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They’d win. They’d succeed. Those were words promised by Stormz, by Dumb, himself, time and time again without them ever being directly spoken. When the first people were infected, Stormz had stood confidently and fearsome above all others. Untouchable. When Dumb decided to fully dedicate himself to the cause, he had told himself that he wouldn’t fail—wouldn’t fail the aliens, wouldn’t fail Stormz.
Now, Dumb was standing stupidly while holding in one hand his sword and in the other, nothing, as it stayed reaching out in the air for someone whose attention was focused elsewhere. They’d lost the battle—every single last alien invader that was summoned to their help just gone, dead. The ground was littered with gear from those that had dropped and rain pounded down on them. Despite all that, on Stormz’s face was a complete lack of defeat. If Dumb had to choose a word to describe Stormz right now, it would be fiery. Their complete, total loss to the rest of the server simply brought a look of anticipation and triumph upon his best friend’s face.
Dumb opened his mouth and closed it again without a sound slipping out. Stormz was too busy talking to Dolphin to even spare him a glance. They were all battered and beaten down yet despite the cracked armor, missing helmet, and bloodshed dripping, Stormz looked more alive than ever.
So Dumb just continued standing there foolishly and looking forward while unsure of what he was even looking at. He stood there like he wasn’t there: invisible to the best friend he followed so diligently and invisible to the enemy he once considered his closest teammate. Why was he even still there? He could have left long ago; he could have equipped his elytra and flown away. Something deep down kept him rooted on the spot. Maybe it was the possibility that Stormz was simply putting on a show for Dolphin and was already planning out an escape. Maybe it was the thoughts that Dumb’s eyes and ears had to be lying to him.
Maybe Dumb just didn’t want to stop believing.
Slowly, his hands lowered to his sides. The sword in his hand felt like nothing more than a decorative prop while the one that was previously reaching out felt emptier than ever. Stormz and Dolphin talked calmly and causally about their ideologies but few words reached Dumb’s ears. Did he even want to listen? Words about giving up, cutting ties, being tyrants, and understanding were tossed around, but for Dumb, the world seemed to press inwards and the air suddenly felt like not enough to breathe.
Then, there was the sound of broken, shattered glass smashing against the ground.
Dumb snapped back to focus. Right in front of him, Dolphin had her hand out like she just threw something. It only took a quick glance downwards for him to realize what: a glass bottle of the cure.
‘W-What? What did she just—’
He was answered quickly as he realized something; the bottle was thrown not at him, it was thrown at Stormz. Stormz was standing there glowing green just like all of the other aliens that had been cured as small particles of the same color emitted off of him. He was standing there, no longer an alien.
He had betrayed Dumb.
He had really betrayed Dumb. He had just betrayed Dumb for Dolphin.
Dumb forced himself to look up and look at the faces of Stormz and Dolphin. Dolphin’s was impassive, inscrutable, with a mixture of pity beneath it all. Stormz’s eyes flickered guiltily on Dumb’s face before flicking away and looking back. He could already see what they were both thinking now: “What about Dumb?”
Dolphin started talking to Dumb. Something about how he had freewill and could have chosen to betray Stormz just like PerPixels, something about them being teammates since forever. It all faded into a ringing in Dumb’s ears—who was Dolphin to talk? Why should he listen?
“No. Shut up. Shut up.”
Dumb pushed pass Dolphin, gaze fixated onto Stormz. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a whispered message.
“All this time? The talk? Do you think ‘I’m sorry” is enough?”
“Dumb—” Stormz started.
“Why?” Dumb half shouted, his voice cracking badly.
Stormz hesitated as if every version of what he wanted to say couldn’t change the outcome—and he would be right at that. Dumb could see it now: every private talk that they had—including the one where Dumb was present—every time Stormz brought up Dolphin and looked at her like he still saw something about her, every single moment. He was so stupid to have let things turn out this way. What face was he even making now? Was the expression he had on completely blank, broken, and saddened that he had been tossed aside that easily yet again or angry and disappointed in Stormz for still wanting all of this after all the battles that have been fought and everything they’ve gone through together?
