{TW} OOC reactions and mannerisms, manipulation, possession, dissociation (did I miss any?)

{CW} angst, cliffhanger

[PLOT AND (extra characters— Listeners, Watchers, etc..) DESIGN BY Roxy-Rox0 ]

Grian grew tired of wandering his headspace, especially since the mindscape wasn't under his control anymore. Grian just seemed to slip in and out of consciousness, occasionally wandering his own dark mindscape, other times just sitting there, observing. Grian had no sense of time, not a single clock or shadow, he couldn't know how long he'd been there.

Grian's body however knew what time it was, it had only been half an hour since the Entity decided to keep him. Grian's body was content, and perfectly fine with being under the Being's influence. His mind and conscious was what restricted him.

Grian wandered, his appearance matched his body's, but he was glad to find that the green strings weren't present, but he quickly lost that good emotion when the Entity appeared in front of him. The Entity moved with Grian, seemingly circling him.

The Entity whispered to Grian, the words were practically unintelligible. The only things Grian could make out was the constant chant and repeat of the words "obey me" and "your mine" and "don't fight."
The constant thrum of the whispers and mutterings coming from the Being— or at least their direction— gave Grian a headache, and he couldn't help but realise that the muttering was working.

"Obey."

Grian's body obeyed, and Grian's subconscious couldn't stop it.

Eventually Grian found himself watching in drowsy horror as Etho called for him, and his possessed body made no move to hide.

✦ ✦ ᒲ╎リᒷ! ✦ ✦

Etho took the time to travel to Grian's for a hangout that the two planned weeks before. He was happy to be spending time with the chaotic hermit.

"Grian?" Etho called out and walked closer to the shorter hermit's base. He saw a speck of brunette hair behind a—quite random, and kind of tacky— wall when he turned slightly and he approached quicker, a smile forming on his face.

The short brunette quickly fell into Etho's line of sight, his back turned to the platinum haired man. Grian just stood there, not making a move, not greeting Etho with his usual energy. Etho slowed his approach and stopped behind Grian, placing his hand on the shorter's shoulder.

Before Etho could speak Grian opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to glare at Etho. His cold piercing gaze shocked the taller, instead of dark and soulful eyes, Grian had bright green eyes with white pupils, and he was scowling. Etho couldn't recall ever seeing the prankster scowl.

He took a few steps back, the chill that he felt looking at Grian felt wrong.

Grian was his friend.

Grian's now green wings spread out and the shorter hermit turned and faced Etho, with a smirk. Etho involuntarily  shivered as his cold green eyes stared at him.

"Grian?" Etho asked hesitantly with a shocked expression. Grian simply smiled at him, confusing the taller hermit more.

✦ ✦ ||𝙹⚍ ✦ ✦

In another area, a group of hermits were gathered in a lab like room. No one spoke. The atmosphere was tense. But they just waited.

What were they waiting for?

  Well, it just so happened that their admin told them that he sensed something off with the server, with the code.

  So while the admin sorted through that, the small group of hermits waited and kept the admin company.

  They waited for the problem in the code to reveal itself.

✦ ✦ ᒲ⚍ᓭℸ. ✦ ✦

Etho ran and hid behind one of those tacky walls, now feeling very conveniently placed for him. Grian appeared in front of him, however, blocking his path and causing Etho to abruptly stop. Etho turned around and saw a figure, their hair and clothes were green, a black scarf around their neck, and piercing green eyes— like how Grian's looked now.

Whispers flew around and in and through Etho's head, disorienting him. The tall hermit couldn't move, he could just stare at the green entity in front of him.

The walls faded away and it just looked dark to Etho now, the Entity grabbed seemingly nothing, but Etho felt as if it was crushing him. The words "you're mine" flooded Etho's hearing, and he felt tears falling down his face as he collapsed.

Etho felt numb, and his cries of pain stopped. He still felt tense, and restrained, and his cheeks were wet from the tears that had fallen. The worst part though was that he could see himself from a third person point of view. What he saw confused him.

Abruptly Etho's body stopped crying, the tears dried up and the pained expression on his face replaced itself with a relaxed frown. Grian seemed to visibly relax once Etho's body had the same eyes as him.

✦ ✦ 𝙹ʖᒷ||. ✦ ✦

Scar wandered around, walking along a nice stone bridge, looking for his friend Grian to talk to or build with— or just hang out with in general. Scar spotted some white hair at the other end of the bridge.

Etho!

He approached the taller man and scratched the side of his neck, "Hey Etho, have you seen Grian?" Scar asked.

Etho glanced back at Scar with a frown. He grabbed scar by the collar of his green shirt, startling the cat lover.

Scar had no clue why his friend was acting this way, he only noticed the new odd brightness to Etho's eyes—which were a bright lime green.

✦ ✦ ∴⍑|| ✦ ✦

BDubs was, conveniently, walking in the direction of the same bridge that Scar was on with Etho. He approached and stopped when he saw Etho holding a worried and confused Scar.

A shocked expression made its way to BDubs' face as he watched the two. He couldn't help but stare in confusion, he knew he should do something, but his instincts wanted to just tell him that it was some practical joke.

But his thoughts reasoned with the faulty instincts.

Etho? Why are his eyes lime green? BDubs thought.

  Then the thought dawned on him of what was really happening. He's attacking Scar!?

  BDubs quickly went to action, his form twisted and he grew taller. His hair— now turned white— had a leaf hat and a halo on it. His clothes became multiple hues of green and he grew small wings, his face slightly covered by a black veil.

  A form truly fit for a Listener.

  BDubs appeared in between the two hermits and quickly grabbed Scar, to prevent Etho from doing any more damage. He glared at the now shorter platinum haired hermit from under the veil.

