PearlescentMoon POV

I wake up. It's pitch black. Where am I? I wonder. What happened? The last thing I remember is...

Oh, Wilbur, the Boatem Hole, he had... I had... I told him the truth...

"Wilbur?" I call out, hearing my voice echo. "Wilbur? Where are you? Please!" My voice cracked. "I'm sorry I let go! I'm so sorry!"

A grunt followed, coming from somewhere to my right. "Pearl?" I heard a muffled voice say. "Pearl, I'm over here!"

I rushed over, and I kept on tripping over something that almost feel like.. tree roots. I felt something bump into me.

"Ouch!" they exclaimed. "Sorry, Pearl!"

"Wait, is that you Gem?" I asked, recognizing her voice.

She grabbed my hand. "Yes it is, and I can see some light, so let's go!"

Together hand in hand, we ran forward towards the light. When we got there we were greeted by a warm golden light, and a forest.

"Hey Pearl, Gem," Grian greeted us, stepping out. "Welcome to the Hermitcraft limbo."

"Grian," I remarked. "It's beautiful. Are all limbos like this?"

Grian's eyes darted towards Gem, who luckily wasn't paying attention. "You know, Pearl," He said to me. "I'd love to show you some of the cool things around, come with me." He smiled gently, holding out his hand.

I took it, and he led me over to a quieter part of the forest. "You okay, Pearl?" He asked, sitting down on a log. "Telling Wilbur the truth must have been hard."

I sat down and nodded, a tear now dripping from my face. "But now we have to do the thing, right Grian?"

Grian gave me what seemed like the most genuine smile ever. "Let's do it, Pearl. We'll travel the multiverse together, but first you need to learn all about it."

"I'm ready, G," I told him, a grin now forming.

"Welcome to Watcher 101, PearlescentMoon."

Wilbur POV

I awake, I can't remember the last thing that happened. Wait... Pearl. She... she had lied to me, Pearl, Grian, they both lied. They had been working together the whole time. I never would have known, I never would have suspected Pearl.

I hear a scream, a daunting scream come from somewhere. Is it Schlatt? "Schlatt?" I call out, my voice suddenly hoarse. "Schlatt is that you?"

The screaming continues, with a shout later. "LEAVE ME ALONE! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

Well fine, if he doesn't want to be found I won't look for him. I wander around for a few minutes, before coming across a train station.

A train station, just like Iskall and Etho had told me. The train whizzed by, but not before stopping at the station. The barriers opened up, no one stepped on. No one else was there.

If there hadn't been barriers I would have thrown myself off, I would have. Though it's not like it would do anything, I'm already dead.

"Yes, yes you are," I hear a voice say next to me. "You are dead."

There was a woman, possibly The Woman.

"W-who are you?" I stutter, looking up at her.

She was a very tall woman, she towered over me. She was wearing a very dark purple silk dress, ornamented with black and amethyst colored lace. She had a hat on that strangely looked like a witches' hat, though with a purple allium tucked under some lilac ribbon. She had on black combat boots with wicked-sharp looking spikes, too.

"Well isn't that a long story," she said with a smile. She patted the bench next to her (which had appeared out of nowhere) and sat down. "Please, sit."

I was too terrified to disobey, so I sat down next to her. "So, who are you?" I asked, feeling a bit more confident now. "Where am I? Is this another universe in the multiverse?"

She sighed. "This isn't another universe, Wilbur. It's more of an... inbetween, a limbo, if you will. There's a different In Between, too. It's a full story, time travel, dimension hopping, fixing timelines, and death. That's me!" She brightened.

"So it is you!" I breathed lightly. It was all falling into place now. "Iskall and Etho told me about you! They said you brought them here for your experiments. They said your name was... Kristen! Yeah, they said your name was Kristen, right?"

She hesitated, pondering for a moment. "Yes," she admitted finally. "That is my name, and that was me. My name is Kristen, or Mumza, you can call me. I'm the goddess of death."

