"W-what?" FWhip sputtered.

Wake up, I thought furiously. Please just be a dream. Please wake up.

I did not wake up.

"Why?" I repeated.

"Why did you fly through my window and tackle me in your pajamas? It's three in the morning!"

He knew me. He knew I would slacken my grip a little, and once I did, he pushed me away, rolled to his left, and stood up.

"Why are you helping them?" I croaked.

"Helping who?" FWhip said, inching toward the door with a frightened look on his face.

I could see in his eyes that he very much knew what I was talking about.

"Quit playing dumb," I said, moving to the door before he could get there.

FWhip's shoulders slumped. He glanced up at me and said, his voice nearly a whisper, "How did you find out?"

I typed a quick message in my communicator - Gem, come to fwhips NOW.

She didn't answer. Of course she didn't answer, she was asleep.

"No, don't- don't tell Gem!" FWhip said.

"Then why did you do it?" I yelled.

Our communicators buzzed with an unexpected message from Pearl: What's going on?

Nothing, FWhip typed. Go back to sleep.

That was probably the wrong thing to say.

I'm coming over. And I'll bring gem

FWhip groaned.

That was followed by a string of messages from people who had been woken up by their communicators.

Ren Dog: WHY

Cleo Zombie: Why are people up right now?

Martyn Littlewood: hi

Ren Dog: WHYS HE HERE

Xisuma Void: everyone go to bed. And who gave martyn a communicator?

Grian Buildoff: me

Martyn Littlewood: whoops

Jimmy Solidarity: ur a sausage martyn

Jimmy Solidarity: just wanted to say that

Martyn Littlewood: how kind of you

Grian Buildoff: what's going on with fwhip?

Bluemoon Tay: he's fine for now

FWhip Tay: FOR NOW?

Bluemoon Tay: yes

Pearlescent Moon: gem and I are here

Bluemoon Tay: omw

Gemini Tay: you'd better have a good reason for waking me up

Ren Dog: IS NOBODY SURPRISED THAT MARTYNS HERE

Ren Dog: HE MURDERED ME

Bluemoon Tay: ren your caps lock is on

Ren Dog: I KNOW

Martyn Littlewood: Don't worry, Grian built a nice bedrock place for me so I can't kill you again. I dont want to anyway

Grian Buildoff: martyn, i told you not to use your communicator unless it was absolutely necessary

Martyn Littlewood: It is necessary

Cleo Zombie: can everyone pls go back to sleep

Xisuma Void: yes please

Ren Dog: fine but watch your back martyn

Bluemoon Tay: i have your sunglasses

Ren Dog: WHAT

FWhip Tay: XD

Martyn Littlewood: wait really? Still?

Pearlescent Moon: lolololol

I muted the chat and opened FWhip's door after shooting him a glare to stay there.

"Hi, Gem, Pearl," I said.

They raised eyebrows. "Why are you in your pajamas?" Gem said.

"That doesn't matter right now," I said, ushering them inside.

They followed me upstairs to FWhip's room, where he was sitting on the bed, looking ashamed.

He glanced up as they entered.

"FWhip, what did you do?" Gem sighed.

FWhip pursed his lips. "It was for everyone's own good. It was going to keep you all safe."

"FWhip..." Pearl said, starting to suspect. "What happened?"

FWhip stared at his red fuzzy slippers. "It started with the Red Crown, the night before the Victory Feast."

Gem and Pearl exchanged glances as they remembered the infamous event.

"It was more than the Red Crown that influenced me."

"Uh-oh," Gem said.

"They talked to me and started to promise me things if I made the Grand Crown. When I refused, they threatened to start another dreamspace, but even more people would be in it, including Gem and me. So I agreed."

Pearl looked dizzy at how she - and all of us - had narrowly avoided another Last Life.

"They left me alone until we destroyed the Grand Crown, then they started bugging me again," FWhip said. "They punished me for it, and warned that any cure for Scott's freeze curse wouldn't work."

"That's why you were so against Katherine's method," I realized.

FWhip nodded, still refusing to look at us. "Then when I did find a cure, they were even more angry. But they figured the destruction of the Empires was punishment enough, so they left me alone until we had gotten settled at Gateway. Then they started again, right when I thought they had gone away, and told me to get the prophecy book and bring it to them. They're probably going to do something to all of us, now that you know."

