Chapter Text
Ash had given them a timer, a countdown, a constant ticking clock of a force completely out of their control. Time stopped for nobody, and yet Wifies found himself practically begging the air for it to come to a permanent halt.
Twenty-four hours had passed, and so had their limit.
Ash barged into their wooden cabin, a diamond player following behind like a dog. The leader of the Invisible Mafia looked as powerful as ever—the constant glitching of his body combined with all the shiny pins he had attached to his aristocratic coat said more than words ever could.
His booming laughter was like that of a hyena—disgusting and ear shattering.
Parrot immediately lifted up his bow, aiming it straight at Ash’s head.
Ash stared back, his expression as tranquil as ever. He began monologuing, and Wifies already knew what was about to come out of his mouth.
“Parrot. If you kill me, I will die — and everyone who has joined the Invis Mafia, including your friends, will as well. The second that the master trapdoor closes and everyone's stasis gets pulled, they will all meet the same end as me.”
Wifies felt hatred clawing at the bottom of his heart the more he stared at that black and violet excuse. Ash was greed and selfishness personified, two horrid qualities manifest.
Parrot reluctantly lowered his bow, not saying a word. Wifies could see the avian trying to keep his expression emotionless, but he knew him all too well. Wifies knew Parrot felt helpless and was only acting strong.
Ash smiled as Parrot lowered his bow, proceeding onto the next step.
“Now,”
The glitchy entity opened his inventory, and proceeded to take out two invisibility potions, dropping them both to the duo.
“You will stop resisting. You will join my ranks and pledge your allegiance to the Mafia.”
Intimidation and power seemed to come naturally to Ash, his words flowing out smoothly without cracking.
“You have ten minutes to decide, or else I’ll have you both hunted and killed.”
As he was finishing his sentence, Ash nudged his head towards the diamond player standing by his side, and the servant nodded frantically in agreement.
The intruders stepped outside the house, leaving Parrot and Wifies alone. The clone could swear he heard Ash muttering insults and giggling as he walked off.
“...What do we do?”
Parrot’s quiet, dull voice rang throughout the cabin. The avian’s wings were coiled close to himself as he stood against the wall, staring at Wifies hopelessly — like the other would magically come up with a solution.
Wifies felt the weight of his amber gaze.
However, running wasn’t an option anymore. Hiding and stalking weren't options anymore. Stalling, trapping, and fighting weren't options anymore.
It was a true dead end.
That, unfortunately, was the mutual understanding between the two.
The fire in the center of the cabin continued to cackle, as if laughing. The snow falling gently outside felt like an insult; the way such a tranquil world existed outside this box. Wifies was suddenly hyper-aware of how cold he felt, instinctively walking towards the flames.
It had been a few minutes, and Parrot had shut his eyes — a good indicator that he was deep in thought. Wifies stared for a few seconds, observing the avian. His head wings were drooped a little, and his multicolored hair had fallen in front of his face. There was a specific braid off to the left side that Wifies had weaved — seeing it in prime condition made him smile.
Yet, time was slipping.
The mere thought of Ash coming back was enough to make him feel like the world’s weight was on his shoulders.
It was, in a way — Parrot was his world. He couldn’t let the Mafia near his sole purpose for sticking around on the server.
Wifies didn’t hesitate, beginning to speak in a decisive voice:
“Parrot. I’ll go with Ash, you ca-”
The avian interjected immediately, startling Wifies into silence and confusion.
“Wifies! Are you serious?! I told you to stop regarding yourself as disposable!”
Parrot’s own desperate voice crossed over his partner’s words, his many wings flaring out. The once peaceful avian was now in a defensive position, his posture straight and eyes piercing through the other being.
Parrot had raised his voice, and Wifies flinched like a frightened puppy.
“Parrot, please.”
The avian sighed and mumbled an apology, averting his gaze to the floor, trying his best to avoid eye contact.
“I… just, listen to the facts for a second.”
Wifies took a deep breath and started to list things off.
“We can’t join them; we can't become cowards like them. But…Ash found us so easily, and we both know what even a singular diamond player can do…”
Wifies saw Parrot’s frown deepen at the mention of “diamond player” — his expression was practically mirroring a scowl now.
