Chapter Text
Tango tossed the blanket off of him. It was too hot. It was always too hot in Tumble Town. Even now, in the soft light of twilight, heat wavered off of the terracotta like steam. Of course he loved it here, in this little ranch on the outskirts of the town. An echo of one from another life. It had been built for him by his soulmate. He had added a few more touches to his room after he moved in. A couple potted plants, various shelves housing piles of notebooks and half-finished gadgets and the room was starting to feel lived in, instead of hollow. He just wishes it wasn’t so stuffy .
The click of shoes on freshly varnished wood floors sounded from below him. Tango’s heart skipped. Though with excitement or dread he didn’t know. Of course he was happy to hear Jimmy come home. They were soulmates. But Tango would be lying if he said he hadn’t been unsettled by Jimmy’s appearance when he first arrived. He knew how Jimmy looked like he knew his own hands. Jimmy’s face had been smooth and shiny, almost like plastic, and his eyes had been colder than he remembered, more dull. Tango noticed that Jimmy’s clothes never seemed to move around his body, and he never took anything off besides his hat.
The trapdoor that covered the ladder to his loft swung quietly open. Jimmy’s head popped into view. He was smiling. He was always smiling. Tango silently thought it was odd how he’d never seen Jimmy without a smile. But he was happy if Jimmy was happy.
Jimmy walked over to him, his steps deliberate and slightly uneven, as if it took effort to keep his legs upright. Strange.
“How was your day?” Tango asked, trying to break the thick silence that had fallen over the room. Why was he so uncomfortable? He should be happy. Jimmy’s smile widened just a little as he sat on the bed next to Tango.
“It was good!” Jimmy replied too cheerfully, his eyes seemed to see through him, “I got to enforce some justice so that was fun! What were you up to today?” He asked, tilting his head just a smidge to the side. Tango shivered despite the heat. He hesitated before answering. What a strange question. Not “how was your day?”, not “did you do anything interesting?”, but “What were you up to?”. It was almost an accusation. He swallowed nervously.
“Nothing much,” Tango said at last, trying to look into those cold, matte brown eyes. Trying to see anything in them other than joyless glee and something that burned like hunger “Just set up a bit more wiring in Gobland.” Jimmy seemed to ease up a little at that, his shoulders dropping and the burning in his eyes dying down. Right answer . He stood suddenly, leaving Tango staring up at him.
The Sheriff bent over him, his expression unreadable besides the wide grin plastered on his face. Tango would never admit it, but in that moment he was afraid. Instead of any of the horrible things that went through Tango’s mind, Jimmy simply moved his head down and pressed a kiss into Tango’s forehead before leaving the ranch without saying a word.
Tango knew he should have been happy. But he couldn’t stop thinking about how Jimmy’s lips had felt against his skin. They had been coarse and cold, as if he had been dead. Sleep did not come easy to Tango that night.
***
Tango woke to the sound of shouts and scuffling feet. He tumbled out of his bed, tripping on the blankets strewn on the floor as he scrambled towards the window. He pried open the blinds, squinting against the blinding mesa sun.
On the cracked soil stood Jimmy, his back to the ranch, his thumbs hooked in his pockets, standing impossibly still. Like a scarecrow. Scott stood in front of him, visibly distressed. His hands were waving wildly as he spoke, his expression pleading. He seemed to pause to hear what the Sheriff was saying, picking at the bright threads of his tunic as he listened. It was odd, how Scott seemed to hear and understand Jimmy’s words, but at least from what Tango could see, Jimmy’s mouth didn’t move the entire time. Scott was shouting loud enough that Tango could make out a few words.
“It’s not a big deal!”
“Please!”
Something Tango couldn’t hear.
Jimmy twitched suddenly, his head snapping forward at a painful-looking speed. His hand flew to his belt where it closed around a shiny revolver, which he drew and pointed at Scott. Wrong answer.
Tango choked out a strangled gasp, sprinting out of the ranch as fast as he could.
“Jimmy!” He yelled, feet kicking up clouds of dust as he ran towards the Sheriff.
