SamGladiator has joined the game

Grian stared at the message in confusion and shock, immediately scrambling back to the stairs where he jumped up almost four stairs at a time, breathing heavily, desperate for any sort of reassurance. He almost fell flat on his face as he got back to the surface, the sudden exposure to the sun almost blinding him. The incident had sent Grian into a panicked frenzy, sweating and gasping for air as he darted around Boatem, aiming to reach his friends. His muscles ached and he flapped his wings in some pitiful attempt to speed himself up. Tears flooded his vision, threatening to fall down his cheeks as he finally reached the Boatem Pole. He almost crashed into Mumbo, who yelped slightly at the sudden contact but quickly regained his composure as Grian grabbed his sleeve to drag him away from his other friends.
"Whoa! Grian? What-what's wrong?" Mumbo asked, seeing the tears in his friends eyes and his overall dishevelled state. Grian didn't get like this often, and Mumbo knew he couldn't pull this type of acting for just a prank. Grian was genuinely petrified.
A few tears slipped down Grian's cheeks as he turned to face Mumbo, deciding that they were far enough away so that no one else could hear their conversation. He held Mumbo firmly by the shoulders, desperate for any kind of comforting contact from someone he knew cared for him.
"I-it's Sam! H-he's back! I-i got the notification. H-he's in Hermitcraft!" Grian replied, holding Mumbo firmly by the shoulders.
"Grian, just... Take some breaths first, yeah?" Mumbo crouched down to reach Grian's height, holding his hands out for the avian to hold instead of his shoulders so he felt a little safer. The shorter Hermit let go of the taller's shoulders, surprised at how tight he was gripping them, and placed his hands on Mumbo's, feeling a sense of comfort and warmth. Mumbo gently squeezed Grian's hands with reassurance, causing him to look up at the redstoner's face.
"Do you feel a bit better now?" Mumbo asked softly, not daring to let go of Grian yet.
"Yeah... thank you, Mumbo." Grian smiled, reminding himself that no matter what happened, he'd always have his friends.
"So, let's start from the beginning. What happened, G?" Mumbo questioned considerately, watching Grian frown a tiny bit, his smile faltering.
"When I was trading for the wood to make the boats I got a notification on the main server chat. It said..." Grian stopped explaining to compose himself before continuing,"It said 'SamGladiator has joined the game'. I kind of freaked out a bit and ran over here to you."
"I'm not saying I don't believe you, Grian but... If it was in the main chat, wouldn't I have all seen it? The others too, they wouldn't have missed something as important as that." Mumbo explained gently to Grian his reasoning.
"Could you please check it, for me?" Grian felt embarrassed asking his best friend to do so much for him but Mumbo laughed a little before pulling up his wrist to show Grian the communicator. He pressed the icon which said 'General Chat' and showed Grian the screen, refreshing it to prove that what the avian had seen was all in his head.
"See, Grian, there's nothing there. Listen... I know you haven't had an easy past and you always tell me that you're over it but... Sometimes, G, it's okay to admit that you're not as okay as you believe you are. I think you're being haunted by those things that happened..." Mumbo stopped himself speaking any more, wanting to give Grian a chance to explain what he thought and how he felt about this.
"Mumbo, I know I'm probably not as okay as I pretend to be most of the time but... I know what I saw... And I'm scared, Mumbo. I don't think any amount of reassurance could convince me that the message was just in my head..." Grian explained, feeling some tears fall down his face.
Suddenly, Mumbo pulled Grian into a huge hug in an attempt to comfort the very disturbed Hermit. Grian instantly snapped, letting out a slight whimper as he began to cry into Mumbo's shoulder, not even caring anymore that he was being so incredibly vulnerable. He needed to cry. He needed this release of pent up emotion.
"H-hey, G..." The familiar voice of Scar made Grian lift his head, seeing the others crowded around him with concern.
Grian didn't respond verbally but gave Scar a slight nod to let him know he was listening to what he had to say.
"We're... We're not going to question whatever happened because we already know that it's probably bad but... If you ever want to talk to us about it, we won't mind how upset you are or how much you cry. We just want you to feel better." Pearl continued talking for Scar who seemed to be trying hard not to cry himself. He almost always began crying whenever his friends did so this absolutely broke him.
"Thank you but... I'll be okay I think." Grian forced a smile onto his face for Scar who smiled back through his tears.
"Are you good enough to start fixing the Boatem Pole again?" Impulse asked, hoping to be able to start the job they'd been setting up for the past three quarters of an hour.
"I think I'll sit this one out... You guys go ahead though." Grian pulled the boats out of his pockets and handed them to Impulse who smiled sympathetically at the avian.

