Archive of Our Own

Wato1876 was a simple person. He had full netherite gear, maxxed out tools, a few shulkers with different items, a few shulkers with shulkers, a house, a base, a secret base, a decoy base and another secret base just in case.

There was nothing more that they would ever need. Well, perhaps, another base wouldn't hurt, but he was content with what he had.

He also had a few good friends, a functioning brain and a good memory.

And he felt like that memory had been failing him for a few days now, which was very unusual, especially with a functioning brain. That thing should be stable, as far as he knows.

Why, you might ask, have they been thinking that their brain is failing him? Well, it's quite simple. His five senses are the ones that have been failing him lately. And his sixth sense, too, apparently.

The five senses were showing him clear examples of weird occurrences, and the sixth sense was only egging them on, saying that something was out of place. Well, then their sixth sense must not be failing them?

He was confused. Many cases that happened to him were just bizarre. They weren't harmful or anything of sorts, but they were just baffling.

Like, for example, he was talking to Jumper a day or two ago — they were having a normal conversation, nothing out of the ordinary, just pleasant chatter — and then poof – she's gone. Just like that. A second ago, there was a JumperWho standing in front of him, and now in her place is just air.

Naturally, he looked around, even checked past a few corners – nobody was there. And then he turns around, and bam — she's there again. Standing on the spot where she had been standing before she disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

He ran back to her, and, with a raised brow, asked, “where did you vanish to? Are you okay?”

Jumper raised a brow, too, “of course I'm okay, what do you mean? My internet just cut off for a second, had to fix it.”

Wato only frowned at that, even more confused, but he decided to dismiss it, at least for now, in favour of the conversation they were having.

This wasn't the first time he had to dismiss a situation like that. That one was more plain, but still made him squint his eyes.

He was talking to Arachn1d and Spongs the day before the case with Jumper, it was something about a new civilization, and Arachn1d said something along the lines of “They're going to rebuild it… that might put many people in danger”.

He then coughed, giggled, looked up a bit, and said “I should do that one again, didn't feel very natural.” Spongs let out a small laugh, which was more perplexing than Arachn1d’s phrase, because just a second ago, he was acting cautious, even suspicious, or so it seemed, of Arachn1d, and Wato saw that the feeling was mutual, even though he thought they knew each other pretty well.

Arachn1d did repeat himself, and they just continued as if nothing had happened. If you were to ask Wato, they thought the phrase sounded fine the first time. Why would he have to repeat it? They weren't on a set or anything.

Although the surrounding area of Wato's house did seem to be a set. Because why, tell him, thank you very much, was there a big mountain near it just a few days ago, and now there's a sea? And he was pretty pissed about it! He was very content with the house being near a mountain. He loved hiking, even if he could always fly on an elytra.

Then, overnight, a lighthouse appeared on the sea, the beach changed from sand to gravel, and little hills were thrown around here and there. A few days pass, there are a lot of people going on the beach, then bam again — and hey, that's his mountain!

One day, something bewildering happened. Wato was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, reading a book, drinking tea and admiring the sunset. He lowered his eyes to bookmark where he was reading — he wanted to just do nothing for a bit — raised his head and… there's a mansion. Right in front of his house, around two hundred blocks away or so.

He decided he must be hallucinating or something. He got up, rubbed his eyes — the mansion was still there. He took a step, another one, slowly walked up to the mansion.

Carefully, as if not to scare it away, — even if you can't really scare away a bunch of planks and concrete, but at this point, anything could happen, — he touches the outer wall, the bricks cold under his palm. Conclusion? It's real. That's even more confusing.

Well… it appears there will be no view appreciating today for him. That sucks, but it is what it is. He can't really do much about a magical mansion, or whatever this mysterious building was.

Another thing he noticed was that people would randomly go missing for a few days, just nowhere to be found – not in their own houses, not at their friends’ houses, not in hospitals, police stations, resorts, anything of sorts – actually, they must be hiding in their secret bases, but not the decoy ones, but the decoys to their actual bases that are the bases for the decoys, or else he would have found at least someone by now, if that was the case – but then they'd reappear and everyone would act like nothing happened.

When Wato would ask them about it, they would just shrug it off and say stuff like, “eh, I was busy with work,” or studying, or “life”, as some said, and then they'd add, “you get it”. Wato did not, in fact, get it.

But what annoyed him a lot were the setbacks, as he'd gotten accustomed to calling them. For instance, he'd put his cup on the coffee table, — and he was sure he did that, — and then he wouldn't be able to find it for half an hour because, for some reason, it went back to the microwave.

And it started happening more frequently each day, and, frankly, Wato was pissed.

So yes, in conclusion, Wato1876 was a bamboozled person.

And what does he do when he's confused? Research. He investigates. Generally, tries to find out why something is happening or not happening.

So that's what he did for the next five or so days. They observed, they wrote it down, they asked around if anyone had noticed anything, the whole thing.

The conclusion was quite simple, but also even more confusing – this happened when four people were being very active: FlameFrags, ParrotX2, SpokeIsHere and Wemmbu, maybe Wifies at times.

It also seems weird because it's not even a day or two, but just four or so hours. It shouldn’t be that much to cause so many interesting situations, but here we are.

But either way, luckily for Wato, he knows Wifies! And he's been wanting to talk to Kenadian, his best friend, too.

