Decibels chpt.9: When One Ends, Another Begins

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MiloTheRebel2: You're not the first one… nice name, by the way :))

Kaos Ruin: BWAHAHA EVIL CLIFFHANGER! So many crying people… I lost count :/

So, I made so many people cry last chapter that I made myself cry. Sorry. But this chapter is a little happier!

Also, to those who are American: Good luck.

Okay, on to chapter 9!

Disclaimer: It's obvious.

-o.0.o-

There was a celebration/ memorial to be held in a week, where the former marketplace used to stand. Said marketplace was currently in ruins, but those who weren't tired or injured (there was a frightening amount) were already working on repairs to the town. Temporary camps had been built for now, consisting mostly of dirt huts. Some people were in charge of mining. Others were farming. People were assigned to fish, hunt, rebuild, fight mobs, look after the injured, and all that stuff. In other words, everyone was busy.

Despite that, Jesse didn't know what to do with himself.

Well, not in the sense that he did nothing for the next week. He did sleep through the first day entirely, worrying everybody. They thought he had slipped into a coma or something. Jesse was known for waking up the earliest, after all.

After waking up, everyone else told him that they had put Reuben's porkchop in a chest, and that he could do whatever he wanted with it. No one had touched it since Olivia, who was the one that put it in the chest.

"We could bury him at that waterfall you guys met at." Olivia had suggested slowly (so he could easily read it).

"You said earlier that there was going to be a hall thing built in remembrance of this whole event, right?" he had asked.

"Yes. You want him buried there?"

"Well, it's going to be built where the marketplace used to be. That's where Reuben became Reuben. So I was thinking we put him there. He did save us all." Jesse explained. He hoped his voice didn't crack. It was still hard to talk about his once best friend.

"Alright. If that's what you want." Olivia said.

"Reuben would've wanted it."

Olivia nodded, then left to help some other people fix some redstone with Ellegaard. He hadn't seen her since.

Apparently, word got around that Jesse and his friends had saved the world. In return, the townspeople had told them that they didn't have to do a thing, and they could just sit back and relax and heal, if they needed to. They would take care of all the reconstruction needed.

Normally, they would have refused the offer, but everyone was so damn tired that they didn't even protest. They retired to their dirt hut for most of the day.

Jesse wouldn't have been able to help, anyways. According to Petra, he was classified as injured.

So yeah. Jesse didn't know what to do with himself for the rest of the week.

No one would let him help rebuild. He couldn't hear a thing, and whatever hearing he had left was washed away when he hit the water, the water ripping apart his half- healed eardrums. So having conversations was out of the question.

But Jesse, you can lip read!

Well, next to no one (besides the Order and his friends) knew he was deaf, and he didn't feel like declaring it to the townspeople, either. That meant they wouldn't always look directly at him when speaking, making it impossible to lip read. On top of that, they didn't even speak slower. They spoke at normal speed, which to Jesse looked like the speed of sound. He was simply too tired and frustrated to lip read right now.

Also, Reuben wasn't here. Well, that didn't really have to do with lip reading. But still...

Ever since that first night under the stars, Reuben had always been by his side, whether it be rainy or sunny or snowy or cloudy. Jesse would look down, and there he was, in all his little piggy glory, with wide black eyes and the cutest nose. Reuben was always there to play fetch, talk, cuddle, swim, run, or (his favourite!) play fetch with Jesse.

And now he wasn't. And that felt wrong to him.

He felt so alone.

After a day of doing absolutely nothing, it became nighttime, and everyone retired to their dirt huts. He shared one with Axel, Olivia, Petra, and sometimes Lukas, who seemed to be flickering between the Ocelots and them. They each had separate beds, surrounded by a fire that gave off a very welcome warmth. There were no windows, only the door. They all wordlessly (to Jesse, it was wordlessly) climbed into bed, and maybe they even said goodnight to each other, but Jesse didn't hear it, and therefore didn't respond. He fell into a restless sleep, facing the wall, clutching the extra pillow he had (a gift from a very grateful townsperson) to his chest in an attempt to relieve the coldness that had settled there.

