"Xelqua." A voice said the moment he opened the door and wandered into the house.

"Oh, hello Pearl." He replied, walking through the entrance room and into the corridor.

"You need to come back to Hermitcraft." She said, following him.

"Why?" He said as he came to his door and opened it, offhandedly vanishing the books that were on his bed and desk as he went in.

"The glitches are worse and X wants everyone there to keep them safe." She explained, stopping at the doorway.

"Tell him I'm safe somewhere else." Xelqua said as he took his cloak off and swapped it for another clean one.

"He won't accept that unless you give a name of an admin he knows and trusts, and he will chase them to make sure. He's really worried about things." Pearl said.

"Well, I don't know, just come up with something. I'm busy." Grian said, glancing into the mirror and quickly going through his hair with his fingers.

"Busy with what?"

"Stuff."

"Xelqua." Pearl said, sighing. The Watcher stopped whatever he was fumbling about with and turned to look back at her. His masked and her bare eyes met.

"Pearl." He replied.

"Please. I'm being serious." She said.

"So am I." He said, going back to fumbling about. He'd only come here as a short stop on the way to somewhere else, so he needed to be relatively quick. Pearl steppes forwards and put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. Their eyes met again.

"Just come, please. Please, Xelqua. At least for one day until Doxi sorts out this glitch." She pleaded. Xelqua hesitated.

"Fine. One day, one day only then I'm out." He agreed, before leaving her grasp.

"Why are you ignoring hermitcraft?" Pearl asked as he left his bedroom and went back to the main room.

"I'm not." He said.

"You are. You haven't been on in weeks. Five weeks. And that's not including the three weeks before that meeting." She said. He stopped and turned to face her again.

"Leave it Pearl, please, just leave it." He said. She hesitated.

"Fine." She said. "But you're coming on for one day."

"Yes, okay. I'll be there tomorrow morning sharp." He said, and shut the front door before she had time to say anything more. He needed to get back to Doxi for another meeting. He tried not to think about how reliant she now was on the staff; she didn't even have the magic spare to hold herself up, she was using every bit of it to hold the universe.

"Great thing for a protector." She said, though it wasn't as much of a say as it was a mutter.

"Hm?" Xelqua asked, pretending like he didn't know what she meant.

"To be so powerless. But if anything, by coincidence, does happen before I'm gone, I'm sure I can rely on you." She said, glancing at him and smiling. He nodded.

"Of course." He replied. "But, um, actually I need to go back to Hermitcraft for a day, tomorrow. Pearl says Xisuma wants me there."

"Then go you shall, I'm sure I'll be able to manage without you for one day. It's no doubt about the glitches I'm causing across servers, they're not too bad, if they were I wouldn't cling onto control, but I can see why admins would be a bit scared." She said.

"Yeah." Xelqua said. "That's what it's about. Theoretically, I should go for a few days until the glitches 'clear up', but we all know that's not going to happen if I'm there so..." Doxi nodded.

"I would..." she trailed off and Xelqua looked to her. "I would take the opportunity to say goodbye." She said, and Xelqua nodded solemnly. "And make sure to tell them everything that you want to say, else you'll regret it." Xelqua nodded again.

"I will." He said.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Crevia asked later that day as Doxi lay down - she also enjoyed the idea of sleep. She'd enjoyed it a lot more in recent times.

"A few weeks ago you wanted me to have some time off." Doxi replied.

"You know what I mean," the Watcher said, worriedly, "you're going to need to start transferring at any moment, so he should be around and not on a server."

"I'm giving him one last day to say goodbye to the people he cares about, which is what I wish Coria could've given me. I'm not going to change my mind." She said. Crevia looked down, before sitting beside her and holding her hand again. This time, she lifted it and kissed it, before placing it down on her lap and keeping a firm hold. As Doxi slept, she wept silently.

***

"Helloooooo," he said as he glided down to join the hermits. "Sorry I'm late, but I'm done with being early." He said, seeing Pearl smile at him. He was greeted by a few hermits throwing themselves into a hug with him. With the "G! I've missed you!"s and "dude it's been weeks!"s and "Grian!"s, guilt pooled in his stomach. He had been neglecting Hermitcraft, and later he would have to tell them that he was leaving. He didn't want to think about it.

