Chapter Text
BdoubleO was dead to begin with.
Well, dead to Joel that is.
Joel storms down the snow-laden street with the fury of a man possessed, drawing the eye of every traveling passersby in the sidewalks he passes. Joel has no interest in them, and no care for the attention he's drawing as his feet stamp harsh imprints on the powdery snow beneath him.
Instead, his mind is on one thing only.
Damn Bdubs. Just the thought of the name alone made him hiss out a breath through his teeth. In the corner of his eye, he saw a young man avert his gaze in fear, making himself very busy scraping ice off of an iceless window. Damn bastard, dead set on making my life difficult.
Ever since their split all those years ago, his ex-business partner has held nothing but antagonism and loathing for Joel, and it shows in his demeanour. It’s been ages since the two of them had even been in the same building for an extended period of time without an argument, and this morning was no different.
Joel almost wishes that it wasn’t so easy for Bdubs to get to him like this. An even smaller part of Joel wishes they didn’t fight at all. But that part stays long-buried in the deepest corners of his heart, hopefully never to see the light of day if he can help it.
Joel pauses his stewing just long enough to catch sight of his home coming into view. Immediately relief surges through him, exhaustion weighing on his bones as he trudges the final steps towards home.
Jimmy looks up from his phone as the door slams open, Joel stepping inside with an aura of radiant fury that's almost tangible. Immediately Jimmy jumps up from his chair and steps forward to do damage control. A quick "Welcome home!" and a peck on the cheek is enough to dull the sharpest corners of Joel's anger, to soften him just the slightest bit to dull the raging wildfire to a somewhat more manageable out-of-control bonfire instead.
"Bdubs is the most selfish, inconsiderate, asshole-hey babe,-horrendous human being that I have EVER had the chance to work with." Joel immediately starts ranting as soon as the door slams shut hard enough for the sound to ring in Jimmy's ears, stripping off layers of coats as he talks. “I don’t know how I ever managed to tolerate an awful person like him.”
"Rough day, then?" Jimmy asks.
Joel glowers at him, but some of the tension melts off his shoulders at Jimmy's easy tone. Jimmy smiles cheekily back. "One day I'm gonna punch him in the face and knock out the rest of his stupid pearly teeth."
Jimmy sighs. “Don’t worry about that now, babe. Come sit down, I’ve got some tea ready for you.”
“What, no comment on the teeth?”
“No comment that’s going to get through to you,” Jimmy counters, which, as Joel thinks about it, is a pretty accurate statement. “now go.” He starts nudging him towards the big couch right by the heater. As soon as he’s close to it, the warmth of it hits him, and only then does he realize how cold he is. By the time he’s settled in, Jimmy’s already reappeared, holding two steaming cups. Joel takes it gratefully, the outside of the cup making his fingers tingle as he takes a sip.
“Thanks babe.” The taste of earl grey hits his tongue, and he hums his appreciation, taking a larger sip even as the heat of it sends pricks of pain down his throat.
“Careful, it’s hot.” Jimmy warns. He takes a sip of his own tea. “Starting to calm down a bit?”
Joel nods. “Yeah. Still mad, though.”
“Aww, don’t let Bdubs get you down so low. It’s Christmas Eve!” Jimmy moves to made a grand gesture, but Joel catches his wrist before he can spill his tea. Jimmy sends him a sheepish look in return. “It’s the most magical day of the year! Full of fun and Christmas cheer!”
“And Santa Claus with his reindeer?” Joel quips.
Jimmy nods eagerly, completely missing the joke. “Exactly! You can’t be looking all frowny when Christmas is on the way.”
“Doesn’t stop Bdubs from being his nasty self,” Joel mutters, mainly to himself. “I wish I never knew him. I wish he never existed at all.”
Jimmy lets out an offended gasp. “Joel! You can’t just say that.”
“Even for Bdubs?”
“Especially Bdubs.”
Joel sighs, exasperated, but after seeing the genuinely upset expression on his boyfriend’s face, he cedes. “Sorry, Jim. I didn’t mean that.”
“Thank you.” Jimmy nods in satisfaction. “Now…” He braces himself, settling further into the couch with his mug clasped between his hands. "What did Bdubs do this time?"
Setting down his cup, Joel takes a deep breath, before launching right into his rant. "Well you see…"
~
2 Hours Earlier…
In Joel’s opinion, any day he has to interact with Bdubs is a bad day.
