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Wemmbu had jumped through the portal.
For reasons strange even to himself, as he wouldn't consider himself one to seek out conflict where it wasn't coming up knocking at his door. Unless in the Farlands, where he'd excused it with the need for gathering their resources, preciously kept from the rest of the server. That was trouble enough, for a little while; so he thought, as he'd been considering his next actions. He wouldn't have thought of travelling back through the End — even if what he knew of it was not any conflict at all — were it not for the fact his friend was already there — and god knows what he'd managed to get himself into while Wemmbu was out there, collecting orbital cannons.
It hadn't been that he didn't trust Egg to stay out of fights and other… problematic situations. Sure, he might have been an unfortunate hostage once or twice, or many other times, but it always ended well; as long as Wemmbu got there quickly enough, that is. So perhaps it was that he did not trust Egg to handle it on his own.
He didn't know what to expect of the current situation in the End — if it hadn't changed since the last time he'd visited, it was almost certain to be alright. However, the server was not known for its stillness; it might have just as well changed, power dynamics shifted, status quo revoluted. Were that the case, travel into the dimension was the equivalent of jumping straight into a lion's den. Maybe such was no strange thing to Wemmbu, one could think; but that didn't make him wish for it any more.
Of course, he still held onto the belief it was fine — as futile as it might have been. Yet even if, he still held his mace tight in his hand as he landed on the cold, obsidian floor; ready to strike anytime, any second, as soon as something felt off.
As his eyes got used to the deep light of the dimension, enough to make out proper shapes, he'd noticed that actually not much has changed. Granted he had a limited point of view, but the platform was just as he remembered: same mechanism, same netherite box, and a very familiar voice sounding out somewhere in the background.
"Hello?" He spoke up, the voice immediately falling silent for a brief second.
"Hello bro," his friend responded, from a distance; immediately followed by a rhythmic clicking of footsteps moving across the floor. Wemmbu recognised the sound of metal armor far too easily, even before the shadowy figure appeared in his line of sight, reaching for a button to let him out of the cage. He knew that armor — that specific armor, and how it clashed with the rought surface of endstone; even if the flooring of the room was made of a material entirely different, polished to perfection, it still brought out a vivid memory from weeks before. Instinctively, he let the mace vanish from his hand.
"Wemmbu," Minute greeted him with a nod. "It's been a while."
"MinuteTech," he mimicked, finally jumping out of the box, which was still uncomfortably claustrophobic as for a gateway. He's seen better, so he told himself. "A while indeed, yeah."
His gaze flickered past the guardian, quickly scanning the surroundings and landing on a winged silhouette, sitting on a stone bench at the opposite side of the room. Egg looked fine, for the most part — if it were to ignore the arrow still stuck in his arm — which finally allowed Wemmbu to breathe a sigh of relief.
Although Egg didn't say anything right away, he raised his eyebrow in questioning as he watched Wemmbu and Minute stand by each other without much tension. Right. Wemmbu hadn't told him about what happened the last time he'd been in the End.
"Your friend over here has just been explaining what you two have been up to these days," Minute hummed, with that peacefully calm tone which used to get on Wemmbu's nerves so badly. "Although you weren't exactly brought up by name, hence the surprise," similar to how Wemmbu had before, he turned his head towards Egg, words clearly targeted at him.
"Okay bro, saying this as if the two of us don't got opps around the entire server. Gotta take precautions and all," Egg fixed his glasses as if he'd just said something brilliant; Wemmbu snickered at the motion, trailing up a bit closer. He wouldn't have said it out loud, of course not, but he was glad to see his friend in a decent condition after… all that's happened. He'd been fine with Minute this whole time, and Wemmbu worried himself for nothing; not that he'd admit it.
"Yeah, I think all the opps already know you, bro," he snickered, leaning against a nearby stone pillar.
"He didn't," Egg pointed at Minute, who's still been standing a couple blocks away, arms crossed as his focus flicked from one to the other. "But like, I ain't gonna walk around saying "hi I'm Eggchan and I'm Wemmbu's buddy. He abandoned me here." Precautions bro, precautions."
"Okay, first, Minute's not an opp," Wemmbu glanced at the voidling, just for a brief second to check if that status hadn't changed. Judging by the unamused, albeit somewhat soft look he got from him, it was all good. "…I think," he still added, just to be safe. "Second, I really don't think this would help you even if it wasn't the case."
"Are you doubting my abilities?"
"Yeah bro, 'cause you're a brick," despite the insult, which didn't even quite count as one, Wemmbu's eyes locked onto the arrow with something like concern shining through. "Are you going to take this out?"
