Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hermitcraft probably wasn’t going to be the worst server she had been on, Pearl reasoned as she took in her surroundings.

She was sitting in a fairly large room, probably meant to be an entrance hall or lobby, with mismatched chairs against the walls, clearly having been put there after the room had been designed.

Based on the worn quality of the chairs and thin layer of dust underneath, though, Pearl figured the chairs had become somewhat of a permanent fixture, as if they simply didn’t have time to find more appropriate seating arrangements. Or they just didn’t care.

That was probably more likely, Pearl thought bitterly. No rehab server ever actually wanted ‘apprentices’. The admin was paid for each one, sure, but they were usually more trouble than they were worth. Or so Pearl had been told... many, many times. Right before she had been sent back to the parole office to start all over again.

‘Apprentice’, ‘rehab server’, ‘parole office’... all fancy words to dress up what was basically indentured servitude, in Pearl’s opinion. She had never been to actual rehab or seen a real parole office, but she knew they existed- for humans, at least. There’s no way they were as corrupt as the Hybrid Integration System.

Pearl was shaken from her musings as the door on the wall to her left opened- the one she herself had been led through only half an hour before. She recognized two of the newcomers immediately- Reintegration Officers, wearing the standard black-on-black uniform and the usual scowls.

The third, though, stood out like a beacon, with the anxiety practically dripping off of her.

Despite the white and orange polo that clearly marked her as a ‘Hybrid Apprentice’, she appeared completely human. Her ginger hair, pulled tightly into a braid (she had clearly put effort into being presentable), clashed with the uniform.

The woman- probably in her early twenties, if Pearl had to hazard a guess- hesitated in the doorway, eyes darting around in poorly disguised fear, for barely a moment before the male guard behind her nudged her forward

“Sit there.”

His voice was gruff, but not necessarily unkind, as he pointed to one of the chairs on the opposite side of the room to Pearl.

The newcomer did as told, perching on the edge of the chair like a bird ready to take flight, but did not flinch when the female guard approached. She simply held out her wrist and allowed the woman to fiddle with the cuff she had on.

Calibrating to the new server, Pearl knew. Standard procedure, though even from a distance, she could tell that this girl’s cuff was more complex than the standard Hybrid issue.

This was enough information for Pearl to come to a conclusion- this was likely a newbie, straight out of her initial prison sentence and on her first rehab server. Pearl couldn’t help the twinge of sympathy that formed in her chest- the first was almost the worst. But if she was lucky- and obedient- it would likely be her last as well.

Pearl turned her attention to the other occupants of the room.

Other than the singular guard who stood in the corner, scrolling on his communicator in obvious disinterest, there were two other Hybrids who had already been present when Pearl was brought in: a Celestial Hybrid who was examining his surroundings just like Pearl, his golden eyes darting around in curiosity as opposed to fear, and a man with glowing green eyes that matched the streak in his hair. The glow in his eyes stood out the most- the cuffs were supposed to suppress their abilities during transfers.

If she had to hazard a guess, neither of these men were new to the system. The glow-y man was lounging like he was on the beach, and whether his relaxation was genuine or faked was practically impossible to tell, even for Pearl.

The Celestial, while tense, seemed more uncertain than nervous. His posture, as well as the way the sleeves of his uniform had been torn off at the shoulder, screamed that he should not be messed with.

He still jumped, though, when the door beside him- exactly opposite of the one Pearl had entered through- opened.

The guard in the corner straightened immediately, shoving his communicator into his pocket. Pearl stifled a chuckle at his panic, instead turning her analytic attention to those who had just entered.

She had just managed to decide that the man in front, with green armor and black helmet, was in charge, when he spoke, practically confirming her deduction.

“We’re all here?”

He didn’t wait for a response. There was no way for the Hybrids to know the answer to that question anyway.

“Wonderful. I’m Xisuma. Welcome to Hermitcraft!”

---

Gem was trying her best to stand still and listen as the man- Xisuma, he had called himself- gave a tour of the community building.

She had tried to stay at the back of the group to avoid any attention on her, and while the other Hybrids seemed to have no qualms with allowing her to fade into the background, there was always at least two humans behind her- one that was practically hovering over her shoulder, and another that Gem could never get a good look at, but was clearly lurking in the shadows.

The feeling of their eyes on her back, constantly watching her, was more than enough to make her want to sink into the floor. Or, more accurately, blip from the server and find someplace safe.

But she couldn’t do that. Not anymore. And more likely than not, never again.

“.... the main entrance to Nether hub is down that hall, and.... I think that’s pretty much it! Your supervisor will go over server policies and all that jazz after you get settled in, but I’m sure most of those are pretty standard. What else do I need to say?”

Xisuma turned to the man next to him, who wore a black bandana and had been following along for the entire tour, chiming in every so often.

“Uh.... did you release their suppressors?"

“Oh yeah. Sorry ‘bout that. I’ll do that, then you guys can meet your supervisors and mentors and quit listening to me yap”

He stepped forward, first to the tall Avian woman with coal-black wings. She was intimidating, to say the least, and Gem could tell that she had been around the block a few times. Avians were renowned for their strength and cunning, and this one seemed no different.

