Chapter Text
Flame couldn’t believe his eyes when he read that message in the world chat.
‘Lomedy fell into the Void’
Perhaps it was the adrenaline running through his veins, the cold biting wind has nearly sucked all the air out of him as he rides away on his horse, the very one his dear friend had given him all those months ago. Yes, Flame remembers it quite vividly, it’s one of his favourite memories with the farmer, fighting in a Farm War against Spongs and Willison, the sheer feeling of ecstasy as he blew up their entire base, watching as it crumbled to the ground. The best part was being able to see the hopeless expression on his friends face turn into one of the brightest smile Flame had ever seen, brighter then the very sun it self, and it was on that very day he was given the horse he is now riding away on.
Away…Why is he riding away?
Why isn’t he turning around, what is he doing? He knows he can defeat them all, it’s true, if it weren’t for their sheer numbers…No, even then Flame could’ve killed them all. The only reason he left is because his best friend demanded it of him, yeah. Best friend, Lomedy, where is Lomedy? Did he really leave him behind, all alone, knowing he couldn’t fight for the life of him? No, it wasn’t Flames fault, Lomedy insisted he leave, he’s the one who cast him aside, who called him a lost cause, if Lomedy was so strong he didn’t need Flames help, and Flame didn’t need him either. Right? Flame doesn’t even know why he came here in the first place, it’s all just a blur now, the sickly smell of blood and sweat mix together to form a repugnant smell, as if he was riddled with illness. He can barely focus, there were only two things that registered in his mind.
RUN.
GO BACK.
save lomedy.
“Lomedy…?”.
Flame whispers, somewhat coming to his senses as he gasps for air, greedily lapping up every piece of oxygen he can in order to keep his mind focused, lest he lose himself in his own thoughts again. It’s fine, everything is going to be fine. As he looks behind himself, he can now see that there is no longer any Law soldiers chasing after him, such a realisation lifting a heavy weight off of his shoulders. He’s safe. But he should definitely still find a place to rest. His body temperature has gotten considerably low, so much so he can feel a light shivering in his arms, perhaps staying in a cave for the night would have to do for now.
He digs himself a larger hole in a small opening he found in the side of a mountain. Building a fence in order to tie his horse to it so it doesn’t attempt to leave while he’s there. Flame has a couple of torches he could put around the place, but there were more pressing matters to attend to, this small, damp, compressed hole will simply have to suffice for now. Flame checks everything, his gear, his materials, his pots and golden apple stock, finding that majority of the resources he grinded were used in the fight earlier against the Law, it had taken quite a toll on him trying to fight back against all of those players. If only Lomedy had helped him then, if only he was good at PVP that is. Flame laughs, wondering how his dear old friend would react to such a statement. Surely he’d either resign in defeat or defend himself fervently, all while Flame would make fun of him for getting all worked up over it. Lomedy, Lomedy, Lomedy….
…
‘Lomedy fell into the void’.
And it was only the FlameFrags had realized that his friend was truly gone.
He had died.
And it was all his fault.
…
He’s become stronger.
Flame knows he’s gotten stronger, he can feel it in his bones, his very blood. But it’s still not enough, he needs to become a Combat Master, and right now he’s no where near that level, not yet at least. His training with Swight was a great learning experience, he’ll admit that. He didn’t know how much he truly lacked in strength until he met him, for the longest time Flame thought that he was one of the strongest players on the server, the most powerful, but with every passing day he can see that the title of being the strongest is slipping from him. Hell, Flame will even admit Wemmbu was the most powerful player at one point, although those orbital cannon’s definitely helped his case, the mace is one of the worlds strongest weapons in combat, and Wemmbu has mastered that technique as well.
“Flame, are you even listening to me right now bro?”.
Flamefrags tilts his head up, wiping the sweat off of his brow. ManePear stands towering over Flame, giving him a slight nudge as if signaling for him to stand up beside him. Flame stretches, limbs riddled with fatigue. Training with ManePear to use the spear has so fair been quite challenging, especially because the lion had no intention of even helping him in the first place, claiming he didn’t help train other players anymore. If only Flame knew who he was referring to, but if he had to make an educated guess it would most definitely be Wemmbu, since ManePear did leave to work with him during the whole PrinceZam Vs Wemmbu war.
