The walk was quiet, Grian saying nothing as they walked through Tokyo.

The silence was almost deafening, the only sounds being their footsteps. The streets were empty and cold, and the buildings were dark, making the city feel like a ghost town. The only sign of life they saw other than themselves was the person who drove the bus they took to another section of the city. Even he looked soulless, being as quiet as Grian.

When the team sat down on the bus, Scar decided to finally break the silence, his voice cutting through it like a knife in pudding.

"I-" He hesitated. "I was wondering... Well.... We need to be ready for anything, so we should probably go over the worst case scenarios and what to do."

It was silent for a couple more seconds, before False spoke. "Whatever the case, I'm going to be fighting. Stress, you'll probably be checking on X, and doing what you can. We don't know what condition he'll be in, so that'll be in your hands."

"I'll probably be fighting as well." Ren said, fixing his ponytail.

Mumbo bit his lip, pausing before asking, "Grian? Are you okay?"

"Oh I don't know, I got our Admin kidnapped and perhaps the whole server doomed! What do you think?!" Grian snapped, the temperature in the bus immediately rising ten degrees. Some black thorns pushed up out of the floor a little bit.

"Gri..."

"I'm sorry Mumby." Grian took a shaky breath. "I just... It's a lot to process. I really wish this was all a bad dream. I don't want you guys to get hurt too."

False put a hand on Grian's shoulder. "Grian."

"Y-yeah?"

"Were we mad when you ran away to find the mansion?"

"No."

"Were we scared when you broke your atrium?"

"Well... No."

"Did Mumbo blame you when you cursed him?"

"..."

"Grian-"

"No."

False gave him a stern look. "Do we blame you for what's happened to Xisuma?"

Grian glanced down at his hands. "No."

"So stop putting yourself down. If you're going to tear yourself up over this, wait until we have Xisuma back safe and sound." False retracted her hand and drew her sword. "Now are we gonna do this or what?"

"We're going to do this." Scar answered, standing up and drawing his sword.

"Agreed." Ran drew his sword as well.

Stress pulled out her invis potion. "We're going to get Xisuma back."

Mumbo gave a nod and glanced back at Grian.

"Well, you guys better drink your invis potions, because we're here." Grian answered, steeling his nerves. "The crash is a short walk from here."

As if on cue, the bus stopped.

The Hermits scrambled to take off their armour and chug the potions. They filed off the bus quickly, heading onto the sidewalk.

It really was a short walk, the bus coming into view in only a couple minutes.

Scar went first, climbing into the vehicle, which had stopped smoking a long time ago. It had some fire damage, the front charred and crumbly. When Scar saw the front seat, he had to turn away for a couple seconds.

"Scar? What is it?" Ren asked.

"There's a lotta blood in the driver's seat." Scar choked out.

Grian had climbed into the bus just after Scar, and was exploring the back. "I found an end portal guys." He called out. "I think we have to go through."

The invisible hermits gathered around, glancing down into the celestial swirls of magic.

"I guess this is it then." Mumbo said. "Do we just... Jump in?"

"Yeah." Grian answered. He seemed to grow even more quiet, but this time with a cold determination. "We'll never be ready, so uh..."

He took a deep breath, and jumped through.

_____________________________________

Bit short, but the next chapter will be a lot longer and will actually have some action, I promise XD