Scar's POV-

Scar didn't sleep that night.

He stayed up all night perfecting his crystal. At long last when he was satisfied-- and maybe even proud-- of his creation, the sun had already started to rise. He tried to get some sleep once he finished, but he had just lay in bed for an hour, unable to drift off, before giving up. Ah well, he'd surely get some sleep tonight. Maybe. If all went well today he might.

Scar would be calling for Sherlock Grian that day, to discuss everything that had been off the past couple weeks. Jellie's disappearances, Mumbo's oddness, Xisuma's oddness, everything that had been abnormal. He could hardly wait. Even though they probably wouldn't be getting any answers that day, he was still excited to at least get going on investigating... maybe. To be quite honest he had no clue what his goal was. He just knew he needed to have a nice chat with his friend.

Sitting on top of Larry's shell, Scar faced the lake. Not having gotten much sleep over the last few days, the wizard was very tired and mildly loopy. Standing up to climb down, Scar wobbled sleepily a bit, fumbling and dropping his crystal. "ACK-!" 

Jumping down quickly with little regard for his own health, Scar landed on his feet and immediately crouched down, turning around on the grassy ground, ruffling through the blades of greens to find his creation. "Please don't be damaged, please don't be damaged," he muttered under his breath as he searched. Turning around, the Hermit came face-to-face with a small gray and yellow cockatiel. It stood still, staring at him, and he realized that in its beak was the crystal he had been searching frantically for.

If his heart rate had increased already, it wasn't anything compared to this. "Come on, parrot," he said quickly. "Drop the crystal, please. Can I have it? That's mine-" Attempting and failing to sound calm, Scar's hand shook as he held it out to the parrot. 

After a moment of tense silence, the bird, to Scar's dismay, flew up high into the air, still clutching the crystal. Scar gasped. "No, no, no, n-"

But the bird just landed on top of Larry's shell, placing down the crystal and chirping loudly. Did it want him to come up? Scar couldn't see why not; things like that happened a fair bit in Hermitcraft. Especially around the magic-user, as he was definitely more susceptible to strange things. Still he had to be careful, in case that wasn't the case this time.

Slowly, Scar climbed up the snail's shell. The bird didn't fly away, even shifting to the side a bit to allow Scar more room. So apparently it was the former. Scar sat down and the bird nudged the crystal closer. He tilted his head as he carefully put the crystal in his pouch. What was the use of stealing it? Did the cockatiel want his attention or something? Placing his hands on his lap, he turned to face the bird. "Hello, birdy. Did you want something?"

The bird seemed to nod. It chirped again, a series of cheeps and twitters, as if it was trying to tell him something. He blinked in confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't understand." The bird fell silent, narrowing its eyes. As it turned away, Scar noticed that around its pupil was an amber iris, matching Mumbo and Jellie's perfectly. The parrots' eyes were usually much darker. Huh. Interesting. 

"Do you have a name?' Scar asked. Maybe that wasn't the best question to ask, being that the bird couldn't exactly tell him. But apparently the bird had a different mindset, as it perked up, chirping. It quickly went airborne and flew up for a bit, before spotting a nearby beehive and flying right towards it. "Uh, birdie, I really don't think going near that is a good idea..."

Instead of leaving, the bird landed on the branch above where the hive was located. It gestured somewhat to it with its wing, lifting it up to point at the hive, then nodding its head. Scar was confused for a moment before he realized what she was trying to do. "Are you trying to charades me your name?"

The bird nodded eagerly and continued to 'point' at the hive, leaving Scar to try and figure out what it was saying. This was going to be awhile. Starting out with the obvious, he asked, "Hive?" Odd name, but he'd heard stranger. 

The bird shook its head.

"Honey...?"

Nope.

"Bees?" 

Scar could tell he had almost gotten it, because the bird starting chirping excitedly like a small child. "Honeybee? Bee?" 

