Timeline: August 2016
Word Count: 3.5k
TW: Mild Injury
Ezra didn't feel like he belonged in this group.
Even a year after his reunion with Xisuma, he still barely spoke to anyone but his own brother. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd started a conversation with one of them of his own accord, as on the rare occasion that did speak to anyone else, it was usually because they started speaking to him first.
There were two reasons behind his reluctance to engage with any of the others. The first was the language barrier, as although he was able to understand them far better than he was when he first arrived here, Ezra was still far too insecure to talk in any language other than his own. Secondly, and far more importantly, was the unyielding distrust he had developed of everyone and everything around him.
Perhaps he was scared of the Hermits themselves, scared that they could be just another danger hiding behind the mask of a friendly face, or perhaps he was scared of what might happen should he get too close to any of them. Ezra was no stranger to grief, and it was something he never wanted to be faced with again. Perhaps this was just his way of shielding himself from the heartbreak that loving someone entailed.
Someone placed their hand on Ezra's shoulder, and as if their touch had sent electrical shocks throughout his body, he momentarily froze in panic. He turned, eyes wide as he struggled to catch his breath, and Xisuma quickly withdrew his hand. He'd forgotten how much Ezra now despised being touched, and often still struggled to comprehend just how much his brother had been changed and scarred by the events of the last few years.
He had become cold, reclusive, barely even talking to his own twin let alone anyone else. His tone was frequently harsh and sarcastic, perpetually full of bitterness and frustration, and Xisuma couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen his brother smile. Under his breath, he mumbled a quiet 'Sorry', and without saying a word Ezra turned around and continued walking.
Xisuma sighed, trying not to take the exchange between them too personally. He would have been more surprised if his brother still acted like his old, sweet, bubbly self, and had slowly come to accept that the person he'd once known had essentially perished alongside everyone else in that fire.
"You weren't much different when I met you, you know."
Xisuma glanced to his left to see False beside him, and briefly wondered how much she'd seen. Not that it really mattered, it was quite easy to tell that things were tense, to say the least, between the twins and most of the Hermits had picked up on it by now. "Sorry, what was that False?"
"I said you weren't that different when I met you than Ezra is now." False repeated. "I don't know if you even remember or not, but it took months for you to talk to me for the first time. You would just sleep or sit by yourself most of the time... I'm glad you're doing better now, but it looks like he still needs a while to get there."
"I was lucky you found me, or I'd be in just as bad of a state as he is." Xisuma admitted. After Ezra's arrival, he had finally found it within himself to talk to False about what had happened the day they met, and although she was the only one who knew so far, it had helped him quite a lot to tell someone about all he'd been through. She had listened patiently, believed every word he'd said in spite of how ludicrous it had all sounded, and when the tears inevitably came she had remained by his side to comfort him.
False opened her mouth as if to say something, but was cut off as a wolf and two foxes eagerly bounded past her. "Sakta ner, Ren!" Came Iskall's frustrated call. "Du kommer att skada någon!"
"It's okay Iskall, let them be." False assured them, Iskall slowing their pace to walk alongside her and Xisuma. "We have a long trip ahead of us, we might as well let them have some fun along the way."
"That's fair..." Iskall sighed, watching as the three chased each other along the rocky dirt paths. "But I still don't understand why we even have to make this trip in the first place."
"Believe me, I'd rather avoid having to make it too." Xisuma admitted, a hint of frustration creeping into his tone of voice that the Hermits rarely heard. "But it's important that we check in with the Admins every few months to make sure things are running smoothly, especially seeing as we're such a large group."
Before Iskall could say anything else, a loud crash and two yelps drew the entire group's attention to Mumbo and Ren, who were back in their humanoid forms and awkwardly entangled with one another in a pile on the ground. Next to them Etho was trying (and failing) not to laugh, and with a heavy sigh Iskall ran to Ren's side.
"What did I say, Ren? What did I say?" They scolded, lifting Ren to his feet before glancing down at Mumbo with a furrowed brow and hesitantly offering him a hand. Mumbo frowned back, clearly unhappy with the blatant disdain on their face, but took Iskall's hand nonetheless and dusted his shirt off upon standing up. Iskall snickered. "What, afraid of a little dirt, pretty boy?"
