Chapter Text
Sitting on top of the giant player statue were two rivals, looking down onto the bloodied battlefield where bodies should be—but weren't. Just scattered gear. Broken armor. The ghosts of a thousand players who wouldn't be respawning anytime soon.(My headcanon after dying your body just disappears), battered and bruised they sit together talking about nothings, but how ironic is that, talking about your own life as the gear of others you killed lay down just beneath you.
The wind blew past them, peacefully, such a stark contrast from half an hour ago. From when Wemmbu finally made the final hit against the last player standing.
It was Wemmbu who asked Flame to sit there with him, ‘to clear their minds’, as if they hadn’t experienced this before as the two strongest players in the unstable smp.
“Yeah you know what.” said Wemmbu looking at Flame, “You can have the strongest player title.”
“What?!” said Flame, almost jumping up from where he was sitting, the head of that random statue where they started the battle.
"No way bro?! We almost died for that title and now you are just… giving it away?!"
Flame's voice cracked. He hated that it cracked. But his mind was moving too fast, tripping over itself—
ιƒ нє ∂σєѕη'т ωαηт тнє тιтℓє тнєη ωнαт ∂σєѕ нє ωαηт
ωнαт ∂σ ι ωαηт
ιƒ ωє'яє ησт яιναℓѕ тнєη ωнαт αяє ωє
He forced himself to breathe. Forced his hands to stop shaking.
It's fine. He's joking. He has to be joking.
“You must be joking.”
“I’m not Flame, this was my reason for faking my death. I don't want to be the 'strongest' anymore. Getting hunted day and night. It's not what I wanted from becoming the strongest.”
Wemmbu took a breath, a very deep one, as if exposing a wound to his enemies, that’s what he is actually doing now…
one leg still dangling from the edge, the other one propped up, he looks at flame.
“I only wanted people to leave me alone but instead of that all that happened is me being hunted, me needing to look over my shoulder every second. That's why I went invisible, to become someone normal, for me to be able to walk around without people running away or people trying to fight me.”
He doesn't want the feeling of fighting,the quicken heartbeats as he faces the doors of death, even though he can't deny that he likes it, but this, sitting up here to see the wreckage of everything, is what Wemmbu truly loves—the feeling of victory. The peace that comes after it.
The silence took over, after Wemmbu’s heartfelt confession, for his rival, Flame, to understand, to soak up everything being thrown at him. First, a huge battle, with him teaming with his rival, and now to find out he doesn’t have a rival anymore.
"What about now?"
Flame laughed—a sharp, nervous sound. "Now? I don't know, bro. Now you just dumped all your emotional baggage on me and I'm supposed to have an answer? Give me a minute."
He ran a hand through his hair, pacing on the statue head like it was a stage.
"Okay. Okay. So you don't want to be the strongest. Fine. Cool. Great. But what does that mean for—" He gestured vaguely between them. "—this? Us? Whatever this is?"
Wemmbu titled his head. "What do you want it to be?"
"Stop—stop doing that!" Flame pointed at him. "Stop being all calm and wise and—and—"
"Annoying?"
"YES." Flame threw his hands up. "Wait—no. Not annoying. I didn't mean—"
He groaned, dropping his head into his hands.
"I'm so bad at this."
'And we're, no wait, we were? Never mind. We’re rivals for God's sake!' and he throws his head back in exasperation, still processing everything.
wemmbu laughs and says, 'yeah yeah, you're right. But admit it, we had fun right? Fighting a thousand players together!'
'Bro I think you got hit on the head with that rando's mace too much.'
Wemmbu just looks at him with a big ass smile on his face, It was a gentle one, not the smug kind Flame was used to,
“I want to have fun! That's what I want! The fun I have fighting with you, the fun... Like just now!”
Flame is taken aback, his heart’s beating irregularly in his head, hearing it over everything wemmbu was yapping about, because of this idiot wemmbu with his ridiculous playful smile, making his stupid heart beat like it was auditioning for a drum solo.
I did enjoy it α ℓσт, ησ a bit, who am I kidding.
