Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

The truth

           Jimena tried again to explain about the Watchers but to Jo avail. She stomped her foot in frustration. "I've been trying to tell you for a while now but something's-" And then the head-splitting pain came again and Jimena doubled over, clutching her head tightly as if to try and squeeze the pain out.

           False concernedly knelt beside her. Jimena could see her lips move but she couldn't hear the tinkerer's words over the sound of her pulsing headache. Then it stopped and Jimena flopped back down onto the floor, exhausted. "Jimena..." False said, extremely worried. "I'm fine; it's just a headache," Jimena murmured.

           "That's not true. That was not just a headache." False said sharply. "What happened in your head? Did someone do anything to your psyche?" Jimena sat up so fast something in the back of her head hurt but she didn't notice. "What? How do you know?" "So it's true someone was in your head," False said grimly.

           "Well, Grian was trying to help me remember stuff but then something..." Jimena struggled to think of how to describe the mental battle without giving away too much about Grian's secret. "Happened and now I have these really painful migraines."

           False still looked worried. "What exactly did he do?" She asked. "Um... " Jimena hesitated, wondering whether to lie or tell the truth, "It's Grian's secret. I can't tell it to you. If he wants you to know he'll tell you yourself." False nodded in understanding. "I think your psyche is damaged." "Yeah, I know, someone told me." Jimena said. She looked at False. "How do you know?"

           False sighed. "The other me did a lot of experimental stuff with my mind before she figured out how to wipe my memory properly. I heard her talk a lot about my mental state to someone else and I remember it all. I also had those annoying headaches a lot too." "How soon do they go away?" Jimena asked. False frowned. "Well, for me they went away as soon as my memory was fully wiped, but I'm not sure what will happen to you."

           Jimena sighed, deflated. "Maybe they'll go away naturally," She said, trying to be optimistic. "They can't be here forever, right?" False didn't exactly look convinced. "Maybe a good night's sleep will help." She said, looking out the window. "You've been up all night and it's almost morning."

           Jimena suddenly yawned and realized how tired she was. Halloween was exhausting. "Yeah, maybe," She mumbled. "Can I skip dinner?" "If you want to, I guess," False said. "Just have a heavy breakfast tomorrow." "So definitely not eggs," Jimena teased, and they both laughed. "Goodnight, False." "Goodnight, Jimena."

---

           False felt a mixture of relieved and happy when she woke up the next morning. True, it wasn't exactly morning anymore; on the first day of November, everyone had woken up around lunch time, tuckered out from their Halloween experiences.

           False got up and started to pack away some of her things. She foured she didn't need to be inside the surveillance tower much anymore, since her clone wasn't too much of a threat now that her murderous tendencies had been suppressed deep into her subconscious. Now False could finally properly enjoy her house at Hermitopia and spend time with the other hermits.

           She whistled to herself as she spread her elytra wings and flew to Hermitopia, landing next to a surprised Gem and Cub. "You're actually here, False?" Gem asked, polishing her ax. "You're almost never with us."

           "You aren't with us much either," Cub pointed out, and the elf seemed to internally panic for a second before she shrugged it off. "Hey, a girl's got secrets." "What do you even do that keeps you away from Hermitopia for so long?" Cub muttered. "Do you have an evil clone like False or something?"

           "Speaking of my clone," False said, sounding almost cheery, "I don't think we'll have to worry about her anymore!" "Why, did you kill her?" Gem asked conversationally.

           False and Cub gaped at her. "No! I don't want to kill her," False said passionately. "We used to be really good friends before she went crazy." She shuffled awkwardly, recalling those happy times before someone went and ruined it all.

           "I just fixed her memory and I don't think she'll be killing anyone anytime soon." False said. "I wouldn't be too sure about that," A voice said from above, and the three hermits looked up to see Grian gliding down to land next to them, looking pensive.

           "What happened, Grian?" Gem asked, moving closer to him. "It's your clone," Grian answered, looking straight at False. A cold chill rolled up and down her spine, making her shiver. I fixed her... right? Oh no, what went wrong now?

           "Grian, what happened?" False asked urgently. Grian looked distant for a second, like he was trying to remember something. "I was taking Jimena home and False came out to greet us. Then she looked at me and said, 'I remember you. I murdered you once'."

           They stared at him. For once, the cod-like hermit was grinning mischievously. He was being serious. "Oh no..." False moaned, clutching her head in her hands. "But I fixed her! I fixed her!" "Apparently not," Gem said dryly. She looked at Grian curiously. "What did she mean when she said she murdered you once?"

           "I... don't know." Grian said after a moment's puzzled hesitation. "I don't remember her ever killing me. I only remember hermit False killing me," He added with a wry glance at False. The hermits chuckled slightly without any humor.

           False didn't like the way the conversation was going. Her nervousness started to build up dangerously inside her and threatened to spill her secret when Gem suddenly said, "Do you think she pretended to be hermit False or something?" False felt a little too relieved when the others seemed to buy it.

           "I mean, they're like identical twins," Cub conceded thoughtfully. "Other than the clone's height, of course." "Yeah, she's so much taller than squashed False over here." Grian said, gesturing st False. "Don't remind me about my squashed face." False muttered, groaning amidst the other hermits' laughter.

           Truth be told, False was actually pretty relieved that Grian had poked a jab at her poor squashed face. It wasn't that she was starting to not mind it, it was because she was glad that Grian had inadvertently changed the subject. Because False didn't like where the conversation was heading to. Even though the hermits were her friends, she couldn't have them learning the truth. The truth about what she did to them.