Act V – Chapter 23

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains swearing and graphic descriptions of character death. Reader discretion is advised.

(Minecraft: Story Mode and its characters belong to Telltale Games, not me.)

Without hesitation, Magnus slammed another block of TNT down upon exiting the other side of the portal.

"GET DOWN!" he yelled, as he and the others dived, the shockwave of the explosion causing them to slide along the floor. After the smoke cleared, nothing was left except for a large smouldering crater in the wall, a hole revealing the pitch-black void outside of the hallway.

"...So that's what's out there?" Jesse mumbled. Harper chuckled, getting to her feet slowly.

"Never said the hallway was exactly in a populated world, you know," She said, walking over and helping Jesse to her feet.

"Still, not a bad 'fuck you' to Xara," said Romeo, looking at the damage and nodding with approval, stroking his beard.

"Well, from what I can remember, PAMA hasn't gotten to every world yet, only a few," said Ivor. "He's taking them over one at a time. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure the Old Builder's world isn't very high on that priority list, so perhaps we can hide there for the time being?"

"Also helps that we've blocked off his forces," said Romeo. "It won't last forever, that, I'm sure of... but at least we've got some time to slow down and think."

Jesse made a face. "I know we've been living in a post-Hadrian world for years now… but are you really suggesting we go back to the Old Builders' world…?" She asked, glaring at Ivor.

"No need to worry, Jesse," said Harper, patting Jesse on the back. "During our vacation, we were here… and Otto's doing a great job at managing those Games."

"I…" She put her hand on her face, sighing. "Fair enough. You guys would know more than I would about that place these days. What's our plan now though? Just high-tailing it over that way? We didn't exactly get to take the Atlas with us…"

"Oh no," whispered Ivor. "I forgot, PAMA took the Atlas from me and was using it along with my memories to find the worlds that can be easily taken over first."

Magnus snorted. "Not like that 'PAMA' thing has hands, though - how's he gonna use a book if he can't-"

Thonk. Ivor smacked the back of Magnus' head, making him yelp in surprise. "You idiot! Even if he doesn't have hands of his own, he can send someone with hands to navigate FOR him!"

"Okay! Okay! No need to yell at me!"

"Actually, no he cannot… right now," said Soren. "Remember, we blew up the portal."

"Let's get moving," said Romeo, cracking his knuckles. "I want a word with this 'Otto' person myself about how they got that Redstone Heart!"

Harper led the way, leading them towards the open staircase which led to the portal to the Old Builder's world, as Jesse clearly remembered.

"Oh, fuck off!" cursed Romeo. "You expect me to climb that many stairs!?"

"I could carry you," Jesse said, holding her arms out half-jokingly. She did not expect Romeo to actually fall down into them. He was… lighter than she expected. The two of them started up the stairs, avoiding the odd looks from the others behind them.

"Hey! Lovebirds... wait for us!" exclaimed Magnus. Romeo shuffled in Jesse's arms, popping up over her shoulder and flipping double-birds at Magnus, who burst out laughing as he slunk back down. Ivor gave him another glare.

"Ti...tired…" Romeo mumbled, letting out a yawn.

By the time they reached the top of the stairs, Jesse looked down at Romeo… and saw that he had fallen asleep in her arms, face oddly serene as he slept. She cooed softly, smiling as she adjusted her arms to make him more comfortable - a benefit of him being that much shorter than her. She also noticed the pointed ears that he had. How did she not notice that before?

Jesse felt a hand close around her shoulder. Looking up, she saw that it was Ivor's. He was giving her a smile, his eyes dancing with fatherly affection.

Looking forward, they saw the double dark oak door that guarded the hidden portal that led to the Old Builder's world. Jesse stopped and stared at it in thought… Was she really doing this? Was she really going back to the place that used to give her nightmares about Hadrian and his games?

She immediately shook that thought out of her mind… this was the best place to hide from PAMA and Xara for the time being, of course she was doing this. Her attention was brought back to reality by Soren.

"Jesse?" asked Soren. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

Harper reached out and opened it, going first… followed by Ivor, Stella, Lluna, Soren, Gabriel, Magnus… leaving just Jesse and an asleep Romeo behind. Jesse took a deep breath.

"...here we go."

And she followed them inside.

Half-expecting them to be thrown into the middle of another spleef match, Jesse was quite surprised when they emerged onto solid ground a short distance away from a village that she recognized as the competitor village for the games. Her surprise did not go unnoticed by Harper.

"What, you thought I'd just dump you directly into a match again?" she said in a teasing tone, smirking. "No, we changed where that portal spat people out after your… heroics against Hadrian and Mevia."

