Xisuma shut the chest, glancing at his comm. A message from Etho stared back at him. He skimmed it, not really paying attention.

<Etho> my elytra is broken I need you to go to mumbo's base right now it's an emergency

Xisuma blinked and reread the message, his eyes widening.

<Xisuma> What happened?

Etho responded instantly.

<Etho> tommy

Xisuma spun, reaching for the bag holding his elytra and grabbed it, tripping over his feet in the process. An emergency was bad enough, but an emergency involving Tommy could be disastrous. Xisuma didn't know the boy too well- he seemed to be scared of the admin for some odd reason- but Xisuma didn't trust him. It looked like someone had tried to kill him, and Xisuma did not want that person to somehow follow the kid to Hermitcraft.

Xisuma jumped out of his base, preparing for the worst.

~

Xisuma burst into the basement, his eyes widening at the sight of the bloody ground and Tommy's shaking body.

What the hell happened?

"Tommy?" Xisuma asked, a thousand different scenarios running through his head. "Tommy, what happened?"

Xisuma heard a sob come from the boy, and Tommy raised his head. Tear streaks broke up his pale skin, the skin that was littered with way too many scars for someone so young.

"How many lives?" Tommy choked out, his voice thick with emotion. "How many?"

"What?" Xisuma asked. Lives? What did he mean by lives?

"DID I KILL HIM?" Tommy gasped. He sat up, his eyes wild.

Xisuma took a step back, glancing at the crimson-stained sword lying on the ground and the shining blade a few feet away.

"What do you mean by kill?" Xisuma hardened his voice. An idea of what had happened was starting to form, and Xisuma prayed he was wrong. "Tommy, where is Mumbo?"

Tommy froze, shutting his eyes tightly. Xisuma wasn't sure he was even breathing.

"Tommy?" He repeated, raising his voice. "Where is Mumbo?"

"I just want to know," Tommy shuddered, "If he's gone."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Xisuma half-shouted, squatting to the boy's level. That was a lie. Xisuma had a feeling he already knew what had happened. He just didn't want to believe it.

"I killed him, Xisuma." Xisuma started. He hadn't thought Tommy knew his name. "I killed him, and I don't want to lose him like I lost everyone else." Tommy took a deep breath, wiping in vain at the tears still running down his cheeks. "Is he going to respawn, or did I take his third life?"

Xisuma paused, standing back up. "You killed him?" Venom filled his voice. "Of course he's going to respawn, but why would you fucking kill him?" Tommy was silent, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Killing isn't something we take lightly around here. If you didn't know, dying is incredibly painful-" Xisuma gestured wildly to the blood covering the grass, "especially when the way you were killed leaves something like this!"

" I fucking know how painful dying is! " Tommy snapped, shooting to his feet. He was nearly as tall as Xisuma. "I know better than you ever will."

"Then why did you kill Mumbo? He saved your life! And this is how you repay him?"

"You know, maybe I didn't want to be saved."

Tommy put on his elytra while Xisuma stood, speechless. "Tommy, I-"

"Everyone would be better off if I was dead, Xisuma. It's not like I haven't died before. Just this time, I wouldn't be in pain anymore. And- and if I had just died, you wouldn't have to deal with me. I know how annoying I am. And if Mumbo hadn't saved me, I wouldn't have killed him." Tommy gave a small laugh. "What better reason is there?"

Xisuma swallowed, understanding the gravity of the situation. "Tommy, what are you doing?"

Tommy grimaced. "What I should have done in exile." He pulled out a rocket and took off out of Mumbo's base.

Fear filled Xisuma's chest, and he jumped and flew after him. He spammed his rockets, trying to catch up to the runaway teen. No matter his previous feelings, he would not let Tommy die.

~

Tommy swerved through the jungle trees, trying to shake Xisuma's trail. He wasn't experienced in flying like the admin (he internally shuddered at the title), and he was quickly being gained on. Tommy sped up, narrowly missing a branch as he flew up out of the canopy. He scanned the horizon, searching for somewhere he could escape to. Xisuma crashed out of the leaves behind him, his larger frame unable to fit through the gap Tommy had used.

Tommy took his chance and dove back down while Xisuma had his vision obscured. He crashed to the ground and scrambled for cover under a bush. He listened, holding his breath, as he heard Xisuma rush through the trees. He silently grinned as the noise faded into the distance. He hadn't had a chase like that since Pogtopia.

Then Tommy remembered what he was about to do. His smile faded, and he pushed off the greenery and scanned the jungle. He heard the faint sound of his name being called, but he ignored it. It's not like Xisuma wanted to help him.

There was a clearing off to his right, and he headed there, his shulker box of cobblestone already in his hand.

The tower was built quickly, much easier to make than his usual 5 by 5 structures. Tommy frowned, realizing he would never make another. Still, he took off his wing-backpack and stared at the ground.

He shivered in the wind. It was alarmingly similar to exile, just no water. No way down.

For added emphasis, he let his elytra (was there any point of keeping up the nickname?) fall over the edge and watched it drift to the ground. There really was no turning back now.

He sat down on the edge, trying to work up the nerve to jump. This is what it was like last time, except for Xisuma still calling his name in the background. It was getting louder, actually. Tommy glanced over. A red blur was coming towards him, still far away but getting closer by the second. Xisuma had seen him.

In a brief moment of panic, Tommy pushed all his hesitations aside and let himself fall.

A green blur. Then pain. Then black.

Then his bed at "L'Manburg."

What?

Tommy sat up and cringed at the pain of a respawn. It hurt like hell.

Why wasn't he dead?

He was on his last life.

Why wasn't he dead?

Tommy stood up and grabbed his spare elytra, using some rockets to fly up to the clouds. He let himself fall.

And woke up in his bed.

What was happening?

He sat for a moment, grimacing from the pain. Xisuma had acted like it was obvious Mumbo wasn't fully dead. Could people not die here? Would they just respawn over and over? Tommy's eyes widened. He really hadn't killed Mumbo. But that meant Mumbo would hate him.

Grabbing his elytra off the grassy floor where it had landed when he died, Tommy took to the air. If he couldn't die, he would go where no one could find him.

~

Xisuma stared in horror at Tommy's pile of things on the ground where he fell. He had done it.

And Xisuma was too late.

He quickly messaged Etho:

<Xisuma> Where is Tommy's base?

<Etho> Near Stress's

Xisuma quickly flew there and found it within a few minutes. Tommy was nowhere to be seen. His bed, though, was still warm from a respawn, so he had to be close.

Xisuma flew up to the sky, scanning the surrounding land. Nothing. He flew around, searching the trees. Minutes turned into hours, and still, there was no sign of the boy.

Finally giving in, he pulled out his comm and typed out a quick message:

<Xisuma> Tommy is missing.

~

Mumbo landed on a tree on his way home, staring at the message on his comm, and his heart sank. Knowing the state Tommy was in, if he was missing, that was a bad sign. And even worse, Mumbo knew that if Tommy didn't want to be found, looking for him would not be an easy feat.