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Egg’s favorite color is pink.
It’s a stupid thought to have in the middle of a fight, he is well aware. They’re literally in the middle of running from the Law, trying to get to the Great Sea as soon as possible. To the only territory not yet taken over by the Law. It’s when Wemmbu steps between him and another blade that Egg really realises it. The ender dragon hybrid’s armor was in tatters, cracks and holes in the netherite allowing for Egg to spot it easily. The marks on his skin were glowing a bright pink. And when he turns to yell at Egg to run, his eyes are an identical colour.
Egg knows it’s definitely not the best time to be thinking about such a stupid thing, but Wemmbu looks distinctly like a star. Glowing as bright and moving as fast as Egg has seen shooting stars in the end sky. He looks.. in his element. Like how a star belongs in the sky, Wemmbu has somehow always managed to look like he belongs in fights. Even if they weren’t winning here, just trying to run, Wemmbu held his mace like it was a part of him rather than a tool and cleared the best path he could for Egg to escape. He did it without even blinking. The quick decisions came to him as easily as blinking seemed to. And the most tense his shoulders ever were was when Egg was getting hurt.
His skin pokes out through the cracks on his armor, revealing the core in the middle of his chest, the markings on his shoulder all the way down to his spine. Each one was almost ethereal in the way they shone, at least to Egg. The tunnel was dim, and pink light seemed to fill the cramped space as Wemmbu struggled against Lawmen with twice as much gear as him. Egg turns and begins running, a feat some would say was his specialty. He doesn’t need to look back to know Wemmbu was following. The pink glow never fades, and his shrieks never get quieter. A simple reassurance. Wemmbu made himself loud so Egg never had to look back and waste time.
After escaping with their heads barely on, Wemmbu crafts a boat and practically drags Egg in. Panting harshly but never stopping his incessant paddling. Desperate to get away from any Lawmen still after them.
The water is calmer to them. Gentle waves contrast the harsh fights they’d just survived. Wemmbu’s armor was half gone, Egg’s own not in any better condition. Only one of them had actually fought, and yet Egg was carrying almost identical broken armor to the other’s. Wemmbu is the one steering the boat. Egg’s knees pressed into his back and Wemmbu’s tail awkwardly wedged between his legs. He feels a vague sense of deja vu. The last time they’d boated around together was in the Farlands, after they’d defeated the stupid Avengers and gotten his mace back. It was a journey that was almost peaceful. Rare on a server like this.
Egg can’t stop staring at the pink glow. It’s stupid, really. But the sight of Wemmbu’s marks, still glowing, still bright means he’s alive. And Egg takes that simple reassurance like he’s starved for it. It wasn’t like it came out of nowhere. He always watched Wemmbu get hurt. Watched the man tank hit after hit, and then when he was stuck in the end, heard how he defeated Flame, and then killed a thousand people, and then lost to Flame. Egg knows more about Wemmbu than anyone on the server, and he knows best that Wemmbu was always so close to death. Tip-toeing on a line between life and death.
So, Egg stares. Because it was a weird way of reassuring himself that Wemmbu wasn’t going to die. He’d seen the ender dragon hybrid close to death, how the glow on his body flickered and dimmed. It had been months since Egg had seen it, and just to himself, Egg would admit that he still had nightmares about it sometimes. Had fallen asleep in the library in the end and woken up with a scream stuck in his throat, vague flashes of a dream in which the pink glow fades into nothing.
Egg shifts, and.. his head drops forward. Resting on Wemmbu’s shoulder. When his eyes close, the pink is bright enough that it burns through his eyelids. “Egg, bro. There’s actually no way you’re that tired. All you did was run.”
He lets out a hum. Maybe it was better that Egg let Wemmbu believe he was doing this because he was tired. Being vulnerable wasn’t a thing they really did. Deep conversations happened in minutes and jokes were cracked in between like Wemmbu couldn’t handle it. Egg knows the guy hates being open like that. It’s the downside to fighting for so long, Egg is well aware. When violence is his most common solution to problems rather than words. It’s what kept them alive. Because Wemmbu could fight.
