Ringing.
That was the first sound Jesse registered. Ringing.
She opened her eyes, pushing herself up as she pulled off the helmet, which toppled with a soft thud onto the ground next to her, blinking slowly. Axel, Olivia, and Lukas were kneeling in front of her, staring at her with concerned looks.
Axel's mouth moved, but Jesse could only hear ringing.
A black tentacle hit the ground with a muffled thud, Lukas turning and looking at Axel as his mouth moved in answer to something Axel said. Another thud, and the top part of the Witherstorm struck the ground, the head bouncing up and down a second, purple eye dark and mouth hanging open.
"Is that it?" Axel's voice slowly came into focus, the ringing coming to a stop, "is it over?"
Jesse got to her feet, friends following her lead, as she unfurled and pulled off the chestplate- her arms felt really sore. As she gave them a stretch, she looked around at the wreckage. Trees were on fire, but a part of the Witherstorm's rib cage was showing, purple guts splattered across the ground and giving off a smell that reeked of burnt cake and rubber, and the body was sitting in the middle of what looked like a rather large crater.
"I can't believe it... I can't believe it's actually dead," Olivia gasped, staring at the thing.
Lukas let out a relieved laugh, whipping to his friend, "You did it, Jesse! You actually did it!"
Magnus also laughed, more boisterously, "handled like a champ!"
Ellegaard smiled weakly at Jesse, still favoring one side. "Good... good work, Jesse- ow," and she hissed a little as she quickly wobbled back into place.
Jesse frowned at Ellegaard's leg. It looked a bit odd. "Did you hurt your leg?"
Ellegaard shook her head, a small smile forming on her face as she tried to keep the hurt out of her eyes. "Nothing... nothing time can't heal."
The words were barely out of her mouth when the rogue whirled and threw his arms around the redstone engineer, sending the both of them to the ground. "You're okay!"
Ellegaard blinked at Magnus. "Magnus?"
"You- well- for a second there... thought you were dead," and Magnus let go and looked at Ellegaard with a look that really couldn't be identified. "I... well... I'm glad you're okay, Ellie."
Ellegaard opened her mouth, hesitated, and then shut it with a small smile on her face. "Thanks, Magnus."
"Ellegaard and Magnus. Who knew?" Lukas responded to thin air.
"About time we got a real win," Axel's grin was practically splitting his face open. Reuben came running up to Jesse, butting against her legs insistently. Jesse grinned and set down the chestplate, which Magnus went to grab and return to the engineer, and leaned down to pat his head, "thanks, bud."
Jesse looked up at her friends, a warm, happy smile settling over her face. "Thank you all- for saving my life back there."
"You would've done the same for us," and Lukas came and wrapped her in a hug, and then Olivia joined, and Axel put his arms around them all, and for a moment the four friends- Jesse spotted Petra sitting down on the ground with Soren checking up on her quickly- stayed there, arms around each other, intertwined in a hug that couldn't have been broken in a million years.
Well, until someone gasped.
Jesse released them, to see Ellegaard, who was still on the ground, gaping at something behind them. Jesse glanced over her shoulder, eyes widening.
People were wandering away from the Witherstorm's giant, violently demolished corpse. They staggered, some crawled, some looked as though they were confused, some looked lost, and some looked shocked. But they were alive.
They were all alive.
"All those people- they're alive!" A happy laugh floated out of Jesse's mouth, and she turned back to everyone, "we've got to go help them!" Jesse turned back to her friends and the two Order members. "Everyone, go help the survivors. I'll go find the people who might be trapped."
With an affirmative nod, everyone split up, Ellegaard getting to her feet with Magnus's help and limping over to check up on Petra.
Jesse and Reuben dashed towards the carcass, dodging around a giant, limp tentacle that draped over the ground. Jesse ran over to a man who was trapped under a tentacle, heaving it off him, and helping him to his feet. "Get to safety. There are people over there who can help you," she said softly, looking at him with concerned eyes.
The survivor's eyes roved over her six limbs and her red eye, but he nodded. "Thank... thank you. Thank you," and he began to limp after the others.
Jesse hopped down into the crater, Reuben leading her to another survivor. Jesse hopped after him, rushing over to the survivor and helping him up as well. "You're going to be okay, I promise," she said, earnestly.
This man also looked over her extra arms, but he nodded shakily. "I... thank you."
Jesse found another survivor, shoving a tentacle off of him and leaning down to lift the survivor up, "Don't worry. It's... it's all over now. My friends and I are gonna help you."
The survivor put a hand to their head. "I hope you're right... th-thank you."
Jesse made her way deeper into the carcass, covering her nose at the smell. Jesse slowly walked through, looking around and searching for survivors, before turning a corner. Her eyes widening. "No."