Now, here's the part where Jesse was supposed to dream about Reuben's death over and over, and then waking up to his friends' worried faces. Then they would have a meaningful heart- to- heart moment where they would talk about loss and grief and whatnot. That's what always seemed to happen in the books Jesse used to read.

Nope. His dreams were rather pleasant, although some of them were muted.

He dreamed of his first game of tug of war with Reuben. That was an awesome day. It had been not long after Jesse had met Olivia and Axel, and Jesse was just getting the hang of living with others. Axel and Olivia had gone into town for some supplies, and Jesse opted to stay in their (their!) treehouse to spend time with his best friend.

He then dreamed of his first Endercon experience, and then his first encounter with the Ocelots, the "champions" of the building competition. On that day, he learned that Olivia and Axel had competed in every single Building Competition they could, and each time, they lost to the Ocelots, thus forming a rivalry.

"Oh, look what we've got here!" Aiden had sneered. "Another loser joins the squad!"

"Good one, Aiden!" Maya laughed. She had a high, annoying laugh.

"Jesse is not a loser!" Olivia protested. "He's ten times better than you'll ever be!"

"Pfft, yeah right." Aiden scoffed. Gill laughed. "The fact that he's friends with you makes him a loser already."

Axel stepped forward, ready to launch Aiden into the next month, but Reuben beat him to it. He launched his little body forwards, and maybe it was on purpose, maybe it was by sheer luck, but Reuben kicked him right where the sun doesn't shine. Aiden bent over, howling in pain. Axel was laughing, Olivia was giggling into her hands, and Jesse couldn't help but smile. Reuben oinked, like Take that, you slob!

"I hate you!" Aiden managed to grind out. His voice shook. Lukas stepped in.

"Come on, Aiden, let's go." Lukas began walking away. "We need to get to the competition before it starts."

That was the first time his friends had stood up for him. Especially Reuben, who went as far as to attack the bully. That took guts.

He dreamed of other random things, like the time Axel almost scared him right off the treehouse's roof, and Reuben gave Axel the pig version of "the cold shoulder" for an entire week. Or that time where they built a Reuben statue for the Building Competition. When Aiden began to laugh at them, Reuben bared his teeth at him. Despite being a cute pig, he could also be scary. Those teeth were sharp.

Basically, he dreamed about all the good times he had with Reuben. His chest didn't seem so cold and empty anymore.

But then he woke up, and his chest grew cold again. Then he remembered that Reuben was dead and gone, and there would be no more fun times with him.

He sighed, then got up, only to see everyone already awake, sitting on the floor together, with Petra in the middle. They all looked like they didn't sleep a wink. Petra looked like she hadn't slept in years. She kept rubbing her left arm absently.

"Nightmare." Axel mouthed slowly when saw that Jesse was awake. "She was screaming all night. Thought she was dying of Wither sickness again."

Jesse nodded absently, and went to get food for them. He had slept through the whole thing. What kind of friend did that?

Oh, but Jesse, you're deaf! There was no way you could've heard a thing!

Exactly. At times like these, he hated his deafness. He loathed it. He wished the Formidibomb wasn't so close to him when it exploded. Because now he was deaf, and his life was now ten times harder to live. Angry tears pushed their way out of his eyes, and he had to duck behind a tree and rested his forehead against it, gritting his teeth as he tried not to cry.

Dammit! What was wrong with him? Why was his mind tearing itself in two? Oh, you're deaf now, you're so weak! And then oh, it's not your fault, you're still Jesse, nothing's wrong, it's okay- Shut up.

Later, he composed himself, got the food, and made his way back to the hut. He handed out the baked potatoes, sat back down, and acted like nothing had happened. He used to like potatoes, but now they tasted like dust. Really sad dust. Tasteless and bland and void of any nutrition.

That was a great start to the third day. Note the sarcasm.

Despite not having to do anything, the others were actually kind of busy. Lukas kept disappearing, probably to go hang out with the Ocelots, whom Jesse heard had survived. He hadn't seen Aiden yet. He hoped he wouldn't have to.

Petra also kept disappearing randomly, though not as much as Lukas. Jesse wasn't sure why. Maybe she was off doing Petra things? She liked disappearing a lot. But when she was there, she was always trying to help the townspeople fix things.

