#sam get out of the infinity portal jfc

[vitamx]

along came a rabbit

[Read on AO3!]

along came a rabbit, hopping through a diamond portal.

---

Grian thought he was having a pretty good day.

 He had restocked some deals in Sahara NOW, turned in a bunch of dyes to Iskall, and had even begun sketching down some ideas for a brand new event for the server!

 He thought that today couldn't have been any better.

 It was nearly dusk now- just an hour 'till- and he thought to himself, maybe I could go to sleep early.

 He thought to himself, I should get some well-earned rest.

He thought to himself, today was such a good day.

 He thought not to himself that perhaps the day's events were not yet over, he thought not to himself that maybe his day could still turn upside down.

And upside down his day turned, like a jammed clock that finally began moving, quickly jittering itself back into place.

  I wonder- fate itself must've pondered.  I wonder, should there be something wrong?

Yes, there must be- send it through, send it through!

 Fate whispered and it cackled.

  Grian breathed in the floral air at the hippie commune, a satisfied smile on his face as he took off his flower crown at last.

 "It was a good run," Grian hummed to himself, content with the conclusion such a big event had on the world.

 Of course, he was saddened and mellow, his attempts of getting back to Evo with the time machine now thrown out the window- but overall, he was content.

 He was happy.

  Fate murmured amongst itself, hurriedly pushing the frantic white rabbit through the diamond portal.

 So much fun, so much fun, fate thought to itself. This will be so much fun to watch.

  A short and muffled 'ding' sounded from Grian's inventory, and he pulled out his communicator, settling in front of the campfire comfortably. He wondered who was messaging him- was it Iskall asking for more dye? Mumbo asking about his Poultry Man's latest prank?

  What he did not expect, was Xisuma asking if he knew of a young man with rabbit ears.

What he did not expect, was for his gut to flip upside down, and for his blood to run ice cold- or for shivers to crawl up his spine, for fate to laugh at and mock him to his face.

  Grian felt sick.

He felt nauseous.

  And all of a sudden, he was there back in the bus, trying to keep Taurtis awake, trying to keep Taurtis alive, trying to keep himself alive, trying to drag them both out of the wreckage- he was staggering up to Sam, expecting him to ask if he was alright, expecting him to wonder why he was harmed and injured, only for him to dress him up as Taurtis, only for him to force him to act like Taurtis and go by his name and talk like him and make jokes like him and get hurt if he even mentioned that he wasn't him.

  ("Haha, yeah! You're nothing.")

 And all of a sudden, he was back in the tiny wooden shed, hands clasped over his mouth and hiding for his life, he was terrified of someone he thought was his friend, who was laughing like nothing was wrong, he was forcing plastic bags down his throat, crying and desperately trying to keep himself quiet, and Sam was there, laughing and smiling in front of him, knife clenched in an unwavering grip, calling him Taurtis...

 He isn't Taurtis. He was never Taurtis.

 (Was he truly just kept around to fill in for when Taurtis was gone?)

 But whatever keeps you happy Sam, whatever keeps you sane Sam, please don't hurt me, Sam-

   Grian hadn't realized he had thrown his communicator onto the ground, hadn't realized he was shaking and hadn't realized he had begun to cry.

 It couldn't- it can't be him. Grian refused to believe that it was.

Although he certainly wouldn't be going to find out for himself if it really was or not.

 Grian thought he was having such a good day- thought he had finally made peace with his past, thought he was ready to focus on the present, on the future, for once in his life.

 Of course, fate could never let him rest, could it?

 ---

 At first, Sam was confused- even more than that!

 These people were all crazy, he thought.

He did see a green cyborg-man staring down at him in shock when he first came out of the strange portal, and after that, he had seen people flying over to him in a flurry with fake wings.

 Elytras, they were called.

 They sure would've been helpful for Yuki, he thought with a dark chuckle.

They all wore diamond armor, too! Like it wasn't rare or expensive, like it was just another piece of clothing!

 (They had laughed when he asked if they were all part of the yakuza.)

 He was confused- and being confused made him angry. He didn't want to be confused, he wanted to understand, he had to understand, that way he could become such lovely friends with everyone!

That way people could like him!

 That way he could find his way back to his best bud Taurtis!

 (Taurtis has been gone for quite some time now, and he can't quite take it much longer. Taurtis betrayed him, he had left him, after all he's done for him. And he was furious.)

 But they had all looked at him in confusion.

Why was he the weird one now? He's never the weird one!

He would've gone crazy, would've lost his mind, if he hadn't overheard one thing from the "admin"- the man in the helmet- Xisuma.

 "I wonder when Grian will show up," he had murmured to himself in concern. "He's seen the message, but he isn't coming over."

