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Egg was no stranger to death.
Of random people, of friends, even. It was how the server worked. Lots of players died everyday.
To be best friends with a player like Wemmbu wasn't a simple thing, and if you were, just like that you'd be seeing lives lost all around you.
But that was part of it.
If Eggchan had to describe his friendship with him to someone in the easiest and most comprehensive way possible, he'd have to set down the bulletin board and explain everything in point form : Chaotic. Dangerous. Fun That Could Also End Your Life In About Ten Different Ways.
Yada yada yada.
And even then that was just the mere tip of the iceberg.
Egg knew exactly what he was getting himself into when he met his friend. He knew the risks.
He knew how the server viewed Wemmbu. And he also knew how Wemmbu viewed the server. Which, Egg had to admit, wasn't the best of diplomatic relations he'd seen so far.
Even though Wemmbu claimed he fought best alone, Egg had managed to fit his own style into his friend’s crazy one without disrupting that natural flow of the battle.
Dropping armour. Dropping XP bottles.
Dropping pearls, golden apples, wind charges, totems. Shooting players with tipped arrows. Digging escape tunnels in the darkness. Dropping even more items. (He played more deliveryman than anything else sometimes.)
But Egg didn't mind this. In fact, he liked that he could help Wemmbu however he could. God knew his friend needed it.
It felt good. He liked that Wemmbu could rely on him although it was rare. They were a duo.
And he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
It didn't mean he didn't sometimes stare at his friend and wonder what the actual heck he was doing.
As the years had passed, he'd come to the realisation that wherever Wemmbu went, something was sure to follow. Battles would ensue almost constantly. Assassins would show up clutching another ‘Wanted’ poster out of hundreds already made. And that wasn't even the worse part.
He'd also get used as leverage, as blackmail by like half the Unstable SMP and really, that was a normal occurrence at this point.
It was always ‘Oh, Eggchan is Wemmbu’s friend! If we kidnap Eggchan, we can gain control over Wemmbu!”
As much as Egg wanted to deny this, unfortunately, it worked.
Only when Arachnid had captured Egg and painstakingly forced him to set over seventy stasis pearls did he realise just how important that connection was.
And how far Wemmbu was willing to go to protect him.
The purple-haired man had brought armies, civilisations, entire empires, down to their knees, all because of him.
He wondered, if maybe he wasn't worth all this carnage.
If Wemmbu was better off being friends with someone more capable.
————————————
Egg stood in the rain, under a wide-capped mushroom that barely shielded anything, and that included himself.
Shoving a stubborn lock of white hair from his eyes, he methodically scanned the blurred skies for probably the ninety-sixth time, hoping to see the familiar forms of his friends.
He felt bad. He really did. He couldn't do anything to help as the Null ravaged Emma’s civilisation, slaughtering left and right. Emma herself hadn't made it, but he doubted she'd have wanted it any other way. Her life had been her civ, and when it fell, so did she.
Rather poetic, really, Egg thought quietly to himself. Though quite grim all the same.
Egg heard him before he saw him.
Wemmbu landed on the ground nearby, the noticeable tinkle of a riptide trident still worming into his ears. He was panting.
“Bro.” Egg turned quickly, alarmed. Wemmbu looked horrible. His wings were ragged, trailing. The bright purple hair was soaked, plastering to his body, as was the rest of his torn clothes. There were wounds crisscrossing his torso and legs, seeping blood into the puddled mud.
Even one of his horns was broken, sliced off at a painful angle.
But his eyes- it hurt to see him like that. They were dull, void of any of his usual cocky mirth. Broken. Terribly, terribly sad.
…Sad?
The alarm heightened to fear, but he forced himself not to show it. He glanced behind Wemmbu. Nothing. “Wait bro, you came alone? Where's Jaden?”
Such a tortured look flashed across Wemmbu’s tired expression, Egg didn't need to stand there wondering for long.
For once, he wished he was wrong. He truly did.
Egg was no stranger to death. Of random people, of friends, even. It was how the server worked. Lots of players died everyday.
But this… this didn't fit in that box.