Wemmbu is just too…
Flame thinks about everything to do with wemmbu in his mind, trying to figure out why and what he’s feeling right now.
“Bro, why are you zoning out?” Wemmbu said, leaning over closer to Flame to wave his hand in front of the demon’s face.
So close… Flame has never been so grateful for his black blindfold, blocking wemmbu’s view of his eyes enjoying the view of his lips-
“Hey, Flame?! You here?!”
he reacts shudders and looks back up to wemmbu and he responses by saying, 'Well what I want is a rematch.'
" Didn't I tell you could have the title?”
Wemmbu titled his head confused.
“Well I still need to prove to you I am better.”
Wemmbu chuckles, then he patted Flame on the head.
“And you will get your rematch. Just not now.”
“Why not?” Flame asks grinning.
" So impatient~ Wanting to fight still even though you have already had the fight of an era.”
“You already fought a thousand players with me. What more do you want?” said wemmbu laughing.
And the unspoken answer is: You. I want you.
But it wasn’t spoken, Flame couldn’t handle so much emotional stuff in one day.
They sit there on the statue in silence, it is not awkward though, but it's filled with unspoken words.
They climbed down from their statue. The battlefield stretched around them—craters, scattered gear, pieces of broken diamond armor. Wemmbu's footsteps were steady, but Flame noticed the way his eyes kept drifting to the gear and items.
"Stop doing that," Flame said.
"Doing what?"
"Counting them."
Wemmbu blinked. "I wasn't—"
"Yes, you were." Flame bumped his shoulder against Wemmbu's, rough but not unkind. "You won. They knew what they signed up for. Don't get soft on me now."
Wemmbu huffed a laugh. "Soft? Me?"
"You literally just confessed your feelings on a statue like some tragic hero."
"Shut u-"
"Bro, you were having a whole main character moment." Flame grinned, but there was something softer underneath it. "It was kinda cringe, ngl."
Wemmbu shoved him. Flame shoved back.
And for a moment—just a moment—the war, the battle, the weight of it all—it faded.
But it was stupid of to think that it was all over. Because the next second they were both tied up on a horse.
He knew he shouldn't have let his guard down but lo and behold they were kidnapped.
Three hours earlier.
The two rivals were back in the building restocking their items and collecting the ones that hadn't despawn yet. Putting them into skulkers then into their ender chest to sell at merchant city.
“Hey Flame? You got any fireworks? I ran out.” asked Wemmbu, looking through his own boxes placed in front of them.
“No, why would I? I don't even use an elytra.” answered Flame, organizationing his inventory into his ender chest and skulkers.
“Aww ma-” Wemmbu stopped mid-sentence.
“What's wrong wemm, cat got your tongue?” said Flame as he turned into the direction of Wemmbu.
The blood drained from his face.
There was lettuce with a knife against Wemmbu's throat, smiling. Wemmbu holding the arm trying to push away from it.
Flame got his sword out on instinct, about to cut off Lettuce’s arm when he gave a sharp command to his henchmen.
“Hold him.”
The goons were immediately there grabbing his arms and twisting them behind his back, his favorite sword, fragger, falling to the floor with a bang.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL, IF WE BEAT YOUR ARMY, YOU WOULDN'T MESS WITH US ANYMORE.”
Flame desperately tried to pull away but the lawmen twisted harder making him choke out a gasp.
“Oh, Flamefrags, why would I let some of the most wanted criminals roam around the unstable smp.” Lettuce seemed to be enjoying this, seeing the two strongest players squirming under his boot.
Lettuce pressed harder and the knife, making a shallow cut on Wemmbu's throat.
Flame yelled out for Lettuce to stop as Wemmbu just froze there, trying to stay as still as possible.
“So immortal demon, if you're so NOT like the other players then find a way out of this.” said lettuce mockingly, he was using his own catchphrase against him.
ησ ι'м ησт ∂郃єяєηт ι αм σηℓу нυмαη
ησ ι яєƒυѕє тσ вєℓιєνє ιт
he's right, I am not like the other players, I WILL find a way out.
