Chapter Text
Lettuce has lost.
The Northern Council tower where Parrot used to stay in is destroyed. LAW members are dying either by Theo or Wemmbu's swords. The occasional sound of carts exploding can be heard in the distance as Flame is busy tanking most of the army, and winning despite the sheer number of players trying to kill him.
Guess Theo trained him well.
Parrot, for the most part, is busy chasing the now disgraced top election candidate alongside Spoke, Mapicc, and Zam. Jumper was with them but as she is far faster (and richer) than him and his current company is already ahead of them by several blocks with Ace not to far behind her.
"She better not kill him when we get there bro," Spoke loudly mumbled to himself, most likely talking about Leowook, who is still allied with Lettuce after everything, something Parrot doesn't understand
"No she won't," Parrot replied in between pants, "I think she'd also want answers". Spoke glanced at him knowingly, despite not seeing each other after the director his time with BAT, Parrot still sees Leo as a friend even after Spoke told him everything he did to Mapicc.
(Part of him knows Spoke is lying, but a long forgotten sliver deep in his brain sees Spoke's fear of losing his best friend, and remembers the snow)
"LETTUCE!!"
A booming voice echoes in the hallway, as up ahead, Ace and Jumper successfully cornered Lettuce and Leo just as they caught up to the pair.
" Surrender Lettuce," Ace holds up his sword to his chest "Call off your guards and the rest of the LAW, no more people need to die today"
Lettuce, clearly cornered in between two Netherite players, only laughed, turning to face the broken window beside him.
"People dying?" Lettuce sneered, " Look outside Ace! People are already dying because of them" he spat out menacingly.
"That is the future I'm trying to prevent, a world where players, like that purple blob motherfucker and that Murder Demon. Gets their justice!"
Lettuce then narrowed his eyes at Parrot, "And all of that is ruined, thanks to HIM", he pointed at the avian, arms almost shaking with rage at him.
Jumper scoffed at the panda hybrid, then turned her eyes at Leo, Parrot can see her eyes go cold at her former ally.
"You chose to team with this guy? Really?" She asked Leo, carefully pointing her sword at his crossbow in case he tries to cart them.
Leo only looked at Spoke, who is beside Parrot behind the two netherite players, still holding his head high despite the murderous look he is giving the void being,
"I'd take my chances with him rather than with Spoke" he said confidently, hands gripping his crossbow so tight that Parrot had to suppress his instinct to point his bow at him, knowing that he can very much blow up all five of them.
Mapicc took notice of Leo's behavior and apparently decided that it was hostile enough because without a second thought, rushed in and grabbed his crossbow. Leo, despite the shock of having Mapicc suddenly being in front of him is wrestling his hold on his crossbow, stopping Mapicc from getting his crossbow. Whilst this was happening Lettuce used this distraction to bolt out the broken window. He was trying to escape, but Ace was faster and blocked his exit.
Parrot used this opportunity to tackle Lettuce from behind in an attempt to restrain him and also prevent him from getting access to any of his windcharges. He can't mace if he can't jump high, and he isn't exactly light with his armor.
With Lettuce restrained, Jumper and Spoke went in and helped Mapicc, being extra careful in case he pulls any carts, though with Mapicc wrestling him for his crossbow he can't do anything with carts.
"Its over Lettuce" Parrot grunts out, holding Lettuce in place, inches away from the broken window. "I know u think that Wembuu and Flame were the villains, but Lettuce bro, you sent a thousand people to their deaths, you decide that they were bad, when they were finally at peace. Bro you killed Spepticle, just because he saw you doing this shit and wanted me to win"
Parrot's voice shivers at the memory of another one of his failed friends his ally, who didn't want Lettuce to run the server to the grave in his pursuit of power. "You would rather sacrifice people that yourself for your justice, Dude what kind of king has others fight for him? That's selfish behavior"
Parrot could feel Lettuce struggle beneath him. Outside the fighting has slowly quieted down, only the sounds of fireworks and elytras can be heard, and the sounds of the people yelling Lettuce's name. The same people who cried in joy and absolute devotion now chant his name like a curse, demanding his death, and Lettuce, despite still struggling, he can see that he is distraught that the people he promised to protect now hate him. Parrot feels for him.
