Chapter Text
The first thing Mumbo realized when he woke up was that it was cold. Not like he had just forgotten his coat when it was snowing, but like he was stranded in the middle of a blizzard with nothing but his suit.
He opened his eyes. Huh. That explains it!
He was indeed stranded in a blizzard, surrounded by his friends, at least, but still very ill-prepared for the weather. He distantly wondered how most everyone else wasn't shivering; they were standing perfectly still with their heads bowed.
Looking around, the only people not motionless were Grian, Scott, Pearl, Martyn, and Scar. They were all in the middle of the circle, talking quietly. He watched them for a minute more before Grian suddenly looked up from their huddle.
"Mumbo? Are you the-" Grian looked around the circle, panic showing on his face immediately. "Nononono, it can't be! There's got to be a mistake! There's no way you-"
"What? What's wrong with Mumbo waking up first?" Scar interrupted Grian's word vomit. Mumbo took a few steps towards the circle, and now all five people's eyes were on him. Pearl whispered something in Scar's ear, but Mumbo couldn't quite catch all of it over the roaring wind.
"Whoever ... ... first usually ... winner," Pearl looked from Scar to Mumbo, then to the circle of asleep people. Though Mumbo wasn't sure they were just asleep now. It's gotten impossibly colder, and no one else is even shivering!
Snow was starting to stick to Ren's sunglasses, and Tango's usual bonfire of hair was reduced to a few weak flames. Grian was now looking back at Mumbo, wide-eyed and shaking from more than just the cold.
"It's not always accurate, I mean, I didn't wake up first for limited life!" Martyn said while Pearl put her hand on Grian's back, rubbing comforting circles on the snow-covered sweater.
"What is going on?" Mumbo asked, watching as Grian groaned in what seemed like despair. Pearl was just about to respond when something finally happened, finally changed.
It sounded like someone was whispering over his shoulder, but when Mumbo turned to look, there was nothing. He couldn't make out the words, either.
Grian was the first to move, pulling himself off the ground and then helping Scar up. Grian whispered something into Scar's ear, but Mumbo couldn't hear any of it this time. Scott scrambled back to a gap in the 'sleeping' people circle, diagonal to both Mumbo and Pearl. Martyn's spot was a gap two over from Pearl.
Grian and Scar pushed Mumbo back to where he woke up, which happened to be next to Grian and two away from Scar. Just as everyone got settled into their spots, everyone else woke up in sync.
"Woah... What happened?"
"What on earth?"
"Where are we?"
"It's freezing!"
"What's going on?"
"S-so cold..." Mumbo saw Jimmy lean onto Tango, who was right next to him. The chaos of everyone waking up confused settled as attention shifted more towards Jimmy.
"ACK- Jimmy!" Tango's few red flames turned into a blue bonfire, melting some snowflakes around him.
"Jimmy! Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fin-fine, g-guys! Just a b-bit cold is all!" Jimmy reassured from beneath the protective and warm embrace Tango has him in.
"...What's that?" Grian asked from beside Mumbo, pointing towards the center.
There was now a bright beam of light, sort of like a beacon. It pulsated a bit before disappearing, with more whisper-y noises. When the light finally went away, Mumbo saw that it was hiding a book.
Everyone watched as Grian carefully approached, still shaking from the weather. He glanced at the others who had been awake early. They all looked annoyed and worried, like this was a common occurrence or something.
Grian grabbed the book from where it was floating and opened it up. He looked around nervously, but Mumbo could see slight boredom in his eyes. Have they done this before?
"Welcome to 'Second Life', a death-based game. You all have been brought here to play a deathmatch based on specific merits. The rules are simple; you will each be assigned two lives. When you die, you lose one of your lives. If you kill someone else, you gain their life. For simplicity, there will be a color system. Red for one life, Yellow for two, and Green for more than that. Reds can attack anyone for any reason, and may become hostile, while Yellows can only attack Greens freely, and Reds for self-defence, and Greens are only allowed self-defence. Once you run out of lives, you lose. Alliances are key in this game, but trust no one. Good luck..."
