Chapter Text
Blake Winsweep wasn’t a sane man. He had felled several people across his times, from temporary injuries to magical respawns to erasure of their very being. He was skilled in throwing disks that sliced you into countless pieces, jumping with the assistance of enchantments to launch himself dauntless feet into the air, poisoning half a dozen people who had portrayed themselves as allies with the man who had killed dozens in an airship, and found himself quite professional at the niche talent of dart throwing. Unfortunately, he was a dilettante in escaping golden, magical chains that wrapped around your torso, restricting your arms and hip abduction, to the point you were squeezed in a similar way to a boa, unable to move, whilst the people around you deliberated whether or not to permanently kill you.
However, in a twist of luck, only one person seemed to actually want to forever evaporate his essence from this world. RAT was well, er, a rat. In fact, Winsweep didn’t quite know how to describe him. A seemingly humanoid rat in a maid dress was something you didn’t see every day, especially one who had a keen likelihood on destroying you, your family (as if Blake had any anymore), and everything else you treasured. The destroyed End portals whilst one was hidden away? His fault. The airship? His fault. That dimension full of pools so endless that when you got to the deep depths you either drowned or were eaten by a monster? His fault. The fact Winsweep was now in chains, watching helplessly as the people he had gathered here chose sides? Also his fault. Well, not exactly…
Luxintrus was also something of a sworn enemy, despite the fact they used to be friends. This seemed to be a common theme among those that teamed up with him. When Winsweep poisoned those that were aiding in RAT’s plans, they seemed to throw a hissy fit of sorts and joined RAT’s side, especially after he erased Zombie and Void, and were also now hellbent on doing the same to him. Dramatic! So, so, dramatic. It wasn’t as if they didn’t deserve it, they had betrayed him.
Lux was the one chaining him, their sword—the Dusk Epitath—glowing with divine energy. Utterly shocking that they were using a Charter weapon of all things. So, when Blake signs a deal with Mouthpiece to gain a Charter weapon to murder those who betray him it’s wrong, but when Lux signs a deal with Mouthpiece to gain a Charter weapon to murder those that Winsweep is close to, and to murder Winsweep, it’s somehow right? At least everyone else disagreed with this notion. Even if he had not so nicely threatened one of them by going to burn their prized possession but that was another story.
“Well then what do you want us to do?” Lux’s tone held an air of exasperated malice, causing a smirk to light up under Winsweep’s mask. “He’s a danger to us all, even if he called a meeting for peace! You seriously don’t believe a word he says about the End portals, right? Sure, RAT may have destroyed them and left one intact, but it was for a good cause. Why would we ever lie to you about that?”
“Maybe because someone who has an inclination for death was the one withholding that information,” Noxintrus said dryly, side eyeing RAT. They were overly sick of everything, weary anger tightening their features, one hand hovering over a dark square to the side that contained their inventory space. “We experienced all of it ourselves, you can’t deny that, especially not that prison it was turned into. RAT taunted us. These two even trapped Talon, as we said before, believe it or not. You can ask him yourself about that one… We know he’s told the Gitalians already.”
“Hold on.” RAT crossed his arms, narrowing his beady black eyes. “Yes, I did keep one End portal to myself, but it was to protect you all. This world doesn’t need the End nor the Enderdragon, we manage just fine without it. Yes, I did turn it into a sort of personal prison for Winsweep, but all of us know what he’s done. Poisoning people, erasing Zombie and Void, invading Gitaly, stealing items to use as leverage against people across the server, taking over Markhett… Is there anything he hasn’t done?”
“Crash the Freebird.” Winsweep replied without missing a beat, voice curled into a smile. The glare sent his way almost made him roil in laughter before the chains tightened around his chest, letting out a cough of winded air. He struggled to get an intake, wheezing, a grin splitting across the good side of his face.
“That— That isn’t…” Lux splutters, narrowing their eyes. They turn to the rest of the group who remain in uneasy silence, Sillvia’s eyes turned toward Winsweep in an icy disappointment. “If you won’t let us kill him, surely you’ll let us do something else, right? We have so many mods and we can just create another to make sure he won’t do something like the Masquerade again. Diansu is dead, they aren’t going to take over Spawn and Markhett. We can end this reign of terror.”
“What?” Nox let out a hiss of breath. “This reign of terror? Lux, I genuinely thought you knew better. You used a Charter weapon against Diansu, you and RAT imprisoned Blake and I in the Neverend, and you just tried to end his life once and for all. If anything, you have the reign of terror. He invited all of you, looking to plead his case and his side, and here you are deciding whether or not to put him down or lock him up like some dog.”
