#avecpardon

A Speed-Class Avatar dressed in dark gray, black, and purple clothes resembling a mage stood by him, watching the events unfold with a worried expression. Expressive violet eyes took in the actions of everyone below, gathering information quickly that he scribbled out into a book with his quill.

"This is it. This is the moment I've anticipated would come," Seto murmured and the smaller Avatar turned to look at him, studying him intently. "You were modified for this reason, far above Sky's wish to have someone to counter his and Deadlox's Viral powers. Are you ready?"

The mage remained focused on him, eye contact never wavering. "What do you need?" he finally asked.

"Restore Sky's Core File with the copy I installed in yours, by any means necessary," Seto commanded. The mage continued to focus on him, then slowly nodded once.

"I'll see what I can do," he returned and flicked his hand, replacing the book and quill with an Ender Pearl. He held his other hand forward, concentrating. "I read you, SkythekidRS. I read you and write you onto myself." Pages of paper pixelated into existence around the Avatar, pressing against his limbs and clothes and glowing into a steadily brightening light. "Beyond AvecPardon, beyond AvecthekidEE, to the very depths of who you are, that is who I will be!" The light swelled and encased the Avatar, hiding his form from sight. "Mimic Mode: SkythekidRS!"

When the light burst apart, a replica of the Sky Army leader stood where the mage once did. The other Sky threw the pearl towards the building Herobrine stood on and blipped away in a flash of purple particles, leaving Seto to hope that the failsafe would work and end the war for good.

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"Seto!" Sky's voice was equal parts fury and grief as he stormed up to the sorcerer in the code research labs. He stopped in front of the other Avatar and slammed a fist on the table next to them. "You overstepped the line back there! You had no right, NO RIGHT, to ask my Third to give up his life for me like that!" Seto glared back at him coolly.

"It was a hard decision and he agreed to it; his life in exchange for yours to allow us to save two worlds and end the war," he argued back. "I think he'd say that was a perfectly acceptable trade. You already know he'd do anything to support you; this shouldn't be a shock to you!"

"Lives shouldn't be traded like that at all! I had faith you and our friends would be able to think of a plan, something else to get me back or stop the song!" Sky snapped back.

"This was faster!"

"It was wrong!"

"The war is still over, isn't it?!" Seto declared, throwing up his hands and walking away. "Besides, you're one to talk; you're the one who gave the original order to weaponize him in the first place! Don't craft the sword if you don't plan to swing it!"

"Don't turn this around on me! He was supposed to only counter me and Deadlox if we lost control of ourselves in Feral Viral Mode!" Sky followed after him. "He was supposed to live! He had a library! He had a life that I promised he could go back to living after we finished the war!"

Seto spun around and folded his arms over his chest, huffing indignantly. "He helped us save Minecraftia from that programmer's abuse of your voice and power," he pointed out icily. "His death wasn't in vain; Minecraftia may be unstable from reversing The Convergence and yeah, there's still Cultists that escaped the final battle, but you're alive and we can keep the Overworld safe. Herobrine is gone, He's not coming back; we've won. Be thankful for it."

Sky watched him walk away and shook his head, eyes shining gold instead of the usual hazel. "No, it's not over. Those Cultists are still going to want to keep bringing Him back, and more deaths will happen because of me," he growled. "Time to change the equation and put an end to this cycle for good."

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"Exile?!" the group of Avatars that made up TeamCrafted and friends exclaimed together, horrified expressions on their faces. Sky and Deadlox both nodded, one looking stern, the other apathetic as always.

"We've talked it out with the awareness of Minecraftia; it agrees with us," Sky returned flatly. "As long as we're here, me and Deadlox, those Cultists and whatever Squidlings they converted to join them will keep trying to get to us to revive Herobrine through the fragment of code that's in my body. That will just lead to more wars, more fighting, more Avatars dying in my name. Enough. I'm removing that temptation by removing myself. Deadlox is doing the same."

