Chapter Text
Wifies didn't really know what to do after he died.
He stared at the Minecraft title screen for a while. At some point, he got up and made himself a mildly pathetic lunch before sitting back down at his desk. The screen had automatically turned off at the point, which was also when Wifies finally processed it.
He really died.
Wifies didn't know how to feel. When he ran for the spyglass, he did it with the knowledge and pride that Parrot could handle himself. Because he'd planned it out like that. And Wifies thought that he was sure of what he was doing and would be fine afterwards.
…he really wasn't.
He instinctively opened his computer back up, wanting to get online and check on Parrot like he did every day the entire time he was the Director… but he remembered as soon as he saw the menu. There really wasn't any going back.
Feeling a little lost, he turned pulled up Discord. Wifies sent a DM to Parrot—which should have been quick but he ended up overthinking it for way too long—apologizing. It felt almost as pathetic as his lunch was.
But then he waited… and waited.
Nothing. He guessed Parrot was still upset at him. Which was fair… but he didn't want to lose a good friend over a video game. He hoped Parrot would message back eventually.
Then, he got up…
…and moved on.
Well, Wifies couldn't really move on.
The day immediately after his death in-game, he woke up and habitually went to his computer to open his Minecraft page, before he remembered what happened. This same thing occurred for an entire week.
That same day, Wifies tried to pull something from his inventory… in real life. He did that 3 more times in the months after his ban.
He kept waking up at night with anxiety about Parrot, which wasn't unusual at that point but he hoped it would have lessened after he was banned. It kind of just became worse, especially since he couldn't check up on his friend.
This, however, never really stopped. His anxiety wasn't just about that game, though.
Wifies never got a response back from Parrot. Radio silence, no matter how much he messaged.
He was almost worried Parrot died in real life, because how would he know? There was no way for him to get that news!
Nothing came up when he searched Parrot's real name— which was good, but deaths don't always show up in public records. What if Parrot died quietly from a botched surgery or a heart attack or something? Those wouldn't show up in the news.
Wifies almost considered driving across the country to check on him, but he couldn't afford that on his student budget. And what if Parrot was just ignoring him? How embarrassing would that be? As much as a proud stalker he could be in game, he could NOT do that in real life.
…He also couldn't afford to get arrested for harassment on his student budget.
When he didn't get a response for 3 months, he meticulously found and messaged everyone who could know Parrot… but none of them responded.
Neither Wemmbu or Spoke replied. Wifies thought that maybe Parrot informed them on what happened and told them to ignore him too. The idea hurt a little, but Wifies moved on.
Wato and Kenadian didn't respond either. Wifies assumed the same for them.
Jumper and Leowok didn't respond when he tried in the first few months. Wifies assumed they were angry with him too. He decided not to message any more of his enemies if he didn't have to.
Theo responded… but turns out Wifies found the wrong user.
He briefly wondered, at some point, if he should find and call Parrot's mom… but then he realized that was probably edging on some creep territory he should not cross.
Finally, a little desperate after almost a year of searching, he asked one last person. At almost midnight after waking up in a cold sweat. He couldn't sleep, so he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his direct messages list.
He sent a short message to Dean, who he had originally assumed would still be upset with him, so he didn't expect anything. But,
@deanthebean is typing…
@deanthebean -> yo
@deanthebean -> parrot hasnt responded to you either?
Wifies blinked. He understood what the message meant; Parrot hadn't said anything to Dean either. He typed back.
@wifies -> He didn't reply to you?
@deanthebean -> no, i dmed him after i fell in the void but he never responded
That was already bad enough, but Dean's next message really startled Wifies.
@deanthebean -> i dmed u too back then and u only js replied
@deanthebean -> what happened btw?
Wifies stared, then scrolled up on the page. And Dean was right. He had sent him a number of messages, but Wifies didn't remember reading them. Was he really that addicted to the game? Dang, he needed to touch grass. His own addiction to Minecraft was irrelevant, though, so he moved on.
