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No one could blame Flame for the fact that he didn’t believe it.
Like, come on. Wemmbu had already faked his death once. What was stopping him from doing it again? Nothing. When Lettuce had called everybody for an announcement, Flame found himself hiding on a statue again. He was there when Lettuce proudly proclaimed Wemmbu’s death, a grin on his face. Flame is still crouched down, staring at the same stage he’d seen Wemmbu on just a few weeks ago.
He wonders how Wemmbu made Lettuce believe it. How’d he fake his death so convincingly that even the LettuceK, leader of the Law, believed it. He must’ve had a very good dummy. Maybe he used a wolf. Flame pearls away before he can get caught. He still needs to train more. This wasn’t the time to be listening to Lettuce lie. Flame tries not to think about the cheers in the crowd, and how they’d probably cheer like that for him, too. It’s not like it bothers him, really. Not being liked. Flame’s goals differed greatly from wanting to be liked by everybody.
It was a long walk out. Flame almost regrets coming. Why’d he waste his time coming to hear about Wemmbu doing something stupid again? He still wasn’t done training. He had a certain TNT cart master to learn from, and he was getting distracted from his search. But he couldn’t even search for Theo or Parrot, because of the stupid crowd. Stupid meeting. It makes him have to wait even longer just to be trained.
He decides to hide out in a cave. Because Flame is not making this journey twice. Getting in 50000 blocks, and then back out, only to do it again? Yeah, no thanks. He stays crouched, but eventually gets bored of that, and sits down, Back pressed against the cold stone. His armor clangs, echoing in the cave. It’s dark, but Flame makes no effort to light up the area. His only pickaxe has silk touch on it, and he’s not wasting time to create a torch just to sit in the light. Flame’s not scared of the dark, man.
He stretches his arms languidly, groaning. His tail sits lazily, twitching every once in a while like it couldn’t help it. Flame’s eyes flutter shut, and that’s when the thought comes back. There’s nothing to think about right now, so his mind drifts to Wemmbu. Or well, the announcement of his death. Because Flame didn’t really want to think about Wemmbu.
But it was hard not to, considering the whole server just got told he was dead by a source they believed was trustworthy. When Egg spread the rumours, it was harder to believe, because no one really knew much about Egg beyond his loyalty to Wemmbu. And he seemed too happy for a guy whose best friend was dead. Flame didn’t really think much about it, but in retrospect.. yeah, Egg wasn’t a very good actor. Or he just hadn’t taken it too seriously, because Wemmbu wasn’t actually dead.
He decides the best course of action is to just ask. Like, Egg was a bad liar, so he’s sure that Flame could easily spot whether Wemmbu was really dead.
You whispered to Eggchan: Yo bro
You whispered to Eggchan: Where are you rn?
Flame half expects Egg to not even reply. Considering it was strange and suspicious. Why would Flame randomly want to know where Egg was? He frowns, tail curling up absently. Egg probably already told Wemmbu about this and he was just going to get aired again. Messaging Wemmbu would probably be easier, and when Flame opens the chat, ready to talk, a ping distracts him.
Eggchan whispers to you: I’m at the Great Sea
…Weird.
Maybe they weren’t together. But even then, Egg probably was smart enough to not want to share his location with Flame. Considering the last time they’d met was when Flame had terrorised the end in search for evidence of Wemmbu being alive. But you know. Details. The main issue was Egg willingly sharing his location to Flame. It.. made no sense.
And why the hell was Egg even at the Great Sea? He’s not going there just to find Egg. The last thing Flame wants to do is run into Jaden. The Great Sea was literally entirely Jaden’s territory. Why would Flame willingly go there? He’s not stupid. Even if Flame risks it by coming into Law territory, it’s easy to get in and out. And he got new information from that announcement Lettuce shared. Even if it wasn’t information he trusted. Flame didn’t exactly.. have Lomedy to tell him gossip every time he stopped by the farm. Considering there was no farm, and no free Lomedy.
His ears flatten at the thought. The reminder of his frayed relationship with Lomedy is a sting he wants to forget, yet can’t. It itches like nothing else. An urge he can’t stifle with fighting. He shakes his head. “Whatever, bro. I’ma get Lomedy out, n’ then we’ll be fine. I’ll make it up to him, or whatever,” Flame mutters. It’ll be fine. He stares at his communicator for a long while, wondering if it’s worth it. Whether visiting Egg just to know if Wemmbu really was dead is a priority of his.
Is going to The Great Sea even worth it?
Nah. Flame doesn’t think so. Wemmbu probably wasn’t dead. He was probably in a fight. Probably busy annoying people. Maybe he was recharging those stupid nukes he had. Anything. Flame has known Wemmbu a long time. He remembers the early days when Wemmbu was a little chungie who barely knew how to wield a sword. Remembers when Wemmbu used to be scared of him. But Flame also remembers the way Wemmbu refused to die.
