Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Strange things have been happening on lifesteal as of late. Now, backstabbing and the more-than-occasional deaths were normal for the server. But this was uncanny, even for the deadliest server in all of minecraft. A few players had been going on insane sprees of violence, one of which was one of Kaboodle’s closest friends -and ally this season- Clownpierce. Even though he was viewed as a villain, and though he held the title of deadliest player, this was unusual. Clown was never really one to pick the fight. He’d prefer to talk people down, but he had killed when that tactic didn’t work. Yet never in this quantity.

So, Kaboodle was currently on her way to get to the bottom of this. Because it wasn’t just him either! Ashswag and Manepear have also been acting unusually as of late - though for Mane it could actually just be him being weird. She wouldn’t put it past the guy to be doing this on purpose. Anyways, this kind of mystery called for some serious detective work, and luckily the Lifesteal smp had two of the best minecraft detectives on the case already! Kab and Squiddo were working together to figure this out, and they wouldn’t dare disappoint those who needed them!

Okay let’s be honest, they weren’t actually the best detectives minecraft could offer. They weren’t really detectives at all, but two of the people they really cared about (and Manepear) were being affected by whatever was happening, and it was causing the rest of the server harm too. They both really wanted to help their friends, and they would do everything they could to figure this mystery out. Besides, they got to work together!!

Kaboodle arrived at the base she shared with Clown, going through whatever hoops he’d set up for safety once again. When she did get inside, the main room was almost completely dark. “Clown..?” She voiced to the air, looking around in the dark only to find the exact person she was looking for to her right, hidden in a corner of the room there that branched off from this main one. “What are you doing sitting here in the dark?” She asks then, flipping the lever that activated the lights they’d set up when she’d insisted on making the base look pretty.

Clown’s only response was a sigh, as if he’d been hoping not to do this. “Go away, Kab.” Well that was rude. Not as rude as he could be, of course, but still rude!

“No. I’m here to get to the bottom of things, and I am not gonna leave without my answers. And if you’re gonna choose to be difficult then-“

“Fine.” Clown interrupts before she can finish her sentence.

“What?” She responds, puzzled at how easy that was. She had been expecting at least a little pushback .

“If I answer you, you’ll leave, right? So fine. What do you want?”

“Oh, well.. wow okay. Um, I guess first things first then.” Kaboodle clears her throat, not really knowing how to approach this subject due to how uncomfortable it felt. “Why have you been going around killing people for no reason?” She spit out finally after a few moments of trying (and failing) to come up with a nicer way to put it.

Clown sighs again, still not facing her as he answers with a hint of reluctance. “I’ll be very honest with you, Kab. I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know ? You’re literally the one doing it how can you not know why?”

“Kab, something is wrong . I don’t know what changed or what caused it, but I’ve been minding my damn business on more than one occasion, and then I blink and there’s bodies on the floor. I. Don’t. Know .” Clown says more coldly than he’d ever talked to her, standing and finally turning to face the blue haired girl with an agitated frown. She could tell he was stressed, his usual mask of indifference cracked and breaking even as he tries to hide his fear from her.  Whatever was going on, it was bigger than both of them. Taking a steadying breath, he continues. “Now go before you get hurt too.”

Kaboodle can’t find their words for a moment, but her feet stay locked in place, rooted to the floor where she stands. Seeing the almost imperceptible emotion from Clown, the way he just barely hides his slight trembling and the blatant concern he doesn’t even bother to hide in his voice… she can’t just leave him here. There’s no way in hell. “Clown, whatever this is we can get through it. I can help you! I know you won’t hurt me, I-“

“You don’t understand, Kab! This isn’t something I can control , and I won’t allow you to get hurt just because you believe I won’t do anything!”

“You won’t! I know you, you’d never hurt me, Clown!”

