< Tango > how?

< Tango > why are you here??

Behind the visor, crimson eyes were boring into the hologram. There was emotion in those eyes, though they remain unexplainable, even to the one who bore them.

He breathed, keeping his nerves down as best as he could. Reluctantly, a hand of his reached out to type out a reply, though when his fingers touched the keypad, he instead realized why he despised the device so much. The screen trickled as electric magic gathered around his fingertips, sparking, somehow holding.

The green holograms, the admin magic, it all reminded him of his brother. He had to swallow his guilt-like disgust, an inside scream that constantly bubbled in his chest, fixing the frown on his face. The remembrance was very much unwelcomed, he despised it. He didn't want to be reminded of where he was before all of this.

It was pointless to think of the past. He's tired of these useless, pitying memories of his, ones he wishes to never resurface. He forced everything out of his head, directing his focus back to the screen.

Though, evidently, he couldn't think of a reply. Maybe that was enough? Should he elaborate? Tell Xisuma how dumb he is? Monologue? What was he supposed to do in this situation? What was appropriate to do in these weird circumstances? Fuck, why the hell would there be anything appropriate about these circumstances!?

He should be feeling proud that he was able to get this far, he should be happy. He isn't in the slightest. He doesn't want to realize that. He feels sick.

"Oh, come on," an irritating voice suddenly erupted from behind, and he definitely didn't jump in surprise. "Hurry with it already!"

It irked him enough to stop him contemplating, at least. He rolled his eyes with a tch, not bothering to face the other.

"For all your other unredeeming qualities, the least you could have is a bit of patience." He forced a cool tone, though he didn't care enough to keep it polite.

The person snickered, and oh that may be the most annoying noise he's ever heard his entire life. "I wasn't paid to be patient, mind you. I'm only here for the promised battle."

One thing he knew, fate was definitely not on his side. He's bond by some sort of horrible misfortune that he keeps being put together with insufferable, incompetent jerks. The first were his old friends, next were the watchers, then his own brother, followed years after by Grian, back to the watchers, and now this edgy teenager in a metal suit.

His voice irked a part of his brain. He couldn't place a finger on it, but it did. A part of his mind reminded himself to not give in to the temptation to punch, though he ended up replying again out of sheer annoyance, snapping. "Aren't you a knight? Aren't you people supposed to be proper, polite, and honorable?"

"That may be true for him, but I'm not some goody two shoes."

"Please," He wanted to kick himself for saying that word alone, but that's just how infuriated he was, "if you may, shut your jaws before I nail them together."

"Go on, then."

EX gritted his teeth, but was he was not in the mood to continue this unnecessary back and forth.

Thank the fucking Enders, Hels finally decided to leave him a little after due to boredom. Well, for better or for worse, now he's here, alone, back with only his traitorous thoughts.

He still had the hologram from the communicator on, and just glancing at it felt like bringing physical pain to his eyes, extending to giving his brain a migraine.

He hates those thoughts. He needs them to just die. They needed to cripple up and get out of his head. This was not a time to dwell on his or any other moralities. He wants it to shut up. His conscience died long ago. He's hearing the voice of a ghost. An echo, he reminded himself as he closed the hologram of the communicator for his own relief. It was all just an echo.

He turned around and walked, and the stone tiling of the abandoned fortitude clashed with his boots. Hels was, of course, in the other room, waiting there.

"They're coming over," EX said, catching the other's attention. "We should get our move on."

"Finally!" Hels grumbled. "God, no wonder they called you incompetent."

He so wishes he could kill this bastard right now.

"Now, let's go!" Hels jumped up, an obnoxious grin on his face. "We've got havoc to wreck!"

He says nothing more as he follows the other to the staircase.

God he hates this.

He hates everything about this.

...

But he hates his brother more.

...

Obviously.

Of course he does.

He does.

...

At least, that's all he lets himself think.

***

"Xisuma, what-" Tango started, completely alarmed.

"He's here." Xisuma cut him off, tension clear cut in his voice. "He's watching us, and he has my comms."

It's unbelievable, it's an absolute nightmare.

