Jimmy didn't even attempt to work on his railway that day. He'd learned by now that every time he tried, something was going to disrupt his work, so there was really no point. It kept on bothering him, though. The sight of the railroad that would forever be unfinish constantly mocked him and his inability to complete it. The sheriff just sighed, stirring a nasty soup of resentment and resignation within him and boiling it under the heat of the mesa sun.
Don't stare at the sun; it'll hurt your eyes. Jimmy had heard the cautionary warning several times as he grew up. Every child has heard it at least once. But here he was, a lone toy lying flat on the ground and staring straight at the sun. He wasn't even wearing Gem's sunglasses. Since he was now a toy with painted eyes, though, the bright light didn't hurt him. And now he could honestly say he looked at the sun and saw what it was.
"Don't stare at the sun; it'll hurt your eyes." Jimmy blinked and looked around until he saw Scar sitting in the safety of the shade, sipping an ice-cold drink. "Where did you even get ice?" Jimmy asked, sitting up. "Don't ask," Scar replied calmly, drinking it all up. "So, how are you, sheriff?"
"Annoyed," Jimmy grumbled. "There's a railway that needs to be finished but I'm not working on it because every time I try I get disturbed and there's no point anymore. And even if I do finish it, all my work will just come undone and I'll have to do it all over again."
"And?" Scar prompted. "And I'm stuck as a toy!" Jimmy added, gritting his teeth. "And Joel and fWhip are being annoying and I can't even get my revenge on them!" "I don't see Grian on that list," Scar said, sounding genuinely surprised. "What list?" Jimmy asked. "The list of people who are annoying you." Scar said, sounding like it was obvious.
"Well, he's actually not doing anything much," Jimmy said. "Other than call me a toy every now and then, but everyone does that." "I see," Scar said, although Jimmy was doubting that he was actually seeing. "Well, uh, do you want to do something other than lie on the sand and painfully stare at the sun?" "Yes," Jimmy said, walking over to him. "Got any ideas?"
"Do you want to try revenge again?" Scar asked. "We tried that already," Jimmy pointed out. "Yes, but we'll try again," Scar said. "And again and again until we succeed." "I don't see a point to it anymore," Jimmy muttered, folding his arms. "No one gets anything done with that kind of mentality," Scar said, frowning. "Come on, sheriff, you've at least got to try."
"Scar, I appreciate you helping, but there is no point to this. None at all." Jimmy insisted. "But how do you know until you try?" Scar asked. "I already know this will fail!" Jimmy shouted. "Nothing I do works out! I try being a good sheriff but no one respects me! I set up the law and then I get turned into a toy! I start making a railway but it'll never get finished because everyone keeps on disturbing me and destroying what I've built! I try and get revenge but instead I'm the one who gets humiliated!"
Scar just sat there patiently listening to Jimmy's rant. He gently patted the toy sheriff on the back. "Do you feel better now?" He asked hopefully. "Yes," Jimmy admitted, feeling a bit calmer now that he'd let out his pent-up emotions. "That sounds hard," Scar said. "Yes, it is," Jimmy agreed. "I don't really see you trying to fix all that, though," Scar said. "What?" Jimmy looked at him, unsure if he'd heard him right.
"I mean," Scar continued, "I know that no one's going to give up the toy joke, but the railway never getting finished is on you. If you never work on it, it's always going to stay incomplete. And if you don't try getting revenge again, you'll definitely never get it." Jimmy frowned. He didn't want to admit it, but what Scar was saying made sense. "But it's not going to work," Jimmy started, although his argument didn't sound as solid as it did earlier.
"You'll only find out if something works if you actually do it," Scar said. "Come on, sheriff, you're not going to let those guys beat you, are they?" "They haven't beaten me!" Jimmy shouted. "You're not really fighting back, so I count that as being beaten," Scar said. Jimmy growled but the hermit had a very good point. "Okay, fine, I'll go back to work on that railway," Jimmy said, standing up. "That's a good sheriff!" Scar clapped, sounding pleased.
"And Jimmy, the next time someone calls you a toy, I think you'll have to do something other than shriek amusingly at them to stop them." The hermit added. "And what should I do?" Jimmy asked. "I have no idea," Scar said, smiling. Jimmy rolled his eyes but he couldn't help but laugh a little at Scar's overly positive demeanor, which was infectiously rubbing off on him.
"Okay, how about this time I help you build the railway?" Scar suggested. Jimmy smiled. "Thanks, Scar. Although I bet that three minutes after we start someone comes and disturbs our work." Scar chuckled and he helped haul anvils to build with. But just as Jimmy predicted, in three minutes both Joel and fWhip showed up carrying tnt and flint and steel. "Erm, Jimmy," Scar said, "How much money did you bet on?"
---
Jimena flew as fast as she could to Cogsmeade to find False. She had to tell her what she'd just overheard. Thankfully, False was soon found at her iron farm checking that it was working correctly. Jimena flew up to the unmoving zeppelin and landed on the deck right next to a very startled mechanic.
"False!" Jimena gasped, feeling slightly out of breath from flying so fast and so far. She sat down to rest for a bit, clutching a stitch in her side. False knelt down concernedly, checking for injuries. "Jimena, what's the matter?" "I was eavesdropping on the hermits," Jimena said, not caring how it made her sound. "I learned some things you should know."
She quickly related everything she'd heard to False, and by the end of it the tinkerer's mouth was hanging open like a goldfish. "I'm a clone?" She said, some odd expression flickering across her face. "Yeah, that's what I heard," Jimena said. false paused and looked at her hands. It must be weird to find out you're not really human. <You're not really human either,> Qiron's voice suddenly rang out loud and clear. Jimena was do startled that he was talking to her again that she almost didn't register what he'd said.
