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To say Spoke was excited was an understatement. He was enthused, pumped, overjoyed, for this day. After all this waiting and planning weeks before and finally the day arrived. Today all three of his brothers, including himself, were going to meet up. Their second family gathering? Brother meet up or gathering the gang? Okay, he hasn’t decided what to call this family gathering, but soon he will come up with the perfect name for it.
It didn’t change the fact that he was overexcited for today. He was so excited and filled with energy that he couldn’t sleep the night prior. Sitting still wasn’t even an option for the last three days. If he were a pouncy ball locked in a room, he would be non-stop pouncing from one wall to another, never running out of energy.
His overflowing energy got to the point where he accidentally erased some items. It wasn’t his fault. Sure, he learnt how to control his void side, but he was so excited. If he led out more void particles than usual so be it. After all, you should never suppress your hybrid instincts.
The void particles may be harmless, but the same thing couldn’t be said with his void touch. A special ability which comes with being a voidling. On occasion a voidling could use the void touch to erase some items, nothing to be big of course, from existence. No one knows how that works, but his favorite theory is that he has the power to send items to the void.
How exactly did he accidentally erase two feathers, three arrows and a strength potion. Well, when he is really excited, he sometimes can’t control his void side as good, and he may have grabbed all these items when he was a bit too excited.
The void will take good care of those items. Trust.
Since then, Mapicc has forbade him grabbing anything else. His friend didn’t mind the feathers and arrows but the strength potion he did mind. Mapicc knows it wasn’t his fault, but he would still prefer it if his best friend didn’t void any more of their items.
This brings him now walking up and down their staircase at three in the morning. Sleeping was not an option, and he wasn’t even tired. Currently he was gathering the last things he needed before he left.
Since joining the server, they weren’t able to hang out as much as they used to. Every one of his brothers had their own things to do. Sometimes they would run into each other, but both sides were too busy to really catch up with one another.
At first none of them realized how far they grew apart, expect Parrot. Spoke was able to reconnect with Flame and Wemmbu after the mafia ended, but he wasn’t even aware that they had grown apart. It only became clear when they found Parrot injured in the nether.
After rescuing their younger brother and taking him somewhere safe, they noticed how neglected his wings were. This was concerning since the bird was very prickly with the well-being of his wings.
It took some poking around before Parrot finally told them everything. Spoke remembers very clearly how his younger brother broke down in front of him, telling them all the horrible things he went through in the course of the last years. Parrot felt left behind, abandoned by his brothers, too scared to reach out to any of them, while all three of them were unaware of it.
Spoke felt so horrible. He felt like he failed as the older brother. After all he was the one who made everyone promise that they would always stay together and look after each other.
Once Parrot recovered, they all sat down and talked about it. It didn’t go too well since none of them are really great with emotions, but they were able to talk about it. Misunderstandings were cleared, feelings were expressed, and worries were discussed. All in all, it was a well-needed talk.
In the end, they decided to meet up more regularly. They all recognized that since they joined the server, they never took the time to sit all down and talk, and this had to change. Because all four of them were extremely busy, they decided to meet every six months. Currently they don’t have a specific place to meet, but they agreed until they have a fixed place, each time someone could choose a place.
Last time Flame chose a place, somewhere up in the mountains. This time Parrot chose a small opening far away from spawn in a jungle. Spoke had never been there, but he guessed this was the place where Parrot was living when they found him injured in the nether.
He can’t wait to see them again. He’s so excited.
Of course, he made some plans on what they could do today or better what he was going to do. First, they will most likely jokingly argue where Spoke will absolutely rage bait Flame or Wemmbu. Parrot would eventually be done with their bickering and force them to eat lunch. During lunch they will talk but that’s not what he was excited about.
With all four being in the same place, it offers a great opportunity to play a prank on them. Nothing harmful of course. Just something small and funny. It’s what he had been working on for the last couple of weeks.
But it was not everything he wanted to do with them. There were so many things he wanted to do that it wouldn’t fit in a single day but would be spread over the next gatherings. To ensure he didn’t forget anything, he started to write a list.
To do:
- Rage bait Wemmbu
- Rage bait Flame
- Rage bait Parrot
- Play a prank on them
- Scare them (ghost hunting)
- Get matching hoodies
- Eating competition (I’m going to win)
- Sleep over (my place)
The list goes on and there is still enough space to add more fun things to do. Some of those things will take a lot of convincing, especially the matching hoodies, but he would make it work. After all he is Spoke, a very convincing guy.