Flame can’t help but reminisce about the old times, back when he and Mane were still together, still best friends, before he betrayed them of course. Flame doesn’t hold it against him now, it’s been far too long to even consider holding a grudge at this point, but he misses what they use to be, the ‘Blindfold Brothers’. It was such a silly name, but it meant a lot to him at the time, hell, Flame will admit he still likes it even now. After ManePear left, he felt incredibly lonely. He feels embarrassed thinking about it now, but at the time he REALLY wanted him dead for betraying him and the empire, was it really so bad working under Zam? Then again, Flame had a track record for working under large organizations, the Mafia is something he remembers vividly to.
Back then he didn’t particularly care about what they wanted to do with the server, for Flame, as long as he’s at the top, he’s happy. Killing innocent players was a past time for him, so as long as he was able to continue being the strongest it didn’t matter to him. He’ll admit, the repercussions of what the Mafia did to the server were annoying to deal with, especially all of there ex members who hoarded all of the resources the Mafia had. But it wasn’t the worst thing ever, it helped him become stronger, and helped him meet new people.
Helped him meet Lomedy.
Yes, that day when Flame happened to stumble upon his base by chance, that day they had first met each other.
Flame knows he didn’t quite make a good impression, turns out holding somebody’s base hostage and forcing them to help you isn’t exactly a good way to go about becoming friends, but by some god given miracle it worked out in the end. Flame use to think Lomedy was stupid, a weak chungie who needed to learn how to PvP so he didn’t make Flame look bad, and the worst part? Lomedy was a pacifist at heart. He adamantly refused to kill people, he refused to fight people, he disliked any sort of conflict. Unfortunately for him, Flame lives and breathes for combat. But despite all of this Flame still went out of his way to help him, he even tried to teach him the basics of PvP, something he’s never done for anybody else before. It was strange, Lomedy was weak, a liability, he didn’t have to drag him along into battles because he’d be useless. But Flame did anyways. Perhaps it was because after meeting somebody else for the first time in a long time who didn’t want to murder him on sight, perhaps it was because he could tell Lomedy was a kind person at heart. Perhaps it was because he realized how truly lonely he was being at the top.
But Lomedy was lonely too.
He confided in Flame, told him about where he got his precious mace from. It belonged to and old friend of his who worked with the Mafia. Apparently, this friend was just like Flame, bold, prideful, and quite skilled at PvP. But he wasn’t skilled enough. He died, and he left Lomedy all alone. Flame thought that Lomedy was just trying to see his old friend in him, but there was a deeper part of what Lomedy said that Flame didn’t want to accept. Lomedy was worried for Flame. To a certain extent, he CARED about Flame.
And that scared him more than anything else did at the time.
Because nobody ever cared about him, nobody ever took to the time to think about his wellbeing. But Lomedy did, and that’s what made him so special, which is why he couldn’t let him come with him in the end to fight V3NOM.
Because Flame realized that deep down, he cared to.
“FLAME I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU IGNORE ME ONE MORE TIME IM BOUTTA CRASH OUT”.
huh?
“Oh shit, my bad Mane…”.
ManePear gives Flame the nastiest looking glare he could muster through the orange of his blindfold, but Flame could feel the frustration radiating off of him regardless of any looks. What was Mane saying the entire time anyways…
“Yeah, you’re bad…This is why I didn’t wanna train you”.
“What?? Bro whatever, what did you wanna tell me anyways”.
ManePear mutters something under his breathe, probably more insults, before continuing,
“I was going to say you should be more careful, you know there’s a lot of people who are out to get you as of recently, and I’m not just talking about the Law here”.
Flames ears perk up at this, but he stays silent, choosing to let ManePear finish speaking first.
“People have tried to pay me a lot of money to kill you Flame, you’re lucky I still held an ounce of gratitude towards you. But others would jump at the chance to kill you if it meant getting payed a fortune”.
