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The submarine, a creation of stolen objects and blocks, sank lower into the darkness of the heavy waves, crashing down upon it until it was swallowed to little more than a memory. It was as if Wifies was hypnotized into the moment, his usually sharp gaze catching on the movements of swirls and bubbles sliding easily past the large machine. He couldn’t look away, nor did he want to, for soon he’d have to face the ambitious plan Hummer5712 had set before them, impossible now to avoid.
Wifies felt his heart quickening at the idea of drowning again. Hummer wanted his trust, asked for it, and he gave it to him. But really…could he trust him? This could all be for nothing. They would die again, and get banned from the only server with the highest chance of finding the Leviathan. Everything would have failed. But what if it didn’t? He couldn’t let his mind ponder on it for too long, he’d go insane before they even reached the bottom.
Hummer himself radiated an uncontrollable passion for the ocean. He was so stupidly stubborn, that Wifies had let himself get pulled into another one of Hummer’s crazy schemes to find the Leviathan. And Wifies knew, if he even stepped one place out of line, Hummer would bounce on his doubt, dragging him deeper into something he couldn’t back out of.
Wifies leant his head against the cool glass of the submarine. There was no life in those depths, just water stretching on for impossible miles. Nothing, not even the soothing chill of the darkness, helped with his swirling doubts. He was drowning before he ever touched the waves. Levi, he told himself, Is out there somewhere. He paused, taking in the dead hills of the ocean, the nothingness spanning this Minecraft world endlessly, At least I hope he is.
Done with his thoughts, done with the sheer overwhelmingness they gave him, he clambered hastily out of the minecart, gaze searching one last time, before glancing back at the world inside the sub. To break the uncomfortable silence shifting between them, he asked, ‘Do you know how many blocks we have-’ But the sight that greeted him froze him to the spot, ‘Wh…What are you doing? What the hell are you doing?!’
Hummer hovered over blocks of TNT at the back of the machine near the engine, flint and steel in his palm.
Hummer turned quickly at Wifies's voice, his screen glitching for a second, ‘I guess you were right, we're not really going to find Levi in some flying machine!’ He could almost envision a large grin plastered on Hummer's face, ‘It’s time for us to believe!’
‘What?’ Wifies exclaimed, voice a disbelieving , ‘So this is your idea in believing? Blowing up the submarine just so that we can drown again? We've been searching for the Leviathan, haven't we?’ He was desperate to calm Hummer down.
A bitter laugh escaped Hummer, echoing throughout the submarine, bouncing off its walls and replaying louder inside Wifies's mind, ‘Oh, really? Lot a searching you've been doing! You didn't even notice we haven't been moving for the past five minutes! You're so ready to go through this whole ocean! Find nothing, and just conclude that Levi isn't real! Right? You think that it is just going to magically appear when you're tapped out?? You'd given up hours ago, you're not searching for anything!’
Wifies fists clenched into balls at his sides, breath shallow in his burning chest, ‘And what if I am searching?’ He stepped forwards, pointing an accusing finger in Hummer's direction, hands shaking, ‘You can't tell me I'm not trying, when you know full and well without me you wouldn't be here.’
Hummer stayed silent, clutching the flint and steel tighter like it was a reassuring lifeline, his TV head sparking dangerously, ‘I know you don’t trust Levi,’ He managed, voice cracking, ‘But don’t you trust me?’
A cloud of doubt washed across the room, shadowing above the two darkly. No one moved, afraid to break the spell of that small moment of battling thoughts and emotions. Wifies head span, he couldn’t grasp onto anything, none of it made sense anymore. They stared each other down, waiting for the other to break first, waiting for the other to apologise. Of course, neither of them were willing enough to do so.
Finally, Wifies dug a hand roughly into his pocket, fingers dancing along the rim of a spyglass before grabbing ahold of the water breathing potion sitting in his inventory. He chucked it to the floor, lightly enough that it wouldn’t break, hard enough that it rolled towards Hummer’s feet, stopping before him. Wifies daredn’t read the expression of the man just inches away, instead, he looked beyond Hummer, stare following that of the scenery gliding past.
Hummer’s voice came out quiet, ‘You had a potion.’
‘I know.’
‘You didn’t trust me.’
Wifies hesitated. Just once. Lowering his gaze to Hummer once again, ‘The only thing that matters, is that I don’t have it now.’ Varying emotions flashed across his face, ones he couldn’t keep under wraps, ones that he desperately needed to, ‘If you’re so eager to find this Leviathan and prove it’s real, then I’m ready. But are you?’
