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When Ariana entered the teleporter into hermitcraft, the last thing she expected was the place to be empty. What the..?
The first place she checked was the crastle, she knew that lately Cub had for some reason been working as a knight for a (corrupt according to her brother Grian) King Ren. But the place was empty as well.
Next she checked his project, Total Chaos, which seemed to be completed now. Ariana’s eyes drifted upwards towards the ceiling, looking certainly dangerous and certainly thrilling. Last time she’d been here, he had still been working on it. She was glad to see it was finished.
She’d be more glad to see her fiance in person or at least another living hermit- Where was everybody?? Had she logged onto an old world or something?
As a last ditch effort, Ariana decided to look for Grian. She rocketed off to his base, landing on the bridge between his and Mumbo’s respective areas before she felt a pulsing sensation situate itself into her bones. An unsettling vibration emanated from the base of the bridge. Despite the sun shining brightly above her, a dark pit began to bore its way into her stomach as she peered over the edge of the bridge.
A strange and eerie glow seemed to tempt her into a cave, sculk seeming to coat the walls. Well, this world had infinite respawns, she had nothing to lose. Opening her wings, she drifted down into the mouth of the cave, landing gracefully at the bottom. Her eyes glanced over the interior briefly, very Grian esque. However, her attention was quickly tugged away to the real center of attention in the room. The source of the eerie magenta glow and presumably the pulses as well. A portal.
She couldn’t explain it, but she felt as if it was luring her in. Step after step, Ariana’s movements guided her face to face with the portal. A soft breath was stolen from her as the rift seemed to suck it in. Well..there was nowhere else to go.
With a deep breath, she took a step through..
—-
“Achoo!!”
“Woah- That was a pretty big sneeze there, my friend. You good? You’ve been sneezing a lot lately,” Scar mused.
Cub waved his hand dismissively, “M’fine- you got a tissue or something man? I think there’s something in the air- making my nose all stuffy and whatever.”
Scar nodded, digging through his pockets until he somehow pulled out an entire tissue box, “Here you are!”
“Thanks-” Cub took a few tissues from the box and blew his nose.Then took a few more and blew his nose again, and then a few more and-
“Here- just take the entire box, my treat!”
“Oh- uh thanks,” Cub took the box gratefully, tossing his used tissues into a nearby trash can. He waved absentmindedly as Scar took off into the sky. Probably going to tumble town or something. “Mm..how many catalysts do I have left..”
—
As soon as Ariana passed through the portal, she was greeted with the sight of-
“aaAH-” She almost fell back into the portal before Grian grabbed her by the shirt.
“Careful-” He pulled her back onto the platform, facing opposite of the portal. Ariana fell on her ass.
“Jesus- did you have to be standing there and staring the moment I went through!?”
“Hey, I just felt an energy coming through the portal and came to check it out, last thing I expected was you coming through,” Grian said before crossing his arms and looking down at her.
Ariana huffed and pulled herself up from the ground, dusting off the debris from her clothing, “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re not happy to see me?” She smiled that shit eating grin of hers and jabbed a finger into his chest.
“Please,” Grian swiped her hand away. “I already have enough trouble to deal with here, being that both Scar and Jimmy have decided they want to team up. You know, the disaster duo?”
Ariana inhaled sharply through her teeth at that information, “Yep- sounds about right. Though, I’d say you’re more of a nuisance when it comes to Jimmy.”
Grian began to walk off the platform towards the bridge, “I only tease him a little, nothing harmful!”
Ariana followed close behind him, “Uh huh, you being you I assume you’ve scared the life out of him more than ten times by now..” She paused, “But besides that, why are the hermit members in empires? At least, I assume that’s what’s happening, seeing as you’re here.”
Grian shrugged, looking around a bit before spotting a public ender chest on the side of the bridge. He walked towards it and began to rummage through it. “Eh, same old same old. Watcher stuff, rift, weird energy, shenanigans, you know the drill.”
“Ah, so you fucked something up again?”
