"Is...Is this working?" Mumbo mumbled to himself as he pressed the on-switch for his son.

Grumbot lifted his head. He felt different. He slowly looked at his hands...

They looked human. He looked up to see his father.

Mumbo hadn't slept since Grumbot broke 3 days prior, and it had been even longer since he had shaved or showered. He was covered in motor oil and Redstone, and he had a partial beard. His hair was getting a bit long. The Jumbo family always had fast-growing hair.

He stared at Grumbot with hopeful, broken eyes. Grum raised up his arm and brought it to his own face. He couldn't feel metal.

He felt human...in more ways than one.

"D-Dad?" Grum stuttered. Mumbo's eyes lit up as a smile grew on his face. The father threw his arms around his robot son and started to sob into his shirt. Grum blinked in confusion.

Grum was unsure about so much. What had happened? Was he still a robot? Was he programmed to feel this way?

These thoughts overtook the bot. He fell to his knees, taking Mumbo down with him.

"Grum! Are you okay?" Mumbo took his son's face in his hands, worried that he had messed up.

Grum could feel his eyes sting. Was he broken again? Was it oil? The robot brought his hand up to his wet cheek as something rolled down his face. When he brought his hand away, the liquid on his fingers was clear. His eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Dad? I-...I can cry?"

Mumbo laughed through his tears. He nodded happily and wiped the tears from his son's cheek.

Grum sat in silence as Mumbo gave him a hug. He sat limply, allowing the tears to slide down his face. He felt strange. His head hurt, and he had a pain in his chest.

"Did you program me to cry? To feel sad?"

Mumbo pulled away from the hug and looked at Grum. "Well, I programmed you to be able to cry. You have the ability to feel sad...I didn't program you to feel sad at certain things...That's all you." He tried to explain.

"Is it really? Am I my own person?" Grum started to question.

"I-...sweetie, I tried to make you be your own person best I could." Mumbo wasn't sure what to do.

"You love me, right?" Grum wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

"Of course!" The roboticist took Grum's hands in his own.

"What does that mean? What even is...love? I...I don't understand. I know I love you, but what does that mean for me?"

Mumbo sat back. "Grumbot, I-...well, it's...I don't know how to explain, I-..." He couldn't find the right words.

"And the other kids...You built them because you loved how being loved felt...Was my love not enough?" Grum's vision became blurry as tears blinded him.

"Grum..." Mumbo took off his glasses and rubbed his teary eyes with his bandaged hands. There was a minute or two filled with nothing but the soft sobs of the Architech. Grum felt...horrible.

"D-Daddy-..." Grumbot hugged his father tightly. "I'm sorry!"

Mumbo sniffed and put his arms back around the boy. "It's not because I don't love you, or your love wasn't enough...I wanted you to have a family...siblings...that could love you when I couldn't be there."

Grum nodded silently. "S-sorry, I can't stop thinking about...who I am..."

Mumbo understood that. "I know how you feel, kiddo."

The roboticist studied his son's face. He looked human, and Mumbo couldn't tell if that hurt him more than it helped. His mustache was fake. Mumbo stuck it on afterwards, since human children don't have facial hair.

His heterochromic eyes were filled with synthetic tears, and he was ever so slightly cross eyed like his father, but less extreme . He had a sprinkle of freckles across his cheeks, and his teeth were slightly crooked and he still had the gap between them.

Mumbo had a hard time building the new body for Grumbot. Since Grian had also built him, Grumbot looked like G too. Mumbo couldn't stop thinking about the bird as he worked on the robot.

But he had persisted. Before he had put the mustache on, Grum looked so much like Grian. It hurt.

The roboticist pulled Grumbot into another hug, and held him close. He rocked from side to side, humming softly, as Grumbot started to cry harder.

"Love means that I care deeply about you. I would do anything for you, even if it meant sacrificing myself. Although I hope it won't come to that." Mumbo gently answered Grum's earlier question.

"B-but...I love you...I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me. I would try to p-protect you, right?" Grum said, his words muffled as he spoke into his father's messy lab coat.

