(This part was split into 2 because it was getting way too long, hence the story itself will have more parts than planned.)

(Sh*t mental state. I don't know how else to describe it. Also mention of wanting to be dead. And panic attacks.)

~1 Year Ago

Nothing. All Hels had seen for the past... weeks? Months? It felt like an eternity... All he had seen for it was the dark nothingness of the Void.

He wasn't scared, of course. Why would he be? It was just nothing. A nothing that looked like it stretched on forever, but felt as if it were crushing you on all sides. A deafening silence that sucked away the sound of your breaths, leaving you utterly alone. He had spent what felt like days on end humming a tuneless song, just to hear something. But his voice eventually gave out, and he was left with the silence which felt like cotton in his ears.

He was never hungry or thirsty, not like there was anything to eat here, anyway. Sometimes he wondered if he had died, and this was where he'd spend the rest of his eternity. Sometimes he wished he had died. Wished he was anywhere but here.

Despite seeing nothing beneath his feet, he felt like he was standing on solid ground. No texture or changes in height. He had wandered for a bit, thinking he might find something. But with no point of reference he might as well have never changed his location. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe there was nothing out there. It might have been a waste of time, if time even mattered here. Hours and days blurred together, and there was no point in trying to keep track. Every moment looked and sounded the same as the last.

For a long time when he first arrived, he could barely breathe. He wasn't sure if this was because of the Void, or the panic rising in him. He still found it hard to breathe. The panic was still there, but it had been overshadowed by hopelessness. Maybe he could stop breathing. Let himself die. Was there anything waiting for him after that? Even ceasing to exist sounded wonderful. But no matter how much he wanted it, he could never bring himself to actually die.

He had started hallucinating recently. Seeing static, or billowing clouds, or faces of terrifying beasts in the darkness surrounding him. It was a welcome relief, but they always vanished the moment he blinked.

He saw one now. A wave of something white, faded as if obscured by a dark fog. It looked as if someone were to shake out a small sheet in the dark. He wanted to stare at it forever, but his eyes began to sting. He gave in and blinked.

It was still there.

He felt his shallow breath catch in his throat. That wasn't supposed to happen. That never happened. Ever so slightly trembling, he blinked again. And again. Every time, the patch of white in the distance remained.

Rising to shaking feet, he took a step forward. Then another. And another. He had never tried to go towards a vision, but none had ever stayed like this. He began to run towards it, stumbling as he went, afraid that, if he fell, the vision would disappear. He nearly did when he noticed it was getting bigger, closer. He was moving.

He tried to call out, yell, in case whatever it was could hear him. But his voice refused to come out. He would have screamed with joy if he could when the shape became more clear. It was hair. The hair of a person. There was someone else here.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if it was Death. Maybe Death had finally come to take him away. Or maybe it was Life? Whatever it was, it was something. Someone.

The figure, which Hels could now see wore red armor, looked towards him, shock clearly displayed on their face.

His legs gave out when he was mere meters away. He fell to the ground, face first. No. He had failed. He didn't look up. He had fallen, and now the vision would be gone, leaving him alone. He felt tears drip down from his eyes as he huddled on the ground.

He jumped when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, still staring at the ground. There were feet in front of him. He nearly sobbed when he heard a voice. Barely a whisper, but the first sound he had heard in a long time.

"Who are you?"

<~~~>

Present Day

Hels woke suddenly and sat up, causing him to hit his head on the bottom of the bunk above him.

"Ow..." He laid back down, rubbing his head. But the fact that he had hit it meant he was really here.

He often dreamt he was back in the Void. When it did happen, he had to remind himself it was only a dream. He took a few minutes to just lay there, taking in everything around him. He could feel his sheets as well as the throbbing of his head. He could clearly see the room around him, illuminated by sunlight coming through the window. He could hear animals moving in the trees outside and birds chirping. This was reality. He was in the Overworld, and had been for months. He was safe.

