Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mumbo was fifteen when he became a Hermit, making him the youngest Hermit even now, almost 10 years later.

The hermits were his family, and he knew he could trust them all with anything. He even suggested inviting his old friend Grian, who had been found after years of being lost, and now needed a place to stay.

And so his family grew. Every now and again new people would join, and some would leave for new adventures.

Mumbo was one of the few who stayed, and never really left.

So it came as a surprise to everyone when he told them about a prophecy after one of their weekly meetings. They sat together around a campfire that some of the hermits had made.

"It tells the prophecy of the corruption" Mumbo explained with a shrug as someone asked him about it

"But how does it go?"

"Well…" he looked around at the group. "The first is about a soldier, strong enough to tear cities to the ground. She will later be joined by a poet, who uses words more carefully than weapons. Last is a ruler, who makes sacrifices no one will see coming" Mumbo explained

The hermits looked around at each other, observing.

"False, didn’t you bring down that city that time?" Ren asked, finally breaking the silence

"Yeah, the ones who tried to break us Hermits apart" False said proudly

"I mean, I've watched Joe win more than one fight with only his words" Cleo butted in thoughtfully

"I'm not that brutal Cleo" Joe elbowed her lightly

"Scar sacrificed the mycelium" Bdubs suggested "That's pretty unexpected"

"We did resist though" Etho pointed out kindly

"It's about the principle" some of the hermits who had been in the resistance muttered along

"Are you all implying that we will be the start of the corruption?" Mumbo asked "That's completely nuts guys, we're hermits, we don’t bother the outside world that much"

"We're only joking," Stress promised, though Mumbo doubted she was really sure of it. He had known her for long enough to doubt it.

"Exactly, besides, we won’t be corrupted" Scar patted his shoulder "And if we were the prophecy, we'd find a way to stop it"

"Agreed" X sent a smile towards Mumbo "With that said, I think it’s bedtime, the sun is almost down"

---

Mumbo couldn’t let go of the meeting. Even weeks later he came back to what had been said. So he decided to find the book of prophecies he had stored away somewhere. It was the only thing he had from his mother, a woman he had barely known.

He skimmed through it quickly, until he found the correct page:

“The end of the world can be stopped by a sacrifice” he read the final words out loud, turning the words around in his head to try to find if there could be a different meaning, or if that was it. What sacrifice? Sacrifice could mean so many things, and none of them seemed to fit.

Chapter Text

Two seasons later he got a message from False, asking if the two could meet, so he made his way over to her base. She had her sword in her hand and was pacing back and forth as if she tried to figure out what was going on.

“Something’s wrong” she told him without stopping “I feel like I will attack someone, and I haven’t felt like that for a long time”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that…” she closed her eyes “The prophecy, about the corruption, did it have anything else in it?” she asked him.

“Not that I know of” he said, keeping silent about the part of the sacrifice

“Nothing about signs or anything?” she questioned, Mumbo frowned

“Do you think you are getting corrupted? Like right now”

“I think…” she paused “They joked about me being the soldier, who would tear down cities. I know I have… I just- what if it is about Hermitcraft? What if I am the soldier, and the city I will tear down is ours?” she said “What if it’s not a city, but a server?”

Mumbo’s frown deepened as he thought of what she said.

“It might be” he then said “I don’t know if it’s been translated or not, I got the book from my mother long ago, I don’t know anything else about her”

“Mumbo, I don’t know what’s happening to me, but… I can contain it now, it’s gradual, but I won’t be able to do so forever. I just… check on the other two, ask them if they feel it too. Maybe we can figure out a cure together”

“Alright” Mumbo frowned “Do you want me to send someone over to keep you company?” he asked

“No” she stopped pacing, turning to look at him “I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I can’t promise I won’t if this feeling continues”

“I’ll find out anything I can” he promised, “And go check on Joe and Scar” he then added

“Thank you” she turned around “Can you text me the results? I don’t trust myself to not hurt you if you come back”

“Alright” he said “I’ll let you know”

Chapter Text

Mumbo found Scar in the shopping district, wandering around with a strange look on his face.

“Hi Scar!” he greeted his friend “How are you doing today buddy?”

“I’m just peachy! How are you doing” Scar grinned, though it was obvious he was hiding something

“I’m great! Was just talking with False” Mumbo explained

“How lovely” Scar continued to grin to the point where it felt unnatural and almost creepy

“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem a bit uptight? You know you can tell me anything” Mumbo offered

“Of course! I’m just a bit tired from all the building at the moment! You know how it is”

“Alright” Mumbo didn’t trust him at all “Just, feel free to message me if you want help or something. I’m not the best builder but I can follow instructions just fine” he offered

“Thank you for the offer” Scar said “I’ll let you know”

With those words Scar took off on his elytra, Mumbo looked after him until he was nothing more than a dot in the sky. It seemed False might be right, the corruption seemed to be real.

---

Joe was waiting for him when he got to his base, and Mumbo greeted him kindly but wearily. He had no idea how far the corruption had gotten yet, and he had no idea what they would do if it got further.

"Good evening Joe" Mumbo said, landing surprisingly gracefully

"Did you know that the Watchers come from the void?" Joe asked, Mumbo noted that the other seemed rather frazzled.

"Yes" he confessed. Most hermits knew that Grian and Pearl had been Watchers before they came to Hermitcraft, after they stole them from Evo, but not many knew the details. Mumbo only knew some of them, and he wasn’t quite sure where Joe was going with this.

"They don’t exist on Hermitcraft, only in the void" Joe dragged a hand through his hair as he began to pace "Never here"

"Yeah" Mumbo frowned deeply "Where are you going with this"

"I'm feeling their call" he grabbed Mumbo by his arms "I'm being called to the void, to the Watchers, and I'm finding it hard to keep myself in check" he explained

"That's… not good" Mumbo frowned deeply

"You know things about the Watchers, can you help me?"

"I mean, I only know what Grian…"

"Grian! How did he get out?"

"I don’t know"

"He didn’t want to be one of them anymore" suddenly a new voice joined the conversation making Mumbo jump, he turned to see Scar walking up to them, his eyes seemed to have shifted in colour, but Mumbo wasn’t quite sure if it was just the evening light.

"Scar! What are you doing here?" Mumbo laughed nervously, pretending that the other hadn’t scared him

"Just thought I heard some talking over here" Scar smiled, it was still unnerving, nothing like his usual happy grin.

"I was telling Mumbo that the Watchers are calling" Joe explained, Scar tilted his head "They want to see me in the void"

"Sounds like an adventure" Scar said, and Mumbo knew he was fully corrupted, that was what was wrong.

"The Watchers are calling you?" Mumbo asked carefully, "both of you?"

"Yes" Scar grinned mischievously, "I'll bring Joe home Mumbo, no need to worry about him"

"Wait" Joe stopped them both "Why, why did they get the void?" he looked at Mumbo as if the answer would change everything that was happening.

"They are the only ones who know" Mumbo said right as Scar began dragging Joe away. "I'll look into it" he decided, though he doubted the two could hear him anymore.

Chapter Text

Mumbo was once again back at reading the old book which had started all this. Searching for any answers he could. It turned out to be a lot easier than he thought.

It wasn’t another prophecy, at least it wasn’t phrased as one. Instead it was a story of a child who hid away from the monsters instead of fighting them

"Child!" The dark creature called as a child hid their face in their knees, waiting for the steps to move past the cupboard they hid in.

"I know you are here, come out, you can't hide forever" the second voice continued, moving closer as well. The child cried silently into their knees, hoping their breathing wasn’t too loud.

The child didn’t move for nine days, and the creatures did not find them.

The avian child had to be Grian, Mumbo thought. A winged creature hiding away from a dark past, where he got kidnapped and turned into a Watcher. Mumbo still has vague memories of the times before Grian disappeared. The Watchers had really done a number on his mental health, but he had been getting better every day since he joined.

The number was also particular. Nine days. One day for each season that had passed of Hermitcraft. Grian hadn’t been on Hermitcraft for all of them, but it couldn’t be a coincidence that all this started to happen now of all times.

Mumbo turned another page, the story of a president that stood against a resistance that sounded too much like Scar in season 7. Another page revealed the story of a knight defending their home, much like False always had. The next was about a writer who did his best to protect everyone, while slowly going mad and joining a dark creature, Mumbo was scared that would be Joe's fate. And the last was of a hybrid who made a grave mistake, Mumbo didn’t quite know what that one would mean, but he worried.

He expected the stories to be over after that. With the people of the prophecy as well as Grian who had once been a Watcher, but there was one story left.

The one who was willing to sacrifice everything to save their friends.

A story about a person who built a machine to blow off the enemy base, and set it off despite knowing that they had to be too close to do so and therefore sacrificing themself to save their home. Mumbo read the story four times, before taking a deep breath.

A sacrifice had to be made to save the world, or whatever the prophecy had said. Mumbo was the only one with the knowledge of how to stop them, and if he told anyone else they would take the risk. Mumbo couldn’t let any of them die, not when he could build the machine and save them. He was good enough at redstone to do this, many of the others weren’t. It had to be him.

Mumbo looked up from the book, trying to remember where he put the blueprint papers he usually kept around his base. The machine would have to be built underground, somewhere close to the enemy base.

He just… needed to know where that was. Surely the Watchers had to be on the server to be able to attack them, which meant he should be able to find… to find…

What was it Grian had said they used as their mark? A portal? A nether portal? A broken one, that was made out of bedrock. He picked up a pen and dribbled the mark on the corner of the page. He had to find it, wherever it was.

Chapter Text

He didn’t have the time to really search before Grian came knocking on his door. Mumbo opened the door for him and let him sit on his bed.

"They are here" Grian said, only confusing Mumbo more

"Who is?"

"The Watchers! I haven’t seen them yet, but the portal… it's just no doubt"

"The portal? Where?" Mumbo asked, trying to sound more confused than relieved that he wouldn’t have to search for weeks or months.

"Spawn. It’s pretty close to Joe's spawn build" Grian explained "It's made out of bedrock and everything"

"Have you told X?"

"No" Grian frowned "I think he knows already, heard him discussing with Tango about how someone got bedrock"

"Ah" Mumbo tilted his head slightly "They wanna destroy it then?"

"Probably, but they won’t be able to" he crossed his arms "You can’t just break them! Believe me, I tried before"

"Hey, it's alright" Mumbo promised as Grian seemed to crawl in on himself "Everything will be fine"

"How can you promise that?"

"Because it always is" Mumbo knew it could be a lie, but he would do anything to make sure it wouldn’t be.

Chapter Text

The next day he went to his mine and began mining in the direction of the portal. It took a long time to dig, and during that time he got several messages asking where he had disappeared to. He told them he was taking a small break and would be back.

It worked at first. Then he had to go home to get his redstone box. On the step of his base waited False, Scar and Joe. Their eyes were shining purple, and Mumbo knew it was too late.

"You know too much" Scar spoke first, False holding her sword towards Mumbo, keeping him away from his own base.

"About what?" Mumbo asked, playing dumb.

"They warned us about you, you are planning something dangerous"

"I'm just planning on building a big vault" Mumbo told them. "I need my redstone for that" he pointed to the tower he had built with redstone blocks. He had to take it down completely to get enough to make his machine.

"So you are not trying to attack the Watchers?" False asked, narrowing her eyes

"No" Mumbo said "I'm stupid, but I'm not that stupid. I'm just doing some redstone" he promised

"They said we should kill you" Joe informed him

"You can’t do that" Mumbo said, taking a step back "Tell them the prophecy is broken if they kill me." It was a lie, and not a very good one, but he hoped it would work for long enough to have them leave him alone.

Joe studied him for a second, his glowing purple eyes made Mumbo even more unsettled, but he stood still, trying to look somewhat confident.

