Monster //Hermitcraft\\

6

Mumbo drank and drank, until he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. The blood began to run thin.

"The only other time this happened was with the old man-" Mumbo thought to himself, and slowly, he realized what that meant. He pulled away from Grian and watched as his body slumped against the wall. His face looked up at Mumbo's in peaceful acceptance, and Mumbo's thoughts began to race. He could see his color fading, and in a desperate attempt to save him, Mumbo did the only thing he could think to do. He slashed opened his arm and brought it up to Grian's mouth.

"Come on, drink!" He commanded, and finally, just as his eyes began to close, he felt Grian swallow weakly. "Alright, now I'm going to pick you up, and we're going to go home." Mumbo coaxed, but got no response from the man now cradled limply in his arms. He carried him the whole way to Hermitcraft, before finally landing in his base. He ran to his bed, gently laying Grian down and looked at his blood covered friend in tears.

"This is all my fault, Grian I'm so sorry!" He was weeping when he heard a voice call out through his base.

"Mumbo? Grian?" Mumbo recognized the metallic ring of the voice and spun, suddenly making eye contact with Xisuma. X saw Mumbo's blood covered arm, but quickly looked past him at Grian.

"Oh my god! What happened?!" X ran toward the bed, but Mumbo stopped him.

"X what are you doing here?!" He asked frantically, and Xisuma, without taking his eyes off of Grian, replied.

"Grian was acting weird, so when he said he knew where you were, I came here to wait and see if everything was ok."

"Look, you need to leave!" Mumbo commanded.

"He's hurt Mumbo, what happened?!" He tried, and Mumbo shoved him away.

"It's too hard to explain! Please, just leave!" Mumbo pleaded, and X shook his head.

"I don't care how hard, explain it to me! I only want to help." X looked at him sincerely, and Mumbo drooped his head and stepped out of his way. X ran to the bed and took Grian's pulse. There was a sickly silent moment of anticipation before X pulled his hand away from Grian's wrist slowly. He gulped in realization and looked back at Mumbo. "Mumbo, please." He started to tear up. "What happened?" The soft tone of Xisuma's voice was what broke him. Tears flooded down Mumbo's face as he fell to his knees.

"I promised myself I wouldn't hurt anyone." X met him on the ground and grabbed his hands, pulling his attention from the ground to him.

"Y-you did this?" He asked hesitantly, still trying to keep his voice steady and calm.

"I didn't mean to. I took too much. I got greedy." He explained, leaving X in more confusion.

"Mumbo, please. I don't know what you're talking about. You have to tell me everything that happened." He replied, and Mumbo nodded slowly. There, on the ground, Mumbo retold the same explanation he had told Grian. X nodded along slowly, not disbelieving Mumbo, but a bit taken aback.

"And so I ran. Back to the city... that's where he found me... where I..." He trailed off, his tears returning, and Xisuma placed a hand carefully onto Mumbo's shoulder.

"It's ok. You're doing great. Then what?" He prodded cautiously, and Mumbo shrugged his hand off.

"It's not ok! I killed him! I drank too much and I killed him!" He yelled, and X backed off slightly.

"You didn't mean to. He knows that." The room went quiet for a moment as Mumbo calmed himself down. "So what next, you brought him back here?"

"No I... " Mumbo looked down at his arm, still ripped open, and processed what he had done. "Oh god, I turned him." Mumbo stated, and X sat up slightly.

"Wait, that's good! He's still alive!" X smiled, but Mumbo shot up from the floor.

"No, he's not! He never will be again! I killed him!" He shouted, pacing back and forth. "Oh god, what have I done?" X stood to meet him and gently grabbed one of Mumbo's hands, stopping his momentum.

"Hey hey hey," He started softly, "You saved his life."

"I'm the one who endangered it in the first place!" Mumbo retorted, and X sighed.

"True, but even so, you still saved him." X tried, but Mumbo ripped his hand out of Xisuma's.

"I made him a monster." He walked out of the room and into his garden. X tried to follow, but Mumbo turned to look at him.

"Just watch over Grian. He'll wake up any minute now, and I want the first thing he sees when he wakes up to be a friendly face." He said softly, and Xisuma tried to retort.

"But-"

"Please, X. I need to be alone right now. Come get me when he wakes up." He pleaded, and X nodded in defeat. He sauntered out of the room, and Mumbo looked at one of the flowers in his garden. It was discolored and withered, drooping sadly among the vibrant, blooming flowers surrounding it.

Wha? Symbolism? In a RexCorvus story? It's more likely than you think. Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you have a good day/night, and you are loved.