Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Xisuma was stressed. He was exhausted. He needed answers. It was almost four and a half months now since Grian went missing.
 

Two and a half since they investigated the Rift and the Entity. They had at least figured out what had been bothering Joe; it was the Entity itself.


It had given him a message that baffled all of them.


Memories mossed. Staring eyes. Purple People.

They had only figured out one phrase from this perplexing, magically sentient rock’s word vomit. Shadow Portals.


It was the Rift. The Rift had closed. It was hidden in shadows, and might as well have been a shadow. What was everything else?

Xisuma stared up at the board he had made, sitting down in the chair next to the window. He looked from a picture and scribbled note to scribbled note on the board. As he looked, he found his eyes drifting toward the hallway.

He was in his private home, something he was able to code into every new season’s world — as well as his private world, where it’s originally from — and kept it far away from the rest of the server’s borders. Only a few people were allowed its coordinates.

His oldest friends, Hypnotizd, Tinfoilchef, Keralis, Joe Hills

Pearl and…

Grian.

He sighed, his eyes locking onto a sign on a cutely painted Alice blue, dandelion yellow, and red door. The sign, carefully decorated with pink hearts, stars, and crescent moons. All of them were surrounding a messy “Pearlie Void!”, written in the handwriting of a proud 5-year-old.

He stood up and walked to the hallway. He stood in front of the door, looking at it. As he surveyed the old and well-loved wood.

There were pencil marks, markers, and mud staining the door with a path leading through the house, obviously from years of a little kid running around excitedly with new toys or fresh from the rainy outdoors.

He reached out, running his armored hand along the door. He closed his eyes and moved along to the door right beside it.

It had been painted in almost all red, with purple and blue splotches. It had slightly neater writing on it, reading “Grian Void” with fake parrot feathers sloppily glued around it.

Xisuma stared at it, his mind starting to drift. His thoughts were cut short by a soft knock on the wall.

“Xisuma?”

Xisuma whirled around, startled. Standing in his kitchen was Hypnotizd. Clad in his usual attire, a long black flowy jacket with a harness over it that held his elytra on, black pants, and a black turtleneck shirt. His golden blonde hair carefully tucked beneath his black bandana, only the tips poking out at the bottom, forming small curls that hung slightly over his square half rim glasses.

“Hypno-”

“I know that when you’re here you’d prefer to be alone, but morally I couldn’t just let you wallow-”

Hypno stopped when Xisuma lumbered in front of him, staring down. He reached up, pressing his thumbs to two of the buttons fixed onto his helmet. With a pop, the mask part fell off his chin, into his hands.

He pulled it off entirely, and Hypno averted his eyes. He felt like it was disrespectful to look at any part of Xisuma without his mask, despite their friendship running for so long.

“It’s okay.”

Xisuma said, pulling off the rest of his helmet. He rubbed his face, feeling the friction of his stubble against his gloves. “On second thought, maybe not. I need a shave.”

They shared a chuckle, the tension in the room lifting. Xisuma sighed, looking away. He didn’t enjoy eye contact, and it felt even worse after they had just laughed together. He needed to be focused. 

“Look, man,” Hypno began. “You’ve been pulling too much weight, I think you need a break from all of this.”

Xisuma turned away, refusing to even look at Hypno at the mention of what he had said. How could he rest? Grian was missing.

He had been missing for months now.

And it was Xisuma’s the responsibility as the admin and Grian’s—

It was Xisuma’s responsibility to try.

“I know you don’t like the idea, but I think you should call him.”

Xisuma’s breath caught in his throat.

“Call him? Are you serious ?” He asked, wheeling around to meet Hypno’s eye, his nose scrunching with displeasure. “After all this time? After what he did when he had the chance to?”

“I know, but,” Hypno closed his mouth, adjusting his glasses as he swallowed and chose his words carefully. “He has the right to know, and it might really help make any progress.”

Xisuma scowled, his jaw moving back and forth. He stomped around his kitchen, closing his eyes and thinking.

“It could be beneficial! I really think we should…”

Hypno’s voice faded from Xisuma’s thoughts as he stopped at a small chair sitting at the table. His ears rung as he was flung into his own thoughts.

Thoughts of giggles and fighting, dreams of near fires and kitchen floods. Visions of muddy footprints trekked through the house with the culprits barreling through each room sopping wet as he chased them with towels.

Thoughts of the past rang in his head as his focus drifted further and further from his sudden rage, into the sorrow of his loss.

The memories swirling in his head as he fell further and further into the ringing in his ears and the faint shadows of children and adults that only he could see rushing about his home.

Chapter Text

“DAD! DAD!” Little voices called out, whining for his attention. Xisuma opened his eyes, whipping his head back and forth as he searched for the cause.

“DAD! DAD, PEARL STOLE MY THINGS!”

