TW: Slight Panic attack, Grian talking about YHS (self explanatory?)

As the two flew over the ocean, Eyn spoke up again. "Hey so... Name and pronouns?"

"Oh uh- He/Him. And you know my name."

"No like- Do you prefer Grian or Xelqua."

"... Xelqua when we're alone I suppose." But he couldn't help but realize he'd started to think of himself as Grian.

"And you're a watcher?"

"...Yep." Yet something felt wrong about that, like he felt more connection to these players then his family...

"So... why did you help me then?"

"Politics."

"That's... Confusing."

"Exactly." He chuckled. "Watchers are secretive, but because we have to be. You see, around a thousand years ago, watchers weren't feared, watchers weren't seen as monsters. They had public recruitments like Admins do. They helped fix glitches that were beyond what the admins could do, and fought against glitched entities and Helsians that were trying to take over. But most of all, they kept the records for all of Minecraft, as Watchers aren't exactly mortal. But, a group undermined this. They claimed watchers restrained ourselves to solely weak magic simply for mortals, who they viewed as inferior. This group had a lot of friends on the council, and slowly, the watchers isolated themselves in the Hub's end, also now known as The Watcher's End." He sighed, before speaking more.

 "This group thought they were strong enough to fully take over the council, and rebelled. So many were lost in this war, and sadly, Mortals didn't see a civil war in the watchers, they saw their gods abandoning them. And when the Rebels fled to try to corrupt servers and force players to join... Well, let's just say all the watchers saw the players as collateral damage, and the Players thought the Watchers had turned against them. And since the Watchers can't reproduce, they had to get new people somewhere, as the war raged on. The rebels stole players from servers, forcing them into mind control, until they snapped and joined them. And the watchers took young players at the edge of their life, or ones being mistreated. And the rebels still are out there somewhere as we both know first hand." He was staring at the waters below him.

"So, you're with..."

"...The watchers, Yes. The REAL ones." Again it felt wrong, to declare his allegiance to the watchers... Probably just because he was so used to keeping secrets. Yeah, that was it, surely?

"If I may ask, you said they took young players that were about to die or being mistreated... Does that include you?" Eyn asked

"Yeah, I'm not THAT ancient that I was around when the choosing was a thing! I'm still a watchling, or a trainee watcher."

"... What happened to you? Was it going to be natural or-"

"... Heh, let's just say they took me from my home server because of both of those of those criteria. Hey look- Land!" Grian tried, and succeeded, to distract Eyn. Below them was a roofed forest, and he slowly glided down. "The trees should hide you from people with elytras."

"Good idea- but why do I need to hide?"

"Trust me, the hermits are gonna be looking for you before you're ready... It's an inconvenient habit I find most mortals have." He sighed, slipping into habits of speech he'd picked up from the watchers.

"..." Eyn suddenly looked very uncomfortable.

He realised what he said. He'd gotten too comfortable, and hurt someone...  "Anddd I sounded like a stuck up jerk didn't I-"

"Kind of..." Eyn chuckled, still sounding very uncomfortable at this.

"Sorry..." He mumbled, looking at his feet.

"It's fine. Let's just get started."

"Before that, you need some help- I can't believe they treated you well there." Grian pulled out a couple regen potions. "Drink these, hopefully they'll help."

Eyn uncorked a potion and drank it. They seemed to perk up a bit. "Well, we should start building then?"

Grian nodded, and the two started to build a 'simple' cottage, (which was anything but simple, we're talking about Grian here.) before Grian's communicator started to buzz. He sighed.

"Give me a minute, gotta stop these guys from thinking I've been kidnapped by you." He rolled his eyes.

<XisumaVoid> Grian, could you come here please?

<Grian> Very sorry, but I need some time, and I don't want to leave Eyn alone. They don't deserve that.

<XisumaVoid> Grian...

<Grian> Xisuma, one more thing. Please whitelist Eyn so I don't need to worry about permadeath by natural means.

<XisumaVoid> What do you mean by natural? Are you afraid of them dying by other things that can cause permadeath?

<Grian> Mobs, falling, etc. 

<XisumaVoid> That doesn't answer my question.

<Grian> Well it's what your getting, enjoy it! ^-^

<XisumaVoid> Sometimes I think your the admin here and not me

<Grian> Bc I'm the only one here with a moral compass clearly B)

<Welsknight> I beg to differ.

<Grian> Also I used to be an admin \.o./

<MumboJumbo> How many secrets are you hiding-

<PearlecentMoon> Have you even met Grian- He's worse as Taurtis was...

<EynVoid> Pearl, Have YOU even met Grian? 

<PearlecentMoon> Eyn you just got here, I used to be on his server...

<EynVoid> My question still stands

<Grian> Eyn, please stop trying to reveal my secrets :D. Also you placed a stair backwards.

<EynVoid> DANG IT

<XisumaVoid> I've lost control of my server.

<GeminiTay> I may not be a admin but I feel you. Sometimes I think i'm gonna murder Fwhip and sausage.

