What's going on, guys and girls and genderqueers, it's your girl, NoItsBecky, and I am BACK!
So, this is the rewrite of my fanfic. You'll notice some similarities, but you'll also notice a hell of a lot of differences.
I'm pretty proud of this, and I hope you all enjoy!
So, take the smallest town you can think of.
The everyone-knows-everyone kind of town.
You know the type. A town where they can have a sign stating the population, because it almost never changes. (This town doesn't, but it could.)
This is where our story begins-in the small town of Acacia Gardens.
Well, that's technically a lie.
In reality, our story begins just outside the town. You see, surrounding this town is a forest. In this forest, there is a cave.
This cave isn't fully underground. There's an opening to the surface, and torches light just about every area.
In the middle of this cave are two girls. They're sitting on separate beds that are poorly made.
One of the girls is around 5'11" and has shoulder-length flaming red hair that is completely natural, freckles, brown eyes, and possibly a genetic mutation that causes there to be almost no indication on her chest that she's a girl. She appears to be in her late teens.
That's Petra Johnson, one of the two inhabitants of this cave.
The other girl is around 6'3" and has a dark auburn ponytail that reaches just past her shoulders, green eyes, freckles, and possibly that same genetic mutation. She's holding a list written in a messy scrawl, and she looks to be a few years older than Petra.
That's Ellie Johnson, the other inhabitant of the cave.
This is where our story begins.
Ellie read over the list she was holding. "Okay, so for today, our only deal is that creepy dude with the beard who wanted the wither skull. Ivor, I think. The one who almost turned us down when he found out you're barely out of high school."
Petra rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah. Remind me again why we didn't just punch him in the face and walk away?"
"Because he's giving us a diamond, so we can't afford to be rude, even if he's an asshole who thinks kids are automatically bad at stuff like this." Ellie reminded her.
"The things we do for money…"
"Yeah, it really is ridiculous, isn't it? But in any case, we've got the skull, so I guess we should just get things in advance."
"Yeah, that sounds like the best idea. Well, that and checking on the building competition to make sure the Ocelots and Jesse's group don't fucking murder each other."
"Yeah, go ahead, just leave me to do the deals alone." Ellie said bitterly.
"Oh, stop." Petra scoffed. "It's not that hard, and the building competition isn't too far. Remember? They're holding Endercon nearby this year. Do the easy ones while I'm abandoning you."
Ellie did a fake pout.
"Stop trying to make me pity you; it's not happening."
"Fine."
The two girls could've went on talking until their semi-argument turned into banter-they'd done it before-but there were deals to do. They were all pretty average. Wood. Seeds. Flowers. Cobblestone. Stuff like that. Some days Petra didn't understand why people got stuff from them when they could get it from a store. Maybe because they could choose the price. Maybe because in their minuscule town, not everything was sold at a store. Maybe when they looked at Petra and Ellie, all they saw were the little adopted girls abandoned by the fountain in the center of town, and they felt bad for the two of them. Whatever the reason, people got stuff from the two of them, and Petra sure as fucking hell wasn't complaining.
A few deals later, Petra abandoned Ellie in order for nobody to murder each other. It was for a good cause.
"Hey, you guys." She said, silently praying to Notch that everyone was going to survive this.
"Hey, Petra." Jesse said. It was obvious to Petra that Jesse was trying to act cool. It failed horribly.
"So...how's the build going?" It was the first thing that came to mind, and she didn't realize how stupid of a thing it was to say until after it was out of her mouth. The competition hasn't even started! Petra mentally scoffed at herself.
Jesse looked at her team's plot. Then she turned back to Petra. Back at the plot, and back at Petra. "Does that empty plot look like a build to you?" She asked jokingly.
Petra forced a laugh. "No, I guess not." She admitted.
"Well, the competition may not have started, but the Order of the Pig's got a good plan." Jesse stated.
Petra was still and silent for a good five seconds before she said, "The Order of the...what?"
