Chapter Text
Jude was right.
Sharpness was going to betray, and he suffered the fate of thinking Jude was stupid enough to let him.
Jude wasn't sure what to feel, honestly.
He felt betrayed, yes, but he already anticipated it. He already knew what was going to happen. In every universe, it was bound to happen—Sharpness was going to cut Jude's thin rope of trust all for shallow revenge.
The thought left Jude with a bitter feeling in his mouth. He was cleaning up the loot of Sharpness' demise, stashing it in an empty shulker box before storing it in his ender chest. His movements were stiff, devoid of his usual bounce.
Quietly, he stepped back. His eyes fell on the spot where Sharpness' corpse faded out when he respawned, his thoughts mind silent yet also running a million miles per second. He was trying to sort through his emotions. Well, if he can even identify what he's feeling.
Jude wasn't stupid. He's gone through countless teammates. A few stayed a long time, and a few shorter than an hour. What's the difference for the one who betrayed him now?
After all, it was inevitable. He knew it was temporary. Sharpness had disappointed him time and time again. This time was no different.
But Jesus, he wanted to disappear. He wanted the ground under him to swallow him whole, whatever it can do just to remove the settling emptiness inside him. The kill chamber's walls were stained with the metallic scent of blood, looming over Jude's senses.
He shook his head. 'I should get back now.' He thought to himself.
He went back up the water sluggishly. The cold seeped under his armour and into his clothing. Jude doesn't mind. He's gone up and down countless streams of water for traps. It doesn't bother him anymore. It doesn't bother him anymore.
It was raining on the surface. He brushes it off and goes straight back to spawn.
His base felt colder when he got back. Definitely due to the rain. His clothing dried instantly when he got inside, the usual warmth that enveloped him felt colder this time around.
He couldn't hear Parker's usual antics. Walking around a bit more, the base was quiet. Parker was definitely out with DoomedCow since he mentioned he had something to do with him a few days ago. Sharpness was as well...
Sharpness...
Of course he would be gone. Why wouldn't he be? You're not teammates anymore Jude. He wouldn't be staying in your base anymore.
Just then, Jude felt something in his chest.
He started coughing. It wasn't that bad. He just felt a little bit of phlegm in his throat and—
A singular petal fell out. His coughing stopped after getting it out, the small red petal landing on his palms.
He paused for a second, the shallow thought of Sharpness formed in his mind. God, everything just had to point towards him.
It was a simple petal. He had other things to get to.
The silence when he was working was deafening. Jude tore away all the papers he had put up for brainstorming once more. None of his plans were seemingly effective and he was becoming increasingly restless.
The noise was probably loud enough to wake someone up. Well, it was. Parker had opened the door enough to peep through and see Jude's state.
His hair was messy this time around. The curls loosely clinging onto his forehead and right above his eyes. His expression was devoid of any emotion, fully blank. He felt out of it. Like nothing much mattered.
Finally fully opening it, Parker's brows visibly furrowed. "Jude? You're up so late?"
Parker tilts his head, seeing the messy pile of papers on the floor. Safe to say Jude isn't like he usually was tonight.
"Just give me a sec, Parker. I'm about to finish." He lies through his teeth. He knew Parker wasn't going to believe it, but he also knew that he's too tired to argue. The time was around 1 AM now, rain still pouring outside left the atmosphere chilly.
Maybe he underestimated the Enderman hybrids will, because he only saw him form a frown. "You literally scrapped everything off that board right there..." Parker deadpans.
He can't argue with that, but he can't help but try to gaslight him further. "Dude. I didn't scrap them. I just put them down for now so I'd have more space to put up on the board. I'm still keeping notes in my head."
Straight bullshit.
"Don't lie to me." Sleepy Parker was so pushy. "You know I can tell when you're lying, Jude. I'm cooking breakfast tomorrow, and I don't want a cranky Jude complaining about average tasting food."
He rolls his eyes at the comment. He doesn't get cranky. "Shut up, Parker. Go to sleep if you want. I swear on everything I won't be cranky tomorrow."
The enderman raised a brow, huffing. He moved towards Jude's bed and sat on the edge, watching him for a moment longer. His gaze was soft, studying Jude's movements.
Jude went back to writing on scraps of paper from his open drawer, the one he stopped bothering to close after doing so a hundred times for the past seven hours. He had to design something new. Something creative.
Parker's gaze stayed on him the entire time. Doodle after doodle, patiently waiting for Jude to finish.
Somewhere along the lines, Jude heard Parker's breathing evening out, signaling his sleep. Jude was almost finished with a blueprint of the idea he finally settled with.
A wind charge launcher. He'd litter spawn with them, let people get used to them, then use them to trap unsuspecting people. It was a long-term trap plan. Good enough to keep him busy for what he knows is coming to stab him in the back.
Numbness.
A horrible feeling that plagued Jude for periods of his life, left with nothing to feel for. Whenever Jude was left to his own devices, nothing to do and his mind filled with regrets, he always resulted to suppressing everything he felt until he could brush it off, pretending he didn't care.
He thought it was effective. But life slapped him with his trapper friends. That gave Jude some joy for a bit, until he met Sharpness.
That high gave him so much feeling, it was unreal. Now, he had to come to terms that seeing him would result to a worse feeling he couldn't describe. Where he'd feel bittersweet for something that never happened. So he'd instinctively suppress his emotions once more to block it out.
Yep. That's why Jude was doing all this planning for. To make sure he'll be busying himself to not feel so numb when the time comes.
Reality pulls him back when he realizes he unintentionally went past where the line should've stopped at. Going back, he quickly erases it, sighing.
He feels his chest tightening again, and his throat was caught in... Whatever the earlier thing was.
Ignoring the uncomfortable feeling, he swallowed whatever it was. His mouth felt dry as hell, and he couldn't be bothered to get up and get water.
The time read 4 AM, almost morning in Jude's book. He guesses he'll be sleeping until noon. It's not like he wasn't surprised, already doing it a few times.
Parker would usually get up at 5 AM. Maybe even earlier if he felt productive. Jude winces, that felt way too disturbing to think about. Seriously, he doesn't understand him.
He turned to look at the blissfully asleep Parker on the bed. Parker never stayed up late, Jude took note of keeping quiet after 9 AM to not get an angry Parker. Jude deadpans not a moment later, noticing that Parker was also asleep on his bed.
He sighed as he stood up, his limbs cramping for having stayed crouched for basically ten hours.
Sharpness always kept Jude's rests in check...
Jude rolled his eyes at that. 'Seriously Jude, get over it.' He huffs to himself.
Slowly creeping towards Parker, he brushes him to the side. Parker scrunched up in response, rolling to give him space.
Jude and Parker had sleepovers when they were young. This wasn't much of a surprise.
He gingerly got beside him. He definitely was not sleeping on the floor. Though, he gave the enderman hybrid the grace of having the blanket to himself. He didn't like sharing blankets with anyone, always cringing at the image.
Sleep caught up to him not a few seconds later. His body still felt tense, yet he couldn't really do much about it. It's whatever. Jude doesn't care. He doesn't care. Yeah. It's fine. It doesn't matter.