A/N: Hello, everyone. Welcome to a quick little oneshot I wanted to do.
I don't know about you, but I was a little...unsatisfied with the ending of Episode 8. I felt like it didn't give enough closure on some things. So I set out to write this and sate my need for a good finish to the story.
This is told from the first-person perspective of Jesse, so that Jesse can be a boy or a girl depending on the reader.
Major spoilers for all eight episodes. Don't read it before playing/watching them.
Also, you might want to have some tissues nearby.
"Wasn't that where the Portal Atlas was a minute ago?" I asked, pointing at the empty stone pressure plate atop a gold block that had held the magical book.
Olivia took a few steps forward, a bemused look creasing her brow. "Yeah, that was definitely there…"
"Guys?" Lukas inquired, from the back of the room. "Flint and steel are missing, too." He tapped the empty pedestal where I had just set the enchanted treasure that had started our adventures across Sky City, the White Pumpkin's mansion, PAMA's Crown Mesa, and the Spleef games.
Petra noticed one particularly glaring absence: "And...where's Ivor?"
Our resident grumpy alchemist had gone missing, just like those two very important treasures. Oh, brother. We all pivoted towards the door.
A loud, crazed laugh echoed from behind it, followed by a triumphant declaration of "Adventure!"
"He must be headed for the portal network!" Lukas said, running towards the door.
"Is that bad?" Axel asked, looking over at me for help.
"What should we do?" Petra inquired. "I mean, I guess he...mostly knows what he's doing."
I shrugged. "That's all right. He went on just as epic a journey as the rest of us. If he wants to dive right back into the portal network, well, I think he's earned it by this point." Knowing Ivor, he was probably headed back to Crown Mesa so he could meet Harper again.
The others, still tensed to run out of the trophy hall after Ivor, glanced back over their shoulders at me.
"So you think we should just let him go?" Lukas, standing beside me, said. He seemed kind of bewildered that I would just let Ivor play with the portal key and Atlas as he pleased.
"Yeah." I nodded. "I do."
The others grinned.
"Come on, guys!" I cheered, beaming. "Let's go home."
Axel, Olivia, Petra, and Lukas all sauntered to the door and left one by one. Olivia was already chattering in technobabble about all the new redstone technology she'd integrated, occasionally interrupted by Axel blurting about his TNT cannons and egg launchers he'd made with her help, "to make life a little more interesting." Petra was delighted to learn that there was now an arena for practicing swordplay, and Lukas was sharing an idea about teaching a building class to citizens, to put his Ocelot building skills to good use. As I listened to them talk, I smiled. For a ragtag bunch of misfits—nerdy Olivia, brawny Axel, bookish Lukas, brazen Petra—we were a team, and a good team at that. We filled in each other's gaps and fit together like all the bits and pieces of a machine...unique and each serving a different purpose, but serving that purpose well.
The door snapped shut with a thump, leaving me alone in the room. I started to run over to it and follow my friends out, but then I stopped for a second. I'm not sure what I was waiting for. We were home at last, and I suppose I wanted to savor the moment.
I glanced around the room. It was just as we'd left it before this whole mess started. The same clean quartz walls, the same tall glass windows, the same shelves and pedestals loaded with rare treasures. Without the bustle of the others here, it was soberly quiet, almost reverent even. A cold draft blew through the large, empty space, making the banners of Magnus on the far wall flutter.
I was home. Home. What an evocative word, a warm and friendly word that can soothe just with its presence. It had been on my mind throughout this last adventure. Accidentally causing a revolution in a flying city hadn't been my goal, nor had escaping a pumpkin-headed killer, nor had defeating an evil computer, nor had overthrowing the tyranny of the Old Builders. What I had really wanted was just to be back here, and maybe even back to my old tree house, where the first seeds of adventure had been planted. How strange it is that sometimes when we're thrown into a grand journey, we just as soon want to return to the safety of a warm bed and a roof over our heads. And the longer our journeys grow, the more we wish to be in that warm safe place we love.
How long had it been, anyway? Axel and Olivia had said that we had been gone for quite a while, but how long was "quite a while?" Had it been weeks? Months? Years? Did the other people in town even remember the Order of the Stone anymore? So many questions were swimming through my mind. I supposed I'd find the answers soon enough, but there was something I needed to do first.
The ending of one adventure is but the beginning of another. The thought ran through my mind as I slowly strode through the trophy hall, taking my time, looking at each treasure in its place. Even after all this time, I still remembered where we'd obtained each of the shinies: the armor from Ivor's arsenal, the dark Nether Star from the Witherstorm, the sea lanterns and prismarine from all our Ocean Monument endeavors, the huge Enderpearl from fighting that Mutant Enderman, an enchanted golden apple, the Old Order of the Stone's amulet. I smiled, remembering how proud we had been of our victories. But even then, I had noticed something. These victories all felt so...empty. No matter how many trophies and prizes we collected, it always felt like something was missing. No, not something, actually. Rather, someone.
I sucked in a sharp breath. The memory still hurt. Every day, it lingered in the back of my mind. And now, I figured, would be the right time to do something about that. It was time to visit someone I'd been missing for a long, long time.
I stopped pacing around the room in front of a line of flower pots. Blooms in all kinds of happy, bright colors sprouted from the little clay jars. There were plenty to choose from. A cheery purple allium, perhaps? Or a nice rose? Maybe that white tulip would be a good choice. No! What was I thinking? That wouldn't be right at all. It would be for a memorial, not a display. My gaze fell on the flower in the last pot in the row...a daisy. With its clean white petals, askew stem, and sunny yellow center, it almost radiated happiness. I always liked daisies because of that. Daisies didn't care about being showy. They just wanted to be happy and be glad enough for the life that they lived.
