Chapter Text
Parrot, Flame, Wemmbu, and Spoke — these four have known each other for so long; they treat one another like brothers. They lived together, dined together, fought together, and dreamt together. Even through misunderstandings, tensions, and rivalry, they still tried to be fair and understanding toward each other.
Back when they were teenagers — back when they didn't take things seriously, back when battles were just games or tests and didn't mean survival.
In the house the four shared, there was never a quiet day. On this particular evening, Spoke noticed how tired yet content everyone was. His gaze drifted to Flame, who had just finished training and was currently polishing his diamond sword. 'That's unnecessary,' Spoke thought to himself. The sword in Flame’s hands was enchanted; it glowed and shone with a purple glint.
Spoke turned his head toward the kitchen, to Parrot, who was cooking their dinner. Spoke was tempted to wander in, though… looking at Parrot’s already exhausted face, he resisted the urge to cause trouble. Besides, Spoke didn't need another lecture from Parrot. He remembered how he was clearly banned from the kitchen PERMANENTLY… (maybe for the better.)
After Spoke weighed his options, he just decided to mess with Wemmbu instead. Spoke stood up from the couch, stretching his arms, and was already scheming ways to annoy Wemmbu.
After ten minutes of searching around the house — going door-to-door, room-to-room — he finally found Wemmbu out in the backyard. Spoke saw him there. He was in the garden that Lomedy — Flame’s friend — had started planting and growing just for fun. Wemmbu was sitting in the middle of a field of yellow roses. The cold evening breeze made the flowers and Wemmbu’s long hair sway softly.
Wemmbu seemed so content, like he was contemplating and thinking deeply about something. 'Okayyyy, weird,'
A grin spread across his face. Spoke started to sneak toward Wemmbu, planning to scare or startle him, and maybe start ragebaiting him about how thoughtful he looked.
Spoke accidentally made a slight little noise, but Wemmbu caught it instantly. Spoke thought, 'Ah… SHIT..!!' Spoke’s cheeky grin dropped, and his body moved without thinking. Spoke jumped on Wemmbu, launching himself onto his back while he smiled and made silly, loud noises as Wemmbu tried to shake him off. Spoke held on tighter, laughing heartily
.
"Spoke, get off me!" Wemmbu yelled out, twisting his body to throw or try to unbalance the other boy.
"No way! Why’re you so serious?" The other boy mischievously giggled, flailing his legs to get a better grip and balance as Wemmbu twisted his body.
"Why are you such a nuisance..!" Wemmbu yelped as Spoke accidentally pulled his long purple hair. "OOPS! Sorry..!" Spoke said apologetically, though with a hint of playfulness — but he didn't let go. He just started being more careful, making sure not to hurt Wemmbu further.
"Dude, Spoke..! I was just strategizing for my next spar with Flame! NOW LET GO..!" Wemmbu twisted his flexible body even more, finally succeeding in getting Spoke off him. "OOF!" Spoke yelped.
Wemmbu dusted off his pants, glaring intensely at Spoke. "So childish.." He muttered under his breath. Spoke heard him. "Chill, gramps!" Spoke joked and giggled while sitting up.
Wemmbu frowned at Spoke’s dark hoodie with rainbow accents. "Great. Your clothes are even dirtier than mine."
Spoke noticed Parrot standing there — arms crossed, looking calm. Flame was behind him, leaning against the door that connected the backyard and the house. Parrot sighed loudly. "Are you two finished? If yes, then let’s go eat dinner." Flame snickered behind Parrot. "Yeah bro, why’re you guys so immature like—"
Wemmbu cut Flame off. He whined, knowing there would be a guaranteed scolding from Parrot. "AUGHHH..." Wemmbu frowned, before answering, "Yeah, yeah."
Spoke launched himself up and ran inside. "FINALLY!"
Flame followed Spoke inside. Parrot was about to follow them too — when he noticed Wemmbu frowning as he stared at the small patches of flowers that had been stomped on while he tried to get Spoke off, and the larger patch of crushed flowers where Spoke had been sitting previously.
Parrot didn't think much of it at the time.
The scenery changed to the warm dining room, where they laughed and talked about their day, even gossiping about a few things. But Spoke was uncharacteristically quiet. Parrot noticed; he always noticed things. Flame and Wemmbu were practically about to start a food fight against each other.
"I clearly won that spar! I just let you go, bro!" Wemmbu said with a whine.
Flame shot back, "Bro, it was clearly the opposite!"
They ate, they bickered, they laughed and joked together. Then the conversation turned to what Wemmbu and Spoke had been doing earlier out in the garden.
After a while, Spoke joked, "I'm telling ya'll — with how things are and how serious you are getting, one day one of us is gonna leave all of this behind. Bet it's Wemmbu."
Spoke said it seriously — well… Spoke wasn't exactly the serious type, so the other three laughed, thinking it was just a joke.
"DALRIGHT BRO!" Wemmbu laughed out loud — a laugh that everyone would joke about being loud enough to 'break the sound barrier.'
Flame spoke up with a massive grin that probably reached his eyes under his blindfold. "I also bet it's Wemmbu!"
Parrot smiled. "Okay, enough. Keep eating. Last one to finish is cleaning the dishes."
Everyone giggled except one. The group fully knew Wemmbu would be the last to finish. And that he would refuse to clean and come up with a hilarious amount of excuses.
"What if I just kept pushing that joke... would it have changed the outcome?"
END OF CHAPTER 1