Hey, peeps! I'm short on time so it's just me doing the note. I worked pretty hard on this one, and I hope you enjoy!

Warnings:

1. If you ship Luktra, this chapter could cause intense fangirling/fanboying/fanpersoning.

2. Ellie has a figurative explosion in this chapter.

Oh, and bold text outside of notes is Ellie's thoughts.

All that being said, on to the chapter! Enjoy!

Petra ran.

She ran without stopping or looking back once.

Gabriel had said something about north. It was a long shot, but she was desperate as fuck. And that was how she found herself running north for my life.

For some reason, though, it didn't take very long for her body to decide it was tired. "The hell?" Petra muttered, slowing to a walk. She'd been doing deals since she had probably been too young to risk her life by fighting monsters all the time, and it had definitely left her had more stamina than that, hadn't it? Scowling, the redheaded teen forced herself to keep going, although she slowed her pace slightly.

I'm just tired. I was running for a while before getting to the temple. That's the reason I'm tired out now. I'm fine.

Unfortunately, her left arm begged to differ.

It had ached dully since Jesse had pulled Petra out of the beam, but now that ache grew to an almost unbearable pain. It had hurt horribly right before she'd been pulled out…what if that wasn't just a coincidence? What if something was really wrong?

The pain was only growing, and a less reasonable and logical part of Petra-not that Petra was ever particularly reasonable or logical, but this part was even less so-felt like cutting off her arm just to end it, because that would legitimately be less painful. But since that wasn't an option, Petra knew she had to look at her arm, just in case something was wrong with it. Grimacing, she forced herself to roll up the long sleeve that covered most of her left arm. What she saw underneath scared the shit out of her.

Purple.

Ellie's eyes shot open. "Wh-what the hell?" She muttered.

Why was she moving? Why was everything so damn hot?

Sitting up, Ellie took in her surroundings. She was in a minecart. In front of her were Jesse, Lukas, Olivia, and Axel, each in separate minecarts. Looking around, she saw lava, fire, and Netherrack.

Oh, fuck, they were in the Nether.

Why were they in the Nether?

"Why are we in the Nether?"

Four heads turned to face her.

"Well, she's awake." Jesse said.

"You didn't answer my question." Ellie persisted.

"We're in the Nether because the Witherstorm knocked us in here." Lukas explained.

Witherstorm? Ellie paused for a second before making the connection. That was probably what they were calling that...that thing.

That was when she realized something.

"Where's Petra?"

Ellie noticed a few concerned glances between the other four before Lukas said, "I'm sorry."

The words took a moment to register in her mind. People only answered a question like that with, 'I'm sorry,' for one reason.

"No." She said. "No, she-she isn't. She can't be." There was a moment of silence. "...is she?"

"We don't know." Jesse answered. "The last time we saw her, she was alive. But she didn't get knocked into the portal, and we were going to go back, but then it broke, and...ugh, I haven't got a damn clue how to explain this."

"But she's probably dead." Ellie said it like a statement, rather than a question.

"Well, we can't be sure, but..." Olivia sighed. "I'm sorry, Ellie. She's probably dead."

Ellie was still and silent for a few moments before she exploded.

Not literally, obviously, but the words that came out of her mouth were so rapid and so loud that they could be considered an explosion of words.

"Why?!" She screamed. "Why did this happen?"

"It was my fault." Lukas said. "I froze."

"You said you got knocked in. How would you not being frozen get Petra knocked in with you?" Ellie paused for a couple seconds before saying, "Actually, I really don't give a shit. Because you know what? It doesn't fucking matter to me whose fault it was. What does matter is that you-you fuckers are alive while the one reason I get out of bed in the morning is not!"

"I'm sor-" Ellie cut Jesse off.

"Don't bother. Sorry doesn't bring anyone back." Shutting her eyes, she shook her head, her dark auburn ponytail swinging. "Forget it. Let's not talk about it."

"But Ellie-" Olivia was cut off.

"No buts. She's gone."

None of them could tell whether Ellie was talking to herself or to them.

The inside of her elbow was entirely purple.

