<Word count: 5380 (hopefully it's all good!) Song is Killer inside of me by Willyecho. I kinda derailed from the original idea at the end, but I still like this! So enjoy!>

Ren, Impulse and Grian speed walked through their tunnels, map opened to make sure they followed the correct route. Impulse led the way, since he was the one with the map, trusting that the other two told him if anything appeared.

"You know, we should probably double Cub's payment, this thing is really useful." Said Impulse, gold eyes focused on the map.

"Wait, we're paying him?" Asked Ren, confused eyes turning to Grian.

The dirty blond laughed, "That's what he thinks. But we're not."

Impulse stopped to look at him. "We're not? But I saw you give him some diamonds a few days ago?"

"They're fake, I'm actually surprised he didn't notice." Smirked Grian, sharp teeth glinting on the torch light.

His two companions laughed with him. I mean who wouldn't? They tricked one of the Hermits who was surrounded by diamonds, with fake diamonds!

[Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

"We're here." Called Impulse after a few more minutes of walking. They had arrived at a seemingly inconspicuous wall, but they knew exactly what was behind it.

Grian walked up with a wicked grin on his face. In his hands he held a big block of TNT, it wasn't that much bigger than most TNT blocks but you could see that it was bigger. He placed it against the wall and took a step back, letting Impulse step forward. The dragon hybrid did so with a smirk, he then bent down to blow a small spark of fire onto the explosive. It ignited and blew a hole from the tunnel into Area 77.

"Think they heard us?" Asked Ren, eyes scanning the white floor below.

An alarm sounded from above ground, loud and deafening.

Grian smirked at the sound, "Yeah. They mostly definitely did."

[Think you're a God

Yeah, but tonight]

The sound of pounding footsteps echoed from down the hall, two people who were both frantically trying to get to them as fast as possible.

"Ok, split up and look for what we came for. Send three messages in quick succession if you find it!" Commanded Grian, already rushing down a hallway to the left.

The other two rushed into different directions themselves, Impulse flying up to the ceiling and doing the best to blend into the shadows. He watched as Doc and Scar rushed in and looked up at the hole into the tunnel. They quickly and quietly talked to each other before running out again. Once he was sure they had left he started crawling along the ceiling in the direction they originally came from slowly, thank god he didn't have sandals with his hippie outfit or this would have been much harder.

[Let's see if you bleed like one

You call the shots, but that's all you got]

Doc ran around Area 77, trident in hand. He doesn't know where the hell those hippies were, but he does know that they're here.

He heard a sound coming from where Villager Grian was being held, so he rushed over. But when he got there nothing was there. Villager Grian was still in his usual place and nothing seemed to have been broken into. Just to be sure he opened the villagers containment cell and walked in, just there to have a quick look. There was nothing around the little house, and there was nothing in the house.

The creeper huffed as he left the cell, disappointed that nothing was there.

Unbeknownst to him a pair of glinting blue eyes looked on as he walked away.

[I'm gonna call your bluff]

Scar cautiously made his way down the corridor, looking everywhere as quickly as he could. He knew he was a Vex, someone with magic unlike any other, but he was terrified. He can tell that something was here, but he can't see it.

He had thought he'd seen something at multiple times, but it turned out to just be shadows. So with a slight hesitation to his steps he continued walking, oblivious to the violet eyes following his every move.

[Cause' something happens when you fan the flames

I'm like an animal inside a cage, but]

Ren pulled out his diamond axe, the weapon shining with enchantments. It had been changed from what it normally looked like, the hilt was carved with runes and plant related things, like vines and flowers.

He tiptoed towards Doc, the creeper still completely unaware he was even there. Once he's just a little more than a foot away he raised his axe, but the glint of it reflected in the shiny surface of one of the machines. This made it so that Doc saw the weapon and had time to swiftly turn around and block it.

Ren brought the weapon down hard enough to make Doc stumble back. The creeper looked up with a hiss, but stopped when he saw who it was. "Ren? Why the hell are you attacking me man! You have never done this before."

The werewolf didn't answer him and instead readied himself for another attack. Seeing that his friend was going to talk, Doc also got ready. He didn't know what had gotten into his normally kind friend, but he'd find out.

[I'm gonna break out these chains!

You gonna wish you never held me down]

Impulse continued to crawl along the ceiling, bright eyes scanning every sign and every doorway, but still no luck. His search continued, and finally he found something promising.