But even though he tried to hide the fact he was afraid his body betrayed him, his mouth became dry and he had broken out in a cold sweat.
He couldn't find a way to save him and нιѕ Wemmbu.
He sighs defeated. but even though he is defeated his eyes still show his determination. “What do you want from us, lettuce?”
Lettuce's eyes flickered as he looked up from where he was watching Wemmbu's reactions to him pressing harder on the knife. "Us? Since when does the great Flame have an 'us'?"
Flame didn't answer. He couldn't
"What's wrong? Lost your voice?"said lettuce as he threw down 42 boats in front of Flame.
"Well anyways put your stuff in your skulkers and put all these boats in all your inventory spaces. All of them."
The men holding him let go and Flame found himself freed for a moment.
"And what if I don't?"
Said flame picking his sword back up.
"Oh Flame, you wouldn't want your dear rival to lose his head, do you?" Lettuce moved his face closer to wemmbu and keep his knife steady at Wemmbu's neck, like a warning of some sort.
Flame clicked his tongue and started to empty his inventory. Putting his items one by one into his ender chest.
But as he was about to put away his sword, fragger, Wemmbu kicked, hard onto Lettuce's shins.
Lettuce yelped and it gave wemmbu an opening.
He slipped under Lettuce's arm and got his mace out.
нє ℓσσкє∂ ѕσ вєαυтιƒυℓ
Flame shook that thought out of his head. This was an opportunity. He dropped down all of the boats and got into a fighting position.
They tried to fight the other players but with Wemmbu injured and Flame without any armor on, they weren't really a fight.
Wemmbu wind breezed up and maced a player and Flame took out his last item, fragger and finished the guy off.
This wasn't like their usual battles, it was desperate, very desperate. Wemmbu and Flame were desperate for their freedom, and pride. So they fought the losing battle.
But after a few moments they were overwhelmed.
Tied up, and thrown to the ground, he had to admit that he had lost. And he soon had to put fragger away with all his other items.
And as he had to watch Wemmbu put away his most prize possession, gambit, he saw the hatred in Wemmbu's eyes. It was a raging storm in there, crazy just like his battle style. He saw Wemmbu's eyes go to Lettuce and he grimaced. Like looking at something disgusting.
Lettuce didn't seem to care though, he looked like he was enjoying every single moment of it.
“Your heels too Wemmbu.” says Lettuce as he saw Wemmbu walk closer to Flame.
“Broo, you are taking my height after you took away my freedom. How evil can you be!?” Wemmbu begrudgingly took off his heels and placed them into the chest. Flame almost laughed at the height difference between them.
Lettuce gave him a pair of white shoes that were surprisingly Wemmbu’s shoe size, Flame didn’t know that Wemmbu’s feet were that small.
[Wemmbu whispers to you: don't you dare laugh.]
After a while Wemmbu and Flame were done with all the checks, their ender chests were taken away by Lettuce and they were tied up. They had no escape, no where to run, no way to fight.
[Wemmbu whispers to you: Hey, what do we do now?]
Flame sees the message, he honestly doesn't know what to do, if it was just him, he would have just beaten up everyone, but just now Wemmbu was taken hostage and he missed his chance.
[You whisper to Wemmbu: I don't know bro, just... See what they do ig.]
Wemmbu nodded in response and they turned their gaze to Lettuce.
“Grab them.” Lettuce ordered his henchmen.
The players quickly went towards them and started to lead them somewhere.
“Hey, where are you bringing us!?” Asked Wemmbu as the player leading him grabbed him off the floor.
“You’ll know sooner or later.”
They walked over to the place Lettuce was heading.
Wemmbu and him had fun ragebaiting the players, pretending to run away then booing them, then using all their rage bait techniques they learnt from Booster.
They laughed until their stomachs hurt and the players faces became red like a block of redstone.
“Bro! Are you really failing to pick up your shield?” said Flame as he and Wemmbu threw around the poor dude shield they accidentally dropped in front of them.
“Flame! Wemmbu! We had arrived! So stop messing around!” yelled lettuce at the front of the players.