Hummer toed the glass as it rocked gently to the sway of their machine gliding through the water, until he lifted up the flint and steel, his eyeless screen reflecting Wifie’s. They revealed too much, he noticed. Hopefully Hummer was less observant than him, though he knew that wasn’t the truth, just an excuse he wished to be real. Just like Hummer wishing for Levi to be out there. It was as if they were searching for something that didn’t exist? Maybe they were, ‘Ready when you are, Wifies.’
Wifies nodded once, calm and final, ignoring the fact that this was completely insane. He couldn't doubt the Leviathan now. For Hummer, at least.
The moment a spark flew from the sinking submarine, dancing flames daringly besides the TNT, it came alive, first a throb, then a rumble of deep and destructive explosions. He was blinded by the pure shock of the blow, forced backwards as everything shook and a roaring heat consumed everything around them. Hummer was lost in the raging fire, and Wifies eyes slammed shut. Pain filled his senses, flames eating at his skin, smoke choking him in the chaos. At that moment, only one thought screamed loud enough to be heard over the ringing in his ears, I'm going to die. And then: I'm going to die not knowing if Levi was ever real.
But just like that, it was over.
The silence that followed was louder than the explosions could ever be, filled with a dark and rather depressing nothingness. Wifies throat was raw, enough that he couldn't speak or make any sounds as Hummer disappeared into the gaping hole now flooding the rest of the submarine with gloomy water.
There was nothing else for it, he had to dive in. Wifies took a shaky breath, there was no turning back from this. If they drowned, he could confirm the Leviathan wasn't real. But if they saw…it wasn't even a possibility Wifies could understand. So, to rid of his whirling thoughts, he leaped.
The water enveloped him, chilling to his bones as if he had been enclosed in ice, pressing down on him and dragging him deeper. Bubbles appeared where Wifies moved, but other than that, there was no movement in the still landscape, just barren hills buried in the cold ocean. Hummer was still, his screen unmoving and dim but lightly flickering, he was alive. For now.
But now all they could do was wait, to either die, or see what they had both relentlessly been searching for over the past days. Wifies thoughts finally caught up, icier than all that around him. What if the Leviathan truly wasn't real? What if Hummer never stopped searching? What if we drown again? What if there's no other chance to find Levi? What if…what if…what if?
It killed him to overthink so much, he just wanted to believe, maybe then, as Hummer had said, Levi would reveal himself, maybe then it wouldn't hurt so much…
Three bubbles left.
Hummer took damage first, his screen cracking at the edges, scenes glitching upon his face. Moments flickered. And as Wifies lost breath too, he was drowning alongside Hummer, all he could watch was the past few days playing in front of him:
‘How do you feel about stealing?’
‘Am I the first…?’
‘I've been waiting for something like this to happen!’
‘What’s mine is now yours’
‘Do you trust me?’
‘Why did you fake your screenshot?’
‘See you on the other side.’
He almost smiled, almost laughed at their expense, at what stupid things they had gone through just to find something abandoned in legends and myths, something so powerful that it became another being Minecrafters rumoured of as well.
And then…he was gone.
Wifies hearts were gone, but…he was still there. How? Why? He gasped, swallowing water greedily as if it was air, relishing the taste of his own breath once again.
Then he paused, staring at the dark and empty screen, ‘Hummer?’ Bubbles escaped his tinted blue lips, his dishevelled reflection floating on the dead screen. No. No, this couldn't mean…
Dammit. Why him? Why not Hummer? Why did…why was he dead? Why was Wifies instead saved by the Leviathan? He wasn't the one who believed in it so desperately…Hummer was. And now…and now there was no Hummer. They had spent days researching, searching, searching, searching, and all for Wifies to be the only one repaid.
And as Hummer's lifeless body sunk lower into the gloom, Wifies grabbed his hand one last time, ‘You were…you were right, Hummer. I can't believe you were right,’ An exasperated laugh escaped his lips, empty of humour. And he clasped Hummer's palm tighter, ‘God, you're so cold already…’
Wifies couldn't let go, he didn't want to, not yet, anyways. But he had to, that's what the Leviathan wanted, wasn't it? So, with one last goodbye, one last, ‘You really were a good partner,’ He removed their connected hands and watched as Hummer disappeared, once again, into the greedy blue depths.
–———
The water breathing potion floated uselessly to the bottom of the ocean, laying dead upon the sand as it was helplessly buried by it. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. And nothing will happen for who knows how long. Only now we wonder, Why did Hummer pick up the potion?