Dropping from the ceiling he landed perfectly on his feet. Straightening himself into an upright position he moved towards the closed door, not that it would be closed for very long.

[I feel it rush through my veins

Yeah this adrenaline is kicking now]

Doc once more blocked a swipe from Ren, his trusty trident protecting him still. He and Ren had been trading attacks for a while now, and Doc was starting to tire. There was something on that axe that didn't feel right, and it smelled foul. And not in a 'it's dirty and stinks' way but in a 'this is a dark magical item that shouldn't exist' way, a bit like a corrupted item if you will.

Now the question was why does Ren have it? And more importantly; how did he get it?

He would think about it more, but an incoming attack from Ren put that on hold.

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Grian dropped in front of Scar, making the other Hermit scream out in surprise. Using the window of opportunity he pulled out his trident and stabbed it forward, but Scar's instincts allowed him to dodge just in time. Grian growled and swiped at him again, this time managing to hit the Vex in the side of the head.

The brunette was sent sprawling onto the ground, the sword he just pulled out skidding away from him. He tried to get up and grab the weapon but Grian threw his trident in front of him, stopping him from reaching the weapon.

"Grian this isn't fun anymore!" Said Scar, a bit scared of the dirty blond and what he would do, "Can we just stop, please! We'll give you your time machine back, just please stop!"

Grian didn't seem to have heard him, instead he continued to advance with his hand outstretched. His trident flew back to his hand and he raised it for an attack. Luckily Scar managed to grab his sword and use it to block the attack.

Something was wrong, very very wrong.

[(Killer, killer, killer!)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Ren knocked Doc's trident away from his grasp, leaving the creeper to fight with his own axe. An axe made for cutting down wood and not for battle, unlike Ren's which was made for both.

Doc tried to get away from the werewolf, to somewhere he wouldn't be at such a disadvantage. But the wolf brought down his weapon into the creepers side before he could.

The cyborg cried out in pain, the axe hitting the sensitive skin just under where his cybernetic chest piece was. Ren pulled the diamond weapon out before quickly changing his grip on it and bringing it down directly into Doc's chest.

Docm77 was slain by Renthedog using [The Hunter]

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Scar staggered as the message appeared. He had guessed all of the other hippies were here too, but he didn't think they were all as aggressive as Grian.

Speaking of Grian, the dirty blonde was trapped in the room they had been fighting in. He banged and scratched at the metal doors but they wouldn't budge. Scar debated what to do, he couldn't just leave but he needed help.

<GoodTimesWithScar> Guys please get to A77 quickly! The hippies are attacking but they aren't acting normal! I've begged Grian to stop but he won't, that's not like him!

<Xisuma> Their codes are all messed up and I can't access them. I can't tell what it is, but it's coming from Grian. I can't tell if it's intentional or not.

<Tango Tek> Now that you mention it Impulse has been acting weird lately. I'm coming to help.

<Iskall85> And so are the rest of us!

More messages of agreement followed and let out a relived sigh. His sigh soon turned into a gasp as he felt a trident imbed itself deep into his back. He tried to reach and pull out the weapon but all he got was it being pushed deeper in. Seems like Grian didn't throw it.

It wasn't long before the weapon was pulled out and his body fell to the floor.

GoodTimesWithScar was slain by Grian using [The Alpha]

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Impulse clawed through the last layer of iron that blocked the door, his gauntlets helping him very much with it. He stepped over the destroyed door and walked into the room. His eyes caught on the sign that hung on the ceiling.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

Yeah, this was the right place to find it.

[(Killer, killer, killer!)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Scar and Doc met up on the airfield outside the hangers, backup armor and weapons with them. Both looked at each other with grim faces.

"From you death message I can see that Grian is also here." Observed Doc, "And I can only assume that Impulse is here too."

Scar nodded along, "Yeah, but we don't know where the hell he is. Everyone's coming over soon, so they can help us look and stop them."

"But how much can they really help? They most likely killed us to get us out of the way long enough to do what they need to. They know how to hide themselves and they've had a long time to hide. Plus their weapons."

The brunette Vex raised an eyebrow at his creeper friend, "What about their weapons? Grian's seemed normal other than the weird name."

"They're covered in dark magic." Said Doc grimly, "God only knows what those weapons can do."

"So we're at a major disadvantage, in our own base?" Asked Scar, eyes wide as he glanced at the hangers.

"Exactly."

