George made sure the men's footsteps were long gone before exiting the closet and making a beeline for his room. On the way there, though, he bumped into Ranboo.

"George!" The taller boy greeted, offering George a big smile as he looked down at him.

"Hey, Ranboo. What's up?" George replied, briefly forgetting about his rush to get back to his friends. He found Ranboo to be quite interesting and thoroughly enjoyed being around him.

"I actually wanted to ask you something. I know you said not to tell Tubbo anything, and I haven't, but I was just wondering if I could? I just feel so bad for keeping so many secrets from him, I promise he won't say anything. Maybe he could even come to the meetings?" Ranboo said hurriedly. The look on his face told George he wasn't expecting his permission.

George sighed, taking a minute to think it over. He felt for the younger boy; he knew how close he and Tubbo had become.

"Alright. Our first meeting is tomorrow in my room, bring him. But if he runs and tells Tommy or Wilbur anything, it's your fault," George conceded, smiling when Ranboo's entire face lit up at the good news.

"Thank you, George! I won't let you down, I promise!" He said before turning and practically sprinting towards the rooms. George just shook his head fondly before following after him, albeit at a much slower pace. When he opened the door to his room he saw Sapnap sprawled out across Karl's bed, laying over the latter's legs.

"Sapnap!" George exclaimed happily, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," Sapnap groaned, covering his face with his hand. "I literally just stopped puking like an hour ago, and since then I've been burning up. I feel like I'm on fire."

George patted the boy on his knee comfortingly as he stood, making his way over to his own bed. "That sucks, dude. Do they know what's wrong with you?"

"They said they don't, but I have a feeling they're lying. Schlatt interrogated me for like, three hours while you guys were doing the mile."

"Really? What did he ask?"

"Just random shit about when it started and how it felt and what might of caused it. It was basically just the same five questions over and over again, he just kept rephrasing them. And it was kind of hard to answer with vomit pouring out of my mouth nonstop. It was awful."

George hummed in interest, confused about Schlatt's actions. He remembered what he had overheard in the hallway and prepared to tell the other boys, but right before he could Quackity burst through the door.

"Dinnertime!"

Dinner passed quickly, as did the rest of the day and the majority of the day after. George, Dream, Sapnap and Karl sat in their room, waiting for their friends to arrive. It was their first official meeting as whatever they were and George was feeling anxious. What if they were caught? Technically they weren't doing anything wrong, but George couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding.

Soon enough the attendees were rolling in and after a few minutes everyone was present. Their were a few questioning glances as Tubbo walked in beside Ranboo, but George dismissed them all with a wave of his hand.

"Okay. Let's go over what we know so far," George starts, gesturing for someone to start.

Skeppy spoke first. "Schlatt has an office somewhere in the building and apparently we all have technological chips implanted somewhere in our bodies that have yet to be turned on."

"He was talking to some guy named Eret and he called Sapnap a 'pyro'," Bad added quickly.

"Some of the guards don't seem to be crazy loyal to whatever this is. Like, Quackity and Techno, and the two guards over by solitary. They were all pretty willing to help us. It's gotten me thinking. Why would they be working for someone like Schlatt if they were just gonna go behind his back? What if these people are being forced to work here?" Antfrost theorized, looking around the group for affirmation.

"That does kind of make sense. Do you mean, like, he's blackmailing them?" Karl asked.

"Possibly. I'm not really sure. This is all just so weird."

George looked around the room as everyone spoke and noticed a very nervous looking Tubbo sat across from him on Karl's bed. He was tapping his foot rapidly and picking at his fingers. It worried George. Practically nothing was preventing him from going and telling everyone about what they were doing. He was close to Ranboo, but he was equally as close, if not closer with Tommy. What if he accidentally let something slip?

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt someone nudging his shoulder. "George. You okay?" Dream whispered, lowering his head to try to meet George's eyes. George simply nodded before addressing everyone.

"I have something else," He stated, and paused while he waited for everyone to look at him. "Yesterday I heard Schlatt talking to some guy. I don't know who he was, I didn't recognize him. He was British, though. Schlatt called him Phil. Anyway, they were talking about Sapnap and how he got sick. When Phil asked what his sickness meant, Schlatt told him it was pyrokinesis," George explained.

"So... Sapnap has an illness called pyrokinesis?" Bad asked, obviously confused.

"I don't think it's a sickness. Wilbur told me that 'pyro' means fire, so it probably has something to do with fire," George responded, mentally facepalming as everyone's eyes snapped to him.

"Wilbur?" Skeppy and Sapnap asked in unison, both sounding bewildered.

"Listen, he's smart. I figured he'd know what it meant, and he did. Don't worry, I covered it up. he doesn't know why I asked."

"George-"

"It's fine! I have it under control. Anyway, yeah. Fire. So, do with that what you will."

Suddenly a loud sniffle sounded throughout the room. Its source, George realized, was Tubbo.

"Are you alright?" Ranboo asked, clearly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm not crying. I just really have to sneeze and it won't come out," Tubbo responded, rubbing his nose with his finger.

"So the reason I spent half of my day yesterday with my head in a toilet because of something to do with fire?" Sapnap asked. "That's kinda cool-"

Tubbo let out a loud sneeze, louder than George had expected for such a small boy. When he looked back over at him, though, he was gone.