"Let’s go" Joe finally said to the two other corrupted

"What?"

"Let’s. Go." Joe repeated "He has read more of the prophecy, there is a part missing" he explained. Mumbo had no clue how he could know that, but he wasn’t wrong.

"The Watchers would've…"

"We can discuss this later" Joe said "We'll be back for you" he then stated, giving Mumbo one last look before the three of them flew away on their elytras.

When the three were far off in the distance Mumbo let out a breath he had been holding, before looking up to the redstone tower. Guess this would be it then.

Mumbo knew now more than ever that he had to hurry. The Watchers wouldn’t hesitate, they wouldn’t wait for Mumbo to be finished. He had to be ready before they were.

Chapter Text

The mine was lonely, but Mumbo knew it was necessary for him to be there. He worked in silence as he thought more and more about the corrupted hermits and their fate.

The machine was slowly turning out to actually look like it would work. Though it was hard to really tell since he couldn’t try it out beforehand. He could technically go to his private server and try it out, but he was scared the Watchers would be able to see it if he did. So he worked, and he hoped.

There wouldn’t be a second chance, but he knew what to do. At least he hoped he did. The machine of the story was explained in a way that Mumbo could picture it infront of him, mostly because of the many times he had built different machines, so he tried to follow that. He couldn’t promise it would work, he could only hope.

The biggest problem was the resources. He had the redstone, but he didn’t have the tnt, and way too soon he had also run out of pistons. Meaning he had to go get some more resources. Hopefully someone was selling what he needed, the pistons he was pretty sure was being sold, but he wasn’t as sure about the tnt.

As he entered the redstone shop he was met with Joe, who was standing in one of the corners of the shop, seemingly hiding.

“Hello Joe” he greeted the other wearily

“Mumbo!” the man’s eyes widened “I can’t- I shouldn’t. You should leave, before… they get here”

“I’m not too worried” Mumbo promised “Why are you hiding in the corner?”

“So they won’t find me again” Joe said, his eyes shimmering purple for a second before going back to blue. Maybe he wasn’t completely corrupted? “The Watchers know you are planning something” he warned him

“It doesn’t surprise me” Mumbo told him, opening the chest that held the pistons, Joe observed him from afar.

“I- I won’t hurt anyone” Joe promised him, rather out of the blue

“I believe you” Mumbo lied. He doubted Joe could keep the promise, at least if Mumbo wasn’t quick enough.

“I know the prophecy… it said I could kill with my words, I don’t want that. I won’t let that be true” he continued

“I know” Mumbo assured him “I know you have no plans on letting that happen”

“I can’t always control it” Joe continued “They- I don’t know how they are doing it, but they take over my mind. It’s like… I’m being pulled in directions and they won’t let me leave”

Mumbo studied his friend for a second, trying to find the right words for the situation, before stepping closer and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to save you” he promised, Joe looked taken aback by that, but before he had the time to say much else his eyes had gone back to a glowing purple.

“Go” Joe said, and Mumbo knew it was what was left of the fighting hermit “Before they take back control!”

And so, Mumbo left, knowing that the best way to save him was to finish his machine in time.

Chapter Text

It was weird to travel through the normal neighbourhoods. Magnificent builds had appeared out of seemingly nowhere while Mumbo had been gone, and with it gigantic diamond towers that went far into the sky.

Even weirder were Mumbo's attempts at acting normal. With people everywhere he did his best to act unsuspicious, which wasn’t easy.

It felt like everyone was staring, and maybe they were. He tried to ignore it, but continued to walk quicker and quicker. Until he passed the Watcher portal at spawn. No one was around it, which was unusual, but it seemed to have a shimmer around it. As if it was activated and ready to be used.

"Mumbo, listen to me" a disembodied voice spoke from the portal. Mumbo tilted his head, but didn’t move. "Join us, be one of us" the voice continued, Mumbo frowned before shaking his head.

He slowly walked away, feeling the pull of the voice and the portal. It was intriguing, and if Mumbo hadn’t moved he was sure he had been compelled. The Watchers were dangerous in that way, they could easily pull you under the spell.

While walking he forced himself to remember all that Grian had taught him about the Watchers, trying to keep away the sweet spell. When he got far away enough he continued to remind himself of his friends and loved ones. He had to force himself to continue, forcing the voices to silence.

That was when he accidently walked right into Grian, making him fall onto the ground. His friend was quick to reach out a hand, helping him up.

"Are you alright?" he asked as Mumbo got back to his feet.

"Yes" Mumbo replied "I gotta hurry though, just got some more resources for my build" he explained

"You haven’t been building your vault" Grian commented "You just did an outline around it, so where have you been?"

"In the mines" Mumbo explained "It's gonna be the most glorious mine to ever exist, to get all the diamonds, so I can fill the vault even more! I know I'm already the richest hermit, but you know…"

"I know about the prophecy" Grian said "I know it has begun"

"The prophecy? What prophecy?"

"Don’t act stupid" Grian frowned "You know exactly what I mean"

"Do I?"

"Scar, False and Joe are corrupted by the Watchers" Grian said "And I worry you are a part of the prophecy too, with the way you are acting"

"I'm not" Mumbo lied

"Are you trying to stop them?" Grian asked

"No" Mumbo lied

"You definitely are" Grian told him "and you're planning something dangerous"

"No" Mumbo lied

"Mumbo, I know you" Grian told him "I don’t understand why you are lying to my face, I could help you! I know them, I know how to deal with them"

"I'm not lying" Mumbo felt bad about lying to Grian, it wasn’t fair to him, but at the same time he knew that he was the one who had to do this. Whatever happened someone would have to be in the mine when it blew, and Mumbo knew it had to be him, and no one else.

"Why are you pushing away from everyone?" Grian looked so concerned that Mumbo almost let down his guard and told him everything. But he didn’t.

"I'm just working on the diamond mine" Mumbo told him once again "You don’t need to worry about me"

"I always worry about you"

"I'm just building Grian" Mumbo said

"You're lying, and I know it. I-" he paused, studying his moustached friend "I know them, the Watchers are… they won’t stop for anything. They want me, we all know that"

"None of this is your fault" Mumbo told him

"It is" Grian protested "And maybe I should go with them. It’s not like I can ever be fully a player either way" he crossed his arms

"Grian, you don’t need to be a player, you just need to be you"

"What if being me means being a terrible person?"

"It never has" Mumbo assured him "I promise we will solve this, but whatever happens, none of this is your fault" he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Chapter Text

For two more weeks Mumbo worked in solitude on his contraption. The instructions in his book were complicated and involved much more fine work than Mumbo had expected.

He barely slept or ate during this time, and he was glad he was in the mine because he didn’t want to deal with phantoms.

He didn’t stop until he realised he physically couldn’t focus at all. So he climbed back to his base to get a good night's sleep, hoping no one would have the time to notice.

He didn’t have that luck, as Xisuma knocked on his door not longer than ten minutes after he got home. Mumbo wondered if he had seen him come home.

He invited the admin inside, despite knowing he probably shouldn’t. He didn’t know if the Watchers had corrupted more people or not. Though he knew they wanted to.

The admin opened his mouth to speak, but Mumbo got there first.

"It's good that you came by X, I do have something to tell you" he led the two further into his home, settling in the kitchen "You know, in case something… happens. I just… I wanted you to know…" he stumbled over his words

"Mumb-"

"Thank you" Mumbo said, stopping Xisuma's sentence "You know, for everything. For inviting me to the server" he scratched the back of his neck nervously "You made me who I am" he turned around, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it up on the wall

"Mumbo, is everything okay?" Xisuma asked "Is this about the portal at spawn?"

"I- '' Mumbo didn’t turn to look at the other "I think this is just words that have gone long overdue. And I need you to know how much Hermitcraft helped me become… me" he turned back "There's only so much time left, and… I just, you raised me. I know I was sixteen, but… I didn’t… My parents were never in the picture. You were though, the Hermits were"

"Mumbo, you… why is this sounding like you saying goodbye"

"I'm not" he lied "I guess I've just been thinking about it recently" that wasn’t a lie "I needed you to know this, before it’s too late"

"I appreciate you too Mumbo, and I look forward to spending a lot more seasons alongside you" he placed a hand on the younger's shoulder

"So do I" Mumbo smiled, trying to hide that it would never be.

Chapter Text

The closer the final day came, the more the Watchers were trying to pull Mumbo in. They were worried, but they hadn’t tried to stop him yet. Not really. They hadn’t sent the corrupted after him yet.

His contraption was done, and he only waited for the sunset of the next day at that point, and spent his day travelling the server. He wanted to say goodbye, but he didn’t want to worry people like he had worried X. Though, he figured most people had already heard something was up.

They didn’t need to worry about him though, not when corrupted Joe, Scar and False had upped their games and started to terrorize more and more people.

Mumbo noticed that at least one of them was keeping an eye on him at all times as well. He opted to ignore them at first, but eventually he decided to change his tactic and stopped to let them catch up.

"Mumbo! Fancy seeing you here" Scar grinned widely, it looked inhuman and not even close to his friend.

"Scar" Mumbo replied "Did you think I wouldn’t notice you following me?"

"Of course not" Joe landed behind him, and Mumbo turned around. "We just wanted to talk to you"

"I'm sure the Watchers have a lot to say" Mumbo crossed his arms "I'd love to hear from the actual Hermits, instead of the Watchers"

"Whatever do you mean?" False asked, placing a hand on Scar's shoulder "We are Hermits"

"You do look like them" Mumbo agreed "But it doesn’t change the fact that you're not them" he turned back and forth between them "It won’t matter though, not for long. I'll free them"

"What do you mean?" Joe stepped forward until he too stood next to Scar.

"I'll blow the portal, make sure you won’t keep your grip on them"

"You'll die if you try" Scar said

"That's a risk I'm willing to take" Mumbo stood tall

"Wouldn’t it be easier to just submit? Let the Watchers take over, it’s not so bad" False tried, Mumbo felt like laughing

"No" he crossed his arms

"No?" Scar asked, before turning to look first at False and then at Joe "Did you guys hear that, he thinks he can stop us to save his friends"

"I don’t have any friends" Mumbo stated "None of them care for me" he knew it was a lie, but he hoped the Watchers didn’t.

"You sure do care about them though"

"I do," Mumbo agreed, "that's why I can do this. I can save them"

"You can try"

"I will save them"

Chapter Text

The sunrise was beautiful the morning of the final day, but Mumbo didn’t stop to take it in. Instead he walked with a straight back towards his mine. The corrupted wouldn’t be able to stop him, if they could they would've tried already.

Before he got there he noticed False and Iskall standing with their swords drawn close to spawn. He turned his steps to see what was going on, hoping to save Iskall before False killed him.

"Mumbo!" Scar stopped him before he could reach the fight

"Scar, I'm busy" Mumbo told him

"That's right, today is the big day, isn’t it?" Scar asked, the inhuman smile plastered on his face "The day the great Mumbo Jumbo will die"

"You seem awfully thrilled about this" Mbo pointed out

"I very much am" Scar said "With you gone we can finally move the plan along"

"Not if I win" Mumbo told him

"I suppose" Scar said "It's not like there's much to save soon, look at them" he pointed to False and Iskall "she'll kill him, we both know that"

"Not while I'm here" Mumbo pushed past his corrupted friend.

When he got closer he could hear them arguing, though he didn’t quite know about what at first. It took a few moments to realize that it was about the terrorizing that the corrupted had been doing recently. Iskall was rightfully mad.

