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Epilogue

The Lord finally came back.

It was when I was giving away my coffee machine that I saw him. His head was down and he was wearing a black sweater, but I immediately knew it was him.

"So, three-eighty, right?" the female asked, holding out a wad of cash.

"Uh, yeah." I stashed it in my own sweater. "Thank you for your purchase." When I looked up again, he was gone.

After the female had driven away, I stepped out of the house. "The Lord?" I called out. The fall wind was blowing through-the way it was supposed to-and it scattered bright leaves onto my path. "The Lord!"

"Looking for somebody, Violaceous?" one of my neighbors asked.

"Yeah. Have you seen a red stick figure anywhere?" I asked. He shook his head and I walked on. My elytra rustled in the wind and my crown started to tip down. I quickly pushed it up.

Frowning at the end of the block, I retreated back to my house. A yellow envelope lay on the shoe cabinet when I walked in, and I placed it outside, remembering as I always did of that fateful day.

After I explained everything-literally everything-to the Gang, Alan told me why the wind had been happening and what those text messages meant. Apparently, I had been in the process of getting deleted. The phone was asking for a code that my animator had received, and if I had gotten that code, I would not have been deleted. It was a computer glitch, he explained, that mostly everybody knew about before it happened, so that was why only The Lord, Chosen, King, and I had been deleted.

He did admit to making The Lord and Chosen, but because their files were really old, it took him a long time to find and renew them. To find the Gang's files was much easier, and that was why they were out earlier. He also had to look for mine and King's file, and he hooked us up to his PC too, so we would never get deleted again.

I closed the front door.

"Hi."

I whirled around, gasping. The Lord's red face was close to mine, and he was smiling broadly. "Missed me?"

"You are here!" I flung myself at him, and he hugged me back. "I knew I saw you!"

He pulled away from me, still uncomfortable with being touched. "Yep. You sold your coffee machine. Why?"

I gave a quick shrug. "I was too addicted to it, so I am trying to limit how many times I drink it. Took me eight months to sell it." I smiled ruefully.

"So you're what? Eighteen now?"

"Yep. And officially old enough to live by myself." I grinned. "Finally."

He laughed. "Took you years. Is your name still Violaceous?"

"Last time I checked, yes."

He moved into the house. "This is a really nice place. It looks similar to the Minecraft house you made."

Even though he did not say when, I instantly knew. After all, I only made one Minecraft house that looked like this. "That was the point. I wanted something recognizable after my world flipped."

The Lord nodded. "Um, I brought a little surprise. Is that okay?"

I tilted my head. "I guess? I mean, I can't exactly trust you not to burn half of my house down with powers like yours, so."

He grinned. "Funny. No, this is not dangerous enough to do that. I mean, it could technically happen, but-"

"The Lord," I interrupted warningly. "What exactly did you bring?"

We made it to the kitchen. "You like cake, right?"

"What-"

"SURPRISE!"

I flinched, before gasping and laughing. "What?"

Before me, the kitchen changed dramatically. Instead of looking elegant and spotless, hidden banners unfurled and confetti floated to the counter and ground. Seven stick figures crawled out from underneath tables and the pantry, while Red sat up from on top of the fridge.

"Happy birthday, Violate!" he cheered, popping more confetti fireworks.

"You-you brought them?" I asked, staring at The Lord in wonder. He shrugged, smiling.

"It was his idea," Chosen said, limping only slightly. You could not see the puncture wound anymore, but the arrow had hit something important, leaving him with a slight limp. He patted his friend's back. "He thought that, since you turned twelve, you must not have had a proper birthday party, and he wanted to do something about this one."

"Oh, stop it," he blushed, waving him away. "You just deserved it, that's all."

Hot tears lined my vision. I wiped them away. "Oh my gosh. I-I don't know what-what to say. Thank you."

"You don't need to say anything," he replied, leading me to the Gang. "That's the joy of birthdays. It's just your day."

The Gang spread out their arms and I fell into their embrace, no longer worried if they would judge me, because I knew they wouldn't. They clutched me tightly. Even though they did not know the feeling of being alone and abandoned, they knew how to help and support others like they had gone through it.

When I pulled away, King stood in the corner of the kitchen, watching me. I couldn't understand his expression, but I walked over to him. "Hi," I said timidly.

He gave a soft smile and held out his arm. I shook his hand, relieved that he did not hate me anymore. I still do not understand what changed for him. Why he decided to stop antagonizing me and instead sort of befriend me. But I was grateful that I no longer had any enemies.

I turned to face everybody. "How did you know today was my birthday?"

"King," The Lord said.

I glanced at the mango colored stick figure. "Just how much do you know about me?"

"You liked to talk to the Piglins, especially the children," he said, shrugging. "They would tell me everything I needed to know, and you were included in that packet. I had to know everything you were doing in case you decided to escape. And knowing about your background was one way of knowing what you would do now."

I shivered. "Creepy."

He gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the Gang struggle to hide the fact that they were gasping over what King had said. I grinned.

A red arm snaked onto my shoulder. "Well? What do you think?"

I relaxed in his grip. "I can't thank you enough."