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Wemmbu watched for one, sickening, dreadful moment, as Arachnid met his fate, and Egg met his own.
Or, uh, at least that was what he had expected.
When he looked down into the supposed void hole, thinking he had been just a second too late to have any chance of saving Egg… well, the other was fine.
It hadn't been a dead man's switch, Wemmbu has not the slightest idea why, he can't comprehend why Arachnid wouldn'tactually just.. make it a real threat. Maybe he knew it—his empire—wouldn't last, like everything else on this server.
Everything else on this server, except for Egg, as Wemmbu proves time and time again that no matter the circumstance, he will always find his way back to his angel.
His seraphim, safe and sound and eternally untouched by the grubby, clawing hands of the server. His scholar, who goes on and on about the history that they've experienced, and how the server functions.
Wemmbu knows all too well how the server functions, just as much as anyone else who's been subject to the same cycle.
The powerful control the weak, and then the weak unite, and they become the powerful. And it goes on, and on, and on, forever probably, maybe until the server is gone.
He doesn't like to think too much about it, but Egg does, because of course he does. Not that he has an issue with it, Wemmbu doesn't think that's possible anyway– to have an issue with Eggchan of all the people in his life.
Even when they made that civilization that Jaden destroyed. He didn't like the thought of betraying his best-friend, the only one who has known him longer than he's ever known himself.
Wemmbu jumps down into the pit, landing in the water Egg placed, and setting his eyes on the angel. Even in all his grace and well, ethereal appearance, he can't help but think about how his Eggchan is alive.
He's alive, and he's safe, and he's going to live out his days for the rest of time happy and carefree if Wemmbu has anything to say about that. Because Egg deserves happiness more than anyone else in this server, and it's a tragedy that he had to endure any of this in the first place.
Egg looks at Wemmbu, in his eyes, and it's like a soothing tide washes over him, his mind is clearer and sharper and he can think for the first time in days. The fighter rushes forward, and Egg is holding his arms out in a welcoming manner, his mouth twitches into a slight smile that only Wemmbu ever notices.
All he can process is the warmth of the other's skin and the messiness of their feathers—he needs to preen them, he's furious Arachnid let them get into such a state—and he is holding Egg in his arms and it doesn't feel like he'll ever let go, not that he wants to.
"I missed you." Wemmbu whispers, into the crook of Egg's neck, and he feels soft hands rest on his back, and he lets out the softest sigh he thinks he ever will in his lifetime. "I know you did. I did too." He hears, and Egg's words are all he hears even despite Yungy's annoying shouting in the back about defeating Arachnid. Who even cares about Arachnid when Egg's here and alive? Egg's alive. He's safe and he's alive and breathing, into his ear actually.
He needs to keep telling himself that, the tension hasn't left his shoulders completely yet, and the dreadful fear hasn't dissolved into the back of his mind yet. He feels the angel–his angel, pat his back soothingly, and Wemmbu is given the mental strength to let go of the other, and to start talking before Yungy stops being too distracted to realize how close and personal Wemmbu and Egg can get.
"Yo. You almost just banned Egg." Wemmbu replies, sounding annoyed, and almost angry actually as he turns around and interrupts Yungy's shouting about how they've won and everyone is totally fine now.
"Well, everything worked out! There's no more enderpearls, and- and Arachnid's gone.. and now I own the kingdom!" Yungy says, proud of himself like he won an award, which he shouldn't be, since there was a chance that Egg could've died, but whatever. He helped for the majority of it, so that's gotta be worth something.
"I disagree." He says a moment after, "..With what?" Yungy says, staring at him with a bit of a confused look. "You don't own the kingdom, I do. I control the royals, and I'm the strongest still." Wemmbu replies smugly, and he can see Egg's eye darting between him and Yungy, wondering where exactly Wemmbu's going with this.
"But you don't- you don't care about the kingdom?"
"I'm the strongest, that's how it's always worked, and that's how it'll keep working." He pauses for a beat, "So it's mykingdom." The angel's eye is staring at him when he says that, but it's fine, because he can tell Egg isn't really opposing him, he's intrigued more than anything.
"Y-you actually wanna own the kingdom? You only cared about Egg, that's the only reason you're here! You don't actually care about the kingdom like I care?" Yungy can't seem to wrap his head around why Wemmbu wants the kingdom, and it's a little funny to watch.
"Of course not, but- I mean, having a kingdom has plenty of benefits. Infinite loot, restocks." Wemmbu pauses for another second, multi-tasking with organizing his inventory. He likes doing that, it kind of feels like he has the upper hand. "So, I think I'll keep it." His grin has never been wider, since not even Egg knows exactly what he has in store.
"..You're not gonna own the kingdom, no, you're not." Yungy's voice lowers, and he's glaring at Wemmbu now. Angry in a way Wemmbu remembers feeling towards Yungy before, upset the other was so complacent in holding Eggchan hostage.
"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do?" Wemmbu says, sounding like he's holding back a laugh. "You know Wemmbu? Fine. Let's put it to a duel." Wemmbu's face contorts to look intrigued, yet still plastered with that same chaste grin from before.
"Your current inventory versus mine. The strongest wins no matter what, right?" Yungy reiterated, clearly annoyed that Wemmbu thought he was better than him, and deserved to rule the kingdom. A kingdom that Wemmbu didn't even care about, and only wanted for his benefit.
"If you're the strongest, you'll beat me, even with your weak armor." Wemmbu watched as Yungy huffed that last bit out, and he looked down to check on the state of his armor, not that it mattered. "Sure."
Wemmbu groans, barging into the door of his tree house, Egg following closely behind him and fluttering his wings as they set eyes on their home. Thankfully, it's still the same as it was before, not griefed or burned down or robbed, and gosh isn't Wemmbu grateful for that.
