"Move," Scott ordered, but nothing happened. "Uh- I wish you would move!" Again, nothing. "Oh, Hades..." His breathing began to quicken as not a single thing he did worked. Nothing they said made a difference.

He was useless.

Panic made them shake and hyperventilate, and it felt like somebody was whispering in their ear and reminding them of everything they did wrong in their life.

Like their father did.

Suddenly, he was running. He couldn't stay there any longer, he hated it. He hated being useless.

The only thing they could do was run away.

They ran out of the dining hall, down the corridor, and out of the building. He ran until he couldn't breathe, only stopping when his legs gave way and he fell to the ground in the woods.

Scott sobbed and looked up, covered in mud, to see that their feet had carried them to were Keres died. That only made him cry even more.

Everything was wrong. Everything hurt. He wanted everything to go back to the way it was. He didn't want to be here anymore, he wanted to go home. They wanted their mother back-

Wait. They had the resurrection spell. He could bring her back.

But... what about Keres?

"Are you okay?" The su.oynd of Jimmy's voice startled Scott as the former walked out of the trees.  "I saw you fall and you started crying-"

"I'm fine," Scott interrupted rudely, shakily standing up. "How did you get out?"

Jimmy blinked. "Eloise opened the door," he said. "But you don't look or sound fine."

Scott rolled his eyes. "You're so nosy."

"You're shaking and you were just sobbing," Jimmy said with an eyebrow raised. "I have the right to be concerned."

"I killed your friend."

Jimmy sighed. "He was... not the best guy ever," he said, and Scott's stomach churned at how familiar the words were. Cleo said that to them a lot. "Eloise made me realise that I don't really need him in my life anymore."

Scott blinked away tears. If that was true for Joel... "Then I don't need Keres?" he whispered meekly, his voice cracking.

Jimmy stared at them for a moment before saying, "He really wasn't a great person."

As Scott broke down into another round of sobs, Jimmy hesitantly hugged them as a way of trying to comfort them.

There was no point to this anymore if Keres was-

"Mom," Scott breathed, then pulled away from Jimmy, sniffling and wiping at his eyes. "I can bring my mom back!"

Jimmy gave him a worried look. "Do you have the energy to do that now?" he asked, and Scott shook his head.

"No, but if I use a scepter I don't have to have the energy," Scott said, then he clapped, did a little cheer, and started down the path.

"Wait, that's not really how that works!" Jimmy shouted after them, but they didn't seem to hear him. "Scott, you're going to get hurt!"

---

"How do I get a scepter?" Scott asked Cleo breathlessly, slamming his hands down on the lunchtable. He didn't know when everybody unfroze, but he assumed it was because the spell wore off.

Cleo jumped. "My gods, Scott," she said, then laughed. "I- You can't scare a woman like that."

Scott rolled their eyes. "Can you just tell me how to get a scepter?" they whined.

"You have to buy one," Cleo said seriously. "There's a small shop on campus if you want to go there after lunch is over. I'll lend you some gold if you need it."

"That's fine," Scott said, shaking his head. "I'll take Keres'. He won't need it anymore."

Cleo gave him a puzzled look. "I thought you were bringing him back? That was the whole-"

"Change of plans," Scott interrupted. "I need to get that scepter as soon as mortally possible, so I'm just going to go now. See you later!"

Cleo watched in confusion as they left the dining hall. "What is going on with them today?"

Avery shrugged.

---

As Scott was making their way toward the shop, they were stopped by a panting Jimmy. "Oh hey, Jimmy."

Jimmy took a long gasp of air before speaking. "You can't perform the spell," he said, and Scott stared at him in confusion. "You need mana to cast the spell. You don't have enough."

"...What?"

Jimmy sighed. "You don't have enough mana to cast the spell right now," he said. "You exhausted yourself and used all of the mana you accumulated, so you can't cast the spell now, even with a scepter."

Scott blinked. "So... I have to wait," he said, his eyes tearing up again. He didn't know why he was starting to cry about this. At Jimmy's nod, they sniffled. "I don't wanna wait, though..."

"I can do the spell for you if you want," Jimmy said. "I'm sure I have enough."

Scott hesitantly shook their head. "No," they said. "I have to be the one to do this. She's my mother."

Jimmy nodded. "I get it," he said. "But... can I at least help? I know it's probably not my place to, but-"

"It'd make me really happy if you helped," Scott interrupted, smiling at Jimmy. "I'd also like your opinion on a scepter because I still need one anyway if I'm going to do this."

---

"What about this one?" Scott asked, and Jimmy hummed. The scepter they were talking about was made of birch wood and had an amber crystal on the end whilst the bottom was rounded.

Jimmy hummed, then shook his head. "It doesn't match your look," he said, and Scott shrugged. "It's kind of... light compared to you."

"True." He put the scepter back and started looking around again. "But all of these are 'light.' None of them really fit me."

"Maybe this one?" Jimmy offered, holding up a rather plain one made of twisted dark oak. "It's darker than the others."

Scott sighed. "But it's so boring," they whined. "I want soemthing pretty. Like me."

Jimmy giggled. "That's going to be difficult," he said. "You are very pretty." His face turned red immediately after he said that, and he turned away to avoid Scott's own flustered gaze. "Uh- Th-there's some darker ones over there," Jimmy stammered, pointing to a corner of the shop where a small amount of black, green, purple, and red scepters were hung on the wall.

Scott's eyss lit up as he rushed over to grab one that was made of black wood with a shiny green gem on the end of it. It was carved with an ancient language that Scott could recognize as Ender. "Uh... '⋔⍜⍜⋏⌰⟒⌇⌇ ⋔⟟⎅⋏⟟☌⊑⏁?" they murmured in the other language, confusing Jimmy.

"What's it say again?" Jimmy asked, laughing a bit. "In English this time. I... don't speak Ender."

"It says 'Moonless Midnight,'" Scott said, turning the scepter over in his hands. "If I'm remembering this correctly, then it's some kind of analogy to the End dimension." He felt along the wood. "It feels like obsidian. It's probably strong. And this gem... It almost looks like an end crystal, but green instead of purple."

Jimmy hummed. "It looks like it was practically made for you, though," he said. "And it's just as beautiful as you."

Scott's pale cheeks turned pink. "Then I'll get it," he said. "It's likely what I need for the spell."

---

"I'm worried about Scott," Cleo vented to Avery, who was sitting on her bed and braiding her hair.

Avery sighed. "Yeah, me too," they said. "But at least they're not trying to bring Keres back. I think..."

Cleo shrugged. "They seemed so... frantic," she said, and Avery hummed in agreement. "Like they're running out of time." There was a moment of silence and while they sat quietly together, Cleo though back to earlier that week when they were talking about Scott's hands...

"Usually people with corruption magic are part Wither. Sometimes it's natural, other times it's because they were corrupted by their own spells."

She gasped and stood up, knocking Avery back onto the bed. "Oh, gods," she muttered, fidgeting with her hands. "He's probably gotten into some corruption magic and cursed himself on accident!"

Avery blinked. "Huh?"

"I have to go find Scott," Cleo said as she turned back to Avery. "Can you try to find a cure for Wither curses?"

"Uh... sure?" Avery sat upright. "You think Scott cursed themselves?"

"It's a possibility."

---

Lorreeeeee