#i think the void thing comes from xisumaVOID maybe

[redwinterroses]

You want me to out-angst you? Alright. What if there's a cast split to begin S9? Like, a majority of the cast wakes up on the Hermitheus (or whatever the ship was called) and moves on to the new continent. But some others (like Cleo and BDubs, for example) get stuck. Pulled into The Nothing, maybe. And they have to break out themselves/find their own way back.

Hi, first of all: congrats on being the first person to take me up on that. XD

Secondly: THAT'S A FANTASTIC IDEA it's like -- SHADE hey shade??? Can this be Scattered AU: Part 2?

Bdubs would have it really hard -- the man is nothing BUT imagination. Having his creativity stripped from him would leave him an angry confused shell of a man. Cleo... I think she'd be better off. She's still an INTENSELY creative person, but she's also far more pragmatic than Bdubs. She'd have something to fall back on, to keep them alive.

Maybe Tango's there too. Maybe his floating-in-space was how his brain interpreted being swallowed by the Nothing. He'd be middle-ground between the two of them, I think. They're wandering this dark void -- at least they don't need to eat here, and they don't seem to get tired, though Bdubs just desperately wants to sleep it away -- and they come across this huddled figure in a space suit.

"Tango??" Bdubs is incredulous. "I thought you got out!"

The figure moves, and Tango peers out at them blearily. "What? How--how the heck are you guys here???"

Cleo helps him up. "Does it matter? Moon big. Moon fall. We're here. Now we've got to deal with it."

So they wander on, not even sure if they're going in a straight line, occasionally talking, but it's amazing how hard conversation is when your imagination is being eroded away.

And then -- hear me out -- what if the Nothing is where banned players go? The void beyond the void. So the crew is trudging along, and suddenly Bdubs sees a familiar helmeted silhouette in the distance.

"X!" he shouts, and runs forward. But when he gets closer he realizes, it's not Xisuma. It's Evil X.

"Oh," he sniffs. "It's you."

"Thought you escaped with your riches," Cleo accuses. "Left X to deal with your mess."

EX is seated on the not-ground, and they look up with disbelieving eyes. "People!" they exclaim. Then, more scornfully: "Hermits. Did you lot finally make old Xisumavoid upset enough to ban you too?"

"Ban us?" Tango knocks his knuckles against his helmet. "Got a loose circuit board in there, EXy? The moon did this."

"Moon?"

And that's when the crew realizes: this is the real EX -- not the simulated creature created to keep Xisuma distracted and unable to help Ren and Doc fight the virus. This is the EX that was banned back in ye olden seasons. And this EX has no idea about anything derpcoin related or moon connected... they're still fixated on things like "summoning withers" and "trap Xisuma in a chamber and kill him over and over again." You know. The good old villainous ways.

But they're also sad and lonely and have been by themselves for a very long time, so with a glance at each other, Tango and Cleo allow EX to join them, and Bdubs sputters and splutters and protests but finally agrees, on the condition that "I'm not callin' them "Evil X," because that's a stupid name."

"What are you going to call them?" Tango asks, half curious and half amused.

But Bdubs stops. He opens his mouth to say something, but the words don't come. His expression closes. "I... can't think of anything," he grumbles.

And that's when they know it's really starting to get bad.

How do they get out? Who else do they find in this Nothing-place? Who knows. But I'd assume the hermits on the other side realize something's wrong too. Maybe they get to Planet HC-9 and some of the hermits don't wake up. They're in comas, still in their pods. So now the other hermits have to figure out how to reach into the Nothing and save their friends without losing themselves.

...yeah anyway that's certainly a thought.

[spruceplank]

I told you I was brave but I lied

AN: based on this post by @blocklasagna Or the AU from the time after Wilbur's death and before Tubbo's peaceful driven presidency can really begin because rebuilding has just started: The universe takes Tommy from Dreamsmp and asks the admin of Hermitcraft to help him heal. Cue Tommy now in Hermitcraft re-learning how to live again and not just survive because he deserves a chance to be a kid again.  ao3 || 1.7k words || First | Next

The End told him he had to go. It called to him and called to him until he could not put it off longer. When he tells Joe he's going to the Deep End, Joe doesn't ask questions, just wishes him a safe trip. He hopes it'll be a safe trip too. 

When he arrives in the Deep End the void sings to him. It calls and beckons him with an urgency he has not heard in a long time. He follows its call until he spots a figure curled on a small island floating in the middle of nowhere. The closer he gets the more confused he feels. Why is there a human, a human child, here? 

The End loves this child, it curls around them protectively like a guardian as he lands on the small island. Child is not quite the right term he finds, realizing the person in front of him is taller than most of his hermits and nearly as tall as him. What was the word again, a teenager? The End agrees before it comes to him and shows him a series of images he doesn't understand. The smell of fire and gunpowder. The sound of explosions, fireworks, and a mocking laughter. "It was never meant to be. It was never meant to be. If you want to be a hero then die like one." 

The End shows him these images and says, Hurt. Lost trust… Watch over him... Help him heal… until his father can come for him… 

The End blankets him in love and ruffles the child- teenager's hair, before slipping away back into the nothingness. This teenager must be very important to someone very powerful. For the End to be worried about this teenager who, as far as he could tell, had no End based origin - that was something new to him. 

Pulling off his helmet, he pulls up his code screens around him and sets to work on letting the teen into his world. So Hermitcraft would have a visitor for a while. He wonders how his hermits will react to that. Nothing but acceptance and compassion he premusses. Maybe a little chaos and silliness but Hermitcraft wouldn't be home without it. It takes a short amount of time to manipulate the code of the unknown teen into Hermitcraft. And really it only takes that long because he goes out of his way to not actually look at any of the details of the teenager in front of him. The End had told Xisuma that he, the teen, had been hurt by others, that he had lost trust in others. He was pretty sure that digging for personal info in someone's code was a violation of trust and privacy. Especially when he didn't even know the teen's name. Right, he should fix it to hide the name when he rejoins Hermitcraft with the teen. That's the kind of thing he'd rather reveal in a meeting and not have everyone in chat question when it appeared. Especially because Xisuma was planning on giving the teen his own communicator if he wanted one. But he'd have to get him back to Hermitcraft in the first place. 

After putting his helmet back on, he hoists the teen up and nearly drops him. The teen is much lighter than he had been expecting. Especially with how tall he is. That was worrying. He'll have to get Joe to do a health check and make sure nothing more was wrong than simply being too underfed. He starts his flight back home and the teen merely curls closer to him, muttering something he doesn't hear. Xisuma holds the teen a little tighter and hurries home. 

“A kid?” Joe asks, looking at him in disbelief. The poet and pseudo-admin had come over first thing when Xisuma had returned to Hermitcraft and had sent a vague message about needing medical help. 

“A teenager more like it, remember how mad Mumbo used to get when we called him a kid all the time?” Xisuma reminds his friend who looks over the teen with a careful eye and gentle touch as to not wake him. 

Joe hums in thought but doesn't answer. A moment of silence passes as Joe continues his examination. He's thankful to Joe for not asking more questions about the situation yet because to be honest he doesn't quite know how to fully explain it himself yet. The teen grumbles something and rolls over in his sleep, startling both him and Joe. The unaware teen continues to sleep even as Joe drapes a blanket over him and starts talking to Xisuma in hushed tones, "Well aside from the visible exhaustion and lack of sustainable food or nutrition he seems to be fine. There are a few healing scabs and scars that raise an eyebrow but there's not much I can do about those."

"What do you suggest?" He asks as Joe follows him out of the room and into the hallway, the door remaining slightly cracked open behind them. 

"Rest and a steady supply of proper meals. Smaller portions first, I don't think your new guest will be able to eat much at once when he wakes up." Joe supplies even as his focus seems to drift away from Xisuma and their conversation near the end of his answer.

"Any concerns?” He can’t help but ask Joe, “You look troubled my friend."

Joe looks back to the room they stand outside of and ushers Xisuma a little further down the hall. Joe looks at Xisuma in a way he knows means serious business when Joe says, "I know you want to explain it all to everyone at once later so I'll be frank with you here when I say this Xisuma. You showed up, three days ago, to tell me you'd be going to the Deep End. I know that is where you are originally from and it's where you grew up but this is a human child. How did you go to the Deep End and come back with a human teenager who looks like he's been through an actual war with the amount of scars he has?"

That catches him off guard, "I don't know…"

Joe turns on him with quiet furry he always forgets his kind friend has, "Xisumavoid - 

"Joe Hills please let me speak." He raises his voice slightly louder than Joe's and commands with his authority as admin. He gets why Joe is angry and he's sure whatever scars Joe noticed are not pretty. But he doesn't have the answers Joe wants. He can at least try to explain it though, "Thank you, as I was trying to say, I don't know. The End, the universe, and the void are all one in the same existence. They're connected in ways I do not understand nor think anyone understands. These separate yet connected entities that have been confused for one another time and time again. They are powerful in ways no one knows the scope of. At first when the End called me home I ignored it. It's not often but even I get homesick for the home I grew up with. But it got to the point where I could no longer ignore the End's call and I went without knowing why it was calling me. I didn't not know what I was going to find or what I was looking for until I found this teen alone in the middle of nowhere in the Deep End where no humans can reach on their own. I do not know his name or his story or his history but the void called me home and brought me to this child it loves. I have never seen the End love a human child this fiercely enough that it would use so much power to try and help. The universe could fall out of balance for a while solely because of what it did to bring this child to a place I could go and call me to bring him here. I do not know why or how this happened but the End told me to help him heal and watch over him until his father can come for him. Whoever is his father is a very powerful person indeed and is someone the End adores just as much as they adore him."

Joe takes a moment to process what he’s been told before it seems to dawn on him just how quickly this had all happened, "... Well that's not what I expected…"

"Welcome to the club my friend." Xisuma agrees with a tired nod.

"If you want this to work you're going to need everyone involved and informed of this." Joe says as he turns and heads further down the hall towards the door.

"You think so?" He asks because he had been thinking about getting a few people involved but he didn’t think that everyone needed to be involved. He realizes Joe is heading to leave, but thankfully Joe turns back to wait for him before he continues towards the base’s exit. 

Joe nods, "There's a human saying that goes, it takes a village. And based on physical health alone we're going to need all hands on deck in this village to follow what the End has asked of you."

He watches Joe put on his elytra as he contemplates what Joe had said. It takes a village huh? When Joe fastens his elytra on completely he has to ask, "What makes you say that?" 

Joe gives him a knowing smile, "I don't know Mr. Starved to death only two weeks ago now what makes you think I'd say that?" 

"Okay point taken." Xisuma says, waving Joe off towards the exit having understood the point.

Joe laughs but allows himself to be herded away. Just before taking off he turns to Xisuma and says, "So then, I'll tell everyone to meet tomorrow at noon." 

"Wait, Joe!" Xisuma calls out after Joe, but it's too late.

"I'll see you there Xisuma!" Joe calls back, already flying away. Good lord things were going to get even more chaotic around here now weren’t they? Still, he thinks, the best times in Hermitcraft were the craziest so perhaps that’s for the best.

[moonythesly]

Endless Hermits

This is what happens when I can not sleep. The Sandman is a very old comic, but I still enjoy rereading it. Figured a few of the Hermits could do with some Endless intervention.

O, maybe the Endless could do with some Hermit intervention. At any rate- enjoy. This is unbetaed and all that. Enjoy?

He always made sure he was the last one to cross through the portal. A habit he’d picked up from the beginning, when Generik had asked him to stay behind for a talk. That had been the day he first met the strange man in the robes but it certainly would not be the last.

Xisuma would see him at the beginning and end of every Season, when first arriving to their new world and just before leaving. 

“You know.” He spoke up once he knew Joe and Cleo had gotten safely through the portal, Season five awaiting them all. “After this, I’m going to have to start counting our meetings on my toes.” He chuckled at the soft hum from behind him, closest he ever got to a laugh from the man, no...entity that called himself Destiny.

“You have gone longer than I expected.”

“Gonna say you’re proud of me? Didn’t think you’d be that sort of sappy.” Another hum and Xisuma grinned beneath his helmet. “I get it though. I didn’t think I’d get this far either. Not after-” He shook his head to push those thoughts away and focus on the future.

Destiny reached out and rested his hand on the young voidling, “That is why you are one of mine.”

That was new. Xisuma turned his head sharply, wondering if the robed man was another Void Walker but no. Xisuma knew he was something much more, but his thoughts always ended up in a million places if he tried to pinpoint just what that more was.

“Come again, old friend?”

The hum was his only verbal response, but Destiny still squeezed his shoulder before returning to his normal, stoic stance. “Always looking to the future, but still respecting the past. You would do your kind well, Xisumavoid.”

The admin could only blink in wonder before grinning and chuckling again, “Thanks, I guess.” He looks at the portal, purple waves dancing before him, “See you on the other side then? Or, do you want to go first?”