“Did not! This isn’t a fuck up!! It’s a new and fun experience for hermit and empires members alike. Ahah!” Grian pulled a set of elytra out of his ender chest, along with a few diamonds and handed them to Ariana. Then he reached into his pockets, digging out a stack of rockets for her as well. “Right, I’ve got stuff to do, a Hermittopia to build, you know how it is! So uhh, just take that stuff and explore or whatever.”
“Wait, why do I need elytra- I’ve got wings?”
“It’s one of the worlds where hybrids like us can’t fly until we get elytra, you know, to make it fair,” Grian shrugged.
“Ah, I see..have you seen Cub, perchance?”
“Nope! And I’m not helping you find him, seeya!” Grian jumped off the bridge, his figure dipping near the water before rocketing off towards what Ariana could only assume was HermitTopia.
“Bastard..” She muttered under her breath before deciding to prepare some material before looking for Cub herself.
—
Dig two blocks, place sculk, place dirt, repeat. Same pattern for the past two hours. Upon the tedious and repetitive task of spreading the sculk, Cub was running on about six hours of sleep from two days ago and on top of all of that, he keeps sneezing. Perhaps it was just the exhaustion, but even his limbs began to ache. Didn’t matter to him though, this would all be worth it in the end when the entirety of Empires of sculk land incarnate!
Currently, he was working under Joel’s base. Apparently the sky god and whatnot. He wasn’t really caught up on this world’s story yet. Maybe later once he was finished. With another block placed, he heard the sound of rockets in the distance, getting closer with each passing moment. Cub assumed this was Joel, here to confront him on his little..project.
He began to turn with one of his mischievous smiles, ready to greet Joel in a menacing way when-
BAM
Okay, well he didn’t expect to be tackled to the ground. His eyes shut on impact, the sudden shift making his sight go blurry for a second, all the heat rushing to his head. Okay, Cub understood he was technically trespassing and stuff, but he felt tackling was a bit much. He began to crack his eyes open, seeing as Joel hadn’t gotten himself off of Cub yet but-
“Cubby!!”
“A-Ari?? What are you doing on Empires, dove?”
Turns out it wasn’t Joel. With those soft dark blonde locks, those pretty pink eyes and the unmistakable ring around her finger..that was either a very engaged Joel or his beautiful fiance, Ariana. And Cub did not remember Joel looking this pretty.
“My tour’s finished~ I came to visit you but when I went to hermitcraft, no one was there. So I entered the portal and here I was. I hope you know it took almost two hours to find you, mister!” Even with her accusations, her arms still found their way around his neck, hugging him close.
A tender smile creeping up to his lips, Cub wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss into her soft, fluffy hair. “I’m sorry you had to go looking for me. We were kind of in a rush to get here, been planning it for a while, but the whole king stuff went on for a bit longer than expected.”
Ariana buried her face between his chest and the neck, mumbling incoherencies, Cub assumed they were more complaints. A few chuckles arose in his throat as he began to push himself up, only to be pushed back down onto the ground again, “Oof- Ari, we can’t stay on the ground forever!” He forgot how much raw muscle his soon to be wife had.
“Mnnoo! I earned these hugs!”
“We can hug- just preferably not on the ground where all the bugs and dirt are, mkay?”
Ari grumbled, but gave in, allowing Cub to push himself off the ground, tugging her up with him. She kept her arms wrapped around his neck, stubborn as always. Cub smiled, chuckling into a dry cough, pushing Ari away to cough into his arm.
Ariana tilted her head in concern, she crawled over to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Are you okay?” She traced circles with her hand on his back, trying her best to provide comfort to him. “Cub..”
Cub waved her off, pushing her away slightly. “F-Fine- cough-”
Ariana pulled back a bit, letting him finish his coughing fit before she approached him again, placing her hand back onto his shoulder. “Are you sick??” She shifted her position, placing both her hands on his shoulders. “Do you need any water??”
“No- I’m alright..” Cub lifted himself up, Ariana trying her best to assist him. The blood began to rush to his head again, nausea overcoming his body. One moment, he was toppling back to the ground.
The next he woke up to a frog staring at him. Cub shot up like an arrow, “W-what the-”
“Oh- well look who’s up!” He turned to his bedside to see the Mayor of Animalia of herself.
