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Conflicting Lives- Chapter 3: Possible Collaboration

Word Count: 2354

Scythe was sat back down at the meeting table, as were the five district heads and Storyteller. Not many words had been said since they all sat back down, both to Scythe’s gratitude and dismay, the seedling of anxiety in the pit of his stomach only growing as more silent seconds passed by. his gaze moving between the 6 people in front of him. He only hoped that his eyes didn't show what was going through his head.

They were all looking at him, well- almost all of them. The only person who wasn't really looking at him was Storyteller. Of course, they were looking at him like Voidling, Tinkerer, Strawberry, Atlas, and CuteGuy were, but they were more so looking through him instead of actually at him. Whether that was better or worse, Scythe couldn't really decide.

“Storyteller requested that she be able to work along side you in this case, so long as the vote results in a yes.” Atlas spoke up first, breaking the slightly tense air. It made since that they spoke first, being the Survan Hero District head and therefore, Scythe’s boss. His voice was steady outwardly, but Scythe was able to see a the smallest hint of knowing in his eyes.

Storyteller - or rather Lunar - simply nodded along with Atlas’ words, their own eyes giving nothing away. Scythe locked eyes with her for just a moment before looking back at Atlas, the anxiety in his stomach both lessening and growing at the same time.

“I’m sure I’d be able to do that. If i mask ask though, is there any specific reason why Storyteller would like to work with me specifically?” Scythe responded, keeping his voice as calm and professional as he could. Of course, he was pretty sure that he already knew the reason why Lunar wanted to work with him specifically, but thought that it would only be polite to ask anyways.

Atlas simply turned to look at Lunar, gesturing his hand forwards just slightly so that she could say the reason herself. Lunar and Scythe knew Atlas outside of formalities as well, and all three for them being more than just what they appeared to be to the other 4 district heads.

“I believe that your access to all areas of Survas would be beneficial to my part of the.. investigation. I also think that our abilities could work well together in the event of anything unfortunate happening in the process.” Lunar responded, actually looking at Scythe rather than through him now, her voice steady, calm, and carrying a professional tone to it. She had an excellent poker face, and anyone that didnt know them wouldn't be able to tell that there was more to their words then she let on.

Scythe slowly and silently nodded as she spoke, listening to her words carefully. The reason was actually pretty close to what he guessed it would be when said in front of the district heads, surprisingly enough. One of his ears flicked slightly as he thought of how he would respond, though another voice spoke before he could. “So, would you be willing to assist Storyteller in their investigation then?” Voidling chimed in, looking at Scythe from behind his mask with a tone that did leave room for him to refuse if he wanted to, though Scythe was still able to tell that the Hermiton hero head was hoping that he would say yes.

Luckily, he hadn’t planned on saying no, and looked at Voidling with a nod. “Yes, I am.” Scythe said simply, keeping his response short and polite, the tip of his tail swaying from one side to the other before stilling once more.

“Well then, you’re free to go home Lux. Thank you for staying behind, and enjoy the rest of your day.” Voidling responded with a small nod himself, raising his arm to check his communicator for any new messages or alerts. “Of course” Scythe responded with a small and polite smile, standing up from the chair he stood in and walking out of the meeting room. As the door to the elevator closed, he let out a breath of relief that he hadn't even realized he had been holding, his tail flicking from side to side and his ears dropping just slightly.

That was… certainly something, to say the least. He wouldn’t even be surprised if he got a message from Lunar later asking to talk about what happened, that is, if he didn't message them first. Scythe’s eyes closed as he took a couple of deep breaths, the elevator dinging softly as it descended past each floor.

Once the sturdy metal mechanism came to a stop, Scythe’s eyes were open once more, his previous anxieties calmed and his mind focused on going home. He stepped out the elevator calmly once the door slid open, giving a small and friendly wave to employees he passed by on his way out of the building.

Once outside, Scythe opened his communicator that rested on his right forearm, opening his personal messages and finding Ella’s contact, named ‘Sunstone’, sending her a small and quick message.

Scythe: On my way home now, will probably be like 20 or 30 minutes.

He closed his communicator after sending the message, taking a breath of the crisp and cool autumn air before heading off in the direction of his apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~

Scythe fumbled more than he usually did to get the key into the door of his and Ella’s apartment, finally managing to turn the key and open the door after far more attempts than he was willing to admit to anyone.

On his way back, he had taking a tiny detour through a back alley, opening his inventory and retrieving his hoodie, slipping it back over its head and removing his eye mask from his face, letting it sit loosely around his neck like it had been just over an hour earlier. The sky blue cloth sleeve that covered the majority of his tail in uniform had been removed to stored in his inventory until he got changed out of said uniform.

“Hey Sunstone, I’m back!” Scythe said, his raised voice ringing through the small apartment as he closed the door behind him, re-locking it and taking his hoodie off.

Ella appeared from around the corner where the bedrooms were a few short moments later, her long, dark brown hair tied up in a half-loose ponytail, a soft and small smile adorning her face.

“Welcome back, how’d it go?” She asked as she walked towards him, having to tilt her head back quite a bit just to look up at him thanks to their significant height difference.

“It was good. Apparently Sam and I have been attracting so much attention that the heads want to hire reporters to try and get more info on us.” Scythe replied, a small smile appearing on his lips. “And do you, uh, mind if I invite Lunar over for a bit? Her and I need to talk about a few things. They’re one of the reporters that Voidling and the others picked out.”

Ella was quiet for a few seconds, before sighing and shaking her head slightly. She never did like his double, or rather triple life that he had, but she also knew there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it either.

“Yeah, sure, I don't really mind. I’ve got to get ready to go to my classes anyways.” Ella responded, reaching up and grabbing the collor of his hero uniform and pulling him down just enough to where she could plant a small kiss on his cheek.

“And maybe if you didn’t rob important places, you wouldn't be potentially under investigation.” She said, her voice a bit lower this time, not-so-subtly scolding him for his reckless actions. She let go of his collar and turned around, walking back towards her room. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Scythe was still for several seconds, still half-bent over from Ella pulling him downwards by the collar of his uniform, his cheeks dusted a soft pinkish-purple color. He did not expect that, to say the very least, and was left a bit flustered as she walked away, disappearing down the hallway once more.

He blanked several times and shook his slightly to re-compose himself, standing back up straight as his tail flicked to the side and curled slightly at the end. He took a small breath before walking down the previously mentioned hallway and into his own room, closing the door behind him and taking off his uniform into far more comfortable clothing.

When Scythe stepped out of his room a few minutes later he was wearing a simple light gray t-shirt and dark red sweatpants. He saw the bathroom door closed across the relatively small hallway from him with the light on, and the soft sound of water hitting the bathtub and walls met his ears. Ella must already be in the shower then.

He walked into the living room, plopping down on the couch and grabbing the tv remote, turning it on and flipping through channels until he landed on something that looked interesting enough. He then reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out his phone, unlocking it and going to his messages, clicking on the one named ‘Crystal’

Scythe: Hey, you able to come over? Scythe: We should probably talk about the meeting.

After hitting send, Scythe began to mindlessly run his fingers through the tuft of hair at the end of his tail. It was a small subconscious habit he had when he felt nervous or anxious about something, and it was a good few minutes of him just looking at his phone screen before three little dots appeared, signaling that Lunar was typing back.

Crystal: Yeah, I can but I might be a little bit. Just got back to my own place a couple of minutes ago and haven't really been able to eat anything yet today, so I’m going to do that first. Scythe: Alright, sounds good. Take your time.

He responded almost instantly, quickly reading over Lunar’s message before he hit send. He set his phone down next to him on the couch cushion, closing his eyes and taking a small breath. He felt a bit silly for getting so worked up over a conversation that was most likely just going to be like any other time him and Lunar talked about anything relating to villain or vigilante work, but its not like he could exactly change that very easily, so all he did was take another breath.

When he opened his eyes again, Scythe focused on whatever channel it was that he put on the tv, relaxing into the couch just a little more. It seemed to be some sort of cheesy old-time soap opera type movie, a woman dramatically swooning backwards over what was presumably her lovers arm, the latter bending down over her and trying to comfort her.

Scythe scoffed, amused at just how corny the movie really was. How and why he decided on this channel on all things, he didn't really know, and after what felt like no time at all, he heard a knock at the front door. He looked over his shoulder at the noise, his ears lifting slightly before he pushed himself off the couch with a small grunt.

He unlocked the door once he got to it, grabbing and twisting the handle to open the door, Lunar standing on the other side of it in a dark blue turtleneck sweater and black stockings. She seemed to be in her cat-like form, her ears and tail resembling that of a feline hybrid’s, more notably a tabby cat in particular.

Scythe offered a small smile as he stepped aside to let them in, closing the door behind her and walking back over to the couch, the both of them sitting down on it. Lunar looked over at the tv, their head tilting to the side slightly as she looked at what was playing.

“..what the hell are you watching Scythe?” They asked, their voice more curious than anything. Her eyes stuck to the tv screen for another moment before she turned her head to look at Scythe, on of their eyebrows raised.

“Honestly?” Scythe started, shrugging his shoulders and looking at the tv screen himself. “I have no fucking clue.”

Lunar scoffed, but it was more amused than anything, a small smile even appearing on her lips for a moment, her head shaking just slightly.

It was then quiet for a good while, both the enderman hybrid and the cristaline watching the terrible cheesy show on the television. They both knew that they had to talk about the meeting at some point, and the possibility of all too many different outcomes appearing scarily close on the not-so-distant horizon.

“So… about the meeting.” Scythe eventually said, his quieter-than-normal voice breaking the strangely tense air between him and Lunar. He looked away from the tv and at them, looking for any sort of reaction, kind of hoping for one that wasn't negative.

Lunar simply nodded in response, their own gaze remaining on the tv screen for a little while longer before she too turned her head to look at Scythe, her expression unreadable. “I’ve already thought of a couple of different ideas, if you want to hear them.”

