Archive of Our Own

There are many things that can happen in Strength: a stupid plugin and three idiots backdooring the server and turning everyone both small and large, then siccing invisible ravagers on all of them and making them eat their weapons. Yeah, Jude’s talking about what Leek did.

Everything can just happen at Strength, and at some point, Jude’s pretty sure he’s gotten used to the bullshit happening around him. He should actually be very happy that he’s gotten used to it. He doesn’t think anything can surprise him anymore, actually. He’s pretty much desensitized to it all—

So… why in the fuck did he wake up at the crack of midnight at 2 AM to see Sharpness sitting by his bed, watching him sleep?

“What the fuck are you doing here, Sharp?” Jude says, his voice hoarse after just waking up as he turns around to see Sharpness sitting there at the edge of the bed. He was supposed to wake up and get a bottle of water to soothe his throat after waking up feeling like he’d swallowed sand…

What the fuck is this guy doing here, and how in the fuck did he even get in when all the traps were armed and active?

“Hello, Jude.” Sharp says, finally turning toward him with a small, tired smile.

Jude pauses. Now that his eyes are getting used to the darkness, he stares at Sharp for a moment before practically reaching over to his lantern and flicking it open. Yellow light fills the room, finally casting Sharp’s face into view.

Jude turns back, only to flinch when he sees someone different—well, not different. He’s definitely Sharpness, but… He looks like he isn’t at the same time.

His hair is dull, almost a dull yellow, almost grayish. It looks dry—the ponytail that Jude always sees on Sharpness is gone, replaced by short hair.

And his eyes… His eyes look dull too. The bright green eyes that Jude has gotten so used to looking at now look tired, with dark shadows beneath them. Under his chin are slight scars that Jude can easily see with the light hitting his skin.

“You aren’t Sharpness… Who are you?!” Jude sits up, scared, pressing his back against the headboard of his bed as he looks around for any potential weapon to use against whoever this intruder is.

Not-Sharpness just smiles. “Always the smart one between us, huh?” He tilts his head, his voice soft. It’s a bit grave and hoarse, like he’s been screaming himself raw.

Jude flinches when Not-Sharpness moves, fully turning his body to look back at Jude. The movement reveals the large, dark sword by his right side, attached to his hip with a dirty sheath.

The gloves on both his hands are ripped, showing bits of scarred skin underneath.

“Who are you, man? And why do you look like my—Sharpness? And how the fuck did you get in my house?” Jude asks, grabbing his pillow and putting it between himself and Not-Sharpness, as if it can fucking save him from that fuckass sword.

Not-Sharpness just gazes at him with those soft eyes, their dull green color almost unsettling. For some reason, meeting his eyes makes Jude’s chest hurt a lot, so he instead focuses on his hair.

A black… crown?

It is sitting atop his head, shaped almost like horns. It’s spiky, in a really almost cool and edgy way that Jude is tempted to call him cringe for wearing that.

“I appeared here,” Not-Sharpness shrugs, leaning back as Jude blinks at him.

“What? You appeared here? Alright, bro,” he says dryly as Not-Sharp just smiles at him, snorting softly as he stands up. Jude flinches, hiding behind his pillow and expecting himself to be attacked, only to freeze when he hears footsteps and soft humming. 

He peers over the pillow to see Not-Sharpness looking around his room, his netherite boots clacking against the floor as he walks around, checking out Jude’s armor on the armor stand, the mirror—looking at himself—and then the various books on Jude’s bookshelf.

His work desk is covered with a bunch of blueprints—some rolled up, some folded, pens, and pencils. Jude watches as Not-Sharpness—okay, he needs to stop calling him Not-Sharpness. It’s too much of a mouthful, and there’s no way in hell he’s going to call him Not-Sharpness out loud. What if he stabs him? Or worse…. Well Jude has no idea what can be worse from stabbing.

“Who are you?” Jude finally asks again, standing up and inching toward his closet, where he has his sword leaned against it. Not-Sharpness is looking at his desk, running his fingertips over the blueprints almost gently, his face hidden from Jude as Jude grabs his sword, his hand shaking a bit—because, man, this guy really looks like Sharpness.

But yeah, he isn’t Sharpness. Definitely not Sharpness. The face may almost be the same, but the change happened way too quickly. He just saw Sharp earlier and had even speared him to death. Granted, Sharp could probably be in his emo phase right now after being killed so many times. But… that seems out of character for someone like him, who doesn’t give a shit about anything, really.

If anything, he’s definitely planning his revenge on Jude… not this.

