Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My eyes were closed, it was cold. The floor was cold, like a corpse… like me. I opened my eyes and got up, I felt alone but I wasn’t… not with him watching. Everyone was there with me, Grian, Iskall, Doc, you… everyone was there, all in one room… unconscious. I wasn’t the first to see him , that was Scar:

“Hello hermits, it is a pleasure to finally meet you all.” he says, “I can’t tell you my name but you can call me ‘X’.” He was extremely pale, it was as if he was made out of snow. “My apologies for your predicament, I… wasn’t right in the head when I agreed to this.”

Xisuma gives him a confused look, “Do you, know where we are?”

“Yes,” X replies with a sigh, “Again, I am very sorry about all of this, I wasn’t thinking straight.” X then gives a nervous smile before continuing, “You all are in a space station orbiting Mars, my colleague and I put you here.” X sighs again, “Four of you are imposters, as in parasitic organisms that look and act identical to whoever Y swapped them with.”

“What?!” says Grian,

“Again, I’m sorry.” says X, “I deeply regret my taking of the bet…”

Cleo cuts him off, “What bet?!”

X takes a deep breath before he replies, “A few days ago, my colleague, Y, told me that he hade created this station with an idea in mind, he then bet me that I couldn’t find a group that could win this ‘Game’ that he had set up. I told him that I could and that is why you all are here.”

False glares at X, “You put us in danger just so you could win a bet?!”

“I know you probably hate me, but just hear me out, not all hope is lost; if you all manage to figure out who the imposters are and destroy them, I’ll win the bet and resurrect anyone who died as well as return you to your lives as if nothing ever happened.”

Beef then walks up to X and asks; “How do we know that we can trust you?”

“I can give you no proof of my honesty,” replies X, “and I am forbidden from revealing any of the imposters so… I cannot assure you, but like it or not, I am your best shot at survival. Anyway, I must leave now as I have gone over my allotted time for this. I am sure you all can figure anything else out on your own.” X then snaps his fingers and vanishes.

“Did he just…?” starts Keralis,

“Uh huh,” replies Scar, nervous, “Guys, I’m scared.”

Xisuma sighs, “To be honest, I’d think we'd be worried if you weren't.”

Several hermits nod agreeingly, “Scar, I think we all are.” says Grian,

A few minutes pass while everyone slowly comes to terms with their surroundings, then everyone turns to look at Xisuma.

“Why is everyone looking at me?” asks the server’s admin,

“Well, you’re the server admin,” replies Impulse,

“Yea,” says False, “that kind of makes you the leader.”

“Oh, right,” replies Xisuma, “well in that case, I think we should split into groups and explore this station; False, Scar, Cub, and I will lead.”

“Are you sure it is a good idea to have Scar lead right now?” asks Bdubs, “I think he could use a break from leadership.”

The others then look at Scar, he is in a full on mental breakdown.

“Oh,” says Xisuma, “My idea was to have us split into groups based on where we are on the server so… Grian, do you?...”

“I’ll try,” replies Grian,

“Alright then,” says Xisuma, “Remember, if anyone finds something, use your communicator.”

Scar was rocking back and forth on the floor of the north-east hangerbay as Stress sat down next to him,

“Is everything okay lov?” asks Stress,

“Stress, I think I ‘m an imposter,” replies Scar, 

Stress freezes for a moment before replying, “Don’t say that, you aren't one.”

“But…” says Scar,

“Scar,” replies Stress, “If you were an imposter, we would all be dead.”

“But what if I’m just waiting for the time to strike?” says Scar, “and…”

Stress cuts him off, “Scar, are we all dead?”

“No.” replies Scar,

“Then you’re not an imposter.” says Stress, “and…”

Stress is then cut off by her communicator beeping,

<ZombieCleo> Guys, meet us in south wing, we found something.

<Grian> on our way

Grian then motions for Stress and Scar to follow him as he leaves the hanger.

“Well that’s creepy,” says Bdubs, looking at the white metal nameplate displaying his name above the door, “Do we all have one?”

