When Socks awoke, pain immediately spread through his body. He groaned softly. 'I thought I'd healed from that already.' A voice suddenly sounded.

"Hey. Are you alright? No, dumb question... How are you feeling?"

Socks opened his eyes to see Blaza looming over him. His pupils were almost slits, which was much smaller than normal, but he was blocking the sun from going into Socks' eyes, so Socks didn't really care.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Socks said. He tried to sit up, but fell back to the ground with a yelp when he put pressure on his left hand.

"Uhm... you got burned pretty badly, and I'm no medical expert, but I would probably refrain from using that hand too much."

"Burned? By what?"

"Remember the meteors we saw? One crashed into the house, and started a fire. We had to dig you out," Blaza said, helping the spaceman up.

Socks looked around. They were standing in the middle of a desert— probably the one behind Memegod's base— and Oof and Tbh were sitting on messy slabs of stone and wood in the sand a few feet away, talking. Being in such a bright, hot area was probably what was causing Blaza's abnormal eyes to be... Well, even stranger.

"Where's Meme? He could probably fix this up, right?" Socks asked, indicating his burned hand.

Oof and Tbh had spotted the duo by now, and had run up to speak with them.

"I was gonna go look for him and the child, but you can come if you'd like," Blaza said.

Socks nodded. He glanced around, taking note that all of his friends were burned in one way or another, so they needed the doctor's help, whether he had a real medical degree or not. Wait— no. Everyone was burned except Oof.

"Were you not in the fire, Oof?" Socks asked. Everyone turned to look at the dice-headed man.

"He was there. He was the one who found you," Tbh said, confusion dancing in his green eyes.

"Yeah! I've just been... in hotter climates for a while. I guess I've just built up a bit of a resistance," Oof said.

"Hotter like what? The sun?" Blaza said jokingly, nudging Socks, the astronaut of the group.

"Hotter like in the Nether..." Oof filled in. His eyes held a bit of guilt. "Look, I didn't want to deal with you and Memegod's war, so I left. I know I shouldn't have. Maybe I could have helped with the Laff situation. I'm sorry," Oof said. He was looking everywhere except for Socks.

"Hey, I get it. It was a stupid war over an important subject. What we should have done was look for evidence. It was dumb not to, and it got us into this whole mess," Socks said, putting his good hand on Oof's shoulder.

"Yeah. He's right. And if you hadn't left, we'd all be stuck in that cave," Tbh added.

Oof looked up and gave a nervous smile. "Yeah... Yeah, okay," he said softly.

"Okay! Now that that's over with! Come on, spaceman," Blaza said, hooking his arm between Socks' and dragging him back towards Meme's base. He pulled his sunglasses out and put them on, covering his eyes. They had a small crack in them, but they did the job.

"Be careful! Laff's still out there!" Oof called after them. The reminder had both Socks and Blaza slipping into much more tense postures.

|—o–O–o—|

It was midday now, and they hadn't found anybody. Not even Laff. Socks was starting to worry. The duo had been all around the area they'd been living in, and it all seemed deserted.

"Uhm... Socks?" Blaza poked the spaceman to grab his attention.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Well..." Blaza sighed. "I should've known, Socks. I should have done more to get us ready. For the meteors, I mean. No, scratch that— for everything. Everything I've seen. It's my fault all of this happened."

"Blaza, you know that's not true. It's my fault security didn't show up. It's Meme's fault the war started— but I don't blame him, since he was probably drowning in grief by then. It's—" Socks paused, grimacing, but then continued, "It's Woolf's fault Laff shot him and Muffin, since he triggered him so much, and Nadwe's fault that L4FF summoned—"

Blaza cut Socks off with a shout. "I could have saved Woolf, Socks! If I had reacted quicker, I could have saved both him and Muffin! It's my fault, and no one else's! Just admit it!"

Socks flinched away. Clearly, Blaza didn't want to hear it. 'Guess I'll have to prove him wrong another time,' Socks thought as they passed through Meme's base, back to where they'd left the others.

(/==^o^==\)

Meme sighed, and then kicked his leg once more. He'd been trying to get it unstuck for hours, but was unsuccessful in all his attempts.

Earlier, he'd gone outside to enjoy the night sky, and to visit Tbh's restaurant— To visit old memories. When he was just about to leave, one of the meteors had crashed down through the building, leaving a giant hole gaping in the ceiling.

It had also left Meme trapped under a metal beam that had been knocked down onto him, along with a bunch of other debris. Luckily, the fire hadn't spread from the giant rock, and had eventually put itself out sometime after Meme had fallen asleep.

Now, the sun was just starting to rise, and Memegod was still stuck.

'Come on... Please! I need to make sure Nadwe's okay— and everyone else! I need to make sure everyone's okay,' Meme thought, kicking at the beam once more. Nadwe was the first concern, because he was... well, because he was Meme's adopted son. That made sense. But really, Nadwe was pretty strong on his own, and was probably fine. It still made Meme worry though.

