Chapter Text
The Observer
It was supposed to be a bright day. No one seemed to fight, or kill one another. It was one of the very rare peaceful day on the Unstable SMP.
A day so peaceful no one could have predicted the tragedy that came with it..
Unfortunately, a certain player wasn't so lucky. But we'll worry about that later.
Today was such a beautiful day. A warm sun, a clear sky, no traces of violence. No one even fought that day. Or am I wrong? Around this period, rumors started going around. What rumors you may ask? People claim to have seen Manepear around, after years of disappearance, he seemed to have come back.
Even with these rumors, only one of the four protagonists heard about it. Only one paid attention enough to
The Present, 7:25 AM
Flamefrags
Today, flame felt calm, but also.. relaxed. That happened, once in a while. Flame would relax and let his guard down. Today he was planning to just restock his shulker boxes as well as his inventory. He was currently preparing for the long journey ahead of him. He had about 2 days of travel to get where he wanted, where his next trainer would be. He had already been trained by Swight a few days ago, since then he had been preparing for this long trip.
“Bro maybe I could get Ashen if I finish this fast enough before I leave” The man muttered to himself, he may be alone most of the time but he did find some comfort in speaking to himself. Mostly expressing his thoughts out loud, it was something he picked up young. A habit, the kid version of him used to do when he was alone, when his childhood house was too quiet when Mane had to go buy food and supplies for the week.
...
“Ashen isn’t alive anymore Flame. You know it.” An unfamiliar voice announced. It was low, barely audible if we’re being honest. It didn’t escape Flame’s sharp hearing, his tiger ears turned to the sound before his brain registered what happened.
In a sudden movement Flame turned around, he looked around, searching for someone. Because he definitely didn't say that, he knew he didn't. He would never say or genuinely think Ashen was dead. He had hidden Ashen in a hole until the blaze-tiger hybrid had a base safe enough that Ashen could live his dog life happily and peacefully.
After Flame made sure no one was in his base, he whispered a quiet reassurance meant for himself. One, that would put his mind at peace. “It's the voice again Flame, no one's here bro. No one. Not the Law, not Wemmbu, not even Lomedy.” In those moments, he would remember how much these voices used to affect him. At the time, he always had someone to rely on, someone who could help him ground him, someone who made sure to reassure Flame it was only voices. Luckily for him, the voices had been quiet recently. In moments where it would be swarming his head, completely overwhelming him, the voices where dead silent. The hybrid took that as a bad thing. The voices never shut up unless something bad will happen.
Flame's tiger tail flickered slightly, a calm and satisfied gesture after going back to restock and organizing. He was efficient and fast in his actions. He liked how fast this was going. The pace reminded him of a certain lion.
What he didn't like was the fact he really felt at peace today. It felt too odd. Too.. normal and he didn't like it one bit, after all.. he hasn't felt peace since
⍑ᒷ ∴ᔑᓭ ᔑ ꖎ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ꖎᒷ ꖌ╎↸ ∴⍑ᒷリ ᒲᔑリ ᒷ!¡ᒷᔑ∷ ℸ ̣𝙹𝙹ꖌ ᓵᔑ∷ᒷ 𝙹⎓ ⍑╎ᒲ1
Sometimes he wished things would have went differently. That things would go back to when he was still living in their house. He often wished to get the feeling of his older brother patting his head again. The tiger hated that he still expected head pats when he did something good or when he would accomplish mission successfully.
...
He stopped what he was doing as his mind went back to the day it all went wrong. But he quickly shook his head, not wanting to think about that any longer. He could think about these later. It will be future Flame’s problem. He didn’t want to remember these memories because after all, he was going to seek help from his older brother. Not by blood. But still brother nonetheless.
The blaze-tiger hybrid wanted to get trained by the same person who raised him, the same lion who taught him how to speak properly, the same hybrid who taught him how to fight. It was the same lion hybrid who raised and taught him everything he knew. From his morals to his skills to his love for combat.
That’s why he needed Mane’s help. For his love for combat but also to free his only friend, Lomedy. His friend had surrendered to the Law because Flame couldn’t beat the Law’s army in a fight. So Flame had to get stronger if he wanted to free Lomedy and defeat the Law once and for all.
He was currently in his base, temporarily of course. He couldn’t stay here too long or the Law would come try to kill him again. After all, he was being hunted by the Law. Luckily for him, he had just finished restocking. He quickly got back on his horse and made his way to seek his older brother’s hide-out, he didn’t know exactly where his hide-out were but that would be a problem for future him.
With that, he made his way to get more information and determine where his brother figure he hadn’t seen in years was hiding.
The Present
2 days later, 6:30 PM
Manepear
“Sunset answer me! Please! Come on Sunset... You're not supposed to leave before me." He paused as he noticed his little brother’s fight against the urge to close his eyes. Mane knew it wasn’t the right moment but he still felt a wave of proudness to see the tiger still fighting even when he’s in this.. atrocious. Yes, atrocious state.
“Sunset. Stay with me, your time hasn’t come. You need to tell me how you managed to get in this situation. You need to tell me who did this to you.” Manepear observed his little brother’s reaction. He swore he even saw a little nod coming from the man in his arms, a small gesture that meant Flame will tell him everything once he was okay.
Mane instinctively tightened his grip around Flame, he gently scooped up the blaze-tiger hybrid and got up. He knew he needed to be careful and fast. He started running as fast as he can back to his base until he stopped half-way there. He felt Flame’s body getting colder by the minute, the lion would never admit he could feel his eyes starting to sting. He was tearing up under his blindfold, the lion was tearing up because he knew he was slowly loosing his ᓵ⚍ʖ2
… No, he couldn’t call him that anymore. His little sunset was a big boy now… At least that’s what he was trying to convince himself. Deep down, he knew he still saw Flame as a kid, even after all these years, even after their fight, even when he wasn’t on good terms with him. In any circumstances, he still saw Flamefrags as the little kid he raised wether they were on good terms or trying to kill each other.
"Flame.."
He whispered the other's name softly like it might do something and yet.. all it did was bring back deep memories. Memories Mane couldn't stop thinking in this moment. Memories which were engraved in his heart. Memories he would remember even after a memory loss.
The memories of when he had found a child in the nether and decided to take the kid with him.