You can prolly have guessed, at least a few of you, from the title but yeah, it's Hermitcraft! Again...! It follows Xerean and her discovery about the moon, and someone's discovery of her! What will happen? Read to find out! I'm also pretty sure this is an AU bcs like, some of the canon isn't exactly the same, but it's partially due to the fact I cannot remember the exact details of everything that happened and when, just certain events. The first few of these will probably end up just being Xerean interacting with people and a few bits of her story I have in place, but once I get into this, I'll start to branch out a bit. Again, any suggestions are welcome(so long as they're things I know about XD)!

Anyway I hope you enjoy and have fun!

(Good lord that was kinda cringey but I'm keeping it in anyway–)

Xerean loves to fly.

From the first time she opened her wings, she's adored it.

And she loves nighttime, especially the moonlight that comes with it. So why not go for a midnight stroll? Should be safe enough, someone asked the night to stay for some reason, so it's a good opportunity for her. She also hasn't gone to visit Scar for a while, perhaps she should do that, too. But first, flying. Very important. Appearing outside of the cave, she develops and flares her wings, jumping up into the sky and pumping her wings to gain altitude. She banks, heading for the Boatem area, one of her favourite places to go. She also likes Doc's 'Cursed Chunk' as she calls it, but he called it the Octo-chunk, although she only heard him say it once so she isn't entirely sure. She'll stick with Cursed Chunk. Next, she's gliding over Ren and Doc's shop: the Octagon. She loves the color scheme for it, diving down to brush the horns of the top goat in the Goatem Pole before rising back over Boatem. Boatem is strangely silent tonight, only Grian is awake, as far as she can tell, flying around below her, talking about something odd he'd been noticing, involving the ground flying up, before rushing off somewhere in the distance. His build is coming along nicely, he's made good progress on his shops for the Diagon Alley, and she can't help but admire his ability to create such captivating things from references and how he gets his inspiration. Scar's begun to make the mountain for him as well, blending the more bubbly rock at the cave's entry point into his own pointy peaks and smoother terrain. She wishes she could say she helped, but most of the time, she was more focused on watching Scar work. The moon lights up the place pretty well, in addition to all the torches, shroomlight, and other light sources placed, so she flies higher to admire it from a better view. In the hazy distance, she can see parts of Impulse's factory, Pearl's boat, even the spider shop thing Ren had built. Directly below her is the Boatem Hole and Boatem Pole, now only a deep, dark pit into the void with a little dot floating in the center. There's Grian's house, with the tantalizing end crystal bobbing at the top, Treesa and Mumbo's van, Mumbo's giant armchair-looking thing, and Scar's boat-wagon things. Xerean flips over to stare up at the moon, then frowns. Is it...bigger? She pulls up a memory of the moon from the last time she remembers staring at it.

The size difference is very apparent.

Her frown deepens, and she flies even higher, up through a cloud, before she lands on it, forcing it to act like a solid surface so she can observe the lunar object in better detail. Why is it so big? How had she not noticed? Sure, she'd been holed up with EX and Hels for a little over a week, but not even EX seemed to notice a difference. That, or he neglected to inform her(in which case, rude!). If the moon's bigger now, what if it's getting even BIGGER? Or is it a fault in the Code? By TV what would have caused such a thing to happen? She mulls over this for a while, all intents to go visit Scar forgotten. In fact, Xerean is so deep in thought that she doesn't sense the arrival of another. "Excuse me!" She jumps, startled, and accidentally shoots a blast of...something or other. A blast of energy, basically. Luckily the person dodged, but it was very close. Noting to herself it may be worth working on that with Hels, she looks up to see who spoke, but a momentary panic sets in.

It's Xisuma, the Admin.

