Chapter Text
It’s cold when Ash wakes up. Not too weirdly so, he’s not shivering, but he wakes up in a bed that’s chilly. Still mostly asleep, he curls up in himself on his side- he reaches for Squiddo, they run colder than he does, and surely she’s grabbed an extra blanket in this weather. He reaches forward but he’s just reaching at pillow and blanket— she must’ve gotten up already. Ash rolls back to his back with a groan, eyes still shut (because everyone knows once you open your eyes you’ll start genuinely waking up, and despite the cold he’s cozy right now, so he’d rather not, thank you very much).
The room is quiet, weirdly so for a place that should have three other people sleeping in it, two with how Squiddo apparently got up without him noticing. Maybe they’re also up already , but he hopes they’re not. All of Focus up having a conversation while he conveniently isn’t there to listen in and distract people wouldn’t be very good for him, or how he just very recently managed to convince 4C and Cube to let him sleep over at Focus base after Kaboodle griefed his house at spawn.
…
It’s really quiet . He thinks again. The cozyness of being 75% asleep having mostly drifted by now, Ash opens his eyes— not to Focus base, not to 4C or Cube sleeping across the room, or even to empty beds and hushed conversations. No. Ash wakes up to a ceiling much higher than any lifesteal base worth its money would risk, decorated in dark colours– lots of deepslate and dark red accents– with intricate details all over. It looked stupidly fancy.
There was no denying someone spent a lot of time on this build, but also Ash is pretty sure he just got kidnapped. This has got to be a bit for someone’s video, whose he’s not sure of though. There’s not too many people who could waltz into Focus base and take him without consequences from the team, even though he’s pretty sure the entire team besides Squiddo would rather see him leave by now. And everyone in Focus is wayy too inactive to pull off something like this. Oh gods where’s Squiddo— he realises and immediately scrambles to get out of the bed as quick as he can (it’s a king size?? who even has that???). Did she get kidnapped as well? Is she like in some other room in whatever this place is? Come to think of it, this probably isn’t an entire megabase, just a weirdly big room someone built trying to make a funny challenge— maybe it’s meant to be an escape room?
After quickly getting dressed out of the weird silky pyjamas that leave him with more questions and also the decision to thoroughly kill whoever’s prank this is (they could use the extra heart), Ash basically runs over to the door, barely taking in the rest of the room. It’s clear, sanitized to hell and back, and it’s almost impressive that whoever built this went through all this effort— Ash would’ve settled with a good obsidian box, obsidian boxes never hurt anybody (unless you’re getting spawntrapped, which is just a skill issue, frankly). It’s almost impressive, but he’s pissed off, obviously , someone just kidnapped him, in the most sketchy way possible, there’s no way he wouldn’t be mad as hell.
To no one’s surprise, the door out is locked. Ash frowns, it has got to be an escape room, but evidently a bad one, as he considers just breaking a window and climbing out. He doesn’t though. Not because the windows, even from a distance, seem stupidly fortified and he’d probably just injure himself trying to break out, especially considering he doesn’t have any of his gear on him. Well— that also. But mostly because of one key detail he had first missed; the door is locked, yes— but from the inside .
For reasons unbeknownst to him. Another point awarded for the game of ‘most confusing escape room ever’. No other contestant has ever scored this many points in this little time! They’re well on pace for the world record of ‘fucking asshole’ as well! Wow!
…
Ash is going to kill whoever’s behind this.
He unlocks and opens the bedroom door slowly, winching when it makes a clicking sound too loud for his liking, peeking behind the door searching for traps. There don’t seem to be any, no obvious ones anyway. But. There’s two people stationed at the door, one on each side. Netherite armour ( netherite. armour. ), diamond trims and invisibility. They notice him immediately, before Ash even truly realises they’re there (the netherite blends in with the surroundings annoyingly well). For a second he fears he’s about to get dropped, that he wasn’t supposed to be here— and he really wishes he had his armour right now. Except nothing happens. No swords get pulled, no strength pots splashed. In fact— the only noticeable difference is how they both tensed and straightened up. Strange … It’s subtle, almost unnoticeable, and they clearly didn’t want him to see it. Tough luck.
They’re nervous , he realises. Almost scared even. Ash glances around once more— it can’t be him they’re afraid of? He’s literally a naked player, no armour, weapons, cobwebs, pots, gaps, shield, anything in his inventory. And yet. There they stand, invisible, but he can tell they’re purposefully not making much eye contact (unless they’re secretly giving him so much side eye). Ash’s frown deepens, more confused than anything. He realises, they’re probably not gonna stop him if he walks away, and he’s right, but he kinda wished they did. No, instead they just tailed behind him as he tried his very hardest to ignore them. Gods, the layout of this place is horrible .
But it’s not like he can just ask the weirdos behind him where the way out is. After a while of taking random hallways and awkwardly figuring out his way down several elevated platforms in pure despair, he arrives at a more populated area. Like the two guards behind him and the very few other people he passed by whilst walking, they all wore netherite armour, though with trims of varying materials, all of them invisible, all of them tense as hell around him. If not for the last fact, and how he’s so far been able to roam wherever, he would’ve assumed he’s a prisoner here. Might still be, if only for how he still doesn’t know how he got here.