“Yep,” replies Cub, “Well, except for Impulse, Zedaph, and Joe, instead there are three blank ones in the back.”

“Speaking of them, why haven’t they shown up yet?” asks Stress,

Suddenly, the hermits hear the opening of a door upstairs and then a frantic attempt at closing it. A few seconds later, a thump sound can be heard. The hermits then go upstairs and find Tango and TFC collapsed on the floor.

“Impulse was an imposter,” he says, “False said she’d take care of him.” Tango then faints,

The hermits sit in silence for a minute as they help Tango and TFC recover when suddenly False limps into the room, “Sorry I’m late,” she says, cracking a smile, before suddenly grabbing her thigh, grimacing in pain, and falling over.

Chapter Text

Hermits: 21 of 24

Imposters: 3 of 4

Days Since Start: 1

When the elevator door opened, Stress had almost jumped out of her skin. Although, she calmed down once she saw that it was only Iskall. Relieved, Stress quickly finishes up her task and walks over to the bearded swedish man.

“Same task?” she asks,

Iskall nods without taking his eyes off the stars. A few seconds later, Iskall turns and looks at Stress, “Sorry, I was busy.” 

“I saw,” replies Stress,

“Any thoughts of who might be imposters?” asks Iskall,

“Not really,” replies Stress, “I just don’t want to think of anyone in that way.”

Iskall nods, “At least one of the imposters is gone.”

“Yea,” says Stress, she then cracks a smile before her communicator starts beeping, “Well, I should probably be heading to my next task, I’ll see you later.” Stress then silences the alarm on her communicator and takes the elevator down a floor before walking north to hydroponics, putting on her pink space suit and walking out onto the solar panels.

“Greetings Stressmonster,” says X,

Stress nearly jumps out of her skin again as she wasn’t expecting to see the winged man.

“Hi,” replies Stress, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

“My apologies if I startled you,” says X, “that wasn’t my intention.”

“No, it’s fine.” replies Stress, “Um… how are you out here without a spacesuit?”

X facepalms, “Did I forget to mention to you all that I’m a god?”

Stress nods,

“Oh, well, silly me then.” says the red eyed god, “I guess that was fairly stupid of me to leave out.”

Stress doesn’t respond,

“Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to know who one of the imposters are.” says X,

“I thought you couldn’t tell us.” replies Stress,

“Well I couldn’t until I asked Y if he would make a deal, He said it depends, so I told him that I would be allowed to tell one non-imposter hermit the identity of one imposter hermit and in exchange, if the non-imposter hermit accepts, he would send said imposter hermit to kill the non-imposter hermit.” says X, “or, to put it more simply; I tell you who one of the imposters are and they stop whatever they are doing and try to kill you. All you would have to do inorder to win this little challenge is tell the other hermits who the imposter is.” X then snaps his fingers, summoning a green leather armchair behind him before sitting down in it. “It’s that simple.”

“Can I refuse?” asks Stress, 

“Certainly,” replies X, “but doing so will make you miss out on a vital piece of information that I will not offer again.”

“Can I think about it while I do my task?” asks Stress,

“Of course,” replies X, “take your time.”

Stress then gives X a weak smile through her visor before turning and beginning her task on repairing the solar panels.

“Made your decision yet?” asks X once Stress finishes up,

“I’ll take the challenge, who is an imposter.” says Stress,

X sighs, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but Iskall is an imposter.” X then stands up and snaps his fingers, causing the leather armchair to vanish, “Good luck, Stressmonster.” X then vanishes,

Stress quickly gets back in the station and begins running to the south wing, not bothering to remove her space suit.

Suddenly she feels a sharp pain in her back and falls to the floor, Stress then gets up and starts running again before she falls and is dragged backwards. Stress turns over and sees Iskall standing there, a long pointy tongue hanging out of his mouth and his arms long and tentacle like.

