六

Game 1: Survival Games

Fruit looks radiant at the head of the team currently cutting through the rest of the participants. He is brilliant, like a young god, the burning afterimage of blood and war. The bringer of death, a glittering shadow, untouchable to all mortals.

Quig thinks Fruit mostly looks very lonely.

He’s seen him dominate battle-heavy games before, both alone and with a team. His Skybattle clutches are as much the stuff of MCC legends as Quig's own TNT cannon. The Survival Games win in MCC 9 was so strong it broke the scoring for the entire event. The hunt he went on during MCC 17 secured the Simmers a spot in Dodgebolt, something previously thought impossible.

But this? It’s a display of skill, sure, but Quig can feel the loneliness wrapped around the purple jacket on his shoulders. Loneliness is as sharp as any sword, after all, and Quig knows its sting well. He’s an expert in using it to fuel his fights and when he looks at Fruit, he can see all too well where the fire comes from.

Quig advises his team to hang back. They sneak around, pick off stragglers and survive while racking up points. He can nearly feel the invisible strings pulling them together, pulling them along and filling them with the energy to keep on running, keep on fighting.

In the end, he ends up in a 3v1 versus Fruit and it doesn’t end pretty.

Red mixes with purple and green as Fruit goes down, bleeding sluggishly from about four places and face distorted into an ugly snarl. Quig nearly flinches back, not used to the expression on Fruit of all people. It’s jarring, the sudden change from the friendly player into a god of war, a deadly precise killing machine only focused on taking out as many people with him as possible.

But here, bleeding out on the ground, Fruit suddenly looks very small and very alone. All the other bodies disappeared a long time ago and his team was already nowhere to be found once Quig’s team started going in. Quig locks eyes with Shubble over Fruit’s rapid breaths, desperately clinging to life despite it being useless. She’s there, a steady rock for their team despite the chaos around them slowly quieting down.

Quig thinks Fruit looks like somebody who could use someone like that. And then he remembers Illumina is gone and forces himself to break eye contact.

At their feet, Fruit disappears in a rain of golden coins and Quig wonders for a split second if Illumina’s death had been similar.

Game 2: Battle Box

Battle Box is the easiest game of them all if you ask Puffy. Straightforward, only one goal and only one way to win or to lose. No tricky puzzles to solve or complicated jumps or remembering skips and different blocks, just good old fashioned PvP.

She likes Battle Box. It’s a team game, most of all, and she’s good at that. Good at getting people to listen to her and at coordinating attacks. It’s a skill that always leaves some bitter taste in her mouth because this is MCC, not the wild and free ocean where she grew up and learned how to lead her men.

She misses it sometimes on the Dream SMP, that knowledge that there would always be someone to have her back. But during MCC everything is different. When they’re playing in this tournament where communication is everything, Puffy gets to feel like she’s home for a little while.

Playing Battle Box is also always fun because you can watch teams fall apart in real time. Puffy, on Aqua with Oli, Krtzyy and Antfrost, is having a great time. Her opponents, the Yellow Yaks, not so much. Krtzyy kills the last of them, Ant fills in the wool and the voice announces: You won!

“Well done! You guys are insane!” Oli doesn’t hold back the praise.

They get pitted against Purple in the next round. Fruitberries is always terrifying and this time is no exception. Oli disappears in a shower of coins less than 15 seconds into the round and Ant goes down after him, at least taking Eret with him. Puffy herself falls so fast she doesn’t even really notice her health going down, turning around and coming face to face with the murder machine that is Fruitberries.

It’s pretty, in a strange way. His stone sword reflects the light of the lava and the purple and lime of his outfit work well with the blood staining it red. Fruit spins around while Puffy’s ghost form rises, like a viper always ready to attack. He pounces on Krtzyy next who finished off the rest of Fruit’s teammates as if Fruit’s life depended on it and not just a game in a tournament that never truly matters.

Fruit kills Krtzyy and it’s not even a fight. It’s a slaughter. Fruit is a blade of diamond, dodging and weaving around Krtzyy’s hits like it’s just practice. He seemingly doesn’t even have to connect his own sword. Krtzyy just simply explodes into coins and Fruit is already on the move to the middle again, an arrow hungry for his next target.