"Order of the Pig." Jesse repeated simply.
"Is your team called...Order of the...Pig?" Petra asked with a deadpan expression on her face.
"Yeah."
"But...why?" That was all Petra knew how to say.
Jesse shrugged. "The Order's cool, and we have a pig." She gestured to Reuben, who was by her side.
"Okay..." Petra said, a little unsure.
"Hey, Petra." Lukas showed up, and suddenly her distaste of Jesse's team's name was forgotten. "I forgot to thank you and Ellie for that Nether Star on Friday. Tell her thanks."
"Hey, Lukas." Petra said a little awkwardly. "It's not a problem. Not like we were going to do much with it, anyway. We'd had the damn thing for over a year."
"You helped these tools?" Axel looked surprised.
Petra shrugged nonchalantly. "We'll help anyone so long as they offer a decent price. Ever need anything, well, our door is always open for business." She started making her way back into the forest. She'd distracted the groups from each other. Her mission was accomplished.
"But we don't know where to find the door!" Olivia called after her.
"Exactly." Petra supposed it probably seemed strange to other people that nobody knew where she and Ellie lived except for her and Ellie themselves, but neither of them cared.
Petra could faintly hear Lukas talking behind her, but it was a fucking mystery to her what he might be saying. "Hey, Ellie? You there?" Petra called once she was back in the woods.
"Yeah, I'm there. Or maybe I'm here. I'm somewhere near."
"Ellie, seriously."
"Okay, fine." Ellie emerged from a cluster of trees. "Well, while you were abandoning m-"
"It was for a good cause. They would've murdered each other."
"Fine. While you were keeping your friends from murdering each other, I did a few of the less complicated deals. The list is still pretty long-strange how many people ask us for things, especially considering this town's population-but hey, more deals means more money." Ellie shrugged.
"Yeah. But just for the record, we're not friends. Aside from Lukas, the Ocelots are total bitches, and even if they aren't bitchy to me specifically, they're still bitchy, so I don't care about them. As for Jesse's group…well, yeah. You've met them."
"I'm a bitch, and you care about me." Ellie pointed out.
"We don't have much of a choice but to care about each other. I mean, we could hate each other, but that would suck because we live together."
And so continued the process of getting stuff for deals. It was starting to get dark outside when a familiar scream rang through the air.
Ellie looked startled. "You heard that too, right?"
"If you mean the sound of Jesse making ears bleed, damn right I heard that."
"Alright, it's night and Jesse sucks at fighting. I'm guessing she got assaulted by monsters." Ellie guessed. She paused, thinking. "Huh. Why wouldn't she be at Endercon?"
"I don't know! Does it really matter?" Petra scoffed. "Even if it isn't Jesse, someone is screaming, and people don't scream like that for no reason." The next course of action for them was to run in the direction of the scream. After a few minutes, they found Jesse, pinned to the ground by a spider with no sword.
She and Ellie intervened, and seconds later the mobs were dead.
"Where the hell did you two come from?!" Jesse demanded.
"Not important." Ellie responded.
"Just come on. We need to get out of the open." Petra said simply.
Ellie and Petra led Jesse to their cave. "Do you two live here?" Jesse asked incredulously.
"Define living." Ellie said. "We survive here, more like."
Petra punched her older sister playfully. "Ignore her. She's crazy. We live here."
"Damn. I'm in the home of Petra and Ellie Johnson. This is a major accomplishment."
"Yeah, whatever." Petra rolled her eyes.
"Seriously, though, where did you come from before? Are you two just, like, everywhere?"
"Yep. We're magical." Petra joked.
"Alright, now you ignore her. She's the crazy one. She's pinning the blame for being crazy on me so nobody knows."
"Never mind ignoring or not ignoring you; I just want to get to Endercon."
Skull? Petra mouthed to Ellie. For some reason, she had the idea to show Jesse the skull. It was beyond her why it had even crossed her mind, but it had.
