Chapter Text
Etho’s communicator buzzed
<PearlescentMoon>: Hey! I was wondering if you and Bdubs could help me clear Scar’s chest monster. I’ve been sick for the past week and it seems that I can’t make it there on time, rescheduling would be too much of a hassle so if you guys could do this for me it would mean the world! I’ll pay you handsomely, of course!
<Etho>: Have you asked Bdubs? Don’t wanna agree on his behalf.
<PearlescentMoon>: I have! He said that he’d be right there. If I were to guess, he would’ve probably arrived five minutes ago.
<Etho>: Tell him I’ll be there in a few minutes.
<PearlescentMoon>: Will do! Thank you so much for helping me out, Etho!
When Etho arrived in ScarLand, he could see that Bdubs had already started cleaning out the chest monster whilst chatting with Scar. He resisted the urge to scare them, only resisting because Bdubs was cleaning out a chest monster and Scar was, well, paying him.
"Hey, Bdubs! Hey, Scar!" Etho shouted.
"Hi, what took you so long? We've been waiting for you for a good... 9 minutes!" Bdubs said scoldingly.
"Guys-" Scar tried to interrupt.
"I got Pearl's message 5 minutes ago, I think I arrived here pretty quickly!" Etho retorted. "You should be happy I didn't scare the everliving shit out of you."
"Guys, come on! No time for arguing!" Scar scolded. "You have quite the chest monster to clear out."
Bdubs sighed. "Yes, Sir."
Scar smirked and waved goodbye before flying off to continue with whatever he was doing.
"Now that he's gone, look at this book I found in one of the chests!" Bdubs excitedly said.
Etho read the book title. "'Spells'? Do you really want to blow up ScarLand?"
"Yeah, totally." He answered sarcastically. "Look at this one, we should try this one!" Bdubs said excitedly, shoving the book into Etho's hands as he spoke.
"You sure?" Etho asked, shooting Bdubs a look of doubt.
The spell didn't have a decipherable title, but there was one half-sentence that was somewhat decipherable. The book itself looked like a normal enchantment book, except the ribbon around it was blue instead of the pinkish-red it usually was.
"Positive, what's the worst thing that can happen?" Bdubs answered.
"But are you REALLY sure?"
"Oh for goodness sake, yes! Now come on! Read it! Nothing bad's gonna happen to ScarLand!" Bdubs reassured.
"I don't think this is such a good idea, Bdubs, where did you even find this book?" Etho asked concerned.
"You're not scared are you?" Bdubs teased, ignoring Etho's question completely.
"Am not! Just asking..." Etho tried defending himself.
"Then come on! Read it!" Bdubs was starting to grow more and more impatient, and it showed. "Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it!" He started chanting.
"I will! Now shut up, it's not exactly easy trying to read something barely decipherable whilst someone's screaming in your ear!" Etho snaped.
Etho cleared his throat. "I-Insidiari commodum?"
"...Nothing's happening-"
Etho's vision went white.
"Honey, I'm home!" Etho shouted
Joel giggled. "Welcome back, Etho!" He said, pulling Etho into a hug.
"Why are you giggling? I don't look that funny, do I?" Etho asked. Just the sound of Joel's giggles almost made him start giggling as well.
"No, you don't! It's just gonna be hard to get used to." Joel answered.
"Get used to what?" Etho asked.
"The "Honey"'s and "Babe"'s," Joel answered.
"Oh, you don't like me calling you Honey or babe? Want me to call you something else?" Etho asked.
"Wow, you're full of questions, aren't you?" Joel teased. "No, I don't mind at all! I quite like it when you call me it, to be honest" Joel answered, still giggling.
"Wait, you like it? Etho asked. He would never in a million years have guessed that Joel would have actually liked it.
"Of course I do!" Joel said, looking up at Etho. "You didn't start calling me "Babe" to make fun of me, did you?"
"Why would I ever do something like that?" Etho answered sarcastically. "No, but in all seriousness, I guess it was a "fuck around and find out" kind of thing."
Joel giggled, pulled down Etho's mask, and pushed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, making Etho go completely red.
"Anyways, I've got something I'd like to show you! Follow me!" Joel said, letting go of Etho.