But now, this was shaping up to be a terrible day.
Joel can tell, as soon as he sits down at his desk after a long day of work, exhaustion increasing tenfold as he looks at the piles of paperwork still left to do, that the envelope at the top of the pile was very clearly stamped with a name that isn’t his. And not just a case of misdelivered mail, either, but it’s the one name he always hated to see.
Oakhurst Farms is one of the most reliable sources of leather in the business. For all the years he’s been a leatherworker, they’ve supplied him with the highest quality leathers, nicely tanned to produce his best products. Unfortunately, as good as their leather is to work with, it seemed their business practices still left much to be desired.
Joel misses the days when he didn’t have to deal with silly things like letters and paperwork. Back when he could spend the whole day buried in the hum of machines and cow hide, forming leather into art under his hands. But a quick reminder of what else he had to deal with in those days quickly banishes the thought from his mind.
With a sigh, he grabs the letter from the pile. Bringing it closer to his face, squinting slightly to read the abysmally small text (Jimmy keeps convincing him to get glasses, and if the mail carriers keep printing in the smallest, blurriest typefaces imaginable, he may have to cave and buy a pair soon).
Just as he figured. BdoubleO, printed in neat black lettering underneath Joel’s address. Even all these years after separating his business from Bdubs, Oakhurst Farms still keeps delivering his mail to Joel’s address. More importantly, the letter with his own name remains absent, and years of experience tell him that that letter happens to remain right in Bdubs’ own pile of mail three doors over.
He spends a second too long staring at the trash can before eventually setting the letter to the side. As much as it would serve him right, it wasn’t worth hearing Bdubs’ incessant screeching and accusations of sabotage when he eventually comes across the letter being missing. Not to mention whatever petty recompense Bdubs might deliver in return.
Part of him hopes that Bdubs will save him the trip and come to him, but as his pile of unread letters gets smaller and smaller, and Bdubs hasn’t shown, he starts to make peace with having to do it himself.
Throwing on his jacket, he shoves the letter in his pocket, uncaring of how it crumples, and storms out of the shop. Almost immediately he nearly slips on the ice, foot sliding out from under him and forcing him to grab on the doorknob for balance. With a huff, he rights himself, before stepping more carefully this time in the direction of Bdubs’ shop.
Moss O Menos is only a short walk, barely anything. Joel despises how close they are, but despite their best efforts, the only buildings of a decent quality they could find were a five minute walk away maximum.
Inside, Joel’s surprised to find the desk where Bdubs’ secretary normally sits is empty, stacks of letters piling up across its wooden surface. Bdubs himself is leaning over a nearly-finished saddle, engraving the final decorative engravings across the seat of it, humming to himself a he works.
Joel lets him have peace for all of one second before he knocks loudly on the door, startling Bdubs out of his work. Upon seeing Joel, his features immediately fall into a glare.
“What do you want.” He growls. In response, Joel digs out the letter, flicking it in the air to straighten him out. Bdubs’ face falls further. “Oh, not again.”
“Yes again.” Joel deadpans. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
“Har har.”
“You’d think your secretary would’ve caught it this morning.” Joel sends a pointed glance towards the empty desk and the pile of letters.
“BigB’s off for the day. Christmas eve and all that.” Bdubs explains. “He’ll be back on the 26th.”
Joel snickers. “So you’re sorting your own letters? Guess there’s a first time for everything. No wonder I don’t have mine.”
“Shut up!”
“Should I come back next Tuesday, or are you still gonna be on the first letter?”
Bdubs puts down his engraving tools and stands up, almost nose to nose with Joel. “I said. Shut. Up.”
Joel leans forward, smirking in how Bdubs leans back. “Or you’ll do what?”
“Oh I’ll-” Bdubs stutters, wracking his brain. “I’ll uh, I’ll make you regret it!”
Joel laughs in his face, relishing in how Bdubs’ eyes widen. “Really? I’d pay to see that.”
“Why you-” Bdubs leans forwards now, incensed enough that he’s struggling to form words. “Why I oughta-”
His next words were swallowed by a creak as the door swings open, accompanied by the thud of snow falling off the doorway onto it’s unsuspecting opener. The sound startles both of them, and it’s only then that Joel realizes just how close he and Bdubs are.
