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lunaraen · 4 years ago

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A Jesse Surprise

Written for Spirit, who requested Aiden/Jesse/Lukas, as part of the 2020 mcsm discord secret santa

Some uncharitable mornings, when Aiden is deep within the warm and dark embrace of slumber, he thinks he preferred the early dawn stirrings in New Sky City (he also personally prefers its unofficial name, Ground City, but it’s not like he’s winning these battles).

Even though sleeping on his cot, and then later his bed, was like sleeping on gravel, even though the guards who woke him had no interest in letting him have a smidgen of comfort they could steal and were themselves likely culprits who chucked bricks through the windows of the Blaze Rods’ shack of a home, even though his waking mind and the crash of reality remind him of how grateful and lucky he is to have the love and comfort he does now, the security and safety he could never count on in a city full of people he’d almost killed.

After all, back there and back then, he didn’t have Jesse and Lukas coaxing him out of sleep, sweetly and gently tearing him from that slumber, with sweet kisses and soft prodding.

He loves them with all his heart, but he’s not a morning person and they make it hard to scurry back into the cover of unconsciousness the way he wants to.

(Living in the Order’s temple has its ups and downs, even if it’s mostly ups with few downs.

Sappy wakeup calls on his days off fit into both categories.)

So, eloquently, he tells them exactly what he thinks about their loving plotting.

“Mmf. Stoppit.”

And alright, maybe it’s halfway muffled by the pillow his cheek is currently smushed against, but it’s not a whine.

“Ooh, somebody’s grumpy.” And he can hear Jesse’s grin, feels it a second later when they kiss his not-smushed-into-a-pillow cheek while Lukas nudges at Aiden’s ribs again with his cold fingers. Jesse’s eyelashes flutter against his skin. “I thought you didn’t want to sleep until noon again.”

Winter days may be shorter and generally darker, thick cloud cover and snow more often than not working as a dense curtain to block out the sun, but there’s no way it’s noon.

A little past nine, maybe. Ten, tops.

“Changed- grhg, changed my mind.” His groggy, groggy mind, which is more than happy to latch onto the luxury of sleeping in as much as he wants on days like today, days when he isn’t working and gets to stay snuggled up inside as much as he wants. His prodded body, crying out for mercy, has other ideas, and Aiden slaps at Lukas’s wrist, only halfway missing as he bats Lukas’s hand away and twists himself upright. “Ghk- Lukas, if you poke me one more time, so help me-!”

(He’s generally much better with his temper now than he used to be, taking a number of cues from Lukas, but sleepy-Aiden still needs to work on it.)

“Oh, good, you’re up!” The dual smirks he’s getting are utterly shameless, and Aiden groans as he slumps against the headboard, bitter taste of defeat impossible to ignore.

How do they manage it?

He’s not sure, but they always do.

(Maybe he should’ve just crashed with Maya and Gill at their place.)

“Yeah, yeah- alright, I’m up, I’m up.” Despite himself, Aiden can’t hold back the beginnings of a toothy and tilted smile. “What is it?”

“Jesse’s got something to show us.”

Aiden snorts, elbowing Lukas’s side as he slips out of bed onto the regrettably chilly floor.

“Like you don’t already know what it is.”

“He doesn’t! I made sure of that- it wasn’t hard, when I just had to get him focused on messing with you.” Jesse, still sitting on the bed, kisses Lukas on the cheek and smiles so sweetly, like honey in tea and a field of flowers on a sunny day and the inviting glitter of an enormous rainbow, and Aiden’s grumpy heart melts just a bit more.

Oh, they’re not innocent- far from it.

Jesse’s crafty and sneaky and absolutely pleased with themselves for how snugly they’ve got Aiden wrapped around their finger, but it’s always hard to stay mad at Jesse even when he knows all of that so well.

“Thanks for that, by the way.” Aiden saves his toes from the frigid floor, putting on his slippers as he brushes his bedhead back with still-sleepy fingers. “You know, there have got to be better ways to wake somebody up- shove some snow down my back next time, maybe, or just get me with a bucket of water.”

“Aw, but then I don’t get to let you know how much I love you!” Jesse’s tone is outright teasing before it drops into something more mischievous, practically cheeky. “And besides, we already know you’re a total sap.”

“I am not-”

“Aiden, I’ve known you for just about forever.” Lukas plays with the silver comb from Aiden’s nightstand, touching up his already-perfect hair as he gives Aiden a far too knowing look and wry smile. The wind continues its steady beat against the window as flurries flutter past. “I’ve seen you at your best and at your worst. Yeah, you totally are.”

That’s a bit of an understatement, all things considered- Aiden’s willing to make the argument that Jesse and Lukas bring out the best in him, and his worst was pretty bad, given that in involved chucking them into the void.

They’re willing to make the argument that Aiden, far more humble and reasonable as well as just smarter now than he was back then, is even more of a sap than words can say.

“And you’re totally letting me fix my hair before you drag me to gods know where.” Aiden’s not giving up on the tatters of his thrashed dignity, though, and he’s not admitting it any time soon. He snatches the comb out of Lukas’s fingers, already aware that there’s no way they’re going to wait and let him gel his hair the way he likes to after already waiting for him to wake up and then deciding to do the job themselves.

Is he bitter Lukas has clearly had the time to go through his own hair care routine? Maybe, but it’s Aiden’s own fault for sleeping in.

(He’s grouchy and anything but happy to greet the morning, but he can recognize that.)

“Nope!”

“Yeah, definitely not happening.”

“I love you.” Aiden tosses the comb back onto the nightstand as he yanks his jacket off the bedpost he last threw it onto, rolling his eyes as he shoves his arms through and shrugs it up on his shoulders. His cozy sleepwear doesn’t quite match with his jacket the way his usual outfits do, but it’ll work for a Jesse-trip. “So much.”

“We know!”

“Cool.” His fingers are clumsy, from sleep and cold alike, as he attempts to yank up the zipper before deciding to forgo it altogether. He doesn’t need to hide his nightshirt. They’ve seen him in far worse conditions, far crueler and horrendous states, than in his sleepwear. “Can’t wait to bump into somebody in the hall and have an awkward conversation about how I look like I just rolled out of bed.”

(They’d be right.)

Lukas laughs, light and loud, and it captures Aiden’s attention instantly, enthralling as ever.

(What’d Petra say- stupid, perfect Lukas? Fitting.)

“Trust me, we’ve all seen worse- everybody’s bumped into Ivor in the middle of the night.” Aiden winces. The less said about his sleepwear and how it ‘breathes wonderfully’, the better.

Half the time, Ivor’s wearing his robes during those chance encounters.

The other half of the time, not so much.

“Yeah, okay, fair enough.” He adjusts his jacket, and not for the first time since moving in wishes it had a hood he could flip up to hide his not-yet-right hair. “Is it in the backyard, or are we going further than that? Because if I need to get my boots, they should just be by the door.”

His coat should too, and it would be plenty warmer than his jacket.

“If Petra hasn’t stolen them.” Aiden has, rather unfortunately, ended up on the wrong side of the latest prank war, something Jesse’s endlessly amused by. They’re kind enough to help him out when he begs- if Petra has taken his boots, he’ll just beg Jesse to have a talk with Petra about forgetting the chorus fruit incident.

“Oh, she definitely did.” Lukas waves off his look of alarm. “You’re good- apparently Jesse’s surprise isn’t even outside.”

Better Petra than Axel, anyway, and if she didn’t, he would’ve.

“I can try something snow-related next time.” Jesse’s eyes just about sparkle as they toy with one of Aiden’s errant bangs, calloused fingers brushing against his skin as their other hand cups his cheek. “Remember that deal I struck? For that room in the basement?”

“Barely.” He leans into Jesse’s touch before leaning back, not deterring Jesse or their mischief in the slightest. His bangs don’t usually get the chance to be in the way like this, rather than neatly slicked back, and Jesse’s milking it for all its worth. “It wasn’t like you let us know a whole lot about it, other than that Cassie’s good at negotiating.”

Cassie Rose, a different sort of enemy Jesse and the others have helped and taken in even when most people would never consider it, spends much of her time in the sprawling and labyrinthine basement.

“Shrewd. I believe I said shrewd.” Jesse gives the bang one last flick before their expression softens. Aiden doesn’t know exactly what they traded or had to promise Cassie, but Jesse’s more than decent at negotiating themselves. “But yeah, she’s pretty good. Anyway, she’s been letting me mess around in that part of her domain, and that’s what I want to show you guys. After you have some breakfast, of course- Axel made the best pancakes.”

Axel makes good breakfasts the way Jesse worries about everyone not eating enough- as surely as the sun sets and rises.

“Jesse, it can wait.” Aiden holds up his hands, palms facing outward and fingers slightly curled, when Jesse narrows their eyes. “I promise I’ll have a good breakfast and enjoy those pancakes after you show us what you’ve been up to.”

That placates them, Jesse beaming as they grab his hand.

If Aiden remembers correctly, Cassie’s not the only one Jesse’s been working with on this, terrifying a thought as that already is.

He’s pretty sure their alchemist got roped into things.

It’s an interesting thought, if not a necessarily pleasant one, to be entertained by as they make their way through the temple, weaving through hallways and past busy rooms to the basement stairs.

Cassie and Ivor may be the ones directly involved, but the knowing looks and waves they get suggest that Lukas and Aiden are the only ones in the dark.

Harper’s grin at her workshop table is as impish as it is (probably) accidentally intimidating, thanks to the dark and glinting lenses of her goggles hiding her eyes entirely while reflecting sparks from the iron she’s cutting into.

Aiden’s always been a sucker for mysteries.

It’s not until they start descending, shoes and slippers silent against carpet before clacking against cold stone as the stairway becomes less and less like the hallways they were just in, that he nudges Lukas, slipping his free hand into Lukas’s to hold it loosely.

“So, what can we expect from Ivor and Cassie that’s not an inventive death trap?”

Lukas chuckles, lightly pressing his shoulder against Aiden’s own.

“Ivor’s not that bad.” Not to Lukas, maybe, but Aiden got a number of intimidating talks from the other Order members when he first moved back to this world. Ivor’s was the most… creative. “And Jesse’s involved too- it could be anything.”

They take a turn, moving away from the more used areas of the basement to the series of corridors and rooms Cassie’s claimed as her own.

“Pet witherstorms?” A year ago, when they were figuring this and so many other things out, Aiden wouldn’t even think of joking about the behemoth that hurt them and their world in so many ways, his spiraling scars aching even now under his jacket at the mention and Jesse’s less physical scars making it so that thunderstorms more often than not lead to panic attacks. They’ve healed in a lot of ways, though, all of them, and monsters of the past are more and more easily used for lighthearted jokes.

He himself is something of a monster of the past, and they’ve done an incredible job of letting him back into their lives and then some.

“Enchanted endermites.”

Another turn, this time to the right, the yellow-orange glow of regular torches switched with the gentler light of redstone ones.

“Talking cats.”

The back-and-forth reminds him of guessing games he and Lukas would play to pass the time, before, ages ago, back when it was easy to be bored and when having the most outlandish guess was as good as anything else.

“A tap-dancing-”

“Alright, alright, you can stop guessing.” Jesse pauses at a dark oak door, fingers resting on a handle that’s a lighter color than any of the ones they’ve already passed, and gives them a look that’s trying very hard to be exasperated and failing. Jesse loves with all their heart; it’s hard for them to not look adoring. “If you want to just go in and find out for yourselves, that is.”

First, he asks the question that’s been on his mind since they brought up the surprise.

“What’s the occasion?”

Aiden’s been keeping a close eye on every important event and celebration he can think of; all he knows about today is that it’s supposed to be an average Saturday.

“I just wanted to surprise you guys.” The door creaks as Jesse nudges it open, just as likely in genuine need of oiling as it is intended to make sounds for dramatic effect (Cassie has a penchant for the theatrical), and Jesse’s given up on hiding that small smile when they look back to him and Lukas. “With something we didn’t have to leave the temple for, or risk our lives over- we have plenty of adventures and things to do normally. This is just… something for us.”

Inside the room, likewise dimly lit with redstone torches, three plants Aiden has never seen before are growing from decent sized pots up and along the dark walls towards the even darker ceiling. They’re almost vine-like, with ruffled leaves that actually glow along the edges and symbols along the dark stems that look natural to the plant rather than carved or printed- looking again, Aiden can see that the symbols glow too, different colors.

Symbols that are more than interesting lines and curves, actual letters tilted this way and that as they spell out each of their names.

The one that reads Jesse has a red sword symbol at the base of its stem, while Lukas’s has a teal book and quill.

It takes him a third look to make sense of the image on the one spelling his name.

Instead of a book and quill, it’s a green book and sword, with the book placed over the sword- even if Aiden wasn’t a writer, he thinks he’d see the meaning pretty clearly, the focus on peace and positive changes.

He’s long since given up waving swords around recklessly, though he trains with Jesse and Lukas. He’s capable, but it’s not his first instinct when his temper flares anymore.

Aiden glances at Jesse, whose smile has somehow gotten even softer.

He’s a sap and he’s not crying about it.

(A quick glance at Lukas proves he’s in a similar boat, eyes shining with unshed tears and his hand over his mouth as he crouches in front of the plant spelling his name out in blue and purple characters.

If Jesse can give a bad gift, Aiden has yet to see it.

Lukas is more used to seeing the odd assortment of plants in Ivor’s lab than Aiden is, on account of having been there more, and even then he doesn’t seem any less surprised than Aiden feels.

Jesse’s ideas are often like that, born from looking at the same thing in a slightly different way.)

He clears his throat and brushes away the welling tears that aren’t there.

“Jesse, this is amazing.” Despite having cleared his throat, his voice wobbles just a bit, and Jesse open arms are too inviting to ignore. Even with as silly as he probably sounds and looks right now, their gaze stays warm. Aiden hugs them, tight grip only relaxing briefly when Lukas joins the hug in order to wrap an arm around him too. “Thanks. Looks like we’ll just have to find our own ways to surprise you.”

