Chapter Text
ParrotX2 fell into the void
“What..?” Wifies’ voice came out trembling, his eyes widening, and staring directly at the man in front of him.
A mocking laugh coming from, the man who wore black and purple, the man who had armies at his disposal, the man who killed Parrot.
“That fear in your eyes is exactly the reason not a single mafia member DARES defy me.” Ashswag spoke as if he ruled the world, maybe he did—because almost the entire server was indoctrinated by the mafia.
Wifies couldn’t say anything as a comeback, his mind had already drifted from this conversation—he could only imagine the face Parrot had made behind that blanket of invisibility when Ash pulled his stasis. He wanted to run, he wanted to run back to Parrots base and see him sitting on his bed—to see him writing in the notebook he cherished oh-so-dearly, but he knew deep down that he couldn’t, for the mafia had already made spawn their territory.
Ash dropped Wifies an invisibility potion, telling him to “make the right choice”.
“Your persistence is impressive, but do you really think that will make me join? Actually, let me rephrase that—you can’t convince me to join no matter what. Parrot would’ve wanted me to never join your mafia.” Wifies said as the man in front of him grew a frown on his glitched face.
“Parrot is dead. There’s no reason for you to keep fighting, because it will only end with you losing,” the glitch threatened.
Wifies huffed out a humorless laugh, and then sprinted. It’s all he could do, he would avenge Parrot one day, but right now—he needs to survive long enough to do that. An enraged voice was let out behind him,
“Go after him, NOW!”
Wifies doesn’t know how long or how far he ran, but he seemed to be safe for now.
I don’t know what I can do now, everyone I know is in the mafia… Maybe I can try to convince a few people to sabotage it? No—that won’t work, if they’re found out they’ll die. Parrot wouldn’t want that.
Wifies set up a temporary camp, emphasis on the temporary, due to the fact that he is actively being hunted down by some of the highest ranking mafia members.
Diamond trims. Ash sent some members after me… If I don’t play my cards right I could—
“Die…” Wifies muttered as his eyes snapped towards the abnormal sound within the jungle he resided in.
“WHO’S THERE?!”
Soon, a tall figure jumped out from the dense forest, his hair slicked back messily, sunglasses which are completely unnecessary for a cloudy day such as this, his yellow and white wings stood out from the foliage behind him, and the battle hardened scars were a sign of his skill.
“Hello—wait WIFIES?!”
The bird hybrid yelled out with a grin, his sunglasses slightly tilting downwards revealing his matching yellow eyes along with his inverted eyebrows that had a small slit.
Similar to the hybrids' reaction, Wifies was incredibly confused,
“Wait, Theo? What are you doing here? I thought you said you were going to join the mafia?”
“Huh? Wait, dude, on my MAMA I didn’t say that. I—ugh… Is this about the District 13 thing? I only left because I want to be stronger, not die.” Theo huffed, clearly getting a bit upset, making his wings twitch a bit.
Wifies noticed this and tried to change the subject,
“You know what? It-it’s fine. I would’ve made the same choice were I in your shoes. How have you been?”
“Oh, well. I’ve been doing well. Not much to say about my life, other than the occasional mafia member coming after me, not much. I was hiding out here until I heard someone—well now I know that someone was you!”
“Ah, yeah. Sorry for scaring you. There’s some mafia members currently searching for me, I think I’m safe for now but I can’t stay here for long.” Wifies explained as his ears drooped slightly.
Being the observant bird Theo is, he noticed this change. Of course, he then tried his best to comfort Wifies.
“Hey… C’mon, it’s not all that bad! You have a chance to get stronger, you know?” Theo said while lightly patting the other hybrids back.
“Also… Where’s Parrot?”
That question caused Wifies to flinch, his breathing unsteady and gradually quickening, his eyes widening with a look not even Theo could recognize—a look of fear.
Something definitely happened to Parrot, that look in his eyes—I’ve only seen it on those weird bandits before I cart them, but seeing it on the only guy who is always like, really calm in any situation is weird.
“Hey—Wifies? BRO?! I-uh.. S-STOP breathing so fast! You’re gonna pass out!” Theo shouted, he grabbed Wifies by the shoulders and started shaking him, trying to get him to snap out of it.
“I—” Wifies tried to speak, but no words could come out.
