The screen faded back in to show a long dining room with a high ceiling. There was a fire in the wall with the door that they'd just come through, and the whole room was lit with glowstone lamps. In the center of the room was a very long table, and at the head of the table, behind the chair, was a raised area with a huge picture of a baby zombie riding a chicken. Jesse arched her eyebrow at it, before giving a nonchalant shrug and turning back around as everyone moved to stand in a rough sort of circle.
"Weird taste in pictures," Mevia muttered.
Cassie scowled at her but said nothing.
"I think it's kinda cute," Isa replied mildly.
Everyone looked at her.
"What?" Isa shrugged, looking bewildered at the odd looks. "The chicken looks just like Benedict!"
"That explains it," Milo mumbled, but he couldn't help but smile. Benedict was a pretty cute chicken, to be honest.
"Here, let me introduce you all properly," Sparklez said, giving Jesse a weak smile. "You guys already met Cassie Rose and LDShadowLady-"
Cassie gave a tiny, though friendly wave and smile when her name was spoken. Lizzie interrupted Sparklez, giving them a quick smile, "Uh, but my friends call me Lizzie."
"This is StacyPlays-" Stacy waved a little bit from where she was standing back a bit with Stampy. "StampyCat-" Stampy waved a little bit, smiling nervously at them. "and that's Dan 'TheDiamondMinecart.'" Dan drew level with them, his previously-brown hair now a brilliant shade of teal blue.
Jesse blinked. "Your hair definitely changed color. It was brown before- right?" she glanced up at Lukas.
Lukas nodded, frowning at the screen. "Yeah- it's a bit of an abrupt change."
Dan blinked at them. "Sorry, but I have no idea what you guys are talking about."
Jesse and Lukas were not the only two people to blink at Dan in confusion at that.
"Wh-when did your hair change color?" Onscreen-Petra asked, looking a bit befuddled about the change herself, confirming that no, Lukas and Jesse were not hallucinating or anything weird like that. "Wasn't it-?"
Sparklez interrupted, rubbing his head a bit. "It's funny... before you guys showed up, we all knew each other. Guys, this is Jesse-" Jesse bowed a bit, gesticulating dramatically a bit with her hands. There were a few nervous chuckles at that. "Petra-" Petra nodded with a pleasant smile. "Lukas-" the ocelot hybrid batted at his ears nervously before giving them a slightly anxious smile, tail twitching slightly. "And Ivor." Ivor jerked his head in a nod in their direction.
"You said there was news?" Dan asked, after a moment, walking over to Sparklez. "Is it good? Good news?"
Sparklez winced, and Jesse sucked in her breath slightly with a frown. "Uh... yeah, it's, um... bad news, I'm afraid," Sparklez said slowly, sobering up a bit. There was a short pause, before he continued, in a slightly shaky voice, "TorqueDawg... is dead."
"Good heavens!" Stampy exclaimed in shock, and Stacy's eyes widened. "Oh no..."
"Wait- what?" Dan frowned a bit in confusion.
"But TorqueDawg was here just- like- ten minutes ago!" Stacy blurted, green eyes wide. "What the heck happened?!"
Jesse reached into her back pocket and gingerly pulled out the green-tipped arrow, holding it at arms' length and being careful to keep it away from anyone's bodies. "This is what got him."
Ivor nodded shortly. "Potion of Poison. While nowhere near as poisonous as Jesse's, which can cause death instantaneously if ingested and in less than a minute if bitten..."
Gabriel slapped his hand to his forehead. A moment later, he dragged his hand down his face. "Did you really have to tell them all that while they're all keyed up like that, Ivor?"
"It calms me down."
"It doesn't make me feel any better," Real-Jesse called out from where she was still cocooned in her blankets with Lukas, and indeed she looked faintly queasy about this whole matter.
Ivor inclined his head at Jesse, looking a bit more sympathetic. "In that case, my apologies," he said, in a bit of a softer voice. (Quite a few people exchanged surprised looks at that- they'd half expected him to make a sardonic remark.)
