Chapter Text
Dying to the void was never fun. For starters, it was a slow and painful death that took anywhere from hours to days. Then, you took longer to respawn. Finally, you always came back different. You lost time or fond memories and, in rare cases, body parts. That’s why, when Mumbo woke up, he was not surprised to have lost memories of the past 2-3 weeks. He remembered Iskall reaching out to save him but that was all he could gather. They must have been end busting when he fell into the void.
Mumbo sat up and looked around, scrunching his face up in a confused frown. Despite feeling the bed under him and hearing the soft clucks of chickens, he still saw nothing but the void. The dark purple made him shudder and recall the agonizing feeling of dying to the void. ‘Maybe I’m in a dream?’ He mused silently to himself, not noticing footsteps until he heard a chicken hatch from an egg being thrown nearby.
“Hello?” Mumbo heard soft chirping and quickening footsteps. ‘Must be Grian pranking me again…’ He stood up but had to steady himself on the bed so he wouldn’t fall due to lack of proper sensations. ‘What an odd dream… I must be stuck in respawn for a bit longer…’
“Grian? Are you there?” He felt his way out of the treehouse he had kept in honor of his first base and exited the dome it rested in, shuddering at the cool feeling of the glass. ‘Must be getting close to raining…’ Mumbo got excited at the thought of flying around with his riptide trident and letting himself fall back down before his elytra caught him. That was always fun- he’d have to do that when he woke up.
More footsteps. “Grian! This isn’t funny!” Mumbo surely didn’t want this to become a nightmare if he was still stuck in respawn. Grian cackled somewhere nearby, making his friend groan. “Oh, goodness…”
“MUMBO! I HAVE FINALLY MANAGED TO FILL YOUR BASE WITH CHICKENS AGA-“ Grian stopped speaking midsentence, letting out an odd whine that had never been heard by the other before. “Uhm… M-mumbo?” His voice was oddly soft and held fear to it despite now nearby.
“Grian? What’s wrong?” Mumbo shuddered at the thought of his dream quickly turning into a nightmare. This wasn’t like Grian. He often faced danger headfirst and faced the consequences later.
“Your eyes…” Grian’s voice was barely audible and made Mumbo strain to hear it. His eyes? What about them? Mumbo reached a hand up to rub his eyes but jumped when he felt hollow sockets. Now he knew why Grian was acting so strange.
“…Grian?” Mumbo couldn’t stop his voice from shaking. “Grian, are my eyes gone?” He heard a small whine and he assumed that was a yes from Grian. “…The void…”
“It took your eyes, Mumbo!” Grian yelled out. “Oh my god! You’re blind!” Grian raced up to Mumbo, which scared him due to him not being able to see how far apart they were. Small arms wrapped around his chest and he realized Grian was hugging him in comfort, soft whimpers and chirps escaping his mouth.
Mumbo didn’t know exactly how to react. He was blind now- his sight taken while he fought shulkers and endermen. Iskall had looked so scared when Mumbo was knocked into the void- “Iskall! He was the last to see me!” Mumbo’s exclamation made Grian jump and squawk softly. Mumbo could picture him with his feathers puffed out and blue eyes narrow in shock while his face turned red from the fact that he squawked.
If it had been any other time, Mumbo would have been reduced to laughter at the sight. But, now it seemed like a mild reaction for the severity of the situation and the permanence of it. After all, anything lost to the void could never be retrieved, even with admins using commands. Mumbo was blind forever.
“Could you call Iskall for me, Grian?” Mumbo gently asked, patting his friend on the head. “He should know what happened since he tried to save me.” Grian let out a soft purr. Mumbo knew that he had always made that sound but it seemed so much more… impactful now that his sight was gone. Like the purr was some of Grian’s hope for Mumbo’s sight still lingering.
“I can!” Grian gently let Mumbo steady himself against a wall before allowing himself to back away and call Iskall, his communicator making soft beeps with each button press. Mumbo enjoyed the cool air as he picked up on the soft rings of Grian’s call, his mind trying not to focus on his blindness for now.
That didn’t help much, however. Something inside of Mumbo still wanted to believe that he was in a nightmare and he’d wake back up unharmed with nothing more than a phantom pain of the false memories of being eyeless. However, he was a logical man and knew far better than to cling to delusions of impossible scenarios.
Mumbo decided to turn his attention back to Grian and tried to picture what the other was doing as he talked in some effort to distract himself from the reality before him. “Hey, Iskall?” Grian started pacing, his footsteps echoing against the concrete floor. “Yeah, Mumbo’s back but uh…” Mumbo heard his feathers ruffle as he shifted his wings, soft clucks from nearby chickens distracting Mumbo from his friend slightly.
‘Focus, Mumbo! You don’t need sight to see!’ He pictured Grian gently kicking at the floor as the smallest hermit kept talking. “Listen. Come over. Just… be careful.” Mumbo could practically hear the rising tears in Grian’s voice; it broke his heart but he felt as if that he had to be the strong one. Iskall and Grian were going to be emotional and the server would treat him differently.
Someone had to be strong for everyone and Mumbo, logically, knew he had to take that role. He was fairly level headed and tried not to let emotions get the better of him, though he had a habit of bottling stuff up until it came to a boil and he had to take a mental health day, where he just let out every emotion he could.
Mumbo knew this wasn’t healthy but felt that he couldn’t do much else about it. He was the logic and reason of the Architech trio. He was the one who kept the other two from doing anything too stupid. He was the one who made sure Architech wasn’t a duo of unrestrained toddlers. So, he bottled up emotions.
Mumbo jumped when he heard rockets and Grian muttered something while taking off, leaving his friend alone and with almost no awareness of where he was. Mumbo couldn’t blame him or be angry. Grian was used to just taking off and Mumbo’s new state was new to even himself. He figured that, as soon as the winged hermit realized what he had done, he’d be back.
Mumbo got a chill from a coming wind and remembered that rain was on its way. He used his foot to gently feel where edges were and made his way back into his bedroom and to his bed, where he sat. His communicator pinged and he stopped himself from reaching for it. It would be of no use. He’d have to have Grian read it when he came back, or even Iskall when he arrived. So, Mumbo waited.