This is in the AU of LOTSS (Legend Of The Stag Siblings), read for context. Yes, this has been moved from that book, so some of you have already read it.

(IT WON'T MAKE SENSE OUT OF CONTEXT)
I also think it's not canon to that anymore. Now it's an AU of an AU lol

"Don't you usually wait until AFTER you complete a book to publish disconnected oneshots in the AU?"
Yes but I don't care and I'm going to do what I wanna do so ha.

Scott awoke to screams and ringing alarm bells.

Hastily, he shot out of bed and jumped off his balcony, gliding straight through the open door of his hall. He stood for a second and surveyed the scene, painfully aware that he looked awful right now, wings and hair ruffled and unkempt.

Giant red tentacles were ripping through the earth across the river. Without thinking, Scott took off and sped towards them, weaving skillfully through the arches, bridges, and buildings of Rivendell.

Before he could do anything, he was yanked sideways by an unseen tendril that wrapped around his stomach. He let out an involuntary yelp at the pressure. An evil cackle filled Scott's ears. "Let me go!"

"No," Xornoth hissed. Scott began to say something, but then his entire world exploded in pain.

It felt like a burning knife being driven into his back, right where his wings met it. He barely registered the high-pitched sound of his own scream. Faintly, he thought he heard his other brother's voice.

The pain dulled slightly and Scott could feel the tears dripping down his face. He could hear Xisuma clearly now.

"Let him go, now."

Scott faintly remembered days spent together, three brothers unburdened by fate, before they'd been torn apart. Xisuma protecting Scott from their corrupted sibling. Xisuma saving Scott when Xornoth had nearly killed him before.

Scott tried to call out for Xisuma, but all he could do was whimper pitifully as his skin burned at the corruption's touch; a side effect of his heritage.

"Your quarrel is with me," Xisuma said fiercely. Scott tried again to call for him, to tell him that all he wanted was the safety of Xisuma's arms.

There was more conversation that Scott could barely make out, then Xornoth's voice came through to Scott's ears clear and cruel. "No, I don't think I will."

The tendril snaking through Scott's body twisted and he screamed in pure agony as a burning pain seared through his body. He felt himself start to spin, but nothing after that was clear.

Just pain, Xisuma's voice saying words he couldn't make out, and then darkness.

Scott awoke to (more) darkness. He stood up slowly and cautiously put out a hand. It hit a wall and Scott's heart dropped. Maybe- maybe he was just against a wall. It wasn't that small.

He stretched out his other hand.. and hit wall.

No, no, no, no, no...

Scott wasn't claustrophobic, but he was trapped in the darkness and he couldn't get out and he was stuck and Xornoth could be anywhere just watching-

"Hello, brother." Scott jumped at the voice and- unsurprisingly- smacked his head on the low roof, which only sent him further into a panic.

"Why am I here?" Scott asked quickly.

"To get you out of the way," Xornoth told him carelessly. "Plus you'll be great bait for our dear brother."

"No I won't, I'm useless, no one wants me," Scott assured him, breathing slowly to try to steady his panic.

"Then I guess you'll just waste away down here forever," Xornoth cackled. "What a story. The poor, worthless, forgotten brother who starved to death because no one came to save him."

Usually Scott would have replied with a witty, sarcastic retort, but he was scared. Terrified. And the worst part was that Xornoth was probably right.

He wasn't the heir anyone wanted. He wasn't the champion of Aeor. He was just the third brother, the afterthought, the one only "blessed" by Aeor as a formality when he became the king of Rivendell; the king the elves didn't really want anyway.

Everyone loved Xisuma, Aeor's champion, the firstborn heir to the throne.

No one loved Scott, champion of nothing, third son who should never have become king.

"No," Scott challenged. He couldn't let Xornoth be right, couldn't give in so easily. But he was- no. No, he wouldn't give in. "No, you're... no..."

"See, even you know it," Xornoth said, red eyes glinting from somewhere in the shadows. Scott froze in fear like a deer in the lanternlight.

Scott let out a small, involuntary whimper. "What did I do to end up here?"

"You were born," Xornoth replied, rather like a petty teenager. "There was no need for you and yet you exist."

Scott froze, wide eyed, then spoke up, a bit of his old snark returning. "Now that's just unnecessarily mean."

A chill crept into the room. "It seems you will earn some punishment."

"I haven't done anything," Scott told him fiercely, trying to put on a brave face, to maintain his reputation.

"That doesn't matter," Xornoth said, a smirk clear in his voice. Two shimmering, glowing red tendrils of corruption snaked through the wall and wound around Scott's wrists, holding him in place. Their touch burned and tears came to Scott's eyes, but he refused to whimper. He had composed himself now, and he wouldn't be so weak as to break that composure.

"Let me go," Scott said, spitting the words into the air.

"No," Xornoth snarled. Scott flinched at the harsh tone. A pain sliced through Scott's wing and he let out a small yelp of pain.

"Wait, no-" Scott started to say, but it came back again.

"Yes," Xornoth laughed. "Oh, yes."

"Don't!" Scott exclaimed, yelping again as his other wing was sliced open. He couldn't stop the tears that slipped from his eyes at the pain.

"Oh, I can't wait to see Zooma's reaction," Xornoth giggled gleefully. More slashes were made to Scott's wings and he lost his carefully-built up composure.

"Stop," he whimpered. "Stop, please, please, Ezra-"

"That's not my name," Xornoth snapped. Scott flinched again at the harsh tone.

More pain, more agony, more cuts to his beautiful wings. Scott's breath came out in choked sobs and he shook violently. "Stop."

