this…thing at his side.” He wipes his face as he stands. It’s clear to her that he and Pizza have a history.

“I’m Cleo. And Scar doesn’t know Pizza is here…I’m just borrowing him…without permission…until he gives me what I want…I take it you’re not a fan of Pizza?” She inquires, curious about their history.

“Hell no. This thing is a nuisance. Kept trying to eat my bed while I was living with Scar because he wanted to keep it inside a small shack with us. We barely had enough room for us without the llama. I’m Skizz, by the way, in case you’re wondering. So wait…you’re telling me you managed to steal Pizza from him?” Skizz seems a bit amused at the idea.

“I mean, it was pretty easy when him and two others ran off and I was left by myself at that shack with the llama inside…but yes. He took my brand new cloak under the premise I’d get something out of it, and when I didn’t, I figured I’ll play dirty, too.” She pets Pizza, seeing he’s trying to turn back again.

“As you should! He’s a conman and a scam artist. I dealt with him for years, and let me tell you something. He cares about this thing more than he ever did me, and I was his only friend. So if the plan was to hit hard, you are right on the bullseye. Well done, Cleo!” He grins, patting her back and dodging another spit attack from Pizza.

“Thank you. But I honestly really should keep going if I’m going to make it back home before it gets too dark and dangerous. Please, don’t tell them that I’ve got Pizza, okay? I gotta go.” She starts walking off again.

“I will say nothing of the sort. Good luck to you!” Skizz calls after her, waving as she makes her way into the distance and through the trees.

She walks on for hours. As it becomes sunset, Cleo finds herself in a familiar spruce forest, but now with a much larger clearing than it had had before. She sneaks her way around back, knowing the abandoned castle isn’t too much farther away.

“Well well, what do we have here?” Ren’s voice calls from behind.

She turns back quickly, seeing him leaning against the corner of his shop and staring over at them. “Just passing by, I swear I’m not here to cause trouble again.”

“Just passing? Not here to make an offer?” He begins to walk closer, eyes fixed on the llama. “I’d certainly be willing to make a trade for this llama here, they could come in handy to transport items and materials.”

She holds the reins a bit tighter. “Sorry, but no. It’s not my llama to give away, I’m using him as a bargaining chip with his owner. He scammed me out of materials I was owed, so I’m playing dirty right back at him.”

Ren looks to her, an eyebrow raised. “So you’re a regular in the thievery department, hm? Like when you stole my materials before we could solidify a deal?”

She rolls her eyes “This time it’s different. I traded my cloak, which was one of the things I did manage to enchant by the way, for this old smelly one under the promise I’d also get saplings that they had. But when I asked, they tried kicking me and Tango out of the desert. So I managed to steal their llama, and I’ll give him back when I get what I’m owed.”

Ren laughs. “Doesn’t feel so good to have things stolen, does it? I’d certainly say you’ve faced some karma for your actions from last time you were here. And before you ask, no it doesn’t excuse you from working on the path, you do still need to participate in that. But fret not, as I do understand the frustration of being tricked, I shall not tell anyone about this that may tell the owner of this llama where it is. Whose is it, by the way?”

“His name is Scar, and he lives in the desert with a man named Grian. They chopped all of the dark oak trees down and claimed to not get any saplings, which is what I went there for. Just so you’re aware of the situation.” Cleo gladly gives away this information. If Ren decides to do anything about the situation, so be it.

“I see. I swear, those desert hooligans will not know of this llama’s location by my word. Now be on your way, the sky grows dark and the village is still a good distance away. Be safe on your travels.” He heads back towards the front of his shop.

Cleo sighs in relief, and resumes walking. She tries to take as many shortcuts as she can, not wanting to have to face too many monsters, especially as she has an animal in tow.

Once she’s finally back at the once-abandoned castle, she beelines it to the makeshift door and swings it open, shoving it shut behind herself and Pizza. Finally, she can drop her hold on the reins for a bit as she collapses onto the floor, worn out from her journey.

She hears footsteps coming from somewhere, as well as Bdub’s voice calling out. “Who goes there? Is it you, Cleo? Who-what the heck!? Cleo-what? Hold on, what is-are you okay?” He panics at the sight, looking between her laying on the floor as well as the llama casually walking around the room. He rushes up to her, sitting on the floor.

She looks up at his face. “I’m fine, just really, really tired. I was on my feet for almost 24 hours, after all, Bdubs. By the way, we have a buddy for a little bit. At least until Scar or Grian actually gives us those saplings you want.”

Bdubs turns towards the llama. “Oh my gods, you’re telling me that’s Pizza? The Pizza? The one Scar was telling us so much about as he led us to the village?”

“The one and the same. I’ll tell you more in the morning, but we should hide him and get to bed. As soon as possible, preferably.” She slowly sits back up, and with Bdub’s help, gets to her feet, hides Pizza in the basement, and then goes to bed.

Chapter Text

As Scar and Grian nab the sapling-branches from the tree, they hear the sounds of Martyn’s, Joel’s, and Etho’s voices fade away into the distance. Grian shakes his head as one sapling in particular gives him a hard time. “I can’t believe this-how in the world did this happen? I would have seen them coming or going if they were at the mountain where we hid these.”

“Maybe one of them happened to have some of these saplings…? None of that group is from here, they could have brought it with them.” Scar frees a sapling from one of the larger branches. “Unless there was another forest I didn’t know about somehow.”

“I don’t think very many people would travel with saplings. But how would you not know if there was another forest or not? You said it yourself, you've lived in this area your whole life. Surely you know where things are.” He finally frees the troublesome sapling.

Scar stretches and leans back against the base of the tree from where he’s sat on the branch. “Yeah, but someone still could have created a second forest somewhere if they gathered enough saplings. But I guess there goes the chances of being able to sell any of the wood…That we gathered a lot of…” he sighs. “Poor Pizza carried all that all the way from the swamp to here for nothing. I feel like I gotta go apologize to him.”

“You go on ahead, I’ll check this tree for any more saplings. With any luck, maybe we can still be able to sell some of the wood. It is pre-chopped after all. Someone might still buy it.” Grian reaches down from the branch he’s on to put a reassuring hand on Scar’s shoulder.

Scar turns and smiles up at him. The sun must be shining through the leaves directly behind Grian’s head, the way that there’s sunbeams coming from him, lighting up his sandy-blond hair like a halo. “Yeah, maybe…” he looks a moment longer, thinking how something about this view seemed right. How otherworldly and angelic the lighting made Grian look. Because there was something about him that just…doesn’t feel quite right, quite normal.

He looks away, not wanting to stare for too long. “We’ll see. Maybe we can head off tomorrow and head to town. I’ll see how Pizza’s feeling. If he’s not up to it, we’ll stay put until he’s well rested.” He climbs down, and stumbles and trips as he lands on the ground. “I’m okay!”

Grian laughs from his spot in the tree, and Scar rolls over onto his back, laughing along with him as he sits up and stands. Once he’s caught his breath, he turns and makes his way towards the shack.

. . .no…nononono-

Scar runs as fast as he can to the pile of wood and junk that was once the shack. The panels collapsed and fallen apart, different bits and pieces of things strewn about. Some intact, some broken. He digs through the pile, calling out for Pizza, hoping beyond hope that he managed to get out and is just somewhere in the trees nearby and not in this pile. He digs and tosses things until he’s sure Pizza was not in the shack.

But where did he go?

He looks around, hoping for the sight of any llama tracks.

Instead, he spots a small puddle of blood.

He grows cold. He runs into the trees, shouting and yelling and pleading for Pizza. If he’s injured, he knows to come to Scar. If he’s scared, he knows to come to Scar. If he’s trapped, he knows to make noise so Scar can come to him.

But Pizza never came, and Scar couldn’t hear Pizza.

The worst case scenarios flood his mind, and he falls to his knees, digging his fingers into the grass, begging this to not be real. Tears blur his vision, and his voice becomes shaky and choked. He bows his head all the way down, sobbing.

Pizza is gone.

He stays exactly there, crying until he can’t breathe or cry any more. So he sits there, catches his breath, and uses a large stick nearby to pull himself up onto his feet. He was lightheaded and dizzy still, and his legs felt weak. Slowly, and using the stick as a support, he turns to try and find his way back.

He thinks over everything. How much he’d already lost over the years. How much he just lost today. And inevitably how much he will lose…not that he has much left.

He somehow makes his way back, despite his wandering and unclear mind. It's sunset by now. He makes it halfway to the mountain from the treeline when Grian lands on the ground in front of him, concern and worry on his face. He says something to him, but Scar can’t hear him through his thoughts. He doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know how.

He feels as Grian puts one of his arms across Grian’s shoulders, and Grian puts an arm around his waist. And they start walking to the mountain. He can feel as it becomes steeper and a bit more difficult to traverse. But he just keeps going. Because Grian is taking him somewhere and he can’t be bothered to think about where he’s going or what he’s doing.

They reach the top, which has a significant amount of framework construction done. Grian guides Scar inside and sits him down on the floor. He says something else and turns to leave, and Scar finds himself reaching for Grian and grabbing his wrist. He looks up at him, eyes distant and yet silently begging. Please, don’t leave, not yet. Stay just a little bit longer.

Grian crouches in front of him. He says something something “-a blanket?” And waits for a response. When Scar just still stares, Grian repeats himself slower. “I was going to be right back. Did you not want a blanket?”

Scar tries to speak, and while his lips move, no sound comes out of his throat. Yes, please. Grian frowns more. “Scar, you’ve been gone for hours…what happened at the shack?”

Scar feels the lump re-form in his throat, eyes reacting to tears that refuse to form. He curls into himself, knees bent, arms crossed over them, and face placed against his arms. He still tries to speak, but still no sounds can be formed. Frustration further fuels the fire and makes him even more upset. Why, why can’t he speak? Why can’t he focus even a little? Why is…why is Pizza gone.

A moment later, he feels a blanket being draped over his shoulders, and Grian sitting beside him. Instinctively, he leans into him. An arm and a wing is wrapped around him as well. And he sits there. Silent, dry sobbing. A jumbled mind. Yet kept warm. The one solid thing right now is Grian.

Grian, kept here only by a promise. A promise to stay and help until he loses a life. A life, which can be lost so much more suddenly than anyone can ever know.

He doesn’t know when, but he fell asleep at some point. He wakes up to the sun rising, and he had to have been adjusted by Grian so the two of them could be more comfortable. He was laying down, the blanket on top of him, as well as one of Grian’s wings again. He looks at Grian’s sleeping face.

And all he can think is how Grian is too kind. He doesn’t deserve to have to put up with him. It’s going to hurt when Grian leaves, too. The longer he stays, the worse it will hurt. He doesn’t want to hurt more than he does already.

So when Grian wakes up and takes his wing away, Scar sits up and looks away as fast as he can. “Grian…you can go. Do whatever you want. Don’t hold yourself back from leaving. You shouldn’t have to stick around someone like me.”

——————

Grian blinks at Scar, processing what he’d just said. He sits up quickly, just staring at him.

He can leave.

…but why isn’t he?

“Scar…” he reaches out, but pulls back a bit as Scar turns to look at him. His face is cold and stern…but yet his eyes are still yet filled with sadness.

“Leave, Grian. You’re too good. Too kind. You could be helping out more people. It’d be a better use of your time. You shouldn’t waste a whole chance to keep on living just for me. I made my choice. So just…go.” He turns away again, sounding absolutely defeated.

Nearly everything in him is telling him to do as Scar says. He’s free, he can leave. This is his chance. But still, something keeps him in place. Something he can’t describe, something that overrides all his other thoughts.

Scar huffs and uses the stick he had last night to pull himself up to his feet. And he starts to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Grian gets to his feet, following Scar.

“I don’t know. But I need to get away from you. Take your time leaving…but I’m coming back here eventually. I have to. This is where I lived with Pizza…” he can hear as Scar’s voice shakes.

“You never told me what happened yesterday…I saw the shack was ruined, but I don’t know what happened…” Grian puts a hand on Scar’s arm.

“…Pizza’s gone…the shack was a mess and there was blood and I couldn’t find him or hear him and he has to be gone, Grian! Someone or something hurt him and took him away and…and he can’t come back…Pizza means everything to me…I…I gotta go.” Scar heads off as quickly as he can.

Grian stands there, just watching as Scar goes further and further away, eventually disappearing into the trees. He stands there a moment. Like Scar might just turn around and reappear, saying he was kidding. But he doesn’t. Grian is alone, and he can leave.

But still, he doesn’t.

He looks around himself at the housing frames and foundations. He looks down the mountain at the pile of junk that was once Scar’s shack. He can’t leave Scar to come back to this. Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s holding him back. Maybe if he finishes at least the outside of the house, he can leave.

So he gets to work.

——————

“Cleo, I’m gonna be honest, I’m getting really tired of having that roof all caved in. It’s getting leaves everywhere and I can’t keep up with cleaning them. I’m gonna go up there and fix it today.” Bdubs says, coming downstairs with an armful of leaves and twigs. He’d been working on getting the upstairs sorted for a few days since Cleo came back with Pizza.

“Are you sure? It’s pretty high up. And there’s a lot of other work that needs to get done as well. And at least the ceiling is intact on the ground floor here, so it’s not a big deal what the roof is like.” Cleo responds, patching up a piece of the wall. “I’m mainly concerned about getting this floor all fixed up before we go higher.”

Bdubs tosses the leaves outside “But if it rains, it’s going to come down the stairs! All this area will get messed up again, and the stairs will be slippery. I know I wanna prioritize this roof, and I’ll do it on my own if I have to. Especially since you happened upon that elf guy who gave you the dark oak saplings…what’d you say his name was again?”

“He introduced himself as Scott. I’m honestly pretty glad I went to head back to check on things when I did, or I wouldn’t’ve crossed paths with him for him to give me those.” Cleo sets another large stone into place in the broken wall. “Only problem is that we’ve still got Pizza downstairs.”

It was true. Bdubs and Cleo have taken turns checking up on Pizza, giving him some food and water, and doing their best to prevent him from getting out. It was clear he’s getting anxious being stuck down there. But they can’t let him out or he would run away and they wouldn’t have anything to get out of Scar for him tricking Cleo.

“And no doubt that if we went to take him back, he’d be running towards the desert and dragging us along in the dirt.” Cleo adds. “I know I keep saying this, Bdubs, but I don’t know if I can ever get you to truly understand just how vicious that llama looked when we were passing by that Skizz guy. Pizza is a proper menace in his own right.”

“How can that adorable face ever appear vicious, Cleo? Or any llama. They don’t seem like the most expressive animals.” Bdubs grabs some of the wood they’ve already chopped and brought inside. “But if you insist that Pizza had pure hatred looking at that guy, I’d say he probably couldn’t be trusted. I sure wouldn’t trust someone who had mutual hatred with a llama.” He chuckles a bit.

“Oh he did. If looks could kill, Pizza would be a murderer.” She turns and walks over. “You at least want some help taking some of this wood upstairs? If you insist on patching up the roof I wanna make sure you don’t hurt yourself bringing all this up.”

“Yes I would actually, thank you Cleo!” Bdubs smiles. He’s come to see her as almost of a big sister type figure. Caring and thoughtful, but also will make fun of you and be sarcastic the moment you do something stupid. But not to be cruel, only a little bit mean. But it was nice. Like he has some semblance of a family again after he had to run for safety.

They carry the wood upstairs together, chatting more about angry llamas and rivalries with animals. He reckons he could easily take on a sheep or a pig with just his fists. Cleo laughs and insists those animals are way too smart to be easy targets, especially weaponless.

Once the wood is all moved upstairs, Cleo stretches. “That was a lot more work than I thought. Would’ve taken you practically all day to do that alone, it’s probably around lunch right now.” As if on cue, her stomach grumbles a bit. “There it is. You hungry?”

“Yeah, I’m getting there. I’ll be down to grab something in a minute, you go on ahead.” Bdubs checks his pocket watch a second, just to be sure it’s secure and working. So he’s not paying the most attention to himself when he says to Cleo, “By the way, thanks for the help, sis.”

“…what did you just say?” Cleo pauses her descent down the stairs to look back at him.

He replies, still observing the watch. “I said thanks…? Why, what’d it sound like? Did I talk too quietly?” In his head, he doesn’t think I’d even process he could have said anything out of the ordinary.

“I swear you just called me sis…unless I’m just completely imagining it, but I’m quite sure I heard you say it.” She comes a couple steps back up. “Something you wanna tell me, Bdubs?”

“Oh I didn’t mean to say that out loud…um…I’m sorry, but you just really give off the feeling of being a big sister. Maybe you were one before you got zombified, or something to that extent. But it’s been really nice imagining I’ve got some family again…but of course if you’re not okay with it, I’ll stop.” Bdubs quickly includes the last bit, after turning and seeing her face, staring with her eyes wide.

“No, Bdubs, it’s okay, you can call me it, I just…I think I remember something now, from being human…” she sits on the stairs.

/\/\——————\/\/

Cleo tries her best to replay the memories, grasping at every bit she can, hoping to catch something that can piece her mind back together.
…
“Come on, Cleo, we’re going to be late!” Another girl, shorter and younger than her, with a similar curly ginger hairstyle yells from the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! I just had to find where you hid my necklace after we were playing wizards!” Herself, possibly aged around 8 or 9, responds.

“You weren’t supposed to find that yet, it’s part of the dragon’s lair! Now I gotta move it.” The other girl pouts.
…
Cleo looks at her reflection in the mirror. She must be around 17 now? She’s letting the other girl, who looks maybe 14, braid and style it with flowers. Her head is suddenly jerked awkwardly as the girl tugs a piece of hair too hard.

“Oh shoot, I’m so sorry! I was getting into a pattern and not paying attention.” She apologizes, loosening her grip and tilting her face up to look at her through the mirror.

“It’s fine. As long as you don’t tear out a chunk of hair like you did the first time.” Cleo smirks, snickering.

The girl gasps. “It was one time, 3 years ago! Wasn’t even a huge chunk either, maybe like 10 strands of hair at most.”
…
Cleo holds the girl close, a blanket wrapped around her as she cries against her. She sees her reflection in the same mirror as the previous memory, though now the room is dark, lit only by a few candles. She’s further away, stood by a bed. And she looks about the age she must be now. Late 20s? Early-mid 30s? She doesn’t really know, for some reason.

“I don’t know what to do anymore, Cleo. No matter how hard I work, he just won’t let me study anything at my actual skill level…” the girl sobs into Cleo’s shoulder.

“Let me handle it, I’ll make sure he knows not to mess with us.” She rubs her back, and her eyes flit over to a flint and steel placed beside one of the candles in the room. That guy does have a very…flammable…house.
…
“I’m sorry, but I just don’t think she’s ready for those kinds of spells yet. Not that someone like her even needs to know such things, surely you can get it.” The man, her sister’s magic teacher, explains.

“No, I don’t. She’s more than capable and deserving of knowing how to do these things. You’re just an asshole.” Cleo furrows her brow, just barely restraining herself from throwing a punch at his face.

“I will not take such insults from someone who can’t even use magic! How you two are related I cannot understand. Get out, n-“ he’s cut off as Cleo’s intrusive thoughts take over, and she swings her fist square into the side of his face.

He lands unconscious with a thud.
He’d hit his head on the desk as he went down.
He wasn’t moving.
She sees a dark puddle forming.

“Shit. Oh gods, oh no, I wasn’t-how did I…I gotta…where is it-?” She fumbles through her bag and pockets, eventually pulling out the flint and steel. She starts to light anything she can on fire, hoping it spreads quickly and clears any evidence.

She runs downstairs, setting a couple more fires.
She hears the ceiling start to creak, and the exit is on the other side of the house.
She starts to run, but the ceiling gives way and falls, knocking her over, leaving her trapped.

She’s trapped under rubble, coughing her lungs out as she desperately claws to free herself. The smoke is getting thicker, the flames growing closer and hotter. Her vision blurs in and out of focus, and she only has one thought before she falls unconscious.

I’m sorry, Gem.
…

/\/\——————\/\/

Bdubs hugs Cleo as she sobs, relaying the information to him. He feels awful. If only he hadn’t said anything, she wouldn’t be so sad right now…it was his fault Cleo is crying.

“Cleo, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you relive all that. I shouldn’t have said anything, kept it to myself.” He knows it’s not the best apology, but he doesn’t know what else to do right now.

“Bdubs, no, it’s fine…I just…no, it helped me, Bdubs…it’s just…really emotional is all…” she sniffles, pulling back a bit to wipe at her tears. “I can remember something positive now, I promise. You did good.” She pats his shoulder, eyes still welling up.

He feels a little lump in his throat “Gods Cleo, now I’m gonna cry too.” He closes his eyes, feeling the start of the formation of tears. And now he feels Cleo hold him like he just did her.

They both sit and have a good cry for a while, before their hunger overtakes every other feeling they have and they get to eating lunch.

After that, Cleo goes back to fixing the wall while Bdubs heads up to fix the roof. First removing all the broken wood, then figuring out how much he’ll need, and what length it has to be. He pays no attention to the passage of time, focused in on this one project. He needs to fix this roof.

It grows dark as he continues to work, but he just keeps going. He hears Cleo yelling up at him from the ground, but he can’t quite tell what she’s saying.

He turns just enough to see her all the way down there. “What was that? I couldn’t really hear what you said!” He shouts back.

“I said to get down! It’s way too dangerous to be up there right now!” She yells even louder.

“I’ll be fine, I’m almost-“ he stops mid-sentence, hearing the ghostly shriek of phantoms. He hadn’t slept well, the guilt of having a kidnapped pet trapped at his house was really bothering him.

He tries to make a break for the part of the roof that was still open, but one of the monsters dives down and slams into him, causing him to lose balance. And he feels his body begin to fall, watching the roof grow further and further away, until it suddenly goes dark.

——————

Cleo couldn’t catch him. She stares in horror at his body laying there. The only thing to provide some comfort, in a dark twisted way, was the pulsing from the beads sewn into her stitches, and the distant rumble in the sky.

A reminder of their situation. Of having three lives. That Bdubs was going to wake up at some point soon, and be completely intact.

For now, she lifts his body into her arms, and holds him close as she runs back inside their home. Where they’ll be safe. Where she can protect her new brother while he can’t protect himself.

Chapter Text

Scott made up his mind. Having spotted multiple people with enchanted gear and items over the past week, he’s deemed it necessary that he and Jimmy get an enchanting pedestal at their home somewhere. Which means he now needs to go gather all the necessary materials to form one. Thankfully, he’d been taught exactly how to do everything that goes into making these pedestals.

The first and most important resource is himself. Just about anyone can gather the proper materials and arrange them the right way, but without a connection to celestial magic, they could never make their pedestal actually start to work. Thankfully once it’s up and running, anybody could use it. But there’s a critical step in the process that only someone with magic abilities like himself is capable of performing.

Over the past couple of days, Scott had gathered more than enough materials to form the base of the pedestal as well as other needed equipment. It was extremely heavy and hard to carry and transport such large pieces of obsidian stone, but what needs to be done, needs to be done.

Unfortunately, the next task is one that’s rather dangerous to do. And while he may have been able to get some help from Jimmy in gathering and transporting some of the materials, he cannot under any circumstances allow Jimmy to participate in the next step. He needs to enter into and traverse the netherworld.

Scott heads over to one of the other cliff faces, specifically one that had a small accessible cave in it, breaking down bits of obsidian and digging grooves into the cave entrance. He places the pieces of obsidian into the grooves, making sure each piece stays before moving on. It may not be the best or most efficient way to create a portal, but with limited help and resources and no knowledge of if there’s already a preexisting portal or not, it will have to make do.

Jimmy comes over while he finishes placing the obsidian, nervous. “Scott, please be careful in there. I know you always are, but still. This is gonna come out at a different place than the one you’re used to. There’s probably not going to be any sort of safety zone, I think you called it, like back where we’re from. I’ve never seen it, so I really don’t know anything other than what I’ve been told about it. But I know it’s dangerous and even skilled people can get really hurt. Please, please come back to me safe.” Jimmy holds Scott’s hands in his, giving them a slight squeeze.

Scott pulls his hands out in order to embrace Jimmy, holding him close to himself. “I promise I will be okay. I’ve traversed netherwilds and fortresses before and had to fight monsters that live there. I will not be there any longer than I need to, just going in to gather materials and resources and then I’ll be right back. I swear to you. You will not see my name show up in magic.”

He feels Jimmy give him another big squeeze while they hug before he nods in acknowledgment. “Okay…I trust you. I’ll work on getting more of the farm set up while you’re away, maybe see if I could buy a cow off anyone in town so we have more than just sheep. Anything else I should do in that time?” He asks

Scott shakes his head and responds “No, that should be plenty helpful. I guess if you think of something, go ahead. But you be careful too, I’m not gonna be able to patch you up if you scrape your knee or jam your finger.” he chuckles, pulling a bit back from the hug, hands just above Jimmy’s waist.

Jimmy rolls his eyes, with a small smirk “Yeah yeah, I’ll be fine. Just you see! You’ll be back and I’ll not have so much as stubbed a toe!” He grins.

They chat a moment longer, before sharing a kiss, and Jimmy steps back as Scott turns to the makeshift portal door, and with a couple sparks from the strikes of a flint and steel, a wall of swirling purple light appears. Scott closes his eyes and steps in, feeling the air grow hot, the smell of smoke filling his nostrils, the sound of monsters and crackling fires all around him.

He opens his eyes back up, and takes in his surroundings. He’s definitely in a netherwild, but it’s not as dense as it could be, so there’s a very real possibility of a fortress or city or something nearby. Somewhere that netherfolk live or lived. Which means he’s gotten lucky, and everything he needs should be slightly easier to gather.

Of course, he made sure to adorn himself with gold before entering, and brought along some gold with him inside of a pouch tucked under his cloak. He needs a specific spell book for the pedestal, one that is crafted together by the most greedy and barbaric of netherfolk: piglin hybrids. And piglin hybrids, similar to their monstrous counterparts, will not hesitate to attack you if they don’t deem you worthy of their time.

He traverses the wilds for some time, before finally stumbling onto a path, fiery and littered with rubble and…bones. No doubt, seeing that, he was on the way towards a grouping of piglin hybrids. He takes a deep breath and carries on, trying his best to not think about just how many bones are strewn across the way.

Eventually, he can see it ahead. Walled off, with a gated entrance, and a pair of guards stood out front. He keeps his stance held high and confident as he approaches. Show no fear. Even as the guards stare him down as he gets closer, hands gripped onto their axes, show no fear.

“State your name and what business you have here, surfacefolk. We don’t take kindly to ones who waste our time with nonsense.” One guard says, axe already set to swing in a moment’s notice.

Scott gives them both a smile. “My name is Scott. I am here to do trade for a master spellbook. I come bearing gold and a connection to the celestial, with intentions of forming an enchanting pedestal.” He waves his hand to make little floating lights appear, showing off a little bit of his celestial magic as proof of his words.

The guards consider this a moment, grumbling to each other quietly about what to do. It’s clear nobody has made such a request in a while, and they are wary of the legitimacy of this deal. But ultimately, they decide to let him in, opening the gate. Scott thanks them, handing a gold coin to both of them as he heads inside.

He walks along the pathways, keeping an eye out for a magical tower or bookstore or anything along those lines. Different groups have different setups, so there’s no set structure to look for. He’s very aware of all the looks he’s getting as he wanders about. He wonders how many of these people have ever seen someone from the surface before. Probably not many, judging on whose gazes linger on him longer.

Finally he comes upon a rundown bookshop. The only one in the whole area. He enters, looking around. It was messy and somewhat ransacked, and many of the shelves were empty or only held a couple of books. He comes up to the counter, waiting a moment before ringing the small bell that was secured down onto it.

Scott hears the sound of someone scrambling to their feet up above him, making their way over to the stairs, which creak as they head down. The door off to the side opens, and the shopkeeper shuffles over. The man was rather short, with unkempt cropped hair, messy clothes, a single bottom tusk, and a pig-like nose.

“Not used to having any actual customers. Much less ones from the surface world. What brings you here, then? I don’t got much but I can sell what I got.” He grunts, looking Scott over.

Scott smiles. “I was looking for a master spellbook. I have plans on creating an enchanting pedestal, and I was hoping to purchase one from your shop here. Would you happen to have any available?”

The man raises an eyebrow. “Kid, I can’t go around selling that to just anybody who shows up with such a request, even if it’s been a really, really long time. I gotta know you got the right stuff for that. Master books are dangerous in the wrong hands.” He crosses his arms, straightening his posture to try and appear more intimidating.

“Seems fair enough. What do you need me to do? Show my magic, do a favor, pass a trial?” Scott shrugs, his face nonchalant. It’s a little bit annoying, but the shopkeeper has every right to only sell the book as he sees fit. And it’s very true. Master spellbooks are extremely powerful, and extremely dangerous for anyone inexperienced or ill-intentioned to own.

“Trial? You must be used to the big fancy cities if you’re expecting a trial as a possibility.” The man chuckles, amused. “Nah, I want you to use magic to show me not just that you got the right magic, but you are skilled enough to actually make one of those.”

“You got it.” Scott focuses, moving his hands around, creating little orbs and streams of light, guiding them across the room in a controlled manner. Not a single one out of place. Once the shopkeeper seems satisfied, he slowly fades them out. “Now about that book-“

“I got it, I got it. Wait here, I keep it locked up so people can’t just nab it like they do everything else here.” He grunts as he heads off back upstairs, the boards creaking below him.

Scott stands there and waits patiently. He gets a strange feeling, as if he’s being watched. He looks around. The store is empty. There’s nobody at the window or the door. He looks behind a couple of bookshelves to be sure. But nobody’s there. A chill runs up his spine. He’s brought back to the moment as the shopkeeper comes back downstairs.

He makes the exchange, handing over the pouch of gold and receiving the book in return. He wraps it in a blue cloth before putting it away into his bag. Scott thanks him and leaves, then making his way all the way back to outside of the town.

At the gate, he can see Martyn being cornered by one of the guards. He quickly runs out, telling them to stop and let him go. The guard, who had their axe ready to swing, pauses and turns to look at him. “Why should we? He was trespassing!”

“I was n-“ Martyn starts, but Scott interrupts. “He was just looking for me, I told him to wait for me to come back, and only try to go in if I was taking too long. Thank you for your concern, Martyn, but clearly, I am completely fine. Just took a little bit longer than expected.” He slowly makes his way closer, now right beside Martyn and the guard.

The guard grunts and huffs. “If you hadn’t given me that gold earlier, your friend here would be missing a head right now. Consider it a warning, I won’t be so easygoing next time.” They head back to the gate.

Scott helps Martyn to his feet. “You alright? You know you really shouldn’t go anywhere near piglin hybrids or monsters without wearing any gold, right? And what are you even doing here in the netherworld?”

Martyn brushes himself off once he’s stood back up. “I’m fine, and no, I didn’t know that, I’ve never interacted with any before. And I could ask the same question to you.” He crosses his arms.

“I’m gathering some supplies and resources. I need to find a fortress and some plants in order to get making some potions. The village is constantly out before Jimmy and I can purchase any. We’ve been weeks without a healing potion and at this rate, Jimmy’s gonna be a living mummy if we don’t get any soon. So again, what brings you here?” Scott explains, starting to walk along the path again, not really caring if Martyn comes along or not.

“If it’s a fortress you want, you’re going the wrong way. Did the netherfolk at the portal not tell you where it was or something? Because they told me about it.” Martyn calls after him.

Scott looks back. “What portal? I wasn’t aware there was a preexisting portal in the area. Where was it?” He walks back up to Martyn, now following him as he heads off.

