Doc's POV:

"Well I'm glad you had a nice time visiting your family. It's nice to see you back though." I smile at the man sitting on a fence post nearby.

"I had a lot of fun, my dude, but I'm glad to be back on the server. Honestly you're all like a second family to me."

I nod, turning my focus to the project in front of me.

"Oh Gods, dude! What was that?"

I look up to see Ren standing up, on guard. "What was what?" I ask, noticing a slight twitch from his ears.

"There was an explosion somewhere. And it didn't sound like a creeper one." He pauses, "Redstone. . ."

I stand up, a Redstone explosion may be common at times, but not this early in a world, those only occur in more complicated contraptions, which not all the Redstoners have started on yet. Plus Mumbo's out so he's not liable for anything Redstone related until he's back.

"Where's it coming from, Ren?" I ask, as Ren starts off running.

He stops for a moment, looking back. "Near spawn." I reach him just as he mutters, "Who'd be working on a big project near spawn?"

"I'm not sure Ren, but we should," I pause for a second, "We should make sure they're okay. There's not been any death messages in the world chat yet."

We make our way to spawn posthaste, there's still a bit of smoke from the contraption, but not enough to blind anyone. We scan the area I spot what looks like a portal hooked up to a Redstone circuit, and a Player console. I walk over to take a closer look. "Ren! Look around for a Player. This is um, a handmade server transporter!" I call out.

"Found them! I'm bringing them over!" I hear Ren call back.

I nod to myself, looking over the portal. The Player console looks completely fried, even some of the obsidian has been chipped beyond use.

"Doc!" I turn to see Ren running over with what looks to be a girl with light blue hair, her skin pretty pale though there's a few light blue and purple markings on her arms. Ren lays her against a tree, motioning for me to come over.

"Doc, is she alright?" He asks.

I kneel over her, placing a hand on her back. Her breathing seems a little light, she's got a few burns, most likely from the redstone, and cuts seemingly from the obsidian on her arms otherwise she's fine. I sigh, looking around as something gold catches my eye. I get up and make my way towards the object. It seems to be some sort of clock. I turn it over to see a few symbols on the back. I walk back over to Ren and the girl. Looking over the symbols.

"What is that?" Ren asks.

"I think it's something she dropped. It. . . might say her name, but I don't have my Galactic translator. . . calibrated so I-I can't read it." I hand it to him. "She seems fine, though, her breathing is super light. I can't tell if that's normal for her, or not."

"It says Alex." He says opening the clock. "Woah this thing is neat!"

I look over and see that the clock has a few other components. I watch as Ren goes through each one. Stopping at one with an image.

"Wait, isn't that Zi'zuma, Scar, Impulse, Tango, Wels, and, and Mumbo in that image?" I point to each person.

"It looks like it." Ren nods, lighting patting the girl's head.

I take out my communicator making a group chat with the members in the photo.

DocM77-Xisuma-Welsknight-ImpulseSV-TangoTek-GoodTimeWithScar> Guys get to spawn now. It's urgent.

~

Impulse's POV:

I look at my communicator, my breath catching. I turn charging out the door taking off to spawn with a few rockets, ignoring the calls of my name coming after me.

I land not so gracefully near spawn. Looking around for Doc.

"Impulse! You can't just fly off like that!" Tango says as he lands next to me.

"Tango, if this is Alex I'm not wasting my time on making sure they're okay."

"Impulse, take a few breaths. You need to calm down."

"Tango, how can I be calm? You know what They did to Grian, if They got anywhere near Alex I swear-" I don't get to finish my sentence as Tango brings me into a hug.

I hear a few fireworks and feet landing around us.

"It's them." Scar states. "I can tell by the magic in the air."

"Doc! Where you at?" Wels calls out.

"Over here!" We hear from behind a few trees.

Tango lets me go, but a hand is put on my shoulder. "Impulse how would the portal be powered if it's not connected to the server console?" Xisuma asks.

