Chapter Text
“Come on, Dark!” Chosen called across the desktop while clapping his hands. “You can do it!”
Dark was standing in front of Second, wobbling side to side as he reached his hands towards Chosen.
“Should I help him?” Second asked, his hands raised but not touching Dark.
“He’s okay right now,” Chosen said. “You’ve walked on your own before, Dark, remember? You can do it!”
Dark frowned and let out a little growl.
“I’m a little further away than usual,” Chosen said, “but take a few steps for me, alright?”
Dark shook his head a few times, then took a couple steps and stopped.
“Good job!” Chosen encouraged, clapping his hands. “Keep going!”
Dark wobbled forward again, taking a few more steps before losing his balance.
Second reached for Dark but before he could steady him, green sparks flew from Dark’s hands.
Second stepped back with wide eyes, and Dark’s arms windmilled for a moment before he fell backwards.
“Was he trying to use his fire?” Second asked, picking Dark up and setting him back on his feet.
“I think so,” Chosen said, hurrying over. “Maybe trying to balance himself…or maybe he just wanted to fly.”
Dark hugged Second’s leg and let out a little whine.
“Oh, uh, it’s okay!” Second said, patting Dark’s back. “You’re doing a good job!”
”Wonder why he didn’t try his wings,” Chosen said. “That’s how he flew the first time.”
”Maybe because he sees us flying without them,” Second said, picking Dark up and passing him to Chosen.
Dark rested his head against Chosen’s shoulder and hugged him around the neck.
”I think it’s time for a break,” Second said.
“Let’s get lunch, Dark,” Chosen said, and Dark immediately lifted his head. “What do you want to eat?”
“Soup!” Dark exclaimed, his face brightening.
“He really loves soup now, doesn’t he?” Second asked, turning and heading into the kitchen.
“And always tomato soup,” Chosen said. “I’m surprised we’re not tired of it by now.”
”Soup!” Dark repeated, waving his arms.
”We’re on it,” Chosen laughed, putting Dark in his chair. “You’ve really grown in these past couple months. You’ll be a year old soon!”
Second opened the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a can.
”Hmm…got a couple left. Glad the others went grocery shopping though.”
“I’ll make the sandwiches,” Chosen said. “Want one?”
“Sure!” Second exclaimed, nodding eagerly. “I can’t believe we’d never tried Stick City food before.”
“It’s been a couple hours since everyone went to Stick City,” Chosen said, getting bread and cheese out. “Hope they’re doing ok…”
“Purple took them to the library and a couple other places,” Second said, pouring out the soup into a pot and mixing it with milk. “They’ll probably be back soon.”
Chosen put three sandwiches together and put them on plates.
“Be right back,” he said, holding two plates and balancing the third on his arm as he returned to the desktop.
He set the plates carefully onto a stone block, then transferred them to the smooth white griddle and pulled out a flint and steel.
Blue says to always carry flint and steel, but…
Chosen put the flint and steel away, then knelt and lit a fireball in his palm and put it on the Netherrack blocks.
He sat back and watched carefully as the blue fire grew.
After letting the sandwiches cook for a couple minutes he pulled out an iron shovel and flipped them, smiling in satisfaction when he saw the sides were golden brown.
“Hey, Chosen!” Blue called. “That smells great!”
Blue and Green hopped out from a folder above Chosen’s head and onto a path made of blue wool blocks that descended into a staircase to the desktop.
“Hi!” Chosen said, waving as Red, Yellow and Purple exited the folder with the shortcut to Stick City.
Chosen flipped the sandwiches again and put out the fire.
”You’re not using Soul Soil, are you?” Blue asked, tipping his head.
”Nope, Netherrack,” Chosen said. “My fire’s just blue.”
”Ohh, yeah,” Blue said. “It’s good to have a flint and steel but I forget you don’t really need one.”
Yellow walked down the blue wool stairs and handed Chosen some bills and change.
”Thanks for buying the groceries!” Yellow said.
”Thanks for going in my place,” Chosen said. “You got some things you wanted, right?”
”Yup!” Blue said.
“What was the grocery store like?” Chosen wondered.
