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It never gets easier.
No matter how many times Egg gets kidnapped, it never gets easier. Each time it's the same song and dance: barely eat, barely sleep, tear through minions, kill the main culprit, get Egg back, recover in some hole-in-the-wall that Wemmbu quickly carves out of a cliff face and makes sure to replace the ceiling, flooring, and walls with obsidian before he finally allows himself to collapse in a heap with Egg safely in his arms.
Wemmbu puts on a brave face half the time, because he is a brave face and laughter in a situation where it doesn’t belong, but he was serious when he told Jaden that it was hard to be funny when Egg wasn’t around. Because Egg makes everything funny, more bearable, that’s why he invited him to the server in the first place.
Because Egg is the other piece of his soul, though he would never verbally admit that.
They’re game planning base options—or trying to game plan base options, because Egg is half asleep and Wemmbu is too wired to do anything except keep watch—when Egg finally falls asleep. Wemmbu lets the statement-finisher “I just don’t know what to do” float in the air and the silence that follows tells him that he is—consciously, at least, and figuratively—alone in the small, carved out hidey-hole that he thinks is the quickest he has yet to make, alone in the dark.
Wemmbu allows himself to take a deep breath before he slowly lowers himself closer to Eggchan’s body, resting his head on Egg’s chest, one ear above his heart so that he can still hear the organ beating, to remind himself that they are safe and to hopefully match his own heart’s frantic drum to his best friend’s gentle rhythm.
This quiet moment of rest—rest for Egg’s sake, never for Wemmbu’s, the wicked do not get to rest—is always and will always be a constant for as long as they keep the same song and dance, which is funny because Wemmbu doesn’t think he even knows how to dance. He doesn’t think he will ever get the chance to, not with how things have been going recently. Wemmbu is a wanted criminal again, surely he has to be after the stunt he pulled at Capitol City. Nevermind he was under the control of Archn1d, nevermind he was being used as a weapon. Parrot would be after him, to lock him up or to execute him for his crimes past and present to stop whatever the hell he might do in the future.
The future. Would the future always be like this? This current situation reminded him so much of the past that this current situation might just be his future, always and forever until he gets inevitably banned because of one wrong slip. Flame should have killed him during that dual, he was so sloppy, and then Egg would have gotten banned and—
Is this how it will always be? Hiding away in a hole-in-the-wall reinforced with obsidian, clinging to his newly rescued best friend? What kind of life is this?
And then the thought keeps creeping back, something that has started to catch up to Wemmbu when he starts to lag behind. He can see it vividly now, Egg messaging him from somewhere far away, to escape him, no doubt—in his mind it’s raining, because the scary and sad stories Mane used to tell him and Flame as children always happened during the rain, and the old fear of rain comes creeping back in—and Egg is typing out a message in his communicator, “I can’t stay with you anymore, we can’t be at peace together”—or maybe Egg blames him more—“the only reason why I keep getting taken is because of you”—or maybe softer, because Egg is his best friend, but always—“I’m sorry, bro. Bye.” Click.
And Wemmbu never sees him again. It’s always such a vivid thought and dream that Wemmbu has to double check that Egg is still here, asleep in his arms, hasn’t left him yet. Hasn’t left him yet, because it’s inevitable that he will. Wemmbu is a hazard to be around, even without his orbitals and his maces and his armor. The Purge proved that. A walking warning sign, purple hair to signify he’s poison.
But then Egg moves under him, shifts just slightly to free an arm in his sleep, and lets the newly freed hand fall onto Wemmbu’s head. Wemmbu feels his body tense up only to melt again when he feels Egg’s fingers card through his hair. The Ender Dragon hybrid hugs his best friend tighter and buries his face full into Egg’s chest, ears flicking at the squeak Egg lets out.
“How long was I out?” The angel/avian hybrid muttered, blunt nails scratching gently at Wemmbu’s scalp. Wemmbu feels himself begin to purr and doesn’t even try to fight it.
“I don’t know, bro, if imma be honest. I’ve kinda been dissociating a little bit. Could’ve been five minutes or hours.”
He can feel the body below him vibrate as Egg lets out a hum, continuing his rhythmic scratches across Wemmbu’s scalp. “Wasn’t enough. I’m going back to sleep. I expect you to be sleeping, too.”
“I will,” he assures softly, feeling Egg’s breath evening out again. “I’ll be right here.”
“Yeah, I know you’ll be right here,” he felt Egg grumble. “Here, listen to this–”
And then Egg said something funny, something so funny in fact that it brought tears to Wemmbu’s eyes. He started whispering, softly, “And the universe said you have played the game well, and the universe said everything you need is within you, and the universe said you are stronger than you know, and the universe said you are the daylight, and the universe said you are the night, and the universe said the darkness you fight is within you, and the universe said the light you seek is within you, and the universe said you are not alone, and the universe said you are not separate from every other thing, and the universe said you are the universe tasting itself, talking to itself, reading its own code, and the universe said I love you because you are love.”
Wemmbu let out a wet laugh, squeezing his eyes shut to stop the tears. “What are you even talking about, bro?”
“I read it in a book, you should really read the whole poem. But like–I love you, you know that, right? You’re so full of love sometimes it hurts. You love,” Egg continued on his tirade, like something had been opened up, “with your entire body. You protect me–all of your friends to the best of your abilities because you love us. You are loved by the universe because you are love, wholly and completely.”
“You’ve actually lost your mind, like actually, dude,” Wemmbu tries for strength, but it comes out as a whimper, ruining his reputation as a non-crier in one fell swoop. “Y-you’re–” great, now he was hiccupping, “-not gonna leave me-e, right? If I go to sle-eep, right?”
Wemmbu felt Egg’s other arm sneak around to rub his back as Egg’s nails picked up their relaxing scratching along his scalp. “Bro, I wouldn’t leave you for anything. Even if I get banned, you’ll probably find some way to bring me back. I’m not leaving you. Go to sleep, Wemmbu.”
And Wemmbu did just that, wrapped up in the arms of his best friend, safe from the outside world.