#Grian said 'Goodbye' and jumped

[overanalysingfandoms]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @overanalysingfandoms !!!!

Plz enjoy this cursed Grain gif

[errorryx]

grian's confession booth

read on ao3 | limited life ensemble, 3.4k words

Under the impression that Grian can't hear them, some of his fellow server members take the opportunity to spill the beans on things they probably would never have told him otherwise.

—

Joel hadn’t known what to do when Grian woke him and Jimmy early in the morning, with a look on his face that was desperately trying to be a smile. Once they were both properly awake and had stopped groaning about it, Grian had launched into an explanation that had done very little to soothe their concerns.

It’s a Watcher thing, he’d said. I’ll be back before you know it, hopefully by tomorrow. I’m sure the two of you will keep me safe while I’m gone, right?

Jimmy agreed almost immediately, and Joel a little more grudgingly, still working under the assumption that Grian was pranking them. It wasn’t until Grian climbed up on the llama, said his goodbyes, and went perfectly, horrifyingly still that Joel was even partially convinced otherwise.

He stared at Grian for a long time after, waiting for him to mess up and reveal his hand. But Grian didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. Joel made a point of watching his stomach for a while to see if it was moving, and he was pretty sure Grian wasn’t breathing either.

“D’you think his heart’s still beating?” he asked, casting a nervous glance in Jimmy’s direction. 

The unreadable expression on Jimmy’s face slowly melted back into a more familiar look of contemplation, and Joel breathed a sigh of relief. “Dunno,” Jimmy said. “S’pose there’s only one way to find out.”

“Yeah,” Joel agreed. “You should check his pulse.”

“Me? It was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“What? I’m not touching him! Not when he’s all—” Joel gestured. “You know.”

Jimmy crossed his arms, the first hints of a well-worn scowl starting to form on his face. “So you expect me to do it instead?”

“Well, you’re the one who knows about this stuff, not me. Whatever your deal is.”

“Whatever my deal is? What’s that supposed to mean?” Jimmy asked, immediately defensive. “You don’t see me just up and leaving my body, do you? That’s a Grian thing. I’ve got nothing to do with it.”

“Whatever,” Joel huffed. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.” He didn’t want to argue with Jimmy while Grian was gone, or he’d have nobody left.

But after a while, Jimmy left anyway, leaving Joel to watch Grian on his own. There was something about hanging out with a silent, unmoving Grian that made Joel want to talk and talk and never stop, just to fill the silence. He rambled on about his plan to build a submarine, built a tower out of carpet, and got to work flooding the mansion. Before he knew it, he was leaning on the fencepost of Grian’s enclosure, prattling on about nothing at all. Thank god no one else was there to hear him.

“Jimmy never tells me anything,” he complained. “Neither of you do. Yesterday I didn’t even know this was something you could do, and now here you are, dead to the world or whatever. It’s freaking me out. Couldn’t you at least have closed your eyes?”

Grian didn’t answer. He sat perfectly still atop his llama, his eyes fixed on a spot somewhere off in the distance. Joel followed his line of vision, but he didn’t see much of anything in that direction.

“I’m not really mad, you know,” he said. “Just—I’m worried about you, okay? I know that’s not very bad of me, but I can’t help it. I know Jimmy’s worried too, he worries about everything.”

The uncomfortable silence lingered a little too long for Joel’s taste. Finally, the llama interrupted with a loud bray right in his ear, making him jump almost a foot in the air.

“Oi! Don’t do that.” Joel glared at the llama, who stared right back at him. The stupid llama looked more alert than Grian did. “You better not tell Jimmy I’m sat over here worrying, alright, ‘cause I’m doing just fine. Having a fantastic time out here all by myself.”

If Grian was listening, Joel hoped he was convinced. That would make one of them, at least.

—

“Oh, good, there you are, Grian,” Martyn told Grian’s unmoving form. “I’m really sorry I killed you. It was self-defense, I swear. I hope this doesn’t make us enemies when you get back, but for now we just need to get you somewhere safe.”

He started digging down, taking Grian along with him. Hopefully Joel and Jimmy wouldn’t attack him again, because he really didn’t want Grian to die a third time. He hadn’t wanted him to die a second time either, but it had all happened so quickly.

“I hope you’re doing alright,” he told Grian as he dug, “whatever you’re up to. Kick some ass. Or don’t, if that’s not what you’re going for.”

It wasn’t much longer before Jimmy and Joel made it back to spawn and immediately started digging down to find Grian. None of them died this time around, and Martyn managed to convince them that he wanted to protect Grian, too—especially after that death, which he did feel rather bad about. Joel and Jimmy left, leaving Martyn alone with Grian again.

“Anyway,” he said. “Like I said. Hope you’re doing okay out there. Get home safe. Don’t destroy yourself and doom the rest of us to a life of eternal torment.” He hesitated. “The occasional torment is still okay.”

Grian didn’t answer. Martyn began digging out some more space around him, boxing him into a corner. “I’ll be here if you want to talk about it, or something,” he said, feeling a bit foolish for even speaking the words. “Yeah. Whatever.”

Grian’s eyes didn’t refocus when Martyn was blocking his line of sight. Martyn placed a torch down right beside Grian’s head, just to see if his pupils would dilate.

They didn’t. 

“Huh.” He took a step back, breaking the torch. “You know, maybe it’s best if we hide you a bit.”

He filled the hole he’d dug up to the surface with water, letting it fall from the ceiling right in front of Grian. That way, it’d be easier to get in and out. He needed to invite some other people down here, or he’d start to go mad.

“Hey, Cleo!” he called, faintly hearing her voice from above. “Come down here and check this out!”

—

“Here he is!” Martyn said, making a ta-da gesture with both arms. “He looks just like a fortune teller, doesn’t he?”

He does,” Cleo agreed. “The water does him a lot of favors. Hard to tell there’s anything the matter with him.”

She peered through the water stream at Grian, who stood perfectly upright, staring right through her. The water obscured most of what was uncanny about him, but it couldn’t hide his impeccable posture. The real Grian was always hunching his shoulders, bending his knees, constantly plotting his next move, but this Grian reminded her more of a mannequin than of himself.

“What’s her fortune, Grian?” she heard Martyn ask.

Cleo laughed, idly brushing her fingers against the now-dried blood she’d smeared over her cheeks. “That I’ll die an untimely death, most likely.”

“I’d say that applies to all of us, doesn’t it?”

“Mmm.” She took her eyes off Grian for a moment to give Martyn a scrutinizing look. “You wouldn’t happen to know what he’s up to, would you?”

“Oh, I haven’t got a clue,” Martyn said. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

She took a step closer. “I do hope you’d know better than to lie to me.”

“I wouldn’t lie about this, Cleo. Grian and I, we…we don’t talk much about this kind of thing.”

Cleo believed him. When Martyn started sounding pathetic, he was usually being honest.

“What about back home?” Martyn asked. “Does he talk about this stuff on Hermitcraft?”

“Not to me,” Cleo said dismissively. “You’d have to go to Pearl about that, I expect. If anyone knows, Pearl knows.”

“Then why don’t you ask her?” Martyn suggested.

“Pearl’s not so easy to threaten,” Cleo said, allowing a small smile to creep across her face. “Besides, it’s really none of my business. He’ll be back soon enough.”

“Right, yeah. Of course.”

Cleo had no reason not to take Grian at his word—or Joel and Jimmy at theirs, since they were the ones that had passed on Grian’s message. But she couldn’t help wondering what would happen if Grian didn’t return in a timely fashion. Would they leave him here for the rest of the game, letting his clock run out naturally? Would red players flock to him, unable to resist the temptation of an easy kill?

“Let’s get some other people down here to have their fortunes read,” she said briskly. “Keep him company.” No use letting herself brood over hypotheticals.

—

“Hi, Grian!” Scar said. “I’m so sorry, but it had to happen. Thank you.”

“Scar, this isn’t a confessional,” Bdubs laughed at him. “He’s a fortune-teller.”

“Hey, it can be whatever you want it to be,” Scott said. “For Scar it’s a confessional, for the rest of us it’s fortune-tellings…”

“Thank you, Scott.” Scar hopped into the water stream, poking his head out on the other side so he could breathe. “I’m sorry I killed you, Grian, but it was part of the moment. You understand the moment, I’m sure. Things happen!”

When he opened his eyes a moment later, he realized how close he was. Grian’s eyes were hollow and unblinking, and his lips were pressed firmly together, neither smiling nor frowning. If Scar didn’t know any better, he would have thought he was looking at a statue of Grian, not his real human body.

He pulled back as quickly as he could without making it look like he was panicking, and turned his back on Grian entirely as he faced the others. “That’s a relief. He said he forgives me!”

No one seemed impressed, but Scar didn’t care. There were too many people around for him to say what was really on his mind, anyway.

—

“This is weird,” Etho said.

Until right this second, he hadn’t fully considered how weird it would be to talk to Grian one-on-one like this. He hadn’t gotten a good look at Grian in all the chaos earlier, so this was his first time taking it all in.

“Cleo said I should go talk to you,” Etho said, “and I guess she was right, because this is really putting things into perspective. Like, sure, I spent a ton of time mining today and only found two diamonds, and then I died to a creeper! But it could be lot worse. I could have died twice and found no diamonds.”

The worst thing about it was how subtle it was. Etho couldn’t put his finger on anything specifically wrong, but he could feel the tension in the air just from his proximity to Grian. Grian’s…body. His temporarily unused body.

“I’m about to turn yellow, actually,” Etho said. “Two minutes. Comin’ up pretty soon, and I think I’m gonna go kill somebody once it happens. ‘Course, you’re already yellow, so you’re safe.”

Grian didn’t answer. Etho shuffled his feet, wondering how long this conversation was supposed to go on.

“And you know what?” he said. “Bdubs said he’d ditch Scar and Cleo for me in a heartbeat. His exact words.” Grian did not seem shocked to hear it.

“I don’t really know what to do with that,” Etho admitted. “I don’t really know what to do with Bdubs in general, but you know what I mean. I swear, sometimes I think we have polar opposite brains—I don’t know how we put up with each other.

“Bdubs loves swearing his undying loyalty to people—well, mostly to me, I think. Hard to wrap my head around it sometimes, but there’s only two outcomes, y’know? Either he’s lying, which would be bad, obviously, or he means, it, which…

“Well. We’ve done this whole thing before. I don’t know if it’s a good idea. I don’t know if I want to betray my whole team for him or whatever. Which is dumb, right? It’s just a silly game, I know they’ll all forgive me after it’s over, but Bdubs…we don’t have a great track record in these games, the two of us.

“I guess you’d understand that better than anyone.”

Grian didn’t answer.

“This was weird,” Etho said. “This was really weird. I’m gonna go.”

He took one last look at Grian before he returned to the surface. Grian still hadn’t moved, but then again, maybe he had. Maybe he was moving so slightly that Etho didn’t even notice. Usually Etho was a pretty perceptive guy, but he had his blind spots.

“You better not tell Bdubs,” he said, and left.

—

“Hey, Grian!” Impulse said. “Heard you had a rough time this session, huh?”

He’d already seen Grian when the boogeyman had been chosen, but Impulse was very distracted at the time. Without a bunch of people laughing and talking around him, Grian looked downright ghostly, and Impulse couldn’t say it wasn’t getting to him.

“I’m sorry you died,” he said. “I feel really bad about that, even though I didn’t have anything to do with it. Funny, right? I had something to do with someone else’s death, and I don’t feel bad about that at all. Not sure what’s up with that.”

Grian’s blank expression was a little warped through the water, and for a moment, Impulse almost thought Grian was giving him a look of exasperation. “Okay, okay,” Impulse said, “I know exactly what’s up with it. I guess I can be honest with you, since you’re kinda down for the count right now. We’re all here to let loose, right? Nothing wrong with a bit of murder between friends! It’s just a game, and Pearl and I will go back to being friends again once it’s over.”

Grian didn’t answer, but that was okay. Impulse didn’t want anyone else to hear what he was about to say. It was a good thing Martyn had set this up, because after a long day of contemplating murder, it was getting difficult for him to keep his thoughts to himself.

“I’m planning on killing Bdubs when I get to red.” He let out a long sigh of relief. “Gosh, that feels good to admit. Been keeping that one quiet for a while. I’ve always wanted to have one of those big dramatic moments like the rest of you, and I’ve never gotten the chance. It's only fair, right? Sure, winning would be nice, but all I can really think about is the moment I finally get my turn to do something people will remember.

I don’t think that’ll make a big difference to my teammates—not to Tango and Skizz, at least, they’re not the biggest fans of Bdubs right now. But I can’t help thinking if I had to choose between keeping my team safe or focusing on my plan, I’m not sure I would—”

He paused, hearing some noises from up above. “Skizz and Tango are on their way, I think—yeah, here they come.” Impulse took a step back to let Tango and Skizz out of the water. “Hey, guys!”

“Hey, Impulse!” Tango said, stepping over the cobblestone base of the water stream. “Did I hear you talking about us?”

“All good things, I’m sure,” Skizz added, jumping out behind him.

“Of course! I was just telling Grian about our beautiful new tower,” Impulse said, prompting an irritated noise from Tango. “He said all the best towers are asymmetrical nowadays.”

