i quite literally do not even know what to say right now.
first of all, i am so sorry for being super inactive, things got super busy with school and midterms and stuff (I STILL HAVE ONE MIDTERM LEFT KILL MEEEEEEE) but i managed to squeeze this out of myself in the limited time i've had
also like thank you guys so much for all the reads/votes/comments! like it genuinely baffles me. were at 6.2k reads and 168 votes at the time i'm writing this, and it's unbelievable. thank you to everyone that supports me and my writing!
i hope to write more after midterms are over <3
TWs:
- crying
enjoy!
From the stars, Death looks down upon her children as they sit on a cliff, watching the ocean's waves sway to and fro. She wipes a small tear from her eye. She promised herself that she wouldn't interfere, but how could she not?
Death looks away from her view. She must not give in. She must not cave. How she loves her children dearly, but interacting would risk everything, upsetting the balance of the universe to a great extent.
Taking a few steps back, Death looks at her hands, then back at the translucent image of her children. Crying as they cling to one another. She takes a deep breath. The watchers may not like it, but she is a god and is therefore above the watchers. The other gods, for whatever reason, like to follow a policy of appeasement when it comes to the watchers as to not start a war. But enough is enough. Right now, Death needs to be Kristen. She needs to think like a mother rather than a deity.
As Kristen closes her eyes and outstretches her hand, purple particles start to glow around her. Magic is summoned at the palm of her hand as energy pours in from around the room. She reaches up with the other hand and does the same.
With her mind focused on her left hand, Kristen locates a server. She zooms into a snowy forest biome–inside a cabin in a clearing. A family is gathered in a living room area, sitting around a fireplace as the three older ones laugh at something the youngest has said. Kristen projects the energy onto them, and then focuses on her right hand.
The magic held by her right hand swiftly finds a different server, this one with more protection. Kristen mentally compliments the admin for the expertly increased protective barriers before her mind forces its way through.
Just for a second, Kristen uses her mind to open a hole in the server's barrier that is large enough to fit the essence of four players through.
Returning her mind to her body, Kristen brings her two hands together and combines the purple swirls of energy. For a second, a blinding light fills the room, but Kristen does not fear it nor does she close her eyes. She embraces it.
After the light dies down, Kristen drops her hand and summons a second translucent image of the server. Satisfied with what she sees, Kristen lets out a laugh of relief and watches the image, joy filling her heart.
~ ~ ~
<ImpulseSV> TANGO COME BACK HERE :(
<TangoTek> NO >:D
<TangoTek> HREHEHEHHEHHEHEEEEE
<FalseSymmetry> Uhm???
<Rendog> WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!?!??!?!?!
<Zedaph> YES
<Zedaph> GO TANGO
<ImpulseSV> he stole my hat that scar gave me :(((
<GoodtimeswithScar> WGAY
<GoodtimeswithScar> HOW DAEE YIU
<TangoTek> THIS IS PAYBACK FOR ALL OF YOUR "aDvErTiSiNg"
<XisumaVoid> hey, are you guys by chance at the world border? Or is anyone? There's some weird things popping up in the code.
<ImpulseSV> Tango the hat thief and I are not
<TangoTek> HEY
<VintageBeef> nope
<Docm77> I'll let you know if ren or I see something weird
Philza joined the game
Technoblade joined the game
WilburSoot joined the game
Tommyinnit joined the game
<Docm77> ...like that...
<Rendog> WHO ARE YOU!?!?!?!??!?!
Confused and alarmed messages ping the siblings' communicators as they watch them come up.
Grian reads in disbelief. Is this even real? There's no way that they managed to hack their way onto Hermitcraft, Xisuma has the highest level of protection on the server. So someone must've helped them, but who? How and why are they even here? Especially right after he and Pearl had finished crying about missing them? That can't be a coincidence.
"Wait, that can't be right," Grian hears Pearl mutter under her breath before letting out a breathless sigh once she pulls up the player list. Sure enough, the names of their brothers and father sit organized into the alphabetical list of all of the active Hermits.
They both sit there in silence for a moment. Unsure of what to do. Overwhelmed by all of the emotions running through his brain, Grian, as he stares down at his communicator, simply starts to cry, his tears blurring his eyes as he drops his communicator. He brings his right hand up to cover his mouth as he starts sobbing.
Noticing this and also crying a little bit, Pearl, once again, brings Grian into a warm embrace where the two cry together for a few minutes, allowing the crashing of the waves to soothe them a little bit.
"We should probably go and see what's happening before Xisuma kills one of them," Pearl suggests with a joking tone, trying to make light of the situation.
"You're right," Grian says, letting out a small giggle, standing up and offering a hand to his sister, to which she takes and stands up as well. "Where do you think they are?"
"Probably at spawn, most likely."
"Right, let's go. Wanna race?"
"Oh, you're on," Pearl responds with a smirk, fluttering and raising her moth wings.
As the two approach spawn, they both slow down their flight speed, wanting to survey the scene from above before descending. To make sure that these new arrivals weren't just people who have similar usernames.
They circle above and spot the four below with a group of Hermits. They can clearly see Phil talking to Xisuma with Techno and Doc standing protectively behind them. Behind Phil and Techno, Tommy stands a little behind Wilbur, who is holding his hand protectively. The sight makes Grian want to cry.
He makes eye contact with Pearl, who nods at him, and the two swoop down and land behind the gathered crowd of Hermits. Thankfully, there aren't too many of them there, and Pearl and Grian are able to get a good view of them.
Xisuma and Phil seem to be discussing various things–how they got here (or lack of knowledge thereof), why they're here, and how they can get back to their home.
