Work Text:
There was a cult on the server. Surprisingly, it wasn’t fWhip’s obsession with Jimmy. No, it seemed like someone else was getting an obsession over him, judging by fWhip’s wailing in chat over his ruined shrines. Jimmy got him to stop by promising to get on the case and that was the last Joel heard of it.
Until now, hours later.
Jimmy Solidarity: There’s a cult that’s been trying to set up in Tumble Town, it looks like they’re trying to expand into other empires. They worship a canary of death and vandalize with its symbols, including leaving dead birds and piles of coal around. They also, for some reason, keep stealing those stupid Sheriff mocks. If you think they’re in your empire can you let me take a look?
Joel Smallishbeans: “For some reason” tell us it’s you without telling us it’s you
Scott Smajor: It’s not him, I had to call him in yesterday for missing hotel toys and he was genuinely shocked. I don’t know why they’re stealing the toys. On that note, Jimmy we’ve got vandalism
Jimmy Solidarity: I’ll be right there DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!!
Pixlriffs: They probably think it’s a rival cult, they’re showing their dominance.
Jimmy Solidarity: Great. Just great. If I had a diamond for every time people got me involved in cult stuff I could make a sword to get them to STOP
Joel Smallishbeans: You mean you’d just die and they’d get the sword LOL
Jimmy Solidarity: Shut. Up.
Joel chuckled and tucked his comm away. His smile slid slightly. Cults were tricky things, religion taken unnecessary extremes, often just so the people in charge could have a power trip. Joel liked being worshipped and respected, but he didn’t want to ruin people’s lives over it. And this cult already sounded awful. Dead birds, really?
Joel sighed and shook his head. There was no doubt in his mind that the cult would try to go after him at some point. There was no greater threat to a religion than another religion, especially one with a god as involved as Joel was. He doubted their “canary of death” regularly spent hours every day seen working and interacting with people.
Joel smirked. He couldn’t wait for them to try knocking him off the board. He hadn’t had a chance to let loose in a long time, showing a few crazy mortals the error of their ways was the perfect chance to do so.
Canary of death sounded oddly familiar though. Joel decided he could take a look in Pix’s library later. For now, he needed to get quartz.
--
Mythical Sausage whispered to you: Joel can you take Hermes early? Something’s come up.
Joel Smallishbeans whispered to Sausage: Sure! I’ll be at Stratos in a minute, everything okay?
Mythical Sausage whispered to you: No
Joel waited for clarification. It never came. He frowned and closed the book he just opened. Something must be seriously wrong then.
“Pix! I’m leaving!” Joel called out the door.
“Okay! Are you taking any books?” Pix called back.
Joel looked down at the book in his hands. Most of the gold insets for the title were missing, leaving only their imprints in the leather, but the ones that remained gleamed in the light.
“Bird Symbols and Religions of the Past Thousand Years, I’ll have it back to you by the end of the week, undamaged!” Joel said. He tucked the book under his arm—it was written four hundred years ago, but there was a whole chapter on canaries that looked promising.
Joel wasn’t going to brag, but he was quite good at the flying thing, like he was at everything of course, so he didn’t have issues reading the book as he flew. He got to a higher altitude than he usually flew at, just in case he got unlucky and the book dropped. Pix was not a person to get on the bad side of when it came to his artifacts.
Joel checked the table of contents for the canary chapter again and carefully flipped through the book. The wind kept flicking pages and he funneled the wind around him with a huff.
Canaries are an obscure symbol of religion. Their status as songbirds most often crowds them in with other songbirds used as symbols for religions of nature, animals, innocence, birds, and more. However, they are tied to a very powerful and mysterious Being that makes them popular in their own right: The Canary.
Joel frowned. Beings with a capital B… mortals tended to consider it to mean a category of its own, but it was supposed to mean a lack of certainty about what exactly someone was aside from not mortal. If someone somehow heard of Joel’s power without hearing of his deity status, he was a Being to them, because they knew he was immortal but not what kind. Joel didn’t know which version the author was using to refer to this Canary.
