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He knew this was a bad idea.
Jimmy gripped his sword tight as the enderman charged at them. It stumbled into the boat and he swung his sword, dispatching it and retrieving the pearl it dropped. One of the others got hurt from something and he flinched. His sword was covered in purple blood, the floor around them slick with the metallic smelling stuff. He hated endermen and just wanted to get this over with.
“We should have enough pearls fairly soon, right?” Oli asked, trying not to skid on the slippery ground, “How many have you guys got?”
“I’ve got 2,” Joel said.
“I’ve got 2 as well,” Jimmy replied.
“I don’t have any,” Lizzie kicked the floor glumly.
“I’ve got a wonderful total of one,” Oli sighed.
Joel frowned, “Really? There’s no way, we’ve been here for ages.”
“We had more, expect Jim lost them when he died,” Oli shrugged, eyeing up another enderman to fight.
Jimmy glared at him, “Hey! Joel died too! We lost stuff from that!”
“Yeah, but you died first,” Joel countered.
Jimmy huffed and wiped his sword on the edge of his jacket. He ducked underneath a tree to take a breather for a moment, glancing around for enemies that might be creeping up on him.
He locked onto a pair of purple eyes.
The enderman screeched and ran at him, speeding forwards. Jimmy swallowed, gripping his sword tighter.
But why was he suddenly hit with an overwhelming sense of deja vu?
The glowstone on the nether roof shifted briefly in his mind to a moonlit sky, peppered with stars, cold with the night chill. It only shifted for a second, but long enough to catch Jimmy off guard.
Long enough for the enderman to sneak under the tree and surprise him with a slashing claw to the back.
Jimmy cried out in pain and spun around, blocking the next attack with his shield. He heard Lizzie yelp in surprise at the shared pain.
Something in his chest froze up. Some kind of instinct that told him to run, to turn and flee, get to the portal and get the heck out of there, something that told him he’d been here before, and had to run if he wanted to live. He paused, considering his options.
But he shouldn’t have.
His hesitation gave the enderman the opportunity to rip his shield from his hands, tossing it to the ground and smashing it under one of its feet.
Shards of a shattered, broken shield littering the floor.
The enderman’s spindly fingers wrapped around his neck and lifted him up in the air, tightening its grasp on his throat.
No. No! Jimmy struggled, kicking and screaming, but to no avail. His eyes were blotching with black spots from lack of oxygen as the creature squeezed his neck.
Purple eyes, everywhere. The enderman, and them.
His heart swelled with fear and panic.
A panic and confusion that wasn’t his own.
He could hear yelling from the others trying to help him and trying to fight the pain, could almost hear his soulmate’s tortured screams as the pain coursed through them both, could hear the snap of a soulmate bond breaking.
His pitiful gasps for breath rasped through his lips as he felt his consciousness start to leave him and his struggling lessened a little. His eyes stung with bitter, angry tears. It wasn’t fair. Wasn’t fair that they’d only been looking for ender pearls, wasn’t fair that they’d go out like this.
Jimmy took one last desperate attempt to free himself. He couldn’t let them die, couldn’t let him down like this, not after all he’d done for him.
It didn’t work. One last shuddering breath left his lips and he fell limp in the enderman’s grip. Oli, Lizzie and Joel collapsed around him.
Just before Jimmy lost consciousness, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
The enderman dropped him and he crumpled in a pile on the floor.
The word Rancher was left unsaid on his mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jimmy woke up gasping, sitting up in terror. It felt like the enderman’s claws were still wrapped around his throat, his chest feeling tight and constricted.
It was dark in the void where he was sitting. Dark and silent. His heart echoed far too loudly and he hated it.
Void. Dark. Enderman. Shared health.
Jimmy’s heart was thudding in his chest.
No. Not again. Please not again.
He curled up in a ball on the floor. They were coming, he knew they were. They’d drag him back to that cage and hurt him.
Footsteps. Coming towards him. Jimmy cringed away, his breath coming in panicked gasps. They were going to torture him, he was going to wish he was dead.
“Jimmy?” A voice asked, “Jimmy?”
“Don’t- don’t hurt me,” he begged, tears streaming down his cheeks, “Don’t, please, please.”
“Jimmy, are you ok?” The voice asked again.
Jimmy couldn’t stop sobbing, and his breathing quickened.
“I’m sorry, I’m s-sorry, please don’t let them take me!” He was hyperventilating now, “Please! Please!”
More footsteps and a yell, “Joel! Oli! Jimmy’s having a panic attack! Come quick!”
“What caused it?” another voice said, their voice panicked, “How do we stop it?!”
“Jim, lad,” a hand gently touched his shoulder, “Are you ok?”
Jimmy grabbed the hand, his face distraught, “P-please, don’t let them take me! I know I messed up but please!”
He dropped the hand again and curled up into a ball, shaking with sobs. Lizzie, Oli and Joel all exchanged a worried glance.
“What set this off?” Lizzie asked quietly, “I’ve seen him have panic attacks before, but never this bad.”
Joel looked around and spotted the broken frayed health connection string lying on the floor, leading from Jimmy’s heart.
The answer smacked him in the head like a brick.
“It’s flashbacks,” he realised, “Jimmy’s having Double Life flashbacks. He’s scared that the watchers are going to try and capture him again.”
At the word ‘watchers’, Jimmy let out a loud whimper and curled up tighter.
