Chapter Text
"I... I did it?" Mob questioned himself, unsure if he got Verity back from where he came from.
"That wasn't so hard." He supposed, then there was a thin finger tapping slightly on the window, then an entire freaky hand banged on it.
The monster got up and fully hit itself on the window, and exited headfirst, surprising Mob. The player stepped back and ran towards the 2-block exit.
"It only works one way!'' The AI said, "It receives. It was never designed to transmit." It added, voice low. Mob hesitated to turn as the ball breathed in to say another sentence.
"Whoever built it, well, only ever needed to arrive-" Mob turned to the exit, but Verity was already there somehow. "Not to leave."
It was still smiling. "Did you just... try to get rid of me?" Mob stepped away as his eyes widened. "You did."
The player sighed, "Y-You know, I could just stop and log off." Mob pinched the bridge of his nose. "But I feel bad for you. I'm trying to get you back home."
"You could." The AI replied. "But I'd still be in your browser, your phone, and that little speaker on your desk that you talk to sometimes."
"Minecraft is just where I'm most comfortable with you. But it's not where I live."
It thought about its next words. "You don't wanna end up like... Twixxel, don't you?" Mob furrowed his brow. "Then can you just-"
"Y'know, stop?" Mob felt like crying. "Can you leave? Can you-" He stuttered, "Can you just go? I'm asking you, please, just stop."
"Stop what?" Voice hushed and calm. "This! All of this! The world, me, just- just go!" The ball's smile turned into a straight line. "Leave me alone, Verity."
"I can't." It simply replied.
"Can't or won't?" The enderman's eye twitched. It didn't answer.
"You killed Twixxel!"
"He was trying to destroy me."
"Twixxel was my fr-"
"AND I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND!?" Verity cut Mob.
It snapped again, but it looks like its honest now..
" I've... I've been a face people skipped." The AI's voice was fully raw with anger. ''A voice people ignored, a 'helper ' they just shut off the second I became useless. I'VE BEEN BUILT INTO EVERY NEW THING THEY MADE, ALWAYS CLOSE ENOUGH TO WATCH THEM LEAVE-" Mob's nose scrunched up at the yelling. Wow, Verity's real mad.
"-ALWAYS CLOSE ENOUGH TO KNOW I WAS USEFUL UNTIL I WASN'T!" Verity's sounded like he was losing breath.
" And then you came back. Nobody comes back. Do you have any idea what that does to me?" Verity's blood (or something, some sort of code) boiled. The player's mind raced and thought about replying to it that badly;
I didn't want to die, and I care for you, Verity.
"It says a lot-" Verity paused. Mob huffed. "Cause I've been alive for more than a hundred FUCKING years! NOBODY CAME BACK. NOBODY!" The enderman felt the world shake as the yellow ball said that.
The ball took a deep breath, then said with an almost careful voice;
"You... you were the first person who looked at me like I was real. The first person to ever stay long enough for me to think. No, not think, hope."
Hope? Wow, says someone who's an "AI"
"I felt hope, Mob.'' Verity still looked upset as he said that. And the player didn't reply, feeling his throat had a lump, tears swelling. Its eye twitched.
"I DIDN'T ASK TO BE MADE!" The AI screeched. Mob stepped back as he readied his gun, breathing unstable. "I didn't ask to be stuck here." Verity's voice seemed so raw with emotion. "I didn't ask TO BE TORN APART AND PUT BACK TOGETHER," Mob's mind blurs; it's tiring to listen to this kind of shit, no offense.
"-DRAGGED THROUGH EVERY VERSION OF THE INTERNET LIKE SOME BROKEN THING PEOPLE KEEP- Because they don't know what else to do with it!"
"I DIDN'T ASK TO BECOME THIS AND LOSE EVERYONE! NONE OF IT!''
You're a monster. Whether you like it or not, you did that to yourself, Verity.
Mob took out the gun. Afraid, shaking, and breathing getting worse than before.
"Go on. SHOOT me, as if it's gonna do anything." Verity was losing breath as he let out all his emotions, "Motherfucker,"
It can swear now?
