TW: Slight mentions of death, Mentions of Yandere high school, Kidnapping, Mind control, Watchers brushing off people's emotions (If you couldn't tell, I have no idea what I'm doing with the TWs)

"DANGIT." The head watcher slammed his hand onto the table. "HOW INCOMPETENT ARE MY UNDERLINGS." He took a deep breath. 

"My apologizes. That was out of line. Guard, prepare a squadron and slip in while the barrier is weakened. Get the watchling when he inevitably faints from magical exhaustion, and deal with his helsian counterpart, we can't have him messing up our plans." The head watcher contiued.

"Y- Yes sir." The guard stuttered, and ran out.

"So... Your name isn't even Grian?" X stared at the gremlin, seemingly unsurprised at the reveal that he was a watcher.

"It was. It's the name of the player I was before I joined the watchers." Grian stared at the floor shifting uncomfortably.

"So they took you from Evo and, you just joined them?" X said, sounding, justifiably, very confused.

"No. I was with the watchers before the Evo Disaster... I joined them in High school... They saved my life." He mumbled, .

"H- Huh?" Poor X only sounded more confused at this.

"Yeah... Old 'Friend' of mine wasn't exactly the kindest..." Grian closed his eyes, trying to hold off the flood of memories trying to drown him. 

"Do you want me to get Eyn..." NPG whispered.

Grian quietly nodded. "I... don't want to tell this story twice, heh..." He pulled off the mask and placed the necklace back on for Eyn's sake. He wasn't going to make such a horrible screw up again...

NPG walked off, and X looked at Grian with a undiscribable emotion... Disgust? Pity? Disappointment? Grian didn't know, and didn't know if he even wanted to know. Knowledge was a blessing and a curse. His gaze dropped back to his shoes.

Eventually NPG walked back down, a still-half-asleep Eyn practically being dragged behind them. Eyn looked up at the awkward scene before them. "So he knows now?"

"A bit... And I thought I... Should finally talk about school... And everything... So... Yeah... Let's start with that..." He swallowed, before starting. "My parents sent me to Japan alone while I was in kindergarden... They had a divorce, and wanted me gone to make it 'easier' on them. Eventually, I went back to England, but I met two Friends... Taurtis and... Him. Sam..." 

Eyn and X were staring at Grian, pity and shock filling their expressions as Grian slowly went on to talk about a lot of very messed up stuff, NPG comforting and grounded the gremlin. Their shock grew as he talked about things like Sam stabbing Taurtis, and forcing Grian to dress up as Taurtis, and getting in trouble with the police multiple times, until he got to the end of high school.

"And Sam... Sam snapped again... He almost... stabbed me... But... Kanvi teleported me out..." He gave a small smile. "And I became a watcher."

"Gri..." Xisuma stared at him with wide eyes. "A- Are you okay? You should have I said something..."

"He's not." NPG replied to X in their matter-of-fact way. "He hasn't even explained Evo yet, or the fact he's currently stuck in the middle of the godly beings having a war."

"NPG-" Grian sighed. "Well, so you know, most of the 'Oh no the watchers are evil their gonna eat you up' stuff comes from the rebels, a group of watchers who believe we should control the world, and that Players and admins are inferior... And they're in a war... Those rebels are currently targeting me, which is why Eyn's here, and why I had my headspace attacked."

All of a sudden Grian was shoved out of control as Ark took back over. "I suppose I should apologize for that part, mortals. Their likely targeting Xelqua due to my rank on the Watcher Council."

Everyone stared at this sudden change of tone, and noticed Grian's eyes had the tell-tale purple flicker over them of someone who was being mind puppeteered.

NPG sighed. "Ark, stop scaring the players. Seriously, I feel like the parent of a god-like being. Now let Grian control his own body."

"I do not take orders from mere Helsians, but we must move on swiftly, as we need to reinforce the barrier." Ark replied calmly.

This caused NPG to roll their eyes, shooting Eyn a glance that clearly said 'See what I have to deal with?'

Grian fell forwards again, released from Ark's puppeteering.

"So, you were talking about Evo?"