Bdubs and Joel’s heads turn in sync to see a familiar man step inside, brushing white snow off of equally white hair. Etho wipes their feet on the door as they slip their coat off their shoulders and onto the coat hook. He opens the mail satchel strapped to his waist, pulling out a small handful of letters to add to the pile already there, and only after that does he spot Joel and Bdubs.
Face burning, Joel steps back. Bdubs comes to the same realization as he did and jolts away as well, back hitting the wall.
Etho’s gaze flicks between the two of them, taking in the situation. Pushing away from Joel fully, Bdubs straightens himself to his full height, and then a little more, raising onto his heels to be taller than Joel. With a deep breath, Bdubs meets Etho’s eyes, and, with a kind of confidence solely reserved for scholars and fools, he makes his case with a solid point of his finger directly at Joel, despite them still being close enough that his finger lands solidly on Joel’s chest. “He started it!”
Etho sighs, the expression on their face conveying the perfect mix of disappointed and exasperated to leave Joel feeling like an ashamed little kid. Sparing a glance back at Bdubs, his face was as red as Joel’s feels, eyes fixed on a point on the ground. “Are you really arguing with each other first thing in the morning? On Christmas Eve no less?”
“He started it.” Bdubs repeats, sounding much less sure of himself.
“What’s this argument about now?” Etho asks, flipping their satchel closed and moving closer to the both of them.
Joel lifts up Bdubs’ crumpled letter in response. “Mail’s switched. Again.”
“And Joel decided that that was the perfect excuse to harass me and interrupt my work!” Bdubs cuts in.
Joel rolls his eyes. “Well I wouldn’t have needed to if my bloody letter was ready.”
“It’s first thing in the morning!”
“It’s noon you blummin’ lazy, just because you get a late start to the day-”
“Both of you QUIT IT!” Etho shouts, the abrupt change in volume loud enough to freeze them both. “Is all of this really necessary? The fighting, the shouting, the frustration! Are you really going to spend the rest of your lives at each other’s throats?” He looks between the both of them, clasping his hands together as if begging. “Are you ever going to stop being at each other’s throats over a stupid argument you had years ago? Will you ever be willing to put aside old demons and be friends again?”
Joel looks back at Bdubs. For a second the two of them just look at each other. Joel mentally traces every new wrinkle pressed into Bdubs’ face, the extra tiredness lining his eyes. He has a few new freckles now, and Joel could’ve sworn he’s lost a few. When was the last time he spoke to Bdubs without shouting? How long has it been since he’s looked upon his old friend’s face without ire or scorn? Maybe Etho was right. Maybe this has gone on to long. Maybe Joel’s been so focused on the bad times that he forgot about all the good ones.
In Bdubs’ eyes, Joel can tell that, for the first time in a long time, they finally agree on something. As one, they turn to Etho, who has hope in his eyes.
Joel shoots Etho a smirk as he speaks. “Nope.”
“Never.”
“Not in a million years.”
“As if I’d ever work with a jerkface like him again.”
“I’d rather be a jerkface than the kind of loser who won’t even sort his own mail.”
“HEY-”
“Boys!” Etho interrupts. They pinch the bridge of their nose. “Don’t know why I ever thought I’d get through to you both…”
“It’s the way of life, babe.” Joel walks up to pat him on the shoulder. “The past is past.”
“Don’t call my boyfriend babe in front of me.” Bdubs huffs, stepping up to give Etho a kiss on the cheek, right above the edge of his mask.
“He’s my boyfriend too, ya know. I can call him babe as much as I want.” Joel gives Etho a kiss on the other cheek.
“Well I can call him babe too!”
Bdubs leans in for a second kiss before Etho puts a hand on his chest, doing the same to Joel before pushing them both away gently. “And what have I said about not fighting over me?”
“Sorry Etho…” Both of them mumble in unison.
“You’re forgiven.” Pulling his hands back, Etho readjusts his mask. “Just… At least think about it, alright? I love you guys.” Walking over to BigB’s desk, Etho flips through the letters with practiced ease, pulling out an identical Oakhurst Farms letter to the one Joel has in his hand. With only a little resistance, Joel lets them switch out the letters, tucking his own much more carefully back into his pocket. “There we go! All fixed. Bdubs I can help with your letters after my shift, okay?”
Bdubs nods, looking the perfect picture of innocence until Etho turns around to straighten the pile of letters and Bdubs gives Joel a smug grin. Joel sticks his tongue out in response. Both of them hastily go back to normal when Etho turns back to them.
