Hermitcraft Stories

The Log Father Part 4

Doc stared down at Xisuma. He had never seen X so scared before.

"Thank you," Xisuma whispered as he wrapped his arms around Doc.

Doc returned the hug and felt a burning passion in him. He was never going to let anything like this happen to X ever again.

"Why is X chained?" Ren asked with accusing glares at everyone.

Joe and Cub looked at each other. "We think he had a moment of relapse."

"What do you mean?" Doc asked.

"When we were setting up the heart monitor he sat up and tried to attach us. His eyes were still closed though. He just kept repeating 'I must obey the Log Father' over and over again. We panicked and Cub chained him down," Joe said. "He tried breaking out, but he just fell unconscious."

Wels looked at Xisuma. "Has anything like this ever happened before?"

"No," X said softly.

"Someone's going to have to watch over him to make sure he doesn't relapse again," False suggested.

"For how long?" Xisuma asked.

False looked over at Cub and Joe. Joe answered, "We shouldn't leave him alone until we know that he is clear of any residual mind control."

"I'll do it," Doc said, a little louder than he intended. All eyes turned towards him. "If he does relapse, then we know I can restrain him."

"What about when you have to sleep?" Python asked.

Doc thought for a moment. "I am a light sleeper. Last time X woke up he woke me up, even though I was outside the room."

Python nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"What about me?" Ren asked.

Iskall jumped at the opportunity. "I can!" The Hermits just stared at him. "What? I'm just as capable as Doc is."

Doc felt there was something more going on there, but he couldn't argue with Iskall's reasoning. Besides, he was just happy that he could spend more time with Xisuma. It had been a long time since the two of them had hung out since X was always busy with Logfellas stuff.

"I'm glad we got that settled. If you guys need me to take over for a bit, just give me a call," Wels said as he walked over to the door. "I'm just going to be working on my castle."

Scar started walking out. "False, we should probably get started on all that paperwork." False let out a groan but followed.

"Doc, you should probably keep Xisuma here for the rest of the day, in case there is any side effects from passing out, but tomorrow, if X feels up to it, you two are free to go anywhere," Joe said as he walked out of the room.

Cub passed Doc the ring of keys. "I'm free if X starts acting weird." He followed Joe out.

Python ran over and gave Xisuma and Ren each a flower and left with a, "Call me if you need anything!"

Only Ren and Iskall remained in the room with Doc and Xisuma.

"So Iskall..." Ren said. "If we are going to be hanging out for a while, do you want a tour of my base?"

Iskall brightened. "That sounds like a great idea!" The two ran out of the room.

Xisuma let out a small chuckle. "I worry about those two." Doc couldn't help but agree.

"So, do you want to unchain me?" X asked.

Doc stared back blankly for a second then remembered the keys in his hand. "Oh! Yeah, of course." He could feel his face flushing in embarrassment as he struggled to find the right key, but he eventually got all the chains unlocked.

"Much better," Xisuma said as he sat up, tucking his legs under him.

Doc looked at the bed, of you could even call it that. It was made of two stone slabs, one at an angle to allow the patient to sit up. The stone was hard and cold, and Doc shivered at the thought of sleeping on it. "We're going to have to make you a new bed, because this shouldn't be considered for sleeping."

Xisuma looked at him. "How are we going to make a new bed?"

Doc sent Cub a quick message asking where the extra blankets and pillows were. "I'm going to gather some supplies really quick. Stay here."

Doc ran down the hall and found the supply room following some directions from Cub. He grabbed a large blanket and piled loads of blankets and pillows on top of it. Grabbing the four corners and slinging the load over his shoulder he raced back to Xisuma's room.

X's eyes went wide and for a moment X looked like Keralis. "I don't think there is enough room on this bed for all those."

Doc let out a chuckle. "Like I said, we are going to make you a new bed."

They went to work on making Xisuma the comfiest nest the Hermitcraft server has ever seen, stopping halfway through so Doc could get more pillows. They both took a step back and admired their work. It ended up filling half the room and was taller than the bed, dwarfed in comparison.

Xisuma jumped right in the middle and curled up with a spare green blanket. "I could fall asleep right now."

Doc raised an eyebrow. "With all your armor still on?"

X got up embarrassed. "I forgot about that."

Doc gestured to a door. "There is a bathroom right through there."

Xisuma grabbed a shulkerbox out of an ender chest and disappeared into the bathroom.

A few minutes later Xisuma emerged wearing some green turtle pajamas, holding the shulker box with his helmet on top. Doc had only seen X without his helmet a couple of times and couldn't keep himself from staring at the scars. Xisuma's face was covered in scars just like his arms.

Doc's hands clenched into fists as he swore to keep X from getting any more, but then he saw the bruise. Xisuma's neck had a purple and blue bruise spread across it. His heart dropped. He had done that to X. What was he thinking? He should have kept himself away from X so he couldn't hurt him any more than he already had.

Doc broke his gaze away when Xisuma let out an awkward chuckle. "I'm going to have a pretty nice bruise, aren't I?"

"I'm so sorry..." Doc started to say, but X cut him off.

"It's not your fault. You were keeping me from hurting anyone," X said, but Doc still felt ashamed.

"I'm going to go change," Doc said as he walked straight into the bathroom.

He quickly changed from his usual lab coat and pants into much more comfortable purple hoodie and grey sweatpants. He looked at himself in the mirror. He thought about what he had done to Xisuma, but he stopped himself. Right now, X didn't need him to feel sorry for something that he had forgiven.

He walked out of the bathroom to see Xisuma curled up in his nest. He sat down and leaned back in his chair and said, "Goodnight X."

He could have sworn he heard a faint, "Goodnight Doc."

He drifted off watching Xisuma's breathing slow to a rhythm and in that morning he felt happy.

He awoke to Xisuma's scream. 

~~~~~~~~~

I originally started writing this chapter with the goal to tie things together, but the story had other plans. Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. I have passed what I had planned to write, so I need your help to figure out what to write next. Thank you guys so much for reading this, I never expected it to get this much attention. As always, feel free to comment your feelings towards this chapter and what you want to see next.

I hope you have had a great week!

-J