CHAPTER EIGHT
The roofed forest biome… a place that held many dangers and terrible creatures that lurked in the depths of its woods. The worst came once night had fallen upon the shaded forest. From the zombies that slowly paced around looking for their next victim to the creeper that's ready to ruin your day and your builds, the biome was not a place for the weak of heart or the fearful.
Unfortunately for Malia, she was the latter.
Shivering in the corner next to a torch and her animal companions, Malia tried her best to wait patiently for the Order of the Stone to return with the villagers and was the victorious heroes she knew they were. What epic battles were being had in that very mansion, where any and all evil doers were no match for the greatness that was the Order of the Stone?! Oh, how Malia wished she could have seen them for herself!
Suddenly, her make-shift spruce wood plank shack creaked from the wind and Malia squeaked in fear before burying her head in her light blue poncho in an attempt to hide herself.
… Okay, maybe she didn't wish she could have seen the battle. She'd probably faint if the evil illagers even so much as glanced at her.
Slowly peeking her head out from her poncho, she looked around the small room and saw that her beloved llamas were as calm and spacey as ever. Her trusted horse was watching her with concern as he walked over to her and bowed his head to see if she was fine.
Malia smiled and patted the horse's nose. "I'm fine, Horace. Just…" She frowned and pulled her knees up to her chest. "… This place just has me so on edge. I'm just worried that some terrifying monster will come at me from the darkness." She paused for a moment before she smiled at her animal companion. "But I built this shack, right? So as long as I stay in here, there will be no monsters coming to-"
*Thump-thump-shuffle*
Malia immediately tensed up as her eyes darted around in panic, looking for the source of that strange noise. Her llamas were still spacing out and staring at nothing, so they couldn't have made the noise. Her horse was just looking at her with his head titled, so definitely not him. Then where could the…
*Thump-thump-shuffle*
Hearing the noise for a second time, Malia immediately stood up and stared at the door with her eyes wide open in fear.
*Thump-thump-shuffle*
The noise grew ever louder and ever closer to Malia. The fearful trader could feel her heart hammer in her chest as she tried to back herself further into the corner, but to no avail. She was already as far as she could go.
*THUMP-THUMP-SHUFFLE*
Oh gravel, oh gravel, OH GRAVEL, OH GRAVEL! Something was getting closer to the door! Was it a monster? Maybe it was an illager? Perhaps it was a psycho killer who was eight feet tall and wielded a diamond axe and she was the next victim?!
*rattle-rattle-rattle*
Oh gravel, something was trying to open the door. Malia needed to think of something and fast! Didn't she have a sword somewhere in her inventory? Gravel, where did she put that thing?
*rattle-rattle-creeeaaaak*
"Hey, Ma-"
"AAHHHHHH! TAKE THAT, YOU MONSTER!" Malia shut her eyes in fear and threw the first thing she grabbed from her inventory at the open door, somehow avoiding hitting her llamas with the object in the process.
Malia heard something clink on some glass and a familiar voice. "Dude, I was just coming in to say hi. Didn't think you would greet me by throwing something at my face."
Her eyes shot open as she saw Axel standing at the doorway, holding an empty bucket and rubbing his helmet as he stared at the trader with part of his unibrow raised. He was probably wondering what he did to deserve a bucket to the head.
"Oh my gosh! It's Axel the TNT Terror!" Malia squeaked out as she stared at the larger man and then at the bucket she had thrown at him in her panic. Embarrassed and ashamed, she covered her face with her hands and then groaned. "I am so sorry! I just heard a strange noise and I panicked and I thought it was a monster or something and I got scared and-"
"Woah, woah, little dude. It's no big deal," Axel said as he walked through the llamas and handed the panicking girl her bucket back. "I was just coming out to see if you wanted to stay in the mansion since it got cleared out and stuff. But it was so dark out there that I just ended up stumbling around until I found the place."
"Oh… right, probably should have put a torch or something outside of the door. My bad…" Malia rubbed the back of her head shyly before her eyes widened. "Wait, you said that the mansion was cleared?" Malia asked, her eyes practically sparkling with excitement. "Then that must mean that the Order of the Stone took out all those illager guys!"
"Uh… well…" Axel rubbed the back of his head and looked away. "I mean, we took out, like, five of them…"
"Huh?" Malia looked at Axel, the confusion obvious on her face. "But you just said that the mansion was cleared out? Was there only five illagers in that huge mansion?"
"No, there were probably a lot more. At least, it looked that way when we were walking in, but they were kinda disguised as villagers so they didn't look like illagers but we saw some villagers transformed into illagers so all the villagers were probably just illagers in disguise so…"
"Wait, what?" Malia was getting even more lost the longer Axel went on.
"… So there was this awesome fight that we totally won against the illagers but then that stupid jerky kidnapper showed up and beat Jesse in a duel and apparently he killed the rest of the illagers which was TOTALLY uncalled for because we totally could've handled it by ourselves!"
"Wait, WHAT?!" Malia almost yelled out. "Jesse was defeated by the kidnapper?" The panic rising in her voice. "Is she okay?!"
"Huh? Oh yeah, she's totally fine. Jesse's kinda bummed about losing to that Culain guy and all the villagers apparently dying before we even got here, so…"
"THE VILLAGERS ARE WHAT?" Malia screamed, her heart nearly leaping out of chest.
"… Didn't I say that before?" Axel asked, scratching the back of his head in thought.
Malia stared at Axel for a long time before she suddenly felt light-headed and leaned on the wall to keep herself from falling over. "I… I think I need to lie down."
"Great! You can lie down in the mansion!" Axel said, oblivious to Malia's distress.
"Uh… right…" Malia mumbled, trying to come to terms that most of the villagers that she had known were suddenly gone. She wasn't close to them by any means, but she did grow to like them even if some of them didn't like her. She had even given some of them names, for crying out loud!
As she moved to lead her llamas out of the shack, Axel looked confused at what she was doing. "Uh, wait, are we taking the llamas too?"
"Uh… yeah?" Malia looked back at Axel. "Of course we are. I'm not leaving them alone in a shack in the middle of the dark woods."
Axel stared at one of the llamas as it was staring back at him before he shrugged. "Alright, let's move all of them. I mean, how hard could it be?"
As they began to herd the llamas out of the shack, Axel looked at the strange trader questioningly. "So… do people really call me the TNT Terror?"
Malia blinked at the question, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Huh? Oh…" Malia chuckled sheepishly. "Well, sorta? I mean, I mostly call you that but…"
"Because it sounds TOTALLY AWESOME!" Axel grinned as he put his fist in the air as he struck a pose. "Axel the TNT Terror! The greatest King of Boom Town! He strikes terror in the hearts of monsters when he uses TNT to explode them to bits!"
Malia stared at Axel for a moment before bursting out into laughter. "Right?! See, I was considering some awesome titles to call you guys and I thought that TNT Terror would fit you. I also considered calling you 'Ruggish Rouge', but I thought that was too close to Magnus' old title."
"Well, I like it! I should totally introduce myself as that from now on."
The two continued to talk about names and titles as they started to move the llamas out of the shack.
-MCSM-
Lukas wasn't entirely sure what he was going to find once he found the others…
"Come on! Push harder! We're so close!"
"Agh, I'm trying! I'm pushing their butts as hard as I can!"
"Well, push their butts even harder! They can take it!"
"Huuuurrrgggghhhh!"
… But of all the things he was expecting to see, it certainly wasn't this.
The entire area that was between the main staircase and the main entrance to the mansion was completely covered in llamas (plus one horse). Four llamas had somehow gotten stuck in the entryway and they looked completely oblivious to their predicament. Malia was trying to pull on one of the llamas by a lead and, from what Lukas had heard, Axel was on the other side of the llamas trying to push them inside.
Olivia, who was standing to the side, shook her head as she facepalmed just from the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation. She heard Lukas walk up next to her before turning around the face him. "Oh, hey Lukas. Did you find Jesse?"
"Uh, yeah…" Lukas stared at the completely weird scene for a moment longer before turning to Olivia. "I see you found Axel and Malia."
"Yeah…" Olivia sighed before facepalming again. "Apparently, Malia wanted to bring all her llamas into the mansion. They were doing pretty well until… well, this." Olivia took her hand off her face and shook her head again. "How they were able to get a pack of llamas out of a shack and into the mansion and only had the last four get stuck in the doorway, I'll never know."
Lukas just nodded as he stared at the strange scene again. Malia still continued to pull on the lead while she tried to encourage Axel to push even harder. Lukas looked over at the trapped mammals and recognized one of the llamas that was stuck as Blossom, the friendly llama that didn't spit in his face.
Blossom, finally noticing Lukas, let out a soft 'mwa' as she walked out of the doorway as if she was never stuck and went over to Lukas before she put her head in his hair and nuzzled it.
With one of the llamas no longer being stuck, the rest of the llamas quickly rushed into the hallway as Axel pushed on them as hard as he could before falling to the floor and landing on his face. Malia's arm was almost pulled out of her socket as the llamas rushed in, forcing her to let go of her lead and fell onto the floor and landed on her back.
"Ow…" Malia groaned before she sat up and looked over at Axel. "Well… turns out all we needed was Lukas and not brute force." She turned her head towards Lukas and frowned. "I'm beginning to think Blossom likes you more than me and I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about that either," Lukas said as he backed away from Blossom and her nuzzling. Blossom merely responded with a 'mwa' and followed him before sticking her head in his hair again.
Axel stood up and crossed his arms, mumbling under his breath. "We totally could've handled it without him. They just needed a little more push."
Olivia just rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Axel, they're finally inside. I don't think it matters how they got in." She looked back to Lukas and raised an eyebrow. "Wow, she really likes your hair, doesn't she?"
"I'm just hoping she doesn't think its hay and tries to eat it," Lukas said, wincing at the thought and tried to push Blossom's head away from his hair. Successfully removing llama face from his hair, Lukas remembered why he had come looking for the others in the first place. "Oh, right, me and Jesse found some villagers alive behind a wall and-"
"Wait, there are villagers still alive?!" Malia quickly stood up and stared at Lukas with excitement and happiness. "Where are they?! How are they doing?! They're not hurt, are they?!"
"Oh, they're fine… physically at least," Lukas said before he looked back at the hallway he had walked down. "We found them down in that dir-"
"Then what are we waiting for?! I want to see them!" Malia's hands were raised in the air and her eyes sparkled in anticipation before she took off running down the hallway, leaving her llamas behind.
"Wait, Malia, this place is huge! You might get…" Lukas was about to say before Malia had turned the corner and disappeared from view. "… Uh, lost."
"Well, what am I standing around here for? I wanna see them for myself too!" Axel quickly ran down the hallway Malia had rushed towards.
"But…" Lukas's sentence ended prematurely when Axel turned the corner and disappeared as well. "Seriously, Axel? What did I just say about getting lost?" Lukas grumbled under his breath.
"I guess we should follow them." Olivia said before she turned to the llamas and looked very unsure how to deal with the several llamas that were scattered about. "Um… you guys just stay here, okay?"
The llamas didn't respond as they were too busy looking at empty space.
Olivia and Lukas quickly followed after their friends to make sure they didn't inevitably get lost in the huge mansion.
-MCSM-
"So the illagers kept you guys alive just for fun?" Jesse asked the villagers as she leaned against the hallway wall as she waited for her friends to arrive.
