Chapter Text
Liminal space can be described as the time in between two different times, a transitional period between what was known, and what is next. In which you’re stuck, unaware of what the future will hold.
It was the best way Mumbo could describe the current state of the Hermitcraft server. Over the past three weeks, from the outside, nothing has changed. No new builds have gone up, most farms- aside from a few vital food ones- had been set to idle or turned off completely, there were no signs of crazy pranks, even the various shopping districts had become practically barren. If he didn’t know any better, Mumbo could believe that no one continued to inhabit the server.
Of course, players were still there, but they weren’t living as normal.
Three weeks ago, the server awoke to eight players missing. Gone without a trace. All of their bases were empty, not a single sign of them to be found. Players still within the player-tab but could not be located via coords. Not quite afk, but most certainly offline.
Since then time had moved in a blur and agonizingly slow, each day digging the loss deeper into their bones.
He remembered that first morning the clearest, waking up to Boatem almost entirely quiet. Eerily quiet. He walked outside to find nothing. The normal things he’d grown accustomed to seeing this season were nowhere to be found. Impulse wasn’t hauling blocks towards his massive factory, Grian wasn’t stocking the G-Train, Pearl wasn’t terraforming her mountain, and Scar wasn’t adding yet another car onto his massive wagon. He thought that maybe the others had decided to sleep in, despite the fact that that was rarely something that happened, especially since they all had ongoing projects. The feeling of unease grew quickly.
He ended up trying to message Grian only to find that chats weren't going through. He tried Scar next- failed to send . Impulse- Same thing. He was just about to message Pearl when he spotted her flying around Grian’s base.
He was relieved as soon as he saw her, a confirmation that he at least wasn’t alone; but that relief dissipated as soon as she revealed she couldn't find any sign of the other Boatem members either. When sending messages via comm proved once again futile, the two decided to head over to their neighbors at the Big-Eye district, see if maybe they knew where the others were. When they found Keralis, alone, the man wandering in between Bdubs and Tangos base, calling out for the two of them, their concern only grew. Keralis had tried to assure Mumbo and Pearl that everything was okay, that they were probably just off working on a project or something, but the shaky look in his eyes- one that said he knew something was wrong- was anything but comforting.
They messaged X then and thankfully they were able to get through to him to report what was going on. At his instruction they went to his base, specifically the village house he had set up his admin consoles in to wait while he searched for their coords.
It wasn’t long before they were joined by other members of the server, all needing to report people missing, with private messages to them not going through. Beef saying Etho hadn’t showed for their morning meetup, Doc frantically explaining that Ren was nowhere to be found even though he was with him the night before, and Joe reporting Cleo's disappearance. Soon the rest of the server caught wind of what was going on and all of them crowded into Xisuma’s way too small office.
Xisuma scrolled through all the players’ panels, growing visibly more and more concerned the more he looked.
“I can’t find them.” He said eventually, his voice pained with the confession. “They aren’t here.”
“But they’re all on the active player tab.”
“I know but they aren’t on the server. I can’t even pinpoint a location on their comms.”
There were various responses from the others, angry, scared, confused. But Mumbo couldn’t hear any of them, his heart beating too loudly in his ears.
Since then the server was barely keeping itself together.
Doc was more restless than Mumbo had ever seen him and a lot more irritable, snapping at pretty much anyone and everyone, especially those who attempted to get him to take a break while searching.
And for as long as he’d known the poet, this was the first time he’d ever seen Joe at a loss for words. Mumbo knew Joe as the person who tried to keep things lighthearted and optimistic when things went south. But now it seemed he was all out. He had no humorous anecdotes or philosophical metaphors to raise people's spirits with. It was like he was a different person altogether.
Zedaph was a mess, though Mumbo was sure he didn't look much better himself. The scientist’s hair had all but matted, a match to the lab coat that looked like it hadn't been laundered in weeks. It didn't help that he was one of the several people jumping on and off the server near constantly nowadays, checking any place they could think of.
And those three were hardly the only ones. The entire server was hit hard. Even those who had managed to keep themselves standing were doing so on shaky feet.
All of it had Mumbo struggling to keep himself together. But the scariest part? Xisuma was panicking too. Xisuma. Calm in a hurricane, sturdier than bedrock, Xisuma. He’d never even seen him slightly shaken. No matter how bad something was, X was there and everyone knew they'd get through it. But now? Now their admin was terrified. And despite his attempts to hide it, Mumbo could see it while he frantically searched for any trace of their missing players. The strongest person in his life was near falling apart with desperation. So how was Mumbo supposed to believe everything was going to be okay?
