Jesse was suspended in the air for a moment, before she felt something cool wrap around her as she crashed into the water, laying there for a minute, stunned, before stroking to the surface and breaking it, gasping for air. The Endermen were teleporting away at the sight of light, hissing angrily, as the sun came out, the massive black clouds that had been the Witherstorm vanishing. It was as though that whole thing hadn't even happened.

"There you are!" Jesse turned to see Olivia and Axel running towards her, twin grins fixed on their faces.

"Jesse, are you okay?" Axel asked, coming to a stop, "We thought you were..." he faltered, before picking up again, more softly, "Well, we didn't think you'd made it."

Jesse's mouth opened and shut for a moment, before she regained power over her vocal cords. "Where's Reuben?" Jesse demanded, her face white with fear.

Olivia looked bewildered. "I thought he was with you!" she exclaimed, worry starting to shine in her eyes, Lukas running up to Jesse with a grin. "Jesse! You did it! You actually did it!"

Jesse looked at Lukas, not able to say something, her face snow white. Slowly he seemed to realize something was wrong, his smile fading and his ears drooping worriedly. "Jesse? Are you okay?" he asked, softly.

A soft cry hit Jesse's ears, and she whipped around-

Her heart hit bedrock.

Reuben was lying on his side several feet away, pink skin practically snow white. "Reuben!" Jesse felt a sob building up in her chest, tears beginning to blind her as she ran towards her little pig, coming to a stop right next to him, coming to her knees. "Reuben," she repeated, hot tears pouring down her cheeks, as she frantically tried to wipe them away.

Reuben let out a soft little whine, his sides rising as he struggled to breathe properly. To breathe at all. His bones had been broken by the fall, Jesse could tell.

Reuben turned his head to look at her, brown eyes filled with sadness as he looked at her. Jesse reached out a shaking hand, watching as the world blurred and warped through the tears that refused to fall, that she refused to let fall, because Reuben hated it when she cried, and she didn't want him to see her cry and have that be the last thing he ever saw.

"Reuben?" Her voice was a whisper, through her strangled vocal cords that couldn't say anything above that volume. "You're a hero, you know that? You just helped me save everyone, you know that, right?" Her hands were starting to shake, she was starting to shake, tears were rising in her eyes, and she was doing her best to keep them back. "Come on, please-" Her voice caught, before she managed to finish, "please just say something."

Reuben tried to get to her feet, but he hadn't even put one hoof on the ground before he fell back down, whining softly and sadly at not being able to comfort Jesse. He just looked so tired- as if he'd just spent the whole day playing and running and laughing with Jesse, and was now wanting to nap while Jesse and Axel and Olivia chatted and laughed and planned for next year's Endercon.

"It's okay, boy," Jesse managed, more tears coming down her face.

But it wasn't okay.

This wasn't okay.

"I'm here, okay?" Jesse tried to stop crying, to no avail. "I'm here, I promise, okay?" She reached out and touched him, gently fondling his ears as more tears blinded her, choked her, poured down her cheeks, down her face, shining like diamonds in her eyes.

Because he couldn't die, her little Reuben just couldn't die, because he was her Reuben. Her little pig.

"I'm sorry," Jesse whispered, her other hands clenched into fists in her lap, "I'm so, so sorry, Reuben."

Reuben let out another whine, nudging her hand with his nose gently, and the gentle contact made more tears come down her face, her chest tightening so much that it felt like a balloon, and any second it would pop and burst apart.

It hurt. She wasn't the one who'd landed on the ground. She shouldn't have to hurt like this. She'd rather trade places with Reuben, because at least then her little pig would be okay, he wouldn't be lying on the ground looking so tired, he wouldn't be lying on the ground at all.

He would be okay.

Jesse might not.

Jesse reached out and carefully fondled his ears, the only part she could touch without causing her little pig pain. "I love you, okay?" she said, softly, voice shaking and quivering and her entire body shaking like mad. "You're my Reuben. Okay?"

Reuben let out another soft whine, nudging her hand again at that, before his head drooped to the floor, exhausted by the effort, and the little pig went completely still.

Jesse watched the world go even blurrier than before as he disappeared, replaced by the standard drop pigs dropped: a pork chop.

All that time the two of them had spent together, Jesse and Reuben, two friends who had always sat together and played together, reduced to a piece of meat.

She moved her hand slowly and took ahold of it, staring down at it with more tears going down her face.

"Jesse," and Jesse felt Lukas's hand on her shoulder. She didn't know when he'd gotten there.

She wasn't sure she cared.

"I am..." A pause. "I am so sorry."

Jesse finally let her head drop as she cried, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs that she'd been repressing with all of her might for the past several minutes, her chest aching as she cried and hugged the pork chop to her test. A pair of arms wrapped around her, and then another, and then another.

And for several more minutes, the four hybrids stood in an intertwined hug that couldn't have been broken in a thousand years.

A/N: ... I'm sorry.

MidNightTwist: Eventually.

Kaos Ruin: I'm sorry (hides)

rebekahtpe: Mine's September 11th.

DemonCatLady: She did, but the Witherstorm moved the tentacle that was holding her and she missed. Reuben was out of reach before she could try again.

ChoyofBonk: Sadly.

RapidSammi: Ouch. Thanks a ton :( And geez how much blood did I lose? x)

x.X. A.L. X.x.

...

P.S. (SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SPOILERS DO NOT READ THE UNDERLINED, BOLDED, AND ITALICS BELOW THIS SPOILER WARNING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

This isn't the last we'll see of Reuben.