Wemmbu and Flame stopped for a second, giving the opportunity for the dude to get his shield back.
Flame saw the horses and Lettuce got on one.
The henchmen also got on their own horses and there was one left over.
Lettuce saw that and asked the henchmen who brought the horses.
Well according to him one of the horses fell into one of the holes Wemmbu had made during the fight, and fell to their death so they were missing one.
Lettuce sighed and looked over to the two prisoners.
“Well. You two get the same one, so chop chop. We can't be late.”
Wemmbu sighed, “Oh well. Flame lets get on.”
Wemmbu walked over to the horse and climbed on, it was harder than usual to get on because of his tied hands but in the end he managed to get on.
“What are you waiting for! Get on!”
ωєℓℓ ι ωσυℓ∂η'т мιη∂. ιƒ ιт ¢αη gєт мє ¢ℓσѕєя тσ нιм.
But Flame pushed away all of his impure thoughts and climbed onto the horse, sitting behind Wemmbu, and putting his hands around his waist for support. Totally only for support, nothing else, that's what Flame tried to convince himself of, but actually it was totally not only for support.
One of the henchmen noticed this and asked Flame, “Hey are rivals supposed to be so touchy with each other?
Flame’s ears became red and tried to defend himself, saying, “Bro this is only for support! You wouldn’t want me falling off this horse right?!”
The reason was so absurd, that wemmbu decided to join in.
“Yeah, totally~.” Wemmbu laughed at Flame’s reaction, reddened ears and his blush that was covered by his blindfold started to slip out.
“Yeah so? Bro!”
That made Wemmbu laugh harder, catching Lettuce’s attention.
“Hey what’s so funny back there!”
Flame just yelled, “Bro it’s none of your business.” and Wemmbu added in with a middle finger.
Lettuce yells back and Wemmbu has found a new teasing target.
Wemmbu gets so into ragebaiting Lettuce that he starts to lean back into Flame’s chest.
Flame tenses up and Wemmbu is laughing happily.
Only when wemmbu looks back to tell Flame how funny ragebaiting Lettuce, when he realizes he is leaning back into Flame’s chest and wemmbu immediately starts to straighten his back moving away from flame’s chest.
Flame almost makes a sound of disappointment as the soft warmth leaves his chest. Then they hit a bump, his hands tighten around wemmbu’s waist. And they both awkwardly laugh afterwards.
Lettuce notices it and starts trying to tense Wemmbu, but no one can tense the tense master.
The argument between Lettuce and Wemmbu continues as Flame gets a ping in his coms.
[Wemmbu whispers to you: I got a plan! <: ]
[you whisper to wemmbu: wait bro? How do you talk while talking through coms. And secondly, what is your plan?]
[Wemmbu whispers to you: 1. It’s a talent.]
[Wemmbu whispers to you: 2. I will rage bait Lettuce into letting us go! Hehe ]
[you whisper to wemmbu: bro, no! That wouldn’t work!]
[Wemmbu whispers to you: Well, you can’t know until you try.]
Flame opened his mouth to argue, but Wemmbu was already talking.
"So, Lettuce," Wemmbu called out, his voice dripping with fake sweetness. "Is this really the best you've got? A knife, some horses, and a bad attitude? I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed."
Lettuce's grip on the reins tightened. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Wemmbu leaned forward slightly, grinning. "I mean, you had to ambush us to win. That's kinda sad, ngl."
Flame watched in horror as Lettuce's face flushed. This was going to get them killed.
"I could kill you right now," Lettuce said, his voice low and dangerous.
"Could you?" Wemmbu tilted his head. "I mean, sure, you could. But then you wouldn't have the satisfaction of gloating, would you? And we both know you love gloating."
Flame's jaw dropped. Is he insane?
Lettuce's horse slowed. He turned to face them, his eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" Wemmbu said innocently. "Just making conversation. You know, getting to know my kidnapper. Building a connection."
Flame could feel the tension radiating off Lettuce. This was going to end badly.
