"Don't struggle. This has been semi-planned. We need you to be revealed in a certain way" Grian heard his commander in his head through the mental mind communication. "Tell Xisuma, and welcome back Grian"

Grian semi-turned to Xisuma, making eye contact and sending a mind message to him, "X, Xisuma, stop struggling by orders of my commander" As soon as it registered, Xisuma stopped struggling and let Cub bind his hands. Scar had already bound Grian, and they were waiting by the entrance. Cub and Scar led the watchers through the nether portal and onto Convex lands, where they were led deep underground and put into a room. It was nicer than a regular cell, but it was definitely still a cell. Once the door closed and locked, Cub and Scar walked away, muttering about something. "So..." Grian started

"Careful of what we say, I wouldn't put it past Convex to have visual and audio cameras installed. To talk freely we will need to mind message, preferably when pretending to be asleep." Xisuma quickly mind messaged Grian before he could say too much.

"Yeah, but talk about other stuff out loud so they don't get suspicious." Grian messaged back before saying out loud, "How long do you think we'll be here for? Because I kinda have an important Sahara meeting I need to attend as it is about the parrot room I refuse to get rid of."

"Really? You're not going to discuss Sahara Now or anything? Just the parrots?" Xisuma replied with a laugh.

"Yep. As the head builder, I installed a room with dancing parrots. Apparently, it is too distracting so Mumbo and Iskall wants me to get rid of it. Which I totally won't do! It took a lot of effort to get the parrots here! I can't just kill them!"

"Or I could just help you make a room that will play the music and reveal the parrots with a flip of a lever..." Xisuma suggested, yawning a little. "I'm going to sleep. Night Grian."

"Night X," Grian responded, laying on the bed opposite of Xisuma's and closing his eyes, ready for a mental message from Xisuma.

"Hey, so I'm genuinely tired, do you want to meet up in the dreamscape? You remember how to do it right?"

"That's the connecting the minds, things with the energy right?" Grian confirmed, hoping he wasn't thinking of the wrong thing.

"Bingo! See you there!"

Following the standard procedure for connecting dreamscapes, Grian quickly fell asleep, ready to discuss what could be happening. When Grian entered the dreamscape, he immediately looked around in interest. He had learned that every person's dreamscape was different, and since Xisuma initiated the meeting, it was his that appeared. Grian was in a small cottage, a fireplace lit, and an overall cozy style.

"This is my dream house," Xisuma said from one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. "My parents have always been higher up in the ranks, so I've always lived in a large house. What I really want to do though is eventually settle down in the distant islands and build a cottage much like this one."

"I'll be your architect." Grian volunteered, half-joking and half-serious.

"Thanks, Grian" Xisuma responded, staring into the fire.

"So, why do you think the watchers had this capture planned? And how did they manage it?" Grian asked, shifting to the topic at hand.

"Well, I have no clue as to what our superiors have planned, but I know that the Vex is a small independent group who are allied with the watchers. However, their followers, such as Cub and Scar, don't know we exist. My guess is that Cub and Scar's superiors, whoever they may be, got a message from the watchers to have Cub and Scar track down the source of a large amount of magic in by base due to a large amount of magic in my base due to your outburst. The vex probably influence Cub and Scar to do so, and here we are!" Xisuma finished, sarcastically excited.

"Well, that's just great!" Grian responded, equally sarcastic. "Well, my commander said that we had to be revealed in a certain way, which kinda makes me think that there is going to be some kind of truth potion involved."

"The only thing is will it work? Normal mortal potions like that won't have an effect, but if the Convex find a stronger one..." Xisuma replied worriedly.

"So, if the potion doesn't work, tell the truth, but, like, only what they need to know. We are watchers and we need to defeat the listeners. If it does work, we need to hope that it doesn't work well enough so that we can kinda pick and choose what truth we say and if it works completely... Well, I just hope they don't ask about our past too much." Grian shuddered, praying that it wouldn't be the case.

"Yeah, I think that's the only way we could prepare for this. I just hope nothing too bad will happen." Xisuma stared off into the distance, his dream form flickering and starting to fade.