The silence in the group speaks volumes enough. Xisuma's head spins, and he's not sure how to stop it.

"Wait, but I thought Grian to be the one behind everything?"

Xisuma took a deep breath; he had to, in order for to keep his speech coherent. "From what we know, it isn't just Grian. It's the watchers."

When the rest of the hermits just looked at him blankly, he elaborated. "Evil X is a watcher."

"What should we do then?" Beef looked at him. "If he has your comms, it would be really easy for them to just go in."

"No, actually, the emergency lockdown system also overrides the owner, for some reason," That fact was a blessing in disguise, he now realizes. "So he can't actually do shit like that to let the watchers actually go in, but it's still dangerous. Especially since we don't know where-"

Another chat notification beep went off.

Helsknight got the achievement [The End...?]

Wels' breath got caught in his throat, audible among the crowd. "That's-"

"I guess we know where to look first now." Doc said grimly.

There was a brief pause in discussion after that.

Pearl bit her lip. "It might be a trap."

"What other choice do we have?"

"It's definitely a trap," Zed muttered in agreement.

"What other choice do we have?"

Xisuma's outburst left the rest of them quiet, silently conceding his point.

"I think we should split up," Tango spoke up to break the ice. "Some people go, and some stay here in case of anything."

Predictably, there were split reactions to the suggestion.

"I'm against that," Beef started, but sighed, "Though it would be necessary in this situation."

Wels was first to raise a hand.

"I'm going." He said sternly.

Iskall rose up alongside him. "As well as me."

"Let's keep some heavy hitters here in the overworld too, in case bad becomes disastrous," Doc interrupted. "False, can you stay?"

False perked up, seeming a little disappointed, but she resigned. "Fine by me."

"X," Tango called out reluctantly, "I think you should stay here as well."

Xisuma's eyes widened, immediately turning to protest. "But Evil-"

"See, that's exactly it," Cub cut in before he could finish his point. "We don't know anything going into this, this could be a trap aimed at you specifically."

Etho nodded, "Considering how Evil X is involved, yeah, it most likely is."

"Well-" The admin went silent, though was ultimately unable to find something to counter with. They were right, he reluctantly realizes, and relents. "It's hard to argue with your point. Alright. Fine."

Then, the two parties were formed; the ones that will stay in the overworld, and ones that will depart to the End.

They tried not dwelling on it too much. As it stands, their current situation felt like a time bomb. They had no idea what was currently going on in the end. They don't know anything.

"Worst case scenario, we immediately die when we enter the end," Cleo said, causing Mumbo among others to pale up, and Bdubs shushed her with; "Don't joke about that!"

According to the formation they've decidedly made, the ones that'll be going to the end are as listed; Iskall, Wels, Tango, xB, Cleo, Bdubs, Beef, Hypno and Mumbo.

"This seems a bit unbalanced."

"It's tough," Tango sighed, "We can't send too many people because it could actually be a trap, at the same time though it could be an ambush, so too few people can also be dangerous."

"So it's dangerous either way, lose-lose," Iskall summarized. "Whatever- I think we've stalled for too long, we need to go soon, doubt Evil X is waiting for us patiently in the End."

"Yeah," Tango muttered in agreement. "Let's go."

That's when the group of people started taking off, more so individually, one by one. Tango lingered in his thoughts for a moment before turning to fly up with his elytra himself, but before he did, he was approached. A hand rested itself on his shoulder, and he turned to see two people, two of whom he cherished. He almost felt worse somehow.

"Tango- we..." Zed paused, mouth still open as if he's trying to search for the appropriate words.

"Stay safe," Impulse finished simply, seeming as tense as the other if not more, though trying his best to show a smile. As he always does, trying to stay cheerful for the others sake. It hurt to see it.

Uncontrollably, the small smile reflected on Tango's face, though it wasn't a happy one. It was one encompassing both comfort and dread. Here was his reminder of what he could lose - what he might lose, and he's not happy.

"Thanks, guys," That came out much more forced than he preferred, but it got the point across. Reluctantly, the two backed off, and so did Tango.

