Chapter Text
This server is running out of time.
The moment the light appears, curiosity peaks. As they start to approach it, they wonder who’s the one behind it this time around. It flickers, it pulses, but there’s no damage. Orbital strike cannons don’t operate like this.
Something is wrong.
Pure chance has led all four of them here. A shared unease settles in, this feeling that promises alterations unforeseen.
Like one, they stare at the center of the world, blinded.
ParrotX2 squeezes a spyglass, narrowing his eyes. He shields them, both from the sun rays which illuminate his right side, and from whatever it is he’s looking at. At his side is TheobaldTheBird, whose sunglasses come in clutch, perhaps for the first time ever.
Next comes FlameFrags, from the opposite side of the world. Pursing his lips, he places a hand on his sword, attached at his side. With the other, he fixes his blindfold. He’s alone.
Wemmbu overlooks the scenery from one of the many “towers” at spawn. Swinging one of his maces absentmindedly, he glances at Eggchan, who is, for once, interested in what he’s seeing.
Spokeishere has been here the whole time. He felt like something would happen, and arrived before it did. Always at the right place, at the right time. He and Mapicc do not hide, but rather stand right next to the thing, which they know is like nothing they have encountered before. Not an exploit, not a glitch. It is something else.
Once all their focus is fixed, the pulsing stops. A second passes, then two. Parrot’s breath catches in the weird energy, Wemmbu stops fidgeting, utterly transfixed. Flame lets out a small exhale, as there’s a weight on his chest. Spoke’s fingers only twitch.
Then, a pressure wave. Such, which leaves the senses enthralled, bewitched. The mind is present, yet it does not think. They stare, gazes empty, transfixed.
And; cut!
An inhale, Parrot feels like he’d been submerged. Wemmbu grasps his shirt, clawing at his chest, wide-eyed and frantic. Flame’s frame grows rigid, goosebumps appear all over his skin. Spoke merely blinks. Then, his lips twitch.
Eyes watering, Spoke turns to Mapicc. He can feel a hysterical laughter clawing its way out of his chest. Snapping his head back to the light, he can see it dimming, just slightly.
Parrot moves his head towards him, bewildered, as he sees Mapicc disappear. He was aware of Spoke and Mapicc’s presence, but now he doesn’t know what to think. He had thought this ball of light was Spoke’s doing. Apparently not.
As he turns towards Theo, his heart sinks.
Wemmbu is about to tell Egg to leave, when his words get caught in his throat; the same reasoning.
Flame freezes.
Spoke gains a new spark. Such a thing should worry someone.
He grins, but it doesn’t look quite right. Too tense.
Then he gets knocked to the ground. Wemmbu holds him by the throat, straddling him, making him unable to leave. And he’s screaming, spitting insults, demanding answers.
Spoke’s ears do not hear. The scene’s a blur. He’s still.
Parrot stumbles over, gripping Wemmbu’s hair, yanking him backwards. He grabs his face, trying to get some sense into him, as Spoke breathes intermittently, clutching his throat, and there are tears.
None of them notice Flame approaching the fading light.
His hand shakes a bit as he reaches out. A deep inhale, a swallow. A tip of his finger inches closer, and closer, until it connects… the light vanishes. As quickly as it appeared, the pressure on his chest is gone, and he stumbles backwards.
Looking to his left, his gaze connects with Parrot’s. Then, Wemmbu’s, whose cheeks still bear the marks of Parrot’s claws. At last, Spoke. He is lying on his back, mouth agape, its corners curved upright. One could confuse his expression for bemused if it wasn’t for the water staining his cheeks.
“Bro. What was that?” Flame stammers. He does not quite get the gravity of the situation yet, as much as it had shaken him.
Parrot swallows and focuses squarely on where the light was, searching for any signs of… well, anything.
Wemmbu finally stands up, running a hand through his hair. As he locks gazes with Spoke, all rage retreats. For all his acts, he cannot but believe the grief he sees.
For the first time, Spoke blinks, then rolls on his side, facing the sun. As he brings his knees towards his torso, he knocks his head on the ground, once, twice. And blows a breath, stirring blades of grass.
“I—” Parrot starts.
“That—was the end,” Spoke interrupts.
Parrot shoots him a glance, frowning, as he takes in his state. He feels hesitant in the presence of this version of Spoke. He’s seen him vulnerable a couple of times before, but Spoke has never seemed so… out of it. So unstable. So manic.
“Where is Egg?” Wemmbu demands. He looks at everyone around him, sitting down on the grass, one hand placed on his knee, the other on Gambit, his mace. Then, he focuses on Spoke, “What did you do?”
“Me?” Spoke says quietly, an edge present in his voice. He rolls on his back and his pupilless eyes narrow at Wemmbu. “Where is Mapicc?”