His eyes widened just slightly in surprise. Not surprise from Lunar already having an idea already, he knew her well enough by now to know that she always had some sort of plan for anything that came across her plate, but instead surprise from her having multiple different alternatives. That, he had to admit, was something that he wasn't quite expecting.

“Oh, uh- yeah, sure. Might as well, I guess.” He responded after a moment, blinking a few times to re-compose himself, turning a bit more towards Lunar as he waited to hear their ideas.

Lunar nodded, turning towards Scythe as well, her tail curling into and resting in her lap. “So, here’s what I was thinking…”

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 2: Information Request

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60544732/chapters/161904352

Conflicting Lives (somewhat) returns! I apologize that's its been so long since I've done anything with this project. between life stuff amongst motivation for the story, its been hard to get as much progress done as I have hoped to. I will be trying to work on this more though!

Word Count: 1704

Scar and Scythe arrived at the Central Hero HQ with around 10 minutes to spare. As they walked out of the elevator that took them up to the meeting room, Spore was waiting to make sure everyone that had received the message did indeed show up. As they walked in, Scythe saw that each of the District Heads were gathered at the farthest point of the long meeting table, with the strongest heroes from each District taking their own spots in groups around the table.

Scar, with the help of his hero suit, walked over to Sumner and Ram, both Hermiton Heroes. Scythe nodded politely to the two heroes as they spotted him and Scar, but instead went over to stand with Archangel, his mentor when going through the Survan Hero Training course. Scythe was technically a Survan hero after all. 

“Hey kiddo! How have you been holding up?” Archangel said with a grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear as he wrapped his arms around Scythe for a hug. Scythe was never one to deny a hug, but Archangels hugs were like getting the air forced out of your lungs. Lovingly though, of course.

“I’m doing- good Archangel” Scythe said through gasping breaths, trying his best to put on a smile through his lack of oxygen.

Archangel put Scythe down, to Scythe’s untold gratitude, and looked at him, his white wings reflecting the light from the fluorescent lights above them. “Well that’s great to hear, Lux.” Archangel smiled genuinely at Scythe, and he couldn't help but smile back at his mentor and friend.

Right as he was about to reply however, Scythe heard Voidling speak from the head of the table, turning to see that the District's heads had sat down in their chairs. “Welcome everyone and thank you for coming on such short notice. I severely apologize for interrupting your schedules, but I believe that this is a matter of utter importance that must be discussed as soon as possible.”

All the gathered heroes took a seat. Scythe found himself in between Archangel and Stratos, an Empyrian Hero. He wasn't the closest to Stratos, but he had been assigned to missions with him that involved activity on the Survas-Empyria border. They didn't interact much outside of that, spare the occasional regular event (aka non-hero work) that Scar invites him to that Stratos was also invited to.

“There has been an increase in activity from villains around the Survas-Hermiton and Wynnra-Hermiton borders. Most of this activity seems to involve Nebula and Spindle.” CuteGuy, the Wynnran Hero District Head, said. The tip of Scythe’s tail flicked involuntarily in his lap as CuteGuy spoke, and he prayed that no one had seen it, especially other heroes with tails.

Thankfully, no one else had seemed to notice, and a different district head spoke, “The five of us had an idea of how to deal with the increase of activity in these areas, and wanted to call a meeting with all of you to get your opinions on the matter.” Tinkerer said, the Empyrian Hero District Head.

There were a few whispers between heroes as to what kind of matter would need the opinions of all of them, but Atlas, the Survas Hero District Head, spoke soon after, “We have each done some research, and have gathered a very short list of reporters who are the best in their field. Not only are these selected individuals highly credible, but they have each shown us their investigative abilities and the process in which they have found the information for each of their stories and reports.” “These factors lead us to believe that we can trust these individuals to gather the information we would be asking for. It would, however, be a high price to pay for such a task.” Strawberry, the Drimas Hero District Head, spoke next.

More whispers emerged after this, and the district heads let the heroes talk amongst themselves for a minute. A hero spoke up.

“How do we know we can trust the information that these individuals give us is completely fact?” Guardian, a well-known Empyrian Hero asked. “For commissions such as these, reporters often do it for the money right? Who’s to say they won’t give information to someone else who bids a higher price?” The room went silent after Guardian spoke, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stayed silent for a few moments longer before another person spoke up.

“Yes, and no.” Heads turned to Puppeteer as he spoke, but he didn't really seem phased by it. Instead, his gaze was focused on Guardian. “Yes, for larger commissions or asks such as what is being proposed, reporters are more likely to accept it because of the profit and the exposure to their business. No, it is very rare for a reporter to sell information to someone else for a better price.” Puppeteer looked around the table as he spoke next. “A few different names come to mind at what the district heads have proposed, and if the individuals are the names that I am thinking of, we have no reason to suspect that they will sell what they find to a higher bidder.”

The room went still for a moment as everyone processed what Puppeteer had said. He was well known for his ability to gather knowledge and intel on just about anything he was given and he knew how to work the system, so everyone trusted him in what he said, even if they didn't know the names of the individuals the heads had picked out.

“If I may ask,” Sting, a Wynnran Hero with a skillset similar to that of Puppeteer, spoke up, “who are the individuals you selected?” The district heads exchanged glances amongst each other, then towards a door to the side at the back of the room that led to a smaller meeting area. Voidling gave a small, almost unnoticeable sigh before speaking, “Come on in.”

The door opened slowly, and the first thing the heroes saw was translucent blue... hair? Three people walked out of the room, and they all stood semi-awkwardly at the end of the room behind the District Leaders. “This is Storyteller, Slime, and Snowfall” CuteGuy said, pointing each of them out as he said their names. Slime seemed to be a slime hybrid, but he was blue instead of the normal green. Snowfall seemed to be both Elven and Blaze; as well as just really stuck up in general. Storyteller was a lot more familiar to Scythe than the others, he did know them casually after all.

For a moment, Scythe and Storyteller even locked eyes with the other, but the both of them quickly looked away as to not draw any suspicion. Heroes started to quietly whisper between each other, wondering how much had been heard through the door before then. They quickly stopped though as Atlas spoke up, seemingly floating just above the ground as they tend to do, “We asked them to come here prior to summoning you all to lay out some ground rules and expectation in the case that you all agreed to this plan. If the majority vote is against this, then it won't happen.” The heroes from all districts looked at eachother, slowly realizing just how much was being left up to them. After all, it was usually the District Heads themselves who made decisions like these, and the last group vote like this had taken place long before any of them had even finished going through their respective training courses. Seeing the shock and tentativeness from the other heroes, Strawberry spoke up, “The decision doesn't have to be made today, but in a few days time we’ll send out another call to everyone to meet back here for the vote. Let's say 3 days from now at around 6:30pm we’ll all meet back here and make a final decision.” Shoulders relaxed and quiet sighs of relief were heard from around the table, nervous but relieved chuckles coming from a select few as well. “Well, that settles it then. We’ll see you all in a few days.” Voidling said as he stood up, nodding to the other District heads before turning around and talking with the reporters more. As he stood, so did everyone else, the room almost immediately bursting into chatter and talking. Scythe stood seated for a moment longer, looking towards the reports and subconsciously fiddling with the hair on the end of his tail. It wasn’t until he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder that he snapped out of it, jumping slightly and turning to look over his shoulder. “Sorry kiddo, didn;t mean to scare you” iWork said, a soft smile on his face, but a small bit of worry in his eyes. “You alright? You seemed pretty spaced out for a bit. The meeting’s over, we’re all going home.” he continued gently. “Oh- uh, right. Thanks I-dub – I mean iWork.” Scythe responded, silently cursing himself in his head. I-dub was what Archangel called iWork, that man had a silly nickname for everyone, Scythe swears it, and he was rubbing off onto him a lot more than Scythe was willing to admit right now. In response, iWork just chuckled and nodded, walking off to where Archangel was actually waiting for him outside of the meeting room doors.

Scythe took a deep breath before finally getting up himself, letting his tail fall back behind him from on top of his lap where it had been resting. Just before he reached the door to the room, he heard Tinkerer call his name, “Hey Lux, would you mind hanging back for an extra minute?”

As he turned around, Scythe saw that Slime and Snowfall were walking past him and out the door, and Scythe could have sworn that Snowfall glared at him as he passed a little too close by his arm. Only the District Heads and Storyteller remained in the room, other than himself. Scythe looked at the 6 of them, hoping the anxiety he felt in his stomach didn’t show outwardly, or as he responded. “Yeah of course, what can I help with?”

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 8: The ACTUAL Patrol, and a "Small" Conflict

Word Count: 3223

It was well into patrol, but Scythe and Joel could not get rid of the teasing comments of Voidling and iWork. It didn't help that they often did react very similarly (if not the same) to more than a few of them, only adding fuel to the fire. By now, neither Scythe nor Joel were saying anything to the other two in their patrol, and instead chatting with themselves.

They tried their best to ignore the two behind them, but when the four men heard a distant boom, the silence in the following moments spoke all that it needed to. With a simple nod amongst themselves, the four started rushing towards the area the sound came from, using iWork’s tech from Inventor to better help locate the origin point of it.

Without needing to say any words, Scythe ran over to Joel who easily picked him up and flew high into the air. iWork was close behind, helping Voidling in a similar way, the masked man instead holding onto a grapple-like rope that the winged man above him held onto.

The patrol made their way above and around buildings, the signs of what must have been an explosion become more apparent as they closed in on the source. The smaller and quieter explosion heard above the ever so faint laughter proved that, and she came into their view as they turned around the next building.

There she stood, in the middle of all of the chaos, living up to the name Wildfire as flames soared wildly in almost all directions. Her green skin illuminated with the orange of flames, Wildfire threw spears of flames towards smaller, lesser known heroes as they tried to land huts, to no avail. Luckily, she had her back turned to the patrol. Unluckily, a second villain was turned towards them, golden crown and crimson cloak glowing bright from the light of the flames.

As the cloaked villain leaned back to inform his partner of the incoming reinforcements, Scythe and Voidling dropped to the ground from the hold of Joel and iWork. As the four lined up and started to divide themselves into who would fight who, Wildfire’s voice rang through the air and over the sounds of the flames.

