Freeze or Fall

Chapter 24: Guilt

The Broken Nether. A place of chaos and calm, a nether-like place that was as shattered as the farlands.

Badtimes had told him about it, describing it like it was some kind of safe haven. And honestly, despite the initial feeling of destruction, Scar could understand him. Hels was surprisingly quiet, the only sounds being the flow of lava.

"We're here." Wels sounded nervous, but confident. "Now to find Badtimes?"

Scar nodded, glancing around. "I can feel the vex magic already, it's strongest in that direction." He pointed east, towards a floating chunk of land, riddled with caves and holes.

"Onwards, my fellow brethren!" Ren said optimistically. "We got this!"

_________________

ET had been silent, not saying a word as they journeyed through Hels. But when he finally spoke, it was a question that had Scar pause for a moment.

"What's vex? And are they really magic? I thought magic didn't exist naturally, aside from admin and watcher magic."

"Well..." Scar chose his words carefully. "The vex are an ancient type of mob, they're mischievous spirits that pop out from time to time and just create chaos in general. If you make a deal with them, they have the right to take over your body for their benefit. That's what resulted in Badtimes' creation."

Ren frowned. "That's a pretty odd way fro an alter to appear, if you ask me."

"Well Wels accidentally cloned himself." Scar replied.

Wels shrugged. "Touche."

ET twiddled his thumbs awkwardly. "What about your magic?"

Scar cocked his head. "My magic?"

"Yeah, WIzard Scar."

Scar paused again. Wizard Scar was... harder to explain.

__________________________

Scar had gotten increasingly curious after he'd learned of Grian's powers. He went to the vex for more information, and only got a small tidbit that he'd tossed aside.

"There's lots of magic, but only a select few who can harness it." They'd said. "Ever wondered why we specifically chose you and Cub?"

Then Grian had given his life for Xisuma, and they'd all moved onto their seventh world. Scar began helping build the grave for the Fae, and in doing so, the vexes words had come back to him. And he'd began to wonder.

It started out with some experiments with lapis, bone meal, and obsidian, three items that were commonly magical, but only able to be used for a couple purposes.

At one point, he wasn't sure when, but Scar had somehow made his first crystal. It was barely magic at all, but it was new. To everyone else it was stained glass, barely extraordinary. But Scar could feel the magic locked inside.

Scar then made two more. One, he asked Mumbo to smash, with no effect.

The other he'd shattered privately, earning a small explosion that resulted in his base coming to life.

So he kept experimenting, and eventually Wizard Scar came along. He then worked on making other types of crystals, including some beautiful floating ones. Those he'd put around Grian's memorial, happy he'd contributed.

Then the mayoral race came along, and Wizard Scar spent most of his time in Scar's head.

One thing led to another, and he'd called out Wizard Scar to help with some densely magic crystals.

That was when he'd woken up here.

Scar didn't share this openley for a reason. A reason that he knew wasn't his fault. but he still regretted.

Scar had called WIzard Scar to destroy the magic-heavy crystals, especially the tan and brown ones. He'd realized how much they resembled the hacking crystal from last season, the one Doc had described.

He'd feared his curiosity was giving way for history to repeat himself.

And now Scar was worried his fears had been confirmed.

_______________________________

Taurtis sat outside Sam's apartment, eavesdropping on the conversation inside.

He could tell how much Grian hated this, despite it being Grian's idea in the first place. He couldn't imagine how it must've felt in the past, when Grian was forced to do this.

When he'd realized how unstable Sam was, Taurtis had mentally kicked himself for not realizing sooner. Grian had been hurt, their classmates were hurt, and Taurtis had been blinded by his friendship with Sam.

Taurtis had eventually apologised to Grian when they were in Evo, and Grian had given him a smile before accepting his apology.

But Taurtis still wondered, if he'd realized it sooner, if he'd seen how much Sam was hurting Grian, could he have prevented Grian from going through all that in the first place? If he hadn't insisted on driving Grian to the Airport, that fateful Halloween night...

Taurtis shook his head. He had to focus, he needed to be ready for when Grian made his escape.

But that didn't mean he'd ever stopped feeling guilty.

_________________________

Npg sighed wearily. He'd changed. Temporarily of course, but now he realized how exhausted he was.

He sighed as he placed down a bed next to the one Exy's body was on, before plopping down. He'd never gotten tired before, his purpose was to build.

But he'd changed.

For once, Npg was too tired to even think about rustic houses. But, he supposed, that was the other part of him. The new one.

He'd been silent, though Npg had expected that. Neither of them had been in a mindscape for years.

But all Npg wanted to do right now, was sleep.

__________________________

Joe let out a quiet sigh. Most of the Hermits were asleep now, aside from Iskall who was on watch, and Xisuma, who was working. Grumbot was sitting next to a sleeping Mumbo as he refilled his power source with diamonds in preparation for the next day.

Joe himself was sitting cross-legged in a corner, a blanket draped over his knees. Cleo was asleep near him, his pups all curled up around them.

It was a quiet night.

Joe waited for Grumbot and Xisuma to finish, Iskall to far away to notice anything. When the two finally settled down, Joe relaxed, letting the facade fall.

Careful as to not hurt the butterfly wings, Joe lied down and fell asleep.