Axel was always hanging out with Magnus, laughing about things Jesse couldn't hear. He was glad Axel was laughing and smiling and finally getting to know his hero, Magnus.

Olivia, like Axel, was always hanging out with either Petra or Ellegaard. Even if the Order were liars, they were still talented people, and Ellegaard was no exception. Olivia gladly worked with her and from what Jesse could tell, she was learning tons of new things. Good for her!

That left Jesse, alone, with nothing to do. So he wandered around, checking out the construction taking place around the town. Most of the houses had been rebuilt by this time, and people were beginning to restock on supplies, or were helping to rebuild the public spaces, like the marketplace. The memorial hall was also being constructed.

Reuben's porkchop was still in it's chest, waiting to be placed in it's final resting place.

Nothing much happened on the third day. Once again, Jesse dreamed of happy memories of Reuben, only to wake up the next morning and remember all over again that no more of those memories would be made.

Oh, the fourth day. That was when it all came crashing down on him.

He was walking around the rebuilding town, watching people build stuff, when he ran into his least favourite person: Aiden. Luckily, Gill and Maya weren't with him, or it might have been worse.

When Jesse first caught sight of Aiden, he immediately began walking away. He didn't know Jesse was deaf yet. Jesse was currently alone. And yeah, he should've been able to take Aiden on if it came to it, but the past few days haven't exactly helped his self- confidence.

Aiden was opening his mouth; he was saying something Jesse didn't bother reading. He acted like he hadn't heard whatever Aiden said (and he hadn't), and kept walking along. Please don't care, please don't care, please don't car-

Someone grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around and pull it free. Yup, it was Aiden.

"Wut .re yoo doing?" Aiden scowled. What are you doing?

"I could ask the same for you." Jesse said, in what he hoped was a cold tone. Aiden didn't take the hint (Or he failed the cold tone).

"Farming, of corse!" Aiden snapped. "Lyke evrywun else in the air-rea! You fink that just becuz you saved" he made air quotes with his hands, "the wurld, you don't kneed to do anyfing?" Just because you think you saved the world, you don't need to do anything?

"Since when have I said that?" Jesse all but snapped. "Besides, according to my friends I'm injured." He showed Aiden his bandaged right hand, which was wrapped up like a fingerless glove. He couldn't move his fingers very well.

Aiden seemed to huff in annoyance. "It's not like yoor handz bro-ken." It's not like your hand's broken. "That's nutfing compared to others!"

For a moment, Aiden's words rang true. His hand injury was superficial compared to the others he'd seen. When the Witherstorm had exploded, some people hit the ground too hard, breaking bones. Others had hit the water too hard, and had horrible peeling skin, and from what he heard, it was incredibly itchy. Others had almost drowned, and continued to be haunted by their experiences.

Oh yeah. None of them had become deaf, which in a sense, was a "permanent" injury. According to his friends, that meant he needed rest. Aiden didn't know this.

"Wut? Nofhing to say?" Aiden sneered. Jesse had been staring blankly for too long (he did that a lot nowadays). "I hurd yoo wur inside t.e heart of t.e Storm when it explow-ded. Must-of screwed up yur brain moore den I thot it wood."

Jesse mentally began to panic. What the heck had Aiden just said?

Aiden's smile only grew at Jesse's pathetic silence, which frustrated him so much his eyes began to burn with tears. Aiden's mouth was moving, probably spitting out more insults, and all Jesse could do was squint at Aiden's lips as he struggled to read them.

"... ideot…!... (laugh)...so dumb.." was what he could make out. It was only a small fraction of what Aiden was saying. Idiot! So dumb!

"Look, I'm not any dumber than when the Witherstorm first spawned!" Jesse snapped. He took a deep breath to steel himself before continuing. "The 'Final Battle', as everyone is calling it, wasn't the first attempt at destroying the Storm. I'm sure you remember it."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Of course I re-membr it! I wuz dere!"