She didn’t hesitate to hold out her arm, though, and allow Xisuma to tap his communicator against her cuff. For Hybrids like Avians, the suppressor did little more than make them lethargic, since they didn’t have any pure magic.

That wasn’t the case for the next Hybrid, though. When his suppressor was turned off, the glow of his eyes rippled out to encompass his entire body, and Xisuma had to blink against the light, but didn’t react further before moving onto the Celestial.

Finally, he turned his attention to Gem. She took a shaky breath, and suppressed the urge to step backwards. It took a few moments for her to successfully form words.

“It’s not going to do anything”

“Yes,” the man nodded, and the bit of his expression she could see behind the visor had twisted into something unreadable,“I’m aware.”

“Oh...” Gem stuttered, looking at her feet and shuffling awkwardly. “Right, sorry”

“Don’t worry about it”

“He’s smiling, by the way” a voice over Gem’s shoulder suddenly chimed in, making her jump. “It’s hard to tell with X, but he’s being nice.”

Gem twisted around, looking up at the tall golden-haired man, who was smirking. She nodded shakily, and he winked at her.

Completely baffled, she turned back to the admin of her new server, and tried her best to smile back. Xisuma continued to look at her for just a moment, before turning back to the rest of the group.

“Pearl and Joel, your supervisor is Scar”

He gestured toward the human in a wheelchair who had been accompanying the group for the latter half of the tour.

The man, Scar, smiled wide and gave a little wave. The Avian (Pearl, probably) and the glowing Hybrid (Joel) acknowledged this gesture with a sharp nod and a wave, respectively.

“Gem and Skizz, you’re with Impulse.”

“That’s me!”

Gem jumped... again... as the man behind her spoke up.

“Ope, sorry. I forget I’m kinda loud.”

Impulse reached out a hand, which Gem shook after only a moment’s hesitation. Skizz, the Celestial Hybrid, was soon right next to her, and did the same.

“We also have a unique program here on Hermitcraft called Peer Mentors. Each of you will be given a mentor in the form of one of our resident Hybrids, who have either gone through the system or learned about it from one of the other mentors. They’re who you can go to with any questions, concerns, etcetera. We do our best to pair you up with someone with similar abilities. You’ll meet them soon enough. Your supervisors also have your communicators, so if you have any questions for me, you can reach out at any time”

And with that, Gem was swept off away from the community center and further into the server, following Impulse down a gravel road between shops and industrial buildings.

“I’ll get you all suited up with armor, an elytra, and basically anything else you could want as soon as we get to my base. And you’ll get to meet Tango and Cleo- your mentors. Though technically you’ve already met Cleo- they were tagging along for the tour.”

There was that mentor concept again- something that stood out to Gem as unusual.

Not that she really had any idea of what was normal or abnormal in the Reintegration Program- she had just finished her 3-year sentence, and this was her first rehab server.

But from what she understood from the orientation she had to complete before being released, direct recurring contact with other Hybrids was discouraged for apprentices, at least for the first little bit of their time.

It ‘aided in the reintegration efforts’ or something along those lines. She had always tried her best to pay attention in the orientation lectures, but there was only so much of the droning on and on that any normal person could stand.

She was determined to follow the rules of this new server as closely as physically possible, though. Back home, being caught by the humans was seen as practically a life-sentence, since the system did everything in their power to keep world-hoppers under control, and the best way to do that was to get them ‘stuck’ in the Reintegration program.

If she ‘flunked’ out of this server (was sent back to the parole center for bad behavior or labeled a ‘lost cause’), she would have to start her 3-year apprenticeship all over on the next server.

And her sentence had been light- having only been caught world hopping from her home server to the world hub, which she had only done to bypass the need for paying the fee.

It was a stupid decision, and she was here paying the price.

But she could beat the system. She had to beat the system. Her people had already lost too many members to this forsaken program. Gem would make it back home and prove that it was possible.

Chapter Text

Impulse was... quite possibly the strangest human Skizz had ever met.

He seemed constantly cheerful, with a slight skip in his step that would normally ooze insincerity, especially for as tall and athletic of a man he was.

But there was something so genuine in the way that he would always look over his shoulder to make sure the two Hybrids weren’t falling behind, and how he was just the slightest bit unsure of almost everything he said.

It wasn’t that Skizz had never met kind humans, or lighthearted humans.

There were exceptions to every rule, Skizz knew this, and he hadn’t developed the same skeptical and hateful view towards humans as some other Hybrids had.

Many of those Hybrids were well and justified in this judgement, as well. The large majority of Hybrids in the program were neglected and mistreated- at best.

Skizz just happened to be one of the few lucky ones (or unlucky, depending on who you asked) who had grown up around humans.

Mixed communities were uncommon, especially as close to World Hub as Skizz’s home had been. Most servers had both Hybrids and humans on them- (it was technically illegal to ban one or the other species from settling in a server) -but they often had separate settlements, hundreds of thousands of blocks apart.

Skizz had grown up around both human and Hybrid children, going to school and playing together.

In some ways, it was a curse- he endured bullying and cruelty from peers and adults alike. But he had best friends and mentors who were humans. He had seen that they were, in fact, capable of empathy and goodness.

Still, Impulse was different. Almost... magnetic.

And that scared Skizz like nothing else.

