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i-heart-yellowstone · 6 months ago

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1 - Lot Happens in Ten Years

Part 2

Raised Fair Share Of Hell

I’m not sure all of the chapters will be this long but here’s the first part. If you have any questions my ask is open for them

Tag list - send an ask to be added @bvbwestfall @hcwthewestwaswcn @child-of-of-the-sunshine @elenavampire21 @keep-the-wolves-close

“This is Kayce, leave a message and I’ll try to get back with ya.�� I dialed his phone number but it went straight to voicemail so I put my phone in the cup holder. I put my attention back on the road in front of me with the rain hitting the windshield as the sun was setting on the land.

Tapping on the call button I dialed him again, getting a voicemail where I sighed deciding to leave him a voicemail and he’d call me back later. “Hey Kace, I’ve tried callin’ you a couple times but you haven’t called me back. I just really need to talk to you about something - I uh - went to the baby doctor today. I won’t get into the details on a voicemail - but I just need you to call me.”

Kayce and I had been in each other's life since we were five years old. It wasn’t too hard when we finally started dating at our eighth grade prom. Although the sheriff when we were in high school ain’t too fond of us when we would throw parties at my families ranch and we would get in trouble when Kayce’s dad came over to pick up his kid. Only to find that we had snuck alcohol out of the basement. That only turned into a few more charges giving us the nickname of “Montana’s Bonnie and Clyde”.

My phone started vibrating and I saw Kayce’s name pop up on the screen so I immediately hit answer. “Kayce?”

“Hey Lissa Rae, I’m sorry I missed your calls. I’ve just been dealing with Monica.” He responded through the phone. “The one that I hooked up with at Kelsea’s party a few months ago.”

I gripped the steering wheel in my hands. “Oh believe I remember.”

“Look, I know what you’re thinking. But there’s nothing going on between us - or at least there wasn’t supposed to be.”

Knitting my brows together in confusion. “Kayce, where are you at right now?”

“Monica’s house.”

I slammed my foot down on the brakes and nearly threw my phone through the windshield. “Kayce John Dutton! I have something really big to tell you and I don’t want to have to be around the girl who nearly destroyed our relationship when she came to brag to me about sleeping with you a few days later.”

“Alissa, please believe me when I say I would never destroy what we have to be with her. There’s just something I have to take care of with her.”

Brushing some hair out of my face I leaned back against the seat headrest. “Kayce, just come out and say what you need to talk with her about.”

“I think it’s just easier if she tells you herself.” He responded.

Sliding a hand down my face I quickly tried to think of what could be going on between them. But I kept drawing a blank so I had to just go see it for myself in person. “I’m coming to your location.” I turned the truck back onto the road nearly speeding to her house address that he had texted me.

Slamming the truck door closed when I got out I stomped up the porch stairs, banging on the front door where it was opened by the very girl I wanted to punch. “Alissa - Kayce said you were coming by.”

“Where the hell is Kayce?” I snapped at her pushing my way past her and she gently shut the door.

“In the kitchen. Can I get you something to drink?”

I ignored her question entering the kitchen seeing my best friend sitting at her kitchen table avoiding my gaze when I came in. “I’m here. So what is happening that I needed to see in person?”

“I didn’t think it would happen.” He ran a hand over his mouth not answering the question.

Monica stepped into the room we were in, reaching inside her pocket taking out a tiny white stick. “I’m going to try and keep it if he agrees to help me.” I took it from her hands finally realizing it was a pregnancy test.

“You gotta be kidding me. Kayce, you aren’t thinking about it are you?”

He ran his fingers through his messy brown curls. “I just didn’t know how to tell you. I don’t want us to break up but I know this isn’t the life you wanted. Especially when your dad doesn’t really like me at the moment.”

“My daddy ain’t probably let you ever step foot on our front porch now either.” I clutched the pregnancy test in my hands.

Kayce lifted his head up, soft brown doe eyes meeting my gaze. “Alissa, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about it with her in the room.” I spun around in my boots running out the front door out onto the front porch and to my surprise the front door creaked open and closed shut before I felt his arm touch my shoulder.

