Hyper wakes up in his bed in the middle of the night, in insurmountable pain. It takes him a second to pull himself together, to stop wheezing. He shoots up, clutching his chest, trying whatever it takes to soothe the pain.
Wait, what? Why is he in so much pain? He was just fine last night? Did a mob get in? Wouldn't he have woken up if so?
As silently as he can, as to not disturb Megan on the other side of the room, he drags himself out of bed and over to one of the torches, before pulling it off the wall the best he can. He'll be needing that if he wants to figure out what's going on.
Looking around the base, nothing seems to have been disturbed. So nothing from the outside. Did he just fall off the bed or something?
The pain in his chest finally dies down, becoming slow yet pulsating thumps of pain. Well, that's more manageable. He'll figure it out in the morning.
He looks back over to where he and Megan were sleeping, and suddenly, a strange feeling appears in his stomach. A mix of anger and sheer glee. A want for something, a want for movement, a want for satisfaction. A certain lack of empathy in his heart.
...The feeling of bloodlust.
It takes him a few seconds to realise that he's reaching for his weapon. He immediately pulls his hands away.
What the hell just came over him? Suddenly he doesn't feel safe in his own base anymore. Whether that's for his own safety or for Megan's.
The door creaks open as he rushes outside. He needs to get out of here and figure out what's going on.
The first thing he's struck by is the freezing wind, to the point where can see his hasty breaths in it. It's dark, but they lit up the area around their base, so there aren't any zombies. Well, a surprising lack of them anyway. He expected there to be more in the nearby trees. The full moon stares down at him, judging.
The books were right. Minecraftia really is so much different at night.
He walks over to the mini-farm they started. It's got a lake of water for the wheat and carrots. That'll help. That'll get his mind right.
"Hyper, what the hell, what the hell, snap out of it, what the hell-" he mumbles to himself, repeatedly.
Dropping down, he splashes his face with the water. It's a stinging cold feeling that drips down through his hair and blurs his glasses. He keeps going. He needs to push that urge down, whatever the hell that urge was, he needs to push it down-
It's as he's staring at his reflection in the water that he notices it. The faint red mark on his chest. With morbid curiosity, throws off his shirt, staring at it.
Staring back at him is a bloody red burning scar on his chest, in the shape of a heart.
What is that? That must've been what was hurting so much, but then...what is it?
His mind immediately tracks back to yesterday.
The person with the curse will know they have the curse. It will be obvious.
"No, no no no, no no no you can't be serious right now. You have to be kidding me. This cannot be happening." He whispers to himself, distraught.
He's been cursed. He got the boogeyman curse. Not just that, he's the first person to have been cursed.
What does he do now? What can he do now? He has to kill someone by sunset, or he's already down to one life. But who? The only person he's seen is Megan, and he's not killing her. She's his ally, he's not killing her.
Well, he's seen Tanqr, but only for a split second. And he's much too scared of Tanqr to even try to kill him. He's been acquainted with Tanqr ever since RB Battles, and he can tell you this quite clearly - Tanqr is terrifying.
What is he going to do? Is he just going to have to give up and take the drop? Either way he loses.
As Hyper sits in shocked despair, hair and face soaked, he hears some slashing from behind him, and whips around.
Think of the devil and he shall appear, apparently. Of course, it's Tanqr slicing open a creeper that had appeared nearby him.
"Be careful, Hyper. When you're out this late at night, mobs are going to sneak up on you. Don't want to be the first one to lose a life, now do you?" Tanqr stares, and to Hyper it sounds like taunting.
There's that feeling again. This must be what 'hostile' means. Wanting to kill every single person he comes across.
He immediately shoves it down. No. He'll figure out a better way. He really doesn't want to get blood on his hands.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Tanqr asks, tilting his head to the side. Uh oh. Is it that obvious?
"...Why are you out here so late? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Hyper responds, shifting the conversation elsewhere. Don't think about it.
"Oh, I wanted to collect some resources from these mobs. Everyone seems to think they're so scary, but they're surprisingly easy to kill. I'm gonna be able to make a bow when I go back to my base, which will be very useful." Of course that's how he's thinking. Tanqr's aim is spectacular. With a bow, he could kill anyone he wants with a few shots. That would be helpful to him right now. If only he had good aim. "What about you? What's up with you splashing water in your face while half-naked?" Tanqr stifles a laugh. Shoot, he forgot to put his shirt back on. That would be embarrassing normally, but right now? It's more terrifying,
"...I had a nightmare." he lies, turning around and rushing to cover up. His shirt's a little wet from his aggressive face washing, but it'll do.
"Are you sure about that? Then how come I can see a heart shaped mark on your chest?"
Hyper turns, and he nearly screams at the smile Tanqr's giving him. Who gave him the right to be so horrifying?
"You got cursed, didn't you? You're the boogeyman."
