Fall from Grace | Hermitcraft x Empires SMP AU

Scar: Bargaining

Jellie had always been Scar's biggest comfort. The grey and white cat had been there since the beginning, back when Scar was younger. She'd shown up, and had always acted as a comfort to Scar, taking care of him in any way she could.

And she'd always managed to follow him wherever he went, always finding her way back to Scar no matter what world the Hermits would move to at the beginning of each new season.

Honestly, Scar considered that Jellie making her way from season 8 to season 9 a miracle.

But it was a miracle that Scar had desperately needed, because after Mumbo vanished, Scar wasn't quite sure he could have made it through season 9 without his trusted companion. His health issues had already worsened from the stress, growing worse and worse as time went on.

And maybe some of that stress was because Scar kept pushing himself. But honestly, he felt as though he had to. All of the Boatem crew had taken Mumbo's disappearance hard. All of them were going through it differently, and at their own pace.

For Scar?

He felt like he had to help them through it. Because if Scar reached out to his friends more often, and offered to help them more often, then maybe Mumbo would still be here. Maybe Mumbo wouldn't have gone off on his own, and maybe Scar could have saved him.

Guilt ate away at Scar constantly, because of it.

So he would make up for it by helping his friends who were grieving.

---

Ass the season progressed, Scar felt like things were getting better. Both in general, and in terms of how everyone was coping, mind you. The server was shaping up to look quite nice, and Scar had even managed to get Grian to get involved in a couple things he otherwise wouldn't have - namely, Scar's April Fools event, Secret Fools, and Jevin's egg hunt.

Grian had even started something himself, by finally trying to beat Scar's diamond ore tower, though Grian was notably absent from Ren crowning himself king of the server. Pearl and Impulse were missing too, which Scar had found a little strange. But oh well, they were probably fine.

And fine they were, Scar finding them in the cave beneath Grian's base (which Scar had affectionately nicknamed Dwayne). Since Scar had last been there, a new rendition of Grumbot had shown up - though it was notably different from the Grumbot that Scar remembered. 

This Grumbot seemed newer, seemed better than the first Grumbot. And right off the bat, Scar knew it wasn't Grian's redstone. Which really, only led into Scar's theory that-

"Hey, Scar! We were waiting for you." Impulse greeted Scar, alerting Pearl and Grian to his arrival. "Did you get our message?"

In response, Scar checked his communicator, noticing that Grian had messaged the Boatem group chat asking for them to meet him there. A message, that Scar had been yet to see, because he'd been busy working on Main Street before going to see Ren.

"I'm gonna take that as a no then." Impulse didn't seem to bothered, and instead just gestured for Scar to come closer, the four of them soon in front of the new Grumbot.

"It came through the Rift." Grian said. "Says he came from a universe where Mumbo..." Grian trailed off. Scar frowned slightly.

Pearl wrapped a moth wing around Grian's back, the moth hybrid cooing at him for a moment. "This Grumbot came from a universe where Mumbo actually became mayor." She finished for Grian. "Impulse says that the election in question happened all the way back in season seven, so before I joined."

"it was in fact in season seven, yeah." Scar confirmed. "This Grumbot is made of newer blocks than what we had in season seven. I wonder what's up about that?"

Pearl shrugged, turning to look back at Grumbot. "If you want to say something to him, write on a bit of paper and put it in that chest. The rest of us already have."

Scar wordlessly complied, introducing himself to the new Grumbot: I'm Scar, it's nice to meet you!

Grumbot's response was pleasant. At least, Scar thought it was. I hope you and I get along as well as my Scar and I did.

What Scar was mostly excited about, was the potential for Mumbo to still be okay. If Grumbot had come out of the Rift, and was from an alternate timeline, then there was a chance that Mumbo had gone through the Rift and ended up somewhere else.

The chance was small, but still; Grumbot allowed Scar's initial theory to hold up, no matter how much Grian denied it. Ever since Grian had started to feel better, he'd adopted the narrative that most of the server now believed - that Mumbo was dead.

Perhaps it was just a way to stop giving himself false hope. Scar wouldn't blame him if it were because of that.

But Scar still had hope, because his theory about the Rift helped lessen his guilt.

Pearl called Scar over, the three of them sitting in front of the Rift, and when he'd made his way over, Grian had Jellie in his arms (when had she gotten there?). Grian had visibly calmed down, after getting upset at mention of Mumbo earlier, and he was now looking into the Rift.

His eyes glittered, and if anything, Scar swore that Grian looked excited.

"If there's a universe out there where Mumbo became mayor, for real this time, then maybe there's a universe out there where... well, who knows what could be out there." He said, his eyes shining in the purple light as he looked at Scar.

The unsaid part about a universe with Mumbo alive still hung in the air, but Scar oddly felt okay. And so did the others - Grian was smiling, holding Impulse's hands as the redstoner smiled back. And Pearl, with her knees pulled close to her chest, hood pulled over her head, didn't look as sad as Scar had grown used to seeing her.

She caught his gaze for a second, and she smiled at Scar for a second, before turning back to the Rift.

They would be okay.

They would be okay.