“We didn’t expect to win this anyway,” Oli says and the rest of the team murmurs in agreement but Puffy’s eyes stay fixed to the lonely green figure in the middle of the arena.

Everyone else is dead. It’s just Fruit, removing the white wool with shears and replacing it with purple. Her entire team is dead and so is the rest of his team. It’s eerily quiet in the map. His team isn’t even congratulating him on the ace he just got. Just the silence of a battlefield after the remaining survivors moved out.

Fruit replaces the last bit of wool and the purple pandas’ win is announced and for a split second, he looks like he cares.

But Puffy has heard his teams, has heard the way they celebrated every win during MCC 6. And she’s heard Illumina after his battle box ace, the excitement coloring every letter in his words and him stumbling over his sentence in joy.

She can see the victory in his pose, the way he looks like a well-sharpened battle axe. And she can see the way his wielder is missing.

But Illumina is not dead in the way they all currently are, just ghosts floating around in the arena, waiting for the next round, only seconds from getting back their bodies for the next fight.

And looking at how utterly alone Fruit stands there in hollow victory, she thinks he knows it as well.

Game 3: Hole in the Wall

Dream doesn’t miss people. Especially not people outside of his small circle of friends. George, Sapnap, Bad, Ant, they’re all he needs. If there’s anyone else, he doesn’t have to be concerned about them.

It’s fine.

There’s no reason why he’s currently hiding behind a car so Fruitberries can’t see him lurking around the Hole in the Wall practice map.

Dream wouldn’t say he’s particularly awkward. He knows how to talk to people. He knows how to make small talk, how to appear interested while being bored out of his mind. He knows how to tell engaging stories and how to have fun. He could talk to Fruit if he wanted! He simply chooses not to and instead observes from a distance. It’s all a tactical decision.

Fruit’s been playing Hole in the Wall for close to two hours now. When Dream first went on the practice server to run through the parkour first thing this morning Fruit was already on and coming over from Parkour Tag and now, one and a half hours and three Parkour Warrior completions and fifteen rounds of Battle Box against Punz and Seapeekay later, Fruit was still playing.

Dream’s not a player who’s known for having good sleep and rest schedules and not obsessively playing games for hours but even he recognizes that this goes a little bit too far. Hole in the Wall, for hours? Who even does that to themselves.

“What a crackhead,” he murmurs softly, his voice nearly giving way on the last part like an attack you weren’t fully committed to.

On the platform, Fruit falls again and respawns next to the big display of the records.

And Dream looks. Looks at the figure in the same green he’s known for. Looks at the lonely figure standing there, tense and stiff as if he was the only thing standing between an army and their goal. Looks at Fruitberries, really looks at him and swallows around the utter loneliness the picture evokes in him.

He can’t imagine a world without Sapnap and George at his side. The thought alone makes him shiver and he has to stop himself from grasping onto his communicator for security. They would never leave him. He would never leave them. But Fruit stands there, in a sweaty green hoodie and his back against the world and nobody by his side.

Illumina’s name stands on top of the record list. Unbeaten, unbreakable, untouchable.

If Dream was Fruitberries, he would have traded every record in the world to hug his friend one last time.

Fruit wins two rounds of Hole in the Wall the next event. The brief glimpse of his face Dream gets in the break between rounds two and three tells him that Fruit would have gladly traded the records as well.

Game 4: Ace Race

Seapeekay is bored.

There’s only so many times you can beat your own record, after all. And - don’t get him wrong - he loves playing Ace Race, loves the adrenaline rush, the wind whipping against his face and a new best time just outside of his grasp but sometimes even he has enough of the endless grind.

Especially now that competition is even rarer than usual.

He clamps down on that thought as fast as he can. Grief will only slow him down. He has to keep moving instead, always making sure he doesn’t get stuck in place. It’s easier that way. People come and people go, such is the way of life. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it hurts. But you always have to keep moving. Time’s ticking for you too, after all.

He finally decides to leave the course behind him after he finishes the third lap of his current run. Nearly a second too slow. He really hasn’t been paying attention.

