#i think i'd explode if i had to pick just one way to draw forever

[cold-open]

[alexboehm55144]

Alex Final Wars 2: Dark Alex, Chapter 11 - Train to China

Hello! First of all, I'd like to thank my friend @jafethortiz for that amazing cover artwork for this story! thank you again! Other than having a kick-ass picture for this story, I'm doing pretty good, just dealing with the normal stuff. I hope everyone out there who's reading this is having a good day as well!

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A black helicopter streaked through the sky above the Korean mountains. Passing by tall peaks and steep cliffs.

"Alright, here's our objective," Alex said, standing up in the back of the aircraft. "Thanks to Intel from the ZIA, we know that North Korean high command is making a break for the Chinese border in a fleet of specially designed trains"

An image of 3 trains appeared on a screen in the back of the helicopter, and Skye, Jack, and JayJay watched carefully.

"The first train is used to check the safety of the lines, and it's already in China, so there's nothing we can do about it"

A yellow line of text saying 'escaped' appeared over one of the trains on screen.

"The third train carries additional staff and followers, but it's already been destroyed by our teammates and US forces"

A red line of text saying 'destroyed' appeared over another train on screen.

"But the second train, that's our target"

White text appeared over the last train on screen, saying 'target'.

"It's armored, so the plan it to derail it, and make sure everyone inside is dead. However Chinese jets are protecting the train, but US jets and Eris are running interference for us. But we'll have to board the train and send it careening off the tracks. Jack, I'll let you cover the gear we're gonna use"

Jack stood up and pulled a set of boots and gloves out of a container in the helicopter.

"Magnet boots, and mag gloves these will allow us to keep a grip on the speeding train. They might make it a bit difficult to use your weapons, as said weapons are made of metal. But it shouldn't be too much trouble"

"We're approaching the train," Toothdee said from the pilot's seat.

The 4 mammal team donned the magnet gear, with everyone but Alex commenting on how they didn't normally wear shoes.

The helicopter rounded a mountain and the train came into view, along with Chinese and US aircraft fighting it out in the sky. Toothdee flew erratically to avoid enemy jets as Alex opened the side door. Once the vehicle was hovering above the train, the team jumped onboard and quickly activated their mag-boots. Toothdee darted away with the helicopter so she wouldn't be at risk from enemy fire.

"Skye and I will advance on the inside," Jack said "you two advance up here."

The rabbit and fox couple hopped down into a break between 2 cars and began attempting to get inside.

Alex and JayJay moved up on the train roof, watching the ongoing air battle before JayJay pointed out something ahead. A squad of North Korean soldiers climbing onto the train roof, weapons ready.

Alex drew his blade to block incoming shots, as there was no cover, while JayJay fired back with her machine pistol.

"Hurry!" The captain said, deflecting incoming rounds. "I can't hold them forever!"

As they slowly made headway, the hostile soldiers fell to the wolf's shots, and bullets deflected back at them. Once the squad was dispatched, the pair began making haste towards the front of the train, where the engines were. However another squad climbed up onto the roof, and the battle resumed, with bullets flying in both directions.

As JayJay reloaded her weapon and hid behind Alex, her keen wolf eyes spotted something up ahead.

"Tunnel!"

The pair ran to the side of the train and hung off its side, using their magnetic gloves to keep a grip on the side of the speeding car.

The train entered the tunnel, and there were screams from above as the enemy soldiers were hit by the tunnel entrance. However, Alex and JayJay were safely clinging to the train's side, which had a lot of space as the train was passing through a 2 rail tunnel.

Alex looked inside the train through one of the windows and saw Jack and Skye engaging enemy soldiers inside. One of the hostiles saw the captain and opened fire, but the train windows were bulletproof.

As the train exited the tunnel, Alex and JayJay climbed back up to the roof and made a dash for the engines, thankfully reaching them without any more interference.

As Alex went to breach the door, a North Korean soldier burst out of it and pushed Alex towards the side of the train, before sending them both tumbling over it. Captain Boehm managed to grab the railing and avoid falling off the train, before slamming the soldier's head into the railing, causing him to lose his grip on Alex and fall off the train.

"I've got you!" JayJay said, helping her friend back onto the train.