I feel dizzy, why can’t I regulate my breathing? I can’t act like this, I shouldn’t be acting like this. My head hurts so much, why can’t I stop breathing like this? Is it because of—
“Par..Parrot. He’s—” Wifies heaved out, but Theo couldn’t care less about him right now.
“DUDE. JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND AND BREATHE!!!” Theo yelled out, he was bad at comforting people since all he really cared about was strength, but maybe he’s now just realizing that it’s time to learn.
My ears are ringing… What did Theo even say? I can’t hear anything. My heart, my head, and my lungs hurt—almost like a burning sensation. Why am I getting emotional? He said that—that my emotion module doesn’t include any negative emotions, he wouldn’t lie, a creator doesn’t lie to their creations. If he didn’t lie… This must be a malfunction. I have to shut down now, but how?
Wifies’ mind was racing, his thoughts were disorganized, a machine doesn’t do that, his only conclusion was that he was malfunctioning.
He started to feel around the back of his head, vaguely remembering that his creator had always put his hand there before giving him a systematic update.
It was around here somewhere… There! Okay.. now I need to make it look normal, I don’t want Theo to know that I’m not real.
Wifies forced himself to start coughing, and pretended to hyperventilate, all to make himself look like a human.
A red blinking light appeared in Wifies’ eyes,
“You’ve surpassed my understanding of a machine's ability to feel, usually they don’t—but you, you truly are a masterpiece, 1108. ”
Theo's eyes widened at the sight of a passed out Wifies, he desperately looked around for something soft in Wifies’ camp to put him on. He’s never had to take care of someone who passed out, usually he would be making people do that, but this is one of his friends, someone who was always kind to him no matter what he did, someone who gave him hope, someone he basically left to die.
No. He’s not dead, the Wifies I know is stronger than that.
Even if he reassured himself, he couldn’t help but check for a pulse, but he did not find one, he put his ear to Wifies heart to make sure that he wasn’t going insane. All he heard was the buzzing of a machine.
“What..? N-no. That’s weird. Wifies isn’t a machine, that’s crazy.” Theo tried to convince himself, but it was helpless. He once again put his hand to Wifies heart to see if he just heard it wrong, maybe he’ll feel the beating of a heart.
“No. That’s impossible… How can someone be a machine?! Are you serious right now?! Ugh! This is so dumb.”
Theo was getting annoyed, a human being a machine wasn’t a possibility in his simple mind. He grabbed Wifies and threw him over his shoulder, of course before he left this camp, he made sure to leave no trace.
BOOM.
“Man… That sound never gets old. Hurts my ears a ton though.”
Using the bright yellow and off-white wings on his back, he pushes off the ground and takes off. A feather or two fall off, ultimately leaving a trail for certain people to follow, but that wouldn’t happen. Not yet, that is.
The wind smacked Theo's face with a recognizable force, one that he is used to. Jungle leaves billowed gracefully below him, chirps from parots echoed from the forest. Migrating birds flew slowly beside him, flapping their wings along to the beat of the hot sun.
“Hah! I haven’t seen this guy in a bit!” Theo said with gusto, a little friend of his happened to appear within this flock of birds.
Theo quickly pulled Wifies off his shoulder, choosing to carry him by his talons. He let out a screech, almost dropping his friend into the trees.
Even if he’s a machine.. He’s still my friend.
“Alright buddy! Here’s some food for ya! Only time you’ll be getting it though…” That earned him a bite from the small bird currently beside him.
“AH! I'm kidding, I’m kidding!!!” He laughed as the tiny mark the bird bit turned a sore red.
…
<System rebooting…>
<Please type in the verification code.>
The soft tap of a keypad can be heard, along with a mysterious voice that Wifies could not recognize—
“You really shut yourself off? How interesting.”
6 7 7 9 1 2
<Verifying…>
<Confirmed! C-1108 has been rebooted.>
Wifies’ eyes snapped open, greeted with an unfamiliar ceiling that had a simple lantern swaying side to side.
What was that? No, who was that? Nevermind that. Where… Am I? I remember shutting off, and Theo being there… Where is he?
“Theo..?” He asked out loud, his voice slightly raspy and eyes still adjusting to the light.
Fast and quiet footsteps could be heard from the door, the bird bursting through the door.