He had made it so close to completing the program in his last rehab server. 22 months into a 2 year sentence.

And then admin status had been transferred in the election, and it was decided to withdraw from the Reintegration Program entirely, leaving Skizz and eleven other Hybrids with no other choice but to return.

Skizz had been well-behaved and worked hard to prove that he was successfully ‘rehabilitated’ in that server. It was all for naught.

In many ways, he really had been ‘rehabilitated’- 2 years in prison and almost another 2 in the program had shown him how huge of a mistake it had been to join his buddies in their shenanigans outside of their own server.

They had been humans. When the group was arrested for vandalism and public nuisance, his friends received 6 months, most of which was completed in their home server’s jail.

As for Skizz... well, here he was.

He had learned how to navigate the program quickly. The last server was easy- keep your head down, do your job, don’t break the very clear rules.

Barely 6 hours on the Hermitcraft server, and it was easy to tell that things were not so simple here.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Skizz jumped, just the tiniest bit, before turning to look at Impulse. His expression was one of genuine curiosity, with the barest hint of concern behind it.

“Just... just looking” Skizz turned back out, to the view he had been taking in from the balcony of Impulse’s base. “Impressive”

“Thanks! I’m pretty proud of it.”

Skizz looked back at him, letting his gaze linger on the human for a moment more than would be normal. Impulse simply smiled back, seemingly unphased.

“Sorry I startled you. Just wanted to check in, make sure you were getting settled in well.”

“Yeah, totally. Thanks, by the way. This is really nice,” Skizz gestured back inside, to the room that he had been given as his own.

He was being honest- the room was large, with more storage than he could possibly need, a sizable bed, an area just for crafting and cooking, and an attached bathroom. Not to mention the spacious balcony.

“No problem! Again, feel free to raid my storage for anything you need until you’re able to get your own farms and stuff set up.”

Skizz nodded, before looking back out towards the sky and rolling hills. In the distance, he could see other buildings, paths, and builds, but there was plenty of unsettled land that had already been offered to both he and Gem to use as their own space.

Gem was an odd one- different from every other Hybrid he had met, both in his time in the system and before.

Even the most tame Hybrids, those with magic that didn’t alter their physical features, were pretty easy to identify as Hybrids. Most had glowing eyes or faint auras, unless their identities were suppressed. But, Skizz supposed, Gem’s suppressor hadn’t been deactivated.

He wasn’t one to speculate on others' personal information, though. The girl was young, and clearly afraid. That, at least, was something Skizz had experience with- fresh members of the program who were completely unsure of what was to come.

Normally, Skizz would have no choice but to watch as they figured things out for themselves, navigating the new rules and expectations for them on the server.

Hermitcraft, it seemed, would be different. Not only did it seem that there were no rules prohibiting them from communicating with other Hybrids, it seemed it was encouraged with the ‘mentorship’ program.

Speaking of...

“You said my mentor’s name was Tango, right?”

Skizz didn’t look back at Impulse, but he could practically sense him beaming. Skizz smirked slightly.

“When can I meet him?”

---

Joel prided himself on a lot of things-

The mastery he had over his magic (even though everyone thought it was uncontrollable). His proficiency and hunting and killing mobs (especially horses. He hated horses.) His wife and child (who he hadn’t seen in almost 15 years)

But what he prided himself most of all on was his ability to scare the shit out of basically every human he interacted with.

He knew what his file said- he had snuck into an admin’s office on more than one occasion.

It said he was ‘explosive’, ‘unpredictable’, ‘bordering on clinically insane’. It warned against angering him, or mentioning his past, or questioning his combat abilities. It had four whole pages that outlined the report of a psychiatrist who hypothesized on why he was the way he was.

The conclusion was that he had had a deeply traumatic childhood that led him to absorbing the personalities of every individual he touched.

Joel considered himself at least mostly sane... the large majority of his demeanor around humans was an act.

After all, no Hybrid had ever wished that they interacted with humans more. If they avoided him, he could basically do whatever he wanted.

Though, admittedly... doing what he wanted is exactly how he ended up turning a 3 year sentence into a 15 year sentence. He had lost count of the amount of rehab servers he had been on. To his best estimate, his longest stint was around eight months before the admin kicked him off.

That was how Joel had ended up here- on Hermitcraft. It was a pretty well-known server amongst Hybrids in the system.

Guards and officers alike spoke often of the servers that were reserved for the ‘worst of the worst’, the Hybrids that had failed out of enough servers or committed dangerous enough crimes to be marked as a ‘lost cause’.

Hermitcraft was one of those servers. Often the final stop for Hybrids before they were either successfully ‘reintegrated’ or shipped off to a backwater server, never to be heard from again.
That was rare, since Hybrid welfare organizations kept close tabs on those in the system in order to avoid that very event, but not completely unheard of.

Thus, Hermitcraft was used only in drastic scenarios, and- from what Joel had overheard from the never-ceasing complaining of guards in the parole office- incredibly expensive for the Program.

A small part of Joel wanted to flunk out purposefully (again), just to see what would happen. But he did have a family waiting for him back home. He didn’t want to just disappear without a fight.

That didn’t mean he would stop being an absolute pain for the humans that were keeping him in this forsaken system, though.

