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When Grian first crashed on the Hermitcraft server, suspicions were raised that he was a Watcher. He told Xisuma about his backstory after a while, for safety reasons, and so X could assure everyone that Hermitcraft was still safe.
But he never told anyone else, following the backstory rule that enabled him to keep quiet without prying questions.
It took some Hermits a long time to even speak to Grian, for a valid reason, but he could see when he joined that everyone was at least trying.
Eventually, they all learnt to love him, and respect him as a member of their community.
Even so, when Watchers decided to come and collect their 'experiment', Grian wasn't expecting such a fiercely protective reaction from his friends.
It wasn't his fault that he was part Watcher. He had been taken and transformed against his own will, turned into their little play-thing that They could do 'cool tricks' with.
What these 'tricks' were, Grian refused to acknowledge, even to Xisuma. It had been years, and he still hadn't managed to come to terms with it.
So now he stood, trembling in a corner after facing the form that had been trapped in his nightmares for the past years.
He had been having a decently good day, surprisingly. Pulling pranks with Mumbo and Scar on Xisuma to force him to actually take a break from the code, and enjoying a picnic in the late summer sun once they did.
The Watcher had appeared out of nowhere, and Grian wasn't prepared. He had let his guard down, spoilt by the calm of Hermitcraft. He should have known it was coming, but he didn't.
As soon as They entered the server, Grian felt it. His Watcher side came alive once more, and he sat up, a fierce thrum of adrenaline running through him, along with cold, cold terror.
Scar and Mumbo both asked him what was wrong, but Xisuma was distracted by the three billion warning symbols that had come up on his dash, all colored the same, sickly purple.
The other two fell silent when they noticed the tension in the air, putting two and two together to figure out what was going on.
Now, Scar and Mumbo had been told from Grian and bits from Xisuma the sort of beings Watchers were. It was completely different to everything anyone had ever told them before. The two had thought they helped the servers, assisting players and admins if they needed help. They didn't expect the actual beings to be ruthless murderes that manipulated and attacked, doing what they wanted and bending others to their own wills.
At first, the two Hermits didn't believe it. It was hard to come to terms with the fact everything they had ever been told about the Watchers was a lie, after all. But seeing it in action, well that changed it.
The Watcher appeared in a puff of purple smoke in front of the players, and suddenly Grian let out a cry and fell to his knees.
They had control over him, encircling him in a tight layer of magic that was slowly drifting towards them.
Grian knew there was no escape, he knew that he was going to have to go back to where he started, and try and escape all over again. That is if They didn't choose to kill him instead. Even while there, if he did anything wrong whatsoever They would respond with too-harsh punishments that Grian didn't even want to think of.
And so he gave in to the strength of the Watcher magic.
That is, until he felt a different sensation pull back, tugging him in the other direction.
His mind, frazzled from adrenaline, vaguely recognised it as voidwalker magic. Xisuma.
Grian managed to turn around to see Xisuma at work, weaving. It had always fascinated him, they was the code responded to their movements, bending and rewiring itself.
And then all magic disappeared, and Grian thought he was dead.
But no, he fell to the floor, still safely on Hermitcraft, and watched as the Watcher vanished. Amazed, he turned around to thank Xisuma, only to see his eyes roll into the back of his head as he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
Scar and Mumbo blinked, and then Mumbo raced across to Grian, and Scar, being closer, moved across to the knocked out admin.
"Overuse of weaving, I think. Look at the code running across him like a halo."
Grian and Mumbo nodded, Mumbo with his arm firmly around Grian's shoulder, until the pesky bird stepped forwards.
Scar and Mumbo watched as Grian closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, they were purple.
Both of them flinched back, but Grian merely stepped towards the admin and placed a hand on his chest over his armour.
Scar was about to call out, to say he was being controlled and stop whatever the heck was going on, but then Grian stepped back again, blinking away the purple haze and Xisuma sat up. He thanked Grian, then adressed all three of them. "Seems like I've turned into a bit of a bodyguard there." He chuckled, and Mumbo helped him stand, "Are you okay?"
"Oh yes, just overuse of code. I banned them and blocked them from being able to find Hermitcraft. It took a lot out of me. Grian helped though, so now I am perfectly fine, thanks."
-
Grian never realised how protective friends could be until that day. He stopped waiting for them to turn their backs on him, and started enjoying his time as a Hermit even more than he did already.
He gave more information to Scar and Mumbo after a while, feeling they were deserving of knowing why in the worlds he had magic.
Grian found, after that day, he felt a lot more comfortable in Hermitcraft, safe knowing the Hermits, including the admin, would do everything in their power to keep his past and his terrible memories away, and protect him.
He finally felt safe.