The joke landed, he knew it, but the robed man simply hummed again before vanishing. Xisuma knew he would be on the other side, waiting for him to appear. Though he always wondered...why the other Hermits never saw Destiny standing amongst them.

~*~

The explosion still rang in his ears as he groaned in frustration. “Darn creepers.” The sound of bird wings brought a smile to his face and he pulled his hands from his eyes to stare up at the familiar, pale face. “Hello again.”

The woman just laughed and offered Scar her hand, which he gratefully took to help himself off the ground. Or, well what he thought was ground anyways. Everything was just white and seemed to stretch on forever.

“Mr. Goodtimes, it’s been a while!” And she seemed pretty pleased at that, making Scar blush a bit sheepishly and rub the back of his head.

“Well, I’ve been careful. Dodging and weavin’ and learnin’ how to uses my elytra just right!” She raised an eyebrow, smirk on her lips as he laughed, “Creeper got me.”

Another laugh and she rested her hand on his shoulder, “I know you guys respawn, but one day-”

Scar nodded before shrugging and letting a peaceful smile on his face, “I know. One day comes for all of us.” He held his hands up, “And I’m in no hurry for that day, Ma’am but it makes it a little better knowin’ that someone like you is there at the end.”

Death’s smile didn’t falter, if anything it brightened and she wrapped Scar in a friendly hug, “See that’ just why you’re one of mine! A light for your Hermit friends.” Pulling away she tapped his nose, “Be careful, Mr. Goodtimes.”

“Oh I will be! I’ve got tons of things planned. You know I’m helping out with the mall. Digging out a huge mountain, Cub’s even helping me out.”

She grinned, “Next time you stop by, bring me a picture.”

The terraformer bowed and doffed his head, sure no one liked dying and it frustrated him how often it seemed to happen to him on the server. “Yes, ma’am!” But as the light faded and he found himself back in his bed, communicator beeping with messages from his friends, he couldn’t help but feel a bit better about it all. Practically well, peachy keen.

~*~

Zedaph stared at the mountain in front of him. It wasn’t anything fancy, just, you know, a mountain. Dirt, stone and gravel all stocked up on top of each other. But he wasn’t seeing just a mountain, oh no! He was seeing his new base. The mountain is still there, not a clod nor pebble touched on the surface. Looking as pristine as it did now.

But inside, oh, that was different.

Already his mind’s eye was carving out a wonderful base- big enough to house him and all the ideas waffling about in his brain. Contraptions and gadgets and, well the occasional game of course. All of it, fit right beneath the towering grandeur before him.

“You know,” Zedaph pipped up after a few moments, “You’re normally not this quiet.” He turned around and practically beamed up at the tall, dark man that stood behind him. Wild hair and eyes that literally held the stars, Zed knew him well. He’d known him for years in his dream and waking worlds.

“...I suppose not.” Zed frowned, mountain momentarily forgotten as he took in the sight of the entity-man-deity-star creature. 

“What’s going on? Not even a hello, old chum?”

A soft laugh, “No. I...am not here for a hello.” A thin hand rested on Zedaph’s shoulder and he raised his own to rest upon it, “I’m here for a goodbye.”

“Goodbye? Starting a bit backwards, Mr. Dream.” His frown turned to a worried pout, “Why goodbye? I thought you lot were as eternal as Death.”

Dream let a smile on his pale face but didn’t answer the question, instead using his hold to turn the young Hermit around, “Continue your dreams, Zedaph. When my successor arrives, he’ll need someone like you to surprise him.”

A billion questions filled Zed’s mind but he stayed staring at the mountain, letting the gadgets and contraptions come back to life in his thoughts. He felt Dream squeeze his shoulder and pull away.

“I’ll help him, Dream, whatever I can but” He closed his eyes and felt the emptiness behind him as the entity vanished, “I’ll always be one of yours, mate. Goodbye, old friend.”

~*~

“See, you need ta remember- destruction and creation are one to the eyes that can see beauty. Miss Savitri Devi wrote that and I’m standin’ by it.” And he was determined that Destruction at least think about it.

“Joe, my friend, you are too kind!” The Endless’s voice boomed across the bay as they both looked over the painting the red-haired entity was trying to make of the area. It was, well not the best- but Joe knew there was still something in it. Something wonderful and beautiful simply because of why the painting existed.

“I’m not kind, I’m honest. And just the thought that you, a being labeled as a force of ending, have begun something simply to make it exist. That’s a beautiful thought.” He smirked as the other hummed and tilted his head to the side, looking at the painting and then out to Red Sky Bay. After a few moments, he started to laugh and Joe couldn’t stop himself from joining.

“I think you might be right this time, Joe Hills.” Joe’s smirk grew but he simply stayed where he was, watching the waves for a few moments as Destruction began to pack things away.

“You understand mirrors.”

Joe blinked, “Huh? Well- literally I hope that I do understand their purpose even if some Hermits might not believe I use one.” Another booming laugh and a large, warm and steady hand found its way to Joe’s shoulder.

“I know you understand mirrors in all manner.” He looked at the painting and then his bag before pulling out a leather bound book, “I’ve more travels, my friend, but when we meet again I would love to hear your skills with words have improved.”

“I hope they do, but you have to show me what you’ve created,” And he pointedly used the word, “Can’t have you slacking, retired or not.” He gratefully, almost reverently, took the book handed to him. 

“Haha, of course!” Destruction’s smile softened, “Tread well, Joe Hills. I may no longer be what I was made-but you are still my friend.”

Joe nodded, watching Destruction walk away and vanish slowly in a shimmer of heat and light. The painting stayed where it was but Joe waited. He knew what would happen, even as he held on tightly to the book he’d been given.

Sure enough, as sunset approached, the sea surged forward- the painting washed away forever to the bottom of the lifeless sea. He stood on the edge of the bay for a moment before putting the book away.

Maybe he would be able to keep this one- but the hiss of a creeper behind told him otherwise.

~*~

“I don’t know why you come here so dang often.” Tinfoil Chef huffed, setting a few more stone bricks in place. The castle wall was nearly done and the bright sun wasn’t an issue as long as it was around, so he was taking advantage of the visit.

“You interest me, old man.”

He snorted and continued with his work. “That’s s’pposed to be a compliment.”

The creature smiled and it made a cold shiver run down TFC’s spine. Just like always. Oh, he knew well and right what was sitting on his half finished wall, basking in the late afternoon sun. It was the reason his guard was constantly up, his mind working and trying to stay a step ahead.

A nice challenge after setting the same bricks down over and over again.

“You never want something.”

“Nope. Got everything I need.”

Another huff and the creature turned over, tawny eyes staring straight into TFC’s blue ones. He didn’t blink and neither did it. Finally it huffed again and pulled the expensive sunglasses back down.

TFC said nothing, just went back to work. Every so often he’d say something to the creature, start up a conversation about random things. From mortar to morals, it was never dull and helped keep his tongue and mind sharp.

As night approached, the creature slid off the now finished wall, landing lightly and without even a flinch of pain. TFC was a little envious there as his old bones were aching a bit from the day’s work. But it was proof that he had done something and that he could spend the night relaxing comfortably.

“You never want something.” It repeated again, this time with a soft smirk on it’s lips.

TFC grinned and motioned towards the main house, “Nope. Got everything I need.”

Desire narrowed it’s eyes, but still smirked. The man wanted nothing, yet Desire was often called here.

“Your friends want so much, though.”It happily supplied once tea was placed in front of it and they could begin the familiar tradition of watching and waiting.

“They do. Suppose that’s my want too, then?”

Desire sat up and TFC smirked, “Don’t get too hopeful now. I just meant, I want them to have fun. Explore these worlds as much as I got to.”

The creature pouted in thought, before gently flicking a nail against the ceramic cup, “Do you know what Desire is?”

“Besides you? I might have an idea.” He smirked and leaned his head back, folding his hands over his chest and closing his eyes. “It’s whatever ya want it to be. Love, friendship-brotherhood. All that sort of stuff.”

He heard a sniff and then a comfortable silence.

TFC never wanted anything. Desire knew that. But so many people Desired to not want, that it had to claim TFC as its own. If only because it wanted to.

~*~

They had waited long enough. The Season was done and the server was straining from having to support life long past what it should have. Many Hermits had returned to the Main Worlds, waiting for Xisuma’s word of a new world to explore and colonize.

But he wasn’t done waiting. 

He’d been in the jungle the entire Season. Searching everywhere, looking for any sign of any of them. A portal, or a chest filled with random materials. Even just...just a familiar shirt or hat. Anything that could answer his questions of where his friends had gone.

But there was always nothing. Just the empty jungle and his heart slowly breaking in his chest.

Ren tried to get him to go. To leave the jungle and be free of whatever spell was being cast. Whatever need was keeping Doc tied to the jungle. 

Doc chuckled darkly, watching his reflection in the calm waters near the base the Bdubs had built. The home of the NHO for so long until slowly, like sifting sand, they vanished into the jungle.

The pond rippled and he saw that face again. Old but still young, fluttering from beautiful to horrifying in a matter of ticks. Staring straight at him with her dark, black eyes that managed to hold warmth and pity all at once.

He hated being pitied.

“What do you want.” He spoke up, finally giving into whatever madness was infecting his mind. The figure blinked before simply staring at him, not a word said but Doc felt the pain in his heart grow.

“They’re gone aren’t they.” He tsked, “I won’t find them.”

The figure nodded, a hooked ring coming into view and glinting at Doc. He should just give up. Give in and stop looking for his friends. They were no longer there; he was alone and left behind. 

“Doc!” He blinked, turning around slowly. Ren’s voice echoed around the jungle but he stayed where he was. “Doc, we have to leave now...there’s...not much time.” 

He scoffed and turned back, the figure was gone and his own face stared up at him from the water. He sighed and stood up, heart heavy with Despair as he trudged towards Ren’s voice. The jungle whispered behind him, but he ignored it. There was nothing there now, nothing left for him.

Despair watched from her realm, hook stuck deep in the Hermits heart- dragging him steadily away from her.

“You have been mine long enough, little Hermit.”

~*~

Grian grinned brightly to himself, swooping low through the shopping district as he looked around for any of the other Hermits. The last few days had been far, far too quiet for his liking. Not that the Hermits had not been doing anything, they had just become wrapped up in their projects and such to the point where well, things were quiet.

And Grian did not deal well with quiet.

“Oh, is that someone you think?” A broken giggle resounded around him like shattering glass and he grinned, “Right...oh!” He flew close before shooting back up with a few rockets and hovering mid air, “It’s Iskaall~!” He snickered and searched through his inventory. There were a few fireworks he’d picked up from Hermitville and, ah!

“Yes!” He cackled, pulling out the crossbow and fitting it with the pink colored firework. “Ten points I get him first try, oh this will be perfect!”

He knew Iskall would take the joke, and he had two extra sets of rockets (green and yellow) in his pocket, along with two crossbows. If he managed things right, he could get a mini rocket war started in the middle of the shopping district!

Which, if he was right, would also drag in another Hermit he just spotted exiting iTrade. 

“Wish me luck!” The giggle trailed behind him, tinkling now like an out of tune piano as he pelted Iskall with the fireworks. The other Hermit yelped in surprise, ignoring his trajectory of Sahara and glaring playfully up at Grian.

The glare turned into a grin when Grian flew back over and dumped the green fireworks and a crossbow at Iskall’s feet. “Get Impulse!” He called back, laughing again as he flew towards iTrade.

Catching Impulse by surprise with a firework and again dumping ammunition at his friend’s feet. Impulse only looked confused for all of a second before he was taking off behind Grian and Iskall, laughing as the three ducked and weaved around the shopping district.

Eventually the fireworks ran out and Impulse, tired from the fun, headed back to his base to rest. Iskall took a moment to enjoy the setting sun from on top of the Stock Exchange before saying his goodbyes and flying towards the Nether portal.

Grian waved and sat back down, staring off at his base as the sun finally set and the sound of bare feet caught his attention. He grinned and flopped back, meeting the strange girl’s mismatched gaze.

“Did you see it?! Ugh, I thought it would take forever to get those two to take a break. Do you know how long they’ve been working, like non-stop? Three days!” He held up three fingers, watching as the girl's hair shifted to bright pink and she laughed.

“ThEY dON’t knoW anY BettER, GrIAn~!” She sang, her voice as mismatched as her eyes- but Grian was used to it. It was actually comforting. His life was always one form of chaos or another, either by Destiny or his own Desires. 

“I know, I know. But we were right! A little madness can get anyone to loosen up.” He grinned for a moment before sighing thoughtfully and rolling on his stomach as the girl sat down. Her bare feet now wearing socks and her hair a normal brown-but cut into a half bowl/half pixie style.

“ThINKinG?” She asked, tilting her head and gently running her fingers through his hair. He nodded but the thoughts jumbled away for a moment at her touch.

“A bit. Mostly worrying though. Things are getting. Boring.” He wrinkled his nose and she giggled, softly now like a song bird, “I need to think of something to liven things up a bit, yeah? Something big...like the Civil War or Area 77.”