"Can we go now," Zam pipes up, the only player who is visibly not doing anything the past couple minutes "I mean they're both kinda stuck, they can't do anything"
" Did you really just sat your ass back and did nothing?!" Mapicc, who is now restraining Leo on a headlock and is somehow sporting a bruised eye, and only gawk, flabbergasted at their other ally whilst him, Jumper and Spoke are barely restraining Leo from using carts. Leo is not in a good mood as Spoke got his crossbow and Jumper somehow got his helmet off him.
Before Zam can reply back with a quip, the sound of fireworks can be heard near the broken window accompanied by the gusts of wind charges and ender pearl warp noises.
"Yo, did you get them?," Parrot unknowingly let out a tense breath as his best friend climbs over the broken window towards them
"Yeah, we're good Theo, we got them"
"Great" Theo exclaimed as he approached Parrot, currently straddling behind Lettuce and holding his back, Ace nodded at Theo just as Flame, Wemmbu and Egg decided to climb in after Theo.
"Bro you got them!" Flame approached Parrot and Lettuce, looking at the disgrace law leader and him looking back at Flame with fire in his eyes
"You should've just let yourself get caught" Lettuce spat out, "It would've been better for you anywa-"
"Yeah shut the fuck up," Wemmbu, who is clearly pissed held out his mace towards Lettuce, "You lost the argument as soon as you attacked Jaden bro, man did nothing wrong and you could've let the people and also me just live, but nope, you decided they're a lost cause"
He hissed at that last part out vilely, violet eyes nearly glowing with anger. " Lets just say I really don't like that"
Ace looked at Wemmbu with warily. "I still don't trust you, but" he walked over to the mace player, then grabbed his own sword and pointed it towards Lettuce alongside Wemmbu.
"Lettuce takes priority first, take him in" Ace declared to the rest of the group
"Fine by me" Wemmbu says as Zam and Egg help restrain Lettuce and confiscate his mace before he can use it against them, 'Not like he can considering Theo, Flame and Wembuu are here' Parrot muses to himself, glad to finally get up from his uncomfortable position and having Theo flanking him in case Lettuce tries anything funny.
Spoke and Jumper joined them along with Mapicc and Zam, who finally decided to assist in restraining Leo, with Flame standing guard beside them as back-up.
The Group after finally capturing the corrupt leader of LAW and Leo accosted them outside the Northern Council, sighing in relief as their ordeal is finally over
Leo, for the most part, stayed silent, brooding angrily at the voidling currently holding his crossbow. Lettuce isn't as quiet, and decided to focus his attention to trying to convince Parrot to release him.
"Don't you see what you're doing wrong?" He tried to convince the avian. "People are only gonna die and get banned so long as players like them stay! You out of all people should know that Parrot"
"Dude, stop yapping" Theo grumbled, "We're clearly not listening to any BS your saying"
Parrot tuned them out, continuing their trek outside beside Flame and Wemmbu, guarding the two restrained players.
"So this is it," Wemmbu chatted, holding two males and walking albeit leisurely. "We're technically free men now and you're the King of the server"
"Right" Parrot forgot about the whole King election debacle, "I guess I am, I'm gonna be honest tho bro, I have no clue what I'm gonna do as King besides saving the new spawn players"
"Huh" Parrot can hear Wemmbu ponder. "You honestly are the best candidate out of the players left, so I think you'll be fine, just keep doing ... whatever you're doing before" Wemmbu encouraged him. "You're better than Boosfer being King, much less Lettuce lemme tell ya"
"... I appreciate that, bro"
"Just don't do the part where you chased me, that was stressful"
"Okay, that was mostly not me..."
Parrot bickered with the purple monarch, finally feeling like the server can breathe for a while. Peace can finally begin and no more threats loom in the distance as they near the open area outside the North Council. For a long while, Parrot finally let his guard down.
He should have known better.
