Work Text:
One second ago he was convinced he was going to die of a painful explosion or maybe a long and drawn out asphyxiation on nothing in the vacuum of space, but now, he thinks he’s drowning.
He doesn’t remember seeing any pools of water on the moon while he was up there, and he’s fairly certain he couldn’t have been blasted all the way back to Hermitcraft to be sputtering around helplessly in the ocean right now. So, how is he drowning right now? And second of all, if he’s not on the moon or back on Hermitcraft(because he failed to stop the moon, his server is certainly gone by now), where is he?
He’s woken up by the horrible feeling of murky water filling his lungs. He forces his eyes open, but he can barely see anything, it’s so dark. The water is murky and cloudy, he can barely make anything out, he’s gotta be deep below the surface because there’s barely any light filtering through to reach him.
He reaches out, grapples for something to pull him up, to force himself out of the dirty water that is going to kill him before too long. But he’s stuck, there’s something cementing him to the bottom of the pond or river or wherever he’s wound up. He looks down to try and see what he’s got caught underneath, but he can barely see anything. He reaches down and can feel the cool yet warped surface of metal, and realizes it must be a piece of his ship. The explosion he set off on the surface of the moon must have launched him somewhere out in space, and even though he miraculously survived the explosion and the fall, now he’s going to drown in what can’t be more than ten feet of water.
He tries to wrench his foot free, but it’s no good, his lungs are filling up with swamp water and he can barely see anything and his screams can’t breach the surface of the water above and he’s fairly certain he’s bleeding because his ankle feels like it’s being sliced open with every tug and he’s beginning to feel faint and he came so far just to drown in no-mans-land and this must be it the end of Tango Tek goodbye cruel world —
He’s about to black out and succumb to his water-y fate when he faintly hears the sound of the surface of water being broken, like something heavy has just fallen into the water, or, more likely, jumped into the water.
His eyes must be deceiving him now as the life drains out of him, because a figure swims speedily towards him, like a barracuda tearing through the water. If he could laugh he would, because this is a pretty lame last image before he dies. The figure gets closer, and even though his vision is pretty much kaput by this point, he can faintly make out the build of a person, but their face doesn’t look even remotely human. Is this his guardian angel, come to guide him towards the afterlife? It must be, because it starts trying to free him from his watery grave. The last thought Tango has before he blacks out from lack of airflow is that’s nice of my guardian angel!
And then he passes out.
He’s awakened a minute or two later, and this time he’s on solid yet squishy ground. Later he won’t be able to remember the finer details, but right now, he is violently coughing out murky swamp water and gasping for air on the bank of a swampland river. Black spots dance at his vision as he forces the water out of his lungs, as well as emptying the contents of his stomach as he retches like his life depends on it. Which, it does, in this situation.
There’s someone patting him on the back and helping to hold him up so he doesn’t dive face first back into the water. It’s the person who rescued him by freeing him from the shrapnel of his ship and drug him to the surface, but Tango doesn’t know that.
Through the cacophony of the ringing in his ears, the uneven yet crazed beating of his heart and the rough noises of his own coughing and retching, he can faintly hear someone talking.
“Breathe, just breathe, man. Void, what’s happened to you?”
He passes out again.
When he wakes this time, he has his wits about him. Well, mostly. His mind is still foggy and he’s in a lot of pain, but it’s better than being stuck in a murky pond and drowning in disgusting swamp water. And it’s a thousand times better than being stuck on the surface of a haywire moon or suffocating in the emptiness of space. That reminds Tango, where is he?
Well, right now, he’s in a bed. A pretty soft one, at that. When his vision comes back to him after blinking the sleep away, he can make out the dark color of spruce wood walls and the oh-so-familiar sight of cobblestone as accents against the dark planks. There’s a window across from him and a simple hand carved door. He can make out the murky color of swamplands outside the window, but is unable to tell the time of day due to the already dark color of swamplands.