“Wifies?! Oh my GOODNESS. Dude, how could you pass out on me like that?! I had to carry you all the way back here!” Theo was this close to breaking the others eardrums, the feathers on his wings were puffed out, signalling that he was incredibly stressed out.
Why?
Theo glared at Wifies for a moment and then sighed,
“You scared me, I mean—you fainted!
Wifies just sat there stunned.
Excuse me? I scared you?? In what world does that make sense???
“Why?”
Theo tilted his head to the side, obviously confused by this question. After a second or two, he asked—
“What do you mean why?”
A small sigh came from Wifies, “I could put you in danger, if anything you should’ve left me there. I don’t want anyone to die because of me.”
“C’mon! You know I’m strong, a gold trim can’t even land a hit on me! My carts can one shot anybody.”
“That doesn’t matter, even if you can take on a gold trim or diamond trim by yourself, even if they die to your hands in the blink of an eye—there are MULTIPLE gold and diamond trims after me right now. You’ll be outnumbered, plus, I can’t fight well. I don’t want to be a burden to you.” Wifies’ eyes were tearing up.
I was a burden to Parrot, I couldn’t help him, and he died. He died because of me. I can’t let that happen, I don’t want another person to die for me. They see me as this person worth dying for—I’m not. I’m just as normal as anyone else on this server, there’s nothing special about me, so why? Why does every single one of my friends want to do something so outrageous for me? They should live their life, not go along with plans that could end with them dying. They say they want to protect me, they say they’re worried about me—what about me? Do they think I don’t worry for them either? Do they think I don’t want to protect them? They’re fighting for a cause that’s only in their heads. I just want them to worry about themselves as well, to stop putting themselves in harm's way, to stop caring about what happens to me, to stop worrying about whether I die or not.
Wifies lips pressed into a thin line, he gripped the blanket so caringly laid atop him, the tears from his eyes falling and blooming into puddles on said blanket. Theo flinched, he’d never seen such emotion from any of his friends before, especially not Wifies.
The smartest guy he knew, the one who barely showed any emotions, the one who kept his composure in any situation—was crying? He didn’t know what to do, for a moment, he stood there before ultimately deciding to pat the others back.
Trying his best to comfort him, Theo loudly said to Wifies,
“It’s alright man, I promise I won’t die! I know when I’m losing in battle, that’s the reason why I’m sitting right beside you right now. Besides, I’m stronger than like 90% of the players on this server! I’m not gonna die to a bunch of noobs who can’t even hold a sword right!”
“Then what about that other 10%?”
That singular question stunned Theo into silence, he didn’t know what to say now.
Theo's silence told Wifies all he needed to know.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Wifies muttered as the tears on his unblemished face dried up, and crust started forming in the corners of his eyes.
“I—uh… I’ll get you some food…” Theo quickly stood up at that and awkwardly sped out before turning back to stick his head through the door,
“Holler if you need me..?” he said with a forced smile.
The hybrid sitting on the bed didn’t say or do anything in reply, he sat there like a mechanical doll. Quiet and unmoving.
Theo took this silence as an “okay”, and shut the door behind him while walking away.
Wifies sat there unblinking, the gears in his arm slowly moved up and smacked himself in the face.
He’s terrible at comforting people. Whatever, I can’t say anything either, it’s not like I’m any better. So… I’m alive now. The mafia is still searching for me, people are dying, Parrots.. Dead. I swear I will avenge him, but how? I don’t have any plan, nor do I have a team to work with. Theo might be willing but then again, I don’t want him to die, or anyone in fact.
…
A few hours passed, Wifies was pacing around the softly lit room. His ears were perked up, tail slumped, and muttering to himself.
The dimly lit room got even darker as the time passed, the pictures on the wall, the plants on the small table seemed to sway a bit as the evening breeze swirled through the room. Creatures of the morning went to sleep, while the monsters of the night rose out of their hiding spots. Slow steps of zombies could be heard, the chattering of bones from skeletons, and the hisses of spiders were terrifying.
Many players wouldn’t go out at this time, for the dangers lurking under the moon could bring one death. Wifies usually wouldn’t.
Theo looked out into the sky, muttering to himself,
“Damn. Is it nighttime already?”
CRASH!
