Archive of Our Own

Wemmbu had lived with Mane and Flame ever since he was 8. The two brothers took him in as their own and taught him as much as they could.

He had known Flame for years, meticulously watched him train for hours on end, desperately trying to find a flaw so he could beat him.

He learned how to understand his facial expressions to know how he was feeling because his eyes were covered most of the time.

He had secretly idolized him and tried everything he could so that they would be rivals. Back when they were kids he was still the golden child, Manes favorite, so being his rival automatically ment he was just as good.

But he could pick up a weapon and master it after just days while Wemmbu still hadn’t mastered the sword all the way.

For years his feelings for Flame were considered as jealousy or rivalry.

He remembers the day Flame and him were on 1 on 1 training when Mane pulled him aside to “give him tips on fighting”.

Those tips were covered in insults on how he couldn’t hold a sword correctly, how he needed to be faster and bulkier to be able to even stand a chance at being worthy.

At the time, Wemmbu took the insults and tried to fix every flaw that was pointed out.

He spent hours, sometimes even days, training to hold his sword as firm and elegantly as possible, he did daily laps around the treehouse at the crack of dawn so he would naturally be faster and he tried to lift as many weights as possible so that he could gain as much muscle as Flame.

Unfortunately, some people aren’t born as lucky as Flamefrags.

Every exercise left Wemmbu weak, every run ended with him tired and dehydrated, and every workout session just made him look more.. draconic.

Wemmbu hated that part of himself because that was the reason that he was hunted since early childhood, so he did everything he could do to hide it. As a kid he’d bind his wings and hide them under baggy shirts only to receive compliments from Mane about it being impractical.

There were multiple occasions where the binding was too tight and he couldn’t breathe properly which would lead to him collapsing.

The first time it happened was when we was barely 13, all he could think about was the complaints from Manepear, so he closed his eyes and began hyperventilating with what little air he could manage to suck in.

His vision was turning dark while his limbs felt like led, he felt like he was dying. The next thing he remembers is waking up in Flame room.

Flame was sitting on the bed while reading a book of some kind. Wemmbu immediately shot up and felt around his chest, his bindings were gone.

“Woah, lay down for a bit bro. The uh, bindings really did a number on your lungs. Don’t you remember when Mane said being oxygen deprived while in combat is more lethal than going in one armed?”

“..did you see?” Wemmbus pupils were thin slits while his irises were glowing a deep shade of purple.

“See what? Your inflamed skin because of the binding or your wings?”

Wemmbus heart stopped. Flame knew about his wings, knew about him being a dragon. He was gone for sure, it was only a matter of time before he’d rat him out or turn him in himself.

He wrapped his wings around himself and tried to think of the fastest escape route. Jumping out the window was a solid option, but he was also extremely tired and barely knew how to use his wings.

Nevertheless, that was the best option he had. As Flame was asking him why he was hiding himself, Wemmbu quickly opened his wings, tossing Flame to the corner, before jumping out the window.

He heard Flame curse from the fall behind him and then him yelling at Wemmbu to come back.

The treehouse was dense with leaves, Mane had made sure that it hid the actual house part pretty well, so that mixed with not really knowing how to fly led to Wemmbu crashing into multiple branches and inevitably, falling to the ground.

He must have blacked out again because the next thing he knew, he heard Flame voice calling out to him.

He looked up and saw that Flame was climbing down the branch that was closest to his window.

Before he could escape again, Flame was already there, hugging him from behind.

“Wemmbu! Stop trinna escape bro I’m not gonna do anything to you, I promise!”

Even though he had no real reason to trust the guy, the tone in Flames voice made Wemmbu calm down enough to stop thrashing.

“Thank you.. man, Wemmbu why’d you run bro?”

“..you’re not gonna cash me in.. right?”

“Cash you in? Bro what are you even talking about??”

“You don’t know what I am??” Wemmbu was slightly shocked, the hunt for the spawn of the ender dragon was notorious. He’d gone literal weeks without sleep in fear of being caught or even worse, killed.

“I mean, you’re a dragon right?”

“..no.”

“Hey don’t lie to me now!”

“Ok fine! I might be a dragon.” Flame let his hold on the other loosen a bit, letting Wemmbu turn around to face him.

“Sick bro!”

“Not sick! I’m literally hunted down for being a dragon!”

“Well, your training to be strong right? If you’re strong no one can capture you.”

“Yeah but I’m not strong right now!”

“Sure you are! You’re super fast and agile too!” Flames enthusiasm was comforting, it even made Wemmbu smile a little.

“Yeah, but Mane says I can’t wield a sword properly so that makes me weak.”

“Hey, just because you can’t be a master with the sword, doesn’t mean you can’t be strong! There’s other weapons out there you can try out.”

“Like what?”

“Like the axe, or the spear, or even a trident or a bow if you wanna go long range!”

“You think I can do it?” Wemmbu looked at the other, eyes filled with hope. Never in his life had he been that excited.

“Yeah bro! Cmon, let’s go steal one of Manes axes and give it a shot!”

“But what about my wings?”

“Mane won’t tattle.”

“Please Flame! I don’t want him to know.”

“..well I guess I can go get them and you can wait here.”

“That unfair though! I can’t make you go do something for me like that.”

“Well, hold your wings to your back as tightly as possible so we can sneak in and get the axes.”

“Or I can just bind again?”

“You literally just passed out because of that! No way.”

“Cmon Flame, I’m not a kid.”

“Yes you are! We’re both kids.”

“Nuh uh, we’re teens now.”

“Whatever bro.”

After that Flame and Wemmbu secretly trained. Every couple days they try out a new weapon or use one that they’d used a couple sessions ago.

None of the weapons suited Wemmbu. The axe was like the sword but more close range, the spear was the best out of the bunch but the fact that Wemmbu still couldn’t use his wings prohibited his masterly in that department and the bow and tridents were too weak for him to like.

Wemmbu was devastated. After so long of wanting to be strong, all he could do was be mediocre at best. Flame had started to think that too.

They were 16 now, Flame was better than Manepear ever was. He could and did defeat full on hoards of players. People trying to rob the treehouse were met with bloodshed.

