Sorry Moth Boy, but we're gonna pretend you don't exist for this oneshot. Now enjoy some angst.

Q: What if Vampire Scott was Scott of Rivendell... back from the dead?

A cold stone crypt, the walls coated in ice. Alcoves lined the sides, filled with treasure and possessions. Snow lined the floor, despite it being a cave.

In the center, a dark oak coffin.

Some said that the body inside was the king of Rivendell. The Champion of Aeor. The brother of Xornoth.

Jimmy knew these rumors to be true. He had died for a noble cause, to defeat the demon. He had found the body himself.

But it had been hundreds of years since his sacrifice. Most of the Emperors were dead, their legacies long forgotten. Jimmy and Lizzie, as sea god and goddess, were two of the few who remained.

Joel had burned in the Nether, and his body had gone up as bright as his passion for his kingdom.

Xornoth's corruption had gotten the better of Shelby, and she went as dark as the shadows she hid in.

Sausage had gone insane at Xornoth's return, but he fought it. He won against the corruption, only to die from his mental and emotional wounds days later.

Gem and FWhip had run to the Sky Kingdom after the Grimlands was destroyed and died peacefully of old age about a hundred and fifty years ago.

Pix had gone missing into the desert and had never been seen again.

Joey had been betrayed by the demon he so adored, corrupted and then stabbed in the back by the person he trusted most.

Pearl had burned with her land during the aftermath of the explosion that Jimmy had caused.

Katherine was one of the few who remained, spreading her floral magic to make the world a better place. Jimmy was thankful for the fairy and her immortality, otherwise he might have been alone.

Lizzie refused to accept her past, no matter how much Jimmy told her, showed her the letters, did everything he could. She didn't know how she was still alive after all these years. But Joel was dead, so Jimmy hadn't seen her in two centuries because she had been sulking.

The crypt nor its inhabitant were ever forgotten by Jimmy, even after the elves chose a new king, even after the last of the eternal winter thawed and springtime sprouted, bringing the flowers that held so many memories for Jimmy.

Jimmy knew what it was like to be dead and watch the other one be anguished at his demise. He thought it would be the worst thing he ever experienced. But he had no idea what it was like to be the one mourning, at least not until two hundred years ago, when word had reached him that the king of Rivendell was dead.

He avoided Rivendell, scared of the memories it would bring flooding back. But he couldn't leave the world, couldn't go back to Last Life or X Life or Evo. Those worlds were gone, their inhabitants long gone.

Because he avoided the elven capital, he didn't realize when the coffin, cold and silent for hundreds of years, slid open under the pressure of pale fingers. And then eyes opened, as red as blood, or as the poppies of the flower forest.

The glint inside was enough to make the strongest elven warrior flee.

Hunger.

Hunger... for blood.

------

"WHAT IS THIS?" Jimmy screamed at the top of his lungs, though he knew nobody would hear him.

He was falling. Or at least, it felt like it. All Jimmy could see was black void.

Then a feeling like he was shrinking. Jimmy didn't know exactly what that would be like, but if he did shrink, this is how he imagined it would feel.

Then a searing pain in his head, in two spots just above his forehead.

Then the same pain in his shoulders.

Then - and this was the part that caused the most panic - the feeling of his fins dissolving. His webbed fingers becoming normal, the fins behind his ears going away, his gills smoothing over with uninterrupted skin.

And then the falling stopped, and he slammed into solid ground.

Jimmy stood up, feeling dizzy. There was a strange weight on his head, and when he put his hand to it, he found horns there. They were smooth and sharp on the tips. On his shoulders were small crystals that didn't come off, like they were a part of him.

Jimmy put a hand that was no longer webbed to his ear and was dismayed and terrified to find the fins gone.

The Codfather and Cod Boy were already gone. But what about the Slightly Damaged Egg?

It was all so much to take in.

Jimmy didn't have the slightest clue where he was, so he started with that. Everything seemed a little bigger than normal - no, he had gotten smaller. He seemed to be in a sort of gazebo, surrounded by azalea trees. A river circled the island.

Suddenly, he heard a scream, and then there was someone on top of him.

Jimmy screamed as well, before he was slightly squished.

He was too startled to realize that he recognized that scream.

"DID I NOT DIE?" A voice yelled.

Jimmy grunted, and then the person seemed to realize that they were on top of someone. "Sorry. Wait, no, I'm not sorry. Where am I? And why are you so spiky..." He trailed off as Jimmy got up.

"...Jimmy?" The stranger said, and Jimmy realized he was definitely not a stranger.

He was exactly as Jimmy remembered, but different - the streak in his hair was a sort of orangey-gold, and his eyes were the same color. Bits of flame flickered around him.

"Joel?" Jimmy asked, barely believing his eyes.

"It's me, mate," Joel said. "Why are you spikey?"

"You're alive?" Jimmy said quietly, as if speaking too loud would kill him again.

"Apparently," Joel grumbled. "I thought I died, but I'm alive now. You're not a fish anymore."

Jimmy frowned, looking at his hands. "I- no, I'm not."

"You've got Galactic runes all over you," Joel said. "And you're short. Even shorter than me- wait, no. You were always shorter than me. I am not short."

Jimmy's frown deepened as he realized it was true.

Suddenly, a third person materialized in the gazebo.

"WHAT THE-"

Jimmy stuck put a hand to help the newcomer up. All he saw was a panda hat and purple particles, like the ones around an enderman, at first. Then he recognized the face. A face he hadn't seen since X Life.

