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Death followed Jimmy around everywhere he went.
This was okay.
Death seemed to like him. She hung around him, like a protective cloak. If the cloak smelled like blood and rot and had spikes pointed inwards, hurting the person wearing it.
Okay, so maybe this was not okay.
But there wasn’t much Jimmy could do about it. Except not participating in these deadly games… but, Jimmy liked the games; he liked seeing his friends, he liked causing chaos and mayhem, he liked the fact he didn’t need to be an amazing builder or an incredible redstoner to stand out.
He liked having a purpose. Even if that purpose was to be a canary. A warning for the other players that after death had taken him, she would soon come for them as well.
Because that was essentially how the canary curse worked. As long as Jimmy was alive, death would not leave his side and nobody else would perma-die.
It just sucked that he had to take someone else with him this time. It sucked that death had a reach beyond Jimmy, because this time, the canary had a companion.
The two, ironic enough, met through their demise. As if death was trying out how far her reach stretched; testing how it felt to kill Jimmy without directly doing it herself.
If the server was the coalmine with the players as its miners, then Tango and Jimmy were the two canaries, with the Ranch as their birdcage.
A burning birdcage, that is.
Something that isn’t healthy for the birds if they are still inside, something that would only speed up their inevitable deaths.
Just as the oxygen in the birdcage would decrease, Tango seemed to run short of breath too. His red eyes darting desperately between the buildings, calculating the most effective way of extinguishing the fire.
There wasn’t one, not really. It was too far gone. The wooden birdcage had no chance at surviving.
In the heat of the flames, Jimmy let his eyes wander over to his soulmate. A man he had cursed, a man who deserved better than to be death’s plaything as well.
Jimmy felt responsible, he was responsible. He was responsible for death's reach, because she chose him specifically to trail after.
So he calmed Tango down and rebuilt the cage. This time, the wooden bars were reinforced with stone, while Tango found a Warden, like calling a crow that remembered the people who had wronged it.
Death liked the crow, she liked how her canary and his soulbuddy brought it to life. So she took it, she stole their creation and Jimmy knew. He knew that if Tango wasn’t soulbound with him, that their Warden would have survived for longer.
So all Jimmy could do was grief. Grief their first birdcage, their crow and their doomed fate.
__—^†^—__
The next life they lost was fitting. A bird being shot out of the sky, a place where it should be safe. The illusion of safety tricked the canaries to their death, because there’s no safety to be found in a coalmine, not for them.
Their last death was like the first. But Jimmy had lost his voice, he couldn’t sing to his partner. He had left the safety of their tiny birdcage and had wandered too far into the coalmine. Pushing fate too much, until it snapped and allowed death to do her thing.
__—^†^—__
Jimmy found Tango at the graves. The signs mocking them as the ranch waited to burn down around them once again.
“You’re still here?” Uncertain whether to touch him or not, Jimmy hovered his hand just above Tango’s shoulders.
Tango didn’t respond, he just kept staring at the grave that they had built for their warden.
“It’s over.” Jimmy let his hand fall to his side again.
“Go home,” his throat constricted, making his voice sound choked.
“Go,” he tried again, blinking back his tears successfully. His wings spread out before moving up to block out the sun.
It didn’t help, of course, because they were both translucent, the sun went right through them both.
“Sorry,” Tango eventually spoke up, startling Jimmy out of his thoughts.
“You’re sorry? I should be sorry here, I was the one who died!” He felt death's lingering touch on his chest. The place where the enderman had torn his heart out.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone, I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Tango clarified while Jimmy stared at him in confusion. He had expected anger, not an apology.
“No, no, I’m sorry for being the one you were stuck with-“
“Don’t apologise for that!”
“But I’m cursed, I’m destined to die first. You were doomed from the start!”
“Don’t say that, I’m the one who took our first life, this is not your fault.”
“But it is! Tango, I’m cursed, like, for real,” Jimmy spoke while staring just above the grave where Scar was bridging over to a pile of TNT (which was most definitely rigged) and he felt death brush past him to follow the man curiously.
“What do you- you don’t really think you’re destined to die first every time, right? Because that’s-“
“I am!” Jimmy cut off Tango as explosions fired off in the distance and death took another duo to their last life.
“I am,” he repeated more quietly, “death follows me around, she’ll only perma kill players once I leave the server.” He gestured to where Scar had just died, “She only killed Scar there because she spotted him while being here with us.”
Tango was silent again. Jimmy didn’t really expect him to believe Jimmy’s explanation which was a borderline confession. It somehow felt pretentious to claim that you were death’s favourite, but it was the truth, and also sounded better than it actually was.
Eventually, Tango stood up. His back still turned to Jimmy as he spoke, “Jimmy, why do you do this to yourself?” Tango paused again before turning around to face the avian, his red eyes seemed sad with a hint of hopelessness. “If you are truly cursed with death, why do you- why do you keep on going? How do you keep on going?” Tango seemed genuinely upset.
“You don’t have to suffer through this, you could just decline these invitations. You could take a break; not participate in the next death game,” he suggested while his eyes finally met Jimmy’s.
Jimmy could only stare back. He felt a cold breeze go up his back, briefly embracing his wings and finally settling on his shoulders. Like death reminding him why he kept on participating, why he kept on enduring the curse.
“I can’t, I just… I have to participate, please don’t ask me not to.”
Because it was tempting. It was awfully enticing to just quit. To never accept Grian’s offer again.
But, was death willing to leave Jimmy’s side long enough to oversee the next life game? Or would she stick by his side, trapping the players on a server, stuck in a bordered world with no way to escape, no secure way to die.
Perhaps that was why he kept being invited despite placing last every single time. But that wouldn’t make much sense, Grian couldn’t possibly know about his curse.
Though, the bright yellow wings might offer a clue. But wings weren’t that uncommon around these parts, so perhaps not.
“I won’t,” Tango relented, “but this is something to worry about, you know that, right?”
“I-“ Jimmy cut himself off, “I should go back to the Empires server, I want to give the other duos a chance to perma-die,” he laughed as he backed off slowly.
“Now hold on, I feel like we shouldn’t brush past this whole death-stalking-you thing. Have you talked to an admin, at all?”
Jimmy awkwardly cleared his throat as he avoided Tango’s gaze.
He had not. Because when he had realised what was going on, he had already gained the reputation of dying a lot.
He didn’t want people to think he was making excuses, so he never brought it up.
Before now, that is.
He didn’t actually know why he opened up to Tango. Perhaps he wanted Tango, the man who never even implied he saw Jimmy as a burden, the guy who had done everything in his power to be able to sing back to Jimmy, his fellow rancher, someone he trusted with his entire soul, to know why they had lost.
“I know Xisuma would be happy to take a stab at fixing your situation,” Tango replied to Jimmy’s telling silence.
Jimmy felt his resolve waver, “I’ll- I’ll think about it, yeah?”
“Thank you.” Tango seemed relieved, Jimmy felt sort of relieved as well.
From what he had heard about the Hermitcraft admin, the man seemed to be caring for his server and the wants of its players. Perhaps he could stop by once and talk.
But he could endure his curse for the time being. Maybe he would even decline Grian’s next invitation, see how that would play out.
Or perhaps not, because the deadly games were the only way of meeting people outside his home server.
People like Tango for example.
He felt death’s freezing presence leave his proximity as he opened up his server menu; his way out of the server.
Jimmy locked eyes with Tango for the last time, a fragile smile on both their faces as the canary left the coalmine.
__—^†^—__
A creeper explosion could be heard in the distance.