[Don't turn your back

You mightn't know]

The other Hermits arrived soon, some arriving in groups and some alone. Cub rushed up to Scar immediately and wrapped him in a hug, "I'm so sorry, I should've never given them the maps."

Scar patted his back gently, "You didn't know, I don't blame you."

Doc stepped up and took charge, "Alright, so the hippies are currently down in the base and looking for something. Ren was last seen in the corridor to the left of villager Grian's cell, maps will be provided so you all don't get lost, and Grian was in corridor C-6. We have no idea where Impulse is."

Xisuma stepped up next to him after that, "We will split into three groups, each group will look for one Hippie each. Mumbo you lead the group looking for Grian, you know him best so you have the highest chance of finding him." The redstoner looked surprised but nodded anyways, "Iskall you lead the search for Ren, I know how close you too are so I trust you to know him best." The Swede nodded determinedly at the admin, "And lastly, Tango and Zedaph look for Impulse. Everyone, else pick a person to go with."

And so everyone split up into groups and headed into Area 77.

[Living in a world of fear

You can be brave]

Ren picked up a keycard that Doc dropped, the words 'Full access' were written in green. He twirled it around in his hand for a bit before pocketing it. And as he was about to pull his hand out three beeps came from his phone.

He grinned as he opened the last message. He once more pocketed the phone before making his way towards Impulse, making sure to be quiet and careful. The Hermits would be here soon and he couldn't get caught now, not when they were so close.

[There's nothing to save you

Is this crystal clear]

Grian casually walked towards where Impulse said he'd be, he wasn't afraid of being caught since he nabbed an invisibility potion from Scar's inventory. He wonders why the brunette even had it, and then he remembered that Scar was working with Doc, and so it all made much more sense.

He stilled as he heard multiple footsteps coming his way. Thinking fast quickly flew up into a corner of the ceiling and steeled his muscles, leaving him invisible and out of the way completely.

Grian waited for a few more seconds before a group of people turned the corner. Scar was leading the group with fearful eyes, green orbs darting everywhere with paranoia.

The winged Hermit would have snorted at the scarred man's fearful behavior, but he chose not too since he didn't want to risk blowing his cover.

He waited for the group to be out of earshot before gracefully gliding down, being carefully as to not make any sound as he landed. Seeing as that wasn't all the Hermits, he assumed there were more groups.

Brushing off any worries he had about walking into anyone else he ventured forward, heading towards the item storage Impulse found.

[Cause' something happens when you fan the flames

I'm like an animal inside a case, but]

Zedaph, Tango, Joe, Python, Wels and Jevin walked down the corridor leading to where the hippies entered. Once close they saw the extent of the damage the explosion did. The hole was easily 10 feet (3 meters) wide and tall, and cracks spread around the jagged entrance. Some clearly heavy explosives had been used, and no punches had been pulled.

"How did they manage an explosion this big?" Wondered Jevin, "This looks like it was done by one singular TNT, but how is it this big?"

"I wish I could say, but I'm afraid I have not the slightest clue." Said Joe, finger tracing the cracks. He suddenly stopped when he reached the cracks closer to the hole, pulling his hand back quickly, "I take that back. I know exactly how."

"You do?" Asked Zedaph, looking from the wall to the poet, "Mind telling us?"

"A Tainteds magic."

Everyone else gathered looked at each other in confusion, no one having the slightest clue what the brunette was talking about.

Seeing their confused faces Joe explained, "A Tainted is usually a person who used to be an admin of a server, they become a Tainted when they live through the destruction of their server. Tainted's upon moving away from their server get some abilities that fit into the theme of their actions when their server was still alive, but they also get a random power too. Tainteds tend to have a tattoo of the thing representing their server in between their shoulder blades."

"So, Grian's a Tainted?" Asked Tango, mind trying to process the new information and wondering if it had anything to do with Impulse doing this.

"Most likely, I don't think Ren nor Impulse have either been Admins before so they're out of the question. And I know Grian was the admin of EVO."

"EVO?" Questioned Jevin, "Isn't that the server that self-destructed out of nowhere?"

"That's the one." Confirmed Tango grimly. "But how did this affect Ren and Impulse?"

The demon deflated slightly when Joe just shrugged, "I can't say. There hasn't been enough research done on Tainted to see how they convert people, which is something they're known to do. My guess is that it has something to do with his powers."

The gathered people looked nervously from one another, "Can we save them?" Asked Zedaph nervously, hands clutching Tango's in a crushing grip.

"Depends, what do you mean by save?" Asked Joe.

