Chapter Text
He tried to get Flux back, but the garage of attacks hindered his plans, forcing him to turn right near the central tunnel, where a few people fought, he watched as Saparata left Flux to die, and as much as he was as hopeless and bound to lose another friend, Wemmbu swooped in and 'attacked', forcing him to get slumped to the wall, permanently leaving him there to heal.
Saparata's psychotic laugh, mixed with the orbitals wemmbu had, man was he glad he gave his soldiers turtle masters and gapples.
Parrot spotted Saparata on higher ground, watching the sky litter d with orbitals, hands open–as if almost welcoming the orbitals. Parrot audibly gulped, "Watch out guys, watch out!" Saparata manically grinned, laughing as he watched his soldiers die.
Parrot frowned–this wasn't what they agreed to, Wemmbu was supposed to kill Cindercrest, not his knights–what the fuck was going on?
The moment he spotted Flame, his instincts got the better of him, and he immediately ran towards him to look for injuries, just as he used to do for Wifies.
"Flame, you good?" He asked, watching as Flame threw bottles of enchanting, healing his broken armour.
"Yeah, yeah." He nodded along, chugging gapples and splashing more potions, not a break for his battle worn body. "Dude, we need to find Wemmbu–lets go stop Wemmbu!" He yelled, heart racing as his unfinished symphony got bomed and ruined again and again.
"He's nuking everyone–I don't know–"
"Let's go up! Up!" He ordered Flame, spotting the Cindercrest guards immediately coming to kill him.
"I'll just throw a pearl–"
"Saps is up here!" He grunted as he blocked the physically forced sword hit, grinding against his own, it seemed like Saparata had full instinct to kill, judging by the fact that ever little graze and stab added color to his eyes, a smile getting more psychotic as it continues.
His breath hitched as he watched his people get maced by Wemmbu–whats going on with him? This wasn't in the plan!
A lucky stab was all it took, and Parrot was downed, his totem working overtime to heal the broken ribs that got pierced by Saparata's sword. "What!?" He screamed, cursing internally as he was forced to run, his wings getting clipped by Saparata's sword, who he swinged around manically.
"Come here!" Saparata all but laughed, his smile turning into a psychotic grin. His heard skipped a beat, smile returning as he watched Flame use a cart, the explosion momentarily stunning Saparata, totem healing overtime, the yellow shine of it stitching his blown and charred skin to what it originally was.
"Nice!" He greatfuly said to Flame, who in return was jumped by thirteen people simultaneously, that's the shit that Egg genuinely told the people on how Wemmbu died.
He took a moment to stop, watching vehemently as he spotted two avians fighting against eachother–Theo and Billy, he stopped in his tracks to bite into a gapple, healing himself pretty fucking well that his wounds stopped stinging like crazy.
"Oh no Flamey, running to a building!" Wemmbu had the gall to taunt, and from the pissed off look Flame did, safe to say, it hit the spot. Even while he was hit again and again by the mace, he never lost a heart, almost like Wemmbu was holding back.
"Yeah! Camp in the air! If you land on the ground, your dead, buddy!" Flame almost looked red and furious. His horns emitted smoke and his lips got split open from how hard he was biting on it.
"Alright I'm on the ground right now, I don't see you?" Wemmbu taunted again, and Parrot couldn't help but stop and laugh.
And it didn't help how much he admired Wemmbu's fighting style. His purple hair that flew with the wind, the sparkling mace that catches his eyes everytime. How could anyone see him as a weapon? All Parrot saw was his friend.
That even when it clearly showed that Wemmbu was betraying them, all he thought about was the fact that his friend needed him–or that he had his reasons. He didn't know what reasons–when Parrot already crafted this dumb ass plan to save Egg.
He even gave Egg his shulker of Totems the King's supposed to have, just to ensure his safety. He didn't know nor understand why Wemmbu was doing this. But he wanted to know, he wanted to understand, he wanted to accept his faults and mistakes, he wanted Wemmbu to be as he was.
Because between him and himself, he never saw him as a weapon, or something of a lost cause as Wemmbu believes he is, he's a person. Just like him, just like Flame, just like Spoke, he's a person. And that's why, the exact reason why he could get over Wifies.