“Oh, you don’t need to do that.” Jesse squeezes them, feeling every bit the strong hero that they are, and gives a contented hum. “Just being able to do these things with you is more than enough.”

“I don’t think we could ever give you enough, Jesse.” Lukas presses a kiss into Jesse’s hair before doing the same to Aiden, his voice doing a slightly better job of staying strong despite the tear tracks shining on his cheeks. Aiden gives him a kiss in return, the quick peck on the lips making Lukas’s smile widen.

A fourth voice, one that perhaps shouldn’t be so unexpected, interrupts before they can get too cuddly.

“If you’re going to be sappy, take it anywhere upstairs.”

Cassie Rose leans against the doorway, her partner in crime meowing from where he winds between her legs, purring as he rubs against her pants.

Though not quite the senseless killer she once was, she’s certainly an efficient mood killer.

Winslow, not so much, even if there’s a playful glint of his own in his eyes.

The hug breaks, though no more than necessary, the three of them still standing close together even as Aiden shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Thanks, we’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’ve got a strict no-PDA policy.” She smirks, gaze shifting to Jesse as she points a thumb towards the nearest plant- Lukas’s. “Remember, the deal’s off once you take these upstairs and do whatever you’re going to do with them.”

“Got it.” Jesse’s thumbs-up placates Cassie enough to get a short hum out of her, and their smile stays bright as they turn their attention back to Aiden and Lukas. “Ivor said they should be fine as long as they’re kept out of direct sunlight. Even then, they’ll be alright for a while, but you won’t be able to see the glow very well.”

While Jesse explains and they nod, Aiden keeps an eye on Cassie out of the corner of his eye.

In spite of that close watch, even though he glances away for barely a moment, as soon as he opens his mouth to thank her, he finds she’s already vanished, her feline friend likewise missing.

Huh.

Oh well.

He’ll thank her and Ivor for their part in this later.

“Well, if we’re taking things back upstairs anyway, I guess we could head back to your room and cuddle properly.” It wouldn’t be hard for Lukas’s voice to be mocking, but it does a good job of riding the line between joking and being genuine, and it oozes affection regardless as he wraps an arm around Aiden’s shoulders. Aiden takes a second to appreciate how lucky he is to be here, to be with them, while his heart soars. “You know, let you get some more sleep.”

“Maybe do breakfast in bed.” Jesse’s voice is just as affectionate, and the idea of getting something to eat as well as some more rest doesn’t sound half bad.

Of course…

Aiden lets his head rest against Lukas’s shoulder, huff somewhere between a fresh groan of defeat and a laugh.

“Could’ve started with that.”

Jesse, in flagrant violation of Cassie’s policy, squeezes his side and kisses his nose, startling a lopsided smile out of Aiden.

“Less exciting that way.”

If there’s something he can count on here, with them, it’s always excitement, one way or another.

#My Stuff #fanfiction #mcsm #Minecraft Story Mode #Poly

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acraftedmistake · 4 years ago

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A Person Who Has Never Played MCSM Writes A Story About MCSM Chp. 9

YEAAAAAH CHP 9!! 31 PAGES!! I’m weirdly excited over this gjnfbdsfdhfgdgg Hope you guys will like it!!

Today was the big day!

The day everyone had been anticipating for months! Weeks upon weeks of preparation, everybody doing their part, sharing the workload of the decoration, careful planning to make sure everyone could attend, countless nights of reading and rereading the plans for how the day would play out, and now it’s finally arrived!

Everyone was excited, but no one could compete with the exhilaration Radar had!

Radar viewed the sea of people he stood before, making out familiar faces as they all chattered to one another. He remembered being so fearful of crowds, now he feels nothing but enthusiasm. The people were seated in the beautifully embellished nave. Bold, red flowers with their mesmerizing petals were used to make wreaths which hung on the stone walls, along with banners of the same vibrancy as the flowers that hung from the ceiling.

Radar stood proudly on the stage with two others by each side. He had put hours into his appearance, making sure his red suit--a shade he’d always compare to a ruby--was wrinkle free, that his dark yellow tie could be put on without hassle, his black shoes shone, and being extra determined to keep his hair combed back and slick. His hair would always stick up, it was nearly impossible to control, but it seemed merciful for this special day.

He looked at the people next to him, he was placed in between two individuals who he was well acquainted with. On his left was a woman about his age, freckles scattered on her pale face, and long, red hair that stopped midway at her back. Unlike Radar, she was not wearing formal attire of any sort, instead, she had a clean, white towel wrapped around her body which she held together tightly.

Radar could’ve gone unclothed as well, but when he was shown the optional attire, he knew he had to wear it for such an event. He was warned his suit would get ruined today, and to not fret about his appearance, but he wanted to look wonderful regardless.

The man to the right of him was older--though by how many years was unknown--and had been here far longer than Radar. He was extremely pale, which could’ve been because he was nervous, his hair was somewhat frizzy and a light blond. He also wore a suit, it was a dusty brown instead of Radar’s red.

‘Of course his suit is different,’ Radar thought to himself, ‘He is being honored for a different reason.’

Besides them, there was nothing too much on the stage except for a sturdy, spruce chair. However, more people would be stepping on soon.

“Everyone!” Brenner, one of their three leaders spoke as the other two stood aside, “I’d like to thank you all for joining us on this very special day…”

Brenner was no ordinary man. He was a man whose loud, confidence-filled voice would immediately steal your attention, his judgements were law and he’d speak only the truth.

His red robe, sleeves and its end decorated with gold-colored engravings, was loose around his body yet everyone knew it was perfect for him. His white eyes stood out from his dark brown skin and he wore his bold red and pink burn marks with pride. He was blind, but he had no need to see.

There was no flaw in this man.

Brenner continued his speech and Radar wanted to listen, yet he found his attention going elsewhere. On each end of the dark wooden stage were two big, white ceramic pots with shiny blue paint splattered on the tops. Large fires had been set in each pot, and had flowers carefully surrounding each flame, delicately placed to prevent them from being set ablaze.

‘Red dahlias,’ Radar remembered, ‘They’re wonderful.’

Radar, among a few others, had helped Brenner dig up a bundle of these gorgeous flowers. It was that very day when Brenner spoke to him.

“Radar,” Brenner had said, “Your journey, your progression… You are a vastly different man compared to the one I first met nearly a year ago.”

He placed his hand on his shoulder and gifted Radar with a smile, something he hardly ever did, “The next generation of The Awakening has been gifted to receive a future Vision as you, Radar.”

A Vision. Radar. He never thought hearing those three words together was possible. He had only been in The Awakening just shy of a year, compared to the tens of hundreds of other people who had been here--some for over a decade--he thought he still had years to go. But the leaders told him his growth and his leadership skills outshined many others. They told him they needed him.

Who could refuse an honor like that?

A Vision. What a powerful word. What a title.

Radar turned back to the center of the stage. The woman had sat down on the chair, clutching her towel tightly. She was sobbing. Two of the leaders surrounded her as she told her tragic story, how she had lost everything until The Awakening had helped her. Hearing her story and seeing the crowd’s tearful, sympathetic faces as they nodded along to her words brought a weird happiness to Radar. This was a community. A safe place. A home.

The third leader, an older man with a similar attire to Brenner, carefully made his way onto the stage, carrying a deep dish specially made to carry whatever substance was in it. It must’ve been a darker red, but it’s coating began to chip away from years of usage. The old man wore thick gloves.

Once her story had finished, everyone cheered.

Brenner stood behind her and placed his hands where her collar bone was, carefully massaging it to help her relax as he continued his speech.

“Your years of hardships and development are soon to be rewarded. Are you ready to be gifted with The Vision’s gift?”

“I am.” She answered, wiping away her remaining tears.

“Do you love the people you will soon shine for, our history, and wish to make the future brighter for our remaining days on this Earth?”

“I do.”

“Are you ready to become the next, brilliant flame for future generations?”

“I am.”

She glanced up at Brenner, who gave her a small but warming smile, before taking a deep breath. She tilted her head back as far as she could, Brenner held her hair.

The old man approached and the substance began to trickle down before becoming a slow, steady pour.

The liquid was heavier, as it fell onto her face instead of drizzling down smoothly like Radar expected it to. It also had a brilliant glow to it and lit up a portion of the stage; the light made the steam from the substance visible.

A strange smell soon came. Radar couldn’t perfectly describe the smell, an odd clash of sweetness and naustiation, it was becoming stronger by the second. He could practically taste the scent.

He stared at the woman as the liquid kept coming, her skin was becoming red and slowly falling off her face and onto the floor, sizzling. Odd bubbles began to form and Radar swore he saw what used to be her eye melting and mixing along with the liquid.

Lava.

What are they doing?

Radar looked back at the crowd, who still had the happiness from before, and felt his stomach begin to knot up.

Do they see nothing wrong with this?

Why aren’t they doing anything?

What are they doing?

What is he doing?

He stopped breathing. The stench had become overwhelming, he was afraid he’d choke. This isn’t right. This can’t be right.

This can’t be right.

“Radar?” He heard Brenner say, a firm grip on Radar’s shoulder, “Are you alright?”

Radar couldn’t tell if he was shaking his head or if his whole body was trembling tremendously, but seeing Brenner’s concerned--almost worried--expression means he must’ve looked awful.

Radar kept shaking, he shook his head violently to make himself clear as he stepped away.

He kept stepping back and back and back until his body bursted into a full sprint. He held his breath and ran faster than he ever had in his entire life. He ran through the hallway of the shrine until he saw the exit, never looking back. He heard shouts and screams, hollers, voices pleading for him to come back, people calling him ‘quitter’, but he refused to listen.

The moment his foot passed the exit, Radar finally took in a lungful of fresh air and expected to see the lushious field of grass and flowers he was so used to seeing, but there was nothing to greet him.

He stood in nothing. No signs of life. No buildings. Only nothing.

Was he dead?

“Radar.” He heard Brenner’s voice again. The melancholy wrapped around it sunk into Radar’s mind.

He had done wrong.

Something terribly wrong.

Radar tried to keep moving, he found very little energy to run, but he tried to walk. He may as well have been moving with cinder blocks chained to his legs, his feet dragging against the unloving void as he begged his body to move faster.

“You’re so much better than this.”

A hand crept up and held Radar’s hand. He tried to pull away but more locked his arm in place. He couldn’t see the hands, the arms, where they were coming from, but he could feel them. Their tight, unforgiving fingers gripped his clothes, tearing them off and stabbing his skin. More came and wrapped themselves around his bare body, some around his chest and stomach, almost as if hugging him. He wanted to throw up. This was wrong. This was wrong.

He felt fingers caress his face and remove his glasses before forcing his head up and his eyes wide open. Radar could see the dish looming over him crystal clearly. Radar couldn’t move his head, he tried rolling his eyes to the back of his head yet he could still make out the disgusting clumps of lava falling to his face.

“The next generation of The Awakening has been gifted to receive a future Vision as you, Radar.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maya awoke to Radar’s screaming followed by a stingful slap in the face. She almost didn’t recognize her own room because of how unfocused her vision was. Maya felt the headboard of her bed against her stiff, aching back. Why was she sitting on her bed? Did she fall asleep sitting up? She squeezed her eyes and shook her head, wondering why she received a wake up call like that.

“I’m blind! I’m blind--!” She heard Radar’s high voice cry.

Maya shot her eyes down and jumped. On top of her blue blanket, arms flailing and legs kicking, was Radar with tears streaming down his face. Rays of the sun shot through her windows and into Radar’s eyes.

The aches have been completely forgotten as Maya jumped off her bed, and ran towards the windows as Radar continued to shout about how he couldn’t see. How he was blinded. The way he covered his face with his hands and wailed with his body thrashing about, you’d almost believe someone had tore his eyes out.

Maya hurriedly yanked the curtains over the windows--the thick, blue sheets immediately blocking all light--and she rushed over to her nightstand to grab Radar’s glasses; she had to tape one of the hinges back together after he had fallen asleep.

“No you’re not. No you’re not. No you’re not. ” She said in a quick breath, fumbling with the glasses, trying to open them without accidentally snapping the hinge off.

She held the glasses carefully, trying to figure out how calm Radar down so he could put them back on. His hands dug into his face, he continued to sob. She couldn’t possibly put them on at the moment.

“Hey,” She said loud enough through the man’s sobs. His hands remained firmly on his face but his body settled down when hearing Maya’s voice.

Radar opened his mouth, wanting to talk, but he could hardly get the first letter out. His breathing was loud and unsteady, and his body shook.

Maya carefully reached out, “Can I see your hand?”

She couldn’t tell if he was nodding, but he extended his hand out, searching for her’s.

She made sure to grasp gently as their fingers locked. He was ice cold.

Radar had covered his eyes with his arm. Maya stared at him and slowly breathed in.

“What’s your name?” She asked carefully.

He didn’t respond right away, he took a moment to process the question as his teeth chattered.

“R… Radar.” He answered with an unsteady voice.

Maya nodded and held his hand a little tighter, “Do you know where you are?”

Radar slowly began to uncover his face. His eyes peeked out and he scanned the room. Everything was blurry and dark, but the layout felt familiar to him.

“A h… A house?”

Maya brought the glasses to his face, trying her best to slip them on with one hand. She didn’t want to poke his eyes. Radar helped push the glasses into place.

He wiped away the remaining tears, used his arms to hoist himself up, and looked around the room again.

“Aiden’s home.” He corrected himself.

He heard Maya’s ‘Mhm’ as he continued to observe the room. It was clean. It was barren. There was only an oak nightstand with an old, red alarm clock. Two chests were in between the two windows across the bed, a sword laid on top of one of the chests. Then there was the dresser pushed against the wall to the right side of the room, it was the only thing to be considered ‘messy’. One of its drawers was open, exposing the neatly folded clothes, and on top of the dresser laid two more swords, a pickaxe, and bandage wraps.