So, like an average, normal person, he goes to Ken’s house. He knocks. Nobody answers. So he's not home, probably. Huh. Must be searching for his unrenewable plants or something.

Well then, Wifies it is!

For some reason, that guy isn't home either. Just Wato's luck… Or maybe it's the fact that it's the middle of the day and everyone is probably out adventuring or getting resources, or working. Maybe that!

So, having nothing to do for now, Wato decides to go on an adventure himself. What else should he do, anxiously sit around and wait for his friends? Definitely not!

He gets out of his chestplate, throws on the wings, takes a minute to adjust them — you don't want them dropping mid-flight! — and takes off with the help of a jump and a few fireworks.

Wato has always liked flying. Face against the wind, hair finally not going into his eyes and mouth, and the liberating feeling of controlling himself in the air was definitely relaxing, especially when you think all the time.

This goes on for fifteen minutes or so, time to time renewing his momentum with the fireworks.

He closes his eyes to properly enjoy the air, not afraid of hitting anything when he… hits something?

He feels himself falling against something that feels like a wall, but also isn't one, because if it were, he'd probably die, considering the speed he was going at. Opening his eyes, he only sees weird blue lines and… wait, what is that?

He flies down, comes up as close to the wall as he can, and… all he can see is… void? Is that the end of the world?

Even if it did exist, he wasn't supposed to hit it so quickly, right? That would make the existing world quite small, which wouldn't make sense, because he knew he had flown for way longer previously.

Unfortunately, there's no explanation for this, at least Wato doesn't have one yet. He jumps yet again and flies away. There's nothing to do with the wall, really, except be aware of its existence.

Spending in the air a few more minutes, he can't quite enjoy it the same way he did just a quarter of an hour ago. Everything just seems off. Not right. As if it didn't feel off already.

While flying, he's looking around, and almost doesn't notice a big… tower? It's not quite a tower, but it's also not a building you usually see. It appears as if a chunk of earth is sticking out, as if part of it just climbed out, as if… Wato doesn't even know how to explain it in any other way.

And on top of this mountain, or whatever it is, he sees a house. A strangely familiar house.

It takes two fireworks to vertically fly up alongside the ripped-out piece of earth.

When he gets to the top, he realises why the building on it seemed familiar.

It was his house.

And there was someone near it, looking around just as confusedly as he had only a bit ago.

And that person is strangely familiar, too.

His ear twitches, his tail tenses up, and he sneaks up to the person. In retrospect, probably not the best idea. But what does a wolf do when it senses danger? Acts carefully, that's right. And probably attacks, but not necessarily.

They, naturally, jump out of fear when Wato taps their shoulder, almost falling off the cliff. Wato catches them by the hand and gets a good look at their face.

They mimic his own frown, “hey, it was quite rude to scare me like that!”

Wato only blinks. This person is literally him, except something is different. He can't quite put a finger on why, but looking back, it was quite obvious. He just didn't expect anything like that.

“Yeah, sorry… I didn't mean to scare you, I am quite scared myself,” Wato apologized, and then thought for a second or two, “well, not scared, but rather confused. You look…” he tilted his head, his tail wrapping around his leg, “familiar.”

The person tilted their head and frowned, “thinking about it, I can say the same about you…” they extended their hand for a handshake, “name's Wato, I use she/they pronouns.”

Wato blinked. Not the one who just introduced herself, but the one whose hand stopped halfway towards the handshake.

“What?” he asked, even more confused than before, “what's your name again?”

“Wato, what about it?” They raised an eyebrow at them.

“That's,” Wato trailed off, “that's my name too,” he finally finished the handshake, “except I use he/they and well… I don't see you having a tail.”

The other Wato's frown deepened, and she let go of his hand, “yea, I'm a human… but apart from my house teleporting to who-knows-where, this is even weirder. Are you Wato1786?”

Wato blinked, “no, I'm Wato1876. Are you Wato1786?”

“I am Wato1786. That's my full governmental name.”

“Awesome! My full governmental name is Wato1876. Nice to meet you, Wato1786.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Wato1876.”

Wato1876 giggled out of the sheer absurdity of this situation. Never in a lifetime would he think he'd meet a long-haired, fempresenting version of himself, except maybe in a mirror. Wato1786 seemed to think the same thing — after all, they were basically the same person, Wato1876 thought — and giggled too.

“So…” Wato1876 said, “you said you don't know how you appeared here?”

“Yeah, no idea,” Wato1786 nodded, “I was trying to understand where my mug was that I had just placed on the counter, I was about to drink some tea on the porch, and then I couldn't find it, thought I already brought it out and…” she spread her hands in confusion, “now I'm here.”

Wato blinked, the house flickered, and he was in the air again, barely evening himself out in time to not hit the ground and not become a little pancake.

Now, she wasn't there again.

Wato has never seen anything like this, and now he doesn't even have proof he had.

But now they knew that something was up for sure. That helps, at least. Maybe it will give him more understanding of what might be going on. He doesn't know yet.

Hence why, he should talk to Kenadian, now for sure. Ken is a very smart person, after all. Wato was sure he noticed something, too, and even if not, he could help him find out. Both of them could help each other.

Wato looked around one last time, and just now realised — the terrain had changed. Before, the chunk of earth was sitting right in the middle of a plain, but now it was a simple, if a bit sparse oak forest and in the horizon, he could notice the ocean, where the wall had previously been. There was also a lighthouse far away, and Wato could only notice it because of the glimmer of its light.

