Chapter Text
“You’re leaving us.” It wasn’t a question.
“I am.” The confirmation burned him to say, and his grip tightened in his wife’s hand.
“Phil, Ranboo’s mothers have been good to us… you can’t honestly say that you plan to go back there, right?” Niki shifted uncomfortably, brushing hair out of her eyes. “Kristin said it wasn’t safe.”
“It’s not,” Kristin agreed next to him, heaving a sigh. “Unfortunately, though, I’ve spent too much of my energy to remain here with you all. I have many domains under my watch, and I must return to them.”
“And I,” Philza began with a soft, rueful sigh, “need to get my flock somewhere safe. I left them on the SMP, and with the radiation finally dying down… I need to get them out. Ranboo’s particles followed him, and you always have your school with you… I just can’t stay any longer. Not to mention, my body is not meant to subsist on Chorus Fruit.”
“Neither is mine!” Niki said sharply. “Plus, there’s no water here. The school is beginning to get sick.”
“I was going to go to a hardcore world…” Phil returned, crossing his arms. “If you come with me, you won’t be the same.”
There was a pause where the half-merling’s blue eyes met his and simply studied him for a long, awkward moment. “Take me with you, Phil.” It wasn’t a request.
The angel let out a long-suffering sigh, pressing a hand to the bridge of his nose. “ Fine .”
——————
They left not long after that, falling into the portal and returning with a start to their respective spawns- phil to his cottage, and niki to hers. The crows, for their part, had gathered into a weird sort of circle around his fireplace, and they all looked up in surprise when he came down. One of the crows, Ian, immediately landed on his shoulder and pecked him in the ear, hard . “Where been?!” He cawed, and if Phil didn’t know any better he would have said the bird was actually angry at him. Ian was just a bird though, and even if he’d gained the ability to talk to Phil, that was where the human-like abilities stopped.
“Ah- Jesus, you stupid bird, stop it!” He swatted the crow away, grumbling about ‘stupid pigeons’ or something along those lines as he gathered supplies into shulkers that he had retrieved from the end. Honestly, they made his life so much easier. Each spot in his inventory could fit an entire single chest worth of stuff, and if that wasn’t helpful, he didn’t know what was. Potions, food, torches, wood, stone, emeralds… even his valuables like gold, iron, and diamonds. The one or two extra netherite ingots he had went into those shulker boxes, and when he was done packing, he sat back with a sigh. The crows stared at him, the questions palpable in the air above them.
“Hardcore?” Ian questioned. A few of the other crows parroted the inquisition amongst themselves, the older ones looking rather enthused by the prospect.
“Yeah,” Phil agreed. “Niki’s coming too. It’ll be a private server, just the two of us… well, and Kristin as well, technically.”
A cheer went up, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the damn birds. He couldn’t wait to see Niki’s building skills when stuff wasn’t getting set on fire every other day. He knew she’d built the bakery with her bare fucking hands, and if that wasn’t something to be proud of, he didn’t know what was. Sure, her style was a bit more cottagecore than his was- Phil had always been a fan of large-scale builds, terraforming the world to fit him rather than the other way around. Niki was more of a purist, working with the land to support her builds. It was, quite honestly, admirable.
Before he got too ahead of himself, he set about putting a hub portal together. Phil was willing to bet that the server hub portal had been destroyed entirely, meaning that if he set up a frame in the right way, with crying obsidian rather than the regular stuff, he’d get the server hub portal right there.
By the time he was done building it, Niki had made her way out from her house across the commune. She hurried over, eyeing the portal suspiciously. “Are you sure that’s going to work?” She asked, crossing her arms.
“Do you not trust me?” Phil asked smugly, snapping the flint and steel together. There was a sudden sort of humming sound as the portal lit, a vibrant blue hue definitely different from the nether portal’s deep purple.
Niki’s mouth fell open. “That’s the server hub…?”
“Yep. Once we go through, I’ll shut it down from that side,” The older man explained, leaning against the obsidian.
