<TW> mention of possession, comas, mention of major character death, confrontation, coercion, mention of coercion

<CW> fear, hurt/comfort, stress, revenge plots(eeehhh?)

This is made in collaboration with Roxy-Rox0!!

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ c a n d y ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

    Joe hasn't gotten off his communicator since Impulse's death. Tango and Zed haven't left each other's sides since Impulse's death and Skizz's disappearance. False, Wels and xB have been practically living on the walled border since Impulse's announced probable respawn. Gem, Mumbo, Scar and most of the others have barely wandered farther than where they sleep. Keralis, Cleo and Hypno are always around Joe. And Joel?

He's angry. Fuming. Because of that stupid entity named Echo. They've killed Impulse, taken Grian and Etho, and probably have possessed Skizz. Plus all the other bad things—present and past. On top of that, Joel is—though he hates to admit it, even in his mind—terrified. He's terrified for his fellow Hermits, he's terrified for those missing, and he's terrified for himself. For his secret that never seemed a problem until now, until Echo apparently existed and caused pain and fear. To his friends—his closest friends. Ruined. It's ruined. He's ruined?

Oh, and Ren won't stop blumming following and staring at him! So Joel has to obsess over his own appearance and presence and the emotions rooting in his chest and spreading through him—he knows how that goes, and eventually the fire, the rage(it's always rage; it's just easier) explodes. Joel thinks Ren wants something, but he can't figure out what. The dog hybrid just lurks behind him, tail wagging sometimes painfully fast with nerves and anticipation, his ears poised but pinned downward. Joel knows it means Ren's anxious—maybe afraid, too—, overwhelmingly so.

How could I not know? He knows how the ears feel, the tug of the fluffy tail, the strong senses, the urges of—

Joel jerks his shoulder into a wall, startling as someone grabs his arm. Not Ren, the hands are too small. He turns and sees Gem standing there, eyebrow quirked and green eyes staring with worry. "Oh, hey Gem," he coughs, his voice maybe squeaking a bit as he steps away from the wall.

"Hey. Joe wants us to meet at your gate at the top of Cherry Mountain," Gem tells him, beginning to tug him towards a set of stairs. "Saw you sulking and decided to grab you."

"I wasn't sulking!" Joel huffs, shoving his obsessive emotions and thoughts so far down they reach the not-real toes of his brain. Hidden and waiting to be unpacked when he's—mostly, Joel remembers Ren—alone again.

Joe is actually nearly out of commission when all of the Hermits manage to gather where the Muppet had asked them to, Cleo cradling his limp form in one arm while standing beside Doc. Doc is the one who addresses them in the muppet's place.

"I'm gonna be straight forward with everyone," Doc starts, amplifying his voice. "Joe has been searching comms and links and all the gizmos, and has found a stable connection on Etho's communicator, and has found a general idea of where Etho is. He's also sure enough that Impulse and Skizz are both possessed, and that Cub's base is being used. Considering what he can figure out through code, limited controls and connectivity with their comms."

Joel perks up at the new knowledge. Joe found one of the missing Hermits! He found Etho! If Joel ignores the little possess-y bit of the information shared he can only have good news, which is much better fuel for his exhausted mind. Joe continues Doc's talking, no one cutting in for once and everyone with Joel in letting Joe's tired, quieter-than-normal voice be heard.

"A small group can be sent to find him and bring him back." Doc scans over everyone, Cleo shifts so that Joe can face everyone easier. "Considering Etho hasn't moved much at all since he disappeared in the first place, he'll be easy to find. Hopefully. Doc and Cleo already have said they're going, and I don't feel up to the heat of the Nether"—Etho's in the Nether? Joel frowns at the thought, What is he doing in there? Is he stuck? Is he trapped? Is he—", so Cleo has the area coordinates and Doc can help decipher and access if needed.

    "I thought two other Hermits could—"

    "I'll come!" Joel yells, jumping a few times beside Gem so that Joe can know he was the one who yelled.

