Chapter Text
“I will kill all of you to get to her. Either she dies quietly, or we all do. I don’t want Pearl dead, but we don’t have other options.”
Etho places a hand on the weapon, forcing Joel to lower it. He addresses the group with a cold voice. “You have until sundown to find something else to do, or she dies.”
With that, Joel and Etho walk off into the disintegrating forest. It’s entirely subconscious, the way that the pair’s feet guide them toward where the Relation Ship once stood, before the decay had consumed it without a trace.
“Etho?” Joel asks, tucking his crossbow back into its holster.
“Yes?” Etho responds, brushing some of the ash away from the smothered grass before taking a seat. He pats the ground beside him and Joel joins him on the ground.
He hesitates, “We’re both going to die trying to kill Pearl.”
“Yes, we are.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“I am. If we don’t kill her, Joel, we’ll be trapped in eternal limbo. That’s a fate worse than death. So we’re going to succeed, even if we die in the process.”
“Okay.” Etho’s resolve is infectious. “Okay." There's a warmth in his veins that reminds him of the sweet adrenaline of a red life, "Then let’s fucking do this.”
They shake hands, just in time for Joel to pick up on the faint sound of ash shifting, as Tango, Impulse and BigB walk towards them with purpose. Their magic flows in the veins just below the surface, and Impulse’s dark wings seem to have more flecks of yellow than usual.
Etho comes up with a plan in an instant, “I’ll lie, say I’m with them. I’ll see you at sundown. And Joel, if we don’t get a chance to say it later, I love you. Attack us, I’ll keep myself safe.”
“I love you too.” There’s a moment where they know they want to hug, but the risk of the incoming trio noticing their affection is too great. Joel doesn’t have time to acknowledge the plan beyond those four words before Impulse takes flight. He lands next to them, eyes colder than Joel has ever seen them.
“Etho. I want to speak with you.” He says.
Joel pulls his crossbow from its holster, “Like hell you will-”
Etho shakes his head, putting his hand on the weapon again. Joel glares at him, hoping the act is enough. Etho leans in, whispers dramatically, “I’ll learn what their plan to protect Pearl is. I’ll let you know if there’s any weaknesses in it.”
Joel nods, crossing his arms. “Fine.”
Etho walks away to join the waiting BigB and Tango, just barely close enough for Joel to still hear. “Listen, I lied to Joel. I can’t help him go through with this, but he’ll take me down if I get in his way. I think he’ll let me go back as a ‘spy.’” He curls his fingers to imitate quotation marks. “Please, let me help stop him.”
Tango raises a skeptical eyebrow, but lets out a relieved sigh. “Alright. Any help we can get is good.”
As they turn away, Joel screams at the top of his lungs, “TRAITOR!” He loads his crossbow, avoiding his strongest rockets in lieu of arrows and single-star fireworks.
“SHIT!” BigB yells, covering his head as they run for what’s left of the treeline. Etho throws up shield after shield behind them, which the arrows splinter against. He misses one shield ‘accidentally’, and Impulse screeches as an arrow sinks into his back. Tango pulls him upright, running alongside as Impulse half-stumbles in pain. Tango glances over his shoulder, noticing another arrow heading straight towards them. He separates from Impulse for a brief moment, just long enough to incinerate the arrow. He’s too slow to see the second that plunges into Impulse’s wing, a third into his arm. Another arrow threatens to strike BigB, but he’s able to redirect it with his magic just in time.
“Etho!” BigB demands, “We need more shields dude!”
“Sorry!” Etho grunts, throwing up another, larger shield just as they get to cover. He makes a final, smaller one, sending it careening towards his soulbound. He winces as he feels the wind knocked out of his lungs remotely, but no major harm done. Impulse falls to his hands and knees, panting. “We need to get back to the others, Scott can heal him, right?”
BigB loops a hand under Impulse’s arm, as does Tango, Etho bringing up the rear in case Joel decides to fire another shot. Ren meets them as they climb towards spawn.
“What happened? Bdubs just collapsed, did Joel-”
“Betrayed us.” Etho hisses, voice dripping with as much venom as he can muster, “Betrayed me. We have to stop him.”
“Right now, let’s make sure these two,” He nods at Bdubs’ form, Cleo crouched over him, “Live to stop him. You’ll have your revenge.” BigB pats Etho on the back.
“I think,” Etho pants, “Joel’s insane.” Saying so forces him to twist his tongue unnaturally, but he knows the importance of the lie.
They take in the group, “Where’s Scott?” Tango asks, just as Scar speaks.
“What happened?”
—--
Joel hates loading his crossbow again and again, firing relentlessly after his soulbound. He’s grateful that he can trust Etho to protect himself, if nothing else. Each arrow that sinks into one of his former friends sinks grief in equal measure into his heart. He wanted, however foolishly, for them to let him kill Pearl without getting in the way.
Impulse is strong, and they have Scott, he’ll be fine. He has to be. He doesn’t want to lose anyone in the process of saving them all. Joel looks up at the fading sun, and he realizes, acknowledges, for the first time why he has to do this.
Joel’s scared.
He doesn’t want to be trapped nowhere forever. If might break their soulbinds, and being unbound from Etho sounds like hell itself. He’s grown attached to the feeling of a second heartbeat pushing blood through his veins. Without it, he doesn’t know if he could survive the resulting emptiness. It makes him angrier, about BigB being so ready to use the enchanted apple to sever his and Ren’s bond. That he would give that up, it’s inconceivable.
As the sun begins to sink towards the dark ground, he readies his crossbow and his mind. He will be a disgraced hero, but a hero nonetheless.