wc: 1671

Grian, partially on purpose, began to spend more and more time alone, either mumbling to himself as he jotted things down in a notebook or pounding away at a dummy in the training room. Stress kept approaching with tea or warm bowls of soup, urging him to rest. More often than not, she was politely turned down.

The day before the all-Listeners meeting, Grian sat with his back against the wall of the training room, eyelashes fluttering. A strange foggy mist settled on his mind.

The next battle with better trained troops could make or break this... quiet revolution, he thought, scenarios playing out in his mind. A few more skirmishes had happened around the kingdom, with small groups of Listeners engaging in fights with guards to escape, but nothing major had happened. The press, banned from reporting about a defiance of Elder authority, kept releasing papers about mundane topics. From an outside perspective, there were no signs of war, besides the long lines of winged Watchers trudging to work, to the market, to school. Grian let a ragged sigh fall from his lips.

Every other moment, prisoners are killed, and innocent people are dragged away. We have to do something soon. Grian's hand curled into a fist. I have to make up for what I did to Evo. He'd been pushing it away, but the grief Grian had so carefully tucked away was clawing at the walls of its prison.

He hadn't even noticed the tear that slipped out of his eye until it landed, cold yet smoldering, on his wrist. With a heavy sigh, he dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, just breathing.

There was a soft click as the door timidly swung open. Grian glanced up and saw X standing a bit awkwardly in the doorway, face scrunched with a bit of worry. He smoothed his face out, managing a wavering smile. "Hey, X."

"Hello Grian," X said carefully. "...you okay?"

Grian sighed, laughing humorlessly. "Yeah, everything's fine. Just, you know, thinking."

X sat down next to him, staring down at armored hands. "I was, er, talking to some of the hermits, and they're definitely not leaving." He nudged Grian's shoulder in an alien form of reassurance. "So you'll have us."

Grian shook his head. "No. X, you were right. You guys can't stay."

"What?" X looked up from his hands, glancing at him confusedly.

"It's- just-" Grian exhaled sharply, looking away. "I can't let anyone else get hurt because of me. I want you all to go back soon."

For a moment, they were both quiet. X finally spoke up, words quiet. "Xayla explained the full situation to us. I don't think any of them will be leaving willingly." After a moment, "And that goes for me too."

Grian's head snapped to the left to stare at him. "I'm agreeing with you, what are you doing?" he asked, stunned.

"I..." X sighed. "The Listeners are fighting for a good cause. And from what Xayla told us about... you, I also have a duty to protect you." His eyes stared straight into Grian's unfaltering. "And if my hermits are going to fight for you, then I'll do my best to protect and help them."

Grian lowered his head, his hand running through the dark streak in his hair. "Thanks, X," he said, exhaustion weighing heavy in his words. "But- I just- I don't know." He bumped his head back against the wall. "How am I meant to lead the entire revolution in fighting if I can't even get my own life together?"

X patted his arm. "We'll be here to help you, don't worry." It was a bit of a sad attempt to cheer him up, but Grian would take it. "The meeting's in ten. We should get going."