He isn’t alone when he gets back to the main street and it’s the colour of the hoodie that makes him freeze before he reaches the record. Lime green starkly stands out against the muted colours of the background and Seapeekay doesn’t know what to say.

Fruit is a bit of a sore spot in the MCC sphere at the moment. Nobody really knows what to do with him and Seapeekay isn’t an exception. He doesn’t want to treat him like glass, like a delicate figure that won’t stand the test of time but he doesn’t want to accidentally shatter him either. It’s a difficult dance and he’d rather just stay over here and watch.

Fruit is staring at the records and Seapeekay’s heart hurts a bit. He looks so tiny compared to the giant floating numbers in the sky.

It’s not right. Fruit should be up there. He should be celebrating his achievements. He should be there on the race track, running wild and free and like the clock wasn’t snapping at his heels. Fruit’s always been a little bit too fast and a little bit too careless for Callum’s taste but now he wishes he could see him run again.

Instead, Fruit stands here, small and uncomfortably human and loneliness wraps around his shoulders tighter than any jacket.

Seapeekay swallows and walks past Fruit who doesn’t even turn to acknowledge him. Instead, his eyes rest glued to the leaderboard as if the numbers would change if he even dares to blink.

Their names are next to each other on the leaderboard.

2. Illumina - 2:02:60

3. fruitberries - 2:03:60

The next event, Fruit gets first and it’s Seapeekay’s name directly under him. Illumina still pervades every second of their mad dash through the course, from the purple jacket around Fruit’s shoulders to the expression of broken glass on Fruit’s face after he wins.

Game 5: Parkour Tag

Eret isn’t particularly good at Parkour Tag.

They just can’t hit those jumps quite like the best parkourists in MCC. When he watches Dream or Sapnap or Punz or Illumina jump through the courses in training as if they were flying, it always takes their breath away. They’re awe-inspiring to watch, light on their feet and as quick as lightning strikes. They jump and they land and they’re gone before Eret can even blink.

They’ve only ever had one really good Parkour Tag. MCC 13 has special fond memories attached to it in general but it’s mostly the team composition. They had an unbelievable amount of fun together and even Parkour Tag, a game they normally fail, had been exciting.

They can still remember Krinios’ encouragement, Punz’ excited screams when they won and Illumina’s nervous rambling. All three of them had been screaming that one round where Eret ran and ran and ran and kept escaping the hunter and for a brief moment, they knew how the parkourists must feel when they breezed through the map.

This map is different. No candy canes, no Christmas decoration and no Teal Turkeys to cheer Eret on either. The map is cold and heavy, ice slides dominating the entire map and while the builder in Eret appreciates how pretty all of it looks, it sucks to play when you can’t hit the jumps.

Their teammates don’t have such problems. Fruitberries is running through the map as if he was a ghost and the walls didn’t even apply to him. It takes him less than thirty seconds to catch everybody on the opposing team.

“Got them all,” he announces, voice flat and devoid of any celebration.

“Nice!” 5up exclaims and Fruit doesn’t answer.

Eret gets caught immediately after and since FWhip is already giving callouts to 5up, they open their inventory and switch over to Fruit’s arena instead.

The youngest of the three “Green Gods” stands in a corner on the highest point of the map and stares downwards. He’s entirely alone on the map, sitting enthroned on top and enjoying his victory. Eret opens their mouth and wants to say something, anything, but the words die on their tongue when they meet Fruit’s eyes.

He looks lonely.

It doesn’t feel like that single word can truly capture the emptiness Fruit displays but Eret doesn’t have better words. He’s like their castle on the Dream SMP. Pretty, functional, put together with great care but utterly devoid of life. Fruit does everything he has to, he’s putting on the best performance of his entire MCC career but there is no passion at all behind it.

Eret thinks of an MCC a long time back, of christmas spirit and how happy Illumina was back then.

He sees the way Fruit’s fingers dig into the purple team jacket and he thinks he knows with whom that passion died.

Game 6: Bingo

Hbomb explodes in pure joy once the game decision ends.

“Bingo! It’s time!”

It’s been so long since they were able to play his favorite game of all time. But now, a bit revamped and hopefully more fun to play than ever, Bingo is back.

“This is going to be so much fun. So many speedrunners in this now!” He can’t wait for the challenge.

