Chapter Text
The Watchers were everywhere. They followed Pearl even before she joined Evolution. They followed Grian before they started leaving little gifts. The manipulation started as early as they could get their hands on someone important and close. Pearl was there when it all happened. When the Watchers took Evolution by the hand and did what Watchers do to sanctions like them. She had no idea Grian was still alive until she got to Hermitcraft
Pearl picked it up quickly when She came to Hermitcraft. It was an unspoken rule, but it was one she wished she’d learned before she opened her mouth. Somehow, breaking a rule you had no clue existed beat breaking one you knew in embarrassment. Cause then you’d get a strict talking to by Mumbo. And that was the peak of being the new guy.
So there it was. The rules everyone but she knew.
Don’t talk about Evolution, Minecrack, or Kingdomcraft.
Unspoken rules turned out to be the bane of Pearl and Gem’s, another new arrival, lives.
Never reference other sanctions.
These little guidelines felt like something Pearl should’ve been told in the three years she was being processed. But, unlike the classic “ don’t break eye contact while speaking”, and “ stay ahead of schedule”, these were Hermitcraft specific.
And Mumbo talking to her was no different than the Watchers in the processing center.
“Pearl, somethings are just meant to stay dead,” He’d say, a stupid little frown on his face, “And Evolution is one of them, especially to Grian. Heaven forbid we have to redo the memory loss again .”
Processing had made her numb to the idea of potential Watchers getting their minds wiped clean of an event or two, but knowing Grian didn’t remember her or Taurtis or anyone made her uneasy.
When Pearl and Grian were taken, they wanted Grian right then. They took him, screaming and crying, sobbing for Taurtis and Pearl, all for them to strap him to the ground and take the scene from his head. Even while they were doing it, Grian cried out for Mumbo and Scar to stop it. Neither of them did a thing. They watched while Doc did the dirty work.
For Pearl, and apparently Gem, she was sent to processing where they desensitized her to everything. For Pearl, she had to sit in a room with the burning of Evolution on repeat.
All she cared for in those memories now was how freakishly cold the auditorium was. Silk doesn’t keep in as much warmth as she would’ve liked on those days.
“Pearl?”
Xisuma’s voice struck Pearl’s head like an electric guitar.
“Are you even listening?” He asked.
“What does it look like, Chief?” She said with a friendly smile. Xisuma sighed, rubbing his visor with his gloves like it were his temples.
“Pearl, how long does processing take for a traumatized individual?” He asked. She crossed her arms.
“What? What’s the point of asking me a question everyone knows?” She asked.
“Just answer it,” he groaned.
“Six to twelve months,” She said confidently.
“And how long were you in processing?”
“... three years…”
“Exactly.” Xisuma started walking again, down the calm path carved by Bdubs. It was the one thing Pearl couldn’t get desensitized to, the beauty of creation. The Watcher idolized it, even.
“When I heard that you and Gem were coming to Hermitcraft, I was a little confused,” Xisuma started speaking again, “I would’ve thought that you would’ve shortly followed Grian, just maybe to a different sanction… but no… three years later you show up at my doorstep fresh from the longest processing a hermit has ever undergone.” He paused for a second, chuckling, “You even beat Bdubs.”
“And?” Pearl asked, “I’m here aren't I? I sat through what everyone else had too three times over!”
“That’s what worries me,” Xisuma said gently, “You’re inside your own head so much. I feel that they went too far with you.”
“I don’t think so,” Pearl said, “I don’t feel like they did.”
“You don’t feel anything, do you?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
They walked for the rest of the path in silence, parting ways when they came to Boatem. Mumbo was talking with Scar, probably about the whispering of Pearl’s ‘defiance’. The one thing Xisuma seemed to actually get was that her defiance wasn’t malicious. She didn’t mean to cause trouble, really! It wasn’t her fault that no one told her these things.
“Why do I have to be around Mumbo and Scar all the time?” Pearl snorted.
“Because they live near you and are very good at their jobs.”
“Yeah, but they’re… awful.”
