Chapter Text
Spoke didn’t like standing in the open.
In all honesty, the voidling had loved being surrounded by open space before. Flying around with his elytra and feel the wind embracing him, standing in the middle of a vast field that went on for who knows how far; he used to feel free. He liked being free.
Used to.
After having spent so much time almost getting killed, running away, hiding — whether it was to spy on someone or hide from them, and getting way too many close calls that Spoke somehow always managed to luckily escape from; he wasn’t sure he could feel the same anymore.
Nowadays, being in the open meant a chance at getting jumped, or caught vulnerable. Someone could appear from any direction and attack him! Spoke would probably be called paranoid, but he’d rather that than risk being killed as long as he was exposed to every threat possible like this??
Spending so much time at constantly being hunted down, having near death experiences, and hiding in others’ bases for thousands of days had probably taken it’s toll on Spoke. Now he couldn’t even hear the sound of a firework being fired without immediately flinching, thinking the mafia’s somehow hunting him down again, signaling for eachother with dumb fireworks, even if he knew it was now impossible.
Spoke was the one who ended the mafia, he should be the one who knew best about it never coming back again.
Plus, he felt much more safe being in cramped spaces or immediately blocking up behind himself while making tunnels, even if nobody was chasing him. That was… probably also the result of Spoke always having to build tiny hidden bunkers everytime he invaded a base.
If Spoke had to be honest, he kind of missed the cramped little bunker he’d made in AshSwag and Squiddo’s base… He’d grown decently attached to it and got used to how small it was for an average player, and Spoke could change sizes so it was never really a problem for him either though.
But! He did live in that bunker for almost 100 days so it was fair he kinda missed it! Speaking of which, Mapicc once pointed out how Spoke was more ‘quiet’ and ‘subtle’ than before? Whatever that meant.
Mapicc explained how Spoke used to unintentionally make ‘obvious and loud ass noises’ whenever he tried to sneak behind Mapicc to scare him, and how after Spoke came back from his ‘hiding in people’s bases’ arc, Mapicc have jumped more than once when Spoke kept appearing seemingly from nowhere without a sound? Only to receive a blink of confusion from the voidling who didn’t even have the intent to scare his best friend.
Weird.
Spoke eventually sat down to actually think about it and… huh. So it seemed that being more comfortable around small spaces wasn’t the only thing that got in Spoke after sneaking in others’ bases. He didn’t even realize that he’d gotten so used to not talking and staying quiet to avoid getting caught back then. So now that he wasn’t doing all of those things anymore, Spoke, on instinct, didn’t make a single noise while doing anything anymore! That’s a good thing, he’d gotten a new skill which would help him lots, especially on a server like this.
Well, Mapicc did also say that Spoke had admittedly gotten less loud and talked less… but that’s easy to fix. Give it some time and Spoke would be back to his old self again!
Probably.
Another thing to say is that Spoke didn’t like how he flinched or froze at every small noise he heard. He had to always keep an ear out to make sure nobody was around while he was sneaking, so he’d become a bit too sharp and paranoid at the slightest of sounds… It honestly was annoying.
Sometimes he would just be in the middle of yapping nonsense to Mapicc, and the mere second he hears a single creak of the wooden floor planks or whatever, he’d immediately freeze up and clamp his mouth shut while darting his eyes around frantically, only to find a confused Mapicc staring at him almost in concern.
“Dude, Spoke, are you sure you’re actually okay?” It eventually happened far too many times that his best friend couldn’t pretend he didn’t notice any longer, and Mapicc confronted Spoke about it again. “Is there another organization hunting you down or spying on you again that I’m not aware of or something?”
Mapicc just blinked at him like that. Slowly. Carefully. Like Spoke was a skittish animal that might bolt if startled.
“Oh—” Spoke snapped out of it with a nervous laugh, waving it off. “Shoot. Sorry, sorry. But I hope that’s not the case dawg?? There better not be a second damn Mafia, I’m done with this shit bro.”
