Chapter Text
“Wemmbu just give me the mace, I can explain everything later, but I need to go NOW!” Mane gruffed out, impatience’s seeping into his words. “What? No, you can explain now. Bro, like I’ll help you with whatever it is.” Wemmbu stated bluntly, perplexed by Mane’s urgency. “Bro, like no, like I can’t explain it. What I need though is for you to give me the mace.” Mane pressed on. “Bro what is it you can’t explain. Like-” Wemmbu was cut off by Eggs voice. “Wemmbu somethings off. I don’t know what, but somethings wro-” Before he could finish that sentence Egg was gone. All that remained were the particles of an ender pearl and two men standing in silence.
Though that silence didn’t last long as Mane took it as an opportunity to speak up. “SEE! Wemmbu this is why I NEED the mace. You don’t understand what’s happening right now or what’s at stake. Just listen to me bro!” Mane’s hand reached out expectantly, waiting for Wemmbu to hand him the mace.
Wemmbu remained frozen, the cogs in his head starting to spin. There was only one person who had Eggs pearl, or one group. But they hadn’t pulled his pearl earlier, how would they know now? Mane wasn’t shocked. Like he knew. He knew this was going to happen. He had told them, told them that Egg had escaped and now he was trying to steal his mace.
Wemmbu finally gazed up looking Mane directly in the eyes, or where he assumed his eyes were. He used to think the blindfold was cool. A display of strength and the lack of need to fully see. But now seeing the scowl on Mane’s face all he could think of was how much of a coward he was. He had sold him and Egg out yet didn’t have the guts to look him in the eyes.
He started to back away from the lions outstretched hand. “No, I get it. I understand what you did. You sold us out!” The last part came out louder than he meant to but effective none the less. Mane seemed almost wounded to hear him yell at the older fellow with so much hurt and venom in his voice. Though whatever emotion that he had felt had washed over just as quickly as it came. The lion started his approach to the boy, like a predator readying to pounce if its prey tried to run. Wemmbu felt the life drain from his face. This was no longer his mentor, the man who taught him almost everything he knew in pvp, the friend who he shared countless laughs with. The man who patched him up after every mafia raid where he bit off more than he could chew and then got scolded for letting his ego get ahead of him in battle. The man who made resting in one place feel safe and not like a fly stuck in a web, waiting to be eaten. No, gone was the man he once knew. Now stood an adversary ready to fight and claw at the student he once taught; maybe even kill, just for a mace. Though Wemmbu didn’t want to dwell on the thought. Right now he needed to find Egg.
Wemmbu pulled out his communicator telling Egg to send him his coords, while distracted the lion had appeared next to him not seeming to let Wemmbu go so soon and started up his campaign again. “Wemmbu no you don’t get it. I’ve got everything covered, just give me the mace and everything will be ok.” It was meant to come out soft, gentle, like a parent comforting their child who was crying over skimming their knee, but it just sounded patronizing. How dare he; how dare he use that soft voice like he hadn’t just destroyed all the trust and faith he had in his mentor. How dare he act like he hadn’t betrayed them and was now acting like it was take could be fixed.
That’s when Wemmbu made a decision, if Mane couldn’t be trusted then there was only one person he could trust in that moment, himself. Just in time as the seraphim responded and sent him his coords. As the dragon hybrid got ready to take off Manepear took notice. In an instant Wemmbu was tackled to the ground. A blur of orange and yellow flashing before his eyes before his head is making contact with the hard wood floors by the railing. His backing arching in reaction to the sudden pain, eyes squinting as he looks up at his attacker who was on him. A mix of anger and frustration on the face of the lion hybrid “Bro just listen to me! I need the mace so I can save Egg!”
At this point he was gripping Wemmbu wrist with a bruising strength, as though he wouldn’t let go till he had that mace in his hand. Pain warped the dragons face, that seemed to break Mane’s focus, and Wemmbu being Wemmbu would never let an opportunity go to waste and shoved the overgrown lion off him and popped up to his feet. With what little balance he had left Wemmbu threw himself over the railings. Wind rushed past him as he spread his wings out, reading himself to fly. Above Manepear rushed to look over the railing to see if the student had fallen to his demise; only to see said student soaring back up to gain altitude.
