Never Really Gone

Chapter 73

Grian's POV

6 months later...

I'm glad to be moving to a new season under more positive conditions, and glad to leave Season 7 behind. That world held too many bad memories, and I'm probably not gonna miss it.

Despite only being here a few minutes, Season 8 has been strange so far. Xisuma and Joe have been repeatedly insisting that they have something to show me.

When it comes to those two, that can mean anything between a particularly pretty flower they found, or an insane, life changing secret that will inevitably put us in severe danger.

"Aaaand, right over here." Xisuma claims, pointing to a small house in the middle of the village we spawned in.

"A house...?" I mumble hesitantly.

"Technically yes, but that's not the surprise." Joe explains.

Then someone opens the door of the house, poking their head out and smiling brightly.

"I am!"

It doesn't even take a second for me to recognise Pearl, but it's a good 10 seconds before I get past the state of pure shock and disbelief I'm sent into at her sudden and unexpected appearance.

"P-Pearl?"

"Hi Grian."

I pause only momentarily before throwing my arms around her and knocking the two of us to the ground. I'm crying in no time, holding onto my friend as tightly as possible.

"I thought- I thought they took you away too! I thought you were gone!" I choke, struggling to breathe.

"I know, I know..." She tells me, her voice cracking a little as tears roll down her cheeks. "I'm ok, it's alright."

"H-how are you... why aren't-"

"I was visiting my dad when they... attacked, so I wasn't there."

She brushes her hair out of her eyes, before explaining further.

"When I got back, there was all this panicking, about a server being spontaneously destroyed and all it's members killed. They didn't know how it happened, or why, the Admins were calling it a severe bug in the servers code that lead to the world being... erased."

"I was worried, and I went to try and get home and make sure you guys were ok, but when I entered Evo's IP into the portal it kept saying 'Server not Found'. So... so I asked an Admin which server it was... and he said it was Evo."

Pearl's breathing becomes heavier, her body shaking a little.

"I thought everyone was gone, lost in some horrible freak accident, until 3 months ago. That's when I met Xisuma."

X sees how badly she's struggling to finish, so he takes over.

"I recognised Pearl from your photos you showed me, and I asked if she knew anyone named Grian. She said she used to, but that you were killed 3 years ago. So I told her the truth, all of it, what really happened to Evo. Then I invited her here."

"I didn't hesitate to say yes... so here I am." Pearl tells me, smiling through her tears. "One of the new Hermits this Season."

"Pearl that's... that's so amazing! I can't believe that- wait....One of?!" I repeat, raising my eyebrows.

Joe nods, smiling.

"You should come outside." He says. "I think there's someone you should meet."