"How's it been going in here?" Lukas asked, frowning a bit at Jesse with a look of concern on his face. "It's just nonstop whispering and rumors out there."

Jesse let out a long-suffering sigh. "Kinda rough," she said, after a few moments of silence, "these people have so much drama going on, it's worse than a soap opera."

Several members of the audience had to repress a laugh at that. Onscreen, Lukas was obviously feeling the same sentiment, because he smirked a little upon hearing that.

"It's hard to tell what's about the flint and steel, what's about the White Pumpkin, what's about just personal issues between the lot of them..."

"Well, I know you can do it."

The spider hybrid blinked and looked over at Lukas with a start. The ocelot hybrid was giving her one of the most sincere smiles anyone in the audience had ever seen, his ears perked straight up in a cheery way, with his tail swishing against the floor gently.

Slowly, Jesse smiled back, her red-and-green eyes crinkling up. "Heh... thanks, Lukas."

Lukas nodded, reaching out and squeezing Jesse's shoulder gently with that warm smile. Jesse returned it, before her eyes widened a little bit, the smile fading off her face, as the screen rapidly zoomed into her eye again.

"Oh hey, another one of these flashbacks," Gill said, facial expression rapidly changing from 'I'm shipping this so hard right now' to 'oh wow'.

"It... would appear that's the case," Gabriel agreed slowly, regarding the screen with interest.

Onscreen, the little spider hybrid seemed to be wrapped in a huge cocoon of blankets, when a hand reached out and poked the blankets meekly. "Jess?" a familiar, albeit younger voice whispered.

Jace sat up a little straighter.

"Mm?" Little-Jesse rolled over, eyes eking open slightly to reveal that her red one appeared to be glowing a bit in the darkness.

The screen switched to show Jace sitting there, biting his lip. His tail was tucked between his legs, big green eyes filled with fear, and his already-pale skin looking almost snow white. His hair was standing on end a bit, and his ears were flattened against his head as the little boy trembled. It didn't take a genius to realize that Little-Jace was scared.

"I- I had a nightmare." Jace paused, shuffling a little bit, before asking, in a slightly smaller voice than before, "c-can I sleep with you?"

The spider hybrid blinked v-e-r-y slowly, taking a good three-count to respond. She must've been really sleepy. "Sure, Jace." And a tiny hole appeared in the tangled cocoon of blankets; though it was still enough for Jace to slip through and pop his head through the hole that her head was currently poking through.

"Thanks, sissy." The wolf hybrid snuggled down, burying his nose into her shoulder. "Love ya."

Jace and Jesse exchanged looks, their expressions hard to make out- or, really, to decipher.

Onscreen, Jesse smiled sleepily but warmly, and her hand poked through the blanket and absentmindedly patted Jace on the ears, making them twitch as her eyes drifted back shut. "Love you too," she hummed back.

Jace's tail, which was still poking out of the blankets, began to slowly wag, though it was a happy wag, thumping against the ground in a comforting, metronomic beat.

The screen suddenly zoomed out again, Jesse's frozen expression still on her face as a soft, hesitant "Jess?" sounded.

Jesse blinked, coming back into focus, the screen moving to show that Lukas was staring at her with a fair amount of concern. "You okay? You just kinda... drifted off a bit, there."

"I imagine those 'flashbacks' would be rather disconcerting..." Otto mused, scratching his cheek thoughtfully. "Especially to those around you. I mean, most people would just stare if you suddenly zoned out."

Real-Jesse hummed a bit, thoughtfully. "I see your point..."

Jesse's lower arm moved up and waved a bit as she smiled mildly. "Ahh... haha, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Lukas regarded her for a few moments longer, before shrugging with a thoughtful hum. "If you say so. We should probably head back then, huh," and he looked past Jesse to regard the door.

The spider hybrid chuckled, her frozen expression melting off completely, and gave Lukas a firm pat on the back as she stood back up. "Sure thing, suspect."

Lukas very maturely poked his tongue out at her, which made her laugh.

"Ahh, Lukas. Ever the charmer," Petra teased, patting the blonde on the back.

"I thought that was cute," Real-Jesse replied a bit absentmindedly, eyes still fixated on the screen.

