Chapter Text
The Clockers had been walking on a tightrope, death on either side. With Cleo at two hours left, every moment was precious. They had chosen to keep Bdubs unaware of that fact. Everything had already been stressful for him, the last thing Scar and Cleo wanted was to make him snap. Unfortunately, the world had other plans for the family.
‘Zombiecleo tried to swim in lava.’
The message that froze Scar in place. He’d been mining all day when the message dropped.
One hour.
Cleo had one hour until her doomsday.
Scar stood to his feet, wiping the dirt off his knees. He was sweating from anxiety and resisting the urge to pick at the skin on his hands, which had already been bruised and bloodied from tightly holding onto his pickaxe for hours.
He bolted through the tunnels and corners, finally running up the stairs leading to the surface above.
He slammed the door open and saw Cleo laying on her bed.
40 minutes.
“Mom!”
He ran to her side, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Love..”
She murmured, grabbing his hand.
“I can give you my time! How much do you need because I’ll— I’ll do whatever it takes, okay?—“
His mind was racing, every possible scenario running through his head, almost enough to make him forget the real issue. Unfortunately, his mind was cruel, and he was hyper-aware of both the thoughts in his head and the sight infront of him.
“Scar, your too low. I’m not taking your time.”
“Your going to run out of time!—“
“I know. And I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
He choked out sobs through his words.
“I’m not letting you die!”
“Listen to me, Scar!”
They snapped, holding Scars hand tighter.
“I’m going to run out of time, and I need you to promise me you will keep yourself and Bdubs safe. I need you to swear you will do whatever it takes.”
He sobbed, unable to respond, simply mumbling rejections and shaking his head.
“No— no please! Mom, please don’t go, I can’t take care of him!—“
“Promise me you will keep Bdubs and yourself safe.”
She demanded.
“I.. I swear. I’ll keep him safe.”
“And yourself?”
“..I’ll keep myself and Bdubs safe.”
She smiled, tears welling in her eyes.
“I love you, Scar. Please tell your brother that too. And just so you know, I regret nothing. I would do everything all over again, Even if it meant dying a thousand times.”
Scar couldn’t bring himself to speak, He simply hugged her. She rubbed his back, gently shushing his cries.
5 minutes.
She soothed him, reminding him nothing was ever his fault. That he did all he could.
3 minutes.
She recited random stories she’d always wanted to tell Scar to calm him down. It managed to get a sad giggle or two out of the mourning teenager.
1 minute.
Scar confessed random things he’d been hiding or felt bad about. She would soothe him, confirming they weren’t mad at him. That everything was okay.
30 seconds.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, Scar. Same goes for Bubs. I’ll see you after the games, Okay love?”
Scar nodded through his tears.
5 seconds.
4 seconds.
3 seconds.
2 seconds.
1 second.
‘Zombiecleo ran out of time.’
Scar felt Cleo’s code glitch in his arms, and like that, she was gone.
He dropped onto his knees. He knew he’d see her after the games, but this was his first time playing. He couldn’t ever have prepared for how much it would hurt to see her run out of time. He pushed his face into the mattress and screamed. When he stopped, his throat was scratchy and raw, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Anxiety coursed through his body, but strangely enough, it wasn’t about himself. It was all about Bdubs. Scar knew he couldn’t take care of Bdubs, and Bdubs had never killed anyone in battle. He’d been staying alive via Cleo and Scar giving him their time.
He sat in his agony for a good few minutes before—
“Scar?”
His painful thoughts were cut off by a sweet unaware voice behind him. Bdubs.
“Bdubs..”
Bdubs felt a buzz on his communicator, and he looked down.
Scar heard Bdubs let out a breathy gasp at seeing the message on his communicator.
After a few moments, he broke down in a panic, dropping to the floor and holding his knees up to his chest.
“Its.. it’s not true! It can’t be! No—! No, no, no, no, no!—“
Bdubs broke into tears, desperately holding onto denial. He bit into his hand as a means to comfort himself, Scar quickly rushed over with a sniffle.
“Don’t bite yourself, mister.”
