Chapter 1: Feels Good To Be Back

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"Come on, Petra, wait up!" Jesse panted as he started to run out of breath along with Lluna, his newly adopted pet llama.

Petra let out a playful laugh as she watched the brunette put his hands on his knees and pant like a tired dog. "Don't give up now, slowcoach!" The tough tomboy giggled, helping Jesse up by pulling his hand. "We're nearly back at Beacontown! I bet everyone there has missed us while we were busy having all sorts of crazy adventures!"

Petra urged Jesse and Lluna to keep up as she began to run towards the giant red gates again. Her fiery red hair started blowing in the wind while her black boots thumped on the stone pathway.

"Petra, slow down!" Jesse shouted, holding onto Lluna's back in an attempt to make the white llama keep up with him.

Again, Petra giggled when she saw how tired Jesse and Lluna were. "Why would I slow down, Jesse?" She laughed. "The gates are just over there!" Petra pointed to the big red doors behind her with her thumb.

"Me and Lluna have been running at your pace all day, Petra..." Jesse sighed, looking down at his feet. "You think you can slow down and give us a break?"

"Just take my hand, Jesse. We're not too far away from Beacontown now." The excited redhead laughed, lending out her hand for her boyfriend to latch onto.

Jesse placed his warm hand in Petra's and their fingers intertwined, which caused the loveable brunette's cheeks to heat up and turn red as he gave her a happy grin.

Petra simply giggled at how much of a tomato Jesse was becoming and touched his nose, causing him to laugh a bit. "Oh, Jesse..." Petra sighed in joy. "Things such as your adorable attitude just never change, do they?"

"It's always for the best, my dear Petra..." Jesse giggled as he cupped Petra's cheeks in his warm hands.

"Awww, Jesse..." Petra cooed, wrapping her arms around Jesse's torso and melting into him like he was a human radiator.

Lluna let out a grunt and shifted her head over to the giant red gates before these two lovers. Petra could see that Lluna was probably getting impatient and wanted to set foot in Beacontown again. Seeing as how they had hit the road for a month now, she couldn't blame her.

"Heheh... Sorry, Lluna. We know you're quite sick of the outside world by now." Petra laughed, rubbing the top of her white furry head. The warrior then broke the hug between her and Jesse to start running off to the gates again.

"Hurry up, Jesse! Last one there's a lonely puppy!" Petra hollered as he and Lluna desperately tried to keep up with her.

"Petra, slow down!" Jesse panted, placing his hands on Lluna's back. "You know we can't run as fast as you anymore!"

Seriously, it was so much fun for Petra to mess around with Jesse when he was tired. She knew he couldn't be angry at her since she was his girlfriend and all, and since Jesse doesn't seem to mind what she does by the time she's finished messing with him, Petra's always considered stuff like this in the name of good fun.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!

Those were the consecutive sounds Petra's knee-long black boots made on the stone path and wooden bridge. Her feet touching the ground in such a satisfying manner, the birds chirping in the sky... it was like beautiful music to the tomboyish girl's delicate ears.

Petra screeched to a halt when she was right in front of the big red gates separating them from Beacontown. Jesse and Lluna dragged themselves up the bridge and began to groan, their legs not being able to take anymore. If Petra didn't know any better about how much sleep Jesse had last night, she would've thought he started developing bags under his emerald eyes, that's how out of breath he was right now.

"Petra..." He panted, collapsing to his knees and rolling down the bridge over to me. "Why couldn't you have slowed down...?"

"Come on Jesse, I thought you were interested in a race back to Beacontown!" Petra beamed at him, her pink cheeks gladly heating up.

Jesse panted as he laid down on the stone ground, exhausting from trying to keep up with the athletic girl. "That was before you started to overtake us by like ten miles..." He sighed.

The giant red gates started to open up with a loud creak, and Petra helped Jesse get back up on his feet as he wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder. To say the least, he wasn't exactly able to get as much daily exercise as the slim and versatile redhead.

