Chapter Text
The boat creaked. It creaked a lot, actually, as if it was barely stable. As if any slight movement would cause the whole structure to collapse on top of him.
Grian’s head rested uncomfortably atop the fence, his neck aching, as he stared at the ceiling. It blurred, his vision swimming, and his head hurt, either from dehydration or the fact he didn’t have his glasses, or both. As he stared up, he felt warmth spill into the room through one of the windows, soaking into his sweater, and that was when he realized he was also hot.
He really hated this.
He wasn’t quite sure what had happened the night before, why having his glasses removed had felt like dying, but the feeling had dulled into a squirming little creature in his stomach that had tired itself out too much for it to claw, at least for now. It was just his glasses, he had lost them before. But something about this had been different, like some other different, new (old?) natural instinct had been torn from him.
He lifted his head from the fence and his neck popped loudly. He let out a small groan of pain and repositioned himself, pressing his back against the fence and sticking his bound legs out in front of him. This. Sucked. Really, once the fear subsided as Joel and Etho ran amuck doing who-knows-what, being held hostage in the hull of the Relationship was boring. It left Grian with too many things to think about – the state of his base in Hermitcraft once this server closed, the state of his base at the moment in this server, the way the ropes felt on his wrists and ankles, his screw up with Scar, BigB…
Gods, how could he screw up that bad? He and Scar… they had something going there. Even if Scar did stupid things all the time and Grian yelled at him and they butted heads here in there, they had something. They were soulmates, chosen randomly, and they worked together to keep each other safe. It was a miracle they were both still clinging to a Green Life here. And Scar really loved it, he loved it a lot, and Grian knew he did. And Grian still chose to see BigB anyway.
Grian really wished he could just hit himself upside the head right then.
But aside from the pain of his own betrayal, of his own stupidity, of his own foolish choices, there was something else. Something strange, something hard to grasp.
Something almost familiar. Something almost not.
It had been bugging him all night, something just on the edge of his memory, like when you forget a word, such a simple word, and it's on the tip of your tongue. Like Grian could reach out and touch it.
He tugged at the ropes around his wrists for the millionth time since he was attacked at the Cake, trying to free himself from the fence, because it gave him this awful, familiar yet not feeling. Then he stopped. Composed himself, reminded himself, then slumped, hanging his head as he curled as far into himself as he could.
That almost familiar something must have made its home with whatever had caused the panic over his glasses, because now it pawed at his gut, crying for him to pay it more attention, to try and understand. To just think Grian dang it think.
There was something familiar.
It was laughter, mocking. Like he had done something horribly wrong and someone had turned to the nearest person in the room, chuckling, and said “I knew it”. And then it was regret and anger, sorrow and fear, and cold. Very cold. Then it was searing hot, so horribly hot. Agonizing. And it was feathers, black and soft and fluffy, drifting slowly to the ground beneath him, and the mocking laugh, almost as if they were laughing at him themselves. At some points it even teetered on guilt, guilt for something Grian could not grasp. Perhaps it had lingered from the moment he had brought his fist to Scar’s face in that ring and punched and punched and punched and punched and punched and-
It was. And it wasn’t. It was a guilt like no other, a guilt that weighed on his chest suddenly, and it felt like it carried more than what Grian could ever recall. It was Scar’s blood on his hands as he stumbled toward the edge of that cliff, but it was also tugging his wrists away from something, crying out to be free, with no way to speak, and knowing he cannot do anything to save someone, or something, or somewhere, and it was watching somebody adjust their lives to something they did not ask for, that Grian somehow knew was his fault, and it was a blame, a betrayal, a mistrust, and a fall. And a conversation he must have had some time with someone about something. A conversation that must have left some mark. And feathers, of course. He could not forget the feathers.
Maybe there had been love somewhere in there.
Grian sucked in a breath and then choked, gagging on the saliva trapped in his throat. His wings fluttered and the idea of feathers flashed across his mind again before he shut it out. He was just exhausted and dehydrated and he had lost quite some blood the day before. He wasn’t in his right mind. Who would be in their right mind in his situation?