Very little is known about The Canary. The first recorded appearance was thirteen hundred years ago, roughly in the year 1100 YT, of a local religion. How long he was around before that through oral recording is unknown. What religions worshipped him as of this writing fade in and out quickly, claiming the Canary himself appeared to them to demand they stop. The stories of a religious figure appearing in person often tend to make more people believe in them, many believing he ordered them to stop because they weren’t worshipping him correctly, and the cycle continued for about two hundred years, until stories of appearances stopped. The religion of The Canary, often called “Canary’s Flock,” followed the same path not long after.
Joel rolled his eyes. While it was true most Beings desired worship and recognition, some would rather remain in obscurity. Why, Joel couldn’t fathom, but how hard was it for mortals to respect that? Especially with so many other awesome gods around, like him.
The exact details of the religion vary according to location, as all religions formed were localized and faded before becoming bigger, but there are key components that stay the same.
The Canary is considered to be like the canaries miners of old would take with them into the mines to test for poisonous air. Like the smaller bodies of the canaries succumbing to the bad air first, warning the miners to leave, The Canary is often seen as a warning of death. Some say things will go well as long as he lives, some say he is more like an Angel of Death, and others claim he decides the end of the world when he commits suicide.
One would think an important part of The Canary’s actions would be singing, as canaries are songbirds and their silence means fatality in the mines, yet The Canary puts great emphasis on him doing the listening until—
By this point Joel had reached Stratos and he closed the book reluctantly. He dropped it off in his room and waited for Sausage and Hermes to arrive.
It didn’t take them long. Sausage was flying at top speed, so fast he was holding Hermes instead of letting the boy fly himself. He didn’t even slow down properly. His wings snapped shut and he rolled to absorb his momentum, body curled around Hermes.
“Sausage! Hermes!” Joel dropped to his knees next to them. They seemed unharmed, Sausage had the roll completely under control, but Sausage looked horrified.
“H—hi Joel.” Sausage tried for a smile and failed. Hermes wiggled out of Sausage’s arms, a wild grin on their face.
“Hi Daddy!” They signed, giggling. “Did you see how fast we went? You said we couldn’t go that fast but we did!”
“Yes, I saw.” Joel hugged his son and gave Sausage a worried look. Sausage gave up on the smile and grimaced.
“I need to talk with you,” Sausage signed. Joel gave him a tiny nod.
“Hey Hermes, you want to say hi to Jeremy?” Joel pointed down the bridge, where Jeremy was within eyesight but out of earshot. Hermes perked up and ran off.
“What happened?” Joel grabbed Sausage’s shoulders the moment Hermes was gone. “Was it that evil king stuff?”
Sausage’s eyes welled up with tears and he shook his head.
“Dead birds Joel! So—so many birdies!” Sausage gasped. He leaned into Joel and Joel hugged him. Sausage gripped his robes tightly. “I can’t—there were so many. The graffiti, the messages, the birdies, the threats—”
“Threats?” Joel whispered.
“Yes! They were—Joel, Hermes is a demigod. And he attends chapel with me!” Sausage pulled back to look at him. “They said—they said—”
Sausage was crying too hard now to say exactly what they said, but Joel didn’t need him to. The greatest threat to a religion is another religion, and Hermes was very much part of Joel’s.
Joel tried to speak but his mouth was dry. He was so stupid. Of course they would go after his son. Of course. Why didn’t he think of that? He should have demanded Jimmy give him everything he knew immediately and wiped those cultists from the face the of earth instead of waiting around for a chance to show off.
It wasn’t too late though. He reached his comm to contact Jimmy. It buzzed right as he was turning it on.
Jimmy Solidarity whispered to you: Joel, there’s an issue
Joel Smallishbeans whispered to Jimmy Solidarity: Damn right there’s an issue, did Sausage tell you about Sanctuary?
