Welcome to Chapter 8. Thank you for all of everyone's wonderful support.
Chapter 8 is about "Who Killed Markiplier: Chapter 1"
Tonight is the night. Everyone should be getting here soon. I am getting ready for the night in my bedroom. My hand is healing up well although I still need my stitches in. Ben says it should not be too much longer till he can cut them out. I pull on my jacket slowly and grab a pair of white gloves. Mark gave them to me early today so I could hide the stitches and the horrid bruises I have. I gently pull them on and take a deep breath.
Mark has to be planning something. I am not sure what it is. He just decides to bring everyone back after almost a year. He even warned me this morning not to tell anyone about his ability or interfere. I shake my head to clear it. I glance around my room and then walk down the corridor to upstairs.
I go to the kitchen to prepare some tea for everyone but find Ben there. He is putting together some glasses with what looks like champagne.
"Hello Alex. How is your hand doing? Is it any better?" Ben glances up at me as I fully walk in.
"A little bit. I am so grateful for what you have done for me." I walk over to the stove and start up some hot water.
"I am not sure if anyone would want tea tonight. It is a poker game. Especially with what I am making." I roll my eyes at him.
"I am making it just in case. Mister Damien really likes my tea so he might like some." I hear a knock at the front door. "That must be one of them." I stop what I am doing and go to the front entryway. I cannot quite make out who is standing there. I open the door and am met by Damien. He is in a black tuxedo with a white bowtie and a white badge that says Mayor. "Welcome Mister Mayor. I hope your trip here was pleasant." I bow a little.
"Yes it was. Thank you." Damien smiles and steps inside. He is holding a black cane with a white diamond on top. I close the door behind him. His hair is slicked back to the side. It makes him look professional and… No. He has a streak in his hair that I never noticed before. Maybe it is always just hidden.
"You are the first guest to arrive sir. Master Markiplier is upstairs still getting ready. Is there anything I can get for you sir?" I question and look out the window to check if anyone else is arriving.
"I do have just two requests." Damien walks up to me. "Just call me Damien. And this." He grabs my left arm thankfully and pulls me into a hug. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can feel my entire body relax.
"Understood Damien." I say with a smile and look up at him. "I have missed you." I try to hide the pain in my voice. I have missed him so much. He lifts my chin and kisses me gently. I can feel something comparable to electricity run through me.
"I have missed you too Alex." His smooth voice almost makes me break down. I take a deep breath to compose myself. He pulls away a little but keeps one hand on my right arm. "Listen. I wanted to talk to you about something. Something important." He is fumbling around with something in his coat. "More like I wanted to ask you something."
"Anything. What is it?" I glance at his hands. What is he doing? I can feel my heart racing so hard I can feel a pulse in my hand.
"Well… I first wanted to say… I l-" His sentence is cut off by the sound of knocking at the door.
"Duty calls. I am sorry. We can talk more this evening." I pull away and go to the door. Standing there is a man in a hat and a vest. He has a brown beard. Someone who does not look like Mark? "Welcome to Markiplier Manor."
"Thank you beautiful person." The stranger walks inside and glances between Damien and I.
I wonder what all he saw… I shake my head lightly to clear it.
"Abe! So glad you could make it." Damien shakes his hand as I hear my kettle going. "If you are making tea I would love a cup please." Damien comments and looks at me. I bow and walk back into the kitchen.
"You okay?" Ben questions as I walk in and up to the stove.
"Yeah. Damien and Abe are here now. Shouldn't be too much longer till the others arrive." I set up a cup and put it on a tray. Ben and I walk out of the kitchen together. Ben walks forward and opens the door. Dylan walks in and hands Ben a letter. He is wearing a black suit and a white button up shirt. Damien and Abe are talking to each other as Dylan walks up. I hear Damien talking about him looking forward to working alongside of him. Dylan must have gotten the job. Next thing I know Damien is walking up to me.
"Your tea is always the best. Thank you Alex." Damien smiles and takes the cup from me. I glance over and watch Dylan trying to go into the kitchen. I can hear Chef yell at him. I cannot help but chuckle a little. "Now I wanted to talk to you more." His voice brings me back to him. "What I was trying to say was. I love you Alex." He sips his tea.
"I." I feel my face immediately gets hot. He said it so casually. I am being too quite. "I um. I love you too Damien." I jump as I feel someone touch my back.
"Bully. What is going on here? Long time no see you two." The sound of William's voice comes from behind me. I turn to him and smile kindly. His hand is still on my back. I gently pull myself away from him. He is in a tan military uniform and wearing these interesting glasses.
I have to stay calm. I can feel my anger rising a little. It is his fault. But I cannot let my anger show. He drove Mark to be the way he is. "It is good to see you Private Barnum."
"Ah ah. It is Colonel now. But please. Just call me Will." He smiles brightly. "You are looking as beautiful as ever. And Damien you are looking good as well."
