To Light’s shock, L knew about the notebook scrap inside the watch and has put two and two together.  L becomes all the more certain that Light is Kira and gets... excitedly grabby.  Light demands to be let off the chain early and is shocked again that L concedes.  The original plan is still an option, but because of his memory-less self’s actions, Light’s open to alterations... if only L would let him in on the details of working with Kira.  Light needs to think.

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Master List

His dreams had been… dissonant. Voices he couldn't understand, faces he couldn't see, places he didn't recognise. So he just… stopped sleeping. And he was fine. He busied himself with the skulk cleaning and anything else the Hermits might want from him, and got used to dealing with the amnesia. It's not like he hadn't lost periods of time before when the Vex took him, though it didn't seem to have ever been as long as this.

-

It was the stench of skulk that False smelt first, though she easily caught sight of Pixlriffs after that as he seemed to eye her in a dangerous way as she approached the catacombs. She drew her sword, though whether it would help, she didn't know. If skulk infestations were simple enough to cure by murder, Cub wouldn't have needed to go through so many rituals and spells to clear his.

Perhaps coming here at night was unwise, too. It made it harder to see the full extent of the skulk that now spread everywhere around Pix's builds. It was halfway up the side of the statue as well.

"Pix? I-I just want to talk. About the skulk. Is that okay?" False said as she took a couple more steps forward.

"Of course. Come closer, False, we can't speak when we're so far away," Pix said, his voice definitely different enough to send chills down False's spine.

She didn't have time to figure out what had happened before a long skulk vein shot out at her and grabbed her around her torso before dragging her closer to Pix, too close. She could smell the skulk on him, and see how his eyes glowed, possessed by an ancient power.

"Yes, that's better. Don't want to make you shout if you don't need to. I saw the sword. I'm taking precautions," Pix said.

God, his voice sounded awful. That same dark, creepy, half-deluded voice Cub had when he was possessed. False shivered as Pix touched her cheek with a finger, his smile twisted and awful. The veins tightened. False would struggle to escape from this unless she managed to shock him into letting her go.

"Not that a sword will do you any good, of course. We are not so easily killed, as you well know," Pix said.

"I-I mean, I am just good with a sword, that's all, it's just instinct, sorry," False said.

"Lies. You are Vex. I smell it on you. Here to spy on me, hey? Here to administer your poisons? Ha! I think not. You'll stay far away from me if you know what's good for you," Pix said.

Before False could reply, she was flung backwards and up into the air, long enough for her to get over the shock and deploy her wings before she crashed into the ground. The smell of skulk followed her home and she buried herself in the ground near the tower until the fear wore off.

-

"It's not that I don't trust you and your memories, Scar, but you don't always remember things right, that's all I'm saying," Cub said, sitting on top of the Hermitopia tower gazing up at the night sky with Scar.

"I know, I know. I guess I'm just sad you've lost so much this time. You really don't remember anything beyond the basement? You just remember moving in and now this?" Scar said.

Cub thought for a moment. "I remember… Yes. I remember moving in. And building something down there, though all I can see are glowberries and deepslate so I have no idea what I did, just that there's something down there that I built. After that, waking up in the mansion with your face gazing down at me. That's literally it. I don't remember anything else."

"Oh, you've lost so much! Oh no! That skulk ate my best friend! Oh, Cub. I wish I could give all those memories back. We had so much fun together. God, you don't even remember Total Chaos, do you?"

"The name rings a bell, but I dunno, I'm not sure I remember anything specific," Cub said. He shrugged. "It's not like I don't have any other blackouts in my mind, and you do too. I've learned to live with them."

"Yeah, I know, but like, it's so much! It's so much time you've lost! Oh, I think I'm grieving for you, because now all our memories are just mine, and not ones I share with you. Oh, man, Cub. If I knew this skulk thing was gonna eat so much of your brain, I'd have dragged you off to the priests sooner!" Scar said.

Cub lay back, losing himself in the vastness of the stars. "Yeah, maybe. I dunno."

