Grian and Xisuma stood in front of the endportal. Xisuma had stopped walking and stared at the entrance in front of him. Grian could feel his hesitance.

"X, it's gonna be okay. They won't mess with us...I hope." Grian told his friend, despite having no evidence to back up his claim.

"I really hope so too...Your wings will give you a bit more cover, but I'm not so sure about the rest of your feathers. I haven't been back to the Capital since I left for Hermitcraft." X sighed and stepped forwards, staring down at the space of a portal below him.

"Should...Should I, like, put on some armour or something? Cover up my other feathers?" Grian pulled up his inventory, his hand hovering over his Poultry Man armour.

"That's a good idea. Plus, you might need the defense in case anyone does try to mess with us." Xisuma said without looking back at his feathered friend.

Grian nodded and equipped the armour, a sick feeling growing in him. The armour just gave him bad memories. He decided to counteract the bad memories by having something good. He took Sunshine's sweater out of his inventory and tied the sleeves loosely, but securely, around his neck, like an 80s dad. He wasn't wearing the Poultry Man mask because he didn't feel like it was necessary.

Xisuma glanced over his shoulder. "You ready?"

Grian nodded again and stepped up to his friend. Xisuma grabbed G's hand and jumped into the portal, pulling the bird along with him.

Traveling to the End was always more disorienting than traveling to the Nether.

In an instant, the two hermits were standing on a platform of endstone in the middle of the static galaxy. In front of them was where the Enderdragon had been before they defeated her this season. The empty obsidian pillars stood tall, surrounding the bedrock portal that would take them back home.

Xisuma flew up into the air and took off his helmet, setting it in his inventory. He took in a huge breath of space, and sighed. He looked at Grian, motioning for him to follow. The bird flew up as well, staying by X's side as he led the Overworldian through empty static.

"The Capital is this way. You'll know it when you see it, but the flight from the Enderdragon's domain to any Watcher Endcity is pretty long." Xisuma explained, his voice not traveling far through the cosmos.

The two flew silently for a bit until Grian spoke up.

"So Biffa was an Admin too?" He asked. Xisuma nodded.

"GenerikB, Biffa, and I are all Admins. Generik's a senior Admin on the Council, which puts him in charge of getting Admins started on servers. That's why he ran Hermitcraft for her first season before giving her over to me. Biffa was my assistant Admin, in charge of making sure I was handling things okay before eventually leaving me on my own. He stayed longer than intended." Xisuma answered.

"Huh. Well, alrighty then..."

"Fun fact! The Capital is where I first met Scar." Xisuma mentioned.

"Really? Is...Is that where those 'bad run-ins' happened to him?" Grian replied.

"Unfortunately, yes."

The two flew in silence for the rest of the trip. Grian didn't like how the real void felt less suffocating than his dream void.

Xisuma stopped flying forwards as a large, grand city came into view. He flew in place, looking at the place he grew up in. Grian didn't want to stop flying. He felt like if he paused, his wings would give out. They had been flying for what seemed like a couple of hours, but time was strange in the End. It went slower than it did in the Overworld.

Grian slowly passed Xisuma, giving him a look over his shoulder.

"Well, don't stop now." Grian tried to give him a reassuring smile. Xisuma nodded and continued flying, leading G towards the city.

The Admin and the bird landed on a paved road. Grian stumbled against a wall and shrunk down to his normal form. Why had he chosen to fly the whole way in his hero form?

He was exhausted and suddenly out of breath. Xisuma crouched down in front of him.

"Hey, are you alright?" Xisuma asked, clearly worried.

Grian gave him a nod, although he himself wasn't sure. "Yeah, I've just...never flown for that long." He gave a chuckle as he slowly got up. Xisuma helped him stand steady.

"I need to do something, hold on." Grian ducked behind a building. He put Sunshine's sweater into his inventory before shooting a blast of pent-up lightning down into the endless ocean of emptiness below. He let out a sigh of relief as he stretched his wings out, feeling much better now that he wasn't so intensely charged. He took the starred sweater back out and put it on again before stepping out from behind the building.

"Feeling better?" Xisuma asked. Grian nodded. "Alrighty. Biffa should be somewhere in the Capitol building. Unless he's joined another server, which I don't think he has. I hope not. We need his help."

