Chapter Text
Grian had decided to introduce Mumbo to The Rift after he became his neighbour. Grian knew The Rift could cause problems for Mumbo, and Grian felt guilty not telling his friend.
But now as they desperately clung onto the ground, The Rift trying its best to get the two friends, Grian regretted his decision. And as he felt the tug on his wing grow stronger, and watched as Mumbo slowly lost his grip on the jagged rocks of the cave he felt the familiar presence of Lady Death just on the other side. So with a smile thrown at Mumbo, Grian let go.
Grian groaned as he awoke on an unfamiliar server, his head was pounding and his wings ached, The Rift hadn’t been gentle when transporting him here. Grian let himself rest in the soft grass for a moment, trying to feel for anyone familiar nearby instead of getting up just yet.
He immediately found Mumbo just a few metres away from him, and Lady Death somewhere not too far away. Grian finally pushed himself up with his arms, looking at the land around them. It was just as unfamiliar as it felt.
Grian slowly shuffled over to Mumbo, settling down with three wings draped protectively over his friend, the rest splayed lazily on the ground around him. Grian had half a mind to summon his pike, but decided against it. If this land was as peaceful as it seemed it would do them no good to be introduced with a weapon in hand.
Grian was roused from his thoughts when he felt Mumbo shift under his wings, a small groan coming from the man shortly afterwards. Grian carefully lifted his wings off his friend in time to watch as Mumbo rolled onto his back.
“Why on earth would you throw yourself into The Rift???” Mumbo groaned out as he lifted an arm over his face to shield his eyes from the sharp midday sun above them. Grian chuckled at Mumbo as he lifted his arm to glare at the sun momentarily, letting out a quiet hiss.
“Kristin’s here, The Rift wouldn’t let us go any time soon and I could sense Kristin on the other side. We’re at least not completely alone and lost here Mumby,” Grian chuckled again at the unhappy noise his friend let out at the nickname, smiling down at the man still covering his face.
Grian suddenly stilled, and tilted his head to the side. Before he even really knew what he was doing Grian let out a mildly distressed chirp and got up, holding his wings loosely behind him.
Not a second later a rustle sounded from a bush by the trees and a lanky teen with a mop of messy blonde hair poked up from the brush. Upon making eye contact with the boy, Grian let out another, mildly more distress chirp, surprising both the teen and Mumbo, who’d now sat up to stare at the bushes said teen had just appeared from.
Every instinct in Grian’s body was yelling at him that this boy needed protection, and from the scar on his jaw Grian’s rational mind agreed with his instincts.
“What. The. Fuck.” And that sent Grian reeling, and from the disgruntled noise from beside him Grian could tell Mumbo wasn’t expecting it either.
“Who the fuck are you?'' The teen took a more defensive stance, stepping back slightly as he wearily watched the two men in the field. This just cemented the fact in Grians mind that the boy needed his protection -it didn’t occur to Grian that he might’ve already sworn to protect this boy, and that was why his instincts were so strong- and as Grian offered the lanky teen a smile he pulled his wings tightly into his back. As much as he wanted to wrap the boy in them and protect him from the world he knew that doing so would not be acceptable - yet.
“I’m Grian, and this is my friend Mumbo, please don’t mind him, he’s a bit of a spoon,” Grian immediately got a reaction from his friend in the form of an offended mrrp. The teen let out a muffled snort, his eyes darting from Grian down to Mumbo, who was still sitting in the grass.
“I’m Tommy, what the hell are you two doing out here just sitting in the grass?” the teen- Tommy, seemed to have relaxed ever so slightly at the two interacting, but still seemed quite cautious of the two of them.
“We’re not really sure either if I’m being honest. We were investigating what looked to be a weak point between worlds when it pulled us through. We just woke up here,” Grian wasn’t sure what compelled him to tell Tommy the truth of why they were here, but he had a feeling Tommy would be able to help them, or at least know someone who could help them.
“Where is here, anyway?” Mumbo piped up, finally standing up and putting a hand on Grian’s shoulder. When he looked up to meet his friends eyes Mumbo gave him a knowing look, whether it was because Mumbo was getting a similar feeling from the teen or simply because he’d known Grian long enough to discern his reaction he didn’t know.
“We're not too far away from L’Manburg,” Tommy paused, and his attitude seemed to turn sombre in a way, before he continued. “Or, what’s left of it at least,” the air around them grew tense for a moment, Tommy grieving a nation that Mumbo and Grian would never know.
Grian’s eyes darted to the bushes behind Tommy and flared his wings wide, not a second later more rustling was heard and another head of blonde hair appeared from the bushes.
“Tommy! There you are, you gotta stop running off,” As the man pulled on a white and green striped hat, Grian took notice of his strikingly pale blue eyes. He’d only seen eyes that colour once before.
He was still young, and as he weeped at the countless lives lost in war, Lady Death comforted him, staring into his void black eyes with her pale blue ones, and he knew that with her guarding the gateway those who passed through would have little to fear under her caring protection.
