Jesse sat down next to Lukas, all of them sitting in silence.

"Oh my Notch," Lukas said, finally, softly, "I just... we're..." A hollow laugh. "We're hybrids."

And then, as if he'd just realized it, he said, voice risingly, "oh my Notch we're hybrids!" He practically launched to his feet, blue-green eyes darting everywhere. "We're not even human, holy crap!"

"We haven't actually... had time to think about it," Jesse said, dazedly. "We never had time. There was always something else more pressing. But now I actually have time to think about it..."

"I think I'm going crazy," Olivia finished, staring at nothing in particular.

A hollow laugh from Petra, which deteriorated into a soft cough. "How... how did we not know... for ten years. Ten years. That's a long time to not know you're not even fully human."

Jesse shook her head. "Wow."

Axel let out a nervous little laugh. "None of us- we're practically monsters. Literally! Why haven't..." His breath hitched, "why haven't we all freaked out big-time by now?!"

Jesse shook her head again. "Wow," she repeated. It seemed to be the only thing she could say.

Olivia hugged herself a bit. "I can't believe it..."

Lukas shook his head a bit, sitting back down so that he leaned into Jesse. "I- I can't, either. It just seems so... fantastical."

"It's absurd," Olivia agreed.

Axel blinked, chest still moving up and down rapidly as he hyperventilated. "Ab-what?" he asked.

Jesse chuckled faintly, eyes fixed on nothing in particular.

Olivia took a deep breath, kneading her temples before her shoulders, tense as they were, relaxed. "Okay. I don't know... what... I feel like we've already accepted the fact. We just..." Shake of the head. Hollow laugh. "We just never had the time to freak out about it before."

"Yeah," Lukas agreed rather breathlessly. "Yeah."

"I can't believe this," Petra nodded, "I just..." She trailed off, as if not sure what to say.

Jesse finally tore her eyes away, looking at the muddy boots and bottom half of the armor that Ellegaard had lent her. "I'm just... I'm glad you were all here. I'm glad we're all together," she said finally, regarding the boots.

"Same," and everyone echoed agreement softly.

Jesse looked at Petra, who was hunching into herself. "Are... how are you doing?" she asked the redhead, seeming as if she was bracing herself for the answer.

Petra looked down at her feet. "If I don't move... or breathe... I feel like it's almost bearable. And that's ignoring the cold," she said, hunching down even more.

Olivia huffed and crossed her arms very long arms. "Man, if Ivor hadn't even created the dumb Wither, Petra wouldn't even be like this right now."

"That's not entirely true," and that drew all eyes to the redhead, who was leaning against the cave wall with a pained look. "If I didn't bring the Wither Skull to Ivor, he wouldn't have been able to create the Wither in the first place."

Jesse looked down at her feet, feeling something squeeze in her chest.

"Jesse, I know this is probably... a bad time..."

Jesse turned to see Soren, who was approaching her with a strange look in his eye, "But what happened out there?! Why is that thing still alive?"

Jesse felt the pressure on the back of her eyeballs return, pressing even harder, more insistently than before, as Soren stopped, inches from her. "My instructions were simple! You were the one in the middle of everything, what went wrong?!" his voice was rising, and rising, to the point where he was practically screaming. And Jesse knew it was because of the panic of everything that had just happened, but she still couldn't help it.

Jesse snapped.

The yelling, the stress, and the fact that she hadn't slept in a few days added together made a very volatile combination. When those three things were combined together- and that wasn't often- Jesse would either blow up right in your face or break down in tears.

"I don't know okay?! What I do know is this whole dumb mess is my fault!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, making Soren step back in alarm as the spider hybrid clutched at her hair, looking rather deranged.

"If I'd convinced Petra not to give the skull to Ivor, if I'd moved faster and taken one back, if I'd convinced Axel not to take that potion, if I'd been able to get Gabriel out, if I'd been faster, if I hadn't taken Ellegaard's armor- if I'd just been better then Petra would be okay, Gabriel wouldn't have amnesia, and Ellegaard wouldn't have gotten hurt at all and NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!" she screamed, so loudly that her voice cracked, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks as every bit of stress and pent up emotion came pouring out of her with the force of a sledgehammer.

"Oh... Jesse, no!" Olivia- at least, Jesse was fairly certain it was Olivia, through the blurred mess her eyes could barely see through- Olivia appeared in front of her, reaching out to the spider hybrid with an alarmed look, "No, it's not- don't- it's not your fault!"

"Yes it is!" Jesse sobbed out now, stepping out of reach of Olivia's arms as everyone got up to surround her. "I'm never good enough! I could've done something, but when I did have the chance I didn't take it, and now thousands of people are hurt and this whole thing is a huge mess!"

Suddenly, the whole cave was stifling. It was too small, too confined, and Jesse began to hyperventilate. Everything was too close, Jesse was too close to everyone else, Jesse was trapped, she was- she had to-

Whirling on her heel, Jesse tore out into the snowing air, feeling a hand brush against hers at the last second, ignoring the calls of her friends, tearing blindly away through trees and snow, practically blind as she felt tears pour down her cheeks. All she knew was that she had to get out of there, she couldn't stay in there, she just couldn't, not right now-

Jesse's foot caught on a tree branch, and she pitched forward before slamming into the ground, face-down in the dirt, snow drifting down slowly onto her.

Slowly, tears began to come, and Jesse felt herself curl up in a little ball as she sobbed, quietly. So much emotion had been repressed over the course of the last two days, and the wall Jesse had been building to keep it back had just smashed.

She heard some crunching footsteps, but Jesse didn't uncurl herself. She didn't look up from her little ball to see who it was, hugging her knees tightly and trying to stem the flow of tears desperately, but miserably failing.

A hand settled on her back and began to rub in circles. Jesse slowly felt herself relax as the hand rubbed her back, and her body relaxed a bit, untensing her entire body, which was tenser than a bowstring.

Then something occurred to her. Back in the lab, no one usually petted her. Usually she was the one petting people (i.e. Lukas) and the people who did try didn't know how she liked to be petted. Except... for one person...

Jesse opened her eyes and turned her head.

Kneeling in the thin layer of snow and dirt on the ground, and still patting her on the back, was Ivor.

A/N: Aghhhh this is weird. I feel like this is written weirdly. Agggghhh.

Kaos Ruin: Haha I'm glad you have that feeling xD And yep, this is what's up. It's weird. Agh.

rebekahtpe: Haha, mine's 4:44. And oh dear...

NoItsBecky: (shrugs) I have no effing clue.

angelwings: Pfft, I'm glad I'm motivating you xD And I'm glad you like this story, although you must dance every hour or three with how often I update it xD

DemonCatLady: Yas! And thanks!

RapidSammi: Oh dear (runs) but thanks! I'm glad you like my writing!

Toni42: Aww, shucks :3 And yep. Here it is xD

DreamyDiamond: Aww, thanks! And yep. Angst for days.

x.X. A.L. X.x