Jimmy Solidarity whispered to you: Yes and I’m on my way there, but that’s not quite the issue I was talking about.
Joel Smallishbeans whispered to Jimmy Solidarity: They threatened my son, that’s the only issue that matters. I need everything you have on the cult now.
Jimmy Solidarity whispered to you: Normally I wouldn’t have a problem giving that but I can’t, that’s part of the issue.
Joel Smallishbeans whispered to Jimmy Solidarity: Can you not read? They threatened my son at the bare minimum I need to stop them NOW. Give it.
Jimmy Solidarity whispered to you: Can you just LISTEN? I overheard some of the cultists, they have traps that can hold gods! They WANT you to go after them! Get to safety and hide NOW, I’m dealing with them!
Joel Smallishbeans whispered to Jimmy Solidarity: It doesn’t sound like it! How long has this been going on? That’s right, too long!
Jimmy Solidarity whispered to you: It’s barely been a week! I’m trying to fix this without going too extreme! HIDE!!!
Joel growled and stuffed his comm away.
“It’ll be okay.” Joel told Sausage. “Let’s get out of here.”
Sausage, who had a clear view of Joel’s screen, nodded hesitantly.
“Yes, it’ll be okay.” He said weakly.
“Hermes!” Joel raised his voice and stood up, supporting Sausage. His mind whirred with plans. He had no intention of sitting back anymore. A trap to hold gods… ha! Such a thing was near impossible to make, and most were mislabeled. Most likely whatever Jimmy heard was a bluff, meant to scare Joel away from his furious retaliation.
Well it wasn’t going to work.
Hermes didn’t come. He stared over the edge of Stratos, perfectly still.
“Hermes?” Joel tried again.
Hermes pointed down and turned his head enough to look at Joel. His eyes were wide with fear and confusion.
With a sinking stomach, Joel and Sausage ran over to look. By one of the floating islands, hidden from almost every angle but this one, were glowing runes slowly being painted by themselves. No, not by themselves. By invisible people.
Joel didn’t know those runes, but now that he was paying attention he could feel the power in them. Something foreign, dangerous, and perfectly capable of neutralizing Joel’s powers.
Without a word, Joel grabbed his family and took off. He made it to the boundaries of Stratos before a tingle of power forced him to make a sharp turn back. His wing grazed the bubble Stratos was encased in and he yelped from the pain sinking into his shoulders. It wasn’t even a flesh and blood wing, just an elytra he wore. Hermes whimpered from the close call and huddled in Joel’s arm. If that had been a direct touch…
“Joel? What happened?” Sausage asked.
Joel circled above Stratos, barely hearing his coparent. He scanned his empire desperately, trying to find a weak spot.
He couldn’t find one. Runes were painted on every island, locking Stratos and its occupants in. Whatever ritual it was, they noticed it too late. Joel and anyone with his power could not leave. With its strength, Joel doubted they could even call for help.
“We’re trapped,” Joel said as calmly as he could. “There’s a—a bubble around everything. I can’t leave. Neither can Hermes. Or any of my people.”
Sausage’s eyes widened. “Oh no… how do we get out?”
“We… don’t,” Joel admitted. “But you can.”
It took Sausage a moment to understand that. “No! I’m not leaving you!”
“You have to! You can get help! Hermes and I—we’ll hide. We’ll hide and wait for you to bring help,” Joel insisted. “Hermes is a great hider, aren’t you?”
Hermes gave a tiny nod.
“What about—what about comms—?” Sausage fumbled for his comm and his face fell when he saw the glitchy screen.
“We’ll be fine,” Joel repeated. He adjusted his hold on Sausage in preparation to let him go. “Just be quick.”
Sausage swallowed. “Okay. Okay.” His wings flicked out.
And then Joel’s wings stopped working.