Finally grounded in reality, he got up. He got dressed and put on his armor, which rested on a stand nearby. He knew it wasn't entirely necessary, he hadn't had to fight anyone in a long long time. But the armor made him feel stronger. He didn't feel scared or vulnerable with it. It was still knight's armor, a fact that was hard to push away, but it was an extra layer to hold everything inside intact.

Shaking his head to clear it, he left the room, his helmet under his arm. Unsurprisingly, he found that EX and NPC were already up. NPC was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, bobbing his head to most likely imaginary music. He also noticed the robot was wearing a purple t-shirt instead of the red sweater from before.

"Hey, you're finally awake. Here, I already made some coffee." EX handed a mug to Hels, who nodded his thanks.

"I'm guessing you two have already been up for a while. Wait," Hels turned to NPC. "Do you sleep?"

NPC nodded and EX tried his best to explain it. "I think it's like powering down for the night? I think? ...yeah, that's pretty much what sleeping is."

"I guess this kind of thing would be easier if he could talk."

NPC looked down for a few seconds, then tapped EX on the shoulder, making a gesture with his hand as if holding a pencil. Hels was confused until EX pulled a notepad and a pen out of a drawer and handed them to NPC, who wrote something on the top of the paper.

'Thanks'

"Oh, writing," Hels laughed, feeling kind of dumb for not realizing. "That's a great idea, NPC. You're a genius!"

NPC grinned somewhat sheepishly and Hels realized it was the first time he had seen the robot smile.

<~~~>

An hour or so later, when they arrived at Boatem, EX realized one small problem: Mumbo's base was on the opposite side of the treeline.

"Maybe morning wasn't the best time to come here." He looked across the village, seeing several Hermits going about their day.

Hels nodded. "Seeing us walking around would be suspicious." He turned to NPC, who he had set on the ground for a few minutes. "And if someone sees you, they might think you're someone else." He decided at the last moment not to mention Grian's name.

EX frowned. "So... what do we do?"

"We hope there's enough random stuff here for us to get across unnoticed."

"And if we are seen?"

Hels hesitated a moment before answering. "We make sure no one sees NPC. If someone catches either of us, they'll probably want to know why we're here. But as far as we're aware, the other Hermits don't know about him, and it might be best to keep it that way for as long as possible."

NPC held up the notepad, which he brought with him. 'Aren't we going to one of them right now?'

EX nodded. "You need fixing up, and Mumbo's the nearest person who understands robotics and stuff."

"Isn't your brother near enough?" Hels asked. "Wouldn't he have more reason to listen to us?"

"I don't know, I don't really want to worry him about it." EX wouldn't admit it, but Hels knew he had barely spoken to Xisuma since the start of the season. "C'mon, we should probably get moving."

"Wait," Hels stopped him. "Are you sure we can trust Mumbo?"

"Maybe, I- I don't know." EX looked panicked and his hands shook. "This feels wrong and I don't know if it's just me being paranoid or if this is a bad idea!"

Hels firmly took his friend's hands in his own. "EX why didn't you tell me? We could have worked this out, maybe looked for a different option."

"But we don't have any other options! There's no one we really can trust, and I'm sorry but I'm not asking Xisuma. Do you really think he would believe us, speaking out against one of his Hermits?"

"You're his brother, he wouldn't turn against you like that." As soon as Hels said the words, he saw EX's pained expression and realized his mistake. He should have realized sooner. Of course Xisuma did. How else would EX have ended up in the Void?

"Even if I believed that," EX whispered. "What about you? I don't think I could live with myself if something happened to you because of me."

Hels tried to smile reassuringly. "You don't need to worry about me, I can handle myself." He dropped his voice to a whisper, hoping NPC wouldn't hear. "But what about NPC? Won't Mumbo tell Grian about this?"

"I uh, I did think of that, and I have an idea. Not a great one, but..." EX pulled something from his inventory, a brown paper bag.

Hels looked at it in confusion. "Are you saying we put that on NPC's head so he isn't recognized?" EX nodded. "You're right, that isn't a great plan. But we might be able to make it work."