Grian looked around at the circle with worry, purposefully avoiding Mumbo's gaze. He watched as a silent conversation happened between Grian and Scott, both looking quite worried. So have they done this before, or is this different?
Mumbo watched as everyone grouped up and getalked quietly before walking over to Etho. He was wearing his normal getup and didn't look as cold as everyone else.
"Hey Mumbo! Do you want to be allies?" Etho asked, breath visible even through his signature mask. Mumbo had barely nodded when the ground rumbled and he felt a stinging sensation on his left arm.
"Oooh, that's fancy!" Etho had pulled up his sleeve, revealing two yellow hearts tattooed on his forearm. Mumbo pulled up his jacket sleeve to see identical ones. "We can't be in actual danger, right? It's just a game?"
"...Yeah! There's no way we're in a real death game!" Mumbo wiped the snowflakes off his mustache before pulling his sleeve down. "But- ehm- In case, I think we should have more than just the two of us grouped up, what do you think?"
"Hmmm, yeah, I think safety in numbers is good! Who did you have in mind?" Etho looked around at the others; most had already grouped off with each other.
"Ehm- Maybe Tango? We all have pretty good redstone skills? He could help us with traps?" Etho nodded in agreement, waving Tango over from where he stood awkwardly. At some point, Jimmy had been handed off to Grian, who was now trying to keep him warm.
"Hey Tango! You have a team yet?" Etho asked, and at Tango's frown, offered for him to join. Mumbo watched as his hair flickered far more than normal, but somehow Tango wasn't suffering as much as Jimmy was. It probably had something to do with how his hair was almost twice the length it normally was.
Within a few minutes, all the factions were formed, and Mumbo followed Tango and Etho down the side of the mountain they were on. There was a frozen river at the bottom, but it appeared to be only frozen on the surface.
"We definitely need to find seeds to make food, I don't see any cows or pigs..." Mumbo said, looking around. If they were to starve, that wouldn't be fun for anyone. There had been a rabbit earlier, but Mumbo guessed the whispering and beacon had scared it off.
"Agreed... we don't need any fire though, as long as I can get fed enough to keep my flame going!" Tango said, making his hair flare up a bit more for emphasis. Mumbo grabbed loose seeds from the sparse tall grass.
The group spent the next few hours laughing, having a fun time despite their impending doom. After de-scaling the mountain, they decided to try to ice skate.
"HOW!" Tango cried from the floor, after falling several times. "I can't even do that, and I built Decked Out!"
"It's the Canadian-ness! I think it's in his bones!" Mumbo said, equally upset at Etho literally skating circles around them. He hadn't fallen once.
"It's definitely easier with actual blades, but it's still manageable! You just have to focus on your center of balance, and trust yourself!" Etho grinned under his mask, now making figure-eights around the two.
Eventually, Tango and Mumbo got tired of falling flat on their butts, and the three decided to move across the river.
Across the river was a smaller hill and a lovely cave entrance. By this point, Mumbo was pretty sure Etho was the only one here who wasn't half frozen from the blizzard.
The three had just gotten into the mouth of the cave when all three of their communicators buzzed. Mumbo, Etho, and Tango all rushed to see what happened.
<Solidaritygaming froze to death>
<Smallishbeans> Shoot
<Goodtimewithscar> No!
<LDShadowlady> Jimmy!
<Grian> We made some warm clothes for anyone who wants some, base near spawn
<Solidaritygaming> Yes, please!
"So, does this- does this mean he's hostile?" Mumbo asked, looking up from his comm as more messages flooded in. The other two also looked up, looking as shaken as Mumbo figured he looked.
"I- it's Jimmy! There's no way he'll be that dangerous!" Tango tried to joke, but Mumbo could see the worry in his blue colored eyes.