"Goodness! What was that?" He asks, as Xerean motions for him to land: it'd be hard for him to chat if he was zooming around on elytra the whole time. Once he's landed, she takes in the Axolotl features, and tries to assure herself she's fine. EX managed to convince him his presence was alright, and while she isn't entirely sure what he's planning, he's doing something specific to influence his brother's actions and thoughts. She doesn't want to mess with that. But, she also needs him gone. A weight has started to settle in her stomach, like it's pulling her down. Anxiety, probably. "I don't know...are you alright?" Xisuma nods. "I'm fine, don't worry...but I'd like to know who you are and why you're here." Does he not know? The best thing she can hope for is that he hasn't checked the Code or anything. "My name is Xerean." She replies. Surely her name is safe enough? Only another Chaos Witch would know who she is or the importance of her name. And they're still dealing with the repercussions of when she—of the...Incident, so it sounds pretty safe. "That's a very unique name." He remarks. She dips her head in gratitude. "And not one I remember, either. Pearl and Gem were supposed to be the only new Hermits, so how did you get here?" This is harder. What can she say? "I don't know. Somewhere along the line, I must have made a mistake, and wound up here. I can't seem to leave, either." This was at least partially true. She had arrived here about halfway through the last season, and that was where EX and Hels found her, near death, and took her in to keep her alive. She can't leave, although she's tried, so she's stuck with the Hermits, whether she likes it or not. "I see. And would you mind telling me, how did you know this cloud was solid? HOW is it solid?" Xisuma scuffs the 'ground' with his foot. "Sometimes I can just tell." He shifts his stance slightly. "I suppose someone like you would." She tilts her head. "What does that mean?" She realizes her words are a bit slurred and mumbled, like she's drowsy or even intoxicated. Somehow, she feels ill. Like everything's heavy, and she's losing energy. She wants to lie down. "I had hoped you'd be honest. You're a Chaos Witch, aren't you?" She pauses, before forcing herself to her feet. She feels like her arms and shoulder blades are being weighed down with boulders, something pressing her down. "Ya got me." She sighs. Her wings are drooping, slacking like they're being pulled towards the ground. "You clearly know what I am, so lying won't get me anywhere." She sways a little, trying to keep on her feet. There's a headache forming in her skull, and it's getting hard to focus. "What are you doing here? What do you want?" Xisuma asks, however when Xerean goes to reply, what comes out is, "Nufffffinnnn..." instead of 'nothing'. Great, now my speech is taking a hit. "What was that?" She tries again. This time's it's just a groan. She grunts, voicing her sluggish frustration and confusion. Both the Admin and Chaos Witch share a glance, before she suddenly collapses, the cloud abruptly losing its solidity. She can't even scream, her lungs won't let her. It's sort of peaceful, wind rushing by her. Except she's tired, and she can't control the descent. Her wings are useless at her sides, but as she goes to look at them, they disappear entirely.

Has she mentioned how tired she is?

