#{ lets exchange the experience -- grian // last life }

[meteor752]

The DL kids on Empires

I think this is the third or fourth “last post” about these fuckers, but like I grow attached alright

So I was actually planning on leaving them be for a while, mostly cause Double life ended months ago and there’s only so much you can do with them, but then an ask brought up that Jassy, the SmallEtho kid, would technically be the older sister of Hermes and boy did that open a world of possibilities

So if you don’t know these children by now, here’s a link to the first post which has a lot of other links at the bottom of it, or just check my blog

So at the end of Logbook, the short fic I wrote from this universe, it was implied that the kids found a rift similar to the one in Grian’s base. I did this because I couldn’t think of any other way to end the fricking fic

But let’s keep going with that, the kids are on Empires. I also imagine they go through before the Hermits, purely to make it easier and less messy for me

But when they enter the server, they get transported to different areas just like the Hermits, and they’re all separated and have no way to contact each other so some things goes wrong

This will also include the Empires designs of the kids, just for funsies, and it will all be made with Hero Forge because as my motto goes, I can’t draw

Liana no last name given

(Parrot pal what happened to you 😭. Probably the only one of the kids to get less slutty on empires than she was before. Traded in her colorful clothes made from rich fabrics, for more dull and comfy clothes. Also she has a wedding ring now)

Spawned above Gobland, in the middle of a fucking snowstorm. Took her five days to get off the mountain and an additional day to find Goblands entrance, so she had a severe case of frost bite and hypothermia. It’s a miracle she came out of the experience with only one foot lost

Stayed in Sanctuary at first because no way in hell she’s gonna live underground, but she moved to the Ancient Capital when she started studying the rift

Pixl has the most books and ancient texts out of anyone on the server, so she gets to read as much as she wants in exchange for assisting him from time to time

She wears a monocle because one too many head traumas leading to bad eyesight in that eye

Liana desperately wants to leave the Empires Server, not just because the one thing she’s good at (selling and swindling) is a useless skill when everything is bought through carefully calculated trades, but also because of the divide it brought upon them, with everyone being spread out across the server and barely seeing each other

(Also she wants to find Hermitcraft because if Joel, Jimmy, and Scott are alive then her dads must be there. It’s a selfish reason but she’s never admit it to being the truth)

She does like the Elytras though, her bird brain gets happy to fly and she does that more than what is probably necessary. Also it’s difficult for her to walk, so yeah

In her pursuit to find the answer to the rift’s mystery, she grows kind of distant from the others, but excuses it with the ends justifying the means

So yeah. Scammer girl needs a nap because she strugglin

Wes Double-SV

(I love making Wes because he’s just a fricking beast, tall broad and strong, but I also know that if he failed at a task he would just start crying. Gentle Giant more like fragile giant. But also my boy kinda thicc tho ngl)

Wes would spawn close to Animalia, and would probably be scared shitless out of the wandering foxes and frogs. And by Lizzie and her freaky mask face with the empty eyes

He would also stay in Sanctuary at first, but would quickly be put off by Sausage. The overly friendly nature by a total stranger just doesn’t sit right with him, also he’s terrified of his dog (It’s what happens when you watch your dads’ corpses get ripped to shreds by a bunch of feral dogs)

Wes would instead find a place in Gobland, an underground city based around mining and machinery. He’s always been more of an underground person, dating Jekiv and all who can’t really go in sunlight, plus mining was an easy way to pass the time on Double Life

Built a railway tunnel to The Evermoore the minute he joined Gobland too, for easy access to Jekiv. He’s a sap

Still nervous around most of the emperors, but he’s grown fond of fWhip, and he’s used to the Double Life emperors, otherwise he’d rather they stay back

Gertrude

(Girl’s so special she getting two designs. This is the first time Gert is not wearing her sunglasses over her eyes actually, so Gertrude eye reveal whoop whoop. Honestly I love making Gert designs, because while she’s got a lot of butch energy, she’s a femme at heart)

Gertrude spawned in Glimmer Grove, and froze solid at the sight of the castle from her childhood dreams. This made her an easy target to Katherine, who jus saw a big hulking figure with wolf ears and went on the attack. They cleared that up pretty quickly

Katherine, feeling bad about literally trying to murder her, offered Gertrude a place to stay in her Empire, which is essentially a dream come true for her, especially since it’s princess fairytale + Monster hunting

