Chapter Text
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?
A week after.
Judelow's scream still rang in Sharpness' ears even when he was already gone. Sharpness didn't know why, maybe he was just used to Jude's annoyingly loud ass tinkering with whatever every second. He could visibly remember Jude the first night they made this base, putting up a trap and failing to give Sharpness the peace to sleep. He was cranky the entire day after that and yet Jude didn't learn anything, like he found amusement in Sharp's scrunched up face.
Whatever. He's not here anymore, Sharp.
By that, he's also noticed others are more confident in suddenly trying to get him once again. It was like the old times before him and Jude teamed up. Other players used to jump him left and right. If it was his past self, he would've been delighted for a fight, but now? He'd rather not have an annoying player trying to kill him whenever he leaves their— his base.
Right in time, unfortunately enough just as Sharpness was thinking this, he hears potions getting splashed behind him.
What a great start for the day.
Spongs and Nufuli just decided that this was the right day to kill him. Their swords out, shields ready, potions used just this moment. His morning can't get any more irritating than this.
Nufuli propped a windcharge up and immediately started swinging. Sharpness blocked him with his shield in return. Spongs came in and tried slashing his sword to his side which he parried and swung back. The weight Sharpness put on his sword was heavier than usual, but his thoughts were almost empty.
The fight was rather silent than what he got used to. Usually, Jude would fill up the awkward quiet when it got to this point. The other two were in another call so he couldn't hear them speaking, leaving him to focus on his own. He can't lie, but from time to time, he swears he hears Jude's grunts and yelps every now and then in the fight as he used to do it a lot. Every time he would take massive amounts of damage, he'd scream like he would die in that instant. In that case, Sharpness would turn his head and help Jude heal up behind him.
Between the fighting, Sharpness hadn't really decided to look back and take into account where they currently were. That was, until he found himself pushed off a ravine. The fall hurt, leaving him on two hearts before he quickly health potted himself. That took him back to when Jude clutched and threw the health pot at him and saved him after a bow ult. He was still thankful for him that one time.
A mace hit made him come back in the present though, which made him groan. He had to use another pot. Sharpness then blocked and parried their attacks once more before running into the inner parts of the mineshaft in the deeper parts of the ravine.
He quickly mined a block and went into crawl mode using water, trying to escape the duo. They followed quickly, hitting Sharpness before he blocked them off again. This fight was such a losing one.
If Jude was here, it'd be much better.
Sharpness blinks again, catching himself distracted. He finds his health low. Crap. He dug up and back on to the surface and ate some more golden apples. Spongs and Nufuli were right on his tail. Sharpness swung at the two once again before assuming that it wasn't going to do anything in this situation.
How could he just assume that when he was clearly in the middle of the fight? An outnumbered one too. Jude was right, he was an idiot. He steps back, trying to find a way out of this. Checking to find they weren't so far away from one of the traps Jude showed him, deciding to lead them there like it was instinct.
He steps on his heel, baiting the other two to follow. There's no way they'd fall for this.
He didn't want to use Jude's trap again, really, but what choice did he have? As the two stood right above the 5x5—like clockwork, he placed the pressure plate and activated it. The blocks behind him went up and the other two went falling into the walls of the trap. They tried gripping the walls, trying to use the buckets, but couldn't due to the stupid banners, carpets, and pistons whatever else. Sharpness decides to enter their call next to see if they'd try to negotiate for their lives.
The small notification sound that notifies them he's there echoes in his ears before he spoke, amusement clear in his tone. "I can't believe you guys would fall for that?"
The nonchalance in his tone was maddening, but the other two can't say anything in response. "Sharp! Sharp. We can talk about this." Spongs panicked whilst the other one continued trying to get them both out.
"You guys tried to jump me!" Sharpness crosses his arms while they ate some golden apples to heal up from the suffocation. "It was a joke, chill!"
He deadpans. Ain't no way he's believing that. "Uh huh. It sure was. You were even hitting me down that one ravine." He rests his arms on the back of his head.
Nufuli shot daggers at Spongs for the dumb lie. "Look. Can you please just let us out?"
"What's in it for me if you both get out?" Sharpness swung his sword again, inducing them into more panic. It was, funny, really. "WAIT— Wait! Look, we'll give you our stuff, alright? JUST LET US OUT!!" Spongs struggled while suffocating in the wool block. They were hesitating as hell to actually drop it, but there wasn't any other choice.
"Make sure it's all of it. I'm not stupid." Sharpness hums in acceptance as they both dropped their things. He stores it into the chests right beside the trap before letting the two out. Nufuli patted his partner's back, dragging him out in defeat. He could hear them curse him out beneath their breaths. Sharpness was too tired to deal with them, pursing his lips to contain his words.
Sharpness let out a long sigh before getting out of this whatever it's called hole himself. He had to go back to town to fix his gear again. Oh how he wished there was some bunny to do it. Normally, it was Jude that either repaired their gear himself or took them to the town. He never saw how much trouble this was until now.
Getting to wherever that place was sucked. Sharpness got lost a lot and the sun started setting. Thankfully, Dolphin was there to point him towards where it was. It was a miracle how he found it with help as he realized he actually walked past it like 3 times. It was embarrassing, but it's not like anyone else knew.
"Thanks." He gives them a small smile, entering the building.
He gave the counter his immensely low durability armor and watched the craftsman silently. Their hands moved with precision. Sometimes they'd attempt a start in conversation, failing with Sharpness brushing them off. It took a bit of time for the set to be fixed, though Sharpness was still surprised at their skill. He didn't know they were this fast at their craft.
"Did you somehow get this armour set from that one bunny? Judelow or something?" They laughed, placing the fixed gear on the counter. "He used to come here all the time."