Aha! The bird nodded and flew back to Scar, weaving between the large insects that had gathered around the hive. It landed next to him with an affirmative nod. "Well then," Scar said with a smirk. He held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Bee."

Bee nipped his finger. 

Ouch.

He pulled his hand back. "Fine, don't take my peace offering," he said, trying to be serious but barely holding back a laugh. The bird gave a little chirp that sounded suspiciously like teasing. "I see how it is," Scar huffed in mock indignation, crossing his arms. He turned away, only for just a moment later feel something prodding at his side. He turned back around to see the little bird pushing what seemed to be a handful of seeds towards him.

The Hermit cocked his head, picking a few up to look at them. Seeds? What for? The bird twittered and pecked his hand a bit. It stepped back again, obviously trying to make a point. Scar said slowly, "You want me to... give these to you?" He didn't understand what Bee was trying to get him to do. The bird nodded and Scar was even more confused. Could it not just eat them on its own? 

Nonetheless, he held out his palm and the bird gleefully pecked the seeds out of them. It gestured for more and Scar chuckled, attempting to mask his confusion. "Greedy bird," he said, holding out more. The bird ate those seeds. All of a sudden, it perked up, chirruping happily and rubbing her head on his hand. "Oh....kay?" 

He was about to say something else, but at that moment the bird went airborne and flew off into the jungle, leaving Scar dumbfounded. After a few moments when the bird didn't return, Scar sighed. A part of him was really disappointed. Why had Bee gone through all the trouble of.... all of that, if it was just going to leave? As the sun was high in the sky by now, Scar shifted his attention to his mission for that day. Contact Sherlock Grian.

Scar pulled up his communicator and typed a message to Grian.

You whisper to Grian: Hey Sherlock Grian, got a minute to talk?

After a moment of silence, Scar shrugged. Grian would get back to him when he got back to him. In the meantime, he could work on something. His mind traveled back to the order of slimeballs Iskall had delivered the day prior. Those would work nicely.

Scar had ordered all that slime after paging through the spellbook. He had landed on a spell that supposedly aided with transportation. It was a bit more advanced than Scar was used to, but he had figured that he could pull it off. Instead of crystals for this one, he needed slimeballs. And lots of them. So, he had ordered them from Iskall's shop-- paying extra for the hassle-- and stashed then in a chest once he had received them. 

Now, he walked over to the chest and pulled out an armful of the slime, glancing around for his spellbook. Where had he put that again? He dug through his pouch. It wasn't there, though the Hermit had sworn he put it back once he finished his crystal the night prior. Maybe he had left it on top of Larry's shell? He didn't remember it being there, but it was worth a shot.

He stepped outside of Larry's shell to be greeted by the snail. Looking up, he spotted exactly what he had been looking for. However, sitting on top of it was the bird from before. "Bee?" Scar cocked his head as he placed the slimeballs in his pouch, climbing up to where the bird sat, staring at him. It gave a chirp as Scar sat down next to it, his legs dangling off of the shell. Below it was the book and something else. It looked like a pendant of sorts, a bright lemon yellow with a pin on the back. Bee hopped backwards off of the book, gesturing for him to read what the page said. He obliged, bending over to read the page.

"Translation," he mumbled as he read. "The process of translating words from one language into another. Applicable for all language and species barriers." He looked back up at the bird. "Is that was this is? A translator?" The bird nodded earnestly. Scar thought for a moment. Is this what Bee had left for? To get the pendant? He looked closer at it, and the pendant glimmered magically in the sunlight. After just a moment longer, he took his hat off and pinned the pendant to the star on the end of it. He placed the hat back on his head, whisking his unbrushed hair out of his face, and turned to the bird, who had fluttered up to him. 

"Hello," Bee chirped, with what seemed like a smile. "My name is Bee. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." 

------------

Earlier that day

Grian's POV-

No.

No, it couldn't be. 