"..." He can't fight with that.
"Oh, you're in a pickle, Hyper. You're in a pickle. What are you going to do?"
"I...I was just thinking that myself. I don't know what to do, I don't want to kill anyone, but I have to-"
"Well, if you're thinking about killing anyone, don't kill me. I will not hesitate to punt you into a tree."
Hyper takes a step back.
"I wasn't thinking about killing you, and I'm definitely not now."
"Well, who are you going to kill, then?"
"I..don't know. I'm just gonna hope I get the opportunity to kill someone, or I'll just give up at sunset." He sighs.
Tanqr drops his smile, and he looks...sympathetic? That's a first.
"Hyper, you're not just going to give up at sunset, are you? You're not a loser, my friend. You have more than that in you. Do you really want to see what they mean by 'out of the game'?"
Hyper shivers.
"I...I don't."
"Then you're gonna have to kill someone. Trust me, I don't want to see you drop down and die either. Someone's gonna die either way, so why should it be you, eh?" There he goes, smiling again.
"...I-"
"Megan's sleeping right now, defenceless. You could just get it over with right now."
A bout of anger grabs Hyper's throat, and seeps through.
"I'm not killing Megan! We're teammates! Safety in numbers! I'll kill someone, sure, fine, whatever, but not her!"
"Alright then, be that way. It'll be a lot harder to kill once everyone's awake, though." Tanqr shrugs. "Think on it, alright?"
"...Leave me alone." Hyper spits out. He doesn't want to look at anyone right now. Not in this state.
Tanqr simply obliged.
"Alrighty, see you in the morning. I'll be getting things done." He gives a smug wave, before his wings appear and he jumps into the trees.
Hyper stares, watching him leave for a bit, all in shock.
He stares at the green heart emblem on his sleeve. That will be red if he doesn't do anything.
...Well, okay, he'll try. But he can't promise anything. It might just be easier to drop down, that way he won't make enemies.
He should go back inside before he gets jumped.
Slowly, he enters back inside his base, tiptoeing to make sure Megan doesn't wake up, and back into bed. He wants to sleep. That way he can face the horrors of the morning with a good night's rest.
...If he can sleep, that is.
~~~
Tanqr swoops back to his base, spider string in tow to make a bow - once he can figure out how, of course. He's good with accuracy, so a bow will elevate him to the next level, he's sure of it.
But as he's mindlessly toying with the string, he's thinking about the revelation he's just had.
DylanHyper? The first boogeyman? Interesting, interesting. He doubts Hyper will be able to kill anybody without some prompting, though. He's very much a pacifist, too much of one for Tanqr's liking.
Tanqr knows full well he could do that 'prompting.', if he needs it. Even if he's too much of a 'violence is the answer' guy for Hyper's liking. He's obviously going to try to avoid him with the curse, too. So that's annoying.
Suddenly, an idea flashes into Tanqr's mind, and he grabs it before it can escape.
He might even be able to trick Hyper into working with him, rather than against him, if only temporarily. It's clear that he knows his stuff even if he hasn't been here before, and he's readily able to defend himself at close range - Tanqr's seen him with a sword. The only other people that live up to that are Kreek and Denis. Denis is fine, he supposes, but a bit of a clown at times. Doesn't take things seriously enough, he thinks. Kreek...eh, that would never happen. They'd be a strong team, but it would never last long.
But that might be a lot of work. After all, that's not his style - he'd have to put in all the extra time to manage to trick Hyper into doing things by his word. And Tanqr's not a man of 'words', unless it's threatening someone. It would be so much faster to just sit back, get a few kills here and there, and watch Hyper destroy himself.
But an 'ally' could be useful, especially if he could get them to work by his side the entire time, and then turn on them at the end...
Hyper's with Megan, though. Hmm. He could work with that. He can try to coerce Hyper into abandoning Megan and joining him instead. She's a bit weak, after all, especially in the fighting department, and Hyper's a good enough strategist to know why that's a bad thing. Or he could do things the more forceful way, and get rid of her permanently.
Hell, if he can get things right, maybe he can make things so both of those routes happen.
Tanqr smirks to himself.
Knowing of this...curse, he can get rid of two birds with one stone. One of the duo will be losing a life for certain, and if he works his cards well, he could split them up. Once they're split up, they'll be ripe for the picking for the other boogeymen in future days, and they'll likely die early on. That earns him a boost early on.
He can work with this death game. He can work with this 'boogeyman curse.' He really can.
It'll be a new thing for him to try, and he doubts it'll work too well, but what's the use of giving up, eh?
Oh, he's gonna win this game. And he's going to have a lot of fun doing so.
~~~
The pings of the communicator wake Albert up, and he rubs his eyes before tossing over in his bed to look at it. He doesn't want to get up, not yet. Yesterday was tiring, today will likely be more so. The fact he even got any sleep at all is a miracle. Especially if Kreek has anything to say about it.
