falling
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Desc; Iskall gets blown into the void while caving, and it isn’t very kind to him.
Word Count: 1,708
Warnings: Major Character Death (Non permanent), Mentions of Perma-Death, Panicking, Blood, Let me know if I need to add anything!
Note: In this one-shot, Iskall has one prosthetic arm and leg, similar to Doc’s arm.
(AO3 Link In Reblog)
Iskall set down a few torches, glancing around the dark cave. He was lighting things up to prevent mobs from spawning near his farm. He occasionally mined a few ores around before continuing through the cave. After walking through and putting down torches for a while, he stumbled upon a rather large hole. He crouched down, looking down into it. It was rather large in diameter, and it looked rather deep. Almost as if it went through bedrock right into the void. But that was highly unlikely. Bedrock was meant to be unbreakable. He knew Impulse hadn’t come and broken it. It must just go really far down.
Iskall chose to be somewhat smart about this, tossing a torch down into the hole. The light went on and on, never hitting the bottom. It only disappeared when it was too far to be seen. How deep was this hole? It seemed a bit dangerous to go down. He didn't have an elytra on him, not anticipating needing it in the cave. Digging straight down was always just a general bad idea. For various reasons.. Maybe he would come back when he had an elytra on him.
Or... Maybe he wouldn't. A hiss was heard behind him, and as soon as he turned around, a blast tossing him into the hole. Iskall let out a scream as he tried to catch onto something, but to no avail. His screams stopped as soon as he realized he wasn't hitting the ground. He had been falling for several seconds, but no ground was hit.
He looked up, staring straight into the bottom of the world. The bedrock. Surrounding him was a cold blackness of nothing. He was in the void. No doubt about it. He was continuing to fall, the bedrock getting further and further. He was going to die here. Would he respawn in his bed? Or would he respawn back at spawn. Would he even respawn at all?
The air in the void started to thin, not doing much to help Iskall’s current hyperventilating. Would the void cause him perma-death? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to find out. Yet here he was. Finding out exactly that. He wrapped his arms around himself, stiffening at the sight of his robotic arm starting to disintegrate. It started turning to flakes, slowly drifting into the nothingness of the void. His eye started showing error messages as it and his robotic leg did the same. Vision in said eye went completely dark as he started to feel blood on his cheek.
He watched as the pieces of metal and drops of blood scattered while he fell. The pain was intense. He just wanted death already. The void was a cruel place to die in. This was unbearable. Why does it take so long? Why any of this? Tears formed in his normal eye as he let out a painful sob.
What if it did cause perma-death? He couldn’t leave Grian and Mumbo. Or Stress. He couldn’t escape from Hermit Challenges. The cold brought numbness to most of his body. He could feel his whole body succumbing to the void. He let out a choked out laugh, hoping that he would respawn. Somewhere. Anywhere. He couldn’t leave yet.
Iskall85 fell out of the world.
-
Iskall took in a deep breath once he woke up suddenly in his bed. He winced at the harsh pain he felt, pushing himself up with his arm. He glanced around, looking for his communicator to message someone before realizing it was probably in the void. He groaned, pushing himself off the bed, leaning against the wall to keep himself balanced on his one leg.
It was difficult to get anywhere, and at some point, his leg collapsed underneath him. He nearly fell face first onto the ground before he was caught and picked up by two arms from behind. Iskall turned to face whoever was behind him, seeing Grian’s concerned face.
“Iskall? What happened? You died in the void. That doesn’t happen very often. Are you-” Grian was cut off by Iskall resting his head on his friend’s shoulder and mumbling something unintelligible.
Grian sighed, gently petting Iskall’s hair. “I’m going to bandage you up and then I’m taking you to Mumbo.” He carefully took Iskall back to his bed, cleaning the blood off his face. Iskall didn’t even know he was still bleeding. He just accepted Grian’s care, lacking the energy to protest.
Once Grian was done bandaging him up, Iskall was picked up again. Iskall clung to him with his one arm while Grian took off flying in the direction of Mumbo’s base.
Grian stopped, landing at Mumbo’s base, calling out for their mustached friend. “Mumbo! Come help me with Iskall!”
Mumbo flew over to the two. “Hello- Shit Iskall- That doesn’t look good. I guess you did fall in the void.” He mumbled the last part rather softly. “Take him with me.”
Grian followed Mumbo into his base and set Iskall on a bed in a room he made for Iskall.
“I have the blueprints to remake your limbs but it will take a while to get them all done. Would you be okay staying here?” Mumbo asked Iskall.
Iskall nodded, leaning against the wall, not having the energy to sit up on his own. “Yeah..”
