<<Sorry that this is so late! But I wanted this to be as good as it could be, so please enjoy this 3.8 K word chapter! And check the bottom of the chapter for Xavion and Xenagoras Void's designs>>

Cub growled at the man that stood in front of him, "Alastor"

Alastor grinned down at him, eyes hidden by a steel blue mask, "Hello Cubby, good to see you again!"

Now you may wonder how Cub, and the rest of the Hermits, got here. Well, let's go back to the start of all of this!

—————————————Two days earlier—————————————

"So your telling me that I'm not allowed to punch Uncle Xen when I see him?" asked EX, a minor glare directed at his twin.

"Yes EX," sighed Xisuma, "You can't hit him"

The red clad Void let out an undignified huff, "I get why, but I still think I should be allowed to hit him"

The rest of the Hermits looked on in amusement as the two continued to argue. It was like watching a drama show, but without paying for it. And even though they couldn't see either of the two's faces due to the masks, they could still tell their faces were turning more comical with each moment that passed.

They were all gathered in the base floor of Grian's base waiting for Markus to finish the potion.

The Hermits who had went to get the horn had arrived back at base just a few minutes ago, Xisuma throwing down his trident into the ground as soon as he arrived. Many gaped in shock as they saw a hole open in the floor, the admin jumped down as soon as it opened. And soon after he was down it closed. Leaving the Hermits to wait for him, or someone else, to come up.

In the meantime they all got introduced to NPG, Rodger had finally managed to get the rustic loving, demon powered, robot out of Tango's arms and was now cuddling him to his chest. But NPG couldn't be happier, not only was he out of the closet, but he was also meeting new people! Hopefully they knew how to build rustic houses, it was ok if they didn't tough! He'd just teach them how to build them later!

Eventually X returned, and EX followed soon after. And even then they were still arguing, and that's how they got here now. Their arguing had progressively gotten louder and they where now shouting loudly.

The Hermit where at this point a little worried, it looked like those two weren't letting up any time soon. And that wasn't a good thing.

Thankfully their argument was stopped when a trident flew in between them and a voice roared, "What is going on here?!"

Everyone turned to look at the origin of both the sound and of the weapon. In front of the Nether portal stood Doc, hand outstretched to catch the trident that was flying back, "Well?!"

"EX wants to kill Uncle Xenagoras, but I'm not letting him," glowered Xisuma, glare very visible through the purple visor of his helmet.

"He deserves it," hissed EX, his already low voice going even lower, "We both know he does"

Sensing that another fight was about to break out Doc intervened, "Alright, enough of that! Can you tell me why your discussing this? From what I've gathered you haven't seen him since you left. Why the sudden talk of him?"

"Dad has invited me and EX to a family gathering back home, and Uncle Xen will be there," said Xisuma with a small shrug of his shoulders.

Doc was nodding along until he thought back to the name, "Hey, X?" The admin looked up at creeper, an acknowledging hum leaving his lips, "Your uncle wouldn't happen to be the leader of your kingdoms guard?"

"Actually he is," said X slowly, unsure where the tall German was taking this.

"And your kingdom isn't called Glaelle by any chance?" Grounded Doc out, the grip on his trident tightening.

"It is," said Xisuma, the gears in the admins mind turning to try and figure out where the other was taking this.

"Ok, yeah I know exactly who your talking about," said Doc, voice tight as he grinded his teeth together, "Mom doesn't like him very much"

"Wait, your from the Glaelle kingdom too? How come I've never seen you before?" Asked X, head tilted to the side.

Doc shrugged, how was he supposed to know? "No clue, we may have lived in opposite sides of the kingdom, Mom did have to leave early to get to work on time"

"Hold on a minute," interrupted Tango, eyes going from the Void twins too Doc, "You guys lived in the same kingdom? The same kingdom we're going too for the family get together?"

"Yes, that seems to be the case," said Xisuma as Doc mouthed 'Family gathering?' and 'We?'

Seeing the confused expression on the creepers face the half demon elaborated, "X got a text from his dad saying that he and EX are invited to a family get together back at their old home, and X invited all of us since we're his family"

Doc did a 'aha!' face as he looked over at the admin fondly, he shook his head with a smile, "Are you going to tell your dad about Grian?"

"Yes," nodded EX, answering for his brother, "He, and everyone else, deserve to know the truth"

The cyborg creeper nodded along, agreeing to what was being said. He put away his trident and looked around the gathered Hermits, noticing a few changes from what their gatherings usually looked like. Firstly there was no Grian (duh), next that robot that they saw on the first day was there with a Grian look alike, but with horns and a tail. The last thing was Joe, the poet was reading a journal that had Joe R. Hills on the front, so it must be an old journal of his since it looked more worn out and had a different color to the one he was currently using. Not only was that slightly weird, seeing as no one had ever seen him read any of his old journals, but his shirt was coated with dried blood.

