Chapter Text
It happens in a moment of downtime.
There’s no reds on the server yet, no one out for blood – well, jury’s still out on Joel and Etho on that front, but no one’s supposed to be hunting anyone else yet. Which is, of course, not to say there’s no conflict. There have been alliances created and broken, bonds made and repaired, but, Tango thinks as he gazes across the ranch to his soulmate tilling the fields, there’s only one other person you can count on to have your back. He knows how these games go, how no matter what alliances you have it’s every man for himself in the end. Every game, except this one. And out of everyone on this server, he’s glad it’s Jimmy his soul is tied to.
There are definitely worse people to be tied to, to be sure. Pearl has done nothing but attempt to make everyone around her miserable, even her own soulmate. Or perhaps especially her own soulmate. Tango is reminded she’s not the only worse option as an exasperated Grian not-so-subtly follows a loud Scar on horseback into the ranch. He’s not actually sure which of the two of them got the short end of the stick there. Truly, they’re perfect for each other.
Neither Grian nor Scar seems to be here to do anything but wind up Jimmy about his recent loss of horn, and the fact that Tango can have both of them in his field of vision reassures him they’re probably here for some fun and not something like arson. Jimmy doesn’t seem genuinely upset at the ribbing so Tango doesn’t see the need to chase the two off.
Then, out of nowhere, the smile on Grian’s face stiffens, and he stands up ramrod straight. Scar takes a second longer than Tango and Jimmy to notice, but the light-hearted teasing tone of his voice drops the second he does.
“Grian? Are you good?” He asks seriously. Grian just stares off somewhere in the distance in uncharacteristic silence. Tango glances over his shoulder in the direction of Grian’s stare, but he sees nothing out of the ordinary. “Helloo?” Scar adds, waving his hand in Grian’s face. It takes Scar firmly poking his arm to break him out of his reverie.
“There’s someone else on the server.” Grian announces as he turns back to them, with a grave look on his face.
“Someone new? Didn’t you turn the whitelist on?” Jimmy asks.
“Obviously, I turned the whitelist on. They must have hacked, or something.”
“Can you teleport them to you?”
“I may be the server admin, Timmy, but I remove all of those powers when the game starts to make it fair. My abilities are very limited right now.” Grian explains, eyebrows furrowed tightly with stress. “I’m pretty sure they’re underground, right now, though.” The four of them share a look.
“Let’s investigate the intruder then, shall we?” Scar suggests, a dangerous spark in his eyes. This is going to go very badly for someone, for sure.
“We have a tunnel down just here!” Tango replies, and he leads them down into the depths.
He’s not actually sure how exactly Grian’s admin powers work, but the man silently takes them into the mines, deeper and deeper. It’s when they enter deepslate that Tango starts getting antsy.
“We’re getting close to the ancient city now.” Jimmy points out nervously.
“If we leave them down there, the warden will probably get them anyway.” Scar chimes in cheerfully.
“We don’t know how many lives they’re on. I have it so we all – the verified members, at least - go back to our last server when we die, and I want to… interrogate them before they leave.” The way Grian says the word ‘interrogate’ makes Tango think that he should probably work on repairing his relationship with Grian. He can be downright terrifying when he gets serious.
“So we’re doing this?” Tango asks as the first bit of sculk appears in their tunnel.
“Let’s try to avoid summoning anything, shall we?” Grian responds, and the four of them step out into the ancient city.
Grian gestures for them to follow as he creeps, dead silent along the edge of the cave. None of them breathes a word to each other.
They make it halfway around the perimeter when Tango catches a glimpse of colour in his peripheral vision. Time almost seems to move like molasses, then, as he turns to meet the eyes of a terrified boy with his hands clasped tightly over his mouth, back pressed firmly against the ancient city’s walls. Tango reaches out his hand to tug on Jimmy’s own, and at that moment his world is plunged into utter darkness.
It's then that Tango makes a decision. He may not have made it as a red name, but right now, he squeezes Jimmy’s hand in the dark, drops it, and makes his way as silently as he can to where he saw the kid. Jimmy whispers his name fearfully after him, but can’t follow him when his vision is next to gone.