“So. Let me joi-”
Wifies coughed into his hand.
“…infiltrate the Mafia — to gather information as an insider. You can run off back to District 13 and rebel with the others. Make some genius plan.”
Wifies was starting to fidget with his bracelet; the exact same bracelet that he had made for him and Parrot. It was a symbol of their friendship, along with the spyglass. Wifies got more anxious as he spoke, his imagination painting horrible possibilities.
“It’ll be safer with the others.”
He imagined Parrot bleeding out from his chest, blood soaking the snow and dyeing it a vile crimson. The corpse's lifeless eyes and distorted hair; the completely still heartbeat.
“You have to live, Parrot. Don't let the beacons die out…show the Mafia there’s still people who are fighting against them.”
He tried to keep his voice as stable as he could, not wanting to worsen the situation.
“Wifies... bro.”
Parrot spoke his name with confidence, and yet there was a gentle undertone. Wifies shuddered, but looked up to meet the other’s gaze. He was relieved to see that the avian had relaxed somewhat.
“I’ll never be like them. I promise.”
Wifies knew that, but he would never — and he meant it, never — let Parrot put himself in such patent danger.
Out of the corner of his eye, through the window, Wifies caught a glimpse of Ash. The entity was actively walking towards the front door. He looked back towards Parrot frantically, and his eyes immediately caught what the avian was holding.
He was holding an invisibility potion; the same one that had been bestowed upon him.
Wifies opened his mouth to object, but Parrot had already tossed the potion into the air.
It hit the ground, shattering glass everywhere and making them both invisible. Parrot was already running off towards the door, and Wifies stumbled forward, trying to grab onto his arm.
“PARROT!”
He felt desperation clawing at him, but he was too late. The avian tuned back towards Wifies one final time, his right hand resting on the doorframe.
He opened his inventory and tossed the spyglass towards Wifies, before finally stepping outside, greeting Ash right as he was about to enter.
Wifies barely caught the spyglass.
He had no time to break down and drown in longing. The stakes of the situation forced him to take action first.
Wifies quickly stepped outside, took off all his armor, and locked the door behind him. He couldn’t let Parrot’s sacrifice be in vain, no matter how much he wished they could’ve swapped places.
The clone could hear Ash praising Parrot for making the right choice, and Wifies couldn’t help the way his stomach churned. He stood there and listened, completely oblivious to the way snowflakes were melting against him, and how his hoodie wasn’t doing much to fend against the cold.
He looked down at the spyglass, safely tucking it into the last slot of his inventory.
Wifies didn’t want to move, but his legs made him run anyway.
——————
The next few days passed in a haze. Spoke and Mapicc had located the Mafia’s actual stasis chambers, and everyone in District 13 was actively planning to destroy them.
When that news hit Wifies, he didn’t feel completely hollow. He felt like he had a chance in defeating the Mafia and getting his best friend back, a chance of making things normal again, a chance for him and Parrot to settle down and live out their days.
So when Wifies went back to their little wooden cabin and saw an invisible player snooping around the house, he couldn’t help the hope that fluttered in his chest.
“...Parrot?”
The clone cringed at his tone — he sounded so ridiculously desperate.
Rather than hearing the avian’s voice reply, the only sound was the raging breeze outside, and the wooden cabin’s creaking.
The house seemed to be completely untouched. The carpet was still intact, the fire was blazing, and the utilities against the wall hadn’t been moved at all.
Wifies tried again, a little slower and gentler this time: “Parrot…?”
Still nothing. The other player hadn't even bothered to acknowledge his presence.
Wifies spent the next minute or two just staring at Parrot (at least, he hoped it was him), waiting for him to say anything. Honestly, he wanted to ask about the whole ordeal earlier — but he at least wanted confirmation that he wasn’t talking to some random guy.
Parrot(?) started walking around, absentmindedly going through the chests in the house. Wifies was growing impatient, so he did the next best thing that came to mind. He pulled out the spyglass from his inventory, and looked through it at the invisible player. The distance was between them was already close, but through the spyglass Wifies could get an extreme zoom on their (rather absent) face.
That sure got his attention.