They seemed to believe him, thankfully. And if Grian had heard any of Impulse’s secrets, he didn’t breathe a word.

—

“Hey, Grian. Just checking to see if you were back yet before I went to sleep.”

Pearl had seen Grian like this before, here and there, but it didn’t make it any easier. Even after everything, she wasn’t immune to getting the creeps.

“A lot happened today,” she told him. “Lots of people died. Including me! Twice! I thought I had this one in the bag, you know, and now look at me, I’m yellow! Though admittedly, there’s a lot of that going around.”

Pearl was pretty comfortable talking to Grian like this. She’d tested him before, telling him all manner of secrets and bits of gossip that came to mind. She knew he wouldn’t be able to resist bringing it up afterwards, and he’d never mentioned any of it to her.

“I just can’t get into it like I did last time,” she admitted. “Playing to win seems a little pointless, doesn’t it? I already found out what happens when I win. It doesn’t fix anything. I really wish you’d warned me.

“I don’t know how you still manage it. You’ve kept trying to win all the way through every one of these games. I’m not sure I want to keep trying anymore.”

She poked him in the stomach, just for good measure. If all else failed, she’d always be able to get a reaction out of Grian that way. He didn’t move, which was proof enough for her.

“Thanks, Grian,” Pearl sighed. “Good luck out there.”

—

“Well, hey there, Grian! Thought I’d stop by one last time.”

Everyone else had gone to sleep for the night, but Scar couldn’t keep himself away. He’d waited for spawn to be deserted as long as he dared, but Grian had told everyone he’d only be gone for a day, and Scar didn’t want to miss his chance. “Can you hear anything people have been saying to you?” he asked.

Grian didn’t answer.

“I’m just going to assume you can’t, for the sake of my own well-being.” Scar checked his watch, still ticking down the time as merrily as ever. He could swear that his timer had gone a little wonky in Grian’s absence, though it was hard to tell in all the chaos. He’d killed five people today, but hadn’t gotten full credit for all of them. Hopefully Grian would set things straight when he got back.

Grian had been one of those kills, and even hours later, Scar’s head was still rushing from it. He sat back against the wall, facing the opposite direction from Grian. Scar had learned his lesson earlier about getting up close and personal with him.

“I said I was sorry, earlier,” Scar said. “I don’t know how true that is.”

He felt bad almost immediately after saying it. “I shouldn’t say that. I do feel bad, you know! I’m not like—like you, or Joel, or Bdubs, I guess. I love causing some chaos, but things settle down and I start regretting it a little. And I do regret it, but I don’t feel sorry, and I’m not sure why.

“I’m sorry for not being sorry, I guess.”

Grian didn’t answer. Usually when Grian was silent, which was really only when he was asleep, Scar could listen for his breathing. This time, he heard nothing but the trickling water between them.

Grian had always been a constant, in more ways than one. Scar could depend on him to stir things up whenever they were getting too boring. He could always count on finding Grian, if not in the center of the action, then right on the edge instead, either orchestrating the chaos or just observing it—drawn there like a magnet the way Scar was drawn to him. But the one thing Scar never thought he’d lose was the simple fact of Grian’s physical presence.

Scar had thought about killing Grian plenty of times, but the only time he’d managed to do it was when Grian wasn’t Grian at all. No death cry, no promise of vengeance. Not even a breath.

“Don’t worry,” he said, turning his head to the side to catch Grian’s silhouette in the corner of his vision, as close as he was willing to get. “I’ll make it up to you. Once you get back, I’ll work up the nerve to kill you for real. I’ll make you proud.”

Grian didn’t answer, but Scar could envision his smile. Not his feverish post-death laughter, but the softer, rarer expression of fondness he made when he thought no one was looking. Scar had caught only wisps of it in the past, but if he squinted, he could almost see it through his lashes.

He didn’t mean to fall asleep like that, leaning up against the wall of a tiny cave in the ground. But he couldn’t resist the thought of Grian waking him up the next morning, with either a friendly smile or a sword through his stomach.

“Goodnight, Grian,” he said.

Grian didn’t answer, which was just fine with Scar. It was safer that way.

—

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

(also, since i've been asked about previous fics, you're welcome to interpret and tag this as shipping if you like. i intentionally left it up to interpretation.)

[amethystfairy1]

hi again. i did end up posting some of my art but idk if there's a way to link it in the ask (kinda new to tumblr lol), so im just gonna trust that you know how to find it. Anyways, I have more questions for you :)

jumping into the deep end w/ traveling thieves:

is there any way to remove a collar without the owner's permission? Could a non-collared person do it? Are they physically destructible? What happens if the owner dies? Basically anything that could free Jimmy and Scott T-T

Can any nether-born wield fire, or just blaze-borns? bc hypothetically, we could get some team ZIT going if impulse is a nether-born (he's normally head cannoned as a demon, but I like the idea of wither skeleton instead for this au, if you don't already have plans for him). he could join Zed and Tango :)))

how does the siren song work? can you get anyone to do anything with it if you were good enough? considering song is in the name, is it more effective if it's more melodic?

how do the rune trigger thingies work? Does the staff need to be continuously touching the person to trigger the collar, or does it have a time limit, or is it a secret third option? (this is for a lil piece i've written that I may or may not post lol)

That's it for now, although I do want to say that it would be adorable if Katherine got Shelby a sun-lamp so she could grow over-city plants down there :3

actually that's not it. it'd be fun if you wrote a piece where Grian helps Mumbo and Scar pull a (not so ethical) job. just an idea :)

ok goodbye

Hello hello!

I found the art! I reblogged the art! I LOVE THE ART!

I said it in my reblog but again here they are SO PRETTY I love Cute Guy his wings are beautiful and his shoes are so KILLER and then the SWAGON from Traveling Thieves! It's even got Grian's lil bay window! It makes me so happy! I will treasure them, thank you so much for sharing!

Questions questions! 🏃‍♀️

Short answer: No. Long Answer: Not any way that Scott or Jimmy currently have access too. If their current owner dies the contract has a clause that will automatically transfer them to whoever said owner designated as the inheritor, this being a built in safety measure to ensure enslaved hybrids don't try to one-hit kill their masters before a punishment can kick in to go free. They are technically physically destructible but any attempt at cutting them or unlatching them will trigger the punishment runes. And they are very tough, reinforced by the magic in the runes, again to ensure this isn't attempted, so it would be far to painful to attempt to just endure the punishment long enough to cut them off. This doesn't mean it's completely impossible for them to get them off without their current masters permission...but we haven't gotten to that yet. 😉

Blaze-borns specifically can wield fire as physical parts of their body, but other nether hybrids are able to pull similar tricks such as heating up their hands to work metal, and obviously they're fireproof. Plus, considering our lovely dark fantasy AU, some of them have proficiency with fire magic! I do have plans for Impulse in Traveling Thieves! Please look forward to it!

It's basically voice-based charm magic. I may have messed this up, but I'm pretty sure I only ever refer to it as 'siren spells' and not 'siren songs'? Is there anywhere I screwed that up? Siren spells also give the user the ability to make their voice more pleasant and tend to have good singing voices anyway. If someone is extremely good with it (ex: Scott's Dad) they could 100% use it to strongly compel others, but it's not like brainwashing. Like when Scott used it, all it really did was make the ice mage suddenly care about his opinion, and that confused her enough that she hesitated on using magic. It still has to be something understandable. It wouldn't have been enough to, say, get her to fire a spell at her companion and kill him. It's more like it makes the users words much more influential in the mind of whoever is hearing it. It can also do other things, though! Like how I mention that Scott's Dad would sing for the Queen, Scott's Mom, to help her relax, that's not just because he's a beautiful singer (which of course he is) he's also using siren spells to lower her stress.

One hit triggers the punishment runes. A second hit makes them stop. Like an on-off switch! They also specifically have to get hit with the gem at the end of the rune trigger. If you do post anything anywhere please do send another ask/post it somewhere I can see, I'd absolutely love to see what you do with the AU! ☺️

Awwww...Katherine could totally get Shelby a sun-lamp, that'd be so cute! Also I totally plan on writing a piece at some point where the Swagon Trio steal something, it's a series called Traveling THIEVES and there has been a distinct lack of thievery so I need to fix that. 😤

Thanks so much for all your lovely questions, and thank you again for sharing your beautiful art! 💖

[cagemasterfantasy]

3rd Life Remastered Irl Session 1 2/2

Before reading this it is recommend to read the other parts before reading this one. All characters portrayed in this story are real but used in a fictitious manor. Nothing they say or do is real this story is entirely satire. This story also talks about touchy subjects like Self Harm and Suicide. The whole purpose of this story is to bring attention to those struggling with mental health.

After my chat with doodl3 I head on back to my computer and log into discord genuine tears falling down my cheeks. Bdubs: Hey Slimer you feeling ok? Is Grian there with you?" "Grian's here but there's something I want to say to all of you" All of them look intent on hearing me out "I'm sorry for yelling at all of you. I was so overcome with emotions I just don't know what came over to me" Gem: I already forgive you Slimer I understand" Joel: And I'm one who believes in second chances" Scar: You're still my Scar Wars buddy Slimer till the bitter end" "I'm so sorry for what I did" The tears start streaming down my face now "Could we please forget about all of this and well enjoy Minecon together?" Everybody thinks for a few seconds before some people nod Mumbo: Water under the bridge but I do have something to say to cheer you up" "Oh yeah and what's that?" Mumbo: Aha" Everybody starts laughing Bdubs: Aha" "No not you too one is enough" Scott: Eh I'm normally not one to do this but eh screw it AHA" Jimmy: Aha" I log out of the discord and Grian is snickering "Don't you da- Grian: Aha" "Great"

The next day I am packing my clothes toiletries inhalers I'm packing everything. Rylee is wagging his tail as I'm packing his food. "Yeah you are going to get to meet my friends little buddy" Rylee cocks his head like HUh? "Everyone's going to love you"

I send doodl3 a text saying "on my way to the airport now" before packing my laptop and charger and waiting outside for Grian Rylee wagging his tail I trust him off his leash knowing very well he won't wander far away from me.

I see Grian arrive and place my bags in his car before getting Rylee in the back and sitting in the back seat after seeing his wife up front. "Is your wife coming with us Grian?" Grian: No she's going to be driving the car back after we leave and is taking care of the cats and my daughter while I'm gone" Rylee jumps into the front and lays on her lap "Traitor" Grian laughs Grian: He likes her"

As soon as we are at the Airport Grian has said goodbye to his wife and he guides me to where our gate is after putting our luggage on the carousel

As soon as we take our seats I look at Grian and say "Hey Grian thanks for saving my life yesterday I don't know what I'd do without you" Grian: I'm just glad I got there when I did and am glad you left your apartment door unlocked things could have gone very differently" Rylee lays in Grian's lap "Traitor"

Once we arrive we already see Scar Mumbo and Cleo waiting for us at the gate Mumbo: Aha" "Do not start that please I'm already in the states and I want to have a good time" Scar: Yeah leave my Scar Wars bro alone" The voices become intense "They are just using you" "They aren't friends" "Don't trust them" Cleo shakes me and snaps me out of it as Bdubs approaches alongside Martin Martin: Hey what's happening Bdubs: Voices again just play it cool like you didn't see anything Mumbo: Ah Bdubs AHA" "WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT?" Mumbo: alright alright sheesh" I pull out my phone and send doodl3 a text saying "have just arrived at the airport have fun"

After everyone else arrives we go out front to see 2 limos each with a driver holding a sign that says "Life Series players" The ballots take our bags and I decide not to get in the one with Mumbo having already had enough AHAS for one day and enter with Ren Joel Tango Impulse Tango Lizzy Bigb and Gem "Ayyy jump up Rylee" He jumps into the limo and immediately lays in Ren's lap "Oh isn't that funny Ren the dog just took my dog" Ren: He's my dog now Me: Rylee you are a traitor Tango: Aww lay off Puppo will you?" He starts petting Rylee who is wagging his tail happy Joel: Hey come on Ren give him his dog back I know you're Ren the dog but sheesh" Ren: No he's my dog now" He says playfully Lizzie and Gem are just laughing as the voices pick up "Grab that dog he does not belong to him" "He isn't going to give your dog back you shou-" I begin to feel a tight pain around my chest and the wheezing. Gem is looking real concerned Gem: Your inhaler Lizzie: Use your inhaler" I'm reaching for it but my vison is getting blurry. Ren goes over to me puts Rylee in Impulse lap reaches into my pocket to get my inhaler and uses it as I gasp at fresh air. Ren: Easy now" Impulse: Are you ok?" I hug Ren as a thank you Ren: Ow too tight loosen up will you?" "Sorry I'm a hugger" Ren: Yeah I can tell let go of me" I release him "S-sorry I love hugging" Ren: Just please don't choke me next time

Once we arrive at the hotel and check in I'm excited to find out I'm staying with Scar my Scar Wars buddy. Rylee is wagging his tail and sniffing around the Lobby "ey Rylee get over here there'll be time to explore in a bit" I lead Rylee on but he keeps sitting in the middle of the hallway as I pass by the luxury dining room I see a sign that says "Reserved for the Life Series Players" I smell food coming from the dining room. Scar: Oh boy" He cups his hands and says "Hey guys I'm going to lock Slimer in our room so he doesn't eat all of the food" Me: Shut up" I catch up with Cleo and Lizzie "So what are you 2 going to do? Watch the Walking Dead" Cleo: That show sucks" I raise an eyebrow Cleo: Alright fine I'm going to watch the Walking Dead and maybe go for a swim what about you going to watch Star Wars with Scar and eat all the food in the dining room?" Me: Oh my god Cleo let's hope there isn't a zombie apocalypse any time soon I'll use you as a decoy Zombie in front of my location to go NO HUMANS HERE ARARAHHAGAAAGHEA" Lizzie and Scar burst out laughing as me and Scar enter our room? Scar: So let me guess Star Wars and then food?" Rylee jumps on the bed and runs around having zoomies Me: Oh geez there he goes again" Scar: He's happy

The day of session 2 arrives and we are at the convention center after eating breakfast the host takes us to where we'll be staying in computer tents everyone is dressed as their avatar including me I'm glistening with green face paint all over my arms neck and face to resemble a slime. I go into my tent and the tv turns on to show my screen on there. I text my mod @doodl3 "You ready to mod?"