"Thanks, do you have the charges?"

"Of course, I've come prepared"

The 2 placed explosive charges around the engine, and Jack radioed them to inform the pair they had placed their charges on the second engine.

"Toothdee, we need a pick up here!"

"On it!"

As the 4 mammals climbed to the roof of the train, Toothdee came in with the helicopter, and hovered just above the train, enabling the 4 mammals to jump onboard. As the aircraft pulled away, the team clicked the detonators.

Explosions tore through the train engines and train cars skidded off the tracks, flipping over and breaking apart. The vehicle now lay in shambles, with pieces scattered in all directions.

"Looks like 2 of the cars are more armored than the rest of the train," Toothdee said. "They're completely intact. North Korean leadership must be in one of them"

"What about the other one?" Skye asked.

"I'm detecting radiation coming from the second car. It must be nuclear material."

"Looks like our job is not done here," Alex said "toothdee! Hover above the wreckage! Jack, Skye, you 2 handle the nuclear car. JayJay and I will handle the leadership.”

The chopper hovered above the ground, and the team repelled down before splitting up and heading to their respective objectives, taking out a few North Korean soldiers that had survived the crash.

The hull of the 2 train cars hadn't been breached, so the teams placed thermite charges to open them.

"Guys! Heads up! Chinese ground forces are headed your way!"

Alex and JayJay witnessed a truck of enemy soldiers pass them, heading for Skye and Jack. A second truck pulled up and the soldiers hopped out and engaged the pair. Opening up with a volley of automatic fire, the two took out a couple soldiers before they could get to cover. They stayed behind some cargo boxes, watching the locations Chinese soldiers were taking cover. Whenever an enemy soldier popped up to shoot, Alex and JayJay opened fire and gunned them down. Carefully picking their shots soon resulted in the enemies lying dead amongst the wreckage. But more hostiles were on the way, and a buggy armed with a turret pulled up before engaging. Alex tossed a grenade, and the buggy exploded in a shower of fire.

Jack and Skye were having worse luck and were pinned down by another buggy and a group of hostile soldiers.

"Need a hand?"

Toothdee appeared in the helicopter and used machine guns to mop up the Chinese soldiers, clearing the area for Jack and Skye.

"Thanks for that, we owe you one," Skye said.

Another enemy task force, consisting of 3 trucks and 2 buggies were nearing the train wreckage.

"Get ready, there's more coming," Alex said, preparing for combat.

But before the convoy could reach its objectives, Eris strafed them in her jet, firing rockets and chi blasts.

Some of the trucks tipped over and exploded, while the buggies were thrown into the air.

"Don't worry about any approaching vehicles!" Eris said, before circling back around to destroy any other incoming vehicles.

The thermite charge had finished, and a massive hole was now burned into the side of the train car. While JayJay kept watch, Alex approached the train car and stepped in. The inside of the car was filled with smoke, but Alex could clearly make out a large central table, along with propaganda posters all over the walls. Chairs and bodies were strewn about with the latter dressed in high ranking military uniforms. Alex noticed a figure getting up off the ground and staggering forward. Drawing his pistol, the captain shot the figure in the head before he could potentially grab a weapon. Using the camera in his glasses, Alex scanned the faces of the bodies lying around the train car, confirming all their identities as North Korean high command. With a few more names scratched off the US most wanted list, the captain left the smoking train car.

"Guys, we've unlocked our objective and discovered a lot of nuclear material," Jack said through the radio "we could use some help getting it onboard the helicopter."

"Alex and I are on our way, we're all done here," JayJay said, the 2 sprinting through the train wreckage to meet Jack and Skye.

Upon arrival, the pair assisted in taking down a trio of Chinese soldiers besieging Jack and Skye, before the helicopter came in and hovered above a large container with the nuclear symbol on it.

Alex and JayJay attached the rope lines from the helicopter onto the container, while Jack and Skye dealt with enemy forces. A few rocket troopers appeared and aimed at the helicopter, but they were quickly dispatched.

Once all the lines were connected, the 4 mammal team hopped aboard the container and held on tight as the helicopter lifted it into the air. They managed to take out a few more Chinese soldiers before the aircraft left the area.

