Chapter Text
The gentle rapping on the door alerted Xelqua, they were too busy in their thoughts to even notice it at first. The sound only alerted them after a second time it had happened, someone was at the door, but they couldn’t answer vocally. They got up and knocked back, the door opened in their face, freedom was in their grasp; but they didn’t take the chance. It wasn’t like they could do anything anyway.
“Xelqua, right?”
A nod.
“Well, I have your food here, uhm…”
Of course. It was an awkward silence as always, nothing ever changed. The tray was given to them, it had soup, a piece of bread, and some sort of ginger ale. A sick child’s meal for whenever they had the cold, is that what they were really feeding Xelqua? Granted that they didn’t mind, but this was the kind of meal they watched many children eat on world servers.
“Is there something wrong with it…?” Right, they weren’t alone.
‘No, all good. Thank you.’ They signed, quickly glancing at the man in front of them who only looked confused. ‘What?’
“What are you doing with your hands?”
Oh, right.
Players didn't really understand sign language from what Xelqua understood, as most players weren't deaf, hard of hearing, or mute. They grabbed their journal, flipping through many pages with text on them till they found an empty one.
“I cannot talk so therefore I must sign or write.”
“Oh, uh, I don't know what to say to that…”
Xelqua began to scribble once more. “I completely understand, I never expected you to say anything either way.”
They watched as the person left, they remember Xisuma calling them ‘Impulse’? They didn't really know but they sat down and looked at the food in front of them. It smelt good, steam arising from the top of the soup as they grabbed a spoon. One bite, or slurp really, had warmth immediately fill their mouth, a savory yet sweet taste that rubbed them in a good way. Why didn't children eat like this all the time? It was too good of a combination not to enjoy.
They slowly ate, savoring the moment as they continued to feed. It had been a while since they had actually eaten, while they didn't need to eat player food as they didn't starve, they still needed energy from players. Negative emotions that made the Watchers as powerful as they are, and Xelqua was growing weaker by the minute. They weren't able to feed like they used to, being forced into cuffs that chained them down. They shook their head to get rid of that train of thought, shivering as they reminded themselves that they had to act normal.
They finished eating and set aside the tray, waiting for Xisuma to come back and collect it. They looked at the clothes on them, they felt a bit big but it was probably because it was hard to make out their figure under the clothing. They still loved it nonetheless, it was all the warmer anyway. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours of waiting. They sighed as they began to cut their robes with their nails, removing the symbol of the Watchers off from it, wanting to forget their past with them.
More rapping was on the door, a certain pattern that Xelqua has begun to recognize now, Xisuma’s. “It’s me.” The door opened to reveal the same man Grian had once feared.
‘Good day.’
“Good day to you as well, I was gonna take you out but do you want to is the question?”
‘Out what?’
“Outside, with the cuffs still on.”
“Yes, I want.”
Xisuma might've been smiling, Xelqua couldn't tell but could see his cheeks rise up through his mask. They got up as Xisuma grabbed the tray, the two walking out the door as Xelqua clutched their journals to their chest tightly. They were ecstatic to finally be outside for once! They followed Xisuma outside and sucked in a breath, taking in the awe and beauty of the HermitCraft server. It was magnificent.
They followed Xisuma to where it looked like a bunch of shops were, “Here, you know how to use this, right?”
It was a fishing rod. Of course, Xelqua knew how to use it, they've observed people using it in servers all the time! So surely they were an expert on it. Right?
Wrong.
They knew nothing.
It was going horribly, water was now all over the sweater that they were wearing and their wings. It felt as if they were out in the rain for hours on end, playing in it like a child, but that had not happened at all. They huffed as Xisuma laughed at them, they were embarrassed, to say the least. They put the fishing rod down beside them, sighing as they were ready to give up until Xisuma put it back into their hands. “Come on, don't give up.”
‘I want.’
“How about I help you, here, stick out the rod for me?”
Xelqua felt their stomach swirl with uneasiness, but so far the admin was becoming nicer to them with each passing day; so they could trust him, right? They did as Xisuma said, sticking out the rod as they awaited for the next instruction. “Good, now throw—don’t actually throw, but you know what I mean, right?”
