"Scar!" Mumbo sounded ecstatic and worried all at the same time, his voice wavering as he tried to piece together how Grian was suddenly alive after so long.

The wizard turned around, met with a wide-eyed Mumbo kneeling over Grian, his hands holding the pranksters.
"Scar, he's breathing."

The world stopped spinning for a moment, Scars mind reeling with how this was possible.
"Mumbo- what's in the bag?" He asked, kneeling on the rough bedrock and pointed to the necklace around Grian's neck. It was the only logical explanation.

"A pink crystal Thorn handed me before we left. It's been with him this entire time."

Scar did a double take. "Pink?"

"Yeah, pink. Why does that matter?"

"Grian never told you, did he?" The wizard asked, tilting his head at Mumbo, who shook his head no.

"Crystals are classified by their colour. Certain colours can hold more magic than others- pink has the highest capacity and darker colours like brown hold the least.
"Because of this, pink crystals are very rare and very valuable. Some people say that they can hold enough magic to bring a person back to life, earning them the name of 'Respawn Crystals.'
"They hold so much more magic- if another colour crystal were to be filled with the same amount, it would explode.
"To work properly, they need to be with the body at all times so the magic can slowly move from one vessel to the other." Scar explained.

It clicked. The impact of what Thorn had given him.

Thorn gave him his friends life back.
He could cry with happiness, all the yellow that vanished came rushing back in one giant, euphoric tidal wave.

"How do we tell the others?"

Scar smiled, adding a red crystal to the pouch. "Health boost. Should help speed up recovery. But I think we should show them."

~~~~

The floor felt like concrete. That was the first thing he noticed. It was rough and prickly and probably wouldn't be nice to fall on.
The second thing was the sound of voices from overhead, words slowly becoming clearer as time went on.
Grian groaned as he slowly came to, blinking blearily at the two people peering down at him.
Mumbo and Scar.
"Show who what?"

He was smothered by Mumbo, the redstoners arms wrapped around Grian and his face buried in his shoulder, the sound of his laughter mixing with crying.
"Hey Mumby. You look different." He smiled as he glanced at the wings.

"A lots happened." Mumbo replied as he sat back and wiped a few straggling tears from his face with a grin. "I'll tell you on the way. Think you can walk?"

"With help, maybe." He tried to stand himself, wobbling a bit as he stood up.

"Scar? Can you send a message to the others?"

"Already on it, Mumbo." The wizard nodded.

Scar: Hey guys, Mumbo and I are on our way back now. Meet us in the shopping district? We have something to show you.

Which was met with various "okays" and "why?" to which the wizard responded with "please?"
Which seemed to win over everyone else.

"Can you tell me what happened now?"

Mumbo scooped up Grian, carrying him so he didn't exhaust himself on the trek. "Sure, since it's quite a long walk."

And Grian smiled as Mumbo set words lose into the air, recounting for the second time in a week what happened after he found Grian's body up to the moment they were in, ending the story with a cheeky smile down at the prankster in his arms.

Scar was thankful for the sound filling the silence. It made the walk a bit more bearable as the bedrock was bland and everywhere, the path back home laid out with torches.

Before long, the nether hub came into view and Mumbo set Grian down.
Who whined.
"Oh come on, G, it's not that bad. I carried you most of the way." He rolled his eyes.

"Fine, fine. I'll walk." Grian pouted, crossing his arms childishly.

"Ready to surprise the other hermits?" Mumbo asked Scar.
It was agreed that they would go through first and let them be confused about where Grian was...since Mumbo was often with the prankster, seeing him without Grian would be jarring at first.
Then Grian would walk through himself.

"As ready as I think I'll ever be." Scar replied, stepping into the portal alongside Mumbo.

"So...what did you wanna show us, Scar?" Doc asked when Mumbo and Scar appeared.

"Where's Grian? Mumbo- did you leave him behind?" Xisuma spoke up.

"What? I- no! I would never. We uhh. He's-"

Grian placed his hand on Mumbos shoulder reassuringly. "He's right here." He smiled at the group of hermits staring up at the portal.
"Hi guys. Heard there was quite an adventure."

Mumbo rolled his eyes. Damn that crooked smile and wild laugh.
He thought he'd never hear it again.