Xisuma's POV-

A dark abyss was all the eye could see in all directions. No floor, no ceiling, no walls, no light source. Just darkness. Xisuma knew exactly where this was. It was EX's abyss. What was he doing here? What did EX want now? What happened to his and X's deal? "EX," the admin called out, looking around for the evil clone. "What do you want?" 

Oddly enough, EX was nowhere to be seen. X scoured the void for the familiar pair of silver-gray eyes hidden behind a red visor of a hellish suit. "Where are you?" He asked, somewhat hesitantly. Half expecting to be suddenly jumpscared by EX's sudden appearance, X kept glancing over his shoulder as he turned around, his confusion increasing constantly. "Get over here. And make it quick; we had a deal, remember?" His impatience grew by the second as the other refused to make himself known. 

Typical EX. Always such a pest. Of course he wouldn't stop bothering Xisuma; why did he ever think that EX was telling the truth when he promised to leave X and the rest of HermitCraft alone? But generally, the clone was there to watch the chaos unfold. He was normally just nearby, watching his destruction cause pain to others with a stupid, smug look on his face. He never hid. He always fought, no matter if he thought he could win or not. That's how he ended up banned in the first place-- he underestimated Xisuma and wound up here, in the abyss. 

So why wasn't he here now? Had he managed to escape? Did he somehow die for good? Was that even possible? X's mind was swimming with questions. Whatever. He just had to wake up. He'd deal with this later. Right now, he had different things that he would rather be thinking about. The admin removed his helmet and pinched his neck, as removing his suit entirely so he could pinch his arm just wasn't worth the effort. Ouch. But nothing happened. He pinched himself again. He winced but still didn't wake up. What the... "...EX?"

How did he end up here? And why couldn't he leave?

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Sage's POV-

The sun was already high in the sky when Sage came over to Void's place. Sure, Void had told him he had plans today, but surely he would let Sage know before he left? It just seemed a bit odd to him; Void wasn't one to disappear without notice, not even letting Sage know. 

He knocked on the door again, as he had been doing periodically over the last ten minutes. "Er, Void...?" Something told him that it wasn't right to just barge into Void's room unwelcomed. However, Sage hadn't been able to talk to Void the night prior about his questions from yesterday, so he figured he should now. Of course, if the other wouldn't answer, apparently Sage wouldn't be doing that.

After a few more minutes, Sage had grown impatient. He was nearly certain that Void was in there; he hadn't seen him anywhere else. If he wasn't, Sage would look pretty dumb. "Void, if you don't answer I'm going to come in," he said warily. What if something was wrong with him? He hesitated for a moment, then took a breath and opened the door.

"Voi-?" He cut himself off with a yelp. "What in the world-?" Sage rushed over to Void's bed, where the admin seemed to be laying. But something was very wrong. His whole being was flickering. Void's body was blinking in and out of existence. One moment he was here, the next moment he wasn't. And when he was there, his expression was one of pain and fear. What was wrong with him? There was no way he should still be asleep; it was midday, and Sage himself had awoken hours ago. He shouldn't even be physically able to sleep, considering it wasn't night. 

Doing what he thought was the best course of action, Sage pulled out an axe from his pouch and tapped the bed-- quite roughly-- with it, causing the whole thing to shatter. If he wasn't preoccupied with trying to fix whatever was wrong, he might've found it funny how easily beds broke. Void immediately crashed to the ground-- as expected-- and sat up with a shocked expression. Before the bee-suited Hermit said anything, he stood up, breathing heavily. "What was that," he demanded, as if he figured Sage knew exactly what was going on.

Sage held his hands up as he spoke after slipping the axe back into his pouch. "It's midday and you still hadn't come out, so I came in here to make sure you weren't actually dead or anything," he began. Void nodded, crossing his arms. "You were on your bed, glitching, so I broke it. That's all I know."

Void's expression darkened as he turned around to look at the remnants of the bed. "The world must be crumbling even quicker than I thought. It must be because of our work on the sword... This isn't good," he muttered. It seemed that Void knew exactly what Sage was going to ask next, as the next thing he explained was his side of the story. "I was in EX's void, and..." 

