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Joel was aware that Etho was a fox hybrid, but he hadn’t seen him shift before. He couldn’t really force Etho to shift, and he understood that on a server where the goal was to not get killed by your friends, shifting could be dangerous. But he wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t curious.
Early on in the server, he was collecting wood while Etho was off mining. When he turned to chop down the next tree, he caught a glimpse of white that disappeared behind trees deeper in the forest. He shrugged it off and went back to the tree. It was probably just a wolf. The white soon appeared again, and Joel became curious. It was definitely smaller than a wolf and had a really puffy tail. Were there foxes on the server?
He sat on the ground when the white creature stayed in sight, extending a hand and making a noise to try to beckon it closer. He was surprised when the animal—definitely a fox—approached him.
“Hello,” he greeted, hand in front of the fox’s snout. It was an arctic fox. He didn’t remember there being any cold biomes within the world border. Did it manage to sneak through?
The fox gently bit his fingers before sitting in front of him. Maybe he could somehow keep the fox around, and then Etho would have someone to play with. Foxes were territorial though, weren’t they? Etho probably wouldn’t take kindly to a wild fox. He liked his soulmate. He didn’t want to cause problems or offend him by accident.
But the fox was so cute and fluffy and wasn’t running away from him. Within a few minutes, the fox was letting him pet it, and he hadn’t even offered it food. Maybe he could spend a bit of time with it before Etho came back from mining. What his soulmate didn’t know wouldn't hurt him.
Joel groaned when he heard the door shut. A dull buzzing in his heart warned him of his soulmate’s panic. He should have listened to the warning earlier before continuing to pry about the details of Etho’s encounter with the deep dark and the warden. Now Etho had run out of the Relation into the night.
He started walking around the area, hoping to spot Etho. He didn’t want to start shouting and draw any attention to them—whether that be mobs or the rest of the server. After a few minutes, he caught a glimpse of something moving by the trees. He chased it.
When he got closer, he realised it was the fox he saw that other time. Both of them stood still staring at each other before the fox cautiously approached him. He crouched down and sighed, “I thought you were Etho, stupid fox. Though it is nice to see you again.”
The fox trotted closer and curled up on the grass in front of him. He spent a while petting the fox, keeping an eye out for any signs of Etho. He never saw any, but he felt his soulmate’s heart slowly calming. He patted the fox once more before standing up, ready to head back to the Relation where Etho hopefully had returned. The fox shot up and followed him. He nudged the fox with his boot when they reached the Relation. “You can’t come in with me.”
The fox didn’t move, so he nudged it again. “Come on, go—”
Something moved in the distance, and he let go of the door he was holding shut. He looked around, and for a second, he could have sworn he saw Etho’s hair. A second later, he realised it was just a skeleton. Muttering curses under his breath, he ran to go take care of it. The fox was gone when he returned.
As soon as he stepped back into the Relation, the exhaustion of the day hit, mixed with the guilt of being a good part of what made his soulmate run off. He set his axe down, pulled off his boots, and headed back to their empty bed. They could talk tomorrow, and then he could apologise. No use being sleep-deprived, especially if Etho wasn’t going to sleep.
He fell asleep nearly instantly when his head hit the pillow; his last thought being that he did a good job making such soft pillows.
His first thoughts upon waking up were a jumbled mess of “Where am I?” and “Where’s Etho?” and “Why is my pillow breathing?”
He slowly sat up and jumped when he heard a yawn. He turned to face what he thought was his pillow.
“Oh my goodness! How’d you get in here?”
The fox looked up at him from where he was curled up on Joel’s pillow, fur ruffled where Joel had his head all night. It yawned again and stretched before putting its head back down on the pillow, eyes shut.
Joel knew he should get the fox out now before Etho came back, which he surely hoped would be soon. Something in him just couldn’t, so he pet his little friend and laid down on Etho’s pillow.
“You can sleep a little bit longer, but then you’ve got to go back outside.”
He didn’t remember falling asleep, but when he woke up, he mindlessly played with the fur his hand was resting on. He heard a very non-foxlike laugh and opened his eyes.
“Oh, Etho!” He yanked his hand back away from Etho’s hair. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“Got back a few hours ago. Sorry, I left last night. The warden was a bit spookier than I thought.”
“I shouldn’t have pushed you to talk about it.”
“It’s fine. Missed me much?” Etho joked, “You stole my pillow.”
“I—!” He couldn’t really defend himself, could he? Not without admitting to letting a wild fox into their bed and explaining how he’d accidentally slept on it all night.
Luckily, distant shouting from their neighbours grabbed their attention.