“By that you mean…?”
“They’re mean. You’re never mean . Harsh, redundant? Sure. Mean? No.”
“The Head Watchers want to make sure they are fully aware of the people in their factions. One day, they might be your admin. All Watchers have to be mean sometimes.”
“They’re mean all the time.”
Xisuma ignored her last statement
She hung back on the tree line until Scar walked away. That’s when she approached Mumbo. Heaven forbid Scar see her after all she said. Mumbo had asked to see her after Xisuma, and it was no doubt some double up. A plan made by the two to…um… do something!
“You asked to see me?” She said, Mumbo turned and smiled:
“Oh, yes! Hello Pearl.”
“Hello,” She echoed.
“How was your talk with Xisuma?” He asked, gesturing for her to walk with him. Pearl huffed.
“I just went on a walk!” She complained, “Y’know, with X?”
“Just walk with me,” Mumbo said, “It gets the mind moving.”
Pearl twisted her face but followed, “To be completely honest, Mumbo, I don’t remember most of the conversation.”
Mumbo nodded, eyes half shut as if she was bothering him , “You know, Pearl, if you listened more, maybe you wouldn’t find yourself in these conversations as much…”
Pearl’s mind started buzzing over Mumbo’s semi-sweet voice.
That was the funny thing, wasn’t it? They understood her enough , but never enough to help her get better at anything. Voices so often turned to static that formed the bustling thoughts that preoccupied Pearl far more than another talking to.
And that was funny too, wasn’t it. How much more interesting Pearl’s own mind was compared to the drone of the Hermitcraft sanction. Thinking about her base was so much better!
A boat, beached on the shore in Boatem! Oh the potential of it! She thought about expanding upwards, maybe adding higher masts. Maybe she’d be able to see the mainland with a tall enough one. She hadn’t seen the mainland since before processing, and that was a while… It didn’t feel that long. To think, she was three years younger. It didn’t feel like that. It felt like nothing had changed from the first time she was processed. Or the second. Or third. Well the fourth time was a little funky.
She remembered the fourth time the best. It was kinda fun. Kinda. Nothing was really fun after Evolution, to be honest. She couldn’t remember the last time she was happy. Or the last time she had fun.
Funny how memory blocked out emotions like that.
She smiled.
“PEARL!” Mumbo’s voice and face filled Pearl’s face, but she was hardly startled. “How in the world do you do that?”
“Do what?” She asked simply.
Mumbo creased his brow, frowning. “You know, the thing where you don’t listen to a word I say and just stare into the distance like--”
“Why don’t I remember being happy?”
“What?” Mumbo’s face looked truly upset. If there was a picture child for ‘truly upset’, it would be that man, right there. Pearl smiled.
“The last time I remember smiling was when me and Grian were talking, but then you took him away when he panicked.” She teased, “Why did he get upset? Is that why we can’t talk?”
Mumbo’s body language was sick and panicked. He looked like a dad if his child had just called him an old fuck. A strange mix of disgust, concern, and terrible sadness. Pearl scoffed in her head. It made sense with that analogy; Pearl would be all of those things if her child called her that. Pretty insulting.
The whole interaction was pretty insulting. They could so easily put her back in processing, but they never did, even when she did something that drained the blood out of the room. Was it because they didn’t think she meant anything by it, like she was still as dazed and confused as she was in processing. She was far from dazed outside of the dark campus.
Scar almost sent her back, but X stopped him. That was the time when she asked what Bdubs did to grab the Watchers’ attention and sent him into some sort of spiral. Scar was pissssedddddd!!!
Pearl smiled for a light instant, returning to the stone expression of small upturned corners of her mouth she always wore, coming from her wandering to realize Mumbo was grabbing her shoulders. Tightly.
“Hm?”
“Pearl, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” She asked.
“For what they did to you.”
Pearl thought.
What they did to her?
That can’t be right. Processing was something every Watcher underwent. Why would Mumbo Jumbo of all be sorry for that?
“Shouldn’t you apologize to everyone then?” She asked. “I don’t know why, but I’m no different.”
