You would not believe your eyes if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep.

Grian hummed as he watched all the small bugs lighting up. In the grass, in the trees, and flying all about. Little pulses of light filled the darkness.

"It's incredible, isn't it?" Mumbo asked, sitting next to him in the grass.

Grian nodded. "I never realized there were so many of them out here." He couldn't even begin to describe how magical it felt, sitting in the middle of a forest at night with dozens of fireflies dancing around them. The chirping of crickets and other animals moving about only added to the otherworldly atmosphere.

Something flew past Mumbo's face and he jumped back in alarm.

"What was that?" The redstoner had barely spoken before Grian saw the culprit. A dragonfly, one of the shiny bluish-green ones, landed on a nearby branch.

"Oh, cool! A dragonfly!" Grian reached towards it, but it quickly flew into the air, just out of reach.

Mumbo chuckled. "Looks like it's almost as fast a flier as you, Grian."

"Please, I could beat an insect in a race anyday." He once again attempted to catch said insect, this time managing to cup his hands around it. "Aha!"

He carefully removed his top hand, finding the dragonfly sitting in his other palm, staring at him(if dragonflies could stare with those strange eyes). It was probably annoyed and confused as to why this random human would capture it for seemingly no reason. It hovered up a couple of inches, staring for several seconds more before, much to Grian's surprise, taking off backwards into the darkness.

"Betcha can't do that," he heard Mumbo whisper.

"Oh really?" Grian turned to face him. "It can't be that hard."

"Grian, I'm sure there's a reason dragonflies are one of the only animals able to fly backwards."

"Is that a challenge?" Grian grinned.

"It wasn't, but now I'm curious as to where this is headed."

Grian hopped to his feet, strapping on his elytra and pulling a rocket from his inventory. "It's simple, holding the rocket like this makes you fly normally." He outstretched his arm, rocket in hand. "So this must do the opposite." He flipped the rocket in his hand so it was facing him.

"Grian, I don't think-"

Grian pulled the string on the rocket to activate it. It immediately flew from his grip, hitting him straight in the face.

Mumbo burst out laughing as Grian stumbled back, clutching his nose. "Are you okay, mate?"

"I fink I bwoke it."

This only made Mumbo laugh more. "Come on." He stood up and took his friend's arm. "Let's get you back and find you a healing potion before you take your eye out."

<~~~>

Thankfully, the healing potion took effect quickly, and while Grian's face still hurt a lot, it no longer felt as if it had been set on fire.

"I really thought that would work," he muttered, trying to hold his nose in place so it wouldn't heal weird.

Mumbo sat next to him on the couch, helping wipe the blood off his face. "You fired a rocket that was pointed at your face. Frankly, that could have gone a lot worse. Here." He finished and handed Grian a cup of tea.

The shorter Hermit sipped the tea thoughtfully. "I guess rockets are supposed to pull things, not push them. I'll have to find a way around that."

"You mean you're still gonna try to do this?"

"Of course," Grian yawned. "I'm not quitting because of a broken nose." The potion was making him even more tired. He failed to suppress another yawn.

"Alright, Rudolf," Mubo said, referring to Grian's nose, which was still swollen and bruised. His joke was answered by an elbow in his ribs. "Ow. Yeah, I guess I kind of deserved that."

There was a tired silence for a few minutes before Grian broke it.

"Hey Mumbo, could I stay here for the night?" he asked, struggling to keep his eyes open. "I doubt I'd be able to walk back to my base."

"Sure. You are half-drunk on medicine and exhaustion, and would probably fall in the Boatem Hole."

Grian relaxed in his seat and laughed, not even bothering to argue with that. "Thanks," he murmured, resting his head on Mumbo's shoulder.

<~~~>

Mumbo first noticed something was up when he woke up the next day and found the door of his suspended RV wide open.

Grian probably left it open, he thought and went to close it. Then he stopped. He could hear footsteps coming from above. On top of the RV.

Cautiously, he stuck his head out of the door and looked around. When he didn't see anything, he climbed up the side of the vehicle, vividly aware of how high up from the ground he was, and the fact that he had neglected to put on an elytra.