"Are you ok Joe?" Asked Doc gently, brows furrowed in concern. At the creepers question all eyes turned to the poet, who just minimally looked up from his book.

"I don't get why I didn't see it before," whispered Joe, eyes distant, "It was all there, everything from his eyes to how his hair was always fluffy. It was all there, and I didn't see any of it"

"Don't be silly, there was little chance for you to see it was him," chided the calm voice of Death, startling everyone who hadn't seen them arrive (which was everyone gathered, except maybe Doc. But just maybe), "When you first met him he was a broken little boy who had just escaped his demise, the Grian you met when you got here was a little ray of sunshine. No one will fault you for not seeing it"

"Yeah!" Agreed Zedaph, "Plus what would that have changed? He'd still be taken, so don't beat yourself up over this"

"So much could have changed, and none of this would have happened," Joe looked up at Death, a glint in his eyes, "You and me both know it, so don't try to deny it"

"I wasn't going to," hummed Death, "But I am going to say that you shouldn't focus on the past, it will do you nothing but harm. And not only harm to you, but to everyone else here"

"Your right," said Joe with a sigh. The poet corrected his glasses as he closed the book, "I believe I owe everyone here an explanation, so please sit down this might take a little while"

And so the poet told them everything, from how he found Grian to taking the vow. He left out the parts about the rapes, feeling that nothing good would come out of him mentioning it.

By the end the Hermits were left speechless, never could they have imagined anything like this could ever happen to Grian. Bubbly, happy, trick playing Grian.

"Um, can you explain what you meant by 'None of this would have happened'?" Asked Xisuma, wondering what in the world the poet could have possibly done to stop this.

"Magic feeds of off emotions," explained Joe, "And you feel a lot of emotions if you have a panic attack and you have no clue what triggered it, and those emotions would only increase the more it happened with even more questions appearing" (Maybe? I'm  not very familiar with panic attacks, so I don't know if it would be like that or not)

"Wait, Grian's has several panic attacks?" Asked Doc. His tone demanding and harsh, but there was an underlying note of deep worry in it too, "When?"

"The first time was when he fell off a cliff and crashed into the ocean when he was first trying out his elytra, and the second time was after a meeting during the Civil War," listed Joe off, eyes pained as he said each word, "And a few more, Mumbo and Iskall took over when Architech's really got going"

The Hermits who were involved in the war looked away in sham, they had in a way caused a panic attack from Grian, the assigned baby of the group (he's the newest member plus the shortest, therefore the baby of the group). Doc in particular was feeling guilty, he was the real instigator throughout the war, Grian started a prank war and Doc started a Civil War of off that.

Before anyone could wallow in their shame and sorrow Markus came up from the underground, "Ok, so the potion is now started! So once you guys get back from the family get together it should be done!"

"You mean once we get back, your coming with us," said EX, wrapping an arm around the teen, "Don't think you can escape me so easily Punk!"

Markus stood spluttering, his quick and jumbled words making no sense. He took a deep breath at EX's prompting before speaking again, "But-but I'm not family! And who's gonna take care of the potion?"

"WE CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT!" Said NPG, he was happily bouncing around in Rodger's hold, "JUST TELL RODGER WHAT TO DO AND HE'LL DO IT! HE USUALLY HELPS ME GET MATERIALS, SO I'M SURE HE'LL HELP YOU TOO!"

"After I fix your voice box," murmured Rodger quietly, trying to keep the happy robot demon in place.

"Then it's set! You come with us and they stay here and look after the potion," said EX, clapping his hands together.

"We'll leave after the EVO guys get back, and after a good night's rest. So off to bed everyone. Rodger you stay up and wait for them to get back, tell them what's going on once they do," announced Xisuma, the admin taking charge from his brother.

Everyone nodded or made other sounds of acknowledgement before spreading out around the base. Markus, Rodger, NPG and EX all went back to the Poultry cave.Cleo Alf Joe rested against each other, their books stacked on one another. Team ZIT curled up near one of the farm pillars Tango squished in between his boyfriends, he was a natural source of heat aka he was very comfy to sleep on during cold nights. Ren and False rested next to each other against a wall, a blanket draped over their legs. Cub and Scar laid curled up to each other in Grian's mess of chests, which even with Rodger's help where still messy. The bed was given to TFC, though some of the many pillows Grian usually had were missing (it was Tango). Stress soon forced her way in between Ren and False, making the two whine about the loss of part of the blanket. Jevin, Wels and Python rested against some of the less clustered chests whilst Bdubs and Kerlis climbed up on the chests to rest atop of them, no one knew why they did it though. Doc rested up against the Nether portal, Death stood watch next to him. Xisuma stood on the other side of the portal, he had his helmet of, letting his surprisingly long hair gently flutter minimally in the gently breeze that traveled around the giant base.

