Decibels chpt. 2: Don't know what You Have 'till it's Gone

Oh wow. It's only been a few days since I uploaded the first chapter, and people are already putting it in their favourites and alerts! The reviews have been really positive and they made me smile. (I've replied to all of them) They still do! So here I am, typing up the next chapter.

Ahem. Yeah, I replied to the reviews with the wrong account. Sorry 'bout that. Special thanks to Gamerwhogames, who has offered to give me a rep (did I phrase that right?) or some sort of shoutout. She's cool, go check out her stories! They make me laugh.

Quick question: How do you indent your paragraphs in FFN? I use the tab key, but it doesn't show in the final chapter :(

Okay, on to chapter two! (Warning: long chapter!)

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Minecraft: Story Mode or Minecraft. Telltale and Mojang does.

-o.0.o-

Back when he had nobody, when it was just Jesse and a bunch of trees, and darkness, he'd wondered if he'd die alone, with no friends. He was so afraid that night. He hadn't told anyone yet, but that was one of his worst fears, dying alone and afraid and cold and sad. There was just something about it … well, he was afraid of dying alone, alright?

He hadn't thought about this since meeting Reuben. He had simply forgotten about it. So why was he thinking about it now?

Because he felt like he was dying. Jesse had felt himself hit the ground, he had felt the World shake each and every time a piece of the Storm broke apart and fell. Jesse expected to feel that; who wouldn't? Screw all that, though, because it was dark. He couldn't see a thing. And his ears were whistling like crazy, loud and sharp. They throbbed painfully with every heartbeat. He covered his ears with his hands, trying to block out the pain. It didn't work.

Jesse couldn't hear his friends. He couldn't hear anything besides the high- pitched whistling. And it was as dark as his first night alone, just Jesse, the darkness and no one else. Was he going to die now? Did the armour not work? Where was everybody, were they okay, were there any survivors, why wasn't he going to Heaven or whatever right now, what is going on what's wrong with him why is his heart beating so fast whatwhywhowhere-

Oh. Right. He couldn't see because his eyes were shut tight in pain. And he couldn't hear his friends because his ears were whistling. They were bad at whistling. How very stupid of Jesse to immediately think he was dying. Heh heh.

He opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows (his hands still over his ears). His friends were kneeling in front of and around him, worried. Behind them, the last pieces of the Storm hit the ground, tentacles flopping pathetically and eyes dulled to a mundane purple.

It was dead. It was over. The bomb had worked.

Jesse stood up, his ears still whistling like mad, and watched as the final head flopped to the ground, its jaw lifeless and limp. He looked at the entire Storm, now reduced to a heap of black, blocky mess. Smoke rose from the corpse with an air of finality.

A low mumble to his right; he turned to find Lukas talking to him, his eyebrows scrunched up in question as he gestured to Jesse's hands, which were still covering his ears. Why are you covering your ears? Lukas seemed to be asking.

"Sorry, my ears are whistling really hard right now." Jesse replied, hoping it made sense. Lukas nodding in understanding. Hmm. Jesse couldn't hear himself very well either, though he could feel his throat making sound.

Axel stepped forward and pat Jesse on the back, a huge smile on his face. Another low mumble. Probably saying something along the lines of Congrats, you did it! or You actually freakin' did it!

Jesse smiled up at him, like Yeah, I did do it!

He felt something, or should he say someone, nudging his legs happily. It was Reuben, with his trademark cheesy pig grin. When he made eye contact with Jesse, he immediately jumped straight up, and Jesse had to let go of his ears to catch him. He then began to lick Jesse's face everywhere, and by everywhere, he meant it. His face was now coated in slobber, not that Jesse minded much. He let out a laugh.

"Okay, okay.. Reuben, I'm okay… good boy, Reuben… jeez, you're really happy to see me alive, aren't you?" he murmured, rubbing his head affectionately. Jesse's ears were still ringing too loudly for him to hear anything he just said, but at least Reuben seemed to hear it. He licked Jesse some more.

Another low mumble to his left; by now Jesse had figured out that a low mumble was someone speaking. It was Olivia. She was pointing at something inside the pile of Storm. He turned to look and- people! Real, alive, non- withered people! They were climbing out of the Storm, some clutching their heads, some supporting others, some barely staying upright, but they were ALIVE! There was still hope for those who had gotten sucked in (Gabriel)! Not everyone died. Maybe no one died at all.

"We gotta go help the survivors." Jesse said, setting Reuben down. "Some people could be hurt."