Was Stormz really doing this to him? He gave Stormz everything he had for what? To be cast aside?
Dumb’s voice dropped low as he said, “Tell me you’re lying, Stormz. Tell me this is all some trick, some plan of yours. Tell me you’re not really betraying after all we’ve talked about.”
“Dumb—”
“We agreed, Stormz!” Dumb voice involuntary rose, “We talked about this—we agreed that Dolphin isn’t the hero everyone thinks she is. You can’t just—you can’t just leave like this! You can’t just tell me now that you’re going to team with Dolphin—that even after everything this is what it all came down to!”
“Please, Stormz,” Dumb pleaded, “This can’t be what you really want after everything that we’ve worked for.”
Stormz looked like the guilt was about to kill him, compelling himself to look straight into Dumb’s eyes: the same eyes that stared back at him in disbelief and denial. He could tell Dumb already knew what his answer was going to be before he even spoke a word.
Stormz swallowed hard and said as softly as he could without letting too much emotion slip out, “Dumb.”
“Dumb. I—I’m sorry.”
Dumb cut in, “If you’re really sorry then just leave Dolphin, right now. Walk away from her and come here. Use your op to turn yourself into an alien again. Or let me kill you and start a ritual. Do something. Anything other than staying here on Dolphin’s side instead.” Dumb reached out towards Stormz again.
“Dumb, I won’t.” Stormz said firmly while taking a step back, pale wings flaring out.
“What—why?”
Storms balled his hands into fists clenched to his sides.
“It’s why I even started this whole alien thing. I had always planned to prove my capability to Dolphin.”
“And to team with her.” were the words that no one spoke but everyone present understood. The silence that followed Stormz’s words was crushingly deafening.
“Seriously?” Dumb’s voice cracked painfully again.
“So that’s just it? You’re just going to leave. Just like that? Seriously?!”
“Seriously.” Stormz echoed listlessly.
Dumb couldn’t believe it. Seriously—that’s it?
He took another look at their expressions. Dolphin looks tired now, exhausted but still more put together than any of them. Even with a gorgeous white dress torn and stained with blood, dirt, and grime and long, blue hair that stuck out from under her helmet being drenched with rainwater, she was every bit the person who drew people’s attention towards her—the person who Stormz wanted to team with. Meanwhile, Stormz couldn’t even bring himself to face Dumb any longer—ashamed or simply avoiding accountability? They’d all been expecting this: Dumb, Stormz, Dolphin, yet Dumb was the only one who had deluded himself into thinking it couldn’t possibly ever happen.
Was lying to himself even possible anymore with the truth slapping him in the face?
Dumb couldn’t do it anymore. It was just too much. He lowered his hand, pulled out his fireworks from his inventory, and strapped on his elytra. Without saying a word to either of them, he turned around and flew away into the night sky and straight through raindrops that he refused to hold him back.
He didn’t turn back to see if Stormz was watching him leave.
Dumb flew blindly. He went up high and above the stormy clouds: wanting to avoid seeing anyone below as much as possible. He flew in circles, odd lines—randomly. The cold didn’t matter, he just needed to get someplace far, far away. He flew until the green color of the durability bar of his elytra dropped all the way to red—nearly completely gone—before sharply angling himself downwards.
Diving down, the ground rapidly approached. Completely out of control, he crashed through a tree at speeds so fast it was shocking he didn’t die of kinetic energy. Still, the branches left streaks of red along his face. Untangling himself from branches and leaves, he dropped to the ground, head first, with a loud thump—more salt to the wound. Stumbling up, Dumb chose a random direction and ran, nearly tripping over multiple pebbles and sticks that snapped easily beneath his boots, to the side of a towering mountain. He clambered over the rocks at the bottom, grabbed his pickaxe, and started to dig into the side of the mountain. Hurriedly, he dug forward and he dug down, blocking up behind him until he was sitting in a little 2 by 1 with no light.
Dumb leaned his throbbing head against the rough, cold stone. What was he running from? The truth? The betrayal? The realization that he is alone? He loosened his armor and dug his fingers into his sleeve. Pain flared in his arm and he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that it would probably leave marks for a little while but at least it created him something else to focus on.