Yeah, lighthouses have lights. Pretty strong ones at that. Shocker!

Wato flicked his tail, his ears twitched, he checked if their elytra was good, got a running start and took off yet again, except this time he couldn't focus on how nice the air was, as his mind was crowded with all the thoughts, theories, and facts.

He decided to check if the wall existed in the ocean and then go to Ken's house, and while at it, figure out if this wasn't some kind of hallucination, or whatever else it could be.

Running a basic check through himself and his feelings, he realised he didn't feel normal when he was standing on that foreign piece of earth. It felt otherworldly, — which is logical, because he just met himself from another universe, — they weren't sure what exactly it was, but the air seemed different, and the ground wasn't like here.

But that also made him realise that this world didn't feel exactly right, either. Before this moment, Wato felt like he belonged here, like he was the character in the right book, but now it was as if someone had thrown him into another story without any warning.

He wasn't sure what exactly swayed his feelings, but now he was sure that maybe, this wasn't his mind. No, it was his world, because after all, he did feel right about it previously, but specifically — it wasn't his mind. Does that even make sense?

Meanwhile, he got pretty far into the ocean, and he was almost sure he didn't hit anything, not like before. He turned around and rushed to Ken's place.

Now, another reassessment.

He had just shaken hands with Wato1786, a human woman who shared his exact governmental name minus two digits, and he knew that she was in their right mind. Like, literally.

He, however, wasn't. And that scared him more than he'd like to admit.

He was never scared of being trapped somewhere. They knew he could get out, which was, if a bit arrogant of him to think so, true.

However, losing his mind, in the literal sense, was way worse. There was a chance he wouldn't be able to figure out how to get out, or find his usual mind, or even worse — accept it and forget about his actual self.

There's a difference between a mind prison and a physical one. You could break a physical one — or, break out, for a better wording — but if you break a mental one, you will break yourself.

There are more things that could break a soul besides being hurt. Time. It doesn't heal, it breaks. Relentlessly, unforgivingly. If you don't make peace with something, that is. Or if you don't get used to fighting with it. It.

He clicked his tongue. He wasn't particularly pleased with it. He liked things that made sense, like redstone, — despite many people disagreeing with him, — mob pathfinding, hitboxes, borders of blocks and many other things. Or maybe, he liked being able to understand them. What he didn't like was when reality was messing with itself, as if it only took itself as a piece of fabric, which could be true, but Wato wouldn't know.

Maybe, for Reality itself, humans weren't that important, but just an experiment, merely a test subject. Wow, it has many subjects then.

It would probably suck to go to reality school when you're a small reality kid, questioning yourself all the time and stuff.

What is he even thinking about?

Kenadian’s base was tucked away somewhere where you wouldn't look for a base, but at the same time not too hidden for someone who knows how Ken is to understand that it would be hidden there, but also more hidden than that person would think. So reverse reverse psychology? Whatever.

It was usually surrounded by neat — sometimes not really — rows of experimental setups, some unrenewable blocks and a few chaotic builds no one but Ken knew the purpose of.

Wato carefully descended, being careful not to hit the ground too hard, — he didn't need a concussion on top of his mind already being a mess, — and landed with a little thud right near Ken's house. Well, the “public” entrance to it.

He walked a few blocks, getting to “the Wato entrance”, and rang a little bell, — it wasn't actually a bell, but it was too complicated to explain right now, — but it made the sound that it would when Ken wasn't home.

Where is this cheeky cat, anyways? Wato wearily rubbed his face.

And just with that, he heard rustling, and someone landed where he did just a minute ago. He carefully, as if wolf hunting, snuck around a tree, and there they were, the Kenadian himself!

Wato let out a low, hissing “pst”, calling for Ken.

Ken's head whipped around, but when he saw Wato, he relaxed, if only a bit, still seeming on edge.

Ken motioned for Wato to come to him, and that he did. Ken frowned, and, as if hesitant, whispered, “numbers?”

“Underscore,” Wato answered quietly, it was his turn now, “letters?”

“Twenty-one,” Ken nodded, and, more confidently now, motioned for Wato to go the same way he just was, which he did after looking around one more time.

They went into the Kenadian entrance, which was, obviously, a bunch of complicated mechanisms that nobody in their right, — of even left, — mind would figure out or even think about, but also maybe too simple for someone like Ken.

When they entered his base, he flicked on the lights, and a messy, — but, to give Ken credit, it was messy in a very specific, neat way, if that makes sense, — living room was revealed to their eyes. However, both of them were used to it, so Wato just sighed, sitting down on his usual spot on the couch.

“So,” Wato started, as Ken sat down, — or, rather, tucked himself on his armchair, — his tail wrapping around his legs as he pressed them close to his chest, and his ears stood firm, as if they were listening to hear something. Or someone. He stared straight, pupils dilated. Wato understood.

“You know something is up, right?” Wato continued with his question.

“Don't ask stupid questions, Wato,” said Ken, not meanly, but rather eagerly, “of course I do. We both know something is happening. You should be asking what I think is happening. But I'm already going to tell you that I have no idea.”

“Yes. You're right,” Wato nodded, more so to himself, “I assume you know what happened to me? From how you looked when I saw you, I think you experienced that, too.”

