Chapter Text
It is dark.
The underworld is dark.
Not the kind of dark where he curled up beside Parrot while watching him sleep on the couch. No, that darkness is warm and friendly. That darkness is filled with Parrot’s warm feathers and breathing sounds. With signs of a living being.
The underworld’s darkness is cold and unkind. Inhuman.
Not something that Wifies is much unfamiliar with.
Wifies sit in the darkness, minds wandering. He replayed all of the escape rooms he played with Parrot, finding mental cheeses and hidden escapes he could’ve used. All of the chess he played with him, mental or not, replaying it over and over and over and over again.
Clone #0024 has gone very far from what he was originally made for.
The outlier has gone too far off course from what his creator programmed him to do. The closest of his peers to being a human.
Would his creator be mad? Would he be proud?
He’s more likely to be devoid of any emotions, though.
Death isn’t stranger to Wifies. Although buried, he remembers a piece of information of dying and dying and dying and dying countless times, to be reborn as something new, more intelligent, more clever.
He doesn’t feel anything down here. He’s nothing. He’s just a mind with no body nor a soul. He can’t scream, he can’t move, he can’t feel. An unending void of nothingness.
He wonders if this is how his creator felt back then, when Ken shot an arrow to kill him, a punishment for his incompetence. For being imperfect is a sin not even his creator could escape. He wonders if his creator welcomed death with open arms.
Probably not.
Wifies hoped it’s the one difference between the two of them.
I wonder what Parrot is doing right now, he thought.
Wifies hopes Parrot is okay. He wishes to anything that is willing to hear him that his stupid bird is doing fine. He prays to the gods he doesn’t believe that his friend is safe without him. That he found a friend that truly cares about him, that loves him just as much as Wifies loves Parrot, that is more human than Wifies could ever be to understand Parrot more. Someone that could protect him because Parrot couldn’t stop being reckless for the life of him.
Being in endless nothing is something unfamiliar, yet oddly nostalgic.
Like he had come home.
He only wishes that he could make sure that Parrot is safe, and that he could’ve apologised for hurting him.
…
And then he hears that whisper.
[You’re telling me I can revive someone from the dead if I use this?]
[If you know how to operate it, yeah]
Wifies furrows his hypothetical eyebrows. That is not possible. He’s not meant to hear anything. The underworld is nothing. How could he hear something out of nothing?
And the pain suddenly hits him.
Flaming white pain surges through his body. His body?
He’s not supposed to have a body.
A silent scream ripped of his soul, numbing his mind and his senses and his hand and his face and his eye and it’s hot it’s hot it’shothothothot
Wifies screams.
When the pain subsided, when the white lights faded from his sight, Wifies finally saw it.
Structures.
Lights.
The void.
He’s in the underworld dimension.
He blinks away the pain and tries to focus.
This isn’t possible.
This isn’t logical.
Unless…
Wifies turns around to see two clothes and several items scattered around a gold block.
It’s the revival ritual.
“Ha!”
So it’s real.
“Ha… hahahahahahaha!”
Laughter erupted as Wifies doubled down.
A hollow laughter. A manic laughter.
Whatever it is, that’s the most inhuman yet humane thing #0024 has ever done.
***
Wifies picks up the abandoned clothes on the floor. One of them even has a headband to cover his forehead, his control panel access. He picks up some items; pistons, redstones, elytra, netherite swords, netherite pickaxe, invisibility potions, milk, some armor.
He ties the purple headband and wears the hood of his cloak, covering his scarred face as best as he could.
He doesn’t care for what purpose he is revived back.
He only has one goal: protecting Parrot whatever it takes.
And this time, his goals too.
***
“Parrot, have you read the news?”
“What news?” Parrot finishes tying his braid and turns to look at Theo.
“Here, take a look at it yourselves.” Theo puts some papers on the table.
“I didn’t know we have newspapers now. The media is grinding, huh,” Parrot pulls up a chair and sits, gathering the papers. “Are these missing flyers?”
“We’ve been having them for a while. Yes, these people went missing these last few days.”
Parrot squinted while he read the words in the newspaper “—these people have been reported missing, the LAW found out that it was because of a criminal group by the name of Phantoms—Phantoms?” He shot a look at Theo, eyebrows furrowed. “Didn’t we destroy Phantoms’ base and kill their leader a couple of weeks ago?”
Theo plucks a feather from his wings and shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t ask me.”
“The LAW is now doing their best to find these people, if you see any of them please contact the LAW through the contact person listed below, recently they managed to make the newest version of orbital cannon, and is planning to immediately use it against the pirate docks in the great sea—dude, Theo, don’t you think this is weird?”
“Bro we’ve been talking about how LettuceK is mad suspicious that’s why you’re running the election right now.”
“Yeah but like, I still had respect for him back then, like he’s a good guy, but… nuking an entire pirate dock? There’s still innocent people there,” Parrot put down the newspaper and started scratching his head. “Besides, if The Great Sea isn’t too far from their reach, they could’ve come when the tree people asked for help.”