“Alissa, hey talk to me. What’s happening, what has you so upset?”

I stared out at the empty scenery in front of us. “Are you going to choose her now that she’s keeping the baby?”

“No! I mean yes she’s pregnant but she was more drunk than I was that night. And besides it’s her choice on what she does with her body and the baby. But I don’t get it. What does that have to do with us?”

Spinning around to face him I began sobbing heavy tears, reaching into my jacket taking out a picture the doctor gave me. I had been getting sick for almost two months before my mother took me to the doctor and we found out why. But I hadn’t told my father yet - or the father yet until now. “I went to a doctor today when my momma thought I had gotten really sick from a cold and we found something out.”

“What is this, Lissa?” He takes the printed out picture from my hand scanning it over.

I wrapped my arms around my body leaning against the fence still letting some tears fall down my face. “The night we first slept together apparently put a baby in me easier than we thought it would be.”

“You’re pregnant.” Kayce finally put the pieces together.

I nodded my head slowly yes, scared for his reaction. “We’re pregnant, Kace.”

He didn’t say a word for a very long time making the nerves in the pit of my stomach grow bigger with every passing second. I didn’t want to pressure him to be a part of the kids' life but I knew it would be hard if I kept it. Regardless of the reassurance my mother gave me at the hospital. “We’re gonna have a baby.”

“Yes and I understand if Monica’s pregnancy was enough of a scare. Then I can figure out what I’m going to do on my own.” I gulped feeling the nervousness getting the better of me. I did my best to run around the young Dutton and head down the stairs to leave. “I should go. I’ll see ya later Kayce.”

He spun around grabbing my wrist quickly twirling me around so I was facing him. “Woah there. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

“Oh yeah right. Because I bet you are just overjoyed to be a teen dad.” I sent him a snarky remark. His father and mine could likely agree that us as teen parents wouldn’t work out in the long run.

Kayce gently held onto my shoulders looking down at me since I was just barely shorter compared to the height he was. “I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not scared of this but I am happy to be with you. And I’ll be happy when we have this baby together.”

“Awe Kayce…” I sniffed through tears burying my face into his shirt and he wrapped his arms around my body holding me close. I wrapped my fingers around the fabric of his jacket crying happy tears into his chest.

Footsteps came out onto the porch where we separated from each other slightly seeing Monica scowling at us. “So you’re picking the ranching Lambert girl over me now.”

“I’m dating her, Monica.” He responded to her.

I glared at her. “He can choose whatever he wants to do. Just like we can choose to keep the babies we’re having.”

“She has a family that can help her. I live on the Resveration so we don’t have everything you do.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

Kayce draped an arm over my shoulder and I laid my head against his chest before he began planning a way out of this situation before it got more intense. “Monica, look I’m choosing Alissa. But I am willing to help you out if you’ll let me. What do you think about that?”

“I suppose so.” She swayed from side to side.

I stared at her silently for a few minutes. “Maybe one day we’ll look back on this moment and laugh. And who knows we might just be able to work this out as a team.” She didn’t say anything yet I felt Kayce’s comforting hand intertwining down with mine telling me no matter what she did we would make it through this.

10 years later

Sliding my muddy brown work boots I rose to my feet looking at myself in the mirror while I finished twisting the end of my braid together. My eyes scanned over the rack with hats and jackets inside of our bedroom near the door. A familiar dark tan hat hung above my brown jacket. I heard a patter of footsteps run down the hallway and stop outside the door. “Little Rae, what are you doing up this early?”

“Couldn’t sleep when daddy promised he’d take me on a ride.” Her innocent voice replied back.

I snatched my hat from the hook and opened the door seeing my soon to be ten year old daughter standing in the doorway. “Well I think we will have to go find your daddy cause he’s already started work for the day.” His side of the bed covers was tossed over and I didn’t see his familiar black Cowboy hat in the bedroom.

My nine year old daughter stuck her tongue out. “But he said he would and he never breaks a pinky promise.”