Grian sighed, rising to his feet. "I'm looking forward to it."

~~~

It was a bit strange to be talking to an audience you couldn't see.

Not that Scar would know, though, sitting against the wall and watching Grian stand in the middle of dozens of weird purple screens and lenses. The man looked a bit worn out, bags heavy under his eyes, but he donned a bright smile. Xerion and some others had talked about the current status of the revolution, according to Grian; it was all in a jumble of Galactic that Scar didn't understand at all.

Grian was talking now, his words a bit quick and nervous, foreign syllables spilling from his mouth to pull at Scar's ears. Scar leaned over to whisper "What in the world is going on?" in Mumbo's ear, who slapped a hand over a mustached mouth to muffle a giggle.

Xayla appeared next to him, holding up something weirdly shaped and shining as if it were enchanted. "Hey guys, I got something for you!" she whispered.

Holding out a hand, Scar felt the weird thing drop into his palm. "What is it?"

"It's a translation earbud!" she replied, eyes sparkling. Scar tucked it into its ear, finding that it molded surprisingly well into his ear. Slowly, Grian's words began to sort themselves out.

"...-emember that the Watchers work very robotically," he was saying, voice warbled by the translation. Scar blinked, then grinned at Xayla, mouthing a thanks. She passed one to Mumbo and the other hermits, and soon, they were all listening.

Grian was stood on the training mat, dressed in a simple collared white shirt, looking for all the world like a normal man. "They all learn the same techniques, and developing your own fighting style is greatly discouraged. With how well trained they are, they do make formidable opponents." He shifted, and Scar could see the nervousness in the twitch of his hands. "But they expect us to act how they do."

He opened his hands in front of him, and a small golden ball appeared in between. Scar couldn't help but be mesmerized, watching golden sparks flit about slender fingers, pulsing and emanating. "Magic is malleable," Grian said, wriggling his fingers; the ball stretched and changed. He seemed to realize something, as after a moment, the golden began to be swallowed up by a deep, rich violet. "As Watchers, we have power in the form of just energy. Malicious energy for the most part, yes, but the world isn't black and white."

The ball grew, and Grian clapped his hands together to form some kind of arrow shape. The ball stretched out, now sporting a sharp tip and a broad base that resembled an arrowhead. "I believe the most important thing to remember is to develop your own unique styles, and to avoid being predictable. Since most of you have been trained under Watchers, you'll know what to change and what to adapt to." He closed his fists, extinguishing the magic. Scar blinked, realizing he'd been staring at it. "With that said, here's a couple tips..."

The next hour or so passed calmly, with Scar watching Grian demonstrate (on a very reluctant Joel) various fighting tips. With Grian's normally lighthearted and cheerful nature, it was a bit strange to see him so... professional? Never get on his bad side again, Scar reminded himself, wincing at the thought of heavy iron bars and piles of sugar.

The tips were very helpful, too; if Scar was able to, he'd probably try them out on Mumbo. Although he probably wouldn't look half as graceful, given that while he'd been a great fighter, he hadn't particularly practiced in... how long ago was season five? Oh, well.

Scar tuned back in to hear Grian wrapping up whatever he had been saying.

"Whether you use these tips are all up to you," Grian said, looking straight at one of the weird lenses that was floating in front of him. "Listen to your commanders and leaders. We can only win if we work together." He bowed his head and stepped off the mat, making a beeline for Mumbo and Scar and collapsing against the wall in between them, bonking his head against his knees. "That was... stressful," he whispered in english, voice not coming all garbled anymore.

"You did great!" Scar reassured him, flashing a bright grin. "I learned a lot!"

Mumbo nodded next to him, and down the line, many Hermits flashed thumbs ups and smiles. It reminded Scar a bit of a bunch of students after one had done a big presentation. Now that he thought about it, that was kind of what had happened.

They kept the translation earplugs as Xerion said something about battle plans- admittedly, Scar wasn't paying too much attention.

"And as much as we are fighting for our own freedom, we're also fighting for the lives of faeries and admins that the Watchers took," Xerion said, and Scar jerked, face dropping. "We have to remember that we're not doing this just for ourselves." He gave a little salute. "To freedom."

The floating blue screens and lenses flickered out of existence. The room erupted into chatter, Xerion moving to talk to Xisuma; Scar sat and pondered those last words for a little bit.

The whole reason he was in Hermitcraft was because of the Watchers, wasn't it? The day his entire forest went up in violet flames, he ran. The whispers and rumors of war and fearsome soldiers with the same, stoic expressions hidden behind clean white masks had come true, and instead of doing anything, Scar had hidden. He'd locked away the traditions and customs he'd so tenderly held back in his homeland, and he'd refused to even grow a flower with the magic that swirled in his soul.

Maybe because of this, he could forgive the Watchers that would remain after this. After all, he'd gotten Hermitcraft out of everything, and if they were brave enough to fight back, Scar could muster up the courage too.

"Scar?" Grian elbowed him, and he jolted back to reality. "You good there?"

Scar smiled. "Yeah. When do we start fighting?"

Grian's laughter rang just as loudly as ever.

happy new year!!! new year new update schedule that i'll probably only half follow!

i plan on updating on wednesdays weekly, and if i do that, then the story should be wrapping up maybe by summer. if i start to lose my consistency, then that may be prolonged a bit,,,,

once i've finished the story (which will be a very bittersweet moment!) i think i'll upload chapters to ao3, which does have some really great stuff! i'll probably upload a chapter a week if i do that, just to resemble a normal story. when i do that, i'll probably make a couple changes, and i'll let try to transfer any of those edits onto here!

i also have a bunch of ideas for oneshots! i dont plan on doing any weekly updates, but if i have any fun ideas, i normally write those just for fun, and if i actually finish, i'll post!

hopefully 2024 will be great year for all of us! thank you for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are :)

-Ete