Chapter Text
The capital was nothing like he had imagined.
The moment Wemmbu stepped through the gates, the noise swallowed him whole. Hundreds of voices filled the streets, which was kind of overstimulating for him. He had only lived in the quiet forest for a months before being taken in by the brothers. Despite the brothers bickering almost every single day. It was still somewhat calm compared to hundreds of people talking and overlapping one another.
“Dude today is such a bad day to come here” Flame said from behind Wemmbu and Mane.
“Bro how was I supposed to know the guardian of the End was supposed to come today bro.” Mane said, guiding the trio to the children's clothing store.
“Hold tight onto me kay?” Wemmbu nodded while holding Mane's arm tighter. He had gotten off his shoulder once they entered the city since it’ll be nice to walk this time. Also since his butt was starting to hurt.
After walking for a bit, they finally arrived at the clothing store. It’s really big. Inside there was a vast variety of clothing ranging from infants all the way to pre-teen.
Walking around the store there’s this really nice black and purple t-shirt with some sort of end aesthetic on it. Wemmbu tugged on Mane's arm and pointed towards the shirt that was hanging in the racks.
“You like that one?” Mane asked, glancing down at him. The dark shades of black and purple mixed together in a way suits Wemmbu perfectly!
Wemmbu nodded quickly, his fingers still lightly gripping Mane’s sleeve.
“Yoo look at this one bro!” Flame suddenly appeared right in front of them. He was holding a deep purple zip up sweater that had sheepskin lining on the inside.
“Bro, it's perfect for the upcoming winter! I completely forgot about winter supplies for the kid.”
“Dude grab some more zip up hoodies or sweaters” Mane said as he grabbed the previous t-shirt and grabbed some more plain t’s and a few pants.
In the end it looks like they bought out the whole store with how much items they have. A few plain t’s, warm zip up hoodies, a few thin sweaters,trousers, sweatpants, shorts and shoes.
“Dude ain’t this a bit too much?” Flame asked while holding onto a few bags of clothes. The total cost for everything was a stack of netherite block…
“Nah nah dude he needs this” Mane said happily. His cub is finally getting some clothes and shoes that finally fit him. Now he doesn't have to pin and tie the clothes anymore!
But damn there's a lot of bags. Maybe he did kind of go overboard on the clothes shopping.
Wemmbu looked down at his new clothes peeking out from one of the bags. The fabric was softer than anything he had wore before, and the shoes sitting neatly in their box were actually his size.
“Plum walk in front of me. I don’t want you getting lost.”
Wemmbu nodded and came closer towards Mane, coming up close to his side.
“Do you guys wanna go to the cafe near the outskirts of the city?” Flame asked.
“Is it the nice cafe that sells those nice fraisier cake?” Mane asked.
Flame nodded, hands tucked into his pockets. “Yeah. It’s not too far from here. It’s pretty quiet too so it’s perfect for Plum”
Plum’s ears perked up slightly at the mention of food, his stomach slightly growling.
Mane noticed anyway.
“Looks like someone’s hungry.”.
Flame chuckled. “They have a lot of food that you can try Plum. “
The cafe wasn’t that far from the clothing store. Just a few miles away.
Almost reaching the border of the city, Wemmbu could see there was this tiny corner shop quietly tucked away in the corner. It wasn’t anything special, it was covered with hanging vines,the balcony was decorated with flower pots, and there were also cats hanging around on the table outside.
A small bell rang as Flame pushed open the door. The inside has less people than Wemmbu expected. There were the employees at the counter stalking up freshly baked pastries into the display shelves. There were also colourful glass bottles on top of the display shelves.
“Welcome!”
“What can I get for you?” The employee asked.
“Yea can I get…”
The dragon hybrid looked at the menu that was hanging behind the counter. He knows none of the items on the menu. Like what the hell mont-blanc.
Wemmbu just decided to check out the pastries that were on display. There’s this one big, from his perspective, round pastry that has this golden shell and there was cream coming out from the sides.
Creampuff..?
Hey, that looks good.
He tugged on Mane’s pants and pointed towards the creampuff.
“You want that one Plum?” Wemmbu nodded as his tail twitched from excitement.
“Aight, miss 4 creampuffs….”
Oh the creampuff is really really sweet, and it’s so soft too. This might be his favourite thing yet! And grabbed the whole thing in his palm and shoved it inside his mouth, the cream smearing a bit on his cheeks.
“Don’t shove the whole thing in your mouth, the whole creampuff is the size of your hand.” Mane chuckled as he wiped the cream off his cheeks.
