Stress Cookies! (Hermitcraft mini story)

Epilogue 1 ★

Fireworks lit up the sky as hermits cheered and hollered, sitting on tables or blankets and snuggling up together to keep warm. Reds and greens and yellows and whites lit up the sky, raining down on the hermits like glitter.

Alex was content as he snacked on more goodies (including more cookies) and looked around at all the hermits. He obviously didn't know them all, but it was pretty clear at least one member was missing.

Xismua's yellow bee suit caught his eye farther away from the crowd of hermits, standing over a balcony alone. It was up a slight hill, standing over a custom fence that was sturdier than the craftable ones.

"Uh hey Stress- I'll be back in a sec."

"Alright! But don't leave the festival without saying bye to everyone."

"I won't." He agreed with a small smile.

Alex lifted himself off the blanket and walked over to X, whose back was still turned. He didn't turn round as Alex got closer, only a few feet away.

"Hey Zooma."

"Hey, you ok?"

"I could ask the same thing to you. You're the one out here alone." Alex stated lighthertledy.

Xisuma chuckled, "I guess you're right. But the view here is just-"

Alex looked where Xisuma was staring and understood. Another firework lit up the sky, and he could see it dazzle in front of him. The forest behind it was beautiful as well as it faded out. And Alex found himself staring as well.

"Do you want to join hermitcraft?" Xisuma asked out of nowhere. Before Alex could answer, he continued. "Officially. Title of a Hermit and all."

Alex turned around, and looked at the faces behind him. He didn't know nearly half of them, but it was still plenty more than just a little while ago.

"Next season." Alex said. "I can join next season, maybe."

Xisuma hummed, and gave him a half smile.

"Can I still be Evil Xisuma? Dark Other Half with a mysterious past?" Alex nudged his shoulder.

"You can still be Evil X if you want, but no blowing up builds. Got it?"

"Deal, as long as I get my own evil black castle to make up for it."

"I'm not grinding for the resources myself." Xisuma said.

"You say that now...."

"Pfft-" X laughed, and Alex with him.

"How do you plan to be evil without destroying things though?" Xisuma asked curiously. Not even he could think of anything really evil, other than maybe some pranks, but that was already Grian's ally.

Alex thought for a moment. "Capitalism?"

"Well then would you like to be business partners?" Xisuma asked, and it caught Alex off guard.

"We could build an empire around the black castle you want. Anything to make a few diamonds." Xisuma chuckled. Alex studied his face, only finding sincerity as Xisuma asked.

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, maybe that would be cool. I'm not a builder anyway, so you can do that part."

"Ohh what if we made our own currency, that people had to get with diamonds! We could call it something fun too- like... Derpcoin!" Xisuma offered, lighting up at the stupid name he had thought of. 

"There is no way in all of the dimensions we are calling it that" Alex punched him in his plated arm lightly. He knew it would hurt himself if he did it harder. "But I do like the idea of our own currency. Make them spend more than they need, and scramble their idea of worth." Alex thought aloud.

Instead of a handshake, X pulled out two cookies, and offered one to Alex.

"I knew you'd savor them this long." Alex said, taking one.

They clinked them together like wine glasses and ate them. Another firework exploded in front of them. Green and Red together raining down.