Scar's POV-

"So, basically what I'm trying to say is that the difference between us and you is that you Hermits really truly revive-- as yourselves-- and we mobs simply, well, reincarnate." Bee and Scar sat on top of Larry's shell, taking in the newly-risen sun. Scar had asked Bee what happened to her and the rest of the mobs when they died-- the Hermits came back, but he wasn't sure about everything else. Luckily for him, Bee seemed pretty knowledgeable on the topic, even if her means of being alive this time weren't exactly natural. 

As it turned out, these 'mobs', as Bee referred to all the different fauna in the world, were something like immortal, like the Hermits. When one should die, they existed in a sort of limbo until they were stuck in another new body of that same species, retaining all of their memories. It was similar to how the Hermits revived whenever they met an unfortunate end. Life, it was incredible.

Scar nodded his head thoughtfully. "So, Bee, did you have any other lives?" Was this too personal of a question to ask? Hm. Well, he already asked it. Too late now.

"Oh, yes, of course," the bird replied, as if that was the most obvious answer ever. She might've even hidden a chuckle in there somewhere. "I had three other lives. Still goin' strong on this one though," she said, fluffing her feathers.

Oh, maybe it wasn't as personal as he thought. Three lives, huh? Scar had probably died three times just in the past two days, and not even to mention prank day. "How did you die last?" 

Without even a moment of hesitation, Bee responded, "Grian." Her voice was monotonous and matter-of-fact. Although, Scar might have picked up a hint of resentment there.

Oh. "Oh." That was not surprising in the slightest, if the wizard was being honest. "What about the one before that?"

Bee, again, didn't skip a beat. "Grian." Oh, dear. Grian, what have you done?

"...And the one before that?" Bee was silent, and Scar understood. "Right... Grian." Scar chuckled nervously. The brit had awful genocide habits. "I imagine you're not his biggest fan, then?"

"Ahahahah, no." Wow. Scar couldn't exactly blame her for disliking him, although the wizard himself had been murdered by the gremlin his own fair share of times. Maybe it was different when you had only died three times and actually had a whole entire life for each one. Huh. Maybe this was why no one ever talked to animals-- especially livestock-- before this. Bee was silent for a few moments before speaking in a softer, less brittle tone. "I'm actually quite nervous about the prospect of dying again," she admitted.

Well, that was understandable. Nobody wanted to die. "Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe it's because I didn't... become alive in the way that I'm supposed to. How I'm basically an inorganic being with a soul, y'know?" She looked away, at the lake, her eyes glossing over as she stared into space. "Really, I'm terrified. I'm terrified that if I die again, I won't come back."

Scar didn't know how to respond. He had never considered that. Granted, he had also never considered that birds came back to life after being killed either, but this definitely wasn't on his thought list. The idea of dying and then not coming back to life-- it was awful. His mind flashed back to his conversation with Grian. Wondering if Mumbo was even alive, or if he was gone for good. He shuddered. "Bee, I-"

The bird quickly shook her head, cutting Scar off. "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have brought it up. What happens... will happen." Her usually confident, or at the very least optimistic tone was completely gone, swapped for a meek, fearful one. This was no good. Bee was reportedly not able to get Xisuma to admit that he had killed Scar with admin magic, so the mood was damp already.

This would not stand. Scar refused to just sit around and do nothing. He had already tried taking matters into his own hands-- and that didn't work well. He tried being an aide to others-- also not very productive. He only had one option left. Ignore everything. The wizard stood up and pulled his elytra over his shoulders. This was met by a weird look from Bee, to which he responded, "Y'know what? We're going to enjoy ourselves today. We're going to have a good day." 

Bee sputtered in response. "W-what? Why now? Is this a good idea? How even? Nyeh?" It seemed she couldn't even fathom the idea of a day away from all the trials and tribulations of her daily life. Exactly why Scar decided this was needed. 

"You know, not everyone here is involved in a giant conspiracy that may or may not result in the end of life as we know it." Despite the fact that this was the truth, Scar couldn't help but smile at how insanely ridiculous that sounded. It just sounded so... unreal. It was so completely unbelievable that, to be honest, Scar himself hardly believed it. "A few new games have popped up in the Shopping District." His eyes sparkled. "We're going to play them." 

"Scar, is this really the best time-?" 