Petra said/ mumbled something, her head tilted slightly, eyebrows scrunched together slightly, making direct eye contact with Jesse, and gesturing at him with a wave of her hand. She might have been saying Are you okay, though? or What about you? Jesse couldn't be sure anymore.

"Uh… I'm fine, Petra." he replied, hoping it was the right answer. It wasn't, or maybe it was and Petra didn't believe him, because she shot him a skeptical look before turning to Olivia and nodding. His group of friends spread out to help the people wandering aimlessly. Jesse decided to search for hurt people with Reuben.

He climbed over a tentacle, turned a corner, and as he predicted, there was at least one person trapped/ unable to move. Jesse moved forward and lifted the tentacle off of the man's torso, then took him by the hand and pulled him upright.

"Get to safety; there are people over there who can help you." he said to the man.

The man said something, probably Thank you or something like that, and shuffled away. Jesse moved deeper into the Storm's corpse. It smelled pretty bad, like rotten flesh.

The next survivor he came across was also trapped under a tentacle. Jesse lifted it away, took the man by the hands and helped the man up. "Don't worry, it's all over now. My friends can help you."

Instead of saying 'Thank you" like the other man (probably) did, he gripped Jesse's hand before he could pull away and flipped it over, palm up. It was smeared with some blood. He frowned, looking straight at Jesse's face, then tapped his ear with his other hand. It's coming from your ears, the man seemed to be saying.

Only then did Jesse realize that his ears had fallen silent long ago. No more high- pitched whistling. Just silence.

F- bomb explosion. Ears popping. Sharp, painful whistling. Having full armour except for boots and a helmet.

"Oh." was all Jesse could say. He pulled a smile. "I'll be alright, thanks for telling me." He gently pulled his hand away from the man's gentle hold.

The man looked at Jesse for one last second, said something, and left. Jesse looked down at Reuben. He had a few blotches of blood on his skin too, now that he was looking closely. He kneeled down and wiped it away with the back of his hand. Reuben himself didn't seem to care, though, he was staring up at Jesse with wide black eyes that reflected concern. You're deaf now, aren't you?

"I know, Reuben." Jesse told him, standing up again. "The F- bomb blew out my ears. It was really loud."

Why was he feeling so depressed right now? Jesse had signed himself up to do this, he was to expect side effects like these. Wasn't this why he signed up in the first place, anyways? Because he didn't want it to be his friends instead?

Now that it wasn't there, Jesse realized just how important hearing was. It was how he understood his friends, how he knew if it were a zombie or a spider approaching him, how he knew if Reuben was happy or sad, how he knew who was who without looking, and countless of other things. How was he going to do all that now was the real question. Hand signals? Those only worked for more simple sentences. Writing things down? That wouldn't work in a battle. Have everyone yell directly in his ear? What if they had to yell across a room?

Think about it later, Jesse he thought to himself. We've got to help the others first. "C'mon, Reuben, we have to go help any people who could be trapped."

Reuben shot him a concerned look, but moved on anyways.

Jesse helped another man up, then turned another corner, expecting to see more trapped people, or wrecked terrain, but he DID NOT expect to see the Command Block, completely unscathed, sitting innocently on top of a pile of Wither. His stomach dropped to bedrock. The F- bomb didn't work at all! Soren said it would! His eardrums had exploded for nothing!

"What in the world…" Jesse gasped. "That's impossible!" he shook his head, stepping back. "It's… completely fine."

And then the Command Block "woke up". The console lit up, buttons blinking, and multicolored particles began to gather around it. The air temperature rose up a bit.

"Oh, that's not good." he muttered. "Guys! Over hee-!"

An invisible force yanked him backwards roughly, drawing him towards the Command Block. Jesse struggled frantically, trying to walk away from the Block, but it was no use. It was too strong. His feet left the ground as he rose up. He tried waving his arms. That didn't work either.

"Noo! Somebody, help me!" he shouted, loud enough that even he could hear himself faintly. Reuben tried to jump up and grab Jesse's feet, but he was too high up for him to reach. Jesse flailed wildly, but that didn't work either.

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the arms and pulled down, landing on the ground roughly, gasping for breath. Jesse scrambled up quickly and looked at the face of his rescuer.

It was Gabriel, completely alive and completely not dead like everyone had thought. His eyes were grey- er than usual, though, and his skin looked ashy and dull. Was he withering like Petra? No time to dwell on that, because the whole world seemed to be shaking as the Wither rose up again, pushing the Command block back into itself with its own ribs. They absolutely had to go now.

