"Pearl! Wake up!"

Someone was shaking her awake. 

She sat up with a jolt and rubbed her eyes, smearing dirt across her face. "What's happening?" She asked them breathlessly. "Oh. Wait, why is there dirt falling?" She glanced around, getting up and peeking out their little window. A shadow — with wings, she noted — fell on the ground, seemingly perched on top of their shelter. 

"Is that... is that Grian?" She whispered to them, glancing at their faces. BigB nodded. 

"That's who we think it is, because they're not trying to attack us. Yet," he added. 

"I'm opening the door," Pearl declared, fully aware that there was no door. She simply dug a hole through the wall and stepped outside, squinting in the sun. As they'd thought, it was Grian on the roof, but he quickly jumped down after spotting her. 

"Pearl? What are you doing here?" He asked, not hostile, per se, but not completely friendly, either. 

Pearl stared back at him. "Grian?" She was acutely aware of the absence of his signature red sweater, not to mention the purple wings (with something like feathers, not the cloth of elytra), sticking from his back. His hair was a shade darker, tousled but not in the carefree way Grian would always wear it. 

He seemed... tired. Dishevelled, somehow, which was strange because Grian always looked like a mess. A somewhat put-together mess, but still one nonetheless.

"Yeah. It's me. You didn't answer my question?" 

Something was wrong. No laughter, no easy smiles. His words were clipped short, concise. "What's wrong, Grian?"

"What do you mean, 'what's wrong?'" He sounded defensive. "This is Evo, I'm supposed to be here." 

Pearl glanced behind her, to where the remaining Evolutioners were waiting. "Guys, you..." Grian followed her gaze, frowning at the rest of the people. 

"Why are they here? Aren't you here to check on Evo too?" 

What did he mean? Each thing he said only confused Pearl further. It wasn't possible that Grian had become a Watcher again — though from the way he looked, it was entirely possible, and she hated it. Grian had fought so hard to come back, only to be snatched away again. 

"They- no? What do you mean?" Pearl finally questioned back. "We came to... we came to find you." 

"Find me? But this is where I'm supposed to be. Wait." A dangerous light entered Grian's eyes, one that Pearl had never seen in him before. (She had, before they had entered the End portal. He'd looked ready to take on the world with them at his side.) 

"You're trying to destroy Evo, aren't you?" Grian snarled at her, and by extension, the rest of them still gathered in the hut. "They warned me about people like you," he said. 

And then he attacked.