Grian felt completely exhausted as he fell onto his bed. It had taken Mumbo at least five minutes to let him go after being convinced that Grian would be okay for a while. He decided to retreat back to his house where he spent a while just looking through his communicator's chats, checking hundreds of times for anything that he had missed. Maybe he was just paranoid or maybe his PTSD was progressively getting worse? Who knows.
The communicator buzzed again, startling Grian out of his thoughts. It was Xisuma DMing him. The communicator's messaging system was coincidentally a lot like texting and worked in the same way. It even had a call and video call feature, but Grian preferred to type things out anyway.

Xisuma

Hey, Grian where are you?

Don't forget that you agreed to help me around my base today

X I am so sorry!!!

I was busy in Boatem so I forgot that we made plans today

I'll be there asap :)

He had made a deal about a week ago with Xisuma to help him with a build, after accidentally blowing up one of his houses with a creeper.
After typing a fast reply Grian practically sprung up from his bed, and darted towards his front door which he didn't even bother to close behind him. Grian immediately jumped up into the air and flapped his wings, knowing that he was already very late. As he flew over Boatem, he patted his pockets, checking for a few diamonds. He felt the smooth surface of the gems in his trouser pocket and decided that he would make up for his tardiness by giving Xisuma a couple diamonds.
Grian checked his communicator again as he got closer to X's base. X hadn't replied to his messages, but he'd probably seen them. Grian dived down as the various buildings came into view. He dove down near where X stood sorting through shulkers. Suddenly, a slight breeze caught the avian off guard, causing him to trip slightly as he touched down, stumbling slightly and falling onto the shulker boxes with a slight yelp.
"Grian! Are you okay?" X asked politely, chuckling slightly as he held out a hand to pull Grian up.The avian took the gloved hand with an embarrassed smirk.
"Yep I'm fine. At least I didn't land on you, right?" Grian laughed a little as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he regained his balance beside the taller man.
Xisuma looked at Grian, carefully examining him.
"Grian...?" Xisuma began carefully, unsure of how to phrase his next question.
"Yeah? What is it?" He looked up at the admin, brushing some leaves off of his red jumper.
"Have... Have you been crying recently? Your eyes are a bit red..." Xisuma looked incredibly concerned, and Grian could sense his worry even through the helmet.
Grian nodded hesitantly before smiling and saying, "It's alright though. I feel better now."
"Did you get any help? Was anyone there?" Xisuma started questioning, obviously still worried.
"Yeah. Mumbo, Scar, Pearl and Impulse were there... They helped." Grian explained, wanting to change the topic but unsure of how to do so.
"Do you still want to talk about it? Or is there anything I could do. You know, we don't have to do any building if you don't want to-" Xisuma started before being interrupt by Grian.
"No, no. I promise I feel better. In fact, I think some building will help. It usually takes my mind off of things, you know?" Grian was smiling now, trying to prove that he really was okay.
"You sure? You honestly don't have to. I know you don't cry easily... Not in front of others at least. So I don't mind if you'd rather sit it out today." Xisuma was almost insisting that Grian take some time to himself but the shorter man just frowned at him and shook his head.
"X, I'm seriously okay. I know you have a tendency to worry too much but I'm really okay! Honestly." Grian attempted once more to convince X.
The admin sighed deeply, before resuming his regular expression, smiling warmly at Grian.
"If you're really sure...Come on, I'll show you to where we'll be building today." X finally said as Grian picked up some shulker boxes.

