Rushing into the next room, Jace and Jesse found themselves staring up at a huge wall of vines... over a pool of lava. Probably should mention the pool of lava.

Jace took a running start and grabbed ahold of the vines, swinging crazily, as Em caught up to and passed Nell, who spent a couple seconds trying to get a foot or handhold each time she moved up. Glancing back, his mouth fell open as his sister jumped next to him and then started creeping up the wall, all eight limbs working.

"He-y," Nell cheered as Jesse came up right beneath her, Jace racing after them as the vines swung crazily and nearly threw him off- wolves equal not very good at climbing- "Jesse! Way to catch up, dude! Very nice!"

"You just can't take a hint, can you!?" Em snapped, and Nell turned- Em slammed her foot into Nell's arm- Nell fell off-

Jesse let out a yell of shock, and immediately her lower arms grabbed ahold of the vines as her upper arms released the wall and twisted- she caught Nell by the arm as Jace came up beneath them, his tail slightly bushy and mumbling something about heights.

"Oh come on!"

Jesse looked back up as Em used a pickaxe to slash through a block, making water pour out from the hole she made- it slammed into Jesse, who in turn fell into Jace and knocked him off the wall-

"No no no no!" Jesse yelled immediately, as gravity seemed to take a vacation, and slingshotting a web at a hole in the side of the wall, catching ahold of Jace with her lower arm, all three of them flew into the hole, Jesse barely managing to land on her feet as the other two slammed into stone, on their backs, with a little groan of pain.

Jesse was panting, so hard that it was actually making her slightly lightheaded.

It didn't help when Nell grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her so hard that she almost conked heads with the blonde. "DUDE! That was SO Tim! Righteous!"

Jesse looked at her brother for help, as his tail bushed out. He gave her a sheepish grin and then a laugh. "Ah... sorry, sis, that was pretty cool. Now, um... how do we get out of here?"

"The water, dude!" and Nell patted Jace on the head, making him look slightly pleased, "we can ride that wave right back up to the top- follow me!" and she hopped into the water.

"I prefer climbing..." Jesse walked to a spot where there was no water and then went back to climbing on the wall, catching up with Nell in no time as Jace followed, paddling after Nell rapidly and sending water flying everywhere.

"Do you like water?" Jesse asked, trying not to giggle as she got splashed a bit.

Jace beamed. "Yep!"

Jesse couldn't help but smile back, as she reached the top where Nell was panting, hands on her knees. Jace followed a second later, and both girls put up their hands defensively as the soaking-wet wolf hybrid shook all the water off and managed to get a fair amount on the two girls. "Whoa," Nell eked out, "man, intense enough for ya? Thanks for saving me."

"Don't mention it," Jesse agreed, and then ran up the steps as fast as possible.

She became aware of Hadrian's voice speaking as she raced up the steps on all eights. "I trust you made good on our deal?" It was softer, but Jesse could hear it- she had pretty damn good hearing.

"I did." Em.

"If that's the case, then why hasn't Jesse respawned yet?"

Reaching the top of the staircase, she slowed her pace, her entire body whipping into an upright position as she walked purposefully forward. Jace came up a second later, on all fours, and then straightened, shivering a bit in the icy night air, and then Nell.

Em looked startled, but Hadrian just looked angry.

"Jesse," Em said, sounding startled.

"And there appears to be a confrontation on the field," Mevia said dramatically, "Jesse looks very heated-"

Jesse glanced at the blue haired woman and flicked her hand, a small web shooting out of her hand and slapping over the Old Builder's mouth. "Yes, yes, thank you, please be quiet, I can't think straight with all your narrating," she said, not even bothering to hide the irritation in her voice. And then she turned back to Em.

Em looked at Jesse awkwardly, as Jesse frowned at the tall, burly girl, but didn't say anything.

It wasn't like she had anything to say.

Jace was audibly growling, ears flattened on his head, eyes glowing in the dimness, and Jesse had the feeling that the only thing keeping him from lashing out at Em was that he was teammates- almost friends, really- with the former gladiator.

"So you sacrificed winning the race to save someone else," Hadrian said lightly, making Jesse turn to look at him, her upper arms crossed and her lower arms on her hips, "Good to know."

"And you actively lied to me by saying that this was a fair contest when in reality you made a deal with Em to kill me," Jesse said in the same tone, "good to know."

Hadrian's scowl grew deeper, if possible, and he whipped to Em. "And YOU. You were supposed to eliminate Jesse. Our deal's off."

"No!" Em cried out, head snapping back up as Jesse said, softly, "Deal...?"

"No, please!" Em begged, but to no avail, as Hadrian built a bridge away and the two other Old Builders glanced back. Mevia's expression was a smirk, and Otto's was... well, he looked kind of sorry.

Em's shoulders drooped, and it was so very hard to stay angry at someone who looked so very upset. "... you probably think I'm scum or whatever," Em said, in an almost toneless voice, "but you know what? I don't even care."

She turned to Jesse, her face almost rather blank. "You have your deal, Jesse, if you win you and your friends will just leave us anyway. My shot at going home just went up in smoke, so feel free to judge all you want. Hard to hurt me anymore than Hadrian did just now."

Jesse just arched her eyebrow. "Cassie Rose has murdered people because she wanted to get back home so badly," she said, sternly, voice softening a second later, "if I've forgiven her, I'm going to forgive you. I get it, Em. I may have even done something similar in your position."

Em hesitated, as Jace slowly stopped growling and looked a bit calmer, "Well... I'm glad that you get it wasn't personal, at any rate. I... I gotta go." And she walked off, going off in the direction Nell had gone as Jesse gave the burly girl a sad sort of look.

"I feel really bad for her," Jace said softly, "and... I mean, I'm still pissed at her for trying to kill you. But... she's not a bad person. I just feel kind of sorry for her now."

Jesse sighed, reaching out and running her hand through her twin's hair. "You're not the only one."

A/N: We're getting really close to a part I'm really excited about writing x3

Look who's updating stories on her birthday xD You guys are lucky I love you and this story so freaking much xD

DemonCatLady: Hehe xD RAGE JESSES

x.X. A.L. X.x