Cleo's POV

I wander toward the jail Scar built last month for the Turf War, feeling sick to my stomach. I think Joe saw me leave, but he didn't say anything about it. Sneaking inside and quietly closing the door behind me, I start to get the feeling that this is a bad idea.

Then I see False. She's sitting in the middle cell to the right, staring at the wall before her. The condition of the cell itself isn't as bad as I expected, but it's clear dealing with her injuries wasn't the Hermits' first priority.

"Hey Falsie."

"Don't call me that."

"You mad at me? If so, I can leave."

False exhales heavily, turning to face me. Despite only being in there for about 18 hours, she already looks sleep deprived and sick.

"No, please stay. I'm surprised you do."

"Me too." I admit, before pushing a roll of bread through the bars of the door. "That's for you."

"I don't want it."

"It's not poisoned. I swear." I tell her

"I don't want your help, is what I mean." False retorts bitterly "Not after what I put all of you through. I don't deserve it."

"I know you don't. But I also don't want you to starve, so take the bread."

False glares at me, before picking the roll up. She closely inspects it, still not fully trusting me, before deeming it safe and biting in.

"This is Stress's, isn't it?" She asks me, not looking up

I don't say anything, merely scooting a little closer to the bars and crossing my legs beneath me. Once she's done, she stands up from the bed she had been sitting on, before sitting down beside me on the other side of the door.

"You weren't allowed over here, were you?" False asks warily

"What makes you think that?" I ask with a bit of a smirk

"You're being nice to me. The others wouldn't." She points out

"Well I guess someone has to keep you alive."

"Why do you need me alive?"

"Oh, we don't. I just want you to stay alive."

"Why would you?" False asks

"Because you're still my Falsie, and you and I both know you didn't have a choice over what you did. Doesn't excuse you from doing it, but it doesn't mean you're a villain in this scenario."

"But-"

"You're not a bad person, False, you've just done a lot of bad things. And the reason that doesn't make you a bad person is because you didn't want to do them."

"And how do you know what I want or don't want to do?" She demands

"Because I know you."

The two of us stay silent for a moment.

"I'm gonna make sure you'll be ok, I promise."

"Don't, Cleo." She sighs "Everyone here is better off with me dead, and that includes you as well. I appreciate that you want to help me, but just let me take punishment for what I've done."

False goes to stand up, and I help her to her feet. Her other hand slips into mine, the two of us as close as we can be to each other with the bars between us.

"I'm really sorry." She tells me. "At least I won't be able to hurt you anymore."

"We both know you dying will hurt more than anything you've put me through. And maybe they don't want to kill you!"

"Oh, I can assure you they don't."

I almost scream, before pulling myself together and turning around. A fairly tired looking Joe Hills is standing in the entrance to the room, seemingly unimpressed. His right arm is in a sling, and appears to be broken.

"Hi, Joe. What brings you here?" I ask, acting completely casual, as if visiting a potentially dangerous friend turned traitor was a normal thing.

"Quit the act Cleo, I've been standing here for ages." Joe tells me, seeing right through me. I hate it when he does that.

"Tell anyone I was here and I'll break your legs." I threaten, voice a little shaky.

False, meanwhile, is looking very uncomfortable at the moment. I take note of the way she's shifting from foot to foot and staring at the ground, something she does when she's feeling nervous.

"My arm's already broken, I don't have any intentions on telling anyone" Joe responds calmly. "I only want to know what you're doing here."

"She was just here to bring me food." False tells him coldly. "Nothing else."

"Well if that's all, we should go. Xisuma's looking for you."

I nod, following Joe back outside. I briefly turn back, my eyes meeting False's for just a moment, before I go.

"I know exactly why you were in there Cleo." Joe tells me once we're in the Nether and back on our way to Grian's Mansion. We occasionally pass sad looking Christmas decorations on our way through the tunnels, the only reminder that the holiday season is soon.

"Then tell me Joe, why was I there?" I ask sarcastically, expecting some crappy answer as a response.

"You still care about her, don't you?"

I stop in my tracks, trying to hide my shock. Of all the answers he could've given, this was the one I least expected. The correct one.

"Th-that's none of your business!" I snap, starting to walk away from him as quickly as possible.

He catches up to me in no time, however, cutting my path off. Hot tears burn at the corners of my eyes, but I try to ignore them, keeping my head down and my eyes focused on my shoes.

"It... it's confusing, ok?" I eventually admit, voice cracking as the tears now threaten to roll down my cheeks. "False had been my best friend since Season 2... and I do care about her... but it's really weird because she betrayed us and then-"

I break down eventually, and I think this is the first time I've ever cried in front of Joe. I try so hard every day to be tough, to try and put up the same, sarcastic yet likeable personality no matter what, and it's a rare moment when that personality cracks.

"Hey, c'mere." Joe tells me, offering a hug. I don't really hug back, I only let him wrap his arms around me. I don't really let people hug me that often... it just makes me feel uncomfortable. Stress, Joe and False are the only exceptions.