He may hold grudges, but he understands how the brain functions and communicates, and something about Wemmbu right now screams that he's in a not so stable mentality.
Unfortunately, as much as Parrot wanted to reminisce with the old memories between him and Wemmbu, the moment Wemmbu went straight for his people, that's when he knew he should move and act immediately.
"Wemmbu over here, Wemmbu over here!"
"Come try!" Wemmbu taunted, but his smile never reached his eyes, they looked lifeless. And suddenly, the entry to his soul was blocked when he unclipped his webbed veil, covering his eyes from the staring Avian who intended to understand him and where he stood for.
He hesitated for a second, closing his eyes as he pulled out another orbital and the moment he did, he had wished the fall from this orbital would be enough to kill him–but it didn't. Because someway, somehow, his own selfishness to live still fought with his will to give up. The sickening and familiar feeling he always felt when he was stuck making a decision in which nobody could guide him into chosing the right one–the choice he's doing now, to betra himself, and lose Parrot, or to betray Egg, and lose him permanently.
The stakes were high for Wemmbu, but his bestfriend was all he needed to survive on this godforsaken world. The moment he went down, he strategically placed his weapon so that it wouldn't hurt any hatchlings he killed–but even so, even a selfish wish won't get reconsidered when the one who wished for it is tainted.
So as the rain of blood decorated his armour, he immediately surged to Parrot, his heart stopping as he kept on changing the tragectory of his hits, so that it wouldn't hit him.
Parrot noticed–parrot noticed immediately, of course he did. His pitying smile as he let himself get brutally hit by Wemmbu's mace, almost like accepting his fate, and the look of confusion when he realized, every hit didn't even drop him to half a heart.
"Where's Theo?" Flame asked from a distance
"I don't know, probably off fighting Billy!"
"I'm on the ground right here." Wemmbu taunted Flame, who immediately brute forced his way into Wemmbu and the King.
"Yo, I need help–I–" Parrot took a deep breath as Wemmbu, and Cindercrest soldiers hit and stabbed at him, and suddenly a second pases and those soldiers died to maces.
"Oh yeah? Where are you? I can't see you,' Flame's fed up ass scowled, looking at round, and suddenly, Theo was athere in a second, ready to fight Wemmbu.
"Come on, hit a cart!", He taunted, having the time of his life, almost like he's imagining what it would be like to spar with Theo and Flame normally, without the killing intent, nor the betrayal.
"I–I can't, bro!" Theo whined, hitting every possible cart combo possible the single molecular moment Billy even as much as remotely gets close to him.
He wanted to leave.
Wemmbu didn't wanna fight anymore, he was tired. He watched as Flame and Theo others dodged and weaved his orbitals, but he knew it would never hit them, he could never really hurt them. And he knew that true to himself the moment He hesitated for a second to kill Parrot back in Highwater. He knew all too well.
He didn't like how the rubble scattered beneath him as he used another orbital to blow up another building, demolishing it, watching as people get crushed by the debris that his weapon created.
He didn't wanna be alone. He didn't wanna be alone with his own thoughts that answered his questions how they really should be. He didn't want all of this a single bit.
He watched as his body moved on its own, hitting and killing innocent and not so innocent people, he watched as his own hands killed and stabbed, watched blood cover his armour, watched Parrots army dwindle, and watch as Parrot lost more and more hope for the last hope he once deemed Wemmbu of.
He grumbled as Theo's scratching voice echoed in his mind, followed by Flame's aggravated voice, almost like a child throwing a tantrum as he watched Wemmbu kill and flee, leaving him no room to hit and kill.
"No! I'm stopped in a cobweb, I'm cooked!" He yelled, his totem popping, the single most memorable time on this entire fight, only because he could see a semblance of his old self, the past him who fought for his own goals, and not because of orders.
"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you better calm down!" Flame pointed from across the field, his mouth twitching from annoyance.
"You get stuck in a web you will die, bro!" Foreshadowing? Probably. But Wemmbu only smirked, wishing all too well that death would greet early, but as much as wishes clinged to him like a vice, he still had Egg to protect.
"I will?"
"Yeah you will!"