The interior is pretty simple, and the structure of the room leaves a little to be desired. He’s certain he’s not back in Hermitcraft, but other than that, he’s a bit lost on where he’s ended up. Either he’s having a really vivid death-nightmare about drowning next to someone’s starter base in a swamp, or he’s somehow managed to crash down onto an entirely different server that’s been spared from the rampages of the moon and one of the unsuspecting server goers has gone out of their way to save and resuscitate the stranger. He’s not sure which one he’s leaning more towards, but if this is a dream, then it’s a pretty well-executed one. None of his dreams have been this realistic or unhinged before.
With a groan, he forces himself to sit up, but immediately falls back into the cocoon of pillows behind him when he’s hit with a wave of nauseating vertigo. He’s fairly certain it’s enough to force him into a vomiting episode, but there’s not really much in his stomach to empty, at this point. So he just has to deal with the room spinning and his whole body swimming with pain, but mostly his head and his ankle. He’s made aware of the warm wash cloths on his forehead and draped down his forearms, and while the warmth is comforting, it’s certainly not the blistering heat that he’s used to.
It’s clear to him that if he can’t even sit up without the world spinning, he’s not going to be able to get up and walk around. So, he settles to try and get some more shut-eye. That is, until he hears the sound of distant footsteps approaching. For a split second he debates if he should pretend to be asleep so as not to spook whoever is approaching, but before he can decide on what to do the door swings open.
Standing in the doorway is a tall, lean man dressed in what appears to be a fisherman’s outfit, with a swimmer’s leotard disguised underneath. He’s got close-cropped messy blonde hair that looks a bit damp, and warm brown eyes. He looks mostly human until Tango spots the green webbed fins where his ears should be and the scaly looking tail that sways when he walks. He might assume that this is the person who rescued him from the bog, but he’s got a human-esque face that doesn’t match the one he saw before he passed out in the swamp.
The man greets him with an awkward smile. “Oh, good, you’re awake!” He shuffles over to the bedside, and Tango only registers he’s holding a tray when the man sets it down on the nightstand beside the bed Tango’s camped up in. He strains his neck to try and see what’s on the tray that the mysterious stranger has brought him. He’s not sure what he expected(maybe lab equipment to experiment on him with? No, that’s just stupid, Zed is rubbing off on him too much), but suffice it to say that he is surprised when he sees a stack of fresh wash clothes, a couple of small vials of what he can only assume to be healing potions, and a bowl of pleasant smelling soup.
“I wasn’t sure what kind of soup you liked or even if you felt like eating, but I figured I’d bring some anyway,” the man says, and Tango can sense a twinge of nervousness in his voice, like he’s worried Tango might snap at him. Tango doesn’t blame him, though. If a strange looking guy who definitely belonged to another dimension crash landed in the middle of his server, he’d be a bit hesitant, too.
“Where am I?” Is the first thing that Tango manages to get out, and he’s surprised by how raspy his voice sounds. His throat does kind of hurt, now that he thinks about it. That soup is beginning to sound better and better as the seconds tick by.
The man stands beside Tango’s bed awkwardly, wringing his hands. “You’re in the Codlands, mate. Or, more specifically, the Cod Empire.”
Tango raises an eyebrow at the man. “The Cod where-now?”
The man clears his throat, shuffling on his feet. “The Codlands. Y’know, Empires. None of this ringing a bell?”
Tango shakes his head. “Not one bit. No ringing of bells going on here.” He chuckles nervously, as if that’s helping with the current confusion.
The man sighs. “That’s what I was afraid of. Sometimes we have visitors come through here, not often, mind you. But usually they’ve at least heard of Empires or one of our domains or something along those lines. And they usually show up on the far reaches of the world, and not just randomly plopped down into the middle of someone’s empire.” Without saying anything about it, the stranger gently removes the washcloths from Tango’s skin and replaces them with fresh, warmer ones that Tango can already tell are helping bring his temperature back up to its abnormally high constant. “So, um, I guess the next question is where are you from, and how’d you end up here?” The man asks, cocking his head slightly and folding his arms across his chest.
Tango finds himself laughing. “I’m from a server called Hermitcraft, but I had to evacuate due to… undesirable conditions. It’s a long story that I will spare you the gruesome details of.” That makes the man wrinkle his nose. “I escaped via spaceship, but I think something knocked me off course and led to me crash-ificating in your server.” It’s not exactly the whole truth, but Tango’s not quite sure how this stranger would cope with the unfathomable cosmic horror that is the moon hurtling towards and then subsequently destroying your entire world and all the people and the animals that lived on it.