The gag in his mouth was wet and cold, he could barely see two feet ahead of himself, everything rubbed against his skin uncomfortably, he was hot, Joel and Etho were not on the ship, off trying to convince Scar to come save his damsel in distress, and when they had come to do the trade early that morning, Scott and Cleo had been clueless to anything possibly sinister occurring right below their feet. Despite all of this, there was a voice in the back of Grian’s mind, telling him that he deserved this. Despite all of this, Grian wanted nothing more than Scar not to come to his rescue.
The back of Grian’s neck itched and the itch climbed down his back and over his shoulders.
And maybe it had been his imagination or the exhaustion, but for a moment, the itch felt as if it were burning, like hot coals pressed against the skin of his back.
He was suddenly very aware of how truly embarrassing his predicament was. He thought of what he may look like to everyone on the server – Grian, supposedly powerful, allegedly strong-willed, reduced to a shaking, exhausted mess, imagining phantom pains and fake memories because he hadn’t had a drink of water in a day, tied to a fence post of all things. He could see the gawking, he could hear the silent chuckles, he could imagine Ren and Martyn’s faces, because he knew they had not forgotten their days once together.
It was like their eyes were on him already.
Eyes. Grian squeezed his eyes closed, then opened them wide, trying to blink the exhaustion out of them. He had gotten no sleep the night before, the adrenaline and the thoughts refusing him any rest.
Wait.
Joel and Etho weren’t home. They were off trying to trade Grian off, like some kind of export and not an actual human being. That meant that Grian was alone. That meant that if Grian did something drastic, then…
He straightened up, scooting as far forward as he could from the fence, and then started to maneuver his hands about, twisting his wrists in the ropes. It burned as he tugged, trying to loosen the bonds so that he might be able to slip at least one of his hands free from the rope. Just one hand free and he would be able to untie his other hand, untie his ankles, and free his mouth, finally breathe something in other than the musty cloth.
Suddenly, with a jolt, half of Grian’s hand was pulled through the ropes. It was pressed up against the other, stuck, but it was progress, and he wiggled it, trying to loosen itself out from between the rope and the other hand. His wrist ached at the awkward position, but he couldn’t give up now. He was getting somewhere for once in the past however many hours and he was going to free himself. He was.
The rope rubbed painfully against the top of his hand, his skin turning a bright red, like a sunburn. He wriggled and tugged and-
An axe slammed through the door, splitting the wooden planks.
CANARY FLIGHT
“Crap!” Tango hissed, slamming the chest closed.
“Uh, sorry.” Jimmy said, crossing his arms protectively over his chest, darting his eyes away from his soulmate.
Tango stood, running his hand through his hair, “No, don’t apologize. It’s my fault for not crafting more when I had the chance.”
Jimmy and Tango had, unfortunately, run out of bandages.
Tango sighed, plopping down on the chest, looking at Jimmy, “The bamboo forest is a long ways away, but I could probably make it there and back in… three, four days tops?”
Four days. Really, four days wasn’t that long of a time, at least to Jimmy. He had been on countless excursions into the unknown for days on end. But four days was a little too long for Jimmy’s own comfort – four days gave the animals in the ranch time to rebel, for people to turn Red, for one of them to die. Not that he thought Tango wasn’t competent enough for the journey, but perhaps Jimmy was just worried about himself.
Canary wings, after all.
“Is there any other way to grab bandage things?” Jimmy asked, “Aside from whatever weird paper monopoly thing Scar and Grian have goin’ on.”
“Unless we resort to tearing up our clothes…” Tango trailed off.
“Yeah. No. ”
A silence hung over the two, guilt roiling in Jimmy’s gut. He knew he had been a pain to Tango, to just about anyone he was around. It had been several months since his wings had appeared and he had no clue how to care for them, how to keep them safe. So many resources lately had been wasted on Tango’s gentle care for Jimmy’s fragile wings and it made him want to bang his head against a wall some days. It was his own fault they had no access to bandages or just about anything related to health.
“We could always just… I dunno, raid someone’s base.” Jimmy suggested, waving his hand about absently.
Tango’s tail whipped about a bit as he stared off, Jimmy could almost see the gears turning in his head, “I mean… yeah. Yeah that’s a good idea. Unless we get killed.”
