Playing Open-Handed

Chapter 3: Attack From Within

TW for broken bones, just in case.

There was a terrible weight in BDubs' limbs. He'd been scouting out the server for the past week, acting as eyes for the monster. It hadn't let him sleep, and it was seriously starting to break the guy. He was half-hoping that someone would notice that he was online but not sleeping, and realise that something was wrong, and come drag him out of this nightmare.

It didn't happen. And he was dragged all over the server, until he found himself wearily approaching the edge of a jungle. A part of him cringed with fear, but he was, for the most part, too exhausted to react. He staggered forward, step by step, just begging for all of this to end. And, eventually, it did. BDubs crumpled to the ground, too tired to move on, and he slowly drifted into blissful unconsciousness.

He woke up in a comfortable bed, and for a moment, he thought it had all been a lousy dream. He realised his mistake when he went to sit up and found that his arms still weren't obeying him.  He lay there for a moment more, and then he was slowly, smoothly, Un-BDubs-ish-ly sat up, his legs swung over the side of the bed. He spotted Etho in the corner of the room he was in, who looked up at the movement.

"BDubs!" He greeted, the shape  of a smile forming under his mask. "You're awake! What happened? I found you passed out on the edge of the Jungle... are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Etho!" His voice assured, as he stood up. "Just forgot to sleep, ya know?"

"Alright, well, you should probably rest up." Etho suggested, his expression shifting into something unreadable.

"No, I... uh... have a project that I need to get back to, uh, but, thanks for the suggestion!" BDubs' voice desperately tried to weasel him out of this situation.

"Alright, alright, I understand." Etho assured BDubs, as his legs walked him out of the room. "Just one thing before you go," Etho's hand suddenly landed on BDubs' shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "Who are you, and where's my friend?" He hissed, dragging BDubs back.

"I-I'm right here, Etho!" His voice protested, causing the spark of hope he'd felt to begin to fade.

"Liar." Etho accused. "The BDubs I know pays attention to his sleeping schedule, would rest up if he needed to, and would take any opportunity to avoid a jungle. Now tell me. Where. Is. BDubs."

BDubs' voice didn't answer. Instead, BDubs felt his legs moving, running off and breaking Etho's death grip on his shoulder. He was vaguely aware of Etho following in pursuit, but he couldn't look back to confirm it. He bolted towards Etho's nether portal, escaping into the hellish dimension.

He only ran a dozen or so blocks in the nether before stopping and standing very still. He heard the wooshing of multiple nether portals - wait. That wasn't right. And then BDubs realised. On being found out, the monstrosity had set a trap, and Etho was sprinting right into it. BDubs winced as he heard Etho run up behind him. Etho grabbed onto BDubs' arm, spinning him around and grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Where's the real BDubs?" He pressed. "Where... where is my friend."

"You'll see." His voice replied, a twisted smirk contorting onto his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ren and Stress approaching, sneaking up behind Etho. He felt a twinge of guilt: he'd led the two of them into a similar trap. Before he could beat himself up about things outside of his control too much, however, Etho turned around and saw the two.

The guy didn't have time to react properly. Ren grabbed both of Ehto's hands and pulled them behind his back, kicking out Etho's legs so he fell to his knees. Etho yelled and struggled, to no avail. Stress paced around in front of him, crouching down to make eye contact.