“Don’t worry, Faith. I’m sure he just was expecting you to still be sleeping. Your little butt doesn’t normally wake at six in the morning.” I bent down picking her up in my arms and made our way down the wooden stairs of the Dutton house.

She laid her down in the crook of my neck. “Pinky promises are important, mommy.”

“Believe me I know.” I answered in agreement looking down at her in my arms. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy braid that resembles a younger me. Yet her eyes always show me a younger version of her father. We had finally made it out of the house and onto the porch seeing John was saddling up his horse for the morning ride where I walked over to him. “Morning John, have you seen Kayce?”

He shakes his head no opening his arms for his granddaughter. “No I haven’t. Come here Faithy Rae and give grandpa a hug.” She ran forward once I sat her feet on the dirt ground embracing him.

“Oh I think I see him but why’s he in his truck?” I heard the sound of a truck pulling in down our long driveway of the ranch recognizing Kayce’s truck that parked directly in front of the house.

The driver and passager doors were open and closed before I saw some black hair blowing in the wind and a set of small feet behind whoever it was till I saw who it was. “Hey baby.” Kayce walked up to me with Monica and her son Tate followed.

“Don’t hey baby me, Dutton.” I snapped at him crossing my arms over my chest. “What are they doing here?”

Kayce dropped the half smile he had on his face, rubbing the back of his neck and shifted his gaze over to his father. “He asked to know his other grandkid.” I glanced over my shoulder with John and our daughter looking at our interaction.

I certainly still wasn’t used to this situation that was created ten years ago.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

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gtwscratch · 28 days ago

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Homeward

Summary: Sometime after Double Life, communications manage to get set up between Hermitcraft and EmpiresSMP. Tango tells himself he’ll apologize to Jimmy as soon as it’s set up (spoiler alert: it takes a while).

Part two of my little Ranchers story! I highly recommend reading part one first to have the full experience :)

CW: None!

Word count: 1,202 words

[Part 1] [Part 2]

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It’s… been a bit since Tango’s gotten to talk to Jimmy.

He didn’t end up speaking to the half-avian anymore after their permadeath, and since getting back to Hermitcraft, he’s felt a bit guilty about it. Sure, giving Jimmy space (and taking space for himself to cool down, kind of literally) was the right choice, but a part of his brain nags at him that he should have apologized. That he shouldn’t have left them on bad terms. No one knows when they’ll be pulled into the games again. They don’t know who will be pulled. It could be a very long time until Tango can properly talk to Jimmy again and apologize for what happened.

So when Xisuma announces to the server that he and Pix had managed to set up communications between the two servers, it’s safe to say that Tango is more than a little surprised. And when the surprise ebbs into anxiety, he immediately starts making plans to talk to Jimmy.

After thinking it over for a few hours, he grabs his comm and scrolls to Jimmy’s name. Tango is going to apologize. He is going to tell Jimmy how sorry he is, how much the Ranch meant to him—how much it still means to him—how he was never actually upset with Jimmy but with the crappy situation they were forced into.

He’s going to..

To..

Huh.

Tango’s hands aren’t usually this shaky when he holds his communicator.

It’s just.. It’s just because he has a lot to say, right? Yeah, yeah, that’s it. There’s just a lot to apologize for, and he doesn’t want to miss anything. Maybe… he should make a list? Yes! A list. A list will keep him on track.

Tango sets his communicator down and looks for a pen and paper, finding a crumpled scrap and a nearly-out-of-ink marker amongst the mess that is Decked Out 2 planning. He gets to work making a list on what topics he wants to talk about.

1.) He’s sorry for yelling at Jimmy.

2.) The Ranch always meant something.

3.) He never blamed Jimmy for their permadeath.

4.) He wants to start over.

Tango looks long and hard at the list, going over it again and again to make sure he hasn’t missed anything. He picks up his comm again, but.. it still doesn’t feel right. Maybe getting Impulse or Etho to look it over and make sure it’s good will help with his nerves? Once again, another great idea. He hastily grabs the paper and shoves it into his pocket before equipping his elytra and going off to talk to his friends, leaving his communicator behind.