“Oh baby!”

“You gotta tell us what to do, H.”

Hbomb laughs. False, Ren, Joel and Bingo being played. Truly the best MCC.

“I will, I will,” he promises.

“We’re gonna win, right?”

“Of course! We have Hmama with us!”

Ren’s undying confidence in him warms his heart.

“We got this!” False chimes in.

The game drops them in the middle of a beautiful plains biome.

“There’s a desert!”

“Any temples?” Joel asks. “I can’t see any.”

“I don’t think so,” False agrees after a short pause.

“Dark oak forest,” Ren adds.

“Mushrooms,” H nods.

In the seconds before it starts, they pick up the Bingo cards.

“I’ll try to get the mushroom soup,” Ren announces immediately.

“Then I’ll go caving for the gold block.”

“Don’t forget the redstone for the target block, Joel,” H reminds him.

“Is there a village anywhere? We’ll need a carrot and a hay bale, at the very least.” False scans the sheet.

“I haven’t seen one?”

“Try the plains,” H suggests. “It’s easier to see stuff when there’s no trees in front of your face. I’ll go down with you, Joel, and try to find diamonds. False’s getting the village and Ren - wood and mushrooms?”

His team confirms right as the countdown hits zero.

“We got this, guys...and False!”

They find a cave pretty quickly, thank the Universe. H splits from Joel to search for diamonds when the other finds a gold vein, enchanted pick digging through the solid stone with ease.

“Got it!” Ren announces simultaneously with the ping of a message.

Lime Llamas obtained [2nd] [Mushroom stew]

Right after that, it pings again

Lime Llamas obtained [4th] [Gold block]

“Nice!”

“I have the hay bale. Joel, can you tp to me?” comes False’s voice, a little bit out of breath.

“Yeah, give me a second…”

Lime Llamas obtained [2nd] [Iron Bar]

“Great job! We’re popping off! I’m doing nothing and I’m so proud of that!”

“Didn’t you just say you found diamonds?” Ren teases him lightly. “Come on, H, be prouder of yourself!”

H smiles even though he knows Ren can’t see him.

“I am proud! My team’s doing a great job.”

H gets the diamond hoe only seconds after that and collects the obsidian for an enchanting table before he makes his way back onto the surface.

“Do any of you have leather?”

“I have sugarcane,” False offers.

“Okay, I’ll just search for a cow then.”

It takes him longer than it probably should have to find one in the end. There’s only about a minute of time left when he finally spots one. He just barely gets the leather before a blur of lime and purple can reach him.

“Got it!” he announces in the team comms. “Nearly lost it to Illumina though.”

Silence.

“Illumina, H?” Ren’s voice comes through, very careful. “Are you sure?”

Hbomb freezes.

“Oh.” He laughs to cover up the awkwardness. “I meant Fruit, of course. Sorry.”

“The purple is pretty confusing,” False agrees with an ocean-deep note of sadness in her voice.

“H, the enchanter,” Joel reminds him and it shocks Hbomb back into action. His hands fly over the crafting table, making first the book and then the table itself just mere seconds before the time runs out.

“First, baby! That’s what we’re talking about!”

But Hbomb is reluctant to join in the celebration of his team. Fruit is still standing there, mere blocks from him, as if he’d just given up in the last minutes of the game.

He looks lonely. H can’t hear if his team is talking, of course, but just in the way he stands, he doesn’t think Fruit’s having a particularly fun time. His shoulders are slumped and the gold block in his hand threatens to fall out of the limp grip every second.

It’s strange. Fruit’s been such a force of nature this entire MCC that H hasn’t stopped to think once how his friend might feel. Or that he is as human as all of them and can get tired. Fruit’s always been brilliant for him. A constellation in the night sky in unreachable heights.

But now, the most brilliant star in the firmament has burnt out and all that’s left is the pale reflection from the rest of them.

Stars in the night sky can hug as little as players in Spectator can but that doesn’t stop Hbomb from trying.

Game 7: Buildmart

The entire game, Pete feels like a shadow is following him. It’s weird. Buildmart is usually one of his favorite games. But today, everything feels off.

He gets to the colored section first and mines the purple concrete before he moves on to the oak logs.

