Processing the Aftermath

RED - Debugging

He picked up the water dishes and headed to the sink.

"Oh, um, we agreed that Orange should figure out how to use his powers. Don't tell anyone, but I'd do it again to help Orange. Just... planned this time."

A warble.

"Heck yeah, they're all my best friends! Of course I'd do anything for them."

He retrieved the birdseed and walked over to the parrots. They pushed each other to get to him.

"Oi! Fellas, there's enough for both of you."

He closed the birdseed box.

"Well, Yellow's probably preparing some coding thing, Green's probably organising something, Blue's probably doing caring stuff... What can I do?"

He headed to the cabinet and a rather dour thought came to him.

"Perhaps not die?"

Another warble.

"Thanks Dapt. But... I still feel like it was my fault."

A knock from the doorway. He jumped, spilling birdseed everywhere.

"Oh sticks, I'm so sorry!" It was Blue.

***

Red hastily brushed birdseed off his clothes. "Oh, hi Blue."

Blue quickly looked around the room, then headed towards the broom stands. "I'm so sorry, didn't mean to interrupt anything - I was just wondering if I should make some treats for-"

The room erupted in cacophony. Red waved his arms frantically and made shushing sounds. When the room was somewhat quieter, he turned to Blue. "Don't say that word in front of them! Now you'll need to make some for all of them," he said with a rueful smile.

Blue shrugged. "I don't mind. But I'll need to figure out recipes. Especially for..."

"Dapt?"

"Yeah. Raptors from League are carnivores, right?"

Red looked at Dapt. "You are, right?" The raptor made a chattering noise. He looked back at Blue. "He is."

Blue laughed as he picked up a broom. Red fetched another and they swept the floor together.

Blue had sobered by now. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I overheard the tail end of what you were saying."

Red froze.

Blue dipped his head. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Oh, don't mind me, I just talk to everyone - them -" - he gestured at the animals - "- here, it's nothing, don't worry," he stammered.

Blue's eyebrows creased. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Before Blue could say another word, the parrots flew around Blue's head, forcing him to step backward. Tennor pushed the closest chair into Blue's knees so that Blue sat down hard. He looked at Red, embarrassed. "I don't know if this is a signal, but..."

Red gave the parrots and Tennor a hard stare. They seemed to give him a hard stare back. He glanced at Maari. The salamander tilted its head in an "I told you so" movement. He sighed. "Oh fine..." He pulled up a chair too.

After a moment, Blue cleared his throat. "You said something was your fault?"

Red nodded. "I guess. Well, it feels so." He swallowed. "I ran ahead and died. Last week, I mean. And... you all ran after me. You all died because of me." He stared at the ground.

Blue spoke gently, "Red, we would've done that no matter who went first. It's not your fault."

Red shook his head. "That's not it." He paused, trying to find the words. "We all - we're a team. When we're working together - when we're fine with each other - we do really cool things. But I -" - he was blinking back moisture now - "- I did a stupid thing. And you all lose focus. I-I hurt us. All of us. "

He was rubbing his elbows. Blue didn't speak.

"When things are bad with us - when we aren't together - it worries me. And if it's my fault..." he couldn't continue.

Blue gently asked, "What do you think makes you feel that way?"

Red kicked a foot against the floor. "Well, I know I get too excited at times. I don't think things through. That doesn't help us. You... you all do awesome things that are helpful. I just love animals and cheer everyone on and make everyone laugh. Don't get me wrong," he hastily added, "I'm never gonna stop doing those things, but how am I actually helpful? How can I actually help after everything we just learned?" There, he said it. "After Herobrine, you all welcomed me back and that meant so much to me. I just... I can't lose you all."

Sticky keys, he was crying now. Something nudged his knee. Red raised his head and saw Dapt had brought over a tissue box. He patted the raptor. "Thanks bud."

Blue shifted on his chair. "Red... this is going to sound really cliche, but you are awesome the way you are. We love you, mate."

Red couldn't figure out how to reply to that.

Blue sighed and sat back. After a minute, he hesitantly asked, "You remember everything with Purple and the king?"

Red nodded. He tried not to think of the empty bed in the corner.

"You did melee when we all fought Purple and the piglins."

Ah. Red knew where this was going. "But melee isn't anything special. We're all good at it, and Green -"

Blue waved his hand. "That's not what I meant. I was our long-range person, so I couldn't be in the front. Yellow wasn't able to be either. Orange had the other fight. Green was... well, doing Green stuff."

He gestured at Red. "You? You were at the front. You held the line. You helped define the line - the line where we stood. And you do that lots of other times as well."

Red had to pause. "Huh."

Blue was sounding more certain now. "And that's all because you're you. You know where you stand. You're loyal and courageous and steadfast. You always try to be the best person you can be. You help move us forward - or backward or sideways if we need to," he added wryly. "Because you're you, we're the best group we can be."

Blue was smiling now. "Regarding stuff you can do: you just gotta think out of the box a little. I don't know what you'll come up with, but I definitely wanna know. The others too."

Red smiled. "Thanks Blue." He felt another sob rise in his chest. A moment later, Blue was hugging him. Sticks and keys, he really needed to get himself together. He looked over Blue's shoulder for a distraction. Instead, he found all of his animals staring at him. If his blurry eyes weren't mistaken, they all had expressions of "See, we told you so!" He scowled at them.

Blue drew back and smiled. "Besides, it was sort of my fault that the whole thing with Purple and the king happened in the first place."

Red had to reply to that. "Absolutely not!"

Blue chuckled. "It kinda was. If I hadn't gone into the Nether, or if I had asked you guys to come with me-"

Red cut in. "- If we - I - hadn't decided to go with Purple -"

Blue grinned. "See what I mean about whose fault?"

Red sighed. He got it.

By the suspicious snickering-like noises from around the room, his non-stick friends had gotten it too.

***

Thank you for reading part 3! Hope you enjoyed this, and let me know what you think! :D

This was a difficult chapter for me to figure out, and this definitely came out more angsty than I had hoped. I may do a rewrite in the future. More notes will come at the end of the story.

Next part will be either Yellow or Green!