He was running.

He was running. He couldn't look behind him. He didn't want to look behind him.

Lighting struck from the sky, as if surrounding the barren, decimated terrain and lands which were already lit up in flames.

Everything was dead.

Everything was dead .

And it's after him next.

He was running.

It's after him.

"Tango!"

He couldn't outrun the immortal.

He couldn't outrun the inhuman.

The eyes are always watching .

He couldn't outrun what was always right behind him.

A hand pushed him to the ground. He couldn't have had time to retaliate, he was on the ground. He couldn't tell if he made a sound. He might've screamed.

Something sparked.

"Tango!"

Electricity.

Electricity ran down his veins.

He screamed. He's pretty sure he screamed.

All his senses were screaming. It hurt.

Electricity filled up all he could feel.

Everything hurts.

They were catching up.

And everything hurts.

His veins burned. It hurt.

It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt It hurt-

*Slap*

"Ow-! What the fuck man?!" He jolts awake, pain flowing through his veins. Real and physical pain. He froze. "Whoops, excuse my language."

Gathering his bearings, he noticed that right above him was Impulse, who was practically shaking in excessive relief. When his eyes finally focused, he saw that the the brunet himself seemed exhausted . "You're alright. Thank god you're alright."

Looking around, it seems he was still in the forest, but maybe a different location. There were about six hermits surrounding him, as if they were waiting for him to wake up.

His head felt a bit dizzy. A bit floaty. He could still feel the sweat glistening on his head, his entire body. The buzz was still faintly there. As if something was popping inside of his blood. The buzz was still there .

After a little, he finally got his mind intact enough to respond, though his tone was noticeably detached. "I am. Yeah. 'Sup? What happened."

That might've not been the best thing to say. "You... don't remember?" Zedaph asked, a bit worried.

He scratched his head nervously, confusion slipping in. He recollected his recent memories. "... Remember what? Us confronting... the shithole ?"

"A bit after that." Wels chimed in. "When Grian tackled you to the ground."

The buzzing was still there.

"Oh." Right, that happened. The arsehole. "That."

"Are you fine?" Ren said, grimly. "Dude, you were literally screaming back then. You good?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm alright." He chuckled, waving it off. "Just a bit of a stun, honestly. Did hurt. A lot." A dark grimace appeared on his face. "But I'm fine. Where're the others?" He shook his head, realizing other questions were starting to pop up in his head. "How long - how long was I out for? Where's Grian?"

"Grian escaped. You were out for about an hour. Or two, at most." Impulse clicked at his comms patiently, before looking up. "The others are currently causing their own ruckuses, Xisuma left after we pulled you to the side to heal."

He collapsed back down into the bed. Bed? Since when was he- ohh, right. He popped back up again. "Is Xisuma alright?"

The air noticeably got thicker. The others glanced back and forth towards each other, and concern started breaching Tango's mind.

"He's-"

"Not the greatest. No." Hypno muttered carefully. "Not after... Scar. You."

"Fuck."

"Language."

"Sorry."

It was quiet after that, no one sure of what to say. Tango took a good look at himself and his mind as he sat down. If he truly concentrated on it, he could still feel the electricity that flowed through his veins, activated again by the hit he received. He felt it more than he felt the touch of the silky blanket of the bed, as if there was just something running inside his skin. It burnt. It was like fire in his skin, and not the good kind. It buzzed. Disturbed.

He grounded himself back into reality, noticing the other hermits in the area. None of them seemed to be physically damaged, as Grian didn't directly attack anyone else other than him (and Cub, he shuddered to think what had happened to the man. And Scar, he didn't want to think about him. That he's gone). Then again, he was his main target. It was his own foolish idea to keep that blasted device on him, as no one else could hold it without consequence aside from him. He really should've listened to their suggestions to destroy it immediately. He should've-

No, he has to focus. He needs to breathe.

The electricity distracts him from breathing.

Then everyone heard the rustle of leaves, the sound of footsteps. They all turned simultaneously, and Tango's head perked up.