"Ow!" Theo interrupted their sweet reunion with him hopping on one leg, trying to remove the cobwebs on his boots while Cindercrest soldiers attacked him.
"Alright." Wemmbu absentmindedly ignored his rival.
A couple more orbitals and suddenly, the whole buildings gone, demolished, nada. It's gone. And what was left was Wemmbu's taunting laugh as he smashed Cindercrest soldiers after Cindercrest soldiers, singing an awfully familiar tune that pisses Theo off.
"I'm the biggest bird,"
"Oh, and he's just singing, great."
"You guys are in netherite so I'm just gonna kill you one by one." Hw whispered to himself.
"Ohh Lomedy, that's a high value target." May it be as petty as hell's karma, but he just wanted Flame to feel what it's like to lose a friend to be truthfully honest, lies or not, but it seemed pretty unfair that he was the only one suffering while he and Lomedy are up just chilling. That's complete and utter bullshit in Wemmbu's part.
"No, no, no!" Lomedy immediately booked it, and Wemmbu just laughed, he was kidding of course, Apologies be damned but he would never hurt Lomedy, because friends don't hurt each other's friends. That's just number one rule to not being a jackass.
"Oh an end portal! Yo let's go to the end guys!"
"You–" Flame tried to reach him with his sword like someone swatting a bug, but holy fuck did it prove why Wemmbu was worth it as his rival.
The battle somewhat minimized after his umpth orbital, and now he was left with his own thoughts again. He looked at the arrow that was inevitably on his arm, and he couldn't help but laugh, "Slow falling, that's kinda fucking stupid–"
One ender pearl throw later, and suddenly Wemmbu was met with an annoying fly.
"Kinda get boring? Finally getting bored of using your orbitals all of the time?" Flame taunted, using his crossbow to swat at the sky where Wemmbu slowly fell, his lips pouting as he wished to fight his rival again.
"No..just–this fight in particular." Wemmbu whispered, but damn this nether demon for having sharp hearing.
"This fights getting boring?" He asked again, smoke escaping from his horns as he tried to cart but Wemmbu's sword was faster, destroying it in a matter of seconds.
"Come on, cart me." He hummed, before immediately flying away, he genuinely didn't wanna fight anymore. He just wanted Egg.
"Hmm, this is kinda lame, you aren't even attacking me anymore." Wemmbu said after a while of cat and go mouse with his rival.
"Lame? You wanna talk about lame!? The whole thing you stand for is lame!" He pointed, pouncing like a cat just to reach Wemmbu.
Wemmbu watched from high grounds and smirked. "Bro, come attack me." He taunted.
"What do I stand for?"
•••
"Oh my god–stop following me!" Wemmbu jumped from debris after debris just to get away from Flame, but like a sad, kicked puppy, Flame asked gently, "So..you gonna..wanna keep fighting me, or?"
"Are you gonna keep on flying away when I fight you?", he asked again, potting up.
"Well, my combat–i do elytra, that's kinda how I fight people..soo.." He said, swaying back and forth.
"Yeah, like a loser, you fight like a loser." Flame pouted, pushing him off.
"You just pushed me off the–...This is lame, we'll have our rematch another day." He watched as Flame stomped his foot and looked around. Climbing up the debris.
"There's no way he left bro." He murmured, looking around before spotting a speck of purple–and he immediately knew it was Wemmbu.
"There you are, why can't you just fight me bro? What are you scared of?"
"You just gonna keep running away? Just take a battle with me!"
"I asked you to take a battle with me five seconds ago, and you ket saying no." Wemmbu's snarky remark went unheard, and he found himself looking for Flame instead. Sliding down and flying around, but after a while, he just left for the caves.
Arachnid better be telling the truth–that he has Egg, or he might just commit a never ending masquerade of death and bloody massacre.
A sound akin to horn he felt familiar in tune with played, and he couldn't help but look around, stopping in his tracks to ask, "What is that horn?" He whispered to himself.
"Players of the Unstable SMP, this is your last warning, If Parrot stays here, and stays as King, he will keep letting new players in on this server, while the rest of you pay for it." Saparata started, the smug look on his face blurred by the fact that he was so high up.
