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Part two
-Honeydew joined the game-
"I wonder who's online..." Simon asked himself, he checked his watch, it was quarter past 2 in the morning. Nobody should be on... But as he checked the server list of members, he noticed the little green light next to Xephos' name.
He turned on mumble, in case his friend was online by some chance. And he was. "Lewis?" He asked.
"Ah! Oh... Simon... Hi." Lewis answered. His friend had startled him.

Still trying to be nice despite being burdened by what is going on with him. We can't forget Lewis and Simon are best friends, and Lewis isn't the bad guy, despite how he is acting he's good, just tormented.

"You're up late." Simon said. Lewis sounded tired. Worn down.
"Yeah... Couldn't sleep."
There was a silence.
"Yourself?" Lewis asked.

Still caring for your friends and wanting them to be ok, despite being in peril yourself. Because you're a good guy, and the reason you're being so distant is BECAUSE you want to help your friends. I know it's an overused trope, but that's because it's a good one! It shows that we should still be routing for him despite him acting differently.

"Yeah same mate..."
Another silence.
"Well... While were here, how about we get some behind the scene stuff done?" Simon ventured.

Wanting to hang out with your friend.

"Can't... Sorry, busy with editing, only logged on for a couple of minutes..." Lewis answered, he didn't sound convincing.
"Oh... Well surely you could use a break?"
"I'm fine Simon, I'll speak later..." The raven haired man answered.
"Ok-"

Not believing your friend but letting him get on with it anyway, Simon is always a win!

Lewis left the mumble group.
"Bye..." Simon said to himself. He was worried about his friend. He sighed, going to move his character, and saw that Lewis was still typing in chat.

Finishing your sentence despite nobody being there to hear it. Plus, accidental exposition for Simon, but just rising more questions.
Xephos - /unlockfile2_b97
"2 b 9...?" Simon mumbled to himself.
Honeydew - lewis?
Xephos - yes?
Honeydew - what u doing?
Xephos - working on some server stuff. Nothing to worry about.

Fast reactions for lying, could show how much Lewis has had to lie recently, and how bad that is. We honestly get the feeling something bad is happening with Lewis, despite not knowing what, and we also want to help, like Simon, but don't know how. That's how we relate to Simon and the others, and that's how Lewis isn't just the 'main character' of this series.
Honeydew - alright... I'll see you tomorrow yeah?
Xephos - yh. Bye.
Simon shook his head and continued on his business around minecraft. Every so often there was a message from Lewis in the chat, to no one but himself. Maybe he was jotting down file names for later? So he could remember them?

Seeing the best in people. We all know Simon is gullible but he isn't stupid, he still tries to come up with a kind explanation as to why Lewis is doing the things he's doing. This is sooooo Simons character.

Simon didn't know, he decided to ignore them for now. His friends strange behaviour was worrying but it was probably for the best not to push him. He had gotten angry last time.
Finally once both of them had logged off, the ginger bearded man went to bed, pulling out his phone and messaging Duncan, Paul and Turps.

Sharing worries with your friends
Simon - 'Does anyone know the server stuff for minecraft that involves files?'
Paul - 'you mean like mod packs and texture packs?'
Turps - 'you're gonna have to be more specific Simon'

Trying to be helpful
Simon - 'ok is there a server command called '/unlockfile2_b97'?'
There was a moment where there were no answers.
Duncan - 'well I have no clue what you're talking about...'

Honesty
Simon - 'do any of you?'
Turps - 'after doing set ups for the servers I have to tell you that doesn't sound like a command that would be available.'
Paul - 'I know for sure that isn't in the game...'

Despite Sjin being seen as the gullible troll, who doesn't really know what he's doing and is fairly innocent, Sjin actually knows what he's talking about and is quite smart. Though he follows Sips most of the time with the banter and jokes, he is beginning to see how bad the situation is getting. Sooo, character depth!
Duncan - 'why do you ask?'
Simon - 'Lewis stuff again.'