The rules sign is up in front of all of the tents as Rylee wanders to each of the other players tents sniffing everybody. It says do not tell the other players what others are doing is the biggest rule there. I feel myself coughing and use my inhaler texting doodl3 one finaly time "Good luck for the next 3 hours" as the live stream begins in my sound proof tent

To be continued in session 2

Previous part

[mochiwrites]

Life series Grian is cruel because everyone in the life series is cruel. There’s killings and betrayals and thefts. Everyone in the life series is kind, including Grian. There’s jokes and alliances and trades.

ANON YOU ARE OPENING A FLOOD GATE. I AM SO SORRY IN ADVANCE

(also I feel like I should preface that like. I'm not claiming to be c!grian expert and my own interpretation may not even be fully accurate to his character??? aka if anything seems out of character I am Sorry fjgfhgf)

ANYWAYS -- right so when I say the word “cruel” I’m talking about it in an,,,, emotional sense??? like, he doesn't go out of his way to target people and bully them emotionally, I guess??? he isn't cruel with their emotions???? I have no idea if that makes any sense. I'm not gonna go out my way and claim that grian is a "perfect uwu innocent boy" because he's not. no one in the life series is (and that's not even grian's character outside of traffic LMAO). the entire purpose of the game is to be the last man standing, and that means killing. that means betrayal.

but there is a fine line between being cruel to survive and being a villain.

and traffic!grian is not a villain.

traffic!grian is kind, and loyal. he feels guilt for his actions. grian plays to survive, but if you have his loyalty, you have it for the entire game.

I've seen so many people look at grian's actions in the previous session (where he laughs off joel's death and joins up with pearl and bigb) and say that grian was evil for it. but let's actually look at what grian was doing leading up to joel's death, shall we?

he didn't look for other teammates until he was certain that joel wasn't going to survive. they had already lost jimmy, so he knew he was going to be alone. he offered joel an hour. he kept telling joel to take his life so joel could survive just a little longer. he straight up tells pearl and bigb that he has to go check on joel, that he has to say goodbye or else he was going to regret not getting the chance. everything grian did in that final episode was to keep jimmy and joel alive for as long as possible. and when he finally lost joel? there was silence. he stood there and stared. "I didn't even see it." he sounded so remorseful as he said it.

did he laugh off their deaths? yes. but come on people! grian's entire character is downplaying his emotions! he laughs things off and hides his emotions! he gave us, the viewers, plenty of clues to his true feelings! he has to say goodbye to joel or he'll regret it. he makes graves for jimmy and joel. he was more than willing to give them some of his time to keep them alive. he laughs off their deaths but that's just a wall he's putting up between himself and everyone else. when looking at traffic!grian, you can't just look at his words. you need to look at his actions as well.

he makes a joke about keeping joel alive but you need to look deeper than that. you need to look at the "I couldn't do anything more to help him." that's hidden in there. with grian you need to read between the lines!

and if you STILL think that traffic!grian is a villain, don't worry, I have more examples.

let's take a look at the most obvious depiction of grian's tragic character.

third life.

whether you ship them or view them as friends, grian's story with scar is still a tragedy! he spends the entire series following scar around because of his debt, and ends up sticking around after his debt is cleared because he wants to see scar win. he wants to help scar still. he's chaotic and a menace and full of bloodlust, but that doesn't make him a villain. he's playing the game. the same game that everyone else is playing.

look at the final scene of the third life finale. grian wanted to win with scar. he wanted them to win together. they planned to die together. and then the cactus ring happens and grian wins. look me dead in the eyes as grian says "Oh I don't feel so good." before jumping to his death and tell me that grian is a villain. that's one of the cases where grian's guilt is the most clear.

let's also not forget all of the deals he makes in every series? the promises he tries to keep? returning scar's things to him in last life even though he didn't have to? giving skizz a totem? setting an ender porter with him so if skizz needs him he can come help? because he wanted skizz to stay alive for as long as possible?

grian is kind. and he cares about people. neither of these things are the qualities of a villain!

he's playing in a death game, just like everyone else, and he's playing to survive. of course he's going to betray certain people (not his allies though. never his allies), he's going to steal and kill. he's going to laugh as he pulls off a successful kill because yes he may not be a villain but he's chaotic and bloodthirsty just like everyone else.

grian is not cruel because he laughed off jimmy and joel's deaths. he is not evil because he joined pearl and bigb after he lost the bad boys.

this is just a personal frustration but too many people in this fandom are quick to jump on calling grian a villain in the traffic series when every other character is doing the same thing as he is. but yet no one else gets called evil for it??? some people are so quick to make grian out to be an asshole when he's not. can he act like an ass? yes, absolutely. but that doesn't make one. I've seen some absolutely wild characterizations on grian, and some of them are just.... Yikes

some people are so quick to make grian out to be the bad guy that they don't consider the actions that lead up to that moment.

THAT BEING ASIDE.... tldr, grian isn't a villain, he's playing in a death game and the aim is to survive. he's a loyal teammate and is more than willing to fight for his allies. please stop calling him a villain thank you

[briarlovesclara]

35 ways to say "i love you" MASTERLIST

based on a list of 35 ways to say i love you that i found here on tumblr via @/zebonos (they don't know who the original author is).

this will be a series of drabbles/ficlets from various fandoms, including ocs of mine and my friends. please feel free to recommend characters for the open slots!

all fandom content is about characters and is not reflective of content creators, however, stated boundaries will be respected! if any of my work violates the comfort of content creators, please let me know!

(cross-posted on ao3 under jayistootiredforthis!)

KEY:

♡ fluff/has comfort

■angst/no comfort

🔅bittersweet elements

☆favorites

💕platonic

♦️romantic

¤ potentially triggering content (see notes of specific post)

ABBREVIATION/SOURCE KEY:

d![xyz]: dream smp characters

r![xyz]: characters from my friend's minecraft realm that is being adapted into a standalone story

gl![xyz]: generation loss characters

3l![xyz]: 3rd life smp characters

dl![xyz]: double life smp characters

half secrets: characters from an rpg that i dm with my friends. based on a revised and parallel harry potter universe

any characters not explained here are from self-explanatory sources or easily searchable sources.

LIST:

as a hello | d!wilbur and d!niki 💕

with a hoarse voice, under the covers | d!tubbo and d!ranboo💕

a scream | undecided half secrets characters

over a cup of tea &

over a beer bottle | r!bea and r!beam💕

on a sunny tuesday afternoon, the late sunlight glowing in your hair | d!wilbur and d!tubbo PART 1💕

as a thank you | amy and rory♦️

as an apology | crowley and aziraphale♦️

when baking chocolate chip cookies | gl!niki and gl!charlie💕

not said to me | d!techno and d!ranboo💕

with a shuddering gasp | twelfth doctor and bill potts💕

when we lay together on the fresh spring grass | katniss and peeta♦️

in a letter | lily evans and sirius black💕■

a whisper in the ear | the doctor and river♦️

loud, so everyone can hear | r!bea and r!steg💕

over and over again, till it's nothing but a senseless babble | clara oswald and danny pink♦️

when the broken glass litters the floor |

from very far away | d!wilbur and d!fundy💕

with no space left between us | ryley and maverick ♦️♡ ☆

as we huddle together, the storm raging outside | katniss and prim💕

over your shoulder | rose and tentoo PART 1♦️

muffled, from the other side of the door | gl!sneeg and gl!ranboo💕

through a song | 12th doctor and clara oswald💕

without really meaning it | d!wilbur and d!tubbo PART 2💕

in a blissful sigh as you fall asleep | dl!tango and dl!jimmy💕

broken, as you clutch the sleeve of my jacket and beg me not to leave | tenth doctor and ghost!donna 💕

a taunt, with one eyebrow raised and a grin bubbling at your lips | katniss and finnick💕

when i am dead | jack harkness and gwen cooper💕

slowly, the words dripping from your tongue like honey |

too quick, mumbled into your scarf | d!philza and d!techno💕

in awe, the first time you realized it | rose and tentoo PART 2♦️

in a way i can't return | thirteenth doctor and yaz♦️

on a post-it note | d!eret and the l'manburgians💕

before we jump | 3l!grian and 3l!scar💕

as a goodbye | d!philza and d!wilbur💕■🔅¤

[charbeloved]

Trama Brothers

Word Count : 544

Fandom : Dream SMP, Hermitcraft

Warnings? Watchers, Cussing

The two brothers always got along, that was until the god and admin of the Dream SMP took the younger of the two, and left Grian all by himself. The bird never had any other kin or friends other then the ones he made on EVO and somehow made without Sam's knowledge in highschool. The watchers had tormented him as well. At least TomTom doesn't have to deal with this mess, Grian thought.

"Grian, would you like to join HermitCraft?" A random voice said, the server invite voice. "Sure!" Grian yelped eagerly. A new server he would be able to reek havoc in!

Grian was spawned into the world; immediately he was greeted with a parade of welcomes' and hellos'. The boy from the Redstone school was here too, "Hello! you must be.." The boy looked up, "Gr.. Grain..?" "Grian." He corrected the boy. "Ah, the one that was in witnesses protection?" "Hehe, yep, that's me."

"..And over here's Scars base!"

Grian almost forgot there was no one with his own blood on HermitCraft after a few seasons. "Some people are gonna be leaving HermitCraft, and joining the Dream SMP. Any volunteers?" Grian, being the only one with kin other then himself, eagerly replied with a "I would love to go to the Dream SMP!" "Oh, Gri.. Do you realize you can't come back for a few years?" Grian shrugged, his wings flapping in annoyance. "I don't care." "Well, they only needed one, so I guess this is goodbye?" "I'll come back with another member in tow. Don't worry."

A green man stood, with a blonde-haired child with gray wings in a choke-hold, looking at Grian. The boy tries to run in him, but his throat starts to bleed. Grian runs to the boy. "Greetings, Grian. Welcome to the Dream SMP. My name is Dream, and this is Tommy. He's trying to escape exi-" "Let. Him. Go. He's not trying to leave, he's trying to get to me, his brother." Dream lets Tommy go, and Tommy runs and cries into Grian's shirt. Grian picks up the taller, and cradles him. "Shhh, TomTom, I'm here. It's okay." Dream perks up. "Did you bring a watcher here?" Tommy perks up as well, fear in his eyes. "No.. Not again.. No, no watchers.. Please.." "No, I didn't bring one but I may attract one here, but I can deal with it." "My maps showing a.new admin and a watcher arrived. Did the old admin of EVO get here? I know that th-" "Yes, yes I did. Glad you know about my server." Tommy perks up, the fear of Grian being a watcher in his eyes. "Hey, hey, shh.. Don't worry, I won't let anyone turn you.. Shh.." "Grian, he's scared of your watcher form. He was turned by the admin of EVO." "No, no one was turned by me." Grian said, giving Dream a intense stare. "Wait.. Entirnal (En-turn-al; Low-Rank.watcher; OC) you ~~~HOLE!" Tommy perked up at that. "Gri.. Y-You never cuss.." "Y-Yes.. L-Lord Xqulea..?" A booming voice asked with a hint of fear. "Did you turn this child?" "Y-yes.." "This child is my little brother, Entirnal." "I-I'll go jump into the v-void.." "Good. if you survive, you'll help out with the nursery." "Y-yes s-sir.."

[flavorlesspineapple]

Decided to give some context for this piece cause I still really like it.

The drawing is in the eyes of grian during 3rd life. Based on the caption, the background, and even the hearts on his cloak, this isn’t actually scar in front of him, but a vision of him after grian killed him :) I like to think of it as right after their duel. Grian went on a stroll to try and clear his head but was haunted by the vision of scar. Horrified by this, he climbed back up to where scar was still laying, said his goodbyes, and jumped off the cliff (like how we saw in his finale)

Psst check tags for an extra little thought 😉

A phantom in your memories

What’s this? A flavorless art post? Who would have guessed!

[wren-kitchens]

hanahaki (bad ending)

TWs: blood, death, suicide (hurt, no comfort)

unrequited love turns out to be requited just a second too late

I am ridiculously proud of this oml-

likes don’t do anything! please reblog if you want to help this reach more people!

scar’s chest and throat hurts so much, he’s pretty sure grian has been forcefed gravel. he’s rushing back to the cave they live in, stumbling every time the pain gets worse. 

he finally reaches the cave, but there’s no one but grian there. 