“Aren’t you glad I dragged you out here? Isn’t it just so fun to let it loose?”  Her voice was rimmed with mania, and when her partner in crime hadn’t responded, she continued. “Oh, is the great Red Winter too engrossed to respo--” she turned around, cutting herself off as her eyes seemed to sparkle with joy when she spotted the four heroes, “-- oh well just look at what we have here!

Four little heroes arriving just in the nick of time to save your friends!” She gestured to the scattered civilians, heroes, and police in the area as she spoke. “And here I thought that we wouldn't get the attention of the big guys, but I guess my little boom worked after all.”

Before she could continue, Voidling stepped forward, his armor helping to protect him from the small fires dotted around where the patrol landed. “That’s enough, Wildfire. You’ve done enough damage, and now it’s time for you and Red Winter to leave.” 

As he spoke, he drew his mace, the rest of the patrol pulling out their weapons and taking up fighting positions. iWork had his hammer out, but made sure to keep to a more covered and earthy area in case anyone needed healing. Scythe had a ryyk in each hand and had taken up a position of a straightforward and charge-like approach. Joel, with his battle axe in both hands, took up a position in the sky using his wings.

The expression on Wildfire and Red Winter's faces seemed to flip, a smirk growing on the cloaked wolf hybrid, a frown setting in on the zombie hybrid. “What a shame. I was just starting to have fun too!” Wildfire said in an annoyed tone.

Red Winter’s smirk only grew as he spoke, “I guess it's time to have some real fun then.” He turned to Wildfire. “Why not let loose on people who can actually put up a good fight?”

Wildfire found a smile returning to her face as she gleefully responded, “Oh, now that sounds wonderful!”

Red Winter charged towards Voidling, using his transformation abilities to become more wolf-like. Just as he reaches to swipe in a now werewolf form, Voidling raises his mace, blocking the attack and being pushed back.

In that same moment, Joel dives to where Wildfire is, dodging her spears of fire as they are thrown. Voidling starts to lose his traction on the ground from Red Winter’s continued blows, and iWork runs over to help him before Scythe can even fully react. iWork reached Voidling just as he is knocked backwards from the strongest attack against him, and Scythe comes up with a quick plan.

Slowly, he starts making his way towards where Joel is fighting Wildfire. He uses the light of the fires to his advantage, bending them slightly to help better conceal himself while also using his illusions to better blend into the ground and the flames around him.

Finally, he made it to where Wildfire and Joel were. He almost chuckled to himself as he realized the two were litterally playing with fire, then tapped Wildfire's shoulder, causing her to turn around. Seeing Joel get ready to launch yet another fireball, Scythe simply waved at Wildfire before jumping to the side. 

He had just barely missed the fireball as it came crashing down onto Wildfire. In the split second of quiet after the fireball landed, Scythe heard the clang of metal on armor as Voidling was pushed back as his mace hit his chestplate. Then as the flames fully clear, he decides to start up a conversation with Wildfire.

“Come on, you really chose to blow up a park instead of like, going to the gym or something?” He asked as he dodged one of her fire spears. She laughs as she responds, dodging a blow from Joel and reaching to attack Scythe, “Oh, don't be silly, you should know me by now!”

Scythe managed to dodge and grab Wildfire’s arm, but before he could do anything, she pulled him in, “I’m not one to shy from a bit of chaos.” A shiver ran down Scythe’s spine as she spoke, and he teleported away quickly as Joel dived towards her, axe in hand. 

Wildfire turned around just in time to see Joel diving towards her, and she quickly jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding getting hit. “You know,” Joel started as he dodged another spear of fire, “a certain someone visited recently bearing good will from you--” he moved to help Scythe as he prepared to throw a small ball of light at Wildfire “-- and it would be such a shame if she found out you injured Lux.”

Scythe threw the ball of light, but missed Wildfire as she dodged it, replying as Joel ran at her. “Oh, I won’t hurt him, “ she gestured towards Scythe, “but I don't mind hurting you.” She finishes just as Joel gets to her, ducking under his swing and pushing her elbow into his stomach.

Joel stumbles back and Scythe teleports behind him to help him regain his balance as Wildfire continues. “And besides, she was technically the one that suggested causing some chaos--” she threw a few more spears of fire at the pair of heroes “-- I just so happened to take it a bit literally, that’s all!”

Scythe took cover behind a nearby piece of debris, while Joel took to the skies once more to avoid the barrage of fiery spears. Scythe noticed that his flight was a little unbalanced, and that worried him more than he would ever admit, but he had to focus on what he needed to do next.

Wildfire and Joel kept fighting, and her voice rang through the air once more. “Besides, this gives a good opportunity to check in with you!” She stumbled a little as a ring of light began to encompass her vision.

It was working. When he was satisfied with the intensity of the light ring, strong enough to disorient her but weak enough as to not permanently harm her vision, Scythe came out of his hiding spot, running back to where Wildfire was standing. Joel sighed as he landed back on the ground, walking to a now slightly-stunned as he put his axe on his shoulder, admittedly a little amused at the stumbling state of the zombie hybrid in front of him.

“Why can’t you just let off steam like a normal person?” Scythe askes, delivering a light but firm blow to Wildfire’s shoulder with the handle of one of his ryyks. He stops the ring of light he made around her vision as she stumbled over, trying to be courteous as to let her catch herself.

She chuckles a little as she starts to stand back up. “Eh, it was worth it if I had a chance to annoy you guys. And if not I wouldn't have minded if I ended up with some other heroes showing up instead, just so i can beat their asses too.” She looked up at Scythe and Joel with a smile on her face, and Scythe felt something off as she spoke once more. “Plus, what’s the fun of doing something normal?”

Then Scythe noticed it, the sound of a large fireball falling towards the three of them. He jumped to the side just in time to look over and see the large ball of flame crashing down to where he just was. The heat was far more intense than he thought it would be, and he worried for a moment what shape Joel and Wildfire would be in after the flames died down. He wasn't really quite sure he saw them both dodge out the way before it hit.

“You never did answer my question either” a voice said behind him ,and before he could properly react he felt something push on his back and was shoved forward, barely managing to catch himself before face planting into the course and burnt dirt.

Quickly recovering, he turned around and saw Wildfire giggling to herself. Joel landed between the two, his clothes almost burnt off and his hair littered with small embers and ash, though he himself seemed to be completely unharmed. He looked behind himself to check to see if Scythe was ok before turning back towards the smaller zombie hybrid.

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking,” Scythe said sarcastically, walking forward to stand beside Joel. Just then, Red Winter appeared once more by Wildfire’s side, Voidling and iWork both taking up positions on each side of their patrol partners.

Apparently, Voidling and iWork had managed to push Red Winter far enough back to make him retreat, and he re-joined his partner in crime. “Are you alright, m’lady?” the cloaked villain asked, and Wildfire simply nodded, a smile growing on her face once more.

Scythe sensed something was about to happen, and looked over to Voidling only to find the masked hero looking back at him with the same confused and apprehension-filled look. He then turned to look at iWork beside him, who seemed to be focused on the gap between the two villains. In the same moment that he seems to see something, Scythe turns back to look at Wildfire and Red Winter, only to find a third villain standing between them.

“Well, well, well. Look what we have here!” Scarlet Moon giggled, her red moth wings fluttering behind her, eyes matching in color and almost glowing with excitement. “It seems this time I've been called in for the rescue, and how could I deny the pleasure of seeing four of my favorite heroes?”

Voidling stopped forward, keeping his mace firmly in his hands and speaking with a steady voice. “It is time for you three to leave. You’ve done enough damage, and you don't need to be causing any more.” iWork braced himself in case another battle broke out, and Joel started to stretch his wings in preparation to fly.

Scythe simply looked at Scarlet Moon, or rather Pearl, and she looked back. They held each other's gaze for a moment longer, then she looked back at Voidling. “I suppose so.” She put a hand on each shoulder of the two in front of her, and bright light started to emit from the trio. “I do wish I could have stayed longer though. Until next time, heroes.” She said, and a blinding light flashed, the patrol closing their eyes out of instinct.

When Scythe re-opened his eyes, the three villains were gone, and the surrounding fires were starting to lose their strength in Wildfire’s absence. He looked around at his fellow patrol members. Joel was rubbing his eyes from the bright light, Voidling was looking around and surveying the damage, and iWork was turned to Scythe. 

“Do you have any major injuries, Lux?” he said, reaching out towards his arm where he hadn’t quite realized he had a large scrape. “This doesn’t look horrible, but you should definitely get it cleaned before trying to heal it.” iWork continued, looking at the scrape closer through the dirt and dust stuck to it.

“Oh, uh, yeah I’ll do that.” Scythe responded, a little confused on how he didn’t see the wound before. The phantom hybrid looked at him with uncertainty. “I will, I promise! I’m just a little shocked that I didn't notice it, I guess.” he quickly added, and iWork looked a little more relaxed, though obviously not completely relieved.

He walked away from Scythe and to Joel, checking him over as well. Miraculously, he didn't have any damage to his person, but his uniform definitely needed to be replaced. Scythe could swear he heard iWork “lightly” scolding Joel. “You didn’t think to get your uniform in fire-proof materials? Come on, Stratos! Aren’t you a Blaze hybrid? You need a fire-proof uniform!”

Those were among the most tamed words of the scolding, but Joel did eventually manage to avoid the full-length of a scold by casually bringing up that Voidling might still be injured. iWork almost instantly stopped what he was saying, and begrudgingly walked away from Joel towards Voidling to make sure he wasn't badly hurt.

“Jeez, I almost couldn’t get rid of him.” Joel said as he walked towards Scythe, rubbing in the back of his head in slight embarrassment. Scythe chuckled and replied with a smile “I mean it is your fault for not getting fire-proof fabric, as someone with fire magic. That’s your own damn fault if you ask me”

“Oh, come on! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Joel pouted playfully, crossing his arm and looking away. Scythe laughed even harder, failing to apologize through all the giggling. Thankfully he was able to compose himself by the time Voidling walked over with iWork by his side.