"A father's job is to love, protect, and provide for his children. I'm going to keep you safe, Grum dear. I know that things seem hard right now, but...I'll help you." Mumbo kissed the side of Grum's head softly as he continued to rock his son from side to side. He picked Grum up slightly and turned him so that he would be in Mumbo's arms like a child. Grum curled up best he could and held onto Mumbo, still crying all those tears that he was previously unable to cry.

"I wish I was tiny like Jrum..." Grum mumbled.

"Why so, Grum?" Mumbo stoked the boy's fluffy hair.

"Cuz then I could just...sit in your lap as you work like he does. You could pick me up and carry me around. I wouldn't be seen as 'responsible'. I never got a childhood." The robot explained through his tears.

"You think I can't pick you up?" Mumbo gave Grum a loving smile and stood up, still holding the boy in his arms. Grum clutched onto his father's shirt.

"I'm not gonna drop you." Mumbo told him sweetly and held onto his son tightly as he walked to the door of the workshop. He used his foot to push the door open and exited the room. He took Grum into the living room, where Grace was sitting with Jrumbot.

"Gracie, I fixed Grum." Mumbo set Grum down on the couch. The boy reluctantly let go of his father.

Grace looked up at her younger brother, and she inhaled sharply in surprise at the state of him.

"I-...That's great Mumbo! I'm so proud of you, but...oh goodness, please take a shower." Grace looked at Grumbot, who kept having to wipe tears off his face.

"Do I have to?" Mumbo huffed.

"Oh my gosh, Mumbo. Don't make me get Mum." Grace threatened.

"HA! I haven't built Mum yet!" Mumbo laughed triumphantly.

"Okay, you got me there, but seriously...you smell rubbish."

Mumbo groaned. "Fiiiine."

He walked with heavy steps into his workshop and brought out a fresh set of clothes that were very similar to ones he already had on. He brought those and a towel to the bathroom.

Grace reached over and stroked Grumbot's hair. "Hey sweetie." She gave him a loving smile. Jrumbot was asleep on her lap.

Grum made a small squeak and scooted closer to his aunt, reaching out so he could hug her. She smiled and gave him what he needed. Grumbot cried quietly on her sleeve.

"Your dad is stinky, isn't he?" Grace joked. Grum laughed sadly.

"Yeah."

Mumbo stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He put on his clean clothes and used his towel to dry his hair and face. He walked over to the mirror and used his hand to wipe the steam off of the glass. He used his towel to wipe off the steamy lenses of his glasses. The Redstoner put them on his face and looked at himself in the mirror.

His hair was very fluffy now since he had just washed it. It was longer than he normally kept it, and his sideburns led into a partially grown beard. Mumbo looked over at the razor on the counter and pushed it away with a slight sigh that seemed more like a chuckle.

The man walked out of the bathroom, hanging up the towel to dry on the rod on his way out.

Grace looked over at her brother as he came into the living room. "Hey! You look better! Still kinda hobo-y, but better!"

Mumbo chuckled and rubbed his face. "Oh, so now I'm a hobo?"

"Mumbo Jumbo? More like Hobo Jumbo." Grace laughed. Mumbo rolled his eyes and sat next to Grumbot on the couch. The boy was asleep on Grace's shoulder. Mumbo smiled.

"Sorry, you just...don't feel like my little brother, y'know? You look so...old. Honestly, you look older than Dad does." Grace added. "How old are you now?"

"I-...I'm twenty-four, Grace."

"Dang, wow...okay, you look like you're forty-something."

Mumbo sighed and put his face in his hands.

"I'm gonna go start on John." Mumbo pointed behind him to his workshop.

"Mumby, you just finished Grum...take a break."

"No." Mumbo stood up and walked to his workshop.

"I can't get through to him." Grace mumbled and gave Jrum and Grum kisses on their heads.

Mumbo entered his workshop to find Sahara sitting on one of his workbenches. "Oh! S-Sahara! Hello dear!"

She waved slightly and looked down.

"Is something wrong, kiddo?" Mumbo headed over to his daughter.

"I wanna hug." The little girl sniffed. Mumbo then realized that she was crying.

"H-hey! Don't cry! I'll hug you!" The roboticist took his daughter in his arms, holding her close.

