[Confirmed hiatus, I guess??] The Fall Into Darkness - HermitCraft fanfic

Chapter 18 - Reflections

POV: Grian
Location: Sahara

"Nurse Leriella?!" I exclaimed.

Stress chuckled and put a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. "Careful, we don't want to tell everyone about our pasts," she joked.

I ran a hand through my hair and let out a surprised laugh. "Well-" I coughed to stop speaking in Galactic. "This is a surprise."

She chuckled again. "Now, we need to make sure Verix gets out of Mumbo. Mumbo may remember this but since it's Verix, we can say it was EX being a weirdo," she continued, turning back to Mumbo.

I nodded. "How do we get him out of Mumbo...?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

She smiled and raised her hands. "Magic," she said with a laugh while wiggling her fingers. I mentally facepalmed and smiled.

"I'm going to need your help though," she said, her smile fading slightly as she looked at Mumbo with determination in her eyes.

"What can I do?" I asked with confusion.

"You were the most powerful student in the Academy, Verix was the second. You're the only one who is able to get him out completely," she said, looking at me with trust in her eyes.

I slowly nodded in understanding. "Okay... I guess let's just get started," I said, looking down at my unconscious friend.

Stress placed her hands just above Mumbo's chest, palms facing down. As she let out a calm breath, purple magic surrounded her hands and his chest. She signaled for me to do the same and I did so, my hands glowing golden.

Through pure instinct, I did what Stress seemed to want and a red glow replaced the purple and golden glow on Mumbo's chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed his eyes glowing red as well.

Stress made the final pull and the glow came out of Mumbo. We withdrew our hands and watched the red glow float over to the spot where I saw Verix before.

The glow took his form and he appeared on the ground a few moments later. He shook his head and sat up, looking dazed. His helmet was on so we couldn't see his reaction as he saw Stress. "Oh. Of course," he said.

She chuckled and looked back at Mumbo.

I headed over to Verix with a disappointed frown on my face. "Verix, I'd appreciate it if you stopped trying to hurt people," I said, crouching down beside him.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I wasn't actually trying to. I wanted to see if I could do it and it seems I managed to choose the complete wrong person for it. Also, Mumbo freaked out because I needed Iskull or whatever his name is to get you over here," he said, crossing his arms.

I chuckled at the variation of Iskall's name and said, "It's Iskall."

He threw his hands up and replied, "Whatever."

I facepalmed and glanced back at Stress, my smile fading. "Will he be okay?" I asked, worry replacing the amusement in my eyes. She didn't look at me as she replied, "He'll be fine provided nobody tries to possess him again." She gave Verix a look that told him she was talking about him.

He didn't seem to react to that but knowing him, I figured he had smirked slightly.

Stress looked back as Iskall and Xisuma ran inside. Xisuma froze as he saw Verix, his eyes wide under his visor.

Verix sighed and looked away.

Stress glanced between the two brothers. "Ah."

Xisuma's gaze grew angry and he stomped toward me and Verix. Stress ran in front of him, saying, "Ah-bah-bah." He glared at her. "He didn't mean to hurt Mumbo," she said, crossing her arms. Xisuma growled quietly and looked away, the anger beginning to fade from his eyes.