Chapter Text
A person walked along a stone path, their rough combat boots kicking up dirt and pebbles with every step. The person kept their hood down, covering the top of their face with their hood, everything below the eyes being covered with a black mask. The hood was black, not their usual color, but it was the smart thing to do. Wearing their usual would draw attention. At their hip, the outline of a circular object showed from behind the cloak, bouncing slightly outwards with every step the person took.
The person was walking through a server's lobby, Hypixel's, to be exact; much more exposed than they'd like to be, especially with the server's large population and massive reputation (and more importantly how many mods, admins, and bounty hunters it had, so much to the point where you couldn't turn a corner without seeing at least 3 of each), but it's what they had to work with. The person kept walking, passing more stalls and stores than they could count until they reached what they wanted; "Adventuring Gear."
They walked up to the stall, placing 5 diamonds on the table.
"Two stacks of steak and 8 ender pearls, please," The person said, though they weren't using their typical voice. They had deepened it, making their voice sound more monotone than how they'd usually talk.
The woman on the other side smiled warmly, taking the diamonds and nodding as she turned around to look for the items in her messy stall.
The person watched her, analyzing her person. She was wearing what looked to be a pirate's outfit, the only thing missing from her theme was a pirate hat. She was a sheep hybrid, soft ears on the side of her head complete with a fluffy tail. Her hair was long, the left side white and the right side brown. The person briefly wondered which side was natural and which side was dyed, or if it was fully natural, but they quickly dismissed the thought as unimportant and a waste of time. They checked the server listing, she wasn't an admin or a mod, and she didn't have the typical bounty hunter pin anywhere on her clothing, so that was good, and some of the tension in their shoulders eased, though they stayed alert, knowing there was still a chance she could be a bounty hunter unofficially.
The person waited impatiently, shifting their weight from their heels to their toes repeatedly, absentmindedly tapping their fingers on the table as they glanced around, carefully inspecting everyone that passed.
For them it had felt like an eternity until the woman came back with his items, though it was only 20 seconds, 20 precious seconds, at that, and the person quickly grabbed the items and wished her a good day as he stuffed the food and pearls into his bag, when they felt it. A tug. A tug on their hood. A random passerby had walked a little too close, and the pickaxe that had been strapped on their back got caught on the person's hood, pulling it down despite the person's desperate attempt to walk back and keep their hood on.
With the person's hood down, it revealed his honey blonde hair and olive green eyes, which were completely filled with panic. The man quickly pulled his hood back up, looking all over to make sure nobody was staring or running towards him. Nobody had. He looked left, right, and behind, silently thanking XD at least 40 times, until he looked forward. The woman in the stall. She didn't say anything, didn't have to. He saw her as she was turning away from staring. She had a smile, but it wasn't the warm one she had previously given him. It was tight, forced, and it didn't reach her eyes. She noticed he was staring, and she gave him an awkward wave, clearly avoiding eye contact.
The man looked around for the clearest street to take back to spawn, where he could leave Hypixel and go to a different server. He distantly saw the woman tapping her hands on something hidden beneath the stall table, clearly typing on her communicator. The man probably had a few seconds before the area filled with mods and other admins, hell he was lucky he hadn't already gotten caught by one. Being a wanted man (and an infamous one at that) meant pretty much every bounty hunter, mod, and admin in existence had an enchanted compass to him. Then again, most bounty hunters didn't bother, knowing it would be foolish to try, and mods wouldn't get paid for it, so they only really chased him if he was in the vicinity. Admins, on the other hand, would chase him if they knew he was in the server.
His eyes finally landed on a mostly empty street when he heard a ding from the woman's communicator. Without a second thought, he bolted, shoving a few people out of the way, who yelled at him but didn't pursue further. He heard the unfortunately familiar sound of an admin teleporting behind him, back where the stall and women were, and he somehow managed to force his legs to run twice as fast as they were before.
He started to hear shouting behind him, definitely more than one person, and then footsteps. He was far ahead, sure, and he was known for being elusive and fast, and he had managed to evade everyone who had chased him over the past 2 years but that didn't mean he couldn't be caught, especially if it was a team of at least 6 admins who knew the server better than he ever would.
Somehow, by the grace of whatever god smiled down on him that day, he made it to spawn before any of the admins or bounty hunters that caught wind of the situation. He was just about to jump into the portal that lead to world selection, when he heard a shout.
"DREAM! STOP!"
Dream jumped through.