“I’ve been stuck in the end, dude. You think I had to do a lot of running in there? I’m out of shape, brother.” Egg can’t help but smile against Wemmbu’s shirt. He had always told the guy that he’d prefer a peaceful life jokingly, but when he got the chance to live a somewhat normal life in the end, Wemmbu wasn’t there, and Egg hated it. Turns out, as much as Egg would prefer to fish all day, if Wemmbu wasn’t fishing with him and complaining about his luck, Egg had no interest in it. There was simply no life worth living if he didn’t have his best friend there. There was just no Egg without Wemmbu.
“Bro. How do you become even more of a chungus every time I leave you alone for longer than a week?” He sounds vaguely amused. And concerned. An awkward mix of both. Like he isn’t sure whether this was something to laugh at or worry about in future fights.
“Hey. I did a lot of learning, man. That’s like— It’s just as important as your mace pvp.” Egg doesn’t take it offensively. If Wemmbu’s bluntness actually got to him, Egg would’ve left the first day he joined Wemmbu’s empire.
“Maybe. But.. Can your books get us out of a 1v20?” He challenges. Flexing his mace skills like he always did. Egg never understood the appeal of it, but since it could kill easily, Egg liked it. He hears when Wemmbu pulls Gambit from his inventory. He sighs, looking up from where his head was pressed into Wemmbu’s shirt. With his chin hooked over Wemmbu’s shoulder, he takes a look at their surroundings. The ocean surrounds them as far as Egg could see. Blue waves crash against their boat, rocking them with a gentleness the Farlands water never granted.
“Didn’t your mace turn us into wanted criminals?” he retorts back. Egg never felt bitter that he was associated with Wemmbu, despite how he acted. Not many people had duos like that on this server. Lasting so long. A bond that stuck around and refused to end. Egg knows Wemmbu is used to people switching up on him. Egg also knows that he’ll do anything before switching up on him. It just wasn’t possible. Even when he’d run the Eggpire, he didn’t want his star worker to be anyone else but the purple-haired ender dragon hybrid.
“..D’alright, bro. Don’t have to remind me,” he grumbles, before putting the mace away and continuing to paddle. Egg keeps his head up, though. Staring at the seemingly endless sea around them. He kind of reeks of blood, and when Egg glances down, there is dried blood on his armor and his skin. Not really his own, because that blood was purple in colour, but instead of the players he’d killed.
For now, Wemmbu is alive. He is glowing. Maybe not in peak condition, but in a server like this, no one ever was. For Egg, that was enough. Or, it had to be. Because he knew Wemmbu would mess it up in record time. Get them almost killed or in trouble like he always does. Trouble follows the man like a shadow, and Egg, normally averse to that kind of stuff, had never once shied away. Instead of the chaos that followed them chasing Egg away, it had made him adapt. Get used to Wemmbu’s chaos like it was his own. Like Egg was not an angel meant to heal, but instead the same brand of chaos that Wemmbu was.
Just as a star always does, Wemmbu never stops glowing. So when Egg tries to sleep on their too cramped boat, the light is too bright for him to shut his eyes. Paired with the ender dragon hybrid’s inability to sit still? Yeah, Egg just gives up. He sits up with a tired groan. “Yo, Wemmbu, move. Let me boat around. I’m gonna fall asleep in the back here,”
“I mean. You can sleep, bro. We got a long way to go,” Wemmbu offers. His kindness was almost always exclusively reserved for Egg. He treated Egg not quite like he was fragile, but instead like someone he cared deeply for. Sometimes, Egg feels selfish. Because he knows that if it came down to it, Wemmbu would sacrifice himself for Egg. But, Egg would probably give himself up for Wemmbu, so they were even, and Egg really had no reason to feel bad.
“Nah. You’re too bright. Can’t sleep when there’s basically a glowstone block in front of me,” He dismisses. And then pokes at Wemmbu’s spine until the other groans loudly and grumbles out a curse. Egg can’t help but laugh as they swap places. His eyes watch Wemmbu stand up, and before he can even begin to turn… Egg shoves him into the water. The shriek he gets is just as rewarding as when he finishes reading another book. He takes the chance to steal Wemmbu’s seat, hands grabbing at the paddles. There’s a hand poking out of the water and then a gasp for air. Purple hair now soaked, clothes drenched. Hey, at least some of the blood that had begun to stain Wemmbu was gone.
“Bro. Why do you look like a wet dog?” Egg can’t help but say outloud. Just to watch the glare Wemmbu shoots his way.