He muttered something, some sort of prophecy. "A betrayal will forge a rift between those who have been together for years."

"But FWhip, I don't understand..." Gem said. "Why did you do it? We could have survived a dreamspace. We would have been fine. You didn't need to help them for any reason."

"The latest threat is making Blue's curse stronger, lethal," he blurted.

I felt the blood drain from my face as they all turned to look at me.

"Blue?" Pearl said. "Is there something you haven't told us?"

"It doesn't matter right now," I said quietly. "FWhip, go on."

"They said to bring the book to the End, where they would remove my memories of it and let me go on my way," FWhip said. "But now that I'm not going, they're going to punish me. All of us."

"No, they're not," Gem said.

FWhip looked up. "They are, and it's going to be the biggest one yet. All of the residents of Gateway."

"They're not," Gem repeated, her voice stronger. "Becuase we're going to come with you."

"Wait, what?" I said.

I couldn't do that. I couldn't go to the End. I would probably be completely useless.

"Pearl, go find Jimmy and Scar," Gem instructed. "Wake them up if you have to. Blue, go get dressed."

Pearl nodded, her eyes bright, and flew out the same window I had gone inside. I followed her, still confused at the betrayal and the turn of events.

What just happened?

I changed into my normal clothes, not the formal ones I had worn in the Empires, and headed back to FWhip's base despite my fears.

This is it. This is where we finally face the Watchers.

And win.

Well, actually I wasn't sure about that. But I hoped we would win.

I got back to FWhip's house and went through the window, only to crash into Scar, who had stood right in front of it. "OOHHH!"

"Hi, Scar," I groaned.

Six was a crowd in the small room, so we moved out to the yard.

"So why are we all here?" Jimmy asked.

"FWhip's supposed to bring Lizzie's book to the Watchers, so we're going with him," I said, elbowing the former Admin.

"Wait, what?" Scar said. "I don't have any of my crystals with me!"

"Then go get them," Gem said. "Go get whatever you need, and then meet at the town hall."

Pearl, Jimmy, Scar, and I flew off.

I grabbed my new sword that I had been forced to make as a protection against the mobs, the last healing potion from Salems, and Ren's sunglasses for good measure. Why not?

The conversation on the communicator had escalated to Ren trying to yell at me even though I had muted everyone, Grian trying to figure out what was going on, Martyn making the whole situation worse, Xisuma and Cleo trying to get everyone to go back to bed, and FWhip declaring to the world that we were going on an End trip at 4 AM.

I grabbed all the stuff I needed, headed to the town hall, and went inside to the meeting room. FWhip and Jimmy were already there.

Rockets sounded from outside, and then Pearl came in with Cleo, surprisingly. "I'm coming," she said. "Pearl told me what's going on. Don't think you can convince me otherwise."

I shrugged. "Your life."

"I'm already dead."

I laughed at that, trying to hide the churning in my stomach. Trying to forget it.

We all were.

Gem came in with several magical crystals hanging on her belt. They looked oddly out of place against her blue overalls and green shirt.

Scar, however, looked even more out of place. He came in in a purple robe, polka-dotted underwear, and pink bunny slippers, with his brand-new dark oak and amber staff strapped to his back. Gem told him to go change again, which he did and came back in his normal outfit.

He also tried to bring Jellie. Cleo immediately sneezed and said, "No."

Thankfully, the cat was left behind. She would probably just get in the way.

Jimmy just brought a sword and shield, and also the necklace containing the Codfather powers. He didn't have it active, though, so he looked like a normal human.

Pearl brought an axe and sword, because the more weapons, the better.

FWhip was the last to arrive, and surprisingly, he had Xisuma with him.

"He knows things," he told me when I asked him.

Wow, FWhip. Very helpful.

Suddenly, my vision blurred and split. Right as it did, a voice yelled, "WAIT! I NEED SHULKER BOXES!"

"Oh, no," I groaned quietly.

Gem noticed and pulled me out into the hall. "What's going on?"

"It's the reason she knew I was a traitor," FWhip said, joining us. "The curse."

"Blue," Gem said, grabbing my arm. "What is he talking about? FWHIP, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"N-nothing," I insisted. "I'm fine."

"She's not fine," FWhip said, but his voice was growing distant.