"If by 'fun' you mean 'thinking it's sooo hilarious to torture us before they kill our fellow villagers in front of us'." The grumpy villager grumbled aloud before turning away and glared out through the window and into the dark night. "Then yes; they did keep us alive for fun."
"U-um, don't mind him. He's been here longer than any of us," The cowardly villager said before he took his hands out of his sleeves and played with his hands nervously. "He's… been through a lot."
"I'm just glad we survived this terrible ordeal," The librarian villager said with a twitch of his nose. "You'll be escorting us back to our village, yes? We would not survive out in the forest without assistance."
"Yep!" Jesse nodded with a friendly smile. "You don't have to worry about a thing. We'll make sure you get back to your home safe and sound. You can count on the Order of the Stone!"
As long as they didn't run into that Culain guy again, but Jesse decided to not voice those thoughts. She didn't want to make the poor villagers worry about their trip in the morning.
"Heeey, they really are alive!"
Hearing a familiar voice, Jesse and the librarian villager turned to see Malia running up them before she stopped and leaned on the wall as she tried to catch her breath. The librarian's nose twitched as he frowned for a moment before he blinked in realization. "Ah, I remember you. You're that human girl who tried to trade me all of her paper at one point. You even resorted to begging."
Malia stared at the villager for a moment before her eyes lit up with realization and joy. "Oh my gosh! It's Brian!" She said before she chuckled and rubbed the side of her arm. "Um, heheh, you remember that, huh? In my defense, I had a massive surplus of sugar cane that I crafted into paper and I really needed to get rid of it and you're a librarian villager and I tried to give it all to Carter, but he was all 'I do not need all this material!' and I really-"
"Ugh, the humans have brought the annoying one!" The grumpy villager lightly slammed his head on the window repeatedly, silently wishing that such an action would knock him out.
"Um… that was a little uncalled for…" The cowardly villager looked at his friends before turning to Malia. "Um… sorry, miss trader."
"It's no problem… uh…" Malia put her hand up to her chin in thought as she looked over both of the villagers. "I don't think I gave you guys any names yet," She said before she smiled cheerfully at them. "I'll have to think of something, in that case!"
"Oh please, no," The grumpy villager groaned before he continued to slam his head into the window one final time before letting out a long, deep sigh.
"Hey, Jesse! Finally found you guys!"
Tearing her eyes off the conversation Malia and the villagers were having, Jesse looked down the hallway and saw Axel running toward her with Lukas and Olivia following behind. She greeted and waved at them as they approached her.
"Axel, you didn't have to run all over just to find them. I could have lead you here myself," Lukas said between panting breaths as he leaned on the wall for support, having to run at top speed just to catch up with Axel. Who knew that the large man could run so fast when he wanted to?
"Hey, I found them just fine. I didn't need help," Axel grumbled before he turned to the villagers and looked at them curiously. "So these guys aren't illagers in disguise, right?"
"Nope, they're totally legit," Jesse answered before she put her hands on her hips and looked over at her friends and the villagers. "Okay, since everyone is here, we need to get some rest before we head out tomorrow and take the villagers back to their home. The sooner we hit the hay, the earlier we can rise in the morning and the sooner we can all head back home. Any objections?" No one had responded, so she turned to Lukas and Olivia. "Well, lead the way, you two. It's bedtime!"
-MCSM-
After Lukas and Olivia had lead the group to a couple bedrooms that they had found on the second floor, the group decided to split up. The Order of the Stone would take a room for themselves while the villagers, the llamas, and Malia would sleep in the adjacent room. Olivia had set up a few redstone traps around the rooms and in the hallway to make sure there wasn't any unwanted company that came while they were in middle of dreamland.
Jesse, for one, was glad that she finally had the chance to sleep away her worries and cares, if only for a moment.
"Oh, sweet and fluffy bed, how you call out to me," Jesse yawned out as she landed face first into the inviting bed. Sure, it might have been slept in by illagers before, but Jesse could not have cared less.
"I hear you. I couldn't be more exhausted and I didn't even do much of anything in those fights," Olivia responded as she sat on the bed and looked over at her friend who still had her face buried in her pillow.
"Those illagers may have been totally evil and psychotic, but man, do they know how to make a bed," Axel said as laid on top of a large bed, just perfect for a man his size.
Lukas was about to lay on his bed and take out his journal from his inventory, but he stopped himself as he looked over at Axel and frowned. "You know what? I think I'm going to go over and stay in the other room with Malia and the villagers."
Removing her face from her pillow, Jesse looked over at her friend. "Uh, okay, that seems a little random. Can I ask why?"
"I'll just feel a lot more comfortable once I'm out of this room so I can focus on my journal," Lukas said before he walked to the door and opened it. He paused for a moment before he looked back at his friends. "Good night, guys." With those final words, he left the room and closed the door behind him.
"Okay, that was definitely weird. Was anyone else weirded out about by that?" Jesse asked with a look of concern evident on her face as she sat up on her bed. "Why would he want to leave the room to focus on his journal?"
"Eh, beats me," Axel said simply before he turned over onto his side and stared at the wall.
Olivia breathed a heavy sigh and looked over at Axel's back. "Okay, if you and Lukas are going to keep acting like this, it's probably time to tell Jesse what happened back at the inn."
"Wait, back at the inn?" Jesse looked confused for a moment before she snapped her fingers. "Oh, is this about that fight you guys are having? Lukas still seemed to be upset over it."
Axel mumbled under his breath before he turned away from the wall and laid on his back. "Fine, I guess I'll say something if Olivia says I should." He sighed before he looked over at Jesse. "Remember when you said not to look at his journal?"
"Yeah, wh-" Jesse stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened in realization before she glared at her friend. "Axel, you didn't!"
"I only read a few pages that fell from it! I didn't read the actual book!" Axel sat up on his bed and held out his hands defensively when he was saw how miffed Jesse looked.
"It's the same thing! It still came from his journal!" Jesse almost yelled out before she took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. "Just… why Axel?"
"Mmpf, that's exactly what Olivia had said," Axel grumbled under his breath before he groaned and put his hands up to his face and covered his eyes. "Aaagh! I read it because it was practically calling out to me." He took his hands off his face and raised his arms into the air dramatically. "It was saying 'Read me! Read me and my delicious secrets! The world must know!'" He let his head fall back onto the pillow as he looked up at the ceiling. "I couldn't resist a call like that."
"Axel…" Jesse started to say before she scratched the back of her head as she thought about what she should say to her friend. "You should have just asked what he had written instead of reading it behind his back. If Lukas had said no, well, you just gotta respect that. That's what friends do: they respect each other." Jesse let out a sigh as she saw Axel glance over at her. "If what you read really had some secrets then… well, Lukas probably feels like you invaded his personal space. I'd be mad too if someone did that to me."
Axel remained silent as he looked thoughtful at what Jesse had said.
"Did you at least apologize?"
"Uh…" Axel mumbled before he looked away guiltily. "… No."
Another sigh from Jesse. "Do you at least feel bad about what you did?"
A pause. "… I guess."
"Then apologize when you get the chance. Just… don't wait forever, okay?"
Axel mulled it over in his head for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah… okay, I'll do that," He said before he grumbled, "Unless he acts like a big stuck-up jerk then…"
Jesse said nothing as she glared at her friend with eyes that pierced him like swords.
Axel practically shrunk under his friend's stare and chuckled nervously. "Then I'll, uh, do it anyway. Because that's what friends do!"
"There we go! That's the spirit!" Jesse smiled at her friend, happy things would work out between him and Lukas. "Now, enough talk! It's time for sleep!" She was about to let her head hit the pillow before she caught Olivia gazing at her. "Uh, what's up, Olivia?"
"You gotta teach me how to do that."
"Uh…" Jesse blinked in confusion. "With… what?"
"You just got Axel to agree he'd apologize to Lukas. I tried to tell him to do it before but he really seemed reluctant." Olivia looked back at Axel and saw that he had started to snore away the moment Jesse had said it was time to sleep. Shaking her head, she turned back to Jesse. "Can't believe you just got him to agree to it so easily… or maybe I can. You've always been better at defusing fights than me."
"Hey, I just said what felt right." Jesse shrugged. "Though, I can't really help them patch things up. It's up to Axel and Lukas themselves. I just… gave Axel a bit of a nudge."
"That's it?" Olivia asked, as if she was expecting more.
"Yeah, I guess that's it." Jesse shrugged again, and looked over at her friend. "Is there anything else you want to ask?"
"Uh, no… that's it," Olivia sighed before she tugged at the blankets of her bed before she smiled at her friend. "See you in the morning, Jesse." With those final words she laid down on the bed and prepared for sleep.
"Good night, Olivia." With a yawn, Jesse laid back down on her bed and buried her head in the soft pillow once again before she began to enter the land of dreams.
-MCSM-
"Okay, seriously, are you gonna be writing in that thing all night?" Malia yawned out, looking over at the blonde writer who seemed to be focused on whatever page he was on as his quill pen tapped lightly on the paper.
"Not all night," Lukas said, not even looking over at the trader. "I'm thinking more like half."
"Half the night? Just writing in that thing?" Malia asked, surprised he was even thinking of doing something like that in the first place. "Seriously, just what are you writing that's so important?"
Lukas didn't respond as he continued to stare at the page he was on and lifted the quill off the page and tapped his cheek with the top of the feather.
Malia just sighed loudly as her head hit the pillow, staring up at the ceiling as she could feel her tiredness beginning to envelop her. She looked over at the sleeping villagers in their beds and her llamas laying down on the floor as they snored away. How she wished she could join them…
As she looked over at Lukas one more time, she sat up and her eyes lit up eagerly. "Well, since you're so into writing so much, how about some blank books to write in? Don't actually have those on hand, but I do have the materials to craft it."
Lukas' quill pen stopped in mid-stroke as he looked over at Malia with a weary expression. "You're seriously trying to sell me something now? It's already late at night as it is."
"Says the guy who's planning to stay up half the night anyway," Malia said with a grin before she pulled out some paper from her inventory and waved it in the air. "Come on, I can offer you a good price!"
"Thanks, but I already have a blank journal I need to write in as it is," Lukas said before he mumbled under his breath. "Maybe I'll get around to it in a few days. Yeah, I could probably work that in."
"Aw, fine," Malia said with a sigh as she put her paper back in her inventory. "Well, you continue on with your late night writing. I'm going to sleep before we head out tomorrow." She laid back down on her bed as she prepared for a good night sleep.
Lukas stopped writing in his journal before he looked over at the tired trader. He looked back at the page he was writing on as he mulled something in his head before turning back to her. "Hey, Malia?"
"Huh, whazzit?" Malia mumbled as she sat up and looked over at Lukas tiredly. "What is it now?"
"There's something I want to talk to you about…"
-MCSM-
The square sun had risen over the horizon, the chickens were clucking, and all the zombies and skeletons were burning from the new daylight. It was a brand new day and it was time to finally bring the villagers back to their home.
Jesse had woken up at dawn and had to prod everyone awake. While she was met with a little resistance, she had successfully gotten everyone out of bed and out of the creepy, deserted mansion. Sure, they may have still been a little tired, but the sooner they took the villagers back to the village, then the faster the Order of the Stone could return to their own home.