"Well I think we can consider this a victory," Skye said

"One rogue nation defeated, one container of nuclear material captured, and one leadership council eliminated," Jack said

"Would anyone be up for a break?" JayJay asked, "I definitely could go for one right now."

"I'll second that, how about Japan?" Alex suggested, "I hear it's nice this time of year."

"Oh, so we're having sushi for dinner? Good, because I'm starving"

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Once again thank you to everyone who read this, and I hope I was able to make your day a little better!

[lunaraen]

G'morning! (It's 00:30 where I live, ahaaaa...). If you're still taking requests, I'd quite like to see something about F. Jesse and Ivor having that first awkward encounter/conversation after the Witherstorm. I've always wondered what would be going through each of their minds in that circumstance. Thank you in advance :D

It should hurt.

A distant part of Jesse is verycertain it does.

For the most part, though? She’snumb. Everything lasts too long and yet each moment blends into the next in atwisted blur, something in her chest stinging, sharp and painful, while shefeels nothing, her entire body cold and limp. She walks, she smiles, she givespep talks, and her lips strain with every motion, her legs aching with everystep.

(Jesse’s so tired.

Maybe sleeping would help, butthere are too many people and there’s too much to do and she can sleep later, not now,any time but now even if now won’t end,“later” never quite coming.)

She wants to go to bed, collapsebehind some rock or tree, and wake up back home, in her tree house with Reuben.She wants, above all else, to wake up in bed with him at her feet, rather thanrocks digging into her back and Reuben haunting every other thought.

It’s just not possible.

Admittedly, Jesse’s more and moretempted by the idea of just falling asleep and never waking up.

But that’s not a whole lot morepossible. Not when her friends need her, when countless strangers are lookingto her for guidance and confidence she doesn’t have.

That’s part of why she’s where sheis now, stumbling more than walking, trudging not into the darkness but awayfrom the main part of their camp. Jesse’s not looking to fight anything, swordat her side just in case anyway, and stays within the dispersed ring ofhundreds of torches they have spanning so many meters in every direction. Shejust wants to be somewhere a little less blindingly bright, somewhere where’sshe’s not so closely surrounded by exhausted and sleeping people who deserveevery bit of their rest.

An equally big part may have todo with how she can smell coffee, a desperate and curious part of her clingingto that. If she can’t sleep forever, well, the dramatic opposite is that shewon’t sleep at all, and coffee helps with chasing away the sleep andnightmares.

Jesse pauses, freezing with onefoot midair, as one of the people sleeping on the ground twitches, theirsleeping bag pulled up enough to cover their head.

It’s not until they settle againthat she finishes stepping over them, shoulders relaxing as she exits one ofthe most outer throngs of sleeping people and keeps quietly walking, doing thesame silent march through whats little more than a field of torches andsupplies abandoned for the night.

Step, step, pray there’s not atwig to snap under a boot in her next step, keep stepping.

(This would, in hindsight, beeasier without her armor, but taking it off would be disrespectful to Ellegaardand feels too final and vulnerable an act. They’re safer now, but they’re notdone yet.

Every step, one and then two, alittle more hesitant but no less routine, feels as much like its own challenge,its own risk, now as when its broad daylight.

She hears monsters that aren’tthere and screams people are no longer making. She feels almost ready to drawher sword on the smallest of shadows, and certainly feels ridiculous about itall. It’s nearly over, and the hardest part, the hardest actual battle, isover. She doesn’t have the right to jump at monsters that aren’t there, likesome traumatized adventurer or amazing hero.

That’s the sort of trauma thathappens to people who have survived incredible things, and while Jesse’s plentytraumatized, she’s no hero. Now’s not the time to start acting like it.)

Jesse’s not actually planning ondisturbing whoever else is up and brewing coffee in the middle of the night,but she’s curious all the same. The smell is stronger away from the heart ofthe hundreds of sleeping people, and if someone wants their privacy, she canrespect that. But if someone else is having trouble, they also deserve ashoulder to lean on.

It’s the most Jesse can do rightnow, unable to return to building without making too much noise or doingsomething wrong when it’s better laid out in stored away plans.

