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Wemmbu's purple cape blew faintly in the wind as the three players rocketed away. Him and Egg were in a suffocating silence, neither daring to say a word, because if they did, the illusion that this was all a nightmare, a daydream one of them had made up as a worst case scenario, would shatter.
They had taken everything.
Wemmbu had hoped, had tried to take some items with him. He'd known they'd want exp, his mace, his armor, and his elytra, he'd practically already given it up when he decided to give in to the pirates. But they'd caught his bluff every single time. He had nothing.
He really had to stop getting into these humiliating positions.
"You should've let me die, bro," said a voice from besides him, and he flinched at how close Egg was to him. He hadn't overheard him coming closer, to busy dissociating to try and forget the last fifteen minutes.
"No," he snapped back, forcing his weak legs to move as he began to pace anxiously. "I couldn't have just let you die, bro."
"Why not?" the angel asked.
"Because-" Wemmbu paused. "Because you're my best friend and I care about you."
"Awww," Egg giggled.
The demon sighed. "Yo we just got like- robbed. We have literally nothing, can we be sappy later please?" he said with a bit more bitterness and annoyance than he felt.
"Sorry," Egg mumbled.
"It's ok." Wemmbu kicked a rock as he paced, stopping and staring at the one-eyed being. "So what are we gonna do now?"
Egg shrugged. "I'll gather the rest of the exp civilization and we can like, make a speech or something."
Wemmbu laughed. "Like this??? Egg there's no way that the, like, two people who didn't betray will take us seriously when we're literally naked. I- I literally promised to protect this place and I couldn't even do that. There's no way they'll keep following us."
Egg glanced at the empty town. "You never know until you try, bro," he responded.
Wemmbu sighed. "Yeah, well, then good luck with that bro," the demon said tersely, before beginning to walk away.
Egg looked at him leaving and tilted his head. "You're not coming?" He asked, something akin to disappointment in his tone, which Wemmbu felt anger bubble up in his chest from the tone before he could remind himself it wasn't disdainful.
Wemmbu looked back at egg, then back at the civilization. Truthfully, the idea of going back sickened him; after everything that's happened here, Mane leaving him, Clown and Ferre destroying Mane's tree, and now this, Wemmbu wasn't sure if he ever wanted to even see bamboo again.
"I don't think I can," he summed up. Egg bit his lip. Wemmbu's mind flared with angry adrenaline, ready to snap back at whatever Egg said when he saw it. Would his best friend seriously not bother to respect his own choices? He clearly hadn't earlier, though, so maybe it was his fault.
"Where will you go?" Egg asked with concern.
"I don't know, bro, I'll like- stay in an abandoned base or something, I don't know, what- What other choices do I even have, bro??" He said, tone steadily rising in annoyance and condescension.
"What other choices- Wemmbu you can just stay here with me," Egg clarified as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, mocking him, questioning his intelligence. Wemmbu wouldn't have it.
"Well I'm not going to do that if you're gonna be like that," he scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Be like what??? Caring about you? Not wanting you to die?" Egg said, his tone rising. Fury boiled up in the demon. His gut screamed that this was a trap, that Egg was manipulating Wemmbu to stay to kill him. It didn't make sense, but he couldn't shake the feeling.
"You think I'm going to die out there. Really," Wemmbu laughed.
"Yes!!! Look, as strong and as overconfident as you are, you literally have nothing. Sorry to bruise your ego," Egg said.
"Over- I am NOT overconfident!" Wemmbu said, his voice raising to a near shout.
"Alright, tough guy," Egg scoffed.
"Alright, then fuck you then bro! I never needed you and I still don't. Have fun with the two last people who won't give a shit about your leadership without me, prick!" Wemmbu screamed the last word, venom and fury dripping off his tone and his body shaking from defensiveness. He stormed off into the forest, ignoring the words and pleas that Wemmbu was too important and too high to bother to listen to. Eventually the angel's annoying voice was drowned out by the sound of the forest, and he stopped and looked around.