Onscreen-Jesse looked slightly unsettled by this news herself, and it didn't seem like this declaration really did anything to calm anyone else down, either. "... combined with the arrows itself, it's still a rather lethal trap."
"Wait- tipped arrows?" Lizzie asked, blinking disbelievingly.
"Wait- trap? Someone set a trap for TorqueDawg?" Stacy asked, sounding upset at the sound of that, before crossing her arms across her chest and scowling a bit. "That's nasty!"
Jesse nodded to that a bit absentmindedly, carefully placing the arrow back into her pocket to avoid cutting herself.
Dan let out a sigh as well, easing himself into a chair and looking a wee bit disturbed. "I can't believe TorqueDawg's gone. Just like that!"
"Yeah. I mean, I didn't like him that much... but it's still a nasty way to go," Real-Dan sighed, rubbing his temples a little bit.
"Yeah..." Stampy frowned a bit, crossing his arms.
There was a short silence, before onscreen-Stacy slowly spoke up, making everyone look at her. "So... what happened to his stuff?" she asked, curiously.
"Stacy!" Lizzie exclaimed, a little bit despite herself.
Stacy blushed as she realized every eye in the audience was now trained on her. "What? It's not like most of us here aren't curious, either!"
"That's, uh..." Ivor frowned a bit. "I mean, I had very minimal human interaction over the past... several years," his eyes automatically glanced over at the Order, "but, uh... I know enough to know that that's not classy."
"Yeah, that's... that's a little insensitive, Stace," Dan winced a bit himself.
"Whoa!" Onscreen-Cassie exclaimed, head snapping around to stare wide-eyed at Stacy. "How can you say that?!"
"What?" Stacy asked defensively, looking a bit startled by the almost angry reaction. "It's a valid question!"
"Come on- come on- everyone, don't get greedy!" Stampy said loudly, quickly moving forward to intervene in the glaring contest the two of them were now having.
"But I'm not!" Stacy protested. "I'm just curious about what he had is all!"
"Well, it just happened!" Cassie frowned and crossed her arms. "You can't just go asking right after-"
"Look, Cassie, I'm in complete agreement with you," Jesse spoke up hastily, voice sounding oddly serene, "but right now is not the time to argue about this- we don't really wanna miss what's happening onscreen, right?"
Cassie paused, her brow furrowing, before she sighed and flopped back onto the couch, making Winslow wriggle a bit under the beanie. "I guess," she muttered, a bit reluctantly.
When Jesse gave Cassie a cheerful, rather encouraging smile, she returned it grudgingly.
It was hard to get mad with Jesse in the room.
Mainly because of three reasons:
A) She'd make you feel rather cheerful and/or serene,
B) She'd make you laugh/groan with a series of (very bad) puns, or
C) Jace would scare you to hell and back if you scared her.
The last reason might've been the most significant, actually.
Jesse spoke up, frowning and crossing all of her arms. "His stuff just kinda... disappeared. Went down this weird hole in the floor." She gestured with her lower arms to illustrate the point.
Stampy frowned a bit at Jesse. "Are we supposed to just take your word for that?" he asked, suspiciously.
Stampy winced a bit apologetically.
Real-Jesse caught it. "What are you wincing for? We just met. It's natural of you to be suspicious of me. It's totally fine." And she gave a friendly smile to Stampy, who returned it immediately with a relieved expression on his face.
Dan and Lukas both frowned a bit. Petra and Lizzie grinned at that, then grinned at each other when they spotted the grin on the other person's face.
Jace elbowed Lukas in the ribs, catching Lukas's attention, before beckoning him over. Lukas leaned over to hear what Jace was trying to tell him.
What Jace told him, albeit in the lowest voice possible, was, "You've got it baaaaad, don'tcha?"
"Shut up," Lukas muttered back, trying to ignore the way his face was currently turning a lovely shade of cocktail-cherry red.