"This doesn't feel like a game anymore," Etho said, looking between the two, before walking further into the cave. "We don't know if this is a permadeath server or not, and no one can last long in this blizzard!"
"Yeah, soon we'll all be freezificated! It was fun pretending like everything was fine, but now that Jimmy..." Tango trailed off, grabbing his wooden pick out of his inventory.
"...We should gear up," Mumbo said, looking more determined than he felt. Etho and Tango nodded, and the three started a mining trip.
It had barely been two hours when even Etho had decided it was too cold. The reception in the cave was spotty at best, so when the three finally made it to the mouth of the cave, their communicators buzzed what felt like hundreds of times.
Mumbo quickly switched from chat view to just system messages, and saw that three more people were on red. Shoot. This is already getting serious.
<LDShadowlady froze to death>
<Goodtimewithscar froze to death>
<Bigbst4tz2 fell from a high place>
"Uhh, guys? What happened? There's like 200 messages!" Tango asked, trying to scroll up to the last message he saw.
"Lizzie, Scar, and Big B are all on red too now..." Mumbo quietly said, looking up at his allies. They both had shocked looks on their faces that mirrored Mumbo's.
"Oh snappers, this is going quickly," Etho said, rubbing his hands together for warmth. Even he is getting cold, there's no way any of us are making it out of here.
"We should get a base set up. Here is good, it's sheltered and everything!" Tango set up some furnaces against one wall, and Etho put some chests next to that.
It took about half an hour, but soon they had made a functional base! Mumbo had set up a wall at the exit of the cave, and Etho put one up a bit deeper in the cave, too. Tango had even made a fire, because despite his assurances, his own flame was not enough for all three of them.
Mumbo could tell that the fire was sapping a lot of Tango's energy, and he excused himself to go out foraging. He collected wheat seeds and set up a small farm! He was about to go back to his team when he saw someone in the distance.
"HEY, MUMBO! IS THAT YOU?" He squinted at the horizon, to where he was pretty sure Skizz was waving at him.
"YEAH! SKIZZ?" Mumbo shouted across the snowy field, snow not letting up at all. I'm going to go snow blind soon. That's a real thing, right? Snow blind? Mumbo worried to himself, walking towards the figure that was increasingly more obviously Skizz.
"Hey, man! How're you doing?" Skizz was wearing some hastily made wool clothes, but the sleeves were ripped off, exposing his arms almost as much as his regular sleeveless suit.
"Not great, but no one on my team is- ehm- dead yet, so..." Mumbo didn't know how Skizz did it, not looking even a bit cold against the biting wind despite his lack of sleeves.
"Yeah, I wish! Poor Jiggles was first down! He's the reason that the 'losers' decided to make clothes, though!" Skizz motioned to his wool shirt, a sad smile on his face.
"Is the- the 'losers' a team?" A huge gust of wind nearly knocked the two of them over, and Skizz led Mumbo over to a nearby tree for shelter.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, the losers are G, Scott, Pearlie-pop, Martyn, and Scarface! I can't believe it either, I can't think of a single thing they all have in common!" Mumbo thought back to how they were the only ones awake before him, how they all were in a circle in the middle, how they all acted like this was familiar.
"...Yeah, strange. Who's on your team?"
"Well, it's Jiggles, Dipple Dop, Ren, Bdubs, and me! We're the river bros, because our camp is on the river over there!" Skizz motioned over to where Mumbo thinks spawn is, but the snow has gotten him turned around. "How about you?"
"Well, my team is just me, Etho, and Tango, and- goodness me, we haven't even figured out a name! Maybe they have, but I've been out trying to find some food for a while!" Mumbo shifts his weight from foot to foot, something he's been doing a lot of today.
"Food? Here, I found some rabbits earlier. You can have one!" Skizz reaches into his inventory and hands Mumbo a whole rabbit like it was nothing.
