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“Well, some kind of love anyway.” Etho commented as they walked together through the mineshaft. Joel ignored him.
“Joel?” Etho asked when they had made it back to their other friends. “What does this mean for us now?” Joel turned around to look at him.
“Are- Are we together forever?”
Joel looked him in the eyes. “Forever.” He agreed. “And always.” They may not have gotten off at the best start, but they were stuck together, so they had to try to get along. “Forever.” Etho repeated.
“Aww, you found each other?” Pearl gushed.
“Did you just do a prayer?” Jimmy asked. Wow, their friends really knew how to ruin a moment. Joel laughed.
“Etho doesn’t seem too happy that I’m soulbound to him.”
“No, I am thrilled.” Etho said sarcastically. Joel started to mention that Etho had been taking a lot of damage, but Jimmy and Martyn interrupted him.
“That seems like AHArd pill to swallow.” Jimmy said, looking at them through his spyglass.
“AHArd pill to swallow, AHA.” Martyn said as he did the same.
“Alright, let's leave that in last life.” Jimmy decided.
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“Joel, come here.” Etho led him away from the others.
“To show that I really care about you, Joel,” He gave him a Crossbow. “This is- This is what I think of you.” Joel looked down at the gift. It wasn’t much, it was damaged badly, most likely from use from a pillager, but it was a sweet gesture. He appreciated it.
“Oh, wow.” He looked through his inventory for something to give back.
“You know what, here’s what I think of you.” He handed Etho an iron ingot.
“Aww, oh, it’s beautiful.” Etho joked. He laughed for a bit, before Joel accidently shot the crossbow. An arrow embedded itself in the wall next to Etho’s head.
“Oh! It was loaded!” Joel realized, grabbing the arrow out of the wall. They both burst out laughing.
“I almost shot you!” Joel wheezed through laughter.
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“Etho I have some armour if you want.” Joel offered, looking at the iron he had smelting.
“It benefits me for you to have good armour.” He added.
“I found a bunch of iron for you, but Pearl stole it.” Etho said.
“Well, I’ve got twenty-eight smelting here, so we should be good.” Joel assured as Scar gushed over his Allay, who was apparently named Minnie.
“Calm down, Scar!” Joel laughed.
“Hey, What’s going on over here?” Scar asked as he walked over to the two of them.
“What’s going on over there, is the real question.”
“You don’t understand true love, you two?” Scar asked.
“This is true love.” Joel said, gesturing to Etho and himself. Scar hit him with an axe, making him and Etho lose three hearts.
“That’s true love right there, Scar, you see that?” Etho said as Joel returned the favour.
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“Wait! Jimmy’s there. I’m gonna go laugh at him for dying!” Joel pointed to Solidarity. Etho followed him over to Jimmy.
“Oi! Idiot! Oi idiot!” Idiot!” Joel called as he ran over.
“Hello?” Jimmy asked, turning around to see them.
Joel laughed. “You died!”
~~~~~~
Bdubs directed Jimmy back to spawn and Joel noticed he’d suddenly lost half of his hearts.
“Etho!” He yelled. “Careful!”
“Are you with Etho, Joel?” Bdubs asked.
“Yeah, and he just took half my health!”
“Help! I need help!” Etho said.
“Eat!” Joel replied.
“Sorry, I got distracted.” Etho apologised as Joel hit the enderman with his axe.
He managed to hit it twice before he broke the boat on accident. The enderman rushed toward him, taking almost half of his health in one hit.
Joel calls out to Etho, “No! I broke the boat! Etho!” hoping for him to somehow help. The enderman hits him again, and he places the boat back down, hoping to catch it.
“Shield! Shield!” Etho yells back, too far away to kill the enderman himself but wanting to help in some way.
Joel doesn’t have the time to put up his shield as the enderman hits him one last time, killing him. Etho stares in horror at his soulmate, dead on the ground.
“No!” He yells, trying to rush to his lover.
He fell to his knees, trying and failing to gasp for air as life seeps out of him. “Joel…” He croaked, voice giving out.
Part of him knew that they’d meet at spawn, with one life less and a little shaken, but still together, still alive. Another part of him felt heartbroken, like he’d never see Joel again. Never see his soulmate again.
He finally fell over, dead, destined to the same fate as Joel.
.