Still, all plans of comfort turnto dust and ash, uncomfortably stuck in her throat when she sidesteps aparticularly large pile of equipment to find Ivor on the other side, legscrossed as he sits by a makeshift fire. The kettle’s no longer boiling, a lazy,never-ending plume of steam and the smell of coffee still slowly wafting off ofit from where it’s set beside him.

The silence is not pleasant.

Really, it’s stifling and plainawkward, more awkward than she was already preparing for. They aren’t just twopeople who deserve their rest and are up far too late; they’re two peoplewho’ve been part of this disaster since the beginning, albeit starting ondifferent sides.

Funny that they should be two ofthe people to see the entire thing through.

Jesse doesn’t think they’vereally spoken since the battle, even as Ivor’s diligently worked alongside therest of them to provide healing potions and whatever other aid he can brew up.

Ivor shifts without a word,moving to the side and patting the grass beside him. It’s a small invitation,as unexpected as it is silent, but Jesse takes it, settling where he sat not amoment ago. It’s better than having to stare at each other from across thefire, but the discomfort doesn’t exactly vanish with the two of them sittingside by side.

Her eyes are stinging and herattempt at a greeting isn’t almost anything, a choked sound lodged in herthroat that doesn’t manage to make it to words.

Ivor, in turn, forgoes a greetingof his own.

Instead, he cuts painfully closeto everything Jesse was planning to never talk about.

“There’s nothing to beashamed of, in grieving.” Maybe it’s written over her face now, maybe it’sbeen written all over her since they started traveling and rebuilding. “Italways hurts to lose someone.”

And there’s a wistful quality tohis voice, one that nearly everyone seems to have, that tired, hollow look inhis eyes that Jesse’s seen over and over in so many people lately, eyes withdark, nearly purple circles under them, and she’s speaking before she reallyknows it.

“I’m sorry for your–”No, it’s wrong, that’s wrong, it’s too mechanical (she’s said it too many timesto too many people in the past few days but something like that should neverever sound routine) and it’s the last thing she has the right to say. Jesse’smouth closes fast enough she nearly bites her tongue, back rigid and her nailsdigging into some part of her skin, past the gloves into her hands (her palms?They’re still too sore from building to tell, too numb from everything else).

I’m sorry for your loss.

People have lost homes, beenseparated from friends, lost livestock and pets, had precious mementos rippedfrom them and exploded into nothing. Loss is everywhere. Even the peopleinsisting they’ve lost nothing have had something or another ripped from them;she doesn’t think one person’s really kept their peace of mind.

There’s been a lot of mourning, alot of moving forward, and a lot of condolences. That won’t work here, now, atthis time with Ivor.

Apologizing for his loss would bedistancing herself from it, acting like Ellegaard’s death wasn’t directlyJesse’s fault. Begging for forgiveness is more appropriate. A million otherapologies spring to mind, scramble their way onto her tongue as her body staystoo stiff, and Ivor manages to beat every single one.

“And I’m sorry foryours.” Jesse feels something warm, something akin to rage or pain, spark atthat, and she smothers it before it can become anything. Ivor’s voice hitchesas he tries to continue, and she thinks he’s expecting that warmth, expectingher to lash out at him with it. “I–”

He swallows, and Jesse waits.

“I regret so many things. Icould spend an eternity lamenting so much of what I’ve done, what I’ve said,the things I never acted on but should have. All the things I never should haveconsidered but did.” His voice is gentle, still, but his hand is by farsteadier as he picks up a mug Jesse didn’t notice and the kettle, motionssmooth in a way his words aren’t as he begins to pour. “And yet, I havenever regretted anything more than stealing that blasted block, or using it tomake that abomination. I can’t give back what I took, Jesse. If I could, Iwould.”

Ivor presses the mug into Jesse’shands, the coffee swirling without spilling and just as steamy as the kettle,and it takes her several moments too long to realize the drink’s for her.

“I know.”

His voice turns the sharpestshe’s heard in–days? weeks?–a while, his scowl as stern and nearly as bitteras his words.

