Chapter Text
Simple task, get in, kill everyone, get loot, get out. ManePear style y'know? He's a.. good guy now. The Law lets him know about nearby bandits and wrongdoers and he disposes of them.
The dreadhead kicked a piece of rubble, a result of his TNT carting, down the blooded corridor. Nice base honestly, if he didn't have his own top tier base courtesy of The Law he'd definitely steal this.
His ear twitched, a disgusting wet cracking noise, shaky breathing. Did he leave someone alive? His first instinct is to draw his sword but really, he doesn't feel any form of threat. Says a lot given he's the same guy who was duel toteming while in a room of people who were supposed to be his comrades, people who—even if he didn't have the best relationship with—were going to work with him against The Law.
Same guy who when he didn't see anyone he knew near him during the.. what did Wemmbu call it? ‘The Five Day War’? Or whatever, the grand battle finale against The Law, his genuine go-to assumption was that he was being betrayed.
His steps slowed to a halt, to listen, Mane trained him to enhance his feline skills, something that was underdeveloped as Flame used to hide his tiger features growing up. He doesn't even remember why he thought being a feline was embarrassing, especially since he's a big cat. If he was domestic then maybe, but he's not so he doesn't get it.
Ehhh whatever, kids are dumb.
A cough, sniffling, unintelligible mumbling, continuous wet noises. “Bro what the hell.. is someone crying?” Well, he did just commit a massacre so it's to be expected, but these guys were bandits and it feels strange for one of these cocky bastards to start crying over this. Even when he killed the majority, they'd all just keep fighting. Most stubborn enemies victims he's ever had past The Law.
Flame should leave, he got what he wanted, he cares about anything else right?
There's some instinctual part of his brain telling him, nagging him, to go see whatever it is. Shouldn't his instincts want the opposite of this?
Unfortunately, Flame is truly a cat at heart.
“.. Whatever I guess it won't hurt.”
Thus, he turns around, approaching the source of the noise with more haste than he intends. “Bro where am I going?” The closer he gets, the more he realises that one, this base is bigger than he thought it was, and two, either the walls are thin as hell or that's some loud ass crying because ain't no way he can hear that so vividly from how far he was, this shit was not thirty blocks.
He paused at the trapped door he came to, it was hidden beneath some oddly patterned carpet that he swiftly shredded, the sounds definitely coming from down there.
Thud.
Oh they fell. Or something fell at least. Sounds small, and.. wet, couldn't have been anything big or an adult, unless they're a midget. Damn, maybe it's Parrot.
The demon wraps his clawed hand around the circular handle, hissing as he does so. “Bro. Whyyy is this random trapdoor void temp?” He bites his lip canines piercing the flesh, but doesn't let the handle go, masochist he is.
“What the fuc–” That was followed by a series of ‘ows’ escaping him. If he thought the door was bad, he definitely was not ready for the sheer amounts of voidcold air that slapped him once he forced it open. The cold wasn't even the thing that caught him off guard the most, it was the smell.
Why does this smell like Wemmbu. And.. him?
Eventually, he does adjust to the temperature. If he was human that likely would've killed him. Thank Lucifer and Herobrine for being a hellborn.
Peering down, there's a ladder and just.. floor. Nothing else. There seems to be some fancy carpet down there with some purple dots but otherwise he can't see shit. The crying sounds are louder now, for some reason now that he's closer, it makes his chest feel tight
Cub.
He needs to go there.
The demon braces himself for the temperature before jumping down, oting to skip the ladder. His cub is crying, needs him. The sight that meets him is the last thing he would've expected.
“Bro- eugh.” He grimaces.
An egg, a giant fucking egg, colour like redish obsidian with purple veins spread like webs all over. Reminds him of an ender dragon egg, nothing else in the game would look like that. Splitting it in half down the middle was a nasty crack oozing a thick red liquid, looks sticky from way it drops down the edges of the cracks.
A soft, small, kinda squeaky voice tears his attention away from the egg, trailing his eyes down, the goo, ooz, whatever, pools disgustingly on the floor. "Mama...” A sob, “... Mama..” It doesn't take long for Flame's blindfolded eyes to fall upon him.
There lies a tiny boy, curled into himself, seemingly unconscious yet still mumbling in his sleep. Something about seeing this kid cry makes Flame's dead heart lurch. He looks.. familiar. Purple hair, scaled horns, a thick scaled tail, pointed ears. Definitely a dragon.
When he blinks a distasteful figure appears behind his eyelids causing the frown that tugs at his lips.
Not everyone with purple hair looks like Wemmbu.
Not every dragon looks like Wemmbu.
Not every purple haired dragon looks like Wemmbu.
But something about this kid is so.. Wemmbu it's sickening. It's amazing.
Poor crying cub.