Olivia chuckled a bit, making her turn a bit more to see the dark-skinned girl, who was smirking in a rather victorious way. "You know, you really need to stop accidentally flirting with Lukas."

Jesse blinked, looking utterly bemused by that. "What do you-"

Oh.

Ohhhh.

Petra and Olivia high-fived when Jesse abruptly cut off, turning to face the screen with a dignified silence. (Or, well, as dignified as a tomato-face can get.)

The literal moment Onscreen-Jesse walked through the doors, Stacy immediately turned to face Jesse, her green eyes wide. "So? Have you decided?" she asked, instantly.

Real-Jesse bit her lip in an agony of anxiety. "Err... well, what do you lot think?" she asked, after a moment.

Isa paused the episode quietly- she sensed that this might take a while.

"I'm voting Stampy, here."

The orange-cat-hoodie-wearing boy jumped, turning to stare at Lizzie with a shocked look. "Lizzie!" he exclaimed.

"What? You're the only one who lied out of all of us. I'd say Dan, but- he didn't lie during his interrogation," Lizzie replied, shrugging a bit.

"Yeah, I'd have to guess Stampy too."

Stampy whirled to see Dan, a hurt look mixing with the shock on his face. "You too?" he asked, his British accent thickening a bit in his dismay.

"Sorry, but Lizzie's got a point- you're the only one out of all three of us who lied. And we know it's definitely not Lukas," and Dan jerked his head at the blonde, who blinked as he was abruptly dragged into this small argument.

"I'm thinking Dan."

"Stacy!" Dan exclaimed, turning to face Stacy.

Stacy shrugged. "Hey, Stampy doesn't actually have enough motive to take the thing, and you heard Lizzie- she didn't make the tipped arrows."

"But I don't even know how to make tipped arrows!" Dan protested.

"Which would account for the 'noob'ish quality that Lizzie talked about," Stacy countered.

"Guys-" Sparklez winced as the YouTubers all started arguing amongst each other, Cassie watching from her couch with a bewildered look. "Maybe we should-"

"OKAY GUYS WHO DO YOU THINK THE WHITE PUMPKIN IS OUT OF THESE GUYS?" Jace abruptly shouted, making several people jump and several more plug their ears in shock.

Everyone looked at each other; no one wanting to provoke any ire from the three accused YouTubers.

"I think we can definitely eliminate Lukas," Jesse said at last, before adding, the hint of a smile twitching at her lips, "and if it is him, I'm switching sides."

Several people chuckled a bit at the weak joke, before Ivor cleared his throat, glancing across the room at the Order with a slightly hesitant look. "I'd say... Lizzie?"

Lizzie blinked in surprise.

"Lizzie could easily have simply done a subpar job on the tipped arrows to throw everyone off, and- well- any redstone contraption, with a good book to help, isn't too difficult." Ivor shrugged and pointed at himself. "I mean, look at some of the things I hooked up- I'm not even that good at redstone."

Harper nodded, steepling her fingers. "I'd say the same as well. Dan seems to not be that good with redstone, and while Stampy's good at redstone, potions are probably more difficult to work with- it's easier to do a bad job on a potion than a good job."

Ellegaard frowned. "I'd say Stampy- some of the mechanisms on these things are a bit more subtle than a simple door opening or whatnot. The portrait vanishing and then reappearing, for example, as well as the lights blowing out for dramatic effect- those are a bit more difficult to hook up, not to mention the subtlety used to do everything with them."

Magnus nodded immediately. "I'm agreeing with Ellie."

Ellegaard glanced at him. "Did you even understand any of my argument?"

"Something complicated about redstone. Isn't that basically it?"

Ellegaard rolled her eyes, but she was smiling a little bit.

Gabriel thought about it for a moment, before shrugging. "I think it might be Dan... he's one of the only ones with enough motive to go after the flint and steel with such a vengeance."

Soren nodded after a few seconds. "I think I have to agree with Ivor, here- it's probably Lizzie."

"I'd have to say... Stampy. He lied about his redstone ability," Isa said, after a moment. "He was obviously trying to hide it for a reason."

Reginald nodded in agreement with Isa. Milo frowned thoughtfully; but he didn't seem like he was going to be trying to provoke any conflict with Isa this time. "... I must say, the argument Ivor made against Lizzie is quite convincing. I'll have to side with him on this."