The bright lights of the screen under his blanket burn his eyes, but he couldn't care less.
(That's a lie, all Albert-styled to seem like the undeniable truth.)
~~~
<Server> Good morning, Battle Life SMP!
<Server> We're popping in just to let you know that the first boogeyman has been chosen.
<FlamingoAlbert> ...at like 6am in the morning?
<Server> Minecraftians wake up early, Albert. You will have to get used to it :)
<IamSanna> It knows our names???
<Server> Just so they are reminded, they have up until sunset today to kill someone before they drop to becoming a red life.
<Server> We will send them notifications as the time inches closer.
<Server> Good luck!
<FlamingoAlbert> uggghhhhh
<IamSanna> Well I'm terrified!
<KreekCraft> You should only be terrified if you're the boogeyman, are you the boogeyman?
<IamSanna> I am NOT stop FALSELY ACCUSING ME
<KreekCraft> Suspicious
<BigBSt4tz2> sus
<Tanqr> sus sus amogus
<BigBSt4tz2> omg nooo
<KreekCraft> @ the boogeyman Please kill Tanqr.
<Tanqr> you love me
<KreekCraft> I want nothing more than to uppercut you directly to hell's front door
<LeahAshe> OH MY GOD YOU TWO **** UP
<DenisDaily> **** up
<LeahAshe> SHUT UP
<LeahAshe> I MEANT SHUT UP
<PinkLeaf> sure you did
<AshleyTheUnicorn> Well now everyone's awake at 6 in the damn morning
<MeganPlays> Unfortunately
<DylanHyper> why are you guys like this
<FlamingoAlbert> I'm going back to bed
<Sketch> no you're not!
~~~
As soon as Albert reads that message from Sketch, he's assaulted by poking in his back, and his blanket is pulled off. He looks up to see Sketch directly in front of his face.
"Wakey wakey!"
"Sketch, I despise you with every fibre of my being." Albert groans, pulling himself out of bed. And landing straight onto the floor.
"I love you too, Albert!" Sketch jokes, helping him up.
Albert grabs his hat off his nearby chest and turns to look at the other two. Denis is pacing about, trying to wake himself up, and Kreek is wiping his glasses on his jacket before putting them on.
"Finally, I can actually see more than three blocks in front of me." Kreek comments, clearly to himself, before coughing to get the other's attention. "Well, let's just get this out of the way early. Are any of us the boogeyman?"
No response from anyone.
"Guys, I want to be able to trust you here. I'll go first. I, KreekCraft, am not the boogeyman. Okay, now you guys say it."
Albert rolls his eyes, but says it.
"I want to trust everyone here too. I, Flamingo, otherwise known as Albert the First, am totally definitely not not not the boogeyman, and if I was I would've killed one of you guys already."
That earned a hearty laugh from Denis, and a glare from Kreek. Score.
"Take this seriously, Albert. This is a death game."
"Why are you getting so pressed? I'm telling the truth!" Albert puts his hands up in mock surprise. "Early mornings are not good for KreekCraft?"
He does a little spin, as if searching for weaponry.
"See! Inspecting for signs of boogeyman, none found!"
He looks at Kreek, and he seems far from amused.
"...Sketch, you go."
Sketch has to gather together his laughter in order to answer.
"Alrighty! I, Sketch, am not the boogeyman!" Sketch ends it off with a bit of a salute. Nice.
"See, Albert? That's how you do it normally!" Kreek points out. "Denis, you last."
Denis gives Albert a smirk, and spins around as well.
"I, DenisDaily, am certainly totally not the boogeyman, and I swear that on your life! Which if I was the boogeyman you would've lost that by now."
"Denis, you're stealing my jokes!" Albert jokingly chides, but he bursts into laughter anyway, and Sketch does as well.
Albert can't help but notice Kreek squeezing his arm incredibly hard. Isn't that a sign of him getting really angry?
"Alright, alright, guys, let's lay off it, I think Kreek's about to blow up." He says, and the other two start to quieten up as well.
Kreek starts smiling again, but it looks incredibly forced.
"I was only a little annoyed, Albert. It was quite funny." Yeah, that's a lie. "Anyways, here's the plan for today: Diamonds. I want to get that enchantment table."
"Wait, the only one on the server? You want it only for us?" Denis asks.
"Yep and yep. That way we have something over the other participants." Kreek clarifies, and this earns agreement from the others.
"Ooh, I like that, I like that! We can even make them pay us to use it too!" Sketch suggests, which makes Kreek positively light up.
"Amazing idea, Sketch! Let's do that! To the caves!"
Running to the chests, Kreek immediately starts preparing.
"Well, Denis, what about us? What will we do?" Albert asks, turning to his bestie.
