bumblvee said we could write Oneshots based on their Realm Walker book/thing (go check it out) so I'm gonna use it as an opportunity to write about one of my lesser known AUs :D (I've written a oneshot or two for it but nothing more)

If any of this is wrong in regards to Vinnie's Oneshots, I'm very tired so- ik it was probably intended to link to like- other SMPs/seasons Grian was in but eh 🤷‍♀️ screw it im linking it to my Hermitcraft Royalty AU

Some of this probably won't be correct (the amount of times I referred to the original book while writing this is ridiculous/hj)

Anyway oneshot go brrr, this is the first time I'm posting a oneshot as it's own 'book'-

Also some of this might not make sense if you haven't read the original headcannon/book by Vinnie so go check it out :]

Btw any bold italics text is Aranfi speaking, unless clarified otherwise (Grian's thoughts were already in italics, so it was confusing to do Aranfi's speech in italics also-)

Grian glanced away from the holes in his base with a sigh.

The parrot hybrid had no doubt that they were from Impulse's threats to mine away the boulders of his base if he didn't finish the back of it in twenty four hours.

Of course, between building a statue of a dead meme out of copper to mess with Mumbo (who ages copper blocks one block apart from each other?!) and trying not to get killed by Doc for destroying his fancy redstone contraption, he'd completely forgotten about (or pushed to the back of his mind, at least) finishing the back of his base.

Mannnnn. I thought he was being dramaticccc. Grian's train of thought was interrupted metal tapping lightly on the ground behind him. Oh, great, exactly what I need. "What is it this time?" He queried, still squinting at the holes in his base and trying to figure out if Impulse was hiding somewhere nearby.

Aranfi needs you. Again.

"Let me guess, another multiversal emergency?" Grian asked wryly, turning around to face the Entity.

Sort of. I think they want you to prevent an emergency rather than throwing you into the middle of one. Still rather urgent though, so you should probably hurry up.

"Are you sure it can't wait?" Grian asked it with a slight frown, gesturing vaguely to the gaping holes in the boulders that floated above his base. "Impulse is messing with my base." The metal tapping grew slightly more irritated.

Come on, it won't take that long. It's important.

"Hang on, is it not an emergency or is it important and urgent? You're not being helpful." Grian joked as he made his way towards the dip in the ground that lead to the Rift.

Both. Aranfi will fill in you in on the details.

"Duly- noted." Grian said with a slight huff as he spread his wings, practically falling down the hole as he slipped slightly. "Oh my-" His wings flapped furiously in an attempt to slow his fall, and his impact with the ground left little more than a scratch.

The dirty blonde scrambled to his feet, rushing towards the Rift and practically falling through it into the Garden. His arrival was met with polite laughter from Aranfi as Grian got to his feet again for the second time in about thirty seconds.

"So... how urgent is this again? The Entity wasn't very clear." The gray-eyed man added with a shrug.

"...rather urgent." Aranfi said with a small smile as they gestured towards another tree (portal? Tree...portal? Trortal?). "Don't worry, I'll join you this time as well." They added as Grian entered the portal.

He felt himself falling briefly before letting out a small 'oof' as he hit a wooden floor. At least it's not mushrooms this time. The dirty blonde straightened slightly, getting to his feet (again) and attempting to look in the mirror hung on the wall (he appeared to be in an extravagantly decorated bedroom).

This version of him didn't appear to be incredibly different. The copper-rimmed glasses and the cream coloured blouse with puffy sleeves were certainly a new addition, but not an unwelcome one. His gaze flicked to a small, bejewelled crown on the table under the mirror. Uh... Aranfi? What's going on in this universe? What do I need to do?

Ah, right. Well, in this universe, you're the youngest heir to the throne of Hermitopia. Grian rolled his eyes slightly at the 'original' naming. The next in line for the throne is Pearl, and the current king is Ren. Huh. So he was Ren's brother in this universe. Ren is unfortunately a rather corrupt king, so not much changes, and your sister has started a rebellion and is determined to kill Ren. You need to stop her from doing so.

Grian's forehead wrinkled in a frown. "Didn't you just say he was a terrible king, though?" He muttered.

He is... however, killing him will lead to the downfall of the kingdom- I can see it now. The guilt of killing her brother will build up inside Pearl's head- Pearl will become the queen, obviously- and she'll eventually kill herself because of it. "Oh. Wow." Indeed. That would put this universe's version of you on the throne, and this version of you would not be able to handle being a king, therefore the kingdom would fall into chaos. If Ren is simply arrested, however, Pearl will live out the rest of her reign in relative peace, and the kingdom will prosper.