“Right, I got what I came for, no need to subject myself to Bdubs’ presence any longer.” Joel gives a salute to Etho, and a middle finger to Bdubs who reciprocates with a squawk of outrage. He heads for the door. “Bye Etho. See you sometime tomorrow.”
“Bye Joel! Merry Christmas!” Etho waves.
Once outside, Joel takes a second to breathe in the winter air, heart pounding. Seeing other people milling around, he resists the urge to scream out his frustrations. Instead, he turns and heads in the direction of his house, storming down the snow-laden street with the determination of a man possessed.
He needs a hot drink, a hug from his boyfriend, and a nap by the fireplace, in that order.
Damn Bdubs.
~
Present Day…
“So in conclusion, I hate him and I hate him so much and I hate everything he stands for.” Bdubs finishes his retelling with a huff, stopping his restless pacing around the room to toss himself dramatically into the plush couch cushions. In front of him the fireplace crackled as if in laughter, but Bdubs was hardly one to complain when the warm heat settled over him like a blanket, dulling the edge of chill that had sank into his bones on the way home.
Draped over the other side of the couch, Lizzie lets out a laugh of her own, a musical noise that warms him even more than the fire. “That sure sounds like Joel.” Her voice is tinged with a note of fondness that Bdubs personally feels should not ever be directed towards Joel.
“Don’t say that so fondly.” Bdubs makes a face that only incites Lizzie to laugh louder. “He’s a jerkface and you know it.”
“Oh I know him quite well.” Lizzie reminds him. “We’ve known each other for ages, remember?”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Bdubs rolls his eyes. “Every time I think of how long I had to tolerate him it makes me sick.”
“Oh, but it didn’t feel like it back then, didn’t it?” Lizzie’s tone turns wistful. “Back when we all had the world at our fingertips? Don’t you think it’s been long enough since-”
“Lizzie, drop it!” Bdubs snaps, drawing in a sharp intake of breath, his hand curling into a tight fist, knuckles turning white. “Just… Leave it alone, okay?”
“Okay.” Lizzie nods, voice dropping to a whisper, and Bdubs immediately feels bad. He knows she’s only trying to help.
His fist is still clenched. Trying to relax sends sparks of pain shooting through his wrist, causing him to hiss through his teeth, sending a pained glance towards Lizzie. His wonderful wife catches the hint immediately, taking his hand and squeezing his wrist lightly, before massaging his hand. Bdubs closes his eyes, breathing through the pain until his muscles get with the program and relaxes at Lizzie’s careful touch. When she lets go, he flexes his hand, wincing at the soreness.
Lizzie’s eyes are full of softness, and Bdubs hates it just as much as he desperately needs it. All she has to do is run a single hand through his hair before he melts, leaning towards her as she wraps him into a hug.
He keeps flexing his hand, watching it move as if it was going to suddenly spasm again as soon as he looks away. He wonders if there will ever be a day that it just locks there, frozen shut, and no careful massages by delicate hands will ever let him move again. “Thanks, Liz.”
“Any time, flower.”
“I’m sorry for snapping.”
“I know.” Lizzie kisses his head. “I understand why you’re upset, honey. I just wish you didn’t always fight like this.”
Bdubs just nods, not having the energy to reply after his outburst. A small part of him, one that he desperately wishes to ignore, whispers treacherously that he misses Joel too. But admitting that stings more than any insult Joel could throw at him, so Bdubs shoves that little part of him into the furthest corners of his mind, and resolves to think of anything else.
~
You have 16 new messages:
It’s no use. Nothing I say will get through to either of them. Jimmy? Lizzie? Any luck?
Nope. Joel’s as stubborn as ever. Not even the joy of Christmas will sway him.
Same with Bdubs. He got really mad when I tried.
Does that mean we’re going with Jimmy’s plan?
:D
I guess… I wish we didn’t have to, though.
D:
Don’t look at me like that, you have the easy job. I’m the one who has to do the hard stuff if you two fail.
Boys.
Sorry Liz.
I’m just so sick of seeing them fight like this…
Me too.
… Let’s do it. I don’t know how much longer this can go on.
Wooooo!
Thank you, Etho.
You can thank me once you get my bfs to stop fighting. We reconvene at midnight. There’s a lot to do before then, so get ready.
Merry Jimmas is Offline.
Lizzie! is Offline.
EthoSlab is Offline.
