There was a silence, that stretched out for minutes that felt like hours.
Then the returning whisper- so quiet that Jesse almost didn't hear it.
"Jesse...?"
The kid's big brown eyes were even bigger as he gaped at her, mouth hanging open. "Is that you?" he asked, finally, but Jesse wasn't listening anymore, she was reaching through the bars and lifting the side of his shirt.
On his left side was that mark that Jesse had practically memorized.
She let the cloth drop. "Reuben?" she repeated, and her eyes were watering, and she wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.
After all, it's not every day your best friend comes back from the dead.
The kid stared back, eyes big, and he nodded, slowly. "Yeah," he said, a little breathlessly.
Jesse turned to Hadrian almost mechanically, eyes puzzled from where she was now kneeling, eye level with the little kid who was now Reuben. "So... you used to Atlas to kidnap all of my best friends... and brought Reuben back. Why?"
Hadrian said, casually, "Incentive, Jesse, incentive. See, even if you win, and that's a mighty big if... they'll still be staying to work in the mines. Even the kid. Forever. Or until they get a shot at competing, which is... still basically forever."
Jesse found herself on her feet. "No," she said, a bit too loudly.
Hadrian just grinned evilly at her, his dark brown, almost black eyes practically glowing. "Yes," he responded calmly.
Jesse's fists started to clench, so hard that her nails were digging into her palms. "Okay. So what's your deal, then?"
"If you LOSE the next match and go work in my mines... Then I'll let your friends go. All of 'em. Even your brother. You'll just have to stay behind in their place. Of course, if you don't agree to this deal... well I can't guarantee their safety."
Jesse's lungs inflated so fast it hurt.
"I can tell you that a creeper hybrid would be very much up for dissecting... even an Enderman hybrid would garner quite some money, and a pig hybrid would be pretty good too... and of course," and Hadrian's smile widened, "a wolf hybrid would be up for sale..."
Now Jesse's lungs were so full they were about to burst.
"Okay I'd hoped that watching your sad reunion would be entertaining," Hadrian sighed, pushing Jesse away from the cages, making Reuben let out a cry, "but I'm done now. Whaddya say, sport? Your freedom for theirs? Huh? Or their... safety for your freedom-"
Jesse turned away, closing her eyes, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes and voice. "You have a deal," she said softly.
"JESSE!"
All three voices chorused- Olivia's in shock, Axel's in fury, and Reuben's in desperation- but Hadrian's voice cut over all of theirs. "Hey hey! There we go, sport fans!"
Jesse turned back to him, giving the white-haired male a look of utter hatred as he said mildly, "Well I tell ya, I'm pretty excited about this; I think we're ALL winners here. But just be sure you don't... heh... try and reneg on me, we'll keep your friends nice and safe in here... remember," and he turned back to her, "they're counting on you."
Jesse looked past him into her friend's eyes, Reuben's face almost milk-white as he pressed his face against the bars, Olivia's look filled with utter horror, and Axel... well he just looked stunned.
"Slab!" Hadrian said out loud, making Jesse start a bit, "be a pal and give our new friend a walk home?"
A meaty hand closed on her wrist, and Jesse cried out and started struggling. "Sure thing. C'mon, Jesse," Slab said, but Jesse was barely paying attention as Hadrian built up an obsidian wall, Olivia, Axel, and Reuben disappearing from sight as the wall blocked their cages from view and Jesse found herself staring hopelessly at a black wall.
She tugged her arm from Slab's, the gladiator looking down at the girl in confusion.
Jesse stepped back, hot tears beginning to blind her.
She had to get back there.
She had to get back to the village and tell her friends now.
And so she turned and ran, through the hallways, through the snow, her head and heart pounding in rhythm with her feet as the hot tears in her eyes finally fell.
Jesse raced through the pathways, skidding around corners and almost tripping, falling forward and then racing forward on all eights, still trying to stop the crying. She'd been running and crying, on and off and at some points simultaneously for what felt like hours but was probably only about twenty minutes. Skidding around another corner, she spotted the others and bolted towards them.
"Jesse! You're okay!" she heard Ivor- she whipped upright and plowed into him, grabbing him in a hug and starting to cry again, her entire body starting to shake with suppressed sobs.
"Jesse? Jesse?! Did they hurt you?" and Ivor pushed her away, dark blue eyes roving over the spider hybrid frantically as Jesse bit her lip, scrabbling to stem the flow of tears.
"Did Hadrian hurt you?"
"Do I need to murder someone?"
Jesse shook her head, covering her eyes for a moment, before looking back up at her friends. "Hadrian has Axel and Olivia," she said softly.
"WHAT?!" Petra, Ivor, and Lukas chorused loudly.
"And... he has..." Jesse couldn't say it, because, okay, this was a little childish, but she was terrified that if she said it it would just turn out to be a dream or something. A hallucination, maybe.
"Who else does he have?" Petra asked, urgently.
Jesse's voice dropped, and she said, in such a quiet voice that she could barely hear herself, "Hadrian had one of the scientists from the Bureau of Amalgamology create another hybrid, and then he respawned the hybrid."
Lukas's brow had been furrowed, and now his eyes widened. "Wait- do you mean to say he brought back Reuben?"
Jesse swallowed and nodded.
She might as well have set off a bomb among her three friends, who started shouting in disbelief, but Jesse put a hand up for silence. "He used the Atlas to take them all from our world."
Lukas growled, pupils beginning to turn to slits. "No!"
"Are they okay?" Petra asked, a little fearfully.
"For now, besides being trapped in obsidian prisons and having their powers suppressed..."
Jace growled angrily at that.
"But..." Jesse hesitated to say the next part. "He said you'll send you all home... if I lose and go to the mines in your place."
A/N: Stopping point!
Lol you all probably hate me now xD
ChoyofBonk: Aw thanks :3 And heehee (evil grin) I mean Jesse spoke English to him, so I think he's picked up the hang of it...
doodlingcubes: Lol xD
RapidSammi: Uh whoops xD
NoItsBecky: Why are you pissed? And yes. Reuben is back!
NinjaCat: yep x3
LittleAngelbun: Lol xD I assume you're happy about this development?
DemonCatLady: Did you read my mind? I actually had a similar plan for the second one xD First one is a bit different tho
Kaos Ruin: Heehee
Slayer88: I said over 68. 92 is over 68 :)
Fruzsi3624: Oh dear xD
Toni42: I think this is the shortest review I've ever gotten from you xD
Choco: Aww xD
x.X. A.L. X.x
