Corrupted - A Hermitcraft (and Empires) Fanfiction

6: Scar

'Grian help. Grian help. Grian help. Grian help.' I repeat over and over as I crash into Grian's base in tears. 'Please... please I need help, Cub's- Cub's in trouble...'

'Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah... breathe. Breathe in... breathe out.' Grian runs over, hand on my shoulder. 'Tell me slowly... sit down and tell me slowly.'

'I- I... oh notch this is all my fault...' I sob, unable to stop crying. Grian hugs me back, insisting it'll all be ok. It won't. Cub's gone. He went and he's not back. He's been caught. Hurt. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. 

'It's ok.' Grian mutters. 'It's all ok. Everything will be fine... just sit down and explain slowly what happened.' He leads me across his storage area, sitting me down an a rock.

'Th... the skulk... Xisuma... we... we... This is all my fault I... I suggested it...'

'Scar... Scar...' Grian tries to get me to focus. But it isn't working. 'Scar, just tell me what happened and I can help.'

'I...' I take a deep breath. 'I... I... me and Cub... we were worried about X and... and... we thought... we thought he was skulky... like like Cub before and... and... I thought Xisuma wasn't possessed just... just manipulated into believing... and Cub decided he'd go and speak to him and it's been over and hour and... and he said he'd been back in an hour...' I break down crying again, accepting Grian's hug. 

'It's ok. Everything will be ok. Where did Cub go?'

'X... Xisuma's base.'

'And you thought X was possessed by the skulk like Cub was before?'

'N... no... just manipulated by the skulk into believing it was good, but he must've been fully possessed and... and I don't want to lose Cub... I can't lose him. He can't be caught. He can't get possessed again.'

'Scar, It's ok. How likely is it that he just took longer than you expected? That he's just lost track of time?'

'I... I know he hasn't... he wouldn't... he wouldn't do that he'd message me if it was taking longer, right?'

'Probably... just stay here and try to calm down. Try and message Cub...'

'I have! Why wouldn't I think of that?!'

'I said calm down! Just sit there, eat some cookies... and calm down. It'll be ok. Everything will be ok... we'll wait 15 more minutes and if he's still not back, we'll gather a group of hermits and decide what to do, ok?'

I nod, left alone as I watch Grian glide away, returning quickly with few stacks of poison buttercup cookies.

'Eat some of these. If nothing, they'll distract you from Cub by making you sick...' I try to laugh, but every second I wait is a second Cub's in danger. A second I could be helping him and I'm not. But he told me not to follow. He said to find other hermits. But Grian isn't helping. Grian isn't doing anything... the minutes stretch by. Half an hour later I insist it's been too long and Grian snaps it's only been 10 minutes, lies again that it's all ok... but I can tell he's worried too, pacing constantly, wings half raised like always when he's tense. 

'Ok, you were right.' He admits after what he claims is only 15 minutes. 'You were right. We... what do you suggest?'

'Hermit meeting. Immediately. Spawn.' I decide. The truth still hasn't sunk in. 

Cub's in danger.

GoodTimeWithScar: SERVER MEETING CRASTE SKULK BAD

It's all I write before shooting over... past Scarland, past the shopping district, down onto the Crastle steps. Grian's not far behind, several hermits are already there. Not Xisuma. Not Cub. They're in trouble. They need help...

'Howdy Scar!' I nearly jump as Joe speaks from where he definitely wasn't a second ago 'What was that about skulk you were saying?' 

'I'll say when everyone's here.' I excuse myself by saying, knowing I'll just start crying again.

'That's alright... It looks like a lot of hermits are around... should we wait a bit longer or...'

I glance around the group, counting... 23. We're all here.

'Hey, everyone.' I try to keep calm. I really try. 'We have a... problem. Xisuma and probably Cub too have been possessed by skulk.'

'Skulk?' Didn't you get rid of the skulk in Empires? How is it back?' False frowns

'I don't know.'

'And are you sure they're possessed... Xisuma was perfectly fine earlier playing TCG, you saw he was.' 

'Firstly, he was still being manipulated into believing the skulk then and secondly, he's only been possessed after that. This afternoon. Before Cub tried to convince him away from believing the skulk and never came back.'

'I don't know...' Joe frowns. 'I've never heard of skulk manipulating people. And I should know, I had to read a lot of books about it when Cub was possessed in empires.'

'It does. I... I saw that it did in a book. It makes sense... me and Cub both thought he was acting weird.'

'Cub was the one acting weird, Scar. When he started shouting at everyone in Grian's game.' Retorts Tango. 'Xisuma's been fine. Cub was just paranoid.'

'If Cub's paranoid, where is he? Why didn't he come back? Why's he been gone for so long? Why hasn't he come to the meeting? Why hasn't XISUMA come?'

'Scar...' Grian puts a hand on my shoulder again. 'Relax.'

'I can't relax when my best friend's been taken prisoner by MONSTERS! And NO ONE BELIEVES ME! We need to do something!'

'What CAN we do? How can we fight the skulk?' Doc questions. 

'We break into Xisuma's base, rescue Cub...' 

'That's your plan? That's a crap plan!' Bursts out Tango. 'The skulk will just get us too!'

'Skulk only attacks admins and players with magic. Most of us will be fine to go.'

'Excluding you, Scar.' Grian crosses his arms. 'I'm not letting you go and get possessed by skulk too.'

'Well I'm not sitting back while Cub's in danger!'

'Wait, wait, wait, I'm confused,' interrupts xB. 'Me and Beef didn't go to Empires. What's wrong with skulk?'

'Cub... Cub went into Shubble's magical forest, got possessed by skulk, spread it everywhere, and we had to stop him and get him back to normal before he destroyed the whole server.'

'That just sounds like a Cub-thing.' Beef frowns

'It wasn't.' 

'Are we even sure Xisuma's possessed?'

'Yes. Very sure. There's no other reason Cub's not back. He would tell me if it was taking longer, he wouldn't lie or prank me...'

'So... we're going to run down into the skulkification that can take control of our minds and politely tell Cub and Xisuma to stop trying to destroy the server. Ok. Great plan. This is going to be just peachy.'

'Tango! If you don't want to join the plan, you don't have to.' Impulse calms him by saying. 'But we need to do something. Cub and Xisuma are our friends.' 

'I don't know...' Joe doesn't look at me. 'I don't... Xisuma wouldn't let it take over.'

'Xisuma wouldn't have a choice... who's going to help me stop the skulk and save our friends?'

Silence.

Only Grian and Impulse raise their hands. 

'Where do we start?'

I could not think of an ending to this

But next chapter is good.

Next chapter is very very good...