This chapter was incredibly fun to write, between the mixed POVs and the fighting, and of course... wait, I'm not going to spoil it. But this chapter does have a pretty long fight scene, and I'm not very good at those. So sorry if something seems off or weird. But as always, enjoy, and please vote and/or comment! I really appreciate it when people do.

~~~

"Blue, you better not be thinking of doing it," Gem hissed at me as the first few people took deep breaths and jumped into the portal.

"We can't lose anyone else," FWhip agreed.

"I won't," I lied.

Gem narrowed her eyes and stepped backwards into the portal. Show-off.

I jumped in after her to find that Cleo, Grian, Xisuma, and Gem had already started flying toward the island.

We hadn't killed the Ender Dragon. It carried bad memories for several Evolutionists and Emperors, between the battle that marked the beginning of the fall of Evo and the one that happened right before Last Life started. When asked about it, most of the Emperors (even the non-Last Lifers) would say that the dragon protected us from demons and then shut down the conversation, because we don't talk about Xornoth.

Also, Gem had forbidden it. If her egg ever hatched, I guessed it would have been a little awkward (I'm sorry, but your parents were murdered by my friends and others of your kind were too, so you can't go to live with the other Ender Dragons because we killed them all).

As a result of all of that, people tended to go away from the main island.

I looked up into the deep purple sky and was slightly alarmed to see flashes of purple light, some bigger than others.

Then I got mad at myself for being alarmed. This had been in my vision.

I looked up at the pillar where I knew Watchers One and Two would be on top of. Of course, now I knew that their names were Vlast and Gavran, but I still knew them as Watcher One and Watcher Two.

They were nearly invisible against the sky. But after a minute, I saw the shimmer of wings. They weren't silhouettes here.

I grasped the hilt of my sword.

"Let's go destroy the End Portal!" Grian cheered.

If one of us destroyed the portal while we were all there, then all of us would be trapped. Some pushing into the void would have to happen.

We ran toward the portal. I waited for the inevitable moment when two certain Watchers would land in front of us.

They did.

"All of our enemies in one place," Watched One said, a smug smile evident in his voice. "Or there will be, soon. I know you're there, Hallene, hiding in the minds of four in this group."

We pulled out weapons, knowing that several of us wouldn't be able to touch them.

But that wouldn't stop us from trying.

"Only one of you needs to die today," Watcher One continued. "Meet your fate, Xelqua, or your life won't be the only one lost."

"Gladly," Grian said angrily, and stepped forward with magic flickering around him.

"Good," Watcher Two said, taking out an axe. She and Grian started to fight, sword against axe, sometimes taking off into the air or using magic.

Watcher One turned back to us. "Now, you know who you are. How about you tell them that you've been helping us the whole time?"

FWhip waved at everyone. "Yeah, I was supposed to bring them Lizzie's prophecy book. Don't worry, I'm still on your side."

I snorted.

There were a few small gasps from some of us, but for the most part we were fine.

Watcher One fumed.

Xisuma tensed.

"He just sent out a mental call," X whispered to the group. "Those Watchers in the air - some of them support the Council. They're going to attack. Not to delete, they can't do that. But they will kill."

"Be ready," Cleo said.

"I'll set up the redstone for bedrock breaking," FWhip said. "Since Grian's... occupied."

Watchers swooped out of the air. We barely saw them until they attacked us.

FWhip ran toward the portal structure. Cleo and Pearl found their efforts to attack in vain. Martyn managed to cut off a Watcher's wing, probably from once being a Chosen.

I wouldn't even be here if not for his betrayal, I realized.

Gem ran toward an obsidian pillar and started to climb, summoning plants and spells that Watchers had never seen before. Xisuma's sword flickered with his limited Watcher magic as he fought. Scar shot bursts of magic at the Watchers who had yet to land. And Jimmy was killed within two minutes, but he would respawn.

I stabbed a Watcher, feeling a little bad but knowing they would respawn. Everyone did, even mobs, although their respawn was a lot slower.

I ran toward the portal structure, but found my path blocked by a Watcher.

"Enough of this," Watcher One growled.

I twirled my sword dramatically. "Ready for a rematch?"

"This time, you won't get away with just a curse."

"You're right," I said. "This time, I'll get away completely unharmed."

The Watcher growled and attacked.

The sounds of battle dulled, the purple lights around me faded. All that existed was the glint of my sword, the clash of blade against blade, and the person who had ruined everything.

He didn't use magic, which was to my advantage. I didn't understand why he didn't use such an asset, but hey, I wasn't going to complain. The fight was already uneven, and magic would just make it worse.

I glanced over at my friends. Scar had pillared up a few blocks and was taunting Martyn's one-winged Watcher ("It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground!"). Then another one swooped over and knocked him back into the fray. Gem was on top of the obsidian pillar, using knockback spells as she called to... something. Pearl was blocking the Watchers' weapons, but unable to make any attacks of her own, and even as I watched, a stray spell hit her and she disappeared.