Mane pauses, as if contemplating wether he should continue or stop, as if there is something he wanted to keep from the demon.
“Well I’ll just kill them all then, in what world are they seriously going to be able to kill me?”. Flame shrugs.
“Flame, you know there is much more to this than just wanting you dead right?”.
Flame stops.
“Look, a week before you got here, there was this…Weird invis person that showed up at my door. I have no idea how he even found the place, but something about them gave me bad vibes”.
“At first they wanted to get me to try and kill you, but as I’ve said before I always decline those kinds of offers. But instead of being upset, they asked me if I knew you, saying that they knew we would have to be on good terms in order for me to spare you Flame”.
ManePear walks over to one of the shelves inside of his home, before pulling out a book and handing it to Flame, setting it firmly into the palm is his hand.
“They said I’d see you soon, sometime this week actually. At first I thought they were just trying to poke fun at me…But lo and behold, you’re here. They instructed me to give it to you if you did come, and I took it so they would leave quicker”.
Flame looks at the book in his hands, inspecting every crevice and corner. This book was made for him? How did they know he’d be here, we’re they watching him…No, that couldn’t be possible, they got here way before flame did, so how did they know he’d search for ManePear.
“Well, go on then, I’m actually kind of curious and I wanna see what they write to you”. Mane nudges him, encouraging him to open the book.
Flame opens the front cover of the book, being surprisingly gentle with the pages as he turns to see the text on the other side. Despite the book being so large, there is only a singular page of text, the rest being empty. Flame stares down at the book, at the top of the page he can see his name written in a very neat cursive. So this really was meant for him.
‘My dear Flamefrags’.
‘Did you manage to find the book I left for you?’
‘It took quite a bit of planning to figure you’d be here’
‘I’m happy I managed to steer you in the right direction’
‘I knew after I gave the Law your location you’d seek out the strongest players on the server for there aid’
‘After all, you couldn’t have truly won against all of those people’
‘How was it training with Swight? I hope it was fun’
‘By the time you’ve read this you’re probably with ManePear, is spear combat as deadly as id imagined it to be?’
‘You see, Im not much of a fighter myself’
‘It was nice seeing you Flame, surely we’ll talk again soon’
‘Oh and another thing’
‘Sorry about your farmer friend’
‘I didn’t mean to get him killed’.
~ Director
Flame hadn’t realized his body temperature rising, his grip on the book had become so tight he was on the verge of ripping it apart. His breathing becomes more and more ragged as he reads through the passage left for him, but everything stops when he reads the last couple of lines.
‘I didn’t mean to get him killed’.
Flame is completely silent, and so is ManePear, who is in shock over what he’s just read. This whole time, someone’s been watching Flame? Hell, for all he knows they could be watching him right now. But who’s this friend they’re talking about? Mane knew about Jaden, but the pirate certainly wasn’t a farmer.
“Flame, who’s-
Stop.
ManePear pauses, before slowly closing his mouth. He can practically feel the anger radiating off of the demon beside him, yet despite the fact Flame is on the verge of boiling over, he stays completely silent.
Lomedy.
They didn’t mean to kill Lomedy.
They killed Lomedy.
They killed Lomedy.
“They killed Lomedy”, Flame whispers, his old friends name sounding foreign on his tongue. He says it so quietly, so softly, ManePear questions if he even heard anything at all.
“Flame…Who’s Lomedy?”.
Who’s Lomedy?
That’s my best friend.
That WAS my best friend.
But…The only thing Flame can remember now is the tired look on his face, accepting his fate knowing that Flame would leave him. He told Flame to leave. He sacrificed himself so Flame could leave.
And then they killed him.
Not the Law, no.
The Director.
“ManePear, I need to go”.
Mane pauses.
“Go where?”.
But Mane already knew the answer. Trying to stop Flamefrags was pointless, if he tried surely the demon would cut him down where he stands. So he could only watch as Flame stood up, collected his gear and walked towards the entrance of the cave, movements so smooth, so precise, as if he were a robot. The only thing the lion can see in his hand is the book that was left for him by the director.
