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Ziggi paced around her lab, piles of crystals surrounded her. Mountains of every single gem she could get her hands on, all organised by type and in alphabetical order. She was out of ideas, and she needed to take her mind off of finding the new mystery crystals. Her plans crumbled with ease, the realisation that she had no leads dawned on her. Scrunched up papers littered the floor, broken pens and pencil shaving covered every square tile.
Stress was corrupting her brain, her frustration was something you couldn’t miss. She gave the bridge of her nose a tight squeeze, taking a few deep breaths to stop herself from going bezerk. She sat down, pausing to think what she could do to distract herself. She grabbed her notebook from the top desk drawer and jotted down ideas, using half of a pen to write.
Countless ideas ran through her head - like opening new portals, crafting, mathematics, and experiments. But, one idea stood out to her, something she had never experienced in her life. She thought it was an evil way of happiness, clouding reality with a fake dream-like facade. This time, she thought it was time to give it a try.
Grabbing a handful of earth crystals, she grinder them with a pestle until they became a fine powder. She found a crystallised straw she made a while back, and shoved it inside the mixture. The straw was up her left nostril, her head tilted towards the right. With one large snort, the powder went up her nose. She winced at the sudden feeling, but it soon grew on her. The world felt magical, she finally felt at peace for once in her life.
What was the idea? Home-made cocaine.
Her hands then reached towards her collection of crystals, running her finger along each group until it stopped. Selecting a cluster of lava cores, she then pounded them into the same sparkly power and inhaled deeply. It burned her nostrils, the heat causing them to flare. It was surprisingly comfortable, the warm feeling soothed her body and relaxed her mind. Then, she slowly mixed the two powders together and continued the procedure, the impact was even better than the crystals on their own.
As time passed, more quantities of crystals were getting crushed. She had gone through half of her collection, frequently combining powders with the dream crystals. That specific one made her feel like she was flying, it totally lived up to its name. Bright blue shards sparkled with every hit, some flinging across the room from the pressure. She had never felt this amazing before, her previous thought of cocaine was absolutely wrong. Even her B.I.T wanted some, mountains of the stuff filling it’s pockets.
Just as she was about to crush up a nether core, someone knocked on the door. The sound echoed, making Ziggi’s ears ring. Her blurred vision focused on the door, eyes half lidded. All she could hear were muffled calls from the outsider, slightly clear enough for her to make out who it was.
“Ziggi, let me in! I have something to tell you!!”
“Fuck…” Ziggi mumbled, the person was Stella Guardia. If Stella knew that she was doing literal drugs, she would get kicked from Nexus and locked out for good. Stella wasn’t someone you could easily persuade, she was constantly evicting others over the smallest things ever. With just a quick glance at her victims, she could detect something that was wrong in seconds. The knocks grew more rapid, sweat starting to drip from her forehead.
Ziggi took a sharp shaky breath, making her way towards the door. Her hand grasped around the handle, and she tugged it open.
“Ah, Stella! Hi… how have you been?” She slurred, leaning onto the doorframe for support.
“I’ve been great thanks, but I…” Stella trailed off, Ziggi’s messy appearance was unlike her. She was normally well-kept and smart looking, not a single hair out of place.
“If you don’t mind me asking… why are you so scruffy? Not to mention your eyes! Oh my, what experiments have you been doing Ziggi!?” Stellas’s hands covered her mouth, silencing her gasps.
Ziggi looked to the side, embarrassed.
“Oh- just umm… a few new potions and sprays, that’s all. Got a few in my eyes on accident!” Nervous laughter came from her, Stella raising an eyebrow. She was acting rather strange, she wasn’t herself.
“Is something up? Do i have to lock out more players? You doing anything illegal?” Stella asked, questions hitting Ziggi at a rapid fire pace.
“It’s nothing really, just doing some science stuff.” Ziggi scratched the back of her neck, waiting for Stella to walk off.
“Umm…. alright. See you soon?” Stella turned around, her hair flowing behind her as she left.
Stella knew she had to do an inspection, Ziggi was off and it concerned her. Her appearance was unusual, a weird smell came from her lab, her eyes were out of focus, and she seemed dazed. It was up to her to stop it, but if she wanted to get to the bottom of this case she had to ask for help.
“Hey Stella! What do you need?” Dex McFly was who she needed, she trusted him dearly. He was always in charge, and he deserved to be a leader.
“It’s about Ziggi… she’s been acting strange! I went to see her earlier, and she was all funny looking.” Stella explained, desperate for answers. “I need help to find the answer, and I was hoping you could aid me in this case!” She continued, staring at Dex with hope in her eyes.
He sighed, smiling at her. “Fine, that does seem worrying.”
Stella and Dex went to sit down on a bench outside one of Penny’s shops, Stella filling Dex in with all the details.