The fearless leader scanned over the forest with her eyes as she looked out for any monsters that would dare come close to their little caravan. Luckily, they were getting increasingly closer to the village but that didn't stop her from being vigilant.
"Aw, come on. Not a single mob wants to attack us? Any at all?" Jesse heard Axel complain loudly behind her before she heard a loud groan. "Why is it when I want us to be attacked by mobs, they decide not to try and kill us?"
"Axel, why would you even want to be attacked by mobs? We have defenseless villagers with us." Jesse asked as she turned around and saw her friend moping.
"Because I wanna try out this super cool amulet!" Axel grinned as he pointed at the blue square he still had around his neck. "You said that Eve said you have to kill someone to take their form, right? So all I need is to punch out a bunch of mobs and then I can change into them."
"… Okay, while that is a good reason to wanting to be attacked by mobs, maybe we should wait until later when we don't have villagers with us." Jesse grinned as she pulled her amulet out of own inventory and looked at it. "I do like the thought of becoming any kind of mob. Just imagine what we could do! We could fight mobs as mobs!"
"You read my mind, dude!" Axel would have high-fived his friend if she wasn't too far away on her llama.
Olivia, who was behind Axel, just sighed and shook her head as she placed a hand on her forehead in disbelief. "I still don't understand why you two think it's the coolest thing since… well, us. I think it's more creepy than it is cool."
Lukas didn't respond as he was beginning to nod off and his head landed on the back of his llama's neck as if he was trying to use it like a makeshift pillow.
"Village ho!" Malia called out as she led the caravan out of the forest and saw that the village was in sight.
"Ugh, finally!" The grumpy villager lifted his head from his hand and looked over at his home village. "I was beginning to think we'd never get there!"
"W-we're home…" The cowardly villager sighed in relief, happy to be back home after so long.
The caravan stopped at the entrance of the village and, before everyone could get off their llamas, they found themselves almost completely surrounded by villagers that began muttering to each other.
"Did the Order of the Stone do it? Did they stop the kidnapper?"
"Well, nobody was taken last night… so they must have!"
"There's only three villagers on those animals they're riding. I guess most our kind that were kidnapped were killed off."
"Such a shame… I hope that accursed kidnapper got what was coming to him."
Jesse winced at the last statement that one of the villagers had said. She wondered how the villagers would react once she told them… though she had a feeling that they wouldn't be too happy.
Carter had cleared his throat loudly and the entire group of villagers silenced themselves as they parted the crowd. The mayor of the village stepped up to the caravan with a child villager following close behind before he looked over at the surviving villagers and nodded. "I see the Order of the Stone was successful on their quest."
"Er, we were mostly successful," Jesse said as she got of her llama and walked up to Carter. The rest of the Order, Malia, and the villagers had gotten off their own llamas and went up to Carter as well.
The three surviving villagers had nodded their heads to their mayor in respect and Carter had nodded back. The grumpy villager then shrugged before he went over to the other villagers and nodded at them. One of the villagers went up to the grumpy villager and said a few words to him before the grumpy villager turned away in shame. Then the villager that had walked up to him opened his arms up and gave the grumpy villager a big hug. The grumpy villager said nothing as he buried his face into his friend's shoulder.
The cowardly villager went over to the crowd and looked around nervously. Almost immediately, a child villager had ran out from the crowd and almost tackled the bigger villager in a hug. The cowardly villager sighed in relief as he knelt down and hugged the child villager back as tears began to develop in the corner of his eyes.
Brian glanced at his fellow survivors before he focused his sights back on Carter. "If it is not too much trouble, I would like to talk to you about something after you are done talking to the humans."
Carter 'hmm'ed in thought before he nodded. "Very well. We will discuss later."
Brian nodded again before he stepped away and gave the mayor and the Order some space.
Carter turned towards the Order of the Stone and looked at them before setting his sights on Jesse. "Have you stopped the illagers and that kidnapper?"
"Uh… sorta," Jesse said before she cleared her throat. "We did take out a few of the illagers, but… the one who really took care of most of them was the kidnapper himself."
Carter raised his eyebrow as if he was surprised. "Pardon?"
Jesse and the rest of the Order quickly gave Carter the run-down of what happened in the mansion. From the disguised villagers, to the fight with Eve and the loss against Culain, the Order of the Stone told the mayor of the village all the information they knew.
Carter remained silent as he slowly digested the story he was told. The crowd of villagers quietly whispered to each other, discussing what they had heard amongst themselves.
"So…" Carter put a hand up to his chin and his brow furrowed. "You have failed to bring the kidnapper to justice?"
Jesse's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I'm really sorry. He was pretty strong and after the fight with Eve, I was just-"
Carter held up his hand and Jesse stopped talking. "It's fine, human. Me and my fellow villagers do not blame you for failing to bring the kidnapper down."
Jesse's eyes widened looked at the mayor in surprise. "Wait, seriously?"
"While we are disappointed that the kidnapper will not be brought to justice, you did defeat the leader of the ones that wish to harm us. That is more than any human would have done for us." Carter bowed his head. "So with that, I give the Order of the Stone my thanks."
Jesse paused as she took in what Carter had said. Then, she grinned thankfully. "There's no need for thanks, Carter! We're the Order of the Stone; it's what we do!"
"Wish you humans wouldn't call me that," Carter grumbled, still not pleased with the name Malia had given him.
"Though, Jesse was the only one who killed the leader. She didn't need our help," Olivia muttered under her breath.
"Hey, we took out those axe-wielding illagers, no problem. Those guys were probably just as tough as their leader," Axel said with a grin.
Olivia sighed. "You and Lukas did. I was thrown on top of a chandelier."
"Oh… right. Almost forgot I did that."
Before Jesse could turn around and give her friend a quick pep-talk, Carter cleared his throat as he tried to bring attention back to him. "All you humans had a hand in taking down of the ones that wish us harm, so I thank all of you. Not only had that, but all you humans have done many small good deeds around our small village that truly helped us." Carter turned towards Olivia. "You have constructed us an automatic farm that will serve us well for a long time. Your contribution to our village was truly the best we could have hoped for."
Olivia looked completely stunned yet grateful from the unexpected praise from the mayor himself. "I… thank you."
Carter just nodded before turning back to Jesse. "Will you humans be on your way or will you spend the night with us again? You are welcome to stay as long as you need."
Jesse considered Carter's offer before she turned to her friends. "What do you guys want to do?"
"I say we start heading out," Lukas said as he glanced toward the sun. "If we leave now, we would probably be back home before sundown."
Jesse nodded before she looked at Axel and Olivia. "And you guys don't have any objections?" Both her friends shook their heads before Jesse nodded and turned back to Carter. "Alright, guess we're leaving as soon as we can."
Carter nodded. "If that is your decision."
As he said those words, the crowd of villagers began to disperse and went about their normal duties or to go continue to discuss things amongst themselves. Brian went up to the mayor and nodded at him. Carter then shooed away the child villager that was following him and the little villager just nodded before he walked away. Before they walked away to discuss things in private, Brian looked over at Jesse. "Will you please come with us? I would like the leader of the Order of the Stone to weigh in with what I have to say."
Jesse looked at Brian in surprise. What did the librarian villager have to say that required her presence? "Um… sure." She turned back to her friends. "I'll meet up with you guys in a little bit." With that, she followed Carter and Brian.
With nothing else to do as they waited on their leader, the Order of the Stone prepared themselves for their journey home.
"I'm gonna miss this place," Malia sighed wistfully as she sat atop her horse. "I mean, I can visit whenever I want, but I should get more things to trade with before I even think of coming back." Malia then began to grumble, "They get really snippy with me if I try to give them things I gave them last time. They're gonna need more stuff at some point, so why not buy it now when I have it in a whole bunch of it?"
Lukas made a non-committal 'hmm' as he prepared to get atop Blossom, only pausing for a moment when he heard Olivia and Axel whispering to each other.
"Now's the perfect time! Do it now!" Lukas heard Olivia whisper.
"What? Now? As in right now?" Axel grumbled. "Can't I do it later?"
"Are you kidding? With our luck, we'll get swept up in something again and you'll never get the chance." Olivia said urgingly.
Axel let out another sigh and, to Lukas' surprise, walked up next to him.
"So…" Axel began, before he cleared his throat and focused on the blonde in front of him. "Uh… okay, I totally forgot what I was gonna say. Gimmie a second." Axel's face scrunched up in concentration.
Olivia sighed and held her face in her hands, already having a bad feeling where the conversation would lead to.
Lukas rolled his eyes and put his hands on his sides. "What do you want, Axel?"
"Eh…" Axel frowned for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I guess I wanted to say… sorry about the whole, you know, reading your stuff without your permission thing. That was… wrong of me and stuff."
Lukas' eyes widened as he looked at his large friend in disbelief. "Wait, you're actually apologizing to me?"
"Uh, yeah!" Axel humphed. "What? You've acted as if I've never apologized to you before." Axel paused for a moment. "At least, I think I did once before. Maybe."
"Uh, no… it's just…" Lukas rubbed the back of his head anxiously. "I was just beginning to think you'd never apologize to me for that."
"Well, never say never 'cause I'm doing it now," Axel said with a grin. "So, are we cool or are we cool?"
Lukas remained silent as he considered Axel's apology. "I'm… not sure I should forgive you just yet… you did read something that was really personal to me."
Axel's shoulders slumped.
"… But I will accept your apology." Lukas smiled as he held out his hand for a handshake. "I'm just glad we can finally begin to move past this. So consider us cool for right now."
Axel looked at Lukas' hand in surprise before he reached out to shake it with a smile. "Yeah, we're definitely cool!"
"Thank goodness. Now I won't have to hear anymore bickering from you two," Olivia said, happy that her friends had finally let bygones be bygones.
As soon as the two men had finished their hand shake, Lukas walked over to Olivia. "As long as we're trading apologies, I should probably say sorry to you, Olivia."
"Huh?" Olivia looked at Lukas in surprise. What did he have to apologize for?
Lukas took a deep breath as he looked serious. "Back at the inn when me and Axel were fighting, I… almost tried to interrogate Axel about the secret you guys are keeping. I know I was angry at Axel for trying to see what I was keeping secret, but that didn't give me the right to try to do to him what he did to me. So… I'm sorry. I didn't have the right to do that."
Olivia continued to look at Lukas in surprise. With the illagers and everything else that happened, she had almost forgotten about that. "It's alright, Lukas. You didn't have to apologize, but I'm happy that you did."
Lukas nodded. "I wasn't planning on saying anything once I overheard you guys, but I guess that fight got the better of me. It didn't sound like you were hiding anything bad."
Olivia just sighed dejectedly. "It's not bad, it's just… there's a lot going on with me right now." Olivia paused. "Or at least, could. I still haven't decided what to do yet."
"I still say you should go for it!" Axel chimed in. "I mean, you'd be-" Before Axel could say anything else, he clapped his hands over his mouth. "Oh, right, keeping it a secret. Still don't understand why though..."
Olivia sighed in response. "Axel, I have my reasons, okay?"
"But think of how cool it'll be! Jesse will think it's cool too!"
Olivia just crossed her arms and looked away. "I guess that's what I'm nervous about…"
Lukas looked back and forth between the two with the confusion evident on his face. "Okay, I am definitely missing some context here, but…" He turned to Olivia. "Whatever you decide on… whatever is going on, we'll be there for you."
