Chapter Text
Zander and his friend had wanted to meet up with Gavin and Collin in person. Turns out they only lived around half an hour away from each other. Besides, it would be nice to see the people they stormed an unethical science organization with.
Zander's friend had been worried about him continuing to play Minecraft after the recent scare he'd had, but didn't force the issue and also continued to play. Gavin knew it would be hypocritical of them to tell him to stop playing, and besides he didn't want to leave behind the people living on his world.
Speaking of which, they all owed a thank you to Andre and Assimilation for saving him from that close call. Zander described being trapped by that entity, saying that he felt like his life was being drained from him. He'd called for help in the chat before losing the ability to move entirely.
He'd been tired a lot after that, but it seemed he was recovering. If it had taken any longer to free him though…
He was going to bring his laptop with when visiting so that the others could meet his brother and Assimilation. He also considered hosting the world to multiplayer so that they could join. SurvivorG– Gavin was worried that if they played on it for more than an hour it would attract more entities though. That wasn't a completely unreasonable concern, but it would've been nice to play with them anyways. Collin was willing to join at least.
Zander had kind of wanted to start an SMP series. Any hauntings that happened could be excused as lore bits and Andre and Assimilation could pretend to be playing characters. It would help alleviate their boredom and maybe having an actual audience might help Andre feel better about not having been an actual streamer.
He'd have to talk it over with them though, he wouldn't want to make assumptions about their boundaries.
He and his friend were dropped off at the house. They'd been given some very specific rules in order to avoid being hurt by anything haunting the place. Never be alone, avoid suspicious shadows, don't go near any strange noises, etc. It was kind of intimidating, but they made sure they read the rules thoroughly.
Zander really didn't want to have his life getting drained again, once was terrifying enough. He was really excited to hang out with friends though. His mom baked cookies to take with as a gift, happy that he was making more friends. She was the best.
He hadn't told her about almost dying, or about how he met his new friends aside from it being on Minecraft. She didn't even know that he helped with a plan to rescue a ghost from the knockoff Minecraft SCP Foundation, or that he adopted a robot little brother that had been created based on him. He didn't like keeping things from her, but she'd get worried and he didn't want to risk losing Minecraft.
She'd been really concerned when he'd suddenly gotten super tired and looked like he'd witnessed something scary, but he was able to lie and saw that he'd just gotten a nightmare during a nap and maybe had gotten sick.
He couldn't go to school the next day because of how exhausted he'd been, but fortunately it wasn't permanent and he was doing better the next day. Whatever energy had been drained from him wasn't more than he could recover with some resting. He did end up having nightmares for real though. Nightmares about if he hadn't been saved in time or if he'd failed to hit send on his message before he couldn't move his fingers.
He didn't say anything about it, he didn't want to worry his mom and he really didn't want to worry his new brother or their partner. They'd dropped everything to go and protect him as fast as they could. He was really grateful to have them.
The course he'd made was greatly appreciated. Practicing going through it as fast as possible helped satisfy some of Andre's speedrunning instincts. Having something challenging to do that wasn't too slow also seemed to improve his mood and it provided some stimulation that they'd been missing.
Gradually, the bot had started to explore more. Once he'd had a comfort zone again, they were able to leave it at their own pace and try new things. He spent almost all his time at the course at first, but had gradually started to try other things. When too bored or overwhelmed though, they'd return to it and run some laps, trying to get a new personal best.
They also spent more time with Assimilation. It liked hanging out with it in the garden it had made. Zander had had to suppress the urge to tease him about his crush, as siblings were supposed to do. He didn't want to scare Andre away from their feelings by making them feel embarrassed, so jokes about asking when Assimilation would be his brother in law would have to wait. It was really tempting though.
For a speedrunner, he was sure taking his time confessing. If he didn't make a move soon, Zander wasn't sure how much longer he could be patient.
He was snapped out of his musings by Gavin introducing themself and their brother. They'd also mentioned Kevin was in another room and might join in, but not to expect too much as he was still struggling with a lot.
Zander displayed the cookies he'd brought, which had quickly gotten everyone's attention. Chocolate chip and peanut butter, a family recipe.
Everyone dug into the cookies immediately, and it didn't take long for the whole batch to be demolished.