Ivor puffed his chest up a bit; this made Harper cover her mouth with a smile.

"I mean..." Aiden faltered. "I don't know... Lizzie? She was pretty upset over Dan getting the flint and steel before she did. That would provide her with enough of a motive, I feel."

"Dan. He just kind of claimed everything against himself- not enough evidence to point at him. He could've engineered it that way," Maya said immediately.

"... I dunno. Stampy just kinda seems like the most likely culprit at this point," Gill said, after a few seconds.

Cassie frowned. "I don't know- I'm kinda leaning towards..." She gave Dan an apologetic glance. "Dan? I don't know- this is all a little too confusing for me to keep up with."

"Stampy is probably the guy I'd go with," Em drawled, leaning over. "He's super cheerful all the time. I don't trust that too much."

"Well..." Nell frowned thoughtfully; probably the most serious they'd ever seen the blonde. "I dunno. There doesn't seem to be enough evidence to incriminate anyone at this point."

"I didn't think you knew the word 'incriminate'," Hadrian muttered, under his breath.

He shouldn't have done that- Isa cleared her throat and fixed an irritated glare right in his direction. "Hadrian. Is there something you'd like to say?" she asked, primly.

"Hm? Oh. I think Dan did it. A motive- even a weak one- can go a long way."

"That would be true for Lizzie, as well," Mevia added, shooting Hadrian a smug sort of grin that he just scowled at. "So, that's my guess."

Otto frowned for a minute, staring thoughtfully at the screen, then at the YouTubers, before stating in a matter of fact way, "I also abstain. Nell's argument makes sense."

The three gladiators all exchanged looks before Slab shrugged. "Stampy?" he said, after a moment. "He does seem like a more likely culprit at this point. Besides, he's a bit overly cheerful- I agree with Em on that."

Em frowned at that for some reason.

Clutch and Facemeat exchanged bewildered looks, before Clutch finally punched Slab on the shoulder and let out a nervous sort of laugh. "Facemeat and I think Slab's right."

"What a surprise," Hadrian muttered, before wincing as Otto's elbow dug into his ribs.

Axel shrugged. "I have to go Stampy as well. Sorry dude," he added, glancing at the cat-hoodie wearing boy, who looked extremely dismayed at this point.

"Lizzie?" Olivia said, slowly. "I mean, Ivor's argument made a lot of sense."

"I think it's Dan. He was the only guy to not protest when Jesse first announced the interrogation," Jace said, tentatively. "Kinda makes me feel like he has something to hide."

Dan shifted awkwardly.

"I agree with Jace," Petra called out, patting Jace on the head.

He swatted her.

"I... think I'm going to abstain as well," Lukas said, watching the two of them josh around playfully. "There's not enough evidence in any direction."

With that said, everyone turned to stare at Jesse.

The petite girl blinked blankly at everyone's inquisitive stares. Slowly, she lifted one hand out of the blankets and pointed at someone.

Everyone followed her finger to see- with some surprise- that it wasn't pointing at Dan, or Lizzie, or Stampy. It wasn't even pointing at Lukas.

She was pointing straight at Cassie.

"Why me?!" Cassie exclaimed, looking irate about it. "What did I do?!"

Jesse shrugged mildly, her facial expression not betraying anything. "Call it a hunch."

There was an uncomfortable silence, before the girl chuckled a bit, perking back up a bit. "Just kidding. I literally lifted my hand and pointed randomly. I guess you could technically call that a 'hunch'," she joked.

Half of the audience started tittering or full-blown laughing, while the other half was debating facepalming at the silliness of the girl. Seriously- the middle of a murder mystery and she cracks a joke.

"Um... well, I don't know, honestly." Jesse frowned, the playful smile fading off of her face. "They all seem equally guilty and equally innocent to me."

"So, you abstain as well?" Sparklez asked, quietly.

"Yeah, I guess." And Jesse shrugged.

"So, tallying all that up..." Otto frowned, counting quietly in his head. "Ignoring the three YouTubers who are currently under suspicion... 7 votes for Dan, 7 for Lizzie, 9 for Stampy, and 4 abstains."

