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I•dyll - Noun - An extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque episode or scene, typically an idealized or unsustainable one.

Used in a sentence: "Jimmy's Idyll shattered at the arrival of the hitmen."

Most days, he could consider YouTube an idyll. Accidents may happen but most of the world saw YouTuber's as an easy, cash grab job. Sure you have to have a few certain skills but it was like the cheat method of being a celebrity right? Jimmy hoped that if anyone took away from anything today, it's that a YouTuber and a celebrity are one and the same. Like movie stars and musicians and stuff, they have a target on their backs. Maybe the closest thing to this was the Christina Grimmie assassination from 2016 but even she was transitioning from her YouTuber origins with appearances on The Voice and what not.

Being a YouTuber was a difficult job, and Jimmy was probably the one who knew that more than anyone else in the world. This was even a wake-up call for him to. The kidnapping wasn't a flux in the cycle of life, it was just a preview of what the evils of this world could do to them. Everything started to align as chaos going on around him. Bhushan wasn't lying. He was one of his enemies but... he looked out for him. Or did he provoke this? Either way, if he just listened then maybe no one would have to learn this lesson. Learning is about growing as a person... but you can't change when you're dead. So Jimmy counted his losses. This was a censure of ignorance and paranoia. And on his status, on his God, and on his life, he was going to be the only one to take the fall for his mistakes.

"JIMMY WE HAVE TO GO!" His eyes were dull, seeing right through his friend as he watched the monitor in something similar to acceptance. 

"Felix I... Please evacuate everyone to the boats. Thank you for dealing with my selfishness until now. And... I'm sorry." Jimmy had been keeping himself armed for most of his time on the island. So he had little preparation to do other than load it and force his gaze to avoid the comfort of Alex that would probably make him crumble and stay. 

"Jimmy where are you going?" His voice fell low... fearful even.

"I don't like to make promises I can't keep so I'll tell you the truth. I'm going out there to find the root of this shooting. And I'll probably die to. But you know what? Who cares! This was set up for failure." Hysteria strained his voice as he tried to keep a grip on his hope. "We can fix this together. You get all the competitors on the boats and off the island, and I'll get rid of whoever is leading this operation. Divide and conquer you know?"

"NO NOT DIVIDE AND CONQUER, I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO OUT THERE!"

"Felix I'm sorry but you're a weak 5'11 man and trying to stop me would not only be futile but wasting time that could be put towards saving people. So what exactly do you plan to do?"

"You know... maybe I can't do anything. But I know people who can." He pulled a walkie-talkie to his mouth. "I need a team of maybe 4 or 5 to escort Jimmy from the studio to the docks and onto a boat by ANY means necessary. He's a danger to himself!" Before Felix could take another breath, he was out the door. "HE'S RUNNING AWAY GET HERE NOW! WE'RE HEADING SOUTHBOUND... NO NOT LIKE THE FORTNITE SONG WE ACTUALLY ARE!" A mix of the height advantages and the physical training half a year on the streets did to his stamina let him outrun Felix. However just as he lost him, he could feel cold metal hit his head and he held his breath. No pain came?

"Why...-"

"Jimmy?"

"That's my name. Don't wear it out."

"Start walking."

"Right yep..." Grateful yet confused as to why he didn't just blow his brains out yet, he followed carefully to a small clearing in the island forest. Forced to his knees, one man stepped forward. Chin pulled up to make eye contact with him, Jimmy put on a weak yet defiant smile. 

"Nice to finally meet you Beast."

"Lemmie guess. Part of D-Company, want revenge on me, and by proxy my friends, because I killed Dawood."

"Oh no, I'm something much scarier. I'm Vinoth Chandar and your gonna fear me until the moment you die."

"Well, that's not that much time to fear you... I think a big bad villain such as yourself should make me fear you longer."

"Don't get cute with me." He demanded, anger rising in his tone.

"Why shouldn't I? I've already accepted that I'm probably gonna die so why not have a bit of fun with it? Unless your planning to kidnap me... actually please don't do that. I don't wanna do that again. I'll even throw a slash gen into that one, I dunno if you prefer me using tone indicators or what-" Another gun was shoved onto his skull, its frame imprinting into his skin. "...What do you even want with me?"

"I'm just another YouTuber trying to get to the top. I have a daughter who needs this empire when she's older. Your absolutely in my way."

"What channel do you even run? If I know the genre maybe I can give you tips, but killing your competition is only going to get you prison stories, or probably death row stories."