Void continued talking, but Sage wasn't exactly listening. Wait, EX? Those were the same initials from that odd memory. Who was he? Who was EX, and what did he have to do with Sage? Oh, how Sage just despised not knowing things. It made him feel so useless. He thought for a moment more; maybe that's why Citrus was so determined to keep going out-- so that she could know things. Huh. 

"So, anyway.." The other continued. Sage perked up, throwing his thoughts away as Void's words got through to his mind again. "Thanks for the help. Now, I have business to take care of."

"Wait, Vo-" Began Sage, but Void cut him off by passing by him and heading for the door. Sage turned around as the admin called back. 

"I don't have anything for you to do. Just make sure no-one falls into the base." And with that, Void just left. Just like that. This must've been how Citrus felt when Sage and Void had kept talking over her. It was aggravating. He had important things to talk about with him, but he wouldn't give Sage the time of day. Why? Was what Void had to do really that important?

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Xisuma's POV-

To Xisuma, yes, it was indeed that important.

There was no way that he'd be able to keep Bee waiting much longer without worrying her, nor would he'd be able to isolate Grumbot for a long enough period if he were to wait until later in the day. As he flew over the land of HermitCraft, he thought about what had just transpired. 

What the admin was assuming was that somehow he had been temporarily banned. He wasn't sure how-- being the admin, he was the only one able to ban anyone; it may have been the world itself-- but he had managed to end up in the abyss and couldn't get out. And EX wasn't there at all. X had been there for a long time, or at least what felt like a long time. He had apparently only been there for hours, but it felt like days, weeks. And during all of that time, he hadn't ever seen EX. He hadn't heard a single snicker. Not a glimpse of the evil clone. That could mean one of two things; either EX was somehow gone, either for good or just gone from the abyss, or there were multiple abysses and X had wound up in a separate one. For once, X didn't have a clue which one could be more likely. Neither of them should be possible at all.

All he knew was that this was somehow triggered by him going to sleep, and if there was a chance of that happening again, even if it was small, X could not go to sleep again. Not unless it was absolutely necessary, and then he'd have to have Sage ensure that he'd wake up in the morning, and, if necessary, break him out of the abyss.

But for now, Xisuma had pressing matters to which to attend. He flew over a familiar ice spikes biome and landed on a rather tall spike, on which a certain feathered friend was standing, shivering. She started chirping, but X quickly motioned for her to stop. As he pressed the button, the bee wings on his helmet began to flutter and shimmer and his visor lit up, glowing purple. Magic, it was amazing. One button and his translator was activated. "Go ahead," the admin said. "I'm ready now."

Bee wasted no time in getting to the point. Her wings fluttered as she began to speak. "What happened? I've been waiting here for an hour, why did it take you so long?" The bird hopped anxiously back and forth, back and forth, like she was pacing. 

"I got trapped in the ban abyss while sleeping," X explained casually. 

"You what?!" It seemed like Bee's eyes were about to pop out of her head. She immediately began rattling off questions, stumbling over her own words in a race to get them all out in time. "How? Why? How did you get o-"

But X cut her off, raising a hand. "Long story short, Sage got me out by breaking my bed. But that's not important right now. We don't have much time; how did yesterday go?"

Bee still seemed like she had a million questions to ask him-- and he couldn't blame her, as he assumed at least half of those questions X wanted to know the answers to himself-- but she shut her beak. This questioned seemed to dampen her slightly. "Scar... he bought it," she reported. Xisuma nodded. "He thinks I'm a mole for him now." After a moment of silence from both, the bird took a breath and asked, "Why are we doing this to him? The look on his face when he realized I didn't actually want to take Sage down..." She shuddered, looking away from X. "It was heartbreaking. Why do we-- I-- we have to keep lying to him?" 

Xisuma sighed. He knew this question would come up soon enough-- this was the second time she had asked this-- and a nag in the back of his mind had been trying to make him wonder the same thing. "It's for his own safety. Scar's just going to keep trying to rescue Mumbo and Jellie and he's going to get himself hurt. The least we can do is stop him." Gauging Bee's reaction, he paused for a moment. His explanation hadn't seemed to go over well, and she looked like she was about to refute it before X continued. "And if it takes lying to him to keep him away, then that's what has to happen. I'm already doing enough of that anyway," he added under his breath. Perhaps it was that he was keeping such a big secret from everyone already that made him desensitized to the lying.