"Hush." Scar didn't know if it was the best time, but he had a sinking suspicion that a better time would not come anytime soon.

--------

Soon enough, the two wound up in the Shopping District. After a bit of searching, the two wound up at an inconspicuous-looking building labeled 'Write Me A Letter'. "Ah, this is Joe's!" Scar exclaimed. He had heard a lot of foreshadowing about this, and whispers from other Hermits who had played it. It was supposedly very good. "C'mon, let's go in." 

Scar and Bee entered the room and began inspecting it. It was small; just a small gray box with nothing special at all. The only notable thing was a singular lectern with a book opened on it. Hm. That seemed important. After sharing a glance with Bee, the wizard picked it up and scanned the page.

Hello, player! 
Welcome to my game. When the timer begins, you can begin searching around for clues to help complete your task. 
Oh, your task? Simple.
Write me the correct letter!
It's as easy as that.
Located around the room, you will find various things: Objects, notes, even the floors and ceilings may be useful.
Spend your time wisely, and when you are ready, place the letter in the labeled dropper and press the button.
Have fun!
-Joe

Seemed simple enough. "So basically, we have to figure out the code," Bee said in summary. "We can do that." 

"Yeah!" Scar was excited already. He placed the book back. "So... where are the clues? Are they here, or-" But he wasn't able to finish that sentence. No, the floor opened up beneath him and the wizard plummeted into a dark abyss below. "Gah-!"

"S-Scar-!" He heard a fading shriek from Bee as the bird instinctively swooped down to follow him. The Hermit hit the ground with a thud and a click. "Are you alright?"

Of course he was; the Hermit had faced worse. He was just taken aback. "Yes," he confirmed, standing up and looking around. The first thing he noted was the stone walls and floor, and the ceiling that seemed suspiciously like it was covered in dispensers. "Winded, is all." Winded and surprised. But he heard a shift from above him, and when he looked up, he saw a flash of a face before the light from outside had disappeared-- undoubtedly the floor closed back up. "That's fine..." He muttered. But was he reassuring Bee or himself? "Let's just g-" But something was off. Scar scrunched up his nose. "...Do you smell that?" As if on cue, a piece of paper floated down from above, and Scar snatched it out of the air.

Oops, forgot to mention one thing.
If you don't finish within the time limit, there are plenty of Splash Harmings to go around! :)
Ps: Look in the chest next to the dispenser
PPs: Don't try to brute force it! Every wrong answer gets you a Splash Harming :)

Oh. Scar slowly turned to Bee, who was perched on his shoulder, staring at the slip of paper with a mortified expression. "This.... is fine."

----------

Joe's POV-

Oh, would you look at that. It seemed that Scar had decided to try out Joe's new game. The Hermit didn't bother to tell him; it was lucky that Joe just happened to be in the Shopping District. Usually, Joe had all the Hermits alert him if they were intending on playing the game, as there was a little hitch Joe had neglected to place in the instructions. 

The Hermit leisurely walked into his shop just in time to see Scar-- and what appeared to be a bird-- plummeting into the room. Perfect timing! Ripping a piece of paper out of the back of the book, Joe wrote down a little note for Scar and dropped it in. He then waved and, just as Scar glanced up, backed away so that the floor could close itself. 

Smiling to himself, the Hermit brushed off his hands and left the shop. He wasn't sure whether or not Scar would survive his first go-around, but he was certain of one thing. The Hermit would certainly enjoy it.

-----------

Scar's POV-

Scar was decidedly not enjoying this. On one side of the room, Bee was pacing, panicked. "And we just got done discussing how dying might kill me for good! How was this a good idea? I'm going to die. This is it. I'm stuck in a death trap and this is how I die. Oh, no. Oh, what am I going to tell...-" And Scar drowned her out there. On the other side of the room was a huge hourglass-like thing, counting down to their demise. Ominous. 

Well, it would be if Scar had any intent on failing. He had already walked over to the far wall, where a dispenser installed in a wall overlooked a chest right beneath it and taken a slip of paper out of it. For some reason, his brain seemed to be working at double speed-- maybe it was because someone in his party actually had something to lose. First things first; this was Joe's game. And everyone knew that Joe was the sole owner of the Hermits' collective brain cell. He must've left some sort of detailed instruction beyond the book. If not... well, in simple terms, they were screwed. 

