The Smiles of Hidden Ghosts - A hermitcraft and Evo fanfic (THIS IS A SEQUEL)

Chapter 4

Cleo entered the campsite again, tired and confused. She kept seeing them, and they wouldn't go away, no matter how much she blinked, and knew they weren't there. She could still see them.

She could still see all the ghosts. 

As she took in what was going on in the real world, she saw Doc and Etho fighting again, with the former stopping the latter from taking the watcher mask. Cleo sighed, noticing Bdubs watching them. No, not Bdubs, because Bdubs is dead. 

Cleo looked away quickly, to Tango and Zedaph, who were still messing around with their pet pigs. Impulse - Impulse is dead, he's not there. 

Grumpy, Cleo sighed, and walked further into the area, unable to stop seeing the ghosts. She bumped into Hypno, who was standing just outside Scar's tent, distracted by something. 

'Oh, hi Cleo.' He greeted, not even looking over. 'Can you see it?'

'See WHAT?' She didn't mean to snap, but it still came out ruder than she wanted. Hypno didn't notice.

'The writing. In the sky. From Jevin.'

'Jevin's dead. He's not written anything in the sky.' Cleo shot down the idea. 'You're just hallucinating.'

'I'm not. Who else would tell me I stink in huge letters?'

'Your brain? A trick of the light? Because Jevin's not alive.'

'I know you can see the ghosts. Just tell me if you can see Jevin in the sky, sitting on huge letters.'

'Well, NOW I can see him.'

'Why only now?'

'Because you've put the idea in my head. This world is messing with us as much as the watchers did.' 

'So, he's sitting in the sky? What's he doing.' 

Knowing she was unable to do anything else, Cleo looked up at where she saw Jevin again. The slime was grinning, staring straight at Hypno with his arms crossed. 

'He's... looking at you?'

'Smiling?'

'Why should I care about the smiles of hidden ghosts that no one else can see?' 

'But I care.'

'You're stupid.' And with that, Cleo walked off, not caring enough to see how Hypno reacted. She sat down over at the sheep far Etho had made a few days ago, as Grian walked over. 

'Would you like to learn how to build a rustic house?' The builder asked excitedly. Cleo glared at him.

'No.'

'That's great! You will need to get some wood and wooden planks of whichever type of wood you want, some cobblestone stairs, glass panes, and a door! Have you got those things yet?'

'Why are you telling me this? Snap out of it! We all know that the watchers made you crazy.'

Grian continued the  mindless instructions until he'd finished the build. He grinned at Cleo. 

'I remembered the whole thing. I used to say that a lot. They made me say it a lot...'

'Who? The Watchers?'

'I don't know. They all looked the same to me... It's only recently when I've been able to tell people apart from each other.' Grian sighed, staring at the ground. 'I was his slave.'

'WHO? Why are you so bad at answering questions?!'

'I don't know! He must've programmed me to be that way.' 

'I was already in a bad mood before you arrived here. Now I'm in an even worse mood, thanks to you.'

'I'm... sorry?'

'No, it's not your fault. I'm the only one who's crazy enough to see the ghosts.' Cleo groaned. 'Just... go and tell someone else about how to build a rustic house. I don't want to know. I just want to be alone.'

'Ok...' Grian walked away quietly, and Cleo returned to the house she'd made herself. She delayed her journey to the room where her bed was as much as she could, but she couldn't stop her herself forever. She eventually entered, not even looking at the ghost she knew was there, the one she had been least able to accept wasn't alive.

'Hello, Joe...'

He hadn't died. 

Even after a stupidly high fall, straight towards solid ground, he was alive. Broken armour and wings, yes. But dead? Not yet.

Grian somehow made his way into a standing position, wincing at the pain. How long had been been here? Unsurprisingly, he'd blacked out upon contact with the ground, and it had only been dawn then. Now it was the middle of the night. 

With shaking steps, he made his way across the courtyard of the Watchers' castle. From rumours, he knew he wasn't the only prisoner. He just had to find the other one, and... then what? Scar wouldn't have been stupid enough to keep a portal open to his new world. And he couldn't escape anyway, or all his friends would be murdered. But it didn't matter yet - he'd face the obstacle when it came. 

Making use of the Watcher's blind spots, Grian slipped into the entrance of the castle again. He knocked one of them out - one a similar size to him, and stole their cloak and armour. He hid the body quickly behind an armour stand, waiting to hear news and information as others came by. 

Dawn came slowly, and with every Watcher passing, Grian held his breath longer, terrified of being identified. He wasn't, and no one payed attention until morning. 

'∴⍑𝙹 ᔑ∷ᒷ ||𝙹⚍?'

'∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ? ᒲᒷ?'

'╎ ꖌリ𝙹∴ ᔑꖎꖎ ᒲ|| ⊣⚍ᔑ∷↸ᓭ. ∴⍑𝙹 ᔑ∷ᒷ ||𝙹⚍?'

'╎'ᒲ... リᒷ∴.'

'リᒷ∴?'

'╎'ᒲ ⎓∷𝙹ᒲ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ... ↸∷ᒷᔑᒲ... ᓭᒷ∷⍊ᒷ∷...'

'ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ↸∷ᒷᔑᒲ ᓭᒲ!¡?'

'||ᒷᓭ. ᒲ|| リᔑᒲᒷ'ᓭ... ℸ ̣ 𝙹ᒲᒲ||... ╎ᓭリ'ℸ ̣ ╎ℸ ̣ ?'

'ℸ ̣ 𝙹ᒲᒲ|| ╎リリ╎ℸ ̣ ?'

'||ᒷᓭ?'

'⎓╎リᒷ. ╎'ꖎꖎ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷ𝙹リᒷ ∷ᒷ!¡ꖎᔑᓵᒷ ||𝙹⚍ リ𝙹∴. ||𝙹⚍'⍊ᒷ ʖᒷᒷリ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ᔑꖎꖎ リ╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ , ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᔑ ʖ∷ᒷᔑꖌ.'

'ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑリꖌ ||𝙹⚍...'

'ʖ||ᒷ... 'ℸ ̣ 𝙹ᒲᒲ||'...'

'ʖ||ᒷ...'

Grian rushed off, turning the corner just as the other guard found the unconscious body...