Spoke sulked a bit, pursing his lips with a small sigh. After a few seconds though, a small reassuring smile returned on Spoke’s face as he eagerly patted Mapicc’s shoulder, “But no worries dude! I’m working in BAT now so I don’t think any organization is that much of a threat to us anymore.”
Mapicc raised an eyebrow at the reminder. “Are things going well there? Knowing you, I’m scared you’d accidentally mess up something while on a mission, try to cover it up, and mess it up even more.” (I mean…that’s basically what Spoke did in the original video which led to a domino string of catastrophies AND made him go on a killing spree…)
“Bro, you need to start giving me more credit.” Spoke rolled his eyes, his soft patting turning into harsher ones as he eventually started fully hitting Mapicc, the two now pushing eachother playfully around.
Mapicc’s puzzled expression remained unchanged as the two continued to play around, Spoke making swift dodges but Mapicc — the one with obvious more strength between the two — easily pinned Spoke down while Spoke accidentally got distracted. Wow, okay. “That doesn’t answer my question, buddy.”
Spoke huffed, sagging his shoulders in defeat as his smile turned slightly sheepish. At the same time, Spoke’s tail lightly flicked the other’s back, asking to be released from Mapicc’s firm hold.
“Well… I may have almost, keyword ‘almost’, killed this rando who stole BAT’s potions and burned down their entire village.” Spoke fiddled with his sleeves, a nervous giggle escaping him. “Now wait- wait- before you say anything Mapicc. It ended well okay, I ended up retrieving most of the stolen potions and brought the kid who stole them back to the headquarters. It could have, well, gone a lot worse, but I managed! Leow0ok even said that he was surprised I ‘actually did something right for once’ which was ridiculous, but whatever.”
“What— okay nevermind. At this point I shouldn’t even be surprised bro. But at least…you seem satisfied with working at BAT? You seem almost as eager doing the missions here as back in the mafia, if I’m being honest.” Mapicc remarked thoughtfully, watching as Spoke went through some shulkers, a dissmissive hum to Mapicc’s question. Spoke usually would get lost in his thoughts easily, not paying attention to his surroundings so Mapicc didn’t really mind it that much.
Mapicc watched as Spoke placed down an unfamiliar shulker that he didn’t remember Spoke having.
Huh. The stuff Spoke was grabbing, Mapicc had noticed, weren’t items for battle at all.
“A cake… and berries?” He blinked.
The cake could be Spoke using it for a mission, since the Bounty Assasination Team did use cakes when inspecting a player’s inventory and items? But if that was the case then Spoke would need like, a whole chest of cakes, not just one random singular cake. The berries didn’t make sense either, Spoke never used berries for anything, unless it was urgent and they had nothing to eat at the moment. There was no reason Spoke would just randomly grab a cake and some berries with him.
Spoke seemed to be lost in thought, checking the items again as he muttered to himself.
“Some berries…a cake…yeah, that should- that should probably be more than enough. Oh right, and…” The voidling trailed off, before carefully taking out a small, blue flower. Apon closer inspection, it seemed to be a cornflower, which Mapicc had to admit looked kind of pretty.
Spoke craddled the flower gently in his black palms. An strange solemn expression was on his face as his eyes met the flower, but the way Spoke held the flower with such care and tenderness made it look like he was afraid the flower would crumble under him even if he held it with just a tad bit more force.
What made such a seemingly ordinary cornflower so precious to Spoke, known for his greed and care for wealth? What was so significant about a random flower you could just find anywhere outside? It wasn’t even a piece of netherite armor, an enchanted golden apple, but a mere flower that spawned everywhere in the overworld!
It eventually took a few more minutes of silence for Mapicc to finally realize what the blue flower meant.
“Oh, you’re…” Mapicc hesitantly spoke, unsure of how to start. “You’re planning on visiting that family?”
Spoke pulled himself out of his thoughts as he blinked in suprise, tearing his gaze from the flower to glance at Mapicc. He let out a small audible chuckle, not trying to deny Mapicc’s question. “Since I have BAT behind my back now, I could approach them and still be reassured that the family wouldn’t be tangled into any mess I might make anymore. I won’t ever endanger them just because of my recklessness again. The mafia was a good lesson…” The last part came out slightly more sheepish than Spoke would admit, and Mapicc knew.
