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Mumbo hadn't heard from Grian all day.
Usually, that wouldn't worry him, sometimes Grian would focus on builds for weeks at a time, getting lost in the process. But those times he at least had a heads-up where his best friend was off to. And it's not like Mumbo himself didn't do the same thing. Whenever he had a tough redstone system to tinker with he wouldn't be seen for days on end.
Grian was fine… right?
Mumbo couldn't help but worry for his best friend. He tried not to be overly clingy, but out of all the hermits Grian was the one he clicked with the easiest, conversation was effortless and he always left with a pep in his step after interactions. Grian's positive vibes were infectious, he couldn't help but get attached.
Grian generally wasn't late for things, and well… Mumbo had cooked a meal for him. It wasn't like a date!- I swear! Sure there were candles for ambience and a bottle of wine- He just wanted Grian to have a good time okay? He was proud of his setup, and Grian knew what time he had to be back by…
A few minutes turned into an hour…. Turned into a few hours. Grian's food had long gone cold. Mumbo sat on his doorstep, flicking through messages on his communicator. Grian hadn't responded at all in hours. He wouldn't have skipped out and not told him. That wasn't like Grian. Sometimes he was scatterbrained and double-booked, but he was never a dick and didn't give an excuse before disappearing.
Mumbo Jumbo was worried.
He blew out the candles and left on a hunt. This wasn't a hunt for fresh blood to feed off of, this was a hunt for answers on where Grian had gone. He wasn't at his base, it was eerily empty. Neither Scar nor Ren had seen him recently on a passing chat to them as he passed by. Mumbo didn't have time to message every hermit to ask where Grian was, he didn't want to worry them too anyway.
He was close to heading home and trying again tomorrow when he ran into Iskall, who just his luck, had seen Grian! Grian had headed towards the mountains and had looked like he was prepared to do some mining. Why hadn't he come back? Mumbo thanked them for the pointer and sped off to the closest mountain range.
The mountain range was enormous and expansive, a lot of land to cover for one vampire, but luck was in his favour finding a clue very early on. Unfortunately, it wasn't a welcome clue. Grian's communicator was discarded near the entrance of a well-used mine. Why did he take it off???
Mumbo headed further in, smelling something familiar and metallic that made his stomach growl. Blood? It couldn't be Grian's, he's fine he's-
He rounded a corner to find a serious cave-in. It looked like the strip had been weakened over time and gotten overwhelmed by a creeper blast. And the smell of blood? Well, the half-buried red sweater confirmed his worries.
"Grian!"
Mumbo rushed over, frantically trying to dig the unconscious figure out from the debris. Grian was severely bleeding, and it was very obvious that he had far too many broken bones. Mumbo let out a sob.
No, no he couldn't be dead right? He couldn't lose him, no. He put his ear to his best friend. He couldn't hear or feel any breaths, but Gri's heart was beating… but very slowly. Grian was dying.
Mumbo didn't want to do it. He never wanted to be a vampire in the first place and didn't want to force it upon anyone else.
But this was a life or death situation, Grian could get upset or angry with him once he wasn't teetering off the edge of survival.
Mumbo sunk his teeth into Grian's neck.
<MumboJumbo: Scar do you still have a spare elytra?>
<GoodTimesWithScar: Yeah? I thought you can fly though?>
<MumboJumbo: I can't be a bat and carry someone though>
<GoodTimesWithScar: Shit, you found Grian then.
<GoodTimesWithScar: send me co-ords. I'm coming>
Mumbo cradled Grian's cold unmoving body as he sat at the entrance of the mine, trying to get his tears under control. He wasn't even sure he'd bitten him the right way to change him, but he couldn't remedy that right now.