@wifies -> It's a long story but sorry I guess I forgot
@wifies -> I died too by the way
@deanthebean -> dang… rip
@wifies -> More importantly, you don't know anything about Parrot?
@deanthebean -> nah idk i just thought he switched dc accs
@deanthebean -> why? is he hurt?
@wifies -> I don't know
@wifies -> That's what I'm trying to figure out right now
@deanthebean -> u know him irl right? why dont u js visit him and see?
@wifies -> Well I don't live near him
@deanthebean -> darn
@deanthebean -> where do you live?
@wifies -> Should I be telling you that?
@wifies -> This goes against every internet safety rule I've learned
@deanthebean -> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wifies thought about it for a moment. Well, it's not like anything useful could come out of doxxing him? He was too broke to blackmail. Weak reasoning, but maybe he could get something else out of this. Wifies typed his reply and waited.
@deanthebean -> yo wait im like
@deanthebean -> next door???
@wifies -> You're kidding.
@deanthebean -> no wait im not
@deanthebean ->look
A photo was sent in the chat and, sure enough, it was the door to an apartment that looked the exact same as Wifies, but it had a different number hanging from it.
@wifies -> Bro.
@wifies -> Wait, come over here
@wifies -> Let's just talk in person then??
@deanthebean -> OMW o7
Wifies set his phone down, feeling a little excited, which was rare these days. Emotions in general, that is. A moment later, there were loud, fast footsteps outside his door. Then knocking. Wifies stood up and opened it.
The man outside was leaning against the doorframe with his hand, a little out of breath. It was Dean, of course. Weirdly, Dean looked a lot like his avatar. 'Weirdly' because his avatar was just one of the default ones, but Wifies guessed Dean got lucky with one that looked like him.
"Yo." Dean gave a finger gun.
"Hey, bro." Wifies opened the door wider for Dean to enter.
Dean made a slight 'ooh' noise as he passed Wifies. "How chivalrous." He walked inside, and Wifies followed.
"I know. I'm great." Wifies smirked briefly. He pointed Dean to the couch, then Wifies sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. The living room was slightly messy, but Wifies was glad that is was far cleaner than his bedroom. He'd have to go tidy that up after this.
"So like, what happened after I died?" Dean began, kicking his feet slightly.
"Well, Parrot was pretty shocked afterwards. I don't know exactly what happened but I guess the way you died was pretty crazy."
"Yeah… kinda? I was with the mafia because I wanted to be an insider, right? Then Parrot popped my totem in a fight and like, I didn't know what to say 'cause I didn't want him to think I was betraying again, so I just blew the goat horn. Felt like I didn't leave him with much though. Maybe that's why." Dean shrugged. "What else?"
"Crazy." Wifies replied noncommittally, then thought for a moment. "Hmm… well, the farlands civ managed to band together but fell to the mafia afterwards."
"Aw whatt." Dean blew a raspberry.
"Yeah, then we formed a new team with a bunch of chuds who ended up betraying."
"Insane. What losers. I could never do that." Wifies eyed him for a moment, and Dean shrugged with a laugh. "And then?"
"Uh…" The next part was when, well, Wifies' plan began. He didn't really know if Dean would get angry, like everyone else did. "The next part is kind of hard to explain. I did some pretty bad things."
"Dude. 'Pretty bad things'? In a video game? It can't be that deep, dude. Just lay it on me." Dean leaned back on the couch.
Wifies stared at him for a moment. He guessed, out of everyone, Dean would be the most understanding. He also had experience with being a 'traitor'. With that, Wifies began to explain. "Okay."
He talked about his 'death', and then the fall of the mafia via Parrot, Spoke, and Wemmbu. He talked his philosophy, and about gaining enough power to order even Ash around by using that philosophy.
Then he explained how he manipulated an entire team and scared Parrot for weeks as the 'Director' before trapping Parrot in a huge prison that he made to be like a normal survival world except filled with guards.