“what in the world-“ scar says, jumping back as he sees the pool of blood on the ground. he looks at grian, whose eyes are wide, and whose front is covered in blood, and-

and flower petals.

“scar-“ grian’s voice is hoarse, and scar’s throat hurts again when he speaks. “I- I can explain-“

“oh, grian.” scar can’t disguise the bitterness in his voice. he tilts his head sideways. “bigb doesn’t love you back?”

grian has hanahaki. for someone else. 

“what?” grian tries to stand up, but he falls back down again. scar’s knees protest as grian winces.

“you’re not as subtle as you think you are, g.” scar tells him. he bends down, and tilts grian’s face up towards his. “tell bigb hi from me.”

“scar, no, that’s not-“ 

“save it.” scar interrupts, standing back up. “i’m going to see impulse and bdubs. they have golden apples.”

grian’s expression turns hurt and shocked. it makes scar’s stomach twist. “no- no, scar, you don’t understand-“

“i’m not having you killing us because of your secret soulmate.” scar turns, if only to avoid having to face grian. 

grian coughs, the sound turning into a choking, and scar almost doubles over at the pain. 

“please, scar, just listen to me.” grian begs. “i lo-“

“goodbye, grian.” scar doesn’t want to hear the rest of that sentence. he walks out of the cave, mounting his horse.

“scar, please!” grian cries. scar’s throat feels like it’s tearing. he ignores it, and rides away.

-

“you want a golden apple?” bdubs looks surprised when scar asks. “i thought you wanted to be partnered with grian.”

“yeah, well, he doesn’t want to be partnered with me.” scar says. “and anyway, if I stay partnered to him, he’ll kill the both of us.”

bdubs frowns. “I don’t follow.”

“grian has hanahaki. for bigb.” scar says. “so how much do you want for the apple.”

“grian- for bigb?” impulse asks. “no, that can’t be right.”

“well, it is, now are you gonna sell me the apple or not?” scar spits. 

“i- we- what do you have to offer?” bdubs says. he and impulse look genuinely startled. scar supposes he’s never really spoken to anyone like that before now.

scar takes out his purse and shows it them. it’s full of diamonds.

“woah! yeah, this’ll do!” bdubs takes the purse excitedly, all apprehension forgotten.

impulse hands him the golden apple, still looking a little confused. scar doesn’t even hesitate before eating it. 

suddenly, his throat and chest feel lighter, the grazes on his knees vanish. wow, he’d forgotten how good golden apples were.

“thanks, I needed that.” scar grins. by the looks on impulse and bdubs’ faces, it hasn’t given the lighthearted affect he was hoping for. “i’ll be seeing ya!”

“uh, yeah.” impulse nods. “see you.”

-

scar doesn’t want to go back and see grian again. the constant reminder that grian loves someone else, someone else who’s gone, is just too much. 

instead, he rides around the server, setting traps where he can, and narrowly avoiding falling into said traps as he’s making them.

“scar?”

scar jumps, dropping the lever he was about to place down. he whips around to see scott.

“oh! oh, my gosh.” he says, hand on his chest. “you can’t scare a man like that when he’s makin’ traps!”

“that’s what I was going to ask you about.” scott frowns. “how are you making traps?”

“well, I might not be mr mumbo jumbo but-“

“no, that’s not what I mean.” scott says. “grian is at your base, hardly breathing. how are you able to be running around like this?”

scar’s heart skip a beat. he’s what? “i’m- i’m sorry?”

“you didn’t know?” scott asks. “scar, grian is dying back there. how-“

“i- I may have to bid you farewell.” scar forces a smile.

“you-“

“i’ll see you later, scott.” scar says quickly, swinging a leg over his horse.

he rides back to their cave, praying that scott was just trying to stop him from trapping the land. 

“grian?” scar calls, trying to sound as calm as he can when he makes it outside. “grian?”

“scar?” grian’s voice is so quiet when it comes.

scar rushes over to the entrance, and feels his stomach sink.

grian is crumpled in a heap on the floor, covered in his own blood and petals, and looking up at scar with a desperation that scar has never seen before.

“g?” scar says, failing to keep the fear out of his voice. 

the nickname makes the corners of grian’s mouth twitch up. “scar.” he smiles, sounding so tired, it almost hurts.

“grian, i’m so-“

“we don’t have time for that nonsense.” grian tells him. “come here.”

scar moves over to grian, and sits next to him. “grian, I-“

grian shushes him. “what did I say? now, listen-“ he’s cut off by his own coughs. he turns quickly to the side, to avoid splattering scar with blood. “I need you to listen this time. I don’t love bigb.”

scar’s heart jolts. “what?”

“I never loved bigb.” grian says. “all that was.. well, it was supposed to get rid of my actual feelings. it didn’t work, as you can see.” grian chuckles. his voice is so weak, scar is starting to panic. 

“g, you’re scaring me.” scar cups grian’s face. “you’re gonna be okay, right? you have a solution- you always have a solution.”

“nah.” grian sounds so relaxed about it, like it doesn’t break scar’s heart to hear it. “not this time. I just needed to see you, at least once more.”

“once m- no, don’t say it like that.” scar cups grian’s face. “you’re gonna be okay. that- that’s what you do, you- you don’t go first, that’s me.”

grian looks at scar, his eyes so fond, it hurts. “i’m sorry about bigb. I should have told you the truth before it was so late.”

“grian, what are you saying?” scar asks, terror coursing through his veins as grian’s breathing becomes weaker and weaker. 

grian’s eyes close lazily, the smile on his face calm as ever. “i’m saying goodbye, scar. and I love you.” 

the lighting strike hits with dreadful finality.

[grian withered away]

“no.” scar whispers, pulling grian closer. “no, I love you! I love you! that’s how to fix it, right?” he asks the empty air. “the hanahaki! it- that’s how- I love him!”

I love you

“bring him back.” scar scrunches up his eyes, tears flooding down his face. “bring him back!”

you have played the game well

“he should be alive.” scar rests grian’s body on the floor and stands up, screaming at the unforgiving universe.

everything you need is within you

“I don’t need anything but him!” scar sobs. 

you are stronger than you know

“I love him, that’s how you fix it! I don’t need strength!”

you are the daylight 

“he shouldn’t be dead, he can’t be dead!”

you are the night 

“it’s- those are the rules, he-“

the darkness you fight is within you

“grian, he- he loved me. and I loved him!”

the light you seek is within you 

“and I didn’t need anything else.”

you are not alone

“I only needed him, and-“

you are not separate from every other thing

“and.. he needed me.”

you are the universe

scar knows what he can do now.

tasting itself 

he leaves their dirt cave. he’s covered in blood and petals. lilacs and poppies.

taking to itself

he ignores the others as they call out to him on his trek. he knows where he needs to go.

reading its own code

he passes the remains of jimmy and tango’s ranch. he stops to place a dandelion at their grave. 

i love you because you are love

he crosses the bridge, passing the stone chairs where his and grian’s base used to stand.

and the game was over

he gives a little salute to the ruined relation-ship. if the ship burns, everything burns, after all. it’s his turn now.

and the player woke up from the dream

scar looks over the ledge into the ravine, where he and grian met for the first time. 

and the player began a new dream

he can’t help but smile as he takes a step over and into the air.

and the player dreamed again, dreamed better

the wind rushes through his ears, and faintly he can hear a shout.

and the player was the universe 

it must be his imagination.

and the player was love 

but it sounds like that familiar yell of warning.

you are the player

that yell of-

wake up

“scar.” 

[dmwrites]

I thought of a very stupid idea thanks to this post so enjoy lol

“Oh Princess! Oh Brian! Hello lovely boys!” Keralis boated up to xB’s base. “How lovely to see you both! What are we up to?”

“Hiya Keralis! I was just giving Grian some nautilus shells.” xB said.

“Do you happen to have any, Keralis? I’m trying to build a conduit and I’m tearing my hair out trying to find these shells.” Grian asked.

“Im afraid I have none to my name.” Keralis dramatically shook his head. “And I would love to stay and chat, but I have to run! Goodbye Brian! Goodbye Princess!” And Keralis was gone, rowing down the river again.

“Princess? Why on earth does Keralis call you Princess?” Grian asked xB with a quirked brow.

xB giggled. “Oh, you know, that’s just Keralis for you, always with the pet names.”

“Right, sure, but my nickname is Brian, not hot stuff. So what’s up with you two?” Grian wiggled his eyebrows.

“Oh, get your mind out of the gutter Brian.” xB said, handing Grian the shells. “Don’t you have a rock to bring to life?”

“I’m just gonna keep annoying you until you tell me.” Grian said decidedly, and started jumping up and down on xB’s potato plants to prove it.

“Oh my f- fine, fine, I’ll tell you. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else.” xB sighed. “Keralis has the pet name Princess for me because I used to be his literal pet fish named Princess. There, happy?”

“Im sorry, what?” Grian looked taken aback, naturally.

“A very long time ago Keralis bought me at a pet store. I was a super cool fish, and he named me Princess, and I lived in a fishtank on his desk, and then one day I got turned into this guy.” xB indicated to himself. “So yeah.”

“Wha- how did you get turned into a person?” Grian was flabbergasted.

“That is a story for Keralis to tell, not me.” xB said very firmly, and pushed Grian back into his boat. Grian looked up at him, mind clearly racing.

“Is it like The Shape of Water?”

“No.”

“What about Princess and the Frog?”

“I refuse to speak without a lawyer present.”

[valpus-writing]

Stolen life

"Can I just put on the Netheract helmet? Please? For a moment?" Scar says looking between Grian and Joel. With a bit of a sigh Grian took his off handing it to him.

"If ya want to," Grain says and Scar smiled brightly removing his own helmet and replacing it.

"Aww, aww thanks. Look, look Thanos."

"He's going to fly off now isn't he?" Joel says, and although not the plan at first Scar couldn't help but take advantage of this opportunity to troll the others turning around and jumping of the cliff.

"Goodbye!" He called behind him setting off a rocket so he could get higher. "Have a great time!"

"Scar! Scar get back here!" Grian yelled behind him and Scar just laughed and laughed going higher and higher, he had missed the feeling of the wind like this.

"You can't catch me!" He yelled his voice covering the cracking sound of armor braking. However the sight of the ground now rushing towards him told him what had just happened.

He was laughing and screaming at the same time, the sound of wind rushing in his ears, he could just barely make out the sound of Grian calling his name as he felt the mind numbing pain of every bone snapping as he hit the ground.

Scar was still laughing as he sat up in the void. That wasn't quite right, he shouldn't be able to do-

"My, my that was quite the death wasn't it?" The voice was soft and sweet, but it was one that Scar had never hear before.

He turned to face the voice only to see a women who was at least ten feet tall a wide brimmed hat that has a sparkling see through people face that just barely disfigured her face and top half but he could just barely make out the gold heart on her chest that looked like the the hardcore heart.

"Hello, I didn't think any one was here." No one other then the other dead at been in the void during the time the server was last life so it surprised Scar to see her.

"Ah most are, I'm Lady Death, Goddess of death and Hardcore. Come let me get a good look at you." She says holding her hand out for Scar to climb on. He looked at it for a moment before looking back at her stepping onto the outstretched hand.

She lifted him up carefully like he would shatter in her hands. Scar was sure that if she held on too tight he would disappear. Closer Scar could see her long black hair and deep purple eyes, they reminded him of something, but it was just on the edge of his memory, he couldn't quite pull up the face those eyes belonged to.

"So I'm Scar." The quiet of the void didn't quite sit right making him feel like he needed to speak. Lady Death laughed at that.

"Ah yes our little Icarus, such a shame you had to go so early,"

"Early? What do you mean it was a challenge to make it to 100 hours not a guaranty."

"Oh it was, but you had the potential to live for so much longer, however life must be repaid with life." That made some sense, after all this used to be a killing game, a server that craved for blood. But that wasn't the case anymore so why would that still be in affect. Then it hit him, Grian had died and came back....

"Ah there it is..." Lady Death's voice was soft as she saw the recognition hit Scars face.

"Grian traded my life for a second chance?" He knew it was possible, after all Grian had had tricked him out of a life when they had first joined last life but this... when he knew they only got one chance.

"He didn't realize what he was doing if that makes you feel better." Scar looked up at her hearing that. "He had begged for a second chance, the ability to prove himself, I had told him it would be at the cost of someone else but he didn't care, after all you weren't around at the time and there where plenty of people on that could have taken that spot." She explains and for once Scar had nothing to say back simply taking in what was being said. "But I knew it couldn't be any of them, it had to be someone that was going to mean something, and who better then the man he had sworn to keep alive."

"That's cruel." Words came out of Scar mouth without thinking.

"Death isn't always kind, and certainly not in a place like this."

[strawberrylemonz]

Fateful Night

Grian never forgot his original home, his original family. He didn’t remember the adoption of him and his brothers, but he remembered time after that. His father, King Philza Minecraft, was kind and firm to his sons and his kingdom. He remembered Wilbur’s love of all things musical, how he preferred words over a blade. He recalled his days training alongside Techno in the courtyard, both laughing as they beat their opponents together. He remembered his bedroom in the right wing of the castle, in between Technoblade and Wilbur’s. He remembered his crown and his cape, how he would proudly wear them during celebrations and balls.