"Woah- I haven't been able to find anything alive! Thank you!" Mumbo put the meat in his inventory and wiped more snow off his mustache.
"Of course, man! Just remember our alliance later, okay?" Skizz said, walking away to wherever his base was.
"I will, don't worry!" Mumbo turned and started heading back to his base. Tango should get the majority of it, though it's small, so there won't be loads. Etho should have the second most; I don't need all that much. He'll be more active than I, and I'll just have a few nibbles and be fine for today!
He spent the majority of the walk back mentally dividing up the gain, and by the time he could finally see the cave, he'd already decided on only getting a few bites himself.
He finally got to the front of the cave and went through the shiny (not really, because it's wood) new door.
"Ayyyy! There you are!" Tango greeted from the chests, organizing what little resources they had. "Etho's been mining for a bit, but he'll be back soon, I'd bet. Did you find anything?"
"Well- I actually set up a farm down near the river for us!"
"Oh yeah! I thought I saw you working on that a while ago!"
"I also made us an alliance with the team 'river boys'! It's how I managed to get-" Mumbo grabbed the rabbit out of his inventory, and set it on the fire, "-this!"
"Yes! This is awesome!" Tango's flames danced up with his excitement, eyes locked onto the meat that was now cooking.
The smell of rabbit filled the base, and both Mumbo and Tango let out a sigh of relief, as Mumbo moved some large rocks close to the fire for makeshift chairs. It was only about a minute before Etho came running back into the base from the mine.
"I smelled food? Did you kill anything, Mumbo?" Etho asked, putting some iron into the furnace to cook.
"No, but our new allies, the 'river boys', gave us one of their rabbits!" Mumbo said, getting hungrier and more excited by the second. It was almost done, too!
"Great! Who all's in that team?" Etho was now taking his seat on a rock, making a triangle with Mumbo and Tango.
"It's Skizz, Impulse, Bdubs, Ren, and Jimmy, but he doesn't have to be a part of any alliance anymore," Mumbo explained, getting ready to grab the rabbit. He burned his hands a little bit when reaching for it, but nothing too bad.
"Yay, food!" Tango exclaimed from where he'd been sitting. Mumbo looked over and saw that he had been carving some plates.
The three of them divided up the meat, Mumbo giving most of his share to the other two.
"Are you sure? I know I need more than most people to keep me from freezing, but still..." Tango eyed Mumbo's plate worriedly. It was just a leg, after all.
"Yes, I'll be fine, don't worry! I- I found some berries earlier that I ate!" He had not found berries at all, but they didn't need to worry about him! Luckily, the two seemed to believe him, and the three of them dug in.
"We set up a farm, right?" Etho asked in between bites of food. He'd pull it down to take a bite, and then hurriedly pull it back into place. For once, it seemed to be to help keep out the cold weather that was still seeping in despite the fire.
"Yes! M.V.P. Mumbo over here set one up earlier! The wheat's already started to grow!" Mumbo wasn't sure how Tango was still keeping so cheerful, but it was good for his own morale.
“Hopefully our crops will have grown by tomorrow, if not we’re gonna have to eat rotten flesh…” Etho said, scrunching up his face under his mask at the thought of eating the half-molded skin.
Tango nodded in agreement as he took his final bite, frowning at the thought. Mumbo shook his head, trying to rid his brain of the idea of rotten flesh.
“Hey! We should choose a team name!” Tango said, swallowing his bite.
“Yes! No one’s gonna take us seriously without a good name!” Etho said, sitting up a bit straighter on his rock.
“I don’t think the others are taking us seriously, regardless!” Mumbo joked, looking between the two of them.
“That’s exactly why we need to name-ificate ourselves! You choose, Mumbo!”
“Oh goodness me- ehm- I don’t know? Maybe- we could just name ourselves 'team'?”
“Hmmm… maybe… OR! What about T.E.M.?” Tango suggested, hair flames flicking up stronger in excitement.