Even though Wemmbu could tell that Flame was beginning to think of him as some low level fighter, they still trained together. He could feel Flame holding back this time. He was purposely letting Wemmbu land hits on him.

Out of all the ways that people had treated Wemmbu, from wanting him dead to sending him threats, being pitied was the worst of them all.

He hated it. He hated it so much that he couldn’t sleep. Every day he would hear Mane complaining to Flame that holding back with Wemmbu was only making both of them worse, that if he thought that Wemmbu wasn’t worthy of his best the he should stop fighting him all together.

And in reality, Mane was right.

Wemmbu was nothing compared to Flame. He was just a pathetic dragon, it was in his blood to be a royal, to not be able to fight at all.

But he loved being here. He loved fighting Flame, loved being able to outsmart him every once in a while because being able to cheat his way to victory was the only thing he was good at.

One day, he heard Mane and Flame arguing again. Mane was talking about Wemmbu, how he was disappointed about the fact that even after training with Flame and himself he was still weak. Still pathetic.

Flame was defending him again. Telling Mane that he just needed more time, that he’d find his technique soon enough.

That’s when it clicked for Wemmbu. If he wanted to do all of them a favor, he needed to run away.

He had sought shelter with the brothers for almost a decade, but now he was overstaying his welcome. Mane had made it obvious that he was disappointed, Flame was holding himself back by not fighting people who were his skill level and Wemmbu still hadn’t found his weapon.

He needed to go explore the world, find or even invent a new weapon so that he could finally be good enough to be Flames rival.

In the midst of night, Wemmbu woke up. He packed everything he needed to survive for a few weeks, he’d gather whatever else was necessary later.

He grabbed his bag and hauled it over his shoulder. He had to leave soon, he was on a time crunch. Mane was never an early bird but Flaw woke up abnormally early.

Just as he was about to leave, he felt guilt crawl up his throat. He was leaving without an explanation, was this really the right choice?

No, of course it was. This was for the best. If he didn’t leave he’d only prohibit all of them, including himself.

…

But he still felt like something was wrong.

There was a tug at his chest, it was leading him to Flames room. Going there right now was absurd, Flame was never a heavy sleeper, unlike Wemmbu, he would wake up due to the floors creaking.

He doesn’t know what came over him, but his body moved before his mind processed it. He entered Flames room and there he was in all his blaze glory. Sprawled out like a starfish in his oddly large bed that Mane had given him after he hit puberty, something about a cub needing his own nest.

He ever so nicely moved closer, making sure his footsteps were as quiet as possible. Flames face was relaxed. He had no idea on what was gonna happen.

Wemmbu knew that his running away would be hard on Flame because even after proving to be insufficient at fighting, Flame still cared deeply about him.

Without thinking he grabbed a peace of paper and started writing. His hands were shaking but he managed to calm them down, Flame deserved a well written, elegant note.

Wemmbu put his hand on the other’s cheek and leaned in close. His voice was smooth, soft, like a mother singing a lullaby. He grabbed the note again and started reading.

“I’m sorry Flame.. I’m sorry for holding you back for so long. I need you to keep going on to be the strongest for me. I need you to never look back… I need you to know that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Thank you for everything. For staying with me when I needed you, for keeping my secrets, for letting me have a person to talk to. I hope we meet again, after I’ve proved myself that is. Good luck.”

He softly shoved the note under Flames pillow, making sure the other didn’t stir.

Wemmbu leaned in closer, feeling tears well up in his eyes. He moved his thumb and kissed Flames cheek before straightening back up and leaving the room, leaving no evidence of his presence except the looming atmosphere of carefully concealed dread.

Wemmbu gave one more look at the treehouse before jumping off and flying north for thousands of blocks. Somewhere along the way he threw his communicator out, if anyone found it it’d be too destroyed to recognize.

Now came the hard part. Living alone.

Wemmbu had lived under the blindfold brother’s roof for almost 10 years. Mane had made sure that both were fed if not overfed. He had made sure that they were always warm, always comfortable and always full.

Now Wemmbu was in a dark forest, cold, hungry and alone. This was gonna be his life till he proved himself to be worthy. He had to. For Flame.

The next 6 months were brutal. He’d regularly pass out due to hunger and he had to return to being on the run as some people spotted him while he was bathing in a hot spring and recognized him as a dragon. God he hopes the word doesn’t get back to Flame that a dragon was seen. As far as he knew he was the only dragon on the server.

He had found a cave on a tall mountain. It was barely livable, but it had an incredible view. From there he could see all the different biomes and if there was anyone nearby. That thought alone gave him enough comfort to get a full nights rest since running away.

A day after finding his new home, someone found him. It was a seraphim. Wemmbu had only heard of them in books or stories. Seraphim’s were from the Aether and seeing one ment that they were either banished or just left out of curiosity to see the overworld.

They were also just as rare as dragons, so Wemmbu felt comfortable with him.

After a few hours of talking, Wemmbu learned the seraphim’s name, Eggchan. Egg was a relatively young angel, about the same age as Wemmbu but slightly older. He came to the overworld to write about it in his book.

Getting ready for sleep, Wemmbu took off his winter clothes and got into his pajamas, that’s when Egg noticed all the different scars he had on his body.

“Yo, why does the heir to the End have so many scars over his body?”

“Uh.. I get hunted? Don’t you?”

“Well, not really. People try to capture me every now and then, but they never try to kill me.”

“Yeah well, they do try to kill me. The overworld has capitalized the End dimension so the idea of a future king of it really ticks them off.”

“That sucks man. Hey, I can heal you if you want.”

“What?”

“Yeah bro! I was actually trained to be a healer in the Aether. I can make it so you don’t even have scars.”

That proposal was enticing. He hated his scars, they reminded him of his failure to protect himself.

“Well, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah bro no problem!”

Egg moved closer and put his hands on Wemmbus back. He had a large and deep scar there from when someone tried to cut his wings off.

After a few minutes, the scar was completely gone. The skin there was smooth, delicate and soft.

