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He didn't remember their parents. For him it had always been him and his older brothers Flame, Wemmbu and Spoke. Flame being the oldest took it upon himself making sure that they were safe and had always something to eat. Spoke often helped as the second oldest, but most of the time he got himself in trouble and Flame had to save him. Wemmbu had to stay behind and look after Parrot, since he was too young to fight and rather weak. He wasn't born a demon like Flame or Wemmbu, for which fighting was their second nature, a compassion since birth accompanied by additional strength. The voidling wasn't a fighter, but rather a master of causing chaos, being destructive in his own way.
Parrot, on the other hand, was neither a fighter nor destructive. He avoided any sort of confrontation and in case of danger his instinct was to flee and not fight like his brothers.
It was no surprise when they grew a part after joining the unstable smp. At the beginning they were living together, minus Flame, at spawn. Flame had left to become the strongest. Eventually Wemmbu and Spoke left to do their own thing and for the longest time it was only Parrot left at spawn, until he started his own journey.
Sometimes their ways would cross, and he would see one of them. Instead of a happy reunion, they were often on opposite sides and therefore enemies.
It didn't bother him that much since he had Wifies, his best friend and one of the smartest people on the server. They had the same goals and liked the same things, like treasure hunts, escaping prisons, solving mysteries and so on.
Just like him, his brothers also found their duo. Spoke had Mapicc, Wemmbu had Egg and Flame... he wasn't sure. Every time he saw him, he was alone. If he had a duo, he was hiding them.
Their relationship had become odd to say at least. He and Spoke had a big argument and no longer got along with each other, especially after the whole secret incident, where Parrot lost Wifies for the first time.
Wemmbu on the other hand was okay. Sure, during Zam empire Wemmbu did try and kill him, since he was after Spoke, but they put that aside. When they met again on the scavenger hunt, he was willing to help taking down Boosfer and his minions. Still, they weren't as close as they used to be.
Parrot barley saw Flame. The distance between them grew and grew, and he couldn't exactly remember, when the last time was they interacted. When Zam was after him, he often had to fight Flame, but that was all the interaction he got.
He knew that it was important to focus on yourself and find a purpose beside family. He was happy for them, that they were making their own way in life, yet he couldn't shake off the feeling of being abandoned. They don't have to do everything together, but it would be nice if every now and then they could hang out and talk. After all they were family, right?
Every now and then he heard someone talking about his brothers. From the stories he heard, it seemed like those three interacted quite a bit with one another. A lot more than when they were with him. Maybe he was wrong and he was the only one who drifted away or maybe his path was the only one not connected to the others. He was never a fighter after all...
So, he focused on himself. After his duel with Clown, escaping Proton, he decided to leave spawn behind and start his own civilization. It was also the first time he interacted with the mafia and also met Dean. Dean joined their team and from then on, the duo turned into a trio. He may have lost his family, but his friend group was growing.
End civilization fell and the trio left for Capital city. It was a trap and once again they were pulled into the schemes of the mafia. Parrot made a new friend Luigi, who told him about the Farland civilization and his dream of going there. He himself was interested in that civilization, but first they had to find a way to get out of Capital city.
Just as he gained a friend, he lost a friend. A gamble, which was unfair. No chance of winning, doomed from the beginning. Infront of him was Luigi killed, without ever getting the chance to fulfill his dreams. To be ever be free again...
Escaping Capital city wasn't easy, mafia members were hot on their heels and no matter how far they ran, the mafia always found them. His friends had reassured him that they weren't giving their location away, and he believed and trusted them.
How wrong he was.
Dean, his friend, who he had saved, had betrayed them. Their friendship broke in seconds, and the journey continued just with Wifies.
Then the second betrayal happened.
Another argument, another disagreement, another trust broken. Parrot arrived alone at Farland civilization. But not for long; Wifies had come looking for him and slowly over the weeks the trust had been restored. He had his best friend back.
He tried to fix his friendship with Dean, but he just couldn't bring himself to trust him again. When he had time, he visited Dean, told him what he was doing, but never more. How could he have missed the sign from their last conversation. How Dean suggested infiltrating the mafia. Why didn't he take Dean with him?
Dean joined the mafia. Parrot attacked the mafia. He managed to pop the totem of a mafia member. It was Dean.