Grian followed Xisuma as he walked down a street, winged people everywhere. The bird willed himself to his hero form as he saw very tall masked beings.

"So, how can Biff help?" G asked.

"Biffa was Alex's friend. When I kept shutting him out, Biffa would let him in. He didn't want me to ban Alex, but I did. I guess it makes sense that B not being a hermit anymore led to Alex and I getting closer since he didn't have anyone else to talk to." Xisuma explained while watching citizens try not to stare at the strangely dressed man and the Doomslayer. It was obvious that a number of people recognized either the armour or Xisuma himself.

Doomguy was a hero in the Capital. People told stories about him. The day he was murdered was filled with grief from the citizens. He was simultaneously beloved and feared. The strange soldier with no wings who used a pair of guns. He told the children stories of the Nether and gave them little trinkets from the Hellish landscape. He was a gentleman to everyone, but would make sure that it was known that he was going to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

He was so respected that he had been offered a seat on the Council and a pair of wings more than once, but he always turned it down. He had his suspicions about the corruption in the Council and the Watcher ranks. He didn't want to be a part of that.

His sons were Admins. They both wanted to be respected like their father. Alex quickly saw the corruption, but Xisuma was blinded. X couldn't see past the masks to the monsters underneath. He couldn't believe that it took himself that long to see the truth that Alex always knew. He couldn't believe that it took this long to realize that Alex was only trying to protect X.

Xisuma knew that by becoming a server Admin, he was still a part of the Council. At least by becoming a server Admin, he didn't have to interact with the Council.

In truth, the Council was glad to have Xisuma far from the Capital once they realized he could be a threat. He wondered what would happen when they see him and an Overworldian in the Capitol building.

As the two walked down the street, a few citizens gave Xisuma a wave, who smiled and waved back in return.

Xisuma slowed as they approached a statue of a man, holding a helmet under one arm, and a rabbit in his other hand. He stopped in his tracks as he realized what it was.

The statue was made of a dark bronze metal and was incredibly detailed. The plaque, which was written in Galactic, read

"In Memory of the Doomslayer"

Grian looked at Xisuma, who stared at the statue.

"...They must have built this in the years since I've been gone..." He stepped up to the statue and softly touched the boot of it.

Grian could see the sorrow in his friend. He set a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright, bud?" G asked.

X took a second to respond. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine." He wiped his eyes and looked up at the statue. Daisy the rabbit was depicted sleeping peacefully in her owner's hand. There was a proud smile on the Doomslayer's face, a smile that he had often given to him and Alex.

Grian and Xisuma studied the statue when a young Admin boy ran up behind them.

"Excuse me-" He began. It took Grian a moment to realize that the boy was speaking in Galatic. It was strange, since he heard the words as if they were English.

Xisuma and G turned around to face the boy.

"Are you the Doomguy?" The boy asked, pointing up at the statue. Xisuma looked down at his red Doomsuit and then back at the kid.

"No...but he was my father." Xisuma gave the boy a smile.

"Oh. Um, I just wanted to say that I wanna be like him when I grow up. My mum tells me stories about him, and he sounded like an amazing guy." The boy replied shyly.

Xisuma smiled fully. "He was. He really was..." He crouched down in front of the boy and set a hand on his shoulder. "I believe in you. One day, you'll be a hero like he was."

The boy grinned happily. "Thank you Mister Doomguy's Son!"

"You know what? You can call me Doomguy." Xisuma offered.

"Thank you Mister Doomguy!" The boy laughed and ran back to an Admin woman who Xisuma recognized. She gave him a wave as her son took her hand and they began to continue down the street.

Xisuma stood up, his mood very much improved. Grian gave X a dorky grin.

"What?" X looked at him in confusion.

"Look at you! The new Doomguy." G gave X a side hug. Xisuma laughed.

"It's been so long since I've been here. It's been so long since someone in Doom armour has been seen here, I'm guessing."

"Your dad would be proud, X." G said in a serious tone.

Xisuma made eye contact with his friend. "I know."

