wc: 2302

Getting to the base hadn't taken much effort. The location of the pathway was in a little corner of stone, where there was a tiny fracture in the rock. Xayla had gone first to demonstrate, reaching in and slowly tracing the crack all the way down. Once she'd done so, she disappeared without a sound and no trace save for a few purple sparks.

After Stress and X were through, Grian went in himself. There was the familiar warping sensation, and he appeared in the base.

The first word he thought of when he saw the damp stone walls and flickering torches was dingy. Compared to the large and slightly grandiose main base with its many floors and Listeners darting to and fro, this one definitely didn't measure up. Of course, Grian wasn't complaining, but when Stress had regained her balance from the teleport, her nose wrinkled.

"How did you sneak this in here?" Xayla was asking.

"This is entire building and sightseeing spot was built by Listeners," a man said proudly. He had very fluffy hair. Dyed, Grian realized, brown with a green streak through it. Perhaps it was a disguise made by magic.

Grian approached the group as the man continued to talk. "It was originally a mistake in a blueprint. We told the builders to continue building it according to the plans, and ended up repurposing it." His grin faltered. "A lot of the men that were involved on the plan in rescuing Xelqua didn't return. Honestly, was getting him out even-" His eyes landed on Grian, who'd removed his mask, and jumped a foot in the air, large fluffy wings bristling. "Oh, gosh," he muttered, a hand running through his curls, before he suddenly bowed his head. "Uh- my apologies- sir? Your Majesty? My Lord?"

Grian, who'd originally probably been wearing a scowl after hearing the conversation, was struck with a moment of shock. And then he started laughing. Wheezes rendered him speechless for a little bit as he hunched over, trying to regain his composure. After managing to wrestle his chuckles under control, he said, "Just call me Grian, please."

"Grian?" the man said with a weird face. "That's a dumb name. For a dumb man. Why'd you go and get yourself in prison again?"

The sheer audacity of the statement left Grian's mouth hanging open. After a moment of shocked silence, Grian sputtered, "And what's your name?"

"Xoel," the man grumbled. "But I go by Joel now."

! DISCLAIMER okay yes i know joel was in last life. but i could NOT pass up this wondrous opportunity and i just love joel so much so joel is now a normal watcher dude who definitely did not participate in last life. forget that happened :D DISCLAIMER !

"Joel's a dumb name," Grian told him. They glared at each other for a moment.

"Well, I'm glad you're not a dead man," Joel said, turning around. "Otherwise we'd be a little bit screwed. Come over here." He opened his palm, a little ball of magic lighting up the room, and motioned for them to follow. "Your friends are around here somewhere." Grian and Xayla exchanged a look, Grian quirking his eyebrows and eyeing Joel. Xayla giggled and hid it behind a cough.

Grian had already decided he liked Joel.

The base was mainly one large room with a couple rooms on each wall. Joel lead them to the left, counting three rooms and opening the door of the third.

All of the hermits had apparently already gotten there. It was a training room, Grian realized, with straw dummies that were still animated by magic. It didn't have everything that the previous base did, but Grian knew through experience that you didn't need a lot of equipment to become a good fighter.

"Oh, the group's all together again!" Scar said happily, slinging an arm around Grian's shoulders casually. The Hermits' chattering made Grian blink in dazedness (although that may have also been the magic overuse). When was the last time they had gathered calmly? Now was certainly not the time, but seeing the Hermits that joked around lazily, he wasn't opposed to it. Yes, it was a time to be serious, but... this worked too.

"Alright, listen up," Joel announced, clapping his hands. "We have a few rules you will have to follow, since you can't just run around however you please."

Grian and X shot a glare at a few still talking Hermits and the group quickly quieted down. Grian felt like a kindergarten teacher again.

"Don't go into any of the other rooms that branch out from the main hall," Joel said. He pointed across the main hall to a room in the corner. "Except for that one. That's the bathroom. You guys will be sleeping in here, since we don't have any more rooms. If the time's past midnight, keep your voices down. No one follows that rule, so whatever." He scratched the back of his head, scrunching his face and thinking. "That's probably about it. Don't take anything that isn't yours, get your fair share of food and nothing more, yada yada, be decent humans, whatever."