After an hour of waiting the Evolutionists arrived, and after getting an explanation they handed of the shards before huddling up in a corner to try and get some sleep.

The admin himself soon fell asleep too, so he was not there to see Mumbo and Iskall come into the base. But Death was, they saw as the two came flying hand in hand into the base. They landed gently on the floor and took off their elytras as they did so. After doing that they looked around at all their sleeping friends, before moving towards one of the pillars and laying down next to it. They didn't seem to have noticed them, but Death didn't particularly care.

They watched on as the dark sky and it's glowing stars fully took over the sky, how the crescent moon held itself high in the sky as if it knew of its power and importance. They watched as the moon and stars stepped down and made room for the first rays of the bright day ahead. The Hermits where starting to wake up as the sun started to rise high in the sky.

Xisuma woke up first, and a few minutes afterwards Impulse followed suit. And one after another everyone awoke.

As soon as the last person woke up everything was worked out, the Evolutionists along with Death, NPG and Rodger were staying here to take care of the potion. All the Hermits, EX and Markus where going to Glaelle for the family gathering, Death would provide a quick way there, and once done they would also provide a quick way back.

They left at around three in the afternoon, which gave them plenty of time to get accustomed to the kingdom.

Xisuma lead them towards the gates, seeing as they had arrived at the northern gate they missed the Redstone fields (which X had talked about a bit before they left. Mumbo was disappointed) but that also meant that they had a shorter walk to the Void family house. The house was actually just a mini mansion that was teetering on the side of a normal sized mansion, but it was still qualified as a mini mansion.

As they were walking down a road that leads from a food market, Tango and Ren had gotten hungry, a woman's voice interrupted their walking, "Doc? Is that you?"

Doc turned to come face to face with someone he hadn't seen in years, his mother, "Mom!" He walked up to her in a few quick strides before wrapping her in a tight hug, "It's so good to see you again, I'm sorry for not visiting"

"It's alright, I'm just happy to see you," cooed Lina Monster, her mouth was gently warped into a loving smile.

Lina was a creeper hybrid much like her son, but her skin was paler than Doc's. They also shared their hair color, both having dark brown hair. But whilst Lina's hair was long and straight Doc's was short and mostly untamed. They also didn't share height, seeing as she was 5'2 and Doc was 6'5. But other than that they were the same.

"Mrs. Monster?" Gaped Xisuma, wondering how he hadn't connected her to Doc before now.

"Xisuma dear! I almost didn't recognize you under that helmet of yours. It's so lovely to see you again, how are you and your brother?" Asked Lina, breaking away from her son to give the admin a hug.

"We're okay ma'am," said EX politely, a small smile hidden under his helmet, "And you?"

"Please call me Lina. I'm doing well! We've recently gotten some new people in Archenstone so it's been a bit busy," answered the female creeper. It was now she finally noticed all the other people with the three, "Oh! Are these your friends?"

She didn't wait for them to answer before addressing the group, "It's lovely to see you all! It's nice to see how many friends my son has made, even if he said there's no point in making friends," the last part was directed at Doc with a wink.

The cyborg blushed as the rest of the Hermits giggled at him, "Mom! You can't say stuff like that!"

Lina let out a loud laugh, "I'm sorry sweetheart, I can't help it!"

"Lina, get a move on! We'll be late if you just stand there all day and talking to tourists!" called a redhead from further down the street, their tone suggested that they were slightly annoyed.

"I'll be there in a moment Nielle!" Called Lina. She turned back to the Hermits with, "Sorry, I have to go. But I'll see you all some other time I hope?"

"Of course, I'll make sure to visit more," said Doc, giving his mom another hug.

With that she jogged over to Nielle waving behind her back all the way. And with that they finally made their way to the family gathering.

Xavion greeted them at the door, his green eyes glowing with happiness as he saw his sons at the door, "Xisuma! Xeres! It's so good to see you both again, I hope your both well?"

"We are," said Xisuma with a smile. He took off his helmet, feeling that his dad would ask him to take it off sooner or later. After he removed it he motioned to everyone behind him, "These are my friends and servermates, the Hermits. I hope it's ok that I invited them, they aren't related by blood or marriage, but their my family so I felt like they deserve to come here too"

"Of course it's ok," said a snappy voice from further inside the house. There behind Xavion stood Xenagoras, a sneer on his face as he looked down at the Hermits in distaste, especially Doc, "It's not like, this is a Void family gathering or anything"

Xavion frowned at his brother, eyes showing his disappointment to his brother, "Xen be nice, if my sons call these people family then their allowed here"

The dirty blond Void huffed, but didn't say anything else. EX also took off his helmet to greet his dad properly, and soon everyone else was introduced.

Everything was going great, the party was fun and many of the Void's liked having the Hermits there. And to Doc's surprise his mom was there too, apparently she and Xavion were childhood friends. Who would have thought?