"Mumza?" I asked, my voice light. "Does that mean-? Are you and my father-? I mean, if he's Dadza..."

She sighed again, her voice sounding heavy. "Your father and I have a... complicated relationship. He's technically my angel of death, but yes, we are married. We've been taking a break for the past few decades, ever since the... fiasco with your mother."

My cheeks flushed. I hadn't realized my father had been married. I guess he didn't care enough to tell me. I just thought he had a one night stand with my mother, I had been born, and he never had any other relationships.

"Oh," I muttered awkwardly. I straightened up, looking her right in the eyes. "How did I get to Hermitcraft? How is there a multiverse? Are all of them connected? How many are there? I have so many questions."

"There are many worlds," Mumza remarked. "Some have been lost to us, like EvoSMP, where Pearl and Grian were, and SMPLive, I believe you were there. The 5 biggest worlds right now are considered to be the DreamSMP, Hermitcraft, Empires SMP, Origins SMP, and Last Life SMP. Three of those are in between seasons right now, but eventually another will start. In the event that a world ceases to exist everyone goes to a limbo, where they will stay until another world needs them to join. Time really doesn't exist here, so different people go to different worlds at different times."

"Aren't I here because I died?"

"Exactly, your question about how, that was all me. As the goddess of death, for the worlds that have lives systems, when someone dies I choose which world the members go to as their afterlife. I chose Hermitcraft for the DreamSMP. I saw a future where if you got sent to Hermitcraft something would happen, something big. I knew it would take a while, but I knew it would pay off. You are the start of something new. Believe it or not Wilbur, you will bring the multiverse together.

One day you will be revived, Wilbur. You'll be back on the DreamSMP, you'll live out your life. Schlatt won't be revived, for a while, at least. He'll end up being transported back to Hermitcraft when the next season starts, you'll be revived by then.

After your time on the DreamSMP is over you will be taken away, though you'll go willingly. You now know what Grian and Pearl do, your going to help them one day. Together you guys will bring the multiverse together."

I chuckled. "Well that's a lot, but I can tell that's not the only reason why. I ask you again, why did you decide to put me in Hermitcraft of all worlds?"

She sighed and then burst into laughter. "Now this is why I like you, Wilbur!" she remarked. "But you are right, there was a second reason." She looked me in the eyes sympathetically.

"Pearl," I assumed.

Mumza nodded grimly. "Yes, Pearl." She sighed sadly. "There was another timeline where you never came she never truly earned her form as a Watcher. She only ended up earning it in Gem's basement while she was crying, because of you."

I cringed as she continued.

"She needed to show true remorse, true empathy, that had been her test, and she passes it because of you. But it's not that I not only wanted her to become a Watcher, I knew your friendship would blossom into something absolutely beautiful." She looked at me, her eyes misty. "You changed her, and it will stay with both of you, forever."

I just couldn't do it anymore. "So is everything scripted?!" I cried to her. "If you can see the future how do my choices mean anything?! Is every friendship I've made just a plot device to get your story to play out?!"

"Wilbur calm down," she commanded sharply. She took a breath before continuing. "I have been with you through this all, I've been watching over you! Over your story! I watched you appear in Boatem, have your Realization of where you were. When you found A Place to Stay, had the Emergency Meeting, and met all of Boatem Incorporated. I saw your Mystifying Mindscape and the Past and Future Tension you had to deal with. You saw The Emperor of Manburg again and navigated your way through the Tremors. You had a Confrontation with him and saw both Schlatt and Pearl have A Change of Heart. You went after Pearl in Exploration and Exile, even though you didn't have to. Thanks to you Pearl had a Redemption, you learned about The Experiment of mine. You had to watch the Moonfall, and now you're here, in Limbo.

I watched your entire story, read it, almost like a book. If I were to title it, I might call it Afterlife."

She looked at me, tears now streaming down her face. "I'm sorry Wilbur, you and your friends should have had so much more time together."

"It's okay," I said with a sad smile.

"It was never meant to be."