Anyway, back to the present, he just got the last thing he needed. Everything was stuffed in his inventory, and he was ready to leave. The sun was slowly rising, but it was still early in the morning. Mapicc was still asleep, so Spoke wrote a quick note, letting him know he left to meet up with his brothers.
The sun had risen by now and Spoke decided to take a quick break to eat some breakfast. Waking up early was quite energy-consuming and he was very glad that he remembered to pack something quick to eat.
He already walked half the way to their meeting point, only two hours left of traveling before he reaches his destination. Under an oak tree, he sat down and grabbed a sandwich.
The area he was in was beautiful. Close by he heard a river, birds were chirping, and the sun was nicely setting over the field. It was rare to see untouched lands these days. The mafia ruined most of the landscapes, draining it of its resources and beauty.
It was a pleasant day, sun was shining accompanied by a nice, yet warm breeze. The perfect day to spend time with his brothers. For a while he stayed under the tree, just taking in his surroundings while quietly chewing on his sandwich, thinking about what he wanted to talk about with his brothers.
Some time passed and it was time to continue heading to the meeting point. Spoke gathered his things and stored them in his inventory, before resuming on his track.
Currently he was walking through a thick forest, one that reminded him of his childhood. When they were younger, they lived in a small hut, away from any civilization in a thick and dark forest.
Flame was the one who found the hut and decided to move all of them there for safety reasons. From where they are from hybrids were rare and not really liked by normal people. It still depended on what type of hybrid you were, for example a bunny hybrid or a cat one wasn’t disliked but rather accepted.
But any hybrid related to a predator species was loathed and shunned. Some people formed even groups to hunt those down they redeemed as monsters and dangerous.
As a family consisting of two demons, a voidling and a Parrot, they weren’t accepted. Only Parrot would have been able to live normally besides humans, but none of them wanted to give Parrot up.
So, they decided to live far away, where they were safe and could grow up unharmed. Flame and he would leave to gather food and resources while Wemmbu stayed behind, looking after their youngest brother.
Wemmbu often argued with Flame that he could also go out and collect food, which the older always shut down. Spoke wasn’t much older than Wemmbu, but those couple of years were a lot in the past. His hybrid side was a lot more developed, giving him more strength. Sure, Wemmbu was a better fighter, already back then, but since his hybrid side wasn’t done developing, it came with side effects. He sometimes had flare ups, where he lost all his strength for a short amount of time.
It would have been way too dangerous for him to go out by himself. Yet the purple demon didn’t accept that.
.oOo.
Wemmbu: As if Spoke could protect himself in a fight.
Spoke: Listen, I can defend myself pretty well and at least I’m taller than a chair.
Wemmbu: I AM TALLER THAN A CHAIR! At least I’m not weak.
Spoke: Wawawa, you’re not strong enough to go out. This is why I and Flame go out for food. The weak stay behind and wait.
Wemmbu: You-
Flame: That’s enough.
Wemmbu: But-
Flame: Wemmbu, you’re still growing, and your demon side is not at its best. I know you want to go out, and I know you can fight, but if you have one of those flare ups, while I’m not around, you could get hurt. You’re not going out until your hybrid side stabilizes. End of discussion.
.oOo.
It was in fact not the end of discussion since Wemmbu started the same argument every time he or Flame left to get food. Yet every single time he was shut down and reminded that he wasn’t ready to go out.
This discussion went on for another two years until finally Wemmbu’s hybrid side was fully fledged. He no longer had the flare ups, and his horns and tail stopped growing. Well, until demons hit their second puberty, where they go under a change. Their instincts sharpen, and their horns grow again for a bit.
Spoke quite never understood it, since his voidling side wasn’t this complicated. It was rather simple. A voidling is always chaos with no rules besides some few. Like their chaotic side, sometimes parental instinct or just mentally unstable, which Spoke wasn’t.
Wemmbu tried again to go out, but Flame said he wanted someone to stay behind with Parrot. Since Wemmbu had no chance through Flame, he tried through Spoke, often challenging the voidling for a fight.
Back then Wemmbu was shorter than him, which gave Spoke an advantage. Wemmbu may have been a full demon, but strength wise still weaker than Spoke since he was older. The fights resulted in Spoke winning and keeping his privilege to go out and gather food with Flame.