But those days were over, he had to remind himself to move on. SMP Earth’s portal had been out of commission for years now, and no one knew why. Signs that the server still existed were found, but no one could piece together the pieces to find the issue with the server. No one could make contact with anyone stuck inside the server, and no one inside could get out. Grian couldn’t get back to his former home, he couldn’t get back to his family. In a way, that makes things easier to live somewhere else. He had disappeared from SMP Earth as a young child, much too young. Now, as a grown man, no one knew of his royal status. He didn’t push to hide his status from his new friends and family, but his situation wasn’t exactly anything that anyone could easily bring up into a conversation. Instead of trying to find a way to tell people, he just found it easier to not acknowledge at all.

He still can’t help but wonder, to question. He still didn’t understand how he was taken away from his room, his palace. He did question some of the competitors in MCC, how they seemed so familiar yet so different. He did wonder whatever became of his baby brother. He remembers many names for the child, but his brain couldn’t pinpoint what name was chosen in the end. It had been so long ago when the child was adopted that his brain couldn’t mush together his name. But he still remembered his eyes, how they shone with curiosity. He still recalls the night that he and his brother’s met the young babe for the very first time.

----------

The winter was colder than usual that year, too cold. Techno and Grian were walking beside Wilbur, taking sips of hot cocoa as Wilbur rambled about his newfound hatred of anteaters. Classes had ended hours before, and they were trying to their best to pass the time until dinner was prepared. They would have usually spent this time with their father, all talking about their day as they sat in the king’s study. Unfortunately, for the princes, this tradition was broken that night. Their father had left after lunch to conduct his weekly visit to the cities and towns that fell under the kingdom’s protection. Unlike the previous visits, however, he had not returned yet. Visits usually lasted a few hours, but tonight was different. It had been six hours since lunch, and he was still gone. As much as they wanted to panic, the triplets knew that things would be okay. This was their father, after all, nothing could scare or harm him.

Grian waved at the night guards as he and his brothers entered the courtyard. They made it halfway when they heard the familiar sound of wings flapping. Turning around, they greeted their father as he landed in front of them. They were stunned, however, why their father hastily nodded to them, before rushing away without a single word. The boys watched in confusion as he curled his wings over himself, as if to shield something in his arms. Although his face appeared to stay neutral and calm, the triplets knew better. Their father was afraid, they could tell by the way he held himself. After exchanging glances with each other, they rushed to follow him, their hot cocoa long forgotten. They followed in worry, listening as Phil barked orders in an unfamiliar, stern voice. They watched as servants ran off, gathering all the nurses and doctors they could find. Phil kicked his bedroom door open, causing the triplets to jump back in surprise. When they regained their composure, they rushed forward to see what their father was shielding. Or, in this case, who he was shielding. The three princes froze in their spots as their father unraveled his wings, revealing an infant babe, bundled in a tattered and burnt blanket. They made their way to step inside the room, but were quickly ushered aside by nurses, who closed the door before them.

“Was that a baby?”

“New sibling, pog.”

“What do you think their name is?”

“I bet it’s a boy!”

“Nuh uh, it’s a girl!”

“Guys, they’re a baby, not an it.”

“I bet I’ll be the favorite brother.”

“No way!”

The triplets sprung into action, ready to greet their new sibling. Rushing back to their rooms, they all quickly worked to make themselves presentable for the welcoming. Dawning their softest sweaters, they each exited their rooms to return to their father. Wilbur adjusted his beanie, Techno his crown, as Grian adjusted the grip on his stuffed cow. All sharing a satisfied smile, they made their way to their father’s room. As they walked down the hall, they took note of the sorrowful expressions of the nurses and doctors who were walking in the opposite direction. When they finally reached the door to the room, they were greeted by a familiar witch doctor. The man smiled down at the young princes, tipping his hat to them as he walked away. When they entered the bedroom, they saw their father sitting on the bed, his back turned to them. As they moved towards him, they were greeted by him, his voice soft.

“Boys, you should be at the dinner table by now.”

“Is that our new sibling?”

Wilbur played with his fingers as he watched his father’s movements, Techno and Grian following their brother’s actions. Phil finally turned to face the three boys, who all faltered at his tired eyes. Giving his sons a tired smile, Phil beckoned the three boys over to him. Slowly approaching the bed, they saw the infant lay on the comforter, his small hands balled into a fist and clinging to his blanket. They watched as he took ragged breaths, his chest rising and falling in uneven patterns. Techno was the first to speak up.

“Is it okay?”

“Techno, don’t be rude!”

“Heh?”

Phil lightly chuckled as he returned his gaze from his sons to the small infant, who was sprawled upon the bed, his breathing becoming shakier as the seconds passed. The triplets frowned as the sadness returned to Phil’s eyes, his voice getting quiet.

“I found a village outside of our kingdom’s borders. It had been burned and destroyed by pillagers. I searched the village many times, but he was the sole survivor. I found him, bundled up, laying in the snow. He wasn’t moving or responding, but he was breathing. That was enough to get me to rush him back here.”

Grian tore his eyes away from his father, deciding to look at the sleeping child. The boy was cute, Grian will admit, but he did look sickly. Wiping some of the sweat off the infant’s forehead, he asked the question that plagued his mind.

“Will he be okay?”

His father and brothers turned to face him, watching as he combed the baby’s hair to the side. Techno and Wilbur quieted down as they faced their father. Phil sighed as he watched the tenderness in Grian’s actions. Closing his eyes, Phil spoke up.

“The regular doctors said there wasn’t anything they could do for him. The nurses said that only a miracle could pick him up from death’s door.”

The triplets felt colder than they have ever felt. They had just got their new baby brother, and now they were losing him. They had to say goodbye before they could say hello. It just wasn’t fair-

“However,”

Three small heads quickly returned their gazes to that of their father’s.

“The last doctor, an old friend of mine, managed to contact the stars. A goddess, Clara, had apparently responded without hesitation. She happily agreed to revive the child and give him her protection.”

The three couldn’t bring themselves to make a witty remark to their father. Magic was real, this was true. Totems of undying were real, this they knew. But as much as they loved listening and reading the stories, the three could not bring themselves to believe that the gods would care for an unknown babe. Complete nonsense, if you asked them. For all they knew, their father was just trying to keep their spirits up, so he most likely crafted a story so that the boys wouldn’t panic when the magic occurred. As they all turned their attention to the sickly baby, they noticed that he stopped breathing. There was silence as the four waited, watching. Wilbur couldn’t stop the watering of his eyes as he latched onto Techno, who was stiff as a board. Phil just closed his eyes, appearing to be praying to whatever entity was listening in, watching the panicked family. Grian, blinded by his own tears, watched over the infant. He let out a shuddering gasp as he held onto the child’s stiff hand with his own. Suddenly, the feeling of warm hands passing through him caused his eyes to widen in shock, the stuffed cow in his arms being pulled closer to his chest. The warmth left as quickly as it came, but that wasn’t what kept him silent. There, laying on the bed, was the baby, breathing normally. Leaning over to get a better look at him, he noticed the warmer tone in the baby’s skin. He took note of the small freckles that began to fade into view, seemingly to mimic small stars. Clutching the cow, Grian prepared to call his family over, only to be stopped by the child furrowing his eyebrows. With a quiet yawn, the baby slowly blinked his eyes open. Grian felt his throat tightened as beautiful, big blue eyes stared into his. Grian couldn’t help but notice how the child’s eyes were as of the sea and the stars conjoined into one. Suddenly, the child switched his gaze down to the stuffed cow in Grian’s arms. Eyes widening with excitement, the baby wiggled his arms free and reached for the toy, squealing in delight.

It was then that Grian knew that he fell in love.

----------

Grian always thought of his family, every day. He had found a new family with Hermitcraft, with its people and with his makeshift children. He was grateful for the family he had now, but he couldn’t help but miss the one he once had.

“Grian! Are you almost ready?”

Shaking his head, Grian called back to Mumbo, who was outside of the room. Reassuring Mumbo that he would meet him at the gates, he smiled as he finished getting ready. As he adjusted his shirt, Grian couldn’t help but feel giddy for tonight. How could he not? It was a special night on the server, after all. One of their youngest members, Tommy, had something grand planned for everyone to see. Tommy was a unique and unusual case for all the hermits. He had appeared two years prior, broken and dull. With nothing but a few personal items, he was nothing but a broken shell of what he used to be. The hermits worked hard to get him to where he was today, to help him heal. They still didn’t know his past pain, but they didn’t push him to reveal anything he didn’t want to. It took a while, but the boy eventually trusted them enough to settle down and make a home there with them. Now, they were ready to see his biggest project on the server. Months prior, Tommy had requested a big area to build an amusement park. He explained that it would be a fun and safe place, and that it was the gate for him to open up about his past to them. He brightened up as the hermits all voiced their encouragement and approval. He insisted on completing the project all by himself, and he did. As soon as it was complete, he sent out invitations to all the hermits for a private opening night. The invitations were dated for tonight. Humming to himself, he peeked into a spare room, satisfied to see Jrumbot and Grumbot asleep for the night. Grabbing his coat, Grian gave his reflection a nod as he left the house, on his way to meet the rest of the server.

----------

Tommy was almost jumping with joy as his friends arrived at the gates, each dressed in casual formal attire. His eyes scanned the crowd, pride blooming in his chest as he took note of everyone who arrived. When he saw Grian, he couldn’t help but cheer alongside his chat. Once he saw that everyone had arrived, he cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Fellas! Can I get a humina?”

Laughter bubbled in his throat as the hermits chanted without hesitation. Joy filled him as he cheered alongside them.

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

Taking a deep breath, Tommy nodded to himself with a smile as joy filled his tone. Quickly thinking over the few points in his speech that he wanted to voice, he happily spoke up.

“Thank you for coming, I mean it. Believe it or not, it took me forever to convince myself to send the invites. I’m glad I did, and I’m glad you all came. It means so much to me that you guys care so much. I hope to repay the kindness to the fullest. For now, however, I’ll give you guys a park and a backstory. Y’know, because I’m cool and shit. I’m like Spider-Man, tragic backstory and all that shit. Mentor tally is through the roof, heh.”

The hermits laughed and cheered at the young man, who glowed with pride before them. They had watched him pick himself up from the brink of death, watched as his dull eyes brightened with love and joy. Ender, they all loved this young hermit.

“Okay, enough stalling. I, TommyInnit, proudly present-”

Affectionate snickers filled the air as Tommy mimicked a drumroll.

“Innit an Adventure!!!”

Cheers erupted from everyone as the sign was revealed, and the gates unlocked. With a giddy bow, Tommy let them enter the newest star attraction of the server. Stress and Impulse doubled up, snatching Doc while they were at it. Grian smiled at Mumbo, who joined his side in the front of the crowd. The two nodded a greeting to Xisuma, who nodded back as Tommy began to show them the map, explaining the different areas of the park, as well as how he would conduct the tour, leaving his tragic hero backstory for the end, when they reached the campfire. After the basic points of the tour for opening night were completed, they all went on their merry way.

Their first stop was the center entrance of the park, dubbed “Tavern Town”. Living up to its name, there were two large taverns, both surrounded by shops and booth games of all kinds. As Tommy explained the way the lodging system would work in the different areas of the park, everyone took note of how much Tommy’s building skills had improved since his initial arrival, something they all felt pride in. He had truly grown so much since he first stumbled in, scared and confused. Once the excited teen finished going over the points for the area, everyone was free to explore the area. Grian opted to ruffle the teen’s hair, praising him for his work so far.

“What the fuck, Big G? Watch the hair, bastard. You know my badass locks take time, bruv.”

“Oh, shut your mouth, princess. I’ll mess with your hair if I feel like it.”

Grian could feel a few affectionate glares directed at the two, but he and Tommy could only smile at each other. Just as he was going to continue showering the younger boy with affection, Mumbo called him over. Tommy smiled as he followed in suit, not quite ready to leave the older man just yet. Soon enough they approached Mumbo, who happily dragged them to a door in the mountain that everyone seemed to be entering, interested. Grian glanced at the lit up sign that addressed the building.

The Cavern of Memories

Determined to face his past, Tommy put up a determined face and followed everyone in.

It was beautiful. There were rows upon rows with sections that represented different servers. Each small section represented a person. Everyone explored the various bonds their favorite bandit obtained during his life so far. The saw the elegant and aesthetically pleasing section of Eret, a strawberry dress neatly sewn by hand with a bi flag hanging above it. Flowers surrounded the stand, and the lighting made it beautiful. A crown and a pair of sunglasses sat elegantly by the stand. They murmured in awe at the different people from different worlds. Niki, Puffy, Schlatt, Dream, Karl, Quackity, Sapnap, BBH, Skeppy. They snickered as they stared with adoration at the sections for a Lani and Drista, which were made to be elegant, dainty, and full of chaos. They never prepared to see so much bedrock and forks in one section, with bee plushies and butter knives in the other. They studied the section created for Tubbo, who, according to the sign, was still Tommy’s best friend.

The group grew excited as they entered the rows for the hermits, dispersing and happily gawking over their personal sections. They couldn’t help but let the happiness swell within them as they saw the sections made especially for them. They appreciated everything in the sections, each item carefully crafted and picked for them.