A problem did quickly rise however, with the whole werewolf thing Gert has got going on

Gertrude couldn’t exactly tell her boss that she was a werewolf since they are considered monsters, but she couldn’t hide it every month either

Hilarity ensues

No but fr the full moons got really exhausting for all of the dl kids since they had to keep Weretrude away from Katherine, but while a werewolf she has no real awareness or idea what’s going on so they have to keep an eight feet, four hundred pound feral wolf from all of the empire area and from killing them. Basically Johnny and Wes, the two most durable of the kids, wrestled her away from the main area, while the other four played distractions to get her to chase them

No one enjoys it

Johnny

(There’s only so many western cowboy ranch outfits alright, so I said fuck it let there be sluttiness. Also the bracelet he’s wearing is a friendship bracelet from Lily, the warden he befriended. She had a similar one made from straw and strands from his hair)

Appeared in the Eversea, and stuck around for a few hours to check the place out before he heard about Tumblr Town, then he immediately took off

Jimmy was not at all prepared to have this fire child who looks like he’s been through actual hell (Because reminder they come from the dl server, where Johnny actually had moss and vines growing on him and looks half dead) hug him so tightly his back almost pops

Johnny was disappointed to say the least that his dad had no memory of him, in fact disappointed doesn’t cover it he was fucking distressed, but he spent an entire week just following Jimmy around when he was doing his chores, explaining everything from his childhood, to Tango, to their Warden Child, to the ranch. He also built a ranch in that period

Jimmy was kinda iffy about it at first, I mean who wouldn’t be, but Johnny is as stubborn as his fathers and refused to leave him be. Turns out Johnny is a great addition to Tumblr Town with his immunity to heat, tendency for hard manual labor, and absolute love for farm work. Plus, the flame bite came in handy, and the creeper explosion resistance

He doesn’t mind the toy jokes that much either, he’s more annoyed by the build pranks he had to take down, especially the ones that disturb the animals

It took him about two weeks to befriend all the wardens in Gobland. fWhip was not thrilled by the process to get there, but he enjoys to not have to worry about Warden attacks since they’re now pretty civil

Also has a horse named Butternut he loves more than his friends

Jassy

(Queen got two designs as well lol. I made her mask a bandana in her first design and a headband in the second, just cuz fun. Also her hair is a pain in the ass because it’s so inconsistent, why did I add that to her character. Also, just like Liana, she has a wedding ring <3)

Jassy appeared right under Stratos, kinda confused by the empty village but realized that there might be someone up in the floating city above her, so she grabbed yeeted up her grappling hook like a true ninja and climbed up

At first the floating city seemed just as abandoned as the town below, until she stumbled upon a young child dressed in a purple toga who was playing with a small sheriff doll that looked a tiny bit familiar

The child seemed fairly calm with her being there, answering any questions she had such as where am I (‘Stratos’) who are you (‘I’m Hermes!’) where are your parents (Daddy Sausage is in Sanctuary and Thunder Daddy is building a few islands away’), and what is that in your hand (‘It’s my sheriff toy! Thunder Daddy made it!)

Jassy guessed that she could probably get more info from this “Thunder Daddy”, so she grabbed Hermes tiny hand to help guide her and jumped from island to island, til she reached the one Hermes was pointing at and oh fuck that’s my dad

Yet somehow the fact that her dad was putting on the persona on an eleven feet tall god didn’t surprise her at all

While Jassy stays in Stratos sometimes, mainly because of her new little brother Hermes but also because it’s nice to see her dad again, she mainly stays in Eversea of all places. She was raised on a boat, what can I say. So when Hermes stays with Sausage, Jassy leaves to be a pirate

Jassy actually gets along surprisingly well with Joey. She’s a bit of a straight man to him, especially during his pursuit of Katherine

Jekiv

(One of my favorite tropes in media is ‘Goth emo character who looks evil but is actually really nice’. Jek is the opposite of that. He dresses in bright pastels and Flowy clothes, but he’s a fucking zombie necromancer dude who can fuck you up so bad. What an icon. Also the reason behind the many skulls, is because he likes to accessorize with skulls, teeth, and brain matter. Skulls just happen to be the only option here lol)

Jekky boy would appear in the Ancient City, and have quite a hard time to explain to Pixl that no, he is not some old king brought back to life and no, he’s not cursed by some ancient artifact he was just born like this. Needless to say Jekiv didn’t stay there for long

No, he’d seek out a more dark and damp place since he’s not too great with sunlight, and this cursed swamp seems like the perfect place! Sure, he was warned that the place might eat his soul, but he’s not even sure if he had a soul, so it should be fine!