Right in front of her, sitting on a lump of flesh and bone and blood as if it were some sort of pedestal, was the Command Block, not sporting a single crack or scratch. It looked... immaculate.
"No," Jesse repeated, hugging her elbows and stepping backwards. "No! Th-the Command Block... th-that's impossible!"
Reuben let out a squeal in agreement.
"I- I don't understand," Jesse gaped at the block, "Soren said the Formidi-Bomb would destroy it but it looks... fine."
The Command Block suddenly flickered to life, sparkles of pink, green, yellow, colors of the rainbow began to sparkle to life. "Guys! Over he-!"
Jesse was cut off as an invisible force caught her, the sparkles circling her and pulling her closer and closer to the Command Block, as if it were a tractor beam. Reuben let out a loud squeal, as Jesse thrashed to break free. "No!" she screamed, firing a string, but there was something so... hypnotizing about the sparkles. The way they danced through the air...
The string bounced harmlessly off the ground. It wasn't sticky.
"No," Jesse said, but more dreamily this time, her bright green and red eyes dulling as she tried again, with no success. She didn't care about it this time. "No... somebody... help..."
Jesse had stopped thrashing, when a hand closed on her wrist.
Jesse shook herself out of it, thrashing her head wildly to clear it, before looking up, a gasp escaping her mouth as she realized who it was.
Gabriel.
Gabriel!
Gabriel's eyes were a rather odd shade of dull red, but he was pulling Jesse away from the Command Block, and Jesse tightened her hands on Gabriel's and kicked furiously, escaping the stream of sparkles and sending them both to the ground.
"I thought you were dead!" Jesse blurted, staring at the warrior, "I- I saw you-"
Gabriel put a hand to his head, Jesse scrambling to help him up even as his eyes drifted aimlessly over Jesse's extra arms, over her worried face. "I... what... what happened here?"
The ground shook, a strange sound coming from the Command Block. "I'll explain anything, just not right now!" Jesse shouted, panic rising into her voice, as something caught the corner of her eye.
The head moved. Impossibly, the ribs shifted and moved to fix itself again, the sky darkened, and a large rumbling growl rang in the air, a growl that meant certain doom.
A growl that meant the Witherstorm was alive.
Jesse shook her head in disbelief. "That was all... Ellegaard got hurt for nothing... that was all for nothing..." she whispered, the words falling from her lips like stones, heavy and hard and dull.
Jesse began to back away, horror in her expression, as the monstrosity rose. And then, to the right of it, another head with another body appeared, smaller than the one Jesse was facing, and on the left, the third head rose into the air with its own body to boot. Blocks began to swirl around it in a hurricane, putting the mangled flesh and damaged guts back together, fixing the Witherstorms as if nothing had ever happened to them.
People ran away, screaming, as Jesse stared in complete horror as THREE different Witherstorms rose into the sky, indigo tractor beams switching on from each eye. It was Endercon all over again... only worse.
"We... we only made it worse... oh Notch, there's three of them," Jesse put a quaking hand to her mouth, all of her limbs shaking like leaves as she tried to steady herself but failed. "Oh Notch..."
She looked to Gabriel. "Come on, we have to get out of here!" she cried out.
Jesse and Reuben began sprinting away, before realizing Gabriel wasn't following. Jesse stopped and ran back a couple steps, panic in her eyes. "Gabriel, let's go!" she screamed, fear tearing through her, a fear that Jesse had never experienced before, not this mind-numbing, horrific sensation that made every part of her body tingle with this electricity.
Gabriel turned to Jesse slowly, dull red eyes and face filled with fear and concern and uncertainty.
What he said next made Jesse's heart skip a beat. Or two. Or maybe three.
"Who's Gabriel?"
A/N: HOLY FREAKING COW THAT WAS- HOLY- WOW! We are at Chapter 48 and we're on Episode 4! Like how- hoh Notch this is- wow! And we are at almost NINE THOUSAND VIEWS. Nine THOUSAND! How- when- how is this story more popular than A Pure Heart?! This is- wow!
Thank you all SO MUCH. Seriously.
And the response to letting Ellegaard live was astonishing xD
rebekahtpe: I prefer pancakes, to be honest. And wow, never expected Hybrid-con to get so crowded xD
A person: Yes indeedy! And thanks!
KaosRuin: I'm glad!
NoItsBecky: I'm really, really motivated. That's my secret ;)
RapidSammiBackup: Hey, thanks, and no problem!
MissyMattingly: (thumbs up)
TheRealRedGaming: I considered it, but I wanted this chapter to start off with the ringing.
angelwings: I honestly have no idea xD
Toni42: Yep!
x.X. A.L. X.x.