“He’s practically the server’s favorite puppy, Nox,” they argued, gesturing with their beyond deadly sword. “They all want him to keep gallivanting around and causing mass destruction. He doesn’t keep friends, only enemies, and one day he’s even going to turn on you, Nox! Just like he turned on Zombie and Void. Just like he was going to turn on Diansu. Just like he turned on me…”
“I recall you turning on me, Lux. Same with Zombie and Void.” Winsweep’s voice, although amused, lowered in dark contemplation. The chains crept up to his throat and he tilted his head up. “And after everything we did together? I even stuck by you when you blasted my eye out. We killed RAT together. You supported me in finding his allies. He killed you in the Freebird. Why are you spreading lies when all I’ve done is try and help this server, protecting it from him, and have been stopped at every turn.”
“Oho?” RAT’s looked his way, amusement rippling through every syllable. “Big talk for someone in chains.” His grip on his sword tightened and he took a step closer to the crowd, all huddled together and looking on in varying stages of emotion. “I have a proposition, similar to what Lux was talking about earlier. We keep Blake in chains, stripping him of his weapons and armor and, instead of locking him away in a place like Neverend, Lux, Astron, and I will watch over him. We’ll make sure he won’t hurt anyone else, especially not Gitaly knowing his history there.
“Is anyone in agreement?” Those beady eyes swept the crowd, earning confused looks and some murmurings, before one by one each member either gave their assent or their disagreement—the only one who gave a withering look happened to be Bon, though it was filled with more hesitation than anything else. There was practically no disagreement, every minorly negative opinion being a way to humanely keep Winsweep in their care. “Wonderful, then!”
“Wait, you can’t do this.” Nox grabbed his sword out from the inventory space, dropping his armor onto the ground. There was no way they were going to put it on in time. “This is practically Neverend without friends, you aren’t going to get away with this. Not this time.”
“Oh, yeah?” RAT tilted his head. “And who’s going to stop me? You? Winsweep? He’s literally in chains, about to have his life erased. Repurposed, if you will. You all stopped that and then you all agreed to let us keep him, except for you but your vote doesn’t really matter at this point. This is the best feasible option currently and unless you have a better one, I suggest you run.”
“Does my vote count?” He snarked, twitching his fingers to try and stop them from going numb within the chains grip. Before RAT or Lux could respond, he continued, “I assume not. Poor little Blake Winsweep, all chained up, like some puppy on a leash. That’s what you’re thinking, yeah? How are you even going to enter my inventory? That’s my pocket dimension. I’m not going down without a fight.”
“Well that’s just too bad,” Lux raised their sword again, “because you’ve already lost. You always lose, Blake, despite your damn name. It really isn’t a mark of your being, is it? RAT and I have you and we’re not letting go, no one’s going to come save you. Except for little Nox, maybe… But even so, they’ll soon realize that this is the best option. No more Charter weapons from you and your little boss, no more grand takeovers, no more deadly parties under your schemes. It’s over, Blake. We’ve won.”
“My name isn’t Winsweep because I always win, but I do always win,” he bared his teeth beneath the mask, feeling black blood start leaking from the wound on the right side of his face, “my name’s Winsweep because that when I start to win, I’ll stop at nothing to keep winning. This is no exception. You haven’t won, Lux. You haven’t made me lose. You’ve only perpetuated my goals, my ambition, my drive. You better keep your eyes open because I’m going to break free from whatever little mod you put together and kill both of you. Forever. This isn’t over.”
“Bold words for such a little man.” RAT stepped closer as Winsweep glowered down at him. Before any retort came out of his mouth, before Nox protested again, and before Lux tightened the chains, a netherite sword was swung at his head on the flat edge and everything went black. Not even the permanent ringing in his ears remained.
— — — — —
When Winsweep woke up, he was inside a dark room and his face felt odd, as if someone had stripped away the flesh and left nothing but cold, raw bone. The ringing in his ears came back in a buzzing manner, fuzzing in and out of strength as he twitched and twisted, trying to catch a glimpse of any light. He took in a shaky breath, the restriction of his chest loosened despite his limbs still being bound. From the way he shifted, he was in a chair. It was a rather uncomfortable chair. Seriously, if he was going to be locked away in a dingy room, they couldn’t do any better?
Whispers encroached on his ears in an archaic language and Blake scoffed, a giggle worming its way through his lips. He couldn’t help himself, breathing starting to heave in panic and delight. “Yes, yes. I’m very grateful I was at least given a chair. No lights, though? Even I would’ve put some lights in a cell! And some company. Do you think those plushies ever made it out into the world? I had quite a few.”
His head lolled to the side, awaiting the other’s response to the conversation. His fingers twitched again, meeting the cold metal of the chair as he winced. Words breathed out and again he found himself laughing, tipping his head back as tears started to form in his eye, leaking down his cheek. “No, no. I’m sure they did. I had like, four at home. I’m pretty sure someone took some, whether to do various schemes or even just to torture it. This whole server hates me, y’know? Not my fault.”