“No one’s Red-”
“ Yet. ”
“Yet.”
Jimmy pressed his lips together. The best options they had were to make short trips across the river to Scott and Cleo’s, or to break into Martyn’s ugly excuse for a home that hovered above said river. Unfortunately, that trio of people were decidedly sticking close to their homes as of late. And both Scott and Martyn knew Jimmy far too well. Other options were nearly half day trips to the others’ bases and to cross their fingers that they weren’t caught stealing from them in the process. And then came into fact the soulmate system…
“Apparentlyyyy,” Tango cut off Jimmy’s thoughts, his eyes glued to his game device, “Joel and Etho screwed off all the way to the other side of the world.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. A few messages have been sent in chat about it.” Tango looked up, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Jimmy smiled, “The ‘Relation’-ship is as good as free.”
Tango hopped up from the chest, throwing his arm around Jimmy’s neck, “ Exactly. ”
Jimmy hesitated a moment, “What about the issue of the soulmate system? If they get back and decide they wanna defend their base, a two on two could kill us, especially if we’re both trying to fight.”
“One of us could stay.” Tango said.
Jimmy considered it for a moment. Surely just a half-day trip wouldn’t be long enough for total chaos to erupt all around them, “Alright, bet.” He slammed his fist down on his palm, “Rock, paper, scissors it?”
Tango set his hands up in position, a wide grin on his face, “Good luck, Jimmy.”
Tango had, expectedly, won the game, which was the reason why Jimmy now stood staring up at the Relationship. The flags above flapped gently in the wind, a few gusts pushing the fabric upward softly. A lack of ocean did not give them the same grace that art in old history books offered them, but Jimmy appreciated the duo’s attempt at making the rickety old boat at least look a little pretty.
He folded his wings up closer against his back before he grabbed onto the rungs of the ladder and climbed. The ladder itself was already quite worn and bits of small wood stuck out threatening to give Jimmy a splinter. It was moments like these where Jimmy was left in less than desirable situations where he wished flight was allowed in the Life Game servers, but he dealt with it anyway. Besides, his wings needed to recover anyway from the last incident, where an awkward fall had shattered more than a few bones.
Jimmy pulled himself up onto the deck, the morning sun beating down on his back as he took in the area. It was nice for having been made with such apparent haste and shockingly, the floor didn’t collapse under his feet, which he considered a plus. Just to his right, two beds pushed together sat beside two closed doors, which likely led down into the bottom of the ship.
Jimmy recalled something from that morning – he was feeding the goats when he had spotted Scott and Cleo, booking it in the direction of the ship. As they were running, a message had been sent in the public chat, informing the entire server that the duo had set up some kind of trade with Joel and Etho. The two had to have some good stuff on them for serious trades to be set up this early into the game. It was just Jimmy and Tango’s luck that they had run off to do… well, whatever they were doing.
The hull was probably where they were keeping all their good stuff. That or directly under the hull, hidden deep underground. With a base so open at the top, it was downright stupid to keep all of your important stuff so out in the open. Which meant Jimmy needed to sneak down into the hull and grab what he needed, then run.
The idea of being in the bottom of the ship wracked his nerves – he would not be able to see when the duo returned while under there. If he got caught…. Well, Jimmy didn’t want to think of the consequences. He just hoped that Joel and Etho stuck by the game rules.
But standing around putting it off wasn’t going to make the two come back any slower.
“You can do it Jimmy.” Jimmy said to himself, determined, as he walked toward the set of doors. He grabbed the knob handle of one, turned it, and-
It didn’t budge.
Jimmy rattled the knob a few more times, but the door stayed stubbornly locked. He tested the other one and it too remained quite locked. He took a step back, face in his hands, dragging them down as a long groan escaped him. Alright. Okay. So Joel and Etho weren’t dumb enough to keep the doors to their hull unlocked. Which meant they definitely had something valuable down there.
Right.
That just meant he had to break in through… more unconventional means.
Besides, it wasn’t impossible for Jimmy to rebuild some doors. He had made doors countless times and he wasn’t going to just forget how to do it all of a sudden.