  "What are you doing Etho!?" BDubs scolded, raising his voice. "We protect people, not hurt them!" The Listener turned his head to face Etho.

  BDubs tried to match the glare that the other hermit was giving him, but soon he quickly realised something off.

  Wait, his pupils... BDubs thought, looking at Etho's black slitted pupils and his lime green eyes. That's definitely not Etho.

BDubs quickly teleported away from Etho, the cat loving hermit still stayed safe in his arms, having fallen asleep while being in the presence of BDubs calming aura.

✦ ✦ ↸𝙹 ✦ ✦

Etho's body stood there for a moment, before a scowl placed itself on his face and his teeth clenched. The emotion wasn't Etho's, it was the Entity's. The thoughts that projected from Etho's body then weren't Etho's either, they were the Entity's. All the emotions Etho actually felt were pain and confusion and loneliness, all the thoughts he had were "what happened?" and the echoing whispers that told him to obey and not fight.

Why is there a Listener here? The Entity thought through Etho's mind, having kicked the real Etho out of there. So this Etho kid is a Listener too..

Couldn't have gotten anyone better.

The Entity smirked to themself in Etho's headspace.

✦ ✦ ||𝙹⚍ ✦ ✦

BDubs reappeared in front of the admin in the lab room, he still held a peacefully sleeping Scar.
BDubs changed back to his shorter human form and held Scar up with his whole body. A frown couldn't help but place itself on his face.

"You really shouldn't be teleporting in here," the admin—Xisumavoid— said, arms crossed and concern hidden behind his mask.

BDubs simply just looked at the two other hermits left in the lab-like room— Doc and Iskall— then back to Scar.

✦ ✦ ╎リᓭ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ✦ ✦

Mumbo and Impulse were hanging out in Xisuma's base, like a lot of the hermits were doing— under the admins orders. They never thought that their goofing off would be interrupted so strangely.

LBy falling through the floor.

Shocked expressions wiggled their way to the duo's faces as they fell and landed in a black-purple-ish looking, room? Area? Cave? They couldn't tell. The two hermits tried to quickly figure out where they were, they looked around and Mumbo spotted two familiar figures.

"Grian? Etho?" Mumbo called out softly and Impulse looked the same direction. The two free hermits quickly rushed to their friends' aid. The dirty blonde and platinum haired hermits were tied up with tangled— yet free and straight— green strings, their faces were wet with recently shed tears.

Both captured hermits were unconscious.

"Impulse!" Mumbo called out. Green strings wrapped around Mumbo's chest and waist, his face held a shocked and scared expression. Impulse— who was trying to help Etho— looked back as Mumbo was being dragged away and saw the fear on his friend's features.

Before Impulse could respond or try and help his friends, green strings wrapped around his abdomen and restrained his arms, pulling him away.

Then the third person point of view kicked in, the duo saw themselves come back to the room that they had been in before they fell. Mumbo's body had green eyes and grey pupils, Impulse's body had green eyes and black pupils. The changes were subtle, but their bodies might as well have been grotesque now to the newly possessed hermits.

The duo's bodies shared a look with each other, knowing their fate of being under the control of the Entity was shared.

But, someone else knew their fate, as well. Another hermit staying in Xisuma's base for safety.

✦ ✦ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ✦ ✦

Zedaph had decided to wander Xisuma's base, just for the heck of it. Y'know, make sure that the admin was in decent living conditions.

He was going to join Impulse and Mumbo, they said they were going to hang out in... a room that Zedaph remembered the place of but not the name of. Zedaph approached the room and he looked through the door— no one was there. His ear twitched in confusion— where were Mumbo and Impulse?

Zedaph looked around the neighbouring rooms before checking the room again, this time he saw something. Maybe something he shouldn't have seen.

Zedaph turned and started to run after seeing a bright green eyed Impulse and Mumbo. After running through a conjoined room Zedaph was stopped by Etho— Etho, whom when was last seen, had attacked Scar. Zedaph hardly realised it, but tears were building up in his eyes.

Zedaph toppled after running into Etho, he fell and turned his head away from Etho's cold glare. The tears that were building up in Zedaph's eyes started to fall as he turned his head away and tensed. Etho's pupils became grey and slightly dilated, he stiffened— Etho couldn't do it, he couldn't hurt his friend.

"Disappointing." Zedaph heard a slightly echoey voice say, it was oddly tuneful and pleasant. Zedaph tilted his head up and saw a green clad figure— not a Listener, something else.

Zedaph found himself standing again, and in a dark place that Zedaph couldn't make out the features and details of. He backed away from the green clothed entity as it stared him down. In a spur of adrenaline and fear Zedaph did something that the Entity never expected anyone would do.

  Zedaph tackled him. Turning the Being's pupils to exclamation marks. Breaking the Being's control over his mind for the time being, but bringing excruciating pain to replace the discomfort and disconnectedness that Zedaph felt when being toyed with by the Being.

  That only made the pain worse.. Zedaph thought as he struggled to stay on his feet after just exiting wherever the Being had brought him. I need to find Doc... Fast.

  Zedaph ran towards the lab room in search of Doc, he stopped behind him, feeling light headed and disoriented. Doc was talking to Iskall in the lab-like room.

  "Doc.." Iskall pointed out, he looked concerned and shocked. Doc turned and saw  Zedaph on the verge of collapsing.

  "The pain is so unbearable.." Zedaph said softly. The comment made the two hermits even more worried.

  Then Zedaph collapsed in Doc's arms.

2178 words

Woahhh a sort of scheduled (long-ish) chapter?

I'm gonna try and update this story every or every other week! (Don't be sad or mad if I don't/can't please-)

And if you've come from another book of mine, shush. This one is fully planned out!

The others aren't-