"Guys!" Mumbo stepped between the two "Stop fighting, we don’t need this right now" he looked between them

"She destroyed the sorting system I've been working on for three days" Iskall pointed out

"I'll help you fix it later" Mumbo said "We are Hermits. We help each other out" he looked at False, her eyes were glowing purple

"Of course we do" even the voice didn’t sound quite like her. It had an underlying voice that spoke at the same time as her, almost like an echo.

"False, walk away" Mumbo crossed his arms "You and the other two can surely find something else to do"

"He drew his sword first"

"And I don’t care" Mumbo pointed to the general direction of where Scar had been earlier

"Fine. I'll see you later" she put away her sword and moved along.

When she was far enough away, Mumbo turned back to Iskall, who was still holding his sword.

"What is happening with them?" Iskall questioned

"They've been acting weird for a while" Mumbo replied "I'm gonna see if I can make them snap out of it" he promised "Then I'll come help you with the sorting system, I'm sure it won’t take too long if we work together"

"Thank you Mumbo" Iskall smiled weakly "I'll text you later"

Chapter Text

In the mine Mumbo had a lot of time to think while he waited for the sunset. He figured he should tell his friends what he would do, maybe make a video message to send before the final sunset. One that would explain everything.

He wondered if this was the right move, he hoped it would be. He hoped nobody would be too sad when he was gone. He wanted them to continue on to live their lives.

With those thoughts circling his mind he put his communicator by the wall and started to record, despite not having any clue of what to say.

"This is for the best" he started, looking at his hands, then he realised that it wouldn’t look like he believed those words if he said it that way. "Everything must come to an end, and this is mine. It was the only way to save you. The only solution to get the Watchers away from here"

He paused looking up at the communicator again, trying to find words to say. Words that would comfort them when he was gone.

"Hermitcraft is the best thing to happen to me, and I know several of you feel the same. I don’t doubt many of you would've made the same decisions that I have. Just like I'm sure that you would've offered to take my place if you knew. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t stand losing any of you. And maybe that means that I am selfish" he smiled weakly

"I will be happy knowing I saved you though" he said, "You are my family, you made me who I am today and I know I can trust you whatever happens. I will forever be happy to call myself a Hermit, because being a Hermit means I am one of you" he reached towards the communicator "When you see this, it’s already too late. And I'm sorry. But I wish you the best"

He turned off the video, before pressing the Hermit group chat. It was too early to send it yet. Too risky. They would be able to check for his coords, something the admins had only used in case of emergencies.

The clock was not midnight, he checked, and then he double checked. He really hadn’t thought this through. He didn’t have much left to do. He sighed, putting down his communicator again.

He decided to double check his machine, making sure everything would work smoothly. Which was good, as he found that one part of the redstone wouldn’t work, and fixed it.

Chapter Text

The time was there. He sent his final message to the Hermits, and prepared himself for the sunset which was now only a few minutes away. As soon as the sun was over the horizon the machine would start, and Mumbo would only have a few moments to press the final button.

Before the sunset had the time to set, Grian stood in his mine, in one hand was his communicator, open on his video. Mumbo stared at him, not knowing what to say.

“Step back Mumbo” Grian told him “We can solve this, we can find another solution” he told him

“We can’t” Mumbo looked at his friend, his best friend since they were young. It felt unreal. “The prophecy says that this is the only way” he held the tnt, counting down the seconds.

“I can’t let you do this!”

“I’m not giving you a choice” Mumbo took a step towards the button as the machine began to whirl

“Don’t do it” Grian told him, his gaze following his friend

“If I don't, the Watcher will take over. I can’t let that happen. They will kill all life on this server, destroy all we love” he held his hand on the button, felt the stone texture against his fingers “I’m sorry Grian, but this is how this has to be” he pressed it, and the world turned dark alongside the loud noise of explosion.

Chapter Text

When Grian awoke the mine was filled with smoke, and his ears were ringing. He coughed twice as he got up, trying to see through the smoke to find his friend, who had been much closer to the explosion.

"MUMBO?" he shouted, hoping to hear a response as he hurried towards the direction Mumbo had been.

Sitting against the wall at the very end of the tunnel he sat, and Grian rushed over, crouching by his friend to assess the damage.

"Come on Mumbo, speak to me. Come on, it’s over now, now show me you're alive!"

"It's not over" Mumbo said "This is just the beginning" he blinked slowly, as if trying to remember something "Look at me, you need to be brave Grian, you need to find a way"

"A way?" Grian frowned "A way to what?"

"The portal is gone" Mumbo said, not answering the question at all

"Mumbo, how can I save you?"

"Save them" he nodded to the roof, Grian looked up, as if there would be something there

"I can’t leave you!"

"I'll be fine" Mumbo coughed "I'll be okay" he then repeated

"We need to get you up to the surface" Grian decided, moving forward, Mumbo smiled sadly

"Leave me down here" Mumbo spoke "It's for the best"

"The best?" Grian stared in disbelief "The best would be to get you out of here, to someone who can help you"

"Go get help" Mumbo told him "You gotta leave. I'll be okay" he promised

Grian studied him for a little bit before nodding slowly

"I'll be right back with… with someone!" Grian got up to his feet "Don’t move"

Mumbo watched him leave through half lidded eyes, promising over and over that he would be okay, though all he wanted to do was go to sleep.

Chapter Text

Grian flew as fast as he possibly could, finding X and Iskall standing by what had once been the Watcher portal. The rubble of the explosion had left a hole in the spawn area, but it didn’t reach the whole way to the mine, not quite.

"Help!" Grian yelled as he landed clumsily by their sides, falling face first into the ground

"You okay Grian?" Iskall quickly helped him to his feet "You look quite shaken, and uh" he checked over his friend quickly "I think you need a healing potion or two"

"Not me, not me" Grian pointed to the hole "Mumbo is about to die down there. You gotta hurry!" Grian handed him the coords of where exactly Mumbo was.

"Mumbo is down there?" X looked at the coords and then at the hole "I gotta go" he tapped in a command on his communicator, quickly disappearing.

"I'm bringing potions, and bandages" Iskall said, running towards a chest close by which had always been filled with emergency kits for Hermits who had been hurt one way or another.

---

"Mumbo!" X ran forward and sat on his knees next to his hermit, looking over his injuries.

"X" Mumbo smiled weakly

"I'm here" he promised, dragging away a loose strand of hair from Mumbo's face

"I- I did what I had to X" Mumbo said

"I know" X hushed him gently

"You taught me a lot" Mumbo spoke softly "Even before this season started I had a plan ready, just like you advised"

"I know you did" X held him closer, trying to hold in his tears "You've made me so proud Mumbo, just stay alive now"

"I'm here!" Iskall rushed inside,

"Iskall" X couldn’t decide if the name was a greeting or a plea for help.

"Is he breathing?" Iskall sat down next to X, holding the emergency kit he had brought "Will he survive?"

"Iskall" Mumbo reached out a hand "I'm sorry for lying to you, about the corruption"

"It's alright buddy" Iskall poured a potion on one of the worse wounds, it slowly healed a little bit, but not enough to stop bleeding.

"Do you remember Hermit challenges?" Mumbo asked, taking the hand Iskall was trying to heal him with.

"I do"

"You challenged me to get a parrot"

"You got a chicken and named it ‘parrot’" Iskall smiled sadly. This felt like a last confession, and Iskall didn’t want to hear it.

"I couldn’t find a parrot, so I got a chicken and called it ‘parrot’ instead." Mumbo said, as if Iskall didn’t already know.

"I know" Iskall told him, sharing a quick glance with X.

"I named a chicken 'parrot'" Mumbo repeated, his eyes slowly falling shut.

"It's okay" Iskall promised, but Mumbo didn’t reply, which got X and Iskall in a panic.

"We have to get him out of here" X said, already tapping away on his communicator. Iskall quickly agreed, holding onto Mumbo as if he would die if he let go.

"Someone must be able to save him" Iskall said, "Who could…"

"I'm taking him to Ren, text Cleo, Stress and Doc aswell" X pressed the command, and the three of them teleported to Ren's giga pie shop.

Chapter Text

It felt as if Grian had paced a hole in his floor during the 5 days it had been since Mumbo fell unconscious and had been getting cared for at Ren's base.

"Grian," Ren walked knocked gently on the doorframe before entering the room

"You got any news?" Grian asked, the desperation in his voice was much more obvious than he intended

"It's bad" Ren told him "Like, you gotta come see him now bad"

Grian didn’t reply or ask for an explanation, he simply ran out the door and let his wings carry him to Mumbo.

Everyone let him past them as he got there, and soon he was standing next to his best friend, holding his hand.

"Mumbo, don’t you dare die on me" he whispered, Mumbo didn’t reply. He didn’t even move to acknowledge that Grian was there. Grian worried his lip between his teeth before making a too rash decision.

"If you can hear me" he whispered silently, as to not make the others in the base hear him "He's dying, he won’t survive this. I beg you, please, please, save him" he could see a shimmer of purple in the corner of his eye "If you save him, I'll come back to the Watchers" he promised.

The purple took over the room, and Grian closed his eyes. He knew how bad of an idea it was, but he had to save Mumbo, nothing else mattered.

Grian screamed as his wings turned purple, and eyes grew onto his body. He didn’t want to be a Watcher, but if it meant Mumbo would live, then he would do anything.

Chapter Text

Mumbo awoke with a start, his eyes blinking slowly as they began glowing a purple hue. Grian watched in shock as the other started to move, stretching out.

"Mumbo?" Grian asked, shaking out his wings as the other looked around the room.

"Where am I?" the man asked, confusion clear in his voice

"Ren's base" Grian told him "Goodness gracious, it’s good to see you alive"

"Good to be alive" Mumbo smiled gently, putting his feet on the floor and standing up. Grian was quick by his side, holding a hand out to steady the other, but Mumbo didn’t stumble. "Let’s go meet everyone"

"Are you sure? You just woke up" Grian asked, Mumbo waved off his concerns

"It's alright" he promised as he opened the door. On the other side stood no more than three people, Scar, False and Grian.

"Where's Ren, Cleo and Doc?" Grian questioned as he stood slightly behind Mumbo

"They are busy" Joe replied, his eyes glowing purple "What is the plan?" he then asked Mumbo, who grinned widely, though Grian couldn’t see that

"Plan?" he asked, confused by it all

"To take down Hermitcraft" False explained, her sword resting on her shoulder "And bring back the escapee"

"I- That wasn’t…"

"Grian, you are one of us now" Scar said, putting an arm over his shoulder and dragging him along as they left the room "The Watchers are very pleased"

"I had to save him" Grian frowned, something about this didn’t sit right with him. Something was wrong.

"Come on, Grian" Mumbo said, and then Grian knew for sure something wasn’t right. He had to find X, before the Watchers could consume his brain.

Chapter Text

X wasn’t entirely sure what had happened at first, Mumbo and Grian had both disappeared from Ren's base, and he kind of assumed that Mumbo had woken up against all odds.

Then he saw purple wings fly past in a haste, and a manic laughter that echoed through the air, and therefore X knew something was wrong. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it at first, then he ran into Mumbo holding an invisibility potion.

"Glad to see you on your feet" he greeted the other, trying to keep his suspicion out of his face or voice

"Glad to be back" Mumbo smiled, something about it was odd, but he couldn’t put his finger on it

"So, what are you up to?" X continued, keeping the conversation light.

"Not much, actually. Just thought I was gonna…" he trailed off, looking at the foundations of Gem's megabase.

"You were gonna?" X prompted, raising his eyebrows, though he doubted Mumbo could tell.

"Just a simple prank, Grian got me to join him" Mumbo told him, and as if on queue the parrot winged man landed next to them.

"Mumbo, you gotta hurry" he said, giving X a suspicious glance

"Sorry, got distracted" Mumbo gave X one last look before downing his invisibility potion and disappearing from sight. Leaving only Grian and X standing there.

