Chapter Text
The trek was a long and boring, and dull, mostly because Jude was now forced to set away his plans for the red stone traps he was building earlier. Now he had to set back those plans for when he returns back from his trip with Sharpness. His trudge through the swamp only helped remind him of where he could be right now, comfortably dozing away in the shade back at his base, preferably with a cold glass of something.
The pair had been traveling for what felt like an entire eternity, arguing almost the entire time they walked.
“This sucks,” Sharpness muttered.
His steel-covered boots were now no longer shiny and polished, scuffed from padding through the dirt and streaked from the mud. At least he was able to handle the terrain a lot better than Jude did.
“Which part?” Judelow grumbled unhappily. “This disgusting, muddy road that we’re been walking through? or the weird smelling swamp that we just had to wade though? I’m having a hard time telling because of this damn sun that’s currently cooking my brain into mush.” Judelow let out a long, suffering sigh, his eyes squinting up at the blazing sun that beat mercilessly against the thick jungle canopy.
The heat was getting to him and hindering him down. The humid climate made the machinery inside of him feel much, much heavier than it actually was, the warmed metal heated up uncomfortably against his outer layers, dragging down his weight.
“I should have never agreed to this,” Jude continued on. “If I just ignored your dumb crying for help. I could have been sitting in my base right now enjoying the shade, not sweating my ass off walking to the middle of nowhere.”
“All of it,” Sharpness replied, voice flat. “All of this sucks.”
He hacked his way through some tall weeds that blocked their path ahead with his sword, shoving aside the greenery while scrutinizing the distant path with narrowed eyes.
“This is so crap,” He mutters. Then, “and so are you, so do me a favor and shut the hell up.”
Jude stares at him with mock hurt before he then presses a hand to his chest.
“That’s so hurtful.”
The twinkle in Judelow’s eyes gave his grin tugging at the corner of his mouth away.
A scoff comes from besides him. Sharpness rolls eyes and walks faster, pushing ahead through the overgrown trail .
Jude stares him as he fiddles with his straps on back, tightening and loosening them as he hurries to catch up with Sharpness’s long strides. He moved onto his gloves next, absentmindedly adjusting the fabric. A little fidgeting helped him think, it cleared out the buzzing sound in his head.
Sharpness, unlike him, moved with a unrelenting type of focus, posture straight, strides smooth and steady, strides smooth and steady, eyes fixed straight ahead.
A tense silence stretches between them for a while, with long and awkward as they both try to think of something to say under the constant hum of insects and the sound of rustling leaves.
“you know,” Judelow finally says idly, tilting his head, “ most people usually thank others for helping them out.”
He glances expectantly towards Sharpness. “I’m still waiting for mine, by the way.”
Leaning forwards to look at Sharpness, Judelow’s turned his head just the right amount to catch Sharpness’s expression. Their eyes caught one another, red against green, green against red, bright like precious gems under the scattered sun rays. Something warm sparked in his chest.
His breath hitched in his chest.
He immediately looked away, quickly clearing his throat before beginning to whistle some kind of off-key tune under his breath, trying desperately hard to seem casual. His palms suddenly felt annoyingly warm and clammy underneath his thick leather gloves.
Why the hell did he have to react like this?
“You chose to come with me, by the way.” Replied Sharpness with a scoff, seemingly oblivious to the tension seeping from Judelow. “Stop acting like I forced you to come along with me at sword point.” He glanced over his shoulder. “See, you’re just too unfit. I’m around the same age as you, and I haven’t even broken a sweat.”
Judelow raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. “That’s because you’re just a massive sweat, some people have lives, you know?” He gave Sharpness a sly look. “Instead of just lifting weights and sword fighting with randoms, some of us do more productive things.”
The tension seemed to lift a bit.
“Oh right?” Sharpness lifted a elegant brow at him. “And what kind of productive things would those be.”
“Being smart. Being productive. Being generally just the best in everything because I’m just just goated like that—” Judelow paused midway through his sentence. His eyes drifted around the clearing.