Ken didn't react immediately. He kept clicking the fence gate that, for some reason, probably stimming purposes, was located to his right. Then, as if a command had finally finished processing, he paused, blinked, and turned his head slowly, eyes a bit glassed over, but still very sure.

"A twin," Ken muttered into the air.

"Yes," Wato confirmed.

"I met one too," Ken said, his gaze drifting over to the table in front of the couch, where a contraption was sitting, a clock, but not quite, "about half an hour ago. Although time hasn't been consistent either, don't know if you've noticed that. She was… a human, a very confused one. Can't blame them. I was confused, too. Even more so, her base wasn't as well hidden as mine.”

He added quickly, “her name was Canadian, too.” He scoffed, “how unoriginal.”

Wato could only say, “you're one to talk. At least she can shorten it to Can. She for sure Can.” Ken, rolling his eyes, only threw a look his way that said “at least I changed a letter.”

A second passed, “you don't think,” Ken looked right at Wato, “I'm stupid in one of the universes?”

Wato could only giggle, even if it was tense, “is that the only thing that’s bothering you?” He smiled, two canine teeth showing, “don't want to disappoint you, my friend, but I fear in some universe, yes, you aren't as smart as in this one.”

Ken let out a chuckle, “as much as I don't want to admit that, I guess you're right.” He stopped messing with the gate, “although I must give it to her, she seemed to know something was up, too.”

“I think it would take a really dumb person not to realise something is not right,” Wato tilted his head to the side.

“Well, thank you, Wato1876, for being such a good best friend and being so supportive,” Kenadian said sarcastically, his attitude coming back to him.

“You're welcome,” Wato gave Ken an artificially bright smile, and shook his head to get his train of thoughts back on the track, “so, mine seemed to be very aware that shit is happening, maybe even more certainly than I was. She noticed similar things as I did, about the delay in the world, or whatever you wanna call it.”

Ken nodded, “if we assume that they're from the same universe, do you think we aren't best friends there because I'm stupid?”

“Ken!” Wato exclaimed.

“What?! Can I not care about my friendship with you?” Ken laughed out loud, but quietened, “yeah, I know, we should get back on topic. It’s just,” he tailed off for a second, “the idea of stupid me is off-putting, you know?”

Wato laughed, too, “I get it,” he said, “but, either way, in this one you're smart, and can't really change the other version of you somewhere or sometime in the four or more dimensions.”

“Except if I can…” Ken said in a way that you'd think he's already thinking of a mechanic to travel through the universes, “but not until we figure this out.”

Wato nodded, “have you talked to people?”

“Not really,” Ken shrugged, “you know me. Although I did,” he pointed at the contraption on the table, “conduct some experiments. The conclusion is simple.”

“Someone is doing something.” Wato finished the thought, “yes, I thought so too. I think it's somehow connected to the protagonist quartet. Why are they called that, anyways? Are we in some kind of series? Although,” he raised his finger, a claw sticking out, “I did meet some people a few days ago, and they were talking as if they were. Weirded me out. I thought they weren't friends, or at least haven't interacted much, but,” he didn't finish his own sentence.

“Yea, I guess,” Ken confirmed, even if there wasn't anything specific to confirm.

The silence hung heavy in the air between them. Both of them knew the series comment wasn't exactly incorrect, even if neither of them knew how exactly. It felt familiar, yet very distant.

“You know who we haven't talked to?” Ken asked, more so a rhetorical question.

"We need to find Wifies," Wato nodded, "he always knows what's going on with the server dynamics. Especially considering he's very close friends with Parrot. Lately,” Wato haven't voiced this opinion to anyone yet, “I think he's been even closer of a friend to him. And I'm not sure how or why, or if I like it.”

Ken nodded slowly once again, and didn't say anything, but Wato knew he knew what he was talking about and was just thinking.

They climbed out of the base, both trying to stay calm, but some kind of impatient electricity was strumming through the both of them.

They took off on one of trees’ exits, and it wasn't long until they arrived to Wifies’ house. Expectedly, he wasn't there.

They ran the rest of the hundred or so blocks and found Wifies near a pretty, brick house, bigger than what most people had, standing near a tree that grew in the garden, doing nothing in particular.

Wato’s ears pricked as he didn't hear armour clattering on Wifies. Although he did hear something metallic, even if he had no idea what exactly it was. People usually wear armour, too. For obvious reasons. If you die, you die!

"Hey, Wifies!" Wato called out when they were close enough.

Wifies froze. He didn't turn around immediately. For only a few ticks, he stood entirely motionless, his hands hovering unnaturally in the air, as if he was clicking something on a display that didn't exist, at least for the two that arrived.

Then, with a sudden, jerky movement, he snapped his head toward them, "oh. Hey guys," Wifies said.

Wato took a step forward, then, sensing danger, went back, his tail tensing up.

Wifies' face was wrong. Not in a rude way, Wato would never say Wifies wasn't handsome — in a platonic way — but it was off. His expressions were accurate to what Ken and Wato were used to — a subtle smile, the slight tilt of the head — but they lacked warmth. And maybe, the smile was too mischievous, even for Wifies, and the tilt was too condescending.

It was like looking at a high-resolution sculpture of Wifies, which wouldn't make sense, because how do you even make a sculpture in such a way? His eyes were flat, mirroring the light without absorbing it, even if they were a dark purple. Maybe a bit lighter than usual, but barely noticeable. Wato noticed. Wato knew Wifies noticed him noticing.