Mumbo laughed as he pulled Grian over to the sections for Grumbot and Jrumbot. As Mumbo voiced his interest with the detail, Grian’s eyes wandered to an unexplored set of rows. Well, the entrance to it, at least. Furrowing his eyebrows, he headed over to it, curious. Tommy took notice and decided to follow, wanting Grian’s feedback the most. Little by little, everyone began to follow Grian and Tommy into the last section. As Grian stood at the entrance, he peered over to read the sign that stated the server these rows represented. He felt a sharp intake on his part as he read it over and over again, trying to make sure he was reading correctly.

‘SMP EARTH’

Letting out a breath, he entered, Tommy and Mumbo by his side. As he studied the sections and it’s layout, he knew where he was. This first part was obviously Business Bay. Perhaps Tommy was from there? Perhaps Tommy came from the same server he did.

Maybe Tommy knew a way back home.

“The Antarctic Empire? You really are social, Tommy.”

Grian’s eyes widened as he quickly looked over to Doc, who was reading the sign of the next part of the sections. Desperate to see what Tommy knew, he hurried over in unusual silence. The rest of the group quietly followed, worried for Grian’s sudden shift.

He froze.

He couldn’t believe his eyes.

How did Tommy even get all this?

Ignoring the worried voices behind him, Grian made his way to the largest section, and the last one. There, sitting elegantly upon the wall, was a family portrait. Phil lovingly smiled as his wings spread proudly behind him, his arms open and slightly extended. To Phil’s right was Grian’s eldest brother, Technoblade. He sat with a sharp yet, somehow, kind gaze. To Phil’s left was the second eldest, Wilbur. He smiled brightly, his eyes barely visible behind the grin. And there, in the center of the two, sat Grian. He smiled slightly, eyes filled with joy and love. In his arms, was his brand new baby brother, who stared curiously at who had to be the painter.

The royal Antarctic Empire outfits were on display, the crown of each respective member set on display beside each outfit. Many items were hung with sorrowful pride. Elytra there, a guitar in the corner, piano against the wall. Weapons of all kinds hung in an organized manner. Emeralds decorated the empty space. Grian felt his chest hurt as he choked on his words. He wasn’t even aware he was being addressed until two hands firmly grabbed his arms, and a face appeared.

“-kay, big man? What wrong?”

Tommy’s worried gaze trapped Grian in uncertainty. Finally able to form words, Grian’s broken voice filled the silence.

“How…How did you know them?”

Tommy blinked a few times, before turning around to face the display. They didn’t need to see his face to see the sorrow in the teen. Sighing, Tommy pointed at the baby in the portrait.

“See that lil’ man right there? That’s me, as a baby. Apparently I was found by the King, Philza Minecraft. He’s my adoptive dad. Then there’s my oldest brother, Technoblade-”

God, everyone could see how he tensed upon saying the name of his brother.

“-Then there's Wilbur. He practically raised me-”

Once again, his body language told the story. The way he slouched in defeat gave off warning alarms.

“-Then there’s my last older brother. I actually can’t remember his name, he went missing while I was still so small. I do remember some things from him, he gave me a cow on my first day. He’s also great at playing games, very pog. He’s actually the first face I saw when I arrived. You see, I was found in the snow of the ruins of what was once my village. I was dying, but then a witch doctor came and spoke to a goddess in the sky who agreed to revive me and shelter me. I still talk to her, whenever I get the chance. She’s guided me through a lot, she’s great. Her name is-”

“Clara.”

Tommy froze as he turned around, facing the owner of the voice. Grian just stared at him, desperation and hope in his eyes. Tommy stared in confusion as Grian approached him. Furrowing his eyebrows, Grian peered into the teen’s eyes. They stayed blue for a moment, but only a moment. Suddenly, Tommy seemed to have burst to life. Constellations painted his face, wonderful and beautiful as they are. They were Tommy’s one-of-a-kind and unique freckles, crafted specifically for him. And in his eyes? The stars and the sea danced together once more. Suddenly, Grian was wearing his best sweater in his father’s room once again, a cow hugged to his chest.

And then, he broke.

Tears escaped his eyes and he let out a strangled sob, throwing his arms around the younger boy, pulling him into a hug. Tommy let out a startled yelp as his friend engulfed him into a tight and gently embrace, sobbing into Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy had no idea what was happening. Why would Grian be so entranced by SMP Earth? Why would he care about Tommy’s relations to his family? Why did he know about Clara-

Wait-

Oh.

Oh.

Hol y sH I T

Pulling away, not quite believing what his mind put together, Tommy peered at the mess that was Grian. He looked, truly looked at his features. He still wasn’t sure, he didn’t want to hope. He didn’t want to hurt again. But as soon as Tommy peered into Grian’s eyes, he knew. There was no denying it. He knew those eyes. He’d never forget those eyes. They were the same, loving eyes that welcomed him into his new life.

“What the fuck, man.”

Mans before anyone could half-heartedly tell him off for his language, Tommy broke as well. The floodgates were let loose, and Tommy was the gatekeeper who allowed them to be free. Big blobs of tears fell off the boy’s face as he shoved his face into Grian’s chest. Grian, in turn, held onto Tommy as if he would disappear. The two crumbled to the floor, Grian rocking his baby brother in his arms once more, whispering soothing words to him. The rest of the group watched, and their very own hearts seemed to have burst alongside their two friends once they heard the next words.

“I’ve missed you, big bro.”

“I’ve got you, shooting star. I’m not letting you go, not again.”

All the hermits knew right then and there that the rest of the night would be filled with nothing but happiness and love.

They knew that the two finally found their home.

--------------------

This series has been inspired by @petrichormeraki (my beloved, dearest enemy of a blog)

@petrichormeraki has also made art based on this chapter! So has @sydneys-sketches !

New Brother Pog - @petrichormeraki

The Royal Family of the Antarctic Empire - @petrichormeraki

Grian finds the portrait - @sydneys-sketches

Part 1 [CURRENT]

Part 2

[lockoutkey]

It’s even more confusing when Iskall comes in a few days after Etho said goodbye, looking confused as fuck

Etho had woken up from Bdubs dream just a bit ago. He wished he hadn't. Grian had been put to sleep as well, and was still asleep. Not only was he blaming himself, but the man had just fallen into his powers as the Sun God. An emotional god out of control had to be captured until things could...calm down.

Etho was glad it had never happened to him. Even Bdubs couldn't give Grian a dream, his mind was everything, most likely reliving his past life. He did mention something about crossing minds? He had no clue. It wasn't important at the time.

Now, he had to worry about how he would even stay in this room. He couldn't turn from the wall without seeing something of Iskall's. He couldn't even look at his own belongings, his friend was imprinted on those as well. He was seeing phantoms in places he shouldn't. He was going to start hearing things.

"Etho."

Yep, there it is. Iskall had said his name in exasperation like that so many times. Etho, don't forget your book. Etho, don't get run over by a car. Whose the asshole that got run over now?

"Etho, why aren't you in class."

Etho's eyes shot open. It's not possible. It can't happen. Iskall didn't ask him that question because Etho always went to class. Even if he was sick, he still went.

He didn't see Iskall die, not exactly, the gods took him away. it was custom if a human under a god's protection died. But it shouldn't be possible and Iskall shouldn't be here. There wasn't a god walking around that could-

They didn't.

But they did.

He just doesn't know who.

And there he was, standing in a daze. He looked the same as when he last saw him. Bionic eye, green jacket, boots on the carpet floor damnit now there's dirt.

Etho doesn't cry, let's get that straight. Not even when the dog dies in movies. Iskall does a lot, especially when the dog dies. He calls Etho as cold as his hair looks.

So no, Etho is not crying when he jumps to hug Iskall. His eyes are just raining. He is allergic to his roommate. He hates his roommate. Hates him for leaving and making him think he's gone forever. Making him think all he had left were the memory dreams Bdubs put him in.

"What's gotten into you? Wha- are you crying? Etho! What's going on!" Iskall sounds so worried.

"You're so stupid." Is all Etho can say.

Iskall gasps. "You spoon, how dare you insult Iskallman?"

Etho half laughs-half cries. He was going to kill whoever hid him awar for this long, and hug whoever brought him back.

Then he notices something that stops him in his tracks, something that fills him with confusion, horror, and relief. Iskall is alive, that much is true. But something came along with him.

Iskall is a god.

[starcrossedkaiju]

Kingslayer AU: Chapter 11

The big one! This literally took weeks to complete. I wanted it to be done.

We are inching ever closer to the end of this arc. Two more chapters I think.

This one is much longer than the recent ones, but don’t worry. That theme most likely won’t continue.

Warnings: // non-explicit blood, violence, and injury, Major Character Death(s) \\

Scar called upon all of his allies on an exceptionally cold evening, a wicked blizzard was blowing through the server as Scott walked hand in hand with Jimmy through the white-out. Even the desert wasn’t spared from the stirring storm.

A broken line of lights were ascending up Monopoly Mountain, all headed to the same meeting.

When everyone had arrived, warm drinks were passed around. Cleo, Bdubs, Tango, Scott, Jimmy, Grian, and the resident Enderman were huddled in the living area.

Scott was biting his nails, so to speak. He was pretty sure he knew what they were there for; and he was not excited. He sat next to Jimmy and begged that the Red Desert wasn’t going to start a war with Dogwarts. It was going to happen sooner or later, everyone knew that, but Scott felt an ounce of selfishness.

Things were going so well.

He was starting to feel like he was on the wrong side of history. Sitting in that room, Scott had been to Dogwarts after Grain and Scar had tried to burn Skiz’s banner. He was in the room when they started talking about war; and here he was again. In a room talking about war.

He was there for quiet conversations about nonstop threats from Scar and Grian, how they were going to protect themselves, and questioning why it had to be them.

Pizza was dead. The air was unstable, everyone could feel it.

Scar began talking about a plan to trap the Sand Castle. Grian was confident that their new bunker would protect them well enough and had even started moving their things out. Dogwarts was to be baited into the castle where Scar would be waiting for them, to pull the trigger and blow the entire building to smithereens with the Red Army inside.

The thought of it made Scott’s insides turn. He’d already jeopardized his entire mission by falling for Dogwarts, becoming their friend when he was supposed to hate them, he kicked up the dirt when he suggested that Etho’s house was flammable, another slip up and the house of cards he’d built could be pulled down around him.

The whole meeting Scott just sat on the couch feeling sick. Too cowardly to say it was wrong. When he knew it was wrong. Like always, he let someone else steer his life for him. Scott watched as everyone agreed and started leaving. A feeling of distance fell upon him as he walked back home, Jimmy in the lead this time.

Tomorrow. He only had until tomorrow to decide whose side he was on. Scott stared at the ceiling in bed, he knew he wouldn’t be seeing a second of sleep when his pager started beeping. Already knowing who it was, Scott quietly left the house once more.

Dogwarts was eerily silent on top, but a quiet conversation emitted from the living quarters. Every member was sat around the room conversing with each other about their plan of attack. Tango shot him a glance when he entered the room, his eyes went wide and he excused himself from his conversation with Joel.

“Scott?” He whispered scoldingly when he was close enough, shoving the other to the most empty side of the room.

“I can’t do this Tango, I’m telling them,” Scott whispered.

“What? No, no, no, you can’t back out now! My god- Scott how could you even come here?” Tango hissed through his teeth.

“This is wrong! You know it’s wrong! I can’t just stand by anymore, I can’t do this to them,” Scott tried to keep his composure. He pleaded.

“And what about the others? What about you? Us?” Tango asked, his face was pale.

Scott closed his eyes, he’d done everything in his power to give as little information as he could about the Red Desert Alliance to Dogwarts. He wanted to protect people, of course, but he knew there was no escaping the war. Even if he didn’t say anything tonight. Something would happen tomorrow.

His friends were wrong, he’d grown enough to see that.

“I’m sorry,” he said, drowning out the lump in his throat and turning away from Tango, who yanked his sleeve in a last ditch effort. It was too late.

Scott strode over to Ren, tapping him on the shoulder. The Red King looked down, dismissing Etho and addressing Scott.

“Hey dude,” he greeted.

Scott’s hands shook as he formulated his admission, “The Red Desert is going to war with you tomorrow,” he said. Plain and simple.

The horrific shock on Tango and Impulse’s faces could easily be read as concern for the Red Army.

Scott felt like he shrunk to the size of an atom as everyone took turns looking at each other. Ren brought a steady hand to his chin, resting it on his knuckles in thought. The lights glared pure white off his glasses.

He walked to the table in the middle of the room and gazed upon the map, leaning over it to ponder. Scott fell back against the wall, his heart was pounding in his ears. He wasn’t even paying attention when Ren started firing off about their plan of action.

He wasn’t listening when Tango yelled at him on the way home. All he could think about was what the hell he was going to do now.

The jig was certainly going to be up tomorrow. Someone was going to be accused of spying, and when one of them went down, so would the rest.

What would Jimmy think of him? Should he just come clean? Admit to joining the Red Army on accident and let him figure out how he felt about it?

It didn’t matter. Scott had three hours to rest his eyes, and spend possibly the last peaceful night he would ever have with his husband.