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This goes on for days, and then weeks, and then months. Tango keeps making excuses on why he can’t talk to Jimmy yet, even ignoring any messages that Jimmy’s sent. It’s not at all that he doesn’t want to talk to his rancher friend. He desperately wants to set things right! He’s just.. absolutely terrified that Jimmy will never forgive him and that they’ll never have each other like they did before.

So… yeah. No pressure.

One day, when Tango is about to wrangle the ravagers back into their proper places inside the dungeon, his comm pings. He pulls it out and sees that Grian has sent a message to everyone.

<Grian> Everyone meet at the Rift

<Grian> Something weird is happening

About fifteen-ish minutes later, all of the Hermits are in the cave where the Rift appeared. Tango can’t say he’s been here very often, but even in his short visits, it’s given him the heebie jeebies. Despite Tango’s few and far between visits, even he can tell that the Rift is different. Its regular light purple glow has turned into something much darker, and the usually-calm surface swirls angrily, like a Nether portal but worse.

Grian claps his hands to get everyone’s attention, quieting the Hermits’ chatter down. “Right, so when I woke up this morning and came down here, the Rift was like this.”

Cleo crosses her arms, tilting their head to the side. “And this needed everyone’s attention because…?”

Something flashes in Grian’s eyes, so fast that Tango figures that he’s imagining things. “I think we should go through.”

That receives quite a few mixed reactions, some of the more easygoing (*cough cough* reckless and chaotic *cough cough*) members simply shrug and nod, ready to do whatever. Others are more hesitant, in the middle of big projects and not wanting to leave them unattended for any extended period of time.

“Quick question,” Impulse speaks up from the crowd, “do we have any idea what’s on the other side?”

“Oh, not a clue,” Grian responds with a smile. “I just have a feeling that it’ll be fun.”

“A feeling?” Xisuma questions.

Grian hums his confirmation, his grin only growing. “A feeling.”

After a few long moments, Xisuma sighs. “Alright, anyone who wants to go in can go. I’ll be going to make sure some of you,” he makes a pointed look at Grian who just grins even wider, “don’t get into too much trouble.”

One by one, Hermits start to walk into the portal, a few staying behind. Tango should stay behind. He still has a bunch of work to do on Decked Out 2, but.. a break sounds really nice. He’s long overdue for some relaxation, and maybe once his head is cleared, he can actually message Jimmy to talk about things. Of all of Tango’s procrastinating plans, this one is by far the best one, he thinks.

He waves to the Hermits who’ve decided to stay behind, and he walks through the portal. It’s a weird sensation, unlike going through a Nether or End portal. It feels like he’s moving through cold honey, and Tango thinks he’s in that space between dimensions for much longer than usual. When he finally exits the portal, he stumbles onto the stone on the other side, being caught by Impulse before he can fall. Tango looks around, a bit surprised to see structures off in the distance.

Must be another server, he thinks to himself. To double check, he pulls up the tabs list on his comm to see if there are other people who aren’t Hermits present, and he quickly sees that he was right. With their group's arrival, it seems as if they’ve doubled the player count on this server.

Tango glances over the names, wondering if he’ll recognize any of them and he’s pleasantly surprised to see so many names from the Life Games, looking forward to talking with them without the whole threat of ‘we need to kill each other eventually’ looming above them. And then he sees it.

Towards the bottom of the list, sitting right above his own name, lies the name SolidarityGaming.

Oh.

Oh shit.

They’re on the EmpiresSMP server.

Tango quickly turns around to dart back through the portal, but it’s already closed. And if Grian said it was just active like it was when he went down to check on it, then they have no way to get back to the Hermitcraft server. Which means Tango is stuck here. It means he can’t avoid his dread or Jimmy anymore.

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So, remember when I said this was going to be a two-parter?

What if... I told you guys that while I was writing this, I changed my mind and made it three parts???

Uh.. surprise?