He recalled a second bed used to be here, but Aiden had moved it to the guest room.

‘This is Maya’s room.’ Radar remembered.

He was beginning to relax when he heard Maya ask “And The Awakening?”

Radar froze up again, adrenaline rushed through him, his brain begged him to escape, yet he remained still. Flashes of the dream--memories--quickly came and went. He turned his head stiffly to Maya, his shrunken pupils locked onto her face. She looked worried. Was that his fault?

Radar gripped her hand tightly and started with a shaky voice, “The… They…”

He swallowed, “They can’t get here.”

“Right.” Maya nodded, her brows creased, “Because we’d do everything we can to stop them. You’re safe.”

“I’m safe.” Radar repeated. He fell back onto the bed. He was finally able to regain control over his breathing as he took slow, deep breaths.

The two remained in the bed--hands still holding--for several minutes. Maya wanted to give Radar some time to take it easy after such a rough day, but a part of her wanted to converse with him. Maybe he needed someone to talk to. But what could she say? She could never start conversations. She never knew how to.

Maya stared at the wall across her bed for a minute, clenching her jaw

“Bad dream?” She finally asked.

Radar nodded, rubbing his eyes.

“You wanna talk about it? You don’t have to.” She said in her gruff voice. Maya never hated how she sounded, but there were times she wished she could sound a bit more… Emotional? Softer? Her words always sounded far colder than she intended them to.

“I’d love to forget it.” Radar said weakly, squirming in bed trying to get comfortable. He laid on his side, staring at the room’s door, trying to concentrate on anything that wasn’t his dream or what had happened yesterday.

“We were supposed to go to Petra’s today,” He took a deep breath, “Am I holding you back?”

Maya shook her head, “No. Everyone else will be heading to her place, I’m staying here with you.”

She saw Radar’s head sink into the pillow, visibly disappointed. She pressed her lips together.

“You wouldn’t like it there.” She said.

“Oh?”

“Petra’s place. It’s…” She thought about her next words carefully, “Sorta creepy.”

Radar could only respond with a weak nod. He turned on his other side so he could face Maya again. Everything was beginning to slow down. His blinking, his breathing, his heart beat.

“Did I hurt you?” Radar avoided looking at her face. He forced his eyes to stare at his free hand.

“It was an accident.” She acknowledged, “Don’t worry about it.”

He mumbled a barely audible apology and dug his face deeper into the pillow. He kept staring at his hand. It was shaking. He was still shaking.

He inhaled sharply tore away from Maya’s hand and tightly gripped his wrist, determined to cease his trembling. The more he kept staring the more frustrated he got. This is pathetic. This is pathetic. This is pathetic. Why is this still happening?

“How can I be expected to do anything properly if I can’t even stop my own hand from shaking!” He grinded his teeth and kept crushing his wrist.

Maya was about to stop him when Radar suddenly sat up, threw both hands onto his head, and dug into his hair.

“I promised--I promised Olivia and--and him a tour of the town.”

There’s no way he’d be able to do it today nor tomorrow. Maybe not even for the rest of the week. He’s not sure how well he’d handle being on the empty streets of Obsidian Town... In the middle of the day… Seeing him… Hearing his voice… Being close to him.

Olivia would be there, but would she make any difference?

“They’re good people. They’ll understand.” Maya assured him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay you can’t do it. Doesn’t make you a failure.”

“I know.” Radar’s hands steadily slipped off his head as he rested against the headboard of the bed.

He felt his body leaning closer and closer to Maya till he found his head resting on her shoulder.

“Maya?”

“Hm?”

“I want to… Wanted to thank you for all that you did last night.” Radar felt his eyelids getting heavy.

“Yeah,” Maya glanced at him, “Yeah, don’t mention it.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesse cracked his eyes open ever so slightly and was met with an intense brightness. The window’s blinds were wide open, allowing sunlight to spew in and take over his bedroom. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut and shifted around in the bed, his head was pounding, he wanted a few extra minutes of sleep. Just a few. But he was finding the task rather difficult. Was his bed always this uncomfortable? Hard? How did he manage to fall asleep in the first place?

‘This isn’t your bed.’ A thought echoed in his head.

His eyes shot open. Oh no. It wasn’t a fever dream.

Jesse instantly sat up and scanned the room, ‘Guest room.’ He reminded himself. Where was Olivia? The place was rather empty, if she was in here, he would’ve spotted her already. Is she okay? Did something happen last night?

Jesse threw the covers off, slipped on his shoes beside the bed, and tried to recall what happened.

“Okay, you found out you’re in a different world--in a different universe, filled with different-familiar people, what else? What else?” Talking outloud tends to help refresh his memory, “Radar got attacked by Other Jesse--oh, I hope he’s okay!”

Jesse ran to the door, swung it open and… Was greeted with a surprised Stella.

“Oh, you’re up!” Stella’s fist was raised, she must’ve been a moment away from knocking. She was wearing a soft, striped, lavender-colored, short sleeved pajama top with a pair of dark purple flannel pants. She also wore fuzzy slippers that were the same shade as her shirt.

Jesse stopped in his tracks and dug his fingers into the doorway, bouncing his leg rapidly. He needed to know if his friend was safe, or--at the very least--still in this house.

“Yep, woke up a second ago. Have you seen Olivia?”

Stella blinked, “Yes, she asked if she could read in the living room.”

Jesse’s body loosened, his hands melted off the door’s frame as he sighed with relief. He peeked back at Stella, who looked like she wanted to say something.

“What about you? Why are you up so early?” Jesse had no idea what time it was. He knew the sun was out, so he assumed it was morning.

“I… Couldn’t sleep.” She clasped her hands together, “Jesse I--I owe you an apology.”

Jesse tilted his head, last night was overwhelming. So many moments merged together into one, chaotic nightmare.

Stella breathed in, “The way I treated you last night, I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t the nicest. I genuinely thought you were our Jesse, I’m very sorry.”

“Oh, hey!” Jesse leaned against the door, “After what happened to Radar, I totally understand. Better safe than sorry.”

“But still,” Stella tucked her hair behind her ear, “You didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

“It’s all good.” Jesse assured her with a smile. Stella smiled back.

She stretched her arms high, “Well, there’s a few more hours of the day left, I’m going to try to get as much sleep as I can. You and Olivia should too.”

Stella waved and began walking off, leaving Jesse to think to himself. He wasn’t too tired, he wouldn’t be able to sleep again. Sleep. Sleep? What time is it? Wait a minute--

“Hold on, Stella!” Jesse whisper-shouted to her before she went any further. She spun around, strands of hair flying into her face.

“When do--What time do you usually go to bed?”

Stella answered, “10:30 sharp. I go to bed the earliest out of everyone else.”

Jesse inhaled, “... AM or PM?”

“... AM?” She replied, raising a brow.

‘Oh no.’ Jesse thought to himself as he held his breath.

“What time do you wake up?”

“8 PM--Why are you asking me this?” Stella asked.

‘Oh no. There’s a time difference.’ A major one at that.

He glanced back up at the confused woman and finally exhaled, “You see, in our universe, we fall asleep when it’s dark out. Polar opposite to your’s.”

Stella stared for a moment longer before her eyes widened. She let her mouth hang as she tried to figure out how to approach the situation.

“Oh dear, that possibility didn’t even come to mind! Are you two going to be okay? Aiden will probably be waking us up at 6--6 PM--you’re going to be waiting for a while.”

“Don’t worry,” He waved his hand, “We’ll find a way to kill time.”

Stella tapped her foot, thinking of what him and Olivia could do for the next several hours. She wanted to suggest they rest so they wouldn’t tire out too soon during their trip to Petra’s, but if they’re used to being up at this time, it’ll certainly be difficult for them. Plus they’d have to tire themselves out to want to rest.

“Alright,” Stella started, “There are plenty of books downstairs for you to read, if you get hungry, help yourself to whatever. If you see a container of butter cookies, don’t eat those, those are Cassie’s…”

Jesse nodded along to Stella’s list.

“And don’t--!” She raised her worried voice but immediately stopped herself. She continued on in a whisper, “Don’t go outside. At all.”

“I won’t! Pinky promise.” Jesse held his pinky up high.

“ ‘Pinky promise’ ?” Stella repeated with a laugh, “That’s adorable. I need to go back to bed, I’m trusting the two of you to be safe.”

She began walking back to her room, her fuzzy slippers making flip-flop sounds with each step she took.

“Alright, goodn--Sleep well!” Jesse corrected himself.

He made his way to the stairs, could he say ‘Goodnight’? Or did he have to say ‘Good morning’ instead? ‘Good day’? Do phrases change with such a major time difference? He could only assume so.

Jesse would carefully place one foot on each step, trying to be as quiet as he could to not wake anyone, but the pressure he’d put on the stair would release one loud groan after another, making him cringe. Everything he did always seemed louder whenever he was trying to be quiet. Maybe it was his brain being overdramatic or maybe he was plain bad at being quiet.

He tried to take another step, carefully pressing down onto the wooden planks, but an exceptionally loud creak pierced his ears and stopped him in his tracks. He gritted his teeth. How hard was it to walk silently down steps?

“Is someone there?” He heard a familiar voice ask. Jesse perked up and leaped down the remaining stairs, completely forgetting the concept of ‘quiet’, slipping off the last step, and nearly breaking his legs.

He gripped onto the railings and caught himself before he could land on the floor face first.

“Oh my gosh!” Olivia leapt off the couch and hurried towards the moron, “Are you okay?!”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” He repeated, his heart racing with the surprise adrenaline rush. Olivia grabbed Jesse’s hand and hoisted him back to his feet.

“Do you know how much easier it would’ve been to just say ‘It’s me, Jesse’, instead of throwing yourself off a flight of stairs?” Olivia asked.

Jesse brushed himself off, “Sorry, sorry, I got excited. I woke up, you were missing, I was gonna find you but Stella stopped me--already a real wild morning.”

“Afternoon.” Olivia corrected.

“Hm?”

“It’s 1 PM, Jesse.”

“What?!” Jesse sputtered. Had he really been asleep for that long?

Olivia went back to the green couch and picked up a small book--the one she got from the library--laying on one of the cushions, “After we were told to go back to the guest room, you sat on the bed for a while. You were… Pretty quiet. You looked shaken up, so I wanted to give you space.”

She began flipping through the book, trying to find her place, “I read for a bit, then when I turned back around, you were asleep again. I was going to stay in bed and keep reading, but you kept moving around and taking up a lot of space.”

Olivia chuckled at the recollection.

‘Oh jeez, do I really do that?’ He had always slept alone, never shared a bed before. He hoped he wasn’t too much of a nuisance to her at night.

“Don’t worry about sleeping in though,” Olivia spoke up, she scooched to the side of the couch and patted the cushion beside her, inviting Jesse over, “you needed the rest.”

As Jesse walked over, Olivia looked around the living room.

“Nobody else seems to be up besides Stella.”

“Oh, speaking of which--” Jesse plopped down, his body bounced from the cushion, “There might be an itty bitty, teeny tiny little time difference. These guys apparently sleep in the morning and most of the afternoon.”

Olivia clicked her tongue, “I thought so.”

She had her suspicions earlier today when Aiden had told them to go back to bed, along with everyone’s odd amount of energy from last night. Having her speculations confirmed, she felt more at ease and wanted to use the time they had to continue reading her book and--hopefully--get more comfortable in their temporary world.

Jesse was watching Olivia hunt down the page she had stopped at--visibly annoyed--and decided to ask her on what she’s read so far. Olivia’s face brightened as she began describing what she'd learned.

She started with the story of a man who had done it all, someone who had defeated monsters of all kinds, traveled thousands of miles across a variety of biomes meeting new companions along the way, taking on beasts in the Nether--and other dimensions--and inspiring many people. He was referred to as “The Impossible Man”. The next two sections were shorter, the first discussing the rising creation of shrines made for gatherings and offerings, each shrine having their own unique origin story.

The second section was the vaguest of the bunch, briefly talking about a period of time where everyone believed the world was falling apart, horrid quakes would tear the floor open, storms would come and flood towns, and while there weren’t too many details, it seemed to be the darkest time of this world. Finally, there was the chapter she was currently reading: Tearing down the Nether. Years and years ago, hundreds of people began creating their own portals to the Nether in an attempt to find something. Trying to find Obsidian was risky enough, but people would go to the extremes when trying to find iron, flint, or obsidian to the point where people were killing each other over it. Portals would deteriorate and destroy anything surrounding them because of how poorly constructed they were.

Olivia scrunched her nose and flipped through a few pages as she continued talking, “That’s the most I’ve read. I’m struggling to piece certain parts together because someone took their time carefully removing specific pages. Who does that?”

The missing pages did explain why the book was on the thinner side.

“Can I take a peek?” Jesse asked, holding his hand out. Olivia passed him the dark blue book.

He began flipping through and, sure enough, pages were missing. Some sections were only missing a few, while others had tens of them gone. Whoever took these pages out did so with precision, the only evidence of the pages ever existing were the small, barely noticeable torn paper in the gutter of the book.

“Hm.” He handed it back, “Maybe someone’s trying to hide something. We might have to wait for everyone else to wake up so we can ask.”

Jesse slumped over the couch’s armrest and let his arms dangle as his hair hung in his face. They’ll have to wait five hours for anyone to wake up, and hope Aiden and the others were energized enough to want to explain. Five hours. Five long, agonizing hours in this house with windows taunting the outside world to him.

Jesse blew the hair out of his face and turned his head to the right. His eyes fell onto the wall across the couch, specifically the large portion of the wall with thick, long, oak shelves covering most of the area. The shelves carried a variety of items, from a worn down, iron helmet, pickaxes dangerously close to edges, carefully rolled maps and… Books!

Jesse’s face lit up and he lifted himself off the couch, “Hey, tell you what!”