But it seemed Bee's morals were in play too much here, and the bird retorted, fluffing her chest feathers out as she chirped. "Don't you care about his feelings? D-"

"Of course I care about his feelings!" The admin shouted. Xisuma stood up and Bee shrunk below him as the admin stared at her. That was it. "He's one of my good friends; don't you think I would try a different way if I thought it would work?" He sighed, sitting back down. "But it wouldn't. Scar is too smart for that. This is the only way we can save him from himself."

A silent shadow passed over the two. All was silent for a moment; neither had a response. After a good while, a small voice came from beside Xisuma. "Okay," was what Bee said. 

X stood up. Well, this was as good a time as any to go. He hadn't been planning on getting into a discussion with Bee just now, and their time was ticking away quickly. "Well, on that note, I'll message Iskall and we can talk wi-" 

But he was cut off yet again by Bee. What was it this time? "Wait, before we go, I have one more question." Behind his visor, X raised an eyebrow. He hoped it wasn't anything about Scar. "Why can't Sage know about this? I understand Citrus-- I'm pretty sure she would murder me in a heartbeat, but Sage? What's wrong with letting him know? We're on the same team."

Ah. To be frank, the bee-suited admin was surprised this hadn't come up before this. "Sage is... well..." He thought about how to word this for a moment, falling quiet. He soon began to speak again, saying, "Sage is an incredibly unstable individual."

This seemed to confuse Bee, and the bird cocked her head, chirping in response, "I feel like he would disagree on that. On the contrary, he's probably one of the most stable people I know." Xisuma wasn't at all surprised by her response. After all, it seemed reasonable, right? From what X had witnessed, Sage had really mellowed out; he was pretty much a normal person, just with the... adjustments X had added to make him useful. His lack of compassion towards the other Hermits, for example. But other than that, he could fit in well with the others, so it seemed.

"That's the thing. Sage's emotions, his responses to stimuli, his very personality, is directly influenced by those around him," he explained, folding his arms. Bee's eyes grew wide as she seemed to begin to understand. "His acting as a normal person and his exposure to normal people have molded him to be, well, normal. But if he were to be exposed to.. abnormal things, he could change all over again." As he was technically an AI, an NPC, it was hard for him to actually have a personality, so to speak. X had had the bright idea to give him a faux personality based on those around him, to make it easier for him to adapt. Make it so that he could learn how to be around people over time. But this had also created unintended consequences.

"So he's a bomb," the bird reasoned, her expression dark. 

Xisuma nodded. "A bomb that has been-- temporarily-- defused by generally normal-acting people." Except for Citrus, of course. But she was a special case, as she was also not technically living either. She didn't seem to affect him. "But if we were to present him with such a stimulus as 'Hi, your bird friend has been working with me for months and is not dead like you thought...'"

"That could cause him to go berserk." Xisuma hadn't needed to finish his sentence; Bee did for him. "It's too great a change for him. I understand now. But why not just let him know you're working with me from the beginning? It's obviously working fine."

"Well," Xisuma admitted. "I had to get you out so we could get Citrus in. And if he knew about you, there was no way he'd relent to using the machine again." 

Bee, to the surprise of Xisuma, didn't seem put off by this at all. He would have expected more of a reaction from the bird after telling her that his plan all along was to replace her. "Ah." The bird seemed as though she was thinking about adding something but shook her head out. "Let's go talk to Grumbot."

Great. The sun was beginning to start its descent, so if the two wanted any chance to peg Grumbot before night arose, they'd have to get to him soon. "Yes; I'll message Iskall now." 