Everybody automatically knows what he's talking about without needing explanation, and the fact that it's said so casually as well. Seen as we have inside knowledge that these guys don't about what Dark can do, we sort of know what is happening and these guys don't, which makes it all the more impactful that they don't need explanation as to what's happenin as they've all experienced it themselves.
Paul - 'so you spoke to him?'
Simon - 'not for very long, I don't think its anything to worry about, but he is up pretty late.'
Duncan - 'yeah why is everyone up so late?'
Simon - 'couldn't sleep'
Paul - 'same, kept getting the feeling someone was watching me or something...'
Turps - 'same...'
Duncan - 'I'm sure its fine. Anyway, see you guys tomorrow.'
Everyone said their farewells and they all laid down to sleep. Strange... Everyone else felt the same way Simon did. He ignored it and closed his eyes.

Setting up even more of a darker undertone to the series, as we see that the others are being watched. It also play into the fear that we have as humans that we're constantly being watched, or when we get the feeling we chalk it down to paranoia. None of them realise why they feel this and that just makes this piece all the more creepy.

------------
Xephos - /readfile297b
Com's - access granted
"Finally..." Lewis sighed and clicked on the file to open it.
'Planet - Earth
70% water, 30% earth.
Molten core.
Light cycle of the sun, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year.
525,600 minutes a year.
60 seconds in a minute.
Time on calendar scale, based around Mayan calendar.
7.4 billion people.
196 countries.
50 states.
68 cities in united kingdom.
Subjects -
Link to Tektopia, Minecraftia, Hexington, and Voltia.
Including various others.
Link to worlds.
Electronic links.
End written log.'
Lewis raised an eyebrow. "What the...?" He asked himself, before closing the document and naming it something easier to remember.

We feel the same as Lewis in this situation, this is the first piece of information we've gotten from the files, and we don't understand what it's about or why it's written. At this part we're just as clueless as Lewis and it helps us connect with him, and also develops the mystery further.

'Written log - 1'
"Ok... One down..." He sighed and continued through different commands on different games and different websites, seeing what would work.

We immediately get the sense of how tedious and gargantuan this task is, and why he is up so late at night still working on it. It also shows just how 'scared' Lewis is of Dark, as he doesn't stop working most of the time on this.
Xephos - /openfile739
Com's - access granted
"OK... Next one..." Lewis said to himself and opened the now unlocked file.
Com's - play subtitles with dialogue file? y/n
Xephos - y
'Day 001 -
My name's... Well my names not that important. They've just told me I should keep a dialogue while I'm here... And they've given me a recorder to say things into... I don't really get the point to be honest... *sighs*...'

Introducing a new, mysterious character again. We don't know is this character will be important or not yet, but we can get the sense that a fair few of their logs are about them. With the addition of a few new characters, we still don't get overwhelmed because there's not too much information given about them.
There was a silence in the recording and Lewis turned the volume in his headphones up so he could pay attention.

Actually interested in what the bad guy has told you to do. Showing Lewis's curious nature.

'So its my first day, I don't know what I'm doing really... I'm not exactly the most experienced personnel that's here. They bought a few upperclassmen along, because we did so well in our combat tests and written reports... I really didn't think I'd do well but there you go. Um... So today the doctors gonna show me around the facility? Apparently its some form of prison, where mad people are kept. Like you know really fucking insane people.'

We immediately get the sense of mystery about this 'doctor' guy, we don't even get a name, this could raise suspicion as well. As I said before about the no nae tropes for bad guys. However we don't know this exclusively, it's just down to interpretation at this point. Still, another new character in the same part, and most of the mystery characters in this series are unknown and mysterious. We already know more about this new person than we do about Dark.
Lewis raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

Having a slight sense of humour while also scoffing at the use of terminology, good morals especially with what's going on around him. Lewis is always a win.
'So they took us away from our home planet and sent us here... Everyone else has training for this, I mean... Everyone but me and a couple of other people. There's me, RaYlo, and Barx. And that's it, so were each supposed to be on different levels and stuff? Work with the doctor and the more... Safer patients... I don't know. Either way the doctors gonna be here in a couple of hours so I guess I need to try and sleep. This place seems a little too clean for my liking... Oh well, I'm sure I'll settle in soon. *sighs*... End of log.'