Grian blinked slowly, as if he was trying to remember something.

"The prophecy" he then said, it sounded forced, as if something was trying to stop him from speaking "You need to read the prophecy" and with those words his eyes flashed purple and he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

Chapter Text

Mumbo wasn’t home when X got to his base, which was exactly what he wished for. Though it wasn’t easy to navigate the space. Things laid cluttered everywhere, and X noted that there were a lot of broken things. In particular he noted that the Hermitcraft portrait that Mumbo updated and had on his wall each season was ripped to shreds.

It took him a good while to find the book Mumbo had always had on display before. Now it laid underneath a lot of papers that had scribbles in a language so ancient most people would no longer understand it. X knew some of it, but not enough to read what the scribbles were saying. All he knew was that it seemed to be about some kind of terrible catastrophe.

The book, however, was written in english. That he could understand. He opened it up slowly, afraid it would break if he moved too quickly.

On page 213 he found the prophecy Mumbo had once told them around the campfire.

A soldier brave and true
Will destroy a land where peace once grew
On her side a poet will emerge
His words will seem to start the purge
Once the ruler takes his part
This server's end will start

To end this fight
When the day turns into night
One player most throw the dice
The end of the world can be stopped by a sacrifice

X frowned deeply, Mumbo must've decided he was the sacrifice that had to be made… On the next page there was a blueprint of a machine, one that looked like the one Mumbo had made to destroy the watcher portal. The one after that had more text on.

Once the red decides to hear
A choice must be made to stop the fear
Purple eyes will cover all who's loyal
And this message must find a royal

X paused. He didn’t quite understand what it all meant, though he was sure red was Grian, it could also technically apply to Ren. Though Ren fit the royal description much better than Grian.

"What a lovely surprise" X turned around slowly, making sure to hide the book behind his back as he did so. Behind him stood False with a sword in her hand and a grin on her face.

"False! What a pleasure to see you here" he said, knowing that his voice wavered. She noticed too, he knew that.

"Put away the book X" she told him

"What book?" he tried to play dumb, bit once again the lie came out shaky

"Is that the game you're playing?" False asked, looking somewhat amused "Put the book away, or perish painfully" she said again, holding the sword up towards X.

X stopped hiding the book, holding it in front of him again. He didn’t open it this time though, scared of what she might do.

"Where you found it" she told him, her eyes glowing purple for a second before going back to their normal colour.

"I'm afraid I can’t do that" X told her, before doing something he had sworn he would only do in emergencies. He used his communicator to teleport away, book still in hand.

Chapter Text

X reached the portal out from the world before Cleo, Cub, Pearl and Ren could get there, though all assured him they were on their way. The four of them had volunteered when X asked for help in the groupchat he had made without the corrupted Hermits. He only hoped the corruption hadn’t reached further yet.

"X" Cleo landed first, greeting him with a serious tone "What is happening?"

"It's hard to explain" he clutched the book closer

"But it has something to do with why Joe is acting so weird, right?" she asked

"I believe so" X said "I'll explain more when the rest arrive," he looked towards the sky "If something goes wrong… if one of them…" he turned to look at her "We'll remeet somewhere… I don’t know where it’s safe" he sighed deeply

"Who are we fighting?" Ren asked, both turned to him

"The Watchers" Pearl joined them too, directly followed by Cub.

"The Watchers?" Cleo asked "They don’t usually act this way" she then pointed out, crossing her arms

"We've got history with them" Pearl explained "I knew the moment I saw Grian recently. He has the same aura as back then"

"The same aura?" Cub questioned

"Grian had just escaped the Watchers when he arrived here" X explained to them, Pearl frowned, as if she knew something they didn’t "Mumbo read us a prophecy once, from a book he got from his mother when he was young" he held up the book he had taken earlier.

"You stole it?"

"Grian told me to read it" X opened the book on page 213 "So I did, and got cornered by False. So I left"

"The same prophecy as the one Mumbo read us by the campfire?" Cleo asked, furrowing her eyebrows

"Yes" X replied "Most of it has already been made true, in one way or another. It’s just the last part I don’t understand" he turned the page, showing them the last paragraph of the prophecy.

"Find a royal?" Ren asked thoughtfully

"Yeah, do you have any clue what it can mean?" X asked

"Once the red decides to hear…" he read again, thinking for a few seconds before nodding slowly to himself "I have a cousin who might know what to do with this, he took down a withercult long ago, before she disappeared. Haven’t heard from them since" he looked thoughtful "She's also a Listener, which might be helpful to defeat the Watchers"

"Can you send the book to them?" X asked, holding the back towards him

"Yeah" Ren nodded his head "She's great at prophecies" he took the book and looked at it for a second before taking off his glasses. "Rosie, send this to my cousin Eret" he called for his bot, and the book got zapped out of his hands.

"Now when that’s done" Cleo said "X, are you aware that Mumbo is telling everyone that you are a corrupted leader?"

"He…" X frowned deeply "he is what?"

"Yeah, all five of them is" Cub agreed "Had Scar come by earlier just to tell me how you were currently using your admin powers to access some valuable resources" he explained

"Valuable resources?" X asked

"He didn’t get more specific than that" Cub shrugged

"Grian told me pretty outright that he missed being a Watcher, as he had been so much freer back then" Pearl told the group "Which, as a former Watcher, I know is bullshit"

"Yes" X sighed "They are, what I would call, corrupted by the Watchers. Brainwashed might work too. There are some parts of them left behind all that, but… I don’t know how to break them out" he explained

"According to the prophecy, we won’t" Cleo pointed out

"We will" Pearl assured them "I know the Watchers, I was one of them for a long time"

"And…?" Ren prompted her

"I think Mumbo was onto something" she said "I don’t know what his plan was, or is, but he wasn’t wrong, he blew up the portal. The only thing the Watchers can use is their vessels"

"Vessels? You mean the hermits?" Cub asked

"Wait, what are you suggesting?" Ren crossed his arms

"We don’t have to kill them, if that’s what you're thinking" she turned to look towards the spawn area "I got broken out by Grian reminding me of Evo" she said "he broke out the first time because of a memory of Taurtis"

"So… we can break them free by a memory?" Ren asked

"Yeah" Pearl agreed "It's harder than that though… I only got out because of a very strong memory. Something that reminds of us who we are"

"Strong memory? How do we know a memory is strong?" Cleo asked, she looked thoughtful, like she was trying to remember all her memories with everyone.

"I don’t know, mine wasn’t…" she looked for the right word for a second "it wasn’t good."

"So a bad memory?" X asked

"It doesn’t need to be. We just have to make sure they remember it well, and that it gives a strong feeling from them, one the Watcher can't suppress"

"I got an idea" X spoke "It involves guilt tripping though, and a huge announcement made from me that would involve death"

"Mumbo?" Cleo asked, X nodded

"The Watcher is keeping him alive, I fear. There was no saving him, yet there he stands"

"The Watcher is possessing his dead body?" Ren asked, a silent rage hidden behind his sunglasses

"No, they can’t do that" Pearl assured him "Though, they can probably keep him alive" she frowned "They might be able to save him, but I doubt that they will after what he did to protect the server"

"Can we force them to?" Cub asked, Pearl frowned, before leaning her head back and closing her eyes, cursing in a language that made something crawl inside X.

"Grian already tried" she said "That explains why they got their claws around him again. He tried to make a deal with them"

"Aren't Watchers supposed to keep to their promises?" Cleo asked

"If you believe the stories" Pearl huffed, shaking her head "They are liars"

"Very much so" X agreed, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched that was creeping on him from every direction "I'm going to go talk to Mumbo, see if I can trick him out first"

"Do that" Cub patted him on the shoulder "I'm going to see if I can find anything notorious in my server jumping box" he then said "Incase your plan doesn’t work"

"I'm gonna do the same" Cleo agreed "I have so much stuff in there, I feel like it might take a while"

"Let's all see what we find" X told them "Hopefully we can save them quickly"

"Before they get someone else" Pearl agreed

Chapter Text

Xisuma didn’t knock when he walked into Mumbo's base this time, he was in a hurry, and he didn’t feel the need to be polite with the Watchers corrupting his hermits.

"X, what a pleasant surprise" Mumbo's smile was too sharp, and X had to remind himself that it wasn’t really his hermit.

"What happened to you?" X asked, Mumbo raised his eyebrows

"Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to" he said

"You're telling everyone I am a corrupted admin, tell me why" X demanded, it was as if an act fell, Mumbo rolled his shoulders and his smile turned wider.

"You know why" he said as a purple glow emerged from around him

"Release my Hermit" X demanded, trying to keep his rage as bay

"I'm the only thing keeping him alive" The Watcher said "If I leave, he dies"

"I don’t care" X said "He died long ago"

"He's still in here" he knocked a finger to his temple "Listening to everything you're saying"

X put up his axe, holding it in his face "Let him out, or I kill you"

The Watcher laughed, putting his hands in the air, before putting them into fists instead

"Do your best"

X stared at him for a second, trying to contain the anger within him. He dropped his axe

"Thought so" the Watcher said, and X was quick to flung a fist in his face.

Both of them breathed heavily for a bit after that, before the Watcher turned to him, no longer glowing.

"I felt that" X turned to the Watcher, no, it wasn’t the Watcher "X" Mumbo whispered, and Xisuma fell to his knees next to him

"I'm so sorry"

"No, no, don’t say that" Mumbo looked around the room "Everytime you say my name… they" he closed his eyes "Whatever happen X, don’t blame everything on him. He didn’t mean for it to turn out this way"

X smiled softly, petting Mumbo's hair slowly as the other opened his eyes again "We want to save you"

"You won’t" Mumbo shook his head, before he closed his eyes, and X knew that the Watcher was back.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t out of the ordinary to gather the Hermits every Thursday, Xisuma had done it since he became admin in season 2. However, this wasn’t anything like sitting around a table and talking about the latest new shops or builds.

This time Xisuma stood on a small stage that he had built out of some spare materials, and below him sat the Hermits.

"Hermits, I have gathered you here today to share some heartbreaking news" he began, finding the corrupted Hermits among the other people, Mumbo nowhere to be seen. "Last month, in the explosion that destroyed the portal at spawn, Mumbo sacrificed himself for us in the hopes to stop the Watchers" there was some murmurs, but X ignored it and continued

"Without him, we would've been doomed" he felt the tears stuck in his throat, but he refused to let them show.

"As you all know, Mumbo always dreamed of making this a safe space for all who joins, and with him we became more than just a server" he paused, taking a breath "We became a family"

"Don’t let his death be in vain" he looked over the crowd. Nothing could be heard, not even a whisper, as the hermits slowly processed the information.

X met Grian's eyes in the crowd, he was blinking slowly, holding his head. X slowly walked off his stage, going towards him.

"Grian?" he asked when he got close, reaching out a hand

"I-" Grian opened his mouth to speak, before meeting X's eyes "I gotta go" and with that he stretched his wings and flew away.

X turned to the other corrupted Hermits, who also seemed to be in a state of shock.

"How are you feeling?"

Scar looked around, he seemed exhausted so X helped him sit down on a chair close by. Joe and False followed along but stayed standing next to Scar.

"What- X tell me all that was a bad dream" False looked at him with pleading eyes, and X wished he could comfort her in a better way

"It would be a lie if I did" he said, placing a hand on her shoulder "Are you back, fully?"

"I don’t know" False closed her eyes, as if trying to concentrate

"I can still feel the pull" Joe said

"Me too" Scar agreed "I don't know, but it feels like…" he fumbled for words

"It feels like a voice calling you to the void" X spoke softly

"You… know?" False looked concerned

"It doesn’t matter" he sighed "the important part is that we might be able to stop it”

“How?” Joe looked defeated

“We'll figure it out, together"

Chapter Text

Grian landed outside of Mumbo's base not long after departing from the meeting. He knew his best friend was supposed to be here, and he really needed to speak to him.

