I'm not exactly proud of this chapter, but I feel like it's still good to be published.
Midnight: Why not just-
Because I don't feel like rewriting it.

"Come on everyone, let's huddle up in the dining room."

Sparklez walked into the portrait room, followed by the other Youtubers; Stampy, Stacy, and Dan. As soon as Dan walked in, I had to try my best to hide my excitement. Just like how Zenna was a huge fan of Sparklez, I was always a huge fan of Dan.

"I can't wait to hear the big news!" He exclaimed, looking back at Stacy.

"Me neither!" She responded with a large smile. If only she knew.

"Ooh, I hope there's cake."

That's such a Stampy thing to say.

How do you know? You didn't even watch him.

I watched a couple videos…

Sparklez led us into the dining room.

For about two minutes, the atmosphere in the room was almost cheerful. At least, in comparison to what it would be like ten minutes later.

Once again, the introductions went about as well as you'd expect. I had zero clue how we were going to tell everyone that looked alike apart, but someone would surely figure it out.

"You said there was news? Is it good? Good news?" Dan asked once some of the confusion had been cleared up.

"Ah, yeah. It's, um… bad news, I'm afraid." Sparklez hesitated before continuing. "TorqueDawg… is dead."

Almost immediately after the initial shock, the question of what happened popped up, from none other than Stacy.

"But TorqueDawg was so tough… There was nothing that could take him down! What happened?!"

Jesse, whichever one pocketed the poison arrow earlier, pulled it out and showed it to them. "These are what got him."

"Tipped arrows?" Lizzie realized, being the only one to speak up about them.

"Does this mean someone set a trap for TorqueDawg? That's nasty." Stacy folded her arms, as Dan took a seat. I looked for a button, but didn't see one there, so it must've been a different one than later on.

"I can't believe TorqueDawg's gone! Just like that!"

"So… what happened to his stuff?" Stacy asked, out of curiosity. It didn't help her at all, but she didn't realize that until Cassie called her out for it.

"Whoa! How can you say that?!"

"What? It's a valid question!"

"There was this hopper that opened up, and it fell into it." I answered, knowing the truth wouldn't hurt.

"Are we just supposed to take your word for that?" Stampy asked. I shrugged.

"Guys I saw it too." Sparklez defended us. "The Jesses were poking around in TorqueDawg's stuff right before it got sucked into the hopper."

"So I'm looking at this situation and I'm trying to figure something out." Zenna's Lukas spoke up. "Is this just about TorqueDawg or is there a bigger picture?"

"Yeah. Why have our portraits?" My Petra agreed.

"I dunno guys. Knowing TorqueDawg I think this might just be about him." Lizzie said.

"What, you think he deserved it?" I asked, not really trying to sound accusing.

"Well, that sounds pretty harsh, but, uh… I dunno? Maybe?" Seeing that some people were still looking at her with suspicion, Lizzie pulled out her invitation.

"Well, someone brought us all here for a reason. Including TorqueDawg…"

"What if we're all in danger?" Dan began to panic, soon followed by every other Youtuber, other than Sparklez, in the room. Thanks, Dan.

"Hey, come on everyone." One of the Jesses got their attention. "If there's one thing I believe in, it's teamwork. If we all stick together and get through this as a team, we'll be fine!"

I looked at Sparklez in anticipation of his cheesy yet hilarious response to that.

"There you go, guys! Teamwork makes the dream work!"

The room was silent for a second, if only because I was trying desperately to hold back laughter. I could almost bet Zenna was doing the same.

"Wow." An Ivor said with a deadpan expression.

"Ooh all of this 'danger' talk has my stomach all queasy." Stampy turned around, only for Stacy to drag him away in a manner that was absolutely not suspicious at all.

"Stampy, come over here… I need to talk to you about something."

"Lizzie. Psst, Lizzie." Dan called Lizzie to sit next to him. Once again, definitely not suspicious.

Sparklez, Cassie, and Winslow also went to sit together, leaving the rest of us standing.

"The more I think about it, the more I think that there's something these people really don't want us to know." The other Ivor whispered.

"I say we talk to everyone and gain their trust." That was most likely my Jesse, who walked a short distance away from us to look out over the Youtubers and Cassie.

"Good luck with that." I muttered, dragging Zenna somewhere else to talk.

Since when did you do that with anyone?

Relax, I'm not being harsh.

Stealing what would later be Lukas' spot (Believe me, it was completely unintended, I didn't even see a button there until we'd already sat down), I tried to think of something to say.

"I wonder how this happened…" Though I was curious, too, and knew full well what she was talking about, I still had to ask.