“But this isn’t me. I can’t do anything to stop it, and if you end up hurt or even killed because of this… sickness or WHATEVER is happening then..” Clown trails off, turning away from them again. Not wanting to face them, they realized, because he didn’t want them to see him fall apart like this. When he turned slightly back to them, Kaboodle could just barely see his eyes under the mask, filled with a mix of emotion she had never seen before in all the years she’d known him. “Just stay away from me.” He finishes, swiftly leaving the base before another word could be said. Kaboodle watched him go, and stared at the door for a good few seconds after he had already left. He seemed so scared, so genuinely rattled … and she could do nothing about it. She left the base that night with more questions than when she came in, and just a tiny hope that Squiddo had done better with Ashswag than she’d done with Clown.

Because it seemed things had just gotten a whole lot more confusing.

~-~

Squiddo had needed to wait a whole hour for Ash to get back to their house from wherever the heck he was currently in the world. They had privately messaged him that they needed to talk, and he’d (probably) started making his way back after around thirty minutes of being fucking oblivious to their message. Squiddo only knows this because he’d sent them a message apologizing about fifty times for outright IGNORING the previous text they’d sent his way. That earned the facepalm they did in his name.

When he did finally get home though, he looked rough. His glitching - though normally pretty controlled - was erratic, and dirt smudged both his clothes and his skin like he’d hugged it or something. Dried blood was caked on his right arm, though he didn’t seem injured anywhere, so hopefully it wasn’t his. He also looked a little traumatized, like he’d witnessed something he definitely wasn’t supposed to. The very first thing he did was hug them without a word, raising their concern even higher with how tight he held on. “What happened?” They’d asked, but he just shook his head and shrugged it off.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” He asked later, sitting down with them on the couch after having cleaned up. Squiddo didn’t know how to go about asking him about this whole.. thing, but they decided being blunt was better than nothing.

“So, I don’t mean to be rude or anything but… why have you been going around killing people?” They asked, and they instantly noticed his unease about the topic.

“Um…” he averted his eyes, though the mention of it had him clearly panicked anyway.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, Ash. I won’t be upset!” Squiddo had assured him, but it didn’t seem to help any.

“No, it’s not that, just…” he paused for a moment, trying to find the right word for what had literally just happened to him a little over thirty minutes ago. “I… uh. Okay, I don’t know what’s happening either, I’m just going to put that out there before I explain. I understand about as much as you do.” He hesitated again, anxiety still plainly written in his actions and the next words to come in this conversation. “That.. the killing, I mean… I never mean to do it. I-I know, that’s a pretty lame excuse, but I really don’t mean to hurt people. It’s like, I’ll be doing something one moment, and then something triggers this like, weird psycho response-thingy and I end up with blood all over me. I never know what exactly happened, it all just goes so fast… before I even know what I’m doing, whoever I was with is injured or just straight up dead on the floor!” He looks back up at Squiddo half deadpan then and says “I probably sound really crazy right now, don’t I?”

“Well, to be fair you always sound a little crazy to me.” Squiddo tries to lighten the mood, and it works, for a minute. But then it’s back to being serious. “So, let me get this straight. You’ll just be doing whatever and then you suddenly kill somebody with no actual recollection of how exactly you did it?”

“Mhm.”

“And there’s something that triggers this?”

“Pretty sure.”

“Hm…” Squiddo looked away from him then, just for a second, to make a mental note of that important information. They start to say something else, but get cut off by this weird high-pitched ringing sound. It’s almost imperceptible even though it’s really loud, and if there had been just a little more noise in the room they would have definitely missed it. But Ashswag wouldn’t have. Squiddo turned back to their boyfriend in time to see him stiffen, his glitching (which had calmed down a little while ago) coming back in full force, going crazy again for seemingly no reason. In what feels like less than a second, Squiddo is suddenly on the ground, pushed to the floor by their own boyfriend. “Ash, what are you-!” They try to say, but they’re cut off by having to dodge his sword, rolling just barely out of the way before they can jump to their feet. “Ash!” They yell, but he doesn’t seem to recognize the name. He appears to be a bit crazed, as though he’d gone completely insane in a split second. Squiddo has no choice but to pull out something to defend themself with, whipping out their own sword to block as he swings at them again. “Ash, what are you doing!?!” They yell, but they get no response other than another swing from that diamond blade. Their swords clash a few more times before Squiddo is backed against the wall, their boyfriend pushing down on their blade, with the intent to disarm and probably kill. This is the moment where they realize three very important things. One was that he doesn’t seem to recognize them at all. Another was that his glitching was currently so bad they could barely make out his expression, as if it was still trying to warn them of something. And the third was that they were definitely and most royally fucked. There was no way they would survive a fight against Ash. They couldn’t even win a practice fight against him, how would they win a real one like this!?

