Present day

Scar's POV-

The morning sun shone through the clouds illuminating everything it could touch. A breeze swept through, bringing October coolness, and the phantoms retreated to... wherever they go when they aren't terrorizing people. It was another day, and quite an important one at that.

Scar, who had gotten hardly any sleep the prior night, dug through his chest, pulling out various supplies-- food and rockets, to name a few. After a moment's contemplation, he grabbed another elytra out of the chest as well. It was never a bad idea to bring an extra one-- or two-- just in case. He less-than-carefully shoved these into his inventorial pouch before turning to Bee, who perched at the edge of a jukebox. The strangest thing was going on, though. While the melody of Cat was being emitted and the jukebox vibrated, jostling Bee a bit, the bird neglected to dance at all. Not even to humor Scar. 

"Aren't you... supposed to dance?" He had asked when he first noticed. "That's kinda... a thing. What, is dancing below you?" 

"Definitely not. I don't do that," she had responded with a chuckle. "Not being naturally created, I don't have to abide by what all the other parrots are supposed to do." 

Well fine then. Grian would've been disappointed to know that. Thinking of the Hermit, Scar hadn't seen him since the events of a few days prior. He had left without a word, and hadn't been out and about since. He was mildly worried, but decided it'd be best to leave him be, at least for now. After all, the wizard was busy too.

Blinking himself out of his mind, he focused on the task at hand. "And you're sure this is the right time?" Scar questioned the cockatiel. "I doubt we'll have another chance after this."

Bee nodded, fluttering a bit where she stood. "Yes- yes I'm sure. Quite sure," she answered quickly, stumbling over her words. The bird quickly pecked at a few of her feathers, which had become unorderly in her fidgeting.

"You nervous?" Scar grinned, though his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He paused for a moment, before continuing, with a slightly darker tone than before. "Well, I am, a bit, too. If this doesn't work, Sage will probably change everything up, or worse." He quickly returned to his cheery self, however. If Bee was going to be the serious one, then he had to keep his spirits high to make up for her. That shouldn't be all that hard. "But we don't have to worry about that. We've gotten as prepared as we can; this should be a breeze!"

Making a noise that almost sounded like chuckling at Scar's pep talk, Bee agreed. "Right. We've got this." She was clearly attempting to muster some confidence. Shaking out her feathers, she added, "Are you almost ready to go?" She now had a slightly urgent tone, so that it sounded less like a question and more like telling him to finish up.

Scar stood up, closing up his pouch. He hesitated for a moment, glancing down at the chest, then quickly crouched back down, grabbed another handful of rockets, stuck them in his pouch, and stood back up again with a grin. "I am now!" But as he was about to leave the room, he hesitated. The wizard had just had a thought. "Hang on, I should grab a crystal or two. I don't have any potions, s-" 

But Bee stopped him. "Admin magic doesn't work down there, remember? Your crystals are, no offense, useless." Oh. Yeah. Now that Scar had these crystals and was used to their benefits, he felt awfully handicapped without them. He practically wore his yellow sight crystal around his neck at all times, except when it was raining, and at those times he felt almost blind. This was clearly not going to be as convenient as he had hoped.

Why couldn't un-kidnapping people be more simple?

"Right," the wizard confirmed. "Then I guess we're all set. Let's go get Mumbo!" He flashed her a thumbs up before turning away to get his elytra activated. He shielded his eyes from the sun, and caught Bee out of the corner of his peripheral vision. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, shifting uncomfortably, before she flew up beside him as he left the building. Poor bird must be nervous, especially after last time.

That didn't mean Scar wasn't concerned. Scar wasn't keen on going back to the base. But if doing so would result in him being able to rescue his friend, then there was no way he wouldn't. And with Bee's confirmation that Sage and Citrus would be out, there should, presumably, be no problems. He just had to put on a brave face and get this over with.

The sun was nearing its peak as Scar and the bird flew through the air, shining through the clouds. Skeletons and zombies scrambled to the shade of trees and creepers ran away from cats as fast as their tiny legs could carry them. Watching the cats running around sent a pang into Scar's chest. He really missed Jellie. 

He'd get her back. There was nothing to worry about.

Yanking him out of his thoughts, Bee spoke up next to him. Scar glanced over to see the bird beating her wings with frightening speed. Her voice was strained and separated by gasps of air, making it clear that Scar was going far too fast. Oops. As Bee spoke, Scar slowed down so she could communicate better. "Okay... from... from what- from what I remember... Once we get-- thanks-- down there, we should be able to just open the cell from the outside-- there's a clicky lock thing-- and then go back up. I don't know if there are any traps, though, so I'll fly down there first and scope it out." Scar nodded as she relayed the plan to him.