He was still very resolved to make the lives of the humans on Hermitcraft a living hell.

The same couldn’t be said for the other Hybrids, though. He had already met more Hybrids in one day than he often did in his entire time on other rehab servers.

Not only the others he had arrived with, but Scar- his supervisor -had introduced him and Pearl to an Avian named Grian (who was Pearl’s mentor), a Creeper & Goat Hybrid named Doc, a Vampire named Mumbo, and an Illusionist named Cub.

Cub was to be Joel’s ‘peer mentor’, or so it had been explained to him. What exactly that consisted of, he wasn’t sure.

But it was that fact that led to him being where he was now- walking through the forest, towards the Hybrid’s base.

Notably- without any humans present.

That was beyond odd. Reason for immediate release from any other rehab server Joel had ever heard of.

But he certainly wasn’t going to question it now.

“This is your place?”

He wasn’t really asking. Cub had been pointing out and explaining practically every landmark they had passed, then going on at great length about the details of the path they were on and the landscape they had been passing through.

It was only in the last few minutes that he had gone quiet, seemingly run out of things to talk about as they entered a particularly dull stretch of the trip.

(He had offered to allow Joel to use an elytra and they could simply fly back to his base, but it had been years since Joel had been able to fly. And Joel suspected that there might be something in his file about his hatred of horses, because that wasn’t even offered as an option. So they were walking.)

“Yeah! I’ve been here for almost 10 years now, so I’ve had plenty of time to expand my base. That bridge we passed a couple hundred blocks back? That’s the official boundary between me and False’s base. She was my supervisor.”

Joel simply nodded, considering letting the conversation fade back into the awkward silence.

His curiosity won out.

“So how come you’re still around? I mean- I assume your time is up, if you’re allowed so many freedoms.”

There was a longer pause than he had been expecting, and Joel turned to look at Cub just in time to see him watching him back, an odd expression on his face. It was gone in almost an instant, though, as Cub hummed in response.

“It is. I like it here. I know what you’ve probably heard, but Hermitcraft is a good server. The people here are... they’re different.”

Joel didn’t quite know how to respond to that, so he didn’t.

Every instinct in his body was screaming that Cub must be lying. That there must be some nefarious reason that the man didn’t escape as soon as he was free.

But something deeper... something in the rational part of his brain that knew that if he ever had any chance of returning home, he had to actually try to play along this time... sparked with an odd sensation that Joel hadn’t really felt in over a decade.

It felt suspiciously like hope.

Chapter Text

It was scary- how quickly Skizz felt himself relaxing as he spoke with Impulse and Tango.

He hadn’t let his guard down in almost five years, but in just a little over twenty-four hours, these two men had managed to find a chink in his armor.

And worse- Skizz couldn’t detect a single hidden motive or hint of malice. 

Impulse had brought Tango over to his base that morning, and the three had taken a stroll around the grounds and through the halls. Skizz had lagged a little behind as the Human and the Pyrokinetic had chatted and joked around like old friends.

Tango had been introduced as ‘the smartest man on the server’. He had laughed it off, denying any such accusations, but for the next ten minutes, Skizz had kept replaying that phrase over and over in his head.

‘Smartest man’

Not the ‘smartest Hybrid’

That meant something. Skizz couldn’t yet put his finger on exactly what.

The three were now riding to the shopping district, Impulse having given Skizz a stack of diamonds to buy gear to get started with. He had tried to refuse, but only once. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and all that. 

“All the Hybrids on this server, are they all graduates of the Program?”

This was just one of the many, many questions Skizz had asked the pair, once he had realized that they would answer him without complaint. 

“Not all, but most,” Tango nodded, "It's not very big- there’s only like twenty-some permanent residents- but about half of the Hybrids we get from the Program stick around after they graduate, at least for a little bit.”

“Wow,” Skizz nodded. He didn’t ask the question he was desperate to know the answer to. 

Why?

“Tango is one of the few that came here on his own. Near the beginning when they were looking for people to get settled. Before Hermitcraft even started taking apprentices” 

“You get a lot of apprentices? You guys have a reputation, you know”

Tango’s expression morphed for a fraction of a second, but quickly smiled and shook his head.

“No... I’d say three or four every few years. Xisuma likes to take you on in batches, then wait till the last one has graduated. It’s actually been a little bit since we had our last group, since Gr- err, I mean, the last one had a pretty long sentence.”

Skizz noted the slip-up, but didn’t say anything.

“Is that different from other rehab servers?” Impulse asked, turning back to look at the Hybrids.

“I wouldn’t know” Skizz shrugged, “This is my second”

“Oh, okay. Sorry- it probably said that in your file, but I didn’t read that. Kinda feels like a violation of privacy, to me.”

“Oh... yeah, okay. I will say, though, from what I’ve heard- Hermitcraft is very different from other rehab servers.”

“How so?”

Skizz hesitated for a moment, before continuing.

“You let Hybrids talk to each other, for one. That’s a big no-no, usually. At least in the beginning.”

“Really? That’s insane.” Impulse frowned. “I mean, I knew the Program was-”

The Human was cut off by a jab in the side from Tango.

