<TW> mention of possession, blood, character death[:)?], hysteria

<CW> fear, angst

Hi again :D!

This is made in collaboration with Roxy-Rox0!!

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ c h r i m a s ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

    Dark. It's so dark. Almost suffocating.

    Why can't he brighten the darkness like usual? Is he alone? He doesn't want to be alone!

    And why is it so DARK?

Skizz can feel the panic building up inside him as his brain reels, trying to piece together what it thinks Skizz knows and process it. But he isn't sure if he wants to process the information, because so far it's all been painful. Especially when Skizz flinches and desperately tries to see something in the dark, his mind finally stopping and focuses on one thing.

Dipple Dop. Impulse.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. No!

Skizz can see his hands, which means it's his surroundings that are dark, and not his vision. But he isn't in the void, he'd have to have been in the end so he could fall into the void there, and he isn't suffocating or falling either—well, it is a bit hard to breathe, but that's for different reasons.

    Now, Skizz is no stranger to injury or blood or pain—or any of that being caused by his own hands, sadly—but this time is different. It was Impulse Skizz hurt. How could he have done that after all those years they have spent together? Possession aside.

    Skizz looks up and sees his halo lazily spinning, unhelpfully giving off zero light, and just barely visible as green. It is not supposed to be green, and Skizz finds himself snapping his head to face away from the floating ring. Now to panic loudly.

"HELLO?" Skizz shouts into the darkness, fluffing up his wings and trying to make something—anything—out in the shadow.

"Where did you put me?!" Skizz cries out, his hands balling into fists. Why did you make me do that? Skizz doesn't say that out loud, because then that would be admitting that it did happen. And maybe if he acts like it didn't then Dipple Dop will be okay!

    Skizz is about ready to shout some kind of insult at Echo into the void—though stars knows he has no clue how to insult the entity—when something gooey touches his right wing, sticking and soaking into the feathers. Skizz yells an incoherent babble of words and spins around, his wings tucking in then flaring out. Which leads to him accidentally smacking whatever stuck to his wings.

    "Oof! Jeez, feathers hurt," a blob of dimmed blue and green slime pops back up in front of Skizz, a white hoodie and black pants slipping out of the blob to cover the new body and bones. Oh. Skizz knows that form.

"Hey," the slime says, flickering lime orbs moving up in his slime to look up at Skizz. "Jevin, in case you forgot. We don't talk much."

"Y-Yeah, you—" Skizz holds in a breath and looks around, his wings slump. "You got possessed.. everyone was terrified, dude."

Jevin blinks up at him and sinks a bit, and Skizz thinks he's going to become a blob again, but he pops up and pats Skizz's shoulder. "Sorry. Uh, are you alright? You were breathing really loud, and shouting."

"Oh. I'm just fine," Skizz grumbles and pulls on his hair.

    "Wow, really?" Jevin reaches out and pulls Skizz's hands out of his hair. "Don't do that."

    Skizz tenses up at the unfamiliar touch and Jevin lets go of Skizz's hands to step back and give the angel some space. They stand awkwardly like for what feels like a while, Jevin staring at Skizz not quite sure how to help the angel and Skizz shrinking in on himself and trying to calm his mind and breathing.

    Jevin hesitates before slumping and sitting in front of Skizz. "I'll just... stay right here, if you need me."

    Skizz is quick to get on his knees and sit there with Jevin, despite not knowing the guy very well, Skizz takes comfort in the presence of the slime-y Hermit. He spreads his wings out and curves them forward, taking big deep breaths and shielding Jev with his white wings. Jevin glances at the feathers but he doesn't mention it, he just closes his eyes and takes deep breaths with Skizz.

"An angel?" Echo questions, poking Skizzleman's halo and watching it spin a bit in response. iJevin is at Echo's side, not really focused on anything, but Echo needs him near so they don't forget about him and let the slime melt into the sculk below them. Skizzleman nods.

    "What can you do?" Echo asks, putting their arm down.

    "Look," Skizz responds simply. Echo has to mute the angel's emotions and responses during most times in order for their control to be steady over Skizzleman's mind. It reminds them a bit of their inexperienced possession of last time, but it's still definitely better.

Skizzleman holds out his cupped hands and Echo stares down at them. His palms glow with a golden hue, and little star markings glow around Skizzleman's wrists. "Purification," Skizz begins to explain putting up his hands, palms facing iJevin and Echo. "Pacifying, healing, and 'holy fire'."

Echo's eyebrows raise with intrigue and iJevin sways beside them to help convey their interest. Skizzleman answers Echo's unvoiced question. "White fire that only burns impurities. Or anything actually living." Echo decides to store that information for when it will be needed later.