<XisumaVoid> Hey Iskall can I borrow Grumbot for a sec 
<XisumaVoid> I never got a chance to meet him when you were doing your rounds
<Iskall85> Oh yeah sure! Meet us on his platform
<XisumaVoid> You got it

"Deactivating my translator," said Xisuma as he did just that. A thought struck his mind. Would Grumbot be able to understand Bee? Hm. Well, they'd deal with that when it happened. Leaping off the spike, the admin activated his elytra and was soon followed by Bee, who gave a chirp that sounded suspiciously indignant. As he flew, he noticed what looked like a person down below. Or maybe two people? He wasn't quite sure. 

Nevertheless, he continued flying until he approached the platform, where he spotted the two people he was looking for. Diving down, he quickly pulled up at the last second, landing on two feet to avoid an unfortunate accident. Bee soon landed on his shoulder.

This apparently was extremely funny, as Iskall began cackling. "Very stylish, X." X folded his arms and rolled his eyes goodnaturedly as he waited for Iskall to stop. After a very long minute, he finally put a straight face on. "Anyway, X, meet the new and improved Grumbot!" The bot turned away from Iskall and looked at X, His bright blue eyes and moustache flickering as He waved in greeting. 

Holding his hand out to shake the bot's, Xisuma greeted Grumbot with, "Hello, Grumbot! How are you doing?" Behind his visor, X was smiling, but behind that, he was faltering. So this was Grumbot. Just a few days ago, Sage and Citrus had visited to try and get Him to join them. Apparently, it did not go over well. Hopefully, this would be better. 

"I'm doing just fine, thanks," the robot answered. His voice was audibly mechanical, but was pretty convincing and sounded like it could have come from a living being with a particularly sore throat. "As fine as I can be, really." This was when X realized that Grumbot was not looking at him, but at Bee.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Iskall said with a grin, breaking the three out of their thoughts. "Message me when you're finished!" He called back as he flew away. Xisuma turned to him, then back to Grumbot, who was still following the swede with His gaze.

"So..." Xisuma began, suddenly very conscious of the fact that Grumbot could not talk without prompting. "I'm aware of your... speaking difficulties. Anything you'd like to say or ask?" He questioned. 

"Yes, actually. Why are you here?" Before X could respond, Grumbot continued, "I know you didn't come here just to formally meet me. We've spoken, and if that was still the case, you would have left by now. What do you really want?"

Wow, okay. Grumbot couldn't speak unless asked a question, but he had a lot to say when He did speak. That made sense, Xisuma supposed, as he had a lot of time to think about his words before saying them. He gestured to the bird on his shoulder. "This is Bee, and you already know I'm X. We have a proposition for you," he said, cutting right to the chase. Grumbot had made it clear that no small talk was needed.

Nodding, Grumbot waved His hand to continue, then folded His arms. But before X could begin, a series of chirps and twitters sounded from his shoulder. To X's surprise-- and delight-- Grumbot then said, "Yes I can." X could only assume that Bee had asked Grumbot if He could understand her. This was great. The admin activated his translator; if Grumbot could understand Bee, then even if Xisuma was speaking in chirps, he could still be understood.

"So," Xisuma began. He and Grumbot moved closer to the back of the platform to keep their conversation more private. Bee fluttered and landed atop the block, peering at Grumbot's screen as the robot stared back. He seemed troubled. "...Is something wrong, Grumbot?"

The bot nodded slowly. "Yes... Bee, I recognize you. Why do I recognize you?" He narrowed His eyes slightly as Bee shrugged. After a moment, He shook His head out and gestured for X to continue. 

Which he promptly did. "Anyway, as I stated before, we have a proposal for you. A business proposal, you could say." Grumbot visibly faltered at this, snapping His head to face Xisuma and standing up straight. The admin's eyes grew slightly wider at this sudden shift, and his pupils flickered towards Bee, who seemed just as shocked as he was. Okay. He continued, slightly more warily than before. "You know Sage and Citrus." Grumbot looked as though He was about to punch Xisuma at the mention of the impostors. "Well... Bee and I are working with them." 

Grumbot's eyes grew to saucers and He looked as though He had something-- or a lot of things-- to say. But the bot was silent, as He was forced to be. "Well... kinda," Bee quickly said. Her gaze flitted to Xisuma, who raised an eyebrow, then faltered. "Okay, I'm the kinda part."