Something mad and brilliant that the Hermits had never seen before. The problem here, that he didn’t have in Evo or...there, was that the Hermits were a clever bunch. They were also prone to a bit of routine if they weren’t paying attention.

“Something to throw things into a sort of...controlled chaos.”

Delirium giggled again and poked Grian in the forehead, “YoU haVE The Ideas, GRiAn. Don’t OVEr thInk!” Grian stared at the finger against his forehead before his eyes widened and he stood up, dragging the girl up with him in a spin, “Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I have it! Oh, it’s wonderful!”

A game that would be a wonderful ending to their time in this world. He’d need a lot of bone blocks and everyone’s head but…

“Oh, Delight, this is going to be brilliant!” He gave her a warm hug before waving goodbye and flying off to his base to fully plan things.

She stood on the Stock Exchange, giggling as she watched one of her favorites fly off into the night. Death wasn’t going to like this new game- maybe. But it would be fun! And in the end- that was all that mattered.

[zecoritheweirdone]

No One Gets Left Behind

Chapter 3

———————————————

FIRST — PREVIOUS — NEXT

———————————————

Xisuma barely reached the first step, when suddenly—

*thud*

———————————————

The small slowly turn towards the sound.

The culprit?

The closet.

Xisuma looks at the three, before slowly walking towards the closet.

The other three nodded, and held up stone weapons. Well, two out of three held up stone weapons. The third just had a wooden pickaxe.

Wonder who that is.

Xisuma put a hand on the closet door. He heard whatever was inside stiffen.

He paused. He held out a hand in view of the three, and counted down from five.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Now.

He slammed open the closet door, just as a figure burst through the now open door.

The figure paused for a moment, before shaking its head, and running to the nearest target.

That target being Mumbo.

He flinched, and held up his pickaxe in an effort to defend himself.

The two dueled for a bit, wood banging against—What is that, obsidian??—until Iskall charged into the figure, momentarily stunning the figure, the obsidian sword falling from its grasp.

Iskall tries to attack, but the figure rolls out of the way, grabbing his sword, and tried to make a break for the stairs.

Before it can get to it, however, Xisuma runs in front of it, brandishing his stone sword.

The figure recoils, before spreading its wings—wait, it has wings?? why didn’t they notice this??—and attempting to fly towards a small window.

It almost makes it, when Doc throws his stone sword at one of its wings.

It doesn’t impale it, but it does knock it off balance, sending it falling back down to the floor, it’s sword far from reach.

Doc walks up to the figure, and they all can finally get a good look at it, now that it's not moving around everywhere.

It’s a boy, probably no more than 18. He’s wearing a green hat and shirt, and, as they noticed before, large purple wings, that now have a small cut on them.

They also notice he’s terrified, his unusual purple eyes widening in fear, as they all move closer to him.

They all look at each other, unsure what to do. They weren’t sure what they were expecting, but it definitely wasn’t a kid.

They huddle together, occasionally looking at the kid to make sure he doesn’t try to escape.

“What do we do with him?” Iskall whispered.

“I’m not sure, I wasn’t expecting a kid to be in there!” Xisuma whispered. The kid’s wings bristled a bit, but otherwise, it didn’t seem like he was listening.

“Why—No, how does he have an obsidian sword, that should be impossible..” Doc mutters.

“Where are his parents? ...does he have parents..?”

“Maybe he knows what the weird symbols mean..”

“Do you think he knows what happened to this place?”

“...why don’t we just ask him..?” Mumbo weakly suggests.

The other three look at him dumbly, kinda forgetting he was there, before processing what he said, and turning towards the kid, who flinched at the four now staring at him, scooting back further.

The four dispersed, with Xisuma clearing his throat, before addressing the young boy.

“Hello! My name is Xisumavoid, but most people just call me Xisuma, or X, for short. What’s your name?” Xisuma said, extending his hand towards the kid.

Said kid recoiled from the hand, his wings almost curled around his body.

Xisuma took his hand back, a bit concerned for the boy. What happened to make him have a reaction like that?

Well, he kinda knows what happened, with the group.. attacking him, and all that.. but, something must have happened for him to have attacked in the first place, right?

He was taken out of his thoughts by Mumbo breaking the awkward silence that had followed.

“uh—I’m Mumbo! Mumbo Jumbo!” He said, smiling awkwardly, his eyes flickering towards Iskall.

Iskall took the hint, and nodded, turning towards the kid.

“My name’s Iskall.”

“Doc.” Doc said gruffly. He was a little suspicious of the boy, and was too caught up in his thoughts to focus on his tone.

The kid stayed silent, seemingly observing the small group. Mostly the creeper-man.

An awkward silence followed.

“..What’s your name, kid?” Xisuma repeated, hoping to get something out of the boy.

“...Grian..” The kid said, staring in disbelief at the group. “..And I’m not a kid, I’m 25..”

The group seemed to recoil at this. He looked so young!

Iskall was the first one to recover.

“Uh—Well,, do you know what happened to this place..?” He asked.

He paused for a bit, before shaking his head.

“Is there anyone else here?” Xisuma asked.

Another head shake, quicker this time.

“My friends and I were the only people in this world but… they left a long time ago..” He said, his wings curling around his body.

The group seemed to soften at that, but they were also confused. Why did they leave him behind?

“Answer me this, if you can,” Doc said bluntly, his arms crossed, “Where’d you get that sword? It’s made of obsidian, that should be impossible..”

Grian seemed to stiffen ever so slightly, but quickly forced himself to relax.

“I.. found it.. a bit after the world started glitching.. I’m not sure how it was made, or where it came from..”

“How’d you get your wings?” Mumbo asked, but quickly backtracked. “Oh, uh—you probably—already had them..”

“Oh, uh, no, actually, they kinda just.. appeared on my back, one day..” Grian said, reassuring the mustached man.

“What do the symbols we keep finding everywhere mean?” Xisuma asked.

Grian stiffened. It was noticeable to every person in the room.

There was an awkward silence as Grian seemed to debate with himself on something.

“...i.. really don’t want to talk about them..” Grian all but whispered.

The group looked at each other, before huddling up again.

“I don’t trust him.” Doc stated.

“Why?” Mumbo asked, a little confused.

“It’s clear he knows something, and isn’t telling us.” Doc said.

“Well, it’s also clear that there is some trauma involved, so that’s probably why-“

“No, I mean the sword, and what ever happened to this place,” Doc said, interrupting Iskall, “He knows how they happened, and he’s lying.”

“Maybe it’s because he doesn’t trust us?” Xisuma offered, “I mean, yeah, he attacked us first, but we still attacked back, so obviously there’s gonna be some trust issues on both sides.”

An awkward silence followed.

“So.. what now?” Mumbo asked.

“Maybe we should invite him to join us?” Iskall shrugged. “I mean, we can’t just leave him here.”

“That’s.. not a bad idea…” Xisuma said, thinking, “It’s clear he knows this world works, maybe he could help us.. not die?”

Doc looked like he wanted to rebut that, but seemingly thought about it, and nodded.

“Alright, I’m okay with that.” He said, looking over to winged-man.

They all turned back to Grian, with Xisuma stepping up, not too close, in case he was still scared of them.

“How would you like to join us, Grian?” He asked.

Grian looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“What I mean is, how would you feel joining our group, and leaving this place?”

“...leave..?” He asked, even more confused, albeit slightly intrigued.

“Yeah, our group go around, world to world, exploring,” Xisuma explained, “When we enter a world, we build our bases, and do our thing. And, when it’s time to move, we leave. Sometimes people in our group decide to stay, and we let them. So, if you want, once the void matter that makes up the portals we use replenish, you can leave with us.”

Grian seemed to process this.

“..you’d just.. let me join you?” He asked.

Xisuma nodded.

“If you want to.” He said.

Grian thought for a bit, before nodding.

“Alright, I’ll join you..” He said.

Xisuma grinned, though his helmet covered that; and stepped closer to him, holding his hand up to him.

Grian started at the hand, before slowly grabbing at it. Xisuma pulled him up, before shaking his hand.

“Welcome to the Hermits, Grian.” He said.

The other three walked up to him, and shook his hand.

“Come on, let’s go tell the others!” Iskall said, grinning, which caused Grian to still a bit.

“..others?”

[zallano]

The HereAfter, Chapter 8

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, read on AO3!

Entire Chapter undercut

--

Each second there would be another tick. With each tick, Grian would feel immense pain. The ticking overworked his mind and he could no longer handle it. His legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground. Xisuma quickly pulled the clock out of his grasp. Fortunately, the clock didn't bother him at all. It was like any other clock. He stuffed the clock into his enderchest in attempt to stop any of its effects that were messing with Grian’s capability.

This wasn’t good.

-

“-Tango…?” Zedaph stared at the yellow words on his T-Chat. He felt the weight of the words in his chest. He nearly dropped the device. “Where did you-“ his voice trailed off. Zed was currently standing outside his shop. Tango ‘leaving the world’ was the most unexpected thing to happen. It was, up until now, just like any ordinary day. The sun was going to set in a few hours, it was a bit humid from rain during the night, though the sun was bright and the sky was blue. Nothing seemed wrong and it for sure didn’t seem like a day where anything bad would happen.

Tango was just here with Zed a mere second ago. He said that he had something to show and that he would only be a minute- but that was before the yellow text appeared.

The T-Chat flooded with messages though Zed didn’t pay attention to them. He walked away from the shop and began looking for Tango. He looked everywhere. Behind shops, in shops, under shops- above shops. No sign of Tango. Zedaph hoped that this was just some silly prank Tango was pulling on him and that he would show up any second now.

“Tango?? It’s funny- nice trick- haha- I’m laughing-“ the tone of his voice did not portray joy. He was worried sick. “but- where did you go?” He called out. He leaned against Scar’s crossbow shop and waited to get an answer. He flicked the T-Chat back on.

Zedaph: Anyone see Tango???

A few hermits replied no. Others continued with the previous conversations and didn’t seem to notice Zed’s message. Xisuma was currently explaining that the yellow text was not a bug in the t-chat that he knew of and that it shouldn’t be possible, and that if Tango found a feature in the system that he should come out from where he was hiding immediately. Iskall talked about Mumbo passing out. Others questioned where Tango had gone.

“Zedaph!” yelled a voice. Zed turned around. Impulse was running toward him. “What happened?” He stopped a few blocks away. “Where did Tango go?” He questioned. Zed frowned. “I- don’t know- I swear he was just with me! He just vanished!” Zedaph croaked out, his voice was dry and he hadn’t realized the tears forming in his eyes.

Was his friend gone-?

Xisumavoid: Guys. The torches are out again.

All the torches in the shopping district had stopped admitting light. Zedaph hadn't noticed until now. The torches were still lit, though the flames were useless. Impulse sighed. “We have to get out of here before night. We don’t want mobs spawning and destroying the place.” He muttered. Zedaph nodded and followed Impulse to the nether hub.

Were they still Team ZIT without Tango?

—

Shortly after Xisuma had discarded the clock into the void of the chest, Grian began to stir. It took a few seconds before he fully opened his eyes and pushed himself off of the sand. He dusted the sand out of his hair before noticing Xisuma again.

“What happened?” He asked. Xisuma paused for a moment, not sure if he wanted to say or not. He stared at the ground. “Check your T-Chat,” was all that he said. He seemed to still be shocked about what had happened.

Grian’s blue eye lit up slightly as he read through the previous messages. Memories that occurred right before his blackout came rushing back to him the moment he read the yellow text.

“Oh no-“ Grian realized what had happened. He knew exactly what happened. “Tango didn’t-“ he paused. Before Xisuma asked anything he continued. “Where’s the clock??” He looked around frantically for the blue object. “Relax, I put it away in my EnderChest. It shouldn’t bother you now, right?”

Grian shook his head ‘no’. The clock didn’t disappear, that was a good thing- possibly. He quickly read through the chat messages again. Zedaph explained what had happened and Grian stared at the floor. His hands gripped around his clock and he felt tears run down his cheek. Droplets fell onto the sand below. This situation was just like-

Just like before.

Grian mumbled something. “What was that?” X asked. Grian looked up at him. His red and blue eyes shimmered with tears. He coughed before speaking again.  

“Tango isn’t coming back.”

—

Mumbo groaned and rolled over in the sand. Iskall stared at him worryingly. “Hey dude, you okay?” He asked. Mumbo muttered something incoherent into the sand as a reply. He twisted and turned before sitting upright. His head hurt as if he had just fallen and hit something. “My head hurts.” He repeated. “Yeah, I'm sure it does. You took a gnarly fall from up there and got knocked out cold,” Iskall joked, referring to Mumbo’s insane height.

Mumbo didn’t reply and Iskall frowned slightly. His joke did not lighten things up. He sighed. “There’s been a lot happening lately. While you were unconscious- one of the hermits ‘left the world’.” Iskall told him.

“That’s an issue I assume?” Mumbo looked at his Redstone stained hands. “Yeah, it’s a pretty big issue. This doesn’t happen- or it hasn’t happened, not until now.” Iskall continued.

