One thing that horrified everyone was that they could no longer leave 3rd Life.

No matter how much Grian tried programming, the praying to any gods that existed, or banging and screaming at the world borders, they were trapped.

Jimmy ran his hand over his eyes, wiping away the mixture of sweat and tears.

The situation was becoming too stressful and he could tell that at any moment he could crack. He didn't know how younger him could handle holding in his trauma without letting it out onto someone else.

"Knock, knock," Jimmy bitterly scoffed.

"Joel, you don't have to actually say, 'knock, knock' when knocking on the door." There was a laugh before in walked Joel, looking as princely as ever. His eyes held worry though.

"What are you doing in here all by yourself on your wedding day?" He asked, flopping next to Jimmy on the bed. His purple Mazelean outfit was getting wrinkled but he didn't seem to mind.

Jimmy looked back in the mirror that taunted him from the end of the bed.

"Just... thinking."

Joel joined him, looking in the mirror while kicking his legs off the side of the bed.

"That doesn't sound very fun, Jim."

He wanted to agree but didn't know how Joel would take it.

"So, penny for your thoughts?" Something in Jimmy's chest clenched at the familiar phrase, bile rising up his throat but he swallowed it down immediately.

"I'm just nervous." He ended up saying. He wouldn't look at Joel, knowing the raised eyebrow of doubt that would meet him if he did turn.

"Nervous about the wedding or about the server?"

"A bit of both, I guess." Jimmy muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on them.

"Alright, explain then." Joel said casually, bed creaking as he shifted.

Jimmy gritted his teeth. It wasn't as simple as 'explain it' as Joel was thinking. "Just worried about what will be waiting for us on the other side of this wall, if there even is another side after all this." Joel hummed slightly, indicated he was listening and agreed as well.

"That's fair, everyone is worried about that at some degree." There was an unspoken tone in his voice, saying 'is that all?'

So Jimmy pressed on. "I mean, what if our last death here... is our last death in total? Like, we never return to our old lives and end up dead, bodies trapped here for family and friends on the outside to never know about."

Joel tilted his head slightly. "Is there a certain reason you have these concerns?"

Something in Jimmy's gut was telling him to keep telling Joel everything. He had trusted the prince when he was younger with almost all his secrets, he could probably be vulnerable.

"I already have lasting damage of this stupid game. Eyesight is terrible and I can barely hear things without my dumb hearing aids. What if even our last deaths leave us like it left me? No regenerations, crippled and broken by the end of this. I'm honestly not worried about myself dying by the end of this, it would be a blessing considering the injuries I now have to live with anyways." Joel was looking a bit pale in the light, he opened his mouth to speak but Jimmy cut him off. "But I do have something to live for, rest assured, I wouldn't want to leave Scott alone as a widow. I'll live for him but it doesn't mean it is any easier looking and feeling like this." As an afterthought, he glanced at his hands that clenched his suit. "I haven't lived without people looking at me with pity."

Joel hummed, idly messing with his rings. "So, you remember? Seablings, yeah?"

Jimmy couldn't hide anything from him.

He laughed bitterly, wiping his eyes as tears made their way to them. "Yup, Grian and Lizzie are the worst siblings ever, mum and dad died and I am a terrible prince." He huffed, looking back to the mirror in front of him.

The outfit he was in was one that was passed down from generation to generation. Every king or prince before him married in this outfit, including his father. Lizzie had somehow found it in the palace, sending it to Joel and Scott who then came up with a plan to 'trick' Jimmy into wearing it for the wedding to align with tradition.

Jimmy saw through the plan immediately but decided to agree anyways.

"So, what is the history with this outfit?" Joel asked, noticing the way that Jimmy glared at his reflection.

He sighed quietly. "Everyone before me wore this outfit at their wedding. It is a traditional axolotl hybrid suit. The problem with that is that cod hybrids tend to be on the shorter side, they had to substantially make this smaller to fit me."

Joel stifiled a laugh. "Grian would look like a baby in it."

Jimmy smiled lightly at that. His brother had gotten the full cod shortness genes, being the shortest of the siblings. Lizzie was the tallest and Jimmy was somewhere in the middle, not extraordinarily tall but not short in human terms either.

"Anyways, Grian was supposed to wear it first but... he ended up hating the idea of even being royalty so he sworn not to marry a royal. Lizzie was promised to wear the cod hybrid gown to her wedding and I got this one. If Grian had worn this one, I would have gotten the cod suit. I would have preferred it to this."

He winced at the way he could see the scars on his skin in the light. He wore a light pink vest that had a v neck collar that reached all the way to his naval. Below that, it was held together by a few buttons, ones that were of seashells and coral. Connected to the vest, there was a dark pink cape that Jimmy was tempted to wrap around himself the whole time. Unfortunately, it was hot outside and the fabric was a bit scratchy against his irritated skin. The trousers were loose, matching pink as the cape and were quite comfortable for formal wear. Connected every so often were chains with charms of the history of the ocean kingdom.

He tried to ignore the cod charm that sat just at his hip on the chain.

His shoes were sandals, nothing fancy and they were comfortable. If this was a completely traditional wedding, they would be standing in shallow water while barefoot during the ceremony.

"I take it that you aren't so fond of it?"

Jimmy nodded his head, looking at the floor away from his reflection. "Yeah, reminds me of the palace. I was told ever since I was a young guppy that I would be married to someone royal. Mum said a gal, dad said any royal I chose. Lizzie was excited about the idea of wedding regardless, she would hate if this became an ordinary commoner's wedding."