The thing about Wemmbu was that he always kept moving. Flame wasn’t sure how to feel about it, even till this day. Wemmbu didn’t give up. Maybe Flame hadn’t ever seen Wemmbu give up. Even when Zam had sent over people to grief Wemmbu’s whole empire thing, he’d gotten right back and blown up Zam’s empire in turn. Flame knew a lot of people that wouldn’t recover from that kind of thing. He really was like a little bug. But more like a cockroach. Something that keeps living.
Flame has wanted Wemmbu dead on several occasions. The first time was when he was given direct orders to hurt and terrorise Wemmbu. To test his loyalty to Zam. In the midst of their battle, he’d watched Wemmbu taunt him back. Even as their skills were so severely outmatched, Wemmbu found a way to pop his totem. While flying back to Zam empire, all he could think was that he wanted to be the one to kill Wemmbu.
The second time he clearly remembers the urge was when he saw Wemmbu holding a mace. The Mafia was a thing of the past, and Flame hated to dwell on it, but his search for the mace was a battle to prove himself. And he’d done a lot worse than kill one person to prove himself.
The third time was when Wemmbu cornered him after Flame’s resources were drained. He had access to nukes Flame had never seen before, a power even more unfair than the mace he always seemed to be seen with. It was an unfair fight, and Flame had escaped with his chestplate broken and a feeling stronger than simple hatred curling in his chest.
And then, for the fourth time, Flame had finished fighting a thousand players with Wemmbu. He hadn’t really wanted Wemmbu dead until the guy seemed so happy to just team with Flame. They were rivals. Not friends. Wemmbu had fought Flame when he wasn’t nearly half as ready, and complained when Flame did the same thing. And then he was acting like Flame would just forget about the rematch. Like Flame hadn’t spent months of his life getting mocked for apparently “losing” to Wemmbu. So, he’d fought to kill, until Wemmbu gave up.
But each urge wasn’t ever something he went through with. It was hard to explain, but despite wanting Wemmbu dead, Flame almost didn’t hate him. There was something about their rivalry that stayed constant. They understood each-other sometimes. Maybe not always. Because Flame hated Wemmbu’s mace, and he’s sure Wemmbu mocks his honour code behind his back, sometimes to his face, but they were both killers. Blood stained their hands, together. A thousand players killed together was a lot of blood that bound them together.
And in the simplest way to put it, Flame did like to fight. Wemmbu put up a good fight more often than not. That was it. Flame didn’t care about proving Wemmbu was alive a second time. Once was enough. Now, he had to get Lomedy out of prison. He wasn’t going to go all the way to the Great Sea. Flame had to find Theo.
There was no time for the Great Sea.
…
Which is, of course, exactly when Flame ends up on a boat, paddling away.
“Stupid. Like this is actually so stupid. I can’t even believe I’m here. Bro. I should be practicing my carting, but instead I’m on a stupid boat out in the sea.” Flame’s ears are up. Alert. As long as he’s out in the open, there will always be a part of him that keeps him on edge. On a server where most people were cheering when they heard he was exiled, where the biggest group on the server wanted him in prison, Flame had no choice but to stay on edge. If he didn’t expect the unexpected, he’d be long dead. Or worse, in prison.
He sees the building after what felt like ages. Each second is measured in Lomedy’s time wasted. There were better uses of his time. Things he should’ve been doing. Things Flame wasn’t doing. He wonders if Lomedy could make it out on his own like Wemmbu did. He’s sure Lomedy is much smarter than Wemmbu. If he even wanted to leave. But, that was stupid. Flame didn't see why Lomedy would want to stay.
…It’s silent.
His ears don’t perk up with the bustle of a crowd. There are no boats flowing in or out. Flame, despite his unwillingness to hear anything even remotely related to Jaden, knew that the Great Sea was a popular place to be. And he’d kind of assumed this place would be just as popular.. yet it’s desolate. There is no one. The only thing Flame can hear is the sound of the waves hitting his boat. No other being in sight, or hearing range.
The gates are left untouched. Unopened, but with a gaping hole right on the side. When Flame steps up to it.. there’s blood.
Flame is not unfamiliar with the sight of blood. It’s quite the opposite, actually. But something about this felt.. wrong. His gut twists. But his instincts stay dormant. A warning to stay cautious. But no sign he should leave. He makes sure to pick the boat up. Just in case he needs it later. When he drops inside, Flame takes a second to admire it. It was big. It looked inhabited . It was supposed to be alive.
Yet, it was empty. It didn’t look like anyone ran. Flame stares at the stalls, still full of items on display. They hadn’t ran. Maybe they’d been in a rush to leave. No signs of struggle. Maybe they’d gone willingly. Who knows what’d happened? Flame didn’t. Maybe Egg knew, considering he was residing here, apparently. Maybe Jaden offered to protect Egg for Wemmbu. Like a babysitter. His lips turn down in a frown at the thought. Stupid Jaden.
