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You know the story. A shulker hybrid enters the death game, he falls in love, he dies in a misguided attempt to save all involved. The end, except for all the other stuff that happened afterwards.
This time, it’s different.
This time, it isn’t the end.
— — — ONE — — —
Lops wakes up on a grassy knoll next to a bedrock circle, spawn protection in the air like popping candy and chatter quiet over the ringing in his ears, and immediately he is confused. There’s still gunpowder and redstone staining his hands, a red spot on the palm of his hands, his clothes slightly singed. But… he’s back at spawn?
Looking around the circle of players already assembled, they’re exactly the same as at the start of the game. Mikey chats with Caldega as if the latter hadn’t viciously killed it; Lamb is nonchalantly standing against one of the lampposts while Beef runs in circles; Mercury’s horns and teeth haven’t grown to the extent that they had on red.
Weird.
The strangest thing, though, as his gaze flickers from person to person, is this:
Everyone is green.
Including him.
—
The game has reset, Lops figures out, and no one else remembers anything.
He tries to not to bring up anything from the original game, because when he mentions the Sunflower Alliance to Fetsy in an offhand comment she asks what that is, and he doesn’t want his stomach to feel as hollow as it did in that moment.
—
Sometimes he finds himself reaching to fidget with the iron ring on his finger, only to find an empty space.
Instead, he reaches for his flint and steel.
—
What do you do when you’re reliving the same life again? Do you do the same things, trying to change the outcome through the path of least resistance, proving insanity in repetition? Or do you rebel, fighting back against fate with all your might?
Lops chooses the latter.
He doesn’t take the fall for Mikey on the Life Altar, and watches him die from a distance. It takes all his willpower to not run in at the last second.
He burns down the Love Wins house—much better, this time—and plays the loner, building the powdered snow trap around his entire cabin and waiting for someone to break their neck there again.
He avoids the Hobbits and doesn’t stay nights with Fetsy, keeping a safe distance despite the grief pulling him apart.
But it doesn’t make a difference.
Lops goes red when he’s the boogeyman (turns out he really is bad at it) and watches the Sunflower Alliance—divided and fractured— fall one by one, all just a second too late for him to help.
After that, the sword through his chest seems merciful.
— — — TWO — — —
Lops wakes up on a grassy knoll next to a bedrock circle, the spawn protection in the air briefly suffocating his lungs, and immediately he knows where he is. A hand pressed to the residual ache in his chest leaves blood on his fingers.
Another try.
—
History repeats. Lops tries to recreate that first game; The Hobbits become the Sunflower Alliance become dead. An arrow pierces his throat.
— — — FOUR — — —
Lops wakes up on a grassy knoll next to a bedrock circle, the spawn protection in the air fizzing like sherbet, and he sighs.
Fetsy dies by his hands during that night of boogeyman bloodlust. It makes no difference.
— — — SEVEN — — —
Lops wakes up on a grassy knoll next to a bedrock circle, the spawn protection humming like an electric fence, and he sobs.
— — — THIRTEEN — — —
Lops doesn’t wake up.
— — — TWENTY — — —
The Sunflower Alliance dies, and Lops isn’t there to see it.
— — — THIRTY-ONE — — —
The Sunflower Alliance dies, and Lops holds the sword that killed them.
— — — FIFTY — — —
The Sunflower Alliance survives.
— — — // — — —
If he was asked later what he did to break the loop, Lops would just shrug.
“I did what I could.”
The Sunflower Alliance survived to the end, hands intertwined, until the game forced itself to conclude, and the Sunflower Alliance died.
But the world kept turning.
— — — // — — —
Lops wakes up on a grassy knoll next to a bedrock circle.