Jace grinned smugly and sat back, satisfied.
"It's not like you don't have it bad, either..." Lukas dissolved into muttering and mumbling, making Jesse twist around to look at Lukas, then at Reuben (he blinked up at her in confusion), then at Jace.
"Why is Lukas red and muttering right now?"
"I dunno, maybe he's got a fever or something."
"Guys, I saw it too," Sparklez was hasty to intervene, "Jesse was poking around in TorqueDawg's stuff right before it got sucked into a hopper."
Lukas suddenly spoke up onscreen, making everyone jump a bit- he'd been silent for several minutes now onscreen, so it was highly probable that some of the people there had actually forgotten that he was there altogether. "So, I'm looking at this situation here, and I'm trying to figure something out- is this just about TorqueDawg, or is there a bigger picture?"
"Yeah- why have OUR portraits?" Petra wondered, Jesse putting one hand on her chin, one of the lower arms on her hip, the middle ones crossing across her midriff, the other lower one hanging at her side lazily, and the other upper one crossed across her chest thoughtfully.
"I dunno, guys," Lizzie spoke up, looking a bit sour about something, "knowing TorqueDawg, I think this might just be about him."
Every single audience member's eyes flicked over to glance at Real-Lizzie. She just shrugged at their responses, ignoring the way she was starting to feel a little flustered.
Petra frowned at Lizzie's irritated expression onscreen. "Am... I picking up some beef here?" she asked, slowly. "Because none of us really like eating meat."
"I only like fish," Lukas contributed, a bit absentmindedly.
Half of the audience couldn't help it and snorted at that.
Jesse raised her eyebrow at Lizzie, tilting her head slightly. "There... something you not telling us, Lizzie?" she asked, sounding friendly enough about it.
"Wha-?" Lizzie shook her head, frowning. "No. Tha- that came out wrong. Y'know what, forget I said anything."
"Brah, that sounds kinda suspicious there," Nell mumbled, frowning at the screen a little bit.
Everyone exchanged glances, before Jesse shrugged, apparently deciding the comment wasn't really any of her business, and pulled out her invitation, giving it a hard look. "Well, I dunno- if it was just about TorqueDawg, there really wouldn't be much point in bringing us here."
"That's true... what if the Host brought us here to kill us all? What if we're all in danger?" Dan asked, his brow furrowing a little bit in worry.
"Oh my gosh. Dan's right!" Stacy's eyes widened in shock.
Stampy flailed his arms around in a panic. "Whoever's doing this, they could be hunting us!"
Jesse frowned again. "But... why would they be hunting us?"
The only answer to her question was a few, long moments of silence.
Finally, Stacy cleared her throat, attracting everyone's attention. "Hey, Stampy, can I talk to you about something?" She casually reached out and grabbed the orange-cat-hoodie-wearing boy's arm, making him blink blankly at her. "Maybe just, uh... over here..." And she proceeded to almost literally tow him over to a spot near the fireplace.
"Lizzie!" Dan waved at Lizzie from where he was sitting, giving her a wide-eyed glare when she didn't immediately come over. "Psssst. Lizzie."
She came over and moved into the seat next to him, and Jesse turned to look at her friends, Ivor's eyes narrowing as he glanced at the group of YouTubers as Cassie and Sparklez moved away as well, heading towards the seats near the head of the table. "The more I think about it... the more I think there's something these people really don't want us to know," he said, rather flatly.
Jesse put one of her lower hands on her hip. "Well, then, we're just going to have figure it out."
Lukas let a grin come over his face, blue-green eyes glowing slightly in the dark. "Let's start figuring it out, then."
Another blast of thunder, and everyone jumped as the screen winked out- again. Leaving the room in total darkness.
"Are you kidding me?" Cassie groaned. "It was just starting to get good, too."
Olivia stood up (to Axel's disappointment), glancing over at Harper. "Well, I guess we should go fix the generator again... are you coming with?"
"... yes, I suppose..." Harper made to stand up, but stopped when she felt a hand on her arm.
