Battle Scars - A Watcher-Grian AU story

Chapter 15 - Who needs mental stability anywayyyy

TW: Torture, Violence and Gore (slightly graphic), Inhumane treatment, Imprisonment, Overall Watcher creepiness, Memory Altering, Trauma. (Basically last chapter's TWS, but with trauma this time! :D) 

ALSO, please remember time is a wibbly wobbly thing in watcher's end. Time in Watcher's end is typical faster then the rest of minecraft's, so days in watcher's end may pass in hours, or even minutes. Don't expect time to be even between the two realms, because I'm horrible at pacing and this gives me more time to torture Grian lol.

A watcher stood in front of the chamber a new prisoner was being kept, standing guard. He'd switched out for the old guard a while ago. He dipped his head as another watcher walked up, unlocking the door. It would take a minute before the screams started from past experience... He clenched his eyes closed. It wouldn't do him good to help the poor soul... He'd given up all hope of escaping, or stopping the torture years ago. If he saved them, then where would he be? More would be brought in, people he knew as torture. It was unfortunate to have so many friends when you were in his position...

He still regretted his choices when he had saved her... He still stood by his choice, but not the final one. She should have been able to remember what happened there... It was immortal to erase her memories... He sighed, pushing his short black hair out of his face. Then the screaming started, and his eyes widened. He recognized that voice... No... Not him... anyone but him... How did Grian get here? Grian wasn't a watcher... Right? No, no time to theorize, He had to go back on his plans. He couldn't let Grian get hurt while he stood by. Not again. A plan began to form. It was risky, but it was the only way...

"I'm sorry... Please forgive me." He whispered a apology to her despite the fact she was unable to hear it. It made him feel slightly better either way. He opened his magic and hoped the back door the watchers had created a few days ago was still there.

Grian's brief reprieve was suddenly ended by a watcher walking into the room. He knew this was coming... But he was already in bad shape. It already felt like his limbs were being torn apart, his throat was on fire, and his mouth was parched. He'd also lost a lot of blood and felt very weak from lack of magic... He was sure how long he would be able to keep himself together... He couldn't give in...

 The watcher this time had handfuls of violet flames, and ran their flaming finger along sections of his arms, causing him to thrash and scream. Tears ran down his face. This watcher also didn't react, simply burned him again. Again, he wasn't sure how long passed, and the watcher left...

He looked around him for hope, any chance of escape. But the bedrock room was barren. He tried to use his magic despite the bindings, and couldn't even make a ember.

Another watcher came in. This one mangled and tore out the feathers of his wings while he sobbed. Finally, after his wings were damaged to the point where he was no longer able to fly, they grabbed them with both hands and broke them a sickening crack and flare of agony.

Alone again.

Another came in, caused him pain, and left.

Time began to blur into simply pain. He lost count how many times the watchers came in and out. Before he knew it his resolve was crumbling.

He no longer tried to think of a way to escape. What was the point of it? The rebels clearly had a superior amount of braincells then his two. His only hope would be the watchers, but even that was just a shred.

A new watcher came in, Their robes, significantly more ornate then the ones of his torturers. Grian knew this was a higher up instantly.

"Ah, Xelqua. I see my little friends have finally tamed you. Will you finally listen?" The watcher tilted their head, their eyes blinking at him

"S- s-" Grian tried to talk back, but his mind wouldn't let him. Speaking back would lead to more pain, pain, pain, and the self preservation part of his mind didn't want him to endure more pain, his body was already broken apart, his mind in shatters. He had failed. He had broken. Tears flowed down his face as he stared at the pool of his own blood, now with black feathers

"I'll take that as a yes..." The watcher shook their head as they undid the clasps. "You know, not all of are as mean as you think. Some of us take our beliefs... too far. But us higher up simply want to show the boundary's of our powers. We're too strong to be let into standard servers, if so the players would beg for our power, want us to cheat for them, break our moral code. So we create a wall between us and them. We recognize we are superior simply to protect others, not because we are entitled."

Grian was too weak to do anything but nod, his mind telling him to agree, obey, avoid further pain, not to fight back, to protect himself. 

Thinking of protecting his friends, his family was a thought long gone, the memories he shared with them felt so distant. It felt like his whole reality circulated around the rebels and him, and he had to protect himself, as the others were so far away...

"It hurts me to see such a young watchling hurt like this. But this is too prevent further loss of life. But we can let you live happily with us if you wish, raised the right way. We can make the pain tolerable."

He didn't react to this as the final clasp was undone, and his weak legs hit the ground and crumpled, causing him to fall face first into the pool of his own blood and feathers.

"My apologies!" The watcher picked him up, purple fire in a wave clearing him off. The sight of the purple flame made flinch as he remember the pain, pain, all of it just pain... He didn't realize he was moving until the watcher placed him into a mat on the floor of a room, this one made of quartz.

"I'll send Urua over here. They'll help you with the pain while you rest" 

Something about this felt vaguely forbidding the part of his brain that still had his old instincts in, but currently, he didn't care. Safe, he was safe, out of the room, out of pain, scarred but alive, alive!

He was alive.

Something else. It felt like he should be worried about someone else...

His friends. He had friends. Were the hermits alive? How he could forget them, they were his friends!

His friends! 

Friends...?

...Friends?

Purple fire danced in his dreams.

NPG smirked with satisfaction. Ark had a... unfortunate council meeting. Kanvi and NPG had taken a page from Grian's book, creating a spell to pelt infinite eggs at them after the meeting had started, and NPG blew up a section of the meeting hall for how the watchers had treated Grian throughout his time here. 

Thinking of Grian, NPG realized he should probably teleport back to him. They hadn't checked in with the gremlin in a bit, and was worried about him. Around a day had passed in the overworld since he'd left. Pulling the admin panels, he tried to visualize the tether, and it appeared... and glitched out.

No... Not again. NPG quickly examined his coding, and because of the weakness of the tether, the errors in his own code had returned...

Not again!

RU2T!C H0U23?

No no NO- He quickly clicked buttons but without any success. It was too late to do any bug fixing. He was back where he started. He had to get back to the closet- But they were already losing their sense of self, the glitch making harder to think.

RUSTIC HOUSE.

RUSTIC HOUSE?

A/N

Heheh, no one is immune from angst. Not even my child NPG. Mostly because they're too powerful to not be removed from the equation. Almost every major character I can write we've had so far is gonna get Angst because I wish to cause pain and suffering (to both fictional characters, and my readers) ^o^

WC: 1388 (A bit short, but we've had a couple 2000s recently and I didn't want to have to put another POV in.)

- Xera