Honestly, Spoke wouldn’t have minded staying behind with Parrot. He just didn’t want his younger brother to take his spot. As brother rivalry he made sure Wemmbu never could take his job and go out to gather food.
It was a petty reason, but Spoke didn’t care. Not his fault Wemmbu was born after him.
By now he had left the forest and was now walking through an open field. Luckly he wasn’t far away from the meeting point, only an hour more and he would arrive. His excitement grew with each step he took. He probably would be the first to arrive, since neither Wemmbu nor Flame were good with time. Parrot said he would be waiting, so he doesn’t count.
Spoke was busy listing everything he wanted to do in his head and didn’t pay attention to his surroundings.
Suddenly an arrow flew past, missing him by inches. Immediately, he pulled out his sword, getting in a defensive stance while looking from where the arrow came from.
To his right was a player in netherrite armor, aiming a bow at him. Quickly, he moved out of the way of the arrow and charged the person. After a quick exchange, the person retreated, stepping away from Spoke. Just as Spoke wanted to follow them, a voice from behind stopped him:
“Hello Spoke.”
He turned around, facing the person behind him.
“Clown?!”
In front of him was standing the deadliest player and ruler of the nether Clownpierce. His fighting skills surpassed Spoke’s, and his best bet was to run and hope Clown isn’t after him, which was very unlikely.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“You know I have places to be. Actually, I am currently heading to meet up with some people. What brings you out of the nether?”
“A job.”
Yep, he was screwed. If someone hired Clown to hunt him down, then it would be game over. There was no way he would win in a fight against Clown, and neither did he have an escape route. Why did he forget his elytra at his base. He could really use it right now.
“What job? You looking for someone?”
“I already found them.”
That was the confirmation that Clown was here for Spoke. Spoke equipped his shield and got ready to fight. Maybe if he’s lucky, he could run away when Clown isn’t paying attention. Afterall he wasn’t far away from where his brothers were supposed to meet.
In an instant Clown threw a pearl, giving Spoke barley anytime to dodge the swing of his scythe. Stumbling back a couple of steps, Spoke managed to shield the next attack. The sound of metal colliding with wood echoed through the open fields.
In a swift movement, Clown pulled back his scythe, resulting in Spoke losing his balance for a second. Spoke tried to counterattack, swinging his sword at Clown, but completely missing his target.
The demon had more experience and developed a fighting style unique to himself, making it even harder facing the demon. He didn’t fight like any other person would, first his scythe was a custom-made weapon, who no one else uses, but also uses his speed and the momentum he gets from his attacks to defeat his enemies.
Truly a dangerous opponent to face. Even Flame struggled to adapt to the others fighting style and his brother is one of the best fighters on the entire unstable smp.
As the one-sided fight went on, Spoke realized something. Even though the scythe missed him by a couple of inches, it didn’t feel like Clown was trying to kill him, which was weird since he was an assassin. Normally an assassin’s job was to kill the person they were hired to not whatever this was.
Every attack he managed to dodge lacked a certain kill intent. This felt more like Clown was toying with him.
Spoke needed to get away fast. Whatever Clown was planning wasn’t good for Spoke.
After successfully blocking one of Clowns attack, Spoke managed to throw the other off balance giving him an opening. He swung his sword high, ready to strike the demon’s leg, so he could have an advantage when running away.
Just as he was about to strike Clown, an arrow pierced his wrist, making him drop his sword to the ground. Before he could process what happened, something heavy hit the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground.
The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was someone walking over to him.
It was hot. Way too hot for his aching body and foggy brain. He misses the nice breeze and the fresh air.
Wait…why was it hot?
Slowly he pried his eyes open, answering his own question when he was greeted with a wall of netherrack above him. Or better the nether roof. Don’t tell him Clown dragged him to the nether, because the way his body hurt and the way he felt bruises forming over his entire body, he was pretty sure they just dragged him here, not even bothering picking him up.
Next question; why didn’t Clown just kill but rather drag him to the nether?
That one he definitely has to ask Clown directly. Starring up the nether roof wasn’t going to give him an answer.
As he tried to sit up, he realized his sword as well as his shield was missing from his inventory. At least he was still wearing his armor.
“Look who’s back with us.”
His return to consciousness wasn’t unnoticed, but that wasn’t Clown’s voice. The accent was way too thick.