"But I've changed my mind, If you're a new player, I'll spare you. You weren't the mistake, you were the consequence. So now I'm going to go and finally, shut off spawn. But before you try and stop me, all I ask is for you to remember who actually made this server suffer. Who the actual enemy is." Saparata turned around, and left, leaving the silence to judge the permanent decision below.
Parrot's mouth hung low, his skin turning clammy and pale, almost like he was sick, hands shaking as he watched the eyes of his soldiers turn dark, and suddenly, one of them attacks him. "What–what're you doing? We're teams–we're teamed, right? We're teams, guys, right?" He asked, his hands shaking as even more of his soldiers turned their backs on their King, chosing to attack him.
"Guys, we're team, we're team! We're part of the same team!"
"Theo, I don't know what's happening but all my soldiers are attacking me!"
"Parrot–yeah, Parrot, come on!" Theo yelled.
Parrot looked at him and looked at spawn, and made his decision. As the King, it was either himself, or his subjects. And Theo knew he already picked the moment the crown touched his friend's head. He was just too little too late to stop it.
And so, off he went, desperately running towards the servers spawn, his movements sloppy as he passed through a multitude of people who greeted the King, but all he could think of was the danger that will befall them and those who have yet to enter this world.
He ran desperately up the stairs, his heart pounding as his breath hitched, he didn't know why, or how, but something was gonna happen. Something was going to happen to his people. This idea was a bad one.
The moment he reached the top, he was greeted with Saparata, turned way from him.
"Saps." He called out, his eyes lowering, almost like a glare.
"Oh, you actually showed up?" Saparata repeated the words he felt was more familiar and close to him.
"Can't say no to you, can't I?" Parrot had to find the words he had in his brain that didn't start nor end with a curse.
"What're you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?
"I'm shutting off spawn." Saparata challenged his gaze with his own. "After today, the servers finally gonna go back to how it always was."
"Always was? Always was?" Does he even have the right to say that? Was Saparata an old player? Not that he's know of..
"Are you serious? Saps, did you know what this server used to be like?"
"Parrot, look what you did! You literally made it worse than ite as before! Sure, all these new players get to–log in and play now, but, all of us, old players who have been around since the beginning, who made it out of spawn when it used to be covered in withers! We deserve to play! We deserve play in this server! We deserve to have food, to not get killed, Parrot." He pointed at him.
"And you ruined that for us." He scowled.
His mind blurred the moment new players spawned in, and we're immediately killed by Saparata.
"Guys, guys, go down, go down!" His breath hitched, heart pounding
" Your armies doesn't care about you! Your people, doesn't care about you! Don't you understand that?"
"The moment they heard me say that I was gonna shut off spawn on and save them, look what happened–they immediately gave up and betrayed. I'm about to become the second king of the Unstable SMP." He mocked, laughing at the rise in power.
"And what're you gonna do to stop me? Your amry just tried to kill you! And you know the sad part Parrot? I lied! I lied to all of them! Every single new player back there in Capital City."
"They think I'm gonna shut off spawn and let them live? No, I'm going to kill every last one of them." He smirked, his hand raised to look at his bloody hands.
He lowered his hands, forming into fists, " Parrot, my friends died because of you. Because of your choice to let all these new players into spawn." What? What is he talking about?
"The players did nothing wrong–"
"It was inevitable, it was inevitable that they we're going to either starve, or get killed by bandits. You have hope to everyone that this server will be a better place."
"Then I'll keep trying until it is!"
"But saps, this isn't right, what you're doing isn't right. You're telling me you're going to kill tens of thousands of players after this?"
"Parrot, in this world, only the strong are meant to survive."
"Guys–please! Head down!" He begged the newly spawned people to live and flourish, his hands shaking as a new player stumbled and got slashed by Saparata, dying in his arms and disappearing. He couldn't breathe.
He looked at himself, his axe, his spear and his sword and frowned. His Kingdom was his greatest symphony, he will never let it be unfinished.
"I'm done trying to convince you to change your mind."
"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do?"
"I'm gonna kill you."
