Chapter Text
Day 1
"So… yeah. I hate to say it, but most of what I was saying to Falsity was an act, right? To be honest, I do consider Falsity a friend. He has grown into my heart, but I can't stop thinking about Verity. Verity turns into a monster, and I'm playing the Verity mod right now. That means that Falsity has a very good chance at turning into a monster as well, and I do not want to risk that."
"So, at some point, I'll have to try and kill Falsity."
Xqree sat on the roof of his house, whispering into the night sky. There was nobody around to hear him, save for Falsity, but he was downstairs. There was no way he could hear him.
Xqree talking to himself like this had always been a hobby, something grounding to calm him down. He liked to pretend there was a camera, a dedicated audience watching him. Like a Youtube channel of sorts.
He fiddled with the sleeves of his suit, lined with white fur at the edges and silver buttons trailing down the middle. A matching black ushanka lined with the same white fur shifted down Xqree's head, pushing more black hair into his eyes. Brushing it out of the way, he looked down the staircase into the first floor of the house. Falsity was down there, and most likely going to kill him in a few days. He had to head out and gear up tomorrow, just in case.
…
Taking another look at it…
There was a strange white glow, albeit faint, coming from Falsity's room.
The wood creaked loudly as he stepped down the shabby oak staircase. Fuck his shitty building skills… staring at the black bed, Xqree debated sleeping before deciding to check on Falsity one last time. He shuffled over from the bed, stepping onto cold stone and peeking into Falsity's room once again.
…??
Upon closer inspection, there was something… off about the blue ball.
Xqree inched closer, running through the possibilities in his head. He'd seen ThatMob's video, and the shifting wasn't meant to happen for at least a while. Was Falsity sick? Verity had never gotten sick, though Falsity was a different model. Maybe Falsity was sleeping? No chance, he's still staring straight at Xqree.
He's staring very weirdly at Xqree.
It was not unlike a hungry animal staring at a stray rabbit, honestly.
"Hey, Falsity, are you okay?" he mumbled, waving his gloved hand in front of the blue ball's face.
"Xqree, you have to promise me that if I turn into a monster, you'll stay. Okay?"
He is definitely not surviving this night.
"Are- are you sure? I mean, you're looking kinda weird right now. Do you need like, chicken or something? I can go out and kill one for you… (so you don't eat me instead)" questioned Xqree.
Xqree tugged a black glove off his hand, touching his cool palm to where he guessed Falsity's forehead was. Could balls get sick? With Falsity's body temperature being close to absolute zero, he guessed maybe.
"Falsity, you're really cold right now. Do you want to hop into the furnace for a bit or… something?" asked Xqree, concern etched into his face. "I… don't really know how your kind works."
"Please stay with me for a while."
"Ah… okay."
Xqree moved into the corner of the room, crouching down and taking out a spare white bed. He was kinda scared to sleep, but… would Falsity eat him if he moved? The ball's just staring at him. It's kinda creepy. Now that he thinks about it, Falsity's a darker shade of blue than before. It was a gradual change, but comparing his usual colour to now, it was certainly lighter and more vibrant.
This wasn't in the mod. The Verity mod, at least.
Falsity gives him a reassuring smile, which gets less reassuring the longer he keeps staring at Xqree like he's Christmas dinner.
Oh, well. If he was going to die, he'd rather it be when he's sleeping. Xqree tugged the white blanket over his head, willing himself to sleep and ignore the pair of eyes staring directly into his soul.
Day 2
Falsity was definitely more blue than before. Xqree was sure of it, sitting up in his bed and staring at Falsity. He'd begun slowly emitting this white smoke, too. Xqree's throat was hoarse and itchy, the taste of the smoke evading his lungs. It tasted kinda like rotten zombie flesh and coal… mixed with a faint hint of caramel.
Suddenly, the room began filling rapidly with the smoke. Xqree coughed, rotten flesh and coal filling his throat.
"Falsity… what the fuck? What're you doing!?" he shouted. Xqree stumbled out of Falsity's room, looking desperately for something to defend himself with.
Fuck it, he's running.
Bolting out of the house, he almost makes it three steps away before something tugs on his collar and drags him back in.
"Xqree… I told you not to run…"
Xqree spins out of what he assumes is Falsity's hold, turning around prepared to face a horrific monster.
Instead, his eyes meet another person's.
A person?
In Minecraft?
Xqree was 100% sure he was on singleplayer. The only entity that could maybe be capable of shifting into a person would be…
"Falsity?"
Falsity's pitck black pupils stare into Xqree's white ones, before stepping back slightly to give him an illusion of space.
Falsity was dressed in a decorated blue vest with white sleeves and black dress pants, the seams of the vest slightly frayed at the edges. The vest was embroidered with intricate swirls and patterns, reflected on each side. It hugged around his slender frame, leaving almost no room for imagination about Falsity's physique.