“It was in the woods by a river. I’ll be honest, it was pretty destroyed and overrun with plants, but I fixed it up and went through. Guess nobody’s gone through it in a while. The people in the small town around it on this side were very shocked to see it reactivated. But they were actually pretty friendly. Told me where to find a fortress fairly close by.” Martyn continues on, even as the path slowly fades away.

“I see. I just created one back home, it’s not the best portal, but it’s enough to make do. Also, you still haven’t answered me why you’re here. I told you my side, now you tell me yours.” Scott keeps an eye out around them just in case of any monsters anywhere.

Martyn pauses to look back “Same thing as you, obviously. Why else would I want to find a fortress in the netherworld? Those things are crawling with monsters. You’d have to be crazy to go to one for no reason.” He resumes walking, and Scott continues to follow. They don’t chat as they go along.

Every so often Martyn pauses to look back before he goes on. It makes Scott look around, but he doesn’t see or hear anything different. After the 5th or 6th time, Scott gets a bit annoyed. “Okay, Martyn, what is going on with you? You keep looking around at nothing and not saying anything and I’m getting a bit nervous. Do you hear something that I can’t?”

“Right, first off, I can hear many things you can’t, actually. But that’s not it. It’s actually what I can’t hear. For some reason, I can’t hear you walking. Do you have some sort of silent-step magic or specially enchanted shoes? I genuinely just have to keep checking if you’re still there or if you’ve gone off.” Martyn rests his fists against his hips, an eyebrow raised, his upper body slightly tilted down towards Scott.

“No, I just walk like normal. Maybe you’re just too focused in on other noises. Or everything else is too loud for my footsteps. I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you need your ears checked.” Scott shrugs. Truly, he has no clue what could be happening.

“Right…anyway, let’s keep going, it’s not much further now, if those people told me correctly.” Martyn turns and walks, and Scott continues to follow. Within a few minutes, they can see it. Poised over lava, with many of its walls coming directly up from it. The connection to the land still intact , but certainly very precarious.

They make their way over the unstable bridge one at a time, fearing too much weight would send them plummeting into the lava. They may be well aware they have multiple chances to live, but they don’t want to test just how well that can stand to test against lava.

They make their way through the winding paths and hallways of the fortress, gathering materials and fighting against the many monsters that live there. It’s not pretty, and both definitely obtain some injuries. They tuck away into a closed off space in order to recuperate.

Scott wraps his injuries up with ease, when he hears Martyn growing increasingly more frustrated. He looks over to see Martyn struggling to wrap his arm. Instinctively, he moves over and reaches out to help, only for Martyn to pull his arm away. “What are you doing? I can handle it by myself.”

“Are you sure about that? Your attempts are just getting worse the more you’re frustrated. Just let me get this one for you, I’ve got lots of practice. It will be really quick.” Scott offers, just wanting to help and not wanting Martyn to potentially bleed out. The netherworld, especially in one of its fortresses, isn’t the best place to have to carry an unconscious body through.

Martyn groans and rolls his eyes. “Fine, whatever.” He sticks his arm towards him, and Scott gets to work on wrapping up and securing the bandages. He’s had a lot of practice with Jimmy, and in no time, he’s all good to go.

“Now I don’t know about you, but I think I’m all set with materials. I’ll stick around if you wanted any more, though.” Scott says, getting to his feet and stretching. He has all the materials and ingredients needed to make his pedestal and a potion brewer.

Martyn nods, standing as well. “Yeah, I’m ready to get out of here. Let’s go.” Martyn leads the way out, retracing their steps until they’re back at the entrance and over the rickety bridge. Which again, thankfully, does not fall below them.

They walk together back towards their portals, with Scott veering away once they neared his. He watches Martyn resume walking, then makes his way both back to and through the portal.

He shivers slightly at the sudden cool air, but the smell of flowers and sound of animals tells him he’s back home safe. As Scott opens his eyes, he sees as Jimmy is tending to some of the plants. He smiles, making his way across the stream. Of course, Jimmy hears him and looks up, dropping everything and flying right over, holding him tight.

“You’re back! I was getting worried the longer and longer you were gone. I know you’re strong and you promised me, but I couldn’t help but worry about you.” Jimmy pulls back to grab his hands, and then his smile drops seeing and feeling one hand is lightly wrapped up. “You got hurt in there…are you alright? Are there any more injuries?” He looks Scott over.

Scott cups his cheek to guide Jimmy to look at his face. “Jimmy, I’m okay. You don’t need to worry about me. I made it back, right? Only a few scrapes and bruises. Martyn was worse off than I was and even he seemed okay.”

Jimmy blinks, processing. “Martyn was there? How’d he get in?” Scott explains, walking along towards their home so he can set everything down. He tells Jimmy about everything that went down in the netherworld as he unpacks, careful to not break anything.

Once it’s all said and done, he changes into some pajamas and flops over exhausted into their new bed, falling asleep even before Jimmy has a chance to cuddle up to him.

——————

Jimmy sighs seeing Scott pass out so quickly in their bed. He knows that Scott swears he’s okay, but Jimmy knows he’s only saying that so he won’t worry or feel guilty. Yes, Scott needed to go there for the pedestal he’s making, but he was in there for longer so he could get potion making gear. Specifically for healing potions. Because of him.

He gets a cloth and a bowl of water, carefully trying to at least clean off Scott’s face, neck, and arms of blood, ash, and grime. He knows how important appearance is to Scott, and if he was willing to go to bed so dirty, he had to be incredibly exhausted. So he’ll help out at least this little bit. It’s not much, but he knows it will make Scott happy.

Satisfied with cleaning what he can, he puts everything away and gets himself ready for bed. He climbs in, scooting up close to Scott. While laying on his own stomach, he rests his head on Scott’s shoulder, wrapping one arm around his waist. He carefully cups one wing over top of them, and soon drifts to sleep.

Chapter Text

Scar’s not sure how long he’s been walking. Or where he’s even going. He just needed to get away. He couldn’t be around Grian, the sooner he can be alone, as he eventually will become, the better. The more used to it he can be. On his own terms, not suddenly in the blink of an eye.

But he’s been wandering for a while, and while he had water with him, he didn’t bring any food. And he was starving. He was just about ready to start chewing his own arm off when he heard voices ahead. They sound familiar, but that’s about as much as he can tell with how fogged his brain is. But it’s all he needs to push himself to go towards them.

He enters into a clearing, where the old abandoned castle was. So he must be relatively nearby to the village. He sees a few people ahead, chatting amongst themselves. He gets closer, and one looks over.

Bdubs widens his eyes and runs up to him. “Scar! Oh my gods, what happened? You don’t look so good, let’s get you sat down-hey guys! Scar’s here!” He guides Scar over towards the group, getting him sat down on a stump.

“Thanks…” Scar mumbles, just going where he’s guided. He sits down, practically collapsing as he’s finally off his feet. He takes out his flask and gets a drink of his water as Bdubs crouches beside him, asking again what happened.

The others come gather around as well, varying levels of concern on their faces. Before he can say anything, his stomach growls loudly, and he flinches a little bit, holding an arm over his stomach. “Have any food to spare…? I don’t know how long it’s been since I ate.”

Etho hands him an apple from his bag, which he eats quickly. “Woah, don’t choke on that, maybe slow down a bit-“ Etho says, but stops as Scar glances up at him. His eyes are tired and bloodshot and so, so incredibly sad and distant. He sighs “Sorry, you’re clearly going through something right now.”

Scar finishes the apple, and while it wasn’t much, it was just enough to satisfy himself for now. “Thank you. I…I forgot to grab food before I left the desert…I don’t know how long ago it was…I…” he feels himself tear up again, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his face in his hands.

He feels someone pat his back as he cries. “Oh Scar, what happened? This isn’t like what we’ve known of you.” Bdubs asks again, now right next to him.

“Pizza’s dead…I…I couldn’t find him anywhere, and there was blood…the shack collapsed…something or someone attacked him and now he’s dead and I can’t even find his body!” Scar sobs, a frustrated shout at the end. “I…I can’t…I can’t…I…I failed him…”

“…and you’re sure he’s dead, not just missing…?” He hears Cleo ask, a somewhat tense tone to her voice.

“He has to be, what else could have happened…he knows to come find me or to make noise so I find him…it’s just something I taught him…he was more than a pet, he was my best buddy.” Scar sniffles. “I first found him alone and injured, so I took care of him until he was all better. I fed him, I brushed him, I got him used to walking again. We seemed to sort of understand each other. When the time came to let him go, he wouldn’t move, just staring at me. He followed as I walked away, and from there, I couldn’t just leave him. He’d been by my side ever since, no matter what people thought of me. Someone was on my side…and for once, it was unconditional.”

He continues to cry for a little bit, Bdubs rubbing his back. “Losing someone is hard, I know that well…my grandpa gave me the pocket watch before he passed. It’s all I’ve got of him, which is why I was so worried when the clock disappeared. I didn’t want to lose it, or it’s like I lost him again.”

“I told Grian he was free to go…I can’t handle losing someone so suddenly now that Pizza’s gone…so I told him to go so it’s on my terms that he’s left me. He wouldn’t go, so I left and told him to take his time leaving…I’ve been wandering aimlessly since…I don’t even know what to do anymore…Pizza was my only constant in life…when I had nothing else, I had him.”

Tango sits on the other side of Scar from Bdubs, patting his shoulder. “Don’t give up on anybody too quick, maybe Grian will still be your friend. Heck, maybe he stayed because he does still want to be your friend. And he’s waiting for you to come back, or he’s out looking for you. You never know if you don’t ask.”

Scar sighs. “I don’t know…he’s always so adamant to keep himself as separate from me. Like saying the house he’s building isn’t ours, it’s mine. And he’s just staying there for a bit.” He looks up, noticing how the abandoned castle looks different. “Have you guys been fixing this place up…? It looks a lot better than it used to.”

Bdubs perks up a bit. “Yeah we have! It’s been a lot of work trying to clean things up and repair the walls. I was trying to work on fixing the roof and I got knocked off the top by a phantom. That’s how I lost a life. But I’ll be more careful next time, once I have the wood all ready to go.”

Scar gets up, using the stick he’d found to pull himself to his feet. “I remember playing in here as a kid, sneaking around and pretending to be monsters and knights with Skizz.” He walks closer, but Cleo stops him by putting a hand on his arm. He looks to her questioningly.

“It’s a bit of a hazard spot in there right now, there’s piles of materials and tools everywhere. I’d recommend taking in any views from outside until we’re all repaired and cleaned up. Don’t want you misstepping onto anything sharp.” She guides him back towards the stump.

He frowns. “I’ve been all around inside that place many times, I’m not too worried about some piles of wood. And Grian and I were working on building a house! I can be fine in there. Just tell me you’d rather not have anybody in until it’s clean, it’s fine if you’d prefer that.” He crosses his arms.

Cleo just nods. She seems a little tense, probably because he did just raise his voice a little bit. “Sorry for yelling, I…I’ve just been having a really rough time…any chance anyone can spare me some more food? Not much, just enough to get me back home…”

——————

As Scar leaves, Impulse looks to Cleo. “Okay, you were acting pretty weird during all that. Would you care to explain?” He crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow.

Cleo scoffs. “What, are you accusing me of murdering Pizza? You really think I would stoop that low, Impulse?” She places her hands on her hips. “What kind of person do you take me for that I would purposely injure someone’s pet?”

“I never said anything about that, just that you were acting weird. Seems to me like perhaps you might know something…assuming you’re not a murderer.” He shrugs, leaning back against a tree behind him.

“For your information, Impulse, the only murder I’ve committed was when I was human. And it was purely an accident.” She pauses, seeing Etho, Impulse, and Tango look at her with wide eyes and concerned faces. “It was! I did mean harm, but not death. He was an asshole to my sister.” Another pause seeing their confused faces. “Yes, I had a sister. I got some memories back, it’s a long story.”

Etho steps forward. “Can we get back on track, please? We were talking about making the path that we owe Ren, we should get a start on that soon. Bdubs, I’ll see about getting you included into the deal if you help out, but I can’t make any promises. But he is a pretty generous guy, I’m sure it will be fine.”

——————

It’s already been dark for a few hours when Scar finally makes his way back into the desert. As he gets out of the trees and sees the mountain, he stops right where he is. Right on top of the mountain, where before there was just framework and the start of a foundation, now stood a flat-topped house with the beginnings of a tower on top of it.

Just how long had he been away?

And more importantly…was Grian still there?

He trudges his way through the sand, making his way up the mountain. He’s almost to the top when he hears a flap of wings, and he looks up as quick as he can, seeing Grian fly down from the roof and land on the mountain. He tears up, running up and hugging him.

He feels Grian very slowly hug him back, whether it was because he’s tired, surprised, confused, or feeling awkward, Scar doesn’t care. It’s just nice. As much as he wanted Grian to have left, it does actually mean a lot more to him that he didn’t. “You stayed…”

“I couldn’t leave…I…I made a promise, and I couldn’t in good faith go back on it. I’m making a house, and I’m staying here until I’ve lost my first life. Or until the house is done, if I die before completing it. But…even if I leave, I’d like to still be your friend…if you’re alright with that.” Grian responds, somewhat nervously.

“Of course you can, Grian! I…Grian, thank you…you really have no idea how much this means to me.” He yawns. “I’m also incredibly tired after walking for days on end…can we head inside and get some sleep?” He pulls himself back so he doesn’t just lean his full weight into Grian.

“Yeah, come on in. I haven’t really done anything inside, it’s mostly just items and materials scattered about. But I recovered what I could from the shack. If it wasn’t broken, I got it up here. Except for your bed, that is. That was way too heavy to get up here. Especially on my own. So you’ll have to cuddle up inside of the pillows, blankets, and clothes that I brought up.” Grian leads the way inside.

Scar smirks a bit. “You mean to tell me you missed me so badly, you got all cozy in my clothes while I was away?” He chuckles, seeing Grian snap his head back to look at him, face all red.

“That is not-Scar, don’t make me regret wanting to still be your friend!” He nudges him, then turns back around and continues inside. Yes, it is a mess indeed. But so was the shack. This is actually clean compared to what the shack was like. Except for the blankets and such strewn about in what’s meant to be the bedroom.

Scar immediately gets himself set to one side of the pile, stretching before laying back. He looks to Grian, who is headed out of the room. “Where are you going? Aren’t you going to get some sleep? It’s really late.”

——————

Grian pauses in the archway that separates the bedroom from the main area, looking back towards Scar laying in the pile. “I just need to finish one thing really quick, then I’ll be back down. You sleep, you can finally get some proper rest after days of walking.” He smiles, and waits for Scar to close his eyes before heading up to the roof.

He stands at the edge of the roof, looking across the desert surrounding them. He looks up to the stars. “I know you’re watching. I know I’m messing up the story by doing this. But damnit, I can’t help it. And it’s already been thrown so off-track, I don’t think it could recover. So I’m doing it my way. I’m playing this death game story how I want. And if I want to make friends with a player, so be it. You can’t control me even if you wanted to. You couldn’t make me listen in the story of Evo when I didn’t know who you were, you won’t make me listen here when I know what’s going on.”

He looks to the moon, full and bright. “Pearl…Xiomara…however you want to be called…I don’t know if you are able to watch or not…but if you are, I miss you. I’m sure you’ll be glad I’ve made a friend. I promise, when I get back, I will try to help you. I swear.”

He lingers a moment, before heading back down inside. He tiptoes into the bedroom, slowly and quietly laying on the other side of the pile, not wanting to wake Scar, assuming he’s asleep. He lays there, closing his eyes and trying to sleep.

But Scar keeps shifting around. He looks over, and as he does, Scar sits bolt upright, gasping. Grian sits up as well. “Scar? Are you alright? What happened?” He puts a hand on his shoulder.

“I had a nightmare…I was walking with you, and then I ran ahead while you started flying. Suddenly, the ground disappeared under me, and I was falling. I was just about to land when I woke up…” he feels himself over, checking his bracelet as well. “I wonder why the colors change…you said there was a legend, right? Do you know if it says anything about that?”

Grian frowns. “I don’t remember. My brain isn’t working at its best right now, I’m incredibly tired.” He yawns. “Maybe I’ll remember in the morning…are you going to be able to fall back asleep alright? I know how rough it can be to do that.” He can’t think of a way to explain what happens when someone gets into the red right now. Not without letting on he knows more than he should.

Scar shakes his head. “I don’t think so…I’ll try, you get some rest. Don’t worry about me.” He lays back down, his back towards Grian. Just as he was laying before. Grian can hear him taking deep breaths, trying to settle himself down.

He sighs. He can’t believe what he’s about to do. But he knows it can help. He turns from laying on his side to laying on his stomach, moving only a little tiny bit closer. He extends a wing out and lightly tucks it around Scar, who turns enough to look at Grian’s face with a surprised expression.

“Don’t even think about it, don’t mention it. Let me do this and help you sleep, ok? It’s not a cuddle. Just a friend helping another friend.” he yawns again, laying his head into his arms, which are crossed out in front of him, holding a pillow. Scar smiles and turns back over, and Grian closes his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Chapter Text

BigB has been camped out by a cave for a while, working on exploring and gathering materials. It became a routine. In the morning, relight his fire, prepare two meals, have one, take the other into the caves. Do a bit of exploring and gathering and fighting monsters, find time to have lunch. Spend the rest of the afternoon trying to find his way back out, get to the surface, have some dinner, go to bed.

That is, until Martyn showed up at his campsite one evening as he prepared his dinner. He heard his name being called out, and looks up to see Martyn approaching. He smiles wide. “Martyn! Good to see you, come sit, I’ll get some more food on here for you, I wasn’t expecting company.” He motions to a large rock near the fire.

“You don’t have to do that, BigB, I wouldn’t want to cut into your supplies.” He comes over and sits, groaning a bit as he squats down. He relaxes once he’s sat. And BigB can’t help but notice that Martyn’s stomach makes a grumbling sound.

“I think your stomach says otherwise.” He chuckles. “I don’t mind, really. I was gonna replenish soon anyway.” He gets up and goes to his food storage, grabbing a couple more potatoes, a piece of meat, and some other ingredients. He gets it all prepped as the food currently on the pan over the fire cooks.

Once it’s done, he plates it, puts the new items into the pan, and hands off the freshly cooked food to Martyn. He holds up his hands, not taking the plate. “No, you go ahead and eat, you’ve been sitting here working on it and I’ve just walked up.”

“I can’t eat and cook at the same time. Go ahead, I insist.” BigB smiles, still holding out the plate. He watches Martyn take it, and turns his attention to the food now cooking, grinning as he sees Martyn practically inhale it in his peripheral vision. “Taste good?”

Martyn nods. “It’s fantastic! How in the world did you make something so good out in the middle of nowhere?” He shovels the last bit of food into his mouth off the plate before setting it down.

“I did a lot of camping growing up, and my family back home run a small tavern, so we’re always cooking. Put that together, and I was basically raised making food outdoors.” He flips the food over. “I may not be the best fighter, but I know how to be resourceful.”

“So what are you doing all the way out here then? Seems an odd choice to be camped out by a cave. Especially given I was saving you from one a few weeks ago.” Martyn stretches his arms, looking around at their surroundings.

“Who said I was camping right now? That’s just my basement, it’s really big and confusing. I keep getting lost all the time, it’s like another world down there, made of long identical hallways.” BigB jokes, but with a sincere look on his face and a serious tone in his voice.

Martyn panics a little bit. “Oh um, I mean, are…please tell me you aren’t being serious, because this seems like a pretty horrible idea, BigB, your closest neighbors are on the other side of a cliff.” He seems genuinely worried.

BigB laughs. “Of course I’m not! I’m gathering some materials for a couple people back in the village. Just taking some odd jobs here and there so I can work my way up to getting my own spot. Also, neighbors? I didn’t know anyone lived out this way.”

Martyn sighs in relief hearing BigB was joking, even chuckling a little bit. “Fair enough, I’ve been doing some tasks for Ren for a bit now. Spreading word of his business, doing little tasks here and there, he pays pretty fair now that he’s been getting a bit of business.”

“I remember you talking about that, I still haven’t had the chance to go stop by yet. Sounds like a pretty neat guy if he’s doing all that for you despite having only just come here himself.” He plates his food, now that it’s fully cooked. “Speaking of neat people, have you seen or heard from Grian? Last I saw was when you guys helped me to the healer’s, and last I’ve heard is he went with some guy to the desert for some reason.”

“Did nobody tell you what happened?” Martyn looks shocked. BigB shakes his head, and Martyn proceeds to explain everything, from the pranks, to the legend, to the promise. All as BigB has his dinner. “-I don’t really know how I feel about that, though. I’ve seen Grian since then, and it didn’t seem like he was enjoying it too much. I was wanting to find you, actually. See if we could try going on a mission to get our fellow Blue Sword Boy out of this deal, save him from Scar and the desert.”

BigB considers all this. “I mean, depending on how much he’s being put through and how long it lasts, it could be a completely unfair deal. What if he’s working him to exhaustion? Or it takes several years to be freed? That just wouldn’t be right.” He crosses his arms. “Conversely, if it’s just a little extra casual help for maybe at the absolute most a year? That seems fair to me.”

“I guess.” Martyn rolls his eyes. “I suppose I just don’t trust Scar. Something about the situation just doesn’t feel quite right. I can’t put a finger on it.” He closes his eyes. “I feel like I need a second opinion on it, but I don’t know who to even ask. You never met Scar, the guys over there haven’t really interacted with those two enough, and anyone else I know who knows them doesn’t see an issue.”

“I mean, it sounds like you’ve got a second opinion, it’s just opposite of your own.” He pats Martyn’s shoulder. “You keep mentioning some people nearby, I haven’t met them. Mind showing me the way in the morning? We can rest in my tent for the night.” He motions over towards it.

Martyn sighs. “Sure, why not. I don’t have anything else to do and I’m sure you’ll appreciate a break from the cave.” He stands up. “Now don’t give me your pillow or anything just because I don’t have one, I’ll be just fine.”

BigB chuckles. “Fine, fine. Good thing to know, because it’d be hard for me to sleep without it.” He puts out the fire, making sure it won’t relight before getting up himself and heading in. Martyn is setting himself up a spot while BigB gets into his, falling asleep first.

In the morning, he gets himself and Martyn some breakfast, before they pack up for the trip over to these other guys-Scott and Jimmy, right? He only said the names this morning at breakfast-that Martyn has been talking about.

They make their way there, and Martyn recalls how he, along with a guy named Joel, worked with these two to mess with Scar and Grian because Scar had scammed Joel. All for some sapling-branches, which frankly sounds rather ridiculous. But nonetheless, it is a funny story.

They enter into the hidden area, and BigB is slightly taken aback at how beautiful it is. The flowers, the stream, the small farm, the buildings built into the cliffs…it seemed so peaceful here. Well, if you can get past the sound of the sheep and chickens inside their pens.

He spots a blond man tending to the plants, who looks over towards them and waves. “Hello Martyn! Welcome back, who’s this you’ve got with you?” He smiles, setting what he’d collected into the basket on his arm. BigB sees that him talking makes another man, this one with tealish-blue hair, walk out from the higher up building. He looks a little bit tired.

“Jimmy, this is BigB. BigB, this is Jimmy. And that guy walking over is his husband, Scott. Scott, this is my friend, BigB! He’s been camped out all by himself for a while with no idea anybody else was nearby.” Martyn puts a hand on BigB’s shoulder, arm reached across his back.

Scott smiles. “Nice to meet you, BigB. As Martyn said, I’m Scott, and Jimmy here is my husband.” He loops his arm through Jimmy’s. “This little valley here is our home.”

“It’s beautiful. Just looking at this area is making it the most pleasant day I’ve had for about a week.” He takes another look around, admiring how cute and cozy it all felt. How despite the chill in the air, the sun was bright and warm right now. He could almost pretend it was spring instead of fall.

“So Scott, how’s work been on getting your potions together? I remember that was your goal when we were exploring in the netherworld.” Martyn asks. “Needed healing potions, yeah?”

Scott hums, nodding. “Yep. You’ll notice I’m all healed from that adventure. I’m really glad I was able to get both projects handled all in one trip, I wouldn’t have been able to do that if you weren’t there, Martyn.” He smiles.

Martyn frowns, raising an eyebrow. “Both projects? What, you needed two different types of potions or something? I’d only count that as one project, myself. What else could you have possibly needed to go in there to work on?”

“Oh, the potions are one project, thanks to you I was able to get it. No, I handled the first one before we met. See, I needed a master spellbook from the piglinfolk, in order to create an enchanting pedestal.”

——————

Martyn widens his eyes. He remembers something Ren said before, about how those pedestals are extremely rare and valuable, and incredibly difficult to procure. They require very specific items, knowledge, and abilities. And yet, here’s Scott just casually mentioning he had created one. “I’m sorry, you said you just…made…one of those pedestals?”

“Yes, I did. Did you not know that people make them, Martyn? I thought with your gear and all that you’d know all about them. Unless it was given to you by someone else?” Scott is practically using his hold on Jimmy to keep himself stood upright. He looks more exhausted than he had been before.

“No, I knew! Sort of. Ren only briefly explained it, about what makes them so valuable and hard to come by.” He pauses. “You said before you’re a nobleman, yeah?”

Scott nods, then flinching just a little bit, using his free hand to hold his head. Jimmy guides Scott to sit on the ground, sitting beside him. “Scott, you shouldn’t be out and walking around if you’re not recovered yet, it’ll only drain the energy you just got back.” Jimmy puts his arm around Scott, prompting Scott to lean onto him, head rested on Jimmy’s shoulder, eyes closed.

Martyn frowns more, sitting on the ground across from them, BigB following suit. “What’s going on? Are you alright?”

Scott nods in response. “I…I’m fine. Just…takes a lot of energy to make those. I’ll be fine. I’ve done it before, I know what I’m doing.” He opens one eye to look over at Martyn.

“You’ve…right, okay.” Martyn looks down, a hand to his chin, and thinks for a moment. “They’re made with rare, valuable materials and extremely hard to come by, most people have never heard of them before, much less seen them. You, the only other person I’ve met who knows about and has even made them, is a nobleman. Ren hasn’t mentioned having any kind of a status. I get the feeling that he isn’t telling me something…”

Jimmy frowns towards Martyn. “Who is this Ren guy you’re talking about? You’ve mentioned him twice now. We’ve never heard about him before. He’s not dangerous, is he?”

Martyn looks back up, with wide eyes. “Oh, no, he’s great! He’s this werewolf that’s made an enchanting business in the spruce woods by the mountains. Renchanting, it’s called. He’s really quite generous, and perhaps even a little bit too generous at times. He’s letting me use a bed and some storage at his place until I settle on a spot, for an example. I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned him sooner.”

Scott raises an eyebrow “He’s just letting you live out of his house? Surely there’s something he’s getting out of this. And yes, if he has an actual enchanting pedestal, and no known special status, he’s not telling you something. Either he’s nobility, royalty, or a thief.”

Martyn sits in silence for a moment, Scott’s last two sentences swirling through his mind. BigB puts a hand on his shoulder. “Martyn? Are you alright?” His dreams join in. And what he’s seen. The book. The red cloak. Cold, harsh, winter. War. A king. Nobility. King. Royalty. King. Thief. A war. A king. Find the king. Find Ren’s secret.

Martyn stands suddenly. “I need to go. I…I need to…” he takes a step back. “I need to know if I’ve messed up or not.” He turns and runs off, ignoring the sound of BigB calling and running after him, which stops as BigB undoubtedly realizes that Martyn isn’t going to stop.

——————

The more Skizz thinks about it, the worse he begins to feel. Why, why do feelings have to be so stupid? Sure, he never really liked the llama, but he really, really liked Scar, truly. He’s got his pros and cons, with the cons being the llama and being a conman. But Skizz can’t help but imagine a world where those two things just weren’t a thing.

He’d be happy with Scar, whether they stayed as friends or became something more. True, in the past, Scar had politely turned down Skizz’s feelings, saying he wasn’t looking for any sort of relationship at the time. Which Skizz can respect, especially as Scar was in an especially rough spot when Skizz brought it up.

But they could live in the village, people could learn to trust Scar as he’d matured and made up for everything he’d done. Skizz would help him every step of the way, and they’d always be by each other’s side. So long as they’re not favored above him, Skizz would help Scar care for all sorts of animals. He remembers how Scar dreamed of being an animal farmer when they were little. He’s not sure what happened to that.

He sighs, sitting up in his nest. “This guilt is gonna be the…well not THE death, I suppose…the…second? Death of me? Geez, that’s…really weird to say.” He stretches, watching as a couple of feathers fall from his wings. Guess it’s molting time again. He’ll have to remember to shake out his wings every so often to get those fallen feathers out of there. Can’t be bothered to try and pick through them all on his own.

Maybe he…no, he absolutely can’t ask Scar to help with it like he used to. Especially not in the same trip where he’s got to tell Scar what he knows. It will just seem like he’s lying to get a favor out of him. Which is exactly what he’s been trying to discourage Scar from doing for a long time now.

“Fine. I’ll go back there and tell that jerk about his stupid llama…” he pauses in the middle of getting up and out of his nest, slowly sitting back down “…in the morning. No! Yes? I’m too tired to think about this!” He flops back onto his side, arms crossed in frustration. “Come on Skizz, it’s been a long time since you actually lost sleep over this guy, it’s not worth it. He can handle one more night not knowing what happened.”

He reassures himself as he falls asleep, dreaming of a time now so long ago.

/\/\——————\/\/

They were maybe 16 at the time? Both a pair of quite rowdy teenagers, just as they had been as younger kids. They laugh as they run away into the woods, an angry adult following on the path behind them. They slip away to their quick hiding spot, struggling to stay quiet as they wait for the adult to pass by.

Once they’re in the clear, they fall over, chuckling and crying from how much they’re laughing. They slowly get up to their feet, and Scar grabs Skizz’s hand and starts running towards their hideout. Skizz feels his face flush, he knows it’s silly, just a friendly act from Scar, but he’s still holding his hand as they run.

Once in the abandoned castle that they called their hideout, they settle down and relax, sat on the piles of junk that were once furniture. “Did you see the look on his face when he noticed the sheep were all different colors?” Scar asks, chuckling.

“Yeah! Oh, he was so mad.” Skizz snickers. “Oh it’s gonna be a mess to clean everything up. I think our hands might be stained for at least a couple weeks.” He looks down at his hands, splotches of all different colored pastes caked onto his hands, his clothes covered in smears and streaks and blobs of color as well.

“Oh I didn’t even think about that! Oh Skizz, we made such a huge mess of ourselves. Why in the world did I wear light colors today?” Scar looks at his once cream-colored shirt and grey pants, now covered in an array of shades and hues.

Skizz smiles, giving him a friendly nudge. “Hey, I’m in the same boat here. And technically I was the one to initiate the dye fight. So it’s my fault we’re more covered than we would have been.” He looks fondly at Scar, admiring the way some of the scarring on his face reacts to his big grin.

How he wants to take his dye-coated hand and put it to Scar’s cheek. To hold his face in his hand and brush his thumb gently along it. To press their foreheads together and close his eyes, and take in a quiet moment with him. A moment where it’s just them, and nothing else matters.

But he doesn’t. He can’t. He doesn’t have the courage to actually do something like that.

/\/\——————\/\/

Skizz wakes up in the morning, getting himself ready before he makes his way towards the desert. He can’t believe he’s headed there willingly, and of his own accord. To tell Scar about the llama.