Wemmbu felt around it and turned to Egg. Eyes full of endearment, Egg looked content.

“Thank you.”

“That’s what friends do man!”

“Oh so we’re friends now?”

“Nah. Best friends bro.”

Wemmbu giggled and started to extend his arm out so Egg found heal that too.

They talked till Wemmbus whole body was cleared. For the first time in a while, things were looking good.

He and Egg went on numerous adventures. Defeating raids and getting more loot from grateful villagers.

Wemmbu spend hours training while Egg watched from the sidelines. The Aether was a dimension of peace, but they still had a guard force and conveniently, Eggs older brother Eyedunnoman was a soldier there, so he’d usually sit and watch him train.

Eggs tips actually helped Wemmbu, which made sense technically. If Manes Neather training didn’t work out, the opposite would, right?

A year after running away, Wemmbu had gone out on a mission. Egg had left to go back to the Aether for a bit, saying he missed his brothers, so he was bored.

He had found a map, it looked ancient and had writing in what seemed like a version of Galactic. Wemmbu, fortunately enough, could read a little bit of Galactic thanks to Egg.

He managed to decipher “powerful weapon” and “trial chamber”, now if that’s not what he’s been searching for his entire life, he doesn’t know what is.

He packed essentials and went off. Going into a deep cave, he started mining. After what seemed like hours, he found something. Bingo.

He entered the chamber softly. Minding each step, he knew jungle temples were rigged to the brim with traps so he wasn’t taking any chances.

The walls had writing in Galactic, all of which said a variation of “danger, beware of the wind.” Why the hell did he need to beware of the wind?

He continued exploring the area before hearing something spawn. It was a mob like he’d never seen before. He killed it quickly enough that it hadn’t managed to hurt him. It dropped light blue rods. Weird.

More and more never before seen mobs spawned around him, attacking him every second they got. For a while, Wemmbu was positive that he was gonna die.

He managed to pull through. The trial ended and he got keys. Walking over to the odd boxes he put the keys in and got all different kinds of loot. One was an ominous potion. He was about to throw it out before looking at the walls.

The ominous potion was mentioned whenever the weapon was. Did he need to drink it? Well, he came here for a reason and that was getting that damned weapon, so he chugged the potion down.

What came after was so atrocious that Wemmbu had a permanent limp. No amount of gapped helped, all he could do was hope that Eggs magic could heal him.

It was all worth it though. We walked over to the box and put the keys in. It popped out what seemed to be a heavy tungsten cube and a book. He looked back at the walls and saw a recipe.

He grabbed one of the blue sticks and welded it to the cube, afterwards he grabbed it. The cube miraculously grew in size and changed color to. Deep purple with gold accents.

The weapon felt amazing in his hands, like it was ment to be there. This is what he has needed for so long.

He left the chamber, making sure to write down the cords and blocking up the tunnel he made to it.

Once he got outside he tried to use the thing. By the looks of it, swinging it around like a sword didn’t seem like the thing it was made for.

After a few minutes of walking, trying to decipher how to use the thing, he heard voices behind him.

“Dragon! Catch it quick!”

Dammit, stupid bounty hunter again. Wemmbu was about to grab his sword when the weapon began buzzing, like it was asking for trust. So Wemmbu did.

The hunters were close now, getting ready to charge at him at a moments notice. Wemmbu grabbed the weapon and did what his instincts told him.

He flew high in the sky and came down on one of them. One hit from his new shiny weapon and the hunter was dead.

He left a surge of power course through his veins. He looked at the others, their faces mixed with shock and fear and made them have the same fate.

5 dead bodies in front of him. Loot that would last him and egg weeks. He finally felt powerful, worthy. This is what he was made for.

He spend the next few days using his mace, enchanting it with mending so it would never break, training with it. Soon enough Egg came back. He had a book in his hands.

“Yo bro, what’s that?”

“Well, I’ve been periodically looking at you for part couple days and saw your new weapon, so I did some research in the archives.”

“Really? Thanks bro.”

“Yeah, turns out it’s called a mace. It gains power using gravity, you can also enchant it with this thing called density so it’s even more powerful and the book you got can give it wind burst so you can combo with it.”

“Bro, that so sick!”

“I know! Cmon let’s enchant it.”

Finally, Wemmbus dreams were coming true. He was getting what he wanted, power.

After enchanting his mace, Wemmbu was unstoppable. Anyone and everyone who tried to mess with the due would die in mere seconds. He started to make a name for himself in the outskirts of the server.

Soon enough, he started his way to the main server. That’s where the big shots were, that’s where he’d get to be famous for his strength. He could prove himself to be the strongest and take Flame on as a rival again. He could show Manepear that he was capable of being strong.

Most of the people he came across were easy to kill. The whole power thing was kinda getting to his head. Who knew little innocent Wemmbu could be so ruthless.

He was in a small city when he and Egg heard talks about some new empire. Taking interest in it, he asked what it was.

“The Zam Empire, they’ve been terrorizing other territories to capture them.”

“And, no one’s been able to stop them?”

“They have the two strongest players as their lead forces. we physically cant stop them.”

Two strongest? That’s what Wemmbu needed right now.

“Great! Tell me where it is.”

“Listen man, you can’t beat them. Those two have been a duo for years, decades even. No way you can just walk in there and beat them.”

“Just tell me bro, or you know, I’ll kill you.”

“What!? Fine bro, if you wanna plan your own funeral be my guest.”

The man gave Wemmbu a set of coordinates, and off he went.

The empire was huge, the walls stretched for what looked like hundreds of kilometers. Wemmbu walked in the entrance and saw all the different types of shops and houses. This was insane.

He had been living in such poverty for so long that he forgot what it felt like to live in good conditions. Egg was slightly less impressed, what from being a seraphim that is. The Aether was literally heaven.

Wemmbu was stopped by a few guards, demanding to know why he was there.

“I’ve heard that this Empire houses the most elite fighters. I’m here to see them.”

“Well you better leave before they come out here, because once they do, you’re dead kid.”

“So, you’re telling me that if I cause a ruckus out here, they’ll come out?”