“Hallo,” says Iskall with a smile, “I’ve been looking forward to this.” Iskall then impales Stress’ head with his tongue and watches her body go limp. Iskall licks his lips of Stress’ blood before smiling again, unhinging his jaw, and biting off the top half of the dead hermit. Iskall then licks his lips again before shifting his body back into a non-monster form and walking away. A few minutes later, Iskall’s communicator beeps;

<Ethoslab> Guys, Stress is dead

Iskall smiles to himself,

<Iskall85> What!? Where?!

<Ethoslab> Don’t know, I’m in Admin and saw that her heartbeat was flat

<Cubfan135> Lets all meet up in the south wing, we can continue this conversation there

<iJevin> on my way

<Hypnotizd> see you there

Chapter Text

Hermits: 20 of 24

Imposters: 3 of 4

Days Since Start: 3

Xisuma shot up in bed, he was sweating, he didn’t feel safe. Xisuma looked at the clock on the nightstand, it was 2 in the morning. 

“Calm down Xisuma,” whispers Xisuma to himself, “It was only a dream.” Xisuma then tries to go to sleep again but to no avail. Xisuma sighs and gets out of bed, he might as well get some tasks done if he is awake. Xisuma quickly gets dressed in his armor and puts on his helmet before stepping out into the cold metal hallway of the bunkroom and then climbing the ladder up into the meeting room.

“You too.” says Wels,

Xisuma nods, “Can’t sleep, I’ve just been really stressed lately. Already; four hermits are dead and… I couldn’t do anything.”

Wels doesn’t reply, instead he just nods, “You want to go and do some tasks together?”

Xisuma sighs, “yea, I have something in shields.”

Wels gives Xisuma a weak smile, “I’ll be in storage then.”

The two hermits then walk north and into storage, Xisuma watching for imposters as Wels does his task and Wels doing the same for Xisuma.

“What now?” asks Wels,

Xisuma was going to reply when the reactor’s meltdown alarm went off, “That.”

The two hermits then make their way to the elevator and head down to the reactor. It doesn’t take long to repair but when they go to leave, they notice that the elevator controls are busted.

“That’s not good,” says Xisuma,

The hermits then hear a sound from inside the ceiling.

“That’s not good either.” says Wels,

Suddenly the sound stops, the pair are terrified.

“Okay, I’m going to fix the elevator while you…” Wels never finishes the sentence. Wels and Xisuma then drop to the floor, their heads having been bitten off.

“Oh yes, that was fun.” Remarks a figure after changing back into their human form, their eyes glowing blood red, “Iskall was right, scaring them is more fun.” the figure then shifts into a centipede made of flesh and sharp teeth before crawling back up the wall and into the hole in the ceiling it made.

Scar was terrified, he had just seen Xisuma’s and Wels’ heartbeats flat line at the same time. Scar could see on the screen that his own heartbeat was at 200 beats per minute. 

“You need to calm down Scar,” says Cub as he walks into the room, “otherwise the others will know something is up.”

Scar takes a few deep breaths, “I know.” replies Scar, “I just don’t feel comfortable.”

“Stop fighting it,” says Cub, “Y will kill you if you don’t.”

Scar’s heart begins beating faster,

“Scar, tomorrow, it’s your day, Y will be watching you… if you want to survive, you’ll take my advice. Anyway, I’m going to sleep, so, I’ll see you in the morning… partner.”

Chapter Text

Hermits: 18 of 24

Imposters: 3 of 4

Days Since Start: 5

“Oh, hey Scar,” said Mumbo as the nervous imposter walked into the reactor room.

“Hi…” replied Scar, nervous and shaking,

Mambo stopped doing his task and looked at Scar, “Is everything alright?” he asked,

Scar nods, feeling awful as he does so, “I… I’m just nervous, this whole thing is just too much.”

Mambo gives Scar a warm smile, “Don’t worry about it, I think we all get the jitters every now and again. If I were you, I would try to make the best of what you have left.”

“O… okay,” replies Scar with a smile, “Th… thanks,” Scar then snaps Mumbo’s neck, letting his body fall to the floor limp,

“Scar?” says Ren,

Scar quickly turns around, he then immediately falls to the floor and starts having a mental breakdown. Ren backs up, “I’m not falling for that.” Ren then starts moving towards the door… but he never gets there; as Ren’s body falls lifeless to the floor, Cub stares at Scar,

“We might lose because of you.” says Cub,

“I know,” replies Scar, “that’s the point, I don’t want to win if it means killing our friends.”

