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Cleo couldn't care less about whatever mess Grian or Scar had with the Box Boys. To be fair, she only saw them when actively interacting with them or when they came across each other during the chaos on the server. Yet despite that, even she could tell when something was off.
There was still the usual chaos and mess on the server. Joel still went around threatening people and Pearl was still torturing her soulmate. The only difference was the fact Grian had vanished from the server and the fact Scar was rarely outside alone.
He was always accompanied by someone whether that person was Pearl or Impulse or even Jimmy. This was odd since the warden incident Cleo was under the assumption those faux ranchers were still upset at him. And yet there the canary was walking around with Scar in the early mornings. Cleo did most of the mining, the cold underground always calming to the zombie part of her brain.
She had started going to the farther parts of the map, her usual mining grounds already dried up. The walk was annoying during the day but potentially dangerous at night. So of course Cleo made the trek to one of the further parts at night, taking damage occasionally just to spook Martyn out of bed.
With how much she hurt herself just to inconvenience Martyn she was only slightly better than Pearl. Especially since she didn’t make it her whole personality. Close to the border, she began her descent for ores and stone, the only goal for the night. She saw a couple of name tags while mining Ren, and maybe Martyn? It was hard to tell against the torchlight and to be frank so long Martyn didn’t die, he could stay in a hole underground as much as he likes.
She was pretty happy with her haul as she went over the collection. Coal, iron, lapis, redstone, a couple of diamonds, lots of stone, and cobble. Everything needed so that another mining trip won't happen for a couple of weeks. As she was leaving she ran into the blonde menace called Martyn. The blonde didn’t see her at first, instead, he seemed rather panicked by something. And it only got worse when he did see the zombie almost jumping out of his skin and turning paler than he already was.
“Whoa! Cleo! Oh my god, you scared the life out of me.” He exclaimed, grabbing his chest as he gathered his bearings once more. “What are you doing down here anyways?”
“What does it look like Blondie? I just finished collecting some stuff for me and Scott.”
“Ohh. Sorry to interrupt then, just kinda surprised to see you so far out you know?”
“I could say the same to you. Why are you here anyways, doesn’t look like you were mining…”
Martyn froze at that, eyes looking down at the ground as he thought of an answer. Cleo knew he wasn’t mining, the man had no pick ax or torch and wasn’t even wearing any armor. No chest plate or pants, not even boots or a helmet so he couldn’t have been mining. Yet he was frenzied and tired like he was doing something and Cleo couldn’t help but be curious.
“Well…? What were you up to Martyn?” He stammered a bit, opening and closing his mouth a few times before speaking.
“I was… just exploring. I get bored easily.”
“Exploring at night, with no armor or tools?”
“Well… I wasn’t… uh you know fighting or anything. Just walking around already existing tunnels. No danger, no need.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup! And now I got to go so see ya later Cleo!” Before she could question him further he ran away. Cleo watched him leave her cave and let that encounter fade to the back of her mind. She cleaned up her area and began her trek to the surface. The sun was rising as she emerged from the ground. She spotted Ren and Martyn on the tree line, the two of them whispering to each other watching her.
A part of her couldn’t help but be upset at Martyn. They were put in this situation because he cheated and he is doing it again. And not with someone who didn’t care for their partner but instead one of the only people that genuinely care for their assigned partner. Shameless. Utterly shameless.
Scowling to herself she made a sharp turn and walked away from the pair. Martyn never failed to give her more reasons to always pick Scott over him or to remove any possible guilt she would have felt from ‘accidentally’ getting into mob fights while walking around.
The sight of their cottage in the glow of the sunrise always made Cleo smile. It was so beautiful and she couldn’t help but imagine being able to decorate it with statues. There was a subtle art to statue scenes, she loved talking about it to Scott. He was always engaged and bouncing ideas off of him was like building their own little worlds amongst the chaos.
She entered and found Scott huddled on the couch with a plate in front of him and another to the left of him. Putting the things away and cleaning off the dust, dirt, and grime from caving, Cleo found herself relaxing next to her soulmate.
Peaceful. If she closed her eyes she could ignore the chaos and the casualties and the fact she was a yellow name. She could ignore Martyn and his suspicious behavior and Ren the problems that seemed to follow the wolfman. In her cottage, it was just her, Scott, and their animals, and nothing besides them mattered.
As the drowsiness settled into her bones, a mildly terrifying thought came to her. She looked to the dozing Scott at her side and let her mind wander and explore the thought.
She wouldn’t mind dying with Scott by her side. No, that’s not right… She wouldn’t mind dying to Scott. She’d give him the win if it meant letting this peace continue.
How terrifying, letting herself lose to someone else. She thought before finally falling asleep.