Shelby didn’t really mind having the zombie hybrid staying with her, he was able to collect any potions ingredients she needed from the mangrove swamps without much of a risk, plus it was nice to have someone besides tortoise around

That was until Jekiv got interested in the art of necromancy. Necromancy is very common on every server, I mean theres fricking zombies and skeletons everywhere, but to be able to control the dead into doing your bidding is not so common. In fact it’s classified as dark magic and is illegal for witches

Jekiv does not care about that. He likes death, plus he’s the weakest fighter out of all the kids so he gotta have something to protect him, even if that is a zombie army. A bit morbid since he himself is a zombie, but morality and ethicality has never been his thing

Novo

(Between all of my babies, Novo is the one with the most drastic design changes between his first appearance and now. Man started out as looking like an annoying kid, and now looks like an annoying Slut. Girlboss <3. For real though, I am very proud of this Novo design he looks unhinged af and I love him. Out of all the kids, he’s the one I enjoy the look of the most)

Novo appeared in Chromia, and if you know these characters at all then you should know how that went. Novo got one look at Scott, punched him square in the face, spouted some Australia-Scottish curse he invented himself and then stormed off, leaving poor Scottie quite confused

I imagine that the word of the kids would spread over the server quickly, but also that Oli would not hear about it at all, so when he found a tiny elf boy looking through the frankly pathetic storage system he had in his tent he would be quite stun shocked

Still, Novo has flair, drama, and a very threatening aura, so he’s allowed to stay

Novo is absolutely not a singer however. As I’ve said before you can barely understand the lad because of his Frankenstein accent, and even if you did know what he was singing he’s very off key. Can’t play any instruments either, and is too impatient to learn any

So, he takes to the second part of being a Bard

Okay not that part, he’s in a happy monogamous relationship thank you very much. No the other second part

Singing and playing loudly while following someone around til they actually pay you to stop

Never speaks with Scott after the first day, and all the other dl kids feel that it isn’t there place to tell him what’s going on, so all Scott knows about Novo is that he’s apparently his son and that he flat out despises him. He’s tried to form some sort of relationship with him, but Novo is both stubborn and spiteful and does in fact bite, to no one’s surprise

Tries to serenade Gertrude to the best of his ability, and even though it sounds dreadful (especially to her and her fucking insane dog hearing) she appreciates the attempts

Other small notes:

Gertrude does not like Chromia, because she’s got dog color blindness and the place centers around colors. The place makes her feel inferior :(

Jassy and Liana had a second more “official” wedding on Empires, with clothes designed by Katherine and a ceremony officiated by Pixl. Joel walked Jassy down the aisle

The kids have a lot of leftover mental scars from the dl server, including the fact that they tend to forget that food is once again accessible to them, so they can eat stuff again and not just repeatedly starve themselves

Joey believes Jekiv to be some sort of skeleton creature. He’s not, but he’s clad in a lot on bones and his skin is mauled to the point where bones are sticking out. Jekiv doesn’t visit The Eversea

I would tell y’all how it would go with the kids when the hermits came to Empires, but I kinda wanna see how that arc ends before I plan any storyline out

I do have Hermitcraft designs already created though

Actually they were made before these designs

Anyways baiiiiiii

[mementoteoblivisci]

// grian tags :3

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Among Us idea: Because I'm a little bit obsessed with game mechanics and glitches in fic...how about a round where one of the Hermits gets left behind? The game ends, and everyone but them is transported to the lobby, but they're just left on an empty ship flying eternally to some destination it will never reach... All the tasks are done. There's nothing left to do. So why is the game still keeping them there? And how do they escape? (It could also be two people left, if writing just one alone would be boring. Your choice who!)