Tango can hear the warden. Very close by. But he keeps ploughing forward, only able to see half a foot in front of his face. It doesn’t take him long to get to the intruder, and he grabs onto the kid’s arm, who gives a muffled and rather undignified squeak in response.
“We gotta go.” He whispers, as quiet as can be. The noise from the warden pauses forebodingly. “Now!” He yanks on the arm, and as the warden’s shuffling turns in their direction, the boy unsticks himself from the wall and they both take off running.
“Time to leave, now!” Tango shouts in the others’ general direction, and sprints as fast as he can manage towards their escape tunnel. His vision clears up in just enough time to spot the exit and make a beeline directly towards it, and he tugs the kid far enough up it that they won’t get hit by a sonic shriek. He just has to hope and pray the others make it out. He knows from their bond Jimmy miraculously hasn’t been hurt, but the same can’t be said for Grian and Scar. Neither of them have died, thus far, so it can’t be too bad.
“Hey, kid. Name’s Tango.” He says, as the two of them pause to catch their breath on the staircase up to the surface.
“What… what the fuck was that thing?” Is the response Tango gets.
“We uh, actually try to keep things kind of PG on this server.” The teenager looks at him like Tango had just requested he chew off his own leg. “Or not. It’s not like you’re following the rules if you hacked your way on anyway.”
“I didn’t hack.” His voice is petulant.
“Sure you didn’t. Can I get a name, at least?”
“… I’m Tommy.” Tommy responds, voice laced with a healthy amount of apprehension.
Tango glances down their corridor in the direction the two just came from. “Well, looks like the others are leaving a different route. Let’s go catch some sun.” Tommy’s reaction to this suggestion is receptive, to say the least.
“It’s a warden.” Tango says, halfway up the long staircase, breaking the silence.
“Huh?”
“You asked what that creature is. It’s a warden. You never seen one before?”
“Absolutely not. I’ve never seen anything like it, like - like any of it.”
“Well, they’re creatures you find in the deep dark biome. They spawn when you make noise and set off the shriekers three times. My advice; don’t bother. They’ll kill you in one hit if you don’t have the best gear, and even if you do have the best gear, it’s still one or two hits until you’re down. On a server like this, not really worth it.”
“A server like this?” Tommy inquires.
“One with a limited number of lives.”
Tommy huffs. “Oh yeah, I know what that’s like.”
“How many lives do you have, then?” Three was the typical number of lives on life-limited servers, but not always.
“One.” Tango tenses. One life doesn’t always mean bloodlust, but on this server, it sure does. “Or – maybe not, I don’t know.”
“Wait, you don’t know?”
Tommy hums in affirmation. “I lost all my lives but – someone – brought me back. So maybe I’ll just die when I die, maybe I’ll respawn. Not like there’s any fuckin’ - precedence for this, is there?”
“That’s lucky, getting a second chance.”
“Ha, lucky. Not sure about that one.” Tommy laughs bitterly.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just – I wasn’t – I wasn’t brought back for a good reason, okay?” His tone of voice strongly implies he doesn’t like this line of conversation, so Tango drops it for now. He’s sure there’ll be enough time to get into it when Grian gets his hands on the poor kid.
“How’d you get here, then, since apparently you didn’t hack your way on?” He asks instead.
“Well, I was caving, cos I don’t have any shit ever since people keep stealing off me, and I saw some of that green squelchy shit, and I touched it and it was weird and then my foot got fuckin’ stuck and I sunk into it and I didn’t have anything to mine it properly with since y’know, I was in the cave to get that shit in the first place, and when I got out I found those buildings underground, and there were the things that made a weird noise when I made noise, and then one of those warden fuckers came out of the ground and chased me and then you saw me, so. Yeah. That’s it.” Tango is mildly impressed by the length of his run-on sentence.
“…Right.”
“That’s what fuckin’ happened, bitch! I don’t know what else to tell you.” Tommy gives the wall next to him a good kick. “Whatever, it’s not like anyone ever believes me anyway.” He mutters, more to himself than to Tango.
