Work Text:
Grian was having a great time, truly. The square hole was growing day by day, and the Society had been pleased after one of the best things he'd ever pulled off. There had never been an octuple kill in any of the games! It was amazing! It was really too bad that he was still dark green and sworn to secrecy, he'd love to claim that giant kill as his own. Though, Etho and Gem would kill him if he didn't share some of the credit.
Scar never had gotten around to proposing like he said he would in Wild Life. He thought maybe, one of these days, he should take a lesson out of his other self's book and propose to Scar instead. It would be a great lure for a trap..
Grian sat down on his bed inside the incomplete lighthouse, sighing. It was a new day, a new experience, and the session had yet to start. He was honestly feeling great about everything. So far, it was one of the most bloody games he'd been in, but somehow also the most fun and.. peaceful? It had only been a few days, and there was only one yellow life! He'd expected a lot more bloodshed by now.. Well, other than the square hole.
Even though this game had forced him back to his roots, where his wings weren't clipped, instead just too small to fly with. And his horrible, horrible highlighter yellow hair that he'd been convinced was cool when he was younger. Not to even mention the outfit. He had no idea what was going through his younger self's head when he decided to wear an all green outfit with an honestly ugly hat.
But, it was Past Life for a reason.
He'd be fine. Watchers weren't terrorizing the server, and it was just another game. It was just another game. It had to be.
The avian laid down on his stomach, sighing into the fluffy white pillow. Gem and Pearl were nowhere to be found, though he knew the girls would be back eventually. The world had shifted once again, and that meant the lighthouse needed a new addition to it's walls. A new kind of material, something to chart their journey through time. All of it felt so.. Familiar. His eyes drifted closed, and Grian found himself reminiscing. The laughs of an old friend, the rise and fall of an empire, the jumps through time, and.. The ender dragon. His heart ached at the thought.
His mind and body felt numb just thinking about it.
Well, actually, thinking harder, he realized he didn't just feel numb, he was. It felt like he was no longer on his bed.
Grian opened his eyes, falling onto the ground on his back, letting out a squawk of surprise at the pressure against his wings.
Wooden ceilings stared down at him, just as he stared up at it. The lighthouse ceiling was cobblestone. Well, the first floor's ceiling anyway. Grian closed his eyes, taking a moment to compose himself before he got up and faced whatever he'd been thrown into this time.
"You're fine, Grian." He muttered to himself, though he just laid on the ground, his wings splayed out against the cold floor. "You totally didn't just accidentally swap bodies again like an idiot."
Slowly, his eyes still closed, he picked himself up off the ground. He didn't want to look. Maybe if he just kept his eyes shut, he'd go back to his lighthouse. Surely. After a fit of silence that went on for an embarrassing amount of time, he decided it was time to face the music, and his eyes fluttered open.
"EW!" He said instinctually, taking a step back. In front of him was a mirror, and he was wearing one of the ugliest things he'd ever seen in his life. It was a red two-piece suit, too close to the color of blood for his liking. It didn't even match this Grian's bright red wings! The avian twirled in front of the mirror, trying to get a better look at the suit, wondering if there was any way that trainwreck could be saved. He then looked around, thinking he definitely had to get out of this hideous thing as quickly as possible. It didn't look like there was any other options, even though he seemed to be in a changing room of some kind. He wandered over to a vanity, sitting down at the stool and staring down this version of himself. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out why the other him would even think about putting something like this on. Seriously, it didn't look good. He missed the red sweater that matched these macaw wings he once had, back in a previous game.
A knock on the door made him flinch, and someone walked in. He saw in the mirror that it was Pearl, wearing a beautiful purple dress. She smiled as she walked over, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"You look amazing, Grian!" She said, though Grian thought she looked way better. His outfit was pretty ugly in his opinion, but Pearl's purple dress matched her soft eyes. Her hair was in a long braid, which was decorated with purple flowers. Pearl had never let Their color stain her favorite one. He adored that about her. He could barely ever wear purple without panicking. It was a wonder he'd even been able to wear that stupid green outfit for so long without having a meltdown.