Deanthebean9 fell out of the world
Deanthebean9 left the game
He had killed Dean.
Dean was dead because of him.
Then the war happened and Farland civilization fell. They fled and started to work on a plan on how to defeat the mafia. While gathering people, he found Spoke and Mapicc.
How long had it been since he last saw Spoke, his brother?
Together they came up with a plan, and Spoke took it upon himself to end the mafia. It was great. They were going to win.
Until Spoke and Mapicc returned. They failed. Anger consumed Parrot, how could they let that happen. After the fight, Spoke and Mapicc left, leaving Wifies and Parrot alone at the base.
One thing became clear; they needed more manpower, someone who could take on a diamond player, and Parrot knew who to ask for help. Wemmbu.
Luckily, he knew where Wemmbu was and found him quickly. It took some time convincing him, but he agreed on the condition, they would get him a mace, and they did. Motivated by their victory, they went back to discuss further action. Everyone was thrilled or so he thought. Wemmbu wasn't happy about what had happened, going over and over how he alone got the mace and in the end, he flew away, leaving Egg behind.
It didn't make sense to Parrot. Sure, it didn't go to plan, but in the end, they were able to kill a diamond player and take so the mace. Parrot even got in the last hit. In the death message he was the one who killed the diamond player. So why was Wemmbu, his brother, so upset and so insistent that it was all thanks to him.
Egg left as well, and he and Wifies left to assassinate Ash. Once again, they managed to sneak in, getting close to Ash, but still failing. Parrot hesitated, refused to shoot the arrow, letting Ash get away. Why couldn't he take the shot? Wemmbu, Flame and even Spoke would have taken the shot without a problem. So why not him?
Defeated, Wifies and him searched for a place where they could hide and live in peace. The house Wifies built was comfortable and cozy, the perfect place to wait until everything was over.
Except Ash had found it. Giving them an ultimatum, which both refused. They needed more time, and Wifies gave him more time, by betraying him once more. Splashing himself with an invis potion and joining the mafia, giving Parrot a couple more days to defeat the mafia.
With a clear goal in his mind, he returned to the base. To his surprise Spoke, Mapicc, Wemmbu and Egg were inside. He didn't think they would return by the way the last conversation went. Putting aside their grudges they decided to work together again and defeat the mafia.
Wemmbu didn't pay much attention, not contributing anything useful to the conversation, yet in the end they had a plan. Spoke, was the only one who noticed the absence of Wifies and was kind enough not to dig deep enough to know what happened.
They hadn't gained much new information and Parrot returned to the house Wifies built. Inside was an invisible mafia player, who he knew was Wifies. He tried everything to make Wifies say something, to drink milk and leave the mafia, but all he got was deafening silence.
Then it happened. Ash asked him to join, Parrot threw the invis potion away, and Ash turned to Wifies.
Wifies fell out of the world.
He had lost Wifies, his best friend, for the second time.
What happened afterwards was a blur. Someone tried to kill him, but he wasn't sure how exactly he lived. When his mind cleared, he was back at the base, surrounded by Spoke, Mapicc, Wemmbu, Egg and for some reason Wato. They were talking about something or someone; he wasn't sure. He just felt numb.
When he told them what happened to Wifies, everyone was shocked, even Wemmbu turned around and paid attention to what Parrot was saying for the first time. The subject was brushed away. Watching how Spoke and Wemmbu were talking to their friend hurt. It hurt a lot. Seeing what they had, what he will never have again. He wanted to cry. It felt like they were rubbing it in, that he had lost his best friend.
Did they even care?
Interrupted by an attack from the mafia, Parrot once again found himself fighting, just this time with two of his brothers. It felt good, being apart of something with his brothers and soon, they had won the fight. While the others were celebrating, Parrot had an idea. The beacons. A way to finally defeat the mafia, to defeat Ash. His journey brought him back to the Farland's, to the place where his trust in Wifies was restored. Not wasting a second longer, he turned on the beacon and soon he heard news of the fall of the mafia.
They did it.
He returned to the house. The last couple of weeks were exhausting. The battle was finally over, and their ways separated once again. Since the attack from the mafia in the base, he hadn't hurt anything from Wemmbu or Spoke. Guess they moved on already. As he sat on the couch, he heard a door opening and stepping through was Spoke.