"By their Player console. That's why I'm so worried, their protective effects might have been erased if it ended up using all of its power." I reply.

We make our way to Doc seeing Ren with him as well. I look around for any signs of Alex, a little disturbed that I don't see them. I look to my right and sigh as I see Scar and Wels sitting under a tree with them sitting between the two.

"Zi'zuma, do you all know her?"

"Yes we know them. How's the portal look?" Xisuma's hand still rests on my shoulder.

"Not great, the obsidian is, um, cracked beyond use, and all the Redstone components. . . have been fried."

"How about the power source?" I ask.

"The player console has been fried as well. It's. . . not beyond repair though. Ren, Ren is trying to salvage anything of value in it, mainly the code chips." He pauses for a moment, looking over his shoulder towards Ren, then back to us. "Once we get everything from it we can. . . either use someone's spare, or make a new one for them later."

"What made you contact all of us instead of just X." Tango asks.

"This." He says tossing us an item. "There's a picture with you all in it."

I catch it opening it up. "Oh it's their father's compass." I smile. "I remember taking that image. Alex wouldn't stay still for more than a moment." I look over to them leaning over Scar as Wels weaves some flowers in their hair.

"Well Impy, Alex looks to be fine for now. Otherwise I don't think Wels and Scar would be resting with them like that."

"We should still be wary, with their console being fried they'll have a little bit of an issue adapting to the world." I say matter-of-factly as I tuck the compass into my inventory for safe keeping.

"What do you mean Impulse?" X asks.

"Alex is part Enderian, like their father, though you already know of that." I say, bringing my hands together. "But they may have issues breathing the mass amounts of oxygen here, since the commands they usually have running for them, have stopped due to the console frying. Their magic will also be a little more potent due to that too."

"May have issues?" I look over to X, his posture changing slightly with the question.

I nod, tapping my fingers on one of my hands with the other. "I've taught them ways to slow their breathing and take smaller breaths when they were little. 'Cause they didn't always know the commands. I had to teach them since they have to renew them every update anyways. There is always the chance something may glitch and it not work properly."

"Well I can help with that. I have a few spare armor sets from when I was their age that may fit, and if needed I can set some End Sub-Chunks wherever they're to stay." X nods, opening his console, most likely to take note of things he's to do soon.

I nod, "I'm not sure who they'd want to stay with, but Scar knows how to help them the best with being close species and all, so maybe set the End Sub-Chunks over there. If they end up wanting to bunk with someone else we can always switch over later. You also live close by there so it'll also be easier for you to keep an eye on them if needed."

"Alright, I'll get that set." X smiles, "How long has it been since we've seen them in person?" I see him looking over to Scar and Wels.

"It's been a while, they're definitely not a little kid anymore that's for sure."

~

Alex's POV:

I wake to the feel of a cat kneading their paws on my chest. I bring one hand up to pet them, the other rubbing at my eyes.

"Hey baby." I say, seeing Penny leaning into my hand. "So I'm guessing it worked huh?" I mutter as she hops off my chest allowing me to sit up. I look around seeing Xander laying on a pile of clothes. I get up groaning as I feel a little sore. I look around seeing my shulker boxes laid around the room, or I guess it's more like a platform connected to a tree with the canopy right over it, though it's still pretty closed in so there's no issues with someone invading my privacy. I spot my Compass on the bedside table. I smile, grabbing it.

"Hey Xander, get off your lazy butt and help Penny lead me to the nearest Player." I laugh giving him a few pats.

He gets up meowing at Penny and I, taking us down a few flights of stairs.

"Here's what I can offer you for Alex later. Ren and Doc said it might take a while to fix up their console so there's nothing I can really help with code wise except for the Sub Chunks I have in place."

"That's alright, Xisuma!"

I hear two others speaking. I gasp hearing the name Xisuma. I turn the corner to see the two.