He made to leave as the Hermits began to settle down. Grian caught his wrist. "Joel?"

"What is it?" Joel asked, quirking a brow.

"Thank you for letting us stay here," Grian said truthfully. "It- it means a lot. Not everyone would have accepted such a... difficult group." Behind him, someone knocked over a shelf and yelped as its contents tumbled onto the floor. He sighed. "I'm glad we have somewhere to go."

Joel was quiet for a moment and then smirked. "Well, now I got the famous almight powerful Xel- I mean, Grian saying thanks to me, so it's not entirely just for your own benefit. Besides, I'm not a terrible person."

When he reached for the doorknob again, the smile on his face was a bit softer. "Enjoy your stay." The door closed behind him.

Grian turned back to the Hermits and surveyed the group.

Fighters, he thought. Let's see. Doc, Etho, False... Gem was a fae, she would work. Cleo would be perfect, maybe Zed, since he was also a magic user. Wels, Tango, Ren? Iskall, Impulse... He considered the group before calling everyone to attention by clapping his hands. The group quieted quickly.

"I should probably explain the situation to you guys," Grian said, eyes scanning the group. He didn't see a shred of regret in their eyes. "If you want to leave, I can open a portal."

"No one wants to leave!" Iskall yelled. The Hermits whooped in agreement.

Grian nodded. "In that case, you guys should know what you're dealing with." He sat down cross legged on the floor. "The Watchers are, obviously, the bad that balances out the good. There's admins, who govern servers and keep justice and peace, and Watchers, who were meant to be the disgraced magic users that no one can ever truly wipe out. They're the yin while the admins are the yang."

Some of the fae sat up a bit straighter. Scar's normally cheerful gaze had fallen dull, while Gem looked like she would murder. Zed and Wels were looking down at their hands, and Tango stared off into the distance.

"The Watchers initiated centuries of war with faeries and admins," Grian said, monotonous. "We didn't win, but we ruined... a lot of things. Caused glitches, crashed worlds. Killed... many people."

He remembered when Scar had discovered his Watcher identity. The fury in those forest green eyes still made Grian want to cry sometimes.

"In truth, most of the Watcher population will never hurt someone," Grian said, looking up at the ceiling and wishing he was back in Hermitcraft. "There's a lot of the kindest people ever here. It's a very corrupt government, with a lot of rules. I don't know if you guys noticed, but obviously we're all dressed in civilian uniforms. You're assigned a work station at the age of 13 and work there until you can't, and then you're rendered useless. If you're lucky enough to survive that, you live in uncared for 'senior homes' where you most likely die alone. Breaking simple rules like not getting to work on time can get you punished with whipping. Small crimes like showing disrespect to the Elders by having your mask crooked can get you killed. It's almost like medieval times." He fiddled with the collar on his shirt, sweat running down his back. "I used to be an admin." The Hermits all rustled with that statement. "I ran a server, but it was captured by Watchers during the war. The war..." he trailed off. "It's kind of at an impasse right now, for lack of resources. A lot of fae here probably escaped during that time."

"You were an admin?" Mumbo asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah," Grian said with a wince. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "I was captured, my server was destroyed, and some of my members were killed." There was a deafening silence.
"Captured admins are used for experiments. Xayla was my healer during that." Xayla rested a hand on Grian's shoulder, wing moving around him in kind of a hug. "I eventually was the test subject to turn admins into Watchers. It worked."

Grian didn't have the strength to keep speaking for a moment. His eyelids felt heavy, and he wanted to sleep and not wake up. Why was he the one meant to suffer? O Zeus, what plaything will you make of me, he remembered from Oedipus and the plays of Sophocles.

"I told him about the Listeners," Xayla continued. "I helped him as much as I could. He was trained to become a warrior, by an... Elder at first, but was eventually handed over to the Leader."