“Then stop apologizing likeyou had anything to do with it– with herdying. With the world being turned on its head. With losing Reuben.” Ivorpauses, pinching at the bridge of his nose with fingers thin enough to almostbe skeletal, and the venom eases away as quickly as it came. “I killed oneof the brightest, most creative, inspiring people to have ever spawned. She wasone of my best friends, once, and I ended up bringing about her doom. I killedEllegaard. Just as recklessly and unintentionally, I killed Reuben. You lostone of your best friends.”

It’s relieving in a way it shouldn’t be to have it addressed as it is. 

Reuben might have been a pig, but he was never just a pig to her. He was the best pet anybody could ask for, and to hear Ivor talk about him that way makes her choke up for different reasons.

“Maybe you should stopapologizing like you had anything to do with it.” There’s a ghost of asmile from Ivor at the echo, and Jesse counts it a success even as her own weaksmile crashes and burns. “You didn’t sneak Reuben aboard with me, or tryand have him land anywhere but the lake. I should have noticed. You didn’t failto grab him, didn’t take Ellegaard’s armor.”

“But I uprooted your life,didn’t I? All our lives? Shook the very foundation of what you knew, yes, butalso what you had? Your home? Your friends?” He looks away. “Petra’sridiculously fortunate to not have any lasting nerve damage.”

Jesse hears the unspokeninsinuation: they’re not sure she doesn’t.Petra doesn’t seem to, and that’s enough for Jesse now, but it’s a worryingthought.

She looks up at the moon, asbright and speckled as ever, and she wonders why it gets to stay the same. Howit dares be the same moon now, glowing as much in their darkest moments as itdid when they were happy, when Jesse’s biggest adventures involved forestescapades and building competitions.

There are better sources to bebitter at than the moon, and while she doesn’t find Ivor guilty the way heapparently does, Jesse knows she herself makes a plenty fair target. Evenstill, she didn’t act without reason, just like Ivor didn’t.

“…none of this would haveeven happened if Soren hadn’t lied about the Ender Dragon.”

Jesse doesn’t really know whatkind of response to expect, but Ivor’s chuckle, worn and weary and so close tobeing a bark of a laugh, isn’t it.

“It would be easy, to blamehim. He isn’t exactly here to defend himself.” In Jesse’s eyes, there area lot of other reasons for why it’s easy to blame Soren, but Ivor’s the lastperson she needs to explain that to. “I’ve spent a good deal of my lifeblaming him for things. Things he played a hand in, certainly, but not thingshe could entirely control. How different would it be, I wonder, if just one ofthem had sided with me. How different would things be if I’d never objected atall? How different if any of us had noticed him taking the command blockalong?”

If anyone has answers, it isn’t Jesse.

Ivor doesn’t seem to know muchbetter himself.

“I thought he was beingclever, however vile and manipulative the cheating itself was. Of course he’dnever intended to let us do our part. Of course he’d want to orchestrate theentire thing just to his liking, with everyone safe and used like pawns.”Teeth are the first to show as his lips twist into a snarl and the first to behidden as Ivor’s expression softens. “Of course he’d want everyone safe.That was something Soren would never negotiate on. However wretched a light Ipaint him in, he deserves credit for that. He’d never let Ellegaard die, not ifhe had any say in it, never let anyone get so close to death.”

Not himself, certainly.

“He didn’t care enough aboutus being in danger when it meant saving his own skin.”

“Fair enough. He’s acoward.” Intended to be funny or not, it’s straightforward enough tostartle a small laugh out of Jesse. “He recognized the risks and decidedthey were too much. But he’s not the master manipulator I’ve seen him as for solong. He’s flawed; human. Who wasn’t scared, then? I’m hardly any better; Iabandoned you in the nether, and brought this entire mess down upon us to beginwith.”

By Ivor bringing it back to them,trying to center it on him, Jesse’s reminded of how this disaster in particularis still her fault. Ivor had a fail-safe, after all, a means to end what wassupposed to be a short demonstration, and he was hardly to blame for saidfail-safe being nabbed.

“…it wouldn’t have been aproblem for anybody if I didn’t steal your potion.”

“Jesse, you saved the world. That’s not something totake lightly, not when leaving it to somebody else would’ve been easier andsafer for you. My safest course of action was not making a monster. Instead, Itore what remained of my best friends apart, killed one of them, and let herdie in Soren’s arms.” Ivor glances over his shoulder, briefly, and Jessedoesn’t wonder what he’s trying to see past the pile.

