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Parrot watched, heart sinking, as Wifies dismounted his horse.
“No, no, don’t—!” Parrot was cut off by the sound of flint against steel, the glowing purple portal flickering away to leave behind only the soulless obsidian structure.
He immediately hopped off his own steed, scrambling across dark gray bedrock toward the unlighted frame, ready to reignite it.
Wifies’ eyes met his own, brows knitted. Don’t. It’s not safe.
Parrot let out a shaky breath, took a step back. “What do we do?”
“Let’s go,” Wifies said, already turning to the white-gray horse. “Let’s— We go. We move.”
“No,” mumbled Parrot, shaking his head as his voice grew louder. “No. Wifies, we don’t. We can’t do that.” He put a hand over his face. “Why did we do that?”
The sound of faint footsteps against netherrack reached through the bedrock.
“They’re below us,” Parrot said. “They’re below us.”
Wifies remained silent as Parrot reached the portal once more. The little blue allay floated above the former’s head.
“We have to go back through, Bro.” Parrot decided, and sparked the swirling portal back to life.
He reached for his horse, but Wifies didn’t move.
“Think about it, think about it,” offered Parrot, almost desperately, as he hoisted himself on the saddle. “They’re all in the nether right now. They’re all in the nether!”
He then rode his brown horse through the shimmering purple gateway. If Wifies replied, Parrot didn’t hear.
Parrot shut his eyes to avoid the disorienting sight of blending dimensions as he traveled to the Overworld. His hands tightened around the reins.
Please be okay, Dean. Please be okay.
The heat of the Nether diminished to give way to a cool breeze. He opened his eyes once he heard the hooves land against dirt. He looked around—almost sighing in relief when he saw Wifies had made it through and the invisible players hadn’t.
The brunette was whispering, “they’re not here,” over and over as if it were a prayer.
“They’re gone?” Parrot said absently as he cast a glance over the area, nearly jumping for joy when he spotted the diamond within the grass.
“I mean, Dean seems fine.” Wifies said, voice low.
“Dean!” Parrot called, kicking his horse into a gallop. “Did they all go through that portal?”
Dean nodded, a little more enthusiastically than usual. “Yeah,” he looked at Parrot, then Wifies, meeting their eyes. “Yeah.”
“Let’s get moving,” Wifies said.
“Alright, let’s go this way.” Parrot said, mumbling beneath his breath as he checked their coordinates on his communicator. “South. This way.” He started moving, but then he reined his horse to the left. “Actually, that’s straight water. Head into the forest.”
Wifies immediately followed his command, but Dean lagged behind them.
“Dean, just start running,” said Parrot, sliding off the saddle. “Take my horse.”
Dean opened his mouth to speak, then appeared to change his mind. He simply nodded again, taking slow steps toward the steed.
“Hurry, hurry!” Parrot called, tapping his diamond-clad foot against the ground.
A deep, shaky breath made its way out of Dean. He quickened his pace, albeit slightly, and reached the horse. Parrot’s heart raced.
“Parrot,” Wifies said, “they’ll come back any minute now. We have to go.”
“Yeah, I know! Come on, Dean!”
Dean grabbed the orange saddle and attempted to place his foot on the pedal, just for it to slip off. He winced. He adjusted his chest plate before trying again, only to stumble and hit the horse—which let out a loud, irritated neigh but remained otherwise still.
Something felt off. Dean had never struggled to mount a horse before.
Doesn’t matter. Parrot thought. We can think about that later. We need to hurry.
Parrot grabbed Dean’s leg and hoisted it over the horse’s back. Dean let out a loud grunt, failing to sit upright. His balance shifted. Parrot caught him before he fell and held him atop the saddle.
“Dude?” Parrot said, hands still on Dean’s waist to keep him steady. “Are you alright?”
“Y-Yeah,”
Wifies turned to him, “Then what’s taking you so—” he cut himself off.
Parrot initially failed to see what made Wifies shut up, but then took in the tears forming in the corners of Dean’s eyes.
He let go of Dean’s overalls, only for his left hand to come away wet. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of the simmering dark red that coated his palm.
“Dean?” Parrot shrieked. “Bro? You’re bleeding!”