But, lucky for Scar and Bee, Joe had put his brain cell to good use and provided an open-faced book on one of the tables. Scar picked it up and skimmed it, nodding as he took in the information. "Bee, come here, I found something useful," he called over his shoulder. Without waiting for the bird to fly over, he began to sum up the instructions. "So basically, each one of these stations will provide one of the words we need to write down in order to escape."

The first station was made entirely of wood. A small patch of wood flooring sat underneath a wooden table. More wood decorated the wall with an ornate pattern. It even had a few tiny bonsai trees for added effect. Pointing to it, Scar explained, "That's going to be one of our words. Supposedly the easiest. We've just got to figure out which type of wood to write down."

The second station seemed to have been transported straight out of a cave, fit with all the different types of ore, a hint of a mineshaft, and even a small pool of lava in the floor. On the wall, a note hung, though the writing was so small for Scar to see, even with his enhanced vision. Maybe the crystal was wearing over time? Huh. He'd check that out later. The wizard now turned to this one and spoke, gesturing to it as he did so. "Our next word is going to somehow come from here. Should also be pretty simple, say the instructions. Though-" Scar quickly reread the section on the second station- "-it doesn't specify if the answer is going to be a type of ore or whatnot. We'll have to figure it out." 

The third station was confusing. It just seemed to be full of miscellaneous stuff. Two shulker boxes sat awkwardly, along with a crafting table, a cauldron filled with water, and a furnace. Creases of worry formed on Scar's face as he scrutinized this one. "The third word should be revealed here... though I have no clue how. Maybe there's something in the skulker boxes? All the book says is that everything will make sense and use our imagination. So that's that, I guess."

It was not a stretch to say that Scar was losing hope with every station he went over. 

The fourth station barely qualified as a station; it was simply a table with a piece of paper sitting on it. "Well," the Hermit said. "I can assume this one is easy. It looks to just be some sort of riddle." And that was that. That was it. The entire station. 

There was one more station after that-- the fifth. Its decor was that of the end, fit with endstone, purpur, and even some bedrock, though how Joe acquired that Scar had no idea. There was a lectern with a book, much like the starting room. "This one was hardly covered in the instructions at all. " Thanks, Joe! Super helpful. "Well... we'll figure it out when we get to it." No other choice.

Scar set the book down and folded his arms. That was a lot of talking. He stole a glance at the hourglass, which seemed to have lost a little less than a fifth of its sand. The pair must only have fifteen minutes to beat the game, then. In that case, there was no time to waste. "The only thing to do now is to start the stations."

Bee, who had been speechless up until that point nodded. "Yes, let's do that." With a flap of her wings, she had made it over to the first station. "May as well go in order." Right. That made the most sense. 

Once he walked over to the wooden station, Scar immediately had no clue what he was doing. "So... we're supposed to get a word from this?" Absolutely nothing in the station seemed to lead to any sort of word. 

"Well," Bee reasoned, "It's a type of wood, right? So maybe something here can help." Scar certainly hoped so. Otherwise, they were in quite the pinch. 

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about thirty seconds, the wizard threw his hands up in a huff. "There's nothing here! Nothing to help! It's all just... wood! Nothing here is useful." He would've expected Bee to be panicking, but to his surprise, she seemed thoughtful.

"What if," she suggested, "it wasn't what was here... but rather, what wasn't?" What? "W-well, what types of wood are here?"

Well, the floor was spruce, and the table was oak. The decor on the wall was comprised of dark oak and acacia, and the bonsai trees were jungle wood. There was only one thing missing, which could only mean... "Birch is the first word!" The two shouted in unison. Without skipping a beat, Scar quickly jotted down 'Birch' on the paper. 

All things considered, that was pretty easy, only taking about a minute and a half, which was precious time to spare. But the two couldn't relish their victory for long; there were more stations to complete. 

Next up, station number two, the cave one. The first thing Scar did was examine the note on the wall. "Okay, so, this reads, 'I am like the others, but not quite.' This must be referring to the word! But what could that mean...?" Maybe it was something like the last station. 

"Maybe it's 'coal', because it's an ore but not a gem?" Bee didn't seem too sure of herself even as she suggested this. "I admit, I'm lost." But at least she didn't seem to be freaking out, so that was good. 