Doing this to Grian was wrong on the server. Under almost no circumstances were a hermit to change or infect another without their explicit permission. Grian wouldn't have wanted this. He was one of the handful of humans here, he was going to live a long life and die one day, and Mumbo had seriously extended that. The vampire that had turned Mumbo had been exiled, Mumbo wasn't sure if he could live with never seeing his friends again-
Mumbo's thoughts were interrupted by Scar almost crashing into the nearby cliff, spare elytra in his arms. Worry flooded his expression as he picked himself up and ran over.
"Holy sh- is he?"
Mumbo swallowed a sob.
"He's alive, barely... but…"
"... But?"
"Scar I fucked up."
"Dude Gri getting hurt wasn't your fault-"
"No- i- I bit him ."
Scar was at a loss for words for a second. He knew as well as anybody the rules Mumbo broke. But he could also see the panic and distress Mumbo was in. The situation wasn't as simple as him turning Grian for the hell of it. It was life or death.
"...Do you think he's going to be okay though?"
"I- *sniff* I'm not sure, I've never done this before. Will you help me get him back to my base?"
"Of course buddy."
The flight back was quiet, the pair trading carrying the unconscious hermit in turns. By the time they landed Mumbo was shaking. He'd been internalising everything to safely get Grian to a vampire safe building as soon as possible. He didn't want to have a breakdown over this.
Scar helped Mumbo treat Grian's injuries as best as they could before leaving him to hopefully recover, before approaching the topic that he knew Mumbo would want to avoid, but Scar knew it should happen sooner than later.
"You should talk to Xisuma."
Scar frowned a little at the panic in his friend's eyes.
"..."
"He's not going to be angry-"
"No, he'll be disappointed in me."
"I know you're panicked about all this, but he'll understand."
"B-but what if he doesn't?!"
"Then I'll be here for you, though I'll be here regardless."
Scar opened his arms for a hug and Mumbo dove into his arms. Both men were covered in blood from Grian, they were a mess, but a hug was needed. After a long while, they peeled away from each other.
"T-thank you… I needed that…"
"Any time Mumbo," Scar smiled.
Mumbo turned on his communicator. He really didn't want to let Suma know what he'd done, but I guess he couldn't keep Grian a secret from the admin for too long.
<MumboJumbo: Suma you online?>
<XisumaVoid: hi, what's up?>
<MumboJumbo: Can you come to my base? It's something I'd rather talk about in person… urgently.>
<XisumaVoid: On my way.>
Mumbo crumpled against his couch. He couldn't take back that invite now. The minutes flew by quick, the dread growing in his stomach as there was a soft knock at the door. Scar let the server admin in.
Xisuma was worried, that was clear to see. Both hermits were covered in blood, Mumbo looking especially frazzled.
"Are you guys alright??"
Mumbo sighed, trying to not set himself off again.
"We are… Grian isn't."
"Grian? What-"
"He's in my room… he got caught in a cave in-"
Xisuma now understood the blood, but even a hermit teetering on death usually didn't warrant summoning the admin… though he couldn't deny the worry churning in his stomach. The hermits were like his family, and when a family member got hurt…
"Is… is there anything complicating that?"
"I bit him."
Xisuma tried to not show the surprise on his face. Mumbo was the last person he expected to change someone.
"There wasn't any other way to save him, was there?"
Mumbo shook his head, eyes beginning to water again.
Xisuma walked over to Mumbo and hugged him, much to Mumbo's surprise.
"You did what you could. You did good."
"I- you're not mad?" He cried.
"You committed a crime, I can't deny that," Suma smiled, "but you saved Grian. Let's wait till he wakes up to approach that, alright?"
"O-okay," Mumbo sniffed.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
A distant heartbeat.
...
Everything hurt. Grian didn't want to shift at all. He could quite easily drift off again, away from the burning pain in his limbs. He didn't remember lying down, but he'd have answers once he woke up enough.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Grian's stomach lurched, grumbling in complaint. As much as he was in pain, he needed to grab something to snack on to satisfy his stomach. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to sit up, rubbing at his eyes. He was… at Mumbo's base? In Mumbo's bedroom? When did he get here? He visited often enough that waking up here wasn't surprising.