Ellie shrugged. I guess, but secret. The message was clear. Swear her to secrecy.
"Well, there's something we'd like to show you first."
"Fine." The three girls entered the cave. "Look, this is a really cool dimly-lit tunnel, don't get me wrong, but this thing you guys want to show me isn't too far away, right?" Jesse appeared to be a little scared, despite her efforts to hide it.
"Jeb, Jesse, it's not that dark. Are you trying to get a reputation as a wimp?"
"My Notch, you two, this isn't my first time in a cave, you know."
"No? Is it your second?" Ellie quipped.
Jesse rolled her eyes. "That's my private business."
"So basically, it is your second." Ellie said.
"Still my private business here!"
"Ellie, you're torturing her." Petra cut in. "Well, in any case, have you ever seen a wither skull?" She took it out of the endless pocket everyone had because screw physics and everything they had ever learned in science class.
Jesse's eyes widened, and she leaned forward slightly, as if seeing it from where she was wasn't enough to confirm that this was real. "Holy crap!" She exclaimed.
"Fresh from the Nether."
Jesse was awestruck. Ellie said, "You're the first person aside from us to see it. You'd better be grateful."
"You two risked your notchdamn lives for that dusty old skull?"
"No." Ellie scoffed. "Of course we didn't. Why would we do that?"
"We risked our lives for the thing we're going to exchange for that dusty old skull." Petra continued.
"Which would be…?"
"There's this guy we're going to meet up with at Endercon. He's going to trade us a diamond for it."
"So you never bothered to ask him about it? It seems just a little strange to me."
"And it would seem strange to him if we asked why he wanted something." Petra pointed out. "He already almost turned us away because I'm, in his words, a child. We don't need to push our luck by asking him about why he wants what he wants. We don't ask. We just deliver."
"You wouldn't need to be weird about it. You could just be all, 'Hey, what's with your totally normal and not at all weird skull thing?'"
"Jesse, have you ever stopped to consider that maybe there's a reason nobody ever takes your advice?" Ellie said dryly.
"No, not really. Should I?"
"Yeah. Yeah, you should."
"Fine, I guess I'll I'll consider it. In any case, wow."
"Uh…sorry for telling the truth, I guess?" Ellie muttered.
"No, not that. Wow that in a single day, you two went to the Nether and killed a fucking Wither Skeleton…I mean, I did help my friends build a damn cool statue, but I guess it's pretty sweet being you guys, right?"
"Sweet?" Petra spat out the word like having it unsaid left a bad taste in her mouth. "Jesse, I don't know much, but trust me when I say that is it in no way sweet being us."
Jesse started to say something, but didn't bother. Well, great, Petra had just fucked things up. Social interactions had never been her forte.
Oh, fuck it. "Look, if you want to, you could come with us. To the deal."
Ellie had an I-don't-know-what-the-hell-you're-doing-but-I'll-roll-with-it expression on her face, which was understandable. "That is, if you aren't a chicken."
Jesse rolled her eyes, Petra's outburst seemingly having been forgotten by her. "I'm not Marty McFly. Calling me chicken won't get me to do something." Petra looked at her blankly. "Marty McFly? Back to the Future? Any of that ringing a bell?"
Oh. Back to the Future. That series of movies that everyone else seemed to have watched. "Right. That. Anyway, it might seem pretty damn scary, but it's just an offer."
"Are you kidding?" Jesse looked like it was Christmas, her birthday, and the last day of school rolled into one. "I'd love to come."
"Okay, cool." Petra said. "Just try to keep quiet."
"Why?"
"Because this is a fucking diamond on the line. The last thing we need is someone fucking this up." Ellie stated bluntly.
"Okay, then." Jesse looked a little weirded out. The two of them had that effect on people sometimes, especially people like Jesse.
They came to a crafting table and chest. "You two just keep a crafting table down here?"
