Response to Reviews:
idontwritetoomuch: No worries 'bout it! ;) / Yeah, that pretty much sums up everything that's happening lol XD / Don't worry, I don't plan on killing anyone important soon (or am I? *wiggles eyebrows mischevously*) / Haha, you too! / Wow, I hope you get better! I'm so glad you're invested in this story :D
lucysnuffle: I'm glad! ^^ / YeAAUUp, after this event, Jesse'll DEFINITELY need another smack from Petra / Funny story, actually: as soon as I saw this review posted, I went back and cut out some stuff, along with replacing it with other stuff. When I used the Ctrl + F to find all the -ly adverbs, I was like, "Oh my Notch, did I really use so many of these?!" :O So THANK YOU for pointing that out, and I sincerely (there I go again lol) hope that this chapter's better! / "Existing on this mortal plane"? XD I love that; that's awesome. Oh, and you too!
Northern: Okay, so we're back to see what Jesse'll find in that abandoned house.
Lukas: I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Jesse. . .is an IDIOT!
Northern: Whoa, never thought you were the shouting type, Lukas. . .
Lukas: I - it's - *sputtering continues* I just feel VERY strongly about Jesse having literally ZERO common sense!
Northern: Okay, that IS true. . .
Northern:
Northern: Ahem, storytime!
WARNING! Mentions of blood and strangulation ahead!
Jesse crept into the small wooden house, his sword poised and ready for combat. He had to be cautious; one wrong move, and he would alert whoever was in here.
If he was the leader of the Bureau, then this was Jesse's chance to interrogate him with the one question that had been burning in his mind, ever since the Bombings of EnderCon, ever since the stories of devastation that wrought the land that was the Bureau's doing, the stories that he heard from countless survivors as they fled to the End.
Why?
Why was the Bureau doing all this? Yes, it is called the "Bureau of Quarantine" for a reason, but destroying towns just because of the Wither Sickness? It should be containing the virus, not letting it spread all over, just to destroy populated areas and kill people.
Something was amiss. . .
Before Jesse could pursue his train of thought further, a small metallic clang! resounded. The hair on the back of his neck erected. It's behind me! His instincts kicking in, the former Warlord threw himself to the side as an enchanted iron blade slammed down on where he had been a second ago, barely missing it by a hair.
Jesse struggled to recollect his thoughts before pain stabbed him in his left shoulder. Grunting, he whipped out a dagger and stabbed down, eliciting a howl of pain. The squelch of a blade sliding out of flesh indicated that the blade had been withdrawn from his shoulder, and the hybrid Ender shot to his feet and pulled himself out of his attacker's grasp. He turned, brandishing his sword.
That's when he saw who his attacker was. His heart dropped into his stomach, and his eyes widened.
Aiden.
Aiden was attacking him!
Aiden was limping slightly, thanks to the wound Jesse inflicted, although it was a shallow wound; Jesse made sure of it. Even so, the green-eyed boy was staring at him with a murderous expression, not unlike Warlords whom Jesse had taunted.
Looking at that type of expression on Aiden unsettled the former Warlord; that look in those eyes, the animalistic curl in those lips, the storm of hatred on that face - none of that should belong onto a civilian's face.
And yet all of them were displayed on the face Aiden wore as he stared at Jesse with what the latter assumed to be unbridled hatred.
"You."
Just one word. Even then, the half-Ender could sense the deep-set anger, the growl in his voice with just the utterance of that one word.
Who knew that one word could say so much more than a whole speech?
Aiden sneered at him. "I hope you're happy," he spat.
Jesse lowered his sword, hoping to appear nonthreatening. "Happy with what?" he inquired cautiously. He had to be careful when talking with the boy; Aiden was clearly unstable. One wrong word, one wrong sentence, and the former bully's fury would be unleashed in an explosion.
"All this!" Aiden gestured around him. "You ruined my life, did you know? You stole Lukas, our friend, when we needed him most! Because of you -" He peered at Jesse with unadulterated hate. "- Maya died."
Jesse held back a flinch. You killed her. Killed them all.
And just when my life was getting better -" The boy let out a cackle that unnerved Jesse. "- you come prancing in my city, begging the Founder to give you refuge, like the coward you are!"
Coward. Selfish.