"Mumbo?" he called as he opened the door, and soon after Mumbo came into view "Tell me you are Mumbo, the real one" Grian pleaded, knowing full well it wouldn’t work

"Of course I am" Mumbo said

"Prove it!"

"I saved us all Grian, and you saved me" he said with a serious expression, until he slowly broke into laughter, his eyes glowing purple. "What did you expect Xelqua?" he then asked

"I- You lied!"

"Of course we lied. Did you really think we'd save him, the man who actively tried to stop us for Months?" The Watcher asked, raising an eyebrow

"I said I'd become a Watcher again if you saved him, I- I didn’t…"

"You were always a Watcher" he laughed "Nothing will ever change that, no matter where you hide, Xelqua"

"Is that why you came here, to get me back?"

"Not exactly" The Watcher said "Hermitcraft needs to go completely, with or without you. The very foundations of this server is too dangerous to keep"

"Why? Most people here are just normal players"

"Not all though" The Watcher waved a hand in the air, and Grian knew he was checking the server "Three Watchers. Several Cryptids. An overwhelming amount of hybrids" he listed, Grian frowned.

"Three Watchers?" he asked, the Watcher grinned widely

"One of them pulled an axe at my face earlier, told me to release his hermit" he laughed, but it was no humour in it

"Xisuma?" Grian whispered, more to himself than anything "It…"

"Xelqua. Xisuma. Xent. Doesn’t it make so much sense?"

"I- I guess" he turned away, trying to process it "You should know though, that I-" he tried to focus, he had so many memories, just one of them would work, it had to "The chair flew through the roof of Sahara, which was hilarious" he said quickly, the Watcher frowned deeply "We invited Iskall with a handwritten note. And you… you had Hermit challenges! You got me to steal doors for a whole season"

He started to ramble memories they had together, until finally the Watcher's head fell into his hands, before slowly his head lifted again. This time his eyes had a sad look about them.

"Grian…" it was Mumbo, Grian felt his body relax slightly "I- I told you what I had to do. I told you it had to be done, but you didn’t listen" he began "The Watchers lie, they always have. I've told you that so many times. You knew that" he met Grian's eye "You doomed Hermitcraft"

"I-I was just trying to save you!"

"But you have doomed us all instead" he looked upset, and Grian felt shame and guilt, he supposed he deserved that.

"We can still fix this" he tried

"No, I don’t…" Mumbo sighed, he looked exhausted, and so so so pale "I'm going to find… someone, to help me get the Watcher out fully" he told him "I suggest you find the other Corrupted Hermits. Make sure they snap out of it" and with that he left Grian standing there alone.

Chapter Text

Mumbo found Iskall and Stress sitting outside Iskall's base, they were having a swedish fika and talking about something that Mumbo didn’t have the time or energy to take in

"Help me" he said as he got to them "I need you to help me get the Watcher out of my head"

"Mumbo!?" Stress jumped to her feet "You're…"

"Not dead yet, but the Watcher will be back any minute. Please help me"

"I- Watcher?" Iskall frowned "I'm gonna text X, take a seat Mumbo you don’t look great"

"Yeah, my body won’t function for long" he replied too casually for the sentence he had spoken

"I- Stress can you…" he waved a hand towards Mumbo, and Stress immediately helped Mumbo to take a seat before giving him a regen and health potion.

"It's a waste of resources" Mumbo said as he drank them "I thought I did the right thing before. I knew I had to do it alone, I just- I can’t defeat them alone. I need help" he explained to them "The Watchers are taking over control. I don’t know how many yet, I barely know what's been happening, I just don’t know what will happen"

"What do you mean?" Stress asked, trying to keep her voice calm despite the stress she was under

"I mean that…" he dragged a hand through his hair "Purple eyes will cover all who's loyal" he recited the words in the prophecy

"Loyal to who?"

"I don’t know" he looked at the distance "Grian became a watcher again to save me" he said slowly

"Oh my" Iskall frowned "he hated them so much"

"He still does" Mumbo said "I just- Grian isn’t loyal to the Watchers, and…" he out a hand on his head, as if trying to block something else out "I fear they will win"

"How do we stop them?"

Mumbo didn’t reply, keeping his head in his hands.

"We need to force the Watcher out" Xisuma landed smoothly on the floor next to Iskall

"How do we do that?" Stress asked, quickly on her feet.

"We need something else to break the connection. A listener." he looked to the sky

"A listener?" Iskall questioned

"The only thing with an energy to match the Watchers. They are not too far from Watchers, but they won’t want us dead"

"How do we reach them?" Stress asked, resting a hand on Mumbo's shoulder

"I-" X froze before turning around, as if he was looking for intruders "They hear all, according to myth" he said "oh, and Ren's cousin is one"

"What?"

"Eret"

"Eret?" Iskall frowned "It would take them weeks to get here"

"No, not with his powers" X took up his communicator "We have also already contacted her"

Chapter Text

Grian met Pearl before he could meet any of the corrupted Hermits. It looked like she was waiting for him, as she sat outside his base.

He ran a few steps as he landed

"Pearl, what are you doing here?" he asked as she caught him from running into a wall.

"Is it really you?" she asked, he looked down at the floor, disappointed in himself that she even had to ask.

"Yes" he said "X snapped me out of it, I… I messed up"

"You did" Pearl agreed "It's okay, we all make mistakes"

"I've doomed the whole server, and I didn’t even save Mumbo" he retorted

"We don’t know that" she said "You snapped out of it, and so did Scar, Joe and False"

"They're free?" Grian looked hopeful

"Well, they are closer to it" she sighed "X called Eret to come help"

"A Listener? That has some scary potential"

"The prophecy tells us you need to hear to stop the fear" Pearl explained "I think it points to the Listeners"

"What if they…"

"Do you trust X?" she asked calmly

"I- I guess?"

"Then you have nothing to worry about. Eret will get the Watchers out"

"You're right"

"I know" she patted his back "Now I think it’s time for you to talk to Scar, False and Joe, c'mon"

Chapter Text

Eret landed at the coordinates that had been given to him by Xisuma Void only to notice the loudness of the corruption. She sighed deeply, holding up a hand to silence the noise slightly. It didn’t stop anything, it just hushed it enough to let them think.

"Eret!" Ren greeted them, giving her a quick hug before immediately waving for him to follow along

"Your server is very corrupted" Eret told him "The very foundations are whispering in watcher voices. Even if I save your friends…" they paused, waving a hand in the air

"We need a new home" Ren agreed "It's hard though, we can’t leave without risking bringing the corruption with us" he explained

"You just need to…" he stopped as they came face to face with the server admin. "Oh" she frowned

"Eret" Xisuma greeted them, holding a hand forward towards the Listener "I'm Xisuma Void, the admin of Hermitcraft, though we do really make all decisions together"

"It's nice to meet you" Eret didn’t take the hand "Is it okay if I take a look at the server code?"

"Of course" Xisuma let his arm fall to his side "How big is the problem, from first glance?" he then questioned

"It's bad" Eret opened his communicator and pressed several buttons "The Watchers want the server destroyed"

"Yeah, we've gotten that part" Ren pointed out

"Can you tell us why?" X asked

"You don’t know?" Eret frowned

"I assume it has something to do with Grian and Pearl's past with them" Xisuma said

"Players flee from the Watchers all the time" Eret replied, "and while it’s true Grian at the very least is half a Watcher, they wouldn’t care enough for a hybrid"

"So what are they out to get?" X asked, Eret turned to look at Ren

"Ren, could you leave us alone for a while, I think this is a conversation better had between just us two" she said

"Of course" Ren nodded "Just let me know when to come back"

The two of them promised to do so before Ren flew away on his elytra, his cape flying in the wind.

Eret meanwhile clicked a button on the communicator before turning it around so X could see.

On the screen was a Wanted poster, it was dated to 25 years earlier, and the prize was massive. Xisuma wouldn’t have worried much about it, given the age, if it wasn’t for the fact that the face on it was one that he knew very well.

"What is this?" he asked

"25 years ago there was a huge catastrophe caused by a Watcher who created a massive black hole destroying a whole galaxy of servers, and with it billions of players. The Watcher himself got arrested but disappeared before any trial could be held. Even us Listeners were outraged by the disappearance, and we very rarely agree with the Watchers"

"But that’s…"

"You?"

"I was gonna say impossible" X looked up at him "I'm only 35. That man…"

"Have you ever heard the void calling for you?"

"I mean… yes? But I never wanted to go"

"The Watchers are out to destroy this server because you ran away from them, from their prison" Eret explained, X was deep in thought, so they continued "Watcher's don’t have ancestors in the way players do. They are born from the Void itself. Like Listeners being born when the moon and sunlight meet. That’s why I believe this has to be you. Each Watcher is unique"

"I have a twin brother" Xisuma spoke, as if to disapprove the point

"You do?" Eret frowned

"Yes" X replied "It- That's me though. My brother doesn’t have that scar" he pointed to the scar that was on the cheek of the person the picture "That's just me"

"The scar that crosses out the Watcher eye symbol?" Eret asked "Can I…" she pointed towards the mask X wore, the admin sighed deeply before reaching for the helmet's lock, opening it so he could take it off.

"Not a single one of my Hermits has seen my face before" he explained as Eret moved his face to the side, looking at the scar that crossed over the purple eye that was marked in Xisuma's skin.

"You really didn’t know you were a Watcher?" they asked, ignoring the previous statement

"I knew there was something I didn’t know" Xisuma said "When the portal appeared at spawn, I kinda figured it was something" he dragged his sleeve up, showing the Watcher symbol that he hid there.

"So you had no idea that you're wanted?"

"No" X shook his head "I can’t really… a whole galaxy of servers…"

"What is your first memory?"

"Ever?" X frowned "I mean… I…" he paused "Me and EX sitting in the grass somewhere, waiting for someone"

"And after that?"

"Generik welcoming me to Hermitcraft" he sighed deeply "All I want is to keep my Hermits safe. I just… I've cursed them, haven’t I?"

"I'll do my best to help them" Eret promised, their eyes filled with understanding "I'll also try to help you. I can’t promise much but…" he paused "I might be able to give you your memories back" she said

"What happens if I…" he paused, leaving the question hanging in the air

"You won’t" they promised "Remembering who you are won’t turn you into that person automatically"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I lived that" he sat down on a rock by the path, X sat down not too far away "When I joined my current server, I had no memories for years" she explained

"Why? Does it have to do with server hoppings? A glitch that mixes with the powers of Watchers or Listeners?" X asked, Eret shook their head

"Not quite. We just have the power to erase our memories if there's something we wish no one would ever know" he looked at X "I got involved in a server, before my current one, helped a demigod a bit. It goes against Listener code"

"Better than destroying a galaxy" X pointed out

"Yeah" she chuckled, but there wasn’t much humour in it "Before I got my memories back I betrayed my first friends, and then I was pretty lonely. I worked hard to prove I was trying to be a good person, and… I think I got there"

"Even with your memories?"

"Yeah" they sighed "I'd ease you into yours, maybe start with something easier to handle and then work yourself up to whatever happened in that galaxy of servers"

"Sounds good" X nodded slowly "But… even if I do remember, the Watchers wouldn’t stop looking"

"No" Eret agreed "I can create another server for them, a temporary one just until the Watchers back down" they explained slowly, as if they were trying to hide something. Leave something out.