"Yeah. It comes in pretty damn handy. Anyways, I'm assuming that wooden sword of yours got busted, since you didn't seem to have it and being attacked by monsters calls for swords." Petra decided to shut her mouth before she started rambling.
"You're right about that." Jesse nodded. "You're giving me a new one?"
"Fuck that. Here's something better-you can make your own. Just grab anything you need in the chest. I'm assuming you know what the recipe is." Petra hoped she did, anyway. It was typically common knowledge, but knowing Jesse, it was all too possible that she didn't.
"You confuse me." Ellie muttered so only Petra could hear.
"And you confuse me. I guess we're even."
"Are you sure we're even related?"
"Who knows?"
Jesse interrupted the little bit of banter. "Do you guys own all this?"
"No." Petra said, rolling her eyes. "We're just stealing from whoever the hell was dumb enough to leave it there. And yes, someone else was dumb enough to leave their stuff in a cave inhabited by someone else."
"Yeah, we're thieves." Ellie said sarcastically. "You've know us for seven years and you somehow haven't managed to figure it out, but yeah. We're thieves."
"Of course we own it!" Petra scoffed.
"Okay, point taken. Jeb, I was just making sure. Oh! Here we go. Jackpot." Jesse pulled out the pieces she needed and placed them on the table, making a sword.
"See, isn't it better when you make it yourself?" Petra asked.
"No, not really." Jesse deadpanned.
"Well, okay then. Anyway, let's go."
They left the cave and started walking across the bridge. It had been there when they'd first moved into their cave, and it didn't appear to be leaving anytime soon. Petra and Ellie theorized that the cave had been used for mining, and that the bridge had been for quick travel.
"Check it out." Petra commented. "Endercon's all lit up." There was a beacon shifting colors.
"Aw, dammit." Jesse said. "Looks like Lukas and those Ocelots won again."
"Sorry, Jesse. You have to admit, though-that beacon looks pretty fucking great."
"Yeah, yeah." Jesse didn't acknowledge that Petra was right-it looked awesome. "I just wanted this to be the year we finally beat those assholes. Especially since Endercon's being held in our town this year. It was like our year, you know?" Jesse sighed.
"I get what you mean." Petra said. "I can't help but wonder why they're holding Endercon in our tiny and pathetic excuse for a town this year, though. I mean, you can barely even call it a town."
"I don't know, but I'm not complaining." Jesse replied. "I mean, it's always in the general area, so it's never too hard to get there, but it's nice to have it, like, five minutes away from the door. Definitely an improvement."
"Wait, before, did you call Lukas an asshole?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, I guess so." Jesse shrugged.
"Okay, um, Petra might want to push you off this bridge now."
"Ellie, stop."
"Oh, are you referring to her blatantly obvious crush on him? If that's the case, then yeah."
"What the hell are you two going on about?"
Ellie and Jesse exchanged glances, like they'd been best friends for years and Petra was the newcomer. "Like I said, your blatantly obvious crush on Lukas." Jesse said, giggling. Well, she was fucked.
"You're crazy." Petra did her best to deny it, but the heat in her face made it obvious that she was failing. "I don't like him as anything more than a friend."
"Alright, let's try this again." Ellie said, snapping me out of my random bullshit thoughts. "This time, be honest. Like Jesse said, your blatantly obvious crush on Lukas."
"Why are you two ganging up on me?"
"Because we can, and because eventually you'll admit it."
Petra sighed. She knew that, as much as she tried to hide it, anyone who looked closely enough could see the truth-that she liked Lukas a lot, and not just as a friend. Who wouldn't? He was handsome, a great person...aside from his being a bit arrogant, Petra couldn't find any major flaws about him. Back in sixth grade, he'd been the only one willing to talk to the antisocial redheaded girl who sat in the back of the classroom.
It hadn't been love at first sight. Petra knew all too well that no kind of love at first sight existed. She'd fallen in love pretty quickly, though.