"C'mon, Gabriel!" Jesse shouted over the roaring wind (He couldn't hear it, but he figured shouting was fitting for the current situation.). He helped Gabriel up. "We've gotta go now!" Jesse ran, but only got a few meters out before having to stop and run back for Gabriel, who hadn't moved at all.

"What are you doing? We have to go now!" he shouted again, tugging on Gabriel's arm. He did not run, only turned around slowly with a dazed expression and said something Jesse could not hear.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you, but we really have to go now!" Jesse yelled back, forcefully dragging Gabriel along with him. Things had escalated from zero to a hundred way too quickly. Blackened blocks were flying everywhere, forcing Jesse to dodge them and drag Gabriel through them too. The sky had darkened to a deep purple again, with swirling blocks as stars. Random trees were on fire. People were screaming and running away, only to be sucked up again.

Basically, the world had gone to s***.

Jesse spotted Axel, his hands over his head as he searched for something. Jesse called out to him. Axel's head immediately whipped towards Jesse, and his face brightened. He gestured to himself. Get over here!

Jesse ducked under a few blocks, hoping Gabriel didn't get whacked over the head, weaved around another block, and reached Axel. He said something, pointing to Gabriel, his eyes widened in surprise. He's alive?

"Yeah, he's alive. We need to get out of here, now!" Jesse said. Axel made the "follow me" gesture, and ran off, Jesse, Gabriel, and Reuben following him. He led them to a piece of land that jutted out, providing a shield of sorts. All his friends were huddled behind it. They seemed really glad to see him, and surprised to see Gabriel alive. Jesse took a moment to catch his breath.

Then, purple light washed over them, ripping away their shield, and they had to run. Jesse ran hard, only to stop abruptly to avoid crashing into an enderman. Why were they walking towards the Storm?

He kept running, stopping behind a tree to catch his breath (Gee, he needed to exercise more). Woo. Got a little dizzy for a second.

Soren was also behind that tree, but instead of running, he was staring at the endermen, distress clearly written across his face. He seemed torn on whether to run, or save his lifelong project. He was going to get killed if he stayed any longer!

"Stop staring and get a move on!" Jesse shouted. Soren turned to look at Jesse, and said something back, slightly angry. Probably telling Jesse off or something like that.

Before Jesse could say anything back, the tree was hit with a flaming skull, setting it on fire, forcing them to run some more. His heart was pounding. It was absolute chaos. Where were they running, again? Did any of them have a destination in mind?

Lukas was running alongside him, so when he stopped suddenly, Jesse automatically stopped too. He was yelling and pointing at someone behind them. Jesse turned around to look. Petra, being as sick as she was, couldn't run. Axel was supporting her and trying to help her speed up, but only succeeded in slowing himself down. They were going to get caught at this rate.

Olivia was beside him now, yelling some more stuff. This was getting very frustrating, not being able to understand anything being said.

They needed some way to go faster. Jesse looked around for anything that could help. Flaming tree? Nope. Didn't Axel still have a minecart? No wait, they'd have to lay down too much track, something they didn't have much of. Piggyback? No, that would still slow Axel down. Horses? Huh, that could work.

"Everyone, grab a horse!" he yelled, running up to the closest horse. He/ she used to belong to someone, because a saddle was already strapped on. And he (Jesse was just going to assume it was a he) was a beautiful white. Jesse liked white horses (not racist!).

"Woah, calm down, boy!" Jesse soothed the horse, his hands held out as if to pet him. When the horse had slowed down enough, Jesse swung himself on, balancing so he wouldn't fall off. His first horse, and he wasn't even Jesse's. Yay.

There weren't enough horses for everyone. Olivia and Axel were on one horse (with Reuben under Axel's arm), Magnus and Ellegaard on another, and Lukas with Gabriel. That left Petra and Soren, and Jesse couldn't take two extra people on one horse. Jesse had to figure something out quick, before a tractor beam sucked anyone up.

A fireball hit the ground, almost hitting Magnus and Ellegaard, who were in the back of the group. You know what? Screw it. Jesse was going to make everyone fit on the horse.

"Get on!" he said, grabbing Petra's hand and hauling her onto the horse. "Hold on really tight." She nodded, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Jesse then grabbed Soren's hand and help him on, behind Petra. "You've got to hold on really, really tightly, okay? I don't want you falling off or anything!"

Soren nodded and held tight. Jesse pressed his legs into the side off the horse, and they were off like a rocket. He gripped his sword in one hand and held the saddle with the other one so hard his knuckles were white. Jesse thought he heard Soren yelp in fear.