Suddenly, a large crowd of people appeared on the Spawn platform, and a familiar voice yelled, "DIE, IDIOTS! YOU SUCK! THOSE WINGS ARE HIDEOUS AND YOU'RE SHORT! CHARGE!"

Reinforcements had arrived, and leading them were none other than Joel and Jimmy, the latter of which had apparently respawned and gotten the remaining residents of Gateway to come and help.

"YEAH!" Jimmy cheered. "TAKE THAT, SAUSAGES!"

Then I had to (reluctantly) turn back to my own fight.

I blocked, dodged, and parried, but whenever I tried to get on the offensive, I failed miserably.

"Enough play," Watcher One growled, easily blocking another one of my feeble attempts. He stepped back, crackling with angry purple energy.

That was play to him? He was barely even trying?

I could barely think, Uh-oh, before I was his directly in the chest with a blast of magic.

The nausea came too quickly, and with it, dizziness. The sounds of battle became muted. I couldn't think, couldn't see because everything was so blurry.

I instinctively reached a shaking hand in my pocket and felt a sharp pain, like I had been cut.

I took my hand out.

Oh, yeah. I have been cut.

A little bit of blood smeared on my pants as I put my hand back into my pocket and took out the broken shards of the crystal that reduced the curse.

Isn't that great.

Then I blacked out.

----

Gem's POV

"I have an egg from another one of your kind," I called desperately.

The dragon circled back around and shot a burst of acidic breath at me.

She flew right next to the pillar, which was what I had been waiting for. Hoping that the dragon would be slow enough for me to land where I wanted to, I jumped.

A roar told me I had gotten exactly where I wanted to be: a small hollow in between the dragon's shoulders, devoid of spikes and a perfect place to sit.

A thrill ran thorough me. I had done it.

But of course, the dragon was not happy.

I screamed as she did a flip in the air, trying to throw me off. I grabbed onto a spike and managed to stay on.

Sniff, I thought. I have a dragon egg. Can you smell that?

Almost as if she had heard my thoughts, she stopped trying to get me off. Weeks of taking care of a dragon egg, keeping it safe and trying to get it to hatch, had led to this moment. The dragon sensed that.

I hesitantly put a hand on the side of the Ender Dragons's neck, feeling the scales and muscles move beneath my fingers. She didn't seem to mind.

"Hi," I said. "What's your name?"

The dragon roared something that sounded like RRAAAAOONNRRRR.

"Jean? Okay. Hi, Jean."

No, I couldn't understand her. But I was going to pretend that I could because, well, why not?

"Do you want to go murder some Watchers?"

ROAR.

"Let's go, then!"

That was how I tamed the Ender Dragon. Do not try this at home.

We soared over the battlefield. I saw streaks of silver on the endstone that I assumed was Watcher blood, but I was alarmed to see red mixed in with it.

"There," I said, pointing to where a group of Watchers was gliding toward Katherine, Mumbo, and Iskall. They stood with their swords ready. But I knew they wouldn't be able to fight back.

Jean released another blast of dragon's breath. The formation disbanded as they started to take damage.

"Hi!" I called, relishing the alarm that quickly turned to awe on the three fighters' faces.

"How- wait, I'm not going to ask," Katherine said.

I grinned as Jean veered to find more annoying Watchers that stole her sky.

I glanced around the island, looking for any other groups of fighters who might need help.

Pretty much all of them did.

We weaved in and out of pillars, shooting dragon's breath and spells when we could. I searched the ground for Blue and FWhip but couldn't see them. That didn't mean anything, though.

I didn't know how long the fight lasted. But I did know that it wasn't anywhere close to being over.

----

Grian's POV

My fight with Watcher Two took us into the air, around the pillars, and even into the End Portal. Thank goodness it wasn't lit, otherwise our battle would have taken us to the Overworld as well.

Watcher One was nowhere to be seen. Maybe Xisuma or Gem or someone had taken him on. That was good, because I was already losing. My lack of skills in the magic field was taking its toll.

Wait, no, it was not. I was doing perfectly fine. I did not need help. I was not scared of my own stupid magic. I didn't kill Dream twice with magic, I killed him with a sword. It wasn't that I was scared, it was that I didn't need magic... right?

I dodged blasts of magic, occasionally stopping to shoot my own. The other Watchers who fought my friends left us alone.

Or so I thought. One flew up to help Watcher Two fight me. Then I realized it was actually Watcher One.

Light collided in midair.

"What happened to the one you were fighting?" Watcher Two called.

"I destroyed the crystal and strengthened the curse. She'll be dead within minutes."

I didn't know who they were talking about, but it was obviously an Admin.

One of my friends.

They had gotten me this far. They had sheltered me from my past, they hadn't asked (too much) when it came crashing back to haunt me, they had taken me in and helped me out and let me forget, at least until Third Life started.

And now one - another one - was dead, or almost dead.

I didn't realize the power I had until it came out, and then I realized. I didn't control the power. I was simply an instrument for it to escape. I could work with it. But I couldn't work against it, or things like this would happen.

What happened? A massive burst of power that I had held in since I first went to the Sixth World of Hermitcraft, that's what happened.

