Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jumper’s had it rough the past couple weeks. Originally, she had been with Leo and Derap, but the three of them had gotten separated somewhere along the way. They’ve been constantly chased by the Director’s - by Wifies’s-  minions. Jumper hopes neither of the others got caught, just for Parrot's sake.

The less leverage Wifies has on him the better.

Jumper herself isn’t in great shape. New scrapes and scars cover her body, results of scuffles with players. This world isn’t a place for the weak. It makes her sad to see the world like this, to see players fighting over netherite like rats fighting for a scrap of cheese.

But Jumper is strong, and she’s also got a reputation. Two things that can serve one well on a server like this one.

She’s also smart, of course. Smart in the way that the assassins that she’s following haven’t noticed her. Smart in the way that she knows that Parrot has escaped, purely because Wifies is getting fucking desperate . He’s playing all his cards at once.

Jumper slips through the forest behind Wifies’s assassins. (Or hunters. Same difference, in her opinion.) They aren’t meant for her, as she figured out a few days ago. No, these two are headed somewhere with a purpose.

Parrot.

And following them is going quite well. She’s been tailing them for a few days. Yeah, it’s going well. Until, rather suddenly it isn't anymore.

Jumper’s following them through a small clearing when it happens. She’s creeping carefully through some bushes, when she realizes that the usual dull chatter between the two hunters has gone suddenly silent.

Something’s wrong.

Suddenly, an arrow lodges itself in the ground beside Jumper. She shoots up, drawing her sword and raising her shield. She splashes a strength potion at her feet, gasping slightly as it enters her bloodstream.

The two netherite clothed hunters lunge at her. Jumper leaps back, and swipes her sword at one of them, honestly just hoping for some sort of contact. She has no idea about the enchantments on their armor or on their weapons. The whole fight is honestly a blind hope. A prayer.

Jumper dodges the sword that comes at her in return to her attack. She jabs her own sword at the hunter, and they stumble, tripping through the tall grass around them.

With that hunter occupied Jumper whirls on the other. They catch her incoming sword with their shield. Behind Jumper, the other hunter has stood back up, and swings his axe at her quickly. It slams into her side. Her chestplate takes the blunt force of the attack, and a large crack spider webs across it.

Jumper wheezes in pain. Shit.

She feels warm blood underneath her sweater.

She staggers slightly, but just as she’s about to fall, a careful hand steadies her. A black blur rushes through her vision, scythe slashing at the two hunters. In mere seconds the hunters thud to the ground. Dead. 

Now it’s just Jumper…. and ClownPierce.

He runs a silken glove over his scythe, wiping the blood away gently. Jumper doesn't dare twitch, for fear that it will end up being her own blood covering the silver blade. 

A minute passes. 

Jumper’s side throbs.

Clown continues to clean his scythe.

“Thanks,” Jumper says finally, voice cutting through the silence. 

Clown hums his acknowledgement, bringing his scythe back down to his side. Jumper feels a weight leave her shoulders.

“You should come with me,” Clown says casually, in the sort of tone that tells Jumper that this is more of a command than a request.

“Why,” she bites out, taking a quick step back.

Clown sighs, which just serves to confuse Jumper. It’s not like the two of them are friends, or even friendly. Hell, she tried to kill him for a while.

“Why? I can take you to Parrot,” Clown says grimly.

Jumper stares.

“And,” Clown continues, “I can offer you somewhere to hide.”

A shuddering exhale leaves Jumper's lips. Did she break a rib?

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Clown asks. She can almost picture his eyebrows raised behind the mask.

“I’ll come with you.”

—-

Branzy says that he has a surprise for Parrot. Honestly, Parrot doesn't really think he wants to know what that means. Recently, surprises have not been good to him.

Branzy goes to go “get the surprise”, leaving Parrot waiting nervously on the bed.

He’s not sure what exactly he expected when Branzy came back.

But it definitely wasn’t this. Beside Branzy, Jumper stands in the doorway. Her stomach is wrapped in bandages, sweater hanging oddly around it. They stare at each other for a moment, a thousand emotions arcing across both their faces. She slowly walks over, with a little help from Branzy,  concern covering her face.

“Hi,” she says, as she sits down with Parrot.

“Hi,” he whispers. Then she opens her arms and crushes him in a hug.

Flock. 

Family.

