A/N - just saying the Watchers are all still named after numbers because Xelqua would never share their name to yall humans (read as: I'm too unimaginative to come up with actual names).
Xelqua felt good. Better than good. Like the good had been doubled from what was already good. For the last what-would-probably-be-equivalent-of-a-month, he'd been practising his magic, and he felt even stronger than before. The flame inside him was growing, getting hotter and hotter and larger and larger. His wings were also stronger, making it easy to keep up with Oリᒷ and T∴𝙹 as they flew through the void.
In fact, as they flew and approached a large island housing a temple similar to their own, Xelqua might've even been a little faster than them, overtaking them slightly and having to slow down. The three of them landed on the yellow rocky ground and walked to the door.
Hello, a new Watcher said after the door opened. I'm T⍑∷ᒷᒷ.
Hi, Xelqua said. T⍑∷ᒷᒷ lead them inside and Xelqua thought about them; he could sense their magic, and it was much stronger than any of the Watchers he'd met before. He knew Oリᒷ and T∴𝙹 were more powerful than most, maybe even twice as powerful, but T⍑∷ᒷᒷ was even stronger. He could tell. Maybe even three or four times as powerful as the average Watcher. Xelqua himself was approaching an average level of power, which was more powerful than he'd ever been before, so he wasn't discouraged.
They went through a few rooms until they ended up in a large, crying obsidian room with a rectangular table and six chairs surrounding it.
Take a seat, T⍑∷ᒷᒷ said, and they all sat down. Xelqua, it's nice to meet you. The said Watcher glanced at Oリᒷ and T∴𝙹 before replying.
Likewise, although he wasn't sure why it was nice nor why this meeting was even taking place. Sorry if it's rude to ask, but why don't you have a partner? Watchers are normally in pairs. (Partner, in this context, did not mean romantic. Most of the time, Watchers didn't have romantic partners anyway.)
I don't need one, I'm powerful enough to be two on my own. They replied. He nodded. I've heard a lot about you, you're a human hybrid, right?
Yes. He replied.
You're remarkably strong considering that. They said.
Thank you. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole conversation.
How are you doing with your worlds? Oリᒷ asked. From there, they talked about worlds, magic, other Watchers, portals and quite a few other things.
Time passed at the strange none-passing sprinting speed as it usually did in the Watchers' End. Xelqua felt slightly honoured to be there; before Hermitcraft, he'd always been left at home and excluded from meeting other Watchers, unless they were curious what he was like in which case he'd been there more as a conversation piece than anything else.
I think we should get going, Oリᒷ said eventually. They and Xelqua went to the door and T∴𝙹 stuck behind for a second before catching them up.
He's very... interesting, T⍑∷ᒷᒷ said quietly to T∴𝙹, keep an eye on him.
* * *
Time ticked by in weeks and seconds and with every visit to his worlds and every time he used his magic he grew stronger. Every 'day' he practised using the purple fire and every day the magic embraced him more and more. It didn't take him long to surpass the strength of an average Watcher.
* * *
Sleeping for seven days straight was unlikely to happen, being realistic, but when Mumbo woke up after only two days he was still a bit disappointed. He'd wished he could sleep forever and dream about Grian being on Hermitcraft, happy and friendly as always, probably pranking someone or putting him forward to be in charge of things without his knowledge, but when he woke up and glance out the window, his base was the same as it had been nearly three weeks ago.
He sighed and put a hand through his slightly greasy hair, sitting up against the headboard. He wasn't tired anymore, how could he be? After two days straight of sleep, his body felt better than it had in a while. His mind, however, was a different story. He stared blankly at the wall on the other side of the van. He wanted to go back to sleep, to forget what had happened and be numbed from the world.
Grian had been his best friend, he'd been such a kind and genuine person. How had this happened? He felt as if he were mourning someone, and maybe he was, or maybe he was mourning the friendship. He picked up his communicator and checked for messages.
There were a lot. As he skimmed over them, it looked like the hermits hadn't taken it greatly that it was pointless trying to get Grian back. He couldn't blame them; he would've reacted the same, if not worse. There were also a couple of private messages. One from Iskall about three hours ago, and another from Xisuma the day before. He also checked the time, it was eleven am.
<Iskall85> hey man, you awake?
<MumboJumbo> just woke up
And,
<Xisuma> when you and Iskall are awake can you come over to mine please?
<MumboJumbo> ok
He wasn't really sure why he replied like that because it wasn't really okay. Xisuma probably wanted to talk about what had happened and he didn't know if he was ready to talk about it. Unfortunately, his finger and slipped onto the send button before he could stop it.
He tilted his head back, sighing again and just wishing this reality wasn't the truth. He didn't know how to handle it, how to process it, he just felt lost on a dark, foggy mountain top and he couldn't even tell whether it was rain, snow or hail that was falling down around him. He just couldn't believe that his friend was gone. Gone.
At first, he'd just worked hard and tried to get him back because no, he couldn't possibly be gone forever. Maybe if he just tried hard enough or found an answer he'd get him back and they could be like they had been before. But now he realised there was nothing he could do, he was powerless, and what he had to do was just accept it. But he didn't want to fucking accept it. He couldn't.
