Grian sat high up in a tree next to Xisuma's house. He didn't want to go back inside.

If he went back inside, he would have to face Iskall, and that just hurt too much. His friend had believed in him, had trusted him, and Grian let him down. He hurt his friend, and he almost died because of him.

Grian tried to focus on the praise that the other hermits gave him when he was Poultry Man. Normally, that would help him feel better, but now he just felt even worse. He looked down at his arm and sighed at the sight of feathers.

Aleighnya's potion had worked, but he was still changing. Maybe it would be better if he was a bird. At least then he couldn't let people down.

Grian looked down at the base next to him. He could see clearly though the window with his eagle eyes. Iskall was laying on the couch in obvious pain.

The sun was beginning to rise.

Another day, another friendship destroyed.

The bird froze as he heard voices.

"Let go of me, you anime knockoff!"

Grian looked below him and saw Etho carrying Alex over his shoulder walking towards Xisuma's base. Etho laughed and knocked on X's door.

The bird could see Xisuma get up from beside Iskall and walk to the door, putting on his helmet on the way. He opened the door.

"Etho!" Xisuma greeted his friend apologetically.

"Here's your brother." Etho unslung Alex from over his shoulder and put him in X's arms.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"HA! Nope. I'm too fast for him." The ninja pulled down his mask and stuck his tongue out at the nether soldier. Alex promptly flipped him off.

"You're a disgrace to Kakashi." The angry man jumped out of his brother's arms and went inside.

"Man...He's still not over the whole 'me squashing the strawberries one year on accident' thing, is he?" Etho pulled his mask back up.

Xisuma sighed. "Obviously not. Gosh, I just wish he could let stuff go. He still hasn't forgiven me for being the one who got our dad's suit after he died."

Etho nodded. "Any idea how I could get him to stop hating me? I'd rather not have to constantly be on the lookout for him."

"Maybe if you give him strawberries or something." Xisuma suggested. He sounded tired.

"Good idea." Etho replied. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Xisuma gave him a weak thumbs up.

"Cool, because, uh, your wings are showing."

X looked over his shoulder to see his Admin wings.

"Thanks." Xisuma chuckled. He willed the wings back to their bee form.

"See ya later, zoomer." Etho waved. X waved back and closed the door.

Grian watched the Canadian walk from the door. The bird looked up into the sky, but when he looked back down, Etho was gone.

"Looking for someone?"

Grian jumped up from the branch he was sitting on and turned around as he flew a foot or two above the tree. Etho was sitting on a branch behind him.

"Did I startle you?" The ninja laughed.

"I-...yeah, kinda!" Grian lowered himself back down onto the branch, this time facing Etho.

"You seem down. You good?"

Grian thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "Not really."

"Let me guess, you don't wanna talk."

Grian nodded.

"Cool, cool, I get that....so, are ya spying on Xisuma?" Etho glanced down at the base below them.

"No...I just...don't wanna go back inside."

Etho nodded silently.

"Cuz if I go back in there, I have to see the mistake I made." Grian continued.

Etho listened, not saying anything.

"And I thought I was a hero! I thought I was this really cool, confident hero that everyone believed in, but I'm not, and I hurt people because I kept believing a lie."

Etho sighed. "You're strong, G. You can get through this."

Somehow, the ninja's words made him feel a tiny bit better.

"Thanks....hey! You made me talk about it!" Grian realized.

"I have that power over people sometimes." Etho snickered and gave the bird a thumbs-up before leaping out of the tree, teleporting to the ground while he was midair.

Grian decided that Etho was right. Maybe he could get through this.

He swooped down to the front door and went inside. X had left it unlocked for him.

When he entered, Xisuma was talking to Alex in the kitchen. The nether twin was shoving ramen into his mouth while X told him to stop harassing Etho. They both looked over when the door opened.

"Oh, look, it's you ." Alex rolled his eyes and turned back around. Xisuma gave Grian a sympathetic look.

The bird came up to Alex and willed himself to his hero form. Alex looked over at G from the corner of his eye.

Grian waited until the man had swallowed his bite of food before wrapping his giant arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk." Grian apologized.

Alex struggled to breathe. "It's...fine! Just...let...go of me!"

Grian released the soldier. "Sorry."

Evil X waved him off. "I said it's chill."

