Chapter Text
“But we cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever.”
This was it.
I stared out into the distance that was ahead of me.
Sat at the edge of a cliff.
Over the cliff was nothing but the void.
The tree that had leaned both gambit and crucible against swayed softly within the currents of wind.
One of my legs dangling off the edge as I sat and thought about the things that had happened since I went out on my own.
PrinceZam.
She was the first of a long line of people to betray me.
I was nothing to her.
Just a little bug.
Weak.
A means to an end.
A tool that was discarded as soon as it lost its usefulness.
If only I had died that fateful day.
It would have saved everyone a lot of pain, including me.
Rejoice.
My friend.
I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.
In the end I was too Weak.
If I had just died earlier, you wouldn’t have died.
You’d still be here, maybe you would have even seen the sun again.
I always tried to forgive and forget.
For you.
I hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to do.
Manepear.
My brother.
Lost Cause.
He was right.
I truly am a lost cause.
I am just something to be used.
A Weapon.
Nothing more than my mace and orbitals.
A Monster.
A Psychopath.
For the first time in a long time I was finally sure of what I wanted.
As I looked down into the void i started to smile.
I glanced at the maces next to the tree.
Gambit.
Jaron was wrong.
So wrong.
This was not better in my hands.
Nothing was ever better in my hands.
They did nothing but destroy.
He truly should have given her to Straight.
Then at least she wouldn’t be lonely because I left.
She probably wouldn’t have ever awakened either.
Crucible had started humming a low tune, it was probably an attempt to console me, but I knew what I had to do.
This server would be better off without me.
Even if he and Gambit didn’t see this my way.
I was absolutely sure of what I had to do.
*
He had just returned from his fishing trip.
Jaden was making dinner for him and Codmaster while he was gutting the vast multitude of different fish they had caught.
Jaden was making eggs, toast, and fish.
The scent was incredible, Egg thought.
Cod returned not short after just as dinner was about to be ready.
As they headed into the living room they were surprised to see the chests on the floor. After they had Made sure they weren’t trapped their curiosity finally got the better of them and they walked up to the chests in order to open them.
Egg smiled softly as he took in the books. He had complained about not having any and wanting to get some more to Wemmbu last week. It took a while until he finally took up the book and read it.
Jaden had gotten so excited when he saw the new armor set that he didn’t even notice the book that was also in the chest however his smile slowly began to drop as he continued to read it.
“No!” Egg wailed in anguish. “No he wouldn’t!”
Jaden froze. Why would he do something like this he thought, he couldn't. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes and burning hot on his skin. He looked over at Egg who was already sobbing uncontrollably tears streaming down his face from underneath his blindfold, grasping at the book pressed tightly to his chest.
“He wouldn’t leave me,” Egg whispered in a truly horrified tone.
As he looked over at Codmaster he could see that the man was also crying silently sobs racking his body and his legs shaking.
Jaden had to be strong now he thought as he led egg and cod toward the bed and embraced them trying his hardest to dry their tears.
Wemmbu was gone.
Just like that.
He was probably already dead and they had no idea.
Wemmbu had died alone.
He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was going to do it in the books.
Just stated it.
Even if it was what the younger wanted none of them could ever had accepted that.
They would have tried to stop him.
He knew that Wemmbu knew that.
It was probably why he had only left the books in an area of the house they were not immediately going to notice.
They stayed like this for a long time eggs and cods wet sobs and sniffles eventually turning into choked up cries their throats hoarse and their eyes drying out.
Wemmbu was dead.
“I want Minute,” Egg choked out into his shoulder. His face red and swollen, his wings hanging limply at his sides, his eyeball that usually held a mischievous spark now dull and bloodshot.
“Okay, let’s go to the end,” Jaden said, holding back his tears. He had to be strong. For Egg. It’s what Wemmbu would have wanted.
As they headed for the end egg clung to his side.
Cod had wanted to stay behind in their little shed, he was never fond of the end. Jaden prayed he wasn’t right but he thought that maybe that day when Wemmbu had been gone for so long, only to show up looking more tired than usual.