“They aren’t our friends,” replies Cub, “they are prey and that is it.”

“No,” says Scar, “I’d rather die than kill anyone else.”

Cub doesn’t respond, instead, he just pulls out a knife and jams it into Scar’s forehead, “You’re weak… we are better off without you.”

Scar coughs up blood, “well, at least I…”

Cub crushes Scar’s skull under his foot, killing him. Cub then sighs, “Y isn’t going to be happy about this.” He then pulls out his communicator and starts typing,

<Cubfan135> Guys, I just walked into reactor… you’re going to want to see this.

“Scar was an imposter!?” yells Bdubs, 

“This is awful… I just don’t know what to say,” says Iskall, 

Grian leans on Etho’s shoulder, his hand covering his face while he cries, the constant death having finally broken him.

“Cub…” says Tango, “Do you know what happened?”

“No, I don’t.” replies Cub, 

“Was anyone on cameras?” asks False,

No one nods, 

False sighs, “We’re all going to die.”

“I know it looks grim,” says X, walking out of the shadows, “But you all have to stay determined.”

Grian straightens up, he is angry, “Where have you been,” he yells, “I thought you were supposed to help us?!”

“I…” says X,

“X, you’re the reason we’re in this mess.” says Grian,

“Grian…” says Celo,

“No,” says X, “don’t stop him, I deserve this. It is my fault,” X then sighs, “I’ll leave now.” X then snaps his fingers and vanishes,

“Grian,” says False, “What has gotten into you? X is trying to help us.”

“Every time he shows up; someone dies.” says Grian, 

“That isn’t true, Grian.” says Iskall, “But I get it, you’re angry and you’re sad and you have no one to take it out on… but we have to stay positive, we won't win this unless we work together.”

Grian looks around, the surviving hermits are looking at him. Grian sighs, “Guys, I’m sorry, I just…”

Grian stops, everyone is hugging him. “Thanks guys,”

Then the lights go out.

Chapter Text

Hermits: 15 of 24

Imposters: 2 of 4

Days Since Start: 8

False opened her eyes, the big fluorescent light in her room having turned on. “Ugh,” she groans, “Why do these things have to turn on so early?!” False then sighs before getting dressed and taking her tablet from the slot on the wall. False then is about to leave the room when she notices an index card on her bedside table. Picking it up, False sees that there is something printed on it;

Try assigning groups of two or three, with designated tasks. Make sure everyone knows who went with who. That could make things easier.

“What the…?” mumbles False, “That’s odd, where did this come from?” She then quickly scans the card again looking for clues but comes up empty handed as aside from the note, there is no indication of where it came from or who sent it.

False shrugs and puts the card in her inventory, she then opens the bedroom door and walks out into the hallway. S H E  I S  A L O N E .

False shivers, she is cold and suddenly scared… and she doesn’t know why. Shaking her head, False tries to clear her mind. She then takes a deep breath and takes out her tablet… then she remembers the note she found. Deciding that it is good advice, False walks over to Iskall’s room and knocks on the door. Afew minutes later, a clearly tired Iskall answers.

“Oh… hi False.” Says Iskall, “Why are you up?”

“The light in my room turned on.” replies False, “I couldn’t go back to sleep so now I’m just going to get some tasks done… I also found this note,” False then takes out the note and shows it to Iskall, “I was wondering if you would like to come with?”

Iskall thinks for a moment before agreeing, “Just let me change first.” says Iskall,

“Okay,” replies False, “I’m going to get one other person just in case. We’ll meet you upstairs.”

Iskall gives False a thumbs up before closing his door again.

False then walks over to Cleo’s door and repeats the process over again. Around 15 minutes later False, Iskall, and Cleo meet up in the meeting room and all pull out their tablets, checking their task lists.

