Corrupted - A Hermitcraft (and Empires) Fanfiction

23: Scar

*happily writing Scar's PoV*

*checks chapter order*

Me: WAIT! this is badtimes's PoV!

Me again: WAIT that's NEXT chapter

Chapter order: uhh... this needs to be Grian's PoV

Me: ...

Me: whAt?!

*thinks for a bit*

*goes back to first plan*

'Scar? Are you ok buddy?'

'Mmm?' 

I turn from where I'm falling sleep at my work, barely recognising the blurred figure in front of me and making a vague guess of 'Ren?'

'Oh man... you are tired. It's Skizz.'

He's right. The few days we've already had since Grian arrived, telling us he'd taken Impulse as ransom, have been utterly sleepless. Every waking moment I've spent working on the skulk-cure we need to create before time runs out. And every sleeping moment I've been unable to sleep, trying to think of more ways it could work until I give up and start working again. Skizz arrived as soon as he could. But it appears that after he ran out of stuff to throw he gave up and accepted our false hope of finding the solution I'm not going to discover even at this rate.

'Scar, take a break.' Skizz insists, approaching. 'Your handwriting has somehow become worse than normal, you look hideous and...'

'We're not going to stop the Skulk with neat handwriting and good looks... And with the lack of... stuff I did... I need to work even harder.'

'That's impossible. You need sleep. Get someone else to take over for a day while you relax. You're barely even talking properly.'

'We need to save him...' I return to scouring through an old book on harmless potions to try on the skulk.

'We can delay. Break Impulse out BEFORE they kill him!'

'No.... No no no we're not risking Cub being taken... Cub won't be taken... we need to save him... and Decked Out is scary...' 

'I don't want YOU to die from over exhaustion.'

'I don't need sleep... where was I?'

'Sleeping. Come on.' A sudden tug behind. I yell as Skizz drags me backwards, away from my work. Progress. Cub's safety. I dig my feet into the ground, knowing every second he's messing around I'm not helping Cub and he'll be trapped again. He'll be skulky forever. And I can't let him. I can't let him be skulky and-

'NO!'

Magic.

A crash. I turn, seeing Skizz halfway down the stairs against the wall. I wants to see if he's ok. But we can't give Cub up, and we can't get this wrong and kill him. I need to keep working. I reach my desk again, picking up the book from the ground and reading.

Footsteps behind. I turn just in time to see Skizz's hand before he punches me. 

Pain.

And the vex takes over.

Skizz screams, blood down his face, shoving me back. I slip, crashing to the ground, pinned in an instance.

'Alright BUDDY.' Skizz snarls back as I try to fight free. 'You can try and fight me if you want but it's not going to work, ok? You. need. sleep.'

'YOU punched me!'

'After you threw me down the stairs! Scar, seriously. Calm down.'

I hiss back. Skizz doesn't relent, no matter how much I struggle and claw at him.