He speaks again in a familiar tone, that at this point, Jude had gotten used to it. “I think you know who I am, Judey.” Not-Sharpness—he can’t be anyone else.

Jude startles at the tone of voice. It’s familiar, as well as the accent, just like how Sharpness says it. Always with anger and sometimes mischief. But from this guy—it sounds adoring… soft, maybe, almost like a tone that says he’s missing something.

Or someone.

Jude thinks to himself, ears folding back in confusion before perking up again. He realizes it too late when Not-Sharpness turns toward him, eyeing the sword in Jude’s hand. Jude quickly raises it, pointing it directly at the Sharpness lookalike.

Not-Sharpness just smiles, tilting his head to the side. He doesn’t seem worried—and neither does he look cocky because he knows he’ll win a fight against Jude. He just looks amused.

“You both are really just the same. I can see why this world is where I got thrown to… The Farlands is a tricky place. It tricks the people standing on the same ground as well as itself. It’s a place where not even a person born from that area would know what comes next to them,” Not-Sharpness hums.

“Wha—stop speaking gibberish! Sharpness wouldn’t say that! Now tell me who the fuck are you,” Jude says, moving closer, the tip of the blade still pointed at the other, who just raises both his hands, staring directly into Jude’s eyes and refusing to look away.

“I’m Sharpness, and no, I am not a lookalike, because I am him.” Not-Sharpness—or, er… Sharpness?—shrugs a single shoulder, a soft pout on his lips as Jude blinks at him.

“What? Okay—you’re tripping balls, man. You’re not Sharpness. I just saw him earlier, and he… certainly did not look like an emo son of a bitch.” Jude motions at him, and the Sharp lookalike seems amused by that. “That’s a first. I don’t think I’ve ever been called emo before…” he says with a snort as Jude blinks at him.

Does this guy not take anything seriously at all? Jude is quite literally pointing a sword at his face, but for some reason, he doesn’t even look worried at all. Is it because this Sharpness lookalike has more gear than Jude?

Considering he just woke up, he isn’t going to be fucking sleeping with his armor on, of course. He isn’t that crazy.

“You’re not Sharpness—fuck it, I’m calling Tai.” Jude says, grabbing his communicator from his nightstand. He barely gets it in his hand before he feels a cold hand grab his wrist, and suddenly he’s face-first on his bed with a loud yell.

“I’d rather you not call your admin,” Not-Sharpness says.

Jude tries to kick his legs out to get him off his back, his heart pounding as the other man easily grabs the sword from his hand, wrenching it away and dropping it off the bed. Jude yells again.

“Get off of me! Let me go—!”

A hand stops Jude from talking.

“Calm down. I will be gone by the time the sun has risen. Yes, I am Sharpness. You don’t believe me? I came from another universe, perhaps one a bit closer to yours. I do not know how similar our worlds are, but if I look like your Sharpness, then perhaps they are much closer than I expect them to be.”

The Sharpness look-alike speaks quickly, answering every question Jude has in his mind before he can even ask it. Jude lets out a shaky gasp as Sharpness(?) pulls his hand away from his mouth.

He still holds Jude down, not letting him go, but the two of them have gone quiet. Jude’s heart is still beating wildly, but by the looks of it, this guy isn’t going to kill him.

“I don’t believe you,” Jude says after a few moments, which is probably a mistake considering he’s in such a vulnerable position right now. He’d be spawn-killed if he died to this guy, but he seems non-threatening enough for some reason, even though he is quite literally holding Jude down like it’s nothing. The difference in strength scares Jude, though apparently not enough to make him shut his mouth.

“How do I prove it to you?” The man above him asks, peering down at him.

Now Jude can see his face. The yellow light makes his eyes look slightly brighter, even though just earlier they had looked dull. He leans to ask. “Do you want me to tell you something only you and I know?”

“I don’t know, bro! Get off of me.” Jude tries to buck him off, but to no avail. The guy really has a hold on him, and Jude can’t shake him loose. He’s too heavy and too strong.

“You’ll only call your admin. I’d rather not have you start some kind of manhunt for someone who won’t exist the moment the sun rises,” the man continues.

Then he sits back, still somehow holding Jude down even though he looks completely relaxed. Jude grumbles. This is not fair. Why is he getting sat on by this larper?

“Now, how can I prove it to you? Hm…” The Sharpness look-alike hums and rubs his chin as Jude flops his head onto the mattress and groans loudly, thumping his fists against it repeatedly and kicking his legs out like a kid throwing some kind of tantrum.

