A Blessing and a Curse || A Hermitcraft/Watcher AU

Chapter Twelve

Short chapter today

"Why are you doing this, Xa-" he was cut off by a sword swinging around into his helmet. The visor smashed on impact. His brother's eyes looked coldly at him, and he wondered how much of his brother was really there anymore. Thunder rumbled fittingly in the sky. "Please stop this!"

"Why would I? You traitor!" The man replied, swinging his sword again. The diamond clashed with the admin's, but Xisuma was not ready to take the offensive position in the duel so he got pushed back, trying only to defend himself. Before he knew it, a bolt of lightning charged a creeper and they were both sent flying away from each other. Xisuma was left on one heart, lying in the mud the torrential rain had created.

The admin watched the other stand up, and throw an axe at him. He dodged it and stood up, before Cub and False ran towards his twin.

"Don't hurt him!" He called, although maybe it was stupid. He was starting to think his hope was pointless. The red-suited male threw an enderpearl a few metres into the gap between the brothers, and lightning struck where he'd been moments before and where the two hermits were now. Cub and False fell, dying. Their bodies despawned.

"Do hurt me, it's so much fun." His brother contradicted, walking towards Xisuma. The admin in question raised his shield and prepared his sword.

"Can we please just talk?!" He pleaded.

"No."

And once again they were in battle. Xisuma hated nothing more, but his brother seemed quite the opposite. He grinned as a tear escaped Xisuma's eyes.

-|-|-

Impulse and Joe looked sadly at each other as they regrouped back at Boatem. Without having to say a word, both knew that the other hadn't found anything. They'd covered tens of thousands of blocks throughout the night, but there was nothing.

When Xisuma arrived a few minutes later, it was clear he hadn't slept much, and they interacted in complete, solemn silence. The axolotl looked disappointed that they'd found nothing but not surprised. Impulse left for his shift off, worrying for the admin and for Xavon.

The two hermits left into the sky, continuing their mission, and Joe wondered if it was really worth it. They weren't going to find Xavon; he had the ability to disappear when he wanted to, and while he assumed that Xisuma knew it, he knew that the admin didn't want to accept it.

-|-|-

"Right, I heard from Impulse that Xavon had some sort of break down and has disappeared." Xelqua said to the two other Watchers after entering Pearl's base. "He, Xisuma and Joe are searching for him but haven't found anything yet." They nodded.

"I still think we should also look for him." Taurtis said.

"He doesn't seem to like us," Pearl said, "and you aren't a hermit; if you go in Watcher form you might scare him and if you go in human form he wouldn't know or trust you."

"But he's already seen me in my Watcher form." Taurtis protested.

"What?" Pearl and Xelqua said simultaneously.

"Oh yeah, I got bored of watching your parrot so I decided to say hi. He was kind of rude, I waved but all he did was stare." Taurtis explained.

"Taurtis!" Xelqua yelled disapprovingly.

"Oh my Notch..." Pearl sighed. Taurtis shrugged.

"Whatever, we'll just wait and see what happens." Xelqua said. The other two nodded.

-|-|-

Xisuma typed the code into his communicator and glanced over it. The words hurt him to see. He didn't want to ban his own brother, but he looked up and saw the chaos he was causing. There were fires everywhere, the ground had been destroyed in many places by TNT, and the hermits were running out if energy to fight. He looked to his brother, who was shooting Ren with a bow and arrow.

He knew he had to do it. He knew it and he'd known it for a long time now, and every second that he waited he was putting the hermits in danger. He knew that too. But he wished he didn't know. He wished... the universe weren't so cruel; that he could just have his brother again. But that wasn't the way of the world and he knew it, even if he hated the knowledge.

"Why did it have to be this way?" He muttered, before looking down and pressing enter.

EvilXisuma was banned from Hermitcraft

He wouldn't give up on his brother though, not yet, not ever.

-|-|-

"Xisuma?" Joe said gently as the search party of three regrouped again on a tree. The axolotl met his gaze sombrely, like he knew what was going to be said but didn't want to hear it. "It's been two days," Xisuma looked down. Joe didn't need to say the rest.

"I know..." Xisuma replied, the words painful on his tongue. "I know you're right." He said quietly. They couldn't search forever, and he knew better than anyone that if Xavon didn't want to be found, then they wouldn't find him.

Joe stepped forward and gave him a hug, and he leant into it in silence. His heart felt empty, dark. Devoid.

-|-|-

Xavon read over the messages from his brother. It was the first time he dared to pick up his communicator in about two days, and it seemed that Xisuma didn't know about his Watcher-ness, if the twenty messages of 'where are you?', 'please speak to me' and 'you're worrying me' were anything to go by. He chuckled.

He didn't know why he chuckled, but he did. The whole thing was just, kind of... funny, in a bitter way. He'd, essentially, run away when nothing had actually happened. Maybe it just went to show the stability of his life. It didn't matter though, Grian and Pearl would tell Xisuma at some point anyway, so... his conclusion was a little bit ambiguous at this point in time. He turned off the device in his hand and threw it onto an oak planks block, which seemed to have become his table, even though there were two chests right next to it.

He'd dug out a small hole on the side of a hill - completely hidden apart from the door. It was simple, some chests, a crafting table, and no bed because he didn't feel the need to sleep anymore, nothing special. Nothing special except for one thing; it's location.

The night he left, he'd reached the world border and then... flown right through it, as if it wasn't even there. It was strange, but a lot of things were strange. His new 'base' was situated about two hundred blocks from the border; out of render distance but not too far away.

He felt weirdly care-free. He'd had some time to process what had happened, and he felt... more like himself now. His wings were always out, his skin was pale, the black in his hair was spreading, he cast small shadows in all directions, and he could wear his cloak and mask. He was also beginning to feel more like himself in... other ways.