For a terrifying, stomach-dropping moment, they plummeted. Joel screamed and curled around Hermes, hoping his body would take the worst of the impact—
The fall slowed and changed angle. Sausage wasn’t in a good position, but he got them on the bridge. Joel let go of Sausage before he landed and hit the bridge with a grunt, Hermes held safely in his arms. Sausage swung around, already calling out to check on them. Joel waved at him and pointed in the direction of Chromia, his nearest neighbor. Sausage nodded, swept past them, and an arrow shredded his wings.
Sausage screamed as he fell for the second time in less than two minutes. He hadn’t fully flown over the bridge, and he barely grabbed the railing. Joel grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him up.
“It’s okay! It’s okay, you’re okay, he’s okay, shh Hermes, Papá’s okay.” Joel soothed his crying son and his shocked coparent. “Sausage, take my wings, maybe they’ll work for you—"
Glass shattered against Joel’s back and he stumbled to his knees. The burning, hissing pain of a splash potion of harming was harder than usual for Joel to shove off, the runes fighting him every step of the way. Hermes screaming his little lungs out gave Joel the strength to grab every scrap of magic soaking their skins and—
Right in the middle of that, Hermes was yanked from his arms. Sausage’s scream told Joel it wasn’t him and he popped his eyes open to see robed cultists backing away, his sobbing son held in their arms. Joel ripped away the magic with a roar of rage and his hands sparked.
One of the cultists brought a glimmering knife to Hermes’ throat and Joel froze.
“Stop.” A different cultist intoned.
“You let our boy go!” Sausage yelled at them. He cradled his ribs, blood seeping out from his fingers and his sword just out of reach on the ground. Joel realized he must have tried to fight. Joel hoped he got a good hit in.
“As heretics against Our Canary, you and your spawn cannot be allowed to live and spread your choking sin.” The second cultist said. They were the fanciest cultist, with patterns in their robe and feathers hanging from every hem, belt, and jewelry. A purple blindfold wrapped around their eyes. Something about it nagged at Joel, but he couldn’t focus on that.
“He’s a kid!” Joel pleaded. “And Sausage is from a different empire!”
“Joel…” Sausage whispered.
“All who refuse to Listen to the Song of our Canary are heretics,” The lead cultist said firmly. “As the highest heretic, you are first. The followers of Saint Pearl are next.”
Joel opened and closed his mouth a few times, struggling to think of how to get out of this.
“Please. We won’t resist anything you want, just let Hermes go,” Sausage tried. “Let them go to—to Chromia or another empire. Please.”
“You will not resist now, we have your precious son.” The cultist said gleefully. More cultists were steadily joining the group, sitting on roofs, blocking the bridge, and clustering the islands. To Joel’s anger, the temples were on fire, including the Temple of Peril. His memories of her were too vague to recall anything other than her being a good friend, but it made him almost as angry as seeing his son held hostage.
“When I get my hands on you—” Joel’s threat was cut off by the knife pressed closer to the unprotected neck. Joel shut up.
“It is time for—”
“HEY!”
The cultists paused and looked in the direction of the shout. It took Joel a moment to find the shouter. It was Jimmy, closing in fast, and the toy was alone. Joel shook his head in disbelief. He teased Jimmy to the point of mocking sometimes, yes, but he didn’t want to see Jimmy die. If he wasn’t here as a distraction for their friends to swoop in, he was just adding to the body count.
The moment Jimmy reached the bridge his wings snapped back. And then Jimmy wasn’t Jimmy anymore.
Jimmy’s wings unfurled and kept unfurling, until the two brown flaps of leather turned into a dozen golden wings flared around him like the points of his badge. His body warped and something seemed to pull from it, dropping the lifeless plush to the floor while the thing—something that wavered between human and beyond understanding—hovered with robes of white, yellow, and purple. A glowing purple halo blindfolded his eyes. A black pickaxe was clutched in his hands. His wings beat once, large and soundless, and a wave of dead silence swept over everything, so complete Joel couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat.
