Sage's POV-
Could Void not just... wait? Wait for maybe ten minutes as Sage explained the weird things that he had discovered the previous day? Was that too much to ask? Sage sighed. Void did have things to do today; he'd have time to talk later. Sage didn't make a move to stop the admin before he left.
And it was probably weird to just be awkwardly standing in his room, so maybe Sage should leave.
And leave he did, back to Mumbo's base. After one or two wrong turns and a near-collision with a particularly ginormous tree, the moustached man finally made it back home. Was it really home, though? Sage couldn't decide. Sure, he felt most comfortable here, but it wasn't exactly his to call home. Nevertheless, it was easiest just to call it home. And so he did. So there. No further discussion needed.
He had to stop talking to himself.
After glancing around to ensure that no one was watching, Sage pushed aside a few trinkets and pressed the button to open the staircase. He covered it back up and began his descent, pulling out a torch as usual. Maybe it would be a good idea to actually put some of these torches on the walls. Hm. Maybe later.
Sage almost pressed the button to let himself into the room built into the stairwell-- he generally stayed in it when he wasn't busy-- but he hesitated. He wasn't able to ask Void about his and Mumbo's shared-- or not?-- memories... but he could talk to Mumbo himself, couldn't he? The only problem was, he didn't really feel like putting on the 'Haha, I'm mentally unstable and am three minutes from killing everyone you care about' facade. Not right now. But what was more important; being comfortable or getting answers? Sage knew the answer to that.
And so he only went into his room to grab some food; he hadn't made a delivery to Mumbo in a few days and the brit might be running out. Sage had been making sure that Mumbo wasn't starving; he was holding Mumbo captive, not torturing him, after all. And what was the polite thing to do while having a conversation if not providing edibles as well? Sage dug through his stock to find some acceptable food, eventually deciding on some baked potatoes, apples, pork chops, and a few almost-freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. They were baked a few days prior, but they were still good.
The duplicate shoved these into a shoulker box, which he then placed into a bag after grabbing some for himself and proceeded to walk the rest of the way back down into the lab, illuminating his path with a torch as he went.
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Mumbo's POV-
The actual, real, not a poser Mumbo sat, as he normally did, in the back of the cell, spacing out. On his lap lay Jellie, asleep, as he absently scratched behind her ear. He had been doing a lot of spacing, a lot of thinking, over the two-- or was it more?-- months that he had been in there. About what varied, though. Sometimes it was about himself, sometimes it was about the other Hermits, sometimes it was about what he could've possibly done wrong to make Sage as he was... and why Xisuma chose the duplicate's side over his own.
Mumbo really missed the others. He missed the shenanigans. He missed chasing after Grian after his moustache 'mysteriously disappeared' for the sixth time. He missed time-traveling. He missed spending time with his robot-son. He missed running for mayor and failing miserably at everything. He missed Hermitcraft.
And how could he possibly believe the promise that he'd be able to leave soon enough? How could he trust a word that X and Sage said, no matter how convincing they sounded? Something was off about Sage-- and not just the usual offness of him, given what he was. No, he seemed more genuine. Less showy. And that was far more suspicious than before. Mumbo still hated Sage, one-hundred percent. Even if he no longer had that aura of smugness and fakeness, he was still a monster. And Mumbo, believe it or not, didn't much care for those.
Speak of the devil, here he came now, down the stairs. Raising an eyebrow, the Hermit glanced up to see Sage seemingly lost in thought as he approached. He then met Mumbo's eye, and his demeanor changed, if only slightly. "Hello, Mumbi-" He began, but Mumbo cut him off.
"Just... drop the act, Sage," the Hermit said with a sigh. He gently picked Jellie up off his lap and set her on the floor before walking up to the front of the cell. Mumbo was seriously getting tired of this. Sage literally had nothing to hide from Mumbo. He didn't understand why the other kept trying to fool him.
