Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

Questions

           "Most of it is," Doc said, and Grian had to concede the point. "So, what's this about your stuff?" Cub asked Jevin. "Uh, I just randomly woke up in my bed and all my things were gone," The blue slime explained. "So? You died," Bdubs said bluntly. "I... don't remember dying," Jevin mumbled. "That's... weird..." Impulse said. Then he looked as if he'd remembered something important that he'd forgotten.

           "Hey, guys, guess who I saw?!" He told the hermits excitedly. "Who?" "I saw Gem!" "You mean the princess?" Grian asked. "Yes- I mean no! I saw our Gem! The elf!" Impulse said. "Wait, Gem's here? Since when?!" Grian asked. "I mean, I sent her a compass, but she didn't come with us!" "I don't know, but I saw her at Dawn and then she chopped my head off and when I came back for my stuff she was gone,"

            Impulse rubbed his head in confusion. "I don't know how I forgot about that... But Jevin's story reminded me." "What do you mean by 'gone'?" Pearl asked skeptically. "Well, she wasn't there, but when I got my stuff back my head was missing," Impulse said. "But if Gem's actually here, why haven't we seen her around?" Grian asked. Everyone shrugged; no one had any idea.

           "I sure hope she's not in trouble," Scar said suddenly, and soon everyone was worried. "Why would she be in trouble?" Bdubs asked. "Well, if she's actually here, what other reason would she have to not talk to us?" Ren pointed out. "She is here!" Impulse said. "She's Geminislay, she can take care of herself," Pearl tried to assure the hermits.

           "Yeah, she can," Grian agreed. Then he glanced at Jevin, who was confusedly searching random chest monsters for his missing stuff. "Jevin, sorry to say this, but I think your stuff's gone." "Aw, come on!" Jevin pouted. "They've got to be around here somewhere!" "You don't even remember how you died; how are you supposed to find them?" Grian said.

           "Hey, didn't False come by earlier?" Cleo asked, her brow furrowed in concentration. Most of the hermits scratched their heads but a couple knew what the zombie was talking about. "Which False?" "The one from Cogsmeade." "And didn't she take Jevin to show off her tavern?" Cleo pointed out. Suddenly everyone looked worried. "We need to talk to False."

---

           Gem stood by her bedroom window, watching the sunrise, trying to relax. But Impulse finding her in Dawn while she was still an elf had severely rattled her nerves. Calm down, he doesn't even remember it happening, she told herself. You wiped his memory of it when he came back for his stuff. Nothing bad will happen.

           But she couldn't help but worry that something like that could happen again and next time she wouldn't be fast enough with her mind wiping. It was just sheer luck that Impulse had set his spawn at Dawn before she chopped his head off. If he had respawned at Hermitopia, he wouldn't hesitate to tell the other hermits that I was here, and there goes my secret...

            Gem sighed. She'd gotten a bit rusty with her powers that let her alter memories, that she'd mostly forgotten she even had them. Should I make Scott forget about my secret? No, I think I trust him enough to keep it. But I should get back in practice, so that I can be quicker with it the next time I'm caught. I need to do it before Grian finds out. He can shield himself from my power and he's the one person I'm trying to hide myself from.

           "Gem!" Sausage's voice startled her away from her anxious thoughts. Plastering a fake smile to her face, she double checked that she was dressed up in her princess gown before going downstairs to greet her friend. "Oh, hi, Sausage!" Gem said. "Good morning!" "Good morning to you too, Gem!" Sausage said cheerily. "Oh, and by the way, I brought some friends."

           Gem watched as Sausage opened the door and a few more emperors walked through. Pix, Katherine, Oli, and surprisingly False. Not hermit False, but the False who ruled Cogsmeade. "Why, what's all this?" Gem asked. "Not to worry, we just wanted to ask you some questions." Pix said reassuringly. Not that Gem was reassured. If anything, his words put her on edge.

           "Questions about what?" She asked calmly. Pix quickly explained his multiverse theory to her, and Gem was slightly surprised at how much he got right. Sleep was intrinsically connected to other worlds, that was a fact. But Gem hadn't made her sleep schedule with that in mind; it was just to stay in character.

           "Oh, that's a nice theory," Gem said. "So you're asking me about this because of how much I sleep?" "Well, yeah," Katherine said. "So, princess, fess up! Start talking!" Oli demanded, putting on a tough guy act that made Gem giggle. "I swear, this is not on purpose," Gem laughed. "I don't sleep a lot because of otherworldly stuff. I just like the sun and worship the sun."

           "Speaking of that," False said, "How come you give the sun religion followers sunglasses if they're supposed to protect you from the sun?" "And the church had a roof!" Sausage shouted. "Not a sunroof!" "Do explain that, princess!" Oli yelled. Gem inwardly panicked and berated herself. She'd been excited at the idea of starting a religious war that she hadn't really out that much thought into her sun religion when she founded it.

           "Well, uh, I guess I never thought about that," Gem said. "So, are you going to give your sunglasses back or something?" "Nope, they make me look cool!" Sausage said, grinning. "And should I take the roof off the church?" "That's up to you," False said, watching Gem intently. "Okay, so, is this interrogation over?" Gem asked. "Uh, I guess so," Pix said. "To be honest, I wasn't really sure what I was doing."

            "Okay, so can you guys go now?" Gem asked, making her voice sound the slightest bit irritated to get the point across. "I haven't eaten breakfast yet." "Oh, er, okay," Pix said, awkwardly leaving, and everyone else followed him out. Oli stopped to make an 'I'm watching you' sign before he exited, which Gem found awfully ironic.

            Gem sighed as they left. That was a close one. I just hope none of them smell a rat. She was just about to start doing her chores when she got some more unwanted visitors. Curious, Gem opened the door to find Grian, Impulse, and Pearl waiting in her doorstep. "Uh, good morning," The princess said. "What are you guys doing here?"
           
           "Hi, princess!" Impulse waved. "Hey, have you seen our friend around? She looks just like you except she's an elf and she's also named Gem and she likes chopping people's heads off." Gem's blood ran cold. Oh no. My memory wipe wore off, and Impulse told Grian. I can't wipe all their memories now; Grian'll get suspicious. She was in deep trouble now.