Chapter Text
Dean paused. "Oh, it's Parrot." Maybe he should have guessed that. Maybe he should have, but of course he didn't.
Dove stared as Parrot's invis went out, then placed a sign. "What are you doing here?"
"I followed you." Well. Obviously. "This is your base, right? Did you build all of this?"
"This is mine. Cube built the machines and decorations." Which was true, but Dean almost worried he said too much.
"…Cube," Parrot mumbled, not helping.
Parrot was silent, so Dean went ahead and edited the sign again. "So why did you follow me?"
Parrot looked up. "You aren't upset that I followed you and found your base?"
"Idk. Do whatever you want."
Parrot stared for a moment, before finally speaking.
"…I read the signs. Back when you were talking to Saparata." Oh shoot. "Are planning to join Cindercrest?"
"Uh, Wifies? I think you got exposed." Dean glanced back at the person behind him.
Wifies hummed. "Tell him that we aren't, and we only lied to Saparata in order to get away safely."
Dean frowned. Another lie. He edited the sign. "I was going to, but I was planning on join them to get information." Another sign. "I would never betray you."
"What?" Wifies sat up. "Yo. Dean, what are you doing?"
"…If that's true, why didn't you tell me?" He didn't sound horribly surprised by the response. "What were you going to use the information for?"
Dove removed all the signs, then added a new one. "I wanted to handle it. Defeating Cindercrest from the inside. On my own. I didn't want to stress you out."
"Dean, genuinely. What are you doing?"
"And you promise that's true?" Parrot asked.
"Yes."
"…okay. I believe you." Parrot threw out something. Dove went to pick it up, and found that it was his elytra. Parrot put on the other one. "Do what you need to. But please, bro. Tell me next time. You had me stressing."
He flew away.
Dean breathed out, then turned in his chair. Wifies stared, but he didn't lash out or get upset like Dean expected. He sat back down, calculating.
"…I don't want to lie to him anymore. Uh, at least, not with this," Dean finally said. "We can trust him to do the right thing. And we can help."
"Fine. It's fine, Dean. I'm not upset." Dean deflated with relief. Wifies continued. "You think he won't interfere?"
"Probably."
"Then yeah. It’s fine." Wifies exhaled, dropping his head. "You're right. I should trust him more. Honestly, I wasn't expecting Parrot's reaction either. I thought he was definitely going to…" Dean tilted his head. "…Nevermind, bro."
Whatever. "What do we do now? Delivery service?" Dean didn't want to do that. He didn't know how he kept ending up in control whenever they had to travel a very long distance— parkour god knows his navigation sucks. He was starting to think Wifies planned it out so he'd have to walk.
Wifies shook his head, standing up. "Nah, let's switch out. I got other plans."
Dean blinked.
He pushed the seat back and swapped places much more efficiently than the first few times. Wifies handed Dean his phone before sliding into place. It was opened up to a chat, the same chat Dean noticed before.
@wifies -> k
@wifies -> Also you won't be teaching me because I'm having someone else fill in.
And a new name.
@nufuli -> ??? okay
Wifies explained cheerfully. "You're—" not we "—taking PvP lessons."
"???"
"You should get your laptop." He smiled.
Wifies laid back in his seat. The muffled sounds of Dean being bullied could be heard through the door between them.
Dove was in front of the Cindercrest civilization gates now, patiently waiting for the guards to determine whether it was safe to let him in.
Wifies watched as the two players began to punch eachother, and ran a hand down his face.
He knew Dean wasn't the greatest when it came to… thinking. He made decisions based on his emotions and self preservation. That was why he chose to betray them back when they were walking to the farlands. And that’s why he then chose to rejoin the mafia before he died. He wanted to prove to Parrot that he could be trusted.
It was logical in theory, but if you think any deeper about it, his fate was practically sealed.
He just wanted to do what he felt was right, and as much as Wifies hated to think this way, that was Dean’s ultimate weakness. The right thing wasn’t always… the right thing.
Wifies thought it would have faded by now, but it seems that those mannerisms carried over almost 2 years later. It was probably something that just couldn't be changed.
With a slightly better understanding of Dean’s character, Wifies could comfortably say that he should keep him out of the seat if possible. He gave him his chances. Dean probably wouldn't mind either.
Wifies could handle it on his own, like he's always done.