"Okay, now that we're all here, let's go." Xisuma said, and he lead them through a forest and up a short hill.

"Where we going?" He asked Pearl.

"You haven't even been watching?" She asked with slight hostility, referring the the fact that Xelqua hadn't even watched Hermitcraft while away. He was completely clueless. "The glitches, Xel, are worse. Much, much worse. So X has made a bunker type place so that all the hermits can be together and safer from them."

"Safer? Are they causing harm?"

"No, not yet." She said, not meeting his eyes. She was annoyed. "But it wouldn't be a massive jump until they are."

Grian noticed a tree behind her glitch in and out of existence. Pearl walked ahead, leaving Grian alone.

"She looked angy." Scar said, catching up. Grian didn't reply.

"Did you do something?" A familiar voice asked on the other side of him. Grian turned.

"Mumbo!" He threw himself into a hug with the giant. "I didn't know you were back on Hermitcraft."

"I'm like you, just back for this so that Xisuma knows I'm safe." The moustached man said. Grian released him and smiled.

"I missed you." He said.

"I missed you too." The redstoner replied. Grian looked down, remembering what he would have to say later.

"Okay, I'm going to admit it's not the greatest," Xisuma said, "but I thought we could work together to decorate it a bit at some point. And you can leave, I would just ask that you take a small group with you and leave your communicator on in case anything happens." Grian noticed small glitches happening all around them, and he noticed the slight solemnity that hung in the group. He'd missed a lot.

The hermits flowed into a room that was built into the hilltop. The decoration was simple and there were several doors that broke away from the main room that were presumably bedrooms. In the main room was a sofa, games console, cushions, paper and pencils, bookshelves and a few other things.

"So, where have you been G?" Tango asked, jumping onto the sofa cross-legged and digging his eyes into the interrogate-ee.

"Uh, just around. Doing things."

"So you're not gonna be a chess grandmaster anymore?" He asked, and Zedaph also flopped down onto the sofa behind him.

"No, I realised it wasn't for me." He replied, realising that he'd told Scar that excuse, not Tango. It looked like the hermits had been talking about him.

"Well, we missed you." Tango said.

"Yeah, good to have you back." Zedaph added. Grian internally gulped, and nodded half-heartedly. The conversation seemed to have ended so he took the opportunity to back away and find a wall to sit against, skulking. He watched as a few of the hermits added some decorations to the room, arguing.

"It's too much energy for me." Joe said, sitting down next to him after giving up on trying to help. A friendly argument had broken out between Gem and Scar about what colour the curtains by the balcony window-doors should be. Xisuma reminded them that they would only be there for a few days, so it didn't matter. They ignored him. Grian nodded at Joe's statement, before checking his communicator again. "Everything okay? You look a little on edge over there."

"Yeah, fine." He replied. He continued to watch the chaos of the hermits trying to coordinate, until Cleo went teacher-mode and officially banned them from changing anything more. They all dispersed, except from Scar who sulked next to Grian for a while, before he began playing video games, which got quite competitive quite quickly. Grian avoided Pearl's eye contact. And he thought many thoughts. He thought about Doxi, he thought about the hermits, and he thought about the universe. He worried that things might happen regarding Doxi while he was gone, so he found himself checking his communicator every few minutes, even though he knew that it would buzz if he got a message. And at one o'clock, his thoughts were interrupted.

The hermits near X (who had been on his communicator) turned to him when he made a concerned noise, and the rest looked up when he stood up very quickly and rushed to open his projected screen. He scrolled through the code vigorously, and the hermits stood up to try and get an idea of what was happening. Bdubs and Doc even paused their game at a critical point and stopped shouting at each other. Grian stood up too as he felt something in the air. He wasn't quite sure what. He joined the circle around X that had formed, between Jevin and Stress.

"Other servers have reported some glitches becoming dangerous." The admin said, and the hermits silently looked around. Pearl caught his eye. Xisuma continued to type. Jeven fidgeted next to him. The something in the air felt stronger. And Grian stepped back as he realised what it was.

Everything felt still.

The air buzzed in anticipation, clawing at him.