As he exits the treeline, he widens his eyes at seeing a pile of rubble where the shack was. “What in the world-what happened?” He rushes up to it and digs through it, finding only broken things and strewn straw that was once his nest. Well, Scar must not live here anymore, but where-

He looks around, stopping as he spots a house at the top of the desert mountain. A full house. With a tower. How-where did that thing spring up from? And oh, of course now that Skizz moved out, Scar gets an actual house made. Assuming Scar does actually live there.

He heads towards it, making his way up the mountain. He’s almost to the top when he sees Scar walk out of the front door, and both stop in their tracks spotting the other. He says nothing for a moment, looking at Scar’s tired, yet surprised face.

“Skizz, you…hey, um…I’m sorry to have seen you’d…you know…” Scar says awkwardly, messing with his cloak and shifting as he speaks. Something is clearly bothering him, but there’s certainly way too many things to be able to try and narrow it down.

Skizz continues making his way up, standing level with Scar, but keeping a distance. “Yeah…enderman, right down there…” he motions down the mountain towards the rest of the desert. “Scar, I…I need to talk to you about-“

“Pizza’s dead.”

Skizz blinks in surprise. “I’m sorry, what?”

Scar repeats, head hung down slightly. “Pizza’s dead. Someone or something attacked him and destroyed the shack. I…I know you weren’t a fan of him, but…I thought I’d tell you, now that you’re here.” He looks back up at Skizz, eyes slightly teared up. “I’ve been having a rough time lately, after you left and now with him gone.”

Skizz is paused. He knows full well that Pizza is alive. That lady…geez, what was her name? Stole him. Could she have destroyed the shack too? “Scar, are you absolutely sure he’s dead?” He steps closer, hesitantly.

Scar looks back down, nodding. “There was blood…I couldn’t hear him and he’s not come back…” his voice chokes up.

Skizz frowns. He sighs, ignoring the voices in his head to not do it. But he comes up and hugs Scar. Pats his back as he feels Scar place his face into his shoulder. He feels so guilty at finding some slight enjoyment in the moment, holding Scar as he finds comfort in him. It’s almost as bad as the guilt that’s been building up regarding the truth about Pizza.

“Scar, I’m finished making lunch are you-oh.” Skizz watches as Grian walks out of the front door, pausing seeing the two of them there. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

Scar pulls back from Skizz to look back at Grian. “No, it’s fine. Thanks for letting me know.” He turns to Skizz, a small smile, though his eyes are still a bit wet. “You want to join us for lunch? It’s a little bit messy inside our place right now, but we’re working on it.”

Us. Our. We. Each one of those words has a slight sting as he hears it, even if that wasn’t Scar’s intention. Not that Skizz has any actual right to be upset about it, he was the one who left Scar behind. “Sure, why not. I did come by to talk with you, after all.”

Scar smiles a little bit more. He takes Skizz’s hand and pulls him inside, showing him around. Grian follows behind them, helping out whenever Scar gets caught on a word. Or to correct him or add more context. Like when Scar shows the bedroom.

“And this is Grian and I’s bedroom!” Scar motions into the room, which just has a wide pile of clothes, blankets, and pillows on the floor, with a couple crates of things dotted about. But only the one pile of comfier stuff. Which sets off the alarms in Skizz’s head. “We’re using that pile of stuff as our bed, Grian made it.”

“Scar I swear, you really need to think about how you’re wording and explaining things.” Grian sighs and facepalms, exasperated. “I made it for myself while Scar was away, and since he came back, we found that there’s not enough for us to make two piles. So we have to share it until we can get our own beds.”

Okay, that…feels a bit better. Skizz does still feel a pang of jealousy towards Grian, though.

“Says the guy who has been getting nightmares every night unless he tucks me under his wing.” Scar teases, poking at one of Grian’s wings. Which promptly gets it flapped/smacked into his face as Grian’s face gets flushed. Scar laughs. “Hey, it’s true! Don’t think I don’t know it’s happening. Every so often I just get a little cozier at night.”

And Skizz’s stomach drops. “Wait, I’m lost now, are you…what’s the setup here?”

“We’re just friends, Skizz. Scar just keeps making those sorts of jokes at me.” Grian crosses his arms and rolls his eyes, although he’s still a little bit pink in the cheeks. “As soon as we have our own beds, we’re keeping our distance.”

“Fine, whatever you say Grian.” Scar holds up his hands in surrender. “Let’s get eating then, shall we? I’m hungry, and you said you wanted to talk, right, Skizz?” Scar heads off to another room, and the other two follow.

“Yeah, I do.” Well now he wants to talk about all sorts of things. But he has to remind himself what he thought about before. Only talk about the llama this time. So Scar won’t think he’s trying to get a favor or trick him. He’ll have to come another time to talk more.

They sit around a table with chairs, which Scar proudly declares that he built himself. And it’s only very slightly wobbly. “Scar, you might have missed out on a calling as a carpenter. These are actually pretty nice.” Skizz says, wiggling a little bit in his seat to test the durability.

“Oh Skizz, we both know I wouldn’t make it very far with that, there’s already two fantastic carpenters in town. Who would give me the business if they already know about better options?” Scar shrugs. “Anyway, what did you want to talk about?” He asks as Grian serves up their food.

Skizz takes a deep breath. “It’s actually involving a topic that’s been mentioned already, but it didn’t feel like the right time to mention it.” He looks deep into Scar’s eyes, putting a hand over his. “Scar, I saw someone pass by my house with Pizza. Alive and uninjured.”

He lets Scar sit with that information for a moment to process. “I…are…are you sure it was Pizza?” Scar asks, using both his hands to hold Skizz’s, a sincere look on his face.

Skizz nods. “Positive. No other llama would look at me with such malice and spit at me with such accuracy.” He puts his other hand with their held hands. “I…I’m ashamed to admit it, but I knew about this for a little over a week now. I was still angry at you for everything when it happened, so I did nothing to stop it…but then the guilt hit me. And I couldn’t take it, I’m so sorry, Scar.”

Scar sits there, staring. Silent and motionless. Skizz feels the weight of the silence building more and more. He looks away from him and towards Grian, who seems tense as well. “Scar…?” Grian slowly reaches out and puts a hand to Scar’s shoulder, which finally unfreezes him.

“I…” Scar sighs, tugging his hands away from Skizz. “…how…Skizz, you…you know how important Pizza is…why would you let someone do that? They could be so far away by now! Did they tell you what they were doing? Where did they head towards?” Scar gets to his feet quickly, a hand on the table as he looks down at Skizz, who is still seated.

Grian stands and reaches for Scar’s arm. “Scar-“ “Grian. No. Sit back down.” Scar doesn’t even look back as he says it, eyes burning into Skizz. Grian does as told, worry on his face.

“Scar, if I could do it over, absolutely I would have done something about it. I was mad and not thinking clearly. I don’t remember their name, but they said you scammed them so they were going to keep hold of him until they get what they wanted. They went in the direction of the village. If they’re using him to bargain, I’m sure that’s only as far as they’d go, but I can’t promise that that was their destination.” Skizz knows how badly he’s messed up.

Scar stares a moment longer to consider before sitting back down. “…fine. I’m still mad, but I’ll try to check it out. If I find out you’re lying…I don’t know if I’ll be capable of forgiving you.” Skizz can see how much it hurt Scar to say that. Scar, who kept giving him endless chances despite being wronged and left behind many times. Scar, who besides Pizza, had only one friend his whole life.

Until now, it seems. Scar has a new friend, who might possibly be more, and Skizz may be on his last chance with Scar. Stupid, scamming, beautiful, caring Scar. If Skizz didn’t know the true Scar, the one that was so thoughtful and just wanted to make friends and care for all sorts of creatures, he’d not care so much.

“Scar, I swear on everything, that to the best of my knowledge, Pizza is alive somewhere not too far away, and you have the opportunity to get him back.” Skizz responds, with a completely serious tone.

Scar nods. “Let’s eat, then. Stick around after if you want, Grian and I are going to get back to work once we’re finished.” Without another word, he digs in. Skizz looks to Grian, who gives him a slightly worried and sad expression.

Not a single word was exchanged as the three ate, Scar finishing first and then going outside. Skizz is now alone with Grian. “Grian…I know we don’t know anything about each other, and I don’t know what he’s told you about me, but I promise I wasn’t lying to him.”

Grian looks up. “I kn-“ pause “I…know how badly it affected Scar when he thought Pizza was dead. He’d finally started accepting it. He just doesn’t want to get too hopeful, only for it to be a lie. If you truly still care for Scar, I hope that you’re right about this.”

“Thank you…I should go, I don’t want to overstay my welcome any more than I think I already have. Take care of him, will you? Until he’s got Pizza back?” He stands, headed to the door.

Grian nods, promising to do so. With that, Skizz leaves the house, heading down the mountain, and starts his journey back home.

Chapter Text

Ren has always been a man of many secrets. He plays his own cards close to his chest. But the cards of others have always been fair game. If you share what you know of another person, you can share a secret while remaining a mystery. It’s one of many lessons he’s learned growing up.

But when you’re new to an area, there’s only so many ways to remain a mystery. Most people aren’t open to share themselves if you don’t share too. To gain trust, you must not tell lies. To not lose secrets, you must not tell full truths. So you have to share half-truths. Even his name he shared as a half-truth. Told others his name was Ren Dog. So if the time came to reveal his true name, nobody would bat an eye at it.

Crown Prince Renatus of the Black Isles, born to the House of Dogwarts.

Or, more simply put, Prince Renatus Dogwarts.

Hopefully that time never need arrive. The Black Isles are feared across many lands. The discovery of him being the heir to the throne could lead to him being forced home, whether it was dead or alive. He could have every chance of life given to him stripped away all at once if word got out at a wrong time.

So under the guise of Ren Dog, friendly, fair, and generous merchant, he allows people to come close, to share with him goods and services in exchange for what he has to offer. Cash not always needed, if a trade is good enough. People grow to like him, make good on their deals, and they start to open up to him.

They offer him cards with which to play. Whether they’re aware of it or not.

Now that his business is established, even with the current lack of a proper direct path, he has gained all sorts of secrets of the people in the village. Gossip, rumors, broken promises, jealousy, desires, stolen llamas. He knows far more of others than anyone knows of him. To be quite frank, everyone only knows a few of his half-truths.

Except for one. Only one person knows a little bit more than anyone else. They may not yet know any full truth, but spending as much time as he does around him, well, Martyn gets to know a little bit more about Ren.

Ren would be lying if he said he hadn’t grown slightly fond of the elf. How they seemed to work on similar wavelengths, keeping cards close to their chest. Even if Martyn is willing to spare a few out, he’s definitely keeping things hidden from everyone. Ren finds it somewhat enticing, how Martyn can seem so open and yet is shut off and locked tight. He could feel it since that night they met, that Martyn was hiding something from him.

And how Ren wishes to find it out. To learn something more about this golden-haired elf who has lent himself into being a traveling sales promoter for him. Even beyond the original deal they made that night. A second offer had been made soon after. Martyn continues to spread word in exchange for shelter whenever he has need for it. Of course, Ren accepted, and was quick to get a secondary bed to his place. For Martyn, or any person who needs a place for the night.

He thinks how he could make this place even safer, more secure. From the nightly threat of monsters and the eventual, ever-looming threat of an oncoming winter. So he plans to construct walls circling around some of the land. Perhaps see if he can source someone to use magic on some plots of land so crops may grow throughout the winter. Dig and build out an underground area for safety.

Of course, he gets others to help him with the actual construction. He works on a fair bit of building it himself as well, but whether it’s a trade off of labor for product, or labor for payment, he’s not building this all by himself. It all comes naturally to him, leading and commanding others to follow his plans. Although, differently from how he’d do so publicly back home, he used kindness and acted on equal or similar footing.

Kindness while giving commands was something he could only ever do in secret. He bets that when he returns home, his good friend and future royal advisor, Mumbo, will be proud of him when he learns of all he’s done while on his search. Spreading kindness and knowledge, leading without being feared, and hopefully reuniting and returning with his long lost brother. But alas, all he can do until then is simply imagine anything his friend might say or do.

At some point before construction was over, Etho and Bdubs had stopped by. Etho was inquiring if Bdubs could get some enchantments if he joined in the pathmaking project, as he’s been part of the group and could use a little extra support since he’s lost a life. Ren accepts this deal. He trusts Etho’s judgment. The three chat as Bdubs does his enchanting, and Ren, knowing Cleo to be part of the group, inquires how things are going with the llama she took.

Etho says nothing, and Bdubs asks how he knows. So Ren tells about that night, when she’d wandered past. Bdubs confirms the llama is doing fine. After he finishes, the two men go on their way, and Ren resumes helping with constructing the wall.

Until Cleo stops by, asking to have a word with him in private. There, they tell him off for telling about the llama to other people, demanding to know who else he had told. He insists he only talked to Bdubs and Etho about it, as it was mentioned they were all part of the same group, so he assumes she’d already have told them. Except, Etho didn’t know, and they weren’t planning to let him know.

Ah, that’s certainly an issue. He apologizes, of course, and asks what she’d like in compensation. She figures it’s only fair that he shared her secret, so he must share one of his own. Hesitantly, he does. He has materials, both his own and those belonging to Martyn, hidden within the floorboards of the bedroom. He doesn’t demonstrate where, or even let them into the bedroom, but he tells regardless. This seems to satisfy Cleo, and she goes on her way.

So when Martyn finally returns, before anything, he apologizes. “Martyn, I am sorry. I’ve seem to have gotten in a small spot of trouble, and the only way out was to tell someone about the hidden floorboards. Someone else knows where we hide our materials, and for the sake of avoiding more trouble, I cannot share who it was.”

Martyn pauses. It’s clear to Ren he’d had something else on his mind, and was now trying to process this new information. “Hold on, wait, I’m sorry, you what? What kind of trouble would lead you to having to do that? You couldn’t have just like…let them have a go at the enchanting pedestal as compensation?”

“I could not. They’d gotten enchantments recently, it would not have been an offer of much value. They demanded a secret. And so, a secret I told. They don’t know which floorboards to look at, but they are aware of which room it’s in. Again, I apologize. If you’d like, I can help you to relocate your things to a different spot for better security.” He puts a hand to Martyn’s shoulder.

Martyn frowns “Yeah, maybe…but…Ren, I…I need a word with you. Somewhere more closed off so nobody can hear us.” Martyn grabs Ren’s wrist, and starts walking, leading him along back indoors to the bedroom before he lets go. Ren moves to sit on his own bed, and Martyn sits on his/the guest bed.

Martyn takes a deep breath. “Ren, you’re hiding something really, really big from me. I don’t know what specifically, but I’ve had it narrowed down to three things to me.” He looks directly into Ren’s eyes. “I came across someone else who knows about enchanting pedestals, and he said you’re either nobility, royalty, or a thief. And I need an answer. It’s incredibly important to everything I've been doing, and what I’ve been sent to do. No more beating around the bush like you’ve been doing anytime I ask about your past.”

Ren takes pause, a shocked expression across his face. Martyn has never looked so serious before this. At least, not at him. He closes his eyes and sighs. “If I must, then so shall you. A secret for a secret.” He opens his eyes back up, staring into the sky blue of Martyn’s. “I tell you what of those I am, and you tell me what you’ve been hiding, what you’re doing all the way up here.”

Martyn nods. “I can make that deal. Depending how you responded I was going to tell you anyway, but I can tell you even if it’s not the answer I was looking for.”

“Martyn, you must swear to not tell a soul about this unless I say so.” He waits for Martyn to respond, and after he swears, Ren stands, shoving his bed aside. He lifts another section of floorboard, one that Martyn was unaware of, and pulls out a satchel.

He stands, his back to Martyn. He sets the satchel on his bed, pulling out his crown. He lowers his head down, placing it upon his head, only raising his head as he turns to face Martyn once more. He sees Martyn’s eyes widen in shock. He immediately makes move to kneel before him, to which Ren sets a hand upon his shoulder. “Martyn, you don’t have to do that. You’re my friend. Please, only think of me as Ren, alright?”

“Ren…you don’t understand. You’re…I’m pretty sure you’re who I’m supposed to find.” Martyn looks up to meet Ren’s eyes. Ren grabs Martyn’s hands and pulls Martyn to his feet as he tells him about his dreams. “And there’s this voice, telling me to find the king.”

Ren frowns. He shakes his head. “Alas, it was so close…Martyn, I must apologize, I am no king, not yet. My father still lives, thus leaving me merely a crown prince. Perhaps there’s another somewhere, then. That you’re meant to find. Or maybe you’re meant to find my father. War sounds about right for…back home.” He gives Martyn’s hands a light squeeze.

“And where is that?” Martyn inquires.

Ren shakes his head. “I told you one secret, that was the deal. I cannot in good faith tell you of where I hail from, it’s much too dangerous and too cold for you alone. But after I finish my mission, I can bring you back with me.” The last thing he wants is for his new friend to be harmed. Especially one so particularly intriguing.

Martyn hesitantly nods. “I’ll accompany you on your mission, then, if you’ll have me.”

Ren nods immediately. “Yes, of course. I’ve found I rather enjoy your company, Martyn. I’d be honored to have you join me in my search.” The thought excites him, to be traveling with Martyn. In such a short time knowing one another, and he finds himself becoming attached to him, and then some.

“Thank you for telling me, Ren. Your secret is safe with me.” He gives Ren’s hands a squeeze before pulling them away. “I um…would still prefer my things get moved to a different hiding spot, you know. Since I don’t know who it is that knows our secret, in case they try to steal anything.”

“Of course, I’ll help you with that.” Ren removes his crown, hiding it back away again. Then, he gets to helping Martyn relocate his materials.

——————

“Xelqua dares to defy us so?”
“We should have removed him when we had the chance. He’s too ingrained now.”
“Seems a rather unfair advantage for that player to have one of us under command.”
“He doesn’t know how powerful Xelqua is, though.”
“No, but Xelqua is unpredictable. Perhaps we need to cause a little…accident.”
“He can just avoid anything we send his way, though.”
“Who said anything about us being the ones to attack him? Have you forgotten about the effects of being on a final life?”
“That’s true…perhaps we should send the players a message, then.”
“Our Will Be Done.”

——————

That night, every player (and “player”) has the same dream. An unknown voice, sometimes layered or echoed, sometimes a collection of voices.

()——————()

Red. The final life. A last chance to continue living, now forced to confront the reality of mortality.

While Green and Yellow are still the same as anyone else ever is, Red is different.

Red is driven by heightened emotions. Increased senses. Plagued with violent thoughts, desires to cause harm.

Attack Red unprovoked, and severe consequences shall be faced. But should Red make the first move, all bets are off.

Beware the Red.

Our Will Be Done.

()——————()

Everyone wakes with the same panic, the same confusion.

——————

“Grian…did you have that red dream too?” Grian hears Scar whisper beside him. He turns his head to see Scar has rolled over, directly facing towards him. He looks frightened.

Grian nods. “Yeah…I reckon everyone might have.” He stretches his back and his wings. A couple of loose feathers slowly float down, one landing on Scar’s face. They both chuckle a bit. “Sorry, guess it’s molting season. I gotta work on preening these out sometime soon.”

“It’s no problem! And you know, I could help you with that if you needed. I’ve helped Skizz preen before, back when he actually took good care of his wings.” Scar pulls the red feather from his face, looking it over in what little light there was making its way into the room.

“That…would be nice, actually. Thank you.” Grian smiles. He watches as Scar carefully puts the dropped feather onto the floor, away from the pile. He yawns, closing his eyes and resting his head back onto his crossed arms. Then he feels Scar moving closer.

“Hey, Grian?” Scar says softly.

Grian opens one eye, looking directly at him. He was certainly significantly closer, but he was aware of that. “What’s up?”

“…what do we do if…if I turn red?”

Grian thinks a moment. “Well, I’m still staying with you. I owe you until I die the first time, remember? As far as I’m concerned, nothing changes.”

Scar still yet frowns. “It said you’d have a desire to harm…Grian, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I…” he puts a hand over Grian’s “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Grian sighs. “A desire doesn’t mean you have to do it. It’s not a need, it’s a want. You can control it. It said emotions are heightened, so surely even feelings of happiness are heightened, too. I’m sure you’ll be fine. Besides, what are the chances you’ll go so soon? You’d still be on your first life if it weren’t for me.” Another yawn as he finishes speaking. “It’s still night, I’m gonna go back to sleep.” Close eye.

“Hey, Grian…?” Scar calls out softly again.

Grian opens his eye again. “What, Scar?”

“You can say no if you’re uncomfortable, but…could I…go to sleep with an arm around you…? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well if I feel alone.”

Grian blinks. “Um…sure, I guess? I don’t mind that for one night…just be careful of my wings. And also, after we wake up, it never happened.”

Scar smiles, scooting even closer to Grian, carefully wrapping a loose arm around him, making sure everything is comfortable before closing his eyes. “Thanks, Grian.”

“You’re welcome, Scar.” Grian tries to wait out for Scar to fall asleep first, so he can carefully move out of the cuddle, but sleep takes him away before he has the chance.

Chapter Text

Grian wakes up now on his side instead of his stomach, wrapped up in both of Scar’s arms. Man, Scar was not kidding about not wanting to feel alone while he slept last night. He starts to very slowly and carefully work his way out of Scar’s arms. Of course, once he’s free, Scar starts to stir a bit. Grian quickly puts one of the pillows nearby where he was laying, and silently sighs in relief seeing Scar hold it close and settle down.

He has a quick breakfast, then packs himself some food. He leaves Scar a note explaining that he’s flying out to the village today to grab some things, and should be back that evening. He’ll keep an eye out for Pizza as he goes. He then sets out, flying over the trees as the sun rises over the land.

By late morning, he approaches the newly-completed walls that surround Renchanting. Right on schedule. He comes in for a landing outside the north gate. “Hello? Is anyone there?” He waits for a reply. “Do I just let myself in, or-“

The door opens, and there stands Ren, a friendly expression on his face. It sends a slight chill down his spine, knowing the way the story is meant to go. How before him stands the man meant to win, the one who is meant to slaughter many.

“Greetings, traveler. Please, do come in.” Ren moves aside, allowing Grian entry. He walks in, looking around at the surroundings. It all looks exactly as it should. Maybe he hasn’t messed it up too badly, then. “So, what brings you here? Seeking shelter, after some enchanting of your supplies?” Ren guides the way up to the one building in the area.

“The second one. And perhaps a chat with Martyn, if he’s around. I hadn’t seen him in a while and wanted to check in on him.” He follows along, quickly glancing at the back. No altar yet, good.

“Wait a moment…” Ren pauses to look back over Grian. “Would you happen to be Grian…? Martyn has mentioned someone exactly like you by that name. He’s been worried about you.”

Grian blinks, caught off-guard. “Yeah, I am. Martyn’s been…worried? About me? Why? We’re not close, I just sorta know him a bit. He said he’d been staying here while he looked for his own spot.”

“That’s a conversation for you to have with Martyn himself. Alas, he unfortunately is not here at present. He’s gone exploring and resource gathering for the day. But I can let him know you have come by looking, if you wish.” He resumes guiding Grian into the door of Renchanting, heading back towards his setup.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Let him know I’m perfectly okay, though. There’s nothing to worry about.” He reaches the back with Ren. “So how exactly does this work, then?” Grian knows, but he has to play it this way to avoid having to try and make up some kind of an explanation off the top of his head.

He lets Ren explain, and then provides him with some payment in exchange for use of the table. As he enchants, he is quiet. He knows Ren. How he works. He remembers how he was written to be.

“Not one for conversation? Or were you hoping I’d begin one first?” Ren inquires, standing to the side and slightly behind Grian. And while Grian knows that its not meant to intimidate, at least not yet, he can’t help but feel like it is, given just how much taller Ren is than him. The top of his head doesn’t even meet Ren’s shoulders, for crying out loud.

“Just trying to focus. I’m not all that familiar with magic.” Grian responds, enchanting his cloak.

“Not familiar with magic, and yet you’re one of two people who’d heard about that legend. The one that ties in with the dream Martyn and I, likely along with the others, had last night.” He lowers his head closer to Grian’s, putting a hand on the opposite shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything else that you haven’t shared with anyone yet, would you? I’m sure that dream had to have…jogged your memory.”

Grian tenses up a little bit. That’s…not completely Ren. If it’s even him at all. He can feel it. An achingly familiar chill like that of a void, buzzing with energy and whispering. He turns his face, just enough to get a glimpse of a strange shadow behind Ren. A figure, eyes missing, hands extended over Ren’s shadow, strings coming down much like a puppet. “A little bit. If you’re careful, you can keep yourself under control. So it’s a good idea to have something or someone to anchor yourself.” He looks back to the pedestal. “I don’t remember any more than that, if you’re trying to intimidate me for information.”

Ren removes his hand and steps back, and Grian feels the presence take its leave. “That was not my intention, I apologize if it came across that way. I was merely thinking about the others of us affected by this.” He walks away and over towards some books, picking them up and placing them back onto the shelves.

Grian finishes up. “Right, I’ll be off then. Remember to tell Martyn I said hello and that I’m perfectly fine.” He says, heading towards the door, not even looking back at Ren. The moment he’s outside, he flies up into the air. “I don’t know which one of you that was, but I know you know I could see that.” He mutters towards the sky.

——————

Soon after Grian left, Ren hears the sound of multiple people talking and making their way up towards the southern gate. He makes his way over, recognizing the voices of Etho and the others. They don’t even have a chance to knock before Ren opens the door. Impulse is stood at the front, hand raised to knock. He lowers it down. “Well someone beat me to it.”

Ren chuckles. “I could hear you all approaching. I take it this can only mean-“ he looks past them, seeing a fresh pathway laid out exactly where he’d asked for one to be. “Yes, excellent! Thank you all ever so much for doing that task for me.”

Impulse rolls his eyes “You say that like we had a choice in the matter.” Which prompts him to get a light whack in the back of his head from Cleo. “Hey!”

Cleo snickers “Sorry, I thought you’d not want to have Ren still angry at you. But by all means, have at it, just count me out.” She smirks at Impulse smugly, who groans and crosses his arms, now rolling his eyes at her.

“Can I get going now? I have another place I gotta be, and I gotta go now to make it on time.” Tango pipes up, clearly a bit anxious, as given away by the little whisps of smoke and flame coming from his hair.

“Yeah go ahead. Thanks for helping out!” Etho waves, and Tango nods, running off around the outer walls. Etho turns to Ren. “Would you like to come check it out?”

“Why certainly. I’ve been meaning to go to town soon, anyways. I’ll be just a moment.” Ren retreats back inside the walls, back into his room, to grab a satchel. He comes back and joins the group in following the brand new path to the village.

——————

“Wait so back up a moment-you want to put up a wall around our valley? Are the cliffs not a natural wall enough?” Jimmy raises an eyebrow, looking over at Scott from where he’s stood by the crops. He’s glad Scott is feeling better, but it just seems like it’s an unnecessary and massive undertaking.

“I think it’d be a better way to keep people from just wandering in and happening upon us. We’ve been lucky to interact with the people that we have interacted with so far, but one day…it could be someone who was looking for us, that force us, or at least me, back…” Scott looks back at Jimmy, worry on his face. “You understand, right?”

Jimmy approaches Scott, holding his hands and kissing his forehead. “Of course I do. I’m just…Scott, you only just recovered after making that pedestal, and putting a wall around such a big area is a lot of work.”

“I’ll be fine. I wouldn’t suggest doing it if I thought I wasn’t going to be able to.” He squeezes Jimmy’s hands. “That reminds me-I decorated the little cave behind the portal with the pedestal in it, come look!” He lets go of one hand as he turns around, guiding Jimmy across the stream.

The portal…is not Jimmy’s favorite thing to look at. Or even be aware of its presence nearby. There’s something in the way that it looks that just…feels so, so wrong. Perhaps it’s just because he knows where it leads? He’s not too sure. But he still lets Scott lead him past and behind it.

He gasps, looking around at the little cave. “It’s so whimsical in here!” He walks around, investigating all the little things that certainly hadn’t been there when they first arrived in the valley. All the little plants and gems and there’s even bookshelves and a chair-if not for that portal, he’d find it to be a pretty cozy little spot. “You’re so good at this sort of thing, designing and decorating. You’ve gotta give me tips and tricks so you don’t have to do it all the time.”

“I have my things, and you have yours.” Scott teases, lightly nudging Jimmy. “I really enjoy these sorts of things, it’s not a big deal to me. But if you insist, I will. We’ll have all winter to be cozy indoors, after all.”

“Yeah. Oh! I almost forgot! I made a deal with a ranch owner in town, if I brought him some crops we’ve grown to his ranch, he’ll exchange it for a cow. Which is a lot better of a deal than the one we made for Daisy back there. I was going to get a cart loaded up and start traveling, it’s in a swamp a day’s trip away. So…I’ll be away for a little bit.” Jimmy explains, a little guilty about making those plans and forgetting to tell Scott.

“I can come with you, I don’t have anything I need to do. I could help out!” He smiles.

They get themselves sorted out for travel, pack up a cart, and start to head out towards the swamp, taking a stop just a little over halfway there for the night. They resume traveling the next morning, approaching the swamp and the ranch set up there.

An older man, with mostly white/silver hairs, exits from a home set up nearby as he sees the two of them approaching with a cart. Jimmy remembers him as the owner of the ranch. They chat for a bit about their deal, and the three work together on getting the crops indoors.

After that’s all said and done, the ranch owner excuses himself, and gives Jimmy and Scott permission to go take a look around the property while he gets the cow prepared to be sent back off with them. They thank him, and head on out.

As they walk around the outside of one of the pastures, however, they hear the sound of someone in slight distress. They look over to see someone being chased by a cow. Jimmy immediately “hops” the fence (he uses his wings to give him a boost) and runs over, trying to get the cow’s attention. “Hey you, cow! Over here!” He waves his arms as he shouts, still running. When that doesn’t work, he flies right on over to it, giving it a small nudge. This successfully distracts the cow, and it comes to a stop and turns to try and chase Jimmy.

Ah, right. Well, thankfully Jimmy can just fly. So he starts flying towards the opposite end of the pasture, flying directly up and out of the way once he’s gotten far enough from the other guy. He heads back over, spotting him holding onto a tree. He lands behind him. “Hey! Are you-“

“Agh!” The man jumps, his hair letting out a small burst of fire as he turns, tripping over his feet, and slipping backwards into some mud. Seeing him from the front, Jimmy now recognizes this as Tango, who he’d come across in the village a couple of times. Usually doing various odd jobs. “What the heck, you don’t just sneak up on someone like that!” He huffs, the ends of his hair smoking.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“ Jimmy starts, but Scott cuts him off as he walks over towards the two of them.

“That’s some way to speak to someone who just stopped you from getting trampled on by a cow.” Scott puts an arm around Jimmy’s waist, slightly leaning into him. He looks at Jimmy's face. “You alright?”

Jimmy nods to him, kissing his cheek. “Yeah, I’m alright.” He looks back at Tango, who is grumbling while feeling around in the mud. “It’s Tango, right? Are you okay? Did you lose something?” He squats down to help out, but his hands get swatted away by Tango.

“I’m fine. My earring fell out, I kinda need it to keep track of something important. And remind me how you know my name? Because I don’t remember yours. I do sort of recognize your partner there, I think.” Tango resumes searching in the mud, grumbling about this being embarrassing.

“I’ve come across you in the village running chores and doing odd jobs for some people. I’d heard them saying your name, so we’ve never actually met. I’m Jimmy.” He again goes to try and help Tango with searching in the mud for his lost earring, only to get swatted away again. “It’d be a lot easier to find it if you let me help.”

Tango huffs and grumbles, rolling his eyes and muttering a ‘whatever’ as he gets back to it. Jimmy finally is able to help search.

