Previously, on Hermitcraft Oneshots...

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 now, the continuation!

Cub ran forward and caught the person before his head hit the ground. Cub carefully picked him up and carried him to a nearby bed, going so far as to tuck him in. And then Cub patiently waited, ready to be there for when the person woke up. He momentarily wondered if it would be Scar or Ren in control.

Shortly thereafter, the person woke up, sitting bolt upright. Cub rushed forward, to make sure that he was okay, that he wasn't hurt. But instead of 'hi Cub' or 'what happened to me', Cub was greeted by another, worse phrase.

"Sorry, am I supposed to know you?"

Because neither Scar nor Ren was in control. They'd both been wiped away.

The person asked the first question that came to his mind, and of course it was the hardest for Cub to answer.

"Do you... Do you know my name?" He asked nervously. Cub shook his head sadly in response.

"I just... Found you." It wasn't true, but it wasn't exactly a lie. "What do you want to be called?"

The person thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"Lynx. I'm Lynx."

Cub kept an eye on Lynx as he gradually sorted himself out, wondering what to do next. Cub knew he couldn't fix this on his own, so that wasn't an option. He had to tell someone. But who? Scar, Cub's go-to ally, was currently buried in the very back of Lynx's mind, a place Cub had no access to.

Cub needed to tell someone who knew enough about magic and anomalies to help. Someone capable of keeping the matter secret until it was solved. Someone who knew Ren and Scar well enough to help Lynx out. Someone like... Doc. Of course, Doc. Doc was really the only person who could help with the situation, at least in Cub's opinion.

Cub decided that he had to head out to Area 77 and meet up with Doc in person. Of course, Lynx would have to come with him, but how? Cub didn't want to raise suspicion. And then it struck him: invisibility. He quickly brewed up a potion, and briefly explained the situation to Lynx. He then handed over the potion.

Lynx nodded, drinking the potion, and vanished. After Cub determined that he was okay, that there were no weird side effects, the two set off into the Nether, the painfully long journey to Hermitville ahead of them. And, because Lynx didn't have elytra, they'd have to walk it. Great.

Cub led Lynx to the Piston Bolt, and quickly explained how it worked. Lynx nodded, got in the minecart, and shot off. Cub grabbed a rocket and flew up to meet him at the top, taking a moment to take in the Nether hub before flying up the rest of the way and landing on the carpet, where Lynx waited.

Cub confirmed he was there, invisibility and all that, and they made their way through the tunnel. They realised, halfway down the tunnel, that there was nothing stopping them from taking an ice boat. Of course, by that point it would have taken longer to go back and get a boat, so they just continued their long and arduous trek.

When Cub and Lynx finally arrived on Falsewell main street, Doc was pacing slowly in front of Area 77, trying to visualise something. He was clearly preoccupied, but Cub decided that the present matter of Lynx was more important, perhaps even relevant to whatever problem was on Doc's mind. He nonchalantly strolled up to Doc, subtly beckoning for Lynx to follow.

Doc noticed Cub, and before they'd even said hi, Doc spilled the question that had been pressing on his mind:

"Cub, have you seen Ren or Scar anywhere?" He pressed, a tone of urgency in his voice. "Neither of them have responded to my messages since yesterday. I'm starting to get a little worried that something bad happened to them."

"Well..." Cub started, now kinda nervous that Doc would be upset with him, that he'd blame him for what happened, or worse, he'd blame Lynx. But he had to stay focused; he had to keep himself together. "About that..." He gathered together what courage he could find, and spoke, clear as he could: "Lynx, you can show yourself now."

Lynx drank the milk in his inventory, and appeared. Doc took one look at the man, and put two and two together.

"Doc, Lynx; Lynx, Doc." Cub introduced, relaxing as Doc wasn't immediately hostile.

"He's...?" Doc inquired.

"Yeah." Answered Cub.

"Your fault?" Doc asked.

"Only by failing to act in time." Cub replied.

"Good enough. Welcome to Hermitcraft, Lynx." Doc continued. He opened the gateway, and led Lynx and Cub into the Area.

They entered the main bunker of Area 77, and Doc took Cub and Lynx into a bio-containment pod. He pressed a button, and the room disguised itself as a comfortable bedroom. Lynx liked the look of the place. As he was admiring the attention to detail, Cub and Doc were engaged in a quiet conversation, where Cub brought Doc up to date.