"ChuChuTV, the new reigning king of YouTube." Jimmy's blood ran ice cold. He knew that channel name from only one person. Before he could speak, he was interrupted in great timing by the last person he wanted to hear from. 

"DON'T HURT HIM, PAPA!" The gun to his head was ushered away as Harshita... well he supposed Harshita Chandar went to "protect" him. Getting up to his feet, he watched as what was honestly a bit of a joke of a battle turn into something much more complex. Harshita and Vinoth spoke in a language he didn't understand. But by the end of it, Harshita refused to back down.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BABY GIRL, YOU MONSTER, YOU FREAK I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"I didn't... I didn't know she was your daughter. She came to my house... we taught her English, we thought she was a runaway from an abusive home and we had plans to keep her safe. Me and PewDiePie... But here we are... I guess I was right to some degree." Pulling his gun out of his pocket, Vinoth couldn't bring himself to aim again. Harshita was too close. So he kept begging for her to move, to run, to do anything to not be near Jimmy. She didn't back down.

"WE COULD KILL HIM SO EASILY BOSS PLEASE-"

"NOT WHEN HARSHITA IS THAT CLOSE."

"Harshita... please turn around and close your eyes." And when he felt her face hideaway on the side of his leg, he inhaled and did what he must. A bullet for the guy behind him. A bullet for each guy to Vinoth's left and right. One bullet for Vinoth...

And one bullet for himself.

The sickly sweet taste of metal was shoved down his throat, a flavor every fiber of his being was begging for more of. He deserved it. He'd never lie. So why couldn't he just push the trigger? Pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it pull it-

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 The ringing in his ears ended.

"Jimmy?" He met her dark eyes, a gaze full of confusion. "What are you doing?" And he realized that he just couldn't do this to her.

"Harshita I... I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have-" He let the pistol hit the floor before bringing her into a hug and collapsing to the ground.

W̸̖͙̒̍́͛̿̔̄e̷̛̳̻͔̜͉͙̱̳͐ͅl̴͓̰̰̝̪͍̳͍͐̎͠l̴̨͕̝͚̮͎̮̿͐ ̴̲̞̩̔̏̎̎̑͊́̌̊͜͝t̴̮̭̖̣͗̀̐͆̃̄̃͑͠͝ḩ̷͕̲̬̊̓͌͆́̈́́̌̉̎͜e̷̟̼͙̭̳̰̜̮̮̫͋͊̔͒̐͝ȓ̶͈͙̻̝̣̫̣̦͗̈́̿̆̈͜ͅe̶̡̱̟͎͕̍͋ͅ'̴̥̱̼͖͓̓̊̍s̷̢̞͚͎̜͓̒̅̅͒ ̵͇̖̲̘̳̼̘̺̤̮͋̾̈́͝a̸͎͇̯̟̫̳̪̽̍͂̓̕͘̕͠ľ̴̡̢̺͉͇̼͎͙̽͒̐̏̕ẃ̵̛͇͋̌̉͋͐̈͋͝ả̷͎̟̮͔̋́͂́̂͜ÿ̷̼̻̰͉̘̘̤́͗͜s̸̢͉͕̟͛ ̴̧̲̜̗̞͔̌̍ͅņ̵̨͙̜̮̫̯̩͊͐̈̓ͅẽ̷̛͓͈̟͕͕͔̓̐̅̄͗͐̚͜ẍ̸̧̤̝́̒̇͋͆͜t̸̟̜̃̏͆͊̉̔͐̏̕͝ ̵̙̬̘͇̪͎̱̘͖̽̏͂͗̂̌̚̕͠t̷̨̖̫̟̖̟̋́̓͛̕͘͘ĭ̷̠̲͐͊̐̇̈́̿͘m̴̞̰̥̗̤̬̀é̴̡͔͍̲͓̫͎́̀́̈̈́,̸̥͋̃͒́̀̉̋̕͝ ̸̞̠̱̟̦͓̪̘̅͐͛̅͆̈́́̊̇̃ͅr̴͇̞̘̟̝̯̘̗̤̺̅̽͋͆̉̾̓̂̈́͘ḭ̵͈͚̦͔̬̽̔̑̄̽̂g̸̦͉̜̠̯͇͈̺̅̂̆͌͌̂̈́͝͝h̷̛̝͌͒t̵͈̲̅̿́̀̂̈̕͘͠?̶̙̟̣̣̭̗͚̬͈̊̓͘͝

***

"There he is!" Felix's voice finally found a bit of joy in it and Mark Rober, who had joined Felix in on his search, swiftly turned on his heels. A small figure hunched over on the ground was there just behind a... body? The bloodied corpse made Mark recoil, taking a few steps back. Was that...? Thankfully no, Jimmy was right there, protectively holding Harshita in his arms. Jimmy looked up scared until relaxing upon realizing who had approached him. Upon closer inspection, two other bodies were visible, neither of which were people he knew. Felix took the first steps, moving cautiously.