"They won’t be able to find them, Watchers can’t…" X paused "oh"

"You'd be stuck here, at least for a while"

"They wouldn’t like that" X commented, despite knowing that it would be the plan

"The Hermits have to deal" she patted his shoulder as they stood "We just need to figure out what happened, then we might be able to convince them to leave"

Chapter Text

Grian, False, Joe, Scar and Pearl sat on the very top of Grian's floating rocks, looking out over the server. It felt emptier than normal, and Grian felt worn out from all emotions he was experiencing at once.

"Is he really dead?" Scar asked "Did… did he really sacrifice himself?"

"He's not" Grian said "Not yet"

"But we can’t save him" Pearl added "Trying to do so made it worse" She turned to look at Grian, who looked down at the ground in front of him.

"I'm sorry" he whispered

"You did what you thought was best" Pearl said

"It wasn’t the best" False muttered

"We all made mistakes" Joe said, giving her a displeased glance

"The Watchers made it worse" Pearl corrected him "They are very convincing, that’s a part of their code"

"I hate that" Grian sighed "I just… at least you can be saved"

"You are your own person" Pearl reminded him, Grian didn’t look convinced

"You're free Grian, they can’t control you" Scar placed a hand on his shoulder "Whatever happens, we'll be here for you"

"We will" False agreed, though she still seemed pretty bitter. Grian figured the bitterness wasn’t really meant for him though, not really.

"Eret will get the Watchers out" Joe spoke "And we can put this behind us"

"It won’t be easy to forget" Pearl told them "Trust me, I know"

"Me too" Grian sighed deeply "They… I sometimes forget how bad things were. Watchers have always been a part of my life, it’s hard to put all of it in a bad light"

"Yeah" Scar patted his shoulder "I understand what you mean. Vexes aren’t saints either, doesn’t mean I hate them"

"Not even players are saints" said False, Joe nodded his head in agreement, but didn’t say anything.

"It's going to be okay guys" Pearl said "X and Eret will figure it out"

"I hope you're right"

As if on cue, all of their communicators pinged with a message from the server chat. They read it in silence before looking up at each other

"I hope this is good news" Scar said "Last time X called for a meeting…" he didn’t finish the sentence, but they all knew what he meant.

"We better go see what they have to say" Grian stood up, stretching his still purple wings, the rest were quick to pull on their elytras before they flew off together towards spawn.

Chapter Text

Xisuma knew that the Hermits wouldn’t be happy with what he had to say, but he and Eret both knew that this was the best solution, the only one that wouldn’t end in war.

Ren was the first Hermit to arrive at the meeting area, where X and Eret already stood. He landed smoothly, before greeting the two.

"So, what's been decided?" he asked, fixing his small crown.

"I've created a server for all Hermits where the Watchers will not be able to break in" Eret explained

"Well, that’s great news then!" Ren patted their back, then he noticed the look on both her and X's faces "Why do you look so upset?"

"I can’t come with you" X said, Ren's frown deepened as he tried to process the words

"Why not? There’s not a new season without you" he told the admin "Who's gonna take over as head admin on the new server?"

"There's more people around. Joe is next in line I think, other than that we could always have a vote" he explained first, before meeting Ren's eye "I'm the reason the code is corrupted" he said, before quickly looking down at his feet

"You- but… why?"

"He's a runaway" Eret said, saving X from saying the words

"What!?"

"I don’t actually know what happened, Eret will help me get my memories back" X explained

"I don’t know how you'll be able to convince the Hermits that this is a good idea" Ren spoke, looking up to the sky where several of them were flying in

"We're not planning on convincing them" Eret said "We're planning on keeping them safe, and we can’t do that here"

"They will want to stay and fight"

"There won’t be a fight" X sighed "I'm gonna make sure to get my memories back, then at worst case scenario we will have a Watcher trial, best case scenario we can just convince them that Hermitcraft is not that bad"

"How bad can your crime have been? We have people who have made war equipments bad enough to consider war crimes and demons who have literally crawled up from hell after decades of causing destruction and despair"

"It's bad" Eret said "We just don’t quite know how bad yet. Given that we don’t actually know exactly what happened, just what the consequences was"

"What were the consequences?" Ren asked as Hermits slowly began landing

"Destruction and death" X said quietly before nodding his head towards the Hermits that had arrived. "Now, we need to start this meeting"

Chapter Text

X sat down on his seat around the meeting table, the others slowly doing the same while Eret sat down on a seat Xisuma had simply made in case they ever needed one more chair.

Mumbo sat between Stress and Iskall, he looked pale and weak, but he was still breathing. Xisuma didn’t know if telling the hermits what was to happen with him here was a great idea, but it was better than nothing.

"Greetings friends" Xisuma spoke, making the room fall silent and turn their attention to him "As you all know we've had some struggles recently, particularly with Watchers. Which is why we have invited this lovely person to help us get them out" Eret waved slightly, but didn’t say anything, their eyes focused on the four corrupted Hermits.

"He is my cousin Eret" Ren introduced her

"Yes" X nodded "With their help we have been able to deduct that the Watchers are currently corrupting the very foundations of our server, meaning that we will not be able to stay here for long if we don’t want to risk our lives"

"I'd be willing to fight them" Wels said, sword by his side, False nodded along

"The Watchers are too powerful to fight" Pearl said "They are godly beings, nothing will stop them from doing what they came here for"

"I can" Eret spoke "I have created a new server on which all of you can live with no fear of the Watchers" she explained

"They will try to break in" Grian pointed out "We should give them what they want, that way they'll leave"

"They won’t" X assured him "Because of how our foundations are built they want to destroy it"

"So we'll just hide? What if they break in again, and this time kill us?" Hypno asked

"They won’t" Eret said "My server is safe, Watchers and Listeners don’t mix, and therefore they will stay away from there"

"I don’t see what you are arguing for, we'll go to this server, it’s no different than our normal reset" Beef spoke up, X sighed.

"There is one thing different" he spoke slowly, and once again he felt their burning stares "I won’t be able to join you"

"No" False stood "X, we've already had one self sacrificing Hermit, we don’t need another!"

"It's not like that" X told her "I'm not sacrificing myself" he paused, realising that technically he supposed he actually was.

"I should stay behind too, I might be able to talk to them" Grian said, though anyone could see he didn’t really like that idea "I am part Watcher"

"I am a full Watcher" X replied, meeting his eye "They aren’t out for you, they are looking for me. I have corrupted our own code by simply being the admin here, and they got in because of me. I don’t remember my time with them, but Eret will get my memories back to me. That’s why I will stay, to remember why they are out for me and to try to convince them to let our server be"

"You can do that with us here" Wels said as False took her seat again

"Maybe" X said "But I don’t want to risk anyone else being corrupted, as I am sure you can all ask the ones who has already gone through it, it’s not fun"

"We won’t let them" Cleo said "We're a family, and that means we stand together through everything"

"It's not forever" X said "I won’t leave you forever, just until we can figure it out"

"You won’t leave us at all" Bdubs said "Because we will stay" he stood firm

"The Watchers can break apart your codes, that’s a permakill" X said "More than a permakill, it would be like you never existed in the first place"

"That won’t happen" Doc said "Not as long as we can keep them busy"

"Exactly" Etho agreed, the two sharing a glance

"And then we'll save Mumbo too" Stress told him with a confidence X couldn’t quite believe they had

"You'd be safe on the other server" X said "And I'd join you sooner rather than later. I don’t want you to risk your lives for me"

"It's not a question" False said "You've always been there for us. Let us be there for you"

"Exactly," Joe agreed "If it had been anyone else, would you have left us alone to fix it?"

X froze at that, just staring at his friend. The answer to Joe's question was a very obvious no. He would never dare to leave a Hermit behind, not when he could be there for them to their last breath.

"If that is what is decided" Eret began speaking instead "We will need a head quarters that we can all fit within, that way we can keep track of each other and I might be able to help stop the Watchers before they try to do something like destroy your codes" she looked around the room, waiting for a reply

"The King's Crastle should be big enough to house us" Bdubs spoke up, looking at Ren who had yet to say anything during the meeting, his eyes stuck on the table. At the mention of his home he however looked up

"It would be a true honour to host all of you, and invite you to stay within the Crastle's walls" he told them, though his facial expression did not change.

"Ren, are you doing alright?" Doc asked, reaching a hand out to place on his friend's shoulder.

When Ren growled in response he quickly drew back his hand.

"Ren?" Mumbo asked weakly, the dog hybrid's eyes quickly snapping to him "Can you sing your verse of Hermitgang for me" he asked carefully.

Ren growled a little more before he stopped and began to quietly rap the verse, more for himself than for Mumbo.

"What was that?" Cub questioned

"The Watchers are trying to corrupt us all" Mumbo explained, his voice hoarse and tired

"And you… distracted him out of it?" Doc frowned

"No, he got him to remember something. I'm surprised a song worked, he must have a strong association to it" Eret spoke

"The Civil War is a strong memory for a lot of us" Grian said "But… do we still" he motioned towards Ren, as if that would finish the question

"I can get it out of him, and the rest of you" Eret promised "It's not… fault free, exactly. But it does work”

"Like what? Puking? Dizziness?" Pearl questioned

"Well, I don’t think you'll throw up" Eret assured her "Dizziness is a common side effect yes, but more because of the confusion of being free of the Watcher"

“But nothing… magical?” Joe asked

“Nothing that will affect any of you for long. I can guarantee that the corruption will be gone from you after that”

“We’d be free?” False asked “From them”

“They will still be on the server, but yeah, not inside your head”

“I’m in” Pearl said

“So am I” Mumbo said

"Might as well" X stepped in "Is there anything we should worry about when it comes to the Watchers reaction to this?"

"They won’t be happy, obviously" was the reply "Listeners and Watchers are supposed to stay out of each other's business, and this is Watcher business"

"So, we might cause a war?" Grian asked

"Wouldn’t be the first time for you" Doc remarked, teasing him, a few of the hermits chuckled

"I'll have it under control" Eret spoke, but all of them could feel the 'I hope' that went unsaid.

"Let’s start with moving to the Crastle" X suggested "From there I want everyone to work together to strengthen our defences while Eret and I work on getting my memories back"

"Should I start with trying to chase out the Watchers using the hermits as vessels?" Eret asked

"Yes, let's do that first" X agreed "Bdubs, will you lead us to the Crastle"

Chapter Text

Eret stopped Mumbo before they got to the room where they would perform his spell later. She was a little bit nervous, but there was one thing that was left to address before it happened.

“The Watcher is the only thing keeping you alive” Eret said to Mumbo quietly, as if it was a secret no one could know

“Yes” Mumbo agreed “And I think it’s been breaking me apart from the inside from the very start”

“I can’t save you if the Watcher leaves” they told him “I’ve tried to look in every book I can find, but…”

“This was what was meant to be” Mumbo replied “I did it to destroy the Watcher portal, I did it to get rid of them for good”

“X mentioned they had a portal” Eret said “I wondered how it disappeared”

“I blew it up” Mumbo said “Myself with it, if Grian hadn’t made a deal”

“A sacrifice to destroy the portal” she nodded slowly “It is the only known way to truly make it disappear”

“It’s what the prophecy told me”

“The end of the world can be stopped by a sacrifice”

“You’ve read it?” Mumbo asked

“Ren sent the book to me” Eret dug through his pockets before showing it to him

“I wondered where it had gone” he said

“Do you want it back?” she asked, Mumbo shook his head

“I’ll have no use for it” he said “I’ll only live for another few hours, at best”

“I’m sorry about that”

“It’s not your fault” Mumbo patted his shoulder “Can you just…” he waved a hand in the air “Did I… Was it…” he searched for the right way to ask the question

“Without the portal they can’t come back” Eret replied "And when they leave, Xisuma can fix the codes again, I think" she added "You've saved the server"

“Good” Mumbo smiled “This server still has so much potential”

“It does” Eret agreed “I wish you could see it all unfold”

“I’ll try to pull some strings” Mumbo said, before looking out of the window at the sun that stood high in the sky “Do you know what happens when you die?”

