#god works fast but grian works FASTER

[gh0st--friend]

wait theyre planning life series 5? is that why im seeing so many posts??

#.txt #wow #god works fast but grian works FASTER #godspeed #i still agree with that post that was like #yea id watch this series forever itll never get old to me

[melon-wing]

Chase Me [Grian x Doc]

[Fanfiction Masterlist] Happy Birthday @gridoc I can finally share this! Thank you for spreading the gridoc love. This day should totally be the unofficial official Gridoc-Day ;) I commissioned a picture and wrote this story for the picture! (maybe you are lucky and get to see it ;D) Also there’ll be another Birthday story later today!!! ~

Doc sat straight up, when sirens blared all around him, red lights flashing. It took him a moment to gather his surroundings. He was still in one of the Area 77 labs, his equipment right in front of him on the table. One of the glass vials had spilled, leaving the whole table covered in a brownish liquid. He must have fallen asleep in the middle of his experiment. Damn. That meant he'd have to start the whole thing all over again. Why hadn't Scar woken him up? He usually did when something like this happened and then scolded him for not going to bed.

Doc rubbed his eyes, trying to chase his tiredness away. The alarm was still going. It took unusually long. Why wasn't Scar...?

Oh, right. He remembered. Scar wasn't here, because he had left the day before to get together with Cub. Something about a meeting, that Scar had postponed one too many times and him 'having to make it up to his husband‘. He wouldn't be here for the next few days.

Doc sighed. He felt a pang in his chest when he thought of the Convex. Those two were truly made for one another. Even when he would never admit it out loud, hearing Scar talk about Cub as if the whole universe revolved around him, made Doc feel a longing ache. He had been happy on his own for so long. He'd been alone ever since the disastrous end of his engagement to Bdubs back in their old world. He had thought he'd be done with love and relationships. He had thought that no relationship was made to truly last.

Seeing Cub and Scar, hearing Scar... He wanted that.

Doc shook his head to rid himself of that line of thought as he hurriedly walked through the corridors. He didn't have time to go all sentimental now. He blamed the dream he just had awoken from. The dream that kept repeating over and over again.Though he couldn't quite remember the details, only being locked in a heated embrace with someone, lips pressed together. A small giggle, fleeting touches, sky blue eyes, but when he tried to remember the face of the person, his mind drew a blank.

"Oh god damn it! Concentrate, Doc!", he scolded himself, voice echoing off the walls. This situation needed his full attention now. It wasn't the first time the alarm had been triggered, but most of the time it had just been large animals wandering past their body. It was probably some stupid cow again. Or one of those overly annoying traders with their idiotic lamas, trying to sell him some trash for ridiculously high prices.

Doc yawned, grabbing a few emeralds and wheat from one of the chests before finally getting to the lever that turned off the alarms. The silence after helped him to clear his head a bit faster. The lights stopped flashing and with one last sigh he stepped outside, following their main path through flower filled grass and... wait.

Flowers?!

Those hadn't been there before... And Scar couldn't have been the one to plant them, which meant somebody else had been here. But what kind of intruder would just run around and plant flowers?

And then he heard a giggle.

A giggle that felt so familiar, as if he had just heard it a few minutes ago. A giggle that made his chest ache in a weird way. The same way it felt when he looked at Scar and Cub.

"Who's there? Show yourself!", he shouted, taking his trident out and scanning his surroundings. His foxes had also risen from their sleep at the entrance and were now jumping in between his legs in nervous excitement. There was a flash of red in between the trees next to the border and another giggle from the same direction that seemed to echo over the flowery field. Doc let his trident soar through the air with perfect accuracy. There was a loud high pitched sound of surprise, and then more giggling as the intruder kept running in between the trees. The trident must have barely missed them.

Doc made a gesture with his hand and the trident came flying right back into it.

"Go get them, boys.", he growled and the foxes darted forward, Doc right on their heel.

Who was it?

He swore he knew that voice.

He had heard it before.

His foxes easily darted between the trees, leaving Doc a bit further behind, but he was still running. There was a loud shout and a heavy thud and Doc grinned. He put on another burst of speed and when he passed between the next row of trees he stopped. There on the floor right in front of him lay the intruder, his foxes had their claws and mouths all over their legs, clawing and biting into the fabric. Doc whistled and the foxes let go, returning to his side.

Doc looked at the figure on the ground for a few seconds and suddenly his eyes went wide, when he recognized them - him.

“Grian?”

There was a groan and Grian turned onto his back before sitting up.

Doc’s breath hitched as Grian looked up at him, eyes wide, cheeks flushed from running away. His hair was a bit messy and a crown of flowers sat a bit tilted on his head. He looked… adorable. Like some otherworldly being. Doc almost expected to see pointy ears. He couldn‘t believe how attractive Grian was.

Doc felt heat rushing to his cheeks at that sudden thought popping up in his mind and he cursed his own mind.

“Well, looks like you caught me, Agent Doc.”

Doc felt more heat rising to his cheeks, when Grian all but purred the greeting and especially his name. Going by the sudden gleam in Grian’s eyes and his lop-sided grin, he knew exactly what he was doing to Doc‘s head.

When had that happened? When had Grian been able to get to him like that?

Certainly not during the Civil War.

“What’s wrong, Agent Doc. Fox got your tongue?”

There it was again. That teasing tone of his and finally Doc was able to get at least a part of his composure back. Enough at least to stop standing around like a statue.

“What the heck are you doing here? And what‘s up with the flowery get up? Were you the one planting those flowers?”

The way Grian’s smile widened already gave Doc the answer to his last question. Only Grian could manage to look so innocent, yet quilty at the same time.

“Well. A certain someone stole my time machine, so I‘m here to get it back.”

“That really doesn‘t explain the flowers.”

“Oh, that. I thought who better to fight a secret government facility than some Hippies? I thought you might appreciate a little gift to celebrate getting new neighbours.”

Grian kept smiling, even when Doc stepped closer, the trident pointed right at the center of his chest.

Doc was torn between feeling flustered, frustrated and completely enraged.

“Well, good to know”, he growled low in his throat. “Means I gotta build a nice prison cell for you.”

Grian‘s smile turned into a smirk, his eyebrows rising slightly. “Yeah. You really should. Might wanna invest in a better security system as well.”

Doc looked at Grian in confusion. His security system had worked pretty well in catching Grian after all. But just as he was about to voice this thought, a loud explosion shook the ground, the sound coming from the direction of the main building. He stared at Grian open mouthed for a second, as a satisfied grin spread on the other’s face.

“So… Do you wanna take care of that or do you wanna have me as your prisoner? I do think I‘d look pretty out of place in a cell.“

“Stay there. I am not done with you!“

Doc cursed under his breath and then turned around, sprinting off towards the explosion. With a loud whistle the foxes ran alongside him. A light giggle faded into the distance as he kept running and he knew that Grian wouldn‘t be there when he came back.

When he reached the site of the explosion, he saw Ren running off in the distance. So those two were working together now? Damn. He hated fighting Ren… And fighting Grian? Well that was frustrating and kind of exhilarating at the same time. Things always got exciting when Grian got involved.

Doc stood in between the flowers, smoke rising from the slightly damaged wall, a smirk slowly forming on his lips. He was really looking forward to this.

~*~

Doc awoke with a start, sitting straight up in his bed, his brow drenched in sweat. He kept having those dreams. The body pressed against his no longer some vague figure. It was weird. He just couldn‘t get Grian off his mind and he followed him into his deepest dreams.

Doc groaned, burying his head in his hands. This was so annoying. The things they had done in his dream last night... Dear Lord. It was getting worse and worse each time he and Grian interacted. Which they did quite often recently.

The things he wanted to do to Grian every time he looked at him with those sparkling blue eyes. Every time it got harder to resist, harder to hold himself back. But he had enough restraint. He wouldn’t act on these thoughts. It wasn’t like Grian ever showed any interest anyway. He was just into it for the fun and the time machine. Doc sure as hell wouldn‘t push his affections onto someone who was unwilling.

With a yawn Doc walked into the lab. Scar took one look at him and sighed, pointing to a table by the side.

“Coffee is ready. You look like shit. Did you dream of your sweet little angel boy again?”

Doc grumbled in annoyance and went in a beeline to the coffee, pouring himself a cup and immediately draining it. He would need more than a few cups of coffee to get this night‘s dreams off his mind. He also regretted telling Scar about them that one drunken night. The teasing never stopped.

“Must have been a lot of fun. I heard some rather interesting sounds coming from your room when I got up.”

Doc whipped around so fast he almost spilled his coffee all over his suit. “Sounds? What sounds? There were no sounds! I didn’t…” The way Scar was grinning at him made him glare. He had really fallen for that one.

“So I was right after all. Thanks for confirming. You should really go get him and tell him how you feel.”

Doc sighed, leaning against the table and letting his head hang, staring into the black shining surface of his coffee. “He’s not interested, Scar. Have you seen the way he looks at Impulse like a lovestruck puppy? Ever since Impulse joined all I ever hear him talk about is how amazing Impulse is and how glad he is that Impulse joined. He keeps complimenting Impulse on his redstone skills. Did he ever once stop to look at the redstone circuits I‘m building?! Do I have to challenge Impulse to a redstone competition to have him talk about me like that?”

Scar‘s smirk faded, but the look of pity he had on his face now was even worse. “Doc… You’re seeing things, mate. I told you before when you thought he was so into Ren. It wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now. I was right about Ren having the hots for Iskall… But the moment those two started dating you thought Grian was after Impulse. Why can’t you just spare us both the discussions this time and believe me when I tell you that Impulse has an enormous crush on False?”

Doc rolled his eyes a bit. Sure Scar had been right about Ren and maybe he was right about Impulse, but why would that matter. “Well I didn‘t say they were in a relationship this time. Impulse going after False doesn’t mean that Grian can‘t fall in love with him.”

Scar shook his head, throwing his hands up. “I give up. You’re too stubborn for your own good. Mope around in self pity if you want to. But I swear the next time Grian crashes our base because he wants your attention, I won‘t throw his sorry ass off our property again. You can do that all on your own. I swear the next time those sirens go off, your ass can go out there and get rid of all of those hundreds of flowers. He leaves them for you anyways!”

Doc took a deep breath. He hadn’t meant to piss off his partner, but talking about Grian had just become a really sensitive and annoying topic for him.

“Scar I’m-”

He never got to finish his apology. As if some divine being was making fun of him, the sirens started going off, red lights flashing in their laboratory. Doc prayed. As he turned at the screen on the wall he was begging the fates, that it was just a trader or maybe Ren or Impulse. Please, anything but Grian. His eyes scanned all the small tiny camera images until they landed on camera 5. Grian’s red sweater stood out glaringly among the greenery. The fates must really hate him.

“I’m going to get rid of that hippie. And no. I‘m not talking about any unnecessary feelings with him, don’t get your hopes up.”

“I bet if you two would just get it on, we’d have no more Hippies to fight.”

Doc threw Scar one more annoyed look before grabbing his trident and rushing through the halls to get outside. There were flowers all around, a huge bouquet of red tulips lying right in front of the main entrance. He didn‘t know why, but he made sure to take a big step as not to trample them, but didn’t have enough time to think about the meaning behind those flowers. Going by the surveillance Grian had been east of the facility.

Doc ran through the trees, jumping over roots and rocks. He cursed the fact that he had thought a suit was the appropriate attire for this job. Well, in his defense, he hadn’t planned to be chasing Hippies through a thick forest when all of this had started. He really should have changed his working clothes when this had begun… but there had been that one time Grian had complimented him on it and ever since that day… gosh, Doc really had it bad.

Grian’s delighted giggle seemed to bounce off all the surrounding trees, echoing through Doc’s head, taking hold of every part of his mind. This time Doc wouldn’t let him get away. This time he’d end it once and for all. No more Hippie shenanigans driving him to the brink of insanity. Maybe if he locked Grian up, he‘d get at least one night of peaceful sleep.

He saw a flash of red between the trees and let his trident fly. There was a shout and when the trident came back, a small piece of red fabric was pierced by it. So close. It was always so close. He always had Grian almost in his grasp and somehow every time Grian managed to slip past their border back to the Camp.

That’s when it hit Doc. He needed to get to the border. Quick. Grian was moving all over the place, no predictable route, but they were gradually getting closer to the border. If Doc just ran straight ahead he could get him.

Doc whistled and his foxes sprinted after Grian, while Doc himself turned a different way. Hopefully Grian would hear and see the foxes and think Doc was a bit behind them, still chasing.