This seemed to startle Sage, as the faux-Hermit stood still for a moment, before nodding. "Sounds good to me. I was getting tired anyway." Opening his pouch, he took out a purple shoulker box-- an assumed food delivery for the brit-- and tossed it in through a small compartment in the side of the machine. Mumbo had tried multiple times to get out via the small hole, but it was too far away from the handle on the door and he couldn't reach anything from there anyway, so he had given up. Not even Jellie could fit through it.
Inside the box was some generic food. Also a few cookies. "The cookies should still be good," Sage mentioned. "Only a few days old. Bit more chocolate than usual, but I had extra and couldn't let it go to waste." He chuckled, but in a friendly way, not like a madman. It was so strange, witnessing Sage act, for lack of a better word, normal. If Mumbo wasn't trapped and Sage wasn't an 'evil' duplicate of him, this might've been a normal interaction.
Mumbo shut the shoulker box and set it aside. The Hermit had definitely thinned since he had been in here, but not for lack of provided sustenance. He just simply didn't feel like eating much. Much of his food generally went to the cat-- or, at least, the food that was safe for her to eat. Jellie certainly wasn't hungry. To be honest, it was the opposite. Jellie seemed fine in here, if a bit bored. She had grown accustomed to the small box and had stopped trying to get out a long time ago.
Who knew that Mumbo would have so much in common with a cat?
"Great," the Hermit said sarcastically. "Couldn't ask for anything more." This obviously displeased Sage. Mumbo was good at displeasing Sage. Mumbo found great enjoyment in displeasing Sage.
"You're not staying in there forever," Sage repeated for what seemed to be the millionth time. The duplicate seemed to think that knowing that he'd get out of the cell eventually was any consolation for being in there in the first place. "Please just... try and be agreeable? Just a bit longer, then I promise no more cell for you." Sage smiled feebly. He seemed tired.
At least Mumbo'd be able to see the others again eventually.
"So..." The Hermit began, noticing that all Sage had done was sit back on the couch, still paying attention to Mumbo. "You want something, don't you?" It was hard to believe that he didn't. After all, he was still here; why stay if he didn't have to?
"I do, yes," was Sage's reply. He sat up straight and adjusted his tie, which had been loosening over time. "Remember bac-" This, time, Mumbo hadn't cut him off. No, Sage just stopped of his own accord, before restarting, cutting right to the chase this time. "Do you really not remember choosing your name?"
...What? That was such an odd question. "No, I really don't." The brit folded his arms. "I don't know what you're getting at, but it never happened." Why bring that up now of all times? The last time they had that discussion was months ago, and he still had no clue what Sage was going on about. Mumbo had always been his name, as long as he could remember. And a time before HermitCraft? What could Sage possibly mean?
But the other kept insisting. "But it did, Mumbo. I remember it clearly. Your name was O-" Mumbo didn't let him finish his sentence. He wasn't even listening.
"No, it didn't. I don't know what memory you have, but it's not mine." But even as he said that, it didn't make sense. Sage having memories that didn't belong to him? It shouldn't be possible. Sage was a direct copy of Mumbo-- or, at least, that's what he assumed-- so having old memories that weren't Mumbo's just didn't add up. It was always possible that Sage had just made it up, but it was such a random thing. And why bring it up again?
For some reason, that seemed to make Sage think for a moment. But then, he still refuted Mumbo again. "I know it was. It's your memory... but you don't have it. Why?" It seemed as though Sage was talking more to himself than Mumbo. "Just... try to think back." Fine. Mumbo relented. As much as he hated Sage and didn't want to do what he was told, his curiosity won him over and the Brit began to think back. Back before going through the portal. Back before Odea and Sahara. Back before meeting Gria- Wait.
Mumbo felt like he knew Grian since, well, forever. They had always been friends. But now that he thought about it, he had been here long before he met Grian. Where had Grian come from, if he wasn't always in Hermitcraft? And all the other 'newer' Hermits. Come to think of it, he had been friends with some people, but they weren't here anymore. What? Mumbo was confused. It was if his brain was repelling him away from thinking about it, as the brit suddenly had a nasty headache. He still had no clue what Sage was talking about, though.
