Chapter Text
It was getting late. A few spots in Mob's home were darker than others, but he didn't feel like wasting any more torches. It was lit enough to stop anything from spawning, which was all he really cared about.
His progress was going very well. Soon he would be able to actually decorate him and Verity's home.
"Hey Verity, you can make any sound, right?" Mob asked, rechecking his empty furnaces.
"Yes." Verity quickly responded. His voice was more monotone than usual.
"Can you play me something? Like uhh- a song?"
As Mob approached Verity, he watched the smiling orb stay still before suddenly opening his mouth. The melody was old but fast paced, and it was nice to finally have a noise other than Mob's own voice. He sat down on the floor and leaned himself against the crafting table Verity was on. He nodded his head side to side, softly humming along to the music.
"This is really good. What is it?" Mob looked forward to the awkwardly empty space of his home.
"Something I like."
"It's beautiful, I love it." He confessed. His head turned to look at the window, but the darkness of night didn't allow him to see much. But this was nice. It felt good to have something- no, someone else with him.
He felt to embarrassed to admit it, but maybe Verity already knew it. He did know everything after all.
As Mob's eyelids became heavy and his vision became to blur, he smiled a bit. He couldn't hear the noises outside. And he didn't see the way Verity's smile became just a bit more genuine than it was programed to be.
When Mob woke up in his bed, he sat up and yawned. He stretched his arm above his head to stretch, turning to his left and seeing Verity still seated upon the crafting table.
"Good morning Verity," He smiled. "Is there something I need to know today-"
"Something is coming in three days."
"… what?"
"Something is coming in three days."
"Uh- what's coming?" Mob quickly sat up and pushed himself up to stand.
"Something." Verity could see the annoyance on Mob's face at his answer, but it was the only one he could give.
"Something bad?"
"Yes." His voice sounded equally as calm as it was terrified.
"Can- Can I stop it?"
"You could've."
A very uneasy feeling was pitted at the bottom of Mob's stomach.
Was it…? No.
No, of course not. That wouldn't make any sense.
It couldn't be…
…
Mob got to work on making his house and lookout more secure.
"You look… different." Mob didn't mean to be offensive, but there was no better way for him to bring it up. Verity did look different. He looked… almost like he was in pain. But why would an AI be in pain?
"I've… always looked like this." His smile managed to strain even harder than it had a moment before.
"I know that's not true."
"I've always looked like this." Verity repeated. Was he glitched or something? And why did he sound so ashamed of it?
"Verity… uhhh, what sound does a door make?" Maybe it was just a once time thing. Yeah! Verity probably just glitched out for a second.
But Mob felt his heart stop at the front door creaked opened.
… god… oh god no.
"Are you broken or something? Verity, are you… okay?"
Don't say my name like that. I hate it when you say my name like that. Why can't you say my name like you used to? I want you to say my name like you used to!
A very loud, glitched noise began to play from Verity, just as he had done with the music the other night. Mob groaned and covered his ears at it. He could feel his eyes become wet and his head begin to ache.
"Agh- Verity stop!"
And he did.
"Fuck man, what the hell was that?" Mob yelled, still holding his hands over his ears.
"The night." The response sounded involuntary.
"Oh my- dude that is not what the night sounds like." He finally lowered his hands back to his sides. His ears were still ringing. "… you're really freaking me out. "
"The thing was that hungry, was… that you?" Mob sat on the floor in front of the little 'room' he'd made for Verity. He still had on that same weird smile, and he'd still been acting weird.
The thunder outside continued to strike the ground, shaking the house and the very few things things within it. Rain pounded down onto the roof, but that was the least of Mob's concerns.
"Are you the thing that's coming?" He looked up at Verity. He didn't want to believe it. He didn't want it to be true.
"Verity, please." He begged.
But all Verity could so was open his mouth, and fill the house with that same song. If he didn't, then he'd have to answer. He didn't want this, he didn't want to have to do this. Not to Mob. Not to his friend.
So all he could do was interrupt his programing.
And maybe Mob would have enough time to get away.
The next morning, Verity could only watch as Mob surrounded him with dirt blocks and blocked off every entrance to the house.
"… I'm gonna leave you here." He shouldn't have been explaining anything… he didn't need to explain what he was doing. But… he did.
"That won't help." Verity's muffled voice cut through the house.
