Work Text:
|| Wemmbu POV (kinda Eggchan too) ||
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The demon and his trusted companion, Egg exit the broken castle they had all grouped up to defeat Lettuce in. They both glance back to the new-founded king of the server as the sun shines down upon their skin. As Parrot slowly fades from distance, it only leaves Egg and Wemmbu, slowly making their way to reside in a small village.
Egg turns to the blood-stained, exhausted, broken mess beside him, his closest friend, maybe even his only friend doesn’t seem to look so good.
“Wemmbu? Did you hear what I said? You know where we’re going right?”
Egg questioned his old-time friend as he nudged his shoulder, only to find him slowly look back to him as if he just woke up from a deep slumber.
“Huh? What?”
“Wemmbu, where are we going dude.”
“Village.”
Wemmbu simply states, making it obvious that he isn’t in the mood for talking.
He felt the way the old, rotten blood stuck to his armor, he felt the tightness of his clothing strangling him. He felt the frizzy purple hair he once kept clean stab him by the neck whenever he would twist his head.
He could barely take the thoughts and feelings circling his head, and yet he pushed it aside, as they continued to walk to the village in uncomfortable silence.
After the seemingly impossibly prolonged path across the farmland fields, they make it to the village.
Finally, as they enter the village, it feels nice not to be interrogated, not to hide from members of the LAW, to finally have a place of refuge, for the rest specifically Wemmbu had lacked for far too long.
And yet, even with this promise of rest, he could not feel easy about the silence, he could not close his eyes and not see the men, the people, the kids he slaughtered for the sake of the game.
The two winners took their rest in a small house. It wasn’t amazing, but it was far better than roaming around and sleeping on the cold, dirty ground.
As Egg opened the door to a small, humble house he heard a loud, sharp thud. He immediately turned around to find Wemmbu, on the ground, unconscious.
“Wemmbu??? WEMMBU??!”
He fainted, or did he?
Egg didn’t know, as he quickly knelt down, and took the supposedly bigger (yet smaller from lack of nutrients) man into his arms, and dragged him to the bedroom, carrying him with determined strength up and on the bed.
The first thing Egg did was check his breathing, and the demon was breathing, although a tad shallower than average.
Egg sighed in relief, before taking a look in realization at what the crowned man was wearing, and then it hit him. When was the last time the other had changed his clothes?
He hadn’t seen the armor-adorned man without his set, nor his fancy attire in…many, many months. When did he last shower, or eat for that matter?
All of these concerns heightened themselves only the further Egg thought, and he knew he couldn’t just stand there and overthink, so he did something. As he tried to remove Wemmbu’s armor, it proved to be sufficiently difficult to do so, as if it were like removing skin.
“Shit…it’s practically stuck to him…”
Egg winced in realization, unsure of how he was going to remove it, until he remembered: Jadenman. Right! Jaden could help for sure, he was far stronger, and he was practically the only one that stayed in contact with him, and so he quickly dialed his contact info, hoping for him to respond. And then it clicks, and Jaden’s voice can be heard from the communicator Egg held up to his ear.
“Hello?”
“JADEN--Thank god you picked up bro…it’s me Egg, and…well…”
“Huh? What happened?”
“Wemmbu fainted I think..and I can’t remove his armor, I need your help, bro. We’re in this..small farmland-covered village.”
“Say no less.”
Before Egg could get another word in, Jaden had already hung up, and was presumably heading to his destination.
Egg let out an anxious sigh, before sitting down beside the bed an unconscious mace user laid upon, and waiting as the minutes ticked by for Jaden’s assistance.
The pirate arrived as the moon shined bright within the sky, an hour after having gotten the call.
He gently opened the door (crazy ref) to find the other sitting beside Wemmbu’s unconscious body, before making his way to Egg, and poking his shoulder to wake him up.
“Okay, so what am I supposed to do again?”
“Huh…oh…uhh..”
Egg rubbed his eyes as he slowly stood up to see Jaden standing in front of him. Somehow, in the process of his worrying, he had fallen asleep.
“You need to help me remove his armor, bro..”
“What?”
Jaden was taken aback by the specific request. He then slowly glanced to the dirty, blood-stained netherite armor, before turning back to Egg and nodding.
“It can’t..be that bad right?”
Jaden asks as he then proves himself wrong, failing to remove the practically strapped armor upon the demon.
Jaden, this time manages to remove Wemmbu’s helmet, but as he finally does his force causes him to fall over with the helmet.
He immediately stands back up, and attempts to remove the chest plate with struggle.
“Jesus…why the hell is his armor so stuck?? Did he drink some kind of potion..or..”
“Not that I know of, but…I can’t remember the last time he’s ever taken it off, it might have something to do with that."
“He must’ve never taken it off….that’s really bad.”
Jaden addresses this, finally removing the bloody chest-plate.
As they remove (with great effort) the crowned warrior’s armor, they notice just how dry and old the blood is, and how its practically covered in a pattern of old and new blood from the recent battle against Lettuce, and from past battles.
The armor was practically begging to be cleaned as it was set to the side. Jaden’s job was done, but he still had many questions to ask Egg, and Wemmbu if he could wake up).
But he didn't, Wemmbu never woke up, even after hours. Jaden eventually left, having to do some business far within another area, despite his awakening questions on the concerning situation.
