Chapter Text
Alone.
He was alone again. It wasn't like being alone in his world was anything new, of course. Ze had survived in this world without anyone along his side, so this shouldn't be anything new! Right?
Right.?
..
Ze felt empty walking back to his house. He had just finished mining and was fighting back sleep as he dazedly made his way back home. Ever since Mo and ReGect left him, he has fallen into a simple yet dull routine of going out to hunt, mine, come back home, and rest.
Posting videos was no longer an interest to him after two weeks of no sign of his old companions. Furthermore, his world was weirdly docile after these weeks, no entities– not even the PIRATE that had sworn to have hated him made an appearance in his world.
And at this point, he would have probably preferred dealing with the wrath of the pirate and his crew every now and then over the solitude he was currently facing in this world.
…
It's been a month.
Ze rested on the cold hard stone couch and stared at the ceiling. There's no way they would really abandon him, right? They wouldn't just.. Leave him alone to rot.. They cared about him, Ze KNEW that. Mo never hid it but despite ReGect saying he hated him, the feelings of hatred he claimed to have were never proven to be completely sincere. And for people that cared about him so much, Ze thought, they were oddly quick to leave him abruptly for weeks without warning.
A pale face with rosy cheeks, a red nose, and blue eyes painted in his head. Messy red curls flowed from her head and seemed to bounce on her shoulders. Beside the clown was an entity with no head, a translucent veil was draped over where his head was supposed to be. Barely visible through the veil was one floating golden eye.
“ .. Goddamn it.. “ He muttered quietly as vivid pictures of the two flooded back in his mind.
The way Mo's eyes lit up with joy whenever the sound of music from the jukebox would fill the room. Her eyelashes fluttered as she -let- trusted Ze to apply a pale white layer of foundation over her skin.
And then there's ReGect. Despite the fact Ze complains about ReGect almost every single opportunity he has, he spends a considerable amount of time with him.
And Ze would never say this to ReGect's or Moe's face himself but honestly, the silence without them inside the house is worse than unbearable.
Tears pricked at his eyes and he did nothing to stop them from running down his cheeks, the warmth of the tears almost burning compared to his cold skin.
He brought his hands up to his face, covering it in shame before letting the tears he had been holding in for so long flow out of his eyes and onto his hands. The noise of Ze's sobs replaced the former silence of the house. When had he gotten so weak? He had used to make fun at ReGect over him crying after injuring himself but look at him now. He almost found himself laughing at the irony.
Ze continued to cry, his shoulders shaking with each sob he let out. He cried until he tired himself out. Ze's sniffling was soon replaced with soft snoring as he finally fell asleep.
Thud.
Ze was jolted out of his sleep by the sound of a door slamming. He didn't bother to get up as he heard footsteps entering the house. He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep,
“ Damn, I wasn't expecting the house to still be here after all those days. “
Ze's eyes snapped open as he registered the voice speaking. No, no way.. It can't be-
A series of high pitched honks followed shortly after the low voice. Ze held his breath. He felt a weird mix of relief and frustration bubble in his chest. After a month of evading him they decided that they wanted to FINALLY see his face. And weirdly, underneath his relief and frustration was dread. Despite all the time he spent thinking about the two, he dreaded seeing them again at this very moment. He wasn't prepared to see them again.
Ze mustered up the energy to push himself off the couch. He walked towards the entrance of his house before freezing. At the door, not to his surprise, stood ReGect and Mo. Mo's eyes widened at the sight of Ze, she let out a few excited honks before running towards him and wrapping her arms around him – pulling him into a tight hug.
Ze stood stiff, he stared at Mo and then to ReGect and then back to Mo. Mo honked rapidly, asking him about his well-being and more. Ze seemed to have temporarily lost the ability of speaking, a lump forming in his throat. He nodded yes at the majority of her questions.
Another pair of arms wrapped around him from his opposite side. ReGect's. Ze tensed at ReGect's touch. How can he, and Mo, both act so normal after practically abandoning him for a month? He wanted to push them away, maybe punch ReGect while he was at it, and yell at both of them for leaving him alone. He wanted to unload all the melancholy, loneliness, depression, and anger he felt. He wanted to give them a piece of his mind-!
“ ..I.. I missed you guys.. “ a weak murmur left his lips as his friends gently pulled him to the couch, keeping their arms around him as they sat down. The sitting arrangement reminded him of their previous videos and he felt his stomach twist. He held his breath to prevent himself from potentially gagging.
Ze melted into their embrace, feeling the familiar sense of tears pricking at his eyes again. Mo and ReGect, who he both haven't seen in weeks, were now gently coddling him like he was a toddler. He felt mildly embarrassed along with a ton of other emotions mixing in his head that he couldn't describe. At the moment, anything could set him off, his mental state was hanging by a thread.
“ Uh, Ze.? Are you.. Okay..? “ ReGect asks quietly, almost hesitantly, as if he was nervous to hear his answer.
FUCK no?? Do I look okay??
Ze shakes his head, preferring to keep quiet instead of answering with words.
“ Honk. Hhonkhonk.. “ “ Yea Ze.. We're sorry.. We didn't- we'll uh, try to give you a heads up or something next time- “
Hearing the apology come out of his friends' mouths filled his chest with a warm fuzzy feeling. He let out a shaky breath before nodding silently. Ze still felt mildly embarrassed. He let his mental health take a heavy toll for what? Two fictional characters that live in his minecraft server?