I see a cat sitting at the foot of the other person.

"Scar, is that you?" I smile.

"Alex! You should be resting!"

I laugh, "Scar I'm fine, I've been through worse, and you know it. Redstone burns aren't lethal." I sigh. "I knew the risks of making the portal. The worst that could've happened would've been it blowing up as soon as I started it up, destroying my console, and trapping me in my world. The least was really just a few redstone burns." I pause, "Guess I was on the worse side of things though."

"Everyone is going to cry when they see you." X states. "You've grown up so much." He walks over to me holding out his arms for a hug.

I accept his hug wrapping my arms around him snuggly. "I would've stayed if I could, but you know how many others my age would kill to be on this server. Plus I wouldn't want to cause issues with you and the others being my guardians."

"Alex, you've always been a Hermit. No matter what anyone else says. You've been with us since you were little. Honestly the older viewers would prolly remember you from older seasons when you were too little to know not to disturb us."

"You don't know how many times I've been asked about you from long time viewers Alex." Scar says joining the hug. "Even Grian's gotten a little curious. From when he found one of the photos we all took together."

"We should recreate some of those clips." I laugh.

We all separate from the hug and smile. "So Alex, my friend, I got some of my old armour sets laid out for you, since you got console issues. Hopefully you can find one that fits and such." He says patting a shulker box next to him. "They all work like mine, though the settings may need to be tweaked depending on a few factors."

"I'm guessing that maybe I should change into something a little thinner to wear under whatever fits?" I ask.

"Would be useful to know if something fits right." He nods.

I wave my hand as a shulker box appears in front of me, I should have something in here. I had a few outfits for when I worked at CBA a few weeks back. The main outfit might be best for me to use the shirt's a bit loose, but I could just tuck it into the leggings. I grab a cream colored blouse and some tan leggings, along with a red sash that I used to tie around my waist when I wore this back on CBA.

"I have an area over here you can change in." Scar says as I wisp the shulker box away.

I nod seeing Jellie start off towards the direction Scar pointed in. I follow her to what I would explain as a half bath, basically everything but a tub/shower is in here. I quickly change out of my outfit, as well as fixing up my hair. I walk out wearing the outfit just how I would a while back. I look pretty similar to how I did then anyways, besides that my hair is blue. On servers back then I tried to take on a more human appearance, than I do now, but as I joined CBA a lot of the Players there weren't afraid to show their true selves. I ended up feeling more comfortable to change to my normal appearance after a while. I laugh remembering what made me feel more comfortable.

"What you giggling about?" X asks.

"Ah nothing really, just remembering that time when you called me AllayedAlex in chat on that one stream."

"I thought that was quite a good play on words, if I do say so myself." He laughs.

"So I have a few different sets here, I got a few more but I didn't think the colors would work all too well for you." He says as we sit in front of the shulker box.

He opens it, showing me white, purple and blue armour sets.

"Oh can I mismatch these?"

X smiles, "You can yeah if they end up fitting." I take a few pieces from each color set finding that they are all the same size. I grab the white helmet and set it off to the side as me and Xisuma work on taking apart and putting together the different colored armoured pieces.

When we finish X looks at me, the smile showing in the fact of his closed eyes through the visor. "It looks like the armour has markings similar to the ones you have."

"That's the point, X. My wings are very finicky, with them and the markings being big parts in allowing me to use my magic." I say leaning back stretching a bit. "So with this fake representation of the markings, my wings can appear behind the armour, and I'll also keep my idle glow and such with it."

"Interesting. Well let's see if it fits you. Start with the boots and work your way up with the armour."

I nod, I put on every part of the armour, X helping every now and then with some odd clip sections.

"Everything fitting nicely? Nothing too tight?"

"It's all pretty comfortable. The arm piece back here could be a little tighter." I state moving my arm where the armour is a bit loose.

Xisuma hums, fixing it to be a little tighter, "Like that?"