“I have to refuel in one of the east hangers,” says Cleo,

“Electrical.” says False,

“I’ve got… Armory.” says Iskall,

“There are tasks in the Armory?” says Cleo,

“Yea,” replies Iskall, “loading the guns.”

“Huh,” says Cleo, “Never heard of it.”

The three hermits then walk to the core of the station and start their tasks, two of them keeping watch as the third stands vulnerably, doing their task. When the three hermits had completed their daily tasks, they all went to the cafeteria and sat down on the benches.

False leans back on the table while propping her feet up on the bench of a nearby table and putting her hands behind her head, 

“We still have around an hour before the others wake up.” says Cleo, looking at her tablet,

“What do you guys want to do?” asks Iskall,

Both female hermits shrug, “I don’t know about you,” says False, “but I just want to relax, I have been very stressed lately.”

Iskall nods in agreement, 

Cleo sighs, “Do you guys want to talk about it, because I think I need to.”

False sits up, “yea... “ the room then goes silent for a few seconds before the three of them start to laugh in order to break the feeling of awkwardness.

“I’ll start,” says Cleo with a sigh, “Do you guys love any of the other hermits?” asks Cleo,

Iskall then responds, “I… had feelings for Stress.”

Cleo then looks at False,

“No… not really.” says False, “Sorry if that wasn’t what you were hoping for.”

“No,” says Cleo, smiling, “It’s fine. Well, um, anyway, I had feelings for Joe… normally if I was stressed, I would just talk to him but… I can’t do that now.” Cleo’s eyes then start to water,

False gets up and walks over to Cleo, “Hey, it’s okay… you can talk to us… and remember that if we win…”

Iskall looks at the two hermits talking, he then starts thinking about what he has done, then… he feels regret.

Chapter Text

Hermits: 15 of 24

Imposters: 2 of 4

Days Since Start: 10

The O2 alarm continued to blare for a few seconds before it turned off, Doc knew he would have to look at the wiring of it soon.

False, on the other hand, was in admin… unfortunately for the imposters; she had also been there when Keralis’ and Beef’s heart rates had flatlined. False walked out of admin, around the communications room, and over to the button on the wooden table in the meeting room. False then slammed her fist down on the button, teleporting everyone to the room and around the table.

“Iskall, Cub, why did you kill them?” asks False, her face emotionless,

“What!?” replies Iskall, “Someone di…”

“Beef and Keralis,” says False, cutting off Iskall, “you and Cub were the only ones who went with them this morning. I thought it was suspicious, so I’ve camped admin all day.”

“I can confirm that,” says Doc, “False helped me fix O2, it surprised me how fast she was.”

“False,” says Cub, confidently, “if I were the imposter, I can tell you for a fact that I would be shaking in my boots right now, you make a good point… but I think that you are the imposter.”

“And why is that?” asks False, 

“Answer me this,” says Cub, “who else would be able to take down an imposter… better than an imposter? Yes, it was on the first day, but that would have just made it easier to do as Impulse wouldn’t have been expecting it, and it would have made you seem innocent.”

False was impressed, Cub had made a good argument, but now she was certain that he was an imposter. “If I were an imposter, why didn’t I kill Cleo and Iskall two days ago?” she asked, eager to see how Cub would reply,

“It would have been too obvious,” replies Cub, “if you had killed them then, everyone would have known.”

“Guys, the time is almost up, either we vote now or we skip.” says Grian, clearly having taken the leadership role,

“Vote me out,” says Iskall, “I’m an imposter,”

“Wait what!?” replies Grian,

Iskall nods, “I can’t take it anymore… Just put me out of this murderous cycle… vote me out.”

The remaining hermits look at Iskall, “Well… I guess it is settled then,” says Grian, “All in favor?”

Iskall85 was an Imposter, one Imposter remains.

After the meeting, False stared at Cub, she knew he was planning something, now all she needed to do was to find out what his plan was. Luckly, Cub had just made it very easy, or so she thought.

“Sorry about accusing ya in there.” says Cub with an awkward smile, “Iskall didn’t even occur to me.”

