It was early morning when Pearl and Gem arrived at False's base, and the hermit was still asleep, waking at the sound of voices.

'Hello?' She called, frowning as she stood up. 'Who's there?'

'Just me and Gem.' Pearl called. False grabbed a sword, flying to the entrance where the two half-phantoms were. 'We wanted you to join us.'

'Well, no.' 

'That wasn't a question.' Gem smiled. 'We get whatever we want.'

'Go after Impulse if you want someone to join you. I'm not part of your resistance.' 

But before she could resist further, a phantom flew from the sky and attacked. False managed to get one hit back, but it was too much as another group of them followed. Pearl grinned as she let out a yell, before the death message came in.

Falsesymmetry was slain by phantom

'Our next target?' Gem asked. 

'Impulse.'

Helpless, Grian looked down from his position spying on the roof, and as the phantom trio flew off, before shooting off towards his base.

It wasn't too far to get there, or it certainly didn't feel like it, and soon the spy had landed in the middle of Grumbot's cave, unsure what to do...

He stopped. Something was making a sound. Or... someone. He hadn't been in his base for a while, not since... 

'Cub?' It made sense. But not for him to be crying, if that was what the sound was. Nothing had happened to him, or he certainly didn't know if it had...

'Grian?' Called a voice that wasn't Cub. It was Impulse.

'Impulse?' 

'Grian... It's...' Impulse got out from where he was hiding. His eyes were red from crying, hair tousled, clothes ruined from some kind of mob attack. The death messages came to Grian's mind again. 

'You were there.'

'I told them it was a bad idea.' 

'Impulse...' Grian stepped forwards, arms out to give a hug. Impulse accepted, starting to cry again. 

'I know they're not actually dead but... but it feels like they are...'

'Its alright. You're safe here.'

'But they're not... Tango... And Zedaph... They're... they're...'

'How many are left? Gem and Pearl got False... How many are alive still?'

'I don't know... I think... I don't know.' Impulse stepped away. 'It's all too much.'

'I know... Xisuma's still alright. If we go over to his base he might be able to offer us help, or we can help him.' Grian offered. With a sigh, Impulse stopped pacing, realising for a moment.

'You thought I was Cub at first.'

'Yeah, he's been staying here... Scar trapped his base.'

'Isnt he in the court?'

'He quit. Twice, I think. I guess he hasn't shown up while I've been spying.'

'Spying?'

'On everyone. The resistance, Ren's group... Even tried to get near the Perimeter where Doc's been gathering every other person...' Just then, the figure of Cub appeared, gliding smoothly down.

'Everything ok?'

'Just grabbing as much as I could from my starter base... Couldn't see Scar anywhere, but the whole place has been turned into a resistance-free zone... Really scary.'

'I saw... Glad you got out.'

'Barely did. I also saw... They've managed to recruit Tango and Zedaph.' Cub glanced at Impulse, who seemed to pale at the words.'

'What?'

'They were talking to Ren... I think I heard my name mentioned at some point, and decided to get away.'

'Wait... What mobs were they?' Grian asked.

'Evoker and ravager.' Replied Impulse instantly as though, and as Grian reasoned it probably was, the only thing he'd been thinking about since it happened.

'Evoker... Cub, Tango can probably summon vexes.'

'Ren wants him to kill me.' Agreed Cub, quickly coming to the same conclusion. 'The raid was probably the best thing that could've happened for Ren...'

'I told them not to... I told them not to so many times. I knew it would end badly.'

'Impulse we're here if you want to talk about it.'

'Yeah.'

'Its just... Everything went from bad to worse so quickly and it feels like I'm living in a nightmare... And now Tango and Zed are gone...'

'It'll be ok.'

'And Pearl and Gem have gone mad, Tango's been hired as an assassin for Ren, and I just want to... To... Pretend none of this is happening.'

'Do you want me to message Skizz and get him to come onto the server or...?'

'We're not getting Skizz involved.' Declared Impulse. 'He'll get really overprotective and even if we don't let him onto the server he'll demand to be let in to protect me... I can't let him die too.'

'Alright. Won't he be worried if you don't message too?'

'I'll pretend everything's fine. Don't worry about me.' Impulse gave a clearly fake smile. Cub and Grian glanced at each other.

'Impulse, stop pretending you're alright. We're here to talk to you.' 

'How are you ok?' Without explaining, Impulse turned to Grian. 'You've... you've been alright this entire time. How do you manage? Do you know something we don't. Are you...' a hysterical laugh. 'Are you behind this?!'

'Of course not! I've just faced worse. Like my entire server being destroyed while I was embracing the lives of their destroyers.' Snapped Grian back. 'And how I only realised that in Season 7 when I finally met Martyn and Jimmy again. And now- now Martyn's wound up in this mess and it's my fault.'

'Grian...'

'Cub, I'm fine. I've got over it... both of you can stay here. We can start our own alliance against all of them... the hybrids... I'll keep spying and give us information... and maybe one day Xisuma will find his solution to this mess. Deal?'

'Deal.' Cub agreed, and a moment later Impulse did too.

Vintagebeef was slain by zombie

Yeah, even making giant maps for a cardgame that would now never get played was dangerous.

It took a while for Beef to reorientate himself when he woke up, even though he was right where he'd been for the entire season, then even longer to realise he should collect back his stuff... he was a zombie. He didn't need normal items. But he was also Beef. Vintagebeef. How had he forgotten that? It was literally his name... someone was flying. A person. How could people... elytra. Of course hermits could fly. Why was his brain so leaky?! What had happened? 

'Beef.' Doc greeted him as he... well, he didn't actually land, just floated about a block off the ground, part of his skin now white. 'Would you like to join us?'

'Your... land.'

'Yes. Don't worry, you'll be disoriented at first, but we've got everything you need... the glass ceiling is still in the works, but Jevin's alright with it, so hopefully you will be too... so?'

'Yeah. Ok, I'll join you.' 

This took too long to write... hopefully the next couple chapters will be a bit easier