It isn't a long corridor, but every step is agony as I follow after Cub. By the end, I’m almost blacked out, all my weight on the closed door. I hastily message Scar, granting myself couple seconds of recovery before knocking.

‘Cub are you ok?’ I call. ‘I heard screaming, and a crash…’

Another scream. I back up, as much as I can, and ram into the door. Hard enough for it to break and send me stumbling inside, thankful for the table I can grab to stay standing. My eyes dart about the room. It’s some kind of lab, brightly lit.

With sharp instruments strewn bloody on the surfaces.

And patches of dark red blood and darker black something covering the floor and smeared in handprints on the walls.

And Cub, curled up on the ground, sobbing and hurt.

‘Please, I’m sorry… I- I didn't- I didn't do-’ Another scream, Cub curls up tighter. My heart races, thundering in my scrambled brain. I can’t remember Cub’s emergency word, praying that Scar saw my message. ‘Please- PLEASE-’ This time I see the sculk creeping up Cub’s face as he screams. Horror drowns me. I back away.

The floorboards creak.

Cub turns.

There’s no time to run. With an animal screech, he pounces. I scream as he claws me. Pain, perhaps worse than the burns, tears through my chest. Blood sprays. I trip. Before I can recover, Cub grabs me by the tie, dragging me backwards with strength he shouldn’t have and pinning me to the wall.

‘Cub. Please. Don’t kill me,’ I beg through the choking panic. The expression in Cub's sculk blue eyes doesn’t fade. His grip only tightens ‘I just wanted to see you were ok, Cub. I heard screaming and-’

‘I told you to FUCK OFF, SKIZZ!’ he snarls, shoving me hard against the wall. I’m winded. The words cut through me like a warden attack. ‘You refuse me privacy AGAIN AND AGAIN!’ His claws dig deep into my skin. I struggle for freedom.

‘Cub, I’m worried about you! You’re hiding something! The Sculk’s hurting you! I just found you here, begging as something tortures you-’

‘I told you to FUCK! OFF!’

‘Cub, I’m not trying to antagonize you! I…’ I spot the tendrils sticking like horns through Cub’s hair. And then how far the veins have spread down his arms, over his face. And then the bloody bandages. I lock eyes.

‘You’re possessed.’

Cub steps back. As he clenches his hand, sculk wraps around my neck and shoulders, pinning me to the wall. I catch more bandages under his lab-coat sleeve as I struggle, drowning in panic.

‘Ohh no… no... Cub?’ I try to move away. ‘Cub. Buddy. Please. This isn’t you… GRIAN! GRIAN HELP!’

A crash.

Scar. He freezes in the doorway, eyes locked on Cub.

‘Cub,’ he speaks. Cub’s attention snaps to him. 'Stop.’

‘Scar.'

‘What is this place, Cub?’ Scar questions, taking in the room, his eyes locking on stuff I hadn’t even seen - the sink of bloody water, the chests overflowing with empty potion bottles, the magnifying glass choking in Sculk. ‘Tell me what's going on.’

‘Not now.’

‘The Sculk is hurting you, right? It's under your skin?’ Scar continues speaking. There are tears in his eyes. ‘So… you’re trying all this stuff to stop it? You're trying potions. You’re attacking it with vex fire and vex in that room? And you’re- you’re cutting yourself?’ Scar’s gaze shifts to the sharp instruments by the sink. ‘Why? Why have you gotten so desperate, it’s like you’re-’

The truth hits him.

‘Sculkrot.’ I don't know what Scar’s talking about, but the tone alone fills me with dread. ‘You’ve got Sculkrot.’

No reply.

‘Why didn’t you tell me, Cub?’ Scar questions. I can see his struggle to not crying. ‘Why- why wouldn't you tell me? You’re dying Cub, and you… you didn’t…’

‘I’m not dying.’

‘Fine! But being forced to become a warden, losing all your conscience, being eaten alive by sculk is even worse!’

I don't hear Cub’s reply through my horror, the images appearing in my mind. I threaten to vomit. This- this isn't...

‘...leaves me alone.’

‘That’s bullshit and you know it,’ Scar's voice brings me back to some kind of focus. ‘I’ve read every single fucking book on the Sculk that you have and we both know that there’s no cure, so why the fuck are you still doing this to yourself? That stuff you’re cutting out won't just regrow normal. You're making it worse. I could’ve told you that, Cub! When did this even start?’

‘Early Season 10. I don’t know exactly when.’

‘You’ve known for that long? And you never told me?’

‘I only figured it out recently. I would’ve told you sooner, but other hermits were always in the way.’ Cub’s glare turns to me, still trapped in sculk. ‘And then you started sneaking around my base, and getting mad at me, and ignoring all of my signals to talk with you alone, when I don’t have long left at all.’

‘What do you mean you don’t have long left?’

‘Based on the symptoms, I only have about a week maximum until I can’t control the sculk’s actions anymore and, for the safety of the server, will have to be killed.'

Silence.

'No...'

'I’ve been trying to tell you for the last month! And every time I try, someone else always comes and I can’t. Or… or the stupid Sculk stops me and… and...' A pause. 'Fuck.’

Cub collapses.

‘CUB!’ Scar sprints to where his friend’s now lying unconscious, falling next to him and scrambling to find a pulse. The sculk around me disappears and I drop to the ground.

‘What happened, is he alright?’ I question. My fingers rest on my communicator, ready to message Xisuma if I need to. ‘What’s the emergency word if I need to message X?’

‘Cub? Cub? No no no no… Cub? Wake up. Talk to me,’ Scar pleads. Vex wings flicker behind him. His fingers fumble with the buttons of Cub’s shirt. ‘Wake up. Just wake up… fuck you're-’ Scar stops. I look up.

‘Scar?’

‘Get out.’

‘What?’ My stomach drops.

‘Just leave the room. Leave us alone.’ Scar mutters. I claw my way to my feet, looking over to where he’s managed to unbutton Cub’s shirt and labcoat. I freeze. His chest is covered in stitches, bandages, oozing black blood and sculk, rotting through his skin.

‘Fuck.’

‘Skizz, please.’

‘What’s your plan? How do we save him?’

No reply. Scar’s fiddling with something around Cub’s neck. All I catch is a flash of blue as he pockets it. He’s already crying.

‘Go.’

I do. Slowly. Tango's in the corridor, talking with a more-recovered Grian. The moment he spots me, he rushes over to help, asking questions I can't reply to. My mind is a haze of shock and horror.

A few minutes later, a message comes into chat.

cubfan135 was slain by GoodTimeWithScar

The end.

:)