"Yeah, okay, just making sure." Jesse said sarcastically. "Anyways, we tried to use the Formidibomb to bl- don't give me that look, do you think we had anything else strong enough to blow up a storm?- and guess what? I was the one that set it off. I was extremely lucky to get out alive, and-"

"Oh, yoo were t.e one to set it off? No wunder it did-int wurk!" Aiden retorted. His face began to turn red from rage, which puzzled Jesse. Why was he so mad? "Yoo nevr do anyfing riht!"

You never do anything right. Aiden had said that a lot over the years.

"Excuse me, who won the Building Competition?" Jesse spat. Aiden paused. "Exactly: Me. And who tried to unfairly destroy our build?" he asked, glaring up at the taller boy. "You. And who bullied the other for almost ten year? You. So don't you dare tell me that I can't do anything right! So, what was I saying- right, the Formidibomb. I was the one to set that off. And guess what happened?"

Another deep breath. He'd had enough of Aiden's teasing. He was going to tell him, and damn the consequences!

Aiden did not attempt to answer, so Jesse gave him the answer. "I got deafened. Yeap, that's right, I'm deaf now, and I can't hear a word you're saying. Now, go ahead and continue whatever insults you were spouting out."

For a single moment, Jesse thought Aiden actually felt a little sorry for everything he'd said over the years. The green- eyes boy stood there, his fist clenching and unclenching. He opened his mouth-

And laughed. Laughed.

"Ohhh, poor Jesse can't here me now! Boo hoo! Now he's a deaf- dumb!" he sneered. Jesse gaped at him. "Playing t.e sim-paf-ee card now, ar.n't you? Such a hero! Oh, is dat a tear in yur eye? Aw, t.e 'grate'" he made air quotes with his fingers, "Jesse is crying! All alo-"

Jesse turned around to run away, but Aiden grabbed his arm, halting him. "Hey, I was-int dun talki-"

"SHUT UP FOR ONCE!" Jesse shouted, or screamed. He couldn't tell, obviously. "I can't hear your insults, so why say them anymore? I've had enough of you! I've had enough of your teasing and your bullying and what you call 'fun'! Just leave me alone already!"

He yanked his arm out of Aiden's grip and walked away. Running away would make him look like a coward. Well, more of a coward than he already was. On a normal day, Jesse would have punched Aiden in the face and marched away. But this was far from a normal day.

Because what normal day was completely silent?

You're dumb, Aiden had said. You never do anything right.

He probably shouldn't, but he thought the former statement was a little true now. Yeah, yeah, it's dumb, thinking that he was dumb, but he felt it so often nowadays that he started thinking it was a part of him. He'd be standing with his friends, and there would be little periods of time in which nobody was talking to him, or vise- versa. He'd just be standing there stupidly, eyes switching between people as he struggled to figure out who he was supposed to be looking at. He hated it.

It was several hours later, inside the dirt hut, when all his friends burst in, each in varying stages of worry or disarray. Olivia wasn't wearing her beanie or goggles, so her hair was puffed out in crazy directions. Petra's glove was on the wrong hand, and her bandana was slipping off. Axel's sweater was unzipped (which it never was), and he was hopping on one foot, trying to put one of his flip- flops back on. A few seconds after the others ran in, Lukas ran in. His hair looked a little less styled today, which was unusual for the blond.

Olivia lunged forward and grabbed Jesse's shoulders, her face right in Jesse's. "What did Aiden say to you today?" she asked slowly.

"When did you guys hear about this?" he asked them.

"Just now." Petra answered, readjusting her bandana. "Gaw-sip travels fast here. Ev-ree-one nose you're deaf now."

Jesse closed his eyes and sighed. That shouting match must've been louder than he had realized. Well, of course it was louder than he thought; he was deaf!

"So wut did .e say to yoo?" Axel questioned.

Jesse braced himself. His friends were going to overreact.

"He got angry at me for not helping the other farmers. Then he started insulting me, and I couldn't lip- read anything he was saying, so therefore I stayed silent. He took that as being stupid, so he started joking about how my fight with the Storm must have messed with my brain. The-"

"Let. Me. Go. Punch. Him!" Petra hissed, gripping her sword so tightly her knuckles were white. "The jurk!"

"Let Jesse fin-ish first." Lukas put a hand on Petra's shoulder to restrain her. "Then will see." He didn't look very happy either. His eyes were hard.