SKSKSKSKSK HOW DO YOU DO THIS I’VE BEEN PLANNING OUT AN IDEA IN MY HEAD FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS IN WHICH TWO PLAYERS ACCIDENTALLY GET LEFT BEHIND HOW DO YOU KEEP READING MY MIND (/lh)

also i had a kind of idea to expand the concept a little bit and i hope that’s okay :)

also also i too love the ideas that utilise glitches or kinda ignore game mechanics; they're always so interesting to write! :D

…

Having finished his tasks a long time ago and not being teleported to any meetings lately, Skizz wanders around the whole ship, trying to find a friend. A buddy. Or literally anyone. But the ship seems deserted.

Finally, Skizz wanders into admin and checks the special table.

To his shock, he finds only two yellow faces on the screen: one in admin and one in cafeteria. So he rushes into the cafeteria and literally bumps into someone coming the other way.

“Oh my gosh, FINALLY,” Impulse breathes. “Where IS everyone?”

Skizz glances away, unable to meet his best friend’s gaze. “We have a problem.”

Impulse frowns. “What?” he asks warily.

“Um…” Skizz rubs the back of his neck. “So… it seems we’re the only two people on the ship.”

It takes a moment for Impulse’s brain to process what his friend just said. “...what?”

“I looked around the whole ship and then went to the admin table. There were only two yellow dots: me and you. There’s literally nobody else anywhere on the ship, dude.”

“But… I…” Impulse blinks. “How is that possible? Did the game end and leave us behind, somehow?”

“I feel like that’s the only possible explanation, but at the same time, it makes no sense.”

“Well, if this IS what happened, it’s gotta be a glitch, right?” says Impulse.

Skizz nods. “Gotta be. But now the question is… how do we get outta here?”

Impulse gazes around the room. “The game always automatically puts us back in the lobby when we’re done, so… I don’t think there’s a way of manually doing it.”

Skizz stares back at him with wide eyes. “You mean we’re stuck in THIS particular ship forever?!”

“W-Well, hopefully not FOREVER,” Impulse responds nervously. “I’m sure they’ll have realised we’re missing by now and they’ll be trying to get us back.”

“But what if they can’t?!” Skizz yelps. “We’ll be trapped in this purgatory forever!”

“Not helping, Skizz,” snaps Impulse. “We’ll be totally fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, like I can have ANY faith in your words anymore,” mutters Skizz, turning away.

Impulse glances sharply at him, sensing that his best friend’s words aren’t about Among Us. Not entirely. “What do you mean?”

Skizz just rolls his eyes and walks off.

Impulse watches him go. Looks like Skizz hasn’t been so quick to forgive and forget after all. Now the way Skizz was acting around him earlier makes sense.

After making a quick trip around the ship, Impulse discovers Skizz sitting leaning against the wall in admin, tossing a stack of ID cards at the wall one at a time.

“Still no way off,” Impulse reports. “Looks like we’re stuck here until they rescue us. Flying through space. On a ship heading to nowhere. An endless journey. With nothing except-.”

“Yes, okay, I get it!” Skizz snaps at him.

After a moment, Impulse leans against the admin table. “Skizz, you’ve been acting weird around me all night. I think we need to talk.”

“I don’t wanna talk.”

“C’mon. We’re stuck here on a ship on our own for the foreseeable future. There’s no better time to talk than now.”

“Okay!” snaps Skizz unexpectedly, jumping to his feet. “FINE! You wanna talk?! I don’t care! You did a LOT of talking back there on 3rd Life and not a word of it was true!”

Impulse frowns. “Is that what this is about?”

Skizz’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. “WH- WHAT DO YOU MEAN “is that what this is about”?! You say that like I’m mad at you for stealing my sandwich! Impulse, you LIED to me, BETRAYED me, and then watched Grian KILL me! You told me over and over again that you were on my side and you were loyal to us but you planned to betray us from the start! Y-You planned to betray ME. Do you-” He breaks off with a bitter laugh. “You know what, I was gonna say “do you have any idea how much that hurts?” but you DO, don’t you? Because your own ally turned on you. And murdered you. And you know what? YOU DESERVED IT!”

Impulse can only stare at his best friend with an expression of guilt and sadness.