“Sorry, yeah, just... that’s crazy. You can talk to whoever you want and do basically whatever you want as long as you aren’t hurting anyone or trying to leave. I give reports to Xisuma and he gives them to the Center. I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you, you obviously know more about it than me.”

“Nah, I appreciate it. Again- second server. Good to know the rules and stuff.”

Impulse smiled as he slowly slowed his horse, turning his attention to the buildings surrounding the plaza they had just entered.

“Here we are! I’ve got some errands to run, but Tango can show you the ropes. Meet back here in an hour or so?”

And before he really knew what was happening, Skizz was alone with Tango, standing in front of a beautiful quartz & purpur building.

“This is the End shop- mostly has purpur and endstone, but we should get you an elytra. Each shop is run by a different Hermit, this one is Wels. You’ll meet him soon probably”

This pattern continued for a whole row of shops- Tango explained what it sold and who ran it, only occasionally saying names Skizz recognized, and they moved on. He had suggested they use the first go-around to know what was available, and the second to actually buy stuff.

“Once you’ve settled, you can set up your own shop if you want. Its the main way of getting diamonds, but you could also just go mining. Whatever you prefer”

“I think I’d like to have a shop.”

“Awesome. I can help you get that started whenever you want. Oh- there’s Wels. I was talking about him”

Tango pointed to the left, at a blonde-haired human in iron armor.

“Oh, hey Tango! Skizz, right?”

The human- Wels- walked over, nodding towards the Hybrid. Skizz smiled back.

“That’s me”

“Nice to meet you. I was hoping to run into a few of the newbies today. I’m Wels, by the way. Though I guess Tango already told you that.”

“Yeah, you run the End shop, right?”

“Sure do. I have a bricks shop too, if you’re ever in the market. In other news, there’s a few of us in the community building, we’re about to go on a Bastion raid. You can come with, if you’re feeling reckless, but also just come by and meet some folks.”

Skizz looked to Tango, who shrugged. 

“Sure!”

Wels led the pair through a few alleyways -a shortcut, he said- and to the community building, where he had arrived the previous day. 

“Here, through here” 

There were many people standing around the Nether Portal, an almost overwhelming amount.

“Skizz, this is everybody. Everybody, this is Skizz.”

He was soon inundated with introductions and greetings, faces blurring and faces overlapping. In any other scenario, it would have been overwhelming.

But here, it just felt warm. Like they were all genuinely happy to meet him.

Skizz tried his best to remember names and faces. 

False was the tall blond human with a sword strapped to her back. Jevin was the Slime Hybrid that seemed like he was in charge. Beef and Zed were the humans that gave him a quick hello before returning to their maps. Etho was the man with a cybernetic eye and mask, and Skizz couldn’t tell if he was Hybrid or human. Keralis was the eager human who spoke a tad too loud but had a huge smile on his face. Bdubs was the human who waited until the buzz had died down, then approached and offered to help with anything Skizz could ever need.

It was nice.

They were all so nice.

Humans and Hybrids all in one room, laughing and chatting like old friends. 

It almost felt like home.

------

Cub had offered Joel a spare bedroom in his base that he could stay at whenever he wanted, but he had returned to Scar’s place for the night anyway. 

It wasn’t very clear what the exact role of this ‘peer mentor’ thing was, so Joel wasn’t sure if Cub was some sort of secondary supervisor, or just someone meant to monitor him when Scar couldn’t. In either case, it was probably safer to not anger his supervisor on the first night.

Still, he couldn’t help himself but test out the boundaries of this new server. So Joel rolled up to Scar’s base long past sundown, expecting a light scolding at best, he was very surprised to receive nothing but a warm greeting from the human.

“How was the visit to Cub’s?”

“Oh, uh...” Joel was taken aback, but plastered on a grin almost immediately. “Fine. Bit of an strange guy, but aren’t we all?”

Scar laughed at that, and Joel forced himself to chuckle along.

“I was just about to head to bed, but if you need anything, just holler or come wake me up. Pearl’s already asleep, I think. She and Grian... well, that’s actually not my business to share.”

Joel nodded, still smiling wide in an unnatural manner. 

“Well, night then! Sleep well” Scar said, before making an odd gesture with his hand above his head, then rolling off down the hallway and into his bedroom

It wasn’t until after he was gone that Joel pieced together that the man had been tipping an imaginary hat at him.

Strange guy, indeed.

A few hours later, Joel still couldn’t sleep. There was a gnawing energy in his chest that only ever occurred when something wasn’t quite right- like an instinct that warned him of danger. But try as he might, he couldn’t identify what that danger was.

Finally, he gave into the restlessness and rose from the bed. After just a moment’s hesitation, he opened the door and began moving silently through the halls.

Scar’s base was pretty close to spawn and the main shopping district that had been shown to him and the other Hybrids on the tour. Out his window, he could see the pulsing lights of a nether portal, sitting in the center of a plaza surrounded by shops and market stalls. 

Before he had even realized what he was doing, Joel had made his way to the front door and slipped out, welcoming the cool breeze on his face. 

Don’t go anywhere without a supervisor.

That was practically rule number one of these rehab servers. Hybrids unsupervised could get into trouble- or more accurately, be blamed for things they didn’t do without any proof of the contrary.

Joel had been kicked off of more than one server because a human accused him of foul play, and he had no human to back up his side of the story.

