Illusory freedom.

Disaster

(A/N Hello! I'm feeding all of you before I head on holiday.
My parents don't know I'm on wattpad so I won't be able to post for a week and a half.
Hope you enjoy this rather rushed chapter -Flora)

Xelqua dug quickly into Cubs base, a stack of the dark looking creators of Sculk, the catalysts tucked carefully under his arm.

(Someone please tell me what Cubs base was in season 9, I'll fix this when I find out..)

Xelqua picked up a pickaxe that he found in one of Grians many many cheats, he began to dig holes in the walls, then he put a catalyst in there and sealed it up.
He repeated this process multiple times.
After concealing the catalysts into the walls, Xelqua pulled out some eggs, Smashing them open, before killing the baby chicks that hatched from within.
As he did so, The Sculk quickly spread, fueled by the souls of the dying birds.
Xelqua did this for at least half an hour, the Sculk had spread so so much, that it was filling  Cubs base.
"Perfect." Xelqua said, Before he turned tail and left.
After all, he couldn't be caught at the scene of the crime, he had to maintain the facade of the chirpy prankster Grian.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Cub returned from the shopping district.
Once he was rather close to his house, something definitely felt off..
Then when he opened the door, He saw it, the walls, floor and ceiling.. All Sculk.
Every surface was covered in the pulsating gunk.
"W-What?! How?!" He exclaimed in a panic.
His first instinct was to brush it away, But then the memories came pouring back.
The evermoore, going in to help Shelby.
The fog.
The feeling of the cold lifeless substance slowly covering his body.
Losing control.
Waking up in a hole with a bunch of potion effects and nearly no memory of what had happened.
"No, No no no no no.." Cub turned and fled his base.
He was struggling to breathe, he was struggling to fly.
All he could think was that he needed to get to Scar, He needed comfort and he needed to calm down before the voices, The noise of the Vex, Took over again.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•<o>•~•~•~

Scar woke up, he felt great, he stretched out on Grians couch.
Void, that must've been the best sleep he'd gotten in weeks.
He sat up, Rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
Then he checked his communicator.
The messages he'd received were as follows.

<Cubfan135: vex is back>
<Cubfan135: Scar i need you>
<Cubfan135: im at your base where are you>
<Cubfan135: Scar where are you>
<Cubfan135: where are you>
<Cubfan135: losing control>

The last message had been sent half an hour ago, he leapt off the couch.
What had happened?
What could possibly cause the Vex to stir up again?
Whatever it was, he didn't have time to think.
He had to get to Cub.
Scar grabbed his stuff and Sprinted out the door last a very startled X̶̧̻̮̗̺̫̠̠̤̜͑͊́ë̶͓̻́̄̋̏̌͆l̸̢̢̨̡̼̘̥̤̳̯͈̭͕̩̚ͅr̸̡̫̼̄͛̇̿̏̐̂̋̉̈́̕̚͝ḭ̸̢̫̲̟͎̖͉̤̑̑̆̇͌͘a̴̢̛̙̬̮͈͙̳͖̫̥͎͖͓͕͛̊̔͝͠͝n̷̥͙͚͉̩̦̗̟̖̙͋͒͋̈́̀
"Where are you going?" The startled hybrid called to Scar.
"I need to check on Cub" Scar yelled back
"somethings wrong!"
Scar took off towards his base.
Oh void, please be okay, please be okay.
His mind drifted to scenarios where Cub had lost control fully, or was wounded, Or worse..
He tried to stay focused. But his imagination was too powerful.

He landed outside his base and ran in, he began searching everywhere, In every gap and crevice, Around every corner.
Until he found Cub.
Cub was sitting in a corner.
Head on knees, Lab coat torn, And a look of distress on his face.
Scar placed a hand on Cubs shoulder.
Cub was shaking.
"Cub, Are you-"
Cubs head snapped up to look at Scar.
His eyes were a glowing pale Grey-blue.
"Oh no" Scar quickly backed away.
The panic on Cubs face was quickly hidden by the glow of the vex like eyes.
"BLOODSHED, WE SHALL REMAIN HERE UNTIL BLOOD WATERS THE EARTH AND WE MAY BE SATISFIED!" Roared the vex.
Scar knew that the best way to deal with this was to wait it out.
So he did.
He sat down beside Cub and waited.
At first, The vex protested, Saying something about bloodshed and all that.
But eventually, To Scars utmost relief, the vex glow disappeared from Cubs eyes.
Cub toppled forward and would've hit the floor face first if Scar hadn't caught him and gotten him to sit down again.
They sat in an comfortable silence for a while before Scar spoke up.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Cub nodded at Scars words
"Someone filled my house with Sculk, it just-"
Cub took a deep breath and continued
"It brought back memories of Empires and what happened in the evermoore"
Scar leaned over and gave Cub a hug
"It's okay. It can't hurt you anymore"

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

(At this point I took a small break to do some C.ai and watch some of Iskall's stream)

(... Update, I spent at least an a hour watching Iskall's stream, it's time to write..)

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Two days after the sculk incident, Pearl was milling around her base, Adding trees and terraforming small spaces.
A message beeped in on her communicatior.

<FishBee88: Hey pearl>
<PearlescentMoon: Hey Phoebee, What's up?>
<FishBee88: Xian has closed down the HQ.
<PearlescentMoon: What?>
<FishBee88: Me and Page can't leave>
<FishBee88: We'll be fine. How is everyone?>

Pearl explained the unsolved case of the sculk catalysts.

<FishBee88: I'm going to tell Page, Maybe she'll know what's going on>
<PearlescentMoon: I hope so>
<FishBee88: See you later>
<PearlescentMoon: Bye>

Pearl was concerned for Phoebee and Page, but she knew they could handle themselves.
And she had her own problems to deal with.
If Xian had closed down the watcher headquarters, something big was going on.
And it couldn't be good.
The last time Xian had closed the headquarters, he had visited last life to speak to Martyn.

"Tell me one thing before I go, Why were you so set on Grian?"
"Hm. HIM. He was never meant to be there.
He was only ever meant to watch."
"I don't understand."
"You wouldn't, you're more of a.. Listener."

That had been difficult in its own way.
And of course it had been the reason for Flora and Phoebee dragging Martyn to therapy along with Scott after Last life.
Pearl chuckled at the memory of Phoebee pushing Martyn while Flora pushed Scott.
Of course she knew what they were going through, She had been forced into her own fair share of Therapy.
Some for Evo and some for double life.
Pearl didn't have the motivation to build anymore.
She went back into her base, She was sitting down when she heard it.
"Pearl"
Pearl spun around.
"Who's there?" She asked nervously
Then she saw it. Her old mask.

Pearl stepped back.
How did that get there?
She could swear she destroyed her old mask..
But there it was, With every little detail still there.
"I'm not going back to that."
Sh pulled out a little black dagger, made of obsidian. She could only use this once.
She stabbed into the mask which cracked down the middle and fell to the floor.
The dagger, along with the mask, disintegrated.
Pearl let out a sigh of relief.
Every watcher had their own mask that would bring out the darker side of them.
If she had destroyed hers.. was she free?

(Good job Pearl! No more mask.
Hope this was satisfactory, I'll think of ideas while on holiday and write when I get back! -Flora)