Olivia couldn't breathe. Her mind was reeling, and she had no control over herself as she stumbled back into one of the tables, hands clamping tightly over her mouth.

Jesse wasn't moving.

Her chest was burning, and she managed to pry her hands away from her mouth so she could breathe; it was rapid and shallow, but she could do it. She was shaking, her heart was in her throat. Her vision was blurred and she couldn't quite register everything, but she could see the attacking Enderman reaching down for Jesse.

She couldn't go out there, there was absolutely no way she could do so and live. The Endermen were shaking like crazy, hissing at each other and refusing to move away from where Jesse had been hit. Jesse herself was barely visible, a lump of black on the floor.

But if she didn't do something, anything, then Jesse could die.

The attacking Enderman was dragging Jesse towards the doors now; terror shot through Olivia's chest, her breath hitching. Jesse was in immense trouble- she needed help. But Olivia had no form of defense, and she'd already witnessed what happens when you take something from one of these creatures.

Something pounded on the doors, and Reuben let out a tiny squeal. That was enough to spur Olivia into action.

She bumped into the table twice, then managed to get around it and to the door, hand slamming against it and knocking it into the wall. Olivia ran into the table that sat in the middle of the small hallway, then used it to turn and rush into the main hallway. As she left the little hall, she swore she heard the doors clicking open

The others weren't immediately visible, and her breath hitched. Her gaze shot from the fountain to the entrance to the wool world. No, they wouldn't be out there. She turned sharply, forcing a deep breath as she passed the fountain. She could hear them; where were they? Olivia swallowed down another deep breath, struggling to keep her focus on finding the others and not the what-ifs that attacked her.

There was an open door in one of the side hallways- they had to be in there. Her chest was still tight, her hands were shaking harder than they had been; she shoved the door open further and promptly ran straight into Axel.

"Whoa-hoh!" Olivia stumbled back a step or two; Axel had stepped back in surprise, and was now watching her with wide eyes. A quick glance proved that the others were in there as well. "Olivia?"

All eyes were on her, she knew that much; the full scenario had already sunken in, and she almost couldn't take in what was happening around her. Her chest ached, the constant pain of the Withersickness that she had grown used to was now amplified by her panicked state. Her vision almost seemed to flicker.

"Liv?" That was Axel again.

"What's going on?" That was probably Lukas. "What's wrong?"

Olivia took in as much air as she could, holding it a moment, then finally coughed out the words.

"Jesse's being attacked by an Enderman!"

Her voice echoed off of the walls as she struggled to subdue her shaky coughing. Everyone had gone tense, nothing but silence coming from them. Then, without warning, Lukas turned and darted out of the room, bumping into her by accident as he rushed out of the room. She stumbled into the doorframe, coughs stopping momentarily as she watched the blond retreat towards the lab.

Despite the fact that she now had help, her anxiety climbed even higher, and her breath hitched again. A hand clasped her shoulder. "C'mon, c'mon." That was probably Axel; he had a vague tone of urgency in his voice. Olivia nodded, starting out of the room with him and Petra just behind.

She couldn't tell if her anxiety was going away or not until they pushed their way into the room again. Then, it was rapidly forgotten due to pure confusion.

She had expected to see either an empty room, or a room filled with Endermen. Instead, Jesse was standing between the two closest garden tables, Reuben at her feet, watching Lukas in a sort of confusion, before his gaze flicked to her. It may have been the lingering anxiety that caused her to see slight accusation in his gaze for a split second, but she was pretty sure she had imagined it. Lukas was moving warily towards Jesse, taking hold of her arm to pull her away from the other person on Jesse's other side.

Soren was watching the group of them quizzically. He was taller than she had initially anticipated, with ginger hair covering both his head and his jawline. His arms seemed to twitch towards folding over the brown vest covering his torso.

"Soren." Olivia wasn't sure what she took her own voice for; it wavered slightly, either from anxiety or from surprise, possibly desperate. His gaze landed on her, eyes widening slightly as it landed on her arms. She couldn't think much of it before a hand found her arm, pushing gently as Petra made her way in.

"Nice to-" Petra was forcing words through a cough- "meet you, Soren-" she proceeded to cough a couple of times. Olivia folded her hands under her arms, swallowing down her own flurry of coughs that tried to crawl up her throat. Soren' eyes remained wide as he glanced at the redhead.