He would be crazy to break this rule at night, on the first day at that. During the daytime, when a Hybrid was working or traveling, it was understood that being alone was unavoidable.

But at night?

A Hybrid alone was never up to any good.

The very thought was thrilling, in a terrifying way. But try as he might, Joel’s instinct and desire to explore won out against his logical reasoning. 

It took only a few minutes for him to reach the center of the shopping district, having stuck to the brightly lit paths to avoid mobs. 

The server wasn’t quiet by any means- there was always the dull whirring of redstone, the distant hiss of hostile mobs, but there was a stillness to the night that Joel immediately fell in love with.

He wandered through the shops for what felt like an hour before he finally felt exhaustion take hold. Each storefront revealed a lot about the server and its inhabitants, and even though midnight had long passed and the sky was beginning to grow lighter, Joel wished he could stay out longer.

But each minute that passed, the risk of being caught grew and grew. He wasn’t that reckless. At least not yet.

Unfortunately, it was only minutes after Joel had turned around and started heading back to Scar’s base that the unmistakable sound of rockets was heard, approaching the shopping district.

Joel was never the fastest man, and his unfamiliarity with the area meant that his search for a hiding spot was unsuccessful. 

He had just enough time to swear under his breath and steel himself for the upcoming punishment before a player swooped down beside him, landing with the grace of a cat.

Turning around with the same fake smile as before, Joel opened his mouth to greet the other, but the minute he saw his face, all that came out was-

“Shit”

Standing before him was none other than the admin of the server, Xisuma. Literally the worst possible scenario.

Immediately, Joel shook himself out of the almost-paralyzed stupor that he had been thrown into, and laughed awkwardly.

“I mean, sorry- you startled me”

The human raised his eyebrows behind his helmet, but didn’t react otherwise to his exclamation.

“My apologies, I was just surprised to see anyone out here this early. Or should I say late?”

Joel cringed internally, but forced himself to smile even wider.

“Couldn’t sleep. You know how it is, first day jitters and all”

Xisuma just nodded, and for the longest moment, there was silence. Joel realized he had been holding his breath and exhaled forcefully. 

He could hear a voice in his head- probably a mix of his father and Lizzie- telling him he should apologize, that maybe he could at least soften the blow if he owned up to his failure, but he refused. That would be admitting fault. 

“Well, uh... good morning”

“Good morning, Joel. I’m glad to see you’ve found the shopping district”

Joel blinked at the admin, clenching and unclenching his fists behind his back.

“You showed us it on the tour”

Xisuma laughed. And, despite it all, it seemed genuine.

“That I did. Did you get settled in well with Scar and Cub? I know Scar can be a bit intense, but he’s a great guy once you get used to him. Thought you two would get along, from what I’ve heard about you.”

“You read my file”

It was probably one of the dumbest things Joel had ever said (and that was saying something).

Not a question, or an accusation. Just a statement. An obvious one. Of course the admin of a rehabilitation server had read the files of the Hybrids tasked to him. 

But Xisuma didn’t even react. 

“Yep. Speaking of, I was hoping to talk to you today, so running into you here is perfect- do you want to send a letter home?”

“I- what?”

Joel cursed internally for the stupid response. He had never felt this utterly baffled by a human before. 

Honestly, he hoped that this is what it felt like for other people when they interacted with Joel himself.

“I know you’re not allowed off-server digital communication, so if you write a letter or something, I can make sure it gets to your family. Not a lot of the Hybrids we get through here have people back home, which is... sad. But I know you do, and I want to make sure you can contact them.”

“I... err. I mean... Um, if you-”

Xisuma reached a hand out, and Joel couldn’t help but tense up as the man laid a hand on his shoulder.

Both of them were still, for just a tick, before Xisuma stepped back again.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to overwhelm you. Just know the offer’s open if you ever want to do that.”

Joel nodded slowly, realizing the smile had faded from his face long ago. He tried to wrestle himself back together, feeling suddenly very vulnerable.

“Right, uhh... thanks.”

“I’m gonna get going then. Good talking to you, mate. Get some sleep, yeah?”

And with that, Xisuma flew off back into the air, leaving a dumbfounded Joel in his wake.

It had been almost 6 years since Joel had last contacted his family.

In prison, he had been allowed to write letters home, and in his first few servers, this continued. He had been able to hear all about how his daughter was growing, as Lizzie had detailed her first steps and other milestones in great length.

But as he got more and more ‘troublesome’, contact home was one of the first privileges he had lost. 

He couldn’t fathom what he had done to earn that privilege back. 

Not only that, but he had broken a huge rule, had been caught by the admin of all people, and had nothing to show for it. Not even acknowledgement of his actions.

Maybe Xisuma wanted him to write a letter home so he could track it and find his family. Or maybe he was going to read what he wrote so he could identify Joel’s weaknesses in an attempt to finally break him, something no other server had been successful at doing.

Yes, that must be it.

This was all some big test. Of course Hermitcraft would be different from the other servers he had been on- it was supposed to be the best of the best. 

Designed specifically to wear down even the most stubborn and broken Hybrids, then build them back up ‘perfect’.

Well, whatever game Xisuma and his players were up to, Joel wasn’t going to fall for it. That was for certain.