“Amazing!” Red exclaimed, skipping down the wool staircase with a couple bags over each arm. “You really need to go to the grocery store sometime! I bet you’ll find a lot of new favorite foods!”
“You should take Dark too,” Yellow said. “I bet he’d find things he likes.”
”Right now his favorite is grilled cheese and tomato soup,” Chosen said as he slipped the sandwiches back onto the plates. “I don’t know if he’d be interested in anything else.”
“You could try sometime if you like,” Yellow said.
“Mint did say I should start feeding him new vegetables and fruits,” Chosen said. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“I wanna go again!” Red said with a grin. “Did you know they’ve got escalators for shopping carts?!”
“And there were five floors!” Blue gasped. “Two of them were just for food! I couldn’t believe it! I’m gonna make a huge dinner tonight!”
“Do they have carts for babies?” Chosen asked.
“Yup!” Purple said. “You can buckle him in and everything.”
Chosen glanced down at the skillet.
“Should I make more sandwiches?” he asked.
“Purple got us lunch at the shopping center,” Yellow said.
“I wouldn’t have eaten if I’d known you were cooking though, Chosen!” Blue said. “Do you still like cooking?”
Chosen nodded.
“It’s actually fun,” he said, picking two plates up. “I could make sandwiches with dinner tonight.”
“Yeah!” Blue said, picking up the third plate and following Chosen back inside.
“Hey everybody!” Second said, setting a small bowl of tomato soup in front of Dark and sprinkling shredded cheese on top.
“I’m glad he likes the soup and sandwiches so much,” Purple said, sitting at the table with a smile. “I told King it’s Dark’s favorite but I don’t think he believed me. He seemed kind of embarrassed.”
Chosen cut a sandwich into small triangles and gave it to Dark.
“I see you still like it too,” Purple noted as Chosen sat down next to Dark.
“It’s good,” Chosen mumbled as he took a bite of his own sandwich. “Thanks for giving us all those groceries.”
“No problem!” Purple said, waving a hand with a smile. “I’m glad you have a favorite meal after eating letters for so long.”
Red and Green put the dry groceries away while Purple pulled out a carton of vanilla ice cream.
”Where are you going to put this?” he asked. “You didn’t let me buy you a mini fridge or freezer.”
Yellow smiled and put both hands on his hips.
”I’ve been working on that!” he announced, going over to a dark oak cabinet nearby with matching trapdoors on the front. “You know how there are ice boxes in Ancient Cities?”
”Yeah…” Purple said, frowning worriedly. “You didn’t go down there, did you?”
”I finally found an Ice Spikes Biome!” Yellow said triumphantly. “Another day though and I would’ve been planning for an Ancient City trip with Orange and Wardie.”
Yellow opened the trapdoors and revealed a space with packed ice in it.
”You made your own freezer!” Purple said with a grin. “I thought you didn’t seem worried about all the cold stuff you bought. Mango’s already got a fridge, but if we had one like yours we wouldn’t need to use as much electricity!”
”You should!” Yellow said. “You can make it like this, or however you want.”
”I would, but we’re not supposed to have Minecraft stuff in the city,” Purple mumbled. “It’s against the law.”
”What?” Red asked in surprise. “Really?”
“If it weren’t, Mango wouldn’t have had to get a Command Block the way he did,” Purple said with a shake of his head. “We made a switch to turn the Nether portal off when we aren’t using it so Mobs won’t just stroll in. We’d really be in trouble then. Imagine if an Enderman got into Stick City. Everybody would stare at it.”
”Ah…right…” Yellow said quietly. “Well, you’re being careful. We’ll keep it secret, don’t worry.”
Chosen nodded along with the others.
”Thank you,” Purple sighed. “I don’t know what exactly would happen if anyone knew there was Minecraft stuff in his house, but I doubt it’d be pretty.”
Yellow and Purple put the rest of the groceries in the freezer.
”Thanks, Purple!” Yellow said, then sighed longingly. “I wish we’d had to go to the Ancient City. I want to see that Redstone chamber so badly!”
”When Wardie has a day off, maybe we can take a trip down there,” Second said. “He doesn’t set the sensors off, so as long as you didn’t walk around it’d be alright.”
”Are there a lot of Wardens down there?” Chosen asked.