The two continued to approach the grandiose castle that was the Capitol building.  As they got closer, the more impressive everything looked. The tall beings wore fanciful masks adorned with a glowing symbol that Grian recognized from Xisuma's cloak pin. He couldn't help but feel like he had seen it somewhere else. Perhaps in one of the old magic books that him and Taurtis would look through on their little journeys.

"Hey, X. What's that symbol?" G asked, pointing to the symbol which seemed to be everywhere at the Capitol.

"That's the Watcher symbol. It's like the Delta Rune, but for this kingdom instead." Xisuma answered. "See the tall, clawed people? Those are Watchers. They're the other race native to the Endcities. I'm an Admin. We look more human, and are sort of...sort of the 'common folk'. Watchers make up the higher class and most of the Council. Sometimes, there'll be a Watcher who isn't actually a member of the Watcher race. Just like with Admin, Watcher is both a title and a race. People can become a Watcher. In fact, if I hadn't stopped being ignorant to the crap that the Watchers had been doing, I probably would have been made a Watcher."

"I see..."

Every so often, Grian would see a masked being who didn't look like the other Watchers. He assumed they were people who had become a Watcher.

Admins and Watchers alike watched Xisuma and Grian as they entered the main hall of the Capitol. Some looked delighted to see X, while others turned their backs with a scowl.

A man with curly brown hair and a striped orange and white shirt underneath his End cloak ran up to Xisuma. Strangely, the man had a pair of orange cat ears that poked through his hair.

"Suma!" He exclaimed with a grin. X turned to look at the man, and his face broke out in a smile.

"Stampy!" X gave his old friend a hug. "It's been a while!"

"Yeah it has." Stampy smiled. "Who's your friend?" He motioned towards the armoured Overworldian.

"Oh, this is Grian! He's one of the Hermits from my server!" X introduced the bird.

"Hello!" Grian gave a wave.

"Hey there! I'm Stampy!" The Admin grinned, and turned to Xisuma. "What brings you back to the Capital?" He asked.

"We're looking for Biffa. We need his help with Alex..." Xisuma sighed. Stampy nodded in understanding.

"I think I saw Biffa near the armoury a while ago." Stampy told his fellow Admin.

"Oh! Great! So he's here! Perfect." Xisuma looked relieved.

"Stampy! Joel's waiting for us!"

The three of them looked over to who called. A pink haired woman stood near the exit of the main hall.

"Oh! Sorry, Liz! I'll be right there!" Stampy called back. He turned to Xisuma. "I gotta go, but I wish you luck! It was great to see you again! Give Alex my best. And it was a pleasure to meet you, Grian!" Stampy gave X and G a smile and a wave as he headed to meet up with Liz.

Grian watched them run out of the main hall, finding comfort in the fact that the people here weren't as scary as he expected.

When he turned back around, something made him freeze. It felt like someone was watching him. As he looked around, he spotted someone who must have been made a Watcher. They were fairly short, even compared to the Admins. They wore a torn cloak and a white mask that covered their eyes. Despite that, Grian still felt like they were staring at him. He felt so out of place. Xisuma had been telling G where the armoury was, but Grian wasn't quite paying attention.

Xisuma led G forwards, and they passed the strange Watcher. His mind felt fuzzy the longer he looked at them. Finally, the duo turned the corner and the Watcher was out of sight. Grian sighed.

"Something wrong?" X looked up at his tall friend.

"Sorry...one of the Watchers was giving me the creeps." G didn't know how to explain the feeling.

"Yeah, they tend to do that." X replied.

As they walked down a large hall lined with pictures of Watchers and Admins, Xisuma's pace quickened. It seemed like he didn't really want to be here either.

Sounds of magic being blasted got louder and louder as they approached the armoury. Xisuma poked his head inside, spotting a red and yellow armoured man in the air, blasting a target with a ray of magic energy from a cannon on his hand. The target blew up and the man lowered himself down, the cannon shifting back into his armour's gauntlet. He was the only one in the armoury.

Xisuma pulled Grian inside, catching the attention of the man. It was nice for Grian to see a familiar face.

"Biffa!" Xisuma greeted his friend.

"Xisuma? And...Grian??" Biffa pushed his hair out of his eyes, clearly confused.