-----

If you had asked Pearl to take a hundred guesses of where she would spend her second day on the Hermitcraft server, perched atop a mountain with a fellow Avian would not have been on that list. 

The view from up here was honestly remarkable- from one angle, a sprawling plains landscape dotted with trees that eventually faded into the ocean. In another direction, buildings rose up and eventually spread out against the skyline.

It was Bdubs’ base, Grian had explained. His previous supervisor, who she would surely meet soon enough.

Grian had invited her on this early morning flight the day previously, when Scar had introduced the pair.

She had not known quite how to respond- instead looking to the human man. He had given her a small nod, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Even when she had woken the next day, after barely sleeping, unable to truly rest despite the incredibly spacious and comfortable room Scar had given her (with a proper nest and everything!), she had had half a mind to change her mind. 

But even with everything in her screaming that it was a trap, she had made the trek to the top of the tower in Scar’s base and met Grian on the roof.

He had given her an aerial tour of the surrounding bases, and promised to give a more expanded one at a later date. (Apparently tours were ‘his thing’). Then, he had taken her here- to what he described as ‘the best place to see without being seen’.

Which was proving to be true- she could see players coming and going on a path in the distance on horseback, or flying over the rooftops on elytra, but none of them even glanced her way.

“I used to spend a lot of time up here” Grian started, breaking the comfortable silence that had befallen the pair. “I don’t really, not anymore. But I wanted to share it with you.”

“Thanks,” Pearl murmured, gaze still locked on the horizon. “It’s nice. Quiet.”

“Yeah. As much as I love the Hermits, quiet is something of a commodity.”

“I’ve been getting that vibe.”

Grian chuckled, and out of the corner of her eye, she watched his feathers ruffle. 

“Can I be honest for a moment?”

Pearl looked back at him, brows furrowed.

“ ‘Course you can.”

The other avian smiled, shrugging slightly.

“Yeah, obviously, but... I dunno. Anyway, I.... I know you’re probably freaking out internally and have been since you got sent back to the Center, but if it makes you feel any better- I am also kinda freaking out.”

“Yeah?” Pearl cocked her head in a way that she hoped didn’t imply that that fact was obvious.

“You’re, uh- you’re my first ‘apprentice’ or whatever. And while I don’t want to presume what you’ve been through, I can imagine that you haven’t had it easy. I won’t say I know what you’re feeling, but... but I’ve been where you are, and not that long ago either. This probably all feels fake, like some big trap, and all these humans are just hiding some dark secret, but...”

He trailed off with a deep sigh that seemed uncharacteristically serious, even for having known him for less than twenty-four hours.

“You’re not going to believe me if I just say it- and that’s okay!” Grian raised his hands in front of him in a reassuring gesture. Pearl just continued to watch him, eyes narrowed.

“I don’t, but go on.”

“Just... just know that I’m here, if nothing else, okay? Nobody else knows about this place. And I can show you some other secret places I have, if that’s what you need to feel safe.”

Pearl didn’t respond right away, instead looking over Grian’s shoulder towards the ocean. To his credit, Grian followed her lead, allowing the silence to return. 

“Can you?” she finally whispered.

“Can I...?” Grian asked, not impatiently. 

“Show me those places.”

Then, after a beat-

“Please?”

-----

Impulse had left Gem alone in his base when he and Skizz had gone out shopping- something he had asked her no less than seven times if she was sure she was okay with.

She was, in fact, okay with it. In fact, she was secretly very glad for it.

It felt a little rude, to use the man’s generously-given trust to bend the rules, but the change to be alone was too good to risk. 

From the moment she had stepped inside his base yesterday, Gem had been itching to explore every nook and cranny. To know the ins and outs of every room, passage, and chamber. 

And, more importantly, to know every entrance and exit.

From what she had seen so far from Impulse, he likely wasn’t going to actively harm her, but Gem had spent four years without any way to escape, and despite her suppressor, she wasn’t going to go another four stuck in the same manner.

Almost immediately after the three men- Impulse, Skizz, and his mentor, Tango- had left, Gem had skittered down the main steps to the basement.

Impulse’s base was mostly one large castle, with many tunnels and chambers below ground level and only a few free-standing buildings above ground.

This made her quest easier- she didn’t have to go outside, which she wasn’t sure was allowed in the first place. Not that snooping around his base was allowed either, but Gem never claimed to be a rule-follower.

Her ‘snooping’ was pretty quick, despite the many twists and turns. 

World-hoppers may appear human, but beyond their natural dimension-hopping and reality-warping abilities, they were also quicker than most humans, and had heightened senses. Something that attributed to how hard her people were to catch, on top of everything else.

These heightened senses also came in handy when an unexpected visitor arrived while she was trying to do something she’d rather not be caught doing.

“Hello? Gem?”

The unfamiliar voice was coming from a few floors up. Gem had made it through most of the lower floors, identifying a few secret exits and hidden tunnels, and so wasn’t terribly upset to be interrupted. Still, she rushed up the steps, to the front entrance.

“Oh, uhh... sorry,” Gem panted as she turned the corner. Standing at the front door was a Hybrid with green tinted skin and orange hair. 

“Don’t worry about it... I wish I could have told you I was coming over, but I couldn’t find your contact on my communicator.”