He went to Grian’s house, some foolish part of him hoping that he’d be there when he walked inside. That this was just simply some prank gone a bit too far. Some misunderstanding. That maybe the eight of them had planned a vacation and all of them had happened to forget to mention it to anyone. Or maybe this was all some crazy dream- no, nightmare. Maybe he’d wake up any second now to Grian trying to plant another tree on his rv- or Scar’s silly yells as he fell into the Boatem hole for the tenth time this week- or the sound of Impulse’s factory powering back on- or Tango getting revenge on Boatem with some crazy ridiculous prank. Something. Anything . Anything but the uneasy silence. Who knew missing eight players could change such a lively server this much? He wondered if anyone else was having trouble sleeping without seeing it in chat that Bdubs had first.
The silent house brought with it a wave of disappointment and ache. Though that was probably his fault for having any hope it would be different. He made his way up stairs to the bedroom, only to find he wasn’t alone as he thought. Even if it wasn’t who he was looking for.
He didn’t expect Pearl to be up here too, though he supposes he should have. It’s her brother’s house after all, her missing brother. She laid, curled up in Grian’s nest, wearing one of his red sweaters. She didn’t acknowledge his presence anymore than a quick glance when he opened the door. She didn’t kick him out though so he sat next to the nest, unsure if he was welcome inside it. Next to her chest, her hand had a death grip around a key ring, though she was careful of the feathers attached to it. One pink, two yellows. Canary feathers, Lizzie, Jimmy and Grian.
“Feels familiar doesn’t it?” She broke the silence, voice almost lifeless, cold.
He didn’t have to ask what she meant. It wasn’t the first time he had to miss his best friend without knowing if he’d ever come back. He just prayed to any god willing to listen, that missing him was the worst it would get. He didn’t know if he could survive having to mourn Grian again. Especially if he had to mourn the others too. How would life on Hermitcraft even continue after that? Could the rest of them survive that? The only reason he made it through losing Grian the first time was because of the people here, his family. But most of the shoulders he’d cried on were now missing as well, and the rest in too much of a mess to comfort each other. What if they never find them? For all they know they could have been dead the second they disappeared and all this searching is a waste. Should they be trying to mourn already? Would the missing want them to accept it and move on? Or would they want them to search until every part of the net was checked? Would it be worth it driving themselves to insanity looking? Would they be able to survive accepting it? How many more of them would they lose in the process? What was the correct thing to do? Would-
“Mumbo.” Pearl's voice dragged him out of his spiraling thoughts. She didn’t say anything else, just that, just enough to pull him out of his head, to stop asking questions no one had any way of answering. It was then he noticed the tears running down his face, when he started crying he didn’t know.
Pearl shifted, moving to one side of the nest. It took Mumbo a moment to realize she was doing it to make room for him. Once he did, he wiped what he could of his tears with his sleeves, and climbed into the open space. He wrapped himself in one of Grian’s many blankets, a red and gold quilt Cleo had made for him last christmas. It was warm, soft, and familiar. Yet he remained cold.
Around the nest laid a few red, blue, and gold feathers; proof of the parrot who built it. The sight of them wrapped a fist around his heart. Would this be all he had left of Grian? A few feathers and a couple sweaters? Would he have to attend his funeral again- No. He came back once. He’ll come back again. They all will, they have too. He couldn’t see how the world could keep spinning if they didn’t.
He didn’t know how long the two of them sat there in silence before a knock on the bedroom door got their attention.
“Hey, guys,” False greeted softly, leaning slightly on the doorframe. “Thought I’d find you here.”
“Hi, False.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, looking at them with a sad expression, “You guys holding out okay?”
He didn’t know what could be considered “holding out okay” at this point, and just shrugged.
After several moments in awkward silence False gestured towards the door. “Come on, up you get, X needs to talk to us.”
What? Why? About what? Mumbo tried to ask but found that his anxiety had settled over his vocal cords, not allowing any words to pass through.
Thankfully Pearl didn’t seem to be having the same issue. “Something bad?” She asked, her hands fidgeting with the hem of the sweater the same way Mumbo knew Grian to do whenever he got nervous.
False gave an apologetic smile, “I'm not sure,” She responded. “Whatever it is, we'll figure it out, come on.”
Reluctantly, Pearl and Mumbo crawled their way out of Grian’s nest and followed False the way towards Xisuma’s base where a meeting room had been set up in one of his village houses. The fly over did nothing to make him feel better, dread making its home in his chest the closer they got.
If False wasn’t leading them Mumbo wasn’t sure if he would have been able to get himself to enter.
“Any news, X?” Hypno asked once they had all arrived.
“Not much,” Xisuma lamented, shaky hands gripping the table in front of him to keep them stable. “I’m afraid the news I do have isn’t good. We’re not the only ones who are missing people. I got a message from Fwhip, three of his disappeared the same time ours did.”
They didn’t get much time to process that before Pearl jumped in.