"You mean how we're both stuck in this game, or how our groups got mixed up?"

You might want to let her know you were joking.

"Actually, don't answer that… It'll give me a headache just thinking about it."

Great save…

Shut up.

"Though, I can't help but wonder how long we've actually been here." I muttered. Episode one seemed like a lifetime ago already, though it also could've been because of the break between episodes four and five, but that was only about a month or two.

Just as I was about to say something else, Sparklez interrupted us.

"Everyone? Everyone!" Since Zenna and I had already sat down, neither of us moved, though I did try to subtly sit as far away from the button as possible.

Sparklez took his seat at the head of the dining table, everyone else sitting in their normal spots, except my Lukas. How did I know he was mine?

Because there were open seats on either side of Zenna and I, and he sat next to me. Her Lukas sat next to her.

And no, I wasn't blushing. My face just happened to get very hot when that happened.

"Whoever killed TorqueDawg, whoever invited us… They're after the enchanted flint and steel-!"

As soon as Sparklez finished his sentence, the chair he was sitting in was suddenly thrown back, tossing him into a hole that was definitely not there before.

"Sparklez?" I think that may have been Stacy.

A lot of sand began to fall from the ceiling into the hole, covering up any chance of Sparklez surviving.

And then the lights went out.

The dining room erupted into complete chaos.

"Panicpanicpanicpanicpanic-"

"What just happened?!"

"Stampy! Pull yourself together-"

"Panicpanicpanicpanicpanic-"

"Someone get the lights, quick!"

Jesse's (I have no idea which one) wish was soon granted, albeit in what was perhaps the worst way possible.

The warm golden glow of the glowstone lights had been replaced with white jack-o-lanterns, casting an eerie blue light on the room. The picture of a chicken jockey behind Sparklez's seat was now one of the White Pumpkin, menacingly brandishing their axe.

"Greetings, 'Adventurers.' I… AM THE WHITE PUMPKIN." A voice from behind the painting spoke.

Sparklez's inventory rose up from the sand. Still no sign of the flint and steel. Though, as they spoke their next line, it all disappeared into another hopper.

"One of you has the treasure I desire and I will not rest until it is mine! Even if I have to resort…"

The lights went out again.

And then they came back on, the painting replaced with the White Pumpkin costume on an armor stand.

"...TO MURDER."

Lightning flashed, accompanied by booming thunder.

"More panicking! More panicking!"

"White pumpkin?!"

"I'm too cute to die!"

The painting came back after another quick flicker from the lights, but that still did nothing to calm the terrified Youtubers. Or Cassie, but we all know she was faking it.

"They killed Sparklez! They killed Sparklez!" I know it's the wrong thing to focus on, but Dan's hair had changed to brown again, more like it was for his portrait.

I have no idea what the heck Stampy said, he was speaking so fast. He did take off running around the table, though.

"Whoa! Hang on! Hang on!" A Lukas tried, and failed, to intervene.

"This is awful! Terrible!"

"Who was that guy?!"

"And there's no such thing as white pumpkins!" Actually, if Dan could snap himself out of his panic for a moment and look up, he would've been proven wrong.

"Tell that to all the white pumpkins hanging all over the place!" And Stampy went off around the table again. Dan quickly ran after him.

"I don't like it! I really don't like it!" Cassie had curled up in a ball on the floor and was rocking back and forth.

"I actually saw him in the window when we first got here!" One of the Jesses yelled.

Are you serious? Why would you tell them that?!

"You mean he's been in here the whole time?! I am so getting out of here." Cassie got up and ran out of the room. Winslow followed shortly behind her.

"So much for a nice dinner party…" I muttered under my breath.

Cassie screamed. For some reason, even though she was trying to trick us, I still don't see how she thought that opening the door with a horde of zombies outside was a good idea. Jesse quickly closed it.

"So we're stuck in here. And if we're stuck in here… we're all doomed!"

Everyone who stayed in the dining room (Pretty much everyone except Cassie and both Orders) peeked out the door Cassie had just ran through.

Then I remembered where I was sitting.

Hoping I didn't miss anything or get anything wrong.

Midnight: Took you long enough to get this out.

Well I was stuck on what to do for a while, that's why I'm not really sure about this chapter. But hopefully it was still somewhat enjoyable.

Midnight: Are you not going to talk about-

Why I put you in Lukas' seat? Not really. Plus, since there's two of them that look exactly the same, I figured it would be easier than having five buttons or something like that.

Midnight: Fair enough. Alright, time to stop stalling.

With that out of the way, see you next time!

-LegendEmpress