"I'm going to my lookout."
"I know where you're base is." Mob hadn't even realized Verity's words were a warning. They weren't just a statement, they were a plea. "Nothing you can do will help you. You're MINE Mob." He choked out. Every word was pure agony just to get out.
"MOB!" He yelled.
But Mob was too far away to hear Verity's voice anymore.
He could hear Verity's that things agonizing voice as it screeched at him. It was all messed up and glitchy and fuck did it hurt Mob's ears. He walled himself into the corner of his look out, the space closer to the door instead of the window. He wasn't stupid.
He wished he'd managed to take more cobblestone from his chests before he left. The oak logs he had were better than dirt, but they definitely wouldn't hold up to that thing. It was clawing at the rest of the building, slowly getting louder as it approached. He still couldn't get the image it it crawling towards him out of his mind. It had looked human but moved in a way that could only ever be performed by a misshapen creature.
God, he shouldn't have trusted Verity. He should have known better. No one would actually want to be his friend unless they could gain something from it. He was so stupid for thinking anyone could actually care about him.
He didn't want to die—not here, not like that. He didn't want Verity to find him curled up and pressed up into a corner like a child. He couldn't even keep his breathing steady anymore. Every breath burned his lungs and throat.
Mob was crying like a coward, and he was going to die.
He put his hands over his ears again. His sword probably wouldn't do anything anyway. The scraping of claw against wood never stopped.
Verity was out there.
Verity was going to kill him.
Mob sobbed into his jacket, broken and terrified. He forced himself to try and tune it all out. If- If he could somehow managed to fall asleep or pass out, then maybe he wouldn't have to be in pain once Verity found him. Maybe Verity would take mercy on him and make his death as quick as possible.
God, I hope so.
Mob decided to do something very dumb and very stupid—he slammed his head against the wood around him as hard as he could. His vision blurred and his head blossomed with pain. But at least the ringing in his ears blocked out the screams. And surprisingly quickly, he slumped against the wall and passed out.
Everything was dark.
But… he was still alive… right?
Yes… his consciousness was still there.
He was alive.
It was weird though, like he was still in a dream but he knew he was awake.
His eyes weren't open. But he could feel the texture of wood against his face.
Why was he alive?
Where was Verity? Did he not kill him? Or was he dead, and this is all life was now?
"Hellooo!" Verity's called out in a singsong manner. His voice was muffled, he was only a few blocks away. "I know you're in there Mob." He sounded normal again.
"… Verity?" Mob's voice came out much weaker than he'd wanted it to.
"The one and only!" He giggled.
"I- how…. what…?" Mob pushed himself up to a better position, but he was still confined to the single block space he'd put himself in.
"It's almost noon you silly goose! Are you trying to hide from me or something?"
"No I just… is it… really you?" He pressed himself up against the wood block closest to Verity's direction.
"Of course it is! Who else would it be?"
"That- That thing… wasn't that yo-"
"I've got no idea what you're talking about!"
Mob had forgotten just how much he loved hearing Verity's voice, his actually voice. He was always so calm and cheery. He'd missed this.
With trembling hands, Mob took his axe out of his inventory, and broke down the oaks logs.
There, he could see Verity looking up at him with his usual, normal, smile.
"Good morning Mob, you've been in there for a while. You almost gave yourself a concussion too. You're real lucky I'm here to make sure you're alright." He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Mob flinched as Verity came closer, he couldn't tell if he rolled or just slid since his face stayed in the exact same spot as he moved.
"There's no need to be scared, it's only me!"
"…"
"Oh don't be like that! Come on Mob, lets go back home. I can tell you where the nearest diamonds are, or I can make more animal noises for you!"
"Verity, what happened last night?"
"What's the point on thinking about the past? There's nothing you can do about it now. So lets just go back home… please?" He begged.
"No! Tell me what happened last night. I'm not going anywhere until you tell the truth."
Verity went silent, he rolled back a few blocks, spun around in a circle, and then reproached Mob's enclosure.
"I need to apologize, Mob. I promise I didn't want that to happen, it's true! It wasn't… me."
"Then what the hell was that thing that tried to kill me?"
"… I was hungry. I was so, so hungry."
"Is that why the village was abandoned?"
"I'm sorry, Mob." He would have cried if he was able to. "I'm sorry."
