Chapter Text
I see immense conflict in those vibrant eyes. His wings are drooped in anxious fear and disbelief. “Spepticle, what...?” Theo grabs Parrot's arm, holding him back from doing anything rash.
I shake my head gently. I've already made my choice. His pleas do nothing but fall onto deaf ears. Onto mine and every single officer guarding these bloodstained halls.
“Because no one should oppose the Law.” That was what Lettuce said. And his word, was, in turn, irrefutable law itself.
And me? I was subject to it.
“Spepticle.” Lettuce's silky voice echoes easily through the open stage. “Step onto the guillotine.” My armour gleams in the sunset, his grubby paws clutching it securely out my reach while mine are locked in cuffs.
I oblige without a second thought. Knowing what comes next, I lower my head into the lunette's mouth obediently, about to exchange my life for his. For Parrot's.
Because he can do what I never could. Because he is doing what I couldn't do for a whole year, even with so much influence and power on my unworthy fingertips.
I close my eyes. Although it sounds stupid and meaningless, I don't want to die with them open, like I've seen so many others who have been through the same fate.
Now that I think about it, it makes me sick to have even let Lettuce get away with so many of them in the first place.
I feel the restraints settle on the back of my neck, cold, striking me deep all the way down to my bones.
I breathe in my last, of crisp Northern air. Even without seeing the sight in front of me, I know everyone is agape and tense with moral friction, electrifying the very air I taste.
The lunette's brass lock clicks in place, a jarring, eerie sound. It does the opposite of its purpose. It's meant to assure, but it unsettles me instead in its supposed finality.
I brace myself mentally for what's to come, which is nothing. Nothing at all. Because death in this world is not something I can handle. Life beyond Unstable is just...unimaginable for me, if it does exist like everyone says. Yet, I'm more than willing to do it anyways. In the name of true justice, in the hopes that we attain it after so much trial and anguish.
I hear the lever creak. My lips purse and my shoulders flinch. The impact of my brevity suddenly hits me. This is happening, right now. This is real.
I don't want to die.
I know everyone is staring.
But...but then...
I know the crowd is holding their breath.
That means Parrot will. And- and I don't want that.
I know the candidates’ minds are going a mile a minute.
That Parrot is biting his lips in distress, holding himself back so much to have drawn blood. It pains me to know he's hurting, in many more ways than I've experienced myself.
That Theo is beside him, a presence silently pressuring him to keep quiet, so the election can continue on without my help, without me.
That- that everyone knows I'm going to die.
Right here.
Right now.
Once again, I make up my mind one last time.
Instead of my expected nihility, I hear a voice. Soft and unimaginably tender. Fragile.
“Theo.” His voice breaks. His.
I never thought a single word that was ever uttered could hold so much more meaning in it.
The atmosphere shifts in a split second. Parrot's bodyguard pounces acquiescently at the command, already on DigitalErrors. My executioner struggles against him, the element of surprise only adding onto his stress. Our beloved candidate doesn't hesitate himself, flipping my restraints’ lock back down and freeing me with a jarring metallic flick.
“WATCH OUT!!” That's Theo's voice.
I yelp out of the lunette, eyes popping wide open just before the guillotine's blade crashes down in a last ditch attempt. Parrot turns around at the sudden warning. He decides to shoot Lettuce, knocking him down into the crowd. I remember him telling me he's a caracal, a wildcat. He'll land on his feet just fine. Thank Notch for Punch II, though.
The other contestants stand their ground despite the chaos erupting, unwilling to back down in fear yet hesitant to step in a fight that isn't theirs.
“Owl- I mean, Spepticle!”
The callout snaps me out of it. I realize I've been kneeling achingly still this entire time, awestruck at the sudden shift in resolve. His gestures are frantic as he tries to unlock my handcuffs, feathery poncho obscuring my blurry vision as it whips in the wind. Maybe I shut my eyes a little too tight. The other candidates are still at a stalemate, unsure of what course of action to pursue. Eyes glitter in either bridled amusement or masked panic.
My cuffs click open. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. “Let's go! Before Lettuce gets back up here!” The executioner's death is announced to everyone at the debate, killed in action by Theo. He didn't even try to hide it. Parrot calls to him as well. “Theo, let's go. Go, go, go-”
I follow him without thinking, a little dazed at the shock that still hasn't settled in. Matching our pace, the lofty cockatiel tails after us, watching our backs like a preying hawk. I stumble, and he helps me back up. I can feel the urgency that spurs him on, electrifying me through his touch.
Parrot throws an ender pearl down near the towers, far away from the crowd. He disappears, and Theo follows suit after realizing what's going on. Luckily, Lettuce only cared to confiscate my armour, and I have pearls of my own.
