Love and Despair (A Hermitcraft Au)

Chapter 33: Forever and Always

I have fake nails on that my sister made me put on. The cheap ones that you get from any dollar general and are like fifteen feet long. This took me ten minutes to write...

Now my nails are having a fight to the death to see which one lasts the longest. If I have only two left for three weeks, so be it. I gotta know who wins.

LEZ GO!!

~~

Word Count:

~

TW:

~

POV: 3rd

~~

The lounge was silent as the Hermits waited for Doc to come through the portal. The silent if  whispering through the room was ignored as best as it could be.

Xisuma had been led to the couch where he sat, slouched over, staring blankly at the floor, tears running silently down his face. Biffa wandered over to a wall, sliding down it until he was seated on the floor. He took off his helmet and tossed it away before bringing his knees up and burying his tear stricken face into his hands.

Els was stood, their forehead laying against the wall, Wels' arm resting above their head. His eye was squeezed shut, tears leaking out and quiet cries escaping their lips. Hels' was staring at the wall, a fiery anger blazing behind his eye, his teeth bared. All of a sudden, he brought his fist up and punched a hole in the wall. 

Stress, no longer worried about expending her energy, went around and healed every cut and scrape the Hermits had gotten, though most of the wounds were bigger than a scrape. She could feel her energy draining, but she continued healing, using this as a way to distract herself from her own pain.

Joe and Cleo had laid Xisuma's and Xizara's weapons and helmets on one of the pool tables and were now following Stress around, helping the Hermits clean the blood off their freshly healed skin.

The rest of the Hermits were spread out through the room, silently waiting for Doc to return, each dealing with their own levels of grief.

After an agonizingly long fifteen minutes, the sound of the portal swirling filled the room. A second later, one of the Watchers stumbled through, holding up Xizara's body. Immediately, several of the Hermits jumped up, standing a couple feet away as they watched with a wide mix of emotion Zloy dropped to his knee, laying Xizara gently onto the floor. 

Zloy looked up at Stress who was using Iskall to keep herself up. "Help him," the Watcher said in a quiet voice, though a hint of desperation leaked through.

"I-" Her voiced cracked as she choked on tears. "I can't"

The man let out an annoyed grunt but didn't fight it. Xizara didn't have much longer and trying to get them to help him would only run the clock down. 

Ely was the only one to come forwards, squatting beside Zloy, ready to help the older Watcher in any way that he could.

As Zloy took off his cloak and pressed it against the wound on Xizara's stomach, Doc and Pixl stumbled out of the portal.

The closest Hermits jumped forwards to help Pixl hold up the burned Flare. 

Doc lurched forwards, startling xB and False who were holding him up. He dropped beside Xizara, panic taking over his mind when he didn't see his chest moving. He checked for his pulse and felt a small, weak pump as his heart somehow kept beating. 

The Flare jerked back up, his angry gaze landing on Stress. "Help him," Doc growled through clenched teeth. Anger clouded his mind. He just couldn't understand why Xizara had been left when he was still alive, nor could he understand why the Hermits weren't helping now. They were just standing there, staring dumbfounded as the Voider's life was draining before their eyes.