“Did we really have to drag me to the nether?”
“You weren’t really cooperating with walking, and we had to get you here somehow.”
“So, you dragged me on the floor, because that’s how my body feels.”
“Yeah, I mean normally we don’t do the whole kidnapping but rather kill our targets.”
Spoke was getting annoyed with the answers from Ferre. He knows what he meant and read between the lines. None of them wanted to carry Spoke so they opted to just drag him along. Since they normally don’t kidnap, probably none of them though about how to get the kidnapped person where they wanted them to be. Great job they did.
“It’s quite a surprise seeing assassins changing their ways and have now resorted to kidnapping. You guys’ new side gig?”
“Oh, trust me, I really would prefer killing you than doing this ordeal, but since I’m not the one dragging you. I don’t care what happens to you.”
The crocodile hybrid leant back, continuing cleaning his sword. The lack of interest from him was clear. The only reason why Ferre was here in the first place was most likely on Clown’s demand. After all, Ferre is his mentor and currently his guard.
Thinking of Clown, Spoke hasn’t spotted the demon hybrid. You could think that the very person knocking you out and dragging you to the nether would be around when you regain your consciousness.
Next to Ferre was another guard, probably the one who shot him with an arrow. Speaking of the arrow, Spoke looked at his wrist taking note of the not so clean bandage. They couldn’t even be bothered to properly bandage a wound.
So far Spoke would rate their kidnapping service a six out of ten. There is a lot of room for improvement.
Suddenly Ferre shifted, sitting straight up and looking past Spoke with trained eyes. For a moment Spoke stopped breathing, fearing what possibly could be behind him that got Ferre on guard.
“I hope Ferre hasn’t bothered you too much, Spoke.”
Clown was behind him. Just great.
“I told him that your kidnapping service could use some improvement. Currently the rating is at six out of ten.”
Ferre chuckled, clearly amused by Spoke’s rating.
“Looks like someone is having fun”, Clown paused shooting a look at Ferre before continuing, “It’s time we continue heading back to the castle. Grab your things we’re leaving in five.”
The people around immediately started to gather all their things while Clown took Ferre to the side to talk to. Besides those two, there were three other guards. To Spokes displeasure all of them had netherrite armor. It’s a true mystery how Clown still had so much netherrite after the mafia drained all the resources.
Ferre left and Clown was walking towards him. In a rough motion, Spoke was pulled up to his feet. The fast movement made his vision blurry, and some black dots appeared.
“Hey, be careful. My head still hurts from when you knocked me out.”
“Well Spoke, I don’t care.”
With a push, he was forced to walk. Definitely lower than five this kidnapping.
After a long and exhausting walk, Spoke found himself in a prison cell. His feet hurt from all the walking, his body ached, his wrist needed a new bandage and his head…he wasn’t sure, it felt off. Before he was pushed into his cell, he was forced to hand over all his items including his armor. The only thing they let him keep was three pieces of bread.
No one had told him anything about why he was here and that scared him. Getting kidnapped was one thing and still rather unnerving, not getting told anything on why he was kidnapped was terrifying. Most people would tell their victims why or what they demand, but Clown just left after he closed the cell.
Clown being his kidnapper made everything ten times worse. Someone must had hired Clown to kidnap him, since he and Clown never really interacted and the last time he checked, he never interfered with the nether.
But for Clown to change his way and do something else then assassination meant that whoever was paying him, was someone with power. Clown would never do this for a nobody.
With each minute passing, the more nervous Spoke got. Many things were going through his head. Who was after him? Did someone notice his absence? Is someone already searching for him?
He needed to calm down. Panicking wasn’t going to help. His brothers must have realized he was missing and are probably looking for him. Since Clown didn’t kill, he also most likely won’t hurt him either. Whoever hired him wanted Spoke in one piece.
The sound of a door opening pulled Spoke out of his thoughts. The footsteps were purposely heavy, so he would hear them.
“How do you like your new place?”
“It could use some color. Kinda blank and bit too dark for my liking.”
“I will give this feedback to Clown for the next time he decides to kidnap someone rather than just killing them.”
It was very clear that Ferre wasn’t a fan of this situation either. By the way he looked, it seemed like he had more of a problem with this kidnapping than Spoke did. Ferre walked around, checking if everything was the way it was supposed to be.