His voice was cracking due to the fact he’d just witnessed something he’d love to forget, but he was able to pull through to comfort his brother.
“Its a lie! Please— Scar, tell me it’s a lie!”
Bdubs pleaded, tears streaming down his face. Scar looked away and remained quiet. He didn’t speak, if he did, he would probably break down in tears mid-sentence and make everything worse. The silence spoke for itself.
Bdubs doubled over himself with a sob. He’d never been in the games before either. He did know Cleo would be there in Hermitcraft, but it hurt all the same.
Scar rubbed his back with a shaky hand, gently shushing him.
“It’s okay, it will be okay. Mom will still be there after the games. nothing here will follow us into Hermitcraft.”
After a few minutes, Bdubs had calmed down significantly. His face was still red and tear stained, but Scar had been able to soothe him through his cries.
“I don’t know if it’ll make you feel better or make you start crying again, but Mom wanted me to tell you she loves you.”
Bdubs smiled, letting out a bittersweet huff.
“That’s nice to know.”
Scar let Bdubs lean onto him.
——————
‘Zombiecleo ran out of time’
Etho stepped backwards, his eyes widened and his mouth agape.
“Snappers..”
He murmured. Tango ran up behind him. Tango had been slowly and painfully crafting dispensers, but got distracted by the message.
“Dude, what are you gonna do about your kids?”
Etho bit his lip. He really did not want to take care of children.
“Err.. they’re old enough, right? They can fend for themselves.”
Etho rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle. He desperately wanted to come up with any excuse to leave them behind. He wasn't quite sure if he could face them after her death.
“They could just join Team Ties, Etho.”
“I’d rather they not. It'll be fine. I’ll always be able to see them again on Hermitcraft.”
“Yeah, see them again after months of falling in the void. Then they’ll just come back scared and probably traumatized.”
“I said it’s fine.”
Etho stated assertively, ending the conversation by physically walking away.
Tango scoffed. He didn’t like kids either, but it wasn’t exactly ethical to leave them to die.
——————
‘Zombiecleo ran out of time.’
“You seeing this, Dipple-dop?”
Skizz asked Impulse, who was standing across from him, chopping down trees. Realistically, Skizz should’ve been concerned enough to not use Impulse’s dumb nickname, but in full honesty, he really did not care that much about The Clockers.
“Man, I bet Etho’s gonna be mad.”
Impulse replied.
“Ok, so.. either the kiddos are gonna die, or there are going to be children running around our base.”
They both stayed silent for a moment, continuing to work on what they were doing.
“..Is it bad I think I’d prefer them dying?”
Impulse asked, half jokingly.
“Me too dude, me too.”
They were both probably far too calm about the situation.. but hey, it wasn’t their kids. This was not their problem.
-————————
‘Zombielceo ran out of time.’
“Oh my god.”
Scott looked over to Martyn, who was in equal shock. There was no way Scar and Bdubs would make it far. Martyn and Scott had been catching fish and looking at coral whilst making bad fish-puns at each other. To be fair, after such a boring few hours, what else were two fish hybrids supposed to do to entertain themselves?
“Nah, I’m not letting those pests leach off our time.”
Martyn stated, grabbing his bag and swimming to the shore, shaking the water off his clothes and flicking his tail side to side.
“Martyn! They’re our nephews, your just gonna go kill them?”
Scott said, quick to express his disapproval at the idea of murdering his niblings.
“I did not live through all of this to lose the game at the hands of children, Scott.”
Scott sighed and grabbed onto Martyn's sleeve, tugging him back into the water. He was attempting to calm Martyn down, as It wouldn’t exactly be ideal to be allied with Scar or Bdubs’s murderer— because realistically, whoever took out one of the brothers would be murdered— or worse,— by someone who was against the idea of killing literal children, which in retrospect, was quite reasonable.
“I’m sure either they'll die of natural causes, or another team will adopt them. you don’t need to go on a killing spree right now.”
Martyn rolled his eyes, but his shoulders slumped and he let himself be pulled back into the shallow waters.
“And, there’s no way they could kill you anyways. Like you said, they are just children.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Exactly.”