"Okay." Jesse swallowed to clear his throat. "So after he called me stupid- which happens a lot, Petra, calm down- I explained to him the whole Formidibomb situation, and how I got deafened by that. And then.." He braced himself again. They were going to explode now. He said the next sentence faster. "He laughed, called me a deaf- dumb person, and made fun of me when I started tearing up. So I told him to shut up. Then I left."

Nobody reacted, which scared Jesse. They just stared at him, like silent statues, frozen in their position. Axel blinked once. Petra's nostrils flared with anger. Other than that, no one moved. He didn't move either.

After a little while (which seemed longer, since no one was moving), he finally spoke. "Are you guys okay?"

"You agree with him." Petra said slowly, probably in an accusing tone. "At leest a part o. yoo does."

Jesse had nothing to say about that. There was a lie right on his lips: No, of course he didn't agree with Aiden! But the "at least part of you does" part really struck him hard, because it was true. One half of him agreed with Aiden, that he was dumb now, and another part of him kept insisting that the thought was ridiculous.

"Newz flash, Petra: Jesse iz deaf." Axel pointed out bluntly. "I don. fink he read wut yoo just said." He gestured to Jesse, who was still frozen in his spot on his bed.

Oh, he'd read all of it. He "knew" every word. But nobody else knew that. Being deaf meant he could act like he hadn't "heard" anything, and therefore could ignore it if he so chooses to. He acted like he hadn't read a thing, and Petra stormed out. Later that day, he saw Aiden. It may have been a trick of the eye, but it looked like he had a growing bruise on his jaw. And Petra seemed to have a split knuckle.

The next day, when he was walking to the farm to grab breakfast for everybody, he caught more than a few people glancing his way. Some had looks of pity. Others did nothing. Some even twitched, like they wanted to ask him if he was alright.

He ignored them. It was so easy to.

Now it was the fifth day. Just two more days until the memorial/ celebration service. What was he going to do until then?

Well, his friends took care of that predicament for him. They seemed to hang out with him more often than usual. He actually didn't mind it all that much, even though he hardly had any time to himself (and they were so bad at being subtle it was cringeworthy). It kept his mind off Reuben's death.

His friends also made an effort to talk to him more, slowly improving his lip reading. L-ke slowly turned into lyke, which finally became like. It was still hard, and often he felt like hitting something out of frustration, but he knew anger solved nothing. So he kept reading lips.

This kept up for the sixth day, too.

In the rare chance that Jesse happened to be alone, he walked around the newly reconstructed town. In terms of the style of buildings, nothing much had changed. The only major changes were the colour of the walls of the town, and the location of the marketplace. That was where the memorial building would be. And he didn't know if it was true, but it was also rumoured that the memorial building would also be the new temple of the Order of the Stone. That would be cool.

And sometimes, while taking those walks around the town, he would catch glimpses of Aiden, Gill, and Maya (mostly Aiden though). They all seemed fine, aside from the fact that Lukas was no longer seen around them as much. Aiden kept shooting him glares. Probably because the day after Jesse had told his friends about their little spat, people kept glaring at him like he was the plague. Gossip was a powerful thing.

Around mid- afternoon, on the sixth day, he found out that all the houses had finally been rebuilt, and people were starting to move back in now. He also found out that his friends had been rebuilding their treehouse behind his back.

"Guys, really? I could have helped you!" he had protested, when they showed him their rebuilt home.

"It was a surprise." Olivia smiled. His friends had been speaking slowly lately. "Besides, we ex-pan-ded so we could fit Petra. And we have a room for when Lukas de-sides he wants to join us az well."

"But I thought he was friends with the Ocelots." Jesse frowned.

"Blaze Rodz now." Axel corrected. "In the time dat Lukas has been gone, Aiy- den's taken over th-air group."

"Oh."

"Yeah, it suckz to be Lukas." Axel wrinkled his nose. "Aiden and his goons are jerks."

"You can say that again."

It felt so good to be back in a treehouse, with it's warm- coloured walls, and the faint smell of nature. There were a few minor changes, though. There were now glass on the windows, so it wouldn't be as cold in the winter than previous years. There was also another ladder that added another level to the treehouse, where everyone's sleeping spaces would be. The first floor would be common living space, where the furnaces, crafting tables, public chests, piles of pillows (for some reason, Petra insisted they add those), and balcony was.