This had to be a joke, right? But the look on the other's face as he said it, his silver-speckled eyes glinting maliciously, gave the brit a sinking knowledge that this wasn't a prank. But he just couldn't believe it. All this time, this wasn't Mumbo at all. Even though he knew it was true, Grian said softly, "You're joking."

This impostor kept his gaze steady. "Am I, Grian?" The voice was Mumbo's, but the inflection wasn't. 

Grian bit his lip. This wasn't Mumbo. He glanced back to where he came from. Surely he could find his way back. He could fly out and escape. He could tell the rest of them, tell Xisuma. He would know what to do. He could get rid of this person.

Behind him, the other laughed. It was a gleeful chuckle; this person was obviously having fun here. "Grian, you can't think you can go back, can you? I'm not that bad at redstone." 

Grian turned back around. He opened his mouth to ask what he meant by that, but instead said slowly, his voice harsh but quivering slightly, "Who are you?" He narrowed his eyes, and forcefully crossed his arms to stop his hands from shaking. His breathing was unsteady. 

The other stepped back. Then, making Grian jump, he dipped into a bow, looking up with a grin. "Sage, at your service. Been wonderful meeting you, Mister Grian." 

Grian narrowed his eyes. "D- Don't say my name like that," he growled. 

Sage stood up and brushed off his pants. He looked down at Grian, his small smirk not leaving his face. "Like what? I'm only saying your name, Grian."

Grian shivered. Something about this... Sage... saying his name at all-- like he personally knew Grian or something-- rubbed him the completely wrong way. For a good moment, the brit didn't know what to say, or do, or even think for that matter. He just found out that his best friend who had been missing for three months that had come back didn't actually come back, and this was some imposter lookalike. 

Then, he knew exactly what he wanted to ask.

"Where's Mumbo?" This was less of a question, per say, as it was a command. It was a command for the other to tell him where Mumbo was. He must know, mustn't he? He must know where Mumbo was. "I know you know where he is."

"I do, do I?" Sage chuckled, raising his eyebrows. "Such a bold accusation." After a moment, he continued. "Of course I know where Mumbo is. But I'm not about to tell you, silly. You're lucky I'm even giving you a heads-up about my... identity." The face Sage had, it made Grian want to punch him. Of course, Grian could think of many good reasons to attack this impersonator, but his mocking grin was certainly up there. 

"And why are you doing that?" Grian challenged. This was a legitimate question. What would stop Grian from telling everyone else? And why only tell Grian in the first place? Then again, he didn't know if he was the only one who knew; this was just an assumption. It was hard to believe that even Xisuma hadn't known. 

Before Sage could answer, Grian's communicator chimed with a message. He ignored it, however, and so, apparently, did the other.

As if nothing had happened, Sage continued with a shrug. "Let's just say that I know that you and Mumbo are pals, and I wanted to give you a helping hand." He seemingly read Grian's mind, as he continued with, "And I know you won't tell anyone, because you know that I have Mumbo, and it would be a right shame if anything unfortunate would happen to him-" His eye glinted maliciously. "-or any of your other friends, of course."

Grian froze. "You can't kill him, he'll just respawn," he countered, his voice wavering slightly. Sage was silent, continuing to grin. 

The air around the two was stiff as neither said a word. Without any natural sunlight, or even a breeze, the underground room was stuffy and damp. The towering rocks now seemed threatening, their long shadows scraping the floor. The only sounds were the crackles of the fires, which were now beginning to die out.

"Why are you doing this?" Grian's voice cracked. His tone had lost its force, and seemed like more of a plead than anything. 

This seemed to highly amuse Sage. He grinned widely before exclaiming with a flourish, "Because I was programmed that way, of course!"

Sage kicked the ground to his side, and the cavern wall to the right of Grian opened up, revealing a bubble elevator. "Now, if you don't have anything else, this will bring you right back up to the surface."

-------

Meanwhile...

Scar's POV-

Scar wasn't exactly surprised-- this was exactly what the pendant was supposed to do-- but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't even slightly offput by such a human sound coming from the bird's beak. "Hello, Bee. Nice to meet you, too!" 