“Wait- Fwhip’s missing people?” She questioned, eyes widening. “Who?”
“Pearl-”
“Who, Xisuma?” She demanded, voice barely below shouting.
Xisuma took a moment to steady himself before answering with an apologetic look, “Scott, Joel, and Jimmy.”
There were several moments of silence before Pearl crumpled .
Gem and False caught her before she hit the ground, muttering reassurances that were drowned out beneath her sobs. “No no, not them too,” Was repeated like a prayer, that key ring being held impossibly tight. Gem stroked her hair with one hand, trying to wipe the tears from her face but couldn't do it quickly enough before they were replaced.
False wrapped her arms around her before looking up, “X, can we get Lizzie-”
“I’ve already spoken to her, she’ll be here within the hour.”
She nodded in thanks before going back to trying to comfort Pearl.
From there the meeting dispersed naturally. Jevin, Wels, and Xb went back to searching the server, scouring the missing’s bases and every loaded chunk for some kind of answer. This had already been done about three times over at this point but Mumbo could understand why they continued.
Most of the others all moved to a nearby room where a makeshift living area had been set up with some furnaces, several couches and a few other things to make the space a bit more homely. Just an area they could rest, could stay together, while everything felt so lost.
Mumbo wasn’t sure if he felt up to following them, unsure on whether or not being surrounded by the others would be comforting or if he’d rather go back to hiding away in his tiny home. Though he was sure that anyone else would say isolating himself right now probably wasn’t the best move.
Before he made the decision he found himself standing in front of Xisuma, who was looking down at him with tired eyes, bags visible even underneath his visor. He didn’t say anything, he didn't need to, just opened his arms a bit.
A silent offer, and one that Mumbo took without hesitation, falling into his arms, taking deep breaths in an attempt to keep himself from breaking down into tears.
“We’ll find them,” Xisuma assured. And oh, wasn’t that painful. He trusted his admin with anything and everything. He had known the man since he was seventeen and he graciously took him in when he had no one else and nowhere else to go. He looked up to him in more ways than one. Xisuma’s words were always solid ground for him to walk on. But right now? They didn’t sound believable. Now it felt like he was traversing across quicksand without a solid plan on how to get out.
As always, Xisuma didn’t pull away until Mumbo did. When he did, he didn’t say anything else, just gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze before following Doc and Joe back into the admin rooms where they’ve spent most of their time since the others went missing. They’d spent weeks scrounging through different code, going as far to check the deepest parts of the void only a select few players would survive traversing. They’d come up empty with every search, but if Mumbo knew anything about those three, they weren’t going to stop looking until they had answers, if they stopped then.
Mumbo stood there for several more minutes, debating on what to do before a voice startled him, making the decision for him.
“Bumbo, come sit with us,” Keralis said, his voice holding his normal kind tone, though Mumbo assumed, from experience, that this was not exactly a suggestion. “Come here, we have some soup, you look like you need some food.”
Mumbo took a seat on the couch next to him, silently accepting the still steaming bowl. He wasn’t particularly hungry, nor was he really a fan of Keralis’ doting, but he knew it was the other man's way of coping with what was going on, i.e fussing over everyone else like an overbearing parent. But, if it helped him, then Mumbo could handle the mothering. (Plus he knew if he resisted there was a non zero chance of Keralis trying to literally spoon feed him).
At the other end of the room, False and Gem had Pearl wrapped in a blanket, with a mug of what he assumed to be tea in her hands. She didn’t drink it though, just kept her palms wrapped around it like it was keeping her grounded.
“Zeddy what’s wrong?” Keralis asked and Mumbo turned to find Zedaph sitting on a couch near them with a death grip on his comm staring at the screen like his life depended on it, his leg bouncing rapidly up and down.
“I haven’t been able to contact Skizz either,” He responded eventually, his voice uncharacteristically quiet as he continued to stare down his communicator. Almost like he thought he could will a message into existence with the sheer force of his glare. “He’s not always able to respond immediately due to his world hopping- bu- but- its been weeks! He always responds eventually, and it never takes this long.”
Beef moved closer to him, wrapping an arm around him as tears started running down Zedaph’s face. “I just wanted to talk to him,” He sobbed, “Tell him about- about Impy and Tango, see if maybe he knew anything- but now even he’s gone!”
“You don’t know that he’s gone, Zed,” Beef corrected gently, drawing circles on his back.
“He never takes this long to respond!” Zed cried, “Never! He doesn’t just miss messages! If people on different servers were taken too, then-then he could have been as well!”
Beef didn’t seem to have a response to that and just pulled him closer.
At some point they received a message from X informing them that Lizzie had made it to the server. When False got up to go fetch her from spawn Mumbo got up as well, needing to move around a bit and offered to go with her. Well, he more asked her if he could come with but thankfully False accepted.