Joel tilted his head. "What did Grian think?"

Jimmy swallowed. He didn't like thinking of Grian's opinion. It wasn't expected as he was the prince to escape the palace, possibly find love with a commoner of his choosing.

"Anyone that I wanted to be with was fine by him," he said with a plastered smile. For Grian, it was the complete opposite.

He used to fight for Jimmy and Lizzie to wear comfortable clothing around the palace, stuff that commoners would wear. He would take the two younger siblings out to walk in town, mingle with commoners and not get any attention brought to them.

"Marry whoever mum tells you to, she knows best. If you marry a royal, I can get out of this being apart of the kingdom role. I can marry who I want, you have to take the bullet."

Jimmy broke out of his thoughts to a knock at the door. Looking up, Scar's face peaked through the crack.

"Are you guys coming?" The man asked, closing the door immediately after.

They both sighed in sync.

"I know there is something that you aren't telling me but I trust you, Jim. If you need help, just ask but we will discuss this later."

Jimmy looked back into the mirror before nodding his head. "J-just do me a favor," Joel hummed, standing up and dusting off his suit, "just don't tell anyone that I remember."

Joel's eyes snapped up immediately. "Jim, this is serious, we have to tell someone, like your seablings or Scott-"

Jimmy's eyes watered. "But I don't want to remember!" He closed his eyes taking deep breaths after his outburst.

There was a hum in his ear.

Opening his eyes, he saw the person he had made that deal with before Third Life started.

They stood, head tilted and face masked. Jimmy couldn't tell what they were thinking. "We can fix this all."

"No," he said, stumbling back. He looked around frantically, the world was frozen. "No, you promised I would forget!" He shouted, turning to the being.

They sighed, shaking their head. "We cannot offer something for free. We need you to join us."

Jimmy scoffed angrily, feeling hurt. "So you can lie to me again? Make me hurt over and over again?"

They shook their head. "No, we can offer everything to you. You can have revenge for what they did to you. You can be happy without so much of a thought of your so called family and friends." The being murmured.

"No," Jimmy shook his head firmly, "there are still people I care about, people that care about me as well. I cannot abandon them."

"Maybe you are smarter than you look." A crack was heard and the mask was unveiled. The being's face morphed many times into ungodly different scenes. Jimmy could see his mother's face somewhere. "Dear old brother needs some revenge, he is still hurting you now, isn't he?" They said, face twisting into a horrifying portrait of Grian.

"I don't know what you mean," Jimmy cautiously said, walking back but being stopped by the bed.

A crackle of glitched noises, something similar to laugh rang out. "Poor, poor, cod boy." They mocked, head tilting. "Can't live up to his wonderful and smarter older brother. Our little bird has meddled his way into another mess." They reached forward, Jimmy flinching as a calloused hand touched his face. It was eerily like Grian's. "The little play thing has made you a puppet. You are marrying a royal, yes?"

Something in Jimmy's blood ran cold. He was marrying a royal, he was marrying a royal he was supposed to marry years ago against his will.

"You fell for his trap. He only wants the worst for you. It was never your decision to wed the elf."

Memories of yelling about not wanting to be arranged for a marriage resurfaced. Nights staying up, staring at the ceiling and wondering if his marriage would end up like his parent's; broken beyond repair. Days of being told about marriage, mother explaining everything about royal weddings and father showing him the suit he would wear.

He felt his face drain. "I never wanted to marry him."

The being smiled, nodding their head. "Yes, you never wanted to."

Jimmy opened his mouth before being engulfed in water, blacking out immediately.

---

Waking up, he rubbed his eyes.

Standing in front of him was the stag he had seen many times before; Aeor. The god stood apon a golden plate, snow falling around softly.

"Child, be not afraid." The god said when Jimmy stumbled to his feet. "I am here as a protector and a friend."

Jimmy glared. All the stag god reminded Jimmy of was the groom he was meant to be wed to by the end of the day against his will.

The stag shook his head, antlers glittering in the light that shown down from the clouds. "Do not listen to the poison, be guided and healed, for you have a role." The stag walked forward, Jimmy being startled at the size of it. He wasn't expecting it to be so large. "Your mind needs healing, child. Let me heal you with the light." Aeor tilted his head down, light bouncing off the golden antlers and directly to Jimmy's forehead.

He groaned, a headache splitting his skull.

Memories collided with those that that had recently emerged. Ones of laying in the gardens with a young elf royal, laughing the day away. Others of hands gracefully dancing on ivory keys as prince twirled in a brand new dress. 'I love you's being whispered in the middle of the night, soft kisses being pressed to skin in the morning.

Jimmy held his head tight. All of the memories were fighting each other. He didn't want to get married but at the same time, he loved Scott. Or did he?

It was overwhelming, he crumpled to the floor in a heap.

(Dudes, I'm real sorry for practically abandoning Wattpad. Ive been very preoccupied in a bunch of other stuff that I dont need to concern any of yall about. I guess I should say tho that I am attending school again in exactly a week as a senior. When I started my Wattpad journey, I was just a kid in 6th grade, now im gonna be off to college soon. Also, I will be posting another oneshot book thing but one of them is connected to this seablings idea. It is about if the abuse in the palace had gotten found out much earlier and Grian had gotten custody over Jimmy. In it, Jimmy gets taken to the Hermitcraft server to heal as an 8 year old.)