“Lizzie..? How’d I end up in your uh kingdom..” Cub’s memory was a little fuzzy.
Lizzie pushed him back onto the bed, “I was passing by Stratos to visit Joel when I saw your girlfriend basically hauling you on her back over to Chromia. Unfortunately Scott wasn’t there at the moment, no way we would be able to get you up to Stratos and in your current condition, she feared Gobland would make your condition worse. So I offered her to come to my empire instead. Stay still.”
Lizzie slapped a rag over his eyes, “Gah- you’re supposed to squeeze out the water first-”
“Consider it payback for the sculk. You’re very lucky that your girlfriend’s determination convinced me to let you in!”
Cub adjusted the rag on to his forehead. He wasn’t really surprised that he’d gotten sick and pretty much resigned himself to the bed. “She’s my fiance, not girlfriend.” He mumbled under his breath.
“Did you say something?” Lizzie asked. Cub shook his head and she opened her mouth to argue only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. The two turned towards the entrance.
“I’m coming in,” was all Ariana said before the door cracked open, hung on one of her arms was a basketful of what looked like potions and golden apples, how she managed to procure so much was a mystery. Upon seeing Cub awake however, she let the basket fall onto one of the nearby tables as she rushed over to his bedside, Lizzie promptly getting out of the way as Ariana essentially tackled him again.
“Cub! You’re awake, how are you feeling??” She removed the rag from his head, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead and her other hand going to check her own temperature to contrast. “Your fever’s gone down- that’s good!”
Lizzie smiled softly at the display of affection and care between Ariana and Cub, though she did feel a bit awkward basically being the audience for the couple's little private moment. She carefully snuck herself out the door. One of her little villagers was hosting a little boogie party for all the others and she kinda wanted to join in. She was the mayor after all!
Cub and Ariana did not notice Lizzie’s absence, much too enamored with each other in the current moment to even think of anyone else at the moment.
Ariana cupped Cub’s face gently, her thumb ghosting over the sculk infected bits, rough and bumpy. Occasionally the dark blue sparkled a dull cyan. She grimaced at the sight, even the sclera of his eyes were dark from the infection. Even a small horn, resembling that of which belonged to the warden protruded from his head. Ariana sighed, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead.
“I don’t understand how you could just let this happen, didn’t people offer to assist you or something? This is very bad, Cubby..”
Cub pressed his lips into a thin line, feeling the guilt build up in his stomach. “I..did it to myself,I wanted to pull a serverwide prank and spread the sculk across the entirety of Empires..”
Ariana ‘tsk’ed in disapproval. She mimicked slapping his cheek, but it was more like a soft pat. “Stupid..you always go too far with these kinds of things. What would you have done if you passed out with no one around. What if thesculk infected your player code permanently?”
Cub turned his head, he couldn’t bring himself to look Ariana in the eyes. “I had..safe guards. It wouldn’t have been able to carry along that far.”
“Even still, you were just gonna let yourself get sick like that? Honestly, do I have to get Scar to babysit you or something?” Cub felt a bit like a child being scolded by their mother. Though, he supposed that this was a bit deserved.
”Okay okay, it was a bad idea, I won’t do it again,” he sighed, resigned.
“You better not, Mister. Or I’ll really sick Scar on you!” She stood up from the bedside and walked back towards the entrance to pick up the basket she’d left by the door. Even when she was angry at him, Cub couldn’t help but smile. His fiance was very pretty after all, caring for him so gently, even if he got an earful.
Ariana picked a few items out of the basket before returning to his bedside. “Right. Sit up and take off your shirt.”
Cub quirked a brow at that, “It’s midday, Ari- Plus, is now really the ti-”
Ariana threw something soft and fluffy at his head, effectively shutting him up.
“No!! NOT that. Get changed you stupid scientist, those clothes aren’t helping you keep in the heat so I borrowed one of Scar’s sweaters for you. Geez..”