The conversation they had went well. He even asked again about Wifies. Maybe he did care. It made him so happy that his brother went through trouble searching for him so he could tell Parrot what happened at their side at the end of the war. He resisted the urge to hug Spoke, to let his vulnerable side show.
"Ash escaped, but I have his cords."
Ash was alive. The very man who killed his best friend Wifies, was still alive. If he really wanted to move on from the mafia, he needed to talk to Ash and that was what he did. During the conversation he kept his cool and it was going alright, until Ash told him about the director. The person who had apparently killed Wifies.
Wifies was alive!? But he was the director? The very same person who killed and hurt his friends. Nothing made sense anymore. The director had Wifies face, his appearance, but he was nothing like the Wifies who he once knew. It was a completely different person, a clone of his best friend.
His time in Paragon was unpleasant, dealing with the director, with the guards and not being free was exhausting. He managed to get away, but the director, Wifies died. He lost him for the third time.
Was he sad or upset? Angry? Did he even feel anything? It wasn't Wifies, but it felt like him. Everything was just too much. Sure, he was free now, but he was also all alone, no friends, no team, no family, just him.
With no place to go, he returned to spawn. What was once his home was no more. The place where his brothers used to live had been long destroyed. It felt empty. He was empty.
He missed his family.
.
.
.
Months had passed since he decided to live somewhere in a jungle, leaving spawn and its people behind. Every friend he had was Dead. First Luigi then Dean and last but not least Wifies. Just like his friends, his family was also gone. Not once have they checked up on him or even made themselves known. There hadn't been any news of any of them.
As he laid there on the hard wooden floor, he thought back to his childhood. Back then they were inseparable. When he was younger, he once left their home to wander around the forest. The scolding he got for that was almost as bad as the punishment. He wasn't let out of anyone's sight for two weeks straight.
.oOo.
Parrot: I just wanted to explore the forest. I wasn't even far away from home.
Spoke: YOU left without telling ANYONE! Wemmbu was about to set the entire forest on fire, because he believed it would be easier to find you, when there was no forest.
Wemmbu: I only didn't do it, because you could've gotten hurt.
Parrot: We live in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing that could have attacked me, and if there was someone, I could have protected myself.
Wemmbu: No, you can't. You don't know how to fight.
Spoke: You can't just disappear and think everything was going to be alright.
Wemmbu: You got me in so much trouble. If Flame finds out I lost you, I will be in trouble not you.
Spoke: That's enough Wemmbu. We are just going to keep this hidden from Flame and it's going to be fine. Trust me.
.oOo.
They infact managed to keep it hidden from Flame. He never found out what happened, nor did he question why suddenly neither Spoke nor Wemmbu were leaving his side.
Back then he was too young to understand what the problem was but now being older, he gets it. If there was a monster or any other person in that forest, he wouldn't stand a chance. His best bet would have been running away, since flying was not an option. His wings were still growing and weren't able to carry his weight. He also didn't know how to fly back then.
Speaking of his wings, they were in bad shape. He hadn't had time to preen them, nor did he have any motivation to do so. It takes hours to preen them, and he can't even reach every spot. As a child his brothers, specifically Wemmbu would help him preen them. In his early days on unstable Wifies helped him, but now he didn't had nor trusted anyone near his wings. Which was why they were in such bad shape.
Since he obtained an elytra, he also wasn't using them as much. Early on he found out that people would target them and to keep them out of harm's way he stopped using them all together. Sure, healing potions could heal his wings, but it still hurt and was a lengthy recovery.
But in the end Parrot was a bird, who needed freedom, to be able to spread his wings and fly. Staying somewhere cooped up was doing more damage than good. Wings were a symbol of freedom. It was why his wings mattered so much, why he never gave up escaping a prison even when it seemed impossible, because he was meant to be free.
On days when he had a lot of energy, he would leave his little hut and explore the jungle. So far, he had found two jungle temples and a big ravine. To pass time he made some outposts, hidden in the trees. He rarely left the jungle, only if he needed to.
Today was different. He needed some totems and left to go to the raid farm. Since the nether was the fastest route, he lighted up a nether portal. His gear was alright, enchanted diamond armor with some netherite tools. His old gear was lost in Paragon as well as his elytra. If he needed to fly, he would use his wings, and it had been fine so far. At first it took some time getting used to flying again, but soon he figured it out. Maneuvering through narrow spaces, taking sharp turns, which he couldn't have done with an elytra. It felt great.