    "Me too, Joe!" Ren says almost immediately after, his voice right behind Joel. Still following him. Joel's eye twitches, and he hopes Gem doesn't notice. Ren's tall enough to not need to jump, so Joel doesn't hear the light thump of his boots.

    "Great. Come," Doc tells them. Joel looks over to Cleo and Joe and sees her jogging to place Joe down over near xB and Keralis. "Everyone else... Joe's exhausted after searching for Etho, but he won't want to stop. So just help him." Joe huffs and leans against xB's leg, trying to seem casual and not exhausted.

    Doc awkwardly trots through the red gate in the deepslate mountain and Joel pushes through the crowd of Hermits to follow him, glancing to Gem once to smile at her so that he isn't too rude to be leaving her with no acknowledgment. He sees Cleo doing the same and hears the light thump of Ren's tail hitting trousers and sides behind him. Still following.

    Doc is waiting behind the deepslate, out of view, when Joel and Ren catch up. Cleo is looking at her communicator and studying whatever is on her screen. The creeper hybrid looks to Joel after a moment of silence and asks him, "Where is your mailbox? We need to get in the system."

    Joel's eyebrows raise—Etho is in the mail? he thinks, In the Nether?—, then he gestures behind him. "Follow me."

    It doesn't take too long, and Joel only makes one(three) wrong turns before he remembers that he needs to fly up to get to his postbox from where he has led the others. Once there he instinctively checks the box—it's empty, of course—while Cleo takes out a pickaxe. They glance over to him, "You don't mind?"

    She says it more like a statement, but Joel still shakes his head. "Nah, go ahead," he says before taking out his own pickaxe to help with digging.

    Joel stares at the redstone of his postbox when they reach the little pocket out of the ground it is guarded in. A rail track, smooth-stone, dust—all carefully put together for him. The sound of a metal fist against obsidian draws Joel's attention away, and he looks towards the portal. "Line up," Doc tells them, "Cleo'll lead us and we'll stick together."

    "Come on," Cleo says, stepping through the portal and making its cry echo in Joel's ears. Doc follows, and Ren scrambles to go before Joel, strangely. Joel steps through the portal. Cry, whoosh, pressure, then pop—through and then out of the portal into the Nether, where the post's rail system is.

    Joel ends up being at the caboose, with Ren lined up in front of him. Cleo starts walking after receiving confirmation that Joel has come through, and they all walk in a line. Joel looks down at the tracks and smooth-stone he is stepping on and around, then to the side at the netherack of the walls. Pockets are dug out with other Nether portals, some redstone whatnot and more rails leading to them. They lead to other mailboxes.

    Joel looks back forward, startles, then has to stumble back a bit. He must have been walking too fast, because he almost ran into Ren's back. He slows his pace to match the dog hybrid's and decides to pay better attention now. Cleo and Doc are muttering to each other, something irritating about unspecified something and glitching code. It's hard to hear them, what with the growing gap between those two and him and Ren.

    Joel tenses, and he tilts to the side a bit to see that Ren is slowing down, deliberately growing a gap between him and Doc—and by extension growing a gap between Joel and Cleo and Doc, as well. Joel's eyebrows furrow and he glares at Ren's back, studying his dog features to try and gage what exactly Ren is doing. His ears are flat—he's nervous again, maybe a bit afraid too. His tail is stiffly swaying—which tells Joel Ren's anxious—,and he's taking shuffling steps to slow himself.

    Joel is about ready to shove past Ren and drag the dog hybrid to catch up with the others once Doc's responses to Cleo are out of earshot, but Ren stops walking altogether and turns around before he can. Joel freezes when he sees the intensity and fear in Ren's gaze, the irritation bubbling down to worried confusion.

     "What's wrong, Ren?" Joel frowns, wondering what has got Ren spooked. Ren takes an anxious step back, and his tail tucks around his legs. Joel's eyebrows furrow, and he looks over Ren's shoulder to see Cleo and Doc continuing on, not noticing Ren and Joel at a full stop. "Ren—"

    "Joel." Ren states, stopping Joel from continuing. The fear is starting to grow more than the intensity in his blue eyes. Joel blinks at Ren. Why does he seem so blumming scared?