Mumbo's face turned almost as red as his scarlet irises, his exasperation leaving him at a temporary loss for words. "Well- I- I... I'll have you know I'm afraid of very few things, actually!" He claimed, crossing his arms and glaring at Iskall.
"Boo!"
Mumbo shrieked at a humiliatingly high pitch, jumping from his shock and almost falling back into the mud again. Behind him, Cub and Scar stood wearing identical grins, the latter glancing over at his fellow vex and nodding in Iskall and Mumbo's direction. "You could cut that tension with a knife, couldn't you Cub?"
"Agreed, Scar." Cub replied, and now it was Iskall's turn to go red in the face. "Although I don't think they agree with us just yet."
"Oh come off it Cub!" Mumbo snapped. "Don't act like we haven't seen you making eyes at Scar every time he turns his back!"
Confused, Scar turned to Cub with a raised brow, but before Cub could defend himself all four of them were cut off by a frustrated sigh from Cleo. "All four of you can come off it, you're blocking the path." She pointed out, gesturing to a stranger coming in the opposite direction to them. The stranger didn't seem to notice or care about the large group obscuring his way, and simply kept walking.
"Good morning!" Xisuma exclaimed brightly as he passed him by. The stranger didn't say anything, either ignoring X or simply not hearing him, and judging by the state he was in, Xisuma wasn't surprised if the latter was the case. The man looked as if he was running purely on autopilot, his blonde hair and clothes a dishevelled mess and dark circles beneath his dull blue eyes. Not wanting to take the stranger's abrasiveness too personally, Xisuma simply kept walking, the Hermits following behind him in a single file line.
And, just like everyone else in front of and behind him, Impulse did the exact same thing, passing the stranger by and paying little attention to him. That is, until the two of them accidentally bumped into one another, and without warning a red hot sensation of pain burned his skin where they had touched. Impulse gave a surprised and pained shout, the stranger having a similar reaction and falling back in surprise.
The Hermits all turned around with a mix of surprised, concerned and confused expressions, watching as the stranger sat up with an equivalent expression on his own face. Concerned for both Impulse and the (evidently distressed) stranger before him, Xisuma took a step forward. He wasn't even thinking, led purely by an instinct he knew well and trusted by now. From the corner of his eye, he saw False briefly attempt to hold him back, but she ultimately lowered her hand. Even beneath his helmet, she recognised the expression on his face and knew that now was not the time to interfere.
"Are you alright?" Xisuma asked the young man, as Hypno and Joe began to investigate the burn marks on Impulse's arm. Xisuma extended his own hand to the stranger, who hesitated at first, his eyes filled with suspicion and fear. But slowly he took the Admin's hand, flinching slightly in anticipation of another injury, but nothing more happened and he was able to help the man to his feet.
Slowly, the stranger took a deep, slow breath. "I'm so sorry, I- I didn't mean to hurt your friend." He apologised, voice trembling slightly. "I don't know what happened..."
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Xisuma assured him. "But are you okay? You look like you're hurt too, at least let us look after you before you go."
Slowly, the stranger lifted his hand away from his arm, showing a burn not too different from Impulse's. Impulse himself looked horrified, his bright yellow eyes filled with both fear and guilt. "You don't think I shocked him, did I?" Xisuma heard him ask Hypno. "I don't think that's ever happened before, not like that anyway."
"I don't think it was your fault either." Hypno answered, steadily holding his hand over Impulse's injury and watching as the red marks faded. "This doesn't look like your magic... I'm not really sure what it is, to be honest."
"You're not feeling anything else, are you?" Xisuma asked the young man, searching his bag for his communicator. "Queasiness, light-headedness, anything like that?"
The stranger shook his head, watching as Xisuma produced the small device and held it up. "I'm not sure if you've ever seen one of these before, but it's a device Admins can use to check another player's vitals. I can use it to check for any internal injuries or problems, but only if you want me to."
The stranger took a moment to inspect the communicator, before giving a slow nod. Giving him a smile and a nod in return, Xisuma stepped back to run the scan, taking careful note of the data displayed on the screen.
_____________________
PLAYER ID: 1882859/9975839
STATUS: ALIVE/ALIVE
SPECIES: HUMAN/DEMON
SEX: MALE/UNDETECTABLE
NO MAJOR INJURIES OR ILLNESSES FOUND ON BODY.