It’s clear what Flame has to do now.
“I’m going to kill them”.
…
Flame really has come far hasn’t he?
He trained with Swight, ManePear, Itz and Now Theo.
And he is equally grateful to all of them, they all taught him things he’s never known before, and it’s because of there knowledge he was able to become a combat master. So much has happened since he first came into conflict with the Law, he’s gained a lot, but he’s lost an equal amount in exchange, his home, his freedom, his best friend. He decided to go back to the very place this journey started, his base back in the desert. He remembers he built it way back when because of what happened to his old one, but going back has left him to seeing the aftermath of what is left of his base and the surrounding area. It’s been griefed, he can infer that much. The inside of his home is relatively left in tact, but his walls have been replaced by a vibrant shade of white and yellow, a clear sign that this was the Laws doing.
The yellow interior caught his eye though. It was bright, as if to mimic the sun.
It reminded him of Lomedy.
But Lomedy outshone even the sun itself, he was once so vibrant, so full of life, Flame can’t help but smile thinking about him. His dear old friend Lomedy, the person he cared for the most.
He’d give anything to get him back, he’d fight the law thousands of times over, he’d go against everybody else, even the servers strongest in order to get him back.
And he’d give anything to tear the director apart.
This whole time, they’ve been sending Flame these letters through books, always managing to be one step ahead of him no matter where he went. It was infuriating. The way they spoke to him was so…Casual, it disgusted Flame to no end. How dare they act as if they knew each other, the vile murderer is lucky Flame wasn’t there when they did what they did, he would’ve cleaved them to bits. They act as if they know Flame and expect Flame to know who they are too, but the coward who hides behind invis is a stranger to him. Sometimes he’d even leave Flame gifts, gifts that specifically were made with the intention to remind him of Lomedy. A grain of wheat, a flower that’s exactly like the one he grew in his friends garden, a doodle of a wreath at the corner of the page. It’s infuriating, knowing that they can so blatantly mock him and he can’t do anything about it.
Flame finds himself at the Centre of the house again, anything that could’ve been left here is gone, most likely stolen by the Law soldiers, not that he cares anyway. They’d be dead soon enough, and so will their soggy cat of a leader.
But before Flame can think, he hears a goat horn being blown in the distance.
Believing it to be the Law, he readies himself in front of his door, clutching the sword at his side ready to slice down whoever may come through the door first, after all this is what he’s been waiting for this whole time, no?
But the Law never came.
It was only a singular player.
An invisible player.
Standing in front of flame is a player hidden with invisibility, dawning fully netherite armor with the exception of their golden trims, shimmering in the light. The figure was rather imposing actually, especially with that long black cloak that nearly cover their entire body, it’s adorned with fur, clearly this was meant with the intention of keeping warm in colder weather. Flame doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t need too, because he cant say anything. The person standing in front of him isn’t the Law, it’s not even LettuceK himself, it’s someone Flame thought he’d never lay his eyes on, not after everything they did, not after everything they’ve caused. They lead the Law to his base, killed his best friend, and even now continue to torment him.
It’s them.
“Hello Flame, it’s good to see you again”, they say, their voice is deep, cold. Not an ounce of warmth is found in their brooding demeanor.
Flame doesn’t know what to say, there is so much he wants to say, but he can’t bring himself to even move, not when the reason behind his suffering is standing in front of him.
“You know, I’m surprised you’ve managed to make it this far, I’m proud of you Flame”.
Stop talking.
“Was it fun, I’ll admit you’ve given me quite a scare at times, I thought I’d have to intervene at times”.
Shut up.
“Did you get what you wanted, you’re a combat master now, you should be happy! After all you care so much about what others think of you”.
Don’t act like you know me.
“Oh but Flame, I know you so very well. I know you more than you know yourself”.
Your lying.
“But I don’t have much time, so I’ll give you this”.
The Director drops a compass onto the ground.
“When all is said and done, I want to see you again Flame. You have until this is all over to find out who I am”.
And then I’ll kill you.