Parrot (still hoping that it’s him) paused, staring at Wifies directly.
Wifies sighed in relief and started pouring information directly onto the other, seizing the opportunity:
“...Spoke and Mapicc managed to find the stasis chambers. We already have a plan set in place, and it’s almost fully complete. The Mafia should fall by tomorrow, and the server will be safe again. You’ll be free, Parrot.”
Wifies was expecting a reaction — any kind, but particularly enthusiasm. Perhaps it was naive of him to expect something.
As if to confirm this, laughter erupted outside the house. Wifies froze, confused — and bolted outside to find the source. Parrot followed behind as an extra set of footsteps.
Unfortunately, Wifies’s suspicions were correct.
There stood Ash, on top of the wooden cabin, in all his glory. Next to him was a diamond player, and Wifies couldn't help the frown that crawled onto his face.
“‘The Mafia’ and ‘fall’ in the same sentence! Ah, it’s as if you guys never learn…”
Ash slid down the roof, feet landing in the snow. Honestly, it was quite the pathetic attempt at looking cool. His landing wasn’t very graceful, and despite the entity’s best efforts to hide it, he had stumbled. The diamond player was only a little behind their leader, tracing the same route.
Ash looked from Wifies to Parrot, and from Parrot to Wifies. Over and over, like he was expecting one of them to magically turn into a rabbit. Eventually, his violet, null gaze settled on Wifies.
“You are not the first person to challenge the Mafia, and you certainly won’t be the last.”
Wifies had heard this a thousand times.
Ash crossed his arms.
“I am saving the server, yet you all are so hellbent on the fact that my methods are unethical. All those players, nations, armies — they need to be unified under a common power. I am that power. I hope you manage to get that through your skull and save us all precious time.”
Wifies had a thousand things he wanted to say in retaliation, but the only thing he seemed to be able to do was stare at Parrot, who was facing him directly.
Ash caught onto this, however — and started taking a new route through the conversation:
“You don’t even know if that’s Parrot.”
Wifies kept his expression motionless and his eyes hollow, staring Ash dead in the face, as if urging him to continue. The entity took him up on his offer, speaking in a rather mocking way:
“That’s the beauty of being invisible. That version of someone who’s permanently frozen in your head, who you can’t update your view of, simply because you don’t if any of it is real. No name to go off of, no face to recognize them by, no voice to recall…you don’t know at all! That’s perfect, authentic beauty to me.”
All that was true; Wifies knew that for a fact. Yet, Ash was coming from a place of insecurity, and that was something the clone could exploit.
“Maybe not seeing anyone’s face saves you suffering.”
Ash snickered.
“Fools will surround themselves with fools, after all. Especially your diamond players.”
Wifies spat out the last few words, treating them like poison rather than the supposed nobility they were supposed to hold.
Ash simply replied: “then become a fool.”
If Wifies saw the disgusting, ghostly white of an invisibility potion again, he might throw up. Ash knew how the clone felt, but presented the bottle anyway.
“I hate wasted potential, so I’ll give you a final chance. Join the Mafia — succumb to me. Your best best best friend in the whole wide world already has.”
Ash turned around, reaching out his left hand to gesture at the invisible player standing before the doorway, unintentionally catching them mid-headshake.
The entity immediately swayed his whole figure to glare at the player. Ash’s glitching had turned more aggressive, and he radiated hostility.
“Did you just shake your head at me?”
Wifies felt a wave of guilt crash into him. Parrot was trying to persuade him to go against Ash — and that landed him into hot water.
Parrot might die here.
That thought alone was enough to send Wifies into a panic.
And so, he heard his own voice bending, lying straight through his teeth, trying to preserve his friend's existence.
“...He didn’t, no — not at all.”
It came out too shaky.
Ash pulled out a fishing rod. Parrot moved back, his figure fully against the wooden cabin.
Wifies tried to step forward in a desperate attempt, but the diamond player already had his mace at the ready.
“You defied me.”
Ash raised his hand —
“And I don’t take betrayal lightly.”
— and flung the rod forward, towards Parrot. It was all done swiftly, in less than a second.
Parrot was gone from the scene.