With that out of the way, they were able to talk more. Collin mentioned playing more on the haunted world and complained about an annoying mimic that liked pretending to be him. He then joked that it reminded him of Gavin following him around when they were little, but without the adorableness.
Much to their dismay, he told the others about how they mimicked him constantly until they were six and that their nickname was “Duckling” because of it. This resulted in Collin receiving a couch pillow to the face and everyone laughing as the two playfully fought.
Eventually though, Gavin did add onto the “Duckling” story themself, mentioning that imitating their brother did help them figure out that they weren't really a girl, as it made them realize gender didn't matter to them. At least one good thing came out of that embarrassing phase.
They then grinned as they recounted the story of Collin punching another kid in the face for intentionally misgendering them. Collin didn't try to deny it, that other kid had had it coming. He only regretted getting in trouble, but it was worth it to defend the honor of his little sibling.
“Speaking of siblings, I brought my laptop so you two can meet my brother and my future brother-in-law. Don't tell it I called it that though”, Zander said with a grin.
Everyone crowded around the laptop as Zander booted up Minecraft, eager to see the two again. In Collin's case, it was his first meeting.
As the world opened, Zander received a greeting in chat.
<AndreW2002> hi
He smiled, it was nice to see Andre using the chat more. They were slowing down and getting better at taking the time to communicate with people. They used to only use chat when absolutely necessary, treating anything else as a timeloss. They're getting used to having as much time as they need, which lets them express themself more. They still don't talk much, only when they feel there's something important to communicate, but that's alright.
<zanderX400> hi :)
<zanderX400> im with the others rn, remember when i said id take my laptop to visit them?
<AndreW2002> i rember hi every1
The others all waved at the screen as Andre and Assimilation walked over to where Zander was.
Assimilation's red text appeared on the screen.
“It's good to see you back, Zander. Can you tell the others I say hi, Zander?”
Zander smiled as his human friends watched the screen and asked him to send a hello from them.
<zanderX400> they say hi back :)
“I'm glad, Zander. Their help and yours with escaping the admins was greatly appreciated. It is nice to be able to say that to all of you directly. Is… Kevin doing better, Zander?”
Oh. Kevin hadn't joined the group in the living room yet, Gavin had mentioned that he wasn't doing very good.
Zander looked to Gavin and Collin, hoping for a bit more information.
Collin saw this and sighed before saying, “he's still not doing very good. He's recovered a little since being rescued, but he needs a lot more than that”.
That's not good.
<zanderX400> hes recovered a little, but hes still having a difficult time. hes not in the room with us at the moment, hes not ready to interact yet
“That's unfortunate. Please tell him that I wish him the best”, Assimilation responded.
<zanderX400> will do
Zander looked at Gavin again and they nodded before getting up to go talk with Kevin. They came back a bit later with a ghost, Kevin, following them. He was awkwardly positioning himself to avoid his front side being visible, but he waved at the group a little bit while he gave a small and nervous smile.
Zander and his friend had seen Kevin as a ghost in Minecraft, but it was different seeing him in person. For one thing, he wasn't a player avatar. This was what he'd actually looked like when he was alive, minus the ghostliness and whatever he was hiding. Considering the fact that he was dead, he was probably hiding the wound that killed him.
“When he heard that Assimilation was here, he wanted to come see. I think he wants to say thank you directly”, Gavin explained.
Nodding, Zander offered the laptop. Kevin was able to press the keys, but it was difficult and time consuming since each button press he had to intentionally avoid phasing through the laptop. He didn't want to go inside the game even though that would've made communication easier. He'd had more than enough of being inside Minecraft.
<zanderX400> kevin here. thank you for saving me and being kind. meant a lot to me
It wasn't like the semi-formal way he used to write in chat, back when he still considered himself professional.
“Of course, Kevin. No one deserves to be treated like that, I hope that you are able to recover”.
Kevin floated away from the laptop, having said what he wanted to say. He didn't leave the group yet, but he didn't plan to interact much more.
There were a lot of things Zander had wanted to ask him about, but he was clearly not in any state to answer and Zander didn't want to risk asking something insensitive.
Taking back the laptop, Zander informed Andre and Assimilation that he was back. He asked if the two had wanted to hang out while Collin and Gavin were also there and they agreed.