"Wemmbu," Flame hissed through coms. "Stop."
Wemmbu ignored him. "So, Lettuce, how's your day been? Mine's been great. Killed a thousand players, got captured, now I'm on a horse with my rival—wait, no, not rival anymore. What are we again, Flame?"
Flame wanted to strangle him. "I don't know," he muttered. "Please stop talking."
"See, that's the problem," Wemmbu continued, completely ignoring Flame's plea. "I don't have a rival anymore. So now I need a new hobby. Maybe I'll take up gardening. Or knitting. What do you think, Lettuce? Do I look like a knitter?"
Lettuce snapped.
"SHUT UP!"
The shout echoed across the field. Birds scattered from nearby trees. Flame flinched.
Wemmbu just smiled. "Hit a nerve, did I?"
Lettuce's horse stopped. He turned to face them fully, his face red, his hands shaking.
"You know what?" Lettuce said, his voice dangerously quiet. "Maybe I don't need to keep you alive after all."
Flame's blood ran cold. "Wemmbu."
But Wemmbu didn't stop. He couldn't stop. It was too late.
"Oh, now you're threatening me?" Wemmbu laughed. "That's cute. You know how many times I've been threatened? Hundreds. Thousands. And I'm still here."
Lettuce drew his sword.
"Wemmbu," Flame said, his voice sharp. "Stop."
But Wemmbu's eyes were locked on Lettuce. He was smiling.
Flame's arms tightened around Wemmbu's waist. He was ready to jump off the horse, to do something.
But then Lettuce lowered his sword. He laughed.
"You're insane," Lettuce said, shaking his head. "You're both insane."
He turned his horse around and started forward again.
Wemmbu glanced back at Flame, grinning. [Wemmbu whispers to you: See?]
Flame stared at him.
[you whisper to wemmbu: Bro, he almost killed you.]
[Wemmbu whispers to you: But he didn't.]
[you whisper to wemmbu: ...I hate you.]
[Wemmbu whispers to you: You love me.]
Flame's heart stopped.
He didn't respond.
But he didn't deny it either.
The journey continued with wemmbu singing random road songs and one time a lawman tried to join but Lettuce gave him a murderous gaze that said, don’t add to the chaos if you want to keep your head.
That makes Flame laugh and in turn makes Wemmbu laugh and they spend the last 5 mins of the trip bickering and laughing, sometimes making side remarks to Lettuce making steam come out of his ears.
When they got to LAW HQ just 100 blocks from his Flame’s own base, they were pushed into a holding cell and their ropes cut off.
They were thrown a medkit and Lettuce said, “deal with your own wounds, I got some business to deal with.”
And they were left in the holding cell with a guard in a corner.
Flame picked up the medkit and looked at what was inside. Inside was a healing potion, a roll of gauze, a bottle of honey (antiseptic), and a pair of shears.
Flame sighed, there wasn’t much to work with, but still he had healed his own wounds with much less so this was technically kind of generous.
“Wemmbu bro, where did you get hurt?”
“Uh me? Well I ate golden apples right after the battle and was healed so just the place Lettuce held me at knife point.”
Flame nodded and got to work. He looked at Wemmbu’s neck. Wemmbu lifted his head to expose his neck to Flame.
ι ωαηт тσ вιтє ιт.
Flame moved closer to Wemmbu’s neck, his warm breath against Wemmbu’s skin.
“Hey, flame isn’t that too close?!”
Flame immediately moved a little bit farther. “Sorry bro, I just had to see the wound.”
Flame looked up and saw Wemmbu’s face, it had a light pink blush and when Flame was α∂мιяιηg no, checking Wemmbu’s face, he looked down and looked straight into his rival’s face.
“Why do you have to look so closely? Are you sure you don’t need glasses?”
Now it was Flame’s turn to blush, not wasn’t his fault the way wemmbu said it was so ѕєχℓу, ησ, ѕє∂υ¢тινє, ησ what word should he use. Well he didn’t use any, he just pushed that thought to the back of his mind.
He cleared his throat and took the stuff he needed out of the medkit.
