Archive of Our Own ^beta

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The third day in purgatory had been busy for the red team. When they had woken up that morning everyone was greeted by an announcement on their MDA’s that there was to be an event today and more details would be given in the afternoon. As the hours stretched on there was an anxious energy in the air.

While the first day had been a rapid free fall into insanity and chaos, today was a flurry of activity as they filled their pockets with all they could carry and ferried it over to the new location Foolish had scouted out. Knowing their old base was comprised had pushed most to wake up early with the blistering sun and move as fast as possible to hide the precious few belongings they had. Jaiden, Charlie and Cellbit having been exhausted from yesterday’s events were left to sleep a little longer in the old base with messages on their MDA’s as to where the others were. Baghera was currently out searching the surrounding lands for bamboo for their quests today and Foolish was exploring the depths of their new cave base, gathering any useful materials and starting a small farm. Phil had just finished setting up an arrangement of furnaces and hoppers to make toast when his MDA beeped now showing that Cellbit had woken up and was now online. Phil sent him a quick message with the new base coordinates and how to find the entrance. Putting the smart device back in his pocket Phil ducked under the low hanging ceiling of the far side of the cave placing torches as he went. The last thing they needed at the minute was insanely strong mobs spawning inside their newly acquired base. It was bigger than their first base and their farms had a better chance of remaining unraided as long as the base stayed hidden. They would be safe here from most of the so-called natural disasters that had occurred so far. Phil was certain whoever was in charge of this island purposely made them happen at the most inconvenient times. Though as Phil thought this a few dripstone stalagtights caught his eye and he wondered if the roof would remain stable during an earthquake. They would have to figure out something to prevent a cave in soon.

Phil was thankful for the MDA’s communication functions. Being able to hang out in a group call with the rest of team Bolas as they wandered the wastelands helped to keep their spirits high. Phil was certain he would have broken down (more so than he already had) from the stress and absurdity of this whole purgatory island and its nonsensical natural disasters never mind the pressures of being a responsible team leader and the morality of fighting against the people he considered friends. The newly acquired scar on his back ached with the now familiar sting of betrayal at the memory, but Phil brushed it off and tuned back into the conversation Foolish and Baghera were having while beginning to prepare resources for his team to complete their personal and global missions. Laughter and giggles echoed around the cave as the red team talked about anything and everything to take their minds off the looming event.

Phil’s M.D.A beeped twice in quick succession. The first was the familiar beep of Cellbit joining the group call, but before greetings could even be exchanged their devices were taken over by the now familiar red background and glowing eye as an announcement video was played. Phil quickly tucked himself into a small crevice in the wall of the cave next to where Foolish was working on a farm to focus on the video. He couldn’t afford to miss any information, they needed everything they could get.

Phil’s feathers stood on end. “Those mother fuckers. Egg-War Jesus Christ” whoever was running this island would pay.

The MDA beeped with an announcement showing a series of coordinates. Rejoining the group call Phil began discussing with Baghera and Foolish what his interpretation of the video was. “We don’t have to do that. We don’t have to kill the eggs, we get a higher percentage, but we don’t have to do that. But let’s be real, Bad’s gonna do that”. Both Foolish and Baghera respond with a disappointed “yeah” knowing in their hearts they would be forced to fend off their friends. Their team weren’t the best at fighting so aiming for the style points would definitely work in their favour with Foolish’s building skills.
“Let’s Fucking go Foolish! Let’s get this fucking castle”
Cellbit’s excited voice shouted over the call, briefly startling Phil before he laughed at Foolish’s excited shouts back. Phil hoped they wouldn’t have to kill any eggs, after everything they’d been through on quesadilla island and in purgatory this was the last thing they needed.

Wanting to scope out their potential building spot, Foolish climbed the ladder and staircase up and out of the cave. Checking the coordinates on his MDA again then looking at the map Foolish set off towards the desert.

In the call discussions continued of where to hide their egg, what kind of a base should be built, what traps could they use and what materials would be needed. The prospect of building giving them hope that whatever prize was given would give Bolas the advantage in this event.
Foolish then shouted over the call
“Guys, guys! I see the place. It’s got red.. ah what’s the thing, not barrier blocks”
“World boarder?” Phil supplied. “Yeah! That! And I can see the egg in the centre! It’s got Phil’s leader symbol thing on it. Hang on can I go through this” Foolish went quiet as he attempted to cross the border.
“We should definitely get more obsidian though to protect the egg. It depends though if they’re gonna be able to break blocks in our base” Phil thought out loud. Cellbit was about to reply when he was cut off by a very panicked Foolish.
“GUYS GUYS GET HERE QUICK THERES A CRACK IN THE EGG. THERE WASN’T BEFORE BUT NOW THERE IS. ITS TURNING NIGHT AND THERES SO MANY MOBS. PHIL WHAT IF THE EGG IS HATCHING! GO AWAY ZOMBIE”

Phil moved faster than he thought possible climbing out of the cave. All of their voices now panicked as the red team scrambled to meet Foolish in the desert to protect their new egg.

