Work Text:
It was 16 minutes before 1AM on Alan's PC.
Orange lied on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
He wasn't asleep and, in fact, didn't sleep at all tonight. He made sure to nap a lot during the day and thankfully, everyone brushed it off as typical Orange behavior.
He waited for this day a long time.
He never liked long-term plans, since there were too many unpredictable factors that made them hard to execute, but you have to do things that are hard to do to become stronger.
Orange knew he was wasting time by lying there, but he justified it by saying that he was just repeating the plan in his head, to not forget anything.
And how was he supposed to get up if it was so hard to move? The deep anxiety weighed heavily on him, making it hard to breathe.
He looked at the clock. One minute left until 1am.
This is when he'll act.
He waited, readying himself for what would happen next.
He had to act fast, because he only had one day. He knew he couldn't keep them unsuspicious of him for any longer.
He couldn't fail. Failure was worse than death.
It was 1 AM on Alan's PC.
Orange forced himself to get out of his room.
Yellow’s behavior varied the most out of all of his friends, so he had to be first. If Yellow wasn't taken care of fast enough, the whole operation could be easily ruined.
Yet he was so predictable in his chaos.
During the day, Orange bet that Yellow couldn't recreate Adobe Animate in redstone.
Orange knew perfectly well that you do not bet on Yellow's redstone skills if you want to win, but that was the point.
His success would be his downfall.
They agreed that if Yellow fails, Orange will force him to go to sleep on time for 2 days and if Yellow succeeds, Orange will have to brew Yellow some night coffee.
Having control over someone's drink was a powerful tool.
As expected, Yellow managed to finish it by the evening. It was a perfectly functional copy, Yellow even added some details that enhanced the performance.
Even if Orange's intent wasn't genuine, he couldn't help but be impressed by Yellow's creation.
An hour later, at 10PM Orange brought Yellow the promised coffee.
It was, essentially, just a coffee-flavored sleeping potion.
Any weirdness could be excused by Orange not being experienced enough in brewing coffee and it's not like Yellow would really care. It's his trophy and he will enjoy it.
When Orange opened the door to Yellow's room, he saw a completely unconscious stickfigure. Perfect.
Orange lifted the body, bringing it to a folder.
He took some obsidian blocks from his inventory, made a Nether Portal frame out of it and lit it up with flint and steel.
He picked Yellow up again and went with him into the portal.
He kept walking, until he found four bedrock boxes. They were small, only enough to fit one stickfigure inside, with a one block wide hole on the top.
Orange dropped Yellow into the hole, then took a bedrock block from his inventory and closed it, making it practically impossible to escape for the victim inside.
One down.
Orange looked at the now-sealed bedrock cage. He sighed.
There was no way out now.
He headed back to the PC.
After shutting down the portal with a water bucket, he moved on to the next part of his plan.
Orange knocked at Red’s door.
He could hear the other stickfigure groaning and walking to the source of the noise.
“Mmm…Orange?” Red was surprised to see him for a moment, but only for a moment. “Why are you up? Is something wrong?”
“No. I just need to tell you something.” Orange whispered, entered the room and silently closed the door.
“Okay? What is it?”
“I found something,” Orange tried not to stare at Red. “And I want to show it to you.”
“Oh? What did you find?”
“I am…not sure how to describe it. You have to see it yourself.” Orange turned his head to the door.
“...alright. Lead the way.” it didn’t seem like Red was convinced by Orange’s acting, but he didn’t object.
Orange doesn’t lie.
And, even when he does, it’s never something big. Because they were friends. Red trusted him.
Maybe a bit too much…
“We’ll turn off the sound, so nobody hears us, okay?” Orange informed Red.
“Sure...”
Orange muted all the sounds on the PC. He pointed to the direction of the folder.
When they climbed into it, Red confusingly gestured at the portal frame inside, but Orange reassuringly put his hand on his shoulder. Red winced, but didn’t push further.
Orange lit up the portal. He nodded in the direction of the portal and waved Red to go inside.
When Red disappeared into the portal, Orange placed a TNT near the portal and lit it up, in case Red would understand that something was wrong, so he wouldn’t run back and alert everyone, then entered himself.
“So, where is it, Orange?” Red asked, when the hollowhead finally came out of the portal.
“It’s there,” Orange pointed somewhere in the ashy Wastes of the Nether. “You can see it if you look closely.”
