Work Text:
Memory is a truly interesting thing. Memory is what makes a person, what defines them. Dictative of every choice made. Pushing us to try harder yet also causing us to step back. Right a wrong from the past or stop repeating embarrassing actions. Memores acti prudentes futuri.
They’re the thing that dreams are truly made of. Dreams and nightmares both. Not whatever childish bullshit the world is fed. Mixing truth and lies in a pot, condensing the two together into an amalgamation of hate and hope.
It is also flawed. Morally ambiguous. Truth is stirred with lies, condensing the two together into an amalgamation of hate and hope. Twisting good into bad and bad into good. It can’t be trusted and yet it’s the only thing we can trust. Perception warped around it.
Memory is at fault for forgetfulness. Letting things one may deem important slip through loose fingers. Dripping into an ocean, never to be claimed again. One day they might wash back to shore. Or perhaps, they will never be seen again.
Again, a positive yet negative impact.
A slate wiped clean. Mistakes erased. Forgiven and forgotten.
Forgotten nonetheless.
…
The source of the red mist that seems to encapsulate his room remains unknown. Murmurs sound through the walls, yet never enough to be distinguishable. Books line the shelves. A massive bed sits along one of the walls. A spout of water flows from the roof and into the floor below.
Egg has no idea how long he’s been here. He’s lost count of the days. The only indication of time that he had was when he was getting food. It was only ever a steak or two but Egg wasn’t about to be someone critiquing his captors on the quality of his food. They were in the middle of a server wide famine.
His main problem was that he was bored. So incredibly bored. With nothing more than a multitude of empty books and a pen. The stupid guards wouldn’t talk to him whenever he even, so much as attempted to start a conversation. The only person who had spoken to him this entire time was Yungy, and all he did was gloat about how they’d captured Wemmbu because of him.
There were only so many texts he could transcribe from memory.
Despite how annoying Yungy was, he fed Egg information, unintentionally, through his bragging. Egg was relieved to learn that Wemmbu wasn’t entirely alone without him. It seems that Jaden had managed to get himself captured too. Not that he was happy that the pirate was stuck in this hellhole with them, it just meant that someone else was there to keep the voidling stable.
It was nice to see Wemmbu branch out to more people. He’d become less and less accepting to trust others after Rejoice died. It was a miracle that he’s ever let his guard down around Minutech. Jaden was the last person that Egg ever thought Wemmbu would open up to. Even Egg had had suspicions about the man at first. How could they be so sure that this wasn’t just another tactic to hurt them again?
But then Egg saw the sunflower that Jaden had pinned to his prized pirate hat. When he had looked between Wemmbu and Jaden, he saw Rejoice. The spirit’s lips in a tranquil smile. His mouth moved to form silent words. Ones that only the angel could interpret.
“Forgive and forget.”
After that, Egg had seen the way Jaden had changed. An air of guilt lingered around him instead of the indifference that covered him when in the farlands. He’d also taken the time to apologise to Wemmbu and Eggchan both for the loss of their friend. Saying that he’d have apologised to Lopezz too if she didn’t keep trying to apprehend him for the Law.
So Egg could only hope. Hope that Jaden was enough to keep Wemmbu grounded.
That’s all he could really do on this server. Hope to live in peace, get attacked. Hope not to get captured, get captured. Hope for Wemmbu to save him, Wemmbu saves him.
In Yungy’s last visit, he’d told Egg about the plan to attack Merchant City. Wemmbu and Jaden both were being brought out on the expedition. They were quickly moving up in the ranks of the kingdom’s hierarchy. Almost too fast. Something about it put Egg on edge. Thinking about it, they weren’t exactly being given the usual hostage treatment. If this was how they treated hostages, then they had a lot of resources that they could just throw around.
Sighing, he stretches his arms above his head. He feels a few parts of his back click back into place. It’s been a while since Yungy had come by. By what remains of his mental clock, he’s guessing…
Yup. The sound of footsteps accompanied by a distinctly Australian accent approach the door.
Except this time, something was different. There was more than one pair of footsteps. Two this time. Whoever it was, they were light on their feet. Quiet steps contrasted from Yungy’s heavyfooted ones.
Yungy was currently having an incredibly once sided conversation with the person he was with. So much so that Egg might even consider it impressive. Yungy spoke in a passive aggressive tone, either from the fact that the other refused to respond or because of a general dislike of them. So that rules out his mystery visitor being Arachnid himself.
Going through a mental list in his head, the last person he can land on is Wemmbu. That’s odd. There was no chance that they were actually letting the voidling visit him. What would that achieve? But there was no one else that it could be. There was Jaden, but the pirate’s boots made too much of a racket for him to be mistaken for anyone else.
All Egg could do was wait for his two visitors to finally reach his chambers. Which is what it was. This wasn’t a cell. The beds were too plush and entertainment too tailored to him.
Soon enough, the spider hybrid opens the door. He looks like shit, for lack of a better word. Firstly, the man has a black eye. There’s an untreated gash above one of his eyebrows and there’s a dark, sunken look to his eyes in general. Bruises cover parts of his arms and he truly just looks terrible.
“What happened to you bro?” Egg asks. Not out of concern, simply curiosity.
The man shrugs.
“Got demoted.” Is all he says.
Demoted? As far as Egg knows, Yungy was Arachnid’s second in command. The other spider hybrid wore the title like a badge of honour.
“Tough luck man. Who took your spot?” He probes.
There’s no response and for a second Egg believes that Yungy has actually gone deaf. Then he takes a few more steps into the room. There’s a figure behind him. They wear a veil, embroidered with a web-like pattern obscuring their face. While the veil may hide them, he can instantly tell who it is.
The horns and stance are a dead giveaway. The veil’s not a new thing either, only the pattern is.
Wemmbu is standing in front of him right now.
All of them fall into a sudden silence. Egg looks the voidling up and down. He’s slimmer, but everyone on the server is slimmer. Famine things. He’s wearing amethyst trimmed netherite and the shield that he holds is decorated with the same pattern that he sees on Yungy’s. Given the way Yungy and all the guards in the rooms bow their heads ever so slightly to Wemmbu… Wemmbu’s second in command of a kingdom he only recently joined. Even if he doesn’t know the exact amount of days he’s been here, it can’t have been that long.
Why would Arachnid promote someone he knows isn’t entirely loyal and throw Yungy to the side?
Egg’s about to say something. He’s never known Wemmbu to be the quiet type. Something stupid or maybe a question. Just something to get a conversation going. It didn’t have to be some big important mystery. Just something to lift the grossly heavy air.
But it’s Wemmbu who breaks the silence first.
“Why does Arachnid want me to meet some random prisoner?”
What?
Random?
Egg?
Egg is a random prisoner to Wemmbu?
No. No, no. That’s not right.
Wemmbu was the one who invited Egg to play on this godforsaken server. There’s no way he’s just become a random to the voidling.
They were a package. If Wemmbu was there Egg was never far and vice versa.
But what little of Wemmbu’s face that Egg can see through the veil is impassive. Blank.
Unrecognising.
Glancing at Yungy reveals nothing of help. The most he gets is when Yungy’s eyes flicker to meet him with something akin to guilt.
“Wemmbu, bro. Pretending that you don’t know me isn’t going to help with anything-”
Wemmbu tilts his head slightly. The veil shifts every so slights. Shifts just enough to see the white of bandages peaking through. Bandages wrapped around his head.
“Who’s ‘Wemmbu’?” He airquotes his own name.
“My name is Arachne.”