Up there, he’s greeted by lime green and purple. Fast as the wind, Fruit is collecting logs.

“Fruit’s doing the same thing as us,” he announces in the team comms. “We’ll have to be fast.”

“We will,” Grian promises, in full concentration mode. “SB, do you have the blue glass?”

“I’m on my way back with half a stack and the sand.”

“Perfect. Jack?”

“Nearly done with the stone, Grian.”

Pete tunes out the chatter on the comms and jumps off the jump pad to glide back down to the portal. Fruit’s nowhere to be found so hopefully they will actually finish the build first. Pete makes it through without even landing and throws the glass over to Grian before starting to craft the stairs for his own build.

“Here.” Jack drops the stone on him. Pete half-registers the look Grian sends the boy and Jack leaves immediately again.

Aqua Axolotls were first to complete [Entrance]

“Well done, Pete! Keep going, team.”

“Next build needs...uh...birch, flowers and a lot of red sand and sandstone,” Pete rambles while he checks the newly appeared build.

“There’s sand in the middle chest. SB, you’re near there, can you pick up red sand?”

“On my way.”

“I’m getting the flowers.” Pete stretches and then jumps back into action. It’s been a while since he used elytras regularly and flying on the Vault Hunters server is completely different.

Purple Pandas were second to complete [Entrance]

“Fruity B’s doing good,” Grian announces over the comms and Pete can hear the smile in his voice.

“Since when is fu...Fruit a Buildmart player?” Jack just barely manages to censor himself. “That’s unfair. Is there anything he isn’t good at?”

“Illumina must have taught him,” Pete says without thinking and only when the comms go quiet, his words catch up with him.

“...Oh,” Jack says. “I didn’t know Illumina was good at Buildmart.”

“He was.” SB’s voice goes strangely soft and Pete gets uncomfortably reminded that SB was the one who stayed with Illumina the longest after the last MCC. Not his friends.

Was this the point where they started to lose him?

“Anyway,” Grian interrupts them before Pete’s concentration can die and he’d plummet into the void like Illumina did. “We have a game to win here and a Dodgebolt to get into.”

“On it, king, on it!”

“Jack.”

Pete is in the middle of flying up the ventilator in the middle when the game end is announced. They end up winning by 800 coins ahead of Scott’s team. Purple gets third, Cyan fourth and Pete’s pretty confident about them getting into Dodgebolt. As long as he doesn’t have to try and fight Dream, he’ll be happy.

Spectator mode lets Pete ignore the walls and fly directly back to the portal. He intends to go through, celebrate with his teammates until the time runs out and then focus on the last game but a flash of lime and purple makes him stop in his tracks.

Fruit stands outside of the nether portal, the purple highlighting how gaunt and tired he looked. Pete can’t remember the last time Fruit hasn’t looked like he carried all the weight of the Universe with him.

Illumina, sure. But Fruit? He’s always been the chill one. The one to remind everybody that they weren’t Atlas.

But now, a purple jacket slung around his shoulders and half-floating, half leaning against a wall that can’t support him - just like Illumina can’t anymore, a little voice in Pete’s head whispers - he looks more and more like his dead friend.

Pete gets struck with the lightning-quick realization that he might have lost two friends instead of one.

Fruit, floating there, appears as uncaring as the Universe that took Illumina away from all of them and Pete has to look away.

Game 8: To get to the other side and whack a fan

They have the strat down by now.

It’s the second bridging map and Punz will be damned if he falls one more time. They’ll get this team bonus even if it kills him.

“Everyone ready?”

A chorus of affirmations echoes to him through their team comms.

“I’ll take over this time if you fall,” Wisp promises.

Punz nods and then the countdown hits and he loses himself in the rhythm.

Sneak.

Place block.

Move.

Sneak.

Place block.

Move.

Sneak.

He can hear his teammates behind him. Wisp is right there, always ready to continue the bridge if Punz messes up. Niki is next, balancing gingerly on the thin stripe of wool through the sky. Jimmy is last, blocking off the bridge against the rest of the participants and Punz has never been prouder of their team.

“Up!” Wisp shouts and Punz staircase-bridges up before they all jump.

2nd

4th

7th

9th

“Holy shit!”