His eyes dull and sunken into his skull he might have already been making peace, with disappearing for good, and joining rejoice.
As they finally reached the end portal Jaden felt like he had no tears left to cry anymore.
He just felt hollow.
Egg immediately started searching for Minute the moment they reached the main isle.
They saw him standing in the middle of the end island.
His eyes more red than usual, as if he had also been crying.
But now he just looked as empty as Jaden felt.
He was holding a book.
Minute looked directly at Egg and shook his head.
Egg impossibly started crying again but Jaden just felt dead.
So this was it.
Was this what Wemmbu had felt like when he had lost Rejoice?
If so then Jaden just could not comprehend how he had ever found it within himself to forgive him.
Egg had been crying for so long in minutes arms by now that Jaden could see how his tears slowly started turning red.
Most likely blood from how raw his already sensitive eyes had become crying this much.
Jaden stood by for a little, simple pondering on what to do next before Minute pulled him in to join the hug.
None of them would most likely ever be able to accept the fact that he was dead. He was their friend, allie, best friend, and son.
And he had died.
Miserably and alone.
*
Meanwhile in The Caves Yungy had stayed up all night staring at the book sitting in front of him, he had been exctatic when he had found the chest with armor and a couple stab shots however now he just felt empty.
The book was sitting on the table infront of him.
Closed.
Because opening it meant seeing that, which he was trying to convince himself wasn’t true.
It couldn’t be true.
There was no way that it was true.
There was no way that Wemmbu was dead.
Just like that.
As Flame walked into the throne room of the caves he could immediately feel the shift in the atmosphere.
The air was heavy and held a tension so thick you would have difficulty cutting it with a netherite sword.
Ok maybe it wasn’t tension but there was something heavy sitting in the air.
Yungy sat on the floor next to a table, unblinkingly staring at a book.
It looked like he had been crying.
A lot.
Did somebody die.
He had just come here to spar with Yungy since he was the strongest person around that he knew the location of since GodofWar had been banned.
“Yungy? Bro you good? What happened?”
Yungy’s eyes looked up at him with pity. Did Wemmbu not leave him a book, Yungy thought. The guy had talked about him enough that if He hadn’t known better he would have thought they were friends or maybe even more than that.
“What, bro?” Flame questioned, the creeping fear evident within his voice.
“Wemmbu’s gone, bro,” Yungy stated. His voice as dead as his eyes.
“Well yeah I know,” Flame said, pulling the book from his inventory,
“He said he needed some time, that there are other people I can fight in the meantime. He also said not to look for him…”
Flame looked down at the book in his hands dread creeping over him, the ends of his hair, usually hot ablaze dying down into near nothingness and read it again.
And again.
How could he not have realized?
When people are about to leave they always do things for the people they care about.
As he looked at the mace in his inventory his hands began to shake.
He had heard him.
He heard the wind charges, he had known it was him.
He could have caught up to him.
He could have helped him.
He could have stopped him.
No.
“No.”
he wouldn’t kill himself.
This is Wemmbu they were talking about.
His little brother Wemmbu. His little lilac. The kid he had loved more than anything else.
The kid who looked up at him wide eyes back when they were kids and had vowed to surpass him one day.
The kid that was so full of life and so incredibly childish it was almost impressive.
The kid that had never lost those childish behaviors, even as he grew up.
Even through all the hardships he had had to endure, the kidnappings for gods know what reason, that flame and mane always had to rescue him from.
He loves life.
He loves fighting… well he usually did.
Their last fight he wasn’t trying.
He had looked so tired back then… so worn out his eyes cold and dead.
Gods flame could kick himself for not having realized sooner.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when Yungy came over and hugged Flame.
He pushed him off his hair suddenly burning brighter than Yungy had ever seen before.
“He wouldn’t. No way he’d do something like that. He’s probably just hiding with Minute in the end. Trying to fake his death again or something. There’s no way he would do something like that.”
Flame rushed off towards the nearest end portal and Yungy quickly followed praying that he was right and there was still hope.
The journey to the portal was silent.