"...I don't remember." Mumbo surprised himself at how unsure of himself he sounded. Was he really hoping to find that memory? No, he didn't. Because that would mean so much more than just that he had a name before Mumbo Jumbo.
Sage seemed to catch on to the fact that Mumbo was hesitating. "Alright," he said, giving up. He looked like he was about to stand up to leave, when he froze. "One more question." Mumbo rolled his eyes, but deep down he didn't actually mind. Sitting in the back of the cell and minding his own business got quite dull. Even talking to Sage was preferable at this point. "Do you know of an EX?"
EX? There was a name he hadn't heard in years. "Yeah; he was a clone of Xisuma that went haywire and began to destroy the server." Sounds familiar. "Evil Xisuma-- EX. X did something to him-- I'm not quite sure what, exactly-- but he's been gone for years." It was like Xisuma had managed to kill EX, but instead of coming back to life, he just stayed dead. It was a huge thing. "Why?"
Seemingly lost in thought, Sage replied, "No reason. Was just curious." It was exceedingly obvious that there was definitely a reason, but the duplicate just did not want to say. Hm. Soon after, Sage left, leaving Mumbo to his devices.
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Sage's POV-
Huh. EX was an evil clone-- a failed experiment, assumedly-- of Void. Evil XisumaVoid. But that just didn't add up. Why would Sage, of all people, have that odd memory of EX? That is, if Sage were to assume that the EX Mumbo was referring to and the EX from Sage's head were one and the same. It was too bad that Sage hardly remembered anything more, that would make this detective work so much easier. He chuckled to himself. Him, a detective. Who would've thought.
Soon enough, he reached his room. He pressed the button to open the door-- which he had moved lower recently to allow his feline friend to reach it-- and entered. The first thing he did when the door closed was go over to one of the chests and pull out a notebook and quill. He sat down and began to scribble notes in it. If he was going to be a detective, he may as well be a proper one. And that meant taking notes.
Memory Mysteries
Sage had to admit, he was rather proud of the label. Alliteration, it was great.
1. Mumbo's past
Mumbo doesn't remember anything before HermitCraft
Why?
How did he get into HermitCraft in the first place?
Does Void have any idea/anything to do with it?
I remember Mumbo choosing his name, but hardly anything before that
Why?
Is it just that those memories work the way they should, but the name one doesn't
Does Void have anything to do with it?
I should ask the other Hermits (excluding Grian and Scar) about their pasts
Hm, that seemed like enough for that section. Sage found himself coming to the same thought-- that Void had something to do with this odd amnesia. Being the admin, he had all sorts of powers. Was it possible that he made Mumbo-- and possibly the others-- lose their memories? Oh, how it would be nice if Void was here now. But he wasn't, so Sage continued writing.
2. EX
Initials stand for Evil Xisuma(Void)
Why has Void never brought him up?
I have one of his memories
Why?
Why was it such a faded one? Why would I have a memory in which EX barely existed?
Does Void know?
Other than that memory, I don't have any recollection of EX at all
Before continuing his notes, Sage thought about that statement. Now that he thought about it, he seemed to have a gap in his memories of a few years back. Not a normal gap created by nothing but time, and not a gap from Mumbo simply not being in the loop. No, this was a real gap. He had a perfectly fine memory of before, but then... nothing at all. And his memories resumed later. It was like the parts of his memories that included EX were simply cut out. Why? Again, he wondered if this may have something to do with Void, especially given that EX was apparently his evil counterpart.
Sage didn't get the chance to write down his thoughts before he heard a familiar grumble and the sound of the door opening. He smiled in bemusement as Citrus walked in. "Button's still too high," she complained in her usual, high-pitched voice, though it was more of a mutter and it was clear that she was talking to herself. "No respect for the shorter ones around here..." She seemed to notice Sage sitting there and jumped. "Oh! Hi... Sage...." She instantly reverts to her usual self. "Couldn't have given me some warning?"