The man’s eyes lit up. “So you are an astronaut!” He laughs a bit triumphantly, and pulls up a chair behind himself and takes a seat. “I would have taken you for more of a miner or an engineer kind of guy. But maybe that’s just me thinking that ‘cause you’re a blazeborn.” The man pauses, face going slack for a moment. “You… You are a blazeborn, right?”
Tango lets out a hearty laugh. “Yes, I’m a blazeborn. Bourne from the fiery and deepest pits of the nether, that’s me!” The man lets out a sigh of relief, and Tango can’t help but grin at his new compatriot. “Thanks for the washcloths, by the way, they’re really helping bring up my temperature!”
The man gave an uneven smile. “Oh, no problem! I figured you must be cold after your dip in the lake. The water’s really cold in the swamp this time of year, not ideal for a blazeborn, I’m sure.”
Tango shakes his head. “Nope, and neither is drowning.” There’s quiet in the room for a moment, neither unsure how to progress the conversation. But then Tango breaks the silence by asking “Were you the one who saved me from drowning?”
The man nods. “Yeah, I was. I didn’t see you crash, but I heard it and came looking for the source of the noise and there you were. You’re pretty lucky you were in the area, I don’t think respawning in a server that’s not your own is particularly easy.”
Tango raises an eyebrow. “You looked a lot different when you saved me. More… fishy.”
The man purses his lips. “Ah, I was probably wearing my codfather head. I hope I didn’t frighten you with it, it’s a bit off putting to some. That’s why I didn’t wear it when I came in here.”
Tango shrugs. “Oh, well, not like I wasn’t already in a state of fear and panic.” He doesn’t really question why this stranger is going around wearing a mob head or why it’s called the ‘codfather head’, because it’s probably only going to make his head hurt more than it already is. If this headache proves anything about what it’s like to crash down to a server after being blown off the surface of the moon, Tango’s quite certain he’s never going to space again.
The man’s eyes widen, like he’s just realized something. “I’m so sorry, I never even thought about asking for your name. That’s quite rude of me, I’m sorry.”
Tango can’t help but smile at the stranger and his bashfulness at not asking a simple question. He’s beginning to like him, even though he’s just met him. “It’s all good, buddy. I’m Tango of the Tek variety, pleased to meet you.” He would outstretch his arm for a handshake, but he’s kind of comfortable where he is now with the hot washcloths and being under at least six blankets.
The man sits up straighter in his chair with a friendly smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Tango. I’m known around here mainly as The Codfather, but you can call me Jimmy, if you’d like.”
Tango doesn’t question why he’s called The Codfather or why he’s dressed as both a fisherman and a pro swimmer or the fact that his kingdom’s name insinuates that he rules over a very specific grouping of fish. In a normal situation he might question any of these things, but this is not a normal situation. He’s literally speaking to the man who just saved his life as he hurtled off the surface of the moon and through space, so he doesn’t question any of the abnormal things about this place or the stranger in front of him. Instead, he embraces it, like this friendly stranger has embraced Tango’s weirdness.
“Thanks for saving me, Jimmy,” he says the man’s name, and though it’s a bit foreign on his lips, it feels nice. “I don’t know if I said that yet, but I’m really glad you pulled me from the wreckage of my ship. Saves me a lot of pain!”
Jimmy brightens and Tango’s beginning to think that he could get used to seeing this man’s smile. “It’s not a problem at all. Happy to help.” He stands up and picks up the tray from off the bedside table and sets it across Tango’s lap so he has easy access to the items on top of it. “If you feel like eating, I’d encourage you to eat your soup quickly before it gets too cold. And there’s some healing potions I’ve gotten exported from the Crystal Cliffs you’re more than welcome to use if your pain is still bothering you. I’ve got some things I’ve got to take care of, but I’ll come back later to check on you.” He begins to step away, but keeps his eyes on Tango. “Do you think you’ll be okay on your own? Or do you want me to stay? I don’t mind sticking around longer if you want.”