There was something eerie about Ferre. Clown was known for being deadly and extremely dangerous, but the same thing wasn’t said about Ferre. Not that the other wasn’t dangerous and deadly, but more since he wasn’t well known. For people who haven’t engaged with Clown or are in the pvp group, Ferre is an unknown person. The only thing you could technically find out was that he was Clown’s left-hand man and that those two were rather close. The only reason he knows that Ferre trained Clown was because Flame told him that.
Said man was standing on the other side of the iron bars, looking around boringly.
“Did we let you keep anything?”
“Yeah, some food.”
“Really? What a rookie mistake. Shouldn’t have let you keep anything, especially food. Most see hope with food and will pull stupid stunts like escaping.”
For someone who was so against the idea of kidnapping, he sure talks like someone with experience. Honestly, Spoke felt as if Ferre was criticizing Clown. Maybe he should be glad that Clown was the one who set his goal on kidnapping him and not Ferre. He feels like his stay here would be a lot more unpleasant if Ferre was in charge of the abduction.
“Guess that bread is the only nourishment you’re going to see for a while. A bit of starving never hurt anyone.”
“What? You are going to give me more, right?”
“Nope.”
Okay, great. Guess he will have to ration his bread for a while until they decide to give him more. He’s pretty sure he could go a bit without eating. Flame definitely could so he should also be able to do it. Nothing to worry about.
Ferre must have gotten bored, since he left, leaving Spoke alone in the dark cellar. Spoke let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Even though he acted confident, made quips, he was shaken. Clown and Ferre both had an aura, that made others quiver in fear, and Spoke would be lying if it didn’t affect him as well. He wouldn’t go so far to say they scare him (only a little bit), but they definitely made him uneasy.
Spoke started to pace around the small cell he was in, no longer able to sit still. This time it wasn’t his overexcitement but rather the uneasiness and nerves that were betraying him.
From one side to the other, over and over again, trying to calm his nerves that just refused to still.
All the pacing made him hungry. Coming to the conclusion that his captors wouldn’t let him starve to death he decided to eat some of his bread. He pulled the three pieces of bread, eyes darting around the room for no particular reason expect his nerves going crazy. Separating one piece from the other two, he lifted it up, ready to take a bite of a very dried bread, since he didn’t have anything to drink. Well, better than nothing.
His stomach growled and he took a bite from the no existing bread in his hand.
Void.
He stared at his hand which was holding the bread a couple of seconds ago. Black and purple particles were surrounding his hand.
He voided his bread.
Void.
This was the worst time for his void side to act up and erase his only food. Like, the void didn’t need any food. He needed that. Just great. Yeah, apparently this could also happen when he was extremely stressed. Spoke didn’t know that before.
With no food, Spoke returned to pacing the cell, only this time it was clear how stressed he was. Hands were slightly shaking and every now and then he grabbed his hair or scratched his neck, having nothing better to do with his nervous hands. It didn’t help his wrist hurt and still needed medical attention. The wound started to bleed through the bandage, not a lot, but he still would need to change the bandage soon, or the wound would get infected.
Breath, just breath, everything was going to be fine. Afterall he is Spoke, former leader of Spoke nation, ex B.A.T member and master exploiter. A kidnapping is nothing to him, just another Tuesday.
Slowly the exhaustion crawled back, his legs felt heavy, and he was struggling to stand upright. He slid down the wall, giving up on standing, resting his head on the wall for support.
Maybe if he just closed his eyes, everything would be better. By now someone must have noticed his absence. His brothers probably started to search for him and if not, Mapicc will look for him. It’s only a matter of time until someone finds him. Hopefully.
He really hopes someone finds him soon.
The silence was so loud. His thoughts were so loud. There wasn’t any sound of people, but he heard everything. Every breath he took, the rustle of his clothes when he moved echoed through the cellar, his own heartbeat was ringing in his ears. It was loud yet so quiet.
Spoke gave up on sleeping. For a bit he got some rest, but he no longer was able to return to the dream world. No one came downto his cell since Ferre left, leaving him completely isolated from everything.
He didn’t even know how long he had been here. Was it still the same day or has it been weeks. Spoke didn’t know.
Before he could spiral, a loud bang interrupted him. It wasn’t the sound of a door opening or slamming shut, but it didn’t quite sound like TNT either. He focused, trying to listen, but couldn’t hear anything else. The silence returned.