~
Wrapped in his blankets, clothed in his silken Christmas pajamas underneath a fluffy blanket, Jimmy’s warmth pressed against his back, there was no comfier place for Joel to be on the night before Christmas.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the place that Joel wakes up in. Instead, as consciousness slowly comes to him, Joel finds his fluffy blanket absent, and Jimmy must have rolled over in the night, as Joel can’t feel his warmth, but his snoring echoes loudly behind him. Joel hums sleepily, sticking a foot behind him to nudge his boyfriend’s leg, only to find a texture that feels almost… Mossy?
Jimmy kicks him back, letting out a groan as if he’d just been woken up. Content, Joel settles back down, closing his eyes for a few seconds before realization hit that that wasn’t Jimmy’s voice.
Suddenly wide awake, Joel sits up in an instant, looking over to where Jimmy should’ve been, only to find none other than Bdubs instead. Bdubs startles awake at Joel’s sharp movements, blinking sleepily at the other man for a few moments before he processes what he’s seeing and startles up as well, equally wide-eyed.
Joel, well… He’s man enough to admit it. He screams. Bdubs screams in equal volume, stumbling out of the bed entirely and backing up until he collides with the wall.
“What are you doing in my bed?” Bdubs shouts.
“I could ask you the same fucking question!” Joel shouts back. “What are you doing in my bed?”
Although, as Joel’s mental faculties start coming online, he realizes that this isn’t his bed. The frame is different, and Joel’s never owned these sheets before. In fact, this isn’t his room at all, none of the elaborate decorations or antique furnishings match his more modern house. Bdubs seems to come to the same conclusion, some of the anger in his eyes fading away into puzzlement. “… What are we both doing in Etho’s bed?”
Looking closer, Joel can tell that Bdubs is right, recognizing the look of it. Hesitantly, he pushes himself out of the bed as well. Looking down at himself, he’s still in his green Christmas pajamas that he was in the night before, which takes a good portion of the creepiness out of the situation. Still, as he wracks his brain, he can’t seem to think of a single reason he would’ve ended up in Etho’s house in general over the night, much less with Bdubs.
“This is weird, right?” Bdubs says. “We both can tell that this is weird.”
“Right. I’m not sure what this is… But I’d guess Etho has something to do with it.” Joel marches towards the door. “I’m getting to the bottom of this one way or another.”
“Well I’m getting to the bottom of it first!” Bdubs trails close behind, equally upset. as Joel throws the bedroom door open. Instead of the rest of Etho’s house, blinding white greets them from the inside of the door. Joel flinches, eyes slipping closed on instinct. Compared to the dimness of Etho’s room, the light coming in his overpowering. But when he finally manages to blink his eyes open, stepping inside, he finds… A void, of endless whiteness.
Standing inside the void are three familiar faces. Lizzie and Etho are talking in hushed tones, but Jimmy’s facing towards the door, and his eyes light up when he sees Bdubs and Joel emerge. A quick signal to the other two, and Lizzie and Etho move to stand on either side of Jimmy.
“We are the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.” Jimmy begins, his voice hushed. “We are here to-”
“What is this place?” Bdubs asks, interrupting him completely. He looks around in awe. “Where are we?”
“Jimmy was just about to explain it before you interrupted.” Joel glares at him.
“Well you can’t blame me for being curious,” Bdubs gestures at the white void, “Is this a dream? Magic? Where are we?” Turning back to the door, Bdubs gasps. Where the door once was is gone, and only white void was behind them.
“I’m sorry we never told you. About us. About who we are.” Lizzie steps up to speak next. Her voice echoes through whatever realm they stand in, despite there being no walls to reflect the sound. She seems sheepish, or maybe ashamed, Joel’s not sure which. “We always meant too, one day, but there never seemed to be a good time.”
“About… Who you are?” Bdubs questions.
“Spirits,” Etho explains. “we’ve existed as long as time itself, if not longer.”
“That…” Bdubs seems almost at a loss for words. “That is… That’s so cool!”
“Really?” Etho blinks, a little stunned. Lizzie seems shocked as well, although her expression is quickly replaced with relief.
Bdubs nods. His eyes are almost bright enough to match the void, and the awe is clear in his voice. “So, Christmas spirits? No wonder you like Christmas so much, Liz.”
Lizzie nods. “Spirits are most powerful in their own domain. For us, that’s Christmas.”