Grian looked at X, who shrugged.

"Thank you." Grian smiled slightly and turned around to face his bigger mistake. Iskall was laying on the couch. G couldn't tell if he was awake or not.

Xisuma walked over to Alex and took him by the wrist. Alex held onto his bowl of ramen as X pulled him upstairs to give the two hermits some privacy.

Grian shrunk back down and sat down in front of the couch, his back on the edge of the cushion. He stared into the fireplace, letting the warmth of the flames warm his cold feet.

"Iskall...are-...Are you awake?"

The Swede nodded weakly. "Yeah."

"I...I failed you, didn't I?"

Iskall didn't respond for a moment. "You just got a lot going on."

"But you trusted me, and I let you down." Grian looked over his shoulder at Iskall. The light on his robot eye wasn't on.

The Swede looked at him, and didn't say anything.

Grian turned back around and pulled his knees up to his bare chest. The two sat in silence for a few minutes.

The bird felt something touch his wings. He looked back over his shoulder to see Iskall's unbroken arm softly petting the feathers. He was smiling.

"I forgive you, bro." The hermit told the bird.

Grian stood up and looked down at Iskall. He shrunk down to hummingbird size and fluttered up next to his friend on the couch. The Swede laughed before wincing in pain. He gave Grian a nod.

The little bird climbed up the pillow and sat next to Iskall's head. He turned and gave the side of his face a hug.

"Don't beat yourself up about it." Iskall told his friend.

"It's kinda...kinda hard not to." Grian leaned his small head against Iskall's face.

A moment of silence.

"I think I wanna talk now." The bird whispered.

"About Mumbo?"

"Yeah..."

Grian took a deep breath before beginning. "I guess I owe you some sort of explanation about the robots. Mumbo and I built Grumbot, that big one, and he sort of...adopted us as his, uh, his...his dads. He did that when I wasn't there. Mumbo really liked being a dad, I guess, and so he built three more. And he shoved this responsibility on me.

"I was fine with them though, because they seemed really excited to meet me, since I was their dad too. I didn't like the idea at first, but I grew to love them too. It was Jrum and Mumbo's idea for me to be a superhero. I didn't want to, but I did it for Jrum...

"But by becoming a superhero, I changed. I became this man who I can't even recognize as me...

"And I abandoned-...I abandoned my family- " Grian's voice broke as he started to cry. Iskall moved his unhurt arm up and softly touched Grian on his shoulder.

"But then, Mumbo broke a promise, and made another kid when I said I didn't want one. I...I know he shouldn't have done it, but I shouldn't have acted so awful to Sahara..., er, she's the robot Mumbo built...And then when Mumbo and I came together to talk to each other about the problems between us, it got really out of hand and we kind of...shut out each other..."

Iskall nodded slowly as Grian talked. It was comforting to be able to talk to someone about this.

"I thought that I could still be a hero. I told him that I didn't need him. But... I do . All that confidence was only there because I knew that Mumbo believed in me. But now that I don't have him anymore, I'm even worse off than before."

Grian finished his explanation, and sat quietly on Iskall's shoulder.

"I think Mumbo's not having a good time either." The Swede spoke up after a few minutes. "He seemed really...frazzled. He was all messy and stuff. He was angry and he yelled at me. He's...he's never done that before."

Grian wiped his eyes. "I should talk to him. I gotta...I gotta apologize."

"You can't ask for his forgiveness if you haven't forgiven yourself."

The bird cooed sadly and nodded. "Yeah."

"Don't worry, bro, you got me and the others to help you. We love you." Iskall smiled and turned his head to face Grian. The bird wrapped his wings around himself and looked at Iskall.

"After I, um, lost my best friend...it was hard to think I could make any friends that I felt close to after that, but...but I don't think that anymore. You guys are the best friends I could ask for." Grian managed to say.

Grian flew through the cold night air. It was unnaturally chilly for this time of year. The storm clouds sat on the edge of the sky, waiting for the perfect moment to bring their downpours.

The bird wanted to see Grumbot. Iskall said he had accidentally broken him.

Grian forgave his friend. It was an accident, and Iskall had apologized more than once to him.

G knew that Grumbot wasn't his kid anymore. But...he still missed him. He missed Jrum, and the twins. He missed Mumbo. He even missed Sahara, despite not knowing her at all.

