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“Oh no, Mumbo!” Grian screeched as his feathers puffed up in panic at the sight of where his best friend was stationed formerly within the Spider’s Nest of the tower. He heard his friend explode with his last words being about Gem moving and then he was gone. His spine shuddered at a sudden memory of Jimmy as one of the Bad Boys, a faction or a brotherly bond or both, in that season of death games to stay alive. He could still recall through blurriness of his grieving mind, the canary falling to his death after pushing the cart of TNT along, his two trusted brothers-in-arms cheering him on.
Those excited faces quickly faded to horror afterwards when lightning struck where he was slain by his own hand. A part of it felt like it was his fault for allowing Timmy to push a minecart when he tends to be clumsy and on the constant risk of death. He was miserable then but he was just fuming now as he dug Mumbo’s grave by the mountainside. Not only did Jimmy kill him once by his own trap, he was now making fun of Mumbo. How dare he. He made a promise to himself and even to the world that Jimmy will be out of the series by his own hand and his hand alone.
***
Grian can’t lie and say that he didn’t expect it but he kind of did but at the same time not really. The death was expected but he didn’t realize how soon it would have had to happen as he watched in mostly masked horror, his last remaining teammate, Skizz, struggle to pull out a water bucket before falling to his demise by a mere charge of wind to the face. This accursed tower would be the death of him and all he cares about at this point if he can’t help it.
Through his constant mourning, he shakily looked up at Martyn who was present on the tower with him. “Wanna be friends?” A laugh escaped his friend while his heart cracked furthermore. Was that a yes? A no? It didn’t matter. Eventually afterwards with digging one more grave for Skizz and being seen as a widower to a teammate showcasing not really any remorse for his lost team, he stumbled towards the car where he knew Gem and Joel would be. He was familiar with both of them and liked their presence even if he hated the latter’s car with a passion.
If he wasn’t currently grieving, he would have found some kind of twisted way to throw the two off the bridges, but he needed some friends so he went against his usually chaotic nature to try to win them over. “Welcome to the spanners, the three bridges. The two spanners that were once spanning are now dead. So! I’m instantly replacing them with you guys so you can have their seats! That’s not weird, not weird at all.”
Grian was grinning but he was poorly masking his pain as his eyes spoke of everything that Gem and Joel needed to know. Joel, not the best at comfort entirely at times, thought about cracking some kind of witty joke while Gem merely looked concerned and made it known. His mind was clouding at the thought of how he once lost Joel right after Jimmy.
It was most likely the second time he had watched the man die when the two were the ones that remained in some kind of alliance, even if one of their alliances was shared by their lust for blood. The arrows were embedded into his back when he looked up at Joel who bled from his mouth with his appearance flickering between being a wizard to a fellow Bad Boy. His eyes were the color of the blood that painted his clothes and his hands and he looked like he was scrutinizing Grian as punishment for all he’s done.
How did he get back here? He wore his red sweater but sometimes he wore sunglasses on top of his fluffy dirty blonde hair. The tower felt so distant and unreal. Maybe the whole season was a lie and he was imagining it, maybe he was truly trapped in some kind of loop for his judgement. He would think so but there was only one problem with this theory.
Gem placed a gentle hand along his shoulder which made him flinch and freeze for a moment before settling down and blinking rapidly. She wouldn’t have existed in both of those seasons, she wasn’t yet dragged into the death games. What was she doing here again?
“Grian, it’s Gem, you okay?” Gem’s head tilted as she spoke gently. He doesn’t recall her ever sounding so gentle before. Joel also didn’t look like a wizard or a Bad Boy anymore as he didn’t have any sunglasses nor a cloak. He wasn’t even red nor yellow yet, so he was far from bloodlust.
“Ye… yeah, think so. What happened?” Grian’s beady eyes were glued to Joel who just stared back in confusion.
“I think you were somewhere else for a bit. It’s okay, you were just telling us about joining you in the tower. As Joel mentioned, we’ll head back to our base afterwards.” She wasn’t blind to Grian lowering his expression a bit before she sighed and continued,
“But! We’re going to stay for a bit for you though. You made a nest with Skizzy and Mumbo in the tower right? Let's keep you company.”
“Are you sure?” Grian had to be sure that they were both okay with this. He was beyond okay with it- he can’t handle being alone right now. He needs his friends. Instead of Gem reassuring him, Joel just picked him up casually by his waist and practically tucked him under his arm.
“Yup you blummin’ idiot, let’s go to your nest. Even I know that you would just love being in my car more than your bridges wouldn’t you, Grian?” Joel showed off his teeth as he grinned playfully with Grian rolling his eyes in response. He doesn’t regret his words about the car being a strange asset to add to the entirety of the series but oh well. He’ll keep his mouth shut about it just this once.