Doc nodded and told Cub that they needed to get as much information as possible, so he'd need a DNA sample. Cub nodded, before suddenly realising something.

"But Ren's afraid of needles!" Cub reminded Doc. This reminder came a little too loudly, and it piqued Lynx's interest.

"Who's Ren?" He asked. Doc winced at the question, which concerned Lynx further.

"What's wrong? Why is this 'Ren' person such a touchy subject when I bring them up? What does their fear of needles have to do with anything?" Lynx pressed, Doc declining to answer but getting closer and closer to breaking point with every question out of Lynx's mouth.

"BECAUSE HE IS YOU!" Doc finally snapped.

"Wh- what...?" Lynx stuttered, confused.

Cub sighed, defeated. "I didn't just find you lying around, Lynx. You appeared after a fusion curse went off on Ren and another person, Scar." He explained reluctantly. "So yes, you're Ren. But you're also Scar."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how you would react to being told you're two people at the same time." Cub admitted.

Lynx paused for a moment, struggling to process the information he'd been given. It was tough to digest, and he was still kinda out of it. Could he really be two different people, mashed together? The concept hurt his head. He felt claustrophobic, with people around, and ran off to mull the situation over, and maybe have an existential crisis. Alone.

Cub and Doc ran after him, shouting, but he easily outran them. They paused, out of breath. No wonder Lynx was so fast, Ren and Impulse were the fastest runners on the server. Cub and Doc looked around, but Lynx was nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Cub quipped. "Let's find the missing Lynx."

"That was terrible." Doc replied dryly.

"Thanks!"

After a good hour of searching, Cub and Doc were beginning to wonder if Lynx had left Area 77. They only had one place left to check: The Mothership. Doc went up the water column first, followed by Cub. They were instantly acosted by a horde of Vex, which only backed off when Cub screamed something in an otherworldly language.

Cub winced as he looked at the scratches he and Doc were now peppered with. It was strange, the Vex never usually attacked Cub to start with, being respectful of a practitioner of their magic. Someone must have riled them up. And the only person who could have done that was, of course, the person they were looking for. Lynx.

Cub and Doc flew up, and there was Lynx, sitting on part of the collider, head in his hands. Vex knows how he got up there, but that was where he was. Cub softly landed beside Lynx, Doc following closely behind. Cub knelt down beside Lynx, and, ready to listen, asked if everything was alright. Lynx just shook his head.

Cub managed, through a maze of yes-or-no questions, to figure out why Lynx had run off. Lynx was mad that he'd been lied to, and afraid that he'd be treated like no more than sum of his parts. Cub and Doc (surprisingly, mostly Doc) apologised, agreeing that they'd been a little bit insensitive towards Lynx.

They promised that they'd never treat him the way he feared, either. After Lynx felt a little better, a slight smile appearing on his face, the three of them sat there for a bit, watching the world go around. They'd all head back eventually.

Time skip brought to you by cake and permanent mental scars.

Doc, Cub and Lynx were walking back to the hangar over the airfield. Lynx remarked that he liked the landscaping, which caused Cub to let out a chuckle. Doc replied that he should see it covered in flowers, so Lynx tried to picture it. This seemed to dislodge something in a back corner of his mind, a memory or something.

I sneezed again, more violently this time. The flowers all over the airfield, combined with the natural wind tunnel the space formed, were messing with my allergies like nobody's business. And to think Doc was making a case for keeping them! I picked a handful, throwing them out to despawn.

Lynx opened his mouth to declare that the memory had been brought back, when another one came at him from another corner of his mind.

I planted the last flower in my inventory, and fell to the ground, mockingly exhausted. To be honest, everything ached, but I was still perfectly fine to stand up. No need for drama, this was only part one of the plan. I stood up again, brushing the dirt off my hippie outfit, and watching it billow off.

This confused Lynx. The two memories showed entirely conflicting attitudes towards flowers being planted on the airfield. Lynx was going to say all this, but then the two memories started fighting with each other.

Lynx fell to his knees, the headache overtaking him. Doc and Cub turned around, looked him over, concerned. They were asking Lynx questions, to see if he was okay, but the war in his head drowned everything out. In the end, he failed to cope, and passed out again, losing his memory of the past minute or so in the process.

I still don't know how many more of these absurdly long chapters the situation will need to be solved, but I'm going back to daily uploads, with no other schedule. Might still take Wednesdays off though, we'll see.

OdalRune, signing off from the past!