Work Text:
The God of War was relentless. Minute had burned most of his materials so far just fighting him, and Wemmbu leaving him for Lettuce made it much more difficult. But he knew he had to hold out, at least for a little while longer. He pearled out of the stab spot hole, mending his armor with the last remaining experience bottles he had before the general caught up to him.
Their swords clashed violently, echoing off the trees like some dramatic anime battle. The impact had Minute leaning backwards, arms shaking as he tried to hold his own against the general. Until his foot slipped in the snow, forcing him down to his back, his sword still clashed with the other, but now closer to his neck than what he deemed comfortable.
Then a horn called out from the distance, familiar in all its glory as the Law’s call. God of War perked up at the sound, let his grip loosen gently, then suddenly scratched his sword over Minute’s face when he relaxed his body before disappearing into the direction of the horn. The enderman hissed at the pain, instinctively bringing his hand to his face, feeling the blood seep down his cheek. Purple covered his hand, and his vision went blurry.
That’s when he realized; the horn’s call.
Wemmbu was too far away from then for it to be heard nearby, and Lettuce was at the Northern Council, where Wemmbu was. There was only one person that the Law could be chasing after that wasn’t him or Wemmbu.
Eggchan.
“Shit-! Fuck!” Minute scrambled to his feet, his injured eye clutched shut as he disorientedly pearled in a direction he thought was right. Upon landing, he saw the obsidian pathway leading to the Council, and he remembered Wemmbu telling Egg to dig into the walls to hide. Had they found him that quickly?
“Do not kill the angel!” A deep voice was heard, sounding much like the God of War general, and Minute’s heart dropped. They must’ve hurt Eggchan to the point they’d think he would be dead in a few more hits. Minute needs to hurry.
Peaking around the stone walls from the pathway, Minute saw the circle of Law players surrounding Eggchan, who was lying on the ground, holding his arm and a bloodied line across his face similar to his own. Minute inhaled shakily, dropping down to a crouch as he silently snuck by the puny Law members.
Behind the God of War, Minute pulled out his sword, quickly standing up, wrapping his arm around the general’s neck, and stabbed cleanly through his chest and through his heart. He dropped dead, and all of the Law players gasped loudly at it, screaming and panicking over the God of War being dead and meeting his match.
Most of them ran away from Minute, too scared to fight someone who had killed their best fighter. Some tried to avenge him, but Minute quickly swept them off. By the time the pathway was empty of Lawmen, Minute was exhausted and drained. In the middle of the chaos, Eggchan had fully laid down, eyes barely keeping themselves open, arm fallen off his other, and Minute saw the blood puddle slowly increasing underneath him.
The enderman panicked again, the exhaustion cleared itself as he rushed over to Egg’s side, lifting him up, “Egg— Egg, wake up. Open your eyes, bud… You need to open your eyes for me.”
“Wem…?” The angel murmured, voice so quiet that Minute almost didn’t hear it if it weren’t for his exceptional enderian hearing. The name broke Minute’s heart, knowing that Wemmbu wasn’t here.
“No. No, it’s Minute. Remember me? You’re gonna be okay, Egg. I’m right here, I’ve got healing potions in my ender chest. Just— just hold on, okay? Please?” His voice croaked.
“Min…?” Egg’s eyes opened slightly, half lidded and slowly trying to close. “I’m… sorry. I got… caught again.”
“No, no, no, no. Don’t apologize. Shut up, save your strength, please. You cannot die on me, you cannot die on Wemmbu. You need to stay alive, for- for the ser- for Wemmbu’s sake,” Minute panicked, frantically looking through his inventory for an ender chest.
“Are you… worried for me? Or… are you scared for… Wemmbu?” Eggchan asked, looking up at Minute with an unreadable expression. Looking like something between death and curiosity.
“Both,” Minute responded immediately.
Though it was the truth, there were lies hidden in the word. Yeah, he was worried for Eggchan, but in reality—he was more scared for Wemmbu if he finds out that Egg is this badly injured.
…
Actually.
That might just fuel the fire.
He was trying to be generous with the Law, telling Wemmbu to not ban that many people and to not hurt any innocent players. But they had just followed orders from a tyrant, followed orders that led one of the most innocent players on the server on the brink of death.
Minute popped a potion of healing, leaning it to Egg’s mouth to drink, forcing his mouth open as Egg was too weak to move now. Carefully tracing his fingers over Egg’s throat to force a gulp, drinking all of the potion easily. Minute snapped off pieces of a Notch apple, slowly feeding them to the angel one by one until he was stabilized. Then eating the rest of it himself so he’d be able to carry Egg without passing out halfway to the council.