The same piece of driftwood slumped against the swamp, covered in droopy moss, the same cluster of violet flowers near the gnarled root of a tree.
He frowned.
“…have we been walking in circles?”
Sharpness paused abruptly, glancing around to view their surroundings, “uhh…” He frowned, his eyebrows crinkling as he scans the surrounding area again, as if staring harder would somehow change the outcome somehow. “Wait.”
No freaking way.
Judelow thinks he just stood there for a while, just staring at sharpness dumbly.
“You’re such an idiot.” Judelow finally groaned, facepalming hard in front of Sharpness. “I thought you said you knew where it was? For gods sake, you built the trap. How come you can’t even remember where you put it?”
“Hey,” Sharpness shot back immediately, crossing his arms defensively. “I was in a rush, okay? I didn’t have the time to remember the coordinates.” He gestured vaguely around the trees surrounding them. “And plus, we’re not lost, I still remember which direction to head. I’m pretty sure it was actually somewhere near here.”
Judelow continued staring at him in disbelief.
“You’re actually joking me.”
He let out a sharp, frustrated sigh, feet tapping the ground at a rapid pace, He tugged roughly at the straps around his shoulders again for the third time in the last ten minutes despite nothing actually being wrong with them.
“I can’t believe I just wasted half my day crossing the entire server just because you forgot where your own trap is, at this rate, it’s going to be nightfall by the time we even manage to find the stupid thing! let alone fix it.”
The frustration had just been building up for hours now, the heat, the swamp, the endless bickering, Sharpness’s attitude towards everything, It just all split open from him at once, all his old anger surged along it. Judelow couldn’t believe something so idiotic and moronic as this was happening to him right now.
Judelow was fuming with so much rage, for a while, he couldn’t even hear whatever Sharpness was mumbling besides him.
“Whatever dude.” He snapped, “I’ll just find this damn trap myself.”
Judelow spun sharply, and stormed off towards a random direction, boots kicking up wet mud. Somewhere in the distance he heard Sharpness splutter in disgust as the some of it hit him.
Good, he thought angrily.
Judelow kept marching through the woods, shoving branches out of his way as he did.
Maybe a small part of his mind knew he was overreacting, but that thought was instantly buried by the weight of old memories. Sharpness killing him, turning on him or betraying him, over and over.
Why would this time be any different?
His mind jumped to the idea of just ditching Sharpness right here and now. The afternoon sun was already starting to sink past the treeline, dusky orange light casting long shadows across the jungle floor. He was far enough from Sharpness right now, if he could quickly just slip away while Sharpness was distracted, he might make enough distance before…
Unfortunately, Sharpness quickly caught up.
“Judelow, wait.”
“God, what is it now, Sharpness?” Judelow said snapped.
“It’s just…” Sharpness frowned. “Jude, it’s almost nighttime, I don’t think that you should be wandering alone now.”
The wind let out a unsettling moan through the trees.
Judelow eyed him warily.
Honestly, Judelow was pretty sure Sharpness was the most dangerous being in this forest right now, his best bet at being alive was probably getting as far away from Sharpness as possible. Still though, he allowed Sharpness to follow him deeper into the forest.
The two fell into a uneasy silence as they continued to crunch through the undergrowth together. Above their heads, the sun kept sinking lower and lower. Judelow kept a keen eye out for any sign of a trap in the forest floor. After several minuets of finding absolutely nothing, he let out an annoyed sigh.
“Are you sure the trap was somewhere around here?” He looked at Sharpness, who seemed to be staring at something in the dirt.
“Hey.”
Sharpness squinted.
“Dude…”
“What.” Judelow changed direction, walking over to where Sharpness was standing. Pushing his way through a patch of overgrown grass and sticks, he watched as Sharpness nudged a pile of sticks scattered across the forest floor with the toe of his boot—
—only for the ground to immediately cave in beneath him.