“I want us to help where we can while we’re still in the area.” He said. Looking at Scythe and iWork, he continued” Lux, iWork, the two of you have Healing abilities, so I want you to check all of the citizens and bystanders to see if they need any help.” iWork opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again once Voidling put up his hand to stop him.

“Yes, I know I can heal too, but I want Stratos to come with me to clear the larger debris in the area to help clear up any major roads or paths that may be blocked.” He turned to Joel as he spoke, “Are you alright with helping clear, Stratos?”

Joel nodded, “Yeah sure. I can help lift and push stuff.” Voidling replied with an “Alright” before telling them all to split up and do what they need to do. Voidling and Joel went to the police and firemen that had arrived to check and see which areas needed to be cleared first, and iWork turned to Scythe.

“So here’s what I’m thinking. I have more disinfectant and cleaning things than you do for healing, I know that much, so I can start by cleaning any wounds, and you can then come in after and heal them with your ability.” He said. Scythe wondered how he thought of that so quickly, but he knew that iWork was a quick thinker, and the plan made sense anyways.

So he nodded, “That sounds good. What if it's a deep or large wound? Do we want to try and do anything different or extra?” He asked. He was genuinely curious, and didn’t quite know how much he could heal without running out of stamina, or risking his illusion fading, but he didn't really want to say that aloud and just hoped iWork understood.

He thought for a moment before responding. “If it's deep or large enough, I can do some initial healing after cleaning it. I understand your concerns, and if you think you’re getting too tired feel free to come and tell me or to step away for a moment.” He looked at the surrounding civilians before continuing. “There doesn’t seem to be many injuries, but still let me know if anything happens.”

Scythe nodded, appreciative of iWork’s concern. The phantom hybrid started walking towards the civilians, taking out his cleaning supplies and checking in with everyone. Scythe simply followed behind, stopping at anyone that iWork cleaned the wounds of, and made small talk while healing them, trying to be as kind as possible even when he did feel tired and ready to be home.

After about 45 minutes, everyone who needed assistance was helped, and enough debris was cleared to make the necessary roads and paths accessible to citizens. Voiding called iWork and Scythe over to where he and Joel were standing.

“Great work today guys. Go home, and rest. I’ll get a patrol with some of the other heroes to come and survey the area to make sure everything is still alright, but we all need some rest.” Scythe felt himself relax, and he took a deep breath as the masked hero continued. “You all did amazing today, both on the clean up, and in the fighting.”

The three younger men nodded, and iWork and Voidling walked in one direction, Joel and Scythe in the other. Joel didn’t even need to wait for Scythe to look at him before he knew what the enderman hybrid was going to ask.

“Yes, I'll take you back to your dorm. But you’re feeding me dinner and calling Cleo and Pearl to hang out too.” the winged man said, spreading his wings and holding his hands out for Scythe to hold onto.

Scythe laughed and grabbed his arms, still laughing as he replied, “Deal, and thank you, Stratos.” Joel rolled his eyes and flew into the air. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Also, it is so weird for you to call me Stratos, even if we’ve been on countless missions together.”

Scythe laughed and looked at the cityscape in front of him. “It is weird calling you Stratos, but we were still around the public eye so I didn't really have a choice.” Joel muttered a “Fair enough,” and flew back towards Cursia.

<<<Previous Next>>>

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 7: Midnight Nightmare, Afternoon Patrol

Word Count: 2788

Scythe looked up at Martian from where he was poised on the ground, clutching the deep wound in his right side. The red-clad villain had knocked him down with a powerful blow, and he was now half laying, half sitting against the brick wall of the alleyway they were in. A small pool of Scythe's crimson-violet blood was forming on the rough concrete below him, also scattered across Martian's upper body from their fight.

Scythe tried desperately to crawl away from Martian. He still had his entire life ahead of him. He was scared to die, and he didn’t want to die either, but something told him that Martian wouldn't let him go, even if he was begging on the brink of death.

But he still tried. “Please…” Scythe said, his voice barely above a whisper thanks to his quickly fading strength. As Martian stopped in front of him, Scythe could no longer hold his head up to look at him. “Please… I don’t want to die…”

“If only you had realized that sooner.” Martian smirked, his confidence and hatred oozing out as he spoke. “Too bad, no one’s here to save poor, little…” His voice faded, Scythe seeing his lips move, words forever unheard.

His voice now barely audible to even himself, Scythe’s vision blurred with the tears that now ran down his cheeks,  mixing with the drying blood on his face. Martian squatted down to where Scythe was laying on the ground, and lifted his head with his fingers covered in the Enderian's blood.

In the brits place, a soft, worried voice filled. “...Scythe… Scythe!” The young Enderian’s eyes shot open and he scrambled to sit up. He moved his hand almost immediately to his right side where he swore he still felt the pain of his wound.

Scythe’s heart still raced and his breath still seemed to come a bit short as he looked around the room he was in. He was in his room, in his dorm, in Cursia, and far, far, away from Martian. Taking a deep breath, Scythe took his hand off of his side, the pain from his nightmare still lingering in his mind.

“Scythe, are you alright?” The soft voice said again, somehow filled with even more worry. He looked to the side and saw Ella sitting up beside him, her eyes filled with worry and her wings fluffed in a protective manner. Scythe moved his hand to hers and slowly nodded.

“I think so, now that I’m awake.” He said slowly, testing to see how much she wanted to know, and how much he was willing to share. The worry in Ella’s eyes softened slightly, but she was still very obviously concerned about him.

“I promise, Ella. I’ll be fine. I just need to wrap my head around what happened.” He looked away as he said that, thinking about the dream a moment longer, then looked at Ella one more time. “You don’t have to worry love, I’ll be ok.”

Ella crossed her arms and looked away, fake pouting as she spoke. “I don’t believe you.” she said simply, her wings flapping very slightly on her back. Scythe simply chuckled and pulled her close, resting his head on hers.

“You don’t have to believe me, you just have to trust me.” he said to her, and she took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around him in return. The pair stayed like that for a few minutes longer, simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of the other.

Eventually, Scythe spoke again. “How about we try to sleep again? It's still too early to be fully awake, and I have a patrol to watch for myself at noon.” he had said. Ella took a few moments before responding, her voice quiet and edged with sleepiness. “Fine, but you’re not escaping cuddles.”

Scythe chuckled, his chest shaking and his mood improving immediately, the nightmare temporarily forgotten. “Alright, alright. We can cuddle back to sleep, but we have to lay back down to cuddle properly.”

Ella almost immediately let go and layed back down in the bed, shuffling and adjusting to make room for Scythe to lay next to her, and held her arms out to beckon him down. He chuckled once more under his breath before adjusting himself to properly lay down, Ella pulling him to her as soon as he got situated, and he wrapped his arms around her in turn.

“Now sleep. And no nightmares during cuddles.” Ella said. “Alright, no nightmares with cuddles.” Scythe conceded. The two Enderian hybrids held each other, eventually falling asleep cradled in each others arms with no nightmares or unsettling dreams to be had for the remainder of the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scythe woke up a few hours later, the sun shining through the window blinds, the clock by the bed reading 10:40am. As he rubbed his eyes from their sleepiness, realizing that he now had an hour and 20 minutes to get dressed, eat, and get to the Agency building for his patrol.

“Good morning sleepyhead” Scythe heard Ella say from the doorway, not even realizing she had opened it. The sweet and savory smell of waffles met his nose, and he smiled a still-sleepy smile.

“Good morning my favoritest person in the world.” Scythe said, rubbing his eyes once more and getting up from the bed. He walked over to the doorway where Ella still stood, holding his arm out for a hug as he approached. Chuckling, she embraced his hug and after a few moments, let go and led him into the kitchen where the wonderful smell was coming from.

Spread across the kitchen counters was admittedly a mess, but amongst the mess sat two pretty plates of food. One of waffles, and one of bacon and eggs. Scythe’s mouth started to water from the smell and sight of the delicious food, and he grabbed a plate to get himself some breakfast. Ella soon followed, and they sat down at the small table to eat their breakfast/brunch.

It didn't take long to eat considering Scythe had found himself to be very hungry when he took the first bite. Once finished, he and Ella rinsed their dishes, and he helped her to clean up the mess that was spread amongst the kitchen counter. It took a few minutes longer than expected, and once the pair had finally finished cleaning the counter and washing the dishes, it was 11:00.

With an hour before he had to be at the agency, Scythe decided it was about time to get dressed in his Uniform and head out. He figured that if he left earlier than he usually would, he might be able to save some energy by going slower in case anything, or anyone, came up. Him and Ella talked for a bit longer after Scythe had changed.

He ended up leaving at around 11:15, but that still left him 45 minutes to get there. Before long, he pulled out his phone and messaged Joel.

Scythe: Do you want to join me on the way to Patrol?

Joel: Why? Are you lonely without me?

Scythe: Oh shut up! Have you met yourself when it's been a long day and you haven’t had the chance to see Etho or Lizzie?

Joel: …

Joel: Shut up. 

Scythe: Hmm

Scythe: No, I don’t think I will

Joel: Rude.

Scythe: Yeah :D

Scythe laughed to himself, and he was sure that Joel was too at his

house. It was a few moments until Joel started typing again.

Scythe put his phone back away, and started leaping and climbing his way up the nearest easily accessible rooftop. Once up, he looked around to make sure of which way he needed to go in. He realized he needed to go in the opposite direction he was facing, but once corrected, he started heading to the address.

Joel: Where do you want to meet? I have to get changed, but it shouldn’t take too long.

Scythe: How about that one café off of  [xxxx] and [xxxx]?

Joel: Sure, I’m about 10 minutes out, tops.

Scythe: I’m about the same, meet ya there.

Read

Leaping across all kinds of different kinds of roofs, Scythe swiftly made it to the café, making sure to put up an illusion before hopping back down onto the street and walking up to the building’s doors.

After placing his drink order, Scythe found a seat close to the door and a window so he could see Joel when he got here. It didn’t take long before he saw Joel walking up the door, and when he walked through the door, Scythe waved to get his attention. Joel waved back and walked up to the counter to place his own order, then joined the younger man at the table.