"But instead of sending you away, like a good Founder should. . ." Aiden's eyes flashed, "she decided to grant your request, despite being nothing but a troublemaker, as I'm sure she saw," he added snidely. Jesse clenched his teeth, willing his tongue to still and wanting to hear the rest of Aiden's rant.
"I hope you're happy with taking Lukas away from us! I bet you were glad when you heard that Maya died! You're just so proud of yourself for fooling the Founder into trusting you!" Aiden's sword flashed in the dim light of the house, and the boy's eyes had a crazed glint in it that sent alarm bells clanging in Jesse's head.
By Notch, he really is going insane.
Jesse lowered his sword in an effort to placate the raving teen. "Aiden," he began calmly. He saw Aiden flinch violently at his spoken name, but Jesse plowed on. "I will never say that I wished any harm on you, because it's not true."
"But you did," Aiden whispered, shaking his head. "You did you did you DID!" His scream echoed throughout the house. Given that the house was made of wood, the echoes disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"But I didn't," Jesse refuted again, deliberately changing his tone so that it was soothing.
Aiden backed away from Jesse, shaking his head violently. "Why should I trust anything that comes from that - that mouth of yours?" he snarled, his eyes wild. "You speak nothing but lies; you wanted Maya to die; you wanted me to suffer; you wanted to turn everyone against me! And you have the nerve to refuse that you hadn't wanted it?" A sharp cackle rose from the boy and dissipated as quickly as it had come.
Jesse marveled at the boy in front of him sadly; was this how Aiden saw him? As nothing more than a bully who wanted to cause pain, who wished harm on him? As far as Jesse remembered, he hadn't ever wanted to cause Aiden harm. True, Aiden was a little on the annoying side at times, but compared to what Jesse had seen, Aiden was nothing.
So Jesse had brushed him off. Treated Aiden coolly. He often dismissed Aiden's insults, because they weren't all that impactful.
Was what he had done. . .did that give Aiden the impression that Jesse had actually been planning to make him suffer? Did he really think that the half-Ender was so bothered by the insults?
If only he knew.
Jesse shook his head. "You're wrong."
Aiden peered sharply at him, his eyes narrowed in distrust.
The Warlord sheathed his sword, gazing at the unstable boy in front of him, willing him to understand. "I never wanted you to be hurt," he whispered.
The boy said nothing.
Jesse stepped slowly, trying not to disturb the boy. He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Look, Aiden. . ." He took a deep breath. "I never thought of you as an enemy."
Aiden's head shot up at that.
"True, you insulted us, and true, you tried to assert dominance over us," Jesse conceded, "but you and I weren't enemies. Only rivals."
Aiden lowered his sword by a fraction. "What's the difference?" His voice was hoarse after all the shouting.
The half-Ender planted his next foot forward, Aiden continuing to watch him warily. "The difference," Jesse explained, "is that we were competing with each other. We never were out for each others' blood."
Aiden narrowed his eyes again. He raised his sword. "How do I know that you weren't out for our blood?"
Step. "If I was out for your blood," the former Warlord pointed out, "then I would've killed you, here and now."
The other boy shifted, as if knowing it to be true yet trying not to acknowledge it as such.
Jesse stopped, only inches away from Aiden now. He stared into the other boy's eyes, trying to will Aiden to understand what he was trying to convey. "I never wanted Maya to die," Jesse pleaded. "I never wanted any of you to die." He peered at the boy, who was gazing at him with an odd look in his eyes that Jesse had never seen before: uncertainty. "Do you believe me?"
For a moment, they stared at each other; two former rivals, one considering the other's words, the other looking expectantly at the first. The second waited for the first to lower
Then Aiden's eyes hardened. They glinted with something that Jesse didn't like the look of: vengeance. "You might've not wanted us to die," Aiden snarled, "but you took Lukas from us. You let Maya die, and you brought the Bureau of Quarantine to this city's doorstep!"
Jesse only had time to protest in his mind, Aren't you the one who called them here? when Aiden snarled, "You deserve to be punished for RUINING MY LIFE!" With a roar, he flew at the Warlord, teeth gnashing.
Jesse snapped into action, whipping out his sword and blocking Aiden's slashing blade with a clang! The two were at a standstill, each pushing against the interlocked blades. Jesse grasped wildly for a way to bring this battle to his advantage, running through different strategies his Warlord background and Ender sword training provided.
