Chapter Text
Scott smajor will sacrifice himself for his friends. This isn't a revelation, all of them know it, but it's different to hear the man say it so plainly.
Of course, of the proper context to this we'll have to go back to immediately after double life, when everyone who was taken returned, except this time? Well this time they came back all on the same server.
—
Xisuma was worried, this is the third time multiple of his hermits have disappeared, it's been weeks and they're not back from wherever they go when they get taken.
Xisuma hasn't slept since they disappeared. Much to the annoyance of the hermits still on the server.
He's been trying to figure out where they went or how to get them back but it's not working. Even with all of his admin powers it won't work. Nothing has worked.
As Xisuma is starting to drift off to sleep he gets thrown back into consciousness by his communicator pinging fourteen times.
Surely not. Xisuma thinks grabbing his communicator and turning it on.
Solidaritygaming joined the game
TangoTek joined the game
Bigbst4tz2 joined the game
Renthedog joined the game
Grian joined the game
Goodtimewithscar joined the game
Smallishbeans joined the game
EthosLab joined the game
Bdoubleo100 joined the game
ImpulseSV joined the game
InTheLittleWood joined the game
ZombieCleo joined the game
Smajor1995 joined the game
PearlecentMoon joined the game
Docm77: uh guys? Are you seeing this?
Mumbojumbo: they're back?
Cubfan135: more pressing question who are the non-hermits and how are they here?
Xisumavoid: I'm not sure, but everyone stay calm.
—
Xisuma replies once before turning off his communicator, ignoring all pings as he turns on his admin table trying to locate where all of his hermits are, and where the newcomers spawned.
—
Well shit. Grian thinks as he wakes up on the floor In Front of the rift. Looking around grian sees the other hermits and….everyone from the last game.
Double shit.
Timmy and Tango are talking in the corner with Ren and Bigb. Scar is looking around as confused as him, if not moreso.
The two meet each other's eyes and both seem to be thinking the same thing what the fuck is going on here?
Slowly, the rest of the group wake up, all confused and chattering together asking what's happening, pearl looks pale as she stares at all of them and Martyn doesn't look much better.
And then there's the sound of rockets and X comes barreling in, drawing all the gathered people's attention.
"Hello friends, I'm Xisumavoid, the admin of this server. Welcome to hermitcraft." X says to them all.
Well shit.
—
Scott isn't stupid, he knows the watchers have put them through the life games. He also knows it's to get back at grian for running.
He is however pissed that they brought them all to hermitcraft, and he's hoping pearl won't mention anything till he can't talk to her.
Of course the 'prize' for winning the games is that you get to remember all of the games. Lovely
Notice Scott's sarcasm.
He would rather eat a shoe than explain why he remembers and never said anything. His train of thought gets cut off when Xisuma speaks
"Hello friends, I'm Xisumavoid, the admin of this server. Welcome to hermitcraft." Xisuma says, and. Great. The admin is here.
This isn't going to end well. Pearl is looking more pale by the second and Martyn looks like he's going to say something.
But then pearl opens her mouth and speaks and it all goes to shit.
"Y-you were all d-....dead- how, is this real? Did I finally break-" Pearl is breathing heavily now and Scott rushes over without thinking And Grian does the same.
"No, Pearl, no. You're here, we're alive. It's okay. We're here, we're alive." Scott says grabbing one of pearls hands Grian grabbing the other.
Grian looks at him weird but Scott ignores it and continues. "You're not crazy, okay? Never were."
Once Scott and Grian calm down pearl they look back at the others there who are looking concerned and surprised, Scott winces internally, definitely not getting out of this one without explaining.
"Grian?" Xisuma says questioningly to the shorter male next to Scott who tenses and looks at Xisuma.
"Yes?" Grian replies back.
"What was that, and who are you?" Xisuma questions the last part directed at Scott.
This time both Scott and grian openly wince. Martyn shuffles at the question in the background.
"Me calming my sister down?" Grian says but it sounds more like a question.
"And uh, I'm Scott smajor Xisuma." Scott replies.