“Maybe you already know, and are in denial. But tell me, when you find out my identity, will you have the courage to kill me?”.
Yes, no doubt about it.
“Farewell my dear FlameFrags, stay safe”.
Don’t call me that you murderer.
The Director turns around, slowly walking away, but before he leaves he whispers something, not meant for Flame but for himself.
im sorry.
Nothing can be heard however, as he continues to walk away, leaving Flamefrags to stand there in utter silence. He can’t believe it, this was the one chance he had to kill the bastard, but he didn’t do anything. He just stood there and watched him talk as he looked like a deer in headlights, why couldn’t he move? At this rate, he’d never be able to get his revenge now, not when he just gives up like an idiot. He should’ve killed him, he shouldn’t have let him talk, he should’ve ended things right then and there. But he didn’t.
“Lomedy…I’m sorry for being so weak”. Flame lets out a choked sob, sorrow filling his empty heart.
Even now I’m not strong enough to have saved you.
…
It’s over. Everything is over.
Flame can’t believe it.
The Law is gone, LettuceK is captured and he’s free, no longer an outlaw, no longer exiled, he can go home. But where even is home anymore? He’ll admit it, the entire time. They were fighting the Law he couldn’t help but think of the Directors words.
‘ You have until this is all over to find out who I am’.
That’s exactly what they said, and now that everything is said and done, Flame takes a seat onto the ledge of the now destroyed battle field. The ground is absolutely decimated, nothing but rubble and faint remnants of blood are scattered around the place. It looks horrible. But the sky has shone brighter on this day than it ever has before, as if it were a sign of things to come. Flame takes a moment to reflect on everything that’s happened ever since the talk with the Director. Flame must suck at keeping promises, because somehow Lettuce is STILL alive, even after the whole talk he had with Parrot, he still personally believes he should been killed for all of his wrong doings. But that talk taught him something valuable, and that’s taking accountability. Flame knows he’s far from perfect, but why did it have to take until now for him to realize his wrongdoings? Why couldn’t he have came to this realization earlier? Now he’d never be able to apologize to Lomedy.
To say sorry to him for everything he’s done, to ask of his forgiveness and embrace him one final time. He never got to do any of that, so who cares if he’s changed now. It won’t bring his best friend back. Everything he did now he did for him, all of the times he’s tried to kill Jaden were to get back Lomedy’s mace. The pirate can think he’s safe but he’s getting that mace back wether he likes it or not, and this time he won’t have to deal with Wemmbu trying to protect him. Stupid purple blob always gets in his way…
But hey, Lettuce is out of power for good now, so at least he can rot underground in prison.
Their final conversation was… an insightful one.
“Flame, do me a favor will you”.
“Please, prove me wrong, prove everybody wrong”.
“And that friend of yours…Is still waiting for you”.
“Don’t keep them for too long”.
It was…weird. Lettuce wasn’t upset at his loss, in fact he expected it to happen. If there is one thing Flame will give him respect for its his transparency. But the final thing he said lingers in Flames mind. What friend could he possibly be talking about? Wemmbu? Mane? Lord knows it’s not Jaden.
And Lomedy…
It’s not him either. Flames heart feels as if it’s been stabbed through and torn right out of him. He always feels that way thinking about Lomedy. But right now there is really only one thing he can do, and that’s getting closure. Flame will give the Director their final little speech, he’s thought about their proposition and has taken it to heart.
So might as well listen to what they have to say before he kills them.
Flame rises off of the ground, bidding parrot farewell before he leaves to go to follow where the compass is leading him.
It was a long arduous walk. The snow slowly shifting into sand, the suns heat hitting him in waves, but he continues to walk anyways, not stopping until he reaches his destination. This is it. This is what he’s been having to face the entire time, not the Law, not Lettuce, but the murderer who killed his friend in cold blood. He didn’t even kill him conventionally, no, he threw him into the void. It breaks Flames heart thinking about the look on Lomedys face, was it fear? Desperation? Betrayal?
Hatred?
Hatred towards Flame for leaving him behind?
He’ll never know.