"That is precisely what we've been discussing right before you got here," Minute's voice sounded out in much closer proximity than before; slightly startling, but not enough for Wemmbu to flinch.
"Brother, we can wait for it to despawn," Egg argued. Wemmbu nodded as if his friend had a point. "It'll just vanish and be fine."
"It's tipped," Minute gave him a look. "I can't identify what was used on it if it does."
"I mean, we never really cared for that stuff to be honest," Wemmbu offered, albeit pretty unconvincingly, judging by the reaction. "Like, regen potions work regardless, so," he shrugged, "doesn't really matter if it's out or not. And it's less work for us."
Minute stared at him as if he'd just killed a man. Wemmbu tried to exchange a look with Egg, who hid behind his wings just to not get involved, as if he hadn't been the primary subject of the conversation. Little traitor.
"…Alright," Minute sighed, clearly unwilling to deal with their medical malpractice any longer than he already had. "That's… not it. You'll want to avoid certain potion combinations, such as health and weakness together, since they might lead to permanent scarring and the like. Besides, it's still a foreign object stuck in your arm — the quicker its taken out, the less blood you lose."
"My blood is fine, thank you very much."
And Wemmbu wouldn't have argued with that, really, considering the words were taken straight from his own excuses from whenever he'd get stabbed, but MinuteTech looked like he was not going to allow that. Unfortunately, the demon would rather stay in his good graces; especially considering the whole "guardian of an entire dimension" stuff. And maybe he was a bit concerned for his friend, after all; as much as he wouldn't admit it out loud.
Minute still hovered over the both of them, eyes narrowed as neither said another word.
"…Honestly, out of the two of you, I'd expect you to be more reasonable. We're taking it out," was the only warning he gave before grabbing the arrow as it was, and pulling it out in seconds. His other hand held Egg's shoulder down, though it probably felt less harsh than it appeared. Either way, it didn't look all that pleasant, especially when followed by a yelp of pain.
"Dude! At least warn a guy first!"
"I did."
In all of his care and compassion, Minute happened to be surprisingly cruel. Even when he handed out a piece of cloth to press against the wound as he turned to inspect the arrow closer.
"Seems like it's just weakness," he decided after a couple seconds, purposefully ignoring the golden blood dripping off the edges, "and faint traces of slowness, for some reason. Either way, it wasn't done very well. You'll be fine."
Wemmbu had to stop himself from making a comment about the Farlands people's sloppy arrow tipping work.
"Sure I'll be fine, when you ripped the damn thing out," Egg mumbled, more to himself than anything; of course, it didn't come off unheard.
"D'alright. There's never been any issues with it in the Mafia," he got in response, mentioned flatly as Minute turned to search through the nearby cabinets.
"Oh yeah, probably because it was the Mafia, bro," Wemmbu rolled his eyes as he stepped a bit closer to Egg. Just in case. The voidling seemed to ignore the comment — maybe for the better — as he returned with a roll of bandages and some other stuff.
Wemmbu really didn't want to question his methods, since he'd much preferred being on Minute's good side than standing against him, but the rough way of tending to wounds left him a little on edge. A bit confused, even, considering that was the same guy who had patiently cooperated with, right after getting jumped by him. It appeared these two things didn't exactly correlate, he supposed. Care didn't equal compassion.
While Minute wasn't exactly harsh with the bandaging, neither was he particularly considerate of additional pain caused by the whole process itself — from quick, precise stitching, to treating disinfectant like a healing potion, and basically pouring it over the skin. Wemmbu cringed at the sight, as if he'd been able to feel the pain just by staring. Somewhere during that time he stepped away from where he'd been standing earlier, a lingering feeling poking at the back of his head that he was about to be next; admittedly, he was fairly beaten up. And he really didn't feel like picking a fight about it at that point, exhaustion from the Farlands gradually catching up.
"All done," Minute hummed, at last patting Egg's shoulder and moving away. The angel looked a little traumatized (which Wemmbu couldn't blame him for), but at least he wasn't at risk of bleeding out anymore.
"Damn bro, you look like you've just got tortured," Wemmbu snickered as he sat down on the bench, right next to his friend. It was the wrong move, he knew; they weren't supposed to stay in the End for long, and he'd rather get to the main server as soon as possible; fatigue be damned, he had a title to win.
"Brother, this was basically torture," Egg ran a hand across his face, leaning back against the bench. "I'd rather be taken hostage a thousand times over than run this back."
"What, worse than a cage?"
"Between a cage and getting continuously stabbed with a needle, I'll take the cage."