Theo flinched, the loud sound came from the guest room, the room where Wifies currently resided in.
“WIFIES!”
Theo barged into the room and saw—
“Dude. Genuinely what are you doing..?”
Wifies was lying on the floor. A ladder behind him knocked over on its side.
“Uh… Hey Theo!” Wifies said as he raised his arm to awkwardly wave at the very concerned hybrid.
Theo chose to not ask since it was VERY obvious what he was trying to do, he was trying to—
Literally why would he try to sneak out??? It’s not like I'm keeping him locked up or whatever?? He can just say ‘hey im going out’ instead of “sneaking out”. I'M NOT HIS MOM!!!
Theo huffed out a long sigh, before offering a hand to Wifies.
Huh. He kinda acts like a mom from what Parrot told me.
He wouldn’t know what a mom acts like, he never had one. He was a machine, robot, doll, clone, or whatever you want to call him—just don’t call him “real”, because he’s not.
“You're a clone. A machine made for infinite content.”
“A clone..?” Wifies was confused, these aren’t his memories.
Theo repeated half of his words with confusion, “A what???”
“I—C’mon dude just get up. I got some food for dinner. If you’re hungry, that is.” He said while helping his friend off the ground, letting out a soundless laugh due to how ridiculous the situation was.
“Oh. Uh.. Yeah, I am. Thanks.”
Wifies didn’t really need to eat, but not accepting would be rude.
Theo led Wifies into the makeshift dining room that he had conjured up within a minute or so, just so the smartest guy on the server wouldn’t judge him for not having a dining room in the first place. Even if Theo thinks this, Wifies honestly couldn’t care less. Judging someone who is constantly in battle with their enemies for not having a nice base would be hypocritical since he himself didn’t even have a base.
Wifies plopped down on the purple cushion laid out for him, silently waiting for food he didn’t need to eat.
“Alright! I made some steak and baked potatoes, if you want any more food just tell me!” Theo grinned with achievement, proud that he made such a delicious meal.
Wifies couldn’t help but drool at the food placed before him, he had no idea that Theo could cook, “This.. actually looks really good. I didn’t know you could cook, Theo.”
“Well, if I want to get stronger, I have to have a good diet!”
“That makes sense.” Wifies hummed, already digging into his food.
To break the silence between the two, Theo asks, “Do you like the food?”
“Oh. Yeah, I like the baked potato, it needs more cheese though. Got any more?”
“Yep! I can just make you another one with more cheese, if you want, that is.” He offered while getting up from the honey colored cushion.
“That’d be nice. I have more of an appetite than I thought, thanks.”
I don’t have to eat but the food tastes pretty good, I’m surprised he hasn’t asked about me being a clone. I mean, literally everything about me screams machine. Maybe it’s so obvious that he just doesn’t notice it, or he is just choosing to be ignorant. Actually that seems a bit out of character for him, he might’ve noticed already but just doesn’t care. He and Parrot are more different than I thought.
Sorting through his thoughts, Wifies unintentionally tilted his head, a silly habit of his. Theo was humming a random tune, the billowing of the trees, and the slow footsteps of mobs made Wifies a tad bit sleepy but he really wanted to eat another potato.
“Here’s another baked potato, bro.”
“Thanks.”
They ate in silence, Wifies savored every bite of the food and the other ate heartily. After they finished cleaning their plates of any food, Theo told Wifies that he’ll do the dishes, and for him to rest.
“Thanks again, Theo!” Wifies quickly shut the door of the kitchen and ran back to the guest room.
As soon as he got there, he hastily opened his inventory and pulled out a book and quill, he had formed a plan.
Find teammates : Theo (Most capable player combat wise), Kenadian (Currently in the Mafia, however he might be willing to help), Wato (Same as Ken), Spoke (I don’t trust him right now, but if it becomes necessary, I will.)
Search for the location of all the stasis chambers : The most optimal solution to defeating the Mafia.
Convert all the Mafia members : If all the stasis chambers are gone, Ash’s power over them is gone, and they are free.
Wifies let out a long sigh while running his hand through his hair.
“It’s easier said than done…” he muttered to himself.
I… never got to say this, but—thank you for being my friend.
“Anytime, bro.”
His eyes snapped open, his pupils dilated, tears falling, and sweat dripping down his forehead.