What is this sudden shift? He seems even more eccentric. I walk away and see Mark walking down the stairs in his red robe with a white cravat hiding his bruises and scars that have not healed.
"Welcome. Welcome one and all! My name is Markiplier and thank you for coming on this auspicious evening. I am happy to be surrounded by such close and trusted friends." He takes steps down the stairs as he says this. "Now tonight. It's not all about the poker. It's not all about me." He places his hand over his heart and chuckles a little. "It's about you." He motions to Dylan. "Now drink up and be merry. Life is for the living. Who knows. I could be dead tomorrow." Mark starts laughing almost maniacally.
What does he have planned? I shake my head and watch everyone else sipping their drinks. Mark's laugh stops as he makes the rest of the way down the stairs.
"Alex, Ben, and Chef. You are dismissed for the evening. Enjoy your evening." As he says this he walks up to Damien. "Glad you could make it. Do you know if Celine will be coming?" Mark sips his glass.
"She was not able to make it tonight because of her work. She will be here tomorrow." Damien sips his tea. Mark looks between Damien and me.
"Can I borrow you for a second Alex?" The look on his face is almost anger.
"Of course." I follow him to another room. This is what we call the Party Room. Where the poker table is.
"You need to remember your place. You work for me. You are mine." He grabs my right injured hand. I bite back a cry of pain. "Do you understand me?" His eyes are narrowed as his grip tightens.
"Y-yes sir." I can feel tears starting to form in my eyes.
"Good." He let's go of my hand and the pain throbs a little after the pressure is gone. "Enjoy your evening." Mark walks back out into the main room. I take a deep breath and try to compose myself.
"Are you alright?" The sound of William's voice comes from behind me. I turn to him and smile kindly.
"Yes. I am just fine." As I say this his eyebrow raises. He sips his drink. It is all his fault. If he did not take Celine away from Mark then Mark would not have become this way. William walks up closer to me and touches my face.
"Your eyes are watering. Are you sure you are okay?" His bright brown eyes are full of concern. I pull away from him.
"I am fine. Please do not touch me." I bite my tounge to keep me from letting out my anger. I watch as the other guests walk into the room. Ben walks up and hands me a glass. "Thank you Ben." I take it and sip at it.
The rest of the evening seems to be just a blur of events. It was music and flashing lights that seemed to spin. There was a lot of fun yelling and lots of drinking. I vaguely remember near the end of the party Mark leading William down into the cellar. Not really sure for what. But nothing good I am sure. I think at one point Dylan got punched and Ben took him to his room.
I wake up the next morning and my head feels like it is splitting open. I open my eyes slowly and notice… I am not in my room. I can feel something or someone warm behind me. I turn to look and see the soft black hair with what seems to be a gold streak on a strand in it.
It is Damien. I can feel my cheeks start to heat up. I sit up in the bed and look around. Our clothes are strewn about the room. No wait did we… what happened last night?! I am desperately trying to think of what happened. I hear a soft grumble come from the sleepy Damien. I look at the clock and see that it is 7:45 am. I slept in a little. I feel him stir beside me.
"Good morning Alex." His soft voice calls up to me. I can feel my heart racing.
"W-what happened last night. Did we…" I glance at him. His eyes are not open yet.
"I believe so… is that alright?" Damien slowly opens his eyes and sits up. His eyes meeting mine.
"Y-yes but…" My mind goes back to what Mark told me. "We should not have. I still work for Markiplier. I…" His hand touches my face gently and I close my eyes.
"That is why I wanted to ask something. I did not get to earlier." Damien says in a very soothing voice. I shake my head.
"I… It is going to have to wait. I need to go get ready for the day. I am already getting up late." I lean forward and kiss him. "I will see you at breakfast." I get up and grab my clothes. I get dressed as Damien watches me.
"Okay… but it is very important. When you get a break please talk to me." Damien gets up as well as I walk out the door. I make my to my room and grab my dress. Most of the blood and wine stains are gone. I make my way to the bathroom and see that Ben is already there taking a shower.
"Good morning Ben. Did you sleep well?" I ask as I walk up to the stall next to him. The stalls are set up as half walls. I turn on the water and undress. I glance over at him as I wet my hair. There are bruises across his chest. "What happened?" I ask inquisitively.
"I ah… um. Kind of stayed with someone last night." Ben stumbles his words and his face gets bright red.
"Who?!" I ask in surprise and put shampoo in my hair.
"... Dylan." He finally admits after a few seconds. "When I took him up to his room one thing led to another…"
"Awww. Well I am happy for you." I turn back to concentrating on my task.
"What about you? You were not in your room this morning." He asks teasingly.
"I ah… I was with Damien." I can feel my cheeks heat up again. I can hear a chuckle from Ben.
"Mark is not going to be too happy about that."
"I know. That is why I am not telling him… Damien also said that he loves me." I look down at the water falling into the drain on the floor.
"Well it must be true. What did you tell him?"