Then they, the hallway, and Gateway dissolved into blackness.

------

"Bluebluebluebluebluebluebluebluehi," FWhip said, shaking me.

"I'm up," I mumbled.

But how was I up? Had they made Grian go away or something?

I noticed something in my left had and opened it to see a crystal, deep purple and glowing faintly.

"It should keep the curse at bay until we know more about it and find a way to stop it," Gem said.

"She made me tell her everything, sorry," FWhip added.

"You only knew because the Watchers told you about it," Gem said.

I sat up and found myself on the floor of the hall. I quickly got up with a weak stomach ache and walked back into the meeting room. Having the crystal with me helped to ease some of my nerves.

Grian looked disappointed, so I assumed that the others had explained to him that we were not going endbusting.

He came anyway.

In the end, we had a group of nine: Gem, FWhip, Jimmy, Scar, Cleo, Pearl, Grian, X, and me.

Once everyone was ready, we went out of the town hall and into the Nether. We had a tunnel leading to the stronghold, and beyond, the End.

Pushing the claustrophobia away, I focused on the people around me. Scar clutched an orange courage crystal. Jimmy fiddled with his Codfather necklace. Cleo put a hand on the hilt of her sword with an excited gleam in her eye.

Pearl leaned toward me and whispered, "Do you really still have Ren's sunglasses?"

I smirked and pulled them halfway out of my pocket so she could see. She laughed. Xisuma turned to look at us, but he didn't see my trophy before it was hidden once again by my sweatshirt pocket.

We got to the stronghold and found the End portal, already lit because of End raid parties.

I hoped Rege had gotten the good Watchers out of the Downside-Up.

Before we were able to jump through the portal, X stepped in front of us.

"We aren't going in there with no plan," he said.

Grian shrugged. "Why not?"

"Remember Third Life?" I chimed in. "We had this entire plan laid out to lure Dogwarts into the Crastle so we could kill them. It sort of worked."

Then I frowned. "Maybe that's not the best example."

Jimmy, Cleo, and Grian smiled tightly.

Those were simpler days.

"Last Life, then," Pearl said. "Our plan to kill Martyn with the lava pond."

"Yes," Cleo said. "That. Let's just forget the battle of the Crastle. Think about your Boogey kill on Martyn."

"Can we please talk about the fact that Grian gave him a communicator?" Jimmy complained.

The Watcher in question shot him an evil grin.

"Did you know that it was going to happen like that?" Gem said, crossing her arms. But even the most lawful of all of us couldn't hold back her smile.

Grian grinned again.

We all started laughing, because that may as well have been confirmation that he gave Martyn the communicator purely to cause chaos.

"So anyway," Xisuma said. "We need a plan for this, or it isn't going to work. We're going into this to defeat the Watchers, and before you ask me how I knew they existed, well... it's kind of hard to explain. But I knew they existed even before Hermitcraft started. And I know more about them than even Grian."

"Who died and made you boss?" Grian joked.

"Generik. Be quiet, Grian."

Grian ducked behind his wing to hide his laughter.

"So," X continued. "Why are we going in there now of all times?"

"They're expecting someone to bring something," FWhip said. "They'll be in the End waiting for them. Hopefully, we can take them by surprise."

"And do what?" Grian snorted. "Fight them? They're the best swordfighters in existence. We can't win."

I grimly glanced at him. "We can try."

"We have to try," Jimmy agreed.

"WAIT!" a voice yelled. "DON'T GO IN YET!"

I sucked in my breath.

Oh, wonderful. Not him.

"Grian," Xisuma said calmly. "How did he get out?"

Martyn ran into the portal room, grinning like an idiot.

Immediately, every weapon in the room was pointed in his direction.

"Whoa!" He said, putting his hands in the air. "Why are you all so mad at me? Ren killed, like, twice as many people as I did."

"How did you get out?" Jimmy growled.

"Believe it or not, you guys aren't the only ones who know what's going on here. Impulse found the prison a while back, and he knows how to break bedrock. He let me out as a chance at redemption. Southlanders! Yay!"

The "yay" was a little weak.

"You're no Southlander," Jimmy said.

Martyn raised an eyebrow. "Then neither are you. You ran off with my life, and if not for Blue, I'd have gotten it back and the Southlands wouldn't have fallen apart."

