Chapter Text
His fingers twitch. The faint sound of squeaking echoing through the spacious layout of the workshop. The small movement catches the attention of a Cat hybrid who's ears instantly perk up. Their tail swaying behind them as they made their way over, their steps careful and precise not to startle the doll laid on the resting table.
"Aa.. Hu...t..s..."
Wifies closes his eyes shut. He can't tell if it was him desperately trying to block out the light overhead seeping into his closed eyelids, or if he was wincing from the pain coursing through his entire body. Or maybe, it was both. His voice was hoarse, barely audible as he parted his lips again at an attempt of making any sound.
"Don't overdo it, your voice box is still damaged."
That voice was soft yet stern, lightly pressing a hand against his chest where his voice box would be hiding in. Wifies' reaction being to let out a strangled sound like a cowering animal made it clear it really was damaged. Kenadian instantly moved his hand away, muttering an apology - he hadn't pressed hard. She wanted to check the current state of the mechanism but it seems even that small movement was harming.
"Okay.. So that needs more fixing."
She lets out a sigh, tail swaying behind as he ponders of how to approach this.
"K...n.."
Wifies coughs out, calling out their name as he tries to open his eyes - wincing at the light directly aiming for him as he tries not to move so much. If he even does as much as moving a finger, he feels pain shooting through his veins. Or well, threads.
"Close your eyes, Wifies.. The pain will be over soon."
He doesn't know how, but hearing those words made him close his eyes again. His mind slowing to lull him into a slumber he wasn't sure when he'd wake from.
When had he last ever feel this much pain?
He hadn't fully grasped how sensitive his pain receptors were until now. The threads within him, and the mechanisms that exists that made him out to be this doll was working overtime to make him function properly. If he listened hard enough, he could hear the sounds of a clockwork heart beating within him. Thumping louder, then suddenly going slower within his ears.
────── ✧
He doesn't know how long it's been.
But he woke up in a new room. Different from that of the workshop. This room was far more familiar, more cozy to the heart. Violet cotton sheets, a board attached to the wall of an old case he had solved over a year ago. Pictures, gadgets, papers, books and all scattered about.
He'd been so used to adventuring that he had forgotten how home feels like.
"Oh, you're awake."
The one that greeted him this time wasn't Kenadian, but Wato, who peered into the room at first before opening it fully to let himself in.
"Feeling any better?"
Wifies hadn't realized that the heavy weight he felt on his entire body was gone. All he felt was warmth seeping in through the remains of the cracks of his skin. He stayed still in the bed for a moment, staring blankly at Wato who steps forward to stand besides his bed. He tried to move his fingers. This time, there was no pain surging through his entire body.
"Y...Yeah."
His voice box was definitely better. No longer distorted and no longer hurting just to speak. But his throat still feels scratchy.. That would be an easy fix compared to everything else that probably happened. It took a few moments.. Who was he kidding? It was minutes upon minutes, where Wato would hold out his hand for Wifies to use as a stabilizer to do something as easy as sitting up.
He can't lie, he was embarrassed about it.
He sat on the bed, hand returning to the blanket covering the lower half of his body as he can't help but fidget with the fabric. It wasn't much to ease the nerves he can feel spiking up, but it definitely was something.
"..You guys fixed me?"
He asked the obvious. Looking at how his body now looks. Back in Paragon, his body was shattered to pieces. The amount of cracks in his body made him indistinguishable from any broken toy you can find in an alley of a doll factory. He didn't look pristine now. There was definitely parts of his body that couldn't be repaired so easily - cracks in his skin that exists as lingering evidence of the explosion.
"Well, yeah. What were we supposed to do? Just leave you there?"
"Yeah."
Wifies didn't hesitate on his reply, and Wato finds herself stumbling on what to say to that.
It took a few moments but she finally parted their lips to speak,
"Well, we could never."
Wifies' fingers curled on the blanket, holding it for much needed moral support
"Why?"
Silence. Then,
"You know.. I'm pretty sure you should be adjusting to waking up from being on death's door than discussing these types of serious stuff right now."
Wato offers a light hearted chuckle, not really expecting Wifies to return the same lighthearted tone. And he wasn't at all surprised when he didn't.
Silence lingered in the bedroom. The doll clearly thinking with some sort of intense focus as Wato shifted under the weight of his gaze. They weren't unfamiliar with Wifies' gaze - blank, but so full of questions at the same time. So intense but so airy all in the same. It was hard to comprehend Wifies. Too complex of a being that people grew tired of trying to understand.
"Look, we can talk about it with Ken, alright? But for now, I wanna check your functions to see if you're in good enough conditions to do so much as stand up."
Wifies didn't argue with that. He didn't want to. Wato and Kenadian already went out of their way to retrieve and repair his body. If he suddenly broke down from a loose function, it would be an insult to their skill and care.