From this characters way of talking we get the fact that he thinks recording these audio logs is stupid, so character insight.
Com's - end of file. Play next dialogue? y/n
Xephos - y
Com's - error, file encrypted. Please unlock. Continue? y/n
Xephos - n
-Xephos left the game-
Lewis sat for a moment in silence before closing his laptop and putting it to one side. He furrowed his brows before shaking his head slightly, that was... Strange to say the least. He sighed and figured he'd try more tomorrow, after all, at this point it was 5am. And he would have to be at work early tomorrow, like usual. He sighed and lay down, turning off his lamp and curling up to sleep. He opened his eyes and looked to the window, spotting the dark shadow that stood outside near the end of his garden. He sighed and turned over, pulling his covers further up like a child.
"Go away..." He murmured, letting sleep overtake him.

This is serious character development, we can see that Lewis is used to this stuff. Not only does he choose to ignore the mysterious figure, he also doesn't question too much about the fact the person spoke of 'being sent to a different planet'. We can assume Lewis ahs seen to much from Dark, and while he is still cynical and down to earth, we get the sense he is more open minded now. So character development, and it still shows that we need to wait to see if it's a good development or not.
Also Lewis acting like a child and hiding under the covers and making a joke is also a character win, and shows that while he's getting sued to Dark, he's still somewhat scared.

------------
Mark got up, stretching and switching his alarm clock off.

Switching character perspective as to not get too samey with the story. Plus a character we don't usually get the perspective of. Turps is great, but it's cool to see his boring getting ready in the morning routine.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair and looking to his wife. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek, slowly and quietly getting up so that he didn't wake her.
He had a shower, did his hair, and then grabbed some clothes. After getting changed he checked his phone.
2 new messages
Simon - sorry about last night, hope I didn't keep you up too late

Did I mention Simon is always a win? Seriously the amount he cares about his friends, and in a way that parallels Lewis. Dark must have really considered which 'main' member to go for before choosing Lewis. Simon would have gotten angry and would have told the others where as Lewis isolates himself because of how he is. The two have different ways of protecting their friends and that adds such a unique feel to each character.
Paul (group message) - I logged onto minecraft last night and saw Lewis typing a bunch of random stuff into the chat? He was the only one online as well. And there was some bot or something called 'com's'? I don't really know. We'll talk about it later.

Checking up on your friends.
Mark sighed and grabbed a coffee, putting it into his flask and leaving for Yogtowers. On the way he stopped off in the coffee shop and ordered a tea to go. Before getting a bagel and heading to work, he walked up the stairs, yawning as he went, and spotted the raven haired man down the corridor, heading into the common room. He hadn't locked himself in his room yet.

This shows how normal it has become for Lewis to be isolated, and elevated the reasoning behind why everyone thinks he's depressed, as he's showing all the signs, even though he's just trying to protect them by causing himself pain in multiple ways.

Mark celebrated in his head and made his way to the kitchen, making the bagel and stirring the tea.

Mark celebrating in his head is a great adorable image I'm sure we'd all like to see.

He then put the bagel on a plate and sighed, looking at what he'd made. He picked it up and made his way into the common room, looking around and spotting Lewis sat at the table that was to one side, asleep with his head down on the desk.
Mark chuckled and carefully placed the plate down on the table along with his boss' drink. The raven haired man suddenly awoke, sleepily looking up and wiping his eyes.
"Well, you look like shit." Mark said, sitting down and smirking.