Every instinct Joel had for fight or flight lit up, demanding he run. He fell over and landed on his butt. He couldn’t convince his body to get up. The power surrounded him, suffocated him, telling him exactly how out of his depth he was. If he had his voice he would probably be screaming and begging.
How long had that been in Jimmy? How had Joel never noticed? How was it even possible?
The cultists fell over themselves bowing and groveling, mouths moving in silent prayer.
Canary. Orders to disband his religion. Listening. Traps that can hold gods. Purple blindfolds. Joel could have laughed. He’d only been in the presence of Watchers once, a little god in the background as the things so beyond comprehension they couldn’t have come from any nearby dimension flitted by, at the Great Heavenly Islands. Then, they’d been focused on wherever they were going. Now, there was one and it had been hitching a ride in Joel’s favorite target for who knew how long.
What was more, Joel had seen this one. He’d seen the Listener tap his coal pickaxe against the wall, carving words into the stone that should have been unalterable with a single touch, and watched the cracks fill back in with another tap. He’d been too far to see what was said. The curiosity had driven him nuts. Now, he had a front row seat to everything—including whatever The Canary was going to do to him, because there was no way he was going to let Joel’s slights stand if he was present for any of them. He could only pray he could convince him to leave his family alone.
“That is enough,” The Canary snarled. He pointed his pickaxe at the cultists. “Shut up. Listen. It’s your turn to Listen and my turn to Speak.”
Sausage pressed against Joel, gauntleted hand digging painfully into Joel’s arm. Joel couldn’t take his eyes off The Canary to see if he was trying to communicate something. Communication was pointless anyhow. That was a Listener, and he just shut down everyone’s ability do anything but listen to him.
“Let the kid go. Now.” The Canary pointed at Hermes and then at Joel and Sausage, without turning his head from the lead cultist. Hermes was released so quickly he hit the floor. And then he was running across the bridge and Joel could convince his arms to move only enough to gather his son in his arms.
Hermes pulled back and tried to sign, but his hands jittered, not listening to their owner’s commands. Hermes cried harder, silenced as thoroughly as his parents. Sausage fussed over Hermes’ hands, but Joel knew only The Canary could stop it. He cradled the back of Hermes’ head and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He didn’t take his eyes off The Canary.
“What.” The Canary hefted his pickaxe. “Is. Wrong with you? I give you warning after warning and this is what you do? Try to hurt people? Kidnap people?”
The lead cultist tried to speak and The Canary slammed his pickaxe into the bridge with a crack! Fissures spread and faded like they were never there.
“No. I’ve had enough. The leaders stay here, everyone else… run. And never have anything to do with me or hurting people ever again.”
The cultists fled. The decorated ones, about half a dozen in all, trembled before The Canary. Something bumped Joel’s knee and he glanced down at it.
It was Jimmy. Or what used to be Jimmy. It must have gotten kicked around by the fleeing cultists. Blank button eyes stared at Joel with condemnation. Sausage picked it up and adjusted the hat, holding it up like he was comparing it to The Canary and his eyes widened with realization in sync with Joel’s.
The Canary hadn’t been hitching a ride. He was Jimmy. Jimmy was The Canary, a Listener.
Joel was definitely dead. He was worse than dead. Him, Sausage, Hermes, everyone—no Being took insult lightly, and Jimmy was one of the powerful of them all. And they’d been teasing him relentlessly since the start.
“You six. Are in a lot of trouble,” The Canary pointed his pickaxe at them. “But I think I'll let them handle you. So—”
The pickaxe swung out and the cultists collapsed like marionettes with cut strings. Joel saw them cough, struggle to breath, and slowly go still. The pickaxe retracted and The Canary finally turned to face them.
Joel choked on his breath and leaned back, convinced he’d suffocate on whatever The Canary shoved down the cultists’ throats. For an endless moment, no one did anything.