For half a minute, all I saw was a bright lavender purple. Then there was a loud rushing sound, and a scream that I realized was me, then the light rushed out toward the two Watchers, and holy cow, I was glowing -

And then nothing.

The light faded. The sounds of battle had faded long ago because I was so high up, so the only noise I heard was the flapping of my own wings.

The Watchers were nowhere to be seen.

And then suddenly, Watcher One flew out of the fog, surrounded by power and looking very angry. His clothes were tattered. His wings were missing feathers.

"Murderer," he growled. "You don't know what you've done."

"Oh, so I'm the murderer now?" I retorted, and fought back with new energy.

----

Blue's POV

I was more than aware that I was supposed to be dead when I woke up and Watcher One wasn't there to try and kill me.

I sat up and realized that someone had pulled me away from the fight. I was behind a pillar, hidden from view.

I felt fine.

No stomach ache. No visions.

Was I cured, or was this some other curse that the Watchers had put on me?

I peered around the pillar, trying to catch a glimpse of my sword somewhere. I spotted it, lying near the End Portal frame, but by the time I saw it, it wasn't what I was interested in anymore.

The fighting had completely stopped.

Watchers and Admins alike were staring at the sky, where two tiny figures were fighting with magic. They started to come lower to the ground, and I saw that it was Grian and Watcher One. Watcher Two was missing.

The only other thing in the sky was the Ender Dragon - and what was that on top of it? Was that Gem? She hovered near a pillar, watching the fight just like everyone else.

I smiled and shook my head. Of course Gem had tried to tame the Ender Dragon, and of course she had succeeded.

There must have been a mental transmission between all the Watchers, because suddenly they started to attack again.

I ran for my sword, avoiding the Dreamstone weapons that swung at me as I passed. When my hand finally closed around the diamond hilt, relief coursed through me. I had a weapon. I could at least defend myself.

My communicator buzzed with death messages, but I couldn't stop to look at them. I was too busy trying to stay alive.

The Watchers obviously did not have their spawn point in the End, because I didn't see any join the battle. Occasionally, Xisuma, Martyn, Scar, Jimmy, Gem, or I would get a lucky shot and one would die, but for the most part they didn't need to join the battle anyway.

We weren't outnumbered, just outmatched.

After all, they had people who could actually hurt us. Most of our fighters had no idea what was going on and also couldn't hurt them anyway.

Or could they?

There seemed to be a lot more Watchers falling than there were before I passed out.

Had something happened that removed my curse... and removed the spell that protected the Watchers?

What in the world...

The problem was, I had been unconscious when it happened, if it happened. So I had no idea what it was. But it seemed to be to our benefit.

And then suddenly, several things happened at once. A brighter-than-normal flash of light, someone screaming, the Ender Dragon swooping forward in an attempt to catch the a blur of stormy grey and bright scarlet that fell and crumpled on the ground.

Several people cried out in anger and fear.

Grian's wing was bent at a sickening angle. His clothes were in tatters, and he had lost feathers. His rune flickered, and somehow I knew that his magic was failing.

Watchers and Admins alike backed to create a large circle where Watcher One landed and approached the fallen prankster, sword glinting menacingly.

"No!" Mumbo screamed, running forward.

In a flash of light from Watcher One, he was nothing but armor, weapons, and redstone materials.

Others tried to help as well. Pearl, who had just barely got back. Taurtis. Iskall. Scar. Xisuma.

At least it wasn't the sword, because that would have deleted them.

They all failed to stop what we all knew was about to happen.

Grian groaned and supported himself with his arms, turning onto his side. "No...*

I wasn't about to throw my sword at Watcher One, although it would have been fun. Instead, I reached a hand into my pocket and grasped the only other thing I had.

The sword was raised, screams were let out... and then somebody yelled, "HEY, BIRD BRAIN!" and a small black object hit Watcher One in the head and clattered to the ground.

A pair of sunglasses.

He whirled around just in time to see me withdraw my outstretched hand with a smug look on my face.

It felt good. If felt really good.

"What-" he started, looking confused. "You should be dead."

"Leave my friends alone," I said. "I know Grian's annoying, but that's no reason to try to murder him."

Most of the Admins, and even a few Watchers, were trying not to laugh.

"Hey," Grian protested weakly.

That was the wrong decision. Watcher One turned back to him.

That turned out to be the wrong decision as well.

Just because I tried not to use a sword didn't mean I had forgotten how to stab things. It was only a second before Watcher One looked down at the top of a sword protruding through his stomach.

He turned back to me. "Foolish," he sneered, but his voice sounded much weaker than usual. "You can't kill me. Any attempt you make to delete me will be in vain."

"If Watchers can't die," I said, "Then why are you trying to kill Grian?"

For once, Watcher One hesitated. His wings drooped. He fell into his hands and knees, trying to pull out the sword.

"A lie," I realized. "It's a lie."

"I can't die," he growled weakly.

"You're outvoted," I said, and cut off his head.

~~~

No, neither Watcher is dead. They respawned. Unfortunately.

- Indigo