Chapter Text

But it was not False who died. 

 Damien turned to face the rift as an arrow flew through the air to pierce the head of the angel who held Xisuma, shattering the barrier as it whistled through the air, breaking the magic that the angels bore. 

 A figure stepped out of the Aether.

 A figure with black wings and a red sweater and grainy yellow hair and grey jeans and bearing twin swords that shone in the sunlight.

 False rolled away from Damien, sobbing, tears and blood running down her face, on her shirt, everywhere, but she  ran , and Xisuma ran as well towards the hermits who all but rushed for their friends. 

 A barrier sprung to life around the two remaining angels, smokey and grey instead of silver. 

 Iskall felt bad ignoring False, who was crying in Stress's arms, but he had to see, had to know  - Mumbo at his side, the taller hermit's face laced with desperation - 

 And it was Grian who faced Damien and the other angel, throwing his bow to the side as the angel who'd held Xisuma fell dead to the ground. 

 "You're dead," Damien snarled, fear in his voice.

 Iskall placed a hand on the barrier, trying to get through it, but he and Mumbo had to watch the two versus one, as more and more hermits began to notice the battle that wasn't finished yet.

 And it was Grian's voice that filled the now-silent air - silent except for False's muffled sobs as Stress bandaged her hand and wiped off the blood and whispered things to False that was meant only for the warrior hermit to hear. 

 "No," Grian said. " You're  dead."

 And Iskall could only gape as the trickster hermit he'd always known spread his wings black as night and leaped at the two angels.

 Grian tried to ignore the ache in his stomach. He'd finally gained his wings again by sacrificing himself for Stress - but he didn't know how long ago that'd been. It seemed like only yesterday the darkness had comforted him, but when he'd been reborn, Lily had been waiting for him with news that she'd killed their mother. 

 He'd always been a clumsy fighter without his wings - he'd been trained to fight with his wings, with them to balance, with them to use as weapons as their own - 

 Grian kicked out at Sarus, the second angel, his left blade rising up to meet Sarus's, his right rising up to meet Damien's. It was an easy battle - the angels had never been a real match for him when he'd had his wings. And he was an angel again - he had their extra strength and speed. 

 The world flew by as they fought, Damien and Sarus panting with effort, looking for an opening that wasn't there. He'd trained his entire life for battle, for fighting the demons - he'd been the best, before he'd Fallen and his muscle memory had been forgotten. He'd been the Prince of Angels.

 And now he was just Grian, the Fallen Angel. He wasn't a prince anymore, though Lily had wanted him to be. 

 He tried to ignore Iskall and Mumbo's face outside the barrier he'd constructed. He wanted them to be safe - even if they could help him defeat the angels. 

 Grian threw his wings out and hit Sarus in the face, the angel crying out as Grian dropped his own sword to grip Sarus's wrist and turn the sword out of his hands, the crack of bonebreaking filling the air. 

 Damien snarled, and Grian returned his attention to his sister's ex-husband. "You will die," the angel promised. 

 "No," Grian said softly. " You  will."

 And faster than Damien could react, Grian slipped past Damien's guard and plunged the blade into the man's chest, right where he would've stabbed False. 

 Damien didn't die instantly - angels were far harder to kill than humans. The clatter of his sword hitting the ground was the loudest thing heard before Grian put both hands on the blade and twisted it slowly.

 Damien screamed. 

 And then he died. 

 Grian pulled his sword out of the angel's chest as he fell backward - and then he turned to Sarus. 

 "Please," the angel begged. "Please don't kill me - "

 Grian put his sword at Sarus's chin, forcing the angel to meet his gaze. "Did you ever listen to my pleas when you beat me?" he snarled. "Did you ever listen to Stress's cries? Or Cleo's? No. No, I'm not going to show mercy on an abuser."

 And with a single stroke of his sword, Grian cut Sarus's neck open, the angel convulsing, choking on his own blood.

 And then he too died, and Grian was left in the barrier alone. 