Stampy looked a little as if he were about to start crying. "But- but- but I didn't do it!" he protested.

"Sorry, Stampy- but if it makes you feel better, if all of us abstains had voted on Dan and Lizzie as well- two for each- you guys would've tied," Jesse said, in an attempt to make him feel better.

"... that makes me feel a little better."

Isa resumed the episode when the silence stretched out for a bit longer. The episode loaded for a few seconds, before actually resuming.

"Yes, who do you think the White Pumpkin really is?" Stampy asked, curiously.

Jesse put her uppermost hands up in a 'slow down' sort of way. "Okay, hang on, hang on, everyone. First, thanks for answering all of my questions. There's... still not 100 percent proof of anyone, but-"

"But?" Dan cut in, making everyone glance at him.

Ivor nodded, cocking his head slightly to one side. "Yes, where are your suspicions leaning, Jesse?" he asked, in a bit of a softer voice than usual.

Jesse paused, in a thoughtful way.

After a few seconds, Lizzie spoke up, "Jesse was definitely questioning Stampy the longest."

"Hey!" Real-Stampy exclaimed, sounding offended.

"What?!" Onscreen-Stampy exclaimed, obviously feeling the same way. "No!"

"Dan was in there way longer," Stacy contributed.

"Hey, not cool!" Dan snapped back.

"Guys, guys, come on!" Cassie exclaimed, in a pleading way.

"Enough!"

All of the YouTubers snapped around at the command to see Jesse's right eye flash red in irritation, expression filled with vexation- a look that basically screamed "Would you lot cut it out?!"

"I just said, I don't have definite proof on anyone. This is just saying who I suspect the most right now. Having talked to the key suspects, I... I think it might-" she put emphasis on the word 'might'. "-be..." She lifted one arm and pointed.

Right at the boy wearing the orange cat hoodie. "Stampy Cat!"

Real-Jesse covered her mouth, automatically glancing at Stampy, who looked a bit as if Jesse had just kicked him in the stomach.

Both Lukas and Dan frowned a bit at that.

"No!" Stampy protested, eyes widening in shock as Jesse quickly put her arm back down and everyone looked at him. "That's crazy talk! Absolute crazy talk!"

"Of the suspects," Jesse said, raising her voice a hair louder to be heard over him and giving Stampy what looked like an almost apologetic look, "he's the only person with the redstone knowledge to make all of these traps."

"No no no, you can't really believe that, can you?" Stampy cried pleadingly, shooting Jesse a desperate look.

Real-Jesse had started curling up on herself, squeezing her eyes shut and hugging Reuben to her chest, the pig worriedly pressing his nose to her cheek in a comforting way.

Onscreen, Jesse's eyes widened in shock, and the screen zoomed in suddenly.

"Wait- another one?" Petra frowned. "We don't usually have them consecutively- I don't think so, anyway."

"I did it."

Onscreen, the screen zoomed to show a scientist staring down at Jesse, who was staring up at him with a nervous but almost defiant look. "You're the one who planned the escape attempt?"

Jesse nodded, but there was something in the way she was holding herself- something in the way she shifted.

But somehow, the audience knew for a certainty that she was lying.

"Yes."

"What?!" Jace's ears perked up, he had a bandage on his face and looked near horrified. "No! Jesse, it was my fault! You tried to stop me! Why are you telling him it's yours-"

Jace looked at Jesse, wide-eyed- just in time to catch the shocked look she was giving him, as well.

"Don't lie, okay, Jace?" and Jesse gave her twin brother a shaky attempt at a reassuring smile. "You don't have to protect me."

The audience all exchanged glances with one another.

From what they could gather, Jace had planned an escape attempt. Jesse had tried to stop him, but eventually played along. It had failed.

Jace furiously shook his head, but suddenly Jesse went flying across the room, back slamming into a padded wall, the spider hybrid letting out an incoherent gasp, before crashing back to the floor. Before she could get back up or even shake her head, a foot slammed into her gut, making the little girl let out a gasping sob as she roughly doubled over on herself, curling in to protect her stomach.

That attempt was discouraged as the scientist seized her arm and yanked her into the air, the little girl letting out an involuntary cry of pain, before pulling a strange, long-looking instrument out of his pocket and slapping it to her arm.

