Chapter Text
“Uh, Twixxel?”
Mob’s voice echoed through the cave alongside their careful footsteps against the cold deepslate floor. He held the torch tight in his hand as Twixxel was in front of him, leading the way. Just prior, Twixxel had pulled Mob aside to “go mining” with him and leave Verity behind in the base for a while. Verity seemed to allow this… for once.
Or did he? Mob knew how that thing acted. He could tell through its facade that it wasn’t happy about the company he brought along. Whenever they were alone, Verity would constantly try to pry into Mob’s friendship with Twixxel with more-or-less invasive questions that Mob would never answer with full honesty or he’d flat-out ignore the AI.
Twixxel’s tail swished in a motion Mob had never seen it do before as he turned around to face Mob. He always knew how to tell Twixxel’s emotions purely based on what his tail was doing, but this time he had no idea because he couldn’t tell what kind of emotion Twixxel was feeling. It curled up what seemed to be in fear but, at the same time, it was swaying from left to right.
“Hm?”
“What did you really want to tell me? You never ask me to come mining with you.”
That was true. Twixxel was more of a lone wolf, especially within this world. He was never seen with Mob unless he wanted to try and talk to him about the findings he got on Verity. They never got to have a proper conversation about it as Verity would always find a way to try and interrupt them. Mob (and Twixxel, eventually) knew that Verity could hear them every single time but he hadn't done anything about it.
That’s what confused Mob. Verity had been so hellbent on trying to get Mob alone with him recently, and yet he hasn’t made any effort to get rid of Twixxel. Not like Mob would let him do that. Was he trying to find the right moment? Where Mob wouldn’t be able to do anything about Twixxel? …Well, now that just scared him to think about.
Twixxel held his iron pickaxe tightly in his hand as he stopped in his tracks completely, catching Mob off-guard and almost made him trip on his own feet. For an Enderman hybrid, Mob’s senses weren’t very heightened.
“Mob–”
Twixxel’s voice sounded… uncertain. Like he was scared of telling him something. Twixxel had never been scared to say anything. He always made his opinions quite apparent, being the loudest one in the room whenever possible. His bottom lip quivered, managing to look away so Mob didn’t see it.
“...Forget it, really.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, let's just keep going forward.”
Mob dropped the torch on the ground and grabbed onto Twixxel’s arm, which made the Voidling’s eyes widen with shock.
“Seriously, dude, what’s your problem?” Mob glared at Twixxel. He wasn’t willing to take any more shit from this guy. “You brought me down here for a reason. If you didn’t, fine, we can keep going but I know you want to tell me something!”
Twixxel pulled his arm away with enough force that it managed to escape Mob’s grip. He bit down on his tongue as he placed the iron pickaxe somewhere on a stable enough surface. Mob bent down to pick the torch back up so that it illuminated him and Twixxel again. This was really the first time the both of them were truly alone in this world without an AI towering over them. Without anything trying to tear their friendship apart like it was nothing.
His bottom lip was quivering again. He was trying to find the right words to tell Mob. Twixxel had everything laid out in his mind when he came down into this mine with him, but now he doesn’t even know where to start. His mind was a puzzle piece and he clearly had no time to piece it all together.
“There were people before you, Mob.”
“Yeah, I know that, you told me.”
“But I didn’t tell you the truth.” Twixxel looked around. Like he was trying to make sure nobody was watching… or listening, if they wanted to use the correct term in this scenario. “Like, have you never questioned it? You got that thing from a person you had never met before in your entire life here. Why would you–”
Footsteps started to echo throughout the cave. Mob immediately jumped into action, grabbing the iron pickaxe that was trying to rest itself on the cold surface, handing the torch to Twixxel. They had no time. What if that was him? Mob wouldn’t be entirely surprised that Verity decided to follow them deep within this cave. He always wanted to know where they were… or, well, where Mob was at all times.
Mob led them both down a small, narrow corridor and started to place any piece of rubble he could to block the path. Twixxel’s hearing may be beyond what Mob’s hearing may be, but he heard nothing when he started talking. Did his voice drown the sounds out like it always does? He wasn’t too sure about it but they knew for certain something else other than them was down in this cave.
There were no mobs. None. Ever since Mob came here, mobs have been a rare occurrence. They pop up every once and a while whenever they feel like it but it’s like Verity was trying to be the only thing that can truly hurt Mob in this place. Or anyone else that was unfortunate enough to join Mob in this journey.
The footsteps were growing closer to where they had decided to hide. Mob tried to push them both deeper into the area they cramped themselves into, trying to quietly pick away at the deepslate on the wall. Twixxel had his mouth completely covered while Mob was biting down on his lip. They couldn’t be heard. Any breath, any quick movement, and it’ll make their position more apparent than it already is. Twixxel looked at Mob, who was sweating to try and get a big piece of deepslate out of the wall. He shook his head as a command for him to stop trying.
After a while, the footsteps had begun to fade away deeper into the cave. They both stood there with uncertainty as Twixxel lowered his hands away from his mouth. Maybe it was just a zombie that managed to spawn from a dungeon, maybe? Mob sighed out in relief as he slouched down against the wall, bringing his knees up to his chest. Why did Twixxel think the cave, out of all places, was a safe idea?
And what did he mean? He has been questioning the day he found Verity inside of a box outside his base. There was no return address on the box. The first few days he had Verity before the first incident, he had been constantly trying to ask him who mailed him. Verity had never once given him a clear answer.
Mob placed the box on-top of the crafting table, inspecting it as he left Verity sat on the floor. The only address on the box was his. Who the hell could have sent it to him and how the hell does he send it back? Verity had started to creep him out, so he wanted to at least find a return address just in case things got… too hectic.
“Whatcha doin’, Mob?”
Verity’s voice called out from behind him. Mob’s head whipped to look at the yellow ball on the floor, smiling eerily at him. God, he hated that smile. Sure, maybe Verity was just genuinely happy to be there, but something about that smile put him off entirely.
“Just trying to find who sent you. Do you know who had you before me?”
“Hm?”
“...Do you know who had you before me?”
“I didn’t quite catch that.”
Mob sighed out of frustration. “Just, forget it.” He’d push the box away as he turned to look at Verity. “Can you tell me where the nearest village is? I need to do some trades.”
“There was a company.” Twixxel blurted out randomly. “Like, a company that created Verity, of course. He’s trademarked. I’ve been trying to find something about them but there’s no leads.”
They both had been sitting in silence for quite a while. Mob was more worried about making Verity angry about them leaving him for too long. He’d look up at Twixxel, who got up to pace around when he talked. His tail swishing side to side like always, messing with his hands and looking like he was about to hurl from the anxiety crawling around in his stomach.
“What? No leads? At all?”
“Yeah. I think Verity was their only model they made before they, uh, I guess disappeared from the world entirely.”
“What, you’re telling me they made an AI model that wants to kill me the moment it gets a chance to?” Mob scoffed a little. Sure, it’s believable, but seriously? There’s no way in hell that this is something an actual company had the idea of doing. “Twix, it sounds…”
“Crazy. I know.” Twixxel stopped walking around, looking around again. Something in the air shifted again. Like something wasn’t welcoming them anymore in that cave. “...We should go. We can talk about this more in the morning.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Mob got up from the deepslate floor and grabbed the iron pickaxe he put on the floor. It was really time to face that AI again, huh? It was something he was dreading entirely. He could feel himself slowly walking alongside Twixxel, who seemed to be doing the same thing he was doing. Walking as slow as they could so they could prolong the inevitable. Or maybe Twixxel was just thinking about the things he brought up.
Either way, this wasn’t going to go the way they both wanted it to.