“Fancy seeing you here, eh stranger?” Joel said with a wide smile as he sat down in the chair. 

“Oh wow, didn’t know you hang around these parts, stranger.” Scythe responded while trying, and failing, to hold back his laughter

Before long, the two burst out into laughter, and once they had stopped laughing, a worker came by with their drinks. Scythe could swear he recognized her bright orange hair and antlers, with the pointy elf ears to match. Nevertheless, he thanked her for bringing their drinks, and took a drink of his own cappuccino.

Scythe must have been very visible in deep thought about the waitress, and Joel most definitely noticed. “You alright there mate? You’re thinking too much, I can tell.” Scythe perked up, momentarily forgetting that he was in the café in the first place.

“Yeah, sorry.” Scythe rubbed his head before continuing, “I feel like I know that waitress from somewhere else, I just can’t place where from.” He took another drink of his coffee, and waited for Joel to respond.

“I thought so too, but damn dude you think too much.” Joel said after taking a drink of his own coffee. After he took his drink he just shrugged ,”You’ll figure it out at some point, let's just enjoy our drinks until we have to go.”

“Fair enough” Scythe felt himself agreeing. He knew he would figure it out another day, but the girl seemed to stick in the back of his mind until the pair had finished their drinks and had to leave once more.

They had spent about 15 minutes there, and only had about another 15 to get to the Agency building. It would be a close fit, but they would be able to get there in time. Walking out of the building, Scythe turned to Joel with a mischievous smile on his lips.

“Bet I can beat you there without teleporting!” he said as he jumped away from the brunette. He had jumped to the ladder of a nearby building, using it to climb up onto the roof. Once he made it up, he disabled his illusion, revealing his hero uniform and he peered over the edge of the building to where Joel was standing before, only to find him missing.

“Y’know you’re a bit slow climbing things, right?” Scythe heard a voice from behind him, really close to his ear, and jumped. Turning around, he saw Joel there with his wings and hero uniform, smirking even wider than he had been earlier.

“Not fair! You have wings!” Scythe pouted. “You can use your wings to get there either, just like I can't teleport.” he tried to reason.

Joel pondered on the thought for a moment before responding. “Fine, sounds fair enough. But if the time cuts too close I can’t promise I won't fly the rest of the way” The brunette shifted his weight to one leg and crossed his arms. “Deal?”

Scythe stood up from where he was still crouched on the rooftop. “Deal. See you later, slow poke!” and with that, he ran and jumped to the next rooftop, landing well and keeping his momentum to run and leap to the next. 

After landing again, Scythe looked back to find Joel confused for a split second before making a running start and following. Both of them had smiles plastered across their faces as they ran, the lead constantly fluctuating between them. At one point, Scythe had misjudged a jump, landing rough and killing most of his momentum, where Joel had used his wings to help him clear the gap.

Seeing Joel use his wings to help him, Scythe recovered quickly, catching up easily with a small, innocent, teleport forward. “You use your wings, I use my teleporting!” he said as he caught up to Joel, teleporting to a nearby rooftop to gain the lead once more, smiling mischievously the whole time.

Joel, temporarily stunned and confused, launched himself in the air a moment later, zooming up to where Scythe was, now quite a few rooftops in front of him. “It’s not my fault you misjudged the leap! I was only using my resources!” he said before propelling himself further forward and up with his wings.

“If you want to play that way, it looks like I'll just have to use my resources too.” Scythe said to himself, Joel being well out of earshot by now. He teleported to the next few rooftops, closing the gap between him and Joel. Once he was close enough and made sure he had enough energy to teleport again, he teleported a few meters in front of Joel. He had positioned the teleport so that Joel would have to catch him if he wanted to keep flying, and so that he wouldn't crash down onto a rooftop.

And it worked perfectly. Joel saw Scythe falling in front of him and scrambled to catch him and keep flying before he crashed to the ground. After realizing what Scythe had done, Joel looked at the young enderian with a glare that shot all kinds of daggers.

“I used my resources, just like you did” is all that Scythe said in response, earning an eye roll and annoyed scoff from the winged brunette who held him. 

“You’re damn lucky that I care about you enough not to drop you right now.” Joel said after a minute more of just flying. Scythe saw that he was smiling, and he smiled as he replied, “I know, but all that teleporting was getting exhausting anyways.”

Joel muttered something along the lines of “Fair enough, I guess,” and flew the rest of the way to the Agency. It only took them around 5 more minutes to get there, and they spent probably around 12 or 13 getting there in total.

With those few minutes left once they actually arrived, they went inside to see who else was there, and to see if they could find their other 2 patrol members.

It didn't take long at all to find them either. iWork and Voidling were talking with each other just inside of the main doors, looking over at Scythe and Joel as they walked in. Voidling seemed to smile under his mask as he waved the pair over. “Lux, Stratos! Come over and chat for a bit before we go!” He said in a cheery tone.

Scythe smiled and walked over to them, Joel following close behind. “Hey guys!” He said as he got to them, and was handed a cup of water. He shrugged and took a drink, liking the way the cold helped to cool him down from the journey. 

“Safe passage here I hope?” iWork asked after handing Joel a cup of his own. 

Joel took a drink before he replied. “It was, but this child--” he looked at Scythe “-- decided to teleport in front of me while I was flying and made me have to carry him the rest of the way”

“Hey! I didn’t make you carry me! You even said so yourself; you care too much about me to have dropped me!” Scythe replied with a playfully offended gasp.

The winged man’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “Oh, shut up! No one asked for your input peanut gallery!” he reported jokingly.

“Alright you two, settle down.” Voidling said, stepping forward slightly to position himself between Joel and Scythe as they stared at each other. The masked hero turned to iWork and said, “It looks like we might have our hands full this afternoon.”

“Hey!” Scythe and Joel said simultaneously, causing the other two men to burst out in laughter, themselves stunned into silence and just staring at each other.

“Did that just happen?” Scythe asked.

“Yeah. Yeah it did.” Joel replied.

And the pair stood in shock as Voidling and iWork died of laughter on the floor.

(to be continued)

<<<Previous Next>>>

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 5: Panicked Feelings (The Meeting pt.2)

Word count: 2434

TW: Panic attack (warning when happening)

“I would love to share.” Snowfall said, emphasizing his voice on the word love, and Scythe could swear he caught a glare aimed in his direction, as well as Lunar’s. And that's when Scythe realized exactly who Snowfall was. 

The red accents, the cocky demeanor, and the voice. He hated that stupid, British voice, and he knew it all too well. That was Martian standing in front of Scythe, one of the strongest people from Cursia, hero or villain, and he was someone Scythe didn't particularly get along with.

“I was tasked to observe the two villains passively, as a bystander or by other means, and I think that you might want to re-think your… selection of heroes after this, Voidling.” The blond started, looking at Scythe and Joel, Voidling following his gaze with a confused and interested tint to his eyes. “For the last 5 weeks, I have been carefully monitoring the activities in the area affected by these two villains, and not only does it seem as though the pair have planned the decrease of their activities, but I also seem to have noticed the lack of a few specific persons in said area during my observation,” Snowfall then looked towards the other three IOs, and they all returned his stare, each expression conveying something different. 

Lunar looked like they were starting to get annoyed, Etho had a flicker of fear in his eyes for a small moment, and Augustus’ expression was unreadable, partially thanks to his mask. Scythe knew that he himself probably looked very annoyed, and he could tell that Joel's anxiety was starting to build as well.

“Storyteller,” Snowfall turned his full attention to her, “I don't mean to be rude, but your features aren't exactly the most concealable, even in your current outfit. Your horns, skin color, and other appendages seem to make you stand out in a crown.” Lunar narrowed her eyes. “And what do you mean by that, Snowfall?” they said, the tone of their voice betraying their annoyance.

“Oh, nothing at all, it’s just that during my observations, I seem to have noticed you talking to an enderman hybrid who appears to be eerily similar to our young hero in the room.” Snowfall then turns to Scythe. “I don't suppose you have any siblings do you, Lux?” Scythe's breath caught in his throat, but Snowfall continued before he could respond. “Of course, this is simply just a wild guess, what else could it be?” He turned back to Lunar, and continued what he was saying before, “I also seem to have never seen you as often as you claim to have been in our little surveillance area. Don’t you think that's quite odd? You seem to have this information like you have been consistently observing our Enderian villain, yet I haven't seen you as often as you say you were around.

In fact, I am inclined to believe you haven’t been there at all.” Lunar’s tail lashed to each side in frustration, her expression clearly aggravated. “And what proof do you have of your claims? What proof do you have that you were there, and I was not? I do not share my abilities, nor do I intend to, but I can confirm that I have been there as long as I have told with my research. What proof do you have with you to say that I have not?” She retorted, her anger even more evident in the tone of her voice.

Snowfall was silent in the few moments to follow, and the tension in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a butter knife. “You make a good point, I do not have any viable proof other than my own words, but I advise the gathered heroes to think about all that I will be saying.” he then turned to Augustus. “I seem to have noticed a lack of your presence as well, The Above. Yet again, I assume you are dressed in such a way right now to try and hide your identity. Even so, it feels as though I would have seen a similar style, or at least another outside party observing Ender and Tanuki at some point within the last 5 weeks, and have yet to see such.”

Augustus’ expression was still unreadable, seemingly neutral as he replied, “Of course you wouldn't have seen me, Snowfall. I don't make myself visible. I was only present in the first few weeks with the information I had to gather. Fighting styles do not take long to remember and record, especially for someone who does more forgery and weaponry such as myself.” Augustus kept his tone neutral and steady, his expression never faltering for a second.

Snowfall nodded, “I see. If what you say is true, I apologize for my accusations. You seem to be a man of reason, and I’m sure that you can understand my concerns about what information has been brought up so far.” Augustus nodded, but said no more. Before the blonde could speak once more, Voidling took his own turn to speak.

