Chapter Text
conexion joined the game
Sharpness let out a sigh as he finally logged onto Strength. He hadn’t gotten on in awhile, not ever since he’s been losing duels back to back. The blonde squinted, bringing up the player list, reading each name briefly.
Judelow, Spongs, and… conexion.
Sharpness’ brow raised only a bit, scratching his chin. It wasn’t late, normally at this hour Strength members would be on, littering the world with remains of heated fights. .. Fights. Duels.. He clenched his fist. What was the point of getting on if no one was here? There would be no one to fight. Sharpness let out a bitter laugh, him fighting–in this state? It was laughable really. His eyes burned sourly at the number 2 taunting him.
2 strength. He had almost nothing. He can’t even take on average fights, hell, even Spongs was more geared up than him. How far the mighty fall. Sharpness used to reign terror, being one of the most feared pvpers in Strength, in the world. Now he was nothing. He was incompetent, undeserving of the title of top 100 — a title he couldn’t even keep.
<Judelow> dude can you stop egoing me
The blonde blinked at the message, how long was that there?
<conexion> sorry, was afk
He wasn’t but the trapper didn’t need to know that.
Sharpness opened up the chat fully, he was too deep in thought to notice any messages that Jude may have previously sent.
<Judelow> hey sharp
<Judelow> wyd?
<Judelow> sharp [x5]
<Judelow> wya [x4]
<Judelow> broo
<Judelow> sharpness
<Judelow> i look like a fan
<Judelow> dude can you stop egoing me
<conexion> sorry was afk
The swordmaster let out an exasperated sigh, what did the trapper want from him? It couldn’t be anything good.. Judelow probably wanted to trap and kill him. …And at this point, Sharpness wouldn’t fight back.
<Judelow> jesus finally
<Judelow> did you see tai’s announcement
Announcement? What announcement?
<conexion> no
<conexion> checking it rn
Sharpness opened up the Strength member announcements and as expected, saw a message sent from Tai. He squinted as he read the bolded text; ‘ this is important please read: until further notice please do not get on strength or if you choose to, do not do anything reckless or lethal. Something is wrong with the respawn and healing system so any damage done as of right now can be permanent so don’t do anything stupid guys!!!! Which means no dying and NO PVP until I fix whatever’s going on. TLDR: nothing violent or dumb till revive system is fixed ‘
Ah. That explains the lack of members on.
Normally, an announcement like this on any other SMP would’ve made Sharpness groan and whine. He thrived on the thrill of fighting and winning. But Sharpness couldn’t help but feel relief. He didn’t have to worry about being jumped in his vulnerability. He wasn’t going to go into a losing battle which meant no chance to lose.
This ‘downtime’ gave Sharpness plenty of time to gear up again– just minus the strength. It gave him time to himself, time to think.
Before he knew it, Sharpness’ feet were moving–he should make use of this time. He should be trying to make a set and a few spare ones but he moved mindlessly, without purpose.
—-
It didn’t take long for the swordmaster to pass through spawn, the different builds and land all blurred together in one line till Sharpness found himself high up on the top of the colosseum, his gaze falling below on the long drop before him.
Sharpness crawled on top of the ledge, letting his hair be blown back gently by the wind. He glanced back down. It was a long drop. A feeling in his gut squirmed around – it could happen. He could just end his time on Strength, leave and never return, permanently.
He wouldn’t come back here. Not with the system broken. It felt all too easy.
The blonde closed his eyes, feeling the wind breeze against his face. He won’t do it. Even though he may have lost countless battles, died in the stupidest ways, failing to prove he was even a decent swordmaster, going from the very top to pit bottom– he won’t do it. It didn’t matter how easy it felt to just let go, he’ll hold on.
Sharpness let out a sigh, letting his legs dangle on the edge. How did he even get here? How did he fall so low? His grip on the ledge tightened slightly. He needed to be better. He needed to be smarter. He needed to get stronger. He had a reputation he must uphold, even if it was slowly, slowly crumbling before him. Becoming nothing but dust between his fingers.
The sun was setting before his eyes. It was a beautiful sight. Too beautiful, too bright. It burned, yet, Sharpness still watched it in awe. Oh, how he wish he could stay here forever, this felt all too good – here, he didn’t have to care. He didn’t have to worry about staying top 100, being the strongest, and if he did, he had a quick way to stop it.
“Sharp?” A voice echoed behind him. Sharpness ignored it. Whoever it was–it didn’t matter. He didn’t want to leave. The voice called out again, their voice strained and more wary, “Sharp.”
The man on the edge slowly turned his head to finally see this mystery person, his blonde hair framing his face perfectly as he took a glance at the figure before him.
…Judelow.
The rabbit wasn’t close to Sharpness, but he was staring at Sharpness with such intensity it almost confused the swordmaster. Jude looked uneased, uncomfortable. His posture was tense.
“Sharp, what are you doing?” He spoke, his voice low, moving a mere step forward like he was approaching a fearful wild animal, except, Jude looked like one who was scared.
That face didn’t suit Jude, Sharpness thought. He barely saw the purple rabbit express such vulnerability before, it was almost uncanny. The blonde was so used to Judelow being witty, cunning, smart, and quite literally insane. This– whatever it was– was a stark contrast to it.