The rational part of her brain is screaming, telling her to kick it into high gear and fly away, but her body refuses to listen. Dimly, she sees what must be Xisuma flying out of sight, his elytra must have stopped him from falling like she is. Cool. So he'll be fine. She goes back to falling. The ground is somewhere below her, rushing closer. Will I die? She wonders abruptly. Her powers aren't working, so she's practically human. And if she's tired, her invincibility, restoration, and healing isn't working, either. So, yeah, the fall should kill her. I wonder what death feels like. And what will happen to my soul-eater? Will it disappear, or will someone else be able to claim it? Good luck finding it first, though. She was very smart, and knew that such a powerful weapon could not be found under ANY circumstances. Thankfully, only the person who gains the soul-water can use it, so it can't be stolen. After she dies, she isn't sure what'll happen to it. Suddenly, something rams into her, sending her tumbling and it wraps its arms around her, grip tight and firm but not bone-crushing. When the they finally hit the ground, the arms release her and she rolls, they used their body to take the brunt of the fall, but she still gets bruises and little cuts, a good one on her upper arm, and she thinks she's bit her tongue. Once she's stopped moving, Xerean lays there for a while. It's as if the ground has laid claim to her, moving doesn't seem all too appealing at the moment as she stares up at the oversized moon, she's semi-aware that it's light feels like a weighted blanket all over her. Again, she's tired. Not as heavy, though. Xisuma appears above her, crouched on his knees. "What was that?!" He cries, seeming to have forgotten what he was talking to. "Hey, are you okay?" He waves his hand in front of her eyes, relieved that she follows and responds to it. "Well why do you care?" Her words work again, fluent and clear. That's good. "You fell from the sky! I thought you would have caught yourself but it looked like something was wrong. You would have died!" Her face twists into a mix of her own pride and confusion. She doesn't get it. He's an Admin. Getting rid of her would have been so much easier. And clearly, he has no idea what she's capable of. "Again, why would you care? You know I'm a Chaos Witch, wouldn't it be better for you to have gotten rid of me?" Xisuma pauses, hands stilling(he had been looking for something in his inventory). "You don't seem very dangerous." He admits, his little frills alongside his head twitching. Xerean snorts. "Thanks, I think." Xisuma hesitates, a few beats of silence passing where both sides contemplate how to proceed. "Can you sit up?" She nods, strength has begun to return to her, little by little. Carefully, she props herself up, still very weak but with her powers returning, comes the return of healing and inhuman strength. "Mind explaining what all that was about to me?" She ignores him, focusing on her arm, waving her hand over it and removing the injuries. Then, she turns to the Admin. "Are you hurt?" EX and Scar had been teaching her that if you and someone get hurt, it's kind and unsaid but sort of expected to make sure the other person is okay. He stops, checking over himself. "A few dents, bruises, and scrapes, but the armour helped." She grunts, then sees his elytra: they're ruined. He must have hit his back, and by extension, the wings, when we hit the ground. Then, when he let go, we both rolled, so they snapped. She lifts her arm to fix them, but he tenses up, apprehensive. "Calm down. I'm fixing your wings." When she moves forward, he stays still, watching as she reaches out again, lightly touching the edge of the elytra and willing it into restoration. "I won't hurt you, you know. I've been here long enough that even the most dedicated of my people would have done SOMETHING by now. I haven't hurt anybody." She informs him. Admittedly, Chaos Witches were not known for their extensive patience, that would be the Listeners, even the Watchers. "Right. But you're still a Chaos Witch, and a threat to the safety of my Hermits." She regards him with a challenging glance. "I'm friends with two of them. Scar and Grian. If I wanted to hurt them, you wouldn't have seen them for a while, now." Perhaps that wasn't the best way to say it, she can hear EX's sigh in her head, but shut up, mental EX, she's not very good at sugar-coating her words. And who knows? If she's blunt and honest, maybe that'll work in her favor. "I'm not a threat. I can assure you of that." She looks up at the moon. A cloud's covering it; ever since she got out of the light, she's felt better. "But that might be." Xisuma looks up at it as well, then back at her. "Do you know what caused this? One of your people?" She shakes her head. "I don't know. I only just discovered this NOW. Right before you came. But it is an issue, and if I can fix it, I'm gonna." She pauses for a breath. This is going to be a gamble. "But that'll mean I have to stay. And again, I don't think I can leave, either, so you can't exactly ask me to leave." Xisuma considers. He's a kind man, she's leaning and relying on that to assure her safety right now. And EX said he doubted his brother would outright try to hurt her anyway. "If you're going to stay, I'm going to need to know exactly how you came here and why you haven't done anything." He says finally. "That, I can answer, at least partially. I landed in your world last season, escaping my people. As cliché as it sounds, I'm different. I don't cause pain for my enjoyment, I don't destroy worlds, and I actually value the lives of other people. They didn't like that, and after I...uh, well, people died, I'll say that. They got mad, and tried to kill me. I managed to make it here, and hid away. I only just announced myself to Scar a few months ago, and shortly after, Grian found out as well. All I want is a safe home. Somewhere I can be myself, but not have others live in fear of me all the time. Contrary to my people's reputation, I'm not some monster bent on causing pain and suffering. I want...this." She indicates at everything around them with a few wavy arm gestures. "I want this peaceful but still crazy life. I want to be able to have friends, adventures and comfort." Xerean does her best, but she can hear the note of desperation and longing in her voice anyway. She's been running for over 471 years. She's tired of it. Like she explained to EX and Hels. She'll admit what she did to Xisuma one day, he should be well aware of the consequences of allowing her safe harbour are, but for now, that is a secret only she, the Chaos Witches, and EX will know. Xisuma listens closely, she dares to hope she sees sympathy in his eyes as he inhales to speak. "Okay. I understand that. You're just trying to find somewhere to belong. And you do look like you're still kind of young, so you're probably in need of those friendships." Excuse me, I think I look wise and mature for my age, being 16,000...something! She lost count after she turned 16,000, so technically 16, and adding the 471 years means she's pretty close to 16 and a half. Still, it is true, as much as she likes to think she's an adult, she's still pretty young for her people. Being immortal means ages are pretty messed up. "Yeah." She admits instead. "I think I can trust you, at least a little bit. You haven't hurt anyone...yet, and nobody's mentioned you before, so you aren't trying to be disruptive." Xisuma decides, and Xerean allows the relieved, bright grin to spread across her face. She finally gets to her feet, still a little weak, but strong enough to stand and maintain her balance. "Thank you, you have no idea how much I was expecting you to get rid of me. I swear you won't regret this." A lesson from Scar: when someone puts trust in you, do what you can to maintain and build that trust. And she intends to do just that.

She's gonna fix the moon.