"Wifies," Ken began cautiously, but tried to show confidence, "have you noticed anything strange happening lately?”

"Strange?" Wifies snickered, voice laced with patronizing innocence, an uncanny smile on his face, "No.” He said flatly, almost robotically, “everything is great.” He tilted his head further, too smoothly, too purposefully, and a shiver ran down Wato's spine, even if he didn't show it. His ear, however, twitched, only the slightest bit. He noticed how Wifies' eyes flickered to the motion and went back to Ken.

Ken looked at Wato at the same time as Wato looked at him. They both knew they understood. They both knew Wifies noticed they understood. How much did he understand they understood, though?

"I was actually just talking to Parrot," Wifies said, his voice completely level, "you know Parrot, right? He has the spyglass. We are working on things. Important things."

Wato now knew that the man standing before him wasn't actually Wifies. Some version of him, or another mind that took over his body, but not the Wifies they knew. He controlled every cell in his body not to show it, and he seemed to succeed, as Wifies finally turned to them fully, his thoughts seemingly consumed by something else.

Why would they not know who Parrot is? Parrot was their friend, too. And, well, Wifies did once mention a spyglass, some inside joke, or whatever it was, they shared with Parrot, but it never blew up to be a big thing, not as big as this Wifies was pretending it to be.

"Parrot has the spyglass," Wifies repeated, almost word-for-word, his tone entirely unchanged.

Ken tilted his head and reached out to touch Wifies' shoulder. Wato knew he wouldn't actually do it, but only from knowing Ken for a long, long time.

Wifies flinched away with extraordinary speed, snapping into a defensive posture. For only a tick, his eyes flashed red, inhumane and ready to kill. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the look faded, replaced once again by that dull, vacant smile.

“Is that all?” Wifies asked, “if yes, I have a very busy schedule.” He turned around very mechanically and stared into nothingness, just like he had been when Ken and Wato had only arrived.

Ken was already looking at Wato when he nodded very subtly to the side, his eyes flickering to the left. Ken got the hint, and they both took off simultaneously.

Ken flew close to Wato so he could hear them, “we can't go to mine. Too risky. This guy,” he nodded backwards, “knew something. Or didn't. You get it.”

Wato didn't even need Ken to finish his sentence to understand what he meant. Ken didn't need Wato to nod to know he understood.

“We should go to my decoy base,” Wato agreed, “but the decoy base that's the first decoy to other bases, so not an actual decoy.”

Ken nodded, too, and they spread apart, Wato leading the way.

They arrived there and hurriedly, Wato found the entrance, pulled a few strings in the literal meaning, and they jumped into it, the entrance closing after them as Wato let go of the strings.

"I also think he knew something. But,” he hesitated if only for a second, “he felt smart and dumb at the same time," Wato muttered, "like he knew things he shouldn't know, but didn't have a single real brain cell operating. Actual npc in action."

Ken nodded and hummed. The hum that he always hummed when he was in deep thought.

“I think we should hide and split up,” Ken said, and Wato nodded in agreement.

“You should stay here,” Wato suggested, “and I'll go to my decoy base that's a decoy to an actual decoy base.”

He walked across the room to get to the exit, but turned around, pulling out his communicator, “stay in touch, okay? Don't disappear. Let me know if you're in danger.”

Wato knew Ken sometimes forgot about the communicator. Ken pulled it out and nodded, holding it up. Wato left the base shortly after a brief exchange of goodbyes.

He got to the decoy of a decoy and plumped onto the bed. He was exhausted and needed to think. These two states don't go well together.

Better think after sleeping and not in reverse, because that will hurt your brain. So, sleep Wato did.

Days bled into one another.

Reality continued to warp itself in subtle, maddening ways. At this point, Wato decided to start writing it all down, because he forgot the little cases more often than he should. That's not how he usually is, but he has to fight it in at least some way.

On tuesday – same coffee mug vanished from coffee table, found inside microwave.
Wednesday – the sun rose from the north, corrected itself at twelve exactly.
Thursday – spore blossoms fell from mid-air with no ceiling present. More so, happened right in his basement, and when he checked the flooring, he found a block of mud.

He spent his hours wandering around the main area, searching for something, even though he wasn't sure what exactly. All his clues kept pointing back to the same four central figures: FlameFrags, ParrotX2, SpokelsHere, and Wemmbu. Whenever those four gathered, a lot of other unfamiliar people appeared, led as if an army, and more so, the little happenings frequented and grew in influence.

It was on a late afternoon when Wato, sitting on their porch yet again, doing nothing in particular except ogling for at least something that would lead him to a more solid conclusion, noticed a big building appear, this time further from his house.

Ugh, again?!

This time, it was near a tree line of a nearby birch forest, so Wato flew there as quickly as they could.

In a small clearing before the castle stood Parrot and Theo, and hiding in the shadow near the castle’s entrance was the hollow version of Wifies.

Parrot was talking, "...so if we move these few blocks here, the scene will look much better from that angle.”

"Wait," Theo interrupted, "I thought we'd be the spyglass stuff today? Or is it not locked in yet?”

"I'm doing another plotline for now, we also need to wait for Spoke to finally edit his pov," Parrot answered, "otherwise it will be too rushed, won't make sense to the viewers, or will look too bad with the general picture. Or both."

Wato’s breath hitched in his throat. His tail hit the ground rather angrily, which wasn't exactly fitting to the situation.