Jesse and Petra were greeted back to Beacontown with an eruption of loud cheering and clapping from a large crowd of citizens, with Lukas and Radar in front of them. "Welcome home, Jesse and Petra!" Radar shrieked in excitement, getting all giddy as his feet jumped on the spot. The brown-skinned intern and blonde-haired man ran over to them and gave both Petra and Jesse a friendly handshake.

"Welcome back, guys." Lukas smiled, grabbing a blank book and pen out of his pockets. "How was your time away from Beacontown?"

"Oh, it was an absolute blast, Lukas!" Petra proudly boasted. "You would not believe the big adventures that me and Jesse got ourselves into! We rescued a chicken and its egg who were stuck in a deep corner of a ravine, we got into a huge fight with ghasts in the Nether like we always used to do..."

"Yeah, and we ended up smuggling in a makeshift cave for a day." Jesse laughed.

"Jesse!" Petra barked in embarrassment. It's like he was deliberately trying to make her blush whenever he mentioned them hugging or kissing each other when they were alone.

Lukas and Radar let out a small laugh when they saw how red Petra's cheeks were thanks to Jesse's addition to the list of things they did last month. "But, just... wow, Petra!" Radar gasped. "That all sounded like a lot of fun! Did you miss us?"

"Oh, I missed you guys more than ever!" The love-filled girl replied, embracing Radar with her open arms and giving the cute teen a big hug. The brown boy let out an adorable giggle and melted into Petra's warm chest. "I know things have changed since the New Order of the Stone disbanded, but that doesn't mean we still can't be good friends. Look at Jesse. He promised to follow me wherever I go after we made Romeo realise the errors of his ways, and he never backed down on his word." Petra let go of Radar and broke the hug. He was practically wearing an adorable grin on his face when he separated from her.

"So what happened here when we were gone, Radar?" Jesse asked him, placing his hand on the intern's shoulder.

"Haha! A lot has happened ever since you and Petra left, Jesse!" Radar giggled, jumping up and down in excitement again. "Oh, it's so good to have you guys back! I missed you so much!" Radar quickly wrapped his arms around Jesse's torso. It was always so typical of Radar to give them a hug whenever they left for more than five hours.

"Heheh... I missed you, Radar." Jesse laughed, pushing Radar away from him. "How did being the mayor of Beacontown for a month treat you?"

"Well, everyone's been on their best behaviour after you saved us from being bedrocked in..." Radar started, checking behind him to see the civilians walking around minding their own business. "At first, everyone kinda questioned why you made me their temporary mayor, but when they found out I was just as fit for the job as you were, I was quite literally welcomed with open arms every morning, afternoon and evening!"

"Wow. Were you popular with some of the ladies here, Radar?" Petra giggled, tickling his cheek a bit.

He let out a cute giggle, backing away from Petra's gloved fingers. "Uhhh... Nell and I have sorta been dating if that counts..." He said, blushing and scratching his glowing cheeks.

"Whoa! You're really becoming a big boy, aren't you?" Petra asked the brown intern, this time tickling his nose.

"Petra, please!" He hollered and let out tears of joy as he backed away from her tickling fingers again. "We don't even know that much about each other yet! Anyway, what else has happened here, you ask? Well..." Radar seemed to kick the ground a bit as he reached into his pocket and opened a scrunched-up piece of paper. "After you and Jesse left Beacontown, I received this letter from Aiden."

"What did he say?" Jesse smiled, wanting to know what Aiden's letter said.

"Dear Jesse..." Radar started to read off of the white sheet of paper. "I am really sorry for treating you and your friends like worthless slimeballs in the past. I should've never done that. And even though I personally think that Petra's a better match for you anyway, my despicable behaviour annoyed her so much to the point where she dumped me. I know I've already redeemed myself in Petra's eyes by helping her locate Ivor's shrinking antidote, but if you're reading this letter, I just want you to know that if you feel the same way about me, please invite me to Beacontown and give me another chance. I promise to never give you any trouble ever again. Aiden." The intern scrunched the letter up and put it back in his pocket.