Mumbo glanced over at the Redstone contraptions. The loud ticking had stopped. “Did you hear it?” He glanced over at Iskall. “Did you hear the clock when I was out?” He asked. Iskall frowned and shook his head. “I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Though it’s probably no coincidence that both you and Grian passed out when Tango- the hermit- left.”

The clock on the string ticked slowly. “What are we going to do then?” He stood up. He tried dusting the Redstone off his pants but the dust on his hands only transferred over. The other shrugged. “Some hermits are looking for him. I think I’ll go join in actually-“ Iskall glanced at his T-Chat for a few seconds and Mumbo nodded in understanding.

“Glad to have gotten to know you better, Mumbo. If you see a guy with red eyes and blonde hair, say something in the chat.” He took out some rockets. Mumbo waved goodbye slightly before Iskall took off.

‘Alone again,’ He thought. Though that was something he was used to. Mumbo stood up and looked around his island. He saw something shimmer in his peripheral vision. When he turned to get a better look at it, the shimmer disappeared.

—-

It had been a few days since Tango had disappeared. Most of the Hermits spent each day looking for him. The remaining Team ZIT members wouldn’t stop searching for anything. Impulse and Zedaph flooded the chat with messages directed for Tango to come back. They refused to believe that their friend truly did leave the world but instead sent a fancy message and was hiding somewhere.

Grian went out searching with Doc and Ren but never went out again. Doc reported that when Grian left his base in search for Tango he acted strangely. Mumbo never left his island. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the Tango situation- but he was slightly scared of becoming food for the Drowned and he had spent so long trying to get to his island, he never wanted to leave. However, he kept a sharp eye for someone that fit the description of Tango.

The other hermits were beginning to lose hope. Groups returned home sooner than later and others stopped going out at all. Eventually, Zed and Impulse had to stop because they needed sleep. Tango disappearing had really taken a toll on Hermitcraft.

It wasn’t long until everyone received a message from X in their T-Chat.

Xisumavoid: Hello everyone, I believe today is the day where we must say goodbye to Tango

Xisumavoid: Please meet me at the shopping district. I have built an area for us all

Mumbo stared at the messages in the small box. He knew he should attend but even if he left now, he wouldn’t be able to make it in time.

MumboJumbo: Sorry, I can’t make it. I’m too far away and can’t leave

He felt sorry. The hermits probably hated him for not joining in on helping to find Tango, and now they most likely hated him even more because he couldn’t even make it the shopping district.

Grian: Why didn’t you say anything before? I can help you

It only took minutes before Mumbo heard the firing of rockets above his head. Grian landed in the sand next to the Redstone. Mumbo looked over. Grian tossed him an elytra and a few rockets. He picked them up stared at the items, finally able to take a look at them himself. “You- expect me to fly there-? Like how you do?” Mumbo asked quietly, unsure if he was even capable of putting the wings on yet alone launch himself into the sky. Grain nodded. “Yeah, I think you can do it. I mean you can barely run- but- I’m sure you can figure it out,” he smiled politely.

Mumbo traced over the feathers of the elytra. He shook his head. “I can’t do it- I don’t know how,” he gave the items back to Grian. Grian sighed. “Thought you might say that. Maybe we can try another day. Here,” he dropped a boat onto the sand. “How did you make that?” Mumbo asked waking over. He picked up the boat and it disappeared into his inventory.

“Actually,” Grian flicked through his own inventory. Seconds later he held an odd-looking green book. “This book is pretty interesting. It shows recipes for items,” he tossed it onto the ground. Mumbo picked it up and opened it. He turned the pages and looked through all different sorts of craftable items. “Woah.. this is exactly what I needed. Where did you get this?” Mumbo looked over at Grian and the other shrugged. “I’ve always had it,”

Grian looked over in the direction of the shopping district and pointed. “Just place the boat into the water and head that way. I’ll see you soon,” he saluted before heading off into the sky toward that direction.

Mumbo put the book at the top of his inventory next to his rose before walking over to the beach. He looked into the water and saw his reflection. He looked so tired and dull. He rubbed his eyes though it didn’t help. He placed the boat into the water and got in.

-

Most, if not all, the hermits gathered around a clearing in the far side of the shopping district. Stress had dug a small hole and replaced the dirt with gravel and Joe made the situation even more painfully real by placing a stone wall and sign with “RIP Tango” at the end.

The group talked quietly among themselves. They all silently hoped that Tango would appear out of nowhere and that everything would be fine. However, as the day went on it was clear he wasn’t going to come back.

Xisuma stood behind the makeshift grave and talked first. One by one each of the hermits took his place and said something about Tango, rather than be a fond memory of something they did together, or describing him and what he’d achieved in Hermitcraft. Everyone seemed sad though no one shed any tears. Soon, it was Mumbo’s turn.

Mumbo walked over to the gravel. He stared at the tiny grey pebbles and stone wall. The wooden sign gave him an uneasy feeling and he couldn’t help but feel that this was all his fault. He sighed, feeling uncomfortable standing in front of a group where he only knew about five people by name.

“I never met Tango, though, how you all describe him, he sounds like a very funny person. It’s a shame that he’s gone, and I wish I could say more-“ he opened his inventory and took out the Rose Away From Home. “In honor of Tango, may he Rest In Peace, wherever that may be.” He placed the rose down next to the stone wall and stepped back, returning to the crowd. Everyone else lowered their head and no one else said a word.

As if it was planned, the clouds above crackled and it began to rain. It had been gloomy all day, figuratively and literally, so it came as no surprise to anyone. Most of the Hermits took the rain as a cue to leave and return home. Zedaph and Impulse were the only remaining hermits.

-

Grian and Mumbo walked toward the beach together without saying a word. Grian had been particularly quiet- more than anyone else. The two stood in the sand together. The rain poured down but they didn’t care. It made no difference. Mumbo stared at his boat that was dragged up onto the shore and Grian stared at his clock.

“I know what happened to him,” he suddenly spoke.

Mumbo looked over. “Hm? You do?” He asked. Grian nodded. “Or at least I think so-“ he trailed off. Mumbo waited for him to continue. Grian traced his fingers around his clock before speaking again. “I found this clock in my world. I thought it looked cool so I put it on.. it didn’t do anything for a while. I took it off freely but then a few days after I found it, I tried to take it off to hang on my door, it wouldn’t leave me. I would take it off and it would appear in my pocket or back around my neck. It wasn’t a big deal until later that night-“ he coughed, trying to keep himself from getting emotional.

Mumbo laid a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to tell me,” he said quietly and the other nodded slightly. “No, it’s okay. I just haven’t said anything about- what happened- since it happened.” He sighed.

“It wasn’t bad or anything. I went out exploring with some friends and when we got really far out- it was night so we had to sleep. We didn’t want to deal with any Phantoms or any other mobs so we went to bed. The world- glitched- during the night- and when I woke up- I was here. Seeing how we all are dealing with Tango’s disappearance only makes me think of how my friends and family reacted to my own absence-“ he let go of his clock and hugged himself. “I miss them a lot..”

Mumbo nodded sadly. “I’m sorry that happened,” he looked back toward the ocean. His own hands reached his clock. “I got my clock years ago. It was one of the first- ‘things’ I found in the Far Lands-“ Mumbo paused. “In my world, there are these walls- I believe they can even be so-called ‘glitches’ of the world. I call them the Far Lands. They’re really weird- sometimes they’re cool but other times they’re incredibly dangerous and I’ve died to them many times. I’ve only found them when I’m not looking for them… so I still don’t entirely understand them.” He sighed.

“I can’t remember the first time I found them- but it wasn’t good at all. The first half of my life is a blur- but- my second time finding the Far Lands this clock was-“ Mumbo got cut off. “In a crater?” Grian finished his sentence. Mumbo blinked before nodding. “Yeah- it was. Was yours?” He asked and Grian nodded as well.

“When I grabbed the clock I put it on. I had no idea what it was- as clocks didn’t exist for a while.. when I put it on I could take it off for a few days and it was super useful knowing when I should start returning home or- when I can leave my night shelters.” He paused. “After a few days though, like you, I couldn’t take it off. It wasn’t a big deal and was really helpful knowing when I died I wouldn’t lose it. The clock was amazing for years. Although- I can’t help but feel upset or even angry at it- as if I’m mad at it for taking something from me but I don’t know what it took- it’s only a clock.” Mumbo stared at the sun in the clock. This wasn’t only a clock.

“Fast forward many years later and I find the Far Lands again.. they’re terrifying. I can’t remember why they’re terrifying. All I can remember is something being taken, my mind getting messed with while I’m there, and death. I always end up dying when I went there. And I died- again- but when I respawned... I respawned here.” Mumbo let go of his clock and looked around. Grian hummed.

“I think Tango found a clock. He put it on, then took it off. He was going to get it back to show Zedaph- but I bet he couldn’t take it off. Then-“ Grian paused. “Then the world glitched when I- when something happened- because the lights glitched- and then he vanished,” Grian stated. “Tango is trapped in another world like we’re trapped here,” Mumbo put two and two together and Grian nodded.

“Exactly- and I’ve spent months here. I know that there isn’t a way back. Tango isn’t coming back.” Grian stared out into the ocean. The rain caused larger waves than usual and it looked like chaos. The two were now completely soaked. Mumbo felt melancholic as he stared out into the ocean with his friend.

Tango really did leave the world.

[maryqueenofmurder]

Chapter One.  First Chapter is a Cliffhanger, Ex is Monotonous.

@ihavenoconsistentname and @kool-aidd sorry if you guys have seen this already I just noticed that tumblr messed up the font on this, and I’m fixing it.  A lot of it didn’t make sense without the font, so you couldn’t tell who was talking.

——————————————————————————————

Ex had thought that today would be a normal day.  He couldn’t have been more wrong.  It had started out as normal.  He had woken up on the floor, in his designated sleeping spot.  He slept on the floor because beds didn’t work in the Nether.  The floor wasn’t anywhere near as comfortable as a bed however, and he woke up with aches and pains all the time.  He was used to it however, and doing stretches helped.

There wasn’t really anywhere more comfortable than the floor to sleep without running the risk of mobs.  This was because all the floor in Ex’s house was made of nether brick.  The base itself looked small from the outside.  It was built into the side of a cliff, and expanded much farther than expected.  This might be because of all the free time Ex had.  He liked to maximize his time, and do as much as he possibly could.  It helped keep his mind off things.  Like how hot it was.  Or how lonely he was.  Or if his joints hurt.

‘I wonder how much of the pain is from sleeping in my armour?  It’s not like I have anything else to wear, and I need to wear my armour all the time.’  Ex considered.  Now that would be just perfect.  He couldn’t take his helmet off because the air in the Nether and the overworld had too much oxygen and dust particles. The Nether air was also quite bit poisonous.  Not enough to bother anyone who didn’t live in the Nether, but enough that he, who stayed in the Nether 24/7, had to wear his armour all the time or his skin would melt off.

That was not a pretty picture.  If melted skin and melted internal organs didn’t heal when you respawn then Ex could get stuck in an infinite loop of death.  He would probably die of like, axyphisation or too much oxygen, or dust filling his lungs first.  Either way, not a good idea, and certainly deadly.  That’s the price to pay for being banned from the overworld.

‘Sometimes I miss the overworld.  Actual sunlight, nature, and fresh air.  Even if there is too much oxygen to breathe without a helmet.  I also miss people, I’m lonely here all by myself…’  Ex’s eyes widened.  This was why he preferred to spend his time working.  Less totally false intrusive thoughts.

Ex got up, harvested part of his nether wart farm, as the whole thing was much too large to harvest in one go.  He checked his chest, noting that he needed more soul sand, and then replanted the part of the farm he harvested.  Ex then left to go mine some more.  He was building a base under the lava, and he needed to get nether bricks to make nether brick fences, which would keep the lava out.  The outer walls and possibly the ceiling were going to be made out of nether brick fences to display the lava outside better.

Ex lived alone, and no-one ever visited him, so he was very surprised and more than a little bit confused when he got a message.  It was on his standard communicator, which everyone got when they switched worlds.  Even people who weren’t strictly supposed to be on the server.  Even stranger, this was a private message.  Which meant that only Ex and the sender could see it.  Who would send him a message?  And a private one at that?

Right, he got a message.  Seeing the sender’s name was enough to make him wary.  Xisuma.  Ex liked Xisuma.   Despite having banned him, Xisuma let him stay in the Nether.  Even after he tried to destroy the server.  Multiple times.  Xisuma didn’t talk to him much normally, however.  Whenever they talked it was in person, anyway.  So when Ex opened the message, he opened it with trepidation.  It was two words long.

Xisumavoid whispered to Evil Xisuma:  I’m sorry.

Ex’s head shot up from where he had been staring at his communicator.  He looked around worriedly.  There was nothing besides the odd zombie pigman and a ghast or two in the immediate vicinity.  He didn’t see anything wrong…?  So what could Xisuma have been apologizing for?  What Xisuma do?