"I mean stop them from being Tainted, break Grian's control." It clearly pained the tanned blond to say the last part, if him cringing at the words was anything to go by.

"No." It was a blunt answer, making most of the gathered wince, "If you become a Tainted there's no going back. And if we had found out about this earlier we might have been able to stop Impulse and Ren from being affected, but they've clearly already accepted Grian as their alpha."

The poet looked like he wanted to say more, but he stopped himself as a thoughtful expression filled his face, "But why are they doing this?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Python, sharing a confused expression with Jevin.

"We all know Grian, he's a trickster but he's also very kind. Tainted tend to be bad liars, so he can't possibly have hidden this vicious behavior for this long. So something has happened, something changed. But what?"

Tango and Zedaph almost glowed at the prospect that their Impulse was still there, just hidden by some Tainted instincts. "Well whatever it is it's in here, maybe in one of the storage units?" Suggested Jevin.

"That seems like the most likely option." Agreed Python, running his hand through his dark red hair, "But where do we start? There's a lot of storage rooms here."

"We'll just have to look through them all!" Announced Joe, a grin spreading along his face, "And we can ask the others to look through any storage rooms they may pass."

They headed to the nearest storage unit after that, determination in their steps.

[I'm gonna break out these chains!

You gonna wish you never held me down]

Impulse moved yet another armful of items out of a chest. He'd been searching the entire room, but he still hadn't found it. I mean he had only searched four of the chests so far, but still! There were like twenty double chests here, and some were empty and filled with empty shulkers. It was so annoying to look through them all, but he had a mission to finish.

So he continued searching, hoping that the other two hurried up and came to help him soon.

[I feel it rush through my veins

Yeah this adrenaline is kicking now]

Scar stopped as he read the message from Joe, "Ok. Looks like we'll be searching the storage rooms instead!"

"The storage rooms?" Asked Mumbo, confusion all over his face, "Why?"

"The hippies are apparently looking for something." Answered Scar as he read the message again, "No clue what though."

"Guess we'll just find out what then." Said Mumbo, "Come on, let's go find the hippies. And hopefully we'll be able to help them."

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Grian glanced down both corridors at his sides, no one was there. He quickly scampered down the one right in front of him. He didn't need to double check where Impulse was anymore, because he could now feel it. After weeks, he's finally getting it back! And now he'll have to keep it even more hidden, or maybe even on his person? He'd figure something out, but right now he needed to get to it.

[(Killer, killer, killer!)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Iskall though he saw something in the shadows up ahead, but once he got closer he saw that nothing was there. Disappointed he want back to following Doc, who had wanted to grab his stuff before continuing further.

"Fuck." Cursed Doc once they arrived. At first Iskall thought his items had despawned (which they should have, but shhh), but it looked to be there. Everyone looked at Doc with questioning looks, curious as to what he swore about.

He saw there looks and grimaced at them. "Ren took my keycard."

"And what's so important about it?" Asked Iskall, leaning against the wall as he watched the creeper start picking up the rest of his items.

"Because he can go anywhere with it!" Growled Doc, clutching his trident tightly. "He can lock himself in any room, and we won't be able to get in, or even know he's there to begin with!"

"Shit."

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Mumbo looked into yet another storage room, and once again saw nothing. "Any of you guys find something?"

"Nope." "Nah." "Emptier than the lava lakes in here." "I found a stick. But that's about it."

The mustached man let out a deep sigh, this was ridiculous, how many storage units did two people need?! Ok, sure, it might just be a few big units that had walls separating everything, but still!

"Alright then, next unit!" Groans followed his statement, but they all continued on anyways.

[(Killer, killer, killer!)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

"Found it yet?" Asked Ren, startling Impulse and making the dragon hybrid hit his head on the lid of the chest he was searching, dropping an armful of items in the proces.

After glaring at the wolf he answered the question. "No. But I've cleared over half of the items, so I'll find it soon."

"Not if I find it first!" Called Ren running to a chest that was up against the wall and throwing it open.

"Ha! You're on!"

[Sometimes I fight it

But I cannot hide it]

Wels followed his group as they searched unit after unit, an unsettling feeling growing in his stomach. If the hippies were willing to attack Doc and Scar, what's to say they weren't willing to attack everyone else? Sure they all had weapons and armor on, but so did Doc and Scar and they were both still completely defeated.

Sure they had been fighting alone, and they were now in groups, but they were still defeated far too easily for the knights' liking.