He wasn't in the least bit surprised to find Grian standing on top of the RV, wearing an elytra.

"Mumbo, perfect timing!" Grian grabbed his arm and pulled him up the rest of the way. "You're about to witness history!"

Mumbo shook his head in disbelief. "What are you doing up here?"

"Well," Grian explained. "The rocket issue, I still need to figure out. But it's not entirely necessary. You can always glide just by jumping off of something high up, like your van, here."

"You do realize this is a terrible idea, right?"

"Of course I do," Grian said, walking backwards toward the edge of the roof of the RV. "If it wasn't, I probably wouldn't be doing it." And with that, he jumped off.

Mumbo quickly moved to the other side of the RV to watch. Grian fell several meters before deploying his elytra. However, due to the fact that he was angled upwards, the elytra stalled, and he kept falling.

Luckily, he noticed the problem and turned mid-air, so that the wind caught under the elytra's wings, causing him to glide normally for a couple of seconds before hitting the ground in a somersault.

Before Mumbo could call down to ask if he was okay, Grian flashed him a thumbs-up.

It took Mumbo several minutes to climb down the RV again and make his way to the ground, where he found Grian sitting dejectedly.

"I don't get it," he said when Mumbo approached. "I thought it would work that time."

"Grian, how much do you know about aerodynamics?"

Grian frowned. "Not enough to see where you're going with this."

"Alright," Mumbo sat down next to him, "hand me your elytra."

Confused, Grian took off the elytra and gave it to him.

"See how the wing is shaped? The curve allows air to move under it, pushing up on the wings." Mumbo moved his hand under the wing to imitate air. "That creates lift, which is what keeps you from falling out of the sky. But because of the shape, this only works in the one direction. If you try and fly it backwards, the wind won't catch under it, and it won't create lift."

Grian took his elytra back, studying it. After some time he looked up. "So, what you're saying is it's impossible?"

"I'm sorry," Mumbo said. "It really was a great idea. But with the way elytra are made, it could never work."

"Oh," Grian said simply. "Well, I guess I'll see you around, then."

Mumbo watched as he stood up and walked back to his base.

<~~~>

It was around midday and Grian was still searching. The table in front of him was littered with papers, and he had several books and computer tabs open about aerodynamics and entomology. At the very least, he had learned a lot about dragonflies over the past several hours. Namely, how having two sets of wings allowed them more control and a wider range of movement, which was how they could fly backwards and even hover in place.

But all of this was because insects can flap their wings, and that wasn't even close to how elytra worked.

"Come on," he muttered to himself, flipping through pages of a book showing diagrams of insect wings. "There's got to be something."

He tapped his pen against the table restlessly. He refused to believe it was impossible. He didn't care what Mumbo said, nothing was actually impossible. It just hadn't been figured out yet. And Grian didn't plan on giving up.

Mrrrow. Grian looked up at the sound and saw a light brown and black cat walking otherwise silently across the room.

"Not now, Maui." The cat completely ignored him, jumping up onto the table and stepping across all the papers to rub his face against Grian's hand.

Grian smiled a bit and picked up Maui, scratching him behind the ears. Maui purred contentedly and Grian sat back in his chair, holding the cat to his chest.

"You just want attention, huh?" he mused. Maui just kept purring, the gentle rumbling filling his senses with a warm, comforting feeling.

"I guess everyone wants attention sometimes... Me too, if I'm being honest. You know, Maui, maybe that's why I'm doing this. Maybe I just want p;wople to take notice of me, to think I'm really clever and interesting. And maybe I'm worried that failing will mean I'm not worth other people's time."

Maui looked up at him, still purring, and Grian laughed.

"I know. Completely irrational. I really should get out of my head more often." He looked at the table, which was just as cluttered as his mind felt. "And get away from all this. I don't know if I can give up on it yet... but I can't let it control me."

He stood up, setting Maui down on the floor, stretched, and went to find Pearl(the cat, not the person).

<~~~>

The sun shone down warmly from its highest point as Grian walked around Boatem, both his cats trying to run off in every possible direction. By the time he reached the pillbug statue, he had realized that bringing the cats out with him might have been more trouble than it was worth.