"So get down there, get Mumbo and Jellie, get out. Got it," Scar confirmed with a nod. Turning his head to face ahead again, through the trees the base was growing larger as the two neared it. "Anything else?" 

"The button that opens the top only keeps it open for about a minute, so we have to get back out fast." After a moment of silence, she finished, "That's all."

And it was great timing too, as within seconds the two had landed just outside of Mumbo's base. Without another word, the two went into the base and began to search the shelves for the button again. It was on the right, right? Or was it on the left? After a few minutes of unfruitful searching, Scar turned to where Bee was hopping about another shelf. She kept glancing back outside. "You find anything?" he called out. 

This made Bee jump, and she turned back to Scar. She shuffled in her position nervously. "Oh- n-no. Not yet." She glanced outside again. "Sorry. Nerves are a bit..." She didn't finish her sentence, and refused to meet Scar's eyes. She turned away after a moment, continuing to rummage through some clutter with her beak.

"We'll be fine," Scar reassured her, turning back around. "You said it yourself, we've got time." They just had to find that darned button. They had to be fine. Scar reminded himself of this too. Bee knew Sage; she knew best. As he turned back to look at a higher shelf, his mind wandered back to their conversation two days back. He trusted Bee, he had told himself. She had tried to protect him and Grian. She wouldn't lie to him.

He shook his head out and moved to the next shelf, on which he moved over a book to uncover a stone button connected to a string of red powder. "Bee! I found it," he called out.

"Y-you did?" In an instant, Bee landed right next to the button, staring down at it, eyes wide. "Tha- that's great!" She stole one last glance outside. 

Without warning, Scar slammed his hand on the button, opening the staircase. "Let's go!" Completely forgetting about their plan for Bee to go down first, Scar walked into the staircase. "You coming?" he called back up to Bee after descending a few steps. She gave a twitter in response.

Wait.

The translator was fueled by admin magic; Scar couldn't understand Bee anymore. That was going to mess things up. Whatever, they'd be fine. The bird flew down next to Scar, still chirping. She flew down a few steps before coming back up to beckon him to follow her. Together the two began their descent. The crystal around Scar's neck had stopped working, and the Hermit had to be careful as to actually pay attention to where he was going. How did the other Hermits live like this? He did not like not having his crystals. Despite this, however, the wizard and the cockatiel made it somewhat down the steps before Scar heard a sound that made his heart drop into his stomach.

Footsteps.

Scar froze in his tracks. His breathing stalled. The only sound was the quiet whooshing of Bee's quickening wings. Oh, no. 

After what seemed like hours, Scar heard the sickening sound of the staircase being opened. "You said we'd be fine!" Scar hissed at Bee, whose chest thumped frantically. She shot down the stairs like a bullet, without so much as a chirp to let him know. As the sound of feet coming down the stairs approached, Scar ran down the stairs as well, pressing his hand firmly against the wall so that he didn't trip and fall all the way down. He hardly cared about how loud he was being. He had only one thought. Don't get caught.

He took the stairs three at a time before he nearly ran into Bee, who hovered above one stair. "Bee, w-" But before he could question her, the bird stuck her wing in front of his mouth, silently telling him to shut up.

Scar pressed himself against the wall when he felt a click. He jumped and turned around to see that he had activated a button. Directly next to it, the wall opened up to reveal what seemed to be some sort of one-room house. For a split second, reason told him that last time he went into a secret room in this place it had gone badly, but as he heard the footsteps getting louder, he didn't give that a second thought and slipped in, followed immediately by Bee. The door closed behind them and the two stayed silent as they heard the footsteps get louder and louder... then begin to soften again until Scar could barely hear them anymore.

The wizard let out the breath he had been holding and slumped against the wall, sliding down to the floor. He sat in silence for a few minutes, letting his heart slow down before standing up again. He didn't let himself think about anything; he had to get out of here. He'd have all the time he needed to think once he was safe and outside. Scar pressed his hand up against a button next to the wall. The piston door opened back up. Bee, without looking at Scar, flew quickly back up the stairs, followed shortly after by Scar. He stopped dead in his tracks, however, when he heard the thump-thump of footsteps from right behind him. 

Oh no, Sage! Scar quickly turned around and tried to run back up, but he heard a familiar voice from behind him. "Wait." The wizard immediately turned back around to see the bee-suited admin standing a few steps door and around the corner of the spiral steps. 

Scar's blood ran cold. The wizard ran back up the steps before Xisuma could say another word. A stone button was affixed sloppily to the wall near the top; Scar pressed it and ran out of the stairwell. 

The two flew back to Scar's village in silence. It was only when Scar and Bee landed on top of Larry's shell that Bee finally spoke up. "Scar-" she began, turning to the wizard.

"You said we were fine, Bee," Scar voiced, his monotonous tone dripping with resentment. He stared out at the body of water in front of him, not looking at Bee.

