Chapter Text
The Unstable World, the Precarious Piece, the Warped Shard, the one place a Watcher should never go. No one who ever went there ever came back, not really. In the best cases, they returned with no memory of the events that transpired there. In the worst cases they came back changed for the worse or not at all.
The portals to that world had all been closed, or so Wifies thought. After all, he had helped close them. That was what he would have believed until he died if not for that fateful day when he was proven wrong.
“Give it up, Wifies. You know you can’t escape us, so why even try? This is for your own good.” His once-mentor, an avian whose face was always masked and whose hair was always covered by a hood, reached out a gloved hand towards Wifies. His canid ears flattened against his skull. Wifies was not going back to that…
He had been chased across the void until he was cornered, backed up against a portal no sane Watcher would ever enter, the portal to Unstable. Even if he tried jumping into a nearby world, Wifies knew he’d end up in Unstable… He had mapped the boundaries himself, so he knew just how abnormally far he would have to go from this portal to escape Unstable’s pull. He was stuck.
With only two choices, Wifies began his calculations, deciding which choice would be the lesser evil. “Is it really so-“ Wifies didn’t hear the ending, because he did what no one in their right mind would do then, jumping through the portal to Unstable and praying to the Singer that he wouldn’t die permanently here.
Parrot didn’t know why he came to spawn that day. He had no reason to, but, of course, he had no reason not to. So, he had. When Parrot saw the crumpled form of the canid curled up on the ground and wearing strange, torn up robes, he was glad he had come.
“Bro, what happened to you?” Parrot knelt beside the canid, and he saw his wounds. “Like, seriously, how are you not dead?” Shaking his head, the avian carefully administered a quick round of first aid to the canid, then called in reinforcements. Wembu arrived in mere moments, tossing Parrot a regen.
“Thanks bro.”
“You owe me now. Zam is furious that I’m helping you.” The Aethierwyld looked down at the canid and sighed. “You know what, consider it an apology for the Wonders.” With that, Wembu vanished. Parrot blinked, then shook his head slightly, ruffling his wings as he moved them out of his way. Why someone as powerful as Wembu would side with someone like PrinceZam was beyond him. Oh well, it wasn’t his business anyway. Parrot administered the potion, and a little over fifteen minutes later, the canid woke up.
“Starless void, it worked!”
Wifies’s gamble had paid off! He might be trapped in a world that was a mystery to even the most experienced Watchers, but at least he had room to breathe and time to plan. Wifies very quickly realised he was laying on his back, a position he did not appreciate. He sat up abruptly, shaking his head like a wet dog.
“Bro, are you okay?” Wifies looked around. It actually looked pretty peaceful here., and there was an avian staring down at him, concern etched into his face.
“I think I am…” The avian reached his hand out to help Wifies up. He took the help, standing a little shakily. “Thank you…”
“Ah, yeah, my name is Parrot.” Parrot offered Wifies a handshake, which he accepted.
“Thank you, Parrot. I’m Wifies..
“Well Wifies, Welcome to Unstable.”
After making sure Wifies wasn’t going to keel over at a moment’s notice, Parrot led the canid to his humble abode and placed an extra bed down.
“You can rest here until we can get you your own house built.” Wifies looked surprised.
“But… you don’t know me. Why are you helping me?”
“Bro, you don’t have anything, and you were pretty rough when I found you. Of course I’m helping you!” Parrot looked at the canid like he was insane. Why wouldn’t he help Wifies?
“Thank you…” Parrot grinned.
“Of course bro! It’s no problem.” Wifies sat on the bed, looking like he hadn’t slept for days, which, for all Parrot knew, he hadn’t. The canid flopped backwards onto the bed, and he was asleep in an instant. Parrot rifled through his mess of a storage area and enderchest, getting a kit ready for Wifies as he slept.
The avian set up an armor stand with a full set of netherite gear, and next to it a chest with a full tool set, a glider, and several stacks of food. On top of the chest, Parrot set a change of clothes so the canid could get out of those weird robes he was wearing when he woke up, and flew off to give the canid a bit of privacy to sleep, having left a note to explain.
Wifies jolted awake, eyes darting around the room. After a moment, he remembered where he was, remembered that he was safe, at least from Them. Wifies sat up, fighting to calm his breathing. When he looked up again, he saw an armor stand with full netherite and a chest with a folded set of clothes on top.
Wifies stood carefully, finding that he was extremely sore from his battle the day prior, and inspected the chest. On top of the folded clothes there was a note.
‘Figured you wouldn’t want me to watch you sleep. Here’s some gear to help you out, and a change of clothes since yours have seen better days’
Wifies almost didn’t want to take any of it, but he already had a life-debt to this Parrot. Not much point in turning things down. Wifies changed into the clothes, a grey hoodie with yin and yang, dark grey pants, and a bandana to keep the hair out of his eyes. His new outfit actually fit him pretty well, in size and style. Interesting.
Right as Wifies was finishing up, Parrot entered the house.
“Nice bro! You look a lot less tired now, and it’s good to see my old clothes fit you.” The avian seemed so genuinely pleased that Wifies couldn’t help but smile.
“Thank you again for this.”
“No problem bro!” Parrot crossed to where his bed was and sat. “I feel a bit bad asking, since you just got here, and we just met, but… well, I need some help.”
“Help with what?” Wifies felt paranoia creep in. Parrot clearly heard in his voice because the avian quickly back-tracked.
“You don’t have to help me, and please don’t feel like it’s some debt or something. It’s really simple. Someone left me a scavenger hunt, and I need a buddy for it.”
“Oh. Sure.”