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Escapism

"You can't escape me, Mumbo"

Mumbo shuffles around attempting to get out of its grasp, with each movement hurting him more and more. He can feel it's sharp nails digging deeper in his waist the more he struggles. It moves Mumbo closer to Its face, Its dark purple eyes staring right into Mumbo's soul, sending shivers down his spine.

"You can't escape me Mumbo. You can't run anymore. You're helpless, dear Mumbo. Helpless." It spoke again, each sentence getting more sinister and distorted. Mumbo still struggles to escape kicking and punching Its hand, his heartbeat quicking and breaths following its rhythm. He can fell himself losing energy and blood in that manner like It's digging its nails deeper into Mumbo's chest and back on purpose.

"P-Please let me go! I didn't do any-anything! Please!" Mumbo shouts with gasps between each word and stutter. It looks at him, amused.

"Oh, I know. That's the fun part. You're innocent ." It spoke, grabbing Mumbo even tighter, stopping him from breathing altogether before dropping him on the ground and watching him gain his breath back. Mumbo's too weak and hurt to even move, all he can do is lay there gaining his breath, surrounded by his own blood, his mind is gone wild, his vision is blurry and dizzy. It keeps staring at the lost Mumbo, just staring intensely, It was smiling finding amusement in the struggling Mumbo.

"Mumbo. Mumbo. Mumbo!"

"Mumbo wake-up!" A soft voice shouted. Mumbo quickly sits up breathing heavily and looks around, his back at his Hobbit-Hole. Another nightmare. Great.

"Mumbo are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" The voice asked. Mumbo looks at where it comes from. It's Grian, he was standing next to his moustache friend's bed then sitting down at the end of the bed, fidgeting with his fingers.

"I'm fine- just-" Mumbo responds in a quiet voice, trying his best to seem calm. He rubs his eyes and looks at Grian, meeting with his worry sick blue eyes. "Yeah ... I just had a weird nightmare. Nothing to worry about." he rubs the back of his neck. The blonde boy sighs and sits back up.

"If something is bothering you, you can tell me- us." Grian explains in a stutter near the end, quickly putting his helmet on to avoid any eye contact.

"Sure thing ... Uhm, why are you here by the way?" Mumbo asks staring at the now awkward red sweater boy. He already had an idea of ​​why Grian would be here.

Grian panics, trying to quickly think of an excuse. "I- uh- wanted to see you- hahaha ..." He stutters, a slight tone of pink growing on his cheeks. He really just wanted to get Mumbo back, or well, work on his minecart message delivery project. "Well! It seems you're doing good- I'll head off-!" Grian explains making his way to the ladder.

Mumbo chuckles and gets out of bed, a sudden feeling of stinging around his waist embraces him and sits back on the bed. Grian notices and rushes back to Mumbo, seeing the marks around his waist. Grian helps Mumbo stand up and balance on his feet. The shirtless man turns to face Grian to thank him, only meeting a concerned face staring at his chest. He looks down and notices the marks around his waist, they have gotten worse than last night. Mumbo looks back up at Grian then at his white shirt hanging at the end of the bed and quickly put it on and buttons it up. Mumbo coughs trying to regain Grian's attention away from his waist, his face light up pink from embarrassment.

"Mumbo. What happened." Grian asked, or more like commanded. His face is a mix of worry and stern. Mumbo did not like that view and looked away thinking of a way to explain. Not like he could, he doesn't know what happened, how he got these marks. "Mumbo." Grian said again, more aggressively. Mumbo has no choice but to explain.

"I -... It's nothing bad. Yesterday I when into the desert biome and I tripped inside a hole and maybe, maybe not hit fell onto a cactus; and on the way back to the base, I got tangled up into the vines .. "Mumbo explained himself, hoping he sounded believable. Grian stares deep into Mumbo's eyes, making his skin crawl. Grian puts on a sympathetic and calm smile, making Mumbo feel less scared.

"Be more careful next time, clumsy." the blonde boy suggested in a joky tone.

"Will do." Mumbo laughs and sighs in relief. He puts his tie on and jacket before walking Grian outside. They both wave at each other and Grian takes off.

Mumbo watched the small red boy walk further and further away with a smile on his face, he's glad Grian gave him a visit, even if it could've been to prank him. He walks back inside and puts on his armour and takes his tools, ready for another day of work. Today he promised himself he will finish the iron farm and maybe start on something else, maybe his megabase. The moustache man makes his way back outside and stares at his window, still has Grian's face on it, at this point he thought he'll just leave it there, didn't do much of a disaster.

Grian gets to his base and starts looking for more materials to decorate and dig the tunnel to Mumbo's base. He couldn't shake off the vision of Mumbo shirtless body full of scars and stab wounds. "Fell into a cactus, sure" Grian scuffed. He didn't believe Mumbo's excuse one bit. He was rather annoyed and upset that he lied to him, why lie about something that left marks on you? Especially that severe looking. The worried boy carried on with his project, digging all the way to Mumbo's Nether portal, trying to dig the image out of his head. He starts feeling guilty for not believing him but how can he? Having a nightmare, getting marks, and hesitating to answer. "Grian just stop thinking about it. He said it's nothing to worry about. Maybe he told the truth. It's fine."

Grian leaves the tunnel and takes off his armour and puts his items in a chest. He will just, relax. Maybe talk to his wizard neighbour Scar, stealing his wheat in secret as well. Anything to calm his mind.