Maybe Xisuma sent it to the wrong person.  That had to be what had happened.  It was the most reasonable answer, at least.   Even though it was a private message, and would have been nearly impossible to mess up.  It still had to be a mistake, right?  ‘What did he do?  What did I do?  WHY IS THIS HAPPENING.’

Things had a bad habit of going terrible for Ex.  Ex chose to ignore this fact, and instead worked on calming his racing heart.  Everything was fine.  Everything was a-ok.  Besides being stuck in the Nether.  Things were fine.  At least, as fine as it could be for Ex.  Nothing bad was going to happen.

Then, suddenly, without a bang, without a pop, and without any kind of warning, Ex wasn’t in the Nether anymore.  What there was, however, was his helmet, sitting on the Nether floor, and a message in the admin chat.

Xisumavoid banned Evil Xisuma.

——————————————————————————————

Xisuma’s day had started normally.  Get up from AFK’ing at a farm, work on a project.  Maybe fix a glitch or two.  So when the void came to him, panicked, he had no idea what was going on.  Especially because the void never panicked.  He’d been walking through the shopping district, on his way to Tek to the Skies.  Then he’d felt the freezing cold that meant the void was summoning him.

Xisuma barely had the few seconds he needed to sit down.  He always passed out when the Void talked to him, and now was no different.   Xisuma met the Void in the strange dimension… mindscape?  They always ended up at.  Xisuma looked around at the place, as he always did.   The stars shone particularly bright, before fading out of existence, as they always did.  Somehow it stayed ethereal and beautiful each and every time he saw it.

“Why did you call me here?”  Xisuma called out, his voice immediately swallowed by space.  The false Void has come for your brother.  Ban him!  Permanently.  The Void spoke in his head.  “Wait, what?  False Void?  Ban Ex?”  Xisuma prodded nervously.  Ex was his favorite brother!  Well, he was his only brother, but he liked Ex!  He was never seriously trying to destroy the server!  Right?  Even if he was, he was downright terrible at it.  And what did the Void mean, False Void? And it was coming for his brother!  Then the Void spoke again.

I… for lack of a better word, was split.  When you fell in the void and spawned Evil Xisuma I, too, was split.  Not equally, less than half went to the false Void.  It wants to kill… dissolve? Me.  It wants me gone.  And if you and I are mirrored in the split, then Evil Xisuma and the false Void are also reflections.  The false Void believes that by working with your brother they can both enact revenge.  Thus, by perma-banning him you put him in my sphere of influence, so I can keep the false Void away from him.  Otherwise they will likely team up to destroy us and the server.

“Do you really think this is the only way?  I think Ex is over destroying the server.”  The false Void will likely imply a sense of comradery, or appeal to how they are alike each other.  He will see himself as he used to be, and want to help the false Void.  Ban him.  The false Void will be coming soon.  Very soon.

Xisuma woke up in the Overworld, nothing left of his visit with the Void but a lingering cold deep in his bones, and anxiety.  He looked around at the server.  He couldn’t let this be destroyed.  He opened his admin screens, invisible and intangible to anyone except him and other admins.  Xisuma sent Ex a message.

Xisumavoid whispered to Evil Xisuma:  I’m sorry.

There.  At least Ex would know he didn’t want to do this.  Xisuma took a deep breath, and perma-banned Ex.  Maybe this would blow over really quickly and he could un-ban Ex fast.  The only reason it needed to be a perma-ban was because Ex could eventually escape a normal ban.  He turned around and headed back home, glad for his helmet, as it meant no one could see his tears.  The only thing left was a message in the admin chat.

Xisumavoid banned Evil Xisuma.

[spruceplank]

Here is Home

Impulse isn't anything special. He does his job in simple but effective ways just like the machines he builds. He can't do anything special. He isn't anything special. So he keeps working until he breaks. And when he breaks, it's not a simple fix. When he breaks, he breaks beyond repair.

Warnings for: Temporary character death, starvation, and overworking to death

Fic below read more and ao3 link in the replies! (8955 words)

Tango is like fire. He's warm and bright. Strength visible even when the embers smolder down under the weight of the world. A comfortable warmth and the crackle of burning logs of a fire in the winter. He should burn with every touch he gives but instead there's only warmth seeping through his fingertips like lava flowing down a mountain side at every passing touch.

Zedaph is like the wind. Soft and gentle summer breezes yet also fierce and howling storms. Ever changing and shifting through anything to reach his goals. Pushing anything and anyone forward with ease, his strength unwavering just as his faith. At his softest he eases calmness into weary souls and at his most energetic he's a whirlwind dragging the world with him.

Impulse isn't anything special. He can't provide strength through words alone. He can't do fancy tricks with his creations or build amazing things that make people stare in awe. His machines simply do their job just as he does. Working until soreness is so deep in his bones he would feel off without the constant background aching. He works and works to even measure up to being a fraction of what the others can be. Toiling away at perfect farms with exactly just the right amount of productivity to be simple but still effective. He builds farms as easily as he could build a crafting table at this point. The repetitive labor and click of redstone signals make him feel as if maybe he's doing something good enough to measure up to the others. Maybe this will be enough.

But it's never enough. Not when he looks at the desert he helped Bdubs and Tango to level out for Cub. Where there's now a massive pyramid full of mini games that only seems to grow by the day. Not when he enters the shopping district and sees grass where mycelium used to be. Where there's mini diamonds hanging from the trees and the diamond throne looming over him from town hall. Not when he sees the other's builds, with their massive scale and detailed nature.

He shifts his entire base one block and even though it takes hours and hours of work it feels like nothing compared to what he's seen the others make. He builds more and more farms so he doesn't have to think about that. He only works and works until he runs out of blocks. Then he gathers more resources then he'll ever reasonably need and works until those are gone too.

Tango and Zedaph come over and force him to sleep occasionally but he usually doesn't sleep long to begin with. There's too much work he has to do. Sometimes he doesn't even know what he's working on anymore. What's even the point? But he doesn't stop and think about it. He only works harder. He's nothing special, just like the machines he builds. He does his job in simple but effective ways. He works and works and works some more. His bed remains untouched and his food supply runs dangerously low but he doesn't pay any mind to those. He still has more work he needs to do. He always has work he needs to do.

He isn't anything special. He can't fly as if it's second nature like Grian can. He can't build castles on cliff tops that look as if they're paintings like Bdubs can. He can't tune note blocks so they play songs in a constant flow of melodies like Etho can. He can't craft art from blank sheets like Beef can. He can't make armor stands into scenes of life like Cleo can. He can't spin words and wisdom into poetry like Joe can. He can't wield a sword as easily as breathing like False and Wels can. He can't do anything special. So he keeps working.

He doesn't realize he isn't like his machines until it's too late. His machines aren't alive, they don't need to do anything other than work. He isn't like his machines at all. His machines run and could run forever if he needed them to. He had forgotten he can't do the same. He can break. And when he breaks, it's not a simple fix. When he breaks, he breaks beyond repair.

.

ImpulseSV died of starvation

TangoTek: Impulse buddy? You good?

Renthedog: Did you forget to grab more food when you grabbed more supplies or something dude?

FalseSymmetry: Should someone go check on him?

Iskall85: Probably should, it's not like any of us should starve to death.

StressMonster101: Iskall's right, there's never a shortage of food on this server why would he have died from starvation?

Zedaph: Impulse? You there?

iJevin: Would he have dropped his communicator before respawning?

Cubfan135: He would've respawned with it if that were the case.

Grian: Impulse? Can you tell us you're at least reading these?

GoodtimeswithScar: Who's the closest to his base?

.

Whisper from TangoTek: Imp? Buddy? You okay? You're kind of freakin me out with the silence act.

Whisper from Zedaph: Impy please respond you're worrying me.

.

XisumaVoid: I'll teleport over to him since he seems to not be answering give me a moment.

MumboJumbo: What are the odds he just has his communicator on silent?

Docm77: When you respawn it automatically shuts that off, it can't be on silent.

.

Teleport XisumaVoid to ImpulseSV

Teleport failed

Teleport ImpulseSV to XisumaVoid

Teleport failed

.

XisumaVoid: Whoever is near Impulse's base head there now I can't teleport

iJevin: On my way

Keralis: Shishwammy can't teleport?

XisumaVoid: Something in the code is glitched, but for the life of me I can't see anything wrong with it

iJevin: Uh X I need you here now

.

Teleport XisumaVoid to iJevin

.

TangoTek: X? Is Imp okay?

Zedaph: Jevin? What's going on?

iJevin: He isn't here

Bdouble0: I'm in the shopping district should I go look for him?

iJevin: No, his stuff is here, but he isn't

ZombieCleo: What does that mean?

XisumaVoid: It means he didn't respawn

__

There's nothing. He's aware of nothing and knows of nothing. He merely exists. He thinks he should be somewhere but he doesn't know where. He doesn't have the energy to figure it out. He should just go back to sleep. That's what he'd been doing right? That's what he should do. He should sleep. There isn't anything else he needs to do. He isn't anyone who needs to be anywhere. He can simply sleep.

"What in the… What are you doing here?"

There's a voice. It's familiar but different. Rougher, sadder, more tired than it should be. He thinks he knows the voice. But he doesn't know who. He doesn't have the energy to place the voice to a name. He doesn't even have a name.

"Hey, Hey…… Wake up…… Hey…….. Wake up……"

He can't wake up. There's no need for him to be awake. He doesn't need to wake up. There's no reason for him to keep going. He doesn't serve any purpose. He doesn't do anything necessary. He isn't anyone special.

"Dammit you're really going to make me take you back myself aren't you?"

He doesn't have anywhere he needs to be. He doesn't belong anywhere. He isn't anyone special.

"When X bans me again, I will find a way around it to come make your life miserable."

Someone grabs him. He didn't realize he was simply floating until now. There's something hard yet slightly warm beneath him. Arms under him that hold him up. He feels weightless as he did before. He doesn't have any reason to fight. He simply doesn't care enough to move.

"You're lucky my brother is too much of a derp to realize he needs to ban me again to keep me out of the new world."

Brother? He doesn't know anyone with a brother. Actually he doesn't know anyone at all. He doesn't know anyone or anything. He simply is and that's all there is to know. It's easiest this way. Simple yet effective.

"I don't know what you managed to do that's caused you to wind up like this but if I have to deal with my brother and your friends asking me thirty thousand questions you owe me another one on top of this for bringing you back."

His friends? What is a friend? Does he have those? And bring him back where? He's already where he needs to be. He doesn't need to do anything or be anyone. He is simply here. He can just sleep.

"You really are all perfect for each other huh? Just a bunch of derps. I'm taking your things for the headache dealing with the rest of your derp family is going to give me when I had no part in this."

His family? He didn't have a family. He was alone.

"Forget it, clearly your code is more messed up than even I thought it was finding you in the void."

His code? The void? Nothing made sense. The arms under him gripped him tighter against a hard surface. It should hurt shouldn't it? Yet it was familiar in a comforting way. He could hear a steady beat echoing in his mind. He should go back to sleep. The arms around him tightened but only silence answered him as he finally drifted away.

__

"Exy!" Zedaph calls delighted at the man's sudden appearance. His delight crumbles into fear as he notices the sleeping figure in Ex's arms.

Though he momentarily hesitates, Ex simply forces his nerves away with an eye roll and snaps at the blonde, "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"Ex, how, how are you here?" Xisuma stares at his brother in bewildered confusion. He had banned Ex hasn't he? But seeing his brother walk in with the very person he's been unable to find any trace of is a weight off his shoulders he didn't know was settling there.

"You didn't ban me from this world." Ex states as if it was that simple.

Tango ignores X's gaping, Zedaph's silent fear and pushes forward towards Ex. He glances at the still form of his best friend asleep and dead to the world before looking up at Ex. Tango's voice wavers between disbelief and hope as he asks, "How did you find him?"

"You said he wasn't where he should be so I looked in the place where things wind up when they don't know where else to go." Ex explains. He stands awkwardly in the doorway. Not quite moving forward into the room but not running away.

"You can read chat?" Xisuma questions.

"The place where things wind up when they don't know where else to go?" Zedaph asks right after. Both of them turn to look at each other before facing back to Ex with unreadable expressions.

"I can do all the things you can do Xisuma, don't tell me you've forgotten." Ex explains without actually answering. He sighs like it's enough to hide his feelings on the situation when he begrudgingly answers Zedaph, "Yes when things don't know where else to go they all end up in the same place."

"But you haven't done anything -" Xisuma starts but Ex is tired of this already.

"Because I don't want to do anything. I wouldn't even be here if I hadn't found one of your derpy friends lost in the void." Ex pushed back, voice raised over his brother’s. The two stare at each other as if having a silent conversation when Tango speaks up.

"The void? Why was Imp there?" Tango pushes looking between the two brothers.

"It's where things that have nowhere else to go wind up." Ex explains as if the answer is as simple as he puts it.