"Let's get back to the Mansion, ok? Stress, Iskall and a few others made food, and you wouldn't want to miss out on it."

Any Hermit would tell you that Stress and Iskall make the best food on the server. I'm definitely not going to turn down their cooking, so I feel a little more motivated to keep walking through the Nether Tunnels.

"If you were shorter, I'd offer to carry you." Joe admits. I'm a little confused, before I remember the dark grey wings on his back. I'd only learnt about them in the last couple hours, and the fact that he and Xisuma were Watchers too.

"We're the same height."

"I rest my case."

"What's the odds that so many people on this server share a birthday?" I ask nobody in particular a few moments later.

"The amount of coincidences we get ourselves into." Joe sighs as we reach the portal to Grian's base. I laugh halfheartedly, before following him back into the Overworld.

Grian's POV

Ezra's typically a friendly person, but when he's around the Hermits he's suddenly very shy and quiet. Maybe it's the slight awkwardness in the air, maybe he's just focused on his food, but he hasn't said a word for the last hour.

To be honest, nobody else really said much either until Joe and Cleo came back.

"What's with the silence?" The zombie questions

"Did ZIT start 'the quiet game' again?" Joe adds

"What's the quiet game?" Ezra asks me

"Oh, some game ZIT started among themselves where the last to talk wins." Xisuma explains "None of them spoke for a week."

"And who's ZIT?"

"That would be us." A voice says from the corner

"Zedaph." Impulse starts

"Impulse" Tango continues

"And Tango." Zedaph finishes

"So... You're Zedaph, you're Impulse, and you're Tango." Ezra repeats, pointing at the three in the order they spoke.

"No, I'm Zedaph." Zed correct

"I'm Impulse." Impulse adds

And I'm Tango." Tango announces

"Could... could you have said your own names, maybe?" My boyfriend asks, making at least half the room laugh.

"Don't worry about it, they're just chaotic." I assure him."Kind of like me, but there's 3 of them."

Later on, I notice how Ezra wolfed down his entire meal before I've even started mine, so when the others start talking again I push my plate toward him.

He pushes it back.

"That's for you." I tell him, sliding it back again.

"No, that's yours."

"You need it more than I do."

"I'm fine, stop worrying about me!"

We continue arguing, pushing my plate back and forward until I notice the silence in the room and turn my head.

"Aww." Iskall cooes, before getting a hard elbow to the ribs by Mumbo.

"See? Now you've gone and made a scene!" I tease, giggling a little. "Just take the food and let me look after you."

"Fine." Ezra huffs, reluctantly stabbing his fork into a potato.

It's pretty quiet again until Joe speaks up.

"So... what's gonna happen to False?"

Nobody says anything, all eyes going to Xisuma.

"Um... well I was thinking we keep her here where she can't harm anyone else."

"And then what?" Cleo asks "We just leave her in a cell forever?"

"Alternatively, we could hand her in to the Admins and Listeners with the rest of the Watchers." X suggests

That leaves the room quiet once again.

"But as much as I hate to admit this, she's still our False." He sighs "It would just feel wrong to hand her over to people we've never met."

"Keeping her here isn't much of a better option." Scar points out

"Maybe she could change." I tell X "I don't think she wanted to hurt us, maybe she's still a good person."

"Grian's right." Cleo responds in a heartbeat, before clearing her throat awkwardly and correcting herself. "I mean, I think he's right... who knows what False wants..."

"You were with her earlier weren't you?" Stress asks

The zombie doesn't say anything, only pulling her knees up to her chest and staring down at her shoes.

"I'm confused, ok?" She mumbles "Just don't hurt her... please."

"We won't, I promise you." Xisuma tells her "We're not gonna hurt her, we just need to figure out what the safest thing to do is."

I've never seen Cleo this vulnerable before, and I think the whole situation with False hits her harder than anyone else here. Xisuma glances outside, and uses the setting sun as an excuse to wrap things up.

"Alright, I'm well aware that at least 15 of you haven't slept for the last 48 hours, so I think we should consider going to bed now. And we all know that when I say that, I mean 'all of you go to bed'."

There's no protest, and despite how tired everyone is it doesn't take them long to set up some kind of temporary bedroom with loads of blankets and pillows. It's almost like a massive sleepover, but just the sleeping bit.

TFC tries to find his own quiet corner but Stress drags him right into the middle of the group, Iskall, Bdubs and Ren are already asleep, and Xisuma and Ezra end up snuggled next to each other like they used to when they were younger.

I end up falling asleep with my head resting on Ezra's stomach and my legs on top of Joe's legs. Joe's left arm is laying across XB's chest, XB is huddled close to Stress, Stress is holding onto Wels's arm, Wels is practically kicking Zedaph, and Zedaph is sharing a blanket with Impulse and Tango.

It's been a while since I've been able to relax and know they're ok. I like the feeling.