Bee nodded. "Yes, I suppose it would be. This hen doesn't stop for anyone, you know." 

Scar chuckled. "And modest too." The bird chirped indignantly, highly amusing Scar. "Bee. Bee, Bee, Bee. Odd name for a bird, don't you think?"

The cockatiel stared pointedly at him. "Says the human named Scar," she countered. Scar muttered something along the lines of 'touché', and the bird continued. "It's a good thing the translator works, this would have been a lot more annoying without it."

Scar nodded. "Yeah, the translator is great. Where did you get it?" It was excellently made. The only other person-- that Scar new of at least-- that could do magic on the server was Xisuma, but why would he have a bird give this to him? Why would he even give it to Scar at all? That wasn't like X, normally he'd teach Scar to make it, then have him make his own. 

Bee stuttered, shifting her wings uncomfortably. "W-well it was in my nest," she began, trailing off. She looked away, suddenly seemingly finding interest in the grains of Larry's shell.

"Uh-huh," Scar said slowly. Did Bee know something? What-- and why-- was she hiding? "Any idea where it came from?"

Bee was clearly not liking this conversation. Looking back at Scar, she explained quickly and irritated, "I- well, I don't know, okay? It was there and I thought it might be useful. Just-" She looked away, tapping her foot. After a moment, she looked back at Scar, who was staring at her with a mix of confusion and mild concern.

Scar, who was eager to change the topic as well, dropped the subject and cleared his throat cutting in quickly, "Well, it's convenient, to say the least." 

The parrot nodded. "Yes, yes it is. It makes all of this much simpler." Before Scar could ask what she meant by 'all of this', Bee continued. "You see, there is actually a reason for my being here." 

Scar sat back-- or as far back as he could without tumbling off of the shell-- and folded his arms. His eyebrows raised slightly as he listened. He had assumed there was a reason for everything, but hadn't gotten a chance to ask. It must've been important, as Bee was perfectly still as she spoke.

"Well, Scar, I happen to have been... er... created by a certain person-- you may know him-- by the name of Sage." The bird looked at him expectantly, as if expecting a reaction.

Scar blinked. Sage? He didn't know of Sages. The only sage he knew of was the spice, and he doubted that that was what she was referring to. And what in the world did she mean by 'created'? His mind travelled to the EX incident. He leaned forward a bit now. This was definitely not what he was expecting. "Who's Sage?" 

Bee twittered nervously. "So, Sa-" However, she was cut off by a loud ding coming from Scar's communicator. Scar pulled it up, giving the bird a 'one-second' signal. Reading the message, he realized it was from Grian.

Grian whispers to you: I do now. Come to Mumbo's base.

After a moment, another message went through.

Grian whispers to you: ASAP

Well, Scar supposed he knew what he was going to be doing next. Standing up, looked down at Bee. "Mind if we continue later? I've got a meeting with a friend over at Mumbo's base."

If birds could go pale, Bee seemed like she might've. Scar bent over to pick up the book, and the hen landed on his arm, shaking her head. "Scar I really don't think snooping around Mumbo's base is a good idea right now."

"It's fine, I doubt he's home. If he is, we'll leave, okay?" Scar began pulled out his elytra from his pouch and strapped it to his back. Yes, yes, he knew, snooping was wrong. But Grian seemed serious, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to go over there. 

As he strapped his elytra on, the bird flew in front of him. "Listen to me, this is an awful idea. Just trust me on this one." 

Scar crossed his arms as he pulled out some rockets. "You know you're not going to stop me right? I'm going, and if you want to come with, then come with. If not, then..." The Hermit took off, shooting into the sky. He looked back to see Bee hurriedly flapping her small wings to catch up with him. 

"If you die, I'm never.... never going to hear the end of it," Bee gasped as Scar slowed down to allow her to keep steady next to him. 

