Cassie blinked. Her aunt and her had slipped away from her auntie's friends (who were rougher than Cassie would like- her aunt wasn't exactly the healthiest person) and her auntie had led her to a room.
She had not been expecting the pile of blankets in the center, with a little girl and a little boy curled up in them.
Cassie's green eyes roved over the girl's short, fluffy black hair, the boy's pointed ears nestled in his brown hair, his tail, her extra arms...
"Auntie? Are these the hybrids you've been telling us about?"
"Yes dear."
The black-haired girl sat up, blinking slowly at them with a confused, sleepy look in her green eyes, like Cassie's, that faded away to just a curious look as she stared.
"This is Jesse. Although- don't tell anyone. Jesse's just their birth names. I'm not supposed to use it for either, but they respond to it, so I don't see the harm."
Cassie edged towards Jesse timidly, who stared back at her almost owlishly. Suddenly, the little girl hissed in a strange, humming sort of manner.
Cassie stepped back, a bit alarmed. "Auntie, she hissed at me!" she exclaimed.
"The DNA is still trying to get used to its new body- Jesse's going to be speaking in Spider for a very long while after this," her aunt responded, calmly. The calm response calmed Cassie down, and she looked at the black-haired girl for a moment before back up at her aunt. "Aunt Cassie, do you think she'd play with me if I asked?"
Cassie giggled as she threw the ball and a web flew into the air, catching it before slingshotting it back into her grip. "You're good at this!"
Jesse smiled back at her, a bright sort of smile on her face. "Thanks," she said, although her voice still sounded rather like a humming hiss.
Her brother mumbled something about them being too loud and burrowed under the blankets, making both girls giggle cheerfully. The two four-year-olds got along rather well, since Cassie's auntie visited so often.
Cassie threw the ball as high as she could, and Jesse shot a web casually, retracting it so it slapped into her palm, before tossing it back to Cassie, who jumped to catch it, missed, and had to go chasing after it. "How are you so good at this?"
Jesse thought about it. Her lip poked out in thought. "Hmmm, I don't know. The scientists test me a lot. I guess maybe it's because I'm a spider?"
Cassie shrugged and threw the ball again, which Jesse caught and threw back again. "Well, I don't really care- it makes playing catch with you a lot of fun!" she giggled cheerfully.
Jesse smiled at her. "Glad to hear it," she said cheerfully, her voice still a low sort of hum.
Cassie eased the door open. Her aunt had told her to go find Jesse, because she needed to talk to her friends. So here she was.
Jesse was lying in the pile of blankets like the first time, but she sat up when she saw Cassie, though her eyes were narrowed in confusion. Where was Jesse? ... ah, the boy. The wolf hybrid one.
"Hi, Jesse," she said, quiveringly.
Jesse squinted at her. "Hi," she responded, after a moment. Then, "are you talking to me?"
Cassie blinked at that. "Yeah- of course I am, I'm using your name, aren't I?"
"But I don't have a name," Jesse stated, matter-of-factly.
"Jesse, what are you talking about?"
Jesse looked at Cassie warily, stepping back a bit. "Why are you in here?" she asked, sounding a bit worried.
Cassie looked at Jesse, not sure what to say. "Jesse...?"
The door banged open again, making both girls jump and Jesse flinch.
Cassie's aunt was standing there, a dangerous look in her eyes as one of her friends came up behind her. "C'mon, Rosie- we're leaving," she said angrily, before covering her mouth and coughing.
Cassie turned to look at Jesse, who just stared at her mildly. "See you," she said, finally.
Jesse just nodded, a funny look on her face. "See you," she echoed.
"Cass, please, I didn't know either-"
"I'm sorry, Harper," the red-haired woman seethed, taking Cassie's hand and walking out briskly, past a woman wearing a brown shawl over a lighter brown worksuit, goggles pushed up on her forehead as her black locks spilled over her shoulders, "but I cannot stay with that-" her hands went over Cassie's ears for some reason, "and I'm not staying here one minute longer." Another harsh cough. "Good-bye."
And she stormed out, Cassie looking back at the fluffy-haired, bemused looking spider hybrid behind her before the door banged shut with a final air.
Cassie hugged her kitten, Winslow, tears pouring down her face as she sat down in the big empty house.
Ever since she and her aunt and retreated here, to this distant world with two moons, the two of them had lived together.
It was okay, really. Her aunt had hidden the flint and steel, so it wasn't like they were just going to leave. They weren't super happy, the two of them, living somewhere neither of them were used to, but they were together, so everything had been okay.
At least, it'd been okay until her aunt had left her.
"You promised, Aunt Cassie," she whispered, hugging her knees, tears pouring down her face, "you promised you'd stay with me. No one else did, so why..." a slow sob, tears dripping onto the glasses she'd set in her lap, "why did you leave me alone?"