"I dun like what we did to ourselves to win," Deadlox muttered. "He was my friend too. And we treated him like a Plan B, the arrow to shoot at us if we lost control. And and and against Herobrine, he was led to think the best way to help us was to die for us. If we had to sacrifice somebody to win, did we actually win?"

"But, we still need immunizing, cleansing; there's still sections of Minecraftia that are infected and we can't get into those chunks," Ssundee pointed out carefully. "We can't do any of that without you." The Anti-Viral Avatars looked at each other and nodded.

"We talked that out with Minecraftia, too. It'll take over Awakening Avatars to help spread butter in the network for immunizing," Sky returned, grabbing his amulet and lifting over his head to take it off. Beside him, Deadlox took off his headset and tossed his head, flicking his hair back into place. "Zip, TrueMU, c'mere."

Logdotzip and TrueMU stepped forward warily. Sky and Deadlox held out the shimmering items to them. "The last of our Viral coding is inside these so they can keep making the immunization aura without us. Me and Deadlox are fully immune now, so we don't need these anymore," Sky told them, placing the amulet in Logdotzip's hands. "Put them at the heart of the butter network and they'll keep up the immunizing flow in our place." Deadlox's headset went into TrueMu's hands.

"But, who will lead Sky Army, if you leave us?" JeromeASF asked between sniffles. "You're our friends, and our leaders.. what'll happen to us?"

"Zip and TrueMU, I trust you guys to take over for us," Sky said with a grin. "My best friends, next to Deadlox, of course; I know with you two leading, Sky Army will continue to protect Avatars as they spread out and live their lives. No more fighting wars, no more drafting new Recruits, no more chasing after anyone with unique skills to put them to work as a Recruit. Let people live, let them be free. Just protect them. That's all I want." His smile faded, his expression now cold, eyes flickering gold. "No more using Avatars as weapons."

The group nodded in unison, and Sky went back to his cheerful smile, waving at them as he backed away. Deadlox rocked on his heels before following him. "See you in the upper servers," he called out before both Avatars blinked upward in beams of light.

[SkythekidRS has left the game.]

[Deadlox has left the game.]

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Today~

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Deadlox marched into SkyHub Orbital Fortress, visible eye flashing scarlet and deep blue in alternating color. "Dream's been located and attacked," he announced without any prompting. Sky turned away from the golden pillar, golden eyes gleaming.

"How? By who?" he demanded.

"It was hard to get a visual, but it looked like Recruits from the aerial assault division," Deadlox replied, bringing up a screen and typing commands in rapidly. Sky gave him a puzzled look. "The elytra unit; we didn't have that during our time here, they're from a more recent update to Minecraft. Special wings can be found in the End that can let Avatars fly in Survival using fireworks as rocket boosters." He finished typing and threw the screen forward as it enlarged and displayed an image.

Several Wither Skeletons swarming over Avatars with shimmering enchanted capes, armor, and blue neckerchiefs bound with gold clasps, fighting gray-skilled villager mobs, and all under Dream's direction, the green-hooded Avatar laughing with glowing magenta eyes, his mask gone from his face. Sky looked at the image aghast.

"I wondered why I felt the urge to call up Viral Rage; he's had his own Viral Mode triggered!" he whispered and pointed at the neckerchiefs. "Those are Sky Army colors! How did these Recruits find him before we did?!"

"Dunno. I managed to get into one of the Wither Skeletons he summoned, but it was hard as fuck to do it. He definitely has a lot more Viral power than I thought he did," Deadlox returned, his eye returning to its usual scarlet color. "Couldn't hold it for long, but I managed to see a couple of the Recruits try and grab him with leads on hand. Looked like they were trying to capture him alive."

Sky narrowed his eyes at the image floating before them, thinking over Deadlox's observations. "Who gave the order to deploy them?" he asked suddenly. The russet-haired Avatar shrugged. "Something's not right. If the Council didn't order them, and I didn't.. someone is usurping control of the Recruits," Sky muttered and clenched his teeth angrily.