But was it good? What did it matter if they couldn't figure out the solution? Scar had a sudden wave of frustration. Why did Joe have to make such complex games? "Ugh!" In a fit of anger, the wizard kicked a portion of the wall as hard as he could, causing an abnormally huge crack to form. "Ow! Ow ow ow!" He didn't notice the crack, though, as he was too busy cradling his foot, having forgotten that the only shoes he was wearing were slippers. "Slippers... not good foot protection..." 

"Wow, are your slippers made of iron or something? Because that wall sure took a hit," Bee mused. Huh? She was right, a huge dent and crack had formed where he had kicked. It was far bigger than it should be, considering his footwear. Even with heavy-duty boots, Scar shouldn't have been able to create such a crack.

Suddenly, the wizard had a thought. "Hang on," he said, crouching down. After taking a breath to steel himself, Scar punched the wall as hard as he could. "Ou-" But he cut himself short as a portion of the wall crumbled and with a poof of gray sparkles, an oversized little bug appeared and immediately leaped towards Scar. "Aha-!" After making swift work of the silverfish, he turned to Bee, who seemed as though she had just seen a ghost. 

"What! Was! That?!" She exclaimed, beak agape. Her entire body seemed to be shaking.

Slightly amused, Scar raised an eyebrow. "Never seen a silverfish before? Annoying little bugs; they hide in special patches of stone and can really do a number on you if they gang up." Realization flooded his brain and the wizard jumped up. "And they're our next word," he said with glee. In response to Bee's confused look, the Hermit explained, "They're like ore in the sense that they come out of stone, but they're bugs, so they aren't actually ore!" It was the only thing that made sense. Scar jotted 'Silverfish' down on the paper. They were making good time, but they still had three stations and only about nine minutes left. They had to work quickly.

The wizard bounced over to the next station and began to search through the first shulker box. He and Bee piled everything they had in a pile in the center. In total, they had three portions of sand, three portions of cobblestone, one blaze rod, three bits of blaze powder, one fermented spider eye, a bit of Nether wart, and a golden carrot. "Huh. Okay," he murmured, staring at the pile. There was a lot there, for sure. But what did it mean? 

After a bit of inspection, Bee spoke up. "Well, it obviously has something to do with potions. Look at all of those ingredients. Nether wart? Fermented spider eye? It all screams potions." 

Scar blinked at Bee. "So you know about potions, yet had no clue what a silverfish was until a minute ago?" This bird was something else entirely.

"Spent enough time around you and X," she said with a shrug. Scar was struck with the sudden sting of remembrance that Bee was working for X as essentially a spy, or some sort of guardian. But Bee continued talking and Scar shook the thought out of his mind. Focus, Scar. "Let's see.... the cobble and blaze rod are obviously to make a brewing stand... and I'm rusty on my potionwork," Bee admitted, shaking her head. 

As per her orders, Scar quickly whipped up a brewing stand with the resources given, which just left the ingredients and the sand. "The sand has to be for a bottle..." he mused as he placed the stand down next to the pile. "...which is where the furnace comes in!" Wow, he was getting the hang of this puzzle thing. The wizard shoved the sand into the furnace, which had, thankfully, been pre-stocked with coal. While he waited for the sand to become glass, he joined in with Bee's observation of the ingredients. "Well," she began. "I know that wart, makes an awkward potion, but anything else?" She was silent for about three seconds before saying, "I've seen a golden carrot added to an awkward potion. I don't know what exactly it makes, but..." 

"It's the only lead we've got," finished Scar. He had always used a handy potions book that he kept near his brewing stand, so he never memorized the ingredients. Thinking back, that probably would've been a good idea. As Bee separated the ingredients, Scar went back over to the furnace to grab the newly-smelted glass. "Ow, ow," he mumbled as he quickly ran over to the crafting table. A moment later, he returned with three bottles and a grin. "We only need one," he said as he put it in. 

"Great.. except it's empty." Bee stared at Scar with the most incredulous look a bird could give. "There's a cauldron in the back."

Scar laughed meekly. "Right, I forgot," he admitted as he plucked the bottle and carried it over to the cauldron. After dipping it in and filling the bottle, he brought it back to the stand and put it back. "There. Now we can add the Nether wart." 

This was followed by an excruciating twenty seconds of waiting before the awkward potion was finished. The two added the carrot and blaze powder, and the only thing to do now was wait. "Wow," Scar said, unimpressed. "It's good we've been making good time until now, this potion-making is taking forever."