Xisuma looks between the three of them. Then sighing. "Explanation, all three of you. Now."
Scott sighs, Grian's wings ruffle before he smooths them out and Pearl stares at the floor, hands shaking in her lap.
"We need some people here first." Scott says and that's all the warning everyone gets before there's a bright flash of light and Scott's friends from empires appear. (Minus the ones who already are here.)
Xisuma startles and stares at Scott suspiciously through his helmet.
"Scott. What's going on?" Fwhip asks Scott knowing the man doesn't teleport him unless necessary.
"We're telling stories." Scott explains and Fwhips eyes widen.
"I never agreed to that, Scott" Grian says purple eyes flashing around him in a flicker before they disappear again.
"Neither did I, Scott." Pearl says, his name is spat at him with poison and he flinches.
"This isn't going to go away with us saying we don't remember this time." Scott says matter of factly and Martyn, Grian, and pearl are the ones that flinch this time. The other empire leaders who have finally got their bearings finally speak up.
"Scott, what are you talking about?"
"What do you mean, 'say you don't remember'!?"
"Scott?"
"EVERYONE QUIET DOWN!" Martyn yells out startling everyone into quieting down. He massages his forehead for a moment. "We can't explain if you don't let us talk." Martyn continues sending the rulers a scalding look.
"We?" Xisuma and Fwhip question at the same time. The two admins turn to look at each other before focusing back on Martyn.
"Yes, We. It wouldn't be fair if I made them explain it all when I know what's going on." Martyn explains shuffling through the gathered people and moving over to Scott, Pearl, and Grian.
Grian sends Martyn a pleading look to which Martyn shakes his head. "We'd have to explain Evo at some point." Martyn says quietly to Grian. Pearl and Scott are the only ones to hear and pearl gasps.
Scott only looks at her and nods confirming what she's thinking is correct, the watchers are the ones who are doing this after all.
Grian just sighs and snaps his fingers, the rest of the hermits who weren't present appear in chairs and everyone else who's there gets teleported to their own chairs minus the four of them.
Scott rolls his eyes, Xelqua always was one for the dramatics in his stories.
Scott claps his hands. "Story time."
Martyn picks up after him. "We're going to explain where we go when we disappear."
Scott takes over again after him "And reveal some secrets we've kept."
"We ask that you save judgment until we finish explaining." Martyn again takes over from Scott.
"And not treat us any different?" Grian pipes up.
The gathered crowd nod and murmur their agreements. The hermits who weren't here in the beginning looked confused, as to be expected honestly.
The four standing in the front of the gathered people all glance at each other as if to say you start.
Eventually Martyn just rolls his eyes and turns back to the gathered people.
"Have you all ever heard of the watchers?" Martyn asks them and Xisuma and Fwhip pale, so do all the people who were in the Evolution server, minus Pearl and Grian of course. The rest of them just look more confused.
Sausage speaks up first, "Aren't the watchers, like, myths, made to scare kids?"
Martyn smiles sadly and shakes his head. "No, they're real. They help update worlds, you aren't meant to see them." He says and then pauses and tries to think about how to continue.
Grian solves this problem for him. "But sometimes you do see them. It never ends well though." Grian says, shuddering.
Martyn nods. "There was a server a few of us were on." Martyn continues but grian continues for him again.
"I called it Evolution." Grian smiles, his eyes become distant before he continues.
"The premise was that we would start in the oldest update and slowly update." Grian says slowly, carefully.
"But there were….issues." Martyn says grimacing before continuing seeming to shake himself off. "And the watchers got involved."
"They would play games with us, make us solve riddles to be able to find the next portal that we had to go through to update." Grian says picking up where Martyn left off again.
"I was defiant, I wouldn't play their games, I would break the rules. I was always good at that." Grian says looking away.
"I would be punished, obsidian over my chests for taking blocks. They didn't like that I was defiant. They took an interest in me." Grian says, he's scratching his arms now and Scott grabs his hands before he can hurt himself.
"Eventually, they told us we had to make it to the end. Defeat the dragon-"Martyn continues but gets cut off by pearl.