"Ah, wait..."
Distracted, Harper looked down, as the hand turned hers over- presumably belonging to Ivor, since it was his voice that had just spoken- and pressing a cool glass bottle into her hand. "Potion of Night Vision. The only one I immediately have on hand right now, so Olivia will have to make do with the flashlight. I'll prepare two next time," and he directed the comment in Olivia's direction.
Harper gave Ivor a grateful smile, even though he couldn't see it. Perhaps because he couldn't see it. "... thank you, Ivor." She tilted the bottle back and drained the potion, before she blinked, and suddenly- she could see! Not as well as she could perhaps in broad daylight, but enough to see everything- albeit tinted a dark blue. "Wow, this is... actually, this is much better."
"That's good. Now, it only lasts for eight minutes, so you need to hurry and get the generator running, otherwise you'll be left in the dark- a bit literally," and Ivor smiled faintly at his lap.
Harper nodded, and looked in Olivia's direction. "Olivia, c'mon, let's go."
And the two of them quickly speed-walked out of the room.
"Generator room is upstairs, last door on the left, right?" Olivia asked as they quickly walked along the hallways, almost running- Harper really didn't want to be caught in the dark when the potion wore off.
"Right."
"Right as in, the door is on the left, or right as in the door is on the right?"
"Right as in you're correct."
"Correct in which one?"
"Right as in the door isn't on the right, it's on the left."
"Got it." There was a short pause.
"I think."
Harper stifled a loud snort at that and trotted up the stairs at a rapid clip. "Yeah, that was a bit of a confusing-"
As her head rose over the top of the stairs, she abruptly quit talking, grabbed Olivia, and yanked them both to the side of the wall. She winced a bit as she smacked her back a little too quickly into the wall- she really wasn't a young person anymore.
"Ah-! What's-?!"
"Shh!" Harper quickly put her hand over Olivia's mouth, holding her breath as she cautiously peered over the edge of the stairs, staring intently at the end of the hallway.
There was a gray silhouette standing there.
It wasn't like the visions, glowing a faint blue or talking or doing anything- it was just a legitimately gray silhouette. No details- just a gray, humanoid silhouette. Harper wouldn't have spotted it if she didn't have the Potion of Night Vision going for her right then. Even then, it was so gray that it nearly blended with the walls.
She didn't realize that she'd been staring at the silhouette for a good minute and a half until Olivia slapped her wrist, making her start back and remove her hand from Olivia's mouth. It was then that she realized that she'd accidentally covered Olivia's nose when covering her mouth and had nearly suffocated the poor girl, as Olivia proceeded to heave a HUGE breath in (loud enough to make the palpitations of Harper's heart go into overtime).
"Harper, what gives?!" Olivia hissed, keeping her voice down. Maybe she'd sensed the urgency in Harper's motions. Maybe she was still a bit too depleted of air to speak at a normal volume. Whatever it was, Harper couldn't say she wasn't glad that Olivia was keeping her voice down.
Harper glanced over the staircase- and felt her blood run cold.
The silhouette was gone.
"What the heck?" she whispered. She moved up a step or two, looking around with narrowed eyes, doing her best to make out her surroundings.
Nothing.
"Harper?" Olivia drew level with Harper, shining the flashlight around the hallway in confusion, confirming that no, the silhouette wasn't still there. It had just simply... disappeared. "Did you see something?"
"... it's nothing." Harper continued up the stairs, ignoring the way chills were shooting up and down her spine, and the way one of the paintings on the wall seemed to be blinking at her. "Let's just get the generator going and get outta here."
She pushed open the door and stepped inside, Olivia following a second later.
A/N: Wow! This was fun to write lol :3 Not much story, still... but expect things to get really exciting as events go on.
Hopefully. xD
[HISHEGEHHHIHH]
Letters have been guessed correctly by LunarStarsMoons, the indecisive bird, LittleAngelbun, and RavenBlaze4850. C'mon guys! We need more guesses if you wanna see the title for Hybrid's Season 2! (The H's are just stand in letters. THERE ARE NO Hs IN THIS TITLE.)