Parrot lets his head drop onto her shoulder, tears dripping down his face. She’s shaking too, gripping him tightly. Distantly, he hears Branzy say something to Jumper, then step out of the room. He keeps hugging her, wrapping his wings around them both.

“I was so fucking scared, all the time,” he admits quietly, and Jumper doesn’t need to ask to know what he’s talking about. Who he’s talking about.

“For me and for you all,” he continues. 

Jumper lets out a shaky laugh. “We were worried too. Trying not to get caught, so he wouldn’t have any leverage over you.”

She pulls back slightly and looks him over, taking in every single bruise and cut and broken feather. The desperation that Parrot knows is in his eyes, the sadness.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers.

Parrot’s deathly quiet. He exhales a breath. He considers telling her everything, the time he spent with Wifies, what Wifies did- but he also doesn’t want to burden her with that. Besides, Jumper’s smart. She can draw her own conclusions- and Parrot knows that she’s already drawn quite a few.

“Do you trust them?” she asks quietly, eyes darting towards the door.

Parrot hums in thought.

 “For now,” he responds lowly.

Jumper nods her agreement.

“The others?” Parrot asks.

Jumper doesn’t meet his eyes. “We got separated a bit back. I don’t know where they are- but Branzy and Clown are apparently trying to find them.”

He nods to her side.

“What happened there?”

Jumper snorts. “Took an axe to the side before I got here. Chestplate helped, but Clown thinks I broke a rib.”

“You took a health potion?”

“Course.”

Her eyes find his wings again- and he knows that she wants to ask. Knows that she wants to help. But something must urge her to stop. Maybe it’s the fact that the others will hopefully be with them soon- maybe it’s the fact that she’s tired, and hurt, and so is Parrot.

They sit in silence until their eyes slowly slide shut, leaving them curled together on the bed. Half a flock, half a family, half a heart.

They both dream that it will be more than half sometime soon.

Chapter Text

“I’ll clip them, Parrot.”

Wifies’s eyes are dark. Parrot curls in on himself, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry, I swear- please don’t-” his voice catches in a sob. It’s his fault. He shouldn't have tried to escape. 

“Shhhhh,” Wifies murmurs, pulling Parrot close, “I won’t- it’s okay.”

Wifies’s touch burns against his skin, bringing more tears to Parrot’s eyes. This isn’t right.  He shouldn’t be leaning into Wifies, the person who’s actively hurting him- he should be running far away. 

But he doesn’t. 

He doesn’t.

Fuck.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Parrot wakes up, he’s warm. Warm in a way that he hasn’t been in the longest of times.

Jumper is still asleep, chest rising and falling gently. Branzy is sitting in the corner of the room in a chair, typing something into his communicator. Branzy notices Parrot after a few seconds, startling slightly in his seat. He gestures to Jumper, mouthing, “Bandages.”

Parrot carefully shakes Jumper awake. She jumps, then groans in pain.

“We have to redo your bandages,” Parrot says quietly. 

Jumper nods to his wrist. “Yours too,” she whispers.

Parrot looks to Branzy, who nods his agreement.

“Fine,” Parrot groans, eliciting a few giggles from Jumper.

Warm.

…………………………………

Derapchu, like most people on Unstable, like most people on Lifesteal, has seen a lot in his short time of living. But if he’s honest, this might be the craziest situation he’s ever been in.

Leo stands tense beside Derap, eyes locked on Wifies.

And this is fucking bad. Bad in the life ruining sort of way. Bad in the we’re-so-fucking-done sort of way.

“Getting a bit desperate, aren’t you,” Leo smirks. Derap doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. They’re outnumbered and Wifies, as much as they don’t like to admit it, is stronger. Then again, since he died, Derap would say Leo has had a bit of a death wish.

They had lost Jumper a few weeks ago, in another outnumbered fight. Derap knows that she’s probably fine, she’s strong, but that’s just another factor as to why Leo should not be riling Wifies up.

“What makes you say that?” Wifies responds, almost…confused.

“Well, Jumper’s long gone, Parrot escaped, and you don’t really have anything left, do you?”

Wifies’s hand twitches slightly, and his guards raise their swords. Derap tenses, preparing to fight, preparing for it all to go to hell, for him to die here in this meadow-

And Derap sees Leo relax slightly, eyes shooting to the trees for a brief moment. He has a plan. And suddenly Leo’s moving- shoving Derap away, lunging towards Wifies-

“Run you idiot!” he shouts, and Derap follows the order. He sprints for the trees, crashing into the forest. His feet slam into the earth, adrenaline sending his heart pumping. 