"Hey Biff." Grian chuckled awkwardly. He guessed he was still recognizable in this form.

"Okay, a coupla things. One, why're you here? Two, why's Grian suddenly a Dungeons and Dragons fighter?" Biffa stepped toward the hermits.

"I think number one should have been 'hello', but alright." Xisuma joked and held open his arms. Biff laughed and gave X a hug.

"Sorry. One, hello. Two, why're you here? Three, Grian?? D&D??" Biffa asked after letting go. "Actually, four, why are you wearing Alex's suit?"

"Well, that relates to your second thing-"

"I'm buff cuz I'm becoming a bird." Grian jumped in.

"I-...That actually doesn't help clear up anything, but I'll take it." Biffa sighed.

"In all seriousness, Grian doesn't have much time left, and he decided to come help me with my family issues." Xisuma replied. "Biff...I think I finally broke Alex's trust in me. He...he won't listen to me, or Hels, and it's getting hard to be a good Admin when I've been a terrible brother...I need your help. Alex trusts you. You're one of his favourite people, and you might be my last hope." Xisuma started to get teary-eyed, which surprised Grian at how easily it happened. It always felt so odd to see his friend, his Admin, cry. Biffa must have felt that same way.

"He hates me, and I've only now realized that I was the bad guy. I did all these things that just kept piling on, until it finally broke Alex." Xisuma covered his face with his hand, and breathed in deeply.

Biffa put a hand on X's arm. "Hey. Suma. We're gonna fix this. I will help you in any way."

Xisuma nodded and used his cloak to wipe the tears from his face. He gave Biffa another hug. 

"Did he take the green suit?" Biffa asked as X pulled away from the hug. The hermit Admin nodded.

"Why'd you come along, G?" Biff looked up at the feathered man.

"I didn't think Xisuma wanted to be alone right now." Grian answered.

"And you were right." X chuckled through his tears. "Thanks guys...both of you. I appreciate you both very much."

"And we appreciate you." Biff smiled.

"Heck yeah, X." Grian open his big arms wide and hugged both of the Admins, picking them up in the process.

"Grian-" Xisuma choked out.

"Oh! Sorry!" Grian set them both down. "I forget I'm strong sometimes."

Biffa laughed. "Should we get going? At least get out of the Capitol building? I don't think some of the Council members would be happy to see you. Or you, Grian, for that matter."

Xisuma nodded.

Biffa held up his arm, which wore a shiny gold bracer. He typed in some coordinates and took Grian and Xisuma by their hands.

"I'm gonna cheat, but I'm legally allowed to." Biff smiled as the three of them were winked from the armoury in front of a house near the edge of the Capital city. Grian stumbled, feeling dizzy and disoriented from the teleportation.

"Woahhhh, I had not expected that." The bird leaned against the house to get steady and regain his composure.

Xisuma looked at Biffa. "Full admin?"

"Yup. I've got a job on the Council." Biff answered. "Don't tell them, but uh...I'm kinda running an operation to sabotage them when they plan to do bad things." Biffa winked playfully.

Xisuma smiled. "That's perfect."

"Anyways! Here's my house! We can rest here for the night and make the journey in the morning." The blond man opened the door to the home, waiting for the hermits to enter.

Grian looked up at the sky as he stepped inside the house, ducking as he did so. "Wait, how can you tell if it's day or night here?"

"We've got clocks." Biffa answered, as if that resolved the issue. Grian shrugged.

"Alright." The bird stood in a cozy living room.

Xisuma's face lit up as he looked around the room. The shelves had pictures of various times on the Hermitcraft server. On the table was a city built out of Legos. Biffa loved designing cities.

"You two want some tea?" Biffa asked as he closed the door behind him. The two guests nodded.

Grian looked at Biffa's armour as he walked into the kitchen.

"I just...Hey, wait." Grian started to laugh. "Xisuma's Doomguy, and you're Iron Man."

"OH COME ON!" Biffa threw his arms up in the air jokingly.

Xisuma cracked up. "Everytime."

"EVERYTIME!" Biffa pulled out a tea kettle, his mock exasperation breaking away to laughter.

"I'm guessing people say that a lot?" Grian asked.

"Yup." Biff started preparing the tea.