False had to admit that she hadn't expected Iskall to just reveal himself but, despite that, it didn’t change the fact that Cub was still an imposter… at least that is what today’s notecard had told her.

“Cub, I know that you are an imposter… the last one,” False then calls over Doc, “And I have evidence.”

“Oh?” says Cub, “and what’s that?”

False then waits for everyone besides the three of them to leave the room before taking out the notecard that she had found on her bedside table and showing it to Cub, “look familiar? she asks, 

“Holy sh…” says Doc in shock, 

Cub looks at the photo, it clearly shows him, covered in blood, next to the decapitated bodies of Xisuma and Wels.

“I believed you for so long,” says Doc his face turning angry,

“For some reason,” says False, “I couldn’t will myself to show this during the meeting or even after the fact, not until everyone was gone except us three… so Cub, after you’re dead and we win the game, I’m going to have a talk with your boss… X.”

Suddenly, all the doors to the meeting room lock shut, “Cub,” says the voice of X, “kill them.”

Cub smiles, “Gladly.” Cub then opens the sixty-two other eyes on his face, before unhinging his jaw.

“Fight him,” says the voice of X, as two diamond swords appear at False and Doc’s feet,

False and Doc pick up the swords and instantly are forced to use them to block Cub’s long tentacle-like arm from smashing into their skulls, Doc looks over at False, “Something tells me that even if we win this fight, we won’t win.”

False nods, “agreed,” she then runs at Cub and slices a deep cut into his stomach, unsurprisingly, this does nothing as it turns out that False only opened one of Cub’s other mouths.

Cub roars in anger, he then attempts to grab false with his lower mouth but False gets away. In an act of frustration, Cub smashes the meeting room table to pieces, destroying the button.

“Looks like their goes any sign of help,” says Doc, 

False gives him a nervous smile, “I have a plan, but I don’t know if it will work; you go to his left and I'll go to his right, then we cut him in half at his lower mouth.”

“It’s worth a shot,” replies Doc, also nervous, “let's do it.”

The two hermits then run to either side of the imposter and attempt to cut it in half, only they never get the chance as they, for some reason, can’t move. Cub takes this opportunity to  impale them both in the chest with his arms and rip out their hearts, before changing back to his human form and squeezing them until they explode. Cub then looks at his two newest victims on the floor; False is dead, and an almost dead Doc. Cub leans down to look at the ladder, a hole in his chest where a heart should be. “You. Are. Dead.” he says before snapping Doc’s neck,

Doc smiles, “Maybe so,” he says, breathing his final few breaths, “but so are you.” Doc then opens a panel on his robotic arm and presses his self destruct button,

Chapter Text

Hermits: 10 of 24

Imposters: 1 of 4

Days Since Start: 10

Nine hermits were looking at Cub when he awoke, he was covered in soot. Cub blinked, he was disoriented… then he remembers. Quickly, Cub looks over at the destroyed button, then over at the hermits, he then smiles, showing his hundreds of sharp needle like teeth, Doc had failed to kill him, now he was going to have some fun

“Looks like I don’t need to hide anymore.” he says as he stands, his arms turning into spikes as he does so before a dozen tendrils come out of his back and sixty two eyes on his face open up.

Cleo takes a few steps back, “You were the imposter!”

Cub nods, “And now I don’t need to worry about you all finding out.” Cub then lunges at TFC, attempting to impale him in the stomach,

TFC narrowly dodges, jumping to the side just in time,

Etho then picks up a diamond sword from the floor and swings it at Cub. Unsurprisingly, the attack does nothing and Cub is easily able to rip the blade from Etho’s hands with one of his tendrils before burying it in Etho’s chest, killing him almost instantly.

“Go!” yells Grian, picking up the other sword and opening one of the doors to the middle section of the station, “I’ll…” Cub then impales Grian in the leg with a tendril before ripping out his femur, causing Grian to fall to the floor in agony,

Cub smiles, “Two down, seven to go.” he then moves closer to Grian,

Grian drops the sword, accepting his fate, only for Hypno to grab it and stand in between Cub and Grian, pointing it at Cub, “If you want to kill Grian, you are going to have to kill me.”