”Wardie was the only one down there,” Second said. “If there are more I don’t know.”
“Poor guy,” Yellow sighed. “The cities have been abandoned for a long time and he was all by himself.”
“Mobs learned to stay away from the area, too,” Red said. “But he’s doing well at school. The other Mobs were kinda nervous around him at first but they know now he won’t attack them.”
”Should we come by the school again to put carpet down?” Blue asked.
”We actually finished a few days ago!” Red said. “Wardie won’t get as overstimulated now.”
Dark dunked a hand into his soup.
Chosen shook his head, smiling slightly as he cleaned Dark up.
“Here, let me help,” he said, picking up Dark’s green spoon. “You ready?”
Dark opened his mouth wide.
“Didn’t think it’d be this easy to feed him,” Chosen said. “Guess it’s because it’s his favorite.”
Purple stood up from the table and set a plastic bag in front of Chosen.
”Mango and I got a little something for D-A-R-K,” he said. “For his birthday.”
”Oh, yeah!” Red chimed. “We should all have a party!”
Chosen took the bag and glanced inside to see two small items wrapped in brown paper with green polka dots.
”It’s a C-A-R and a stuffed D-I-N-O,” Purple said.
”Thanks, Purple,” Chosen said with a little smile. “I’m sure he’ll love them.”
Dark looked up curiously as Chosen hung the bag from his chair.
”If he opens then early, that’s okay,” Purple said. “Sometimes I got into my presents early.”
Purple smiled and waved, and Dark waved back.
”I’d better get home,” Purple said. “It was a lot of fun hanging out today!”
”Could we go again tomorrow?” Red asked.
”Hmm…yeah, I think so,” Purple said. “It’s the weekend so I think Mango would like to go too since he hasn’t been to the city in a while. You coming too, Chosen?”
Chosen wiped Dark’s mouth and let out a little breath.
”Yeah, that sounds good,” he said. “ I should probably have learned to go shopping ages ago.”
”It’s okay, we’ll help you!” Red said. “It’s so cool there!”
”So…” Yellow said, looking at Purple, “how’s Mango been?”
”It’s still hard for him,” Purple sighed, shaking his head. “Having Gold around is hard on him, even though he’d never say it, so I don’t like to leave him for too long. Gold’s not home right now though. I think he’s hanging out with Vic.”
”Would it help if some of us came to visit sometime?” Red asked.
”He’d like the company,” Purple said. “Chartreuse visits whenever she can, but the more the merrier.”
He glanced at the clock in the kitchen.
”I need to head back. I’ll text you about tomorrow’s plans.”
”Okay!” Green said. “But let us know if you need a day off. We kinda ran you ragged, huh?”
”Nah, it was fun showing you around,” Purple said. “Don’t worry! See you around!”
He waved and headed onto the desktop.
Chosen quickly moved Dark’s bowl before he could flip it over.
“Why do some Sticks…stay?” Green murmured. “But others don’t?”
There was silence for a moment.
”I don’t know,” Yellow said finally. “From what Alan says, ghosts don’t exist Outside, so I wonder why they do here.”
”Maybe because there might be little bits of data leftover,” Chosen said, looking at Dark. “And if it can be put back together somehow…maybe they come back completely…or as ghosts.”
”I’ve been wondering why you guys didn’t come back as babies too,” Second asked.
”I don’t know why, but I’m glad we didn’t,” Green said with a shudder.
”I’ve been thinking about that,” Yellow said, glancing at Second. “I’m not completely sure, but I think it’s because you can restore data that’s been damaged by a virus.”
“Like the Virablades?” Second asked, and Yellow nodded. “Does that make sense, Chosen? Can you do that too?”
”Hollowheads are more resistant to viruses,” he said, “but I can’t heal as quickly as you did, or heal others who got hurt by viruses. I don’t know why you could bring everyone back, but I think you can only restore data under certain circumstances, and only if done soon enough.”
”Only dire circumstances,” Yellow said. “I think so too.”
”Wouldn’t it be good if I could just do that anytime?” Second asked, clenching his fists. “In case something happened?”
”Orange, it took everything out of you,” Green said softly. “You were out cold for a few minutes after Alan carried you over to us.”
”We were all really worried,” Red mumbled. “We didn’t know if you’d wake up.”