"So I need to... convince Pearl to not kill Ren?" Grian asked curiously. Precisely, darling. The first step is finding her, so you better get started on that. "Okay, got it, I-" The parrot hybrid paused at knocking on the door of his room. "Hello?" He added slightly more loudly.

"Prince Grian?" The door opened to reveal a slightly shorter version of Gem. "Your presence is required by Lady Pearl. She awaits your arrival at the archery range." The satyr added quietly.

"The... archery range? Why?" Grian asks curiously.

"Lady Pearl likes to take out her anger at your brother on the targets. The targets being replaced has become a daily occurrence, according to my friend who works down there." Gem added, the corner of her mouth twitching into the beginnings of an amused smile.

"Ohh, cool. Can you- can you show me where it is? I don't... visit it often." Grian added lamely, paling slightly at the half-truth.

The redhead bowed with a small nod. "Of course." She stood sideways to allow him to pass through the doorway before taking the lead.

It was rather odd to see any version of Gem being so quiet and complacent, as opposed to her usual fiery and enthusiastic personality, but Grian assumed it was simply an act she put up around royalty.

You know, Gem is part of this world's resistance as well. Grian jumped slightly at the Aranfi's voice, smiling awkwardly at Gem as she stared. Why don't you try and convince her that killing Ren is a bad idea? I'm sure Pearl will be more inclined to listen if there's two people with the same idea.

Hm. The parrot hybrid went to shrug and then stopped as he noticed that Gem was still staring at him. "So..." Is other me part of the resistance?

Yes, don't worry, darling. "I- have an idea. Resistance-wise, that is." He added, and Gem shoved him gently with a laugh, her obedient act vanishing (maybe she was just worried other people might be around?).

"Be quiet about it, at least!" She scolded him jokingly, before pausing. "What is it?"

"So, you know the whole 'killing Ren' thing...? Can we... just arrest him instead?" Gem's amused expression vanished as she stared at him quietly.

"Absolutely not."

"Why? I don't- killing him doesn't seem fair." Grian added awkwardly.

"Not fair?! He's a murderer! He's an- awful person." Gem spat, glaring at him fiercely.

"Murderer? How?"

"He killed his own husband!" The satyr said angrily. "Just so he could make stupid, corrupt decisions without having to get any input first. He deserves to die as much as my brother deserved to live."

Ah, right. I forgot to mention that. Grian frowned slightly. This Gem is Doc's sister. Doc was married to Ren, and then was murdered by someone for unknown reasons. Gem, however, suspects it was Ren. It's part of why she joined the resistance. Maybe Gem was the wrong person to start with, actually.

"Ah. Apologies. Ignore me then."

Attempting to convince Pearl went just as well as he would have expected.

"Absolutely. Not." She said quietly, watching as her arrow hit the target.

It was rather odd to see Pearl dress so formally. Her hair was the strangest part- it was so weird to see her hair piled up in a neat bun instead of being in a messy plait that had flowers loosely braided into it by Gem.

"But why?" Grian blinked as another arrow flew past his face. "He's our brother! Surely you'll feel awful about it."

Pearl sighed, gritting her teeth together with an irritated expression."Grian, I did not spend months mentally preparing myself to kill Ren for you to give me doubts and... weird feelings at the last second." The taller woman added sharply. "If you're just going to go on about it, please leave, brother." Okay, she is not nearly as nice as normal Pearl. Grian thought with a silent huff. Man, this universe sucks.

"But- I don't-" He broke off at a glare from the older woman.

"Grian. Please. Stop." The brunette said quietly, lowering her bow. "Ren will never change. He doesn't think he's done anything wrong." Pearl added sharply as something clicked for Grian.

Ren doesn't know he's done anything wrong... so maybe if I talk to Ren and make him realise what he's doing it wrong, he can... talk to Pearl and convince him that he'll change? He'll still get locked up, but... "Okay. Sorry, Pearl." He added quietly. Man, it's weird to hear Pearl snapping at me. The parrot hybrid blinked as Pearl's frown vanished.

"I'm sorry, Grian. I'm just... still a little stressed out about all this." The brunette said with a small, slightly sad smile.

"Just... will you at least consider letting him live? Maybe?" Man, that's a really weird thing to say about a fellow hermit, even in another universe-

Pearl paused, pursing her lips with a thoughtful expression. "Maybe. But he's done a lot of bad things, Grian. He needs to pay for them." Grian let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Well, that's... something at least.

