Out of Your Control - a Hermitcraft AU

~ Chapter 9 ~

The world seemed to freeze suddenly, and everything glitched, like a mirror shattering. Grian saw the other hermits teleport out of the battle field, before he, too, zapped away.
Everything came back into view as the surviving people were dropped onto an island. Grian stood, taking in his surroundings. They were standing in a meadow, with a forest visible on the horizon and to his right, there was a small lake, with a river that led to the ocean.

Everyone was now standing and in most cases, scowling at each other. Iskall and False were still on guard, both swords at the ready.

"What. The. Hell," Tango said, backing up. His eyes flashed towards his teammates, as though deciding on whether or not to continue the fight.

Grian glanced at Mumbo, who was looking around as well, trying to figure out where they were, hopefully. He tried to walk towards him, before he was stopped with a sword at his throat.

"No one's going anywhere, until we figure what the heck is going on," Beef said, menacingly.

Grian backed up, holding up his hands in surrender, and looked over at Doc. Or where Doc was. "Wait. Where's Doc?" He was just here! He wouldn't walk off without us, would he?

"Crap," Iskall sheathed his sword, and starting to walk away. "Everyone split up, and send up a firework if you find something," he ordered.

Everyone glanced at each other, shuffling their feet indecisively. Nobody trusts anyone.

"Well? We need shelter and food anyways," Iskall carried on, annoyed. "Ugh, just go."

Slowly the hermits dispersed, heading in different directions. Grian ran over to Mumbo and Iskall, both of whom were heading a bit North, towards the other end of the island, with denser forests.
"H-hey guys," Grian said, grabbing their attention. Iskall turned back and looked at him with an unreadable expression, and continued walking. Mumbo turned and faced Grian warily and tried to start a conversation.

"Hey Gri, I'm uh glad that your okay," he said, stammering. Of course, being in a war would leave anyone nervous.

"Me?!" Grian laughed. "You're the one who got kidnapped, leaving behind a hobbit-hole half full of dirt!"

"Oh yeah, I'm still gonna have to deal with that."

They continued to walk, now heading a bit west, following Iskall, who seemed to have seen some sort of structure. Coming closer, Grian saw the house in closer detail. Two stories tall, large balconies, a pool off to the left and a garden extending from the side to the back. Iskall drew out his sword again and opened the door, cautiously.

"Maybe we should tell the others about this," Mumbo offered, taking out a rocket. "You know, before we explore i-"

A different rocket crackling to the east disrupted his sentence. Iskall ran out of the house, motioning Grian and Mumbo to follow. Entering the forest the rocket came from, they ran into Zedaph, Impulse, Tango and Scar, all of whom were as confused as them, but Iskall carried on, almost ditching Grian and Mumbo, and obviously not trusting anyone else.
They continued east, until they came to a small clearing, with a small creek running through it. Standing in the centre of the clearing were Xisuma, Ren and Bdubs, who was silently crying, while X was crouched beside a something in the river. Edging forward, Grian recognized the green tinted skin and the motionless robotic arm- Grian turned away quickly, choking on air. It can't be... 

A hand rested on his shoulder, and he turned around to see Mumbo, shaking slightly. More hermits arrived but Grian barely noticed them, until X called for everyone's attention.

"G-guys," his voice cracked. "I- it's Doc. He's d-dead." He sighed. "I'm just guessing, but it appears that the water electrocuted him, seeing as he's part robot but-."

"You're saying someone murdered him?" Grian turned behind him, to see Zedaph trying to piece it together. "This isn't an accident, but if was, why would he be here in the first place?" he cleared his throat. "He was teleported here and killed. Hmm, X? That's what you're trying to tell us. That there's a murderer among us."

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Mumbo leaned back in the sofa, in front of the fireplace. Iskall led everyone back to the mansion he found, but everyone was even more paranoid, now knowing that there was a killer on the island with them.

Grian walked over, carrying two plates of food and sat down next to Mumbo. He, Grian and Iskall were the only ones downstairs at the moment; everyone else already headed to bed.
"Thanks G," Mumbo said, taking the plate from him, blushing as their hands momentarily touched.
Iskall, who was sitting over in another chair, saw this and looked at Mumbo, trying to not snicker to hard. God, I shouldn't have told him. 

"I'm going to go to bed," Iskall said, finishing up his meal. As he was walking up the stairs, he looked back at Mumbo and mouthed you're welcome. Dammit Iskall...

They sat in silence for the rest of the time they ate, until Grian got up and put away his plate, but to Mumbo's surprise, he came back and sat beside him again, blushing and mumbling something about keeping him company.
Putting his own plate on the side table, Mumbo put his arm around Grian's shoulder. He stiffened at the sudden touch, but slowly leaned against Mumbo, who felt his face heat up. Sooner than expected, Grian was lightly snoring, still leaning on Mumbo. 

He really didn't want to wake him up, but he couldn't leave him here. "Gri, wake up," he said, lightly shaking his shoulder.

"Mmf, nooo, sleeeeep," he slurred, pulling Mumbo back down.

Sighing, Mumbo grabbed a couple of blankets, put one on top of Grian, and sat down beside him, slowly drifting off.

What he didn't see was the shadow watching from the staircase.

'Nother chapter done! Woohoo! ok ima go sleep now

993 words, i take a bow, i take a bow