Egg was left alone with the demon, whom he decided should change their clothes, as they are in similar shape as the armor is.
But he hesitates. He can't just take off the other's clothes, can he? That felt like a leap of boundaries , inappropriate, and even just the thought of removing the clothing of his friend made the angel blush with embarrassment. He decides for now, all he would do is remove his extravagantly looking top.
Egg, with great effort, unties and removes the black dark, velvet corset, revealing a waist even smaller than the corset. It looked wrong, almost unhealthy.
The prison must've been the cause for his smaller frame, he did not remember his best friend to be so slim.
And yet he didn't notice, and this only goes to show just how good the demon was at hiding his changes.
He then unbuttons the pretty, frilly, black shirt. As he unbuttons the first one, he already spots scars from the corners of his chest, many that have barely had the chance to heal.
As he undoes the buttons furthermore he winces in disturbance at the sight of Wemmbu’s body.
Scars, layered upon scars from many different battles plagued the young man’s body.
When did he get so good at keeping secrets?
Why couldn't he have just asked for help, or is that the problem?
Egg’s thoughts rush to his head as a survival instinct would, and so he paces away from the demon, and into the bathroom to grab his medkit, planning to take care of the wounds that he had abandoned for far too long.
He returns as quick as he came, and takes the scarred arm of his closest friend in somber pity, before disinfecting every scar he found.
The ones on his neck from the attempts of assassins.
The scars on his shoulders, from God knows where (macing from Lettuce).
The bruises on his elbow, from the times he'd swing the mace, only for it in return to hit him back from the heavy lifting.
The scars on his chest from his fights against flame.
He doesn't know where the scars on his arms came from, but he could only assume the worst, as he bandaged up the last wound.
Many hours later, Wemmbu finally awakes, slowly opening his eyes to find Egg by his side, watching over him with a smidge of worry displayed upon his face.
This expression of Egg’s immediately flips into relief as he watches his friend rise from his resting form, the first thing he immediately does is stand to analyze his behavior.
Wemmbu glanced down in dreary ignorance, only to be stunned in a mix of shock, and maybe even fear. Fear that his friend may know too much, that there might be no going back.
Now that he's seen all, or at least most of his wounds, the wounds he spent so much time, and put so much effort to hide.
“Wh–..Where's my armor?”
The demon somehow manages to ask, stammering before the angel answers with a drop of hesitation.
“It’s on the side, but…when did you get so hurt? Why didn't you just heal yourself when you had the chances to?”
“But I didn't–I never got those chances!! I had to constantly run from the law, and when I was captured there wasn't even any way to heal.”
Wemmbu dealt back in desperation of lies, honesty clouded as would shadow be brought to light.
“Can we not talk about this right now, Egg? I feel like there's way more important things to do.”
Egg, who was used to this avoidance in confrontation, finally snapped.
He had grown tired of every single time Wemmbu would change the subject, trying to keep away his true thoughts.
His presumed fears of being vulnerable were too obvious, even to the oblivious eye.
“No, Wemmbu. I'm tired of always avoiding things you don't want to talk about, I know you may have not had much time to recover, but it feels like you're just doing it on purpose. You didn't even acknowledge the wounds were there, did you?”
Wemmbu twitches in surprise at Egg’s sudden outburst, turning to look at him for one of the first few times with a face of seriousness, of worry. Worry of the realization from what Egg has just found out, and the severe price of it.
This Seriousness he had been pushing away for far, far too long.
“I don't think you understand how serious this is.”
Egg says with an air of assertive dominance, something uncharacteristically rare, something Wemmbu could not grasp.
“You've been severely injured, and probably for a long time. I just can't understand why you would leave the wounds out– don't even try to lie to me again with “there was no time”, you could've patched yourself up when you met back with me and Minutetech in the end..”
As Egg further questioned the usually ever-so relaxed warrior, he felt his skin pale in dread as he listed off his concern for him right in front of him.
He uncomfortably adjusted the long, tangled ponytail he struggled to keep tame, compared to the olden days when he did. Actually, when was the last time he took good care of himself?
“I…okay…Uhm, Egg I probably have a problem-”
“Probably??”
“I definitely have a problem, there okay? But that doesn't mean that I’m hopeless bro.”
It doesn't seem like Wemmbu is taking the situation as drastically as Egg, despite being the one who is going through it in the moment.
although this dangerous scenario, Egg has never been known as one to overreact. This wasn't an overreaction.
“You need to learn how to take better care of yourself, bro..”
Egg says as he rests his face to his hand, knowing that it would be hard to get through Wemmbu, harder than bringing a fish to water voluntarily.
“Well anyway, now that my injuries are healed, I'm gonna go get some gear-”
“What? Wemmbu, they aren't healed, they're just bandaged-”
“Yea, yea I don't really care it'll heal eventually. We've talked enough right? I mean, I'm kinda tired of going back and forth with this stuff now, sooo.”
Wemmbu spouts casually, waving Egg's concern off almost in a weirdly relaxed manner.
He's gotten far too used to harm.
That is the only thought that crosses the angel as the other stands up from the bed, and makes his way out, leaving Egg alone in ponder about this recurring dilemma.
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Honestly I know this is kinda a short chapter, but I've been hella busy with sm garbage (pls help ;_;), so this is all u get for chap 1, lmk if this is even worth continuing lol