“So you’re saying you think Ziggi is currently intoxicated?” Stella nodded, Dex confused.
“We should search her lab for any evidence to prove that too, then we can see if she really is.” Stella said, not helping Dex at all.
“But why would she be intoxicated, you know Ziggi thinks all of that stuff is evil right?” Dex leaned on the table, his elbow on the surface as his cheek rested inside his palm.
“Her pupils were dilated, and her eye whites were a bit reddened. Don’t you think that’s a little strange? I know she wouldn’t do anything like drugs or alcohol, but it seems like she’s on something.” She replied, worry evident on her face for her friend Ziggi. “I don’t want her to end up as an addict, I want her to make sure she’s alright.”
Dex tapped his fingers on the table, thinking. “Alright, let’s come up with a plan.” He took out a notebook and a pen, passing it to Stella so she could start.
“We can do this!” He praised, Stella grinning with pride.
Hours passed and the plan was fully complete, no errors could possibly be hiding amongst their words. But, a horrifying scream interrupted their light chatter. The two turned their head in the direction, clearly alarmed. Penny emerged from her shop in a frightened state, face pale white with shock.
“What was that…?” She mumbled, her blood running cold.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get to the bottom of this.” Stella reassured her, Dex grabbing her shoulders.
“If I just did all of this planning with you, can I at least come with?” He pleaded, Stella giving him a thumbs up. They then sprinted off together, not knowing what they were going the find.
Once they got their, Rita’s choked out sobs could be heard. They were standing in front of Ziggi’s lab, and the aura of the place was eerie. It didn’t have that familiar friendly feeling anymore, the warm air that used to be there was replaced with a freezing cold that made Stella sick to the stomach. Dex didn’t feel any better either, his expression was pure terror.
The door was wide open, and when Stella went inside the stench of blood attacked her nostrils. Rita was on her knees crying her heart out, Blockbjorn on the other hand rubbed circles on her back to try and comfort his sister. Dex followed after her, his eyes locking on something. Stella looked past Rita, only to find a sight she ever wanted.
Ziggi’s dead body.
Her body bathed in her own blood spill, clumps of her hair knotting in her own bodily fluids. Her mouth was wide open, but no voice could be heard. Fresh cuts were all over her body, blood still flowing out. A bright crystallised powder was under her bloody nose, the blood clots dripping into the back of her throat. Tears pricked the corners of Stella’s eyes, bringing a hand to her mouth. There was nothing they could do, they were too late to save her.
“She’s… gone.” Dex whispered, too stunned to move.
Stella couldn’t bring herself to do anything, why did it have to turn out this way? Ziggi didn’t deserve any of this, she was a sweet innocent girl. Now here she was, dead on the floor of her own lab.
Suddenly, hate-filled words started to get aimed at Stella.
“This is all your fault, you stupid whore!
Penny told me what you and Dex were doing, you were too late! Why didn’t you stop her when you had the chance, I fucking hate you!” Rita yelled, her tear stained cheeks flaring up with anger.
“Rita, calm down! It’s not her fault, we-“ Dex started, but got cut off immediately.
“Shut the fuck up! You all think you’re so privileged huh!? With all your perks, you two thinks you can do anything! You and Stella wanted this to happen, didn’t you!? I saw you at Ziggi’s door, why didn’t you stop her!?” Rita continued to shout, jabbing an accusing finger at both Dex and Stella.
“You think we did this on purpose? Maybe if Ziggi didn’t do literal drugs, then maybe she wouldn’t be dead!” Stella argued back.
“And maybe if you knew that before, you could’ve stopped her! You let her die, this is your doing! You don’t deserve to be alive, you should’ve been in Ziggi’s place instead you greedy bitch!!” After screaming, Rita went back to sobbing. Her brother scowling at Stella and Dex, clearly he would take her side.
Stella was furious, how dare Rita talk to her like that? She balled up her fists and stepped towards her, getting ready to throw the first punch. Fortunately, Dex dragged her out of the lab before she could.
“What’s gotten into you? You normally calm yourself down, resorting to violence is not something you would do!” Dex let go of her, Stella crossing her arms.
“It’s just Rita, always getting on my nerves. Nothing new, she’s just annoying. She gets mad at me for discarding her weapons, and now she’s blaming me for Ziggi’s death? How dare she!” Stella spat, malice in every syllable of her sentence.
“Just take a few deep breaths and calm yourself down, this isn’t easy for any of us.” Stella wiped away her tears, sniffling. Dex was right, she couldn’t act like this. Ziggi’s dead body being found was a petrifying sight, everyone in Nexus was disturbed. Out of all those people, she had to be the one to get an autopsy report. Stella Guardia, the safety guard, had to do everything for this unfortunate event.
How could anyone ever recover?