Battle Scars - A Watcher-Grian AU story

Chapter 17 - Happy characters at last..?

TW: Mentions/references to memory altering, Mentions of death. (No torture or gore this chapter, your welcome :D Remember when I put TW: None? That was funnn. :D)

Pearl stared at her old friend in shock. He was wearing his typical blue shirt, with his short, messy black hair and red and blue bracelets, along with his headphones. He looked like he hadn't aged a day. The only difference? He had watcher scars across his face and arms. She swore her headache had gotten worse- Then again a literal person fell on her head- That'd certainly make anyone's head hurt more

"Heyyy Pearl..!" Taurtis chuckled nervously, before Pearl scooped him up in a giant hug.

"Why didn't you tell me you were alive- I missed you so much!" She smiled widely. "I thought Grian and I were the only ones alive!"

"You saw Grian?" Taurtis asked excitedly.

"Yeah... unfortunately. Our admin says he betrayed us for the watchers..." Pearl sighed. She still didn't buy it, but she didn't want to give Taurtis false hope. "I can't believe it... but X is very insistent on it..."

"Well that obviously isn't true." Taurtis brushed it off. "Memories can be altered easily."

"But how would you know.. ?" Pearl stared at him, confused.

Taurtis was clearly hiding something... She looked at him, but he refused to look her in the eyes, which was fine by her. She'd always found eye contact rather uncomfortable ever since... What had happened in Evo. It was odd, but she'd come to terms with it.

"I know stuff." Taurtis chuckled, and Pearl thought she heard a bit of sadness in his tone, but he was beaming again a second later. "But please, tell me what's happened."

"Oh, sure... So I came in through teleportation since X said we were in lockdown due to watcher magic. Throughout this season we've detected peaks of watcher magic, starting when Grian fell out of the portal... I wasn't there at the time..." She proceeded to recount what had happened throughout her time on hermitcraft, Taurtis nodding along.

"Alright. That... Makes sense. I think I understand what's going on... Is... there anyone else who interacted a lot with Grian?"

"Yes, there's Eyn... Their coming over later today."

"Alright." Taurtis looked at the ground. "Before they come... Could we hangout for a bit? Like the old times? You could show me the stuff in the new updates. I've been isolated... Like what's that thing on your back?"

"WAIT- You don't know about elytras? Have you heard about concrete? The new textures? Parrots? Deepslate? Hell- Do you even know about Villagers?"

"E- Elytras? Concrete? Parrots? Deepslate? What are those?" Taurtis tilted his head curiously.

"Oh their amazing- Elytras allow non-winged players to fly! Concrete are a brighter building block! But... You appear to have wings now..." Pearl wondered how someone could get wings... and how come Taurtis knew nothing about the new updates? Even if he stayed in the Hub, news was spreading like wildfire.

"Heh, keep talking, let's not dampen the mood." Taurtis chuckled, his wing curling around him in a slightly protective motion.

"Alright! I'll show you around Boatem then!"

The two began to walk through the town, Taurtis looking like a kid in a candy store at all the new blocks and mechanics.

"You remind me of Grian when he first got here- He fell in love with the blocks." Pearl chuckled.

"Strange, he must have been isolated too!" Taurtis replied quickly. Too quickly in Pearl's opinion... He looked slightly uncomfortable... She always seemed to perceive things others missed.

Taurtis quickly changed the topic. "Wow- Those builds are huge..." Taurtis whispered in awe. "It must have taken forever to build these..."

"Hah, these are just our starter bases. You should see the Mega bases once they get built. Their even bigger. We're all planning to play around with mountains with the new Caves and Cliffs update!"

"How are those starter bases!" Taurtis exclaimed, staring at all the bases. "A starter base is a hole in the ground-"

Pearl chuckled. "Yeah, holes in the ground don't really happen much here. Everyone goes big at the start."

"Woah- Grian was always making fun of my building... Now I see why. Remember the Grian Empire? And the city he built?"

"Yeah, he kept trying to get me to join... That was a bit before the explosion, wasn't it... How did you survive? I came to spawn and found the destruction, the bodies, and the watcher magic buzzing in the air..."

"Let's just say I have my ways." He chuckled, when Pearl's communicator buzzed.

"Whats that?"

"Oh, it's a communicator. It lets us talk to other people on the server." She checked it, and saw she got a private message from Eyn.

<EynVoid> The meeting's done, I'm coming over. It'll take a bit tho, still need to get elytra.

<PearlecentMoon> Alright, I have someone for you to meet!

<EynVoid> Who is it? I didn't see anyone join...

<PearlecentMoon> You'll see!

Taurtis sighed, turning to Pearl. "Pearl- I'm sorry, but I need you to know what really happened." He held her hand. "Do you trust me?"

"Y- Yeah, why?"

Purple fire ignited in his hand as he shifted into his semi-watcher form, the changes similar to Grians, expect for the fact his feathers changed from a more natural dark grey to almost pitch black. "I'm sorry- If I could let you live in this freedom for longer, I would but we need to save Grian..."

She tried to run, but Taurtis' grip on her arm was too strong. Why did this keep happening to her- "Taurtis-" She tried to scream, but she was falling, falling, the fire pulled at her mind, pulling her down, down into the darkness threatening to drown her. Deeper into her mind, farther then she'd ever gone before, this whole place seemed eerily familar, but she couldn't remember from where... The magic pulled into a area, and flared up, burning a veil over a area. She gasped as memories drowned her, and pulled her under.

A/N:

A really short chapter bc it was meant to mostly be fluff, so I don't get locked in a basement. Your welcome. You know who you are.

But Angst will return. We didn't get a Grian POV this chapter after all ;)

And Pearl's not going to have a good time.

WC: 983

- Xera