The lies behind their masks - A(nother) Hermitcraft and Evo AU fanfiction.

Chapter 9

Doc and Xisuma sat in silence.

It was the morning after Bdubs's death. By this point, despite what Grian was saying, everyone figured out that Scar was the murderer. The mayor hadn't been seen since Mumbo had been found. Grian said he knew where Scar was, but hadn't shared that information. 

Xisuma sighed as he continued reading. The book Jevin had been reading before he died was open next to him. Doc was annotating a copy of the words next to it, frowning. It all made sense, but they were missing something. 

'How long are we going to spend doing this?' Doc asked suddenly. X looked over at him.

'I don't know... until we find something?'

'But what are we hoping to find?!' The German slammed his head on the table. 'We... I... can't do this forever... there's nothing here...' 

'It'll get better...'

'And now Bdubs is dead...'

'I'm sorry about Bdubs...'

'Why is someone killing our friends?!' Doc burst out. 'How did we deserve this?!'

'We didn't... but by doing this we might find an answer.'

'We're finding nothing but dead ends. Can't we just accept that Scar's doing this and kick him out.'

'You know as well as I do that we can't do that.'

'Why though?!'

'Because A: he might not be guilty; B: he's our friend; and C: Cub will probably murder every one of us if we do.'

'I wish this wasn't happening...'

'Everyone does.'

There came a knock at the door, and Xisuma looked over at it.

'Come in.' 

It opened slowly, to reveal Grian, wing's ragged and eyes down.

'Grian.' Doc greeted warily. 'What do you want?'

'I... I want to talk to X?'

'I'm here.' The admin replied. 'What do you want to say?'

'In... private...'

'Doc, wait here.'

Xisuma stood up slowly, and led Grian out of the room. The door snapped shut behind. 

'What is it?'

'I... I want to share some information about what's going on...'

'Ok.' 

Grian sat down with a sigh, focussed on the ground. His wings flexed anxiously. 

'Sorry... I'm not good at sharing this kind of stuff...'

'It's ok. Take all the time you want.'

'Well, I... I'll start by saying that the creatures... people... whatever... that are doing this are Watchers.'

'Watchers? Are you sure?'

'Very.' 

'I thought watchers were supposed to be helpful, give us our updates and fix glitches...'

'Not these ones...'

'Can you... explain further?'

Grian was quiet for a moment, unwilling to speak. 'I don't know much, but there's a group of bad... watchers. I don't know why they're bad, but they are. They use their powers for evil, and to manipulate worlds...'

'Like Hermitcraft?'

'Yes, but normally smaller. The bigger the server, the harder it is to take over.'

'Makes sense.' 

'I can't say why, but they are looking for me. They want me dead, under their control... They must've followed me here... and they'll destroy as many worlds as it takes to get me.'

'Including ours... well, thanks for sharing this Grian. I'm sure this will be very useful for me and Doc.'

'That's not all I want to say.' Xisuma paused halfway through walking off. 

'What else do you want?'

'I want you to promise that Scar will stay safe. That you won't blame him.'

'What?'

'I know where he's hiding. And we've been talking. And I can confirm that didn't kill Impulse, Bdubs or Jevin.'

'Can you... explain this to me?'

'Fine. There was a broken mask in Impulse's chest when we found him. It was in the exact position as though it had been pulled off a watcher's face in combat. I... know... that when a watcher takes off a mask, it leaves quite a lot of scarring, and injury. Scar didn't have any of that, and besides, Scar would never join the watchers.'

'Ok...'

'Also,' Grian continued. 'I was with Scar pretty much the entire time between finding out Mumbo was dead, and finding out Bdubs was dead. There is no way he could've snuck to Bdubs's base and hidden the evidence before I was with him. I was with him just after we'd found that Jevin was dead, and it looked like Jevin's death was very recent. Too recent for Scar to hide it.'

'What about Mumbo's death?'

'That I don't know... but he seemed very upset, and even if he did kill Mumbo, it can't have been on his own accord. He was genuinely scared and confused about it.'

'I didn't hear Scar's story about Mumbo's death.'

'He blacked out in mid-flight and woke up in front of Mumbo's body.' Grian explained. 'So... do you still think he did it?'

'Honestly Grian, I have no idea. But if he did do it, he'll be treated fairly. I promise.'

'Scar's not working with the Watchers. I'm 100% sure that Scar would never join them. He's too nice, and kind, and he told me he'd never ally with any powerful force after... well, the vex.'

'I understand. Is this all you wanted to say?' Although he tried to hide it, Xisuma seemed to want the conversation to be over. Grian nodded.

'Yes. Thanks for... listening to me.'

'It's ok. Thanks again for the information. I know it must've taken a lot for you to tell me.'

'It did.' Grian confirmed. 'Well, bye X. See you around.'

'See you around, Grian.'

With one last nod, the builder flew off again. He knew Scar had returned to his base, and flew towards it, glad he'd told Xisuma what he had. 

He landed at the bottom level of what used to be Mumbo's base, and froze.

Scar was standing in front of him, utterly oblivious to his presence. A pair of feathered wings rose from his back, and in one hand he held a white mask. 

Scar had joined the watchers.

3 chapters in one day... and I'm going to go straight onto the fourth one. ^^