"You both look… terrible." Olivia couldn't help but flinch; Soren approached them carefully. He opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by Petra's eyes widening as she began to gesture behind him while covering her eyes with the other hand. Olivia watched her for a second, then followed her motion. She bit her tongue, her gaze snapping down and one eye closing.

An Enderman stood in the center of the room, vibrating aggressively as more teleported in. Two of them hissed at each other.

"That's… Odd." Soren had covered the tops of his eyes with a hand. "They've never been inside before…"

Olivia shot a wary glance at the redhead. "Don't look up." The Endermen began hissing at each other again

"You've upset them!" Soren shot a glare at Jesse through the corner of his eye. "You've… altered their behavior!"

"Let's g-go." Jesse's words barely came out, but it was enough to be heard. Everyone collectively turned on their heels, Axel leading the way back out of the room.

Axel moved into the hall, ducking back at the end of it. Olivia followed him out risking a glance into the main hallway. There were more Endermen, crowding the halls so much that there was no way to get through. Not safely, anyways. The others filed out, Soren and Jesse appearing last.

"And… The hits j-just keep on coming…" Jesse whispered. Olivia let out a long, muffled sigh as Soren moved around to the other side of the table, crouching in front of Petra.

"I wasn't expecting to have so many houseguests…" Soren let out something that almost sounded like a whimper. "There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them…"

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Lukas ignored the redhead, glancing at Jesse. "We need to come up with a plan." His voice was getting too loud for her comfort. "And not our usual we'll-come-up-with-a-plan-when-we-have-to-" his voice rose to a near shout- "oh-wait-now-we-have-to-!" Olivia aggressively tried to shush him. "... Kind of plan." It didn't quite work.

"One constant about Endermen is that they hate water." Soren glanced over at them. "If we can force that fountain to overflow somehow…" He eyed the fountain ahead of them a moment, then looked back towards them. "Jesse. You still have the Enderman suit. Put that on, and you can safely reach that fountain." Olivia glanced towards Jesse, holding down a coughing fit. The other woman was staring wide-eyed at Soren for a moment, then looked down at the floor. A muffled sigh sounded.

"Just when I thought I-I'd never have to smell this th-thing again…" Jesse pulled the helmet from her pocket and shoved it onto her head. Then, hesitantly, she turned and moved around the back end of the table towards where Soren was crouched. Olivia shot her a sympathetic smile as she passed.

"Good luck, dude," Axel said, voice barely above a whisper. Jesse didn't respond vocally, and if she did visually, Olivia didn't see it. The brunette edged past Petra, then past Soren, nearing the other end of the table.

"We'll, uh… all watch from here then. Where it's safe." Soren's voice was barely above a whisper as well. Jesse hesitated a moment, then continued without responding. She was surprisingly focused on this.

Jesse edged forwards slowly, watching one of the Endermen carefully, and as a result, almost ran into another. She turned just in time, a soft gasp escaping her- and everyone else, for that matter- as she flinched back. The Enderman simply glanced at her, then wandered away. Jesse visibly relaxed, then edged to the fountain, head twitching slightly as she glanced at the nearby Endermen. Then, after watching the fountain for a second, began trying to slowly break the base of it.

It took a few minutes, seeing as the fountain was made of stone, but soon enough, water poured from it and onto the floor. Endermen hissed aggressively, and the sound of them teleporting echoed through the hall. Jesse stepped into the water carefully, then glanced back and motioned for them to follow. They all hesitated for a second, before Olivia followed Lukas into the water, while Jesse edged towards a pillar to peer ahead.

"Oh no…" Olivia moved to hide behind the other pillar, peering cautiously ahead as well. Endermen were lining the hall ahead of them, seemingly oblivious to them for the most part.

"We're gonna die," Lukas said in a matter-of-fact tone. Olivia glanced back as Reuben bumped into Axel, knocking him over and causing him to splash water on her.

Jesse hesitated a moment, then began edging towards the next fountain. Olivia watched her, sparing a second to shoot a mild glare back at Lukas; the blond shrugged, making a face. She glanced back at Jesse who was currently having what looked like a staring contest with an Enderman in her path. Seeing as the brunette's arms were shaking slightly, it hadn't been her choice to do so. The Enderman, luckily, wandered away after a few seconds, and Jesse visibly relaxed, before starting to break the next fountain.