Skizzleman puts his hands down as they stop glowing and he spreads out his wings. "Ever Sight," he tells Echo—and iJevin, by extension, because of where he stands. Skizz's lime green irises disappear with a blink, the sclera fulling overtaking his main two eyes and glowing faintly. On his white feathers many other eyes blink open as well, their colours varying from different shades of greens, yellows, and purples, the eyes darting around almost as if panicked.

"Pigeon sight, basically, but extended and more controlled. Eye contact," Skizz points at the two eyes on his face to specify, "causes beams and paralysis. Plus the eyes look cool." Some cheer slips into Skizzleman's tone at his last comment and he smirks.

"This," Skizz points to his halo, which fluctuates from different varying sizes and levels of brightness for a bit, "I can do, too."

    "Is that all?" Echo hums, and Skizz nods after a bit of hesitation. The angel makes a little "eh" noise and folds their wings in, all of the extra eyes closing as his usual eyes regain their irises and turn lime green.

"What about the other members?" Echo asks after a bit of consideration. "What are they thinking? Are they planning anything?"

    "Protection. Walls all around Joel's base, and trying to figure out how to keep you away or get rid of you."

Echo expected for the Hermits to be planning to get rid of them, and they already saw the wall, so the information wasn't exactly new, but it did tell them what the server members were focusing on at the moment.

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ s l e e p y ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

Joel wakes up to a different commotion this time, with what sounds like frantic shuffling of socks—and maybe shoes—around him. He blinks several times and groggily rolls over in his bed to get a better look at around him. Gem's pacing, still all with messy hair and wearing her new custom pyjamas—when she first declared she was staying in Joel's room she found his old Etho face shirt and started wearing it and some sweatpants to bed. Closer to the door stands Scar and False, both watching Gem.

    "Uh, good morning?" Joel sits up and glares at the three people, but some concern does bubble up in him along with the confusion and annoyance.

    "It's past 10:30!" Gem whirls to face him and approaches his bed. "But yeah, good almost noon to you, Joel. Where would a common place two very stupid men could be after they got lost in your base?" Joel is alarmed to notice the panic twisting in her voice, and he pushes himself out of bed.

    "Who got lost? What happened? You can't find them?" Joel asks, looking around for his vest while he waits on Gem's answers.

    "Skizz and Impulse," False answers first, instead of Gem. "No one's seen them since at least breakfast of yesterday, and your place is too big and such a maze sometimes. It gets a bit claustrophobic when you're screaming your friends' names at four am because they never showed up at where they have been sleeping."

    "Oh. Tango and I saw them after breakfast, before lunch, they left Tango with me after they had been on the wall," Joel chews on his lip and racks his brain for other moments he saw the duo later in the day. He finds nothing. He admits, "I didn't see them after that."

     "Which brings me back to my question! Where could they be, Joel?" Gem pleads, one hand gripping her other arm tightly to stop it from moving. "We're worried."

    "Uhm, as in likely areas? There are a couple secret spots, or tight squeezes. I can go searching," Joel spots his vest on the bed post, internally yells at himself for missing it, and reaches over to grab it.

"Not alone you're not! I'm coming with you," Gem huffs, eyes darting around for her boots. Her eyes land on Scar—who's just standing there awkwardly in the doorway, like an absolute weirdo—and she jerks her head in a gesture toward him. "Scar'll come, too."

"What? No! What if I lose you, and you get lost in my—apparently—maze of a city base, too? Scar will definitely get lost if he finds himself tired and alone!" Joel argues, reaching under his bed, because he keeps his boots in easy access like a smart person.

"But what if something happens!?" Gem tries to reason, forgetting about her search for her boots for a moment.

"Well, at least I probably won't lose all of my bearings—!"

"Stop it!" False glares at the both of them, her hand tight on the hilt of her sword—they all know she won't actually draw it and harm them over something like this, it's just an instinctive response. "We'll go in groups, and everyone will look. We're all worried, and as long as Joel doesn't suck at giving directions we should be mostly fine. No one should go alone."

"I agree with False," Scar says, his first words that Joel has heard since he woke up, and the man sounds a bit deflated. Joel unwinds his shoulders and sighs, mumbling a "fine."

"Great. Come on, put on your shoes, Joel prepare instructions, and then let's start looking for Skizz and Impulse," False's hand loosens and she walks past Scar. "I'll tell everyone to start getting in groups of three, or something."

Joel glances once more at the different groups, making sure to take note of them all so he'll know if anyone comes back missing someone. They're all dispersing already, Joel having quickly told them good places to look and—apparently very subtle—landmarks to look for.

