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My brain is f*cking fried this chapter is burning in Tartarus right along with any ideas for the middle section of this side event and my f*cking grammar

Please. Gods. Of. F*cking. Greece. The Norse. Egypt. I. Don't. Care. Just. Help. Me.

Cw: blood, death, bones crunching, the end of third life (if you don't want to read that, skip Grian's pov. There is suicide at the end, but not the thoughts behind it.)

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Grian's pov

     Grian threw the first punch. Tried to return it, but wasn't fast enough. An upper cut from Grian, a weak punch to the chest from Scar. Scar's never been one for up close fighting. Grian quickly had Scar pinned in a corner, a lot of his bones broken and blood streaming from his nose and mouth. He was one punch away from death.

     "I'm so sorry," Scar said, smiling.

     "I'm sorry too," Grian replied as he struck the final blow on his friend. A sickening crunch rangout along with the chat message:

Goodtimewithscar was slain by Grian.

     Tears streamed down his face as he set Scar's lifeless body down and walked to the edge.

     "Thank you," he whispered before jumping off and ending his third life.

Xisuma's pov

     He kicked a rock a meter or so away and started pacing. After a few steps, the rock was obscured by the mist. When X walked back that way, he was expecting a completely different area. To his surprise, the pebble was still there.

     "What? Wait, that means someone started tying a string behind them. We're not eternally doomed!"

False's pov

     False had been walking for a while when she heard footsteps that weren't her own. She crouched down and snuck over to where the sound was coming from. To her surprise, she found Xisuma. She stood up and jogged over.

     "X?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't going as crazy as this forest.

     "Oh thank Notch you're here False!" You're the one who figured out the string trick," X replied, turning to face False. He had some sort of mask on.

     "How can you see me if you don't have a mask on?" Xisuma questioned. "The chorus fumes should have gotten to you by now."

False answered, "Wait, is that what that was?" X tilted his head. "After a little bit in this place, this weird thing happened. It was like I was being pulled into another dimension."

     "You were able to pull yourself out of the corrupted chorus hallucination? Wow," X commented. It was False's turn to look confused. "This is a corrupt chorus forest. The fumes will send you into reliving your worst memories. Normally, it takes years of training to be able to pull yourself out of the hallucinations."

     "Where are the others?" False inquired.

Xisuma replied, "I don't know. I would have started looking, but I had no string, so it would do me no good. All it would have done is tire me out.

     "However, now that we have string, we can start looking. I will warn you, they won't be able to recognize you until you mask their face so they don't breathe in the fumes. They might see you as part of their hallucination and try to attack you. Don't get caught off guard."

     False nodded. The two of them started walking, trying to find the others.

Mumbo's pov

     "You know Mumbo, there's a, there's a way we could still be friends," Grian said, a mad smile creeping onto his face.

     "Yeah?"

     "Yeah. You could join me." 

     "Dude, dude-" Mumbo backed away as Gruan broke a chunk of cobblestone near his feet

     "You could join me, you could join me."

     "I don't know if I-"

     Then Grian attacked. Mumbo jumped back in surprise. Somehow, it didn't feel right, like that wasn't supposed to happen.

     Grian sprung again.

     For a split second the red-life flashed to a girl with long blond hair and broken goggles, before changing back. 

     Mumbo paused, confused. Those were the few seconds Grian needed to pounce and knock him down. However, instead of drawing his sword and killing him right then and there, he stuffed something (wool maybe?) into the yellow-life's face.

     Grian flickered over to the other person and back again, and a third time before Mumbo passed out.

Xisuma's pov

     Xisuma and False had managed to run into Mumbo. As expected, his eyes were glazed over and he was talking to no one, at least no one that they could see.

     False looked somewhat shaken to see Mumbo in that state. X, of course, had told her what to expect, but it always comes as a surprise.

     The two of them approached Mumbo slowly and carefully, masks in hand. The longer they had before they had to alter his vision.

     Xisuma held up his fingers to count down. 3. 2. 1.

     False jumped on Mumbo and knocked over while X helped cushion his fall and keep him pinned. The mustachioed man struggled a little, but not enough to knock two people off who he wasn't even properly aware of. 

     False covered his mouth with the cloth and tied it to his face. She picked him up and fireman carried him along their way to find the others.

False's pov

     False... wasn't prepared for it. She knew what Xisuma had told her, but she almost froze up when it came time to rescue Mumbo. She couldn't hurt her friends like that. She swore long ago that she would never attack anyone without a reason if they could be permanently injured. False couldn't shake the feeling that this went against it, despite knowing that her friends would be much, much worse off if she didn't, so she momentarily shoved her hesitation away and did what had to be done.

     She thought that it might make her soul feel better once she saw that Mumbo wasn't hurt by them tackling him and putting the wool mask over his face. It only made her stomach squirm in a different way.

     There is nothing like seeing someone you know not recognize you and talk to someone who isn't there. To see them so delirious that they're in an entirely different universe. False could deal with gore and blood, but this made her feel sick.

     But feelings would have to wait. Wait until she and X got everyone out of this gods-forsaken labyrinth. Stupid. F-ing. Chorus labyrinth.

     After a few more hours and a good deal of sweat, they manage to find and mask everyone and drag them outside the forest.

     It was so nice to be out of that dam forest and be able to see the sky again. False never thought she would be so happy to see the dark, star-dotted void, but here it was, along with glorious fresh air.

     X and False removed everyone's masks and woke them up. It took all of them a few seconds to realize that they were safe now. They weren't stuck in whatever nightmare they had relived.

Mumbo's pov

     Mumbo was avoiding Grian's gaze. He knew that it wasn't really the actual Grian in his hallucination. It was just the memory of a Grian crazed by the fresh loss of his yellow life and wanting to bring another with him. It wasn't Hermitcraft Grian. Not really. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he was. It was silly, sure, but he was still somewhat scared of Grian after the time in that cursed, corrupt chorus.

     It's just the after effects of the fumes, Mumbo told himself. Not reality. It's not real. Nope. Still, he could see Scar and Grian not looking at each other the same way.

     X spoke up, "I know most of you probably saw each other in your illusions. I know that that fear towards the others is probably a half healed wound ripped open again. Don't let it keep bleeding. Stitch it up. Don't let it break this team up. We can see the palace from here. Tomorrow, we will get there and we will defeat the Entity. Don't let the forest break that. We are a team, and we stick together no matter what."

     Whatever tension there was seemed to dissolve. Xisuma's a great admin.

     They set up camp, slept through the 'night,' and went down to their final destination. In front of them was the Entity's fortress.

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OH MY GODS ITS DONE. ITS FINALLY F*CKING DONE. DONE. DONE. I CAN GO BACK TO WRITING OTHER THINGS. YESSSS

     -Meep

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