Pearl(the cat), who had given up on trying to get free of her leash, turned and rolled around in a patch of dust. When she stood up again, her silvery-gray fur was a dull brownish color.

Grian shook his head, still not sure why cats liked dust so much.

"What are you doin?"

Grian nearly jumped out of his skin, having only now realized Pearl(the person, not the cat) had snuck up behind him while he wasn't paying attention. She laughed as he barely managed to keep himself from falling over.

"Don't do that!" Grian yelled in alarm, but Pearl just grinned triumphantly and crouched down to pet the cats.

"Hello Maui, other Pearl... cat me... PearlescentMew."

The cat(now dubbed Pearlescent Mew) didn't protest when she was lifted into the air, instead purring loudly. Pearl chuckled, stoking the cat's dusty fur.

"Seriously though," she asked, "why are you walking your cats?"

Grian shrugged. "If I do it regularly enough, I can use it as an excuse for being late to playing board games with Timmy."

Pearl opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated. "Oookay then," she finally said. "But why are they on leashes?"

"So they don't push Scar into the Boatem Hole."

Pearl frowned doubtfully.

"Pearl, they are my cats, you realize."

Pearl set PearlescentMew back down on the ground, brushing dust and cat hair off her shirt. "You have a point there." She looked up and past Grian. "Hullo, there's Mumbo. Hey, Mumbo!"

Grian turned around and saw the redstoner wave as he ran across the grass from his base. He stopped when he reached them, but stared at the cats on leashes before looking to Grian and Pearl for some answer.

"Board games," Pearl said.

"What?"

"It's a long story," Grian interrupted. "What's up?"

"Okay so, first of all, I was wrong," Mumbo said, speaking quickly. "And second, I figured it out."

Grian's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

"I'm baffled that I didn't think of it before. The answer was practically staring me in the face."

Pearl looked back and forth between the two of them with growing suspicion in her eyes. "Wait, what's going on? What are you two up to?"

"Grian's been trying to figure out how to fly backwards," Mumbo explained.

Pearl laughed. "Wait for real? That's awesome! How can I help?"

"Follow me." Mumbo turned back to his base. "More hands will make building it a lot easier."

Grian frowned. "Building what now?"

"You'll see!" Mumbo called back, already running.

<~~~>

Several hours, a lot of rope, and two mangled elytra later, Grian and Pearl sat anxiously watching as Mumbo made one final check that all the parts of their contraption moved smoothly.

Grian did have to admit it looked pretty cool. Two sets of wings had been attached to the harness. One pair was facing in the normal direction, while the other had the left and right wings swapped so that, when the wings were out, they appeared to be upside down. There was also a series of cords and pulleys attached to the device, and one word had been embroidered in a silver cursive along the harness(per Pearl's suggestion).

Dragonfly

"So is it ready?" Pearl asked when Mumbo finally set the device back down on the worktable.

"As far as I can tell, yes," Mumbo said. "But at this point there's only one way to know for sure. You ready, Grian?"

"Yeah, I think so." Grian took the four-winged elytra from Mumbo and put on the harness, fastening the buckles and making sure none of the cords were caught on anything. He then strapped a rocket to each ankle, pointed downwards. The rocket's pull cords had been extended and attached to his belt so he could reach them without having to bend over.

"Remember," Mumbo said, "each cord controls one pair of wings. The left cord controls both forward wings, and the right one controls both backward wings."

"Yeah. Got it." Even so, Grian pulled down on the hoop attached to the cord which went up over his left shoulder. The normal elytra wings spread out, and were at full length when he slipped the hoop onto a hook at his waist. He took it off the hook and let the wings slowly go back down with a soft whirring. Then he repeated the actions with the right cord, moving the reversed wings.

"The wings take about five seconds to retract," Mumbo pointed out. "And one pair needs to be fully down before you can extend the other, otherwise they'll get caught."

"So what you're saying," Grian said at length, "is that once I get up there, I'm gonna have to freefall for five seconds?"

Mumbo hesitated. "Yeah, that's kind of the idea."

"Glad it's not me," Pearl said under her breath, petting PearlescentMew, who was curled up on her lap.

