<Notes at the end, pictures too. So stick around for that!>

Cub felt the gravel road before he felt the pain. But as soon as he felt the pain set in it was unbearable, the feeling reminding him of both being burnt in lava and breaking every bone in his body all at once. He could feel the pain spreading from his abdomen and it hit him that this must be a special tipped arrow. As he shifted the arrow head moved too, the spreading must be because of that.

In a split moment he made a decision he'd be thankful for in the long run, but he'd hate himself for it at the moment. He centered himself and ripped the arrow out quickly like a bandaid. An unholy scream left Cub's mouth, the first time he'd made a sound other then groaning since he'd been shot.

The effects of the weird poison halted almost immediately, the pain was still there but it wasn't as intense and it had been, it also stopped spreading. It wasn't good, but it sure as hell was an improvement from a few seconds ago.

Now that the pain was numbing he could focus on everything around him. He felt familiar arms cradling him gently. That was Scar, and if he focused he could hear the brunette's whispered promise of being safe and getting healed. Cub liked the idea of getting healed, the pain he was feeling was horrible even now. He tried to convey this by saying 'Healing please' but all he managed was a gurgled that vaguely sounded like words.

Scar immediately hushed him, his scarred hand taking one of Cub's bloodied hands in it, "Shh, don't say anything Love, just relax and we'll take care of you."

"Can someone get a healer or something?! I'd rather like my boyfriend with all his blood remaining inside his body thank you very much!" Scar's voice quieted a bit, as if he had been previously facing him and was now not doing that.

His eyes finally focused, and all the blurred shapes he didn't even know he was seeing returned to focus. Scar was hovering over him and his head was gently resting in the cowboys lap. Hovering over Scar's shoulder was Joe, his glasses where a little crooked on his face and his eyes were shining with worry. Cub angled his face to look away from the two, he could then see two shapes headed back in the Void family house. Probably to get someone to heal him, so the two shapes must of been EX and X then he concluded. A bit in front of him stood the rest of the Hermits, he guessed that they hades moved to much from when he was shot so that must be where the battle took place.

He furrowed his brows as he looked closer, something was off. Suddenly it hit him and he rasped out; "Where's Alastor? And Grian! Where are they?"

A gentle voice gently shushed him, "Don't worry about them right now, you need to focus on yourself at the moment."

Cub looked up to meet with the kind face of Xavion Void. He hadn't even noticed EX and X returning with their father, he must have really been lost in thought then. His senses were amplified when in Vex form, which judging by his still clawed hands he still was in, so sneaking up on him would be almost impossible. Guess the mind truly was a dangerous weapon.

"Do you mind if I look at your wound for a moment?" Asked Xavion, lazily motioning to the wound that was still on Cub's abdomen, though it had started slowly closing and the bleeding had stopped.

The wounded Vex gave a small nod, and he moved himself into a position that allowed the healer the best access to the wound without making it uncomfortable for either of them.

It only took a few minutes and two potions to heal the wound. Don't get him wrong, it still hurt, but he wasn't lying around with an open wound anymore. And seeing as he was mostly healed now Cub decided to gently sit up, with assistance from Scar of course.

"Now that I've focused on me, can someone tell me what happened to Alastor, Grian and the group with them?" Asked Cub, looking up at the gathered people, which consisted of the Hermits, Markus, Xavion and Lina. He noted that people were looking at them through windows and such, but they had made no move to assist them, not even the guards.

Scar glanced at Joe, silently asking for help. Help that Joe provided by answering the man's question, "They disappeared."

Cub twisted around to face the poet at this, ignoring the pain in his stomach he growled out, "What do you mean 'disappeared'? Did they just teleport away or something?" He took a short break here before speaking again, a bit calmer this time, "Why did they leave? They were about to win, so why did they suddenly just leave?"

"I believe it's because of Grian." Said Doc, drawing the attention to him. If he found any discomfort with all the attention he didn't show it.

"What do you mean?" Asked Stress, stepping closer to the creeper, "He was the most vocal about his hate for use, wouldn't they want him to kill us?" It clearly pained her to say this, she was speaking about one of her closest friends after all.

The cyborg shook his head, "Did you not see his eyes? As soon as Cub was shot they stopped shining blue and they went back to purple, and even more it looked like he wanted to go up and help."

Cub nodded along, figuring out what Doc was getting at, "So Alastor got him away from me as to not get him to help me, but why?"

Realization filled Scar's eyes as he whispered out a horrified, "Brainwashing."

Now all the attention was on him, and Scar did squirm under the collective gazes of everyone unlike Doc. He had been looked at by many people before, but this was very different from those times.

"What was that Scar? I couldn't quite hear you." Mumbo could obviously hear him, being one of the closer people to him so he really shouldn't need to ask. Scar chose to ignore this and instead decided to answer, "Brainwashed, I said brainwashed."

"Are you suggesting that Grian's being brainwashed?" Asked Markus, they noted that he had a relieved tone to his voice.

Scar nodded, not trusting his voice to work anymore. Plus Cub still needed his attention, to an extent at least.

"That does make sense," agreed Joe, a hopeful shine to his glasses covered eyes, "It would explain all the nonsense he was blubbering on about."

"So does that mean all he was saying was nothing but lies planted by Alastor?" Asked Mumbo, both hopeful and fearful at the same time.

Cub looked up at Scar, the two seeming to have a silent conversation, "Yes and no," at the gathered people's confused faces he explained, "I believe wholeheartedly that Grian has been brainwashed, at least to an extent, but I don't think it was Alastor."

"Then who?" Growled Iskall, arms crossed over his bloodied and roughed up clothes.

"Fallacy." Said the voice of Death, startling everyone gathered. And strangely enough everyone that wasn't them seemed to have frozen, nothing anywhere was moving actually.