"X! There you are!"

The admin seemed to immediately approach him in worry. "Tango, are you alright?" Guilt was wrought through his voice. "I'm sorry, I wasn't able to stop him in time - he-"

"It's all good, X!" He immediately cut off before the admin could go spiralling, putting on a smile as convincing as he could. "All on me, I didn't see him coming at all. Sick bastard's also surprisingly really swift, the fucker." He grumbled. "I let my guard down, I lost the communicator. I'm sorry."

Xisuma gave a conflicting, hesitant look. "It's not your fault. He could've killed you- He-" Taking a closer look, his hair was ruffled and messy, his visor was a bit unfixed. He could see his eyes from behind the thin screen, and they did not glow as they usually do.

The admin was obviously tired, exhausted.

"But I'm fine, see?" He raised his hands as if proving a point. "Nothing to worry about!"

Xisuma obviously did not buy it, but decided to not go further than that, knowing it was pointless.

"Tango, please, you literally got hit by watcher magic, that must've hurt." Hypno butted in when Xisuma didn't speak.

Impulse shivered. "No joke."

"Guys, seriously, I'm fine!"

The tense air melted a little, though it was still fairly evident. Xisuma didn't say anything for a full moment. Then, he sighs, fixing his visor on his face, coughing to get everyone's attention.

"In front of Grian's starter house. We all meet up again."

Everyone double taked at that. "Now?" Ren asked, confused.

"Yes, now. I'll need to round up the others, I'll catch you guys later."

Tango frowned. "X, you sure you don't need a moment?"

"Yes, I'm certain." The voice was steel, sure, but still sounded unconvinced of himself. "I'm- I'm sure. We don't have much time."

"Xisuma-"

But the admin already left.

"Guys," Hypno muttered after a bit of silence. "I'm a bit worried about him if I'm being honest."

***

Time.

Time moved on.

It killed. It reduced rocks into nothing.

It killed people. It killed the past, moving on to be a history, memories rather forgotten.

The cobblestone starter was the same each time. Grey rocks, pebbles, and stern wood. The moss, the plants. It was reminiscent of something, of life. Of a certain liveliness.

Yet that liveliness no longer lived. It had died, and left nothing remaining but all the cramped chests, the bed. The plants.

It reminded of something, but that something no longer existed. It had died, bringing along with it the liveliness of that cobblestone house, and the joy and comfort it would've once held.

Nothing could revive it.

The presence of people, of other lives, only made it dimmer. Only added to it.

They all know what happened here. They all knew what happened.

The silence said it all.

"So," The admin started reluctantly, something akin to distaste in his voice. "We all know why we're here."

"To recap for those not present during the events, Iskall and Mumbo had ran into Grian, who then went violent and... attacked Scar, who had been around the area. Killing him."

It was dead silent, though the last two words seemed to hit everyone. They hit hard. The reality hit hard. No one liked it. Even Xisuma paused for a second, getting his composure together.

Sure, usually death wasn't a big thing in the hermitcraft server. It happened all the time, in fact, in pranks and such. But this wasn't a prank. It was a permanent kill, done by someone they all trusted. Someone who brutally stabbed them all in the back. He falters when he thinks back to Jevin or Joe... what could've happened to them as well. Those three will never respawn. That knowledge formed something unpleasant in his stomach.

They had probably turned on that setting for a while now, how could he have not noticed...?

Eventually, he forced himself to continue with an audible sigh.

"When most of us had rushed to the scene, it... it was already too late. He was aggressive after that, and had attacked both Cub and Tango, promptly before acquiring the communicator and leaving." He spat those words out shakingly. "We were unable to stop him."

And after Xisuma stopped, no one else said a word. There was nothing to be said, yet also thousands of words that nobody addressed.

"I wish we could've done something," Bdubs muttered slowly from amongst the crowd. Stark contrast to usual, his voice sounded absolutely heart wrenched. "I really wish we could've done something. It was us against one watcher, a traitor! Yet none of us could... instead we..."