“Relax,” the man says, touching his ear lightly, just behind it. Jude immediately pauses and freezes when the other touches a very vulnerable—and certainly intimate—spot on him.

“Hey!” Jude growls, baring his teeth at the other, who just smiles and snorts before moving his hand away. “I remember how you hated being touched in that area,” he says.

“Everyone knows that, you big ass! You don’t touch a rabbit’s ears! In fact stop being a freak and don’t touch anyone’s ears at all, you weirdo.” Jude hisses again, kicking his feet, though they can’t reach the man on top of him.

Not-Sharpness’ face softens at that. “Well, I’m glad. You’re not one to open up to people so easily… For people to know about that means you trust them,” he says softly, looking happy yet sad at the same time.

Jude just glares at him. What the fuck is this guy even on? First he copies Sharp, and now he sounds high as fuck. “Dude, are you high? Just so you know, if you continue this, everyone’s going to know sooner or later, so get off of me.” Jude bucks again, but he’s immediately pushed back down.

“I will have to prove myself to you first before I let you go. Then I will trust you not to tell anyone I was here,” the man says.

Jude scoffs. “Okay, that’s funny.” He snorts sharply. Is this guy serious? Oh, God… Jude drops his head down again in defeat. He’s never getting out of here.

“You’re a good trapper, the best even. A professional, by your own words,” the man starts.

Jude raises his head again, rolling his eyes and scoffing. “My guy, everyone knows that.”

“Shush.” The man gently tugs at a strand of his hair, making Jude yelp in annoyance. It reminds him of how Sharpness used to tug his hair all the time, and Jude would do the same with his ponytail. They’d always end up trying to pull each other’s hair like a pair of kids until someone, usually Parker or Godis, had to break them up.

This is almost exactly the same as that, but this one seems more adoring… maybe even affectionate.

Yeah, this does not make any sense. This can’t be Sharpness—from a different world? Yeah, right. That shit doesn’t exist! As if! That’s like a science nerd’s biggest wet dream. And Jude isn’t much of a science kid—maybe redstone, but, like—that’s not really science itself.

Maybe Shadow would go crazy over this—unless this guy is just sick in the head… Jude wouldn’t be surprised at all.

“I’m still not finished yet,” Not-Sharpness says.

Then he clears his throat as Jude glares at him, watching from the corner of his eye as the look-alike simply smiles down at him. “You were trained by Shadow, and most of your traps were made by him. Your teacher, Shadow, is a good trapper as well, but he isn’t as creative with his traps as you are. You liked experimenting with a lot of the traps he made, and you made a name for yourself because of that,” the man continues.

“Everyone knows that man,” Jude says, and Not-Sharpness just sighs softly. “I know… I’ve always liked talking about you,” he says.

Jude makes a face at that. “Okay… as if that isn’t weird at all, okay bro.” he comments, and the man above him snorts softly. “It is. Well—let’s see.”

Jude shivers when he feels a hand on his back. It’s a soft touch.

“I do not know if it will be the same, but when you were a younger trapper, much younger than you are now, you never knew about the rule of never using your own trap on yourself to check if it works. You always used your body and hurt yourself. Over the years, you’ve gained many scars from that,” he says softly, almost sadly.

Jude flinches at that.

That… was something he never really told anyone. Shadow knows about it, yes, because he was the one who actually told Jude to stop doing that. Jude was going against the trapper’s rule book by doing it. Because the most important thing about being a trapper is staying safe—not being the one getting hurt by their own work.

“When I met you in my world, you still did it—you always did it with some form of… meaning. I never knew what it was… But it was probably because you hated living,” Not-Sharpness says softly.

Jude flinches again, looking over at him. The look-alike is staring down at him with a sad expression. “I’m not depressed,” Jude says. 

Sharpness just sadly smiled at him. “But you are sad—and I have a feeling you are too in this world…” he shrugs weakly. Then he shifts onto his knees, allowing Jude to move. Jude blinks at him, wide-eyed, slowly sitting up and looking over at Sharpness.

“How do you know that?” Jude asks as he settles back down, the look-alike sitting down as well.

“A different world where I knew you much better than the one you’re from, probably,” Sharp says with a small shrug.

“I—” Jude opens his mouth, but no words leave it. “I—” he stutters again, shaking his head. This is impossible. How can that even happen?

“How did this even happen?” he asks.

“The Farlands,” Sharp murmurs, and Jude looks at him, eyes narrowing. “Are you for real? The Farlands is a myth. No one believes in that bullshit,” he comments as Sharp seems to find it funny and snorts.