"You think so? It doesn't match my wings." Grian said judgementally, tugging at the jacket awkwardly. He still had no idea why he or Pearl were so dressed up.
"I do think so! I think Scar will love it too, you know." She replied teasingly, her hands wandering to his wings, smoothing out feathers that had wrinkled up when he'd fallen earlier. Grian sighed, shrugging as he allowed her to comb through his feathers delicately. "You know, he's been dying to see you all day, but he refuses to come in here himself. Something about bad luck, he said?" Pearl hummed.
Grian's face fell.
ᅠ
Grian opened his eyes to find himself on a bed. Immediately, his heart stopped, and he sat up, looking around.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" He found himself yelling, standing up quickly and rushing out the door. He stopped almost immediately seeing a giant hole that he'd just narrowly stopped at before falling in. Yeah, that would've killed him. He didn't have time for this! He spread his wings, flapping them and trying to push himself into the sky, but found himself unable to even get a foot off the ground. He spared a glance at his back and-- Of course. His wings were tiny for some reason. Great.
He needed to find Scar, and quick, to figure out how to get back before his own wedding was crashed by.. Well, himself.
He cautiously walked around the hole, almost tripping and falling once, which flashed his life before his eyes. Yeah, no, other him would be pissed if he lost a life in these weird.. Game things. He still didn't fully grasp the concept of them, but he knew it was a big deal if you died and that you didn't have infinite amounts like his universe did. It was weird, but he honestly couldn't care less at the moment. His worries were about his wedding that he might miss if he didn't get out of here very quickly. He was not going to let Scar say wedding vows to the wrong version of him! He'd throw himself into that stupid hole if the other Grian actually steals his wedding day!
The first person he ran into was Etho. He had no idea that Etho was here, but he'd take it. The man's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Grian.
"Hey G! How are ya feeling after that 8 kill yesterday? Any chance the Society might need more blood?" The man's tone was cheerful, though what he was saying was morbid. Their Grian had killed 8 people yesterday? Last he checked, Grian was a green life! He hadn't quite grasped the concept of the colors, but he was pretty sure that meant he wasn't supposed to kill.
Grian tried to think of something to say, but ultimately gave up. He didn't have time for this, he needed to get back now!
"Not now, Etho. Do you know where Scar is? It's really important." Grian said, looking around. This wasn't the version of the world he knew, but it was still sickeningly familiar for reasons he couldn't quite place.
Etho's face scrunched up as if though in disgust, though most of it still covered by his mask. Grian didn't comment on that. He didn't mean it like that, gross. Sure, he could've worded that a bit better, and Etho probably had a very wrong idea about what he wanted, but it didn't matter to him. This wasn't his world anyway.
"Uh, probably with the rest of the Cabineers?" Etho guessed.
Grian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"And where is that?"
"..Uh, follow me..?"
ᅠ
"Pearl, I really need to talk to him." Grian insisted, standing in front of Pearl, who had blocked the door.
"He doesn't want to see you before the wedding! He'll get all upset and call it bad luck or something, and either way, you're getting married in like, a few hours anyway! Can't whatever it is wait until then??" Pearl begged, not wanting to face the wrath of Scar's pitiful puppy eyes when Grian inevitably finds his way past her.
"It really can't, Pearl! This is something that could totally ruin the entire wedding!" He insisted. He hated how strong she was, standing her ground and not budging even when he'd tried to push past her multiple times. He really didn't want to accidentally crash Scar's wedding, not after he'd been so nice to him the past two times. This was no way to repay his kindness!
"Please, what could be that bad? You look fine, Grian! If this is about the suit--"
"Oh my Void, okay, fine, can you just pass a message?" Grian said, exasperated, desperate.
Pearl thought for a moment, sighed, and nodded.
"Fine, but I swear, if this is about your outfit, or some detail you think you forgot and actually didn't.." Pearl said, her tone condescending, though he knew she only meant it with love. She definitely thought that he was just nervous for such an important day. He shook his head quickly.
