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Bdubs screamed Etho’s name.
He ran for his life, stumbling over his cloak and roots buried in the snow. He continued to shout for his partner, even as arrows rained down on him, sending him toppling into the white.
It flooded his ears and nose and mouth, and he laid there, too injured to stand. Hoping for Etho to send him a life.
It was so, so cold. Though his eyelids were too caked with frost to close, he watched his vision grow dark. He would rest, for just a little bit. And when he awoke, with a shiny new yellow life, he would clap Etho on the back and boast about his kill.
Bdubs woke up warm. Which was strange, considering the bed in their fort had only a thin blanket, hastily made of leather scraps and wool snippets.
He slowly opened his eyes, careful not to overwhelm his senses. Dying always was more painful in Last Life.
Did Etho redecorate while Bdubs was respawning? Oranges and greens surrounded him. A bird chirped nearby.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Bdubs put the pieces together. Etho hadn’t given him a life. He was dead. He had died. And now he was back on Hermitcraft.
Bdubs pulled the (many, many) blankets off his body with a wince. His shoulders and neck still ached. Which was normal! Of course! As he stood, he carefully gave the floorboards a test jump — just in case it was trapped. Something creaked, and he fell sideways, nearly hitting his head on the bed frame.
After a long pause, Bdubs stood again. Right. Hermitcraft.
His heart dropped. Etho was back on Last Life. Etho, trapped in a team with a bunch of good-for-nothin’ yellows and greens. They probably made him keep the life. Or something. Yeah. Yeah, that’s it.
Oh, but Etho was completely lost without him. Who knew how quickly he would die without Bdubs by his side?
Okay. He could work with this. He just needed to find a way to get back home. He could send Grian a message right now!
Without a second thought, he pulled out his communicator.
grian let me back on the server
im serious
i need to get home
Radio silence. Not even a “read”. He began typing again.
GRIAN!!!!
im gunna kill you if you dont
Bdubs stared at his communicator, fingers tapping the side of it anxiously.
He waited.
He kept waiting.
No? Nothing? Fine. See if he cared. He’d have all the fun he wanted here on Hermitcraft until Grian responded. Take that.
Asshole.
Bdubs tucked his communicator away and leaned back to peer out the window. Unlike in Last Life, autumn was still in full swing. It was — What time was it, actually? He looked around. His clock! Where was it?!
He rummaged in his pockets, fingers catching on something sharp. He yelped, yanking his hand out of his pocket and waving it around as if he were trying to flick the pain out of them. Tiny drops of blood spattered on the floor. He grumbled a few swears before sticking his fingers in his mouth and clumsily reaching across his body with his free hand to try and get the sharp object out of his pocket. His hand closed around it, and with much hopping up and down, he got it free.
Oh, great. His beloved pocket watch — for that’s what it was — had broken. The glass cover had shattered, leaving a jagged edge on the front and exposing the delicate hands and face.
A rumbling began outside, but Bdubs ignored it.
Bdubs felt his eyes stinging. He rubbed his thumb on the dial, watching the hands of the clock chase each other back and forth. Okay. First order of business: Find where his extras were — the stash he had made specifically for …
The hands spun faster. Right, yes, of course. He had made a stash of cheap ones to give to Keralis and Pearl. Since they were so intent on taking all of his FREAKING clocks.
Bdubs had only made it two steps down the stairs before the ground suddenly started to tremble. He shrieked in surprise and promptly fell the rest of the way down, hitting the side of his head on the floor.
Bdubs fell down the ugly stairs once in Last Life. He’d slipped on the morning frost halfway down and tumbled to the frozen ground. He screamed at Etho for an hour after.
And Etho, the gentle soul he was, only giggled and teased. Maybe there was remorse. It was hard to tell with that guy, sometimes. But either way, he fixed Bdubs up, and let Bdubs fix up the stairs in return.
Bdubs got up. He rubbed his head. That was gonna be a goose egg later, he just knew it.
Looking around, he spotted a chest that felt promising. He opened it, pleased to find a half-stack of clocks. All of them shoddily held together and probably a few minutes slow. But it would work! It could work until he could get back to Etho.
In the meantime, he could probably check out the rest of the server.
Bdubs followed the second set of stairs down to the ground floor and poked his head outside. The sun was bright, silhouetting little … things flying up. Were those blocks? It was hard to tell. But hey. It was a beautiful sight nonetheless.
The builds around him were huge. Towers and cities and houses far bigger than he’d dreamed of in Last Life. A mountain, looking almost hand-carved, framed the sky to the south. And to the east, a beautiful silver dome dazzled Bdubs. That was a Pearl thing! For sure! She did like the moon, after all.
He bounded down the path ahead, passing a cave opening and entering a huge town. Shopping district? That was it. Lots of shops.
His eyes traveled the skyline before stopping on… Hello??
A giant balloon with Etho’s face on it whipped around in the wind, and Bdubs couldn’t help but laugh. He looked so freakin’ stupid like this.
Neon signs around the Etho Balloon pointed down to a building below, and Bdubs couldn’t help but follow them into the shop. Oh, yes, of course! His Etho shop. Etho loved making trades and deals.
Etho had traded the enchanting table — the prized item of the server — for Bdubs to gain a life. Over sweet berry tea that night, Etho told him the whole story. Scar had tried so hard to keep himself out of danger. In freaking Last Life of all places.
Bdubs opened a chest, delighted to see almost an entire half a stack of diamonds. Wow, Etho sure was generous on this server.
He scooped up all of them. He was rich! He could craft himself a full set of armour. Some tools. He could defend himself!
He continued to pull all of the diamonds out of the chests and barrels nearby, bragging to no one in particular.
He continued his boasting, skipping down the road to the farther shops. He felt a little dizzy.
Oh, this place was beautiful! It all was beautiful! It could be his until he could return home. It really could. The castles were beautiful. So many different styles. None quite like home, but some close enough that he could pretend.
His communicator buzzed. Finally!
<Grian>
bdubs
get off hermitcraft
now
Bdubs blinked. His heart rose a little bit. He was going to see Etho again.
<BdoubleO100>
send me the invite to last life
<Grian>
bdubs i cant
last lifes been over for ages
…Huh?
<BdoubleO100>
i respawned today
<Grian is typing … >
Oh great. Bdubs braced himself for a long-winded spiel about safety between servers and blah blah blah.
The moon was growing bigger. Or closer.
He remembered sitting on the deck back home, breath coming out in puffs. Etho’d sat next to him, whining and begging for Bdubs to share his cloak. Bdubs called him a big baby, but of course, he shared. He always did.
They had looked up at the moon together — a much smaller one than here — and Bdubs, for once, hadn’t needed to say anything. Etho filled the silence perfectly.
And now, there was no silence. Fire raged around him. The earth rumbled. Blocks were colliding with each other as they were launched into the sky.
Somewhere, on another world, a communicator pinged.
<Etho>
gg buddy
And Bdubs sobbed Etho’s name.