He glanced down one of the corridors and paused. At first it looked normal, but as he looked closer he could see that a metal door had been forced open. Wels quickly checked the map to see if a storage unit was located there. And sure enough, there was a unit located there.

"Hey guys? I think I found them."

[I know it ain't right but

Sometimes I like it]

Grian watched the drake (wingless dragon btw) hybrid from the other side of the corridor. The blond had thankfully not spotted him, but he had called attention to the, truthfully very obvious, broken door.

The dirty blond waited with bated breath for the blond to turn away, just for a second.

It took longer than he liked, but Wels eventually turned to look back, giving Grian the perfect moment to throw an ender pearl. The winged Hermit appeared just within the broken door and quickly placed down obsidian to buy them some more time, since Wels would have definitely noticed the particles left by the pearl.

He turned to see both Impuls and Ren looking at him dumbly. He glared at them in confusion, tilting his head to the side. "What? I told you I was close."

"We knew that." Started Impulse, playing with a discolored ender chest that he was holding.

"We just imagined you'd walk in, not pearl." Finished Ren.

"Well I'm here now, so no need to discuss that any more." Said Grian, walking towards a single chest sitting innocently hidden behind a stack of doubles. "They're right at our door, literally, and whilst there's just a few now they're likely to have already told everyone else where we are."

The other two looked at their alpha with slightly guilty faces. "We haven't found it yet, there's a lot of useless items here which is a pain to move."

The dirty blond opened the chest and reached in. "No need to worry, being a Tainted, and an alpha at that, has its perks."

"How so?"

Grian pulled out the item that was in the chest, which turned out to be a celtic tiara. It was made of shining silver and had a delicate feather design with small deep purple zircon's decorating it. "Because I can feel souls. And this-" He held up the tiara carefully to show the other two. "-has the soul of my old server in it."

[I'm gonna break out these chains!

You gonna wish you never held me down]

Bdubs didn't know what the hell was going on. One moment he and his group were looking through yet another storage unit, and the next Doc was running out the room screaming at everyone to follow him.

"What the hell's going on?!" Shouted False at the cyborg creeper, quickly speeding after him with everyone else falling in behind them.

"Wels found them, but the entrance has been blocked off!" Shouted Doc, skidding around a corner and nearly slamming into the wall. "He thinks all three of them are there."

False seemed to gain some strength at that. "Well, what are we waiting for? Hurry!"

[I feel it rush through my veins

Yeah this adrenaline is kicking now]

It was much the same with Mumbo's group. Though there was a lot more panicning involved. Because that's what happens when you have Mumbo, Scar and Keralis all in the same group.

Thankfully Cub and TFC were there two, acting as calm pillars for the others to focus on. Though Cleo did that for Keralis instead, not that the big eyed man gave her much of a choice.

They did eventually start making their way towards the unit, slower than Doc's team but still fast.

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Wels had looked away for just a second, looking to see if his group were nearing or not, but that had been enough to let someone past his guard. Just as he turned back the purple particles from an ender pearl appeared by the broken door. He had run up to it, now knowing for sure there was someone there, to see it blocked by obsidian.

He called out for his team to hurry up, voice now more desperate. He quickly got to work digging at the black stone, but since he'd recently lost his good pickaxe he was now using an unenchanted one, which was a pain.

Thankfully his team got there and started helping him, their tools way better than his one.

It took just a few moments for Doc to come running, the facility wasn't that big, and they started helping too. Doc seemed to be the best, his swings doing the most damage.

"Feelings and emotions are one hell of a driving force." Was his answer when asked.

Soon after that Mumbo's team arrived. Which meant that the obsidian wall fell fast.

The Hermits were greeted by the three hippies standing in line with Grian front and center. Ren has his axe raised threateningly, and Impulse had his glaive also held threateningly, though more in the intimidating way.

"Gentleman, and women." Smiled Grian, nodding at the group which had just arrived. "What may we do for you?"

[(Killer, killer, killer!)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Doc laughed, deep and enraged. "There's a lot you can do. But how about we start with giving up? We outnumber you three anyways."

"That's true." Agreed Grian, though there was a mischifus and victorious glint in his eyes. "But do you out power us?"

"What? Of c-" "No we don't."

Doc looked at Joe flabbergasted, was the poet agreeing with them? What the hell?

"Don't look at me like that Doc, I'm just stating fact." Said Joe, head held high as he met the creepers glare. "We may have strong fighters, but against a Tainted that's nothing."