“DAD, TELL GRIAN THAT I ASKED NICELY AND HE DIDN’T LISTEN!”

Xisuma’s eyes fell to the two little figures below him, chasing each other around. The little was bundled in a red sweater, slightly too large for his body and floppy dirty blonde hair, almost brown. The other was a little girl wrapped in a cute jumper with stars and moons on it with long, silky brown hair that stuck out in a few places beneath the blue beanie.

They were quarreling, Pearl holding a small shulker box top, filled to the brim with toy blocks. Baby Grian was reaching for it, but every time he came close, Pearl danced away with it just out of reach. Her long, thin limbs came in handy.

“Woah, woah, woah.” Xisuma snorted, grabbing the box from Pearl. She whined in protest, reaching up for it. He cradled it in one arm, placing his free hand on his other hip. “What’s our rule about sharing?”

Both Pearl and Grian groaned, their little high-pitched voices intertwining in a song of protest. Grian stamped his foot.

“I had it first! I don’t have to share with her!” Grian whined, pointing his little finger that barely stuck out from the sleeve at Pearl.

“I asked nicely! I want to play with them too!” Pearl wailed back, stamping her foot harder, as if it would convince Xisuma more. He smiled at the little antics. They squabbled for a bit, and Xisuma sighed, crossing his arms.

“Wait!” Grian and Pearl protested in unison as a hand reached from behind, snatching the shulker box. Xisuma looked up, making eye contact with familiar red eyes.

“Thought you might want help with the trouble making chicklets here.”

“Thanks… Ex.” Xisuma sighed. Ex, short for Evil Xisuma, laughed. He raised the shulker box out of reach of the two whining kids, looking down at them with a mischievous grin.

“You can hop all you want, little birds, you aren’t getting this!” He taunted. He looked back to Xisuma with a smirk. Xisuma rolled his eyes then quickly bent down as the young Grian started to whine loudly in distress.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.” He said gently, rubbing the little boy’s fluffy, dusty blonde hair. Grian frowned in response, adjusting the glasses that were a bit too big for his face and staring back at Xisuma with his eyes. They looked sort of like chocolate chips, but behind them was a mutinous chaos that he knew was barely contained.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Xisuma shot back, giving him a pointed look. Grian’s tongue poked out, giving him a rebellious face. “Go and busy yourselves with something else, you little goblins.”

Xisuma waved them out of the kitchen, their feet slamming recklessly against the wood floors as they hurried past the doorway. With a tired sigh, he put one of his hands on a dining table chair for support. He reached up, pulling off his green helmet with his brown hair spilling onto his shoulders.

“Woah. You need a haircut.” Ex remarked, a jokingly rude tone to his voice as he put the shulker box down onto the table. He leaned onto the counter, crossing his arms. “You look like an overgrown sheep. Someone oughta shear you.”

“Always a pleasure,” Xisuma said dryly, rolling his eyes at his brother. He shook his head, strands of hair flopping into his eyes. He huffed, blowing a strand away and out of his face. “Anyways, what do you want?”

“Just dropping in.” Ex answered, standing up. “Am I not allowed to see my brother and my niece and nephew?”

Xisuma frowned, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t uncommon for Ex to drop in unannounced but he usually wanted something in return and Xisuma wasn’t particularly interested in giving him anything right now. He crossed his arms defensively, very intentionally keeping his body language closed off towards his brother. Ex’s eyes narrowed, noticing the shift.

“I’m being serious. I just wanted to stop by and say hello before I headed back for the Nether.” Ex insisted, hunching his shoulders in frustration. He glared at Xisuma before glancing away. “Thought you’d be happy to see me.”

“I would if you did this more often.”

“You know I’m not that sort of person.”

“Yeah.” Xisuma agreed, looking down at the floor. He looked back up at his brother. His eyes were still showing indifference but his glare wasn’t as hard. “I know you aren’t.”

The brothers stood in a tense silence, staring at each other. Both of them had things they desperately wanted to say– wanted to shout , but neither could open their mouths. The air felt thick, choking Xisuma’s ability to breathe as the silent hostility intensified. It was only broken by the noise of kids breaking into hysteric giggles. Ex’s head swiveled towards the doorway, Grian and Pearl’s frames darting away. He said something that Xisuma didn’t quite hear before moving away.

As his brother moved, Xisuma’s visions blurred out. His senses slowly returned to their normal state. He pried his eyes open, glancing around. He was still in his kitchen, he was home. Hypno was standing there with a slightly concerned look on his face.

“You okay, Xisuma?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. He took a step forward to try and see if he was alright, but decided against it. “You were… somewhere else. You good?”

“Yeah…” Xisuma said, looking out the window. He exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, noting that it had only been a few moments. “I need to make some messages.”

“I like the sound of that.” Hypno said with a slight smile, moving to the side as Xisuma made to walk past him.