…but it was quiet without Dean next to him.
He noticed Saparata approaching from inside the civilization and sat up.
"Dove! You actually showed up." Saparata stopped in front of Dove. "Did you make your decision?"
"I did. I will be joining," Dove typed. "But I need you to uphold your side as well. I want to stand with those in power."
"Ooh. Power hungry, I see? That's good to hear. We'll have much more power than that Parrot. Of course I can do that, man." Saparata turned and motioned to the castle towering above the rest of the civilization. "C'mon. I'll show you around."
Dove nodded and followed behind Saparata as he continued to speak. "So these are our houses. Pretty nice, huh?" Dove nodded along. "You can have one if you want, but we mostly hang around the castle and training grounds."
Saparata paused to let Dove say something. "Is Flame around?"
Saparata didn't seem surprised by the question. "A fan of him?" He snickered. "Sorry, no. He's off to his base with Lomedy. Did you want to talk to him?"
Dove shook his head. "Where is Flame's base?"
"Somewhere near the Law base. Not sure, to be honest. Near spawn."
Good enough. Dove nodded.
"Okay, well. Moving on. I'll show you to the training grounds."
Saparata led Dove to a large field towards the side of the civilization, before explaining. "This is one of our training grounds. We have a couple forts set up around the main server to train, hold, and gear our army up."
Dove watched two players spar for a moment. "Which one is closest to Parrot's kingdom?"
"Hm? Why? Want to get set up there?" Saps asked, but he apparently wasn't actually curious, as he continued without waiting for a response. "I think the closest is around 1k blocks that way. It's our biggest one. Can't miss it."
Dove nodded, but Wifies felt it was strange. Saps seemed just a bit too willing to tell Dove everything.
Before anything else could be said, a shadow flew by above them. ShoeBilly landed in front of them, mace out. "…Saparata. Why is he here?"
"He's the newest member of Cindercrest. Remember when I invited him?"
"I guess?" Billy glanced at Dove.
Saparata looked between them for a moment and hummed. "Actually, you two can work together after this tour. Two macers, yeah?"
"What?" Billy looked between Saps and Dove. "But I told you, he—"
"Moving on!" Saparata turned and began to walk towards the castle. Billy gave Dove a look, then swapped to a free hand and began to follow.
"Say, Dove." Dove turned to Billy, who was speaking. "Does Parrot know you've defected?"
Dove shook his head.
"How convenient," Saparata commented from in front of them. Billy and Dove turned to look at him. "You know, I was thinking we could try espionage. Sounds like something a smart player would try." He spun around. "Don't you think, Dove?"
Wifies pursed his lips, but since they were moving, there was no way to properly respond. Dove nodded again.
Saparata stopped in front of the largest building in the civilization: the castle. Billy stepped forwards and stood next to him.
"And this is my castle," Saps explained. He stepped back and began to walk in. "It's pretty cool. Not much else to say there."
He went on to sit on his throne. Dove stood in front of him. "Anything else to say?" Saps asked. Wifies thought about it. Dove shook his head. “Okay, so I believe I have a good role picked out for you already. Probably already guessed, but you’ll be part of our intelligence team.”
“What does that entail?”
“You know. Spying, planning, that area. We actually don’t have a team for that yet, so you’ll be our first.”
“Wait.” Billy interrupted. “We’re trusting him with that muchinformation? He’s not even loyal! He’s probably not even that smart.”
Okay, rude.
Saps glanced at Billy and hummed. “I guess we’ll see.” He turned back to Dove. “You’ll get your power once we win. So, does that sound good?”
Dove nodded. This was about what Wifies was expecting. “Is that all?”
“About so. Are you in a hurry to leave?”
Dove placed a sign, and then another one. "Kind of." And, "By the way, can I know where Arachnid's civilization is?"
"Oh, uh. I guess?" Saps pulled out a book and quill and wrote in it, before passing it to Dove. "Those are the coords. It's not much of a secret anyways. In fact, let Arachnid know that we need to prepare for another attack soon while you're there."
Dove nodded again. He really was just the middle man in all this, huh? As much as it annoyed Wifies, he'd just have to accept it for now. “I’ll be going now. We’ll meet in the next battle.”
Saparata nodded and turned around, the equivalent of waving him off, and Dove took the initiative to equip his elytra and fly off.