"Auntie Gwacie towd me to hewp hew teww you to sweep." Sahara hugged the clean man.

"Oh, she did, did she?" Mumbo was slightly annoyed, but at the same time relieved that his robot sister acted like his actual sister.

"So can we snuggwe, Mama?" The little girl looked up at Mumbo.

"I-...Yes. I'll take a break for you, darling." The redstone man kissed his daughter on the forehead.

Mumbo took Sahara out of the workshop and headed to the lift. He could tell by the minimal light coming in from the glass walls that it was night.

"I'm...taking a break." Mumbo said with reluctance.

"Good." Grace smiled. "I love you, Mumby."

"Love you too, Gracie." Mumbo felt himself smile. Sarhara waved to her animatronic aunt.

Mumbo entered the lift and it raised the two of them up to ground level. He exited and walked out from behind TV Grumbot. As he walked towards the Jrumbot Shop, he swore he heard something fly up behind him. He turned around, but saw no one. The only thing that he spotted was a single, shimmery purple feather falling down to the platform.

Mumbo felt a powerful mix of anger and sadness in him. He held onto Sahara closer and rushed into the shop.

The bed was unmade still from the last time that Grian had slept in it. He saw another purple feather on the pillow. Mumbo set Sahara down on the shop's counter and took the feather and went outside. He pulled out his flint and steel and lit the feather on fire. It burned nicely.

Mumbo walked back inside. Sahara was holding another feather.

"Sahara!" Mumbo headed over to her. She yelped and dropped the feather.

"Don't-...don't touch them."

"W-why?" The little girl started to cry.

"Because-...because it hurts."

"I'm sowwee..." Sarhara pulled out a collection of the shimmery feather from the pocket of her dress. Mumbo stepped back in surprise.

"I thought that maybe if I kept some of Daddy's feathews...that I could pwetend that he didn't hate me..."

Mumbo took the feathers out of her hand, his own hands shaking. The man felt tears roll from his eyes on fall onto the watertight feathers. He turned to his daughter and started putting them into her hair. He stepped back when he was done and smiled sadly.

"He doesn't hate you, baby..."

Sahara turned to a small mirror on the wall and looked at her reflection. "Pwetty..."

"Yes, yes you are, dear." Mumbo picked her up and gave her kisses on her face. She giggled happily. She removed the biggest feather from her hair and put it in Mumbo's fluffy hair.

"Mama, you'we a pwetty hobo."

"Not you too!" Mumbo groaned before laughing sweetly. He took Sahara over to the bed and set her down. He took his lab coat off and set it on the floor neatly.

He slipped into the bed and pulled the comforter up to Sahara, tucking her in gently. He spotted yet another feather left by the bird. Mumbo picked it up and put it in his own hair with a sad sigh. He gave Sahara another kiss on her forehead and held her close as he felt the fatigue take over.

2 DAYS AGO  

Grian flew through the air. He had seen smoke coming from Grumbot the day before, but didn't want to investigate for fear that Mumbo would see him.

    The bird kept his head held high. He shook the thoughts of Mumbo away and tried to get back into the swing of things as Poultry Man.

    "Okay, Grian. You're a hero. You're a great hero, and the people love you. They trust you!"

    He felt his confidence rise.

"̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ!" 

Grian looked down as he flew. He saw the glowing eyes of the Admin through his helmet as he called out to the bird in his native language. Grian made a sharp turn and flew down to talk to him.

"What is it, Xisuma." He spoke in his Poultry Man voice.

"Oh man, you're still going off like this, aren't you?"

"What does that mean?" Grian tilted his head, pretending to be confused.

"||𝙹⚍ ꖌリ𝙹∴ ↸ᔑリ⊣ ∴ᒷꖎꖎ ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣  ╎ ᒲᒷᔑリ." Xisuma looked up at Grian, giving him a strong glare.

Grian stepped back, afraid. He had never seen Xisuma like this. He'd never seen him mad before. It scared the bird. He shrunk down to his normal size for the first time in what seemed like forever.

    "I...I know..." Grian whispered.

Xisuma's expression softened as he saw the frightened bird.

    "You and Mumbo need to make up because this isn't good for either of you." X put a gloved hand on Grian's shoulder.