Doc rushed straight to the border and grinned when he reached it. No sign of Grian. No sign of red in the forest, except for a few of the flowers that were planted everywhere around the border. Doc had given up getting rid of them around the edge of their property. They just kept popping up.

His eyes kept scanning the tree line. And then he smirked when he heard his foxes yipping in the distance, chasing Grian his way. He was really happy that they were so smart and knew what he wanted them to do with just one whistle.

Doc walked over to one of the trees, hiding behind one of the thicker ones. The rushed steps were getting closer and closer. He counted the estimated seconds down in his head. And when he hit zero he let his arm fly out, just in time to grab Grian around the waist as he ran past the tree.

Grian gave a surprised scream and fell to the floor from the sudden impact, taking Doc with him. But that didn’t matter. Doc was on top of him. There was no getting away now. He’d just need to get some cuffs on Grian and all of this would be over.

Before Grian could snap out of his confused daze, Doc grabbed his hands and pressed them above his head with both hands, putting his weight behind the grip. He would not let Grian get away this time.

“Look at what I caught. Things didn’t go as planned this time, did they? You really should have stopped coming here without backup.”

Grian finally blinked and looked at Doc, the look of confusion fading and turning into a smirk. But Doc could see the insecurity hidden beneath it. Grian smirked and smiled at him so often, he could tell the smallest differences in those expressions.

“Who says I don‘t have any backup? Who says I’m not just a distraction so Ren and Impulse can get into your facility.”

“Scar”, Doc just replied flatly “You know we have cameras. He would let me know if there was anyone else. And if there was you sure as hell wouldn’t have mentioned the possibility. You are way too predictable Grian. Fighting you has almost become boring. Just a routine now.”

The smirk fell and Grian huffed in annoyance. “Well took you long enough to catch me then if I am this predictable, agent Doc.”

Before he could stop himself, Doc let out a low growl at the way Grian said his name. Grian seemed startled, eyes widening, breath hitching. Doc only now noticed the slight flush on his face, the way he was out of breath from the running. They were so close. Doc could feel the heat of Grian’s body even through the suit. So close… Doc leaned in a bit, his body moving on its own accord.

Doc felt his own breath stop for a few seconds. The light shining through the leaves of the trees made Grian’s eyes sparkle as if they were a pair of blue gems.

Damn. ‘Self restraint’, Doc reminded himself. He needed to resist the temptation. He was too close.

Grian’s look of annoyance went away and he was staring at Doc in confusion, his lips slightly parted. Doc’s eyes kept being drawn to those lips, pink and oh so soft. He wanted to kiss them. He wanted to touch Grian, to claim him, to make sure he‘d make him his own, before Impulse got a chance.

“Doc?”

The quiet question ripped him out of his thoughts and he suddenly felt disgusted at himself and his train of thought. Grian was a human being, and here he was, thinking of him like some piece of meat. He should be ashamed.

“Sorry. I…”

Doc stopped. Grian wouldn’t know what he was apologizing for. Grian was always so oblivious to his advances. There had never been even the sliver of a chance for him, and Impulse joining the hippies had lowered them even further.

Doc moved back a bit with a sigh, almost ready to let Grian go altogether, just to get out of this awkward situation.

“Don‘t stop”, Grian said, his voice sounding soft, but commanding at the same time and Doc raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“I am not supposed to stop arresting you…? Did I hit your head a bit too hard?”, he tried to joke, almost desperate to return to their usual mood, but Grian didn’t seem up for the bickering and just shook his head.

“Kiss me.”

Those two small words… Doc swore those simple words shut down his brain completely. It seemed like it took forever for those words to process and only when Grian let out one of his small giggles, he snapped out of it.

“Come on, Agent. I know you wanna do it. I’ve noticed the way you always look at me. Don’t tell me you are too scared of a kiss.”

Doc growled, but a small smile crept onto his face as he moved down again.

“You wish.”

Doc moved down, only stopping a breath away from Grian’s lips, hesitating for a split second before pressing their lips together. He had never imagined their first kiss to be so soft. He let one of his hands wander from Grian’s wrist down his side and in return Grian took a hold of his cheek, gently pulling him in more, leaning up a bit into the touch.

Doc took hold of one of Grian’s legs, pulling it up a bit and leaning into the other’s body even more. He needed this. He needed to feel Grian. He needed to feel the heat to know that it was real, that it was not just another one of his dreams.

After what felt like an eternity, Doc finally moved back, opening his eyes to look at Grian, whose eyes were still closed, blushing, lips shining wet and slightly red. And the knowledge that it had been Doc who had put him into this state, made him feel so warm inside.

When he didn’t resume the kissing within a few seconds, Grian let out a needy whine, opening his eyes, looking back at Doc. He smiled softly, but didn‘t say anything, slipping his other hand out of Doc’s weak grasp and putting it on the back of Doc’s head to pull him into another kiss, this one less soft and more passionate.

They broke apart again, when one of Doc‘s foxes made a little noise. Doc turned in its direction, noticing the way the animal looked up into the tree. Doc followed his gaze and stopped when he looked straight into the lense of one of their cameras. Fuck. Scar. He was never going to live this one down.

“You do know Scar is probably watching us right now?”

Grian giggled.

“Nope. I didn‘t know that. But if that‘s the case… Let‘s give him a real show.”

And before Doc could say another word, Grian’s lips were pressed against his once more, their bodies so close together, that Doc felt as if not even a sheet of paper could fit in between them anymore. It was nothing like he had imagined this confrontation ending, but he sure as hell wouldn‘t complain.

#🍉 stories #hermitship #hermitshipping #gridoc

[votederpycausemufins]

@petrichormeraki @strawberrylemonz​ are the obvious influences of this chapter since it’s grian backstory!!! I make mention of the Antarctic empire, Yandere Highschool and Evo, but you probably don’t need to have seen them to know what’s going on (tbh i’ve only seen Evo and not smp earth or YHS)

i’ve uploaded the fic onto my ao3 if y’all want to read it there. 

A castle stood in the middle of frozen plains. Though the wind was cold and harsh, inside was warm and cozy. There was the sound of a few people running through the halls, none of them that old.

“Blood for the Blood God!” A young voice yelled as they tackled someone.

“Hey! Get off me!” A similar voice spoke.

“Come on Techno, you’re taller than me!”

“And you have wings! Get your own blood!”

A third voice spoke up as they ran by. “I’m gonna have the last of the juice!”

“No! That’s my blood!” The young avian jumped up from pinning his one brother down and ran after the other. “Wilburrrrrr!”

By the time Techno reached the kitchen, his brothers were fighting in front of the fridge. As they tustled, he opened the fridge up and pulled out some cherry juice and used the last of the bottle to fill his glass. “Sorry Blood God, my juice now.”

The two kids stopped fighting and the avian pouted. “That’s not fair!”

The three of them ended up arguing until someone new entered the kitchen. A man with raven wings and wearing a crown walked in holding a baby in his arms. “Boys…” he spoke in a tone that made the triplets immediately stop what they were doing.

“It’s Techno’s fault! He stole my blood!”

“Only because you were too busy fighting with Wilbur.”

“Only cause he tried to get the blood first.”

“You weren’t fast enough!”

“I’m super fast! I just didn’t want to use my wings and beat you and make you cry!”

“I wouldn’t cry!”

“Everyone says you would!”

The cheery tone from the arguing children seemed to disappear along with the cost warmth as a chill seemed to find its way into the castle. The king carefully passed the baby to Techno and then kneeled down. “Xelqua, are you hearing the voices again?”

“No.” Xelqua said, obviously lying, making the king sigh.

“You know you need to tell daddy when you start to hear them again.”

Xelqua crosses his arms. “Techno doesn’t always tell you when he hears them!”

“And I don’t like him doing that either.” The king sighed. “Will you promise to always tell me if I get you some more juice?”

“Blood for me!” Xelqua said happily, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, blood for the Blood God!” Techno’s replied, handing the baby back to his dad.

They were only separated for a moment. Philza has his children holding onto his wings as they went through the market. He heard Xelqua cheer at seeing a stand of music discs. Before Phil could remind his son to stay with them, the child had let go of his wing. 

The king immediately moved to grabbed Xelqua, only to find him missing. He assumed he was just faster and lost in the crowd, but even going on a path to the music stand, his son was missing. 

He started searching in a wider area, some of the crowd started looking too. Philza started to worry about his son being kidnapped with him being a prince and all. He offered a reward, right there in the crowd for whoever found his son. He hoped it would work, but it didn’t.

Phil kept searching even when Wilbur started to complain he was tired and the baby in his arms started wailing. But his son didn’t reappear.

In a distant world, Xelqua put his foot down on the sidewalk, surprised to see it not cobblestone and also barely anyone in sight. “Daddy?” He looked around for his dad, but he wasn’t there. “D-daddy? D-dad?!” He looked around wildly, but still there was no sign of the king. “Dad! T-Techno! Wilbur!” He shouted for his family. But they weren’t there.

A woman spotted the lost Xelqua and took him to the police. When he described his family and home, the officers were left scratching their heads. They listed him as a found person, but no one ever came. 

After a month he was put in the foster system. Compared to his previous life as a prince, Being an orphan was the worst thing ever. He hated being bullied for everything. His wings, which he eventually learned to hide completely. The way he talked, which caused him to try and hide his accent. And his name. That wasn’t something he could easily change, but when he ran away and started a new life on his own, it was easier. And when Sam and Taurus asked for his name. It was Grian.

Part of Grian was glad when the universe went sideways and he couldn’t find Sam or Taurtis. He had done some things that most people would frown upon. But he had to do them. He needed the ransom money, he needed to help his friends escape, he needed to kill YakuzaKaru. And it hadn’t helped when the voices told him he was right.

But suddenly he was in a world that was much simpler and closer to how home had been. He was free to do whatever he pleased. He ended up moving towards an ocean and making a castle in the middle of it. It wasn’t the Antarctic Empire, but it was his empire. His Grian Empire.

And it was so much better here. If he exploded someone or robbed them or trapped them in a box, he wasn’t in danger of getting hurt or arrested. The worst that happened was the Watchers showing up. They liked using clay and Grian needed clay. So he stole every bit he could. Of course, the Watchers didn’t like that, so he was told to burn it or have his items trapped away or something else.

Grian thought it was unfair. What gave them the right to choose what he was doing was wrong? He didn’t see anyone else get in trouble. And the voices agreed with him, it wasn’t his fault.

And then he was taken away by the Watchers. While he was scared by that, the voices assured him it would be fine. The Watchers had just been testing him. And now they were giving him a chance to join. He would have said no, but then he thought about the family he lost. The Watchers were powerful. If he became one, he could find his family again.

He took the power. He became a Watcher. The voices became clearer and he felt complete. At least until he realized he couldn’t find his family, even with all the power being a Watcher gave him. He could see into a million worlds, but it had been years, and when he looked into the world that housed his home, all he saw was an old empty castle. There was no one left.

Grian ended up shutting away his Watcher side in anger. He finally had the chance to see his family and they were gone. And if those voices hadn’t told him to take the power and look, he wouldn’t have learned the truth. Grian preferred the idea that he could see his family again, or at least imagine the possibility, then know for sure that he was truly alone.

So Grian used his powers as a Watcher to hide the voices and the powers away. If he wanted to, he could pull them back, but why bother. He stayed with the Watchers for a while, gazing into the world he had just left before reaching for his powers just a little to look into other worlds. He then met someone who felt like his match. Everyone knew Redstoners and Builders fit perfectly together. And Grian was a builder while this man created redstone masterpieces. 

Grian watched as the man left into a server called Hermitcraft. He followed along and searched for the admin of the world. The admin seemed surprised to see Grian, but allowed him to join them, though not right away as they were going to be moving worlds soon. Grian agreed to wait, and wait he did. The moment the world was open, Grian took himself there. It was empty for a short bit, but then other people started showing up.

Grian followed the redstoner Mumbo around, glad to have a new friend. He didn’t understand half the things Mumbo talked about when it came to redstone, but it was still fun to listen to. It helped distract him from all that came before.

Once or twice, Grian had to use his powers from being a Watcher, and he had to explain to Xisuma what he was. The Voidwalker seemed to understand if be a little put off by how someone like Grian could actually be a Watcher.

When they moved to another world, Grian followed. It was peaceful for the longest time until Mumbo created Hermit Challenges. Well, it wasn’t right when he created them, but later down the line. He was just asked to wear blue. It shouldn’t have been that hard to do. But he always wore red. Blue wasn’t his color, it was his brother’s color. Grian tried arguing with Mumbo, asking him to allow the challenge to be skipped. He didn’t explain why he didn’t want to do it, so Mumbo said he had to.