"Well... if we actually knew our potions, we wouldn't have to waste time on this," was Bee's forlorn response. She was right; so much time could've been spared had either of the two known their potions. To be honest, Scar was shocked that even he couldn't tell what the ingredients were. For a wizard, he was pretty lousy. After what felt like forever, the next potion was finished. It was a deep purple. "Oh... isn't this... it's... ah, what is it?" She seemed genuinely distressed that she couldn't remember the potion.

"It's fine, Bee," Scar comforted her. "It's what's next that matters anyway." And with that, he placed the eye and blaze powder into the brewing stand. After twenty seconds, the liquid in the bottle became a milky lavender. "It's pretty... I almost feel bad drinking it."

"What?" The bird yelped. "You're going to drink it?" She shouted this as if it was the most shocking thing in the world. 

"...Yeah. We have to know what it does." And without waiting to listen to any more of Bee's protests, he uncapped the bottle and drank the entire thing. It tasted how it looked-- like milk, but more flowery. It was like he was drinking the smell of lavender. It wasn't bad. It sent a warm feeling down his body like he had drunk something hot, even though it was room temperature.

The first indication that something was off was a gasp from Bee. "Oh-! It's-!" Scar looked down at himself... or rather, where he used to be. For Scar was no more. Well... he didn't appear to be anyway. "Invisibility!"

"That's got to be the word! I'll jot that down," Scar exclaimed, reaching into his... into his.... where was his pouch? It was hard to find something if you couldn't see it. "Is there any milk anywhere?" Suddenly, his eyes fell onto the other shulker box, sitting sadly against the wall. The two hadn't checked it. Oh, no... what if it contained something vital? Fearfully, the wizard opened the box only to find that it was filled with buckets of milk. Convenient. 

Once he could see himself again, the wizard wrote down 'Invisibility' on the paper. Three stations down, two to go. And approximately.... he grimaced... five and a half minutes left. This was fine. They'd be fine.

The two approached the fourth station. Just as it seemed from a glance, it was surprisingly underwhelming. The only thing of note was a piece of paper on the table that seemed to have a riddle written on it.

my aim iS true
prePare to see
the stIng of my hostility
my raggeD skull
will nEver frown
you best Run when the sun goes down

Huh, well that was easy. "Oh, it's a skeleton," the wizard explained. "The riddle is just describing a skeleton. Aim? Skull? Easy." Well, at least one of these stations was simple. It was about time they had a break. 

But Bee didn't seem too sure. She stared at the paper for another moment, before chirping, "No, it's 'spider'." What? How? Scar quickly read over the riddle again, looking for something to suggest the answer that Bee had come to. Wait... Scar noticed something, but Bee began to talk before he could confirm it. "Don't you see? Some of the letters are uppercase, and if you put them together..."

Scar finished her though. "It spells out 'SPIDER.'" But that just didn't make sense. Why have an entire riddle for the sole purpose of throwing the two off? Maybe it was just a coincidence that SPIDER was written out. "But there's no way it could be it. The riddle's so clear!"

It seemed that the two were not on the same page. In fact, Bee's voice had an unmistakable twinge of annoyance. "That's the point! It's trying to be so obvious, so much that it's too obvious! Have you done any riddle ever?"

"Now you're just spouting nonsense!" Uh oh, Scar was beginning to get heated too. "Th-this isn't some sort of evil mastermind, trying to screw us over. It's just Joe! Ou-" He caught himself. "My friend! Maybe you can't fathom something being simple for once because, oh, I don't know, you've never been simple in yo-" But he stopped suddenly when he noticed the hurt in Bee's eyes. The hurt that he caused. The wizard turned around, pressing his fingertips into his temples. "Ah, I'm sorry Bee, I just... snapped, I guess. I'm reall-"

A flutter of wings brustled his hair and a small weight landed on his hat, as Bee cut him off. "It's alright, Scar. I... I deserve it," she admitted. "But let's just focus on the game." Her voice was soft and understanding as if she had internally chastised herself as well and was expecting Scar to snap. Not every day someone agrees with your irritation towards them. 