As they reached the main isle their hearts sank still lower than they already had.
Egg, Jaden, and Minute were pressed together in a pile on the ground.
Egg looked awful.
His third eye was red and irritated and his cheeks stained with what looked like blood.
Minute noticed the two first giving them a look that confirmed their worst fears.
They all received the same message.
“No! Tell them to leave!”
“Egg,” Minute tried to reassure. They were all grieving.
“No! This is his fault!” Egg croaked voice breaking as he pointed at Flame, “If you hadn’t kidnapped me, Arachnid would never have used me as leverage for Wemmbu, then he wouldn’t have killed himself!"
Flame couldn’t get any words out so instead he just looked down at his hands. He had started shaking again. He couldn't have been the reason, right ? He and Wemmbu had just reconciled again.
“You never even apologized!” Egg pressed out.
Flame couldn't look at anyone. His breathing started picking up and he couldn’t think.
„That’s not true Egg.“
Minutes calm voice washed over him like a bucket of cold water, snapping him back to reality.
„I was already aware that this would happen at some point. It was clear from the beginning that this was going to be how it would end.“
„What?“ a silent whisper from eggs dry throat
„Wemmbu is an Airborne. Airborne skin is usually only purple as a defense mechanism in high stress situations. It is not good for them to be in that state for too long, because after a couple months within that state their souls become so damaged that they are usually considered beyond saving.“
His voice which had taken on a monotonous quality as he rattled off information slightly cracked
„By the time I met him he had already been in that state for years, there has not been a single record of an airborne surviving longer than 17 months. And if they somehow manage to endure and return to their normal form, they are usually in such agony that they consider death their only way out. Most people who know about Airborne would have killed him painlessly. To show him a last act of mercy. But I was to selfish. I thought maybe I could somehow save him. That maybe if he had survived this long he could recover and live a normal life. He was just a child for fucks sake.“
„Hold up, Wemmbu was 19, that’s far from being a child isn’t it?“ Yungy chimed in.
„No us End Species age slower than you humans,“
minute said a sad tinge to his voice,
„we only reach full maturity at 30 years old. In human years he was only around 12-15.“
The information hung heavy between them as each processed what Minute had actually just said.
Flame muttered, “I’m sorry. I have to go.” Before running into the end portal and going to the Overworld.
The End remained silent aside from the crying as the group of people stood in a silent embrace to mourn the life they had lost.
*
“Well this is it.”
the boy thought.
He stared down into the void for the last time.
The place that would finally grant him the sweet relief of death after years and years of suffering.
As he was about to jump a wave of relief washed over him reminding him that this was how it was all supposed to be.
He was supposed to be free.
And he was supposed to fly freely.
And death was the only thing that could still offer him that freedom.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he stepped closer and closer to the edge.
“...Wemmbu?”
He turned towards the familiar voice. A voice he had heard before, but had almost forgotten the owner was still on the server.
“...Straight?”
Straight noticed, of course he did. He noticed the boys tears, the maces leaned up against a tree, and the wings pressed to the younger man’s body. He knew exactly what he was trying to do. He saw Wemmbu’s face turn to a shameful and forced smile as he stared at the ground.
“Oh, come here,” Straight cooed, bringing the young man into a hug.
The boy fell apart. He hadn’t gotten a true hug from anyone in so long his longing to never let go became physically painful. He didn’t have the energy to stop himself from turning into a sobbing screeching mess anymore.
Straight didn’t comment on it though, he didn’t reprimand him about how he was supposed to be strong, he didn’t comment on how Wemmbu had started clawing at his back, ripping open the skin of his shoulder, how the younger’s tail had started thrashing behind him occasionally striking the older man’s legs, or how his wings had started flaring out knocking over everything in their path.
He just held him.
“I’m taking you with me,”
He stated after Wemmbu’s body had started to calm down, and the boy’s screaming had stopped, only the occasional sob or gasp still escaping his mouth.
“No, I want this,”
the winged boy managed to force out in between sobs.
Straight sighed before settling on an answer
“Just stay with me for some time and reconsider… please.”