 Gree-on! Gree-on was here!

He didn't like Gree-on that much, what with his, well- overall everything. He wasn't that likable. He wasn't pretty, he wasn't nice (to him).

 (He cried too much, too- why are you crying? Don't be crazy, you're Taurtis!)

 In fact, he was a bit of a debby-downer in the fun games they would always play back at their old high school.

 (It's just cops and robbers, Yuki, yeah! Come on, do you wanna play with us?)

 Sam thinks that maybe he had scared Xisuma a bit when he had grabbed his arm and asked if this "Grian" was a brit with strawberry-blonde hair and red sweater, but that was fine!

If Gree-on was here, then so could Taurtis!

 Now he just had to wait it out.

 (Gree-on was taking fairly long to get here. After Sam had showed up and everything, he can't even bother to greet him? How ungrateful, how rude, how utterly disgusting.)

 ---

 Grian tried to stop himself from shaking- he truly did.

But his heart kept leaping out of his throat, and his mind raced with old memories, as well as possible new ones, too.

 (What would Sam do to him? Would he be angry? Would he be happy?)

 He had locked himself inside his RV, and was curled up messily on his bed. Would someone come and find him? Probably.

But it was better than sitting out in the open- it was better than sitting out where Sam could get to him. At least there were walls around him to keep anyone out, to keep Sam out.

 He still wasn't sure if this man with rabbit ears was even Sam- why was he so scared? Why couldn't he stop shaking?

 The logical part of his head told him everything would be okay- the entire server is your friend, they wouldn't let you get hurt if the "man with rabbit ears" really is Sam. It'll be fine, why are you so scared?

And the rest of him was terrified. The rest of his mind raced frantically- he's here, he's going to hurt you, he's going to dress you up and make you act like someone else, he's never going to let you go again- you're trapped with him now.

 Distantly, the sound of fireworks filled the air, and they were getting closer and closer.

Grian froze up and clasped hands over his mouth, holding his breath and scrambling to the far corner of his bed.

 The server probably thought they were friends- thought Grian would be happy to see him. Sam always wrapped every person he found around his little finger, to believe every word he says, to be the person he wanted them to be, not the person they actually were.

 (He'd seen that so many times with Taurtis- he had told Grian once in Evo, "it used to be 'hey, let's go walk around town', until it was "you're coming with me to steal from shops around town.'")

 "Grian? You there, dude?"

 Ren's voice, accompanied by many other short murmurs and whispers, spoke out to him, knocking on the door to his RV. Grian shut his eyes tight, burying his face in his knees, hoping, praying, that they would go away, that they wouldn't make him go and see Sam. That Sam wouldn't come and see him.

 The iron door clicked open anyway.

 He heard Ren walk up to him hesitantly, placing a comforting hand on Grian's shoulder, making him flinch, and lift his tear-stained face to look up at Ren fearfully. To say Ren was frightened was an understatement.

 "Grian, hey, hey, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked quietly, hugging onto Grian protectively. "Why are you crying?"

 Grian was quiet for a moment, listening to the worried whispers right outside his camper van. He took in a shuddered breath, and raised his head to look back at Ren, opening his mouth to speak.

 "Please don't bring him in here."

 Before Ren could even register what he said, the iron door slammed open, and in scrambled a frantic rabbit-eared young man, a wide smile on his face.

 "Gree-on!" He called, his smile and eyes widening, as if he had finally found a piece of prey that ran from him. "There you are! I was waiting for you, dummy! You know, a good friend would've actually come to see me," He scoffed, eyes narrowing before he quickly smiled at him once more.

 "But that's fine! You were obviously busy having some sort of crisis!" He laughed, hopping up to Grian, pushing Ren out of the way (who was much more than confused).

 Grian stayed silent, before wordlessly standing up from the bed, staring at Sam with tear-soaked eyes for a good few seconds. And he walked straight past him, his shaky hands clicking open the door to his RV, stumbling outside.

 Letting out an offended gasp, Sam quickly followed.

 "Gree-on! Gree-on, it's rude to ignore people!" He called, grabbing tightly onto Grian's wrist to keep him from walking away.

 Grian's head snapped towards Sam, his eyes widening in fear before settling on a bitter glare. The small crowd around him was silent in both confusion and worry.

 "...What?" He asked quietly, his voice quavering. Sam let out a short laugh, looking at Grian in wonder.

 "Are you really gonna start crying? Come on, Gree-on! I didn't even do anything this time! You're just gonna make me feel bad for no reason now." He said, talking like he was scolding Grian as if he were a child. "You're still such a bad friend, even after we were all reunited and stuff!" He huffed, glaring.