Jimmy reached into his inventory and pulled out his axe, watching as the sun’s light glittered off of it. He pulled his tool back, putting all his strength into his upper body (ignoring the sensation of dread building in his stomach) and slammed the axe into the door. He ripped the axe out from the door and hit again and again and again, wood tearing out of the doorframe and falling to the ground around his feet. A rush of panic filled his body as he realized he would also need to clean that up before Joel and Etho returned. He needed to get this done quick.
Eventually, a hole big enough for him to squeeze through had been made and Jimmy stepped down onto the staircase, looked into the hull-
His heartbeat stopped.
Oh.
Oh God.
Jimmy’s axe fell from his hands and he rushed forward, any thoughts of resources slipping his mind as he dropped down to his knees and started fumbling with the knot at the nape of Grian’s neck. His fingers slipped, weak, and instead he grabbed at the front of the gag and pulled it roughly out of his friend’s mouth, leaning back as Grian coughed.
What the hell was going on here?
“ Tim? ” Grian rasped, his eyes scanning him up and down. No glasses, Jimmy noted.
Jimmy maneuvered himself around his friend, wincing as he saw the state of his friend’s wings, “Grian, what the hell has- what is going on?”
Grian sucked in a breath of air as Jimmy started at the ropes around his wrists, “It’s- it’s too long of a story, you just need to get me out of here, fast. Tim, you can’t get hurt-”
Jimmy managed to loosen one of the knots, “I get it, I get it. Just, stop wriggling-”
Jimmy cringed as he pulled at a rope, accidentally tightening it. Grian’s fingers flexed at the pressure and Jimmy could feel the panic radiating off of him. He dropped Grian’s wrists for a moment and started digging around in his inventory. He knew he had a dagger in there somewhere, he had used it to cut up some extra fabric for Tango’s nightshirt a week or so ago and didn’t remember tossing it in a chest or anything. He could easily just cut through this rope-
“ Timmy. ”
Jimmy’s heart jumped up into his chest at Grian’s tone of voice, like he was taking on all of his fear, “I’m on it, just- just let me find my dagger, I’m on it don’t worry!”
He finally managed to find the dagger in the mess of stuff sitting in his inventory and he got to work at sawing through the ropes layered and layered around Grian’s wrists. As the rope broke, bright red marks appeared where they were, and Jimmy’s own wrists burnt in sympathy. Jesus. How long had he been down here?
Just as Jimmy reached the final layer of rope, his dagger slipped his grip, and cut him just between his thumb and index. The blade fell from his grasp and he instinctively clutched his hand to his chest, hissing in pain. The blood trickled out from between his fingers, dripping onto his shirt and the ground beneath him.
“Tim!”
“Look, I’m sorry. I-” Jimmy rubbed his hand against his pants, ignoring the searing pain at the motion, and grabbed his dagger again, moving to finish cutting away the rope, when a voice made him freeze in his action.
“Knock knock Jim. Couldn’t even ask for the key, huh?”
“ Crap! ” Grian hissed.
Standing at the top of the staircase were Etho and Joel, Etho leaned against the wall while Joel played with a piece of wood that hung from what was left of the door.
Jimmy stood, tightening his grip on the dagger in his uninjured hand, “You two seem busy.” He commented, nausea building up in the back of his throat.
Etho’s eyes jumped between Jimmy and Grian, “He is quite a job to handle.”
Joel climbed down a few of the steps, reaching the one Etho stood on now, “What are you doing here Jim?”
Subconsciously, one of his wings unfolded, blocking Grian from the two like a shield, “Well, I was coming down here to rob you, but it looks like I’ve stumbled into something personal.”
Etho shrugged, “You could say that.”
Joel made his way down the rest of the stairs, standing now only a few feet away from Jimmy. A grin cracked his face, “I’d recommend putting the knife down.”
“Um, dagger. ” Jimmy corrected, squeezing the blade so hard he felt his fingers might go numb.
“Idiot.” Huffed Grian from his side and Jimmy almost made a snide remark, had Joel not interrupted the thought by pulling his sword from its scabbard.