Plotline? Pov? Viewers?

What were they talking about? What plot? This was their life. This was the world. Wasn't it?

"Alright, I just need to get a glass of water. I'll be right back,” Theo hummed in agreement, and Parrot stood still. Wasn't he supposed to be getting water?

A tick — and he's gone. Just simply not there. Ceased to exist. And Theo seemed completely normal about it.

Where Parrot had been standing a tick prior, there was only empty air. Well, air can't be full, because if it's full, it's not air. Doesn't matter right now.

Wato stared.

Parrot reappeared in the exact same spot, continuing his thought as if no time had elapsed at all, "I also think we should change a few lines in the spyglass plot, they sound too cheesy. But that's for later. For now, I'm starting the recording.”

Theo simply said “okay” as if nothing baffled him, — and, to be fair, nothing did seem to actually baffle him after all, — and Parrot started talking, as if just to himself.

Wato's left hand twitched. Specifically, his ring finger. It seemed like muscle memory that he had somehow forgotten that didn't belong to a wolf-hybrid living in a blocky world.

That's when it clicked.

It wasn't their world after all.

Wato ran through the forest and took off far away from Parrot and his recording to not disrupt it, quickly going to his main base, but not to his house.

Their tail kept flailing in the air, and he wrapped it around his leg, which threw him off balance, but he managed to level himself out.

Now, he knew what to do. He had to get out and get into the real universe. He had to get home.

He arrived at the base, quickly slid in from one of the hidden entrances, ran to the storage room, and dropped off every single item in his inventory. He knew he had to be focused for this.

He ran to the most spacious room there was, — didn't even register which one, — and simply stood there, closing his eyes.

If he got in, he can get back.

He tried to feel something in the air with his left hand. He tried to imagine not having wolf ears or a tail. Tried to imagine himself.

Their left hand twitched again. It felt as if he pressed on something, and then he fell, but his body didn't find anything to fall on, so he just kept falling. A sickening force twisted and contorted him. It felt as though his soul and mind were being dragged through a needle's eye.

And then — darkness.

He didn't know how much time he spent in the void, but then air came rushing into his lungs, pain invading every cell of his being.

He felt his hand on the escape button, and felt his forehead lying on the rest of it. Well, doesn’t feel really nice, but now he can say that anyone could read his face.

He coughed, their lungs couldn't draw air, and his limbs felt weightless and too heavy to lift all at once.

He lay there for what felt like hours, maybe payback for all this time his mind spent in the game character, but in actuality, only five or so minutes passed.

Wato lifted his heavy head and opened his eyes, squinting, immediately regretting all his life decisions.

Blue light from the screen hit his retina with more force than it ever did, or so it seemed, but he couldn't do anything but stare.

He was sitting in his gaming chair, in his office room, in his actual, real life house. In his actual body. Supposedly. Hopefully.

He looked down at his hands. No claws. Pale human fingers, manicured fingernails resting on the surface of a brown wooden desk beside a glowing keyboard that he was just pressing with the force of the entirety of his big brain.

He tried to move his tail or wolf ears — nothing. That part was a bit disappointing, but Wato didn't think so for long, not wanting to send such a message into the universe.

Now that his eyes adjusted to the harsh light, he could see that on the screen was a full-screen window showing Minecraft. The game was paused, sitting on the list of the servers. Right at the top of it, it read “Unstable Universe”.

His head was pounding, and his eyes were burning, but even in such a state, he was able to understand what had happened.

The unstable universe sucked him in. Because it's unstable. You can't trust a universe if it's unstable! Especially if you're unstable yourself. Which Wato isn't, obviously.

He pinched himself just to be sure. It hurt. He realised he was hungry and thirsty. An almost empty mug was sitting near his keyboard, and he downed it in one swing. They winced. It was cold black coffee.

He got up to walk to his kitchen to get a glass of water and something, anything, to eat.

He stopped in their tracks when he remembered about Kenadian. Their best friend. He could not abandon them. They were probably still stuck, too, their real life body malnourished. He wondered how he looked when he was in his hypnosis, or whatever that was.

But he decided to, after all, run to the kitchen, because if he faints, Ken isn't being rescued either, unless he realizes everything himself, which Wato doesn't doubt, but he can't be sure how much time it'll take.

At some point, it might be too late.

Wato shook his head. No. Everything is going to be fine.

He finally got to the kitchen, turned on the light that hit his eyes as they almost forgot how to see actual, not mechanical light, and he poured himself a glass of water, downing it in one swing. Poured himself another one, this time to take it to the desk.

They opened his fridge and ran his eyes over what he could quickly eat. He wanted a warm meal, that would be ideal, but, unfortunately, now wasn’t the time. He needed to save Ken first.

He found a yogurt, got a box of cereal from a cabinet, and quickly went back to his desk in the office. Maybe it wasn't the best combination, but can you blame him? He needed protein and energy.

He sat down, scooped a bit of his improvised meal with a spoon, ate it, took his mouse into their hand, and, after the cursor hovered over the server tab for a second or two, he clicked on it.

He logged into the game. Thankfully, Wato wasn't actually in the game anymore.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to go into the unstable universe when his body still didn't stabilise itself enough, but he didn't have a choice. He desperately needed to save Ken.

Maybe, it would be easier to do it if they lived together… or not. Who knows. Maybe real life interference would only worsen the detachment.

