"Sorting through all my life's debris
Oh, my thoughts keep crashing down
Oh, my life's unraveling"
"TWISTED" by AViVA
(Author's notes and world-building below the cut!)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Evil Xisuma has been a core element of the Twisted Timelines plot from the moment I decided Xelqua saved Xisuma's life. It didn't feel right for the story for Evil X to be the bratty sibling on still-amicable terms. So what happened? Why were they separated? And if Xelqua saved Xisuma, then what happened to EX?
(This duality almost led to EX's artist of choice to be Sub Urban because of the song "PARAMOUR" which features AURORA—the artist I'd earlier chosen for Xisuma. However, AViVA's musical style and subject matter aligned better with the character I wanted to make of Evil X, so she won out, though PARAMOUR still eventually found its way into the title list.)
"Still I can't believe what you say / Quaking at the knees / What will you do to me? / I can see pain, you can guarantee"
Evil X always struck me as the jealous younger brother. Truly, he had every right to be. Xisuma had hope, trust, and safety in his god, something that only became steadier when he found his home in Hermitcraft. Xisuma certainly didn't have a smooth, trouble-free life, but he'd spent his years apart from his brother building a family and gaining the power to protect himself while EX had to fight every day just to stay alive.
Hermitcraft could've been a sanctuary for EX just as it was for his brother, but all EX can see in it is his replacement. Xisuma moved on, and he's bitter. (It wouldn't hurt as much if EX hadn't spent years trying to find all that remained of his family.) So he lashes out. He claims that it's only fair, that it's what Xisuma deserves. (He won't admit that he craves Xisuma's attention.)
And, somewhere deep down that only surfaces when he's trying to fall asleep, Evil X knows there will be consequences. Xisuma is no longer the playful sibling who will just shove him for being annoying, nor is EX just a minor inconvenience to laugh off as he attacks X's servermates and burns bases to the ground. And he's scared, but he can't stop the anger, so he bites the hand that was once willing to feed him.
"Got me kinda twisted, think you've got me now / Got me kinda twisted, time is running out
Got me in the worst way, got me in the best way / Now you got me thinking you're no competition / Think you've got it twisted, 'cause I've got you now"
Evil Xisuma gets a bit of a bad rap amongst the Hermits. It's not undeserved, of course, but it's not entirely fair to him, either. Really, he's not sure what he wants. He thinks that hurting Xisuma will cure his resentment. And it works! Just never enough. And a part of him still yearns for the brother he once had. So he just lashes out more and more in the hope that he'll eventually feel better. (It doesn't help that Xisuma never fights back in the way he wants.)
To be fair to his reputation, Evil X does, in some capacity think he's better than Xisuma, better than the Hermits. They've grown weak in the comfort of their sheltered Server. They don't know how to survive true hardship. They don't fear the threat of permadeath from anything but age. EX thinks it would be easy to get the Hermits wrapped around his finger, even if he knows he doesn't have that power or control.
It's only a matter of time before Xisuma kicks him out for good.