"Nope," Sage responded. It was amusing, seeing Citrus all flustered and annoyed. Maybe it was because she was a cat, but something about her being ticked off was just so funny. He wouldn't stop anytime soon. "Issues with the door?"
Citrus's tail flicked as she held her head higher. "Yes. It's far too high!"
"It's lower than it was before."
"Hmph." The cat's eyes fell on the notebook in Sage's hand, and she jumped up onto the table, visibly intrigued. "What's that, hm? Secret diary?" She giggled.
"No," Sage replied. it was clear that he was not nearly as put off as she had hoped, as the cat's smile faded slightly and was replaced with pure curiosity. Well, they do say that curiosity killed the cat, don't they? "I've been thinking..."
"Dangerous," was what his companion said as she made herself comfortable. "Should I know what about?" Her amber eyes peered up at him. Hm, he wondered if there was any possible indication that there could be the slightest implication that Citrus wanted to know what Sage was thinking about.
It was written all over her face.
Well, what was the harm in sharing his thoughts? Turning his notebook around so that Citrus could read as he spoke, Sage explained his dilemmas. The cat nodded the whole time, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. Sage had to say, it was rare to see Citrus be serious. The last time she was this serious was when she was telling Sage and Void about her run-in with the blaze. Speaking of...
After Sage finished explaining what he had been doing, he turned the focus onto his friend. "So, what have you been up to? I missed seeing you yesterday." The cat had gone a full day without coming back. Sage still, even if he understood why, wasn't exactly a fan of her going out to who knows where when there were at least three people who would probably kill her in a heartbeat, should they get the chance.
Citrus perked up. "Oh, if you'd believe it, an iron golem showed up yesterday in the ice spikes biome! There wasn't a village around so there's no way it should've been there," she mused. Oh. "It even killed Stress! She had to fly all the way back to kill it before it did any more damage. The thing was immediately aggressive, I tell you. We didn't bother it at all; it just came right at us!" Citrus seemed to notice Sage's expression, as she quickly finished, "Don't worry; I didn't get hurt. Golems don't go after cats." She grinned as if this was the most amazing stuff in the world.
"Oh," was all that Sage said. "Well... Maybe you shouldn't go out anymore. At least not there." This was met with a flummoxed stare. "What if you get hurt? What if you die?" Sage lowered his voice. "You're not like other cats. You won't be sent to the lobby. You'll be gone forever."
Citrus was quiet for a moment, as if she had never considered this. Or maybe she had never thought that Sage would consider this. "Well..." Her almost-squeaky voice didn't quite match up with her delivery. It sounded out of place. "I'm alright, aren't I? It's not like I'm alone or anything."
Sage considered this. The shift of the mood surprised him, too. Maybe he didn't consciously realize how much he worried until now. "Yeah..." This was awkward. He wasn't used to being this solemn with her. "So," he said loudly, jerking both Sage and Citrus out of the dim atmosphere they had created. "Void didn't think that anything I had to say was important-"
"He ditched you, didn't he?" Citrus's ear flicked as Sage nodded. "'Course he did. Think's he's so important." She sounded annoyed but gave Sage a smirk. "Idiot." It relieved him to see that she too didn't feel like keeping up the negative stuff.
Chuckling, Sage set down his notebook and folded his arms. "Well, I wouldn't say that. But I do wonder what he was up to." Now that he thought about it, Void had never specified what he was doing. Was it some glitch he had to work out? Huh. "Eh, he would've told us if it was too important."
"Yeah, probably. Try and weasel it out of him though, next time you see him. And tell me what you find out!" She grinned, but Sage frowned slightly.
"Are you leaving again?" He asked.
Citrus's tail swished as she spoke. "Yeah. Stress has been acting a bit odd-- I just came to pop in and give an update before I go back out. Speaking of..." The cat stood up and stretched, arching her back, before shaking her fur out and turning back to Sage. "I should get going. She thinks I'm hunting some rabbit right now."