“I know, but I was there, fighting someone—the land itself isn’t supposed to exist. At least, not from where I’m from.”

“Even here, by the way,” Jude quips, and Sharp just smiles, pushing a stray strand of hair behind his ear as he gives Jude a shy smile. It fits him, and Jude can’t help but startle at the sight.

A Sharpness lookalike, and he falls in love quick—yeah, he’s not surprised. So what if he likes his rival? Even his lookalikes? So what if his face looks both punchable and lovable at the same time? So what if he imagines waking up in the morning with him beside him, kissing his face and lips, and living a nice, good life?

That’s just a bastard’s dream, really…

“Anything can happen there. I’ve prepared myself for it—but I didn’t take into account that this 0.9% possibility would happen to me.” Sharpness sighs with a shrug as Jude looks at him, blinking stupidly. “So how do you know you’re going back?” he asks, still feeling a bit suspicious. Maybe this guy is playing him.

“Because the Farlands always takes its people back sooner or later, and I do not belong here. It won’t even be long before I get kicked off and into the void if the Farlands doesn’t take me back first.” Sharp shrugs. He doesn’t look worried at all, or even scared at the notion of being thrown into a void, and Jude can’t help but make a face at that.

Jude stares at him for a moment, and the other man stares back, his face soft and almost glad. “Wow… That’s… crazy—I might be asleep. Hold on.” Jude brings his hand up and makes a move to slap himself, but his wrist is caught by Sharpness, who stops him, his face suddenly worried.

“Don’t,” he says. Then his expression lowers, turning more solemn. “Please.”

Jude blinks at him, surprised, then tugs his wrist away from the other man and drops his hand. “Damn, okay. Alright. Sheesh,” he says, and Sharpness shoots him a thankful look.

“You’ve always been really careless,” he says.

“You are too,” Jude shoots back, and Sharp seems to smile at that, his shoulders shaking a bit as he chuckles lowly.

“I suppose… We really do fit together like pieces of a puzzle, huh?” Sharp tilts his head and looks at Jude with a sad, soft expression.

Jude startles at that. There. Why does he look like that? Why does he do that every time he looks at him? Why does he look at Jude like that? What’s the reason? In fact, the better question is, what is the relationship between the other him and this other Sharpness? He talks about the other Jude like a close friend… and, most of all… like he’s already dead—or gone…

The both of them go quiet again. Jude inches up against his headboard and sits there, a few inches away from Sharp, who remains in his spot, looking around his room as if he’s mapping out the place.

“So… what the hell are you doing in the Farlands, anyway? I mean… Are you some kind of adventurer in the other world or something?” Jude asks.

Sharpness shrugs. “Or something.” He smirks when Jude’s face falls at that.

“Dude, why even tell me about it if you’re not planning on sharing what the fuck you’re doing there?” he asks.

The other man just snickers. “I don’t think it really matters. It’s not much information for the great JudeLow himself, really. It doesn’t matter much.” He says it with a small shrug as Jude scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“Doesn’t matter much, my ass. Did we miss the part where we literally both agreed that the Farlands is a myth, and you just told me you were there, which is why you were transported here?” Jude tilts his head, and Sharp just snorts, lowering his head and shaking it.

“It’s irrelevant,” Sharp says with a smirk.

Jude makes a gasping, annoyed noise as he crosses his arms over his chest.

So, turns out Sharp is still Sharp from another world. Annoying and stubborn—of fucking course.

“What about you? What is this place all about?” Sharp asks.

“This is my burrow. I live here. I’m actually located at the spawn of the server. This is Strength. We, uh—we’re basically a bunch of assholes in this place. We kill each other daily,” Jude says, trying his best to summarize the whole server.

But Sharpness just looks horrified. “You guys kill each other daily?” he asks.

“Yeah, why? Aren’t yours the same?” Jude asks, and Sharpness shakes his head.

“No, we’re on hardcore—we only live once,” he says.

“Oh… oof. I’m sorry about that. You might as well get a better server that isn’t hardcore.” Jude snorts, and Sharp just gives him a look, a thin-lipped one. “Why are you making that face?” Jude asks, a bit uneasy at Sharpness’ expression.

The other man just shrugs. “Our server is… a little… unstable—hence the Farlands. We cannot leave the server ever since it started… That means if we die… we really die. We’re stuck in our server,” Sharpness says, and Jude’s eyes widen at that.