Wemmbu gaze wandered back toward the void. The man was going to force him to follow anyway.
It didn’t matter.
He could stay with Straight for a bit, It wouldn’t change his mind.
If anything it would only serve to show him why continuing on was a bad idea.
He turned back to Straight and nodded, a tiny sound escaping him, “⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒”.
The older man simply gave him a smile and hoisted him up onto his feet.
Taking the maces with him as he slowly led Wemmbu away from the ledge.
The journey to Straight's house was silent. Even though he had hundreds of questions ,about what had happened to the boy ,or why his skin was a pale peachy color instead of his usual purple, the older man didn't want to push anything and the winged boy trodding next to him, hand on his arm, clearly was not in the mood for a questioning.
“We are there.”
The man finally said as they approached a large base.
The base looked quite similar to Sky Civ. There was a main building in the middle, with a large training arena to the right. There was a broad street leading toward the main building and smaller desirepaths which split off to the different areas of the build.
Straight walked to the main building which was more like a enormous Palace than an actual base.
He showed Wemmbu a room he could stay in.
He then left him in that room to go get settled while he went to make them some food.
As Wemmbu sat on the bed his mind wandered back to the void back to all the terrible things he had done. He would never change his mind, he was sure of it.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the man’s voice booming through the hallway.
“Wemmbu! Dinner,” Straight called out.
Someone else who was obsessed with food, Wemmbu thought.
Lost Cause.
His mind started to wander again as he slowly started walking through the empty hallways, they reminded him of his grandpa’s house back in the end a lot.
He missed those hallways.
He missed training with his father and siblings.
He even missed the way Boosfer would always barge into his room to annoy him when they were children.
But those times were over.
And his Dad was long gone.
Dinner was awkward.
Straight consistently attempted to start a conversation but The younger man would only respond with quiet, one worded answers.
Almost robotic.
He seemed as if he ran on autopilot, He thought, the type of answers that you give to people until they become the truth to everyone, including the person answering in the first place.
He would get his answers eventually, for now there was no reason to push harder than he already did.
He had the boy here in his base which was by far better than the alternative.
Once they had finished eating the older took to cleaning off the table and dishes.
After being told he didn’t need to help the winged boy slowly walked toward the rooms balcony, from which he could oversee the entirety of the base.
As he walked the man kept sneaking glances, most likely to ensure that he would not run off.
As Wemmbu stood on the balcony, watching the sun set on the horizon, quietly taking in the colorful sky, Straight walked out and stood beside him leaning against the balcony as well. It was silent but not in an uncomfortable way, in a way that made the young boy feel like for the first time, in a long time, he could just breathe and not worry about anything else. For a brief second the Airborne forgot why he was even there in the first place. As Straight watched his guard drop ever so slightly he finally decided to ask one of the many questions on his mind,
“What happened? Why do you want to ban yourself ? I remember the way you were in sky civ. You always had to big of an ego and even challenged me to a fight. You were always loud, chaotic, but most importantly you were happy. So what happened to you? What happened to the Wemmbu I got to know?"
“...It doesn’t matter what I do, I’m just a weapon to everyone else.
I ban others and destroy their bases for no reason, and so many of my former friends now hate me.
I don’t even find joy in fighting anymore…
I have never done anything even remotely good for this server.
The only purpose to live I can possibly think about having is protecting Egg, and I can’t even do that right.
He always gets kidnapped and I can never do anything to stop it.
Even with my Orbitals and my maces.
I’m not strong enough.
I’m never strong enough.
I’m never powerful enough.
I’m nothing.
A lost cause.”
Wemmbu responded.
He looked strangely detached as if he could only recall the events through a fog.
Straight hadn’t expected that answer. To be honest he hadn’t been expecting the younger boy to answer at all.
He let the weight of everything Wemmbu had just said sit in for a second.
Everything the boy had said were things, which he had never believed in before, so who had put those ideas into the kid's head?
The older man suddenly felt a surge of anger bubble up, but in the end he decided to push it down and focus on comforting the kid infront of him.
Because even though he was past the age, there was really no denying that the person standing next to him on his balcony was fundamentally still a kid.