"Hell yeah! Let's grab our stuff!" Denis grabs Albert's hand, and drags him over to their chests.
(Albert may notice a lot of things, but whilst in Denis's embrace, he doesn't notice Kreek's jealous stare behind him.)
~~~
BigB and Pink have a good early morning laugh at the chat. BigB's really glad Pink's been settling in so well so quickly, he doesn't know about the others, but especially with how survival based Minecraftia is, it's quite an adjustment for the (heavily supported) Robloxians. If they've never been of course.
He's not sure if he's thankful this is his home or not.
He sighs. Even if this server seems fun for now, it's not going to be for the foreseeable future.
He knows that better than anyone.
As the laughter dies down, he looks over at Pink. He doesn't expect him to tell immediately if he's the boogeyman, but it's worth being safe.
"So, have you...have you got anything to tell me today?"
"...what?" It takes Pink a second, but then he gets it. "Oh. No, I'm not the boogeyman. Are you?"
"Nope." And since it's early morning, it seems that Pink is telling the truth. And so's he.
"Actually, I'm not sure. How do I know if I'm the boogeyman?" Pink asks.
"Oh, trust me, you know." BigB responds. He'll talk about his past experiences eventually.
But not yet.
"You sound like the weird server person in chat. Tell me!"
"You'll know, Pink. You'll know. Now, mind if I explain something to you?"
"Wait, what?"
He's been wanting to bring this up for a while, but he knows he has to get on it fast.
"We need to start looking for diamonds, and hopefully get our hands on an enchanting table. We'll need 3 diamonds for a pickaxe, and 2 for the enchanting table itself. 4 obsidian - that's why we need the diamond pickaxe, that's hard to mine - and a book. We can make the book easily, we have the sugarcane - it's the diamonds I want to get."
"Wait, why do we have to get it so quick? 'Cause of the one table rule?"
"Yes. And if another group gets it, they'll do whatever it takes to keep it. That's how it works! So we either need diamonds to make it first, or diamonds to trade for it."
Pink nods excitedly.
"Then let's go. I'm actually pretty excited to mine these diamonds, believe it or not."
"That's the spirit." BigB smiles, getting up and pulling out his pickaxe. "You ready?"
"Think so. Just no more creepers. I don't like creepers."
"Nobody likes creepers."
~~~
"We need more iron, if we wanna defend ourselves from the evil boogeyman!" Ashley encourages, interrupted by Sanna.
"How do we know you're not the evil boogeyman?"
"Sanna, if you accuse everybody, we're not gonna get anywhere." Leah mumbles. "Let's just try to ignore their existence until it comes up. Because I doubt it's one of us."
"Alright! But if it's you, I'll never forgive you!"
"Fine."
"Can we focus on resource gathering, now?"
The other two nod nervously, not really wanting to but knowing they have to.
"Perfect! To the caves!"
The girls all grab their resources and start walking.
Leah finds herself walking faster than she normally would, looking left and right frantically. She's not a coward, she's never been so, but the monsters here scare her. They're much too big, and their noises are loud, they're too much for her. And it's not as if the monsters in Robloxia can kill her permanently. These ones can. These ones don't have restrictions. They do what they want to do, and Leah fears that.
Before she knows it, she and her friends are at the mouth of the cave. Leah suddenly gets a bad feeling in the pitch of her stomach, and stops dead in her tracks. Everything in her body is screaming at her to not go in there, and if she does, she won't be coming out alive.
Sanna pokes her in the shoulder.
"You going in or what?"
"...I don't want to."
"Guess what, Leah!" Ashley leans forward, hands on her hips. "We made a deal, and you're coming in!" Ashley yells, before dragging her.
Yes, the noises here scare her, from the whistles of the wind in the cave to the cooing of the bats. But she can't let that stop her, cause she's got friends to stick with, and friends to help. And because she's LeahAshe, she's damn well going to help them.
Leah shakes off her thoughts, and takes a deep breath. Come on, Leah. You're going to have to face your fears eventually, and the best way to get used to Minecraftia is to experience it. You're just being dramatic. Stop being a coward. Get over it.
"Leah! Stop stalling!" Sanna calls out to her, from deep inside. "Cmon! I miss you!"
"I'm coming, Sanna! Good to see you miss me, though." She yells back, smiling.
She holds her head up a little higher, and continues into the cave.
~~~
A/N
BLSMP chapter 3 baby!! FIRST BOOGEYMAN WOO!! Let's see how Mr. DylanHyper copes. (Kinda sad he's not in RBB S3 cause I like him a lot but we do need to let more people have the spotlight so we're rolling with it). Everyone else is starting up their days, and their plans for survival. Including Tanqr, who is being devious. So devious.
(Also the doc bugged out so I almost lost Chapter 2. Thank god for AO3 saving formatting.)
- YanDan