Olivia just smiled sadly. "I know. Thanks Lukas."
Lukas just nodded as he glanced over to where Jesse was. The villagers seemed to be in a heated discussion while Jesse seemed to be trying to calm them both down. It seemed like it was going to be a while before they finished talking about… whatever it was.
He looked between Axel and Olivia as if he was seriously considering something important. "Hey, by the way…"
"Uh, what?" Axel asked as Olivia looked at Lukas curiously.
"There's something I want to talk to you guys about…"
-MCSM-
"So what is so urgent that you wished to speak to us in private?" Carter asked as him, Brian, and Jesse were far enough away from everyone that they could talk to each other without being interrupted.
Brian took his hands out of his sleeves and rubbed his chin as if he was thinking deeply what he was going to say. Then, with a deep breath, he finally spoke, "I think… we need to learn how to defend ourselves."
Carter looked at his fellow villager in shock. "What?"
"We were taken so easily and a good majority of us were killed off. Before those vile ones decided when to kill my fellows off, they thought it would be fun to torture us and laugh at our plight." Brian then sighed sadly. "Even if those accursed illagers are gone, there's still the matter of dark-hearted humans that could pillage our village or kill us for sport or those zombies that wish to taint us. We need to find a way to keep what happened from happening again." The librarian villager turned to Jesse. "Do you not agree with what I am saying?"
Jesse, who was listening intently to what Brian had to say, snapped out of her thoughts. "Well…"
"No! You cannot be serious!" Carter snapped angrily and crossed his arms. "We are a peaceful mob! We cannot change who we are! The last villagers who dared thought that way turned into those accursed illagers!"
"Well…" Jesse tried to say something, but was cut off by Brian.
"The human leader said that they turned evil because their ancestors were kicked out of the village by our ancestors! Wanting to defend ourselves for the better did not turn them evil to begin with!"
"But from the story the humans told, their lust for power drove them mad! Who is to say we would not lose ourselves once we try to attempt get stronger? There is a reason why we villagers must stay as we are."
"I don't think I said…" Jesse tried again to input into the conversation, but was inevitably interrupted.
"But if we are to stay as we are, we will end up on the brink of extinction! What if, one day, we are attacked by a zombie? We will be forced to become a zombie and will slaughter the unaffected. We are not immune like humans! Do you think we can just sit back and twiddle our thumbs?"
"But if we try stay away from such creatures, then there's no NEED to become afflicted. If our kind dares to try and slay zombies, then we will inevitably turn into one. We will be much safer staying away and locked in our homes."
"Zombies are able to break through doors if there are plenty of them! Besides, we can't just stay locked up in our homes if human griefers decides to pay our humble village a visit."
"Hang, why don't we all just…" Jesse tried to say something – anything – to try and calm down the squabbling villagers, but they continued to argue as if she wasn't there.
The longer the two villagers argued, the more of Jesse's patience was tested. She tried to weigh both of their reasons in her head, but the continuous debate from the villagers wasn't helping anyone.
"Will. You. Both. SHUT UP?!" Jesse yelled at the villagers, causing the two to turn to her in surprise and almost cowered from her commanding tone. "You both have good points, I get that!" She turned to Brian. "You want to make sure that what happened with the illagers never happens again and you want to make sure all the villagers stay safe." She then turned to Carter. "You are afraid of becoming something else other than the neutral mob you are and you're afraid that getting stronger might twist everyone's psyche and they'll turn into the next illagers or something." She looked between the two. "Am I right?"
Both Carter and Brian glanced at the other before turning back to Jesse with a nod.
Jesse nodded back, satisfied that she had got their undivided attention. "Good. Now… have either of you considered that maybe… just maybe… you could find some sort of compromise?"
"Compromise?" Carter asked curiously. "What sort of compromise?"
"Uh…" Jesse faltered a bit, unsure how they would be able to compromise.
Come on… come on… think, Jesse! There had to be something they could come to an agreement with… maybe she should ask her friends for advice…
Wait a minute!
"I've got it!" Jesse expressed excitedly. "You can ask people for help!"
"… Come again?" Brian asked, unsure what Jesse was trying to get at.
"Okay, hear me out! What if you asked other people to help defend you? Maybe hire someone using emeralds or something to help defend your village every once in a while? Maybe they could make iron golems for extra protection to keep the mobs away! Heck, if you're feeling adventurous, maybe have someone teach you some moves with the sword and bow. That way, you don't have to rely on humans all the time." Jesse saw Carter's unsure look. "… Or don't. It's really up to you guys."
Brian frowned, looking as unsure as Carter. "To rely on humans to defend us? I don't know…"
"Hey, if I remember correctly, you guys asked for the Order of the Stone to come and help you," Jesse said with a sly grin.
Carter and Brian remained silent, their faces in deep concentration as they thought about Jesse's proposal.
"You know, the illager leader said something to me while I was fighting him," Jesse said, deciding to add one last thought in the hope that they would be swayed by her idea. "He said that villagers would NEVER change. That you guys would be blinded by tradition and you'd let people walk all over you… but I think he's wrong." She looked over at Carter. "Change may be scary, but sometimes you NEED to change to save the people you care about. Trust me on that." Jesse then looked at Brian. "But you can't forget who you are in the process. You guys are villagers, that's not going to change anytime soon." She glanced at the two villagers with a reassuring smile.
The two villagers remained silent for a moment longer before Carter cleared his throat. "I… suppose we can ask friendly humans for assistance. If it worked this well with the Order of the Stone, then who's to say it can't work with others humans?"
Brian just nodded. "As long as the humans are as friendly and protective as the Order, then I don't see why not." He turned to Jesse. "I don't suppose it would be too much to ask if you and your friends to stay in the village to help defend us?"
Jesse's smile faltered. "Sorry, but me and my friends have to return home. There's probably other people that need our help." Her friendly smile came back full force. "But! We can spread the word that villagers would want to pay people to help defend their village. And maybe the Order can stop by the village every once in a while to see how things are going."
Carter remained silent and smiled so softly that it was almost unnoticeable. "I see. Thank you for your help, hu- uh, Jesse."
Jesse blinked in surprise before she grinned slyly. "Why Carter, are you warming up to me?"
The slight smile dropped from the mayor's face. "Don't try to act cute, human." Carter turned away and began to walk off before he turned back to Jesse. "We look forward to your next visit to our village. Safe travels." With those final words, Carter stormed away.
Brian watched the mayor walk away before turning to Jesse. "Thank you for your contribution to our discussion. Thanks to you, we will finally be on our way to being able to protect ourselves… even if it is with the help of other humans."
"Hey, it was my pleasure! Anything I can do to make sure everything turns out okay," Jesse said, pleasantly pleased that everything seemed to have worked out between the two villagers. She honestly wasn't sure they would go for her idea, but she was happy that they did.
Sure, Jesse kind of came up with it on the spot, but she'll take it!
Brian bowed his head. "I also wish you safety on your travels. I look forward to you and your team to visit again." With that, Brian turned and walked away to do… whatever villagers did.
"Bye! I wish you guys luck!" Jesse waved after the librarian villager. With a contented sigh, she looked around the village, happy to see the villagers going about their daily lives. Things seemed to have gone back to normal for the village and hopefully won't have any more kidnappings or villager killings anymore.
… Just as long as that stupid Culain guy doesn't decide to show his dumb masked face again and try to kidnap villagers again.
Shaking away those thoughts, Jesse looked over at her friends that were waiting for her. Looking closely, she noticed they were talking eagerly to each other. She saw Malia slide into the middle of the discussion and began gesturing wildly, causing Lukas to shake his head and facepalm.
Jesse wondered what they were talking about. Maybe she'd go over there and check it out…
"Um… 'scuse me?"
Jesse felt a tug on her hand and she looked down and saw a small child villager pulling on her arm as if he was trying to get her attention. The child was looking down at the ground and glanced up at her for a moment before looking back down at the ground, almost as if he was incredibly nervous.
"Aw, hi there little guy!" Jesse said as cheerfully as she could and knelt down so that she was looking at the child villager at eye level. With him so nervous, Jesse tried to make herself as unintimidating as she possibly could. "What's your name?"
"U-um…" The child villager shifted uncomfortably. "I don't have a name… I'm a villager and dad always said that names were… um, what word did he always say? Unness... um… nesseca… uh…"
"Unnecessary?" Jesse supplied gently.
"Um… yeah…" The child villager looked down at the ground nervously again. "Um… I just wanted to say… you and the other humans are… really cool… and, uh, thanks for helping out our little village. The other big villagers said that most humans are kinda mean but, uh, you guys seem pretty nice."
"Well, thank you!" Jesse said, happy to know what the little child villager thought of them.
"Um… you're welcome…" The child villager began shifting his feet back and forth and glanced up shyly at Jesse. It looked to Jesse that the kid wanted to talk some more, but he still looked extremely nervous.
Jesse decided to try and make some small talk to try and calm down the child's nerves. "So… how old are you little guy?"
The child villager blinked at the question before his face scrunched up as if he was trying to count how old he was in his head. "Um… two…"
"You're two years old?" Jesse asked, surprised by his age. The child looked no more than seven or eight years old to her.
"Um… no. Two weeks…"
"T-Two weeks?!" Jesse almost fell over in shock from the stunning revelation. Just how fast did villager children age?!
The child villager looked confused at Jesse's outburst. "U-um… is something wrong?"
"N-no, I'm just… surprised is all." Jesse rubbed the back of her nervously. "People… uh, humans tend to age a lot slower than villagers. At two weeks old, we're pretty much still babies."
It was the child villager's turn to look surprised. "Really? That's really weird." He was silent for a moment before he looked down at the ground sadly. "I wish I was human… that way, I'd be a kid longer."
Jesse looked sadly at the kid. "Sorry… wish there was something I could do, but I can't change who you are."
The child villager just nodded sadly before he looked back at Jesse. "Um… can I ask something?"
"Sure! What do you want to ask?"
"Can you…" The child villager squirmed nervously. "C-can you… give me a name?"
"Huh?" Jesse looked at the child villager with surprise obvious on her face, wondering why he would want her of all people to give him a name.
"Um…" The child looked down again. "That weird lady with the hat gave my dad a name, even though he hates it. But… I think it's cool that a human gives villagers human names. So… I want one too."
"Huh… well, if you really want me too…" Jesse was unsure if she should give the child villager a name… but he was asking her nicely, so how could she say no?
Jesse tried to think of a good name for the child villager. Maybe something simple? Or maybe something that sounded awesome? She wasn't entirely sure what he would want, so she decided to say the first name that popped into her head.
"How about… Fortunato?" Jesse offered.
The child villager looked at her curiously. "For-tun-ah-toe…" He sounded out the name carefully. "What's it mean? It sounds like a strange name…"
"Uh... it means… to be fortunate… or lucky, in other words…" Jesse said, trying to sound like she knew what she was talking about. She couldn't remember if fortunate and lucky were synonyms, but it sounded about right.
The newly named Fortunato was silent for a moment as he digested his new name before he smiled happily. "My new name means I'm lucky! That's really cool!" He was so happy that he had a brand new name that he went over and hugged Jesse. "Thank you, Miss Jesse!"
"Aw, it was no problem, Fortunato. I'm just happy I could help out," Jesse said as she hugged the child villager back before they separated.
