Chapter Text
Jimmy doesn’t know how many years it’s been since the Mines have been abandoned.
There is no way to know, down there, when the only light he sees is the flicker of flames. There is no sun beneath the earth. Although, to be fair, he didn’t really have a day/night cycle before the Mines were abandoned, either. But the miners had a routine at least. Jimmy had always stayed with the relieving team. He had a few hours, in the dead of the ‘night’, where he would be back to the barracks and they would give him water and a few things to eat. But other than that, he was always going further and further until they went too far.
There was one miner in particular who liked to take care of him. Jimmy can’t remember his name now. As for his face, Jimmy knows they liked to smile and laugh and whistle songs to him but, well. Those memories are tainted now. He can’t forget the look of terror they had just as the sonic boom got to them, as they were trying to flee after the initial attack. Their corpse is still lying next to his cage, decaying slowly.
The miners tried to get back and to dislodge their unwanted guests with ravagers, this Jimmy knows. It hadn't worked too well for them. Nobody really made it far enough to retrieve all of the corpses. They had taken a few belongings that they found precious, a few machines and ores, but they left what didn’t have any value.
They left Jimmy.
By any means, Jimmy should be long dead too.
But he just won't die.
It shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s part of the curse that got him trapped down here in the first place; he won’t die of natural causes. He causes death around him. He attracts it. He sings and when he stops, Death comes for everything near.
He won’t die of natural causes, but he thought the wardens would kill him, just as they killed everything else. But for some reason, they won’t touch him. No hits, no screams, no sonic booms.
But then again, they, too, are creatures of Death. They must recognize him for what he is.
At first, he was scared shitless of them. He remembers the panic of the miners when the first warden emerged from where they dug too deep. He remembers the screams, the running. How long has it been? How long has it been since he last saw the sun?
You did this, an ugly and bitter voice in his mind says, as a response to his longing for freedom. You did this, you bring Death wherever you go.
That’s old news at this point, but it’s incredible how much a recurring thought like that can still hurt after so many years. Especially when it’s your only company.
To chase the thoughts, Jimmy sings. He sings and he tries not to stop, but well, if he does no one suffers from it anymore.
Only him.
*
The wardens haven’t found anything more interesting than him since the miners gave up the idea of ever retaking the Mines. (Once in a while, a ravager would come close to the stairs, but they never venture down here if no one forces them to.) The wardens love sounds, and they love his songs. They listen to him when he sings and wander around when he doesn’t, and that’s pretty much it.
So it’s a surprise when, one day, they suddenly raise their heads, like they could hear something Jimmy doesn’t. Jimmy stops singing just in time for a sonic boom.
Another tropical fish, maybe, he thinks. Some of them spawn in the growing puddles of water in the abandoned tunnels. Or a bat.
But then he hears it.
Giggles in the walls.
A very humanoid voice – something he hasn’t heard in so many years - giggling in the walls, as the wardens start to get angrier and angrier at the intrusion.
I shouldn’t have stopped to sing, Jimmy mourns. Their fate is probably sealed now.
His curse doesn’t exactly work like that: it’s not an immediate causality. But not much has died around him for so long, Death must be starving for new souls to reap. This person probably doesn’t have much time left to live.
Jimmy waits for the wardens to settle things. He listens and waits for– anything, really.
And what he gets is more than he ever thought he would. He sees it around the corner, the shadowy figure, dressed in black. Burning blue eyes meet his and the person freezes, opening his mouth to gasp.
This moment could last forever. Jimmy yearns suddenly to be out of this cage, to fly away. He yearns to have his human hands again and to touch their skin, to feel their warmth, to feel alive.
But Jimmy is Jimmy. He is the Canary of these Mines. Things end like they were always going to end. The person trips and then there’s a warden behind them. The heartbeat sound they emit is deafening. The warden breathes in and then –
BOOM.
And once again, all life around Jimmy dies.
The person’s gone, evaporated. There’s nothing left of them. Only the memory of those giggles. Jimmy tells himself he won’t forget them, but he knows it’s a promise that is going to be hard to keep in the dark and endless mines.