(CW: Some violence in Iskall's POV)
Xisuma's quill skated across his journal, spreading purple Chorus ink across the thin paper. He was drawing a picture for his brother, and he was almost done. With just a few more strokes, it would be finished.
He glanced up at Ex, making sure he wasn't looking. Unfortunately, he was looking straight at him with a small smile on his face. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes, though.
X tried for a grin. "Are you okay?"
Ex's smile grew less genuine and more artificial. "Everything's fine."
X decided not to question it and nodded, going back to drawing. Ex had always been this way. He'd just learned to adapt to it.
A few moments later, X had something shoved onto his head. He couldn't see what he was drawing, and his quill skidded across his page.
"H--Ex!" With a bit of struggling, he managed to take off the obstruction, which turned out to be a dragon head. He threw it at Ex playfully. "What was that all about?"
"You look amazing with that head on." Ex shoved X in retaliation.
He took one look at X's face and burst out into laughter. "Aww, wittle X is mad..."
"I'm older than you!"
"By, like, fifteen minutes." Ex laid down on X's bed, stretching.
X sat down next to him and ripped out the page in his journal, putting it on top of Ex's face. Ex blew the paper off and smirked at X.
"No, seriously, look at it. I've been working on it for a while. What do you think?" X was anxious to hear his brother's feedback.
The drawing pictured their home in the End. Ex and X were standing in front with their parents behind. Each of them had a big smile on their face. There was, unfortunately, a stray mark where X's quill had gone astray, but it wasn't that noticeable.
Ex's expression seemed to sadden as he looked at the picture, but he put on a smile and looked over at X.
"This is beautiful! Are you going to give it to someone?"
"I was going to give it to mom and dad, but I changed my mind." X handed the page back to Ex. "Do you want it?"
Ex stared at the paper in a split second of hesitation. He took the paper and put it in his pocket. "I love it. Thank you, X."
X pretended to not know something was going on and tackled Ex in a tight embrace. "You know I could never live without you, right?"
Ex tensed up at the hug at first, but relaxed and exhaled. X couldn't see his expression, but he hoped the words of encouragement helped.
After a moment of silence, Ex spoke.
"I know. Love you too, X."
»»————- ★ ————-««
"Weeeeels. I need your help."
Stress sat on a nearby table, swinging her legs back and forth. She looked at Wels with a grin on her face, holding a leather-bound book.
"I need help building this book fort."
Wels leaned against the wall. "You're going to take me away from my guard duties to build a book fort?"
Stress threw a bound scroll at Wels. "You're no fun!"
Wels caught the scroll easily. He held his hands up in fake surrender--he couldn't say no to Stress. "Alright, alright."
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Hermitcraft: Origins
Fanfiction"Each world has its own story. Even if you tried to get a story from me, I wouldn't be able to tell you half of it. There is so much life in each build and block, and each event has told their own tale. But it has to start somewhere." Fate has the o...