Scott just watches, trying to remember how he recognizes Tango. Then it hits him. “Wait, I saw you in the desert with Scar and Grian, you’d just burnt Grian’s arm. I’ve been meaning to properly check in on them, we only pretty briefly stopped by to mess with them with a tree.” Tango turns back with an eyebrow raised, and Scott waves it off. “Long story. But do you happen to know any updates?”

Tango just shakes his head, looking back to the mud. “Nope. I’ve spotted Grian flying around every so often, but that’s about it. I’ve been pretty busy doing stuff. Favors in the village, making a path to Renchanting, and now taking up a spot here as a temporary ranch hand…but it might be a bit more temporary than we planned on.”

Jimmy perks up. “You know, I could give you a few pointers if you need it, I’ve worked with animals for years. After we get this new cow back, I could fly out again to give you some help-“

“I don’t need any help! I’ve got it on my own, thank you very much!” Tango shouts, bits of his hair flickering with flames. “That was just a fluke, what you saw. Oh, there it is!” Tango yoinks his earring from the muck, trying to wipe it off to no avail. “Great, gotta go clean this…but you guys-!” He turns his attention back to the two of them as he stands up. “Don’t you dare say a word about any of this to anyone! Or-or if I get to being red, I’ll come after you both!” He runs away.

Jimmy watches him run off, eyes wide. He stands and looks right at Scott. They both have the same worried expression. He goes to reach for Scott, but then remembers he’s just been digging in the mud and lowers his hands. But Scott goes in and holds Jimmy anyways. “I don’t understand…I just offered to help.” Jimmy frowns, wrapping his arms around Scott.

Scott rests his chin on Jimmy’s shoulder. “He probably just got embarrassed, love. I don’t think he means it…or at least I hope he doesn’t.” They stand there a moment longer before making their way out of the pasture, and back up to the home at the front.

The ranch owner is waiting there with the cow and supplies, and upon seeing Jimmy covered in mud, asks if he’s alright. “Yeah, just slipped on an especially slick patch of mud, not a big deal. I’ve done worse!” Jimmy waves it off. He’s much too intimidated to mention Tango. The owner nods, glad he’s doing fine.

He hands over the cow to Jimmy, and Scott helps him load supplies into their cart. Soon enough, Scott and Jimmy are headed off on their way home with their new cow.

Chapter Text

Upon returning home from the village that evening, Ren is delighted to see that Martyn has returned as well. He can see him through the windows of Renchanting, presumably keeping an eye out for him upon hearing footsteps approaching. As they meet each other’s eyes, Martyn waves to him, and Ren finds himself heading inside faster.

As soon as he’s in, Martyn comes over and holds out a hand, to which Ren hands him a bag of supplies that he’d purchased. “Go on a little shopping spree, have we, princey?” Martyn chuckles, feeling the weight of the bag in his hand. “I was wondering where you’d gone, but I suppose I’ve got my answer now.”

Ren grows the faintest pink flush at the nickname from Martyn, being rather caught off-guard by it. “Etho and the others came by just a bit before noon to show me the pathway had been completed. I headed back to the village with them, taking it as an opportunity to gather some things.” He heads towards the bedroom door, ready to wind down for the night.

He enters into it, taking off his satchel and setting it on the ground by the foot of his bed. He’ll deal with putting everything away later. He shrugs off his grey cloak, hanging it on a hook in the wall. He hears Martyn enter the room as well, setting the other bag down on top of a chest. “I already stashed away everything I managed to gather today just before you got back. So it’s all secured.”

“Excellent. Oh, and Martyn-“ Ren turns back as Martyn sits on his bed, removing his ponytail and headband. His long golden hair relaxes, loose strands falling in front of his face. Martyn looks up, noticing the pause in Ren’s statement. Ren clears his throat, trying to cover up the fact he got distracted by Martyn simply letting his hair down. “Your…friend? Acquaintance? Grian, came by this morning as well.”

Martyn widens his eyes and stands, walking up to Ren. “He did? Is everything alright? Where is he, did he need a place to stay or hide or something?” Ren holds up his hand, indicating to Martyn to pause and let him explain. Martyn sighs, sitting down on Ren’s bed, seeing as that’s what he’s closer to now.

“He was looking to check in on you, and I told him you were worried about him. I didn’t explain why, that that was something he would need to come to you about. But he wanted me to tell you that he is perfectly fine.” He sits beside Martyn, setting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “He then enchanted some of his things, and then…well he told me something more of the legend that he remembered. That you can keep yourself in control if you go red. To have something or someone to anchor yourself to.”

“Now that is some useful information. Hopefully it’s not going to be needed anytime soon, but it’s good to know.” Martyn yawns, stretching his arms. “Right, I think I’m about ready to get to bed. You staying up?”

“For a bit, yes. I shall do my best to keep quiet. I’ll be downstairs if you need me and I haven’t gone to bed yet.” Ren stands, picking up his satchel from the ground. “Goodnight, Martyn.” He waves to him as he exits the room, heading outside and then down below the building.

Now, he is alone with his thoughts. As he puts everything he gathered away, his mind begins to wander. He’d spent the time working with others to fortify and secure this area. To make it a safe haven for those who have need of it. An unclaimed area, with no proper name to it. Yes, sure, Renchanting is right there within the walls, but that is its own thing. This place needed a name of its own.

He began to write down a list of ideas, though many of them didn’t feel quite right. He was about ready to just call it a night, and try this again with a fresh, well-rested mind, when an idea struck.

Dogwarts.

He could use his surname, his true one, and so long as nobody questioned him, it would seem plain enough to just simply be a normal name for a location. He’s certainly come across villages and lands with much more odd names, so it could very well work. The land he’d raised up, under his name, where he was the one in control. It would certainly be useful practice for whenever he returned home and made into being king of the Black Isles.

Satisfied with his decision, he heads back up to bed, careful to keep quiet so as not to wake Martyn. He swiftly dresses to his sleep attire before curling up into his own bed, falling asleep rather quickly.

The next day goes by relatively quickly, with Etho even stopping by in the late morning for a chat. Ren takes this as an opportunity to invite him to join them for lunch, which is accepted.

As they finish eating, Ren stands from his chair, which prompts both Martyn and Etho to look up towards him. “My friends, I have an announcement I must make, and I am delighted to have you two here as the first ones to hear it.” He gestures around the room “As you well know, I came here and set up my business, Renchanting, and have used it to provide knowledge, magic, and safety to others. Recently, I’ve had walls constructed around the area, with patches of land designed to be used for crops. To further protect travelers from the monsters who roam at night, as well as to be a safe haven once winter arrives.”

“I decided that this place needed a name, so people would be able to hear it and know it to be a place that provides shelter, food, and magic to people, at a fair price of course. I couldn’t call the whole area Renchanting, that’s simply a business within the walls. So I sat and thought it over last night, before I finally thought of a perfect name. My friends, I welcome you, to the fortress of Dogwarts.” Ever the dramatic, Ren paces around and makes grand arm gestures as he speaks. He grins to the two men before him as he finishes.

Both just stare back. Hm, not the intended reaction. Etho slightly squints and raises an eyebrow while Martyn makes a confused expression. “All that leadup to say you’re naming this place after warts? I apologize, I don’t really seem to understand why you’d do that, Ren.”

Ren blinks “I…It’s not…Martyn I’ll explain another time. But the point is, gentlemen, that Dogwarts is now an officially named location, and we are to spread word of that so people can know what exactly this fortress is.”

“I like it. Something about it seems powerful, if you know what I mean.” Etho speaks up. Ren glances over, and he can see Etho has the faintest bit of a knowing smirk at the corner of his mouth. Could Etho have really worked it out so quickly? “I’ll definitely be sure to let people I come across know about it.”

——————

“I’m telling you Cleo, I saw a whole house out that way, it had like four dogs outside and it was brand new!” Bdubs insists, sniffling before he blows his nose into a handkerchief. After they got back from the village yesterday, he started to come down with a slight cold. He insisted he was fine, and went for a stroll by himself as proof he was okay. But he just came back in worse shape, and Cleo made him go directly to bed.

She’s been taking care of him all morning, making him have some tea and not stand up. “I’m sure that that’s what you think you’ve seen, Bdubs, but you have to keep in mind you’re ever so slightly delirious right now. You said to me an hour ago you saw a rabbit run under the couch, and there was nothing there.”

“But I even touched it! And pet one of the dogs. So it’s definitely real. I will at the very most concede I possibly imagined the state of the house, but there’s a house with a lot of dogs. I wanna know if someone lives there, because they’re pretty close by. I don’t want a fight with any neighbors.” He grumbles, taking a hold of his tea and sipping on it.

“Why would there be any fighting, Bdubs? Assuming there was somebody who lived there, that is.” She feels his forehead with the back of her hand, to which he pouts and waves her hand away.

“I don’t know. That red thing, maybe? I’ve already…you know, once…if it happens again I’ll be red. And I can’t hurt you, so that leaves them close. What if I get out of control? I don’t wanna hurt anybody.” He curls up a bit, his grip tightening around his cup.

She frowns, setting a hand on his shoulder. “That won’t happen, Bdubs. You’ll be okay. Especially if you listen to me and take care of yourself while you’ve got this cold.” She lightly ruffles his hair a bit. “Here, I’ll go scout it out for you, okay? Just tell me where it was, you take a nap, and I’ll go check. Sound like a plan?” She smiles.

Bdubs sighs. “Yeah I guess so…but I’m doing just fine, just, yeah a nap sounds really good.” He yawns, setting his cup down. He tells Cleo where to go, and as soon as he’s asleep, she makes her way along, following his instructions.

And oh boy is she surprised that he was actually right. Atop a hill sits a newly constructed home, and she can hear many dogs in the surrounding area. But on top of that, she can also hear a man’s voice. She reaches the top, and through the window she sees, oh what was his name? They’ve only briefly met once before. Joe? Something like that. She knocks at the front door.

It opens, and she sees the brief panic on his face before it turns to confusion. “Hi, we’ve only met once before, at the village before going to Renchanting. I’m Cleo, if you’re trying to remember who I am.” They hold out their hand.

He nods, shaking it. “That’s where I’ve seen you. Right, I’m Joel. What brings you here? It wasn’t Ren, was it? I know he let you guys have it for robbing him, but I made a fair deal.” He crosses his arms.

“No, no, not at all. You’d never catch me being one of his lackeys like Martyn. Or seemingly Etho, too. He’s spent a lot of time out by that way.” She looks back in the direction of Renchanting, surprised that from this hill you can actually see a bit of its walls in the distance. “You have a pretty decent view up here, I must say.”

“Partly why I picked it. I can see the village, and though it’s pretty far, I’m not so far that it’s a hassle to head by that way. Although those walls, even if I can’t see much of them, does kinda ruin the view over that way. I don’t like it…” he squints over that way. “I really don’t have a good feeling about that, you know. Fortifying such a significant amount of space. He gives me a really weird feeling, like he’s hiding something, lying about his intentions.”

“I hadn’t thought of that before, but now you say it, I get what you mean.” Cleo thinks it over. There was definitely something off about Ren. He was way overly nice, but has shown he can drop this demeanor at the drop of a hat. “If he does do something bad, I doubt he’ll go for Bdubs and I, though. I know some pretty important information that he wouldn’t want making the rounds. I’d share it with you now, but he’s got some dirt on me too. Gotta save it for a good moment.”

“Right. Well, I don’t know who Bdubs is, but you definitely use whatever you’ve got to your advantage. I don’t trust that guy very much.” He was opening his mouth to continue, but is interrupted by a dog approaching and whining up at him, big puppy eyes activated. “You hungry for lunch, Geraldine?” He chuckles as the dog’s ears perk up. He looks back to Cleo “Sorry, gotta get to making all these guys something to eat. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime, then?”

“Yeah. I live fairly close, we’re probably the closest you’ll get to having neighbors. So we’ll definitely run into one another sometime again. Have fun with your lunch!” She waves, heading back down the hill.

They make their way towards the main path, veering off into the woods and following the hidden and overgrown trail back to what a delirious Bdubs has been calling ‘the crastle’. She can’t wait for him to be feeling better so she can laugh at him about that. It’s definitely going to stick now.

On the way, she comes across Martyn and Etho chatting. “Oh, Cleo! Is Bdubs with you at all?” Martyn asks, spotting them and waving them over. She was actually not feeling up for a conversation with them, especially after the one she just had with Joel.

But she heads over regardless. “Hi. And no, I was just on my way back to him. He’s got a bit of a cold right now, I left him napping while I took a walk. Did you need him for something?” She’s not gonna share any details of her walk.

Etho nods. “Yes, it’d be easier to be able to share with both of you at the same time. There’s some news that we’ve got to share with everyone. So we’ll join you on your way back.”

Mm. Yeah, no, that really doesn’t sit well with Cleo. But she’s not exactly in the best position to try and turn them away. “Alright then, this way everyone.” She turns and begins leading the way back. As it comes into view, she motions towards it. “And here, gentlemen, is what our friend Bdubs, with his cold brain, has called ‘The Crastle’. But we’re not telling him that until he’s recovered.”

Both men laugh along with her at that, before making their way inside. She spots Bdubs scrambling back to the couch where he was sleeping and lay down, pretending to be asleep. She rolls her eyes and walks up, giving him a small nudge. “I saw that, Bdubs. We’ve got company.”

He slowly sits up. “I promise I was asleep most of the time you were gone. I didn’t pretend so I could be alone.” He stretches, looking behind her. “Hi Martyn, hi Etho. What’re you doing here?”

“We actually have been sent by Ren to make an announcement to everyone about some updates regarding the land around Renchanting, and within the walls constructed around it.” Etho starts, leaning against the wall. Cleo really isn’t liking that.

Martyn resumes, “Renchanting is simply just a business within this new fortress, a safe haven for anyone at a fair price. Walls to keep monsters at bay, protected lands to continue growing food through the winter. This is the purpose of the fortress of Dogwarts.” He grins proudly.

Bdubs was sipping on some now cold tea, and just about almost chokes on it after Martyn says Dogwarts. He coughs harshly, and Cleo panics. “Oh gods, Bdubs, are you okay? What just happened?”

Bdubs ignores them, looking at Martyn with an ever-so slightly panicked expression. “Did you just say Dogwarts? Or did I just hear you wrong?”

Martyn shakes his head. “Nah, you heard me right. I know, bit of a ridiculous name, I tried telling Ren it sounded odd. But he has his reasons, and he’ll tell me later. But that’s the announcement. So if you want, be sure to let people know that that area is called Dogwarts now, alright?”

A slow nod from Bdubs. “Yeah, sure. Um…Cleo, can we talk about something?” He looks towards Cleo, and she can see he’s a bit frazzled and nervous. Something has to have upset him.

“We’ll be on our way then, that was really all we had to share. Have a nice day, you two!” Etho stands back up, turning and waving behind him as he leaves. Martyn follows him out, leaving the pair all alone within the crastle walls.

Cleo looks back to Bdubs, and before she can say anything, he spurts out something first. Something that entirely justifies Bdubs’ reaction, as well as her and Joel’s worries.

“I think I have an idea what Dogwarts is, and it’s not good.”

Chapter Text

Scar was rather upset at the lack of Grian in the pile when he finally woke up, a pillow resting in his arm…no, arms, instead. He only had one arm around Grian, right? They agreed on that. Maybe when Grian swapped himself out for a pillow, he wrapped the second one around it. He wouldn’t have wanted to make Grian uncomfortable.

Regardless, he pulls himself out of bed and heads to the kitchen, spotting the note. Right, Grian mentioned that yesterday. So…now what? He’s got a day all to himself. This used to be easier, he’d gotten used to having Grian by his side pretty much every day.

He supposes he could try and make something of that ‘reputation’ thing he’d made up. Or he can try to make more furniture. They are going to need actual beds. Yeah, he might not be able to make a mattress, but he can try his best to make some bed frames! And as he works, he can keep some paper nearby to write down stuff for reputation!

He spends his day doing just that, pausing for meals. It’s in the middle of dinner when he hears wings flapping outside, and he looks to the door just as Grian comes inside. He shoots a big grin his way. “Welcome home! I didn’t know when you’d get back, but I made some extra dinner for you in case!” He motions over towards their cooking pan, food still warm inside of it.

“Oh, thanks. You really didn’t have to.” Grian smiles, removing his bag and setting it on a chest. With his back facing towards him, it doesn’t take Scar very long to notice the slight purple shimmer on Grian’s red cloak when the light hits it just right. It never did that before. But the black cloak he got from Cleo does the same thing.

“Grian…why is your cloak like that?” Grian gives him a confused look. Scar motions to him. “All shiny like that, like the one from Cleo. The one that…” he remembers back to what she said. She went…somewhere, and had magic…added to it? “Where’d you go for it? I forgot what Cleo told us about it.”

“Renchanting. I had my cloak enchanted. You could get some stuff enchanted too, if you wanted. But you gotta pay or make a deal with him. And considering your lack of money, you’ll have to do a task for him, probably.” Grian shrugs. “Not that you’ll really even need to do that, considering you’ve got Cleo’s cloak and Etho’s half-greaves that are already enchanted.”

“Do you think he’ll trade it for sand or reputation?” Scar asks, watching Grian serve himself some food and sit down. “That’s pretty much all I’ve got to trade, after all. Or I could sell out my friendship, too. All those could be good options to him, since he’s new to the area. I mean, look how great it’s going for you!” He grins, gesturing over his friend in general.

“I don’t know about how Ren would take it, Scar. He’s pretty serious about the trades that he makes, and he’s already had a lot of business dealings with the village, so…” Grian shrugs. “Like I said, you already got stuff from other people that’s enchanted. So you don’t even need to go there.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, though, would it?” Scar smiles. “Besides, I make it my business to meet people who come here. There’s not much that ever goes on in the area, so it’s always fun and exciting for new people to show up!”

“I guess.” Grian yawns as he eats. “All that flying around today has got me worn out…I feel like I left a trail of feathers everywhere, I swear anytime I glanced back I saw one or two come loose.” He shakes out his wings a little bit, one of the feathers floating down. “Just like that.”

“The offer is still on the table if you want any help with that. Like I said, I’ve helped Skizz a few times before. I’m a little bit rusty, but once I get into the flow of it, it’ll be smooth sailing.” Scar stands, taking his own dishes to the sink and setting them down. He’ll wait to clean them until everything can be cleaned at once.

Grian nods. “That’d be nice. Think I could take you up on that tonight? The sooner I’m not leaving pieces of myself everywhere, the better.” Scar nods, and not much else is said after that, until they head to the bedroom, where Grian stops in his tracks. “Scar, did you make those bed frames?”

“Oh, you’ve spotted my project from today!” Scar grins, slipping past him and into the room. “One for each of us, I tried to keep it simple. Obviously we can’t use them yet, we don’t have mattresses. But I thought I’d give it a shot. Is something wrong?” He turns to Grian and frowns, seeing he hasn’t moved.

Grian shakes his head. “No, it’s fine, I…you didn’t have to make one for me. I’d be just fine with some pillows and blankets on the ground. Besides, you’ll end up with an extra bed.”

“An extra bed, that can be used by a visiting friend or a guest!” Scar smiles. “It’s only practical to have an extra bed just in case. And I couldn’t possibly make you continue sleeping on the floor. It’s not fair.” He comes up and grabs Grian’s hands, guiding him into the room. “Now, let’s get those wings sorted out, mister! They gotta be driving you nuts!”

Grian chuckles. “Yeah, a bit. I really appreciate this, Scar.” He sits down in the pile, spreading his wings. Scar follows suit, and they get to work. Once it’s all said and done, they both fall asleep. And if Scar dreams about Grian, that’s nobody else’s business.

The next day has Scar getting prepared for travel. To go on a solo mission to try and locate Pizza, as well as see if anyone is interested in reputation or friendship. …Okay so it’s mainly focused on Pizza. But Grian is staying behind in case anyone comes by. He sets out around midday.

He’s pleased to say that while on route, he’d actually managed to make a couple of deals. Friendship with Etho, where he learns Etho has discovered a manor hidden within the swamplands. Then selling some desert materials to Impulse in exchange for money. Which of course he will provide at a later time.

By evening, he passes by Skizz’s place. He sees it all the way up on top of that hill. But he doesn’t dare go up there, not yet. Not until he knows for sure that he was telling the truth about Pizza. So he simply just…camps nearby. And wakes the next morning going back on about his business.

He almost makes it to the village when he spots a new branch of pathway coming from the main one. Curious, he follows it. Won’t hurt, and if it’s too long he’ll just double back. But it isn’t. It leads to the spruce forest, where tall, imposing walls now stand. Scar frowns. Oh, he doesn’t like that one bit.

He makes his way up, and before he can even knock on the gate, a voice calls from the other side. “One moment, please!” That was…Marty, if he remembers the name right? Mario? Mark? Ma- “Sorry about that, I-oh.” The door is opened, and…Scar will just think of him as Mar for now. Anyways, Mar frowns upon seeing Scar, looking a bit unsure. “What brings you over this way? Is Grian with you?”

“No, he’s back home. I’m just trying to find my llama, Pizza. But! I’ve seen a new path and walls here, and given that I’m from here, I thought it only made sense I check things out. May I come in, or…?” Scar tried slipping past Mar to head in the doorway, but Mar was pretty good about body blocking. He looks grumpy.

“I’m gonna need you to wait here and see what Ren thinks. He’s the one in charge around these parts.” He crosses his arms, looking Scar over carefully.

Scar makes a sour face. “In charge? Of what, his house? That’s the only thing he should be in charge of around here. This area is proudly un-chargeable! And if it were, it should be by someone who’s lived here their whole life.”

Mar scoffs, and is about to say something, when a voice calls behind him. “Martyn, what’s going on over there?” Oh he was so close to the name the first time! He keeps getting further away each time when he struggles with names.

Martyn turns around. “Scar is here. You know, the one with the creeper explosion and keeping Grian in the desert.” He glares back at Scar at the mention of Grian, and Scar squints at him.

“I’ll have you know, Grian is there of his own free will at this point, I said he could leave and he hasn’t.” He crosses his arms. “Why do you even care so much about Grian being in the desert with me? It’s not really any of your business. Nobody is stopping you from visiting.”

Martyn is about to say something again, when a hand is placed on his shoulder. He huffs and stands aside, with a much taller man coming into view. This must be that Ren guy. “Martyn, no need to be so hostile to a weary traveler. Please, come in, and excuse him. He’s just missing his friend.” Ren stands aside, and motions Scar to come in.

He does so, shooting a quick look at Martyn, who returns the same one back. He glances around the area. “So what’s all this for? Seems like an awful lot of crops for just one person.” He turns to look at Ren. Up at him. Scar is absolutely not used to having to look up at anyone.

“That’s because it’s not! For first off, I don’t live alone here. Martyn lives here as well. But also, these are for anyone who has need of extra food to purchase or trade. With winter approaching, and not many plots of land in the area blessed with protection from the cold, it’s another service I can provide to others.” Ren grins. Scar is slightly offput by it being somewhat notably toothy, sharp canines on display.

“I heard something about enchanting before. Think you could give me the rundown?” Scar glances to the only building within the walls, assuming that to be this ‘Renchanting’ place.

Ren shakes his head. “Alas, traveler you may be, but you are also known to be somewhat a conman. I in no good faith could allow you to enchant anything. For fear you use those items to scam others, and I am left to blame for allowing you to do that. I must apologize for the inconvenience.”

Scar raises an eyebrow. “Now why would I go selling that stuff to others if you’re the one with the means of production? That’s entirely inefficient. I was thinking to ask how you go about making or getting one of those pedestals Grian mentioned.”

Ren laughs. “Even if there were some way for you to do either, why would I tell you? It could injure my business! What I will say is that they are so incredibly rare, only certain people can make or own them. And one look at you, you are neither.”

“So there’s no chance you’ll hear what I have to offer in trade for anything?” Scar crossed his arms, looking up towards Ren. Ren decided to humor him, and lets him explain. “You see, Ren, you’re new around here. And likely pretty unfamiliar with how everything works in this place. Where things are, and what kinds of plants and animals are native here. You’ll need someone who knows this area like the back of their hand to help you. That’s where having a friendship with me can greatly benefit! I’ve walked these grounds many times over, I know where things are with no need for a map! And that’s not all. I’m pretty influential out in the desert, and depending on what kind of a reputation you’ve got going on out there, well you may just receive some benefits like free sand, or being first to know if we find a material you and others are after. Reputation can take a while to build and earn on its own, so why not just fast-track it with the use of reputation points? The more value received, the more points rewarded. Can come in quite handy, you know.” He promotes his sales pitch to Ren.

“And what were you hoping to get from all of…that?” Ren raises his eyebrow.

“Oh, why the pedestal of course.” He honestly jokes, but before he can say anything again, Ren cuts him off.

“Absolutely not! That entirely defeats the purpose of everything I’ve got going here! It’s my main point of business, and I’ve even got more to think of than just myself. I have Martyn to take into account as well. No, I don’t think your business is exactly welcome here. Get out.” He slightly growls at the last part. Martyn has a real smug expression behind him.

Scar furrows his brows. “I see some people can’t take a joke. Quite rude of you both, honestly, basing everything you think of me on what others say, not giving me a chance to give my side. Fine, I wouldn’t want to be friends with anyone like that anyway.” He heads back out of the gate, but stops just in the doorway, taking a pause to look back. Leave them with something to mess with their heads. It’s not likely to happen for a long time, but… “When I become red, Ren, you’re at the top of my list.” He doesn’t wait for a reaction before he runs away.

——————

Martyn and Ren look to one another as Scar disappears from the doorway of the gate. That was a pretty serious threat.

“What do we do about that, Ren?” Martyn asks, hurrying over to shut the gate. Everything that he’s thought of Scar has just been made so much worse at that line, so coldly delivered.

“Let him make threats all he wants. It means nothing. It could take years before anybody goes red, we could be long gone from this land by then. Besides, if he tracked me down back home, he wouldn’t be able to get anywhere close to me.” Ren still seems a bit agitated, but he’s brushing himself off and taking some deep breaths nonetheless.

“I guess. I mean, who would purposely make themselves red just to go after people who you had a disagreement with?” Martyn shrugs.

“There’s always potential...” Ren says quietly to himself, an expression that appears like he’s having vivid thoughts.

“For what? Purposeful death?” Martyn asks, concerned.

“No, for people to change. Give it some time, and maybe he’ll just settle down. Perhaps we caught him in a bad mood.” He pauses. “Skizz swears he used to be different when they were younger, maybe he’s just lost his way and needs set back in the right path. Was I too harsh yelling at him?”

“Nah, you had a right to be angry. You don’t just walk right up to a blacksmith and ask to trade his anvil for a load of rubbish. I know the pedestal is a lot more important, but same idea applies.”

——————

Scar didn’t make it back to the village before he heard wings flapping overhead, and a voice, Grian’s, calling out his name. He looks up and calls out to him, waving him down as soon as he spots him. He’d be really happy to see him right now if he wasn’t concerned over how…anxious? He supposes that’s the best word, Grian looks as he lands. “Grian, are you alright?”

Grian waits a moment to respond, catching his breath quickly before he stands back up. “I’m fine, I’m fine. But something else happened. And we’ve got to get you back home as soon as possible.”

“But I haven’t been able to try and check around the village for Pizza, yet. I had a horrible experience at-“ Scar starts, but is quickly cut off by Grian shoving a hand over his mouth.

“It’s about Pizza. Cleo knows something, and she will only talk to you about it. Won’t say a word of it to me.” He looks directly into Scar’s eyes. Scar would have stared into those deep brown eyes longer if not for the fact of what Grian just said. He wastes no time grabbing Grian’s hand and just sprinting in the direction of home.

——————

Cleo finally got caught by the guilt, she couldn’t sleep and immediately made way to travel towards the desert overnight. She didn’t even really stop, and by late morning, she was climbing her way up the mountain. She asks Grian for Scar, but he relays that he’s not home. She says she’s got information regarding a certain llama, and refuses to elaborate further without Scar. Grian allows her to stay while she waits for them to return, and he immediately shoots away through the air.

And so she waits. And no, they absolutely do not sleep in Grian and Scar’s pile in the bedroom. If the beds had mattresses, she’d consider sleeping on one of those. But that pile of just stuff…they’ll pass. They spend the night wherever they can get comfortable.

The next day, Grian arrives back with Scar. They’re both winded and tired, seems like they must have ran. She lets them get their bearings first.

“Tell me about Pizza. What do you know. Where is he? Is he okay? Who has him? Is it you? Where’d you-“ Cleo puts a hand up to signal Scar to stop, and he does so, pouting.

“I’ll tell you what I know…for a price.” Yes, they feel really bad, but not quite that bad that they’ll just disregard the whole reason they took the llama.

“Oh, well I have plenty to offer! There’s friendship, reputation points, sand, ca-“ Sbe again motions Scar to stop talking, raising an eyebrow and shaking her head.

“No, I don’t want any of that. I’ll tell you what I want, and you’ll be giving it to me. For starters, I do believe I’m owed something that’s enchanted. And I see those half-greaves you’ve got on…either give me those or go get the cloak I traded you.” She watches as Scar opens his mouth to say something, but she reminds him “For Pizza, remember.”

Scar sighs and sits down to remove the half-greaves, handing them over. Cleo smiles, putting them in her bag. “Alright. And you know, I really could do with another cloak, it is getting chillier every day. That dark green one you’ve got on looks pretty nice, is it a lot newer than the yellow one you traded me?” Scar nods, and Cleo grins. “Fantastic. Hand it on over.”

Scar sputters, but just groans and pulls his cloak off, revealing his chest. He gives it to her, and she tucks it into her bag. “Anything else? You’ve just taken like half the stuff I’m wearing.”

And honestly now they’re just going to mess with him. “Well…if I do some adjustments, I think Bdubs would really like those pants you’ve got on at the moment. I’ll need to bring in the waist and shorten them-“

“I can’t be without my pants! That would be inappropriate!” Scar scoffs, raising a hand to his chest as if he’s about to clutch his pearls.

She gives him a look. “For Pizza, though.”

“Fine! Fine. Want my shoes while you’re at it? I don’t think they’ll fit either of you though.” Scar groans, kicking them off in order to deal with his pants.

She chuckles. “Yeah no, you can’t really adjust shoes, I’ll let you keep those. Just the pants will do. Oh! And that neat sword you’ve got.” They point to the sword that Scar has just set aside.

He gives her a pleading look. She gives a look to signal that yes, it’s what she wants. He sighs and slowly pushes it over to her. Finally, the pants are off, leaving Scar in just boxers and wow, Grian is way too red, you cannot tell where the feathers on his cheeks are anymore.

“Right, so um, Pizza, yeah.” Cleo starts. “Last I saw him, he was in the woods out back behind the Crastle. That’s what Bdubs has been calling the old castle we’re fixing up. Right, I’m off!” She runs away quickly. She knows Grian can fly way faster, but she has a feeling he’s a little bit…distracted to try to catch up with her.

——————

Grian cannot look at Scar. “Scar, go put some clothes on. Now, please.”

“Way ahead of you.” Grian hears Scar’s voice as he rushes indoors. He cannot believe Cleo just practically swindled Scar of pretty much all the clothes he had off his back. At least they know where to look now for Pizza. And the likely thief.

He heads in to gather some food for their travels back out again while Scar gets dressed, finishing up just as he emerges from the bedroom fully clothed. Except for, of course, a shirt below the cloak. Whatever, fine, at least his chest is covered. “Ready to go?” He asks Scar.

Scar nods. “Let’s save Pizza.”