Cub smiles, he is about to respond when he realizes that he can’t move… at all.

“Let them go,” whispers a disembodied X inside Cub’s head, “now is not the right time,”

Cub ignores the voice in his head and attempts to lash out at the hermits with his tendrils, it doesn’t work. Cub then changes back into his human form, finding he can move again, he tries to talk to the hermits, “Look,” he says, “this was all…” Cub it cut off by a diamond sword impaling him from the back, it’s blade coming out through his chest. Cub then falls to the floor, the diamond sword still in his back. Seeing that Jevin is close, Cub dislocates his arm before grabbing the sword in his back, pulling it out, and throwing it at Jevin, decapitating him. Cub then opens his lower mouth and crawls on his teeth to the vent, bleeding from his chest and back.

Hermits: 8 of 24

Imposters: 1 of 4

Days Since Start: 11

Cleo looks around, the faces of six tired hermits look back, all of them want this to end. The seven of them had just sent the last of their dead out the airlock, now only them and Cub remained.

“We can’t win,” says Tango, “Cub clearly was the strongest of the imposters, not only did he kill False and Doc at the same time but he also killed Scar, who was an imposter. If he can do that, then what chance do we have against him.”

The group sits in silence, unsure of how to respond, then they hear a sound from the vents.

TFC takes out one of the diamond swords, “Hypno, you stay here with me… we can at least slow Cub down.”

Hypno nods before taking out his own sword, 

XB then takes out a bow, notching an arrow, “Go, we’ll hold it off.”

Tango nods, “Come on, I have an idea.” Tango then leads Grian, Bdubs and Cleo to the viewing deck.

Cub bursts out of the vent fully healed, he then sends his tendrils at TFC in an attempt to kill him but misses. In retaliation, Hypno slashes at the beast that he once considered his friend only to be reminded that they can’t kill it, all the while XB is firing arrows into Cub’s many eyes in an attempt to blind him.

When the four hermits reach the viewing deck, Bdubs asks Tango a question; “Why did you bring us here?”

“I found something,” replies Tango before walking over to the back of the elevator shaft and revealing a door, painted to look exactly like the wall.

“A second elevator door?” says Grian, 

Tango shakes his head, “no, this is much more than a second elevator door.” Tango then opens the door, revealing a long concrete hallway behind it.

TFC was dead, Cub had impaled him through the skull with his tongue.

“Cover me,” yells Hypno, 

XB nods and moves closer in an attempt to fire more arrows at the imposter while Hypno tries to get a strike at Cub’s unprotected jaw… then the lights go out. Unable to see, XB puts away his bow and picks up the sword that TFC dropped, joining Hypno in his assault.

The four hermits walk through the hallway, it seems endless, then Cub steps out of the shadows in front of them, he looks… stressed. “Guys,” he says, “I want to say that I’m sorry.”

“What kind of trick is this,” says Cleo, “I thought…”

“I know what I said,” says Cub, “and I know you won’t believe me, but I was being controlled.”

“Uh huh,” replies Bdubs, a sharp anger in his voice, “I totally believe that,”

Cub looks at the four hermits, his eyes full of sadness and regret, “I was being controlled by X, there is no Y… X has been behind it all, he fooled us all. I came in here to kill you, but as soon as I stepped in this hallway, I just couldn’t… I no longer had it in me.”

Tango looks at his fellow hermits, “If Cub is telling the truth then we never could win, no matter how hard we try.”

“X gave False and Doc the swords when they fought me,” says Cub, “he doesn’t care about us, he only wants a good show.”

“Cub, I don’t believe you,” says Cleo, “tell me why we should.”

“I don’t need you to believe me,” says Cub, “but I need you to trust me.”

Chapter Text

Hermits: 5 of 24

Imposters: 0 of 4

Days Since Start: 12

12 days, two days short of two weeks… it is almost sad, they never made it to two weeks… before they broke the rules. X smiles, then sighs, then his face goes neutral yet again. He has been waiting for this moment, everything had led up to it after all… X smiles again, his thoughts briefly entering his happy place before he brought them back to reality, he wasn’t going to mess it up.

