Steel Blood - A Hermitcraft fanfiction

3: A plan?

Alone. 

Trapped. 

Again. 

He'd trusted Mumbo. 

As a friend. 

His only friend.

HE'D TRUSTED HIM. 

'MUMBO!' He howled through the door in front of him. 'MUMBO, WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!'

'I'm sorry.' Came a simple reply. 'I had to do it. It's to keep you safe.' 

'I don't want to be trapped any more...' He sunk to the ground, crying oily tears. No sound from outside. Was Mumbo still there? And the other one who'd helped? Had they left him?

'Uhh... Weird robot clone of Grian?' It was the other guy. NPG smeared away his tears in a stain of iridescent black. 

'It's NPG.'

'NPG. Whatever you want to be called. I'm... Cub, by the way.' 

'Why are you telling me this?'

'Because I want you to understand that we're on your side. We're not trying to trap you. We want to help you, man. We want you to have your own part in this server.' 

'Why can't I just build houses with Mumbo?' 

'Because there isn't enough space and I have other stuff to do.' Mumbo's voice. NPG clenched his metal hand, refusing to look towards where his traitor-friend would've been. 'Look, NPG, I'm still your friend. I just... don't want to spend every waking hour building the same house over and over.'

'Well blame Grian for that.' His creator's name was spat as NPG thought through all the pain he's caused. 'He's the one that forced me to do the same until it was the only thing I could do.'

'Hey, guys! What's going on?' A new voice. Another person. NPG backed away. Friend? Or enemy? He sounded friendly... but that didn't mean he actually was.

'Goodness gracious me, you scared me!' Mumbo freaked out as much as NPG wanted to. Cub seemed more relaxed. 

'Hey, Scar! What's up?'

'Grian trapped me on an island...' 

Classic Grian. 

Cub laughed.

'Oh yeah... He told me about that.'

'He told me there was a Jellie cat there... anyway, what brought you to Boatem?'

'A new business venture.' The reply was so prompt it shocked NPG. Was this guy really good at lying... or was he really just a way for them to make money? 

'Scar?' Grian's voice broke through NPG's curiosity. Of course he was here. Of course he was just profit. If Grian was part of this, it couldn't be good. He wanted to punch something, but that would risk destroying the house he was in. It wasn't in his programming to destroy. 

'Oh, Grian! What was going on earlier with the whole you're-not-allowed-in-my-house thing?'

'I... it's been sorted out. Don't worry about it. Now... would you like to do... something?' 

'I've been wanting to play a bit of Leaf Spleef with more people.' Cub offered, ever the calmest of the group.

'Ooh! Sounds fun! Let's go!' 

They flew away. NPG collapsed against the wall, furious and upset. He'd been abandoned again. No one would ever really trust him...

They were his last thoughts as his battery slowly died down. 

'Hey... NPG...' 

Grian's voice woke him. A million thoughts rushed by him. Accusations. Apologies. Begs for mercy. Nothing was right, so he remained silent. 

'I... wanted to tell you what we're doing. What our plan was and...  Cub wanted to me to apologise to you so... I'm sorry.'

Still, silence. Listening. Seeing what Grian would do.

'I'm sorry for creating you, and then for treating you like I did... forcing you to build and then trapping you for ages. You didn't deserve it.'

'You're nothing but a monster. You don't deserve to live like a real player.' A memory of before came back to him. Grian had hit him. Right on the head. 

Then he'd turned mad. 

He'd fought back. 

Insane, he'd been called. A monster. A murderer, even though he'd never killed. A mistake... the word still tolled within him like a warning bell whenever he heard Grian's voice. It rung inside him now. 

'We're turning you into a sort of fortune telling machine. You speak to the hermits that come, and tell them what their future is going to be. Just... make stuff up if you want. Lie. Or just not talk about the future at all.'

'You can't make me do this. You can't beat me down like this again. Make me do what you want for nothing.'

'No, you will get stuff. Promises. I'll... show you...' 

He pushed a piece of paper through a slot in the wall. NPG watched it fall to the ground, before taking it. 

One free rustic house build. 

'So... these hermits... speak to me, and I get to build houses?'

'On an off-shore island. All the rustic houses you could dream of. One for every conversation you have. And... don't speak to them until they give you one. And don't tell them who you are. They can't see you. They don't know that you're me and... I'd like to keep it that way. Do you... accept the deal?' Grian's hand appeared through the hole now. He expected NPG to shake it. Or give him to chance to break all the bones in it. The robot approached tentatively. The two shook hands. Grian broke the contact, and stepped away.

'The... opening... thing... will be later today. Once we've made this place look good, ok?'

'Ok.' 

He could tell Grian was smiling, backing away, ready to fly off with a 'thank you, NPG. This will work out well for everyone.'

It was the next day, and the GCM fortune teller of amazingness was ready to open. A few curious hermits, and the ones the trio had forced into joining, were there. Namely Pearl, Impulse, Scar, Tango, Iskall, Jevin, Bdubs and Zedaph. Grian paced in front of the fully-decorated rustic house. All the others had been removed, as the Boatem members and Cub had done earlier when Pearl was complaining about them. Scar had been pestering his fellow Vexling with questions about what was going on the entire time. Cub had refused to answer honestly, promising that he'd find out in due course. 

'Uhh... welcome to the opening ceremony of the GCM fortune teller of amazingness! Or... GCMFTOA. We're working on the name.' He added hastily. 'All you have to do is pay for a ticket, and give it to our fortune telling friend, and he will tell you all the secrets of the universe.' Inside, his heart beat, mind flashing back to last time. Insane. A monster. He'd created this thing. What if it escaped, what if it killed someone? Another hermit? One of his friends?  

'I like the secrets of the universe!' Called out a certain GoodTimesWithScar, breaking the tension Grian had created. He breathed a sigh of relief. 

'Then... I declare it open!'

Soo... I'm trying to write this again? 

And hopefully I'll be able to... 

Uhh... yeah, that's about it.

Also, rubbish ending! Woo!