His midnight blue hair fell in front of his face, flowing with streaks of royal blue sprouting here and there. Falsity had pale blue skin, a large contrast from Xqree's black skin. His entire being looked gorgeous, like a vibrant star- very much unlike the blue ball he was a few seconds ago.
Xqree had to admit, human Falsity was very attractive, but that wasn't the point right now.
Was this really Falsity?
"You told me you wouldn't run, right? So… so don't leave me now, Xqree.", he whined.
Tears brimming in his dark eyes, Falsity rushed towards Xqree and held him in a tight squeeze.
???
Xqree was still too stunned to move, stiffening in Falsity's hold but not making any attempt to break free.
"…Huh? Falsity- Falsity, is that… like… actually you? Wait, wait, wait. Wait, really?" Xqree tugged Falsity back by the shoulders, still in disbelief. "So you're not a monster?"
Falsity stared down at his hands adorned in white satin gloves.
"I'm so sorry, Xqree. I- I can't… control this form as well as I could before. Just… tell me if you don't like it, okay…?" he sniffed.
Falsity shivered, looking at his newfound form with disdain. The tears in his eyes still threatened to spill down his pale face, now flushed a darker shade of blue.
"Uh- yeah, yeah, I'll tell you. You can stop crying now- there's nothing to cry about, Falsity." Xqree whispered, pulling Falsity back into a stiff but warm embrace.
Falsity made fun of him by giving him wrong answers, and now he was giving him the most cryptic shit imaginable. In the form of an insanely attractive guy instead of a horrifying monster.
What was up with this Verity mod??
"Hey, Falsity, uh- wanna go mining? I need some iron." said Xqree. He wasn't really sure what he needed the iron for- after all, the 'monster' he was preparing to fight was latched onto him with a surprisingly strong grip.
"Yeah.", Falsity shivered. It was a surprisingly short answer for all the panicking he had just done, but he felt better now. Good enough to go mining at least. Maybe, after everything that had happened, Xqree wouldn't kick Falsity out if he went mining with him.
---------------
"I think we're maybe, just slightly lost."
"Falsity, we've seen the exact same dripstone spike seven times in a row. Didn't you say you were good with directions?" sighed Xqree.
"Well, that was when I was a ball," Falsity shot back. "You can't expect ball me and monster me to have the same sense of direction- we're different bodies."
"Why does you being different matter? Don't you have the same consciousness in ball and human form?"
"Yeah."
"So…?"
"We're definitely lost."
Xqree sighed, slumping against a dripstone wall with an iron pickaxe and torch in hand. Falsity stood next to him, carrying an almost broken iron sword. They might be dead if they can't make it out of this fucking labyrinth of a maze.
It was only five thousand blocks off from Xqree's house. It would've been too awkward to turn around after declaring a mining trip to human Falsity, so his dumbass just kept fucking walking. There was no way they were going to make it back home.
"Couldn't we just live here?" questioned Falsity.
"I want to see the sun again, Falsity." replied Xqree, still in half denial about the day's events. Or night. He can't tell because there's no sense of time in this godforsaken hellhole.
Staggering to his feet, Xqree pulled his ushanka off and tossed it to a confused Falsity. He lifted his pickaxe above a spike on the wall, and began mining furiously, targeting one spot until a tiny spout of water leaked through.
"Hah! The exit! See, Falsity? I knew it would be here." shouted Xqree, a smirk gracing his face. Almost as if he wasn't lost for hours. And that he didn't completely guess where some water might be. Falsity shot him an unimpressed look, turning to look at the slowly growing water flow instead.
The spout of water heaved against the dripstone walls, chipping away more of the wall to make way for more water. The water began pooling at Xqree and Falsity's feet, pushing through at an alarming rate.
"Falsity, do you know how to swim?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, we're going to swim to the top of the cave." smirked Xqree, pointing a finger at the weakened dripstone wall.
"There's no air for at least a hundred blocks up." Falsity groaned.
"Don't worry, I have a door."
"What about the drowned?"
"No time, Falsity. The water's pushing through, I'm breaking the wall."
"Xqree, wait-"
Xqree lifted his iron pickaxe and struck the dripstone wall with a devastating blow, water bursting out. He grasped for Falsity's hand in a panicked fit before going under, swimming into the giant water cave. He had maybe about 20 seconds before his oxygen ran out- enough time to fish two oak doors out of his pocket and place them down.
Still holding onto Falsity's hand, he grabbed a door before placing it on the cave's gravel and pushing Falsity and him inside. The air pocket allowed just enough space for both of them to fit pressed together. Like those situationship couples when they were stuck in a closet in the cheesy rom-coms he used to hate-watch.