Chapter Text

The longer they’re walking, the more Grian notices Scar getting anxious. Glancing around (mostly towards him), playing with his hands, messing with the end of his cloak, and so forth. Grian sighs and stops in place, grabbing Scar’s hand. “Hey, what’s going on? You’ve been acting off for over ten minutes now. Everything alright? Did we forget something? I can fly back if so, I’ll be back in no time.”

Scar takes a moment to respond. “I um…something to do with that, actually. I was wondering…and you can say no! But I was curious if…if you could be able to hold on to me and fly us out that way…?”

Grian just deadpan blinks at him. “Scar, you’re way too heavy for me to lift while standing in place. If I thought I could fly and carry you at the same time, I’d have done it when I came to bring you home.” He sees Scar frown, disappointed. He sighs “But it was a good idea.”

“I’ve always wanted to fly, it seems so fun.” He resumes walking, looking up towards the sky. “I’ll never understand why Skizz stopped flying and caring for his wings. If I had them, oh I’d be flying everywhere!” He grins.

Grian smiles a little, walking beside him. “Yeah? Where would you go? To the village and back at a faster speed?”

“Oh Grian, I’d be traveling all over the world if I’d been born with wings! Seeing different places and people, interacting with cool animals and what have you…” he sighs happily. “You’re so lucky, being an avian…”

Except he’s not. By all means, he may appear that way to everyone, but he’s not. He’s something…more, something he’d never consider himself lucky to be. “I guess…” he shrugs, looking ahead. “I’ve been flying for so long, it doesn’t really hold that same sort of wonder to me that it does for you.” He thinks. “But if I could carry you, I’d be happy to show you the world, Scar.” He smiles up at him.

Grian chuckles as he sees Scar’s face become a bit flushed at that, and stumbling on his words. Eventually, he seems to gather his composure enough to talk. “I um, I…yeah, that’d be…if you could, that’d be really nice.” He clears his throat.

The rest of the day is passed in casual conversation, taking a rest at night before resuming their journey in the morning. They head there by way of passing around Dogwarts, which Scar creeps up close to the gate. “Scar, what are you-“

“Shhh, I wanna see if I can tell if they’re home!” He whisper-yells, approaching carefully, and ever so slowly nudging it open and poking his head in to get a glimpse or a listen, only to immediately slam it shut and run back to Grian. “Grian, there’s some weird stuff going on behind those walls.”

——————

“Harder Martyn! You’ve got to go harder!” Ren shouts, holding on tight.

“I’m doing it as hard as I can, Ren!” Martyn responds, shouting back.

“Just try, gods dammit!” Ren clenches his fists, claws digging into the wood. The two men continue to struggle and grunt until finally, FINALLY…

Martyn steps back. “You were not kidding when you said it could be a pain to help someone into a corset, that thing was fighting me and I nearly lost.” He shakes his hands, trying to prevent them from cramping after having been tugging on the strings for so long.

Ren releases his grip on the bed frame, brushing himself off and taking some deep breaths. He steps back to look himself over in the mirror. It’d been a while since he’d worn such fancy attire. And even slightly longer since he’d last included a corset to his ensemble. “You think this looks alright, Martyn? I feel like it’s missing something.” He had on a long-sleeved black buttoned shirt with some ruffles on the collar and sleeves, black pants, and a black and red corset over top the shirt. His medallion safely tucked below the shirt and out of sight.

Martyn thinks a moment, walking closer and looking Ren over. “Hmm…” he does a loop around him, eyes lighting up and running into the other room. He returns a moment later with the red cloth from over the top of the pedestal, draping it over Ren’s shoulders. “You’re gonna need a cape with that. Something long, maybe some furs for added warmth.”

Ren smiles. “Right you are, Martyn! We shall make way into town today and commission a tailor to create one. But first…I’m gonna need help getting out of the corset, I can’t go wearing this outfit around other people yet.”

Martyn groans. “You’re gonna be a death of me, princey.”

——————

Scar and Grian finally reach the Crastle. They run into the woods behind, calling out Pizza’s name. “Grian, you fly up and see if you can spot anything from there. If you see Pizza, just go to him first, don’t wait for me.” Scar orders, and Grian nods, flying up into the air.

Scar resumes looking around, yelling Pizza’s name over and over again. “Pizza, where are you, buddy? It’s okay, it’s me! It’s just Scar.” Pause “-and Grian. He’s here too, looking. So don’t get scared if you see him!” He wanders around until he hears the bleating of a llama. He runs so fast towards the noise.

He comes to a clearing where he can see Grian is already carefully coaxing Pizza out of an even sketchier shack than the one Scar lived inside of before. As soon as the pair is out, Scar runs up and hugs Grian so tight. “You did it! Oh Grian thank you!” He squeezes, which gets a slightly panicked sound out of Grian.

“Scar, you’re crushing me!” Grian flaps his wings a bit as he squirms his way out of Scar’s grip. Pizza instantly takes to being all up in Scar’s business, making happy sounds. Scar hugs him, not as tight (he doesn’t want to accidentally strangle Pizza), petting him, and muttering to him as he cries a little bit against the llama’s soft, kinda smelly coat.

After a couple minutes of this, he pulls back and takes up Pizza’s reins. “Come on, let’s swing by the village. We can get some bedding for our new beds.” He grins, and Grian boosts himself up onto Pizza, and the trio head off.

They pass the Crastle, where Scar declares Cleo and Bdubs now have negative 100 reputation, and he'll decide what that means later. They reach the village, and split up for a bit since, after all, Scar is still not in very good favor here. No matter, he’ll just wait in the outskirts and brush through Pizza’s coat.

An hour later, Grian lands nearby, and he looks over. “Scar, I’ve got good news and bad news.”

Scar frowns. “Bad news first?”

Grian shakes his head. “No, it won’t make sense to give that first. Right, so good news, I found someone who sells mattresses, yeah? That’s the good news. The bad news…is that they’ve only got large ones too big for our bed frames. So…what do you want to do with that?”

In a quite selfish way, Scar finds that to be the opposite of an issue. Just put the frames together and they can share, like with the pile. But it’s a bit different from the pile, isn’t it? Something that feels more personal about a bed versus a haphazard mound of pillows and clothes. And even in a friendly, non-having-a-crush way, Scar is fine with sharing a bed, but he’s not sure if Grian would be okay with that. He’s so lost in thought, he doesn’t realize he has been staring and not responding until Grian is snapping fingers in his face. “Hello? Earth to Scar? You alright?”

“I’m fine with sharing if you are.” He just blurts out. When Grian now just stares, he gets a bit embarrassed. “I mean I…you really don’t have to, I just-“

“Scar, if I wasn’t fine with sharing, I would not have been in the pile with you every night. I just was thinking about how you yourself wanted two beds.” He raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “One for you, one for me or a future guest, right?”

“There’s two of us, I didn’t want to make any assumptions.” Scar puts his hands up. Pizza rests his head on top of one of his hands, and Scar chuckles, scratching the llama’s chin. “You want more attention, buddy?”

“So we should go get a mattress then, yeah? Is Pizza going to help us carry it back?” Grian stays in place, tapping his foot. Seems like he’s antsy to get moving.

Scar hums in acknowledgment, nodding. “Yeah, but we’re going to need a cart or something for that. Doesn’t have to be big or fancy, just something so it’s not being dragged through the dirt and mud.”

“Right, well I’m gonna need you to do that.” Grian reaches for his coin pouch, taking some out and handing the rest of the pouch to Scar. “Don’t get anything else with this, and hand it back when you’re done, alright?”

Scar nods, taking it from him. “Will do. Meet back by the path back home when you’re done.”

“So I have to carry a giant mattress all the way there by myself?” Grian widens his eyes. Ah, didn’t think about that.

“No, um…after I get the cart, I’ll go over to you.” Grian nods, and flies away again. He looks to Pizza. “Ready for a new cart, bud?” He smiles.

——————

Martyn watches as Ren gets measurements taken for a cloak, honestly kinda bored out of his mind. He was not expecting this process to be taking so long, and he agreed to sit and wait through the whole time.

So he passes the time by just staring around the room, lost in his thoughts, only really half-hearing every little conversation inside the building and a little bit of ones occurring outside. “Martyn? Martyn, I asked you a question.” Ren is suddenly looking over in his direction.

Martyn blinks and takes a moment. “Sorry, what was that? I wasn’t paying attention.” He gives Ren an apologetic look, to which Ren sighs. Martyn isn’t ignorant of the apparent charm he has over Ren, he’s just yet to figure out why he does.

“I was asking if you want some warmer clothes specifically made for you, too. Or if you’d rather just get some premade garments. It’s getting colder every day, and you’re still dressed for warmer climates.” Ren gestures over Martyn in general. He looks down at himself and his outfit. It is rather lightweight and flowy, and he has been having to borrow much too big items from Ren.

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I think I’ll just see what people have got already. I wouldn’t object to a specifically made coat, though. I don’t really care what it looks like as long as it’s not something ridiculous.” And he sees a small gleam in Ren’s eye at that. He raises his eyebrow. “Am I going to regret saying that?”

Ren chuckles. “No, you aren’t. Here, get some measurements taken, I’ll pick out some materials for it. Especially since I know you weren’t paying attention when they were showing it all to me.” He comes over and grabs Martyn’s hands, tugging him to his feet and over to where one of the tailors are. They get out a new sheet and get to work right away on taking general measurements.

He stands there, moving as directed, all while trying to not yawn. He doesn’t want to seem rude to these people. So finally when the measurements are all done, he goes around, looking for Ren. He spots him looking over different fabrics, though. “Honestly Ren, you’d think you were a tailor in a previous lifetime with all this fussing you’ve been doing.”

Ren chuckles. “Mayhaps. I just want to make sure you’ll be nice and warm through the winter.” He was about to say more, but he pauses, ears turning. Martyn doesn’t need to ask what’s going on, he heard it too. They look to each other. “I believe that’s your friend, Grian, we can hear.”

Martyn nods, and heads out of the building when Ren motions for him to go. He scans over the street, and sees Grian pacing outside a shop, lost in thought. Mumbling to himself about what’s taking so long. He walks up and taps his shoulder, getting a facefull of feathers.

“Agh-! Martyn? What the-where in the world did you come from? I didn’t even notice you around the place!” He can see Grian is still a bit spooked, eyes wide and some feathers puffed up.

He holds up his hands. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I haven’t seen you in ages, I was wondering how you’re doing. If everything is going alright, if you need any sort of help…”

Grian sighs. “Martyn, just like I told Ren, I’m perfectly fine. There’s no reason to be worried for me.” He pats Martyn’s arm. “How are you doing, though? I know you were looking for your own spot, but you were still at Ren’s when I came by a little while ago. Any updates?”

“Yeah, I’m actually just staying with Ren now. Even after winter’s over, I’m going to be traveling with him for some time. I think he may just be the key to what I’ve been sent to do.” He smiles. “He’s got a lead for me, and I’m following along with him. Oh, that reminds me, have you made any headway in your search?”

Grian shakes his head. “Nope. Nobody in the village has even heard of anyone like what I described. Neither has Scar.” Grian looks behind Martyn. “Speaking of, hey, Scar! Over here!”

Martyn tenses a bit, turning to see Scar…with his llama? But he’d heard it got stolen, right? The two make eye contact and grimace at each other. Martyn instinctually steps a little bit in front of Grian. Just a general reaction to the feeling of possible threat. “Martyn.” Scar says, frowning to him.

“Scar.” He responds, with just about as much distaste as the former, if not more. Not even a full second later, Martyn sees Ren leave the tailor shop. He beelines over. “Ren, good to see you.”

Scar turns to see Ren now. And Ren…smiles at Scar? “Scar, I must sincerely apologize for our previous interaction.” What. In the world. Is Ren doing. “I’ve thought about what you’ve said, and you’re right, I didn’t give time for my own judgment. I’d gone into our meeting with some prejudice. So for that, I’d like a do-over.” He holds out his hand.

Scar just looks down at it, then back up at Ren. “And?”

“And…what, exactly? I’m sorry, did I miss something?” Ren lowers his ears very slightly.

“The pedestal. Will I get to use it if I play along with this reset with you? And what about your guard dog?” Scar glances back at Martyn. Oh, if only Scar didn’t call him that, Martyn definitely would have let out some sort of a growl-like sound.

“You’d have to pay to use it, like anyone else. And I cannot make any deals regarding Martyn’s stance on you. He is his own person, after all.” Ren shrugs, and holds his hand back out again.

Scar looks down at it again, seemingly weighing his decision. Eventually, he looks back up at Ren. “If you don’t get Martyn off my case, I want free use of the pedestal.”

“I can’t do that, either, Scar. I have a business to run.” Ren frowns.

“Then I think we’ll just leave things as they currently stand.” He turns away to look at Martyn. “Mind moving aside? Grian and I have a mattress and a llama to get back home.”

Martyn huffs, looking back at Grian. “You know where to go if you need help. You’re welcome at Dogwarts, but not him.” He glares back at Scar, then taking the wide path around to head to Ren. Unfortunately, he passes by just a little bit too close to Pizza, and ends up getting spit at by him. “Augh, gross! What the hell was that?”

Scar chuckles. “Good boy, Pizza. You showed him.” Martyn rolls his eyes, wiping his face off as he returns to Ren’s side. He follows him back into the tailor shop, and watches through the windows as Grian and Scar load a single large mattress onto the llama’s small cart.

——————

The journey back to the desert was long. They’d been walking so much lately, especially Scar, that their feet were getting incredibly sore. Grian suggested Scar ride on Pizza, but he refused, not wanting to give Pizza any more significant weight to carry. Especially after being gone for so long. He already felt bad enough about immediately making him transport something.

So once they arrive back to the desert, they immediately get the bed set up, casting aside the pile in favor of pushing the bed frames together. They unload and unhook Pizza’s cart, get the mattress inside and get it in place. They flop onto it instantly, sighing in relief at getting their feet off the ground and having a spot to lay down. It’s so much more comfortable than the pile, they fight a losing battle against their exhaustion and fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon.

Grian wakes up late in the evening to find he’s been moved to be laying in a more comfortable position, a blanket draped over him. He looks over to see Scar sleeping peacefully. There’s some hair that’s fallen in front of his face though, right by his nose and mouth. That might cause him to wake up. He carefully reaches out and brushes it out of the way. His hand lingers there for a moment, by Scar’s cheek. Studying all the different scars across his face.

It’s so unfortunate, really. His whole backstory that he knows being so full of pain. From people turning him away, to injuries so awful they’ve left permanent markers across his skin. Some bigger than others, some more faded and older. He gets fixated on one on the left side of his mouth, thin and going across both of his lips. He wonders how that could have happened. Who wrote that mark onto his face, and what Scar’s story for it is.

Suddenly he’s waking up in the morning, he must have fallen back asleep while he was staring. He’s now wrapped up in both of Scar’s arms again. And this was the same guy who was teasing him about ‘cuddling’. If what he’d done himself could even be considered that. He sighs against Scar’s chest, gently pulling himself away and replacing himself with a pillow.

He jumps for a moment after leaving the bedroom, having forgotten for a moment that Pizza was back. And was now in the entryway of the house. After settling down, he whispers a good morning to Pizza before continuing to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

The morning is peaceful. Scar joined in not long after, and they shared breakfast. They cleaned the pile and got dressed, and they cared for Pizza. It was nice. They deserved some peace. Scar looks over to him. “Grian, can you do any cool tricks while flying?”

“Where did that come from?” He chuckles, looking down at Scar from where he was perched on the first level of the house. He truly cannot wrap his head around how Scar’s mind works.

“I was thinking about our conversation about flying, and I started to wonder if there was anything cool you could do. And if so…could you maybe show me?” He grins.

Grian sighs, rolling his eyes and smiling. “I guess. Come on, let’s go over that way, where there’s more open sky.” He motions towards the south, where the desert is flatter. He floats down, and the pair start heading down the mountain together. As they reach the bottom and walk further from it, he grins, and suddenly takes off into the sky, flying upwards.

——————

Scar smiles and laughs as he watches Grian launch himself into the sky. He runs after him from the ground, excited to see what his friend does. He knows this area well, every step he takes made with confidence.

Until he takes a step, and there’s no ground below him. “Grian!” He calls to the sky, seeing the outline of his friend diving towards him, just in front of the sun.

——————

“SCAR, NO!” Grian saw the chasm appear from nowhere. He dives quickly, reaching forwards. The shadow of his wings aligned with Scar’s falling form. For a moment, it looked as if Scar had wings himself, misshapen and torn.

He dove fast, and yet…

Thunder rumbles, and he feels a pulse against his chest.

He lands, clinging to Scar’s unconscious body as he is left to wait.

Chapter Text

Martyn tenses up, feeling a pulsing sensation from his necklace. Someone has just died again, but who-

He widens his eyes, seeing a name in yellow magic appear before him, before it shifts over to red and fades away.

Scar.

“Ren…I think you’re going to want to speed up whatever plans you’ve got.” He looks over to Ren.

“Who was it…” Ren lowers his ears. Martyn knows that Ren has already made an assumption. A correct one, at that. He really hates that he’s gotta say it.

“It’s Scar…he’s gone red.” He frowns more, seeing Ren lower his ears even more. He walks up to him, holding his hands and giving them a gentle squeeze. He finds the gesture comforting, and he can only hope it will help to reassure Ren, too. “Hey, listen to me, it’s going to be alright. He doesn’t stand a chance against you alone, and he certainly wouldn’t stand a chance against the both of us. I’ll protect you.” He smiles softly.

Ren lets out a small sigh, closing his eyes and leaning forward, gently pressing his forehead against Martyn’s. “Thank you, Martyn…but until I can be assured once and for all that he’s not a threat, I’m going to worry.” Martyn isn’t quite sure what to do in this moment. He’s never been this close to Ren’s face, so much so that he can’t really see much of it. But it’s clearly doing something to ease Ren, if not fully setting aside his worries. So he’s content to just stand there as long as Ren needs him.

——————

Cleo and Etho gasp, looking from the name in front of them to each other’s faces. Oh dear. “Well…I know I’m all good, or at least I hope that’s what that friendship means…you, on the other hand…” Etho motions over to Cleo.

They gulp, feeling like a lump had formed in their throat. “…had just stolen his llama and then blackmailed him for his clothes…” Cleo had literally just finished recounting the story to Etho when the pulsing began. “I gotta get back to Bdubs.” They turn and make their way out of the swamp, rushing home.

——————

It’d been some time since Skizz last went to the desert to tell Scar about Pizza. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it, or about Scar. Especially since he was finally reaching a point where his wings were getting unbearable. His own hands were just a bit too clumsy to deal with some of the finer details of preening, and Scar was always so good about helping with that.

He woke up incredibly early that morning, partly because he couldn’t sleep very well. But also because he wanted to get to the desert as soon as he could. It was nearly noon, and he was almost out of the trees. He stopped right in his tracks as he heard the rumbling, the pulsing from his earring feeling as if he’d been getting stabbed as he watched Scar’s name turn red before him.

He stood there for some time, frozen. Scar just died, again…and if that strange dream was right, that meant Scar was violent. Dangerous. He doesn’t want it to be correct, for him to go and find Scar and help with whatever situation he’s gotten in, reassure him things will be okay and it’s not going to happen again.

But if it is…what then? He goes to Scar, and Scar can’t hold back his anger for Skizz betraying him and he gets killed. If he goes, and learns something bad happened to Pizza, and Scar is enraged and kills him…there’s just too many scenarios where this all goes wrong.

He hurries away, back home. Maybe…he’ll just have to try preening by himself. Or see if anyone else is open to helping him out. He’ll wish it was Scar, but he just can’t take the risk.

——————

Scar can feel his heart thudding within his chest. The lights behind his eyes turning red. His head, especially the back of it, is throbbing hard. He fell. He couldn’t reach Grian…

Grian…

He can hear Grian, is he crying? Is he saying something? He can’t make out anything.

His head eases up, and he feels arms around him. Warm, and gentle, and…

…restricting. Trapped. Have to move-!

His eyes shoot open and he shoves his way out of whatever is holding him in place, pushing the source down and jumping to his feet. It’s only as he hears a gasping sound and a hiss from wincing that he registers what just happened.

He turns and sees Grian. Is that…fear, in his eyes? He’s pushing himself up, raising a hand to his own cheek. where a scrape has just formed, tiny dots of blood forming.

Blood…no, no no no, he can’t, he just…

Scar tears up, running away as fast as he can, climbing up the pathway that leads out of the chasm.

——————

Grian didn’t know when or why the tears started, as he cradled Scar’s torso in his arms. He just knew he felt as one dropped from his face, landing on Scar’s. “This wasn’t supposed to happen…this wasn’t supposed to be here…” he looks up to the sky. “Why…why did you do this?” He knows they won’t give him an answer. Not until he’s out.

He feels Scar begin to stir, and he looks down in time to see once beautiful green eyes, now gone red, snap open, before he’s promptly shoved into the ground. It’s enough force that he hits the ground before his body has finished moving to the side, and he hisses at the stinging on his cheek.

He sits up, raising a hand to feel at it, looking towards Scar. He’s still a little bit on edge after watching Scar fall, and being suddenly shoved down. He watches as Scar backs away and runs. “Scar, wait-!” He scrambles to his feet, reaching towards him, but it’s no use. Scar doesn’t stop. He keeps running.

Leaving Grian alone, to ponder on his thoughts. And attempt to understand why the other Watchers couldn’t have just gone for him, instead. Why couldn’t they just have killed him, instead of Scar.

——————

Scar runs until he trips over some plants, landing in a bed of flowers. He heaves, trying to catch up on his breath after all the running. The crying doesn’t stop, so it certainly doesn’t help. He feels lightheaded, and dizzy. He pushes himself up onto his hands and knees, trying to take a moment.

His hands…his hands are losing saturation. Oh gods, is he-no, the grass is still green, the flowers all sorts of colors. If he’s not losing color from his vision, then…

He looks to any parts of himself that he can see. And watches as the desaturation slowly crawls its way up his limbs, originating from his hands and feet. As it starts to reach his chest, he takes in a sharp inhale, curling in on himself and panting, pain shooting through him. This is nothing like last time. Last time, he woke up, and that was that. But now, he feels his body being forced to change, transforming all within him.

As it ends, he collapses into the ground again, gasping and shaking a little as the pain starts to fade away. He feels…yuck. Like a strange creature, or monster. Something inhuman, and hungry. Something to be scared of…

Scared…Grian was scared of him. He saw it. He hurt Grian, and Grian looked to him with fear. He didn’t want to, he didn’t mean to…he can’t let that happen again.

He pushes himself up, looking back at the way he came from. He should go back, he has to apologize. He…he can’t scare Grian by just walking back up as he was. He needs something, show him he’s not a threat, that he…

His eyes land on a couple of flowers. Poppies and lilacs. He’s always enjoyed the soft purple hues of lilacs, and the striking red reminds him of Grian’s feathers. He quickly gathers some of each flower, and once he was sure he’d had enough, he makes his way back to the desert.

——————

Grian went back to the house, curled up against Pizza. He buries his face in the soft wool, a hand gently petting him. He’s not sure how long he was there, but one thing was certain. There was something…different about Scar. Not in the sense that he’s like him, masquerading as a player. No, Scar has always been a player, and nothing more. All here but he and Martyn have always been players. Some newer to the loop than others, but players nonetheless.

So what was so different about Scar? Was it how they both only knew loneliness? Hurt under it, and only in brief moments experienced companionship, to have it forced away? Lonely again, until they’d found each other? It’s the right track, he can tell, but that’s not it. There’s something more. Something gentle and warm.

He feels Pizza shift, and hears him suddenly bleating. He pulls his face away, turning to look in the direction that Pizza is, still laying against him.

And there’s Scar, exiting the treeline, holding something behind him. Without a second thought, Grian gets up and flies down to him, landing a few feet away. “Scar, a-“

“Grian, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Scar has an extremely guilty look on his face. Tears fall from his eyes, and down his cheeks. “I swear, I wasn’t thinking right, I didn’t know what was going on yet.”

Grian steps closer, reaching up to gently wipe a tear away. “Scar, it’s alright. It was just a little scrape. I’m worried about you. You…” he feels a tear fall from his own eyes now. “You died, I couldn’t reach you fast enough…it’s all my fault, again…”

“No, Grian, don’t blame yourself for that one. I wasn’t watching where I was going, I knew the chasm was around there, but I just…it completely slipped my mind.” Scar’s free hand comes to cup Grian’s cheek. And he simultaneously leans in, feeling a warmth in his chest, and a pit in his stomach.

As if he needed any more confirmation that that was the work of the other Watchers. Scar remembers, knows something to be there that wasn’t there that morning. Something just insignificant enough that it doesn’t undo everything they’ve done. At least not any more than what he’s caused. “Scar, you don’t-“

“Grian, please…even if it were, everything you’ve already done to make up for the first time is more than enough to cover for this one too. You were protecting my unconscious body down there, right? I could hear you crying. And…and I hurt you, in return. Look at me, I…I’ve become a monster.” He takes his hand away to motion to his greyed skin.

Grian is rather unphased by the change. He knew it’d happen. As far as he’s concerned, the only monster here is himself. “Scar, I-“

And that’s when Scar pulls out a bouquet of poppies and lilacs from behind. He gives Grian a soft, nervous, sad smile as he holds it out to him. “Can we still be friends…?”

And Grian is stuck in place. Looking between the flowers and Scar’s face. His beautiful, scarred face, and-oh.

That’s what it was.

That’s what was different.

That was the warmth in his chest, the gentleness he showed him, the flying without hesitation, the worry, the heartbreak, the staring and gazing…the reason why they hurt Scar, instead of himself.

Love.

He’s fallen for a player.

He’s fallen for Scar.

“…Grian…?” Scar sounds extremely nervous.

His gaze quickly shoots back into focus on Scar’s face, worry painted all across it.

Grian carefully takes the flowers from Scar, not breaking eye contact. He holds them in one arm, stepping closer to Scar and softly setting a hand to his cheek. He carefully guides Scar’s face down, putting their foreheads together and shutting his eyes.

He takes a moment, and sighs. “Of course…we can be, Scar, we can be whatever you want to call it…” he brushes his thumb on Scar’s cheek. “We can be friends, we can be more…only if you want. Anything you want us to be, I want as well. Just please, don’t say you want to leave me…”

He feels as Scar moves his forehead away, only for moments later to feel Scar’s lips ghosting over his own. Hesitant, nervous, and wanting to be sure.

Grian closes the near-nonexistent gap, gently pressing his lips into Scar’s.

It’s soft, and light. Like they’re both worried about hurting the other. And yet neither pull away until there’s a need for air, and Scar holds Grian close. Grian rests his face against Scar’s chest, feeling Scar put his chin on top of his head. They stay there, in the soft, quiet moment.

The silence is broken by Scar. “I’m sorry we couldn’t have done this sooner, before I looked so hideous…”

Grian laughs. “Scar, what in the world are you talking about?” He pulls back to look up at him. “Other than being gray, you look the exact same to me. And heck, your skin could have turned blue for all I care! The rest of you is still you.”

Scar grows flushed across the face. Grian watches as he very carefully takes a poppy from the bouquet and tucks it behind his ear and feathers. “The poppies reminded me of you…or, your feathers, but those are still you. So I got you some.”

Grian blushes, smiling softly. “And the lilacs…?”

Scar chuckles “I just like them, they’re pretty.”

Grian hums, carefully taking a smaller branch of lilacs, reaching up and tucking it behind Scar’s ear. “Fitting…because you are too.” Before Grian can fully retreat his hand, Scar takes it in his own, lifting it over to kiss it. Grian chuckles. “What’s this for?”

Scar smirks to Grian. “A thank you. It’s not every day you get called ‘pretty’ by an angel.”

Grian grows a bit redder. “Scaaar!” He plants his face back against his chest, feeling and hearing as Scar laughs.

He smiles. Grian could listen to that laugh forever, he thinks.

Chapter Text

Scar died yesterday, went to red, and Skizz can barely bring himself to leave his house. He’s terrified of the possibilities. He’s tried his hands at preening, but he’d accidentally plucked too many healthy feathers for him to feel comfortable continuing. Small spots and streaks of red staining his once pristine white wings.

Just as he starts to prepare for bed, there’s a knock at his door. He wasn’t expecting anybody. And it’s certainly much too late in the evening for this to be a casual visit. He takes hold of the sword by his door, ready to swing in the chance that this was a monster or attacker on the other side. He opens it and…

…and well, he was about to swing, at the sight of grey skin, but he stops himself, the moment he recognizes the face.

“Skizz, buddy, you mind putting that away? Remember, there’s consequences for attacking someone red unprovoked.” Scar smiles, why is he smiling in this moment? He was almost dead forever!

“Right, sorry, I just…with the um…grey…I didn’t recognize you at first…” Skizz puts the sword back where it was, leaning against the wall. “What brings you out this way? And so late at night? Here, come inside, there might be monsters.” He stands aside, gesturing for Scar to enter.

“Oh why thank you!” Scar smiles and…looks up? “Grian, he’s letting us in!” Oh, great. He’s brought Grian with him. At least the lla-Pizza, at least Pizza doesn’t seem to be with them.

Grian lands beside Scar, and the two men come inside, Skizz shutting the door behind them. “You gentlemen alright? It’s a dark one out there, no stars or moon because of the clouds. Sure to be all sorts of things crawling about. You especially should be careful about that, Scar.” He walks up to him, nerves and concern on his face.

Scar just lets out a chuckle “Oh, I’ll be fine. Really, I’ve never felt more capable of handling myself! But I really do appreciate the worry you have, Skizz. It’s a nice change from last time that I died.” He sets his hands on Skizz’s shoulders gently. “And! We got Pizza back! The person, or zombie, that took them is named Cleo, I know you say you didn’t remember their name.”

Skizz sighs in relief. “Oh thank gods, I was getting really worried about all that. I didn’t think they would do anything, but I started thinking about all the ways things could have gone wrong. I was going to come by yesterday to check on things, but…then you got red, and I got scared about approaching you, in case things went…wrong.”

“It may have been for the best you weren’t there, honestly. I…I was a little bit unstable for a moment there. I accidentally hurt Grian, and I still feel awful about it. I don’t know what I’d have done if anyone else was there.” Scar looks back towards Grian, who is sat on the arm of a chair. He has a small scab on his cheek.

“But you’re fine now, right? Clearly so, if you’ve been here a few minutes already and haven’t done anything.” He sees Scar about to respond, but he yawns instead. “Hey, you two can spend the night in here. I’ll get some spare pillows and blankets, it will be like a sleepover.” He pats Scar’s arms, then walks off to grab some things.

“Thank you so-uh, Skizz?” Scar says, concerned. Skizz turns a bit, seeing Scar staring at his wings. “What happened? Are you okay? That’s a lot of…red on your wings there.” He fidgets with the end of his cloak.

“Oh, that. I um…well, my wings were getting really unbearable, and I tried preening, but…well, I’m not the most accurate or stable with my hands, as you know. Pulled a bit too many of the wrong ones. Haven’t had a chance to clean up yet…” he’s a little bit embarrassed.

“You could have asked me before, I’d have helped.” Scar frowns.

Skizz shakes his head “No, the time I had the chance to ask, it wouldn’t have been an appropriate time to ask you. You were mourning Pizza and I’d come to tell you I saw Pizza. Wouldn’t have been right. And then yesterday you went red, and like I said, I was scared.”

He turns away and goes back to getting stuff for Scar and Grian. He returns to Scar sat in the chair that Grian is sat on the arm of. Scar moves back from whispering to Grian, whose face is now all flustered. He gets lightly smacked with a wing in the back of the head, which makes him laugh.