The morning was spent mostly in silence. Scott gathered his weapons and stocked his arsenal with potions. He stared at the wall and went over the situation in his head. Preparing goodbyes, apology speeches, everything he could think of that might go wrong.

“Hey,” Jimmy came up behind him, taking a fire resistant potion out of his hand, “I was scared you were gonna drop it if you floated away any further,” he sat down on the workbench.

“Are you scared?” he asked, taking Scott’s hand and interlocking their fingers.

Scott closed his eyes, leaning his head on Jimmy’s shoulder. He nodded his head, not in the mood to lie.

“So am I,” Jimmy confessed, “just promise me something?” he tucked Scott’s stray hairs behind his ears.

“No goodbyes,” he said. As if he was swearing it into existence.

Scott nodded, doing his best to smile optimistically. He held out his pinkie finger in a gesture of promise. Jimmy hooked his own pinkie around it and shook it a bit, leaning forwards to touch foreheads with the other before leaving to get his armor.

They left at dawn and shivered all the way to the Red Desert. It was exceptionally cold that morning. Like the weather was also fighting in their war. A small group of people was gathered at the bottom of Monopoly Mountain. Most of them were sat sharpening their weapons and counting their arrows. Scott spotted Tango and shot him the most apologetic look he could manage before excusing himself to talk to him.

“Tango,” Scott started.

“You know they’re going to be here any second,” Tango said, “so why don’t you tell us about the plan like you did for them?”

Scott was making his mind up about what he should say when an arrow shot into the sand near his feet. He looked up, scanning the tree line.

It was too late.

Everyone gathered on the sand snapped to attention, drawing their weapons and forming a group opposite to the Red Army. Scar was shaking his head, asking himself how this could happen. Scott walked wearily to the frontlines, his free hand was taken by Jimmy.

Everyone in the Red Desert looked at each other, then Scar raised his bow, and that was it.

Scott was jumped by Impulse. Better him than anyone else, even if his blows were a bit harder due to bitterness. They went back and forth stealing glances at the rest of the battle where a few mounds had been constructed to hide behind.

Impulse kicked Scott onto his back and kneeled on his stomach, taking his air. He leaned in, sparing nervous glances to their surroundings.

“I hope you got your fill of righteousness,” he hissed.

Scott gasped for air, “this was going to happen whether I had a part in it or not,” he said.

“How could you?!” Impulse shouted, but whatever else he was going to say was stolen when Bdubs rushed him from the side, throwing both of them off of Scott and into their own cloud of dust.

Scott breathed in a lung full of dust and rolled over, stumbling to his feet and spinning around to gauge the battle. It was a blur. His mind flew to looking for Jimmy. Someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind a shield, where a stray arrow plunged into the wood.

“Where is Grian?” Tango shook Scott’s arm, sweat was rolling down his face through a coat of brown dust.

“I don’t know! I haven’t seen him since..” Scott froze.

Tango seemed to read the pallid expression on his face and nodded encouragingly.

Scott didn’t finish his sentence. He threw himself to his feet and sprinted across the battlefield, towards the border of the desert. A series of blueprints he’d seen all those weeks ago flashed through his head as he ran. Dodging arrows and slamming into his fellow server mates.

Finally, he rounded a barricade and saw what he was hoping not to see. A few hundred yards away, Scar was taking Ren and Martyn in battle. Inching ever closer to a disarmingly empty plot of land. Scott knew that if you weren’t aware, you’d barely be able to see the tiny windows sticking out of the sand.

“Scar!” he called out.

Nobody heard him.

Even if they did, there was no time.

The ground under his feet rumbled, causing him to drop his weapon before a flash of pure light pierced the air. He heard screams for a moment, but they were quickly drowned out by a wall of fire ejecting itself from the ground. Scott was knocked off his feet and launched through the air.

He hit the ground with a painful thud, but he didn’t come to a stop until he’d bounced head over heels a few feet further.

Scott’s nose was pressed into the ground as he rolled around in pain. He pushed himself to his knees with shaking arms.

In front of him was a gigantic, jagged crater carved into the ground. Smoke and fire billowed from its crude maw. Scott coughed and tried to wave away the suffocating ash to no avail. It permeated his eyes and throat.

Scott realized he had been rendered deaf for the moment, and partially blind for that matter. He struggled to his feet and outstretched his arms for balance, falling over twice before his purchase returned to him.

Someone grabbed his arms from behind and spun him around, touching his face and holding him up steadily.

“I can’t hear!” Scott shouted, pointing to his ears in case whoever it was didn’t understand him.

“Can’t see you,” he pointed at his eyes and then at where he assumed the person was.

The person took his hand and formed it into a fist, then interlocked their pinkie with his own.

“Jimmy?” Scott asked, he rubbed his eyes but his hands were taken away. Jimmy positioned his face gently and he felt water in his eyes, washing away the charred debris.

His vision returned to him as the stinging in his eyes subsided. Not so much the same for his hearing, but that was okay. Jimmy hugged him close and looked him over one more time, before tracing the word “stay” on Scott’s palm.

Scott nodded, watching the other go off into the smoke. Probably to help people.

Something moved in his peripheral vision. Through the black smoke came a figure. Scott recognized it as Scar. He was climbing out of the crater. His movements looked painful, he was dragging something behind him.

It became apparent when he hoisted the object over the edge of the crater that Scar was dragging a limp Grian behind him. He laid the other out on the sand, hovering over him with concern etched on his face.

Scott crawled over, shouting to see if Scar could hear him. He pointed at his ears and shook his head. Scott wished he knew human sign language.

Scar turned his attention back to attempting to wake Grian, who wasn’t moving. He didn’t even seem to be breathing. Sensing that Scar was beginning to get very upset, Scott told him to sit back.

First he tried patting Grian on the chest, tapping his forehead, then observing him for any sign of breathing. His lips weren’t blue yet, he was still alive. Scott took his fist and pressed it deeply into Grian’s sternum, then firmly rubbed up and down.

Grian didn’t move at first, then his eyes flew open under his cracked glasses. His arms shot up to cover his chest and he cursed profusely at how he’d been woken up. He’d probably have a bruise for a while.

Scott motioned for him to calm down and breathe. Count to ten and back, and so on. Grian followed his instructions, wiping the dirt from his face and off his probably useless glasses.

Once he was sure Grian and Scar were fine, he quietly excused himself. The dust has started to clear now and the silhouettes of Dogwarts and the Red Desert alike were milling around, nobody seemed to be fighting anymore. Presumably lost without their respective captains. Scott’s ears has started ringing, and behind the din he could hear the ghosts of people shouting.

Scott idly counted the people around him. Some were huddled over a hastily constructed furnace attempting to brew last minute healing potions. As he counted, he kept coming up short. He counted again, and again. Every time there were two people missing.

He turned back to the crater. Whose smoke had started dissipating into the sky. He knew who was missing, and as he stared into the gaping wound of the earth, a hand reached up to the sky. Then came down on the jagged cliff, pulling the rest of the body to the surface.

Ren fell in a heap at the edge of the hole. Breathing hard from his journey to the top. Scott didn’t know whether or not to offer him help. His sunglasses were nowhere to be found, probably crunched beneath the debris of the bunker and the rest of the desert, and he was covered in a layer of collateral grime. It painted his clothes black and made his yellow eyes stand out.

He pushed himself to his knees with a lot of trouble, scanning the destroyed battle field with a mirthful expression until his gaze fell on Scott. The way in which they locked eyes made Scott flinch, he was in big trouble.

His mind told him he needed to diffuse the situation, but he was still without most of his hearing. It would be even harder if Ren had also been deafened. A familiar “why me” rang through his head. The urge to just leave and call everything quits nagged at him.

Ren stood on shaking legs and made his way, as quick as he could manage, into Scott’s personal space, who backed away; but he yanked his arm.

He stared talking very fast. Scott saw his mouth move but barely any noise actually processed in his mind. Scott shouted as clearly as he could that he couldn’t hear. Throwing in a few sorry’s as he went.

Ren dragged his hands from the tips of his ears down his face in frustration, his fingertips left smudges on his cheeks and over his eyes. He began doing sign language, but Scott shook his head.

By now a small congregation of people had started observing the argument from a distance. All of them more privy to what Ren was mad about than Scott was. Heat rose to his face in embarrassment as he tried to talk over Ren, trying to explain himself. Ren had started yelling as if it would help, and the argument was getting visibly heated when Jimmy stepped in.

He pushed Ren back with force so that he stumbled. This seemed to cause a chain reaction. Ren shoved Jimmy back, and they went back and forth until Jimmy threw a punch.

Scott attempt to make them stop, he came between them and ordered them to calm down, but tensions were far too high for any de-escalating. His emotions were verging on a serious breakdown, frantically begging the fight to stop. To let him explain.

Nobody heard him. If they did, they didn’t care.

Ren had taken out his damaged axe and started swinging.

Jimmy kicked Ren in the stomach, the ladder fell on his back and Jimmy kicked him again.

“Jimmy stop it!” Scott shouted, and he could almost hear himself.

Jimmy looked up at him, still standing over the Red King. His eyes were furious.

Something passed quickly in Scott’s periphery, so he turned around.

Behind him, one foot still propping himself out of the crater, was Martyn. A freshly shot bow still aimed in front of him. His eyes were dark and angry as he stared right past Scott.

Scott turned back to Jimmy, whose eyes were fixed and frozen on Martyn. He staggered back, looking down at his chest where a poisoned arrow had pierced his battle-worn chest plate. His hand wrapped around the projectile, and as if he weren’t even thinking, he wrenched it from his flesh.

Jimmy’s expression read as shock. Right before his eyes rolled into his head and he fell like a load of bricks onto his knees, then his back. His fingers were still wrapped tightly around the arrow. Covered in a mixture of blood and sickly green poison.

He fell, and he stayed.

Scott didn’t have a second to process. Not even the thought to scream, reach out, or run came to him. A blanket of nauseating numbness draped itself around him. His mind left him as he stared helplessly. He watched as Jimmy’s lifeless body grew tendrils of thorny vines until it was consumed indefinitely. Only an arrow wrapped in rose vines remained. Light green flowers bloomed and waved in the wind.

And as if he were watching himself on a screen, Scott did something that he didn’t know he could do. That he had forgotten he could do.

A flash of light illuminated the livid grey sky.

Just as fast, Scott had approached Martyn, who didn’t have time to run. He didn’t have time to put his arms in front of his face as Scott’s hand curled into a fist.

He brought his knuckles down on the center of Martyn’s face, an audible crunch sounded out as he was knocked off his feet. A horrified expression painted itself on his face as he held his bleeding nose.

Scott raised his fist again, and as he did a string of dry lighting spread across the sky. He aimed again, and when his fist met Martyn’s face, a bolt of light shot down from the sky. It turned the world into a pure white canvas with an ear piercing roar.

In its wake was a blackened patch of burning sand. Scott and Martyn sat just as they had been before, but Martyn would not get up.

His body lay bruised and burnt, eyes closed tightly in pain. The rose vines claimed his remains quickly, wrapping around a pair of bloodied hands instead of an arrow this time.

Scott stayed bent over where his friend had been. Tears streamed down his face as the static disappeared from his ears. He ripped his arms out of the thorns which tore at his bandages. Blood permeated the wrappings, but he didn’t know how much was his.

He pushed himself away, kneeling in the grave he’d created.

“Major,” someone said, cold and angry.

A hand planted itself firmly on his shoulder, spinning him around forcefully. Scott had only a second to see that it was Ren, before he was hoisted up by the front of his shirt and thrown across creation. Landing hard on his ass for the second time that day. His shoulder made a nauseating POP, hanging limply and awkwardly at his side when he pushed himself up.

Ren placed his foot on his chest to keep him down.

Behind Ren, the greater alliance of Dogwarts had gathered. Confusion and betrayal was etched on their faces.

“Not a word, Major,” Ren said. Low and forced, his eyes were blown wide with something like fear.

Then he raised the handle of his broken axe over his head, the hilt made contact with Scott’s skull.

Lights out.

[fan-da-nerd]

“we don’t tolerate that here” a Hermitcraft fanfic

yso i saw an anon post from @give-grian-rights that gave me inspiration to write a Hermitcraft one-shot based on the Sam’s funeral... story? anyway, i hope you enjoy

TW: panic attacks, trauma, death, beating abusers to death, vomiting  mention

no one planned for it to happen, no one really even knew. but that changed one day when mumbo was just wandering around the forest and found himself at the foot of Grian’s mansion. the prismirine build towered above him, casting a shadow over him in the late day sun. The mustacheio’d man decided to have a peek inside the mansion just to see if Grian was there and if he’d done anything new.  

he strolled inside, past the map corridor into the main room. he huffed quietly as he looked around at the sprawling sorting system. you really need to get on that he thought to himself. he continued to look around, not seeing Grian anywhere. 

just then he heard crying. quiet and whimpering from behind the rows of HMMMMM. Mumbo made his way around them, looking around for the source of the noise. he found it in a bundle of red jumper and shimmering wings. wings wrapped tight around him as he laid curled on the floor. mumbo moved swiftly over to him, slowing when he got close. 

“Grian?” he spoke gently as he took a step closer. the man on the floor curled up tighter with a yelp, shaking with unsteady breath. “its ok Grian, its me, mumbo.” he whimpered again then gagged and cough roughly. this continued, gagging and wheezing so much then he uncurled  and braced himself up. mumbo hurried over to his friend and rested his hand on his back. Grian flinched in surprise but continued to cough. 

