#thelastgoodbye

...

Jimmy stands nervously next to Scar. He’s always been wary of him; he seems to be a loose cannon and Jimmy can’t trust that he won’t do something completely ridiculous out of nowhere. But the fact that Scar will be his only company during the inevitable Red Army attack is not as scary as the incoming attack itself.

“How’s it going in here, guys?” asks Scott, entering the bunker.

Jimmy immediately dashes over to him and clutches his arm. “I’m scared,” he admits.

“You’re gonna stay in here with Scar, okay?” Scott says gently. “You’ve got the better job, honestly. The bunker will protect you.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” responds Jimmy. “I know I’m safe, but you’re not. And from the bunker, I’ll have a worryingly good view if you die.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Just make sure that when the lever gets pulled, you duck and cover, okay? I know you don’t like loud noises.”

Jimmy gives a small smile. “Thanks. Good luck out there.”

Scott clasps his hands, smiling kindly back. “You too.”

As he turns away, Jimmy abruptly tightens his grip on Scott’s hands, causing him to turn back. “Jimmy?”

Jimmy grabs Scott in a tight hug. “Don’t die,” he whispers. “Please.”

Scott chuckles quietly. “I’ll try my best.”

With that, Jimmy is forced to let go of Scott, who joins Grian outside the bunker, ready for the attack.

“Here they come!” Grian reports. “Get ready!”

Jimmy pulls back the string on his bow, ready to fire his arrow. His hands start to shake as he spots a group of people in the distance, charging towards them.

Dogwarts. They’re coming. This might very well be it.

Outside, Jimmy can see Grian and Scott starting to attack, firing arrows at the opposing team.

Flaming arrows are fired back at them in return, one of them almost hitting Jimmy in the safety of the bunker.

“Oh gosh!” Jimmy gasps.

He hurriedly goes to the back of the bunker to make sure nobody is creeping up on them from behind. Thankfully, he sees nobody. But this distraction takes his eyes off Scott for the first time, and that’s when it happens.

Smajor1995 was shot by Etho

Jimmy’s stomach drops and he dashes back to the other side of the bunker, letting out a muted wail as he sees Scott’s items scattered all over the ground right in front of him. “Noooo!” he cries. “SCOTT!”

“Focus, Jimmy!” Grian calls back to him. “He’s fine; he’ll respawn!”

But Jimmy has completely lost his focus; all his energy has diverted to worrying about Scott. He dashes to the left side of the bunker and stares out, trying to see past the trees. The flower fields aren’t quite visible from here, but what Jimmy CAN see is one of the Red Army soldiers aiming a bow at his face.

“JIMMY, GET DOWN!” shrieks Grian.

Jimmy just about manages to dive to the ground in time, the arrow soaring right over him where his head was a second before.

He lets out a shaky breath. His heart is pounding. He has to concentrate on the battle; Scott’s okay, Scott will be back soon. Scott has two lives left.

Jimmy only has one.

As he starts to get up, Grian’s voice yells, “SCAR, PULL THE LEVER!”

Jimmy ducks back down to the ground and covers his ears.

Seconds later, the desert explodes around them. Jimmy holds still, hoping to feel his communicator go off with a death notification or three.

But when the world finally goes silent, he realises there’s nothing. Their incredible trap got nobody.

Jimmy climbs back to his feet and grabs his bow. As he does, a death notification comes through, but not one he’s hoping to see.

Grian was shot by InTheLittleWood

Jimmy’s heart sinks. “Oh no! Grian!”

Scar hardly seems to notice his companion’s death in chat; he’s still gleefully firing arrows at the Red Army.

Spotting movement nearby, Jimmy starts firing out of the bunker. His target is Skizzleman, who’s trying to fire back at him. Jimmy manages to hit him a few times and wear down his armour, but unfortunately, Skizz is just as good.

One of his arrows hits Jimmy in the base of his neck. Screaming in pain, Jimmy can hardly react before another arrow strikes in almost exactly the same place.

He collapses backwards and hits the ground, coughing and choking and sobbing in pain and fear.

Finally, Scar spots his situation and gasps. “Oh no!”

He drops down beside Jimmy, clearly starting to panic. “Oh no, oh no, oh no…! What do I do?! Jimmy, tell me what to do!”

But Jimmy can’t reply. Even if he could, would he know what to do? Likely not. Scott is the brains of the operation, as he likes to say. He would know what to do.

He desperately wishes Scott was here. As comforting as Scar’s presence is, he needs Scott. He knows he’s about to die and all he wants - no, NEEDS - is for Scott to be here.

“Scott…” whimpers Jimmy, tears pouring from his eyes. “It h-hurts…”

Seconds later, his vision goes black.

