Illusory freedom.

Home again

Grian held out his hand, With trepidation, Scar took it, leaning very heavily on the other as his legs were shaky and unsteady.
The two walked slowly back to the portal, a swirling vortex of purple and blue.
Grian stepped forward.
"Are you ready?"
Scar was caught off guard by Grians' sudden question but he nodded in response.
"Yeah, I am"
Together, They pushed through the purple film like substance that made up the portal.

The world swam and tunneled as they traveled across dimensions, Scar saw glimmers of the past, His death in third life, discovering he was soul bound to Grian in double life, Glimpses of people's deaths in the past series.
Then he saw himself, As he killed Pearl.
And won secret life.
All these glimpses stirred up old memories, good and bad.
But one image caught his eye.

It wasn't a memory Scar remembered.
It was something else.
Because in that little look into another time, He saw Grian, But not Grian?
He looked different.
His parrot wings ragged and purple, He wore a black robe. And on his face were multiple purple eyes, His own covered by a White mask.
Grian was standing over someone, Their figure curled up in a stance of defeat, A black sword held in Grians' right hand, The tip of the sword slowly dripped scarlet blood.
This was deeply unsettling, But Scar pushed it aside, he was tired and it was probably just a dream he had once.
A soft but commanding voice whispered, At the back of Scars mind.
"Now lead him to the others. We still seek our control."
But the voice was quickly whipped away by the sound of the swirling portal.

Scar and Grian popped out of the portal on the other side, Tumbling onto the soft grass that surrounded Grians base.

(This is set in season 9)

Around them stood Doc, Zedaph and Xisuma. They were careful not to crowd Scar, Even though Xisuma looked like he was about to go full protective dad mode.

(Dadsuma!)

Scar lay on the grass, It was soft and a little damp, not like the grass on secret life which had become dry and sharp.
There were bird's singing in the trees, Sheep roaming the nearby forest and his friends standing around him.
A soft breeze ran through his hair and the sun shone warmly.
He took a moment to soak in the feeling of being home.
Finally.

Scar stood up, carefully brushing the grass from his clothes.
Grian was relieved to see that some of the light had returned to Scars eyes, A little more energy in his step, he seemed less heavy.

The others watched in silence, It was going to be okay.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

A few weeks after returning to hermitcraft, Scar was settling back in, With support from Grian-
(Forcing Scar to go to therapy with X)
-He was getting better.

The first thing Scar had done was go to Pearl's place and apologize profusely, Even though Pearl told him it was fine, and that she was proud of him, It didn't make it any better.

Gem actually apologized to Scar before he could apologize to her, Saying she was sorry for going a little haywire at the end of the series,
Scar apologized too and they ended up not feeling a little better at the end of it.

But there was always a residual feeling of unease, One that always came up around Grian.
It wasn't a suspicion feeling, More Concern.
Like something was telling Scar that Grian was in danger.
A few days later, The feeling came up while Scar was talking to Pearl.

Something wasn't quite right..

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Grian was cleaning up his stuff for once, Pearl was going to give him a shulker of supplies if he did.
At the back of his storage room he found an old dusty chest.
Upon opening it, Grian was greeted with his old outfit that he wore during EVO.
And something else.
On top of the faded green fabric was a pristine white mask, With the sign of the watchers.
Glowing with a soft Purple light.

Grian jumped back.
How did that get there?
He could swear he destroyed his old mask..
But there it was, With every little detail still there.
Even the long slash from when he was sparring with Pearl in the watcher headquarters.
All the memories came flooding back from where they had been locked away, Forced down into the deepest part of his subconscious.

"Hello Grian."
A soft and commanding voice said in Grians head.
Grian recognized the voice immediately.
"High watcher Xian"
He spat back, His voice full of disgust.
"What are you doing."

Xian laughed.
"What am I doing? I'm ruining your perfect life, I'll start with the relationships you have with your friends.
Then you will return to the headquarters.
You're not escaping again."

Grian froze.
The threat filling his ears, His body going ridged.
The mask began to glow.
"You can't resist can you Grian?"
Xian hissed
"The pull is too strong. Let's hide Grian for now. Let's introduce hermitcraft to Xelqua."