Zedaph stutters before anxiously speaking, "But he has a place, he has a home here. How did-"

"Ask him not me. I simply found him and brought him back." Ex states calmly over where Zedaph nervously trails off.

"Why though?" Xisuma questions like he's unsure if the person before him is actually Ex.

Ex rolls his eyes but answers his brother all the same, "Because he's just as much of a derp as you are and the void isn't a place for any human."

"But you were in the void." Zedaph counters, voice laced with worry.

"And I'm not human, don't lump me in with the rest of you derps." Ex complains.

Tango looks between the man in the entryway and his friend dead asleep to the world with worry, "Why didn't he respawn? Why won't he wake up?"

"His code's all glitched. Something went wrong somewhere. That or he didn't want to respawn." Ex answers Tango's questions though he faces Xisuma as he speaks.

"Can you fix the code?" Zedaph asks, voice hopeful.

Ex rolls his eyes at the blonde, "Not my job besides I don't have the right things I'd need to do it anyways. That's all on Xisuma."

Xisuma seems to relax for the first time since Ex appeared. He looks between his hermits and his brother who carries the sleeping form of another hermit gently yet protectively and makes his decision, "It would go loads faster if you stayed and helped me Ex."

"Like I said not my job." Ex pushes, eyes wary.

"Please help fix Impulse Exy." Zedaph pleads with hopeful eyes.

"I told you not to call me that!" Ex yells sharply but there's no threat behind his words.

"Just give it a rest Exy, it's not changing." Tango chimes in with a smile.

"You're both insufferable." Ex groans but doesn't move even as the other two surge forward to his side.

"And yet you still hang out with us." Zedaph comments cheerfully as he flutters to Ex's side and looks sadly at his friend who sleeps undisturbed by their conversation.

"Come on you three, let's move over towards the bed to work so we can let Impulse sleep while me and Ex work." Xisuma says, already walking the other way. Despite all of the hesitation before, Ex moves to follow without thinking.

"Wait, why are we coming there?" Tango questions looking between the two brothers confused.

"Because you two are going to tell me when and how you managed to get Ex to be your friend. I certainly don't remember this in the past." Xisuma informs his hermits with gentle warmth in his voice. He crosses the room without hesitation but rather new found confidence with the others not far behind.

"Wait why isn't Exy telling you?" Zedaph argues half heartedly. Fluttering along next to Ex with occasional glances at Impulse.

"He wouldn't tell me even if I threatened him." Xisuma says as if the answer is that simple. He stops on the other side of the bed they crossed the room towards, not paying attention to the others as the approach but rather pulling up screens of code at his fingertips.

With the same care he used carrying the man, Ex bends over to rest Impulse on the bed. At Xisuma's comment, Ex snorts, "What do you know, you can learn."

"Not even back five minutes and I already regret ever missing you." Xisuma fires back. His fingers dancing over holographic screens as numbers and letters blink in and out of sight.

"You missed me?" Ex asks warily, voice betraying him as it wavers. Vulnerable for a moment before it's gone again behind false bravado.

"Come on let's begin." Xisuma states, dodging the question. Fingers flick screens over the bed to his brother without hesitation.

"Just going to ignore the question? Rude, I can't believe I missed you too." Ex retorts, fingers already moving across the screens before he’s even finished talking.

"I didn't think you were capable of such." Xisuma fires back though there’s no heat to his words. There’s screens appearing and reappearing beneath his fingertips as he bickers with his brother. Occasionally he’ll swipe a few over to Ex who merely catches them with practiced ease.

Ex sighs, "You are just as insufferable as they are. Now are we fixing this or not?"

"Careful brother, someone might think you care." Xisuma comments, though his face is hidden by his helmet, it's easy to hear the smile in his voice.

"I hate all of you." Ex grumbles as he works.

"We love you too." Zedaph interjects smiling as he and Tango watch the scene in front of them with awe.

The two continue to work in the silence that comes to rest over the room. To Xisuma’s side another window pops up as Tango pulls out his communicator to update the others.

.

TangoTek: Good news Impulse will hopefully be okay

WelsKnight: Why does it feel like there’s a catch?

TangoTek: Well the bad news is I can’t say for certain yet

FalseSymmetry: But you guys found him?

TangoTek: Yeah he’s here

GoodtimeswithScar: How did you find him?

TangoTek: We didn’t, Ex did

Cubfan135: Ex? He’s here?

Zedaph: Yeah Exy’s here helping Xisuma

Iskall85: Exy? And you lived?

Renthedog: Only you Zedaph, only you

Docm77: X is okay with this?

Grian: Wait who’s Exy?

TangoTek: Exy or Ex is X’s brother

Joehills: Oh its brother now?

Bdouble0: But Impulse will be okay?

Zedaph: Hopefully!

Keralis: :D

Zedaph: :D

.

“If all of your hermits start calling me Exy I’m going to smite you all to the void.” Ex pipes up despite having not looked away from the screens in front of him.

“Your threats would hold a lot more weight if I couldn’t tell you were lying.” Xisuma points out, barely hiding his amusement.

Ex merely sighs deeper before grumbling, “Your ban would’ve been a lot more effective if you had kept me in the void rather than simply keeping me out of that world.”

For once Xisuma actually stops working. His fingers pause mid motion as the screens all slightly lower with his hands and he looks at Ex. He looks at his brother and carefully says, “That was never the reason for banning you and you know it.”

Ex however doesn’t stop working as he talks, “So you knew it was there.”

“Not until it was too late.” Xisuma slowly moves the screens back up and begins to work again. There’s a hesitation in his movements though and many unsaid things hang heavy in the air between the two brothers. Xisuma’s own regrets and sorrows smack dab in the middle as his voice nearly wavers.

“And when it mistook me for you?” Ex questions, still not looking up from where his fingers fly across screens.

Xisuma pauses again. He pauses and looks down at the ground, voice tight with remorse as he says, “I didn’t have any other solution.”

“You are the worst at dealing with your emotions, you know that?” Ex pushes several screens over to Xisuma but he pauses to look at his brother before going back to work for just a moment.

“You’re one to talk.” Xisuma fires back, fingers already zipping across the screens once more.

Ex pauses now. In a true mirror of his brother he looks anywhere but Xisuma before finally facing forward and questioning, “Did it ever-”

“Find? No, no it didn’t thankfully.” Xisuma cuts off with a short nod. Ex’s shoulders sag a little like he’s lost some of the tension he - no doubtly holds on his shoulders just as Xisuma does.

“Well at least that's one less thing to worry about.” Ex admits sounding almost relieved. The two work in silence for another minute or so longer until Ex stops suddenly with a whispered curse under his breath.

Xisuma’s eyes snap up to his brother, “Did you find what’s causing this?”

“Yes and you’re not going to like it.” Ex admits hesitantly, his fingers hovering over screens but not pushing them over.

“Let me see…” Xisuma trails off as he waves the screens over to himself, dismissing the others to the side. He reads whatever is on the screen quickly before sucking in a large breath and stuttering out, “...Oh my goodness me… how did you?”

“You got the same thing before you know.” Ex informs Xisuma like the knowledge they’re sharing is somehow dangerous.

“I did?” Xisuma questions.

Ex sighs, “Ages ago, but yes, you did.”

“But you fixed it, can you do it again?” Xisuma pushes, voice wavering slightly as he nearly pleads out right.

Ex shakes his head, “No I can’t, but you and your little hermits can.”

For the first time in several days, Xisuma breathes a sigh of relief, “Well I certainly don’t know enough about that to lead it well, you’ll just have to stay here and help me.”

Tango groans loudly. Interrupting whatever the two brothers would have continued to dance around with his dramatic gestures and loud accusations, “You two are the worst brothers ever! Can you not just say what you mean to one another and get it over with?! Or do you always have to speak in riddles around each other? Just tell him you want him to stay X!”

Xisuma recoils slightly at Tango’s accusations but attempts to stand his ground, "Tango you-"

Zedaph however is having none of it as well, "Exy would stay if you asked him to stay sincerely Xisuma. I know he missed you as much as you missed him."

They’re all interrupted when Ex barks out a laugh, "Your little hermits will never cease to amaze me with just how nosy they can be 'Suma."

"Well someone has to keep X from getting too lonely! We all know he'd never say anything on his own!" Tango grins widely at the brothers like he’s proud of this knowledge. As if it's something he will personally fix.

"Yeah! Just like you Exy!" Zedaph agrees with his own grin to the two brothers.

Ex glares at the two hermits and deadpan says, I'm going to smite you both."

Tango just laughs at that, "Cool, another threat of smiting for my tally board, now how do we fix Impulse?"

"We wake him up." Xisuma states.

"That's it? We just wake him up?" Zedaph asks in disbelief.

"It's not that simple." Ex pipes up looking pointedly at his brother.

Xisuma merely ignores Ex as he continues speaking to Tango and Zedaph, "He has to feel safe enough to wake up."

"Feel safe enough?" Tango questions slowly, sounding out each word as if they’re a foreign concept to him.

"But he is safe! This is his home!" Zedaph cries looking rapidly between the two brothers.

Ex merely nods down to where Impulse hasn’t moved, "And he has yet to even budge. It's not home enough for him."

"We have to help him feel safe." Xisuma informs his hermits, voice gentle yet unwavering as he says, "That's why I need your help."

Tango and Zedaph share a look before Tango turns back to the brothers with a wide grin, "Well what are we waiting for then? We have work to do, chop chop people!"

__

It's warm. A comfortable warmth like a fire in the dead of winter. There's the sound of half concealed laughter and hushed whispers swaying around him like a gentle breeze. He feels calm. He feels safe. He thinks of resting but something tells him he is needed awake. He's tired in a way he doesn't remember being tired before but if he's needed awake then he guesses he should wake up. How does he do that again?

There's movement at his side. Where is he again? He actually isn't sure this time. He doesn't remember the others insisting on a sleepover. Someone laughs nearby and it takes a moment but he manages to put a name to the laugh, that's Tango who's laughing.

"And he laughed at you? You sold the man some bones, accepted his sad payment of 12 bamboo, and he laughed at you?" Tango's voice is bright. Laughter caught between words as he speaks.

"Yeah he did, even showered himself with diamonds as I left. Mega annoying that hobbit was, glad to see him gone though his replacement isn't much better." Another voice loud and bright with laughter. He knows this voice as well but he can't think of a name for it. He remembers green and a solid presence. But a name escapes him. It bothers him that he can't seem to put a name to the voice.

"I do keep seeing it come up in chat, what even is hermit challenges?" A new voice asks and he knows this one too. Zedaph sits somewhere nearby, conversing with Tango and the other person.

There's a noise of uncertainty, "Your guess is as good as mine. I swear he just makes this stuff up on the spot."

"How does he say it again?" Someone asks but he doesn't hear well enough to know who.

"He-yer-metee-chall-eng-ges" The other person sounds out and he mentally yells at himself for not remembering who's voice that is.

"Hener-matey-chall-geng-ges?" Someone - Zedaph, attempts to a chorus of laughter.

"No, no start low and then go up" Someone encourages cheerfully.

"He-yer-metee chall-eng-ges?" The second attempt seems to work it as the others cheer.

"There you go!" Iskall exclaims loudly, hi-fiving whomever guessed right. Iskall, he knows Iskall, he knows these people. The other hermits. They're all trusted friends. This, wherever this is, as long as he's with the hermits, then that's home. This is his home. He is safe here.

As he blinks his eyes open, he feels like he hasn't seen light for years at the way it burns. Hissing he screws his eyes shut and groans at the sudden amount of pain he finds himself in. There’s the sounds of murmuring and shuffling as a hand comes to rest over his eyes, blocking out any light. A familiar voice not unlike one he remembers hearing before, speaks, “Easy there my friend give yourself some time to adjust.”

The voice is familiar but not quite the same as before; lighter and happier though still tired underneath. It's one of the voices he’d be able to recognize anywhere. His throat is sore but he still needs to be certain so he ignores the scratchy feeling in his throat and how horrible he sounds when he asks, “....X?”

“Yes, you gave us all quite the scare Impulse.” Xisuma informs him.

He can't remember what he did at all, “I… what happened?”

There's more shuffling and he thinks he hears a door but everything is already too loud as it is. He barely even gets his bearings well enough from a sudden spike of dizziness to hear someone say, “Well, we were hoping you could tell us that actually.”

“Zed?” He asks hesitantly. He can't be wrong about that being Zedaph's voice. He wouldn't forget one of his best friend's voices.

There's a relieved exhale before a warm voice speaks up as well, “Yeah and I’m here too buddy.”

“Tango? What’s, where am I?” He pushes verbally for answers as Xisuma still holds his hand over Impulse's eyes, not letting him even try to attempt sitting up.

“We’re at Bdubs’ little village.” Tango tells him. That makes sense, something about the air here felt familiar in a way. But he still has questions.

“Who else is here?” He questions as he tries to push against Xisuma who doesn't even move. He is so disoriented and confused. Why wouldn't anyone tell him more? Why did he have to push for answers? What happened?