"Tainted?" Asked Xisuma, talking more to himself than Joe. "Of course, that makes so much sense! That's why their code is all different, and why they're here! They are most likely looking for the pack artifact, which must have been taken."

Ren whistled impressed. "Well done X, you got it right! Wow, it's almost like you're writing this story yourself and know all about the story."

The admin shrugged with a chuckle. "That would be fun, but untrue. I just know a lot of things."

"Which means you know the importance of the artifact." Stressed Grian, hopping to get the admin on his side.

"I do." Agreed X, shifting in place and looking through the mess that was the storage unit at this point. "Though I had hoped you'd go about in a better way."

Grian sighed, rubbing his temples. "Telling everyone what I am and what I've done and ultimately either get locked in here or get kicked? No thank you. I'll stick to sneaking in thank you very much."

Xisuma winced. "Ok, maybe that wouldn't have been the best, but did you really need to kill Doc and Scar?"

"They would have tried to stop us!" Argued Impulse, speaking up for the first time. "We couldn't let that happen, not when we were this close to getting the artifact back."

"What is the artifact anyways?" Asked Stress, very curious about this coveted item.

[There's a killer inside of me

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Grian held up the Celtic tiara with one hand, showing it off to everyone before putting it on his head. A good place to be able to protect it.

"Wow! It's beautiful!" Gushed Stress, any form of apprehension gone. "Where did you get it?"

"I got it in the void." Answered Grian. "Around a week or two before I was spat out back into the normal world."

"Can you tell us more about it? And about Tentained stuff in general?" Asked Joe, ever on the search for more knowledge about his friends and their species. "Like, are Ren and Impulse part Tainted, or full Tainted?"

"How about I answer that once everythings been talked through?" Asked Grian kindly, happy the poet was acting kindly. "And then those who don't wish to listen can go."

Joe agreed to this, happy a deal had been made.

[(Killer, killer, killer!)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

The Hermit's all sat down and started talking through the events of the day. The hippies admitted that due to the situation, they had lost themselves in the quest for the artifact and explained that had they not been so pulled by the tiar they wouldn't have killed the two. They also apologized for the broken wall, the scares, the mean behavior and anything else they'd done during the day.

Some forgave them quicker than others, but they were all three forgiven. Though Hermits were still cautious around them, even more around Grian than the other two.

Grian knew why that was, but it still stung a little. He just hoped they would forgive him eventually.

The talk with Joe, along with a good chunk of the Hermits, went well. They all sat and listened whilst he explained about Tainted culture, the little there was, and about packs and alphas. There was usually only one alpha and only one pure-blooded Tainted in a pack, though that wasn't always the case. It was rare for people to be turned by an alpha, but if it did happen it was because they'd accepted it. There was no real way to tell you've been accepted into a Tainted's pack, unless you were told by the alpha. Which is how the Hermits found out that they were Grian's pack.

There was a lot more that was talked about, but those were the important parts that Grian could remember from memory.

[Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-h-oh-oh

(Killer, killer, killer)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-Oh-oh-oh-oh]

Everything relatively went back to normal after that. There were still some uncertain looks at times, but they lessend every week. And by the time season 7 started everyone was as tight knit as ever. The newcomers were of course told beforehand about Grian and what he was, and they had no problem with it whatsoever.

Through the rest of his days Grian would always remember the words Xisuma said before they entered season seven (pretend Grian didn't fly away) and left season six. "This is the end of yet another season! This one has been wonderful, just like the rest have been and will be. But this season I realized we are more than just a group of friends, we are a family. And I have our alpha for this revelation." The Hermits laughed at that. A joke had started with calling Grian alpha after they had grown accustomed to Grian being a Tainted, and he wasn't sure it would stop anytime soon. "So, as a new found family we shall travel from this world to another world! And we shall make it just as much home as we've made the world here!"

Excited calls followed the admins announcement, one group assembling as one to show unity.

And that's how season six ended, as the Hermits walking into a new world as a family. A family with bonds stronger than blood. A family with bonds of true trust and love.

<AHHHH! The last one-shot of the book! Sure, there's the ending chapter still, but that's not a one-shot really. So this is the last one! Man, it's been such a ride, and I've enjoyed it all! I won't get all sappy here, I'll save that for the last chapter, but I just have to say that I love and adore you all so much! Stay safe and have a wonderful time everyone! I'll see you all tomorrow hopefully!>