He walked over to the shelves, “I’ll take a peek at some of these suckers,” he took out a random book, “and maybe they’ll help fill in any missing chunks!”

Olivia smiled, “Sounds great. Good way to pass some time.”

As Olivia continued on with her book, Jesse opened his and saw it was a recipe book. ‘Not gonna help unless we suddenly crave honey pie.’ He chuckled to himself and placed the book back. There were a number of books waiting to be checked out, he was sure to find something useful.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few hours had passed, Jesse wasn’t sure how many, but he was absolutely bored out of his mind. Most of the books shelves were recipe books, fictional, and a few autobiographies of people he didn’t know. He had also found a photo album but decided against looking through it, he felt it’d be an invasion of privacy. Jesse had rummaged through the few chests in the room and saw Aiden and his friends were loaded with weapons and armor, all which were kept in fine condition. He surprisingly wasn’t too hungry, but took a granola bar from one of the kitchen cabinets to fill him up just in case.

Olivia still had her face buried in the small book, she remained quiet for the most part except for the occasional page flipping when she’d get stumped.

Jesse pressed his face against one of the long windows by the front door, looking out on the few small businesses across the street who mocked him. The two-storied black smith with a dark wooden overhang that shielded the furnaces and hanging tools from the sun, the cute little general store with flower pots hanging off the roof, and the worst one, the public library. It was the biggest building of the bunch, it was two stories, made up of primarily dark oak and cobblestone, and had large, white tinted windows that exposed bookshelves filled to the brim. Their two front doors had a sign hanging in the middle reading “Closed”.

Jesse squeezed his face against the window harder. Oh, how he’d love to dash outside, run into the library, and nab a book.

As much as Jesse didn’t want to, he started wondering about this universe’s Jesse. He originally had a theory that the roles had been reversed in this universe. Good guys were bad, and bad guys were good. But when he remembered Aiden being friends with the other Olivia, and there’s the fact the other Jesse used to be friends with them, caused his theory to crumble. Along with hearing bits of the world’s history, it was obvious this universe wouldn’t follow the “role reversal” formula.

‘This is a different universe,’ Jesse thought to himself, ‘Things are different. Things have changed. And there’s nothing I can do about it.’

Jesse sat on the couch and sunk into the cushion. Hopefully an idea to keep himself occupied would pop into his mind, but for now, there is nothing he can do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Jesse?” He heard Olivia’s voice, “Come on, sleeping beauty.” She shook Jesse harder.

Jesse shot up from the couch, had he dozed off? Was he that tired? Bored? He did feel more energetic than before, so maybe he needed the nap.

“What’s up?” Jesse asked with a yawn as he pushed the hair out of his eyes. He glanced out the window, the skies were still blue and the Sun was still up, but it had lowered notably.

Olivia was about to answer when they heard thumping from above them. Several footsteps could be heard on the second floor, slowly approaching the stairs, along with an array of mumbled voices. Jesse hopped off the couch and bounced in place, eagerly eyeing the stairs as the footsteps got louder and louder.

Finally Aiden came down.

“Woah.” Aiden blinked, “You two are up early.” He rubbed his face. He was wearing an oversized, long sleeved, green shirt as opposed to his usual, buttoned up green top Jesse was used to seeing. His pants looked the same as last night’s, a black pair of jeans. Did he sleep in them? That couldn’t have been comfortable.

“Yes, we found out there’s a time difference.” Said Stella, who followed behind. Unlike her drowsy friends, she appeared wide awake and prepared for the day, already dressed in her purple, thin striped suit top with long, striped pants to match. She had already put her makeup on as well, her face glowed.

“Uh-huh, Good morning!” Jesse paused to think, “... Afternoon? Uh… Good wake-up-ning!”

Jesse had never been more excited to see this particular group of people in his entire life. He had no idea what they planned out for today, but he was hoping it’d involve going outside. Even if it was a quick pit stop to the general store, anything was better than nothing.

Everyone scavenged the kitchen for a quick breakfast, most getting a granola bar and whatever fruit their eyes landed on; Aiden was brewing coffee. Cassie was hoarding the tupperware of butter cookies and shoving a few in her mouth, her eyes barely open.

“Don’t you think you should eat something more… Filling?” Jesse asked, watching Cassie with concern.

“My energy is sustained on Gill’s butter cookies at this point, you don’t get to criticize me.” Cassie grumbled angrily, pointing at Jesse with a cookie in her hand.

“Where’s Maya?” Asked Gill, taking a bite out of his bar as he looked around the room.

“She won’t be coming with us, her and Radar are staying here.”

“Oh no, Radar can’t come with us. Bummer.” You could practically feel the sarcasm in Cassie’s tone.

“What? What happened?” Gill looked at both Aiden and Stella.

Aiden went on to explain what took place early in the morning, how he was reading the journal from Hadrian’s and heard their door slammed open. When he--and Stella--had found Maya missing, they were about to search for her when she came rushing back in with a beaten Radar. That’s when they discovered that their Jesse was close.

Aiden also mentioned he found old crafting recipes in the journal, recipes for alternatives of flint and steel which must’ve been used to activate different portals. The main items they’d need would be iron, flint, netherrack, red stone, and gold. While he wasn’t certain either of these activators were used on the portal in the Shrine of Eyes, it’d be good to try.

Aiden carried on, “... It’d be hard to find these things on our own, so we’re going to Petra’s. If anyone would have weird items, it’d be her.”

“YES!” Jesse shot his arms up and surprised everyone with his unrestrained excitement. They were going out. HE was going out. Not only that, but he’d see the Petra in this universe!

“Jesse, I’m sorry, you can’t come with us. Neither can Olivia.” Stella told him, her brows creased.

Jesse’s arms fell back down, his smile dropped, and his head hung. Was his reaction a little overdramatic? Perhaps. He understood why he couldn’t be let out, the main concerns were him being mistaken for the other Jesse or running INTO the other Jesse. Neither would end well if they were to happen, but he was allowed to feel let down. Olivia came over to pat him on the back.

“Stella’s right, we can’t let you outside…” Aiden stared down at the moping Jesse. He breathed in, “... Without a disguise!”

Cassie Rose, Gill, Stella, Jesse, and Olivia all turned to him and, in unison, exclaimed “What?!”

“We have some spare clothes upstairs, you just need to hide your faces until we’re far enough from town, it’ll be like last night.” Aiden said.

Olivia looked baffled while Jesse was beaming. He bounced about, “Yes! Yes! Thank you! This is the BEST!”

“Maya and Radar are sleeping!” Stella shushed Jesse.

“Right, right, sorry!” Jesse responded back in a whisper.

Jesse didn’t know why he was so excited to be going out, maybe it’s because the sense of adventure--no matter how small--always felt thrilling, maybe his body yearned to move around without restrictions, who knows! Who cares! He’s going out!

He ran to the stairs with Olivia following behind, “I’ll meet you guys!”

Aiden was about to leave the kitchen when he was stopped by Stella, who pulled him back by the sleeve of his shirt. He turned around and faced her, Rose, and Gill.

“What are you thinking?” Stella asked, staggered by what she had witnessed.

“Yeah, you sure bout this?” Gill tilted his head.

“Yeah--Don’t worry, it’ll be alright. Just wanted to do something nice.” Aiden attempted to move past their concerns.

“That’s great and all, but be realistic.” Cassie said, pushing her glasses aside to rub her eyes.

“Exactly, what if a member from The Awakening sees us? Or our Jesse?” Stella said.

“That’s why they’re gonna wear disguises,” Aiden said, walking to the stairs, “and it’s early. Even if we did run into someone, there’d be six of us and one of them. Let’s get ready.”

The three went upstairs to get dressed, select a weapon for the road, and--no matter how unhappy they were with Aiden’s decision--helped Jesse and Olivia with hiding their identities.

Stella had an array of coats and jackets for a variety of occasions in her closet. For Olivia, she had selected an oversized, olive green jacket to hide the shape of her body. For her face, Cassie lent Olivia a dark gray hoodie to wear underneath the jacket. Olivia had to put her hair into a ponytail to allow the hood to cover her head completely.

For Jesse, they mostly needed to hide his top--specifically his red suspenders--and his hair. Aiden had fished out a black leather jacket with a silver zipper chain that popped out, and had managed to convince Rose to lend one of her beanies to them. Jesse took the time to carefully tuck the curls of his hair under the beanie to the best of his ability, though there were always a few strands that’d stick out no matter what he did.

He knew the beanie looked ridiculous on him, but the jacket made up for it. He thought he looked great in it. Jesse would occasionally imagine himself in a leather jacket, thinking he’d look good, and always seeing Lukas in his jacket made Jesse consider getting one of his own.

Lukas.

‘I wonder how he and the others are doing. We’ve been gone for over a day now, I wonder if they’ve noticed.’ Jesse thought to himself, staring at the floor.

“Hey, you ready?” Aiden asked, grabbing Jesse’s attention.

“Uh-huh!” Jesse nodded. He followed Aiden out the room and back downstairs where the others had gathered.

After everyone had quickly shared what they were taking along, Stella bringing her bow, Cassie had her axes, Gill was equipped with a sword and a few torches in case it got dark out, and Aiden was bringing a sword of his own, along with the journal so he wouldn’t forget the items.

Aiden opened the door and tilted his head outside, “Alright, let’s go.”

The walk through Obsidian Town was similar to Jesse and Olivia’s first experience, head down no matter what and moving at a fast pace. However, no one held Jesse’s hands together tightly or forced his head to stare at the floor, he felt more freedom than he did yesterday. And despite this being the time when everyone was asleep, Aiden, Gill, and the others stayed alert for any citizens who could be roaming around.

Aiden told the two of them when they’re far enough from the watchtowers of the town, Olivia and Jesse could look up and roam around. To get to Petra’s place, they’d have to walk through a forest which was located past the town, far right. Gill said the walk wouldn’t be too long.

Jesse watched the ground below him transition from the concrete road, to the creaking, wooden bridge, then finally, to the dirt path. Jesse felt someone grab onto his shoulders without warning and steer him into the right direction; he nearly tripped over the uneven path.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking, Aiden said “Coast is clear.”

Jesse lifted the beanie--which kept sliding down his face throughout the walk--and looked around. They were in the same field from yesterday, but this was his first time seeing it under the blue sky. The green of the tall blades of grass were far more brilliant compared to the evening’s, and the array of bold colored flowers could be spotted through the grass, miles and miles away.

Jesse turned to face Obsidian Town as they continued walking farther and farther from the main road, it appeared all the more dreary compared to its surroundings. It’s dark, obsidian border acted as a shield for the town and the people against the colorful, outside world. Who would want to stay cooped up in a town when the outside world is like this?

Olivia took her hood off--her hair flying about thanks to the static--and saw what laid ahead of them: A thick, vibrant forest with a hill behind it. She peered through the trees, the forest was devoid of sunlight. Compared to the rest of their environment, it appeared to have consumed and trapped darkness itself.

Most of the group was quiet, still drowsy from being awoken early.

“So,” Olivia said to no one specifically, “Petra doesn’t live in Obsidian Town but… By it?” She tilted her head.

“Yeah, not a people’s person.” Cassie replied, kicking around a small stone as she walked.

“Petra has a variety of items one would consider… Illegal. Items which she gets in… Illegal ways.” Stella added on, her nose scrunched. “Not that I mind! She’s not hurting anyone, but I’ve never been fond of her place. It’s so messy.”

Gill commented as well, “If she lived in town and kept doin’ her trades, she’d prolly get her stuff taken away. Or arrested. I think.”

“Oh!” Gill turned his head to Jesse and Olivia, “Do y’have a Petra where you’re from?”

The two of them lit up.

Olivia nodded, “Mm-hm, great friend of ours, actually!”

“Boy, do we have some stories.” Jesse chuckled.

Gill nodded, eager to hear. Cassie seemed interested as well, taking a few steps closer to listen in. Jesse was doing most of the talking, talking about the wither storm, the sickness Petra got, portal hopping, how amazing and loyal she was… Jesse could recall these times as if they happened yesterday, everything was extremely vivid. He could remember the emotions, the intensity, the pain of all those events, all the while Gill listened on in awe, his eyes sparkled as he imagined the events Jesse shared in great detail.

Olivia’s focus wandered elsewhere when she started thinking of Petra. She missed her. She missed her friends. It was unsettling only her and Jesse in this universe, she was so used to traveling in big groups. Yes, her and Jesse weren’t alone, there was Aiden, Cassie Rose, Gill, Maya, Stella… But she couldn’t find herself trusting them. They’re technically strangers. Not to mention the countless times she or Jesse would trust someone, only to be betrayed and find out everything they’ve learned was a lie. Olivia didn’t think Aiden and his friends were awful people, but she wasn’t ready to trust them completely. Not yet.

“Oh!” Jesse spoke up, pulling the beanie back, “Thanks again for letting me use you beanie, Ros--”

“Cassie.” Cassie Rose corrected him.

She shoved her hands into her hoodie’s pockets, “And, uh, no problem.” Despite being exhausted, she managed to give him a small grin.

Once the group reached the forest everyone spreaded out to give each other space as they walked along the wide trench, which was rather damp thanks to the trees shielding it from the sun. The trees--ranging from dark oak, birch, and spruce--had rather thick leaves, only allowing a few rays of the Sun to push its way through and barely illuminating their way. Aiden’s group didn’t worry too much about the barely lit trench, their destination was a straight walk through. The group would jump over any large, torn branches, rocks, or cracks in their way and step onto dead leaves too soaked to be crunched, and twigs too moist to be snapped by their weight.

The forest was a natural, chaotic mess. Trees would clash and twist into each other, vines would hang and create vague, human-like silhouettes, the grass was much longer and untamed compared to the field, the chirping of birds and bugs would blare from all around, and bits of the sky could be seen through the thick, tangled branches.

“Moon’s up early.” Aiden observed, looking up to catch a snippet of the pale, waning gibbous from a small clearing through the branches.

