Jesse stared at Cassie, who stared back. Honestly, the silence was getting awkward.
Lukas was conversing fluently with Winslow, his brow getting more and more furrowed by the minute. Petra had gone off somewhere- probably smashing up something. Or maybe going back to the basement to set all the zombies on fire. Anything to get her anger out. Ivor was probably poking around the basement as well, and who knows what Stampy, Dan, Lizzie and Stacy were even doing right now.
"So," Cassie said.
Jesse raised an eyebrow rather casually. She didn't even bother uncurling herself from where she was perched on her chair. "So what?"
"So why am I here? Is this to decide my punishment?" Cassie asked, sounding and looking more and more irritated by the minute. "Come on, you asked the others to not stay in the same room. What? We gonna have a therapy session or something?"
Jesse just chuckled faintly at that. "No, not unless you just want me to pet you or hug you all day. I don't think I'd make a very good therapist," she said, rather cheerfully.
Cassie's face softened into a smile- just for a second- before her guard came right back up.
"So anywho," and Jesse leaned forward in her chair, "You didn't answer my earlier question."
Cassie blinked. "Which would that be?"
"Why didn't your aunt come get you? If you were stuck here, surely she'd have a portal key?"
Cassie looked away, a blank sort of look on her face. "She died."
Now it was Jesse's turn to blink.
Well. She hadn't been expecting that.
"She wasn't exactly the healthiest person," Cassie continued, staring at one of the corners of the room as if it were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen, "and, well..." she made a vague sound in the back of her throat. It was obvious from the blank look that she was giving the whole room she was rather uncomfortable with the topic.
"Ah." A short silence. "Sorry to hear that. I think I liked your aunt. She gave us crackers," Jesse said, thoughtfully.
Cassie smirked a little at that, although the small smile didn't reach her eyes. They were still blanker than a sheet of paper. "She did always have crackers in her pockets... I'm sure she would've liked to hear that. You liked her, I mean."
"Mmm." Another silence. Jesse sighed again and looked at the floor, her lower arms all fidgeting. "Okay, look, everyone here is expecting you to suffer some form of punishment," she said, rather bluntly. Cassie winced slightly, looking back to the floor, and Jesse continued, calmly, "And frankly, I agree. You can't just get away with murder. So, I have two options for you."
"One, you can stay here, but you can't leave this world. Ever. You can't leave the house either. You literally have to just sit in the house all day with your cats. Basically house arrest. But you'd be free to do whatever you want within the house, of course."
Cassie's body started to tense up, and she looked at Jesse again, looking up from the floor. "What's the second options?" she asked, her voice sounding tight and fearful.
Jesse took a deep breath and continued, giving Cassie that even look, "The other option... is that you come with us."
Cassie blinked at Jesse in confusion.
"Ivor, Petra, Lukas and me. You come with us." Jesse gestured at herself and Lukas, the only two actually in the room with them.
Lukas glanced up when he heard his name, and he called out, absently, "Petra and Ivor aren't exactly stoked about the idea."
"How is that a punishment?" Cassie asked blankly, "I mean- I've been WANTING to get out. How is you taking me with you a punishment?"
Jesse arched her eyebrow. "Well, for one, you'd have Petra and Ivor reminding you about it every hour of the day. You wouldn't be able to go anywhere WITHOUT us, so we'd be kind of like security cameras or something. Not to mention, things out there... well, our lives are not exactly a cakewalk. I'm not exactly excited about this idea either, but... Lukas and Winslow get along pretty darn well," ticking them off on her fingers and shifting uncomfortably as she glanced at Lukas, who was chatting with Winslow now, rather animatedly.
"You'd take me with you?" Cassie stared with a blank expression. Jesse could see the faint spark of hope in her eyes, though.
Jesse sighed and rubbed her eyebrow. "I mean... sure? I don't trust you... but... I guess people deserve a second chance?" She shrugged, giving Cassie a sort of helpless look. "I don't know..."
Cassie stared, hope actually beginning to come into her expression. Once again, Jesse was reminded of that little girl with red hair who'd been happy when Jesse'd laughed and who'd looked almost exactly like a carbon copy of her auntie. "You'd take me with you?" she repeated.
Jesse shrugged again. "I mean... Petra and Ivor are willing... they're not happy about the fact I'm even willing to suggest it, but... they're- they're willing to. And Lukas could go either way."
She looked up, crossing all of her arms. "So how about it? Which option are you gonna go with?"
Cassie hesitated, before saying the answer Jesse had been pretty sure she'd take.
"I'll come with you."
Jesse gave her a rather wolfish grin, Lukas grinning as Lukas meowed cheerfully. "Well, that's settled then. And you'd better do everything you can to make up for what you've done, otherwise I cannot guarantee your safety if Petra and you are in the same room. I'll go inform the others." Jesse cheerfully hopped to her feet and trotted out of the room.
Cassie blinked after Jesse, before glancing at Lukas. "I'm starting to worry that my decision was not the best one," she said rather slowly. "Why's that?"
Lukas thought about that for a moment. "Good instincts?"
That did not make Cassie feel much better.
A/N: (sighs)
Yes. We're gonna bring Cassie with us.
Why, you ask? Well, I realized introducing a character which is actually intertwined with their past and then essentially killing them off (because we don't talk about her past the sixth episode much) is kind of dumb and I actually wanna try my hand at writing someone that I don't know the personality of very well. So Cassie's joining the group.
Although it's still a bit of a punishment, seeing how Ivor and Petra are NOT going to be too happy with Lukas and Jesse for this.
So the Old Builders do have SOMETHING to do with the hybrids! What exactly? Well, we'll find out!
But wait! There's still action! Next chapter and the chapter after that are the slightly-changed finale chapters of Episode 6! (I think, at least.)
And... nope! Review section still bugging out -_-
However! I still have my emails! So I can sort of respond! (since... not sure if these reviews are all of them. If not, I am very sorry!
DemonCatLady: Noted! :) Good luck!
rebekahtpe: Mmm nope. Almost, but then next chapter is... not really xD And Moon Queen. Because nighttime is bae xD Good thing I decided to check my spam emails!
RapidSammi: (thumbs up) And (gasp) dying!
TheRealRedGaming: Lol xD That'd actually be really cool... Lukas needs to be the main character in fanfics more, it'd be cool xD
Luna96: Uh, well, wish come true! xD
Choco: No prob :) Thank god I checked my spam email
DemonCatLady: Jesse's not a scientist, so she's just kind of guessing what the chip's doing. :)
Guest: Lol neither can I xD
A Person: ... um... well yeah xD
MissyMattingly: It's... kind of related, I guess. Not too directly, but... fairly so, yes.
NinjaCat: Her aunt was an Old Builder, so... she's kind of related, I suppose? And you're gonna see why she didn't stay with 'em
BirdnColds: No idea, since they're only related and not directly correlating. xD
x.X. A.L. X.x.