Wato didn't know where exactly Ken would be right now, but he decided to first check his base.

Unfortunately, he wasn't there.

He quickly put all his items back into his inventory and decided to check the base that was the one he told Ken to hide in after the conversation with Wifies. Fortunately, he did see him right above it, tinkering with some redstone, for some reason — Ken wasn't usually the one to make big redstone machines. He absolutely could, if he wanted, though.

“Hey, Ken!” Wato ran to him in-game and in the heat of the moment, to turn his attention to him as quickly as possible, hit him.

Ken yelped “Ow!” and turned around, exasperatedly ready to berate whoever just inflicted damage upon him.

Seeing Wato, he was both surprised and even more displeased.

“Why would you do that?!” He exclaimed.

Wato took him by the shoulders and shook. He wasn't sure why he did that, but people usually do that when they're trying to wake people up or are in a lot of distress. So, who knows.

“Ken,” he breathed out as if he had been running a marathon, “Ken,” he repeated with urgency, with Ken only watching him in confusion and maybe a bit of concern.

“Ken, do you remember yourself?” Not even waiting for an answer, he continued, “Ken, you need to get out of this server, this universe. Right now,” Wato said, but that didn't make Ken's face any less confused. If anything, it made it more confused.

“What do you mean? This is the universe?”

Wato swallowed, his throat felt dry, “I thought so too. It's not. Please, Ken. You need to wake up in real life.”

Something flashed through Kenadian’s eyes and Wato knew Ken just realized that he was, in fact, in the wrong universe. Their cat eyes flicked to Wato again, “but how?! I feel that something is wrong, but I can't quite put my finger on it…” He didn't seem panicked yet, but definitely in distress, his tail hitting the ground repeatedly.

“Exactly!” Wato breathed out, “put your finger on it. You need to feel it. And please, text me when you get out. Try to focus,” Wato tried to give Ken as much advice as he could, even if he knew Ken was a smart person and could figure it out themselves, and even if he didn’t know if it would actually work.

Although it seemed Ken had already felt something, because just like Wato did, he started feeling out with his left hand, and after a minute or so, Ken disappeared.

The message “_Kenadian_ left the server” glowed yellow in the chat. Wato breathed a sigh of relief. He was breathing a lot. Well, obviously. Maybe that was good, actually.

Wato leaves the server too and tabs out to go to Discord. He finds his dms with Ken and texts him a simple:

Wato1876: You good?

Ken doesn't answer for a good ten minutes, but Wato figures that he needs some time to wake up and, probably, get himself something to eat. Speaking of eating, in the meantime, he munches on his impromptu meal.

After a bit, a response comes.

Ken: Yes, just woke up
Ken: So, what the fuck was that?
Wato1876: vc?
Ken: Sure

Wato hit the call button, and Ken picked up in an instant.

“Did you get yourself something to eat?” Was the first thing Wato asked. Look, he didn't want his best friend to die yet.

“Yes, I got some leftovers from the fridge,” Ken said, “so, what genuinely was that? I am so confused. Did the server suck us in? Did it do it with any other members? For how long have we been out?”

It was in Ken's nature to ask many questions, so Wato wasn't fazed, “yes, I do think the universe somehow pulled us there. I think it was unstable.”

Ken just hummed, Wato guessed he was eating.

“As for other members,” Wato continued, “I don't think so. I realized I was in the wrong universe because Parrot and Theo were talking about the recording, and Parrot had to log off to get water. Wifies was watching them, for some reason, I don't know why.”

Silence hung heavy on the call as they both came to another realization.

“Do you think it pulled Wifies in, too?” Wato asked, rather rhetorically.

“Honestly, I don't know. Anything could be true at this point,” Ken took a sip of water, “but as good friends, we should check.”

Wato nodded, more so to himself. He opened Minecraft again and logged back onto the server. Ken did, too, only a few seconds after Wato.

“Where should we look for him?” Ken asked.

Wato shrugged, “if nobody is recording, which I'm guessing not,” he said after checking the tab list, “I think near Parrot's house, just like last time.”

They both shuddered when they remembered how bizarre Wifies was acting then. Yeah, he almost definitely did get sucked in.

They quickly flew to Parrot's house, and, sure enough, Wifies was just standing there, completely idle, staring into space, as if he was afk. Maybe he wasn't sucked in, after all?

“Nevermind,” thought Wato, when Wifies, just like last time, creepily, too mechanically, too smoothly and just unnaturally turned his head to look at the two that arrived.

This time, Wato feels, they should be way more cautious. If he knew that Ken was actually good old Kenadian, here he isn't sure at all. Wifies was and still is acting weird.

So he waves, both of them approaching closer, and says, “hey Wifies! Do you remember who you are?”

Wifies doesn't answer to the greeting, instead, just frowns and looks both threatening and threatened.

“What do you mean? I am the dir-” he cuts himself off, “I am the Wifies. How could I forget who I am?”

That's weird. Wifies wouldn’t and never did refer to himself as the Wifies. Just Wifies. Maybe even Wifi, for a joke. The internet… whatever. Not the time for their inside jokes.

“So,” Ken asked, as if prodding an open wire with a fork, “have you always lived here?”

“Yes,” unexpectedly immediately answered Wifies, “I was born here.”

Well, that's just untrue. That can't happen. Especially considering that there is a Wifies in real life.