Tango gives Jimmy a toothy grin as he sits up, and this time the room doesn’t spin as much when he forces himself up. “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to distract you from your kingly duties. I’ll be fine on my own, thanks, Jimmy.”
Jimmy gives him another one of those award-winning smiles as he hovers in the doorway. “Of course. On behalf of myself and all the other rules of this land, I humbly welcome you to Empires. Stay as long as you’d like, Tango.” As The Codfather disappears down the hallway, shutting the door behind himself, Tango finds that although he’s just barely gotten to know this man, he likes hearing his own name on Jimmy’s lips.
After Tango’s got some food in his stomach and properly rested(his ankle was pretty hacked up from being stuck under ship shrapnel, but he was back on his feet in no time thanks to the healing potions), he meets back up with Jimmy who graciously offers Tango a tour. The Cod Empire is nothing like Tango’s seen before on Hermitcraft, and it’s a bit of a breath of fresh air. It’s not like it’s particularly eye-catching or a marvel to look at, but the style is unlike anything he’s seen before and the layout of the empire is unique compared to the mega-bases that crop up near and far on his home server. It’s definitely something to be proud of, and he’s not sparing with his compliments to the bashful Emperor as they tour the swamp kingdom.
As they go, Jimmy mentions a couple of the other rulers, and although Tango would love to meet some of them, he knows that he has to find a way to head home sooner or later, even if he’s not quite sure where the destination for the ninth server of Hermitcraft is just yet. But he’ll figure it out, because as much as he’s enjoying touring the Empires server, he’s got to go home eventually.
It’s hard not to find Jimmy’s company enjoyable, especially when Tango finds him somewhat familiar, like the two have met before. Tango’s not sure where he’s seen the other man before, and the only time he can think of them crossing paths before is Grian’s infamous death games. But it’s not like he’s going to mention the death games in front of Jimmy, because when he’s brought them up before in conversation with others who haven’t participated in one before they always give him weird looks. And he’s just befriended Jimmy, he doesn’t want to immediately scare him off!
So he enjoys what little time he is granted with Jimmy, even when he knows their relationship will remain stagnant for two reasons:
1). It’s unlikely they’ll ever run into each other again, and,
2). Tango noticed the wedding band pretty early on in their tour. He’d never go for someone he knew was already taken, and he’d just barely gotten to know Jimmy; there was a very miniscule chance of their temporary friendship becoming anything more than just that.
Their tour ends where Tango crash landed on the server, and when Tango sees the desecrated and mangled piece of his ship beneath the surface of the swampy water, he can’t help but get a bit emotional over it’s wrecked state. He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that Adequate hadn’t made it off the moon in one piece like Tango did, and although Holsten had been a thorn in his side from the beginning, he had to admit he was going to miss the sarcastic A.I.
Jimmy must have seen the crestfallen expression on Tango’s face, because before Tango knew it, Jimmy was diving into the water and swimming down to retrieve the piece of shrapnel.
When both Jimmy and the sheet of metal resurfaced, Tango was surprised at how intact the piece of his ship still was. Sure, the metal was distorted and bent, with areas dented or burned or even complete holes in sections of it. But it was a marker of what Tango had done, and the mission he had tried and failed to accomplish. It made him a bit teary-eyed to see what was left of his ship, getting sentimental over the destruction of his creation and the fact that he had failed at saving his friends from their inevitable doom.
But, he knew deep down his friends would be okay. If Tango had survived, surely they had too, and just like Tango, would soon be making their way back towards a brand new iteration of Hermitcraft where they could start fresh and put the mess of the moon behind them.
With the aide of Jimmy’s trusty pickaxe, Tango hacked off a piece of the metal to keep with him(a piece of the H.A.S.A logo, just for sentimental value), and then he graciously offered the rest of the scrap metal to Jimmy, which he gladly accepted. Tango helped him take it to his storage so he could melt it down and repurpose the iron ingots, and with his ship cleaned up, it didn’t seem like there was much else left for Tango on Empires, except to head home.
“How are you going to get back to Hermitcraft if you don’t know where it is?” Jimmy asked after Tango had finished explaining his plan to the emperor.