Olivia was grateful for Stella’s jacket, though it was on the thinner side, it protected her from the cold captured in the forest. She’d be cautious around the cracks in the ground, none were as deep or as intimidating as the ravines she saw before, but she didn’t want to tempt fate.

‘I can’t believe we’re out here.’ Olivia thought to herself, ‘What was Aiden thinking?’

Like Jesse, she too wanted to explore the outside world, but with another Jesse out there and a cult, what made him believe taking the two of them along to be a good idea? Her eyes would dart around, mistaking the silhouettes of fallen trees as people or a terrifying monster from the depths of her mind.

While Olivia stayed close to Aiden, Stella, Gill, and Cassie, Jesse was hopping about and picking up whatever rock, stick, or wild berry that caught his attention. He’d observe them in wonder before running to the next eye catching object.

“Are forests not a thing in your universe?” Cassie asked aloud while Jesse continued running about.

“No--I mean--Yes! This whole ‘alternate universe’ thing is finally kicking in!” Jesse said, picking up a stick by a large, dark oak tree and waving it about. The group slowed their walking to not leave Jesse too far behind.

“Look at this! It’s a different universe tree!” Jesse exclaimed, pointing at the old oak with the stick.

“Jesse, it’s still a tree.” Olivia said.

“A tree from another universe.” Jesse smiled playfully, he tossed the stick aside and reached for one of the many smooth stones on the ground, “Do you think I could take one of these back--”

His question was interrupted by a low rumble. The world began shaking. Jesse’s first instinct was to latch onto the tree with all his might. Olivia and Cassie went to nearby trees to grab on to, Aiden stood his ground while Stella held onto Gill’s arm.

‘Another quake?!’ Olivia gripped the thin, birch trunk tightly. The shaking wasn’t nearly as violent as it was last night, but her mind created visions of the cracks on the road opening up and consuming them all.

She squeezed her eyes shut, praying they’d be okay when suddenly… The shaking stopped.

Everyone stood still for a moment, making sure it was truly over.

“Early ‘n quick.” Gill commented. Stella nodded and let go of him.

He, Cassie, Stella, and Aiden continued their walk, talking amongst themselves like nothing had happened. Olivia and Jesse, on the other hand, held onto their trees for seconds longer, exchanging equally freaked out expressions before catching up with the group.

“... I’m telling you, gibbous’ are superior.” Stella was saying, “They may not look the best, but compared to the other phases…”

“Uhm, excuse me?” Olivia peeped, her eyes wide. The group kept talking.

“Dunno why you keep defendin’ that phase,” said Gill, “Quarter’s where it’s at.”

“Yes, but--”

“Excuse me!” Olivia raised her voice. Everyone turned to her as they kept walking.

Her face reddened and she glanced elsewhere, “Sorry--This may sound ridiculous but… Are tremors common here?”

“What?” Stella’s mouth hung open, “Are those not normal for you two?”

Jesse shook his head, “I don’t remember the last time we had an earthquake.”

Cassie rolled her head back, “Ugh, lucky. I’d kill to have a month without a stupid quake.”

“They happen weekly,” Gill said, “Like two or three times a week. They’re usually not too bad, just part of life.”

“Olivia,” Stella spun around to face her, walking backwards, “you remember back at the library with Logan? Him warning us about the full moon?”

“Yes?” Olivia thought back to what happened yesterday, how an intense shake came out of nowhere and--despite Olivia nearly falling--the girls had shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

“Well, quakes are the absolute worst during the Full Moons and New Moons. They’re longer, more violent… Overall unpleasant.” Stella rolled her eyes, annoyed.

Cassie cleared her throat and added onto Stella’s statement, “I think you mean ‘the scary open eye’.”

Stella threw her head back dramatically with the back of her hand on her forehead, “Oh, how uncultured of me! Of course! I can’t disrespect the ‘opened eye’, or the terrifying, ominous ‘closed eye’!”

The two girls laughed.

“HEY.” Gill shouted with a serious tone wearing an equally serious expression, both the girls--even Aiden--turned to him, surprised by his reaction.

“This stuff’s serious…” A grin crept across his face, “The spooky blind man might getcha.”

“You had me for a second.” Cassie let out a sigh before chuckling at Gill’s words. Aiden shook his head and smiled.

Olivia turned to Jesse, relieved to see him as confused as she was. He stared at the three laughing, trying to figure out what to ask and how to word it.

“I’m sorry… Eyes?” Jesse questioned.

Stella’s laughter dwindled and looked back at Jesse, “Oh, right! You… It’s safe to assume you don’t have a cult where you’re from, right?”

Olivia and Jesse shook their heads.

“Well, there’s quite the history behind calling the phases of the moon ‘Eyes’, but I’ll do my best to simplify it. You see, The Hero’s Awakening has been around for many, MANY years, so they’ve made quite an impact on our world. One of these is with the moon.” Stella gazed up to the sky.

“The Awakening worships The Hero, someone who is supposedly capable of committing terrible acts and has no eyes. When the moon is full, it’s referred to as the ‘Opened Eye’, since it… Well, looks similar to The Hero’s eyes. ‘Opened Eye’ means that he is watching us all, and the horrendous quake is his attempt to destroy and wipe us out. A ‘Closed Eye’ is, well, The Hero’s eyes are closed. His wrath is raw and the quake will be even more ferocious.”

Jesse nodded along, absolutely fascinated yet frightened by what he was hearing.

“A few questions: Is The Hero real and do we need to worry about him?”

If this man was real, then he’d be added to the already long list of “Things to be afraid of in this different universe”.

“His true name is ‘Herobrine’,” Stella started, “but he’s called The Hero to fit into The Awakening’s stupid narritive. There are many reasons to doubt his existence. Honestly, the cult itself is a much bigger threat than their imaginary friend.”

Olivia began thinking back to her book and it’s missing pages. She wondered how The Hero had been around, and if he happened to have any influence on the events she had read. While she pondered a variety of theories, Jesse didn’t want to leave the conversation one sided, he wanted to contribute somehow.

“In our universe, we had someone sorta similar to The Hero. He called himself the Admin…”

Cassie Rose watched Jesse share his story for a couple of minutes before catching up with Aiden. She stared at the path ahead of her and could see the wide, manmade entrance of the hill surrounded by jumbled vines, and a lit torch placed beside the ‘doorway’ which illuminated a fraction of the cave-like interior. The exposed stone stood out from most of the hill’s grassy exterior.

“I can’t believe we have two Jesse’s now.” She muttered.

Aiden glanced at her, “We’ll get them home as fast as we can, don’--Shoot!”

“Hey Jesse!” Aiden said. Jesse’s tale came to a halt and he, Olivia, and Stella brought their attention to Aiden.

“I just remembered, we’re gonna have to call you something else. You know, prevent any confusion. How does…” Aiden thought for a moment, “Does ‘Jess’ sound good?”

Jess smiled, “Works for me!”

Their walking started to slow and came to a complete stop when they reached the front of the hill. Besides the torch, Olivia saw no signs of anyone inhabiting the cave she stared into. She looked up and spotted another small entrance on the side of the hill, and-- like the cave in front of them--its shape seemed too… Geometric to have happened naturally.

Aiden’s hand went through the entrance and knocked a few times against the stone wall. The noise started loud, bouncing around the walls before dwindling and fading back to silence.

“Who is it?” A tired but familiar voice asked, also echoing.

He stuck his head in and raised his voice, “Aiden. With friends.”

“Alright. You know where I am.” She replied.

Aiden tilted his head towards the cave, motioning for everyone to follow. Jess was behind Aiden and Gill was behind Jess; Jess wasn’t able to see how far Olivia was from him.

Upon stepping foot into the cave, one thought immediately came to Jess’ head, ‘Man, it is dark in here.’

The only light source, besides what little sunlight managed to make its way in, was a single torch placed on the far opposite end of the entrance, barely providing any help. Jess stuck his hands out, hoping he’d be able to feel around and not run into anything. He could barely make out who or what was in front of him.

He could hear people’s breathing, their steps, the water dripping from the ceiling of the cave, being quiet here was impossible.

Another feature of this cave was how cold it was, even with the leather jacket on he felt chills running throughout his body. He felt his hands make contact with the surprisingly smooth, freezing stone walls, which were closing in on them more as they continued walking--to the point where Jess could hardly extend his arms out anymore--forcing the group to follow a riggidy, zig-zag path. His fingers would occasionally collide with the thin streams of water trickling down, making him shudder.

Olivia was pressed between Stella and Cassie, she had zipped up her jacket to preserve as much warmth as possible. Olivia could feel the discomfort in Cassie’s murmurs about how she wished they had taken the other entrance. Olivia wondered if this ‘other entrance’ had a more spacious walking path than the one they were taking, she wasn’t thrilled about the limited space and borderline blindness this place provided.

Despite the tight squeeze, everyone was moving at a decent pace. As they strayed further and further from the opening, both Jess and Olivia were getting worried Aiden had no idea where he was going, and they’d all get lost or have to turn back

Jess tried his best to peek over Aiden, to see what sort of progress was being made, and his eyes instantly landed on thin rays of golden light coming from the right side of the cave’s wall. He concentrated, staring harder to see what could be the source of said-light, and was soon able to make out an old, mossy, dark brown door with vines hanging in front of it. Had it not been for the light, the door could have been easily missed.

Jess could no longer hear Aiden’s footsteps, he took it as a sign to stop walking. Shortly after Jess stood still, everyone else stopped as well.

Jess heard a clicking sound echo, followed by an ear piercing creak. Suddenly, the golden light flooded in and lit up the entire cave, Jesse squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He’d have to enter the room the door led to soon, he couldn’t keep his eyes closed forever. He cracked one open, adjusting to the brightness, then opened the other. The light honestly wasn’t as intense as he thought it was. The light was a deep, welcoming golden-yellow with flecks glistening in the air.

Aiden pushed aside the vines and squeezed through the door. Everyone followed in, one after another.

Olivia’s eyes widened when she walked into the ‘room’, which was a portion of the hill hollowed out and decorated with all sorts of items. Lanterns hung from the high ceiling by thick ropes, giving the area a golden hue. There were no flames in them, however, but dust. Glowstone dust.

The walls had blocky ledges which held up chests, crafting tables, anvils, and somewhere, a jukebox playing a tune of low chimes with a consistent beat.

Standing tall on the opposite side of the group was a deactivated Nether portal, which sat upon a mossy stone base. On the left side of the portal were cracked nether bricks, and on the right, blocks of diamonds that had seen better days. Both of these were constructed in a shape nearly identical to the Nether Portal. Resting by these structures was a skull too large to be human’s, it had a white coat of paint with little bits chipped off.

Chests were lined up against walls, others could be seen beside staircases, others were on staircases, some were on top of other chests, there was no rhyme nor reason to their placements.

Olivia noticed there were several different--probably equally messy--rooms the area branched off into, each with their own staircases. There were a few rooms built high up into the walls, which were connected to the main stone floor with long, uneven stairs held up by sloppily constructed poles of wood. It was a miracle they hadn’t collapsed yet.

It was amazing how such a spacious place could feel so cluttered.

“Some place…” Jess whispered to Olivia.

“You’re telling me.”

“Could you imagine if Axel was here?” Jess chuckled, “He’d love this.”

“Oh, I ran into Axel at the library!” Olivia remembered.

Jess’ eyes brightened, “Seriously?!”

“Comin’.” Petra’s voice came from one of the higher rooms. She hopped out of the gaping hole and ran down a couple of steps from the dangerous staircase before leaping off the side nonchalantly.

Petra held onto a sleek, diamond pickaxe with one hand while brushing herself off with the other. She pulled her black and gray striped bandana back into place with her other arm, which had a bandage wrapped tightly around it. Another bandaged was seen on her left leg below her torn, dark gray shorts as she headed towards the group. Her boots were worn down, gray, and had two straps securing their place.

“Hey guys,” Petra glanced up, “Hey Rose. What do you ne-- Woah.” Her eyes locked onto Olivia and widened.

She pointed at Olivia with her pickaxe, “Aren’t you… Supposed to be dead?”

“She was--she is! It’s…” Aiden paused, “We need your help.”

Aiden, with the help of Cassie Rose, Stella, and Gill, and with the confirmations from Jess and Olivia, caught Petra up on what had happened. Petra listened carefully, resting her arm on the head of her pickaxe as she nodded along.

“So lemme get this straight…” She started, straightening herself up and adjusting her black vest with dark yellow lining at its end and collar. She wore a blue and light gray striped shirt underneath.

“Some crazy portal to another universe opens up,” She pointed at Jess and Olivia, “These two pop out… And your first conclusion is that I’m somehow responsible for it.”

“No, no, no! Not at all! We needed to see if you had any specific items.” Stella assured her. Petra still didn’t seem convinced.

“Petra, we’re not accusing you of taking part of this.” Aiden said, “Maybe you sold materials to someone who ended up activating the portal. I know you’ve had to deal with creeps before.”

Petra glared at Jess, “How do we know he’s telling the truth?”

Aiden pushed Jess in front of her, “Say whatever’s on your mind, Jess.”

Jess turned to Aiden then back to Petra. He cleared his throat.

“Hi, I’m Jesse--Jess--and, uh… It’s real great to meet an alternate Petra…” He wasn’t good at forcing a conversation out. He glanced around the cave to spark an idea of what to talk about.

“I am absolutely loving this place, the hanging bottles, the chests everywhere... “ Something inside of him clicked and got the ball rolling, “Do you like treasure hunting? Our Petra LOVES treasure hunting, everytime we’re adventuring she’s all excited for what we’ll find! Oh, like this one time, we entered a--”

“Stop.” Petra put her finger in front of his face, silencing him. “You’re too cheerful. I’ll believe you if… You tell me what Stella’s like in your universe.”