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Phil’s wings flapped as he sprinted across the desert. Some instinctual part of him yearning to soar into the sky to reach the egg faster. Cellbit and Baghera were hot on his heels, dodging around mobs. An arrow whizzed past nicking his ear just as the red cube designating their building space came into sight. He could see Foolish fighting scorpions and husks in the darkness and there in the centre just sitting on top of the bare sand was an egg painted crudely with his team’s purgatory symbol.

Natural Disaster!
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Warning: Quicksand

Once again Phil was convinced that the natural disasters were timed just to be inconvenient to the red team.
“Oh shi-“ Phil barely heard his two team members behind him far to focused on the white egg that was now rapidly sinking into the desert sand. With a surge of adrenaline Phil pushed forward, like hell he was going to let the egg die before they even got it to their nest base.

Skidding through the sand Phil scooped up the egg, quickly spinning around eyes scanning over his team letting out an instinctive chirp. Flock safe protect. All of them were accounted for and Phil took a shuddering breath. No not now, he had enough to worry about. Just because he had an egg in his arms once more didn’t mean he could fall into his instincts. He was a leader he needed a clear head to get them out of this mess. With his arms full Phil couldn’t fend off the approaching mobs, his dark wings curling around himself to offer some form of protection to the egg. Thankfully Baghera and Foolish realised this and flanked him on either side shields raised as skeletons shot arrows at the group.
“Global, go to global! It’s safe from disasters” Cellbit shouted as he struggled to pull his feet out of the rapidly sinking sand.

After minutes that felt like hours the group made it to the circular marble courtyard of the global building. The four of them quickly scanned the building to ensure they were alone and wouldn’t be ambushed by another team. Once they were sure it was clear everyone took a moment to rest sitting around the large fountain to refill their water bottles and wash off what sand they could. Phil sat down cross legged on the ground and gently set the egg down in front of him. With a featherlight touch he traced a finger along the small crack near the top of the egg, his memories instantly flashing to Chyanne and Talulah. Phil furrowed his brows in confusion. Wrong. The texture was wrong. A smooth artificial plastic in place of a natural egg with the symbol printed on the front. It was also bigger than any of the previous eggs. More of a capsule than an egg, but it had triggered his instincts regardless.

Three quick beeps interrupted Phil’s thoughts. Jaiden and Charlie were awake and headed to the new base and the quicksand had finally settled. Phil stood brushing leftover sand from his weathered clothes. “We should head back, we don’t want to be caught in a disaster on the way home” Taking out his MDA Phil stepped away from the fountain scanned the horizon for any sign of threats and sent a few messages to Charlie and Jaiden explaining what had happened. As he stepped away a strange feeling of pride filling him as Cellbit stepped closer to guard the egg as Baghera watched his back. They would be fine, they could do this. A few days, they could keep the egg alive for a few days.

“I think I can hear it’s heartbeat” Cellbit announced and when Phil turned around he saw Cellbit crouched down beside the egg his ear pressed to it listening carefully. Phil smiled at the sight before looking at the map on his MDA to find the quickest route home, but he nearly dropped the device when Baghera’s next words registered in his brain.
“I see Etoiles! Etoiles is coming from the, the east side!”

Not expecting anyone to be at global so quickly after a disaster the Frenchman in question seemed to be stunned into silence at the sight before him. Philza and Baghera stood defensively swords and shields raised. That wasn’t what caught him off guard however, that was an expected response to an opposing team in purgatory. It was the strange sight of both Baghera’s and Philza’s wings spread wide with feathers standing on end. An instinctual reaction to make them seem larger, to ward off danger. He hadn’t seen either of them do that before and when Etoiles looked to Foolish and Cellbit for an explanation he saw the usually hyper totem standing deathly still with eyes trained on his every move. Cellbit’s ears were nearly pinned to his head, eyes narrowed and he was slowly almost in-perceptively moving away from Etoiles, an egg held carefully in his arms. While Etoiles would usually enjoy a good fight something about this display made him uneasy.

