Some days you have nothing.

But some days all the great chapters are next to each other and you write them all.

Today is the latter.

:)

Light.

I close my eyes again, unable to handle the brightness. I'm lying on my side, covered in something thick, fluffy and deeply comforting. Some kind of blankets. How did I get here. Where was I...

Skulk.

Xisuma.

Being caught and...

The skulk took over.

THE SKULK TOOK OVER.

I scramble up. I'm in a room I don't know. Not alone. There's someone else next to me.

'Scar?'

A glance over. He freezes, then scrambles closer and pulling me into a huge hug, sobbing. After a moment processing, I hug back.

'You're awake. Oh my goodness you're awake...'

'What... happened?' 

'A... a lot...but it's ok. You're safe. I saved you. Everything's ok...'

It's not ok.

I push out the hug, trying to stand and...

My arms. 

They're covered in bandages.

'Snap?' Scar holds out his own.

No.

The ends of his fingers under the bandages are dark skulk black. Like he was attacked by skulk.

Attacked my ME.

'Scar, what happened?' 

'Cub, it's ok.'

'What happened? I can't remember. Just... just tell me. I need to know... Did I...' 

Scar doesn't look at me.

'Scar...'

He nods.

'S***.'

'Cub...'

'This is... I...' I hear my heartrate growing faster. 'I'm sorry... I'm so... sorry...'

'Cub, it was the Skulk. Not you. I know you wouldn't do this.' 

'I should've run when I had the chance.' I remember getting distracted by the board of names. I should've just come back later, taken my chance to run. 'I should've...'

'Cub, it's ok. Everything's ok now. You're safe.'

I move quickly out of the way as he tries to keep me sat down, over to the window. I see Scarland outside, a group of hermits sat there. No skulk. I didn't spread skulk here. Or they sorted it out quickly. Or I've been unconscious for a while... I check the clock I keep in my pocket... 

F***.

It's been a month.

The clock drops. I barely hear it hit the ground as I grip the windowsill, breath quickening, heartrate increasing. It's been a month. A whole month. I've been possessed by skulk for a whole month. It wasn't that long before. It was nowhere near that long before... it was a couple weeks. Not a month. Not a whole month.

'Cub, breathe.' Scar's next to me, hands on my shoulders. 'Cub, it's ok. Look at me. Cub...'

'I- it's been a month,' I murmur. 

'It's ok. Just sit down. Everything will be ok...'

'What did I do? How much did I ruin...'

'You didn't spread that much skulk.'

'Then what did I do?'

'Just sit down Cub. Please.' Scar begs. I look at him. The tears in his eyes. The desperation. The pain of seeing me like this. I give up fighting, letting him lead me back towards the bed. All I can focus on is his bandaged arms. The arms I hurt. I hurt Scar. And how, if I didn't go around spreading skulk, I must've gone around doing worse. 

Hurting other hermits. 

Killing.

No-

No no...

'Cub...?'

What have I do.

'It's ok.' Scar puts a hand on my shoulder. I know he wants me to stay here. I can't stay here. I can't stay here knowing... 

'I have to go.'

I break into a stumbling run, out the room, down spiral stairs. Scar's still insisting I stay behind. I don't listen, bursting outside into the light.

'What happened?' I question before even looking around. 

'Cub! You're awake!' Pix smiles, relieved. 

Wait...

'Pix?'

'A lot changed.' Scar behind me. 'We had to bring in some... external help.' My mind goes back to Empires. Him helping before. How bad did it get that he had to...

'Oh THAT'S more like it! No more lying around like a lazy boring s*** for you!' A voice like Scar's, but not.

'BadTimesWithScar.' I recall as he appeared.

'Oh finally! You don't think I'm Scar like you did when we trapped you in that box. Sorry, when I trapped you. And Scar helped. You were so f***ing confused...'

'Badtimes enough.' Actual Scar, stepping in front of me. I sense his anger, the flicker of magic. 'He doesn't remember.'

'You don't remember ANY OF IT?! Are you f***ing SERIOUS?! You don't remember swooping around, trying to possess us all, making Scar upset and angry... he stopped sleeping at one point and just sat outside the box talking like a f***ing idiot because of course you didn't care...'

'I SAID ENOUGH!'

I'm going to faint. Possessing...? Scar... upset, angry... not sleeping... trapping me in a box...  He's vexed, standing in front of me. Protective. And next to Badtimes... Evil X. They had to bring in BadTimesWithScar and Evil Xisuma to help, trap me in a box to stop me... stop me trying to POSSESS them.

What the f*** did I do?

'This isn't good.' I murmur.

'Cub, it's ok.' Scar turns back, lying. He's shaken by Badtimes's words too. 'He's exaggerating. It's not like that...'

'Yeah, you weren't alone... Grian tried to kill us too. The little b**** with skulky wings.'

'Skulk... wings?' Is all I focus on.

'Apparently they weren't always skulky. He was trying to kill us all too. And if not for me and El, he would've succeeded. Oh, and Tango made Impulse go crazy.'

'Badtimes, I am very capable of physically restraining you and stopping you from speaking if you don't stop being an insensitive little s*** this instance.' Evil X threatens, then turns to me, tone softening. 'Cub, I know exactly how you feel. Believe me. You feel like the world is ending and it's all your fault. But it's not. The skulk did this. Not you. You had absolutely no say in what happened.'

'I... I need to sit down.' I murmur back, holding tight to the wall, shaking. Scar's there, hand on my shoulder.

'There's places to sit inside, or we head back upstairs and you can sleep.'

'Y... yeah... that would be...' My hand slips. If not for Scar's support I would've collapsed.

'Hey, it's ok. I've got you... come on inside.' He helps me back in. I catch my reflection in the window. A pale, thin, wide-eyed Cub stares back at me. I have to look away. It's been a month. A whole month... I'm led to a chair, sitting down. Scar stays next to me, taking my bandaged hand in his bandaged hand. Silence as I recover. No one follows us in.

'You weren't possessed for a month.' He speaks eventually.  'You were... you've been recovering.'

'...Recovering?'

'We couldn't find an easy solution to stop the skulk hurting you. It took a lot of magic. Vex magic. You fell unconscious... some kind of coma I think. I... I didn't know if you'd survive... you've been unconscious for the past few days. Recovering...' 

'I'm sorry.'

'You're not to blame.' Insists Scar again. 'You're... you're not to blame...' a stifled yawn. 

'Scar... when did you last sleep.'

No reply. 

'Scar...'

'I was worried...'

'Scar, man... you need sleep.'

'Cub...'

'I'll sleep too... come on. I think I saw another bed upstairs...' Now it's me leading him. Sure enough, there are two beds there. Scar pauses next to one.

'I missed you.' He looks at me. 

'Me too.'

'And I'll always be here for you. No matter what.'

'I know.' 

We hug again. Neither of us want to move, so for the next few minutes we procrastinate on sleep, just enjoying each other's company. 

'I said I'd be back in an hour.' I recall. 'It's... been a bit longer than that, hasn't it?' Scar laughs, a sound I didn't realise I'd missed as much as I did. 

'That doesn't matter. Now, let's sleep.'

'Tell me more tomorrow.'

'I promise.' Scar takes his bed, just staring at me, smiling. I take mine again. 

'Goodnight, Scar.'

'Goodnight, Cub.'

And we lie down to sleep.

This didn't go where it needed to...

Welp, guess we're doing 40 chapters.