Now this world was a prison. Cassie wanted to go home, find her old friend.
She barely remembered that friend, since they'd lived here since Cassie'd been five. She was eleven now, of course. But she wanted that friend. She remembered that friend, a warm glow who she'd seen every once in a while.
But she couldn't.
She was trapped.
With only memories that taunted her every time she went to sleep.
Cassie was hitting the armor stands again.
Her axe was slicing through them, cutting up the old wood, smashing them to splinters so that they scattered practically knee-deep all over the floor, rage building up in her and coming out violently, in hacks and swings and slashes.
Finally, she forced herself to stop, muscles aching, sweat pouring down her face, rage making her eyes turn red. It was funny- apparently, their family had a slight genetic condition that made their eyes turn red when truly angry or shocked. It wasn't something she'd been aware of until one time when she'd looked in the mirror while getting angry at- well, at everything, really. She'd gotten quite a shock when she'd spotted a pair of red eyes glaring right back at her.
She looked at the broken, shattered remains of the armor stands on the floor, White Pumpkins growing in the growing station serenely outside. Her aunt had loved breeding them- white was so much of a 'new start' to her aunt, since it was the color of a blank sheet of paper. Or something like that. Cassie never really did understand why her aunt loved the color white so much.
She slammed the axe into the wall with a crunch, feeling a furious grief rip through her.
She tried to avoid thinking of her aunt as much as humanly possible, really. She busied herself to keep herself from thinking about it- beating up the armor stands, setting up redstone traps just for fun, brewing (she wasn't too good at it, though)... she never interacted with people though. It was almost like a personal insult to admit that she needed help for something, even when she was building her traps and kept dropping supplies on her foot.
She looked down at the armor stands and then her axe, a strange thought crossing her mind, one that would start a rather horrible obsession in the red-haired, green-eyed girl
"I wonder how this would feel, cutting through an actual person?"
"The portal key's been found," Cassie said, a low thrill running through her as she petted Winslow. He looked up at the girl, a sort of concern in his green eyes that she hadn't seen from anyone else in such a long time.
"I have to get that portal key," Cassie said, staring at the portal, which had been hidden- here, underground, for so long- hidden so only she could ever come and go through it. Because she and her aunt and built it together, just in case they ever needed to go back, but of course both of them had laughed and joked about that very slim possibility. Because it was hers, hers and her aunts, theirs only.
She flashed back to the green, glowing flint and steel, the one her aunt had told her she was going to hide and had been true to her word for.
"I have to get it back, no matter what," Cassie said,
"It's the only thing I have left of Aunt Cass."
Her fists clenched in her lap, tears threatening to spill over and out of her luminous green eyes, as Winslow let out a piteous meow.
"It's the only thing I have left."
Cassie jolted upright, eyes widening as she gasped a bit, hand flying to her mouth.
The others were puttering around, Petra eating something that looked remarkably like a piece of charred meat. Winslow and Lukas were sharing a toasted fish, Ivor was moving some stuff around in his bag, and Jesse-
"Hey, Cassie."
Cassie jumped, whipping around to see Jesse looking at her. "What is it?" she asked, rather warily, red eyes fading back to normal.
If Jesse'd noticed, she didn't give any indication, holding out a rather large piece of toast with a set of her lower arms. "Want some?" she asked, pleasantly enough.
Cassie took the toast, her heart rate going back to normal. "S-sure. Thanks." Cassie then bit into the toast, Jesse looking at her with a serene look. "You feeling better?" Cassie asked, after a couple moments of chewing.
"Much, thank you. I don't think that calming potion has quite worn off yet," Jesse said thoughtfully, "although it does certainly help with sleeping. Makes things so much more peaceful."
"Cool," Cassie hastened to respond, cheeks filled with toast.
Jesse let out a mild laugh, before continuing, still quite serenely, "we're about to try another portal, it's that blue one over there," and she gestured at a dark blue portal filled with the dark blue swirls of a portal. "You might wanna get ready."
"Cool, thanks," Cassie said, hastily swallowing this time.
Jesse gave her a placid thumbs-up before wandering back over to the others to go chat with them.
Cassie went on eating her slice of toast, but somehow, she couldn't help wondering how different her life might've turned out if she'd just asked for help when she'd needed it.
A/N: A Cassie-centric chapter! (what just happened in that sentence...)
A bit of backstory on Cassie. And we see some more of the rare placid Jesse xD Usually she's an emotional wreck, or a sarcastic Jesse, which is not as rare.
angelwings: Yeah... no wonder Jesse's an emotional wreck most of the time.
ChoyofBonk: Now I have explained it, although I literally BSed a reason when writing this chapter xD
RapidSammi: Yeah... but Episode 8'll be interesting. :)
x.X. A.L. X.x.