Mapicc tilted his head, a warm smile tugging at his lips. “Glad to see you’re actually thinking straight now dude.” God, he felt like Spoke's fucking mom. Blame Spoke for always being so immature and always forcing Mapicc to be concerned for him.
The voidling just scoffed. “Don’t get used to it,” Spoke muttered, carefully tucking the cornflower away so none of the petals bent. “I’m still me.”
Mapicc snorted. “Yeah. That’s what worries me.”
Spoke shot him a look, but there wasn’t any real bite behind it. He finished packing the shulker, closing it with a quiet click before slipping it into his inventory. The cake, the berries, the flower—everything felt strangely fragile compared to the swords and explosives he was so used to carrying.
“Are you gonna go like, now?” Mapicc raised an eyebrow, watching as Spoke attached his elytra.
Spoke gave him a small hum, pausing a bit to think. “I should probably head out before it gets dark.”
Mapicc nodded, a confused expression replacing his smile as his eyes caught sight of the invisibility potion Spoke was just about to use on himself. Spoke seemed to realize that as well as he stared at the potion bottle in his hand with a grimace.
“I don’t…think visiting a normal player’s family requires invis like on your missions.” Mapicc deadpanned, addressing the elephant in the room.
“Just for uh- good measure, I guess.” Spoke’s gaze drifted as he just chugged down on the potion and flew away, leaving a dumbfounded Mapicc staring at the leaving elytra and barely visible invis particles.
Another thing Mapicc also had noticed lately was that Spoke, well, seemed a lot more comfortable with invis on, or would just absentmindedly use it without realizing, even in situations where he wasn’t on missions or it wasn’t necessary.
It was damn well starting to be concerning, but Mapicc didn’t want to make Spoke overly cautious around him if he were to confront Spoke about it again. Spoke was undeniably very comfortable around Mapicc; it was clear he trusted Mapicc enough to visibly slip up and be off guard around the latter too.
Mapicc wouldn’t want to ruin that. Spoke relied on him, and if Mapicc were to confront Spoke about any concerning behaviours of his again, there was no doubt that one: Spoke would wave it off with another dumb excuse, or two: he’d try not to ‘slip up’ around Mapicc, which would only leave Spoke alone again, surrounded by walls he built on his own to protect himself from others.
The only person who could help Spoke was Spoke himself. What he needed was to realize what’s wrong and what’s right without having it yelled into his face by Mapicc all the time.
By Mapicc.
Mapicc, Mapicc, Mapicc. It was always Mapicc who was there for Spoke, wasn’t it?
Spoke couldn’t rely on Mapicc forever.
Between the two of them, it was clear that Mapicc could just continue living and go on without Spoke. But could it be said the same for Spoke? He couldn’t live, or even move on without Mapicc.
Past events showed that no matter how frustrated and egoistic Spoke could be in a fury, he’d always eventually crawl back to Mapicc in the end, when the adrenaline wears off, and all that was left of Spoke was a child who knew not how to exist without someone who would always be there to ground him.
So although Mapicc could just leave Spoke at literally any moment, he decided to stay, to be the place Spoke could run back to when he had no one. He was Spoke’s best friend.
Mapicc will be by Spoke’s side, even if it means he would get dragged down by the consequences of Spoke’s mistakes.
Mapicc could live without Spoke. That much was obvious.
But he stays because he cares, because Spoke needs him and Mapicc cares. He—
Mapicc sighed, running a hand through his hair as the last traces of invisibility particles from his friend faded from view.
“Be careful,” he muttered to the empty space Spoke had already left behind. That was all Spoke knew to do. He ran from things he did not want to hear, left when he realized he no longer had control, all while desperately believing that everything was still going according to plan.
No better than an animal.
That was all there was to Spoke.
Always running off, always coming back, eyes wide like he expected praise just for surviving. It was embarrassing, really.
But it was fine. Dogs needed somewhere to return to.
Mapicc was where that dog will come back to.