His legs move without his input, he doesn't even cringe at the feeling of the slime-like substance beneath his combat boots. Stopping just shy of his head, he looms over the boy for a few seconds before crouching down—he’s gonna need new armour after this—observing the child before caressing his cheek. He smells like him, and Wemmbu. Mostly Wemmbu. This is the weirdest thing he's ever seen.
In an instant, the boy's eyes snapped open, staring back at him, deep red fading into a pale yellow at the bottom, kinda like his but instead of heterochromia, there are two colours in both eyes. They're teary but empty, dead looking, like Wemmbu's.
The two stared at each other, the hatchling blinked at him wordlessly, titling their head, “Mama..?” Those empty eyes lit up, “Mama!” The child sprung to life, propping themself up and clinging to Flame like a lifeline, smearing more goo on his netherite.
The demon froze, not used to physical touch that's not violent, last time someone held him this affectionately was Mane. That was.. Satan, it was a while ago. “Uhh.” His fingers twitch. By hell, he wants nothing more than to wrap his hands around the boy, embrace them tightly and protect them but he's not letting himself do that. He doesn't know this kid.
He still let the child practically climb him, his cute little horns poking his neck slightly when he buried his head in Flame's shoulder.
“Mommy..” Grabby, tiny hands wrap around his neck.
With the kid literally all over him, Flame realises two things. One, this kid is naked he needs clothes for his baby, and two—
“Wait, are you calling me your mom??” Flame blinks, trying to gently pry the child off of him to look at them but the kid is insatiably clingy, just refusing to let go.
“Nooooo! Mama ‘ah wanna cuddl morr..” They whine, curling more into him, if that was even possible. His baby's so cute.
“No no no.. I'm not your mom kid.” Something in his heart hurt. “I don't know you.” The ache was only the tip of the iceberg when those big sunset eyes peer up at him and by the devil, Flame regretted every life choice that led him here when pure innocent hurt looked back at him and tears began to form at the corner of those big cute eyes.
Their lip quivers, they bite it. Never has the Immortal Demon wanted to die more. He can tell they're trying their hardest to hold back their tears and clearly losing the battle given the silent rivers that soon stream down their little face.
He feels bad– so fucking bad.
Lomedy was right, he is selfish.
Making his cub this kid cry like this.
Panic and overbearing guilt clawed at his chest, wrapping around his numb heart, pumping it full of emotions, he felt like the Grinch. He's a horrible person what the fuck. Not for murder, or theft, or anything else Lettuce would've called him a monster for.
He's a monster for this alone.
He has no idea how to deal with children either. How did Mane do this?
“Does.. mommy noht want me?”
The demon deserved a thousand painful deaths for this.
Doing the only thing he could think of, he stood up, ignoring the cringe sound of the liquid they're in. Holding the child against him, Flame let out a shaky breath. Why is he genuinely scared bro. “No no no. Mommy wants you I promise.” It's weird referring to himself as a mother, even weirder that it doesn't fill him with crippling gender dysphoria.
“Don't cry, baby.” He raised a hand—when did he retract his claws?—petting the kid's hair. Wow it's soft.
He remembers Mane used to do this when he was like five. He shakes away the memory, he used to be such a crybaby as a kid, he doesn't wanna think of that.
Light returned to the kids' eyes, genuinely a reflection of the sun. “...Really?” That audible relief and total joy quelled the demon tiger's innate guilt and remorse from.. what? Saying that he's not this child's mom? An objectively true statement?
The Immortal Demon defeated by a child. Wow.
Flame watched the hatchling lean into his touch, eagerly awaiting confirmation that Flame couldn't help giving in the form of an awkward nod. “Really. Mommy uh… means it.” This is so odd, he needs to leave, drop this kid off at an orphanage or something. Pretend.. this.. never happened, this kid, the weird giant egg, this kid clearly having his and Wemmbu's scents, all of this did not happen.
This is one big hallucination caused by this red goo.
The boy giggles, “Yay! Mommy, Durin wanna sleep agayn.. stay wit’ me?” Durin? Is that their name?
‘Stay with me’ Durin asks, as if they're even giving him a choice. May as well hold him hostage.
Bro.
What the fuck just happened.
Digging through his old clothes, tugged out something from the depths of hell that he wished to never see again. His old child clothes. The ones from when he was maybe five that Mane insisted on keeping for “memories”. One of which was a ‘Mia and Me’ shirt that he's honestly proud of cause that show was a banger, but everything else was meh…
He decided he'd call Zam to see if she'd make some stuff for Durin to wear. She's never been one to deny the chance for fashion, so he doubts she'll say no. She made all of his lolita dresses after all.
Should probably go back now. Before Durin does something dumb in his bedroom.