The Canary gave a small, quick flap of his wings. Sound rushed back so quickly Joel nearly threw up. Hermes’ cries hiccupped, startled by suddenly hearing themself again.
The Canary hovered his pickaxe like he was going to tap it against the ground. He stopped and tilted his ear in the direction of the burning temples before gasping soundlessly and diving in that direction, the flared wings twisting around until they were closer to how wings actually worked and propelling him. Joel caught a glimpse of a bucket in his hands. He was vaguely aware of Sausage asking Hermes if he was okay but didn't pay attention until he was shaking Joel.
“Joel? Joel, are you alright?”
Joel blinked hard and looked at Sausage. He had his hands on Joel’s shoulders and his eyes were wide. Joel gave a jerky nod of his head.
“You’re shaking! Are you sure?”
Joel gave a jerky shake of his head.
“Okay. Okay, what—hng.” Sausage grimaced and pressed his hand to his side. More blood leaked out.
“Oh shi—shoot!” Joel bat Sausage’s hands away and pressed his own to the wound. He wasn’t very good at this type of magic, but he could do well enough. Sausage gave him a wobbly smile. Hermes reached out for Sausage and sniffled in his other dad’s arms. He stared at his hands with fear.
“It’s okay.” Joel whispered. He stroked Hermes’ hair and tried not to think about how this might be the last time he did it. “It’s okay. Your hands work now.”
Hermes tentatively signed a hello. Their face brightened when it worked and they signed through the whole alphabet and whatever words they could think of.
“Joel. What was that?”
Joel avoided Sausage’s eyes and found The Canary flying around Peril’s temple, streams of water running off the sides. Joel swallowed past the lump in his throat. It was… a kind gesture, but pointless. The temple was ruined now, Joel would have to tear it down and do it again. Or rather, someone else would.
“You know. You know what that was—what Jimmy was. That… was Jimmy, right?” Sausage’s voice turned uncertain.
Joel shrugged. “I—I think so.” He laughed hysterically.
“This whole time! This whole—a Listener, right under my nose! This is—no. No, no, no, this can’t be—” Joel dragged his hands down his face.
Hermes tugged Joel’s robe. Joel looked at him.
“Daddy, what’s a Listener? How did he do that?” Hermes asked.
Joel looked back at Jimmy. He’d moved on to a different temple. Why he was trying to help, Joel didn’t know.
“They’re… they’re very powerful.” Joel swallowed weakly. “Very powerful, much, much more than me.”
Hermes’ eyes widened at the thought that anyone could be more powerful than his dad. Sausage was looking at Joel with some understanding in his eyes. Not enough, Joel didn’t think Sausage could truly understand just what Watchers meant, but he was starting to get it.
“And they—no one likes to be teased. But we were—I was mocking him all the time, and if he’s—and he’s—he’s so powerful, Sausage. I don’t—if he decides to pay me back—us back—I—”
“He won’t,” Sausage declared. His eyes lit up with the fire that usually fascinated Joel, the fire that all mortals seemed to have that let them announce they would fight gods without a chance of success, often somehow succeeding anyway. But Watchers were so much more than mere gods. “I won’t let him! It’s Jimmy, we can talk it out!”
Joel shook his head. “And look at the Jimmy we knew now.” He pointed at the toy, lifeless and patched. It was hard to believe The Canary was hiding in it. It wasn’t even as tall as Hermes.
Sausage tightened his grip and leveled Joel with a hard look. “We’ll talk it out.”
Movement caught Joel’s eyes and he turned to see The Canary drift to a stop, several blocks away. Joel froze. The Canary fidgeted with his pickaxe. Just as Joel opened his mouth to apologize and plead and whatever else it took to get his family out of there, The Canary tapped the bridge.
I won’t hurt you.
Joel’s mouth snapped shut. Another tap and the words unwrote and rewrote.
Please keep treating me like normal, it’s fine, I promise.
“See? I told you!” Sausage said brightly. Joel nodded, dumbfounded.
“Why—?”