Holy shit—that’s quite literally one of Jude’s biggest fears, being stuck in a server… “Holy shit,” Jude whispers.

“Yeah.” Sharpness’ sad face turns into a small smile.

Jude winced, shaking his head. Trapped in a server, fuck that's horrifying. That's his literal biggest fear that's why he often joins famous public servers than private ones. Strength is an exception of course. Just because he trust Tai to be less of a shit admin. “So this is the first time you’re basically out of that place, right?”

Jude grabs his pillow and hugs it to his chest. Sharpness nods, twirling a strand of his hair around his finger in thought.

“Yes—it is. But before it happened, I could still leave. Both me and you could, actually. But neither me nor my Jude expected all of this. We only planned to stay in the server because it easily caught both of our interests. It was considered one of the largest hardcore servers—it’s considered as one of the largest hardcore servers in the whole world actually, almost trillions or more of blocks on each axis.” Sharp explains. "You could even say it's infinite. But we'll never know, because no one has travelled that far beyond the Farlands."

And Jude startles at that. Like... Whaaaaaaat? “Oh shit, that explains the whole unstable thing, then. No server should be allowed to be that big. That would break a server,” Jude says.

“In a way…” Sharp shrugs a bit at that, but for some reason, Jude feels there’s something more to it than just an unlimited reach for every player.

“I see… So you and me—we’re like… what? Best buddies? Why are we in that shit server, anyway?” Jude asks, tilting his head as Sharp scratches his cheek a bit, running his fingertips over the scars.

Jude watches him. He doesn’t think he’s seen his own Sharpness have a scar like that, but then again, respawn anchors work here, and they aren’t on hardcore. Neither are the servers his Sharp goes to—they were never hardcore at all, so there wouldn’t be any reason to get scars like that.

“To explore,” Sharpness says.

Jude nods. “So are we buddies?” he asks.

“We are.” Sharp nods, and Jude lets out a soft breath at that.

Him and Sharpness not killing each other in another world? That must be nice. To not have to always fight whenever they’re around each other. The only time Jude had ever enjoyed being with his Sharp was when they were teamed up, and even then, it was full of arguments and annoying each other to the point that Jude could barely get a breath in and actually enjoy Sharp being around him.

“That must be nice,” Jude murmurs suddenly, blurting it out by accident.

Sharpness looks up at him, and their eyes meet for a moment. For just a second, something glints in Sharpness’ eyes before he tilts his head.

“Do you like him?” Sharpness asks.

And just like that, the moment is ruined. Jude flinches at the question, almost throwing his pillow on instinct.

“What? Wahhh? What are you talking about? Holy shit, bro, you’re crazy! Who do I like? My Sharpness? Hell nahhhh, dude! I’d rather eat dirt than like that guy! Holy bro!” Jude says, rambling, stammering, and stuttering.

The other man just smiles, folding his hands in his lap. “I liked my Jude,” he says softly.

Jude shuts the fuck up immediately, folding quickly at those four simple words. His ears fold back as he looks down at his pillow, hands clenching around the feather-filled cushion, scared he’ll rip it in half.

“I like my Jude… how about you?” Sharpness asks, moving closer, sitting criss-cross applesauce and leaning on his elbows in that cool manner that makes Jude want to slap him.

Because how can he say that straight-faced while Jude is over here about to combust to hell and back?

“I-I-I… Is it hot in here?” Jude says, trying to deflect from answering the million-dollar question. He waves a hand over his face, fanning himself as he pretends to look around. Sharpness just giggles, soft and a little rough, as he looks down at his hands, running a finger over his palm. “I never knew if it was one-sided or if he liked me,” he says softly.

Jude freezes at that, lowering his hand. “Oh… so…” Jude starts. “Is he, like… dead? Or is he trapped somewhere?”

Sharp meets his eyes, then his voice falls. “Dead.”

Jude swallows at that, blinking furiously as they both fall quiet. Just the two of them sitting there in an uneasy silence. “How do I know this isn’t the future and not the alternate universe?” Jude asks, his voice squeaking a bit.

Sharpness shrugs. “You do know I would remember this server if it was in the past. And besides, in my world we met through various servers and teamed up in most of them. You trap people, and I protect you,” he says.

Jude almost lets out a sigh of relief at that as he nods. Him and his Sharpness met here at Strength officially, they never really worked together back then, but they did pass each other a couple of times but they never really knew each other.