But not everything can be nice forever, and things turned bad fast very soon.

X and EX had decided it was time to tell there dad the truth about Xelqua, and Lina also. So they lead the two elders out to the garden to tell them everything they knew. By the end of the explanation both were crying, neither could fully believe that the kid they had thought dead for sixteen long years was alive but kidnapped by someone.

Xavion couldn't believe his brother would do something like that, especially not to someone as sweet and innocent as Xelqua. But he was also thankful that his nephew was alive and that his sons we're working on getting him back, he couldn't be prouder of the two.

Lina was thinking much the same things, but she had already guessed that Xenagoras was behind everything. Didn't mean that she wasn't any madder.

Just as they were going to say something an angry voice shouted out behind them, "How dare you accuse me of such lies? I would never do something like that, especially not to my own son!"

Turning they came face to face with an enraged Xenagoras, and everyone else at the party stood behind him with shocked faces.

"Don't even try, we all know it was you!" Hissed Doc, teeth bared and trident in hand, "Especially after you removed him from the family tree!"

Outraged gasps each around the ensemble of Voids. Xenagoras shifted as all eyes turned to him, each and every one filled with disappointment and rage. He quickly bolted for the door and walked out, Doc and the other Hermits quickly followed after. But Lina was actually the first out the door, and as soon as she went outside a horrified gasp left her mouth.

There laid Xenagoras Void bleeding scratch marks all over his unmoving body, his neck was the worst, it was practically just a fountain that was spewing blood rapidly. It wasn't very pretty, and it far surpassed gruesome.

She looked up at what did this and froze in shock, over the dead Void stood what looked to be an older Xelqua. Sure his eyes might be glowing ice blue, and he might have dragon wings, dragon feet, dragon ears, a dragon hand and tail, but it still looked so much like Xelqua. But she also hoped it wasn't, her little Kätzchhen would never do something like this.

Deciding to test the waters she whispered a quiet, "Xelqua?"

The dragon hybrid appeared to be confused about the name for a second, and then he saw something behind her and let out an animalistic growl full of teeth. She turned to see what he was looking at, and to her surprise it was the Hermits. Which confused her, weren't they supposed to be his friends? Had something happened?

She was brought out of her musings by the sound of a tail slamming into the ground twice. Looking back over at Xelqua she saw him enter a fighting stance as three people walked up behind him. The first was a female tiger hybrid, the second two were wearing sorcerer robes, one was dark gray and the others was brown.

Lina took a step back towards her son and his friends, she would not be able to help in this fight so no need to get involved in it.

Just as she retreated behind the last Hermit, Cub, she saw a figure appear. But she didn't get a closer look at them before she was ushered into the house.

—————————————Back to the start!—————————————

He sneered at the blond, blue and red marks already spreading across his face as his teeth sharpened, "I wish I could say the same"

"I'm hurt Cubby! We were such good friends, but now you're just a big meanie," fake pouted Alastor, sarcastic hurt coloring his words.

"We were!" shouted Cub, eyes turning to look exactly like a Vex's eyes, "But then you went and betrayed the Vex! And you hurt Scar, he almost died!"

"He's still alive?" Scoffed the blond with a role of his eyes, "Honestly, he's such a weakling. I can't fathom why the Vex would ever pick him"

"He's not weak!" roared Cub, red markings spreading further down his face, "And at least he wasn't stripped of his title as a Vex, unlike you!"

Alastor growled at the bearded man, wolf ears pointed back on his head, "Are you calling me weak?"

"Maybe. I. Am." hissed Cub, his now blue and clawed hands flexing, "What are you going to do about it?"

The blonde let out another growl and pulled out an obsidian war scythe out of thin air, he twisted the blade in his hands for a short while before letting it rest on his hands. He looked up at Cub, and mostly likely right into his eyes, and said in a low voice, "Show you oh how wrong you are. Then we'll see who the weakling is"

Cub pulled out his own weapon, a diamond Scottish Backsword, and growled out, "Bring it on"

And so the battle commenced, Hermits versus Grian and his team plus Alastor. Friends versus friend, lovers versus their lover. All in all, not a pretty set up. We can only hope it goes well, but who knows? It might not, or it might.

<<Guess you'll just have to wait to find out, won't you? Heh, I'm glad to have finally gotten this out! Sorry for the long wait, I hope this has been worth it!

Here we have Xavion and Xenagoras (in that order)

And since this will be my last update before the new year, I wish you all a happy New Year! This book and so much more could have never been possible without you luvs, and I'm eternally grateful for all you've done for me, if it was commenting, voting, or just reading I still appreciate it all so much. So I thank you all, old readers such as new readers, I love each and every one of you.

Have a wonderful time everyone for the rest of the year, and every year to follow>>