Chapter Text
There are few things in life better than the view at the top of the mountain. There was a small bench where Jude was currently sitting, perfectly placed in a position where it allowed him to overlook a vast lake that remained unexplored, a rare thing these days, with the amount of people in the server it had become increasingly difficult to find a quiet place to claim as your own. But the area was perfect, its tranquility highlighting the noise of the quick but soft winds, paired with the altitude allowing the sun to illuminate everything as far as the eye could see, and its quietness bringing a peace unparalleled and incomparable to any area in the busy server.
It was Jude’s favorite place. He made the hike every time he needed a second alone; even though he could easily fly all the way to the top, there was something special about walking the steps he’d built, and the walk gave him a head start in what he was there to do anyway: to breathe, to rest, to think. You would think that as a known trapper, he would use this silence to think about complicated redstone mechanics and how he could use them, but while he was up there, he never had any ideas that helped his contraptions or his work. Which he was fine with; that was not what the place was for anyway.
When Jude was up there, few work-related thoughts could enter his mind. However, as the air grew quiet, he found it easy to reflect. To think about his week and what he did, his friends and what they said, and lately, a certain someone he couldn’t escape even in his little mountain. This was a new development in his life, not something he was used to. He thought about him so often he could picture his face in his mind so perfectly, almost as if he were standing in front of him, and because of it, Jude often found himself remembering things about him: his eyes, his smile, the way his presence lit up any room. It was in these moments that he thought about the first time they met.
It was a hot day common only to spring and the promise of an upcoming summer. Where flowers were blooming, and trees gained back the color they had lost in the past few months. As hot as it was outside, it couldn't compare to how hot it was in the dimly lit cave he was currently mining, looking for materials for his latest piece of work.
“I can’t be here a second longer”, he heard his friend yell. “If you’re not coming up with me, I’ll just go up alone; I feel like I could combust any second with how hot it is!” he continued.
And it had been a long day. Jude and his teammate woke up in the early morning, when the sun met the ground, and the air felt wet from the morning fog, to go run the errands of the day, which coincidentally included the long, grueling hours of work they were completing at the moment.
Although he thinks their team-up is temporary, he doesn't say it. With how boring he found this guy, he knew they wouldn't be together for long; he didn't even remember his name! Although they hadn’t found everything they needed, he had to agree that in the past few hours, the cave had gotten too hot to work in, which probably meant they had spent more time in there than they had planned on spending anyway. So even though Jude wasn’t satisfied with the amount of items he had obtained, he didn’t want to be down there alone, so if this guy (whose name he couldn't recall) was leaving, he planned to follow.
“Just let me finish up things here, give me a minute!” he yelled back. He didn’t hear his ‘friend’ answer, but he could hear footsteps getting lost in the distance; he was probably leaving, but Jude was sure the guy had heard him anyway, so he started heading back to where he left his chest with items and his oven with melted ores to pack everything up and follow behind. He was exhausted.
As he started heading back the way he came, he reminded himself to leave the lights up so he wouldn’t get lost if he decided to continue his work later. The higher he went, the clearer he could hear the tweets and pips of the various animals residing outside, probably birds and frogs, he guessed. While walking, he thought about the other things he had to do today that he’d have to postpone. This was his second week as the new guy in the server, having entered quite later than most, which made it so that he needed to catch up on the various items most people had acquired a while ago. A trip to the Nether to strengthen his armor was high on his list after finding diamonds in the cave; he definitely needed an upgrade.
Because of his role as the new player, he was also being targeted for extra strength points, the older members seeing him as an easy target. But Jude didn’t particularly mind; he had placed a few traps in the couple of days he’d been here to make it easier for him to remain alive until he had enough gear to defend himself. However, he did resent how many of his first impressions included swords pressed to his face or arrows flying by; frankly, it was getting a bit tiring to run away.
He was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t notice he had finally left the cave until the sun felt hot on his skin, almost immediately making him cover his eyes at the excess of light. It was probably late in the day, a high contrast to when he first entered the cave, he thought. Being out here brought a nice break from the silence of the past hours; he and his teammate didn't talk much, mostly together because they shared a similar goal: to get items, which is how he knew the guy wouldn't be waiting for him when he emerged.
He heard him before he saw him.