“Everyone.” Xisuma tells him. Everyone is here? What happened? What weren't they telling him?

He's near panic when no one says anything else and he has to push for answers again, “Everyone? Why? What happened?”

“You died of starvation and I found you in the void.” A familiar voice states with no tone for doubt about the facts just shared. He stops struggling against Xisuma who holds him down merely by force of presence alone when he processes what he's heard. Actually for a moment, he nearly thinks it's Xisuma speaking but he knows it can't be. Aside from the clear change in tone and attitude, the voice sounds rougher, sadder, more tired than it should be.

“Wait… Exy?” He guesses though it's less of a guess and more of a reassurance he isn't completely delusional. Exy was here? What had happened that got Exy to show up? Wait he died of starvation? Wait Ex found him in the void?

Ex snorts and yep that's clearly Exy who hides his relief with annoyance, “If you wanted to thank me you wouldn’t use that terrible nickname anymore.”

He doesn't know how to process this information. He doesn't even know where to start, “I, how was I in the void?”

“Wait X,” Zedaph cuts in and Impulse can only assume he's the one who makes Xisuma let up. He is unsure what exactly he's slightly afraid of in the fact that X won't remove his hand from over Impulse's eyes but he is glad to be able to actually sit up, even if it's against a wall. Zedaph reaches out and grabs one of Impulse's hands, guiding it up to hold in front of him as something is pushed into his hold. Zedaph doesn't let go with the hand holding the outside of his own but uses his other now free hand to drag Impulse's other hand to help stabilize the glass bottle in his hold. He doesn't know what he's holding but Zedaph chuckles quietly and he feels himself relax a little at the familiarity. Warm hands pull away from his own as Zed speaks with soft reassurance, “Here Impy, drink this and eat something, you’ve been out for quite a while.”

“But-” He starts to argue though he's shot down immediately

“No buts mister!” Zed insists and Impulse knows if he doesn't listen with that tone he's not going to like it later.

Accepting his current fate of sitting in complete darkness and drinking some sort of potion (probably?), he still tries to get any answers he can, “Fine can someone at least tell me what's going on though? Why is everyone here? Why was I in the void?”

"We'll tell you after you drink that and eat something." Zed informs him with that same tone of voice that is very un-Zed like and concerning to hear.

"Can I at least get my sight back?" He tries, but it ends up sounding a lot more uncertain and afraid than he wanted it to.

"Impulse do you trust me?" Xisuma asks and that is unfair.

"Of course I trust you, I trust you with my life!" He insists not at all liking how this is playing out.

"Then trust me when I do this okay?" X continues and he does trust Xisuma with his life, that's not a lie but he can't help wanting to fight a little because there's something big that's happening or happened and no one is telling him anything! He wants to push and push but he loses all will to fight it anymore when he can hear X sigh in that same tired way he does when he thinks no one is around to hear and speaks in a quieter voice that's so unlike Xisuma he doesn't know what to do, "Please."

"Okay." He answers and that's really all he can do. Is answer and go along with it because he's downright terrified now. Did he kill someone? Did he hurt someone? Are they going to kick him out or Hermitcraft?

His mind's racing faster than his heart and he's sure his hands nearly grip the bottle in his hold so tight it'll shatter when there's a deep, aggravated sigh that can only come from Ex. There's a pause before he hears the floorboards creak and feels someone grab his hands and removes the bottle from them. There's a string of mumbled words he can't hear but knows that because it's Exy they're probably curses, when the bottle is shoved against his lips with a command, "Drink."

He really can't do anything but drink what he can now identify as a regen potion. He finally realizes just how awful he feels when it's effects start to kick in. Everything hurts. It hurts worse than any other pain he's known before and all the energy he thought he had falls away like sand beneath his feet by the time the bottles empty and he feels the potion take effect. He slumps backwards against what he previously thought to be the wall but now can tell is Xisuma's armor. His mind is still trying to go 3000 ticks per second but his body can't keep up and any panic he might've had fades into the background.

There's something warm and soft pushed at his hands again with another order he can't really refuse, "Eat."

Slowly he brings what he can tell, from touch and smell alone, is bread up to his face and eats. By the time he's handed several pieces and eaten them he feels exhausted. The hand on his eyes is long gone now, combing cold fingers through his hair instead and it feels nice. His eyes are long closed and would refuse to open even if he tried to do so. He is so tired. Maybe he should just sleep? He feels like he needs to ask the others something but it wouldn't feel so warm and safe if anything urgent was going on. Yeah, a little nap wouldn't hurt would it? He's out cold he even notices.

__

He actually sleeps this time. When he drifts in and out of awareness it's to shushing and soft reassurances he can go back to sleep. Sometimes the hand over his eyes is back and he's given something to drink or eat but for the most part he simply drifts in and out of various stages of awareness to the other hermits telling stories and talking.

"He's decided that instead of it being a proper punishment, it's now a problem I'm going to have to deal with and continues to make a mess in my base to store all these armor stands!" Someone, Cleo, complains with annoyance.

There’s a chuckle, from Cub, who then responds sounding smug, "Sounds like you might end up with a bit of a standoff there."

"I am going to turn your base into an underwater aquarium." Cleo threatens.

__

He fades back out of awareness. He wonders what the rest of the story is. He wonders if the others know he can hear them sometimes. He wonders if the others miss him.

He hears a laugh, that’s Mumbo’s laugh, and then he hears Mumbo ask, "How did you think to add mini mushrooms? What stroke of genius inspired you that much?"

"The mini mushrooms? Oh you mean the end rods and small block combo? They weren't really planned, I just happened to come up with it on the spot. They do look absolutely amazin' though I agree!" Scar says with excitement. He thinks he can hear Jellie purring but he isn’t sure.

“I- What? On the spot! Really?" Mumbo sputters in disbelief, sounding absolutely chuffed to bits as the man liked to say.

__

He wants to wake up. He wants to pay attention to these stories and conversations but even still, he's so tired. He can't even try to fight as sleep pulls him back under into nothingness.

There's a loud and exaggerated voice that only can belong to bdubs as he's telling a story, "So he gives me a bed, you know I love beds, and then later he asks me to sleep and of course I can't say no to that! Who would I even be?!"

"You didn't know about beds blowing up in the Nether?" Doc questions and he doesn't need to see to know Bdubs' annoyed reaction.

"NO! I DIDN'T! Why would it blow up? Of all things! Blow up? WHY!" Bdubs cries angrily only to be shushed by many people.

__

He wants to talk back. Wants to input his own thoughts and laughter into these exchanges. He misses the others. He hopes they miss him too. But, they all sound fine without him there. They all continue life as normal.

"So you like smooth jazz?" Etho asks.

Grian laughs and he can just imagine the look on the prankster's face when he answers, "If you can actually make note blocks sound like jazz music I'll let you put an automatic free glass sample under the entryway to the barge."

Etho chuckles quietly, "Now we're talking."

__

At some point he thinks they all seem to be enjoying themselves. They're all happy talking and chatting. They're all okay without him. He doesn't need to be here.

There's the slamming of a door against the wall that wakes him from his half asleep state with a startle. Loud footsteps echo as someone crosses the floor to yell, "Oh no you don't, not again!"

"Ex wait, he needs rest, don't-" Xisuma starts to interrupt but he misses what X says when Ex cuts over his brother's words.

Ex holds him up by his shirt and snarls, "Impulse if you even fucking dare think of leaving one more time I'm going to make you regret ever winding up like this in the first place!"

"Ex stop!" Xisuma orders but Ex turns his anger around on his brother.

With gritted teeth and a sharp edge, Ex pointedly tells Xisuma, "Stop me and you'll be following not long after him 'Suma. I will not stand here and watch it happen!"

Xisuma sputters, "But I-"

"Do me a favor and don't argue, we both know you'd be lying." Ex retorts.

"I…." X struggles to find the words to say as Ex simply huffs.

"That's what I thought." Ex says before he turns and grabs Impulse up by the shirt again and growls, "Impulse wake the fuck up or I'll flood Decked Out with lava."

"You wouldn't." He gasps, only half aware though his heart is racing.

"You know I would." Ex states as a fact and it's true, Impulse knows Ex would.

He struggles to find an answer as his mind can't seem to calm down from his abrupt awakening, "... Please don't, he's spent so long working on that."

"Always for others but never for yourselves. Why am I surrounded by fools?" Ex complains. He turns away, loosening his grip on Impulse as he yells over his shoulder, "Xisuma go get idiots one and three."

"Idiots one and three?" X questions.

"One, two," Ex says and Impulse can feel the finger Ex jabs at his chest on two before Ex finishes saying, "Three."

Xisuma sighs at Ex's nicknames before telling his brother, "Make sure he doesn't actually get up then."

"No I'll just let him up and about, of course I wouldn't! Now get!" Ex orders.

"Alright alright I'm going, goodness me." Xisuma's voice travels as he walks from the room, the door creaking slightly shut behind him but not closing all the way.

There's silence as Xisuma's light footsteps fade away before Ex turns back to Impulse, "So you figure out what happened to you yet?"

"I? What?" He asks, caught off guard by the question.

Ex helps him sit up right against the wall but doesn't let up the force behind his words, "You heard me."

He doesn't understand the question at all. He still can't see and now there's something noticeable over his eyes yet it feels more secure than a normal blindfold. Nothing about this is making any sense. Ex clears his throat and he rushes to at least answer with something, "No? Did I do something wrong? Why can't I see still?"

"Hardcoded blindfold, couldn't risk you hurting yourself trying to open your eyes." Ex explains quickly, sounding annoyed.

"Is this because I was in the void for a bit somehow?" He asks because he doesn't understand why Ex is so on edge suddenly. He doesn't know why he was dragged awake. He doesn't know what's even going on.

"A bit? You were there a week before I finally managed to find you." Ex informs him and he is immediately even more confused.

"A week? What-" He tries but Ex talks over him.

"Shut up and listen or I'll tell Xisuma I lied to him about what happened and you'll never find out the truth." Ex says on edge, words coming out as a hiss.

He gapes like a fish at where he assumes Ex before he connects enough of the situation to say, "Then start talking."

"It's called I.S. and I voided the original entry I dug up for 'Suma because I know he wouldn't be able to handle it so I lied to him about it. It's a glitch in the code of the world when an update comes through and invalidates part of a person's code, sending them to the void in a false ban." Ex explains so quickly that he fears he almost missed his inside as to what's going on.

"That's the lie?" He prompts, hopeful he didn't just miss his answers.

Ex groans but slows down his explanation to an understandable speed, "Yes, it's not an update glitch. It's an internally inflicted error glitch called Imposter Sequence. A player who meets a specific list of requirements and a certain percentage of difference in behavior is deemed by the internal protection of a whitelisted world as an imposter and banned from the world. Except due to how a whitelist works in the first place, it's a glitch. It's a glitch where someone who expresses extreme self doubt or self hatred who dies by working themselves to death through neglect to themselves winds up being soft banned from the world. You cannot return to the world or go to any other world. You do not respawn and you are not even aware of what's going on. You're lucky your admin happens to be a voidwalker or you would be dead by now."

None of that sounds real. It sounds way too extreme. Part of him admits to it being true but the other half still doesn't believe Ex. Not all the dots match up, "But you're the one who found me."

Ex curses under his breath before continuing his explanation, voice getting louder and louder, "Because my brother is just as much of an idiot as you are and has gotten himself in your exact situation before so I already knew what was going on. Furthermore, if you were in the void just a day longer before I found you, you would not have survived. The entry for Imposter Sequence in the admin code does not account for the admin being a voidwalker. The entry for Imposter Sequence ends by saying the player who is missing and believed to have become or been afflicted with Imposter Sequence is void banned. It's marked as a permadeath. Were you anyone else in the universe but a hermit who has two voidwalkers tied to their world you would be gone. You do not understand how close you were to being gone forever. You would've left everything and everyone behind. For what? For your own stupidity? You would have to be the biggest idiot in the universe to think that you weren't loved here, that you weren't wanted. You have one of the best possible lives and ways of living in this entire universe, do not throw that away as if it were nothing."

They wait in the silence. Only cut through by the sounds of their harsh breathing. His mind is racing and his head is spinning. Ex takes a few shaky breaths as he waits for Impulse to process what was just said. They're not alone anymore though as a sharp inhale echoes in the silence, "Ex…"

"Oh for fucks sake." Ex curses, rushed footsteps echo from across beyond room as Ex commands, "You two pull your heads out of your asses and make him believe, even a little, how wrong he was. I have a derp to find."

Ex leaves to go after Xisuma. Meaning he's now left alone with Tango and Zedaph who, based on X's reaction, have heard the whole explanation of what happened to him. He doesn't even know what to do other than wait for them to start yelling. Instead of yelling though, there's merely footfalls that come closer until they're at the side of the bed. He knows they won't hurt him but he's shaking because he's so afraid of what they'll think of him now. He screws his eyes shut tight and braces for something when there's a quiet whisper, “Imp…”

“You, you…” Zedaph starts to say. And he's so scared of whatever judgement he's about to face that his heart nearly jumps out of his chest when he's tackled backwards as Zed cries, “Absolute idiot! Impulse you big dummy!”