Group One is Gem, Mumbo, Pearl and Scar—Joel trusts Gem and Pearl to protect them all, and Mumbo to keep them together; and hopes Scar can remember where he's going like he promised. Dubbed Group Two has Joe, Doc, and Cleo—they'll be fine. Group Three consists of Wels, Hypno, Beef and xB—Joel has a feeling that they won't let anything happen to each other, if they can help it. Group Four is Keralis, Cub, and False—Joel has them searching close to the walls. The fifth group is Ren, Iskall and Stress. The majority of them were in some kind of pyjamas—even Joe is wearing a tiny night cap!—despite what Gem told Joel about the time. Apparently most of them all slept in.

And of course that leaves Joel's group! The group of brooding, guilt, and self deprecation. Tango, himself, and Zedaph. Of course, Tango is guilty for not sticking with Impulse and Skizz, and Zedaph has just been down ever since Echo was announced to be there, and the disappearances aren't helping. Joel is of course beating himself up for not listening to that gut feeling when they separated, and he can't help but feel like he could've prevented this. But one of them has to keep them together, and who better than Joel with his knowledge?

    "Come on, we're going to go through some of the tight spots. It rained last night a bit, didn't it? Maybe while lost they hid in a smaller pocket or building," Joel takes Tango's slightly hot wrist, Zedaph instantly grabbing onto Tango's sleeve to make them into a chain.

    "Lead the way, Joel," Tango chuckles, no humour in it, just fear and worry. His tail wraps around Zedaph's arm, and he walks with no complaint when Joel starts to pull.

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ z a d ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

    "What got you into Hermitcraft? Impulse?"  Echo asks, perched up on the sculk covered diamond decoration again. iJevin is right under, slumped against it and possibly dozing. Skizzle has been sat in the sculk and staring up at Echo blankly, but the name makes the angel  tense.

    He doesn't answer Echo, just lets his wings curl around himself a bit as his eyebrows furrow and his eyes sadden, just a bit. Echo's eyebrows raise and they curse silently to themself—how were they to know a name would crash through Skizzle's mind that hard?

    Echo leans forward, unsure of how to fix their mistake. God, what would Zadkiel do? Echo glances at iJevin, and the slime's slouch eases up, and he looks to Skizz. iJevin walks to Skizzle and sits beside him, gently pushing a white wing out of the way so they can be right next to each other. Echo doubts Skizzle would want them to get closer, or would respond to their bad attempts at comfort, so Jevin—a fellow Hermit—is obviously a better choice.

Skizzle lets his wings curl around both him and iJevin, and Echo can feel the angel's emotions calming down. They're sure that iJevin's slime is sinking into Skizzle's feathers, but Echo figures that it doesn't matter as long as they're both kept in check.

Only then, after Skizz is calm and staring at the shine of diamonds with Jevin beside him, does Echo realise what they had thought earlier. The young Watcher sprang into Echo's mind when Skizzle started to get distressed. Why? Why did Echo think of him? How strange...

In the back of their mind Echo figures that Zadkiel would come back to their thoughts again. Which doesn't make much sense, does it? That's why they chose to ignore it.

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ d o o r ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

Joel stops, causing Tango to nearly trip and his flares to spark dangerously for a moment, and making Zedaph actually fall into Tango's back, almost burning himself on the Netherkin's hair. Zedaph rights himself and bleats wonderingly, instinctively. "Why'd you suddenly stop?"

"The door." Joel replies dumbly, staring at the wall and doorways of his bathhouse.

"Wha—What about it?" Tango questions with a nervous chuckle—it's like a tic for him, to chuckle or make some noise no matter his emotion—turning to look where Joel is.

"It's broken in. An—And so is the one to the actual baths!" Joel starts toward the wall, dragging his companions behind him.

They walk through the doorway, and sure enough the mangrove door to the bathhouse wall is askew from its hinges. Joel clenches his jaw at the confirmation and tightens his grip on Tango's wrist slightly. The garden looks fine, no startling flattened surfaces or anything, but then comes the actual building.

"Was it kicked?" Tango murmurs, tugging Zedaph forward as he moves to be more beside Joel as he freezes before entering through the doorway.

"Maybe?" Joel glances at the splintered wood. He almost is afraid of what's inside his bathhouse.

"I don't know if I want to go in there," Zedaph admits worriedly. Joel silently agrees with the sheep hybrid.

"We'll just check really quickly. I think I see a feather inside!" Joel can't help a little smile when he sees the white feather, although the fact it is beside a shard of white that looks awfully like one of Joel's plates does make him squint.

Joel leads them all in and stares at the broken plates first, silently mourning them and making a note to clean the shards up before anyone can get hurt. Zedaph's voice sounds out, "Blood."