“hey, hey, Grian look at me. its ok, what do you need? mumbo asked in a panic. Grian wheezed again, but finally looked up at mumbo. eyes bloodshot and face pale from fear and pain. the dark haired man moved quickly when Grian started gagging again. grabbing the nearest composter and moving it in front of his friend, helping him get up and lean against it. 

“what happened, did you eat a pufferfish? do you need a health potion, milk?” he continued berating him with questions as he started to get up to grabbed whichever liquid he could find first. As he started to stand he felt a hand rest on his knee. he looked down and met Grian’s eyes, where the shorter man just slowly shook his head. tears ran down his face and his breathing still jerked and wheezed. Mumbo slowly kneeled down again as Grian turned and coughed again, starting to claw at his throat. 

“Grian, don’t. what’s happening?” he muttered in distress. Grian didn’t speak for a moment the muttered.

“pan- panic” 

mumbo thought for a moment panic, panic, panic- “panic attack?” he asked quickly. Grian nodded, holding his throat and coughing like he was trying to cough something up. 

“water” he muttered, and mumbo began rummaging though his bag for a water bucket. he pulled it out and handed it to Gri, who chugged it in less than 30 seconds. he coughed but finally leaned back, his chest rose up and down sporadically.

“hey, hey. breath Grian. in for 5-”

they continued like this together, in, hold, out.in a couple minute Grian had stopped crying,  and his breathing had steadied to a normal steady pace. mumbo moved in front of him slowly. “ok, Grian. what happened? you don’t have to tell me, but if you are willing to. I want to help.” Grian stared off into nothing, his eyes started to well up with tears again as he seemed to see things no one else could. Mumbo could hear him trying to force his breath to stay calm. Grian took a deep breath, then everything began to spill out.

“I saw a white rabbit and it sent me spiraling and i couldn't stop thinking and he hurt me it hurt so bad he cut my wings, forces plastic down my throat he tried to MURDER me Mumbo he put a knife in my side and i still feel like there's plastics lodged in my throat and I want to scream and cry whenever i think about it and Sam so many and done so much terrible things and he didn’t get his karma-” this vent ended is mumbo grabbing him and pulling him close, trying to stop the spiraling before it gets back to how it was when he found him. Grian's shoulders when slack and he leaned into the hug, and they sat there together in silence. 

mumbo sat there, trying to think of something to say to this. he knew that Grian didn’t like talking too much about his early past. sure they’d learned some things, other worlds like Evo and projects he did in his own world but they never knew much. and definitely not this. he thought for what felt like an hour before finally asking. “are you ok now?” He could feel Grian hesitate, but nod. “ok. whatever happened in your past, its not the present. you’re with us now.” 

Grian took a breath and pulled away from his mustached friend. His eyes softened and he smiled. “thanks mumbo.” he nodded and stood up, offering a hand to his shorter friend. Grian took his hand and pulled himself to his feet, stumbling but standing. 

“hey Grian?”

“yeah?” 

“is it ok if i tell X about this? so that more people can know about your triggers and avoid-” he made a vague gesture “this? its ok if not” Grian thought for a moment then nodded.

“probably easier than me trying to talk though it” he chuckled quietly at the end. Mumbo smiled, half happy half concerned before glancing at the door. 

“ok, then I think I’m going to leave now. if your ok-” Grian cut him off with a nod. Mumbo waved goodbye, then took off with only 20 rockets. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mumbo flew around, weaving between the towers of the jungle looking for the Admin.  he eventually spotted him in his main tower and landed on the balcony. Xisuma was setting his ravenger helmet, no doubt having just changed after a decked out run. he spotted mumbo and spun around, grabbing his Bee helmet on the way around. “Mr. Jumbo, what do i own the pleasurer?” 

“hey X...” Mumbo started, very suddenly realizing he did not know how to open this conversation. “I wanted to let you know about something that happened with Grian.” X’s face fell a little as he tilted his head to the side 

“is he ok? 

mumbo sighed and shrugged “not really. i found him having a panic attack in his mansion. he said he’s ok now but i thought you should know.” 

“oh,’ Xisuma’s voice softened as he sat down against the wall, locking his helmet on as he went. “mind telling me what happened?” Mumbo sat down across from him and began to explain everything he could remember. Clipped wings, attempted murder, stabbing, harassments, unfulfilled karma. it was a little hard to see Xisuma’s expression behind the black visor, but Mumbo could make out concern with tinges of anger. an expression he was not used to seeing on the bee man. when mumbo finished X was deep in thought. he nodded slowly before looking down at his communicator. the device they use to message, research, change worlds, ect. 

“did he say who this was?” Mumbo pauses for a minute as he tried to remember. 

“it was... Sam? the spiral was also caused by a white rabbit. that's all i really know.” X nodded and looked back up at Mumbo.

“thanks for letting me know.” something about his voice sat oddly with the dark haired man but he let it go. to be honest Mumbo was angry himself. that someone would hurt Grian like that and not his due. he stood up and nodded at X, who nodded back. something told him that X understood what Mumbo was feeling. He turned around and jumped off the tower, taking off into the blue. “Sam.. rabbit.” X muttered to himself as he began to type into his device. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the next morning came with an odd message from X.

‘if anyone would like to join me in punishing, meet at the SD between the diamond trees in 5’ -Xisumavoid

‘sounds fun. I’m in’ -TangoTek

‘what?” -impulseSV

5 minutes later roughly half the server was there. some out of curiosity, some trusting that if X wants to punish someone its probably reasonable.  Etho, impulse, Ren, Mumbo, False, tango, Iskall, Wels, and of course Xisuma were all gathered together in front of the whirling portal.

“mind explaining why we’re gathered here?” Wels asked as he looked around at how many people had arrived. X took and breath and walked in front of the group. 

“ladies and gentleman, today we’re here because a member of our community has terrible trauma and an abuser who got away without punishment. an abuser who killed, maimed, manipulated, and injured multiple people in a non responing world” silence fell over the group in surprise. “I believe they deserve to get punished. you in?” no words were spoken but Wels stood up tall and pulled his sword. others followed suit and did the same. Etho pulled his bow and tango loaded a crossbow with a rocket. X nodded, and began to type into his device. 

as they stood around, none of the notice and short man in a jumper flying into the district. he started towards the barge but turned when he saw a gathering of half the server who looked like they were ready for homicide. he didn’t want to interrupt so he kept to the side and just watched. of all the things he thought could be happening, Sam Gladiator falling from the sky was not on that list. every muscle in his body tensed, wanting to book it or throw hands but instead it just froze stock still. 

The Bunny boy plummeted from the sky and landed with a hard thud. he stood, with everything spinning but saw himself surrounded by people he did not know. at first. then, hiding beside a large blue sea creature he saw an old friend of his. glancing around, the multiple armed adults was... surprising, but not too concerning. Everyone was dying or killing back home. he stood to his feet and took a step towards the older kid. as he did this, mumbo followed his gaze and spotted the small bundle of red and gray, panicking instantly. without thinking he lurched forward and shot his blade out, blocking Sam from getting to Grian. 

he looked up at Grian and only saw fear, he had taken a step back in perfect sync with Sam stepping forward. Instantly, mumbo only saw red hot rage. X’s voice broke the daze as he spoke of the crowd. “you are the one who hurt him, aren’t you?” his tone implied that he wasn’t really asking. 

Sam turned to him and laughed. “Its not that bad-” 

“You. abused. him.” X snapped back, exasperated and pissed. “and we don’t tolerate that here. Go.” that was all that was needed. 

The fight broke out instantly, a kid with a knife clashing with explosions and swords. People of both sides had blades stabbed into them and the bunny boy held surprisingly well in the fight. that does not mean he did well. he died multiple times and every time he responed again and got back into the fight. it was nearly impossible to head over the clash of metal and fireworks a yard from your face. The incoming storm did not help, the distant roar of thunder and shocks of light made the whole thing even more disorienting. 

Grian watched this go on, seeing the people he loved and the land he called home. for the first time in a while, he looked at the white rabbit ear and still felt safe. they were willing to research, summon, and fight a guy they don't even know except as a murderer. just because he had hurt Grian. his muscles relaxed as he blinked the shock out of his eyes. he watched the fight rage on, the dark clouds coming in, and got an idea. he slinked into guardian goodies and found the ender chest. he rummaged through it and found what he was looking for. standing up and pulled out the glistening trident, lightning crackling between the prongs. he climbed up guardian goodies, stood up on the top, and he smiled. He felt absolutely honored and loved by the hermits, but it was time for him to face his past. this was his fight, and he knew that the hermits were by his side in the battle. 

he pulled up his device and typed two simple words.

‘get back.’- grian

everyone looked around, and when they finally saw him his eye were sharp on Sam. Trident lifted above his head, crackling with power and magic. his knuckles turned white as he thought about all that had happened, everything that he’d done. everyone pulled away from Sam, leaving him exposed as Grian finally shot forward and let it all go.

lightning cracked down on sam, and this time he didn’t respon

no proofreading, we die like men

[stormjay0]

Two Hermits, Passing in the Night

Thought I’d write a lil something about how the hermits are still friends despite the war :)

Whoosh. Silvery-lilac wings unfolded in the early dusk. The days were getting shorter now, and Grian hadn’t kept track of time as he stocked the barge for the next day. So now, as he headed back to his mansion for the night, it was already growing dark, far past a Bdubs-acceptable time. He could almost hear the builder’s protesting voice in his head, loud and indignant. Oh, wait, he actually could hear Bdubs- turning a sharp corner in the air, Grian spotted him talking to Scar by the bottom of the town hall stairs. Intending to scare the pair, he landed gracefully behind a marble pillar (that he had built, by the way!) and peered around it at them.

Bdubs was talking passionately about some plan to foil the Mycelium Resistance, with a sleepy Scar nodding along, half-listening. When he finished his tirade, Bdubs seemed to realize for the first time how low the sun was. With panicked movements, he yelled a goodbye to Scar and flew towards his base, clipping the pillar Grian was standing behind with his foot. So much for scaring both of them.

Scar began to walk away, getting his arm caught in one of the straps of his elytra as he struggled down the brick-and-stone path. Grian took the opportunity to swoop down behind him and follow in his footsteps, silent as a cat.

After trying to adjust his elytra for an unnecessarily long time, Scar turned his head to better see what the problem was- and upon seeing a very close Grian face, jumped nearly out of his skin with an unmayorly screech. Grian sank down laughing hysterically, tears coming to his eyes as Scar tried and failed to assume a dignified face, smoothing down his suit. Grian gasped for air a few times before composing himself, and addressed Scar with an exaggerated bow.

“Why good evening, Mister Mayor of the Glorified Hay,” he joked.

Scar attempted to look serious, but, failing yet again, couldn’t help but smile. He hid it with his own over-the-top greeting.

“The same to you, Sir Foot Fungus Leader,” he said with an exaggerated fancy air. The two looked each other deviously in the eyes for a moment before bursting out laughing. Grian moved beside Scar and they started walking together, chatting as old friends do.

“Can I get you a drink?”

...

The sun had sunk ever lower in the sky, turning it a beautiful navy blue. The two builders sat atop the old MooPop factory roof, taking in the chaotic beauty of the shopping district.

Scar handed Grian a dusty glass bottle and used the side of the roof to open another for himself.

“Bottoms up!” He downed half the glass in a single gulp and leaned back to look at the stars.

Grian wrinkled his nose at the concoction of carbonated mushrooms. “You guys drink this stuff?” He swirled it around suspiciously.

Scar raised an eyebrow, smiling sideways. “I thought you guys loved mushrooms! Isn’t that your whole thing?”

Grian tried a sip and immediately spat it out. “Ugh! We like it on the ground, not in our mouths. Besides, it’s about the principle!”

They both giggled a little at the playfighting. Although they were currently on opposite sides of a war, the two were too close of friends to stay enemies all the time. Here at least, after hours, they could banter like they always had.

Scar sat up and pointed into the formations of stars. “Hey look, those stars look like a big Jellie!”

Grian looked up, squinted, and looked incredulously at Scar. “Since when did Jellie look like a straight line?”

“Well, if you turn your head sideways, squint, and focus on those two the most- it’s a perfect Jellie!”

Grian bopped Scar on the head with his full bottle of MooPop. “I think all these carbonated mushrooms have gotten to your head, Mr Mayor.”

As if summoned by the starry likeness of herself, Jellie turned the corner of a smokestack with a purr-muffled meow. The two watched her amble her way over to them, and with an air of grandeur, settle into Grian’s lap.

Scar gasped in fake betrayal. “Jellie! You can’t sit in his lap! He’s the leader for the other team!”

Grian grinned smugly. “The Great Jellie has chosen!” He scratched her on the head as she settled into his thick sweater.

Grian and Scar might’ve been leading opposing sides of a war, but they were friends, first and foremost. And as much as each would never admit it to the other, they had sorely missed nights like this, when they would stay up late in the deep jungle, talking into the night. And so, neither one minded when the other kept the conversation going for hours, and neither one minded when they fell asleep to the sunrise as it began to warm the slate tiles of the factory roof.