And Scott, dashing furiously back to the battle to protect his husband, gets the death notification he never hoped to see.

  “-expecting Ren to come over any minute now,” Bdubs is saying. “We’re gonna discuss the- CLEO, are you listening to me?”

  “Huh?” Cleo turns away from the window. “What?” 

  Bdubs huffs. “You never listen to me when I’m talking!”

  “Maybe say something worth listening to and I’ll pay attention.” 

  “I’m telling you Ren and the Red Army are coming over here right now!” Bdubs snaps. “That’s pretty important information. Am I just boring you? Is that it?”

  Cleo nods nonchalantly. “Yeah. Pretty much.” 

  “Oh, you’re so infuriating!”

  “Hey, I’ve only managed to kill ONE person this whole time,” Cleo retorts. “And I didn’t even do much for it, I just placed a bucket of lava. I’m bored, dude! I wanna get out there and cause some chaos!”

  “No! We’re both red, Cleo. We gotta be careful! At least for now. Going out there and stirring stuff up unnecessarily is just gonna get us both killed.”

  Cleo sighs heavily. “You’re so boring.”

  Bdubs glares at her. “Get out there and keep watch for Ren.”

  “You’re SO boring.”

  Tango appears on the stairs at that moment. “Hey, what’s-?”

  “Shut up,” Cleo responds as she passes him on her way down.

  She storms outside and leans against a tree on the outskirts of the forest, watching the crastle. On the floor she just came from, she can see figures moving through the window; it must be Bdubs and Tango. 

  Things are quiet around here. Too quiet. If there’s any action going on, it’s elsewhere. That doesn’t suit Cleo; she prefers to be where the action is. It’s more fun that way. But Bdubs insists on keeping them both here, where it’s “safe”.  

  Glancing to the side, she spots the Red Army heading towards the castle. Moving away from her position, she starts to head towards them. She’s bored. Her bloodlust is flaring up. All she wants is to cause some chaos.

  When she gets close enough, she charges straight at Ren and hits him with her sword, which glances off his armour.

  As she expected, Ren lets out a screech and starts to run. 

  Grinning, she pursues him with her sword out. 

  “No, Cleo, no!” Martyn yelps from behind her. 

  She can tell the rest of the so-called Red Army are pursuing her, but she doesn’t care. The unfed bloodlust inside her has caused her to become aggressively restless and she no longer cares about her own life. 

  “Cleo, stop!” Ren shouts desperately. “We’re not your enemy!”

  “You killed me twice! How are you not my enemy?”

  “Uh-! Th-That’s a very good point, actually.”

  Cleo manages to catch up with Ren and knocks him down with her sword. 

  “Get away from him!” comes Skizz’s snarl. 

  Before Cleo can react, she feels a sword - presumably Skizz’s - hit her in the back, setting her on fire and breaking her armour. Coughing, she darts towards the river.She can feel someone - again, presumably Skizz - pursuing her. Now she’s become the hunted. 

  And she’s loving it. 

  “Come catch me!” she taunts. 

  She knows it’s dangerous to bait the only person so far to end a red life, but again, she doesn’t care. If she dies right here, so be it. Anything is better than forcing stupid alliances with people she doesn’t actually trust and just waiting around for something to happen. 

  Skizz’s second strike scores a deep gash diagonally across her back, sending her tumbling forward. She lands with her head and upper torso on the bank of the river, the rest of her body trailing in the water. Weakened by the blow and slowly bleeding out, she knows her time has come.

  Too late, she thinks of Bdubs. Her biggest regret is leaving him all alone; she doubts he’ll survive a day without her. He never showed signs of depending on her but they’ve been allies since day one, and she knows he doesn’t handle losing people well. And she knows he’ll feel guilty that their last exchanged words were an argument, just like she does. But there’s nothing that can be done about that now. 

  “Cleo!” 

  She frowns. That’s not Bdubs, but the voice does sound familiar.

  A few seconds later, she feels herself be lifted slightly up and turned onto her back, and finds herself looking up into the pale face of her other strongest ally. Tango has tears in his eyes as he holds her carefully to him. “Cleo, why…? Why would you DO that?”

  “‘M sorry,” she rasps. “Couldn’t sit still anymore.”

  “I…!” Tango clears his throat. “I-I understand. I’m so sorry.” 

  Cleo manages a weak grin. Between shallow breaths, she manages to croak out, “T-Take care of Bdubs for me. Please.” 

  “Of course,” whispers Tango. 

  She lets out a quiet sigh, her final breath, and lets her eyes close. 

  The last thing she hears is a quiet sob from Tango.