"I can't wait to tell everyone!" Fortunato said happily before he frowned. "Er, maybe not my dad. He probably won't be too happy with it." His smile appeared back on his face. "But I'll introduce it to other humans who visit our village."
Before Jesse could say anything else, both she and Fortunato heard a throat clearing sound. Looking over to where the sound came from, Jesse saw Carter looking at them from the center of town before he tilted his head as if he was calling Fortunato over.
With a sad sigh, Fortunato turned back to Jesse. "I guess I gotta go… will you be coming back to our village, Miss Jesse?"
Jesse nodded. "Yep! Maybe not right away, but me and my friends will come back to visit."
That brighten the child's face. "Really? I can't wait!" With that, Fortunato turned around and began walking over to his father, but not before turning around and waving farewell. "Bye, Miss! See you soon!"
"See ya' around, Fortunato!" Jesse called back as she waved farewell to the adorable child villager.
What was she doing before the child villager wanted to talk to her? Ah, right, Jesse was going to see what her friends were talking about.
Jesse began to walk over to her friends and she saw that they were still discussing something. As soon as she was close enough, she called out to them, "Hey guys, am I interrupting anything?"
"Oh, hey Jesse," Axel said, smirking to himself. "We were just talking about normal things like we normally do. You know… normal things…"
"Axel, what are you doing?" Olivia asked as if she wasn't sure what her friend was going on about.
"Acting like everything's normal because, you know, everything's as normal as normal can be."
Olivia raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes. "I don't think it's normal for you to be saying 'normal' that much."
Axel looked almost offended. "I'll have you know, it's perfectly normal to be saying normal that much. How could it be un-normal? Because…"
"Oookay!" Lukas decided at that moment to interrupt Axel's chatter. "I really think we should get going…" He turned and whispered quietly to Axel, "…And maybe when I say 'act like everything's normal', don't go overboard!"
Axel just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, fine. I thought I was doing great, though!"
Lukas just sighed. "Sure, Axel… sure you did. You didn't make anything seem suspicious at all…" He said with a touch of sarcasm.
Jesse looked between the two whispering men before she turned to Olivia and began to whisper to her friend. "Did they have another fight? I thought Axel was going to apologize."
Olivia began whispering back. "He did. Lukas accepted Axel's apology and everything, thank goodness." She then looked between the two. "Although, I think their bickering is going to be a regular thing now."
Jesse just smiled happily. "Hey, if that's their version of getting along and they try not to strangle each other, then I'm all for it!"
Olivia grimaced slightly. "But Ivor and Soren bickered all the time when we went to the Far Lands and I'm pretty sure they were on the verge of strangling each other every time they said one word to each other."
Jesse frowned as she recalled that trip. "Uh, that was… special circumstances? I'm pretty sure we all wanted to strangle Ivor when the Witherstorm was on the loose."
"Hey guys," Malia called out to her heroes, causing them to stop their conversations and turn to her. "As much as I'm all for eavesdropping on everyone's conversation, we should probably get going now or else we won't get back to town until after sunset and I'm sure we all want to get back to town as soon as we can before then."
"Ah, right!" Jesse smiled at her friends and raised her fist excitedly into the air. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get moving!"
As soon as everyone had gotten on their llamas, the group proceeded to leave the village and went on their way.
The Order of the Stone was finally going home.
-MCSM-
"Okay, how about this? Would you rather fight a hundred parrot-sized endermen or ten endermen-sized parrots?" Olivia looked behind her and asked her tenacious friend a very difficult question.
"Hm…" Jesse considered the question as she subconsciously petted her llama's fur. "Are the endermen aggressive?"
Olivia shook her head. "Only if you look at them."
"Then I'll have to go with the parrot-sized endermen," Jesse said with a confident grin. "They're practically as big as sticks and all I have to do is move my foot to knock one of them down." She mimicked what it would look like with her arm as she held it front of her and then tilted it downward. "Ahhhh, timber!" As soon as her arm was vertical, Jesse made an over-exaggerated fake dying sound. "And then poof goes the tiny enderman."
Olivia let out a laugh. "And you're going to do that to all one hundred endermen?"
"Of course I would! It'd still be hilarious even if I did it a hundred times!"
Olivia continued to chuckle as she shook her head good-heartily at her friend's silliness. "And what about the parrots?"
Jesse hummed in thought for a moment before answering, "The giant parrots would be similar to the zombie-sized chickens if there wasn't for one major difference."
"And that would be?"
"Well, they can fly. Unless you have a bow, they'd be a pain to take down," Jesse said before she winced. "Not to mention if they try to sit on your shoulder, they could crush you to death." She shook her head solemnly. "What a way to go… crushed by a giant parrot butt…"
Both friends remained silent. The only sounds that could be heard was the gentle breeze wafting through the leaves of the trees and the clip-clopping of the llama's hoofs as they continued on their path.
Suddenly, Jesse tried to stifle a laugh that almost erupted her throat. Olivia then chuckled afterward and, before the both of them knew it, they began to laugh loudly.
"Oh man," Olivia said as her laughter died down. "It feels like it's been ages since we've done a 'Would You Rather?' question session." She then looked toward the front of the caravan and saw Axel and Lukas on their llamas. "Shame we can't get the guys to join us without yelling at the top of our lungs." Olivia then shook her head. "Seriously, why couldn't we get on the llamas before they get into their line? That way we wouldn't be separated from each other like this."
"It's fine, Olivia," Jesse said reassuringly. "Besides, like you said, we haven't done this in ages. The last time I remember doing this between just the two of us was before the Witherstorm and that was months ago."
"That's true… we've been so busy these past several months that we've hardly had any time to ourselves."
"Hey, we may be busy, but that doesn't mean we can't make time to just hang out," Jesse said with a smile. "And even if we're STILL busy in the upcoming months, we'll STILL try and make time to hang out with each other."
"Yeah…" Olivia mumbled as her eyes grew distant and she grew silent.
Jesse looked at her friends, confused why her friend's mood suddenly changed. "Uh… is everything okay?"
"Uh, yeah… everything's fine," Olivia answered before she began to rummage through her thoughts.
Should she finally tell Jesse? Olivia wasn't entirely sure she should. They were having such a good time just talking and having fun with each other that she wasn't sure if she should ruin that with what was going on. Maybe she should put it off…
'Are you kidding? With our luck, we'll get swept up in something again and you'll never get the chance.'
Her own words echoed in her head, the ones that she had told Axel before he finally apologized to Lukas. Olivia's shoulders slumped, realizing that if she didn't follow her own advice, she'd be pretty much be a hypocrite. It was the perfect time to tell Jesse what she'd been keeping secret and she was still completely anxious to say anything.
'Whatever you decide on… whatever is going on, we'll be there for you.'
Lukas might not have had any idea what was going on, but what he said was true. Olivia knew that whatever would happen, her friends would be there for her with whatever she decided on. She knew that… of course she knew that, but that still didn't make her any less anxious. However, the fact that one of her friends said that to her directly calmed her down, if ever so slightly.
Gathering up all the courage she had, Olivia was finally ready to reveal what her secret was.
"Actually…" Olivia began, focusing on her friend that was riding behind her. "… There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."
"Oh? What's up?" Jesse asked, wondering what she needed to talk to her about. Whatever it was, it must have been serious with the way Olivia was beginning to fidget.
"Um… okay…" Olivia mumbled before she took a deep breath. "So… uh, remember when you and Lukas and Petra and Ivor were stuck in the Portal Network?"
"Yes, we did get back from that long adventure over a week ago," Jesse said, unsure what that had anything to do with what they were talking about then and there.
"Ah, right. Of course you remember…" Olivia mumbled to herself, mentally scolding herself for asking such a stupid question. "So… uh, something happened a few weeks before you guys got back. Something… I guess you could say something big."
"Oh?" Jesse wondered aloud, her attention completely focused on the still fidgety Olivia.
"Yeah…" Olivia took another deep breath before she continued. "Anyway, a few weeks ago, someone came to see me… someone from Redstonia."
"Redstonia?" Jesse had never personally been to Redstonia. She knew that the place held several of the leading experts in redstone engineering and that the place itself was amazingly beautiful and technologically advanced, according to Olivia.
"Yeah… Calvin, one of Ellegaard's assistants came to visit me…" Olivia paused. "Or… I guess you could say, Calvin WAS one of her assistants. Ellegaard stepped down from being leader of Redstonia, and-"
"WHAT?!" Jesse couldn't help but voice her shock. "Why? What happened?"
"Apparently, people weren't too happy when they heard that the old Order lied about defeating the Enderdragon," Olivia said with a sigh. "There were rumors going around that if she lied about the Enderdragon, then what else could she have lied about? People were saying that she plagiarized other people's works and that she was a great big phony. There were even protests to have her admit that she did steal other people's ideas, even if nobody had any proof something like that happened." Olivia just shook her head, saddened how people could be like that. "Calvin said that, eventually, the rumors and ungrateful citizens became too much for her and she stepped down." Olivia looked down sadly. "I know that lying about the Enderdragon's defeat was terrible, but as far as I know, she didn't lie about all her amazing inventions. It seems really unfair to spread rumors over something nobody had any proof on."
"Yeah, no kidding," Jesse said, frowning unhappily and clearly displeased by what happened to Ellegaard. Then she looked at Olivia curiously. "Calvin traveled all the way from Redstonia just to tell you that?"
"Uh… no, there's other things." Olivia took a deep breath, preparing for what she was going to say next. "There was a lot of discussion going on and… and… theywantmetobethenextleader," Olivia tried to spit out the last part out as fast as she could before she lost her nerve.
Jesse just blinked in response, looking completely lost. "I'm sorry, what was that last part? You were talking a little too fast for me to keep up."
Olivia deflated slightly before she picked herself back up, steeled herself, and spoke as clearly as she could.
"I, Olivia, was asked to be the next leader of Redstonia."
Jesse's mouth dropped and her eyes widened, staring at Olivia in complete and utter shock. Then slowly, her mouth formed a large smile and she looked like she was about to burst from excitement. "Oh. My. GOSH! That's so cool! That means that you get to be the head honcho for all the redstone experts in Redstonia!"
"Ahah… yeah, Axel did say something like that when he heard too," Olivia chuckled, remembering how Calvin tried to talk to her in private, but Axel had wanted to hear what was going on so he decided to eavesdrop on the whole conversation. When Calvin revealed the big news to Olivia, he couldn't help but burst into the room as if he was a stampede of cows and voice his excitement. Loudly.
"So Axel knows about it too? Then…" Jesse began to say before she trailed off as her brow furrowed and she looked at Olivia in confusion. "Wait, if this happened weeks ago, then why wait until now to tell me? This seems like something you'd gush to me over."
Ah, and therein lies the clincher. Olivia's heart pounded in her chest, completely anxious to what she was about to reveal next.
"Uh, well, after Calvin told me and I felt like I was going to faint, he… uh, he mentioned something else to me," Olivia said before she took another deep breath and spoke again. "He said that since I'd be the new leader of Redstonia, I should move closer to where the city is to be closer to all the citizens and experts are so I could work with them." A pause. "A city that's far away from where we live now." Another pause. "A city that's far away from you guys."
Jesse's eyes widened as she realized what Olivia was trying to say.
Moving to Redstonia to be their leader would mean moving away from their home and her friends.
