Jesse watched the terminal zone crumble around him, flashing blitzes of colour erupting from every new break.
He closed his eyes so he couldn't see the exit, taunting him, unreachable through a shield of lava.
The others had escaped.
But him?
He laughed bitterly before choking, the noise turning to tears.
The tears grew heavier and more ragged, sobs ripping through his body as he doubled over, mind flashing across images. Countless inages of those he had known and loved.
Petra. Lukas. Olivia. Axel. Ivor. Harper. Amy.
..Rueben
Too caught up in his sobs, he didn't even have time to react as the final metaphorical pillar was destroyed and the terminal zone caved in on itself.
He woke up in a soft bed, eyes filled with tears as he screamed and sat up, expression a mash between horror and desperation.
..Before it slid off into a blank sort of bewilderment.
...What?
He looked dizzily around the plain room. He KNEW this room. It was his room back from when they lived in the treehouse - him, Axel and Olivia.
He slowly crawled out of the head, mind fuzzy and unresponsive as his eyes passed over chests, a potted plant and a poster on the wall.
"...Is this hell?" he breathed softly.
"I sure hope not- i planned to die around 85" a voice sarcastically said from behind him, and he jumped with a shriek, spinning on his heel as his hand reached for an enchanted blade that wasn't there.
Olivia?
She seemed amused at his reaction, lips twitching. "Geez, didn't know you were such a wimp, Jess" she laughed, and Jesse just stared at her silently, eyes still as taughtly wide.
She frowned, bemused, and waved her hand in front of his face. He blinked rapidly before snapping back into reality. "U-um, sorry. Can you come back later? I'm uh.. Busy"
She blinked twice. "Busy. In an empty room. Doing nothing?"
He nodded.
She sighed and rolled her eyes but walked out, shooting Jesse a joke smile as she left.
It didnt make him feel any better.
He pulled up his trousers. No scar on his leg. He pulled up his shirt. No burn across his stomach.
He shuddered, face pale.
Was... Was this some sort of time travel or dimension hop?
But... Why?
He slowed his breathing, and spent the next 20 minutes in an outwardly catatonic state, placing all of his energy into thinking as well as calming himself down, his body wanting to go into panic mode.
He was 20, damnit! He could control himself!
Well. His body right now seemed to be 17 or so. But whatever!
He tried his damndest to stop the incoming hyperventilation, before smoothing his trousers down and sighing.
This was a good thing, right? Now he could... He could stop all the traumatizing crap from ever happening, right? Ellegaard, Rueben, Cassie, Aiden..
He swallowed, but pushed it down with a bout of determination.
Even if he failed... He could at least try.
He could save Rueben. Cassie. Romeo.
Everyone.
Something foreign bloomed in his chest.
The next breath felt new somehow.
"Would you rather fight 10 zombie sized chickens or 100 chicken sized zombies? Bear in mind you wouldn't have any weapons or armour"
Jesse looked up from where he had been gazing out of the window, a small smile crossing his face. The nostalgia was suffocating. "The zombie sized chickens. They would be an abomination" he answered calmly, reveling in the soft breeze.
She smiled. "Imagine their giant feet"
He chuckled, body trembling slightly as the humour intermingled with the restlessness he felt. "As i said- an abomination. Freak of nature"
He looked at Olivia and wondered if she knew her idol would die in front of her. Slowly and painfully and sadly.
Bile rose up in his throat and as Axel jumped up through the floor with his creeper head, he doubled over and threw up.