He grabbed the honey first, pouring a small amount onto a clean cloth. "This might sting," he warned.
Wemmbu winced as Flame dabbed the cut on his neck. "Ngh—"
"Sorry," Flame muttered, his fingers gentle.
Then he took the gauze, wrapping it carefully around Wemmbu's throat. His fingers brushed against Wemmbu's skin. He tried not to think about how soft it was.
Wemmbu watched him through half-lidded eyes. "You're good at this."
"Shut up," Flame said, but his ears were red.
After that, it was Wemmbu’s turn to help with Flame’s wounds.
Wemmbu cleaned Flame’s injuries from the desperate fight earlier when Wemmbu escaped from Lettuce for a second.
“Sorry.”
“For what, bro?”
“For these. Wemmbu pointed at the scratches on Flame’s arm.
“These weren’t your fault, I should have just been more careful.”
“Ok, immortal demon.”
They both grinned at this, and they started an easy conversion about what they thought LEttuce’s speech was going to be like.
“I bet it’s going to be like a parrot speech.” Wmmbu said, brushing his own hair with his fingers.
“What do you mean bro?”
“Wait, have you never heard a parrot speech before?”
“I won’t say i didn’t, but i thought that was a one time thing.”
Wemmbu started talking on and on about all the times he had to listen to the ‘boring’ speeches Parrot did every time before a battle.
“So like one ti-”
Lettuce came into the room with a smirk that meant trouble.
“Wait let me finish my VERY interesting conversion with Flame. So like anywa-”
“Nope, wear this.”
Lettuce threw them two pairs of copper armor with mending and the curse of unbinding, wemmbu looked sad then when he looked at the armor the sadness quickly became horror.
“You expect us to wear THIS?!” asked Wemmbu, holding the helmet to the light.
“Yeah, that's your prison uniform. I had this idea when I saw that flame was also here, I thought he might be smart enough to get invis potions so if you have these, you won’t be able to invis properly" answer Lettuce smirking at the grossed out expression Wemmbu had on his face.
“Bro, this uniform SUCKS.” said Flame looking at the armor on the floor then looked back up at Lettuce and his eyes lit up thinking of the perfect roast.
“Oh. No wonder this uniform sucks.” his eyes keeping eye contact with Lettuce, “The one who thought of this SUCKED.”
Lettuce looked mad, he kept saying random words trying to retort but Wemmbu just kept laughing.
“OH BURNNNN!”
“ENOUGH! PUT THOSE ON OR YOU GUYS ARE DEAD!”
Lettuce had enough of their bull and took out his sword.
Flame and Wemmbu just shrugged and started to put them on.
“EW, these stink ass, i miss my netherite.” remarked Wemmbu.
“Me too, bro.” said Flame, patting Wemmbu on the shoulder.
He wasn’t lying, Flame was missing the familiar weight of their netherite armor.
“I look like shat in this, frick Lettuce.”
He looked at Wemmbu after Wemmbu’s remark and he could confidently say that wemmbu was wrong about that. Flame was left speechless.
You look good in everything.
Was the only thing he wanted to say but flame couldn’t say how the copper colour matched Wemmbu’s purple eyes, bringing out his firerly sprite. He couldn’t say that Wemmbu looked like a majestic sunset.
“Yeah that sucks on you.”
Was the only thing he could say. His eyes were still darting around Wemmbu’s body, checking him out.
Then a player poked him.
“What do you want bro?”
Said Flame in surprise, his voice a little too high pitched that how he would like it.
“Dude, you look like you're seeing your lover, and what I mean by that is, you look like you are love sick over him.”
“Shut up dude, it has nothing to do with you.” said Flame, still staring at Wemmbu complaining about the uniform, like a lovesick puppy.
“Dude, your practically droolin-”
“Shhh”
The lawman shutted up after that, he just stood there in the corner keeping watch on those two.
“Wemmbu, just take what you have and be quiet.” Lettuce said, as he opened the cell door.
“Come with me, I got something exciting planned out for you two.”
END OF CHAPTER 1