#sammy8d asks

It started out small.

Despite the re-introduction to Minecraft and the other various games on Alan's desktop, the stick figures were fighters at heart. No amount of building, redstone or farming could change that. So the group decided to set up weekly (sometimes daily) sparring matches to keep everyone entertained. Plus it helped keep everyone's fighting skills honed and ready to use. For a bunch of stick figures, they sure got into a lot of trouble.

It started slowly.

None of them really noticed at first. Red did a good job at hiding it during matches.

A flinch.

"Ah ha! Dude you totally fell for it!"

"Hey no fair! I thought you were actually gonna punch me! Too bad though because now you're wide open!"

A stumble.

"Whoa are you okay there?"

"Haha, what? Oh yeah, I just tripped. Don't worry about it."

The hesitance.

"You could of had them dude! What happened?"

"Oh I... just got a bit distracted that's all! Don't worry, next match I'll get them for sure!"

Red was one of the best fighters in the group aside from Sec, of course. And even then, he could hold his own against them for the longest. So when Red consistently started losing fights, naturally everyone was concerned.

"Are you okay? You're form is kinda off?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"Hey why didn't hit me? I was wide open!"

"Oh whoops! Guess I was too slow. I didn't get there in time."

"This is the second time this match I've seen you trip! What's up with you?"

"Nothing nothing! I think I just ate a rotten piece of food earlier."

"Whoa! You look terrible! What happened?"

"Oh don't worry about me. I just woke up bad."

Then Red stopped fighting all together.

At first he made the excuse he wasn't feeling well enough to fight. The group agreed to let him sit out for a few matches. It was never fun to fight someone if they weren't at their best. They could see the beginnings of bags starting to form under Red's eyelids. They figured, resting could help him.

But then days turned to weeks and Red still sat out. He would come up with new excuses every time they asked him to join them.

"Sorry guys. I'm tending to my animals after this. I can't be tired for that."

"I'll skip today. Someone needs to referee this match."

"Team battles? You guys don't have to worry about who's on what time. I'll stay out so the teams will be even!"

And even when they would get him to join, they could tell he wasn't putting his heart into the fights anymore.

What was worse was these tendencies followed Red outside of their sparring matches. He flinched when someone put an arm around his shoulder. Jumped when someone appeared unannounced behind him. Snuck glances over his shoulder when he thought no one was watching. The bags underneath his eyes seemed to get darker day by day. And the worst one, he always seemed to hesitant before joining in on group hugs.

To say the rest of the stick figures were worried would be an understatement.

And yet, Red always reassured them.

"Guys guys. I'm fine! Honest! I'm just a little tired. Nothing a little r&r can't fix!"

Everyone knew something was wrong with their friend.