But as he flung their weapon from their grasp and they accepted that they were likely never going to survive this, something unexpected happened. Instead of the painful stabbing they were sure to be getting, nothing happened. No painful slicing came their way. They peeked an eye open after a few moments, only to see him back to normal and looking absolutely horrified. He was looking at them like a puppy that just got kicked, the sword now abandoned on the floor. He stepped back from them sharply, nearly hyperventilating as tears formed at the corner of his visible eye. He kept backing away from them as the room was locked in silence, his apology stuck in his throat as he tried really hard not to freak out at what he almost did. Squiddo took a step closer, but immediately took it back when he flinched right into the opposite wall, shaking uncontrollably. Squiddo tried to think of something to say, tried to find a way to tell him it was okay and they know he didn’t mean it. But they just can’t find the words they need as they worriedly watch their boyfriend actively try not to have a panic attack. Ash sinks against the wall, staring at the floor as he fails to calm down. “Ash..?” Squiddo finally said, stepping closer even though he flinches again.

“S-Stay away from me… I- y-you’ll get hurt-!” He says, haunted by what he might’ve done if he hadn’t snapped out of it.

“Ash, it’s okay! You didn’t hurt me, I’m fine!”

“But I might! I almost did!” He cries, “I…I almost killed you, how could you just be okay with that!?”

“You almost did, yes! And, I’ll be honest, I don’t think I am okay with it! But Ash, you stopped yourself. You snapped out of it before you could actually do anything to hurt me, and I can’t help but think that was something you did. The real you. The guy that tried to kill me? That wasn’t you . I know it.” Squiddo told him, stepping closer with every word. “The real you would never hurt me.” They finish, finally close enough to pull him into a hug. He hugs back tightly, a rare acceptance of the gesture; though they’re both still a little rattled from the whole experience. “Now cmon, it’s been a pretty long day.”

“You can say that again.” Ash agrees, not quite letting go of Squiddo as they both stand up again. The two of them head to bed as the moon rises up into the sky, daytime giving way to night as they fall asleep in each other’s arms. The problem would arise again in the morning, but for now, they could just leave it. Hopefully Kaboodle would have some good information to bring to the investigation as well. Hopefully.

Chapter Text

Misty forest and devious peace, the sound of bones rattling in the distance as the old woods surrounding them creak. Had he missed something in the trees? Was that a spot of movement he saw? Were those eyes or just the fireflies that filled the air in the dead of night? Everything was a question. Even his own eyes liked to lie.

Blood, on the ground. From a sword too sharp to deal anything less than the maximum damage. It dripped down, flung from fresh wounds as the two below quarreled. Wait, what was that? No, just another trick. Or had it been real this time? A creature in the night, hidden up here in the treetops with him, perhaps? Did it come to watch them fight too? Or was it not real, another figment this forest had to offer? He didn’t know. He couldn’t know.

The mist was getting thicker. It was hard to see them now, the two of them down there. He doesn’t know why he jumps in. He doesn’t really care too much for either of them. They aren’t part of his team. They never were. But he still goes, down into the mist. Trying to help. It’s what they would want him to do in this situation. They were too kind. It was rubbing off on him.

He couldn’t have known, right? He couldn’t. It wasn’t like he thought it through. He didn’t know what would happen. He just couldn’t have known. He didn’t! But he should’ve. He should’ve stopped himself. He should’ve never gone in there. He should’ve figured this would happen. He should’ve known what he’d do… to them, to everyone. He should’ve known.

But he really couldn’t of, could he?

Ash snapped awake again, immediately looking to his side. Seeing his partner still there, he relaxed a little. Looking at the clock on the wall, his annoyance rises as he realizes it’s exactly midnight, only twelve minutes had gone past since he last fell asleep. This night was gonna last fucking forever.