"Don't drag me into this," I said.

"Also Joel," Grian said. "He helped take us down."

"He killed you and only you," Cleo sighed. "Then he moved on to us."

Pearl paled.

"But Last Life is in the past, right?" Martyn said, but his smile seemed a little uneasy. "Pearl, no hard feelings on those Boogey kills. I'm sure you wouldn't murder people under normal circumstances."

We exchanged glances and sighs.

Martyn had proved that he couldn't be trusted.

But hadn't I as well?

I had killed Sausage, and that was permanent. Martyn had helped the Watchers, and that was bad, but he only did it for his friends. Shouldn't I treat him the same way I treated FWhip?

"Why do you want to come?" Gem asked.

Martyn's shoulders slumped. "I want to help. I want to right a wrong. And if the Watchers win, my punishment will be much worse than anything you guys can think up."

FWhip hesitated, then pursed his lips. "Let him come."

"We need all the help we can get," Gem agreed.

"But-" Jimmy protested.

"He's not any worse than some of us," I said quietly.

Martyn looked amazed at the support he was getting.

"It isn't easy to forget a friendship," Pearl admitted.

"It'd do more harm than good to leave him here, where he can cause trouble," Cleo said, then added, "Red Army scum."

"He knows how the Watchers work," Scar said.

"So does Grian," Jimmy protested weakly.

"What do you mean?" Scar asked warily.

Nobody answered him.

Grian, Xisuma, and Jimmy still looked doubtful.

"You're outvoted," I said smugly.

That was going to be my new catchphrase and battle cry. I was going to run into the fight and yell at the top of my lungs, "YOU'RE OUTVOTED!" and stab things.

"Fine," Grian said.

Xisuma sighed.

"No," Jimmy said.

"Come on, Timmy, am I any worse than you?" Martyn teased. "You're as much a traitor to the Southlands as I am."

"Last Life is over," Pearl said. "It's time to forget about it."

"But he... the Watchers..."

"Jimmy," Cleo said. "We can kill him later. I'm sure Ren wants to help."

That seemed to satisfy him. "Fine."

Martyn pumped his fist.

"What do we know about the Watchers?" Cleo said. "How can we defeat them?"

"They used to live in the End," I supplied. "The two Watchers any of us have communicated with are members of the Watcher Council, the leaders."

"How did you know that?" Xisuma said, startled. "I don't think Grian or I ever told you that."

Everyone stared at me.

"It's a long story," I mumbled.

"There was a war between Watchers and normal people because we were jealous of their power," Gem continued. "We won the first time, and the Watchers fled to the Downside-Up."

Grian looked like he was about to faint.

"The Listener has been telling you guys a lot more than she's been telling me," Scar whined.

"That wasn't the Listener," I said darkly.

"Then what-" Pearl started, frowning.

"It's too much to explain right now," I said.

"So, you guys are right," Grian said. "I don't know how you're right, but you're right. The Watchers are in a council, and there are definitely more than two. A whole society of them, in fact."

"Some of them are good," I blurted.

"Oh, for cliffs' sake, Blue," Gem said. "Enough with them. they'll be fine."

"I'm lost," Jimmy admitted.

"Same," Martyn said.

Jimmy glared at him.

"Wait, there's more?" Cleo said.

"That's an even longer story," I said.

"That we can explain after this is over," Gem added.

"Yes, please. Explaining after," FWhip agreed.

"But for now, we need to know all we can," Xisuma said.

"Watcher magic and End magic are the same thing," Grian said. "Teleporting, mind."

"That means they have a connection to the End," Gem said, and I could practically see the gears whirring in her head.

"If we destroy their connection to the End, or the End's connection to the Overword and completely cut it off, we can seal them in the End or the Downside-Up," Pearl said.

"What is their power source?" Gem asked, looking at Grian and Xisuma.

"Just the End in general," Xisuma said.

"Could we just destroy this portal?" I asked, looking at the portal frame.

"That would cut off the connection to this world," Xisuma said. "But when we go to the actual Ninth World, they'll be able to affect us there. And if there's a Second World of Empires, they'll be there as well."

"Also, End portal frames are indestructible," Martyn said.

"Not for me!" Grian said, and shot a blast of magic at the Nether portal for effect. It broke.

