~The First Step~ a Hermitcraft AU

Chapter 53

wc: 2008

It seemed like Joel had zoned out for a bit, because when he blinked back into reality, Grian was leaving the room. Joel pretended not to see the tremble of the man's fingers on the doorknob.

Once the door had quietly clicked shut, Joel and Etho stood there for a minute.

"...I'm worried," Etho finally said, breaking the silence.

"Bout what?" Joel asked absentmindedly, rubbing his sweaty palms down the front of his pants. "Xe- Grian?"

Etho hummed in confirmation and fixed his gaze on some distant spot on the wall. "I know a lot's happened here, before he came to our server, but I have no idea what it was. He won't say anything." A frustrated noise. "I respect boundaries, but none of us really know what to do to help."

"I know nothing about him either, now that I think about it," Joel said, cogs in his mind turning. "Just... what I heard about him from other people, I suppose."

Etho let a heavy sigh out, scrubbing his hand in his hair. "That's the other thing. He- everyone thinks he's this high and mighty guy, but he's honestly probably one of the most fragile people in our group right now." Joel's stomach twisted at those words, and he opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out but a cut off stutter.

The corners of Etho's eyes crinkled in a semblance of a smile. "I hope you guys can go a little easy on him, y'know? I know he had... he had wings before he came here, and whatever happened so that now he, well- doesn't, it couldn't have been easy."

"I heard rumors," Joel murmured. "I didn't know whether..." He sucked in a breath. "I wouldn't put it past the Watchers. Xeluph's paranoid."

"Xeluph?" Etho asked, eyebrows furrowing. "Who's that?"

"Current leader of the Elders," Joel replied. "Ironically, it should be Grian."

"I don't understand that system." Etho tilted his head. "Leadership is passed down through that staff?"

Joel nodded, swallowing thickly. "It's been in this kingdom for centuries. When the Leader plans on stepping down or they think they're dying soon, they'll give the Staff to whoever they think should be Leader next." He ran a hand through his hair, frowning slightly as he thought. "Our last Leader died pretty suddenly, and with no apparent heir. Xeluph took the position in stride." He lowered his voice, as if he thought the man was there. "I think he just bloomin' killed the Leader, but we'll never know, I guess."

There was a beat of silence before Joel spoke up again, unease curling in his stomach. "Do you... know much about Grian?"

"Um." Etho fiddled with his gloves, looking at the floor. "He's an unwilling Watcher, from what I've seen and heard. And... thought that all his old servermates were dead. From what I saw with Last Life." He sighed heavily. "He just won't tell us anything. I wouldn't trust myself with being his therapist, but none of us know what to do! It's-" Etho cut off with a low rumble in his throat that resembled a growl.

"I never really thought about this," Joel admitted. "We all just thought, it's the guy that escaped, he can... save us."

"Never realized whether he's even in the right state of mind to do that," Etho added. After a moment: "Escaped what?"

Joel gesticulated randomly. "The, uh, dark torture chambers. The prisons. Where people normally go and never come back." He winced, and yeah, maybe the leader of this revolution needed some therapy first.

"Dark torture chambers?!" Etho echoed, whirling on Joel. "Explain."

Joel stepped backwards, raising his palms placatingly. "I don't like them either, man," he said carefully. Gods. "They're directly attached to the main building where our government works, and it's where important prisoners are kept. There's a lot of rumors about the awful stuff they do in there, but point is that no one's ever made it out to see the light of day again." He sighed and dropped his hands, eyes flicking away from Etho's horrified expression. "Except for, yeah, Grian. His escape was a big deal, since the Watchers lost a weapon and the people saw hope. The Listeners gained numbers, and we started planning to do more."