"Who?" Asked Xavion, the healer having never heard of them before.

Death seemed to let out a silent sigh before responding, "The serpentine deity of deception and lies, their also the guardian of the red moon."

"Shit this isn't good." Hissed Cub, finally realizing how bad this situation actually was.

"Ok can someone actually explain what is going on!" Yelled EX, far to fed up with vague replies and confusing sentences.

"Fallacy is the deity of lies, and Grian's been brainwashed with lies, " the albino's eyes widened as he caught on, and so did everyone else's eyes, "Do you now realize how bad this is?"

"Can we even fix this? Their the fucking deity of lies, their the best of the best with it! How can we even beat that?" Grumbled Iskall, kicking the ground hard.

"Not all hope is lost, he reacted like he would with normal when Cub was hurt," reminded Joe, subtly pointing to the healed wound, "So there must be some of our Grian in there, so not all hope is lost."

"That is true," said Death gently, their soft voice seemingly flowing right beside them, "He obviously has nothing against killing in this state, of Xenagoras is anything to go by. So if he was willing to stop and help you, someone his mind thinks has brainwashed him, then he must still be there."

The ancient being feel silent before speaking up again, and this time his tone was more grave, "I just hope you get there before Fallacy gets rid of my little one for good."

"Wait, you won't help them?" Asked Lina, speaking up for the first time since she walked out the door and saw a dead Xenagoras, "Your powerful! If your posture and general feel is anything to go by."

"I wish I could, but I'm unable too." Said Death sadly. They honestly wanted to help Grian, but they just couldn't.

"And why is that?" Asked Xavion, he seemed to have finally realized that this was something that would involve his sons, and he had a sneaking feeling that it would be a fight of some kind.

"I cannot stay in my corporal form for more than a few weeks at a time," explained Death, "I'm already pushing it now, so I'll need to leave as soon as we get back to Hermitcraft."

"Wait, but we need you!" Cried Stress, eyes wide, "We can't possibly fight Fallacy without you, we're not nearly strong enough for that!"

Death bent down to look her in the eyes, "Believe me Caster, I wish I could stay and help you, but I'm barred from doing so.I can only wish you the best of luck, but I'll hopefully find a way to help you all."

EX couldn't stop himself before a bitter, "So you're one of the most powerful beings in existence, yet you can't stay corporal for more than a few weeks?" left his mouth

Death ignored the cruel tone and instinct answered it like it was a question, "I am death, a being who handles and deals with the dead. Going corporal is technically a life things, so it's a wonder I even can go corporal."

"Sorry, it just slipped out," blushes EX, neck and head turned away from Death, "It won't happen again."

Death just nodded at him in acknowledgment, and acceptance of the apology EX hoped.

"You best be saying your goodbyes, we need to leave." Said Death, tone a tiny bit urgent.

"Already?" Asked Cleo, head tilted to the side a bit.

"It's been over an hour, we really can't waste much more time." Said Death gently, their tone almost sounding apologetic.

"Before you leave, I need to ask something." Said Lina, she looked up at death, "How dangerous will this be?"

"How blunt do you wish for me to be?"

Lina's eyes hardened, "As much as you can be."

"There is a high chance that someone could be killed."

Lina's shoulders sagged as she looked towards her son, "I can't stop you, can I?"

The younger creeper shook his head no, his one good eye hard with determination, "I'm getting my brother back, no matter what."

"I expected nothing less," sighed the longhaired creeper, "Can you at least promise me to try to stay safe?"

"I promise Mama, I'll do my best." Promised Doc, face showing his determination and honesty.

On the other side of the group Xavion was having a similar conversation with his sons, though it was of course different then Lina's.

"Now you two promise to look after each other, I don't want to bury either of you. Not now, not ever." The usually gentle man was using a hard tone now, showing exactly how serious this was.

"We promise dad, we were already planning to do it anyway." Said Xeres, sounding just as serious as his dad.

"Good." The brunette then pulled them both into a tight hug, "God, it's like saying goodbye to you two all those years ago all over again." His voice tuned a bit wobbly as he talked on, "But this time I don't know if I'll ever see you again."

"Hey, calm down dad," soothed Xisuma, "We promise to stay safe and to stay out of unnecessary trouble, no Void will be buried anytime soon." Xenagoras was completely discarded in this, he didn't count.

"I love you too." Whispered Xavion, hugging his sons one last time.

"And we love you too dad." Chorused the twin brothers, both hugging their dad back just as hard.

"Are we all ready to leave then?" Asked Death gently, truly sorry to have to breakup these happy family moments.

After the confirmation from everyone he got ready to teleport them, just as they disappeared he sent the two parents a pulse of reassurance. And then they were gone, leaving time to turn back to normal. And even though there was confused questions being thrown at them they ignored it all. They had just said goodbye to their children for what could be the last time, questions could wait.

Back in Hermitcraft they all arrived safely, but Death was nowhere in sight. They seemed to leave mid teleportation.

They meet up with everyone who had stayed and explained what had happened and what Death had said, later that night they all agreed on one thing; This was the start of the real deal. And nobody knew if they'd live to see the end of it, but goddamn it they'd still fight.

<It's been what...2 weeks now? Gosh, I'm really sorry about that! Perhaps I should explain that real quick. I've been sick, sick enough that I regularly need to leave school early, and whilst this hasn't stopped it as lessened. So I'm writing this now that I'm better! And that'a all I really have to say about that, now why don't we see how Lina and Alastor looks?

Here's Lina!

And here's Alastor!

And that's all for now! Hopefully my schedule of around one chapter each week will be back to normal now. So have a wonderful time everyone!

Quick edit: I accidentally wrote delusion instead of deception as for what Fallacy was, so I just went and changed that real quick.>