Jude stepped closer, each move he hesitated. Jude never hesitates. What was wrong? “Sharp, please, what are you doing,” the bunny animatronic inquired once more, his voice growing less steady.
“What am I–” Sharpness repeated the question before glancing down.
Oh, oh.
Realization dawned on the swordmaster. Jude had no context– he just saw Sharpness sitting on the edge of a tall build with a solemn look on his face. Jude thought he was going to jump.
“Sharpness, you saw the announcement right?” The rabbit confirmed, not moving any closer, he was scared. Scared that Sharpness was going to jump if he made the wrong move. That was baffling, “Don’t do anything dumb, Tai said that.”
“I’m..” Sharpness tried to find his words, turning his head away from Jude and looking down, it was a long drop. He understood Jude’s fear, “..I’m not doing anything stupid.”
“It sure doesn’t look like it,” Jude persisted, extending his hand out slowly to Sharpness, whose back was turned against him, “come here.”
Sharpness bit his inner cheek, “I wasn’t going to do it.”
“Huh?”
“I know what you’re thinking, I wasn’t going to do it.” Sharpness fully turning around, shifting his body as he looked at Jude who seemed relieved but still tense.
“Prove it, come here,” Jude dared, gesturing to his extended hand.
The swordmaster stared at the hand, before slowly bringing his hand out and interlinking fingers with the rabbit.
Almost immediately, as soon as their digits had the slightest bit of contact, Judelow pulled Sharpness toward him, tugging him away from the ledge. The blonde let out a little yelp, startled by the sudden movement. But he was even more startled by the purple arms being wrapped around him.
Jude hugged him tight, it almost felt like Sharpness was being cramped into one of Jude’s traps. The animatronic finally let go but held a tight grip on Sharpness’ shoulders, “What the fuck are you doing?” He practically yelled, looking into Sharpness’ eyes, urgently seeking for an answer.
“Woah, woah chill–” Sharpness murmured, trying to writhe his way out of Jude’s grip, “I was just thinkin—”
“Thinking? You were just thinking? On the ledge of a 150 block fall? When respawn and healing systems are down?” Jude interrupted, his brows furrowed as he bombarded Sharpness with indirect accusations.
“I wasn’t going to do it,” Sharpness repeated, looking away from Jude’s hard gaze.
“Well now you aren’t, that’s for sure,” The bunny scoffed which in return earned an eye roll from the blonde. “Now where’s your set? It’s not everyday I see a naked Sharpness on Strength,” Jude murmured, placing down his ender chest and rummaging through it.
“I don’t have one,” Sharpness said bluntly, making Judelow halt his moments for a brief second. He continued, not waiting for the other’s reply, “I ran low on sets and strength cause I keep getting quickdropped— and trapped.”
Jude blinked at Sharpness, his ear flopping downward slightly, catching Sharpness’ eye. “Oh,” was all Jude said, his hands still lingering in his ender chest, “you can have some of my spare sets, I have too many anyways,” he muttered, pulling out a shulker then a netherite gearset, handing it to Sharpness who just stared.
Sharpness should take it. He needed it, desperately. But this was Judelow. The man notorious for trapping others.. The same man who was responsible for more than half of Sharpness’ deaths on Strength.
“It’s not a trap, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Jude snorted, gently shaking the gear set, “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
You would, liar. Said a voice in Sharp’s mind, but the swordmaster just let out a knowing hum before taking the set.
“See? No trap,” Jude smiled, taking his shulker and stuffing it back into his ender chest, “I have more stuff at– my base if you still need more gear, you got an elytra?” He casually remarked, taking out his own elytra and a few fireworks. The distance from his base to the colosseum wasn’t far.
“Why?”
The rabbit’s head tilted slightly, his ears flopping alongside it, his smirk faltering, “What?”
“Why are you helping me?” Sharpness forced out. He hated how vulnerable, how pathetic that sounded.
Judelow’s smile returned, “You’re not that much of a threat,” he began, Sharpness felt his jaw clench. “...But, it’s no fun without having someone competent to go against, even if you lack a brain and fall for my traps,” he teased.
Sharpness wanted to kill him right then and there.
“There are plenty of other good pvpers- I’m not—”
“Sharpness,” Judelow said sternly, “You’re practically the best I know. Besides, the others aren’t really that fun to drop,” the rabbit scratched the back of his head.
Sharpness just stared at Jude at a loss for words, was– was he being serious?
“I also don’t think I’d have much fun if you were–” Jude mumbled, his expression growing grim and dark, “gone.”
Oh.
“So- don’t pull some stupid stunt like that again,” The animatronic huffed, “like genuinely, you expect me to not think you’re going to do something stupid when you’re practically dangling off the ledge?”
A small smile grew on Sharpness’ lips, “Sorry,” he said, not feeling that remorseful.
“Yea yea,” Jude waved his hand dismissively, “just– come on, let’s go to our base.”
“Okay,” Sharpness nodded, taking out an elytra, snagging some rockets from Jude’s hands.
Maybe there were some things worth staying for on Strength.