"Dude finally, I missed my fishing rods so much man." Egg hums as he immediately walks over to a chest, one that isn't technically for his stuff, but the angel still puts fishing supplies and books in there anyway.
Not that Wemmbu would stop him, he hadn't before and he especially wouldn't now. Egg had been held hostage for weeks, and Wemmbu feels like he deserves whatever he wants now for as long as he exists.
"Bro I missed my bed, I didn't sleep well even in the damn 'penthouse'." Wemmbu grunts, taking off his armor in a rush and flopping down onto his bed, and he relaxes into it far too quickly. He lays down, and Egg is still across the room, looking through his chests to make sure all his precious history books are untouched.
His bed is tailored to him in a lot of ways, most modifications to it being things that Egg just did without thinking because he knows Wemmbu all too well. The pillow itself is one that Egg made, and Wemmbu remembers staying up and helping him late at night with it.
Mainly because he got to watch Egg make it, and he loved to watch the angel, the way his wings flutter about when Wemmbu rests his hand over the other's, feeling the soft warmth of them. Or the way Egg flushes just slightly—less than a normal human but still noticeable—in response to Wemmbu laying his head on the angel's shoulder, or lap.
The pillow itself has cotton inside of it, and the casing is made of silk fabric that Egg was gifted by a member of the wheat kingdom when they were still prosperous. Wemmbu tosses and turns in his sleep a lot, due to getting far too many dreams about the fights he's had to endure and the fear of Egg getting kidnapped again. So of course Egg would think to use silk for his pillow case, and his bed sheets.
"Eggg.." Wemmbu groans out, and he's sure Egg can hear him if he paid attention, but his angel's too busy flipping through the pages of his notebooks to listen. "Eggy.." He tries again, glaring from afar as the angel's wings flit and flutter as he moves between books. "Bro.. earth to Eggchan, hello??" Wemmbu whines out this time, and watches as Egg's eye finally perks up, his head wings following suit.
The other just stares at him, and processes a moment later that Wemmbu needs him to come to bed, and obviously lay down with him. They haven't seen or even hugged each other in weeks, so the fighter rolls on his back when he sees the angel walking towards him. "Dude, turn your listening ears on- actually, where even are your ears man?" He hums, and Egg plops down into bed too, laying stomach down across Wemmbu's body. "No idea man. But I hear you loud and clear, trust. All knowing eye and ear."
They both feel a tension in their bodies release, as they feel the warmth of the other and the calmness of it. And it is then that they can feel just how much they need each other, how being with one another is as easy as breathing, and just as necessary too.
They are friends in such a way that it's like their hearts knew each other before their minds did.
He remembers Egg asking him something one night, while they were on the water surrounded by nothing but gentle waves and the deep blue of the ocean. "Do you ever think that we like, came from the same.. thing?" The angel asks, not sounding exactly serious, but definitely curious. Wemmbu thinks about it for a second, and doesn't really know how to reply to that, "Brother, what thing are you referring to?"
"Like, do you think we fit together so well because we were apart of something and split off and found each other again and just, were made to gravitate towards each other?" Egg says this all while staring at the back of his head, because Wemmbu hasn't stopped rowing, and he knows the repetitive motion helps the fighter think.
"Like, some kinda cosmic entity that was out and about in the universe just, died, and little bits of it broke off and eventually those little bits made people, and.. we're the people." When he says that, he looks up at the sky, it's clear skies right now, and there isn't as much light pollution here because they're off in the Great Sea, nowhere close to any kind of civilizations.
Wemmbu keeps rowing, but it seems a bit obstructed now, like when he thinks about whatever just came out of Egg's mouth it takes him extra effort to form a response. "..You know what? Sure. Yeah. We're two people who are made from some wormhole or supernova or something man. Two bits of a star in a pod or whatever."
The fighter replies, and it sounds joking, but Egg can hear the smile on Wemmbu's face, and he knows it's one of those times where he gets sentimental himself looking out on the waves.
As they lay in bed together, their hearts in question beating next to each other in unison, Wemmbu can literally feel Egg perk up against him, and look at Wemmbu's face to ask him something. "Mhm?" He mutters, feeling a bit sleepy because he has a full grown angel sprawled on top of him.
"Wemmy, why'd you even like, let Yungy win? You had a ton of shulkers man, I know you didn't lose on accident." He tilts his head as he speaks, and Wemmbu can feel his head wings press against his side.
"Yungy deserved to have cave kingdom or whatever. He helped me rescue you, even if he nearly got you banned in the end," Wemmbu gets a slight scowl on his face thinking about that. "But, uh, you wouldn't be here if he didn't help.." He trails off, getting a bit lost in the way Egg's singular eye stares at him like he is all that exists, and maybe his cheeks warm up.
"So I kinda owed him for that, plus if the cave people think he actually is stronger than me, then, well, they'll listen more, easy peezy." He explains to his angel, because nothing is kept secret from Egg, and he doesn't need secrets from him. "Ooh, shoot man, no wonder." Egg hums, his wings fluttering once again, and he can hear the feathers shuffling themselves.
"I thought you were the All Seeing Eye bro, didn't think you needed to ask." Wemmbu teases, and he hears Egg scoff playfully and lay a hand on his arm. "Dude I just wanted to hear you admit it, because you, the strongest player on the server, is letting other people get the win on you. Growth man."
Egg smiles, with no teeth, because he doesn't usually do that unless he's laughing at something. And all Wemmbu can really think about is that smile, and how it's led him into fighting wars and murdering people and making enemies.
All for the sake of that smile, and that big, blue eye of his, and those hands that are soft except for the writer's bump on his middle finger. Those big wings that cover the two of them up in the snow, and fan all the way out in the heat.
It is here he wants to be forever, with Egg, who is happy, so that means nothing else matters.