But if there was one thing Petra wasn't, it was stupid. Not in school terms, but in life terms. She knew that she and Lukas would never be a thing. For one thing, if she had a dollar for every time he had called her his friend, she and Ellie wouldn't have to do deals just to scrape by. Second, he was way out of her league. He was attractive, she wasn't. He was a good person, she wasn't. He had a real future ahead of him, while her only future? It consisted of spending the rest of her life doing deals with Ellie just to get by. It was a future of calculating what they really needed and what they could do without. A future of staying up all night to get the things they needed to trade.
It almost couldn't be considered a future.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that she and Lukas could never be more than friends.
But if Jesse and Ellie were just going to keep asking..."Jeb, fine. Maybe I like him as a little more than a friend, but it's not like it matters."
"Success!" Jesse cheered.
"Congratu-fucking-lations." Petra scoffed. "You got me to confess. You had to gang up on me to do it, but you did it. Are you proud of yourself?"
"Very."
"That…was…rhetorical."
"You need to tell us these things."
"What, when a question is rhetorical or when I'm crushing on someone?"
"Just stop." Ellie said. "You two are ridiculous. Was I like this when I was your age?"
Petra shrugged. There was supposed to be a mother to answer questions like this, wasn't there? Petra supposed it was just another example of their fucked up life that they pretended wasn't half as fucked up as it really was for some reason.
"I don't know. Were you?" Petra wasn't sure whether nobody had ever taught Jesse that it was dumb to throw people's questions back at them, or if she'd been taught things like that but didn't care. She had a sneaking suspicion it was the latter.
The random and pointless banter could've continued for a ridiculous amount of time if they'd let it, but the three of them had an Endercon to get to. "Hey, remember what Endercon was like back before it became cool?" Petra asked.
"Damn right I do. Do you two remember what we were like before we were cool?"
"Wait, we're cool?" Ellie turned to Petra in mock surprise. "Petra, did you know about this?"
"No! I can't believe it! I thought we'd never be cool!" The sarcasm was practically dripping from Petra's voice, but it was more humorous than mocking.
"Okay, point taken, ha ha." Jesse rolled her eyes. "Let's just go." They continued crossing the bridge. That is, until they were stopped by the one thing nobody anywhere on the planet of Minecraftia liked seeing. "Creepers!" They turned around to see zombies emerging from the cave. Petra couldn't help but wonder why there were monsters, considering she and Ellie slept in there every night, and they'd lit up every inch of the cave pretty well, but there was no time to consider things like that at that moment. "Crap."
Ellie didn't waste any time. "We have to jump!"
"We can't jump!" Jesse exclaimed. "We'll die! Are you insane?"
"Of course we are." Those were the last words Petra said before she shoved Jesse off the bridge. The next course of action was for her and Ellie to immediately jump off.
Hey, peeps. It's me, the author. I've decided to go into underlines instead of bold, because on the last version of this story I got positive feedback to a certain two characters doing the note. Just to get the important stuff out of the way, the final word count for this chapter was 3,859.
Can we go now?
Yep.
Okay. Hey, people. It's Ellie. You know, the best character in thislkdijgroighoufsh
You can't just proclaim yourself the best character!
No? Well, I just did!
Petra's right, you can't do that.
You're biased because she's your favorite!
Just stop. It's up to the reader who their favorite is.
Ugh, fine.
ANYWAY. This is Petra talking. We all hope you liked this. And I hope a new font is discovered soon, because italian
ITALICS.
Whatever it is, it makes me look prissy.
It was either that or strikethrough, okay?
Strikethrough seems preferable right about now.
You can both stop now. I think you're annoying the readers.
Yeah, sorry, guys. Stay tuned for more. Hope you enjoyed. I'll be doing review replies, so be sure to leave one. Bye!
...
...
...
Are you going to say bye, or...?
Oh. Yeah. Bye.
Goodbye and good riddance.
Let's just pretend that never happened. Bye!