"You know Jude?" Sharpness gave them a stack of emeralds in return that made the smith's eyes light up.
"Yeah, how'd you get his armour?" Sharpness blinks at their questions. This was his custom made gear—custom trims and everything. "...What? This is my set." Then it hit him. They thought it was Jude's set because he was the one that usually brought it to fix it up, not knowing it was actually his partner's, Sharp.
Their eyebrows furrow, suspicion in their tone now. "Really? That Judelow person used to come in here with that all the time. Seemed to always be really eager to fix it back too." The smith's words confirmed his suspicion. Sharpness couldn't hide how this random caught his interest at the mention of the name again. Maybe they're a close friend of his.
This random guy continues, "I think it's his favorite set or something by how often it was used. Always low durability like this when he brought it." Nevermind. This guy doesn't know Jude at all.
.
.
.
That last line caught him though. Sharpness would have his gear on low durability quite often. He forgot how much of a hassle getting it fixed was because Jude would always have things ready when needed and moderated the strings in the background.
"It's actually mine." He put it all back on just in case.
"Judelow is a friend... yeah. He's a friend of mine. He used to have both of our gears fixed whenever they were almost breaking." Sharpness admitted, scratching the back of his neck. It earned a nod from the armor smith. "What happened then? Did you guys get into a fight and he's mad at you now or what?" They chuckled, their voice awfully teasing.
"Uh... Kinda." He sees the curiousity of the other peak, a bead of sweat falling down the side of his face. He was debating if he should leave or not, but he decided to see where this was going. They rest their arm on the counter, pausing their cleaning for the meantime.
"Look man, didn't wanna pry, but this is just for my own curiosity, y'know?" The person waved their hand around as they spoke, Sharpness was almost tuning him out already.
How did Jude endure this man?
He gave a polite smile and continued nodding, pretending he's listening when he's actively not giving a single shit. Maybe they were close to Jude or something. Seems like a valid reason for them to wonder about this. If not, then this guy is a nosy bitch.
"Did you betray him or something?" The words slip out of this other guy so casually like it was a joke, but it hit Sharpness somewhere.
He didn't want to respond, but he didn't want to look rude. He just met this guy. "Kinda...?" Was all he could muster in response. And, oh boy, why did he not just pay and walk away? The smith suddenly straightened themselves, two palms slamming in front of them, leaning towards Sharpness with one brow up and eyes widened. "You BETRAYED him!?"
Holy fuck this guy is obnoxious.
Sharpness could barely contain his snap. "Can you not say that so loudly? It's—..." He trails off, thinking about if he should share what happened with this stranger. Heck, what in the world is Sharpness thinking. There's no way he's sharing this with this guy. "It's just complicated."
"Well then, good luck, babe!" The person laughed aloud. The nickname was meant as a joke, but it truly was nostalgic. Sharpness couldn't tell if the universe was playing with him or what. Especially with the references he's been finding.
He ended it with that, Sharpness trying to leave as fast as he can. "Wait, could you answer first, I'm invested—" He got up and left. He could hear their voice fading in the background. Nice. He didn't want to hear from that guy again.
The moon's light was shining down on him. He sat on the left side of some bench on the side of the street, leaning back and melting into it. The night was peaceful. Way too peaceful from what he's used to. Sharpness' eyes hooded, patting towards the space on his right. It was empty, and it was quiet. The night felt colder that exact moment.
Good luck, babe!
It was a joke he and Jude would say when one of them was staying home and the other was going out for errands. He never took it seriously. It was lighthearted between him and Jude, always.
Okay, maybe sometimes he could spot sincerity in his gaze, but it was all for jokes and giggles at the end. Sharpness' eyes narrow, leaning against the hollow space on his right and reminding himself he wouldn't be there.
It's a habit. Habits die out. He reminds himself. The silence was uncomfortable though. Sharpness was used to listening to Jude's yap. He'd come home after testing out some traps, tell him about his day over dinner and laugh about how stupid people were for falling for traps Sharpness would fall into too, and kept talking even in their shared bed. They shared to keep efficiency, he'd say. But a part of him wanted Jude to want it because he likes being near him, not that.
...Or maybe he's just stupid for wanting that. He really should clear his mind up. The fact that Sharpness had no idea how to except PVP surprised him too. A flyer, perfectly timed, flew beside him and showed a new bar near the street his in. Impulsively, he just had to go there. There was no Jude to stop him from enjoying himself like in the past where he'd scold him every time he would even think about doing some "bad" thing.
?
It was a blur after that. Sharpness couldn't remember anything that went down the moment he stood up, finding himself suddenly back in...his own bed. He was curious. Like really. Other than that, the core of his day was when he trapped the two. It stirred up something in him when he did it successfully.
He dips down, back into the bedroom they shared. Sharpness shuffled his arm around Jude's side of the two beds. The right side one. He just noticed how Jude was always on the right side now, trying to blink to wake himself a bit more. He turned to face the empty blanket space before him.
If Jude were here, what would he think about finding out his partner trapped them without his help? Or would he just pay attention to how often Sharpness thinks about him and make fun of that?
He can't help but imagine.
The face of Jude smiling, giggling, snuggled up under sheets upon sheets of blankets with pillows. Sharpness had to pay respect for his wit. He'd say something dumb after like—
"Yeah yeah wtv" Jude would roll his eyes. "Could you get me some materials for this one trap tomorrow tho?" Then say thank you without waiting for Sharpness' reply.
Sharpness would deny the request a thousand times yet still do it. A blush crept up his cheeks. He brushes it off, reminding himself that he had plans tomorrow and he needed sleep.