It was all he could do to try and go back to sleep, as he didn’t want to risk waking up Squiddo by moving around. From what he understood, they were meeting Kaboodle early in the morning, and they needed to be awake in about six hours for it. Disturbing their sleep just because he was plagued with nightmares tonight wouldn’t be fair nor very nice to them. Not that he was one for ‘nice’, but it had always been a bit different when it came to Squiddo.

So, he closed his eyes once more, and silently wished for more time to pass this time around.

~-~-

This was a terrible idea, in hindsight.

Going into a pale gardens biome in the dead of night? Mapicc didn’t know what he was thinking. Yeah, he was trying to find whatever had caused the supposed inciting incident that was driving three different players to go fucking crazy all about the server. This was the last place he’d seen all three of them before the first kills began to pile up, so it made a lot of sense that whatever happened went down in here. But by the time he figured it out, nighttime was already fast approaching. He’d only thought this would take a couple minutes at most, so he went into the old woods anyway. Literally hours later, he was still here, with no actual idea where he came in from. Great going, me.

So, he was lost now, wandering through white trees in the middle of the night, trying to get out again more than anything else. His original goal had been pushed to the side in favor of NOT dying a painful death to the creaking or any other mob hiding throughout the thick woods. He could barely see two feet in front of him, after all. It would be kind of hard to spy a mob before it was too close for comfort. He was lucky he’d thought to bring a torch with him, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to see at all!

Eventually, after a few more minutes of aimlessly wandering through the forest, he came to a sort of clearing. Blood was splattered in patches on the ground, staining the gray grass red. This must have been a battlefield at one point. Maybe it was even where those three had headed a week ago when this all started. Mapicc didn’t have a lot of time to consider that, as something shifted through the leaves on the treetops above. It was barely noticeable, but he’d already been on way too high of an alert to pass over even the slightest movement. So, he followed the sound, glaring up at the trees for any sign of life. It wasn’t long before he found what he was looking for, a pair of glowing rainbow eyes staring back down at him, surprise and something akin to fear in its odd gaze.

“Hey!” He yells up at it, whatever it was. “Did you cause all this!? The hell are you!” He didn’t even know if it could talk, but it’s silence paired with the way it seemed to shrink back a little when he asked it told him more than he even needed. The thing in the trees didn’t seem to know what to do, likely never having been caught in the act before. The way the tree it was on lightly creaked compared to others throughout the woods showed how frail it could be, meaning it never fought it’s foes head on. This thing had never been seen, and never been in a real battle. If it was the cause of all this, it must have seen whatever fight was going on here and used whatever tactics it did have to stay safe. Unless of course, it knew what it could do to people and was just an asshole of a creature. Which, to be fair, wouldn’t be too far off from most other mobs that roamed the server at night.

The only thing he couldn’t discern from its silence was what exactly it did and why it had only done it now. If this thing had been here this whole time, why only attack someone now? So many people had ventured throughout and fought in this forest before with no problems. Why only start messing with them all now?

Mapicc didn’t have the time to contemplate such a question, as a sudden fiery pain shot down from his head. Being so caught up with the new creature, he completely forgot about the one creature that made this forest so damn deadly. The Creaking.

Every other mob was just an annoyance to any experienced player, but the creaking was something you couldn’t fight against normally. It moved when no one was looking, and god damn the thing was fast! If you tried to stab it, you’d only meet wooden flesh, nothing vital there to hurt. It could creep up on a player and destroy them in a second if you weren’t careful, and in Mapicc’s lack of caution, even though it was only for a moment, the Creaking was there. It’s strong claws dug painfully into his skin, warm blood spilling from the wound instantly as his focus was ripped to the weeping angel like creature that now held him in place. Mapicc jumped into action, prying himself free of its grasp before it could snap his neck, stumbling back from the wretched creature and turning to stare at it, making sure it didn’t dare move to try again as he backed away as fast as possible. Blood seeped into his right eye, falling down the side of his face slowly, yet still way too fast for comfort. Somehow, some way, he found a path leading out of the forest, and followed it as far away from those woods as he could.