“Snowfall, I acknowledge your concerns, but my heroes have come here on an incredibly short notice, and I’m sure all of them would like to continue with their own personal lives as soon as they can. I have called you here not to argue amongst your fellow IOs, but to gather information to aid in the defeat of Ender and Tanuki.” The masked hero stood and looked at Snowfall. Scythe could tell that the leader was starting to get annoyed by the undertone of his voice, and his own breath seemed to labor slightly. “If you are here only to accuse my youngest hero, who has worked very hard to be present in this meeting today, then I must ask you to leave, and we will continue without what you have to offer to us. I suggest you choose your next actions very wisely.”

Sitting back down and taking a deep breath, Voidling gave the floor back to Snowfall, but not before shooting a small apologetic look at Scythe. The few seconds of silence that passed felt like hours to him as his anxiety rose evermore. “My sincerest apologies Voidling, I do not mean to take up your time, though I have one last thing that I feel I must add. Doesn’t it seem odd that there is an Enderman hybrid on both the hero and villain sides of our society? And two that seem to look so similar as well? I mean if you think about it, they aren't all too different; they are each around a similar height, they seem to have similar abilities, and not long after you had seemed to have called your heroes together in the first place, Ender and Tanuki seemed to become less and less active.

Don't you think that's odd? As soon as there is a plan in place among the Agency to take down two of the most annoying villains, they seem to just stop their actions and chaos. In fact--” Snowfall looked at Scythe, “-- I think that Lux here may not be as much of a hero as you all seem to think…”

(tw: panic attack)

And that's when it happened. Scythe suddenly felt as though he couldn't get enough air into his lungs.  His ears began ringing, every noise becoming distant and unimportant. The movements of the others in the room seemed to blur, and it felt as though he was in a foreign place, full of hostility. He would be discovered. His life would be ruined. He would never be able to live a normal life again. 

All of his closest friends would leave him, he knew it, he just knew it. His illusion faltered, and strangely enough, he didn't seem to care. The only thing he could think about was the blond at the front of the room, mouth moving but words unheard. Even if Scythe couldn't hear what the red-clad man was saying, he knew what it must have been. Martian had figured him out. He tried to stand up and walk out of the room, but his legs seemed to give way under him, unable to hold up his trembling figure.

Almost immediately, he could feel the presence of more bodies around him, and tried to push them away in his panicked state, feeling as though he would be taken from those he loved and cared for. He couldn't recognize the faces around him. Nothing looked familiar anymore. His eyes could see clearly, but his mind could not. He could not tell if they were friend or foe. He couldn't tell hostile from passive. Were they acting like they cared? Did they really all know? How did he know who to trust when he couldn't recognize the faces surrounding him? He knew that his illusion must have been completely gone by now, but what difference would it make when they all now knew about his lies?

Then, out of what felt like nowhere, three pairs of wings made a circular barrier around him. A pair of brown, white, and maroon wings seemed to enclose him, providing a guard from outside faces on his body, but doubled back as a wall to which his own thoughts could not escape. He curled in on himself, trying desperately to keep his growing anxieties away, tears swelling and rolling down his cheeks as they refused to keep to his eyes.

Then Scythe felt pressure on his shoulders. Looking up, tears never seeming to end their cascade down his cheeks. He knew the face looking back at him, and it was full of worry and pity. The short, fluffy brown hair brought him comfort adorned with a pastel yellow streak. Those chocolate eyes telling him that it would all be ok. With Scythe's ears still ringing and words still not quite being heard, the man in front of him looked up and past Scythe, and said something. Then he turned slightly behind himself to another person, the ringing in his own ears slowing, and he was able to hear some of the words the taller man said.

“Jim...the only … illusion magic…Help Scythe … identity … panic attack…” The words seemed random to Scythe, but at last the man in front of him looked him in the eyes once more, and Scythe was finally able to recognize him. Joel was crouched in front of him. Someone he could trust was there, and not just Joel either. Looking around, his senses slowly returning to him, Scythe recognized the owners of the other two pairs of wings surrounding him. Cuteguy and The Sheriff, wait no… Grian and Jimmy were the other ones there. The three older men were shielding Scythe with their wings, providing a barrier against the others for Scythe to help him feel safe and calm, and so that they can’t see him without his illusion.

“Scythe, are you ok?” Scythe turned back to Joel, and the brunette was looking at him with worry that was unparalleled to anything he had experienced from someone else before. Scythe realized he didn't quite know how to answer; he knew he wasn't ok, but at the same time he didn't really feel not-ok either. So instead of responding with words, he uncurled himself from the ball he managed to squeeze into and leaned forward to give Joel a hug that he very much needed.

The older man almost immediately returned the embrace, rubbing Scythe’s back in comfort as more tears seemed to roll down his cheeks, a morbid insight of the turmoil in his mind. “It's going to be alright. We’re here for you. All of us.” Joel said.

After a few more long moments of just sitting in the hug, feeling safe and cared for, Scythe leaned back and sat up. Joel moved his hands from his back to his arms, holding them gently as a show of comfort. Scythe looked at him, hoping his eyes said all they needed to, and looked around him at the faces and bodies that surrounded him. 

Lunar, Augustus, Jimmy, Grian, Joel, Scar and Etho were all there. Grian, Jimmy and Joel provided the winged barrier from those he didn't know as well, the others providing an extra barrier of comfort from what currently felt like an alien world. Scythe tried to speak, but his voice came only as a whisper, “I… my illusion… is it..?” he managed to get out before Joel finished his thought and answered, “Jimmy. He’s helping keep your identity a secret. He can't hold the entire outfit, but he got your general appearance. The only thing showing outside of an illusion is your clothes.”

Scythe thought about Joel's answer for a moment, then nodded and took a deep breath. He looked up at Lunar and Scar, then back to Joel. “Home?” is all he managed to ask, but he didn't need to say anymore. The three nodded and Scar left the outer circle, Scythe hearing him talk to someone, presumably telling Voidling that he was leaving to take him home.

Scar came back, and Scythe and Joel looked up at him. When Scar nodded, Joel picked the young Enderian up, enclosing his body with his wings to keep his main appearance safe and out of sight from the other heroes. Jimmy  relocated the illusion to the only visible area of his body, those being mainly his head and shoulders.

As he was being carried out of the room, Scythe heard Voidlings last words to the remaining persons in the meeting room. “This Meeting is now over. Thank you for the information each of you have provided. However, you will not be invited back here Snowfall. Good afternoon to you all, and I apologize for any and all inconveniences caused by Snowfall's poor choice of words..”

Scythe heard a scoff and footsteps passing him, assuming it was Snowfall that had passed him on his way out of the building. Joel held onto him a little tighter to let him know that he was safe, and Scythe felt grateful for his friends for making sure he's alright. He turned his head to look at Snowfall, or Martian as he knows him as, and the blonde man turned back with a glare shooting every dagger imaginable. Scythe returned it with just as much hatred and intensity. 

When he looked back up at Joel and to Scar they all seemed to share a silent agreement. This would not be the last they saw of the villain Martian.

AN: I know I've been posting a lot of new chapters, but please do not expect new chapters to always be this quick. This entire AU is one giant hyperfixation, and one that I have no clue how long it will last. I do not want a standard to be made that I know I will not be able to meet, so please dont expect too much from me. I dont have the most free time and to be honest, most of the writing I've been doing as of recent has been during classes that I should have probably been paying attention in instead of writing, yet here we are. I hope you enjoy as always, though!

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Cobflicting Lives- Chapter 4: The Meeting (pt.1)

Word Count: 2050

As he and Scar walked into the meeting room as Lux and Hotguy, Scythe was relieved to see that the only other people that were there other than Voidling seemed to be iWork, Tek, and Cuteguy.

He walked over to where Voidling was talking with iWork, and the two older men looked at him expectantly. “Would I be able to speak with you for a moment Voidling?” Scythe asked after a second or two of silence.

“Of course Lux.” Voidling said, getting up from his chair. The pair walked towards an unpopulated corner of the meeting room. “What did you need to tell me?” the older hero asked.

Scythe took a deep breath. “You know about how I put up an illusion to further keep my true identity a secret from the public,” he looked at Voidling, who was nodding with eyes full of curiosity, “But I didn't have time to grab my uniform from my room before I came over here.” Voidlings eyes opened a bit in shock for a moment, then softened in understanding.

“So the illusion you have right now is for both appearance and clothing then, correct?” he asked Scythe. And he nodded in response.

“I’m not sure how long I can keep one up without revealing the other, either. Even just starting it I can tell that I’m not going to be able to hold both for more than like an hour or an hour and a half, max.” Scythe continued explaining. He didn't know what Voidling was thinking, and just the thought of anything being revealed to other heroes he didn't know well enough to trust very well made his stomach turn over itself.

There were only a few seconds before Voidling responded, but it felt like hours. “I can try to keep it as short as possible, but with what I’ve gotten I don't expect this meeting to be that short.” He finally said, concern filling his eyes as he looked at Scythe. “If you need to leave for a moment during it if you feel like the illusion is falling, by all means take a breather.”

Scythe contemplated for a moment, mulling over the offer that Voidling had given him. “That could work, but I also don't want to miss out on what has happened.” That much was true, but he may have told a small white lie as he continued, “The situation concerning the last meeting has been eating at the back of my head, and I want to try and help as much as I can. It feels like I can't do that if I have to leave because of my stamina capacity.” Well, maybe only part of it was a lie.

“I understand where you’re coming from,” the older hero said in a comforting tone, “But I also don't want you to over exert yourself for the sake of some information that I can get to you at a different time.” Voidling put a hand on Scythe's shoulder, and he looked up at the masked man. “Don't push yourself beyond your limit when you don't have to or aren't comfortable with doing so.”

Scythe took a deep breath and looked down once more, looking back up a moment later. “I… I could just let a little down. Not enough to be super noticeable, but enough to let off some of the drainage.”

 Voidling was silent for a moment longer, and took his hand off of Scythes shoulder. “Just don't push yourself too far. I may not be as close to you as some of the others are, but that doesn't mean I don't care and worry about you.” With that, he turned around and walked back towards the table, where the rest of the heroes seemed to be filing in.

