TW: Gore, blood, this actually is worse than before. Also: panic attacks, and flashbacks to torture, abuse, and violence. Oh, and actual violence and blood and near-death. 

also i just realized that there are exactly 24 active hermits and 24 participants in the hunger games...
no, i'm totally not going to put the hermits through the hunger games why would you think that?

----| Rendog's POV |----

"Grian, come on, it's us," Xisuma said.

Ren, along with Stress, Mumbo, and Xisuma, were trying to convince Grian that this was real. They were having no luck. The tiny, winged builder still barely responded to them and went limp at any touch. 

"Grian, luv, just come outside wi' us!" Stress pleaded.

"W-w-wha-at i-i-is t-thi-is?" Grian's voice was still sore and broken.

"It's your friends, Grian," Mumbo said. "Please, just look at us and talk to us." Ren saw a tear run down Mumbo's cheek, a familiar sight now.

"W-w-why a-are yo-ou s-sh-sho-owi-ing m-me the-em?" Grian asked.

"Grian," Ren said, reverting to Renbob in hopes of shaking Grian loose of his paranoia "I'm tired of this, man. Come on, it's me, Renbob. They don't know about me, man, they can't imitate me."

"R-r-ren? R-r-real? I-is i-it?" Grian stammered.

"Yeah, man, I'm real. Come back, man, we need you," Ren replied.

"E-e-ex-eye-s-suma? S-stress? R-Ren? S-spoon?" Grian looked at each of them.

"Yeah, man, it's us," Ren said.

"I-it's r-rea-al..." Grian murmured before curling into a ball and falling asleep again.

"That's progress," Xisuma said after a minute of silence.

"How'd ya do tha' Ren?" Stress asked.

"Well, I haven't used Renbob in a while now, figured the Watchers wouldn't know about him. Looks like I was right," Ren replied.

"I think the best thing to do is leave Grian to sleep. Stress, are you still okay looking after him?" Xisuma said.

"It'll be no problem," Stress answered.

Ren, Mumbo, and Xisuma left the building.

"I'll see you tommorrow then," Mumbo said before flying off.

"Tommorrow," Xisuma affirmed before following suit.

Ren nodded before taking off after them.

----| Grian's POV |----

Could they be real?

The Watchers didn't know about Renbob...

And no one had been hurting him. He should have been able to feel the pain, shouldn't he?

But he felt better. His wings were broken, but his cuts and bruises were healing.

Maybe... maybe he actually was in the real world.

Grian opened his eyes.

"Luv?" he heard Stress ask.

"S-Stress?" he replied.

"It's me, luv, it's me," she assured him.

"Oh, Stress," he responded, letting himself fall into her arms, but normally this time. Like... a hug. "Is- is this re-eally real?" His voice was getting better, he noticed. He couldn't still be with the Watchers. Could he?

"You're here, luv, I'm here, you're alri'," she soothed. "You're safe."

Could he believe her? He wanted to believe her.

Was he really safe?

(Timeskip because this chapter has too much fluff and I WANT ANGST-) - Two Weeks Later 

It had been two weeks and Grian was almost fully convinced this was real.

His wings were healed and back to their normal bright colors, his cuts and bruises were gone aside from a few that would become scars, and he was fully healed physically.

But mentally? Grian didn't think he'd ever recover.

He hadn't told any of the others (because he's Grian and also because angst), but he wasn't doing well.

He was constantly afraid that they would come and find him, drag him back, and torture him again.

Grian had been working a lot to keep his mind off of the Watchers. 

His life was an endless series of tedious tasks.

Build mansion.
Grind sand.
Restock barge.
Build HCBBS. (HermitCraft Big Barge Sweep)
Fly home.
Go mining.
Grind for more resources.
Repeat

One night, he was working on the roof of the mansion when he heard screeching.

"Oh, dear," he muttered.

Thirty or so dark winged shaped circled above him, blotting out the moon.

Where's Bdubs when you need him? Grian wondered before jumping off the roof.

In retrospect, not a great choice.

Seven phantoms dive-bombed him, biting and scratching him-

Grian screamed in pain as the knife cut into his skin.

"No, no, no, I need to focus..." Grian panicked, losing control and falling roughly onto the ground. He heard a snap and-

a sharp pain as his wing was broken. "Now you can't fly away, little bird."

Grian focused on his surroundings. He had to get away or the phantoms would kill him-

"I might kill it when it's useless. Or I might give it to the 'hermits.' Doesn't matter to me," the figure laughed.

No, he wasn't in the Watchers' hold, no, no, no..

Grian staggered to his feet and walked a few steps, his wing trailing uselessly and painfully behind him-

He was being dragged roughly down a hallway, his wings limp underneath him-

More phantoms attacked him. Grian yelled as they scraped open healed cuts-

VERY INTENSE TW IN THE NEXT SENTENCE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

cuts made carelessly with a knife, before they took his blood, ripped off pieces of his skin and wings-

SKIP TO HERE TO AVOID TRIGGER.

Grian forced himself to keep moving forward. He was close to the stairway when it struck.

A skeleton's arrow hit his side, knocking him over the edge of the cliff into the pit he'd decorated with part of his mansion-

The magic surrounded him, raising him into the air, then he was falling, onto the floor, roughly-

Grian landed on his unbroken wing on the ledge below, letting out-

a scream of agony as he felt it break, again. The Watcher only laughed. "Sing, little bird..."

Weakly, Grian ate a few golden carrots and got to his feet. He managed to pull out a shield in time to block a creeper's explosion, but it knocked him into the air and forced him to land, once again, on his broken wings-

as he was roughly thrown into a cage above the Watchers' room and left to starve-

Grian's vision went black with pain. He staggered up, somehow, only to see the entire pack of phantoms swoop down at him-

The Watcher stood over him, looking down at him, as he writhed in agony at the magic that was stabbing him like swords-

Grian swung his sword blindly, attempting to hit the phantoms, but to no use. They simply dug their claws into his skin-

like the magic, the magic that tortured him, that surrounded him-

Suddenly, he heard a shout. He couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying, but gradually, less phantoms surrounded him. Then, he realized there were 2 voices.

Two voices... two Watchers... was his last thought before blacking out.