Wemmbu looks around, the question taking him off guard. He did not notice Mapicc’s disappearance at all. So convinced that Eggchan’s sudden absence was somehow connected to the only person known for weird, impossible occurrences in this server he could think of, he did not pay attention to other details, until now. Noting Mapicc, he leans forwards and examines Parrot.
Parrot is never without Theo. But now he is. And, as he takes in his expression, he knows that this has affected all of them.
“Theo is also gone,” Parrot mutters, voice strangely detached and quiet, eyes haunted. He looks at Flame, expecting him to elaborate, to tell them he’s lost someone too, but he says nothing. Only stares at where the light ball used to be, lips pressed tightly together.
Then, he speaks up, “What was that?”
And Spoke chuckles. “I told you,” he says, cheerfully, “the end.” Waves his hands, then lets them drop by his head, outstretched on the ground.
Parrot rubs the space between his eyebrows, squeezing his eyes shut. In irritation, in disbelief.
When Wemmbu only groans agitatedly and Flame does not respond at all, Spoke’s face turns severe. Abruptly, he picks himself up from the ground, and goes to stand where the light was.
Flame tsks, digging the tip of his sword into the dirt, yet watches Spoke still. Wemmbu and Parrot likewise. But the guy remains quiet, with his back to them.
“What do you mean by the End?” Parrot questions after a while. “The End does not look like this.”
“No, it does not,” Spoke agrees, which confuses the others even more. When he does not elaborate, Flame presses him again, echoing Parrot’s question.
“I think that this is the end of the server as we know it, is all,” says Spoke quietly.
That is the moment Wemmbu loses his patience. “Okay, what did you do?” he snaps at Spoke again, coming to him in long strides and grasping him by the shoulders. Spoke looks at him straight, a strange spark in those bottomless eyes. The energy around them shifts, feeling heavy once more, the air grows thick.
Flame squares his shoulders, turning around, searching for a threat. There is none. The world is silent. And as the eerie sense of quiet, of abandonment gradually settles in, he inhales sharply when it dawns on him: this is spawn. There’s always a lot of players at spawn.
Huh. Not now.
His ears start ringing and he turns to the others, mouth suddenly dry. The effort towards the movements feels too extensive and time drags, stalls. He notices Wemmbu trying to shake Spoke, trying to get him to say something, but the guy is unusually silent, just staring him down unnervingly. As his gaze finds Parrot’s, he realizes he’s not the only one noticing the stillness.
Parrot’s expression is frozen, his mouth slightly agape, one hand clutching the other and rubbing circles on the outside of his palm. Just like that, Flame knows that Parrot has noticed the same thing: it’s not only their three friends who have disappeared.
It’s everyone but the four people standing at the centre of the world who’s gone.
Time shatters.
Wemmbu stops trying to provoke a reaction from Spoke, who remains unmoving. He lets go of him and turns around, searching for Flame and Parrot. He seems to be the only one able to speak, as he voices a disturbed “What is going on?”
If there was a requirement for an answer, none would speak their mind, still. They don't know. Might have an idea, a feeling—but don't know.
There is something in the air. It feels like a clock. Tick tock, tick tock, it sings in undecipherable chords. Tick and tick and tock.
Pause.
It stills.
A second passes, then two—of nothing.
No, now it's back again.
Ears ring. Then there's a deafening silence.
Eyes can't see. And then they do.
Oh, would you look at that. The ball of light is back. Emitting the same glow despite its smaller form.
Parrot was not moving, but now he's like a statue, shell-shocked. Flame grinds his teeth together, shoulders bunched up. Spoke has no reaction.
Wemmbu is irate. And he's had enough.
A clenched fist. One step, two steps, then a run. A windcharge, and he's up—up, above. Nothing can stop him now.
At the impact of his mace, ParrotX2 squeezed his eyes shut. FlameFrags's breath hitches. Spokeishere has no reaction.
Other than—he does. He does? He does. His cheeks fall, eyes become intense.
Crucible connects, smashing the anomaly to the ground. Ray, rays all around, spilling into the air, reaching for all they can touch.
But seemingly, that’s all. The time is not messed up, their senses are misty no more.
Wemmbu fixed it! Right.
He turns to the rest, breathing heavily, waiting. Parrot has put his hands together, bumping his index fingers against his lips, worried and on alert. Flame is rattled, squeezing Fragger tightly, losing strength in his feet. Spoke’s gaze is lowered to the ground.
You can pretend you understand, but you don’t. You can question and you can guess, but the answers remain unclear. In an empty world, with former enemies and former friends and former allies and loose ends, you can rely on nothing.
“God, you took the bait,” Spoke breaks the silence, voice emotionless. Then he chuckles, but it sounds broken.
These four are this server now.
They have run out of time.