The man swooped down when he approached TVGrum and flew in front of his dark, cracked screen. His head was tilted to one side and his arms were limp. Grian chirped sadly and flew up to Grum's head. He landed on top of it and laid down on his stomach, peeking over the edge of the head to see the screen.

Grumbot felt empty. There was no electrical buzz that normally ran through the bot.

It hurt Grian.

The bird kissed the top of Grum's head and looked up into the dark, starry sky.

Grumbot liked hugs.

Grian used to hate them.

The feathered man wished he could hug his son one more time.

Grian laid in silence for a long while, until he felt the whirring of the lift beneath him. Panicking, G stayed still and peeked over the edge to see who it was.

Mumbo walked out of the lift, holding Sahara.

Iskall was right about Mumbo looking frazzled. His hair was longer than Grian had ever seen it, and he was starting to grow a beard. It was really odd to see.

Mumbo walked with Sahara towards the Jrumbot shop. G waited until Mumbo's back was to him before zipping off into the sky.

He looked at Mumbo from the shopping district. The man turned around and saw one of Grian's feathers. The bird winced as he recalled what Mumbo had told him during their fight.

"Welp, I left a feather." Grian felt a strange rush of fear go through him as Mumbo turned back around. He could see the anger on the man's face. He walked into the Jrum shop. Grian was about to fly off again, but Mumbo came back outside. He was holding one of G's feathers in his hand. He lit it on fire with flint and steel. It burned into nothingness.

Grian didn't like the look on Mumbo's face when he burned the feather. G flew into the sky and towards Xisuma's house after Mumbo went back inside.

Mumbo woke up. Sahara was cradled in his arms, the feathers still in her hair. The roboticist smiled sadly and kissed her on the forehead.

The little bot opened her eyes. "Good mowning Mama" Sahara sat up and rubbed her eyes. Mumbo picked her up from beside him and held her to his chest as he sat up in bed.

"Good morning, my dear."

She hugged him as he stroked her hair. He sat there with his baby for a few minutes before setting her back down and standing up. He grabbed his lab coat and slipped it on. As he leaned down to pick Sahara back up, one of the feathers in his own hair fell out. Sahara caught it.

Mumbo picked his daughter into his arms and let her put the feather back in his hair.

The redstone man took his little girl back down into the HQ. Amelia and Circuit were sitting on the couch, drawing something on pads of paper.

Mumbo smiled when he saw them. He came up to them and gave them both a kiss on their heads. "Morning, loves."

"Good morning, Dad!" Circuit grinned.

Amelia smiled. "Morning!"

Mumbo headed to one of the bedrooms he had added onto the base. He realized that if he was going to be building his family, the HQ would need to be bigger.

He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He was greeted by Grace opening the door. She smiled at the sight of Mumbo.

"Hey little bro!"

"Hiya Gracie." Mumbo smiled and gave her a side hug, still holding Sahara in his other arm.  "Where are Grum and Jrum?"

Grace opened the bedroom door wider. Sitting on the neatly made bed was Grumbot with Jrum in his lap. The older brother was holding a book and reading it outloud to the baby. Jrum looked happy.

"Thank you, Gracie." Mumbo gave her a loving smile.

"It's no problem!" His older sister nodded.

"I'm going to start on John today."

"Do you need me to watch Sahara?"

Mumbo nodded and gave his little girl a kiss before handing her off to her aunt. Sahara put one of the feathers from her hair into Grace's hair.

From the bed, Grum looked over at his father. They made eye contact. Mumbo gave his son a smile, which made Grum feel warm inside. Jrum saw his father as well. He jumped out of Grum's lap and scurried to his dad excitedly.

"Papa! Papa! Can I be a hooman wobot wike Gwum too?"

Mumbo chuckled. "I plan on building new bodies for you and the twins after I finish your Uncle John and your grandparents."

Jrum beamed. "Yay! Can I hewp?"

Mumbo nodded and picked up Jrumbot. Grace smiled.

"Well, I better get started." The roboticist gave his sister and his kids a wave as he took Jrum into the workshop.

It was clean.

"That's...odd..." Mumbo mumbled to himself as he examined the neat workroom. All the materials and plans needed to build John were set up neatly, and the base of the droid was already built.

Did he do that?