Honesty!

"I know..." Lewis answered.

Accepting when you don't look your best, plus it's good to see that Lewis isn't pushing his friends away at this point in time and is just sorta accepting that they're gonna say things like that. So acceptance win?

"You're here early? Even for you." Mark pushed the plate closer to his boss, who looked down at the bagel and tea. He grabbed the cup of tea and sipped at it. Letting the warmth fill him.
"Couldn't sleep at home..." Lewis answered, sipping more tea and thinking of the shadow he had seen. They were getting closer...

Small ominous detailing that quickly gets looked over, adding more tenseness to the story as a whole, especially around these unknown figures and Dark himself.

"Well, here's your breakfast because I know you've been skipping out, and your tea. And if you want me to get you some lunch later just let me know. Though I think we're going to five guys for lunch today."

Caring for your friends! Way to go Turps.

Lewis stood. "No thanks..." He walked to the door, carrying the tea with him.
"Lewis..." Mark said, quickly turning to him. The raven haired man stopped and looked back at Mark. "We're all worried about you..." He said, sincerely, honestly.

Attempting to get through to him, despite knowing the others have tried. But hoping good, old fashioned, honesty and sincerity will help.

There was a moments silence, and Lewis looked down at his drink before looking back up, sympathetically.
"I just..." Lewis said, not sure what to say to make sure his friends knew he wasn't doing what he was doing to worry them... He was doing it to protect them.

And it worked! From this interaction we see the conflict Lewis is going through at the moment, not only is he fighting with Dark, he's fighting internally with himself. On one hand he wants the help, on the other he needs to keep them safe. He just wants them to understand without explaining it himself.

Mark stood and walked over "you can tell me what's going on you know..."
"Its fine..." Lewis said, almost too quietly. Worried about what would happen if he did tell someone. His voice broke slightly and he looked down.
"Lewis...?" Mark asked again. His voice was kind.

We really get a feel for how these two interact, Mark's usual happy go lucky demeanour has switched to the caring tone a parent would probably hold. While we suddenly feel terrible for Lewis, it's clear how much this is effecting him and yet he's only just letting it show. And immediately tries to take it back.

"I... I don't know what to do..." Lewis said, his voice cracking and tears welling in his eyes. Mark looked shocked.
"Its alright, what's going on? What's upsetting you so much? Why don't you know what to do...?" He asked.
Lewis looked up at his suddenly and sniffed. Shaking himself back to putting up a wall to keep Mark and everyone else out. Lest they get hurt.

And just like that he retreats again and builds the walls back up, its sad to see and we just want to help ourselves at this point. We are seeing through Mark's perspective, 'Lewis is upset, omg he's almost crying, is eh gonna tell me'? and then immediate withdrawal and containment of the emotions. It also shows that perhaps Mark thinks he asked too many questions all at once and scared him? Lewis just wants to protect his friends and he realises this and changes his attitude before Turps can help further. It's just such a Lewis thing to do and it really can be heart-breaking to read, especially if you can imagine this interaction going down.

"Nothing. Its fine. I have some work to do..." Lewis said, turning and walking out, walking to his room and locking himself in his room.

And again back to the Yoglabs side of himself. We can really see the conflict he's going through and the inner turmoil becomes too much.

He sighed, his voice quivering as he rested his back against the door to his office, looking at the dark room. He put his hand to the light switch, his back still to the door, but didn't flick it. He felt the tears welling and couldn't stop them. And he slid down the door, curling up and letting the tears silently fall.

From this we get the sense of isolation he's feeling. He wants to turn on the light but can't. The darkness represents Dark himself and the symbolism describes this story too well. And we finally see him break down, but once again, it's not in front of anyone else, he's alone, he's made himself alone. He just wants to protect people, and yet he can't protect himself well enough to. The character arc in this story is one of the best I've written, and I think this was the point where the Foxlings began to really get involved with this story.

