"I missed this," Grian sighed happily. "Didn't you Mumbo?"

Grian mumbled to himself, waving the fake Mumbo's arm. "I'm glad you agree! I'm just sorry Iskall is refusing to come to our meetings, he's going to miss out on all our projects."

"Hey, where's Mumbo?" Iskall's cold voice called from the door.

Grian didn't turn around. "He's right here. We're having a meeting if you'll excuse us."

"That's not Mumbo you fool. Have you seen him?"

"...no."

Iskall nodded, though Grian couldn't see it. "Some friend you are." Iskall strapped on his elytra, flying out of the building.

Grian sighed a breath of relief. "Glad we got rid of him, right Mumbo?" Grian glanced at the fake Mumbo, and his grin fell. "Iskall's right. We need the real you back. Sorry, fake Mumby."

Grian kicked over the stack of blocks, flying out the window.

—

Iskall paced across the room. "What is he doing? He hasn't made it to any meetings this week. He says he's 'busy'."

"I tried visiting his base, but he's been avoiding me like the plague..." Grian shifted in his chair, agitated. This was the first composed conversation Grian and Iskall had had in the last 2 weeks.

"We need to just go over to his base together and get him out here. He's a key member of Sahara, and he needs to pull his own weight." Iskall pulled on his elytra, huffing.

"Fine, let's go."

The pair flew over to Mumbo's island in silence, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. They glided in circles a couple times calling his name, but there was no response.

"I think I just saw something move..." Grian dove swiftly, crying in triumph as he found his target. "There you are!"

"Ah Grian, you need to leave. Please." Mumbo shoved him away, refusing to make eye contact.

"What, why? Why haven't you come to any meetings?"

"Sorry, very busy. You need to leave."

Grian frowned, but obeyed, flying away. Iskall caught up with him, curious about what happened.

"Nothing new. He just kicked me out, saying he was busy. I wonder what he's working on."

"Whatever it is, it shouldn't take precedence over Sahara. We're a team!"

"Hey, give him a break. He deserves it after all the redstone he did for Sahara," Grian defended.

"Picking sides are we? Maybe you should go home and play with your parrots if you're not committed to this project." Iskall snapped.

"Why are you yelling at me? Mumbo is the one you should be mad at!"

"Listen, if neither of you are going to step up, then I will. Just go home." Iskall shook his head, diving into the shopping district.

Grian heaved a sigh, rubbing a tear from his eye. He banked around the statue of hermity, flying back to his base.

Two more weeks passed without a word from Mumbo. Xisuma tried countless times to fly to his base, but Mumbo was either nowhere to be found, or kicked X out immediately. From what X had noticed, Mumbo was fraying at the edges, with his eyes dark and dull and his clothes old and stained.

"Iskall, get down here!" Xisuma stormed into Sahara, fuming.

Iskall instantly flew down from the ceiling, landing next to X. He fidgeted with his suit buttons, but froze as Xisuma's glare pierced him.

"I've had enough. You and Grian are going to fly to Mumbo's base and get him out here. The whole server is suffering from this nonsense, and I'm ending it right now."

Iskall nodded vigorously.

"Well? Go get Grian and get out of here!" Xisuma shooed him off. As much as X felt bad for Iskall taking the brunt of his anger, he felt satisfied that at least one of the Architechs got a piece of his mind.

—

Grian and Iskall circled Mumbo's base, both hesitant to land. "Hold on, I see a weird dirt thing over here." Grian drifted to a stop next to a dirt pillar, which had a small book attached.

To Grian and Iskall,

I'm sorry I've been absent at Sahara lately, but I've been taking some time for self care. If you would like to see me, flip the first and second to last levers. Please be sure to leave all your items behind, as I'm worried they may agitate my situation.

Love, Mumbo

"Found some switches!" Iskall beckoned Grian over.

"It's not like they were hidden," Grian mumbled.

"Oh yeah wise guy?" Iskall snarled, but Grian ignored him, stuffing his items in a shulker box.

"Put your stuff in a box, Mumbo doesn't want it downstairs."

"Well that's dumb, why did he say that?"

Grian shrugged. "Don't ask me genius, ask Mumbo." Grian flipped the switches. "Nothing happe-"

The floor crumbled beneath them, sending both plummeting to the bottom of the pit. Without their armor on, they were left at half a heart and in significant pain.

"...ow."

"No kidding. An infinity room, man?" Iskall stood stiffly, running a hand across the wall.

"Mumbo's gone bonkers..." Grian stood as well, sighing as he stared into the emptiness.

"He's not the only one..." Iskall muttered.

Grian chose to ignore his comment, instead running his hands across the walls, searching for a hidden exit. Iskall joined in silently, but after only a second Grian called out in surprise.

"It's no exit, but there's a book here! It looks like it got left behind from when he was building the room." Grian skimmed the first few pages, eyes growing larger and larger as he read more. Iskall peeked over his shoulder, and gasped loudly, reading an entry out loud.

Diary, Grian showed up again. I kicked him out. I just can't look at his face without crying right now. If he and Iskall would just make up everything could be okay. Please, I just want to see them hug and laugh again.

Iskall stopped reading, swallowing thickly. Grian silently shoved the book in his pocket.

"..Hey Gri, how long have we been fighting? Like for real?" Iskall whispered.

Grian shook his head. "I'm so sorry dude. I got caught up in running a business, and I forgot to treat you like the friend that you are..."

"No, I'm sorry. I started it as a joke, but I got caught up in it too."

"Let's help each other do better, okay?" Grian sniffled with a smile.

Iskall smiled at Grian, and the two hugged, albeit slightly awkwardly.

A loud sobbing startled the two, and they glanced around, looking for the source. Mumbo stumbled through the wall, tears pouring down his face as he threw himself into the hug.

"Mumbo? What's wrong?" Iskall carefully patted Mumbos head.

"Thanks guys. I missed you," Mumbo whispered.

"Are you okay?" Grian asked, but realization was already setting into his features.

"You were fighting so much that running the business or talking to you together was impossible. I'm just glad we can all be friends again."

"No, we're sorry Mumbo. We should've realized what we were doing." Grian choked out.

They sat on the floor of the infinity room quietly for a long time before a hushed conversation started up. Before long, things had escalated into wild laughter and shouting, just like normal.

"I missed this."

Not feeling inspired by my writing lately, but that's a sign I'm growing! Updates might be slow for a bit, but expect a big project coming soon(ish) 👀

Love you, my little stars!
-RaeTheStar