One in particular stood out: a move his Warlord instructor had once taught. Jesse rotated his blade and forced Aiden's blade to move along with his until the iron blade was positioned vertically and the Ender blade horizontally. Quick as lightning, Jesse sidestepped while brushing his sword aside, relinquishing his resistance to Aiden.
Aiden, caught off-guard, fell through and slammed his sword through the wooden floor. Splinters flew everywhere, but Jesse disregarded them as he lashed out with his blade, leaving a flesh wound on Aiden's shoulder.
As the boy yowled in pain, Jesse took a quick moment to assess ways to escape the situation: he could either teleport out of here, run past Aiden, or stand and finish the fight. Teleportation was out of the question; Jesse could still feel the exhaustion for trying to save the Founder from death by falling/death by impalement of trees.
Though Jesse knew he could escape the fight (just run past him, reach the door, bust it open, run), he couldn't bring himself to do that. As a Warlord, there was one rule that stuck with him throughout the ages that he cherishes in his heart to this day: never run from a fight. Finish what you started. This was one fight that Jesse must tackle head-on, a fight that he had to bring closure on.
(that's more than what you did to face Herobrine)
(coward)
Jesse's thoughts were interrupted when Aiden pulled his blade out with a roar. The boy turned on the Warlord, eyes blazing, and he swung.
Jesse countered, blocking the slash, before spinning with his own attack. Aiden barely managed to dodge to the side before he thrust out his sword, trying to impale the half-Ender.
The duel was more like a deadly dance; back and forth they went: one attacked, the other defended or dodged before lashing out with his own attack, forcing the first to dodge or defend himself. They flowed with movement, pushing and pulling like the tides would, extending and receding.
Jesse distantly marveled at his and Aiden's surprisingly-graceful attacks; this duel was nothing like the duels he would have with other Warlords. But he noted how the boy was becoming more frustrated at this equally-matched duel, from the way Aiden's face betrayed how infuriated he was.
Jesse could end it, end the duel with just the snap of his fingers. The problem was, he didn't want to hurt Aiden; he only wanted to defend himself against the boy. Besides, a show of force wouldn't convince Aiden that Jesse was on his side.
So Jesse continued to watch Aiden closely, trying to see if Aiden would finally run out of steam, long enough for the Warlord to talk to the boy.
He only saw something snap.
Aiden let out a roar of frustration and anger that shook the house and advanced on Jesse with a flurry of attacks. Jesse barely managed to dodge and defend himself from Aiden's suddenly-aggressive attacks. The boy was merciless, surprising Jesse, and little by little, he gained ground.
Jesse's back hit something hard. The half-Ender looked over his shoulder to see that he had been backed into a wall. Panic tried to break at the stone-cold wall in his psych, but he held firm; he's been in worse situations than this.
Jesse looked up to see Aiden sneering at him. "Nowhere for you to run now, freak," he spat. He raised his sword over his head. . .
And Jesse flung himself to the side as Aiden slammed the blade into the ground. The Warlord surged upwards, flipping over the shocked boy, landing perfectly behind the latter. Just as he turned, a searing pain flamed to life in his chest. He stiffened, feeling his eyes widen in shock, and he looked down to see an iron blade piercing him.
Jesse looked up to see Aiden regarding him with narrowed eyes. Jesse searched the boy's for something: remorse, maybe, or shock at stabbing another human. But, to his dismay, all Jesse saw was a grim, grisly determination.
As soon as Aiden slid the blade out, Jesse slumped down, fire spreading through his veins, and absently watched as blood trickled down his armor, splattering on the wooden floor. His ears were ringing, his vision fuzzy.
Distantly, he could hear Aiden panting, could hear him breathe, "Well. . .that should've done the trick."
Blood started flowing slowly from the wound, climbing down, down, down, before hitting the wooden floor, staining it an ugly brown.
Without warning, his vision sharpened, which brought the unfortunate side-effect of dizziness. The ringing in his ears faded until he could clearly distinguish one sound from another. The fire in his veins faded away, the sharp pain reduced to a mere throb, before there was nothing there at all. He could feel his body knitting him back together, soothing his pain.
He straightened and took a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. There was no pain, no agony, nothing that would hinder him. Thank you, Warlord enhanced health!