Grian took a deep breath. For the past few hours, the idea of really testing this was exciting. But now he just felt queasy.

"Nervous?" Mumbo asked.

"Of course not," Grian said quickly. "But... if I were, what would you say?"

The corner of Mumbo's mouth turned up in a smile. "I would say you'd have to be crazy not to be nervous."

Grian chuckled. "Alright then, let's do this."

The three of them went outside to where Scar and Impulse were waiting expectantly. Pearl had told them what was going on, and they seemed to have dropped everything to come watch. The sun was now low in the sky, and the shadows were beginning to lengthen.

"That elytra looks pretty sick," Impulse said, and Scar seemed to be asking Mumbo something about a cat-sized elytra for Jellie.

Grian climbed up onto a large rock and pulled a pair of flight goggles over his eyes. He then bent down to tie his feet together with a length of rope. This had to be done so he could stay controlled when flying backwards, but it was a loose knot that he could break easily if needed. He took a rocket from his inventory, holding it firmly in his hand... and hesitated.

He turned to face Mumbo, who was standing beside the rock, looking up at him with confusion.

"What if it doesn't work?" Grian asked quietly. "What if I fall?"

His friend reached up and patted his hand reassuringly. "Then we'll be here to catch you."

Grian smiled a bit and nodded in response. He pulled the left cord and hooked it to his belt, extending the wings, and took a deep breath. Then he hopped awkwardly off the rock, set off the rocket in his hand, and launched himself up into the air.

Wind swept his hair about as he fired more rockets from his inventory. Right now, he needed height. He burst through a layer of clouds and saw the soft sea of pink and orange which surrounded him.

Then he shut his eyes, unhooked the cord, and began the freefall.

One...

He felt air rushing past his body. He'd gotten enough height, right? Of course he had. It would take longer than five seconds for him to fall all that way.

Two...

But what if the wings didn't work? He would have wasted precious time, and it would take just as long again before he could extend the regular wings.

Three...

Sure he'd respawn, but it would hurt like hell, and he'd be bruised for at least a week.

Four...

But his friends were there for him. Even if he failed. Even if he failed a hundred times, he knew they wouldn't leave him.

Five.

He pulled on the right cord. His fall stopped abruptly as the wings caught air. He yanked the ankle-rocket's pull cords and they fired with a loud whistling noise.

The rushing air now came from behind him. Cautiously he opened his eyes and saw the ground far below fly past him in a direction he had never seen before.

He was doing it. He was flying backwards.

He flew past his friends, who looked as tiny as ants, and hollered in excitement, with no idea as to whether they could hear him.

He couldn't see where he was headed, only where he'd been and where he was now. Blue waves appeared in his vision as he flew over the ocean.

Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, he threw his hands in the air and cheered loudly from pure euphoria. The rockets at his feet, which angled downward as his arms went up, let out one last burst of momentum, and he shot straight into the ocean.

<~~~>

The five members of Boatem sat around a campfire half an hour later. The sun had just set and the warm glow of the fire illuminated them. Grian was wrapped in a blanket, soaked and shivering, but with a huge smile on his face.

"I still can't believe how quickly you plummeted into the water!" Scar exclaimed, roasting a marshmallow. "You're lucky Impulse fished you out."

Grian chuckled. "I'm sure I would have been fine."

"Probably not," Pearl teased, trying to see how many marshmallows she could stack on a sleeping Maui. So far, seven.

"I'm just amazed you three managed to make an idea like that work," Impulse said. "I mean sure, it's really impractical, but it's still crazy."

"Put that on a billboard," Mumbo said, spreading his arms to emulate a sign. "Boatem Village: home of crazy and impractical ideas, and people who will do them anyway."

Grian shook his head, grinning. "Thanks for not giving up on me. And... you know, actually figuring it out in the end. It really means a lot."

Mumbo elbowed him. "Well, what are friends for if not to assist bad ideas?"

There was a soft buzzing noise and Grian saw a blue-green dragonfly land on his arm. It stood there for some time, staring at him with those buggy eyes.

"Looks like you've earned its respect," Mumbo said.

Grian smiled. "Yeah, I guess I have."