The Sheriff’s head whipped around, though the rest of him did not move. A chilling crack echoed off of the sloping mesa. Tango swallowed a scream. What’s wrong with him? “What are you doing?!” He said, trying very hard to remain calm as he walked closer to this thing that was pretending to be his soulmate. Unless it actually was his soulmate. The thought made Tango queasy. Scott looked at him, terrified.
“I’m enforcing the law, Tango .” Jimmy said, spitting out his name like it burned his tongue. What is wrong with his face?! Tango thought, forcing himself to keep walking forward. Whether it was the sun behind him, the shadow of his hat, or… something else, Jimmy’s face was dark. Flashes of his eyes and his never ending too-wide smile glinted in the morning light. Along with a thin line of what looked like stitches running up the center of his face. Tango felt sick.
Jimmy lifted his arm loosely, aiming the revolver at Scott once more without taking his eyes off his soulmate. Tango’s mind raced, blood rushing in his ears, and before he could think properly about what he was doing, he flung himself at the Sheriff, knocking him over and pinning him to the floor. A gunshot rang around the sky, but when Tango glanced over his shoulder for just a moment, Scott was still in one piece.
“Go get help!” Tango screamed at Scott while fighting nausea as his hands pressed into Jimmy’s arms, feeling only fabric and stuffing between his palms and the dirt.
“From who?!” Scott yelled back, already starting to run towards the tunnel, the fabric of his elytra stretching as it unfurled.
“ANYONE! JUST GO!!” Tango shrieked, keeping his eyes focused on the Sheriff writhing under his grip. Jimmy was still smiling that wicked smile. “I’m sorry, buddy.” Tango murmured, feeling a thick lump rise in his throat. Up close he could see that Jimmy’s pupils looked like little X’s. They looked like buttons. Tango looked away.
The last time they had seen each other Jimmy had been physically much stronger, but now that he was full of stuffing? Made of fabric? he was much weaker, which Tango could never have been grateful enough for. Eventually Jimmy stopped struggling under his grip, opting instead to just stare. Dead eyes sending icy bolts of fear through Tango’s stomach. The never ending smile was starting to falter, which was somehow worse.
Tango looked up to see three figures flying above him, silhouetted against the bright sun. Were they vultures circling this hollow creature he had been calling his other half? No, they were instead three people, closing their elytras and running towards him. Scott, Impulse, and Joel.
At the sight of Joel, The Sheriff began to thrash, nearly throwing Tango off of him. Fury burned in his shineless eyes. Tango struggled to keep him in place, hearing a small tear as Jimmy’s shoulder jolted forward. There was a tiny rip where his arm met his body where stuffing puffed out like soft clouds.
“You are a false god! You have no place here! Leave my home you wretched traitor! I will make you feel my pain, you horrible thing!” Jimmy screamed, his voice scratching as though it was played through a gramophone. As the tear on his shoulder grew, tiny threads sprung from his skin(?) and sutured it before Tango’s wild, terrified eyes.
“What is happening?!” Impulse cried as he grabbed Jimmy’s arm as gently as he could without letting him wrench out of it.
“I don’t know!” Tango said, hands shaking, “I just looked outside and he was trying to kill Scott and looked like this!” He did not catch the guilty look sweep over Joel’s face.
There was no sound spare for the nonsensical ramblings and the shuffling of fabric as the four of them dragged Jimmy towards the county jail.
He quiteted when he was pushed into the sole cell. His gloved hands desperately pressed against the bars, staring at them all eyes and furious gazes. His shoulders shuddered with rage, his eyes shooting daggers into Joel’s skin. When his gaze passed over Tango there was only one discernible emotion. Betrayal.
Tango took a few trembling steps towards this thing in front of him. He reached a hand through the bars, half expecting for it to get cut off. But The Sheriff did not move as Tango held his face in his palm. Where there had once been warm skin that would flush at his touch, there was now only cool fabric under his fingertips that gave slightly when he pressed. He wished so badly for Jimmy to lean into his hand, or even to push him away, just to move to say something, anything .
“What happened to you, love.” Tango whispered, less of a question, more of a wistful remark, his fingers traced the delicate stitches.