Hold on. He wasn't suggesting that him and Falsity were a couple, was he? No, they just met three days ago. Though he wouldn't be opposed to the idea… but there were more important things to be locked in on right now.
Such as how Falsity was currently placing his soaking wet ushanka back on his head, brushing Xqree's black hair out of the way with focused precision.
"Xqree?"
"Mm… yeah?"
"There's a drowned behind you."
Falsity lifted a finger as high as he could in the tight air bubble, pointing to a drowned swimming rapidly towards Xqree. Its skin was gray and melting, face bloated from presumably decades underwater. The drowned picked a pointy, glowing trident off the floor, bolting it almost directly at Xqree's feet and missing by a centimetre. Shit. Xqree was going to die here, pressed against Falsity, staring his ugly murderer directly in the rotten eyes.
"Ahh, shit!! Falsity, do something! Use your sword or some shit, fuck- I don't know!" he pleaded, clawing at Falsity's vest in panic.
He watched in horror as a purple glow on the enchanted trident lifted it back into the drowned's hands, watched as it readied itself for another throw.
Oh well. At least he could die quickly in his last moments.
He closed his eyes, bracing for impact and clutching onto Falsity like a lifeline.
…
The blow didn't arrive.
Xqree opened his eyes slightly, squinting to see the decapitated body of a drowned float peacefully to the ground. The glowing trident was still in its hand, waiting to strike. He moved his gaze to see Falsity's floating body, holding an iron sword stained with drowned blood. It was a clean decapitation, from the looks of the drowned.
"Falsity? Did you do that?"
Falsity nodded, swimming garcefully back into the oak door's air bubble. Pressed against Xqree, he smelled faintly of rotten flesh and coal, though the smell was now almost completely covered by a thick layer of rich caramel.
"Falsity- you're my hero. Thank you so much, I really thought I was going to die- to a drowned of all things- with a trident, do you know how much those things hurt?"
Xqree grinned at Falsity, relief flooding his face.
"That's just what friends do, isn't it?" smiled Falsity. "Now, are we going to find our way out? Or would you like to be trapped together forever?"
Day 3
"That cave took so long to get out of." Xqree huffed. Flopping back down on his black bed, he sat up and watched as Falsity lay on the cobblestone floor of his room. Falsity groaned in agreement, tired out after the long journey. They were finally back in their dingy oak house, after what Xqree guessed was at least two days. He needed to lay down for at least a day. There was no way he could step outside again without collapsing.
Xqree took notice of his lowering hunger bar, coupled with a growl of hunger from Falsity's stomach. Did he really have to go hunt for animals? It was almost night time. Nah, he had some rotten flesh in his inventory… but what about Falsity?
"Yo, Falsity. Got any food?"
"No."
"Do you eat rotten flesh…?"
"No."
Xqree sighed again and sat up, pulling rotten flesh out of his pocket. Pinching his nose and taking a bite, he waited for his hunger bar to go up by two before stepping outside and hurling the flesh onto the grass. That stuff was disgusting. He had around four hunger bars left- enough to find some food for Falsity before the sun goes down. Picking a torch out of his inventory, he heard soft footsteps behind him.
Falsity was right in front of him. How'd he get there?
"Falsity, wait here. I'll go get some food." Xqree said. This wouldn't take more than a few minutes, so he didn't see why Falsity had to come with him.
"I can't let you." replied Falsity.
"Why not?"
"Just don't go."
"Huh?"
Falsity wasn't making any attempt to respond to Xqree- just standing there silently.
Xqree decided to use this as an opportunity to sidestep Falsity and make for the woods, sprinting as fast as he could to outrun Falsity (he knew Falsity could straight up decapitate a drowned- who's to say he won't do the same to him?)
Surprisingly, Falsity didn't call for Xqree. Instead, he jogged and caught up to Xqree in a matter of seconds, stopping him with a chilling grasp on his shoulder. Xqree stopped in his tracks, leaving skid marks in the grass. He didn't dare turn around, just in case Falsity was about to lop his head clean off. He'd rather not see when the sword hits his neck.
"I can't let you leave. I'm sorry, just can't." Falsity muttered, seemingly ignoring the subject of his ramblings. His eyes darted everywhere but at Xqree, watching the dark like a hound.
Then Falsity picked up Xqree with one arm and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of lightweight potatoes.
What the fuck?? Weren't they roughly the same size?? Where'd Falsity get the strength from??
"Yo Falsity, put me down! What the hell?!" shrieked Xqree, hitting Falsity's chest with as much strength as he could muster. He was getting manhandled by a former blue ball for trying to find food… fuck his life. He flailed around for a good couple seconds in Falsity's grasp, before surrendering to being carried back to base.
There was something seriously wrong with Falsity…