Mumbo let go of Pearl. Pearl looked past him at the moon as it sat on the horizon.
“The moon is really pretty tonight,” She said. “Me and Grian used to watch the moon rise. It was a really long time ago, though. We’d look at it with Taurtis.” She paused for a moment, seeing Mumbo unmoving. “Do you watch the moon sometimes?” She asked.
He glared down at him. “Do you even know why I wanted to talk to you?”
“Is it about Grian? I know you care about him a lot.”
“You are constantly trying to get him to remember that…” He rolled his eyes, “sanction. He doesn’t remember “Taurtis” and he doesn’t want to. You’re hurting him Pearl. You are hurting Hermitcraft. If it were my choice, you wouldn't even be here. I wish they’d let me leave you in that burning treehouse. But here you are. The least you could do is not purposefully harm Grian or anyone else here.”
Pearl was unfazed by this. Mumbo said a lot of things just to make people upset and get them to behave. Scar did too.
Briefly, Pearl learned about The Plague Program. Mumbo and Scar are the shining examples of what the Head Watchers believe a Watcher should be because of this. Trained extensively to be machines. What little Pearl knew aided her to also know that it wasn’t perfect. She saw Mumbo cry before. He was looking at a little mirror when his composure broke like a dam. He was alone, so Pearl didn’t want to report him for having a mirror in the first place. The Plague Program’s one weakness was if they looked into their own eyes. A fitting weakness for two of the most egoistic men Pearl had ever met.
“Sure. I won’t bother Grian tonight.”
“Don’t do it at all.”
“Sir.”
“Get to sleep Pearl.”
~~~
The next day, Pearl saw Grian restocking his train shop. She smiled. They didn’t let Pearl and Grian talk much without someone else around, but… she didn’t really see anyone.
She trotted up to him;
“Hey G!” She said, scaring the builder.
“AH!” Grian jumped, turning quickly and freezing for a second. “Pearl! You scared me!”
Pearl laughed, “I sure hope so!” She leaned forward on the train’s platform and Grian plopped on the ground.
“What are you doing over here? I thought you had a meeting with X today?”
“Yeah, but I’ve got a sec,” She said, “To be honest, I’m not going to listen.”
“You should listen to what he has to say,” Grian advised with a smile, “I don’t know what Mumbo yelled at you the other day, but I wouldn’t want that to happen to me.”
Pearl cocked her head and laughed, “It was about you.”
“I suspected there was a reason we aren’t really allowed to talk to each other,” Grian said. “I don’t see why not; you seem like a really great person.”
“Why, thank you!” Pearl said with a little bow. Grian laughed.
“Do you know why we’re not allowed to talk?” He asked.
Pearl bit her lip, “I’m not allowed to say, am I?”
Grian’s mood shifted, face darkening, “They don’t tell me anything. Pearl, I know they took away my memory… I don’t…” He sighed and stood up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get deep on you.”
“What?” Pearl said, standing up too, “Don’t apologize for that! We can talk!”
“We aren’t supposed to remember?” Grian said, trying to walk away by jumping from the train platform.
“No one’s around!”
“They’re Watchers, Pearl!”
“They can’t see us at all times-”
“Yes they can!” Grian spun around, his eyes filled with a life they hadn’t been before. “If they couldn't, Taurtis would still be here!” He screamed. He covered his mouth, face filling with terror. “No, no, no…” Grian muttered, falling to the ground. Pearl stepped back, watching as Grian’s mind was rushed with the worst night of his life.
She looked around, but no one was there. There were no other Watchers there. She knelt down and hugged Grian.
“Hey, I’m right here!” She yelled, squeezing her friend as he sobbed. He grabbed her back.
And that was the weird thing.
Another weird thing.
Normally in situations like this, someone would’ve come by now. Pearl didn’t want to believe someone was always watching, but it wasn’t like Mumbo or Scar to leave Grian by himself, especially when they didn’t know where Pearl was. The two of them couldn’t be together. No matter what.