It felt so homey, so normal, and so relaxing that if Jesse closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that the whole Witherstorm fiasco never happened, and that it was nighttime, and he was stargazing with Reuben or something quiet like that. Yes, that was why it was so silent.

Then he would open his eyes and be blinded with daylight, and he would find no one beside him. Then he would remember everything that had happened. That it was all real. That he was deaf, and Reuben would never come back.

Right after dinner, they went to see the finished memorial building. It was beautiful. Tall quartz pillars reached sky high, gleaming in the setting sun. The floor was smooth and white, and Jesse could see the sky's reflection in it (it had no roof yet). There were already pedestals set up, and someone from the Order must have gone back to the Far Lands, because all their treasures were here, with the Ender Dragon egg at the front.

"So, wut do yoo fink?" Axel asked him.

"It's really cool."

"Coolbeans."

"Coolness."

"Cooleo."

For the first time in a long time, Jesse let out a laugh. When was the last time he had laughed so freely like this? With everything that had been going on recently, it seemed like no one would ever smile again. Especially since 90% of his laughter came from listening to other people laugh. You know, laughter is infectious.

If you can hear it, that is.

The way his "hearing" worked now was a little strange. Whenever he was reading someone, his mind would automatically insert the person's voice to go with what he was reading (He tried to, at least). If someone he'd never heard speak before tried to talking to him, it would switch to his own voice, even if the person was a girl.

But as the days wore on, his friends' voices started becoming distorted, as he started to forget what they sounded like. They started sounding more like him. Was that his voice? What did he sound like again? Wasn't Lukas' voice a little higher?

He wondered how long it would take for him to forget all of their voices.

Finally, the seventh day came.

On the morning of the celebration, he and friends (Lukas wasn't there, strangely) got dressed in their armour, and tried to look as hero- ish as possible. Jesse carefully tucked Reuben's remains into his inventory. Then they made their way (the Order minus Soren joining them on route) to Reuben's grave.

Nobody said anything (if anyone did, he didn't hear it) as he carefully placed Reuben's remains in a chest, which was a block deep in the ground, surrounded by flowers and oak saplings. The gravestone itself was more of a grave- wall, made of granite, diorite, and andesite, polished to perfection. Hanging on it was a coloured banner of Reuben's face, determined as the day he died. A sign with his name hung under that.

He closed the chest and he felt the latch click with an air of finality. This was it. Reuben was gone.

For a moment, his hand just rested on the cold lid of the chest, as if he held it there long enough, he would feel some sort of pulse, or heartbeat, that would tell him that this was a just a really sick and twisted dream and that Reuben was there somewhere. But the longer he waited, the colder his palm got, just like when he was soaking wet and lying on the ground with a dying friend.

Jesse sighed, got up, and covered the chest with dirt. He had to move on. That's what Reuben would have wanted.

He and his friends turned around to be greeted by a crowd, who were clapping and cheering, huge smiles on their faces, and he couldn't help but smile too. Reuben had died a hero. Reuben had saved all these smiling people.

Reuben had saved him, too.

They walked along a path that lead to some sort of podium/ stage, where several unlit beacons stood. They climbed up some steps and stood together, facing the crowd as they seemed to cheer some more. He'd always dreamed of not being a loser. He'd never thought he'd have a crowd cheering for him and his friends, though. This was surreal.

He spotted Lukas at the front of the crowd, and when Jesse made eye contact with him, he smiled and waved. Jesse smiled and waved back, and then frowned. Why wasn't Lukas up here with them? He'd done as much as the rest of them. Heck, if Lukas wasn't there, Jesse would never had been able to figure out the puzzles back at Ivor's lab!

Jesse made the come here! motion with his hand (the right one was still bandaged), raising one eyebrow. Why aren't you here?

Lukas shrugged, smiling nervously. Stage fright, he mouthed slowly. I don't like being on stage.

Jesse rolled his eyes to that. He deserved recognition for the part he played in everything.

