Casual meeting between Ex and Hels.

I've been going through old unfinished drafts and this was one of them. I tried my best to finish it up and polish it off, but do keep in mind it is almost 3 AM and I don't do endings well, so here we are.

Warnings:
-Slight disassociation (Very inexplicit, brushed over very fast)

Wordcount [~1.4k]

~3rd POV~

Ex had taken his time to get used to...well, everything. The world of nothingness he had learned to adjust to and just coexist had been long gone, exploded by a mass of color and light. The interaction he had craved for so long had been met and the bitterness in his soul, while still there, did not pain him with loud reminders and punches to the gut every waking moment.

Mortal existence just seemed so much more manageable now that Ex had things to distract him from it.

Ex had never realized how many sounds there were. He hadn't realized how much he had taken for granted. Noise, people, simple textures of everyday items. Often he found himself overwhelmed by all these sensations being brought back.

The Nether, Ex found, was a beautiful place. He couldn't walk long distances by himself entirely, but he enjoyed the short walks no matter how slow or how much he stumbled.

Ex didn't mind the heat; it was a tad heavy, but manageable. All he really had to worry about was the mobs. Ex knew he wouldn't be able to handle his own in a fight just yet, so he made sure to wear some gold pants and stay close to the nether rack walls. Away from the blue tinged valleys of always whispering souls, away from the noisy sights of the forests.

As long as he played it safe, Ex knew he would be fine. The Nether had quickly become one of his favorite places to simply sit and think. It was quiet, but not too quiet. It was relatively peaceful if you stayed low and away from the headache inducing noise of hermit-made farms.

The nether rack was a deep red, it's texture rocky and rough, the smallest cracks and bumps defined and clear as canyons. Ex found himself lightly dragging his gloved fingers across the rocks, feeling the raw blackstone crunch beneath his boots with a satisfying sound as he walked. The walls easily caved in, encasing Ex in a red prison and obstructing his view of anything but the pure and unbridled scar of the color. It was a lovely feeling, one that Ex found an odd sense of peace within.

The rest of his senses taking a backseat, Ex had not realized when he stumbled upon something he hadn't seen before on his usual route. He leaned on his arm in an unfortunate spot, falling straight through a gap in the wall and into a small room. Ex would have ignored it, had it not felt so man-made. He had fallen inside a small maybe 5 by 5 room, perfect corners, completely dug out.

Items were scattered on the floor, broken shards of glass, beat up bits of armor and weaponry. The blank walls had seemed to take a beating, covered in deep scratches and discoloration.

Which hermit did this?

Ex shakily lifted himself to his feet, using the wall as a crutch. However, he hadn't stayed standing for long, as his feet were swept off the floor, the weight of his body transferring to the wall, very harshly. As his back hit the rock, an involuntary wheeze showed itself out of his lungs. He expected to fall, but to Ex's surprise, he was held firmly in place by an arm

"Who are you?" A voice snapped. Ex lifted his head to meet the blood red eyes of a pale, dirty blonde, black armor clad knight. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"...Wels?"

"Nice try, you aren't that weak excuse for a knight. But you do look like that admin. Have you come to banish me to the void?"

"Admin? That's Xisuma! He's my brother," Ex said, starting to wiggle himself free until the dark Wels clone held a rather dented gold sword to his neck. This didn't particularly scare Ex, but it didn't make for a pleasant situation. "Okay- technically he isn't my brother, but it's a long story-"

"Answer the question! If you aren't the admin, who are you?" The structure was phrased like a question, but as critical seconds passed, Ex knew it was more of snarky a demand.

"I'm Evil Xisuma, who are you?"

"What kind of name is that? Are you just parading down the streets of this godforsaken server that you're 'evil'? Because I really couldn't tell." The Knight cut his eyes at Ex, before reluctantly letting his grip on him go and backing away.

"Hey, I didn't choose it. I don't think you could do better."

The Knight only scoffed in response, keeping his sword in hand as a reminder (albeit a weak one), and drawing the other hand dramatically to his chest. "I, am Helskn-"

"Could you speak up?" Ex asked, taking a step closer to the knight. "It was easier to hear you when you were directly in front of my face, but now you're all the way across the room and mumbling, so,"

Once more, Ex received a glare in response. "I," the knight restarted, projecting his voice across the small room as asked. "Am Helsknight. I embody all the bad energy and feelings of W-"

"Ohh," Ex grinned, cutting off Hels again. "So you're an evil persona, too? You're Wels' right?"

"I am not Wels' anything but every ounce of hatred and bad blood in his body personified. I am here to destroy Herm-"

"Destroy Hermitcraft and watch all it's people die a slow and painful death, right?" Ex finished. Boy, this did sound familiar. "I used to- Ow! Hey!" Ex stopped himself as Hels brought his fist to his shoulder in a rather rough fashion. Enough to hurt and probably leave a bruise.

"Would you stop interrupting me?!"

Ex could tell the impatience of Hels was growing thinner and thinner with every word that tumbled out of his mouth. Was that his fault? He couldn't help it.

"I'm just saying, your chances of taking this place out alone are pretty low," recalling memories, Ex lightly tapped on the outside of his helmet as he faced away from Hels. "I had this voice in my head at one point that was probably a demon or something help me and even then it still didn't work. Plus you really don't want to get banned, the void is pretty dead."

Hels took a moment to contemplate this information, relaying it in his mind, but never dropping his death glare towards Ex. "So youre saying I couldn't do it on my own, but perhaps with a partner? Maybe one that is also an evil persona?"

"Partner?" Ex asked, meeting Hels' stare. "Who would you- oh, do you mean me?"

Hels simply facepalmed, his armor clanking against itself as he moved closer to Ex. "Let me get one thing straight; I do not trust you. But I will tolerate you if your help is actually required."

"Reassuring," Ex rolled his eyes, heading back towards the hole in the wall Hels seemed to use as a front door. "But I don't want to risk another ban."

Hels followed him out, his words filled with skepticism. "Suit yourself, but my offer is always on the table when you change your mind."

Now it was Ex's turn to scoff. "Right. 'when' I change my mind. You might want your base of operation to be more than a hastily made hole in the Nether wall before we talk about destroying the server." Ex turned his head away before he could think about the hypocrisy in that statement as he thought about his own home. A hastily dug out hole, but in the overworld. "At least buy me dinner first."

Ex continued on walking in silence, thinking about a new route to follow now that he knew this part of the Nether was obviously occupied. He did not miss the extra and metal sounding footsteps marching on and trying to catch up with him. Before he could remind Hels he was not invited, a question rang out.

"Was that a request?"

~~~