Jesse let out a chuckle. "Yeah, thanks."

The group continued on to the competitor village, where they were greeted by on-lookers as they walked through the courtyard. Lluna made a few vocalizations.

"So this is the village for all the people competing in the games?" asked Stella. "Quite a few more people than I expected."

"Okay, you guys get settled here, I'm going to go find-"

"Harper? You're back already?" asked an astounded voice. Turns out she didn't need to find Otto, for he was already there.

"Otto!" she greeted.

"What a pleasant surprise," he said. "I wasn't expecting to see you and Ivor quite so soon. And… Soren?"

"Hello, Otto…" greeted Soren.

"I… I didn't think I'd see you again."

"Unfortunate circumstances have led us to seek shelter here," said Soren. "You remember the Redstone Heart?"

"Yes… what about it?"

"It appears we may have... found the original creator of the heart, and she is none-too-impressed about us having stolen it from her," Soren explained. "To put things simply, not only is she out to kill us because of it, but she's also used it to build a computer named PAMA to mind-control and take over every single world in the Portal Network."

Otto's eyes widened.

"You're kidding me?"

"I wish I was…" Soren said glumly. "But… the good news is that we've managed to trap PAMA and the root of his sources inside of a world by blowing up the exit portal. Which means any forces already sent through can capture us, but they can't get us to PAMA, and PAMA can't send any new reinforcements. You have my friend Magnus here to thank for that."

Soren pointed to Magnus, who did a dramatic gesture in response. "That's Magnus. Now, you already know me, Harper and Ivor… the others are Jesse, Stella, Lluna, Gabriel and the one asleep in Jesse's arms is Romeo."

"Ah yes, I remember your heroics quite well, Jesse," said Otto. "And I am happy to say that the games have been going great these last seven years. No more of Hadrian's corruption remains."

"Not to interrupt, but sleeping beauty here is kinda getting heavy," said Jesse, beginning to struggle. "Any place to put him down?"

"You've come at a good time," Otto said. "We're running a little low on competitors recently, so you can borrow some of the empty competitor lodgings."

And thus Jesse quickly raced towards the empty room that Otto had pointed out and set him down, before retreating herself to another bed, diving back into her thoughts…

About how every part of this was her fault.

"Hello, boys," she greeted, in a tone that sent a shiver down Romeo's spine. He never heard her speak like that before.

"Xara!" gasped Fred. "I'm afraid we have no choice."

"Choice of what?" snapped Romeo.

"No choice? Oh, we always have a choice," she said, her once low, flat voice being higher, more… strangely shrill, for her usual range. "Always…"

Romeo looked into Fred's eyes, and he could tell that Fred understood the situation no better than he did.

"Xara, you're scaring me!" Fred said. "What is your problem?"

Xara slowly stepped towards Fred, who slowly took a step back.

"Now it's been fun! Really, it has," Xara continued. "But this is the part where the adventure ends, for both of you!"

Xara raised the gauntlet, and slowly approached Fred. Fred's face showed a mixture of shock and anger.

"Xara, don't-!" Fred warned. "Why me…? What about all we discussed?"

Xara responded with another round of her now-high-pitched laughter. "Fred, darling… that discussion was so full of your pussyfooting around the issue that I just decided… I'll handle things myself!"

"Can somebody tell me what's going on?" Romeo asked.

"What you have wanted to do for so long, Romeo. That is what's going on." She said, lips curling into a wide, terror-inducing grin as she grabbed Fred's shoulder, planting a firm kiss on his forehead.
All too quickly, he screamed, clawing at his head as his body grew colorless, before collapsing and poofing into inventory - Xara, of course, scooping it all up before shooting Romeo a coy smile.

"Don't mourn him, you'll be joining him."

"No… no!"

Romeo bumped into somebody behind him, turning around… he saw Fred suddenly standing there with the same grin.

"You could have saved me… You could have saved me… YOU COULD HAVE SAVED ME..." He repeated, growing louder with each repetition. The walls around him shook, giving way to total darkness as Fred grabbed one arm, Xara grabbing the other as they both lifted him, mouths foaming. Romeo tried to teleport, and found that he couldn't.

Romeo couldn't breathe. His chest was tight, the pressure unbearable as the void surrounding them gave way again, this time to infinite mouths, all with rows of sharp pointed teeth. Fred and Xara laughed, repeating their words infinitely as they began to pull on Romeo's arms - he felt something wrap around his body, himself thrashing to break free.

"You're going to be okay - it's me!"