Eventually, Grian wore blue. And then the mansion exploded. Everyone rushed to the ruined building and saw Grian in front of it, holding TNT. But Grian didn’t look like himself. He had tried to hide the memories away. It was just going to be for a day, but to hide the memories of his part life, he had to be a Watcher. And being a Watcher brought back his voices. And if he hated blue so much, why have a mansion that was all blue?

It took days for everyone to calm him down and get him back to normal. They panicked when he brought out his powers once more though it was just to repair what he had destroyed. Grian refused to meet Mumbo’s eyes for a while, so he went to his second closest friend Iskall to talk with. Despite Iskall’s insistence that he was not a therapist, he agreed to help Grian talk through what was going on in his mind. 

Between talks, Iskall spoke with Xisuma to relay what he had learned and soon all the Hermits were informed about what was going on with Grian. Of course Grian didn’t give out every detail like his life with Sam and Taurtis and the fact that he was a prince. All he said was he lost his family and ended up in a not so great crowd as a teen.

The next time Grian asked to opt out of something, people quickly obliged, both to not have the newest hermit hurting more, and also to make sure the server wasn’t destroyed by a Watcher going haywire.

It was months after the incident of the mansion exploding that Tommy appeared. No one knew where the kid had appeared from but it was obvious that sending him back couldn’t be an option. Mambo and Grian both took a liking to Tommy, Grian also being the newest Hermit and Mumbo being the youngest. Well, obviously now Tommy was both the youngest and newest, but it was the principle of the matter.

Though he was extremely wary of the pair at first, Tommy quickly warmed up to them, especially Grian. The two of them were so similar, people assumed they were siblings at one point. When someone pointed it out, then immediately regretted it because Grian got upset and started yelling at them. He flew off and Tommy followed behind, not knowing what was going on. 

Grian explained how he lost his family and how by the time he finally got home, they were all gone. Tommy told Grian about his own family, how they had slowly all gone a little crazy at the situation Dream had put them in. Slowly, the two of them bonded, just talking about the situation, joking around. Grian told some stories and Tommy replied with his own.

It was when Tommy pretended to be his oldest brother and said ‘blood for the blood god’ when Grian froze and became pale. Neither of them had used names for their family. At least, Tommy hadn’t used anything other than nicknames. Grian asked if the blood god was Xelqua. Tommy asked how Grian could possibly know that name.

When Grian learned Tommy was his brother, he pulled the teen into a crushing hug. He refused to let go for the longest time, terrified that just like last time, the moment he let go, they would end up in separate worlds. Tommy pretended to complain, but he was fine with Grian hugging him. He understood.

Grian made sure everyone was together when he used his Watcher powers again. Tommy had no clue what was going on and why everyone looked ready for war. The Hermits had promised they didn’t do that here, and it was worse that they all seemed ready to specifically fight Grian. Tommy nearly jumped between then, ready to fight every hermit for his brother, when Grian pulled out his Watcher powers. If Tommy had been scared of Dream, he was suddenly even more scared of his brother. 

The moments seemed to stretch out and the Hermits started moving towards Grian, ready to fight a Watcher, when he pushed it back down. Immediately Hermits were shedding armor and putting their elytra back on, glad that no fighting had to occur. Xisuma pulled Tommy aside to fully explain everything to the boy while Mumbo stayed with Grian as a shoulder to cry on. When Tommy returned, Grian once again held him close, this time seeming more worried about losing his brother. Though not in the sense that Tommy could disappear, but in the sense that Tommy could be like his brothers, losing themselves to madness. Just like Grian had nearly done.

While everyone argued, Grian used his Watcher powers more, gazing into the SMP that Tommy had come from. Though no one liked the methods, they were at least glad to get more insight into what had led Tommy to being the way he was. And because of it they were able to help him heal better.

One thing that became obvious was how the time within the world of Hermitcraft passed faster than in other worlds. It helped explain why it was so odd that Grian and Tommy, who once were only around five years apart were now closer to ten. Because of that, there was little worry of the SMP catching them by surprise and trying to find Tommy. Before the next MCC meeting, Tommy hit a growth spurt which made it harder for his old friends to recognize him even before he put on a slight disguise.

Back in Hermittown, Tommy slowly learned to be like his new family. Instead of stealing or hoping for handouts, he used the knowledge from the other Hermits to make farms and get plenty of resources. He didn’t mind spending hours in a mine as the mix of an efficiency five pickaxe and a haste two beacon made the stone break as if it were simply breaking grass. It was peaceful other than the occasional monster showing up and Grian looked proud of him every time so it always seemed worth it. Especially as he always ended up with plenty of diamonds.

When he first started building, the biggest thing Tommy made was a cobble tower up to the build limit, but after mining so much, filling his inventory with cobble, and having an amazing builder for a brother, Tommy built more. He created what looked like a tall wizard tower, which Grian begrudgingly was happy about, though Tommy saw the way Scar smiled smugly at Grian. For the most part the tower was just cobble, but here and there were stone bricks and mossy cobble, spruce and dark oak wood, and other stones to bring some color.

There were different floors and Tommy nearly gave Iskall a heart attack when the redstoner took a tour of the tower and walked in on the floor entirely made of diorite. One floor was filled with yellows and greens and housed a single bee which everyone was pretty sure somehow held part of Tubbo’s soul. It was messy, but at the top of the tower, Mumbo had helped Tommy create a cycling screen. Tommy made half of it the flag of L’Manburg and the other half the flag of the Antarctic Empire. Every few days he would flip a lever and the flag would change. Though certain parts of his past weren’t the greatest, Tommy was glad to have something to remind him of it, and Grian was glad to see the flag of his old family once again.

The last time Grian peeked into the SMP, he saw Dream getting so close to finding a way to Hermitcraft. He warned Xisuma who carefully told other Hermits to prepare, trying to not scare Tommy. Eventually the teen found out, which was probably for the best so when Dream did show up, he didn’t completely panic. Tommy tried to deny Dream could find a way in, and forgetting the time difference between the two worlds, Tommy slowly thought that he really wouldn’t show up.

But when Tubbo appeared and mentioned Dream would be coming, it became very real. Tommy prepared as did Grian. Grian flew to his brother to give him comfort before the battle started. Grian said he would do anything to make sure they couldn’t take Tommy. Tommy asked Grian to promise him not to use his Watcher powers.

Grian hesitated. He had been using the powers more and more. He’d slowly been getting used to them. Surely it would be fine for an emergency. But Tommy wouldn’t listen to Grian’s reasoning and reluctantly Grian promised not to use those powers.

He broke his promise.

#hermit!tommy au #watcher!grian #avian!grian #triplet au #grian #grian xelqua #hermitcraft #dreamsmp #evolution smp #yandere highschool #technoblade #wilbur soot #philza #tommyinnit #mumbo jumbo #My writing

[redwinterroses]

ren /asked/ martyn, but what if etho had the same urge to go red, and tricked someone into doing it?

Yeah so this is… wonky with canon timeline a bit, possibly, and honestly if you want to go red there are easier ways to do it just go jump off a crastle or something Ren is just a drama queen -- but Everything Is AU anyway (AU stands for Angst Universe apparently) so whatever. Oh also I can’t write swordfights. XD enjoy

[tw for blood, stabbing death, character death and general 3rd Life violent angst]

It took Etho a little while to figure out what would trigger Scar’s bloodlust. The sand-and-scam king was almost as much of a wildcard as Etho himself, which made it harder – this whole thing would have been a lot easier if someone like Tango or Bdubs had gone red first. They were much easier to predict.

But at the moment, Scar was the only option, and Etho couldn’t afford to wait for someone else to turn.

He finally got the in he needed while Grian was away, probably plotting or planting some sort of trap. From the treetop where he perched on the edge of the sand lands, Etho watched until Scar was alone and then jumped lightly down from the oak’s branches, keeping to the shadow of the forest’s edge.

Hey Scar, he typed into his communicator. You got any red dye?

He didn’t need dye. But he knew Scar had some squirreled away, and he also knew that the opportunity to strike a deal would be impossible to resist.

I might, came the reply. For a price. >:)

Perfect.

He made his way quickly across the desert as dusk fell over the sands. The tower atop Monopoly Mountain glowed against the darkening sky, and he felt a tingle of apprehension run through him – was he really doing this? It ran against every instinct he had.

He pushed away the nerves and started up the path that spiraled toward the tower. He had a plan, and he was sticking to it.

“Etho, my friend!” Scar greeted him as he reached the top. The red-life was standing, leaning against the wall of his tower with his arms crossed and his hat tilted low over his eyes. He smiled broadly at Etho. “Have you come to the desert to gain dye… and possibly reputation points?”

Etho tugged his mask beneath his chin and matched Scar’s friendly expression. “Just the dye, thanks,” he said. He took a deep breath and headed directly for the door leading into the tower.

“Woah, woah, woah, woah there – not so fast.” Scar darted between him and the door. “You can’t just walk in here – this is our base. If you want something, you gotta pay something in return.”

“Mmmm…” Etho sidestepped around Scar and pushed open the door to the tower. “I don’t think I do.”

Scar squawked and started spluttering and for a moment Etho was afraid he’d just stand there and take the disrespect. He turned his back on Scar and lifted the lid of the closest chest, peering inside.

“Ooh, you got some good stuff in here,” he said, reaching in to grab a couple of iron ingots. “I bet Ren would love to have some of this lapis—”

He was cut off by the sound of a sword being drawn, and he froze.

“Get out, Etho,” Scar ordered. “Or you’ll… you’ll regret it. You’re yellow, don’t forget.”

A slow smile crossed Etho’s face, and he gently let the lid of the chest close.

“Oh, Scar,” he said, not looking around. “Are you really trying to threaten me?”

“I’m not trying, I’m doing!” Scar sounded more indignant than enraged, but Etho could work with that.

He stood, and slowly drew his own sword. Quicker than thought, he whirled on Scar and attacked, immediately driving Scar back toward the door.

“Cool, cool, cool,” he said, keeping his voice scary calm. He caught Scar’s counterattack and parried it deftly. “But that totally counts as an attack, right? So like… I can kill you now.”

The Scar Etho knew in the past would have probably cracked a joke there, and either retreated to a defensive position or else attacked with wild and cheerful abandon, recklessly risking life and limb without a care. In a world where death was little more than an inconvenience, they could play at battling gods all day long.

But here… here, Scar was different. In this world, bloodlust tingled through his veins and tinged his vision red and clouded his judgement – just as Etho had hoped.

“Come on, Red,” he taunted, the iron of his sword scraping along Scar’s diamond blade. “Is that all you got for me?”

“You don’t want to do this, Etho,” Scar warned and his next blow came with a force that surprised Etho, who stumbled back slightly and just managed to fend off the sweeping attack. His sword was already dulling – iron couldn’t stand up to diamond for long – but he only needed to goad Scar a little further. Ducking under the next swing, he came up under Scar’s arm and scored a slicing wound across his unarmored rib-cage.

Apparently, that was all it took, and Scar let out a roar of fury. Good to know, Etho thought. Pain unlocks the bloodlust faster. Noted. He staggered back under a rain of blows, legitimately taken aback by Scar’s ferocity. Do you actually get stronger on red? Gripping his weapon with both hands, he caught a particularly heavy swing against the crossguard—

And Scar’s diamond sword sheared straight through the iron, leaving Etho holding a useless hilt. The nicked-and-battered blade clattered to the ground at his feet.

With a triumphant shout, Scar lunged forward and drove his weapon home: thrusting the sharp point through Etho’s body.

It. Hurt. Like. Hell.

Etho choked and tasted blood in his throat. He staggered back, catching himself against the cool, sandstone wall with Scar’s blade still in his chest.

The red light in Scar’s eyes was flickering, and he looked down at his hands on the sword hilt with a frown. “Wait, Etho, I—”

With a snarl of pain, Etho reached out and gripped the blade, letting the hilt of his own sword tumble to the floor. The diamond edges cut into his fingers, but he gritted his teeth and pulled, yanking Scar close to his face and driving the sword deeper into his own chest.

He grinned at Scar with blood in his teeth, and he could feel the warmth of his right eye fading to a red that matched his left.

“Thanks, Scar,” he rasped. “Couldn’t have done it without you, buddy.”