"Mmmmm..." Jesse mumbled, grinning as if he was proud of Aiden's newfound positive attitude. "Good to know that Aiden's turning over a new leaf now. I think a visit to Beacontown might be a great idea to know the new him better."

"Oh wait! We got another one!" Radar squeaked, checking his pocket again to take out another scrunched-up letter. "It really gave me the creeps though... maybe it's from an evil person you met sometime?" He opened it up and handed it over to Jesse for read. Jesse's smile dropped and his face turned pale when he planted his emerald eyes on the second letter.

"Look out... W.P." Jesse read out loud, turning the letter around for Petra to look at. The first two words almost took up the whole page, and this person had written everything in a frightening colour of blood red. There wasn't even anything that most people normally use in their letters. No "Dear Sir or Madam", no "Love, whoever this is from", nothing.

"Who's W.P.?" Petra asked, gazing closer at the lackluster message.

"W.P..." Jesse murmured, bringing his face closer to the tiny red initials. "I-Isn't that the White Pumpkin?"

"Cassie Rose is back? Seriously?" Lukas joined in, grabbing onto the letter and analysing it with Jesse. "How though? There's no way she could've escaped. Sure, she was stuck in the Portal Chamber, but she had no Ender Pearls left and was surrounded by all those Endermites!"

"Ahh, it's probably just an empty threat..." Jesse shrugged, scrunching up the letter and throwing it behind him. "I honestly doubt she had anything left when she fell into that space with the Endermites."

"What if she actually means it though?" Radar shivered, his knees wobbling like jelly. "Even if the odds are highly unlikely, what if this Cassie Rose person actually invades Beacontown and tries to kill everyone? I don't want another repeat of Romeo's attack on the city..."

"Don't worry, Radar." Jesse reassured the brown intern, placing his hand on Radar's shoulder. "If you weren't around to see a bad guy for yourself, chances are you're never ever going to meet that person in your life. You don't have anything to worry about, little buddy."

"T-Thanks, Jesse." Radar sighed, his cute grin returning as he hugged Jesse again.

"Haha... You sure do love hugging people, don't you, Radar?" Jesse asked him, wrapping his arms around Radar's torso and nuzzling into his black hair.

"I don't think I can help it. It's just become an uncontrollable habit of mine." Radar giggled when he broke the hug and played with his burning cheekbones.

"Oh, Radar..." Petra laughed, fondling his hair with her knuckles when felt like iron. "You're still as cute as you've ever been."

"Hehe... Stop it, Petra... You're making me blush..." Radar snickered and put his hand over his white shiny set of teeth.

"Come on, guys." Jesse smiled as he pat Radar on the back and began to take him to the Order Hall. "Let's all settle back into the Order Hall..."

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The sun was down and the sky was completely black now, and Lukas was with Petra and Jesse in the Order Hall, pacing back and forth as he continued to write his next fantastic novel about the rather unlikely but dynamic duo.

"The ginger girl challenged the tired brunette to a race the moment they saw the giant red gates in front of them..." Lukas proclaimed, writing every word he said in his book. "Although Jesse and his pet llama were almost exhausted, Petra, who felt her hair breezing in the wind as her boots thumped on the stone pathway, felt like she could keep going for another ten miles or so. Noticing how tired Jesse and Lluna were, Petra grabbed her boyfriend by the hand, making him able to keep up with the speedy redhead. And the moment those familiar big gates opened up, the adventuring couple were welcomed back with an explosion of loud cheers and claps from hundreds of people. After a good month of exploring what lied outside of Beacontown, Jesse and Petra looked each other in the eyes and shared a deep, passionate kiss, making the audience's hearts melt as they all screamed in joy like the massive fans they were. The end." Lukas finally closed his book and looked it with pride written on his face. "So what do you guys think? Was I able to capture your hearts with the amount of detail I put into your great adventures?"