He grimaced as the laughter died down, a wave of pain pounding through his skull. If he focused hard enough, he could imagine the statistics of his current health. At least a heart was missing and he was hungry, saturation of prior meals depleted rapidly to try and restore his health in those chains and, now that he was awake, he could feel the beginnings of true hunger gnaw at him to fix the rest of his condition. If anything, he would be left half empty.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, that also meant half full. Perhaps fortunately, as he wasn’t starving yet. Though, on the other hand, it was also unfortunate as he had never really experienced this sort of hunger before. Except for maybe in the Neverend. Now that was hell. Way worse than whatever this dark, black box was. If he thought too long of that watery prison all he could taste was the slimy film of algae mixed with the iron of pooled blood. What a lovely memory.
Distantly, he wondered if Nox had gotten away. The last thing he remembered was being taunted, snarking back, and then a sword. And a scream. Had that been him? Surely not. He doesn’t scream… Unless it was Grandgousiers. Those were horrifying. Why did his thoughts always travel back to the Neverend? That was the last thing he wanted to think about, especially in darkness so reminiscent of layer three… With its eerie blue lights and the maw of darkness, and teeth, waiting to swallow you whole…
It was dark here too. Stiflingly dark, horribly dark, terrifyingly dark. He had no idea where he was but there was no possible way he was in the Neverend again. It would have been light, terribly bright, with no one he could fight. He also doubted they would drag him to the third level in a chair, plus he wasn’t even in a diving suit. No, he had to be somewhere in RAT’s base… or somewhere in Markhett. He missed when it was called Sweepcity, now that was a much better name.
“RAT? Lux?” He called out, his voice echoing around the space. It has great acoustics, he thought dimly, but that doesn’t help me get out of here. Wriggling his fingers, he tried to scoot forward in the chair, freezing when it made a horrid screeching sound. “You seriously couldn’t have picked a better chair? Even wood wouldn’t have made this sound! I don’t even mind the fact I don’t have a cushion.”
Winsweep paused, a smile growing on his face as he dissolved into high-pitched laughter, leaning back in the chair. He was surely delirious, panic pounding in his heart like a snare drum. A snare… He was snared! He was trapped, caught, and there was no one here to keep him sane. Well, there was one, but her voice was growing fainter as he realized something deeply disturbing… His mask was nowhere to be found.
His laughter cut off with a heave of air, gasping in whatever he could as the ringing in his ears exemplified by tenfold. He had only taken off his mask once in the past several months, and even then it had been very brief and covered by yet another mask. He couldn’t control his chest as it extended and crumpled in on itself rapidly, his entire system feeling out of control. Out of place. He felt like an outsider, watching his body as it struggled to get a grip on this new reality, feeling like he was back in the Neverend. Waiting for Nox and Talon. Waiting for something to come and eat him. Waiting for anyone to come and save him from his fate.
But nobody came. Instead, he felt tears roll down his cheek, a distant and numb sensation. He felt them fall and fall, more and more, as his mouth curved into a smile. His gasping breaths mixed with wheezing, which then devolved into giggling, and then to full out laughing. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. The darkness was funny now. The chair was funny now. His situation was funny now.
Why would anyone come to save him? He had heard Nox when they were fighting against RAT, Lux, and Astronyu, those words that they had spilled without knowledge of Winsweep’s presence. “We were going to kill Blake.” Spilt effortlessly. He had felt frozen, staring in disbelief, until he had run. He had blocked it out of his head, believing that it was only a slip of the tongue in the moment, that Nox hadn’t wanted to actually kill him. Surely Neverend had made them closer…
Nox didn’t run, did they? The laughter dissolved into giggles again as he doubled over, gasping. He let out a scream of fury, squeezing his eye shut into even more darkness. His throat bled raw when he was done, raw like the remains of his heart. It was all an act, a show, voting for him not to die to gain his trust and then shatter it by not coming to save him. Unless their hatred for RAT outran their wish for his demise, although surely that wasn’t true. Diansu… Had Diansu also wanted him dead?
The noise stopped, only little shivers of breath remained as his entire frame shuddered from the sudden chills that wracked his body. It was all the same. Everyone betrayed him. RAT, Zombie and Void, Lux, Diansu, Talon, Nox… Why was he all alone? Did no one like him? It was hard to believe they couldn’t, he was a well-mannered and respectful guy when you didn’t piss him off. He tried to remember a time he wasn’t betrayed, tried to remember someone who still stood beside him without force. He couldn’t. Blake Winsweep couldn’t recall a single person who willingly stood beside him now that didn’t want to kill him.