“Huh, really? Let me see…” Red walked a few steps to the place where that ‘something’ was supposed to be.
“...I don’t see anything.” while Red wasn’t looking, Orange took out a small hammer he drew yesterday out of his hammerspace.
Suddenly, the portal shut down, making a loud glass shattering noise. Red jumped in surprise.
“What was that–?”
Orange hit Red right on the head, hard enough to knock him out.
Orange heard his heartbeat in his ears, as the rush of adrenaline from his action came.
He stared at Red’s unconscious body.
As it turned out, he didn’t even have to break the portal. Well, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Orange lifted Red and went to the bedrock boxes again. He did the same sealing procedure as before.
Two down.
Green and Blue left…
…
Orange returned, destroyed the portal frame and went to his room.
He quickly crafted a cake and a sign. He took some potions out of his inventory and poured them on the cake.
He went to Green’s room, placed a wooden plank and a sign near his door and then put a cake on it.
Orange left the room and turned the sound on.
He set up the alarm clock in his room to ring at 7:30 AM. He needed some rest before the next phase of the plan.
It’s a very good and reliable alarm clock.
Of course it is, Yellow made it…
Orange remembered how he would deny that he had sleeping problems. How Green would help him accept them and learn to ask for help. He remembered how understanding Red and Blue were…
Because they loved him.
They loved Orange so much…
…
He reminded himself it would be worth everything in the end. Failure was worse than death. Failure was worse than death. Failure was worse than death.
It was 8:23 AM on Alan’s PC.
Green woke up.
He groggily got up and made his way to the door--
Until he hit his foot over a wooden plank block (that hurt).
He yelped, instantly finishing waking up.
Green rubbed his eyes and took a better look at what he just stumbled upon.
Besides the cursed block, there was a nice cake and a sign placed on it.
There was some text written on a sign. Green really wanted an explanation as to why someone had to ruin his perfectly good morning for a STUPID CAKE?
Okay, no, the cake wasn’t stupid. It was actually quite nice, it’s just that the way he got it was, um. Unfortunate.
Green sighed and crouched to read the sign.
“Hey, Green! I thought that it would be nice to make something to thank you for helping me last Friday. I know that a cake is not the most valuable thing in the world, but I really put a lot of effort into that one.
(P.S.The cake is not poisoned this time. I promise.)
- Blue”
A cake? Blue really didn’t even want to try that time huh? He already bakes them for breakfast every other day…
How did this end up here anywhere? Did Blue sneak in during the night or something? He had to, why else would it be here?
Blue does have a tendency to get lost in experimentation in the kitchen. Maybe he only finished making the cake at night and didn’t want to give it to him during the day for whatever reason.
Either way, it would be rude to not eat it, he did say that he put a lot of effort into it. And, if it is a prank, Green could always take revenge on him later.
Green took a bite.
Orange opened the door, as he heard a quiet thud.
Where the other stickfigure should have been, there was instead just a small piece of green dye. It turned around in confusion.
It bounced a little when it noticed Orange.
Orange grabbed it tightly, so it wouldn't move and went to his room. He put it in his chest and put a block on it. It would stay here for some time, until Orange dealt with Blue.
Orange rechecked his inventory once again. Everything was ready.
This was going to get messy.
Orange went to the kitchen, brewed some coffee and waited for Blue to wake up. He didn’t really like coffee, but he would need some additional energy soon.
After twenty minutes or so, he heard someone walking downstairs. It was him.
Blue sighed in relief upon seeing Orange in the kitchen “Oh, Orange, thank goodness you are here! Where in the world are everyone?”
Orange tried to sound relaxed. “Oh, did Alan not tell you? DJ needed Red, Yellow and Green on his PC early in the morning.” He took another sip from his cup.
“...uh-huh. I guess I didn’t get the memo.” Blue’s voice shot up an octave higher.
Blue looked at Orange.
Orange didn’t look back, pretending to be too busy with drinking coffee, but he felt the stare.
Blue didn’t move. Orange froze in place.
The bitter and, usually, just disgusting taste of poorly made coffee felt almost comforting, as if it gave Orange the right to do nothing.
…but at the same time, it grounded him, not letting his mind trail off the plan.
The cup was going to run out of the drink soon.
…
It was dead silent.