<XisumaVoid> Who-

<GeminiTay> My twin and my ally on empires.

<Pearlecentmoon> Yeah the wither rose alliance didn't do too well. I suppose murdering Sausage didn't help much

<GeminiTay> hey my character wasn't meant to be the most selfless okay? Plus he was possessed and that was how to free him. You were the person who helped him make a murder fest for a demon-

<EynVoid> WTF-

<Grian> Language, otherwise I'm coming over there and removing your communicator privileges :D

<EynVoid> Fine, mom. But my question still stands GeminiTay

<GeminiTay> Call me Gem please. And me and Pearl were in a roleplay server called Empires SMP. It was fun.

<Grian> Cool! Anyway, I gotta help Eyn build bc they can't figure out how to place stairs.

<EynVoid> THEY ARE PURE EVIL!

<Grian> LADIES, GENTLEMEN AND THOSE INBETWEEN, I PRESENT THE ONE YOU FEARED, THE SO CALLED EVIL XISUMA! TAKEN DOWN BY *gasp* STAIRS! How will they overcome this insurmountable enemy?

He chuckled, putting his communicator. This was useful not only to distract the hermits, but humanize Eyn. He walked back over to the half-finished cottage and looked at Eyn, who kept placing the stairs for the roof wrong. He took the stairs from Eyn and perfectly placed them on the first try.

"I don't know how these defeated you." Grian teased.

"... How." Eyn stared at Grian as if he was an all-powerful being. Which was an ironic comparison. "What magic did you use?"

"None." He smiled. "It's the angle you place it at.

After a bunch of stair placing, and Grian teaching Eyn, a cute little cottage was built, just in time, as night began to fall.

"Well it looks like we're done."

Eyn yawned, and nodded. "I can't wait to sleep in a real bed."

"I need to meditate tonight, have to contact my parents and try to reinforce X's protection on the server. Sorry, but I have to do this tonight. So if you see a watcher on the couch don't panic, it's me."

"I can try to hide the magic from X if you'd like."

"Yep, that'd be useful. He's already so suspicious of me as is. Some stronger ones can hide their spells from those sort of detection systems, but well- I'm still a watchling. Wait- I have an idea... Can't do it tonight, but if the rebels keep trying... hm." Grian had a thoughtful expression. "Yeah, I'll grab him if Ark and Kanvi are okay with it. It'll do him some good to be let out of the closet, and I might be able to help him fix the glitches. I had this theory of mixing Helsian admin magic and watcher magic..."

Eyn gathered this wasn't for them, and sat down on a chair, pulling up a couple of red admin panels to start hacking X's detection system.

"Anddd done!" They said a few minutes later, turning to Grian. "I'm going to bed now."

"Okay! Sorry about that... But, It's urgent. If I can get Ark to help me strengthen it, or even Kanvi, between the admin magic and watcher magic we might be able to lock the Rebels out."

"I feel bad for you Xelqua."

Grian tilted his head. "What do you mean?'

"Were you ever allowed to be a child? To play? You speak like you've been through so much, yet cracking through that is a child who just wants to be carefree, to have fun..."

"Well- Maybe I didn't. But with or without the watchers I wouldn't have had one, even if I survived..." Grian had a distant look in his eyes. "High school...." He sounded like he was choking out the words. "I had to be an undercover cop infiltrating a dangerous mafia gang in high school, otherwise I'd get arrested because my friend shoved me into things! And I was viewed as the insane one! I was the one put in the padded room despite Sam-" He slapped his hand over his mouth as he realized what he said... What he was about to say. Tears silently flooded out of his eyes despite him trying to stop them. "... Nevermind." He couldn't let Eyn know about all of that... He began to shiver

Eyn looked at him with pity. "Xelqua-"

"Stop. I don't want sympathy. I'm fine." He turned around, slipping into the Icy-cold voice , his expression turning into a still, cold one as a defense mechanism, yet the tears kept marching down his face, warm against his cheeks. "So what if I didn't have time to play. Playing isn't efficient. I'm in a war. You've seen what the rebels can do. I could barely hold my own with fifty years of training." He walked towards the front door. "I need to gather my thoughts before meditation..."

Eyn started to walk out after Xelqua, but his expression stopped them. They really were living with a watcher... The player in chat, the one that broke through the formal facade... They just couldn't associate them with the icy cold, closed off person they'd just seen. That person was a watcher. The person in the chat was a Player, a hyper avian who just wanted love from his new friends.

No no no. They weren't with any watchers, they were with rebel watchers. Maybe Gri- Xelqua was just replying to that being brought up with a sort of defense mechanism... But Eyn couldn't help matching that expression with the stone cold Watchers who watched them scream... They crumpled against the floor, sobbing in a heap.

A/N

I mean I didn't lie in the title did I- Grian and Eyn both need therapy, badly.

Okay but I just wanted to say as a heads up, I will be unable to update for the next few days,  But I didn't want to leave you at the end of last chapter, so have a longer one to tide you over! :D

WC: 1822

- Xera