A/N; *Que more evil, maniacal laughter*

***

Scar backed up a little, curling his hands into fists... He knew it. He was right. Xisuma claimed he was good, yet clearly he was not... He'd sided with the enemy. He was one of them... He growled slightly. "I knew it!" he shouted. "I knew it! You watchers are anything but good!"

Clearly Scar failed to notice the flinch from Xisuma, including the watery eyes...

Pearl stepped forward. "Scar- stop it!" she snapped at him, making him pause with confusion. He moved to open his mouth, but one dark look from Pearl kept it shut.

Pearl looked back to Xisuma. "Xisuma- you don't have to do this!" she said. "I know you don't want to." she said, moving another step forward.

Xisuma flinched again and hesitated. She was right- he didn't want to do this.

Zeqain stood up from the throne and walked toward him. "I saw that hesitation..." he said quietly. "You remember what I told you, don't you?" he asked.

Xisuma bit his lip, and glanced down to his three friends before him.. He couldn't hurt them, he- he couldn't!

Zeqain narrowed his eyes a little and set a hand on Xisuma's shoulder threateningly. He had Xisuma under his control, and he was going to keep it that way.

Xisuma sucked in a sharp breath, pulling on the chains a little bit again. He looked up to Pearl, who moved to take another step forward. "D-don't come any closer." he said quickly.

Pearl bit her lip. "Xisuma-"

"Shut it- Pearl!" Xisuma snapped. "I d-don't want to hear it! I'm done, Pearl." he said, gripping the chains tighter. "..I'm with him now..." he said quietly, looking to the side.

Pearl hesitated. He wasn't going to listen, was he? He wasn't going to do anything about, was he? He wasn't going to fight back! She glanced to Zeqain, who still stood behind Xisuma. He had him well under his hold... but how? "Ze-"

"No, Pearl. I want none of it." the watcher growled slightly. "Clearly he isn't going to listen. And neither will I." he said. He then turned to Xisuma. "Ximuma, d-"

"..Grian." Mumbo said softly, moving forward as he stopped a few steps ahead of Pearl.

Zeqain came to a pause, glancing to him... he barely expected Mumbo to say anything- let alone be here really... He had almost hesitated, even, before catching himself and standing up straighter.

"Grian, I've only got a few words to say." Mumbo said, watching his friend carefully. "You... are no friend." he started.

Grian furrowed his brow behind his mask... Why would Mumbo come all this way just to say that? Wasn't it clear he had broken their friendship the night he revealed he was the bad guy?

"...You are no friend, Zeqain." Mumbo repeated, noticing the light flinch coming from Grian. He softened his face slightly, his eyes full of clear sadness- and hope... "You are my brother." he said. "And nothing will change that."

Grian widened his eyes a little, glad no one could see through his mask. He chewed on the inside of his cheek a little. He wasn't expecting anything like that... He hurt him- and Mumbo turned around to say he still loved him. How? How could he? After what he did to him? He frowned a little. "No." he said. "No, I'm.... not."

Mumbo hesitated and bit his lip, but quickly shook his head, looking back to Grian. "No- you are. You have been ever since I met you. You have been ever since you moved here." he said, moving forward slowly. "All those games we played together, all those adventures we went on, all the classes we slept through- Grian, that is what pulled us together!" he said.

Zeqain removed his hand from Xisuma's shoulder, his hands shifting to shaking fists. "No, Mumbo. We're not friends, not even brothers!" he said. "Those were all fake- I was never genuine with you- The Grian you know is a lie!" he shouted.

"Then why doesn't it feel that way??" Mumbo asked, moving a little faster toward him. "Why does it feel genuine, then? Grian- Zeqain, whatever you go by, that was always the real you! This, this is fake! This way you are acting, I know it's not real!"

Zeqain carefully moved a couple steps back, shaking his head. "No! This is me! This is who I am! A watcher, Mumbo! A Watcher!" he said.

"Yes- Grian. You are a watcher. But as Pearl has told us, you were never this way when you were younger. You tried desperately to make friends, you were loving, playful, and your normal chaotic! The Grian you played with us was and is the real you! You are a watcher, but you are not evil." He said, bringing out his wings to carefully, but swiftly bring himself forward the rest of the way. Grian backed up again, and moved to turn- Mumbo grabbing his hand. He pulled him back and immediately hugged him. "You are not evil," he repeated. "You are loved... Even if some won't admit it. I don't care about all the things in the past. I don't care what you did to me!" he said, hugging him tighter.

