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It was pretty late. The sun was starting to set behind the mountains, it was quiet, and a nice and chilly breeze ruined thru Zam hair.
She was just going back to the base after grinding some of the stuff back after a not very successful End Fight. Being below 10 hearts is never a good feeling. You never know when someone is planning on jumping you. Especially if you’re alone. Well, Zam definitely wasn’t. Having Mapic in a VC with her definitely made this trip better!
Being around 1000 blocks from the base, she heard something. A sound that was too close to be ignored.
„Mapic, wait.” Zam whispers, turning towards the source of the sound. She just regeared, she can take a fight or at least hold enough until Mapic comes to help her.
„What’s wrong?”
„I think someone is following me...” Zam whispered, slowly crouching to not alert her stalker.
„Are u ok? Where are you?
„1000 blocks north from the base”
„Ok, I’m coming,”
As Zam was traversing through the thick forest, a body lying on the ground came into view. Not the usual stuff you would see on The Lifesteal, but here we are.
A free heart is just lying on the ground.
As Zam was getting closer, she took out her sword, ready to swing it without a second thought. She was very hungry for hearts. Zam couldn’t such an easy kill go in vain.
But after getting a better look at the body, Zam realized who was actually laying there.
Her body completely froze. Unable to move.
It was Fruitberries.
At first, she felt horrible, realizing that Fruit was probably dead. However, it was Fruit we are talking about. There is a least 90% chance that he was alive, and it was simply a trap. Definitely a weird one. One that Zam has never seen before.
I mean who’s pretending to be dead to lure someone to a trap, that’s quite risky.
For a moment, nothing happened. After another moment, nothing happened.
Was Zam too far from him? Did he seriously not hear her?
After taking a closer look at Fruit, who was actually quite undergear for himself, she realized that he was holding or, rather, an empty bottle was lying next to him. Which was rather not a good sign.
Did someone poison him? No, that wouldn’t make sense.
Who would even want to kill Fruit anyway? He is like the best and coolest guy ever! But at the same time, killing Fruit can count as an achievement. With how he moves with his traps, he might as well make himself some enemies.
Looking around, there weren’t any visible traps or anything like that, and the guy looked totally out of it anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to get closer and check up on him.
„Hello? U ok...?” Zam knelt down next to him. She gently shook him to check if he had simply fallen asleep. He was as stiff as a rock. It was kind of uncanny. Zam doesn’t usually have contact with a „dead body” simply because people just pop. She doesn’t really like to think about it, about how it is even possible or how it works in the first place, but whatever, there is a bigger problem at hand.
Fruit was lying on his back all this time. Hopefully, he didn’t suffocate. Zam, with ease, turned him on his back. She fully expected him to be heavier, not in a mean way. Maybe that was because she simply was just stronger than she thought. That is a better way to look at it.
Thankfully, Fruitberries was still breathing. That was a good sign, and he wasn’t bleeding. At least there weren’t any visible injuries.
„ZAM? ARE YOU NEARBY?” It was Mapic. Thank god, she really wasn’t planning on just staring at Fruit until he woke up, if he even was planning to.
„I’m here!”
„What happened- Wait, is that Fruitberries?” Mapic ran up to them, hiding his sword when he realized that nothing bad was happening. „Did you beat him up?”
„Pft- no no.” Zam laughed because the thought of beating FRUIT just seemed impossible to her. „He was probably the one following me, but for some reason, he lost consciousness.” Zam crossed her hand, looking carefully at the „crime scene” one more time. „Well, he definitely drinks something.” The bottle was reflecting on the ground, drawing attention to itself. It was empty, so it’s impossible to know what was inside it.
„Oh, so what do we do now?” Mapic asks, but it was quite obvious for Zam to know that there was more he wanted to ask
„We are not killing him.”
„A- come on, it’s a free heart!”
„Well, it’s Fruit we are talking about. Besides, killing someone unconscious is just lame.”
„Didn’t he literally follow you a few minutes ago.”
„People follow us all the time. It’s nothing special.”
But before Mapic could say something back, Fruit woke up with a painful groan. He messaged his head, looked at them, and immediately tried to run away. He didn’t run that long, his legs acted like they were made of jelly, sending him back to the ground. „What the-„ was all he managed to say before uncontrollably coughing.