2ND DEGREE BURN DETECTED ON RIGHT FOREARM.
PRESS 'RUN' TO SCAN AGAIN.
_____________________
Xisuma frowned. Why were two sets of data coming up for the same person? He carefully read the scan again, his eyes landing on one particular line that he had missed the first time; 'SPECIES: HUMAN/DEMON'.
Things were slowly beginning to click in his mind. Although Xisuma had never encountered a demon before, he was very familiar with the Overworld's wild tales of possession. That said, he hadn't expected them to be true. Whether or not this person was aware of the second being he seemingly shared a body with, the Admin wasn't yet sure, but he was determined to remain calm and not make the young man any more worried than he already was.
He turned the communicator around, letting the stranger read what was written on the screen. His eyes widened in panic, and for a brief moment, Xisuma could have sworn he saw his blue irises change to a bright scarlet. "For your sake and your sake only, I want you to tell me if any of this looks familiar to you." He asked, watching as the stranger slowly nodded.
"And are you in need of any help or assistance because of this?"
The stranger shook his head. "No, I'm okay. Both of us are."
"Alright then, thank you for telling me. I won't pass this information on to anyone else without your permission." Xisuma promised, before holding out his hand. "My name is Xisuma, it's nice to meet you."
"Wels." The young man responded, shaking Xisuma's hand and returning the Admin's smile. "And... well he doesn't want to talk right now, but the other one is Hels."
"Good to know." Xisuma remarked, glancing over at Hypno, who had finished healing Impulse. "Whenever you're ready, I'm sure our spellcaster would be more than happy to heal you. That burn looks pretty bad, but I'm sure Hypno will be more than able to handle it."
Hypno perked up at the mention of his name, and smiled. "Absolutely, I'll be over in a moment!"
Impulse, whose arm was now healed to the best of Hypno's ability, hesitantly took a seat beside Wels. "Hey, I'm... I'm really sorry about that, I have no idea what I did."
"It's fine, I don't think it was either of our faults." Wels assured him, before falling silent for a moment and furrowing his brow. He looked back up at Impulse. "You... you're not an angel, are you?
"An angel?" Impulse repeated. "No, why do you ask?"
Wels hesitated, unsure for a moment what to say. But eventually he just shook his head, giving a forced, awkward laugh. "Never mind, I just... It doesn't matter."
Impulse shrugged, deciding not to give the strange question much thought either. He often got odd questions regarding his species, (he was beginning to think that the yellow eyes was what confused so many people) and although an angel was certainly the strangest one yet, he was more than used to strange questions like that by now.
"Well, that's the best I can do." Hypno remarked, drawing Wels' attention back to the burn mark on his arm. It wasn't gone by any means, but it hurt a lot less than it did before and that was most important. "Sorry I couldn't get rid of it entirely, but yours is much worse than Impulse's and I'm not really used to dealing with burns that bad."
"Thank you." Wels replied, prompting Hypno to smile in return.
"Thank you, actually! I'm very keen to find out what exactly happened between the two of you, I've never seen anything like this before and although it looks like a magic inflicted burn, it might even be a result of-"
"Hypno." Xisuma interrupted gently, nodding vaguely at Wels' confused and overwhelmed expression. "Give them some space, will you?"
"Ah, sorry." Hypno apologised. "What I meant to say was... If you're willing and okay with it, I'd love to further investigate what happened between you and Impulse. Partially to make sure it doesn't happen again, but also because this could be a brilliant opportunity to study conflicting magic types and how they affect one another. Again, only if you'd like."
"And... how long would that take...?" Wels questioned.
"A few weeks, potentially a few months... who knows?" Hypno shrugged, seemingly enthusiastic about the concept until he saw Wels' concerned expression and his face fell. "Right, that wouldn't exactly work for you, would it?"
"What a shame, if only there was a place where people could stay for as long as they like and do all sorts of crazy shit without having to worry about dying." Cleo remarked dryly, glancing over at Xisuma. "And that's your cue, X."
"Well- Well I was hoping to lead into it a little bit slower than that." Xisuma sighed, before turning to Wels. "Would you mind stepping aside with me, Wels? It'll only take a moment, I promise."