Tango shrugged, rifling through Jimmy’s chests in his storage room for anything that might help him in his journey. “Not sure, but it always works out in the end! I’ll probably just wander through the nether for a day or two until I’m far enough away from any of your guys’ portals and construct one of my own. It’s worked for me in the past!”
Jimmy nodded, but it seemed to Tango that it was flying over his head entirely. “What makes this portal different from just a normal nether portal? What if it just brings you back to empires?”
Tango scooped a handful of redstone from Jimmy’s resources chest and dumped it in his leather satchel Jimmy had generously offered him. He also snagged some stray building blocks, a couple light source blocks, crafted up a few various redstone components, and even a couple chests for good measure.
“Usually I just chuck a bunch of random blocks through the portal and it knows where to take me!” Tango explained, fastening the satchel on his back. He turned to Jimmy with a toothy grin, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as his tail swayed behind him. “And if it brings me back to Empires, I’ll just cross that bridge when I get to it. But I’ll probably come back here for your help, if you don’t mind. You’ve been really helpful so far, and I’ve enjoyed your company.”
Jimmy smiled, and if Tango wasn’t mistaken, he could see a bit of color gathering in Jimmy’s face. “I would not mind at all, Tango. I do hope you make it back to Hermitcraft, but if you stayed around a little longer I don’t think I’d be upset.”
That made Tango laugh, because he shared the same sentiment.
Jimmy guided Tango back through the Cod Empire to where his nether portal was stationed, and Tango stopped just outside of it to make sure he had everything he needed for his journey. He had some some of Jimmy’s spare iron armor that was only slightly worn-down, some basic tools, a half-stack of cooked beef, and of course his portal-making materials that would help him get back home(He’d even set his spawn in the Codlands just in case he ran into any trouble in the nether, but he wasn’t too worried about that. He mainly just did it to put Jimmy at ease).
“Well, I guess this is where we part ways,” Tango said, turning to Jimmy. He was a few feet away from the glowing surface of the portal, and Jimmy stood a few feet away from him, watching with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Safe travels in the nether, Tango!” Jimmy said, giving him a little wave. “Just holler at me on your communicator if you need my help!”
Tango flashed a cheeky grin. “I’m no stranger to the nether, Jimmy, you don’t need to worry about me.” Jimmy’s expression darkened a little at that, so Tango hastily added “But I’ll reach out if I need to, okay?”
Now smiling, Jimmy nodded. “Okay,” he said simply.
“Okay,” Tango echoed, and took that as his cue to leave. He turned on his heel, tail swishing behind him as he began to step into the portal.
“Wait!” Jimmy’s cry made him jump back out of the portal, and he spun around to look at Jimmy one final time. “Will I ever see you again?” Jimmy asked, a dash of franticness in his tone. It felt a bit out of place, but Tango had seen it coming. In the short time they’d gotten acquainted with each other, he had to admit that he had gotten somewhat attached to the Cod-Boy, and Jimmy got attached too, from the nature of his question. It was a little off putting, but Tango knew that it was a better question than just outright asking Tango to stay.
Tango’s expression softened, and a sense of bittersweetness and wistfulness settled deep into his bones. “Probably not,” he admitted, because he knew he was a horrible liar and because he didn’t want Jimmy hedging on the promise of a reunion. “But you never know! It’s a small world,” he tacked on at the end in an attempt to soften the blow a little. It worked, by the way Jimmy’s face fixed itself into a smile, but a bittersweet one at that.
“Get home safe, Tango!” Jimmy said with a final wave, signaling the end of their meeting. “It was nice meeting you!”
Tango took a step backwards, offering a friendly smile and a wave of his own. “I will! It was nice meeting you, too!”
He turned on his tail and stepped through into the portal, letting the otherworldly gate sweep him away from the server of Empires, the Codlands, and away from his new friend. He couldn’t guarantee that they would run into each other again, especially seeing as they ran in different circles, but he had to admit that if fate chose it, he wouldn’t mind seeing the man again.
He was happy to be heading back home to Hermitcraft with his friends, but he was also plenty happy to let fate lead him wherever she saw fit.