Fall of Hermitcraft

8

Pearl

"I'm sorry, but... THIS is your ship?!" I asked Ivan in astonishment. He nodded happily.

"Da. She's never failed me." Ivan said, chest puffed in pride.

I was... less than impressed at the sight of Ivan's ship.

It was an old, run down freighter, which was propped up on a pile of bricks, halfway rusted in some places, and charred beyond recognition in others.

"Or we can just take mine?" B offered weakly. Ivan waved him off.

"I don't fit in yours." he said dismissively.

"At least mine has a little bit of a chance of surviving takeoff!" B countered.

My wristcuff suddenly dinged. Xisuma.

"Damnit... I need to take this! It's X!" I said. The two ignored me, continuing their squabble.

"She just needs a couple of repairs, Mladshiy-brat. Then she'll fly, just like new." Ivan countered as I stepped aside, pulling up a call with X.

"'Ello?" I asked as Xisuma popped up, armor off. He was instead wearing a white undershirt, and unbuttoned flannel over it, a pair of thin reading glasses, and generally looking like a middle-aged mountain dad.

He breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Pearl. Good. How's the hunt going?" he asked. I sighed.

"Things've popped up. He's... being held by the Lazarus Rebellion. In The Overlord's Citadel." I said. His brow furrowed as he scratched his beard.

"You can't do that by yourself, Pearl. I'll send Gem, Impulse, and Skizz." he said. I shook my head.

"Keep them there. I already found help." I said. Confusion crossed his scarred face.

"Not there, fatass! THERE!" B yelled in the background, followed by a loud crash and a string of angry Russian cursing.

Xisuma chucked wearily at that, and I couldn't help but smile in return.

"Good. Those two are a rowdy pair, but they get shit done, and well." he said.

"How are things back home?" I asked. He sighed, taking his reading glasses off and folding them, putting them down on the desk.

Uh oh.

"It's getting bad over here. The entire server is fracturing, and no one trusts each other anymore. I guess the stress of the past few years are finally catching up to us." he sighed.

I leaned my head back, eyes closed and heart throbbing. We had seen this a thousand times over on servers of a handful of people. Sometimes it took years, sometimes it took mere hours for it all to fall apart. We had been expecting this eventually, but... I had hoped, foolishly, that Hermitcraft would've been different.

"How bad is it?" I asked softly. He shook his head.

"I... I don't know if I can fix this. It's all falling apart." he groaned, rubbing his forehead. He looked so much older than he actually was, the side effect of spending the past thirty years of his life trying to keep a group of people who had almost nothing in common together and trying to keep it hidden from the rest of the galaxy at the same time.

"If anyone can do it, it's you. You brought them together. You can do it again." I assured him. He gave me a weak smile.

"I sure as hell hope so." he said so softly I almost didn't hear him.

"Pearl? You ready?" BigB suddenly yelled from behind me, making me jump.

"I-I have to go. But good luck, X." I said. He smiled a little, nodding.