He barely manages to not smack his head unto the wall as Zedaph sobs into his shoulder, shaking like he's just as scared as Impulse is. “Oof, Zed, what-”

A hand on his shoulder makes him pause as Tango asks, “Imp, you don't really think that we don’t want you here do you?”

He feels like he's floating over the void after being blindsided by shulker bullets. He struggles to find the words to say, an explanation for his behavior, some sort of defense for his actions. But even to his own ears it all sounds like lies, “No of course not! We’re the hermits, we’re team zit, I just, I…”

“Tell us Impy, please, we’re a team remember. We face things together.” Zed pleads, his breath hitching as he hugs Impulse harder. He can feel the wet patch Zed’s tears have left on his shoulder and he feels horrible. He feels like the worst person in the universe because he made his friends worry and cry and suffer all for what? For his insecurity? He doesn't, he didn't think he deserved their support and friendship before all this. Now, now he finds it even hard to believe he deserves it.

“I just, I…” He struggles to say it. He can't admit this. Not to them, not to his two best friends. Two thirds of the whole they make, he can't do that to them. A part of his mind tells him that it's too late, that he's already done the damage and he thinks he's crying but he can't tell. He feels Zed hug him harder and Tango’s hand on his shoulder and he can't lie to them. He can't lie to these two. So he tells them the truth, “I just, I just don’t think I’m anything special that's all.”

He hears Zed’s breath hitch and can feel the way Tango seems to recoil as the hand on his shoulder grips tighter. Tango inhales sharply but he can't seem to find the words to say as he hesitates to say, " Impulse, buddy-"

He can't help but blurt out, "It sounds so stupid when I say it out loud but that's…"

That's why he's in this mess. Because he's nothing special. Because he's not like the others. Because he's not good enough. He's not good enough to be here. Not good enough to be a hermit. Not good enough to be their friend. Not good enough to be anything.

"Impulse what does the I in team zit stand for?" Tango asks suddenly.

"Me?" He hesitantly answers. Was it a trick question or something?

"Yeah, team zit can't exist without you. We'd just be ZT and that just sounds lame. You're irreplaceable to us. Not even just us but to hermitcraft as a whole." Tango says and he wants to believe it. He wants to believe it so badly.

"But…" But he doesn't believe it. He can't bring himself to believe it at all. He's not special. He's nothing special. Everyone else is so amazing and he's just, he's just here too.

The room is quiet and he prepares for the inevitable but it doesn't come. Zedaph lets go of him only to shuffle over to his side as Tango sits on the bed too. Both of them trap him in a side hug and he can't do anything but surrender his arms as the other two hug an arm each close to their chests. Both Zedaph and Tango take a hand into their own and hold it tight. He can't help the sharp inhale he takes as he's kept there in the moment by the hands holding his own.

It's Zedaph who starts talking first as he explains what happened after Impulse vanished, "There were set groups to explore different parts of the entire server all week. You died, never responded to chat, X couldn't teleport to you and then said you just hadn't respawned. We searched everywhere we could think of. Bdubs didn't even sleep until the third day when Etho more or less blocked him in and watched him so he couldn't escape. Ren and Grian didn't sleep at all and Xisuma had to teleport them back from tens of thousands of blocks away because they had gone so far X got a warning of how far away they were."

He's barely given time to process Zed’s words as Tango continues where Zedaph left off, "You're the one who's built so many innovations that so many of us use. The villager breeding system most of us use? You built it. The item filters most of us use? You built that? Your base itself is colossal and is full of so many different farms you had Doc and Mumbo looking like kids on Christmas when we all first got together to split into search parties. You can break bedrock without any fancy magic other than redstone and your own two hands. You owned the shop basically every hermit used in season six not to mention the gold farm. There are things you've contributed and things you've done no one else could do or has thought to do."

He feels overwhelmed. There's no way this is the truth but he can't even formulate why these two, his best friends, would ever lie to him as Zed keeps going, "The entire server stopped working for an entire week trying to find you. You vanishing had Xisuma more frazzled than either of us had ever seen and definitely more than the 1.14 update. Joe and Cleo had to knock X unconscious to get him to stop working. Cub and Iskall combed through the code for so long they started to talk in code too. We contacted other worlds and people and no one could find you."

“All of that, for me?” He wonders out loud in disbelief. Because he really can't believe it. Logically he knows they would have done that but emotionally he can't process that they would do that for him. They did that all for him.

Zedaph hums a noise of confirmation and says, “Had Exy not showed up when he did, Cub and Wels were set to go check the season six world so Grian and Doc could use the infinity portal or time machine to figure out what happened to you. No one was going to give up on you. So please don’t give up on yourself.”

He sits there struggling under the weight of their words. Under the actions of the others who had tried just about everything they could to get him back. He thinks he's going to be crushed under the realization of the impact his disappearance had on the others. But two hands squeeze his own in near perfect unison, and he barely manages to remember to breathe once more as all that weight vanishes. His face is wet from the tears he can't really even process as his own as everything comes back to him all at once. He chokes on all the things he wants to say, gasps for air like he's nearly drowned, and sobs out words he can only half understand himself, "I, I'm sorry. I, I didn't real- realize. Every, everyone suff- suffered because, because of me!"

"Oh Imp, buddy," Tango murmurs sadly. His friend inhales shakily before saying, "You don't have anything to apologize for."

"But, but I-" He tries to say but he can't speak through hiccuping breaths of air between his sobs.

"Impy you're not allowed to apologize for any of this. We're friends, we're family, any of us would do it again in a heartbeat no questions asked for you." Zedaph states so soundly he can't even begin to convince himself it's not true.

So he doesn't apologize. He merely sits between his two best friends and sobs his heart out. When he finally manages to stop crying there's a heaviness that comes over him as he thinks about how tired he is now. There's quiet whispers he doesn't have the energy to listen to as he's guided away from the wall to lay back down. He doesn't want to let go this time. Thankfully he doesn't have to as both his hands are squeezed hard and he's surrounded by warmth and the sounds of steady heartbeats. Here, he is safe.

There's a heavy blanket draped over them as hushed voices exchange words once more. Someone runs a hand through his hair and he feels himself relax even further into the bed. Here, he is loved.

In a flash of memories he can see so many scenes just like this one. Of being surrounded by his friends in comfortable quiet. He knows he can sleep safe and sound here. He knows he doesn't have to worry about anything right now. Here, is home.

[spruceplank]

Glitch03

First // Previous //Current // Next >>  ———–  Also on ao3!

At first it wasn’t noticeable. Maybe the blocks you just broke would suddenly go back to where they had been. Maybe your hits wouldn’t connect with the mob you were hitting. Then it slowly got worse and worse. And then the world around them started to vanish.

And that was only the beginning.

Scar was supposed to be here like three days ago. He had sent a message to Cub saying that he was on his way to HermitVille for real this time after a detour to rebuild/redesign another village on the way. He thought Scar was already here and had just been so caught up in building that he didn’t come and greet him. Then he tried to message Scar but there was no response. 

No one around town had seen Scar either. Maybe he was still in that other village? Pulling out his communicator he checked Scar’s last shared location. Only a few thousand blocks away. Grabbing some extra fireworks and food, he set off to find his friend. 

Cub flew close to the top of the trees. Trying to find any sign of his missing friend as he headed closer and closer to the coordinates. Up ahead there was a gap in the trees, that must be where the village was. The closer he got though, the clearer it became that something was wrong. 

Forget there not being any trees, there was nothing at all. He crashed into a tree to avoid flying over the giant hole in the world. It was like an entire chunk just hadn’t loaded. Snacking on some cooked fish to hopefully replenish some of his now missing health and ignoring a sore arm he walked over to the edge of the hole. It really was a whole chunk. He could see the caves below and ores in ground. This hole, though quiet larger than the one Stress had fallen into, also went straight through bedrock into the void. What the?

He looked around the edges carefully, trying to find rhyme or reason for why this was happening. Across from him right at the corner of the chunk something was there. He couldn’t tell what it was from here. It looked like part of a tree? He could clearly see brown but it was too short to be a full tree and trees didn’t glitch up and down repeatedly like that. 

Slowly walking around the death pit he approached the strange glitching object when he heard a meow nearby. Looking around, he spotted the source of the meowing. Under a nearby tree there was a very familiar looking cat with the name Jellie. Oh no.

Turning back to the glitch he could now clearly make out what was supposed to be Scar. How was he supposed to get him out of there?

Cubfan135: Xisuma we have a situation.

XisumaVoid: What’s up?

Cubfan135: Please come to my location, it’s hard to explain. But be careful when you approach, make sure it’s on the ground for the last twenty blocks or so and you’re not flying.

XisumaVoid: Okay? I’m on my way now then.

Well, the only thing to do now was wait.

He slowly approached a nearby tree and sat down with his back to it. Jellie hesitantly approached him after a little while, sniffing at his offered fingers cautiously. Upon recognizing him she purred loudly and crawled up into his lap. Her fur was matted in several places and she was absolutely filthy. Had Scar been stuck like for the past three days? When did this happen? How did this happen? He wanted to do something but what if he screwed up and Scar never came back? He couldn’t lose Scar. That wasn’t an option. Xisuma had the best chance of fixing this and so he waited. He saw Xisuma approach and stood up, Jellie asleep in his arms. He wondered if she had slept at all since this had happened. Xisuma circled before dropping somewhere behind him into the trees.

“So what seems to be the iss- oh” Xisuma walked up behind him and reacted just as he had, oh was right. “Is that Scar?” 

“He was missing. He was supposed to be in Hermitville three days ago and I figured he’d just gotten caught up in another build project but when I went to come get him, I found this.” He explained, “I would’ve tried to pull him out but I didn’t want to risk anything.”

Xisuma hums in agreement, “Yeah I’m going to have to force reload these chunks but I don’t know what that will do to Scar…”

He looks from Scar to Xisuma and then back again before speaking, “If you think that’s the best call then I trust your judgement. Even if he dies, he’ll just respawn.”

He would respawn. There was no other option. 

Xisuma’s eyes glowed behind his visor, and small screens popped up into the air with numbers all over them. Watching Xisuma work like this was always mesmerising. Every hermit agreed on it, and even he couldn’t look away whenever he saw it. He can’t really see what Xisuma is doing on the screens other than tapping them in certain places and pushing objects on them around with a wave of his hand. 

While Xisuma was working the world in front of them glitched into being and Scar fell face first on the ground. Jogging over to his friend he set Jellie down to help him up only to find that Scar was shaking uncontrollably. 

Dropping to his knees, he grabbed at Scar’s shoulders and pulled him up. Scar shook violently, his body still glitching in and out of existence. His hand almost  went through Scar’s shoulder at some point. It didn’t even seem like Scar had acknowledged his presence. How was he going to ground Scar here when he might end up just phasing through him?

Jellie didn’t seem to care for any glitching though as she walked up between them and rubbed against Scar’s knees purring. That seemed to be all it took. Scar breaks in a way he has never seen before. There was something soul wrenching about the way Scar just started sobbing. 

He pulled back, removing his hands from Scar's shoulders. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Scar decided for him, throwing himself forward into his arms, desperately grasping at the back of his coat. 

"Scar, what?" he stuttered, unsure of what to do with his friend sobbing in his arms. Scar didn't respond, still shaking and sobbing. Putting his own discomfort aside, he gently reached behind Scar and patted him back gently, "Its okay now, everything is gonna be fine now."

Just when Scar started to calm down a little, X spoke up, "I hate to stop this, but we have company." 

In the forest surrounding them were several pillager patrols. That was alarming in itself. Forget the situation they had just found and dealt with, now there was not one, but what looked to be six different full pillager patrols? Complete with ravagers and vindicators and the works? Something was definitely wrong here. 

Gently pulling Scar back he gave his friend a smile before standing up and pulling out his sword. There was no way only him and X could take down six patrols alone, but they were going to have to try. Scar was in no condition to fight. Nodding to X they charged into battle. 

Slashing down one of the illagers, he dodged two crossbow bolts and hits a ravager only to be thrown back by a vindicator. The Vindicator sent out a few vexes at him and he couldn’t help but laugh.

They had the name convex for a reason.

Eyes snapping up, he could feel the air shift around the clearing. Tiny giggles and laughter filled the air as vex started to appear around him. The vindicator’s vexes falling in one hit to his own. These pillagers were fools to think they ever stood a chance against the convex. 

He was about to charge into the fray again when he felt his power double. More laughter filled the air, chiming like small bells in the morning air. Little wisps of white power flew around the vex as they chased after the illagers. He turned around to find Scar hunched over, gathering Jellie in his arms before he looked up, eyes glowing white in a perfect mirror of his own, full of determination. He could still see Scar’s arms shake a little around Jellie, but this was just another fight they would win. After all, Concorp always came out on top.