But to both of their dismay, Etho was still processing the small gesture of affection, thus not only making him go completely red but also stun-locking him completely.
Joel turned around. "Etho? You good?"
Joel had no idea the effect he had on Etho, Etho would do anything to please Joel. Whatever Joel wanted, he would get.
Joel walked up to Etho. "Etho? You're all red." Joel said.
"No, I hope we stay yellow a little longer," Etho said in hopes of redirecting the attention somewhere else.
"Yeah, I hope we do too." Joel giggled. "But right now your face is a darker shade of red than we'll ever be."
"Am not..." Etho mumbled whilst pulling up his mask to try to hide his face a little.
"Hey, don't pull up your mask!" Joel pulled down Etho's mask again. "I like seeing you like this," Joel said.
Etho couldn't help but turn even redder.
When Etho's vision returned, he was lying down on the concrete ground. He wasn't next to Bdubs anymore, he wasn't next to Scar's chest monster anymore and he didn't have that weird book in his hands anymore. He was in a city with white houses that had purple roofs and purple banners and lanterns hanging by a piece of wire that hung from house to house.
Looking around the village there didn't seem to be many people walking around, but the people that were... they were... strange to say the least. They had fox ears, fox tails, and a snout.
Wait... there were walking foxes walking around...
THERE. WERE. FOXES. WALKING. AROUND. ON. TWO. LEGS.
Etho stood up so fast that he almost fell over. Before he could freak out anymore, he could feel a tap on his shoulder. It was a light tap, but it still made him jump out of his skin.
When he turned around he saw... nobody?
"Excuse me! Down here!" A ladylike voice said.
When Etho looked down he saw a lady two heads smaller than him, with long pink hair, wearing a blue sweater and skirt, and wearing a box on her head that she had painted a smiley face and some strands of pink hair on which she had colored in messily.
"Jesus Christ, you scared the life out of me!" Etho said, voice a little shaky.
The tiny lady giggled. "Welcome to Critter City!" She said.
"Thanks... You know your villagers are foxes and walking on two legs, right?" Etho asked nervously.
"Well, yes, is there something wrong with that?"
"Isn't just a little odd that... I don't know, foxes are walking on two legs? When they usually don't walk on two legs, like, ever?"
"What do you mean? This is totally normal!" The tiny lady said. "Must be the world-swapping-sickness confusing you."
"Wait, what do you mean "world-swapping-sickness"?" Etho asked.
"Well, not too long ago there were a group of people called "The Hermits" who just randomly showed up, and the ones that showed up here in Critter City were just as freaked out as you are! And-" The tiny lady explained.
"Wait- wait! Hermits?" Etho interrupts.
"Yeah, they just kinda showed up and then they left not too long ago." She said. "Also you should really not interrupt people, it's really rude y'know!"
"Sorry-, it's just that I'm a hermit as well!"
The tiny lady looked confused. "Huh? Why weren't you here with the others last time then?" She asked.
"Well, that doesn't really matter." He answered. "Do you know how they went back?"
"Well, no, I don't. But whilst you're still here-" The tiny lady shoved an elytra and some rockets into his hands. "You might as well explore a little! Critter City isn't the only empire here after all!"
"Are you sure you don't know-"
"Come on! Off you go!" She interrupted.
"Okay, okay I'll go!" Etho said. He put on the elytra and flew away.
"Bye!" The tiny lady shouted after him.
Etho couldn't stop thinking about two one thing:
- That the hermits had been in this world already without him.
That... wait, what was it again?
How come the hermits had been here before, and how come he hadn't heard anything about it? Most of the hermits are chatterboxes and can't shut up for the life of them, love talking about whatever comes to mind, so how come they haven't said anything about it?
And... never mind.
After flying for a short while, Etho sees a pair of flying islands with quartz houses and decides to land there. After all, there didn't seem to be any foxes walking around so it mustn't be that bad.
Etho decides to land on an island with a beautiful white fountain, not to check if there were any coins lying at the bottom, what are you on about?
It's only when Etho lands on the island that he realizes: everything is much larger than it normally would be. Either the fountain is double the size it would normally be or Etho's still a little world-swapping-sick, both might be true to some extent.