In that moment unadulterated anger coursed through Mane. Seriously, how does this kid not get it? He had a plan and he just ruined it. Then he had yelled though words “you’re a lost cause”. And to get his point across he sent the dragon a message and a sign as well. If he didn’t want to follow Mane’s plan and go after the seraphim by himself then so be it. He didn’t want a student who couldn’t listen. If he died that was no one’s fault but his own and Mane wouldn’t be blamed for it.
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As Wemmbu flew off he had heard his mentors’ words and saw the message. Tears began to well in the boys’ eyes, big fat globs waiting to drop, but he didn’t let them. He could fix this later when he had Egg back. Bringing his friend back on his own and proving he could handle himself and affirming he wasn’t a lost cause. Then he would hear the lion out, hope he had an explanation for all of this, and even if he didn’t Wemmbu wasn’t so sure if he’d still reject his mentor. The man had cared for him and had helped take down Prince Zam when he was at his lowest, that wasn’t something the dragon could quite forget.
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As he made his way to Eggs coords Wemmbu took note of the obsidian box that stood out in the wide open. The next thing he cataloged was the invisible player in full netherite and a blue eye trim. Just his luck, a diamond trim, but he was alone. If Wemmbu played this right, he could win this plus he could get an extra mace. What would he do with an extra mace? Probably give it to Mane since he had been so adamant on taking his earlier, plus it could also be his apology gift to the lion hybrid. Just as he started to plan out his return to the tree house the invisible player placed down a sign.
“Drop the mace if you want Eggchan back” Pfff- like hell he’d do that. He could literally just kill the dude and give up nothing and that was what he was going to do.
With that Wemmbu equipped his elytra and soared up into the sky, then plunging down into a nosedive aimed at his target. At the last minute he equipped his chest plate before landing his strike with the mace. In a split second the diamond trim pulled out a totem, causing a scatter of yellow and green particles in the air. The sudden reveal got both players to stop fighting. What was left in its wake was a nametag of a certain player, Flamefrags.
Now that had caught Wemmbu off guard, he hadn’t seen the man since the days that he was a guard for Prince Zam. Nor had he expected to see him again so soon. The next thing that captured his attention was the fact that Flame had not yet been teleported away. It made no sense, he was no longer invisible, that was the one rule of the mafia.
“Flame. How are you still here?” Wemmbu breathed out. “I mean you’re no longer invis.” Confusion tinged in his voice. “Rules are different for diamond trims. They need us so Ash doesn’t really care as long as we get the job done.” Flame stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “But on the same note, Ima need that mace bro.” The tiger hybrid spoke those words so causally, like he expected Wemmbu to agree immediately. Wemmbu readied himself for a fight, reequipping his elytra to take flight. Flame took notice and though he was a little baffled that Wemmbu thought he could take him, he too prepared for the battle about to take place.
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They had been fighting for nearly an hour at this point, neither seeming ready to stop. But Flame was getting tried of this constat back and forth, every time he came close to killing Wemmbu he would either fly away or pearl out. Plus, to put it frankly, he was running low on resources. That was when he remembered he still had a certain egg in a cage.
Instantly Flame pearled over to the obsidian box that held Egg. Wemmbu observed this and seemed to catch on immediately. “Wemmbu drop me the mace or I kill Egg.” A level of harshness was injected into his voice, making it clear he wasn’t asking. This was an ultimatum.
Wemmbu took in the scene, “bro like no. Why do you even want the mace.” Though the words did not come out as confident as he wanted them to be. In that moment Egg spoke up, “Yo Wemmbu, I think he’s being serious.”
With that Flame took it as an opportunity to take a swing of his sword at the seraphim. “Wemmbu keep playing games and not only will you be mace-less, you’ll also be eggless.”
At this point Egg was grasping his arm where Flames blade connected earlier. “Wemmbu I’m only on two hearts.” Egg mumbled out, wincing at the pain while speaking.
Wemmbu took in the situation and contemplated his options. The next thing that could be heard was a heavy thud on the ground. Wemmbu had dropped gambit at Flames feet. “Here, now let Egg out.”
Flame had almost looked shocked, expecting to be met with more resistance, not like he’s complaining though. With that he picked up the mace from the ground and turned to look back at the caged seraphim. He lifted up his sword one more time and swung.