There’s something that rustles in the wind nearby. Flame stops paddling almost instantly. His ears twitch, now on full alert. Even if that was Egg, Flame wasn’t taking any chances. What if Egg was working with Jaden? Like bro, absolutely not. As his head turns, all he sees is Egg, kneeling, eyes staring at what looks like a puddle of blood. Flame immediately knows something is wrong. There is a purple cape around Egg’s shoulders. Wings pressed against the fabric like they weren’t used to being covered. Flame’s brows furrowed.
That was Wemmbu’s cape. He never took it off unless he was in a fight. But he certainly never gave it to anyone else. Even to Egg, who Flame knew as Wemmbu’s closest friend. He steps onto land, footsteps light. Flame is hesitant to disturb, and he’s not sure why. Alarm bells ring in his head. A warning sign that’s hard to make out. Like it’s on the tip of his tongue and he doesn’t know how to make out the words just yet.
He hears a sniffle. Gold catches the setting sun. Flame knows that golden glint. It’s the same tiara Wemmbu protected as fiercely as his maces. It was his prized possession. He paraded around in it like it actually made him a royal. Prince of God knows what empire, considering Flame had been there when Wemmbu’s empire had been blown up. The tiara isn’t on purple hair this time, though. It’s on white. A stark contrast that looks.. wrong.
“..Egg?” Flame isn’t afraid. He’s just.. not sure. What he’s interrupting.
Instantly, the angel tenses up. He turns slowly, and reveals the messiness of his front to Flame. He winces. That looked.. bad. Dried blood caked into the angel’s normally neat clothes, looking almost days old. “Bro. What the hell are you doing? You don’t feel nasty? Standin’ there in.. days old blood?” Flame killed a lot of people. Maybe unnecessarily, sometimes, but he was very particular about not letting the blood stain him for too long. He prioritised his cleanliness, okay? Fight him.
“..Dude,” Egg’s voice cracks, hoarse from what must’ve been days of not using it. “He’s dead.”
Flame doesn’t know who he is, but he’s sure it isn’t Wemmbu. “Who?” Flame isn’t nearly equipped to handle this kind of emotional vulnerability. He could barely handle himself at times, but he stands anyway. Because he needs to know.
“..Don’t make me say his name, man.” Flame watches, with a sinking sort of realisation, that maybe he was wrong about Wemmbu being alive. He can’t look away as Egg turns back to the puddle of blood, now dried and crusty, which must’ve been days old. How long ago had Wemmbu died? Long enough for the blood to be a darker, molten colour. Rotting. It smelt horrific. And yet, it didn’t bother Egg.
“Oh.”
The world doesn’t feel like it comes to a dramatic stop. Nor does it feel like Flame’s world is going to end. He wasn't as close with Wemmbu as Egg was. But Flame does feel a crushing sort of sadness. He’s not even sure where it comes from. It creeps up on him like it hadn’t even meant to be there. Like it’d knocked on the wrong person’s house and just.. stayed. The blood he’d seen at the entrance.. Was that Wemmbu’s too? Flame steps forward, standing beside Egg’s knelt form. He crouches down, unable to tear his eyes away from the bloody sight.
It was weirdly disturbing. Flame has killed people more brutally than this, has shed the blood of thousands of players. Yet this felt.. different. No, it was different. If this was another scheme of Wemmbu’s, he had done a damn well convincing job of it. But when he looks at Egg’s side profile, hands shaking and unable to tear his eyes away from the dried blood like it could bring back his dead friend if he stared long enough.. Flame realises it’s not a joke.
Wemmbu really was dead.
..And Flame hadn’t been the one to kill him. It was a weird thing to think about, and Flame knows it. But a part of Flame, amidst all his fights with Wemmbu, had kind of expected Wemmbu to go out like a fighter. A warrior, which Wemmbu had been for a long time now. He’d expected Wemmbu to die in another one of their fights, because Flame honestly couldn’t imagine fighting anyone else to the death, and couldn’t imagine Wemmbu dying so easily. Especially not to a chungie like Lettuce. The guy relied on large numbers to win his fights. Didn’t even fight himself. Flame had wanted to be the one to kill Wemmbu.
But Wemmbu had just gone and died. Of course, that guy had probably done it on purpose. As if he knew what Flame urged to do sometimes, and made sure he could never do it now. God, Flame really hated that guy. He finds himself sitting down. For a minute. Flame wasn’t that heartless. He knew how to hold silence for the dead. He didn’t respect the dead guy, but Egg was grieving next to him, and Flame couldn’t find it in him to make a joke.
“You want me to kill Lettuce?”