"Alright." Wels agreed, allowing Xisuma to lead him away from the path where they couldn't be seen or heard by the others. Once they were far enough away, Xisuma detached the upper half of his helmet from the breathing mask, removing it to allow Wels to see his face and expressions a little more clearly. It simply made conversations like these a little bit easier and feel a bit more genuine.
"Wels, this is another question I'd like you to answer as honestly as you can, alright?" Xisuma began. He watched as the same bright crimson briefly flickered in the young man's eyes, but nonetheless nodded. "Do you and Hels have somewhere safe that the two of you can go?"
Wels was momentarily silent, breaking his eye contact with Xisuma. He took a deep breath, before shaking his head. It saddened him to admit it, but Xisuma wasn't surprised. Wels was an absolute mess, looking as if he'd been dragged to hell and back and that the world had shown him little mercy along the way. It hurt to see someone so young appear so tired and broken, even if it was something Xisuma had seen time and again and even an experience he'd been through the pain of living.
"Well, if you need somewhere safe, even if it's just for a few weeks or months, I administer a server called Hermitcraft. Our aim is to try and act as a safe place for anyone who needs it, and although I don't want to put any pressure on you, I want you to know that the two of you are welcome to come with us if you so choose."
Wels looked as if he were about to speak, but he instead stopped for a moment as if deep in thought. Then he looked back up at Xisuma. "Before either of us makes a decision, do you mind if Hels talks to you first?"
"Of course, take all the time you need to think about it."
It happened so suddenly that Xisuma barely had time to react to it, but Wels's eyes once again turned bright red and his hair went from its usual strawberry blonde to black. Xisuma was startled by the change, to say the least, but tried not to let his surprise appear too obvious. Clearly this was Hels, as his expression and body language were both starkly different to Wels'. "...Hi."
"Hello." Xisuma greeted, smiling beneath his helmet. "I take it you're Hels?"
"That would be correct." Hels confirmed, crossing his arms and looking Xisuma up and down. He appeared to be sceptical, not that Xisuma was surprised by that, but his expression then softened a little. "Thank you for helping Wels back there... We both appreciate it."
"You're very welcome." Xisuma replied. "Wels said you wanted to talk to me, is there anything in particular you'd like to ask?"
"Yes, actually. I take it that group back there are your server's members?" Hels questioned. Xisuma nodded. "How do we know that we can trust all of them? If you're so open to taking strangers in then that's surely a security risk, is it not?"
"That's a very good question, and to be honest, it's not one I know how to answer." Xisuma admitted. "But what I do know is that I would trust every single one of my Hermits with my life. It can be hard to trust a stranger, that much I completely understand, and I'd also understand if that's not something you'd be willing to do."
Hels fell silent for a moment, before speaking again. "Wels said it seems like things worked out pretty well for you guys given all you had to do was trust each other. He seems pretty open to it..."
"And what about you? Do you think you could trust us?" Xisuma asked.
"Maybe not, but I know I trust Wels. And that's good enough for me."
"So, is that a yes?"
Wels took control of their body once more, smiling as he took Xisuma's hand. "I think it is."
"Brilliant." Xisuma replied, and the two began to walk back to the others. "I wish I could take you directly to the server and show you around, but unfortunately we have some matters to take care of at the Admins' Headquarters first. Just an annual server check in, nothing too big, but it'll be a perfect opportunity to get the two of you checked in and whitelisted."
"Wait, will that mean...?"
"Yes, one or two more people might need to know about Hels, but I promise I won't tell anyone else without your permission. That said, I'm sure the Hermits will all be very accepting of him, but I understand that it's something the two of you will want to talk about in your own time and I respect that."
"Thank you Xisuma, I... I really appreciate that." Wels admitted, before laughing a little. "And even though Hels wants to pretend like he doesn't care, I think he does too."
They eventually reached the rest of the group, who all turned in anticipation to see what Xisuma had to say. Xisuma looked down at Wels, who looked back up at him, giving a small nod and a nervous smile. Returning the smile, Xisuma looked back up at the Hermits. "Everyone... I'd like you all to meet Wels, our newest Hermit."
Hello!
My apologies for the lack of updates, I decided to take a break between Season 9 and Season 10 of Hermitcraft to avoid burnout. But updates are back now, and they'll resume every Sunday as per usual from now on. Thank you for your patience! <3
- Xan