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wixelt · 1 year

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Pearl stumbled upon the portal that Grian was just at. (Hermit tales au)

Okay, wow. Wasn't expecting an AU I put out there over a year ago to come back, but i'm not complaining.

I leave asks open for all my old AUs, after all. :D

The initial thought & 1st part, as context for those newer to my stuff.

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Hermit Tales AU #002 - Pearl and the Gateway

Pearl has never felt such primal fear as this.

Never felt something that read as such anathema to her own existence.

It permeates her veins and the part of her that was once a Watcher begs - pleads with her to run and never look back. Even after all she's been through - with the Watchers and the Life games and everything else - she's never felt something so visceral.

Something she can be so horrifyingly certain means nothing good.

The Hermits' resident reincarnated farm goddess turned Watcher turned cleaning lady slams to an abrupt stop outside of Grian's base, wings flaring behind her and sending a blast of air and dust in all directions as she halts herself.

The sight that greets feels like the definition of wrong.

The misshapen, bleeding obsidian gateway of serene, green mist looms ahead, simultaneously growing out of and encroaching into the surrounding earth like a tumor.

On any other day, Pearl might throw caution to the wind and investigate, but this fear is so instinctive - so deep after feeling her brother's presence flicker out right after asking after the very thing in front of her - that it roots her solidly to the spot, unable and unwilling to take another step towards this abomination of a gateway.

So instead she does the smart thing and moves backward.

She has far more room to dodge than Grian did when the tendril lashes out at her.

Wings flashing out, she leans around and away from the thing trying to grasp at her, the former Watcher quickly putting as much distance between herself and it as possible.

It catches a glancing blow - Pearl winces and cries out as her veins burn with toxic antithesis, and she stumbles mid-flight for a moment - but she isn't halted, and quickly puts Grian's entire base behind her, moving with frantic rapidity in the direction of spawn.

On the edge of her perception, she faintly registers the portal appendage recede - be it autonomous or directed - its chosen prey now beyond its range.

In the terror, however, she won't remember this detail for days.

Every other Hermit is stirred abruptly from their business, calm giving way to fear and confusion as Pearlescent Moon floods comms with multiple panicked red alert messages.

There hasn't been a high alert since Mumbo called the emergency session to discuss the then-alarming "Big Moon" situation.

And that was orange, many magnitudes less concerning than whatever has sent Pearl into a terrified frenzy.

The Hermits - every last one, every project or curiosity abandoned without a second thought - converge on spawn, each wearing an expression of grim uncertainty rarely seen among the group.

Despite her having raised the alarm, Pearl is among the last to arrive at the spawn lake.

She crashes unceremoniously to the ground in the middle of the gathering - dishevelled and afraid and barely standing as her nerves still sting and scream - it taking both Gem and Impulse together to help her to her feet.

Fighting to stay conscious, Pearl's quickly blurring gaze wanders across her friends one by one until she finds Xisuma.

Admin. Protector. Guardian.

And yet so unaware of the infection on his realm.

But how could he know? How could any of them know?

Pearl's seen the blight firsthand and even she doesn't know.

And yet the words she conveys to X are as honest as they are haunted. They feel as true as breathing, piercing her own heart as she speaks them.

"...Grian's gone."

She can't feel her brother anymore.

Even when he was with the Watchers before her, or off in another world, she's still always felt him out there.

But now, for the first time in her life, he's not there.

He's gone.

She's alone in her head.

Pearl breaks.

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The Hermit Tales AU is an AU built entirely out of replies to your short prompts, making story & set pieces out of everybody's one-sentence asks & seeing if anything resembling a plot evolved.

If you have anything to throw in, even after so long, feel free. :P

#hermit tales au #hermitcraft #hermitblr #hermitcraft au #pearlescentmoon #watcher pearl #grian #watcher grian #xisumavoid #impulsesv #geminitay #mumbojumbo #sky siblings #still keeping the timeframe ambiguous but until further notice assume its still Season 9

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