Work Text:
It started the day Parrot went out to gather materials for their potion shop. Theo had been the one to keep watch of the store.
"Back," he called out. "I couldn't get any nether warts but—"
And there he was, purple bandanna, yin-yang graphics embroidered on the sweater. They were there, sitting casually on the table with Theo as if they'd always belonged there.
2 cups of half-finished tea sat warmly on the table. Along with the pair of cups, a third, filled cup of tea waited for Parrot on the other end of the counter.
The guest had noticed Parrot's presence first, pivoting in their seat to greet him.
Parrot would've made a remark on how odd it was that Theo didn't see him first, despite latter already facing the door.
That didn't matter, though, because Parrot's eyes were locked on the stranger in his house. A stranger that looks like a friend.
"Long time no see, Parrot."
They smiled at him.
That's not right, how could they've ever seen Parrot when they've never met?
It wasn't Wifies, he was dead.
For all he knew, that man was an imposter wearing the skin of a ghost.
Theo had welcomed him back with open arms. Since then, the impersonator had stayed with them on all of their missions.
Just the three of them running some potion shop together. An imposter alongside Theo and Parrot, best friends.
Could somebody even call an imposter, "best friend"?
They could speak the way Wifies did, or act as gentle as Wifies was, or be as protective as he was, or dress the way he did, but that will never fool Parrot because he knows better. He knows that the real Wifies was dead, because the one who killed him was—
"Parrot?"
His head jolted up, wakening him from his thoughts.
Parrot's eyes moved from the chest on the counter to the ladders on the wall behind them. Rays of sunlight shone through the shop's entrance, intensified by the summer's heat. The wood of the counter creaked under both their weight, sitting side-by-side. Of course, he's in the potion shop.
In his hands was a golden spyglass. It looked exactly like the one Wifies had given him, but it will never be the original.
Someone sat beside him, still. He could feel their eyes gazing at him from his right, fixated.
Parrot didn't respond to his name. He settled to look down at the ground, feet barely touching the ground, dangled from the counter enough to not be firmly stilled.
"Can I ask you something?" the avian muttered, still staring at the wooden flooring.
The spyglass in his arms seemed to have gotten heavier, burning an imaginary hole on his palms.
They responded in the voice that didn't belong to them. "Sure Parrot, you can ask me anything."
"You're not..." he started. A lump formed in his throat.
The man next to him hummed in reply. A gesture to keep going.
He has to keep talking, or he might never have it in him to ask again.
"You're not really Wifies, are you?" he finally asked, voice dropping in a whisper as he spoke. With that, Parrot finally makes eye contact, meeting the other's horrified face.
Parrot had caught him; the impersonator. He expected that kind of reaction, because that was never Wifies in the first place.
What Parrot didn't expect, was what came next.
First it was their eye, glowing an eerie, neon purple.
"How did you know?" it rasped, eyes widened, "I thought I was a perfect clone..."
Long, grey, metallic wires extended out from behind the man, from the corners of his eyes, from everywhere, moving, endlessly.
Parrot's breath hitched as machinery extended from that thing's eyes to his own, as if they were observing him.
Clang!
Something fell on the ground, but he paid no mind to it. He just wanted to run and never come back.
"Who are y-you—"
Hands lunged at him.
Not to attack, but to embrace.
Their hands, on Parrot's back. He could feel his shoulders dampen. Someone that sounded like his best friend was sobbing into his shirt. Up to that point, everything just felt so unreal, and the wetness of his sleeve and the mechanical whirring and his best friend is crying in his shoulder at that very moment so it can't be a dream because he can feel it all so well.
This was real. Wifies crying in his arms.
"I've really liked hanging out with you and Theo... and adventuring... 'n making potions together..." the mumbled voice wept. "So please..."
Outside, snow fell gently on the whitened ground.
"Don't make me have to kill you, Parrot."
All that's left is his shell. A clone that will never be the same.
And it hurts, knowing that all his fears were real.
Wifies—the real one—is gone.
But if this is all Parrot has, even if it's a sliver of hope to having his best friend back, maybe that's okay. Parrot doesn't know how this clone even found his way here, or how much of Wifies' life he remembers, or if he even remembers how he died. Even so, all of that is obsolete now.
After all, Wifies was back. Isn't it all that truly mattered? Wifies, Theo, and Parrot, best friends.
The snow had already begun to pick up its speed as the blizzard blew a freezing wind into the store.
Parrot didn't notice, all he felt were his best friend's arms grasping his. It was a hug from his friend, but they weren't from warm arms. They will never be Wifies' arms.
By his feet was the dropped spyglass—still rolling on the floor, abandoned.
Not like it's the real one, anyways.
After what felt to be decades of silence, accompanied by both friends' soft breathing, Parrot made a choice.
"Okay," he resolved, "I won't tell anyone."
With this Wifies, they could start anew. He wouldn't keep him in a prison, he wouldn't become the Director. Parrot will make sure of it. He'll never let the same fate befall Wifies.
With that final promise to himself, he wipes his dampened cheeks.
"It's nice to meet you, Wifies."
"Look, Parrot, a wolf."
"That's weird," Parrot said, peeking over to find Wifies making his way to an untamed wolf. "It's rare to find mobs out in the wild nowadays."
Wifies crouched down to inspect the wild animal, reaching a hand out with caution.
The wolf immediately backed away, growling at the approaching man. It barked as it scurried back into the dense forest.
"... What's up with that?"
"I think you scared it away, bro."
Something sunk inside Parrot's chest. Most animals had similar reactions to Wifies, as if they could sense what was wrong with him. Perhaps they know he's really...
Theo brushed it off as Wifies not being an animal person.
But Parrot knew the past Wifies, and knew the Wifies now.
This Wifies just wasn't the same. He's just a heap of articial life. A copy. Of course he's not real, because Wifies is dead and gone.
"That's a shame, I really wanted to tame one."
"We've tamed many wolves when you were alive, though. Why're you so eager?"
"I have the memory of it installed in my memory chip," Wifies said as he gestured to his head, "but I've never actually experienced it myself."
Parrot hummed in response.
The two fell silent, listening to the noises of nature, until Wifies' voice cut through the moment.
"Can I ask you something this time?"
Parrot shifted his focus to Wifies, who was examining wild flowers as he spoke.
"How did you know that day... that I wasn't the real Wifies?
The answer was simple
How did he know?
From the very beginning of the day he showed up, all the way in the back of his mind. The mere presence of Wifies was enough to bring Parrot back to that awful day.
Walls, pressure plate, spyglass, explosion.
He could never forget.
"Because..."
He could never forget the death message that appeared.
Wifies was blown up by ParrotX2
Wifies left the game
"Because the one who killed him was me."