The End of MindCrack

Chapter 2: Secrets Revealed

 "What's this, Xavier?" Briane's voice was taunting, too smug, but Xavier forced himself to turn slowly to see what she was holding. When he saw, he almost lost it. Almost. She was holding his Minecon itinerary. Aubree stood behind her, concern on her face. He could read on her face exactly what had happened. He had had the sheet on him during the crash. The doctors must have found it. Aubree had taken it, meaning to hide it from their parents, but Briane had always been a little weasel.

 "Nothing," Xavier said. "Can I have it back, please?"

 Briane snorted with laughter. "Um... not hardly. Don't you think Mom and Dad will want to know your weekend plans? Particularly with you so..." she pretended to search for the right word, "incapacitated?"

 Xavier growled as Aubree protested, "Give it back to him, Bri. It's not yours."

 "Fine. But you can't make me forget what I saw," Briane snapped. She dropped the paper on the floor, turned sharply on her heel and stalked from the room.

 Aubree bent and lifted the sheet, glancing sadly down at the MindCrack panel, circled in blue ink. She passed Xavier the paper, said softly, "I hope you find Beef," and started to follow her sister out.

 "Wait," Xavier said. "How do you..."

 Aubree only shrugged. "You're not the only one with secrets. I'll handle Bri. But, Xavier, you're going to owe me some answers."

 Xavier frowned in concern and nodded. "If you can deal with Briane, you'll deserve it."

 Wondering when Aubree had found out about MindCrack and how much else she knew, Xavier turned back to the window. He could see his reflection in the glass, gingerly ran two fingers over the bandage that now covered his right eye, the scabbed up slice through his eyebrow where the doctors said a scar would run.

 He was lucky, the doctors had told him, to only lose an eye. Well, and break his arm, he thought. But he and Austin would still be able to go to Minecon. Since the accident, Xaver had only made one video and he knew his heart wasn't in it. He wanted to talk to Beef. The MindCracker had lost his legs and continued to do videos. Maybe he could advise on how to deal with it.

 If Briane didn't screw things up. If Aubree could handle it.

 Xavier folded the itinirary and set in on his computer. He should try to record, but with his sight screwed up he didn't play too well and he just couldn't bring himself to ramble on about unimportant things for commentary.

 Dang drunk drivers.

~~~

 Etho glanced at the computer, but didn't dare sit down to try and record. The card lying on the desk was enough to see to that.

 'Don't you dare.'

 He swallowed, his throat dry, and forced himself to move past the computer room before the temptation got too strong.

 'Don't you dare.'

 Don't talk, don't record, don't get anyone involved. Or Etho would regret it.

~~~

 "Okay, we've got two questions left. The first one's pretty quick," Beef said. "Why did Etho leave MindCrack. Guys, we wish we knew. Etho's always kind of kept his own council and he never told us why he was leaving. Probably some stuff came up in real life. I mean, he's done youtubing for three years or so now and that really is a long time."

 The Canadian paused, pushing down memories of Team Canada maps and pranks, before moving on to his last question.

 "Finally, how are you adjusting to life without your real legs? Well, it's not easy, but so far, it's going okay. Like I said a couple episodes ago, I'm going to be attending Minecon this year and that's going to be the first time I've traveled extensively since the accident. I'm really excited about it, though, so if you guys are coming to Minecon, I'll see you there."

 He rambled on for a few minutes about getting his prosthetics and some jokes Pause had cracked about the whole incident before signing off. He reached down and stroked Bubba's head. Recently it seemed like his whole world was falling apart on him. First the accident and now the MindCrack server seemed like it was starting to fall apart.

 Well, like he'd told his fans, three years was a long time. Everything ended eventually. But no one said he had to like it.