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‘It’s time to begin the repairs.’
Grian blinks his eyes open before stretching out the soreness of unrest. Somehow, he had found himself sitting in the corner by the portal and Etho’s Dishwasher. A pop and sizzle when fire jumps off the Magma and hits the grassy ground fills the space. Most of the world is quiet and mostly unnerving if he isn’t used to it.
Standing up, his wings stretch out to their full length since the void tends to be quite uncomfortable after some time.
Over on the other side of the room is Etho and Cleo; slumped against one another and hollow as would everyone else in this world until the next session begins. It did upset Grian at the beginning when his friends would just lay there looking sickly grey and lifeless until the session where they act like nothing is wrong.
The repairs are simple maintenance of the world and the collection of those who had died during this session. Normally, Grian does these by himself but tonight he’s getting some help from Gem since the Watchers want her to get more of the ropes or something for the maintenance and repairs that follow after a session.
Grian steps outside of the castle before stopping, placing his hands behind his back.
“Grumbot?”
There’s only silence until a sound of ‘boop boop’ alerts Grian that Grumbot has entered his space. With a flicker of his wrist, a screen pops up with a familiar image of a happy-looking Grumbot. After the first session during the beginning of these games, Grian couldn’t take doing things alone and brought back an old ally to help him out. Mostly someone to bounce off of while Grian works on repairs.
“Make a list of what needs to be done and share it with Gem.”
Getting to the Secret Keeper is easy enough but waiting is always the hard part. The dead need to be taken care of first before moving onto anything else; mostly because the Vanish tend to get quite restless because they want to watch what’s coming to the rest of the players.
“Are you taking care of Dad first?” Grumbot asks, already playing favourites. “He’s the most restless one out of the bunch at the moment.”
Grian looks at Grumbot’s face but it’s mostly blocked by lists and files as he works on what Grian had asked him to do. Mumbo would make the most sense for Grian to tend to but Lizzie is stuck in the void and also has expressed that she’s going to miss some important meeting at some creepy mansion.
“No, I got to help Lizzie first.” Grian moves Grumbot’s screen so as not to look at his face while moving other screens into place to look at, even though none of it matters. “Gem can handle Mumbo after we do Timmy first, even if he didn’t die first doesn’t mean he’s not taken care of first.”
The Watchers were already asking for Jimmy’s soul because they had something planned with it. Grian has given up on asking questions and figures that he doesn’t need to know if the Watchers didn’t bother with telling him.
If Grian had looked at Grumbot, he would have seen digital tears trailing down the screen.
“So, how does this work?” Gem questions when she finally arrives. “And is it always this creepy?”
“Pretty much,” Grian said as he pushed off the Secret Keeper’s shoulder and glided down to the buttons. “I’ll show you everything else after dealing with the souls first. We’ll start with Jimmy.”
“Shouldn’t Lizzie be first?”
“A void rescue isn’t a beginner’s thing.” Grian should know, having to deal with it a few times already.
The two arrived at Jimmy’s body with his soul already trying to break free from his cage. Grian gently reaches out and opens the gilded cage where the soul transforms into a canary; a soft gold colour that slowly fades to ash and soot. The problem with the canary staring back at him is that the storm is brewing over the horizon which means the games are going to come to an end soon.
With a lift of Grian’s hand, the canary takes to the skies.
"Okay, that looks complicated.”
“It’s really not, they want out and all you’re doing is opening the doorway.” Grian looks away from the night sky and back to Gem. “Mumbo is over there, how about you try with him and I’ll go get Lizzie.”
Gem agrees and the two part ways to their own tasks.
…
Pulling Lizzie out of the void wasn’t hard, making her soul leave was the hard part.
Grian followed after her with Grumbot’s help until they made it back to Gem, who have Lizzie’s soul flying around her before breaking apart and raining down. That’s a different problem for another time. Mumbo’s soul hasn’t been freed yet but there’s something wrong with it too.
“I opened the door but Mumbo didn’t leave.”
Grumbot pops up again, running a hundred different things but Grian ignores all of that.
“His soul is missing,” Grian said.
When Grian reached into the cage, the only thing he pulled out was a corner piece of a command block. Something that he thought he would never see again. What was it doing here? The last time Grian had seen this was years ago when Fred came to him with the piece and asked him to watch over it. At some point, Grian actually lost it and didn’t know what happened to it.
Why was it in Mumbo?
There’s a soft glow around the piece before it settles; Mumbo’s soul like red dust had settled into the groves of the block.
“Grumbot give Gem a list of repairs.”
The bot did as Grian asked and Gem was sent on her way, with only a little bit of arguing.
“What’s going on?” Grumbot asks, swinging around and being quite close to Grian’s face. “Is Dad going to be okay?”
“I…I don’t know, Grumbot.”
The command block can stay here in this world – even just a small piece of it is still very dangerous – but there are so many unanswered questions that Grian doesn’t believe will be answered any time soon. Instead of allowing his mind to continue circling, Grian sent the block away to a secret location until he could figure this out.
Once this game is finished, Grian will focus on Mumbo and the command block.
…
Returning back to the castle, Grian was about to send Grumbot away when he noticed the downcast expression on his son’s face. Even if the two aren’t one another’s favourite, they still care. Grian summoned a snowball from the void, tossing it up in the air before catching it again.
“How about a game of catch before we part ways?” Grian offers. “I know it won’t fix anything but maybe it’s what you need right now.”
Grumbot blinks out of existence.
Grian frowns and is about to put the snowball back into the void when his son appears again in his robot form; wearing a hoodie and not quite used to standing on two legs. Grian made sure the snowball wasn’t going to break before tossing it gently to Grumbot, who barely caught it in time.
It’s not a fix but Grian plans on working this out once the game is over. Whatever is going on is bigger than Grian realizes.
And he was hit in the face with a snowball.
His son’s laughter made the world appear almost colourful and less quiet. Grian thought that was impossible but he couldn’t help with joining in. Both of them aren’t one another’s favourite but they are still family at the end of the day.