Stormz had left him. Stormz, the very person Dumb had intended to betray at the very beginning, ended up betraying him after Dumb decided to blindly put his trust into him. Was Dumb just not enough? Was it because Dolphin could give Stormz the standing Dumb couldn’t? Was it just going to happen regardless? Could Dumb have done anything?
In another universe, would Stormz have stayed by his side instead?
The questions kept increasing and coming to pester and hammer away at Dumb. He didn’t bother patching up his cuts. He didn’t try bandaging the wounds. Hopelessly, he slowly slid down onto the ground with his legs pulled to his chest. His hands drooped down to his sides and he tilted his head backwards against the wall, keeping tears from falling as he blinked them back. Minutes, maybe hours passed, before Dumb’s unconscious fight to stay awake ended and he gave into fatigue. His eyes stayed closed as he slumped against the rough stone surrounding him.
When Dumb weakly woke up hours later, he was confused as to why he was sleeping in a random 2 by 1 hole. He was wondering why he was still in his armor and why there was so much dried blood on him.
Then, he remembered the events of the day before. A sharp, physically painful reminder of the people that left the damages on his body and armor had him reaching shakily into his inventory for an enchanted golden apple that he forgot he didn’t have. He had to settle for a regular golden apple that he barely swallowed and kept down. Only a few bites in, he remembered the real hurt: Stormz.
Abruptly, the sweetness of the apple on his tongue was replaced with a metal-like taste akin to blood—unusal for the golden apples despite them being made with gold. He lowered the fruit—was healing really worth it anymore? Who would he be fighting for? Dolphin killed him without hesitation all because he had the strength rune. Stormz had left him for Dolphin despite how loyal he was to his best friend. All this time, he had been running around, following people without question. Could he even heal for himself now?
Maybe the right thing to do now would be to dig out, travel unsteadily to spawn, and wait patiently for someone to come by and splash him with the cure. Or maybe he should just sit in the hole and rot away knowing that it’s unlikely anyone will be able to find him here.
Or he could just disappear. Appear on the playerlist but never again within other people’s view. Then, at least, he couldn’t be easily cured the same way every other alien had before Doomsday protocol was activated. He could continue on as an alien in spite of Stormz, Dolphin, and the people of the server that had fought against them. At the very least it would mean something was his.
Alone.
It would be his alone.
He was alone
Was it even worth it anymore?
Dumb brought out his pickaxe as the weight sat in his hand. He sat for several more moments before making up his mind. He shoved the rest of the apple into his mouth and choked it down a bit too quickly. Out of wanting to do something, he began to dig his way out, not bothering to fill in the tunnel behind him.
Outside, the sun beamed down happily and a gentle breeze rustled the tree leaves. Colorful flowers dotted the ground. Putting a hand up above his face, Dumb looked up towards the Sun to the best of his ability. The scene was so bright and serene to the point where it was almost offensive. In the middle of it all, Dumb stuck out like a sore thumb.
A day passed and Dumb sat on his brand new bed—quite literally just crafted. He took a deep breath in and surveyed the small room he made for himself—if it could even be called a room. While he was busy staring up at the Sun, someone had flown over and he had panicked and dove beneath a tree to hide. It was after that happened that he decided to stock up on invisibility. He had mended his armor and elytra and then gone out and gathered the materials he would need while also stealing some from some other players’ chests. Then, he went back to the mountain and dug in even further. Now, he was looking around at the small area he had hollowed, consisting of two double chests, a crafting table and furnace, potion stands, and the bed he just made. Looking over the side of his bed, he pulled out an ender chest and placed it down. It would now be the only light beside the lantern he had stolen.
Giving up on forcing his muscles to move, he curled up onto his mattress. It hasn’t been long since Stormz’s betrayal yet it feels like forever that Dumb has been alone with no form of comfort. Sure, an actual bed to sleep on with a blanket and pillow is always going to be much better than a claustrophobic 2 by 1, but what does that matter?
‘Somewhere out there, Stormz is happily fitting back into everyone. They won’t turn him away again. Not with Dolphin backing him up now.’