Without even thinking about where he was going, he went in a random direction after that, holding a hand over the fresh wound on his head to hopefully staunch the blood flow. It wouldn’t do to pass out alone in the middle of nowhere with all the mobs about. He already couldn’t see very well, especially with his eye stinging from the blood dripping down his face, and any more problems would likely end up breaking him.

Mapicc eventually found himself back at his team’s base, against all odds. At this point though, he had no space in his mind to think about how that happened. He kept thinking about the creature in the trees and that too-close encounter with the Creaking, a million new questions springing up every time he tried to answer one. It certainly didn’t help that he could hardly think straight with how lightheaded the blood loss was making him. He’d tried to heal earlier, when he’d first gotten out of the pale garden; but it hadn’t gone very well, the whole process taking way more energy than he had to spare right now. He could only hope he had a better way of healing himself somewhere in his chests. And maybe for someone to talk to. There was no way he was sleeping tonight with all this stuff on his mind.

Unless some unforeseen circumstances had anything to say about it, of course.

~-~-

Spoke was never really one to sleep at a reasonable hour. He didn’t need as much of it as the others -that was a perk of being an experiment. So when the door to the base opened, it was no surprise to anyone that he was up, caught out in the kitchen with a popsicle in the middle of the night. He tensed, at first thinking someone from another team had found their home, but he relaxed again when he realized it was only Mapicc finally returning from whatever expedition he’d gone out on that morning. “Hey!” He greets, but no answer follows. His relief slowly gives to concern as the door shuts behind the slightly demonic player, who stumbles immediately after on the step down, catching himself on the wall with a bloody hand. As if that wasn’t bad enough, more blood covers his face, dripping onto the floor in an almost rhythmic manner. “Oh.. my god…” Spoke mutters when he notices the deep gash across Mapicc’s forehead, fresh blood still spilling down his face with every passing second. It’s a miracle he hasn’t passed out yet, from the looks of things. “Oh god, Mapicc what the fuck happened!?” He exclaims, rushing over to help support his friend - shoving the rest of the popsicle in his mouth on the way. Mapicc snaps to attention at hearing his name, looking up at Spoke as he gets closer, even while the undisclosed creature tried not to be sick at how much the demon’s bleeding.

“Eh… t-there was, uh.. a new creature… in the forest..” Mapicc struggles to speak, the effect of blood loss and whatever other injuries -mental or physical- he may have sustained working together against him.

“And the ‘creature’ you’re talking about did this?” Spoke asks, already trying to access the damage as best he could. He was no medic, but he did thankfully pay enough attention to the basics, and he could at least try to help his teammate with what he knows.

“N-no, the… Creaking.. d-did that.” Seeing that no other major injuries plagued his friend, Spoke starts to lead Mapicc over to a seat. “Y-you don’t believe me.. do you?”

“About the creaking doing this? Of course I believe you, that thing can be crazy strong.”

“No, about the o-other thing. It was there, I swear! I..t was t-the reason I wasn’t paying attention… i-it was in the trees…” Mapicc seems a bit crazed, his vibrantly red eyes pleading with Spoke to believe him. Poor guy, probably delirious from everything that happened. Spoke grabs some bandages and a health potion, bringing them over to the couch where he’d put his injured friend.

“Mapicc, calm down. Whatever you saw, it can’t hurt you.” He says absently, pulling out a water bucket and getting out a clean cloth. Dipping it into the cool water, he starts cleaning the nasty wound as best he can, making sure it can’t get infected before he put anything on it. Much to Mapicc’s dismay, apparently, as he keeps trying to do it himself until Spoke uses his other hand to keep down the demon’s.

“It wasn’t gonna hurt me! I-It was probably built like a twig!” Mapicc protests, wincing at the cloth brushing across his injury.

“I’m sure it was.” Spoke agrees, not caring to argue as he squeezes the bloody cloth out over the bucket again. He dips it back in, and tries to get the rest of the blood off, though it doesn’t work too well with the water already dyed red. After finishing on cleaning the actual wound, however, he grabs some bandages to dress it. Mapicc squirms when Spoke starts the process, though he can’t really blame him. It has to be uncomfortable at best, having something rubbing against an open wound like that. Or maybe it’s just Mapicc being Mapicc. Who knows.

