Merry Christmas, I'm actually updating!
(Warnings: various disturbing symptoms, parasitism, violence, blood, death[including an animal])
(2196 words)
Grian hadn't responded in nearly a day. Mumbo wasn't too concerned the day before. And why should he be? He had messaged Grian to see if he wanted to hang out. First Grian had declined, saying he was busy, then later that he was burnt out and tired, and maybe some other time. But today, he hadn't responded to any of Mumbo's messages.
At first, Mumbo thought maybe he was still asleep, or hadn't checked. But as the day went on, it became more worrying. It wasn't like Grian to just disappear like that. Mumbo had tried checking at his base, but there was no answer when he knocked.
Now the sun was setting in the sky as he made his way through the jungle to his starter base.
He had asked some of the other Hermits if they had seen Grian, but it seemed no one had in the past couple of days. He tried not to sound worried, in case it was nothing.
Eventually, he reached the hobbit hole and opened some of the chests, knowing exactly what he was looking for. He pulled out a minecart, some paper, and a pen.
Grian wasn't answering his communicator, or the door. But what if Mumbo sent something through the messaging system between their starter bases? It was a long shot, but it couldn't hurt to try.
He broke the dirt behind his Nether portal so he could access the rail tracks. Writing a quick note, he put a minecart on the track and placed the paper in it, placing a rock on top so it wouldn't get blown away. He gave the minecart a push and watched as it rolled down the tunnel.
<~~~>
Grian's communicator no longer buzzed with new messages. Good, it... it was better that way. He had given up on lame excuses a while ago. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone caught on, and he hated how he could almost feel his friends' disappointment every time he turned down their offers to meet up.
So, now he was ghosting everyone. Maybe if he didn't interact for long enough, they'd think about him less, and wouldn't be as worried about his sudden reclusiveness. But of course, it wouldn't work like that. He knew it wouldn't. Which was why he now spent all his time in his starter base. If anyone were to go looking for him, they'd be less likely to check there.
He didn't want to hide from his friends, of course. But he knew he couldn't go out and act like everything was fine when it wasn't.
For several days, he told himself it was just a cold. He wished it was just a cold. But a cold doesn't turn your eyes gray. A cold doesn't cause your limbs to freeze up or act on their own. A cold doesn't make you think you're going insane, hearing voices, feeling other people's presence.
He fought back a wave of nausea as he stood shirtless in front of a mirror on the wall. His right side and shoulder had what looked to be veins covering them, but they looked like lichen, dark purple and white.He could feel them just under his skin; a sick, crawling feeling. And from his shoulder grew several small shelf mushrooms.
A cold sure as hell doesn't do that.
He shuddered, suddenly cold, and threw his jumper back on. Though it did little to warm him, at least he didn't have to see that horrible fungus.
There had to be something he could do about this. Maybe... maybe I could find someone to help?
The thought had barely gone through his mind before he felt lightheaded and heard that stupid voice.
Are you insane? You don't need anyone's help, especially not those HEP people. Just relax. Everything is fine.
"Oh, shut up, would you!" Grian's voice echoed through the hobbit hole.
At first, whatever this voice was just sounded like his own thoughts. He didn't even know it was there. It still sounded the same, but now it felt as if the thoughts weren't entirely his own, but were instead put there, or influenced, by something else.
He sighed, realizing how pathetic this was. It felt like weeks since he had an actual conversation with someone other than himself and... whatever this was.
He shut his eyes, holding back a sob. What had he done to deserve this?
The sudden ringing of a bell caused him to jump. The noise was thunderous compared to the previous silence of the base. It had been so long since he heard that noise, it took him a few seconds to realize it was coming from the messaging system.
He slowly made his way to the side of the base where his end of the track was, more than a little confused. Why would there be a message?
The sight of a minecart proved he wasn't imagining the sound.
Barely touching the minecart, as if he feared it would vanish if he did, he reached inside and was surprised to find a sheet of paper. What's more, there was writing on it.
"Hey Grian, are you there? -Mumbo"
Grian felt tears run down his cheeks and didn't try to stop them. Despite having actively avoided talking to anyone, the fact that Mumbo was still trying to reach out to him was comforting.
Before he could second guess himself, he found some paper in a desk and hastily wrote a response.
"Yeah, I'm here -G"
He put the note into the minecart and pushed it down the track.
He was surprised, several minutes later, to see it come back through the tunnel, carrying another note.
"Oh, thank goodness. I was worried when I couldn't reach you. Is everything okay?"
Grian flipped over the paper to write his response on the back. "Yeah, I'm alright. I just needed to take a step back from everything, you know?"
Barely two minutes passed between him sending the minecart and Mumbo's response. "I get it. And I'm here if you need someone to talk to."
They spent maybe the next hour sending messages back and forth, just chatting. It helped fill the empty feel of the hobbit hole.
Eventually, Grian ran out of things to talk about. "Well, I think I should head to sleep. Goodnight."
He pushed the minecart down the track and instantly began looking for his elytra, which had been discarded on the floor. He had no intention of sleeping, but he had made up his mind. He couldn't stay here. He needed help, and Scar was the only person he could think of that could possibly do that.
A blue parrot flew through the open window and landed on his shoulder.