“They sure as hell will.”

Taking that as his invitation, Wemmbu flew up and maced the guy, killing him on the spot.

People screamed, guards yelled and alarms were flared. Dramatic much?

“Was that really necessary bro?”

“Yeah.”

“..ok bro.”

Wemmbu turned around and began to enter the main castle. The walls were so.. luxurious. They had engravings of people, most likely the high court.

The guards were too afraid to get near him, so walking around as he pleased was simple enough.

Soon, he found the throne room and was met with the emperor.

Zam looked as royal as he could get. He dawned silk and pure cotton. The crown on his head was sharp and pointed, with a large diamond in the center and smaller rubies and sapphires decorating the edges.

“How dare you just enter here! A peasant like you should get sent to the dungeons to rot!”

“Get down your highness! That man killed general Hilet!”

“Killed one of my generals? Impossible.”

“Sure is possible big guy. You wanna have the same fate?”

“Bro, I think we should leave. I don’t think insulting the emperor of the strongest empires the brightest idea.”

“Nah, don’t worry Egg. I got this.”

Zam walked down from his post and stood in front of Wemmbu, his eyes glistened in what appeared to be curiosity. From what Wemmbu could tell this was a rich, annoying, spoiled brat. He was waiting for the bright wavy blond to start making fun of him for wearing what was basically peasant clothes in the standards of his empire.

“I like you!”

..what? That was the last thing he thought would leave the emperors mouth.

“Huh?”

“You’re strong! I really like you. Wanna be apart of my Empire? Better than that, wanna be with me!”

Be apart of his Empire? Be with him!?

“Woah, no.”

“Cmon… what’s your name?”

Was he really gonna tell this random guy his actual name? Hell no.

“Gambit?”

“Gambit! Join the empire, I promise it’s worth your while. Plus I do need a new general, seeing as you’ve murdered my other one!”

His tone was unusually cheery, people like Zam don’t usually suck up to others this much.

“I’m good, thanks. I kinda just came here so I could fight with your two strongest fighters or something.”

“Oh! Well they’re out on a mission right now, so why don’t you come stay with me and I’ll show you around! Maybe I can convince you that it’s worth your while staying here.”

“..well, I guess sure.”

“Wemmbu bro! This is so obviously a trap!” Egg whisper yelled at him.

“If it is we’ll make it out in no time bro, trust me.”

Egg let out a heavy sigh.

“Fine bro.”

Zam led the two to a guest bedroom and gave them new clothes. Wemmbu was bribed with pristine silks similar to Zams while Egg was given a freshly made suit.

“Man I can get used to this.” Egg said after Zam left.

“Me too bro, who knew being strong could get you this much this fast.” He did. He knew. It was his whole childhood.

“I don’t know, but this is epic.”

After a few hours the two were called by Zam again. He was asking for the twos advice on a war strategy. Wemmbu had nothing better to do till the two players arrived, so he and Egg helped.

“So, have you thought about my offer? Cmon Wemmbu. Stay with me won’t ya? I can tell you like being here.”

Wemmbu looked over at Egg and saw his big smile, if that wasn’t a “say yes” he doesent know what is, so he did.

“Sure.”

Zam let out a small cheer of joy and wrapped his arms around the purple man.

For the next couple of days Wemmbu was usually with Zam. Weirdly enough, he was idolized by him. Was this how Flame felt when Mane praised him?

Every time he’d even comment on a war strategy Zam would immediately be on his side about it. Zam requested that he always be at arms length from him as to “make sure the emperor was safe”.

Though he knew that Zams actions were weird, he had been searching for this his entire life. All of this began because Mane would adulate Flame but infantilize him. Zams small praises gave him that small tinge of meaning.

Finally, the news arrived that the two players had come back. Wemmbu was with Zam at the time so the emperor happily led him to the entrance where the players would come.

After a few minutes, the door opened and Wemmb froze. The two players were Manepear and.. Flamefrags.

They looked happy. Mane had shoved Flames shoulder and was making fun of him as the shorter shoved back, filling the hall with giggles.

After so long, he still wasn’t ready to see them. He looked over at egg and signed him to splash him with invis with pleading eyes. As much as he missed the two, seeing them right now was not an option.

Once the sound of the glass shattering made it through the corridor, the two fighters immediately stopped laughing, getting ready to grab their swords.

Zam looked over to see armor and some gold jewelry dangling in the air. Confused he was about to ask about it till a yell from a certain lion beat him to it.

“step away from the emperor. Who are you?”

Manes voice was direct, assertive, just like all those years ago.

Wemmbu held his hands up, though barely visible, the lion still saw the movement.

“Calm down General, this is someone who’s gonna work alongside you from now on. Be diplomatic.” Zams voice was icy, his eyes darted to Manes blindfold with a glare, though he never dropped his smile.

“Oh.. who.. is he?”

“This is Gambit! I’ve decided that he is capable of being apart of the guard force so you’ll have to work together from now on.”

“Your majesty, why is there an invis player in the kingdom? They could be a spy.” Flames voice had gotten even deeper, did this guy never finish puberty? Weirdo.

“I am aware of his identity, it appears that he does not wish for you to know who he is so it will stay like that.”

“As you wish your grace.”

“I am off to foresee political negotiations. Take care of our new citizen!” Zam elegantly turned around and made his way over to the door, leaving Wemmbus line of sight.

Wemmbu situated was pretty heated. He couldn’t speak as he’s pretty sure his voice hasn’t changed enough so that the brothers wouldn’t recognize it, but he couldn’t just stay silent the whole time.

“Why the hell do you not want us to know your identity huh? What did you get beaten up by us or something?”

That could be a good enough reason to give them, though the childhood dream of wanting Manes approval ruined his thought process.

He shook his head and tried to leave but was dragged back by the same lion.

“I asked you a question bud, answer it or I’ll test Zams general picking skills.”

Well, that was why he came here in the first place. Wemmbu mind was foggy, he was acting randomly so he stood still and nodded his head, leaving Mane a little dumbfounded.

“You wanna fight me bro?”