And he fell to the floor, red darkness whelming up to catch him. The last thing he saw was Scar’s horrified face, and words flashing across his vision:

Etho was slain by GoodTimeWithScar

#i was today years old when i realized that scar's screen name in-game is GoodTimeWithScar not GoodTimes #3rd life smp #3rd life fanfic #ethoslab #etho #goodtimeswithscar #don't mind me just coping with the coming angst by making it worse it's fine #tw: blood #tw: death

[ask-elementalhermitcraft]

The Giving Tree

(1.1k, angst, mod seagrass)

he gives, and gives, and gives until he has nothing left. it hurts, of course, but for his friends-- anything. [Joe overextends himself, over and over, to heal his friends. one day he pushes too far too fast.]

Based off of a prompt given to us during our 200 follower celebration:

Another shirt torn in the same place today

Why they wear out thereabouts, that I cannot say

Another sleeve torn, ripped without a sign

Another top shorn, my wardrobe in decline

There are no threads so sacred that they never are let go

And our bodies grow more naked, as the clothes beneath them show

And the colors once so flagrant, fade thinning into snow

- Joehills

Have you heard the tale of the giving tree?

She gave and gave, til she had nothing left, then she gave more.

Why?

For love, of course. Isn’t that why we do anything?

It’s for love that he does it too, he thinks. Love of his friends, of his teammates, of the whole world. He has to give something, in return for all the love they give him. And he’s got the perfect power for it, too.

Joe can heal everyone, but everything comes at a cost. With the sigh of relief that comes from mending Grian’s wings, his own back tightens and he stifles a cry. It hurts, he thinks, but things stopped hurting a while ago and it’s all about the team now.

They care about him! They’re his friends! And he should help them in turn.

He keeps that in mind as it all escalates, as they come to him with worse injuries, when they limp in looking half-dead and tear tracks down cheeks as he rushes to them, asks what’s wrong (he’s so worried god) and mends their pain.

Joe tries hard at first to keep them all topped up, all ready to go, he really does. Tries to send them off fully healed, with a band-aid or something, ready to go—maybe they’ll be more careful next time, maybe he won’t have to face the sight of blood trailing on his carpet as they drag Stress’s pale body into their base, maybe he can be faster and help them avoid the pain in the first place.

But.

But, it’s so hard.

The healing takes a toll on him, the universe tells him that he can’t keep up, slow down please, you deserve to stay safe too but what else can he do besides keep their team feeling okay?

He starts waking up in odd spots, unaware of when he had fallen asleep.

He starts seeing spots in front of his eyes, learns how to keep his iron count up, learns how to maneuver himself to a bed as fast as any man he’s ever seen.

He starts discovering silvery lines all over himself, for every injury he heals he sees them back on his body like some twisted kind of transfer paper (and how he misses when he had the time for charcoal sketches pinned up above the fireplace).

It hurts, but he’s numb to it by now. Keep going for the team, take one for the sake of your friends. Because you love them.

It’s hard to notice when the cup fills to overflowing, when he starts to realize he’s not effective at base anymore, when he can’t heal fast enough to have them back in before the next battle. All he can tell is that they’re starting to ask him along on the missions.

Humiliation stings, he thinks. Unintentional or otherwise. So he works harder.

Harder, to make up for his failures, all those times he wasn't able to stitch up a wound fast enough.

Harder to try to make things up too little too late. He doesn’t know anymore what’s his own flesh and what’s scar tissue.

He’s so tired, just wants to lay and rest, but they’re moving in on a major battle and Grian had patted his shoulders with the most tired eyes he’d ever seen and a small bleeding gash on his arm and asked him if he was ready and god what could he say to that?

He doesn’t say anything. Just soothes the pain a little (can’t heal it fully can’t even heal a tiny cut anymore) and gives him the best smile he can muster. Grian takes it as proof he’s okay, then, and of course he is.

—

It’s so bright in the afternoon sun, he thinks lazily. The land’s blurry around him. He doesn’t know what’s going on, just that he’s got a new idea for a poem. He’s never been more at bliss, lying on a bed of soft grass, staring at the sky. Everything is warm and happy and peaceful and he thinks he should update the community bulletin board next time he swings around with a new poem.

He hears shouting from a very, very far place. Telling him to get up. He’s not going to get up, it’s such a lovely day, the sun’s so bright for the first time in ages. He can’t remember why he hasn’t done this sooner.

Maybe he’ll take a nap here, he thinks, and starts to slide his eyes shut. There’s a very, very thin string connecting him to his body still, his heavy, heavy, body, and he thinks how easy it would be to wind it around his finger and snap.

Please, someone cries. Pleasepleasepleaseplease—

It’s distracting, and for an instant he pries his eyelids back open to see a bloodied figure clutching his hands. Let go, he tries to say, and discovers how sticky his tongue is. Hm.

Must be something in the water.

Joe slides his eyelids back shut but god, the insistent crying, it’s echoing in his ears and distracting him from severing that last cord that tethers him to his heavy body. He feels a warm sort of liquid on him, but he barely registers it—must be a summer rain shower or something. He doesn’t know. Just wants to sleep.

He vaguely feels his body being lifted up, gathered in someone’s arms like a limp ragdoll, ha, wouldn’t that be funny, a little Joe doll. Could pin it up on someone’s wall or something.

He hopes he’s not causing too much trouble. Then they’d call him down, and he’d have to leave the lovely summer afternoon he’s in.

The pain of the months before is a distant dream? Memory? He doesn’t know, and he turns to his side on the grassy bank. He thinks, or hopes, he can stay here forever.

Inside there’s a little voice, calling to him, please joe you need to wake up you need to hurry your team is hurting you need to tell them you’re okay you need to heal them you need to you need to you need to

You need to fix all this you need to make it right you need to fix all your past mistakes and the time is always for doing that, hurry please wake up don’t die don’t die you still have work left to do

But he ignores the voice, doesn’t he, and shifts into a more comfortable position. He can still hear the crying and the screaming, but it’s getting fainter by the second, and he’s getting more and more comfortable here. He’s safe, and happy, and content here like he’s never been before. They can’t begrudge him that, can they?

Joe Hills starts to slide into a peaceful sleep.

#thank you anon for this epic prompt :D #im. so sorry i made it sad : ( i promise he is Okay #hope yall enjoy! and thank you as always for your kind comments ^ ^ #elemental!joe #joe #joe hills #elemental hermits #elemental hermitcraft au #ehcau #hermitcraft #mod seagrass #writings

[prismarine-parrots]

Tree of Life Pt. 3.5

I wrote this as a special thing for Tumblr, just because I felt like it. It’s not one of the original 5 parts, hence the 3.5

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 (1) Part 5 (2)

Fair warning: you’re probably going to be mad at me, but I’ll be posting the last parts right after so...

TW: character death, killed by another character

There was nothing but ocean for miles around the group of boats. It would be faster to go by elytra, but no one wanted to get separated and lost because they're too fast and bad with coordinates and then crash into the ocean and drown.

So the group rowed along, skimming the ocean surface heading to their unknown location from the coordinates they had found.

"There's an island up ahead!" Iskall yelled, pausing to point at the landmass. Tango scanned against the harsh sunlight, glad that his demonic eyes weren't as affected by harsh light as the other humans' were.

One of the good things about being from the Nether, he thought to himself. Thinking of the Nether he was technically born in, there was a weird feeling that arose in his chest. He ignored it, not caring about that, whatever it was, as he had learned long ago that not being human meant literally nothing to anyone but himself.

"Should we rest there for a while?" Stress asked, sounding rather exhausted herself.

"I second that," Ren groaned loudly.

"Alright guys, let's take a break," Xisuma called. Tango frowned at how tense the admin sounded. Yes, he was server admin, but was he really the leader here? He was never really too outgoing, preferring to keep to himself and watch everyone else go crazy. While yes, he probably had a brain cell or two more than the rest of the whitelist, this entire situation was pushing everyone to their emotional and mental limits.

I could dispatch them. Have a little fun before putting them out of their misery.

Tango lurched at his own thought that didn't even seem like his own.

"What did I just think? Oh my god, no no," he whispered to himself in shock. How would that help at all?! Where did that come from?! I-I couldn't kill them...

"You alright there, Tango?" Doc asked. Tango stiffly nodded, still not quite out of his head. He had stopped rowing and was coasting, losing speed as the quiet Impulse stopped for his friend.

"Come on, Tango. Let's get to land," the dark-haired human encouraged. He hadn't raised his voice above a quiet breath since Zedaph died. Tango had been shocked as well, but if Impulse was hurting and Zed was gone... someone had to be the strong one and take the blows for Team ZIT. Interestingly enough, while he had shed some blood, there was a strange thrill to it that also scared Tango. Seeing ruby red zombie blood mixed with his own onyx black... there wasn't supposed to be any satisfaction in killing.

But blood is such a pretty color... red like netherrack, black like the void... Tango's thoughts continued after that, but he was not registering them anymore. His actual mind had gone blank, with a small question in the back wondering what was going on brushed into the cobwebs of old memories. Now there was only a feeling. The feeling Tango had felt before in the boats. An instinct, if you will. One that pushed aside Tango and replaced him with a single thought.

Kill.

——————

"Tango? Are you alright?" Impulse asked warily. Something was wrong. Tango had stopped moving, standing like a statue on the beach they had landed on. A wide smile had grown on his face and his ruby red eyes were bright but unseeing.

"Tango...?"

Suddenly the demon man lunged, enchanted diamond sword appearing in hand out of nowhere. Impulse yelled as he jumped out of the way and the other hermits immediately turned to see what the commotion was.

"The heck, Tango?" Iskall demanded, readying his own sword confidently to face off.

Tango didn't reply. That malicious smile was still on his face, showing off his fanged canines and slightly pointed teeth. He glanced around, sword still in hand, and Impulse noticed with a sickening jolt that the gloves that Tango normally wore to cover his finger were gone, showing off wicked hooked fingernails that no matter what he did always grew back as claws that got redstone dust under them. His eyes were alight with a look Impulse had never seen on his friends- where there was normally a happy, warm, excitable energy, there was now a terrifying thrill that even enderman or blazes did not possess.

Tango took a step forward and other hermits took a step back, except for Iskall and Doc, who had readied his trident.

"Not a step further, Tango," Doc growled.

"We don't want to hurt you," Iskall added.

"Tango, calm down love, i-it's alright. Whatever's bothering you, we can talk it ou'," Stress said, slowly moving forward but being held back by the Swede with the sword.

"I don't think he's going to listen," Iskall said quietly to her.

Impulse grimaced as they came to a standstill. The other hermits versus Tango, one of his best friends, who they all knew was not dangerous... except right now he was. Tango swayed on his feet, light on his feet, and Impulse knew from the amount of roughhousing they did that the demon packed a punch when not holding back.

Xisuma sucked in a breath from behind Impulse.

"What is it?" Ren asked, not taking his eyes off the showdown.

"It's his tree," Xisuma breathed, "It's affected now as well."

"So it made Grian sick, Wels exhausted, and now Tango... demonic?" Jevin summarized cautiously. "This is horrible..."

There was a hum of agreement.

Impulse stared at Tango in pain. In front of him was this prowling, maniacal version of one of his best friends, who they had no way of returning to sanity without a cure to the trees but also obviously couldn't handle in this state.

Python stepped forward. "I want to try something. Doc, put your trident down. Maybe he'll respond better to us if we don't threaten him, and because we're not human."

There as a muttering from someone saying that Tango looked more human than not, but was quickly hushed by Xisuma.

Doc glared at the passive-aggressive demon, but slowly placed his trident on the ground. Iskall backed up, but didn't lower his sword by any means. "Alright, Python, don't get yourselves killed," the hitman muttered.

The red creeper laughed nervously. "Yeah, sounds like a plan." Then he turned fully to Tango.

"Hey man. I know we don't know each other that well, but we're gonna figure this out, alright? It's just us. No need for weapons," Python said slowly, gesturing to Doc's trident on the ground.

Tango's eyes flicked to the trident. Python took another step forward, and Doc slowly moved to the side, giving space between himself and the other creeper hybrid. Impulse wondered if the others noticed Tango's subtle movement. With the red-on-red eyes, it was hard to notice the small changes, but being friends for as long as the golden boy had been with the demon, Impulse read him like the back of his own hand.

He's still looking at the trident. I think Python thinks he's still watching him-

Tango's slit eyes rapidly scanned over the rest of the group and made eye contact with Impulse. Pausing before narrowing and glancing down at the pale blue weapon once more.

He's going for it!

"Look out!" Impulse yelled right as Tango sprung into action. He leapt forward and slid to his knees, arching backward underneath Iskall's diamond blade, rising to one knee in a fluid motion and scooping up the trident.