“Stella?” Jess glanced at the woman in question, who wore a puzzled expression as well. “Well, we aren’t too close… She ran Champion City, mostly acts real high and mighty, always wants to be in charge, that’s the most that comes to mind.”

“Oh, so nothing’s changed?” Petra said with a straight face.

Cassie failed at holding back her laughter as she hunched over with her hands covering her mouth. Aiden and Gill did a far better job at hiding their smirks from their friend. Petra grinned at Cassie Rose’s reaction.

“Excuse me!?” Stella’s face reddened. She whipped her head over to Cassie, “Do you really think I’m like that?!”

“No--no, it’s just--” Cassie kept covering her face, “Just the way she said it--I love you Stella, I swear, I swear I’m just--” She said through chuckles.

“Okay, jokes aside…” Aiden said, wanting to get back on topic, “Did you deal with anyone who looked even a little suspicious? We need to get these two home.”

Petra stared for a moment longer before glancing at Jess and Olivia. She sucked in air through her teeth and folded her arms, “There was… One guy who kinda weirded me out.”

“I’ve never seen him before, but he told me a friend had sent him. He was a big guy, looked harmless enough. He was rreeealll antsy about getting his hands on some redstone and gold.” Petra began making her way to one of the many chests lined up against the wall, her pickaxe over her shoulder.

Aiden cursed to himself as he took out the journal, flipping through the pages to find the crafting recipes. Those were a part of the materials they needed.

“Do you have any left?” Gill asked as Aiden continued searching.

Petra opened the chest and dug through it, “Nope. They took the whole stock. He sure was loaded…” She mumbled the last part to herself.

Cassie recalled the other items, she stood back up and pushed up her glasses, “What about iron or netherrack? Any of those?”

“Actually--Huh.” Petra pulled out a porkchop from the chest, “I didn’t know that was in there. Anyways...” She shoved it into her mouth. Stella repressed the urge to hurl.

“The guy did take a bunch of iron but I might have a few pieces left.” Petra closed the chest, moved over to the next one, dug around, and when she couldn’t find what she was looking for, moved on to the next. She’d grab nearby jars and used their light to help her search through the chests’ dark insides.

Stella placed her hands on her hips as she watched Petra search, “This place is so chaotic. I need to come over one day and help you reorganize everything, maybe label some chests, rearrange your rooms…”

“No. No way. This is organized chaos. I know where everything is--Found ‘em!” Petra pulled out a few bars of iron along with chunks of netherrack. She tossed them over to Gill, who quickly snatched them from the air and held onto them tightly.

“You better be smart with how you use that netherrack,” Petra said, “I might like the Nether, but it is Hell to deal with. I don’t wanna be jumping in and out of there cause you keep messin’ up your crafting.”

“What about the redstone or gold? How soon could you get those?” Aiden asked, looking up from the journal.

“Oh jeez…” Petra scratched her face and thought, “If I’m really lucky, then maybe a week? Stuff’s not easy to find.”

Aiden let out a sigh, “No--yeah, I understand. Thanks.” He closed the journal, “What do we owe you?”

“Nothin’. Friend discount.” Petra gave them a smile, “When I find the other materials, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The walk back to Obsidian Town was nice, the sky was still blue but the Sun was nearing the horizon. Jess was grateful to see natural light and feel warmth again, while Olivia was thankful she didn’t have to walk through the tight walls of the cave ever again.

Everyone was talking to one another about different topics. Olivia and Jess were excitedly discussing Petra and her home, Stella and Aiden were figuring out what to do about the missing materials, and Cassie and Gill were exchanging past experiences with Petra.

Of course, once they got near the town, Olivia and Jess hid their faces and looked down. More people were up and walking about, so Aiden and the others stayed close to hide the two the best they could.

Once they reached the house, Maya opened the door and gave them a tired ‘Welcome back’.

They all poured into the house, laying on the couches, stretching, or going into the kitchen in search for another breakfast.

“Radar still asleep?” Aiden asked, sitting on one of the stools by the bar.

Maya shook her head, “Took him back to his place. He’ll be okay.”

She was about to ask how everything went with Petra when she suddenly remembered something.

She huffed, “Shoot. Left his board back in my room.”

“Don’t worry.” Aiden scanned around the room, “Hey Jess!” He called.

“Yeah?” Jess was sprawled out on one of the couches.

“Radar left his clipboard in Maya’s room, think you could get it?” Aiden needed to catch Maya up on what had happened, and Jess was the first person his eyes landed on.

“You got it!” Jess stood up and stretched his legs before running to the stairs.

When he reached the second floor, he stopped to think. He didn’t remember which room was Maya’s… But he did remember her room was in the left hallway on the left side.

‘There’s three doors on the left side. Guess I’ll quickly look in each one and see if I spot it.’ Jess approached the first door and opened it. He popped his head into the room and scanned it. A green messy bed, a neatly done red bed, a really cluttered desk and…

‘Hey! Is that…?’ Jess slipped in and walked up to a relatively tidy bookshelf where Olivia’s hat laid.

He picked up the hat, ‘So that’s where you’ve been.’

Jess saw something reflecting the Sun’s light from the corner of his eye, he shifted his head down and saw a pair of thick, bulky, gray goggles which rested atop a brown, leather journal. He placed the hat down and carefully lifted up the goggles. They had a thin layer of dust on them and looked fragile.

The goggles sort of reminded him of Lukas’. Jess started getting curious about the journal and moved it closer, only to reveal a piece of paper underneath it.

Aiden came rushing upstairs and skidded to a halt when he saw Jess.

“I just remembered you have no idea where anything is,” Aiden chuckled, “Sorry about…” His smile faded as he stared at the back of Jess.

“Aiden?” Jess asked, “What is this?”

Jess turned around, and in his hands he held a picture of a brightly smiling Lukas with bold words below it reading “MISSING”.

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magicb0x300 · 5 years ago

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MCSM: Warmth~ (a Jesse x Aiden Holiday Fic!)

Aiden watched as the snowflakes gently fell and melt in the ground, a few already settled in his dark brown locks.

It was a calm, snowy evening, and everyone was putting up colorful decorations for a particular, special day; Christmas.

Aiden gazed at all the lights and decorations littering people’s houses, his pine green eyes lighting up at how beautiful and warm the colors were.

His lips quirked into a fond smirk; this was the first time he’s seen so many lights! It was all so new to him.

Aiden was so lost in the town’s scenery, he was not aware on what was in front of him.

The dark chocolate haired man ran into someone, stumbling back. “W - whoa!” he gasped, trying to regain his ground.

“Hey!” the stranger yelled, whipping around to face him. They did not seem happy.

Aiden stuttered, trying to squeak out an apology, but the words caught in his throat. “I -,” was all he could manage.

“Watch where you’re going, boy!” the person demanded, voice gruff and forward.

“I - I’m so sorry, sir - I wasn’t -,” he was cut off by the man.

“Hey. You’re that scrub who destroyed that city in the sky!” the man squawked, drawing a soft gasp from the younger male, “why the hell are you not behind bars?”

Aiden felt a lump form in his throat, “I - I was, but I - I,” he whimpered, regret from that very day slamming onto the poor boy’s shoulders.

“I don’t wanna hear it. Countless lives ended because of your ignorance and greed. There’s no excuse for that,” the elder man growled, “you’re a disgrace to man - kind, boy. You don’t deserve to be free. Hell, you should’ve just stayed in prison.”

Aiden sunk his teeth into his bottom lip, the sting in his eyes verifying the tears yet to come. “ I... “ he whimpered, legs beginning to shake before him.

“You don’t belong here.”

Aiden couldn’t hold back the tears any longer; he let the dam break.

The poor boy sunk to his knees, covering his eyes with a sleeved arm.

The man had already trudged away, leaving Aiden broken, and ashamed on the cold, icy ground.

The people around him glared, frowned or paid no mind. They knew, they all knew. It was all his fault, his doing, his choice.

Oh, how he wished he could go back and change it all.

Jesse’s hands were holding bags filled with gifts for his friends. Said hands were growing numb from the cold air, but he could care less. His heart was full of warmth and joy, the cold air was no obstacle for him.

As he got further down the path of the colorful and festive town, he happened to bump into a stranger. “Sorry, sir!” he said, smiling apologetically.

The guy huffed and waved him off, “nah, don’t be sorry, boy. At least you’re not as monstrous and horrible as that other boy,” he said, shuffling away with haste.

Other boy? Jesse’s brows slightly creased; what did that guy mean?

With a small shrug, Jesse trudged on, smiling at passerby. The town looked so lively today, it honestly made Jesse feel like a kid again.

What sadness could be lurking about on such a joyous day?

Soft sniffles up ahead caught Jesse’s attention, and he found himself staring ahead at a crumpled figure on the ground. The brunette frowned in an instant, his steps becoming hasty.

“Hey,” he softly greeted, earning a shaky intake of air from the other.

The crying male turned his head, glazed over eyes widening. Jesse’s own eyes fluttered in surprise, “Aiden?”

“J - Jesse?” the other croaked, wiping his eyes with the palm of his hand, “ what are you -” he whined, “what are you doing here?”

Instead of answering, Jesse set down his filled shopping bags, and held out his hand. Aiden looked at said hand. He tore away his gaze, looking down, “just leave me here, Jesse. Nobody should assist... a - a criminal,” he whimpered.

Jesse frowned, and kneeled down, pressing a finger under Aiden’s chin. He lifted it gently, Aiden’s eyes shining with tears.

“You’re not a criminal. You are reformed, and forgiven by many,” he assured, “you’re not the bad guy anymore,” he added. “C’mon, let’s get out of the cold.”

Aiden sniffled, “but - no, Jesse - I’m not -” he sobbed, “I’m horrible.”

Jesse sighed, turning his attention to the shopping bags beside him. Smiling softly, he dug through a bag, pulling out a soft, teal scarf littered with white dots.

He wrapped it around Aiden’s neck with care, chuckling at how cute it looked on the latter. Aiden’s cheeks lit up a bright pink, the shade growing darker as Jesse interlocked their hands together.

With ease, he lifted the both of them to their feet. Aiden continued to stare at Jesse in awe, eyes practically glowing with admiration for this wonderful man in front of him.

He felt... warm. Jesse made him feel warm, happy, awestruck and pure.

“Jesse,” he whispered, body falling into a pit of bliss as the other pressed his soft, warm lips against his own chapped ones.

The kiss lasted for a minute, both men pulling away with hesitation. Aiden was at a loss for words, his lips tingling from the attention that was given to them.

Jesse had kissed him.

The hero of the entire world had kissed him.

It felt so surreal, so magical...

Aiden blinked, his entire face a bright hue of pink. Jesse chuckled, “you alright there, bud?” he asked, his voice sending vibrations down the other’s spine.

The dark haired boy nodded, arms semi-consciously wrapping around the brunette’s neck. The regret he had felt was washed away by Jesse’s waves of compassion, replaced with sweet relief and assurance.

After what seemed like hours in each other’s arms, Jesse broke the silence.

“I’m making gingerbread cookies at home. Would you like to help me with that, Aiden?” he asked, rubbing the latter’s back.

Aiden nodded against Jesse’s neck, his lips softly pressing against its warm flesh.

The brunette smiled, “then let’s get going,” he whispered, “I’ll even have you lick the spoon,” he added with a wink.

Aiden snorted, nudging Jesse slightly with his shoulder.

The former snickered, sighing with content as they made their way home, hands held, “Merry Christmas, Aiden,” he cooed.

“Merry Christmas, Jesse,” the other replied, voice shy and quiet, yet filled with so much joy.

They were both filled with joy.

And that’s what Christmas was all about.

Joy and warmth.

#mcsm #mcsm aiden #mcsm jesse #minecraft story mode #mcsm aidesse #aidesse #Christmas fic!!#:D!!#more to come~

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thelapismoon · 7 years ago

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MCSM S2 E4 Commentary

Wow I have forgotten what this episode even was about. *whispers* I actually never finished watching a playthrough so I guess I'll see some knew stuff. Heh. I'm scared. I managed to get changed, get my food, update my tumblr, and this thing is only 55% complete. HOW LONG IS THIS EPISODE?

