(Warning, blood, death, curses, Watchers.

The Canary's curse.

A curse that had Jimmy dying first every single death game despite how hard he tried to keep it up. Despite how much he hated dying first.

Sure, his friends would all laugh and make fun of him afterward for dying first again but that was never the most painful part about it.

Being in an experimental world every season was bound to be painful.

Grian never could get the afterlife right on the first try, always making one mistake after another in his haste of getting it done for the season to start. It was never that simple and shouldn't have been.

The first afterlife never was opened up.

Jimmy respawned in bed, screaming as his body felt like he was being torn apart. The code couldn't handle a person with no lives left. Scott was left to watch with fearful eyes as the man he loved withered in pain.

Grian came immediately at the inquiry, admin bag in hand and bursting through the door to their abode. The game was canceled for the time being.

"Timmy? What went wrong?" Grian asked, panicked as he looked through his laptop at all the code.

"Kill me, kill me!" He begged, panting as he clung onto the sheets of the bed. He could go to the temporary after life ever server had to get away from the pain.

"Not yet, I need to figure out what went wrong so we can send you to the correct place." Grian had tears in his eyes as he searched through all the code. Scott watched on with concern.

Eventually, Grian found the little blip in his code. A singular letter was missing and that was all that went wrong. Grian closed his laptop, publishing the data. "Okay, kill him now. Let me know if anything is wrong in the afterlife, okay?"

The next thing Jimmy knew was that he was in a void.

The pain disapated slowly as his body mended itself together. He laid on the floor, trying to calm his breathing as he got it all together.

After that, Jimmy was finally in the Afterlife.

It was a black void that was infinite with only a singular change in the landscape. A bubble that depicted everything happening in the games.

But after that, everything was alright with this Afterlife.

---

The second Afterlife wasn't as painful and he wasn't the only one.

He arrived just minutes before Mumbo did but only Jimmy realized what was wrong.

"Glitched body," he muttered as he typed in his comm, sitting on the floor of the void. Their bodies were glitching out every few seconds but it was only parts. Jimmy's left leg seemed to be glitching the most.

"Oh, so this isn't supposed to happen?" Mumbo asked, gesturing to his right hand where it flickered every so often.

"No, did you think it was?" Jimmy asked, putting the comm down after he finished typing.

Mumbo shrugged. "Well, I hadn't seen this Afterlife before and maybe it was just the code adjusting."

"Makes sense."

Jimmy sighed in relief after a few hours as both of their bodies stopped glitching. It didn't hurt or anything but he couldn't walk without his leg. It was just an inconvenience.

But at least Mumbo was there to experience it with him.

---

The 3rd Afterlife was supposed to be revamped.

It was supposed to be separate for each soulmate pairing to allow them time to talk. It made sense, considering that one of them died and effectively booted them out of the game.

But that never happened.

Jimmy had woken up back in the void.

He looked across it, looking for anything but not even the bubble was there.

"Tango?" He called out. His voice echoed across the empty space. "Hey!" He shouted again. No sign of life.

Jimmy sat back on the floor as he tried to think about what went wrong.

With shaky hands, he brought out his comm (why did they get shaky everytime he was brought back here or thought about the Afterlife?) and started texting Grian.

He sent a reply immediately.

<Grian> You aren't with Tango?

Jimmy rolled his eyes at that.

<Solidarity> No, im back in the original afterlife.

<Grian> Okay, give me a moment to solve it.

Jimmy sighed, sitting down on the floor. It never was quick for Grian to solve, always taking hours. And now he didn't even have the ability to Watch the surface to see how everybody else was fairing.

But within ten minutes, Jimmy was standing in a meadow, Tango standing across from him.

"Hey, Rancher."

Jimmy smiled, throwing himself forward.

---

The most recent Afterlife was worse than any of the previous ones.

Jimmy landed to the ground with a cry, frustration boiling up within him at the stupidity of his final death. He couldn't believe that he slipped off like that.

But it wasn't his fault.

Finally, after pouting and going through all stages of grief, he realized he wasn't in the Afterlife.

No, this was a birdcage.

It's steel bars were massive and wide, not giving any room for himself to escape. It was massive and he was inside of it.

He panicked like that, trying to think of a way out when a voice echoed.

"Nice of you to join us."

His body stiffened. "You! You killed me!" He shouted at the Watcher on the other side of the cage.

They let out a crackling laugh. "No, it was your curse. The Canary's curse."

"Shut up! It's just what my friends call it!" Jimmy cried out, hands wrapped around the cool metal.

"You are mistaken. You are the Canary."

Searing pain burst all over his body.

He would have collapsed if it weren't for the bars he had held onto. His back was having him scream in pain.

After what felt like hours, something changed.

He heard the sound of tearing and then green blood was pouring over top of him. Looking behind him slowly had him gagging.

On his back were the sprouts of two limbs, dotted with green blood and bright yellow feathers.

"What did you do?" He asked, voice hoarse and exhausted. It was filled with anguish.

"You are the Canary. We were just proving that to you."

He looked at them, tearing flooding down his cheeks. "Why? Why me?"

They smirked from under their hood. "A Listener needs to be punished."

With that, they disappeared, leaving Jimmy alone in his prison.

He fell to the ground, curling up as tight as possible to alleviate some of the pain. He was in a pool of red and green blood, that of a human, and that of a Listener.

After awhile he reached his hand into his pocket and fumbled with his comm.

<Solidarity> help me

He let it drop to the ground with a clang, crying to himself silently.

After a second, there was the noticeable sound of someone arriving.

"Timmy? I got your-" he stopped, most likely apon seeing the state that Jimmy was in. "Jimmy!" He shouted hitting the cage.

The Canary looked up. "W-Watcher magic."

Grian's face drained before nodding his head in understanding. His eyes turned purple before landing a single punch to the cage. It collapsed around him. He ran over, eyes holding concern and fear.

"What happened?" He whispered, kneeling in the blood.

"Help," he cried out again before blacking out.

---

Jimmy stood there anxiously with his newly formed wings fluttering behind him in the wind. Staring across the circle was all his friends, looking at them with confusion. Grian gave him a gentle smile.

"That concludes the meeting about Secret Life. Everyone can go off now and start exploring before Secrets are given out." Some people went running while others lingered behind. Many stayed staring at Jimmy.

Grian patted his shoulder gently. "You shouldn't have come if you didn't want to."

Jimmy shook his head, dispelling all of the memories from the last Afterlife. Grian had cleaned him up before safely transferring him home. Jimmy wouldn't have to stay alone again in the void while in a vulnerable state like that. The admin apologized profusely, tears running down his cheeks as he explained the wall to block the Watchers somehow was torn down.

"No, I need to be here. I need to get over this." He whispered softly.

Grian's face fell at that. "Look, I'll kill myself if you die first. I don't want you alone in the Afterlife again. I don't think it will come to that but-"

Jimmy looked at him with exhaustion. "I'm the Canary, Grian. I always will be out first. Besides, I don't want you to lose because my stupid guard was down once. I'll be fine in the Afterlife."

Grian looked unsure but nodded his head. "Okay... if you need to talk, have a break, or anything at all from me, just let me know. I don't want you suffering from this alone."

Jimmy smiled slightly, something he had done less and less in the past coming months. "Of course."