Sage was about to say something to stop her but didn't. "Well, have a good trip. And don't die," he added, half as a joke, and half-serious. The cat winked at him and left the room again, leaving Sage to slump down into his chair. It wasn't worth it, going out like that. At this point, Sage and Void didn't even need anything anymore; if something were to happen it'd be in vain. But his words never seemed to get through to her.
Why did stubborn people have to be so... stubborn?
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Citrus's POV-
The discussion about her safety had affected Citrus more than she had let on. She was being safe, making sure she didn't get attacked by any mobs or players, and avoiding Scar and Grian at all costs-- though, to be honest, she had seen little of Scar and even less of Grian lately-- so that she had as little risk of getting hurt as possible. She wasn't that careless. Sage was just being overcautious.
Overcautious and underenthused. It was like he didn't care at all about what she was reporting, but only that oh no she could've gotten hurt oh no she could've died and been thrown into a wall. She wasn't a kitten. He didn't seem to care about the fact that iron golems spawning thousands of blocks away from a village isn't exactly an everyday event. How could he not care about that? Whatever; she just had to keep going until she found something he couldn't ignore.
After passing through a portal, she would up in the portal lobby. Over in the back, Citrus's gaze fell on the portal Stress had created that would lead to her ice spikes base. But before she made it over there, something else caught her eye. It was a cockatiel, speeding over to another portal.
It was Bee.
She could take a bit of a detour, right? A grin spread across her face as she called out, "Hello, there, Honeybee!" Her saccharine-sweet voice was loud enough for Bee to hear, and the bird visibly faltered. Citrus watched as she landed on the nearest portal and turned to the cat. Even from relatively far away, she could see the other's feathers fluff up.
The bird chirped a bit, seemingly nervous. "What's wrong?" Citrus pouted innocently, though her eyes said otherwise. "Is the wittle birdie scawwed of the mean kitty cat?" This was met with some angry chittering. Oh, of course she wasn't scared. How could Citrus be so stupid? So completely moronic.
The cat prowled closer to her, and each step echoed across the large place. "Now, I don't know why you're here, Honeybee, but I'd like you to carry a message over to your friends." She had to brainstorm for a message; to be honest, Citrus just said that to sound threatening. She liked threatening the bird. "Tell them that they will never, never ever, be safe. I know exactly what you're doing."
Of course, Citrus had no clue what she was doing. None whatsoever. But it seemed to work, as Bee did a double-take. The cat chuckled to herself and made her way to Stress's portal. That was entertaining, to say the least.
She emerged out of the other side of the portal into a large room made almost exclusively out of different types of ice. There were ornate quartz decorations, and the whole place simply screamed elegance. Right, Citrus had managed to forget. Since the blaze incident of a few days prior, Stress had decided to take the boring shack down and create a beautiful ice palace. It was much less of a temporary base than a home away from home.
It was also very cold.
Through the glass, Citrus could see the last remnants of the sun painting the sky a deep orange, with the rising moon bringing deep purples with it. Sunset already? Time flies. She wondered what Stress was doing, and wandered around the house until she made her way to Stress's room. To the cat's surprise, the Hermit was sprawled across her bed, fast asleep. One could even say she was out cold.
But that shouldn't be possible, given that it wasn't night yet. Hm. Well, it was hard to get info out of a sleeping person, so the cat curled up next to her and buried her head into her fluffy tail. Maybe she could rest for a bit, too.
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Scar's POV-
It was nearly night when the wizard saw a small form rapidly approaching. He instantly recognized it as Bee. She had been out 'gathering intel on Xisuma', but Scar didn't expect her to be out this late. Of course, he himself was nowhere near sleeping. Since Bee had left earlier that day, Scar had occupied himself with various things. For one, he had started preparations for the next day's shenanigans.