“Bro he looks like a child that has been depraved from sugar.” Flame laughed.
“Here try a bit of the chocolate milkshake” Flame handed the tall glass towards Wemmbu. He wonders how they managed to turn chocolate into a drink.
Oh this is really good
Wemmbu started to gulp down almost the entire thing before he felt a sharp coldness suddenly appear at the back of his head.
He immediately pulled away, almost dropping the glass before Mane caught it, and he let out a sharp wince at the paint. Holding onto the back of his head.
“This is why you don’t drink cold drinks too fast, you’re gonna get a brain freeze.” Mane lightly scolded him.
Oh
He doesn’t like it when the drinks hurt him.
Yea he decided he doesn't like chocolate milk anymore.
“Do you still want more Plum?” Mane asked while holding out the milkshake towards him.
He shook his head, gently pushing the glass back towards him. His eyes are watering a bit from the sudden pain.
Mane chuckled softly. “Alright, no more then. Don’t want you getting another brain freeze.”
Mane helped Wemmbu drink a warm glass of plain water. It helped soothe a bit of the freezing at the back of his head.
“Aight let’s get going, it's almost dark.”
Wemmbu glanced out of the window, he could see the warm glow of the setting sun had begun to fade, painting the streets in shades of orange and purple. The city that once buzzed with activity was slowly becoming quieter, with shopkeepers starting to close their stalls and lights flickering on one by one.
The trio were walking along the road, the street lamp flickering above them. They walked past a pub with quite a lot of people. It smells really gross to be honest.
At the alleyway near the pub, he saw a boy that looked to be a year or so older than him. He has short white hair with blue highlights that matches his eye, but he can only see one of his eyes since the other one is hidden behind his hair.
He looks to be an angel because of his beautiful long white wings that brushes the stone path and a faintly glowing halo above his head.
Hrm
He kind of reminds him of his stuffed cat.
He started to walk again before suddenly realising his big brothers were gone…
Oh
Oh shit
Wemmbu froze in place. Did they leave him? They won’t do that right…? After everything they did to him they won’t just leave him like this. Especially in a place like this.
“Mane.. Flame..?”
Plum’s ears lowered as he turned in a small circle, desperately trying to spot them. The thought of being alone after being attached to his big brother makes him want to cry.
He wandered around the city trying to find his brothers in the big city. He can’t even find his way around the place, this is the first time since forever being inside the city.
“Hey are you lost?” The teen he had seen earlier is standing right in front of him. He just realised he’s quite tall, especially for someone his age. He towered over him,making Wemmbu have to tilt his head back slightly to look at him.
“I saw you round the same block a few times”
His tail curling in on his legs, the tuff of his tail slightly twitching out of anxiety.
“Did you lose your parents?” The boy asked.
“No.. big brothers..” Wemmbu whispered, he was still getting used to his own voice.
“Your big brothers?” he repeated, lowering himself a little so he wasn’t towering over Wemmbu as much.
“What do they look like?”
“Uhm.. both tall, one tiger, one lion.. “ oh this is so embarrassing, he can’t get his words out.
“Don’t worry my guardian can help find your big brothers!” The boy exclaimed.
Mane is panicking really bad, his instinct making him go haywire.The moment Mane realised Wemmbu was gone, his heart raced as every protective instinct inside him demanded that he find him, immediately.
He can’t believe he’s halfway home before finally noticing. His cub had been missing this whole time, and he hadn’t even realised.
A horrible wave of guilt washed over him as he turned around, his steps quickening into a desperate run. His mind replayed every moment from earlier, trying to figure out when he could have lost sight of him.
Flame had never seen Mane like this before.
The moment Mane realised Wemmbu was gone, he immediately started to panic, which is the first thing you're not supposed to do when your little brother is missing . His breathing became uneven, his eyes darting around as if Wemmbu might suddenly appear if he searched hard enough. His instincts had kicked in, completely overwhelming him.
Still
He couldn’t believe it either. They were already halfway home before they both finally realised. How had they gone that far without realising Wemmbu wasn’t with them?
Mane’s expression twisted with guilt and fear, his mind clearly running through every possible moment where he could have lost track of him
“Mane…” Flame called softly, trying to get his attention.
But Mane barely seemed to hear him. All he could think about was finding his cub. Mane suddenly dropped the bags that he was carrying and just started running back towards the capital.
“Mane wait!” Flame called out..
…
Too late..
Damn and it’s night time to..
This is going to be one long night.