He looked up to see horror in Aiden's gaze. His opponent gasped in shock, eyes wide, and he started trembling as Jesse rose from the ground. "No. . .that's not possible. . .!" Jesse noted with a certain sadness how Aiden yelped, how his eyes filled with fear.
"I'm sorry, Aiden." Jesse breathed out. He truly was remorseful for what he had to do, but he has to stop the unstable boy. "But you've forced my hand."
Aiden, perhaps out of fear or shock or even anger for failing to kill Jesse, swung his sword at the former Warlord.
Jesse felt as though he was on autopilot. Instincts took over, and he slammed his sword into the ground. A purple-glowing, solid object in the shape of a shield rose from the ground, flickering to life just as Aiden's blade made contact with it.
A bright flash of purple filled the house, and Jesse shut his eyes in an effort to stave off the blinding light. When he opened his eyes, Aiden was sprawled unceremoniously on the ground, his sword blown right out of his hand and resting out of the boy's reach. Aiden's head jerked up, eyes wide, as Jesse towered over him.
For a moment, Aiden's eyes hardened with heart-held hatred. "I bet you're so proud of yourself, Jesse," he spat. "Look at me! Beaten once more by a soul so pathetic as you!" Then he slumped over, his eyes softening so all they showed was resignation. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?"
Jesse took a pause, looking down at the now-prone boy. Memories flashed in his head: of Aiden, throwing insults at him and his friends; of his sneering at them every year when the Ocelots would win each and every competition; of his obvious despising everytime one of them mention the Ocelots as "Lukas and the Ocelots."
And yet. . .there was something. . .sad about the green-eyed boy. Despite all of Aiden's shortcomings, Jesse never thought that Aiden ever deserved to die, even while the latter was trying to kill the half-Ender.
"Well?" Aiden's head shot up, eyes blazing. "Kill me! Unless you're too scared to do it!"
That's when Jesse made his decision. "No." He sheathed his sword.
Aiden growled, turning his head away. "Coward."
Jesse frowned at the boy's muttered word, but he stepped closer to Aiden before kneeling in front of the boy. "You know what, Aiden?" Jesse asked him. He didn't want to be so blunt when Aiden was so broken, but he had to tell his former rival. "You're pathetic."
Aiden whipped his head around, eyes venomous. Before he could say anything, Jesse held up a hand. "Let me finish," Jesse commanded firmly. Much to his surprise, Jesse watched the green-eyed boy shut his mouth and nod mutely towards the former, encouraging the former to continue.
"What's pathetic about you is that you're willing to blame others for your misfortunes." Aiden glowered at him, but Jesse plowed on. "Yes, I know that you're grieving, and yes, I know that you didn't deserve any of this -" He gestured expansively, keeping his eyes locked on Aiden's. "- but instead of rising above the ashes of your tragedy and grief, you kept yourself trapped in your own cage, always angry, always finding ways to pin the blame on people who didn't ever have a hand in these tragedies.
"I'm not going to kill you for two reasons: one -" Jesse held up a finger, eyeing his former rival. "- I think you can change. Scratch that, I know you can change. I know you can let go of your bitterness and move on. That doesn't mean," Jesse added as he saw the protestation in Aiden's eyes, "that you forget Maya. Yes, she's gone, but that doesn't mean you should forever wallow in the pain that she's gone. What would she want you to do -" He intentionally softened his voice. "- to forever hate those who weren't a part of that, or to go one with life?
"And two -" Up went the second finger. "- the reason why you wanted me to kill you is, to put it quite frankly, cowardly. You wanted me to kill you, not because you thought you deserved it, but because you want to be spared the embarrassment for being beaten by me. In other words," Jesse reiterated, "you wanted to die, not for redemption, but out of pride."
Aiden cast his eyes to the ground.
Jesse sighed, shaking his head. "Just so you know," he added gently, "what I said before was all true; I never thought that you, of all people, deserved to die." Jesse rose to his feet, observing Aiden's reaction.
Aiden gazed at him, still mute, with indecipherable emotions swirling in his eyes. When it was clear that Aiden wouldn't do more than that, Jesse opened his mouth, about to bid Aiden a farewell. . .
And the bang of a door barging open sounded behind him. Before Jesse knew it, he was pinned to ground by what felt like multiple bodies. Jesse strained his eyes to seek out Aiden, wondering if the boy had been jumped.