Well, there was no going back now. Taking in a deep breath, he nodded. From what he heard from the other guards, out of the two men, Flame was immensely better.

Out of all the kills and captures made during conquests or wars, Flame took a solid third of them, mane dwindling behind at just below a fourth. Fighting Mane would be a better start up.

“Well, how old even are you?”

Wemmbu grabbed a tissue he had in his pocket and used a small pen he kept to write on it.

“19?? Get lost while you can bro”

‘Im not a kid’

“Yeah, barely. What makes you think you can even come close to fighting us?”

‘Your brother’s my age, don’t see you saying the same about him’ he quickly scribbled on.

“Hey, Flames been a prodigy since childhood, you can’t even go near him without dying.”

Even after so many years, even after hiding his own identity, Mane still managed to insult him.

‘Whatever’ He gave the paper to Mane before walking away. He thought he could finally handle seeing them again, but he proved to be a failure at that too. Maybe Egg could help him train more.

“Yo, why’d you go off on the guy bro?” Flame asked after the invisible man had left.

“If you’re gonna work for Zam you need to understand what being looked down on is. I’m just helping the guy.”

“Eh, I guess. Wanna go eat? I’m starving.”

“Ay, you know I like to eat bro.” Mane carelessly threw the note in the air, making his way over to the food court.

The flailing parchment caught Flames attention, he slowly moved closer and grabbed it off the ground. The letters looked familiar, he just couldn’t understand why.

“You coming bro?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” He shoved the paper into his pocket and started to walk next to Mane.

…

Wemmbu made it to his room and let out a deep sigh. Was he really ready to fight them? In a way, Manes ego might have saved his life earlier.

“Yo, Wemmbu, why’d you go invis on them earlier?”

Wemmbu jumped up a little, seeing Egg leave their shared bathroom.

“Oh, I just don’t think they’ll like me anymore.”

“From what I’ve heard you all were pretty close, why the sudden change of perspective?”

“I left without a word 3 years ago, plus I basically waisted their time while I was there. I made Mane use his resources to keep me alive and held Flame back. I doubt they’ll like me that much if I just say I’m Wemmbu.”

“Give the guys some respect, why would they be that shallow bro?”

“Egg, I don’t even think Mane liked it when I was there. He made it pretty clear that I was just dead weight for Flame.”

“Yeah well they chose to keep you didn’t they?”

“..I don’t know. All I know is that I have to keep my identity a secret or it’ll go really bad.”

“Hey man, you cope however you want with this, but my advice is to come clean soon.”

“Thanks Egg, but I’m gonna stay the invisible knight for a while.”

Wemmbu suddenly had a flash of pain in his back, he limped over to the bed and kneeled down.

Egg was immediately next to him, getting his hands ready to numb down the pain.

“Is it the wing thing again?”

“I think.. god when will this end it’s so annoying.”

See, for a while now Wemmbu was getting sudden spikes on pain in his back where his wings started. Wemmbu had no idea of draconic puberty so he had no idea when it would end or what it was doing.

“Maybe it’s a sickness or something? I couldn’t find anything connected to random pains in wings back in the archive.”

“I would have gotten better by now.” He spat the words out. He was staring to get dizzy.

“I think I’m just gonna.. lay down for a bit.” He flopped down onto his bed and closed his eyes, letting Egg numb the pain.

“Ok bro, I’ll wake you if anything happens.”

“Thanks Egg..” the world went pitch black..

…

Wemmbu woke up in darkness. Eyes slowly opening, he found himself in a void, all alone.

“..Egg..?” The dragon stood up, barely standing on two feet.

He started walking around not really knowing what was going on.

A hand landed on his shoulder, forcibly turning him around. His eyes widened as he got into fighting position before looking at the ma in front of him.

..it was Flamefrags.

“..Flame?” His demeanor was stiff, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Flame grabbed a sword and charged at him. Wemmbu quickly dodged and did the same, grabbing his sword and started to fight.

Flame was even better than he thought, he wielded the sword like it was his god given right to do so and in a way, it was.

The way he swung it was beautiful. Each move was deliberate, lethal. Being Manes brother, he had also grown faster. After each strike another one came, leaving Wemmbu on the floor, gagging up blood.

He had no gaps, no potions, no actual fighting gear, but he still stood up. God he wishes that blindfold was off. Flame had always been ashamed of his eyes, in the Neather, having heterochromia was seen as a birth defect, but to Wemmbu, they were gorgeous.

One looked like molten lava with sparks of gold mixed in, giving it that eternal shine and the other one was a deep, redstone color with a faint glow around the pupil to balance it out.

Wemmbu had spent a big chunk of his life staring at those eyes. He always felt special when Flame would take the blindfold off when around him, he was one of very few people who knew what hid behind that little piece of fabric.

While he was daydreaming, Flame had gotten closer to him and stuck him in the side.

Wemmbu let out a gruesome yell, falling down once more and desperately looking up at the blaze.

“Flame.. shit, I’m gonna die.”

“Why would I care? You’re just some random invisible guy.”

He should tell him who he is, maybe then he’d get spared. He just needed to say two small words, two words and he’d be safe.

Wemmbu closed his eyes tight, praying to the gods to let him finesse his way out of his inevitable death.

His prayers were left unanswered. The sword dug into him, cutting him in half. He let out a horrified gasp as he saw his blood gushing out of his body.

He was about to yell out curses when he finally woke up.

Looking around he was still in his bed, that was a weird dream..

Deciding to ignore the odd omen, Wemmbu was about to get ready to go out when someone knocked on his door.

“Sir Gambit, the emperor requests you.”

“I’ll be there.”

Zam needed him already? Weird.

Walking into the throne room he saw said emperor looking annoyed beyond belief, eyebrows furrowed and eyes dazed. As soon as he saw Wemmbu walk in his whole demeanor changed.

“Gambit! Just who I needed to see, come here I need you for something.”

Not even questioning Zams cheery attitude anymore, he walked to the throne and bowed.

“What’s the issue?”

“Well, there’s this giant revolution happening on the east side, someone managed to rally the people into wanting to overthrow me. I need you to go over there tomorrow and deal with it.”

