Jesse found a lever on a wool tree. She flipped it, a musical sound floating through the air when she did, and the far left of the lamp-cloud on the opposite wall lit up. "Neat," Jesse hummed.

She went over to Reuben, who was standing near some blocks of pink wool. She gently patted Reuben's head, making the little pig oink happily, "you like that, don'tcha, boy?"

Reuben let out a happy little oink, before Jesse knelt down and held out her fist. "Gimme a fist bump!" she coaxed, and Reuben cheerfully obliged, gently hitting his hoof against her fist.

Chuckling softly, she left him to admiring the pink wool and went off, spotting a wooden fountain nearby. "Well, at least that's not wool. Must be all sorts of water systems in this place," and she dipped her fingers in the water for a moment, before spotting Lukas glaring at nothing in particular.

Shaking the water off her fingers, she walked towards Lukas, who didn't even acknowledge her.

"What do you want?"

Jesse frowned at that. "Lukas, I know you're upset, but you've gotta keep it together."

Lukas didn't look towards her, sighing. "I know, I do, but... I just..."

Jesse waited for him expectantly. He finally sighed and looked at her, blue-green meeting green and red.

"Listen, I- I know I've been kind of prickly, but... I think something's wrong. With Petra."

Jesse turned to look over her shoulder at Petra, purplish bags starting to form under her eyes, in a sort of hunched over position. Jesse looked back to Lukas, her eyes sad. "You- you have to have noticed," Lukas continued, "the lack of energy, the labored breathing... there's something wrong, okay!?" He seemed to be getting frustrated, "something big. It's not fooling anyone." he looked at the floor. "At least not me."

Jesse glanced back at Petra, and then stepped closer to Lukas. "Petra has Wither Sickness," she spoke, softly.

Lukas's head snapped up to look at her.

Jesse hesitated, not sure what to say, before Lukas broke the silence, whisper-shouting. "Petra has Wither Sickness?! But- but- but she's half Blaze! How did she-"

"She... made me promise not to tell anyone, but..." Jesse looked back at Petra, before back at Lukas. "I'm scared, Lukas." And in that moment, Jesse was six years old again. "I'm scared that Petra's pushing herself too hard. I'm scared that she's going to push herself too hard and then we'll lose her." Tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, no matter how hard she blinked them away. "I don't want that."

Lukas was silent, before he initiated the hug this time, pulling the slightly shorter female into a hug. Jesse felt the ache in her chest from earlier return, stronger this time, and she clenched her fists as the two of them hugged.

Finally, Lukas let go of her, blue-green eyes worried. "Thanks for telling me. I won't... I won't tell Petra that I know. I promise I won't. I'll just... watch out for her. Okay?"

"Okay," Jesse whispered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, before crossing her heart and then covering her eye.

Lukas smiled a bit at that, repeating the motion, before Jesse spotted something. She walked off to the side a bit, reached out, and toggled a lever. The lever on the wool tree flipped, making the far-right of the lamp-cloud glow, leaving only the center portion dark.

"Thanks, Lukas," and she smiled back at the blonde. "I think I needed that."

Lukas nodded. "Anytime."

Jesse gave him one last smile, and walked away, searching with her eyes, before spotting one last lever, rushing towards it and flipping it. The center cloud glowed brightly, completing the cloud and making it glow brightly. "Whew."

She went over to the wall nearby, looking at a small stone button, before reaching out and pushing it. The sound of shifting pistons sounded, and Jesse stepped back hastily, before a part of the wall slid into the floor with a rumble, leaving a huge doorway there.

"That's... amazing," Jesse stared at the archway and into the room beyond, with a fountain in the middle. Reuben came up to stand beside Jesse, with a soft oink. "Hey, guys! I think I found Soren's way out."

Everyone came up to the doorway, peering in. "Okay... wow." And they all started making their way inside, slowly.

"Nice sleuthing, Jesse," and Petra sounded impressed, "Sorry I wasn't more help back there. When I think about how I ran all over Endercon looking or Ivor, or when I got that skull... it's hard to imagine that I'd done any of that... now that I'm like..." and she gestured uncertainly at herself.

Jesse gave her a hug, trying to ignore the frost that started creeping across her front. "I'm just happy you're okay," she said, sincerely.

She released her after a moment, swatting off the frost, before walking inside. Petra had started shivering again, even with the cloak on. The huge hallway the secret door led to was decorated with tables with torches on them, and bushes and glowstone hanging on the ceiling. It was beautiful, even though it looked as though it hadn't been used in a long time.

"We'll check out the rest of the house," said Petra, as they all began to split into little groups, "see if we can find Soren, before he finds us."

"You make it sound like he's a serial killer or something," Axel commented.

"We don't know that he isn't," Petra joked slightly, making them all chuckle.

"That is so encouraging," Lukas smirked, before continuing on.

Jesse looked at some of the fountains. "Guess the water system's not just for the outside. Not- that the outside was actually... the outside," she mumbled, continuing into the next room, past another fountain, where Olivia and Reuben were looking at a door.

Olivia and Jesse shared a look, Jesse pressing her ear against the door a moment later. "Hmm, well, there's some music. But I don't hear anyone talking in here..."

Suddenly, a voice started talking, faintly. "I call that one 'symphony in E'." A little laugh, that Jesse hadn't heard for a very, very long time. "A new composition to celebrate my newest discovery!"

"Soren?!"

A/N: Stopping point!

And awweee, Lukesse moment (although it can be interpreted as friendship, obviously)

Still no new reviews, surprisingly. :)

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