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Etho was confused when he awoke from respawn. He remembered the accident, and Tango helping him, eventually being joined by Jimmy. On the surface, nothing seemed different to usual, but there was an unwelcome feeling in his chest that he couldn't place.
Groggily, Etho sat up and looked around. It was then that he realised what was missing. Joel was no where to be seen. Panicked, Etho picked up his communicator and found his death message. It stood alone. There was no answering message of Joel's death, and although he never wanted anything bad to happen to Joel, it filled Etho with dread.
In this world, Etho was so unused to standing alone. It had always been him and Joel against the world. They used to sail the seas together, and even since they'd been grounded they were rarely apart. And, even when they were apart, Etho never really felt separated from Joel. Whether it was the occasional twinges of pain, or the fluttering echo of emotion he felt when Joel got overexcited, Etho had never before felt like Joel was that far away.
Now though, Etho felt so overwhelmingly alone.
With fumbling fingers, Etho opened his communicator. Ignoring the messages flooding in expressing confusion or concern, he began typing.
[ Etho: Joel, where are you? ]
There was no reply. Even the messages from everyone else living on the server stopped. It felt as if everyone were still, waiting with a collective held breath. A sudden shiver ran down Etho's spine. His fingers slowly started to go numb and his teeth began to chatter. He rubbed his hands together. It reminded him of the time he and Joel had accidentally sailed too far north. They had anchored down for the night only to wake the next morning to their ship being encased in ice. It had taken a few hours with a pickaxe for them to break the boat free.
Another shiver ran through his frame and he rubbed his chest. The pain that stemmed from coldness was growing in his chest, blossoming from his heart with every beat.
[ Etho: Why is it so cold? ]
He got a few replies, stating that it wasn't actually that cold, but he ignored them, hoping that maybe Grian, their admin would notice that there was something so clearly wrong. Luckily, fate seemed to at least be somewhat on his side.
[ Grian: Stay at spawn, Etho. I'm on my way. ]
Etho put his communicator down. Leaning against a tree, he pulled his knees tight to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He wanted to sleep so badly, but something in the back of his mind was telling him that sleeping right now was probably a bad idea.
Etho had known respawn glitches could happen, but never before had he experienced one. The closest that he'd come was once when Joel had slipped off of the edge of the boat and the two of them had respawned with swapped inventories. That had been their last death. They had meant to go and see Grian about it, but later that morning Joel had knocked over a candle and in a rush to stop the Relation-Ship burning, weird respawns were completely forgotten.
The thought of Joel made his heart ache with cold even more. Hopefully, where ever he was, Joel was okay. Hopefully, Joel wasn't worrying about him too much. But then, the thought of Joel not worrying was equally upsetting.
"Etho?" Bdubs's voice cut through his thought spiral.
"Over here!" Etho's voice shook slightly with the cold.
Bdubs sat down by Etho's side and pulled him into a hug, rubbing his arms in an attempt to bring Etho some warmth.
"What's happening?" Etho asked, "Whats happening to me?"
Bdubs sighed and shook his head. The two of them fell into a comfortable silence. Bdubs's presence brought Etho a huge amount of comfort, even as he continued to shiver.
It wasn't long before Grian arrived at a run, his face flushed red and his sleeves pushed up to his elbows.
"Is there something wrong with the server?" Etho asked, blinking up at Grian where he stood wheezing.
Grian sat down in front of him, "No," he said, reaching a hand out to place on Etho's knee. Grian took a deep breath, "There was a problem in Joel's code-"
"Is he ok?" Etho pulled out of Bdubs's hold, leaning foward anxiously towards Grian. Grian tried not to flinch as Etho's icy cold fingers wrapped around his wrist.
Grian nodded, "He's fine. Cold, like you, but fine."
Etho was not comforted by that, "Where is he?" he asked, "I died, we died, he should be here,"
Grian didn't seem to know how to respond. "Well," he began, before cutting himself off.
Etho frowned. What was Grian not telling him?
"I had to separate you!" Grian blurted out, "Joel's code had a glitch that didn't let him die, so I had to separate you!"
Time seemed to pause. For as long as he could remember in this world, he had always been tied to Joel. Even before they had found each other in person he had felt Joel's pain, died when Joel had died. Joel was his warmth; their link his one true constant in this world. And now that was stolen from him.
Etho felt Bdubs brush his tears from his cheeks before he even realise that he was crying.
"I want to see him,"
"Etho, are you sure, given your state-"
Etho cut Grian off, "I want to see him."
It was slow, walking with Grian. Bdubs had waved them off at spawn, knowing Etho well enough to know that he had helped, but right now all Etho needed was Joel. Bdubs understood the soulmate link well enough to understand that.
Grian led him to the Relation-Ship, where Jimmy had apparently taken Joel. The flags on the ship's mast were hanging limply.
Etho climbed the ladder up onto the ship's deck. Grian had to catch him a few times when his numb fingers caused him to lose his grip. Jimmy peaked his head out from behind his and Joel's room when he heard them clamber aboard. His smile was sad and sympathetic, and it made Etho's heart throb with coldness even more.
"Where is he?"
Jimmy stepped aside, opening the door wide, and Etho staggered forward.
Joel lay in their bed. He was still as a statue, which was so unlike him. Usually Joel fidgeted so much in his sleep that on many occasions Etho had been tempted to sleep on the hammock in their spare room.
Etho made his way over to Joel, and sat on the bed next to him. He reached out for Joel's hand. When they made contact, a searing pain erupted through Etho's hand. He yelled out, drawing his hand back as it smarted.
Joel's eyes flashed open and he sat bolt upright, his eyes landing on Etho. As soon as they made eye contact the pain spread. A dull burning, emanating from his hand coated his whole being. It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable.
"Etho?" Joel said. Etho lunged forward for him again, his arms snaking around Joel in a hug. This time it didn't hurt. The pain from before ebbed away and was replaced with a familiar warmth. Joel's tears soaked his shoulder and he held Etho in a tight grip that was beginning to hurt, but Etho couldn't be any happier.
Etho felt his heart skip a beat, and that was all he needed to know that once again, his heart was beating in time with Joel's.