Despite the circumstances, X had to suppress a laugh. He decided that he really needed to hurry up or Grumbot was just going to straight-up attack the two, and quickly spoke again. "That's what we're coming to you about. We're not asking you to actively be a part of this," he clarified. Xisuma knew that there was no way Grumbot would relent to this if He actually had to help. As it was, X didn't know if Grumbot would agree to this at all, given the nature of the task. "We just need a bit of help from the sidelines."

This was where Bee cut in. "I'll explain what exactly it is." Grumbot turned to her, still tense and still very clearly angry. "Your job would be very similar to mine. I stick with Scar and make sure that he doesn't get into any-- or at least, that he gets into minimal-- trouble. I try to keep him out of the way." A memory flashed into X's mind of the look that Scar's face morphed into when he caught X's eye. It was one of terror... and betrayal. He was jolted out of his thoughts by Bee finishing, "We would just like you to do the same with Iskall. Just make sure he doesn't do anything too rash and try to stop Sage and them. Any questi-?" 

She didn't finish her sentence before Grumbot exploded.

"You... you are the root of all this?" Though His words twinged up in an inquisitive manner, He seemed to be accusing Bee more than asking her. Uh oh, this was going exactly how Xisuma feared. "You were right there when Scar disappeared after I got my body. You were chasing him to and from Dad's base. I knew I recognized you!" Stepping back slightly, the bird began to shake slightly. 

It was time for Xisuma to cut in. "Grumbot, do-" But he, too, was cut off as Grumbot whirled around to face the admin, His digital face flickering with-- admittedly well-deserved-- anger.

"And you... there is no way in the Nether I'd ever help anyone who helped kidnap my dad!" The bot jabbed a finger at the admin's chest. "You're just as bad-- no, you're worse-- than Sage and that stupid cat. You're exactly who you say you are, but every bit as much of a liar as them. You hurt my Dad. I will never help you." His words dripped with resentment and disgust, as though Xisuma was the scum of the Earth, nothing more than trash. X couldn't say that His anger wasn't justified, given that He didn't know the entire story and He was so close-- arguably even more so than Xisuma-- to Mumbo. 

It seemed as though Grumbot was about to say something else, but before He could, his screen spazzed out, the colors inverting, and sparks shot out of His system. The bot stumbled backward, grasping His head and Bee jumped out of the way as He crashed into the block. Frozen, Xisuma stared in shock at the bot who had seemed fully functional just a moment ago. After a moment, the bot stood back up, recomposing Himself as if nothing had happened. 

Warily, Xisuma glanced towards Bee, who seemed just as confused as he did, and then spoke. "Grumbot, are you alright...?" 

"Yes, I'm.... fine. Just glitched; it happens sometimes," was His answer. Something told Xisuma that this wasn't 'fine', as the bot said, for He seemed rather shaken up by it. The bot turned away. "I'll be better once you leave. You know my answer." Ouch.

The best course of action would probably be to leave, as Grumbot had recommended. The admin didn't want to push the bot farther than he already had, especially if His 'glitch' had anything to do with it. However, as he was about to let Bee know, the bird spoke up, her eyes transfixed on the red bobble attached to Grumbot's head. "Grumbot, what's that thing attached to the rod? It's shiny."

The bot's hand traveled up to the tip of the rod then quickly shot back down again as He shook his head. "It's nothing. Please leave." The two others glanced at each other but obliged. Once they were safely away from His platform, Xisuma shot Iskall a message stating that he was finished.

That hadn't gone well.

~(Author's Rambling)~

So it appears that it has been one whole year since I started writing this AU! Wow, 365 days, gone by so fast. It actually just happens to be MY birthday as well as Unrecognizable's! Coincidence? Probably not, hehe! <3

It's been a great year and I can not thank you all enough for sticking with me the whole time. It's been rough sometimes to find the motivation, but I've lasted this long, have I not? I love seeing your reactions and I love that you lovelies seem to be enjoying yourselves nearly as much as I am.

Thanks for sticking with me! 

Anyway, enough with the sap; I'm not a maple tree! Thanks yet again for coming, and I'll see you in the next one, my little Readers!

Promise out!