Parrot was either extremely lucky or the unluckiest person in the entire world and today was not his lucky day. He had walked some way through the nether when he spotted something in the corner of his eye. With his guard up, he went a bit closer in hopes to see better what he had just seen. Down on a platform were three people standing, who he recognized as Spoke, Flame and Wemmbu. Seeing his brothers after all this time was not on his list. Especially since they weren't on good terms.
Flame was part of the mafia, which they had taken down, Wemmbu only teamed with them since their goals aligned and Spoke was Spoke. Observing them made him realize how close those three were. They were not fighting; they were relaxed. Wemmbu's tail was leisurely swaying, not in a nervous way. Flame didn't have a weapon nor a shield out and Spoke was surrounded by black particles. They only appeared when he was relaxed and letting his guard down and show more of his void side. It also made him more vulnerable. Him doing that showed how safe he felt surrounded by those two demons.
When had they gotten so close?
Slowly, he backed up and looked for a way around. Sneaking by them was not an option. They would immediately sense him. He learned that the hard way. It wasn't his fault that demons and apparently voidlings were extremely aware of their surroundings, even sensitive to movement around them. One of the reasons why they were such good fighters.
The only thing his parrot side brought him was better senses than a normal person. His vision was excellent, and his hearing was very sensitive, and that was pretty much it. Sure, his smell was better than average, but he was extremely sensitive to touch. Mimicking sounds were easy for him but didn't really help him survive. Most of the birdlike features were more of a weakness than a strength. The reason why most of the time he suppresses his instincts. It would only get him hurt.
It was unfair compared to his brothers who got more advantages out of their hybrid side. Demons thrilled in fights and a voidling had their own strengths. The only downside he saw was that demons don't do well in the cold and a voidling struggles when there was too much light, which was rare and easy to avoid.
By now he had passed them and continued on his track to the raid farm. His detour cost him some time, but at least he didn't have to face his brothers. Once he was sure he was out of sight, he continued to fly. Personally, he wasn't a fan of the nether, it was too hot, everywhere was fire or lava and it also was extremely dangerous. Not many know this, but his species doesn't handle well hot temperatures.
The journey had been going alright until it didn't. The roof came down far, and he was forced to fly lower to the ground and in range of skeletons. Currently he was flying through a soul sand biome, with too many skeletons. He managed to dodge their arrows and looked for a way out of the biome. Just as he was about to leave the biome behind, a skeleton he didn't see shot an arrow, aiming at his chest. In the last second he was able to turn away, but not far enough, so the arrow wouldn't hit him. His chest was sparred, but his right wing wasn't.
Immense pain spread through his wing as the arrow pierced his wing base. With a yelp he fell, no longer able to fly, he braced himself for the impact. Just his luck he fell down a ravine, colliding with some trees before hitting the ground. With panic he sat up and tried to examine his wing. Luckily, the arrow wasn’t stuck deep, and he pulled it out. Nonetheless, his bone was injured. Moving it hurt a lot and since it was on the back, he couldn't really inspect the damage or bandage it up. His base wing was always difficult to preen, and he always needed help if he really wanted it to be clean.
Checking his inventory, he realized he didn't have a healing potion, nor could he bandage his wing, so it wouldn't get hurt further. Slowly he tried to stand up and he barley was able to stand. His ankle hurt and he could already feel the bruising on his ribs and arms. It was a nasty fall. By the way his head was hurting, he may have a concussion. Just great.
Being stuck in a ravine in the nether, injured and unable to fly, was terrible. Looking up, he realized he couldn't climb out in his state and started to walk through it. Maybe he would find somewhere where it wasn't so steep.
He used the walls as support. His right wing was hanging weird from his back, unable to tuck it in like his other wing. Any small movement made him hiss in pain.
The longer he walked the more his adrenaline disappeared and the pain became worse. Everything hurt. It was so hot. Too hot. He just wanted to lie down and sleep, but he knew that he would die if he did so. Gathering all his strength he continued to walk.
Eventually he stumbled upon an opening into a nether forest. It was still surrounded by high walls, but it gave him some shelter and room to breathe.
Just as he was about to look for a way out of the opening, he heard voices.
"Dude, you should have seen him".
"Bro, I sometimes wonder how you are not dead".