Scythe took another few seconds to recuperate, then walked back to the table himself. As he approached, the last of the heroes to arrive walked through the door. Joel walked in, and it looked like he just got out of bed. Scythe assumed that his messy hair was from flying, as his artificial wings were also fluffed and messy from the air.

The white-winged hero walked over to the area where Scythe sat, and chose a seat next to him, moving his wings farther ti back to drape over the back of the chair. The pair looked at eachother, having a silent conversation of how much it sucks to be rushed.

“It looks like everyone is here. Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I do want to start by apologizing for the rush, especially as many of you aren't exactly very close to our building here.” iWork was the one to start off speaking, and he continued on, “however some information we've just received from one of our IOs needed to be discussed immediately.””

Voidling reached his hand under the table where he sat and the small click of a button was heard. A forgotten door in a back corner opened, and everyone's eyes went wide as four people walked out. Two of them looked well dressed and prepared, while the other tel looked rushed and a bit unkempt. And there were at least three heroes in the room that knew at least one of those people. 

Scythe felt like all of the oxygen left his body. He made eye contact with Lunar and Augustus, then with Etho and the fourth IO, his identity unknown, but something eerily familiar about them. The red highlights of their outfit and the blond, unkempt hair definitely belonged to someone he knew, the name just on the tip of his tongue.

He prayed that he hadn't gone too pale as he then locked eyes with Voidling when scanning the room for the others’ reactions. Voidling seemed to be talking to him through the silence, Step out if you need it, Lux, his eyes seemed to say. Scythe knew that he wasn't pale because of the illusion efforts, but because he wasn't expecting to see three of his closest friends infront of him, and in front of all of the other major heroes throughout the island.

Trying to gather his composure, Scythe took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing mind. His head had started to ache from all the thoughts darting around, and he took a few moments to calm them down, steady his breathing, and check his illusion to make sure it hadn’t faltered in the moment of panic.

He turned around to look at Joel, who also seemed to be a bit pale in the face, despite the light pink hue riding on his cheeks. Joel looked back at Scythe, a look of slight fear in his eyes as they both realized the situation, and the pink faded from the winged man's face. The pair then looked at scar and the three exchanged knowing glances, but making sure to look amongst the others as well. Thankfully they all seemed to be as confused as they are, if not a little pale too.

“These are the four IOs that had agreed to gather information for us at the last meeting.” Voidling said once everyone seemed to calm down and gather themselves once more. “These are Storyteller, Snowfall, The Above, and Slab,” they each waved as their name was announced, “and I feel that they each have a very valuable piece of information to give us all.” Voidling turned around to face the four IOs. “Storyteller, would you like to go first?”

Lunar, or rather Storyteller, stepped forward. “Sure. Thank you for inviting me here. I was asked to gather information about the routes that Ender takes at night, from where they split from Tanuki after any chosen activities, and figure out the area where they seem to be located.” She looked around the meeting room, meeting the eyes of a few heroes, sparing Scythe from eye contact in the already awkward situation.

Even though Scythe knew that Lunar knew what she was saying and how they were going to say it, he couldn't help but feel anxious. He was putting an incredible amount of trust in someone he knew very well, but even that didn't stop the farthest corners of his thoughts spiraling. 

“What I have found by slowly trialing Ender is a semi-consistent direction that he travels in. Oftentimes, he heads in a south west direction. This does vary a lot of however, and I've seen him go north and east before for a very long while before he eventually turned back towards Cursia.” Lunar at last looked at Scythe, then back at Voidling who was watching and listening very intently. “This leads me to believe that Ender may be staying somewhere in Cursia, though I have yet to follow him past the border line. Each time I have tried to do so, it has been far too late into the night for me to continue any longer.” 

Lunar had finished speaking at last after what felt like hours, and stepped back to where the others were. Scythe realized he had been holding his breath a bit, and let out a slow exhale. Joel seemed to hold his as Voidling spoke next, “Thank you Storyteller. What you have brought to us is greatly appreciated. Slab, would you please step forward and present what information you have to offer?”

Scythe felt bad for the winged man behind him. Slab, or Etho as Scythe knew him, was one of Joel's two partners. Void knows what he would be feeling right now if Ella was one of the IOs standing up there, so he could only imagine what Joel was feeling.

“Of course. I was asked to provide similar information as the Storyteller was, but about Tanuki instead of Ender,” Etho started. “From what I have been able to gather myself, Tanuki has been seeming to head north more often than any other direction, though I have followed him as far as the Wynnran border a small number of times. What I believe is that he may have a home in a few different cities, though they seem to be mainly in Empyria and Wynnra.”

Etho stepped back into the line, and Scythe heard Joel breath a small sigh of relief. He looked around at the others to see if anyone had noticed, but thankfully it seemed as though no one else did. “Thank you Slab. Your additional information will greatly aid us in our search.” Voidling said.

Then the masked hero turned to the third IO in line. “The Above, would you care to speak next?” Voidling asked, and Scythe could feel butterflies rising once more in his stomach.

“I would be honored,” Augustus said. “Before I present my information however, I would like to make a clarifying statement. I am mainly a weapons developer, and only gather information for others as the need arises. Information gathering is not my specialty, but I was not going to refuse someone that needed help for a good cause.

That being said, I was asked to bring information about the way that both Ender and Tanuki fight. What I have found isn't all too much, either. From what I can tell, they balance eachother out to make fighting others easy at all ranges, Ender seeming to keep a bit farther back and Tanuki seeming to keep closer in.” Augustus looked around the meeting room, pausing on a few people's gaze, including scythes. His look seemed to ask if he was revealing too much, and Scythe quickly blinked once as a way to tell him he's fine. And so the masked IO continued, “I believe they work as a team because they balance their own strengths and weaknesses with the others, proving for a force to reckon with.” 

At last, Augustus stepped back into the line, finalizing what information he could give. It was a few more seconds before Voidling spoke again, and he seemed to be lost in thought for that short amount of time. “Thank you for what you have been able to give us. We now know how we can try to combat both of these villains if it comes to a fight.” He said atlas. “Snowfall, thank you for waiting. Would you like to give us your findings?”

AN: Next chapter is going to have a TW, so enjoy the calm(ish) before the storm

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Conflicting Lives- Character Designs 2/?

Characters Introduced in Chapter 2!

Note: all character designs are made with Gacha Club due to a lack in my own artistic abilities at the current time. Please feel free to interpret my designs in your own style!

Hermtions

Wynnrans

Empyrians

If you saw this when it first came out an noticed a few are missing, I did that on purpose. I'm putting them on next chapters characrerbdesigns because they are more met there. Bear with me im still new to the whole writing thing

Conflicting Lives- Chapter 2: Meetings and a Late Night Meal

Word Count: 1477

The meeting was… interesting, to say the least. Scythe had barely made it to the Agency building in time, and when he did he was exhausted from the running and teleporting it took to get there. Spore was waiting to make sure everyone got there in time, and held the door open for Scythe as he walked through.

“Good, everyone’s here.” Voidling said after Spore closed the door to the meeting room. It seemed as though all major heroes from all five cities were gathered in that meeting room. Some of them, like Hotguy and Stratos, he knew from elsewhere. Others he knew from missions and general public services.

“There’s been more villainous activity around the North-Western Hermiton areas,” iWork pointed to the area in the map on the large round table. “Witnesses have noticed more frequent appearances of Ender, Tanuki, and Earth in the areas of the crime, though reports of seeing Earth have lessened in the last few weeks.” he continued.

Scythe looked around the table, making short eye contact with Joel and Scar, but made sure to look at a few more people to not seem too suspicious. Admittedly, he and Joel had been out more often as college and other work got stressful.

Voidling spoke next, “I originally thought of Just increasing night hour patrols and monitorization in the area, but I’ve come up with a different plan that I would like to run by you all.” Leaning forward, he continued,

“I’ve gotten a deal with a few of the largest and most credible Informatives throughout all of our cities. They have agreed to do what they can, and get us any information about the routes and inside information on Ender and Tanuki, but it is a very expensive deal.” By the time he was done talking, his brows were close together in deep thought.

“Does anyone have any other ideas or anything they would like to ask about this plan?” iWork asked the group after a few more moments of silence.

There was a good five to ten seconds of silence and awkward looks around when finally someone seemed to speak up. “How do we know if we can trust the Informatives to give us correct information? They may be the most credible out there, but that doesn't mean they won't provide false information if they get a higher buyer, right?”

Everyone turned towards Cuteguy. After a few more seconds of silence, The Sheriff spoke up. “I think I understand where he’s coming from. Most of these guys work for money or some sort of trade right? How can we be sure that someone else won't come around and out-bid us in a way?” He finished with a look around the large, central table, his gaze stopping at Voidling and iWork.

The two looked at each other, then back at The Sheriff and the rest of the heroes. After what felt like a few moments too long, Voidling finally spoke, “I see where you’re coming from--” he looked at The Sheriff and Cuteguy, “--both of you. There is no way to know for sure, and that is exactly why I wanted to call all of you here so we may discuss this together. I don’t have much more information to give you guys, but does anyone have any questions they would like to ask?”

Scythe definitely had questions, but he only asked one of them. “If I may, who are the informatives? I’ve done my own research in the past about these informatives, and I have some knowledge that might help. Like for instance, they usually refer to themselves as Informative Operators, or IOs for short. 

They talk to eachother alot too, and have this sort of network between everywhere and everyone to make sure they all have the latest news, in a way.” He realized he trailed off a bit, and looked up to see everyone looking at him as both surprised and impressed.

Obviously, he knew this not because of research, but because of his own friends, although the people who don't know already don't need to find out.

“That… is actually really useful, thank you Lux.” Voidling finally said. “Our current ‘IO’s that have provided themselves available to us are Storyteller, Slab, Snowfall, and The Above. I have also done my own bit of research, though clearly not as much as Lux, and have found that they are known to be some of the most timely and trustworthy providers.”