“That’s good! All our names!” Etho agreed, eyes crinkling in amusement.
"Our catchphrase could be 'There's no 'A' in team!'" Mumbo said, chuckling.
“That’s perfect, actually!” Tango said, and they all were laughing a bit, fear of the death games put to the side for a moment. That was, until their comms all buzzed at the same time.
<ImpulseSV was slain by SolidarityGaming>
<Grian> WOAH
<SolidarityGaming> SHOOT ARE YOU OK?
<ImpulseSV> Yea
<ImpulseSV> At losers base
<LDShadowlady> What happened?
<SolidarityGaming> I DON'T KNOW???
Mumbo looked up from his comm, meeting the two worried expressions of his teammates.
"Do we think that was an accident? I- I mean, aren't red names supposed to become violent?" Mumbo asked.
"Jimmy isn't red anymore, so maybe? Maybe it's like a self-preservation instinct?" Tango suggested, looking a bit disturbed.
"Gosh, that sounds so... wrong," Mumbo shuddered.
The rest of the evening was spent getting beds set up, and when it was finally time for the three of them to go to sleep, they all piled into their beds.
They had lined the beds up one right next to the other, to stay closer and fight against the cold that kept threatening to freeze them. Even Etho, who was both Canadian and an arctic fox, was not doing too well. Outside, the unrelenting blizzard raged on.
Mumbo was out like a light, and the next thing he knew, it was morning. Etho was already up, making three iron swords. Tango was still asleep next to Mumbo, huddled on his bed. We're going to have to make better bedspreads today, Mumbo thought.
"Good morning, Mumbo!" Etho sounded more cheerful than he should be for whatever time it was.
"Good morning! How much iron did you get yesterday?" Mumbo asked, getting himself out of bed.
"A lot, surprisingly! We should have enough to at least make some chestplates for each of us! This cave is huge!" Mumbo stretched and walked over to where Etho was crafting.
"That's really lucky! Here, where are the ingots? I can make us that armour!" Mumbo looked in the chest next to Etho, only to find very little. Mostly cobble, snow, and dirt.
"Oh, thank you! It should still be in the furnace!"
"On it!" Mumbo grabbed the ingots and got to work. By the time he finished making sure Etho's would be comfortable, Tango was waking up. Perfect!
"'Morning, boys!" Tango shot out of bed, hair flickering back to a full fire from where it was smoldering.
"Morning!"
"Good morning! Could you come over here really quickly?" Mumbo asked from where he was making the armor. The server would make sure it fit the build of whoever was wearing it, mostly, but Mumbo wanted to make sure he didn't over- or under-insulate it, if you could even over-insulate in this weather.
"What's up?"
"Is this too bulky?" Mumbo handed Tango a nearly done chestplate, padding not yet fully secured.
"Woah- how did you do that? It feels really comfy!" Tango exclaimed after carefully putting it on.
"It's quite simple, really!" Mumbo chuckles, resulting in a groan from the other two. Tango takes off the armor and gives it back to Mumbo.
Once Mumbo made sure Tango's chestplate would be fine, he started working on his own. Etho started passing out swords, and Tango tended to the campfire. Throughout all of it, the three of them were making light conversation.
"...Right! I believe that should be it!" Mumbo held up his own chestplate before handing Etho and Tango theirs.
"Ayyy! Thank you, Mumbo!" Etho grinned, putting it on and feeling the extra padding and insulation.
"You're the best! I still have no clue how you know how to do that! You've gotta teach me sometime!" Tango complained, donning his own armor.
"I will, don't you worry! It really is quite that simple!"
"Sure, sure!" Etho rolled his eyes, fondness in his voice.
"I just don't get how you can make it without actual resources! It's impossible, man!"
"I'll show you guys next time I make us armour, alright?" Mumbo said, chuckling with his teammates.