He smirked mischievously, skipped down the steps of the stage, grabbed Lukas' wrist, ignored the blonde's protests, and dragged him up to the stage with them, much to everyone's amusement. Petra reached over to give Lukas a friendly slap on the back. Lukas slapped her right back, although it was rather weak.

This was what Jesse wanted. All his friends, alive, together, and happy. Reuben's death was not in vain.

Gabriel stepped forward and began speaking, though Jesse had no idea what he was saying, as he could only see the back of his head. His smile immediately faded away. He was missing out, probably on something important, too.

Suddenly, two hands were on each of his shoulders as Axel lifted him up and switched places with him. Axel's spot was just about next to Gabriel, so while Jesse couldn't lip read everything, he could catch little bits and pieces.

"...thing about t.e Order." Gabriel was saying. He glanced at Ivor, and Jesse immediately knew what was going on. Gabriel meant to reveal their secret, guarded for years. Magnus and Ellegaard looked grim, but nodded at Gabriel anyways. They were done with secrets as well.

"We.. were liars." Gabriel sighed. Jesse glanced at the audience to see their reactions. One woman gasped. One particularly sour- looking guy drew his sword.

"We used the Block." Gabriel continued. "We were fools, and we wunted to be fay-muss (famous?), and dat lead to lies. And we," he turned to the rest of the Order, who had somber expressions on their faces, "have de-side-ed to end these lies, and begin a-gen. Move on. Star. fresh."

The crowd was no longer looking so sad or angry. Well, except for the sour- looking guy. He was still scowling. At least his sword has been sheathed.

"Starting wif our new her-rows (heroes?)!" Gabriel grinned, and the crowd cheered, all eyes on them now. Petra waved. Axel flexed his arms and grinned. Olivia clapped with the crowd, also grinning. Lukas settled for smiling, blushing under all the attention.

Jesse looked at them all, and thought: Wow. we've made it. We're alive. And we're all happy. Being deaf was totally a fair trade, if this was what he got in return. Happy friends, and a new future. Not that his old life was bad, it's just that… he was surviving, and losing all the time. Now he was living, and he actually felt like he had a definite purpose.

Somebody nudged him in the ribs. It was Petra. Her grin, if possible, stretched wider, as she gestured to where Gabriel was standing. He was looking at Jesse expectantly.

"You gotta make a speech." she said slowly.

"W- what?" Jesse spluttered. "Like, a full on hero speech, saving the world, bla -dee blah blah speech?"

Petra didn't answer, just laughed. She pushed him forward, and Gabriel stepped aside. He was suddenly facing a couple hundred people, most of which were eagerly looking up at him, maybe even looking up to him.

Jesse whirled around to glare at his friends, who, by the way, were all giggling at his predicament. He stuck his tongue out childishly. Then he turned back to the audience.

"Alright." he said. Almost instantly, everyone started cheering. He caught a few people cheering his name. "Um.. thank you, thank you… So… some of you probably think I'm up here because I saved the world or something.

And.. I guess I did? I mean, I understand why you think so. Even if I can't hear it," and some people's smiles faded a little at this remark, "I know people have been gossiping about what happened a week ago. Yes, I set off the Formidibomb, and that's how I was deafened in the first place. Yes, I was the one that destroyed the Command Block in the end. But I couldn't have done it myself. I doubt anyone here could've."

He turned around and pointed to Lukas, who looked mildly surprised at being pointed at. "Lukas helped me solve the puzzles in Ivor's Lab. Without him, it would have taken a very long time to solve, and more of the world would have been destroyed in that lost time. He also could have left us at any time during our journey, seein as he wasn't really our friend back then, but he didn't."

Then he pointed at Olivia. "Olivia was the one who came up with the idea of using a launcher to get me to the Witherstorm in the first place. The rest of us might have come up with something eventually, but she was quick and did most of the building anyways. I'm hopeless with redstone."

He waved a hand at Petra. "Petra was sick most of the time, but she kept going, fighting with us, even though she was dying. She stayed behind in the Overworld while the rest of us ran to safety in the Nether" he laughed, "or as safe as you can be in the Nether, anyways. She also asked me if I was okay, which I know sounds like a small thing, but it's amazing how she asked if I was okay when she herself was dying. So, kudos to her."