Techno, Wilbur and Tommy stand behind them. The twins have their eyes trained on Doc, not trusting him just yet. Tommy's eyes, on the other hand, despite the hint of fear they hold, dart around the scene between various Hermits and his family. That is until they land on Grian, who is looking back at him.
Tommy's eyes go wide as he realizes who he's looking at and begins to tear up as Grian tiredly smiles at him. He starts to shake a little bit, which alerts Wilbur who looks back and, seeing Tommy's facial expression, follows his line of sight and also sees Grian. Wilbur audibly gasps, causing Techno to raise an eyebrow and look back.
At this point, Pearl has joined Grian in sadly smiling at their brother. Once Techno notices his brother and sister, he nudges Phil lightly, stopping his conversation momentarily. Phil looks over and astonishment fills his face as he realizes who stands before him.
Xisuma raises his eyebrow. "Grian? Pearl? Do you know them?"
At the mention of their names, Tommy chokes out a small sob. In a swift movement, he leaves Wilbur's side and runs to Grian.
Grian opens his arms and accepts Tommy in a warm embrace as he starts crying. Grian also sniffles and tears up as he holds his little brother close for the first time in too long.
"Gigi..." Tommy says weakly, tear-filled eyes meeting Grian's. He sways them back and forth a little bit.
"I'm here, Toms. I'm right here."
After Tommy lets go and goes to hug Pearl, Wilbur makes his way over to Grian, also crying as the two embrace. Techno stands there as if he is stone, indifferent, but his facial expressions indicate otherwise.
"Come here, Techno," Grian beckons him over. He complies and squeezes Grian in a tight hug before stepping away and doing the same with Pearl. All the while, Phil still stands next to Xisuma, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.
Unsure of how to approach their father, Grian turns to Pearl, who takes his hand in hers and leads him to Phil.
He seems caught off guard by their approach. Grian clears his throat.
"So, uhm," he stops. "Hi?"
"Grian, I-" Phil stutters, then sighs and looks away, eyes full of guilt. This comes as a surprise to Grian and Pearl, but they do not waver. "I'm- I'm sorry. I should not have left you alone with them. That was wrong of me."
Grian sighs. "You're right, Phil. You were wrong. What you did was horrible and has stayed with me," Phil looks away in guilt, unable to meet his son's eyes.
Wilbur approaches the group from behind. He clears his throat and turns towards Grian. "Gigi," he starts. "I know that your memories of him may not necessarily be the most amazing, but I promise I'm telling the truth when I say that he's changed. Phil is better now. He's recognized his mistakes and is actively trying to be better. Isn't that right, Phil?"
"Yeah, I'm–I'm really sorry, Grian. I didn't see it back then, but I do now. I–I was a horrible father to you, and you, Pearl," he turns his head towards his daughter. "And Wilbur, and Tommy. And I am truly and sincerely sorry for making you take care of them full-time and by yourself at such a young age."
Wilbur makes eye-contact with Grian and half smiles. At this point, Tommy has rejoined Wilbur by his side.
Grian sighs. "Alright, Phil," he closes his eyes and opens them again slowly. "In all honesty, I don't forgive you," Phil looks at the ground. "But, I am willing to start things over and try again," Grian smiles and wraps his arms around his dad, much to Phil's surprise.
Phil tears up and starts crying at his son's words. He had put Grian through some dark times, and yet he's still willing to start over and try cultivating a new relationship.
After a moment or two of silence that is only broken by the occasional sniffle, Xisuma clears his throat.
"I hate to ruin the moment," he starts. "But, uh, can we have an explanation please?"
Grian lets go of Phil and steps towards Xisuma.
"Xisuma," he gestures to the others. "This is my family. My biological family. We haven't seen each other in a very long time, hence the emotional responses."
Pearl steps in. "Sorry about that, everyone," she addresses the small crowd of Hermits. "We promise they won't hurt anyone or do any damage."
Xisuma contemplates this, but eventually accepts the answer. "My question is, however, how did you guys get here? None of you are whitelisted, but I have access to your player profiles anyways. None of you have any abilities that allow for the hopping of servers, much less into a highly protected one such as this one. You're not admins, deities, or anything of the sort."
"We seriously have no clue how or why we're here," Phil says. "One second we were chatting with some friends and then the next, we were here."
"I have a feeling the answer won't come anytime soon." Grian says. "But for now, they can stay with Pearl and I at Boatem and we can let you know if we see anything that might help answer the question."
"Okay, sounds good," Xisuma says, opening up his admin panel and clicking a few buttons. "I've just added you four to the whitelist so the server barriers don't freak out."
"Thanks, X!"
"No problem. Let me know if anything happens."
And with that, Xisuma takes off with his elytra and the crowd of Hermits disperses.
Pearl pipes up. "Let's get you guys to Boatem. We'll find some beds," she grabs a map from her inventory. "We will have to walk, considering the size of the group."
"That's alright. I'm just happy to see you guys after all these years," Grian smiles at Tommy as he side-hugs him gently.
Pearl takes the lead as the six start the long foot journey to Boatem. And in the oranges and pinks of Hermitcraft's beautiful sunset, their matching emerald jewelry glints and shimmers.
Reunited at last, the gemstones glow–a light that finally shines on the long-lasting darkness of their broken family. They will heal.
2,053 words
this is not proofread and i am tired. i need sleep. i hope you've enjoyed reading this
will i write tomorrow? hopefully. will something get posted? preferably. probably not.
anyways, have a good day/evening/night, make sure to take care of yourselves, and i'll see you next time
<3