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Part two
-Honeydew joined the game-
"I wonder who's online..." Simon asked himself, he checked his watch, it was quarter past 2 in the morning. Nobody should be on... But as he checked the server list of members, he noticed the little green light next to Xephos' name.
He turned on mumble, in case his friend was online by some chance. And he was. "Lewis?" He asked.
"Ah! Oh... Simon... Hi." Lewis answered. His friend had startled him.

Still trying to be nice despite being burdened by what is going on with him. We can't forget Lewis and Simon are best friends, and Lewis isn't the bad guy, despite how he is acting he's good, just tormented.

"You're up late." Simon said. Lewis sounded tired. Worn down.
"Yeah... Couldn't sleep."
There was a silence.
"Yourself?" Lewis asked.

Still caring for your friends and wanting them to be ok, despite being in peril yourself. Because you're a good guy, and the reason you're being so distant is BECAUSE you want to help your friends. I know it's an overused trope, but that's because it's a good one! It shows that we should still be routing for him despite him acting differently.

"Yeah same mate..."
Another silence.
"Well... While were here, how about we get some behind the scene stuff done?" Simon ventured.

Wanting to hang out with your friend.

"Can't... Sorry, busy with editing, only logged on for a couple of minutes..." Lewis answered, he didn't sound convincing.
"Oh... Well surely you could use a break?"
"I'm fine Simon, I'll speak later..." The raven haired man answered.
"Ok-"

Not believing your friend but letting him get on with it anyway, Simon is always a win!

Lewis left the mumble group.
"Bye..." Simon said to himself. He was worried about his friend. He sighed, going to move his character, and saw that Lewis was still typing in chat.

Finishing your sentence despite nobody being there to hear it. Plus, accidental exposition for Simon, but just rising more questions.
Xephos - /unlockfile2_b97
"2 b 9...?" Simon mumbled to himself.
Honeydew - lewis?
Xephos - yes?
Honeydew - what u doing?
Xephos - working on some server stuff. Nothing to worry about.

Fast reactions for lying, could show how much Lewis has had to lie recently, and how bad that is. We honestly get the feeling something bad is happening with Lewis, despite not knowing what, and we also want to help, like Simon, but don't know how. That's how we relate to Simon and the others, and that's how Lewis isn't just the 'main character' of this series.
Honeydew - alright... I'll see you tomorrow yeah?
Xephos - yh. Bye.
Simon shook his head and continued on his business around minecraft. Every so often there was a message from Lewis in the chat, to no one but himself. Maybe he was jotting down file names for later? So he could remember them?

Seeing the best in people. We all know Simon is gullible but he isn't stupid, he still tries to come up with a kind explanation as to why Lewis is doing the things he's doing. This is sooooo Simons character.

Simon didn't know, he decided to ignore them for now. His friends strange behaviour was worrying but it was probably for the best not to push him. He had gotten angry last time.
Finally once both of them had logged off, the ginger bearded man went to bed, pulling out his phone and messaging Duncan, Paul and Turps.

Sharing worries with your friends
Simon - 'Does anyone know the server stuff for minecraft that involves files?'
Paul - 'you mean like mod packs and texture packs?'
Turps - 'you're gonna have to be more specific Simon'

Trying to be helpful
Simon - 'ok is there a server command called '/unlockfile2_b97'?'
There was a moment where there were no answers.
Duncan - 'well I have no clue what you're talking about...'

Honesty
Simon - 'do any of you?'
Turps - 'after doing set ups for the servers I have to tell you that doesn't sound like a command that would be available.'
Paul - 'I know for sure that isn't in the game...'

Despite Sjin being seen as the gullible troll, who doesn't really know what he's doing and is fairly innocent, Sjin actually knows what he's talking about and is quite smart. Though he follows Sips most of the time with the banter and jokes, he is beginning to see how bad the situation is getting. Sooo, character depth!
Duncan - 'why do you ask?'
Simon - 'Lewis stuff again.'