    "Are you like the Entity—Echo?" Ren hisses out the question, as if he's afraid it'll bite at him or if he says it too loud someone will bite at him. His blue eyes searches Joel's eyes—for what?!—while he waits for an answer.

    Joel lets his brain take its sweet time processing Ren's sentence before he reacts. Ren—Ren is accusing Joel of being like Echo. The entity that has hurt the Hermits, that has hurt Zedaph, that has hurt Ren. Horribly. Joel is the one who takes a step back this time, his antennae curve so their bulbs are more to the side. Like Echo? Joel repeats in his head. Joel is horrified, and his antennae coil and curl back instead. Like Echo? LIKE ECHO?

Joel has to take a shuddering deep breath to try and compose himself before he answers, "No. Why do you think that?" His voice sounds more strained than he intended, but he hopes Ren doesn't notice. "How do you mean that...?"

    Ren stares, leans forward and sniffs and his brow furrows. "Your smell. And just... you!" Ren glances behind him and his ears perk up a bit as he faces Joel again with a wary look on his face. "You're lying."

Joel bites the inside of his mouth to stop himself from shouting and he glances behind Ren's shoulder too. Doc and Cleo are ducking into a gap in Netherack now, Joel assumes someone's mailbox leads from there. "I am not like Echo." Joel insists, then more words are flooding out in his panic. "They hurt you guys. They hurt you, Ren, and are blumming evil. They are awful and are scaring you guys. They are using their power to try and destroy your home. They—"

Joel stops himself with a sharp inhale, and he looks up to meet Ren's eyes. Ren's ears are pinned down again, but he looks uncertain now. With what, Joel doesn't know, but he hopes it's with his previous accusation. "And you, Joel?" The dog hybrid questions.

So, Ren knows. Joel releases the breath shakily and takes another small step back. Ren knows, which just makes Joel scared. Horrified of what Ren will do with the information, what he might say, what he might believe. No one knows, only those who raised him.

And Joel isn't bad, he isn't evil. Joel has never done what Echo has, even in the Life Series. Even as a reckless kid. Even when he has been angry. Ren doesn't think he has, does he? Surely Ren knows.

"I'm not, and I won't." Joel tells Ren, worrying at the inside of his cheek. His shoulders are wound tight and he hates how he is naturally trying to make himself smaller under Ren's contemplating stare.

    Joel and Ren are silent for what feels like too long to Joel before Ren starts walking again—still with slow, shuffle-y steps, and he's walking backwards with his tail feeling around him. Joel hesitantly follows. "You're not like Echo?" Ren states, asking for confirmation, and Joel nods.

"I think," Joel starts, staring at the rails and figuring he needs to fully clear up what Ren might think, "we're the same kind. When Cub told us about them, I knew. It was just too familiar. And then more was happening, and I saw Echo, too. In their First form. I don't think they know what I am. You aren't supposed to know. No one is."

    Ren flinches at Joel's accusation and Joel panics when Ren nearly trips over the jutting track of a rail, and reaches out to grab Ren's forearm and catch him. He just as quickly lets go, however when Ren tenses and his tail goes rigid. "I'm not like Echo," Joel firmly disclaims, staring through the teal-blue glass hiding Ren's wary but softening eyes.

Ren abruptly turns and takes a few steps forward before jerking his shoulder to gesture for Joel to catch up, which he does quickly. Joel doesn't stop behind Ren, or speed ahead of him, instead he comes to walk beside the dog hybrid and watch Doc and Cleo disappear into a different crevasse. Ren speaks, "You're like Echo,"—Joel turns and glowers, but Ren finishes before the indignation and protests can leave Joel's mouth—"but not like them."

"Yes? ...Yes. Yup."

Despite what Joel is sure is shared confusion, Ren's shoulders slump with relief and his tail goes back to its mindless swaying just proving Ren's ease. "Sorry, Beans, I didn't want to believe you were bad, but I needed to be sure." Ren speeds up a bit to catch up with Doc and Cleo—Joel can already hear the beginnings of Cleo's frustration and Doc's simmering calculation in response—and glances to the side to make sure Joel is following. "I needed to be sure that... that everyone would be safe, even with you and in your base.