While jumping from island to island, he couldn't help getting distracted by all the architecture. It looked like something straight out of ancient Greece, just as worn out but not as crumble-y. It looked beautiful, but the real question was-
"Can I help you?" A man asked. The man's voice sounded so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time.
Etho turned around.
"Etho? What are you doing up this late, man?" Joel asked, voice groggy, "Why aren't you in bed?"
"Couldn't sleep," Etho mumbled.
Etho was standing in one of the lookout towers of the Relation.
"Can I come up?" Joel asked.
Etho thought about it for a while, "Why?"
"I'm not letting you play pirate without me y'know." Joel teased.
"...Fine"
The second Joel made it up Etho could barely resist the urge to wrap him in a tight hug, he would've been able to hide it if it weren't for them just turning red. It's like Joel could feel Etho's stress, well, he could.
Joel turned to face Etho."Right, what's bothering you?" Joel asked.
"It's stupid," Etho said, looking away from Joel.
"It's not stupid if it keeps you up at night."
"It is."
"Hey," Joel grabbed Etho's hand. "You know you can tell me, right?"
Despite almost always holding Joel's hand, it still made him blush a little. "I... um... it's kinda embarrassing." Etho said.
"Etho, it's fine, I won't judge you, y'know."
...
"I don't want this to end," Etho admitted.
"Don't want what to end?" Joel asked.
"This, I don't want it to end."
"Us? The game?"
"Both, but mostly us." Etho nuzzled into Joel's neck.
"Why are you worrying this early? We just turned red, we still have a couple of sessions left together." Joel said.
Etho let go of Joel's hand to grab his waist. "Hmm, I never stay red for long. If I killed us, I'd never forgive myself." Etho said, kissing Joel's neck. "Do you ever think we'll see each other again?" He asked.
"Well, it depends on if we recognize each other," Joel answered. "Do you think we will?"
"I'm not sure, but I'd at least hope there would be a sense of familiarity," Etho answered, kissing Joel's neck again.
"Yeah, I think there will be."
Etho could feel the stress go away, knowing that Joel might recognize him again.
"You wanna stay up here a little longer or do you want to go back to bed?" Joel asked, sensing that Ethos calmed down.
"Could..." Etho looked at Joel, "Could we stay like this a little longer?"
"Hey, are you alright?" The man said.
The man was at least 11 feet tall, muscular, with long brown curly hair in a ponytail with a green streak in his hair, brown beard, brown eyes, wearing a toga, elytra, and sandals, and looks... oddly familiar.
"Uh, um, yep! I'm fine!" Etho said, blushing a little. He's just met this guy, why's he blushing? "You just remind me of someone," Etho said, awkwardly.
The man giggled, "All is well. Is there anything you're looking for?" He said.
The man's giggles made Etho blush a little more, "Uh, well, you see, I'm a hermit, and, um, I was messing around with my friend, and then I just kinda, erm, showed up?" He stuttered.
"Oh, a hermit?" The man asked. "I remember some hermits visiting us here not too long ago."
"Yeah, uh, a little lady told me about that. Weird how I haven't heard about it from any of the hermits." Etho said.
"Who told you? What did she look like?" The man asked.
"Uh, I never got her name, erm. She was maybe two heads, um, shorter than me, pink hair, cardboard box on her head," Etho explained.
"Oooh, Lizzie!"
"Um, yeah! She gave me an elytra and kinda shooed me away." Etho said.
"Yeah, she does that sometimes. She's got something to hide, surely."
Etho blushed a bit more. "I, um, well..." Etho tried to say something, but he was too flustered to say anything. He doesn't know what made him flustered, the man has not said anything that would make him flustered, it's just... something about him?
The man seems to only now notice that Etho's face is beet-red. "You good? Your face is all red, you're not sick are you?" He said.
Etho went even redder, "What, no, uh, of course not! What are you on about?" Etho said. "Must be the, um, world-swapping-sickness! Yeah."
The man put the backside of his hand on Etho's forehead. "You sure? You're pretty warm, like, lava temperature warm." He said.