“Uh.. sure? Is that it?”

“Yup! Bye now.” Zam shooed him away, gesturing with his hands.

“Bye?” Wemmbu left a little confused. Zam hadn’t mentioned him going with another person at all, why did he trust him so much? It was suspicious.

He decided on just going to the training courtiers and doing some work, it had been a while since he had worked out.

He took off his mangled armor, making a mental note to repolish or just renew it altogether later, and grabbed a random training sword.

He didn’t have Egg with him this time so this was probably gonna be uneventful and boring. He hoped that there would be some people fighting so he could maybe observe how the empire military worked, but oddly enough the entire room was empty.

Oh well, more room for Wemmbu. The roof was tall enough that he could practice his mace too, the real Gambit had been buzzing for a while, begging for some action.

The training room had obstacles. Bumps, zagged boards and flying balls, he must have went into a more advanced version of the training area.

Grabbed the dummy sword and went in, mostly just dodging the balls and avoiding the bumps. He was so caught up in it that he didn’t even notice someone walk in.

“The hell are you doing in my training room?”

Wemmbu immediately turned around and saw Flamefrags standing at the entrance. He was wearing a compression shirt and loose pants, stupidly attractive for a damn training outfit.

Wemmbu stood still, not really knowing how to get out of this one. He couldn’t really gesture any apologies as the only thing that showed was his gold jewelry.

As a compromise, he put the sword down to try to explain that he was gonna leave, but as soon as he was gonna walk through the door, Flames arm shot out and grabbed him by the forearm.

Petrified that the other could even aim like that, Wemmbu let out a small yelp.

“Where’re you going bro? You looked so homey 5 minutes ago, why don’t you continue huh?”

Wemmbu desperately shook his head no, though barely visible, if Flame could catch his arm he could understand that too.

“Nah, come on, let’s fight each other. I promise I won’t go too hard.”

Wemmbus eyes widened as Flame dragged him to the middle of the room, flicking a button on the way that just magically retracted all the obstacles.

“It’s pretty hard to get power with Zam, I wanna see what you can do so good that Zam trusted you in a moments notice..”

Flame got his sword, not a dummy one but his actual sword, Fragger and started moving closer.

“I’m gonna start in a few seconds so I suggest you get your sword.”

Wemmbu was starting to get more annoyed than anything at this point. Flames ego was justified, but seeing someone degrade you so blatantly would get on anyone nerves.

Wemmbu kicked the dummy sword that was on the floor and grabbed his mace. Still being a rare and secret weapon, this was the most advantage Wemmbu would probably ever get against Flame.

Wemmbu equipped his elytra, something he used purely to hide the fact that underneath it housed his large dragon wings, and started macing the blaze.

“Yo what kind of weapon is that?? I’ve never seen it before..” Flame was looking up mesmerized before he realized that he was in fact the target of this new, foreign weapon.

He pearled away and started using the walls to quickly scale up them and try to get to Wemmbu.

“Curse Mane and his cat instincts..” Wemmbu muttered under his breath before flying over to the corner Flame was climbing up and pushing him off.

As he was falling, Flame let out a burst of fire to stop his fall. His face was a bit perplexed.

“You’re better than I thought bro, maybe you can be one of my subordinates.”

Flame emitted pyrophoric liquid from his hands and lit his sword on fire. Every time Wemmbu would come down and hit him, he’d counter back. The fight was exhilarating.

Wemmbu pretended to go back up but he had secretly thrown an ender pearl, essentially juking Flame and literally backstabbing him.

Flame let out a loud groan, stumbling a little before swiftly turning around and aiming his sword at Wemmbus neck.

Unfortunately Wemmbu didn’t react in time though Flame did. He stopped the sword mere millimeters from his neck.

Both were panting, Wemmbu still trying to quiet himself. Flame eventually straightened up and looked at the other.

“Who’s your trainer?”

Wemmbu grabbed a paper and started scribbling again.

‘No one’

“Yeah don’t lie to me bro.” Wemmbu let out an annoyed gruff.

‘My friend taught me’

“Your little angel friend taught you all of that? No way.”

‘I had another mentor years ago but the died.’

“Shit.. I’m sorry bro. You know you can come train with me and Mane, he was my mentor before I mastered all my skills.”

‘No need, thanks for the offer.’

“Think about it alright? You’re really talented Gambit.”

‘Sure, you are too Flamefrags.’

Wemmbu gave the paper to Flame, signing him to burn it with his hands before leaving the room.

Flame looked at the note, that strange feeling or reminisce boiling up again. This handwriting was too similar, too familiar.

He just shoved the note into his pocket again, making sure to remember to store it next to the first one when he got to his room.

…

It was the day that Wemmbu was supposed to leave to go defeat that revolution.

He was geared up and trying to find his horse when he overheard something coming from the ballroom. Odd, no one was supposed to be there at this time.

He slowly moved closer and listened in, it was Zam speaking to one of his attendants. By the sounds of it he was both exited and annoyed.

“Has he left already?”

“Not yet your grace, he was reported to leave his quarters at dawn, going into the armory to prepare.”

“Listen here closely. If this plan fails I will behead every single one of you. Make sure it goes smoothly, I need that stupid dragons parts.”

“Your grace, don’t you think you could have befriended the dragon and have asked for his scales?”

“Do not patronize me! If I befriended that good for nothing pest, I’d just have more dead weight. Just because he carries around some ancient, overpowered weapon, doesn’t mean he isn’t weak.”

Wemmbus blood ran cold, how did Zam know? He tried to recall every interaction he had with the emperor, when they ate together, when they planned together, when the first met..

When they first met!

Wemmbu remembered Zam looking at him once before acting like he was the best thing the gods had ever made. He remembered Zams eyes shifting, turning more alarmed.

He tried to recall Zams other features. His skin, his scales, his ears, it all pointed to one thing. Zam was some sort of hybrid of an elder guardian.

Some niche information about elder guardians was that they could see through things. Zam must have seen through his disguise and found out that he was a dragon!