    Horror seeps into Zedaph's tone and Joel jerks to look up at the sheep hybrid. "Oh my goodness. That—That's—" he cuts himself off and releases Tango's sleeve, backing up and back through the doorway to stay there.

    Tango makes a strange chortling sound, almost like he's fighting off the pained laugh and choking at the same time. "Impulse. That's Impulse," he finishes for his friend, his voice getting higher with hysteria.

    Joel painfully turns his head to look at where his two group mates had seen already, and the breath catches in his throat and clogs his ears, cutting off Tango's hysteric mutterings. They aren't lying, that's definitely Impulse. New yellow dyed hair and all.

    But the yellow is stained red, and dried blood sticks to Impulse's jacket collar and hair. His clothes are wrinkled and his hair is flat and slightly wavy, as if he was wet. The wooden flooring under Impulse is darker too—with water and blood. And he's still. Very still.

    Tango's mutterings are louder now, Joel thinks, and the Blazeborn is tugging against Joel's deathly grip on his wrist. And Impulse is still. Way too still.

    Joel tries to breathe, and it hitches oddly, straining his chest. He takes a stiff step forward toward Impulse, dragging Tango behind him. Surely Impulse is just asleep? Skizz is right behind him, and Impulse took a fall and the two had to hide a bit in here and lost track of time. Yeah. That's what happened!

    Except Skizz is nowhere to be found when Joel reaches Impulse, and the baths behind him are a mess of white feathers, wet and sticky floorboards, and red smeared smooth stones. Tango's hysterics have calmed to ragged breathing—well, that's not exactly calm, is it?—and Joel locks his eyes on Impulse, kneeling to get closer. Zedaph is still in the doorway to the bathhouse, isn't he?

    Joel touches Impulse's shoulder, and can feel the stiffness of his improperly air dried jacket. Most importantly though, is that Impulse didn't react. Joel shakes his shoulder lightly. "Impulse.?" He mutters, his own voice shockingly weak and small sounding.

    Sound returns to Joel, and he hears Tango thump down beside him, probably resigning to his fate of Joel's unrelenting grip. He doesn't touch Impulse, seems too afraid to, but his red eyes to dart over Impulse's still form, then rest on Joel's shaking hand on Impulse's shoulder. "Is he—? Impy..." Tango nearly whines, his pointed ears turning down and his fire dimming as his tail coils around his leg.

    "Dead?" Joel numbly finishes for Tango—he can hear Zedaph shakily walking closer to them, but chooses not to acknowledge him—and his hand slides down Impulse's shoulder to the man's neck, which is cold under Joel's touch. He remembers Lizzie—or maybe it was Sausage? Or Katherine? Or none of them; maybe it was someone from much farther into his past—teaching him how to check someone's pulse for a beat of life. He tries to find one for Impulse now—proof that his neighbour is alive.

    Zedaph crumples beside Tango and clings to the Blazeborn as he looks around the messy room, his sheep ears flicking every second. Is he looking for Skizz? Maybe.

    Joel readjusts his hand, feeling a different spot on Impulse's neck. Tango releases a shuddering breath beside him, sending warmth over Impulse and Joel. Would Tango burn them all because of rampant emotions? Joel shakes that question away and shakily refocuses on Impulse—Tango wouldn't do that, no matter how great his grief, Joel thinks; and weakly hopes.

    Zedaph opens his mouth to ask a question, but Joel cuts him off. "No." Joel says, a glint in his eyes, as he hunches a bit more over Impulse. His grip on Tango's wrist is still too tight for comfort.

    "N—No?" Zedaph's voice quivers slightly, as the sheep hybrid immediately assumes the worst.

    "No. No, not like that," Joel looks up at Tango and Zedaph, an odd glint in his eyes, but still hopeful emotion in the brown colour.

    Because Joel feels something. It's hardly anything at all, but some people are just like that! And Impulse is obviously in bad condition. But Impulse has a tiny steady beat thumping against Joel's fingertips. A little beat of life. And that's exactly what it is proof of—of Impulse being alive. Just barely.

    "He's alive. He's alive!" Joel feels a choked laugh escape his throat, almost feeling like Tango's hysteria spread to him.

    Tango himself immediately is cured of being unable to touch Impulse, and he grabs onto his friend, propping Impulse up and staring at his pained expression. But, he supposes, it is an active expression. Despite it not being a good one.

    "He's alive!"

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ f r a n k e n s t e i n  v i b e s ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

I finally finished! I'm so sorry for the delay, a bit of writers block hit. But I hope you enjoyed :D .

See ya next chapter!

3626 words