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It was another night on the Hermitcraft server, and all was well. Most of the server was asleep at this hour, the only ones awake being a small get together of Grian, Mumbo, Scar, Cleo, Iskall, and Jevin. They had met up on the bottom floor of Grian's base to celebrate for some reason or another, but it was mainly an excuse to bring plenty of alcohol and snacks. The party was full of the usual things: dumb tricks, bad jokes, drinking contests, etc.
"Hey guys, watch this!" Everyone turned to Scar, who was eager to show off something he'd learned recently. He put down some blocks and mumbled to himself. "... how do I do this again?" While trying to remember how his machine was supposed to go together, he accidentally ended up activating the tnt. "Shit-" Scar ran towards the rest of the group, and got out of range just in time for the explosion.
As the smoke cleared, Grian was able to survey the damage in slight annoyance.
"Scar, my floor-" And then, he realized exactly which spot of his build it was. He hoped he was wrong, but sure enough, he looked to the bottom of the crater he saw a single double chest. Every bit of alcohol vanished from his body as he was forced into sobriety. He had to cover it up before the others-
"Ooo, Grian has a secret chest~" Scar exclaimed, "Lets see what kinda stuff he has stashed in there!" The jovial mood of the party persevered the explosion, and the others yelled in agreement.
"Scar, no-" Grian said, slightly panicking. The builder moved forward to stop him, but he felt arms wrap around his shoulders, holding him back. He looked to his left and saw Cleo.
"No way are you getting away from this Gri, I wanna see what's in it~" Cleo teased. He felt more arms wrap around his legs and one of his arms, which turned out to be Iskall and Jevin respectively.
"I wonder how many diamonds he has?" Jevin wondered.
"Nah, I bet it's something embarrassing!" Iskall decided.
"Maybe we'll find his poultry man outfit!" Cleo joined in.
This was not good. This was very not good. Grian might've been able to knock off one of them, but all three? Even drunk, they were much stronger than him combined- and he had to do something quick, Scar was approaching the chest with Mumbo on his heels. They were over halfway now.
"Y-Yeah guys, you've got me, it's embarrassing. I'd really prefer if you didn't see it, it's a bit private-" He was cut off by Iskall going "ooo", as if they were in school and he just got caught by the teacher. Maybe that wasn't the best idea.
"Hah, I was right! Jevin you gotta give me a diamond now~" he joked, Jevin groaning and handing one over as if a bet had actually taken place. All the while, the two other hermits were getting ever closer. And finally, they reached it. Scar knelt down to open it with Mumbo standing beside him.
"Alright, lets see what we have here..." The lid of the chest creaked slowly as he pulled it up. Scar tensed, freezing in place. Mumbo visibly paled, his drunken blush disappearing from his cheeks. He stepped back a little to the edge of the crater.
"I... gods, G-Grian, what-" He looked over at his friend, and Grian recognized the emotion in his eyes.
Fear. Pure fear.
The same thing that was probably displaying openly on his face right now. He wasn't able to hold the stare long, looking away in shame. His face was hot, and he could feel tears threaten to spill down his cheeks.
Grian's breathing quickened, and he started to shake slightly. The three holding him back recognized the sudden shift in mood and unconsciously loosened their grip in confusion. He took that as an opportunity to equip his Elytra and get the heck out of there. The sudden loss of something to hold on to caused Jevin to fall forward. The room was filled in an uncomfortable silence.
"Mumbo... what's in the chest?" Cleo asked cautiously.
"Yeah, I figured it'd be embarrassing but I didn't think it'd be that embarrassing..." Iskall joked. The three hermits stared at the previously-buried box, and their answer came when they saw Scar lift out a pair of purple feathered wings. Human-sized purple feathered wings, and without a person attached no less, the ends of them being scarred lumps as if they had been... hacked off. Cleo vomited, and Jevin sat up.
"Who's wings are those? Grian's not an Avian, is he?" Jevin wondered aloud.
"No... No he's not." Mumbo answered softly, still in shock as to what Scar was holding in his hands. Items rarely carried over from server to server so they had to belong to someone on Hermitcraft, but who? Wings were a pretty hard thing to hide, with how large they were it'd be nearly impossible to keep them a secret. Mumbo knew him from long before this world was created, and he's never remembered him having wings.
Grian was his friend, and he wouldn't hurt someone... would he?
"You all stay here, I'll go after him. I'll... see what I can find out." No one objected to that, so Mumbo grabbed some rockets from his inventory and went off to find the newest hermit, leaving others with bottles of booze and a chest of broken wings.
It didn't take long to find Grian, in the state he was in he wasn't able to travel far. Mumbo found him on the crown of the Statue of Hermity, shaking with his face buried in his knees. The redstoner landed quietly beside him and spoke.
"... Hey." This startled Grian, who flinched and looked up at Mumbo with tear-stained cheeks. "We need to talk. You know that, right?" Grian nodded and stood.
"Y-Yeah, lets talk." The two were silent for a moment after that.
"So... the wings." Mumbo started.
"Yeah, the wings.... What do you want to know?"
"What do I want- Well, I want to know who's wings you have, first off." Mumbo replied sharply. Grian flinched.
"I'd... rather not say." He buried his face in his sweater a bit. Mumbo sighed and rubbed his temple.
"Fine, well how did you get them then?!"
"I cut them off." Grian said matter-of-factly. "I wasn't sure where else to put them, they were too big for an ender chest." Mumbo waited for more information, but none came.
"Well why the hell did you cut off someone's wings?!" Mumbo was becoming increasingly frustrated with his friend's vague responses. There were too many unanswered questions here, and Grian was just adding more of them.
"I had- I- It's complicated, alright?" Grian turned away from him and ran his hands through his hair, walking a few steps.