"Well now we're done for," Joe groaned and pulled out a shield. The other hermits prepared their weapons, regretfully realizing they're going to have to fight. All eyes were on Tango now, waiting to see how the outnumbered one would react.

What do we do? Tango's still in there. What if we can't bring him back? Any of them? What if the trees are permanent and they're all dead and now Tango is... feral? Impulse was scared. Scared of that word, of what it meant, and what would happen to his friend if they act and what would happen to them if they didn't.

This is a no-win situation.

Tango raised the trident and was immediately met by Iskall's sword, the Swedish hitman reacting the quickest with his decent PVP skills.

And just like that, the fight against one of their own was on.

The trident swung around in a wide arc and everyone jumped back, before Tango jabbed the long weapon and Joe stepped forward and ducked behind his shield. The tips of the pronged weapon got stuck in the soft but reinforced wood, and Joe sent a wild look over his shoulder as Tango grunted, trying to pull back the weapon.

"Some assistance would be greatly appreciated so I don't get run through work a fork?"

"On it, Joe!" Cleo gave a battlecry as she did an understand swing, dislodging the trident from the poet's shield and from the demon's grip. It flipped in the air and landed in the long grass of the tiny island.

Doc, seeing his weapon free, made a dive for it. Iskall charged and took another strike at Tango, but his adrenaline was faster and he slid to the ground, grabbing his trident and letting Doc hit the ground harshly, a dull thud and "oof" coming from the cyborg as the air was knocked out of whatever lungs he had that wasn't machinery.

Tango twisted his body and braced the trident above his head just in time to meet Iskall's blade once more. They both grimaced as the forced against each other, trying to get the other to buckle.

Impulse was frozen watching the fight unfold in front of him. Stress and Xisuma seemed to be in a similar state, too scared and worried to know how to react. Ren was antsy watching Doc's and Iskall's moves, clearly wanting to help but not sure how. Jevin and Python has crept away and were making silent eye contact and single hand gestures.

What are they doing? Impulse wondered, but shook his head, keeping his focus on trying to figure out how the heck he was going to help Tango.

"Tango! This isn't you, dude!" Iskall said. The blonde only grinned.

With a powerful surprise shove of his trident Tango pushed Iskall back where Jevin reached out and caught him, then quickly spun the staff to regain his grip and raised the handle above his head, prongs pointed at the ground where Doc had finally recovered enough to be slowly lifting himself to his knees.

"NO!" Ren yelled out and surged forward, fists raised to go into hand-to-hand combat to protect Doc.

Doc had gotten himself oriented enough to see Ren coming and roll out of the way, propped up on one knee as the werewolf flew past.

At the same time, Python jumped into action, grabbing the trident staff himself from behind and restraining Tango.

Ren tried to skid to stop before he hurt Python, but ended up ramming into Tango.

Impulse watched in horror and the blonde demon's head jerked back from the momentum. His horn that extruded from the left side of his forehead and was just longer than his head that Impulse and Zedaph had learned to avoid knocked into Python's head, the soft, wrinkled, red flesh immediately blooming into a dark maroon. The red creeper let go of the trident and stumbled backward, gripping his head where it had been punctured.

"Python!"

Stress shrieked and coveted her mouth. Joe dropped everything and went into medic mode, scrambling to pull out a healing potion and Cleo was not a second layer pulling out string she kept on her in case she needed to do repairs on her tattered clothes.

Xisuma covered Doc and got him to his feet finally. Jevin was tending to Iskall, who seemed to have been wounded somewhere along the way in the fight and was downing a healing potion himself. Ren was staring in shock at Python, who had grown to a dulled pink color and eyes were fluttering. Joe and Cleo were talking urgently to each other.

"He's not healing!"

"His tree isn't regenerating..."

"There has to be something we can do, Joe!"

Joe silently shook his head. "Just try to stop the bleeding. Creepers don't have strong skin."

Cleo stared at him, a silent conversation happening in seconds between them before they both went back to work.

The only ones left were Impulse and Tango. Tango was staring at Python as well, the tension having left his stance and the ironically clean pronged weapon held loosely in his hand. His left horn was stained red, and there were a few speckles of crimson on the ends of his hair. He didn't seem be as alert anymore, he could have attacked anyone else by now, but he just... stood there.

I really hope that's Tango in there, resisting, and not him being a sadist and watching his victim die.

"Impulse," Xisuma approached. Doc had joined Jevin and Iskall, glancing over his shoulder and eyeing his weapon with a dark passion. Impulse gripped the unused sword in his hand, a grim feeling settling in his stomach seeing the admin's expression.

"We can't help him right now..."

The dark-haired man shivered as that was said. He grimaced and blinked away the tears and horrible feeling as he knew what had to be done.

"I know," Impulse whispered. Xisuma has the same expression that Impulse felt. Their eyes both slowly fell to Impulse's sword, a guilty silent agreement coming to them.

"I'm sorry," X choked, pulling out his own sword. Impulse shook his head and readied his own weapon.

"No. I will. I know how to fight him."

"But he's your friend!"

"And we can't risk losing you as admin," Impulse reasoned. X was surprised by this, jumping at the statement, before giving in.

"I hate that title, you know."

The gold man gave a single, cynical laugh. "I would too."

Then Impulse turned away from Xisuma and stepped forward. One step, two steps, then he called the name.

"Tango Tek!"

The demon at least responded to his name and faced Impulse. He glanced up and down at the human, eyes lingering on the sword and his face. Slowly, Tango started to raise the trident.

Impulse didn't give him the chance to fight back. He thrust his sword up, and it slid smoothly into the warm flesh in front of him. Tango cried out and sucked in a breath of air.

"I'm sorry," Impulse whispered.

"What's happening? What did I do...?" Tango asked, the first words he had spoken since Impulse had first realized something was wrong. Impulse pulled out his sword and Tango crumpled to the ground.

Two consecutive server messages came in on his phone in his cargo shorts pocket. He didn't need to look to know who it was as the realization of what he had just done set in. The sword slipped out of his hand, no longer feeling like a his main weapon now some sort of evil tool, despite having killed players with it before.

But everyone came back during the war. There was no question everyone would respawn. Tango's GONE now....

Joe and Cleo leaned back, giving up in their work at the still Python. Jevin helped Iskall to his feet, and Doc and Xisuma just observed their grief-stricken group.

Stress was quietly crying on the side, eyes wide and hands covering her mouth. Impulse slowly walked over to her, giving her the hug he so desperately wanted himself.

"This is too much. It's not supposed to go like this!" Stress breathed between sobs.

"I know."

They sank to the ground and Impulse cried.

————————

Word count: 2800

#hermitcraft #tangotek #impulsesv #xisumavoid #joehills #renthedog #docm77 #stressmonster #zombiecleo #ijevin #iskall85 #tree of life au #ToL #thats two deaths in one part oof #becca writes

[votederpycausemufins]

i don’t think i’ve managed 3 chapters in one day before. and before you say anything, yes i did all my work first, i just wrote really fast.

@petrichormeraki

“Mumbooooo.” Grian gave a sickly moan as Mumbo continued to watch the cooking pumpkin seeds. “I’m hungryyyyy.”

“Be patient. Furnaces only work so fast and while smokers are faster, you always disapprove of how they come out.” Mumbo half scolded the builder.

“They taste funny like that.” Grian complained. Mumbo rolled his eyes and took the baking sheet out of the furnace, placing a second sheet in the now empty space.

“Alright, they’re done now.” He put the seeds into a bowl and then carefully carried it up the ladder to Grian’s nest. “Here you go. I’ve got more cooking now and-” Grian snatched the bowl from Mumbo’s hands and gobbled them up. “And I’m glad I decided to make more. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I’m about to start molting and my head feels all buzzy.” Grian groaned before stuffing more seeds in his mouth. “Will you still loooove me with all my feathers gone?”

Mumbo covered his face. “Grian, I think you’re delirious.” Oh come on, isn’t it obvious what he means? Mumbo stopped covering his face to look below them. “Hey! Iskall is that you? We don’t need you bothering us right now.”

Grian looked down where Mumbo was looking. “Is Iskall here?”

Mumbo shrugged. “Someone is.” You know, why don’t things burn in furnaces? Mumbo stood up to try and get a better look. “Alright, who is it? Grian’s sick so he really should be left alone.”

Next to him, Grian looked around. “Mumbo? Are you okay? I’m not hearing anyone.”

“What do you mean? They’re quite clear.” Why doesn’t Mumbo just make a super smelter for the seeds instead of cooking them by hand. Bird Grian is best Grian. Guys, which is worse, spoon brain or bird brain. Spoon brain. Spoon brain. Def spoon brain.

Mumbo was looking around him. The voices no longer just being a sentence made him realize that they sounded much closer. Too close for them to be a Hermit on the ground. “What the devil?” He couldn’t see anyone, but he kept hearing people.

“Mumbo? Are you okay?” Grian, though sick, looked confused. Reluctantly the redstoner gave a short explanation and what little color was left on Grian’s already pale face seemed to vanish. “No. No th-they just said they were leaving.”

Mumbo was suddenly being hugged and was enveloped in Grian’s wings. “Grian, what’s going on, what are you going on about.”

“Can you please call Iskall?” Mumbo tried to argue. “Please?” He sounded so worried that Mumbo agreed and before long Iskall had arrived.

“Mumbo? Grian? Are you in here?”

Before Mumbo could say anything, Grian was answering. “Iskall they’re gonna take Mumbo away from meeee!”

Iskall climbed up the ladder to find Grian using his wings to essentially pin Mumbo. The builder looked like he was on the verge of crying while the redstoner looked confused. “I’m guessing he’s not feeling much better?”

“Definitely not. Though to be perfectly honest I’m not sure i’m feeling quite the best myself.”

Iskall sighed and shook his head. “Alright, what seems to be the problem?”

Again, Mumbo didn’t get a chance to speak. “The vault gods are messing with him now! Pixlriffs wouldn’t let me put a claim on Mumbo and now they’re gonna take himmmm!”

“What about vaults?”

“Mumbo noooooo! Don’t listen to them!” Grian actually started crying now. Mumbo had no clue what was going on, but Iskall seemed to have some idea.

“Hey, they’re not going to be taking him anywhere. They caught us off guard when they took Stress Ren and I but we know what’s happening this time.”

“Wait, are the vault gods the one who made you disappear.” Mumbo asked, receiving a nod from Iskall. 

“Why did you have to like vaults so much? Am I not good enough? What did I do wrong?!”

“Grian, calm down, I’m not going to leave.” Mumbo tried to calm the delirious avian. Iskall started to speak, but his words were lost in the middle of all the other voices that reared their heads again. Not wanting to upset Grian, he just asked Iskall to repeat himself, pretending to pull feathers out from his ears though they were really stray ones lying around.

“They won’t really give you any choice Mumbo. They’re just going to take you away if they really want to.”

Mumbo almost spoke but instead nearly fell over as Grian flopped on his back. “I don’t care what Pixlriffs says… I wanna keep him safe!” The avian started using his watcher powers, but that seemed to make him even more sick.

“Alright Grian, calm down. We’re not going to let them take him or-”

Mumbo suddenly found himself in a completely different world. It looked new, or possibly it was just a very underdeveloped area. “Grian? Iskall?” A voice behind him scoffed and he whirled around so see what looked like a young girl who hadn’t been there before. “Who are you?”

The girl rolled her eyes and then pointed to herself. The name’s Drista. And You’re Mumbo Jumbo. Weren’t you listening?”

“Um, I suppose not. I don’t remember that being said.”

The girl crossed her arms and rolled her eyes again. “I guess that makes sense why lots of VGs want you.”

“Veegees?” Mumbo asked, confused.

“Ugh, do they really want me explaining everything to you? I thought being around Watchers and other VG interactors would leave you smarter than this.” Drista jumped down from the stump she was sitting on and crossed her arms. “You like vaults, right?”

“Er, yes. I don’t see why that-”

“And you’re pretty smart.”

“That’s a little debatable and-”

“And you’re hearing voices.” Mumbo wasn’t sure how she knew, but he nodded. “Well, I’m what’s called a Vault God and the other VGs want you to be one too. It’s a big privilege or whatever, so you’re probably going to say yes or something.”

Mumbo shook his head. “What? No. You’re those people who kidnapped my friends and Grian seems like he doesn’t want me saying yes to… whatever all this is.”

Drista waved a hand dismissively. “Your friends were fine, it’s just something we do every however long. It was harmless.”

“They were gone for three months!”

“Yeah, see, that’s not that long. We could have kept them a few years.”

“A few years?!”

“Well we didn’t. We know they don’t always live that long.”