“Well, our admin, Grian is gonna want to hear it from you too, and, between me and you, he’s pretty scary, so I wouldn’t lie to him.”
“I’m not fucking lying!”
“I just wanted to let you know!” To be completely honest, Tango is leaning towards believing Tommy. The story is weird, to say the least, but hackers are usually more destructive and less self-deprecating. And also better geared. A hacker could give themselves less ratty clothing.
They do eventually emerge into the ranch, and from what Tango can see, the others have yet to join them. Tommy blinks at the sky, eyes squinted, adjusting to the bright light. Tango watches him take a moment to drink in his surroundings, the fields of wheat, his and Jimmy’s house, and the platform over the edge of the cliff.
Then, Tommy’s head whips around the second he hears the cows’ lowing. He looks back at Tango with far brighter eyes than Tango has seen from him thus far.
“You have cows?” The kid asks excitedly.
“Yeah, we have a lot.” Tango pauses. “You wanna see them?” He offers after a moment. Probably won’t hurt. Tommy nods his head furiously in response.
“Fuck yes, I love cows!” Tango cautiously takes the kid to the cow pen. Tommy’s exclamation sounded genuine, but cows are a prized commodity in these parts. You can’t be too careful.
He does dismiss those concerns, however, the second he sees Tommy’s eyes light up as they land on the cows. He immediately rushes up to the fence and leans over to scratch one of them under the ear, cooing fondly.
“Oh, you are magnificent, aren’t you? Just beautiful.” He turns to Tango, eyes crinkled at the edges happily. “Do they have names?”
“Nah.” Something would have to be really special to earn a name tag here, and cattle raised for slaughter definitely do not qualify.
… He’s not sure Tommy is aware that they’re food.
He definitely doesn’t have the heart to tell him that.
“Hmm, well that problem is easily fixed, isn’t it? You look like a Bruce,” Tommy addresses the cow directly in front of him, “you’re a Susie,” he points to another, “you’re a Lucy,” and another, “you’re a Theodore,” and he continues to name all of the cows in the pen until all are accounted for.
“How are you even gonna remember them all?” Tango asks with mild skepticism.
“I will!” Tommy insists.
“But how?”
“I just will. I’m the biggest man with the biggest brain, I’m capable of things beyond your wildest imagination, I am.” Tango huffs a laugh.
“Whatever you say, kid.”
It’s at that moment Grian decides to burst through the door, serious look on his face, Jimmy and Scar behind him. He doesn’t get serious very often, but when he does, he does it well. Tommy shrinks into himself almost instantly, and Tango finds himself shifting slightly in between him and Grian without even thinking.
“How did you get onto my server?” Grian snaps.
“I don’t fuckin’ know! Believe me, bitch, I don’t want me to be here any more than you want me to be here.” Tommy responds angrily, hands waving, but everyone in the room can hear the fearful waver in his voice.
“First of all, no swearing,” Tommy scoffs disbelievingly, “secondly, you expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t know what else you want me to say! You tell me how I got here then, since you’re the one in charge, not me. Why would I know why I got pulled here?” Tommy yells back frustratedly. “Bitch.” He adds, almost like an afterthought.
Grian steps forward menacingly at the curse, and Tommy immediately backs up several paces until he hits the fence. There’s genuine panic in his eyes, and it even makes Grian falter. Tango decides to intervene.
“I think he’s telling the truth, Grian.” Grian’s eyes slide to Tango. “If he was gonna lie, he’d probably come up with a better one. And a hacker would have the good sense to not enter through an ancient city. He didn’t even know what a warden was.”
Grian hesitates for a few moments, clearly debating whether to push more, but a last glance at Tommy’s overly defensive stance makes him give in.
“Fine. Game’s on pause until we figure out how to get him back to… wherever he came from, then.” Grian announces, and pulls up his admin console to send the message out to the whole server. He turns back to Tommy. “Don’t cause trouble.”
Tommy opens his mouth, presumably to argue back, but Scar elbows Grian in the side playfully. “Coming from you! What he meant was don’t cause too much trouble. Grian here is in no position to tell people to behave.”