"I never even tried to look for it before," Ren tells Joel, and the little entity assumes "it" is whatever sticks to Joel that proves to Ren he is an entity. "I just got scared when Echo reappeared, and then I was sniffing around everywhere I went to make sure Echo wasn't near! But a similar smell was all over your base, just without the exactness of Echo. The smell started to stick to Gem, and was stronger some places. It stuck to Zed, too."

Ren huffs through his nose and lowers his voice, Joel looks ahead to see Cleo glancing back at them with a squint. She doesn't approach them. Ren continues, "I thought Zed might've been talking with Echo again. Which is dumb! It stuck to practically everyone, traced it to your scent, and all."

    Joel hums, his brain sticking to what Ren said about Zedaph. Joel knows the bare minimum about what happened the last time Echo was in Hermitcraft, so he isn't sure what Ren means, but he decides to not ask and that it relates to the fact that Ren has been wary around Zedaph. "Don't tell anyone, Ren." Joel whispers, only the twitch and slight turn of Ren's ear letting him know the dog hybrid heard before Cleo's shout to Doc draws their attention away.

    "Doc! This portal! Him!" Cleo runs out of a crevasse in the netherack, Doc poking out of another after hearing his name. Ren and Joel run towards the zombie, assuming "him" is the Hermit they went down here in search for.

    Cleo is crouched by a broken Nether portal, Etho at their feet. Doc scoops up Etho's post hat and inspects it. Joel gasps and jogs to crouch beside Cleo, leaving Ren and their previous conversation to drift to a different drawer in his mind. "Etho," Cleo is murmuring with furrowed eyebrows, "wake up. Wake up."

    Joel examines Etho. The man is breathing steadily, thankfully, and his ears twitch with each loud enough sound around him. His clothes are a bit wrinkled and his legs are slightly bent and shift for more comfort. Etho's tail gently sways in time with the swirl of a nearby Nether portal Joel can barely hear himself. Etho is a bit sweaty, strands of his white hair sticking to his cheeks and neck. But Etho is alive, uninjured, and peaceful, of all things.

    He just looks like he's sleeping in the Nether. Not Joel's first choice for a nap, but Etho has always been weird like that.

    But Etho also hates being hot.

    "Eefo?" Joel reaches out and shakes the Hermits arm, making his side wiggle too. Etho's ear flicks and his tail curls.

    "Slab. Etho," Doc cups Etho's masked jaw—Cleo standing up and stepping back to leave the creeper cyborg room—and lifts his head to stare at his face. Etho doesn't twitch or pull away. Doc hisses and lays Etho's head back down.

    "What's wrong with him? He's as passed out as BDubs when he comes back from a Life Series," Ren huffs, and Joel turns to see him standing next to Cleo, leaning a bit to see Etho better.

    "I don't know," Doc pokes Etho's ear, then his neck, then his scarred eyelid. Etho's head ducks when Doc touches his scar, and his eyelids flutter. "Oh!"

    Doc worriedly glances over the rest of Etho, and Joel thinks this is the gentlest he's seen the cyborg be with others for all the time he's known Doc. Doc reaches out and carefully lifts Etho's back to make him sit up, "Cleo, help me lift him. I don't think he's waking up."

Joel stands up to switch with Cleo and anxiously watches her lift Etho's lanky legs. Doc insists to carry Etho by himself once Cleo helps, and she reluctantly lets him. Etho ends up limp in Doc's arms, head leaning against Doc's metal shoulder and tail hitting Doc's knees.

    They walk in a clump out of the hole in the netherack, Ren behind Doc, Cleo in front of him, and Joel at his side where Etho's head is. Doc meticulously steps over every jutting part of every rail, slowing all of them down, but Joel doesn't mind. And he doesn't think Cleo or Ren do, either.

    Ren's tail thumps against Joel's calf, and he looks at the hybrid. Ren is staring, and Joel feels like Ren is trying to convey something through that stare. It takes a moment before he thinks he gets what Ren's assuring.