Mumbo rubbed his temples. “And so what, you still think after that I would want to be a vault whatever?”

“Why not? Immortality, amazing powers, stuff like that. You might have to mess with your ‘friends’ a little to keep charged up but otherwise it’s fine. And if you don’t want to mess with them, talk to someone else in the family. I’m sure they’ll let you use their wards for feeding.”

“Feed- Are you vampires or something?!”

“Or something. More just mess with people’s minds, get them hearing voices, and the energy that produces powers you. We put your friends in that world because to escape then needed the help from voices so it charged us up plenty. Sure, we could have gotten other people, but it was pretty funny to get people from such a protected world as Hermitcraft to mess with.”

Mumbo shook his head. “No wonder Grian was so worried. You’re dangerous.”

The girl shrugged. “I mean I guess from an outside perspective it seems bad, but it’s different once you experience it. Here, I’ll let you join the fam for a week and then you can make a decision. If it’s not allowed, I just blame it on the usual scapegoat. I’m with him often enough that it should trick them.”

Mumbo tried to say something, but suddenly he was back in Grian’s nest, finding it empty. “Oh dear, how long was I gone?”

From below, Mumbo heard Iskall speak. “Mumbo? Is that you up there?” The mustached man looked over the edge of the build. “Oh thank goodness. You disappeared and Grian panicked. He went through some weird bedrock portal.”

Mumbo saw said portal standing open a few blocks behind Iskall. “Are you able to go through there after him.”

Iskall shook his head. “I mean I might, but I’d rather not risk it and end up dead or something.”

“That is a fair point.”

They waited a while and eventually Grian came out, immediately jumping at Mumbo when he saw his friend. “Mumboooo! You’re aliveee!”

“Yes, of course I am. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, Pixlriffs said I could… wait… M-Mumbo, were you talking with Vault Gods?”

“Yeah.” He answered sheepishly. “At least one of them and they looked like a little girl. Said something along the lines about me being a part of her family for a week? And I assume that means be a Vault God.”

“Mumboooo nooooo!” Grian flopped against Mumbo in a dramatic fashion. This was going to be a long week.

The next week was a mess. Grian couldn’t stay around Mumbo without feeling worse. Instead Iskall had to pass messages between the two. Apparently Vault magic and Watcher magic did not do well together which is why Grian was sick in the first place, and since Grian inherited the hearing voices problem the rest of his family had, Mumbo found himself accidentally pulling them closer to the surface of Grian’s mind.

Instead Stress and Ren were asked to keep Mumbo company for the week. He felt bad with how his newly appointed powers messed with his friends, but they seemed to understand he didn’t really have a choice. 

When he was pulled back to the empty looking world, he was relieved that it would finally be over. Drista was there again, though her previously green hoodie was now red. “So, are you convinced now? We can make it permanent and you can hang with us and-”

“Definitely not!” Mumbo shouted before she could continue. “It’s hurting my friends and making Grian sick.”

“Grian? Oh the Watcher. Eh, it is what it is. And it’s not that bad. Maybe a week wasn’t long enough?”

“What? No!” Mumbo felt even angrier. “I don’t care how long you try, I’m going to say no! I may like a nice vault here and there, but obviously that’s not what this is all about! I mean the first vault I made on the server was because of Grian, what would I be without him?”

Drista just watched Mumbo, swinging her legs. She was silent long enough and refused to blink so it was slowly creeping Mumbo out. “Oh alright, fine. I’ve got places to be anyway. Maybe we can try again in the future.” And just like that Mumbo was back home. Stress and Ren were staring at him and asked if he was doing alright. He told them the good news, leaving out the potential of another return visit.

The two were glad to leave and Mumbo was able to fly over to Grian’s base. Mumbo could barely get his elytra off before Grian was hugging him tightly. He looked like if he let go of Mumbo for even a moment, he would disappear. His face pressed into Mumbo’s chest and the redstoner patted Grian’s head.

“You’re not allowed to talk with Vault Gods again.” Grian said to Mumbo, even though that didn’t seem like something either of them could entirely control.

Mumbo chuckled and some words slipped out. “Love you too Gri.” Immediately he slapped a hand to his mouth, expecting Grian to react badly to it. He had in the past, mentioning it was related to some bad memories from back when he was a teen. But right now, he seemed okay. In fact he seemed really okay as he pulled Mumbo’s hand away and gave him a quick kiss.

“Grian?”

“Do you have any idea how much all of that scared me, you spoon. I may have a bad past, but I don’t want that making me act in a way that will get me a worse future. Now come on.” And Grian was pulling Mumbo up to where the nest area had been. There were still bits of wheat around, but it seemed to have mostly been dismantled.

That being said, Grian quickly placed down some more bales of hay and had Mumbo sit on them. It wasn’t until his tie was being removed that he started to panic. “Grian what the devil are you doing?! We just got to kissing!”

Grian looked confused before looking at the red tie now in his hands and then at the equally red face of Mumbo. “What?! No! No no I wasn’t going to do that at all! I just-! I’m going to use Watcher magic on you so something like this doesn’t happen again. But it’s going to leave a mark behind so I thought you would want it where it can’t easily be seen. Especially since some worlds aren’t as happy about Watchers.”

Mumbo nodded. He remembered when everyone first found out Grian was a Watcher and the range of reactions that came from it. “I still would have liked you to tell me before you started taking my clothes off!”

“It would be easier if you didn’t wear a stuffy suit all the time and I could just move the collar! And I already had to wait a week since the Vault Gods were messing with you so I was impatient.”

Mumbo sighed and rolled his eyes. He unbuttoned his shirt slightly and revealed his shoulder to Grian. He tried not to squirm as Grian’s Watcher eyes opened and it felt like he had a bad sunburn on the revealed shoulder. When Grian returned to normal, he looked down to see a bright red Watcher symbol that matched Grian’s sweater imprinted on his skin.

“So… will we have to do that often, or what?”

“Hopefully it should last forever, so should be a more one and done type thing, but we can see.”

Mumbo’s eyes widened with recognition. “You’re a Vault God.” He managed to keep the word ‘too’ from making its way out of his mouth.

“Hmm… must be newer than I thought. You know, I was really wondering why hanging around Techno felt so odd.. I assumed it was the relation to Grian since Tommy was also there one time, but Apparently it was just because you were following them around.”

Mumbo didn’t care. “Vault and Watcher Magics don’t mix. Is that why Grian can’t change back? Are you hurting him doing this?”

Dream shrugged. “I’m pretty sure he’s fine. Besides, it’s easier to work with this way. I’m sure why you send a report back to everyone they’ll let me back in.”

“Are you saying you’re some disgraced vault whatever?” Tommy asked, not having as much information as Mumbo and Dream did.

“Disgraced is a bit harsh Tommy. But I suppose it fits.”

“Did you go after Grian because of what he did to you, or because of his relation to some of the people here?” Mumbo asked, wanting to know why.

“Oh neither. I’ve just been looking for a lone Watcher for a while now. Grian just happened to be the first one I found. Who exactly he was was just a bonus. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like him back so I can continue things.”

Mumbo held Grian closer to him. “No! He- He’s a person! He doesn’t belong to anyone! You can’t just use him like that!”

“On the contrary, I’ve already been doing it and it’s actually been pretty easy.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” Mumbo glanced back at the others. “They were doing fine before you messed around.”

“I’m just trying to teach them all the right way to do things. Tommy messed that up by running off.”

Mumbo just stared at Dream before starting to walk off. “Let’s just try and get to the portal. Hopefully going back will fix things.”

“You can’t just take them. They belong to me! I own this world and they need to stay here.”

“No they don’t. They’re people. You can’t just treat them like they’re things.”

Dream scoffed. “Is that what they’re saying these days?”

“I’m not a Vault God. I’m saying what I know myself.”

Dream didn’t stop Mumbo as he walked off. “If you’re not a Vault God, you’re not fixing that Portal. But something tells me you know that you can fix it, and we both know what that means you are.” Dream smiled and spread his arms giving a somewhat crazed shout. “Welcome to the family! Only a matter of time before you’re just like us!”

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #grian #watcher!grian #avian!grian #mumbo jumbo #vault god!mumbo #iskall85 #the watchers (evo) #tommyinnit #dream smp #still not a fan of how dream's persona eminates someone... problematic #drista

[melon-wing]

Full Moon

This Story was inspired by @gridoc ‘s fanart found here

Grian laid on the soft grass, looking up at the blue sky. The smell of flowers was all around him and he could hear birds tweeting. He loved this part of being a Hippie. He seriously should have tried something like this way sooner. It was so relaxing after a stressful day of working. And the plus side was, he could always be close to his boyfriend. His eyes landed on Ren sitting on top of his RV, playing a few notes on his guitar and humming no song in particular to himself. This was perfect. Or as Impulse had said, the ‘Disgustingly sweet life of a freshly married couple’. And while they weren’t really married or anything like that, the living together thing, albeit temporary, was something new, that both of them enjoyed a lot.

Grian stretched and stood up as the sun started to get closer to the horizon, walking over to Ren, who stopped playing the instant he noticed him and jumped down from his RV.

“Hey, beautiful!”

Grian smiled, stepped up to his boyfriend and gave him a chaste kiss. “Hello there, Handsome.” He distantly heard a gagging sound from the direction of Impulse’s RV, but chose to ignore it. “So what do you say to a nice dinner? Stress taught me a really nice recipe and I thought I could try it tonight. We could even bust out some candles and make it really romantic.”

Ren’s smile faltered and he shook his head. “Sorry not today. It’s… not good. I need to be alone, you know. There’s a full moon tonight.”

Grian sighed and stepped back, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He hated it when Ren disappeared once a month during the full moon without telling him anything at all. He had tried asking so often now but never gotten a satisfying answer. Depending on Ren’s mood he either got no answer at all, or was distracted with kisses. Only one time he had told Grian that it was dangerous during the full moon, but refused to give any further explanation.

Ren noticed his foul mood – he always did – and soon soft lips covered his. He opened his mouth begrudgingly at first, but soon got to enjoy his apology make out session. When they separated, both a little out of breath his mood had indeed gotten a little better.

“I’ll make it up to you. Let’s take tomorrow off. No building, no digging. We’ll lock the RV and rock the wheels.” Grian grinned at the idea.

There was another annoyed groan coming from Impulse’s RV. “Oh dear god. I’ll take tomorrow off then. Have fun guys! Don’t break the RV.”

They looked at Impulse and then at each other and laughed, everything else forgotten.

Everything was just perfect.

~*~

Grian loved their new world. He really did. But part of him missed the old place. Getting around had been so easy there. He had been able to see Ren every day and they had spend a lot of nights together. Now it took hours upon hours of rowing for one of them. It was their own fault that they had settled so far apart, but there was nothing you could do about that. They were both builders and once a builder fell in love with a spot, nothing could change that.

Grian swore to try and get an Elytra as soon as he was able to. Maybe he could ask his neighbour Scar for some help. But that had to wait for another day. At the moment Grian was busy collecting sand for his little Hobbit Hole. He really couldn’t carry a lot unfortunately and he hated it. He had to take so many trips to gather all the materials.

As he rowed back, the sun was already setting. He didn’t really fear the night, as long as there were no phantoms flying around. Wait… When was the last time he had slept in a bed? Damn, now that he thought about it, there was a high chance of phantoms spawning around him. Maybe it would be better to spend the night somewhere else. Or to find someone with a bed.

Grian took his communicator out and looked at the coordinates, a smile forming on his face. He was really close to Ren’s little island. Maybe he could go there and crash for the night.

<Grian> Hey Ren. I’m out on the ocean. High chance of phantoms. Can I crash at your place?

Grian waited for a few minutes, watching the setting sun and it’s reflection on the water. There was no answer. Their chat wasn’t really busy today at all. Most of them were working hard and not looking at their communicators.

<Grian> I’ll just come by. If you are not there, I’ll just use your bed. Feel free to join me ;)

Grian put his communicator away and got back to rowing. When he reached ‘Loser Island’ the sun’s last rays were already fading over the water. He had made it just in time. He tied his boat to the dock and went over to Pamela, petting the cow on its head and handing her a piece of wheat before continuing on to the hut.

“Ren?!”, he called out as he opened the door.

There was nobody inside.

“Ren you there?”, he called again. He heard a noise from down below were he knew Ren was working on his base and smiled. Without hesitation he jumped down the hole and landed with a splash in the water down below.

“Ren?”, he asked, looking around and getting out of the water. Damn this place had gotten huge since the last time he’d been here.