Nodding wordlessly, Scar turned back around to face the poem, the tense moment ignored. Maybe Bee was right about the riddle. But then, it struck him. Maybe... they both were right. "Hang on..." Scar's heart started to beat faster. "Spider and skeleton." As he tilted his head up, Bee hopped off and back onto the table, peering down at the paper. 

"Yeah. What about them?" Her voice peaked with curiosity.  The bird turned to face Scar, who was staring down at the paper with such force that it seemed his gaze might burn a hole through it. "Do you... have an idea?"

Nodding, Scar's hopes began to rise. It was the only thing that made sense. "What if we put 'spider' and 'skeleton' together?" 

"Like... the words? Skider? ...Speleton?" Bee seemed so utterly confused that Scar couldn't hold back a snicker. His eyes shined brightly; he was certain that this was the answer.

'No, like spider jockey." Scar clarified. A flash of realization passed through Bee's eyes. 

"Then the answer is 'jockey'!" Scar was already writing it down as Bee called out. "Come on, let's do the next one!" She flew over to the last station, immediately followed by the Hermit. "Okay, what do we have here?" The small win seemed to make Bee much more chipper, which Scar couldn't say was a bad thing. She had hope, perhaps for the first time since this game had begun. Scar glanced at the timer. Three and a half minutes. 

Hope was what they needed. 

Underneath his thin sandals, the bumpy texture of the endstone was immediately noticeable. Joe clearly went all-out on this project. Seated on a lecture was one more book, which Scar picked up. 

One before four
Four before two
Three comes first
But two is not last

Regards,

And that was it. After reading it, Scar reread it again. "Well, it seems like these might be... " He trailed off. To be honest, he was expecting to come to a conclusion while he spoke, but that evidently did not happen. 

Luckily, it seemed that Bee, on the other hand-- wing?-- did. "The orders for the words," she theorized. "The station numbers and what order they go in." Oh... that did make sense! It made lots of sense. Scar hadn't actually considered that; would the 'letter' be correct if it wasn't exactly as the game wanted it? No wonder the last station was like this. He quickly left his mind as Bee continued talking, a slight twinge of absurdity in her voice. "But something's bugging me. The riddle makes it pretty clear which words go where; Station three's word--'Invisibility'-- goes first, station one's word-- 'birch'-- second, station four's word-- 'jockey'-- third..."

"...and station two's word should be last," Scar finished. He was noticing what Bee had noticed now. Something was off. "But it can't be, as that contradicts the riddle." But this wasn't like station four's riddle. There was no murky water. It was all stated right there, clear as day. 

"Right." Scar didn't say anything, expecting Bee to continue with some grand reveal on what the answer was. But she didn't so the two stood awkwardly, staring at the paper, for a few seconds, simply pondering the confusing nature of the words. At long last, Bee spoke up once more. "'Regards,'. That's been sticking out. Usually just leaving 'Regards' at the end of a letter would be fine, but... it's the comma that's ruffling my feathers. Like Joe had planned to write his name but never got around to it."

Exactly. Now that Bee had voiced it, it certainly seemed like it meant something. "...What if there are five words?" Realization flooded his partner's eyes and the wizard continued. "Station two isn't last because station five is after it! And the word..." That was what caught Scar. It obviously had something to do with the last word on this note, but he just couldn't know for sure. But what he did know... "Bee, there are two possibilities," Scar began. His voice was slightly more solemn than normal. "Either the word is 'Regards' or it's 'Joe'." Instead of asking him why, refuting him, or anything like that, Bee just nodded in agreement. Good. They were on the same page. Before he said anything else, he glanced around the station to see if there was anything that could be of use to aide them. Absolutely nothing. No hidden messages, no secret chests with hints inside, nothing. 

"We just have to guess," Bee murmured in a low voice. 

A tense moment of silence followed. If they got it wrong, and Bee got struck by a splash potion of harming, it was over for her. 

"Then that's what we'll do. Beats waiting for the timer to run out. Let's... try 'Joe' first. Fill in the blank." Just above a minute left. The two made their way to the dispenser and chests. Quickly grabbing a paper and scribbling the words down in the correct order-- plus the word 'Joe' at the end-- Scar took a glance at Bee, who nodded from her perch on the chest. Before he could rethink, he shoved the paper in the dispenser and slammed his fist on the button next to it.

Click.

