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Why?
Why was he the canary?
What did he do to deserve this?
All he ever did was die .
Again and again and again.
And it hurt. Every. Single. Time.
He didn’t do anything to deserve this fate! He swears!
He just existed.
——
‘Maybe he did deserve this,’ he thought, staring down at the remnants of the Bad Boy Bread Bridge.
Grian didn’t want him anymore, he’d shown that - maybe Joel did, but he’d probably side with Grian if it came down to it.
He’d tried to contribute to the Bad Boy Bread Bridge Bakery. He really did, yet it still felt like nothing he did was right. He couldn’t even build a carrot cake properly! All he was doing was fueling Grian’s reasoning for not wanting him.
So what was he supposed to do?
He had no one on his side. Not like the others did. Scott and Martyn had each other, team TIES had each other, the… ‘family’ had whatever it is that they had going on. Gosh! Even Pearl and BigB had each other! Then there were the interconnected allies and all that nonsense.
Jimmy only had allies because everyone thought he was a mutual. He didn’t even think Scott genuinely cared about him. He…
He was doomed.
…
He was doomed to fall, doomed to stop singing when the time came. He was a warning and nothing more.
Maybe…
No.
He should wait for everyone to be on red before doing anything.
——
Everyone was red now.
People only had so much time left, and they stopped at nothing to try to gain some more - alliances were broken, friends turned on friends and some were even offering up their own time. Only to their little groups though. Never outside.
Jimmy was on the lowest time. Nobody knew that, however. Technically speaking he wasn’t, but after the stunt he was about to pull off?
Oh he’d definitely be on the lowest time.
——
He hadn’t told anyone of his plan. He knew they’d try to talk him out of it. Perhaps they’d try to get him to give his time to someone else.
But no. He wasn’t going to let anyone take his time though. His time was cursed, and no one would understand that.
You don’t kill a canary and not suffer the consequences.
So no one was going to have his time. No one would get an advantage because he made a choice. He wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction.
He was their warning. A single shot fired before the rain of bullets fell. A crack in the ice.
He was the canary.
No one was going to stop what he had planned.
——
He stood atop the Bad Boy Bread Bridge V2, staring down at where the ground was supposed to be.
(It’s not that it had moved, that’d be ridiculous, it was just too far down to see. Too far down.)
He saw Grian and Joel asking where he was in the chat. He didn't bother to grace them with an answer.
He bridged out from the Bread Bridge (V2), stopping when he was happy with how far he’d gotten. He placed his bed and set his spawn before going back and removing his own bridge.
He took a deep breath. It was fine. He was taking his fate into his own hands. He was choosing to do this. It. Would. Be. Fine.
No one would care. They’d probably think he’d fallen into a trap or something - ‘typical Jimmy behaviour.’
… right?
They didn’t care about Jimmy, why would they?
Tango only cared last time because fate forced them together, and Scott probably only married him because he felt bad! The Bad Boys only cared as much as they had to.
He was alone.
Well and truly alone.
——
It hadn’t been part of the original plan.
He’d shoved his stuff in a chest on the Bread Bridge (V2) because there was no use in him keeping it.
He had only a bow and a couple of arrows on him. He hadn't even been planning on using them.
But the idea of having such a tragic death message before forcing himself into a death loop?
It was exhilarating.
…
He shot the arrow in the sky, and it hit him square in the forehead, the force pushing him off the Bread Bridge (V2).
——
SolidarityGaming fell from a high place whilst trying to escape SolidarityGaming
——
A series of ’what???’s and ‘OMGGGG’s flooded the chat.
He simply ignored the messages, continuing on the sickening cycle.
After about the third death, he heard the shouts.
“Timmy!” Grian’s voice, “Timmy, please!”
“Jimmy!” Joel’s voice joined in.
“Petal?” Oh… Scott was here. He didn’t want him to him like this… but what could you do?
“… Rancher?” Tango as well? Was the whole bloody server here as well?
Tears welled in his eyes. He couldn’t breathe.
He gasped for air as he tried to will his body to comply… but nothing.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t even see that well, his vision obscured by both tears and his hands. However, he quickly gave up on that endeavour in order to cover his ears.
The wind was too much, and the voices blurred and swam together as his vision distorted and muffled itself.
Oh…
When did he fall to sit in his bed? He was standing last he checked.
Yet even sat down, his legs felt like jelly, like they were going to give way underneath him. He thinks they already did.
“Hey, hey,” a soft voice whispered.
…What?
When did everyone get so close?
But… they weren’t close close.
He looked up, his eyes meeting both Tango and Scott’s eyes.
His hands still clenched around his ears tightly - so very tightly. It didn’t do much against the noise though, it never did.
“There’s those eyes we love,” Scott whispered.
The two hovered around Jimmy, clearly wanting to do something but also too afraid of doing something wrong.
He shakily removed his hands from his ears, and realised that, somewhere along the way, his breathing had calmed down.
He wordlessly threw himself at Tango and Scott, forcing them into a hug.
He sobbed into their shoulders, muffled apologies spilling from his lips.
“Hey, hey now,” Tango softly, “Rancher… we do care about you, please remember that.”
Jimmy just silently shook his head.
“Petal…” Scott started, the sadness in his voice very much not helping Jimmy’s never ending guilt for his actions. “We’re not mad at you, Jimmy.”
He didn’t believe that for a second.
“Listen Jimmy, please,” Tango asked, waiting for any sign from Jimmy of confirmation.
“Ok…” he croaked out, his voice hoarse and showing clearly that he’d been crying.
“We care about you, honestly. We’re not mad or upset at you.” He paused, trying to find the words, “Yes, we’re upset and confused as to why, but we’re not going to take it out on you.”
“We’re not going to turn on you, or purposely make you feel uncomfortable or bad,” Scott continued.
“… promise?” His voice was small, like that of a scared child’s. It felt horrible, and terrifying - being so vulnerable in front of seemingly the whole server.
“We promise,” the other two whispered, just low enough for Jimmy, and Jimmy only, to hear.
“Thank you,” he hugged them tighter.
He would deal with the consequences later, they were sure to come - but for now?
For now he would enjoy their little moment in their own little bubble and ignore all the bad.
For now he would pretend everything was fine.
And for that moment, it was.