Battle Scars - A Watcher-Grian AU story

Chapter 12 - Ark is concerned for their child

Tw: Mind control, Slight Helsian discrimination

A few minutes later, Ark appeared in Grian's mindspace with a slight frown.

"Xelqua. I was not expecting to get a message from you so soon. I thought we were exercising due caution with your role." Ark spoke.

"Yes Ark... no one understands this better than I do... But it is urgent." He said softly, nervously trembling.

"What's wrong? Must we come?" Anxiety filled Ark's voice.

"No, but I- I..." He took a deep breath. "We may need to enact the evacuation policy if we cannot reinforce the server's defenses, as I have caught the eyes of the Rebels for a unknown reason. They've attempted to invade my mindspace and Puppeteer me, yet they ultimately failed. They then sent a mind-controlled soldier to collect me, who I managed to rescue. But it's troubling, as this soldier was a strong admin and hacker, and was taken over very close to fully. Then again, they had, years of torture done on them, so they might have broken. Plus, I think the stress is beginning to effect my proformance... I've had a couple of... breakdowns throughout my time here, and I think the admin may at least suspect me. Oh... and I had to do a wipe on Pearl... But, good news, NPG has fixed their bug at least... and is also here now... But it proves the Helsian experiment was a partial success." Grian said, sliding into his instinctively protective tone of chilly formality.

Ark's eyes widen as Grian continued. "Xelqua... That's... A lot. Do you wish to come back to Watcher's End? I'm sure no one would look down upon you for it. This is far more then a training exercise..."

"... I'm not sure. Let's try to at least increase the server's defenses. I require your aid, as my magic was quite depleted from the wipe, along with having to fight Eyn. Plus, it's outside of my power in a normal situation." He hoped Ark would agree, despite the fact he was a mere watchling

"Hm..." Ark thought about it for a moment, before continuing.  "Very well, but I'll need to Puppeteer you."

"... They already think the watchers keep attempting to puppeteer me. Prehaps you could use this as a excuse to attempt to convince them not all watchers are evil, if we got caught." Grian replied.

"Good Idea Xelqua. It will aid you in your uncover operation, and and aid us up in watcher's end, as after the war, they may loosen their caution."

"And, you know, it'll be nice to let the players not be terrified of any touch of watcher magic on their server." Grian said somewhat sarcastically.

"Yes yes, it'll aid the mortals as well. Are you ready?"

"Yes..." He said quietly, thinking of how easily Ark brushed off the players, like they were mere pawns in the timeline of things. Was this how he sounded?

All of a sudden, shoving Grian out of his thoughts, the purple vines appeared once more, but this time it was the deep, void-like purple of Ark's magic. He couldn't help but shiver though as they slithered around him, covering his eyes and grasping his arms. He was thrown out of his mindspace, and room around him was not only tinted purple, but hazy with the misty, dream-like feel of being puppeteered. He watched as he stood in the cottage, whispering to himself(?). It was confusing.

"We must get outside for the spell to function. We could teleport, but channeling magic through others is strainous as is."

Grian couldn't respond, but understood. It was a odd feeling, looking out from your own body, but as a passenger, not a driver. He-Ark-whatever, walked out of the room, and tried to quietly walk down the stairs to the door of the little cottage. But Grian realised something. The way the house was constructed, you had to walk through the kitchen to exit it, and before he could try to tell Ark somehow, it was too late. 

So Grian, still in partial watcher form, walked by the doorway leading to the conversing X and NPG. Ark froze, trying to stop them from being noticed, while Grian mentally screaming at them to walk, get out of the doorway.

NPG glanced at Grian, glaring slightly, before resuming speaking to X. "So X, you were asking about Helsians before?"

"Yes... how does that work?" X tilted his head in curiosity.

"Well, some people have a alternate form of themselves, but there's a small chance that form will be born into your world, as a twin. So, Eyn is techniqually your Hels form. I'm Grian's Hels form, but I was not born as a twin. But I'm one of a couple who've escaped. So that's why me and Grian have the Tether. You and Eyn have it, but it takes... unique qualifications to-" X seemed to sense something was wrong at this point looked behind him and gasped.

"GREAT." NPG threw his arms in the air. "I was about to finish, and now you get distracted."

X narrowed his eyes, before asking something that made Grian's stomach drop.

"... Grian?"

Oh notch- He recognized him.

NPG sighed. "Ark or Kanvi, whoever it is, let him go, you can finish this all in a minute."

"Helsian, you dare speak to me in that tone?" Ark snarled

"Why hello Ark. Thank you for letting me know it was you. Now. Let. Grian. Go." NPG's tone lowered dangerously. "Otherwise I tell Kanvi."

All of a sudden Grian stumbled forwards, the world growing in brightness and contrast, as Ark released the puppeteer. Grian could still feel them watching in the back of his mind. He was going to have to be careful with this. He glanced at NPG, who glanced back. The information was shared through the tether. NPG now knew Ark was still in his mind, and Grian knew that NPG had explained the Helsians and Watcher mind control with X.

Grian took a deep breath... This was going to take a while. NPG place their hand on his shoulder.

"So, I guess I should introduce myself." He chuckled nervously, giving a overly elegant bow. "I'm Xelqua, Watchling of 50 years. I hail from Watcher's End, and I'm here to serve my mentors' interest in protecting this server." He gave the formal introduction conduct demanded from him, before falling silent, waiting for X's response.

A/N:

Hehe more angst soon :D You do not get fluff readers, since I cannot write it.

But why is the unedited version of the next chapter so sucky T-T I'm gonna have to re-write almost everything.

Anyway this wasn't for me to rant about editing. Also, just wanted to say NPG is my favorite character in this story, for reasons.

ALSO HOW ARE WE NEARLY AT 300 ISTG GUYS YOUR GONNA MAKE ME CRY-

WC: 1115

- Xera