Flame spots something in the distance, a familiar sight to the demon. Although it was thoroughly destroyed, the Law prison where they saved Jaden from stands towering over him, somehow it’s managed to stay relatively intact on the outside, but Flame was sure the interior wasn’t as lucky. He look down at the compass, it seems like this was the place. Flame looked around, surveying the area, piles upon piles of rocks are everywhere, you could barely tell there were other buildings here to begin with, they’ve all since faded away into dust and debris. It’s…empty. Quiet. Too quiet, but Flame could tell that despite the deafening silence, he certainly wasn’t alone.
A dark shadowy figure emerges from seemingly nowhere, adorning the same netherite armor, trims and cloak. They stand above Flame on the edge of one of the fallen rocks. Although it’s hard to tell, their posture is relaxed, calm, they knew he would come to them eventually.
“Hello Flame”.
…
“It’s you”, Flame spits, voice coming out with more venom than intended.
The Director can only let out a dry, empty chuckle.
“You don’t look happy to see me, although I guess I’m not quite surprised”.
“So, the Law is gone, Lettuce is in jail, all is good in the world”.
Flame scoffs, “What makes you think everything is ‘good’, you know what I’m here for”.
“Oh but Flame, you still haven’t answered my question”.
What question…
Oh.
“You think I give a shit about who you are? You killed my best friend, had me hunted for months on end, you…”.
The Director cuts him off. “Yes, I did. But have you ever taken a moment to think about why I’ve done such horrible things to you?”.
“After all, you still refuse to believe we’ve met before. But we both know that isn’t true Flame”.
Flame tries to rebuttal their claim, but the argument dies on his tongue before he can even speak.
“Flame, do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for this? For you to finally face the punishment for the things you’ve done?”.
“You’ve hurt so many people Flame. You’ve killed so many innocent players, all for your own twisted sense of amusement, and for the longest time I thought you we’re a good person”.
The Directors voice starts to sound more raw, more genuine, as if they were truly speaking from the heart.
“I’ve given you so many chances, I had so much faith in you, but it’s too late Flame. You chose this, just like how you chose to run away and leave your ‘best friend’ behind”.
What.
No he didn’t mean to-
“But that’s okay. I still have one final card in my hands”.
The Director steps down from the ledge he stood on, slowly descending to approach Flamefrags.
“I know you won’t change, but if there is one final thing I can do for everyone, it’s to keep them safe from you, Flame”.
“And to keep you safe too…”.
The Director now stands Face to Face with Flamefrags, yet the demon makes no attempt to move, frozen in place as if he were a statue.
“Flame. Who am I?”.
….
A murder.
A leach.
A monster.
“You’re a murderer who killed my friend Lomedy”.
The silence that stretches after that phrase was uttered stretched seemingly endlessly. The Director moved a couple of steps back, choosing not to say a single word.
But they had something in their hand.
A single bucket of milk. And so that drank it, savouring every last drop.
… ‘Hey Flame, have you ever wondered what the meaning behind sunflowers are?’
The person smiles.
‘Apparently, sunflowers symbolise happiness and longevity’.
‘Isn’t that amazing!’.
The person slowly places the flower in Flames hair, touching it so delicately as if it were made of silk.
‘I think it suits you quite well’ They chuckle.
‘Oh Flame…’.
Why did things have to be this way?
Lomedy.
That’s the only thing Flame can think about right now. Lomedy, his best friend Lomedy, the one who enjoyed farming for a living, the one who sucks at PvP, the one who couldn’t wield a sword for the life of him, the one who taught Flame how to live a peaceful life, the one who planted flowers everywhere to decorate his farm, the one who cared about Flame more then anybody. The one who died. The air feels dry, the ground feels as if it’s miles away, sweat forming on Flames face. The only way he could describe the sight before him is by thinking it was a dream, no, a nightmare. This can’t be real, surely he’s gone mad?
They had the same brown hair.
The same golden wreath adorning their head.
The same necklace that Flame was wearing.
The same sun kissed yellow eyes that even now shone so brightly.
Lomedy.
It’s his Lomedy.
“Flame”.
“I am the Director”.