 He couldn't meet the hermit's eyes. 

 He couldn't see the fear that surely would be in their eyes as Grian flung his bloody blade to the ground next to its cleaner twin, where he'd discarded it. 

 "Grian," Mumbo said softly. 

 Grian lowered the barrier. 

 And the portal to the Aether behind him snapped shut. 

 "Grian," Mumbo said again. 

 And Grian couldn't look at them still, didn't want to see the horror in their eyes as they looked at the angels he'd murdered with elation. 

 So he spread his wings and flew.

 Grian didn't know where he was going. He didn't recognize this world - Lily had said the old one had been destroyed. His towering futuristic base - gone. His home in Hermitville, the house he'd designed with the help of a certain book in mind - gone. 

 He didn't belong in the Aether. Lily had known that - had sent him here to dispatch of the three angels who'd gone against her strict orders. Had sent him here to stay.

 But he was certain that the hermits didn't want him here, not after what he'd done. What he was - a Fallen Angel. They didn't want his wings, who he'd been born to be. They didn't want him. 

 Grian flew and flew until he spotted a gorge in the middle of a mountain in the jungle, a deep divot in the ground with steep cliffs rising on all sides. 

 Grian huddled in a corner of it, brought his knees to his chest, and cried. He didn't know what to do in this world, hadn't expected to feel the enthusiasm in his chest as he'd killed the people who'd tortured his friends, who'd tortured many people from many worlds in their lifetimes. 

 The sound of fireworks filled the air, and Grian brought his wings farther around him, creating a cacoon of dark feathers. 

 "...Grian?" 

 That was Iskall.

 And then a thump and a yelp as someone crashed into the wall.

 "Oh for goodness sake, Mumbo," he heard Iskall mutter. 

 "I'm fine," came the reply, though with a pained groan attached to it. 

 And then again. Hands brushing against his feathers. "Grian?"

 Grian snapped his wings open in a brush of air, glaring at the two hermits who stood before him, his friends from a life he wished he could return to. "What?" he snapped. 

 "It is you!" Mumbo crowed, poking Iskall's shoulder. "See? There's a first time for everything."

 Iskall rolled his eyes. "Fine. I owe you twelve bamboo or something." He hesitated as he looked at Grian. "You died."

 "I died," Grian said. 

 "And you're alive," Iskall pointed out once more.

 "Yeah, no duh," Grian said. 

 Mumbo sighed and stroked his mustache. "Grian, what Iskall means is that we  love  you're alive, but  how  are you alive?"

 "Fallen Angels have to earn their second set of wings before they die of old age," Grian said, looking away from the curious pair. "And I earned mine by saving Stress. And the magic that gives me my wings back can beat death. So...yes. I came back."

 "When?" Iskall croaked.

 "Two days ago?" Grian said with a shrug. "How long has it been since you've seen me?"

 "Five weeks," Mumbo answered instead of Iskall. "...it's been a long five weeks, dude." 

 And then he rushed forward and hugged Grian, and Grian folded his arms around the much taller man, releasing a breath of relief. "So you don't hate me?" he asked as Iskall hugged both of them in an effort to create a group hug. 

 Mumbo backed away, looking surprised. "Hate you? Why would we hate you?"

 "Because I killed an angel?" Grian asked. "With no remorse."

 Iskall laughed. "We had an entire battle with them on the Jurassic Plains, G. We all would've killed angels if we were given the chance. I know Cleo was very bloodthirsty about the way that she went about killing the one she was battling."

 "That's Cleo for you," Grian said weakly.

 "And all that matters is that you're alive," Mumbo pointed out, gripping Grian's shoulders as if he was going to disappear in front of your eyes. "You're alive. And you saved us."

 "Again," Grian said, cracking a grin. "I saved Cleo and Stress  again ."

 "That was you, wasn't it," Iskall breathed out. "In the video call. When they disappeared in plumes of dark smoke. That was  you ."

 Grian nodded, some part of him still thinking that they were going to give him dirty looks and fly off. 

