There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, except for the Iron Golems wandering the room for more monsters, ignoring the hybrids.
"You guys hear that?"
Jesse looked at Axel, confused. Besides the stomping of the golems, there wasn't any sound to hear. "Hear what?"
"All that stuff," and Axel took on a jokey ghost-y voice, "'Take me, take me now'."
Jesse rolled her eyes but giggled anyway, looking up at the many minecarts zooming peacefully back and forth around them, as if nothing had happened.
"I think it's saying 'Olivia should get to take more than Axel,'" Olivia joked along, doing her own ghost-y voice, "but why? 'Because she's cooler'."
Petra smirked in amusement.
"Aw, c'mon, loot," Axel joked, frowning playfully at the minecarts and crossing his arms, "I thought you and me were tight."
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to take a couple of things," Jesse said, shrugging slightly.
"I'll just fetch the super TNT," and everyone looked at Soren. "It's right up there."
He pointed to a spot above the archway, where a platform with three chests on it sat. There wasn't a staircase or a ladder to get up to it, so Jesse had to wonder HOW he was going to fetch it.
"Do you need me to shoot a web up there?" Jesse asked, looking from Soren to the chests in bewilderment.
"No need." The iron golems jumped onto each other's shoulders, creating a golem ladder of sorts. Soren clambered up them, reaching the platform very quickly.
He looked back down at them, who were gaping at him, stunned once again. "Oh, feel free to help yourselves. Just make sure you keep an eye out for the gunpowder we'll need to make that Formidi-Bomb."
Jesse followed Lukas and Petra, and Petra slumped down against the wall, no longer full of energy like just now, but instead looking as though she'd just gotten shot.
Jesse knelt down a bit, putting her hands on her knees as she tried to keep eye contact with the sick Blaze, "Are you..." Somehow, okay seemed like a bad term to use here.
Lukas looked at the raven-haired girl sadly. "It's gotten really bad."
Jesse looked back to Petra, who was staring at the floor listlessly, as Lukas said, "Part of me is hoping, that when we bomb the Witherstorm, the sickness will just- dissipate."
Petra managed to raise her head to meet Jesse's eyes, giving her a weak smile, "'D be nice, huh?"
After a second, she had to lower her head again, a soft groan going through her throat and her eyes shutting. Lukas looked at Petra, eyes shining with worry. "It- it makes sense, right?"
Jesse knelt down and pulled Petra into a hug, using the opportunity to dash her hand across her eyes, wiping away the tears that had started forming. "We can hope. And we will hope," she said, arms still around her friend.
Petra didn't respond, but slowly her arms made their way around Jesse, and the redhead and the black-haired girl sat there, intertwined in a hug, for what felt like years, before Jesse had to pull away, batting carelessly at the frost decorating her clothing, her arms, and even a bit of her hair.
"Fingers crossed, right?" And Lukas made a weak little smile.
Jesse nodded and returned it. "Toes, too."
Jesse got up, and began searching through the room for the gunpowder in earnest. There was one small bit of it in the chest here, another there, and soon, Jesse managed to find eight little piles of gunpowder, sticking them in her pockets. As she did so, her fingers grazed the book, reminding her that she hadn't read it in a while. Looking around and seeing everyone doing their own thing- Olivia had tugged a fishing rod out of a chest, for some reason- Jesse slid down the wall and pulled it out.
'Ivor still doesn't come. At this point in time, Jesse has started cycling through with all of us, but it is obvious she'd prefer Ivor to be there. Ellegaard said she was going to convince him. I don't know how she will, but I believe her when she says she can do it. Lukas is getting very good at crafting, but he's very good at shooting arrows, surprisingly. I suppose since his eyesight is good, he has pretty good hand- er, paw-eye coordination. Lukas takes an interest in building, too.
~Soren'
'I convinced Ivor to come with us once a week, since we're visiting on an almost daily basis now. We need some time to ourselves, and the children are a very relaxing thing to go visit (even if Magnus and Axel occasionally blow up half the room once in a while). And by convince, I mean I slapped him across the face and gave him a twenty-minute long lecture. Jesse has been quite quiet lately, sometimes going to her own corner and trying to read a potion book, but I don't think she finds it as fun without Ivor there. Heaven knows why she likes him so much.
~ Ellegaard'
'Ivor came with us today, and holy Notch you should've seen Jesse jump on him, she was so happy. He stammered out some explanation that he'd only be able to come once a week unlike the rest of us, I think that's what he was trying to do, but she didn't really seem to care. She just looked like it was Christmas or something. Axel was grinning too. When I asked why, he said it was because one of his best friends in the world was happy, so he was happy too. I joked and asked if she was his girlfriend. He smacked me.
~Magnus'
Jesse smirked at that.
She heard a tick, and she looked up to see Axel toggling a button. Minecarts moved forwards, going around a bend and coming to a stop in front of some redstone tracks, in front of a very long, very empty tunnel.
"Huh," Jesse said, humming at the carts.
Soren clambered down from the platform, down the Golem ladder, as Jesse stood up and slid the journal back into her pocket. "I think I have enough gunpowder now," Jesse told him.
"Glad to hear it," Soren grinned at her, "oh, and, Jesse, I am sorry for not keeping this place as organized as I should. It's very embarrassing." He reached into his pocket and held a block out. "And this is my Super TNT." Jesse looked at the block admiringly. It glowed faintly, with a shimmering aura that was the only thing that said it was different from any other old TNT.
"Ooh," Axel said admiringly, coming over. "Can I touch it?"
"No, Axel," Olivia said, looking faintly amusedly at him, "all of us would die if you or Magnus came within three feet of it."
Axel snickered a bit at that.
"Isn't Super TNT the Formidi-Bomb?" asked Petra, questioningly. Her voice was still scratchy, but she did look curious, a huge deviation from the listless Petra from before.
"Of course not!" Soren exclaimed, "they're two completely different words, aren't they?"
None of them really had a good response to that.
A/N: Stopping point! Haha, sorry. In a couple of chapters: if not next chapter, then the chapter after that or the chapter after that, stuff's gonna go DOOOWWWWN.
rebekahtpe: It'd be one of the couches in Movie Mode. AND I CAN BARELY HEAR YOU, WHAT? (pffff)
x.X. A.L. X.x.