This was bad, he had to get Egg and run as far as possible. It was only a matter of time before Zam found out that Wemmbu knew the plan too.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard Zams shriek come out of the ballroom.

“He’s here! Catch him, that’s an order!”

All of the attendees scrambled to get out the door and started chasing him. Wemmbu ran till he was Egg, mindlessly reading a book. He grabbed him by the forearm and delve out a window.

Egg was beyond confused, even more so when he heard the empire horn ring to indicate that a prisoner had escaped.

Wemmbu opened his invisible wings and started flying across the city. The walls were tall, but not tall enough to prohibit a somewhat safe flyby.

Holding Egg with him was hard, the angel did have wings but he was incredibly slow so in situations like this, Wemmbu had to drag him.

After a few minutes, the extra weight was too much for the dragon which led him to crash into the dirt. Getting up he looked over to check if Egg was ok.

“Bro, you good?”

“Do I look good bro?” Egg groaned as he sat up, suit all mangled. “Awh man, my new suit.”

“We’ll get you another one bro, it’s fine. Get up we gotta start running.”

Wemmbu was helping Egg up when an arrow came darting over to him, just barely missing. Wemmbu shoved Egg behind a big boulder and got ready for a fight.

From a distance he saw someone running towards him at a cheetah’s pace. It was Flame, of course.

Just what he needed. Flame had definitely found out his identity and was pissed at him for leaving.

He grabbed Gambit and started flying up, getting close to the other and trying to smash him.

“I was really looking forward to working with you bro, you kinda reminded me of someone. Why’d you have to go and ruin it huh?”

Flame was angry, jumping up higher than usual, slicing harder than necessary. He eventually got a hit on the dragon’s wing, leaving Wemmbu landlocked.

Starting a sword fight with Flame was a guaranteed loose, but he didn’t quite have a choice in this situation.

Flame got near him, striking him multiple times before leaving him fully on the floor. He knelt down next to him and put his sword on his neck.

“At least have the decency to tell me who you are. I’ll find out anyway, when they examine your body.”

Wemmbu was confused, had they not told Flame who he was?

“Speak!”

Wemmbu took in the deepest breath he physically could while having a sword on his throat and gasped out.

“Flame..!”

Flame immediately recoiled, removing his sword from the others neck in the process.

Wemmbu jumped up and started coughing up blood, the slashes had definitely hit something internal.

“What are you..? Are you a mimic?!”

Wemmbu looked over to the other, Flames face looked contorted. The dragon grabbed a milk bucket from his inventory and drank it. Body slowly becoming opaque.

“I’m sorry Flame..” he closed his eyes, entire body prohibiting movement due to the pain.

Getting ready for the final blow, he strained his body. Maybe he should have thought about that dream more, maybe it was a sign from the gods for him to start running.

The slashes never came, all he heard was loud yelling and footsteps of hundreds of people.

Wemmbu let his eyes close, if Flame didn’t kill him off the blood loss definitely would. He didn’t want to accept death, but he didn’t really have much of a choice.

…

Surprisingly, Wemmbu woke up. Still dazed from the fight, he didn’t understand where he was. His instincts were going haywire, the place he was in was mixed with hundreds of different scents.

He tried moving a bit but he noticed a large weight laying next to his legs. Managing to open his eyes he looked at what it was.

It was Flame, head down, using his arms as a pillow. Beside him was Mane, head leaning on his brother back with his arms crossed. He was so done for.

What was he thinking just passing out mid battle?! Of course Zam needed him alive to use him, a dead dragons as useful as dinosaur fossils.

He looked to the other side of the room, Egg was also there, peacefully asleep. Now that was weird. Maybe they let Egg be free because of some sort of moral dilemma of caging a literal angel.

He could get out of this, easily. He just needed to get up without waking the jenga tower on top of him, which was harder than normal due to Flames light sleeping tendencies.

He wasn’t tied down which was good. His bandages were all clean and fitted comfortably. This was a weirdly good prison cell.

He moved incredibly slowly, moving his legs in a way that not even the sheets creased. Miraculously, he succeeded to move them and stood up. That was his second mistake as he immediately fell down. His first was ever thinking he could manage to get out of this.

The fall wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t exactly quiet either, that was all that was necessary to awaken the big, bad Flamefrags.

As soon as the blaze opened his eyes and realized that Wemmbu wasn’t there, he panicked. Jumping up and awakening Manepear, yelling at him to go help him search.

Mane woke up barely conscious, trying to focus on the task before spotting a purple blob on the ground. He grabbed Flame by the behind of his collar and dragged him over, pointing to the fallen dragon.

Flame just stood there, shocked. Wemmbu looked up at them, face stoic but showing signs of panic before flailing his wings, grabbing Egg and bolting out the window. How reminiscent.

Just like all of those year ago, he struggled and he fell face first into the floor, except this time it was full on concrete. Egg had woken up due to the ruckus and managed to hold himself in the air as the purple macer fell.

Somehow managing to not immediately knock himself out, Wemmbu tried to scramble to his feet, trying to run away, but Flame was already there.

The blaze jumped on him and held him by the chest from behind.

“Wemmbu! Man what the hell stop, you’re gonna hurt yourself more!”

“Let me go! I’m not letting Zam use me for whatever shit he has planned.”

Now, Flame was strong, one of the strongest people on the server, but he was still only one man who was desperately trying to hold down a basically fully grown dragon. It was only a matter of time till his grip wouldn’t be enough.

“Wemmbu, god stop! Zams not here, we left the kingdom!”

Wemmbu slowly stopped thrashing around and actually looked at his surroundings. They weren’t in the Zam empire, but in a nearby city. He let his wings go fully lax, finally letting Flame relax a bit too.

The two stayed silent. No one was near them, Egg was still about 20 feet up in the air next to the window and Mane was just looking out of it.

“Are you ok..?” Flame finally asked. His voice was soft, almost liked he was scared of his own words.

“..yeah, no I’m good. You can uh.. let me go now.” Wemmbu looked at the ground, too embarrassed to do anything more.