Romeo opened his eyes and started screaming. "LET ME GO!" he shrieked, kicking and thrashing as he saw a figure standing next to him, rubbing their face.

"Romeo… it's all right; it's only me." Jesse's voice, soft and calming, found its way to him, filling his body with… relief?

"S-sorry… I… bad dream…" he panted, eyes tearing up.

"Is everything alright?" Jesse asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"N-no…" whimpered Romeo, shaking his head frantically. "S-sorry if I… w-woke you."

"Don't apologise… It's okay," She sat on the edge of the bed, Romeo slowly shuffling upright as he wrapped his arms around her. "C'mere, you…"

"...Thank you for being here."

Romeo continued to sob into her shoulder.

"I know I... I a-acted like a tough st-stone-cold p-prisoner when… when I first met you," he continued. "But t-truly… I… I'm scared.

"I… I almost d-did something horrible myself. E-everytime I look at… at Xara… I… I s-see myself as I w-would be if… if she hadn't killed him f-first. It… it stops me from s-sleeping… everytime I c-close my eyes, I see his face… his r-red eyes… pleading…

"It's my f-fault… all m-my…"

Romeo's breath hitched.

"It… your friends… Fred… Sourcemist… all g-gone! Because of me! Because of fucking me!"

Romeo's amber eyes, filling up with tears locked gazes with Jesse's emerald eyes. He couldn't take anymore and burst into full-on tears, crying into Jesse's shoulder. Jesse softly patted his head, running her fingers through his hair. It was matted and greasy, yet her fingers seemed to slide through it as though it were silk.

Meanwhile… hearing Romeo bring up her friends again like that… it made her pause. For a moment, in all the chaos of getting away… she had managed to forget. Never again would she make another joke with Axel. Never again would she be able to discuss redstone and technical stuff with Olivia. Never again would she go on another adventure with Petra…

And Lukas… thinking of him and his perfect blond hair and the way he would always brighten up her day... never again.

All because she wouldn't listen to a madwoman's instructions.

Her eyes began to water too, but she immediately held back her tears. It would be time for all that later, not now. Now; she had to remain strong. She can break down and cry after PAMA and Xara are nothing but memories. They deserve it for taking everything from her, her town… her friends.

But what she was not going to do was let Romeo sit here and take the blame for it. Not happening… if anything, the burden was for her to bear… not him. Not that she was going to tell Romeo that… yet.

"Hey," she whispered. "It's not your fault."

"But how can it n-not be?" he protested timidly, his voice weak from the strain he had just put on it. "If it wasn't for me and my st-stupid emotions, Fred could be alive right now… but now he's d-dead, and I could've gone down the same path as X-Xara."

"There was no telling what could have happened, Romeo," said Jesse. "There was no way you could've been in the right mind to see what she was going to do to Fred. This is all on her, not you..."

And me as well.

No, don't break down now. It was time for her to be strong, not to break down like some wimp.

"T-thank you," sniffled Romeo.

The next few minutes were spent in silence, before Romeo… still wet in the eyes, but no longer actively crying, cleared his throat.

"W-where are we?" he asked.

"We're in the competitor village," explained Jesse. "The Old Builder's use to run a set of heavily corrupted games… which are still being run now, but since Otto's the only one running them now, they've become a whole lot less corrupt and instead… a whole lot more fun."

"Games?" asked Romeo.

"Yeah! Spleef, races, all the different types of fast-paced challenges and competitions that you could imagine."

"Nice," he said, wiping a tear away and sniffling. He climbed out of the bed. "But I still want to talk to Otto about this Redstone Heart business."

"Okay, see ya' later, Rome," waved Jesse.

"Bye, Jess!" said Romeo, causing Jesse to blush heavily. He chuckled heartily as he stepped outside the competitor lodgings. Seeing the competitors gathered around the village outside the window, unfazed by this world's dangers due to circumstances… an idea slowly began to form in her head, one that involved one of this world's perks.

And by hell, it better work. It has to...

After asking somebody for directions to Otto's palace, Romeo set off… in a pensive mood. How did the Redstone Heart get into the possession of the Old Builders? That was the first question that he had for Otto. And he was going to get answers out of him. Romeo also wanted to show Otto the debug stick, and explain what he's got planned for that… and Jesse too, for that matter.

Arriving at the palace, Romeo got the idea to simply knock and he did so. Three times. He was greeted by Otto himself, who immediately invited him inside.

"Now, I understand you didn't come here for pleasantries, right?" asked Otto.

"That's right," said Romeo coldly. "Spare me the bullshit, and get right to the point; How did you first get possession of the Redstone Heart?"