“I wonder why, Egg. I wonder why,” he hisses. And if Egg were anyone else, he would’ve been scared at the way Wemmbu’s eyes narrow. Luckily for him, he isn’t anyone else, so he just snorts. “You’re actually evil. You know that? You’re betraying me.”
“Bro. Who’s betraying you? What if I was implying you needed a shower? You stink of blood.”
“BECAUSE I WAS KILLING PEOPLE FOR US!” Wemmbu yells out, groaning as he climbs onto the back of the boat. And instead of sitting there like a civilised person, he flops forward. Entirely drenching the back of Egg’s clothes. Unfortunately for Wemmbu, extreme temperatures don’t bother him, one of the few perks of being an angel. “Bro’s a traitor.” He sounds like he’s pouting. Egg doesn’t need to look back to know it. Then, a face is pressing into his shoulder blades, and.. Wemmbu sighs.
“Just wake me up when we get there, bro. Or if you’re losing a fight against a fish.” Egg doesn’t feel guilty often, but he always feels a little bad when Wemmbu is visibly tired after a fight. Because he had to defend two people instead of himself. Block shots meant for Egg instead of just letting loose like he normally did.
He scoffs. “Who says I’m gonna lose? I’m Minecraft’s Greatest Fisherman.” Egg would’ve crossed his arms, but unfortunately, they’re occupied with paddling. But he imagines doing it.
“Whatever you say, bro.”
He feels Wemmbu’s slowed breaths against his shoulder blades, face pressed right into the crack of his diamond chestplate. And Egg could imagine being peaceful like this all the time. It’s why he’d followed Wemmbu all across the server in the first place. A promise of a big, nice empire. One that they could just fool around in. And look how times have changed, now forging a strong friendship that had lasted too many trials. Instead of the Empire he’d joined, all he has left is the ruler of it. Who was currently snoring loudly into his shirt, sounding like a goat horn and keeping Egg wide awake.
•••
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
It’s a purple blur that appears in his peripheral first. He’d left Wemmbu to go try and get the discs away from the Law’s hands. Egg wasn’t going to be much use, Wemmbu had said, and Egg believed him. What a stupid mistake. Now, when he sees his best friend stumble towards him, it’s with a trail of purple behind him. His armor is almost entirely gone, the last of his chest plate sticking stubbornly to him like it was the last line of defence in a fight long lost. It’s not Wemmbu that technically catches his attention.
It’s the sword embedded into his stomach.
The sight makes his gut twist. Egg is very used to the visual of Wemmbu hurt, because when is the guy not hurt? But this was bad. And the look on Wemmbu’s face doesn’t assure him in any way. He jumps over the water, desperate to reach his friend before he has to strain himself further. “Wemmbu!” He cries out, hands grabbing at Wemmbu just in time to soften his fall. “Bro. Bro. H— Hey. Bro. What the hell? What happened? Dude. Hey. Look at me?” He carefully supports Wemmbu’s head, his wings fluffing up protectively. Hiding the sight of Wemmbu from the last few citizens behind him. Wemmbu hated a crowd like that.
It’s the last thing on his mind, but he remembers to put down an ender chest. Rummaging through it and finding his healing pots. “Bro. Come on. Drink this. Come on,” He urges. His hands are shaking, and they won’t stop. There is a part of him that says he signed up for this. But it can’t be so soon. Stars lived for thousands if not millions of years. Egg almost hates Wemmbu for this. Hates that the guy had lived so carelessly and was going to die like this. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. Stars lived for a long time. Longer than angels like him.
…So why was Wemmbu being taken away from him so soon?
It wasn’t right. Instead of downing it immediately, Wemmbu pushes it off with the last of his strength. He’s not fighting for the last chance to live. Blocking Egg’s attempt at healing. There is no words that cna describe the way his heart sinks. “..Egg,” he chokes out, grinning up at the guy like he knew what was happening. “You’re gonna have to.. to survive on your own now.” Egg doesn’t want that. Doesn’t Wemmbu know that? That Egg could bear being apart from his best friend for a month or two, but he wouldn’t know how to handle it if Wemmbu was just gone? That there was no plan Egg had made in case Wemmbu just.. died?
