Keralis paced the room, frustrated. "Where is he? It's not like him to be late."

Iskall met his gaze hesitantly, and Keralis could see all the layers, the implications Iskall was suggesting, the reference to the last time they and Tango had spoken to their admin. The secrets that Xisuma had shared with them, and his worry over the current situation.

He glanced away, unwilling to believe it. But why else wouldn't Xisuma be responding to all their messages in the chat? Why else wouldn't he be here?

Nihachu's gentle voice cut into his thoughts, laced with worry. "Is Tubbo also missing?"

Keralis glanced around, as did most of the other players in search of the bright eyed boy, but couldn't find him. The pit of unease in his stomach grew, yawning wider.

They had called a server wide meeting in the town hall to discuss the fact that Dream was now also missing - he had been taken sometime during the night. Tubbo had been on watch duty, it was his job to monitor any messages on chat and such. Nothing had come up. They had woken in the morning to discover the absence of the masked admin, and only now did it occur to Keralis that Xisuma might have been taken too. He shuddered at the thought.

Grian's voice rang out and the hermits and SMPers alike all fell silent and turned to him. "So," he began hesitantly, "what do we know as of n-why-is-everyone-staring-at-me-Mumbo-help."

Mumbo, who stood next to Grian managed a small smile. "Because you're talking."

"Oh."

Wilbur cut in, his voice laced with frustration. "We know Dream is missing. Xisuma might be too. Tubbo is gone and he was on watch duty."

"Do you think they took him so that he wouldn't be able to report Dream and Xisuma's messages?" Tommy's blue eyes were flooded with concern for his friend.

He was fiddling with his sword, running his fingers distractedly along the edge of the blade and generally making the people around him very nervous. Doc's red cyborg eye flashed uneasily and he took a tiny step away from Tommy who somehow still hadn't cut off any of his own fingers yet.

Bad nudged Tommy and as the younger boy paused and looked upwards at him, stuck a muffin into his hand. "There. Stop playing with the sword."

Nihachu, Doc and Cubfan, who was also next to Tommy, all nodded frantically.

"Please don't. I can't focus when you do." Sapnap admitted, rubbing his hands together nervously.

Tommy frowned. "You don't mind when Techno does it."

Instantly, the mood dropped, plunging into an icy depth at the mention of their missing admin, and Keralis could tell from the horrified look on Tommy's face that he regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.

Keralis cleared his throat, bringing the attention back to the conversation, aware of the thankful glance Tommy sent his way. "Xisuma has been taken. But before, he shared with us a secret plan."

He reached into his pocket, bringing out a small metal device with shaking hands. There was a small screen that was displaying random, flashing numbers, and a tiny red light that flickered on and off rhythmically. The players all leaned towards him, curiosity gleaming in their eyes. Grian broke the silence first. "What is that?"

Keralis rubbed his finger along the screen nervously, noting the nonsense on the screen. "It doesn't seem to be working perfectly, but it's a tracker, focused on Xisuma. The screen is supposed to show his coordinates, and the light is his heartbeat. So that we know he's not... " he voice trailed off.

Wilbur made a noise of approval. "How did you link it up to him?"

Tango winced at the question. "Uh. We injected a metal chip into him. At his wrist. To make sure it wouldn't be removed."

Bad made a face. "That's smart, but a little... weird."

"Xisuma guessed he and Dream would be targeted next, but Dream wasn't there so we didn't do it to Dream." Keralis tapped the glitchy screen. "I don't know what this means. Typically, I would think it shows that the coordinates are outside of the world border, but... is that even possible?"

George glanced at the screen. "Dream told me that admins can't do that. It's too close to the void. They would die."

Keralis glanced subconsciously at the little red light as it blinked steadily on and off. "Well that doesn't appear to be the case." His mind wandered back to something Xisuma had told him once. "Voidwalkers could survive there though, couldn't they?"

Sapnap raised an eyebrow and glanced at George, looking skeptical. "Those are a myth."

"Wait what?" Impulse sputtered. "Voidwalkers? Are a myth?" His voice was sharp with disbelief.

"Yeah. There's no proof they exist." Sapnap confirmed.

Impulse laughed, the rest of the hermits all looking faintly amused. "Xisuma is a Voidwalker! I thought you all knew that!"

Sapnap and George both looked so shocked that Keralis wanted to laugh. "His purple eyes kind of give it away. We assumed you all knew!"

Sapnap blinked slowly. "I didn't know that eye colour was a sign of Voidwalkers."

"It's not." Tango explained, somewhat calmly. "It can be. Purple eyes, specifically, are almost always signs of a Voidwalker. Other coloured eyes might be, but there's other signs too, depending on the individual."

Wilbur blinked nervously. "So does that mean that Xisuma's alive but the others aren't?" His voice was rigid with fear.

Keralis studied the red light. "I don't know, but I don't think so. They haven't killed Xisuma yet, which suggests they're wanted alive."

That didn't seem to reassure Wilbur too much. "What could they possibly be wanted for?"

"And what do they want with Tubbo?!" Tommy burst out, clearly worried for his best friend.

The adults in the room all glanced at each other. They had all seemed to come to the same conclusion: If Tubbo had been taken because he was a witness, he likely would have been killed. Yet no one wanted to say it. To tell Tommy and watch his expression crumble. To see the hope, the light, fade from his lively blue eyes.

Keralis studied him curiously. He wondered if perhaps Tommy already knew and was simply in denial. Unwilling to admit to it out loud, because saying it would finalize it. Leave no way back. Make it seem... real.

Iskall cleared his throat. "Well, there's only one way do find out. We must carry on with the plan Xisuma left us with."

There was a little pause, as Iskall let the news sink in.

Bad chewed nervously on a blueberry muffin.

Niki tilted her head, eyes sparkling fearfully for the fate of their friends.

Tommy stared glumly ahead, the future looking dark without Tubbo.

Sapnap and George leaned against each other, still looking surprised from their earlier discovery.

False was sharpening her sword quietly. Cleo stood next to her and Stress, who occasionally would show her a potion. They were preparing, having already guessed what Iskall would say.

Joe scratched one of his beloved dogs behind his ears, gently stroking its snout.

Scar fiddled with a small chunk of magic crystal.

Grian picked nervously at his red sweater, then leaned over to brush a bit of redstone off of Mumbo's moustache, the latter looking a little embarrassed.

Tango glanced at Keralis and Iskall. They knew what Iskall would say. They were there when Xisuma had told them, there when it had been finalized, there when they had sworn to secrecy unless an emergency. Which this definitely qualified as.

Sure, they had done it before, plenty of times, but now they had to do it as quickly as possible, and without dying. Not even once, as it would be permanent.

The concept was daunting.

Dangerous.

"We need to defeat the Ender Dragon."

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Bad just has an endless supply of muffins in this, there is no logic. He just loves them so much that idk, they are drawn to him :/

So yeah lol, hope you enjoyed!