Wemmbu had watched Flame raise his sword. He had seen the man prepare to strike. Yet all he could do was stand there. He had hoped last minute Flame would pull out a pickaxe and mine out Egg, a naive hope truly. Part of him didn’t believe it, Flame the player who built his whole reputation on being honorable and keeping true to his word had just delt a final blow to his friend. It made no sense and still he did it.
Next thing he knew he was sprinting over to the fallen angel and pulling out his pickaxe. Flame had sidestepped to let him through. The tiger hybrid splashed an invis pot before taking off, saying something that Wemmbu couldn’t process at the time. How could he focus on anything else beside Egg right now. He broke the obsidian in front of him and quickly kneeled down to Egg.
Blood was gushing out of his lower abdomen. Wemmbu put his hands over the wound trying to slow the bleeding. Tears falling out in big fat globs burning his eyes. Seeing Egg, his Egg in so much pain hurt like nothing before, he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
“This is all my fault” Egg croaked out. That got Wemmbu to snap his attention away from the wound and look at the seraphim. “What, Egg why are you talking about?”
“If I hadn’t gotten caught we wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t have lost the mace. I’m just a burden to you” Egg whined out, tears brimming his eyes, his face paling by the second.
“No this isn’t you fault. I should have protected you. If I was stronger you wouldn’t be bleeding out. If I was stronger they wouldn’t have dared to try and hurt you. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. They only went after you because of me. If you weren’t friends with me they would never have hurt you. You could have been peacefully fishing, but because of me now you’re dying. I’m so sorry, I’m sorry” The dragon hybrids voice had gotten choked up at this point , hiccupping from the tears that were now freely falling. Hands still on his lower abdomen, blood seeping into his sleeves. He could feel his friend dying, his pulse slowing down, less blood coming out, the way the angel struggled even more to take a breath each time. The warmth of the angels body cooling.
Oh, how he used to love that warmth. Back when they had nothing during Zam’s reign and they would huddle up together to keep warm. But now he could slowly feel that warmth slipping away from him. How he desperately wished to reach out and grasp it, just to keep that warmth for a few more moments.
“Don’t say that, you’re the reason why I join the server Wemmbu. Without you I would have never joined and I would have been bored out of my mind. You made this server worth playing. You made my life colorful.” Those words were rasped out, pain etching his face with every breath he takes.
“Egg without you what am I going to do. It’s so hard to have fun when it’s not with you. And even when I do it’s not the same. It’s not you.” Now Wemmbu couldn’t tear his eyes away from his dying companions face.
The seraphim looked up at the weeping dragon, he looked as though he wanted to say more but was too weak to. With one final breath the angel brought his eyes to close, leaving only one final ping in chat.
[Eggchan was slain by FlameFrags]
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This can’t be real. Wemmbu refused. Please just let this one big, horrible dream and when Wemmbu woke up Egg would be right there by his desk reading a book like he aways did. And when Wemmbu asked what he was reading it would be the most obscure piece of literature know to man, Wemmbu would laugh at his winged friends’ weird hobbies and the angel would laugh back.
Wemmbu felt sick. Like he was going to throw up. His hands were covered in blood; warm, sticky and wet, but the body in front of him was cold. The body in front of him would never laugh again. Would never get to finishing the book he claimed was a page turner. Would never get to go fishing again. Would never smile at him again.
This was all wrong, Egg was just a bystander; he shouldn’t have gotten hurt, but he did. Because of Wemmbu his favorite angel had gotten dragged into this mess. There was no one else to blame but him.
Maybe Mane was right. He deserved to be abandoned. He couldn’t even protect his friend; he really was a lost cause.
Wemmbu stayed there holding the seraphim’s corpse long after it grew cold. Then he got started on the grave. Egg deserved to be buried in a nice place.
The dragon had dug out a large hole and gently placed the angel into the plot. He began to slowly fill the hole watching as the ground consumed his best friend. On the surface of the grave were flowers and a tombstone, the message read:
In loving memory of Eggchan, a pure soul taken too soon.
An angel, a scholar, and the greatest friend one could ask for.
May you rest in peace now.
With that Wemmbu got up and took one final glance at the grave. At the last time he’ll ever see his best friend. “May he know peace in the Aether, peace of which he could never find here because of me” And with that Wemmbu took flight.