“No” Eret sighed “The curse of being a Listener is never knowing, there are many theories out in the world, many whispers and stories, but no one truly knows”

“I hope it’s like this” Mumbo motioned around him “I can’t imagine anything better”

“Maybe it will be, for you” Eret said

“Hopefully” Mumbo smiled sadly “C’mon now, let’s go see if we can get the Watchers out, for real this time”

Chapter Text

Eret stood in the empty room he had been provided, the six corrupted hermits sitting on chairs by the wall. They were all rather antsy, especially Grian, whose wings were still purple though the eyes had disappeared.

"I don’t know if this will work on me" Grian spoke before Eret could begin "I'm part Watcher, on my father's side"

"If it doesn’t work, no harm will be done" Eret promised "But in case a Watcher is possessing your human half I want to make sure" she gave the avian a light smile before turning to the rest of the hermits in the room too "Are you ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be" False said right as Pearl said:

"Been ready for years now"

Eret nodded slowly before they took off their sunglasses, and began the spell. The white of her eyes seemed to start glowing as he spoke in an ancient language.

Grian realised that it was similar to the enchantment table language his father had spoken when he was a child, though not quite the same.

It made something stir in his subconscious, it felt about the same as a book being taken from its enchantment table, an inner screaming. Though it disappeared rather quickly, and with it so did the feeling of being watched. Something he hadn’t really noticed he was feeling.

Watchers listen closely
Listeners watch and see
We will never be the same now
And the same will never be
Hear me say the words of ours
And leave these player souls
All Hermits are protected now
By the Listener at their court

As Eret finished the last sentence, the noise of the Watchers silenced temporarily. She knew they would be back eventually, but for now they would need to retreat and regroup.

Grian turned to look at him again, and Eret gave him a quick nod.

"You didn’t do a spell forcing them out" Grian said, and Eret shrugged

"I don’t know any spells to keep them out" they replied, as the other five also seemed to realize that it was done "I just know the rules that are set between Watchers and Listeners"

"They disappeared," Pearl said, holding out her hands and looking at them as if there was a visible change.

"Yes" Eret nodded his head "I told you I could force them out"

"That wasn’t the same language as the Watchers use" Grian said

"I'm not a Watcher" Eret replied

"You put a protection spell on us"

"I did" Eret looked out of the window "I give it four hours at most before they come knocking on the door though, I am still hoarding a criminal”

"That doesn’t sound great" Joe said

"What will they do?" False asked

"I'm not sure yet" Eret replied, the sky was slowly turning purple in the horizon "You are safe from them as long as you are within these walls."

“How was it that easy? Why did you wait?” Grian has so many questions

“I can’t put a protection spell on the entire server, the very codes of this server are corrupted by Watchers, and my magic don’t mix well with theirs” Eret explained “If you would have agreed to go to my server they couldn’t have followed, which was the original plan”

“But… it still works on me” Grian pointed out

“You are a hybrid” Eret said “The Watchers were corrupting the human part of you to be able to really keep you with them”

“X wouldn’t have been able to join your server, even after” Pearl spoke

“He could’ve” Eret said “Our magic don’t mix well, but Xisuma doesn’t use his magic” she looked thoughtful “I think I need to speak with him now, figure out what really happened” they walked towards the door “The Watchers won’t bother you now”

Chapter Text

After Eret left, the six hermits stayed in the room. A silence filled the air that was hard to describe, like an emptiness that Mumbo himself couldn’t quite feel.

With staggered steps Mumbo walked towards the window to see the sun slowly disappear behind the horizon. He saw the purple that was slowly growing as a promise of a final battle. It was a battle the redstoner would never see, he realised as his knees felt weak.

He sat down in the corner of the room, still keeping his eyes on the horizon. The Watcher had really been the only thing keeping him alive all this time, and probably kept his own body from healing all the same. It felt like a cruel joke.

It was inevitable that it would go like this. The portal was gone, and that was all Mumbo had done. The Watchers were still out there, seeking to destroy everything. He turned his head to look at his friends.

Grian stood in a quiet conversation with Ren and Scar about something that he couldn’t hear, probably about the Watchers, or maybe Eret. Not far from them stood Joe and False, whispering between each other with faces full of regret and shame. Pearl still sat on her chair, completely still and unmoving. She seemed tired, which wasn’t surprising given how long she had lived with the Watchers as a part of her. It felt strange to Mumbo, he couldn’t imagine how strange it felt for her.

He turned back to his oldest friend, the red winged avian who held them all together, and he smiled. Grian had made a mistake, one that almost cost the server everything, but when the Watcher blocking his memories disappeared, Mumbo could remember what had happened that night. Fully and clearly.

He knew he had to do one last thing before the sun set behind the hermitcraft horizon.

"Grian?" All heads snapped towards the hoarse voice of Mumbo as he spoke.

"Mumbo! I'm here" Grian was quick to move over the room and crouch down by his friend. Without the other hermits in his direct line of vision, the scene reminded Grian of the one down in the mine. When he thought Mumbo would die while he ran to find help. This time he wouldn’t leave, if Mumbo needed help Ren, Scar, False, Joe and Pearl were right there by him.

"You are" Mumbo agreed with a soft smile "I- The Watcher is gone. It’s just me now" he said

"That's good news Mumbo, I'm so sorry that I put you through all this"

"No, it wasn’t your fault. I'm sorry for yelling at you" he coughed for a long time, as if his lungs were slowly falling apart "The prophecy was too big, I should've asked for help. I- I thought I wouldn’t need it, that I had made the right decisions. The only thing you did was try to save me. Purple eyes will cover all who's loyal" he recited "You were loyal to me, that’s why you did what you did. Not because of the Watchers"

"This is starting to sound like a goodbye" Grian whispered, Mumbo reached a hand forward, drying a tear from Grian's cheek.

"Nothing in this world could stop us" he said weakly "We will always be family"

"Of course we will" Grian said, holding Mumbo's hand tightly "You will always be my brother"

With those words Mumbo turned to look out of the window again with a soft smile on his lips, and the sun disappeared behind the trees.

"Goodbye Mumbo" Grian whispered silently as tears fell down his cheeks uncontrollably.

He didn’t know how long he sat there for, but eventually Ren came up to him and slowly pulled him away from the shell of what had once been his friend. When they were outside the dog hybrid pulled him into a hug and both of them cried into each other's shoulders.

They had always known there was nothing they could have done to save him from this. It was always going to happen, one way or another. He decided his fate, and even if he had tried his best Grian had only pushed the inevitable back by a short while.

That night the Hermits sat together in the main hall, mourning their lost friend and remembering who he had been.

Chapter Text

Eret and Xisuma sat together in what was supposed to be Bdubs bedroom; they had been promised by the royal architect that no one would disturb them there. X doubted anyone would disturb them either way, not with everyone still mourning Mumbo. 

“Are you ready for this?” Eret asked, his eyes filled with concern and sorrow. She knew what it felt like to lose someone, and they didn’t want to add to that loss.

“There’s no way for me to wait now. If I wait, and we lose to the Watchers, his death was for nothing” Xisuma said, his eyes red from crying.

"Then let's start" Eret sat down on the floor, their cape pooling around him. 

Xisuma slowly sat down across from her, waiting for the next line of action. 

"Let’s start simple, tell me about your brother" Eret said, X frowned, he had been under the impression that this would be a spell, not an interrogation.

"EX? There’s not much to tell. He's my brother, a glitchy version of myself"

"Where is he now?"

"Last I heard he went back to the void, probably to hide away" X didn’t quite know what the point of this was, but Eret simply nodded 

"You said your first memory was of you and him waiting?" Eret posed it as a question, but continued before X could answer "Do you want to start with revisiting that moment with him?" 

"I can’t see why not" 

Eret nodded before reaching his hand out and knocked twice on X's temple. 

EX and X sat in a field in the end together, gigantic dragonflies flying above them as they sat in silence admiring them.

"He'll pick us up, right?" EX asked, his voice quieter than normal "He didn’t just leave us?"

"No" X promised "He'll come back to us. And then we'll be able to rejoin our training"

EX sighed deeply, picking up a loose end stone that laid on the ground 

"Sometimes I wish we could just run away"

"Run away?" X frowned "The world out there is deadly. We can't…"

"I know we can’t" EX said "They'd find us either way. There's not enough Watchers being born, so I doubt they'd let us go without a fight"

"We're stronger than ever!" X said proudly "That's what he always say either way" he then muttered

"One will be back" EX said, changing the topic completely "I know he's watching us, so I doubt he'd let us be eaten by the insects"

"Probably not"

"Worst case scenario, we can just glitch out" 

"I guess"

X knows One came back for them, and they didn’t need to glitch their way from the dangers of the end. He looked at Eret, who sat calmly

"Did that clear anything up?"

"I mean, we were waiting for a Watcher to pick us up. I wanted to go back to our training, but EX wasn’t as thrilled about it"

"How old were you?"

"Not very" X said "Eight maybe ten?"

"That sounds like the Watchers" she huffed "Never allowing kids to be kids. Always training them to be ruthless gods"

"Listeners aren’t known for being much better" X pointed out, Eret gave a weak smile 

"Not by the Watchers. Listeners are known for rarely interfering with players" she said "But you are right, I did start training early too, just not to be ruthless. But being trained in always being perfect is not easy either"

"Perfect doesn’t exist" X said "The Hermits taught me that by showing me how amazing all of them were with flaws and all"

"It sounds like a good way to learn it" Eret said "Do you want to move on to the next memory?"

"Yeah" X nodded "Hit me with it" 

Eret once again reached over to knock at his temple. And once again X got a memory back.

"X you need to jump!" EX shouted from way above him. X could feel the exhaustion of it all. 

"I'm trying!" as he ran forward he jumped up to the second block, only to teleport back again. X looked down at his hands "The void won’t let me" he called

"Of course it won’t. You need to use it to your advantage, don’t be scared!"

X frowned, trying the jump again, and was teleported back. 

"Why does it hate me? I've never been anything but loyal" he complained

"Xisuma" EX called, and X met his gaze "Pretend you are here next to me, and then jump" 

X did as told, though he had no clue why he did so. He was once again teleported, but before he could open his eyes a hand was on his shoulder. He tensed up, ready to be thrown out by Seven.

"You did it" EX said "You used your powers"

"I- powers?" he asked "I'm not supposed to get them until the graduation ceremony next week"

"You got them early, I guess" EX looked almost guilty as he placed a hand on his shoulder "You can control it already"

The memory faded there, and X looked at Eret. Watchers weren't able to… do that. At least he was pretty sure. EX never could, he didn’t get his powers until One gave it to him. Why had X been an exception?

"I-" X opened his mouth to speak, but his mind was reeling and he was trying to catch his thoughts and order them so they would make sense "Next one"

X arrived at galaxy 4601, specifically in server 019938733. It was a monumental day, the first time he was set out to work alone. He had worked side by side with his brother for 500 years at that point, but with EX busy getting a honourable mission, X got sent to watch this server.

It was peaceful, no nighttime mobs around to be seen or heard. He waited, one hour, two hours. Just watched as players ran around, catching peaceful mobs and making houses to live in. 

He enjoyed watching this server. Everyone seemed friendly there. 

Two years later he was found by one of the players, who kindly invited him over to the community house for dinner with them all. He accepted the offer, despite knowing he shouldn’t, and soon he was an accepted part of the server.

He loved life there. Loved his friends more than life. They helped him greatly to realize how beautiful life was, especially when lived.

Five years later his first friend came knocking on his own house, and took him outside to see a weird light phenomena in the sky. 