Spoke and Wemmbu.
The realization made him freeze. If those two were here, then Flame was also around. Why now, when he had no way to flee or to fight. Did the universe hate him that much?
Maybe if he was lucky, they would just walk past him. Backing up towards the trees on the other side of the opening, Parrot tried to hide himself and it almost worked if it weren't for Flame. One quick glance over the opening from the older was all he needed to spot Parrot. Blue and green stood out in between all the red trees.
"Wait is that Parrot?"
"Where?", Spoke asked, immediately looking around.
Flame pointed to his exact location. He was so done. All his strength was drained, and he slid to the ground as the three of them made their way down, his breathing picked up, his vision began to blur. With each step they took, Parrot backed further away until his back hit a wall. Apparently, they didn't notice his distress, since they continued walking over to him or maybe they just didn't care. His instincts were taking over his mind, screaming at him to get away from the predators, but he couldn't move. A bird that couldn't fly was a dead bird.
Was this how he died after all these painful months in this forsaken world, which took everything from. First his family, his friends, his home and know even his own life. Panic-stricken, he looked around, trying to find a way out of here, but there was nowhere to go.
Infront of him were no longer his brothers, but strangers, who were going to kill him. Their faces were blurred, he no longer recognized them. Breathing became harder by the second, maybe he will pass out before they could harm him.
His mind wandered back on his life, the amazing people he met, and how he missed his family. He just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, for his brothers to find him and tell him everything was fine. He missed them so, so much.
In an attempt to back away, he accidentally pressed his injured wing against the wall, resulting in stabbing pain curse through his body. A distressed screech slipped out, alerting the others. Instinctively he tried to tuck his wing back, which caused him more pain. It hurt so bad. He leaned forward, grabbing his knees and hiding his face. More distressed chirps and chips escaped his mouth.
His head was pounding, everything was so hot, his entire body ached, everything was too loud, too much, tears were running down his cheek, he couldn't breathe. Was he even still breathing?
Suddenly a hand touched his arm and his head shot, trying to see who's hand it was. Infront of him was Flame kneeling. His face was still blurry, but from the clothes, he recognized his older brother Flame. When did he get so close?
Flame was saying something, but the ringing in his ears were too loud or maybe he just didn't focus on what Flame was saying. Why did his head hurt so much?
Slowly and carefully Flame reached to Parrots hand, which was pulling at his hair (when did he grab his own hair?).
Again, Flame was saying something, but Parrot still didn't hear anything. He just guessed it was about him pulling his own hair and let Flame guide his hand away from his hair.
Every time he blinked the scene in front of him changed. Every movement he did felt like a stranger, as if he was just watching these scene unfold from the sidelines, not in control of his own body. He felt sick.
"-rot - need - eath"
Slowly his hearing was returning, and he was able to understand glimpses of what Flame was saying, yet he wasn't able to process them and just starred in front of him. Spoke must have said something, since Flame turned around to look at him.
"Parrot, plea- look - me"
This time he was able to understand Flame. When did he hide his face again? Unsure he raised his head and was once again faced with his brother. A small chirp escaped his throat.
"Breath, you need to breath."
Finally, the ringing in his ears was gone and he could understand Flame. He tried to take a deep breath, but it was rather a poor attempt, his breathing just didn't want to slow down. Seeing his struggle, Flame grabbed his hand and squeezed it in a reassuring way.
Minutes passed before Parrots breathing calmed, and his vision was no longer blurry, as long as he didn't move his head too fast. All four of them were now sitting on the ground. How long was he out of it?
"I-Im sorry.". He squeaked out.
Gosh did his voice sound horrible.
"Why are you apologizing.", Wemmbu directly asked.
Before he could muster an explanation, Flame interrupted him:
"What happened?"
Followed by Spoke: "Give us a name and we will take care of it."
Confused, he just stared. Wemmbu made a small head movment towards his right wing. Instinctively he tried to move his wing, just to almost double over when pain once again spread through his entire body.
"Maybe don't move it?", Wemmbu suggested. How helpful.
Talking felt way to exhausting and his tired brain responded in chips and chirps rather than cohesive words. The entire day was so exhausting, and he still didn't have a way back to his little hut.
"How about we leave the nether and take care of those injuries before we continue asking questions."
