Author's Note: Hello! I haven't been updating on fanfiction in a while, mostly due to real life and focusing more on my tumblr blog. For the past couple months I've been doing requests and writing short MCSM fanfics on my tumblr (my username is the same on there as it is here if you wanna check it out) and someone suggested I put all of these shortfics into one story. And seeing how a lot of other writers in the fandom have been doing the same thing, I thought I'd join in. So I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!

From the day she'd spawned, they were a team. The world Mevia found herself in on that very first day, the one that would eventually grow so big, and the world that she would find herself thrown out of had been a terrifying place. But she made it. Their world. Their home. They'd made it together. The untouchable duo.

And then that little runt came along and ruined everything.

Upon their escape from a void-like world populated by oddly sized chickens, the objective of making Jesse suffer had obviously been near the top of the list. Reclaiming the Builder Games was there too, but with Otto clearly not cooperating anymore and the Gladiators ready to pound Hadrian and her the moment they stepped foot back in that world, neither of them were in any rush to get started. No, that would have to wait. They needed to restock their supplies, make a plan, and play all of their cards right. Oh, and you know, not die.

Mevia couldn't remember the last time death had been so looming. The pain that came before death? Oh she was already acquainted with it much more than she'd like. It just had to be pistons. Such an unpleasant way to go. Yet the idea of experiencing that same pain and then just…poof, gone forever, haunted her. It was what made her sleep with one eye open practically every night. After all, she wasn't the only one who could die now. For their first few days wandering around various worlds to collect supplies, Mevia would find small comfort in the sound of Hadrian snoring loudly as their campfires cracked in the nighttimes.

They would be fine, those sounds would whisper to her. In the decades of being alive, this was only one defeat. And soon, it would only be a rough patch. They would get back to full strength, return home, and teach each one of those pests what happened when you crossed her and Hadrian. That's what always happened when an obstacle was hurled at them. That's why the stadiums were emptied of an actual audience for centuries, because nobody else mattered. It was their world. Their games. And the two of them would always be the winners.

So then…why?

Why was he running away?!

Today had started out a lucky expedition. In a world completely covered in thick jungle and mountains, the duo stumbled upon an untouched cavern filled to the brim with minerals. No quartz, gold, or diamond, unfortunately, Hadrian deduced that the "good stuff" must've been deeper in the mountain. Well, an iron axe could cut better than a stone one. She'd take it for now.

However, thunderous trembling and the bright glow of lava racing straight towards them waved a red flag of what kind of mountain the two were walking in. The entrance had been mere inches way when the ground beneath Mevia gave way, leaving her left hand clutching the edge of a gravel block. She could feel it eroding beneath her fingers as the lava poured, filling the deep abyss below her. Attempting to pull herself up would result in the block falling apart, sending her to a painful demise. Her one chance lied with her companion a few feet away, staring at her dangling hand. All he had to was grab her arm and pull her up.

But instead, he was turning on his heel and running.

"Hadrian!" Mevia called out, attempting to keep herself from slipping, "Come back!"

He paused, glancing back at her. He adjusted his glasses so that they covered his unreadable eyes staring at her desperate situation.

"Sorry Mevia," Hadrian proclaimed in the same voice they'd use when announcing the games, "it's the final round. No room for ties."

With those brief, shattering words, the purple suited man hopped out into the sunlight, disappearing from her sight.

No.

No way.

…No way was she dying like this.

With her free hand, the blue haired warrior managed to reach into her inventory and grab the newly crafted iron axe. She reeled it back and slammed its blade right on the edge of a nearby stone block. Now able to move her other hand from the gravel, Mevia pulled herself over, the rising lava just missing the end of her dress. There was no time to even take a breath as she hurried out from the cave, getting a far enough distance so that the ash pouring from the top of the mountain wouldn't block her sight.

From the top of a thick tree, Mevia couldn't spot Hadrian anywhere in the dark jungle below. But that was fine. After all…

"The hard way's more fun," she muttered under her breath, grinning and giving the iron axe a spin in her hand.

Wherever Jesse was, the brat should consider herself lucky. She was now number two on Mevia's eliminate list.