MaybeifIwritechapter34firstchapter33willfeelmorerighttomeIDK-

Never mind! Chapter 33's finished before I even started writing this one.

The penultimate one.

:)

Impulse is last through the portal. 

Not Pearl.

Impulse.

Which means she's dead.

The rest of the server are gathered in the massively expanded exit-room, watching as the Sculk around the portal burns and it shrinks to nothing. I look around the room.

3 of the beds are taken. Beef's on one, with Etho, Bdubs and Doc on the edge of the one next to it. Scar's on another. Unconscious. I feel a stab of emotion, relief that's he's safe. But from the fact only Grian's sat next to Scar, I know Cub didn't make it. And I can already see the grief he'll be going through from the moment he wakes, sitting next to Grian on the ground next to him.

'What happened?' Grian glances at me, as though surprised by my concern.

'A... lot. Cub convinced him the Sculk was bad but...'

'Wait, wasn't Cub imprisoned.'

'He got out. I don't know how... But he did it for Scar... He- he got out for Scar.'

From prior experience with the weak nerdy hermits, I, to my surprise, realise that he's about to cry. But even more surprising?

I hug him.

'It's s*** to lose someone, G.' I murmur. The side of me that's been a Helsmit since it began vomits at my show of affection, hugging another player. The rest of me doesn't care. 'I know how you feel.'

He starts sobbing. I keep hugging him, and I don't hate it. Around the rest of the room, Jimmy questioning the silent Littled*** about something, False and Wels are silent, just occasionally glancing at each other. EX is sat against the wall, staring, lost, at the ground. Stress is helping Beef. From here I can see the bandages covering his shoulders and neck. Impulse is crying in Tango's arms, Iskall and Pix are comforting the crying Keralis. 

It's then that Hypno and Jevin enter the room, and I realise we left them in the Land of Souls spreading TNT. Relief and guilt flood me equally.

'What happened?!' Hypno questions. We all look over at him as he realises mood of the room, falling silent Jevin stays standing, taking in everything, everyone and...

'Cub...'

I shake my head. Jevin sides to the ground, Hypno comforting him. No one speaks for a while.

'So... it's over.'

We all turn to Pix.

'Over?' Tango asks.

'The Sculk's... gone?'

We turn to the portal, just a crack in the wall. A few nods and affirmative murmurs. The Sculk is gone. The struggles are over.

'What happened to the Crack?' I'm next to speak. Jevin and Hypno exchange a glance.

'The Sculk's gone. But there's still a giant ravine leading to the void left...' Hypno explains. 'We went through it. Turns out it did lead to the Land of Souls...'

'What about the sculk in the shopping district?' Wels asks.

'Burning up as we flew over here.' Jevin explains. Silence again. None of us move, or speak. I still have the miserable Grian I've subjected myself to looking after. In the end, we fall back to our own smaller muttered conversations. I return my focus to the sculk-less portal. Scar's safe, Littled***'s safe...

And the Sculk is finally gone.

A week passes since the end of the Sculk, spent mostly trying to bring Hermitcraft to a new normal. The shopping district is a burnt mess, the remains of the Crack cutting right through the centre, severing it in half. So a lot of us are trying to fix that, some repairing shops, others covering the remains of the Crack, and still others with less building experience getting supplies for the latter two. Bdubs decided to start free therapy sessions for anyone particularly affected by the Sculk.

Beef and Scar are kept in the recovery room as their injuries are handled. I visit surprisingly regularly, between assisting the hermits with reconstruction and sitting on the roof of Scarland castle, looking out on the damaged Hermitcraft and wondering about the future. Hermitcraft has changed me. A lot. I'm still as clever with a comeback as always, and I'll never give up swear words. But I'm hugging people. And helping. My flint and steel was lost in the battle, so I'm forced cold-turkey to not set stuff on fire, or blow stuff up. Not that, I realise, I was doing a lot of that before...

'Can I join you up here?' 

Wels. I look over, surprised, to see him stood next to me on the roof. 

'Yeah?' He sits next to me, gazing out on the server.

'How are you doing?'

'I'm fine... progress is going good. Scar's still in recovery though. Hasn't even been woken up yet... which is s***.' Wels doesn't speak as I finish so I'm left figuring out I should probably ask something back. 'You?'

'I've... just come back from Helsmitcraft.' 

'Really?'

'It's changed a lot too. Without Elex keeping Hels in line...'

I nod, foreseeing the chaos that the less-moral admin of Helsmitcraft could cause unattended. 

'And... there's a new Helsmit.' Wels continues. I frown at is tone. 'A Helsmit of... Cub.'

'S***, like Vex?'

'Personality wise, absolutely not. But... he looks like Cub. Sculked Cub.'

'Ohhhh s***...'

'He's friendly. He's mostly introverted, and likes shiny stuff, but... the memories are there. Of... what the Sculk has done here. His name's Ursa.' I don't reply. Not for the first time, uncertainty arises about the world I would've called my home.

'Wels?'

'Yeah?'

I try to speak, but the words don't come out until suddenly...

'I don't want to go back.'

'What?'

'I don't...' I try to find the words 'I don't think... I want to go back to Helsmitcraft. I... I don't know. Without Vex... and now this new guy Ursa is there... and if I'd even fit in or if the other Hermits have turned me into one of them...'

'Hey, it's alright.'

'I overheard Elex talking about Season 10. I know Littled*** and Jimmy are leaving to go back to their own worlds but... but I- I'm scared, Wels. I've made... I've made friends here. I don't know if the Helsmits would care as much as you all do. You've got f***ing THERAPY. For FREE. If anyone even suggested that in Helsmitcraft...' and then I'm crying. Wels hugs me and I hug him back and I realise I like hugs. I need them. I need love and affection the Hermits provide.

'Badtimes?'

'What?'

'There's something no one told you.'

'Which is...?'

Wels takes a deep breath.

'Before the final fight against the Sculk, Elex gathered all the current hermits and we all discussed, in private, what should happen now that the Sculk's gone. And part of that was a vote. Whether you should stay. It was unanimous.'

'What? Don't- don't you ALL have to vote? What about Scar?'

'Cub and Grian agreed that he'd vote for you to stay too.'

'So...'

'It's official, Badtimes. You're a Hermit.'

:DD

MorallyAmbiguousTimes my beloved-

Also, credit to FivePebblesBrainrot on Discord, y'all from the Convex server know them, for inventing Ursa. 

They're great. 

If you search 'daily Cubfan135' on Tumblr you will find their stuff, and art of Ursa. 

Plz give them love they're great