Quite funny that I've already said this much stuff and the episode hasn't even completed downloading. I wonder who actually ever reads this? Sorry about not writing my commentary for the last episode. I just didn't want to stop the episode every three seconds to write. Speaking of that, I might just paused every ten minutes to write. Huh. Thank god it's at 83%. I'm worried. This soundtrack, oml. It's finally done downloading. See you on the other side. Is Radar the narrator now? Admin, Admin, let me like you. I want more Warden interactions. Oh look at this awful frame rate- that's my fault Wait I forgot that I gave in and became a guard. Nurm, I love you. Warden didn't deserve to die. This lighting tho. 10/10. Radar, if you're trying to make me feel bad, it's not working. Nurmie-hurmie, I could never leave you behind, dear. Please don't hurt Xara, telltale. That facial expression. NGHHH FEELS. *singing* Holy shiet. Radar you better be careful because I won't hesitate. Nurm can I hug you? I feel like if that was actual minecraft logic, that jump would've killed us. ITS H I M I love this music, reminds me of some old western but.. dorky. Baby zombie. Tag urself, I'm Xara. NURM. Don't cry.. Let me wipe the tears away, you poor soul. Nghh Jack and Nurm are a perfect couple. If something happens to EITHER of them, I'm gonna throw some hands. You sure that isn't just a carpet..? I haven't played minecraft in like three years so.. Poor Xara. Wtf is wrong with you guys?! Um... NO I DO CARE!! Can I lay down next to you? Well.. Bye? OH NO I SUCK AT FIGHTING. Oh my gosh, this is the first time I survived in one try. Yees. R A D A R. I swear to Persson... Hm. NGHHHH I'm only going to do this because if I don't, Nurm is gonna cry. And I refuse to let. Nurm. Cry. Argh. You're all ungrateful swines. Who is that? Hm. I want to draw her. OH shoot my iPad is at 5% power. "1 night in Fred's house"? That sounds extremely CONVENIENT. Hello, Binta. You look... Nice. *cough* Everyone here seems.. Off. Oh hi Kent. Bye Kent. Gonna just... Slowly walk away. Lapis blue..? *cackles because you must know by now* Wow, good job, Jesse. You just ruined the moment. Can't wait for that to be a running gag no one will stop talking about for two weeks. *sigh* I can't stop thinking about Star Wars right now... Ngh.. F o c u s. Wow I'm actually really proud of this. Oh look, I won. Well now I feel bad. Me and my darn feelings.. WAIT THEY WERE PRETTY CAN I- Argh. I don't like these people. <<nothing much until the Ivor fight because there wasn't much to say>> Doodle doodle doo everything is nice and calm POTION. NGHHHH!!! Oh shiet I don't have a sword. I have a feeling I know who it is <<well of course I do>> Welp, honey, If you gotta kill me, at least I'll know my favorite character of all time did it to me. Hope this stains your conscious, Ivor. Ivor, my love, you're back! <<me the first time I saw him, YES. OH MY GOD. YES. YES!!! HES BACK! HES BACK! ARGHHHH! HES BACK! AHAAAA!>> My sweet alchemist, let me hug you on behalf of my friend and just because I love you so very much. I totally wasn't writing fanfiction about you two hours ago :,)) AGHHH. Ivor, can I just hug you for the rest of eternity? Oh my god I think I'm going to start crying. He looks... Slightly off... CAN YOU HEAR THAT? THOSE CHORDS!!! Those are IVOR'S theme. ACK I love him. Oh wait yeh, ninja, I have questions... Shiet, Ivor. You punched a forest worth of trees? Add that to my scar-headcanon-list. I can't believe they made Ivor the karate kid When his voice gets really deep and husky oh my lord... You know who I'm thinking of.. *looks at you Zoe* Can I hug you? Sweet old man I love you. Harper? Where IS Harper? *hack* where is Soren also? Mmmmm I'm getting all these good vibes now I gotta drop some stuff in the Ivor askbox once I'm done. Darn I wanted the old order to come back :( If Ivor.. shows some type of question of authority towards the admin... Oh my.. "Disappear", hm? Wait.. Okay Ivor's voice ;v; What if Ivor actually killed Jesse? I'd like to read a fic about THAT. Ivor is whispering, I can hug him, he's being witty! everything I could ever want is happening. Ivor's voice lines are my Christmas present. I love you, Ivor. Oh my gosh he looks so short next to Petra. NO DONT GO. Actually. Wait. DO go, If the admin suspects anything of you or even dares to TOUCH you, I will lose my god dang m i n d Ivor Ivor Ivor. Farewell, my beloved... Okay I'm sorry you all had to see that. I thought I had hallucinated ninja Ivor at first tbh. Well now what? I don't even really wanna play after that.. Argh, I gotta finish this or else I won't be able to play the new episode tomorrow. Stay strong, Lapis. Weren't these two people based off of the great British baking show hosts? I love that show. And now I'm craving cake. Ugh I don't wanna fight in there, don't you know that I suck at fighting? Argh. I wanna read some fic now. Horrifying, hm? I know exactly what I'm gonna do... Okay well that was definitely PG-13 We're gonna forget that ever happened. Heh. *coughs* Hmm.. I'm gonna choose "please don't hit me". RADAR! PUT A SHIRT ON! You're a CHild! Well I just deleted all of the commentary after this so.. *insert distant screeching* Ooo Radar's feet I feel mildly bad about that.. LEVEL SIX HUNDRED?! Boy I don't have TIME for that! Wait WHAT?! Sweet J E S U S. AAA WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!! *panicked screaming* Aaaaaand now I'm dead. Darn. Okay... Oh my gosh that golemn death scene! I smell some foreshadowing.. Romeo.. Death by water? I should keep my mouth shut. That was sick, man. There's MORE?! That's it, I want this to END. Wow that attention to detail.. Me and my darn Romeo-loving-heart. There has to be SOME type of redemption. They could do so much with him... Tbh my friends think I'm crazy because of how I like Romeo but ARGH I like villains, okay?! "Just kids" just started playing INSIDE THE CABIN and now I wanna flip onto Romeo's bed and cry. NGHHH MY FEELS!!!!!!!!!! The music just synced up perfectly. *sigh* I relate to Petra too much.. I want to burst out crying now, this hit too close to home! Petra has never been my favorite character but I can relate to her on a spiritual level. Man I came to have a good time and now I'm feeling personally attacked. AND THIS SAD MUSIC ISN'T HELPING Potato451? Hmm Potato backwards is Otatop. Top? Ota.. Obsidian? Top? The top? Top of the world? The sky? I'm probably taking this way too outta context. OUCH. ma feels. ... Just kids. IS SHE CRYING?! OH MY GOD CAN I ALSO CRY???? Wait this is changing my story? Oh god what have I done? <<later>> Hello, Xara, darling. What exactly did she "repair"? Have a bed, forget my hypocrisy. Wait.. where did she go? FIGHTING argh. Wow I'm alive. Hey Jack. Oh yeh I was gonna go back and save his eye. ..can I do that? I hope that wouldn't corrupt my save file. Okay.. Oh no radar or Fred's people? Radar... I'll see you on the other side. I have a bad feeling about leaving him. But it's his time to shine, and I won't take it from him. The order's temple.. WHO DARES GIVE ME THESE F E E L S?! Nurm just jumped into Jack's arms, everything is going swell- *sees Beacontown* Oh fuuuuu WAIT NO DONT YOU DARE CUT OFF RIGHT NOW!!! Oh my gosh it's Jack's lament. 50% 50% on the scavenger deal, hm. 51% won? That contest was easy. 32% promised to stay with Petra 50% on giving Xara her bed 51% took Fred's friends MMM JACK YOUR BEAUTIFUL VOICE. I listen to that song everyday. LUKAS NOOOOOOO N O NOPE NOOOOOOOOOO LUKASSSSSSSSSSS ARGHHHHHGHHHHHHG I'm lucky that the next episode comes out in 22 hours, wow I'm late. Toodle loo until tomorrow, dears!

#mcsm #minecraft story mode #excuse me I'm gonna go cry now #lapis talks

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lukasdoodles · 3 months ago

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Wanted to doodle out a bit more of the story! Changes will be made as necessary but this is pretty much canon for them ;)

Short story below VV

"Come on! We have to get a move-on to stay on schedule!"

Jesse smiles as Olivia drags him and Axel along, her enthusiasm never waning. Axel pulls her back, stopping her and Jesse for a quick moment before speaking.

"Calm down, Liv. We have more than enough time." He pats the their backs, getting a huff from Olivia and a childish grin from Jesse, "Why don't we sit and chat for a sec?"

The confidence in Axel's tone makes Jesse listen, a want for familiarity blossoming in his chest. The feeling only grows as Olivia argues back, hearing the two banter reminding him of the past.

"Axel, you and I know very well - we don't have time to sit and idle by. I'm sorry, but we have to go!" Olivia's stubborn tone makes Axel grin, finally relenting as he agrees to get on with the day.

"Ok, I gotcha, Liv."

The two glance at Jesse, sharing a look. There's worry evident in their expressions as Olivia addresses him.

"Jesse, will you be alright on your own for a few hours?"

He nods.

Olivia seems relieved, yet still concerned as she continues, "Ok, we'll be back in a bit! Take it easy, and come find us if-"

"He's not a baby, Liv." Axel cuts her off, "You wanted to get going, so let's go." He gives Jesse a wink, nodding at him, before he begins to drag Olivia away. Jesse slides down a beam, slowly curling into a seated position as he watches the two walk off. Parts of their conversation are just barely audible, but he still manages to make out the concern in their tones.

Olivia glances back - receiving a smile and a wave. Some of the worry seems to ease off her shoulders, as she waves back, and goes on her way.

The floor is cold. As it should be- the mall was always a bit on the chilly side when they'd come explore it as rowdy teenagers and young adults. Jesse glances around, taking in the sights - even though it's the middle of the day, most of the stores are closed, lights turned off and gates pulled down. The beam he's leaning on is cracked, a remnant of a fight, perhaps? He'll be sure to ask about it later, when he also asks about the decorative plants that have seemingly began to wither. A frown slowly creeps across his lips as he wonders what could've happened in the time he was away- a short trip- his hometown changed so severely.

Jesse is almost lost in thought when the sound of rubber slapping against tile takes him out of his own head. He glances up just in time to meet eyes with a somewhat familiar blond.

The man smiles at him, a single word echoing past his lips.

"Hey."

He crouches, eyes squinting curiously as he examines Jesse. Jesse returns the favor, somewhat, as he tilts his head forward.

"You're Jesse, right?" The man asks, his squint relenting into a playful gaze.

"I heard your friends brought you here. I'm Lukas."

Lukas chuckles nervously as Jesse stares back at him, silent as ever. It's been a few days since Olivia and Axel found him, some friend that went missing a few years before the apocalypse began.

Curious. They've all been through a lot. He wonders, what gives Jesse the right to garner all this sympathy? What did he do to be such a shut in?

Lukas smirks, "Sorry if i sound rude-" He glances down at Jesse, the scarf that Olivia used to wear now proudly wrapped around his neck, his spare clothes they scrounged up for him hanging loosely from Jesse's form.

"But you haven't said a word since you arrived. I'm just curious- how'd they find you?" How'd they find you alive? The unspoken question lingers after Lukas's words.

"What's your story?"

#minecraft story mode #mcsm #mcsm zombie apocalypse au #mcsm home sweet home #mcsm axel #mcsm olivia #mcsm jesse #mcsm lukas #lore (this one is canon!) more will be explained in time lol

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silversilence14 · 8 years ago

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MCSM: Immortal’s Child

Chapter 8 : Through the Woods

"You didn't exactly explain why you were up in the spider's nest?" Petra asked.

Steve was kneeled at her feet. "Didn't have time I suppose."

True to his words, Steve had led Lukas and Petra out of the spider's lair. It was a relief to be out of the foggy nightmare. Once they broke out of the dead ravine, the forest opened up into large quiet redwoods. There had been a cave on the other side, where the weakening rapids joined the rest of the river down a straight and calm path.

Jesse would have come through here.

Steve made them stop shortly after escaping the nest, despite their objections. He checked to make sure Lukas hadn't been poisoned, but the blonde merely suffered scrapes and bruises. Steve had quickly put some antiseptic on his arrow wound and gave Lukas a bandage to patch with. He now kneeled on mossy ground, reinforcing Petra's wrapped foot with splint.

"I was down here fishing," Steve explained, "When a spider stole my fish and my pole. I chased into the nest, but that big guy back there beat me to it. I was waiting for it to go back into its cave for a nap, when your friend over here came tumbling in."

Petra noticed Lukas flush.

"Did you seriously not know that was a nest? The Perpes River has been their home for centuries."

Petra twisted her fingers into the grass, "We've...never been here before."

"So you said you were from the other side of Adamans?"

Lukas froze, and Petra hesitated.

Clearly suspicious by their lack of answer, but very patient all the same; Steve jabbed his head, "The mountain range?"

"Yes." Petra quickly replied.

"Interesting, what brings you over here?" he finished his work and leaned back on his heels.

"Um-"

"Adventure," Lukas cut in, "To explore the unknown."

Steve let out a soft smile, for a moment there was a longing look in his eyes. "I guess I can't blame you there. But you need to be careful, you're down a person, and you both could have been seriously hurt."

"We got lost," Petra replied, "These woods got us all turned around."

"Well, we'll find your friend; we'll get you all rested and patched up. Then I'll get you in the right direction home."

I wish, Petra thought.

Steve stood, brushing dirt and moss off of his pants. "Ready?"

Petra and Lukas nodded eager to get back on the move in their search for Jesse.

Steve whistled a sharp high pitch note. It echoed through the woods, vibrating off of the tall trees. Just as it faded a large horse trotted into the clearing, followed by a second.

"Up we go!"

Petra stared at the horse. Like the spider from earlier, it was massive compared to the ones Petra was used to seeing.

"I think something ate your horses," Lukas stated equally dumfounded..

Steve snorted, "They're Clydesdales. They're supposed to be big. Meet Gaea and Titan. Gaea will be your ride," He turned to Petra, "Can you get up with your foot?"

Petra stood, "Of course." She hoisted herself up, only to get half way, "Or maybe not."

Lukas shoved her up the rest of the way, before Petra had to pull him up herself. She looked to Steve, the male adjusting the packs on the back of his horse. Clearly the other had been using Titan for the pack horse on his little hunting trip. He moved some bags aside, and tied his fishing bag on.

"Can you get on?" Petra asked.

Steve hooked one foot on the saddle, and easily swung up, "Of course," he replied. He moved Titan in front of Gaea, grabbing her reins and holding them tight.

"Don't trust us with the driving?" Lukas asked.

" We need to go fast, and I know these woods a bit better than you don't you think?" Steve made a funny click with his teeth and the horse immediately broke into a gallop. Steve only held onto Gaea's reins for about a hundred feet, then let go. The female continued following her male partner like a shadow.

The ride was exhilarating and intense. Steve rode the horses through tight curves, high jumps, low trees. The Clydesdales stayed true in all of their footing. Not even pausing or slowing down to turn and adjust. Titan leapt over a creeper at one point, not even alarmed by the creature.

Lukas was holding on tightly to Petra's waste, breath hitching with each dangerous move. Petra herself was gripping Gaea's mane. Only Steve remained calm and sure atop the enormous mounts.

I guess if anyone trusted these horses, he would. Petra concluded.

She felt only felt slightly uncomfortable following Steve through the woods. Something about him put her at relative ease. This was saying a lot, considering Brine had sent them into a death trap. Brine had been old, nothing too intimidating about him, save for his sword. But why had he pointed to the nest?