”But I saved you,” Second protested. “I’d do it again!”
”We know you would,” Blue said. “But we’d do the same for you, too. We don’t want to to burn yourself out.”
”It’s not good for you to use that much power anytime you liked,” Chosen said. “It could wind up really hurting you. It happened to me when I couldn’t control my powers. I was drained for a long time afterward…I couldn’t eat or walk on my own, I couldn’t heal.”
”But…just in case…” Second mumbled.
”You’re enough, Orange,” Chosen said. “You don’t need to push yourself at all. You’ve been getting better just by working as hard as you normally do.”
“Yeah!” Red exclaimed, getting up and hugging Second. “But if anything does happen we’ll always be here to help you.”
Blue, Yellow and Green got up and joined the group hug.
“You don’t have to do everything,” Blue murmured.
”We always want you to let us know if you need help, buddy,” Green said.
“You’re still strong even if you need help,” Yellow put in.
”Thanks, you guys…” Orange whispered. “I…I know he’s different now…but it’s just…I still think…sometimes I see him and…see it happen all over again.”
Second looked at Chosen.
”I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I know I shouldn’t have brought it up…”
“And just let it keep bothering you?”Chosen said. “If you’ve been stressed, I’m glad you told me.”
Green’s phone buzzed suddenly, and he glanced at it.
”Purple says same time tomorrow,” he said.
Chosen looked down at Dark, then back up.
”Would it be better if just Dark and I went tomorrow?” Chosen asked. “Maybe you all need some time to hang out and have fun.”
“No, I…I didn’t mean you should leave!” Second exclaimed.
”I know,” Chosen said. “I wouldn’t leave forever, just for a day or so. Maybe I’ll live off the desktop for a weekend sometimes. You’ve all had to change your schedule a lot because of me.”
Chosen sighed.
”…And I think it’s about time I give Stick City a try.”
”You sure?” Green asked. “You don’t have to.”
”I handled it once when things were a lot more hectic,” Chosen said. “I can try going there for fun tomorrow.”
Green texted for a moment.
”Purple said he’d love to have you two come over,” he said, looking up with a smile. “He wants to know if you’ll fly or take the bus.”
”Bus,” Chosen said. “I’ve got enough for the fare.”
”Alright!” Green said, going back to his phone. “Purple said to meet up at the Graystone Library, so look for that stop when you’re on the bus, or ask the driver if it goes there.”
“Sounds good,” Chosen said.
”Sounded like Purple had a lot of places for you to visit,” Green said. “He seems excited about it.”
”Huh,” Chosen said. “That’s good. I hope he actually wants to.”
”He loves exploring the city,” Green said. “It’ll be fine!”
”Is Mango alright with it too?” Chosen asked.
”Oh, yeah!” Green said. “He wanted to go out on the town tomorrow anyway since it’s his day off.”
”Could you ask Purple to check if it’s ok with him that we’re there?” Chosen mumbled.
Green texted for a moment.
”Purple said unless you’re really trying to annoy Mango, you’ll be fine,” he said with a little smile.
Chosen looked down at Dark, who looked back up at him and yawned, then rubbed his eyes.
”You want to go visit Purple and Mango tomorrow?” Chosen asked.
Dark nodded, then yawned again.
”Alright,” Chosen said. “Then we’ll make sure you get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
Chosen picked Dark up and he curled up against his shoulder.
”You get enough food, bud?” Chosen asked quietly.
”Uh-huh,” Dark yawned.
”Thanks, Chosen,” Second said. “We’ll all go to the city together sometime.”
”Whenever you like,” Chosen said, taking Dark's bowl and plate to the sink. “I’ll know my way around better by then, I hope.”
“We’ll do the dishes,” Blue said.
”No, I’ll be back soon,” Chosen said. “Thank you though.”
“Chosen?” Second asked.
”Yeah?”
”Let’s take a break from training today,” Second said. “How about we do a building competition?”
”Sure,” Chosen said. “Be back soon.”
”Thanks,” Second said.
”We’ll explain the rules when you get back!” Yellow said. “We’ll be quiet, so don’t worry about Dark waking up.”
”And I’ll try not to win this time,” Green chuckled.