The trio sat in silence for some time, just cuddling each other like they haven't talked in weeks and well, yea, they haven't. The longer they sat there, the more farther away the days they were missing felt like. Ze could barely recall searching and grieving for Mo and ReGect over the past month, the memories of the past fading from his mind.
…
“ .. Do you guys promise.? “
“ Pardon? “
Ze sighed contentedly, staying silent for a bit before responding.
“ Do you promise you won't leave, dumbass. “ Ze's voice cracked slightly as he cursed but he decided to ignore it.
ReGect froze as the words left Ze's mouth. He paused before slowly extracted his arms from around him and stood up. Ze sat up quickly, reaching his hands towards him before realizing what he was doing and pulling them back. He huffed and slumped against the couch, letting Mo pull him closer and nuzzle against his cheek.
ReGect stared down at Ze and despite his lack of a face, Ze could feel the shift of emotion in his gaze.
Ze tilted his head and raised a brow, confused at the sudden change in behavior from ReGect. What had gotten into him?
“ Gee, what’s your problem, asshole.. “ he sarcastically mutters under his breath as he rolls his eyes, his hand finding Mo's red curls and combing through them.
ReGect continued to stare down at Ze.
…
“ You.. Do realize this isn't real, right? “
Ze froze completely, his gentle combing of Mo's hair ceased. He felt his heart momentarily cease with it.
" Duh, of course this isn't real, it's Minecraft, a fictional game, genius.. "
Honk.. honk..
Mo whined softly as she held Ze tighter, slightly crushing his ribcage. Ze winced slightly before continuing to run his hand through Mo's hair. “Sh.. I'm gonna be fine Mo.. “ his voice lowered as he spoke to Mo before turning his attention back to ReGect.
“ See? Even she knows. “
“ What? What the hell are you even talking about- “
“ This isn't real, Ze. You're like dreaming or hallucinating or something-. “ ReGect started to blabber now.
Ze didn't respond to him that time. He just continued to absentmindedly comb through Mo's hair. Was he really sleeping? No way, he reassured himself, he remembered waking up, the idiot in front of him was probably playing another “prank” on him again.
“ Ha.. Very funny.. “ he rolled his eyes again. ReGect's tactics weren't amusing. “ Just come sit back down instead- instead of doing whatever this is- “
As soon as the words left his mouth his vision flickered black. A sudden pain throbbed through his head.
“ Ugh, Fuck- God damn it.. “ he groaned quietly, removing his arm from around where Mo should've been and bringing his hands to his head.
A pounding headache suddenly pulsed throughout the top of Ze’s head. The world felt like it was spinning around him, or maybe he was just falling into an endless void again.
Crude, mocking laughter began ringing in his ears. A shaky gasp of fear escaped his lips. He recognized that laugh. Tears began to form in his eyes once again, Ze tried to prevent them from falling by squeezing his eyes shut.
However, this caused a problem. Ze could no longer tell what was happening around him.
He was flying, was he falling-? He couldn't tell what was going on and he refused to open his eyes to find out.
Suddenly, everything stopped.
Ze collapsed to his knees, now clutching his chest and breathing heavily. He still heard the faint racket of mocking laughter ringing in his head.
He slowly cracked open one of his eyes. He was back alone in the house. Of course, how naive could he possibly be to really believe Moe and ReGect had actually come back to him? He felt that same empty feeling he felt when he came home to no one filling his chest again. And worst of all, the laughing he was hearing would NOT stop.
Shut up.
He wanted to yell out but his mouth refused to move on his command.
The laughter began to increase in volume, sounding almost hysteric now. He shook his head and continued attempting to yell at the strange giggling voice.
Shut. Up. SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT THE HELL UP.
He continued repeating in his head as the laughter prolonged.
His mouth finally moved.
A dry chuckle escaped Ze's lips. It started off as a quiet giggle before it evolved into the same hysteric chuckle echoing in his ears. He can't continue doing this, it's getting old.
He looks up to see the familiar eyes that haunt him hover a few feet in front of him.
“ HaHA-! Y-you think you're so powerful huh? HUH? HAHSHA-! “
Ze started laughing uncontrollably, struggling to get off up the floor. He makes his way to his chest before pulling out the only remaining gun left. The shotgun. (Which may or not have been the one ReGect gifted him..) He pointed it at the entity with both his hands. And with a pull of a finger, he wasted no time in pulling the trigger.
A loud shot rang out throughout the room. The entity was gone.
Ze dropped his gun to the floor before bringing his hands to eyes and rubbing them hard. He felt so exhausted and awake at the same time. He fell to his knees once more before sitting down with his legs crossed on the floor. He didn't even have the energy to cry at this point,
He didn't want to let his mind linger on the eyes or the past events for too long, wanting to push those memories in the back of his head like he does with every negative memory he ever has. If he ignores the bad, the only thing left for him to see are the good memories! But sometimes, well all of the time, just mere memories of his digital friends wasn't enough to fill in the silence he is met with every time he logs onto the server.
The only thing he has left of ReGect and Mo are memories. Yet, calling them memories made it sound like they no longer played a role in Ze's daily life. It made it sound as if they were only people(or entity's?) that remain in his past. This was a change he couldn't handle. Ze wasn't ready at all to consider them as family friends from the past. He rarely thought about his future with them and now, the only thing he'll have to think about is the remaining memories he has of his old companions.
...
Completely lost in thought, Ze smelled the smoke of the burning fire before he saw it. When he moved his hands from his eyes, he found himself in a new location. The air in his lungs was nearly knocked out of him as realization finally hit him.
“ .. N-no.. Y-you can't be serious- “