“No. Bro. What the hell are you saying? Drink the potion! Hello? Bro. Hurry the hell up,” he insists, hands shaking where he cups Wemmbu’s jaw, trying to force the potion down his throat. This time, Wemmbu lets him. It won’t do anything. They both know it. Egg’s pants are stained in purple. Sticky and wet and it makes bile rise up in his throat. “Bro. I think I’m gonna throw up.” Egg’s vision is blurry. But he blinks back tears for the sake of not missing this moment.
“Ew, bro. C.. Can you wait so I do—” Coughs interrupt his words, and each wet cough makes Egg feel even sicker. “Wait.. ‘till I can’t see it bro. I don’t wanna see your puke.” Egg didn’t even want to think about waiting. Wait for what? His best friend to die?
“..Alright,” he whispers. His throat feels clogged. What can Egg say? Does he apologise? How does he tell Wemmbu all the things he wants to say in one breath? How much longer could they have? Was it to end here? The pink glow he normally admired was fading and there was nothing Egg could do about it. “Didn’t know you were such a chungus, bro. G.. Going out like this. Were there at least a 1000 people this time too?”
Wemmbu laughs. And Egg regrets making him do that, watching the blood spill from his lips. The simple action caused Wemmbu so much pain. His feathers are ruffled, unable to handle the distress his best friend was expressing. Heal. Heal. If they were in heaven, Egg could’ve healed them. If he had his true powers at hand, Egg could’ve— could’ve saved him. If he had just even a small bit of the power before he was exiled from heaven.
But the gods were cruel, and they did not grant Egg any mercy when he chose to follow Wemmbu down for nothing but curiosity. They did not grant Egg any powers. Had let him stay weak. And it never bothered Egg until this very moment. Sometimes, he missed the peacefulness of his old home up in the skies, but now that he looks at Wemmbu’s face cradled in his arms, Egg realises he hates it with a burning passion.
“Nah. Just a few. Lett.. Lettuce got a good hit in, bro.” Neither of them look down at the sword still embedded in his stomach. Egg holds Wemmbu’s hand in his own. His skin had always been cold, but in Egg’s hold now, it feels almost wrong. “Bro. You think people will believe me this time when y.. you tell them.. I’m dead?”
And of course, Egg knew what he was signing up for. When he saw Wemmbu’s wide smile and bright eyes, he knew that a star like that was not meant to survive long on this server. Good things never lasted. How could Wemmbu, who had endured so much, find a happy ending? It wasn’t in the cards. Egg knew Wemmbu was going to die early when he watched the ender dragon hybrid try to hide wounds so they didn’t waste more resources. Realised it when Wemmbu handed him all his gapples to keep Egg alive instead of himself after fights. “..Who’s the chungie now?” Egg croaks, voice cracking.
Wemmbu smiles. the glow on his chest flickering. “Yeah. Guess you’re not the chungie here, Egg.” Egg has seen a lot of destruction on this server, watched his houses blow up, watched people die in a quick death and in slow deaths, but there is nothing compared to the pain of watching his best friend’s glow slowly fade away, helplessly. He knows he’s useless, in the large scheme of things. That he’d been less help than most people because he didn’t know how to fight. And Egg tried so hard to be helpful in other ways. Make sure Wemmbu didn’t do anything he regretted. Didn’t hide any wounds that could kill him.
“I’ll miss you, Wemmbu.”
“...I’ll s- see you soon enough, Egg.” A teasing jab. Because even in his dying moments, Wemmbu couldn’t be vulnerable for long. Had to crack a joke like Egg could even begin to muster up a laugh. He couldn’t even imagine laughing. Egg honestly thinks he forgets to blink while watching the pink glow on his best friend’s chest fade. There’s so much blood staining his hands that he can’t even see his own skin. And.. only when Wemmbu’s eyes flutter shut, and his core dims to black, does Egg start heaving.
Wemmbu was slain by LettuceK using [Judge].
Egg can’t breathe. Like every inhale of his lungs was forced. All he can smell is blood and then he’s turning his head away to puke as far away from Wemmbu as he can get. Bile crawls up his throat, and for the first time in years, Egg is throwing up. How is Egg supposed to continue living? It’s such a stupid thought. If he gets into any fight, Egg can only handle a bow for so long. There won’t be a mace to sweep in and cover all his weak spots.