"What the hell?" Ranboo yelled, shooting up and smacking his head on the bunk above him.

"What? What happened?" Tubbo's voice asked.

Silence filled the room as everyone stared at the spot the voice came from. The empty spot on the bed that he had just been sitting in.

"Tubbo?" Karl asked, his eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"...Yeah?" Tubbo's voice responded.

"Where did you go?" Skeppy asked cautiously.

"What do you mean? I'm right here."

"What the hell is going on?" Tubbo asked.

"There's no way this is happening right now," Antforst sputtered as he stood and walked towards the voice. He put his hand out and stiffened when it collided with something that he couldn't see.

"Tubbo, you're fucking invisible."

"What?"

"Holy shit," George heard Dream mutter under his breath. George stood and rushed over to the boy, holding his arm out.

"Tubbo. Touch my arm."

He felt something wrap around his wrist and he jumped back. "Oh my god."

"Wait. Is this a joke? Are you guys pranking me?"

"No Tubbo! We can't see you!" Ranboo exclaimed, backing towards the far wall.

"Thank god he was here when it happened," Skeppy said.

"Well turn me back!" Tubbo shrieked, obviously scared.

"How the hell do you expect us to know how to do that?" Dream spat from his bed, standing and walking towards the boy. He stopped next to George and the smaller boy looked up at him.

"What if he sneezes again?" Karl offers. "You know, since he sneezed and went invisible, maybe he has to sneeze again to not be invisible."

"It's worth a shot," Sapnap agreed as he tore the pillowcase off of his pillow and began to rip the pillow open.

"Sapnap! What are you doing?" Karl yelled.

"Feather. Duh," The other boy replied offhandedly after he pulled a feather from the now-open pillow and held it out to George.

George took it and held it up to Tubbo. "Tickle your nose with this."

George felt the feather slip from his hand and disappear into thin air.

"So he can make other things invisible too? Why isn't the bed disappearing?" Ranboo asked from the other side of the room.

His question went ignored as everyone waited for a reaction from Tubbo. They heard small coughs and little giggles, but no sneeze.

"Tubbo! Focus," George scolded.

"I'm sorry! It tickles."

Apparently he'd began trying again because a few moments later the same loud sneeze rang through the room and Tubbo was visible again.

"It worked!" Bad exclaimed.

"You can see me again?" Tubbo asked cautiously.

"Yes, Bo. We can," Ranboo replied as he sat back down in his seat next to him.

"Okay. That has to have something to do with the chips, right?" Skeppy asked.

"Holy shit, Callahan! You're a genius!" Antfrost exclaimed randomly, and everyone's eyes shifted to him. They saw Callahan next to him, signing something to him hurriedly.

"He says that if the invisibility has something to do with the chips, so does Sapnap being sick. And if invisibility is a power, pyrokinesis must be some sort of fire power," Antfrost explained, translating for Callahan. "Schlatt must have found a way to activate the chips."

"So why did Tubbo actually get the power and I got my head stuck in a toilet for hours on end?" Sapnap asked begrudgingly.

"Maybe all of the powers have different side effects. Like, Tubbo didn't mean to become invisible. What if it just happens randomly?" Skeppy said.

"Until you learn to control it," George added, not realizing he spoke out loud until he noticed everyone's eyes on him.

"Just a thought," He continued. "But is everyone going to get a different power, or are there a limited amount? And why are they kicking in at different times?"

"That's a good point. If Schlatt activated them all at the same time, why isn't everyone showing signs of it?" Dream agreed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I- I need to tell Tommy," Tubbo announced, getting up quickly and heading for the door. Ranboo jumped in front of him, blocking his way out.

"Tubbo, you said you'd keep quiet about this," He reasoned, a pained look on his face as everyone flared angrily at the smaller boy.

"Yeah, that was before I became fucking invisible! This is insane! We need to tell people," Tubbo cried, trying to shove Ranboo out of the way.

Before George could stop him, Dream was grabbing Tubbo by the collar of his shirt and pinning him against the wall.

"Tell a single soul outside this room about this and I'll make sure you live to regret it," He threatened, tightening his grip on the shirt.

"O-okay! Okay, I won't say anything! I promise!" Tubbo easily gave up, grabbing at Dream's wrist.

"That's what I thought," Dream responded with a smirk as he let go of the boy, him slinking to the ground against the wall.

"Dream, that was unnecessary," George said as he passed by to go back to his bed. He didn't respond.

Ranboo stood at the door with wide eyes before rushing to his friend and helping him up. "I'll make sure he doesn't say anything," He reassured as he helped the boy out of the room.

"Why the hell would you let him bring Tubbo, George?" Sapnap asked.

"I felt bad, okay? He's not gonna say anything."

The rest of the boys looked at him worriedly, but didn't respond.

He's not gonna say anything, George repeated to himself. But even he had a hard time believing it.

AN: heyyy besfrands i've missed u! sorry i've been taking such long breaks in between chapters, ik it sucks when authors do that but i've just been kinda busy lately and haven't had much time to write. also, this chapter especially took a while bc i couldn't figure out how to write it without it sounding too cheesy >:|

thanks for reading! we passed 10k reads the other day so POGCHAMP! thanks for all the support, i love u all so much <3

(i'm kinda considering cross-posting this story to ao3, so if u prefer reading there it'll probably be up soon under the same account name)

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