Petra mouthed "thank you" to him. Jesse grinned back, then pointed to Axel.

"Axel went to Boomtown with me. And no offense to you Boomtowners in the crowd, but it was chaos in there. Yet Axel distracted the griefers so I could get to Magnus. And again, no offense to you griefers, but you guys are scary, and I'm not sure if I could've fought off so many of you."

A griefer (he recognized her as Nohr, the blue- haired girl) pumped her fist in the air and let out what looked like a woop.

"And finally, Reuben." Jesse said. The happiness levels dropped a couple of notches. "He may seemed like just a pig to most of you, but to me, he was so much more. He was my first and best friend. Not even my friends know this, " he looked at his friends, "but Reuben was the one that led me here. Where I made my first friends. Which then lead to everything I have today. So I really have him to thank for everything.

But there's more. He was with me when I was inside the Witherstorm. It was crazy in there; tractor beams and tentacles were everywhere, and the Witherstorm was upside- down, meaning the Command Block was above me. I climbed up the side to get to the Block, but a tentacle grabbed me, and I dropped the sword. But Reuben climbed up to give it to me."

The crowd watched him with wide eyes as he told Reuben's story. Most of them thought of pigs as nothing more than food. Now they were hearing otherwise.

"So.. yeah. Without Reuben, I couldn't have done this. Without Reuben, we probably wouldn't be standing here." he said. He pumped a fist in the air. "FOR REUBEN!"

He didn't read what the crowd said, but chances are it was what he said. A sea of fists rose up. For Reuben.

Thank you, Reuben.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Gabriel give Ivor a nod. Ivor stepped forward to face Jesse head on.

"Jesse." he said slowly. In his hand, he held a nether star, yet it wasn't a nether star. It was dark purple around the edges, and faded to a light purple in the middle. A single glowing gem was in the middle. It radiated power.

"This is t.e nether star that dropped when the Withr-storm was de-feet-ted." Ivor explained. He pointed to the several unlit beacons behind them. "Would you like to do t.e honours?"

"Sure." Jesse said. Ivor handed him the "Withered Nether Star", and Jesse made his way up the stairs that lead to the beacons. There was a single blue glass block that was raised higher than the rest of the glass, so he assumed that was where the star would go. He placed it in the center and stepped back. The whole crowd seemed to hold their breath in anticipation.

The star began to spin faster and faster and faster, and then several beams of light shot up into the sky, sort of like day fireworks. It was beautiful. And Jesse realized that they were in the colours of the Order.

After a few more seconds of staring at the pretty lights, Jesse turned back to the crowd just in time to catch what Gabriel was saying.

"..am now pleased to intro-dooce to yoo…" Gabriel held up the Order's amulet for Jesse to take. He held it carefully. It was warm to the touch. All the coloured rods were glowing brightly.

"The new Order of the Stone!" Gabriel shouted to the crowd. Jesse's jaw dropped.

The crowd erupted in cheering, and Jesse was swept off his feet as Axel grabbed him in a teddy bear (actually, Axel- bear) hug and swung him around in joy. Both of them were laughing. He was then put down to stand with everyone else, who had huge grins on their faces. Olivia also hugged him. Petra gave him another slap on the back. Lukas fistbumped him. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was happy.

And Jesse felt great.

Thank you, Reuben.


And so it was that a new Order of the Stone was born. One whose adventures were only just beginning.

This chapter of their lives may be over.. But when one story ends…

Another one is bound to begin.

-o.0.o-

Word count (approx.): 6499

So, episode 4 is finally over! Took me long enough :/

You know, I just realized: episode 4 came out on December 22nd, 2015. 3 days before Christmas. That means, if you take into account the days it took for the gang to travel to the Far Lands, Reuben could have died on Christmas day. I spent a good 5 minutes thinking about how horrible that would feel..

Okay, enough depressing stuff. Episode 4 is over, and now I can start writing for episode 5! Oh, I've got so many goodies for you guys in this episode! Especially for the whole Aiden thing. This chapter may seem like a really long filler chapter, but there's many hidden thingamabobbers hidden in here :))

Guess who's the sour- looking guy?