Everybody automatically knows what he's talking about without needing explanation, and the fact that it's said so casually as well. Seen as we have inside knowledge that these guys don't about what Dark can do, we sort of know what is happening and these guys don't, which makes it all the more impactful that they don't need explanation as to what's happenin as they've all experienced it themselves.
Paul - 'so you spoke to him?'
Simon - 'not for very long, I don't think its anything to worry about, but he is up pretty late.'
Duncan - 'yeah why is everyone up so late?'
Simon - 'couldn't sleep'
Paul - 'same, kept getting the feeling someone was watching me or something...'
Turps - 'same...'
Duncan - 'I'm sure its fine. Anyway, see you guys tomorrow.'
Everyone said their farewells and they all laid down to sleep. Strange... Everyone else felt the same way Simon did. He ignored it and closed his eyes.

Setting up even more of a darker undertone to the series, as we see that the others are being watched. It also play into the fear that we have as humans that we're constantly being watched, or when we get the feeling we chalk it down to paranoia. None of them realise why they feel this and that just makes this piece all the more creepy.

------------
Xephos - /readfile297b
Com's - access granted
"Finally..." Lewis sighed and clicked on the file to open it.
'Planet - Earth
70% water, 30% earth.
Molten core.
Light cycle of the sun, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year.
525,600 minutes a year.
60 seconds in a minute.
Time on calendar scale, based around Mayan calendar.
7.4 billion people.
196 countries.
50 states.
68 cities in united kingdom.
Subjects -
Link to Tektopia, Minecraftia, Hexington, and Voltia.
Including various others.
Link to worlds.
Electronic links.
End written log.'
Lewis raised an eyebrow. "What the...?" He asked himself, before closing the document and naming it something easier to remember.

We feel the same as Lewis in this situation, this is the first piece of information we've gotten from the files, and we don't understand what it's about or why it's written. At this part we're just as clueless as Lewis and it helps us connect with him, and also develops the mystery further.

'Written log - 1'
"Ok... One down..." He sighed and continued through different commands on different games and different websites, seeing what would work.

We immediately get the sense of how tedious and gargantuan this task is, and why he is up so late at night still working on it. It also shows just how 'scared' Lewis is of Dark, as he doesn't stop working most of the time on this.
Xephos - /openfile739
Com's - access granted
"OK... Next one..." Lewis said to himself and opened the now unlocked file.
Com's - play subtitles with dialogue file? y/n
Xephos - y
'Day 001 -
My name's... Well my names not that important. They've just told me I should keep a dialogue while I'm here... And they've given me a recorder to say things into... I don't really get the point to be honest... *sighs*...'

Introducing a new, mysterious character again. We don't know is this character will be important or not yet, but we can get the sense that a fair few of their logs are about them. With the addition of a few new characters, we still don't get overwhelmed because there's not too much information given about them.
There was a silence in the recording and Lewis turned the volume in his headphones up so he could pay attention.

Actually interested in what the bad guy has told you to do. Showing Lewis's curious nature.

'So its my first day, I don't know what I'm doing really... I'm not exactly the most experienced personnel that's here. They bought a few upperclassmen along, because we did so well in our combat tests and written reports... I really didn't think I'd do well but there you go. Um... So today the doctors gonna show me around the facility? Apparently its some form of prison, where mad people are kept. Like you know really fucking insane people.'

We immediately get the sense of mystery about this 'doctor' guy, we don't even get a name, this could raise suspicion as well. As I said before about the no nae tropes for bad guys. However we don't know this exclusively, it's just down to interpretation at this point. Still, another new character in the same part, and most of the mystery characters in this series are unknown and mysterious. We already know more about this new person than we do about Dark.
Lewis raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

Having a slight sense of humour while also scoffing at the use of terminology, good morals especially with what's going on around him. Lewis is always a win.
'So they took us away from our home planet and sent us here... Everyone else has training for this, I mean... Everyone but me and a couple of other people. There's me, RaYlo, and Barx. And that's it, so were each supposed to be on different levels and stuff? Work with the doctor and the more... Safer patients... I don't know. Either way the doctors gonna be here in a couple of hours so I guess I need to try and sleep. This place seems a little too clean for my liking... Oh well, I'm sure I'll settle in soon. *sighs*... End of log.'