All of us appear on the stone-tiled floor, popping up one by one. We're far enough from the Council's centre to avoid getting stampeded, but it won't be long before the mob of blind followers starts heading in our direction. And that's not to mention the guards stationed on every perimeter tower.
“Here, here! Go quick!” Theo leads us closer to the Northern Council's edge.
“Do you have a pick?” Parrot asks.
Theo extends his arm without another word, brandishing a pickaxe and throwing it behind him. The other catches it mid-air. It's made out of netherite and shiny with powerful enchantments, most likely looted from DigitalErrors. Eyes widening, wings suddenly spread around me, catching a few arrows in its length as it shields my body. Parrot spares a quick glance to check our attackers out. I open my mouth to ask him if he's okay, but Theo interrupts me, shoving into my arms a netherite set I think is also from the executioner. He wastes no time after I put them on, continuing to usher me and his friend closer to the perimeter. He stays behind.
“Theo. Theo.” Parrot looks back at him. Even through his thick-rimmed glasses and stoic mask, his concern is painfully clear. “Are you sure you'll be fine?”
A goat horn sounds. Lettuce's alerting the guards. We don't have much time before people are onto us. Just as that thought crosses my mind, some of them teleport dangerously close, immediately harking their leader's call with attempts to get a jump on us.
“Yeah. Just don't die tryna cross the towers.” The cockatiel's wings extend in an attempt to scare the first attacks off. A classic move, appearing bigger to seem stout and intimidating. It works, but only briefly. He whips his head to face his opponents when they resume the barrage of attacks. I glimpse arrows caught in his downy feathers as well, but he quickly turns back around with an entirely different expression on his face. “Hey, uh, Lettuce's heading this way with the entire freaking cavalry. I can hold ‘em off, but you need to go now.”
Parrot gives in. “Okay. Stay safe. Don't die.” No sooner than the words escape his lips, my hand is suddenly taken, pulled away towards the tower. I allow myself to lay eyes on the tough-feathered bird one last time, then never look back. I grip my sword tighter instinctively, in preparation for the inevitable struggle to come.
Parrot starts digging, the chase having officially begun. Those catching onto his plan decide to teleport ever nearer. Theo's unable to keep all of them occupied, and some successfully slip through his efforts, slip closer to us. The towers have no one guarding them now, though, which might mean good news for me and my feathered companion.
An explosion erupts behind us. Three more casualties are added onto the executioner's. I knock a few of our pursuers back before pearling down the newly dug staircase. I scour my inventory frantically for blocks, but come up empty.
“Parrot! Turn in other directions!” I whisper hurriedly. “And give me more blocks! If I'm right, that pick should have Silk Touch on it, right?”
“Okay, okay, wait!” I see him pause to search in his own inventory. “Here!” He produces a whole stack, dropping the entities on the floor and immediately resuming his mining. Just as I suspected, they're stone, almost indistinguishable from untouched ones. I gather the item tokens in my arms, placing them with haste. I catch the slightest glimpse of a guard before it's blocked completely.
I tail Parrot, and he starts digging to the right. After a good while, he stops in his tracks. I resist the urge to apprehend him, to ask what he's doing. He throws me more stone a second later and doesn't waste a beat, going back to swinging that pickaxe with crumpled dread.
As the emotions on his face come to light, it's then that it dawns on me. He didn't have to do any of this at all.
He didn't need to order Theo to attack. He didn't need to free me. He didn't need to take pity on my undeserved fate, nor even need to run in the election in the first place.
Yet, despite knowing all of that, he still did.
I remember now.
That's why I decided to join Law, and why I became the Owl. To help him, even just the tiniest bit, to achieve what I had failed to attain time and time again.
Except now, he's thrown it all away.
All just to save me.
That revelation sparks a new flame inside of my soul, setting my entire essence ablaze. I commit to it intently, with all my heart. To rectify this conflict once and for all, to absolve all those guilty and commend all those innocent. Because, unlike Lettuce, I think that forgiveness has a place on Lady Justice's scale, just like honesty and morality. I think that second chances are never wasted on others, nor should they be given out like there's a drought of it, as it will never run out as long as a fount of kindness stems from the giver. And above all, I think that I've chosen the right person to lead me in this quest for righteousness. Where Law had expedience, Parrot was probity itself, unwaveringly dutiful in his actions.
And this time, I'm not going to waste this chance that I've been so graciously given by fate. I'm going to give it all I've got, even if it costs me my life just like it almost has.
No. This time, I'll become the bringer of justice I always said I would be.
Starting now.