Grian smiled faintly at Iskall, glad he would be okay with Mumbo. “I’m going to head off now. Mumbo let me know if you need anything, okay?”
Mumbo nodded. “Yeah. Thanks Grian!” He waved as Grian flow out. He turned back to Iskall. “You can sleep if you want.” Iskall nodded, and with help from Mumbo, laid down under the blankets. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.
Mumbo left, starting work on new parts for Iskall. He occasionally came back to get a measurement or two, Iskall sleeping through it.
After a few hours of relatively peaceful sleep, the quietness of Mumbo’s base was disturbed with a loud scream from where Iskall was previously asleep. Iskall quickly shot up in bed, his breathing quickened from a nightmare during his rest.
Iskall pushed himself out of the bed, forgetting that he couldn’t walk anywhere at the moment. He fell onto the ground, curling up in a tight ball, sobbing softly.
It wasn’t long before Mumbo came to check on Iskall after hearing the scream. “Iskall? Are you-” He stopped at the sight of his friend on the ground. He frowned, sitting down beside him and gently pulled him into a hug. “What happened?” He asked softly.
Iskall clung to him with his singular arm while Mumbo gently rubbed his back. “I- I had a nightmare. I died.. In the void. And I didn’t respawn. It- It was perma-death Mumbo.”
Perma-death wasn’t usually a thing to worry about. Hermitcraft was somewhat forgiving when you died. However when it comes to the void, no one could really be 100% sure.
Mumbo held Iskall close, leaning back against the side of the bed. “It’s okay. You respawned. You’re here still.”
Iskall nodded slowly, resting his head against Mumbo’s shoulder. “Didn’t make it any less terrifying though.” He whispered softly.
“I know, Iskall. You won’t fall into the void again though, okay?”
Iskall nodded again, having mostly calmed down now. He closed his eye, feeling tired again after that. He let Mumbo set him back on the bed, falling asleep under the blankets again.
When he awoke again, it was more peaceful. He slowly opened his eyes, spotting Mumbo working on a new robotic leg for him at a makeshift table. “Mumbo? What are you doing in here? And what time is it?”
“I came in here to keep an eye on you after earlier.” Mumbo smiled sheepishly. He then returned to his work, clearly avoiding the second question.
“Are you going to ignore my question?” Iskall knew that it was probably late, seeing as Mumbo had made decent progress on what he was doing.
“Three? In the morning?”
Iskall sighed. “What did I expect..” Despite his concern for his friend’s sleep schedule, Iskall did appreciate that he would do this to help him.
Mumbo shrugged, continuing to do his work. “How did you.. end up in the void in the first place?”
Iskall hesitated before answering Mumbo. “I found a hole that.. I guess lead to the void. And I was in a cave.. And a creeper blasted me into it.”
Mumbo nodded slowly. “I see-” He was startled by the sudden sound of rockets going off. “What’s going on at this hour-?” He pushed himself up to go see who was outside.
Iskall glanced up, waiting for Mumbo to return. After a moment, Mumbo came back, Xisuma following behind him.
“Xisuma?” Iskall questioned.
Xisuma waved a bit at Iskall. “Hey Iskall. I’m.. Sorry about the void. There was.. A bit of a glitch with the server. And it caused the world to have some issues. I’m very sorry- I do believe I have fixed it now though.”
Iskall smiled faintly. “It’s okay. I’m fine. And uh.. Thanks for fixing it, X.”
“You’re welcome. However, I’ve also come to make someone rest.”
Mumbo glanced away sheepishly. “Sorry, X.”
“Go on, get to bed. I’ll continue your work for a bit.” Xisuma set down a bed next to Iskall’s, pushing Mumbo towards it. Xisuma grabbed all the stuff Mumbo was working with, leaving the room.
Mumbo let out a sigh, flopping down onto the bed. He fell asleep rather quickly.
Iskall rolled his eyes, laughing quietly. “You really were tired then..” He curled up under his blanket again, falling asleep for the third time.
-
A few days later, Iskall finally got all the parts replaced. He glanced down at his hand, moving each of his fingers to test them out.
“Does everything work okay?” Mumbo asked him.
Iskall hesitated for a moment before he nodded. “Yes.. Thanks Mumbo!” He smiled gratefully.
Mumbo smiled as well. “Let me know if anything needs adjusting, okay?”
Iskall nodded. He was grateful for Mumbo helping him. He could finally go back to doing things. Xisuma had fixed the glitch, so he didn’t have anthing to worry about. He finally felt able to relax and peacefully build his tree.