As if that wasn't scary enough, about half of her forearm had turned a purple-gray color that Petra could only describe as freakish. Upon tentatively running her finger along her arm, the skin felt rough, and inspecting it more closely caused Petra to realize that it was blistering, and the unaffected skin on her arm looked a little paler than the rest of her.

All Petra knew how to say was a quiet, "Fuck."

She had never paid much attention in school. She'd always known that the only way she could get to college and do much of anything with her life was if she got a full scholarship, and she'd never been the smartest kid, so that was out of the question. With the biggest reason for trying in school being virtually meaningless to her, Petra had never bothered doing more than the bare minimum.

But she'd paid the maximum attention when they'd learned about Wither Sickness. Everyone had. Stuff like that was interesting to seventh graders.

She remembered that the most obvious symptom was a mark on your body with a description horribly similar to her arm.

She remembered that it was fatal.

But she remembered that it was easily cured with a bucket of milk.

She had an empty bucket on her; she could just get some milk from a cow. Wither Sickness begone. Everything would be fine.

One bucket of milk later, nothing was fine. "Wait." She muttered. "Just wait." There's no way it works immediately, right?

What felt like an hour later, Petra had given up all hope.

She didn't want to even think what she knew in her heart was true-she felt like even letting the thought enter her head would make it true, and as long as she blocked it out, it wouldn't be real.

But that was bullshit. There was no getting around the fact that the milk wasn't working.

She was absolutely fucked. No getting around that either.

If she ever found this temple, the others didn't need to know about this. It wasn't like they could do a damn thing, and what was the point of worrying them?

They would probably freak out when she dropped dead in front of them, of course, but it would be nothing compared to how they would freak out if they saw her arm.

Okay. Just stay calm. Keep going. Just because you're sick and will inevitably die in the near future doesn't mean you can't get to this temple thingy.

Things didn't improve in any way, shape, or form for Petra during the following hours. The pain in her arm only increased, and her head started hurting a little in addition to that.

But she kept going. She didn't have any choice. If she didn't keep going, then that would mean the others would never know what happened to her, and who would she be to do that to them?

As the teen walked, the thought of death crossed her mind a lot. It was terrifying.

She didn't want to die.

It was a stupid thought-most of her family was dead; she supposed it was her turn. Not only that, but it was a little late to be thinking it. The damage was done. Petra was withering away. It was too late to decide she didn't want to die. It was going to happen regardless, so there was no sense in freaking out over it.

After what felt like forever but was really only a couple days, she finally saw a building that looked like it could be a temple. "Hello?" She called.

"Who goes there?" A familiar voice yelled. Okay, Lukas is here. What about everyone else?

Eh, fuck everyone else.

But what about Ellie?

"I go there!"

"Holy crap. Petra, is that you?"

"Nope, I just happen to have her personality, voice, and appearance. Yes, it's me, now let me the hell in!" Petra demanded.

Lukas held his hands up. "Okay, okay." He disappeared from the window, and shortly afterwards, the door was opened.

"We all thought you might be…well, you know."

"Me? Dead?" Petra said in mock offense. "I don't die. Dying sucks, so I don't do it." The words coming from her mouth were blatant lies, and she knew it. "Where are the others, anyway?" They died. They died, and it's all your fault.

"Well, Gabriel gave Jesse this amulet that tracks the Order members. Jesse and Axel went to go find Magnus, and Olivia went to get Ellegaard. I have no idea how she intends to do it without the amulet, but she seemed pretty sure of herself."

"And Ellie would be where during all this?" She isn't dead. She isn't dead. She isn't fucking dead! "She had better not be dead."

"Holy shit." Ellie's voice said as she came down the stairs. "Petra! You-you're alive!"

The two girls hugged each other tightly. "Notch fucking dammit, I was so worried." Ellie muttered. She noticed that her sister was a little cold, but she ignored it at that moment.

"You think I wasn't?"

Ellie laughed, letting go. "This coming from the girl who we all thought we'd never see again?" There was a pause. "I'm so glad you're okay. But I think I'll leave you two alone."

"And why are you doing this?" Lukas asked.

"No reason other than that I feel like it." Ellie disappeared.

Lukas turned to Petra. "Is there a method to her madness, or is she just full-on crazy?"