Lastly, Wifies told Dean about how he died. His final trap for Parrot, the spyglass, and then running for the item in his last moments.
After he was done, Wifies breathed out and waited for Dean to react.
"…damn. Maybe it is that deep," Dean finally said. "In Minecraft, bro? Like, why?"
Wifies paused for a moment. It really did sound absurd when worded that way. "Parrot didn't want to give up the server, so I kept him in it, I guess. He'd be sad trapped but even sadder banned."
Dean blinked. "Bro. You're insane. You need to touch grass."
Wifies winced. "A little. I still haven't really touched grass."
"That's lowkey auraful, though. Like, 'The Director'? I wish I could have come up with that, dude, that's sick."
Wifies perked up slightly. "You think so?"
"Yeah, bro. It's not like you actually traumatized Parrot anyways. It's a video game. You probably just scarred him a little with that whole…" Dean coughed, "…trust issues thing. But for real, bro? He probably just won't be able to team with people on Minecraft."
Wifies let out a sigh of relief. The guilt was kind of eating him up, so the blunt logic helped a bit. "I'm glad you think that way."
"So how long ago was that? Like, when you died?"
"Uh." Wifies counted internally. "Around nine months."
Dean stared. "…Oh my goodness that's like. Almost a year."
"Yes. It is. Three months away from a year of you do the high level math."
"Did you spend this whole time searching for Parrot?" Dean asked, ignoring the sarcastic comment.
"Not the whole time. School and work and stuff." Wifies hummed. "I found out I was really behind after I logged off, but I caught up pretty quickly. I was kind of planning to get enough money to go visit him in person."
"You were? Where does he live, then?" Dean asked.
Wifies narrowed his eyes at him. "…I don't think I want to tell you."
"Fair enough." Dean shrugged. "Lowkey, I gave up searching after a month. I couldn't even find any of Parrot's other friends. I'm not made for this investigator stuff, bro. Guess that says a lot about you."
"It was difficult for me too. Actually, I didn't really find that much besides you. I guess my advantage is that I don't waver in my goals."
"I can… see that, bro." Dean squinted, then huffed a small laugh. "So what did you find?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure he's still okay in real life. There's no news on his real name and a car crash would have probably gotten him on the internet," he recalled. "I found a couple of his friends on Discord—and I'm sure they're the right people—but they didn't respond either." Wifies glanced to the side. "I just thought… he might've told them to ignore me too."
"Mm. I don't think he would. That sounds petty, and Parrot is lowkey petty sometimes but not that petty, y'know?" He hesitated for a moment. "At least… I hope so. I haven't gotten a reply from him either."
Wifies looked at him. "…yeah. I hope so too." Then, he sighed and stood, swiping at his pajamas. "Okay. It's getting kind of late. If we want to come up with a solution to find him, we're better off getting sleep and thinking clearly in the morning."
"Smart thinking, bro." Dean followed Wifies' example, also standing up. He moved towards the door and Wifies opened it for him. Dean smiled. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I'll see you."
Wifies closed the door behind Dean with a sigh. As much as it was a pleasant conversation, being around Dean made him feel weirdly guilty and sad, as if he were really talking to someone who died because of him. Which is absurd, but that's what it felt like.
Now, Wifies wasn't particularly planning to follow his own advice. He was going to think of a solution, sure, but there was no way he was going to sleep after that excitement.
Maybe it'd be a good time to clean his apartment? It'd been probably over a month since he last did that.
Wifies picked up a garbage bag and began to work.
The next morning, Wifies was startled awake by a knock. He was on the couch with the trash bag by his feet, seemingly having fallen asleep while working.
He opened the door to Dean looking about as excited as his monotone everything could look. Dean had bags under his eyes, so it wasn't hard to guess that he also hadn't followed Wifies' advice.
"Wifies." He grinned, looking slightly like a mad scientist. "I have an idea."