•••
Sword hit after sword hit, block after block, Parrot could tell how many times he's been stabbed, how many times his bodies been torn and stitched together by the golden thread of healing properties a gapple could give. Saparata looked at him and all he could see was weakness–disgust and a pathetic sense of justice and a strong sense to help. He didn't like it one bit.
"The mighty King of Unstable. Losing to me. You can't even kill me!" He taunted.
That taunt didn't hit him like an egoing King would, it hurt him because it pained him how he couldn't protect his Kingdom. He needed friend after friend to help, for after for to cater to his needs like he was some kind of tyrant–he despised the feeling of safe. He despised the feeling of borrowed time, and most specially he despised the idea of being trapped. Specially as he's pushed to the end by Saparata.
This was the end. He didn't see an end to this–he didn't see a way out. Like he always did, like he always have, like Wifies believed he had. He looked pathetic just being here. His hands shook as he realized how right Wifies was. Yet he didn't have to. And as much as Parrot loved to look in Saparata's eyes, it's only normal for someone with so much fear to close it's eyes. He held them tight and closed as he thought–All good things must come to an end eventually.
And as the sound of sword piercing skin and the metallic smell wafting left him dizzy, he realized that the pain didn't come. He didn't feel anything.
As he opened his eyes, he found himself facing the back of Flux's head, and the look of pure unadulterated panic and fear from Saparata's eyes. He looked at his–friend and immediately coddled his face, yet Flux didn't look at him, he looked at Parrot. "Go... get your–Kingdom back, be the greatest King.. Unstable's ever had.." he whispered, pushing Parrot from the edge, as flux had known he put something to cushion the fall. "Lux.." whispered Parrot, letting himself get pushed, better die to fall damage than die by Saparata's hands I guess..
"Oh–fuck fuck...fuck–Flux–" Parrot heard Saparata sob before he fell, limping away.
Parrot passed out for a while, only sprinting to action once he heard Saparata talk from above. "The great and mighty King of Unstable SMP, Parrot."
"I won. Run, Run as fast as you can, Parrot. This isn't your Kingdom anymore. It's mine."
It's really hard to concentrate running when all Parrot could hear after every word was a little sniffle and a sob.
Who was Flux to Saparata?
"And just know after I kill each and every new player,"
"You're next."
•••
"Flux–O–oh fuck, I can't stop the bleeding, fuck.." Saparata sniffled, hugging him tight and pressing on his injury to stop the blood loss.
"Saps.." He whispered, touching his cheek, " Why did you ignore me? Why didn't you look at me? We're you not glad before that I didn't die? Why now?" He whispered, leaving peppered small kisses to his friends face.
"I thought you weren't real–I thought–fuck i thought it was another one of my delusions again, a thing my brain did when it wanted to see you again...Please Flux, please..don't leave me...before i–hurt myself.." He sniffled.
"I'm all yours." Flux whispered, closing his eyes as he enjoyed a nice already dimming sky with his Saparata.
•••
Parrot didn't know what to do but just cry, tears not stopping as he ran out of his own Kingdom–an exile–to a kingdom practically built by him and hi own ideas. He suddenly felt so fucking nauseous.
"Why.." His voice trembled as he paused to wipe his tears, he sniffled as it continued to flow. He couldn't even look at where he was going.
The kingdom stretched across the horizon, untouched by the place where he stood, its banners still dancing proudly in the wind as though they had already forgotten the hands that had raised them. From this distance, it looked peaceful. The towers still caught the evening light, the walls still stood as they always had, and somewhere beyond those gates, life carried on beneath another ruler. It was almost cruel how beautiful it remained after casting him out.
Parrot let his gaze linger for as long as he could bear it. Every stone in those walls had once answered to him, every path carried memories of victories celebrated, promises made, and people who believed their king would always be there to protect them. He had sworn that no enemy would ever stand where he now stood, looking in from the outside like a stranger. Yet here he was, exiled by his own failure, watching another crown settle into the place where his own had belonged.
His fingers drifted to the golden circlet resting upon his head. It had never felt so heavy before. The weight wasn't forged from gold, but from every soldier who had fallen believing in him, every citizen who had placed their faith in his name, and every decision that had led them to this day. He lowered it slowly, almost reverently, as though afraid even now to disrespect the title it represented. The metal trembled in his hands before he knelt and laid it carefully upon the earth.