"Hey bud... we're evacuating the area, want me to help you get Harshita out of here?" He nodded slowly.

"Don't let her see..."

"Don't let her see what?" His hand motioned to the body at the forefront, eyes ever so slightly beginning to gray. "Of course not." Picking her up carefully, Mark decided he should help Jimmy. Coming up in front of him so as to not startle him too much, he put a hand over his eyes.

"Why..."

"You shouldn't have to see it either." Guiding him away from the scene, he rubbed some stray tears away from his eyes.

"Are they going to kill me?"

"Who is?"

"The cops... I shot them... I shot her father."

"They were the ones who started the shooting right?"

"Ya but-"

"Jimmy look at me. You saved more lives than you ended."

"...I'm not sure if I can believe that."

"Someday you will, I swear on it." Keeping good pace, Mark let him sob away the shock, hiding his worries on Mark's shoulder. The rest of the walk to the dock was silent other than quiet words of comfort. Arriving at the dock, security guards were ushering the remaining YouTubers onto the boat, a few, however, going towards some helicopters on stretchers. Among the chaos, he could make out a few choice words.

"Dave breathe with me. In for 7, out for 11." A heavy British accent spoke with a calming tone.

"I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD IF YOU DON'T GET SOME BLOOD IN HIM I'LL END YOUR CAREER!" He was louder, fear hiding within anger.

"Pat him down for injuries!" The last one was closer, invasive hands now checking Jimmy. He tensed.

"Hey, he's fine! Hands off!" Pulling him away, Jimmy muttered words of thanks. Getting on the boat, he noticed it mostly consisted of the YouTubers. Many of the employees were still doing work on the island to make sure everyone was evacuated safely. All of the YouTubers were sort of packed together throughout the deck of the ship. Notably, Mark saw Alex being comforted by... Sclatt? No Schlatt. All these names were hard to keep up with. Upon noticing Jimmy, he ran up to him and engulfed him in a hug.

"Oh thank god... oh thank god you're ok. I thought I'd lose two today..."

"...What do you mean two?"

"Leafy he... they... aren't sure he'll make it." Jimmy's eyes widened.

"I... I'm so sorry..." Holding the shorter man closer, the film of guilt only bound his heart more. He knew Calvin was problematic but he also knew how much Alex looked up to him. Calvin was one of his significant mentors in the YouTube world and he spoke of how much he wanted to rekindle his friendship with him.

"Can we go somewhere quieter... it's overwhelming here."

"Ya... there's that room downstairs right?" And with reluctance, Mark watched the pair disappear inside.

"At the end of the day, it's always been them. Jimmy and Alex; the broken and suffering youth... Right?" He turned around, it was Schlatt. "As much as I love him, I don't think Alex is suited for the role of a caretaker figure. The effects of his childhood in a warzone and Hoover's suicide still linger. It's going to rub off on Jimmy if he isn't careful. But sadly the two are too reliant on each other. Alex refuses to let go because he's scared he'll lose control and history will repeat itself and Jimmy refuses to let go because he's scared he'll lose what he thinks is his only source of comfort and therapy. It's frightening is it not... to watch someone you love think you could never care as much... it's a poisonous cure... a sickening feedback loop..." It was almost as if Schlatt could read his mind.

"And yet we can't take it away from them because they'd only stumble and fall without the other." Sighing, he sat down next to the other YouTuber, his voice sounding distant.

"Exactly... I just wished they'd hear my voice... ya know?" As the boat whistled a groaning tune, its own movement beginning to take it away, Mark couldn't help but agree. They are each other's remedies, but no remedy is without its side effects.

Somewhere in a bedroom tucked away under the deck, Alex ran shaky hands through Jimmy's hair doing his best to ignore the tremors wracking his body. His voice was oh-so-soft as he sang a lullaby lowly...

"Hey there Delilah don't you worry about the distance I'm right there if you get lonely, Give this song another listen Close your eyes... listen to my voice, it's my disguise...

I'm by your side..."

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