Wemmbu chuckled lightly, although with little humor. They really had to get going; the title of "the strongest" wasn't going to come to him on its own, and he didn't want to overstay his welcome in the End. Having at least one ally around the server turned out quite beneficial, and he wasn't going to throw that away; besides, Minute kept scanning him with his eyes as if he'd been waiting for them to leave.
"…D'alright," Wemmbu sighed, getting ready to stand up and go. He couldn't have gotten too comfortable here. "Thanks for, uh, everything, but we'll get out of y—"
His words got rudely cut off by an enchanted apple being thrown his way, which he stumbled to catch. Guess he should have predicted that, by past experience alone.
"Stay where you are," Minute commanded him, before disappearing into the next room over. And, really, who was Wemmbu to argue? Were it any usual situation, he probably would've grabbed Egg and ran towards the portal; but he really, really didn't feel like causing trouble at the moment. It appeared as if they weren't going to get thrown out any second now (a nice feeling after the oh so pleasant approach of the Farlands people), so they might as well spare a couple minutes more, even if still wary of their surroundings.
"Damn, bro's going to get tortured too," Egg mumbled, clearly trying to conceal the grin caused by the thought he wasn't going to be the only poor, tormented soul on that day.
"Okay, I didn't get shot by any arrows, so no," he gave him a look as he handed the apple off to him. "Actually— how the hell did that even happen?"
"Dude, that's a crazy thing actually. One of my more heroic acts if I do say so myself," Wemmbu raised an eyebrow, waiting for elaboration. "Like, when we were standing by that portal, there was this guy with a bow behind a pillar. They had good pillars, not gonna lie. Great architectural work. And like, bro was aiming at you, and I had a feeling that if you got punched into the portal I'd be cooked anyway, so."
"Oh yeah, we'd both be cooked," he nodded in agreement. It was true, as bad as it made him feel.
It stung a bit, that his friend had to go to such lengths just to ensure they wouldn't have walked out of the Farlands with nothing. He should've been just a bit stronger. Just so they wouldn't have to struggle with Sharpness, with Jaden, with the Farlands residents, with anyone. If only he'd been more skilled, he would've gotten his hands on the orbitals earlier, Egg wouldn't get shot, he wouldn't have to kill these people, and they wouldn't end up all bloodied and bruised after a fight again.
"Have you told Minute about it?" He added after a second.
"About getting shot? Dude, he kinda figured that one out on his own."
"About the Farlands, you brick."
"Oh," Egg perked up as if freshly enlightened, like he'd just put the puzzle pieces together. "Uh, I've mentioned it, kinda. I mean, he asked where we've been, and it would've been rude to crash at someone's place and give no explanation for it when they want to know why. Not a word about the orbitals though, I swear on my mother, my sister, and my left lung. Also, did you figure out what the deal with that whole Forge thing was?"
"Uh, yeah, don't worry about it bro. And you should've kept your mouth shut, but... I guess it's whatever now," Wemmbu sighed, immediately straightening up with full attention grabbed once again as Minute walked back into the room. Again, with no warning whatsoever, he threw an ice pack towards the demon, who had to quickly catch it just like the apple earlier. "Dude, what the hell was that for?"
"The bruises," Minute remarked, as if it was a proper response to the question.
"Gee, thanks," Wemmbu rolled his eyes, but brought the ice up to his cheek. It did hurt, now that he got to focus on it; it must have looked pretty bad, too, considering Minute noticed it without having asked a word.
"Not these," he then mentioned, causing Wemmbu to look at him, puzzled. He tilted his head sideways as Minute pointed towards his general rib area, still covered by a half-broken chestplate. "It's for your chest. Take the armor off."
"…What?" Wemmbu frowned as his confusion was only fuelled further. "Why— Where'd you get that from, what?" He questioned, oblivious to how Minute managed to figure any of that out, when Wemmbu still had a full set of armor on. It wasn't like the observation was wrong, too — his chest hurt like hell, he was well aware. Although it always did after any prolonged fight, so he's learned not to pay it much mind.
"You walked… strangely," Minute shrugged, as it that was a totally normal connection to make. Guess Mafia influence doesn't fade all that easily. "Like your ribs are bruised, or such. Which, we'll get that checked out later."
Wemmbu turned to look at Egg for help, who had to double check if the demon was actually looking at him, before making an equally helpless expression and slowly turning away to stare at a faraway wall, ultimately providing no salvation. He'd probably been waiting for that moment anyway, since it has been looking like Wemmbu was to be the next tormented subject. What a traitor. Again.