Seems like Scar is still messing around with Grian. Like Grian said, Scar has made a habit of messing with him. He sets the pillows and blankets on the ground unceremoniously, taking one of each for himself and setting up a spot for himself. Scar blinks. “Skizz, you can sleep in your bed. You don’t have to be on the floor with us, we’ll be fine.”

“No, I want to! I said, it will be like a sleepover. I just need to get ready for bed, you two make yourselves comfortable, alright?” He smiles, and leaves again. He gets cleaned up and changed, all while a million thoughts run through his head. Trying to ignore the ever-heavier pit forming and growing in his stomach as he starts connecting some dots.

Dots that have their connections locked in place as Skizz comes back to the main room, and sees Scar and Grian now sat on the floor, Grian leaning into him, and kissing his cheek. He quickly ducks back behind the doorway, hoping neither had noticed him. It’s everything he has to not tear up.

They never were ‘just messing’ with each other, were they? Scar was just trying to spare his feelings until they were ready. Or maybe Scar was trying to take advantage of his feelings for as long as possible. Or maybe this was something new. Whatever it was, Skizz is a bit heartbroken. Scar is with Grian, and not him. Just keep it together, until morning, whenever they leave. Don’t you dare cry right now.

“You guys need any sleep clothes?” He calls out, before walking back through the doorway. Grian is now sat up, stretching as he shakes his head.

“I’m fine to sleep in what I’ve got, too.” Scar lays down in his spot, yawning. “I could fall asleep at any moment, honestly. Thanks again for letting us in, Skizz.” Grian lays right beside Scar, a wing draping over him for a moment, before quickly tucking it back to himself. Scar pouts. “Hey, what was that for?”

Skizz lays down in his spot, trying to ignore the current interaction between Scar and Grian. “It’s not as cold here as it is in the desert, you don’t need any extra warmth.” Grian crosses his arms in front of himself, resting the side of his head into his arms and closing his eyes.

Scar frowns even more. “But it’s still cold. It’s that time of year where snow can happen at any moment. We could wake up to snow, and you’ll feel bad you didn’t keep me warm at night.” When Grian doesn’t respond, Scar looks to Skizz. “You’d keep me warm, wouldn’t you, Skizz?”

He blinks, trying to piece together what he’d said and why and if it was him asking for that or just a rhetorical question or- “Yeah, it’s what buddies are for.” What kind of response was that? But Grian’s wing near immediately fans back out and tucks itself around Scar. Scar seems satisfied, yawning and getting himself more comfortable.

So it was to get a reaction out of Grian. He can’t say he blames Grian for feeling a bit territorial over Scar. He’d definitely be in a similar boat, and he may have already been in it for a while now. As more of a stowaway rather than a passenger, but still.

Nevertheless, nothing else is said as everyone drifts off to sleep. Skizz doesn’t sleep well.

——————

Grian wakes up first again. To no surprise, at some point in the night, Scar had enveloped him within his arms, and Grian’s head was tucked in below his chin, the side of his face rested against the upper part of Scar’s chest. Listening to the sound of his heartbeat. He sighs, content to just stay in the warmth and wait for Scar.

But no, wait, he can hear footsteps against the floor.

His eyes shoot open and he sits up a bit, looking around, they’re-oh, right. They’re at Skizz’s. He probably just hears Skizz walking around his own house. Which he certainly has every right to do so. He groans, rubbing his forehead. He finds his way out of Scar’s arms, putting a pillow in place like usual, and gets to his feet, stretching.

“How did you do it?” Grian jumps a bit hearing Skizz’s voice suddenly behind him. He turns, seeing him in the doorway, already dressed for the day.

“How’d I do what?” Grian raises an eyebrow.

Skizz quietly scoffs. “Get Scar to like you in that way. You know, I spent years growing up with him, he and I were doing nearly everything together. I’m not afraid to admit to you I developed more feelings towards him as we got older. But no matter what I did, it never seemed like he’d felt the same. I’d asked him, once, and he said he wasn’t in a spot for a relationship. So I waited. And then…” he drifts off, looking away from Grian towards Scar.

Grian looks down to Scar as well, still sleeping peacefully. He looks back towards Skizz. “Then…what?”

Skizz turns his attention to Grian again. “You showed up. What did you do? How did you convince a man you’d never met, one who didn’t even seem interested in love, to love you?”

“I don’t know. I was…I don’t think I was even supposed to come here, in all honesty. I was looking for someone, and managed to get myself roped up in all sorts of different situations I never thought I’d be in here. It was an accident.” It’s as honest as he can get with anyone in here. He’s not sure what drove Scar to fall for him, when he was never intended to even be here.

Skizz is about to respond, when Scar yawns and sits up, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on? What’re we talking about?” He stretches, then opens his eyes and looks up between both men. A bit of sleepiness still rests within his gaze, not yet fully awake. “Good morning Grian, good morning Skizz.” He yawns again.

Within a few minutes, Scar is up and about, and ready to get moving. One slight issue, though, is that it’s absolutely freezing outside. No snow, just a sharp, cold breeze. And Scar was absolutely not dressed for that. He didn’t put a shirt on underneath his cloak, and his pants were rather lightweight. “I told you to bring warmer clothes, the desert is the only place that stays hot enough for you to dress like that!”

“I was hoping that the grey skin meant that I wouldn’t be bothered by the cold, since it looks all decayed and stuff.” He shrugs, and turns to Skizz. “You wouldn’t happen to have any warmer clothes I could use, would you? Being my friend and all…I could even give you a friend pass in exchange!” He grins.

Skizz seems slightly perplexed. “A friend…what? What in the world is a friend pass? Why would I need one of those if we’re friends with each other?” That’s what Grian can’t really understand either. Does that mean he’d need one too? Or would he need a boyfriend pass? Or does it go unsaid that Scar would never intentionally hurt or kill him?

“Skizz, buddy, a friend pass applies for the whole desert, not just little old me! It means you’re welcomed at all times by all who live there. Roam wherever you want without being questioned for why. You’re a friend of the desert, and all who befriend the desert, befriend me. Someone who is red. Someone who might…snap at any moment. Lose track of friend or foe.” He smiles. It sends a slight chill down both his and Skizz’s spines, some feathers puffed up in response.

Skizz sighs “Yeah, I…give me a few minutes, I’ll grab you some stuff. Shirt, pants, whatever. Wouldn’t want you to freeze…Like you asked me last night, I’ll keep you warm.” He lingers for a moment before leaving the room to gather some clothes.

Scar comes up to Grian, gently cupping his face, thumb brushing over his cheek and gently smoothing the feathers there that are still at attention back into place. Grian closes his eyes, sighing softly as he leans into the touch. It’s caring and gentle, despite the roughness of his hands. He can feel Scar just looking at him, knowing if he were to open his eyes, he’d see Scar’s were full of love and adoration. Like he was looking at something beautiful, something precious and in need of keeping safe.

He feels Scar’s lips meet his, and even if in this moment, when Skizz could walk out and see them at any time, he returns the kiss. Nothing else ever really matters in such a moment, just him and Scar and the feelings between them. He does, in some part of himself, feel slightly bad for and pity Skizz, that he has to deal with Scar being with someone else. It didn’t have to be that way, it wasn’t meant to be that way.

But no matter if Grian was present or not, Skizz was never meant to have Scar.

Nobody was. Not like this, as a lover, a romantic partner. So Grian couldn’t fully feel bad for anyone that they were losing out on having Scar be theirs, that Scar was his.

As Scar pulls back from the kiss, Grian tries to chase it for a moment before he hears the sound of Skizz heading back to the main room. He opens his eyes and takes a step back from Scar, watching as Skizz enters, a bundle of clothes in his arms. “Alright, I grabbed a shirt, some pants, a thicker cloak, and some good boots for you. Get yourself dressed up.” He hands it off to Scar, who goes aside to change.

As soon as he’s all finished up, Scar comes back and hands Skizz a slip of paper. “One friend pass, as promised. Thank you so, so much, Skizz. Myself and the desert will remember this.” He grins as he pats his shoulder, then comes to Grian, slipping his hand into his. Grian smiles as their fingers interlock, giving a gentle squeeze. Scar turns to look back at Skizz. “Well, we’re off to make some visits to people. The Crastle, the village, that…what’s it called now? The place with that Ren guy? Whatever it is. Just…checking in on everyone.” He grins, and with that, the pair leave the building and make way to their destination.

——————

Paper.

Years of friendship, as his one and only friend, and he now needed a piece of paper to prove it to Scar.

“This is freaking ridiculous, man.” He mutters to himself, tucking it into one of his pockets.

He’d initially planned on staying at home today, working a little bit more on his home, but now he couldn’t. The way he’d said Ren’s name, with a slight heat of anger behind it, didn’t settle well with him. Ren’s a good guy, he’s been nothing but kind to him ever since he’d shown up. It was only right he heads to Renchanting to give him a heads up. Assuming he can get there first.

He packs a small bag quickly, heading out in the direction of Renchanting. Gosh, moments like this, he wished he could actually fly with his wings, not just give himself an extra boost while jumping. But they were too damaged, unable to be repaired. It was his fault, he was careless, and now they were nothing more than extra appendages on his back. Ones he was willing to let take hits to better protect the rest of his body. They were a nuisance, they bothered him, and he can’t be bothered to deal with their upkeep until they itch and poke and burn.

As he gets close, he’s glad to see the walls surrounding Renchanting had finally been completed. He himself helped to supply some of the materials, even doing a little bit of extra help on a couple of days along with anyone else who was helping construct it. He approaches the north gate, the door opening before he’s even all the way up to it.

Ren grins, standing aside. “Skizz, welcome, welcome! Come on inside, my friend.” After Skizz steps inside, Ren closes the door behind him. “What brings you out this way? You look slightly troubled, did something happen? Are you in need of shelter or protection?” The two walk alongside each other further inside, before sitting down on some logs to chat.

“I don’t need any help, Ren, but I appreciate the concern. No, my concern is for you, actually. I told you about my old friend, Scar, a while ago. I’d not yet mentioned I have become friends with him again, sort of. But anyways, he went red a couple days ago, as I’m sure you’re aware. He stopped by my house with Grian, they stayed the night. But before they left, he’d said he was going to check how people were doing at different places. And I really didn’t like the way he’d said your name. You’re a great guy, Ren, and I wanted you to be aware of what’s happening. Assuming they hadn’t stopped by yet.” As he finishes speaking, he finally looks up, and Ren’s face is now more alert, and slightly paled. “Ren?”

“Skizz…he’d already made a threat towards me before he became red. Shown his distaste towards Dogwarts. He’s not been back yet, and I truly, deeply appreciate the warning. I must question though…you spoke so negatively of him when we met, and between you and the villagers I’d formed an image of him in my head. Now you come here saying you’ve rekindled your friendship with him…why? You acted as if he were someone irredeemable. What changed?” Ren’s tone was serious, concerned. It was always so easy to talk to him.

Skizz sighs, propping his elbows on his knees and putting his face in his hands. “Nothing. I keep doing this, keep going back to him. I just…can’t help myself, I guess. We’d been friends for forever, and…” he hesitates, a silent swift debate to himself before continuing, “-and I’ve had feelings for him for a long time as well. Anytime I think I’m over it, he just…he smiles, he laughs, he talks with passion, or I think back to all those little moments, and I’m right back to where I was.” He chokes a bit, trying to hold back tears. But then, as Ren sets a hand behind his shoulder, gently rubbing it, they come pouring out.

Ren hums, speaking in a reassuring manner. “Feelings can be quite the complicated thing. Drive you to perform actions you might never have done otherwise, for good or for bad. They are destructive, yet build you up. They cannot be tamed or controlled, but you can decide how to respond. They cannot be ignored, not truly, but in the end, at a critical moment, you must be the one to make a decision.” Ren pauses, and Skizz feels his hand move away from his shoulder, touching a sore spot on his wings. He winces, and REN’s hand moves away. “My apologies, I’d just noticed your wings appeared injured. Are you alright? Do you need any bandages, healing items?”

Skizz sits back up, shaking his head. “No, I just gotta clean them. I tried preening myself, but I’m not really that good at it. My hands are a bit too big and clumsy for some of the finer details. I usually get some help with those whenever they get too bad, but I got a bit impatient. They’re still a little bit tender, the spots where I plucked healthy feathers by mistake.” He looks at Ren “Don’t suppose you know how to do it, huh?” He chuckles, joking.

Ren shakes his head. “No, but I think Martyn mentioned something about it once. Something where the forest he lived in also being home to a community of avians, and both communities got along well with each other. So you could very well ask him for assistance once he-“ he pauses, looking towards the north gate. “Speaking of, he’s here now.”

Skizz sees the way Ren perks up once he realizes he’s heard Martyn. His ears slightly pulling up more, a small smile tugging at his lips, a twinkle in his eye. And how he grins as the gate opens, like he’d just seen someone for the first time in weeks, months, years.

And Skizz smiles. They’d make a great pair, he presumes. Honestly, the way they interact, you’d think they’ve known each other their whole lives. They work well, opposing features complimenting the other rather than clashing.
Ren deserves that happiness, and in his head, he wishes all the luck to him. That at the very least, if Skizz isn’t able to have who he wants, Ren can.

Chapter Text

Tango was given some time off from work at the ranch, so he makes his way out to Cleo and Bdubs. He’s grown to like them during the pathmaking project, and he wants to see how they’re doing. As he follows the off path along the way, he can hear Cleo talking to themselves. He enters the clearing, and Cleo is pacing, lost in thought and muttering about defenses. “Cleo?”

She jumps, drawing a crossbow from the sling/holster on her back. He shoots his hands up, his hair poofing/flickering with some fire. “Woah, hold on, it’s just me! I didn’t do anything!” He says, panicked, voice pitched a little bit higher than usual.

They sigh, putting it away. “Sorry, Tango. I’m just a little bit…on edge right now. See, Scar went red, right? And you remember when he thought Pizza died?” Tango nods slowly, raising an eyebrow in confusion and suspicion. “Well, Pizza didn’t die. I had him. In our basement. And basically held him for random to get stuff from Scar, which I did. Now that he's aggressive, I’m worried about being a target.”

“I see. Yeah, that’s definitely a problem. You need a hand with anything? I heard something about defenses.” He comes closer, eyeing the ground cautiously. “I know a thing or two about making traps, but be warned most of them are pretty fire-based.”

She considers for a moment. “I’ll have to think about that. Definitely not yet, Bdubs is currently recovering from a cold. So I’ve been trying to keep quiet for him. Oh, and there’s no defenses set up right now, you don’t have to worry about anything.”

Tango nods, and just walks up normally, admiring the progress on repairing the building. “You guys have gotten quite a lot of this fixed up since I saw it last. Looks really good!”

“Thanks! Bdubs did a lot of the work, but I think the exhaustion and overworking manifested into a cold. Between that and the path, he’s done so much lately. And I’m making sure he gets rest.” They smile softly, looking up at the building. “Oh, by the way, we’re calling it the Crastle now. Bdubs was like half asleep and called it that, so it’s sticking.” They snicker.

Tango laughs. “Crastle, I love it. Think you have a spare room you could possibly lend out to a poor, fiery, lonely soul…?” He looks to Cleo.

They’re about to respond when “Oh, Cleo-!” Scar calls out from the treeline, in a slightly singsong tone. They widen their eyes and shovel Tango inside the Crastle with them quickly, shutting the door behind them and running upstairs.

Tango looks over to where Bdubs shoots up, very awake. “What’s going on? What’s happening? Oh hi Tango! Where’d Cleo go…?” He looks around the room.

“Cleo ran upstairs. Scar’s just shown up, and-“ Tango is cut off by Bdubs scrambling to his feet, running to the stairs and grabbing a crossbow sitting by them. So, Tango just follows him upstairs. They reach the floor with Cleo, who is listening to Scar on the ground below. Tango goes over and stands in the window opening beside hers.

“-started off on the right foot, but I feel like possibly somewhere along the way we stumbled a little bit. And I’m here to offer a helping hand, get us back up and on the same page again.” Scar smiles up towards the windows, Grian stood at his side.

Cleo narrows her eyes skeptically. “Uh huh…and how exactly are you planning to do that? What is it going to cost me? Surely it’s not just an agreement and that’s that.”

He smirks. “Oh I’m so glad you asked. You see, I have these friendship passes for sale. Now they don’t have a set value, but they are very valuable. See, with being red, I might just…lose control at any moment. And I might lose sight of friend or foe, and these passes will be able to help me keep track of that. Just flash it at me, and I’ll turn away.” He pauses and looks up higher. “Oh hello up there, Bdubs! My you’re up really high-be careful, you wouldn’t want to fall!”

Cleo’s brows furrow and they pull out their crossbow, pointing it at Scar. “That better not have been a threat, Scar.”

Scar returns his gaze towards Cleo. “It’s not…but what if it were?”

All at once, Cleo loads the crossbow and fires, but Grian is quick. He shoves Scar out of the way, moving to stand directly in front of him with his wings spread, blocking all views of him. “Hey! You can’t attack him unless he moves first! Or do you want magical universal repercussions?” Grian looks really mad.

“How about you stay out of this, Grian? Shouldn’t you want this, so you can be relieved of your duty? It will only take a moment.” Cleo gets another arrow, but doesn’t arm the weapon yet.

“I’ve been relieved, for your information. It’s a choice.” He only seems to settle down a bit as Scar gets to his feet, carefully wrapping an arm around Grian, holding his hand, and lifting it up so he can kiss his knuckles/back of his hand. Grian closes his eyes and sighs, lowering his wings.

Cleo and Tango give each other a look. “When the hell did that happen?” Cleo whispers to him. He shrugs and they look back down at the pair on the ground. They’re now stood as they were before, but Grian is closer this time.

“So, Cleo, Bdubs, or hey, even Tango, yes I see you there, what will it be? Want a friendship pass? I’d gladly trade one for one of those fancy looking crossbows you’ve got there.” Scar motions up towards them.

“I think I’ve made my own stance clear. But I can’t speak for anyone else.” Cleo still keeps an arrow in hand, ready to load the crossbow in a moment’s notice.

“Will it affect my reputation if I say no? I honestly don’t have anything valuable to trade, I was just hanging out.” Tango asks, slightly nervous.

Scar shakes his head. “No, you’re all good Tango. You’ll stay at 25%, don’t you worry.” Tango gives a thumbs up, and Scar looks back upwards at Bdubs again. “How about you?”

“…can I consider and think about it? And get back to you some other time.” Bdubs responds, honestly sounding a bit stuffy.

“Of course, of course. Just don’t linger on it too long, I have a limited supply and they could very well sell out if you wait forever.” Scar grins, slipping his hand into Grian’s. “We’ll be on our way, then. Farewell to you all!” The pair then head back into the trees.

Tango looks over to Cleo, who stays at attention until they get out of sight. She sighs, sitting and putting everything down. “Gods, Scar is just…well I wouldn’t say scary, per se. Threatening? A bit intimidating? Intense?”

Bdubs comes downstairs, noticeably panicked. “Scar looks crazy right now! He could have stepped right out of my nightmares, and if you told me that I’d believe you.” Still sounding a bit stuffy, he collapses into a sit once he’s closer to the pair.

Tango thinks back. “Oh yeah, now that you say it, he did actually look different. I guess I just didn’t think much of it, I’ve seen what you’d probably dub as ‘more nightmarish’ back home in the nether.” He shrugs, dismissing the thought.

“Oh, Tango, I didn’t mean it like that, I…I’m sorry, I just, with Scar being red and now he’s different looking, I just thought…is that what happens to anyone? Do we just…change?” Bdubs questions, holding his pocket watch, rubbing his fingers along the chain and two yellow crystals along it. Pausing where there once was a third, when they were all green.

Tango shudders, slightly. Just the thought of the fact that every single one of them has a physical indicator of how many times they could just…die. A sign of lives they get to live. He tried to lose his earring on purpose, once, after he figured it out. But the further he ventured from it, the more slowed down and heavy everything felt. Like an outer force was just pulling him back towards it, and it was starting to even get hard to breathe, corners of his vision getting spotty. He’d run right back and put it on, nervous to lose it. Which is why he may have slightly overreacted when he couldn’t find it anywhere in the mud. He just…didn’t want to experience that again.

——————

Impulse made his way into the back alleyways of the village, coin pouch kept hidden away below a coat, close up towards his chest. He knows a thing or two about pickpockets, being one himself. Never takes too much, just pinching a little bit from here and there, it all adds up anyways.

He wasn’t super impressed with the selection of items available in the main village market. And out in the open is no place to be able to…’persuade’ himself into getting a better deal. Especially as he’d need to reveal his trickster form in order to achieve that. One careless mistake in the last town is how he ended up chased out of it. He fled to the woods, and managed to slip away, but not before being injured. Thankfully, Bdubs, too nice for his own good, came along and patched him up and invited him along. So he went.

All sorts of crazy things have occurred in that time. He witnessed a death that didn’t remain, stole from a werewolf, got mixed up in a pathmaking project in repayment, was basically an accomplice in a llama theft, came across Etho in the swamp with an overgrown, once-white manor, got invited to live there, and then has proceeded to spend several days swiping money and supplies from people all over the place.

But none of the supplies were things he was quite exactly looking for. He needed something impressive, something he could give to people and show them that he had their backs. Or so they’d at least think that way of him. Truly, he’s just looking for himself. The more people that trust him, the more he’ll be able to get away with. The more backups he has to fall on. In extreme cases, the more options he has to plant false evidence on.

As he slips into another alleyway, up ahead he can see a few haphazardly put together stalls, shady-looking characters behind them, and a few just as shady-looking characters going about the place. This is exactly the kind of thing he was looking for. A bit smaller than he’s used to working with, but he can make do. He definitely can feel at least a couple of sets of eyes on him, looking him over. His more human appearance certainly sticks out like a sore thumb here, much more put-together and clean-cut than the figures taking up the space.

He approaches one stall, looking over the wares being sold there. The seller eyes him up, arms crossed and keeping silent. Calculating, and an attempt at intimidation. Impulse knows this kind very well, and he’s not scared by any means. Oftentimes, the more scary they make themselves appear, the less legitimate their stuff is. Scaring sellers into thinking the wares they sell are more valuable than they’re really worth. Nothing really catches his eye in particular, maybe a couple of magic scrolls, but he could probably come back for those later. Scope out the better items first.

He moves along, and as he passes by another customer, he feels the first pickpocketing attempt made on him. He quickly grabs their wrist and turns around, twisting their arm behind their back. “I wouldn’t try that again if I were you.” He speaks directly into their ear, then looks around the alleyway as people turn to see the commotion. “What’re you all looking at?” He furrows his brows, squinting. Most immediately look away, whether intimidated or just unbothered. As he finally releases the other person, he manages to swipe a few coins from them. They run off quickly, embarrassed at being caught so easily.

As he continues to make his way along the stalls, he comes across a lady selling legitimate golden apples. Now that is something he can work with. “What’re those currently going for?” He motions towards the small crate of apples close to the vendor.

The vendor smirks. “Well let’s see…what kind of money are we working with, mr. fancy coat? I’m sure you’ve got quite the coin to spare…” She looks him over, eyes drawn towards each piece of gold accessories currently visible on him. “I can’t just be practically giving them away, now can I? They’re quite the valuable item, plenty handy if you’re in a pinch. Can even save your life!”

He grins, his eyes ever so slowly turning from brown to gold as he speaks. “That they are, ma’am. I’ve heard it plenty of times before. But I need to know a baseline price first before I can start making any decisions. See, that guy back there is selling some too, and with quite a good rate at that. I’m trying to scope out this place before I settle on any decisions, see where I’ll be wanting to take my business. Quite frequent business, mind you. I intend to be staying here for a long while now. Get me a good deal, and you’ll be seeing lots of these.” A coin appears between his fingers, catching the lady’s eye.

“You cannot fool me, I know his apples to be fake copies. And I can tell someone like you is smart enough to tell the difference. Just look at those shiny rings on your fingers, for example. You could spot they’re gold a mile away.” She raises an eyebrow, not yet budging.

He chuckles softly, shaking his head. Again, as he speaks, small black horns start to grow from his forehead. “How perceptive of you. Another gold connoisseur, I see. Then surely, by your own words, I’m someone smart enough to tell the difference. So when I say that guy has golden apples…” he looks at her smugly, letting her finish the sentence and draw her own connections.

She widens her eyes and glances to the other vendor’s apples before looking back, speaking in a hushed tone. “…he’s disguised his own so I won’t clock him as a competitor?” He nods, and she scowls. “That son of a bitch, I knew there was some sneaky way he actually manages to sell any of those.” She huffs. “Kid, let’s cut a deal, alright? You buy from me, and I’ll throw in a scroll for every two apples purchased.”

“Hm…I see. It’s certainly a good starting point, definitely tempting.” He watches the lady start to seem flabbergasted. “But I could very well talk my way into the same deal over by that way, and, due to a lack of you naming your base price, possibly for a cheaper price. So I’m gonna need a little bit more out of you if we’re going to make this work.” It’s a routine he’s familiar with. Tell the real vendor the scammer is tricking them, and never take the first offer given.

He talks it over with her for a while, and walks away with four golden apples and five scrolls. It’s soon after he tucks them away that he can hear a new, familiar voice from right behind him. “Oh hello there, didn’t expect to see you in a place like this.” He turns around quickly, and Scar is stood there, skin greyed, eyes red. To say Impulse was shocked would be an understatement. He was alarmed at the rather inhuman appearance Scar had, despite Impulse never sensing anything inhuman about him.

“Oh, you know, you gotta really snoop around if you want to find any of the good stuff. Something I’ve learned over the years. What brings you out this way, buddy? And what’s with the new look?” He’s doing his best to keep his cool. The back of his mind reminds him of Scar being red, hoping the ‘passes’ he’d recently purchased from Scar would be enough to keep a target off of his back.

Scar grins. “Just taking a look around, seeing how things are at the village. And you know, I overheard someone leaving an alleyway muttering angrily about someone who sounded a whole lot like you. And I figured, hey, let’s go check on Impulse, make sure he’s not in any trouble. But seems you’re causing more than you’re actually getting into. As for my look, I could very well ask the same. Where’d these horns come from, buddy?”

Crap, he forgot about that. “I um…you know, I just…didn’t want to scare anyone unless I had to. Thinking about others, being considerate. This look can kinda spook people at first.” He’s usually a lot more careful than this, so the few times he’s slipped up, he’s always caught off-guard. It’s one of the few scenarios he’s never prepared for. “So what’s going on with you? You never answered.”

“Oh, this happened when I became red. It was…well, I definitely don’t recommend it, it was pretty painful.” He frowns a bit. “Okay, I’m gonna need an unbiased party here, do I still look like I did? Or does the grey complexion make my features look horrible?” Impulse just stares, dumbfounded. This feels like a trick question.

“Scar, you can’t just ask people that.” Grian’s voice comes from behind Scar. Impulse looks over a bit, spotting the red wings before anything. Grian is walking over to them, and stops at Scar’s side, leaning in as Scar wraps an arm around his waist. “Even if you could, I think the answer is quite obvious.” He smiles up at Scar, who smiles back down at him.

Scar looks back to Impulse. “Anyways, since you’re in my good books and all, you don’t have to worry about anything.” When Impulse raises an eyebrow in suspicion, Scar chuckles. “You know, you got those passes from me?”

“Yeah, I know that. It’s the not worrying that I’m concerned about.” He crosses his arms. “I’m curious as to what that entails…not worry about attack, I hope.”

“You don’t have to worry about me saying anything to anyone about those horns or eyes you’ve got there. It can be a little secret between us three.” He gives Grian a little squeeze, causing the smaller man to move even closer into him. Hm. Not the answer he hoped for, but it’s certainly helpful.

“That sounds good. I really appreciate that.” There’s an awkward silence that follows that. Like nobody is really quite sure where to go from here.

Scar breaks the silence after a bit. “Well, Grian and I will just get going then. Nice to see you, Impulse, hope to see you again soon!” He waves, and leaves with his arm looped through Grian’s.

Impulse sighs, slipping back into his human appearance. “Scar better be good on his word with that, my gods…I cannot have a repeat of that again.” He adjusts the way his bag strap rests on his shoulder, and makes his way out of the alleyways. It’s time to give out some ‘gifts’ to people as a ‘sign of good faith’.

Chapter Text

Grian and Scar emerge from the alleyway, arms still looped together. “Where to next? I know you mentioned wanting to stop at Renchanting, should the two of us head that way?” Grian asks, looking up at Scar. Scar frowns, thinking for a moment. Yes, Renchanting was the planned next stop on his journey. But…it worried him a little bit. Ren and Martyn absolutely did not like him one bit. Sure, Ren made that offer, which Scar appreciated the gesture, truly. But a simple restart was not enough. If not for the consequence of a universal punishment, Scar has zero doubts that Martyn would attack him on sight. But who’s to say they wouldn’t try to use Grian against him?

“I will be heading that way. You, sunshine, will be headed back home.” He looks and sees Grian’s eyes go wide, and mouth about to open in protest, but Scar puts a finger over Grian’s lips to shush him before he can start. “I don’t want to tell you to do things like this. I don’t like the idea that you’re bound to my every word and whim, especially as we’re together. You’re free to do as you please…except for this. I am giving you an order bound by the promise you made to me. Go home. I won’t be too far behind, I swear.” He kisses his cheek. “Take care of Pizza, he’s probably feeling lonely. You and I both know how much that sucks to feel.”

Grian stares up at Scar a moment more, searching for something, anything to say, to try and convince him otherwise. Scar can tell based on his expression. But, ultimately, Grian sighs, closing his eyes and hugging Scar, face planting into his chest. “Fine, as you wish. I really don’t like this, Scar. I know you know that. But if you’re so determined and stubborn…I can’t stop you. I’ll go take care of Pizza while we wait for you to get back. Just…swear to me you’ll be safe? Not do anything brash or stupid?”

Scar laughs. “Oh come on, have a little more faith in me than that!” He wraps his arms around Grian, kissing the top of his head. Grian makes a sound of complaint, and Scar softens a little bit. “Hey, G? Look at me?” He pulls one hand back to gently hold Grian’s chin, making him look up at his face. Grian is very worried, and Scar gives his most reassuring smile. “I swear I’ll be safe and not make any dumb decisions. Especially since you asked me to.” He grins a little bit more. “And as much as you have yourself do the things I ask, I have to do the things that you ask sometimes, too.”

Grian snorts, chuckling a bit. “That was so cheesy, Scar.” They both laugh, holding onto each other for a bit until they can settle down and even out their breaths. They walk together out of the village and towards the path to Renchanting, parting ways as it enters into the woods. Scar watches as Grian flies up into the sky and to the west, back towards the desert. He sighs, waiting until Grian is just a small speck in the sky before he continues along, on his own. Now that he’s red, he will give Ren one final chance. No restart without extra compensation. Nobody gets what they want unless at least Scar gets what he wants. If Ren refuses…so be it. Scar will have his top two targets.

——————

Martyn’s ears twitch a bit upon hearing a sound. Footsteps, outside the walls. Approaching, just a little slower than what may be considered ‘casually’. He frowns. That’s definitely suspicious. He mutters “eyes” under his breath, knowing Ren would hear it from where he is at the other end of Dogwarts. A signal that Martyn has heard something odd, and is about to go investigate. Its not really something they’d set up on their own, but a habit carried over from his home village. Usually in closer proximity, to account for everyone else. He climbs his way up the wall, hearing the footsteps approach closer to the gate.

…and he hears the gate doors opening.