All of the gathered heroes discussed amongst each other for a few minutes longer, and an endpoint was reached. Voidling would ask each IO if they would be able or willing to gather the information that they are looking for, and in turn they would each get paid handsomely.

Scythe did have a little bit of anxiety about this agreement, though he did do well to not show it to the other heroes. Two of the named IOs are close friends of his, and another is one of Joel’s partners. He wondered how Joel reacted to his partner being named as a detective of sorts for a case on himself, and made a mental note to ask him next time they saw each other outside of the Agency.

It was around 2pm when Scythe had finally gotten back to his dorm room, and he felt like he could sleep for a decade. He had exhausted himself getting to the meeting, had to still put up his full illusion for roughly 3 hours, then had to travel back across all of Hermiton to get back to his dorm room. Getting back took almost an hour and half by itself since he was so exhausted.

By the time he got to the city border of Cursia and Hermiton, his illusion was completely gone. He still had about a 20 minute walk from the border to the campus, and another 10 from the campus entrance to his dorm room. He expected to meet Ella as he walked in the door, and wasn’t surprised when he walked in and saw her sitting on the couch, turned towards the door to see who was coming in.

Scythe tiredly smiled at her as he closed the door behind him, and he almost lost his balance as he walked to the couch, though he would never admit it himself. Ella looked at him with worry in her eyes as he sat down and asked, “Are you alright? And don't tell me yes, we both know you aren’t.”

“Then why ask if you already know?” Scythe complained. “I was exhausted by the time I got there, had to hold up for hours, then had to come back while still being exhausted. Take a wild guess as to how I’m doing right now.” Even though his words and tone sounded harsh, him and Ella both knew that he didn’t mean it in a rude way.

Instead of saying anything back, Ella simply put Scythe's head on her shoulder and draped her arm across his shoulder, bringing him into a half-hug, half-cuddle pose. Scythe simply took a deep breath and leaned into the embrace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was around 11pm when Scythe woke up, and he hadn't even realized he fell asleep. He groaned as he sat up on the couch and looked around, finding Ella still asleep on the couch. He realized by the way she was lying that he must’ve fallen asleep on top of her or leaned against her, and he kissed her forehead before getting up completely. Grabbing a blanket, he made sure to softly drape it over her to keep her warm in the chilly dorm room.

Then his stomach growled. And he realized he didn't eat anything other than a very rushed and incomplete breakfast. “Shit…” Scythe cursed quietly to himself.

Making his way to the small kitchen, he opened the fridge and took out some eggs, and pancake mix from the pantry. He tried to be as quiet as possible as he started making pancakes and eggs as a late night meal, but I mean come on. How quiet can you realistically be?

It wasn't very long after he turned on the stove and got the pancakes started that he heard Ella start to stir. He turned around to see her sitting up and rubbing her eyes, trying to get rid of the sleepiness.

“Good morning sleepyhead. You up for a midnight snack?” Scythe asked as he turned back to the stove. She chuckled

“That's rich coming from you, who basically passed out on me as soon as you leaned over. But yeah, that sounds great actually.” she replied, standing up from the couch and walking over to Scythe.

“Sounds good. Could you start the eggs for me? It shouldn't be much longer until I have enough pancakes done.” he asked her, and she nodded and grabbed a pan to start the eggs. The next 2 hours flew by, and after the pair were done eating, they both went to bed, for real this time.

(AN: Scar and Joel are both heroes, and their aliases are Hotguy and Stratos, respectively)

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I am in TEARS over this, stunning truly

Here are the results! Thank you to everybody who contributed to the original survey ^_^

I love the idea of everyone on Hermitcraft being some hybrid or supernatural creature or magic or something and it's totally normal in universe but Keralis is just some guy.

But the thing is, Keralis has no idea everyone else is supernatural, he just assumes they're also weirdos. And everyone else has no idea Keralis is just a human, they just assume he's also some kind of supernatural entity.

Because if you ask, everyone on Hermitcraft is like: "Oh Keralis? Of course he's magic or something. Have you met him? I don't know his deal but he's definitely not a human," but slowly they start to realize, "Hey hold on, do any of you know what the heck Keralis is? Have any of you actually seen Keralis do anything unambiguously magic?"

So the Hermits start watching him a little closer and start to see, actually no, he can't teleport. Keralis literally just sat up in Scar's tree for like three hours to appear behind him when he got home. He can't hypnotize anyone, he's just weirdly charismatic. Keralis isn't immune to fire, he's just really chill about burning to death. Keralis can't breathe underwater, he's just good at holding his breath and likes hanging out in xB's fish tank for some reason.

Everything they assumed was apart of his supernatural skill set is just a byproduct of him being really weird? The Hermits are totally baffled, how is Keralis the only human on the server? That can't be right. There are debates among different Hermits about their own pet theories.

Finally, one of them straight up asks in a meeting. When Xisuma asks if anyone has anything they want to talk about for the day, Jevin cuts in, "Okay, I know this isn't really what meetings are for but Keralis, buddy, we've been trying to figure out for like weeks. What are you?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Like what are you? Are you a hybrid who didn't get many features? Are you a wizard? Are you undead? Cyborg? Genuinely. Everyone's been trying to figure it out." There are murmurs of agreement from the table.

Keralis nods his head like he understands (he doesn't), "Oh I get it now. I don't really play dress up like you guys. I've thought about it but I just don't even know what I would be," when he's only met with confused looks, Keralis tries clarifying, "I mean, sorry to drop the roleplaying, but it's like how Cleo isn't actually a zombie. It's makeup and such. I don't know what I would be. I've thought about it but I'm no good at making costumes or doing makeup, anyhow."

Everyone blinks at him, "I can literally detach all of my limbs, Keralis, what do you mean I'm not a zombie?"

Keralis tilts his head in confusion, "They're prosthetics, no?"

Tango cuts in, "Keralis, we're not roleplaying. At least not about this. I mean, you've literally seen me walk through a lava lake!"

xB chuckles, "Also, I both have fins and live underwater."

"Yeah hang on," Grian is the first to finally catch on to what's happening, "What did you think was going on when I literally flew with my actual wings that are attached directly to my back? I was good at DIY?"

"Uh...Yes?"

The whole table erupts into a bunch of confused conversations overlapping with each other. Some Hermits are just listing times they did something blatantly supernatural, half of them are just gesturing broadly at the most visibly obvious examples of 'not a human' at the table, and the rest are trying to question Keralis on how he could've ever possibly believed this.

Finally, Xisuma and Doc get the whole group settled down and Xisuma asks Keralis directly, "K, buddy, how did you think that we were all human?"

Keralis looks a little like his whole body is rebooting "Well, I — Shashwammy — I mean, monsters aren't real?" Keralis looked around the table for support, "I thought, I mean, aren't all of you are just normal people? I mean, not normal, you're like me. You're weird and have funny skills and weird and sweet faces and I love that! But I thought it was just like, a way of showing that weirdness? Are you guys pranking me? Because I don't know if it's funny anymore,"

Xisuma sort of laughs hesitantly, "We're not pranking you, K. I mean, magic is just all around us. With potions and enchanting. You have to see that. Some of us just come from different places."

Keralis is still really confused but the situation seems to be finally dawning on him. "Wait...am I the only human here? Shashwam?"

"Yeah, I think you might be, K,"

Somebody starts laughing and suddenly the whole meeting room is just cracking up.

"How did this happen?!" Impulse is a little breathless, "Keralis! The only human on Hermitcraft!"

Keralis shrugs and shoots Impulse a grin, "I guess it's just my killer personality and awesome cool skills that threw all of you off."

"I still can't believe that you just thought we were really into roleplay," Grian says.

"I—! Well, in my defense..." Keralis doesn't really know how to finish that sentence actually and the table starts laughing harder.

Everyone eventually settles down and xB speaks up, "Yknow, I think you should take everyone just assuming you were something as a compliment. Because it is! Only you. Only Keralis could somehow be the weirdest one of all of us as a totally human person."

"Only Keralis," Xisuma agreed with a chuckle.

"Awwe, you guys!" Keralis feels all mushy and happy, "Come over here and I'm going to give you all big kisses!"

Hermitcraft's local human tugs everyone into a big group hug, doomed to be mercilessly teased for every very obvious clue he missed until the end of time.

Ziz-Ma

Xiz-Ma Void

rb this and tell me how you pronunce xisuma's name

WE DID A THING (System Account)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP, Video Blogging RPF, Minecraft (Video Game) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s) Characters: Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo, Grian, Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar, Ryan | GoodTimesWithScar’s Cat Jellie, Steffen Mössner | Docm77, Xisumavoid (Video Blogging RPF) Additional Tags: Piglin Hybrid Mumbo Jumbo, Mumbo Jumbo centric, Avian Charles | Grian, Creeper Steffen Mössner, When you like gold, Headcanon, Boatem Crew (Hermitcraft), Dad Xisumavoid, Admin Xisumavoid (Video Blogging RPF), Evil Xisuma is mentioned, Dialogue Heavy, Oblivious Oliver Brotherhood | Mumbo Jumbo, Species Dysphoria, Immortality, Watcher Charles | Grian, pearl is also mentioned, Jellie steals your food, Mumbo Jumbo is a spoon, Xisumavoid is a good parent, Evil Xisuma is a good guy, EX and Xisuma are not brothers, EX and Xisuma aren’t related, Hels is mentioned, They/Them Pronouns for Evil Xisuma (Hermitcraft), Grian is a little shit, Goodtimeswithscar is a little shit, I know nothing about redstone btw, This is literally just me making things up for plot, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Crying, Realization, Mentioned Rendog - Freeform, Mentioned TinFoilChief, Mob instincts, Hybrid Instincts, Anxiety, Mentioned EthosLab - Freeform, Mentioned Keralis Summary:

Ah yes, the wonders of Mumbo Jumbo. A perfectly ‘normal’ human being across a server of a bunch of chaotic looking and acting hybrids. Mumbo Jumbo is also rather oblivious and can be rather, not smart as Scar says, when it comes to his own health and identity. Grian starts to pick up on this and gradually realizes.