The Trauma of Two Worlds

Panic! At the spawnpoint

(T/W: Panic attack, mentions of trauma)

Grian woke up with a gasp, sitting up faster than lightning. Stress, who was standing nearby as planned, rushed over and checked to make sure the blonde was alright.

"Grian? You okay?" She tried to ask, nudging him slightly. Unfortunately, Grian was too busy hyperventilating to answer, beginning to panic at the flashbacks suddenly appearing. Memories of the wars, Tubbo's assassination, Wilbur's first canon death, Pogtopia, Dream, the duel, the beach party—

Arms. Someone was hugging him tight and close, keeping his shaking shoulders steady, and breathing strangely. After a second, Grian catches on, copying the person's breathing. The person holding him... smells cold? Suddenly Grian realizes that there were two other people hugging him, smelling the confusing scent of red stone and chorus fruit mixed together.

He only knew two people who smelled like that.

Grian opens his eyes, which he hadn't realized had been closed, and looks up shakily, then seeing the familiar faces of a mustached man and his admin friend, both looking at him with concern in their eyes.

"G? You alright? You started panicking..." Grian didn't even need to look, he knew who was speaking. His closest friend. "I'm... I'm alright, Mumbo. Just... shock. Bad memories." He lets that final part slip before he can stop himself, and promptly covers his mouth to prevent more slips of the tongue.

"I... I won't ask. It's not my place to pry. I just want to make sure you're okay." Ah, there it was. The part of Mumbo he loved to much. How caring he was. The man never pried, or tried to force him to open up. He let Grian do that on his own, which was always appreciated.

"Really Mumbo, I'm fine. Just flashbacks is all, really." The mustached man looks unsure, but Xisuma puts a reassuring hand on the redstoner's shoulder. "If he says he's fine, he's fine. I have an idea of what Grian is talking about, since it's required for me to know all past servers and worlds of the members."

Mumbo looks a little relieved at the admin's reassurance, and nods. "If you say so, X. G, if you need anything, I live just next door. Don't be afraid to ask." Without any further discussion, the suited man flies away on his elytra, quickly disappearing. Stress, who had been listening the whole time, follows suit.

Grian looks to X. "What was that? Why was Stress waiting here for me?" Xisuma looks a bit sheepish, and glances away from the man in the red sweater. "Well... the others wanted to prank you back for all the pranks and shenanigans you've done. They didn't mean any harm, we didn't know you would panic like that." Grian makes a soft noise of understanding and stands.

"Okay, that makes more sense. Looks like I'll have to get them back!" The gremlin says with a smirk before leaping into the sky, miles above the admin with a few flaps of his wings.

Xisuma thinks to himself. "If Grian would react that badly to a small prank... that would mean that his last server was horrible. I'll have to look into that."

With that, the admin opens his panels and begins his research of the "Dream SMP".