Etho somehow went even redder, "What? No... am not." Etho said. "Well, um, jumping from uh, world to world makes you, err, a little-"
The man grabbed Etho's hands, "Slow down, please. It's hard to make out what you're saying." He said.
Etho's face went the darkest shade of red it had ever been, "Well, uh, you know!"
The man looked confused, "I do in fact, not know. Could you walk me thru it?" The man said.
Nobody had ever made Etho flush this hard before, the man had accidentally made Etho speechless. There was something about him; his giggle, his genuine concern for someone he'd never met before, his beauty…
Oh...
Maybe he liked this man a little more than he'd usually like someone.
"Hey, if you're really not feeling well," the man said, "there’s probably a house that you could stay in down in the village.”
”You sure? I could probably just drink a healing potion and wait until it goes away.” Etho said.
”I’m sure,” the man said. “You look tired and sick, besides, you’ve been traveling around the server the whole day, you need rest. I could make you some tea if you’d like!”
“I, um,” Etho stuttered. “Thank you so much!” Was the only thing that came to Etho’s mind. The only thing that wouldn’t make him into a stuttering mess.
“Okay, follow me!” The man said jumping off the island.
When they both landed on the ground, the man showed Etho the house he’d be staying in.
The house was a small, white house with a red roof and looked quite comfy.
”This is the house!” The man said.
”Thank you so much for letting me stay here!” Etho manages to say, still blushing lots.
”I’ll see if I can make you some tea, so feel free to make yourself at home whilst I’m gone!” “Bye!” The man said before flying off.
”B-Bye!” Etho shouted after him.
When Etho entered the house there was one bed, a bedside table, a mirror, and some space for a drawer. It was cramped but cute and cozy at the same time.
Etho sat down on the bed and grabbed his communicator. When he opened it, he could see messages from the hermits.
<BdoubleO100>: I JUST WATCHED ETHO VANISH INFRONT OF ME
<Docm77>: ???
<BdoubleO100>: I WAS SHOWING HIM A BOOK I FOUND IN SCAR’S CHEST MONSTER TITLED “SPELLS”
<GoodTimesWithScar>: Oh no…
<BdoubleO100>: AND THEN I PEER-PRESSURED HIM INTO SAYING ONE OF THE SPELLS AND THEN HE JUST DISAPPEARED
<Pearlescentmoon>: Bdubs, I’m paying you for your time spent cleaning and sorting chests, not messing around.
<GoodTimesWithScar>: Im coming over rn
<GoodTimesWithScar>: Which spell did you use?
<BdoubleO100>: I DONT KNOW IT HAS NO TITLE
<Etho>: the one that sends you to Empires
<Docm77>: ???
<Docm77>: How are you using our communicator system if you’re in empires?
<Etho>: No idea
<Etho>: But do you guys mind telling me why you never said anything about visiting empires?
<Pearlescentmoon>: I thought Bdubs told you.
<Bdoubleo100>: I didn’t tell you???
<Etho>: You did not.
<Etho>: But do you guys also mind telling me the name of the 11-foot-tall guy?
<Bdoubleo100>: Oddly specific
<Bdoubleo100>: Like him?
<Etho>: That has absolutely nothing to do with what I jus
He could hear someone opening the door. Etho closed his communicator, putting it on the bedside table.
”I’ve got tea!” The man said. "Oh, and sugar."
The man put down the tea cup and sugar jar next to Etho's communicator.
"Feeling any better?" He asked, making eye contact with Etho.
Etho blushed. God, why was he blushing? He only made eye contact. "Yeah, a little," Etho said, looking away.
"You sure?" He asked. "You seem to be getting redder and redder."
"What are you talking about?" Etho said, embarrassed.
The man giggled, "Want any sugar?"
"Uh, yeah, sure."
The man opened the sugar jar and filled one teaspoon, "Is one enough?" He asked.
"Y-yes." Etho managed to say. Yet again, the man had managed to make Etho into a stuttering mess without doing anything. Must be some hidden skill, surely.
The man poured the sugar into the tea cup and handed the cup to Etho.
"Thanks a lot," Etho said.