Spoke closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, before opening them again. Nothing has changed. The silence still rang loud, no sign of anybody. It was just him stuck in a cell, uncertain what would happen to him in the future.
Suddenly the door slammed open and hurried footsteps made it down the stairs. Before his clouded mind could process it, a blue and greenish figure came into his view. He immediately recognized those bright colors and looked up.
Infront of his cell was Parrot standing, face filled with relief.
“I found him. He’s down here.”, the parrot hybrid yelled to most likely to his two other brothers.
Quick footsteps echoed through the room, before the purple demon came to a halt next to Parrot. Flame soon followed, yet with slower steps and quick glances over his shoulder. Maybe for the better since they were still in Clown’s territory
“Hey y’all. Fancy seeing you down here.”
Wemmbu rolled his eyes at Spoke’s greeting, while Parrot took a look at the lock which was keeping him from leaving. Flame kept watch while Parrot tried to figure out how to open the cell. Wemmbu eventually got tired of waiting and broke the door with a simple mace attack.
“Wemmbu!”
“What?”
“A little warning next time before you go swing around that mace. You almost hit me.”
Wemmbu moved his hand dismissively, clearly not bothered by Parrot. Realizing that the other wouldn’t say anything, Parrot stepped into the cell, looking at the hunched over form of his brother. Worry filled his face seeing the lack of a reaction from the voidling.
“Spoke, are you alright?”
Was he alright? He wasn’t hurt or starved. Sure, he had couple of bruises, an injured wrist and was hungry, but that wasn’t really anything.
“Yep, I’m fine.”
With wobbly legs he stood up, grabbing the wall for support when he realized that he stood up way too fast. Maybe he was also very exhausted, but there was nothing to be concerned about.
Flame shot him a concerned glance, which was odd, since the older only does that when something was wrong.
“Spoke, you don’t have to lie”, Parrot said carefully.
“I’m not lying.”
This was one of the few instances where he was telling the truth. He truly was fine. There was hardly any blood, and he wasn’t missing a limb either. Perfectly fine.
Yet, his brothers didn’t share his thought. Wemmbu looked at Flame who looked at Parrot, silently communicating with each other.
Parot was the first one to speak up: ”Spoke, you don’t have to act strong. A kidnapping is never easy. We’re here and are going to make sure we all make it out of here unharmed.”
Flame and Wemmbu nodded in confirmation. Apparently, his confusion showed, since Flame also Spoke up: “You don’t look so good and honestly, that’s understandable. You have been here in the nether for about three days.”
Wait three days. It didn’t feel like three days. Spoke was under the impression he had been locked up for a couple of hours, not three days.
“Ehm also, you are surrounded by void particles but not the ones when you’re happy. More so the ones when you’re not fine. Also, you haven’t made any eye contact during out entire conversation.”
At the mention of particles, Spoke looked around himself, shocked by the many particles. He hadn’t even noticed them. Instead of the normal colorful ones, these were pitch black, with sporadic dark purple ones. Even though he was a voidling, most of his particles were colorful, fitting more his personality. Those dark colors only appeared when he either was having a mental breakdown or was extremely out of his mind.
And was he really avoiding eye contact. Thinking about it, he doesn’t remember making eye contact once. It’s a subconscious thing he did when he was stressed. A side effect from being from the end dimension.
He felt pressure behind his eyes and blinked a few times, hoping to get rid of the weird feeling. Before he knew it, something wet was rolling down his cheeks. Unsure he touched his cheek, realizing that the wetness was his tears.
Maybe he wasn’t fine.
A strangled noise, which was mix of a sob and voidling sound, escaped his throat. He was supposed to be fine.
Parrot took slow steps towards him, trying his best not to make any rash movements and accidentally scaring his brother. Spoke looked up and practically threw himself into his younger brother’s arms, breaking down completely.
“Shh, everything is alright. I got you.”
Spoke let Parrot hold him, barely having any strength left to hold himself upright. For a while they stay like this. Between all of them Parrot had always been the best at emotions, and it clearly showed.
Eventually Spoke calmed down, no longer crying and pulled away from the hug. Parrot was hesitant about what to do with his now free arms but decided to rest them next to his body. Flame and Wemmbu were exchanging ideas on how to get out of the nether without fighting to the complete army of Clown.
Flame looked at his injured wrist, a thrown appearing in face. Instinctively, Spoke hid his wrist behind his body, not wanting to drag more attention to his poor condition. Flame sighed, clearly not happy, but not questioning either. Spoke would be asked about the injury after they got out of the nether.
