Chapter Text
When Grian wakes up it’s slow and uncomfortable. His limbs feel fuzzy and his head throbs as if he was caught in a TNT explosion. Shifting, he realizes that he’s laying on something stiff, yet soft. He flexes his fingers and realizes the grass under him is softer than he remembered it being.
“Is he awake?” a voice whispered above him.
A hand brushed through his hair gently as Grian struggled to open his eyes. He blinked at the harsh light, barely being disrupted by the leaves of the trees he was surrounded by. Looking around, he caught sight of his masked Admin.
How is X in Evo? was the first thought that passed through Grian’s mind.
“Yeah,” his admin responded to the previous voice. “Though, he seems pretty out of it.”
Looking over, Grian spotted Pearl sitting a few blocks away, rifling through her bag, pulling some blocks out while putting others in. It looked like a mess. She sighed and closed the bag, shuffling closer to where Grian lay, smiling softly. “Hey, Gri.”
Grian hummed gently, trying to get his voice to work. “H’llo,” he tried. Speaking felt like trying to sprint through a valley of soul sand; his words felt wrong in his mouth and he couldn’t seem to find his voice.
“Don’t push yourself,” Xisuma muttered, continuing the soothing motion of carding his hand through the Watcher’s hair. “You just woke up, give yourself a minute.”
Grian frowned. He didn’t want to wait any longer. He wanted to get up and continue working on his projects. He wanted to see everyone again. He tried to push himself up, but the hand in his hair moved and suddenly his shoulders were being pushed down, guiding him back into the ground.
“Grian!” Xisuma gasped. “C’mon, friend. I just told you to take it easy.”
“Gri,” Pearl started. Grian felt her hand brush through his hair; he leaned into the touch. “Take a breath, we aren’t going anywhere.”
Closing his eyes again, Grian took a deep breath. He clearly wasn’t getting anywhere with his friends intent on keeping him down. Maybe he should ask Pearl to call everyone? They were probably worried if he’d been gone for so long.
As Grian was getting ready to ask Pearl if she could call anyone else, his wings twitched uncomfortably below him. He felt a hand brush through the feathers, gently pulling the limbs out from directly underneath him. “You can spread your wings, Grian. Don’t worry about us, just make yourself comfortable,” the Admin coaxed.
The Admin’s words didn’t make sense in Grian’s mind. He shouldn’t have wings in Evo. The only being with wings were the Watchers.
The Watchers.
Panic immediately spiked in Grian’s chest. He’d been taken from Evo by them. He pushed himself up again, this time with more force. It was enough that he managed to sit up fully and look around before Pearl or Xisuma could even get their hands on his shoulders.
A quick glance around proved that he was not in Evo anymore. No, this was one of Xisuma’s worlds. One shielded from the Watchers’ prying eyes.
Frantically he looked over to Pearl and could feel the tears pooling in his eyes. He’d just left her. He left her alone, along with everyone else. How was she not angry? Why did she look so concerned?
“Grian, I need you to breathe,” Xisuma said from his side. The Admin hand moved his hands from his wings to his back, rubbing gentle patterns between the feathered limbs.
Grian’s eyes remained on Pearl. She gently grabbed his hands and mimicked the patterns Xisuma was rubbing on his back with her thumbs. “Hey, what happened?”
The words got caught in Grian’s throat, making him cough harshly. He realized that breathing was also taking so much more effort than it should. He felt like he was dying; and maybe he was. Maybe he never got away from the Watchers and this is all some wicked punishment for ever doubting them.
A hand on his cheek shocked Grian out of his spiraling thoughts. He focused his gaze on Pearl’s face and realized that he could see her clearly. Her eyes were clouded in grief and regret, but held nothing of anger or resentment.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Why?” Grian managed to choke out. He should be sorry. He should be begging her for forgiveness after leaving her and the rest of the Evo crew so suddenly.
“I should have looked harder. I should have done something to get you back before they hurt you.”
Grian shook his head. “They didn’t hurt me,” he said. His voice wasn’t as hard to find anymore, but the tears that threatened to spill made it hard to speak. “You wouldn’t have found me anyway.”
“But-” Pearl tried to argue, getting cut off as the Admin spoke up from behind Grian.
“But nothing, Pearl. The Watchers live out in the Deep End. No matter how hard you looked, you wouldn’t have found even a trace of them.”
Pearl didn’t argue again, but her expression still held the regret that she felt. “I’m still sorry that you had to go through that, Gri.”
Grian shrugged and tried to hold the tears back as his thoughts wandered to the rest of the Evo crew. “You said Martyn helped you escape. What happened?”
“Well,” Pearl sighed. “Once they got what they wanted, the Watchers were sick of us. And without the Admin around, the world began to fall apart without anything holding it together.”