Sure he may have gotten good at hiding it but the boy had always been strangely childlike and immature.
And he had clearly never been taught how to deal with his own emotions.
Straight sighed as he collected his thoughts, in order to formulate an answer to the boy’s rather self deprecating statement.
“Oh gods where do I even start?
You're not a lost cause and whoever said that to you is wrong.
I’ve heard your reputation.
You are an amazing fighter, with or without your orbitals.
Everyone has a purpose, and you definitely haven’t failed yours.
Egg would be dead without you.
That's a fact.
Everyone on the server knows.
And even so, you do not need to fulfill a purpose in order to live.
You're not a monster, in this world it has always been kill or be killed.
Some people don’t see that because they're surrounded by good people, or they think they can save the server…
but you also cannot possibly say that you haven’t done good things on this server. You helped end the Mafia and the Law.
That counts Wemm.
Most importantly you are somebody.
Your Wemmbu.
The overconfident, loud, brash, but still, somehow, oddly endearing kid that challenged me with nothing.
Even though he knew he wasn’t as strong.
I sparred with you in sky civ, do you think I do that with anyone?
You are the only person I have ever trained.
If you could even call it that.
But still, you're a great person and it pains me to see the flame inside you, that used to shine the brightest of them all now dull so much.
I want to help you respark it.
I can’t watch the fire that I admired so much extinguish because it is not properly cared for."
Straight finally stated after a couple of seconds of contemplating.
The boy froze.
It had been a long time since someone had spoken to him that way.
He didn’t know what to say, but the words reminded him of his father and grandpa once more.
The tears, which always came up when he thought of his childhood and his lineage’s home started welling up once more.
But this time he did not take any efforts to stop the black fluid from streaming down his face.
Simply choosing to press it into the shoulder of the other man, who had taken to pulling him into his warm embrace once more.
He held him tight.
But not to the point where it would become suffocating, or his ribs started to ache, as they always did when his dad had hugged him.
Awkwardly and way too strongly.
He had never been good at dealing with sentimental stuff, so that role had always fallen onto his grandfather and older siblings.
But even though most of the time the advice his dad had given him was morally wrong at best and riddled with unnecessary bloodshed or borderline suicidal at worst when his voices had gotten the best of him, he still missed the times where the answer given to any problem he might have had was to commit atrocities towards orphans.
He missed the way his grandfathers face would scrunch up in indignation, his black feathered wings puffed up behind his back as he provided him with alternative solutions.
Which often were a lot less fun but also included a lot less war crimes.
His mind continued to wander as straight simply held him, letting him cry out any last bit of fluid his tear ducts still had to offer.
The boy sniffed before looking back up at Straight. By now he had mostly stopped crying but they stood in that embrace still. Straight made direct eye contact with him, his comforting white eyes meeting the boy’s own
“I meant every word I said.”
“⏁⊑⏃⋏☍ ⊬⍜⎍,” he whispered before he caught himself,
“ I mean, thank you,” Wemmbu hastily corrected.
“You shouldn’t have to. The people surrounding you, your friends, hell maybe even your rival should be the ones doing this. It’s what friends are for. So clearly you are not the problem here. But that's fine. I’m happy to fill that void. And I will always be there for you, so please just come to ask me for help before you decide to do anything rash.” Straight explained, his voice taking on a paternal tone.
“...can I stay, just for a little bit?” The winged boy finally asked after a long pause.
“Of course my door is always open for you,” The man answered, “Maybe I could finally train you for real this time."
“...I don’t know. I don’t really like–” the boy started, as he buried his face back into the older man’s chest.
“You're clearly burnt out and much to used to being used. You don’t not like it anymore, you're just tired of what everyone else has been doing. I would never do that to you, I promise.” Straight interrupted.
Wemmbu looked back up at Straight something in his eyes that he had long thought he lost, hope. They stayed in that embrace until the sun had fully set. Straight had taken to finally giving Wemmbu an anchor. Somewhere and someone he could always go if he needed it. Something that in Straight's opinion everyone should have.