They nodded and “threw” it, but they dropped the rod into the water below them. A loud and dramatic sigh was heard from them as they heard the very loud and clear laughter from Xisuma, they rolled their eyes as they tried to reach the rod. They huffed as they gripped the edge of the small dock that was there, their grip slightly slipping before they were pulled back. “You were about to fall in,” Xisuma began to explain, “Let me.”
The admin grabbed the rod from the water and handed it to Xelqua after he dried it, Xelqua hummed as they tried to have a better grip on the rod as they tried to get it into the water. They finally did it, and now the thing on the line was still in the water, “Great! Now just wait until the bobber starts bobbing.”
It had now turned into a waiting game, waiting for the thing to start going up and down in the water. They frowned as they were growing quickly impatient, they felt as if they just needed to do something that would give them the stimulation they needed. Then they felt something tug on the rod, they got out of their thoughts and saw the weird thing bobbing, “Pull!” instructed Xisuma.
It was like something inside of them smiled with glee, a joyous feeling arose in them. They caught something! They giggled weakly as they saw they had caught a cod, a cod! They could see Xisuma clapping softly, it made them feel good to have the admin clapping at their achievement. “Now you know how to fish, something to pass the time till I finish shopping!” Xisuma gave them shulker boxes so they could put things in them till whenever Xisuma would come back.
They hummed as they continued fishing, finding themselves repeating the same thing over and over again. They had collected many fish, books, bowls, and even some spare armor that they placed next to them. It was deafening. The only sound that was present was the soothing sound of water; but that still was far too quiet for Xelqua’s taste.
Humming, they weren't any good at it, but they always hummed. The croaky sounds that came from their throat soothed them as they fished, it was as if they were in a trance of just fishing again and again. It was a calming repetition though, the fishing calming their mind as they collected the things that the sea had offered to them. They would've stayed in this trance if it weren't for the sound of rockets nearby them, which only made them look at the player who was responsible for noise.
The player had long curly red hair, and they had stitches along their skin, they were a zombie hybrid. “Xelqua, yeah?” They nodded, confused as to what the player wanted. “You don't want to hurt us from what Scar said, right?”
Xelqua nodded, they just wanted to get away from the very beings that tortured them.
“Scar said you were trustworthy enough so I’ll believe him for now, but what are your intentions if ya don't mind me askin’?”
Xelqua quickly scrambled through the pile of books since they mixed up the books they used with the enchanted books. They groaned as they continued to look through the pile of books, they weren't really using the shulker boxes that Xisuma wanted them to use; they probably should've. It would have made things far more easy. They finally found the book they were looking for after a long minute.
‘I wanted to get away from the Watchers.’
“What would you do then? I mean, if Xisuma lets you live, where would you go?”
Xelqua felt their brain short-circuited for a minute. They hadn't actually planned that far ahead, all that was in their mind at the time was to escape, they supposed they could go to a single-player world and take refuge there.
“You didn't plan that far ahead, did you?” they heard the player chuckle, they groaned and nodded their head. It wasn't like them to often forget plans, but they only had one thing in mind that day. Escape.
Xelqua quickly found out that their name was Cleo, she seemed to be a fun player and they were glad that Cleo seemed to be alright with them for the time being. They mainly listened as Cleo spent time describing the other hermits, shenanigans that often occurred between the players when they were sometimes left unattended. It seemed like mindless fun, people who called each other friends and did fun stuff. Oh, how Xelqua yearned for that kind of feeling,
They yawned, feeling themselves grow tired as they listened to Cleo continue on. They began to tune everything out, feeling the wave of tiredness wash over them like a tidal wave. It was odd, they were beginning to grow tired more quickly now, and sometimes their head would feel as if it was pounding. Nothing about that was normal for them and Xelqua hated it.
“Hey, you alright?”
They were shaken from their thoughts as they stopped breathing for a moment, taking in the scene to collect themselves. They nodded and then shrugged, they weren't too sure if they were alight themselves. It was at the moment when Xisuma returned, taking Xelqua back with him as Xelqua only felt worse.
They were beginning to cough, shirt sniffles came from their nose as they walked back. They groaned as the pounding sensation in their head began, something didn't feel right and they didn't know what it was. They only hoped that it would be resolved soon enough.