Mumbo was pulled out of his thoughts by Jrum's giggles.

"Suhpwise!" Jrum announced. "We stawted fow you!"

Mumbo grinned joyfully and gave Jrum a big kiss on the cheek.

"Aw I love you guys so much." He ran a hand through his fluffy hair.

Jrum wiggled his way out of his father's arms and ran to the robot.

He picked up a wrench.

"Buiwding time!" The baby laughed.

Mumbo came over to him and started the work on John.

He had taken off his watch. He didn't want the time of the day to pull him away from his work.

He ate when he was told to, showered when Grace told him he needed it. He took naps when Amelia told him she was worried.

Even with all those interruptions, Mumbo seemed more efficient than ever. He felt more happy than he had in a while. Having Jrum to help out also sped up the work.

John was done in less time than Grace had been. Mumbo excitedly set Jrum down on a workbench and activated the robot.

Jonathon Jumbo was Mumbo's older brother. He was younger than Grace and shorter than her, but he still stood at a towering 6'8. He had black hair that was in a similar style to Xisuma's. While building his brother, Mumbo realized how much the Admin looked like John.

His brother opened his eyes and immediately laughed at the sight of Mumbo.

"Mumbo! You look like a hermit!" John commented on his younger brother's unbrushed hair and growing beard.

"I am a hermit." Mumbo said this, and immediately realized that he was a hermit in both senses of the word.

John grinned. "I know." He hugged his younger brother. When he let go of Mumbo, he spotted Jrumbot.

"Hello! Who's this?" John made his way over to the baby and picked him up. Jrum giggled as John booped his nose.

"That's one of my kids! John, this is your nephew, Jrumbot!"

"Man...can't believe you became dad before me." John joked. Mumbo rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, let's introduce you to the others."

Mumbo led John out of the workshop and into the living room. Grace, Sahara, and Grum were reorganizing the kitchen for the fifth time while Amelia and Circuit were playing a blocky game on the TV.

Grace looked up when Mumbo walked out of his workshop. Her eyes lit up when she saw John following behind him.

"Johnny!" Grace hurried out of the kitchen and towards her younger brothers. John grinned happily when he saw his sister.

Grace hugged John, who was still holding Jrumbot, and then looked at Mumbo.

"I think he's avoiding shaving or something." Grace loudly whispered to John.

"I can hear you. I'm right next to you." Mumbo sighed. His older siblings snickered.

"I'm just teasing, you hobo." Grace gave Mumbo a kiss on the cheek before pulling John and Jrumbot to meet the others.

Mumbo smiled and headed to the bathroom. He closed the door softly behind him and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Ha, I really am a hobo, aren't I?" He chuckled to himself. Mumbo sighed and sat against the wall of the bathroom.

"What am I doing?" Mumbo looked at his bandaged hands.

"I'm building my family." He answered his own question.

Mumbo's eyes were drawn to his lab coat's breast pocket. A shimmery purple feather stuck out of it.

"Goodness, I miss you." Mumbo pulled the feather out and held it up to his face.

An idea popped into his head. His grin grew wide and his eyes almost sparkled with enthusiasm. He ran out of the bathroom, holding up the feather.

"I AM A GENIUS!" He declared while laughing loudly. He rushed into his workshop and closed the door behind him.

Grace sighed when Mumbo did this. She turned to John. "There he goes again. He...he does this a lot."

John frowned. "Doesn't he have friends?"

Grace nodded, and then shook her head and shrugged. "He kinda...shut them out."

Mumbo couldn't contain his happiness. He set the feather in his hair and began to draw out plans.

"I'll let him wear a shirt." He laughed to himself as he drew on the blueprints with a white coloured pencil.

Mumbo finished off the plans by writing a name next to the design.

It read "Griandroid, my best friend" with a small heart drawn next to it.

The roboticist hopped up and started grabbing materials. "Who needs friends when you can just build them! Why didn't I think of this before? A robot Grian! Oh, I'm a genius!"

He started to build, quicker than before. He couldn't wait until he was finished. The kids would have their dad back. Mumbo would have his best friend back. Everything was coming together so nicely.

"And this Grian..." Mumbo cupped the blank face of the base android in his hands. "Won't turn into a bird. He'll be happy with himself."

Mumbo kissed the robot's metal forehead and continued his work.