The lies behind their masks - A(nother) Hermitcraft and Evo AU fanfiction.

Chapter 3

Hypnotyzd: hlep!

Hypnotyzd: Jeivns base

Hypnotyzd: I thnik hes desd1

Grian watched as the messages came up in chat. It took a moment to figure out what Hypno was trying to say from all the panicked typos, but he flew off instantly when he did. As he passed Mumb- Scar's base, he heard a yell from the mayor, and landed next to him. 

'What's happening? Hypno put something in chat but... I can't read it...'

'He's at Jevin's base. I think Jevin's permadead.'

'Permadead?' 

'Yes. Come on.'

Scar flew swiftly after Grian as he sped away again.

'Do you even know where Jevin's base is?' he called after the builder. Grian looked back.

'It's somewhere near Keralis's base and... there is it.'

The two landed inside, where Xisuma, Hypno and Doc already were. The former of the three was kneeling next to something blue. Scar jumped back, horrified, as he realized it was Jevin.

'You... you were right about the permadeath...' The mayor whispered. Grian glanced over at him, keeping his distance from the slime's corpse. 

'It is permadeath then? You're serious?'

'He's not moving... he's just lying there... Grian... this is horrible...'

'Don't worry, Scar...' The builder replied, before glancing over at a wall next to where Jevin was, and freezing. 

It felt like ice was filling his veins. It was there... they were here... they'd found him... how had they found him... Grian tried to keep his cool, wanting to fly away but still standing there, as though paralyzed. It would be fine... everything would be fine... HOW WERE THEY HERE?!

'Grian, are you ok?' Scar broke Grian from his silent panic.

'What? Me? I'm just thinking about Jevin...' he lied hastily. 

'He was a good hermit...' Scar replied with a sigh. 

At that point, Cub appeared, crashing right next to where Scar and Grian were. The latter yelped, jumping backwards. Scar looked down at his friend for a moment, amused. 

'You ok there, Cub?' 

'A little... help?'

Scar helped his friend up. Cub smiled at him, before hurrying to Jevin's side. It took the entirety of 2 minutes for the tears to take up. Xisuma tried to comfort him, but it didn't seem to help. Grian glanced at Scar, who was watching Cub. The mayor noticed his staring, and explained. 

'They were good friends... they competed together in the headgames.'

'Goodness, that feels like ages ago... didn't we compete together too?'

'Yeah! Operation... lightning... flame... thing...'

'Something like that...'

Scar smiled weakly, looking over at the scene again, and noticing a book on the ground, next to where the dead slime was. 

'What's that? There's a book there...'

'Oh yeah... has anyone else noticed it?'

Scar shook his head.

'I don't think so... I guess everyone's focussed on Jevin being... dead.'

'Has X confirmed that he's dead yet?' Grian realised. 'He might be alive or...'

Xisuma muttered something, barely audible to them. Cub shrunk down further.

'He's dead...' Grian confirmed. Scar looked back at the book, which Xisuma had just picked up. Doc glanced at it as well. Cub was still mourning. 

'They've seen the book.' He explained, even though Grian had seen it too. The builder merely nodded, continuing to look as the two discussed something from the book. Xisuma hid it in his inventory, and Doc looked over to where Grian and Scar were, before walking over. 

'Hey... can you... leave?' He asked awkwardly. The two held their ground. 'Cub would want to be alone and-'

'I think I'd know when Cub wants to be alone!' Scar snapped. Grian stepped away. 

'His best friend's just died, Scar.'

'His best friend! Am I dead now? Have you forgotten literally every season we've spent here?!' 

'This isn't important! He's upset, you're making it worse, so go away.'

'Scar, calm down...' Grian tried to intervene. The mayor turned on him, and he backed away further. 

'Yeah, Scar. Enough.' Doc agreed. 

'Shut up!' Scar yelled, eyes darting between the two of them. 'I'm mayor here! I do what I want!'

'You don't care about anyone else, do you? You don't care what anyone's been going through. You don't even care about Cub being upset!'

'And what would you know about upset?! I didn't know creepers could feel emotion!' Every bit of frustration and stressed that had been building up in the last week or so burst from Scar's mouth. 'I doubt you've ever felt sad about anything in your whole life!'

Doc shoved the mayor, hissing. Scar stumbled, but kept his balance, glaring daggers at the creeper. He turned around, swiftly flying away. Grian watched him go, glancing back at Doc. 

'Get out!' The German ordered. The builder scrambled for a rocket and darted away through the air. 

Hot tears rolled down Scar's cheeks as he glided in the air. He didn't know why he'd lashed out at Doc. He didn't know why the German's words had set him off. He tried to wipe the tears away midflight, wavering in the air. 

He barely remembered that the Big Dig and the magical village didn't belong to him any more, eventually landing in his tower. Scar tore off his elytra and jacket, and his wings snapped open. They had doubled in size since when he'd first noticed them, but they were still too small to fly with. That must've been why the rope had been rubbing so much.

He climbed into and collapsed on his bed, sighing, and falling quickly asleep.

Scar ran. He didn't know what from, but he ran blindly through the darkness. A figure with wings, a cloak, and a mask hiding their face appeared, and disappeared just as fast. Finally, he arrived at a scene, in Cub's pyramid. 

His friend was on the floor, dead, but no one let him get close, telling him to go away. Doc snarled at him, Grian complained, even Xisuma was glaring at him, telling him Jevin was Cub's best friend. Scar screamed back at the lies, his friends, trying to get to Cub. Tears blurred his vision, blood covered the ground. Someone tried to drag him away and he turned, screaming louder as he came face-to-face with Jevin, alive, but still as mutated and gory as his body had been. 

The mayor burst awake in a mess of sweat, tears and feathers, crying silently, trying to block out the dream. The nightmare. 

It didn't work.

Meanwhile, in a different world entirely, a couple of prisoners sat in their tower. Waiting, planning. How to get out. 

How to get to Hermitcraft.

I was struggling to write this, and then inspiration hit me like a truck.