They explained the plan to NPC and prepared to keep going. Right as EX started walking, Hels turned him around to face him.

"Look, if we're going through with this, you have to promise me something. If you think something might go wrong, even if it might be nothing, you'll tell me?" He continued when EX didn't respond. "Whatever this intuition of yours is, we need to trust it if we're going to keep NPC safe. All of us, really."

EX nodded. "Alright. I promise."

Luckily, none of the Hermits seemed to be wandering about any more. A good thing, considering Hels was quickly distracted by the sheer amount of things that had been built in the village. Besides just megabases and smaller ones, there were several shops, a tree monster, and a statue of what looked like a roly-poly.

He was so distracted he barely noticed the grass under him slowly transition to much softer moss.

He only realized where he was when EX grabbed his arm, stopping him. If he had walked only a few more steps, he and NPC would have fallen into a hole. A huge hole in the ground he hadn't noticed.

Cautiously, Hels peered over the edge, wondering just how far down it went. It would have been unsettling if it only went down to bedrock, but it just kept going. Down, down into complete darkness. He felt like he was falling. No, no. He wanted to turn away, to run. He couldn't move. His chest felt tight. All he could do was stare into the Void.

He felt himself being pulled backwards, away from the pit.

"Hey, are you alright?" Hels could hear EX talking, but it sounded muffled like he was underwater.

"Yeah." Hels nodded, only to realize how much he was shaking. "Yeah, I'm ok." He sighed. "What is wrong with these people..."

Once he didn't feel like his legs would give out, they kept walking. The walk from there to the mountain was farther than it looked, but still short.

The mountain itself was huge.

"Where would we find him?" Hels scanned the small structures high above the ground.

"I think most of his stuff would be inside the mountain. But I don't see an entrance anywhere."

The cliff face didn't have any sort of door, or at least not a visible one, but there were several holes, one of which led into the mountain. EX noticed it too and nodded.

Inside the tunnel was dark, and all the twists and turns made it difficult to tell if there was even an end. At one point, the walls got so close Hels nearly had to draw his shoulders in. NPC tensed, his expression beginning to look panicked.

The tunnel widened again and Hels breathed a sigh of relief. The rocks were becoming easier to see, with light coming from somewhere ahead.

Finally stepping out into the inside of the mountain, it seemed empty. Though, it was massive and hard to tell if anyone really was there.

"How are we going to find Mumbo here?" Hels asked, taking a step forward. Stray pebbles flew out from under his feet, causing him to stumble back. His armor clanked loudly against the wall, the sound echoing throughout the mountain.

"Is someone there?" A voice called out. It sounded like Mumbo.

EX grinned. "Well that was easy."

<~~~>

Mumbo wished he had organized his workshop better.

Whether he had a system to begin with was unclear, as none of the boxes or drawers were even labeled, and the items inside had no rhyme or reason to them.

He had just finished putting away all the redstone components that had been lying out, throwing them into whatever container seemed right, when the sound of something metal falling rang out through his base.

"Is someone there?" He yelled. No response. "You know, if you're trying to sneak up on me, you failed. Terribly."

Footsteps approached the door. Good, at least he wasn't going crazy.

When Xisuma's brother entered, he started to wonder if he should reconsider his sanity.

"Evi- EX. What are you doing here?"

"Well hello to you too, Mumbo. I'm not going to beat around the bush or anything, Helsknight and I need your help fixing up a robot."

Mumbo was put off by the straightforward response, and he realized the Nether soldier was nowhere in sight. He wasn't at all sure this wasn't a scam. "Okay?"

EX hesitated before motioning to someone outside the room. Hels came through the door, carrying a robot with... a paper bag over its head.

"Do I even want to ask about the bag?"

"He's shy," Hels stated.

Mumbo raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you know what? I don't really want any part in this."

EX stepped forward. "Look, we just need you to fix his joints, maybe patch him up. Then you can forget this ever happened." He awkwardly fished a handful of diamonds from his inventory. "We can pay you?"

The redstoner eventually nodded and sighed. "What am I agreeing to..."