Hunted | A HermitCraft AU

Traitor

Xisuma felt absolutely awful.

For one specific reason.

He'd betrayed Mumbo and Stress.

Yes, it sounds bad, but Xisuma had his reasons to! Of course, neither Stress nor Mumbo knew, and he felt awful for not at the very least, cryptically warning them before watching them leave after he did, and backtracking into Grian's base. He wanted to warn them.

But he honestly couldn't.

He'd promised that he wouldn't interfere if Rowan targeted Mumbo over him. He was trying to keep himself safe. Plus, he'd managed to convince Rowan to leave Doc and Ren and False and Scar alone for now, so that was good, right?

He knew how to fight Rowan, and he could help the friends he'd saved with that knowledge. He could get Rowan gone, and save the rest of his Hermits from getting hurt, or caught in the crossfire of a war they shouldn't be fighting in.

He just had to offer up Mumbo and Stress to Rowan.

The only thing that made him feel even remotly better about the situation was that Xisuma hadn't even planned it. After Grian had escaped, and after Rowan made his decree after Heidi complained, instead of offering up any sort of punishment, Xisuma had been offered the deal. Initially, it was only Xisuma's safety in exchange for Mumbo. Xisuma had thankfully managed to negotiate the safety of Doc's team, although Rowan had tacked on Stress to his end of the deal.

They'd then discussed terms to how and where Rowan would make the swap, and Xisuma had come up with the idea of initially kidnapping Mumbo. Heidi, who had returned with a question for Rowan and was the. caught up to speed, had then suggested the idea of Xisuma and Stress 'escaping' with Mumbo, only for Stress to get recaptured and for Mumbo to get found and cornered. Xisuma had agreed, regretfully, and Rowan had scheduled the next "out of host" meeting so they could enact their plan.

Xisuma had no idea to why Rowan wanted Mumbo so much, but he had a really bad feeling about it. 

---

Instead of doing as he'd told Mumbo and Stress  he would, he equipped a spare elytra and a stack of rockets, shooting off through the nether. He was planning on meeting with Doc and the others, who were likely at Area 77 like normal (or so he'd heard), although they didn't know he was coming. Xisuma was honestly ready for Doc to lock him up in a cell and question him, since the last time Doc and Xisuma had interacted without violence and threats, it was when Scar was blissfully unaware to the horrors of Rowan, and they were giving Xisuma a tour around the newly constructed Area 77.

Flying through the Hermitville portal, Xisuma landed on the ground, slightly out of breath. The air felt too thick, and too heavy for him, but he'd accidentally left his helmet back at Grian's base and he had too few rockets to make it there and back. Xisuma sighed, before he took up flight again, landing on one of the landing paths. He didn't have enough time to admire the design before he located and headed towards the warehouse, although Xisuma really wished that he did.

As Xisuma had predicted, the moment he stepped foot into the hallway leading to the cells, he'd been jumped at and pinned to a wall, a trident digging into his throat. Doc was staring at him, a furious look on the creeper hybrids face, a soft gasp coming from somewhere behind Doc.

"Hey there, Doc. How's it been?" Xisuma attempted to make light conversation, although the trident slowly digging further into Xisuma's throat signalled that idle conversation was a bad idea.

"What do you want, Rowan?" Doc growled at Xisuma, the HermitCraft admin squirming slightly. He knew the topic of Rowan would come up quickly, because of Xisuma's predicament, but he really wished it didn't. Every time he heard Rowan's name, or thought of the wolf shaped entity, he was reminded of his deal with Rowan, and that made him feel so guilty.

"I'm not Rowan! Please!" Xisuma strained his neck to get away from the sharp fork of the trident, although it was little use.

"Give us proof! I'm not going to believe you until you give me solid proof that Xisuma is in control right now." Doc's eye narrowed down into a slit, his mechanical one flashing dangerously, like a block pf TNT about to explode, or a creeper, about to spontaneously combust.

"Look into my eyes, Doc. They're normally coloured. If Rowan were here, they'd be glowing and they'd be all black." Xisuma stared into Doc's eyes, pleading. He knew for a fact that the eyes of someone under Rowan's control looked different. It wasn't in his notes, which had been lost during the transfer to season 6, but Biffa had offered to help Xisuma with his testing after the half robot had discovered Rowan's existence when prying the reason for Xisuma's sleep deprivation out of him. Biffa had momentarily let himself get possessed, so Xisuma could jot down any physical indications, and the eyes were the only true telling fact. 

 Doc started to stare into Xisuma's eyes, intently, and things fell uncomfortably quiet. 

After a few moments of the silence, and Doc staring intently into Xisuma's eyes, Ren broke the silence. 

"That's gay," he whispered. 

Xisuma let out a genuine laugh, and even Doc cracked a smile, his hold on Xisuma loosening. Doc finally stopped staring into Xisuma's eyes, releasing Xisuma and dropping the trident. He turned to the others, which Xisuma now realised included Iskall (who was, for some reason, half dragon now? And also somewhat tame, sitting by Scar's feet, albeit held there with a lead wrapped gently around his neck). 

Scar looked genuinly happy to see Xisuma not under Rowan's control, and Ren grinned at Xisuma, although Xisuma could see that it wasn't as carefree as usual. Neither of them were, and it pained Xisuma to know that he was part of what had dampened the state of the server. 

False still looked on edge, her hand gripped around her sword, and although Xisuma felt vaguely dissapointed, he couldn't blame her. She didn't know that he'd sacrificed Mumbo and Stress for his own safety, after all, and he never planned on letting that secret out. 

What kind of a leader was he now anyways? 

Certainly not a good leader. Good leaders aren't supposed to betray the people they were supposed to protect after all. 

"How'd you get out?" Scar asked, jolting Xisuma from his guilt. He looked up, instictively meeting Scar's eyes as he spoke. It wasn't usually as noticable when he had his helmet on, but Xisuma tended to try and make eye contact with everyone he spoke to, no matter who. Even if he didn't particularly like that person (not that many fit into that category). 

"Rowan and the others tend to hold meetings. They say that controlling our every move and keeping us alive takes a lot of energy out of them, so they've been holding meetings where they're in their normal, foggy forms. They then discuss their plans while laughing at Grian and Stress and I cowering in a corner. Like Grian did, I escaped. I brought Stress with me, and we freed Mumbo, but we split up to try and be harder to find. I came here, Mumbo went to team ZIT, and I think Stress went to TFC." 

He tried to sum it up the best he could, while making sense and not revealing his little secret, and thankfully, the other Hermits understood and brought the little white lies Xisuma may have told. 

Well, not lies. More just... choosing to not mention a pretty crucial detail. 

Doc swiftly nodded, and turned heel, heading further down the hall. The German made a guesture for the others to follow him, glancing back before he spoke. "Come on, guys. We have a lot to discuss."