Orange went to the sink and put away his cup in it. He looked around. He already knew the location well, but he wanted to see from what spot it would be better to start.
Despite Blue’s obvious suspicions, he hoped to get a good first strike and end it quickly.
“...are you okay?” Blue’s words finally broke out of his throat.
He took out the hammer from before and tried to smash it in Blue’s head.
Blue dodged that.
“What are you doing?!” Blue shouted, trying to regain balance.
Orange was silent.
He should’ve acted sooner. Well, he didn’t expect it to go perfectly anyway. He took out a diamond sword.
Orange dashed towards Blue. He shouldn't give him any space, as Blue was really comfortable with ranged combat.
Blue screamed as he got stabbed in the shoulder, but then he kicked Orange in the stomach to put some distance between them. Orange hunched over in pain, giving Blue enough time to get the sword out of himself and try to flee.
Orange recollected himself and saw that Blue was running outside. The kitchen wasn’t big enough for him. He grabbed his wrist, but his victim could still run away.
Orange growled in annoyance, he equipped an elytra and launched himself towards Blue with a firework rocket.
Blue took out a diamond sword of his own and slashed Orange as he flew closer. Orange winced. This hurt.
Orange tried to slash him in response, but he was blocked instead.
Blue jumped away, took out a glass bottle with a dark gray liquid and threw it in Orange’s direction. Orange was immediately weighed down by the effect, which Blue used to run away even farther and get more prepared for the fight.
Orange knew that it was coming. He was fighting Blue, after all. He tried to get a bucket of milk out of his inventory, but was met with a rain of arrows falling on him. He flew away to get some time to drink it. Blue managed to get quite a few more arrows in his back, but the slowness was gotten rid of.
Orange was tearing the arrows out of his body when Blue shot another, but Orange quickly ducked to avoid it.
Blue tried to move to a safer position, but Orange was already dashing to slam into him.
Blue ran closer to the house and threw a splash potion of poison at him, but Orange glid upwards, dodging another debuff.
As Blue gripped into his bow and was searching for an arrow to shoot into Orange, the winged one used a firework rocket and crashed right into him.
Orange fixated Blue’s free arm, while trying to get the bow out of the other. Blue kicked the stickfigure on top of him in the thigh, but, as a result of that, he pinned Blue’s legs to the ground with his own after that too.
Finally, Orange took the bow from Blue and threw it away.
He grabbed Blue by his throat.
After so long, it was finally done.
The end was so close.
Blue desperately fought to breathe.
It didn’t feel real.
He was going to win.
Tears swelled in the victim’s eyes, as he was running out of breath.
He spent so much time preparing for this day and it paid off.
He’ll prove himself to be—
Blue's coughs snapped Orange back to reality.
Right…
Orange thought. He could just let him suffocate to unconsciousness…
But that was a rather painful way, was it?
He needed two hands to hold Blue like that, though. If he wanted to hit him on the head like Red, he needs at least one of them available. He needed to change his position and make sure Blue wouldn’t move…
Orange lifted Blue, who didn’t really fight back, trying to catch any air while he could, and flew to the roof of the kitchen, which wasn’t directly under the other rooms, so it had its own roof, where some of the arrows landed, as far as Orange remembered.
Orange took some of the arrows out of the roof. Blue tried to get up, but he pushed him down and stabbed his legs and arms with the arrows. This should immobilize him for long enough.
He took out the hammer used last night.
So he shakily lifted the hammer, with his muscles whining from all those nasty wounds…
“I don’t u-understand—” Blue breathed heavily.
Orange said nothing.
“W-what did you do to the others?!” Blue tried to move his limbs, only to wince when the arrows refused to move.
Orange said nothing
“Y-you can’t be Orange—” Blue groaned, sweating from pain
Orange said nothing.
“You…you can’t…” Blue was suffering. Orange had to knock him out.
Orange said nothing…
“I am sorry,” he whispered.
Blue was not conscious now.
Orange couldn’t think straight.
He was shaking.
But it was fine.
The job was done.
He felt sick.
Why wasn’t he happy? Everything went according to the plan.
He did not fail.
He won.
He screamed.
He slapped himself.
He couldn’t give up now. He was so close to success.
He steadied his breath.
He rubbed the tears off of his face.
He looked around.
He opened a folder.
He built an obsidian frame.
He lit it up.
He dragged the body of a blue stickfigure into it.