Wifies stood still, entirely still. It was like his shoes were glued to the earth and his body was devoid of any willpower. He was anticipating a message — no, the message. He didn’t want to feel anything, or wait for anything, and he had never wished harder to be a piece of machinery. He hated how he knew, how he was regarded as “smart” and “all-knowing.” Ignorance and stupidity would be his saving grace, masking all his emotions and numbing him.
Wifies finally saw it.
ParrotX2 fell out of the world.
Regret pooled in his gut; invisible hands strangled his throat. This felt like a joke, like the peak of human suffering someone would write in a book as the final step to “ascension.”
Ash’s voice pulled him back into reality.
“Looks like the man you were crying to was Parrot after all…absolute cinema!”
The entity proceeded to inspect the house some more, deliberately punching the sign outside and breaking all the yellow glass panes aligning the window frames.
“Class dismissed.”
Wifies barely had any time to react before the Mafia player was on him, springing into the air and bringing down their mace. The clone dove under a nearby tree and ran, ran as fast as he could while emotions were making it feel like he was already burning up.
Parrot had set up a few TNT traps around here, in case they were ever ambushed. Wifies had made sure to memorize the locations.
He finally saw the lever against the tree, and exerting his final fragments of energy on speed, he flicked the switch.
The explosion was loud, decimating everything in its vicinity. The diamond player was only a few steps behind, narrowly dodging the explosion. Wifies stood on the other side of the crater, facing the powerful player.
“We ha—I have ten more of those. It’s your choice to continue pursuing me or not.”
That seemed to do the trick. The Mafia player stared for a little, before turning around and running in the other direction.
Wifies ran out a little more, exhaustion starting to kick in. He found the nearest tree and slumped against it, curling up and burying his head into his knees. The snow melted around him, drenching his clothing a bit, but he was far too tired to care. His thoughts were still clouded and messy, and he tried to drown himself in denial — but the scene of Parrot’s disappearance kept replaying in his head.
The clone opened his inventory and took out the spyglass; the final gift from his dear friend. He stared down at it for a little while, before pulling it towards his chest and cradling it like it was the most precious gem in the world.
Eventually, the dark atmosphere of the world put him to sleep, along with the fatigue and emotional turmoil. Being unconscious saved him from his thoughts, from all the suffering he was to process.
——————
Wifies was woken up by a dark figure shaking him. He groggily opened his eyes, and upon realizing what was happening, he was immediately thrown into high alert. He tried to crawl backwards, only to be met with spruce wood against his back. Finally, he looked up at the creature, and felt some relief.
It was Spoke.
He was dressed in that same colorful attire, along with full netherite armor. The elytra on his back was clearly worn, raggedy and torn up. Spoke’s armor wasn’t much better — it showed signs of recent battle. Yet, the actual man presented him gleefully, smiling down at Wifies. Although, his joy dulled upon seeing the clone’s extremely disheveled state.
“Errr… Wifies? What’s up with you, bro??? Your hair is like… uhhhh…”
Spoke was observing him, circling the tree he sat against. Wifies ran his hand through his hair, putting away the spyglass (agonizingly so) and standing up. Spoke stopped moving and faced him directly, staring at him with a generic thinking posture. When Wifies failed to speak, Spoke said something instead.
“Anyway… WE BEAT THE MAFIA!!! Me and Mapicc destroyed the stasis chambers. It was crazy.”
Wifies stood there, eyes half-lidded and arms crossed. His right hand fidgeted with his sleeve as he listened to Spoke.
“When the, like, beacons of hope or whatever started lighting up, everyone started drinking milk and popping each other's totems… like, not to kill each other, but just doing whatever to get their invis off. It’s like they were all unionized.”
Spoke gestured dramatically as he told the story, his voice flowing through different frequencies of excitement as he described the situation.
“It’s been like… five months bro. It’s FINALLY over. DEATH TO THE MAFIA!!!”
Wifies smiled a little, the first time in a few days. At least all the suffering had been for something in the end.
Spoke was staring at him expectantly, and Wifies finally replied.
“I’m sure Parrot would’ve been glad to hear that.”
The voidling seemed to catch the subtext that the clone was laying down. Spoke’s expression stilled, and his hands dropped down to his sides. He stepped forward a little, but stopped.