"I-I mean," Olivia stuttered out, "You could probably still visit me, but Redstonia is so far away that the only way to get there within a day would be taking the tracks in the Nether, but that'd STILL take a long time and since I could have stuff to do in Redstonia and everyone else could have Order of the Stone stuff, we'd probably hardly ever see each other again."
Olivia couldn't stop herself from saying more and more about what had been on her mind for the past few weeks. It was as if a dam had burst and there was no stopping her from telling Jesse everything.
"Then there's the fact that I'd be the LEADER of a whole CITY! I mean, me?! Of all people?! Isn't there anyone else that should be better qualified to run a city full of highly experienced redstone engineers? Why choose me of all people? Is it because I'm a part of the new Order of the Stone? Is that it? I've only been a part of the Order for six months and that suddenly means I have the experience to run a whole city?!"
Jesse remained silent as she waited patiently for Olivia to continue her rant.
"And then there's Axel! He says that I should go for it, like it's no big deal! Says that I'd get to hang out with all the other redstone brainiacs and make cool new redstone builds… but doesn't he realize that I won't be able to hang out like we normally do? Does he think that I can just come and go whenever I want?" Olivia scoffed. "We all can't be the great 'King of Boom Town' and come and go whenever we please! It's a city of engineers, not the city of griefers! Redstonia doesn't destroy things willy-nilly! Redstonia spends time to make great redstone inventions that could wow the whole world!"
Olivia then pointed at Jesse, who looked confused at the sudden finger point. "And then there's you! You've been stuck in the Portal Network while I wasn't sure if you were alive or dead or whatever's in-between. When Calvin told me that I could be leader, everyone was still gone and I didn't want to go rule a whole city, like… like I just forgot about you guys! Like I gave up hope and moved on! No, I told Calvin that I'd think about it and I wondered what Jesse would think! Gone for two months and I still… I still worried about you and everyone else and I just… I just…" Olivia felt tears well up and she moved a hand up to her eyes as she tried to wipe it away, but as much as wanted her tears to stay away, they built up again and began to roll down her cheeks.
"Olivia…" Jesse looked sadly at her friend, at a loss for words.
Olivia let out a sad sniffle and continued talking, "And then you guys came back and you were okay and I just… I just didn't want to say anything. I wanted to hang out just like we did before you were stuck in the Portal Network and I kept putting it off. I even made Axel promise not to say anything until I got the courage to tell you, Jesse. Yet, I was still afraid to say anything. I thought that maybe if I didn't say anything, I wouldn't have to go to Redstonia and move away from you guys and not have amazing adventures with everyone ever again…"
Olivia took a shaky breath and looked away from Jesse. "But… but what do I even do on those adventures, anyway? All I do is get in the way and I end up getting thrown up onto a chandelier because I'm not good at fighting up close. Sure, my redstone traps can take out normal mobs easily enough, but what about when it counts? What about when I tried to trap Culain and I thought he was caught? He got out like it was child's play and I get covered in cobwebs! Sure, I built that farm for the village, but it's not going to help when vindicators transform into enderman and try to cut your head off!" She shouted out before her shoulders slumped and she looked down at the passing forest floor. "Culain was right… I do feel like a burden."
Jesse immediately tensed up and a look of determination filled her eyes before she started to shift herself in her seat. She lifted her feet up onto the saddle before she held onto the llama's neck and tried to maneuver herself so she could attempt to stand up on the llama's back.
"Buh-wark!" Jesse's llama cried out in protest, confused why its rider was holding onto its neck so tightly.
"Sorry, but could you walk a bit faster until you're next to my friend's llama? Or maybe lower your neck so I could try and jump over to her?" Jesse pleaded with her llama. The llama grunted a bit before it began to walk a bit faster, breaking away from its place at the end of the line until it was practically rubbing up close to Olivia's llama.
Olivia looked up with tear-filled eyes as she saw her friend suddenly right next to her on her llama. "Jesse, w-what are you doing?"
Jesse reached out to her friend and pulled her closer, enveloping her in a tight embrace. "I'm giving my best friend a hug, that's what I'm doing."
Olivia was stunned silent for a moment before she hugged her friend back, burying her face in Jesse's shoulder, ignoring the hard armor that made it slightly uncomfortable to cry on as she let out a small sob.
"Olivia…" Jesse began, "I am so sorry; I had no idea that you felt that way when everyone was gone. I mean, I knew that you were worried, but I didn't think… I didn't think it was tearing you up inside like that." Jesse took a wavered breath as she tried to hold back her own tears. How could she have been so blind to her friend's pain? What kind of friend was she to not be there when her friend was in emotional distress?
"Jesse…" Olivia muttered, her tears beginning to stop. "There's nothing to apologize about. You couldn't have known what I was thinking. I was just… keeping it to myself. Heck, even Axel doesn't know I felt that way."
Jesse just sighed before she released Olivia from their hug so she could look her dear friend in the eyes. "Well, thank you for telling me how you felt. It must have been hard…" Jesse paused for a moment before she looked at Olivia with fire in her eyes. "And never call yourself a burden! I don't care what that jerk Culain says how you feel, you are not a burden! You're the most talented redstone engineer I have ever known. I heard you were at a major disadvantage with those vindicators… and with Culain?" Jesse practically growled out the name. "We were all defeated by him. I got owned in that duel, Lukas got punched in the face and almost got killed by zombies, and I'm pretty sure Axel got kicked in the head by him and also got covered in cobwebs."
Olivia looked thoughtful at Jesse's point and she put a hand to her chin. "That's… true."
"And you know what I think about you becoming the leader of an entire city?" Jesse asked, bringing Olivia's attention back to her. "I think that they'd be the luckiest city in the world if you were running things. I mean, you're caring, you have amazing ideas when it comes to redstone, and you'll help out anyone in need. No wonder they asked you to come run things," Jesse said with a friendly wink.
Olivia just let out a small chuckle as she wiped the last of her tears from her eyes. "Thanks, Jesse… I needed that."
"It's no problem, Olivia. You're one of my best friends… I'll always do what I can to support you and be there when I can," Jesse said before letting out a laugh. "Unless it involves strapping TNT to your feet like Axel did when he wanted to try and find an alternative way to use ladders. Then I'm going to have to stop you whether you like it or not."
"Trust me, I don't think it'll come to that," Olivia said with a laugh, happy that they were back to making jokes again.
"And if you do decide to become leader of Redstonia, don't think I won't visit there every chance I get! Because I bet me and the others will visit you so often, we'd be considered citizens of Redstonia! And… and I'll drag you from whatever redstone invention you're working on to go on a good old fashioned Order of the Stone adventure with us! Because once a member of the Order of the Stone, always a member!" Jesse said before she got into a heroic pose. "As leader of the new Order, I hearby decree that you are a permanent member of the Order forever… and beyond… and to the End and back! And even beyond the Portal Network! And-"
"Okay, Jesse, I get it," Olivia put a hand to her exuberant friend's shoulder. "Even if I move to Redstonia, you guys will always be my friends and we'll try to hang out when we can," She said, letting herself smile slightly.
"Exactly!" Jesse said with a big grin. She then glanced over towards the front of the caravan before she looked at Olivia curiously. "So, are you gonna tell Lukas and Petra soon? Do you want me to be there when you tell them?"
"Yeah… maybe in a few days," Olivia said with a shrug. "And… I'd like that, Jesse."
"Then I'll be there!" Jesse said with a thumbs-up.
Looking up at the sky to see where the sun was positioned so she could guess the time, Jesse noted that it wasn't even close to sunset. She turned back to her friend with a smile. "So, do you want to continue with our 'Would You Rather' question session or do you want to talk about something else?"
Olivia briefly considered her offer before she nodded eagerly. "I'm game if you are! I believe it's your turn to come up with a question."
"Ooh, that's true. Let me think…" Jesse took on a look of concentration.
As Olivia watched her tenacious friend think long and hard about her question, Olivia couldn't help but smile to herself.
Even though it was hard to tell Jesse her secret, Olivia was glad that she had… because she knew whether she decided to become leader of Redstonia or not, Jesse and the others would support her, no matter what.
-MCSM-
As the caravan traveled down the gravel road, a familiar red clay gate came into view as the Order came closer and closer to their town. The moment they were close enough, the caravan stopped and the gate slowly opened up, welcoming their heroes back home.
"Woo! Finally we're back!" Axel cheered happily, getting off his llama. He looked behind him and saw that Lukas was still fast asleep on top of his llama. "Hey, dude wake up! We're finally here!"
"Huh?" Lukas lifted his head up tiredly with a yawn. As soon as he saw those familiar gates, Lukas perked up. "Oh hey, we made it."
"Yep, and you were asleep practically the entire time," Malia said as she released her llama from her lead and looked back at the two men. "That's what you get for staying up almost most of the night, mister 'oh, I'm just gonna stay up half the night because my journal is infinitely better than actually sleeping!'"
"I was on a roll, okay?" Lukas grumbled loudly.
"Sure, sure… you sure were extremely into that journal there, huh?" Malia smiled slyly, looking extremely pleased about something.
Lukas wasn't sure he liked that glint in her eyes as she said that. "I'm… not sure what you're trying to imply, and frankly, I don't want to know," He said as he proceeded to get off Blossom.
With a shrug, Malia prepared to get off Horace, she looked up at the opened gates and looked at it in awe. "Oh well, at least we finally made it back to Beacon Town... which has a lot less beacons than I would've expect-" Before she could finish her sentence, her foot got caught on the side of the horse's saddle and she proceeded to fall off her horse and landed face first onto the gravel road. "… ow."
"Wow, deja-vu," Jesse commented as she and Olivia walked up to the front of the line of llamas as she looked down at the trader and offered a hand up. "Are you okay?"
"Guh… yeah, like I said before, happens all the time," Malia said as she took Jesse's hand and picked herself back up. "But I'm more than okay! I just got back on an adventure with the Order of the Stone! It was both terrifying and exciting at the same time! I'd love to join you guys again!" Malia released Jesse hand and saluted the Order's leader. "If you guys ever need a ride anywhere, then just look no further than Malia the Marvelous Merchant!" She then proceeded to shift around in her inventory as if she was looking for something only for her to stop and frown. "Shoot, I used up the last firework I had when I was telling Lukas about my marvelous merchandise."
"Uh…" Jesse stared at the strange trader, unsure why she needed fireworks, but decided not to ask. "Well, thanks for taking us to the village and back. We definitely owe you." She said before she struck a heroic pose. "If you need help with anything at all, then the Order of the Stone will be glad to help!"
Malia just squeaked happily as she stared at Jesse, completely awestruck. "The Order of the Stone just agreed to help me with anything! Eeee~!" The strange trader just smiled gleeful, trying not to scream with joy and hurt her heroes' ears.
"Well, look who's finally back."
Hearing a familiar voice, the entire Order looked over at the opened gate. Jesse smiled widely as recognized a familiar face. "Petra!"
Clad in her blue armor with yellow trims, the tall red head leaned on the side of the opened gate and waved casually at her friends. "Hey Jesse, I was wondering if you guys went off on an adventure or something. I was beginning to feel a little left out," Petra said with a smirk.
Jesse walked up to her friend and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, but there was a village in trouble and you were in the Nether. We would have brought you with us if you were around."
Petra just nodded and looked at Jesse curiously. "A village in trouble, huh? Were a bunch of griefers trying to blow up their houses or something?"