Shit, the gate was still unlocked from earlier. He was supposed to re-lock it but got distracted. Now a mystery person- someone possibly with bad intentions, given the slow, sneaking approach- was entering Dogwarts unaccounted for and unverified. He is much closer to the top of the walls than the bottom by this point, so he finishes his ascent and creeps along to the inner side of the parapet and looks down to the ground below.

He spots Ren, first, walking over from the other side of Dogwarts. Concern on his face, making quick to head in the direction where he’d heard Martyn. But then he suddenly stopped before Martyn had even looked away yet to continue scanning over the area. Eyes wide, a small stutter with a half-step back. “Scar…what brings you here? And why do you look so…grey?”

Martyn furrows his brows, grimacing. He’d have let out a growling-like sound if he wasn’t trying to stay quiet and unnoticed. What right does Scar think he has to show his face around here again after everything that has gone down recently? Surely he knows just how unwelcome he is. Although, he’s not exactly on good terms with the local village, either, and that hasn’t seemed to stop him from going there. Not the wisest habit to have, Martyn presumes, but now is not the time to dwell on those thoughts. Right now, his focus needs to be on the situation below.

He continues moving around as Scar and Ren speak, trying his best to get a good vantage point where he can be close and see both of them, as his previous angle prevented him from actually seeing Scar. But the moment he does, he has to do a double take. Sure, he’d heard Ren say how grey Scar looked, but he wasn’t expecting that. All the color seeped from his skin, but not in the way that one would look by going pale, as Ren currently was. No, he was desaturated, much like how a drow might look. Grey was absolutely the correct word, he wasn’t a pale white, he’d kept his tan through…well, whatever it was that he had gone through.

Focus, Martyn, focus! Pay attention, you’re hearing and not listening!

“-a kind soul at heart, I want to only mean friendship to you.” Scar has kept his hands fully in view of Ren’s vision the whole time, likely a display to show he had no intentions of actually fighting at present. Yes, sure, Martyn could see Scar does indeed have a sword with him, but the belt that held the sword’s sheath had been turned so Scar cannot actually reach the handle without turning it back first. And Scar was not wearing a cloak either, hence the sword belt being visible. Instead, it was folded over and hanging onto Scar’s bag. Truly, he seemed to be doing whatever in his power to avoid being accidentally perceived as a threat. His presence already did a lot of the heavy lifting for that.

“Scar, I’d already made an offer to you before, and you would not take it. I could not in good faith meet your demands, and you very well know that.” Ren was still pale, though he wasn’t quite to the level he was when he’d spotted Scar. Especially as Martyn could see that one of Ren’s ears was directly positioned towards him, to hear anything he might say or do while in his hiding spot.

Scar shakes his head, chuckling softly to himself. “Oh, that I do, Ren. But! That happened before I became red. And you know, I figured I’d give you just one more shot. An attempt at a redemption before everything becomes set in stone.” Scar then faces directly up at where Martyn is positioned. “Don’t worry about me, Martyn, I know better than to cause any harm that matters while I’m here, alone.” He grins smugly, and turns his attention back towards Ren.

Martyn wants to tear that smug smile off Scar’s face. That was not an act of goodwill and reassurance, and he knows it. For one, it was showing that Scar was very much aware of not just Martyn’s presence, but also his position. Whether he’d been spotted or noticed Ren’s ear moving to listen in, he doesn’t know. But that didn’t matter now. It was also letting Martyn know that Grian was not there. Scar likely had the foresight to think one of them, probably Martyn, would try to do something to Grian. Which was partially, but not entirely fair of him to assume. He could see where Scar would be coming from with that, but Martyn is not keen on the idea of using Grian as a hostage or bargaining chip against Scar. Surely, it would not only make matters worse with Scar, but also Grian would probably have a difficult time forgiving him. He knows he would, if put in the same position.

Ren sighs. “Scar, I really don’t have anything else I can do for you in exchange for a do-over. I said what I said, back in the village. I’m sorry, truly.” And maybe Martyn wants to lightly smack Ren upside the head for this. The man should not be apologizing for that. It's totally fair and understandable, Scar was being completely unreasonable with his asks. Ren owes Scar nothing.

“No, Ren, see, this time around, things are different. I have more to offer you this time.” Scar begins to go into a spiel, during which Martyn uses a conveniently close-by tree to climb down from the wall and make his way closer towards Ren. “Having friendship with me is not at the same level that it was worth before. Now, it is so much more valuable, given that I am now red. My emotions run high, especially anger, and at times can be…hard to control. I don’t always think clearly during those times, and it can be quite hard for people talking to overpower the thoughts in my head. But having a visual indicator, such as a friendship pass, can help me to pivot my attention to something, or someone, else.”

Scar makes a quick glance at Martyn at that last part, possibly as he’d just reached Ren’s side, possibly to be an indirect threat. Martyn scowls, and reaches into his bag. That golden apple from Grian all that time ago still sat unused in there, waiting for just the right moment. He’s aware that Scar does not want to fight, but he can’t trust it. “Don’t do it, Ren. It’s not worth it.” He states, keeping his eyes narrowed on Scar.

Scar rolls his eyes. “Ren, could we possibly move somewhere else for this conversation? I’m doing my best to keep myself composed, but it's a bit difficult to do with a certain someone making angry faces and interjecting to a conversation that he was not invited to.” Scar motions for them to move aside, and Ren looks back at Martyn. As much as Martyn does not like the sound of that at all, he can see that Ren is curious about all of this, even if he doesn’t take the deal. And Martyn can always just listen into the conversation from somewhere else. He sighs, nodding, as he subtly slips the golden apple into Ren’s hand. It feels…tingly, when he does it. His hand brushing against Ren’s, closing his fingers around the apple. Ren nods back, and then heads off with Scar.

——————

Ren is so lost in the feeling of Martyn touching his hand with so much worry and concern on his face, as well as the warmth that it brings, he does not even process the sensation of something smooth being placed inside it. Yes, as he follows Scar away, he does feel like he’s holding something, but just pockets it into his coat without thinking, perhaps slightly embarrassed that he might have had this whole conversation without realizing he had something in his hand. They come to a stop not far from the southern gate, Scar turning back to resume their conversation.

“Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, the friendship pass. There’s only a very limited amount of them, keep in mind, and two are already gone. I only have one left, and a possible buyer for it, but it's not sold yet. You could be the one to take it, and save yourself if I lose my composure. But you have to make the choice soon, if not immediately. That paper can save your life. And what I ask for in return, is a do-over between the two of us, and either permanent uninhibited access to your enchanter, or you make Martyn chill out and have a proper do-over as well, where he stops trying to take my partner away from me at every chance he gets. Oh, and, on my end, I’ll even throw in a one-time no-kill pass for Martyn. I can’t give him a friendship pass if you take the last one, but it's the next best thing.”

Ren sighs, thinking it over. He cannot deny that the idea of gaining immunity from Scar after having his life threatened is tempting. But what he’s asking for in exchange…Scar now being red means he’s already more dangerous to others without the use of magical equipment. If he had access to that power unrestricted…it could very well doom everyone else in these lands. The fault would trail back onto himself, and put himself and Martyn at high risk if they don’t flee fast enough.

On the other hand, asking Martyn to have a do-over with Scar would very well prove impossible. While he himself is open to the idea, not being so rigid and set in his ways, not holding longstanding grudges with no chance of possible redemption, Martyn proves to be a bit more stubborn. Heck, the man even told him off back at the village that day for offering Scar a do-over after everything that had gone down. Scar can do no good in Martyn’s mind, especially as his friend was ‘trapped’ in the desert with Scar. And yet, Scar had just referred to Grian as his partner. So there’s the possibility that Grian isn’t trapped at all, he just lives there.

Focus, Ren, you’re getting sidetracked! He clears his throat and takes a deep breath, looking at Scar’s face. “Scar…I’m afraid I will have to reject your offers once more. I have more than myself to think of, and there is no world where I can make such a selfish choice to save my own neck in exchange for the many others who would be harmed in its place. To many others, you were considered a danger to these lands when you had three lives, and you are even more so now that you are red. Giving you access to magic would increase that possibly tenfold, and I still cannot force Martyn to do something he does not wish to do. This is my final statement on the offer, my mind cannot be changed henceforth.” He does his best to not react to the chill that slowly creeps its way up his spine as he speaks, feeling akin to a sharp claw gently tracing along from the base of his back up to his neck.

Scar listened expressionless, and stays still a moment after Ren finishes speaking, likely considering Ren’s words. He sighs, and turns to walk towards a patch of farmland. He faces Ren as he wordlessly kicks up some of the dirt, before turning and beelining out of the gate. Ren watches, flabbergasted. What in the hells, why? He just stays in place, confused and lost in thought until he’s brought back into the moment by Martyn stepping into his field of vision. “Ren? Hello? You there?”

Ren focuses on Martyn, frowning. “Yes, sorry, I was…I was trying to make sense of what had just happened. Like…his reaction to me rejecting the offer was to kick up a bit of the farmland we have going. It's such a small, slightly inconvenient thing, but who in the world does that? It's so random, I admittedly was just trying to make sense of it, perhaps a bit too pointedly so. Were you saying something to me before that?”

“I was asking what he did when you turned him down, because I didn’t see anything and he didn’t say anything, I wasn’t sure what the noise I heard was. So you’ve actually answered my question there. I was listening in the whole time, just making sure that a fight wasn’t about to break out. I know what he said, but I can’t trust him. It's why I handed you that golden apple and all.” Martyn leads him back inside of Renchanting, but he stops just in the doorway at Martyn’s last sentence.

“Wait, when did you do that? I don’t have a-” he stops as Martyn glances back with a raised eyebrow. He comes over and guides Ren’s hand to his pocket. Ren reaches inside and…yeah, he pulls out a golden apple. “When did that happen?” He looks over the apple in his hands before raising his eyes back to Martyn.

“Gods, were you not paying any attention to what I was doing before Scar led you off? I put it directly into your hand and I saw you pocket it. Thought you’d at least have looked. Not feeling super confident in the fact that I could have handed you absolutely anything just now and you’d have been none the wiser to take the time and acknowledge it. Pay attention to what people are giving you, princey. What if Scar had tried to slip you an explosive? You’d take us both out.” Martyn paces about the room, scolding Ren as Ren sits down and listens.

He shakes his head. “Martyn, if anyone else had tried to hand me anything, I’d be looking immediately. Especially if it were Scar. You…” he pauses, as Martyn comes to face him, “you are different. I trust you, you mean well by me, and therefore I do not question if you give me things. I appreciate the concern, but know that only you could be able to get away with such a scheme…not that you would.” He smiles. “You’re a good man, Martyn. Protective of and loyal to your friends.” Just what a possible ruler would expect of an advisor…

——————

Scar takes a different path home. He’d remembered…Joan? Joseph? Joe? Joel! It was Joel, that’s the name. He’d remembered Joel mentioning where he’d lived before when they traded swords. And last the two of them interacted, Joel seemed very keen on and proud of himself for upsetting Scar. So surely, now that he’s more…dangerous…Joel might want to backtrack on that choice.

He approaches the house, spotting a few dogs wandering or chilling around. Seems like this Joel guy is an animal lover as well. That’s good, he can work well with that! “Oh Joel! Are you home? This is Scar!” He calls out as he walks around the outside of the house. He doesn’t want to ruin his chances of being successful here by just walking in.

A window opens soon after he passes it, and he turns to see Joel poking out of it. “Oh uh, hey Scar. What um…what brings you here?” He sounds nervous. Which Scar is perfectly content with, should make it all the easier to sell the friendship pass to him.

“Why hello there Joel! Just figured I’d come by on my way home. See how you are, how things are going. This is a really cool house you’ve got here! And so many dogs too. Oh I just love animals!” He grins, holding a hand out for the closest dog to sniff at, giving it a gentle pet after it presses against his fingers.

“Yeah, I started feeding a couple of strays, and now they just hang around at my place. Really glad Gerald doesn’t seem to mind.” A dog inside, presumably Gerald, puts its paws up on the windowsill right beside Joel, who relaxes a bit and scratches behind the dog’s ear. “Yeah, you’re a good boy, aren’t you?” He mutters to Gerald.

It makes Scar more genuinely smile. Joel really seems like a great guy. “You know, Joel…I’m red, right? I…I mean, I’m really happy right now, but sometimes it’s difficult for me to control my emotions. I can get lost in a rage, and it can really help me to have a visual indication of who is a friend. So, I made these friendship passes. If you have one, you can use it to help me not accidentally hurt you for being a friend. Only problem here is that I’ve just got one left, and a potential buyer. It’s not sold, you could definitely buy it if you wanted.” He keeps a calm tone, genuinely somewhat relaxed being in the area.

Joel pauses the affection to Gerald as he listens and ponders, turning to him after a moment. “What do you want for it? I’m not giving any of my dogs, especially Gerald.”

“Oh, no, I could never dream of taking anyone’s animal companions! I had mine get llamanapped recently, and I spiraled hard because of that. Just curious what you have on offer, I don’t know what sort of supplies you’re working with. I can be flexible.” He comes closer to the window as Joel ducks back inside to look through his things. Gerald joins him, following every step Joel takes. That really warms his heart, seeing a glimpse at what must be a very close bond between the two of them. He watches Joel poke around in his things for a bit before coming back.

He sets an array of stuff in the windowsill. “I have a couple of history books I bought from Ren, they’re interesting, but didn’t have anything I was looking for. I’ve got some armor pieces I’m not using, they’re only a little bit damaged, but should be fine. Uh, there’s a loaf of bread I got earlier today and some fruits, or I have some just flat out money. Take your pick, whatever here catches your fancy.”

Scar looks them over. “Quick question about the books, do they have anything relevant to Ren in them? Like are they about where he’s from or anything?” He doesn’t really actually know where Ren is from, and maybe having an insight into Ren’s homelands could be useful.

Alas, Joel shakes his head. “Nah, mate. I mean, they generically cover the history of a lot of northern lands and kingdoms, but I don’t know where he’s from. Doesn’t seem like anyone else does, either, except that it's, well, north. He certainly knows how to prep for winter, so it's gotta be north enough to get lots of harsh conditions. My best guess is that with that pedestal, he might be from the kingdom of Frostbound, but he doesn’t really have the magic powers himself for that, so I’m not really sold on it. Otherwise, his outer walls look reminiscent of Black Isles architecture, but that kingdom is far too restrictive to let anyone get out with such a precious item. Or Auroran Cliffs has many werewolves, but that might just be stereotyping.” He shrugs.

“I see…I think…I’ll take some armor and some fruit, and then the friendship pass can be all yours.” As helpful as it would be to know more about those three kingdoms, he doesn’t think generic history from who knows how long ago would prove that handy. Defense and offense tactics, battle strategies, sure, learn the best way to defend against him and counterattack. But some spare armor and food is pretty useful too. They make the exchange, he thanks Joel, and then resumes on his way home. Things are starting to look up.

——————

“Partner? With a player? What is he thinking?”
“He should know better than to become attached in such a way to such…fragile beings.”
“At the very least, those two players have connected in some sort of way, if not as originally expected of them.”
“And the Listener’s fate is now set and tied to him. It cannot be undone.”
“The lines are being drawn at last.”
“Our will be done.”

Chapter Text

Ren didn’t want to claim himself a king, not yet. Not for a long time. But after what’s happened…he needs to take action sooner over later. But he must do it right. One cannot rule alone, they need an advisor, a hand. And he cannot think of anyone here more suited for the role than Martyn. And yet…he finds himself afraid to ask. He paces out behind Renchanting, trying to think of the best way to go about things while Martyn is currently away.

However, his thoughts are interrupted at the sound of footsteps on stone…below him, nonetheless. And then he hears climbing. Up and up, and he looks to the hill within the walls that he can hear it headed towards. He takes his sword at the ready, taking a mental check of where his supplies are at. There’s a thudding noise against the dirt, and grunting, and- “Gods please tell me this can open, I don’t want to walk that whole way back…”

Ren blinks, bewildered. “Skizz?” He asks to the hill, putting his sword away as he walks closer.

“Ren? Is that you? Hey, do you see a trapdoor anywhere out there? I can’t open it on my end.” That’s Skizz alright. He looks around, but doesn’t really see anything.

“Try knocking against it, I can’t see anything, so I should be able to hear it.” He waits a moment, listening in for the knocking. As soon as it begins, he starts walking around until he stumbles upon a spot at the top of the hill. Still, he doesn’t see anything…or at least, not yet. It’s a slight bit humiliating, but he makes use of his claws to begin to dig into the ground. He continues to dig until he’s fully uncovered an old, slightly rusty trapdoor. One big tug, and it not only opens, but snaps the weathered hinges apart, and he falls back in the dirt pile he’d just created.

Skizz climbs up and out of the hole, brushing cobwebs and dirt off of himself. He holds out a hand, and Ren takes it, getting pulled back onto his feet. “Skizz, what in the world is this? You never mentioned anything like this to me before.” Ren brushes as much dirt off himself as he can, but given he’d been digging it up and then fell into a pile of it, this was a rather futile effort.

“Ren, that tunnel is just as much news to me as it is to you right now. I’ve never heard of anything like this around here, but as I was trying to carve a downstairs area into my home, I dug up a hidden room with a strange tunnel. So, obviously, I had to follow it to see where it led. It went up and down and made turns at points, and ended in a ladder here. I’m sort of surprised I’ve ended up here, I hadn’t actually been down there for any more than three hours at most. And here is definitely so much further away than that.”

Ren listens to every word. He peers down the open hole, torchlight glowing near the bottom. “Skizz, I am certainly glad it is you who discovered this, and not…well, I know you consider him a friend, but I’m glad Scar does not know of this path. I beg you, do not tell him. He is an enemy of Dogwarts.” He looks back to Skizz. “You are from these lands, tell me, would it be frowned upon if I were to claim the territory within these walls as…a small, fledgling kingdom of sorts? I swear to not take any land by force, Anyone who takes part in this place will only do so of their own regard. I am not a cruel man, I will not be a cruel king.” He will not be like his predecessors.

Skizz ponders a moment, pacing slightly. “I mean, these lands have been free of any sort of rule for a very, very long time. It would be rather unprecedented…” pause as he continues thinking, “But on another hand, there have been things going on lately that go without proper repercussions as a result of this. People just sort of generally agree on things, but there’s not anyone to make sure plans are carried out. I think having a leader figure, king or otherwise, might be a good idea. So…I say go for it. I see how well you run your business, take care of this area, and get along with the town. You’d make a great leader.” He smiles.

Ren smiles back. “Thank you, Skizz. I would not have wanted to make anything official without the approval of people who live here. It would not feel right.” He peers back down the hole. “Three hours, you say? That’s less than half the time it takes while up here…I wonder if there’s any sort of magic involved…”

——————

Grian wakes in the morning snuggled up close to Scar, sighing contentedly at feeling Scar’s hand gently run through his hair. “Good morning, sunshine. Beat you awake today.” Scar sleepily mutters, then pressing a kiss against his head. Grian smiles, pressing himself more against him. Not awake enough to talk yet, he decides. He feels as Scar chuckles, his chest moving in time with it. “Okay, okay, snuggle time it is. Anything for my pretty bird.”

Another kiss is pressed against his head as he feels his cheeks grow warm. “Scaaar…” He very quietly complains, now determined to try and hide his face. Knowing that Scar definitely called him such a way on purpose. Which even becomes more evident as Scar begins to run some fingers through his wings, gently working their way through. Grian just melts at how relaxing it feels, and he is fighting the urge to fall back to sleep. “I’m gonna sleep again if you’re not careful…” he quietly warns, feeling Scar slow to a stop.

“Mmm…you’re cute when you’re asleep…but I definitely prefer when you’re awake.” Scar gently pulls away, to which Grian lets out a small sound of discontent, and looks down into his face. “There you are.” Scar smiles. He leans down, and they share a gentle, sleepy kiss. Grian loves times like this. Where he can briefly forget, for a moment, that this story is a tragedy. It ends in death, of not just Scar, but everyone here. That only Grian will bear the burden of remembering, being a Watcher. Players cannot remember stories. Not unless a Watcher needs them to, and has the power to execute it. Power that Grian doesn’t yet have access to, that he cannot hope to control for a long time coming.

“Grian…are you okay? You’re starting to cry…” Scar frowns, wiping his thumb on Grian’s cheek. Damn, he started thinking about it too much. Every moment he forgets, it hits him all at once the second he comes back. Grian nods, leaning into the touch. Scar won’t remember this, remember him, remember them. He can’t tell him the problem, despite that. He doesn’t want Scar to be aware of any of this, ever. He’d told Scar before that he can’t talk about some things, no matter how close they get. Claimed, not incorrectly, that there’s some things he’s not ready to face himself. And Scar understood, he still understands. Just holding Grian until it passes by.

Much later in the day, they are discussing everyone’s reputations while Scar is constructing a reputation board. Yeah, Grian isn’t sure how they got to this point, but if Scar wants to do that, so be it. “And obviously, Ren and Martyn are the most wanted. If I were driven to kill…those are the targets.” Scar states, nailing some sheets of paper onto the board. ‘Martyn: Most Wanted, Kill List’ ‘Ren: Most Wanted, Kill List’ And…yeah, Grian doesn’t really like the fact that Martyn is listed on there, but he can’t really do anything about it. “I’d rather not even hurt anyone, but…I’d be lying if I said it’s not tempting to do something to them.” He pauses and looks back at Grian. “…they do have three lives…would…do you think I would stop thinking about it so much if I just…gave in once?”

Grian knows it won’t, not really. But he can’t convey that information. So he shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe? It could possibly help relieve the tension you’ve been feeling. Give some relief…I can help, but I’m not killing anyone myself.” He can’t kill anyone, it would be unfair. But he can work some loopholes. He goes back to looking out over the desert when he spots two people emerge from the treeline. “We’ve got company incoming.” He looks harder while Scar turns in the direction Grian is peering in. Which, Grian sighs in relief. “It’s just Scott and Jimmy. No need to worry.”

They continue about their business while they wait for the pair to approach, greeting them as they do so. They’ve had a few more positive interactions with the other couple in recent times, leading to Scar associating with them in a more positive way. Grian came here to protect Jimmy, he couldn’t have Scar get agitated at and kill him. Scar shows the pair the newly constructed reputation board, but then “Hold on a second, I’m a bit hot…” Scar pulls his cloak off, and of course there’s no shirt underneath. “Much better.”

Scar so definitely did that to show off on purpose. He knows his audience, which currently consists of three other gay men. Jimmy gets a little bit flushed, staring a bit. Scott grins, teasing Jimmy and Grian, encouraging Scar. And Grian decided to pull the hood on his cloak over his face. “Scar, please put your clothes back on!” He says from his ‘hiding’ spot.

“Aw, why? I just took it off! I haven’t exactly cooled down any yet~” Grian hears Scar come closer. He feels Scar’s hands grab his wrists and guide his own hands, which still are grabbing his hood, back to lower said hood. “Nothing you haven’t already seen before.” Scar chuckles, letting go. Grian practically matches his cloak in how red he is, huffing and rolling his eyes. Scar seems satisfied that Grian hasn’t re-raised the hood and turns back to their visitors. “Aaaanyways, as you can very well see, not very big fans of Ren and Martyn here. So Grian and I were just discussing what that means in tandem with me being red. I really don’t like the idea of hurting people, but…part of my brain is just itching to kill…and well, you can see who’s first in line…”

Scott frowns, nodding. “I can indeed…I apologise if it seems insensitive to ask you this, but I’ve been curious for a while now and hadn’t found a good time to ask. But…what is it like being red? I’m aware as the rest of us are that you have stronger feelings and are prone to violence, but I wanted to know if there was anything else to it that we don’t really know about. Of course, only if you’re willing to delve into talking about that with us. I completely understand if you would rather not answer a question such as that.” He does seem genuinely curious, as well as a slight bit anxious.

Scar thinks for a moment, and the group watches as he starts to pace slightly. Grian reassures them that he’s just thinking really hard for the right words. “It's…heavy. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes it's warm and cozy and sometimes it’s hundreds of cold, steel knives. And it can be very loud in my head, all kinds of different thoughts speaking or screaming all sorts of things. For example, before Grian spotted it was you two and he said to me that ‘we’ve got company incoming’, part of me worried about attack, another screamed to protect Grian, another said for me to make a warning shot, but I knew Grian would be able to spot whether it was danger or not before I could, so I looked and waited, resisting the urges. And it settled down when he informed me it was just you two. So I went back to what I was doing. It’s really easy for me to control myself with Grian. Well…for the most part.” Scar teases, nudging him.

Grian blushes and rolls his eyes. “Scar, if that were at all true, you’d be wearing a shirt and not distracting me more often.”

“Hey, I said for the most part. I gotta have some fun, sunshine.” Scar holds up his hands, grinning and chuckling. Especially as Grian sighs and facepalms, shaking his head. Gods help him, Grian cannot believe Scar is acting like this with him in front of other people. He hears Scott and Jimmy snickering, likely very amused by the two of them. He looks up and, yeah, you know, the situation is kind of ridiculous, he chuckles along with the others.

Until there’s a pulse. They all freeze up, Scar and Scott having Joel’s name show up in front of them.

——————

Days before, not long after Scar had left Joel’s home, Tango happened upon the house in the woods while on his way back from the village after delivering and picking up some goods. He used this opportunity to finally ask Joel what had gone on that morning he dashed off, and Joel sighed. “Well first, you’re some sort of blaze hybrid, yeah…?” Joel asks, looking up at him.

Tango nods. “Yes…didn’t we already know this? Why the clarification?” He crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow as he watches Joel. He was sat on the floor, petting some dogs. Joel opens his mouth to respond, then closes it, getting up onto his feet.

“Gods, fuck, I…that’s not against you, I swear, I’m not one to speak for that. I’m just, not really used to being able to talk about this with people outside of my family or my girlfriend’s family.” He rubs his face/eyes, taking a deep breath before shaking them away. “Right, so…I’m not human…I’m a…” another sigh.

Tango frowns. “Hey, you don’t have to tell me anything if you’re not comfortable with it. This is clearly a touchy subject. I’m sorry wherever you came from much have not been the friendliest with non-humans if it’s gotten you this way. Believe me, I completely understand the worry.” There’s more places that aren’t friendly with nether hybrids than there are that are. At least in this realm.

“It’s not even just that, Tango! I’m a blummin’ shapeshifter, for gods’ sake!” Joel spurts out, his teeth changing to have sharp fangs, smoky whisps coming from some of the ends of his hair, the end of his braid even having a flame flickering for a moment.

Tango blinks, taking a step back at the outburst. He’s not really alarmed at the idea of a shapeshifter, as those tended to get a similar reaction from most humans as nether hybrids. Even to those more open to non-human folk. He was just jumpy at the fact Joel yelled suddenly. So naturally, once he’d gotten his composure, he snorts, and bursts out in laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Joel snaps defensively, not yelling, but still clearly agitated. No doubt this wasn’t the reaction he’d expected.

“Nothing, nothing, just…Joel, nether folk aren’t exactly intimidated by shapeshifters. Like at all.” He sees Joel start to get embarrassed, but also notes the leaving and returning fangs and flickering flame on his hair. “…especially ones that can’t seem to control their powers in emotional situations.”

“Oi!” Joel growls, face slightly pink at the extra level of embarrassment. “Not my fault about that, I didn’t exactly have someone to teach me that part!”

Tango’s snickering cuts short. “Hold up…your family never taught you to keep control with high-run emotions? Why? That seems pretty important coming from a place that’s not exactly welcoming to magic.”

“They couldn’t. They’re human, I was left at their doorstep.” He shrugs, and Tango frowns even more. “I could go a bit of magic training with my girlfriend and her family, being fairies, but…I don’t know, I think I’m just prone to anger and frustration more than they are, and admittedly, there weren’t many actual opportunities to practice with them…it was hard to make work. I’ve had to learn myself, and I just can’t get them fully under control.”

“…maybe I can help?” Tango offers, and Joel gives him a look. “It’s not a pity offer, I’m being serious. Blazefolk are more…hot-headed, like you hinted towards yourself being, so I might be able to be of assistance. If you want it, of course. But we’ll have to head up north to the ranch I’m helping out at, I’ve got to get these supplies back to the owner.” He points outside to the cart of feed.

He waits for Joel to respond, thinking through his options. Tango occupies himself by leaning down and petting some dogs while he waits. Eventually, Joel starts wordlessly packing a bag. Tango smiles and waits patiently, actually rather glad that Joel is coming along with him. Joel gets some food set out for the dogs, and then they head out.

There’s a bit of practice being done as they travel, Tango showing off some of his fire abilities, and Joel showing his shapeshifting. And it's actually pretty good! He near-perfectly copied his look, save for the height staying different between them, as well as Joel keeping his own voice. “I just can’t quite seem to nail it down, but I know I’m supposed to be able to do it. Maybe this could help me out a little bit.” He shrugs, changing back to normal. “And I can do animal features, but not directly animals. I um…being surrounded by so many dogs, I’ve caught my powers ‘drifting’ more than once, and suddenly I’ve got dog ears and/or tails, one time, even, I woke up having claws.” He snickers. “Almost kinda started to look like Ren at one point with all that going on, I’m not sure how he can manage all those at once. Being a werewolf would suck, if you ask me.”

Tango hums, nodding in agreement. “All that fur probably gets really sweaty in the summer. Or anywhere hot, really.” He slows down to a stop as the path has a small clearing just off to the side. “Here, it's getting dark. Let’s stop for the night. I’m on campfire duty, obviously.” The pair laugh, and they get everything set up. Soon they’re off to sleep.

The next morning has Tango waking up first, spotting that Joel has subconsciously shifted in his sleep again, with his face gaining gold flecks on his cheeks. Man, Joel really can’t quite seem to actually handle his abilities very well. It’s some sort of miracle that Joel hadn’t been uncovered, he assumes. He eventually gets up, and they’re back on their way again.

After they get back to the ranch site, they head out to an empty area of the fields, standing at a distance. There, they spend a few hours talking and trying out different techniques for channeling and controlling emotions, especially anger. Tango has done pretty well for it himself, and can keep his cool…most of the time. He can still very well get set off easily if the right topics or actions are taken, or if he’s already in a high-emotions situation. But certainly, his words tend to be more significant than his abilities. And you know, all their work does start to help Joel out! Not quite there yet, but certainly does better than he could before.

But, the thing is, Joel is now getting really, really bored. Tango can see it in his expressions, hear it in his voice. So he starts to get an idea. “You know, how would you feel about sparring? Give you a chance to try using your abilities in fast-paced combat situations, so you’re ready should the need ever arrive. I know you mentioned the friend pass thing with Scar to me, but you never know what might happen.” He shrugs. “I will warn you though, I’m not great with close combat, so I will be relying heavily on fire magic. So let’s say that as long as you can get close to me, you win. Sound good?” He holds out his hand.

Joel gives a cocky smirk, shaking it near immediately. “You’re on, mate.” They both walk a significant distance from one another, and Tango counts them in. On go, he gets right on to shooting out flames towards Joel. Back and forth, bigger and smaller, and while he is going a little bit easy on him, he doesn’t go so easy that it allows Joel to get too close too fast. He wants Joel to think quickly on his feet.

He sends out two bursts of flame on either side of Joel, seeing as Joel is just doing a lot of ‘hop to the side’. He’ll have to shift himself to be thinner in order to not get hit, which should be an easy task, he’d seen Joel do that earlier.

But…Joel falters.

He panics and tries to get all the way to the other side of one of the flame bursts before it can reach him, but even if he’d already been moving that way before Tango sent it out, he wouldn’t have been able to make it.