A sudden scraping noise made Meme stop. 'Socks..? Tbh..? Is that you?'

The sound came again, closer this time. It was definitely not one of Meme's friends. Rather, it was the scratch of metal moving through the broken down building.

The noise continued, but after a moment, stopped. Instead, it was replaced by foot steps. The sound had a slight squeak to it, as Laff wore black rubber gloves and boots, along with his navy blue vest and black undershirt.

The gasman suddenly came around the corner, and within a few ticks his eyes had locked with Meme's.

"Please don't kill me..." Memegod whispered, shutting his eyes tightly. He shrank back as far as he could.

"No, no, Meme. I ain't gonna kill you..." Laff said quietly. Meme opened one eye. The gasman had a look of pain in his eyes, the same as Tbh has described when he'd told the gang about his encounter with Laff.

"D- do you wants help with that?" he asked, moving towards the beam.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Meme said cautiously.

Laff started trying to lift the pole, and Meme tried to push it upward with his other foot, but like before, no success came. Laff squinted irritably, then pulled again.

Metal rippled outward from his hands, but stopped halfway up his arms. Meme's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened.

"Laff..." he said warningly.

"I know... but I've got... the pole..." the loaf man said, his voice strained.

Sure enough, the beam started to lift, and soon it was just high enough for Meme to slide his leg out. He did just that, and Laff dropped the pole. It slammed into the floor with a loud 'Clang!', echoing loudly.

Laff now looked down at his grey hands and grimaced. He began to back away from Meme.

"I- I need to go... before I lose control," he whispered. The last part was barely audible, and Meme was half sure he'd just imagined it.

"No, wait!" Meme said, moving to the gasman. He grabbed his arm, and a sudden look of panic slipped into Laff's eyes.

"I can help, Laff! Let me help."

"No, no no no, stop. Meme stop. Please. Get out of here." Laff's breathing started to become shallower.

"No, Laff. You stop. Just calm down. Calm the crap down, and just don't let it happen. Look, close your eyes, sit down, and breathe. Okay, Laff?"

Meme pushed his friend's shoulders lightly, causing him to walk into the wall behind him. Laff slid down it, and stared Meme hard in the eyes before closing his own. The metal started to spread further up Laff's arms.

"Hey, stop it! Laff, listen. I'm here for you, okay? You're alright. I'm alright. Everything is fine. Just stop, and listen to my voice. Please? I... I have some bread, if you want it," Memegod said, sitting next to Laff and pulling one of the loafs from his pocket.

Both of them were tense, but Meme continued to try to comfort Laff as best he could. 'He's going to kill me,' Meme thought. Laff's expression was unreadable, but after a moment, the metal started to disappear.

Within the minute, Laff was stable again. He slowly cracked his eyes open, then sighed in relief. Laff turned to look at Meme.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Yeah, of course! D- do you wanna look for Socks and the others?" Meme said hesitantly. He let out a nervous laugh.

"I don't think that's a good idea... I'm not safe to be around, Meme... You needs to leave. Leave me. Kill me, even. Anythin'. Just stay away from me, and keeps me away from everyone else."

Laff stood to leave as he said the words, turning and making his way out the door once he reached it. Meme chased after him, grabbed his arm, and started tugging him towards his base.

"Meme! Please! You might gets hurt, or worse!" Laff yelled, trying to break free of Memegod's grasp.

"I don't care. You may have done a few bad things in your life, but that doesn't matter. We've all made at least one stupid mistake. What really matters in keeping our friends safe, and keeping you sane. So, come on!" Meme said, dragging Laff away. The gasman followed reluctantly, nibbling at the bread Meme had given him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{CHAPTER NOTES}

Summary: Socks wakes up and finds that the meteors had crashed down, one onto the house he'd been in, and gave him some surprisingly light burns. Him and Blaza go looking for Meme and Nadwe and have a deep conversation about who was at fault for the situation they were all in. They end up unable to find anybody. Meme is stuck under a pole inside that'd fallen over inside Honest Burgers during the meteor shower. Laff finds him and helps him up, L4FF shifting out for a moment. Meme is able to calm him down, however, and ends up dragging Laff away with him. (Word Count: 1702)

[NEW NOTE]: I think I might redraw the cover of the book at some point. I actually already changed it when I changed the story's name from Hidden Secrets (ew. How unoriginal) to Magic and Military (much better. Literally a theme through the entire story), but never told anybody. It was really just editing the title to be correct, anyway. Does anybody even remember when this was called HS?

(Old Note): Hey there! Sorry for not posting the last few days, but I've been drawing the cover for the book, and it took a lot longer than expected. At least it's done now! Chapter summary: Socks- Socks wakes up to find his hand had been burned. He and Blaza go looking for Meme and Nadwe, but are unsuccessful. Meme- Laff help's Meme out of a sticky situation, and Meme becomes his support animal (because he's a furry 2.0). (Word Count: 1599)