Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Xisuma was  going  to have a very nice, productive day working on the bugs in the server code in Cleo’s cat cafe. Keyword:  going.

Until Welsknight and Helsknight happened to encounter each other outside said cafe, and immediately  tried to kill each other.

He’s too damn tired for this.

—

Wels wasn’t having a good day. At all. Well he was until Hels showed up and… you can guess what happens next.

Hels’s sword was tinted a faint red, probably dipped in Harming potion. Great.

“What do you want.” Wels already knew the answer.

“You already know” Hels was having a picking-a-fight-because-of-boredom day.

This was routine by now, they’ve done this so many times that neiher of them could land a hit on each other for hours on end. Wether that was because their fighting styles were identical or becuase they’ve fought each other so many times, probably both.

The two knights circle each other, swords brandished.

Hels lunged.

—

You have to credit Xisuma, he was really trying to focus, but the endless sword clashing and swing noises outside were starting to get to him. It didn’t help that he had 4 hours of sleep last night and bugs in the code were appearing all over.

He didn’t snap often, but the very loud sounds of Wels and Hels fighting were genuinely giving him a headache. The clanging and swiping of swords, plus the insults the knights exchanged echoed in his tired head.

—

Wels had just barely dodged Hels’s Harming laced sword, wincing as a drop of the potion landed on his hand and sizzled on his skin.

At the same time, Hels let out a small “ow”, glancing at his hand briefly before slashing again. Wels parried, tilting his head in confusion, he didn’t see Hels get hit, rather the two of them hadn’t managed to injure each other at all.

Wels didn’t have time to question it though, since Xisuma stormed over to them, visibly angry.

“Welsknight and Helsknight.” deadpanned Xisuma, voice dead and agitated. The knights in question froze halfway through sword swings.

“What.” Hels deadpanned. He was probably not eager to talk to anyone.

Xisuma chuckled dryly, “You two, fight every damn week , and the sound of it genuinely is giving me a headache. Specifically when I’m working on the code to insure the server doesn’t implode. I’d really appreciate it if you two wouldn’t because im tired and sick of it.” Xisuma’s voice sounded dead.

Hels and Wels look at each other, then at Xisuma. The admin wasn’t like this normally, and Xisuma was probably going to snap at them in his ‘tired and sick of it’ state. An outcome very much not desired, the admin was terrifying if he snapped. (Wels experienced this firsthand, and Hels knows through Evil X)

The knights reluctantly lower their swords, Xisuma saying in an all-too-cheery-fake-tone “Thank you!”

As Xisuma leaves, Hels and Wels glare at each other in silence. They can’t continue fighting since Xisuma would definitely snap at them, so silently glaring would suffice.

Chapter Text

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Hels and Wels were used to noisy interactions, in fact the only interactions they’ve had were bickering and arguing or trying to kill each other, metal clanging echoing through the air. So the silence now was heavy and incredibly awkward.

Hels is still here. Huh.

Hels normally left as soon as their fights ended, disappearing into the shadows and back to the Helscape to do who knows what. 

Wels breaks the slience “Why are you still here?”

For once Hels was caught off guard “What?”.

Wels continues “You leave as soon as our fights end, why are you still here?”

Hels mumbles something incoherent “I’d love to but I can’t”

Having only caught the start of the sentence, Wels questions further “If you want to leave, why are you still here?”

Hels reluctantly answers “I have a ‘cooldown’,” the other knight explained with air quotes, “so I can’t get back to the Helscape yet”

Wels stared at his clone “Really?”.

Hels sighed “Really.”

The two knights stayed in absolute silence for another few minutes.

Wels turns back to Hels “When is this ‘cooldown’ over?”

Hels rolls his eyes “As if I’d tell you.”

Wels scoffs “Of course.”

They fell back to silence once again.

This had continued for another half hour, small chunks of words then falling to silence. The knights having never had a proper conversation with each other. To an outsider, this would look like two siblings being forced to stand next to each other and apologize after a fight… If those siblings were fully armored knights armed with swords.

Wels heard a noise akin to glass breaking mixed with a nether portal, and the spot where Hels was standing was empty.

Chapter Text

Wels had a pretty productive day, he gathered some materials for his base and enchanted a backup set of gear. He was doing some building higher on the walls, so he had to scaffold up to reach it. The scaffolding wasn’t the most safe, but it worked! As long as no-one distracted him he should be fine-

—

Once Hels got back into Hermitcraft, he found himself on a wall and heard a shout and crash. Looking over the side of the wall, there was some very unstable wood scaffolding, and down at the ground was Welsknight, looking like he fell from somewhere.

…that was probably his fault, but he doesn’t feel bad.

—

“Ow-“ Wels looked up, noticing his clone on the wall he was working on.