Jesse cringed. "Not… exactly."
As Jesse gave Petra a quick rundown on what happened when they were gone, Malia stared at Petra in amazement. "Holy cow, that's Petra the Punisher! Wooow, she looks just as cool and tough as people says she is!"
"Yes! That's the perfect title for her," Axel said, nodding in approval. "Sounds completely awesome! It's almost as good as the TNT Terror!"
"I'm sorry, the what?" Olivia asked, looking over at Axel, clearly confused what they were talking about.
"The TNT Terror. That's what people will call me from now on!" Axel said, looking incredibly smug and striking a heroic pose with his arms in his air as if he was flexing.
"Right…" Olivia said, turning away from Axel and wisely decided not to ask more about the subject.
Lukas said nothing as he paid the whole exchange no mind and continued to watch the two girls talking.
As soon as Jesse had finished telling Petra a brief summary of their adventure, the red-headed warrior looked annoyed. "Seriously? All that happened and I missed it?" She crossed her arms. "Man, I go to our Nether for the first time in forever and I miss out on shape-shifting illagers and a dueling kidnapper. Knew I shouldn't have dropped everything to do that favor…"
"Ah, right, Lukas said you went to the Nether to get something for an old client," Jesse said as she looked at Petra, curiosity obvious on her face. "Did you get what the client wanted?"
Petra stared at Jesse as if she was slightly confused and raised an eyebrow, glancing behind her friend for a few seconds. Before Jesse could turn around to see what she was looking at, Petra turned her attention back to Jesse with a grin. "…Yeah, I did get what the client wanted. I was just about to deliver it too until I saw you guys at the gate."
"Oh, well, it's a good thing we ran into each other then," Jesse replied, unsure why Petra acted strange for a moment there. "We were going to head home so we probably wouldn't have seen each other until tomorrow… and…" Jesse trailed off as something clicked in her head.
Oh… right…!
Jesse forgot she didn't have a house! She didn't have a home to go back to! She forgot again!
"Oh for the love of…" Jesse grumbled as she brought a hand up to her face and dragged it down slowly. She was talking about it with Olivia and Lukas before they left! How focused was she on their adventure that she forgot about that entirely?
"Uh, you okay, Jesse?" Petra asked, a little concerned why her friend looked suddenly incredibly annoyed.
"Hm? Oh, uh, yeah! I'm great!" Jesse said, putting on a smile and chuckled nervously. She wasn't sure if she should bring it up to Petra that she forgot to build herself one of the most basic things to make in their world. Maybe she'd tell her later.
Oh well, guess Jesse would have to sleep in Order Hall's basement again. Maybe see if she could talk to Olivia and Lukas the next day and see if they could help her with her Builder's Block…
"Hey, Jesse?" The forgetful leader snapped out of her thoughts as she turned and saw Olivia coming up to her. "I've been thinking… would you like to have a sleepover at my place tonight? I'll invite Axel and it'd be like when we used to have sleepovers at the old treehouse."
Jesse looked momentarily surprised at Olivia's offer before she couldn't help but smile excitedly. "Like to? I'd love to! We haven't had a sleepover in forever!"
"Did someone say sleepover?" Axel asked, almost popping up in between the two girls and looked rather excited. "I'll try to come up with my scariest ghost story yet! Not to mention bring so many cookies, we'd enter a cookie coma!"
"Nice!" Jesse high-fived her overexcited friend before turning to Petra. "Would you like to join us? Always room for one more."
"Ooh, gonna have to take a raincheck on that," Petra replied with a shrug. "Still gotta deliver the stuff the client wanted. Maybe catch some 'zzz's after that."
"Oh, right. That's too bad," Jesse said before she looked at Lukas. "Uh…"
"Before you ask, I have other plans. Maybe next time?"
"Well, alright." Jesse just shrugged before she turned back towards Axel and Olivia. "Looks like it's just the three of us."
"Hey, that just means more cookies for the rest of us!" Axel said before he headed off into a direction. "Let's stop by my place first and pick up my stash of cookies."
"Axel, I have cookies at my house too." Olivia quickly followed Axel before he got too far ahead.
"Dude, I've seen your stash of cookies. Mine is way bigger and more primed and ready for an all-night sleepover!"
"… Okay, you got me there."
As Jesse began to follow her two friends as they discussed cookies, she turned around and waved at Lukas, Petra, and Malia. "See you guys later!" With those final words, she faced forward again, and rushed after her friends.
"Bye! Buh-bye! See you around!" Malia called out to her heroes before she let out a deep sigh. "Aw, I kinda wished I was asked to join the sleepover. Probably for the best since I would've said no, but…" Malia shook her head before she turned towards her llamas (plus one horse) and pulled out a lead and put it on a llama. "Alright, let's get everyone rounded up and head for the inn. Llamas ho!" With that, Malia lead her llamas through the gate to see if she could spot an inn to stay at.
Petra glanced towards the passing line of llamas before she turned to Lukas as he stepped up to her. She spotted the black eye on his face and whistled. "Nice shiner. Going for the tough look?"
Lukas winced slightly. "I don't exactly feel tough with this," Lukas grumbled before he cleared his throat and attempted to change topics. "So…"
With a roll of her eyes, Petra turned towards the town and began to walk away as she gestured him to follow her. "Alright, let's do this."
"Uh, okay?" Lukas was unsure where Petra wanted to lead him, but he followed nonetheless.
As soon as Petra had stopped in front of an alleyway, Lukas looked at the dark alley before turning to Petra with an unamused expression. "Seriously? We're going to do this in an alley?"
"Hey, you apparently want to keep it a secret, mister 'client'. Figured we'd do the whole shebang while we're at it," Petra said before she glanced around as saw a few people walking down the street minding their own business. "Besides, I don't want people thinking I'm back into the trading business. The less people who know about this, the better."
"Well, I mean, I wouldn't call it a 'secret'," Lukas replied, as if he was trying to defend himself. Still, he went into the alleyway with Petra following close behind.
"Hey, you're the one that told Jesse that I was getting something for an 'old client'. That sure sounds like a secret to me."
"I am an old client, aren't I? I mean, I've asked you to get me stuff from the Nether before…"
As soon as the two reached the middle of the alleyway, Petra stopped and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. "Yeah, but it was all materials for your builds. Netherack, glowstone, and I even mined up all that quartz ore for you to make blocks out of." Petra reached into her inventory and pulled out a blaze rod and held it in her hand as she pointed it at him. "This stuff seems kinda out of left field for you to be asking me to get."
"I guess that's true… I've never asked you to get me those things before," Lukas said as he glanced at the blaze rod Petra was holding. "Still, thanks for getting this stuff on such short notice. I really owe you one." He reached out to take the blaze rod from Petra before she casually moved it away from his reach. "Hey-"
"The only thing you owe me is a bit of an explanation why you need all this stuff in the first place. You said you'd tell me once I got it."
"I did?" Lukas wondered, trying to search his memory for the exact words he had said.
"Yeah, and I remember the conversation going a little something like this," Petra said before she cleared her throat and tried to lower her voice as she attempted to mimic Lukas. "'Oh, hey Petra, my good buddy ol' pal of mine! Can I ask for a little favor?'" Petra switched to her normal voice. "Sure, Lukas. What do you need?"
"I'm pretty sure I've never said 'good buddy ol' pal of mine' to you… ever."
Ignoring Lukas, Petra proceeded to mimic him again. "'Oh, nothing much, can you get me some blaze rods, some nether wart, and maybe a few soul sand blocks from the Nether? I'll owe you one!'" Petra switched back again. "Gee, I don't know, Lukas. That seems kind of short notice and you're not going to tell me why?" She mimicked him again, only this time she made him sound over exaggeratedly pleading. "'Please? I'll explain later, I just really need you to get that stuff for me. Please, Petra, you're my only hope!'"
With that final mimic, she grinned smugly at Lukas, having made her point loud and clear.
Lukas, on the other hand, looked the opposite of amused. "I don't sound like that," He said before he sighed. "But you're right. I… do owe you an explanation since I asked you to go to the Nether just for me."
Hoo boy, where to begin? Lukas wasn't entirely sure, but he figured he'd start at the beginning.
"Do you remember when we were trapped in the Portal Network?"
Petra just blinked at the question before she narrowed her eyes. "Hm, I don't know. Do I remember traveling from portal to portal, trying to find our way home and eventually finding myself at the edge of my breaking point after only two months and had that fight with Jesse?" She shrugged. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
Hearing her sarcasm, Lukas just nodded. "Right, of course you remember." He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to think of what else to say. "Okay, how about this: do you remember when I was fighting Aiden and got kicked off the side and fell into the 'void', only to survive because there was actually land and water underneath?"
Petra's eyes widened before her shoulders slumped at the memory. "Uh, yeah… thought you and Jesse had fallen to your death when you both got kicked off."
Lukas sighed sadly. "You and me both…" He took a deep breath and continued. "How about when I chased after the White Pumpkin and I ended up holding the mask and almost got framed for the murders?"
"Yes, and you got locked in a closet because of that."
"If Cassie wasn't trying to pin the whole thing on me, I probably would have been murdered like the rest of them…" Lukas began to pace in front of Petra, sounding more and more frustrated after each question. "How about when we got chipped by PAMA? Or ended getting crushed by those pistons from the Games?"
"I still get headaches whenever someone says 'useful' and I now know what it feels like to be crushed to death. Not a pleasant feeling…" Petra said as she watched Lukas pacing. "And that has to do with this because…?"
"Because we almost died every time, Petra. Heck, we did die once!" Lukas almost yelled out, beginning to look angry. "Almost every time we got into an adventure in the Portal Network, we survived by the skin of our teeth and barely made it out of the portals. If luck wasn't on our side, then what would have happened?" He turned to Petra, fire in his eyes. "We'd be dead, enslaved, or worse! That's what we'd be! Because we weren't tough enough! Because we weren't prepared! Because I… I…" Lukas trailed off, his anger diminishing and he almost looked haunted. "Because… I feel like I let the people that I care about down… because I wasn't strong enough when I needed to be the most."
Petra just stared with wide eyes and stunned by Lukas' rant, unsure what to even say after that.
Lukas sighed sadly, leaning against the wall next to Petra. "Sorry, I guess I just sort of… lost it there." He couldn't even look his friend in the eyes after all that he said. "I know that when the Order works together as a team, then we can take care of most things, but… but that's not always the case. There are times when we have to fight something alone or our friend needs to rely on us for something and I just feel… that every time I try to do something on my own, it doesn't help anyone."
He turned his sights to the ground and glared at it. "Especially with what happened at the village. That Culain guy was running away with a villager and I thought it would be a good idea to jump at him from the roof." Lukas chuckled dryly. "Yeah, that didn't exactly go well. I ended up with a black eye and I almost get killed by zombies from a potion that jerk used." He sighed sadly. "If it wasn't for Jesse, I'd have probably been a goner."
As his friend crossed his mind, Lukas perked up, if only slightly. "Heck, there's no way we could have survived even half the stuff we've faced if it wasn't for her. Jesse's usually the one that pulls us through whatever challenge we face in the end and I really, really admire her for that. When the chips are down, all of us can rely on her. She's kind, brave, and she puts her friends and anybody who's in danger before her needs. She's just… amazing."