Zander tried playing the parkour course he built. Collin seemed happy to know that it had helped Andre the way he hoped. Unfortunately for Zander, he himself was not actually great at parkour and kept falling. In front of his little brother, who'd already mastered and started speedrunning the course.
Fortunately, if they were laughing at him they weren't saying anything about it. Twenty more minutes passed before Zander had finally managed to complete the course. After which, Collin asked for a turn, thinking that he'd beat that time easily.
It took him thirty five minutes. He tried to claim paranormal interference was throwing him off, but Assimilation confirmed that there were not other entities in the area and that it itself had not messed with him.
<AndreW2002> skill issue i tink
Grumpily, Collin handed over the laptop to Gavin, who cleared the course in just fifteen minutes.
Nodding in agreement, they typed on Zander's account.
<zanderX400> skill issue
That earned them a playful shove onto the couch after they set down the laptop on a nearby coffee table. They were giggling as Collin fumed. They hadn't smiled like that in a long time, and Collin wasn't sure he'd heard them laugh at all since they started getting haunted. Even Kevin smiled at their antics, though it was bittersweet as he still missed the family he'd been forced to leave behind when he died.
Eventually Zander decided to pitch his SMP idea. He'd never had enough friends for an SMP before, so he was really hoping they'd accept.
He pitched the idea aloud and in the chat for Andre and Assimilation to respond.
Andre was the first to respond, they liked the idea of having a real audience. Assimilation was weary of the idea of pretending to be playing a character, but ended up agreeing when it saw how excited Andre was.
Gavin was the first human to respond though, saying, “are you sure that's a good idea? A haunted SMP? There's a lot that could go wrong. And if I joined, it would get even more haunted. We'd all have to take a lot of safety precautions, you've seen first hand how dangerous entities can be”.
Zander was prepared for this.
“I know it could be dangerous, and I know I had a close call. But I think we can do it. We know a lot about surviving entities and how to protect ourselves, and it's not like not recording will prevent hauntings. You don't have to join if you don't want to though…”
Gavin sighed.
“I'll join”, they said, but then added, “only to keep you out of trouble though”.
Good enough for him!
“Well if they're joining then I'll join. Can't just let them go into the world of YouTube without me!” He teased, earning a light-hearted smack from the younger.
Kevin eyed Zander warily. He did not think that a haunted SMP was a good idea. Objectively speaking, it was reckless. He shook his head, but aside from that he didn't try to change their minds. They'd surely get into trouble regardless, even if he did get them to drop this idea. He'd still try his best to keep them safe regardless, even if he had no intention of re-entering Minecraft.
Andre and Assimilation agreed to letting the world be reset when he got home so that they could start from scratch. He couldn't just make a new one because then there'd be the problem of not being able to get the two onto a different world. The iron doors were a definite nope.
He'd also have to look up how to make it multiplayer, since they couldn't use LAN to play together from a distance. It would be fun though.
He'd tell his audience that he'd decided to recycle lore from his abandoned ARG project and that the series would be a mix of commands, mods, roleplaying, and genuine survival gameplay. Cheats would be turned on and players would all have the same custom hacked client, with the explanation that if someone got haunted in Minecraft, using cheats would be the smart thing since fighting the supernatural in vanilla survival mode would just be stupid. The server's haunted so of course they have permission to fight back with all the tools at a player's disposal. It's only allowed for dealing with supernatural things though, otherwise players are supposed to play normally.
If he and his friends are gonna be haunted regardless, then he'll make it into quality content. This whole thing was gonna be gold. Would “Entity Magnet SMP” be a good name?
Zander excused himself to go use the bathroom, but Gavin told him to wait. They then grabbed something from nearby and handed it to him.
Was that a sock mace?!
“Yes, this is in fact necessary. You cannot be alone anywhere in this house without it. And that does include the bathroom. This is a lesson learned the hard way”.
“How does a sock mace work against the supernatural???”
“It's filled with salt, various herbs, a vial of holy water, a small cross, and some silver. Kevin helped me make it and it has actually saved my life before. These precautions have proven themselves necessary”, Gavin explained.
Collin nodded in confirmation of what Gavin had said.
“Alright then…”
Perhaps he'd underestimated just how badly haunted this house was. How do they live like this???
