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Jimmy was taking a walk around tumble town when Scar ran up to him and began flailing his arms around in excitement.
Jimmy couldn't help but chuckle, thinking he had perhaps found a litter of kittens somewhere or a new way to design trees.
“Woah, easy there cowboy, what's up Scar?”
Jimmy asked, putting a hand on Scar’s shoulder to calm him down.
“JIMMY! YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE IT, GRIAN SAID HE’S GONNA MAKE ANOTHER LIFE SEASON!!”
Scar replied once he managed to calm down enough to form a coherent sentence.
Jimmy’s smile suddenly dropped and his blood ran cold.
“You’re..you’re kidding, right?”
He asked, staring at Scar in shock and slowly backing away.
Scar shook his head.
“NOPE!! Aren’t you excited?!”
Scar asked, bouncing up and down.
Jimmy just stared at him, his face pale as the fog in Shelby’s woods.
“What the hell do I have to be excited for?”
Jimmy spat, startling Scar who clearly thought he would be overjoyed by this news.
“Well..cause it’ll be like 3rd life again!! Or like Last life, Ooohh, or Double life!”
Scar explained.
Jimmy stared at him and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Scar do..do you remember.. anything from 3rd life or Last life? Hell, even Double life?”
Jimmy asked.
Scar thought to himself for a few seconds before answering.
“Well..kinda? I remember the big phantom attack from 3rd life!..And you and Scott being married..and..Grian having a crazy laugh for some reason?..And then I don’t really remember much of Last life..or Double life..”
Scar admitted, but quickly shook it off.
“But why does that matter? It was so much fun!! Right?”
He said, his smile still wide as ever.
Jimmy looked back up at him and just sighed, realizing just how little everyone else probably remembered about those dreaded seasons.
“Note to self: Scar only remembers the good parts about 3rd life . Nothing else really about the other seasons.”
He finally shook his head and gave Scar a forced smile.
“Yep..so much fun..”
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The news about the new life season spread fast and within a week everyone was teasing Jimmy about it constantly.
Joel was the worst, of course. The “God” could never let the poor Sheriff have a break.
“Aww you poor thing, if only you’d been born a parrot like Grian .”
Of course he was comparing him to Grian. Grian is perfect.
“Have you thought of how you’re going to die yet? Since you‘ll be first again of course.”
No. He won’t die first. It would be impossible for it to happen again right?
“Ohhh maybe by an enderman, or a creeper! Maybe even a silverfish!!”
“Or a berrybush!”
He wouldn't die from a berrybush. He’s not that dumb.
“Oh, I hope it won’t be like Double life so no one has to go through what poor Tango did.”
Tango. He got Tango killed. But that wasn’t his fault, that enderman came out of nowhere!
“How’s that old curse doing Jimmy?’
Ah, there it is.
“The canary's curse” is what they all called it.
Voids, Jimmy wished he had never been born a canary. Then he wouldn’t be mocked or laughed at anymore. He wouldn’t have this stupid curse anymore..
He can’t take it anymore. All the insults driving him mad. The teasing, no, the abuse.
He can’t take it anymore.
He can’t be a canary anymore.
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No one heard from Jimmy for days.
No one received any gunpowder from Tumble town when letters were sent asking for trades. No one heard the clopping of Bullseye’s, Jimmy’s horse, hooves as he took the sheriff all around the other empires.
Not even Tango, His Rancher, had heard from him.
Scar had to practically beg Joel to help try and find him. Joel finally, though reluctantly, agreed after seeing just how worried Scar was about the man. He had been barely able to get any sleep and his voice was hoarse and dry from calling his name all night long, wandering aimlessly around Tumble town.
“Honestly, why does everyone care so much about a stupid toy . ”
Joel thought to himself as flew over Tumble town, circling it like a vulture.
He landed in front of a large, usually locked barn, seeing the lock broken on the ground and the door opened slightly.
He slowly opened the door, expecting to find Jimmy asleep on a pile of hay cuddling a sheriff plush for comfort, or perhaps in a little makeshift nest he had made.
What he didn’t expect to see was Jimmy, sitting in a pool of his own blood, holding a ax, and one of his blood soaked wings lying on the floor next to him, once golden feathers now painted dark, crusty red.
“JIMMY?!- WHAT THE HELL-“
Joel yelled as he ran to him, taking a large white piece of fabric he was planning on using to make Hermes a new robe out of his inventory and wrapping it around him, he watched in horror as it quickly stained a dark red.
“Is it over?..D- Did I do it?”
Jimmy asked. Joel’s blood ran cold at the sound of his weak and pained voice.
”D- Do..what?”
He asked quietly.
”Break the curse? I’m not a c- canary..it’s gone..right?”
Joel went silent for a few seconds. This..oh voids this was his fault, wasn’t it?
"Jimmy.."
Jimmy quickly interrupted him by grabbing his shoulders.
"Joel..you're a god yes? Please..tell me ive broken the curse.."
Jimmy begged, staring at him with faded, pleading brown eyes.
Joel just stared at him, thinking of what to say. He looked away and sighed, not daring to look him in the eyes as he admitted the truth.
"Jimmy..I am no god-"
Joels said, switching back to his normal skin.
“-Thats all been an act. A bit even!...A bit that I have seemed to take too far...Jimmy, I don't know if you actually have a curse or not..but I do know that.. this would not break it..Im sorry."
And that’s, that’s what finally broke Jimmy.
There was no god on the server he could beg to for forgiveness for crimes he did not commit. There was only a man who liked to watch him suffer. A man who tricked him into thinking he was cursed.
When in fact, he had no curse, he was merely unlucky.
But he has to have a curse...they told him he did..they all told him..
He finally lunged at Joel, attempting to strangle him.
He was merely a man after all. You can kill a man. And oh if only Jimmy had known, he would have tried to so much sooner.
Joel managed to grab a nearby stick and stabbed it into his leg, causing it to gush blood and for Joel to get away.
Jimmy stared at his leg for a few seconds.
He is a man too.
Men can bleed.
Wonderful! Now Joel has proof he is not in fact a toy!
Joel ran out of the barn, he stopped about a hundred feet away to find his comm and catch his breath.
Only for Jimmy to slowly creep up behind him, not even bothering to remove the stick stabbed through his leg, holding a bloody ax.
And a pistol he had in his holster the whole time.
He had planned to use it to prove to Joel that he was a human, a man, if he or someone else had found him earlier than planned.
Since a man can perish from a bullet to the head or heart.
A man can die.