From this characters way of talking we get the fact that he thinks recording these audio logs is stupid, so character insight.
Com's - end of file. Play next dialogue? y/n
Xephos - y
Com's - error, file encrypted. Please unlock. Continue? y/n
Xephos - n
-Xephos left the game-
Lewis sat for a moment in silence before closing his laptop and putting it to one side. He furrowed his brows before shaking his head slightly, that was... Strange to say the least. He sighed and figured he'd try more tomorrow, after all, at this point it was 5am. And he would have to be at work early tomorrow, like usual. He sighed and lay down, turning off his lamp and curling up to sleep. He opened his eyes and looked to the window, spotting the dark shadow that stood outside near the end of his garden. He sighed and turned over, pulling his covers further up like a child.
"Go away..." He murmured, letting sleep overtake him.

This is serious character development, we can see that Lewis is used to this stuff. Not only does he choose to ignore the mysterious figure, he also doesn't question too much about the fact the person spoke of 'being sent to a different planet'. We can assume Lewis ahs seen to much from Dark, and while he is still cynical and down to earth, we get the sense he is more open minded now. So character development, and it still shows that we need to wait to see if it's a good development or not.
Also Lewis acting like a child and hiding under the covers and making a joke is also a character win, and shows that while he's getting sued to Dark, he's still somewhat scared.

------------
Mark got up, stretching and switching his alarm clock off.

Switching character perspective as to not get too samey with the story. Plus a character we don't usually get the perspective of. Turps is great, but it's cool to see his boring getting ready in the morning routine.

He sighed, running his hand through his hair and looking to his wife. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek, slowly and quietly getting up so that he didn't wake her.
He had a shower, did his hair, and then grabbed some clothes. After getting changed he checked his phone.
2 new messages
Simon - sorry about last night, hope I didn't keep you up too late

Did I mention Simon is always a win? Seriously the amount he cares about his friends, and in a way that parallels Lewis. Dark must have really considered which 'main' member to go for before choosing Lewis. Simon would have gotten angry and would have told the others where as Lewis isolates himself because of how he is. The two have different ways of protecting their friends and that adds such a unique feel to each character.
Paul (group message) - I logged onto minecraft last night and saw Lewis typing a bunch of random stuff into the chat? He was the only one online as well. And there was some bot or something called 'com's'? I don't really know. We'll talk about it later.

Checking up on your friends.
Mark sighed and grabbed a coffee, putting it into his flask and leaving for Yogtowers. On the way he stopped off in the coffee shop and ordered a tea to go. Before getting a bagel and heading to work, he walked up the stairs, yawning as he went, and spotted the raven haired man down the corridor, heading into the common room. He hadn't locked himself in his room yet.

This shows how normal it has become for Lewis to be isolated, and elevated the reasoning behind why everyone thinks he's depressed, as he's showing all the signs, even though he's just trying to protect them by causing himself pain in multiple ways.

Mark celebrated in his head and made his way to the kitchen, making the bagel and stirring the tea.

Mark celebrating in his head is a great adorable image I'm sure we'd all like to see.

He then put the bagel on a plate and sighed, looking at what he'd made. He picked it up and made his way into the common room, looking around and spotting Lewis sat at the table that was to one side, asleep with his head down on the desk.
Mark chuckled and carefully placed the plate down on the table along with his boss' drink. The raven haired man suddenly awoke, sleepily looking up and wiping his eyes.
"Well, you look like shit." Mark said, sitting down and smirking.