Before he could look around for his boyfriend his communicator gave of a series of beeps as a number of messages came in. Maybe Ren wasn’t here after all and had messaged him now.

He took out the communicator and looked at it.

<Docm77> Don’t go there, Grian!

<Docm77> Please answer me! Go somewhere else

<Docm77> Grian tell me you didn’t go. It’s dangerous!

Grian looked at the messages in confusion. What the hell was going on with Doc? He never spammed the chat like that. And what was he going on about?

<Grian> I’m already in his base’s lower level. What is going on, Doc?

There was nothing dangerous in Ren’s base. Sure, it was a little dark, but not dark enough for Mob’s to spawn. The torches lit the place up and the full moon was shining through the window. His communicator beeped again.

<Docm77> You idiot! Run! Get out! I’m coming!

Wait… The full moon? Grian raised his head from his communicator to look through the glass front, seeing the moon rise through the ocean water.

Hadn’t Ren told him to never ever visit him during a full moon? Was he up to something dangerous during that time?

There was a rustling sound behind him. Grian’s heart was beating frantically as he turned around. Something was moving slowly by the wall in the shadows.

“Ren? Is that you? This is not funny.”, he called to the shadow. There was a low growling sound and Grian jumped a little. “Ren…?”

The shadow moved a little and finally the torch light revealed it. Grian’s breath hitched, his eyes widened and fear grabbed his heart. The communicator dropped from his hands falling to the floor. At the other side of the room was a giant wolf with sharp teeth and huge claws and it was staring out of glowing red eyes directly at him.

He wanted to scream, but only a silent whimper left his mouth. That was no mob he had ever seen. It was huge, almost double Grian’s size. And he didn’t have his diamond sword with him.

The eyes of the creature were fixed on him. A tongue darted out of its mouth to lick over the glistening teeth, and finally Grian was able to move again. He tried to ignore the pains that came from a whole day of digging sand and sprinted towards the bubble elevator. He needed to get out of here. With its size the creature probably wouldn’t be able to follow him through the tight space.

But just as he had began moving the wolf started to run as well and it was faster than him. He needed to hurry up. He needed to get out of here. He didn’t want to die here.

He was almost there. He would make it. His hand already hit the water as he reached for it, when something hit him in the side, throwing him to the floor. He skidded over the rough stone for a few metres and then came to a halt, panting heavily. He hurt all over from the tackle and from the stone grating away his jumper and into his skin. He stood up on shaking legs, trying to ignore all the scratches. The wolf stood between him and the exit now. There was no way he could get out of here. This was the only exit. He could try to get out of the glass front if he was able to break it, but without any gear on him there was no way he’d be fast enough and the water pressure would be hard to fight any ways.

He tried not to move. Maybe it wouldn’t notice him. Maybe it wouldn’t go after him if he didn’t trigger its instincts.

The wolf kept its eyes on him and Grian’s heart kept beating faster and faster. He was seconds away from having a full on panic attack. His adrenalin was probably the only thing that kept him standing right now and not cowering in fear.

The wolf slowly crept closer and Grian took a few slow steps backwards, looking around for anything he could use as a weapon, but there was nothing. He grabbed one of the torches standing around, holding it out defensively in front of him. Maybe it would be scared of fire. He kept stepping further and further back, the creature following his every move.

And suddenly his back hit the wall. Panic rose inside of him and he hurriedly looked of to the side for a way to get out. That was when the creature jumped. Grian instinctively held the torch in front of his body. There was a howl of pain and the smell of burning hair in the air. The beast held a claw up to its shoulder and stared at Grian. It looked even more enraged than before

And then it pounced again in wild furry. Grian swung the torch in front of him, but one hit from the giant paw sent it flying.

Grian screamed as searing pain shot through his arm. Blood dripped down to the floor from three long gashes the claws had left on his arm. Tears formed in his eyes. He would die here. Doc wouldn’t make it in time. That monster would kill him.

In his panic Grian darted off to the side, stumbling a little. He needed to get away. He didn’t want to die here. And why wasn’t Ren here to help him out? Why was a monster running around in his basement?

Something heavy hit his back and Grian fell, rolling over the stone and coming to a painful halt on his back. If he survived this his whole body would be littered in bruises and scratches.

He hurried to get up, but the giant paws of the beast were suddenly standing on his shoulders. It was lowering its mouth, sharp teeth ready, mouth wide open. Grian raised his arms to push it away, trying to frantically grab anywhere to get it away. It didn’t work. The wolf growled and suddenly Grian’s arm was in its mouth. It was about to bite down and probably take his whole hand off. Then their eyes locked. Grian could see his face reflected in the red eyes. His terrified face full of tears and for a second the red started to flicker, turning into a soft blue. Blue like the sky. Blue like the eyes of…

“Ren…?”

The beast seemed to hesitate and Grian pulled his hand back to safety, away from the sharp teeth.

“Ren is that you?” He felt the pressure fading a little from his shoulders and dared to hope again. He didn’t understand whatever was happening right now, but somehow in some way Ren had turned into this… this wolf monster. And he was coming to his senses. Maybe he was recognizing Grian.

“It’s alright Ren. Everything is okay. Okay? I’m sorry I came over. Don’t do this”, Grian whispered. His words seemed to have an effect on the creature. He just needed to keep talking. Keep it distracted.

“I… I love you, Ren…” One of the giant paws slid off of Grian’s shoulder and he decided to take the opportunity. He hurriedly rolled to the side and got up. That turned out to be a bad idea. The blue eyes instantly turned red again and the beast was growling in anger. Grian wanted to run, but he soon stumbled and then felt sharp claws piercing right through his shoulders. He fell to the ground again, breathing heavily. It was over. He wouldn’t get away this time. He was hurting everywhere. He could feel the warm breath of the wolf right next to his ear as its mouth moved to his neck.

He prepared for the worst, when he heard a loud splash of water.

“Stay down!” A voice shouted. Something flew right over his head and the creature howled in pain.

Grian turned his head to look back. A trident was embedded right in the wolves upper body, blood staining the fur red. It stumbled back a few steps, its eyes flickering between red and blue. The trident ripped itself out of his body again as if by magic and it fell to the ground. It took a few more shaking breaths, trying to get up again, growling dangerously. Again a trident flew, this time hitting its lower abdomen. It struggled to stay upright and took one more shaking step, before it fell down one final time and stopped moving.

“R-Ren…? REN!”

Grian tried to get up, but a warm hand on his back kept him from moving and he looked at Doc who was kneeling next to him, bloody trident in his mechanical arm.

“It’s okay, Grian…”

“Nothing is okay!” There were tears gathering in Grian’s eyes now. He just felt the tension of this whole ordeal all at once becoming too much. “You killed him! That was Ren and you killed him!”

“I know, but…”

“You knew?!” Grian almost shouted, wincing at the pain it caused in his shoulder. “Why? Doc, if you knew that was Ren, why did you do it?”

“You need to calm down, Grian, man…”, he said calmingly, put down the trident after one last look at the wolf and then carefully turned Grian around to get him into a sitting position. “Look.”

Grian followed his instructions and saw the wolf’s fur moving a little as low breaths were still leaving its mouth. “Is he… Will he...?”

“He will be okay. He is one tough guy in that form. And I know how to aim. I just did enough damage to stop him. He will be fully healed once the full moon is gone, don’t worry. He always transforms back without any injuries. No one is dead. And it looks like he didn’t get to bite you. He didn’t right?”

Grian shook his head and Doc let out a sigh of relief. “Good. He would never forgive himself if he turned you as well.”

“What… turned me into what…? Is he a… Werewolf? But they don’t exist. That is just a fairy tale.”

“Well before they multiplied like crazy, people thought phantoms were just a fairy tale and now they are everywhere…” Doc sighed and looked over to where Ren’s body was still lying. “It should be up to him to explain this to you. I told him so many times that you should know what he was. He was so scared you would leave him and look where that got him. He almost bit you. That fool.”

“He is a fool… But I love him even at his worst… He should know that.” Grian smiled sadly and tried to shrug, but the pain in his shoulder almost had him doubling over. Doc’s hand was the only thing that kept him up.

“Can you stand up? Should I call Xisuma to teleport us to a safer place?”

Grian shook his head. He didn’t want to get Xisuma involved. It was his own fault he was in this situation. “I’ll manage…”

Grian managed to slowly get up with Doc’s hand steadying him. Doc was constantly looking him up and down a worried expression on his face. “You don’t really look to good.”

“’m fine…”, Grian mumbled, swaying a little. His face was as white as a sheet of paper. How much blood had he lost? There weren’t too many wounds on his body, but those cuts seemed to be pretty deep. He took a shaking step towards the exit, but stumbled and hadn’t it been for Doc holding him up, he would have fallen to the ground again.

“Stupid stubborn fools, both of you”, he mumbled, his communicator in hand. Grian could distantly hear the sound of typing and beeping, as if he was under water. He couldn’t think clearly. Everything around him started to sway. And then everything around him disappeared and they suddenly stood in a brightly lit room. He was rushed over to a bed. Xisuma was standing there looking at him worriedly. Oh… So they had transported him to Xisuma’s place.

He wanted to say something, but his vision started to fade and he suddenly felt so tired. He couldn’t keep his eyes open and slowly drifted out of consciousness. Maybe he would wake up and realise all this had been just a nightmare.

In his dreams he was haunted by glowing red eyes. The wolf was always right next to him no matter where he went. He was suddenly back in the cave below Ren’s base, the wolf above him. But this time there was no trident flying through the air. No Doc to rescue him. He felt the sharp teeth bite into his neck and screamed.

He screamed and screamed, hands were on him at once and he heard voices talking to him. Slowly but surely he gained a sense of his surroundings. He was in Xisuma’s bed. There was no wolf. It was bright and the sun was shining through the windows and someone was holding his hand.

A little out of breath he looked at Xisuma who was gently holding his hand, his helmet abandoned in a corner of the room.

“’suma…?”

“Yeah. You alright, Grian? You had a nightmare.”

“So it wasn’t real?”, he asked, still a little dazed, but the pity in Xisuma’s eyes made him realise how stupid that question was. Of course it had been real. Why else would he be in Xisuma’s bed of all places? And he still hurt all over. He looked down at his arm. It was tightly wrapped in a bandage. The white fabric was stained dark red in some places.

And suddenly he realised it was morning and Doc’s words came back to him. “Ren! Where is he? Is he alright? I need to...”, he hurriedly tried to get up, but Xisuma gently pushed him back into the mattress.

“Don’t strain yourself”, he mumbled then turned around and stepped away from the bed. “Ren, get over here. You heard him.”

Grian heard some rustling in the corner of the room and finally he saw Ren slowly stepping up to his bed. Why hadn’t he been next to him this whole time?

“Ren…” Ren looked bad. He wouldn’t raise his head to look at Grian. His eyes were red and puffy and there were still tear tracks on his face. His whole posture just screamed Insecurity. “Ren, babe… Look at me, please.”

Finally Ren raised his head and their eyes met. He could see tears shining in Ren’s eyes. “Grian… I am so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I promise. I just… I can’t control the wolf. I tried to stop it. I really did. I was so scared. I’d understand if you don’t want to be with me any more.”

Grian shock his head and slowly raised his non bandaged arm to rest a hand on Ren’s cheek. “It’s alright. Nothing bad happened. I’m okay. And I still love you.”

Xisuma sighed next to them and put down a few clean bandages onto the bed. “I’ll give you guys a little privacy. Ren, He needs a change of bandages. I trust you to take care of that. Talk it out you two. I’ll be back later.”

Grian noticed that Ren looked a little panicked at Xisuma’s retreating back and he opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something. Maybe he wanted to stop Xisuma. As the door fell closed, Ren even flinched a little, head hanging low again.

“You don’t want to be alone with me?”, Grian asked sadly, noticing all the signs.

Ren looked finally looked back at him, eyes wide with shock, shaking his head. “I thought you wouldn’t want to be. I thought you might get scared after I attacked you.”

Grian huffed in mild annoyance. “If I didn’t want to be alone with you I would have told Xisuma. We have been alone thousand of times, haven’t we.”

“Yeah but I attacked you…”

“Right. You attacked me. Once. When you weren’t even yourself. We have been together almost every night since the last season. Percentage wise I think I have a good chance to be safe alone with you.” Grian slowly got into a sitting position, wincing a little at the pain, but unlike Xisuma, Ren made no move to stop him. He grabbed Ren and pulled him into a hug. It hurt, sure, it hurt like hell. But seeing Ren like that, seeing him blame himself for everything that happened, that hurt even more.