And as Grian and the blonde stranger stared at each other, Grian smiled. If this was who was looking after Tommy, this man with the eyes of death, then maybe he could be trusted to protect Tommy in a way Grian probably wouldn’t be able to.
“Philza! I found these two fuckin weirdos so I was being a big man and making sure they weren’t dangerous,” Tommy broke the staring contest between Grian and this Philza, both men looking to Tommy with a smile, Mumbo making another mildly angry mrrp behind them, going mostly ignored.
“Makes sense, are they okay?” Philza eyed Grian with cautious gaze, only glancing at Mumbo for a moment, it was pretty clear that he was only humering Tommy, having already mostly made his judgement on the two men.
“The one with the big fuck off wings is Grain or something, hes just a weird bird dude, and the one behind him in the pretentious suit is Mumbo, he’s some weird fuckin cat thing, Grian called him a spoon, they’re just weird, and lost,” Grian fluffed up his wings and let out an annoyed squawk at the mispronunciation of his name, but calmed down slightly to chuckle at the description of his friend.
After Grian found out what his friend was and all the behaviours he was masking to appear human he gave Mumbo quite the stern talking to, and the fact the Mumbo had come so far that a stranger could think him a cat hybrid was quite the achievement. Though that brought up a worrying thought, Mumbo hadn’t spoken much since they’d awoken here, instead mostly communicating with hums and mrrps.
Grian looked back to his friend with a worried expression, and was met with a tired smile. That certainly explained it, Mumbo preferred not to speak so much when he was tired, and it was clear that their experience with The Rift had taken quite a lot out of Mumbo.
Philza hummed in acknowledgment of what Tommy said, before turning towards Grian and Mumbo, an unreadable look in his eyes.
“Well it’s nice to meet you Grian and Mumbo, I’m Philza Minecraft. Tommy says you’re lost?” At first glance Philza seemed welcoming, but if you looked closer you could tell that he wanted Grian and Mumbo gone, from the use of his full name in introduction, to his pulled back shoulders. Philza was aiming to intimidate, not welcome.
Unfortunately for him Grian and Mumbo came from a server where none of the inhabitants were human, and all of them lived for a long time. Long enough that such offhanded shows of possible power were seen as ammature and most they met dwaffed them in age.
“Mumbo Jumbo and I were exploring an anomaly we found under the area we were building, it pulled us through to here,” If Philza wanted to try and intimidate Grian could as well, his wings pushing out slightly to show off behind him, his smile sharpening just slightly as he stared into Philza with his void black eyes. Admittedly Mumbo Jumbo wasn’t the best name to use for intimidation, but Grian would rather not use Mumbo’s middle name in front of the child he wanted to protect.
“Well we’ll see what we can do to get you back to your home. You’re currently on the Dream SMP, where do you two come from?” Philza’s eyes were sharp as he stared at Grian, refusing to back down.
“We’re both from Hermitcraft,” And that seemed to be enough to get Philza to back down, anyone worth their salt knew what Hermitcraft was. The people who lived there, frequently called The Hermits, were thought to be the best of the best, building incredibly detailed builds higher than thought even possible, designing impossible redstone machines and gaining incredible riches that they’d never have to worry of the price of anything.
Grian smirked slightly in response to the almost well hidden shock on Philza’s face, his challenging smirk turning blank in seconds.
Though Grians own smug grin dissipated into a worried coo as Mumbo let out a quiet distressed mewl and dropped his head onto Grians shoulder. Grian only just managed to turn around in time to catch his friend, wings coming up to cocoon the taller man.
Another worried coo came from Grian as he felt a wet splotch on his friends shoulder, his hand coming away dark red. After a moment Grian pulled Mumbo up into his arms, it was awkward positioning Mumbo’s long limbs, but Grian managed, and peered out from behind his wings to sheepishly look towards the concerned blondes.
“Uhhh, turns out Mumbo was injured, is there anywhere we could go to get him patched up quickly? Tommy let out some sort of worried squark -was Tommy an avian? That would certainly help explain Grian’s protective instincts- and Philza frowned slightly. Grian wouldn’t say Philza was worried for them exactly, but it was clear he had grown some form of respect for the 2 hermits, however minimal that may be.
“My place is only five minutes by nether, we could bandage him up there,” Philza sounded almost wary at first but seemed more sure of himself by the end, motioning for Grian, and presumidly Tommy, to follow him towards what was probably a nether portal.
“Thank you, Philza,” Grian managed sincerely as he began following the man back into the bush he and Tommy had both appeared from. As Philza turned around Grian saw small burnt remnants of what was once likely a brilliant pair of wings, and if the black feathers surrounding the base of them were any indication they would have been a rich black, not dissimilar from Lady Death’s own.
Grian shuddered slightly at the thought of his wings ending up like that, pulling them closer towards where he had Mumbo cocooned in them.