“You don’t b-believe me.” He says after a moment, seeming genuinely hurt. “You really just don’t believe me!” It was enough to make Spoke feel at least a little bad about dismissing his claims.

“Hey, Mapicc…” Spoke sighs, tying off the bandage and squatting down to look his friend in the eye. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or anything, but it looks like you’ve been through a lot tonight. Besides, it’s late, and you’ve lost a lot of blood. What you saw could have been anything.” He went and switched out the water for fresh, coming back with a clean cloth to start properly wiping the drying blood from Mapicc’s face. Mapicc makes a sound of frustration as Spoke begins to clean the blood. Again, the unidentified creature has to hold Mapicc down so he doesn’t try to steal the cloth.

“I’m not imagining things, Spoke. I saw this thing before that stupid stick attacked me. Before it even got there!” He protests again.

“And how do I know you didn’t get a concussion from all this and your memory got fucked up?” Spoke retorts, leaning back and crossing his arms to look at Mapicc pointedly. “I can’t tell, I never finished basic med.” The other player doesn’t have a good response to that, but he does mumble something else about knowing what he saw as Spoke goes back to ridding his teammate’s face of blood. When he’s finished, Mapicc takes a regen potion out of his inventory of his own accord, drinking the sickly sweet liquid down without being told. At least he’s got some sense in him, even if Spoke still thinks the whole new creature bullshit is imaginary. Spoke goes and dumps the water out again, filling it with new at the infinite water source they have at the base. He also tosses the bloody cloth before heading back out to the common room, where he, for some reason, does NOT find Mapicc. “Wha- MAPICC!? Where the fuck are you!” He exclaims, looking around for his red-clad teammate. “Ugh, I swear to god I leave for ONE MINUTE!” He searches through three rooms before he finds Mapicc, rummaging through some chests in storage for something. “Mapicc, what are you doing?”

“I’m looking for something, obviously.” The half-demon answers, as much of a smartass as ever.

“Well no duh. Cmon man, it’s late. Can’t this wait until morning?” Spoke asks, wanting to just be over with all this. He knew Mapicc’s care for himself was basically in the negatives this season, but he still needed to sleep, especially after losing however much blood. And, Spoke also wanted to go to bed. He’d only left his room for the popsicle, not all this.

“Why?” Mapicc responds, apparently finding whatever it was he’d been looking for, as he turns on his heel away from the chests.

“Wha- the fuck you mean why? You need sleep and I need to not have to deal with your stubborn ass for a few hours.” Spoke stops him from leaving, going to stand in the doorway until this conversation is over.

Mapicc seems to think for a moment, before looking back at Spoke with an unreadable expression. “Tell you what. I’ll actually go take care of myself if you promise to come with me tomorrow so I can show you the goddamn creature. If not I’m going after it myself again right now.”

Spoke crosses his arms at the other, leaning against the wooden door. “Really not giving me much of a choice here, huh?” He comments. But it is a small price to pay for Mapicc to not risk his life again by going back in there alone and without any proper time to rest, which Spoke knows he’ll do if he gets the chance. When Mapicc set his mind on something, nothing was going to get him to stop until he achieved whatever goal. Spoke sighs. “Fine. Tomorrow, I’ll come with you. But you have to get eight hours of sleep first, I’m not dealing with you at six in the morning.”

“Fine…” They shake on it like a stupid business deal, and Spoke lets Mapicc out of the room, following him to his room and making sure he actually goes to bed before leaving, vanishing into his own star-filled room. His wallpaper sparkles with silver and white as he moves across the room to his own bed, the ground underneath his floor tiles lighting up with each pressure plate he steps across. It’s a cool design, and it’s something he really likes. He pulls his blanket all the way over his head as he gets in bed, curling under the covers to sleep. In the morning, he would have to deal with whatever Mapicc thinks he saw. But, that was a problem for future Spoke. Right now, he just relishes the warmth his blankets provide as he falls asleep. And the clock ticks on.

Little does anyone know, the worst of it all has only just begun.