“Alright… okay… I guess that makes me feel a bit better,” Jude mutters to himself. “Me too, knowing that you are safe in a different world.” Sharp nods at him, and Jude gives him a wincing smile. “Yeah… right…”

Both of them fall silent again. “How did I—I mean, how did he die in your world?” Jude asks, running a hand through his hair to soothe himself a bit. I mean, how exactly are you supposed to react when a different version of someone you know tells you that you’ve died in another universe?

Sharpness shakes his head, shrugging. “We were supposed to leave together—the both of us were trying to get out of the server. The server itself was already chaos. No law, no rules, it was complete anarchy. I had my back turned away from my Jude once and… suddenly… he’s—” He breathes out shakily, slumping down as Jude lets out a soft, “Oh.”

He knows that isn’t the only part of the story. There has to be more. He knows himself; he’s not one to easily die. He’s gone through countless kinds of bullshit, and not even a sword or a guillotine could fucking kill him. Whatever killed him made Sharp like this. But he doesn’t know what… or perhaps who.

“And ever since then, I tried my hardest to find a way to revive my Jude—but it’s impossible. But I still believe it can happen… If I only get to kill—” Sharp suddenly pauses, eyes widening, almost revealing whatever it was, before stopping himself as Jude leans closer.

“Kill what?” he asks.

“Nevermind, don’t mind me. It’s just a fool’s hope.” Sharp’s eyes lift to him as he lets out a breath, shaking his head. “It's no one, and even then, I cannot tell you about it. Whatever thoughts you have on me will change if I do so.” He says it with a deep sigh, and Jude frowns.

Well the notion of reviving someone seems pretty bleak, for a glitched out server, this Sharpness’ Jude may as well be non existent. But then again… death itself is a strange but a terrible concept in this world. Even as a child Jude has always known that even if they die, they always have another chance to come back. No one dies forever…

“I don’t think it can get worse from now,” Jude shrugs easily—decided to just not mention the “reviving my Jude by killing someone” comment from the other. Sharp snorts at that, his shoulders raising for a moment before lowering again. “It will…” he says. “It will…” Then he whispers it again.

“Oh… huh…” Jude mutters. “That sounds kind of edgy. You sure you aren’t going emo, Sharp?” he asks, mostly just to make things lighter.

Sharp’s lips crack into a small smile as he shrugs a bit. “Maybe,” he says, his eyes crinkling softly at the corners.

“So, not going to, uh… ignore the fact that we both just kinda confessed to the wrong people…” Jude says, rubbing his hands together.

“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.” Sharp smiles, and Jude lets out a small laugh at that. That’s not really what he’s getting at. “Right, well—I doubt you can even walk up to Sharp and not cause everyone to freak out. They’d rather address the elephant in the room first before that,” Jude jokes.

“But I guess your secret’s also safe with me,” Jude adds with a shrug.

Sharp simply smiles at him sadly. “I have no Jude to tell these emotions to,” Sharp says. “Sometimes it’s better to take the chance before it’s too late.” He nods at Jude, who bites his lower lip.

“Is that advice from the great swordmaster?” Jude asks.

Sharp huffs. “You can take it however you want it to be. Advice, a hint… in the end, I just want what’s best for you. You wear my best friend’s face, and I don’t ever want to see him hurt… ever.”

Jude feels his face heat up at that.

Wow… This Sharp truly deserves his Jude, then. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard those words come out of his own Sharpness at all—even when they were teamed up. His Sharp wasn’t the one to have his back—well, maybe he does, but not in the way this Sharpness does. This Sharpness does it out of genuine care and love for his own Jude.

He’s just like him…

“Me too,” Jude murmurs. “I’m sorry you had to lose your Jude—it sounds like you cared and loved him a lot.” He clasps his hands together, scratching one hand slightly as he looks down at it, fidgeting.

“I’ve always liked to believe that everything happens for a reason, but my Jude never really believed that. Because anything can happen for any stupid and dumb reason… and… I don’t know who to believe anymore. He is my light, and I only survived in my universe because I had him… I have to survive to protect him,” Sharp murmurs softly.

“You should still survive. I’m sure he’d want that—for you to find a way to get out of that place…” Jude says, meeting Sharpness’s eyes. “I’m sorry I can’t help you. If I could, I would have.”

Sharpness simply smiles at him.

“Thank you… I appreciate that. I wish I could also offer you my help anytime you so much as needed me,” Sharp says, and Jude blushes at that, huffing out a small, embarrassed laugh.

“Nah, that would be too embarrassing. I’m not a princess to be saved.” He waves a hand at Sharp, who smiles. “That’s right. That would be me…”

Jude eyes him. “So he calls you that too, huh? Princess?”