He went to the bathroom and used it. As he was getting ready to open the door and leave though, the lights suddenly turned off, leaving him in complete darkness until an eerie green light started filling the room. Quickly grabbing the sock mace and preparing to use it, he looked around, frantically searching for whatever was messing with him.
He tried to open the door, but found that it was locked. He banged on it and cried out, but had the feeling no one could hear him.
He was trapped, just like when that entity had nearly killed him. Gripping the sock like a lifeline, he felt his panic consuming him.
Something grabbed at his shoulder and he screamed, slamming his mace at the face of the creature behind him.
It hissed in pain and released him. He turned to face it as he backed away, shaking hard.
“Please… Please let me go…” he cried, terrified of the thing in front of him.
The creature was made of sickly green light and was vaguely humanoid in form. It approached him again and he struck with the sock mace once more.
It let out a shriek of pain and rage that made him want to curl up into a tiny ball, but he stood his ground even as his vision blurred with tears and struggled to draw in air from how hard he was breathing. Fighting was the only thing between him and a painful death.
His hit had pushed it back, and it began to change color to red. It continued to shriek and wail as it circled him, picking up speed. He struggled to keep track of it, but he saw its claws growing longer and sharper. One bad hit from it…
It finally lunged at him and he jumped to the side just fast enough to avoid getting turned into ribbons. He swung his mace and it collided again. This time, the creature stayed in one place as its screeches grew louder. He backed away from it as it glowed brighter and became louder until it suddenly dissolved into mist, defeated.
The lights of the bathroom turned on again and he tried opening the door. This time, it opened like normal.
Delirious with terror and relief, he briefly considered the fact that he'd just won a boss battle in real life and it didn't even drop any loot.
He was still gripping the weapon in his hand as he rejoined the others. His face had gone pale and he was soaked with sweat, tearstains still visible on his cheeks and he hadn't stopped shaking yet. Everyone was staring at him with concern.
“Dude, I am never using the bathroom at your house ever again… No offense, but… the boss fight didn't even drop anything. Which is extremely… unfair… considering the fact that I nearly died”, he joked, trying to make light of the situation.
He was still very clearly shaken up from what had just happened.
“Thanks, for the uh… sock mace. Really was a necessary precaution”.
He huddled up on the couch next to where the others were. He started to relax a bit thanks to the relative safety of the group. Collin had retrieved water for him, which he accepted gratefully.
Kevin was hovering over him, both figuratively and literally. Seeing that Zander had clearly had another close call was distressing, especially since he still felt responsible for keeping the kids safe. First he was in the wrong place to protect Collin who had to save himself, and now this? And who knows what the others had had to face while he was trapped in that awful place, a place they'd broken into to rescue him from.
He was really the most useless guardian angel ever, wasn't he? He'd promised Gavin that he'd play that role, but he was failing miserably.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Zander speaking to him.
“Gavin mentioned that you're the one who taught them how to make these sock maces. It saved my life so um… thank you”.
Maybe he wasn't such a failure.
As Zander calmed down more, he picked up his laptop to tell his brother what had happened.
<zanderX400> almost died again. im okay now though
Assimilation was instantly at his side, clearly distressed at this news.
“ZANDER, WHAT HAPPENED ARE YOU OKAY?”
Assimilation was so protective and sweet, Andre needed to hurry up so that it could be his brother in law already.
<zanderX400> as i said, im fine now
<AndreW2002> what hapend!
<zanderX400> an entity tried to ambush me when i was alone. luckily G told me not to go anywhere alone unarmed while at their house and they gave me a weapon. combat is much scarier outside of minecraft but i won
<AndreW2002> i cant protec u from ths side of th screen. plz stay saf
It… probably hurt for them to know that he'd been in danger where they couldn't see him or do anything about it. Being so close to someone you were so physically separated from… it probably made them feel helpless knowing that if something happened to him in the physical world they wouldn't be able to help him. Just like he felt horrible knowing that he was so limited in his ability to help them and Assimilation.
Who knew having a sibling that existed in a different world could be so hard?
Eventually it was time to leave the house and head home. Despite the terrifying near death experience, he did like hanging out with his new friends. Hopefully that wouldn't be the price of future hang outs though. Perhaps they could meet somewhere else like a park or something next time? Maybe if that boss monster entity had dropped something cool, he'd have reconsidered, but as it was he really did not want to repeat that.