-Xisuma's POV, 1st-

I watched as Mumbo ran off, going in the same direction EX had. I didn't think that he would hit EX like that, but I was still shocked that Mumbo had even defended that monster. Sure, I only let EX destroy the backup worlds, but he had hurt me so much. It wasn't without a reason that I didn't like him. He was bad news, and I worried that Mumbo would only learn that too late. Now, though, I really needed to find them. The only problem: they could've gone anywhere. I started my search, hoping that I would find them before someone else did.

-Grian's POV, 1st-

I watched my communicator ping, and typed in the universal letter of "that hurts, bro"; F. Mumbo made a death related pun over the communicator, and Iskall messaged back, saying to stop. I watched in stitches as the communicator spread a message across it's screen. "MumboJumbo didn't want to live in the same world as Iskall85". "Oh my God, can't breathe-" I said, laughing my ass off. " I was in the floor, banging the ground with my fist. "Bro, what the heck?" Mumbo typed into chat, sounding pissed. "Wait, if Mumbo was with me..." I thought, turning around.

Iskall stood, staring straight at me, the fake blood from earlier intermingled with the real blood as he stepped forward intimidatingly. "B-bro, y-y-you're not gonna kill m-m-me, are y-you?" He laughed, and this time, it wasn't pretend. I felt myself hit the wall, my wings scraping against the wood. They were tucked into my shirt, and they were useless in this situation. I couldn't even escape, because they were pressed down. "So, guess it really is true, birds can't always fly away."

He stabbed at me, but just barely missed, and in that second of confusion, I pushed him away, spreading my wings to fly away. I, unlike other Hermits, had wings, and didn't have to use elytra to fly everywhere. I felt a searing pain course through me, as he struck, missing his target again, and catching my wing. "Agh!" I yelled in agony, feeling the sharp blade cut through my wing like it was butter. His sword had max enchants, and one of them was fire aspect, so it burned too.

"Oh my-" he rushed over, and it was like something had changed in him, like he was his old self again. I hadn't noticed through the pain, but my wing was catching on fire where he had cut it. "Aghhhh!" I yelled, my back rupturing in flames. I'm shocked I didn't pass out. Oh, wait, I spoke too soon. I could hear a familiar ringing in my ears as I felt myself being splashed with water. Iskall was saying something inaudible, but I just laid there, immobile.

I wasn't dead, more like paralyzed. I knew this because I couldn't feel anything. I could see just fine, but I could feel nothing, almost like I was numb all over. "Suddenly, I could hear again, almost like a phone that was cutting out, or a Mic that was blind stepping. I could hear some of the conversation, but it was all just a blur of sound. "Mumbo, I didn't mean to, I swear, I-" "Yeah, well, you still did it!" "arguing won't get you two anywhere!" Who was that?

"He's been asleep for days, Iskall, I know his heart is fine, but what if it stops beating-?" It sounded like whoever was talking was crying. "Oh, Grian, please be okay!" Another voice said. Everything was becoming more clear, and I could discern who was talking again. "What happened..?" I asked, propping myself up on the bed. The three people in the room all rushed over, hugging me tightly. "I thought you were gonna die, I was so scared!" Mumbo said, crying into my shoulder.

"Not gonna lie, I was legitimately terrified..." EX said, looking up at me with wide eyes, as if he still couldn't believe that I was awake. "Iskall?" I asked, looking over at the half robotical man. He had a guilty face on, and was keeping his distance. "Come here..." I said, holding my arms open wide. He looked up at me, and crawled over slowly. I stroked his hair softly. "Me and Iskall are gonna have a little chat, do you mind leaving the room?"

They looked at me skeptically, obviously not wanting to leave. "Don't worry, we'll be fine," I said. I cared about them, and seeing them worry made me sad. They left, respecting my wishes. After that, I ran my hand through Iskall's soft, brown hair, waiting for him to talk first. It took about ten minutes, but finally, he spoke. "Do you hate me..?" He asked, his eyes brimming with tears. "No, I could never hate you, who made you think that?" I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone.

"Nobody, I just- I feel so bad about what happened, I never meant to lose control like that, and-" I shushed him, hugging him close. "It's not your fault that the crazy side of you take over, and you couldn't stop it. We all do that Iskall, I definitely have!" Iskall looked up at me in confusion. "You know, I can remember when I first realized what was happening- but I won't bore you with my life story, of course,"

"Now I wanna hear the story!" Iskall said, looking up at me with his big, beautiful eyes. "Really, it's not that interesting!" I insisted, but he was just as stubborn, and won me over eventually. "Well, it all began back when I was a kid. See, I had always been a normal kid, or so I thought. One day, though, I got proven wrong. See, as it turns out, there was another side to me, one I had never known of until that night, many years ago. His name, Iskall, was Ben."