“Oh, no no no. We’re chill! We’re chill! I’m not going to hurt your egg. I’m just handing in the global quests. We’re chill!” He hurriedly rushed out gesturing over his shoulder towards the round building. To prove his point Etoiles backed away slightly from the red team and nodded to Phil and headed towards the building once Phil returned the gesture, the feathers of his wings relaxing slightly as Etoiles turned his back to them.

“We should go before more people show up” Phil decided, gesturing for everyone to follow him as began the long walk back to their base. The journey home was tense as they each took it in turns to carry the egg while the others defended and cleared the path home. As the night wore on and the adrenaline worked it’s way out of his system, Phil wanted nothing more than to crawl into his sleeping bag next to the campfire surrounded by his flock friends.

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Hey just wanting to quickly update those who are interested and thank everyone who left kudos/comments on this, it makes me really excited to get more written 💜 Speaking of, I’m hoping to have the next chapter up on Saturday and weekends will probably when I’m most likely to update. Also chapter 1 will get a re-write hopefully soon, I don’t feel I’ve quite got the chaotic bolas energy down and a little more world building wouldn’t do any harm.

Life has unfortunately gotten busy with a couple things and at this point I could probably have one of those crazy authors notes like “sorry I couldn’t update sooner the wifi router got dropped in the bath, then the bath caught on fire and the house exploded” (my literal plan for Saturday is go get an x-ray then get the next chapter typed up lol) the purgatory event and the qsmp as a whole has been a wonderful distraction and I’m glad I’m writing again. 

Once again thanks to everyone who showed support for this I’m so excited to get the next chapter out. I have it all planned and have figured out a backstory for the lovely reader that I think will be cool! So welcome to purgatory, I hope you enjoy the island :)

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Sound is the first thing that you register.

A horrible pain in your back is the second as if something was digging into your shoulder blades. There were footsteps nearby but you couldn’t make out how many, everything was muffled as though you were underwater. As feeling slowly returned to your limbs you realised you were curled up as small as possible, your back was pressed uncomfortably against something hard and couldn’t move much at all. There was fabric around your wrists and covering your eyes. Whoever did this did not want you getting out. With the tiny amount of movement you could manage in the confined space you managed to push the fabric up and off of your eyes. Unfortunately it didn’t help much as the inside of wherever you are was pitch black.

Putting all your energy into your limbs you strained against the bindings and surface around you but nothing gave. Limbs now tingling with pins and needles and fading into an uncomfortable numbness you let your head fall back in frustration. Unfortunately the movement was harsher than you had anticipated and you banged your head against a solid surface with a resounding crack. With your head now throbbing you sincerely hoped the sound had come from whatever you banged your head against and that you hadn’t just cracked your own skull open.

Then there was a voice, it was to far off and muffled to make out what was said but someone was definitely there shouting. You tried tapping against the surface around you but there was no reaction. Either they couldnt hear you or they didnt care. You tried moving once again to get the attention of whoever was outside incase they hadn’t heard you, but the binds held firm and a wave of pain washed over you. Soon other different voices joined the first one and all of them seemed to be getting closer shouting to eachother. Suddenly all around you there was the sound of falling sand and you felt gravity shift as the container you were in tilted to the side. You sighed in relief as your weight was moved to your left side and the pain in your shoulder blades eased slightly.

A pair of footsteps came thundering closer before gravity suddenly shifted again, only this time it was the stomach lurching sensation of moving up very quickly. There were a few smaller bobbing motions and you realised someone was carrying you. Before you could think of what to do next the person carrying you made a strange chirping sound. Flock, safe, protect your brain automatically supplied. How did you know what that meant. A strange feeling creeped up in your throat almost like that tickle at the back of the throat before a cough and you felt yourself mimicking the chirping sound somewhat successfully. You couldn’t tell if the person carrying you had heard you however as there were now many voices nearby shouting at each other as well as monstrous growls and shrieks. The rhythmic movement started up again as the person carrying you started walking. You weren’t sure if it was the exhaustion or if the rocking motion was soothing but either way your eyes slowly closed and you drifted off listening to the chatter of the people around you.

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Psssssssssssst

It’s half two in the morning

I have an outline for 7 more chapters :D

And bits to make the previous chapters better

I’ll try get a chapter out super soon, hopefully tomorrow

But updates will be inconsistent, just depending on my inspiration and if I have the energy to write.

I’m so excited for you to see what I have as your character’s origins

Will delete this once new chapter up
Anyway thanks so much for all the support on this c:

Ima get some sleep