“How?” Niki asked, furrowing her brows. “You’re not an admin, or even a mod.”
“I have friends on the other side~” Phil sang out, doing a weird sort of ‘evil-villain’ pose and giving a little laugh. “No, but seriously, I’m friends with the devs. With the way the server is now, they’ve got no choice but to wipe the slate clean, you know?”
“If you’re sure…” The pink-haired woman said nervously, eying the portal with a sigh. “Alright… let’s go, then.”
“Indeed.”
𝙿𝚑𝟷𝙻𝚣𝙰 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎.
𝙽𝚒𝚑𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎.
Good aftern̸͚̺̮̝̹̔́̈̆̃͝o̸͕̖̗̻̯̝̓̈́́ō̴̞̭̣̬̞͍̱̥̦n̸̡̨̠͇̮̲͙̄̈́̄̌.
Unfortunately, it has been determined that the server admin has been shattered, killed, or blown up to an irreparable degree. The server “D̵̢̨̦̻͎̟̼͓̺̟́̐̔̑̈́́͂͝͝R̴͈̳͕͇̔̌͋̿̿́́̇̽̑ͅȨ̷͓̬̠͕̥̻̈́͑̉̈́̊̆͛̄͝A̸̙̫͆̊̍̅̈́͒͛̽́͘M̸̗͖͔͋̔_̶̮̹͈͚̐̀̋̚͝S̷̗̠̼̤̭̥̳͔̽̀̌ͅM̴̧̨̤͎͉̳̺̞̞̄͜͠P̶̧̝̤͉̪̗͉̭̉̀̓” will now self-destruct. MOJANG thanks you for your orderly exit of the server. Due to p̴̹̮͖͇͇̎͊̓͗͂̂͊͜ŗ̷̛́̀̔̒̚é̷̫̓̾̐-̶̳͌̓͌̃́͛̌̚è̴̳̲̺͕̝̻̊̑͛̋͂̃́ͅx̸͔̭̋̀̇i̵̢̺̟̭͗̓̌̕s̸̢̛̬̻̟̜̿̋̓͘͜͝ͅͅẗ̶̖̳́̆̐̿̓̿̾̌͐í̵̢̛̛̱͍̬̹̣̙̲̱̈̇n̸̹̥̩̲̻̬͈̬̽̉g̵͍̑̆ ̷̨̛̜̥̟̘̤̰̘̐͆́͆̓̇́͝͠c̷̢̲̰̘̱̘̺̆̀̏̓̒̚͝͝o̸̗̲̰͎͎̜̎̈̇n̸̨͓̰̳͕̤͚̺͎͗̆͂͂̋̓̋̓́̍s̴̡͓͔̬͓͈͉͆̐ẗ̸̢̯̮͕̥̜̀́̅̚r̷̝͉̗̭̠͌͆̀́̿͂̾̂ą̸̡͕̇̈̄̆̈̐̎ì̸̧̜̝̥̗̫͕̺̤̓͆̀̏͠ͅṅ̵̢̠̭̥̥̤̭̠̰̂̍ẗ̴͖̯́͑̇͋̆̆̈͗ś̶̝̿̄͘͝ on members of your party, MOJANG will not be allowing you to enter the server hub. We apologize for the inconvenience. You will now b̶͙̹̫̹̖̭͓͈̣͌͜e̴͈̰̓͗̃͋̊-
I’m sorry. You will now b̶͙̹̫̹̖̭͓͈̣͌͜e̴͈̰̓͗̃͋̊ ̷͓͇̑̓̃̃̆́̋͊͐͝s̷̨̼̀͒͒e̷̡͚̅̕͠͝n̵̼̣̗̹̭̥͍̪̔̓ţ̴̛̬̖̝͑̆̄̎ ̸̧̦̽t̴̡̲̺̲͙̮̺͚̮̮̋̀̐͛͂͋̚͝-ö̵̜͖͔́͛͌̊͒
You will now be sent to… ⊥IW ᴚƎHℲ˥H∀ᴚƆmit.
Thank you for your patience. Goodbye.
:)