"Good! I'm gonna head out to see if we have any neighbors, you said you saw Skizz yesterday, right?" Tango asked as Mumbo nodded.
"Okay, maybe their river isn't too far away then!" Tango said, hair flaring up slightly with determination. We're going to need to have neighbors to trade with again tonight, probably. Mumbo worried.
The three talked for a bit longer before Etho decided to go mining.
"Right, I'll join too!"
"Nonono, it's even colder down there, we found that out last night!" Tango nodded along solemnly as Etho shook his head. "I'm the only one here properly dressed to go down there right now, I don't mind!"
And with that, Etho pulled out the pick from his inventory and went down further into their cave base. Mumbo and Tango talked a bit more, mostly strategy of who all they should be friends with.
Eventually, though, Tango ran off, finally having worked up enough courage to face the unrelenting cold. At least he has the chestplate, Mumbo reasoned, it's better than nothing with the extra padding!
That left Mumbo standing alone in the base. He headed into the cave entrance, holding his new sword tight. Looking around cautiously, he eventually found what he was looking for! A lone spider, just on the edge of Etho's trail of torches.
Etho had said the cave eventually opened up into a huge cavern, but if Mumbo were to go there, not only would Etho see and probably be upset, Mumbo'd probably die in there somehow.
Mumbo charged at it, swinging wildly until eventually it died, dropping a bit of string. He quickly grabbed it and made his way back to T.E.M. base, because Etho was right, the cave was absolutely massive.
When he got back into his home, he got to work trying to make a better blanket for Tango. After a bit, he finally got something that was a tiny bit better than what they already had. He had ripped apart his pillow, but it would be fine!
Satisfied, Mumbo put it on Tango's side of the bed and went outside. The blizzard had finally lightened up, but there was still a flurry assulting his bare head and mustache.
They look fine, but the way they're growing, we won't have food tonight... Mumbo thought to himself, finally close enough to inspect the small green leaves.
He was just about to head inside when he heard the sound of a skeleton burning. He turned around just in time to catch an arrow on his left arm and see the skeleton immediately die, leaving behind a few singed bones.
I could use those! Mumbo rushes over, ignoring the throbbing pain in his arm, and grabs the pile of bones. He crushed them with his hands and sprinkled them over the crops before heading inside.
By now, the cold had frozen what little blood had come out from his wound, but he still had the issue of the arrow to deal with. He grabbed it with his good arm and yanked hard, sending even more pain shooting up and down his arm.
"Mumbo, he- MUMBO!" Etho had just come out of the cave entrance and yelled when he saw Mumbo holding a bloody arrow and a sluggishly bleeding arm. He dropped all his mining stuff and rushed over to a chest.
"I'm alright, don't worry!" Mumbo tried to assure, even as Etho grabbed some loose fabric from a chest and started bandaging his arm.
"I'm sure you would be, but it's too cold to risk blood loss right now!" Etho fussed, turning his arm side to side to check his handiwork.
"I-Thank you," Mumbo said, before helping Etho grab the mining supplies that he dropped, which were just his pick and some diamonds. "Goodness me, how many diamonds did you get?" Mumbo exclaimed, looking at the pile of gems on the floor.
"I got us 15! Not too many for a group of three, but still something!" Etho said, scooping them all up and putting them in a chest.
"That's brilliant!" Mumbo said, handing Etho's pick back to him.
The two talked for a bit longer before their comms pinged in sync. Mumbo grabbed his as Etho followed suit, both nervous.
<Grian was slain by Goodtimewithscar>
<Pearl> WHAT???
<Goodtimewithscar> shoot
<Ethoslab> Oh snappers!
<Goodtimewithscar> im sorry
<Grian> SCAR
"Grian's also red now..." Mumbo said to no one in particular. It was looking more and more likely that when you're a red name, you are forced to kill.
"But Scar's back up to yellow, so that's something?" Etho said, though Mumbo could tell he was not happy with the idea of Grian being red, either.