At the Northern Council entrance, Minute took a right towards the empty snowy biome. He dug downward a little ways away, placing water buckets and a soul sand at the bottom of the pit. Minute searched his shulkers endlessly, finally finding the materials for a daylight censor—night was rising, and Wemmbu would be coming to the council any second now.
Painfully, Minute carefully shook Eggchan, trying to wake him up, “Egg… wake up… you… need to throw a pearl in..”
“Mgh… no…” the angel mumbled.
Minute huffed, coughing up blood, “Shit…”
The enderman threw his own pearl into the stasis, then shoved a pearl into Egg’s hand, moving his wrist awkwardly to let it drop into the stasis, letting the code think Egg threw it. Hopefully it works. Minute places the trap down and the daylight censor on it, then gathers all his strength to lift Eggchan up.
“Hold on…” Minute whispers, mostly to himself.
Wobbling back to the council entrance, rockets went off behind him, then the player appeared in front, landing inside of the meeting ground. Purple hair and dragon wings. It was Wemmbu, and he was barely hurt by the Lawmen. Lettuce was waiting for him in the center of it all, a fishing rod in hand. Minute couldn’t hear them, ears ringing too loud, but Wemmbu looked scared.
Did Lettuce tell him something?
“…Wemmbu…” Minute tried to call out, his voice failing him as he barely could whisper the name under his breath. “Wemmbu..!”
Lettuce said something, nodding towards them, and that made Wemmbu look behind him, seeing Minute and Eggchan. He panicked, rushing over to them as they fell to the ground. Wemmbu caught their heads before hitting the cold stone, terrifying fear plastered on his face.
“Egg—! No… No, no, no! What happened!?”
Minute inhaled, “Caught… Tried.. to.. protect.”
“You did good, Minute. You did so good. But I— Please. Don’t. Don’t do this to me, Eggchan.”
Wemmbu’s head snapped away from them.
Was Lettuce talking to him again?
He didn't know… but they were encased in darkness soon after, Minute guessed it was obsidian to block the impact of the cannons. Minute felt tired. He didn’t know if his eyes were closed or not. But he saw light once, before it was taken. Perhaps Lettuce was trying to get in. He knew Wemmbu wouldn’t let that happen. Even after he felt himself get pulled into a stasis, the effects of the teleportation made his stomach queasy.
But everything eventually became a blur.
Then it wasn’t. There was the light of the sun, and the weightlessness of peace. No more pain or exhaustion creeped through his body, begging to stop. Minute leaned up, rubbing his head, blinking the blur away.
“…Wemmbu?” He said. The enderian got out of bed, carefully limping out of the tent? Outside was a camp, three tents were set up and a fire in the middle of them. They were outside of the Northern Council, Wemmbu stood away from the camp, staring at the destroyed council. He slowly approached the mace wielder, “Wem..?”
“Glad to know you’re alive, Minute.”
There was no emotion in his voice.
No sadness, no happiness, no relief, no surprise, no nothing of the sort when finding out one of your closest friends is alive and isn’t blown to pieces or sliced in half by Lawmen.
…
“Where’s Egg?”
Wemmbu didn’t speak.
Minute knew why.
“Egg didn’t make it.”
He wishes he didn’t ask.
“He was already on his last thread of life when you brought him to me. He was dead at the stasis chamber where I found you passed out.”
Minute’s heart skipped, “The damage taken from the pearl… I—” The enderman inhaled, stuttering to breathe, “I’m sorry, I- I didn't mean to hurt him—”
Wemmbu turned around, “Don’t apologize, Minute. I’m glad you made that stasis.”
“…What?”
He smiled as best he could, “Lettuce got into the obsidian box I placed around you and Egg. If you hadn’t been teleported, you would’ve been dead. I’m… just glad one of you survived.”
“But… Egg…”
“You did the best you could. He had a stab wound in his stomach, he bled out too much to be saved once I got there.”
The enderian shuddered, “…Lettuce?”
“Dead.”
“Law?”
“Gone.”
Minute nodded, “You’re… taking this a little surprisingly well.”
Wemmbu shrugged, “You’ve been out for a week.”
“Oh…”
Minute stood there, clutching his arm, eyes cloudy with tears and pain as the sting began again.
The dragon looked, “I’ll get you some healing potions and gapples.”
“No need. I have Notch apples right here,” Minute said, pulling out one of them from his inventory, slowly eating it to not overwhelm his body.
“Okay,” Wemmbu said, voice cracking.
He looked conflicted with himself.
He looked smaller. Minute didn’t know how to feel about it. The great unstoppable Wemmbu looked so small enough to be knocked over by the wind itself.