Purple and black swirls cover the sky as poison. Xisuma stared in fascination for a while, before EX landed next to him.

"Xisuma?" he asked, seemingly surprised to see him there

"EX?" he asked, equally surprised 

"What are you doing here? I thought… the Watchers"

"This is my mission" Xisuma explained, motioning around. EX's frown didn’t lighten.

"You… they gave you a mission?" he asked "I should've realized. The code… X you are unstabilizing the code of this place" he explained

"What? No I'm not!" X denied "You're just jealous that I've been in such a beautiful place" he felt his heartbeat pick up, and EX seemed taken aback.

"X, you're…" his friend started to say, and X turned to look at them. Accidently catching his own reflection in their glasses.

He was glitching. His whole being was… he looked to his hand. Red and green and blue and… he looked gray. He turned to EX, panic in his eyes.

"I'm glitching out"

"Yes you are" EX agreed "We need to get you out of here. You're getting too unstable" he started to write something on his communicator 

"Why am I glitching? Why don’t you seem surprised?" X asked

"You've been glitching your whole life" EX explained "Since the moment we came out of the void"

"That's… no I've never. I'm-" 

"You are a glitch Xisuma. I never wanted you to know, I didn’t think you needed to. We weren’t supposed to be twins. Watchers don't have siblings"

"But- but I'm…" he was starting to breathe quicker, and he felt his whole life break down into mere crumbs "I'm not…"

"I'm sorry! I should've told you earlier"

"I can’t…" he put his hands to his head, trying to stop the sounds that were swirling around him. 

"Xisuma, let me take you back home" 

And there he broke. When he looked back up at EX there was as if the entire world crumbled to a stop. After a few seconds he realized that that was exactly what had happened. 

The two of them were floating in the void where the galaxy had once been.

"You just…"

"I-"

"I'm sorry X"

Xisuma came out of the memory with a jerk, immediately looking down at his hands to see. They weren’t glitching, thank god. All this time… it didn’t make sense.

"You remember what happened?"

"Yes" Xisuma stood up "I was never supposed to exist" 

"What do you mean?"

"You know how I said EX was the glitchy version of me?" he asked, Eret nodded slowly "Turns out it’s the other way around. I'm the glitchy version of him. That’s why the galaxies were destroyed, I had a breakdown that ended with me accidentally glitching them out" 

"You're a glitch?" Eret frowned, picking up their communicator and writing down something before holding it up, scanning X. 

"Why are you scanning me?" X questioned 

"Glitches are uncommon, and you are way more stable than any glitch ever heard of. Especially given you didn’t even know. I need to be sure that the memories haven’t been messed with" he explained, her eyes floating across the codes. 

"They're not" X said, Eret hummed in reply. 

"They're not" she then agreed "Your brother trained you well, it seems from this. Using all his powers to keep you stable despite the Watchers insisting you were a security risk"

"He hated the Watchers" X said 

"He is a Watcher" they replied "You both are" 

"The Watchers sent me away on a solo mission" 

"They did?" Eret frowned "They shouldn’t have done that, everyone knows…" he paused, suddenly something became obvious "They wanted you to fail" she whispered

"What?" 

"You were a security risk to them, so they sent you out alone to a server they didn’t care for, knowing they could lock you away for good if you glitched out too much…" they looked at X "They set you up"

"They… knew I would destroy the galaxy?"

"They knew there was a chance you would. So the moment you did, they were there to catch you" Eret sighed "You glitched out of prison before the trial. It explains how you disappeared" 

"The last person I saw in that memory was EX" Xisuma said "They sent him to catch me"

"One last punch in the face" Eret said, his face stone cold "they tricked us all into thinking you were the problem, despite them setting you up"

"Why didn’t I realize?" X put his head in his hand "I should've known"

"Your twin hid it from you when you were younger. And when you escaped through the glitch your memories disappeared" Eret almost seemed like he understood it all 

"So, why didn’t he tell me? He got into this server so many times"

"I can’t answer that" Eret shrugged "All this is theories based on the facts we do know. You would have to ask him yourself"

"To do that I need to find him" X sighed 

"Well, yeah" Eret smiled "But you can do that by yourself I recon"

"How?"

"Close your eyes and focus on your memories" Eret spoke "Focus on all you know about your brother and what he does" 

X did as told, trying to remember every single detail of his brother. He focused on his own memory, particularly the one where the void took him to his brother. 

He didn’t open them until he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"I knew you'd remember this all one day Xisuma" he spoke "I'm sorry it had to go this far"

"You arrested me" Xisuma whispered

"I didn’t" EX promised "I would've hid you away a thousand years rather than imprison you for the Watchers wrong doings"

They didn’t say anything else after that, instead they simply leaned in for a hug and sat there in silence. Xisuma still had many questions, and even more fears, but he knew EX did his best to protect him. 

Chapter Text

It was Ren who told them all about the thousands of Watchers who had assembled outside of their castle. The eyes in the sky were too many to count, and nothing but purple smoke filled the air.

Grian stood by the door when Xisuma, EX and Eret reached it. He was silently watching the Watchers, as if releasing them from his gaze would kill them all.

"Hi Grian" Xisuma put a hand on his shoulder "You alright?"

"My father is up there" he replied, pointing towards the sky "He- I always thought…" he paused "He's with the people who killed Mumbo" he then whispered

"We will make them all go away" X promised

"I wish we could take proper revenge" something dark covered Grian's eyes "I want them all dead"

"I do too" Xisuma promised "But we can’t do that" he looked to his brother "Not without risking our lives"

"I'm willing to lay down my life for it" Grian growled

"But I'm not willing to offer your life for it" X turned Grian so he would meet his eye "Don’t let me lose more of you, one was more than enough"

"Okay" Grian sighed "I won’t"

"Thank you" Xisuma pulled him in for a hug before he turned to the open door, and took the first step outside.

It was an immediate effect. The moment he was no longer within the Crastle two seemingly very young Watchers landed next to him and started the arrest until EX stepped in.

"Xornoth, Xcott. Stop" he called, the two turned to him in surprised

"EX?" The first one asked "What are you doing here?"

"Release my brother" EX told them without replying to the question. It was enough though as they Immediately released him.

"Watchers, do you hear me?" Eret called, their voice echoing clearly through the server.

"Listeners are not supposed to step in on Watchers business" A Watcher replied, Xisuma looked towards the general direction the voice came from, but he couldn’t decide who had spoken.

"But according to the agreement we are allowed to step in when we see something suspicious going on" Eret called back "Tell me about server 019938733"

"The Watcher next to you destroyed it" a Watcher said, and soon a tall being stood in front of them. X could identify him as One. Eret didn’t waiver

"Tell me about the mission you sent a Glitched Watcher on. Tell me how he could end up alone on a mission without even being briefed on his own powers"

"You are putting out serious accusations Listener" One spat

"Tell me they are wrong then" Eret crossed their arms

"They are not" EX replied "They knew the dangers, if I had been aware I would've gone with my brother"

"He had proven to be a danger. He glitches the codes of all servers he joins"

"He has spent the last decade here, and yet it is only now you could reach him. If he was as unstable as you claim, why would you wait?"

"He was protected by his brother" One claimed, EX huffed

"I didn’t protect this server, I never needed to"

"With a simple press of this button" Eret held his communicator in her hand "The whole truth about galaxy 4601 will be sent to the Listeners as well as every admin I can physically reach" they threatened. One took a step back "Leave this server alone, or I will press it. And I doubt you'd want to see that happen"

"Fine" One growled "You win this time Listener"

"As long as you keep trying to destroy and corrupt the worlds you are meant to observe, I will always win" she replied "Now call off the attack"

Slowly the Watchers disappeared from the sky, leaving only X, EX and Eret on the ground. Eret stood in silence for a few moments before pressing the button.

"Your server will be safe now" he said

"You sent the message" EX pointed out

"I was always going to send it. They have broken several laws, they have to face the consequences" Eret told him "I think I'm gonna have to go deal with that. Are you okay to stay here?"

"I'll be okay" X promised "The Hermits have my back"

"So do I" EX promised "I'll stay and make sure the Watchers won’t come back" he then told Eret

"I doubt they will, but let me know if they do" Eret reached a hand forward, shaking first X's hand and then pulling Xisuma into a hug. "Once again, I am sorry for your loss. But know that you fulfilled his wish" he whispered.

"Thank you" Xisuma whispered back

And as they broke from the hug, Eret teleported out of the server to go back home again. In his place he left an old book. X picked it up slowly, Mumbo's prophecy book. He smiled.

With his brother by his side he walked back into the Crastle to deliver the news to the Hermits.

At the end of the week a monument had been built for Mumbo, and a funeral was held. A last goodbye to the one who had put them in front of himself to the very end.

Life would never go back to normal, but the Hermits kept doing what they did best. They built things, they pranked and teased each other, and most importantly, they kept being a family.

When X once again opened the prophecy book he opened a page that tells the story of an avian child who hid for nine days. A light scribble on its side in Mumbo's handwriting asked if the child could be Grian. X smiled softly, realizing the story was his, and the nine days meant the nine seasons he had spent on the Hermitcraft server.

Chapter Text

Mumbo was twenty six when he died, with only a few months left until his twenty-seventh birthday. Grian had counted the days more times than he would like to admit, maybe it would be better if he stopped. But he couldn’t. He sat by the monument he had helped build and forced himself to remember.

Everything had gone back to as normal as things could be after everything had happened. EX and Eret were both whitelisted officially, though Eret never visited again. EX popped up every now and then to chat with Xisuma, or to hang out with hermits he had befriended.

Grian didn’t mind the visits, though he wasn’t sure if anyone would care if he did. He wasn’t sure where he stood with any of the hermits after everything that had happened. If there was anyone to blame, it would be him. He had let the Watchers take over Mumbo, he had brought so much dismay for so long.

“Hi Grian” Scar smiled softly at Grian as he, False and Joe arrived by the monument. “We figured we’d find you here”

“Hello” Grian replied, not sure what else to say. He wondered why they were looking for him in the first place

“How are you feeling?” False sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder

“Not great” Grian replied “How can I ever be a Hermit again?”

“What do you mean?” Joe frowned

“I- I messed up, and nothing I do can ever make it better. I just want to be the person he thought I was, but I don’t think I ever can”

“You can’t redo it” Scar said “None of us can”

“But you did nothing wrong, you didn’t… I was the only one who made a terrible decision”

“You tried to save your best friend. It wasn’t your fault that they lied to you”

“I just… they won’t ever forgive me, and I can’t expect them to. I just feel…”

“Like you’re losing everything?” Joe asked

“Like you’re breaking into little pieces?” False asked

“Like you’ve lost all your strength?” Scar asked, and Grian looked at them all with disbelief. Maybe they did understand him.

“I just want to be friends with them again” he sighed

“They want to be friends with you too” Joe promised “Nothing that happened has changed that we Hermits are a family”

“Why hasn't anyone come to me yet?” Grian asked “Why are none of them visiting me anymore?”

“Because you, and the rest of us, are grieving” Scar explained “None of us know how to handle this”

“None of us” False agreed “We are always here for you Grian, you just need to allow yourself to send a message, reach out to us”

“What if I don’t get an answer?”

“You will” Joe promised “We are a family because we chose to be, everyone in this family loves each other, and we love you. You are a Hermit because we all wanted you here, and we all still want you here”

Grian didn’t quite know if he believed him there and then, but still he would send a message to Iskall that night, and the two would meet up and reminisce about their lost friend over a cup of tea in Iskall’s base, and the next day Ren would reach out to him as well.

It would never take away the guilt that Grian felt, but as each hermit told him what happened wasn’t his fault, his place in the family would solidify within him a little more.