Just like Reuben. My mind drifted back to an image of Reuben on that day of the Endercon competition, what seemed like a lifetime ago. We had just finished gathering materials for our build, and the team shared a fist-bump in our excitement. Reuben had joined in, too, putting his little hoof on top of my hand while beaming with that adorable pig smile. We felt like we could take on the world that day. It was the last time we could truly be kids, with a pocketful of dreams and no worries to interrupt them.
I almost pulled the daisy out of the flowerpot, but then changed my mind and lifted the entire thing, pot and flower and all, off its pedestal instead. Be gentle, Jesse. Hugging it to my chest, I carried it over to the display on the other side of the room, my steps slow and calculated.
On the stone brick wall, a banner with Reuben's face painted on it stirred in the drafts blowing through the room. An item frame was hung above it, with the porkchop Reuben had dropped inside it. A flower pot with an azure bluet stood on either side of the memorial. I swallowed hard as I approached, then bent down on one knee and set the flower pot with the daisy between the two other flowers.
"Hi, Reuben," I said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I brought you your favorite. Daisies."
I wished the poster didn't have Reuben looking so solemn. I wished they would have painted it with his cute little smile.
"You wouldn't believe all the places we've been," I continued. "We visited a city in the clouds, met a talking computer, played Spleef for our lives, and that's just a few of them. It was scary sometimes, but we had fun. And it was interesting...but I felt like something was missing that whole time. 'Cause that something was you. I miss you, little buddy."
I paused to rub my eyes, warding away the prickly feeling of oncoming tears.
Memories flashed by, going months, even years back...Reuben running around my treehouse with his Enderdragon costume on. Axel, Olivia, and I (and Reuben) doing our fist-bump of victory after collecting materials for the build. Riding the minecarts in the Nether, hitting the ramp, and flying in front of a surprised Ghast. Sharing cookies in the hut we built in the middle of nowhere while trying to find the Order's temple—Reuben had given Lukas his cookie. Running through the chaos of a grinder with us to find the End Portal, and then going to the End with us. Giving me one of those adorable pig grins after we used the Formidibomb on the Witherstorm. Coming along for the final battle with the beast...retrieving my diamond weapon when it looked like I wasn't going to make it out alive...proving himself a hero…
I had to stop. I wiped away tears that were running down my cheeks. I remembered, in terrible crystallized detail, the sight of Reuben being violently grabbed in the Witherstorm's teeth and the feeling of my gut twisting as he free-fell to his doom. His weak little oinks as he lay on the ground dying from his injuries. An achy feeling of regret welled up within me. PAMA had been right; I failed to save Reuben. If I had just reached out and grabbed him before he fell, or if I just hadn't dropped that dumb weapon in the first place…
"I'm sorry, Reubs, so sorry," I whispered. "It was my fault...I didn't...I shouldn't have…"
I glanced back up at the poster and remembered the look Reuben had when I told them "I'm here for you, buddy. I'm here." The look in his eyes...sad and in pain, but understanding and quietly happy to be a hero. He didn't want me to blame myself for what happened. He would have wanted me to remember him as a hero, not an accident. So I'd do that.
I sat in silence in front of the memorial for a few minutes, thinking about all this, before rising to my feet. "Thanks, Reuben. Thanks for everything."
Breathing a big sigh, releasing all the pent-up sadness inside me, I turned to leave, my footsteps padding softly on the quartz floor. I pushed open one of the double doors and stepped out onto the streets of town. The clouds had rolled in and a chill breeze wove through the air. Rain splattered the ground, but I let it wet my hair and roll off of my armor. It had a cleansing feeling, like it was washing away the pain of the past and leaving a nice memory instead.
The sound of a high-pitched oink startled me out of my daze. I stopped dead in my tracks and spun about, looking for whatever had made that noise. Was that my imagination? No...It couldn't be, right? When the little oink sounded out again, I followed the sound, going off of the street and walking the perimeter of the trophy hall, into a garden area surrounded by a white fence. Was wishful thinking playing a nasty trick on me? I hoped not. Still, I continued to look for the source of the sound.
I gasped when I saw a pink mound huddled under a wilting lilac bush. Without a second's hesitation, I ran over to it. So this was where the oinking was coming from! I got down on my knees to be on level with the piglet. My heart hammered against my ribs, overwhelmed by the sight.
"Hey...hey, little guy," I said gently. "What's the matter?"
The piglet turned around to face me. It was covered in small brown spots, including one over its eye. A red bow was tied around one of its ears. Not Reuben, of course. Sill, I felt bad for the little fella. She looked lost and scared, and couldn't find decent shelter from the rain beyond an old lilac bush. Had she run away? Did someone abandon her? There were no pig farms nearby as far as I knew, and I didn't know anyone else with a pet pig. How she got there I had no clue, but what I did know is that I wasn't going to leave her behind in the rain.
"Come here, girl," I said, and picked the piglet up in my arms. "It's all right. Everything's fine." She was a tiny thing, light as a feather. She didn't protest when I scooped her up, but rested her head on my shoulder and made a relieved sighing sound. I hugged her gently to my chest and smiled.
"You're a sweet little piggy. I'll keep you safe."
She needed a name. I promised myself that she wouldn't replace Reuben. No-one could replace Reuben. This new piggy was a new friend to go on adventures with. And knowing me, the next adventure was probably right around the corner. But for now, it was time to slow down and enjoy where we were.
"Come on, Ruby," I said, patting Ruby the piglet on the head and scratching behind her ears. "Let's go home. Do you like treehouses?"