“Oh, like you’re any better.” Grian retorts fondly. “Come on, let’s do some investigation.” He then drags Scar off by the elbow, leaving Tango alone with Tommy and Jimmy.
“I really am telling the truth.” Tommy says sullenly after a moment of silence.
“I believe you.” Tango responds, but Tommy just gives him a doubtful look.
“I’m Jimmy, by the way. I’m Tango here’s soulmate.” Jimmy says, stepping in to defuse the tension.
“’M Tommy.” Tommy replies sullenly. “What d’you mean, soulmate?”
“Yeah, we’re tied together. If one of us takes damage, the other does too. If one of us loses a life, we lose one together.” Tommy’s face displays a succession of different emotions at that, but seems to settle for disturbed.
“That sounds shit.” He proclaims, crossing his arms. “D’you get to choose your soulmate?”
“No, you’re assigned one, when you join.” Jimmy explains. “Grian thought it’d be more interesting that way – Grian’s the admin you just met, by the way, and his soulmate’s Scar, which Grian was not happy about. But I lucked out with Tango, here.” He adds, giving Tango a fond look.
“Oh. That’s good. I wouldn’t want to be able to choose.”
“You wouldn’t?” Tango asks, confused. “I’d’ve thought people would rather be able to pick.”
“Yeah, well, knowing – my server admin, I wouldn’t get to pick, so. I’d rather just have the universe assign me and hope I get lucky.”
“You don’t like your server admin?” Tango wonders silently if that has anything to do with the resurrection Tommy mentioned earlier. He doesn’t like the sound of this kid’s server’s management, he’ll be honest.
The dark look on Tommy’s face is answer enough. “We don’t get along.” He replies curtly.
“So, uh. Any idea how you got here? Or any idea how you can get back?” Jimmy enquires somewhat awkwardly.
“I told you, I don’t know shit! I was just – mining, and then I was here. I don’t fucking know what happened in between to get me here!”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you, I just would assume you want to get home, and we can do that easier if we actually understand what’s going on.”
“We could investigate where he came out?” Tango suggests, but he already knows how unwise that is.
“Maybe we should get Tommy some gear first?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure exactly –“ Tango starts to rummage through their chests, “- what we have lying around, but I’m sure there’s some spare iron.”
Jimmy makes a face. “We might be better off asking around. Game’s on pause, everyone’s probably a little more willing to help.”
Tango’s searching only results in a pair of near broken iron boots, but he offers them to Tommy for now, anyway. They’re better than nothing.
“Sorry, Tommy, we’re not exactly the richest.” He apologises as he hands them over.
Tommy huffs out a laugh, the first Tango’s heard from him. “Yeah, well. I’m not one to judge for that.”
“Other people are likely to have spare, if you wanted to come meet the other members of the server. They’re nice – well, they are right now, when we’re on pause. Mostly. We should definitely still avoid Pearl.” Jimmy nods his head furiously in agreement.
“Pearl?” Tommy asks with trepidation.
“She kinda lost it when her soulmate, Scott, didn’t want to be with her. And, Tommy, whatever you do, do not touch her dog. Bad, bad idea.”
Tommy frowns seriously. “Don’t touch the dog. Well, I wasn’t gonna anyway, but I won’t.”
“Well, Grian and Scar are busy, so… Scott and Cleo? They’re close by.” Jimmy suggests, mostly to Tango. “Scott and Cleo are a little scary at first, but they won’t bite.” Probably, he doesn’t add.
“Right.” Tommy nods, tugging at the sleeves of his cardigan. “Uh, anything important to know about them?”
“They’re sensible. They’ll probably be curious as to why you’re here, but we’ll make sure they don’t grill you too harshly.” Tango tries to reassure. Tommy had relaxed a bit at the cows, but had been high-strung ever since Grian came and went. Maybe it’s good for him to take things seriously, but there’s a tension emanating from Tommy that makes him a little worried about the kid. He gives Jimmy a look, past Tommy’s head, hoping he can convey any of this to his partner, and in reply, Jimmy holds out his hand.
“Off to Scott and Cleo we go, then.”