MCYT RANDOMNESS 2

The Fire pt 2

Quick explanation of a couple terms before we begin:

Worldly items are in-game items that can't leave the world. 

Unworldly items are magical/personal items (like vex/watcher masks, outfits, photos) that go between worlds and stay with a person. 

PoV: Scar

At first I didn't think much of Cub's disappearance.

Hermits spent ages alone doing their own thing all the time and Cub's definitely not the exception to that. So I remain unconcerned, working on my volcano base, checking on profits in my shops. But by week 2 of no one seeing him, I start getting worried.

You whispered to cubfan135: everything ok? Haven't seen u around recently 

There. Just a message. He'll be fine, won't he? And if he isn't, he'd tell me. Surely. After last season, he'd tell me if something was up.

cubfan135 whispered to you: i'm fine

You whispered to cubfan135: sure?

cubfan135 whispered to you: nothing vexy

You whispered to cubfan135: what about anything else? No one's seen you

cubfan135: Scar, I'm fine. Tell u more soon

You whispered to cubfan135: ????? Cub, are you ok????

No reply. 

I fight down my sudden terror for Cub, the urge to fly over to Concorp and find him, wherever he is. He'll be fine. He said he'd be fine. But it's very easy to lie in chat. But he'd tell me if something serious happened, right?

Right?

'BOO!'

I squeal, turning to see Tango laughing.

'Tango! What- why are you here?!'

'Checking up on you... Hey, have you seen Cubby much at all? No one knows anything and... I thought you'd be the best person to ask?'

'I don't know. I haven't seen him for a couple weeks and... now he's messaging me being weird and saying 'It's not the vex' and 'I'll talk about it soon' but not WHAT happened. I know something happened, and I'm hoping he'd tell me if it was really, really serious and if he was in danger...'

'I'm sure he'll be fine, Scar.' Tango puts a hand on my shoulder. 'Cubby's clever and... you know even more than most of us he can handle trouble.'

'You're right.' I sigh. 'What's up with you?'

'Not much. I was wondering if you wanted to help me with a project?'

'A project?'

'Yeah, yeah. Just something in my base... I'll explain when we get there.'

He flies off, and I have to follow, trying to leave my worries and Cub's lack of explanation behind.

Something's very, very wrong with Cub.

It's been a month and I can't hold back my fears any longer. So I decide to find him.

He's within Concorp, I realise, but underground. Deeper underground than CEO Captain Jack and the other parrots, and where we get our profits... my necklace leads me into places I didn't even know existed, fazing through walls to reach an undecorated one block tunnel leading down into... somewhere.

So Cub's got a whole area I don't even know about. Why didn't he tell me about this? What's beyond here that I can't see? He normally tells me all his base developments, especially as Concorp's our shared company. 

'Cub?' I call. 'Are you down here somewhere?' I reach a wall of vex magic and my worry only grows. Why would he need a place this protected under Concorp? And why wouldn't he show me?

I faze through the wall.

And stop.

He's there, alright. In the middle of a room showing the obvious signs of a very large and very dangerous fire, is Cubfan135, staring at me with an 'I can explain everything if you give me half an hour to come up with an lie' expression. 

'What happened?' I'm not just concerned. My mind has gone straight past concern and into anger. How long has he been hiding this place? Why wouldn't he tell me? Especially if there was a fire and- did he get hurt? He looks exhausted, even more than usual. The long stick in his hand that I first thought he was halfway through putting somewhere, is more likely some kind of walking stick, as he isn't standing normally at all. He got hurt. He was in this secret room, which he didn't tell me about, there was a fire, which he didn't tell me about, and he got hurt, which he definitely didn't tell me about. He still tries to find a good enough lie to explain away the mess.

'I was going to tell you?' is the best he can come up with. 'I was just... cleaning up.'

'It's been a month.'

'I know...' he starts pacing, opening chests and then doing nothing with them. 'I know... I'm sorry and...'

'You got badly hurt in a fire, and you've hid it from me for a month.'

'A: I wasn't THAT badly hurt and B: how do you know that?' 

'It's obvious, Cub. I still smell smoke... I can still SEE smoke! You can't live like this! It's unhealthy!' 

'I was just clearing up... I didn't want to go outside before... I was feeling better. I couldn't really get outside, to be honest...' One hand shifts towards his side. 

'Sit down.'

'What?'

'Cub, sit down.' I repeat, forcing him into a chair despite his little grunt of pain. 'Where were you burnt?'

'I'm handling it, Scar. I've got healing potions...'

'Proper unworldly healing potions or normal worldly ones?'

'Just normal ones? How would that...'

'They do nothing, Cub! Not on proper injuries like... s***, Cub...' I stop, still holding his shirt I pulled up, staring uncomprehending at the layers of bloody bandages. 'No... no no...'

'Scar...' He pushes me away, clearly uncomfortable. 'I'm handling it.'

'You're not!' I snap back. 'You- you- THAT- that's not handling it!' I back away. Cub hides the bandages again. 'You... stay here.' My voice has reached a low vexy growl by this point. 'Don't move... don't even stand up, Cub. I'm getting supplies.'

'Scar, please, man. I can handle this. I don't need your help with everything...'

'Stay. Here.' I repeat. Cub falls silent, glaring at the ground as I try to find the exit to the room again. 

'It's behind you,' Cub mutters. 

'Thanks,' I reply, leaving to grab some proper healing potions and resolving to not leave Cub again until his injuries are completely healed.