:)

I'm going to see Scar again.

The thought overwhelms my mind. I'm going to see Scar. Save Scar. After so, so, so long. I follow the necklace until I know where beyond the corridor of sculk he is. Except... I have no way through.

He's through there. The Sculk tells me what I already know.

'Let me see him,' I demand. 'Or I'll unleash the power of the vex- no, no the power of a thousand vexes upon this place and free him that way!'

You're... sure... you want to see him?

'Of course,' I reply, hiding my worry at its words, 'You know I do.'

After so long? Who knows what I've done to him. The sculk creeps closer. What you've done to him.

'Stop lying and open the f***ing door.' I spit. It retreats again.

I will. But don't blame me.

The wall disappears.

And Scar's there.

The only thing stopping me hugging him is knowing it will only remind him of the sculk. But I want to. He's so thin, so pale, standing facing away, sculk tangling up him. I can't fight a smile.

'Scar...'

'Hey... Cub...'

S***.

It's Scar. I know it's Scar. But there's an emptiness there. A coldness. Blame, almost, in the quiet, broken voice.

Who knows what you've done to him...

'What... did it... do?' I question, voice shaking.

'The Sculk told me you weren't coming.'

'We both knew that wasn't true.' Something's wrong. Something's so, so wrong.

'You came before and you left. You were speaking about me with Grian. Told him 'Scar is the worst person I know'.' Scar doesn't turn to face me, pacing back and forth along the back of his prison, hand running along the sculk walls. He's covered in it.

Possessed.

But why is he still trapped here? And how did he hear that conversation?

'How do you know that?'

Scar stops.

'It was true?'

'I was talking about Badtimes, but how do you know?! Who told you? Scar, man-'

'Don't LIE TO ME!'

He turns.

I stare into burning green eyes.

Green.

He's not possessed.

'Scar...' I want to scream. I want to collapse here and die. I want this nightmare to end. I want to go back in time, to before even Xisuma was possessed. I want to stop all this. Everything. The universe. I want it to have never happened. I want Scar. I want the best friend that's no longer standing in front of me.

'You don't care about me.'

'Of course I care about you, Scar!' This can't be real. This isn't real. Scar would never think this. What has it done? What the f*** has the Sculk done?

'It took you 2 months. You came to save me before but you didn't. You found Ren and left.'

'Scar, I can explain...' Memories of fighting Pearl comes back. 'Grian was hurt. I wanted to get you back... It hurt so much leaving you here but I couldn't leave him to die.. Pearl has already killed Gem- don't look at me like that Scar! Please, I swear on your...' life. I catch myself in time. I can't say Scar, suggest him dying... but I can't think of anything else. 'I- swear on...' Scar's shaking his head, eyes shining with tears.

'You can't admit it.'

'Because you're the only thing that truly matters to me, Scar! I love you. You're my best friend. Just come back to Hermitcraft. I know the Sculk hurt you...'

'The Sculk stopped Pearl hurting me. Constantly hurt me. And so, so much worse...' He glances at the corner. I want to scream and vomit simultaneously as I realise the sculk-covered thing there is Mumbo.

'F***...' I choke out. 'Scar...'

'I refused to answer questions about you. And the hermits. And the Vex. Pearl nearly killed me because he could die and... and the souls... healing... and I was conscious the whole time. I wanted to die.'

'Your necklace is still on.' I see it shining faintly beneath a layer of what I don't want to be dried blood. Scar removes it fiddles with it, laughing.

'In hope that you'd save me.'

'I will save you.'

'You just proved the sculk right.'

'Scar, you know me, man... You- you know me.' I back away. The entrance behind me has closed. I can't look at Scar - broken, betrayed, Scar - but I can't look away. 'We were about to come back... The portal was destroyed... I came as soon as I heard about the new one...'

'F*** OFF!' He hurls the necklace at me. It barely misses and I stumble, tripping backwards. Sculk tangles up my legs. And I'm back in the forest, Xisuma's base, the nightmares, and I long for any of them. Scar stands, panting.

'Scar...' I plead. 'Please, Scar...'

'N...now you won't hurt me anymore,' his voice is small, but almost free. Like the necklace, waiting for me, was some burden he's now free of. He crosses the room, clearing limping from whatever s*** I don't want to think of Pearl causing, crouching next to where his necklace landed. Silent.

'I'm sorry Scar. Let me go and I'll- leave...' I can't say it. I can't leave Scar here like this. 'I'm so sorry...'

Liar. The Sculk hisses, coiling around my neck. I want it to tighten as it does in my nightmares, kill me. I want Scar to rescue me at the last moment, tell me I'm a 'silly goose for believing I'd actually hate you, jeez Louise, Cub!' and he'll burn the sculk away with vex magic and we can return to Hermitcraft together. But he wouldn't. He'd watch me die, those accusing, blinding green eyes staring right through me.

'Scar... if you're in there...' I whisper the words he said to me so many lifetimes ago. When it was me, trapped in a box, possessed by the Sculk. He spoke to me. I never told him how much that meant. How much it helped, and still helps, through every single nightmare and memory. He was there in a way I was never there for him. 'Below all the s*** you've been through. If you still care... I'm here. I'll always be here. I'm here to save you, ok?'

He turns, watching me again as he plays with the necklace again. Slowly, silently, he approaches where I'm trapped by the sculk. He crouches next to me.

He drops the necklace into my hand and looks me dead in the eyes.

'Goodbye Cub,'

:)