The Canary held up his hand in a stop motion and pointed at the toy. Can I have my vessel back please?
“Huh? Oh, sure!” Sausage started to get up and hissed with pain. He chose instead to awkwardly throw it over and Joel couldn’t keep the look of shock off his face. You didn’t handle a Listener’s things so casually—except The Canary didn’t seem to care. He caught the toy and pushed it into his chest.
Watching The Canary fold back up into Jimmy was even stranger than watching him come from the toy in the first place. Jimmy dropped to the floor and scrambled to climb the railing. The moment he was up he pointed at Joel.
“I was hiding this for a reason, so don’t you dare start treating me differently! Especially if you’re going to—to be groveling or whatever. Got that? You’re going to keep going like normal?”
Joel nodded again, barely processing what was going on.
“Okay, good. Are you guys okay? Well, aside from that stab… and the hostaging—I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner, I should have made sure you got here safe—or done something sooner about those guys—I didn’t think they would do something like that, I’m so sorry.” Jimmy rambled. He dug through his inventory and jogged along the railing to hold out a health potion.
“Thank you!” Sausage gratefully chugged it.
“Why?” Joel asked.
Jimmy tilted his head. His button eyes flashed in the slowly setting sun. “Why what? Save you? Joel, of course I was going to save you guys!”
“Why… anything,” Joel waved his arms around. “Why be on this server? Why hide? Why let me do—do all that?”
Jimmy looked down. “I just… I know my rep. I don’t want that to influence people. And I don’t actually mind all the toy jokes! It means my disguise is working! It wasn’t what I expected, but it’s fine! Really! Don’t… don’t stop being normal around me. Any of you.”
Jimmy looked at Sausage. “Especially you. I know you’re a gossip but please don’t tell anyone? fWhip’s weird enough without finding out I’m a Listener.”
Sausage nodded solemnly and held up three fingers. “You are a perfectly normal toy and nothing else, scout’s honor.”
“You were never a scout.” Joel reminded him.
“Shh!” Sausage giggled. “Hear that Hermes? Jimmy is just a toy.”
Hermes nodded seriously. “You’re just a toy.”
“Good kid,” Jimmy said awkwardly. He rocked on his heels, looking uncertain. “…Sorry about the temples too.”
“It’s fine. I can rebuild.” Joel got his feet under him and stood up. Even in his smaller form he towered over Jimmy on the railing. Joel wondered if he should make them higher. He held out a hand for Sausage and hauled his coparent and son up. “Thank you for… everything, I guess.”
Jimmy nodded. “You’re welcome! I’m going to make sure they’re actually disbanding—oh, and you can deal with those guys however you want.” Jimmy waved a hand over to the cult leaders. Joel had honestly forgotten about them.
“They’re alive?” Hermes asked with wide eyes.
“Wha—of course they’re alive! I said I would leave them to you! They’re just unconscious. Breathing poisonous air can do that you, so stay out of mines unless you know they’re safe.” Jimmy waved a finger at Hermes. Hermes looked to Sausage and his dad nodded.
“That is exactly right. Stay out of mines unless your daddy or I am with you!” Sausage said.
“So… bye guys! This never happened!” Jimmy fell backwards off the bridge and flew away with a whee of rockets.
Joel turned to Sausage. “Did that actually happen or am I hallucinating?”
“It happened.” Sausage assured. “I can’t believe it either! What are we going to do with these guys?”
Joel scowled at the limp bodies. “We will—” He hesitated, glancing at Hermes. “—we will take them to… jail! Yeah, jail. The personal jail we definitely have here at Stratos where they will be appropriately punished.”
Sausage gave Joel a confused look. Joel tried to silently communicate with his eyes. Thankfully, Sausage got it.
“Yes, of course! I’ll help!” Sausage gave Joel a sharp grin.
“So the bad men aren’t going to hurt us?” Hermes sent a fearful look to the cultists.