“Wemmbu…”
His shoulders tensed.
Minute let go of his arm, walking up to the poor dragon and wrapping himself around him. He could feel how tense he got, but soon relaxed and fell to his knees.
Wemmbu inhaled, stuttering his voice, “I… he’s gone, Minute. He’s really gone. I couldn’t help him… He was already gone.”
“I’m sorry,” Minute croaked, “I’m so sorry.”
He hadn’t a clue what happened over the week he was asleep, but it seemed like Wemmbu never got to properly grieve even though nothing was happening. Perhaps he didn’t know he was allowed to grieve his dead best friend.
Minute looked over, the two other tents were still there. He didn’t know what they were for. If it was just Wemmbu and him, what was the third one for? His questions were answered when ParrotX2 and Theobald came out of one of them to see what was going on outside.
“Minute,” Parrot gaped, “You’re awake.”
He nodded, “I am… how has Wemmbu been the past week?”
Theo grimaced, “Other than not being able to sleep at all, when he does, he has nightmares. Keeps him up. Sometimes he… screams.”
The parrot didn’t look too happy either, “He… just pushes us off when we try to help him.”
“Has he… given himself room to cry? Or… grieve at all?” Minute asked, already knowing the answer to it. He didn't want it to be true.
Theo shook his head as Parrot answered, “I don’t think he’s given himself time to even process what happened.”
“Oh, Wemmbu…” Minute hushed, hand running through the tangled nest of purple hair.
“Minute’s awake?” An unfamiliar voice asked.
Minute looked up, shielding Wemmbu from any possible dangers while he’s weeping.
Parrot saw this, “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you or him. They were the last remaining candidates; Boosfer and Purpled. They don’t mean any harm.”
“…Okay,” the enderian said.
The purple one—who seems to be Purpled, it only makes sense—nodded along, “I won’t cause any harm. Not anymore. I am glad you’re awake though. Anyway, Boosfer and I need to be heading out now. We can’t stay here and the longer we do… the more unsafe we feel.”
As if on cue, Boosfer came out of the same tent Purpled did, “I want to go find Kier and Dev, maybe do something that doesn’t involve the entire server coming to know.”
Parrot smiled, “Alright, that’s fine, you two go off and do whatever you guys want. Be free, it is an anarchy server after all—there were never rules to follow.”
The two nodded and began to walk off, their voices getting quieter, talking about blowing things up or scamming people. How did they become candidates? Minute doesn’t want to know how.
Theo left to take down the third tent, leaving Parrot alone with Minute and Wemmbu, who was now easily passed out in his lap.
“He… finally looks like he’s at peace,” Parrot said, looking down at the peacefulness of Wemmbu’s expression.
Minute hummed, “I think it’s because he feels safe with me around. Now that I’m finally awake, he knows he can be vulnerable. Even if I’m not entirely in the right shape to fight.”
The bird laughed, “Don’t worry, I doubt there’s any danger out there against us right now. If there is, they’d be stupid enough to attack when there’s a grieving dragon with nukes with us.”
Minute chuckled, “Yeah, I guess.”
“You two should go rest up, you need it,” Parrot said, nodding towards their tent. “Eapecially him. He hasn’t had any sleep the past week.”
“But it's morning?”
“Don’t care, fuck your sleep schedule, you guys can fix it later once you’re both healed and are able to figure things out. But I won’t let Wemmbu stay awake longer than he needs to.”
The enderian smiled, “Alright… we’ll sleep.”
“Thank you,” Parrot said. “And… I’m sorry.”
Three days.
Three days of non-stop nightmares every few hours from Wemmbu. Whimpering in his sleep and growing restless, tossing and turning in the bed, waking up Minute who was just trying to cuddle him to calm him down. He had been knocked off one time, Wemmbu excessively apologizing for it over and over.
The nightmares seemed to stop on the third night that led to the fourth day, Minute was able to sleep calmly for a while. But with everything that’s happening, he was never resting deeply, always woken by the slightest noise, because who knows if it was Wemmbu.
So when a small, fragile voice spoke in the dead of night, Minute was awake in seconds. He watched the dragon carefully, making sure it wasn’t him. But it was, and Minute was with him when the mumbling started.
This was worse than the others.
Usually Wemmbu would mumble nonsense and noises, but this was clear as the night sky.
“Egg…”
Minute froze, unsure.
He held Wemmbu’s hand.
“Egg…?”
Wemmbu’s eyes opened, they were lidded and exhausted, looking up at Minute like he—
Like he was someone else.
“No… No, Egg’s g— not here. Egg’s not here right now. It’s MinuteTech, I’m here,” he said, voice breaking under the quietness.