And then he noticed Tommy’s. Small and a pale blonde similar to his hair colour, likely still growing in from the slightly odd shape and size of them. Tommy being an avian would definitely help explain Grian’s reaction to the boy. Grian himself may not really be an avian, but he still held plenty of the instincts most avians did, and had always felt rather compelled to protect them.
Grian barely registered what they were walking past, poorly built blackstone roads through the nether went ignored in favour of ensuring that Mumbo wasn’t bleeding out in his arms. Grian knew that Mumbo had difficulty feeling pain but he hoped that Mumbo should have learnt by now that almost any pain he felt should be enough to tell somebody about!
Grian finally paid attention to his surroundings when they exited a nether portal and he felt himself sink slightly and a chill worked through the exposed skin on his back around his wings. They had exited in a tundra, a cabin sitting in the distance.
A nod from Philza confirmed to him that that was where they were headed, and he immediately set a fast pace, the longer Mumbo sat unconscious in his arms the more worried he was getting. He logically knew that his friend would be fine, even in the unlikely scenario that he died he would just be able to respawn.
It was times like this that Grian was glad that he’d befriended and made a deal with Lady Death long ago.
Upon arriving in front of the cabins Philza led them up a pair of stairs and into one, where he gestured for Grian to lay Mumbo on an empty coach that sat against the back wall. Grian crouched down and awkwardly positioned Mumbo so he was lying on his stomach on the couch so as to not disturb his injured shoulder. One of Mumbo’s arms was hanging off the side of the couch, and both of his legs jutted out awkwardly.
Next Grian removed both Mumbo’s suit jacket and dress shirt, allowing him to see the injury more clearly. And as Mumbo shivered in his sleep at being exposed to the cold air Grian draped a wing across his friend, a quiet worry trill escaping him as he looked at his best friend.
Grian was interrupted as he heard someone clear their throat. He looked back to see a strange pink haired man standing next to Philza in one of the doorways in the house, and instantly his wings flared wide and his feathers puffed up. Grian knew that he’d have stood as well had he not been protecting his friend.
And Grian didn’t know what was worse, the fact that he couldn’t sense the presence of the blood god at all, even while they were in the same room as one another, or the fact that grian just so happened to have a rather complicated history with this particular blood god.
“Grian,” he had to stay calm, getting worked up at a time like this would do them no good.
“Technoblade,” Seeing the younger god squirm slightly under his sharp glare was almost worth it, but the confusion from the 2 blondes in the room, especially Tommy, and the worry for his best friend still in his mind made him impatient.
“Philza, do you think you could help me patch up Mumbo?” Grian turned to Philza, pushing aside his annoyance for a moment. Philza looked so incredibly lost and almost started nodding, but cut himself off after a moment.
“Wait wait wait, backtrack for a moment, what the fuck was that?” Philza looked between Technoblade and Grian, looking so confused. Tommy was nodding behind him, mimicking Philza’s actions.
“Yeah Technoblade, wanna explain to your friends what that was? Or would you rather I do?” Grian quipped, watching as Technoblades eye twitched and he slightly bared his pointed teeth.
“Void, you are still so insufferable,” Technoblade glared at Grian, running his fingers through his long pink hair.
“Well maybe if you kept your nose out of things that don’t involve you we wouldn’t have a problem,” Grian practically growled, half tempted to pull out his pike and fight the younger god right there, but the rational part of his brain kept him from doing anything too stupid just yet.
“Grian and I have a history, if you couldn’t tell, and he seems to think he’s better than me,” The blood god spat out, blood red eyes glaring into void black ones. His fists clenched at his sides and it became clear to Grian that he was also struggling not to pull out his axe.
“I’ve never said I was better than you, I am however far older and prefer children stay out of my work,” Grian thought back to all the times Techno had pushed himself into wars trying to sway the sides against Grian, an unstoppable force against an immovable object, trying in vain to escalate the violence or keep one side still standing, often times ending up as the only one left standing.
“I asked for an explanation! Not a fight, so will you two calm down!” Philza yelled, breaking the staring contest between the two gods. A pained groan from Mumbo further de-escalated the situation, Grian Immediately dared back to Mumbo’s side, checking over his friend for any signs that he’s gotten worse.
“I’ll patch him up while you two figure your shit out, Tommy can you make sure they don’t kill each other,” Philza moved over next to where Grian was crouching in front of Mumbo. After a quick check over Philza shooed Grian away and began pulling out bandages and disinfectant.
Grian got up, and with one final look back to Mumbo, he walked into the adjacent room Technoblade and Tommy had just walked into, ready to talk to the younger god. Whether he revealed himself or not was entirely up to Techno, but the younger would also be revealed in the process, and Grian knew that few gods liked to be publicly known.
He knew that Bdubs certainly hadn’t been keen on telling the rest of the hermits, and he himself was often wary about this sort of thing. But this was Technoblade, he was very standoffish when he was younger, and Grian had no real way of knowing if he’d changed over the years.
Though, Grian supposed he was about to find out.