 Mumbo and a few others raised their voice at this, shuffling forward threateningly, but Grian couldn't bother making out the words they were speaking.

He stayed silent, looking at Sam incredulously.

 "By the way..." Sam began, his grip from Grian's wrist unwavering, "Where's Taurtis?"

 It was such a simple question, really. But the way Sam smiled innocently at him, the way his hand tightened ever so slightly- he was threatening Grian. It was like he was telling him, "if Taurtis is not here, then I will make him be here".

And Grian was terrified, he began to shake again, and weakly tried pulling his arm from Sam's grip.

 (It was useless to even try.)

 "He's..." Grian began, his voice weak, his eyes darting around fearfully to the worried crowd around them. He swallowed a lump in his throat and looked up at Sam with a glare. "He's gone."

 Sam's smile fell from his face, and his eyes narrowed to glare right back at him. He pulled Grian's wrist, leaning closer to his face.

 "What?" He asked, his eyes wildly danced around Grian's face for any trace of a lie. "You're- what did you do to him? I've been looking everywhere for him- I've gotten arrested because I've gone places I shouldn't just to find him so what the hell did you do to him?" He hissed, his glare quickly turning into a snarl.

 Grian flinched, and scoffed, ripping his wrist from Sam's grip painfully.

 "What did I do to him? Don't you mean what you did to him? You were- You were such a horrible person to him, Sam! To him and to me! I don't know where he is but at least he's away from you!" He snarled, pushing Sam away from him.

 Mumbo and Iskall had run up to Grian, standing beside him protectively (although still quite confused).

 "You're just making shit up now!" Sam yelled, his eyes wild with anger. "He loved me! He needed me! He would've died a long time ago if I hadn't taken him with me!" He screamed, pushing past Mumbo and Iskall and grabbing a hold of a tuft of Grian's hair.

 "I don't need a Gree-on, I need a Taurtis! Just disappear!" He snarled.

 Eyes widening in fear, Grian reeled his hand back, punching the center of Sam's face, and dropped to the ground shortly after.

Sam was silent- everyone was silent.

 Until it wasn't silent anymore.

 "You." Sam growled quietly, staggering back up to his feet, blood dribbling from his nose and dripping down his chin, staining his teeth red.

 He stared down at Grian with a wide grin.

 "You're gonna regret that," He rasped, pulling an all too familiar iron knife from his pocket.

Grian froze up, his eyes filling up with terror. He knew he couldn't experience permadeath in Hermitcraft- he knew for a fact that he would respond if Sam hurt him too badly.

 But what if he didn't?

 He didn't have much time to dwell more on that thought- Sam had lunged at him, swinging the knife in his hands towards Grian's face, grabbing a hold of his neck.

His head slammed against the ground, his breath being knocked out his lungs. Everyone had rushed forward angrily, quickly grabbing and disabling Sam's ability to attack or run away, and Ren, Impulse, Mumbo, and Iskall all ran up to him, lifting him up.

 Grian's head was spinning- and the side of his chin stung and felt damp, too. He blinked slowly, grabbing onto whichever arm it was that was holding him up. Sam was yelling at him, calling him horrible, calling him a liar, calling him crazy. But his yelling grew quieter and quieter, and when his head finally stopped spinning, he saw that Sam was being dragged away by Doc and Scar.

 He let out a shaky sigh, and his breathing began to settle into a calm rhythm.

  He was gone.

  Everyone had asked him nonstop for answers, who he was, why he was so hostile, who the hell was Taurtis- things like that.

To say that the server was in shock from those answers was an understatement- they were horrified.

 Xisuma reassured him that Sam would stay locked up in Area 77 until further decisions were made.

 Grian stayed in the hippie commune with Ren, Impulse, Mumbo, and Iskall for a few days.

He spent a lot of time with each of them- treating the cut on the side of his chin with Impulse, gathering more shulkers of dye for Sahara with Iskall, showing off the redstone of his dye farm to Mumbo, making flower crowns and harvesting their farm with Ren.

He nearly forgot Sam was locked up somewhere in Area 77, probably screaming his head off and losing his mind more than it was already lost.

 One quiet morning, Grian woke up to a global message who's sound echoed throughout his camper van.

  Samgladiator has been banned by XisumaVoid.

  With a tired smile and a weight lifted off his chest, Grian flopped against his bed and closed his eyes.

He would always be scared of Sam, that would never change, and he would always be haunted by the time he spent with him.

 But Sam was gone now, and he wouldn't see him for a long, long time- and hopefully never again.

  Distantly, a white rabbit stirred in a world, eyes Watching his every move.

 ---