“Joel,” Scott said pointedly, “care to explain?” Joel inhaled slowly as Tango turned to face him, wishing that Jimmy would’ve reached for his touch to return when he pulled his hand away. He did not. Joel did not look him in the eye as he wrung his hands and took a deep breath.
“It was just supposed to be a joke.” He said, voice unsteady.
“What are you talking about?” Tango said as dread started to pool heavily in his gut.
“We were all joking about how Jimmy looked like a toy in his sheriff outfit so I thought it would be funny to try to turn him into one.” He flinched at the furious disbelief settling over Tango’s face, “It was supposed to be temporary! I didn’t even think it would work!”
“ You did this? ” Tango rasped. A white hot blanket of rage burned over him. He was on fire, every one of his veins were alight. He lunged forward, grabbing Joel by toga and dragging him down to eye level. “ WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?! ” Tango screamed.
“It was an accident! I swear!” Joel pleaded, wincing as Tango’s clawed fingers dug into his skin. His hands felt like fire on his flesh.
“ TURN HIM BACK! FIX HIM!! ” Tango shrieked, not realizing he was crying until boiling tears dripped onto Joel, where they fizzled into steam.
“I don’t know how! I’ve been trying, nothing is working!” Joel wailed, his voice taut with pain. “I don’t think I can turn him back!”
Tango staggered backwards, releasing Joel from his clutch. He stumbled and dropped to his knees. Sobs wracked his body, crushing his ribs. His breath came in desperate gasps and gulps of bitter air. He bent in on himself, letting a cry escape his mouth, a wordless scream of anguish. He distantly felt Impulse’s hand on his back. His Jimmy was gone. He could not be fixed. He was gone. He was gone. He was gone. It felt like the strings in his heart were being brutally torn. He buried his face in his hands, claws digging into his hairline.
“I want my rancher back.” He sobbed, tears dripping off his face like hot wax from a candle. His chest hurt, he was burning from the inside out. There was nothing he could do to save his soulmate. Helpless rage and grief tore through him, ripping him into tiny pieces.
Jimmy’s voice rang around the small room, clear and desperate and undeniably his .
“Tango? Why are you crying?”
Tango’s head bolted up, staring at the man behind the bars. Jimmy was staring back at him, eyes soft and glossy. Stitches still ran up his face, but the smile was gone, and his eyes were how they remembered them, warm, kind. Tango scrambled to his feet, tears still streaming down his cheeks. He reached frantic hands towards Jimmy, grabbing his shoulders and hugging him as best he could through the bars. Relief washed over him as he felt skin and bone under the clothes. Tango drank in the warmth.
“What’s wrong? What are you doing?” Jimmy asked, running a comforting hand through Tango’s hair. Tango stammered, trying to find the words to explain. Jimmy looked around the room, his eyes locking with Joel’s. He jerked back suddenly, Tango let out a tiny, pleading whine. The light in The Sheriff’s eyes spluttering out as his expression hardened back into what it was before. His voice was staticky again as he spoke.
“Did you hurt my rancher?” He was glaring at Joel.
“He didn’t!” Tango blurted, feeling The Sheriff’s gaze bore into him, “He didn’t do anything to me.” He turned to Joel, “You should leave.”
Joel nodded, turning on his heel and fleeing the jail. Scott followed Joel out.
Jimmy coughed suddenly and Tango looked back up at him. Clumps of bloody stuffing fell from Jimmy’s mouth, drifting to the ground. He inhaled deeply and spat out what Tango hoped was the last of it.
“What is happening to me?” He asked desperately, grabbing Tango’s hand through the bars.
“I don’t know.” Tango said, reaching for the rusty key on the table with his free hand. He was about to lift it to the lock when Impulse placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Tango,” He said solemnly, “I know you love him, but we can’t let him out. Not until we know how to help him. He could be dangerous, especially if he turns back into that thing.” Tango put the key down.
“I’m sorry Jimmy,” He said, trying to keep his voice from breaking, “We’ll let you out as soon as we can. We can fix this. I promise.” Jimmy nodded, looking hurt, but understanding.
“I believe you.”
Right answer.