Flame offers comfort the only way he knows how. Egg snorts, a weak, forced out sound. Flame wonders how he’d react if something happened to Lomedy. He’d probably be upset, too. “You’re gonna take on Law by yourself?” Egg isn’t trying to be mean. Flame doesn’t get upset. Besides, Flame liked it when people were blunt with him. If they didn’t believe in him, he had more to prove. Made things more fun.
“I can handle a large group of people.” Wemmbu couldn’t. Flame wonders why his chest feels heavy. Wemmbu wasn’t a friend of his. Flame had spent a large chunk of the time he knew Wemmbu.. fighting him. Their first interaction had been fighting each other, and their last one had been that too. He didn’t say goodbye either time. Left before they could talk, because rivals didn’t do that, did they? Flame almost regrets it. But he knows that in the moment, all he cared about was his title, his reputation, and even if Flame knew Wemmbu was going to die, he wouldn’t have changed a thing about it.
“..I think it’d be nice,” Egg finally decides on saying. “But I don’t think it’s what he would’ve wanted.”
Which is stupid. Because Lettuce had done so much to hurt Wemmbu, hadn’t he? Flame had watched as he paraded Wemmbu in cuffs on a stage. He’d been there as Lettuce hunted him and Wemmbu down for hundreds, if not thousands of blocks. Maybe Lettuce hadn’t done as much to Wemmbu, but he’d sure as hell done a lot. Flame wasn’t a fan of that guy at all. He’d hurt Lomedy, and kicked him out from his own home, and then hunted him through his exile, too. Maybe most of the hatred towards Lettuce he felt was his own, but even when he thought about it from Wemmbu’s perspective, Flame didn’t feel any weaker in regards to the urge to want Lettuce dead.
“..You sure?” He checks. Just once. Prodding.
“Yeah. I am.”
The world keeps turning. The wind keeps blowing. The waves still crash against the walls of this place. He’s sure the Law is still moving. Still planning. Flame stays just a bit longer. He has nothing to really remember Wemmbu by. Nothing besides the burn scars on his arms and legs, from all the nukes Wemmbu had dropped on him. That was the only reminder Flame would have. It feels like it wouldn’t be enough, but Flame didn’t know Wemmbu nearly enough to ask for anything.
He’s so lost in thought that he doesn’t hear Egg place down an e-chest until it opens. The sound startles him, a soft growl escaping before he stifles it. Flame tenses, surprised he’d ever relaxed. In Egg’s hands is a chest plate. Wemmbu’s. It has the same marking from his Invis Knight days. This time, with amethyst trims. Flame stares at it. “You don’t have to put it on,” Egg shrugs. “Just… like.. We both knew him. I can’t hog all his stuff, you know? He’d probably call me a loser if I did.”
Flame swears he has no room in his e-chest for it. He opens it, and.. leaves it beside the red leather armor from his farming days. Flame wouldn’t be caught dead rocking that purple trimmed armor, but he already had a small pile of important items. What’s one more thing?
“Thanks.”
Staring at the red leather armor, next to the trimmed armor, it only strengthens Flame’s resolve to get Lomedy out. He’d known Lettuce had wanted to execute Wemmbu, and he’d gotten that wish. Flame wouldn’t be next. And he wouldn’t let Lomedy get involved in it. He had to get Lomedy out of that prison, and quickly. Maybe Egg can tell. He makes no move to leave, but turns away from Flame. He’s not sure what comfort Egg gets from staring at the blood, but he won’t ask. Some things are better left unasked.
“I’ll..” Flame swallows. He didn’t know what to say. “Um. Do you want me to like.. tell someone you’re here?”
“Nah. I think I just wanna stay for a bit.. um.. longer.” Egg’s voice doesn’t waver. The angel was adept at hiding his emotions. Flame could understand the grief, but he had no clue what ran on in the angel’s mind. The few times he had talked to Egg, the guy was just strange and honestly off putting. Even this small brief moment of solidarity, of something dangerously close to shared grief, Flame wasn’t any wiser about Egg’s feelings. Not that he really wanted to be.
He stands up. Tries not to linger. Flame couldn’t stay, even if a foreign part of him did want to stay. “I’ll come back, bro. Don’t die.” Shoot. Bad timing? Egg doesn’t say anything. Flame takes it as a cue to leave. Even so, no one could blame Flame for not believing it at first. He almost regrets coming all the way out here just to prove it. Almost.
He guesses he has to find another rival now. But maybe not yet. For a while, Flame can survive without a rival. He doubts there’s anyone out there as fun to fight as Wemmbu was. Maybe there was a part of Flame that had cared about Wemmbu beyond their rivalry. But what do you do with all that caring when the person you kind of cared about is dead? Flame has no idea what to do with it. He probably won’t know for a while.
Whatever. There was still training to do.