Chapter 3 - Secrets

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Dream SMP / Krew

Everything was well. It was peaceful. Nothing was wrong. Well...At least that is what most people think...

. . .

Gold was trying to find some bones and raw fish for the Krew pets. Rainbow had told Lunar the coordinates of their new house. Currently, Lunar was hanging out with False and Techno. Rainbow was getting ingredients she would need to make a cake. Funneh and Draco were off causing chaos, of course.

The second oldest sibling of the Krew suddenly heard a giggle behind her. Gold turned around and saw no one. She frowned, confused. She stared at the space behind her for a moment before deciding that she was just hearing things. Gold finally found the fish and bones.

She went over to the pets to feed them.

When Gold went to her bedroom and closed the door behind her, she heard a soft whisper. Too soft to be able to be heard properly. She turned around. Behind the Canadian was a red balloon...

Gold heard the voice again. This time, the voice being more clear...

"You'll get annoyed too!!"

Draco bursted into the room.

"Funneh is missing!"

"Lunar disappeared," said a female voice.

. . .

George knew about Nightmare. Nightmare knew he knew. So he was slick about controlling Dream. He only controlled Dream when George wasn't around. But he made a compromise with Lucid. A deal without telling Dream. Lucid and Nightmare each had control over two-fifths of Dream's mental state. Dream would only have control over one-fifth of his own mental state.

George somehow found out though. Grian and Gem weren't the only ones eavesdropping.

Dream had came home with 'Nightmare' controlling him.

"So?" George, who was rummaging around in his chest, said, without turning around.

"What?" The blond asked.

"How was your argument with X?"

"You were eavesdropping?!"

"Yes I was," George said. He pulled out a sword. "Nightmare..."

"Oh, I'm not Nightmare," the admin said.

"Then who are you?" George asked, making his grip on the handle of the sword tighter.

"Lucid." The blond held the tip of the sword by the blade.

— — —

Hermitcraft / Empires SMP

Joel attacked Lizzie from behind with a hug.

Her face lit up when she saw him. "Hi Joel!"

"Hello Lizzie, whatcha doin'?" Joel replied, smiling.

She smiled. "Getting axolotls!"

"That's cute." Joel said. "Well, I was just saying hi to my wonderful wife. I need to talk to Grian and Xisuma actually."

Lizzie looked confused. "Why?"

Joel's expression saddened. "They've been acting strange lately. Xisuma's arguing with Dream, and ever since two nights ago Grian looked like he just saw a ghost. I'm worried."

"Well good luck!" Lizzie said.

First on Joel's list, Xisuma. The Hermitcraft admin himself.

Joel had known X for a few years now, so he knew X didn't usually act like this.

He went straight up to Xisuma and Xavier's base and knocked on the door.

Xavier opened it. "Hi Joel."

Joel smiled. "Hi, Xavier, can I see X?"

Xavier just looked at Joel and blinked. He then turned his head inside the house and yelled for his brother. "XISUMA! JOEL WANTS TO SEE YOU!"

X came running down the stairs. "Quit screaming. Geez, I was upstairs not 50 kilometers away."

Joel pushed Xisuma into the kitchen. "Talk. Now. Or a chicken dies."

Xisuma, confused, poured himself and Joel a cup of tea. The two Brits looked at each other, Joel squinting his eyes, until Xisuma finally spoke.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"What is going on with you?" Joel demanded.

Xisuma glared at him and took a sip of tea. "Oh, so I'm not allowed to be mad at Dream for killing my friends 5 years ago?"

Joel sadly looked at X. "You hurt them too. Right now, what's going on with Dream. The Hermits are terrified of you. You're almost always in a bad mood, and you snap."

X almost broke down into tears. "I'm scaring the Hermits?"

He really didn't like the idea of hurting his friends, Joel could tell.

Joel walked over to the door to leave. "Think about it."

Next target, Grian. Grian had been Joel's friend for quite a while. Whatever was bothering him, Joel wanted to know.

The small Hermit was working on a build, avoiding the back as much as possible. His parrot-like wings were folded behind his back, while Mumbo was watching him. The blond gremlin turned around, and his face brightened when he saw Joel.

"Hey Joel!"

After Grian turned around, Joel noticed he looked sleep deprived. "Grian, are you ok? You don't look you've slept."

Grian nodded. "You're right!"

Joel slapped his face. "Grian, get some sleep."

Mumbo shook his head. "Sorry to butt in on the conversation, but I agree with Joel. Grian, get some sleep. Remember what happened when we didn't sleep in Season 8? We went insane!"

"You started the cult." Grian pointed out.

Mumbo looked like he was gonna strangle the small Hermit. "That's not the point!"

"I actually wanted to talk to you, Grian." Joel said.

Grian was confused. "About what?"

Joel didn't look happy. "Grian, what's been bothering you?"

Grian really didn't want to answer. So he lied.

"Uhm- Nothing! I'm fine! Grian's fine! I'm totally not nervous!"

He didn't sound convincing.

They were interrupted by two unfamiliar faces.

One was a female and the other a male. The female had soft brown hair and wore a cottagecore themed dress. The male had black hair and wore a collared shirt, tie, and suit vest.

The female spoke. "Hi! I'm Avery, and this is Jake!"

They seemed friendly, but Grian didn't think that was the whole truth.

He noticed something very unsettling about them. Something that was clearly a red flag. Their eyes.

Their body language seemed open and welcoming, but their eyes had an evil glint to them. They both had purple irises that glowed.

The same purple glow of the Watchers' wings, halos, and the symbol on their masks...

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I'm just speed running this...Ahem- Roses are red, Cacti are prickly, Holy shit, That escalated pretty damn quickly. Also the short parts are cause of writer's block...

- Pleb

Pleb over here speedrunning this meanwhile me debating on if I'll even have motivation for book 3- DID YA GUYS SEE THE ENCANTO REFERENCE? Oh this plotline getting spicy.

-Galactic