Double Life was over, at least for them. They hadn't won, but Joel would say they had done well. He had fun, and he was pretty sure Etho did too. It felt a bit weird, returning to Empires, and having the tie to his soulmate be gone.
A few weeks after the end, he got an off-world message.
Message from Etho: hey i set up the server
Message from Etho: when do you have a few days free
Message to Etho: i can go any time this week
Message to Etho: now?
Message from Etho: you're whitelisted
He let everyone know he was going to switch to a different server for a few days and rushed to the hub.
It took a few seconds for the dizziness of world loading and spawning in to dissipate. He was greeted by his friend, sitting in an oak tree above him.
"Hey, Joel."
"Hi, Etho. Fancy seeing you here."
"Yeah, it's almost like I made this server for us and invited you."
They caught up as they gathered basic resources and scouted the area for a good place to settle.
"We could do this area," Joel suggested, "Near a village, good climate, lots of water and resources."
"And a ravine for you to fall in."
"Keep talking like that, and I'll push you in."
"I'll take you down with me. It'll be like we're connected again."
"You wouldn't."
“You're right," Etho agreed, "but I will do this.”
Etho pushed him off the hill they were standing on, laughing as Joel screamed and rolled down the hill.
"Oh, I'm getting you for that!"
"Good luck with that!" Etho yelled back, already taking off in the opposite direction.
It didn’t take long for them to get set up. It was significantly easier when it was just the two of them. There were no worries of everything being destroyed or having limited lives.
Joel was exploring their world while Etho worked on making a farm for them. He spotted a taiga in the distance and headed in. Maybe he could get some sweet berries to surprise Etho. They hadn't found any in the Double Life server, but he remembered Etho gushing about how good they were.
It didn't take long for him to find some, and he picked a bunch. As he pulled out the thorns in his hands, he was glad they weren't connected. Etho definitely would have recognised the feeling, which would have ruined the surprise.
He was on his way back when he spotted it—a familiar arctic fox looking out of place in the plains where his and Etho’s cottage was. His heart stopped for a moment. There was no way that could be the fox from the Double Life server, right? He missed that fox. He saw it less and less as he and Etho became yellow, then red, and then died, but it had always been so friendly.
He knelt down, and the fox raced over to him, sniffing his pockets and pawing at his legs.
“Okay, okay, I can give you a few, but I gotta save some for Etho.” He pulled out a couple berries, wincing when the fox bit his fingers while scarfing them down. “You can’t follow me home," he said, pointing to the house that was just visible over the hill, "but there’s gonna be a few bushes behind that cottage.”
He heard Etho somewhere inside their unfinished cottage when he returned from planting the bushes in the garden.
"Etho?"
"In the kitchen."
He walked into the kitchen and smiled, "Wow, didn't realise this cottage came with my very own housewife."
"You can get your own food."
"Even after I brought a present?"
Etho turned to look at him.
"I found a taiga," he explained, holding out a handful of sweet berries. "I've got some bushes out back too."
"You know, being a housewife doesn't sound too bad."
“I have a question.”
“Yeah?”
“I know you’re a fox hybrid, but how do you feel about other foxes? Like wild foxes?”
“Uh, not great usually. I mean me and Side Kit got along, but I found her when she was young.”
“Oh.” Joel’s heart sank. Maybe he could build a little shelter for the other fox to stay in where it wasn’t too close for Etho to feel uncomfortable. Then Joel could still see it when he and Etho came to the server. They were leaving tomorrow for a few weeks, but he could still build one before they left.
“Are you talking about that arctic fox?”
“What? How do you know about that?”
“I thought you knew it was me.”
“Wait, wait, what?” His brain was short-circuiting. “You’re the fox?”
“Yeah, did you think there was a random fox on Double Life that also managed to server hop here?”
“I— yes! Why didn’t you say anything?”
Etho shrugged. “I mean it was funny at first, but then I kind of forgot about it when we started losing lives and there wasn’t much time to shift or sit and chat.”
Joel was sure he should have felt surprised or upset or mad or something else, but the only thing he felt was excitement. He didn’t have to worry about dealing with Etho not getting along with a wild fox or the fox not being safe while they weren’t on the server.
A few hours later, the excitement shifted to contentment. He and Etho were on the couch of their living room. The fireplace was lit, crackling softly as it cast a warm glow over the room. Etho was shifted, splayed sleepily over his lap. He was just awake enough to accept a sweet berry whenever Joel held one in front of his face. Once the bowl was empty and the fire was dying out, Joel laid down on the couch and rested his head against his friend’s fur.
Curiosities sated and worries quelled, Joel fell asleep to his soulmate’s heartbeat—no longer synced with his own but still comfortingly familiar.