Sharp snorts. “Sometimes, when he gets annoyed at me, he likes to call me that word because I hate being called princess. But over time, I’ve come to accept and appreciate it.”

Jude laughs at that, letting out a soft “hah.” He supposes he and the other Jude really are just the same. It’s almost kind of sad… Jude would never even let his greatest enemies experience what this version of Sharpness is going through right now. Imagine losing someone you care about, only to suddenly be sent to another universe and meet another version of them.

Jude wishes he could do something about it—but his hands are tied…

“So… your Sharpness,” Sharp says, leaning closer, resting heavily on his elbows as Jude lets out a small stammer, lowering his head and hugging his pillow tightly to his chest.

Wow… he didn’t think he’d ever experience this in a million years. Waking up at 2 AM and meeting another version of his crush who had lost his own Jude and apparently loved that Jude, and now they’re both sitting on Jude’s bed, talking about their crushes as if nothing’s wrong.

“Yeah…” Jude trails off.

“So, how did you realize you’re madly in love with me?” Sharpness smirks, and Jude immediately slaps him upside the head with a pillow. Sharpness laughs, giggling as Jude huffs, his face turning red. “You cannot be playing me right now,” he says.

“I’m sorry—I’m sorry, it’s too funny.” He wipes away a fake tear as Jude huffs at him, his ears twitching before folding back down as he slumps against his pillow, hugging it to his chest again.

“Maybe the same way you realized yours,” Jude murmurs softly, tracing a finger along the pillow. “The slow realization of your thoughts being drowned out by only him, and him, and him again and again. Or how everything just feels brighter with him around… Even if he doesn’t realize it, he makes my day. He may be shitty as fuck, but he makes me so happy.” He lets out a soft breath.

He raises his head to meet Sharp’s eyes, who smiles at him.

“I don’t think I can live without him around…” Jude says, then. “How did you… deal with losing your Jude?” he asks, brows furrowing.

Sharp simply shrugs. “Hoping… Just hoping that what I do is good and that he’ll be proud of me. These days, it’s hard to believe so… I don’t know—but I have to fight to get what I want.”

“And what is that?” Jude tilts his head. Sharp meets his eyes again, and for a moment, Jude thinks he sees a faint shine of red in those green orbs.

For a moment, they simply hold each other’s gaze. There is weight—and something else—behind Sharpness’ eyes. It makes Jude a little uneasy.

But then Sharpness breaks the hold and looks away, smiling.

“Secret…” he says, raising a finger and wagging it at Jude. Jude huffs at that, his ears, which had perked up in alarm, folding back down with a dull thump.

“Anywaays… time is getting closer. Soon I’ll be leaving…” Sharp pauses. “If there’s any piece of advice or knowledge I can give you…”

He takes a breath. “It would be to do what you’ve always wanted to do and don’t waste any moments of your life waiting for something to happen. Because you never know what may happen to you or anyone else,” he says softly, in the tone of someone who has experienced it firsthand. “There is no right time at all. What’s right is focusing on the present, not the past or the future.”

Sharp’s expression breaks a little, his smile turning shaky. “I made that mistake, and I regretted letting my Jude go, knowing that I was never able to tell him how I felt. I love him so much that I’d burn the world for him. If I had been given a chance to exchange places with him, I would.”

“Stop…” Jude says. Sharp pauses.

Jude’s brows furrow in annoyance. Even this Sharp is emotionally dumb, that doesn’t surprise him at all. “Don’t say that. Knowing him, he’d be just like me. He cares for you too… and I don’t think he’d be able to survive like how you are now if the roles were reversed.”

That causes Sharp to laugh. “Funny. I would’ve thought you’d say you’d survive much longer than me.”

“Well—I mean, yeah, I’m much better at surviving than you, technically.” Jude shrugs as he watches Sharpness stand up, smoothing the bed sheet lightly before making sure his sword is properly strapped to his hips and that he didn’t leave anything important on the bed.

Then he opens his inventory. For a moment, Jude gets a glimpse of Sharpness’ things. Realizing what’s inside is basically a PvP kit, along with an enchanted mace in his inventory and a bunch of shulkers, Jude’s face folds in worry. It’s like he’s going to war.

He slides himself over the edge of his bed to stand up. “You’re going now?” he asks, worried. “In a bit.” Sharp looks up and meets his eyes.

“I—” Jude stops. What should he even say? It feels like they did so much, but at the same time, not even a lot. “Are you going on a fight? On hardcore? What if you die?” Jude asks.