“Greetings Hermits,” says X, turning around, a warm yet creepy smile on his face, “you have gone through a lot, haven’t you?”

“Cub wasn’t lying,” says Grian, a little taken aback,

X smiles, the warmness of his smile now gone, instead replaced by an unnerving kindness, “Yes, he wasn’t.” says X, “I am your enemy… and I always have been. I am Evil Xisuma, I am NPC Grian, I am everything you hate, everything you desire but will never have… everything that ever hurt you because… I. Am. Creator. The Creator, I am the one who made your’s and every iteration of you’s lives a living hell, I am CreatorXXIII, and I am the author.” raising his arms up to his shoulders, X then shrugs, “If this world’s rules are writing in stone, then I have the chisel as well as the throne.” A bolt of lightning then strikes each of his palms, setting them on fire, a fire which quickly turns black and spreads to cover both of X’s arms entirely. “En garde, hermits.”

Cub looks over at Cleo, “We can’t win,” he says,

“I know,” replies Cleo, “but if what you said is true, then we don’t need to win.”

Cub gives Cleo an anxious smile before turning to face the god and taking out his sword and pointing it at X,

Grian is the first to attack, making use of his wings and the bigger room, Grian flies over and lands next to the god, swinging at him viciously, 

X smiles, this is exactly what he wanted; easily dodging Grian’s attacks, X backflips over Grian before summoning a sword to his hand and cutting Grian in two at the waist, he then throws the sword into Grian’s face, killing him.

The remaining hermits look at the cut-up corpse of Grian, then at the smiling man standing in front of it. Cub’s breathing gets faster as he looks at the man who forced him to kill his friends, he then sees an opening, he takes it. Cub charges X, swinging his sword, while at the same time he uses his tendrils to try and grab the evil god. X laughs as he teleports out of Cub’s grasp over and over again, until he seems to get bored… and Cub falls to the floor dead after a single tap on the shoulder from X. X then cocks his head at Bdubs, before suddenly being directly in front of him, his arm impaling Bdubs through the gut like a spear. “22 down,” says X, “2 to go.” 

The next few seconds are a blur for Cleo, although she knows X killed Tango… she just doesn’t know how.

Cleo falls to her knees, she looks up at X, “do it, kill me, end my suffering.”

X smiles, “No,” he replies before walking away from her and snapping his fingers, he then sits down in a green leather armchair that Cleo could swear wasn’t there a moment ago, “I’m not going to kill you, after all, why would I kill my pet.”

Cleo looks at X, confused, he had called her his ‘pet’.

X smiles, “Cleo, have a seat,” Cleo then notices a wooden chair facing his, “Have at seat, Cleo.” X says again, this time seeming to be demanding it instead of simply suggesting it,

Cleo walks over and sits down, “How am I your pet?” 

X grins, “Look at yourself,”

Cleo looks down, there is a collar around her neck. Cleo takes off the collar and throws it on the ground, “You are disgusting,” she says,

X chuckles, “No, I didn’t mean it like that,” he says with a smile, “I meant that you are my servant, and that if you disobey me, I will harm you… Clillow.”

“My name…” starts Cleo,

X gives her a look, “Choose your next words carefully mortal.”

“... My name is Clillow, sir.”

X smiles, “good, you are already catching on, I thought it would take longer then this to be honest.”

“Yes sir,” says Clillow, having given up,

X smiles, “Good, now follow me,” X then snaps his fingers, opening a portal of sorts, “Don’t run off.”

“Yes sir,” replies Clillow, defeated, Clillow then begins to walk towards the portal when she notices a note card on the floor;

“Hi, it's me again. I'm honestly not sure where this is gonna go, so I'm sorry if I can't do much. Although, I have two things.

1. I don't think you should trust Cub, unless Creator is pulling a double bamboozle.
2. What I do have are brownies, if you want some. :) -DJ”

Clillow smiles and puts the note in her pocket before walking into the portal and vanishing.