Grian flinched back. “I’m sorry.”
Pearl shook her head. “There’s nothing anyone could have done. Luckily, the beings that Martyn had previous contact with - Listeners, if I remember correctly - took mercy on us. They took him under their wing - metaphorically - and taught us how to get out of the crumbling world. It was a shot in the dark, but it worked. We ended back in our own worlds and continued to live. A few of them talked to Scott about his tournaments. Some of the others went off on their own adventures.”
When Pearl paused for a breath, Grian shifted. His panic had slowly drained as she talked. His wings shifted behind him. The Admin paused his movements for a moment, then continued silently.
“I wanted to look for you,” Pearl continued. “I’ve kept in contact with them all, but I had nothing else to do, so I searched. I went through every server I could, then, after years, your Admin reached out to me.” There was a sparkle of relief in Pearl’s eyes.
“When we go back, we’ll thank Mumbo. He’s the one who suggested you were the one to reach out to,” Xisuma explained as he removed his hands from Grian’s back. The Admin stood up and walked around, coming into Grian’s view.
Pearl noticed and gave them both a small smile. “Tell him I said ‘hi’, will ya?” When Xisuma nodded, Pearl directed her attention back to Grian. “I’m glad I got to see you again, Grian. Before I go, do you want a hug?”
Grian nodded and immediately he was in the very comfortable arms of Pearl. He hugged her back as tightly as she hugged him. “Do you have to go?”
When she pulled back, Grian could see the small smile on her face. “I do, and so do you. You shouldn’t be outside of your home server for so long, especially with so much stress.”
Grian frowned but nodded. He could feel a heavy exhaustion piling on him, despite the stress and pain from earlier fading away. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’m not going away forever, you dummy. I thought Mumbo was supposed to be the spoon,” she chuckled. “I won’t be gone forever. X told me that he’d leave this world open so we could hang out without worrying about any unwanted observers.”
Looking at the Admin for confirmation, Grian grinned. After a moment, he realized another problem. “How will we plan a meeting?”
Pearl gave him a confused look before Xisuma spoke up. “Your communicator is able to contact those outside of a server. You just have to manually search for their Player tag.”
“That’s been a function for a while, hasn’t it?” Grian asked, taking note of Pearl’s expression.
She nodded sadly. “Don’t worry about the things you’ve missed. I’m sure Hermitcraft will take good care of you.” There was an underlying threat in her voice that made Grian smile.
Pearl stood up first, the two Watchers following her lead. Grian stretched out his wings, barely avoiding hitting his Admin with the feathered limbs, and watched as Pearl walked through the trees. “What are you going to do now?” he asked.
She turned to look at him with a smile and shrugged. “I’ll go back to my world and build. I’ll have fun and so should you, Gri. Go back to Hermitcraft with a smile. Learn how to be a Player again.” Her voice was soft and hopeful.
Grian nodded silently. He felt like he could cry again.
As the group walked, they approached the World Portal of the small Meeting server.
Pearl paused and turned around before she could step into the portal. She wrapped Grian tightly in her arms. “Be happy, don’t worry about the Evo crew. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Grian whispered into her shoulder. He almost chased after her warmth when she let go, stepping through the portal with teary eyes.
A hand on Grian’s back made him turn around to face the kind eyes of his Admin. “When we get back I can help you get her contact info for your communicator.”
“Thank you,” Grian mumbled. He could feel the exhaustion from earlier starting to weigh him down. He could feel his wings start drooping onto the soft grass below them.
“Let’s go home,” Xisuma suggested, gently pushing Grian toward the portal untilt they were directly in front of it. “I’ll see you in a minute.”
Grian watched Xisuma disappear through the portal and sighed. He knew he should follow the Admin, but he only really wanted to lay down and melt into the ground. His guilt over leaving Evo reared its ugly head now that he was left alone.
With a heavy sigh, he trudged forward into the portal. With a heavy heart, he selected Hermitcraft.
It felt like he’d slept for days when he opened his eyes again. His wings twitched under his back, but it didn’t feel as uncomfortable as the last time he awoke. He flexed his fingers and felt the collection of blankets and pillows that he must have been resting on.
A gentle hand through his hair startled Grian into opening his eyes, although they were still pretty heavy with exhaustion.
“Welcome back, Grian,” Mumbo said cheerfully from beside him. His expression was one of joy, but Grian could see the concern in his eyes. “How’d it go?”
Instead of answering verbally, Grian frowned. He pulled himself into a sitting position and fiddled with his hands. “She wasn’t angry,” he muttered after realizing Mumbo wasn’t going to speak.
“Should she have been?” the redstoner asked.
Grian nodded. “I disappeared without a trace and left her, and the rest of them, in a world that destroyed itself without anything to hold it together. Why shouldn’t she be angry?”