Durin sat in the middle of the room, towel discarded on the bed where the demon originally felt him, just staring at himself in the full body mirror Flame had.
He couldn't help but chuckle, “Bro, what are you doing?” The hatchlings head whipped to look him within milliseconds, a pale clawed little finger pointed at the mirror.
“Mama, it's me!”
“Yeah. Have you never seen a mirror before?” Asking that question made Flame realise.. how old is Durin? Based on what he saw earlier, despite looking like a four-to-five year old, Durin's likely just hatched today. Absolutely no way he'd know what a mirror was.
Not knowing much about dragons, he can't say if it's normal for hatchlings to be this size immediately from the egg or to be able to speak English so fluently. That Egg was larger than any of the few Ender eggs the demon had seen, so that's probably not normal.
Normal…
Flame didn't have time to think about it as it was in the heat of the moment. But if Durin's an Ender Dragon, why isn't he void temp like every other Endborn in existence?
He should return to the blooded bandit base and do some investigating later.
Right now, he needs to clothe the baby. “Come here, you can't stay naked all day.” The boy squealed when Flame scooped him up, plopping him back onto the soft pink mattress he migrated from.
He managed to get Durin to follow basic instructions on how to put clothes on and forced himself to look away because his baby this kid is so cute it's unreal.
Instead he opted to open his comms, didn't take long to find ‘PrinceZam’.
/\
〈FlameFrags〉 sup brk
〈PrinceZam〉 OH MY GID
〈PrinceZam〉 FLAMEEEE :D
〈PrinceZam〉 it's been
〈PrinceZam〉 idk like a year
〈FlameFrags〉 Hii Zam
〈FlameFrags〉 Could u come over? I was wondering if you could mke some bby clothes
〈PrinceZam〉 Ofccccc (≧▽≦) i mssed u
〈PrinceZam〉 WIAT
〈PrinceZam〉 BABY CLOTHES?? FLAME??
〈FlameFrags〉Long story bro (〒︿〒)
〈FlameFrags〉 gonna send my coords
〈FlameFrags〉 Ill explain when ur here
〈PrinceZam〉 Flame istg
〈PrinceZam〉 no way you kidnap a kid
〈FlameFrags〉 RELAX its not what you think
〈PrinceZam〉 IT BETTER NKT BE
〈FlameFrags〉 Im nkt wemmbu bro
〈PrinceZam〉 I'm going to kill you o(-`д´- ｡)
〈PrinceZam〉 Immortally be damned
〈FlameFrags〉 Okkk beo
〈FlameFrags〉 bro*
\/
His tails swished, expressing his joy. He really did miss Zam too. Hasn’t seen him since The Law battle and that was only for a couple days before Flame left to get Lomedy which.. Didn't end well, and Zam went his own way to live a nice peaceful life or something.
There’s a tug at his demonic tail. “Durin?” The child's pulling at his tail like it's an alien creature.
“Why doz mommy hahve two tails?”
“Well, I'm a demon and a tiger so, I guess I just got both.”
“Tha's so cool… Mommy's so cool.” His voice carried awe and admiration. Such a sweet kid. Bro how'd he get himself in this situation, he feels too awful to tell the kid he's gonna be sent to the adoption centre.
Do children always get attached this easily?
Gently, he removes Durin's hand from his tail, picking the boy up. “Wher’ ar’ we goingg?” Durin's hands clench his shirt, Flame's eighty percent sure they're scared of heights.
How's that gonna work when Durin starts flying? If dragons are like demons, given Durin's size, it won't be long til his wings develop.
Discomfort fills him at the memory of when his own wings first grew in. Genuinely the most agonising thing he'd ever felt in existence. All for a pair of flaps he doesn't use, ever. Flame can't remember the last time he even unveiled his wings, farless used them.
Having two tails, horns, tiger ears and whiskers he constantly has to trim, adding wings onto that would be utter heaven. So he always thought it was best to never show his wings, never acknowledge them, never talk about them.
He wonders what it'll be like for little Durin. The pain he'll go through…
Hopefully, it won't be too bad.
“Living room.” He answers, “Someone’s coming over to meet you.” He stopped when he felt the boy freeze, slightly trembling. “Durin?”
“Someone? Who? Are they scary…?”
“Wha- no bro. Zam's amazing, she's my friend. You'll love her, trust.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
When Durin relaxed, Flame let himself breathe. Wow, children are hard.
The two sat on the couch, Flame letting Durin play with his dreads, styling his hair into ridiculous styles.
He really wants to kill right now…
[ Fragger ]'s nagging him for blood and she's really not making it easy to control his bloodlust.
He can't kill. Who's going to watch Durin then?
So he sucks it up and ignored both his and [ Fragger ]'s wants for the suffering of others.
