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firefly464 · 18 days ago

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Scar fic is out!!!! oh im so so proud of this one I hope you guys like it!!

Word Count: 2,123

Fandom: 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Charles | Grian & Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Pearl | PearlescentMoon & Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar

Characters: Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Charles | Grian, Pearl | PearlescentMoon, The Universe (Minecraft)

Additional Tags: Character Study, POV Second Person, Memory Alteration, Only Winners Remember the 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series, 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series-Typical Character Death, Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar-centric, Isolation, Disassociation, its the end of secret life he does NOT have a good time, Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar Needs a Hug, Scar and his relationship with The Universe

Series: Part 5 of Life after Life (again and again and again)

Summary:

You think The Universe might hate you. That’s the first conclusion you come to after you wake up. It’s also the only explanation you can really think of for why you’re in this situation.

Not only are you the first yellow, but now you’re the first red! And not only are you the first red, but all the color of your skin seems to have drained away.

And on top of all that, there’s sand in your blankets!!

~~~

Or, an exploration of Scar's relationship with The Universe and how it evolves over time

~~~

https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/159769846

Or read it under the cut :D

~~~

You think The Universe might hate you. That’s the first conclusion you come to after you wake up. It’s also the only explanation you can really think of for why you’re in this situation.

Not only are you the first yellow, but now you’re the first red! And not only are you the first red, but all the color of your skin seems to have drained away.

And on top of all that, there’s sand in your blankets!!

Well. That one isn’t a new development, but it’s certainly not pleasant.

The second conclusion that you reach is that you don’t really care. Yeah you might be red, but you’re still alive! So you’re not out of the running quite yet.

Besides, you’re not alone in this.

Hopefully.

You still don’t actually know if Grian is still with you now that you’re red. Last you had seen, he was watching you fall to your death, desperately reach out to try and catch you.

You should probably go check on him actually. He’s probably worried.

You think The Universe might hate you. That’s the first conclusion you come to after you wake up. It’s also the only explanation you can really think of for why you’re in this situation.

Not only are you the first yellow, but now you’re the first red! And not only are you the first red, but all the color of your skin seems to have drained away.

And on top of all that, there’s sand in your blankets!!

Well. That one isn’t a new development, but it’s certainly not pleasant.

The second conclusion that you reach is that you don’t really care. Yeah you might be red, but you’re still alive! So you’re not out of the running quite yet.

Besides, you’re not alone in this.

Hopefully.

You still don’t actually know if Grian is still with you now that you’re red. Last you had seen, he was watching you fall to your death, desperately reach out to try and catch you.

You should probably go check on him actually. He’s probably worried.

~~~

You manage to get to the end. You’re not sure how it happened.

No, that’s a lie. You know exactly how it happened.

It’s because Grian helped you.

You would have died a long time ago without him. The Universe would have ripped you up and tossed you away.

Perhaps that would have been kinder. Maybe not to you, but to him.

He wouldn’t be here, cradling your dying form.

You want to reach out, to tell him that it’ll be ok. Your arms won’t respond.

Just another way that The Universe has screwed you over.

~~~~~

Not to toot your own horn, but you think you might be The Universe’s favorite.

When you had woken up, there had been six hearts on your arm. One heart per life.

Meaning you started out with six lives. Six!

And ok sure maybe Grian had managed to trick you into giving him one, but that still left you with five! Which was still way more than most other people!!

And if that wasn’t good enough, you’ve managed to find yourself a promising new business venture! Since there’s only one enchanter that you know of, you have no doubt that people will be willing to pay a decent amount to be able to use the thing.

It’s not your fault that it had been left completely unattended. It’s not your fault that no one else saw the incredible opportunity right in front of them!

Well. No one except Joel. But that’s why he’s your new business partner. No reason in having competition when you can have help instead!

Magical mountain. That’s what you call it.

~~~

And then Joel dies. And he dies again.

And again.

And again .