Each inhale he takes reminds him of the fact Wemmbu won’t take another breath ever again. He turns to look back at Wemmbu, and the world tilts to a stop. It takes all his strength to approach his body again. His best friend, now completely still. He had never done that before. Even in his sleep, Wemmbu was moving. Tossing and turning and hogging blankets. He snored as loud as he yelled when awake, and took up as much space in a room as he could.
He couldn’t relate the two things at all. Wemmbu’s chest wasn’t even moving. His eyes shut. Lips closed. They’d never open again. Egg would never hear his best friend say his name or call him a chungus again. He swallows. The wings he normally kept close to himself curl around Wemmbu. Hiding him from everyone else. Egg didn’t want anyone to see this. The almost peaceful look on Wemmbu’s face. He wipes the blood off on his shirt and wipes at the blood on the ender dragon hybrid’s jaw. Gentle as if Wemmbu was just sleeping instead of dead.
Egg didn’t know what to do. He’d prided himself on always knowing, and now he couldn’t think of doing anything but laying here with Wemmbu until he died too somehow. He knows that’s stupid, though. Because Wemmbu wouldn’t have wanted that. If he was alive, he’d be trying to find a way to get Jaden out. If he was alive, he’d be trying to get back to the farlands. Egg knows he’s being selfish by staying here.
His hands haven’t stopped shaking. He doesn’t think he’ll ever take another breath without half of it being a wish for Wemmbu to come back. Egg didn’t just lose a piece of himself, he lost Wemmbu. There was no way of recovering from that loss. No book could tell him that. No book had warned him that even though he joined Wemmbu to make sure the guy stayed alive and as bright as a star, that a star’s fate was always to burn out and die in the end. He reaches for Wemmbu’s cape. The body would despawn soon. He chokes on a pained sound as if his body physically couldn’t stand that idea. After numerous failed attempts, Egg manages to hook the cape around his own shoulders. His wings pulled back.
He couldn’t hear anyone. No one was around. The people he’d been leading had probably left to give them privacy. The wind rustles. Wemmbu isn't around to hear it. He then grabs Gambit and Crucible, and then gentler, Wemmbu’s elytra. He puts everything away. And for a moment, debates taking the chestplate for himself. But, Egg couldn’t bear wearing the chest plate his friend had just bled out in, so he tucks it into his ender chest and ignores the tremors in his hands. The last thing he does is grab Wemmbu’s tiara. Maybe it was selfish of Egg. To steal from his best friend’s dead body. But Wemmbu was going to go soon enough. Couldn’t Egg just have something to remember him by?
He stays kneeling by Wemmbu’s side. There is no army that could have peeled the angel away. He watches the sunset turn the sky purple and orange gradient, and for a brief moment, he wonders if Wemmbu is watching over him in the afterlife. Probably commenting about Egg was such a bot. Sitting around for so long doing nothing. He looks down and watches as the night sky comes, and then stays for longer as Wemmbu’s body begins to fade. Then, as the moon is directly above them.. Wemmbu is gone. All that is left is the blood stains. His tiara, and his cape. He doesn’t wipe at the purple blood on his clothes.
It was evidence that Wemmbu had been alive. And he’d been here. He looks up at the sky, directly above him. “I’m sorry you died,” He says. And maybe it wasn’t Egg’s direct fault, but it damn well felt like it. If he deludes himself for a brief moment, he can imagine Wemmbu’s voice in the wind.
“I’m sorry I left you.”
Lettuce’s sword drops to the ground. The clatter makes Egg flinch. He doesn’t reach for the netherite sword. Stares at the side where Judge was written, and the law symbol carved into the blade. Egg feels a thousand different things. Hatred. Anger. Desperation. Because when he tries to be rational, he knows that Lettuce didn't even do it on purpose. The guy wanted a public execution of Wemmbu. Not a private kill only a few citizens had seen. He wanted to parade Wemmbu’s death. So this was an accident.
LettuceK had killed Egg’s best friend by accident.
(For whatever reason, there is a flower planted a few blocks away. A weird coincidence. There is a pink tulip that stares at him. A duller version of the pink glow he was used to. Egg doesn’t think much before he grabs it and keeps it in his offhand.
…Pink was still his favourite colour, even now.)