 "None of us hate you, Grian," Mumbo said, seeing the look in his eyes. "Welcome back."

 "Welcome home," Iskall grinned. 

EPILOGUE:

 Grian grinned as he swooped in to press The Button right under Doc's nose, the half-creeper glaring at him from the chair where he sat. Seriously. If he was going to AFK there and let Grian swoop in to get The Button, he should really question his life's choice.

 In the background, the maker of The Button and Mumbo Jumbo himself, stared at the crisis he'd created, just as Grian had when the civil war had come around in the previous world. 

 "Oh for goodness sake," he heard Iskall say, as he added the green gem to his wristband, where a purple stone always lay.

 "What's going on?" he asked innocently, prompting Iskall to break out in uproarious laughter and almost fall on his face from where he was gliding on his elytra. 

 "No." That's all that Doc said - just  no .

 Grian shrugged, spreading his fallen wings to take off again. "I saw the opportunity and took it," he said smugly.

 "Oh, there are definitely going to be fights," he heard Mumbo mutter to himself as he flew over the mustached man. But there was not an ounce of regret in the man's voice as he watched the chaos unfold. 

 Well. 

 He had a mansion to finish, and even higher gems to collect. He had Hermit Challenges to do - another one of Mumbo's  brilliant  ideas - he had Iskall and all the other hermits to annoy, he had Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo to win, a game that had been created by him and not Mumbo, for once. 

 Hermits waved at him as he passed by their different bases, Stress with her flower-crowned skull - Iskall wasn't at his base, but honey dripped freely from his tree - Scar, with his beautifully terraformed mushroom village, and Mumbo's base, though the redstoner also wasn't home - with his towering monumental iron and concrete structure. 

 Cleo flew by him on her elytra, flying towards the Shopping District and whatever goal she planned to reach. She saluted him as she passed, a gesture of friendship, he'd come to realize. 

 The other hermits hadn't been displeased by the way he'd dispatched the angels, to his surprise, though False had been mad she hadn't been the one to kill Damien. The warrior had been learning to wield a sword with her left hand that only had three fingers, and Grian had to admit she'd been managing quite well when he'd watched her attack stuffed dummies with Damien's reforged sword.

 He pulled out his communicator lazily as it beeped. 

  |Docm77|  XISUMA!

  |MumboJumbo|  hahahahaha

  |Xisuma|  ;)

  |Iskall85|  Doc, dude, when was the last time you slept

  |Docm77|  I've been trying to get this button for fourteen hours. And now it's purple again. 

  |Xisuma|  should've pressed it when you had the chance ;)

  |Falsesymmetry|  niceeeee X what belt did you get

  |Xisuma|  green :D

  |Iskall85|  green belts unite!

  |Grian|  I have a green belt as well! Trying to collect all of them!

  |GoodtimeswithScar|  I want to get higher than my green belt lol but doc scares me sometimes and I don't know if I want to go near him

  |Docm77|  I'll kill the next person who goes near The Button.

  |Stressmonster101|  !!!

  |ZombieCleo|  See this is why I don't partake in these kinds of things. I'd rather have an adventure.

  |Tango|  No.

  |joehillssays|  No.

  |TinfoilChef|  No.

  |ZombieCleo|  why nottttttttt

  |Xisuma|  i'm pretty sure you hated your last adventure. Look what happened last time...

  |ZombieCleo|  ehhh consequences of being an adventurer

  |Stressmonster101|  no thank you <3

  |Grian|  pretty sure I don't have another set of wings to save me this time Cleo haha

  |MumboJumbo|  ...

  |Grian|  Too soon?

  |Iskall85|  LOL

  |MumboJumbo|  I mourned you dude

  |Grian|  Yeah well I mourn your loss of importance. You're the creator of The Button and you have a pathetic purple belt?

  |MumboJumbo|  I regret making the rule saying you have to ridicule purple belts. 

  |Zedaph|  go get a better belt dude

  |Grian|  haha

  Welcome home indeed.