And suddenly he’s red and you’re being forced to tear down the bridge that leads to his little cave in the mountain and he’s screaming that everyone better watch out before he kills them all.

You come out of the whole ordeal with no allies and no enchanter.

Honestly? It could be worse.

It strikes you just how easily you could have ended up in his place. Both started out with five lives. Both felt the weight of the curse upon your shoulders.

The only real difference is that you got lucky. He didn’t.

Well. No one ever said being The Universe’s favorite was easy.

~~~

As it turns out, it doesn’t really matter how kind The Universe decides to be. No matter how good of a hand you’re dealt, people will still find a way to take advantage of you.

It almost makes you want to laugh.

~~~~~

You think that Grian might hate you. You don’t know why.

And before anyone says anything, yes you know how stupid that sounds. This is Grian that you’re talking about! One of your best friends!

So why won’t he look at you?

On a certain level, you get it. You’re not exactly the best at surviving. You’re reckless and you don’t exactly think about your own well-being and you’re no stranger to dying repeatedly. You’re sure that it would be far easier for him if he was tied to literally anyone else.

But that doesn’t mean you’re useless. And it certainly doesn’t mean that he gets to look at you like your fate is already sealed.

Fine. That’s fine.

You suppose you’ll simply have to prove it to him.

There’s only a moment of hesitation before you launch yourself off the tower. You can hear him yelling your name as you fall.

Something tells you that if looked up, you would be able to see him reaching down, desperately trying to catch you.

You don’t bother to check.

~~~~~

The Universe is kind to you in this world.

But not only that, the people are kind as well. For some reason, you can’t help but feel that it’s not something that happens very often.

When you die, it isn’t alone.

Something tells you that might be rare too.

~~~~~

Well! That’s it! The Universe hates you! Or the Secret Keeper or god or whoever might be out there listening!

Point is, you’re not having a very good day.

Someone thought that it would be funny to ruin whatever good relations you might have with these stupid tasks.

You had tried your best to be welcoming and kind. You had filled your home with flowers and light, thinking that maybe, maybe it would be enough to keep people around.

But no . Of course it wasn’t. It never is.

Because some jerk thought it would be funny to watch you make everyone hate you.

Fine.

Fine!

The Universe wants a show? The world wants to be entertained?!

You can do that. You can fill that role with ease .

~~~

You make it to the end. You’re not sure how.

It’s certainly not because of your allies. You didn’t have any of those until Pearl had grabbed your hand and told you that she was with you until the end.

You still don’t know why she did that. She could have easily taken Gem’s side in the final fight. You’re not blind. You had seen the way that the two of them had looked at each other.

You had seen the way Pearl had hesitated as Gem had begged her to reconsider.

By all means, you shouldn't have made it out of there alive. She should have slit your throat and left you for dead.

You don’t think you would have blamed her.

But she didn’t! And now she’s dead regardless! And you’re the last one standing!

Huh. You always thought that winning would feel… better? Maybe?

Less bad, at the very least.

You’re so tired. You’re so so tired.

The dirt feels cold beneath your palms. You don’t know when you collapsed.

Stand up. You have to stand up. You have to go hit the button. You’ll be free once you hit the button.

Get up. You have a game to win.

~~~

You hit the button. Your wounds close up. You collect your prize.

And.

You.

Remember .

~~~

Your memories of home had grown fuzzy while you were here. Slowly, they had slipped between your fingers like sand.

The broad strokes were always there. Even at the end, you had known that you had come from a world filled with laughter and creativity. You had known that there were more people there than there were here.

But the specifics were gone. You couldn’t remember the name of your cat, or what items you had sold, or what the world was even called .

You remember it all now.

You remember a sprawling theme park and a fracture in the world and pandas and a hut atop a mountain and the desert oh god you remember the desert.

The red and purple flowers on your poncho suddenly make so much more sense.

You brace your arm against the stone pillar to keep yourself from falling. There’s so much.

There’s so much.

But…

You’re still here.

You’re no closer to getting home than you were before Pearl died. The only difference now is that you remember everything you’ve lost.

You don’t know if this is better or worse.

You hit the button again. There’s another rush of energy. Items pour up from the ground.

You’re still here.

You hit it again.

Nothing.

Again .

Nothing.

You scream.

The statue doesn’t reply.

