The Crew's Book of Hermitcraft Season 7 Oneshots

In Which There Are Caring Friends

"Hey Zed!" Impulse called as Zed came into the room. The room, in this case, was the end portal room. "Silverfish trouble?" Impulse asked, indicating the scratches that Zed was covered in.

"Yeah." Zed shrugged. "Who knew that breaking one whole block would cause so much trouble." 

The two of them shared a small chuckle, Zed doing a small flashy performance with his sword.

"Where's Tango?" Impulse asked.

"I dunno. He just... happens. I honestly thought he'd be here by now."

"I did too, but apparently he isn't."

The two waited a few more minutes, going through their end-busting gear (turns out Zed forgot his shield). When they'd done that, Zed told Impulse more of the wonderful and brave tale that was his battle with the silverfish. Still, Tango didn't turn up.

"Okay, where is he." Zed pointed out.

"I... huh. He really should've been here by now."

"I'm gonna go check on him. You stay here in case he turns up." With that, Zed swapped out his chestplate for his elytra, and made his way to Tango's base.

Travel Skip brought to you by AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"Hey Tango!" Zed called as he glided through the window (as one does), landing in a gentle run. "Did you forget about the end raid we planned today?" There was a conspicuous lack of response. Zed bit his lip nervously and ventured further into the tower, looking around.

"Tango?" He called again. "Tango, are you there?" Once more, with urgency. "Tango, this isn't funny. Tango, where are you? Tango!" He yelled, beginning to freak out.

He explored further into the base, wandering into the lower storage area. There, he saw a pair of wings draped over a crumpled form on the ground- Tango. Zed yelled, and ran over to him. Tango's eyes were staring, unfocused, into nothing, and he didn't respond to Zed gently rolling him onto his back.

"Tango? Tango, please..." Zed whispered. "No. No no no no no no no no no no no no..." he gasped, checking Tango's pulse and not being able to find it. He tried to reassure himself that it was just the scales on Tango's hand and wrist that were getting in the way, but he couldn't be convinced.

Starting to get desperate, he tried to see if Tango was breathing. To his immense relief, Tango was breathing, if only barely. Now a smidgen calmer, Zed shakily got out his communicator and sent a private message to Impulse.

ZedaphPlays: Impy.

ZedaphPlays: Impy, you need to come to Tango's base.

ZedaphPlays: Now.

ZedaphPlays: IMPY I'M NOT KIDDING 

ImpulseSV: What's wrong?

ZedaphPlays: It's Tango. He's out cold, barely breathing.

ImpulseSV: On my way.

Mere minutes later, Impulse ran into the room, out of breath. He took one look at Tango, and his expression hardened.

"What happened?" Impulse asked.

"I dunno. I found him like this. Well he was curled up on his side, but you get the idea." Zed replied. "What do we do?"

"I guess we try and help him."

Soon, Tango was on a bed, and the two others were trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He didn't have any obvious injuries that could've knocked him out, or mortal wounds of any kind. Zed and Impulse's working theory was poison, but that raised a whole host of other questions, the most poignant of which, in that moment at least, being what the antidote was.

First they tried a healing potion. It seemed to help for a moment, and Tango seemed momentarily aware of his surroundings before fading out again. They tried regen next. This seemed to work in bringing Tango to his senses, since he started violently gasping for air. Zed rushed to his side, waving over more regen potion.

Soon, Tango was somewhat stabilised, although he had a long way to go before he could even be considered fully awake and coherent. He took Zed's hand and squeezed it as if it were his only lifeline.

"What happened?" Zed asked.

"Poisoned drink." Tango managed to get out.

"But... you... you swapped!" Impulse stammered, confused. Tango nodded weakly.

"What?" Zed asked, lost.

"When he distracted you at the picnic, he swapped your drinks. The original poisoned drink was..."

"Zed's." Tango confirmed.

"Did you know it was poisoned?" Impulse asked dubiously. Tango pointedly gave no reply. Zed facepalmed.

"Okay." He said, once he'd gotten over it. "All that aside, that means the poison was meant for me."

"...So who would want to poison you?"

Part 2 of 5ish.

By the way, the poison is a fictional poison which draws inspiration from the Barbados Nut and plants of the Daphne genus. It's called "Watcherseye" in-universe. I'm not gonna exposit that in-story, so I hope you were taking notes.

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present.