"I think you are waking up Xisuma." Grian pointed out, then looked at his own hand, "Looks like I am too. Well, see you in the land of the awake!" As Grian faded out to the dreamscape, he became semi-conscious of what was happening around him. Grian was, moving? Was someone carrying him? Where were they going? Grian felt the effects of the Nether portal settling in, then the heat of the nether, which they were in for a minute before leaving through a different portal. When the nausea effect cleared, Grian opened his eyes and found himself near the site of the Civil War. Scar was carrying him over to the platform that Concorp had constructed, and Grian saw Xisuma being carried by Cub to Scar's right. "Wha-" Grian muttering incoherently.

"Shush," Scar replied, then called over to Cub, "He's awake!"

"It's fine, we are here anyways," Cub responded, gently tossing Xisuma onto one of the chairs behind a curtain, Scar bringing Grian over after and putting him on a chair, both watchers being bound to it. "Now to send a message to the rest o the hermits," Cub said, turning his phone on. Then, either being too lazy to type it, or he wanted Grian to know what he was saying, Cub used the speech to text function. "Hey, could all the hermits come to the Civil War battleground ASAP? It's very important." Grian assumed that people replied, and he heard rockets over the enclosed space.

After what felt like an eternity, Grian heard Scar get everyone's attention, "Now that we are all here, we have some exciting news! Cub and I believe that we have caught two of these so-called watchers that left the bedrock symbol at spawn. We haven't had the time to question them yet, but that's what we're are here for!" The curtains separating Grian, and X, who had awoken, from the rest of the world, were opened, and everything went silent.

Then a very distinct voice, though now sounding distressed, "No!" It was Doc, and he was struggling to get out of Mumbo and Iskall's grip, them presumably restraining him. The silence spell broke, and many of the hermits yelled out in disbelief, calling Concorp liars.

"Ah, but we are not lying!" Cub called over the yelling hermits, then turned to the duo. "Reveal your true forms!"

Grian looked at Xisuma, who gave a small, barely noticeable nod in response. Together, the watcher uniforms formed, the strength boost given from ti allowing the two to break their bonds and stand up. Their helmets were on, wings open, and cloaks blowing from a wind that only affected the two watchers. The two first gazed out into the audience, Grian noticing that most people looked scared, betrayed, or a mixture of both. Mumbo and Iskall were looking at them in awe having never seen the full watcher uniform before.

Then, Grian looked at Cub and Scar, the later cowering behind his friend. Cub, however, stood boldly in front of the two and asked, "What are your true names?" He seemed to intend to continue how he planned it, and nothing was going to stop him.

Xisuma stepped forward, "I am Xisumavoid, master of the void," He announced, summoning a small ball of void material before dissolving it almost immediately, stepping back.

Then Grian stepped forward, "Xisuma you forgot arrogance," Grian joked, referring to the time when Grian found what Xisuma's name meant in Somali. "But in all seriousness, I am Grian Gealach Gaoth, master of the sun, the moon, and the wind, and one of the more powerful watchers." He said, summoning his phantom familiar that rested itself on his shoulder.

"Cub quickly asked another question, "Why are you here?"

"To defeat the listeners and bring peace to the universe," Grian and Xisuma said in sync, having mentally prepared.

"Where do you come from?" Cub asked his third question

"Where do you go? Where do you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?" Grian joked, before answering the question. "In a distant area, we don't have the clearance to reveal to you."

Cub looked like he was about to ask another question when a portal appeared at the back of the group, no one seeing it except for Grian and Xisuma. A figure dressed in a watchers uniform stepped out of the portal, said thing disappearing right after. The watcher took their helmet off, and once Grian recognized the face, he launched himself off the platform, over the heads of the hermits and right into the watcher.

"Geez Grian, I know you missed me! You don't need to knock me over though!" Taurtis said, hugging his friend.

"Is this why you vanished from Evo? You got made a watcher? And you decided not to tell me after I got made one?" Grian looked at the membership stripes on Taurtis's arm, seeing four. "I missed you so much," Grian muttered, still hugging Taurtis. Grian wished he could hug Taurtis for longer, but he felt the eyes of the hermits burning into him, so Grian stood up, helping Taurtis up in the process. He turned to the hermits and announced, "This is Taurtis, my non-biological brother!"

Word Count: 1725

Total Word Count: 8314

Sorry for not updating for 6 days, but like I got 550 reads when I checked today. So like, thank you so much!

Also, Xisuma's name does indeed mean arrogance in Somali, but only if you don't capitalize the 'X'

Thanks for reading!

~Niza