As soon as Parrot set foot outside, he suddenly felt dizzy. A wave of uneasiness washed over all of them, Parrot most of all. He can feel something wrong as his feathers struggled to keep the warmth in as the snow fell
Snow?
Its snowing?
Why is it snowing?
Why is it quiet?
Parrot snapped his neck towards Lettuce, he can see him there, still restrained by Theo and Flame. He shouldn’t be a threat. He shouldn’t, but something is telling him that he is doing something dangerous.
A shadowy flicker moves behind Lettuce. And in the eerie silence, he can here the murmurs as he whispers to the shadow.
"Yes"
"Of Course"
"Deal"
A deal
He made a deal with someone
Something
Watching
And it knows he knows
Parrot didn't have much time to react, much less warn Theo savehimnotagain as a sudden shockwave burst from Lettuce himself, throwing all of them from the recoil of the blast.
Parrot recovered quickly despite still feeling the lingering vertigo from earlier, rushing to Theo's side who seemed unaffected from the blast.
Jumper Ace and Flame also seemed to have recovered quickly, Wemmbu is half up, holding his head while Egg is helping him.up while staggering. Spoke and Zam aren't near his periphery and Mapicc still has his hold on Leo who isn't struggling out of his binds and is currently looking at Lettuce.
And he's wearing a white broken mask.
Lettuce is standing in the middle of the balcony, overlooking the open area of the Northern Council. Parrot realized that the players in the center are silent and that's when he realized that the players below are frozen.
Some mid swing, others in the act of fleeing or griefing. Most are stationary in the act of running towards the gates to properly capture Lettuce.
Something tells him that would be a little harder than before to capture him.
Lettuce turned his masked face towards him, purple eyes burning in anger (?) and something else, whatever it is, it's not Lettuce's
"This server served you well" He spoke sarcastically, and the voice is not his. His feathers puffs up in fear and dread, he knows that voice. He knew itshimitsnothim,
"But its time for a new management" Lettuce spreads his hands as several of Parrots strongest friends allies are incapacitated by the force controlling the former BAT leader.
"I should thank you" Lettuce? points at Spoke. "Somehow because of you, I'm able to slip past the server's defenses" Lettuce? grins "and now, I can finally do this"
Lettuce? summons a command panel, something only admins and ops can access, and in the world panel they can see what he commanded
'/servermode_awake_on'
Parrot felt it before he saw it, his head exploded in pain as the server around them suddenly begins to shift and move. The blocks they're standing on change as the server suddenly comes alive. Parrot can feel Theo grab his arm and run towards the stairs alongside the rest of them as the very ground they run on glitch and actively hinders them.
Parrot can barely here Flame shout 'dodge' from the headache as a barrage of Maces suddenly rain down on them, barely dodging the weapons assault on their escape from whoever is occupying Lettuce's body. Just as they reach the exit Parrot collapses from the pain in between his eyes, as soon as the pain clears he is barely aware of the mace falling down towards him. Theo was to far away and everyone is distracted, he's gonna get hit. Theo rushed to save him but it was too late.
Parrot braced for the pain that never came. When he open his eyes, he saw the mace floating in front of him. He stared dumbfounded at the weapon before suddenly seeing the fake Lettuce teleport in front of him.
"Of course, I should have known" Lettuce? lifted the floating mace in front of him as Theo stepped in between him and the monster in front of them. "I should've took care of you first"
Lettuce slammed the mace towards him and Theo, and as if by magic, something stopped him making Lettuce recoil. Parrot is still dazed as Theo grabbed him up again and ran towards Spoke holding a glitched nether portal.
"YOU CANT RUN FOREVER PARROTX2! I WILL GET ITS FAVOR ONE WAY OR ANOTHER" Lettuce screamed as Spoke flipped off the raging masked man and warped him, Theo and Parrot away from the ruins of the Northern council
As Parrot lands in a Crimson forest surrounded by his allies after, whatever happened, the headache only worsened and with the glitched nether warp landed them in the nether, he can only hold his head in pain as he passes out from exhaustion, just before a pair of familiar netherborns approach their location.
He can only hope Theo and the others take care of whatever it is as he finally let unconsciousness take him.