"Hey, Professor Beak. You coming too?" The bird squawked and he headed to the door.
He could feel the mycelium under his skin tugging at his limbs, fighting for control.
He just hoped he could hold on long enough to find Scar.
<~~~>
"So, what exactly is the plan?" Bdubs idly picked at the grass. "False is infected and we have no idea what to do about it."
Xisuma rubbed his head. "I don't know. But there has to be something we can do. And we'll figure it out before it's too late. We have to."
"X, what do you mean 'before it's too late'?" Scar frowned. "We have plenty of time before anything serious happens, right?"
The admin shook his head. "The chicken that infected False, Tango found it dead earlier with no possible explanation as to how."
"But that's just chickens, right?"
"You saw the log books, Scar. People died from this."
"We're going to have to lock her up, aren't we?" Bdubs whispered. He was met with confused and horrified expressions. "Look, I hate the idea, too, but if this mycelium causes her to turn on us, we need some sort of backup! Maybe that island by the Shopping District, I don't know, something. A way to make sure no one else gets hurt."
"Island..." Xisuma muttered before slapping his face, eyes wide. "Oh my- I am such an idiot! That island! There's an abandoned factory on it. A soda factory. That must be where MooPop was made!"
"You're right!" Scar gasped, jumping to his feet. "We need to go there, we-" He was cut off when his communicator, which was lying on the ground, buzzed and the screen lit up with a new message.
<Etho> I think the entrance is through water. Everyone who's come into the HQ was soaking
Bdubs looked at Scar, confused. "What's this about?"
Scar did his best to explain what was going on, but it only seemed to make Bdubs more annoyed.
"You never told me you had an informant! Hell, you never even told me there was a resistance!"
"That doesn't matter, right now." Scar picked up the device.
<GoodTimeWithScar> who are they? The other people?
The three waited for a response.
<~~~>
Etho was so bored in the HQ. The resistance members had switched turns several times now to keep guard, make sure he didn't try anything again, and none of them spoke to him. He would have fallen asleep if it weren't for the constant needling of worry.
And there was Ren again, coming around the tunnel bend, shaking his head and sending water droplets everywhere. Abigail wasn't with him, and Etho guessed he must have left the calf somewhere else while he switched off with Impulse.
Etho glared. He still wasn't convinced it had been necessary to knock him out earlier, seeing as he woke up back where he started, sitting against the wall.
Why is he covered in water, anyway? Etho drowsily mused. Everyone's always coming in like that. You'd think they had to swim to get h-
It suddenly clicked in his brain that this was potentially important information. Not caring where he was, he grabbed his communicator to tell Scar.
He barely sent the message before the device was ripped from his hands.
Impulse looked at the screen for a few moments, narrowed his eyes, and handed it to Ren.
"Give that back!" Etho started to stand up, but Impulse shoved him back, his shoulder colliding painfully with the wall.
"You're not going anywhere. Ren, contact the others."
Only a few minutes later, XB showed up, soaking wet, and Grian dropped in through the ceiling with a parrot. He must have made a dryer entrance.
For a moment, Etho thought this couldn't be that bad. After all, these people wouldn't hurt him? But then he remembered how they had all been acting, how they treated him. How all their eyes were just wrong and mushroom stalks jutted from the side of XB's face.
Whatever had happened to them, these were not his friends.
"I'd say I'm just disappointed, Etho." Grian stepped towards him. "But I am angry. I thought maybe, just maybe, you would understand how important this cause is. But alas..." He grabbed the mask from Etho's face and threw it to the ground, smiling without humor in his eyes. "Just thought we should all see the traitor's face as he realizes what he's done."
"You're sick, all of you!" Etho spat.
Grian kicked him in the ribs, causing him to double over in pain. "We're sick? We've been trying to preserve this island while those HEP scum destroy it for their own personal gain!"
Etho stood up, shaking, refusing to be defeated. "You don't know what you're talking about. They're trying to help people."
He was grabbed by the collar and thrown forcefully to the ground. His face slammed against the granite floor with a crack and his nose felt like it had been set on fire. He struggled to lift his head, feeling blood trickle down his face.
"And you? You know everything, huh?" Grian loomed over Etho, his expression dark. "You can't even keep your mouth shut. Taking in information and repeating it back to the enemy. Just like a bird." He seized the parrot up from the ground and it squawked in protest. "A pesky. Little. Bird." He stoked its feathers as it struggled to free itself from his hand. "Do you know what we do with pesky birds?"
Before Etho could blink, Grian snapped the bird's neck and threw it at Etho's feet.
"Take him to the docks."
<~~~>
After half an hour of waiting, Scar began to worry.
"Maybe he just hasn't seen it yet." Xisuma tried to reassure Scar, but the lack of response from Etho was eating at all of their nerves.
Suddenly, all three of their communicators buzzed at once. A notification had shown up on the general chat. One that made Scar drop his communicator in horror when he saw it.
Etho drowned
A horrible silence fell over the group, broken only by Bdubs' shuddering voice.
"This... This is a joke... right?" He looked around frantically, turning to Xisuma. "You can mess with chat, right? C-create fake notifications? Tell me this is a joke!"
The admin didn't seem to hear him. He just stood frozen in place as tears fell from his eyes.