Mob dragged his hand across his face, feeling the imprint the wood left on his skin. His head still felt fuzzy.
"Why am I still alive?"
"… you were scared. It would be very improper of me to eat something so… vulnerable." That was never a part of his programing, but Mob didn't need to know that.
"Are you still hungry?"
"Not anymore."
Mob didn't want to think about what, or who Verity had eaten. He was just gratefully it hadn't been him.
"That thing, are you going to turn into it again?"
"You shouldn't worry about it." His eyes darted around the destroyed room for a moment.
"Verity. I need you to tell me the truth. Are you going to turn into that thing again?" Mob's voice was firm, steady again.
"… yes."
"When?"
"In ten days."
Mob pressed his face into his hands again, silently cursing everything in existence.
"Is there something I can do to stop it?"
"No."
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes." At that, Mob actually moved toward Verity for the first time, and the yellow ball flinched backward for a moment.
"How can I help?"
"When it happens, you can lock me up with obsidian. And if you feed me, then I shouldn't be so… violent, when it happens." Verity explained in a slow, calm voice.
"That's it? I just get some obsidian and a villager farm and… you won't kill me?"
"Oh Mob, I would never kill you. You're my friend." Verity giggled and rolled from side to side. "Last time I checked, friends don't kill each other. But, they do help each other. And you're my friend Mob, aren't you?" He rolled closer, only about a block away from Mob.
"Y-Yeah, of course man." Mob's shoulders relaxed. He hesitated for a moment before extending his hand forward and allowing Verity to climb into his palm. "You're my friend, Verity." He could feel the way Verity seemed to vibrate in excitement at his name.
He was finally saying it correctly, like it meant something to him.
Mob carefully stood up, looking at the wreckage that was once his look-out tower. Most of the wood was damaged beyond repair, but he'd be able to rebuild it eventually. He placed Verity into his pocket—not his inventory—while he recollected this things. And thankfully he didn't trip and land face first onto the ground on his way down the stairs.
"We need obsidian, right?"
"Yup!"
Mob looked through his inventory, he was stuck with only iron tools at the moment. he could use them, but it would be a pain.
"The nearest diamonds are at y-level negative thirty two, one hundred and twenty-eight blocks west." Verity said. God, Mob hadn't realized how much he missed Verity's assistance.
"Thank you, Verity."
"Of course, anything for you, Mob!"
After finding a sufficient amount of diamonds, Mob crafted a diamond pickaxe. Verity told him where the nearest obsidian blocks were, and they set up their things.
"How many blocks do I need?"
"Mmmm, three stacks."
"Three stacks?!" Mob stopped mining and looked at where he'd set Verity down on the floor.
"Yes! It's best if I have lots of space to move around comfortably."
"Okay, I guess that makes sense." He sighed and went back to mining.
… this was going to take a while.
"Hey Verity?"
"Yes?"
"In your chamber…. thing, do you want anything else in there? Like, something to do?"
"I don't really need anything in there."
"I know but… I dunno. It was just a thought." Mob turned away, feeling his face become warm. He was going to be that thing again, he'd probably destroy anything else in there.
"But," Verity rolled closer to where mob was mining, softly going from side to side again. "I wouldn't mind a picture of you in there! Or…" He hummed in thought. "Oh! Some buttons or levers would be nice too!"
"Alright, I can do that." He smiled at the way Verity rolled around in a circle in excitement. "Can you play some music again? I liked that song you played for me before. It kind of creeped me out, but… it was nice."
As Mob continued to mine, the cave was filled with the calming song.
"Why do you want a photo of me? Why not something else?"
"Because you're my friend."
"Yeah… right." Mob scoffed a bit, but Verity couldn't detect any malice was behind his words.
"… you don't realize just how special you are, do you?"
"What?"
"Humans… you're all so fascinating. You all feel so many emotions, and all your actions are so hard to predict sometimes. You can touch and feel and you process everything so differently. No two of you are the same… and I think that's absolutely captivating." His voice got quiet—flustered.
"I want to understand you more, Mob. I need to."
"… uh- I… I'm open to any questions you have."
"I know everything. But I haven't experienced everything." Verity clarified.
"Well, I can see what I can do." Mob offered, shrugging and feeling a very weird feeling that he couldn't name.
"… thank you, Mob." Verity rolled back to the corner he'd originally been placed in.
"You are a very good friend."