────── ✧
It took a while but Wifies finds himself sat on the couch. His fingers busy fidgeting with the pillowcase of a pillow he placed on his lap. It was something small, but it was something he always did. A sort of comfort in a way he can't really explain. And that pillow was certainly doing a lot of comforting in a moment like this where Kenadian and Wato sat on the opposite couch.
Wato was the first to speak, attempting to release the pressure of this conversation gently, "Okay so.."
"Why?"
Instantly, Wifies asked.
So many questions starting with "Why" that circled his mind.
Why would Kenadian and Wato go out of their way to save him?
The two had taken him under their wing after he left the factory. They explored worlds together, solved mysteries and escape rooms together until the day the three of them entered Unstable SMP. The two had thought it would be nice to let Wifies live a little, talk with people beyond just the two of them, and when Parrot had asked Kenadian if he knew someone who'd be amazing in puzzle solving. Ken introduced him to Wifies.
None of them really expected Wifies to drift apart from them the moment Parrot came into his life.
Ken and Wato stayed in Unstable for their own agendas, but a common one was Wifies. Waiting for the day that the Doll would come back to them and join them in their adventures.
But that never really came.
Wifies was getting more and more attached to Parrot. For a Doll that was made and known for being smart. He was weak to his own emotions. It was something he never knew how to deal with. The unfamiliarity, the lack of guidance of how to go about it made him go against the principles he would once firmly stand on.
That Wifies they once knew and loved became dead to Kenadian, Wato and soon, Parrot.
Wifies was unsure where Ken and Wato went after he had faked his death, he'd assume they went off in their adventures outside of the server. But he knew the two were upset at him. He could feel it in their brief meetings, the disappointment of being left behind and the disappointment of how skewed his view was becoming.
So why?
"Because we still care about you."
Wato made it sound so simple. Like it was just something as easy as breathing. It was like stating a fact that everyone in the world knew. Like it was as easy as telling someone that the sky was blue. So easy, as if they weren't throwing off Wifies' entire internal balance.
"I left you behind." Wifies spoke,
"That you did." Ken replied with a nod, a hum of aggreement leaving her.
"You're not mad?"
"We were." Wato crosses their legs, the movement casual, his own way of easing himself.
"Were." Wifies emphasizes,
"Well, being left behind does cause resentment." Ken spoke up in a matter-of-fact tone.
"So why not anymore?"
"Self reflection does things. You should try it sometime." Wato shrugs, ear flicking as she speaks,
"Are you still upset at me?"
"Yeah." Ken instantly replies, and Wato nodded in agreement.
"Kinda wished you gave us a heads up that you were gonna fake your death, too." She continued and Wato visibly winced besides them, the news of Wifies' death affected both of them pretty badly. It caused a ripple even in their friendship.
"Sorry." Wifies lowered his head, unable to find it in himself to make eye contact.
"You should tell that to Parrot too."
Once Wato mentioned the Avian, Wifies's expression grew grim. His hold on the fabric getting tighter as he remembers the things he did to the Avian more vividly now. It took a few seconds - minutes before Wifies finally responded.
"How? I'm banned."
"We're not. You can just write a letter and we'll drop it in."
"He won't forgive me."
"He doesn't need to."
Wato's reply was instant, shaking his head.
Death wasn't hard to overcome when you don't have a server home. When you never truly belonged to any world - when your spawn was in the void, rewriting codes. They had the grace and blessings of only being banned from a server than truly dying within it. Wifies had met death, but it allowed him to come back. But the players that lived within Unstable, or any other hardcore survival world.. Death greeted them with open arms, and never allowed them to leave.
Wifies had caused deaths around Parrot. Had belittled deaths that distressed the Avian greatly. Had threatened death to people that never truly deserved it.
That was something truly hard to forgive.
"..Okay."
Was all Wifies' reply, nodding.
────── ✧
"What the hell? This is plagiarism!"
Kenadian sulked, staring at the blueprints of "Paragon" that the doll showed him.
Said doll currently had his hands politely placed in front of him, looking like a kicked puppy, "I'm sorry..."
Paragon was perfect in every way. While he did spend his time thinking a lot about it - majority of it was from a blueprint Kenadian once showed him of her own prison model. She called it perfect in every way. And Wifies couldn't help but use that blueprint to his advantage during his time as the Director.
"I'm gonna need credits for my idea, Wifies." Ken pouts, tail swaying behind as his ear flicks
"You can put a sign saying 'Credits to Kenadian'" Wato suggested, a smile placed on his lips
And Kenadian thought of it before nodding, making a mental note to do that as well when they visit Unstable to drop off the letter.
"Also Wifies, now that you're back. You should take a look at your mail."
Wato brings up out of the blue, and Wifies can't help but sour already.
He loved helping people with their cases, he really did. It had always been in his heart and principles to help...
But there being dozens upon dozens of mails asking for help on their case is soon to drive him insane.
"How many is it..."
"Last time i checked, I counted 243."
"Fuck."