No one as close, as dear as Jaden had-
But- but Jaden was capable. He was a good fighter, an exceptional one. He had a mace! How did he- who killed him?
How-...?
Hundreds of thoughts whirled like a cyclone in Egg’s brain, but nothing calculative could cut it. No questioning, no analysing could hide away the simple fact :
Jaden was gone.
Egg drew in a fortifying breath. He glanced back at Wemmbu.
The man was standing in the rain, gazing blankly at nothing. He was in shock.
He had to be the strong one now, for his friend.
With feathers ruffling anxiously, Egg took Wemmbu’s arm. “Come on, bro. Don't stand out in the rain like that. Come under here.”
Unyielding, almost like a limp puppet, Wemmbu followed Egg under the mushroom.
Helpless, Egg looked at the desolate landscape. There was no way they could dry off anytime soon. He didn't know if the Null were still following, or-
A sudden movement shuttered his thoughts as Wemmbu practically collapsed into his arms, wings drooping behind him. The combined weight forced Egg to settle down in the mud, back leaning against the stem of the mushroom.
Sighing, Egg wrapped both his arms and wings around the form in his lap, who had started to tremble. He rested his cheek on top of Wemmbu’s head.
“I'm sorry, Wemmbu.” Egg whispered into his friend’s hair. It seemed so insignificant compared to the giant chasm that had opened up between them.
When Wemmbu didn't answer, Egg tried something else. “He was a great friend. He truly cared about you, even till the end. I know that for certain.”
Silence.
Egg gave up. Sometimes, the kindest thing you could do for someone was to sit in the ill comfort with them. He kept his arms around Wemmbu, willing his body to produce more heat for the shivering man.
At last, Wemmbu shifted in his arms. “We should go.” His voice was hollow and defeated. “The Null will find us sooner or later. These mushrooms don't particularly hide us well.”
“We'll dig a base somewhere, bro.” Egg offered as he helped Wemmbu to his feet. “We need to treat your injuries. They're pretty bad.”
Wemmbu glanced at himself, as if just noticing the wounds. “...I never realised. I just grabbed Jaden’s trident and fled.” He tightened his white-knuckled grip on the gleaming shaft.
Egg winced internally, a bright hot flash of a memory spearing his mind : Jaden riptiding in the air, dancing with the rain drops, a joyful sparkle in his warm, dark eyes.
In every battle he'd fought in, the skies had always rewarded him with rain.
Not anymore.
Egg steeled himself. He couldn't break down here in broad daylight. “I'm glad you got something to remember him by.”
Wemmbu exhaled. It still sounded shaky. Egg had to guess he was merely putting up a front for now. “So am I. Let's hurry, bro.”
After checking that their perimeter was clear, Egg followed Wemmbu further away, heading deeper into more unknown territory, faithfully keeping close by to him.
Egg knew Wemmbu wanted to keep moving, regardless of whether he was hurt or not, but when the purple-haired man stumbled for the fourth time over nothing, Egg put his foot down.
“Okay, nope. Sit right there. I'll make us a base real quick. Eat a gap or something while waiting.”
It must have been quite serious, for Wemmbu didn't protest. “I don't have any more gaps. And I lost my e-chests.”
Egg dropped him his stack. “Don't down then all in one go.” He warned cautiously as Wemmbu started munching. Golden apples were quick fixes, and were easy to get addicted to if the adrenaline didn't keep it at bay in the heat of battle.
Wemmbu responded with a toneless grunt. He was already on his fourth gap.
With that safely cleared for now, Egg got to work quickly constructing a makeshift base, hidden in the side of a hill. He wasn't sure what crazy devices Spoke could use to track players with, but he hoped the Null leader wouldn't gain the sense to activate it until after Wemmbu was feeling better.
Egg had plenty of experience in building stuff, and soon he helped Wemmbu inside, where he'd placed down an enderchest and gotten potions of healing, regeneration as disinfectant, and gauze.
With a singular torch burning in the corner, Egg made Wemmbu down two potions of healing while he cleaned out the worst of the wounds.