"The Leader was kind to me," Grian said, having caught his breath. "So I learned to fight. Eventually, the Listeners fought back. They were... defeated, but in the chaos, Xayla managed to get me out. I..." He squeezed his eyes shut.

'Get out of here,' Xayla told him, ripping off her mask to look him in the eyes. 'Get yourself healed. Don't come back.' Her hands gripped his shoulders.

'Where- what-' Grian stuttered, wings flaring around him.

'There's a portal,' Xayla said, dragging him outside. It was chaos- Listeners and Watchers battled each other in the air, some on the ground. Grian jumped as a Watcher plummeted to the earth next to him and rolled over, dead.

'I have to help.' Grian grit his teeth, flaring his wings, but Xayla grabbed him.

'Are you deaf?' she yelled, shooting a blast of magic and a tiny hole in the sky. It grew, its swirling contents dizzying. 'Get out of here! Go! It'll do us good! Just leave!'

Grian stumbled, then braced his wings for flight. 'Xayla-'

'Grian!' she screamed. 'Go!'

He turned and flew, giant wings beating beside him to take him towards the rip in the sky. A Watcher flew towards him, eyes burning. Grian's arm shot out in reflex, magic twining around the man's throat and glowing intensely. The man's reaching fingers tensed and became stiff. Grian watched in muted horror as the Watcher fell towards the ground.

The portal, he remembered, shooting towards it. Watchers reached for them, and they all fell dead; he had reached freedom, salvation, and he dove in, the worlds shifting around him...

"I made it to Hermitcraft," Grian said finally.

The Hermits were silent. Their gazes were pitying him, but... not in a patronizing way. Just concern.

"Jesus Christ," someone whispered.

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. The- the man behind everything, Xeluph, got me back here after threatening you guys. I escaped a second time, and now we're prepping to fight back. We can't let them keep hurting others and their own people."

Tango tentatively raised his hand. "I- sorry if this is- I dunno- but, did you... grow wings?"

Grian tensed. He could feel pressure behind his eyes, wanting to escape in the form of tears. "Yes. They're gone now. I-" He shook his head. "They were cut off as punishment when I came back."

The Hermits were silent in horror. Grian raised his eyes and met X's gaze.

"If you want to leave, I won't stop you," Grian reiterated. "If you fight, and we lose, then you could be... tortured, killed, mutated, they won't stop at anything."

There was a slow clap behind him. Grian's head snapped around to see Joel, his head peeking in from the doorway. "Nice pep talk, but that's probably not the best way to get them to stay," he drawled. "You know, this guy's literally the most famous man in Watcher civilian populations. He's the embodiment of... justice, or freedom, or whatever. Only guy to have escaped, and twice, at that." He tilted his head, crossing his arms and grinning. "No pressure."

"Grian, you're famous??" Bdubs yelled.

"Um," Grian said with a wince. "Apparently."

"Anyhow," Joel said. "Xe- Grian, you're coming with me. You've got work to do." His wing wrapped around Grian's shoulders and pushed him out the door. "Don't break anything!" he yelled over his shoulder at the Hermits, and the door shut.

"What am I doing?" Grian asked with a chuckle. Joel was very energizing and also very tiring.

"You're going to be giving messages to people," Joel said. He led Grian to another room, knocking twice before going in. "From what Xerion told me, the Watcher government planned to use you to win favor."

"Yes," Grian replied unsurely. "So what's the plan?"

"We were gonna go with a fun method of distribution," Joel said with a grin. "Get writing your speech, 'cuz it'll be copied and then dropped from the sky and descending upon the entire capital before you know it."

IN CASE YOU DIDNT SEE THE DISCLAIMER, joel is now a watcher buddy. i barely touched the events of last life, but i really really really want joel to be a "new" character. i couldnt name him xmallishbeans so we got xoel heh, hope you guys understand! i didnt do much planning for this story honestly, but you guys can expect a quick rundown of everything thats been happening coming up right after this (along with the new chapter)! i'll explain what you guys should know as of now, since i did quite a poor job of planning lol

thank you for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are!

-Ete