Flame was taking control of the situation and if it meant to get out of the nether, Parrot didn't have an issue with listening to Flame. The others agreed and got up to their feet. Just as he was about to stand up, he realized how drained his energy was. Flame looked him up and down before grabbing his arm and pulling him up, making sure his wing didn't get hurt more.
"Hop on my back and don't even think about resisting. I also can carry you in bridal style."
There was no room for argument and Parrot was too tired to argue and so he climbed on Flames back. Soon after the group started to walk. His vision began to blur and soon he passed out, exhaustion finally taking over.
When he woke up again, he was no longer in the nether, rather lying on a bed in the overworld. It was a makeshift house, probably one of Flame’s mini bases he had all over the server. None of the three were inside, but he could hear yelling from the outside. As he sat up, he saw that his wing was bandaged as well as his other injuries.
Carefully, he got up and walked towards the door. The sun blinded him when he opened the door. Stepping out into the fresh air felt great and soon he spotted where the yelling was coming from. Spoke was rage baiting Wemmbu, while Flame just stood disappointingly beside them. He wasn't able to observe them for long, since Flame once again sensed his presence and made eye contact.
"Look who's awake. How are you?"
That got the others' attention, who now were also looking at him. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to them.
"Better. Thank you for not leaving me there."
"I was deliberating it."
Wemmbu didn't change at all, still he was glad that they got him out of there. Spoke shot him a look, and Wemmbu immediately went to defend himself.
"Hey, it's not like we are on good terms. If his wing wasn’t fucked up, we would've just left him there."
That was more like it. As he was thinking about Wemmbu a quiet chip escaped his throat, only this time he was conscious of his action and felt so embarrassed. He absolutly had to stop doing that.
"How about we go back inside and talk over breakfast. I also have to readjust the bandages. You weren't really complying yesterday."
Everyone agreed to Spoke's suggestion and went inside. Flame and Wemmbu got working on breakfast, while Spoke took care of his wing. It surprised Parrot, how he just let Spoke touch his wing. Normally he would be a lot more sensitive and not let anyone touch his wing. Not after Wifies. Sure, at first, he didn't turn around, so Spoke could get working on his wing, but after some time and first uncomfortable minutes he relaxed.
Breakfast was served and it actually tasted good. It reminded him of his earlier days. The entire setting was just like when they were kids. Sadly, the peaceful mood was interrupted when Wemmbu asked about what happened.
"Soo...what happened?"
"Nothing, just got unlucky."
"You know, when I said, give us a name and we will take care of it, I meant it", Spoke added.
Did they think another player was responsible for his injuries and were offering in taking revenge. That...that was nice.
"I was flying through a soul sand biome when, getting attack by skeletons and when I tried to dodge an arrow, it...I wasn't fast enough."
"A skeleton?"
"What were you even doing in the nether? You hate that place."
Flame wasn't wrong, he openly stated how much he despised the nether. He told him his reason and answered more questions, how exactly he ended up in the opening.
"And what happened before that? I mean with your wings?", Spoke asked.
"What?"
It threw him off.
"Well, no offence, but your wings were in pretty bad shape and not just from the crash landing. They look like as if you haven't taken care of them. Which is weird, since you always have been so prickly about them."
Oh.
Sure, his wings didn't look great, but it still surprised him that Spoke noticed it.
"I just haven't been taking care of them. Not sure when I last time preened them."
"What? What you mean you haven't preened them."
It surprised him when Wemmbu spoke up. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if he was paying attention to the conversation. Normally, he didn't pay attention.
"Just didn't feel like it."
That was true. So much had happened, he just didn't find the energy to preen his wings, especially after the last preening session. Just thinking about that makes him shudder.
In Paragon.
Wifies, the director.
His wings.
Stop, he can't think about it now. It was in the past, no point in dwelling on that. He needs to move on.
Apparently, his discomfort showed, since Flame asked what was wrong. Not wanting to talk about it, he told it was fine, but they didn't believe him.
"What do you mean you are fine. Your wings look like shit. Just now you zooned out, when we asked why you haven't been preening them and currently you look like you could throw up. Drop the "I'm fine guys" act."
Wemmbu used a harsh tone, it was clear he was mad. Not at Parrot, but at the entire situation.
"It’s hard to preen them, especially the spots near the back base."
"Can't a friend just help you with that?"
"My friends are dead."