“I wanted you to go far, dude! I wanted you to win at one point!” Skizz’s voice cracks. “I thought you were the best of us but it turns out you were nothing but a dirty liar and a traitor! I thought “oh, his strategy of playing all sides is pretty smart, actually, but he’s gonna have to pick a side at some point” but I didn’t realise that meant pretending to pick a side and then STABBING THEM IN THE BACK! Of all the- the jerky things to do! You pick the worst one! I-I just don’t understand how you could do that to someone you’ve been a brother to for A QUARTER OF A CENTURY! GOD, you SO deserved to die and the biggest regret of my life is that I didn’t get imposter tonight so I could stab you in the FACE!”

Skizz finally stops talking, breathing heavily. He takes in a deep breath, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Wow… I did not expect to yell that much…”

“I…” Impulse searches for something to say. But he can’t find anything. “I don’t…”

“You don’t have to say anything, Impulse.” Skizz gives a weak smile. “I-I think I just needed to… to let my feelings out.”

“You just needed to yell at me, huh? I get that.”

“Haha, yeah. Remember that time I snuck onto Hermitcraft and did a bunch of reckless things and then died, and you didn’t know if I was gonna respawn or not?”

Impulse nods, a small smile appearing on his face. “That’s what I was indirectly referring to. I think my throat hurt from yelling at you for, like, two weeks after that.”

“Are we even now, then?” asks Skizz.

“Well, I mean… Probably not. I still have a lot to make up for.”

Skizz shakes his head. “No, it… it’s okay. We all did things in that place that we’re not proud of.”

“Even the great Skizzleman?” teases Impulse weakly.

“Oh heck yeah. I still have nightmares about how I violently murdered two of my friends and how bloodthirsty I felt for so long. It freaks me out that I got to that point, man. Even in Among Us when I murder people, even you, I never got THAT bad.”

“Yeah, 3rd Life was…” Again, Impulse searches for the right word. “...an experience. In more ways than one.”

“It really was,” Skizz murmurs, letting out a long breath. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have let it affect Among Us so much.”

“No, it’s okay. And we can-.”

Impulse breaks off Skizz suddenly disappears in front of him. Blinking, he just has time to take a step forward before the admin room vanishes and he finds himself back in the lobby.

With eight people staring at him.

“Oh my gosh, finally!” Tango gasps, grabbing both Impulse and Skizz in a hug. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine, dude,” laughs Skizz quietly. “We just yelled at each other a bit, that’s all.”

Impulse chuckles. “Well, it was mostly Skizz doing the yelling.”

“Yeah, true. How did you guys even manage to get us out?”

“The insane genius that is Etho hacked into the code and managed to force the round to end again,” Tango responds. “Somehow. I dunno how. Took us a while to figure out what’d happened, though.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen that glitch before,” Etho chimes in. “There was six left, Grian and Ren double-killed me and Pungence to win, and that should’ve been it. The rest of us respawned in the lobby but we realised you two were missing.”

“Whoa, that’s so weird.” Skizz exchanges a look with Impulse. “Cuz for us, it was like the round just hadn’t ended.”

“Yeah, we’d both done all our tasks and we had no idea anything had happened.”

“What did you guys do?”

Impulse and Skizz shoot each other another look, silently making a mutual decision. “Just talked a bit and tried to look for a way out,” Impulse replies. “That’s all.”

Tango frowns, clearly picking up on the slight tension between them, but he doesn’t mention it. “Okay. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again.”

“Yeah.”

Skizz thinks back to the way he’d exploded at Impulse, and the way Impulse had looked at him with fear in his eyes. All the fury, the despair, the hurt… It had all spilled out at once. Skizz never wants to feel that way again.

“Let’s hope not.”

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

For the writing requests: Zedaph with a fear of heights?

I seriously love getting such open-ended prompts like this because then I can just go wild. Hope you like what I’ve written!

CW: panic attack

…

  There’s a reason Zedaph doesn’t usually fly places. He prefers to travel by nether where possible, but on this occasion, there’s no point going all the way through the nether hub when he can just fly over the mountain to Impulse’s base. It’s a short flight so everything should be okay.

  But the one thing he forgets to check before he sets off is the durability of his elytra.

  As he’s flying over the cliff, he feels a jerk and realises immediately that his elytra has snapped. He starts to drop but, reacting quickly, manages to grab onto the very edge of the cliff, stopping his fall. 

  However, his grip doesn’t last long.

  He lets out a screech as he slips down the mountain face, struggling wildly for a foothold. After a few seconds, he’s able to catch one on on a small stone ledge sticking out from the cliff about a quarter of the way down. He manages to turn himself around but he soon realises that was a BIG mistake.