"I... I did say that." 

Scar turned to the bird. Her eyes seemed to glimmer with... guilt. She wasn't avoiding his gaze anymore. 

The image of X burned into his mind. What was the admin doing down there? Could he be with the two imposters? Could he be an imposter? The way he called out to Scar, like he wanted to tell him something. And then there was Bee. She had been acting anxious all day. Could she really have had bad intentions? "Did you know about this?" His voice cracked slightly. Had his trust been misplaced?

"...yes, I did. I knew the whole time." The bird shuffled in her spot, her amber eyes staring up at Scar's. Scar stood up. "Wait, Scar-" Bee hopped toward him.

"Let's take this to the bunker."

Soon enough, the two were in the same position they had been in just two days before, with Bee sitting on the table and Scar on the couch. The wizard gripped the arms of the chair tightly to keep from fidgeting. He took a breath. "Explain," he said simply. He said only this because he was sure that if he said any more, he'd lose his cool.

Bee seemed to hesitate, glancing around before shrinking into her feathers. She took a deep breath. "I've been working for Xisuma to keep you out of trouble," she admitted in a small voice. Scar stood straight up, the force of it causing the chair to fly back a few feet. 

Watching the bird hop back in shock, Scar began to pace. He could hardly process this. Just an hour-- if that-- ago, he and the bird were preparing for a rescue mission. And now he was learning that her intention wasn't to rescue Mumbo at all? He turned back to Bee, who was following him with her gaze. "So you're one of them? You're with Sage and Citrus a- and X too now?" 

Quick to speak, Bee fluttered towards Scar. "N-no! Not really. Kinda? I'm..." It was clear that the cockatiel was getting flustered, as she hopped from foot to foot as she stumbled over her words. "We-- X and I-- just don't want you to get hurt. He cares about you-- you and all the other Hermits too!" She stared up at him with big, pleading eyes. Scar gulped, an uneasy frown replacing the angry one. "He knew you were going to intervene. He released me from Sage's lab and told me to try and protect you.

"That's why I've been so anxious; if you got in danger or hurt, it would all be my fault." She looked away, slouching a bit. "X and I only want what's best, and, well, what's best is to stay out of their way and let them do their thing." 

Scar had no clue what to say, and turned to face away from Bee, digging his head into his hands. He had just found out that one-- no, two-- of his friends were secretly teaming up with the enemy, but it was for the greater good of him and the rest of the Hermits. How was he supposed to react? Be mad at Bee for keeping this a secret? Be glad that she and X care about him enough to do this? Oh, yeah, X. He was in on all of this? Was Scar just expected to not be mad that X presumably played a part in Mumbo-- and Jellie--'s kidnapping? Was he supposed to just accept it? 

And X knew now that Scar knew about him. 

He couldn't give it another moment's thought, though, because Bee yanked him out of his head with a frantic plea. "Oh, Scar, please don't tell X that I told you all of this! I- I don't know what he'd do... You know how powerful he is." Scar turned back around to see Bee quivering-- not something unfamiliar. But this time it was like no other. She hopped about frantically, like she was pacing, except... not. "Oh, no. Oh, no." If birds could pale, her face would be white as a sheet. 

"Bee, X saw me." This information made the hen freeze in her tracks. She slowly turned around to face him, her beady eyes as wide as saucers. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost.

"He... what?" Her voice shook. 

"He caught me leaving. He called out, but I ran away." 

"Oh, this is bad. This is really bad. He'll know, won't he? That you've figured it out." Bee began to peck at her feathers more frantically. 

Scar, for whatever reason, felt a pang of pity for the bird. She lied to him and nearly landed him in hot water, but at the same time, she was just another player in Sage, Citrus, and X's game. And if he opposed her, he doubted things would go well. If this was a game, there was no rule against teaming up, was there? "Bee." His voice was firm. He knew everything now, and now that he did, he could make an informed decision. 

The bird glanced up at him. "Y-yeah?" 

"I'll pretend to not know anything. I won't speak to X about this." He couldn't promise that he wouldn't keep trying to plan ways to break Mumbo and Jellie out, so this was the best she would get. "And you can keep... doing your thing. Keep X on your side. Try and get info about what Sage and them are planning." 

Nodding along, Bee clearly calmed. "You don't hate me?"

"No. But I do hate people who kidnap my friends."

Bee chuckled. "Got it."

-(Author's Rambling)-

May the 4th be with all of you lovelies! It turns out our darling Bee wasn't as darling as we thought... but we-- or at least I-- still love her. <3

Might I restate how happy I am to have you all along with me for this ride? Because I love every last one of you! 

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

Promise out!

PS: I am too tired to do proofreading so.... heheh...