“That was so fast, Punz!” Niki congratulates him.

“Who got first?” Wisp asks and Punz grabs his communicator to scroll up.

“Fruit got first. Of course,” he laughs.

But when he turns and looks around, there’s no Fruit to be found. Punz can make out Eret struggling over the finish line, no purple bridge to help him, but Fruit stays gone, invisible like a ghost.

They complete the next few maps and end up as the first team in the end. The trident one is incredibly annoying and nearly costs them first but Wisp guides Niki through it and Punz gets third and it’s enough, in the end.

It’s the last map and also the only time he can see Fruit.

The other player stands at the corner of the basin, trident loosely in hand and stares into the void. For half a second Punz is determined to approach him but then Fruit swallows emptily and Punz decides not to.

Punz wouldn’t call himself sentimental but he liked the team he had with Illumina, Krinios and Eret a little bit more than any other team he’s gotten since. And Illumina’s loss hit them all hard. But Fruit standing there makes it hit a little bit harder.

Fruit is collecting first places like stars in the skies during this MCC. No doubt he’s going to get first overall. But stars are far away and untouchable and Fruit is here, close and very, very human.

For a moment, Punz wants to step forward and hug the boy, wrap him in a blanket that isn’t the cold loneliness of the night sky and his achievements. But there is a purple jacket around his shoulders and Punz doesn’t dare to take Illumina’s place.

Instead, he turns around and basks in the warmth of his team celebrating their victory again. He’ll figure out what to do with Fruit later.

Finale: Dodgebolt

They train Dodgebolt sometimes.

It’s pointless, sure, but it’s great fun, trying to guess when the other is going to shoot the arrow and jump out of the way in time. They’ll never reach Dodgebolt again and Zeuz can’t really say he’s disappointed. They did it once and it was everything he ever wanted and he’s happy to sink back into the mediocrity he’s used to with his friends.

Still, they play Dodgebolt sometimes. Currently, Zeuz is with Krtzyy on Blue, dodging for his life away from Vixella training an arrow on him. TapL stands there, arms crossed and cheering his teammate and Zeuz’ girlfriend on.

“Come on, you got this!”

Zeuz hears the telltale sign of an arrow being fired and throws himself flat on the ice under his feet. Just in time, it turns out, as the arrow sails over him and disappears in the bubbling lava.

Krtzyy jumps while Zeuz scrambles onto his feet and he hears an explosion.

“Got you!” his teammate exclaims.

TapL respawns on the platform above and immediately starts complaining to Dave. Zeuz meets Vixella’s eyes and they both laugh.

The Dodgebolt round takes a couple more arrow shots. Krtzyy has to sacrifice himself before Zeuz takes out Vixella with one last shot and they both get teleported to their teammates.

Blue team wins, the invisible voice proclaims.

“Another one?” Krtzyy asks and Zeuz can feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. It’s not the real thing but that just makes it more fun.

“Sure!” he answers and steps onto the blue platform.

“TapL?” he hears Vixella asks from the other side as he feels the cold ice under his feet and excitement floods everything.

The fourth member of their little training session stares upwards, turning his back towards Zeuz and Krtzyy and doesn’t answer.

Zeuz looks up and his heart breaks just a little bit.

Fruitberries has always been recognizable. Lime-green is his brand and even if Dream has taken it lately, they’re still both known as the “Green Gods”. Fruitberries is lime-green and the most skilled Player and against the back light, he looks like a statue of victory, brilliant and shining and so, so alone.

Statues are lonely things, made of cold, hard stone and no human contact will ever breathe life in them even if many myths tell differently. Zeuz stares at Fruit and thinks that maybe, when they weren’t looking, Fruit turned from human into malachite or peridot and none of them even noticed it.

“Want to join, Fruit?” TapL asks and the usual laughter in his voice is gone, replaced by an unusual softness. Grief wraps around the words like a pretty band around a present.

“Not really,” Fruit answers and shatters the illusion of the green statue.

Still, Zeuz can’t not notice how dead inside he sounds.

His and Fruit’s eyes meet and the ghost of pink parrots and fond laughter hangs over them. For a moment, Zeuz thinks that if he just blinks, he’ll see Illumina next to Fruit, an affectionate smile on his face and one arm around his friend.