~~~

You don’t know how long you stay by the button. Maybe hours. Maybe days.

You don’t know.

Mobs don’t come near the Secret Keeper statue. Or maybe they do, and you’ve just stopped noticing.

Drip .

A drop of water hits your nose. You blink.

Another hits your hand.

Oh. It’s raining.

You should go inside.

~~~

You return to the secret keeper frequently during the first few days. Every minor injury brings you back. The idea of dying terrifies you. You don’t know the rules of this world now that the game is over.

For all you know, death could be permanent and no one would ever know what had happened to you.

It’s not a risk you’re willing to take.

~~~

You find yourself holding your breath each time you hit succeed.

As if doing that will make it easier for you to return home.

It’s a stupid idea.

~~~

You build a cemetery for your friends.

16 graves, all dug by hand. 16 coffins, each carved with painstaking detail.

16 bodies, laid to rest in the dirt.

You try to make it beautiful. You want your friends to rest in a place that would make them smile.

You wonder what they would think.

~~~

Time passes. Your visits to the secret keeper become less frequent. You injure yourself less often, so you tend to let them build up before you push the button again.

There’s still no sign of returning home.

The sunflowers are starting to wilt. You should probably harvest them soon.

~~~

The weather begins to turn cold. You’ll have to move to someone else’s base. You haven’t been able to repair Trader Scars yet.

Pearl's base will work just fine.

~~~

It’s snowing. You hope you have enough firewood.

~~~

If there’s one thing that’s worse than being hated by The Universe, it’s being forgotten. You wonder what you did to deserve this.

~~~

Neither of the other two buttons work anymore. You don’t know what you expected.

~~~

You find an old sewing kit tucked away in one of Cleo’s chests. There’s some embroidery hoops and thread in it.

You had found one of Pearl’s jackets the other day. A dark blue one, not the bright red that she wore near the end.

Something tells you she won’t mind you using it.

~~~

You wonder how your friends are doing. You wonder if they miss you.

~~~

Flowers begin to grow in the explosion craters left behind. Poppies. Because of course it's poppies.

They bloom for weeks. It looks like the ground is bleeding.

You try not to go outside too often during that time.

~~~

You hope Jellie is ok.

~~~

Pearl’s hoodie is covered in intricate swirls and stars. You wonder if she’ll ever get to see it.

You hope so.

~~~

Why haven’t they tried to find you? It’s been months now. Surely by now they would have realized something is wrong and come looking. And even if they don’t remember the games, Xisuma should have been able to track your player data.

But no. You’re still alone.

~~~

The sunflowers need to be planted. Maybe you’ll try to plant some other flowers as well. That sounds nice.

~~~

Your hair is getting long. You need to cut it.

…

You drop the blade before it can get anywhere near your neck.

That’s fine. Grian taught you how to braid, back in the desert. You can work with that.

~~~

You wonder if they’ve forgotten you too.

~~~

You begin work on rebuilding Trader Scars. It’s not the same as it once was, but that’s ok. You don’t think you’d want it to be the same.

~~~

You don’t know how long you’re alone. A year maybe? If the growing cycle of the sunflowers is anything to go off of.

In the end, it’s a careless mistake that leads to your death. You haven’t hit the button for a bit now. You figured it was fine. Time here has made you more careful, more aware of your surroundings.

Not too much more aware, it seems. You don’t even hear the creeper coming up behind you.

You’re standing at the entrance of the cemetery when it happens, looking at the graves of your dead friends. You miss them. You miss them so much.

One moment, you’re paying your respects to them. The next, an explosion.

The world goes white. You’re overwhelmed by pain.

You don’t even get the chance to scream.