He threw it in a cage.
He sealed it.
He came back.
He destroyed the block above a chest.
He took a piece of green dye out of it.
He took it with himself to the portal.
He threw it in a cage.
He sealed it.
The job was done.
It was finally done.
He spent so much time preparing for this.
And it finally was done.
And they finally succeeded.
And they finally deserved to be loved.
‘Orange’ started drinking the transformation reversal potion–
–and Purple finished it.
They laughed hysterically.
King would be so proud–
Their father would be so proud.
Finally, finally, not a disappointment–
Now Purple only needed to report this.
And then they would take the block without any obstacles.
And they would be powerful.
And they would be worthy.
And Purple would be loved.
Because they deserved love now, because they were strong.
It’s all they ever wanted.
…maybe it was never about strength.
It was around 7PM in a small house that Purple used to call home.
They breathed through their teeth, as waves of agony spread through their body, blood flowing into their sore muscles.
Tears and sweat flowing down their face made it hard to get any oxygen out of it, though.
They heard screams, but they couldn’t make out any of it, too busy trying to shut the loud ringing in their ears up.
They cowered on the cold floor, hoping that the pain would end soon, that anyone, anyone would help them.
Then, as if someone heard their silent begging, there was warmth. Gentle, soft warmth.
They melted into it, not realizing what it meant, at the moment.
Later, they realized it was a failure.
There was no point in waiting for help when they fell too deep, they had to climb up again all by themself.
Purple climbed with all the strength they could, no matter how much each fall hurt.
The pain that tears one from inside, seeing an old photo with a face that makes their breath become more frequent, burying someone who was their only comfort, it was all worse than death, it was failure, failure was worse than death.
Failure was worse than death.
So they never stalled.
They got up again, just like the old times, with their body and mind burning in pain, to try another time.
Failure was worse than death, they repeated.
Failure was worse than death.
Failure was…
It was 10:07 PM on Alan’s PC.
Purple didn’t sleep at all during that day, repeating the plan to themself over and over again, heart beating so fast, as if it tried to tear out of their chest, ashamed of what was about to happen.
But they couldn’t stop.
They stared at the clock Yellow made for them after they moved in. It was decorated with emeralds and gold, just for them.
When they pretended to wake up, they looked at the house they became so accustomed to. They knew every room and every corner, to use that to their advantage.
They even had their own room, Green helped them build it. They didn’t even ask for help on building it, really, but Green made them a medieval-themed room, with references to their own old castle and to some of League of Legends structures.
One last lunch made by Blue. A perfectly cooked chicken, stuffed with veggies, but, of course, Blue himself ate some netherwart instead, as he always does.
Red helped them pack their belongings, trying very hard not to get distracted by his pig licking his arm.
Orange took some obsidian blocks from his inventory, made a Nether Portal frame out of it and lit it up with flint and steel..
Purple was supposed to leave that day, but the others didn’t know the full truth.
They couldn’t know, no matter how much Purple wanted to tell.
They never liked long-term plans, since there were too many unpredictable factors that made them hard to execute…
Yet still, they had to do things that are hard to do to become stronger, to not fail.
They asked Orange to accompany them.
Purple and Orange went through the Nether portal together.
They walked to the place where the portal to Purple’s old PC was located.
Orange, however, didn’t know that Purple did not live there anymore.
Then, something grabbed Orange by the neck. A pink metallic staff with a command block in it appeared out of nowhere.
The invisible figure pulled out a splash potion and threw it, revealing themself.
A tall orange stickfigure with a crown.
“Good job.” King shifted his sight from Orange to Purple. “You are sure no one is following?”
“No, no one is, sir.” Purple answered.
King hummed, content with Purple’s performance, and started walking farther away from both portals, to a small bedrock cell, threw Orange into it and sealed it.
He copied the cell 4 more times.
Then, he summoned Purple a few glass bottles filled with liquids of different colors.
“I gave you everything you asked me for, now, do the rest of our deal.” King pointed at the lower portal with his staff.
“Of course…”
Purple drank one of the potions, which made them look like an orange stickfigure with a hollow head.
Now…’Orange’ bowed to the King and they went opposite ways.
It was time.
Orange returned home.
Orange made a bet with Yellow.
Orange looked around the house once again.
Orange went to bed.
It was 16 minutes before 1AM on Alan's PC.