So why now were they all alone?
“Grian, I’ve got you!” Pearl said, feeling her voice shake. She felt a visceral fear in her throat, boiling up into her speech. “Please don’t cry…”
His eyes were filled with the eldritch horror of remembering what was taken away from you. Pearl still remembered it, but Grian wasn’t supposed to. He was never supposed to think about Evo.
And magic flowed through her hands. A strong rush out of her hands and into Grian via purple, flowing energy. His tears came to a stop and his body stopped shaking, falling asleep in Pearl’s arms.
She dropped his body, standing up and taking in a stuttering breath. Her body shook as she looked at her hands and then to Grian’s near lifeless body. Pearl backed up, seeing her old friend flutter his eyes open.
“Gah… What happened? Pearl?”
She backed up more; “We were just talking?”
Grian sat up, rubbing his head with a soft laugh, “Ah, sorry. You know my headaches get to me sometimes. What were we on about?”
Pearl tripped back, eyes wide and breathing heavy. Suddenly her mind sparked to life in a way it hadn’t for years.
Did she--
“No…” She muttered.
“What?” Grian asked, standing up and reaching out. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost--”
“NO!” She turned and ran, fleeing the scene as fast as her legs could take her.
Xisuma stopped her, making himself visible. “Pearl! That was great!” He grabbed her shoulders, towering over her proudly. Mumbo also appeared from his veil of invisibility, smiling.
“Grian, thanks,” Mumbo gave him a thumbs up despite him having no memory of what happened.
Pearl struggled to get out of Xisuma’s grip, but it was an impossible feat. She felt Mumbo’s reassuring hand on her back.
“Hey, I know that was probably freaky,” Mumbo said, “But you did great under pressure.”
She couldn’t breathe.
“Don’t worry, we asked Grian about this test, so don’t even worry about him.” Xisuma said, “He knew that he’d have to get his memories erased again.”
“That wouldn’t matter,” Pearl said finally. “That wouldn’t matter if he agreed or not, you made him relive those memories! He wouldn’t even have known what you were putting him through!”
“Pearl, Pearl!” Xisuma said, “Grian’s fine, he’s already forgotten… thanks to you!”
Xisuma, stupidly , let go of Pearl’s shoulders, something she didn’t hesitate on. She bolted away from the two watchers, heading straight for the barrier. Her legs refused to quit even as Xisuma’s voice called after her. The distinct sound of teleportation filled her ears and Xisuma was once again in front of her.
“Pearl--” He grabbed her arm, tight in a grip of armor and magic, “What’s gotten into you?”
She lost her breath again, turning to see Mumbo also teleport beside her, face sympathetic.
“That was a great display of your magic,” Mumbo said. “You responded to that test really well. We aren’t mad.”
Pearl looked between, stopping up at the inhuman face that masked Xisuma’s true one. She took deep breaths, trying to calm down.
“Grian will be okay,” Mumbo promised, leaning down on his knees to be at her eye level. Pearl looked at him, trying to decipher his face. Happy, proud; like his son just was awarded a scholarship for academics and sports. Nothing like the night before.
“I thought you didn’t like what they did to me?” Pearl whimpered. Xisuma looked at Mumbo for an explanation.
“I-I was worried that the processing did something to her magic,” Mumbo recovered quickly, “we haven’t seen her use it much at all.”
“That’s true,” Xisuma said. “And it looks like this test gave her a distinct emotional reaction. Maybe all she needs is more pushing.”
Distinct emotional reaction?
What emotion was she even feeling right now? Like they just grabbed her guts and tore them out? Like they just slammed her head into the wall. Like they were drowning her?
Tired. That was the one thing she could focus on.
“I’m tired.” Her voice shook, and she told herself it was from being tired.
“Okay,” Mumbo said, standing up and looking at X.
“I’ll take her home,” Xisuma repositioned his hand from a grip of her arm to a light hold on her hand. Mumbo nodded, looking back down at Pearl and smiling.