  Because now he can see the two hundred block drop below him. 

  Already starting to panic, Zedaph shakily takes out his communicator. 

<Zedaph> Help!

<Zedaph> Elytra broke!

<Zedaph> Stuck on a cliff!

<Zedaph> Can’t get down!

  As he’s typing out his coordinates, he gets three messages in a row.

<Tango> Are you okay? Where are you?

<Impulse> Where are you Zed?? 

<Xisuma> Where are you? I can help! 

  Zedaph manages to send his coordinates before panic overwhelms him and he presses himself against the stone cliff face, squeezing his eyes shut. His world sways around him, making him dizzy and threatening to send him pitching forwards to the ground below.

  Xisuma is the first to arrive on the scene. One look up tells him that Zedaph is too low down to be grabbed from above, so he sets about trying to find a way to save his friend from down here.

  “Where is he?!” Tango gasps, landing neatly on the ground next to him. 

  Xisuma points him out. “There. We need a way to either slow or break his fall. I don’t suppose you have any splash potions of slow falling, do you?”

  Tango shakes his head. “N-No, I don’t. What about water?” 

  “Good idea, but too risky. From down here, we can’t tell where he’ll fall and we don’t have time to cover the whole area in enough water to completely break his fall.”

  Up on the cliff, about three minutes have passed since Zedaph first called for help, but it feels like over three hours to the terrified hermit. One glance down tells him that a crowd is forming under him but he can’t force himself to look down long enough to see who’s there. The only thing he could make out in his brief glance down is the bright yellow design he recognises from Impulse’s t-shirt. 

  “Zedaph!” 

  He almost glances down again but the nausea and panic rising in him is causing him to freeze. 

  Tango tries again: “ZED! Do you have anything on you to help get you down?!”

  Zedaph knows he should look in his inventory. Perhaps he has an ender pearl on him? It would be worth the pain of pearling from all the way up here if it meant he could be on the ground in seconds, and avoiding a terrifying fall would certainly be a bonus.

  But he can’t. He can’t move. His hands are gripping the stone indents so tightly that his knuckles are turning white. If he lets go, if he moves, if he tries to check his inventory, if he looks down, if he even opens his eyes…

  ...he’ll fall.   “He can’t get down!” Tango gasps. “What do we do?!”

  “Slime!” comes a voice from above.

  The small crowd looks up to find Iskall swooping overhead. He lands quickly on the ground and starts handing out slime blocks. “This’ll break his fall. Quick!” 

  Tango, Iskall, Impulse, Xisuma, and a few others start to spread the slime blocks all over the ground, creating a bouncy platform that will save Zedaph if he falls. 

  But less than a minute later, a terrifying scream sounds from above them as Zedaph finally loses his grip and slips right off the ledge.

  Zedaph screams again as he plummets, his hands wildly grasping at the air in a futile attempt to slow his fall. He knows he will die if he hits the ground, but there’s nothing he can do to stop it from happening. 

  Below him, he hears two distinctive voices scream his name. 

  A second later, he feels himself hit a bouncy surface and ricochet off. Arms flailing, he falls the six or so blocks to the ground, taking only a heart or two of damage as he does. He lies where he fell, gasping for breath through panic and adrenaline. 

  “Everyone get back!” calls Xisuma’s hazy voice. “Give him some room! He needs air!”

  He feels someone drop down next to him. “Zed! Zed, can you hear me?!”

  Zedaph can tell from his voice that Tango is terrified out of his mind right now, but he can’t summon the energy to talk or even nod. He is fully hyperventilating now, his lungs heaving as he tries and fails to gulp in enough oxygen through his sobs. 

  “What do I do?!” cries Tango in distress. “I don’t know what to do! How do I help him?!”

  Then a newcomer arrives. “Stay calm, Tango. Reassure him that you’re there and he’s safe. Keep saying that. And remind him to keep breathing.”

  “O-Okay…!” Tango takes a deep, shaky breath. “Z-Zed, it’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe, I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere.”

  The knot in Zedaph’s chest loosens slightly. 

  He feels Tango’s hand on his shoulder. “Breathe, Zed. Breathe deeply. In, out. In, out.”