“Put the dagger down, Jim.”
Oh. Great.
Slowly, Jimmy leaned down, folding both of his wings back behind his back. He let the dagger clatter to the ground in front of him, eyes on Joel’s weapon. Jimmy did not want to lose a life here. He was not going to be the first one out this time. Not again.
“Kick it over to us.” Etho said, skipping a step or two as he climbed down the steps.
Reluctantly, Jimmy took his foot, nudged it a bit, and then kicked it towards Etho, watching it as it spun in circles until Etho caught it under his shoe. This was insanity. Pure insanity. He had come here to grab some bandages, or at least something to make some bandages, and now he was caught up in some kind of, what, scheme? Revenge plan? Torture chamber? Whatever it was, it was not good, and here was Jimmy, dead center.
Etho leaned over, picked up the dagger, and sheathed it in his belt. Joel walked over, shoving JImmy to the side, and walked over next to Grian. The other man jerked away, glaring at Joel with the heat of a thousand suns.
It wasn’t until he was doing it that Jimmy realized he had grabbed Joel’s shoulder, spinning him to face him. Whatever Jimmy was going to say died on his lips, his mind racing so fast that it hurt. He just knew that, despite Grian not being his soulmate, he couldn’t just let Joel or Etho hurt him. Outside of these games, even if Grian had grown into a recluse, they were both still friends, and Jimmy would be damned if he let his friend be hurt while he stood to the side and let it happen.
“ Don’t. ” Jimmy threatened, though he wasn’t sure how much of a threat it was as his voice cracked halfway through the word.
Joel just smiled. He smiled and he gently took Jimmy’s hand from his shoulder and dropped it, crouching down so that he was at Grian’s level.
“Joel,” Grian breathed, not daring to struggle, “Jimmy knows , it’s not worth it!”
Jimmy took a brief look behind him, where Etho stood almost guarding the doors. He was trapped.
When he turned his attention back to Joel, he had managed to shove the cloth back into Grian’s mouth and was now tightening the knot with finality. Jimmy’s heart pounded against his chest – if this was how roughly they dared to treat the server owner at Yellow, he was terrified to know just what they would do to him.
Joel stood, ruffling Grian’s hair as he did, which earned him an annoyed yelp, “I like birds, Jimmy. Do you like birds?”
Jimmy stayed silent.
“Well, Etho dearest and I just loved birds so much that we decided to get our own!” Joel said, his fingers tightening on Grian’s hair now, pulling, “It’s such a shame though. Y’know, Jim, and I think you might already know this, but some birds don’t sing, and it looks like our birdy here doesn’t either.”
“Such a way with words.” Jimmy spat.
“Well, we have a sort of proposal here.” Joel said, releasing Grian’s hair and letting his head slump, “Since we love birds so much, we also just love seeing them go free just as much as we love keeping them.”
Grian let out a frustrated noise, his whole body shaking with it.
“This stays a secret between you,” Joel gestured at Jimmy, then to Etho and himself, “and us. Or, ” Joel stepped forward, his face only inches away from Jimmy’s, “Etho and I aren’t opposed to having another bird, even if it also doesn’t sing.”
Jimmy let out a humorless laugh, “Tango knows where I was headed. If I don’t come back, he’ll know exactly what happened.”
“And you’d let him risk his life coming to rescue you?” Joel asked, “You’d really let him come here, facing a two versus one situation?” He let out an exaggerated sigh, “You really are an awful soulmate, Jim.”
The words struck him in the heart. Hard. God, Joel was right. If Jimmy let himself be captured by them, then Tango’s life was also on the line. Both of their lives for that matter. When Jimmy had first landed in this server, he had sworn it to himself that he wouldn’t let his curse be his or his soulmate’s downfall. He knew that if he didn’t agree…
His eyes darted over to Grian, who now held his head up and was staring Jimmy down. Words weren’t needed for Jimmy to know what Grian was saying – he was telling him to accept the proposal, to leave and keep the secret. It wasn’t worth it.
It was crazy how just his gaze could hold such a message.
Jimmy swallowed down the doubt and the guilt and the horror.
“I won’t tell a soul.”