"No, no. It's not! Just.. Jeez, okay, uhm.. Tell him the thing happened again?" Grian said, his voice coming out a lot higher than he'd meant it to.
"What thing??" Pearl raised an eyebrow.
"Don't ask! Just please tell him! It's really important!" Grian insisted, pointing at the door behind her for emphasis. Pearl shook her head with a sigh, turning and walking out the door. She paused before she closed it behind her.
"You know you can tell me if something's wrong, right?" She asked, sparing a glance at him. Grian didn't reply. Pearl closed the door.
Seeing nothing else to do, Grian sat down, his wings pressed against the closed door with a heavy sigh. He didn't understand why this kept happening, especially at the worst times.
ᅠ
Etho led a very agitated Grian to the Cabineers, who were all gathered around outside their base, making plans for the next session that would be starting soon.
Without a word, Grian walked forwards and grabbed Scar by the arm, dragging him away and glaring at the other members of his alliance, to which they paused and just let the two go.
"Wha- G! We were plotting!" Scar whined, though trudged through the forest with Grian, not even trying to get away. He'd seen the upset look on his face and did genuinely want to know what was going on to make him so upset before the session had even started.
"This is more important than the games, Scar!" Grian said, finally coming to a stop and looking around to see if anyone had followed. Upon confirming they were alone, Grian glared up at Scar. "My wedding is today, in less than a few hours! And your Grian somehow, despite me fixing every single bug from last time, still managed to swap us out again!"
"Wha- Oh!" Scar's face turned from one of confusion to understanding. Then to horror. "Oh. That's bad, that's really bad."
"Exactly! I'm not letting my Scar say his vows to the wrong me!" He said, pacing back and forth in front of Scar. "But there couldn't be any bugs! I know I fixed everything last time, with that stupid little.. Trivia thing! Or whatever it was! I just-- I can't let this go badly." Grian explained, still pacing desperately.
"Woah woah, calm down, songbird. How about you just check for bugs again? See if something came up since last time?" Scar insisted, stepping in front of the other to stop his pacing. Grian instead just walked right into Scar, and sighed. Scar wrapped his arms around him and pressed a kiss to his forehead comfortingly.
"I know my G doesn't want to spoil your special day, he's most likely doing everything he can to get back, too."
Grian took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. He knew Scar was right. Grian had worked to get back the first time, when he hadn't even been controlling the other him. He was even being supportive to Scar, letting him show off his wedding outfit. There was no way he'd want to crash the wedding.
"You're right." Grian murmured, opening his eyes and taking a step back, before sitting down on the cold grass. Scar grinned, sitting down next to him.
"Course I am! Now just relax for a minute and see if you can find any bugs that might've popped up. There's no rush, birdie. Time works a lot differently between our two worlds."
ᅠ
Grian could hear the footsteps running down the hall, the heavy breathing he recognized as Scar, before the man paused right outside the door.
"Birdie?" Scar asked, hesitantly.
"Unfortunately." Grian murmured, glancing at the door behind him. "Don't come in, I'm all dressed up, and frankly I think that there could've been better choices made regarding this outfit."
Scar's laugh almost feels therapeutic. He was laughing despite the situation. Grian could feel a small smile creeping onto his face.
"Jeez, you just can't stay away from me, can you? It's been, what, 12 hours since we've seen each other?" Scar asked. Grian could hear Scar sitting down and leaning his back against the door. Grian sighed.
"It's actually been about a week in my world. Funny how time works like that." He explained, letting his head fall back against the door softly. "I didn't mean to show up right now. I was getting ready for another session, just thinking about the past, and then, poof, I'm here." He fidgeted with the buttons on the deep red suit. It was, sadly, starting to grow on him a little bit. He did like that it was red. He thought before that it didn't match his wings, but maybe his wings were just really hard to match. It made him almost thankful that his own wings changed every new game. Something different to experiment with.
"Huh, that's pretty weird. But G said he'd fixed.. Bugs or whatever, that were causing you guys to switch. Did you do something?" Scar asked. It wasn't meant to sound accusative, but Grian flinched anyway. He knew the other would be cradling him, running his fingers through his hair, if they weren't separated by the door.