He was already a living ball of chaos, who knew how whatever was going on with the red names would affect him? Mumbo shuddered at the thought of Grian becoming crazed and killing someone.
The two read messages through their comms in silence, watching everyone's reactions, before Etho finally spoke.
"If I ever become... bloodthirsty, I need you to knock me out of the series." Etho looked at Mumbo with a determined look in his eye.
"What? No, heavens no!" Mumbo immediately shook his head, waving his arms around frantically. "There's got to be a way to- to avoid it! I mean, Lizzie and- and Bigb and Impulse haven't gotten- gotten like that yet!"
"I need you to promise me. I don't want to turn on you or Tango, I don't want to hurt anyone here."
"I- no, I- I can't do that! I-" Mumbo fidgeted with his fingers now, eyes darting from Etho to the fire, then to the floor.
"Promise me, Mumbo." Etho grabbed Mumbo's arm, making the mustached man look at him again.
"I- fine, I promise," Mumbo said, defeated. "But, you do the same for me."
"I promise," Etho said, changing his grip on Mumbo so they were shaking hands now.
The two sat in silence for a while before Tango finally came home, nearly frozen.
"H-Hey G-g-guys!" Tango said as the other two jumped up in alarm.
"Tango! You're nearly frozen! Get by the fire, hurry!" Etho ushered him over to the middle of the room, sitting him down on the same rock he was sitting on moments before.
"I- here, I made this earlier for you!" Mumbo grabbed the blanket he had crafted for Tango and practically threw it on the man.
"T-th-thank y-you g-g-guys!" Tango said, wrapping up in the blanket as much as he could. His hair had gone out, Mumbo realized. He wouldn't survive.
His head was covered in snow, and his eyes were wide and a dull red where his usual vibrant and bright eyes were. He was shaking like a leaf, and his skin was nearly as white as snow.
"T-th-the blizz-blizzard g-g-got w-worse!" Tango said through clattering teeth. By the way he was wincing, Mumbo guessed he was taking a ton of damage right now.
Looking at Etho, he could tell the Canadian had come to the conclusion that Tango wouldn't make it.
Freezing to death was never fun for anyone involved. It only took another minute before Tango finally stilled, and all three communicators buzzed. Neither Etho nor Mumbo looked at their comms; they already knew what message went through.
Etho was the first to move when Tango's body poofed out of existence, grabbing the blanket off the now-empty rock. He moved over to the bed where Tango would respawn, and waited.
It took only a few more seconds before Tango appeared in his bed, gasping and shaking. Etho rushed to wrap the blanket around him, and Tango immediately grabbed onto it as if the fabric was the only thing keeping him alive.
Mumbo was still frozen across the room, watching as Etho calmed Tango down, now sitting beside Tango on the end of the beds. We have a red on our team now. All three of us are at risk, now. What on Earth are we going to do about this?
Soon, Tango's breathing evened out, and his grip on the blanket loosened a bit.
"I- I'm still your allies, right?" Tango asked, voice scratchy.
"Of course!"
"Yes!"
Both Etho and Mumbo answered at the same time, Mumbo rushing over to sit beside Tango. T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶v̶u̶l̶n̶e̶r̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶t̶,̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶c̶l̶o̶s̶e̶.
The three of them sat there for a while longer, all pointedly ignoring the seemingly non-ending communicator pinging.
Eventually, though, the sun started to set, and Mumbo excused himself to run outside and grab the wheat.
When he got out there, he realized how lucky Tango was to have been able to make it back to the 'T.E.M.' base. He could barely see the crops through the blinding storm, and the strong wind was pushing him this way and that.
When he finally got to the crops, there was only enough for one loaf. That's fine. He thought to himself, grabbing the stalks. He quickly replanted the seeds, mustache already forming icicles.
