Grian looked over the envelope in wonder. Given the moon marking on its front, he supposed it was the apparent eighth part of the clue, but he hadn't the faintest idea as to why it was specifically addressed to Joe. Sure, he couldn't receive one, but why Joe? Why not Cub? Or Beef?
The envelope left him uneasy, but he figured it was just its association with Joe after what had happened the night before and brushed it off.
Grian got up and changed clothes, tucking the note in his pocket. But, before he could force himself to sit down and eat, a knock echoed through his base.
When Grian answered it, he was met by Joe and Stress, the latter of whom was holding Joe by the back of the collar.
"Stress? Joe? What are you both doing here?"
Stress's snakes lashed and hissed at Joe. "I believe Joe has something he'd like to say to you," Stress grunted as she fought to keep a hold on him.
He squirmed in her grasp and called over his shoulder, "I ain't apologizing to him! Not when he's a part of this!"
"You don't know that he is!" she shot back. "And, either way, you were so out of line last night! You had no right to speak to him that way!"
"Oh, sure, because he just happened to be untouched by them, and just happened to not have part of the clue -"
Before the two of could continue bickering, Grian cleared his throat. "Funny you should mention that." He fished around in his pocket and pulled out the envelope. "I think this was meant to get to you."
Joe snatched it from him, earning him a chorus of hisses, and gave Grian a side-eye. "What is it and how'd you get it?"
Grian shrugged. "I'm not sure, and I -" He hesitated. How unbelievable was his story? Oh, yeah, I woke up and it was in my hand. Maybe the old Joe would buy that, but this one? Not a chance. "- I found it."
"Where'd you find it?"
Grian had to think on his feet. "I found it...on my way back to my base?" It came out as way more of a question than he intended, and he winced.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure you found it in the dark jungle. Makes sense to -"
"Drop it, Joe." Stress's tone was sharp, and her snakes lunged at him.
Joe clamped his mouth shut, but glowered at Grian all the same as he went to open the envelope. As he did so, though, the wax seal caught his eye. The curious shape was unfamiliar to him, a rectangle with four gaps.
"Hey, fish-face," Joe snapped, holding it for Grian to see. "What's this supposed to be?"
"How should he know?" Stress huffed exasperatedly.
"Uh, actually..." They both looked at Grian. "That's...that's the Evo sign. That note must be from the Watchers."
Joe whirled around, shaking Stress's grasp, but was careful to not look her in the eye. "See?! He knows more than he's letting on!"
"Oh, please!" she countered. "He mentioned the Evo sign last night!"
"Sure, but he's running errands for them!"
"Giving you a letter he found, that happens to be from them, doesn't mean he's running errands for them!"
"GUYS!" Grian interrupted. "Can we stop bickering and just read the note?"
"...fine," Joe huffed. "But only because I want to; not because you told me to."
He tore the seal away and pulled out the parchment therein, discarding the now empty envelope on the ground.
"What does it say?" Stress nudged, peering over Joe's shoulder.
As he read the note, Joe's eyes darkened. "I guess the order of the clue doesn't matter."
"What do you mean?" Stress pressed, still in the dark.
Joe carelessly pushed the note into her hands and roughly shoved Grian to the side as he stormed into the Hobbit Hole.
Stress fumbled with the paper in her hands and looked over the message. Gasping, she dashed after Joe, but it was too late.
"What's this, Grian?"
Grian, rubbing his neck in pain, turned in the direction of Joe's voice and sharply inhaled.
There, in the center of his storage room, sat a chest that wasn't there when he answered the door just moments before. Joe had thrown it open, and Grian caught sight of him snatching something up from inside. He triumphantly held up whatever had been in the chest, throwing Grian a wickedly smug smirk. When Grian saw what it was, his heart dropped.
Sitting in Joe's hand was a piece of bedrock.
How much more incriminating could this get? What an awfully crazy coincidence it was that the one person who wasn't cursed just so happened to be the one person who didn't help with the clue that led to his own house, where an item everyone else needed was stashed!
Grian stood in shock for a moment, unable to process what just happened.
Finally, he turned and stumbled over to just outside his door, where he caught a glimpse of the letter.
Its contents explained what just happened, but that didn't leave him any less shaken.
It contained just one line.
The line, he supposed, that completed their poem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To find your piece of Grian's sign
Solve this clue of our design
Find the one who has not changed
The one who wasn't rearranged
The one unchanged's not as he seems
He only tells you truths he deems
The one unchanged will have no book
Now in his house go take a look
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Alright! What's up, guys! Lix here! Wicked apologies that I didn't post last week. Had to take a short mental health break, but I'm back and better than ever! I'm hoping you guys have been doing well, and hope this chapter's been worth the wait. :3
One piece down, two to go. And what's gonna happen to Grian now that the Watchers have framed him?
Aaannnywaaaaaay, please comment down below, and maybe leave a vote? That'd be greatly appreciated.
See you guys soon!
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When Past and Present Collide
Fanfiction"Grian?" X panted. The figure before them stood, revealing that it was, indeed, Grian, although he was not looking great, His hair was wind-blown, sure, but it looked even more disheveled than that. His flying had been so sloppy that Xisuma had bare...