What was surprising was the distinct metallic smell of blood. Grian was familiar with the smell when Mumbo fed but never was it this strong. Then he noticed the crusted over blood on his sweater. How long had Grian been unconscious for? His stomach lurched again.
There was movement at the door leading to the room and Grian moved before his brain could even process. Grian knew he was hungry sure, but didn't expect himself to just go for the first moving thing! The person entering seemed to anticipate Grian's erratic behaviour though, catching Grian before he could cause any damage and immediately twisting Grian's arm till he could effectively restrain him, pushing him to the floor. Grian struggled against them, growling hungrily. He was starving. He needed to feed. He had to. He-
A tube slipped into Grian's mouth as he struggled on the floor, not putting up a resistance to it, more focused on the figure holding him down. Before he could react a soothing cold liquid seeped into his mouth, catching him off guard. It was… odd. Good tasting, definitely quenching his thirst and hunger, but Gri couldn't place why the flavour was wrong to him. He stopped fighting back, sipping at the tube until no more was left and the hands holding him down released him.
To say Grian was confused and mortified as he rolled over was an understatement. He turned to find he'd just tried to attack and eat the server admin. Xisuma didn't look upset at this, just worried about the younger hermit.
"I- Suma? What's going on??" Grian's eyes searched the older hermit's eyes for answers.
"You got that out of your system?" Suma smiled softly, offering a hand to help Grian up, who took it hesitantly.
"I think so? I- I don't understand what just happened though, everything's a blur? I-"
On getting to his feet he now noticed Scar and Mumbo both in the doorway, Mumbo holding an empty blood bag, a feeding tube hanging limply out of it. Did Mumbo just feed? Did,,, did Grian just feed?? They all worriedly watched Gri. Grian was perfectly fine, why were they acting like this?
"...guys?"
"You might wanna sit down for this." Mumbo wouldn't look Grian in the eye.
"I- okay??"
He followed the trio out into the living area. Gri got comfortably seated before turning to the group again.
"So?"
"You almost died two days ago."
Wow. That was rather blunt and to the point. The surprise was clear in Grian's expression.
"I- I remember a creeper catching me off guard?"
"It collapsed the section of mine you were in, and… and I was far too late to nurse you back to health."
Mumbo looked like he was barely masking guilt. But he hadn't done anything wrong...right?
"...what part of this are you avoiding telling me?"
"I bit you."
Grain's jaw dropped. Mumbo would never change him. He knew how his best friend hated having his vampirism forced upon him, he'd never go through with illegally changing going one of the few human hermits...right? But Mumbo looked like he was about to burst into tears and Scar and Xisuma were giving him comforting looks.
It would make sense, the thumps he'd heard when he woke up were Scar and Suma's heartbeats, and the fact he hadn't fed yet was why he'd gone after the first neck he reached-
"I'm so sorry Gri… I panicked, I just didn't know what to do, I didn't want to lose you," Mumbo started wiping at his silent tears, "You have every right to hate me for-"
His sentence was interrupted by Grian getting up and giving him a hug.
"Wha-?"
It wasn't as simple as being grateful for being saved and forgiving him for biting him. Grian never wanted to be a vampire. Sure, he'd joked about wanting Mumbo to bite him, but it was never in a turning him way. He'd lost all choice in the matter. They couldn't undo the bite.
But was he angry? Upset? Grian was terrified of dying alone, and he would have if not for Mumbo's quick action. He was relieved that it wasn't something worse. It was clear as day that this was eating up his best friend.
"It's okay."
Mumbo pulled away from the hug.
"It's not! I forced this upon you-"
"And I'm going to have to learn to live with it."
"Grian!"
"I'm not letting you get into trouble Mumbie."
Grian then turned to Xisuma with a smile, still hugging Mumbo in a tight hug.
"What's the paperwork I gotta fill out to sort this out?"