Xisuma led the avian to a half blown-up building that had obviously been victim to a creeper at some point. Grian set down the heavy box with a sigh, looking up at the tall house.
"Oh I almost forgot! I have some diamonds for you to make up for the fact that I was late." Grian smiled at the tall man who stared at him with confusion. The winged hermit pulled out about five of the shiny gemstones, holding them out, expecting Xisuma to take them.
"No, Grian. I'm not taking them. I know that you were busy. It's not your fault." Xisuma sighed, flashing a smile at the smaller man.
"If you're really sure." Grian put the stones back in his pocket, definitely not upset that he didn't have to give away his precious diamonds.
"Come on then, I think we've already wasted enough time chatting." Xisuma began to open up all the boxes, shifting through all the blocks.
Grian nodded, doing the same and pulling out stacks of deepslate varieties.

-{~•°•~}-

By the time Grian had finished with a wall and completely detailed it, he had almost entirely forgotten about the 'Sam incident'. While X had been working on the inside and instructing Grian from the ground, the avian had been working on the walls and roof, making use of his wings. They had already been working on the tall building for hours and were still far from done but the sun was beginning to set. They had both begun to get a little tired, though Grian would probably never admit it.
"Hey, Grian? I'm going to take a break. Feel free to come inside, if you'd like." Xisuma shouted from the door that he'd just placed. Grian looked down from on top of the roof and gave the taller man a thumbs up.
"I'll just keep working for now. Thanks for the offer though." Grian replied, smiling at the masked Hermit. Xisuma gave Grian a worried look before brushing it off and walking away to his house, presumably for some tea or a warm drink.

Grian continued building for a few minutes before noticing how cloudy it was. The moon was barely visible in the thick, winter fog. He checked the time- 20:43. He really didn't expect the night to roll in this fast.
Nevertheless, he put his thoughts to the side and pulled out another shulker box of stone and stone variants. He heard a crow squawk which startled him, and as he turned, he saw a white and blue blur beside the tree on the ground. As he turned to look at the white blur again, he saw him. Sam.
Though, it was difficult to see and he could only just make out the face of the bunny man in the mist.
Sam (or what Grian supposed was Sam) giggled and turned, running the fog, further and further away from the clueless avian. The winged Hermit  took a step back, stumbling and falling off of the roof with a crash. He struggled to his feet before panicking and deciding to run towards Sam. He didn't bother dusting himself off he just jumped up and began sprinting into the fog. Grian couldn't see anything. All he could see was fog, and the damp mud beneath his feet. Grian tripped over a stone, injuring his foot, unable to stand back up. Instead of attempting to stand, he stayed on the floor, his foot hurting too much. He heard another giggle. Just as he thought he saw Sam, another giggle came, from a different direction, this time. He kept turning his head, various flashes of white appearing and then disappearing into the fog again. Grian got overwhelmed, tears forming in his eyes as his fears became reality. The avian pulled his legs up to his chest and put his head into his hands in attempt to protect himself.

"GRIAN?!" He heard Xisuma shout from behind.
"I- I'm over here..." Grian shouted back, his voice wavering as tears clouded his vision. He lifted his head up from his arms, looking around for the helmeted man.
"Grian! Thank god I found you! The fog is really thick tonight...Are you alright...?" Xisuma said, making his way over to his friend and noticing his panicked expression.
"I... I tripped over a rock..." Grian responded, not prepared to give Xisuma the full story. X crouched down and pulled Grian's arm over his shoulder, pulling him up so they were stood.
"Can we go back to mine and make sure you're okay?" Xisuma insisted.
"Okay, I guess anywhere is better than out here..." Grian looked around again, seeing an owl in the trees.

They made their way inside, Grian still holding onto X for support and a feeling of safety.
"Thanks X... I think I'll be okay enough to fly home." Grian said, standing carefully on his foot.
"You can stay here for the night of you'd like? I have a spare room that you can use and-" Xisuma started speaking but was quick to be cut off by Grian.
"No. I'll be okay. Thank you though. See you soon." Grian waved as he jumped into the air, flapping his wings, ready to make the journey home.