He waited for the blaze to stand up, be pissy at him for a while and push him to the infirmary place he woke up at, but instead he felt himself getting picked up.

“Flame. Flame what the hell are you doing?” His voice was a little rushed, face showing a slight tinge of deep purple.

“We need to get you checked. Stay with me now, don’t pass out.”

Flame proceeded to carry a literal dragon up the stairs and deposit him back into the bed. Both Egg and Mane had left for some reason, which left the pair yet again alone.

Flame stood behind Wemmbu and checked over his bandages, reapplying some gauze every now and then. Flames hands were unusually delicate for someone who was seen as dangerous. Wemmbu was almost falling asleep due to it.

As soon as the hands stopped, Wemmbu almost let out a whine but was interrupted when he was pushed into a tight hug.

“Wemmbu, god I missed you so much.” Flame backed up a bit to lift the other’s chin up. “I thought you died. I thought I lost you.”

Flames blindfold was starting to get wet, some tears even dripping down. Wemmbu lifted his hands and untied the flimsy fabric.

It had been so long since he was those eyes but by god was it worth the wait, Flames eyes were even more vibrant due to the tears.

They were incredibly close, one of Flames hands still resting below Wemmbus chin while the other was set firmly on his back.

“I finally have you back..” Flame got closer, making their breaths be shared.

The blush on each of their faces was deep now. Wemmbus mouth was salivating in anticipation, but neither moved. Until Wemmbus brattiness got the better of him and he used th hand behind Flames head to push him forward.

Their mouths met in the middle and by god was it amazing. Wemmbu desperately clung to Flames shirt as the other finally let his body relax. Flames hands moved to Wemmbus waist as he pulled him closer.

Their movements were raw, something that could only be achieved through years of waiting. Flame bit his lip, asking for entrance, which was rightfully granted. Their constant disagreement followed through to intimacy too, as neither let the other take charge.

Unfortunately for Wemmbu, his tired state put him at a disadvantage, so he let the other do the work for a bit.

Flame moved his hands so they were resting on Wemmbus hips, rubbing slow, methodical circles on it. Mouth never having stopped moving, he tilted his head so that he could deepen the kiss.

The blaze was so rough that Wemmbu even let out a small moan which just fueled him more. The kiss finally broke but that didn’t stop Flame. He trailed down Wemmbu face and started attacking his neck.

His bites were assertive and possessive, they were painful too. So painful that Wemmbu felt the need to protest.

“Flame.. ngh.. shit, stop that hurts..” Wemmbu started tugging at his dreads, trying to coarse him to stop.

“You left me for 3 fucking years, you can manage this.” Flame moved back to say that before diving back in and biting even harder.

“Petty motherfuckier..!”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before deciding to up and leave me.” Flame voice was deep and laced with anger.

“I’m sorry Flame it had to be done..”

“No. What had to be done was you using that damn mouth and talking to me.” He grabbed Wemmbus jaw a bit too tight, making him look up.

“I spend months after that outside, Mane had to track me down to make sure I wasn’t the one dead.”

“I told you I was leaving! I couldn’t really do much more without you not letting me go.”

“Yeah well maybe that was a sign for you to stay, no?”

“Oh fuck off.” He narrowed his eyes, tugging at the other’s hair just out of spite.

The aura of the room was thick, Flames anger being the main cause of it as the more he got annoyed the higher his body temperature got.

“You’re burning me asshole!”

“Deal with it.” Flaw continued to bite Wemmbu neck, but this time added his burning hot hands into the mix.

Wemmbu couldn’t help but let out annoyed moans and whines. He gripped Flame hair harder and tried to pry him off.

“Stop that.”

“You were so worried about me falling 5 minutes ago but you’re basically mauling me now, what changed big guy?”

“Back then I was still just happy you were alive, now I realized that I spent years grieving a fucking moron who faked his death.”

“I didn’t fake my death!”

“When you see someone’s broken communicator in the middle of a forest and not hear a single thing about them despite them being the only dragon in the whole world, you start to just assume things don’t you?!”

Wemmbu opened his mouth to retort but nothing came out. Deep down, he knew he was kinda the asshole here, but he still stood his ground.. to a degree.

“I’m sorry I left you Flame, but if I stayed I’d just be dead weight.” He said after letting out a deep sigh.

“You’re stupid.”

“No stop that. You can’t just say that I spent the last 3 years in the mud, just barely getting by because I was stupid! I needed this, you needed this, god dammit even Mane needed it!”

Wemmbu was getting frustrated. The hand on his jaw had moved to his forearm, still holding on tightly.

“I was failing miserably at everything I tried. You of all people should know!”

“We could have found you something!”

“Stop living in denial! If I stayed all I’d do was waste your time. When I left I became independent, I became actually strong! I would have never found Gambit and Crucible if I stayed.”

Flame went quiet. He knew that Wemmbu was right to a degree, but the years he spent suffering over the thoughts that Wemmbu might have died were too painful. The countless days he went without sleep just so that he could dig up any new information was too daunting.

“..I missed you so much..” His yes were tearing up again.

“I know..” Wemmbu slightly tugged the other towards him, making him collapse on top of the dragon.

He moved a bit on the bed, adjusting so that Flame had his arms wrapped around his torso and his head on his chest. Even while on the verge of collapsing, Flame still distributed his weight so that Wemmbu wounds wouldn’t get affected as much.

Wemmbu kept his hand in the other’s hair though this time it was more gentle. He massaged Flames scalp with one hand Thule the other was softly caressing his cheek.

He wished he could stay like this forever, have Flame all to himself. He leaned his head down and kissed the top of Flames head.

“I still hate you.” Flame mumbled as he tightened his grip around the dragon.

“Well if you hate me then I guess I’ll just go on my marry way then.” Wemmbu retracted his hands and placed them beside his hips to imitate trying to stand up, Flame was not having it.

“Stop that or I’ll gut you.”

“But you hate me don’t you?”

“I can hate you and miss you at the same time. Don’t fucking move.”

“Whatever you say boss.”

Fortunately for Flame, the delicate hands returned to his head and face, slowly stroking him till he fell asleep.