okay but hear me out- Evil Scott arc
he would make a GREAT VILLAIN OMG

Shrub was on her way to Rivendell.

Why?

No one had talked to Scott in several weeks, and Shrub was worried. He was one of her best friends, and she refused to leave him alone.

So here she was, riding a direwolf at top speed towards the mountains to hopefully talk to her friend.

Shrub dismounted the wolf as she got to Rivendell. She liked to walk when she was inside the other empires, since she seemed less threatening that way.

She was approaching the main hall when she saw a figure standing facing the door, two winglike shapes draping from their back. "Scott?" Shrub called, squinting at the figure. It didn't look like Scott, but maybe..?

He turned at her call and Shrub didn't reply for a moment. He looked normal enough, but there was a hint of something off about him, and Shrub had learned the hard way not to trust anything when it gave her that sort of feeling.

"Oh, Shrub!" Scott exclaimed loudly, too energetic for him. He was not normally this excited. "Good to see you, my dear gnome friend!"

Okay, that was definitely not normal.

"Scott? Are you okay?" she asked, backing away from his attempt to hug her (also strange).

"Of course, Shrub. I'm better than I've ever been," Scott told her. He then winced slightly as a cracking sound split the air, then his composure returned. Shrub stepped forward worriedly, but Scott was the one to back away this time. He tilted his head downwards, eyes flicking upward in a slightly disturbing way.

He lifted his head again and spread his arms as behind him more cracks sounded. Ice shattered from behind him, flying away from him in a dramatic shower. Pure, snow-white wings extended to their full length, veins of glittery blue shining in contrast. Shrub's eyes widened. This was- this was wrong! Scott didn't have white wings not like this! He had beautiful, dulled white snowy owl-esque wings with gold running in veins along their length.

"What- Scott, why are your wings like that?!" Shrub demanded.

Scott smiled. Shrub thought she saw the faintest hint of something- regret? sadness?- in his eyes, but it was gone too quickly to tell. "It's my power, Shrub."

"Your power?" Shrub didn't remember Scott having any sort of magic. He'd been blessed by a god, but he hadn't gotten any powers out of it- or so he'd told her.

Scott slunk around behind her and Shrub froze uncomfortably. He looked like a prowling panther, slinking around her. He held out his hand and from it drifted a wisp of pale blue ice, swirling like a wayward gust of wind. It burrowed into the ground and where it did, a twisting tree of ice poked through the ground. Shrub watched in horrified fascination as it grew to the same height as her.

Scott walked out from behind the tree. Shrub didn't know when he'd walked over there, but she wasn't going to question that.

"You- did you freeze the ports of Mythland!?" Shrub asked suddenly. The ice there had been too pure to be natural. Shrub remembered Gem telling her that she'd found hints of magic in it. She'd seemed to know what kind of magic it was, but wouldn't tell Shrub.

This was why, wasn't it? Gem knew it was Scott's magic, but she didn't want to tell the others. Shrub whistled to her wolf and backed away. She couldn't- why would he do this? How could Scott, her friend, be so- oh, all the ice spikes everywhere must have been his doing too- including the one she'd seen spearing through fWhip's embassy. And his railroad line...

"Why, Scott?" Shrub asked. "Why!?"

He didn't seem to need any more clarification. "I'm tired of the others not respecting me, Shrub! They've never liked me, really. They already see me as evil, so why try to be anything else?"

"You're not evil, Scott!" Shrub protested, walking forward towards where he stood, head tilted aside so she couldn't see his full expression.

He straightened and backed away. "No, Shrub." She could see hints of tears in his eyes. "Goodbye. I'm sorry to you and Gem. You've always been too trusting."

Shrub opened her mouth to protest, but Scott's wings flapped and snow flew everywhere, obscuring her vision. The clouds darkened and began to drop a flurry of snow. Shrub leaped onto her wolf and urged the animal forward, away from Rivendell, ignoring the tears threatening to obscure her vision.

She would save Scott from himself.