Out Of The Birdcage • Limited Life Fanfic

.°• Chapter 7: The Firework •°.

"Scott has the most time on the server, he needs to be taken down a peg" Grian looked expectantly at Jimmy, as if waiting for some kind of response, some kind of reassurance. Jimmy took a deep breath.

"Tim?"

Scott, the innocent blue haired boy that he spilled his heart to when the sun was down. He couldn't just kill him straight after, I mean, that would be disgusting. To just slash his heart apart when he opened it for him. But no, Scott was smart. Maybe that's what his true aims were, not to just see how he was but to gain an advantage, trust . Scott would kill him in a heartbeat, without a single thought. Jimmy couldn't afford to feel sympathy for him. He met Grian's eyes.

"Yeah, let's go"

The duo climbed up the ladder in silence, chattering aimlessly was stupid. Time's ticking. Duo. Just a day or two ago now, Joel was climbing up with them, in all his beautiful arrogance, arguing that crunchy peanut butter was, in fact, the right choice. And now what? The spidery web of dirt lay ahead of them, stretching out into the horizon.

The sky crackled, leaving a path of blue lightning behind, not too far from them.

Skizzleman ran out of time.

First Joel, then Skizz. The rest would soon be dropping like flies. Sad, pathetic flies.

It was a grim reminder, to say the least, of their reality. A firm warning to know their place.

Grian walked ahead of Jimmy, carrying a TNT minecart in his arms. Though he hid it well, there was something there, something in his posture and demeanor, showing that lightning strike had felt like a knife had twisted in his stomach.

They were hovering over the Mean Gills' base, and, surprisingly, Martyn was there. He usually went out and visited other players, but this time he was facing Scott, pointing his finger accusatoraly at him. You could just faintly see Scott holding his hands up defensively.

"Grian," Jimmy said urgently, nudging him, "Can we just get this over with". He didn't know what it was, but something in the way they were behaving towards each other below made his skin crawl. Surely this wasn't because Scott left the base for once, to visit him?

"They're not gonna know what hit them" Grian placed the minecart down, kicking it off the structure in one swift motion.

It takes a while, but watching their deaths appear in chat woke something up in Grian, he laughed wildly, sweeping his hair back with his hand. He flashed a grin at Jimmy, who couldn't help but returning one. Grian's laugh was infectious, and nowadays hard to come by.

They both had two hours. Well, almost. Either way, they were safely in the game.

Grian threw his arms around Jimmy's neck impulsively, holding him tight. Jimmy laughed a little as his sunglasses smushed on Grian's cheek.

"WOOOOO!" Grian whooped, pumping his fists in the air. He was happy, well and truly happy, for the first time in a while. Oh how Jimmy missed this. They were together, the wind whistling past their ears, and he felt like he was on top of the world instead of on top of a dirt tightrope of death.

"Okay, okay, Grian" Jimmy chuckled, patting him on the shoulder, "Scott and Martyn will have respawned back at their base, we can finish them off down there, or at least Martyn"

"Bold of you to assume you'd be alive for that"

They whipped around to see Martyn and Scott staring right back at them, maybe only a few metres away. Scott had a crossbow loaded with fireworks. Martyn continued.

"Don't come any closer"

Jimmy looked at Scott, then Martyn, then Scott again. The sun was beating on his back, and the leather jacket wasn't helping much. He knew it. Scott would kill him in a heartbeat, just like he thought. That conversation was all a ruse so Scott could manipulate him, but that wouldn't explain the unease on Scott's face.

"Listen, Scott" Jimmy held his hand out in front of him, the other just lingering over his sword. This is exactly what he had done last night, and Scott had gaslighted him into not grabbing it. Not this time. He should've attacked him in the first place. "You need to stop hunting us so we can try and win the game". He met Scott's eyes, shining with false innocence. None of his emotions were real, he was too smart to have them.

"Us to stop hunting you?" Martyn scoffed, "You're the one who just dropped a TNT minecart on us. No, we've been avoiding you, for far too long now. It's time to face us, now you haven't got 'Big Man Joel' to hide behind". He said Joel's name far too ignorantly for his liking. Jimmy felt his face heat up, but he contained his anger in his balled fists. His nails dug into his own palm.

"Look, we're sorry for that" Jimmy hissed, drawing his attention to Martyn, "But you needed taking down a peg, alright? It's not just you who deserves a chance at winning the game"

"Winning the game? You?" Martyn laughed, long enough to make Jimmy doubt himself, "It's a stroke of luck you weren't first. Newsflash, we're all trying to win the game"

Jimmy's nails dug deeper into his palms. Just as he was about to march forward and give Martyn a piece of his mind, a hand grabbed his collar and held him back. Grian stepped forward cautiously, as if he was gently approaching some kind of rabid animal, but with every intention to end it as soon as it lowered its guard.

"Put the crossbow down and we can talk about it. Nobody has to get hurt" He said through gritted teeth, staring at them with hard eyes.

Grian was taking charge, again, and despite it fuelling Jimmy with rage that he couldn't trust Jimmy to contain himself, it secretly gave him relief. He didn't have the combat skills or wits of some of the other players, Martyn made that clearer than was fair.

"I've got four hours, Grian. I can afford to be killed a few times. You, however, not so much. Throw your weapons off the Skynet and then we'll talk"

He was right. Neither of them could afford that loss. Jimmy bit the inside of his cheek and threw his sword down below, his hard work landing way below them. There's no chance he was getting that back, not anytime soon. His eyes flickered back to his best friend behind him, who was still defiantly holding his sword. Oh Grian.

"I said drop it, Grian"

Grian hesitated, his eyes darting about. Why couldn't he just let it go? Even of Jimmy made a peaceful move, Grian made it clear he wasn't going to make it easy for them. But this was a dire situation, surely he could just cooperate.

He lowered his weapon, making eye contact with Martyn the whole time. You could see the smugness on Martyn's face. He was winning, and he knew it.

But Grian launched himself at Martyn, slashing at his ankle and trying to knock him off the net.

Before Jimmy could react, Scott aimed his crossbow at Grian's head and released mercilessly.

Word count: 1223

Wow, I think this might be the biggest chapter. Anyway, it's been a while since I've last uploaded, how are you guys? I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and I hope your life's going well. See you in the next one!