What? Jimena asked, remembering at the last second to not ask it aloud. <We will talk later. Your friend will get suspicious if you continue to stand here and converse with me in silence.> Jimena scowled but knew that Qiron was right. She needed to be there for False right then, not talking to a mysterious voice in her head.
"And you saw the other me there too?" False asked quietly, something stirring in her eyes. "Yes," Jimena said. "She was there telling Gem about you." False didn't say anything for a moment, she just stood there processing all that she had heard. "So all the hermits are against me," She said with a steely voice. Jimena was a little taken aback at her hard tone. It sounded so wrong coming out of False's mouth.
"I guess," Jimena said. She paused, wondering what to say. "What should we do about the surveillance tower?" "It needs to get out of my empire," False hissed, And once again Jimena was shocked by her tone. She unconsciously took a cautious step back. False didn't sound like herself. And Jimena didn't like that.
False and Jimena marched off to the tower. When they got to it Jimena tried to open the door but it was locked shut. "Move aside," False said, and once Jimena was safely out of the way she jammed a knife into the keyhole and wrestled it around for a few moments. The door remained steadily shut, however. "That didn't work," Jimena pointed out. "It wasn't," False said. "It was just to weaken the opening." Then the kicked the door open.
---
They stepped into a room that felt horribly familiar to False. The sterile air, the immaculate surroundings... It reminded her of a laboratory, and for some reason the grand architect didn't relish the thought. Upon closer inspection, the room was obviously decorated for purpose and not for comfort. A giant board on the wall had several important notes pinned to it. A shelf held items preserved within labeled glass cases and. Other than that, the room was quite empty.
They looked at the notes and labels put on display. The items in the glass cases suddenly looked familiar. "Copper from Cogsmeade roof," Jimena read. "Sign with mysterious note." False stared at the sign through the thick glass. It was the one that had told her to remember the killings. Now that she thought about it, she'd never taken it down, and yet it had been gone. It had been here this whole time.
"Why did they take a roof tile?" Jimena asked in bewilderment. False shrugged and turned to the board full of notes. She pulled one off and started to read. "Specific build palette, includes plenty of copper. Copper for study in case of oxidation poisoning." False just blinked. Oxidation poisoning?
Jimena unpinned another note. "Mysterious signs come and tell False things. Unknown who the writer is. Perhaps False's subconsciousness, attempting to remind her of the deleted memories? Further surveillance is required." She paused and reread the note. "Deleted memories... Deleted? Why does it sound so..."
"Intentional." False finished. She knew it. She didn't quite know how yet, but she knew that her amnesia might not have been an accident. And she knew her other self was involved. Just then, she noticed two small switches in the corner, and they didn't appear to be for the lights. Curious, False flicked one. With a soft whir, a hole opened up in the ceiling and a ladder swiftly descended from it, leading to the upper floor.
"I've been at the top floor," Jimena said. "There was this telescope there. It must've been used for spying." False flicked the other switch and a hole opened up in the floor, apparently leading to a basement. "I'll go first," She told Jimena. The two of them descended into the basement and when False realized what was in it, she gasped.
There was a chair in the middle of the room. It looked like a torture device. And the mere sight of it sent spasms of fear down False's spine. She'd had a bad experience with a chair just like that. And she wasn't eager to relive them again.
The chair was hooked up with several cables to a computer in the corner. On the desk next to the computer was a notebook. False tore her eyes from the chair and approached the book, wondering what secretd kay within, and whether it would unconver some of her memories. Then Jimena screamed. "Look out!"
False whirled around just in time to see a goat and creeper hybrid with metal limbs swing an ax at her. She placed the name while she dodged. Doc. Can't explode like a creeper, but has explosive temper. Good with machines, maybe not so much pvp. False grabbed her sword to parry and Jimena joined the fight with her own blade.
"I don't really want to hurt you," Doc grunted. "You tried to hit her with an ax!" Jimena accused, attempting to stab him but he dodged. "You two shouldn't be in here!" Doc shouted. With the strength of a ram, he pushed Jimena into a wall and kicked False into the chair, where she ended up sitting in it.
Panic set in instantly. Her memories churned with flashes of the last time she'd sat in a chair just like that. Doc took advantage and pushed a button to lock her in with shackles. Jimena punched him, distracting him, and unlocked the restraints. False leapt out of the chair and drove her sword right through Doc.
He gasped and someone screamed his name. False turned to find that a few hermits had climbed down the ladder and we're now preparing to join the fight. Jevin, Bdubs, Cleo,.and the other False. False felt her mouth twist into a sadistic grin st the sight of her.
"Stop!" Hermit False shouted, her sword unsheathed. "I won't let you hurt anyone else again!" False grinned even wider and Jimena looked at the two of them in confusion. "You can't stop me," False started, pulling a vial out of her pocket, "If you don't remember I've come this far."
She lobbed it at her but Cleo smashed it to pieces. Jevin jumped into the air and landed on Jimena's head, fully engulfing it. "I'm sorry about this!" Kevin shouted as the girl flailed around, trying to get him off. From the panicked expression they could see through the translucent slime, the could tell she was suffocating.
"Leave her alone!" False screamed, pulling out another amnesia potion. She threw it at them and it landed on them both; the two stopped struggling and fell to the ground in a peaceful heap. False hurriedly yanked the slime off of Jimena's face so she could breathe, but in the crucial moments where she was distracted, a hand took another potion out of her pocket and emptied the contents on the grand architect's head.