Ruffling leaves had him on high alert before he knew what the danger was, a perk of having great hearing. Thanks to his long bunny ears, he could distinguish human steps from those of an animal from miles away, though the carelessness of these suggested the potential threat hadn’t noticed Jude.
As his eyes adjusted and he managed to look around the swamp he found himself in, a bit farther away from where he was standing, he saw him. Long and silky blonde hair neatly tied in a bun, dark armor shining with the sun, and a concentrated look in his face. He was hard to miss. And maybe it was the exhaustion in his body or the heat in the air that prevented him from reacting in any way other than the way he did, because as he looked at the stranger, he could only think about how pretty he was.
After a moment, Jude realized he knew him, not personally, just by reputation. Sharpness was one of the server's older members, famous for his reputation as one of the server’s most skilled fighters, being both ruthless and dangerous. Weird how no one had mentioned how beautiful he was.
Jude would’ve been content with staring at him as he walked; he would’ve happily dropped his later plans, which he didn't want to do anyway, to sit by and stare at him. And for a few seconds he allowed himself to do so, to forget his role in the server, and the potentially dangerous situation he was in. But a sudden movement brought him back to earth. As if Sharpness could hear him, or feel his presence, he turned and looked around, stopping suddenly and looking directly at the tree where Jude was hiding.
In a matter of seconds, Sharp’s face changed, a sword now in his right hand. “Funny way to meet,” the blonde half shouted as he grabbed a pearl to get to Jude faster, which he took as his cue to start running. The moment was over.
“Do we really have to do this?” he asked, a bit breathless from running already. Jude wasn’t strong enough to take this fight; he wasn't as skilled in fighting as his attacker certainly was. And although he was a bit scared, mainly by the surprise of the interaction, he assured himself he was going to be fine. Jude had set a few traps in preparation for this to happen. He knew people would come for him eventually; he just didn’t know sharpness would.
“We could end this right now! You know what I’m here for”, he replied. And Jude did know, but maybe if he kept him talking long enough, he would get him to not notice the path they were running on led straight to his pre-planned, polished contraption. So he said:
“Or you could just stop chasing me!” which he knew wouldn’t happen, and apparently his opponent knew it too, as he started laughing. A sound so sudden and unexpected it distracted Jude long enough to make him trip over a branch and fall. Embarrassing.
His fall allowed Sharp to catch up with him enough to land a hit that almost immediately ended his life, but also did enough damage to have Jude back up and running in an instant. He was close to where he left his marker; he just needed to run a few more seconds.
“You know how this ends; there’s nowhere for you to go, so why don’t you give me what I want, bunny!” he heard him shout as they were nearing the one thing that could save him. His trap was simple, built fast this morning to ensure his safety while he mined. The only thing he needed to do was hit sharpness in a certain direction and stand on a pressure plate; then a hole in the ground would open to a fall that would impale its victim. And although the trap was built quickly, it was good enough that it was close to impossible to prevent certain death to whoever fell in it, especially if you weren’t expecting it.
Knowing this, Jude stopped to catch his breath. Already where he needed to be to set it off, he just needed to get Sharp close enough for him to push, which Jude knew he would do by himself.
As he predicted, seconds later the blond was hitting him, slashing and doing enough damage to get Jude worried; he needed to do this fast. Trying to defend himself as much as he could, he started fighting back, landing a few hits here and there. Not enough to do meaningful damage, but enough to not make it an easy kill for Sharp. It was easy for Jude to see the irony in this interaction; he was a bunny escaping his predator, Sharp being the scary wolf. This was a situation he didn’t want to be in.
After a little bit of back and forth, Sharp managed to make a move Jude didn’t expect, getting him in a position where he was lying on the floor, sword pointed to his face, the weapon gleaming with the light.
Sharpness smirked. “I’m sorry this is how we had to meet,” he said. Which was funny because he didn’t seem sorry at all. “You put up a good fight! Running away, that is,” he finished.
As he said this, he swung his sword to land the final blow, with a speed as scary as he was. But Jude was prepared; he was faster. Before the weapon could hit him, he used all the strength he could muster in his legs to kick Sharp into the hole he had made, getting a pressure plate from his inventory and setting it off as Sharp was getting knocked back. The thrill of it running through his veins, Jude was in his element.
He saw Sharp’s face morph into one of surprise as he was falling, and a few seconds later, the message popped up.
Sharpness was impaled on a stalagmite by JudeLow.
He won.