“So, what’s the plan guys?”
“Not to die, kill a couple of Clown’s guards and leave this place”, Wemmbu answered him.
Parrot took a deep breath, clearly not happy with Wemmbu’s plan.
“And how exactly do you plan to do that?”
“We walk out of here, kill the guards and leave.”
“What that’s not a pla-“
“Yeah, that will work.”
“What guys no-“
“Let’s go!”
Parrot sighed, realizing that there was no point arguing with his brothers. It’s three against one and the three were quite known for just doing things and not making a plan. They will figure out things on the way out of here.
They made it out. Barley. The so-called plan went the way Parrot predicted. Absolute chaos, a lot of luck, and the confusion that they caused was on their side. He also believed that Clown wasn’t really interested in Spoke and didn’t bother with their breakout. Like he didn’t’ even show up once, when they were running away from his castle. This dude couldn’t care less that they just broke out his prisoner.
None of them were seriously hurt, only broken armor and a couple of bruises. On their way in they were able to retrieve Spoke’s taken items and handed them over to him before the left he cellar. It saved them a lot of trouble and resources.
Currently they were at Parrot’s hut in the jungle, the place they were supposed to meet up a couple of days ago. Spoke sat down, now completely drained of any energy, while Flame went to check the area, making sure they weren’t followed.
“See Parrot, my plan worked.”
“Don’t call that a plan, Wemmbu.”
Wemmbu laughed and Spoke himself chuckled. One thing the strategist hated were chaotic actions being called a plan, and the thing Wemmbu loved was to rage bait Parrot. How he missed these interactions. If he had the energy, he would join in, but he was depleted.
His thoughts wandered back to the events that happened. It started as such a nice day, a day he was looking forward to, just to end in disaster. A day that was supposed to be fun turned into the opposite. He still didn’t know who hired Clown to kidnap him, but he hoped that the person wouldn’t try again. Next time, he will be prepared.
A sudden touch on his shoulder shook him out of his trance. Next to him was Flame kneeling, concerned covering his face. Spoke slightly tiled his head, looking directly at his face.
“You good bro?”
Definitely better than before. He no longer was stuck in a cell in the nether nor was he scared. His particles also calmed down only occasionally appearing around him but with already a lighter color. With his brothers around him, he was fine.
“Yeah, just tired.”
Flame checked him over once again, his protective older brother side clearly showing. The way Spoke knew Flame, the older was blaming himself for what happened to him. In his mind, it was still his responsibility to make sure all his younger brothers were safe. That of course didn’t apply when he was the one hunting them down because apparently as long you getting killed by your brother it fine. Brotherly love or something like that.
“Soo, what are we going to do now?”
“Chill?”
Wemmbu considered the option, but Spoke already knew Wemmbu would stay. Even though he acts like he doesn’t care, he is the most attached of all of them. Even more than Parrot, and he went on about how abandoned he felt by them.
“D’alright.”
“Let’s go inside my hut. It’s not big, but it’s better than staying out here. And I also want to take a look at that wrist Spoke.”
Parrot once again being the responsible out of them ushed them inside. Spoke was granted the bed while the others looked elsewhere to get comfortable. Maybe being the hurt one had its positives. Afterall he isn’t the one who will sleep on the ground tonight.
His wound was cleaned and properly bandaged. Luckily, it didn’t get infected. The gentleness Parrot showed while taking care of the injury, making Spoke almost cry again. Being isolated for three days straight, did a toll on his mind and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t craving the physical contact.
Even after Parrot was done bandaging the wound, the avian didn’t move away but rather sat down next to Spoke guiding his head to rest against his shoulder. Spoke just let his younger brother do his thing, enjoying the comfort he was receiving.
While his brothers were talking among themselves, Spoke listened quietly. Slowly their voices lulled him to sleep. He thought about the missed opportunities to annoy his brothers, but he will have chances in the future when they meet up again. He still needs to come up with a name.
The Unstable Quartet.
That’s it. He can’t wait for the next Unstable Quartet.
“The Unstable Quartet.”
“Bro, what?”
“Next time on the Unstable Quartet.”
“Bro, did you hit your head?”
He cooked with that name. Spoke is just the best when it comes to name things. His brothers could really slice a piece from his skill.
They were The Unstable Quartet.