"Yes... The watchers sensed a world was ready for a server, but was glitched, stuck in a earlier update. So as a training exercise, I was sent out, and I led the server members through the updates using riddles and portals... The reason It was destroyed was because the rebels were about to attack... I was dumb and tried to set up defenses without the mask on... See, the mask we wear aids us in controlling our magic, so we won't lose control, otherwise, it's too strong for us. It limits our magic, and stops us from killing ourselves with magical overuse." He took a deep breath, guilt and sorrow threatening to pull him under, but he had to tell X. He shook off the memories before rambling

"The masks just generally handy. But such a widespread defensive spell, with no limiting on it... I blew up the server..! And dying from watcher magic is Perma-Death... and T- Taurtis was on the server... I brought him there... And Pearl- Pearl went through all that because of me... And if anyone else survived the blast, the rebels would have killed them... Or worse... It's all my fault...I- If... You hate me...I understand." He sobbed, all the emotion he was trying to push back through this talk bubbled up and overwhelmed him, drowning him like an ocean, yet as he tried to swim, he just sank deeper, deeper, into the dark, cold... Until, abruptly, he was thrown back into the dream-like haze, dulling the stabbing pain of emotion.

"Ark- seriously." NPG grumbled quietly, glaring at the watcher. "If you keep puppeteering Grian and stop him from feeling what he's feeling, I'm coming back to Watcher's End to get my revenge on you. This is not healthy for his healing..."

"Again, we don't have much time, so we cannot wait for such unfortunate outbursts emotions to pass..." Ark replied

At this, NPG glared at Ark and opened his admins panels, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Eyn and Xisuma glanced at each other terrified at this. They both knew Grian well enough that if his counterpart wanted revenge, it wouldn't end well for the person who NPG was acting against.

"Anyway, I must go. Admin, come, I need to ensure your protections on this server are not stripped. Helsian, you may do whatever." 

Ark dismissed Eyn, who scrambled away. X nodded, swallowing as the two walked outside. They put on the mask and took off the necklace, transforming back into Grian's partial watcher form. Without another word, they raised their hands and a channel of purple light spread into the sky.

"Admin, make your spell visible, and be prepared to keep it up in case of strain. You should be able to use your admin panels to channel more magic into the server as I channel Grian and mine's into your spell." Ark instructed as if speaking to a young child.

X silently opened his admin panels, not showing any resentment towards the being. tapping a few buttons. The sky lit open with a geometric green grid, curling around the whole overworld. Ark raised Grian's hands, and purple fire channeled from their hands. As the purple light floated into the sky, X's admin panels flashed red, causing him to jump, quickly clicking buttons. The grid of X's magic flickered, before stabilizing again. Finally, the magics stopped fighting each other, the geometric patterns of X's magic began to shimmer with the swirling purple mist of Ark's spell. The two stood still for a minute, glancing at each other, breathless from the exertion of the magic. 

 Ark shot a glance to X, simply saying. "Take care of him. He'll faint after this, he's already fading mentally, as I'm feeling his consciousness retract. He'll be psychically and emotionally vulnerable after tonight. He's exerted a lot magically and emotionally, but he'll recover. So be careful, otherwise I'll send Kanvi to help NPG get revenge. And trust me, NPG is more petty than Grian, and Kanvi has the power and cleverness to back them up." Ark said, glaring at X from behind the mask, before abruptly leaving Grian's body. X shivered at the thought of a being more petty being then Grian.

Grian was left swaying, and toppled over. X caught the Watcher, gently holding him to stop him from falling. Grian weakly put the necklace back on, his black feathers melting back to the red, avian ones, the robes and halo vanished, yet he kept the mask on.

"Heh, that... was a lot." He chuckled, his body aching. When X reached for the mask, Grian stopped him. "It helps magic... recharge... leave it..." He mumbled, and X could tell he was fading fast. X ignored the buzzing of the chat, deciding to address their panic after dealing with the gremlin in his arms.

He was about to carry Grian inside when a flash of purple light blinded X, and as he squinted through it with terror, ten towering figure loomed, black feathers glittering in the low light of the dappled moonlight through the dark oak trees, in full watcher form, extra eyes staring, unblinking, violet eyes unmasked, halos blindly bright, claw like hands reaching towards X.

One spoke in a foreign language that X assumed was galactic, it's tone booming, but it's voice also painful on X's ears. The words echoed, and violet light flared around his eyes, playing in his mind. X didn't notice the gremlin roughly being taken from his arms, didn't even notice as he fell to the ground, unconscious.

A/N:

Imagine changing your plan for the ending partway through after you already wrote the whole ending couldn't be me lol

But yeah the whole kidnapping part is newly written! Idk where I'm gonna go with it, but I do know I'm going to cause Grian a lot of pain :D 

ALSO 300 VIEWS- I'M SCREAMING- WHY DOES IT KEEP GOING UP SO QUICKLYYYY :D

WC: 1715

- Xera