Before walking on, he mentally prepared himself once more by taking his last glance around, at all of the hermits remaining, and then his eyes stopped at the admin, their admin. As he stopped, Xisuma stared back, and there was some unspoken, unsaid, silent but clear communication between the two. It was a silent exchange between the two, which ended with Tango breaking off first, nodding, before he ran to catch up with the End group.

The trip to the stronghold was, well, silent, devoid of their usual casualties. No discussions, nothing. With the tension in the air, nobody dared to even raise their voice out for anything as they all individually started making their way to where the nearest stronghold was.

***

"We're here," Hypno stated grimly as they stopped their tracks.

And here they were. There they were, inside the fortitude of the moss covered walls, racked and barely holding on together. The halls were dim with only dimly lit torches as light, ones that were magically still burning from void knows how long this place has existed. It smelled like something was rotting.

"This place looks severely depressing, more than usual," Iskall commented with a grimace.

Some muttered agreements, while xB led them through in the front; "Portal room's this way, if I recall correctly."

And they eventually reached it, the arched opening to the portal room, entrance brightly lit up with the lava on the sides. They walked into the room, raising their guards up, though there seemed to be nobody there with them.

As expected, the portal was already activated. It's always been activated; they have been here countless times before this, but for much lighter reasons. Visible hesitance as they started to tread up the brick of stairs.

When Wels did, he struggled to not observe the portal. The eyes look more alive than ever before, almost as if they could pop out of their frames. It felt like the twelve dilated pupils were moving in their frames, following the group's every movement, watching them, and he couldn't tell if that was his mind playing tricks on him or actually true.

Wels quickly sets his glance down to the actual portal, the black starry void, a rift between the worlds. He stared at it momentarily, and it was almost like it stared back.

He forced back the shiver that went through his body, shaking his head. Just then, Iskall held his breath and began speaking.

"Are we ready?"

"No," Tango in the back replied with a quiet voice, "But here we go regardless,"

And he was right, nobody was ready for this. Nobody wanted to go through the portal, but they had to. So, while bracing himself, he dropped, letting the darkness engulf him as he fell into the pit of galactic black emptiness.

.

..

...

..

.

..

...

..

.

He's sure he might've let out a choked noise.

The air of the end was always unfamiliar. It's difficult to describe, even more to breathe in. the closest thing it could be compared to is poisonous gas, filling your lungs and replacing the air you needed to live with something weakening and toxic. It was unbearably dry.

He then heard other's surprised gasps, and hesitantly, he opened his eyes.

As soon as they'd entered the dimension, everyone could tell that something was horribly, oh so horribly, wrong.

"They've been here." Tango confirmed what they'd all been thinking.

For one, the terrain was... different. It wasn't islands. No, it resembled something more of what the nether looked like, just more inconsistent and all the way fucked up.

Bumpy, shattered, canyon-like. Some parts were even glitched out, where generation seemed to stop and drop down to the void.

It was most definitely out of the ordinary. Strange.

Though given everything else going down, maybe this shouldn't have been surprising.

They could stare for another hour, but unfortunately they didn't get another moment to relapse. It was then that Wels heard something.

A distant noise, a background noise, but it was something that didn't originate from their group.

Cold, dreadful tingles went down his spine, his entire body involuntarily tensing on itself from his screaming instinct. The grip on his weapon tightened and he turned around at lightning speed.

"Wels?"

"There's someone-"

Cst!

No amount of words could describe what it felt like in that moment. There wasn't time to say anything but;

"Oh shoot."

One moment, they were standing. The next, the platform they spawned on actually exploded, and Wels felt himself getting knocked away, and hitting something, hard in the head.

It was like his hearing went off for a second; his ear tingled with buzzing in the aftermath. Opening his eyes, he felt dizzy, almost downright nauseous. Despite that, he still forced them open, and saw that he'd apparently been knocked somewhere, further into the dimension, though still in the end.

But most worryingly, the others have disappeared.

He tried to get up, stumbling to do so, when he hears footsteps to his side. Beef had apparently also been knocked close by. The other also looked uninjured, luckily.