Xisuma sat down on the couch in front of the Lego city. Biffa put the kettle on the stove and walked over to his friends. Grian shrunk down to his normal size, catching Biff off guard. Grian dequipped his Poultry Man armour, keeping Sunshine's sweater around his shoulders. Biffa just stared at him.

"I-...Okay what the actual Nether?"

"Hm?" Grian looked up from his inventory. "I mean, I told you I was turning into a bird."

"...That you did." Biff shrugged. "What kind of size changing birds do you know?"

"Thunderbirds." Xisuma spoke up.

"Oh yeah! That's how you two met!" Biffa realized. Grian nodded.

"So do you normally just...walk around shirtless?" The ex-hermit asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Grian came over to the Lego table and examined the structures.

"I bet there's some solution to that. You were just wearing armour and such." Biff pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's because that's equippable as armour. Besides, I don't have much time left, so what's the point?" Grian pulled out the open tub of legos that sat underneath the table.

"You've got me there." Biff answered.

Grian started clicking pieces together on the floor. Xisuma took off his purple cloak and set it in his inventory. He hid his wings and rested his head against the back of the couch.

"So...how have things been on the server?" Biff tried to make conversation.

"Uhm...A buncha stuff. Most recently, Scar became the mayor of the shopping district, Mumbo and I became dads and had a huge fight, I was a superhero for a bit, Joe's the dog catcher. All that normal stuff." Grian chirped up while building with the bricks.

"Okay wait, go back. What happened between you and Mumbo?" Biffa was intrigued.

"Basically, when I started becoming a bird, Mumbo started building robots that called us their dads, and then it got out of hand, we had an argument, and he shut himself in my superhero headquarters and is building more robots." Grian tried to sound casual.

"Is everything okay?"

"...well, no. I want this whole thing to be over, but I think he still hates me. He built robot versions of the hermits and his own family. I'm trying not to, uh..think about that right now though, because it'll just make me sad."

Xisuma sighed. "I talked to Mumbo and it seemed like he was going to listen to me. That was yesterday? I think? Hopefully, he fixes himself before Grian transforms."

"Wow..." Biffa didn't know what to say.

"Yup..." Grian looked at the tea kettle as it whistled.

Biffa stood up. "I'll get that."

After more talk and tea, Biffa showed the hermits the guest rooms. Grian was currently laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He found that it had become easier to sleep with his wings the longer he had them.

He didn't hate them anymore. He didn't hate himself like he once had. He was just sad that he might not be able to see his friend before his time is up.

Grian had accepted his fate. He knew he couldn't fight against it. He had less than two weeks, if he did the math right.

G untied the sweater from his shoulders and hugged it close. He felt himself drift off to sleep.

When Grian woke up the next morning, he was a bit confused on where he was. It took him a second to remember what had happened the previous night. He sat up and stretched his wings out, feeling a bit sore from the long flight. He looked down, expecting to see Sunshine's sweater in his lap, but was filled with panic when it wasn't. He looked around the bed on both sides frantically, relief washing over him as he found it easily on the floor next to the bed. He grabbed it and tied it back on his shoulders as he stood up and made the bed, picking a few feathers off of the blankets.

Grian left the room and closed the door behind him, making his way down the stairs to the living room where he heard Xisuma and Biffa talking. The two of them stood in the kitchen, eating breakfast.

"Look who's finally awake." Biffa smiled and passed Grian a blueberry muffin.

"Well, I'm not sure if my body can tell what time it is here." Grian took the muffin and took a bite.

Xisuma nodded. "Time's kinda strange here."

"We'll probably get going soon." Biffa told Grian.

"Alrighty." The bird took another bite of the muffin.

After breakfast, the two armoured Admins and the feathered hermit prepared for their trip. They stood on the edge of the city, facing the direction they needed to go.

"How are you gonna fly?" Grian asked Biffa, who was typing something into his bracer. The Admin looked up.

"I have wings too." He answered, a pair of wings similar to Xisuma's appearing on his back.

"Oh, yeah, wait, I'm dumb." Grian chuckled. He looked out into the vast space in front of them, dread filling him. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make the flight back.

"Something wrong, Grian?" Xisuma asked, looking at his friend.