Fucking Leo. Derap should have known that “plan” is a loose term.

Derap wonders how much time people on this server spend running. Grounded, forced to stick to the trees. Flightless, elytra too risky. Real wings too much of a target. There’s no peace here. It’s a server filled with players, drawn by Parrot, the infamous Lifesteal admin.

It’s funny how much of an effect Lifesteal still has on their lives.

When Derap makes it into the trees, he is joined by another person, moving just as swiftly, sprinting away from the fight. 

“Clown has a strange habit of  showing up whenever Leo’s in trouble” Nufili snorts.

Clown’s timing is suspicious, as always. Immaculate, as always.

Derap’s left Leo behind, as always. Failed, as always.

Leo must’ve seen the man, heard him creeping through the undergrowth. Derap sure as hell didn’t notice.

They don’t need to run for long. Both of them are good enough strategists to recognize that Wifies won’t chase them. Too risky, too uncalculated. 

He’s only two steps ahead. Don’t let him get to three.

So when they stop in front of a large oak tree, Derap’s breath shuddering in his chest, Clown himself a little winded, there is, at least, a plan. 

“I’ll go back for Leo,” Clown says tonelessly.

“You go to Parrot and Jumper.”

He presses his own communicator into Derap’s hands, a set of coordinates flashing on the screen. Dull surprise courses through him. Parrot and Jumper are safe.

“Hold on now-” Derap says belatedly, “- I want to help Leo, I mean-”

“No.” And Clown isn’t a person that Derap wants to waste his time arguing with. Call him pathetic, but it’s a fight he knows he won’t win. 

And maybe the want to see Parrot and Jumper is just a bit too much to bear.

…………………………………………………………..

Branzy explains the situation to Derap, it honestly feels a bit surreal. He’s staying with two of the most feared players on this stupid server, and he’s gonna see his friends again. As he and Branzy walk down stone corridors, the older man filling the air with slightly anxious chatter, Derap thinks. He thinks about how all this has happened, how they decided that this was okay.

Because surely some fault must lie on BAT’s shoulders. On Derap’s shoulders. He should have been braver, helped Parrot, been there when he needed it most-

Though he’s here now. 

The door creaks open. Derap steps inside, eyes darting around the small room. Then suddenly, someone practically crashes into him, a tight hug. It’s Parrot, he realizes after a moment, as dirt caked wings wrap around him. Then a few seconds later it's Jumper too, and Parrot’s wings are big enough to surround all of them.

All of them and two more.

After a few moments, Derap slowly pulls away, taking a moment to truly look over his friends. Parrot looks… well… like shit. His undereyes are dark, skin pale, lips peeling, as though he’d been anxiously picking at them. His wings are covered in dirt and grime, arm bandaged.

Jumper, to Derap’s relief, looks considerably better. He can tell, even though she’s wearing a large sweater, that she must have something wrapped around her ribs. It's the way she hugged him. Gingerly, careful not to hurt.

“Are you guys-” Derap struggles, searching for the correct words. He’s never known what to say in moments like these. When he needs reassurance as much as someone else does.

“We’re okay,” Jumper says seriously. “Phisically, at least.”

The latter part of the sentence stays unsaid, and Parrot avoids Derap’s eyes.

And again, he wonders how they could have let this happen, how he could have let this happen, how-

“It’s not your fault.”

Parrot’s voice is cracked, shaky.

But Parrot’s always known Derap far better than he knows himself.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Jumper murmurs, but it sounds more like a question than anything.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Derap says with certainty, shoving his own qualms away. He has to hold them together this time around.

The two of them don’t ask him about Leo, possibly taking the same risk that Derap did: making an assumption. An assumption that Clown, even though it’s been so long since Lifesteal Season Five, still cares, will still go to the ends of the earth for Leo. 

It’s a dangerous assumption. 

But then again, it’s been a long while since any of them have done anything safe. 

Maybe we’re broken, Derap thinks as he settles himself on the floor to lean against Parrot's bed. Jumper sinks down beside him, and Parrot collapses onto the mattress. 

But then Jumper’s head hits his shoulder and the sigh Parrot lets out is full of relief and maybe they really aren’t broken at all, just bent.