Unrecognizable

~Chapter Thirty-Five~

Grumbot's POV-

Haha... incredible. It worked. He did it. He killed Citrus. Finally, things could start getting back to normal. This was the first step to fixing everything; He knew it. This one thing would be the set-off to a spiral of events that would lead to normalcy again. If Grumbot had an actual mouth, He'd be grinning. If He could talk, He'd be cheering. Who knew one could feel so good about killing a cat?

Iskall, who had been practically screaming at Him just moments before, was frozen in complete silence, watching. Grumbot was watching too. They were watching Sage, the traitorous monster, fall to his knees. So he can cry. Or he was faking it. Either was possible. Grumbot didn't quite care either way. After a while, the swede finally spoke. "Grumbot... why?"

Why? Was Iskall not listening at all while Grumbot explained that she was literally part of a conspiracy against them? "So we can save everyone else," Grumbot explained, shrugging. "Would you rather one traitorous cat or all of your friends die?" This seemed like a perfectly logical answer to the bot.

"But couldn't you have solved it with a... non-killing solution?" Oh, Iskall. He was so naive. He really didn't realize how dire the situation was, did he? Well, Grumbot didn't exactly blame him. It was a lot to take in all at once, after all. If the robot hadn't known all of this from the beginning, would He have believed it either? He wasn't sure.

And so, He calmly shook His head, refusing to get upset. "No. You don't know her like I do. She wasn't the type you could reason with," He answered. But, the moment he stopped talking, Grumbot considered his own answer. Would He have solved things passively, given the choice? That was honestly a tougher question than He would've liked to admit. On one hand, killing wasn't exactly the most moral thing in the world. But, on the other hand, neither was Citrus.

This made Iskall deflate a bit, but he eventually seemed to give in. "It's not great," he said. His voice was hollower than usual. Did he actually pity the cat? Grumbot didn't understand. "But I guess I understand why you did it." Grumbot nodded in silent appreciation. The two were silent for a moment, turning back to watch Sage.

...or, at least, where Sage had been. He had disappeared. It appeared that the impersonator had left while the two were conversing. How did He not notice that? Grumbot wondered where he went. No doubt to go complain to Xisu-

His thoughts were interrupted by... something. Something seemed to shift. Something was wrong. Something was... missing. It was like a presence was no longer there. Grumbot hadn't realized that He was feeling something, but now that there was a void where something familiar used to be, everything felt wrong. What...? He couldn't place His finger on it, but something just wasn't there. It was something that Grumbot had apparently taken great relief in, as He suddenly had an uneasy feeling deep inside of him.

Oh. Oh, no.

That feeling, that presence, Grumbot realized what-- who-- it was all at once. No, no, no. Sage... That monster. That monster made Mumbo's presence disappear. That monster killed Grumbot's dad.

Blip. Tick. The world seemed to be blinking, moving quickly and slowly all at once. This was a different kind of glitching. In a way, it was worse. Grumbot couldn't think straight. Mumbo's dead. Mumbo's dead? Dad Number Two is dead. It took the sudden sensation of Iskall gripping Grumbot's arms to bring the robot back to reality. The world returned to normal, and Iskall's voice cut through the haze like a knife. "Grumbot? Grumbot, are you alright? Dude-?!"

Grumbot shook His head. "No, no I'm not alright. Sage killed Mumbo. I can feel it." Iskall dropped Grumbot's hands. He stepped back, shaking.

"What do you mean, you can feel it?" Mistrust swam in the swede's eyes. It was only natural, after all. People were automatically prone to the analogy of 'seeing is believing', especially if it's something they don't want to believe. And Iskall clearly did not want to believe this. "A-and, if Mumbo died, he'll just respawn. That's how dying works! Won't he just come back?"