One Month Later...

Grian woke up to bright sunlight and a pounding heat. He was wrapped up in a blanket, vaguely recalling feeling freezing when they'd arrived last night, but now all he could feel was heat.

It had been nearing midnight in that world when they'd arrived, and while they weren't necessarily tired, mobs were spawning and they were already exhausted from the escape just minutes previous.

Of course a few people had taken guard, but none had the heart to wake Grian up. He hated it, but he also knew that he was straining himself further than the rest. For him, it felt like he had a responsibility to both groups to lead, and he had to say, leading 30 odd people and keeping them safe while simultaneously searching for Impulse wasn't easy. But he managed.

He pushed the blanket off, squinting in the early morning sun. Sand surrounded the grassy patch where they'd taken refuge - mostly due to Xeno quoting Anakin from Star Wars far too many times. He held back a yawn, tempted to pull his jumper off but settled for pushing up the sleeves. He was unhealthily attached to the jumper.

Stress and Netty were leaning against a tree, talking amiably. That was one good thing that had cropped up out of the situation - a few friendships formed between the hermits and Evolutionists that he wouldn't have expected. Xeno and Taurtis for example. That was certainly odd.

"Hey love, sleep alright?" Stress asked, noticing Grian was awake. He blinked then nodded, and for once it wasn't a lie. It had been one of the most peaceful nights he'd had in a while.

"How much time do we have left?" he asked, peering over Stress's shoulder to look at the timer on her communicator. It read about 7 hours.

"10 to 16 hours I'd guess," Netty said. "I'm inclined to go with 10 though."

"Probably," Grian agreed. "It feels like they're getting faster.

"Learning," Netty agreed. "Issue is, I don't actually know what we can do apart from run. We're backed into a corner."

"We'll find a way to get out of this," Stress comforted. Grian chose to ignore the hesitation in her voice, and the unspoken knowledge that they had to get out. There'd be no second chances, that was fairly obvious at this point. Grian once again decided to ignore that line of thoughts.

"We got enough food?" Grian eventually asked, despite subconsciously already knowing the answer.

"Enough for today, maybe. We lost most of it in that 1.7 world." Netty grimaced. "Unless we can find a village, we need to find some coal as well. Issue is, we lost most of that as well." Grian nodded simply in response.

"I can go hunting?" He offered, shrugging and reaching for a diamond sword. They hadn't had time to get back the netherite since they'd lost it, but brief mining trips had got enough diamonds for a couple of swords. A familiar voice came from behind him, making Grian jump in surprise.

"I'm coming with you." He turned around, hand clutching at heart jokingly.

"You scared me Taurtis," Grian laughed, studying the brunette as he always did. He was wearing a variant of his normal blue jumper that was more similar to Grian's in design, and the headphones wrapped around his neck. His hair was partially pulled up and messy from sleep (he'd decided not to cut it after his return), he also looked slightly dazed and tired. Seemingly no pain from the wounds though.

"That was the point." Taurtis grinned. He reached over to grab a wooden sword, earning a raised eyebrow from Stress.

"We do have iron swords available love," she frowned, reaching for one to show him. Taurtis subtly flinched back.

"Nah, thanks," he brushed off, forcing a smile onto his face. "Too metally." Grian shot him a sympathetic look.

"We'll be back within a few hours, no more than 4?" Netty nodded, chucking a shield each at him and Taurtis. Taurtis smiled once again at the two of them, before almost skipping towards the sand. He quickly turned back, face flushed slightly upon realising Grian was heading the other way. Grian's face was flushed red too, instead from held-back laughter.

"Shut up," Taurtis mumbled, a hint of humour in his voice despite the harsh words.

"Make me," Grian retorted, swinging his sword playfully.

"Now that sounds like a cringy fanfic prompt," Taurtis sniggered. The blonde took this as an invitation to burst out into laughter, having to steady himself on a tree.

"Oh trust me, it can get a lot worse," Grian sniggered, finally regaining the balance to stand up straight. How homophobic of him. "I swear half of my life is just a cringy fanfiction written by a 12 year old." Taurtis paused for a moment, deciding not to dwell on that completely impossible idea.

"You take the lead as you have better gear?" he asked, as Grian grabbed his sword again. He nodded.

The next hour or so was spent flicking between the repetitive jumping and slicing of various farmyard animals and chatting under a tree. The sun grew hotter and hotter as it rose higher into the sky, and their inventories began to fill up with raw food.

"Not gonna lie, this is starting to stink," Taurtis mumbled, stuffing some ice into his inventory in an effort to cool down the food. "Wanna head back?" Grian nodded, grabbing some of the ice Taurtis offered and putting most of it in his inventory. He kept a cube however and began to chew it.

"Sure," Grian shrugged, rinsing his hands off in the adjacent lake. A slight sick feeling rose in his throat upon seeing the blood seeping out, and he quickly looked away. "Which way is it?" Taurtis hesitated for a second, completing a full '360 before turning back to Grian.

"That way," he directed, pausing. "Possibly." Grian shrugged.

"Looks about right." Taurtis grinned at Grian, taking off into a run. The blonde started laughing and tried to chase after him, weaving through the trees and ducking occasionally to avoid getting hit by a branch.

It was moments like these that made Grian remember why he'd loved Evo so much. But it was also moments like these that he knew could never last.

NO ITS NOT BEEN 3 MONTHS SHHHH I WAS BUSY FIRST GETTING INTO A NEW FANDOM THEN WRITING THAT THEN GETTING INTO ANOTHER NEW FANDOM AND WRITING THAT AND THEN BACK INTO HERMITCRAFT BUT FOR ANOTHER STORY

but its here

in all of it's mildly crackish glory