"So we tried." Pearl says starting off quietly before continuing louder. "We went, all of us, but we were separated, all of us had to defeat the dragon alone. We did of course. But…." Pearl trails off looking at Grian who takes a breath.
"I defeated the dragon and jumped in the portal but instead of waking up In my bed the watchers took me." Grian says, the Evo members flinch at the reminder.
Martyn nods and continues, "instead of the normal message you get when you leave the end, the watchers spoke to us."
Grian Nods. "They gave me a choice, they take me, or. I watch Evo be destroyed and my friends die."
"That isn't a choice. That's an ultimatum!" Scar yells out interrupting grian.
Grian shrugs. Scott sighs and just says "I'm sure he knows, but that's not the point." Scott says matter of factly.
The other three next to him nod.
Grian continues "Anyways, I chose for them to take me. And they made me a watcher."
There's a few sharp inhales from the crowd in front of them. Scott glares at those who did and look scared. Scott is just glad Grian isn't looking at them.
"Uhm. It wasn't fun." Grian continues on and looks up briefly at everyone before looking away again. His hands are fidgeting and his feathers are puffed up showing his discomfort.
So Scott continues for him. "Grian had to train with other watchers, and eventually he became one of the more powerful watchers, but what the watchers couldn't predict or stop was Grian's chaotic nature and the player mentality he has."
Grian looks at him wide-eyed and mouth open as Martyn chuckles. "They really shouldn't have assumed they could change that." Martyn says and nudges Grian's foot with his own.
Jimmy laughs and nods, Bigb smiling at that and Pearl smiles softly.
"Oh, uh yeah, they trained me and basically what Scott said. After I was trained to be a watcher I may have…..threatened them?" Grian says his last sentence as a question and Scott laughs.
"Grian they're afraid of you. You could literally look at a watcher and they would run away!" Scott says and yes, pun intended.
Grian huffs and Martyn nods in agreement with Scott.
"Uhm, not to interrupt, but what does this have to do with us disappearing?" Jimmy asks.
All four of them freeze and look at each other before back at jimmy.
Oh, my jimmy…..I'm so sorry Scott thinks staring at his husband friend.
Scott clears his throat. "Everytime we disappear we end up in a game." Scott says but pauses.
Martyn decides to rip the band-aid off "in a Death game to be exact."
There are multiple gasps and it sounds suspiciously like Gem who starts crying. Scott smacks the back of Martyn's head and gives him a look.
The rest of them aren't used to the watchers, well minus those who were on the Evolution server but even then. A death game is almost unheard of, and even then it's only in legends.
Scott turns back to the hermits, and rulers and sighs. "I intended to make that less jarring but someone-" Scott glares at Martyn again, who is rubbing the back of his head with a wince. "Decided to cut me off."
Scott sighs again and looks at Grian, and Pearl, and Martyn, and jimmy. And his hands tremble as he speaks again.
"They're called the life games. The Watchers created them, forced us all to play to get back at Grian for running away. Because even though they're scared of him it doesn't mean there aren't a select few who will do all they can to annoy him, and hurt him." Scott says the word watchers like it's poison and a few flinch at the way he says it, and at the implications that the watchers treat them like toys.
"Wh-What happened, in the life games." Someone asks and Scott doesn't know who. There's one important thing he needs to ask everyone here though.
"Do you want to know? Because they were horrible, you saw Pearl, you know what death games implies, you're all smart, do you all want to know? Because there's no going back. If you want to leave and not hear what happened I don't blame you. No one will judge you if you get up and leave." Scott says his voice echoes in the cavern there is only the sound of enderman in the distance and the breathing of the people gathered after he finishes talking.
No one leaves.
Martyn, Grian, Pearl, and Scott himself all nod once.
Grian is the first to speak this time. "The first game the watchers call 3rd Life. Everyone started out with three lives, three lives is green, two lives is yellow, and when you're on your last? Red."
Martyn nods and continues explaining. "On green you're pretty much safe, you make alliances, build up walls, a building and you can only kill someone if it's self-defence. On yellow you're okay, but you have to be cautious, any wrong move could put you to red. Otherwise all rules apply as a green life."