Scar chuckled. "If I die, you have every right to mock me," he confirmed. He highly doubted things could go that horribly, but you never can know with Mumbo. The bird didn't say another word, and as Mumbo's base came into view, Scar dipped down, landing on his feet. He smiled as he turned to Bee, who landed on his shoulder. "Last chance to chicken out," he said lightly.

Bee huffed. "Using 'chicken' as an insult is demeaning." After a moment, she added, "Also you should take off the translator; you look like an idiot."

Scar was confused. What did she mean by that? "Huh?" 

"You're chirping at a bird," was all Bee replied. 

Before Scar could say anything more, Grian poked his head out from inside the base. He was in his Sherlock Grian suit. Scar quickly took off the pendant from his hat and placed it in the bag as Grian walked out. Seeing the brit, the bird hissed and fluffed her feathers. Scar couldn't help but chuckle; she must've received into from other birds about the notorious Grian.

Grian raised an eyebrow at the bird, but waved to Scar. "Come inside," was all he said, before ducking back in the base. Not a hint of a smile was present on his face as he did so, weirding Scar out. 

He followed Grian back inside, to where he was standing next to the same button the two had found the last time they were here. Scar didn't say a word, and Grian spoke up. "This time, we're pressing the button."

"Wait," Scar began. "I actually have a few things I wanted to talk with you abo-" 

He was cut off by Grian. "Those can wait," he said dismissively. "Ready?" His hand hovered over the button as he turned to Scar, and the wizard blinked. Grian was acting weird too. His eyes held something different. Was that desperation? Something told Scar that this wasn't under nice circumstances.

Scar shook his head. "No, Grian, I'm not. Are you okay? You don't seem alright. Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Grian stared at him for a moment before putting his hand down next to the button. He sighed. "Scar, I can't tell you what's going on yet, but you have to believe me when I say that this is extremely impor- Ow!" Grian and Scar both looked down at Bee, who had pecked at Grian's hand. "He just nipped me! What was that for?" Bee twittered insistently at him, and Grian's other hand twitched near his pouch. 

Scar noticed this and immediately scooped the cockatiel up in his hands, shielding her from the brit. "Grian, this is Bee. No harm shall come to her," he said defiantly. Grian sighed.

"Fine." Grian looked back at the button. "Can I press it now?"

Scar looked down at Bee, who was shaking her head furiously. He looked back up at Grian. "Yes."

Grian pressed the button, and a loud noise ensued. The three turned to the side to see the ground literally opening up, revealing a staircase. Scar couldn't hold in a little gasp, as he and Grian walked closer, peering down the seemingly infinite spiral staircase. Grian nodded beside him. "Let's go in."

The wizard nodded in agreement, and walked down a few steps, so that he was entirely below the floor. Though as he did so, something shifted-- and not in a good way. His previously pristine vision began to fade into a less detailed version of his sight before. This was what his vision looked like before he put on his crystal. Instinctively, he felt around his neck for the crystal, sighing slightly in relief at the fact that it was still there.

But something was wrong. Why has it stopped working? He stepped up the stairs a bit, and his vision came back. Back down he went, and it was back to imperfectness. Something was wrong. "Grian," Scar began. "This is a horrible idea. Something about down there... it's not right. It's dampening my magic, it's not working."

Grian rolled his eyes. "I think there's more reason to your magic 'not working' than some fancy magic-erasing walls." He began to descend down the staircase, slightly pushing by Scar. "Are you coming or not?"

Scar looked back up the staircase to see Bee sitting at the base of the steps, looking down at the two forlornly. He looked back at Grian, who was staring at him expectantly, and shook his head. "Grian, this is really bad, we have to go b-"

And that's when the floor beneath the two opened up, and the staircase shut, sending the two Hermits falling down into a deep pit. 

-(Author's Rambling)-

Heya. :)

Things are getting heated up in here... or rather should I say down in there?

Hehe, have a great day and see you next time, my little Readers!

Promise out!