The potion crashed into my chest, glass shards digging into my skin.

Whoa! Let's reverse time skip from this prompt by HermittpadRecap!

When I woke up, something felt... wrong. Probably my heartbeat, echoing in my chest. I was still getting used to being alive again, through everything. I decided to go quickly walk off the nervous energy it filled me with.

I threw on my elytra and glided down from where I'd put my bed, briefly wondering what it would be like to have real wings. I pushed the thought out of my mind as I landed, taking a step forward to maintain my balance. Needless to say, I still stumbled, a fact which led me to chuckle to myself.

I took a quick stroll, eventually finding myself in the shopping district. I didn't have much money, not yet anyway, so I didn't buy anything. But still, I had a look around, checking out a few new shops that had popped up and seeing if some of the older ones had been restocked. It seemed I wasn't the only one in a restless mood, as I bumped into none other than Ren.

He'd been about to enter a new 'custom potion shop' and I agreed to go with him. We looked around at the various things on display, that had all sorts of effects (that Vex magic could do better) and generally fell into the 2 diamonds each price range.

But there was one potion, at the end of the room. It was different in several ways. For one, it was completely and entirely unlabeled, save for the price: 0 diamonds. I am proud to say that I recognised it as too good to be true. The same didn't apply to Ren. He fell for it hook, line and sinker.

He grabbed the bottle out of the chest and grinned at me, his subtle fangs gleaming in the lighting of the shop. He took the lid off, and was about to drink it when I realised I had to do something. I charged into him, yelling something about danger, and the potion went flying. I tried to catch it, but ended up slamming into the thing.

The potion crashed into my chest, glass shards digging into my skin.

Even though it didn't seem to be a splash potion, I seemed to be absorbing it. I lay back, awaiting whatever deadly effect it would have on me. But, to my surprise, nothing happened. I slowly sat up, and Ren offered me a hand to help me stand up.

I took it, and that's when we realised what the effect of the potion was. Because when I stood up, I couldn't let go. Our hands were beginning to fuse with each other. We both pulled desperately, but we were well and truly stuck. Ren and I looked at each other, in a way that suggested we needed to find help.

I hurried off, with no time to lose. I only realised that Ren and I had to stick together (hilarious choice of language there, I know) when he let out a yelp as he was dragged along.

"We're going to the only person who can help." I told him.

"Oh, Doc."

"What? No. Cub!"

"Area 77! Doc knows his way around the weird!"

"But this isn't just weird, it's weird magic, which is Cub's thing!"

"Well, Cub might be the one behind this."

"But he'd never hesitate to help a fellow Vex."

"We need to agree on someone to go to."

He waved our arms in the air as a point.

"Fine. We'll go to Cub, and then if he can't or won't help, we'll go to Doc."

"Deal."

And so we set off towards ConCorp, awkwardly trying to match each other's speeds. In a way, it was lucky that this mess happened early in the morning: nobody would see us fooling around like this, unable to agree on how to move.

When we arrived at ConCorp, Cub wasn't aboveground. So, perhaps against my better judgement, I took Ren into the board room. As we stepped out of the bubble column, Ren couldn't help gasping in awe at the majesty of the board room. It brought a little flutter to my heart too, seeing it for more than just the diamond chests.

Cub was, as we entered, deeply engrossed in a book. A quick scan of the room revealed it was from the section on potions, a fact which sent a shiver down my spine. Was he really behind this mess? Was Cub the one that did this to us? I hurriedly pushed that thought out of my mind, and greeted Cub.

He looked up from his book and returned the greetings. He then realised Ren was there, and asked why. I showed him our arms, and gave him a run-down of what had happened. At that he sighed, and put the book down.

"Man, and I was so close to figuring it out, too!" He complained, confusing Ren and myself.

He took us up to the drone room, and showed us a camera feed from the area of the mall where the shop we'd been to was. At midnight, it had been blank, empty. 12:01, the shop was just... There. He'd been trying to figure out where it came from before it was too late and something bad happened.

We went back to the boardroom, to try and figure something out. A solution to Ren and I being stuck, if anything more was going to happen, how to stop it if it would. Really anything to she'd some light on the situation. Of course, it was hard to read, with access to only one arm. I had my magic to help me, but Ren didn't. I felt kinda bad for him, to be fully honest.

