Out of Your Control - a Hermitcraft AU

~ Chapter 18 ~

Zedaph slammed his fist down on the table, making Impulse jump.
"Gaahh," he growled at himself, rubbing his eyes. He just couldn't figure it out.

"Are you okay?" Impulse asked, nervously.

"Honestly, not really." He sighed, going through the list of possible suspects. He flipped through the pages of his notebook.
Honestly, what's with using stickie notes and string on a wall? It let's anyone see your thoughts. A tapping noise made him look at Impulse. He looked around, uncertainly and seemed to be constantly moving.  His hand fidgeted in his pocket and he kept tapping his foot. It was starting to really annoy Zed.

"Can you go check on the others?" he asked. "Tell them I'm trying my best. I'm going to keep working."

Impulse nodded and zipped out of the room, letting him continue working, occasionally tearing out one of his papers and crumpling it up. He looked up only once when he heard some shouting, but brushing it off. Impulse will tell me if something's wrong, he reassured himself. Back to work... Great, so I just got to find out who the murder is, take care of everyone, make sure there's enough food and get everyone home after that's all done. Who the hell said I had to do everything? 

He stretched back in his chair and let his mind wander. He immediately thought of what had happened in the past week and what if no one obtained powers. Then Cub, Stress, xB, Jevin, Doc, Etho, False, Cleo, Tango, Mumbo, and Xisuma would be alive. And Bdubs... 

Bdubs had sat beside the bed where Xisuma lay and he just... gave up. If he hadn't been there-

Wait. "How could Bdubs have died? Unless the murderer knew where he'd be... No, no that must have been an accident. So, X was targeted... Why?" Zed mumbled to himself. "Because the murderer thought that X was a threat and he suspected- he cut himself off, and messaged Impulse to come. And he did, barely a minute later.

Tell everyone to stay in the living room," he started, feeling hopeful. "I have a hunch and I think I'm right."

As Impulse raced out of the room, Zedaph  made his way to the far side of the mansion, where a small staircase led up to the attic.
He pushed the door open and crept past the boxes of unused items and cobwebs. There wasn't as much space as he thought, maybe big enough to fit two bedrooms, and in the corner sat a small desk with papers scattered on it. Small lanterns hung from the ceiling, illuminating multiple redstone traps mapped out on the papers.

Zedaph flipped through the sheets, frowning. Almost all of them had lava or TNT used in it.

This is solid evidence... I can't believe he would do this... He glanced around, making sure no one else was there with him, and catching sight of a small cauldron on the ground. The area around it was slightly blackened, as though it was burnt. He stepped closer to it, stumbling a bit. Glancing down, he saw multiple spherical shapes piled around the cauldron. 

Marbles? he thought, picking one up. No... Seeds. They weren't perfect circles, very oblong now that he saw it close up. They were light brown, with darker red marks decorating it.

The floorboard creaked under his feet and one of the lamps ran out of gas, casting even creepier shadows on the surrounding objects.

Frick, this is how people end up dying in horror movies, isn't it? Zedaph turned back to the door, storing the seeds in his pocket on the way.
Back in the light, his heartbeat slowed, and he took a deep breath, steeping into the living room, ready to confront the hermits.

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Grian sat in the far corner of the room, trying to not be the centre of attention.
Impulse had left again to find Beef and Keralis, who also stormed off, but everyone else sat together in an awkward silence. 

Iskall stood beside him, rubbing his shoulder reassuringly. But it didn't stop Grian from thinking about what the others were thinking about him. They could hate me. Who am I to know? I hope no one's looking at me; I probably look so pitiful, and miserable.

Grian didn't bother looking up when he heard footsteps enter the room, a couple minutes later. He knew the Beef would be averting his gaze anyways.

But what did make him look up, was the most unsubtle cough. He glanced around and saw Zedaph standing at the doorway, with Impulse standing behind him. He whispered something to him and went to go block the other exit.

"So, Impulse told you that I know who the murderer is, and he's right. I do." 

All the hermits turned to look at him, some sitting up straighter. It was total silence, as Zedaph waited for the perfect moment to accuse.

"And it's Scar."

...
I have no words.
(823 words)