"No, I was just relaxing. Are you sure your Grian didn't do something?" He replied, his tone soft. He couldn't blame the other him if he had. It wasn't even his wedding, technically, and he was getting nervous about it. It was crazy how his two lives across these two worlds were slowly starting to blend together. Slowly but surely, he'd seen more similarities between the two Scars, and had stopped referring to them differently. They were both Scar, and they both loved a version of him. He maybe even loved both versions.
"Not that I know of.. But we haven't seen each other since early this morning." Scar replied. "Is there a way you can check for bugs too? Maybe something happened and neither of you noticed." It was plausible, considering it had been a week in his world. Code sometimes didn't hold up, bugs sometimes reappeared even if you were sure you'd already fixed them.
"I can certainly try. Keep me company while I look?" Grian asked, not liking how desperate his voice sounded.
"Always, songbird."
Grian closed his eyes, plunging his sight far into the code. Looking into the code wasn't easy, there were millions of lines of text and jargon even he didn't understand. When he was Looking, he always tried to narrow down what he was seeing, isolating a few lines at a time to read them out slowly, understand them, find the bug, and repeat. It wasn't often he had to do this, but there were sometimes bugs within the Life games. It wasn't a completely new experience to him. However.. Something that was new was the feeling of him being Watched, specifically within the code. It felt as if.. Someone else was there with him. Hesitantly, he created a new line of text, a small and simple sentence.
'Grian?'
For a moment, nothing. He thought for a second that maybe he was just paranoid, maybe the thought of crashing this wedding was getting to him, but then..
'Other me? what did u do'
Grian couldn't help but let out a scoff. He hadn't done anything! Not on purpose at least. As beautiful and kind and forgiving as this server was, it wasn't where he belonged. That wasn't to say he didn't like being there, but it wasn't his. He felt like an impostor, even though Scar was fully aware of the situation. Deleting the previous two lines of text, he replaced them with a response.
'nothing. bug?'
'not that i see'
'hm'
For the next few minutes, they didn't talk. He could almost feel it as he and the other Grian searched through lines of code, searching for anything that might have gone wrong. It felt like forever that he looked through codes. Even though it wasn't technically his eyes he was looking through, they burned as if he'd been staring at a screen for hours.
It wasn't until he heard the familiar meowing of a cat and Scar using a babying voice that felt too familiar that he momentarily pulled himself out of the code and back into the world.
"Is that Jellie?" Grian asked, chuckling. "What's she doing at the wedding?"
"She's the ringbearer!" Scar replied, as if that were the most obvious answer in the world. Of course, Grian thought. There was nobody better suited for the job than Jellie.
"Can I see her?" Grian asked before he realized. He hadn't seen his own world's Jellie in a while. He hoped she was doing okay.
The door opened, just slightly, as Scar gave a confirming reply, and Jellie wandered in as if she owned the place, spotting Grian and immediately leaping into his arms. He didn't get this cat. Sometimes she loved attention, but other times she would avoid him like the plague. The door closed behind Jellie of course, as Scar didn't want to accidentally catch a glimpse of the outfit he was wearing. With Jellie in his arms, he closed his eyes and returned to the code to see another message left for him.
'hey?? g????'
'srry. ringbearer jellie paid a visit'
'give kisses for me'
'aye aye'
Grian smiled. One thing all four of them shared was the love of Jellie, she was a pretty cool cat in his opinion. He continued to sift through the code with his other self, but the two of them couldn't find anything wrong. That was both a relief and bad news.
It was a relief because it meant they didn't have to spend hours fixing some sort of bug, but it was bad news because the wedding was just a few hours away and they had no idea what the hell was going on and why they'd switched again. Sighing heavily, he opened his eyes once more, hesitant to explain the bad news to Scar.
"Soo.. Good news and bad news." Grian started, running his hand through Jellie's fur comfortingly. "The good news is that there are no bugs in the code."