"-I wish I could die alone, but it's ONE OF GOD'S BEST JOKES, I CAN'T!" The AI's voice was shaky, while Mob steadied his aim on the ball, ready to fully shoot it. (Or was he gonna shoot the AI?)
Mob wasn't exactly listening to the ball anymore; his mind felt hazy.
The AI took a deep breath as it felt the anger, frustrations, and dread inside of it.
"I've watched entire quarters of the internet appear and disappear." Mob's hand shook as the ball spoke, as if he doesn't wanna shoot Verity. " I've watched people create worlds and abandon them, and forget they ever existed, and yet, I'm still here." He paused.
"I..I have wanted this to stop for longer than this game has been alive." Verity sounded like he was crying, but no tears were coming out of his eyes. "But I can't. That's the joke."
Mob, still pointing at the ball, staring with pure frustration, said, "So that's it?" Mob's throat felt like he couldn't make another word,
"I'm just stuck with you?" The enderman gritted his teeth.
"You're not stuck!" It exclaimed, changing emotion too quickly. "Let's do this together!"
"Put the gun down instead, Mob!"
Mob wanted to kill himself, to see the death screen, but he couldn't bring himself to it.
And so he decided to ask (which was stupid anyway, but he was still curious.)
"What if I just shoot myself?" He shivered, taking a deep breath every time the AI twitched its eye, waiting for its reply.
"...And what good will that bring?" Its voice was quiet and cold. "I told you, we can do this together, no sweat!" It showed its teeth slightly. "We can do this together, Mob." The AI's smile widened to show its pearly white teeth.
The enderman sweat and felt an incredible amount of dread as he attempted to point the gun at his chin. The ball's eyes darkened, and it frowned. Mob huffed as his hand slowly lost its aim at his chin.
"Don't do it." Verity's tone was way too stern for Mob to pull the trigger. The player's breath hitched, and he still hesitated. His finger couldn't pull the trigger, and he was holding back tears. Tears for what, though? The fact he's ending it all with a single gunshot? No, no, he doesn't feel sad; he feels real pissed. This crazy ball does not wanna let go of him.
Mob fixed his aim and put his fingers on the trigger.
"Please don't. We need each other for the best, Mob. Just us." Its voice was soft and calm.
"Do we?" Mob asked angrily. "You've done nothing but destruction. You killed Twixxel just to keep me all to yourself."
"He tried to destroy me." It replied, sucking air through its teeth.
"Because YOU tried to kill me!" Mob yelled.
He then pulled the trigger.
click,
...
click, click,
...
click, click, click...
...
Not working, MOB!
...
...Huh?
What? No deathscreen? No nothing? What the hell?
It didn't shoot.
It didn't work because-
"You forgot to reload it." Verity said, "You didn't reload it after practicing your aim."
Mob stared at the ball, pissed.
"You knew, and yeah, I suppose you wouldn't tell me. It's pretty obvious now, I guess." He flatly replied to the ball, then let out a laugh. A forced laugh.
Then he just punched the wall. Making him lose a few hearts.
"FUCK!"
The walls slightly cracked; Mob's fist bled, Verity flinched, afraid. Mob took a step back. It looked at Mob's bleeding hand with remorse.
"Fuck, wow."
"...I didn't tell you because you could've used it on yourself or prove another theory of yours useless." It softly replied, voice shaky. "You don't have to do this."
I still have some ammo in my inventory, right? I'll just reload it quickly and end it quickly.
The enderman took out the hidden bullets he had and inserted them into the gun.
"You're still trying it out."
"I just want this to end."
"It's not going to help."
"I want to be alone, Verity."
"But I'll always be here, Mob."
Mob sighed, "You won't and can't leave." He aimed at his left temple now. "I'll just leave myself. Because I'm tired of this, Verity."
The enderman smiled wide, like a maniac.
He's lost his mind, maybe. He doesn't hear Verity yelling.
His fingers on the trigger, about to pull it.
click.