Lizzie greeted them almost cheerfully or, attempted to, choking through tears as she did. She hugged False first before turning to him.
He broke when she embraced him, tears of his own falling once again, failing to repress sobs that tore through him. It was all too much, all too similar to last time . When she had to break the news to him that Grian’s server was destroyed, with him inside it. She hugged him all the same then, even with her own sorrows and grief.
She just held him tighter.
When they arrived back at Xisuma’s village in the meeting house Lizzie headed straight to the back where Pearl was, pulling her into her arms the second she sat down.
Mumbo took a seat on a couch opposite to them, curling up in the corner of it with one of the weighted blankets in the room in an attempt to quiet his thoughts and growing frustration. But the longer he sat there, doing nothing, the more irritated he got.
“Something on your mind, Mumbo?” Hypno asked, sitting down next to him.
“I just wished there was something I could do,” He admitted. “I hate just sitting around and hoping something will give. I want to help .”
Hypno took a deep breath, as if pondering what he’d said. “Unfortunately, there isn’t much that most of us can do right now to help.” He stated, matter-of-factly, “Those who know what to look for are looking through code. And manual searching hasn’t gotten us anywhere and frankly I don’t think it will. Especially since it's not like we can look through the whole net. Not to mention how risky that is.”
“So I’m just supposed to sit here, useless, doing nothing?”
“The best thing you can do right now Mumbo, is take care of yourself. And If you can help the others do the same, then do so. But you don’t always have to be ‘useful’ ya know.”
“Doesn’t feel that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just feel so, uh lost - I guess-? If I don’t have some kind of purpose.”
“Well, that’s cause you’re a lot more like X than either of you realize but besides that- Just take care of yourself okay? That’s your purpose right now, keeping you healthy.”
That didn’t seem good enough, not when the world was crumbling around them, but what other option did he have? “...I’ll try.”
Hypno smiled, “That’s all I ask.”
Several hours later, the sun had set and everyone aside from Joe, Xisuma, and Doc (despite Keralis and Beef’s attempt to move them) had settled down, residing to rest in one room for the night. More blankets and pillows were pulled out and several of them had already fallen asleep.
Mumbo was close to following them when he heard Pearl whisper a question across from him.
“They wouldn't just leave … would they?”
Mumbo didn't think he'd ever heard Pearl sound quite so small, like it wasn't her speaking but a much younger, much more uncertain, version of herself.
“No,” Lizzie responded, voice filled with enough conviction that would have had him believing any word that came out of her mouth. “No, Pearlie, they wouldn't just leave.”
“You're sure?”
“I'm sure.”
Lizzie still had fresh tear tracks running down her face, limbs weighing down, heavy with exhaustion and a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Still, Mumbo was in awe at how she was still sturdy. Her husband and two of her little cousins that she'd spent years caring for, had gone missing, had been missing. Yet she was still there, holding up Pearl and whispering comforting words to get them through.
He resolved to try and mirror her as best he could.
Five weeks later and Mumbo could no longer get tears to come, having grown numb, almost robotic. Eight weeks of nothing . No answers, no updates, no closer to finding the whereabouts of the missing. The searching hadn’t stopped but he could tell the others were getting more and more hopeless the longer it went on. Every attempt had people coming back empty handed, not a single trace had been found. How could this many players just disappear off the face of the net? It didn’t make any sense.
It was getting harder and harder to believe this would end with anything other than devastation.
Mumbo tried to distract himself with redstone, tried to stop feeling so useless but found he couldn’t even do that right, right now. The thought of doing anything he’d normally enjoy just brought dread. Most days he couldn’t even get himself out of bed despite not actually being able to sleep. The only reason he ever did was when one of the others dragged him out.
Thanks to False, he was now back in their little gathering room. A space occupied with several players yet was still sitting stale in silence. Pearl laid in Lizzie's arms, somewhere she'd rarely left since the older woman had arrived. Her eyes were blank, expression as empty as Mumbo felt, just staring off into space.
The only thing that broke the quiet was the occasional ping of a comm, each one bringing Mumbo's heart to racing speeds. A simple ping, a sound so familiar and mundane, meant so much more now that it could be the predecessor for devastating news. Each one came with the possibility of being what pulled them from this uncertain purgatory. But that would come with one of two outcomes, and the thought of learning which one that would be, nearly made him sick.
Eventually, it was Lizzie’s that went off. Her eyes widened as she read the message and Mumbo felt his stomach churn, desperately trying to figure out if she was looking in horror or just surprise.
The room froze.
“Lizzie what is it?” False piped up, asking the question the rest of them were too scared to.
“It’s Fwhip, Jimmy’s back.”