Mumbo swung his paw towards Grian, but it froze hovering above him, Grian still crying.

Mumbo slowly pulled his paw back and stumbled backwards, eyes defocusing and refocusing, becoming unslitted and reslitted. He shook his head a couple of times, stumbling back some more, blinking before stopping and looking around the room a bit confused. "Wh-wha?" He uttered, dazed before gasping as he saw Doc fighting with Iskall, jumping back slightly. "What?"

Grian heard Mumbo's crackly voice and barely peeked up. "M-Mumo?" He whispered.

Mumbo whipped around making Grian quickly ball up again. Mumbo gasped and came over, realizing it was Grian. "Gr-Gri?" He choked out.

Grian stayed still, refusing to trust that his friend was really back.

Mumbo leaned forward slightly. "Gri?" He tried again as he moved forward, only to be surprised by Grian looking up unexpectedly.

Mumbo gasped in surprise and swung his paw at him causing Grian to give a sharp cry of pain and cower away from Mumbo quickly, shaking.

Mumbo realized what he did and quickly came over. "Oh! Gri-an!" He coughed, his throat sore.

Grian flinched and balled up crying. "St-stay away!" He cried, fearful.

Mumbo's eyes softened as he carefully padded forward. "Gri-an. I'm sorry..." He tried.

Grian didn't move.

"You st-artled me. I'm sorry." He tried. He coughed again, hating the roughness in his throat. He cleared his throat once more before sighing and stepped forward. "Gri-an, please. I'm-"

"You're not Mumo..."

Mumbo stopped. "Wh-What?"

"He's using you to trick me... trying to make me feel safe when I'm not." Grian said, trying hard to speak despite the muzzle. It didn't help that he refused to unbury his face.

"Grian... It is me! Look at me!"

"You're lying!" He hissed through his sobs.

Mumbo stepped back a bit before looking down, upset that Grian didn't believe him and that he hurt him. "I'm such a Spoon..." He uttered quietly but loud enough to make Grian's ear twitch slightly.

As he stared at the ground, he noticed something. He leaned towards the ground before realizing.

Blood. From the look of it, Grian's.

Mumbo looked back up at Grian. "Grian. You're hurt."

Grian didn't reply.

Mumbo didn't want to force himself over to him so he sighed and sat down again, just staring down. "Please, Gri. I just want to help you."

He closed his eyes, not noticing Grian looking up at him from his ball.

Mumbo laid there, listening to the others tussle and fight and slowly kind of start snapping out of it from the sounds of Ren begging for mercy from False who had pinned him in their tussle.

But he didn't look up until, "M-Mumo?" A quiet whisper close to him reached his ears.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up, meeting the scared and unsure eyes of Grian.

Mumbo saw the dwindling hope in his friends eyes a split second before realizing he was muzzled and noticing the blood starting to trickle down his face and stain his fur on his right cheek, near his eye, thankfully missing it. 

Mumbo gasped, making Grian flinch so Mumbo quickly stopped.

Grian slowly relaxed and stared at him.

Mumbo's eyes softened and gave him a small smile.

Grian recognized the look in his eyes and tears filled his own as he lunged forward into Mumbo's fluffy chest and sobbed through the muzzle, sinking against him.

Mumbo watched his friend sadly before noticing his hind leg bleeding. He frowned deeply but hushed his friend. "Shh... Grian, it's alright. I'm here now. You're safe..." Mumbo glanced at the other discombobulated Hermits "waking up". "We all are to an extent now." Mumbo reassured him, trying to calm the others sobs.

He noticed the others slowly gathering around him, asking each other questions but focused on Grian.

Grian slowly stopped sobbing and was just sniffling as he curled up against Mumbo.

The others quickly noticed him when he moved but stayed quiet, realizing he was terrified.

Mumbo waited before gently nudging Grian. "The others are here too now."

Grian slowly opened his eyes and looked at them all watching him with worry and concern. He slightly flinched under their gazes but knew they now meant no harm.

Cleo walked over. "Guys? Where's Joe?" She asked after a moment.

The others looked confused before Joe spoke up from above them. "Up here!" He flew down and landed on the fence post. "I was trying to stay outta y'alls way sense you seemed so keen on fighting each other."

"What?" Stress asked. "I don't remember that... I... I don't remember much actually."

Most of the others agreed along with Mumbo.

Joe looked at them. "Well, I guess I'm the only one who can tell what happened then. After Evil X-i-suma left the room, we all heard a hissing noise. We weren't sure what it was so we all focused on coming up with a plan. One argument led to another and y'all kind of just... lost it." He replied. "It was like watching a bunch of savage animals." The others flinched at that.

Mumbo listened intently with Grian resting against him.

"Maybe hours, maybe a day or two, I don't really know, later, Evil 'Suma came back and he had Grian here with him. None of y'all really seemed to notice or care other than wanting to attack them."

The others glanced at each other.

"He put Grian down and tied him, like he currently is, to this here fence post. He left again, shutting the door behind him. Not much later, doors to cages started opening and y'all went absolutely ham. Doc, ren and false went for Grian but ended up fighting each other except Doc went back for Grian. I flew up and watched from a safer spot when Mumbo came out and fought off Doc."

Doc's ears laid back. "Grian... I'm so sorry-"

Grian gave a weak nod. "I know. You weren't yourself."

Doc gave a small nod in return, tail still low.

Grian suddenly looked up at Mumbo, confused. "Mumo?"

Mumbo didn't reply, his eyes were closed and he was shaking. "He knew..." He muttered.

Grian frowned a little.

"Mumbo, we can't understand-"

"He. Knew." Mumbo stated firmer, looking up angry. "He KNEW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!" He snapped.

Grian flinched, confused and frightened.

Doc frowned confused before following Mumbo's glare to the fence post. "Knew wh- Oh." He stared at it before glancing down at the startled Grian. "Oh. He... he knew..." He agreed.

Mumbo was trying not to just blow it and calm down some cause he didn't want to scare Grian.

"Know what?" Iskall asked.

Doc turned to the others, voice low and dark now. "He knew what would happen. He knew full well that we weren't ourselves. He knew. But he still brought Grian in here. Not only that. But tied him up and left him here. He even... " Doc took a breath. "He even muzzled him so he couldn't defend himself or scream."

The others eyes widened, realizing.

"Oh my gosh." Iskall muttered. "He let us out..."

Doc nodded. "Knowing Grian would be a target. Knowing he was defenseless and already injured..." He glanced away. "Expecting us to... to kill him..."

Grian watched, tears forming in his eyes again.

Cleo looked down in thought. "And each other."

Doc nodded again. "Exactly."

Mumbo was still shaking but was snapped out of his thoughts by Grian gently tapping him. He looked down at him confused. "Gri?"

"Someone else is here."

The others stared at him. "What?"

"I tried to bring help..." Grian was breathing deeply trying to focus on what he was saying despite it hurting to. "But we were captured."

"Who-?"

"Poultry man."

(Thank you guys so much for all these votes and comments! I'm so glad you're enjoying this story! If everything goes according to plan the story should be entering the climax/falling action part now. So the end is getting closer! Also, hope this made up for last chapter, at least a little. ;) )