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm...I'm fine." Grian blinked a few times.

"Do you want me to carry you on the way back?" X offered. Biffa smiled at the ridiculous thought.

"Yeah. That'd...That'd be great." Grian nodded and put Sunshine's sweater in his inventory before shrinking down to hummingbird size. Biffa's smile froze.

"Oh man, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Grian smiled. "Yeah, I'm an enigma." He chuckled, his voice tiny and high. He fluttered to Xisuma, who held out his hand for the bird to rest on.

"We should probably get going now. People might get suspicious if we're just...standing at the edge of the city." Biffa looked at X, who nodded.
"Alrighty." Both Admins flew up into the air. X held Grian in his hand securely.

As the Admins made their way through the void, Xisuma got Biffa caught up on the situation between him and Alex.

"So, what should I do?" Biff asked once Xisuma was finished.

"Talk to him. Show him understanding, because I am apparently terrible at that." X replied.

"Got it..." Biffa looked down at his bracer. "We're almost there."

A couple minutes of silence passed.

"Hey, Biff? Why did you let me ban Alex?" Xisuma spoke up.

"It wasn't like I could stop you. You did it without even telling me." The ex-hermit answered.

"I-...I know....Why did you stay on the server for so long?" X looked at Biffa.

"You all were my friends, my family. I was able to make up reasons to the Council to allow me to stay for longer, but I ran out of excuses and I had to leave...Even in previous seasons, I had to leave for small bits of time, but I tried to stay. It was my home..." Biffa explained. "I mean, I'm not the only hermit to leave. Not at all. Jessassin, Python, DB...Wels left for a bit, but came back, so I've heard. It always hurt when someone would leave, but things change..."

Grian listened to the conversation, feeling a tug of sadness on his heart. He didn't really know Jess or Python that well, or even who DB was, but it still made him sad to hear about past friends. It made him sad when Wels left. He found that he got attached to friends easily, and it hurt to see them leave. He thought back to his friends he knew before he joined Hermitcraft. He missed them all. He wished he could speak to them again. He wished things weren't so confusing.

He stared into the abyss all around them, the stars making the space seem like static. It started to feel suffocating. He pushed himself up against Xisuma, and covered himself with his wings, wanting the feeling to stop.

X looked down at his hand where tiny Grian was huddled. "Hey, hey, are you alright G?"

Grian peeked out from behind his wing. He chirped a response.

"Is...is that a no?" Xisuma didn't understand what his friend said.

Grian tried again, but could only chirp and trill. He felt his heart rate quicken, fearing that he had less time than he was promised.

Biffa looked at Xisuma's hand. "Wait, can he not talk?"

Xisuma gave Biffa a worried look as obsidian pillars on an endstone island came into view.

Grian chirped frantically as he began flapping his wings erratically in X's hand. X's hold on him became tighter.

"Grian! Calm down! We're almost to the portal." Xisuma told Grian.

The Admins landed next to an obsidian pillar and walked a bit forwards, more towards the portal back to the Hermitcraft server.

Xisuma sat down on the ground, Biffa following suit. X opened his hand. Grian huddled underneath his wings. X brought his hand up to his face.

"Grian, it's okay."

The bird sat up. He wiped his eyes and tried to breathe more steadily. He tried once more to speak, still only able to chirp in birdspeak. He flew up into the air and started to zip towards the portal. He needed to get out of this suffocating dimension.

"Hey! Grian!" X jumped up and followed the hummingbird. Biffa scrambled after them. Grian dropped himself down into the portal, bracing himself for the weird thoughts and words that always filled his head when he left the End.

Xisuma hopped in after him. Biffa pressed a button on the side of his helmet, a glass cover closing on his helmet so he could breathe in the Overworld.

It was strange.

Grian saw the words in his head, like text on a screen.

But he could understand things he couldn't before.

The jumbled words the strange beings spoke were now clear.

He felt like it was less of a one-sided story being told to him, and more like he could respond if he wanted.

Could he try it?
"And the Universe said I love you" the words read.

Grian tried to speak, but once again, there were only chirps.

The words froze, seeming to glitch.

The normal poem he heard each time disappeared. New words came into view.