Magnus and Gabriel have beendiligent in their help, and she appreciates that too, but there are a number ofless than pleased people among them. The two of them tend, more often than not,to set up camp further from the heart of wherever they set up for the night.

Gabriel’s armor gleams decentlyin the moonlight, and she can see it glinting from here.

Ivor clears his throat in whatmay be a huff, and he’s watching her now.

“It’ll be a miracle if theyever speak to me again. Magnus might eventually run out of steam, but Gabriel’salways had a very strong sense of justice.”

…that’s an interesting way todescribe an old friend who betrayed him, pushed Ivor away and ignored him as ifhe were a stranger, someone who lived the life of a respected hero and lied tothe world for years even before Jesse’s spawning.

“Not enough to keep him fromlying.”

“If I know him half as wellas I once did, it’s been eating at him every moment since.” Ivor’s legsshift, one straightening before bending to allow him to rest his elbow on itsknee, and he’s smiling weakly as he turns his head to look at her. There’s awarmth, a tired, mournful sort, in his gaze, hidden as it is by the long bangsgripped in one hand, barely kept from shifting in front of his face. “I’mnot going to try and make you forgive them or see them in a kinder light. Youinherited our mess, our lies and schemes, and fixed it far better than we evertried to.”

“It doesn’t feel thatway.” Disheveled as Ivor seems right now, he still has more control,visibly, than Jesse even halfway feels. “You all seem so experienced, andeven my friends seem to know what to do, how to do it. They’re great at helpingpeople, and I’m so scared of making things worse, Ivor. What do they need mefor?”

“Jesse.” The stern toneis back, gentler but not without an edge. She gets the feeling he’s had enoughof the circular pity cycle they’ve been going through. “…ultimately,even in the most pessimistic and cruel of lights, it’s obvious they need you astheir leader. They need you as a friend, as someone to lean on and to catchthem before they fall. They all trust each other, and you, to make sure no oneelse gets hurt. And truly, you’ve done so much already for all of us that youseem the most experienced for guiding, for making the tough decisions no onewants to.”

“Great.” Jesse’s tone,in turn, is as quiet as it ought to be this late, but it’s not without its ownbackbone. “But I’m not. I don’t know anything about helping or leadingthis many people. I don’t know how to tell them things will be okay when theysaw their homes, their towns and cities, everything they’ve ever known, getripped to bedrock.”

“It’s not a situation mostpeople are prepared for.” Ivor’s boot shifts, nudging her own. There’sanother rush of shame, of feeling lesser. How must he feel, seeing her paradeday after day in his dead best friend’s armor? “You’ve done remarkablywell all the same.”

“I–”

“Well, save for your poorsleep schedule. You’re worried about your friends counting on you? Maybe makesure you’re awake, healthy, and ready for when they do, rather than fallingasleep on your feet.”

“Hey, I’ve been doingwell.” Ivor raises an eyebrow as he lifts the mug from her hands, raisingan eyebrow, and Jesse’s nodding before she’s even trying to figure out when shedrank all the coffee in it. Her throat doesn’t feel like it’s in any pain, butit’s about as numb as the rest of her.

Ivor, apparently, wonders thesame for slightly different reasons.

“You have. I’m amazed youhaven’t burned yourself with your coffee yet.” He pours himself a fullcup, and, hypocrite that he is, downs it in one swift movement without wincing.Jesse’d be impressed if she weren’t busy pouting. “At this rate, though,you’re going to fall over dead or start slipping up at dangerous moments. Do usall a favor and catch a little shuteye.”

“…you too.” Shenudges his foot back before pulling herself to her feet, limbs feeling asstretched and stiff as her armor. “We’re not going to get very far veryquickly without some amazing potions.”

His grin is as sly as her own,his voice with a different, more sarcastic edge.

“Ah, of course. I can assureyou you’ll have them.” There’s one last pause as she dusts herself off,and his voice is gentle once again. “And I’ll try and rest, Jesse. Youshould really do the same.”

…she will.

If only for her friends, shewill.