"Oh sweet creepers tell me we're close," Lukas suddenly, pulling her from her thoughts.

From the corner of her eye she saw a hoard of zombies, the horses bolting by without even the slightest hesitation. One zombie was even unfortunate enough to end up underneath the powerful legs of the beasts, and still they moved on.

"Steve!" Petra called.

He glanced back, the motion making Petra a little uneasy since he no longer was watching where he was going,"What is it?"

"Are we close?!"

Steve ducked a low hanging branch, leaving Petra to wonder how he knew it was coming, "The monsters are getting thicker now."

"Is that a yes?" Lukas called over Petra's shoulder.

Steve nodded, and turned once again forward.

With the fall weather making daytime shorter, sunset was already close, it would soon be dark. Monsters would grow in number in the shadows. The chances of Jesse surviving a second night, much less the rest of the day were slim.

The horses burst into a clearing, and skidded to a stop by the muddy banks of the river. They had lost sight of it shortly after they had taken off, but there is was again. Orange sunlight glittered off the calm waters. Most of the water still moved slowly down the river ways. But a small amount slopped down, making a large pool.

The watering hole.

Steve was already off Titan, walking slowly along the banks.

"I don't see him," Lukas whispered.

Petra didn't reply, just kept her eyes on the waters. There was no Jesse on the banks. But the water was deep and dark at the bottom...

"Steve!"

Steve didn't respond, he kneeled in the mud, inspecting the markings in the ground. "Someone was here." he stated after a moment.

Panic flared in Petra's chest.

"Was?!" Lukas asked, fear dripping in his voice.

Steve nodded, "A few hours ago." he moved farther inland.

Petra was about to get off the horse, "What if he is in the water!"

"He's not," Steve replied, "Just stay on Gaea."

"We're not going to sit on a horse while Jesse is-"

"Jesse isn't here."

"Where is he?!" Lukas panicked.

"Someone else came through here a few hours ago as well," Steve replied, his voice even and calm. "They probably found him."

"Where would they go?! He could be anywhere!"

Steve climbed back on Titan. "There is only one village near here, if anyone took Jesse, they'd take him there." He stirred Titan forward, Gaea following after automatically. "Don't worry we'll find him."

Petra started to say something, but her mouth clamped shut.

"Petra we can't do this," Lukas hissed in her ear, "He's probably leading us on a wild goose chase. If Steve had been truly fishing earlier, like he claimed, he would have seen Jesse don't you think. He's wasting our time. Jesse has to be here somewhere."

"I really think he's trying to help."

"The last guy sent us into spider's nest. Steve's probably some psychopath who lives in his isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere."

Petra frowned, "I don't think so, besides, "She looked down, the horse was already going full gallop, "Do you think jumping off is the smartest thing to do right now?"

Lukas said nothing, and adjusted his grip around Petra's waist.

The village was fairly decent in size. Most of the primitive villages Lukas had seen so far on this never ending journey home had been quaint, if not insecure. The one however was not.

Resting on a rolling hill, the village was built upon layers. All along the town's paths were watchtowers of various height and width. A stone wall circled the village, going not only around the houses themselves, but the multitude of garden's and out building's as well. There was a town hall, a library, blacksmith and what looked like a school. Even at the edge of town there was a race track and a large amphitheater built into the hill-side.

It was one of a kind.

Also the first one Lukas had seen where most of the locals were armed. Most of the men carried swords, and there were archers in the towers as well as guards at the cities gates. To top of security, there were at least a dozen golems within the town, Lukas spotted at least eight or nine more in the farmer's district, the silent stone behemoths walking between rows of corn and wheat.

Secure indeed.

Seeing Steve actually take them to a village and not some desolate cabin in the woods gave Lukas a little relief.

But it was brief.

Steve pulled the horses to a stop in what Lukas assumed - was the blacksmith. "Bach!"

A large thick man exited the building. Easily taller than Steve. He was bald, but sported a thick black beard and mustache, growing all the way down to the middle of his chest. His dark tan face and exposed arms were dirtied with grim and sweat. Burn scars littered his arms, and another on his left jaw, disappearing under his beard. He was different from other blacksmiths Lukas had seen, there was nothing small and humble about this man.

Bach was the definition of scary.

"Steve!" Bach grinned broadly, "Back from the river already? I assumed you'd be up there for a few more days at most. Was the fishing that good?" His smile dropped when he spotted Lukas and Petra, "What happened? Who are they?"

Steve unhook his bag of fish from his saddle and threw it effortlessly towards the blacksmith, who caught it with the same amount of ease, "I'm afraid there was a mishap, has anyone been to the watering hole lately?"

"No why-"

"Our friend fell in the river, he's wounded," Petra blurted, not stopping as Bach looked to her with a hardened stare, "Steve said someone might have found him at the watering hole."

Bach's eyes softened at the explanation, he turned back to Steve, "I'm sorry my friend, but this time of year only you and the Healer go to the pond."

Steve cursed.

Lukas swallowed thickly, his heart pounding hard against his chest. Jesse wasn't here then. He was probably back-

"Bach? Who is that?"

Bach looked back into his shop, "It's Steve luv, he's run into a bit of trouble."

A woman exited the building, cleaner than her male counterpart. Her much paler face was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, a sprig of dill in her dark brown hair. In her hand she carried a large wooden ladle, large enough to bludgeon. She was pregnant, easily five months or so along. But the tender glow of future motherhood did not mask her confident and strong posture.

"Mariah," Bach explained, "His little friend's here lost their mate in the river. Steve thinks he washed up in the pond.

Mariah raised an eyebrow, her cloudy grey eyes immediately filled with worry, "Did they now?" She looked at Steve, "You were wondering if anyone has seen him?"

Steve nodded.

"Aye, I told them no one has been up to the pond for a few weeks now,"

"What does he-" Mariah grabbed her husband's arm, "Bach wait. The Healer."

Steve leaned in, "Was she there?"

"I went to see her early this morning," Mariah replied, "Picking up a potion for my morning sickness. She was very busy cleaning up a young lad. Awful mess he was. Poisoned by an archer she said."

"Jesse!" Lukas and Petra cried.

Steve was already turning the horses, "Bach, Mariah, I owe you."

"You know you owe us nothing!" Bach called as they rode away, "Good luck young ones!"

Petra looked slowly around as the horses came to a stop.

Much to her dismay, this healer, didn't live within the city limits; instead choosing to live about a quarter of a mile out of town. Then to her greater dismay - and her fear - this was the nothing like a hospital.

It was a farmhouse.

Which Steve had the keys too apparently? He was already off the horse and walking up the porch steps.

Petra waited for Lukas to get off their ride- which he almost twisted his own ankle in the process of doing - before she made her descent. Lukas aided her as she moved down the saddle.

Her feet stepped down on mossy, cushy, thick grass, Lukas immediately moved closer to her and there he remained.

"You don't need to stand there like scarecrows you know." the older male called from the wraparound porch.

Lukas had a hand in Petra's, tightening in discomfort. Neither moved.

Steve huffed, "Okay, wait here then." He added, "Can't say I blame you."

Petra watched for a moment as Steve fiddled with the lock, and then slowly looked around the property.

The farm looked harmless enough, large multi-story house. There was a hanging swing on the porch, and multiple cushioned chairs. There was an equally large garden to the left, and blooming flower beds. Animal's pens not far off to the right, each well stocked with feed and barns for the animals. Even sunflowers grew along the vine covered stone wall that lined the property.

Certainly not any obvious sign of danger.

Right?

"Lukas…."

"I'll follow you." The blonde whispered.

Petra nodded and moved forward, her team mate right behind.

They were almost on the porch when Steve finally got the door open, "I really got to fix that lock." He smiled at the pair, "Welcome to my home."

Petra paused, "I thought this was the healer's home."

"It is, and well, it's mine to."

"Does that mean..."

Steve nodded as he walked in; "I am a married ma-" Steve froze.

"Steve?" Lukas asked. "What's wr-"

"ALEX!" The older male's sudden shout startle Petra, confused as he raced into the dim house.

Lukas tapped her shoulder and pointed. Following his finger she spotted the apparent source of Steve's distress. It was shattered glass, glittering in thousands of tiny pieces on the dark oak floor.

"ALEX! Answer me!" To see someone - who had handled a monstrous spider with unnatural calm earlier - look so stressed, was unnerving. Steve was hurrying towards a closed door on the other side of the wide room, "Alex where-" The door opened at that moment.

"Steve what is it-" A carrot top ginger female flew out of the room, oddly enough with a letter opener in hand. She collided with Steve her forehead connecting to his jaw.

Both let out a cry, more from surprise then pain, and tumbled to the floor in a mess of arms and legs.

It was done and over so quickly that Lukas and Petra had barely time to react.

"Um, what just happened?" Lukas said.

The pair quickly began to untangle themselves, grunting and groaning as they went.

"Damn it Steve!"

"Why yell at me? You're the one who didn't answer me! Why in the world are you wielding the letter opener?!"

"You're the one who was screaming for me, I thought you were hurt! I thought something was wrong and I didn't have time to exactly arm myself did I?"

Steve was the first to stand, rubbing his tender jaw, "Understandable, but a letter opener? I mean, really sweetie?"

"Don't sweetie me." Alex stood, dusting herself off, "Who are your friends?"

"Lukas and Petra," Steve said, "I'm gonna cut to the chase here. They got lost in the woods and one of their team mates was hurt and fell in the river. I thought he might have washed up in the watering hole, but there was no one there. Mariah said you had a patient and I was hoping-"

"Alex are you okay?"

Petra's eyes widened. That voice...

Steve made a startled glance towards the door which Alex had exited from moments before, "Who was that?"

"My patient," Alex replied, "His name is-"

"Jesse!" Petra cried.

Lukas and Petra raced by the pair, hardly pausing to squeeze through the door way.

Inside the quaint and well furnished room, Jesse sat propped up in a thick bed. Bandages wrapped the majority of his chest and there were a few scrapes and bruises around his face and arms. But the most important bit, he was alive.

Jesse stared wide eyed, "Guys? How did you-"

"You're okay!" Petra rushed to the bed, "We thought we lost you when you fell in the river!"

"I was poisoned-"

"We know!" Lukas cut in, joining Petra by the bed, "We've been searching all day for you!"

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "How did you find me?"

"Well we followed the river first, and then we ran into -"

" I'm glad this worked out,"

Lukas and Petra turned, to see Steve at the door, one arm wrapped around his wife. He winked at Alex, "Glad you went to the watering hole today,"

Alex shook her head, "I can't imagine how you missed him Steve."

"His friend's say he fell in during the storm," Steve explained, "I wasn't by the river during that." He smiled brightly, "I take it you're Jesse?"

"And you must be Alex's husband, Steve," Jesse replied.

"That I am. Pleased to meet you, shame it was under such stressful times."

"We met Steve by the spider's nest," Lukas started.

"Spider's nest!" Jesse sputtered.

Alex gave Steve a look, "You took them through the crevice?!"

"No, I found them there." Steve replied, "Look, I tell you about it and you tell me about the broken glass." He paused, "And what in Notch's beard happened to your nose." He tapped his wife's nose.

The female exchanged glances with Jesse, who in turn blushed horribly, "It's almost ironic really. But-" She tugged her partner's arm, "I tell you later. Why don't we clean up the kitchen and get dinner for everyone and let these three catch up?"

Steve nodded, "Sounds good, Lukas, Petra," he smiled at the pair, "We'll be out here if you need anything."

And with that, Steve and Alex closed the door behind them.

Petra returned her attention to Jesse, smiling brightly, "I'm just so glad you're okay."

"I'm glad to see you guys," Jesse replied, "But what about you? You look awful, and what's this about a spider's nest?"

Lukas let out a disgusted noise, "Well after we lost you we ran into the woods. Then got attacked by some monster, I was shot- no poison don't worry - and Petra twisted her leg. We followed the river, which led to this gorge between the mountains. It was full of spiders, big ones."

"Okay?"

"No seriously, big ones. We are talking the size of a small house big. One almost ate me."

Jesse's eyes widen slightly.

"Then Steve showed up and just," Petra shrugged, "Killed it."

"Killed it?"

"He didn't even break a sweat Jesse."

Jesse looked towards the door, eyes full of curiosity, "From what I gathered from Alex, Steve is the main hunter for their village; it wouldn't surprise me. But spider's as big as a house? That seems farfetched."

"We're serious; this world is different from the others we've been to." Lukas pressed.

"Speaking of different worlds," Petra said her voice dropping into a whisper. "What have you told Alex?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Lukas and I haven't told Steve about the portal." Petra explained, " AS fasr as he's concerned, the three of us are from beyond the mountain range."

"The one past the volcano?"

"Yes. What have you told Alex?"

"Nothing so far," Jesse answered. "She's curious but-"

Suddenly the door opened and Steve and Alex walked in. "Who's hungry?" Steve asked, "It's been a long weekend for everyone don't you think?" Alex herself was carrying a large tray filled to the brim of various meats and other delicious food items. It smelled absolutely perfect.

Petra felt her stomach rumble, she glanced at Jesse who gave her an encouraging nod. "Thank you," she said as she took a plate.

"Thank you so much for finding Jesse," Lukas said as he took a plate.

"Gladly," Alex replied, she handed a bowl of stew to Jesse. "Sorry dear, until your stomach settles it's stew for you."

Jesse still took the bowl, "I'm not complaining."

Lukas and Petra remained on the bed as Steve and Alex took the two chairs across the room. Petra hardly paused a second to cool her food she was so hungry. The food tasted as good as it smelled, the meat nearly melting in her mouth.

"So," Steve said as he settled into his chair, he took a small bite of food and smiled at the now complete trio, "What brings you three through the Portal of Worlds?"

#mcsm #mcsm jesse #mcsm lukas #mcsm petra #minecraft story mode #minecraft #Minecraft Steve #minecraft herobrine #minecraft alex #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #immortal's child au #immortal's child au story

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