Gem looked down at the device on her wrist, then back up at the visitor, simply shrugging.

“It’s alright. We can have Etho or X take a look at that some time. Probably an easy fix. Oh! I’m Cleo, by the way.”

They held out a hand to Gem, who took it tentatively.

“Oh... yeah. Impulse totally said you might be stopping by at some time and I totally forgot, I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, don’t sweat it. Seriously. Your first day is a lot. So many new faces, a completely different server.”

“Yeah, uh...” Gem cursed herself. She didn’t usually stutter this much. “This is my first, actually”

Cleo’s head tilted in confusion, and Gem hurried to continue.

“First rehab server, I mean. I just finished my initial sentence.”

“Oh, ok. Odd”

Now it was Gem’s turn to look confused, before her expression shifted and hurried to elaborate.

“I’m a world-hopper.”

“Ohhhhhh” Cleo nodded, “That makes sense”

“You didn’t know that?”

“I-”

“Sorry!” Gem quickly interrupted, “That was rude. Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Girl-” Cleo cut in, stepping forward and placing a hand on Gem’s shoulder, kindly ignoring how she flinched backwards, “You need to chill out and stop apologizing. I really don’t care about that kind of stuff.”

Gem nodded slowly, taking a deep breath as well as she could while remaining still under Cleo’s hand, which she quickly removed. 

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay” Gem smiled, and the two looked at each for a moment longer, before both breaking into quiet chuckles that slowly grew into genuine laughter.

“Now that we’ve got that settled... care to take a stroll around the grounds while I give you the run-down of this place”

Despite herself, Gem accepted Cleo’s offered hand and followed her outside. 

The two did a few laps of the gardens and paths while Cleo explained the details. Things that Gem suspected she wouldn’t have told other Hybrids had they been on other servers before, but information Gem was incredibly grateful for nonetheless. 

After an hour or so, they settled down with a picnic that Gem thinks Cleo genuinely pulled out from nowhere by the fountain. They were literally three minutes from the dining room, but she wasn’t going to argue.

Besides, it was cute. Calm. 

Something she hadn’t experienced in a long time. 

“So-” Gem started, between mouthfuls- “Tell me if this is rude, but... is the Necromancer thing normal for Zombie Hybrids?"

Cleo chuckled through a bite of their sandwich, then swallowed, shaking their head.

“Not really. I mean, statistically, Necromancers are probably more likely to be Undead Hybrids than other magic types, but it’s not a thing. And I wasn’t born with this magic, unlike most.”

“Really?” Gem spoke with her mouth full this time, curiosity winning out.

“Yeah. It’s uncommon, but there’s really no downside to learning magic if you’re already a Hybrid. It altered my appearance, but I was already looked at different anyway.”

“I... I mean, yeah, I guess that totally makes sense.”

“What about you? I don’t actually know much about world-hoppers. Just that they’re rare and, well... dangerous, or so they say.”

Gem hesitated, swallowing her recent bite and taking a slow sip of water. Clearly stalling. Cleo didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, well... I mean... we aren’t actually that rare. Just hard to catch, I guess.”

“That... makes total sense. I know you guys can jump between servers without using a hub, right?”

Gem nodded, a small smile appearing on her face.

“Yeah, but to be honest, we don’t do that much. It’s safer to stay in our own servers and keep away. The System picks us up whenever they can, gives us basically any sentence they can stick on us.”

Cleo nodded slowly in understanding.

“That sucks. I’m sorry.”

Gem shrugged.

“I get it, honestly. It absolutely does suck, but we are dangerous. My suppressor can’t be removed because I could just hop out of here, or shift to the other plane, whenever I wanted.”

The odd, sad look Cleo had been giving her shifted into one of curiosity.

“Shift?”

“Like... leave my body and watch from the outside, and no one can see my actual consciousness.”

“That is... actually so awesome.” Cleo smirked, leaning back. 

“Yeah...” Gem looked down, running her fingers through the grass. “I can’t actually control it as well as hopping. That comes natural to us, the shifting not so much. We have to practice, and I kinda hate it. The feeling of not having control of my body.”

“I totally understand that.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, both focused on their meal. 

“I was thinking we should get you better acquainted with the server and the Hermits” Cleo began, after she finished her sandwich. “Us Hybrids like to get together every month or so, and there’s one tomorrow. Would you be interested?”

Gem furrowed her brows.

“Just Hybrids?”

“Yeah, but the humans are aware of it. Encourage it, actually. And it's not like we’re doing anything nefarious. We play games, watch movies, stuff like that.”

“I... uh... I don’t know if I’m allowed.”

Cleo raised an eyebrow, and Gem squirmed a little, wringing her hands together. There was a moment of silence.

“You’re allowed. That’s... that’s not a thing.”

“But... will Impulse be okay with that? I don’t think I’m supposed to go anywhere without him.”

The Zombie Hybrid sighed, then immediately cut herself off. Gem’s stomach clenched anyway.

“I can promise he will be. But we can ask him, if that makes you feel better.”

Gem was quiet for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Okay, if he says it’s okay, then yeah, I guess.”

“Okay?”

Gem smiled despite herself, a breathy laugh escaping her.

“Yeah, okay”