  “Don’t tell him to breathe deeply,” comes the other voice. It sounds familiar but Zedaph can’t quite identify it just yet. “Just breathe. Mimic normal rhythm and it’ll return.”

  “R-Right, right. In. Out. In. Out. Can you do that for me? In. Out. In. Out.”

  Even though Zedaph knows Tango well enough to see through his calm facade, just the presence of his best friend is allowing him to slowly calm down. He mimics the timing of Tango’s breaths, his heartrate slowly but surely returning to normal. 

  At that moment, he hears the voice of his other best friend from somewhere behind him. “-want to see him! I want to see Zed!”

  Zedaph’s eyes are closed but he feels Impulse’s presence immediately. He breathes shakily but deeply out, finally able to stem the tears flowing from his eyes. 

  He rolls onto his back, one hand resting on his aching chest. 

  Someone takes his other hand and clasps it tightly. “It’s okay,” Impulse’s voice whispers. “You’re okay, Zed. You’re safe.” 

  Impulse’s hand in his and Tango’s reassuring hand on his shoulder helps Zedaph relax. His breathing returns to normal and he tilts his head back slightly, his stomach swimming with nausea. 

  He opens his mouth and manages to croak, “T-Tango.”

  “We’re here.” Tango can hardly raise his voice above a raspy whisper. “We’re both here.”

  Finally, Zedaph manages to open his eyes. Sure enough, he finds the pale faces of his best friends gazing worriedly down at him. 

  As he struggles to sit up, Impulse and Tango both immediately place a hand behind his back to help him. “Take it easy,” says Impulse softly. “You gave us a real scare, buddy.” 

  Gripping his best friends’ arms for support, Zedaph lets out a long breath. “I-I gave myself the fright of my life, th-that’s for sure.”

  “Zed…” Tango hesitates. “What happened up there? Why didn’t you open your inventory?”

  “I...um...” Zedaph also hesitates. He trusts his best friends implicitly but this is something he has never shared with anyone before. “I have acrophobia.”

  Tango gives his best friend a concerned frown. “Zed, I’ve known you for years. How have you never told me you’re scared of heights?” 

  Zedaph shrugs helplessly. “I-I don’t know, it just never came up before. It’s not as bad when I fly with an elytra cuz I’ve had years of practise; it’s just extended periods of time where I’m high up and I just freak out completely. I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. And I’m sorry for scaring you guys.”

  Tango quickly shakes his head. “No no, don’t apologise. I’m just so relieved you’re okay.”

  Zedaph closes his eyes and rests his head on Tango’s shoulder. “Me too.”

  In the ensuing pause, the same voice from before says, “How often do you have panic attacks?”

  Opening his eyes again, Zedaph looks up and finds Grian standing a few blocks away, a concerned look on his face. “Hardly ever. This one just got triggered because of my acrophobia. You?”

  Grian hesitates, glancing from Impulse and Tango to Zedaph. He realises that Zedaph can tell from the way he calmly and efficiently gave his advice that he’s no stranger to panic attacks “Not often. Anymore.”

  “Thanks for helping us out, there,” Tango says gratefully. “I wouldn’t have had any idea what to do if it wasn’t for you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been in both your places before. And let’s just say I know from experience that if there’s anything worse than having a panic attack, it’s having one in the presence of people who don’t know how to help you.” 

  Impulse gives a thin smile. “Well, we’ll definitely know what to do if it happens again in future. Thanks, man.”

  “No worries.” Grian smiles back at him, before glancing down at Zedaph. “And Zedaph, take as much time to recover from this as you need to, without feeling guilty or like you should be over it by now. I don’t know how many attacks you’ve had in the past but take it from me: rushing your recovery will make things worse. Take some time to relax.”

  Zedaph manages a nod. “I will. Thank you.”

  Grian nods back. “Feel better, man. I’ll see you later.” 

  As Grian walks off, Zedaph attempts to rise to his feet, but his legs buckle. Thankfully, Tango and Impulse are right there to steady him and lift him up. 

  “Where do you want to go, Zed?” Tango asks gently. “Anywhere you want.” 

  After a moment, Zedaph glances up at Tango, then at Impulse. “I want to lie on the grass outside Toon Towers with you two and as much cake as I can eat.”

  Tango and Impulse exchange a grin.

  “We can arrange that.”