When the water spewed from the fountain, they all hurried forwards as Jesse motioned rapidly for them to move. Axel let out a yell, waving his arms as he ran. Olivia and the others followed suit, passing Jesse, who took up the rear. They passed the fountain quickly, rapidly closing in on the entrance to the wool world.

She lurched to a stop before she ran into Lukas, who had stopped in the doorway. Ahead of them, the entire wool world was covered in Endermen, casually wandering and occasionally croaking or hissing. Olivia quickly threw her hands over the tops of her eyes again as Jesse caught up.

"W-what's going on?" Jesse glanced at her; Olivia couldn't quite find a way to word it, so she simply jerked her head towards the wool ahead. Jesse got the message, gently squeezing between Soren and Petra. A soft gasp told Olivia that Jesse had seen what she meant.

"They're everywhere," Lukas whispered harshly. "How are we supposed to get through this? I mean physically, and psychologically." Jesse spared a glance back at him. "Suppose we get through this in one piece; can't see how this won't become a recurring nightmare."

"You aren't helping." Olivia hissed at him. He glanced briefly at her.

"Jesse, you're the one with the Enderman suit." Soren called forwards. "If we hold onto you, and keep our heads down-"

"We can pass right through." Lukas finished for him. Soren looked mildly annoyed at being interrupted, but said nothing about it. Jesse nodded once in confirmation. "I guess if this is the only way to the trap door…"

They lined up; Lukas took hold of Jesse's shoulders, Axel getting in line behind him. Olivia placed one hand on Axel's back, and quickly felt hands on her shoulders. After a few moments, as they settled in line, Olivia gripped Axel's sweater as best as she could as to keep up, and followed him as their train slowly started forwards.

It took every last piece of concentration to not flinch at every noise the haunting around them made. She figured that Lukas or Jesse might be doing the same thing, but she wasn't to sure. There were croaks and noises of teleportation all around her; her chest was beginning to hurt again.

"M-maybe we should, u-um…" Jesse's voice was just loud enough for her to understand her. "T-turn around." There was a pause. "O-or not…" Olivia pried her eyes open to look at the floor; they were on one of the bridges, which meant they could easily be trapped. There was a yelp, and she was forced back wards a couple of steps. For a few seconds, Jesse's voice came out as a squeak. Then, silence followed whatever she had said.

Then there was a hiss, and every Enderman around her started hissing as well.

"E-everyone, i-into the water!" Jesse's call barely sounded over the multiple hisses. Her grip on Axel's sweater was lost as he whirled around and slammed his fist into the fence post. The wood splintered away instantly, and he jumped into the water only seconds later. Olivia quickly followed suit, though with a touch of hesitation.

The water surged over her head, and she quickly managed to resurface. The others were either in the water or jumping in. Save for Reuben, who was on top of Axel's head. Jesse and Soren were swimming towards the fountain, Soren explaining something as they got further and further away.

Olivia felt her chest getting tighter, and, as a result, sunk a little bit. This, of course, caused her to panic more. Swimming was hard enough, as the water was hurting her hands with how cold it was. The Endermen were hissing repeatedly; if anyone was talking, she couldn't hear them at all. A hand wrapped itself under her arms; Axel was holding her up, while somehow keeping himself afloat. She glanced at him, but he was watching the fountain. Her gaze moved to the fountain, where Jesse was pulling herself onto the top platform.

For a second, Jesse simply glanced around the platform she was on. Then, she leaned down and hit something on the floor. The entire room started rumbling, and Jesse called down to them, but no one could hear her. She suddenly tumbled off of the side as the water level suddenly rose rapidly. She was forced upwards as it continued to rise.

"Well done, Jesse! Now, we need to get the the trap door!" Soren was motioning towards the hill with the trap door, which was quickly covered by water.

The group quickly started towards the exit; Axel was still trying to hold her up, but as a result, they were moving slower than everyone. Olivia broke away from his grip about halfway there, forcing her way forwards until all she had to do was dive down. Lukas was just ahead of her; she was struggling to keep her momentum, so when she was within reach, the blond took hold of her arm and pulled her through the exit. She was forced down a rapid waterfall, barely managing to turn the corners as she went until she was forced into the portal.

The weird feeling of the portal seemed to hurt this time, though it might have just been her fatigue. Olivia was launched through the portal and landed hard on the stone floor.


AN: i'm bad at keeping u h

also this is probably gonna have a sequel of eps 5-8

and a new cover bc why not

until next time!