Wels tried to stand up and immediately regretted it. He probably twisted his ankle falling. 

“What the hell-” Hels let out a string of curses, for some reason, like he’d injured himself.

—

This was very, very weird. Hels did not injure himself, he was sure of it, but as soon as Wels moved, pain had registered in his ankle, like it was twisted, which did not happen. What the [f-word] was going on?! 

Hels used an Instant Health potion. (He wasn’t walking like that!)

—

Wels watched in visible confusion as his injury just healed as if he used an Instant Health potion, though he didn’t use one. What is going on today?

—

Once Hels got down to ground level, he would have attacked his twin. If it were a NORMAL day. It was not a normal day. Plus, he had a hunch, and if the hunch was true attacking Wels would be really stupid.

As he got closer, Wels predictably put his hand on the handle of his sword. The Helsmit knew that Wels wouldn’t attack if Hels didn’t attack, so everything should be fine. 

— 

Wels was very confused, for two main reasons, [A] he just watched an injury heal itself for no reason and [B] Hels wasn’t trying to kill him. Hesitantly he sheathed his sword, hoping that wouldn’t be a mistake.

— 

Hels sighed internally, how would he explain this? After thinking over possible explanations for a good 7 minutes with a confused Wels in the background, he decided to choose the ‘improv’ option.

—

“So you mean to tell me that we essentially share a health bar.” Wels was sitting on a shulker box now.

“Yep.” Hels was leaning on a wall.

“And we haven’t known for years.”

“Mhm.”

“So fighting each other is the equivalent of attempting suicide.”

”Well- when you put it that way, yes“

The two knights stayed there in silence for good while, what was one meant to say after a conversation like that?

Well except one thing…

Wels broke the silence. “Truce?”

Hels nearly fell over. “What?”

Wels repeated again. “Truce? Since we can’t really fight anymore with the whole, ‘sharing a health bar’ quirk.”

“I- ok I can’t argue with that, so” Hels sighed “fine. Truce.”

The two left shortly after that because continue that conversation would be too awkward. (They've been trying to kill each other for years give them a break)

Chapter Text

It took both knights some time to get used to the ceasefire. Wels tried not to flinch when ever Hels showed up, the latter needing to stop halfway through lacing a sword wiith Harming potions when at their base in the Helscape.

(Note: this is the next time they meet after the truce)

Wels nearly fell off the side of his base when Hels magically showed up (how did that work anyways?). Rather, Hels caught him right before he fell over the side, muttering something that sounded vaguely like “don’t die, idiot”.

…They were now standing in awkward silence because neither of them knew how to start a conversation with someone you’ve been trying to kill for years(at least not a hostile one).

—

Why did he do this- why in the eternal fires of the Helscape did he visit Welsknight. Violence was no longer an option so why did he do this when he could be doing something - anything else- that wasn’t here?

Realistically, he knew the answer already. It was routine, a routine he didn’t want to break .

“…”

“…”

—

Wels really didn’t know what to say in this situation, seeing as Hels just caught him from falling to his death(both their deaths actually), something terribly out of character even though they had a truce.

Wels coughed “I- thanks I guess”

Hels rolled his eyes in response “I’m quite sure that if you die I’d also die.”

“…Right.”

Hels left shortly after that.

(time skip to next week)

For the next encounter Wels was proud to say he did not flinch and almost die from falling off something. However, both knights had to refrain from reflexively drawing swords, again. It was at least a fraction more normal this time, and they managed to have a somewhat non-hostile conversation about the odd names the Helsmits got from being copies of the Hermits (they laughed at a few though they’d never admit it).

—

Hels may have stayed a little longer than normal, but no one knew that. It was surprisingly difficult to hold a grudge against Welsknight without violence.

Should he leave? Yeah he should leave.

—

“Hey- oh” Wels turned to a now empty space “Never mind.”

Wels had to admit their clone wasn’t actually that bad of a person.

Chapter Text

Wels greeted Hels with a wave which made the other knight visibly bluescreen for a split second, before returning with a conflicted “Hi.”

“Hi, so Beef gave me these cards for a card game he’s making for next season, called Hermitcraft TCG, which isn’t done yet and I can’t test the game alone.” Wels took out 2 packs of cards.

“O…k?” The Helsmit sat down on a random block.

—(Beef’s POV)

Out of all the things Beef thought could happen when he went to visit Welsknight, finding him and Helsknight(his evil clone) playing TCG(the early version) was not one of them. Weren’t they trying to kill each other the last time?!

Before he could question the distinct lack of violence, the knights in question spotted him.

Helsknight stared at him which did not help to calm his nerves ”Before you ask, we’re in a mandatory truce, don’t question it. ”

Beef no longer wanted to question it.