Finally he’s fed up. “Hey, so. Where’s the way out?” He deadpans, not really expecting much of an answer. Despite being outside and probably on the bottom layer, he had no idea how to actually leave. He was right, in a way— none of the players seem to speak, perhaps to hide their identities from him. A few players around him however did get infinitely more nervous, but he gets escorted to the exit with record speeds nonetheless. To his confusion. Fucking great— he thinks, the second he steps foot outside the gate. This— decidedly, isn’t Lifesteal. Not even close. There’s buildings– a whole city– he’s never even heard of before (which on its own really don’t say anything, except that he doesn’t go out much), the terrain generation looks off as well, and even if he was just at some stupid secret base really far out, there’s just no way this many players would band together to pull off a prank like this. He’s pretty sure there’s definitely not enough active lifestealers to make up the amounts of people he saw earlier. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t qualify as an active member either but that’s honestly whatever. There’s also the unexplained banned items, aka the netherite, that all those mystery players brushed over like it was nothing unusual.
Not Lifesteal. Which is about the worst way today could have gone.
He’s never been to another server, honestly. Well, besides OneHouse, but he’s firmly choosing to ignore that wretched place. Servers tend to differ wildly from one another. Even with Lifesteal’s different seasons— technically a different world, they notice this. They’re like different people, taking some things from one season to the next, but most memories stay blurry, most alliances faded. The memories that do stay from prior seasons become mellowed out, grievances left behind. It’s why players like Zam didn’t get farmed the second season six started. Last season he may have been the Joker, one of PB&J’s enemies, but PB&J isn’t a thing anymore, and Zam is apparently a pacifist now, so it’s probably a good thing everyone always turns over a new leaf (except he also fought against the Blindfold Bandits? that doesn’t exactly scream ‘peaceful’ but who is he to talk) Honestly he hasn’t been paying too much attention this season. He probably should but it’s whatever right now.
Ash’s memories from prior seasons generally aren’t too messy, but if he’s ever been to a different server, he doesn’t remember it at all .
So he’s in another server. Great. He’s not too sure how the whole situation with switching servers works, but from what he’s gathered it’s a conscious thing. People generally don’t randomly wake up in another server, unless something is severely wrong. Ash shifts on his feet nervously. For no reason. Not because he’s worried about Squiddo, and by extension the rest of lifesteal. Nope.
A loud clank drags him out of his thoughts. He twists his head around— prepared for an attack, but there (weirdly) still isn’t any. Instead, one of the netherite players had simply just moved to scratch their arm, armour pieces colliding unexpectedly. Both guards (cause that’s basically what they are) panicked as his gaze landed on them, standing up as straight as possible, one of them even visibly shaking . Slightly, but shaking nevertheless.
They know him , he suspects. Of course they know him! That room he woke up in definitely isn’t the server’s spawn. But his suspicions can’t help him with anything. He tilts his head down slightly, trying to appear intimidating. “Who am I to you?” He asks the guard on his right, the one without shaking hands.
They scramble looking for something in their inventory, a book and quill apparently. Both items look ridiculously fancy, at least to his Lifesteal standards. Most people don’t exactly bother crafting intricate designs onto the covers of their books, at most you’d find a stamp of whichever team the book belongs to. Which is child's play compared to the craftsmanship on the cover in front of him. It’s hastily made, but it looks beautiful nonetheless. The quills look different as well, far from the literal chicken feather he’s used to.
The guard scribbled something down in neat but rushed strokes, and Ash wondered why they felt the need for that at all, when it’s evident their handwriting isn’t usually neat like that. They could also just— y’know— talk . He knows from experience that invisibility has never stopped anyone from talking or making noise, much to the frustration of many many lifestealers trying to ambush someone or secretively listen in on a conversation.
The guard finishes quickly, and turns the book for Ash to read. On it there’s just two words as an answer.
“Our leader.” It reads.
Ash’s eyes widen slightly and he almost stumbles back. Almost . He’s their leader , and based on the body language of the other players he’s seen so far, they’re probably telling the truth. This isn’t a moment for weakness.
“Good.” He replies, as he straightens up and moves to appear more relaxed, more confident. “And who am I to everyone else on this server?” Ash follows up with. Because there’s just no way the entirety of the playercount (not that he can see it right now, he hasn’t been able to check f3 either) is these weird netherite armoured people to whom he’s apparently their leader. Yay…
The guard twists their book back around, and starts writing something down below their previous confusing as hell answer. When they’re done they show him again, a longer answer this time, still written like they’d be murdered. “Most don’t know of you, or think you’re a random innocent player. Your enemies and acquaintances know you as the feared leader of the invisible mafia.”
The
invisible mafia?
Leader. Of a thing called the
‘invisible mafia’
. That’s so stupid… He’s the
feared leader
, goddamnit. What is his life.