“See?” Joel said, “We need to find a way to calm him down.”
“But how?” Oli threw his hands up, “Neither me or Lizzie were in Double Life and you clearly don’t know what to do!”
It clicked in Joel’s mind, “I don’t, but I know someone who will. Liz, grab me Jim’s communicator. I’ve got to whitelist someone.”
Lizzie nodded and grabbed Jimmy’s communicator, handing it to Joel. Joel pulled out his own one and sent a message.
(Joel): Jimmy’s having double life flashbacks and a really bad panic attack, none of us know what to do, can you jump on our server if we whitelist you and help out?
The reply was almost instant.
(Tango): On my way
A few minutes later, there was a swoosh noise and a portal appeared. Tango came staggering out of the other side, his red dungeon master cloak twisted around his legs from the clear rush he’d been in.
“Where is he?” He demanded worriedly, looking around.
Lizzie and Oli both pointed at Jimmy’s curled up form and Tango’s face softened in sympathy.
“Alright, I’ll get him sorted,” He said, “Thanks for texting me.”
“We didn’t know what to do,” Lizzie explained, “Joel figured you were the best person for the job.”
Tango sat down next to Jimmy and gently took his hand.
“Hey Rancher,” he whispered, “Can you hear me?”
Jimmy raised his head ever so slightly, “T-Tango?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” Tango nodded, “You’re safe, yeah?”
“They’re coming for me!”
“They’re not here Jimmy,” Tango rubbed his thumb across the back of Jimmy’s hand to help soothe him, “It’s ok, there’s no watchers.”
“Th-they’re not?”
“No,” Tango assured him, “You’re safe. It’s not Double Life, there’s no watchers, you’re alright. I’m not mad, the others aren’t mad, we’re all ok.”
Jimmy’s panicked breathing began to slow a little.
“I-I’m sorry,” he choked out.
“For what?” Tango smiled gently, “You can’t help having a panic attack and we’re always fine helping you. It’s ok.”
He bundled Jimmy up into his arms, sitting him on his lap and holding him close. Jimmy sobbed into his shoulder, but at least his breathing had slowed to a reasonable speed.
Eventually, Jimmy’s crying started to peter out.
“Thank you,” he whispered, “I’m sorry for being such a pain.”
“You’re not a pain,” Tango said, “You’ve never been a pain Jimmy. You went through so much, it’s not a surprise that it was hard for you after doing this. I’m proud of you for pulling through.”
Joel, Lizzie and Oli were all standing kind of awkwardly around, just watching, but Tango beckoned them over with a wave of his hand, “He’s all good guys.”
They all walked over and sat down next to the pair of ranchers, joining the hug pile.
“I’m so glad you’re ok Jimmy,” Lizzie said, “We were really worried.”
“Sorry,” Jimmy sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve, “I didn’t want to worry you, I just couldn’t stop it.”
“It’s alright lad,” Joel ruffled his hair, “We’re just happy that you’re alright.”
Oli nodded in agreement.
“None of us mind Jimmy,” Tango kissed his cheek, “We all love you and want to make sure you’re ok.”
A small smile met Jimmy’s lips, “Thanks guys.”
There was a moment of pleasant silence and hugs, then Joel stretched and stood up, “I guess this world is useless now. I’m going to head out to MCCI, I’ve got some ace race practices to run. What about you guys?”
“I’m going to sort some stuff out on Misadventures,” Lizzie said.
“I need to get some things done as well,” Oli agreed.
“I’ll head back to Hermitcraft,” Tango said, “Decked Out isn’t going to build itself. What do you want to do Jimmy?”
Jimmy sat and thought for a moment, “I’m not sure.”
“I’m sure Xisuma could sort out a temporary whitelist code for you if you want to go back with Tango for a bit,” Joel suggested, “It might help you feel better.”
Jimmy chewed his lip and then nodded, “I… I’d like that, if I’d be allowed to.”
“Absolutely,” Tango squeezed Jimmy’s side, Jimmy giggling a little when it tickled, “I need someone to flesh out some ideas with. That is, if you’re ok with me nerding out to you about my projects.”
“That sounds perfect,” Jimmy smiled.
Tango smiled back and pulled out his communicator, tapping out a message and sending it. There was the sound of a reply and Tango typed something else.
“He’s working on it now,” He said, “Give it a few minutes and we can get going.”
“We’ll head out,” Lizzie said, fiddling with her communicator and pulling up the exit portal, “Have fun, you two.”
“We will,” Jimmy waved as the other three all left through the portal. It disappeared once they’d all gone through it, leaving just him and Tango sitting on the floor.
“Thanks for coming,” Jimmy broke the silence that fell between the two of them, “I’m genuinely so grateful.”
“Anything for you Rancher,” Tango hugged him tightly, “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Jimmy pressed their foreheads together. Tango might look different, with white hair rather than blonde, and slightly sharper looking teeth when he smiled, and paler skin, but he was still Tango. Still his soulmate. And still there for him when he needed it.
There was a wooshing noise and another portal opened up just left of them. Jimmy gave a squeak as it made him jump and tumbled backwards out of Tango’s lap. Tango laughed as he regained his composure.
“Come on,” he stood up and picked Jimmy up into a bridal carry, “Let’s get going. I can’t wait to show you Decked Out 3 so far.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Jimmy grinned excitedly.
They stepped through the portal and disappeared with a swish noise and a puff of particles.