Scott drew it out like he usually did, quickly adjusting the crown of coral Martyn wore to signal his alliance with Scott.
“Your the worst.”
Martyn said, giggling through his words.
——————————
‘Zombiecleo ran out of time.’
“Oh no, Cleo’s down! Joel, did you see the chat?”
Grian asked, looking at Joel, who was currently working on repairing the mansion roof after the most recent fire.
“I saw, I just don’t care.”
Joel replied flatly. He always spoke in a rude manner, but usually it was just him being brutally honest instead of intentionally trying to be insulting.
“Aren’t you concerned about the brothers?”
Jimmy said, cutting in from where he was standing on the bread bridge.
“It’s Scar and a bloody ten year old, I’m not going to waste my breath worrying about it. they’re not even red-names yet anyways.”
Jimmy shrugged, continuing to harvest wheat from the farm.
“But they could probably finish Timmy off.”
Grian said mockingly. They both could’ve sworn Jimmy’s face turned red, but Jim unfortunately wasn't fully facing towards them.
“Ey’! They could not!”
“They could though!”
Joel snapped back, a cocky grin plastered on his face.
“No! Because I’m— I’m a strong man!”
“You got so terrified while mining in a completely lit up cave that you made me leave with you.”
Grian teased, chiming in on their argument. Somehow the 3 men always managed to bicker like children after a mild disagreement.
“That was one time!”
————————
‘Zombiecleo ran out of time.’
“Oh no..”
Pearl murmured, her hand over her mouth. She had always been quite the empath, and it hurt to know Bdubs and Scar would go without their mother for the rest of the game.
The door to their base swung open, BigB stepping inside.
“Yo, Pearl! A creeper blew up outside, and I need dirt to patch it up—“
“Read the chat, B.”
She said, her voice flat. He raised a eyebrow and checked the communicator.
“Dude, what’s gonna happen to Bdouble and Scar?”
Unlike Pearl, he was more curious then concerned.
“I’m not sure. I just hope they turn out okay after the season.”
“Yeah.. me too.”
He mumbled under his breath.
After a few moments of grating silence, BigB quietly spoke.
“..I still need to patch the creeper hole, though.”
Pearl let out a huff, glancing at him intimidatingly. BigB’s face dropped and he chuckled nervously.
“Actually, I think it can wait.”
————————
Scar sat on the bed, pulling Bdubs down beside him. He pulled off Bdubs’s bandanna, grabbed a hairbrush, and ran it through his brothers messy hair. He might’ve done something useful, but there was heavy downpour, and both of the boys were still grieving their mother. The two unfortunately had to try and remain functional, regardless of whether or not Cleo was still there with them.
“Wow, it’s so tangled.. You haven't brushed it since before the games, have you?”
“Well, I didn’t get any time to.”
“Fair enough, fair enough. But make sure to take better care of yourself, mister!”
Scar said playfully. He’d been trying to act a bit sillier despite the circumstances in a effort cheer his brother up. Maybe even make them both forget about everything for a few seconds.
They sat in the silence for a while, a occasional wince from Bdubs whenever Scar tugged a bit too hard being the noise to break the silence aside from the heavy rain outside, until a knock on the door suddenly interrupted them. There were a few reds on the server, and they did not know who exactly was outside.
“Bdubs, get under the bed, and stay quiet.”
Scar whispered, quietly grabbing the sword that was lying on the floor. Bdubs quickly nodded and scrambled under the bedframe.
Scar held the sword tightly. With a sharp breath, he nervously opened the door and stepped back in preparation to get attacked. fortunately, it was just Pearl.
“Pearl?”
She smiled, stepping into the house after wiping her shoes on the rug. Scar dropped his sword.
“Yeah, it’s just me, Scar. I’m not here to hurt’chya.”
Scar turned his head over to the bed.
“It’s just Pearl, you can come out!”
Bdubs slowly climbed out from under the bed.
“Hi Pearl.”
He said, his voice duller then usual.
“Bigb told me I couldn’t let you and your brother join the Nosey Neighbors, but I can help you.”
She quickly pulled something from her bag. Potions.