"I like it, Lukas." The hot female warrior smiled at him, standing up from her spot on the stairs. "Even though we had no particular goal in mind during our month-long trek, you sure know how to engage your readers by giving us a villain to fight near the end of the book. There's also no doubt in my mind that the scenes where we're hugging and kissing each other will be enough to make the... shippers... squeal and wake their neighbours."

"Yeah, what Petra said." Jesse added in, standing up too. "It's amazing how we can give you some sort of material to work with and let you expand upon that with scenes and characters that we didn't run into in reality."

"Ehh... I dunno... I thought it was kinda boring myself..." Axel groaned, leaning back on the stairs.

"That's because you fell asleep halfway through the book, you dummy!" Olivia barked, nudging Axel's arm with her elbow.

"Ow! I'm sorry, Olivia. I'm just not the kind of guy who would rather have someone read a book to me than read it myself." Axel replied, rubbing the spot where Olivia nudged him. Petra and Jesse let out a small laugh when they saw Axel rubbing his elbow.

Petra sat down on the stairs and looked over to Radar who just seemed casually smile at Lukas. "What did you think, Radar?" She asked him.

"I really liked it!" Radar squealed, kicking his feet in the air. "Haha, you two were so cute together when you were hugging and sleeping in the cave!"

"Haha... Well, good to know you're another proud shipper to add to the crowd." Petra replied, blushing as she nuzzled his black locks again. Radar giggled when he felt Petra's hand running through his hair.

After a few seconds, Radar began to close his eyes and yawn in his hand. The little guy was most likely ready for bed at this point. "Good night, you guys. I can't wait to see what you'll get up to in the morning." Radar mumbled as he began to walk to his bedroom and smack his lips.

"We should probably follow suit, huh, Petra?" Jesse asked, looking at the watch on his arm. "I didn't even notice it was 11 o'clock until now."

"Yeah..." Petra yawned, closing her brown chocolate eyes for a bit. "Taking a month away from Beacontown just to explore all kinds of different places can really have a impact on how tired you get..."

"Do you want me to take you to your room, my little angel?" Jesse questioned, playing with Petra's cheeks.

"No thanks, Jesse..." She answered, yawning again. "I still know the layout of this place all too well..."

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Jesse had followed Petra to her bedroom where she took off her signature outfit and put on her navy blue pyjamas. Letting out another yawn for what felt like the hundredth time to her, Petra slowly crawled onto the white mattress of her bed and put the long red blanket under her body.

Petra yawned again when she tossed and turned to look Jesse right in his vibrant green eyes. How many times was she going to yawn before she finally went to sleep?

"Well, Jesse..." Petra said, smacking her warm cherry lips. "Feels good to be back in Beacontown, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. It does feel good to be back here, Petra." Jesse replied, crouching down to make contact with Petra's lovely brown eyes. "Don't get me wrong, going on all these crazy adventures with you was good and all, but I always missed our daily lifestyle back in Beacontown..."

"Even though my life wasn't as exciting as it used to be after we broke up as heroes, I'm glad I can still turn to you to make me happy, Jesse." The blushing tomboy beamed at him, bringing his head close to hers for a kiss. Their lips made contact and they both closed their eyes to sink into it. Jesse climbed onto the bed next to where Petra was laying down. They wrapped their legs and arms around each other as the room was filled with sounds of lip-to-lip smooching. By the time they both needed air, they opened their eyes and broke the kiss, leaving behind a trail of saliva where their lips met. Jesse and Petra both were smiling and giggling at each other and their cheeks were blazing hot.

Petra yawned again and let her head sink into the white plushy pillow on her mattress. "Good night, Jesse..." She sighed as Jesse got up and went for the door.

"Good night, Petra." He replied before flipping the switch to turn off the lamp above the woman that matters the most to him. "Sleep tight." He then left the tired redhead to sleep in peace.

As the lids for Petra's brown eyes finally weighed down and everything turned to black, she lost the will to control her body as she let out a final yawn and went to sleep in Beacontown for the first time in a month.