"Someday, somehow, I'm gonna take you back."
The words barely escaped him before his voice broke.
A tear struck the crown's polished surface. Then another. He didn't wipe them away. A king was allowed to cry when he had lost his kingdom, even if he believed he had no right to call himself one anymore.
Behind those walls, Saparata now ruled as the second king of Unstable SMP. The banners that once carried Parrot's colors would soon carry another's, and the people who had once cheered his arrival would learn to bow before someone else. The thought hollowed him out until there was nothing left but silence.
Still, he could not bring himself to walk away forever.
His crown remained where he'd left it, resting upon the ground between himself and the kingdom that no longer belonged to him. It was no longer something he could wear with pride. It had become a promise instead.
One day, when he had earned the right to bear its weight again, he would return for it. And when that day came, he would not come back as a man chasing a throne he had lost.
He thought for a bit, almost to his knees as he looked at the crown he would hesitantly leave in the end–No one's going to save you, Get up. He thought to himself, but there was once a time where he was well protected and safe from any and other coveted hands.
He used to have a friend who followed him around like a lost dog, his protective instincts rivaled Theo's today, a friend he lost before, found again, and lost for good. A friend he tried to forget. For old times sake, some would think that Wifies would be proud of the bird that he became, but Parrot would smile at the thought of Wifies overbearing instincts to block harm outta his way.
Now kneeling at the crown he once thought was law, he feared the days that would fllow–but for now, he will leave, and once he returns;
He would come back as the king who had finally become worthy of it. Because a king doesn't just lose a throne, he loses the place where his name meant something. The crown becomes unbearably heavy because it represents a promise he couldn't keep.
"What do you mean Egg isn't with you?" Wemmbu asked, his heart speeding up in agitation because there's no fucking way he endured all that–and he bared all the pain just for it to be fucking all for naught. Egg wasn't with Arachnid–he betrayed Parrot–He betrayed Flame–
"He's with Parrot. He always has been. That's what doubt and overthinking does to someone. Parrots gone, therefore Eggchan's gone." Arachnid smirked.
"What do you mean Parrot's gone?"
"Enough Chit chat, may you enjoy the games, second in command. And may the odds be ever in your favor." He smirked, pressing a button, and suddenly Wemmbu found himself falling–fuck.
Wemmbu twisted his body so he faced the Webs, and once he fell he immediately took all the stuff that he got, from food to ores, ores to weapons, and weapons to armour, all of it was the same. He was gonna get targeted hard, because some imbiciles think targeting the second in command would give them the hierarchy Wemmbu held. But fuck now–that was all hard work, the fuck.
Fuck, I'm alone. Flame thought.
Spoke stared at the Null that surrounded him, his heart so fast he was scared it was gonna blow–this escape attempt ended in failure too.
"Alright, I'll surrender–just–, leave Mapicc and Jumper outta this, I'll come willingly."
"Wow, Spoke, you we're right, he is a jerk." Mapicc taunted.
"...Get Jumper and Mapicc out of here." Jamato said after a while, enjoying the look of panic in Spokes eyes as he watched his friends get taken. He watched Jumper and Mapicc struggle, with Mapicc going as much as going head to head with a Null Commander in terms of flexibility.
"Wait–Jamato!" He called out, but it all went to deaf ears as he was dragged to another place again.
•••
A Ghost's Insights:
'I told you I was right.'. Raine giggled as she sat next to Wifies and Rejoice.
"I told you–If I we're Parrot and they did that shit to me? just to prove a point. He's a better person than me."
"Of course he is, he's Parrot." Wifies huffed, bragging about his bestfriend.
"Dude almost everyone in here is Parrots friend, you aren't special. What's more special is me and rejoice, we didn't die for our friends." She smiled smugly.
"Rejoice died to a warden, he's a victim, that shits all on you, it's not my fault you picked him over yourself." Wifies taunted.
"I'm gonna kill you, I'll tell Parrot you killed parrot." He teased. "Oh! New one" Raine pointed–and out came Flux, another victims to Parrots neverending lost of dead bodies.