Sharp cocks his head. “Do you not have that much faith in me, Judey?”

Jude chokes on that. “I—no, of course not. I do trust that you can do it. But… man—this is hardcore we’re talking about… on a glitched-out server. That’s a forever death,” he says, whispering the last words under his breath as Sharpness shrugs. “I know what I’m doing.”

Jude gives him a thin-lipped smile and winces. “I know… I just kind of wished I could do something about it…” he trails off. Sharp’s eyes seem to light up at that. “You can.”

Jude perks up. He can do something about it? Well, what is it, then? Surely he can help Sharpness if so—“A hug—I want you to give me a goodbye hug,” Sharp says. J

And at that Jude’s ears flop down in disappointment. A hug? Out of all things, a hug? What can a hug do to protect this Sharpness from dying? Nothing! Nada!

“That’s not going to help you stay safe,” Jude says, but steps closer anyway. The earlier uneasiness he felt around him is basically gone. This is just Sharpness. Frankly, not the same Sharpness from his world, but still the same man he likes.

Sharpness grabs his shoulder and pulls him into a tight hug. “It will—it makes my will stronger knowing that another Jude is safe in his own home, with his own four walls. It makes me happy. And you holding me makes me happier,” he whispers, his breath tickling Jude’s fur as his ears twitch a bit. Jude gives Sharpness a tight hug back as well.

For a moment, they just stand there. Then Sharpness steps back, letting Jude go. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this will help me,” he says with a smile.

Jude shrugs. “I don’t know, a memory, I guess? I mean, I suppose it didn’t give you cool skills where if you hug your enemies, they die?” he asks.

Sharp laughs at that, giggling as if Jude just said the funniest joke in the world, which isn’t even funny. In fact, it’s pretty dry. Jude can do much better.

But Sharpness seems to find it so funny.

“Is it close? Are you leaving? And how do you know?” Jude asks.

They both stand there for a moment, the room quiet. Jude can hear a few cows outside mooing above his burrow, but overall, it’s probably already four or five in the morning, and everyone will soon be waking up. He still hasn’t gotten his good beauty sleep.

But it doesn’t matter with this Sharpness here.

“It’s hard to explain, but ever since I came to that server and we were all locked out, the glitch in it felt alive and inside all of us… Sometimes I can access it. I can feel how strange it is to be here, how I’m not supposed to be here. This world is trying to kick me out for staying here for too long, and I can feel my code fizzling and weakening, trying to put me back where I was.”

Sharp raises a hand as Jude narrows his eyes, squinting to see that Sharp’s hand is glitching lightly. A dark red glitch appears, then disappears.

“Oh damn… That’s… that’s basically a myth as well. Glitches? It really happens?” Jude whispers as he looks at Sharp’s hand. It continues to fizzle before Sharp lowers it, looking back at Jude with a small smile. “Who knows, maybe I can come back here if I try hard enough and find a way,” he says.

Jude perks up at that. “You should. Everyone here would love you. And maybe my Sharp can finally have someone he can talk to without having everyone want to kill him.” He smirks. “He finally has someone on the same brain wave, I’m sure you both would enjoy that.”

Sharpness laughs at that. “That would be nice… I suppose I hope I can find a way to come back soon… After I finish my business… Then maybe I can try.” His voice softens. And when Jude blinks, the space in front of him is empty.

Sharpness is gone.

Jude blinks, looking around. “Sharp? Sharpness?” he calls, wiping his eyes.

For a moment, he stands there, a heavy feeling settling in his chest as he thinks about how there is a Sharpness out there experiencing loneliness in a large place he can’t even escape from. It brings a dull pain to his chest.

He’s alone and in pain… Jude lets out a shaky breath.

Then, suddenly, he sees a poppy drifting down. Its red petals sizzle with red glitching as Jude reaches over to catch it in his hand. He can almost feel the static at the tips of his fingers as it glitches in his palm, staying there, not leaving.

It takes him a few days to finally confess to Sharpness. He picks out a few poppies and stands in front of Cow’s base, where Sharpness is temporarily staying, a crumpled piece of paper tucked into his pocket. 

He’s practiced the words written on it for days and nights, and there’s a slight tremble in his hands as he fights the urge to back away. Before he can, he reminds himself of the glitching poppy in his pocket—the one he’s been keeping there to give him the strength and confidence to do this.

Somewhere out there, there is a Sharpness who lost his chance to admit his feelings and wishes he’d had enough time.

Jude has that time in his hands now, and he isn’t planning to waste it.