Chapter Text
“We’re supposed to be working together!” Grian exclaimed, as Scar circled with his elytra before landing to face his friend. Grian rolled his eyes, adjusting his eye glasses before making his way over to the edge of the diamond ore. He crouched down to place more blocks, causing his wings to splay open for balance.
“SCAR WHY!” He yelled as Scar shot him off the diamond pillar, an arrow embedded in his sweater, gravity dislodging it as Grian regained velocity with his wings, sending a playful glare up to where Scar was peering over the edge.
“You are a menace Scar.” Pearl chimed in from atop the giant anvil, watching everything take place below her. Scar looked up at her before laughing even harder, both Pearl and Grian joining in.
“Okay I’m good,” Scar paused, looking at both his friends who met his gaze with playful suspicion, “I got it out of my system.” Grian looked at him knowingly, “You are a menace.” Pearl chuckled before diving down to assist them with placing blocks.
They had a race to win, after all.
-
Ten minutes later and the Diamond Block Bearded Bros and Doc were all joining in, it had become an all out war. Arrows being shot left and right, and Redstone inevitably blowing up in everyone's faces. Laughter replaced any coherent words, everyone let loose.
Grian adjusted his glasses once again, laughing as Scar managed to shoot the TnT with his arrow, blowing it up in Doc and Impulse’ faces.
“AH ITS GONE! That’s gotta be a win!” Grian shouted, feeling the eyes of his friends on him as he did so. He fidgeted a bit, but smiled at them still. It had been 5 years since he had felt eyes that were unfriendly, but something prickled at the hairs on his neck and the feathers on his wings.
They did end up winning the race.
-
“Grian?” Pearl’s voice carried into the entity, where Grian sat curled against the red flesh. He heard as she crawled inside, her hair down and hoodie zipped up to prevent anything from clinging to her.
“Do you remember them?” He asked, his voice quiet. Pearl squinted her eyes as she tried to see the person she considered her brother clearer in the dim and red tinted lighting.
“Depends on who you are referring to Gri.” She sat down behind him, Grian folding his wings in her lap with care. Fingers petting them before she began to run her fingers through the dulled feathers.
“One and Two, the Evolutionists… Any of them.” Pearl sighed and her hands stilled.
“I do.”
“Which parts?”
“I remember the beginning, I remember you and Tuartis, both inseparable and the lack of rabbits. I remember Netty and BigB, both trying to help. I remember Martyn and Tim…”
“What about the…” Grian inhaled sharply, wings tensing in her lap.
“What about the Watchers?”
“One and Two… They left us puzzles…” Pearl began slow, afraid to say the wrong thing.
“They took you.”
“They took me.” He Agreed.
“They took me, and they made me one of them. They took me, and I became Three. They took me, and tried to destroy you. They took me, and they lied.”
“Pearl,” Grian started, turning his body so he was facing her. “Pearl, did I ever tell you why?” pause, “ Did I ever tell you how I escaped”
“No.”
“Would you like to know- I, I think I am ready to tell you what happened."
“You know what happened on Evo- you were there, uh, I don’t remember much after entering the end portal, just void and a weightless feeling…”
5 YEARS EARLIER
Grian fell through the end portal, continuing to tumble into the void, sure he had never entered the end this way in a long long time Had he ever? But he felt as though he had been falling down for too long. Panic seized him as he began to try to swim against the void, trying to create a current. Something players don’t realize, Is that the void is not weightless, when you suffocate to death, its the magic all entering you at once, and magic is not as infinite as players believe.
The void became thicker with magic, something Grian would later compare to that of honey blocks, he pushed through it, his hat being pressed against his face as the void tried to meld it to his head.
Grian felt the pull of an artificial gravitational pull, and then he was standing on the void, facing two towering figures, ones he recognized, ones that made him clench his fist and want to yell. Watchers. One and Two, the watchers assigned to Evo- his server. Grian’s server.
As he looked around, he saw nothing but void and the watchers, and he blinked. His friends, all of them. Communetty, Empire, Mustache, Temple, Summoning, bedrock, rhymes and song, EVERYTHING.
A choice. To watch, or to destroy.
The first figure stepped forward, their hundreds of eyes closed, watching the world that existed on the other side.
One spoke up, “I will miss Grian on the server.” Two’s eyes blinked open for less then a second, looking at One. Grian watched on.
“Well he won’t really be leaving, will he? He’ll still be watching.” Two responded, eyes closed once again. Grian forced to watch and nothing more. He closed his eyes once again, seeing clearer then ever before. Watching as his friends navigated the world he left behind, the one he tried to save.
A deep inhale, a thousand bells ringing in his ears. And exhale, as the bells became stars floating in the void, lost to nothing.
One and Two opened their eyes, both Watchers turning an eye on their guest. Hundreds of eyes focused on Grian. He rubbed his arms and shivered. It was not cold, but he was frozen all the same.
“Welcome friend, would you like to send them on?” One asked, throwing a cloak at Grian who caught it, looking down at the thick material that swirled like the ender pearls he had used to travel to the end earlier that day… Day? Week? How long had he been here? He looked to One, who nodded and placed a hand atop his shoulder; Two watched, and unfurled his wings, blocking the faint stars behind them.
Forever. He had always been here, watching. He let himself get attached, he never had a choice, this was how it was always meant to go.
Two Watchers became three.
Three blinked all of their eyes, “It would be my pleasure.”