When he was done, he rushed inside, hands nearly frozen. He was greeted by Etho and Tango, now sitting by the fire. Tango was still unnaturally pale, but Mumbo doubted at this point that it would ever be back to its normal coloring.
When he stumbled through the doorway, both sets of eyes shot up to him.
"S-sorry, guys, I don't think we'll have enough for two loaves..." Mumbo said as he walked over to the crafting table, setting the wheat down on it.
"'S alright, I'm not all that hungry anyway..." Tango said, looking back at the fire. His hair had been brought back to life, now, but it was less fierce than normal. More like a gentle flame.
The three of them were silent for a while again, the only sounds were from Mumbo prepping dinner and the fire's crackling.
"I feel weird." Tango almost whispered. If it weren't for the room being near silent, Mumbo might've missed it.
"How so?" Etho asked as Mumbo finished up the loaf of bread, turning towards the other two.
"It- everything feels more... muffled, and my heart's going bonkers, and it’s just- just weird-ificated!” Tango said, flinging his hands up in distress.
“Shoot, really?" Etho says, now rubbing circles on Tango's back. Mumbo broke the bread in three, handing out the pieces.
"Yeah, I- colors are more grey, and everything feels muted, like I'm wearing a thick pair of gloves or something!" Tango took the bread, and Etho did the same with his free arm.
Mumbo sat down on the empty rock-seat and watched the other two take a bite of the bread before doing the same. He was starving, he realized, because as soon as he took one bite, he had to hold himself back from shoving the entire piece in his mouth.
He looked up at Tango, who had stopped eating mid-chew. He was scowling at the bread.
"Does this taste weird to you guys?" He asked through the food still in his mouth.
Both Etho and Mumbo shook their heads, which made Tango groan.
"Noooo! I can't feel, I can't taste! My senses scadoodled!" He solemnly takes another bite of his portion, frowning at the lack of any taste.
The three of them ate in silence for a while until Tango finished his piece and spoke again.
"I found where the river base is," He said, looking from Mumbo to Etho. "It's on the other side of the big hill where we spawned, though. Very dangerous."
"I think we should stay closer to camp for the time being," Etho said, worry audible in his voice. He noticed how Tango hadn't stopped shaking since he got back too, then.
"Yea- Yeah!" Mumbo added, now finished with his dinner as well. "Our farm should be enough to keep us sustained for a bit, and Etho got us some diamonds earlier! We can hunker down here for a while, no problem!"
Tango went back to watching the fire, and Etho and Mumbo shared a look. This was about to get so much more dangerous, and they both knew it.
"Maybe you guys'd be safer if I left-" Tango tried to suggest, but he was cut off by both Etho and Mumbo, nearly yelling.
"No!" They both said at the same time.
"You're not dangerous, the environment is," Etho said, making direct eye contact with Tango.
"But I'm- I'm red, we don't know-"
"Exactly!" It was Mumbo's turn now to convince him to stay. "We don't know what happens when you turn red!"
"We do, the reds kill-"
"Then explain Lizzie, Ren, and BigB! Even Impulse!" Etho cut him off again.
"Look, if you feel like something is ever off, we can give you some space, but you're always welcome here! We wouldn't be Team 'T.E.M' without you!" Mumbo said, smiling in a way he hoped was reassuring.
"Thanks, you guys," Tango forced a chuckle. He pushed himself off his seat and walked over to the beds. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I've had a long day, and I'm just about ready to call it a night."
"Same!"
"Couldn't agree more with you, mate!"
Mumbo and Etho got up from their rocks and also walked over to the bed clumps. Tango was already getting situated in the middle, and Mumbo and Etho took their sides of the bed clump.
"Good night!"
"Sleep tight!"
"Don't let the bud begs bite- oh goodness me, the bed bugs!"
The night ended with them all laughing themselves to sleep, despite the harsh reality that they were all now facing. And if Mumbo couldn't sleep for more than a few hours because of his brain saying danger repeatedly, that was neither here nor there.