Out Of The Birdcage • Limited Life Fanfic

.°• Chapter 4: The First •°.

TW: Slightly graphic injury descriptions

An explosion sounded like crashing waves, propelling Joel up. His body shattered in a flurry of lightning.

Smallishbeans has ran out of time.

His corpse landed in front of Jimmy, shredded and mangled and jutting out in different directions. It was horrific: flesh and blood scattered around the crater of the bridge like a crime scene. Pieces of armour hanging on splintered wood. Jimmy scrambled back, recoiling when his hand touched a chunk of his hair. There's nothing he could do now, he was gone.

But a selfish thought crosses his mind; if Joel's out, then he broke the curse. His freedom had been granted, he was now a threat. He had a real importance in the world and was no longer a sacrifice. He was no longer a canary. He let out a breath he had been holding in a long time. His worries were over.

"JOEL! JOEL NOOOO" Grian shrieked, sprinting across the bridge fast enough that his tears would fly behind him. He knelt down by what was left of Joel's body and sobbed, trying to grasp at his lifeless hand and sobbing into his palms when he felt the weight of it. His voice broke as he whispered, "Joel.."

Jimmy looked at Grian in the distance, pushing his guilty feeling to the back of his mind. It's not like there was anything he could do now, the only way was forward. He couldn't afford to feel guilt. He walked over to Grian and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, wiping his own tears away with the other hand. Toughen up, Jimmy. Joel messed up, massively, and it was up to him to sort out his mistakes now he was gone. He needed to focus on the now, and now Cleo was mad at them.

Cleo shut their gaping mouth, deciding to swap it for a scowl. "You were going to trap us you ba-"

"Let's keep it PG, Cleo" Jimmy held eye contact with Cleo. He had a lot to win, and they weren't going to get the best of him. "You've been stealing our wheat for ages now, it was time you learnt you lesson"

"You're going to regret this!" Cleo laughed, "You're gonna wish you were never born!"

Jimmy scoffed at Cleo's hollow threat, unfazed. While staring at Cleo, he accidentally snatched a glance at Scar, who was staring at him intently.

"Jimmy" Scar said this cautiously, as if he might bite, "You're not out first"

Jimmy noticed Scar's caution and grinned. "You're right- I'm not out first. I'm winning, I've broken the curse and there's nothing you can do about it!" He laughed, stepping backwards slightly to get their faces in frame. A perfect picture: a scared Scar, a fuming Cleo and a Speechless Bdubs. A renaissance painting for all to see. But amongst the painting was a wreck. Grian dropped Joel's hand, it thudding to the ground.

"You're winning- Tim- surely- surely you don't actually mean that?"

Jimmy's face falls as he watches Grian's eyes water. Guilt swarmed him- he pushed Joel away just so he could succeed, counted his death as a win and his last words to him were in anger, what had he done?

"Dammit Grian, I-" Jimmy struggled for words, feeling tears prick his eyes.

Grian instinctively held his hands out side, but then looks at Jimmy and falters. His hands returned to his sides. "It's- it's okay Jimmy. Let's go". Grian turned away and started walking. He hadn't called him Jimmy in years. It was always Tim or Timmy. He was always Grian's Timmy.

And he pushed him away. He pushed the only person left that loved him, he let his selfishness win. Why couldn't he just let it go?

He forced himself to turn around and follow Grian's lead. He needed to apologise and make things right, but the words got jammed in his throat. He faced away from what he had called his renaissance, a perfect picture of chaos and regret. A display of what a few decisions could make. Enemies, holes and mangled bodies.

Word count: 680 words

A slightly shorter chapter, but I promise I'll make some longer ones another time. Anyway, how is it so far? I hope you like it <3 (and I hope you'll like the cheeky bit of flower husbands when that comes along). Anyway, have a good day!