There really wasn't much room for argument. Wemmbu took the armor off, throwing it back into his inventory for quick access (since he wasn't going to rest much longer), and lowered the ice to press it against his side, through the black, long-sleeved shirt. It wasn't much, but it worked wonders. It really did. Maybe it was that Minute did have a point, after all.
"How come he gets a bunch of ice in a bag and I'm subject to inhuman torture?" Egg complained from where he was still looking somewhere far into the room. Wemmbu didn't even bother to comment, crossing his arms over his chest and allowing himself to relax as he closed his eyes.
"You're the only one who happened to be bleeding out," Minute pointed out, flatly, but with no bite. "Speaking of which, I'd still like to know what brought the both of you here in this state. You especially," he pointed towards Wemmbu, which made the demon creek an eye open once again.
He really should have prepared some appropriate response for this question. It was obvious to come up at one point, and he couldn't exactly pull up the orbital cannons as a valid argument. He didn't want to do so, either. With Egg alone, sure, but with Minute around? No chance.
"Uh, yeah, I got like… jumped," he mumbled, subjecting to the knowledge he would not get away with a lie at that point. Not when so much has alredy been said, "in the Farlands, as you probably already know, after Egg got shot through the portal. I had to take, like, a five versus one, but, uh, you know how that goes. I won. So it's like, not a big deal," he grinned, moreso to himself than anything. Staying humble, and all. "None at all."
"…Right. The Farlands," Minute seemed unconvinced for a second, given the vague descriptions within the statement, but ultimately let the topic go. It wasn't that Wemmbu hadn't told the truth, too — all of that has absolutely happened. Just… surrounded by a little more context. Egg seemed to pick up on that as well, considering he hadn't said another word. It took a few seconds of silence before the voidling left the room again, likely just to grant them some privacy. And, well, he still had a job to do.
The bench wasn't all that comfortable — just some polished stone, covered in a cushion or two. Unfortunately, for someone who's been travelling for days, if not weeks, it felt as if a blessing from above. Wemmbu could've fallen asleep like that, were it not for the dreadful awareness of existing in someone else's space. Sure, Minute might've not been going to drive a sword through his heart while he was out, but that didn't mean he'd suddenly want to devote his entire life to the guy.
In fact, they should have been out of the dimension by that point.
Wemmbu nudged Egg, slightly, just to grab the angel's attention. He nodded towards the open space, leading towards the exit, as a clear signal to move. They've rested enough already, he decided. His friend might've not exactly shared the sentiment, though.
"Oh my days, we've just been through the horrors of the Farlands," he complained, clearly unwilling to get up yet. "Can't we chill?"
"No way," Wemmbu sat up straight, ice pack tossed away.
"Really, dude," the angel sighed, wings ruffling. "The one time we come across someone who's not trying to drop us, and you immediately want to leave."
"Yeah. You can't know when the circumstances might change," he stretched, slightly wincing at the pain as he glanced towards the exit once again. "Like, yeah we're on good terms with Minute now. Sure. You think that's gonna last if we keep bothering him?"
"Don't you love bothering people?"
"Oh, I love it. If they bother us first," Wemmbu rolled his eyes. "Besides, it's not like we stay friends with them afterwards."
"I mean, to be fair, he started this," Egg shrugged. "Like, I show up in the End, I tell him I'm fine, it's all good, I'll handle this and everything. I'm an angel, I have good regeneration. And I gotta get back to the main server to meet up with my friend whose identity I cannot reveal. And he's like no no, sit down, we gotta take that arrow out. So I say, don't you worry brother, I've done this countless times 'cause my friend is a dumbass, it's fine, trust me. He doesn't really buy it, I think, and we go back and forth like that for a while; I drop some backstory, he brings up some Mafia stuff, and then you come crashing through the portal."
"Okay bro, that's… it doesn't change my point," he pressed, foot tapping against the stone floor, and tail flicking in impatience.
It hadn't been entirely about not wanting to be a bother, he knew — he couldn't pinpoint the last time he'd been so tired, and absolutely could use a longer rest. It's the chase for adrenaline of battle that was pushing him forward; all for finding Flame somewhere in the main server, to finally grab that title away from him. It wasn't a goal he'd established at the beginning of his journey, but one he really wouldn't pass on, now that he had all the power in the world in his hands.
There was no more Zam to call him weak. No more Mane to abandon him for insubordination to his stupid orders. And soon enough Flame wouldn't get to ridicule him anymore, either.
He'd get his respect with or without Egg by his side. It didn't matter.
Wemmbu stood up from the bench, having made a quick motion of putting his armor back on, before stepping towards the stairs, which led into the open space of the main End island. He didn't care whether the angel had, or hadn't followed him anymore; that was his decision to make, and if he wanted to stay, so be it.