It only grew more intense. By the time the tendrils finally released him, cold blood dripped down his wings, bloodied feathers lay strewn carelessly around, and his throat was sore from screaming. Scott fell to the ground and scampered into a corner, pulling his wings behind him and making them as small as possible so that Xornoth couldn't get to them anymore. He whined pitifully."Why?"

"Because it's fun," Xornoth laughed. "Now I'll leave you to my servants."

"Please, please, please, no, just let me go," Scott whimpered. His servants would probably be far worse than Xornoth himself, they always were.

But Xornoth was gone, and two figures came into the room, light beaming in from the door behind them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" asked a winged figure whose vibrant feathers were evident even in the dim light.

"No," Scott told them, trying and failing to steady himself. "Please no."

"We're not going to do anything to you," the first figure told him soothingly.

Scott furrowed his brow. Why did the two seem so familiar- oh. "Sausage? Joey?"

"Yeah, it's us!" Sausage exclaimed. "We would never hurt you."

"You kind of would," Scott told him. "Aren't you guys evil?"

Joey gasped dramatically. "Evil!? Now, Scott, that's a bit mean."

"You're siding with Xornoth," Scott told them. "You're siding with the one who corrupted our world."

"That's just how he likes it!" Joey insisted. He put on a pouty face. "And don't you go being rude to my Xorny."

More like horny, Scott wanted to say, but he stopped himself. "He kidnapped and tortured me, Joey! He-" Scott shivered slightly, fear creeping back into his bones. No, no, he would stay strong in front of these two-

"Oh, well, it doesn't matter," Joey said, his voice growing growly and harsh, very un-Joey-like. Scott stared straight at him, petrified.

"I'm sorry," he squeaked. "Don't."

"Ah, well, that's perfect!" Sausage exclaimed. "The king of Rivendell, cowering before our feet."

"I'm not-" Scott tried to protest, but Sausage stopped him.

"Don't try to deny it, Scott! You're terrified of us," Sausage smirked.

"No!" Scott exclaimed. "No, I'm not!"

"Aren't you, brother?" Joey's new voice was creepily familiar. Scott stopped and tried to shrink even further in on himself.

"No-" Scott repeated, but all three (four?) of them knew it was a lie. He was hiding in a corner in front of them.

"Don't worry, we'll be nice to you," Sausage said, holding up his hands to show he had nothing in them.

"No, you won't," Scott muttered, glancing away from them and at the ground.

"Alright then, we'll leave," Sausage backed away as if he didn't care, turning and leaving.

"We'll be back!" Joey told him, his voice back to normal again.

Scott didn't believe a word of it.

True to their word, they came back... it just wasn't very soon.

Scott didn't know how long he spent sitting alone in the dark room, just alone with his thoughts. It must have been a while, because his wings started 'healing' (the wrong way; that would be a nightmare to fix later, but he couldn't bear to try to fix them now) and he got very hungry.

Eventually, the door opened, the light a shock to Scott who'd been in darkness for a while.

"Hello, Scott," Joey said brightly.

Scott didn't reply, just watching Joey come in and shut the door. Now Scott couldn't see him...

"How are you?" Joey asked, still unnervingly cheerful.

Scott gave no response.

"Scott?" Joey asked concernedly. It was fake, it was fake, it was fake.

"Go away," Scott snapped at him.

"Oh, I just want to make sure you're okay," Joey told him sadly. If he was acting, he was a good actor. He was. He had to have been.

"Go," Scott told him.

Joey obeyed.

The second time Joey came, Scott was starving and he couldn't resist it anymore.

"Hey Scott," Joey crooned, slipping in and walking over to him.

"Hi Joey," Scott replied weakly. Joey could probably tell he was weak. That probably wasn't a good thing... but Scott didn't care at this point.

"Are you hungry?" Joey asked gently, fiddling with something in his bag.

Scott hesitated a moment, wondering whether it was really a good idea to trust him, then gave in. "Yeah."

Joey pulled out a red fruit and held it out to Scott. Scott eagerly took it and bit into it.

It was not an apple.

He spat it out and dropped it on the ground. "What is it!?"

"It's just a fruit from my empire, do you not like it?" Joey asked, hint of sadness in his tone.

"It- no, it's a corrupted thing!" Scott said, still staring at it.

Joey gave him a small frown and left the room.

Scott left the fruit be and began to wonder. How long could you go without food? Was it longer for elves? Where would he respawn?

Joey came back soon (or Scott thought it was soon. He'd long since lost track of time) with a bag of carrots.

Scott instantly eyed the carrots and watched hungrily as Joey approached him. "Hello again," Joey said softly, holding out the carrot. "Would you like some food?"

Not bothering to care whether the carrot was slightly red or whether it even tasted like carrot, Scott grabbed it and wolfed it down.

"Good! See, I'm nice to you," Joey told him.

No... no, he wasn't. Was he? Joey was in league with the demon! But he brought Scott food...

Joey slipped away and left Scott to his thoughts.

After Joey's last visit., Scott's arms took on a red tinge and he felt hot, which was awful for elves given that they were usually creatures of the cold. He also became aware of something crawling under his skin. The first time, he scratched at it, clawing at the thing in him until he ripped open his arms and they bled onto the ground. After that, he let it be, but it didn't stop, just worsening until his arms ached from the constant irritation.

Then it spread to his wings, then his legs... and it never stopped, growing and spreading, pulsing, alive under his skin. His face grew scarred with tear tracks from the constant crying. But still he was trapped, trapped in this tiny space, away from Xisuma, hurt and scared, his formerly snarky and difficult personality shattered.

The last thing Scott remembered was searing heat right over his heart, and then nothing more.

No, he's not dead.