Cub pulled the offending fabric off of his head, it was indeed one of Scar’s sweaters. He could tell by the distinct energy signature of vex riddled into the fabric itself. “Oh, I thought it was some ploy for you to be able to bury your face in my tits.”
“I’M NOT THAT MUCH OF A DEGENERATE!” Ariana yelped, a blush beginning to rise from her neck up to her cheeks.
Cub couldn’t help but let out a few chuckles, exploding into full bellied laughter before turning into coughing. Ariana’s glare softened, she sat herself back at his bedside, taking one of the potions she brought with her and tipping the edge to his lips, letting him take a few sips to soothe his throat.
“There you go..” She rubbed his back comfortingly.
“Healing?”
“Yep, I brought strength pots too, but I dunno if we’ll really need them,” Ariana gestured towards the basket.”
Cub nodded, “Wanna turn around so I can change?”
“Please, as if I haven’t seen everything under that already,” she crossed her arms.
“Maybe, but thanks to the sculk, there’s been a few uh..new developments that I’m not too proud of. So, I’d appreciate it if you’d look away, please Ari.”
Ariana sighed, giving him a sympathetic look. “Okay, if it makes you feel better, I won’t look. But I hope you know that no matter what you look like, I’ll always love you, okay?” She got up and walked herself towards the door and left while he changed.
Cub smiled, “Love you too.” He muttered as she left.
–
A few minutes and a knock later, Ariana returned, this time with a tray of food. Cub was already feeling better in Scar’s fluffy hoodie.
“I cooked this up earlier so it’s kind of lukewarm. I can heat it up though if you like.” Ariana sat at his bedside again, placing the tray over his lap. Potato soup and some bread to go along with it, plus a cup of what looked to be tea with a pinkish hue. He assumed she must have added some sorta potion in there.
“Mm, it’s fine, I’ll eat it just like this. It’ll taste good either way anyways, since you made it~”
“I’m still upset at you! No amount of flirting is gonna make me un-mad at you!”
“Awh, even if I call you angel and kiss your hand?” He smirked, only for Ariana to push his face away.
“Eat your food!”
“Ah- okay okay, eating eating..” He chuckled as he picked up the spoon and began to eat. It was a little bland, Ariana never was the best cook. He usually made dinner when they were together. But..he took another sip anyways, determined to finish this bowl. His fiance put so much care into making this for him, after all. He needed to savor every bite.
When the bowl reached empty, Ariana took the tray from him and left the room briefly to put it away. She returned back to Cub’s side and gently pushed him back till he laid fully on the bed, tucking him in. She pressed a kiss to his forehead before turning to leave.
“Ah- wait! Ariana-“ Cub grabbed her hand, sitting up quickly to prevent her from leaving. “Where are you going?”
“You need to rest, Cub! I’m still gonna take care of you, but you need to sleep now.”
Cub frowned and gently tugged on Ariana’s hand until she came closer again. “Don’t you think I’d sleep better either you here? Aren’t you tired as well? Why don’t you rest with me.”
Ariana opened her mouth to reject his offer, tell him something along the lines of how the bed was too small or how she could also get sick- but all of those rebuttals left her mind as she recognized the pleading and desperation in Cub’s eyes.
“I missed you.”
Was all Cub had to say for Ariana to cave. She climbed into the bed next him and wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing her face in between his moobies.
“Thought you said you weren’t a degenerate?” Cub chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Ariana as well. He pulled her warm figure close, warmth he deeply missed. From both the weeks spent in damp, cold sculk farms and from the months of absence of his dove.
“Shut up.” Ariana shut him down quickly, burying her face further.
Cub chuckled softly at her response, carding his fingers through her dirty blonde hair.
“I love you.”
“I love you too, now shut up and sleep.”
.
.
.
“Yeah, they’re in there, but they’re asleep I’m pretty sure,” Lizzie directed the two worried hermits to the small house.
Grian and Scar nodded and gently cracked the door open, just a peep. Sure enough, Ariana and Cub were there, asleep and safe. Grian let out a breath of relief and closed the door as quietly as possible.
Scar turned toward Lizzie, “Does Animalia rent out rooms now?? Can I get one for two?”
“SCAR-“