"We hesitated," Impulse completed, voice barely above a whisper in a despairing and shaking tone. "Personally, I hate to admit it, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to fight him."

Pearl stuttered behind him. "None of you probably did."

"In any case, now, G..." Xisuma's voice trailed off against his own will, a bitter aftertaste left on his tongue as he grimaced. "...He is not who we have to worry about. Not anymore. Now that he's escaped, he has probably returned to whatever base the watchers have, and they might be going on the offensive against us soon, which gives us little time to react."

Etho grumbled under his breath. "So our first course of action is?"

"We would need to make sure they aren't able to access our server, no?" Keralis offered. "The longer we can block them out, the better, and the more time we'd have."

False sighed. "Well, we're already on whitelist, I don't know how we could get more secure than that."

"The whitelist system isn't perfect," Tango cutted, "And now that we know someone from the inside has been against us this entire time, there's a huge chance that they've already interfered with the code, which they probably already did, knowing the watchers."

"Maybe you need to reinforce it, reinstall it and make sure there aren't any modifications that could lead to it being compromised."

"And aside from that, we're going to need a backup plan for when we inevitably have to start defending ourselves," Wels said, rolling his eyes when everyone around him tensed. "Look, it's the watchers we're going against. They're not going to give up just because they can't get in. They're going to find a way eventually."

"Wels' right," Hypno said with a grimace, "They're been eyeing us for years, I really doubt they'd ever let us go."

"We'd better get to it, then. The sooner the better."

"Alright, I'll check the code w..." Seeing the admin shift uncomfortably, Tango paused indefinitely. He raised a brow. "Xisuma, you alright?"

"Well- Uh-" Xisuma tensed visibly. Something pooled in his stomach seeing the admin nervous. "The thing is," he took a deep breath, before confessing reluctantly. "...My communicator's missing."

The air of discussion became silent after that.

"It's... missing?"

"...yeah."

Before anyone could ask any more questions like 'when' 'how' 'who' that he knew would just make X burst, Tango intervened, reaching out to put a comforting hand on the admin's shoulder. "You can use mine for the time being, it shouldn't be that different."

Xisuma's eyes widened at him, looking both disbelieved or surprised. "You... sure?"

He nodded. "Of course. You need it more than I do. You know how to use it more than I do."

He visibly hesitated for a second, seeming like he wanted to reject, but ended up accepting the device anyways. "Thank you, Tango." Despite how hard X tried to keep his hard shelled admin persona intact, his voice shook, so did his hands, and Tango felt the genuinity in those words.

The air was heavy as Xisuma began fiddling with things, the admin monitors coming up. Holograms lit up the air for a second, and Xisuma began going through them as the silence seemed to crush the world.

And then, something like terror washed over his face. Before Tango or any of the others could ask what up, a sentence blurted out the admin's mouth.

"The server is in lockdown."

"What?"

Dreadfully, Tango peered over his shoulder, and sure enough. It was listed in all capital letters that the server was on a lockdown 'due to an emergency' .

As in, the server was locked itself down to prevent the 'emergency' from getting worse.

As in, now nobody could join the server, nor could they leave. They were stuck.

Barely hidden by the visor, a flash of fear appeared on Xisuma's face. "I didn't set this."

Doc growled. "Must be their doing, then. Dammit!"

"Wait, but if they lock it down like this, how are they going to be attacking?" Impulse pointed out, dread pitting in his stomach. "They also can't join the server if they lock it down like this."

"They'll have a way." Doc grumbled. "There's no way they haven't thought of this."

The panic was cut abruptly by a message ping. A click later, X's eyes seemed to widen as the chat screen loaded in. He was just staring at the latest message, unblinking, as if entirely in shock.

Tango reached out uncertainly. "Xisuma? What's wrong-?"

" I know who took my comms. "

< XisumaVoid > 'To the end we'll live, or both die'

< XisumaVoid > It's been a long time coming, suma