The bitter thought made Dumb clench his hand and want to slap himself. Even if Stormz had left him, was he really going to give up on his best friend that easily? He should have grabbed and held Stormz’s hand and demanded an answer he wanted to hear. He should have acknowledged the signs early on and worked to change Stormz’s goal instead of denying them for his own peace of mind. He glared at himself, he was just wasting away at this point. Back at the betrayal, he had come to the realization that Stormz wasn’t the misunderstood villain that he thought he was; he was just someone who didn’t know what he wanted. Now, wasn’t Dumb just following in his footsteps, slowly becoming the same person?
Dumb’s fingernails unconsciously pressed hard into the soft flesh of his palm—hard enough to make it surprising that he drew no blood. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt a tear start to form in the corner. His eyes flicked open again and so he laid there: crying silently over someone, something, maybe everything—he couldn’t even tell anymore. This time, alone in a shoddy, makeshift room, there wasn’t anymore to comfort him; no one to sit next to him and wait, no one who would wrap their arms around him and tell him it would be okay.
Two weeks.
That’s how long Dumb has been hiding from everyone else.
For the first three or four days, some people were actively searching for him while others just sat on the side and said they’d wait for him. Eventually, those looking for Dumb just gave up and also started to wait. At the one week mark, people stopped waiting. They simply went on with their regular lives while knowing Dumb was out there and actively avoiding detection.
For those first few days, Dumb had splashed invisibility and followed around the people looking for him. There wasn’t really much to do and if he had to be honest with himself, he had to admit that he wanted to see how the others were doing—why they cared so much now that he was gone. Stormz was never one of those people. Foolishly, somewhere in his heart, he had hoped and he had wished that Stormz would come searching for him; that he still cared enough about Dumb to want to find him. Somewhere along that timeline, he stopped waiting for someone that would never come.
So for two weeks, he has been following around people while invisible—there wasn’t much for him to do. While there were close calls, he has yet to be caught. Whether or not that was good, Dumb wasn’t sure himself. Some part of him missed being around others—being able to laugh and talk and fight and then make up—but the other, stubborn part of him didn’t want to go back.
Most of the time, he just stayed around the other people on the server. When he felt particularly wronged, he’d go and find Dolphin yet then he’d feel guilty and mad at himself for letting Stormz go so easily—it really wasn’t all Dolphin’s fault. When he felt brave enough, he’d go looking for Stormz.
That was when it hurt the most.
Every time he’d see Stormz, good memories of their friendship would resurface just for the betrayal to squash them all. Still, Dumb couldn’t stay away. As the days passed, he found himself making more reasons to find Stormz. “He wanted to see if Stormz was faring well. He wanted to see if Stormz was truly guilty. He wanted to see if Stormz would miss him.” were the usual excuses. No matter what, he didn’t dare go too close—he just couldn’t bring himself to do so. Always, he would watch from far away: through a window, perched upon a building roof, etcetera.
He was just wandering absentmindedly around the location of an old fight from some time ago—he couldn’t remember who was fighting who anymore. Why was he there? He didn’t even know himself. Being socially isolated from everyone else certainly didn’t give him much to do.
Boredly looking over at chat, he stared at the blank screen for some time. Lately, it’s been his form of entertainment; the random messages people would send as if everyone couldn’t see them. Midstep, the entire chat blew up as someone started saying that Stormz and Dolphin were fighting at spawn. Dumb watched as people who couldn’t believe the words started bombarding chat, asking if it was real. Curious, Dumb splashed himself with more invisibility and took off towards spawn with his elytra.
Landing a bit away from some of the spectators that had crowded together, he could see the battle clearly. Dolphin was gracefully leaping into the air like a goddess with her windcharges and landing some magnificent mace hits on Stormz who was doing pretty good himself. Stormz popped a totem and shouted something up at Dolphin that couldn’t reach Dumb’s ears over the wind. Dolphin landed on the ground and patted Stormz on the back. Clearly, it was only a friendly duel.
