Joel opened his eyes slowly, glancing around the ornately decorated room and swearing under his breath. He was half convinced that it was some silly dream, but no, he did appear to be actually stuck in the body of his friend (maybe an enemy, he wasn't quite sure who this one was yet).
The overwhelming cold that washed over him as soon as the king of Mezalea sat up and the wings (maybe? Joel wasn't sure) pressed against his back gave him his answer in relation to who's body he was controlling.
Scott.
Joel sighed, rolling his eyes and getting out of bed. Again. It was rather odd to be much taller than usual, he realised as he smacked his head on the doorframe. Oh, for goodness' sake- surely Scott should have built the doorways to account for his height?! Idiot.
He continued to make a mental list of stupid things that Scott hadn't accounted for as he made his way out of the main building (the list included, but was not limited to:
•having a really cold empire (what if he has visitors???)
•the floor being really slippery
•the red vine thingies coming out of a cave on the other side of the river (they just completely ruined the landscape)
•having a really cold empire
•being really freaking tall (Joel, of course, was very tall, so if Scott was tall compared to him, he must have been really tall)
•having a really cold empire
•snow (it got in people's eyes way too easily- why did Scott pick such a difficult biome to exist in?!)
•having a REALLY cold empire
And that was just to name a few).
Joel paused as he heard a shout. Oh, fun. "Scott! Scott, I need to- Scott- help-" He spun around to see Jimmy running towards him. Funnn.
"Oh, uh... hey Jimmy." What's Scott's lame nickname for Jimmy again? Uh- I know it's something beginning with P... poppy maybe? Ah, screw it, I'll ignore the nicknames maybe. "What's wrong?"
The cod hybrid paused for a moment to catch his breath before his words came out in a rush. "Okay, so I woke up yesterday, but I wasn't really- awake? I was like outside my body and there was someone else controlling it?! I don't know who it was, but they read the note Pearl made me leave to prank Joel, and then they didn't know Delta so she's really confused about that, and I managed to take over for a little bit when they saw a salmon, but then I was kicked out of my body again, and I woke up and everything was back to normal."
Joel blinked. Oh. So does that mean there's an angry Scott looming next to my body- SCOTT I'M SORRY, IT WAS PEARL. BLAME PEARL. DON'T DO SOMETHING HORRIBLY VENGEFUL TO ME, PLEASE- "Uh... it was probably a weird dream. Don't worry about it..." Oh, remembered the nickname- "Petal." He added lamely. OH GOD THAT FELT SO WEIRD, NO- "Or maybe it was something to do with Xornoth. Hm. Maybe go talk to Gem?" That's what Scott would suggest, right?
Jimmy's eyes widened as his mouth fell into a soft 'O' shape. "Do you think Xornoth cursed me?!" He squeaked, appearing to be mildly alarmed.
"Uh... well- I don't know about that, but uh- maybe go talk to her. Just in case. Bye now." Jimmy blinked, still alarmed but also looking mildly confused.
"But I came all the way from- okay. Bye. Love you." Joel grimaced as Jimmy walked away. That was so weird.
Although he didn't miss the odd ache in his chest (Scott's chest?) as he watched the hybrid leave.
Maybe that was linked to Scott's fear?
——
Joel noticed a few odd things wandering around Rivendell.
Every time he attempted to talk to someone, for example, they would shy away from him- they would make an excuse, or pretend they hadn't heard him, or entertain a conversation for a few moments before running away.
A couple of Rivendell citizens seemed mildly surprised at how unbothered Joel was when they left. Some of them muttered something about usually being desperate for social interaction, and a few stared at him incredulously when he shrugged and said bye after their half-hearted excuse.
Another thing he noticed was the increasing amount of weird red vines. They were the same type as the ones poking out of the cave and they were everywhere. Joel was pretty sure those were the vines that supposedly came from 'Xornoth' (the demon that Scott and Gem made up for a joke- there was no way there was an actual demon on the server), so he had to respect Scott's commitment to the bit, but the vines were kind of creepy.
He was also pretty sure he saw some of them moving.
However, whenever the king of Mezalea tried to ask someone about the vines, he was ignored, as was mentioned before, so they were just playing along with the bit as well, Joel guessed. Maybe it was a Rivendell tradition to...
Make up a demon?
He didn't know.
Throughout the entirety of this, Joel was trying to figure out Scott's fear, but nothing seemed to really trigger a sudden burst of emotion (like the one the previous day that had briefly allowed Jimmy to take control of his own body again).
It was only when he tried to ask Gem about the 'demon' and the vines (Joel was trying to get proof that it was a bit so he could point out how fake the whole Xornoth thing was when he got back to normal) that he figured it out.
——
Joel sighed, yawning and pulling out his (Scott's) communicator.
-.-.-
Smajor1995: Hey Gem? You available for a quick chat? Got a question about the vines and stuff :D
-.-.-
Joel waited for a few minutes, but there was no response, so he tried again.
-.-.-
Smajor1995: Gemmmmm???
-.-.-
Joel reached to type another message when he felt another spike of emotion, similar to the fear that Jimmy had felt, but instead of fear it was anxiety.
Oh my Aeor, she hates me doesn't she? She doesn't really want to be my friend, she's only nice to me because she has to be, all of the people I care about probably feel that way, none of them care about me, they're all gonna leave me at the first chance they get-
It was only then that it clicked for Joel.
Scott was scared of being alone.
Oop but also L Scott /j
Scott's being a little too relatable right now so I'm gonna make fun of him because L bozo
Comments and votes are appreciated :D
Sorry for any errors I don't proofread :>
YOU ARE READING
A Lesson To Be Learnt// An Empires S1 AU
FanfictionRegardless of what others thought, Joel didn't consider himself to be a bad person. Sure, he mocked people a lot, and yes, most of his humour consisted of insults, but at the end of the day, he was just joking, and if the other person took it to hea...
