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Parrot doesn’t like the snow.
Even before what happened with Wifies, he wasn’t fond of the white blanket that covered some of the world. It was wet, cold, and when his feathers became wet and cold he couldn’t fly well. He didn’t really like winter either. The way the icy ground felt beneath his feet, it reminded him too much of when Spoke made him and Wifies do that stupid parkour.
He hates the snow even more after Ashswag pulls that fucking fishing rod right in front of him in front of his and Wifies cabin.
***
“Yo, bro this kid is about to cry.”
“No, bro, I’m not! I’m not…”
Egg and the others laugh at Parrot when his voice hitches when he tells them that Wifies joined the mafia, that he’s under Ash’s control now. He takes out his bow and shoots Wemmbu, slightly feeling better when he sees the other catch on fire, but he can’t control the way his shoulders tremble as he grips the hem of his shirt a bit tighter.
“No, hold on, Parrot, that is unfortunate…” Spoke’s voice drones on as Parrot answers practically on autopilot.
He can’t stop thinking about Wifies, though, and how he sacrificed himself to buy him time.
***
“What are you doing? Like drink milk. Can you say something?”
The invisible player just stares at Parrot, their head following Parrot’s pacing. At this point Parrots not even sure if this is Wifies—perhaps all this time it was that one copper trim that Ashswag seemed to like, or a random no trim pulled from their duties to ridicule Parrot.
“…You promised me. You told me that you wouldn’t be like them. You said that as you were gonna leave this house.”
The player said nothing, standing there, watching Parrot. The two stare at each other for what seemed to be like hours, until a familiar voice grated on Parrots ears.
“I gotta put my snack down after that one.” Ashswag taunts. Parrot can hardly hear as Ash mocks his monologue, and as Ashswag lectures him, and as he jumps down from that damn roof and laughs at him. The thing that snaps Parrot from his state is when Ashswag tosses a potion of invisibility at him. The bottle is cold in his hands, and it disgusts him. When parrot looks up, the invisible player shakes their head rapidly.
Ashswag notices.
Parrot throws the potion away, and he almost gloats in it—both him and the player who he knows in his heart is Wifies, seem to get a rise out of Ash. However soon Parrot figures that wasn’t a good idea when Ash’s words become quite and calculated, and when he pulls out that stupid fishing rod, pulling it, the player is stasised away. Parrot can't help but feel a sense of dread.
Wifies fell out of the world.
-
When Parrot tells them the news, at least one person, Wato, seems to care. Spoke sounds worried but Parrot knows it’s an act. It’s Spoke, after all. Wemmbu doesn’t even say anything to him. He can’t even have time to grieve over his dead best friend when the Mafia attacks them, and when he leaves the battle early, he knows what to do.
Parrot nearly cries at every beacon he places, the familiar yellow and white glass pattern reminding him all too well of the cabin, the same patterned stained glass windows, and Wifies, the one who even suggested the beacons of hope in the first place.
Wifies was dead, and there was nothing he could do about it.
***
The next couple of months flew by for Parrot. He had no idea why the Director was so obsessed with him, and when he finally stood in front of him in the snow, milk bucket in hand, Parrot would finally get the answers he wanted.
He hated the noise when the snow crunched under the Director’s boots when he stepped closer, chugging the milk. Blotches of skin seemed to be painted back in reality as the Director’s potion effects were cleared, and Parrot finally could see who had been tormenting him all this time. The wind flew past his ears and ruffled his feathers as time seemed to slow.
Wifies.
Wifies is standing in front of him.
The first thing Parrot asks himself is why, why did Wifies do all of this, why did Wifies kill Nufuli, why did he fake his death, why do everything he’s done???
Wifies leads him inside, his voice distant in Parrot’s mind as he shows him the dog, tells him how he faked his death. Wifies doesn’t care that Leowook had saved Jumper and Derapchu, because at least he has Parrot now. He grabs Parrot’s wrist, and leads him outside into the snow.
Parrot despises Wifies and the snow.
***
“You will step on a pressure plate.”
Wifies commands, his voice cold. Parrot shivers. The spyglass his heavy in his inventory, the only splash of color among the bleak, light-grey squares. Wifies doesn’t seem to know he has the spyglass. He didn’t think Parrot would be smart—or stupid—enough to run back and grab it before it despawned.
“Wifies, bro, sto—” Wifies stares at him. Parrot freezes, and slowly moves towards the pressure plate, his steps heavy and slow as he steps on the wooden pressure plate at the same time as Wifies, hearing redstone activate underneath his feet. Wifies rambles on to him for a few minutes, but Parrot had long stopped listening to Wifies during their time in Paragon. Subconsciously he pulls out the spyglass like he always used to do, and stares at Wifies through it. Wifies pauses.
“Parrot.”
His voice is just another among hundreds of memories of voices in Parrot’s mind. The rest of his speech is muffled, like Wifies is talking underwater.
“…Parrot, give that to me before you hurt yourself.”
Parrot stares at Wifies, his hands trembling, holding the smooth polished copper of the Spyglass. His fingertips run over the carved yin and yang and feather symbols, before he forces his fingers to unfurl and drops the spyglass with a dull clink onto the wooden pressure plate.
“It’s all yours.”
-
Parrot glances back when he hears a fuse light, and the center building in Paragon is blown up from the inside, sections of the roof collapsing.
Wifies was blown up by ParrotX2.
Wifies left the game.
Parrot doesn’t go back to check if Wifies is really dead—he doesn’t need to, and doesn't want to.
***
The next time Parrot is reminded of Wifies is when he and Theo are going to the location the owl mentioned.
“I can’t believe these are still here.” Parrot mutters.
“What’s so important about some random tower?” Theo inquires, walking backwards to stare at the singular tower as they walked past it. Parrot feels his face getting hot against the cool night air, and he quickens his pace.
“…Nothing. It’s nothing.”
***
“I wanted to be a bird as big as you, Parrot! So that’s why I became the owl!” Spepticle proudly flaunts his elytra, fashioned as barn-owl colored wings. The brown nicely complimented his bright red skin.
...Is what Parrot is thinking as the anvil above Spepticles head seems to fall in slow motion. He feels snow gently pattering on the ground around them and on his hot face and wings.
Spepticle was squashed by a falling anvil.
Spepticle left the game.
Parrot looks up at the snow, and he loathes it.