I move my arm around testing it, nodding after a moment. "Yeah that works."

"Okay now for the fun part. Calibration." He says grabbing the helmet I had placed to the side. "Do you know your comfortable oxygen level?"

"Around 14.6% I think. Might be a little lower."

"I'll set it to 14.3% to be safe, don't want to overwhelm or underwhelm you." I watch him as he tinkers with a few knobs and buttons on the helmet.

"Would you like me to take off the visor part for you?"

I tilt my head, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I could take off the top half of the helmet, and it would act more as a mask for you to breathe through."

"I mean I think it'll be more comfortable for me." I nod.

"Alright." He finishes messing with the knobs and such on the helmet, pressing two buttons on the sides allowing the helmet to split in two. He stands up holding out his hand for me.

I take it and he hoists me up to my feet. "Scar, we'll be going out to make sure the mask works for Alex!" X calls out.

"Sounds good!" I hear from upstairs, "Oh! Ren messaged me, wanting to tell you to visit him when you get time. He assumed you were busy with Alex so didn't bother going straight to you!"

"Alright, if the mask works I'll be taking Alex with me!"

I hear a soft hum as X starts to the door.

"We'll have to go a bit away from Scar's base before we can try on the mask."

I nod, "That's alright. Do you think we could visit Impulse?" I ask.

"Of course, he was the most worried about you if I'm honest." He pauses, "Let's get the helmet on before we get distracted." He laughs.

~

The mask seems to be doing well. Me and X are on our way to Impy's place.

"So Zed, you remember Alex right?" I hear a voice from inside a nearby building.

"Of course I do Tango! How could I forget them!"

I look over to Xisuma who I can tell is smiling. He walks to the door of the building knocking.

"One moment!" Tango calls.

I shuffle side to side as we wait for the door to open.

There's a small click from the door as it opens.

"Oh hey X. Did you finish everything over at Scar's place?"

"Yeah, more than I planned to actually."

"That's good to hear, how is Alex?" He asks.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking!" I say as X moves over to the side.

"Woah! X's armour looks amazing on you." He pauses. "Too bad the mask covers your face."

"Oh, here." I say bringing my hands to search for the clasps around the base of my neck.

"Here I got it." Xisuma sighs. "Deep breath real quick."

I do as he says, the faint click from the clasps unlatching sounding a moment after.

"There we go." I say as I take off the mask, holding it under my arm. I see Zedaph standing behind Tango once I look back towards him.

"Zed, Yahae. How have you been?" I say, hearing Tango smirk at the name I called Zedaph.

"I've been good. Man, you've grown up haven't you? In all those pictures I've seen you were just a wee baby."

"Well lucky for you I haven't grown too much. I'm still pretty short compared to you."

"Aren't you an Enderian though?" Tango asks.

"Tango, I'm only half, you know that it isn't uncommon for us to be short. Plus with my Allay genes there's probably something there for my height."

"Allay? Like the new mob in the upcoming update?" Zedaph asks.

I nod, putting the mask back on. "X can you help with the clasps again?"

The clasps click after a moment and I sigh. "Well, I'm wanting to go and visit Impulse. Do you two happen to know where he might be?"

"He should be in iEnchant." Tango responds.

"iEnchant, assuming you know where that is?" I ask, turning to Xisuma.

He chuckles, "Yeah, it's right over there." He points to the building not even 40 blocks away.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not paying attention to recent content from you guys." I say, sighing. "But I have a good reason!" I exclaim pointing at Tango, who's mouth hangs ajar like he was about to say something.

He closes it holding his hands in surrender. "I didn't even say anything!"

"But you were thinking it, huh?"

"You got me there." He says, slouching a bit in mock disappointment.

We all burst out laughing.

"Well if you're not caught up we'll have to show you what we've been up to!" Zed beams, as we all calm down our laughing. "I got some things I think you'd enjoy checking out."