It certainly is! What are you planning on doing now, Realm Walker? Grian paused as he turned away from Pearl and began walking back to the main grounds.

Well... talk to Ren? I guess? The dirty blonde shrugged as he entered the castle again. I'm just gonna wander around till I find him.

Solid plan! No chance of failure.

...was that sarcasm?

I would never.

——

Grian slowly pushed open the ornately decorated door that he was pretty sure lead to the throne room. His suspicions were proven correct when he was met with a slightly older, less... happy?... version of Ren sat on a throne, his head resting on his hand. "Uh... hey, Ren!" The dog hybrid straightened in his chair, smiling awkwardly.

"Grian! Lovely to see you, feels like it's been ages!" Ren added, grinning. "What can I do for my baby brother?" Aw, that's cute. He must really care about this version of me.

"Uh- yeah. Kinda important, actually." The parrot hybrid said with a small smile. What do I say?!

He could practically hear Aranfi shrugging. I'm sure you'll figure it out, my dear. Ren tilted his head with a mildly confused expression. "...yes?"

Grian paused before blurting out all of the information he had gathered so far. "Okay, so basically, there's a rebellion against you and the leader of it is planning to kill you and I don't want them to kill you, but also you're kind of a really bad person and if you don't promise to change and try to change, I'm pretty sure you're as good as dead."

The king stared back at him with an expression that the dirty blonde couldn't exactly make out. Is that a good face or a bad face...? Finally, Ren let out a confused, "What?" He paused for a few moments more. "But I'm... a good king."

"Well..." Grian trailed off slightly with an odd hand gesture. He didn't know exactly what Ren's crimes consisted of apart from Gem's suspicions about his involvement with the death of this universe's Doc, but he could guess that Ren wasn't a great king. And that was just based on Ren's time as king in his own universe.

"No, I'm a- I-" Ren paused, his brow furrowing as his face fell into an even more confused expression. "Am I that bad? I mean, I guess I've known for a while that I- since-" He cut himself off, running his left index finger over the finger on his right hand where a wedding ring would be. "Oh, god." Yes! It's working!

Is it working, Aranfi?

It would appear so. They commented as Ren stared at the ground with a disbelieving expression. "So, what do you want me to do, just... promise I'll be a better person? Be arrested without struggling?"

Grian nodded slowly. "Yyyup. Maybe they'll spare you then." He added uncertainly. I hope that's enough. Grian thought as Ren nodded slowly.

"Oh....Kay. I think I, just- need a bit of-" Ren paused, making the same movement with his ring finger again. "Time alone. To think. Thank you for the warning, brother. I appreciate it." Grian nodded slowly as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

He still wasn't entirely sure what was going on in this universe, and he knew there were so many more complex layers to what he had discovered today, but he was convinced he had done enough.

Have I done enough? He asked quietly.

...I think so. Looking ahead now, it would appear that the future of this universe has changed. Lady Pearl's- Queen Pearl's, I should say- reign will be prosperous and peaceful. Grian could hear the smile in their voice. Good job, Realm Walker.

The parrot hybrid wandered the castle grounds for a few minutes more before returning to the Garden, where he was greeted by the sight of the version of him from the previous universe sat down next to the tree portal (he had settled on that name), his hands flapping up and down in a somewhat anxious motion. The prince looked up as Grian appeared, getting to his feet swiftly and gesturing vaguely to the electronic screen showing the inside of Ren's throne room.

"Thank you." The other version of himself said quietly. "Now I know they'll both be safe, at least." Grian could only assume this was in reference to Pearl and Ren, and he nodded.

"Don't worry about it?" He tried, earning him an amused look from Aranfi, who had practically materialised next to him.

The youngest prince of Hermitopia allowed himself a small smile, laughing slightly. "Seriously though, thank you. While you could work on your subtlety a little bit... you really helped."

Grian watched quietly as Prince Grian of Hermitopia entered his own universe, his smile widening.

If being a Realm Walker meant he was able to help more people like this, he was certainly glad he'd been chosen for the job.

Woooo I-

Definitely rushed the ending of that lmaooo

Anyways yeah, the Realm Walking thing is from a book/oneshot collection thing by bumblvee called 'The Realm Walker' (I think?) so go check it out :)

Anyways yes I used this oneshot as an opportunity to talk about my AU so what /j /nm

I didn't include it with my other Oneshots in a oneshot collection because I felt like it didn't exactly fit with the others, but yeah this is like 2k words long and I'm really proud of it :D (even if I am just stealing Vinnie's idea /j /j /j)

Man this was all over the place-