RQTC: Do you want a blooper reel at the end of this story? No reactions; just the bloopers of Hybrid. :3
LunarStarsMoons: Yep! x3 You're almost always there whenever I check the reviews; you're there most of the time, and you're always fairly cheerful :3 / Lolol xD / Correct. / :3
BeliTheGhoti0304: Lol / Awww :3 / Yep! / Incorrect.
the indecisive bird: No. I must. xD / Of course not; I was just asking if you had any lol / x3 Yes, yes I have! / It's fine, I grinned a bit too. / Yep! And correct.
AquaK13: Lolol true / xD He does. / Stampy is an innocent cinnamon roll. He must be protected. xD / Lolol / LOLOLOL / Awww (frowns) I'm sorry to hear that. / Hahaha xD Sorry fam.
Emily The Avenger: x3 / Lolol.
Anne-da-Griffin: (laughs) Very true.
Rabbits rule: (hums) I see. / Thanks!
homeworkoverload: But the ending's always just the same, no gain. Nod your head to the beat of death as you draw your last eternal breath~ / (smiles) Cool! / Ahhh, I see :3
Raven: x3 / Yep, Azira can be quite humorous when she wants to be. / Thank you!
RapidSammi: Cool! / :3 / x3
DarkPrincess2001: No spoilers~
LittleAngelbun: Thanks! x3 / Lol so did I. / Correct.
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Ahh, cool :3 / Yes... but the gauntlet is still heavy and irritating. xD
Kaos Ruin: You could always get another banana. xD / Thank you!
J.M.M: :3 / That's weird. Maybe 'cause you use 'em so often?
NinaNaranja: Lol xD / x3 / Awwww :3 / Lol yep xD
RavenBlaze4850: Woah, long review xD / It's fine! I don't mind! / Very true lol / Dun dun DUUUUN xD / Lol that was the intention. / Hahaha xD / (laughs) / Maybe~ / Okay. / I see. / Cool :3 / YAS / Correct :3 / Nope, haven't had the time yet. Sorry.
Savannah-the-Caracal: Cool (nods) / (grins)
sailor . mikuchan: Ah. / Ah, cool :3
SofiaTheWriter88: Lolol xD / Hahahahahaha xD / (laughs) True.
Bai!
x.X. A.L. X.x
The minute the door to the generator room swung shut, a tiny ghost floated out from the portrait that had been blinking at Harper. Imagine a bedsheet ghost, but about the size of your head, dot eyes, and a little pink blush on its cheeks, and you've basically got the gist of it.
"You're truly fortuitous that the white-haired one thought you were a hallucination." Had a bystander been standing there, they would've just burst out laughing at the sound of the highest pitched, squeaky voice speaking so formally.
"I suppose I'm lucky that you were there to actually cause a hallucination; otherwise that could've gotten a bit messy." The air shimmered, and the gray silhouette was standing there again, glancing around the now-empty hallway. "Are you sure that we can't fix the generator?"
"Of course not. If we did, we'd-"
"Be breaking the rules," the gray silhouette droned, sounding bored- indeed, as if the ghost had told them this over and over and over again.
"While I do not appreciate the interruption, that is indeed the case. You know the rules- no direct interference."
"I thought there was also a rule about not doing favors for people? In that case, why are we here?"
"You're one to talk. Are you not the one who goes breaking the rules right and left?"
"You've got me there." The gray silhouette glanced around again. "I can't believe you agreed to breaking the rules this time, o Ghostly One."
"Kindly refrain from using that nickname. But of course I would... this time, anyhow. They're an old friend." The ghost paused, before continuing, "and you know full well that you wished to come."
"I never said I didn't."
"I despise you sometimes."
The gray silhouette yawned, not at all put out by this declaration. "Yeah... well, I suppose we're stuck with each other."
"It seems so."