“2 potions of invisibility, a splash potion of harming, a potion of slow falling, and 3 splash potions poisoning. It’s not much, but I think it’ll help ya’.”
She handed them over to Scar, along with a golden apple that she’d pulled out quickly after.
“Keep yourselves safe. If you ever need anything, come to me.”
She giggle nervously and tapped her foot before continuing to speak.
“I should get back to my base before BigB figures out I’m giving you his potions.”
“Wait, his potions?”
Scar asked nervously, paranoia creeping into his mind.
“Well, he didn’t need em!”
The teenager opened his maw to protest, but was quickly cut off by Pearls smooth voice.
“Well, I best be goin’. I’ll see you two eventually!”
She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. Usually the cloak was red, but she had made it Frog-themed due to a inside joke between her and BigB. She swiftly exited the base.
Scar yelled a quick thanks from inside the building, and Scar could’ve sworn he heard a distant Australian accent in the distance saying something along the lines of ‘your welcome’.
—————————
Skizz climbed up the ladder to the top of the Crooked Tie Tower. He heard faint arguing in the distance. It seemed like it was between Tango and Impulse.
“—It doesn’t matter whether Etho wants to take care of them or not, They’re his kids!”
Tango shouted, which earned a heavy scoff from Impulse.
“It’s his life! Just because Cleo temporarily died doesn’t mean he has to commit to something he left behind years ago!”
“He’s the one who told Cleo to keep the kids instead of putting them up for adoption, and then he left her 5 years after! It’s not Scar and Bdubs’s fault Etho was a deadbeat dad. a few months of taking care of the 2 children he abandoned is no where even near the apology the whole family deserves!”
Impulse groaned.
“This all over again! People make mistakes, Tango! And pretending someone not apologizing for one big mistake in someone’s even bigger life makes them a bad person makes so many things seem so much worse then they are! The kids barely even knew Etho before he left!
“When Etho told her to keep the kids, he make a commitment to keep them safe. They need him more than ever right now! You’re sitting here acting like you don’t know how it feels to be left behind by someone who was supposed to keep you safe.”
Impulse flinched back, his eyes wide.
Tango froze, instantly regretting what he said.
“I’m—.. sorry, I.. I shouldn’t have brought your childhood into this—“
Impulse pushed past him, pulling on a jacket which covered his black tshirt with a yellow ‘I’ on the front, it was what Etho gifted him for Christmas, and he had worn it daily ever since. Impulse made his way down the ladder Skizz had just finished climbing.
Skizz and Tango made eye contact. Skizz raised a eyebrow and stepped forward.
“What was that about, Tops?”
Skizz asked, crossing his arms.
“Just ignore it. We were talking about Bdubs and Scar.”
“Yeah, I got that part buddy, I mean what got you guys so heated.”
“Just a disagreement about whether Etho should let them join Ties or not.”
Skizz hummed in response, walking over to one of the many coolers his alliance kept that held water and food. He grabbed some of the ice and handed it to Tango.
“Your burning up, Tops. I mean that literally.”
Skizz stated, acknowledging Tangos hybrid traits. Tango happened to be a blaze hybrid, which meant part of his body was always engulfed in flames, (specifically his arms, feet, and hair) which led to him usually wearing gloves and a specially designed fireproof beanie, along with his typical goggles, firefighter outfit and combat boots. Whenever he’d get mad, his fire happened to get hotter and would start to densify.
Tango thanked him and popped the ice cubes in his mouth. Eating cold things was one of the few ways for him to cool down a bit and calm his fire, which was the main reason they kept so many coolers around their base.
Skizz tugged on one of the many jackets Team Ties kept at the base, it was a necessity due to the fact their base was hundreds of blocks in the sky, and that naturally meant it was quite cold. The jacket covered Skizz’s typical, sleeveless suit. It was— admittedly, a very strange outfit, but no one bothered him about it much.
“Tops, you really need to stop getting into fights so often. We only have so much ice!”
Skizz giggled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. The playful remark earned a laugh from Tango. No one quite knew why Skizz refused to use anything but specific, strange, meaningless nicknames for everyone he knew, but no one really minded it.