Scar had just killed Grian. 

Probably permanently.

Without even thinking. 

Oh notch.

He landed at the edge of the cave, trying to control his breathing as he stared down at where Grian had fallen. The last thing he wanted to do was go down and look, desperately hoping Xisuma was right and he wasn't permanently dead.

'SCAR!' Letting out a small scream, Scar turned, seeing Grian standing there. Jokingly angry, but otherwise alive.

'Oh my goodness, Grian. You're alive.' He ran up and hugged his friend, relief filling him. 'I didn't kill you.'

'Why would you- oh yeah... Ren.'

'I thought I'd... I'd...' As Grian looked up, he realised Scar was crying. A lot, snuffling away the tears as he stepped back. 'I wasn't thinking... I just...' 

'How is Ren?' Asked Grian, deciding it would be better to change the subject.

'Xisuma says he's not dead... but he isn't respawning. We're supposed to break any beds we see so we know Ren will respawn at spawn.' 

'Clever.'

'Yeah... but I'm worried someone else is going to die... and end up like that. Do you think it was a small glitch? Or is it going to happen to everyone killed by a mob? Or... or what?'

'I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see when Ren wakes up. Then...' Grian shrugged.

'And why now? What's... just... why now?' Scar asked, almost crying again.

'I don't know... but you should try to calm down. It'll be alright. Ren will be fine. It must just be a glitch.' With a sigh, Scar wiped the rest of the tears away. 'It's very sudden. And unexpected.' 

'I should return to my base... continue working on it. Try to relax.' Scar laughed weakly. 'I'll talk to you later.' 

'See you!' Scar flew off into the sky, leaving Grian standing there, watching him fly away the short distance to his base. 

As he crossed the Magic Kingdom, Scar frowned, noticing the dirt boxes he'd trapped Illagers in before. If he wanted to start working in those areas, he'd need to move them. 

Scar landed by the nearest one, searching through his ender chest for rails... nothing, but a quick flight over to his storage system and a couple minutes of work created a track down to under his base. Then all he had to do was... 

He broke into the box, and came face to face with the evoker inside. It stared at him, before vexes filled the air. Scar just jumped down inside to place the last rails. If there was one mob he could deal with, it was vexes... place the track, place the minecart, break the way out and...

A sudden pain on his arm. Scar looked over to see a deep scratch. Another stab of pain. The evoker wasn't moving... he backed out of the box, realising he was being attacked. 

'Wait- wait I'm your friend! Don't hurt me!' He pleaded. The vexes didn't listen, continuing their assault. 'Please!' A quick glance at his health bar. 3 hearts. 2. 1. Half a heart-

GoodTimeWithScar was slain by vex

It took 20 seconds of flying over Scar's base for Grian to realise something was wrong. He wasn't there, nothing had changed except a minecart track running down below the base with an evoker at the end. 

And-

No. He hadn't. 

He... Grian circled the air as it became impossible to dispute the fact. 

Scar lay sprawled on the ground. Just like Ren. Not moving. Bleeding horribly... he landed, connecting the dots within seconds. 

'Scar... why?! You could've... you could've just flown away!'

He sunk next to his friend's body, realising he should tell someone. Immediately. 

Grian: SCAR

Grian: BASE

Grian: REN 

Grian: SCAR WAS KILELD

cubfan135: ???

Grian: SCAR'S BASE NOW HELP

He flicked off chat, seeing if there was something he could do. He was just out of range of the evoker in the minecart but... 

Scar had forgotten the powered rails. 

The additional realisation just made the situation ten times stupider. Letting out a sob of anger, sadness, probably laughter and a billion different emotions, Grian waited. But not for long, as Cub landed.

'No...' was all he said. 'Why?!'

'I just- found him like this.' Was all Grian could say. 'He was...'

'Vexes.' Cub's tone made Grian look up. He was just staring at Scar. As though it was the worst possible situation, and that particular information made it worse. 

'What?'

'He was killed by vexes.'

'Yeah. I... figured that.'

'He... that shouldn't happen. They shouldn't attack us. They never... they never attack us.'

'But they did.' Grian frowned. 'And...'

'I think they took Ren to the Crastle... we should get Scar there too.' 

'Can you carry him? Or should I summon Xisuma here?'

'Get Xisuma.' Grian nodded, quickly messaging X. The admin appeared quickly. 

'Scar too then.'

All the pair could do was nod. Xisuma knelt down next to Scar and couple of moments later sighed, speaking. 

'Exactly like Ren.' Despite already knowing it was, Xisuma's finality sent a sudden disappointment through the pair. 'We should take him to the Crastle too.' Cub nodded, and Xisuma lifted Scar up, giving a nod back before taking to the air again. He was closely followed by the pair, who stayed in silence the whole journey over. 

'Grian! Cub! What happened?' Immediately upon landing, the group was met by Pearl. Xisuma continued in. Cub seemed to be about to, unsure.

'Go in. Be with Scar.' Grian invited, before turning back to explain to Pearl. 'Scar and Ren died to mobs and aren't respawning. As you... heard some of.'

'Oh my goodness. That's...'  Struggling for words, Pearl paused. 'That's awful.' 

'Yeah. I just found Scar in his base... he'd just made a stupid Scar mistake and now...'

'Vexes... wasn't there a thing with him and vexes?'

'Season 5 and 6, yeah. Ask Cub about it.' Grian looked up at the sky as it slowly darkened. 

'And Ren?'

'Bdubs found him. Iron golem. Xisuma's said they're not dead just... I don't know. It's just very unexpected.'

'Yeah... I should get back to my base.' Pearl stared at the sky. 'Before the phantoms come.'

'Good idea. See you around.'

'Bye Grian!' Gliding down into the shopping district, a sudden screech in the sky immediately warned her of the pestilent flying mobs... one dived, then another. Pearl grabbed a bow, shooting at them. One died, but there were already too many... her only chance was to get to the nether portal. A scramble for fireworks, another few hearts of damage. Then food became the priority. Don't die. Regain some health... 

PearlescentMoon was slain by phantom