Joel stroked his son’s hair. “Never again. I promise.”
“Mhm! We’ll take care of them, you’re safe now, I promise too.” Sausage tightened his hold.
Hermes nodded, already relaxing. Joel mentally made a note to talk to Sausage later about therapists—there was no way Hermes was getting out of this without trauma. He also made a note to cancel plans for the next few weeks. He should be there for Hermes.
Joel pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind. “Hermes, you want to play with Daddy in your room while I put these guys in jail? I’ll be quick, I promise.”
Hermes nodded. “Yes please. Don’t let them hurt you!”
“They won’t.” Joel gave Hermes a quick kiss and turned to the cultists. Jimmy came back just then.
“Sorry!” Jimmy stumbled. “Sorry, I forgot about the runes! Watch my vessel!”
Jimmy unfurled from the toy and shot off. Joel blinked at the toy and where The Canary was whacking at runes with his pickaxe—and doing a really good job at it, the runes shattered like glass and Joel could already feel the effects lightening—and shrugged it off. He carefully picked up the toy and put it in his inventory.
“I forgot about those too.” Joel admitted.
Sausage and Hermes giggled, slightly hysterically.
“So did I. Good thing he remembered! I don’t want to know what would have happened if you or Hermes bumped into it!” Sausage said.
Joel shuddered. “Yeah no, let’s not think about that.”
Sausage and Hermes went to Hermes’ room and Joel shifted into his larger form to gather the cultists up. He didn’t really have a jail, but he did have obsidian and iron, and that should hold them until Hermes was asleep, maybe with a babysitter, and he and Sausage could finish the job.
Joel placed the last block and turned around. “Gah!”
The Canary winced and backed up a little despite being halfway across the island.
Sorry.
“Don’t worry about it. Just—you’re really blooming quiet.” Joel said awkwardly. “Oh, you want this back, right?”
Joel gingerly held out the toy. The Canary drifted close enough to take it. A moment later Jimmy was standing before him like he usually did.
“Thanks.” Jimmy mumbled. “Sorry, again, for not showing up sooner. I just—they always get worse if I directly interfere so I thought I’d try—yeah, it didn’t work out. I’m sorry.”
“It’s… it’s fine. You got here in time,” Joel said. He hesitated before sitting down against the prison and entering his smaller form, putting him almost at Jimmy’s level. “So we’re—we’re good?”
Jimmy nodded and gave him two thumbs-up and a big smile. “We’re good!"
“Good. Great!” Joel smiled awkwardly. Jimmy wavered and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Is there anything else you need me to do, before I leave?” Jimmy asked.
Joel thought about it and shook his head. “No. Um, I’m still curious about why you’re so cool with everything.”
Jimmy shrugged and sat down next to Joel. “I just want to be normal. I like it when people don’t know about the Listener stuff, because it means they’re treating me how they think I should be treated. Mind you, it’s not always a good thing, but I don’t mind the toy jokes and stuff! That’s fine. I really do think it’s funny. And your toy shop… may have provided replacement vessels once… or twice…” Jimmy’s voice turned into mumbles.
Joel let out a startled laugh. “Happy to help.”
There was a moment of strangely comfortable silence.
“Welp.” Jimmy stood up. “I really do have to go. Bye Joel!”
“Bye Jimmy! I owe you!” Joel watched Jimmy fly away into a speck that quickly vanished. He shook his head. Pretending this never happened was going to be hard. It was the least Joel could do for Jimmy however, so he would do it.
--
Of course, by the end of the week fWhip got a cultist in his tavern and the news was all over the server within hours. No one believed him, partly because Joel and Sausage played up the absurdity of the idea—Jimmy, a god? What god would allow them to tease him like that? Especially since he wasn’t a god, though they never said that—but Jimmy still needed to hide out in Stratos for a few days. And if fWhip completely shut up because Joel visited with the full might of his power for a talk, well. Jimmy never gave any indication he Heard it.