    "He...He broke my trust."

    And my heart, Grian added in his head.

    "Alright Grian...It's obvious you need time to think about this...Now that you're here, why did you harass Alex like that?"

    "I-...I don't know, 'Suma...I don't like who I've become." Grian felt his eyes fill with tears. Xisuma stepped closer and gave Grian a hug. He stroked the bird's wings and felt the tension leave G's shoulders.

    "You'll find yourself again, Grian. I know you will."

    "Hopefully before I turn into a bird..."

Xisuma sighed. "You don't know if that will actually happen."

"Yes I do! Mumbo told me that I...that I turned into a bird and saved him back when I told him about Taurtis." Grian let go of Xisuma and weakly held up his wings.

"Oh...I see...I-...I'll see if there's anything I can do to save you, G." Xisuma said with a kind and sad smile. Grian couldn't see it behind the Admin's mask, but he could hear it in his voice.

"Thank you, Xisuma..."

"Of course, G." The bee man gave the bird a nod. "I need to head off and make sure that Alex isn't trying to kill Etho again."

Grian chuckled. "I-...What?"

"Long story." Xisuma laughed and flew up into the air, giving Grian a wave as he headed off.

Grian decided that he should try and become someone that he liked. Poultry Man wasn't the right choice anymore.

Until he found out who he was supposed to be, he needed to keep up his confidence for his friends. What good is a superhero if the people can't believe in him?

Iskall paced around on the branches of his tree. He was thinking about what had happened with Mumbo the day before.

It was an accident, but his friend didn't seem to take it that way.

How was Iskall supposed to know that the robot was Mumbo's son?

Scar and Bdubs briefly explained Mumbo's situation to Iskall after the incident, but he was still confused.

Maybe Grian could help out.

Iskall sat down on one of the branches and looked down. He wasn't afraid of heights, so he felt very free up here. He breathed in the fresh night air and smiled. The cool breeze made him feel better.

He was waiting for his hero friend to fly past. Iskall wanted to join Grian as he flew so he could talk to him. Grian's mood always seemed to improve whenever Iskall was there.

After about 10 minutes, the Swede saw the bird flying through the sky.

"Grian!" Iskall jumped up and flew up with his elytra. He soared towards the superhero.

"Oh! Uh, hello Iskall!" The feathered man felt small again. He remembered he was his normal size, but he was too tired to be in his hero form. He didn't realize how much energy it had been taking out of him.

"Can I fly with you?" Iskall asked, a grin on his face.

Grian nodded. "Sure."

The two flew through the air in agreeable silence for a minute or two before Iskall spoke up.

"So, what's up with Mumbo?"

Grian stopped flying forwards and hovered in place. "W-what?"

"He's...he seems hurt? All I know is you two had a fight of sorts, and that he keeping himself shut in?"

Grian's breathing quickened as he thought about his "ex-friend."

"Grian? Are you alright?" Iskall flew towards his fellow hermit. Lightning was starting to flick off of the bird. One bolt shot at Iskall, but he flew up and out of the way.

"Hey, Grian! What's wrong?" The Swede started to worry.

"N-Nothing." Grian tried to contain the lightning. He felt his entire body tense as the electricity ran through him.

"What happened between you guys? One day, you were best buddies, and, uh, had robot children? But now, you dudes seem like enemies..."

Grian shook his head. "Can we-...can we not talk about Mumbo right now?"

Iskall nodded. "Alrighty...So, what about your kids? I-...I feel like I should apologize to you as well..."

"A-Apologize? What did you do?"

"I might have accidentally broken Grumbot? It was an accident! I swear! I don't know what happened, but Mumbo seemed to snap like a twig and he kinda shut Bdubs and Scar out too." Iskall tried to explain.

"You broke Grumbot?" Grian's voice wavered.

"An accident!"

"I believe you, Iskall...But, I know Mumbo probably didn't..."

Iskall nodded.

Grian shuddered in pain as the lightning tried to shoot out from him again. His breathing became even quicker.

"Hey, Grian, do you need to land?"

Grian shook his head, but flew back as Iskall came towards him.

"N-no, I don't wanna hurt you."