The instrument abruptly snapped into place around her wrist. The scientist dropped her. There was a buzzing sound.

And then Jesse was screaming, screaming, so loudly that it was hurting everyone's ears as tongues of electricity danced over her, in such pain that Harper had to turn away at the sheer amount of- of child abuse that this was; and Jesse was curling in on herself more than ever, clamping her hands over ears desperately as Lukas tightened his arms around her, and making that awful keening noise that hadn't happened in a while, but she wasn't squeezing her eyes shut- no, her eyes were locked on the screen.

She didn't want to look... but somehow, she couldn't not look.

Abruptly, it stopped, Jesse dropped onto her back with a gasp, and that innocuous looking instrument popped back off, the scientist picking it up. (It must be said that at least half of the audience hoped that it would snap around his wrist and start electrocuting him, but of course, it didn't.) The screen switched to show what Jesse was seeing, panned up, swooping in and out of focus and separating into three images, then two, then three more, the scientist staring down at Jesse coldly.

Real-Jesse's blood ran ice cold.

She knew that face.

"Next time you do something this downright disobedient, don't expect to get off so lightly," the scientist snarled, coldly, voice echoing strangely, before he turned and left.

"Jesse!" And now Jace was in view, shaking the spider hybrid frantically with a desperate look on his face, tears beading in his eyes. "Jess!"

The screen abruptly zoomed out to show that Jesse was staring at Stampy, wide-eyed, before she forced herself to look away from him, shoulders trembling a bit as she tried to control her violently rampaging emotions and succeeding.

But only just.

Dan frowned, and he sounded a little reluctant- worried, even- as he said, "I'm thinking we should lock him up in the library. Hold him there 'til morning."

"Sounds like a good plan," Lizzie agreed as Cassie moved forward, taking ahold of Stampy's arm.

Stampy was staring at them all in dismay, mouth hanging open, as the redhead started steering Stampy in the direction of the library. "Sorry, Stampy, but we can't take any chances here," she apologized.

"Oh, come on!" Stampy protested as he was led away. "I'm Stampy Cat! Mr. Stampy! I'm no White Pumpkin!"

Real-Jesse was still frozen in place, staring at the screen, but the rest of the audience was just as silent at what they'd just seen.

What had just happened...

That was essentially child abuse.

Mevia was frowning at the screen. She would usually have brushed it off, as usual... but now long-suppressed emotions- a long suppressed conscience, for that matter- was fighting that apathy towards other people at the sight of the disgusting child abuse she'd just witnessed.

Sure, Mevia wasn't a great person, but she wasn't heartless.

She glanced at Hadrian, but his face was a mask, as always, so she gleaned nothing from that.

"Well..." Ivor said, putting his hands on his hips slowly, "that was certainly some excitement."

"That perfectly describes both what just happened," Soren mumbled, though it was loud enough for everyone to hear, "and the flashback."

The people who weren't shocked into incoherent silence murmured agreement. A few others nodded, still stunned.

"Yeah, no kidding," Lukas mumbled.

Onscreen, Jesse looked down at her wrist, as if half-expecting that band they'd slapped onto it was still there. She traced an absentminded line on her right wrist with her left finger, her hands still trembling.

The screen glitched, Jace's desperate face flashing into view, and glitched back to show Jesse shutting her eyes, fists clenching as she tried to keep from shaking like a leaf.

"If the White Pumpkin is still roaming around, though," Onscreen-Petra said, apparently not aware of Jesse's predicament, "they might be trying to set up more traps or something. We need to figure out how these things work. We know that the Sparklez trap was triggered by those buttons under the table- but what about the one that turned TorqueDawg into a pincushion? If we figure out how these things work, we might be able to find more proof about who the White Pumpkin is- how they're operating..."

Onscreen-Jesse clenched her hands into fists, her hands still trembling, before taking a deep breath and relaxing, muscles no longer tense as a drawn bowstring. She stayed like that for a second, before looking back up at her friends. "Well, however the White Pumpkin did it... he must've done it from the kitchen."


A/N: Well guys, looks like unless MCSM Season 2 releases a preorder for iOS by tomorrow, you're all gonna have to wait until August to get the first chapter of Miscegenation, because I refuse to write the first chapter until I've played it myself. And because I'm at the RISD Pre-College Program until August 5th, I'll be missing the release date of MCSM Season 2.