"Then clear it up for me."
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that everything is better now, everyone is happier this way."
"Tell that to the Avian who's wings you bloody cut off!" Mumbo snarled. Grian whipped around, anger on his face and nearly yelled.
"I'm NOT an AVIAN, Mumbo!" Once Grian realized what he'd said his hands quickly clasped over his mouth, anger being replaced once again by fear. He took a step back, eyes locked onto his friend in shock. The words sat there like a brick. It took a minute for Mumbo to take them in, to accept the reality of what he was telling him. Whatever he expected, it wasn't this.
"Grian, you... The wings.... They belong to you?" His voice came out nearly a whisper. All frustration and anger was gone, the redstoner now had only room for concern and shock. Grian looked away, which was enough confirmation for him. "Oh... oh my...." He took a careful step forward, trying not to startle Grian or make him run again. "You... why? And... if they're yours... then what do you mean you're not an Avian? Grian, just what are you?"
There was another moment of silence before the builder spoke.
"I'm... a Watcher. I was forced to be a Watcher. I never wanted any part of it, never wanted any part of them." He lowered his hands.
"A what? Sorry, I... don't think I've heard of those before." Mumbo was starting to become uncomfortable. Just what had they stumbled onto tonight?
"Watchers are... well, basically gods I guess. They watch over everything, every single server they can get to. They took me from my last series, but I was finally able to escape and hide here for a bit." Grian paused for a moment and looked up before continuing. "The wings were... a surprise to say the least. They grew in all at once, while I slept one night. Startled me half to death when I woke up with wings of all things. The Watchers have wings to help them watch from above, very specific ones too. Purple, the color of their portals. There isn't a single Avian species with purple wings, so- so I couldn't just- pretend to suddenly be an Avian, especially since there are people here that knew me before, and I clearly hadn't had wings the first few weeks either." He looked away again. "Not many know about them, but there are stories of the Watchers, and none of them paint us in a good light." Grian turned around to look back at his base. The strengthening wind ruffled his sweater, making it lift up slightly and, for a brief moment, showing the edge of a scar Mumbo had never noticed before. "I did what I had to."
"Wow, Grian, this... this is a lot to take in." Mumbo ran a hand through his hair. "So, you're a god is what you're saying."
"Only technically. I don't have my powers anymore, if that's what you're worried about. Once I escaped their plane of existence I lost them. The last remnants of those... things were my wings, and I've already gotten rid of them."
"And you cut off your own wings.... didn't it hurt?" Grian sighed and glanced tiredly over his shoulder at him.
"Of course it hurt, Mumbo, they were made of flesh and bone, but Sharpness V made quick work of them so at least I didn't have to hack and saw." Mumbo flinched slightly at the description.
"... And you kept them under your base. Since almost the beginning of the series."
"Like I said, I didn't have anywhere else. They wouldn't despawn, and I didn't want to take a chance of someone finding them..." Grian sighed. "Well, guess it doesn't matter in the end."
"You realize we'll have to go back at some point tonight, right? There's four more people in your base that need an explanation." Grian looked back at him, then down at the statue they were standing on.
"Yes, I suppose so..."
And with that, they were off again into the night.
The four hermits surrounded the box of wings, deep in discussion, when they heard the sound of rockets again. Mumbo had brought Grian back.
"Hey guys, I found him." Mumbo announced. Grian seemed to be hiding behind him, clutching at Mumbo's arm and staring at the floor. Mumbo looked back at him. "... Would you like to tell them?"
"Do I have to?" Grian was already starting to regret this. Mumbo sighed.
"We went over this, would you rather them assume something worse than the truth?" Grian looked up at the people they'd left behind in his base just an hour or two earlier. They all looked scared of what he was going to say, scared of... him. They'll only be more scared once they learn what you are~, a voice in his head whispered. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the comfort of his friend's shadow.
"Maybe it would be best if I just... showed you." Grian turned around and slowly took off his sweater. He was glad that his friend's faces weren't in his line of sight, but he could still hear their reactions. All but Mumbo gasped, almost completely synced with each other. Grian felt uncomfortable being this exposed, he'd never shown anyone these scars before. "It, uh... took me a bit to relearn after I got the Elytra."
"G, what... what happened?" Iskall asked. Eyes flicking between his friend's back and the box near him.
"It's kind of a long story, and I'm not sure if I have the energy to tell it again tonight. Sorry."
Scar took a step towards him and touched the mark left by the wings. "Gri, you don't have to be the one to apologize. We were the ones making a mess and invading your stuff, we shouldn't have pushed. If you don't want to tell me you don't have to, but I'm always here if you want to talk."
"Same here." Cleo added, with Jevin and Iskall humming in agreement.
"Thanks, guys. That... means a lot." He smiled. "I'd rather you didn't mention this to anyone else though, if that's okay."
"Of course, your secret's safe with us!" Iskall said, giving him a thumbs up.
Grian put his sweater back on and looked around at his base, the countless unsorted chests now surrounding a small hole in his floor. There was still evidence of the party that was going on prior -- bottles of alcohol and bags of chips littering the folding tables and the floor -- though now the mood was definitely gone. Scar followed his gaze.
"Don't worry about anything down here, we'll clean up then it'd probably be a good idea to retire for the night. Dunno about you, but I'm exhausted!" Scar offered. "Unless you wanted us to stick around, of course."
"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'd like to be alone for a bit... I will take you up on the cleaning though." Grian was also tired, emotionally drained after everything that happened. He'd have to explain everything later, if Mumbo didn't say anything before he woke up, but he could worry about that in the morning. For now, he just wanted to sleep. Grian equipped his fake wings and flew up a story, placing another bed on the second floor away from the chaos downstairs.