After an hour, Cub found something. The good news was, we knew a lot more about what was going on. The bad news? It was far, far worse than we could have possibly thought.

It seemed to match up with a fusion potion. Those who suffer its effects start by sticking together, usually hugging or holding hands, but from then on they only have twelve hours left. Twelve hours, before both are gone, and they're replaced by someone who is both of them and neither at the same time. After that, it varies case-by-case.

Ren and I glanced at each other, worried. There was no cure listed, no past cases of people being able to undo the effects before the time ran out. But we had determination and Vex magic on our side. We could figure this situation out, no problems whatsoever. We just needed a little bit of time, now a precious resource.

We started out by trying Vex magic, to forcibly separate us. Cub and I blasted the most powerful dispelling magic in our personal arsenals at really anywhere the potion could be taking effect. But, whether due to Vex magic being more attuned to doing than undoing, or some other cause, our magic failed to stop the potion's magic.

We kept on searching, for a counterpotion. Like healing is to harming, regen is to poison. We scoured every resource we had access to for information, of any kind. But there was no known recipe to try adding a spider eye to. There was no obvious indication on the effect a counterpotion would have. We had nothing to go off.

Maybe there was a cure somewhere out there. Who knows. After hours of searching, all we found was a spell that could tell us how long we had left. Cub cast it on Ren's watch. But, when a hour was left, we finally gave up. Ren kept looking at past cases, to try and find out what would happen next. And I decided to write how it happened. A last goodbye to the Hermits.

And so, for the last hour of my life, I've been writing this. I could have been doing so much else. I don't want to go yet. I want to stay myself.

But that's not what's coming. We'll both be gone in less than ten minutes. And from the excerpts that Ren's been reading aloud while I wrote this, it won't be fun. For anyone involved.

So... To the Hermits reading this, I guess this is goodbye from us both. Don't forget who Ren and I were, okay? Don't forget the fun we had together. Don't let whoever is left in our place replace us.

-Scar

Now let's shift into third person to finish this off, shall we?

Scar finished writing the book, and closed it, sighing. Time was ticking. Ren showed Scar another passage from the book, which made them both shudder. At least they hadn't grabbed matching hands when Ren had helped Scar up. That would have made things so much more awkward. They smiled slightly, Scar's usual little chuckle brightening his and Ren's final moments.

A sudden pulling feeling shot through both of their arms, as they began to fuse further. Ren showed Scar his watch, revealing how much time the two had left: only five minutes. Five minutes before Scar and Ren became ScarandRen. Fused. Inseparable. Scar began to softly cry. He didn't want to go. Neither of them did. But cruel fortune had claimed them both in one fell swoop.

Four minutes. The pulling feeling came again, harder this time. Their hands began to fade as the fusion sped up. Ren pulled Scar into an awkward hug. He doubted Scar wanted his final moments to be spent crying if either could help the situation, after all. But it was hard. Ren, too, struggled to keep his composure in the situation.

Three minutes. The pulling came again, as Cub came in to say goodbye, and Scar dragged him into the hug with his free arm, still shaking with tears. Under his breath, one could barely make out a phrase, on repeat:

"I don't want to go."

The three drew closer, trying to comfort each other as the clock kept ticking down.

Two minutes. Cub pulled out as Ren and Scar visibly winced at the pulling. They slowly stood up, bidding Cub their goodbyes. In a flash of Vex-blue magic, Scar put away all the books, while Ren watched in pure awe. It exhausted Scar to the point where the only reason he didn't drop was because Ren was supporting him.

One minute. Ren and Scar both yelped at the pulling, and followed their instincts to fight back against it. They struggled, and they put in their best efforts to stop it, but the magic had its hold on them. They looked into each other's eyes in fear, knowing what would come next. No Ren, no Scar. Their time was up.

There was a blinding flash of light, bright enough that Cub had to shield his eyes. And there were screams from both hermits, which soon became one, a voice in the middle of the two. The light faded, revealing someone who was both of them and neither at the same time. He turned to face Cub, took one shaky step, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

And that's where I'm leaving you! A cliffhanger!

I'll go back to daily uploads on Monday, but there should be at least one more chapter out before then.

OdalRune, signing off from the past!