"Who are you." They read.

Grian chirped, his words starting to return. He was able to say "Grian."

"Why are you here?" The words read.

Grian chirped a few words to get his voice back. His words returned.

"Well?" The words pressed.

"Shouldn't-...Shouldn't you know? I thought you voices were like otherworldly beings." Grian asked back.

The words appeared on the screen as if they were being typed as he watched.

"Why were you in the End, Overworldian?"

Grian was confused.

"Don't 'Overworldians' come to the End often? Y'know, like, to Endbust and such?" Grian thought it was weird to have to clarify.

"Why were you at the Captial? You're not welcome there." The words typed.

"I was helping my friend." Grian shot back.

"Who are you?" The words asked again.

"I told you! I'm Grian!" He started to get annoyed. He just wanted to wake up.

"Who are you?" The words typed again.

"Grian Charles Dreamslayer!"

"Who are you?"

Grian watched as the phrase repeated over and over, faster and faster.

"What happened to you? Why are you here?" New words typed, not giving him time to answer before adding more questions. "Why can't you stay out of things that aren't your business? Who are you? Why are you? When did you lose? How haven't you lost?"
"Let me wake up!" He yelled in response.

He didn't think it would work...But it did.

He woke up.

Grian shot up in his bed, realizing that he was in his mansion. He was in his normal form, despite not changing back before jumping into the portal. His head hurt and everything felt jumbled. What had happened? His head felt fuzzy and full of static, but as he stood up and walked out of his room, the feeling faded and he was left confused. The strange dream was slipping away. He shook his head and sighed.

He could see it was dark outside. He looked at the clock on his wall. It told the bird that it was a quarter past 4. He guessed 4 AM.

Time seemed to travel slower in the End than in the Overworld, so even though they had only been in the End overnight, a full day had passed in the Overworld.

Grian looked down at his arms, discovering more feathers. He sighed and made his way towards the roof access trapdoor. He climbed up through it into the cool pre-sunrise air. He closed the trapdoor behind him and flew up into the air.

He headed for Xisuma's base.

Xisuma didn't experience the scrolling message dreams like the Overworldians did.

He simply woke up, only a tad disoriented. He set up and stretched his wings out, looking around.

It took him a second to realize that Biffa wasn't with him, which made sense. Biffa wasn't a part of Season 7, and never slept in Xisuma's room, and so he wouldn't wake up from the End in there.

Xisuma raised his left arm up and typed into his own Admin bracer. He sent a message to Biffa's bracer, giving his friend the coordinates of his base.

After a minute or two, the colourful armoured Admin winked into existence in Xisuma's room. X wasn't fazed by the sudden apparition. He was used to people popping in and out from around him, since it happened often in the End.

"You look tired." Biffa said to Xisuma before looking around the room at the posters on the walls. He stepped over to the framed picture of X, Alex, and Doomguy. He smiled.

"I am tired." Xisuma tried to chuckle and sound casual.

Biffa nodded, looking over at Xisuma. The sight of X's wings reminded him to hide his own. He did so and stepped to the bedroom door.

"Are the lights still on out there?" Biff asked as he opened the door, seeing light from the first floor on the otherwise dark hallway and stairs. Xisuma stood and stretched, camouflaging his wings in the process. He stepped past Biffa into the dark hallway. Biff followed him as he went down the stairs into the lit up living room.

On the couch holding a cup of something was xB. The stairs creaked as the Admins came down them, alerting the hermit. xB looked over at the stairs, his face lighting up. He downed the rest of his drink and set the empty cup down before jumping up from the couch and running over to the Admin pair.

"xB? Why are you here and still up?" Xisuma asked, looking at a clock to see it was a bit past 4 in the morning.

"Well, I wanted to wait for you to come back, and I wanted to watch over your base while you were gone, just in case Uncle Alex came back or something." xB explained before giving Xisuma a big hug.

"I'm glad you're safe."

Xisuma understood xB's concern. The young hermit knew how awful Watchers could be.

X hugged him back and rested his head on top of xB's for a moment, breathing slowly. He realized he had been panicking about Alex and everything else while in the End, but now he felt calmer in his own base.

xB let go and turned towards Biffa. "Uncle Biff!" xB grinned and gave the other Admin a huge hug.