There was a list of things Wifies wanted to do, but there was something else he needed to do first.
…clear out his inventory of food.
It didn't take long to get to the large main building of Capitol City. There seemed to be a completed obsidian ceiling over the city already, likely the magic work of Horace and his team. He looked around for Fymada, eventually spotting her name in the office. He landed on the balcony and walked in.
Fymada looked up in surprise. "Oh! Hi, Dove."
"Hello, Fymada. I brought some food." Dove walked up next to her and placed a line of 16 shulkers. It was a good fifth of the supply Dean collected, but Parrot had grabbed more and Fymada's city was priority with her easily targetable population near spawn.
Fymada seemed almost emotional. She must have been pretty stressed before Dove arrived. "Thank you so much." She stood in front of Dove, kind of looking towards the side. "When I… when I heard about the Cindercrest soldiers wanting to recruit from my city, I was so worried. But I think… with your help, we— my people have a real chance."
Wifies didn't know how to respond to that. It felt like way too much hope to be placed on his shoulders. He was just doing this for Parrot. "I'm happy to help."
Fymada laughed softly. "I'm glad. I hope it's not too much of a burden… we barely know you and we're already expecting so much." That much was true. "I wish we knew more about you, it'd definitely make the others trust you more." She paused briefly. "Maybe we'll learn once this is all over."
They would probably know everything once this ended, Wifies thought, curling his fingers over the keyboard. Dove nodded and stepped back. "Maybe you will," he typed, before turning to jump out the balcony.
He caught himself in the air and flew off.
…hm. Where to next?
It'd probably be best to visit Steampunk. Wifies had been meaning to speak to Cube since he spotted him in the meeting. He knew he told Cube to do something, he just didn't particularly expect Cube to rise the ranks like that. He knew Cube and 4C were pretty close before, so that was probably why.
Wifies spotted the city in the distance. It seemed like they hadn't started on the ceiling yet. Or maybe they just couldn't use one… due to the machinery Wifies also spotted loading in.
It was huge, comparable to an orbital strike canon. It obviously wasn't—because why would they build that in the middle of the city?—but it was comparable. There were several levels to the redstone with opening that, when looked into through the gaps, seemed to be several arrow launchers. It was like a large turret, with several smaller work-in-progress ones spread out in the distance.
Some of the buildings seemed to be cut in half for extra space. It was somewhat sad, but it was repairable. Either way, the main point was to serve as a distraction for Parrot's plan. Wifies didn't really care what happened to the actual city; he just made that threat to Cube to get him working.
Wifies noticed a player standing on top of the large machine in the center, so he landed down next the them. It was Cube. Speak of the devil.
"Dir… Dove? What are you doing here?"
"I came to deliver supplies." He moved slightly out of the way and placed another sign. "I'd also like to speak with you. Do you have time?"
"Right. The food." Cube hesitated. "Uh… I'm kind of on a time crunch… but if it's you I can—!" He stopped when Dove shook his head.
"No, then. It's fine. You're working." Wifies was kind of in a hurry anyways. "Can you give these to 4Cvit?"
He placed down the shulkers in a row and stepped back to let Cube look through them.
"Oh." Cube seemed somewhat surprised. "Thank you… Dove."
Dove nodded half-heartedly and quickly flew away.
Honestly, this was getting time consuming and Wifies had other plans. He navigated towards Northern Council, hoping to find Theo or Reina and have them take over, when he spotted Horace on the path. Dove dropped down and clutched in front of Horace.
"Woah! Hey! You have a mace you can't do that," Horace breathed after his initial startle. Oops. Wifies had actually forgotten about that.
"My bad," he wrote. "Can you deliver these to your civ and all of the ones except for Capitol and Steampunk City? I'm in a hurry." Dove began clearing his inventory of shulkers on top of Horace.
Horace stared in surprise before he processed Dove's words. "But I'm also in a hurry and I have an inventory full of obsi—"
Dove got everything out and left before Horace finished. He didn't even look back to check on the guy.
Wifies honestly felt a little bad. He got kind of use to bullying Horace. Maybe he'll be nicer in the future. Or maybe he'll ask Horace to build another civilization for him for fun. That seems to be a pretty common hobby among the famous players in this server.
Wifies glanced at the book in his inventory, and flew forwards.