"I love You..." | {Jedtavius Fanfic}

Better Late than Never

A/N: This is not beta read but instead a rewritten version of the first chapter because I didn't like how it first was
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"Jed? Jedediah?"

     Octavius called out as he ran through the mist of the battle, dodging the feet of different exhibits, seeing as he was trying to avoid and not get stepped on. The Roman thought to himself, wishing that he hadn't gotten off the squirrel when he first saw the Hourglass, assuming that it's be closer to him than it is now.

     He couldn't travel back to the past though, so instead he looked around once again, trying to find the hourglass but had little to no luck. The fact that he was so small wasn't helping out, seeing that the larger exhibit's figures were getting in his way, blocking a lot of the floor out of his sight.

"Jedediah my friend, please!"

     Octavius called out, even yelling once again as he still had no luck in being able to find the hourglass or any particle of his friend in any way. As he kept running across the floor, some of his soldiers as well as some cowboys were passing around and giving concerned looks, staring at him before going back to the battle at hand.

"Je-!"

     Right we the Roman was calling out for his friend again, he was caught off guard by the fact that one of Kahmunrah's soldiers had accidentally kicked the hourglass, causing it to slide across the floor and in front of Octavius. It was clear that the soldier didn't care, most likely due to the fact that he was focused on the battle at hand, actively attacking another exhibit that was on Octavius's side.

     Even though that was happening, it was clear that Octavius wasn't focused on it nor that he really cared about fighting right at this moment. Instead, he turned his attention back over at the hourglass, running over to it before looking up and seeing that the sand inside of the enclosed space was..

Was almost filled to the top..

     Panic surged through the Roman, placing his hands on the glass that kept him away from his friend, that separated him from Jedediah. He stared, quickly trying to think of a way to get the cowboy out as said cowboy wasn't even visible from where he could see.. It didn't help that the sand from the top glass was still trickling down into the bottom glass, no movement whatsoever being made from inside the glass and from underneath the sand, leading to the Roman's fear rising rather quickly.

"Jedediah.. I will not let you stay in this glass case, I will get you out my friend!"

     Octavius called out to the latter, hoping that the cowboy could hear him as an idea finally came to mind. He reached his hands to the line of rope at his chin, untying them which led to his helmet falling over his eyes. He clenched his teeth before taking ahold of both sides of the helmet, his hands having a good grasp at both sides of the tablet as he lifted it off his head. Then, he lifted the helmet into the air, pulling his arms back behind his head before letting out a 'war-cry'.

     He put all of his strength into throwing his arms forwards, tightening his grip on the helmet before hitting the glass of the hourglass, a large crack being made at the glass. As the Roman saw how his idea worked, he lifted his arms into the arm once again and gave the glass another harsh hit, the crack growing before leading into it actually breaking. Though, before Octavius had hit the glass for the second time, he didn't take notice that there was no more sand inside of the top glass.

     As it broke, the glass had shattered and scattered as the sand had quickly left the envasement that it was in, the force of it having pushed the Roman out of the way, almost knocking him down due to the force of it but this clearly wasn't the main concern on his mind. His current concern was the rather.. lifeless cowboy who was laying in the sand, not moving a single inch, not even moving to show that he was breathing. The cowboy was somewhat buried in the sand, having sand in his eyes as well as his whole lower half still being covered.

"Jedediah!"

     Octavius shouted out as he pushed himself out of the sand that had got over to him before running over Jedediah, reaching out and using the cowboy's hat to clear out his face before doing the same with his lower half. Then, with tears welding in his eyes, the Roman wrapped his arms around Jedediah and lifted him up out of the sand. He gently 'tossed' Jed upwards to where he was carrying him, bringing them both over to the other side of the hourglass that sand hadn't gotten to and set him down.

     Octavius didn't really know what to do to help the latter, staring down at the lifeless cowboy with guilt and sadness written all over his face. The emotions that he was feeling were getting to be too much, clenching his teeth as he formed a fish with his free hand. As it had to take a few moments before the full realization would hit him, the terror in his eyes were visible as he just cried out.

     As tears spilt out his eyes and down his face, he leaned downwards before resting his forehead against the cowboy's chest, setting the cowboy's hat onto the latter's head, giving it back to him. Then, he lifted his hand and lightly moved it over, taking Jedediah's hand into his and holding onto it gently, his sobbing only getting worse as there was no warmth coming from them.

    As the Roman cried into the other miniature's chest, he started to remember their connected past over the years, which only worsened his tears. Everything from the 50 years of fighting that had occurred between their dioramas, the night that Larry had gotten them to work together to where their friendship had kicked off, the car rides they took together, Jedediah stating that he'd 'never quit him' and most of all.. his feelings towards the cowboy. Just thinking back to all of these moments had caused him to sob harder, being thankful that no one had seemed to either notice or bother them.

"I-I'm.. I'm so sorry my friend. I-I should of found and helped you sooner, I s-should of focused on g-getting you to safety sooner.. I.. I should of told you s-sooner about how I-I felt.. I-I'm so sorry, Jedediah.."

     As the words trembled out of his mouth, he turned his head to the side to look at the cowboy's face once again before shutting his eyes as his breath shook. He never let go of the other, instead pulling him closer and keeping a tight grip, as if Jedediah would turn to dust if he decided to let go. Octavius didn't move away from Jedediah, not even when a certain night guard called out to them.

"Jed? Octavius? Hey, where are you guys?"

     As his name got called out, Octavius stayed still, only letting a weak- 'over here' escape his mouth, before hearing the sound of Larry's footsteps coming closer. He kept his head down as the night guard stopped in front of them, not moving as the guard spoke out.

"Octavius..? What are you and Jed doing here, we have to get go-"

     Larry stopped in the middle of his sentence, his mouth closing into a thin line as he took in the scene beneath him. It was pretty clear as to why he suddenly lowered himself to the ground next to the duo, especially with what he asked next, sounding timid as he did so.

"Octavius.. what happened..?"

"..I-I wasn't quick enough."

"Oh god..."

     Larry stayed there for a few moments, an ill feeling in his stomach as he couldn't believe that Ahkmenrah had actually done it, managing to kill one of them. He couldn't imagine how the rest of the Western Diorama would take this, seeing as how Octavius was, things could go to-

'Beep! Beep!'

     The night guard's thoughts were interrupted by his watch going off, letting him know that there was just enough time to make it back to the Museum so that Amelia could get back without turning to dust. He let out a sigh before reaching his hand out and scooping both Octavius and Jedediah into the palm of his hand and setting them inside of his front jacket pocket before standing up.

     Once Larry had stood up, he turned around and started to walk to where everyone else was, a more pale look to his face as he wondered what to do. He sure didn't know how to explain the cowboy's disappearance to McPhee and even then, to the rest of the exhibits, especially if it was clear that the place didn't want them there. He knew what he was going to do about keeping them there but.. he hoped that Ahkmenrah knew how to help him out with this situation.