"So many books," Gabriel gaped at the hundreds, possibly thousands of books in the room. Potion bottles rested on top of the shelves, and lamps, and glowing blue ores.
"Let's just fan out and look for the enchanting book," Jesse said, all of them splitting up and looking through the shelves practically before she'd finished.
Jesse approached Lukas, who was nearest. "Having any luck?" she asked, kindly.
Lukas made a face. "Not really. ... been thinking about a lot of stuff, actually."
Jesse frowned, crossing all six of her arms. "What kind of stuff?"
"Us being hybrids, Gabriel, the Ocelots, people getting amnesia and Wither Sickness... don't get me wrong. I'm glad I came with you, but... I'm just... just scared for everyone. For us, for them, for... everyone, really."
Jesse reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, you're a good friend, Lukas. The fact that you're always thinking about others... it says a lot about you."
Lukas gave Jesse a small smile. "Well, I like my friends. I guess that's why we're friends in the first place."
"Either that," Jesse teased, "or they say nice things about you."
Lukas laughed at that. Jesse reached out and patted him gently on the head, making him close his eyes and purr for a second. "Ivor, though... I think some of his only friends were books."
"I guess being alone for ten years gives you a lot of time to read," Jesse agreed, softly.
"Tell me about it. 'How to Train Your Slime'... 'The Various Uses of Mooshroom Stew'," Lukas read off some of the titles, "Potionology... Volume Twenty Four!?"
"Well, none of them look like the enchanting book," Jesse frowned, and Lukas nodded, before leaning down and turning back to the books. Jesse wandered, looking through the books thoughtfully.
"Hmmm... 'A Brief History of Cubism'... 'Crafting for Noobs, Revised'... 'A Collector's Guide to Precious Gems'..." Jesse looked over at Olivia, who she'd ended up next to. "Any luck, Liv?"
"Not really," Olivia put her hands on her hips, "Ivor has too many books, and there're too few of us looking. How did we all get split up like this? I feel like we're spreading ourselves too thin. That first night, that we all spent together? That was... fun. Almost."
"At least Lukas is still here," Jesse said, gladly, "for a minute back at the cave, I thought he was going to leave, too."
"Glad you talked him out of here," Olivia agreed, "he's smart, I like having him around."
"And," Jesse leaned in, "he has excellent hair."
Both girls giggled softly as they glanced at Lukas, who seemed totally oblivious to the fact they were looking at him.
"He does have good hair, doesn't he?" Olivia agreed when she recovered from her giggling fit.
Jesse nodded, before moving on, looking through the books some more. "Hm, 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mining'... 'The Unabridged Redstone Encyclopedia'... 'Zombies and Pigs, an Intimate Memoir'... huh, none of these have much to do with enchanting. Any luck, yet?" Jesse asked Soren, who she'd once again ended up next to.
Soren scoffed. "In THIS mess?! It's as though Ivor learned nothing from my lectures on methodological organization! If only he hadn't gotten lost in that confounded swamp. Coming here was his idea!"
Jesse frowned at the wall of books. "Well, there has to be some way to find the book."
"There's neither rhyme nor reason to how these books are stored!" Soren complained. "Finding anything in here is impossible!"
"Tedious, maybe. Impossible? Absolutely not," Jesse said, pulling out six books at once, giving them all a glance over, before shoving them back into their rightful places.
Soren gave Jesse a long look, before sighing. "Fine. I will continue this monotonous search. But I reserve the right to grumble about it."
"Believe me, I want to grumble about it too," Jesse agreed empathetically, making Soren give her a reluctant grin.
Jesse moved on into a room with a fireplace, and she arched her eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Reuben, what are you doing?"
The little pig, who was sitting very close to the fire, gave her a squeal.
"Well, you're gonna be cooked." She fondled his ears and moved him a couple more feet away. "I've told you," she said fondly, "stay. Away. From fire-and-or-lava."
Reuben let out an oink, and Jesse looked around, before spotting a hole with a trail of redstone inside. "Okay... I'm sure I could find a lever or something to power it. Or craft one," Jesse mused, before turning around, looking about her. She spotted a piece of cobblestone resting on a shelf nearby, and snagged it, before noticing Gabriel looking through the potions.
He looked at her when she came up to him. "This Ivor character... I recall that he knew something about potions. Could one of these stop the Wither monsters?"
"No," she sighed, putting a hand to her head reluctantly, "there was only one potion that really had ANY chance of powering down the Command Block. And we lost that about two weeks ago." She looked at him, as her six arms began to sort through books, eyes flicking through the titles quickly as she multitasked.
Gabriel hesitated. "I recall that... Ivor was... better with potions than people. And he... he..." After another moment, he huffed. "That's all. Besides the whole Ivor-being-a-jerk thing."
Jesse turned her head, coughing, amusement in her eyes. "He's not THAT bad. When you really got to know him he was... well, he was warm, and kind, and I think he thought of his friends like family. Like you," and she looked over at the warrior.
Gabriel frowned and turned back to the potions. "Potion of blindness... potion of dullness... potion of nausea... none of these will help me." He paused, before asking, softly, "Jesse, am I going to be all right? Or... is this just who I am now? Always struggling to remember what I was... what I'm supposed to be..."
"You're gonna be okay," and Jesse rested her hands on his shoulders, firmly. "You're Gabriel the Warrior!"
Gabriel gave the girl a small smile. "Thank you, Jesse. Your confidence in me is stronger than any potion. Except maybe a potion of confidence... I wonder if Ivor has one of those."
Jesse laughed a bit before moving away, looking around the room some more.
She meant it, though.
She'd do anything to make sure they were all okay.
Even if it meant losing her own life.
A/N: No, that is not foreshadowing, before you ask.
And holy crap.
Ten thousand views.
TEN THOUSAND VIEWS.
HOW?!
Kaos Ruin: Yep xD
ChoyofBonk: ... I have no clue. And I actually didn't type up any of the chapters in advance xD
x.X. A.L. X.x.