Wato saw as Wifies's eyes changed colours subtly, just like last time, not to red, but to yellow this time, and he knew Wifies was either lying or realized they didn't buy the lie. Wato knew there would be no reason for him to lie if he was actually the Wifies they knew.

It seemed like this Wifies was from another universe. Maybe that's why he thought he was the Wifies? Whatever, not the time.

“Why do you guys just keep staring?” Wifies asked, seemingly unsatisfied, “and why are you asking such weird questions? I don't even know neither of you that well.”

Ken nodded, “fair enough. Sorry, we'll be going now. Thank you!”

And both of them flew away, and, landing near Wato's house, logged off.

“Sigh…” said Ken out loud.

Wato nodded, “yeah.”

Both of them sat in silence for a good few minutes, mulling over what to do and what had been happening for the last hour. For the last however long.

Then, Wato facepalmed.

The sound probably came through the microphone, because Ken asked, “what?”

“We are bozos.” Wato stated, “we could've just texted Wifies!”

“Ugh,” Ken groaned, “right. Of course we forgot about that. Two Minecraft geniuses try reaching out to a friend like normal people.”

Wato clicked on their “kiwiwewewe” group chat — his, Ken's and Wifies’s, — and wrote two simple messages.

Wato1876: Wifies?
Wato1876: Are you okay?

He sees as the idle “moon” icon goes to a green dot, and Wifies answers almost instantly.

Wifies: Yeah
Wifies: Why?
Ken: Long story, but basically the server sucked me and Wato in because the universes were unstable and we thought it happened to you too. Apparently not, though
Wifies: ?
Wifies: What are you guys talking about? Are you two okay?
Wato1876: We are now
Wifies: Is that why you haven't been answering texts for the past week?

“Week?!” Wato exclaimed in the call, “how did we not die from dehydration? Were we hallucinating at some point? What the hell?”

Ken answered with more concern than Wato had ever heard from him, “I don't know man. Thankfully, we aren't,” he paused for a second, and then added, “we aren't, right? If Wifies can see our messages…”

“I think we are, considering we are talking to each other right now,” he pinched himself once again, “and I definitely can feel pain.

“So can I…” Ken confirmed, too.

Wifies: Guys? Just for your information, a few people even came to check your flats, but you didn't answer. We didn't know what to do. Didn't want to call the police, because you didn't exactly go anywhere. Just disappeared in your own homes

They turned their attention back to the group chat after the “puglup” sound it made

Ken: Apparently, yes
Wato1876: We've been out for a week…
Ken: Say, what have you been doing for the past three hours or so?
Wifies: I finished studying an hour ago, and I'm editing a video right now. Why?
Wato1876: Uhhh
Wato1876: Have you been on the unstable universe server in the meantime?
Wifies: No, why? I haven't logged on since the stasis chamber thing
Ken: Uh oh
Wato1876: Don't mean to concern you, but there's another you on the server, and he's acting very weird. Saying he's the Wifies and other stuff. He has your exact nickname, too. You should tell Parrot
Wifies: That is weird, I'll tell someone to check it out
Wifies: You guys get some rest, though, this is no joke. Tell me everything later, okay? I'm both concerned and curious
Ken: Oki! We'll go sleep in a bit
Weto1876: Good luck with your video!
Wifies: Thank you, sleep well guys, and don't fall into other universes!

Wato giggled, and Ken sighed.

“I don't know if that's better or worse,” Ken said.

“At least our Wifies is safe.”

“Yeah,” Wato knew Ken nodded behind the screen, “I want to rest though, and think all of this over.”

“Me too,” Wato agreed, “I feel like my head is going to explode. Make sure to drink some water, too!”

“True,” Ken said, “good night then! And follow through with what Wifies said.”

Wato chuckled, “yeah, I will. You too, Ken. Talk to you tomorrow,” and he hung up the call with a little “publum”.

Wato turned off his computer. The blue glow faded, and Wato turned on his actual lights to find his phone. Only now did he notice that the room was, indeed, a little bit dusty.

His phone was on a shelf, completely out of charge. He hadn't used it, but, as far as he remembered, it was on a low percentage when he sat down to play on the server, apparently a whole week ago.

He turned off his lights and went to his bedroom, leaving his phone to charge.

He went to brush his teeth, showered — it felt really refreshing, which isn't a surprise after sitting in one position for a week, — and just followed through with his usual hygiene routine.

He went to his bedroom in his pyjamas and plumped onto the bed. Checked his phone — already 12%. Awesome. He turned it on.

Notifications flooded in as soon as the phone connected to the internet, but Wato couldn't bother to check them all right now. Maybe it was a bit selfish, but he just couldn't do it right now.

He only saw the time, — 2:15, — and put it away.

For a bit, maybe half an hour, he couldn't fall asleep. It was that feeling when you're too tired, and your brain can't properly relax. He was thinking about the universes. He was thinking how he shouldn't be thinking about the universes because then there's a higher chance he will mess with something. Maybe? They had no idea how it worked.

At some point, he did fall asleep, falling into a soft pit of darkness and comfort. And maybe, he will be untangling this mess tomorrow, or even for a week, but not now. Yes, he needed to understand. But to understand, he needed a functioning brain. Which he did have, but just, well, not a tired one.

For a dozen hours, he could forget how his shoulders ached and his eyes burned for answers.

In the end, Wato1876 was just a tired person.