“Maybe, just hear me out, it's because you were kidnapped from your home and brainwashed.”
“That’s not an excuse!” Grian tried to justify his guilt.
Mumbo nodded. “You’re right, it’s not an excuse. It’s a reason. You didn’t choose to become a Watcher, and you didn’t choose to leave anyone behind.”
Grian kept his eyes trained on the ground and he continued to fidget with his hands. “I may have not chosen to leave, but I’m sure I brought this upon myself.”
The redstoner made a small, sad noise and reached to hold Grian’s hands. “And what makes you think that?”
“When the Watchers first showed up, I entertained them. I took their games and puzzles in stride, playing right into their hands. I used their games for my own gain, becoming a nuisance. They hated me, never giving me gifts when they brought us special items.”
“And what about that made it your fault that they took you?”
Grian looked at Mumbo with confusion in his eyes. “I made them focus on me. If I had just stayed out of trouble, they wouldn’t have made me leave.”
“So they would have taken someone else,” Mumbo said calmly. “Grian, I’m not sure there’s anything that would point blame to anyone but the Watchers. They took you away. Nothing changes that fact.”
Sighing, Grian dared to glance up and catch the sad look in Mumbo’s eyes before looking at the ground again. “I still don’t deserve Pearl’s kindness.” As Grian spoke, his wings shuffled behind him. A small amount of hatred toward the “gifted” limbs burned harsh in his gut before fizzling out into exhaustion.
“Well, I’m going to be here until you realize that you are not at fault for what the Watchers did to you,” Mumbo said sternly.
A rocket sound, then a figure landing and walking forward made Grian jump, but he didn’t look up. “So will I,” the voice of his Admin spoke confidently. Only when Xisuma crouched in front of him, did Grian look up. “I’ll tell Pearl that you’re being mean to yourself and the next time you meet, you'll suffer through her lecture of self care.”
Mumbo chuckled from his side, making Grian huff lightly. “Didn’t you log out with me?” he asked when he realized that the Admin wasn’t with him when he awoke.
Xisuma nodded. “Yup, but when we logged back in, you were more tired than you wanted me to believe. I let you rest here with Mumbo to watch over you while I ran to my base to sort some stuff so I wouldn’t sit here and fret.”
“He’s truly a pain when he’s worried,” Mumbo muttered to Grian, and though the words seemed harsh, the redstoner wore a smile.
Though Grian wanted to laugh at Mumbo’s attitude, his focus was caught on the last word of his statement. “You were worried?”
With a hint of a smile hiding in the Admin’s eyes, he nodded. “Yeah. That meeting was a lot for everyone and when you didn’t wake up after a few minutes, I started fretting; I left to my own base before Mumbo could kick me out.”
“I’m sorry,” Grian instantly apologized before he could realize what he was saying. He brought his wings in as he curled himself into a loose ball.
“Don’t be,” Xisuma said calmly before Mumbo could say anything. “I know you might not grasp that right now, but we’ll all be here to remind you of that.”
“Okay,” Grian hummed. “Thank you.”
Mumbo smiled from beside him, wrapping an arm around Grian’s shoulders and pulling him into a side hug. “Of course!”
Xisuma smiled at the two before reaching into his bag and pulling out a white box. He placed it down and twisted it open, examining the contents before looking up to Grian. “Since you’ve had such a tiring time, I found some materials that you might find useful in building your base.”
Grian glanced down at the box - a Shulkur box if he remembered correctly - hesitantly before reaching forward. He opened it to find many stacks of both white concrete powder and some of the light blue glass that he’d been using for his base. Nothing in the box was named to tell him the price of the materials, so he frowned. “How much do I owe you?”
“Nothing,” Xisuma stated happily, as if it was normal to give away expensive materials.
“We may be Hermits, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like each other,” Mumbo said. “Even for the amount of shops that we’ll set up, we are happy to gift each other materials.”
Realizing he had no chance against the kindness of two Hermits, Grian smiled softly and closed the box. “Thank you, I’ll put it to good use.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Xisuma chuckled. “I’ll get out of your hair now. Be sure to rest before trying to build for days on end.” The Admin stepped back and waved before launching himself into the sky with an elytra.
While Grian watched the sparks of the Admin’s firework fade, Mumbo reached over with his pick axe and broke the gifted shulker off the ground, handing the smaller item out to Grian. “You can put this in your inventory, then we continue resting,” he explained.
Grian cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Inventory?”
“Your bag.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Without another word, Grian stuffed the box in his bag and set it to the side, lying down on the blankets again.
“I’m stealing X’s spot,” Mumbo muttered and crawled onto the weird nest of softness. “Rest well, Grian.”
“You too,” Grian replied softly and made himself comfortable before drifting off to a peaceful sleep.