Cleo sighed and fixed it. "We need to talk about Grian's superpowers. Where did they come from, and who was crazy enough to trust him with them?"

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Scar said.

Grian, Xisuma, and FWhip exchanged knowing glances.

"No more secrets?" FWhip asked quietly.

"No more secrets," Xisuma agreed.

"But-" Grian started.

"No more secrets," FWhip said stubbornly.

Grian sighed. "Fine." He looked at Xisuma. "Who's first?"

"You," X replied.

"What?"

"Anyone who hasn't at least had a suspicion by now is probably very ignorant," FWhip said.

"Fine," Grian said again. "You see this thing above my head?" He waved a hand through the rune. It dissolved into purple mist where he touched it, then came back together to form a line again. "This is the symbol of the Watchers. We adopted it for Evo, but really, it's the Watchers'. All of them - us - have it."

"Us?" Scar said.

"Yes, Scar," Grian said slowly. "I'm a Watcher."

Scar yelped and jumped back.

"What does it represent?" Cleo asked.

"A portal," Grian said. "To an updated version of reality."

"They upgraded our world quite a bit, back in Evo," Pearl said.

"That's another one of our powers," Grian said. "But they never taught me. They didn't trust me enough then, and they definitely don't trust me enough now."

Of course not. They were trying to kill him now.

"My turn," X said. "You're going to have to take my word for it, because I'm not taking the helmet off. But it's a rare case when a Watcher and Admin... get together. I'm one of those cases. I don't have wings or the rune. I only have limited magic related to communication and memory."

"You're half Watcher?" Martyn asked.

"I am."

This was big. But I had seen much bigger surprises than this.

"Why didn't you tell any of us before?" Scar asked, looking wounded.

"You didn't need to know. I'm still the same person."

"Hey, FWhip," I whispered. "No more secrets."

"Hey, Blue," he mimicked. "No more secrets."

I aimed a shove at him, which he dodged.

"That's about it," X said, ignoring us.

"Yep," Grian agreed.

"Definitely," FWhip said unconvincingly.

A few eyerolls were exchanged.

"One does not simply walk into the End without a plan," X said. "Now that all that's out of the way, how about we all figure out how to do this? Grian, what do you know?"

Grian thought for a minute. "This is random. But when you go through the End Portal after defeating the dragon, everyone hears the same voices saying the same things. It's like a recording."

"You travel through the Dream Void for a while," Gem said.

"The same area of the Dream Void," Scar agreed. "Every single time. It gets a little boring."

"It's like..." Grian started.

"Like there's a whole bunch of End Portals, but also only one," I said. "Like they're different versions of reality."

"Yeah," Grian said.

That's it.

"Not you again. Go away," I growled.

But you just figured it out.

"Blue?" FWhip asked. "Are you okay?"

"I heard it," Gem said.

"Me too!" Scar said.

"Yeah," Jimmy agreed.

"Heard what?" Cleo complained.

Destroy one, and you destroy all.

"I said get out! We can do this without you!"

We all know you can't.

"Are you trying to push a vision on me?" I muttered, more quietly so that nobody else could hear. "Because that's what you're doing."

You have the crystal.

"I was hoping you wouldn't know about that."

"Blue, what is she talking about?" Jimmy said, frowning.

"It's nothing," I said.

"If you say it's nothing, it is probably very much not nothing," Cleo said. "I mean, I can't hear what she's saying. But still."

Destroy one, and you destroy the others.

"Shut up."

Meh.

Scar snorted.

"Sorry, I'll be right back," I said, and walked out of the portal room.

This method will work, but it will cut off connection with me.

"And good riddance."

It will force me to face the Watchers alone.

"Good!" I said, not realizing I was yelling. "Go fight your own battles! Leave us out of it!"

It will also cut off your friends' powers, and the magic of any Watchers who flee to this world. A few already have.

"Fine."

Elytra, shulker boxes, endstone, and purpur will no longer be accessible. Ender pearls won't work anymore, and neither will Ender chests.

"As long as the Watchers can't get to us."

It will require someone to remain trapped in the End.

I stopped.

"Blue?" Gem's voice drifted out of the portal room. "Are you sure about this?"

I pursed my lips.

Loyalty was everything, and loyalty sometimes meant sacrifice.

"Yes."

~~~

We approach the climax

- Indigo