Honesty!

"I know..." Lewis answered.

Accepting when you don't look your best, plus it's good to see that Lewis isn't pushing his friends away at this point in time and is just sorta accepting that they're gonna say things like that. So acceptance win?

"You're here early? Even for you." Mark pushed the plate closer to his boss, who looked down at the bagel and tea. He grabbed the cup of tea and sipped at it. Letting the warmth fill him.
"Couldn't sleep at home..." Lewis answered, sipping more tea and thinking of the shadow he had seen. They were getting closer...

Small ominous detailing that quickly gets looked over, adding more tenseness to the story as a whole, especially around these unknown figures and Dark himself.

"Well, here's your breakfast because I know you've been skipping out, and your tea. And if you want me to get you some lunch later just let me know. Though I think we're going to five guys for lunch today."

Caring for your friends! Way to go Turps.

Lewis stood. "No thanks..." He walked to the door, carrying the tea with him.
"Lewis..." Mark said, quickly turning to him. The raven haired man stopped and looked back at Mark. "We're all worried about you..." He said, sincerely, honestly.

Attempting to get through to him, despite knowing the others have tried. But hoping good, old fashioned, honesty and sincerity will help.

There was a moments silence, and Lewis looked down at his drink before looking back up, sympathetically.
"I just..." Lewis said, not sure what to say to make sure his friends knew he wasn't doing what he was doing to worry them... He was doing it to protect them.

And it worked! From this interaction we see the conflict Lewis is going through at the moment, not only is he fighting with Dark, he's fighting internally with himself. On one hand he wants the help, on the other he needs to keep them safe. He just wants them to understand without explaining it himself.

Mark stood and walked over "you can tell me what's going on you know..."
"Its fine..." Lewis said, almost too quietly. Worried about what would happen if he did tell someone. His voice broke slightly and he looked down.
"Lewis...?" Mark asked again. His voice was kind.

We really get a feel for how these two interact, Mark's usual happy go lucky demeanour has switched to the caring tone a parent would probably hold. While we suddenly feel terrible for Lewis, it's clear how much this is effecting him and yet he's only just letting it show. And immediately tries to take it back.

"I... I don't know what to do..." Lewis said, his voice cracking and tears welling in his eyes. Mark looked shocked.
"Its alright, what's going on? What's upsetting you so much? Why don't you know what to do...?" He asked.
Lewis looked up at his suddenly and sniffed. Shaking himself back to putting up a wall to keep Mark and everyone else out. Lest they get hurt.

And just like that he retreats again and builds the walls back up, its sad to see and we just want to help ourselves at this point. We are seeing through Mark's perspective, 'Lewis is upset, omg he's almost crying, is eh gonna tell me'? and then immediate withdrawal and containment of the emotions. It also shows that perhaps Mark thinks he asked too many questions all at once and scared him? Lewis just wants to protect his friends and he realises this and changes his attitude before Turps can help further. It's just such a Lewis thing to do and it really can be heart-breaking to read, especially if you can imagine this interaction going down.

"Nothing. Its fine. I have some work to do..." Lewis said, turning and walking out, walking to his room and locking himself in his room.

And again back to the Yoglabs side of himself. We can really see the conflict he's going through and the inner turmoil becomes too much.

He sighed, his voice quivering as he rested his back against the door to his office, looking at the dark room. He put his hand to the light switch, his back still to the door, but didn't flick it. He felt the tears welling and couldn't stop them. And he slid down the door, curling up and letting the tears silently fall.

From this we get the sense of isolation he's feeling. He wants to turn on the light but can't. The darkness represents Dark himself and the symbolism describes this story too well. And we finally see him break down, but once again, it's not in front of anyone else, he's alone, he's made himself alone. He just wants to protect people, and yet he can't protect himself well enough to. The character arc in this story is one of the best I've written, and I think this was the point where the Foxlings began to really get involved with this story.