They galloped on, dodging mobs (or whacking them with his sword), tractor beams, and the occasional crater. It had started to rain, making his hair stick to his forehead and his grip slippery. He silently prayed Soren wouldn't slip off the rear end of the horse, because that would be really bad.

Smack that zombie. Jump over that crater. Swerve to the left. Duck (not quack). That was all Jesse was thinking about at the moment. That was all he could afford to think about at the moment. A moment's hesitation could cost him his life and two other's lives too.

Tractor beams were everywhere, sucking up terrain, mobs, and trees. Most of his concentration was on dodging those (mobs he could just jump over or whack). As Jesse watched, an enderman ripped out a chunk of a tentacle. Cool beans. Actually, now that he thought about it, the Wither had slowed down a bit since they had got on the horses.

Soren yelled something, pointing up at the Storm. Jesse spared a moment to take a glance. Endermen were all over the Storm, tearing and ripping away blocks with their hands, making the Storm growl and roar and get irritated. They were like annoying ticks on a dog. And they were slowing down the Storm.

"Are the endermen… distracting the Wither Storm?" Jesse wondered aloud. Soren replied something. Jesse turned back to the front…

...just as a fireball destroyed the bridge they were about to cross. Great. Just dandy. How very convenient.

His friends were already getting off their horses, taking out random blocks to build another bridge. Jesse took out some sandstone he had left from Boom Town and joined them. It was the fastest bridge he had ever built in his life. It was the only bridge he'd built so far, actually. Wow. So many firsts.

As soon as the bridge was complete, they were off, leaving the Wither Storm in the dust, having finally stopped due to the Endermen teleporting all over it. Jesse doubted the distraction would last very long.

Some time later, Axel pointed up at a mountain and said something. A cave to rest in, maybe? Probably was, because everyone else was nodding at him, and were now following him up the side of the mountain, to a ledge with a cave. It was high up enough that they could see the Storm, and placed well enough that they could make a quick escape if needed.

Finally. A place to rest and think about recent events.

Someone placed down a few fences as a temporary stable for the horses. Soren, Petra, and Jesse got off their horse last, and Jesse shut the gate and turned to his friends. Everyone looked so tired, especially Magnus and Ellegaard, with bags under their eyes from no sleep, dripping wet hair and clothes from the rain, and defeat in their eyes.

The F- bomb failed. And Jesse was now ninety- nine percent deaf because of it.

Jesse leaned against the (cold) stone wall, his head in his hand. What now? How was he going to do anything with his friends? He couldn't be in conversations without having to guess what was going on, he couldn't listen to his friends laugh, and therefore laugh at their jokes, and he just… couldn't do life the same anymore.

Get used to it. A tiny voice in his head snapped.

Yeah, but that's hard. Jesse mentally whined back.

Your friends will help you. When have they not?

The voice was right. When have his friends not helped him?

They can't help me hear properly again.

But they can help you cope.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. A low mumble. Someone was talking to him. He raised his head.

It was Lukas. He was asking Jesse something. As soon as Jesse had raised his head, though, he did something Jesse had never expected of the (former?) Ocelot leader.

Lukas screamed, the cave only helping to amplify the sound enough that even Jesse could hear it. Lukas pointed at Jesse's face, and Jesse tried to lip- read what he was saying.

"... on his face….. blood!" he was screaming. The other were staring at him too, eyes alert and mouths gaping. Reuben was jumping up and down next to him, his eyes scrunched up in worry.

Jesse then realized that he had probably smeared his own blood across his face from when he had clutched his ears in pain. The rain wasn't hard enough to wash it all off. In fact, it just made it more watery and easy to smear.

Axel grabbed both of Jesse's hands and flipped them over, palms up. Everybody saw them. Blood was still smeared on them. It wasn't that much blood, but it was enough.

Jesse stared up at Axel and lip- read what he said next.

"Jesse, what the heck are you hiding?"

-o.0.o-

Final word count (Author's note not included): 3425.

Wow. That's a lot. I hope it isn't too much, though. I wanted to end this chapter at the cave, but I didn't know getting to the cave would take over 3000 words! I did most of this today, too. The other 4 days were spent typing and re- typing the beginning of the chapter. I hope the one I settled with was okay…

But seriously, though, the reviews to the first chapter were positive and made me really happy and stuff, so I started this chapter 12 hours after the first one. I hope you like this one too, as I'm not so sure about the beginning…

K bye. Leave a review on the way out! :)) (He's got a double- chin!)