Ren panicked.

As soon as Scar alerted them, he grabbed his elytra and dove off, trying to catch Grian.

But he could only go so fast with the rockets, and as soon as the Void started tugging on him, he was forced to bail.

_____________________

Grian felt frozen as he plummeted.

His wings were no use, one still sore from rescuing Xisuma, the other with a gaping hole that throbbed mercilessly. He had no elytra or rockets on him, no golden apples, nothing.

But he didn't want to accept his fate. Not yet.

But what could he do? No spell he knew could get him out of this.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds, trying to pinpoint anything. He could hear shouts from his friends above, and some rockets.

Someone had tried to dive down to get him, but they had to abort quickly. Grian was far too gone.

And yet, the fall seemed to last forever. When would the void begin to-

A sharp spike of pain shot up his spine.

Ah. There it was.

Grian wrapped his wings around himself as the void tore through him, taking his health down quickly and silently.

Then, like a light switch, something changed in him.

His eyes snapped open, the Void around him seeming to tense a little. For a moment, he thought he heard someone speak in his head, but it sounded muffled.

A few seconds later, he heard the voice again, clearer.

"I got you Gri."

And then he wasn't falling anymore.

He wasn't floating either.

He was lying down, on a cold surface, and two figures were standing above him.

"Did it work? Did we fool the system?"

That was the same person who had spoken to him a few seconds ago. They sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite pinpoint who.

The second figure spoke, with a relieved sigh.

"We did it. Tab's been disabled, gamemode switched with the notification successfully. The Void wasn't very merciful, so I'm going to take some extra precautions. Grian, I'm really sorry about this."

Grian let out a short gasp as pain coursed through him again.

And then nothing.

___________________________

After Ren scrambled back up onto the endstone island, the Hermits sat there in silence, waiting and wishing that the inevitable wouldn't come.

And after a full minute, hope began to ripple through.

Perhaps Grian somehow survived?

Mumbo exchanged a glance with Scar. Was it even possible?

He must've survi-

"no." It was barely a whisper, coming from Xisuma as he glanced at his communicator. "no. nonononono. please..."

And then Mumbo's own dinged, despair coursing through him as he opened the message.

-

Grian fell out of the world