Okay. He said telepathically. He breathed in. He breathed out. He closed his eyes. And power seeped into him like a heavy liquid was replacing his blood. Material, control, a part of the universe flew to his fingertips. Darkness, such bright darkness invaded him, it twisted it's way through his skin and collected at his heart, at his head, it collected everywhere in him and he felt every ticking beat. And he made it tick. He could feel so much. So, so much.

The hermits turned as he dropped to the ground.

Magic rushed around his body like a feral ocean in a box. Time slowed and Xelqua felt it, he watched. He saw the hermits rush to him, he saw Mumbo and Stress go to his side and Pearl push through to cover his eyes with her hand in preparation for him coming back to consciousness. He heard them yelling in confusion - Xisuma wondered that it might be a glitch affecting him. He felt weightless and yet his body was weighed down by a thousand tonnes. And then he felt his finger tips coming back to him and his magic managing to hold the control. He felt his body align with his soul again and his magic begin to pick up the weight. He felt weak but he felt strong as his magic moved like bees in a hive.

His hand went straight to his eyes as he sat up again. Pearl was gone as quickly as she'd come, and he found himself leaning back on his other elbow, just slightly out of breath. He heard his heart and his breathing, and he heard the void like it was right by his ears. He sat perplexed for a moment as the weight lightened and his magic cooled down slightly, taking it in, until eventually it came to his realisation that Pearl was shouting. At him.

"ᓭ𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ 'ᓭ ∴⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ||𝙹⚍'⍊ᒷ ʖᒷᒷリ. ↸𝙹 ̇/╎'ᓭ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑリᓭ⎓ᒷ∷∷╎リ⊣, ╎ᓭリ'ℸ ̣ ᓭ⍑ᒷ?" (So that's where you've been. Doxi's transferring, isn't she?) She yelled, and he looked in her direction as Mumbo helped him to sit up. "╎ᓭリ'ℸ ̣ ᓭ⍑ᒷ?! ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ!" (Isn't she?! Xelqua!)

"Yes!" He yelled back with as much energy as he could muster, which was a surprising amount.

"Pearl, I don't think now's the time for an argument." Xisuma tried to say, but she continued anyway.

"∴⍑|| ↸╎↸リ'ℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍ ℸ ̣ ᒷꖎꖎ ⚍ᓭ? ╎'ᒲ ||𝙹⚍∷ ᓭ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ᒷ∷, ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ!" (Why didn't you tell us? I'm your sister, Xelqua!) She shouted.

"Pearl." He said, trying to reason, but she continued shouting in the other language. "Pearl." He repeated. "Pearl!" He yelled, and she stopped. "ᒲ|| ᒷ||ᒷᓭ." (My eyes.) She rolled her eyes and went to a nearby shulker box before rummaging around in it for a second. She pulled out a piece of blue fabric and threw it to him. He caught it one handed with his eyes covered still covered by the other - what was the point of being a Watcher if not to see? "╎ ᓭ⍑𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ⊣𝙹 ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ↸𝙹 ̇/╎." (I should go to Doxi.) He said as he tied the blindfold and stood up.

"No." Pearl replied firmly, approaching him and talking through gritted teeth. "||𝙹⚍'∷ᒷ ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᒷ ̇/!¡ꖎᔑ╎リ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎ᓭ ᔑꖎꖎ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᒲᒷ, ᔑリ↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷリ ᓭᔑ|| ⊣𝙹𝙹↸ʖ||ᒷ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒲ╎ℸ ̣ ᓭ !¡∷𝙹!¡ᒷ∷ꖎ||." (You're going to explain this all to me, and then say goodbye to the hermits properly.)

"But Pearl-"

"You have time." She said.

"I don't."

"You do. ||𝙹⚍ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᔑℸ ̣  ꖎᒷᔑᓭℸ ̣  ᔑ ᓵ𝙹⚍!¡ꖎᒷ 𝙹⎓ ⍑𝙹⚍∷ᓭ ⚍リℸ ̣ ╎ꖎ ᓭ⍑ᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑリᓭ⎓ᒷ∷ᓭ ᒲ𝙹∷ᒷ." (You have at least a couple of hours until she transfers more.) She said.