"On Red however? All alliances are broken and you're hostile to everyone. Reds can kill any Green or Red names, but as soon as they hit you, you can fight back." Scott finishes, he doesn't look a jimmy. He can't.
"And there's a border around us, 700 by 700 blocks. So there was no running where someone couldn't find you eventually." Martyn says summing up the last of the rules.
Grian nods and starts talking again ignoring everyone's looks and glances at the people in the games. "I was teamed with Scar after pulling a creeper prank that ended in him losing his first life." Grian avoids Scars eyes and Grian's eyes go distant.
"We were the desert duo as we tried to have a monopoly on the sand in the server. Martyn and Ren were an alliance called dogwarts. Or renchanting, they had the main enchanter in the server, which was stolen multiple times. Scott and Jimmy were teamed, they were the hobbits, or flower husbands." Grian says and Scott's eyes go to the floor as he blinks away tears.
Grian continues, it takes all Scott has not to yell at him to stop. That it's too painful and that they can't do this even if he suggested this. But he doesn't and Grian continues.
"Pearl wasn't in this one as you know, Joel was in the bean abode alone, skizz was alone as well in skizzle point. There was also the crastle alliance, which was bdubs, cleo, and impulse. And then there's ethos wool fortress which was etho and I think impulse at some point? And then there was the cookie castle which was bigb's." Grian says his voice shaking and hands fidgeting the whole time.
Martyn takes over for Grian seeing as both Scott and Grian are shaking. "I became Ren's hand, telling everyone about renchanting. Meanwhile grian was being dragged around by scar trying to get a monopoly on dark oak trees and sand."
Grian giggles at the monopolys he and Scar tried to do. Scott shakes his head and sighs.
"And Jimmy and I were over in the cliffs planting wheat farms and building hobbit holes ." Scott says his voice wobbles as he says Jimmy's name, Scott still can't look him in the eyes.
Martyn takes over again. "I'm just going to do a broader sweep of everything and then we can take a break, get some sleep, process everything."
The hermits and rulers mutter their agreements and nod. Scott, Martyn, and Grian all sigh in relief.
"So, cows became a rarity and people fought over anyone who had some to get two to breed. Of course most everyone got some steak in the end." Martyn says and a few people laugh slightly. Martyn smiles.
"The two main factions that were fighting were dogwarts and the people on monopoly mountain, which is grian and scar. Eventually Ren…..asked me to kill him to prove I was loyal to him, he became the red king." Martyn continues his voice steady the entire time. Multiple people look between Ren and Martyn, Ren who looks confused and Martyn impassive.
"After that jimmy…..died first." Martyn says looking over at Scott who won't meet anyone's eyes. Everyone looks at jimmy who's staring at Scott with a look on his face no one can decipher.
Martyn clears his throat before continuing. "I'm going to spare everyone the details of all of the deaths but in the end….grian and scar were left, and we were spectators calling for one winner." Martyn says, he looks ashamed as he says this.
"We fought in a ring of cactus. I won." Grian says his voice is horse and his eyes sting.
Scott stares at grian. "Tell them what happened after." Scott says sternly.
Grian shakes his head before Scott has even finished his sentence "It's not important."
"Like hell it isn't grian, they're your friends. And based on the stunts you've pulled before, I wouldn't be surprised you'd do it again!! And if you don't tell them I will." Scott says his voice echoing, Martyn gives Scott the look this time and Scott shakes his head.
Grian sighs and looks up at the opening in the ground above him. "And then I jumped." Grian says.
Everyone yells out at that, the loudest being Scar, Mumbo, and Pearl, not surprising to Scott.
A loud whistle breaks through the yelling, it echoes around the cave and multiple people wince while Martyn looks at all of them like a disappointed father.
Scott rolls his eyes before he speaks and says "We didn't know we would come back after we died at that time either." He says and Martyn and Grian glare at him.
Looking back at everyone Martyn says "Alright, we need to take a break, everyone split off, someone will be around with beds and blankets in a little bit so everyone can sleep and process everything so far."