"I won't tell."

"Thank you" Joel's relieved smile responds, before his attention is back on Etho.

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ e n t i t i e s ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

Everyone had taken their try at waking Etho up. From Beef's shouted jokes to Wels' clanking armour to Joe's confused and worried sobs. Joel managed to convince everyone to let Etho stay with him and Gem—with Doc already sleeping close being his support for that—and now the sun is coming down, Gem is with Pearl and Scar, and Etho is sleeping in Joel's bed. It's a culture thing, y'know? The guest sleeps in the bed. It matches his theme. (Even though Gem was his guest first, and he made her sleep on a huge pile of pillows and blankets on the floors unless she absolutely needed his company.)

Joel gently pulls at his antennae, stretching it then letting go to let the bulb bounce. Etho has icepacks around him—which was actually something Joel had a lot of, because they work with bruises and Joel is stupid sometimes—, his headband, puffy jacket vest, and sandals have been removed so he doesn't continue to overheat, and Beef and Doc had brushed out his tail and hair. Joel is alone.

Joel is alone. He swallows and glances to the stairway, pauses to listen, then crawls onto his bed beside Etho. He props the taller Hermit up against the headboard and turns his head to face him. Joel blinks a few times, sure his eyes have faded out of the careful chocolate brown he worked hard to change them to and are now a bright lime green. He hunches his shoulders, a pitiful attempt to hide the change and glow of green. Joel turns his attention fully to Etho, feeling the Echo in his mind. It's like a barrier, Echo's magic, blocking Etho's mind.

    He hesitates, then touches it, pokes it. Etho's eyebrows twitch, and Joel's left fingertips turn green. He grimaces at the hand and drops it to his side, deciding not to look at the evidence of his power and species. Joel then stops. The sensation is unfamiliar, the feeling of trying to invade his old soulmate's mind.

    He leans back and aggressively rubs at his eyes until they burn and he hopes the eye colour is back to the nice brown. Joel looks back to Etho and sees his fox ears limp and chest moving smoothly. Etho is alive, uninjured, and safe in Joel's bed, but Echo has twisted Etho's mind to make him sleep and sleep and sleep some more.

    Etho's eyes flutter and he topples on his side to sleep sideways on Joel's bed. Joel's hands clench into fists and he crawls off his bed, still staring at Etho.

    Has Echo done this to the others too? Trapped Grian somewhere and made him sleep for as long as Echo pleases? Kept BDubs unaware and uncomfortably napping? Made Xisuma stay suspended among dreams or timeless void?

    What has Echo done to the possessed? Are they in pain? Is Echo making sure they are able to eat and sleep and drink?

    Joel clenches his jaw and glares at nothing in particular. It doesn't really matter, does it? Because either way Echo has done something to them without their permission. Forced them to sleep, forced them to move, forced them to work, forced them to fear, forced them to hurt, forced them to be hurt.

    Echo is force. They are an evil, forcing entity that has hurt his friends—Joel's family—in more ways than one. Echo has made Ren wary, Echo killed Impulse, Echo has done this to Etho.

    Joel lifts his left hand, staring at his green tipped fingertips. He tilts his head and the green goes down farther down his fingers. Joel can stop it, can't he? He can force back, he can hurt Echo back. He can save them all. He can possess and float and jump and shift and do everything Echo can, maybe more, depending on Echo's ability and training.

    But that does come with far too many red strings attached and too many what ifs and unknowns. Joel needs to know more, and he needs to know that if he acts his friends won't hate him forever. He couldn't bear that happening.

    Joel bites the inside of his cheek and the green vanishes from his hand, turning to slightly sun-kissed skin. He'll continue to plan, care for and protect his fellow Hermits living in his base, maybe even consult Ren. For now.

    For now, he supposes retaliation will have to wait.

꒷︶꒷꒥꒷✦༺ b i d i n g  t i m e ༻✦꒷︶꒷꒥꒷

Ugh, the ending is messy-

But it is an ending that fits! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's a mini whirlwind. See ya in the next one dear readers!

Good bye for now.

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