Fruit was in a rough shape. His head hurts, his eyes hurt, his well everything hurts.
He doesn’t try to stand again. He knows his legs are of no use right now. His inventory was useless, either. No invis in sight, just great. It really was a bad idea.
„Well, this is awkward.” Fruit forced a smile on his face, like he wasn’t scared for his life. He doesn’t have any teammates or allies to help him. He was on his own.
„Dude, is everything alright?” Zam asked. The concern on her face was a strong contrast to a judgmental stare from Mapic.
Unfortunately for Fruit, he was interrupted by another question from Mapic.
„Why did you follow Zam?”
„I didn’t follow anyone. It’s a pure coincidence.” He answered with the biggest smile on his face and his mocking voice.
Zam and Mapic just looked at each other. It was obvious that they knew he was lying. Well, anyone with the brain could tell.
After a while, Zam just sighted, approached Fruit, and handed him a bottle of water. „Here, take this.”
„Oh, thanks!”
„We are taking him to our base.” Zam stated, getting ready to help Fruit stand, but Mapic stopped her.
„Wait, what if he traps our base?”
„Why would I do that?” Fruit interrupted him,trying to stir up an argument to maybe buy himself some time, but both of them ignored the bait. Getting an annoyed look from Mapic that says „you are THE trap guy bro”.
"Mapic, you can interrogate him at our base" Zam looked around, it seemed like she heard something, at the same time they were in the midle of the forest it would be a little weird for it to be completely silent. "We can't stay here for too long anyway.". It was better to be safe than sorry. Not like they couldn't take a fight, but Fruitberries in his current conditions would definitely be a dead weight.
"Whatever, I guess."
Zam and Mapic approached Fruit from both sides to grab him by the shoulder and help him stand. His legs definitely became more stable than the last time he tried to stand on his own. Hopefully, the 1k block they need to go won't be too hard.
----
After about 10 minutes of walking in pure silence, they were finally home. It seemed like no one had guts to be the first to start a conversation.
They tried to gently sat him on a bed, but he still felt hitting his head on top of everything. God, they were so bad at this.
"Oh, sorry..." Zam quickly grabs a healing potion from a chest. Handing it to Fruit.
"Eh, it's nothing." He still was massaging his bruise. That's one too many blows to the head in one afternoon. He gulped the potion in one go and made himself comfortable.
Mapic stood before him with crossed arms, ready to ask him about every single detail about the whole situation. "Ok, let's make it quick." Or not... guess it was too late for him to be more interested.
"Are you going to make traps around our base?"
A very special question, Mapic really wasn't messing around. He knew not to ask obvious questions. It would really take him nowhere.
"Well, how would you prefer it?"
Mapic already looks resigned. "Dude, we could leave you there for someone else to find you," heading to his bedroom, and he took one last look at the room. "It's too late for me, goodnight!"
"Goodnight," Zam waved back then, turning her full attention to Fruit. "So, why did you fainted?"
Fruitberries, though, for a moment, because he also didn't fully know why. The last thing he remembered before falling unconscious was that his invisibility was running out, so he drinked another one, and then his vision cut off there. Did he overdose on invis? This didn't happen to him before. At least it never got that bad.
"I guess I drink too much invis," Fruit finally said. Kinda embarrassed to admit that he was addicted to a potion. Not his fault that they work so well and also don't taste that bad.
"Invis? Why would he drink so much invis?" Zam just smiled at that. Being addicted to potions wasn't anything new. She really can't remember how much she drank strength or speed. Their taste seemed to blend recently. But the invis was definitely a choice. "You don't have a team?"
"No, not really."
Zam just sighted, already getting ready to also go to sleep. "Well, all I am going to say is having a team or at least strong allies is important in this world. You never know what will happen next, and having someone you can trust is, well, everything you need." She gives him a warm smile and leaves. "Goodnight"
"Bye!"
Surely, being solo can not be that hard. Besides, he has Peapuff on his side he isn't entirely lonely. Being ghast doesn't make her any less of a teammate.
It was better not to dwell on this too much. Hopefully, his head won't hurt tomorrow.