Scar's body moved on its own. He dropped to the floor and covered Bee from all angles, wrapping his arms protectively around her, squeezing his eyes shut. A glass bottle shattered against his back and the instantly-dissipating potion was fully concentrated on Scar. He clenched his teeth and barely held back a yelp of pain.

And it was over. That was it. Nothing more. Shaking slightly, Scar sat back to steady his breathing. "Sorry, reflex. You okay?" The wizard chuckled quietly. 

"Y-yeah..." The bird replied, ruffling her feathers. "Startled." After a pause, she added, "...Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He glanced at the timer. About forty-five seconds. "Let's get out of here," he said with more determination. 

The next few moments went by in a blur. Scar wrote down the correct words, put the paper in the dispenser, and the wall opened up to reveal a ladder... leading directly back up to the original room of the shop. Waiting there for the two players was a modest reward of ten diamonds.

They were safe.

Once the two were outside, Scar heaved a heavy sigh and leaned up against the wall of the building. Had he breathed at all in the fifteen minutes that the two were down there? The wizard could not remember. Nonetheless, he was now. And heavily. "Bee," he said slowly. The bird was sat on an especially long branch of a nearby bush. "I'm sorry. I just thought we could have a fun time playing games... I didn't mean for it to end up like that. I didn't mean to make things worse."

"Scar... That-- other than the part where I nearly died-- was probably the most fun thing that I've done... ever." 

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

Scar and Bee ended up playing two more games-- both less life-threatening than the one they had completed earlier-- before nighttime befell them. Bee flew off to do something or other, leaving Scar alone in his magic village, letting a thought sit in his mind as he played mindlessly with the removed translator in his hands. Today was Friday. He and Xisuma always had magic meetings on Friday nights. He still had the furniture set up from last week's meeting, but that wasn't quite the problem.

Did Scar even want to talk to the admin?

And did X even want to talk to Scar?

Reluctantly, Scar sat down in one of the seats and waited. He waited for a long time, and eventually, he gave up. Xisuma wasn't coming. The wizard stood up and turned around to pack up the furniture when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Scar... wait." It was X's voice. The wizard turned around, the yellow crystal around his neck casting a slightly- menacing glow on his face. The admin winced at the coldness in Scar's eyes and continued. "Could we talk?"

Wordlessly, Scar sat back down. X wanted to talk. What was there to talk about, other than, well, everything? It was amazing what could change in just a week. And change, recently, didn't seem to be positive. Eventually, the Hermit replied,  "Yeah, I think we should." He refused to meet X's gaze.

After a short moment to take a breath, the admin began, "Look, about prank day-"

No. Scar cut him off. "You used advanced admin magic to kill me so that I wouldn't find Mumbo hidden in his basement," he finished with a cool voice. Right, he remembered at the look of sheer horror that passed over X's face, Xisuma had no idea that Scar knew about Sage and Citrus and all the rest of the lies. "Yeah, I know about him." 

X muttered something under his breath, but Scar couldn't hear it that clearly. Something about Grian. "...and when you went down into the lab before that..."

"Tried to reach Mumbo but couldn't," the wizard answered in the same dry, cool voice. He had almost mentioned Bee as well, but caught himself. That was one promise he wasn't going to break. He wouldn't tell X that Bee was actually helping him. Never. 

A cool breeze swept through the night, the still silence broken. Larry whined softly. "Scar, please just listen to me. You need to stop; you're going to get yourself hurt. I'm not trying to hurt anyone-"

"-except Mumbo?!" Scar raised his voice automatically. What in the world was X saying? How dare he say that when he was literally keeping one of his 'friends' hostage? "Because to me, it seems like he's hurting pretty bad, being trapped in his own base for three and a half months."

This hurt X. Scar didn't need any telepathy or anything to see that. It was clear. Xisuma was not good at hiding his emotions-- at least, not now. "Scar, please-"

"No, Xisuma. I'm not negotiating."

Silence. Then a ding. It was Xisuma's. The admin checked his communicator. "I have to go. Nice chat."

And that was it.

-(Author's Rambling)-

Whew! That was a long one. And a long wait too! So sorry about that. School started this week, and I am sure you lovelies all know how that goes. 

I feel like I lost so much of my sanity, timing the game myself on a stopwatch to make the minutes accurate. The time limit was originally five minutes... that didn't last long! Haha....

Anyway, thanks for coming, and I'll see you in the next one, my little Readers!

Promise out!