If you're salty about it, you're not salty enough, because believe me no one's more salty about this development than I am.

And when I said no spoilers, I MEANT IT. I will be literally avoiding everything- DeviantArt, Quotev, any other stories except for HCM, and maybe even Twitter to avoid spoilers.

I'm serious here, NO SPOILERS WHATSOEVER IN THE REVIEWS SECTION. Capiche?

By the way, about Miscegenation's title... I didn't actually realize it meant 'the marriage or mix of different racial groups' (or a mix of races or cultural groups). I just went on and looked up synonyms for Hybrid. That's what I get for not using a dictionary. (laughs) Ignore it and just pretend it means hybrid. It's just a cool word. No, to quote AquaK13 (I think? Yeah), "Hybrid babies." x3

RQTC: How well do you react to people being rude to you?

(frowns) Well... I feel really upset when I see it, but I usually hide it if possible and continue being polite. I see no reason to stoop to the other person's level.

Be rude to my friends though and you have decided to summon Satan.

the indecisive bird: (laughs) / x3 / Yeah, I thought so too, to be honest. x3 / xD

RapidSammi: (grins) / (laughs) It's fine, neither did I. / Hehehehe xD / (cracks up even harder)

Raven: (laughs) Don't worry, I believe you. I think you're right... yeah, you're right. Good job! x3

Emily The Avenger: (laughs) That's a lot of reviewers you've gotta hug.

LunarStarsMoons: (laughs) / (giggles with you) I feel the same, to be honest. / Suspense~ / (laughs)

AquaK13: Yeah, Stampy deserves some hugs x3 / I would be too, but I'd probably hide it. xD / No xD No Hybrid babies, sorry.

sailor . mikuchan: (laughs) I like Spider Dance too, to be honest, though Ghost Fight is also pretty lit. / Well, Jesse looks a little less like a spider. Just has more than two arms.

KaosRuin: (laughs) I didn't either; I was watching Stampy for this part, actually.

PoptartCrumbs: (laughs) It's hilarious, you're right about that.

TheRealRedGaming: No, they cannot build mansions in the blink of an eye. Tiny prisons, yes, but not a huge mansion. / The sound of paintings breaking in both Minecraft and MCSM are very loud and distinct; even with all the panic everyone would've been able to hear the painting being broken. / There's only one command block in the HCM universe.

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Correct! :3 Or, well, close enough xD

Jack: Actually, you're not too far off the mark! / Yeah, same / (laughs)

LegoGirl794: (laughs) You're not wrong. I didn't know what it meant before I started thinking about the story.

Savannah-the-Caracal: Nope, not quite. Sorry!

J.M.M.: Excuse me? Did you just call me an idiot? Exactly why did you call me that? I have no idea what I've done to provoke you. In fact, up until now we've been pretty polite to each other. If it's because I said 'Ah, I see' twice, that's just because I had nothing else to say. That was incredibly rude for no reason. And if it was just a joke, then one of our senses of humor is messed up, because I'm not finding it funny at all.

Seastorm25: Get used to it, that's how I write xD / Hehehehe xD / She knows but she doesn't know to what extent. She thinks it's like a casual crush. / (laughs) / Ahh, cool :3 / Yes, it's just relating to them being hybrids. No, there are no hybrid babies.

RavenBlaze4850: :3 / Cassie: 0-o / (laughing) Is she really? Is she from Ace Attorney? I've only played with her once, so I have no idea about her. I just know that she's a really cheery person. / Sort of. You're somewhat on the right track.

Darkbeast Dend: I see... by the way, sorry if I'm being rude by asking, but could you improve your grammar and spelling a little bit? It's extremely difficult to read some of your reviews, especially because I have to essentially decipher what you are saying. / I'd turn into a phoenix, if that's what you're asking. / ... can you not take up so much empty space with a review, either? It just bothers me, sorry.

LittleAngelbun: Yeah, you're pretty much on the mark with that!

Toni42: I'm glad you like it so much! :3 / (laughs) Right? / That actually might've been it, as well.

x.X. A.L. X.x