“Wifies…”
Wifies, however, quickly shut him down.
“It’s alright, Spoke… what happened to Ash? Did you guys kill him?”
He didn’t want to think about Parrot more than he had to — the less he remembered, the better.
Wifies felt that same gross feeling at the bottom of his stomach again. His animosity towards Ash and everything he had done, his very face, his manner of speech — it was enough to make Wifies want to tear him apart inside-out. With everything that happened to Parrot, that urge only festered more.
So, when Spoke hesitantly replied with a “no,” Wifies was ready to take down the entity himself.
The voidling continued: “Uh… about that — he has a house out in the Farlands, but I doubt he’s in a talking mood. Why?”
Wifies pulled out his sword and a stack of fireworks, attaching an elytra to his back.
“I fear we still have some unfinished business.”
——————
Wifies couldn’t fathom how Ash could make fun of someone’s house when his own looked like a degraded Victorian factory. Random crying obsidian that looked like chorus fruit trees stuck out of the base, all while smoke poured from the roof. If the trees were to be representative of Ash’s glitching, that just further fueled Wifies’s idea of him being insanely narcissistic. At this point, he might as well make the whole house out of ugly violets.
Wifies knew it was a smart idea to splash invisibility, but he wanted no affiliation with the Mafia at all — nothing that reminded him of them either.
Ash was in the house, shuffling around the interior. Wifies stood and listened to him for a minute, before knocking on the door as politely he could muster. The noise inside the house paused, and footsteps approached the door.
The entity opened the door, and Wifies shoved him aside and let himself in. Unfortunately, a copper player was accompanying Ash, and they had their sword at the ready.
Wifies could feel the tugging in his brain telling him he couldn't take a two-versus-one, but he tossed himself onto Ash anyway. Fear crossed Ash’s eyes as he barely had any time to move, but —
The copper player was fast to react, parrying Wifies’s hit before going in for a slash themselves. Wifies put his shield up, blocking the hit and trying to impale the player through the stomach. Wifies had no intention of killing anyone else, but anything that got in the way of him killing Ash had to be purged.
Ash’s voice cut through the sparks and flashes of combat — calling out towards Wifies.
“Seeking me out to kill me and not stating why is a little pathetic, you know!”
Wifies mentally noted Ash as a victim of dementia, and he replied, trying to not let too much emotion seep in: “You killed my best friend! Are you seriously asking me why I’m here?!”
The copper player tried another jab at Wifies’s heart, and the clone dodged and moved back against the furthest end of the wall, splashing a potion of strength on himself again. Ash was laughing amongst the commotion, and if Wifies could just get a critical hit on him while he was in that weakened state —
“Wifies, I didn’t kill Parrot.”
That was probably the dumbest bluff ever.
“I literally saw you pull his stasis! His death message”—Wifies put his shield up again, taking the time to eat a golden apple—"appeared in the chat!”
Ash sighed and ordered the copper player to pull back. The servant did, but still stood close guard.
Wifies made sure to back up, far out of sword reach. His armor was still intact, but he had burned through a lot of resources in his inventory. Unfortunately, his restock kit was in his ender chest. He tried to keep up a strong front anyway.
Ash stared at Wifies like he was a clown.
Wifies looked back at him with the same loathing eyes.
“Wifies. I did not kill Parrot. I don’t even remember who Parrot is! Why would I remember a miniscule bird amongst the other hundreds of players I’ve killed?”
The copper player nodded along to Ash’s words, acting like his leader was some all-knowing god.
Wifies was starting to realize that he was forming more questions than answers. He looked down at the spyglass in his inventory, and memories of Parrot started to surface.
“If you didn’t kill him, then who did?”
Ash narrowed his eyes at Wifies, scrutinizing him, observing the being in front of him.
“They are undoubtedly the strongest on the server.”
Ash walked outside the house, and Wifies followed behind, listening as intently as he could. The entity looked up at the clear sky, his back to the clone as he continued to speak.
“Nobody has ever seen them; some people even doubt their existence — but he’s the one in control, he dictates everything.”
Ash turned back around to face Wifies.
“They call themselves the Director.”