He had never felt so lonely, staring into the black abyss with a numb heart and faint breaths. His eye still hadn’t adjusted and it most likely never would. Was this their plan? Was this the ‘mod’ they had created while he was passed out? Surely not… That would mean they had been planning this as a duality, unless it had been meant for Diansu if they were unable to kill him. He couldn’t help but think this was worse than the depths of the Neverend’s abyss… Even if those he had laughed with, waited for, and escaped with had betrayed him after. Would he even take RAT’s presence right now?
I hate feeling small, he thought bitterly. He had said it before to RAT, who in turn had started calling him a little man. Degradation. It happened a lot from everyone on this server—Charter’s golden puppy, bud, buddy, little man—and he couldn’t help but feel a spark of rage each time. They goaded him into the fight, making him lose all track of his wits, yet each time he managed to win one way or another. It wasn’t just those nicknames, it was how they described him. Psychotic, insane, manic… They thought he was downright crazy.
I bet they don’t know I hear all of it. His head lolled to the side again, letting the remainder of the tears fall down his cheek. I know what you call me and it hurts. But they didn’t care, they wouldn’t care, they couldn’t care. All they saw was a rabid dog to be put down, having bit everyone and everything in hopes to grasp onto the power he once had. The Masquerade… He admitted he had messed up there, having broken the months of peace on the server, but either way RAT would have come for him after the aftermath of the Freebird expedition. He’d only wanted to help.
“This is villainous even for you, RAT,” he croaked, throat thick with newfound pain. “Lux, surely you of all people can see that this is wrong? Where is my mask? Give it back. I’ll put up being in this Folly-awful room if you just put it back on my face.” Begging didn’t feel nice on his throat nor his ego, wincing at the tone of his voice. It didn’t suit him, not one bit, and he felt pathetic because of it.
“Surely we can cut a deal.” He turned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of anything. He needed a vantage point, somewhere to look at. How did they even make it this dark? “I’ll hand over my armor and half of my weapons permanently, I know you already have them, and then you release me and let me go back to Smilies. Then, I can pound you into the damn ground once I get my second set…”
He took in a deep breath, the air burning in his throat. “I’ll kill both of you, over and over, until you don’t want to respawn. I’ll take everything you love and burn it. I’ll take Jemmie and torture him over and over until he dies, painfully. I’ll trap you both in the Neverend without any gear and see how you like being trapped for six months.” The bubblings of a laugh made their way up again. He couldn’t help the grin lining his words. “I won’t even use Charter on you, you don’t deserve the release of permanent death. I’ll do it over and over and over again until you don’t even want to exist in this plane of existence. Do you hear me? I know you can… You’re probably watching me right now, enjoying this, enjoying my suffering. Is Nox with you? Tell them I’ll be doing the same thing to them, as well.”
Silence punctuated his words, the ringing in his ears a constant humming. Sirens, spinning round and round and round. They never stopped. They’ve been here since he first found the mask, since she first got in his head, since he learned that he truly enjoyed the art of battle, of bloodshed, and of murder. He doubted they would ever stop and neither would he, not until the whole world was painted in the blood red paint. Folly red had nothing on the stains of his hands, ripped apart limb from limb.
He hated how everyone viewed him. He hated how they wanted to leash him. He hated how badly he wanted someone to have a deep connection with him. He wasn’t going to cry, not again. It was a weakness, even if it was in a state of panic. His panicking in itself was a weakness. The darkness also reminded him of the wardens, of Lux’s damn art of necromancy, of his death that worsened the pounding in his head and the views of his reputation. He was to be feared. He was to murder. He was to rule everything, no matter how hard they tried to stamp him out.
He dipped his head down again, blinking slowly. His fingers and feet tingled, growing numb. He could barely feel his shoulders, his legs, and even his torso. He ached all over and his head hurt horribly, especially after the netherite sword was slammed into him. Perhaps that was why it was so dark and he was in such disarray, he was nursing a concussion. Was this a small act of mercy? No… No, it wasn’t. He would rather face bright lights in a room he could see than suffer in the pitch black darkness of a space he couldn’t see. At least he had the chair. It sent him into another fit of giggles, hiccuping air with it. He was definitely unwell.
“RAT,” his tone grew songful, amusement laced with venom, “Lux… Is this really your plan? Are you trying to break me? It’s not going to work. I always come back. I came back from the wardens, from Neverend, and I will come back from this too. I always find a way out, a loophole, an escape in your stupid plans. This is so shabby, a really awful plan, and you can’t even come and gloat to me about how brilliant you think it is… Pathetic, really. You both are the cowards here.”
Talking to thin air, just like they thought he did all along. It was true, he did talk to himself, narrating his abilities and discussing ideas to the greater masses. Except, they had no idea why he did it. This was different, an attempt to speak to those he knew were watching him. Waiting. Watching his fragile sanity dip lower and lower…
After all, Blake Winsweep wasn’t a sane man. Everyone knew that tale.