Then Fruit turns around, disappears behind one of the cars and the moment breaks, leaving Zeuz back on the cold ice and Illumina in the land of the dead, where he belonged now.

+1: Aftermath

When Scott logged onto the practice server three days after MCC was done for the month, he wasn’t expecting much at all. Maybe some early people would already be training for the next one again, like Martyn or SB. Or Seapeekay was trying to break his Ace Race record again. Or Dream got stuck playing Parkour Tag for an entire night again. Or somebody once again tried to beat Parkour Warrior because they hated themselves and also fun.

Maybe it would be a few admins from the Noxcrew, working on new designs and making sure everything ran smoothly.

Maybe it would be a surprise birthday party for somebody.

Point was, Scott was ready for many things on the MCC Practice Server, but coming face to face with a dead Player first thing in the morning wasn’t one of them.

“Hi Scott,” Illumina says and he smiles, one bit happy and one bit awkward and 100% Illumina.

Scott can’t even remember how to close his mouth.

“Illumina,” somebody else is calling over from the little bench in front of the cars. “You’re scaring him.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot I was supposed to be dead.” Illumina rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry?”

“Idiot,” the player on the bench says and in the same way grief had clung to every little corner in the last few days, his voice is soaked with affection.

Scott blinks once to make sure this isn’t a hallucination. Then he takes a deep breath.

“So you’re not dead.”

“Oh, no. I’ve never been dead.”

“So you...just made everyone believe you’re dead? For what?”

Scott is too shocked to feel any anger but none of that fits with the Illumina he knows.

“I was gone, Scott, I wasn’t dead.”

“That’s the most unhelpful explanation I’ve ever heard,” states the person on the bench.

“It’s hard, okay?” Illumina tries to defend himself and his voice rises half an octave. “You can do it, if you want!”

“Illumina became the Universe for a bit. Then we brought him back.” The person crosses his arms. “Bam. There. That’s how fucking easy it is.”

“Shut up.”

Scott’s a bit tired of feeling like a parrot but he still can’t help himself. “Illumina became...the Universe.”

“Yeah. And then we dragged his stupid ass back home.”

“How does that even work?”

“It’s a skill issue.”

“Fein!” Illumina whips his head around from making increasingly apologetic expressions towards Scott to his...friend? on the bench. “Scott’s nice, stop being like...that.”

“Yeah, Feinberg, stop being a dick to Scott,” somebody mumbles and the pile of green clothes next to Feinberg moves and untangles itself. A very sleepy Fruitberries smiles into the sun, still curled into Feinberg’s side. Before Scott can even blink, an arm shoots out and drags Illumina roughly back against the bench.

Stay with me, the gesture seems to say.

“Sorry, sorry,” Feinberg goes but he’s clearly too busy wrapping his arms around the Fruitberries-and-Illumina-pile, as if he could shield them from bad things happening with just a hug.

“It’s fine,” Scott answers robotically and then the situation finally fully catches up with him. Illumina is here, somehow alive again. Fruit is here, smiling. And Feinberg is….

Wait.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“It’s fine,” Fruit waves him off lazily. “We asked Epic Landlord for an exception.”

Scott stares at the three of them, still wrapped up in their hug, and decides that it’s too early to deal with any of this. Illumina is back, apparently, and Fruit is happy again. He doesn’t need to know how it exactly happened. Some things about Speedrunners are better left to the imagination and today once again proves this rule.

“Have fun, then,” he wishes them. “I think I’m going to play a round of Hole in the Wall and then search for some coffee.”

“Alright,” Fruit mumbles, already sounding half-asleep again.

“Oh yeah Scott!” Illumina shouts after him when Scott has already crossed the road. “Before you go there, I just thought I should warn you!”

Scott sighs. “If you broke the Hole in the Wall practice again, Illumina, then I don’t care that you've just come back from the dead, you’ll have to fix it.”

“Nononono, the practice’s working fine,” Illumina reassures him.

“Then what?”

Illumina smiles his signature smile where Scott never quite knows if he’s laughing at him or just happy.

“I got a new Hole in the Wall record!”