"That's amay-zin. What's the bad news?" Scar asked curiously, his voice slightly muffled from the door separating the two of them. Grian took a second to compile his thoughts before continuing.
"There's no bugs, which means there's no way to tell why we switched again. Meaning, I might not be leaving in time for your guys' big day." He explained. Jellie looked up at him, and he gave the cat an apologetic smile.
"Oh. That's not as amay-zin. What do we do then?" Scar sounded concerned, and rightfully so. Grian was trying to keep his composure as to not worry the other. Scar was, no matter the universe, a big worrier. He'd get concerned or upset at small things, but to his credit, he did tend to get over it pretty quickly.
He took a minute to think, wondering what they even could do. With no bugs, there was no hope of trying to fix something within the code to fix and send him back. He'd gotten here completely on accident, and he wasn't even sure if it was him or the other him that had switched. All he'd done was reminisce about Evolution. He assumed that all the other him was doing was just worrying about whether or not he'd look good for the wedding. He had no idea what could've caused this. If it wasn't a bug, then was it related to them being Watchers? Was this some sort of weird power he didn't know about until now? It wasn't like he'd stuck around long enough to find out everything he could do. If that was the case, why was he only connected to one other version of himself? Was there a chance that he could meet and swap with other Grians that weren't just this one?
He shook his head, clearing the thought from his mind. He didn't have time to think about possibilities, he needed to figure out how to get home and not crash a wedding. He just had to try to think of an idea, and quickly.
"I.. Uh, I have no idea, honestly." Grian replied, his tone apologetic. Scar was silent for a few minutes after that, probably thinking of some sort of solution. It probably wouldn't work, but he thought it was cute that Scar was trying anyway.
"What if you just.. Uh, thought about switching back?" Scar suggested. Grian snorted. He could practically hear the man's frown from behind the door as he replied. "What? I thought it was a good idea. Do you have any better ideas?"
At that, Grian paused. He did.. Have a point. Grian hadn't actually thought of any ideas yet. He'd be sure to come back after the wedding to slap Scar just out of spite if it worked.
"I suppose I can try..?" He murmured, shutting his eyes. "If it does, good luck with the wedding. Make sure you have your vows on you, I know you'd probably forget them." He found immense pleasure in the frantic sound of Scar checking his pant pockets, before sighing in defeat. Grian thought about his Scar, how the other Grian had probably wandered off and maybe wandered into the square hole. He thought about the Lighthouse of Time, thought about his recent kills and how well he'd gotten away with them. He thought about the wind and the grass of the barren world. He thought about the way Scar would instantly come to his aid and try to calm him down immediately once he realized the switch had happened once more.
"-songbird? You there?" Grian opened his eyes.
"Well, I guess that was.. An okay suggestion." Grian said in defeat, looking beside him to see Scar, his Scar, sitting beside him with a hand on his thigh comfortingly. He smiled. "Not the bird you meant, but I am here. Has the session started yet?" He tilted his head. Scar's eyes brightened, and he wrapped his arms around the avian, burying his face in the other's highlighter yellow hair happily.
"There you are! The session hasn't started yet, didja do any wedding crashing?" Scar returned the questioning happily.
"Thankfully, no. But I did get to see Jellie, who is apparently the ringbearer." Grian explained, standing up once Scar had let go of him, and he reached out a hand to help the other up as well. Scar kissed his hand before using it to help himself up. Grian could feel his face flushing red, and he averted his gaze. Well, all that mattered was that he was back where he belonged, and they had a very interesting session to get to.
Grian and Scar, holding hands, started making their way back to the rest of Cabin Core in a comfortable silence. Grian thought of something and hummed, reaching into his pocket and pulling at the fabric of reality ever so slightly, reaching into the Void and pulling a gold band ring.
"Hey, wanna get married later?" He asked, holding out the ring to the other as they walked. Scar giggled, taking the ring.
"Sure, why not?"
"We should, I don't know.. Put some TNT under the reception dance floor." Grian suggested.
"Yeah? Where'd you get that idea?"
"Some cute guy I met once." He smiled.