“Mm… Miss Egg…” Wemmbu mumbled, eyes closing back into slumber.
Minute choked, “I— I do, too.”
Morning came, and Minute was out cold, leaning against Wemmbu’s bed with his hand in the dragons’ own. Parrot and Theo opened the tent to see them still out, Parrot wrote a simple note for them, and left the camp.
Wemmbu was the first to wake up, noticing Minute leaned against the side of his bed, holding his hand like he’d disappear if he let go. He saw the note on the tent’s wall, Parrot’s signature on the bottom of it.
He sighed, “Minute..”
The enderian stirred, waking up almost immediately, “…Hi, Wemmbu… morning.”
“The birds are gone,” the dragon said, “I think. There’s a note on the tent..”
“Mm…” Minute stood up and took the note down, “Yeah. They’re gone. Went back to Capital City.”
“Okay… Let’s get you back to the End,” Wemmbu said, sliding off the bed to get dressed. Gambit laid next to it, shiny and unscathed. No one touched it. Good.
“What?” Minute spoke up, “Wemmbu, I’m not leaving you like this. I’m staying with you.”
Wemmbu groaned, “Minute, I’m not arguing about this with you. You’re going back to the End where it’s safe.”
“Safe? Then where are you going?”
“Away.”
Minute stared at him like he was crazy, “Away? Where? Why not stay here? With me, with each other? Stay in the End with me?”
“Minute—”
“No. Tell me why! There’s nothing left for you now… the Law is gone. Why won’t you just come home and relax for once?”
“Stop it. I don’t want to,” Wemmbu urged.
“Don’t want to or won’t.”
The dragon growled, “Go to the End, Minute.”
“No. Not if you’re not coming with me.”
“Please, just go!”
Minute stomped his foot to the ground, staying put where he stood like an angry rabbit.
Wemmbu hissed, “Why won’t you just go?!”
“Why won’t you tell me why you don’t want to come home with me?”
“I CAN’T LOSE YOU, TOO!”
…
“…Wemmbu—”
“Do you have a Curse of Vanishing book?”
The enderian hesitated, “Yes… I do.”
“Give it to me.”
Minute opened his ender chest, placing a shulker down and dropping the two books to Wemmbu, “Why do you need it?”
“For Gambit.”
“Wemmbu—”
“Shut up and leave.”
Minute huffed, “No.”
“Go home, Minute.”
…
“Okay.”
The sound of an ender pearl comes through, then disappears as Minute teleports away from him. The Northern Council is destroyed from the inside out, and the stone that made it up is now broken into pieces, scattered throughout the battlefield. The walls and towers have fallen down, still for a relic of another era.
Wemmbu builds a grave in the middle of it.
He would never build Egg’s grave here, he’d build it in the End, away from the main island. Build a small flower patch around it, where only he and Minute knew the location.
Minute knew what to do, he told him about it.
No. This grave is for himself.
There’s a chest underneath it.
Crucible lies inside it quietly.
He enchants Curse of Vanishing to Gambit.
He drops his broken armor to the floor.
Crucible was never his. Only Gambit was. He named it, he enchanted it, he found it. Crucible was stolen, but deemed his soon after, he’s had it almost just as long as he’s had Gambit.
But the breach mace was still never his to own.
…
Eggchan would hate him for this.
But he isn’t here anymore. No.
Wemmbu would soon join him.
And Rejoice—in the afterlife.
He just hopes they welcome him warmly.
He can already hear their scolding voices.
Wemmbu smiled fondly over the council’s stage, looking down at the mess he made.
There was nothing else to do now.
Minute would hate him… tell him to just live out his life in the End with him. But he can’t do that. Not with his reputation. Not with his status as a strong player. Not with everyone he’s wronged still out there. Minute would tell him something smart, to apologize and forget about it. To, again, live out his life.
But how can he without Egg by his side?
There’s nothing on the server for him anymore.
He’ll only drag Minute down with him.
Everything he’s ever wanted to do is done.
He saved Egg from being trapped in the End.
He defeated Lettuce and got rid of the Law.
He defeated FlameFrags in battle and held the strongest title for a while.
He found his fighting style and a weapon of mass destruction. He felt unstoppable and on top of the world.
He’s explored the server and beyond the Farlands, and the original players in the void.
He just wished Mane could see him now.
With one last memory of Egg, he lets go.
He jumps.
Wemmbu hit the ground too hard.
Wemmbu left the game.
…
As if the world wanted to shove it down his throat, the death message was announced to the whole world. Like the opening of an End portal. Everyone knew of the death of Wemmbu.
…
“Hey, ‘Embu.”
“…Hi, Egg.”