/\
〈PrinceZam〉 Flsmeeee
〈PrinceZam〉 im here
〈PrinceZam〉 youre base is huge omg
〈FlameFrags〉 courtesy of the Law bro
〈PrinceZam〉 THE LAW BUILT THIS FOR YOU??
〈PrinceZam〉 damn weve come far
〈FlameFrags〉 uhh imma let you in
〈FlameFrags〉 weird ash to tlk in chat when ur outside
〈PrinceZam〉 alrightttt≧◉◡◉≦
\/
Closing comms, Flame stands up, choosing to ignore the whine from Durin as he does so. “Stay here. I'm gonna go get Zam. I'll be back in less than five minutes okay?” He watched the hatchling pout but nod, he pet him. “Good boy.”
Durin watched Flame leave the room, staring at the closed door for a few seconds before just rolling on the couch. Fiddling with his fingers, tracing the patterns on the slipcover. His thumb found its way into his mouth when a new scent flooded the base. He misses mommy.
(“Zam's amazing, she's my friend. You'll love her, trust.”)
He trusts his mom.
.
After an enthusiastic hug, Flame returns with Zam, ready to introduce her to Durin but once the living room door opens and the siren lady's eyes fall upon the hatchling who curiously stares back, she stills.
“Durin.. take your thumb out of your mouth bro. That's unhygienic.” Zam watched her friend approach the dragon boy and pull his hand away from his face.
“But mommy…”
The demon wipes the boy's saliva covered thumb with a piece of tissue. “No bro. That's nasty.”
“.. okay..”
What the fuck is she witnessing.
That kid is so…
“Flame?” Her voice shakes a little, eyes moving from the boy to the demon. “Can we uh.. can we talk for a sec? Alone..” She doesn't want to do this in front of the kid. Flame was right, he is really cute. And just looking at him, she can tell he's probably shy and on edge with her here.
Zam wouldn't want to scare him with her yelling because she's absolutely going to whoop Flamey for this.
She watched the demon look from her to the child, Durin, and give a confused nod. “Sure bro? Again, I'll be back Durin. Don't suck your thumb.”
Without hesitation, Zam grabbed Flame's arm and dragged him out of the living room, all the way back outside. “Are the walls here soundproof?” She doesn't want Durin hearing her from inside.
“... Yeah?”
“Great.” She inhaled, she was in such a good mood when she got here. It's been so long since she got to make clothes for Flamey you know? But this…
Honestly she'd preferred if Flame did kidnap a child over this.
“You let WEMMBU get you pregnant?! Flame I'm so–”
The accused dreadhead choked on air, “WHAT?? Bro no. I'm not- this isn't- why would you think that?” It took his all to not overheat from Zam's indictment.
Pacing around the base entrance, Zam clawed into her freshly done hair, not caring about ruining it. “What do you mean why would I think that?? Anyone with eyes can see that's Wemmbu's child. He literally smells like a combo of you and Wemmbu.” She stopped, head snapping to glare at Flame. ”Where is he?? Is he not helping you? Is that why you called me? Is he a deadbeat? Flame whyyyyy would you do this oh my days..” The princes whined, genuinely distressed at the situation.
“Bro Durins not–”
“Does Mane know? If he doesn't I'm calling him right now. I'm having Wemmbu killed tonight.”
That's the last thing Flame wants. If Mane thinks Wemmbu got Flame pregnant, both he and Wemmbu are to get their asses beat. Mane gets scary at times. Flame would genuinely rather go to prison over having his older bro get mad at him.
“No, no. Zam. Let's talk about this okay? I promise, Durin isn't my and Wemmbu's child. He's just a dragon hatchling I found. Not every purple haired dragon looks like Wemmbu.”
Poor Zam was seconds away from an aneurysm. “You don't have to lie Flame. That's- he's.. anyone who met that damn dragon for a day could tell you how obvious it is that it's his kid. Flame your genes didn't try at all here.”
Okay they're not getting anywhere. “Listen, Zam. I can show you proof. I can bring you to where I found Durin. Just don't tell Mane anything. I'm not trying to get whooped today.” He shivers, “I'll take you to there but only after you make Durin some new stuff to wear. I don't want to bring him to the orphanage in my hand-me-downs.”
“.. you're taking him to the orphanage?”
“Yeah bro.”
The least he could do is give the kid clothes, it'll also help when Flame finds someone to adopt him. Eventually. Hopefully.
Flame can't have a kid. No. His life's too dangerous for that, if his uncountable amounts of enemies found out Durin exists the child would be a target, and he doesn't know how to deal with kids, he's irresponsible, can barely take care of himself. Many, many, many reasons that a child would not fit here.
Zam gives him an unimpressed look, she doesn't believe him at all. “.. sure you are.”
Well, at least he averted the ManePear crisis.