Theo fell silent while Parrot continued to read the news, searching for clues that he probably missed. He taps his fingers on the wooden table, visibly distraught.
“Parrot—”
“Theo—oh,” Parrot stops himself. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”
“I think we should start campaigning more. We’ve done so much for these ungrateful motherfuckers, we should start reminding them what we’ve done.”
Parrot sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “I… I don’t know, Theo. I didn’t do that to look good to other people.”
“Oh come on, Parrot,” Theo groaned, frustrated. “Do you want to be a king or not? You’re not even manipulating them, you’re just being nice out of the pureness of your heart! Now you just gotta remind them that you are a truly honest and good person so you can win their votes! Simple.”
Parrot plucked some of his blue-yellow feathers and sighed. “Alright. Fine, we will do as you say.”
“Nice! Finally—”
“But!” Parrot put up a finger on Theo’s face, his other hand holding up a missing flyer. “We’re gonna search for them first.”
Theo groaned as he grabbed Parrot’s shoulders. “We don’t have time, Parrot! Please. Let’s be reasonable and go, I don’t know, campaigning and those kinds of stuffs.”
“I know, I know, but think about it, Theo. If all of the people in the capital already chose their sides, then there is no point in trying to convert them to mine! I bet a lot of these people have been bribed—I’m not sure Boosfer got his votes fair and square—and if I could bring back the people that are missing, we could help them and let them spread the words and ensure my votes! Of course we would do your strategy too, but for now let’s leave with some campaigning flyers and search for the missing players.”
Theo falls silent. He scratches his head and groans really loudly. “Alright, fine.”
“Very good!” Parrot claps his hands. “I’m gonna go prepare us some bundles and shulker boxes.”
While Parrot goes to the second floor of their potion shop, Theo sighs again and plucks some of his feathers. “Stupid bird. Why do you have to be so kind and altruistic.”
“This is going to get you killed one day.”
***
Kenadian, the famous prison escapist and builder, and also an absolute loner, was sorting their escape kits when their yellow ear flicked at a wood creaking noise.
“Whoever you are, please show yourself.”
The sound stopped. But Kenadian resumed as she smiled; “I ask you kindly to leave me alone. I’m merely an innocent player. I bring no harm.”
“Or else?” said the invisible person, their voice distorted.
“Or else I’ll have to activate a trap that’s gonna kill you right there.”
A chuckle can be heard. Kenadian turns around as the invisible guy reveals himself. “You really never change, Ken.”
“Why would I change? You, on the other hand—ooh,” Ken grimaced at the sight of Wifies’ face. “Is it insensitive to ask what happened to your face?”
Wifies shrugged his shoulders. “As you may know, I was dead. Killed. By, uh, Parrot. By the way, do you have any bandages?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. That was so uncalled for, by the way. You didn’t even tell me or Wato!” Ken ran through their bundles and shulker boxes, giving Wifies a scroll of bandages. “We could’ve smacked some sense into you.”
“Thanks. Yeah, and I’m sorry about that, I wasn’t thinking straight. The thing is, I kinda came back with a ritual.”
“A ritual?”
“It’s a gold block. There's this underworld dimension—anyways, there is a way to bring people back. But the revival is—I don’t know, incomplete, maybe. Or the process had a malfunction, because I’m not a real human. Anyways, I came back with this scar. I think it burns the whole outer skin and the nerve system underneath. I guess the contraption couldn’t handle whatever force was bringing me back. Oh and I couldn’t see with this eye, either.”
“I see,” Ken crossed their arms. “So? Why do you come here to see me?”
“You see, I… I wanted to ask for your help. You and… Wato. And listen, this isn’t just for Parrot, or, or me, okay, this is for the whole server. You know the LAW? The—”
“Okay,” Ken’s tails flicked around. Their face is cold, their gaze calculating. “Do you have any plans?”
“Any… huh?”
“Plans, Wifies. Because you know, I’m always down to help you. Wato definitely would, too. We don’t mind helping you and your little bird, but we can’t just risk our lives without a plan in mind.”
Wifies blinks slowly, a relieved smile blooming across his scarred face. “Oh my god, I was scared I would genuinely need to convince you with my reasoning. Thank god you haven’t changed, Ken. But yes. Yes I do.”
“Really?”
“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know me, Ken. I didn’t escape from that factory by being stupid.”
A heavy silence falls between the two of them.
Until Ken laughs and nods. “Sure, buddy. We believe in you. Besides, I know what’s happening out there. I’m also worried about the appearance of that ‘LAW’. I don't want another tyrant to disturb my peace. So yeah, I will help you.”
“Good god, thank you. I love you so much I could hug you right now.”
“Please don’t, your face is creeping me out. Oh and that voice changer you have before is terrible.”
"Rude."