"Hurt me? How are you gonna hurt me? I just thought you might, I don't know, need a hug?" Iskall kindly offered.

Grian shook his head again as the lightning started to zip from him. "That'll make it worse." The bird's eyes started to glow white as he began to lose control. Iskall flew back in surprise. He dodged a few bolts of the lightning, but they were becoming too fast for him.

A single lightning bolt shot towards Iskall, and he wasn't quick enough to dodge it. It struck him and disintegrated his already very worn down elytra.

He fell.

Grian and Iskall made eye contact as the Swede fell through the air, right before the bird lost all control.

Grian couldn't hear his friend's cries as he fell through the jungle trees, getting scratched, scraped, bruised and bloody.

The bird exploded with built-up electricity and he lost consciousness. He fell from the sky, tumbling down where Iskall had just fallen, but woke up midair.

"GAH!" Grian flew up and looked around.

"Iskall?" He called out. He heard nothing.

Grian looked down and saw a piece of torn green fabric on a sharp branch. He realized what must have happened. The bird dove down the soft jungle floor to find the Swede laying in the bushes.

"I-Iskall?" Grian approached quickly and examined his friend.

There had been no death message, so he was still alive.

But Grian wasn't sure how much time he had.

Xisuma saw some flashes of lightning, but assumed it was just those storm clouds that had been waiting for days to pour.

It was only when the lightning lit up the entire sky like day without any following thunder that the Admin realized that it must have been Grian.

Something was wrong.

X turned around and stopped his journey to Etho's and started to fly in the direction of the electric blast. He flew quickly.

His bee wings weren't fast enough.

The Admin willed his wings to their normal form. Xisuma flew faster than before with his purple feathered wings. He was at the origin of the blast very quickly.

But Grian was nowhere to be seen.

"Grian?" Xisuma called out.

The bird looked up through the jungle trees to see the bee in the sky, looking for him.

Grian didn't know if he could yell loud enough. He instead called out like a hawk, a sound that pierced through the air.

The Admin was alerted of his location. Xisuma dove down towards the bird.

"Grian! What hap- Oh my gosh, Iskall!" Xisuma ran to his friend as he landed. He opened up his inventory and fumbled through various potions, pulling out a familiar ruby red one.

"Oh my gosh, Grian, what happened to him?"

"I hurt him!" The bird cried. Xisuma nodded and carefully removed the broken hermit from the bushes. He was unconscious, and had more than one broken bone. His green sweater was torn and bloody. His robot eye was broken, the light on it cracked.

Xisuma stood up and raised the potion bottle above his head. He threw it down forcefully, letting it shatter.

"This isn't as effective, but it'll do for now until he's awake to drink actual potion." Xisuma told Grian as swirls of magic surrounded the three of them.

The scrapes on the Swede started to fade, and after a few minutes of silence, the hermit looked less broken and in pain. He seemed more peaceful.

"He's still hurt, but there's only so much that potions can do." The Admin began to make a sling for Iskall's broken arm.

"I'm sorry." Grian peeped quietly.

X turned to the bird. "I-...I'm sure it was an accident. You don't know how to control your powers, G."

Grian nodded and let Xisuma work on fixing the "hero's" mistakes.

Iskall woke up. Every part of his body hurt. He couldn't see out of his robotic eye...it must have been broken.

He was on a couch in front of a fireplace.

He slowly looked over to his right. In a kitchen sat Grian and who he thought to be Xisuma, although he had never seen the Admin without his helmet before.

Grian glanced at Iskall and nudged Xisuma. The two of them got up and came over to the pained hermit.

"Hey Iskall, how are you feeling?" X knelt down next to him. Iskall tried to shrug but it hurt too much.

"Pain." He managed to say.

Grian stood off to the side. Iskall wasn't sure what to say or feel.

He had trusted Grian with his life. He thought he was a hero, but...

Iskall knew it was an accident.

But now he knew how Mumbo felt.

Yes, it was an accident, but that didn't erase the pain it caused.

Iskall looked away from Grian.

Grian felt so distant from everything.

He hated himself again.

Being Poultry Man caused so much more pain than he thought.

And what was the result?

He hated himself even more than he had before.

What a terrible idea.