If he could get his hands on the Watchers he'd- he'd... probably die within a second.
There was no way Grian was one of them, no way. This had to all be some sort of elaborate prank, or maybe Grian was planning something and was putting on an act until he could do something and come back. Yeah that was probably it. Then he'd come back and they could all be happy again.
He choked on a quite sob as a tear ran down his cheek. He knew it wasn't true, but he didn't want to listen to the voice that was telling him that. He brought his knees to his chest and hugged them, feeling very small, helpless and powerless in the whole situation. He rested his cheeks on his knees and watched as small droplets of water fell from his face and landed on his trousers, soaking into the dark grey material and darkening it to look black.
Then his communicator vibrated, startling him.
<Xisuma> I'm free if you want to come over now - Iskall says he's also on his way.
He sighed; he had to go now.
Mumbo wiped his tears away and and set off on the short journey to the admin's starter base.
He wandered into the meeting room, wondering briefly whether it was too late to turn back. Pearl spotted him before he could try, though.
"Hi," he forced out to the small collection of people; Xisuma, Iskall, Pearl (who was involved in most Watcher-related occasions) and, surprisingly, Evil Xisuma. He sat down next to Iskall and Pearl.
"I think you both know what we're going to ask you." Xisuma said. They nodded.
They explained everything that had happened, how they'd impulsively decided to go through the portal, how Grian had talked to them; like he no longer saw them as friends or even equals, how he'd made it very clear he didn't want or need help. He had been alone when they talked, no one was there to force him to say anything. How he'd said he made up the name Grian when joining Hermitcraft. How he'd been dismissive and blunt. It hurt to say out loud and they had to bite back tears more than a few times.
"Wait..." Pearl said as their story came to an end, "you mentioned he said he made up his name when he joined."
"Yeah." Mumbo said.
"But... he didn't." She said.
"What?" Iskall asked, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.
"You know my old world, Evo, he was in it." Pearl explained.
"What? Why didn't you mention that?" Mumbo asked, could it have stopped this all from happening?
"Well, I just- I thought he didn't remember me, I'm still not sure whether he did or not." She replied, not noticing Xisuma and Evil X exchange a glance. "But, either way he was the admin and he was called Grian then, so he couldn't have made it up when he joined this world."
"Can you tell us more about him and Evo?" Xisuma asked.
"Um, there isn't much to tell really because I didn't know him for very long. He'd been there since the world started, and I only joined a while later, we were only there at the same time for about a month and a half. He invited me to join his empire, but before we could really do much he, uh, he disappeared." Pearl told them all.
"Disappeared? You mean, like, went missing or something?" Iskall asked.
"Yeah, never came back from fighting the Ender Dragon, we all thought the Watchers took him since they left some signs, but they were quite vague so we couldn't be sure." She said.
"And you never thought to mention this?" Mumbo said, slight aggression in his voice.
"I don't know I- I didn't want to tell everyone if he didn't want anyone knowing, and he didn't remember me so I... I don't know." She said, looking down at the ground. Notch, why did she have to have been so stupid? "I thought he would've said something if anything was wrong, and then I guess I got scared, I- I'm sorry."
Mumbo and Iskall glanced at each other. Then they glanced at the twin Voidwalkers and noticed how X had sank down in his seat and Evil X was staring intently at the table.
"Do you know something?" Iskall asked. Xisuma glanced at his brother.
"S⍑𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ∴ᒷ ℸ ̣ ᒷꖎꖎ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ?" (Should we tell them?) He asked quietly, grateful in that moment for the other's fluency in Galactic. He knew the others would still be able to hear him talking in the other language, but saying it quietly still felt subtler.
"I ↸𝙹リ'ℸ ̣ ꖌリ𝙹∴." (I don't know.) Evil replied in the same tone.
"T⍑ᒷ|| ꖌリ𝙹∴ ∴ᒷ ꖌリ𝙹∴ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ リ𝙹∴." (They know we know something now.) He pointed out.
"J⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᒷꖎꖎ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷ 𝙹⎓ ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ∴ᒷ ꖌリ𝙹∴." (Just tell them some of what we know.) Evil X suggested. Xisuma nodded, sitting up slightly.
"We think we've identified him." He said.
"What do you mean?" Pearl asked.
"His Watcher... self." Evil replied.
"How?" Iskall asked. Xisuma gestured towards the bookshelf. "So there are just books about any ordinary Watcher now?" X glanced at his brother.
"Well, I mean, people have recorded what they can, which isn't much, and they have only got a population of about five hundred." He said, not lying completely. "Besides, I don't think there is an ordinary for Watchers."
"So who is he, and how do you know for sure it's him?" Mumbo asked.
"His name is Xelqua, he's one of only four Watcher-Human hybrids, and considering what Pearl just told us and what we already know, we're pretty certain it's him." X told them.
"Can we see? The book, I mean." Mumbo asked. X and Evil X looked at each other.
"We shouldn't lie." Xisuma eventually said. "Lying is how all of this came about." Evil nodded.
Xisuma got up and took Famous Watchers off the shelf.
"Famous Watchers?" Iskall asked. X said nothing and instead put the book on the table and found the Xelqua page.