Minute had already been waiting for him by the gateway, so he saw. Judging by the look he'd gotten from the voidling, he could still see the slight limp assisting his steps as he walked up closer, yet made no remark on it anymore. Wemmbu noticed how he glanced somewhere towards the staircase, too, and judging by the additional sound of footsteps that were not his own, Egg had chosen to follow. Of course; there was no reality in which he wouldn't.
Wemmbu gave a slight nod towards the gateway, leaning an arm on his hip as he waited for it to be opened.
"Already off to depart? You know, I'm not quite sure if I want to allow you to go as you are," Minute finally spoke up, looking the demon up and down once again.
"D'alright, can we lock in?" He wasn't willing to waste any more time on this conversation. "No need to, like, worry about me, bro. Thanks for, uh, everything, but we gotta go." And there really wasn't much arguing with that.
And he had just seen the portal unveil in front of him, and he'd walked up to its edge, and was right about to jump through, finally, before something like a cough interrupted him. So he turned his head back, shoulders tense. Everything in this dimension really wanted to keep him within, it seemed.
"So, uh," Egg started, a sheepish look on his face, "we might have a slight problem."
"Dude, what now?" His tail flicked in annoyance, again.
"You remember, like, the room we were given in the Farlands?"
"The one with broken traps?" Wemmbu raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I guess I do."
"So, uh. Remember how I might have set my spawn there?"
For a second Wemmbu had to stop himself from banging his head against the nearest wall. Or throwing himself into the void. Or committing some other extremely violent act.
"Oh my god, are you serious right now?"
It seemed Egg had realized the idiocy which had led into this predicament, and he wasn't willing to find out how powerful Wemmbu's mace really was. He stepped a bit to the side, hiding behind Minute.
Although it hadn't been like Wemmbu was going to hurt him in any way. He would never.
"Alright, let's not act hastily," Minute sighed, looking at the angel in the corner of his eye. "You good?" Egg gave him a quick nod in confirmation.
"Dude, this is actually—" Wemmbu ran his hands over his face in frustration. "Okay. Okay, fine. Is there, uh, any mechanic that would let you go back to spawn? Or, like, I don't know. Anything that doesn't lead back 24 million blocks out?"
"Nothing that I am aware of," Minute shrugged in response, although the question wasn't exactly directed at him. It appeared Egg shared the same lack of knowledge, anyway. "In any case, you're both welcome to stay here."
There it was again. Except this time, Wemmbu seemed to be forced to accept the offer.
"Yeah, man," he muttered with exasperation. "Guess we don't have much of a choice."
One of them didn't, at least. And even though Wemmbu had already come to an acceptance of a possibility of being alone, that possibility had suddenly become far too real, contrary to his musings about the future. He'd have to get back to the main server eventually, if he were to claim his rightful title; he'd already started missing the feeling of the orbitals in his hand.
It was then that he realized Minute had been saying something all this time, and he wasn't really listening; only until his name was called out, it seemed.
"Oh, uh," he started, entirely clueless to what was being asked of him. "It's… You know, actually, I still have to get back there," the tone of his voice lacked a certain spark of confidence, he could hear, but there was no other way to go about it. "So, uh. Guess Egg can just… stay for a while? I'm not really seeing a different option here."
Minute nodded without a word.
"Damn, are you just going to leave me here like that? In a prison of my own making," the angel joked, albeit it didn't come off as particularly humorous.
"I mean, didn't you want to stay anyway?" Wemmbu tilted his head, arms crossed over his chest. Yeah, a longer rest in the End would be great for his friend. Unfortunately, he himself had to get moving.
"Well, yeah, but," he hesitated, wings drooping slightly, "not without you, man."
And Wemmbu felt bad for what he was about to do, he really did, but there was no other way of going about it.
"Yeah, well," he shrugged the guilt off, as if it held no value, "have fun with that."
The air went quiet for a while. No response, no mildly insulting comment, no word of hurry. Egg looked at Wemmbu, whose stare was drilling into the ground. Minute glanced between the both of them.
Eventually, it was Wemmbu to speak up first, as he took a step closer and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. It was the guilt taking control, again; had it not been for him, Egg wouldn't have been caught in this mess.
"Look, I'll get you out of here soon. Even if it takes walking to the Farlands and back on foot by myself, I'll do it," his gaze was steady, for once. Hopeful. "I promise."
And then he turned away, not even waiting for a response.
"Stay safe, Wemmbu."
Wemmbu jumped into the portal, alone once again. There he went, off to pursue an ultimately pointless conflict.