"No worries"
"No, like, for all of this." Etho said, "You just met me and you gave me a house to stay in!"
"I mean, you do look pretty sick and your temperature is higher than normal." The man said.
"I don't look THAT red, right?"
The man giggled at the pathetic attempt Etho made to defend himself. "You're the color of a beetroot if that helps you." He said.
"No way," Etho blushed a little more.
"Yes, way."
"Look, the point was-"
Etho's vision turned white.
Ever since Joel and Etho turned red, Etho had been acting off.
He'd been more touchy than he usually was, more possessive, even? He'd been a lot more stressed, a lot more uneasy.
They were standing in The Relation doing their own thing when Joel suddenly dropped everything he was doing and started walking towards Etho. He couldn't help himself from asking the question that had been on his mind the last week any longer.
"Hey, Etho," Joel said.
Etho turned to face Joel, "Yes, love?" Etho teased.
"Has anything been bothering you lately?" Joel asked.
Etho visibly became more nervous and took a step backward. "Um, no? Why would anything be bothering me?"
"You've been acting a little off lately," Joel said, taking a step forward, toward Etho.
"What? No, I haven't!" Etho denied it and took another step backward.
Joel raised an eyebrow, he could read Etho like an open book. "You have, whatever bothering you is bothering me as well. So tell me, what's wrong?" Joel said, taking another step forward.
Etho tried taking another step backward but hit one of the walls of The Relation. So now Etho wasn't only nervous, but also effectively trapped in between Joel and the wall.
Etho sighed, "It's nothing really."
"Etho..." Joel said.
"I'm sorry, Joel," Etho said, looking away.
"Why're you sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about."
"I just don't wanna bother you by telling you."
"You know that I also feel your feelings, and not just when you take damage?"
"Yeah, I know. I feel your emotions sometimes, and your bloodlust is definitely the stronger emotion," Etho said, trying to change the topic.
"Don't change the topic," Joel said.
"Sorry..."
Joel lifted his arms up, inviting Etho in for a hug. "Tell me, what's bothering you?"
Etho couldn't help but throw himself into Joel, wrapping him in a tight hug.
"I can't handle being red," Etho admitted.
"What do you mean? I think you've done a great job so far," Joel said.
"It's the feeling mostly. I've started wanting to kill everyone, all my friends too, it's scary."
"Etho, that's completely normal. Everyone on red feels that way."
"I know... It's just that, you hide your stress and almost everything else so well, I can barely feel any of your stress at all," Etho admitted. "I guess... I guess I'm just afraid of bothering you, I don't know. You're so good at being red, I don't wanna mess anything up."
"Oh, Etho..." Joel somehow pulled Etho even closer.
"You shouldn't compare yourself to me, I usually die rather quickly in these games so I've gotten used to those emotions. When I do feel them, tho, they come in more intense spikes." Joel said. "Do you remember how you felt when Pearl took our chest plates?" He asked.
"Like my chest was gonna explode from bloodlust, or anger, hard to tell sometimes," Etho answered.
Joel giggled, "Yeah, it is."
Etho looked at Joel, "What was being red like for you in Last Life?"
Joel frowned a little and looked away, burying his face in Etho's neck.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to bring back bad memories." Etho apologized, pulling Joel impossibly closer.
"It's fine, Last Life was just... it was a lot for me. I can take a lot, but Last Life was too much."
"I understand."
...
"Do you think we'll ever meet again?" Etho asked.
"If there's gonna be another death game, then we will," Joel answered.
"No, do you think we'll meet again on another server? Like Hermitcraft for example. Do you think you'll ever visit Hermitcraft?"
"Maybe, I hope so. Do you think you'll ever visit Empires?"
"I don't know, I'd like to think I will, but I can't say anything for sure," Etho said.
"I don't want to lose you, but I know there's a possibility I will," Etho said.
Joel doesn't answer, he doesn't want to.
When Etho's vision returned, he could see Scar, Bdubs, and Pearl standing over him.
"Etho? Etho you good?" Scar asked.
"What the hell? Why are you guys here in Empires?" Etho asked.
"Etho, you're not in Empires anymore," Pearl answered. "You're back in Hermitcraft."