He was in a spruce forest. He went over to punch a tree, wincing at the pain which he'd forgotten came with it, using the wood to quickly craft himself wooden and stone tools.
He settled for a small hole in the ground to pass the night. It was cold and damp, and he wrapped himself in his velvety cape to shield himself from the cold, staring angrily at the stone wall.
Wemmbu closed his eyes, trembling, drifting off to the unsettling yet familiar sound of spiders and zombies crawling above him.
--
When Wemmbu woke up, it wasn't pretty.
His back ached from sleeping slouched over, and his feet had been cramped up in the corner of the hole uncomfortably. His head throbbed and his ears rung.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes, standing up and hitting his head on the cobblestone ceiling. He flipped it off, which was super helpful, and mined it.
The sun was only just peeking out of the horizon, but the monsters had burned or left by then. Wemmbu was thankful for that, at least.
Using the daylight, Wemmbu quickly got himself back to iron gear, managing to get some diamond tools and boots as well. He could definitely complain, but he didn't want to jinx it.
As he strip mined, he considered his options. An abandoned base would be nice, but there's no guarantee he'd find an unoccupied one, or that Egg or someone in his civilization wouldn't find him. He didn't have the energy to make a new base, and at this point he'd be killed on sight if he was found even near the exp civilization, there's no way they'd take him back. That left him one option, really.
And Wemmbu hated it.
--
The walk was long and grueling. He managed to get himself to full enchanted diamond, but without an elytra, the journey was much, much longer than he would've hoped.
His food supplies were running low, and he had a wound on his torso that was still bleeding from an earlier encounter with a player.
He’d basically been reduced to limping across the grass, one arm on his sword and the other clutching his abdomen in pain. His breath came ragged and the pain was starting to heat up. Wemmbu knew he had an infection.
The place he was going wasn’t that much longer of a walk. He could make it, and then he could get himself healed up. If Egg were here, he’d insist they stop and at least dress the wound, but Egg wasn’t here, so he didn’t feel obligated.
Soon, the familiar forest was visible, and Wemmbu bit back a groan of relief. He had to keep whatever dignity he had, after all.
He stumbled around the forest, trying to remember the way. Soon, he found the small wooden house, and made a noise of relief.
He walked over to the door, slamming his fist on the door as he leaned against the doorframe. He overheard footsteps walking towards him, and by the claws clicking on the ground, he knew it was Pangi.
His forehead was drenched in sweat and his clothes were bloody, but Wemmbu kept his pride. His head was held high and his face was neutral.
The door opened and the familiar pangolin he was faced with gasped, grabbing his wrists and pulling him into the house. Wemmbu wanted to shake his claws off, but didn’t have the energy to move his body that rapidly.
“Wemmbu? Wha- dude, what happened?” Pangi asked, panic and worry clear in his tone. Wemmbu sighed.
“Yeah, ok, I don’t need your pity,” he snapped, the bite in his tone taken away from his exhaustion.
“Bro, it’s not pity, I’m just worried about you! You showed up bleeding on my porch, so I’m assuming you wanted my help??”
“No, I just need a place to stay. Temporarily.” Wemmbu looked around the house, which was bigger than he’d initially realized.
“Will you at least take food??” The pangolin asked, and Wemmbu nodded, because food sounded so good now, and also because he wanted to be alone.
“Alright, then, I’ll, uh… I’ll go make you something, um- make yourself at home, I guess,” Pangi said, his gaze lingering on his bloodied torso before walking into another room.
Wemmbu maneuvered himself onto the couch, the blood seeping into the cushions as he unbuttoned his shirt to look at the wound.
It was gross and infected, badly done stitches falling out of the skin. His nose scrunched up at the sight, and he mentally noted to ask for bandages, rebuttoning his shirt.
He wrapped his silky cape around his figure once again, letting his eyes close from exhaustion.