"Oli?" Joel and Jimmy said in unison.

"Hi," Oli said. "I thought I died. Like, died badly. I died from hitting the ground too hard on an ender pearl."

"I thought so too!" Joel said. "The death part. Not the ender pearl part. That would just be embarrassing."

Oli blushed, then yelped as a third, then fourth, then fifth person landed in the gazebo in a flurry of fur and feathers.

"Get your stupid wing out of my face-"

"Wing? I don't have wings-"

"Yes, you do!"

"Let me out! Why are you so gigantic-"

Jimmy's eyes widened more and more as he recognized people who were supposed to be dead.

A fourth person landed there as well, a few seconds after the others. She joined the pile as well.

Oli reached into the pile, grabbed a random limb, and pulled.

It happened to be a white feathered wing, and that wing was attached to MythicalSausage, who had died to Xornoth many, many years ago.

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow, stop pulling my-"

"Sausage!" Jimmy said.

Sausage looked at him and giggled manically. "Hi, James! You're so tiny!"

"Don't call me James!" Jimmy protested.

Sausage looked around. "Could this beautiful land possibly be the afterlife? Jimmy, how did you die? Wait, you drowned. In a puddle." He burst into giggles again.

"No!" Jimmy said, stomping his foot. "I didn't die!"

"He denies it!" Sausage cackled.

That guy was most definitely not deserving of his halo.

"... Joel?" A small voice said, and then Joel was attacked by a small furry creature.

Jimmy realized it was his sister, and she had lost her fins as well, in favor of ears, a striped tail, and a cute button nose.

"You're alive..." Lizzie sobbed.

It made Jimmy ache.

He looked hopefully at the gazebo, hoping he was there. But no, it was just Gem and FWhip, who were also dead. They looked at each other, then Gem yelped and jumped away from her brother.

"What?" FWhip said, looking hurt. "Is there something on my face?"

"Pillager," Gem said fearfully.

She wasn't a wizard anymore, that was for sure.

"Pajamas?" Sausage said in delight when he looked at FWhip.

FWhip looked at his clothes and turned the color of his old scarf that he seemed to have lost. "They're not pajamas!"

Jimmy continued to look at the gazebo, but his heart sank further and further as the elf didn't turn up.

Old friends appeared - Shelby, Mika, Meghan, Lauren, Joey, Callum, and even Katherine.

But they weren't who he was looking for.

Then, he heard another voice - one that was sealed into his memory, even after hundreds of years. A prominent Scottish accent.

The elf appeared in the gazebo, but there was something different about him - he seemed colder, if that was possible after literally causing an eternal winter. His hair was white, his skin pale, his eyes crimson. He wore a black cloak, white dress shirt, and red vest.

But it was still him.

"Scott!" Jimmy exclaimed, his face splitting into a grin for the first time in forever.

But the king of Rivendell just looked at him with a cold, calm expression. Like a stranger.

Jimmy's smile faded.

Something was horribly wrong.

"Welcome to the afterlife," Scott said coolly. "Let's see how well you survive before you go back to being dead."

Then he smiled wryly, showing gleaming fangs. And then he was gone in a puff of black smoke.

Jimmy exchanged glances with the others.

"I don't remember Scott being like that," Lauren said. "Like, maybe a little bit sometimes. But not like that."

"He wasn't," Lizzie said. "Not in Empires."

"Not unless something changed in the last two hundred years," Jimmy said, tears jumping to his eyes that he failed to hold back.

"TWO HUNDRED YEARS?!" Joel yelled.

It took a lot of explaining from Lizzie and Katherine. Jimmy just sat on the side and moped.

Something had changed in his unofficial boyfriend.

Jimmy almost preferred him dead.

------

The Ender Dragon had been defeated, Thornling Jimmy was dead, and now Jimmy was a cat.

How ironic. He had turned into the predator of himself. But at least he wasn't short anymore.

One of the drawbacks of his new Origin as a Feline: he couldn't mine stone.

It sucked.

Especially when Scott killed Angel Sausage and Villager Gem and then decided to come torment Jimmy.

"Scott..." Jimmy protested. "What happened to being the Champion of Aeor?"

Scott turned away. "The Champion of Aeor died."

"Obviously not, or you wouldn't be here," Jimmy pointed out.

Scott turned his nose up to the air. "You'd do best to forget Empires, Jimmy. It's over."

From his tone, even such an idiot as Jimmy could tell that "It's over" went far beyond Empires.

Scott let Jimmy go, at least for the time being. Jimmy ran, his tail shaking in agitation, and jumped into a tree, not caring that he would have a hard time getting down. He let the tears come.

This was a dream. It was surely a dream. All of this was a dream, and soon he would wake up back in the Cod Empire and Scott would be there to beam in joy and remind Jimmy that Xornoth was gone.

But it wasn't, and he wouldn't.

Suddenly, Jimmy was no longer in the tree.

Instead, he was surrounded by stone.

Trapped.

Just like his thoughts.

They circled around and around, wondering if he should attempt to kill Scott.

Scott made it clear that he was a bad guy.

But Jimmy couldn't hold back the good memories, couldn't help but hope that the old Scott would return.

No, he won't, Jimmy thought. It's too late. But we do have ten lives.

All we need to do... is kill him.

~~~

Legend says that he is still puzzling over how to do that even today

"I'm gonna get my dragon friends, and we're gonna take you OUT!"

"Take me where?"

I know I said I wouldn't do ships but I got an idea and I like writing things that make me want to go into a corner and think about what I've done so don't judge

-Indigo