"Wels? Bud, you okay?"

"Beef- I'm," Wels paused, struggling to get his bearings. "What..."

"Well, uh, for starters we were right, it was a trap," Beef admitted with gritted teeth. "I think there might've been TNT underneath where we spawned."

"An explosion," Wels concluded. "But then why are we alive? Where are the others-?"

"The explosives were magically infused, of course. Aimed at getting all of you separated, less on the damages," Wels froze at the familiar voice, chortling distantly from somewhere behind them. "We're not trying to kill you. Actually, that's a lie - we totally are trying to kill you. But not yet, regrettably."

He turned on his heels, gritting his teeth. "Hels."

Atop a heightful cliff, a dressed figure in clad dark metal armor loomed. Even in the natural brightness of the end realm, their eyes glowed eerily. Almost like a flame, but even that shouldn't be brightly seen in the End.

"You're finally here!" Hels drawled with dramatics, malicious glee engraved in his voice.

Wels could feel his grip on his sword tightening by instinct; he looked up to meet the wretched's gaze with equally shining eyes, though his were filled with anger. "What in God's name are you doing here!?"

Though far away, he could still make out the unapologetic grin on the other's face.

"Oh, you know me, brother," Hels laughed, voice echoing on the walls of the canyon. "I go wherever I want, whenever I want!"

Wels moved forwards leaving Beef behind him, who looked well over worried for him. "Wels-"

"Hels isn't here for anyone other than me. I know that much," He whisper-yelled to Beef without turning. It didn't matter if Hels heard them or not, the bastard didn't care. "Find the others."

Wels was sure that Beef at least had trust in his ability to survive, though he still looked hesitant to leave him here with the murder knight. He's sure he'll be able to run out when the fight starts, and so Wels directs his focus back to Hels.

"Why?" Wels inquired, after a moment of thought, "Why are you with the watchers? They've-"

"Killed people? Yea, no shit," Hels snorted, a manic look stilling in his eyes. He leaned in as if to get closer to Wels despite the vast distance set between them, and his voice dropped down into a low giggle. "Because it's fun."

Wels gritted his teeth, spitting out the bitter taste in his mouth. "You're incorrigible."

"And I bear that proudly."

One second, Hels was still on the cliffs, the next, he disappeared, and then the sound of steel clashing with steel rang out in the air as Wels held his blade up to block the swipe from his other. Hels was pushed off with the recoil, but his stance stayed ready to attack again.

He had to stop talking to block another hit, pushing Hels away strongly with a slash.

Hels only laughed, mocking and condescending. "Come on! It gets boring when your opponent doesn't even try, you know?"

"Shut it, Hels!" He screamed in fury, "Where are the others!?"

"Fighting their respective challenges, I'm sure. Eh, not really. I didn't stress about the details," Hels replied boredly, playing with the weapon in his hand, promptly before catching it and pointing it at Wels in a threatening manner. "Really, you should stop playing knight in selfless shining armor and just focus on yourself right now."

Gritting his teeth and glaring with a gaze ablaze, he readied his stance.

"I'll slash your limbs off."

Hels' face contorted into a shit-eating grin, before it became something more sinister as he began charging again. "Make sure you get all four of them, then!"

***

There was a tired groan, as he tried his best to rise up from his place.

"Hypno, you good dude?" Cleo asked with genuine concern, coming along to help him get up, though he was able to do so himself before she did.

"I'm- yea!" He assured shortly, fixing his bandana before looking around. "Where's everyone?"

"We're not sure- they've split us all up somehow." xB replied reluctantly.

Cleo nodded, and though her voice sounded the same as it usually does, there was a hint of frustration in it. "And so it was trap- well, we didn't die immediately so that's something!"

Hypno was about to reply to that, but just then, they heard a noise, a very concerning, loud noise. They went in silence as they turned to see the source of the sound, and found out that it was as worrying, terrifying, and horrible as it sounded.

That's when a roar sounded out from the middle of the island. A looming shadow towered over the entirety of the shattered islands, growing in its size, bigger than it should be.

The Ender Dragon has been revived.