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

Chapter Sixteen

Xisuma sighed as he entered his base after going out to buy some food and a few blocks that he'd needed. There wasn't really much point, but he planned on finishing up his base if only just for the illusion of the season feeling a bit more done. He took off his helmet, and a piece of paper he definitely hadn't left on a chest caught his eye. It had been folded off-centre and left open, with three words presenting themselves in black ink. He got closer and immediately recognised the handwriting; scrappy, with an unreliable slant and size, yet surprisingly legible. It was Xavon's.

Haha big moon

Seconds passed, maybe minutes, and he stared at the simple yet significant letters. That confirms it, he thought a million times but refused to register it. He didn't want it to be confirmed. He didn't want it to be true. It was already true but he didn't want to lose the possibility that it wasn't. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be real. Couldn't time just go back? He would be a better brother, he would help Xavon more, he would do anything for this not to be the case.

He'd failed Xavon.

The admin stepped back and leant against a wall as the world around him felt absent. He'd not only failed Xavon, but he'd also failed the hermits. Maybe he'd been naïve to believe that his brother would change, and therefore put the server at risk. He'd been ignorant to Xavon's struggles.

The room remained silent as he stared at the way the ends of the letters flicked up. Xavon had written those very words. Xavon had been there, in his base, and held the same paper. He felt cut off from his twin; he couldn't do anything. Couldn't communicate. Couldn't see him. And yet the same person had been standing where he was at some point less than twenty minutes ago. And now he could be anywhere.

He didn't want to believe that Xavon would do something like this. Or that he had already done it. He sat down on the floor, at a loss of what to do. Preparing a new server for season nine was giving up, but trying to fight the code (although it would be hopeless to try) would be fighting his brother. How even had Xavon made that code? It was untouchable. Flawless. As strong as the original game code itself. He was missing some vital information; he must be. But what?

He just... didn't know. He didn't know anything.

-|-|-

Xisuma had continued Derpcoin, even without him. He found it... he wasn't sure; somewhat entertaining, confusing? Very Xisuma-ish. His brother still wouldn't give up on him, unlike Xavon himself. It almost made him feel guilty. That was a lie; it did make him feel guilty, but he pretended that it didn't. It was for the best this way. It would hurt both of them less: if Xisuma had a reason to hate Xavon and lose hope in him, it would be easier for him to find out that he was... this; a Watcher. And if Xavon isolated himself from his brother now, then it would hurt less later when he received the inevitable hatred. If he was Evil then maybe he wouldn't care.

EX had promised himself that he wouldn't go near the admin too often; the guilt might tempt him to go back on his plan. All he'd done so far was leave a note and try not to look back. Instead, he was occupying himself by watching the hermits. Tango had started making some sort of NASA rip off, multiple had been studying the change with a scientific approach, Mumbo had started a cult, and Bdubs hadn't noticed yet (apparently no one wanted to tell him).

Every night, the silver circle got bigger and bigger. Not by a lot though, just a little. Every time the sun set and the moon rose, it took up just a fraction more of the dark sky as it slowly but surely inched its way forwards. EX knew what would be the result of its movement, he thought it would be fairly obvious, but some of the hermits didn't seemed to have clocked onto their eventual doom. He looked at the moon's unnaturally large reflection in the ocean and wondered when they would.