Dean let out a sob and buried his face into the horse’s mane.
“When did this happen?” Wifies asked, abandoning his horse to stand next to the shaking Parrot.
“W-When the Mafia— the Nether roof… I-I tried to run— they shot me—” He choked out, whimpering.
“Don’t you have food?”
Dean shook his head. He sounded weaker. “Ran out.”
Before anybody could make another noise, they heard the portal they stood a few feet from grow louder; somebody was coming through.
Wifies spoke first, remounting his horse, “We can’t stay here.”
Nausea settled in Parrot’s gut, but he nodded. He hopped on behind Dean—who continued to sniffle into the horse’s hair—and drew the reins. They’d made it only a few paces before he heard the crunching of netherite against grass.
“Go, go, go!” Parrot yelled, rushing through the trees in full gallop.
He could barely breathe. Rockets sounded off from behind as they trotted through greenery, begging the trees to provide them cover.
Once they’d reached a dense spot, he signaled for Wifies to stop. They sat for minutes, holding their breaths, listening for the metallic sound of netherite armor clanging together, watching for the white particles that denoted invisibility. Parrot kept his arm wrapped around Dean, partially to keep the latter stable and partially to prevent himself from falling off the horse.
Only when they watched the numerous sets of elytra sweep overhead did they let themselves breathe.
Parrot lowered himself from the horse’s rear. He carefully slipped his arm around Dean who still held tight to the horse’s neck, although now in silence.
“Wifies,” Parrot whispered, in case the Mafia could still hear, “do you have any regen?”
He watched Wifies nod, then pull out a shulker. He placed it on the ground. Parrot dug through it and pulled out a bottle of shimmering red liquid.
“Dean,” Parrot said, “drink this. Here.”
Dean watched the bottle as Parrot nudged it toward him, only hesitating for a second before grabbing it and chugging it down.
“Bleh,” He grimaced. “Tastes like crap.”
Despite Dean’s complaint, Parrot watched the wound on his back clear up almost instantaneously.
“Don’t you guys like,” Dean continued, the color having returned to his features, “have the kind you can just splash over yourself? Like the ones they use for invis in the Mafia?”
Wifies rolled his eyes. Parrot felt his lips twitch into a smile, but it fell almost immediately.
“Dean,” he said, “why— why didn’t you tell us about this? You could’ve asked for food. We were right there.”
Dean’s gaze fell to the floor. “You were fighting a 1v5.”
Parrot blinked. “You still could’ve asked.”
“Didn’t want to bother you.”
“Dean, you’re our friend! We wouldn’t be bothered. Right, Wifies?”
Wifies looked back and forth between Parrot and Dean before shrugging. “I guess so.” He then muttered, “besides, this wouldn’t be the first time he’d be bothering us.”
Dean dropped the empty bottle, the glass clinking onto the ground but not quite breaking.
Parrot rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Will you stop with that?”
“I’m just saying—”
“Wifies—"
“No, he’s— he’s right.” Dean interrupted, tone low, and the other two went quiet. “I just keep bothering you. From the day we met.” When Parrot shook his head, he continued, “You said it yourself, Parrot. I— I’m a liability. You two should just leave me here.”
“Dean, you… you know I didn’t mean—” his words came out cracked.
Parrot realized he was trembling when he felt the weight of Wifies’ arm around his shoulder. His breath hitched and he shook it off with a grunt. Wifies took a step back. Parrot immediately wished he’d stayed still.
“Listen,” Wifies said, guilt shining in his downcast eyes, “Dean. You’re not a liability. Parrot’s right. You are our friend.”
Dean stayed quiet, and Wifies went on, “Sorry for making you feel like you weren’t.”
“Yeah,” Parrot gathered the strength to say. “We promise we’ll always be there for you, Bro.”
He held out his arms, and Dean walked into them within moments. Parrot gestured for Wifies to join, and he wrapped them both in a tight embrace.
They stood in silence for several minutes, a tangle of limbs and diamond armor.
“I’m sorry,” Dean muffled into Parrot’s shoulder after some time had passed.
Parrot didn’t quite understand what Dean had apologized for but patted his back anyway.
“It’s alright. It’ll be alright.”