Scar lay down beside him and reached for his hand. "I'm gonna destroy all the skulk on this server for taking so much of you away from me. Oh, if it thinks the Vex were angry before, ohoho, it hasn't met my anger yet. I will burn it all in the pits of hell and desecrate every ancient city until no trace of skulk remains. That is a promise."

-

"Hey, have either of you seen Pix anywhere? I feel like I haven't seen him for days," False said as she found Scar and Cub cleaning up yet more skulk that had appeared around the base of the tower, though at least they were sure this wasn't Cub's fault this time.

"Oh, he was meant to be skulkified, right? And he's gone? Maybe the skulk ate him instead," Scar said, less than helpfully.

"No, I've seen him log in and off, but I haven't seen him. And there's been more skulk around. He's definitely been doing something. He has appeared to be afk a lot though. Maybe he's at that nether farm of his?" Cub said. "Someone told me he had a farm there."

"Oh, it's for froglights, I think. Hmm. Maybe I'll go check there. Do let me know if you see him, though. I did… look, I might have run into him a few days ago and he nearly killed me when I tried to confront him about the skulk so I've stayed away. I think we need to cure him. Then maybe all this will be over," False said.

"Time to mobilise the Vex, hey?" Scar said.

"It might be time, yes. They're still on board, right? With the cures?" False said.

"As far as I know, yes. They're still angry, False. That infestation desecrated a Holy Vessel. This cannot go unpunished and you know it," Scar said.

"Angry enough to cure something from causing more harm to the players here, that says a lot, hey?" Cub mused.

"Oh you don't know the half of it. Do you want us to come help you look for Pixl? He does seem to be online, but I don't know where he is," Scar said.

"Why don't you two check the nether farm and I'll check the capital? If he's not there, we'll have to look further," False said.

"Sure, sounds good to me, right Cub?" Scar said.

"Sure, sure. I'm up for it," Cub said.

"Let me know if you find anything. I'll check back in later," False said. She had turned and flown off before Cub and Scar could reply.

-

Cub and Scar were lost. In the nether proper. They'd gone through the wrong portal somehow and now they were in a warped forest somewhere with no signs of life anywhere around them.

"You know, we really should have just gone back into the portal once we saw it was the wrong one," Cub said. "Maybe ask for coords?"

Scar frowned at the tree in front of him. "I know, I know! Look! I thought I knew where to go from here, but apparently not!" He sighed. "And of course you have no idea where to go either, so I guess we're stuck."

"'Scar and I lost in the nether. Anyone around to help?'" Cub said, as he typed the message into chat. "Didn't want to give away what we were doing in case Pix sees it."

"Ahh yes, of course. Very good. At least that part of your brain still works!" Scar said, unsure he'd have thought of that.

"Oh, Impulse saw it already. Wants to know our coords." Cub checked. "Man, how did we get 3000 blocks away? We are really off course now, aren't we? Man. I'll send them to Impulse and see what he says."

"Look, we took a wrong turn and then we clearly flew around in circles for too long, that's all," Scar said. "I'm sure Impulse will be able to find us. He's good at this kind of thing!"

Cub laughed. "Yeah, yeah, he is. Hang on, he says he's on it. Not sure if he's coming to find us, or has something else in mind, but I guess we just stay here until told otherwise, yeah?"

"I guess so! Oh-oh, no, piggies! The big meanie ones! Run!" Scar said as a hoglin caught sight of them and started charging at them.

"You go, I got this!" Cub said, grabbing some blocks as he pulled out a giant axe he didn't remember getting.

Scar dug himself into the wall while Cub did the fighting. He felt he went into autopilot mode, his instincts kicking in as he towered up a few blocks to get out of the way and swiped at the beast until it was dead.

"It's safe now, Scar, come on out!" Cub said as he jumped off the small tower. "Maybe we should build a small shelter to keep the pigs away."

Scar stuck his head out of the one block hole he'd dug. "Or you can come in here with me! Still safe!"

"Yeah, but how's Impulse gonna find us if we're stuck in a wall?" Cub said as he walked over to join him anyway.