But that small perk up didn't last long as he frowned sadly. "But she's just one person. When Jesse was fighting Culain, she was by herself and she lost. The rest of us were trapped in some… weird invisible barrier thing. Even if she didn't agree to the one-on-one duel, we still would have been defeated and there would have been nothing we could have done about that. If Culain wanted to, he could have killed all of us just like he did with those illagers." Lukas then glanced at Petra. "… I'm scared, Petra. I'm scared that there may be something we try to face in the future and there's no way we could survive it. Things feel like they're getting tougher and tougher for us and there's no way to stop it. I feel like something's going to happen and I don't know if Jesse would be able to handle it. I'm… I'm just afraid she might…" Lukas trailed off, afraid to say what he dreaded the most.
He straightened up, and looked at Petra with new determination. "That's why I asked you to go to the Nether to get that stuff. Because… I wanted to try something a bit different that could help us out and maybe, for once, be someone that our friends could rely on and…" A pause. "… Not be a burden."
Throughout his entire rant, Petra did nothing but stare wide eyed at Lukas as he let out probably more than he meant to. After a few moments to make sure he had nothing more to add, she took a deep breath. "Wow. Just… wow. Okay, when I asked for an explanation, I didn't expect that! Like… seriously, I did not expect you to just vent like that and tell me something that was almost as long as someone's life story." She just shook her head as she tried to go over everything that Lukas had told her. "I mean… dude, I had no idea you had so many issues!"
"Hey, you wanted an explanation and I gave you one!" Lukas almost snarked, not finding comfort that his friend called what he had told her 'issues'.
Petra shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, just… woo, a lot to process." She reached into her inventory and pulled out the rest of the items Lukas had asked for. "Anyway, here. I think you gave me what you owed me and then some."
Lukas stared at the items for a moment before he eagerly took them and pocketed them in his inventory. "Thanks again, Petra."
"Though, I gotta ask…" Petra watched her friend put it in his inventory and put a hand to her a chin in thought. "I know you said that you wanted to try something different, but… why potion making stuff of all things?"
"Well, I'm not as a proficient at redstone like Olivia is, I'm definitely not as… destructive as Axel, and there's no way I could even come close to being as fierce as you when it comes to sword fighting," Lukas explained before he shrugged. "I thought that since Ivor was off exploring other worlds with the Atlas, I could try to make some stuff that could help us if we're in a bind. Ivor did say he had given Jesse some of his potions while we were on those other worldly adventures and apparently they helped out a ton. I guess I figured I could learn to whip something up that could help us when we need it."
Of course, it also depended on if Lukas didn't accidentally blow himself up if he tried to teach himself how to make potions. He was a builder, not an alchemist. This was completely new territory for him.
Still, he was willing to give it a shot. Maybe Lukas could improve himself so that he didn't get his butt handed to him if he ended up in a solo fight and maybe give his friends some buffs from the potions.
Lukas briefly wondered if Ivor had any potion making handbooks in the Order Hall's basement. He made a mental note to check later.
"Hey," Petra said, interrupting Lukas' train of thought. "If you're interested, I could help you out with the sword fighting part." She grinned smugly. "I am the one who helped drill Jesse with pretty much everything I know about sword fighting after the Witherstorm incident. Shouldn't be that hard to give you a few pointers." The glint in her eyes gave Lukas chills down his spine. "Though, I gotta warn you, I am a brutal teacher. It'll probably feel like I sent you through boot camp by the time I'm done with you."
"You are not sugarcoating it, are you?" Lukas asked, already imagining all the bruises Petra's 'training sessions' could inflict. "I'll, uh, think about it."
"Hey, suit yourself. Door's always open if you ever decide," Petra shrugged before she stepped away from the wall she was leaning on and stretched. "How about we head out of this alleyway now? Business is done, so there's no need to be here any longer."
"Gladly," Lukas responded as both he and Petra made their way out of the alley.
After a few moments of silence, a thought crossed Petra's mind. "Now that I think about it, why didn't you tell Jesse about you needing stuff from the Nether? This doesn't seem like something you'd keep a secret about."
"Oh, that? Well… since we were about to leave to go on a mission to help villagers, I didn't think it was that important to mention back then. Jesse had enough on her plate as it was." Lukas shrugged. "I'll tell her and the others eventually."
Petra just nodded, pausing for a moment before she smirked. "You know, I'm glad you two are getting along now."
"Huh?" Lukas turned to Petra, slightly confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh, I was just remembering from before the Witherstorm incident when you and Jesse were barely even acquaintances. Six months ago, I don't think you would have given Jesse the time of day and now you sound like you're really fond of her." Petra chuckled as she elbowed her friend. "From the way you were talking about Jesse back there, it sounds like you two are as thick as thieves now. Heck, maybe you like her a bit more than a friend, seeing as how amazing you made her sound."
It was meant to be a joke; a light ribbing. Petra almost expected Lukas to laugh it off.
What Petra didn't expect, however, was Lukas doing a double-take and almost tripping over his own two feet as if he was shocked from what she had said.
Petra stopped walking as she looked over at Lukas, confused by how he had reacted before her eyes widened in realization. "Wait a sec…"
"P-Petra, that's completely ridiculous," Lukas said, trying to regain his composure as he straightened himself and hoped Petra didn't notice his slight slip up.
Petra just continued to stare at Lukas before a smug grin appeared on her face, as if she looked completely pleased with herself. "Well, well, well! You know, I was joking before…"
"Wait, I really don't think-"
"… But I didn't think it was actually true!" Petra pointed at Lukas, who looked completely cornered. "You have a crush on Jesse!"
"Petra, I don't have a crush! She's just a friend!" Lukas protested, hoping that he wasn't blushing like mad and tried to get Petra away from the subject.
But Petra was like a wolf that had found her prey; she wasn't going to let up that easily.
"Nice try, Lukas, but your face says it all," Petra said, trying to keep herself from laughing. "I have never seen you look so red before. You might as well come clean."
Lukas mentally cursed at himself. There was no way Petra was going to let up anytime soon and he knew that perfectly well. He was trapped and there was no way to get himself out of this mess.
Damn, and he was doing so well keeping it a secret too.
"Okay, maybe I have a tiny crush on her, but that's all it is! Now, will you stop trying to jump all over me?" Lukas huffed, not pleased with having to admit something that he hoped would never come to light.
Petra, either ignoring or unaware of Lukas' distress, continued to look extremely smug. "I knew it!" She reached out and patted Lukas on his back. "So, when's the big confession? Don't people who have crushes usually do some big 'reveal' or whatever?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lukas immediately faced towards Petra and backed up, as if he was afraid of the very idea. "There is not going to be a 'reveal'! Nether, as far as I'm concerned, this conversation isn't even going to leave this alley." He crossed his arms and glared at Petra. "And this is going to stay between us, got it?"
"Easy there, Lukas. I know how to keep a secret," Petra said, raising her hands up as if to reassure her friend. "Though, I'm not sure why you don't want to tell Jesse you like her like that. I mean, you two get along pretty well now, so…"
"I have my reasons, okay? I don't owe you an explanation for that," Lukas said before he raised his hand dismissively. "Besides, it's just a crush; those things go away eventually."
Petra narrowed her eyes as if she was unsure about something before she shrugged. "Alright, fair enough. You don't want to talk about it anymore. Consider the subject dropped and this whole thing a secret between us."
Lukas stared Petra down for a few moments before he could feel himself calm down and relax. "Okay… good. Thanks, Petra," He said before he brought a hand to his face and began to grumble under his breath. "Better you finding out than Axel stumbling across it… I'd never hear the end of it."
"What was that?" Petra asked, not quite hearing what Lukas had said.
"Uh, nothing!" Lukas chuckled nervously before he looked away, mentally hitting himself for saying that out loud.
Lukas made another mental note to hide the loose papers from his journal later when he got to his house.
Maybe hide it in a chest.
Covered in obsidian blocks.
Surrounded by lava.
Where it would never see daylight again.
Petra just rolled her eyes and began to walk out of the alleyway again with Lukas.
As soon as the two exited what Petra would now call the 'Alley of Secrets', she turned to Lukas and waved at him. "Well, Lukas, it's been fun, but I really gotta hit the hay back home."
"Okay, see you later, Pet-" Lukas trailed off as he remembered something important. "Oh, wait before you go…"
"Is this another explanation or is it about a secret that 'must-not-be-named'?" Petra asked, wondering what else her friend needed to say.
"Uh, neither," Lukas said before he cleared his throat and looked completely serious as he began to speak again.
"There's something I need to talk to you about…"
A/N: Welp, it's been a little over two months since I last updated... sorry about that. But hopefully this twenty-thousand word chapter will make up for it. ;)
Before I talk about chapter stuff, congrats on the indecisive bird for getting their name chosen by the randomizer! You have now named an adorable baby villager. :3
I guess you could say you were rather... fortunate. *ba-tum-tish* xD
Sorry about the other two names that weren't chosen! Maybe you guys will get another chance! :D
I'm probably gonna do a couple other randomizer naming things later, but that won't be for a while. :P
OKAY, NOW ONTO THE SECRETS THAT WERE REVEALED!
So... Olivia might get to be the new leader of Redstonia! But she's probably gonna have to move away if she does. Aww... :(
I suppose it was inevitable, though. I mean, Olivia is THE redstone user of the new Order of the Stone. She was gonna replace Ellegaard eventually, just as Axel replaces Magnus as King if you go down that route.
Now, Lukas... I'm pretty sure almost everyone saw the whole 'crush on Jesse' thing coming from a mile away. I was only attempting to be slightly subtle about it.
However, the question now is: How does Jesse feel about him? I'm sure if I did a poll that roughly asks 'Should Jesse get together with Lukas?', everyone would probably hit the yes option so fast, it'd break the whole poll.
So, instead of that, I have other ideas how I'm going to deal with it. Maybe we'll see how Jesse sees Lukas, maybe we won't. Who can say? ;)
And finally, the whole 'Lukas is going to learn how to potion' thing that no one saw coming. I was thinking of ways he could improve himself and that was one of the ideas that came to mind. 'But he's supposed to be the builder guy!', I hear people say. Well, why can't he also learn something new? Just because he mostly specializes in building, doesn't mean he can't learn something new and improve himself in fights.
Besides, I always felt that Lukas would be better suited to be a support fighter instead of going in blindly and getting his butt inevitably kicked. And let's be honest, building structures isn't exactly a fighting technique. Sure, it might make him have an eye for detail when it comes to buildings, but still... not so much with the actual fighting. :/
Besides, Ivor is probably off hanging out with Har- I MEAN, gallivanting through other worlds. So somebody has to be the new potion guy. ;D
Next chapter is the last one for the first episode. What mysteries lie in the last chapter? Find out next time! :3
BEFORE I GO, MCSM is getting a new season that's coming out July 11th! While exciting, I'm a little disappointed it's coming so soon. I thought I'd have more time with my own season two fic before it'd come out. Oh well. :/
I do plan to still continue the story, despite the new stuff that'll be added to canon... I just hope me and the writers don't have the same ideas when it comes to story ideas because that would be really discouraging for this fanfic. :,D
But also interesting, especially if it means I saw it coming. xD
So, just assume this story is an AU as of season two, at least until I can see if can somehow squeeze this into canon.
Also, there's a llama. There's a llama in the new season. I am laughing so hard right now. xD