Much to his relief, there was no one on Aiden, although the boy was staring at him with fear in his eyes. Aiden opened his mouth, about to say something. . .
And then a foot stepped in Jesse's line of vision. Jesse strained his neck, tracing the foot up the legs and body to. . .
"Hadrian," Jesse snarled.
Hadrian knelt down so his face was in Jesse's. He clucked his tongue. "My my, sport." He grinned, showing off his infuriatingly-perfect teeth. "Never expected you to look so beat up."
"Yeah, well -" Jesse grunted as his arms were forced behind his back. Cuffs locked into place on his wrists. "Comes with retreating from the End and then running up to the highest city in the world," he snarked.
Hadrian hummed disapprovingly. "I see that your sarcasm is as intact as ever," he muttered.
"Me, sarcastic? Never."
Hadrian harrumphed. "Well, in order to shut you up, howabout this next piece of information to spoil your good mood, eh?" His face was pushed up to Jesse's face, forcing the Warlord to smell the leader of the Bureau's minty breath. "We have two of your friends."
Subconsciously, Jesse stopped struggling, openly staring at Hadrian. The man continued, "Blond guy? Girl with red hair and fiery temper."
"Lukas. Petra," Jesse breathed. Immediately, he realized his mistake as Hadrian pulled away, peering with intrigue out the window.
"Lukas and Petra, eh?" Hadrian looked almost. . . hungrily out. "Well, then. . .I'll have to make them. . . useful to me somehow."
Fury scorched through Jesse, and he surged towards Hadrian, regardless of the agents who were trying to hold him back. "If you lay one hand on them, I'll - !"
"You'll what?" Hadrian taunted. "What will you do, you little freak of nature?"
Jesse opened his mouth, furious. . . and a hand clamped around his throat. Stopping, he realized that there was someone behind him, unbeknownst to him, who managed to get his hand around to Jesse's neck. But all thought fled when the agent began applying pressure, restricting the Ender's air supply.
Choking, Jesse struggled to break free of the man's grip, but with his hands tied behind him, getting them up to pry the fingers off was impossible. "Gaahhrrck!" Little by little, the hand squeezed until all Jesse could do was wheeze, desperate for air.
"Quickly! Get it on him!" As the hand strangling Jesse kept him in place, something was looped around his face. A heart-stopping second later, he realized it was a muzzle.
No! I won't be taken in like a beast! I refuse! Jesse doubled his struggle, trying to break free of the agents as some of them secured the muzzle. Even with his strength, he was unable to break free of the hand that was choking him. Rapidly, his vision darkened, but even through this failing conscious, he saw Hadrian staring down at Aiden, who was staring back up with fright.
"I must thank you for your helpful cooperation," Hadrian sneered. "Without your alerting to his location -" Jesse saw Hadrian jab a thumb towards the muzzled half-Ender. "- we would've spent ages trying to find him."
Jesse tried even more at that to try and break free from the agents' grips, to rip off the muzzle and unleash a Warlord's fury on all of them. His muscles were beginning to slow, felt sluggish, as the lack of oxygen started affecting his muscles. Finally giving up on trying to break free, he fought to keep his eyes open.
Hadrian knelt down in front of him, looking down at him with a triumphant sneer. "Oh, don't worry," he chuckled. "We'll take good care of all three of you."
Desperate now, Jesse shifted his eyes to Aiden, who was rapidly mouthing something at the Ender, although his mouth was going so fast that Jesse couldn't keep up, and as his hearing was reduced to tinnitus ringing. Even so, he only managed to catch one word:
I'm sorry, Aiden had said.
And then Jesse's vision went black.
A/N So I thought it would be fun to show one of Jesse's Warlord powers in this little skirmish that he had, just because we keep going over that he IS a Warlord, yet I never actually displayed it.
So. . . fun times!
Let me know if this chapter seemed rushed; I'm sorry if it is, but I can't really properly describe a good fight. I'm that type of person who just has to see a fight to know what people are talking about XD :,)
Also, I find this story to be ironic, considering the whole coronavirus issue that's going on and how this story has a world-ending Withersickness plague as the driver for the plot. . .
I hope that all of you are okay! While we're weathering out the storm, I decided to provide you something to entertain yourself with! Stay safe, stay healthy, and don't die!
Reviews and constructive criticism appreaciated!