Zeqain tensed greatly when Mumbo hugged him, freezing up as he hesitated... Mumbo was trying hard, wasn't he? Mumbo was trying hard to get through to him, unwilling to take no as an answer... He bit his lip, and now just stood there...

Mumbo pulled away after a moment, looking back to him. Zeqain still stood there, seemingly unable to move... Mumbo took the chance to reach up, taking off Grian's mask... His purple, starry eyes were filled with tears, threatening to run down his face.. Mumbo was doing it. He was getting through to him. "What you did is in the past now, Grian. So what if you broke my heart? People do that." he said. "But normally people don't do something about it afterward..." he said, dropping the mask to the ground. "I hardly ever hear people say one certain phrase when something like that happens, so let me be the first." he said, grabbing both of Grian's hands firmly. "I forgive you."

At that very moment, Zeqain finally broke. He fell into his brother's shoulders as he started crying, wondering how on earth someone could forgive him after what he's done... Clearly, Mumbo was right. They weren't friends. But rather, they were brothers. And as brothers- no, as family... they came back together, pulled together by love and forgiveness. These- these were the very things he needed to show more, to feel more, and especially to give to himself. This was what he'd been missing all these years. He had failed to truly see the love around him, and to forgive himself and his old friends... And without those, that is what led him to this. Constantly feeding on the lies he heard from others and told himself, he inevitably turned into the monster we so wished to avoid...

"I-i'm so sorry!" Grian cried. "I'm so sorry for everything I did to you! I-i wanted terribly to hurt you- I-i hurt you!" he continued, warm tears streaming down his cheeks and onto Mumbo's shirt.

Mumbo smiled a little and hugged him again, opening his mouth to keep speaking, when they're little moment was suddenly interrupted..

"No!" Elenore screeched at the top of her lungs. "No! It wasn't supposed to go this way- we were supposed to rule together- to take them all down!" she shouted, clear rage in her voice as her hands curled to fists at her side. She growled deeply. "They were all supposed to die!" she shouted.

Zeqain stood upright, wiping his face slightly as he furrowed his brow, looking to her. "No, Elenore, what are you saying? It was only going to be the three!" he said- oh how much that hurt to say now...

Elenore narrowed her eyes deeply, forming a ball of magic in her hand. "No!" she said. "I was going to take Xisuma from you- they were all going to bow before us or die!"

"Elenore- stop, you're going too far! I-i wasn't even sure if I wanted to hurt them!" Grian gestured to the three friends, who were currently being freed by Mumbo and the others. Xisuma had let go of the chains, but he only stood there as Pearl talked to him.

"No- Zeqain. You didn't go far enough!" Elenore growled, raising her hand threateningly.

"Elenore-" Zeqain tried again, stepping toward her.

"No." Elenore snapped. "It's the End Queen for you..." she muttered darkly, a hoard of enderman suddenly teleporting around her.

Grian hesitated. What had happened to her? How had she gotten here? Was it all his fault??

"Zeqain!" Baisley shouted, quickly catching the watchers attention while she summoned a small army of enderman. "I know that your thinking- it's not you! It's that eye she wears- a monster is held inside it!" she said. "It's making her this way!"

"We need to destroy the monster!" Pearl shouted. "It's feeding darkness into her!"

"The End of Eyes is doing nothing." Elenore growled. "This is all me!" she shouted, throwing the ball toward Zeqain.

Quickly Grian looked back toward her, raising his hand as he swiped the ball out of existence when he touched it. "Elenore- stop feeding those lies to yourself! This isn't you!" he said.

Elenore growled again. She'd forgotten she shared similar powers to the watchers being the queen of the end... She'd have to be smarter, then. She thought quick and hard, racking her brain for anything as Zeqain continued toward her. She then paused, an idea striking her mind... Keeping her enderman by her side for a moment longer, she turned and looked to Xisuma, raising her head with confidence as if she just won. Pearl was still talking to him, but that wouldn't last long...

Elenore smirked wide and dark, opening her mouth to speak, the words coming out of it making everyone in the room freeze...

"ᔑリ↸ ᔑ↸ᒲ╎リ ̇/ ⎓ᔑꖎꖎᓭ..."