“It’s okay. We are okay. It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known I’d be there.” He felt Ren’s hand hesitantly wrapping around him and Grian almost melted into the embrace. “I love you. And I’ll always love you, even if you transform into some monster wolf, I’ll still love you.”

Ren was shaking now and Grian felt something wet on his shoulders. He carefully petted Ren’s back with his unbandaged hand, trying to calm him down. “It’s okay… Everything is fine…”, he continued to whisper words of comfort until he felt Ren calming down. They still stayed there for a while, neither of them ready to let go.

Until Grian moved a little and pain shot through his arm. A pained whine escaped him and Ren let go of him as if he’d burned himself. “I’m sorry. Oh god, Gri, I’m so sorry. Look at me. I’m a mess and you are the one that got hurt. I should be the one to care for you not the other way around.”

“Don’t worry, it’s…”

“No. It’s not okay. Stop saying that. I know you want to reassure me, but I have a right to worry about you. You are hurt.” Ren picked up the clean bandage. “I need to make it up to you, even if you don’t see that. You might be okay, but I… I’m not okay yet.”

Grian didn’t dare to say anything. He wanted to make Ren forget about what happened, but he understood where Ren was coming from. It was probably easier to forgive someone else than to forgive yourself. So he just nodded and held out his wounded arm.

Gently Ren peeled of the bloody bandage. Grian averted his eyes, not ready to see the damage the attack had caused.

“I owe you an explanation, I think”, Ren began and Grian just shrugged. “No, Gri, I really do. I should have told you a long time ago. Doc was always pestering me about it. I guess he was right. If you had known you would have paid more attention to the moon.”

“Tell me then… Whatever you are comfortable with.”

Ren smiled sadly, putting the bloody bandages to the side and taking a washing cloth from the bedside table. He dabbed it gently against the wound. It stung like hell, but Grian tried not to show any discomfort as Ren began explaining.

“I was still young when it happened. It was long before I came to Hermitcraft. I got lost in a forest looking for… I don’t even know what I was looking for any more. It was stupid to go out alone that late. It was a full moon. That huge wolf suddenly appeared in front of me. I tried to run away, but it was just too fast. It bit me. It probably would have killed me. But I was lucky. Someone had noticed my screams and chased the monster off. I thought I was lucky. Until the next full moon came and I transformed. It hurts… It hurts every time. All the bones in your body shifting, your skin stretching out. But the worst thing is not how it feels but the way you lose all control. I was never able to control myself.”

“But you did...”, Grian whispered, thinking back to last night, when his arm had been in the wolf’s mouth, about to be bitten. “Your eyes. They turned blue and you didn’t… you stopped.”

Ren smiled sadly and nodded. “That was the first time I managed to do this. And even though… even when I love you this much I wasn’t able to stay in control. I tried so hard...”

Ren took a shaky breath, quietly put the wash cloth away and started carefully bandaging the arm again. “I’m glad Doc was there. Even if he almost killed me... I once told him if worst comes to worst he has my permission to kill me. I’d rather die then see anything happen to you.”

“Well and I’d rather be bitten than see you die. So I’ll have a talk with Doc about that agreement”, Grian replied with an annoyed huff and while Ren looked like he wanted to argue he held back. He probably knew that Grian wouldn’t change his mind on that matter.

Ren kept bandaging up his arm, then paused and looked straight into Grian’s eyes, gaze full of worry. “Just… Never visit me during the full moon ever again. Promise me that you’ll be careful. If I were to bite you, I’d never forgive myself.”

Grian averted his eyes. Ren wasn’t the only one who felt guilty about this whole ordeal. If he had just paid attention to the moon… If he hadn’t stayed out so late… If he had waited patiently for an answer instead of just barging in… If he had…

“Grian. Stop it.”

“’m not doing anything…”, Grian mumbled quietly, turning his eyes back to Ren.

“You are blaming yourself, when I am the only one to blame. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Well… If I’m not allowed to blame myself, then neither are you!”

Ren shook his head, about to answer again, but Grian wouldn’t let him. “No. You listen to me, Mr. Ren. You had no control. You told me enough times that you can’t see me during a full moon. So what? Yeah, you maybe should have told me you are a werewolf after two years of dating, but whatever.” Grian looked back to Ren again, nothing but love in his eyes. “It will take me a while to get over this, sure. I will feel bad about it and so will you, but we can pull through it. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

Ren lowered his eyes and finished bandaging Grian’s arm. But for the first time since Grian had woken up there was a small smile on his lips. And Grian knew at that moment that they would be alright.

#🍉 stories #hermitship #hermitshipping #Gren #tw: violence #tw: blood #the first time I write a story about gridoc's art #and it's not even gridoc #I'll do better for the next one :D #this was a lot of fun #and got a little out of hand #so thanks for the inspiration ♥

[ask-elementalhermitcraft]

Simple in the Moonlight

Summary - Rendog is a creature of the night. For the first time, Grian shares Ren’s lonely night with him. (Inspired by Ren’s cover of Lua, by Bright Eyes)

Word count - 1.7K

Ren, with rockets in hand, flew up and out of his base, making sure that it was nearing sunset. Finally, Ren thought to himself, daytime couldn’t seem to pass fast enough. He flew to the nearest shore, ready to just spend a calm night to himself on the beach.

For Ren, going out during the day took quite the toll on him. Being in such harsh, direct sunlight only gave him headaches and brought him dizziness. He could handle dozens of torches, or staring into pools of lava, but something about sunlight brought Ren to an unforgiving state of nausea. Mumbo, amidst the end of his mole duties, gifted his sunglasses to Ren. These did improve his day-to-day life significantly, but nothing as drastic as to rid the incessant headaches.

He landed on a patch of grass along the sand, and he took a moment to take off his shoes and his elytra, just to rid the extra weight. He rolled up his pants before stepping on the shore, knowing it was inevitable he would end up wading through the water. The waves were small as they hit the shoreline, providing him with the comforting sound of movement and motion, letting him know that he was not the only thing with life on the quiet night.

As he took a seat into the damp sand, letting his hands sink down beside him, the moon began to rise in his line of sight. It was a clear night, with nothing but hundreds of millions of stars twinkling in the sky, and a full moon coming into view. It was beautiful, the most perfect night Ren could’ve asked for.

A full moon always brought a new type of energy onto Ren, something that even after years and years of experience, he was still never quite clear on predicting its effect at any one time. There were always trends he picked up on - the ability to see miles past what he can during daytime, a heightened sense of smell, even faster reflexes than what the night brought him normally. It was hard to differentiate the effects of a full moon versus the effects of nighttime in general, but one thing was for certain - the night made him stronger.

His eyes worked like a night vision camera. It could work during the day, sure, but its abilities shown best once the sun was down. Hermits could splash themselves with night vision all they wanted, but nothing could compare to the all-seeing eyes of Ren at night.

His teeth were sharp like those of a wolf, an untamed and unhinged creature. He could tear zombies apart with nothing but his teeth latching on to exposed skin. He could eat rotten flesh and never feel the effects of poison. To him it was another meal.

He could run as fast as his legs could take him. He could run endlessly without stopping, at speeds unmatched by anyone or anything the hermits had seen. He could run for hours on foot, never stopping, with rotten flesh hanging from his mouth as a source of protein if needed.

Ren was a wild animal, with nothing comparing to the werewolf abilities the man had once the moon rose and the sun had disappeared. He was strong, and fierce, a force not to be messed with. He could snap at a moment’s notice, and Ren himself would never even know.

But Ren was not only a creature of unforseen powers in the night, but he was also a creature of grace, of nature, of the given world. He was a creature of light.

He has a glow to him, only to be seen when light is lacking. He could create spheres of light, orbs of photons, all from his bare hands. A gift as his could only be found within a god, within a divine being, but here he sat, throwing up balls of white light out of sheer boredom.

Ren was powerful, a man who could both control the darkness of the night and the creation of light, and bend and shape both to his own will, to work with him. His strength and his abilities brought positive light to his name, his kind soul earning him many friends by his side. He was loved by everyone, and seemed to bring nothing but fascination and joy to those around him. What was he to be upset about?

Ren was alone.

"When everything is lonely, I can be my own best friend."

As a creature of the night, Ren lost a lot of valuable time to spend with his friends. It physically pained him to go about life during the day. It was the most awful feeling in the world. He felt useless, he felt as if he contributed nothing to his friendships. While everyone worked on projects together, and spent time with one another, Ren was confined within his base, with nothing but the cave walls to keep him occupied. His sorting system had the most perfect redstone, every inch of his walls were immaculate, because what else was he to do? When trapped in a cave during every moment the sun is up, what else was he to do aside from sleeping?

At night, everyone was asleep after a busy day out and about. Ren, however, was wide awake. It would be him, pacing around the cold and darkened world, wondering what would be different if his friends were here, night after night. Occasionally he and False would share nighttime adventures; False being Ren’s neighbor could see when he was out and about.

He always found joy in creating builds at night, however. Knowing that the hermits would wake up to a new addition to the railway network, or a new build in the medieval district, or a sudden surplus of diamonds within their shop, always brought him joy. He felt like Santa Clause, each and every night, and that was the one spark of joy no one could take away from him.

"What was easy in the evening by the morning’s such a drag."

Everything came to Ren during the night, his inspiration and his ability to build, his creativity, his joy, it all happened by the sunset. He could run freely and build freely with perfect vision and without a pounding headache. But once the morning came around, he was reduced to nothing. He immediately went to hide. He does it in the name of his health, but at what cost?

Is he truly any healthier?

Ren stared into the ocean, his legs pulled up to his chest. He wanted to do something, he wanted to be productive, but he felt no motivation. Once the morning came, all his efforts and energy would be useless.

"It was so simple in the moonlight."

He felt himself drifting away with the sounds of the moving water and the swirling of his own thoughts. He caught himself in a half-asleep stage after he heard another person in the distance. "Is someone there?" he called out, secretly praying that his senses hadn’t led him astray. After hearing no response, he turned to his sense of smell to find the source of what he heard.

"...Grian you know I can smell you, right?"

"You sly dog, you!" Grian shouted at Ren, swooping out of the sky and landing swiftly beside him. "I sometimes forget that even my sneaky-sneakerson skills can’t outperform your K-9 senses," Grian huffed as he tucked his wings tightly behind him, as to not whack Ren with his feathers. "No one outsmarts the diggity-dog, you should know this by now!" Ren exclaimed. They were both giggling at Grian trying to act pouty, which was an act he could never quite pull off.

"What are you doing out here man? It’s super late at night, you should be catching up on your sleep," Ren turned to face Grian. "Well, I kinda slept during the day so I could hang out with you, it has been quite some time since we last saw each other."

Ren was quite frankly taken aback by his response. He felt tears form in his eyes, and he had no clue what to do. Ren never really expressed his emotions so openly, but everyone knew he was quite the soft guy.

Grian could see the tears in Ren’s eyes glisten in the moonlight, and immediately went to bring Ren in for a hug, extending his wings to wrap around him for added comfort. Caught up in Grian’s kind gesture, he could do nothing but cry.  He hated crying in front of others, as something in his instincts told him it was a weakness, but he knew it was perfectly healthy, and he knew he could confide in Grian.

For a few minutes they embraced, Ren profusely trying to compose himself so they could carry on speaking with each other, but Ren struggled to pull it together. He had become so accepting of having the nights to himself, accepting of having his friendships exist but never acted upon, accepting of being physically alone. Aside from False, no one had taken such an effort to spend time with him. He and everyone around him had come to a silent agreement he existed on his own schedule, whether he wanted it to be that way or not, that was simply how it was.

Ren sniffed and looked up. "Thank you. Just thank you Grian. This means more than you could imagine." Grian smiled at him, radiating nothing but happiness. "You are very welcome buddy. I’m very thankful to spend this time with you."

"I know everyone always talks about the concept of the ‘lone wolf,’ but nothing about it applies to me. I don’t know what I would do without someone like you around." "I think you’d just go about, doing lone wolf things whether you wanted to or not.  It’s kinda in your instincts." "Thanks, captain obvious," Ren replied, shoving Grian’s arm.

The two always found peace and laughter in each other’s company, and nothing changed, despite the time they had spent away from one another. While they hadn’t known each other forever, their souls seemed to go way back. Ren created spheres of light for the two to admire by the shore, and the wind took it upon itself to send them dancing throughout the air. Everything seemed simple, and the universe seemed at peace.

Maybe the night was not as solemn as Ren once thought.

#elemental!ren #ren #rendog #elemental!grian #grian #grianmc #elemental hermits #elemental hermitcraft au #ehcau #hermitcraft #mod emerald #writings