That shut up Wemmbu . By the looks of it, he completely forgot, that Wifies was dead. Yet again, Wemmbu wasn't paying attention back then and only Spoke tried to understand what had happened.
"You still live at spawn?"
"No. I live somewhere in a jungle."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"What's the point. It's not like I have a home in spawn."
"What do you mean?"
"The mafia destroyed spawn, including my house. My friends all died, and I am all alone. So why should I not live by myself somewhere far away."
This conversation was frustrating him. What was so hard to understand, that he was alone. Sure, they weren't there for all his traumatic events, but it should be clear that the mafia caused enough damage.
"It sounds like you haven't moved on from the mafia."
He looked at Flame, anger slowly building up.
"The mafia destroyed spawn, blew up my civilization and are the reason why two- one- my friends died. I can be upset and have moved on at the same time."
"I thought you went to talk to Ash, so you could close the mafia case?"
Why couldn't Spoke just keep his mouth shut. Ash was the one who told him about Wifies and the director, resulting that he wasn't sure if it was the mafia's fault, that Wifies died? Became the director?
Spoke had filled in Flame and Wemmbu on what happened after the mafia was defeated. They found it rather funny that Parrot went to talk to Ash and told him he forgave him. If it were one of them, they would've just killed him.
"Parrot, it doesn't sound like it as if you moved on. You sounded so unsure if Ash killed your friends or not.", The subject was brought up again by Spoke.
He explained in a few sentences what had happened to Dean and the events after, leaving his discovery about Wifies out. Unconsciously he moved his wings, so that they were covering him, like a blanket. He was no longer sitting straight, rather he was sitting in a curling position.
"Didn't he also kill Wifies."
It was more of a statement than a question. Wemmbu was looking at Parrot, waiting for an answer.
"Look. A lot had happened after the mafia, some things I still don't understand till this day. Wifies...I uh...Wifies joined the invisible mafia and that was the last time I saw-"
That wasn't true, was it. He saw him in the snowy mountain, in Paragon, down on a pleasure plate. Wifies was alive and he did see him again, but it didn't feel like Wifies. It was like talking to a stranger and that hurt the most.
By accident he let out a sad cooing sound. Wifies was his best friend. He was there for him, when no one else was.
"What exactly happened. I feel like there is something else that we don't know of and that something else is really big.", Spoke said.
Finally Flame, who had been rather quiet throughout the conversation, spoke up.
"I agree. Whatever happened is affecting you a lot and I know we haven't been on the same side, but I as your older brother would like to know what happened. You are my younger brother and it's my duty to make sure you are alright."
Wemmbu and Spoke agreed.
"Yeah, our job as the older brothers is to make sure you are alright."
"The only one who bullies you is me or one of the others."
"Why?"
"Because we care about you."
With that his walls, he had put up over last month's finally crumbled. He told them everything. From how abandoned he felt by them, what happened during the mafia, how he killed Dean, his friend and even about the director and his time in Paragon. All his brothers could do was watch as he broke down and listened to the horrors he went through. How the director who hurt his friends turned out to be Wifies and how Parrot was locked up in a prison. Their faces switched from horror, disgust, and pity to anger constantly. Once he was done, the silence was filled with his sobs.
To his surprise, Flame was the first one to move. Flame walked over to him and embraced him in a hug. That was enough, and he fully broke down, tears streaming down his cheeks, sobs he held in for the past months, finally letting free. Soon Wemmbu and Spoke joined the hug and the only thing holding him together were his brothers.
Eventually the sobs quieted down, exhausted by the breakdown he closed his eyes and fell asleep in his brethren's arms, where he knew he was safe. The safest he could ever be.
When he woke up again, the sun was setting. The air was heavy, but still comfortable. By the looks of it, none of his brothers left while he slept. Not many words were said, but the message was clear:
"You are safe. We care about you."
Spoke asked if he could preen his wings and after thinking about it, he let Spoke. It felt nice. He had forgotten how nice it felt, when someone was preening his wings.
Looking around and seeing his brothers talking to each other, being included, and getting his wings preened was everything he wished for. He wished he could freeze the time and spend forever time like this.
That of course wasn't possible, but for now he will just consume the relaxing and comfortable atmosphere and cherish this moment forever.
Surrounded by his family once again.
He was no longer alone.
His brothers cared.