To say Iren was upset was a very big understatement.

No, Iren was seething. A week since his last failed encounter, and everyone seemed to think the worst was over. Perhaps they think he just left or such, who knows. Now the hermits were back to their daily business of running around, causing chaos and having fun.

It made Iren sick.

So many smiling and laughing faces, the hermits were almost...

Almost like a family.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and stormed away from the group of laughing hermits. He had been watching them all for a week now, pondering his next move. Even after being stopped so many times, Iren was very determined.

That's when he realised one thing.

Xisuma was the admin of the server. X had control over almost everything.

Control the admin, control the server.

~ ~ ~

The admin hadn't been seen in weeks, apart from in the group chat. Even then, appearances from him were scarce. The code was being buggy again, so it was up to X to fix it.

Hence why he was hunched over a command block, tired and running on nothing but a few jugs of coffee and a will to make the server not completely cave in on itself.

It wasn't too hard for Iren to spot him. The place was a mess, and command blocks were strewn everywhere.

"This guy needs to clean up..."

Iren stepped over a couple of papers, side-stepping a command block to where X was hunched. That posture isn't great. Probably gonna cause back posture. He should probably invest in a chair. Or a desk. Or, like... anything to fix that back.

Oh, yes! Back to possessing the server admin.

Iren stood nearby, trying to make sense of what X was typing. It was definitely not English. The spirit placed a hand on X's shoulder, eyes flashing blue, while X's copied behind the visor, and he was gone in a flash.

~ ~ ~

X honestly didn't remember getting here.

He was tired, okay? X didn't even care about his surroundings anymore, where was the command block anyway?

"Oh, X~"

"Hm?" X perked up at the sound of his name, but it quickly turned into annoyance when the one and only Iren stepped out of the shadows, hand in the pocket of his jeans. Maybe it was just his sleep deprived state, but X could see the ghostly aura coming off him.

"You must be so tired, X..."

"well, you're right about one thing." X yawned.

Iren sighed. Why did no one ever take him seriously? X gave Iren an incredibly unimpressed look. He could see the annoyance in his eyes.

"Okay. Can you let me go now. I have coding to finish."

It was more of a command than a question.

"Nah. Okay, I got chaos to cause. Catch you later." Iren turned on his heel, walking towards the screen, where X was staring at the command block.

"Can't even think of anything clever, can you? Listen, Iren, you already know someone is gonna just come along and stop you."

Iren visibly deflated, looking a-stance. He didn't know why, but that kind of hurt.

"Okay, that... yeah. Didn't need to do that. Okay, listen-"

"You listen to me, Iren."

Something about the stern tone X took on sent a chill down Iren's spine.

"You've been trying for months now. Don't you think enough is enough? It's been almost three months since we first stopped you, who's to say we can't do it again? We've proved we can. We've beaten you four whole times, and I know we're not afraid to do it for a fifth one."

Iren's brain racked its thoughts, trying to think of a comeback. He found nothing.

"You have nothing, Iren. You're not going to win. And I can see that you know that already. What you're doing is just not going to work. Want to know why?" X's eyes glinted behind the visor, even in his tired state.

"We're more than just a bunch of kids. We have each other, and you're all alone."

Iren flinched.

That one hit too close to home.

"Dont even start talking abou-"

X was done being nice.

"You don't get it, do you? You're so stubborn that you can't even see when something isn't even working! You can't see why you're alone! I don't know what happened to make you this way, but there's definitely a better way to fix it than possessing a group of people who have never met you before! Go to therapy, old man, and get some help!" X was shouting now. His state of exhaustion amplified any feeling he had, and he was very angry.

For just a millisecond, Iren stared at X like a wounded puppy. X could have even swore he saw tears. However, they were quickly blinked away.

"You want to know what happened? You wanna know why I'm this way?" He gestured to himself.

The older man's tone was unsteady, like he was trying to stop himself from tears.

"You want to know what BROKE me?!"

Iren clenched his fist.

"I'm only like this because he was too scared to tell the truth. I'm only like this because they brainwashed him. I'm only like this because of a bunch of lies and people I thought I could trust with my life!" Iren hissed, slinking towards X, who raised his hands unsteadily, causing them to chink around.

"So when someone you love betrays you and costs you everything, your power, your family, your home and even your mortal body, THEN come and shout at me! THEN come and laugh at me! THEN you can come and pick on me!"

Iren was a few inches in front of X's face. The man in the visor could feel his heart beat faster as Iren grabbed the chains containing his arms.

"THEN YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL!"

Iren yanked the chains towards him, and things went blank.

~ ~ ~

White.

That's all X could see.

However, when the white cleared, slowly but surely, he could see he was in his base. The command block he had laid out was still there. He was about to go back to it when he remembered everything. Iren, the argument, the chains.

What was that thing with the chains? That never happened when Iren possessed the others, from what they mentioned. All of the hermits apart from Mumbo have been pretty open about their experiences. He should probably tell them about what happened.

He reached for his communicator to message the others-

It's gone.

Where is his communicator? Where's his items? Why cant he open his inventory?! This wasn't right. He looked down at himself.

Things were not right about him either.

He was... glowing. Partially transparent. He could see the floor through his feet. A feeling of panic surged through him. Was he dead?!

Another thing that came to his attention was a string attached to his wrist, almost where the chain was. It wasn't on the floor. As X followed to string with his eyesight, what he saw made him want to scream.

It was him.

He was standing there, next to Iren, grey and monotone. The only thing that was different other than that was how blue his eyes were. They pieced his soul. The body- him- The body of him stared directly at him, not even blinking. Even the whites of the eye were blue.

Following the string once more was worse.

He was attached to Iren.

Of all people.

Iren turned to look at him, obviously just as surprised as he was, before it turned into a look of malice. X slowly shook his head, everything hitting him.

He wasn't dead.

He was a spirit.

"Just like me."

X snapped his head to Iren.

"Don't. Please. There's another way."

Iren chuckled slightly.

"No, no, I'm okay. In fact, I'm better than okay! I think I might finally be able to do it!"

"Please, Iren, there's got to be a way we can fix this! Fix you!"

"Remember who's in control right now, X..."

The pure blue of his own eyes scared him.

— — —

OH SHOOT
X BEEN SNATCHED

AAAAAAAAAAA

SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG IM VERY INTO DREAM SMP NOW

fun fact: I was like 2 sentences off finishing but then my mother dragged me to my grandparents' house and I love them but I was almost done >:L

Anyway please enjoy and show ausforyou some love because she helped me plan like the whole book and the first book so please and thank you