Yes, shenanigans. With all the chaos, the Hermit had nearly forgotten, but a well-timed trip to the shopping district and a run-in with Impulse reminded him that the next day was the Hermits' annual prank day. It was a tradition that had gone on for as long as he could remember. Every year, in early October, everyone would set up little pranks, traps, games, or the like for everyone else. It was a way to get everyone socializing; one could only work on personal projects for so long, and this was a way to give everyone a break from seriousness.
That was something that was greatly needed right now.
Scar had big plans for this year, ones that he had been planning since even before all of this went down. Scar was very serious about his unseriousness. He even made himself a prankster-for-hire, in case anyone wanted to pay him to help them prank someone else. Of course, he had his own setup as well. It was a wonderful distraction from everything, and he had enjoyed himself immensely.
But he'd worry about that tomorrow, for now, he had something else to worry about. Scar had set up a chair right next to the lake. The crystal he still wore around his neck gave off a luminous yellow glow, illuminating the area along with his starry hat. As the sun dipped beneath the horizon, his crystal soon became the only bright light source, and, though he could see just fine, the light was nice.
As Bee approached, Scar pinned the translator back onto his hat. It had been doing that weird thing again, like it was trying to decide if it wanted to exist or not. Scar had contemplated asking X about it, but... He decided not to think about that. Bee landed on the edge of the chair, and Scar switched his position to be able to talk better. "Hey, Bee. You okay?"
The cockatiel seemed a bit rattled and was fidgeting, but she quickly said, "Yup! Fine. Just... ran into someone, that's all."
Scar frowned slightly. "Who did you run into?"
It was barely audible, but Bee muttered, "Citrus." Oh. He didn't say anything, merely scowling. Why couldn't that cat just... leave? Leave them alone. It was clear that Bee didn't want to dwell on that either, so she dove right into her speech. "So, today X and I went to go.. er... recruit Grumbot."
"Grumbot?" Scar cocked his head. What did the robot have anything to do with this? He felt a pang of guilt suddenly, remembering that he hadn't so much as stayed to say goodbye the day Iskall and he had gave Grumbot His new body. Bee had come and Scar didn't want to keep her waiting. He wondered how the bot was doing. And what recruitment did Bee and Xisuma of all people have in mind?
Bee nodded in response to Scar's question. "Yes, Him. Well.. you know what I am- er- was for Xisuma." Scar's mouth was a thin line as he nodded. "Yes, well, Xisuma thought it'd be a good idea to enlist Grumbot to be like that, but for Iskall."
"...And how did that go?" Depending on Bee's answer, Scar's plans might just change. Well, plans for after tomorrow. Nothing would ruin prank day. He wouldn't let it.
Bee chuckled mirthlessly. "Absolutely horribly. Grumbot got... rather heated." Understandable. "And all we accomplished is letting Him know about us." Scar raised an eyebrow.
"But that's good, right? To not have another person working with Sage." Scar folded his arms. Was he thinking too much about this? The wizard was getting tired-- he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the previous night-- so he might've just been tired.
"Well, not q- Yeah, yeah it is," Bee quickly said. She hopped back and forth a little bit as she spoke. "We just have to hope that he doesn't tell Iskall or he might get hurt." Okay, she had a point there. Granted, if Iskall knew, he could team up with Scar and Grian. Surely a third person would be highly beneficial and would up their chances of getting Mumbo and Jellie out. Hm...
"Okay. Well, I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight." Bee seemed a bit taken aback at Scar's sudden departure. To be honest, Scar hadn't intended to sound as dismissive as he had, but it was a bit late now. He packed up his chair, removed the translator and placed it in his pocket, and went to bed. He wouldn't have to worry about any of this tomorrow.
-(Author's Rambling)-
Hehe, another chapter? So soon? It must be Summer vacation! Almost the whole gang got a spotlight in this chapter. It's nearly time for some nice wholesome action, free of any angst or twisty twists whatsoever! Hehe!
Anyway, thanks for coming, and I'll see you in the next one, my little Readers!
Promise out!