--
When Wemmbu woke up, his breathing was slightly constricted from bandages covering his torso. A bowl of what looked like some sort of meat stew was set on the table.
His head throbbed and his injury hurt like hell, and an ice pack was laid against his forehead. His hair was drenched in sweat and his shirt was unbuttoned, showing the fresh bandages across his chest. They were cold, and he inferred that whoever had done them- Pangi, probably- had used some sort of ointment with them, probably to fight the infection he definitely had.
He tried to move to sit up and eat the food, but his chest immediately roared with pain, his nerves lighting on fire as he whined and stayed still, unable to move from the agony that came with it. His cheeks reddened with the noise he made, hoping no one heard.
Unfortunately for him, someone did. He heard two sets of footsteps drumming down the staircase- which was one more than he expected, so he was immediately suspicious. He could identify Pangi's clawed feet thrumming against the creaky polished wood, but the other set, which sounded like an old pair of heavy boots, he couldn't identify. Though they did sound... familiar. In a way he couldn't place.
He weakly turned his head to the side to see who it was, and while he expected Pangi's concerned expression, his eyes widened at the familiar yellow shapeshifter that stood next to him. His signature crown was gone, his normally regal clothes were replaced with something much more casual, (though still medieval in design; Wemmbu assumed that was his fashion choice) He wore some basic loose brown fabric pants, which were torn slightly just below the kneecaps with a few specks of dirt staining the torn edges, along with a comfortable looking faded red tunic with loose white sleeves, tightened near the wrist with a thin thread where the sleeves ended to keep them from moving around much. The only thing that stayed the same was the heavy leather boots he always wore when he wasn't wearing his netherite ones, which were significantly less medieval looking, but were certainly effective.
PrinceZam stood in front of him.
The king- no, ex-king had apparently noticed his reservations about seeing him, and so stayed where he was while the pangolin rushed forward and started checking the bandages, asking him questions that the ringing in his ears blocked out.
PrinceZam.
Wemmbu had... conflicting opinions about the shapeshifter. For one, Zam had completely humiliated him time and time again, completely stripping everything that he had away from him, blowing up the one place he cared the most about. Then, Wemmbu had done the same; and finally, he was able to see that look of regret, of sorrow, of shame on his face and in his eyes, and he drunk that expression in, wishing it could last forever. Zam had apologized when they both were out of resources after fighting each other in a fit of fury, and after both had their swords at the other's unarmored throats. And when Wemmbu was about to refuse it and slit Zam's throat, Clown had shown up.
They'd been trapped in his prison for his own entertainment, and after that, Wemmbu was finally, finally ready to put his pride aside and work with Zam, if only just for this. And then he'd tried to kill him immediately. Any semblance of respect that he'd had for the shapeshifter was gone in that moment, as well as for Pangi, who was his trusted advisor and apparently also his best friend. He escaped, leaving Egg behind- which he wanted to feel bad about, but he knew he deserved to be let go instead of Egg, he had the better chance of freeing him later and had worked the most to create the contraption he needed to escape.
Then, he'd been captured again, put in an escape room with Zam, where they had to work together- and honestly, Wemmbu was close multiple times to killing Zam and then letting himself die with his dignity in the prison. But, they did make a good team, as much as he'd never admit it, and they managed to get out of the room with basically no outside help. He put in the most work, obviously, but Zam did help, he couldn't pretend he didn't unfortunately.
Once they'd escaped, he'd told Zam to leave through the End portal. The ex-king had seemed genuinely worried about him, but it could have easily been for the mace too, so he had ignored the look. He hadn't seen him since, but the demon wasn't exactly looking forward to their possible reunion. He'd been hoping he'd been killed by the mafia, or maybe by Clown after he'd escaped. Clearly, though, he hadn't.
Their last meeting had ended on a... sort of positive note? They'd worked together decently, and then they hadn't seen each other since. That didn't mean Wemmbu was very welcome to his presence, however, though Zam apparently felt different.