Tango heads back inside, and I nod to Zedaph, "I'll have to take you up on that offer. Last I heard you were dangling things?" I say, my tone is more questioning with my last remark.

"A Zedaph never gives away his secrets." He says.

"Except when he does, but you'll have to wait." Tango calls from inside his house laughing.

"Well, you should get going to Impulse's. He's probably worrying his head off about you." Zedaph laughs, bringing me into a hug.

"Knowing that's true, I'm kind of nervous. I haven't seen him for a while." I say, giving him a small squeeze.

"You have been away for a while, some of the others who rarely saw you when you were little are gonna be in for a surprise." X says putting a hand on my shoulder once Zed lets me go.

"The newer folks are too X. Grian, Gem and Pearl know barely anything I'd assume."

"That's true." X's hand pats my shoulder. "Impulse's place is that one right there with the Amethyst blocks. I'm gonna go meet up with Ren to see the progress on your console. Hopefully we can get you hooked up to the server soon."

I nod, looking over to Zedaph. "I'll be sure to come by your area later."

I give X a small wave as well as Tango as I see him peer through one of his windows.

It's not long of a walk, but if I'm honest it's easy to get lost in how amazing everything looks. Even with it being just a few months from the start. I make my way closer to the building X and the others pointed to. It already looks amazing from a good dozen blocks away, but as I close in I can see so many small details, showing just how much work has gone into the build. I'm not one that's too great at having an eye for details on my own, but seeing others' works is where I can go crazy with noticing small things. I can tell the colors were chosen well, and Impulse even took a bit of time to carve a pattern into the wood adding a few of the purple crystals here and there for contrast.

I step in front of the door, landing a soft knock, before realising, "Wait, isn't this an Enchanting shop-" I mutter to myself, opening the door. "Technically I can just walk in-" My train of thought gets cut off by the sound of a small chime.

"Welcome to iEnchant, books are in the barrels on the side, and custom orders are ahead. Do not go into the rooms marked for staff only. I know-"

A chest closes and I look towards the sound. I can see Impulse slightly bent over a chest as if he was rummaging through it only moments before, his hand still placed over the lid from closing it. We stand there for a couple of ticks, just looking at each other. After a while he stands up straighter, starting his way towards me.

"Sorry for the scare I just- You know. . . Watchers. . . it was really just the only thing I could do, even though it was pretty risk-" I'm cut off by the feeling of his arms wrapping around me.

"Hey, thanks for the info dump, but you know I'll always worry 'bout ya." He pats my back a bit. "Your Father trusted me with you. I have the right to be worried, even more so when I find out how much danger you were in." He pauses his hands resting on my shoulders as he pulls away to look at me. "The danger being the Them. I know the risks you went through, but you didn't let those stop you from trying to save yourself, but hey, you're safe now." He smiles.

"I did owe you all a visit anyways." I say bringing him into another hug.

"Ah, we were gonna force you here for a break anyways, we were missing you.." He laughs, accepting the extra hug. "So X lent you some armour huh? Looks nice on you."

"I'm surprised it all actually fits. I'm still pretty small." I giggle, letting him go.

"Well now that I know you're alright, would you like me to show you around? There's a ton of interesting things that I think you'd love to see."

"I think a tour would be amazing, but I do want to stop and chat with anyone we end up seeing if that's alright?" I ask.

"Of course it is." He smiles, "Give me a second though, I got a few orders I have to deliver around the Server. We should probably go and grab it all."

I nod, "Are they set in shulkers yet?"

"Not yet, there should be a chest around here with some we can use though." He says opening the door a few blocks to his left. One with a sign saying "Staff Only". "I'll let you find those. I'll get to work on getting a few orders finished in the meantime."

~

Hey, Author Alex here! 

2/28/2024: So silly little thing. Was re-reading this and found that this chapter looked off. Seems it was cut off for some reason. So I decided to fix that. Yeah.