“I’m going to check on Grian right now! Don’t worry, he’s safe. This whole test was under control.” Mumbo saluted the Watchers, index finger and thumb on each hand making a box over his face. “Watchers are in control. We are in control.”
In control of what? Pearl wondered as they walked back across the land bridge. Even as her breathing leveled out, her body shivered. She continued to let her mind swim with what emotion she was supposed to be feeling.
~~~
They made it to Pearl’s base and Xisuma let go of her once inside.
“Pearl,” he said, stepping out of the door. “Watchers are in control. We are in control… Goodnight.”
“Goodnight...” Pearl said, obediently saluting him as he did to her. The door then closed, leaving Pearl in the darkness of her house.
She flopped down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She reached out above her, trying to touch what she was feeling, grab it from the void and pull it back to her. She wanted to look at it in her own hands like she could others. She put up her other arm as well, as if having both in the air would help her grab the invisible thoughts scattered from conception.
Her arms flopped back down, and she rolled over. She watched the door for a while, waiting for maybe Scar or Cub to come in, to chastise her for whatever happened today, but that didn’t happen. Xisuma probably told them to leave her alone. Which sucked because she would do anything to piss Scar off right about now.
A groan escaped her throat and she changed positions again, face in her pillow and arm off of the bed.
Her hand hit something under the bed.
Sitting up, Pearl leaned her head over, trying to get a glimpse. Her blanket covered it, so she slid quietly off the bed as if someone was eavesdropping. She bit her lip as she pulled the covers up and saw a small wooden box.
She forgot they let her keep this.
It was about the size of a shoe box, ornately decorated with symbols of three interlocking rings. A lock held it together, one she claimed she had no way of opening. That’s probably why they let her keep it.
There were papers in it, but that’s all the Watchers’ could deduce. It was enchanted to block Watchers’ sight.
Pearl smiled.
The lock was easy to open.
What looked like a key hole was just a disguise for a pass code, something the Watchers couldn’t tell if she knew or not. With a few flick of her hand, the lock popped off and she now had access to her most important belongings.
All she was given was the passcode and instructions to open when ready.
It felt like a good time.
Pearl lifted the lid to the mysterious box and looked inside. The first thing there was a letter. The wax was the same symbol on the box. She carefully opened it, glancing at the maps that were folded behind it.
“Dear Pearl,
Something bad has happened. You know this. Evolution is gone. We’re probably gone. Whatever will happen isn’t going to be good. You have to do something. The Watchers are going to end the world if nothing is done. The rules will become tighter and more people will be killed. This cannot go on. Please do not be a part of it. You are unique. You can stop them from the inside. You can change the fate of this world and everyone in it. Find the people who can help you. We believe in you, Pearl.
Netty & Taurtis
Pearl’s smile faded.
She looked up, at her door, window, and all around. It was night now, most of the hermits would be asleep by now.
Pearl’s heart raced.
She grabbed the box, putting the letter inside and locking it again. She looked around some more, eyes wide and mouth glued shut.
Pearl stepped towards the window at the back of her house. With a steady hand, she opened it, pulling herself out and clutching the box under her arm. She hit the ground softly, letting her wings slow her fall. She closed the window behind her and picked up a rock. Backing toward the land bridge out of Hermitcraft, she raised her hand, whole arm shaking.
With all of her strength, Pearl threw the rock and started running. Her legs hit the ground fast and light. She ran to the land bridge and opened her wings. Wind caught under her and she sped faster than she had ever flown before, crashing forward into the barrier with all of her strength.
Magic rippled through Pearl’s body, and a freeing breeze covered her face. The world appeared in front of her, once lost to the barrier’s screen of pure ocean.
Her eyes spread as land came into view.
Pearl stopped mid air, wings flapping behind her as she caught her breath. The moon was brightly shining over Mainland. A ruined beach party sat at the edge, a burnt campsite and giant pillar just nearby. A grand city sat on the dark horizon, glowing. Towers and monoliths scattered the land with reckless abandon.
The weight of the world fell from Pearl’s shoulders as she flew, awestruck.