Petra shrugged. "Haven't got a damn clue. Hell, I'm not sure if even Ellie herself knows."

"Wow." Lukas said. He sat down against the wall and motioned for Petra to do the same. She sat down next to him. "So...what happened to you?" Lukas asked.

"It's a long story." Petra responded.

"We've got time.

"A long story I don't want to tell."

"Oh. Okay."

There was silence for a few minutes. "Weird to think that a couple days ago, things were normal." Lukas commented.

Petra nodded. "It honestly sucks."

"Yeah." Lukas turned his head, looking at his friend. "How are you doing?"

Petra was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer. She shrugged. "I don't even know. I...this shouldn't have happened."

"Definitely not. There should never be a deadly Witherstorm destroying the world."

"No, that's not what I mean. It's just..." Petra sighed, shaking her head. "Lukas, this is all happening for one reason and one reason only: because some of us fucked up. Ellie and I never should've made that deal. Axel should've left that potion alone. Ivor shouldn't have spawned a mega Wither at Endercon, but if he absolutely had to for some reason, he should've been more careful. But you know what the worst part is?"

"What?"

"Nobody meant for it to turn out like this." She answered. "Ellie and I didn't mean to screw the world over-we were just trying to make money. Axel didn't mean to steal the only way of killing a giant Wither monster. He was just...um...I haven't got a damn clue what he was trying to accomplish, but I doubt he wanted the world to die. And I can't make head or tail of Ivor's motives, but as much as I hate him, I have a hard time believing that anyone would willingly destroy the world. Nobody who was responsible for this meant for this to happen. It's just a total accident. But..." There were a few moments of silence before Petra continued, "With this whole fucking world being destroyed at the speed of notchdamn light, our intentions don't matter-hell, I don't know if they ever did at all."

Nobody spoke for a few minutes.

"Damn. That's deep." Lukas finally commented.

"Enjoy it while you can-we both know I don't say many things that have any sort of real meaning." Petra laughed. It was a short little laugh, one without any real humor. It was hard to muster up any sort of cheer in this situation, let alone laugh a real laugh.

Petra turned her head towards Lukas. He was facing her just like she was towards him; it was almost as if fate had planned it.

The moment was perfect, and Petra couldn't help herself. So she barely hesitated before pulling Lukas towards her and kissing him.

On the lips.

For multiple seconds.

Every sensible part of the teen's brain screamed at her to stop, but she didn't listen. She was going to die; best she did what she'd wanted to do for years before that happened, right?

After a couple seconds, he started kissing her back.

And in those moments, she forgot.

She forgot that she was the antisocial redheaded girl who sat in the back of class, cursed all the time, and did deals for money.

She forgot that she was going to die.

She forgot that the two of them could never be together.

And forgetting those things made those moments the best moments she'd had in days.

Ellie made her way down the stairs.

Then she saw her sister kissing Lukas.

And then she climbed back upstairs.

Oh.

Well, fuck.

Becky appears to have died.

She's not dead, she just passed out.

Becky appears to have fainted.

Better.

So I guess it's just you and me doing the note now.

Just so Becky doesn't murder us, the final word count is 2,362, and this chapter was uploaded on 12/10/16.

Anyone know how Becky di-er, passed out?

Fangirlism.

Oh. Of course.

It's a shame. There were some lovely reviews. I guess now she'll never get to read themq;lscnflksaew

I'M AWAKE

Okay. Well, we now give you review replies from the author herself.

Before I reply to reviews, I'd just like to say that holy fuck, you guys are the best.

RebekahTPE: I guess a lot of us are younger than we seem. And no, I see us all that way too. That has not happened to me, though. I get the feeling that happened to you before you posted the review and it was on your mind so you decided to put it into your RQLC. By the way, have I mentioned how much I love getting RQLCs?

NinjaCat: Who said I was going to? I love writing this; even if everyone stopped reading this I would continue.

Ariza Luca: Yeah, I suppose it excuses the trash that is this fanfic. XD

Starwolf22: It's all they SHOULD care about, but people don't like kids on the Internet. It's an unfortunate fact.

Hope you enjoyed! Bye!