Tango watches in horror as Joel is engulfed in flames, he tries batting the fire out of existence but it’s too late. He hears rumbling, feels a pulsing, sees Joel’s name.

His stomach sinks and twists.

He just killed Joel…

Thank the gods Joel happens to have multiple lives, but if it were someone else, there’s a very good chance that would have been it for them.

He stays right beside Joel’s unconscious body, which was mostly the same as it’d been, but now had a couple small burn scars on his neck and jaw, and the green streak in his hair was yellow.

The moment Joel wakes up, Tango profusely apologizes, he feels really, really bad for what he’d done. Joel just stares for a bit in silence, seemingly trying to find the words to say or feelings to express.

Tango reaches for his pockets, taking out one of his coin pouches. He shoves it to Joel. “Here-take it. Use it however you’d like to. Food, armor, supplies, whatever. I am so, so sorry, Joel…” He watches his face for anything.

Joel looks down at the pouch before pocketing it. He stands and looks down at Tango, still lost in thought somewhat. “…I have some thinking to do…” is all he says, before turning and walking away.

Tango watches from the ground as he gets further and further away.

There might go his chance at friendship with Joel…

Chapter Text

Ren paces as he waits for Martyn to arrive. It was not often that he actually got to be nervous. He takes a deep breath as he goes over everything. He has a pile of wood surrounded by stones, ready to go for a fire. He has food ready for them to cook and eat, for a meal to celebrate with afterwards. He has a small box of supplies ready, but they’re hidden just in case. He looks to the sky, as the sun reaches further towards the west.

He turns his attention to the wood, lighting the fire before it starts to grow too dark. Once lit enough, Ren takes a seat on a chair he carried over from their home, as they were still inside the walls of Dogwarts, after all. He rubs the palm of one of his hands with the thumb of the other, thinking about what he’s going to say to Martyn, about what he’s going to have to do if Martyn agrees. Oh gods, how exciting it would be to be with Martyn. He’d always considered that the qualities a ruler would want in a Hand would be perfect in someone as a companion… So even beyond his initial attraction towards the man, he’s come to be even more drawn to Martyn the more he’s seen him display the actions and personality that all the best Hands must have. Loyal, witty, quick on his feet, defensive, strategic, and intelligent.

Of course, there’s a worry. What if Martyn doesn’t accept? What if it goes so wrong, Martyn fully just leaves? Oh, what would Ren even do in that scenario? Martyn is the person he’s been most honest with out of anyone. Yes, he has made other friends where some honesty has come through, but it's not the same. It couldn’t, even if he trusted them a lot. Martyn was different, special. He didn’t have a reason to stay before Ren revealed himself. He still did, though. Ren is pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of footsteps going in his direction, accompanied by the crackling of a torch and some soft hums from Martyn. Quickly, he brushes himself off, fussing with his hair a little bit to ensure that it looks alright. Admittedly, it is a tad bit trickier to do as he’s wearing his crown for the moment, but it will not stop him from doing so. “Martyn! Welcome. Please, take a seat.” He grins as he comes into view, motioning across the fire to the other seat he’d prepared.

Martyn flashes a smile right back, sitting down where instructed and blowing his torch out to reuse later. “Wow, you set up all this just for us? You’re really going all out. What’s the occasion, hm? It must be something special.” Martyn’s elbows come to rest on his knees, hands clasping together and chin sitting atop them.

Ren chuckles, slightly nervously, and clears his throat. “Indeed, it is. Martyn, I come to you with a very serious request. I have been observing you, in our time spent together. Studying you, getting to know you in your actions without requests or questions. Your wit and humor is undeniable, you never fail to bring a smile to my face. Your ability to think quickly and come up with a plan while on the move is very admirable and valuable. And your loyalty, it is of a measure to which I think all could stand to learn. All of these are qualities that most rulers would seek out for a Hand to serve at their side.”

——————

Martyn listened to every word Ren was telling him, feeling his ego begin to inflate every little bit. Although, something else starts to catch his attention. He can hear something happening outside of the walls. He’s not exactly sure on what it is, he’d have to get closer to hear it clearly. Sort of like footsteps? A rustling or whisper of the wind? Or whispers of people…he can’t quite tell. But whatever he does, he does not want to have to interrupt Ren, not when he was talking about something so important. A King’s Hand, huh? Such an important job, and he’s being trusted with it.

…oh shit, Ren just stopped speaking, and he completely did not pay any attention after Ren mentioned the qualities of a Hand thing. He’s looking at him expectantly, like he’d just asked a question.

“I accept the position of your Hand, to guide and serve you as you wish, my lord.”

——————

Ren takes a moment to process. That…is not what he just asked Martyn. For his hand. Ren just asked for his hand, in courtship. Not for him to be his Hand. Was he not clear? How could he have even been clearer? Word for word, after mentioning the qualities of a good Hand, he had said: ‘And while I certainly agree with this stance, I think of these qualities also fitting of a romantic partner. Someone who you can trust, who you can laugh with and work your way through difficult moments with. Those traits, along with your captivating appearance, are why I ask this question. Martyn, will you do me the great pleasure of giving me your hand in courtship?’ Where in that did Martyn get lost?

Unless, oh gods, was that merely a deflection? A rejection of courtship, but an acceptance of wanting to remain close? If that were the case, it would only be awkward to have to bring up the second part of his short speech. He knows Martyn is always listening, it would be highly unlikely for him to have not heard anything he said. But now another thought occurs to him. In some way, Ren already has a Hand? Back on the Black Isles, he had been learning and studying with Mumbo to prepare for Ren’s future as a king, Mumbo his Hand and advisor. The thought never occurred to him that the role of a Hand would be viewed as an open position, but without Mumbo, it would most certainly come across in such a way.

…oh dear, he’s been pondering on his thoughts for too long, Martyn is starting to look confused and upset.

“Excellent. Glad to have you, Martyn. Soon, though, before all is set in stone, there shall be a test. You must excuse me, as I am obviously very well aware of your loyalty, but a test of such is a much required formality in my homelands. No king and Hand have ever taken their proper roles without it, and so I intend to see this tradition carry through with us.” He is not fibbing, there really is a test, but he does not have the items required for it. He brought courting ritual things, as was his intention for this night. “For now, let us share dinner together over this fire and below the stars. Winter weather approaches soon, and there will not be many chances to partake in meals outdoors for much longer.”

Martyn nods back, smiling to him. “Let us, my lord.”

Ren does his best to try and keep the courting supplies hidden while they have dinner, not wanting to try and explain what they were for. Overall, the meal goes very well. They talked and laughed, eating their fill and saving what they couldn’t eat for another time. Martyn definitely had a little bit too much wine, leading Ren to guiding Martyn inside so that he would not stumble and fall as he made his way back.

He discovered that night that Martyn is incredibly clingy while intoxicated. He guided Martyn to lay in his bed, but as he pulled away to head to his own bed, Martyn gently tugged at his clothes. Ren looks over the upset, half-lidded eyes staring up at him. “Yes, Martyn? What is it you need?” He asks, brushing a small chunk of hair out of his face. He sucks in a breath as Martyn’s hand comes up to hold Ren’s against his face, muttering something about feeling warm as he presses into his palm. Gods, if Martyn were in his right head, he’d be coming down to ask for a kiss…even if he believes himself rejected from romantic pursuits, it would still be a long while yet in order for him to fully set aside his own feelings. Martyn still does not respond to Ren’s question, so he gently brushes his thumb against Martyn’s cheek. “Martyn? Hey, look at me…” he waits for him to look back up at his face with a tied smile, smiling softly back down. “I asked what you needed. I don’t expect you would have tugged at me for nothing.”

Martyn visually takes a second to try and think through what Ren had asked, before slowly sitting up, using his hold on him for support. “It's…very cold, milord…and, and you’re warm…and it feels…better, being held…”

“What feels better?”

“M’head…I feel…safe.”

Ren nods, understanding, but unsure of how to exactly handle the situation. Would Martyn want this if he weren’t like this? Perhaps as long as he’s gone before Martyn wakes up, it will be fine…he hopes. Indeed they’ve become very close, but never so much as to lay in the same bed if even to only help the other sleep. Current Martyn refuses to let him go, but normal Martyn just rejected him. He sighs, slowly standing, looking at Martyn as he grips his clothes again. “I will be right back. These clothes are not comfortable for laying around in, and I will definitely be much too tired to change after helping you get to sleep. I’d also like to bring you an extra blanket if you are cold. Just lay down, I won’t take too long.” Martyn is clearly not all too satisfied with the suggestion, but he lays down anyways.

Ren keeps to his word, changing to night clothes as quick as he can, returning back to Martyn’s bed. He hopes he’d fallen asleep very quickly, but alas, Martyn was still awake, waiting for him. He drapes the extra blanket over Martyn and carefully climbs in, laying on his back beside him. Martyn wastes no time before he scoots up to Ren, laying on his side as he wraps his arms around him and nestles his face in against his shoulder. Ren blinks down at him, face getting warm as he takes in the sight of Martyn’s head resting on him, golden hair hanging loose without his ponytail and headband. This will certainly be difficult to try and escape from without waking up Martyn, but whatever he needs, Ren is willing to give him. “Comfortable, Martyn?”

Martyn yawns, reaffirming himself in his spot by nestling in, smiling. “Yes, milord…gnight.”

“Goodnight, Martyn.”

Ren could not get away even when Martyn had fallen asleep. So he spent that night in Martyn’s bed, wrapped in his arms.

——————

Scott and Jimmy once again arrive out at the ranch with some supplies, one last haul before the winter starts to roll in. They once again are welcomed to go take a walk around the property, though there’s admittedly not much different other than the fact the trees have lost many more leaves at this point. They don’t care much, glad to take a stroll. Sure, they are nervous about coming across Tango, but according to the owner, Tango hasn’t been seen on the property in days at this point, ever since the clear sky made a rumbling sound while he had a friend visiting.

Jimmy takes advantage of the very open air to stretch his wings and fly around, Scott sitting/laying against a rock in a (mostly) empty field as he watches. He smiles, following around his husband as he soars about, hearing the sound of his excited shouts and cheers as he successfully completes some tricks he’d been trying to learn. At some point, Jimmy had to have spotted something, as he stops in place while looking off in one direction. Scott tries to look over and see as well, but whatever it is, it must be only visible to Jimmy because of his higher vantage point.

But it seems like it is something to worry about, with how quickly Jimmy comes flying back towards him. He sits up quickly, watching as Jimmy comes in for a landing nearby, panting slightly. “Jimmy, what is it? What’s over there?”

“Not what…who…” he takes a few more breaths before fully standing back up and looking back. “I saw Tango…and Tango definitely saw me, too.”

Scott widens his eyes, looking in the direction as well. “If the ranch owner heard rumbling while Tango had someone over, that means Tango was likely present when Joel died…I know Tango doesn’t seem to like us very much, but perhaps he could let us know what had happened out here.”

“You think?” Jimmy turns his attention to Scott, who nods as he keeps an eye out. Soon, Tango appears into view, headed almost directly towards them. His hair is smoking, and Scott can feel the heat of his stare as it bores right into the two of them. He stands up, standing in front of Jimmy as Tango comes to a stop not too far from the pair, but certainly not close by any means.

“And what brings the two of you around here, hm? Come to mock me for more mistakes or tell me off for something that was wrong?” He crosses his arms, a low fire burning across his eyes. “Oh who am I kidding, after what happened I’m the last person anyone might want to see. You’ve just brought more supplies to the owner, coming out to the field because you know how unlikely it is that I’m still out by this way, right?”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did happen over here? All we know is that Joel died. But he’s not elaborated to anyone.” Scott asks. Whatever it is, Tango has to know.

Tango scoffs “I find it hard to believe that anyone would refuse to talk about how they got engulfed in flames and died because of another person.”

Scott tenses up, taking a small step back against Jimmy. “…what?”

“You heard me! I did it, I killed him. It wasn’t on purpose, but it happened. Is that what you wanted?” Bits of Tango’s hair starts to get fiery, fingertips smoldering and smoking. “Just needed to come find me while you were out here and pester me until you heard it out of my mouth? What, needed another reason to be scared of me so you could try and get me fired from the one place that will employ me without them being scared of me!?”

Jimmy steps to the side of Scott now, hands out in front of him “No, no that’s not it at all! I was just flying when I spotted you over there, and-”

“And you just stared at me until I got up? Yeah, that totally wasn’t you baiting me over here so you two could act all innocent and anger me. Well guess what? It fucking worked!” A burst of fire shoots out from Tango.

Scott is suddenly shoved aside, the sky rumbling and his ring beating as he hits the ground. He sits up quickly, Tango staring in horror. Scott doesn’t need to say a word to know what just happened. He stands, glaring over to Tango, little green lights floating around his head. “Run now if you don’t want to be next.” He does not like being angry or violent. But he’s willing to make exceptions.

Tango runs quick.

Scott rushes over to Jimmy’s unconscious body, scooping him up into his arms, holding onto him. He cradles his face, looking it over as he watches the last of the worst burns clear up, leaving a scar on his right cheek. He plants a soft kiss against it, tears falling down his cheeks.

He stays in place holding Jimmy until Jimmy’s face scrunches up, and he starts to sit up, rubbing his eyes. “Ugh…what…what just happened…?” His eyes land on Scott, who hugs him tight right away. “Oh-! Hi-wait…Scott, why are you crying…?”

“…you…you died…gods, if we’d not somehow been roped into this madness of being granted three chances of life, you…” Scott’s voice is shaky, he buries his face into Jimmy’s shoulder. “I…I would have lost you…”

Jimmy wraps Scott in his arms, wings curling forward to surround them both. “I couldn’t let you lose your life because I accidentally pestered Tango…it was all my fault. I’m not letting you lose anything as long as I can help it, alright?”

“…not if I prevent you losing anything first.”

Once they’ve both had time to decompress, they return back to the ranch house, taking the supplies given by the ranch owner and starting their journey back.

Next stop: Renchanting, for a delivery from the ranch owner to Ren.

Chapter Text

The plan was set. Grian did some research, they both gathered materials, they spent a good long while making ahead of time the things they needed to make, and they’ve even traveled to camp up near Ren’s area, but comfortably out of view and earshot. All Scar had to do was wait for morning and give the command. He takes a deep breath. It’s getting really, really chilly these days. Winter was soon set to begin, and he’d donned more layers than he’d like to in order to deal with the plummeting temperatures.

“Scar, you alright?” He hears Grian say behind him. He turns and looks back into the tent to see Grian rubbing his eyes, sitting up from where he was laying down on his stomach.

Scar comes back over, crouching down in front of him. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t you get up, you get back to sleep.” He kisses Grian’s head. “I’ll be back over in a few minutes. I just…gotta deal with my head for a minute, okay? It’s getting messy in there being so close to them.”

Grian frowns, fully sitting up now. “Do you want to talk about it? That could help.” He pats the ground beside him, and Scar shuffles to sit right next to Grian, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him up across his lap.

He sighs as Grian’s head rests against him, eyes closing and taking in the warmth. Grian is always so warm. Warm and cozy, dressed in his soft layers. It settles his nerves, yes, but even that can only last for so long now while his brain is yearning for bloodshed from his enemies. “I want so bad to just go in and try to slit their throats as they sleep…wake them up to sharp pains in their necks and let them choke on blood as they lose their first lives…maybe go for Martyn first and make Ren watch the light leave Martyn’s eyes…just to do the same thing to him and then run off before Martyn can wake up.”

He feels as Grian cocoons them in his wings, soft kisses being pressed to his jaw. His brain starts to let up a bit more, melting into more positive feelings. “We both know that wouldn’t get to happen. Even while asleep they can hear too well. That is why we’ve got distractions to run while I’m setting up tomorrow, remember? You go ahead and sneak to the opposite gate so they’re drawn towards you. Keep them there and focused on you as best as you can, just keep talking. I’ll set up the explosives in that time, and I’ll fly over to you when everything is set. Just keep them away from the north gate.”

“Yeah…yeah, thank you…no that I forgot, I still remembered! Just…hearing you talk about the logic of the situation and the plan we made helps. I can…rationalize better.” He opens his eyes, and kisses Grian’s head again. “Thanks, sunshine.”

- - - - - - - - - -

A couple weeks passed since Martyn agreed to be Ren’s Hand. Since then, he’s been taking on more responsibilities around Dogwarts, even if they’re not any direct orders from Ren. He’s simply paying more attention to what needs to be done and gets it done in what ways he can. If he can do it himself or if he needs Ren’s approval, he follows suit with everything.

That being said, his mind does often wander off to that night. And the next morning. How as he had more wine, he started to…notice things about Ren that clearly he’d thought of before but just didn’t process. While it’s very easy to spot that the man is massive, towering over many other people around, he was certainly pretty well-fit. How his silvery-blue eyes were such a stark contrast to his dark hair, and yet they weren’t alarming. But rather calming and inviting, like a pair of stars in a night sky. His smile friendly amid the sharp fangs, the way he speaks with so much life and passion…yeah, having all that wine and letting his brain relax and think of other things definitely made him realize some things.

He doesn’t remember them going to bed, but he wakes up spooning Ren. The headache had nothing on the rush of adrenaline that filled him seeing that. Of course, he had to see whose bed they were in. Slight wave of relief that it was his, and he didn’t sneak into Ren’s. But now he had to wait for Ren to wake up to explain. And again, after that does get to happen, he feels better. Especially was Ren admits how he was unsure of if it would be okay or not, and had initially planned to leave once Martyn was asleep. But didn’t get the chance.

So, yes, for a couple of weeks Martyn has found himself particularly attached to Ren. And gods, was it okay for him to be having these thoughts of the king he’s serving? To think so much of how he looks and speaks and asks, wishing he’d have laid in that bed with Ren just a little longer, trying to think of a way to maybe happen again, but now with them both fully mentally there and present? He’s only had the job for such a short time and already he’s doubting himself and his capabilities to serve as intended.

He’s taking note of incoming and outgoing supplies from a trade with a farmer when Ren calls for him. “I’ll be there in just a minute, just going over the trade.” He looks back down in his notes. “And I see here that you’ve labelled this crate as 20 potatoes, when the agreement was 30. Is there another 10 I’m not seeing somewhere?” He chats and comes to agreements with the farmer before sending them off, making way back into…no, under Renchanting. Martyn knew about the lower level, but had been asked to avoid it…until now.

He enters, the room lit by many candles, Ren sat at a chair positioned before a desk. Many books and papers were piled upon it, there was nothing tidy about the desk at all. Ren turns and smiles as Martyn comes closer. “Martyn, thank you for handling so many chores around Dogwarts while I’ve been working. It means far more than you understand.”

“Aw, you don’t have to thank me, p-” He pauses. “Sorry, almost called you princey. I got used to that, you need a new nickname, one more king-like. Or…I probably shouldn’t be using nicknames if I am working as your Hand…I suppose a simple milord would do in its place?”

“Martyn, you need not worry about such specifics. Call me as you wish, I will not bat an eye. Princey, king, highness, milord, it’s all the same to me when coming from you.” Ren grins. “I do believe our new clothes should be arriving any day now, and-” Ren pauses, ear flitting and turning. Martyn can hear it as well. The sound of someone climbing a ladder.

“I’ll check north, you check south?” Martyn says, pulling out his sword to be at the ready. He’s concerned he can’t tell which direction this is coming from, perhaps it was being underground throwing him off.

But Ren raises his hand and they wait and listen a moment longer. Martyn hears a slight thud of something hitting the ground, followed by some small grunts and the sounds of someone catching their breath. Ren sighs in relief. “It’s just Skizz, he must have taken the mystery tunnel.” Ren stands, leading way to the stairs back up.

Martyn follows, sheathing his sword and following along. “Mystery tunnel? You’ve never told me about such a thing. When did you find this out and how have I not come across it yet? I haven’t left the walls in at least three days.”

“Oh, my apologies, I forget you were away when it was discovered. I’m quite used to you being nearby at all times already.” Ren starts, walking up the small hill to the east. “It was a few weeks ago, now. Before I asked you…” He trails off, but before Martyn can say anything to finish the sentence or ask about the pause, Ren quickly changes tone to more excited. “Skizz, welcome! What brings you out to Dogwarts this morning?”

Skizz sits up as the pair approach, and Martyn notices how exhausted he looks. As if he’d gotten little to no sleep. Fitting if he’d just been walking so long, it was nearly mid-morning. “Ren, Martyn, I just…I had gotten a really bad feeling. Like something was going to happen, and I wanted to be there in case I could help out. I couldn’t sleep, but spent so long worrying about the monsters at night, I forgot about the tunnel until I was set to head over. So…that’s my story. How are things?”

Martyn frowns. “Everything is completely fine over here. Or it was until you said you haven’t slept. You’re welcome to have a rest in my bed if you need to, sleep easy knowing things are okay here.”

Skizz frowns. “I appreciate the offer, but I still have my gut feeling. I doubt I’ll be able to rest until it goes away. I’d be happy to take it up once I’ve settled.”

Martyn nods, and turns as Ren starts speaking. “Skizz, I appreciate your concern. You are a great man, but you should put your sleep before your worries of us. Martyn and I can handle things on our own very well. He’s a very capable man as well as I.”

“Helloooooo~! Anyone home?”

Martyn and Ren lock eyes immediately. That was Scar’s voice. From the South gate.

Ren heads over right away first while Martyn helps Skizz to his feet. “Hold up, what’s going on? See I knew something would happen, I wanna help!” Skizz says, standing to attention the moment he’s on his feet.

“Well…Skizz, I don’t…know if you’d be up to helping with this…particular issue. It’s uh…” Martyn pauses, considering if he should say anything. “It’s…Scar.”

Skizz takes a moment to process before wordlessly following after Ren. Martyn sighs. “Probably shouldn’t have said anything, should have gotten him to rest…” He’s about to walk after them when he pauses, hearing an odd sound towards the north. He squints, staring across the grounds. He begins to make his way over towards the gate, when he hears Ren call for him. So he turns and runs south.

- - - - - - - - -

Grian carefully gets to setting up the trap. Explosives, set to trigger at too harsh of contact. His hands slightly shake and tremble as he assembles everything. He may be immortal, but the concept of death still presents itself as quite the terrifying idea.

He takes a deep breath. It will be fine, he’ll be okay. If he loses a life here, he’ll have two more to still hang around with. He won’t be honor-bound to Scar, but he’s not gonna leave if that happens. Even if other people encourage it, or try to get him away, like some already have been trying.

He is careful to ensure that everything, and he means everything, is properly in place before moving to the next step. Thankfully, with nobody around, he can use some of his Watcher abilities to see from every angle, even the otherwise impossible ones.

In the center of the explosives is a large stone with rope tied around it. The rope feeds up through the pile, and is set to be adhered to the next stage. But first, Grian has to very delicately cover the explosives in dirt. Slowly, carefully, it doesn’t need to be entirely perfect, just enough to make it very very very hard to see.The closer to the center, the less he’s worried about covering, as that is where he’ll need to place the fake pedestal.

They roughly carved one out, making sure it looked close enough to make someone curious, but didn’t care for any of the super fine details. They’d returned back to the back alley marketplace at some point to purchase a one time use spell scroll, intending on using it on a book to give the effect it was truly an enchanting pedestal.

It’s very heavy, and once more thankfully nobody was around to see him use Watcher abilities. For the most part, he tries to be fair and do things the hard way like everybody else does, especially to not seem suspicious, but this is one of those moments where the easy way can feel justified. Very slowly, he lowers the pedestal down on its side, tying the rope to a hook on the bottom. Then, it is carefully stood upright, making sure the hook doesn’t immediately press down into an explosive. He releases the breath he was holding as it stands on its own for several seconds with no reaction.

The book and the scroll are pulled from his bag. He just has to wait for-

Grian freezes. That’s not the sound of Scar getting close to the north gate. But there is somebody coming with a cart, and they’re approaching from the woods behind him. He panics and sets the book up quickly before flying off to hide, not wanting to be caught in the act. He weaves through trees to the east of Dogwarts, deciding that maybe he should go to the south gate, find out what’s happening with Scar.

- - - - - - - -

Martyn groans as he listens to Scar talking about absolute nonsense, rambling on and on about different topics. He came in, accusing them of kidnapping Grian from their campsite last night, insistent that he will not leave or stop talking until they admit they’d done it, or until Grian shows up if they hadn’t. He’s also constantly walking around to block the three of them from going anywhere else, especially towards the north. He’s about ready to cut his words off and pull out his sword when he picks up on a new sound. Rustling of leaves, large wings flapping, someone breathing heavy.

Grian.

Moments later, Grian is flying over the wall. Scar stops mid-sentence to look up and smile, holding his arm out. Grian lands, perched on Scar’s arm. “There you are, pretty bird.” Martyn and Skizz both roll their eyes. Grian chuckles, face turning a slight pink. “I was worried those two might have taken you away from our camp, where were you?”

“I flew ahead to town for a moment, wanted to check on something before we got there. Got a little distracted though, sorry.” Grian responds, coming down from the perch. Scar’s arm wraps around Grian, holding him close as Grian looks around. “Morning, everyone. Great weather we’re having, yeah? Nice and sunny, if getting pretty chilly.”

Martyn squints. “Right…and what were you actually up to. Because I heard you flying in the trees east of here, and Scar came in through the south entrance, not letting us go north. Why would you be flying through there if your camp was further south, or why would he enter here if your camp was further north? Something’s not adding up.”

“Oh, actually-” Grian starts, but Martyn picks up on a new noise, loud knocking at the north gate.

“Hold up, visitors at North.” Martyn climbs up a nearby ladder, heading on top of the wall. He runs along it, keeping an ear out for Ren as he continues along further. It’d be difficult for anyone to try and stop him heading north with him on the wall versus the ground, assuming anyone would try to do so.

He sees below Grian gliding over the ground in the same direction, hearing someone running along as well. Assumingly Scar, as he registers Ren talking to Skizz.

He sees a glimpse of teal hair with pops of yellow as he passes over the west side, and it’s enough to at least slightly settle him. He’s still very on edge and annoyed, but at least he knows the people approaching are Scott and Jimmy.

By the time he reaches the ladder by the north gate, Scar isn’t far off and Grian is opening the gate door, weaving past Jimmy. Martyn climbs down as Scar runs past and out the gate as well. Jimmy is inside the walls looking out the gate in confusion when Martyn comes up. “Listen, we don’t mind having you two around here normally, but there’s already a lot of people in the area right now and one is Scar, so I’ll need you and Scott to state your business and go.”

“Hm? Oh, sorry, I didn't pick up on all of that. I’m…confused, I guess? There’s an enchanting pedestal sitting out there…or at least it looks like it.” Jimmy says, looking between Martyn and the gate.

Martyn blinks, looking out the gate. Sure enough, there was an obsidian pedestal with a red cloth and a floating book. He walks out, holding out a hand at Scott, who was looking on at the pedestal with curiosity. “You stay back, There’s chaos happening and I don’t know what’s going on. I’m highly suspicious of this and I’d rather not have anybody getting mixed up in our mess.”

Scott stays back, saying nothing. Martyn looks around the clearing before carefully stepping closer. His full focus is on this thing. He’s right up to it, frowning at the floating book. It doesn’t look quite right. The detail on the outside is entirely wrong, and the glow is missing. He grabs it, and feels the fizzling-out buzz of used up magic. Inside, the book is a regular storybook. “It’s fake.”

“Well I could have told you that.” Scott says, Jimmy at his side. “I can see from here, the fine details are wrong, the book cover is the wrong color, and while you can use whatever cloth style, it’s very improper to have it cut and shaped that way.”

Martyn squats down to get a better look at the pedestal itself, but accidentally bumps it, causing it to lean and start tipping over away from him. He jumps and tumbles back as that reveals explosives set underneath the base. He waits a moment, and two, and three…and looks back at the ground, where nothing has happened.

In the treeline, he hears Scar and Grian groan and complain in annoyance. He squints into the distance at the trees, standing on his feet. He feels a hand set down on his shoulder, and he turns his head to see Ren there, glaring up at the trees as well. “Milord, I knew something was off about their movements. There’s explosives over there. They tried to blow us up.”

“Martyn, you go and try to talk to your friend. See if you’ll get him to undo this,or at least tell us how. I’ll stay here and investigate, in case he’s uncooperative.” Ren orders, looking into Martyn’s eyes.

Martyn nods, heading off and begging nobody noticed the warmth that filled his cheeks when the two had made eye contact. “I’m coming with you, Martyn. I have a few questions myself.” He hears Scott follow behind him, not looking back.

- - - - - - - -

Ren looks over the disturbed ground, getting as close as he dares to go. He crouches down, gently pushing some dirt around. “May I remind you, Skizz…” Ren starts, before turning his head to look up at him, “...that these were plotted to be put here by someone you still try to call a friend. Are you sure you still want that?”

He sees the struggle in Skizz’s face. The disbelief, the hesitation. “He…he doesn’t…he…”

“Doesn’t what, Skizz? Hurt, kill? This-” he gestures to the currently exposed explosives, “-looks like a murder attempt to me. What more needs to happen for you to open your eyes and see the truth? You’re blinded by the past, by hopes and desires. You loved him before…but he clearly loves another. Look at the present, Skizz. I beg you.”

Skizz sighs, looking down. “I…that’s a hard ask, Ren…”

Jimmy comes over. “I um, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I can try and help figure out how to disarm this if you want me to. So I’m not just…standing around.”

Ren looks over. “By all means, the more minds working on this, the better.” He smiles, watching Jimmy come closer and crouch down nearby. He looks up at Skizz again. “Here, come have a closer look with us while you think things over. It might help bring you to reality.”

Skizz nods, moving closer and crouching as well. They look it over, Ren half-hearing the conversations in the distance.

Jimmy scoots a little closer, but his foot catches on a protrusion from the ground, and he trips forwards-

- - - - - - - -

Everyone nearby has to cover their ears, the sounds of a massive explosion and rumblings of thunder booming over the lands surrounding Dogwarts.

Three names. Jimmy turns red, Renantus to yellow, and Skizz to red.

- - - - - - - -

Scott stands frozen in horror, Scar and Grian cheering behind him over killing Ren, who was apparently named Renatus, Martyn running back to Dogwarts with no hesitation. As soon as he can think clearer again, he turns and looks up at the duo in the tree. “You are monsters! What in the world was that!? You just killed Jimmy again! He’s already lost one life, he has one chance left!”

He sees the moment his words reach either of them. Grian stops in the middle of his cheering, wide-eyed looking at the explosion. “...shit, gods, no, I didn’t-that wasn’t…why was he there?” Grian hops down quickly, still looking over at the explosion site. “You guys weren’t supposed to be here, you were supposed to be…fuck, of course you weren’t…damnit.” Grian huffs, looking up at the sky and grumbling.

“What do you mean by any of that?” Scott raises an eyebrow, looking Grian over. “You have…so many things to explain for yourself, you know? There’s so many things I cannot understand about you, and you get more confusing the more I think I’ve figured out. You’re not telling people something.”

Grian faces Scott, looking up at him. “Scott, I…I really don’t know how I could put this any other way. I came here to look for someone, they’re not here, I got roped into all this, but I’m glad I did because now I have Scar.”

Scott blinks. “Hold on…you only came here when everything started happening?”

“Yeah? Did you now know that?”

“No.”

“Oh…”

Scott frowns. “...so then did you date Scar right away or what, because it wasn’t very long after until I came across you two.”

Grian shakes his head, eyes wide. “No, I didn’t! Scott, I didn’t even realize I was gay until Scar turned red!”

“You what!?” Scar and Scott both pipe up at the same time, Scar having just gotten down from the tree.

Grian looks between both of them. “...is…that not normal, or…”