"That I love him back… He has also been trying to ask me something this entire time… I have a feeling he is trying to ask me to move with him… If Mark finds this out… He will be furious." I do not want him to hurt me anymore. I turn off the water and step out. I grab a towel and dry off. Ben does the same. "I want to but… this is my place. I cannot leave here."
"I am sorry." We get dressed together and he goes to the kitchen to get something for Dylan to drink. I glance down at my right hand and see that there is a spot of blood from last night.
Must have been where Mark was squeezing my hand. I shake my head to clear it and go to find Mark. I check his room and it is a mess. but he is nowhere to be seen. Huh… I do not think he would be in his office. This is very strange. Suddenly there is flashes of lighting and thunder ringing through the house. Once. And then a second time.
"Murder!" The sound of Chef's voice rings through the halls of the manor. The loudest crack of thunder rings outside and I feel the color leave from my face.
No. Don't tell me. I run down the stairs and see Abe, Chef, Ben, and Dylan all surrounding something in the middle of the living room in front of the fireplace. I stop dead in my tracks and see Mark's body laying there sprawled out. The Detective is yelling something at Dylan, but I do not hear them. What is he planning?! Why did he do this?! I feel Ben's hand grab my arm and I look up.
"Are you okay, Alex? Do you need to sit down?" I blink a few times and there is caution tape surrounding the area now and a white sheet over top of Mark's body.
"Y-yeah. I am fine." What is he up to?! I hear footsteps come up behind me.
"What is going on here?" Damien's voice sounds. I turn as he walks up beside me. He has his hands on his cane and he seems to be wringing it.
"There has been a murder." Ben says as another crackle of thunder rings.
"Murder? Who?" Damien asks and steps closer to the body.
"It's Mark." Chef says and looks down at the body.
"I…. Who would have done this?" Damien looks pale. I touch his hand gently. He glances at me.
"We don't know but that is what me and my new partner here are here to find out." Abe motions to Dylan. Dylan has a scared look on his face but says nothing.
"I… I need to talk to the Colonel about this." Damien's voice is starting to break. He backs out of the room staring at the corpse. His eyes shifting back and forth. I do not follow him.
"Any idea who would have done this?" Abe's voice asks as I crouch down next to the body and lift the sheet.
What are you up to? Why would you do this? I look up at Abe and shake my head. He did this to himself. There is a hole in the back of his head. No way to hide that. He must have been shot. But who… who here has a gu-... Colonel. I stand up and brush off my knees. "I am going to go with Ben to check on the others."
"All this killing has made me hungry. I will get breakfast started." Chef comments as he leaves and straightens his white chef jacket. We all three leave the room as Abe continues to talk with Dylan.
"What do you think happened?" Ben asks me as we walk to the living room. My mind is still racing. I can hear Damien and the Colonel talking to each other.
He must have done it. But why. Why would Mark… unless it is to blame him. It is all the Colonel's fault. Ben's hand brings me back to reality. "Sorry. I am just… in shock. I am not sure what happened. Maybe he got shot?"
"Yeah but did you see all those other scars and wounds. What are those?!" Ben asks referring to his other attempts.
"I am not sure." I take a deep breath and walk with him around the room. "What should we do? Should we continue work?"
"I am not quite sure… we do still work for the house but…" Ben says and Damien storms out of the room where he was talking to the Colonel.
"I am going to talk to Damien." I pull away from Ben and follow Damien outside. We are on the back area next to the small pool overlooking the valley below. The room where Mark's body is is right next to us. "Damien… are you okay?" His hands are wringing around the cane as he glances up at me.
"My friend is gone and William does not even seem to care." I look into his eyes and see that he is holding back a lot of pain.
"I… they had a very big falling out when Celine left… I am even surprised Mark invited him." I touch his hand gently. He instantly seems to relax.
"I just… Need some time." I hear footsteps walk up behind us. I turn and see Dyaln standing there. "Oh there you are." As they start talking I see someone dart off to the side.
What the? I walk closer to investigate. There are two identical men looking in the window into the room where Mark's body is. The men look like Mark with their curly messed up brown hair and stubble. They are wearing tan pants and a blue button up shirt.
"Jim are you getting this? This is the shot!" The man holding what looks to be something black and furry at the end. He is talking into it. The other person holding some kind of portable camera?
"Excuse me? Can I help you?" At the sound of my voice the two men look up.
"We have been spotted Jim!" The man, Jim?, holding the camera exclaims and they take off running together.
That was really weird. I think and watch them stumble up the spiral staircase to the roof. I hear frantic scrambling inside and open the door to the room and see the stamped out line of a body.
"The body is gone! Mark's body is gone!" Abe's voice rings in my ears.
Tada. Chapter 8 was a bit of a longer one. I had so much fun writing it and putting in some things. The other chapters might not be as long, but there are still more along the way. October 30th determines how many more chapters there will be. From the looks of it already probably an extra 3 or even 4 at least after the events of Who Killed Markiplier.
Check me out on Instagram to see awesome and amazing art. hunjess96
Also yes. The Jim's were necessary.