MCYT Oneshots

The Bard - Scott & Oli

This chapter is platonic, this is not a shipping chapter :)

No tws that I can think of!

Enjoy!

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{Scott's POV}

I laid down in the flower fields among the poppies. Being the heir to Chromia, a mostly agriculture-based empire, I didn't have to do much except "listen to the plants."

Which meant I had plenty of time to just sit and think. And the flower fields were the perfect place to do it.

I'm not sure how long I was lying in the flowers, but eventually quiet music reached my ears. I sat up and looked around, searching for the source of the noise.

I found it rather quickly - a young boy about my age, maybe a few years older, strumming something - a flute? Luke? No, a lute. A spirally gray thing hung from his belt, which looked something like a goat horn.

I picked a few poppies, ran over to the dandelions, and then over to the blue orchids - in a few minutes I had a bouquet of flowers to match his color scheme. I walked over to the bard slowly; I was in no rush and neither was he.

He didn't seem to notice me when I walked over, so I sat down and waited for him to finish. When he strummed the last note he looked up and gasped slightly. "Oh! Hello. I didn't see you there." His voice caught on the "oh," making it sound much higher than his regular voice.

I smiled. "Hi. I'm Scott Major."

"I know," the boy said, looking back down at his lute and strumming a small little riff.

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

His fingers slipped on a string and it twanged loudly and out of tune, though it didn't break. "I- uh- b-because you're, y'know, the heir and the prince of Chromia and whatnot, the townsfolk, um, talk about you a decent amount." He laughed nervously but didn't look up.

I nodded. "Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Who're you? You're new here."

"The name's Oli." He looked up briefly and smiled, then returned his attention to his lute. "Who're the flowers for?"

"You, actually. I heard you playing and didn't have any money to offer." I smiled slightly. "Do you sing?"

He laughed. "Kind of. Mostly I just sing out of tune covers."

"Could you perform for me?"

He shrugged. "I guess. Do you want an original thing?"

"Sure. You could, maybe, play a tune on your lute and tell a story in a speaking voice?"

He thought for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah. I like that idea."

Oli began playing a tune - a melancholy bit of music. He continued strumming for a bit then began speaking in a soft voice.

"There once was a world called Afterlife. Many people of all shapes, sizes, and origins lived here. Some were moths, some were superheroes, some were angels, some were enderman... the possibilities were endless. We- sorry, they all lived together in harmony. Every death brought a resurrection and a new creature with it. But once a person died ten times, their origins were up. And they were gone.

"One of these people started as an enderman. He hung out with his friends and they all enjoyed their time. But one by one, people started dying off. The vampire, the villager, the angel, the cat... they all died ten times and were gone. However, the enderman evolved through his ten lives, but when the time came for him to die the final time, the universe simply wouldn't allow it. All of his friends had gone elsewhere, but he couldn't leave."

Oli's voice caught as he spoke, but he continued strumming the melancholy melody. "Finally, the time came for him to go. But instead of dying, he simply got into a boat and sailed. He sailed for what seemed like an eternity, and eventually found an island. He met a goddess and saw one of his oldest friends along the way, but the friend couldn't see him and the traveler couldn't stay.

"This new land was strange. The traveler met the inhabitants after suffering through fights with mobs and the death of his dog. He knew the inhabitants from his past life in Afterlife, but they didn't seem to remember him. He even saw the friend from the goddess' lair, but the friend didn't know him. No one did. Not even when he slipped up and forgot that they couldn't remember." His voice trailed off, but the melody kept playing, increasing in volume and heart-wrenching intensity.

He let the music crescendo and then stopped. After a short pause, he started plucking out a new tune - sad and quiet, but one of hope, unlike the previous one of hopelessness. "The traveler made do with what he had, wandering the new world and performing for those he came across. And he promised himself that he'd keep going, leave his mark on the world, because maybe, one day, his friends would remember."

The music resolved, the last note resonating with the chirping of the birds and the wind in the trees. "And that's the story of the foreign traveler," Oli said, his voice returning to normal.

I swallowed back the tears I felt at the story and applauded. I offered him the bouquet. "Here. I can go grab something more if you want it. That was amazing, Oli."

He smiled and took the bouquet. "Thank you, Scott, but this is more than enough. Have a pleasant day."

He pulled a string from the bag beside him in the grass and tied the flowers together, then placed them on the ground by the bag. I smiled and waved, walking away and back towards the flower field as the bard began strumming a new tune, this one much more upbeat than the previous.

It was an amazing story, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it had a ring of truth to it. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind and sat down in the lilacs, listening to the bard's tunes.

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I also wrote this very late lol

Word Count: 988

Hope you enjoyed!

~Ax