“We are here to show you the results of your actions against each other,” Jimmy continues, “and what may come to pass if your ways do not change.” It’s kind of obvious that he’s reading from a script, and truthfully Joel thinks it’s kind of cute.
“There’s no way this is real.” Joel marches right up to Jimmy, disbelief clear. “I don’t know how you managed to pull all this off Jim, and it’s kind of impressive, but there’s no way I’m going to believe all this magic stuff.”
Jimmy smirks, leaning in close. “Really now? There’s no way this is magic?”
“It can’t be,” Joel insists. “Magic isn’t real.”
Jimmy tilts his head, looking mischievious. “Then how are you wearing Bdubs’ cloak?”
“What?” Joel looks down. Just as Jimmy claims, he finds the fluffy green cloak draped around his shoulders. Behind him, Bdubs makes a noise somewhere between astonishment and outrage.
“Hey! My cloak!” Bdubs runs over, making grabby hands. He almost reaches to pull it off himself, before hesitating at the thought of touching Joel. “Give it back!”
“Ugh, it’s not like I wanted your stupid cloak anyways.” Slipping it off, Joel holds it out to him, but it vanishes from his hands before Bdubs can grab it. To his left, he hears Lizzie giggle, and Joel and Bdubs both turn to see Lizzie wearing the fluffy cloak, grinning from ear to ear.
Bdubs runs up to her to get it back, but he seems a lot more at ease now that it’s no longer in Joel’s hands. Giggling, Lizzie takes it off and loops it around him, stealing a kiss as she does so. Bdubs smiles so brightly in return that Joel averts his eyes. As he looks around, his gaze lands on Etho.
Noticing Joel’s gaze, Etho tilts their head, and Joel can just catch the raise of their eyebrow underneath their headband. “Do you believe us now?”
“So, if you can switch clothing around like that, can you get Joel in something a little less hideous? Like it’s kinda hard to look at him,” Bdubs asks.
Joel bristles. “HEY! I’m not the one walking around with a bush strapped to my back!”
“That’s a gift from my wife thank you very much!”
Quiet enough that Joel almost couldn’t hear, Etho mutters to himself, “This was such a bad idea…”
Before things can spiral into an argument, Jimmy clears his throat. “Look, can I get through my script or not?” Jimmy finally starts to look upset. “I practiced hard on this you know!”
Joel and Bdubs both fall silent.
“Go on, Jimmy,” Etho gestures, “knock ‘em dead.”
“Right.” Four pairs of eyes turn to Jimmy, waiting for him to speak. Once he was sure no one else was going to interrupt, he starts again. “We are the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. We roam this earth to bring goodness and joy to all peoples in this blessed day. And now, we hope to do the same to you.”
Etho looks like he’s about to comment, but Lizzie drives an elbow into his ribs, giving him a death glare when she turns to face her.
“Bdubs and Joel. We are here to show you the results of your actions against each other,” Jimmy continues, voice suddenly serious, “and what may come to pass if your ways do not change. Each of us will take our time with you to show you what was, what is, and what will be. What happens after is of your choosing, and your fate is in your hands.” After a few moments of dramatic pause, he looks over to the other two and adds. “How was that?” Lizzie gives him a double thumbs up, and he smiles in return.
Bdubs waits until it’s clear Jimmy was finished before speaking. “Sorry, what’s about to happen?”
“Visions of that was, is, and will be, were you not listening to the damn speech?” Joel replies.
“Yes I was listening, that doesn’t make it clear!” Bdubs argues.
“It does if you’re not a moron.” Joel rolls his eyes.
Etho pinches the bridge of his nose as Bdubs immediately tries to stutter up a retort.
“Anyways,” Lizzie clears her throat, cutting Bdubs off before he can begin, “now that you understand what we are and what will happen, I think it’s time to begin.”
Etho looks even more concerned, but Jimmy’s eyes light up at the agreement. “Great! Let’s go then!”
Jimmy steps back, and after a moment, so does Etho. Lizzie steps forwards, taking center stage.
“Once again, I am really sorry for all of this.” Lizzie does look apologetic. As Jimmy and Etho fade, the world itself around them starts to dim, from white to a cooler grey. Joel blinks a few times at the change, only realizing how sore his eyes felt at the intense brightness. “I just… Well, there’s no good explanation for it really. But I really hope it will work. For your sake and ours.” The world dimmed further and further, and as the darkness swallows the light, Lizzie and Bdubs to start to fade. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
And then it's dark.