“Wemmbu!” Pangi exclaimed, and the demon flinched and turned to look at him. “Did you hear anything I just said?” The pangolin asked.
“No,” Wemmbu deadpanned.
“I asked if you were ok and if the bandages were too tight. Are they?” Pangi repeated.
“Why is Zam here?” Wemmbu asked, changing the conversation topic.
“That isn’t important. Are the bandages ok?”
“They’re fine. Why is Zam here?” Wemmbu persisted.
Pangi sighed. “He lives with me, dude, I don’t know what you want.”
“Ok, well can he leave then,” Wemmbu asked, pursing his lips into a thin line.
“Woah, hey, you can’t just kick me out of my own house,” Zam jumped in, eyebrows creased.
“Yeahhh, I’m not doing that dude,” Pangi added, “if you have a problem with him you can leave.”
Wemmbu sighed, flexing his fingers a bit and pressing his nails into his palm. “Fine, he can stay, whatever, I don’t really care.”
“What do you mean by I can stay? I was staying either way! Either you were going or none of us were going, me leaving was not on the table here,” Zam said, chuckling with exasperation.
“I’m asleep, can’t hear you,” Wemmbu said loudly, flopping his head to the side on the pillow he was laying up against and closing his eyes.
There was an awkward moment of silence before Zam spoke again. “Is this about… everything?”
Wemmbu opened his eyes and stared at the shapeshifter. “No, it’s because I hate your ugly face,” he deadpanned sarcastically.
Zam rolled his eyes, and Wemmbu was prepared to make a snarky comment in response before Zam opened his mouth.
“Look man, I’m sorry. I was paranoid and insecure someone would hurt me or my empire, and I projected it onto you, then I let that grudge fester in us both for far too long. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
Wemmbu’s eyes blew open with surprise. He wasn’t expecting Zam to actually apologize. He can’t deny, though, the words gave him a much needed ego boost and he smiled at Zam’s honesty for a moment before his face fell neutral again.
“Alright whatever, I guess I forgive you then or something, blah blah blah who CARES,” he said, raising his voice over Zam saying something else to him to shut the conversation down. Pangi flinched at his tone, and then picked up the now warm bowl of soup from the table.
“Do you need help eating?” The pangolin asked, and he kind of did, but being spoonfed would be far too embarrassing for him, so he shook his head. Pangi tried to insist, but Wemmbu refused, and he put the soup back on the table and left him and Zam alone.
Zam sat down on the other end of the couch, and Wemmbu was planning to go back to sleep to avoid talking to him, but before he could, Zam had begun speaking. “I meant what I said, by the way. I regret destroying your empire every day.”
Something twisted in Wemmbu felt pride in the fact he occupied Zam’s thoughts constantly. The other part of him was skeptical. A thousand questions filtered through Wemmbu’s thoughts, but after a minute of silence, he decided on what he wanted to ask. “What’s the real reason you betrayed me?”
Zam paused. “I already told you. I was paranoid.”
“That isn’t all of it, though,” Wemmbu pressed, “why did you do it really.”
Zam opened his mouth and no sound came. He tried again. “Well… I guess I was just scared. Of you. You were growing more powerful than I had anticipated and I didn’t know how I would deal with you if you attacked us. Me.”
Giddiness filled Wemmbu’s mind when he realized he was intimidating to Zam, even if he didn’t look it now. He craved the control, especially over someone who had wronged him time and time again.
“I mean I am pretty strong,” he agreed.
Something shifted in Zam’s gaze at his words, something resembling… recognition. Before Wemmbu could ask about it, Zam had began to speak again.
“Yeah, you are, that’s why I was scared of you,” he said, bringing his knee to his cheek, the toe of his boot hanging off the side of the couch. Wemmbu decided he didn’t really care about what it was that Zam had realized, because the words he said were like music to his ears. He was glad someone had finally recognized his authority.
Even if that person was PrinceZam, the person who had made him crave that authority in the first place.
Maybe they could get along, after all.