Otto heaved a deep sigh. "It was while we were still building the hallway. We once visited a world, which I'm pretty sure is where you originated from; Sourcemin, was it? Sourcemint?"

"Sourcemist," corrected Romeo.

"Right, and Hadrian heard about this heart that some admin woman was working on after visiting a town called… I believe it was 'The Oasis'.

"No idea what an 'Admin' is, but all I know is that she was super powerful. Hadrian wanted that heart badly after hearing about the capabilities she was building into it. But he knew that it was fruitless…"

Romeo knew immediately that Otto was talking about Xara.

"So he forgot all about it until years later when we visited that same 'Sourcemist' place again, only to find it all covered in bedrock, everything broken and everyone gone. Naturally we were confused, but Hadrian didn't care about that. With everyone gone, he saw a golden opportunity, which he took. You should have seen the look he got in his eye when he saw the heart left behind along with some abandoned machine."

"Wait, wait, wait… you're telling me that Xara lost the heart to a mere greedy human?" questioned Romeo, his voice cracking.

Romeo eventually lost it and burst into laughter. "That… that is... "

Eventually, he calmed down. Otto simply stood there patiently, with a look of minor frustration on his face.

"You know this Xara person?"

"Know? Oh, I used to be friends with her, I was an Admin too… until she betrayed me that is…" said Romeo, his tone cold again. "Let me show you something…"

Romeo reached into his inventory and pulled out the debug stick, Otto widening his eyes upon seeing it gripped in his gloved hand.

"An enchantment on a stick? That… that should be impossible!" he gasped.

"Oh, this isn't any normal stick, Otto," said Romeo. "This… is the debug stick. This was the source of our Admin powers, and you're the first person I've shared that information with."

"What exactly is an 'Admin' anyway?" asked Otto.

"A person with godlike powers," explained Romeo. "Their form changes into a cool glowey outfit… and they can teleport, fly, spawn and vanish things. They can even disguise themselves as other people."

"Wow…" was all Otto had to say. "If Hadrian had gotten hold of this thing…"

"Problem being, I had to wait to use it, as when an Admin uses their powers, if there are other admins within the same world, they can track down the energy left behind. But since I am now here, it's safe to use this. Well, safe-ish..."

"Are you going to do it now?" asked Otto.

"Not yet. As much as I want to… I cannot defeat Xara alone. I am going to approach some… trusted friends of mine and offer them the chance to ascend alongside me… in secret, that is. I am not going to say who, as if Xara manages to somehow capture you, I don't want to fully lose the element of surprise.

"There's also something else I have to ask of you too..."

"If you're going to ask me to become an Admin, I'm going to have to decline. My friends… they were the perfect example of why I don't trust myself with that much power," declined Otto.

"No, no, I understand, and I wasn't going to anyway, because the transition from human to admin is meant to be a one-way trip, and the only way to reverse that is for an Admin to study the changes that these powers make, and to try and manually reverse all of it. Which will be extremely time consuming. It's part of what makes those powers so dangerous if they got to their head.

"No, what I was going to ask you, was that we may need to stay in your world for a while. I know of one way to be able to remove an Admin's powers, but it'll take a while…"

"Go for it," said Otto. "I only just met you, but I can tell that you know what you're doing."

Romeo sighed. "Thank you, Otto."

And with that, Romeo left the palace… with the ease of mind knowing that he had Otto's backing towards this plan of his. Now to try and get said trusted friends on board with his plan.

Romeo closed his eyes, lost in his own thoughts as he placed a hand on his chin. He was unaware of the world around him - right up until he bumped into someone.

"Oi! Watch where you're going!" The person growled, glaring at Romeo.

That voice... Romeo looked up, eyes widening in surprise. The other man raised an eyebrow curiously.

It had been so long, yet Romeo recognized almost every feature of his face - the slightly pale skin, the deep blue eyes, the black shoulder-length hair... He'd styled it differently, no longer trying to parrot Romeo's style, but it was still him. His facial hair was now a full circle-beard, rather than just a patch of hair under his chin. He was wearing a black tuxedo, without a tie.

"Antonio..." Romeo gasped, suddenly about to cry right there and then.

"How do you-"

"It… it's me. Your old pal, Romeo."

What he got in response was two wide, shocked blue eyes.

Author's Note: Well, well, well… just who is this Antonio guy, and how does Romeo recognize him?

Credit to my friend attackatosh for proof-reading this chapter. And you should check out his story; 'Your Link Is'. Definitely a good read.

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More to follow.