Sam's Back || Book 1 of 2 in the Sam's Back series

2

"Grian!" Mumbo called out as his friend flew away. He glanced at the innocent animal before taking off and trying to chase him.

It was useless though, no matter how many rockets he spammed, he couldn't catch up. Grian was an amazing flier and he was only just good enough to reliably not kill himself nine out of ten times. He watched with worry as the red jumper faded into merely a dot. Even more worry filled him when he realised it wasn't in the direction of anything or anyone else on the server.

He frowned. There was nothing he could do but hope he was alright and that he would come back. He probably would, right? Where else would he go?

Questions filled his head as he flew back to his base. Why was a bunny called Sam significant? Would Gian be okay? What made him run away? When would he be back? Would he be back? Was there anyone else who would know something or could help?

The worry was forming a pit in his stomach. He dropped his armour and elytra on the ground as he landed, and looked up at the golden heart of the structure. He felt bad and empty not knowing where the gremlin was. He hoped, at the very least, that he was safe.

As the hours passed and no Grian appeared, the sun began to set. Mumbo restocked his rocket supply and took off. He looked in the mansion, just in case he'd come back without him noticing. He hadn't. Then he checked the hobbit hole, and he wasn't there either.

He flew over to the shopping district, and looked around. He was beginning to form a list in his head of where to look; the Upside Down, the deserts and mesa biomes Grian gathered resources in, Keralis's city to try and find the sewers (there'd been rumours of a few hermits making secret bases there, and it seemed exactly like something Grian would be in on), the mycelium headquarters, and he wasn't sure where after that.

He saw someone, and flew a bit closer to see them. It was Stress. She was wandering between shops, clearly looking for something.

"Hi Stress, have you seen Grian?" He asked, he already knew the answer but had very little other hope.

"No, why? Is he okay?" Stress asked, instantly concerned.

"Well," Mumbo started, he wasn't sure he should say but he had no other ideas that would help the situation, so he decided on giving minimal information. "You know your rabbits outside the Monsters Brew?"

"What rabbits?" Stress asked. Mumbo furrowed his eyebrows.

"The ones outside your shop, uh what were they called, Susan, Jerry, Buttercup..." he said, confused as Stress's expression stayed the same.

"They aren't mine luv," she said.

"What? But they were named in your handwriting." Mumbo said, not wanting to believe it. If they weren't Stress's then whose were they? Was that something to do with what happened to Grian?

"I don't know what to tell you, they aren't mine though." Stress said. "Why? What happened with them?"

"Grian saw one called Sam and, I don't know, he just... he ran away and I haven't seen him since." Mumbo explained, trying not to break down.

"Oh," Stress said, "do you need help finding him?" Mumbo considered this. He didn't want to bring another person into it, especially when it could be nothing.

"Um, no I think I can handle it. He's only been gone a few hours." The last part was more of a reminder to himself than an explanation.

"Okay, I'm sure he'll be fine, but I'm always here if you need help." Stress said.

"Thanks," Mumbo said before they parted ways.

***

Grian flew. He flew until he ran out of rockets, at which point he landed in a birch forest that was below and got out his enderchest to get more rockets. Then he flew further.

If he was thinking, he would've stopped. After all, how would he get back when he ran out of rockets completely? He'd been going for a long time, and it would take even longer to get back on foot.

Unfortunately, he wasn't thinking. So instead he flew.

Once he'd been going for a while, he realised it was irrational. It was just a bunny, someone had simply named it and it just happened to be a bad name and happened to look a bit like Sam's handwriting. The real Sam wasn't there. The real Sam couldn't hurt him.

But it felt... off. It felt suspicious that there was just a random white bunny in the middle of the shopping district called Sam.

The sun was disappearing rapidly, and so were his rockets, so he landed in the spruce forest that lay below, and climbed a tall tree to get away from mobs. It was uncomfortable. He tried to sleep but couldn't, so instead he just sat there, watching the zombies that tried uselessly to get him.

Eventually, though, he must've drifted off.

***

Mumbo arrived in Grian's mansion, having given up searching for the day, it was nearing midnight after all. He leaned against a wall next to the blue fireplace and fire and dozed off. He wanted to wait here, that way he'd see Grian as soon as he came back, if he did.