Biffa laughed happily and gave the young hermit a hug in return. "Hey xB! It's been a bit, hasn't it?"
xB smiled as he let go. "Yeah. I wish you could visit more."

"I wish I could visit more as well." Biffa ruffled the young man's hair.

There was a knock on the door. xB rushed over to the front door and opened it.

Grian stood on the other side, looking confused. When the door opened to him, he looked up at xB.

"Oh, hey xB!" Grian gave the hermit a smile.

"Hey Grian! I'm assuming you're here for those two?" xB pointed over his shoulder to the Admins. The bird nodded, and xB stepped aside to let him in.

xB closed the door behind Grian. The feathered hermit walked into the living room, greeting the Admins.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I had a WACK dream." Grian went past the Admins and into the kitchen, where he started eating cookies that were left out, making sure they weren't chocolate ones first.

"Oh, the End Poem thingy, right?" xB asked.

"Kinda? It kinda cut off? I was able to talk to the person? They kept asking me questions? It was weird? I think? I can't really remember what they said or what I said." Grian shrugged and shoved another cookie into his mouth.

Xisuma and Biffa shared a worried look.

"Alright, that's not normal." Biffa said.

"Yeah, I know, but we don't need another problem to worry about." Grian chuckled.

Xisuma nodded. "We should get ahold of Hels so he can show you where Alex was."

A Few Hours Earlier

Down in the HQ, Mumbo was working. He'd let the clocks lull him into a rhythm of working. He'd been working nonstop since that morning. His TARDIS was coming together nicely. The actual frame of it was done, and he was working on the bit that would allow the actual time travel.

He looked up to one of his many clocks, seeing it was very late at night.

He could work for more time. He wasn't tired.

That's what he told himself, at least.

Soon, he would be able to fix everything.

There was a knock at the door. Mumbo didn't say anything and just continued to work.

The door opened. Mumbo stayed focused.

"Dad? You're going to sleep, aren't you?" Grumbot came inside the workshop. He approached his father.

"Why would I sleep when I'm not tired?" Mumbo gave a laugh which turned into a yawn. He shook his head and tried to keep his hands steady. He was working on one of the more dangerous parts of the mechanism.

"Dad, please. You can continue tomorrow morning. I'll even wake you up early if you want. Just rest now." Grum came over to Mumbo and stood behind him, watching his father work.

Mumbo paused and looked up at Grumbot. "...fine....Can I at least finish this last little bit?"

Grum nodded. "I'll be waiting in the living room for you to be done." He crouched down and gave his father a hug. Mumbo hugged back.

Grum let go, stood up, and gave his father a kiss on the head. He turned to leave. Mumbo turned back to his work.

He needed exact precision. He needed steady hands and complete focus. One wrong placement of redstone could ruin the whole system, making him need to start over.

He squinted at the circuits, his vision blurry, even with his glasses. His mind started to drift. He felt his eyes try to close.

He couldn't let himself sleep. He needed to finish this part. He was almost done.

"Just....One more...wire." Mumbo's head fell as his body tried to tell him to sleep. His hand slipped.

He connected the wrong bit.

But he didn't notice.

Mumbo stood up and grabbed the remote he had built to test the mechanisms. He pressed the button, waiting for the redstone to work.

But it took longer than it should have.

Mumbo got on his knees and started examining the panels of the TARDIS that he just worked on.

His eyes grew wide as he saw what he had done.

Not only had he messed up the wiring, but he'd created an unstable circuit. He stood up quickly and rushed inside the TARDIS to the centre console.

"I NEED TO STOP IT BEFORE-"

A bright void appeared in the workshop where the TARDIS, and its unstable creator, had been.

In a flash, the roar of destruction filled the HQ, blowing dents into the solid metallic walls. Loose bits flew out of the doorday, a flurry of flames and broken bits of metal.

The ringing that came after the main explosion of sound filled everyone's ears, adding to the migraine of the situation.

Eyes turned to the small workshop, the now convex walls, and the rubble that had flown and poured out of the miniscule room.

Grumbot shot off the couch and turned to the blast, terror filling every inch of his metal body.

"DAD!"