Wifies lips quivered, his voice shaking ever so slightly as he questioned—
“What… What was that..?”
Was that a dream? It had to be, I mean Parrots—
“WIFIES!” Theo kicked the door leading into the room, he was breathing heavily, new scars had appeared on his arms, along with the smell of something burning. He quickly looked around, his eyes landing on Wifies sitting at the desk, tears staining his cheeks.
He couldn’t care less if Wifies was crying, because right now their lives are in danger.
“I—We have to leave! Like RIGHT NOW!!!”
“What happened? I smell something burning, did you—”
Wifies' sentence was interrupted by Theo grabbing him by the shoulders with his talons and crashing through the window, using his wings to give him momentum to escape.
“I’LL EXPLAIN LATER BUT WE NEED TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW MAN!!!” He screeched out, frantically flapping his wings with all his might while flaming arrows flew past him—grazing his cheek and opening a wound.
Wifies was stunned into silence, he was hit with a strong gust of wind when they took off, and now there were arrows aiming to shoot them down.
There’s no way that some bandits would send Theo running for his life, so that means that the intruders were—
“It was the Mafia, wasn’t it?”
“Huh? Oh.. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t even know how they could’ve possibly found my base.. I mean—we are LITERALLY 20,000 blocks out in every direction. What, do they have a compass leading to us or something?!”
“That’s… actually a plausible theory… There’s a lot of exploits on the server, if Ashswag has a way to pull all the stasis chambers when he dies, there has to be some kind of exploit he’s using to be able to do that.”
Theo went silent for a moment, clearly shocked that his side comment actually might’ve been the answer to how the Mafia even found them in the first place.
“Of course, it’s just a theory. We don’t really know how they’re able to locate us, but it’s the most believable one so far.” Wifies hummed, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“I—okay!”
…
After a while, Theo landed in an acacia biome, the light of dawn shining down on the two of them.
“We should be safe for now.” Theo said while glancing around, surveying the surroundings, and brushing the dust off of his dirtied wings.
The slight breeze whooshed past Wifies, who right now was deep in thought, his tail smacking against the dry grass beneath his feet.
A red light glimmered in one of his eyes.
“Yes. I have their coordinates, I’ll send it over to you in a moment.”
“Theo.” Wifies murmured, his eyes moving to look at the bird who was currently setting up camp.
Theo kept his head low, trying his best to start a fire. “What’s up?”
“Just—” He paused,
“How on EARTH are we going to defeat The Mafia? I don’t know what to do anymore… I have a plan, but how are we going to pull this off?! We only have the two of us, everyone else we know is in The Mafia, everyone’s lives are at stake. The ender pearl stasis’ is how Ash is controlling them, to do his bidding, to do all of these horrible things, to kill innocent players, and to—”
Theo placed his hand on Wifies’ shoulder, his eyes full of sincerity and pity.
“I know, I know how hard it’ll be to defeat The Mafia. As dense as I am—”
He joked, “but this is not the time to give up, especially when we’re on the run.”
Wifies stared at Theo, his eyes glistening with tears about to fall. His lips quivered before finally deciding to speak.
“Parrot’s dead.”
An unbearable silence came soon after, the only thing heard was the rustling of leaves, and Wifies's unstable heartbeat. He blinked numerous times to try to hold in his tears, and tried his best to not start having a panic attack again.
“It’s hilarious, really. You talk as if you’re actually human, along with your relentless, yet stupid endeavors never cease to amaze me, 1108. Aren’t you just fascinating?” A mysterious voice once again was somewhat—radioed, to him.
“Huh..?” Wifies eyes widened in shock, his lips pressed into a thin line, looking as if he’d just seen a ghost.
“Dude, you good?” Theo asked, he was just processing the information that Wifies just dropped on him like a bomb. He knew something happened to Parrot, death was the most likely answer. But, hearing it from Wifies himself made it hurt even more.
Especially since Parrot was the one who brought the three of them together, he was the one who helped their friendship flourish, he was the one who brought more people who believed in their cause, and he was the one who founded the now abandoned District 13.
“I.. Uh… D-do you know what you’re going to do to defeat The Mafia..???” Theo stuttered and mumbled, trying to change the topic since it seemed none of them wanted to say anything to each other about it.
“Uhm… Well I do have one idea.”