As Dolphin turned and strode to the group of people, Dumb ducked away to follow Stormz who was walking off in the opposite direction. Luckily, Stormz was on foot rather than flying. Tailing behind him wasn’t too hard for Dumb. Dumb followed him all the way into a small cave a few hundred blocks away from spawn.
Inside, there wasn’t actually anything. Dumb really had to wonder what Stormz was doing: walking all the way to nothing. If anything, the cave looked like it has never been touched before by anyone.
“Dumb.”
Dumb froze on the spot. Did he know? The silence stretched on as Stormz simply stood and stared at the wall in front of him.
“Dumb.” Stormz repeated.
‘There’s no way—’
“Dumb, I know you’re there.” Stormz said as he turned around, facing the spot Dumb was rooted in.
Dumb stared wide eyed at Stormz.
Stormz took a cautious step forward, “You’re not invisible anymore, Dumb. I can see you as clear as day.”
How could Dumb have been so stupid—he forgot to splash himself with more invisibility before entering the cave. He had been so careful for the past two weeks yet now a singular moment of distracted carelessness was all it took to undo all his efforts.
Stormz took a few more steps, careful as if he was talking to an unsettled creature. He reached out towards Dumb, stopping just barely before making contact. In the back of Dumb’s mind, he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry or punch himself in the face. The situation was rapidly starting to remind him of that conversation between Stormz and Dolphin with him as the puppet casted aside.
Without thinking, Dumb snapped out of his statue-like state and shoved away Stormz—hard. Stormz stumbled backwards, confused and hurt. Why should Dumb care anymore? It was just a repeat.
‘It’s all the fucking same. Honestly—fuck you Stormz, fuck you. You can’t just— Now you’re reaching out—?’
Dumb’s thoughts are turbulent. All this time, some unacknowledged part of him had wanted Stormz to come back—badly. Now? Did he still feel that? That’s why he followed Stormz, right? Or was he just spiteful and chasing someone without knowing what to do or what he wanted—just like Stormz had?
Suddenly, Dumb felt arms wrapped around him. He felt a head of silvery white hair with a steady breath next to his own and a warmth he hasn’t had in forever. Dumb didn’t hug him back but without realizing, he had collapsed completely into Stormz’s embrace and took him down to the ground with him.
Sitting there, wrapped in the embrace and curled up against Stormz’s chest, he was more at ease than he had been for a while as he closed his eyes and listened to the steady beating of Stormz’s heart. Stormz’s feathery wings coned around them protectively as he pulled Dumb in even closer and started to comb through his tangled mess of hair with one hand. The silent message of “You’re safe now. I’m here for you.” passed between them.
For the first time in a long time, Dumb felt content.
Stormz didn’t truly abandon him. Here he was, Dumb in his arms and his arms wrapped around Dumb. Yet, despite all that—Dumb opened his eyes and stared blankly at Stormz’s chest—Stormz hadn’t actually said anything. There was no “I’m sorry.” or any form of message that he clearly said himself. Was Dumb just deluding himself into seeing signs again; this time, signs of Stormz coming back to him?
Stormz shifted. Titling his head up, Dumb could see Stormz looking down at him—questioning.
“You…you good there, Dumb?”
Dumb considered responding. Truly, he did. The words seemed to be right at the tip of his tongue yet when he opened his mouth, no sound came out. He shut his mouth again.
They sat awkwardly before Dumb came to his senses. He sat up straight and pushed away Stormz—it was noticeably gentle compared to the strong shove from before, but the hurt it brought was more tangible and stifling than ever.
“Dumb?”
A knot of pity started forming in Dumb’s stomach as he locked eyes with Stormz and returned the look of confusion with one devoid of any emotion. Still, Dumb didn’t want to be hurt any longer—not by Stormz, not by anyone else.
Getting up so quickly he nearly fell and turning around swiftly, Dumb took heavy steps towards the tunnel out. At the turn in the path, Dumb decided to take a small peak back. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Stormz still sitting on the ground with his legs tucked under him, eyes following Dumb’s every movement. Briefly, for just a moment, they locked eyes, no message passing through this time: a tie severed. Then, Dumb turned away again and walked the rest of the way out.
What was he even doing?