The most pressing was a sword injury, slicing open his side and cutting past the first two layers of skin into flesh, then deeper until the yellowish of muscle could be seen.
Being an ender dragon hybrid, Wemmbu’s body had probably staunched the bleeding in an attempt to protect itself, but it was still raw, and Egg had to clean it out properly.
Regeneration stung in open wounds, but it would speed up the process in which the cut healed and prevented any infection from appearing.
“This might hurt.” He told his friend, who only nodded.
Egg then popped open the bottle and poured a small amount of potion over the angry red of Wemmbu’s side.
He heard the other man stiffen, a sharp breath leaving his lips. His fingers clenched tighter around Jaden's trident, which he was still holding on to.
“Relax,” Egg soothed. “You need to let the potion go in. Take deep breaths.”
“Easy for you to say.” Wemmbu grunted, but he did take heed to Egg’s advice, and soon his limbs slumped fractionally again.
Once Egg was satisfied with the potion, he wrapped the injury in white gauze. “Tell me if it's too tight, okay?” He said, moving on to the less severe wounds. “Super tight bandaging can restrict blood flow.”
Wemmbu shifted slightly. “It's fine.” He was unusually quiet, and Egg couldn't blame him for that.
Egg worked studiously, cleaning and wrapping injury after injury, but when he was done, at least he knew Wemmbu wasn't going to keel over and die on him.
He couldn't handle another one dead.
The sword in his heart shoved another inch in. He ignored it.
Instead, he held open his arms. “Come here, bro.”
Wemmbu needed no second urging for he pushed into Egg’s grip, and their wings tangled together as he held the latter close to his chest.
The other man’s body heaved. Now that they were in a safe space, and Wemmbu’s injuries were healed, Egg could only sit there and listen as he broke down in his arms.
He wished there was something he could do to help Wemmbu.
He wished he could bring Jaden back.
Life was cruel when it gave you neither option.
“I'm sorry.” He whispered again. He didn't know how long had passed.
“I told him to get out.” Wemmbu’s words were tight, but clear. The grief in them was evident. “He didn't respond. Maybe he-”
Egg’s heart squeezed.
“He was fine. He told me to run first and he’d catch up.” Wemmbu had gone quieter, sounding more broken than Egg had heard him before. “...I thought we were good. I thought we were friends. He wasn't supposed to die so easily.”
Egg ventured to ask. “How did it happen?”
Wemmbu drew back to meet Egg’s gaze. Anger, hard and cold, flickered through the sadness. “Nitenly.” He muttered. “He betrayed and joined the Null.”
So it had been a backstab. Egg tightened his jaw. There were plenty of things he wanted to say just then, but throwing more vitriol under the hood wasn't going to help either of them. And besides, he was sure that
Wemmbu was already thinking up a storm himself.
“He was happy,” Egg said softly in rue. “That's all that matters now.”
“I miss him, Egg.”
The simple admission made it ten times worse to bear.
"I know. So do I."
God, he couldn't get Jaden's smile out of his mind. The way his laugh would make anyone instantly feel brighter.
It wasn't fair, was it?
"Why?" Wemmbu asked. Desperation crept into his voice. "Why would Spoke do this? Why kill Jaden? What good could possibly-" he stopped with a choked gasp, unable to continue any longer.
"Power does things to people." Egg said quietly. "It reveals their darker side."
"Minute- I don't even know what happened to him. And Jaden's… dead." Wemmbu lifted his head suddenly, searching his face. Tear tracks lined his cheeks, and he looked hollow. "Everyone's gone." It came out like a confession he was dreading to say.
Egg blinked. "I'm still here." He comforted, holding Wemmbu tighter. It must have done some good, for the other man's muscles relaxed under his grip.
"Don't you leave me too." It came out soft. Plaintive, almost.
A sharp wave of pain struck him, and he drew in a deep breath. "You don't need to worry about that. I'm not leaving you."
And with that promise, Wemmbu buried his head back in Egg's chest, and they stayed there until the flame of the torch sizzled into a faint, pulsing glow.
They didn't move.
Then it dimmed entirely, closing them in shadow.