Foreword

Here we go! Update two of getting SiS off the ground again! :D Before we get started though, I have a few things to address. I'm gonna try to keep this brief, but as you know Bob, if you don't care, you can feel free to skip to the story. ;)

First, a quickie. Website. Both of my tumblrs are currently under construction, as you may have heard from Mr. Conestruction (He likes to be called Coney) down at the bottom of the page, so if you keep up on here, you're going to see a lot of things change over time. I'm also more than happy to receive feedback on it if you want to give it. :)

Second, let's talk update schedule. I'm gonna stick to one this time. ;) Because I've got lots of stuff going on besides this, I'm going to be posting once every two weeks. I know, sadness, ;'( but unfortunately, it's necessary. HOWEVER! The goal right now is to start getting ahead on things as much as fruitlooping possible, and if I practice enough self-discipline that I'm able to finish the story long before I've finished posting, I will be UPGRADING to posting weekly. :D Yay! *Self-applauds* If you want to see that happen, and/or I MISS an update—! :[ (D: *trembles*) I would implore you to PLEASE hound me! Nothing gets me excited to write like receiving personal messages from people who are just as excited as I am to see it completed. :) Also, this is as much a growing and learning experience for me as it is a fun project, and I want to get the most out of it that I can, so I greatly appreciate any feedback you're willing to take from your valuable time to give me. ^-^

Third, let's talk story quality. Because I have a bad habit of being a perfectionist (It's been a struggle for me ever since I learned it was a bad thing. ;P) I'm having to learn to be okay with it not being as awesome as I'd like it to be before posting, at the cost of it not having as much time and effort put into it. (That's efficiency! ;D) As such, it will likely be a bit first-drafty, but I will slowly be going over things and fixing problems as I see them, so feel free to point out any problems you see! :) I do hope to go over these early chapters in the future to fix them up a bit more than small changes. Taking out padding and stuff, make things more interesting, retroactively adding foreshadowing, that kind of thing, but that won't be for a while if it happens at all. XD

Fourth and final, let's talk Ao3. Starting next chapter, two weeks from now, I'm going to start posting to Archive of Our Own as well. :) I'm not going to be posting them all in one day like I did on my Tumblr, but I will be posting them weekly until they're caught up. :) Why not start now? Because I'm tired, bro, and I got other important things to do, too. :C

Well, that's about it for now! Wow, I'm bad at keeping things brief. Um… I guess…

Enjoy! ^^

Chapter VI

A Shout in the Dark

««««« … »»»»»

"It's chasing me! It's chasing me!" Reuben squealed, galloping as fast as he could to get away from it. But the orange monster roared furiously, threatening to consume him whole with its many scalding tongues.

"Don't eat me!"

Reuben bucked and bucked to get it off, but nothing worked.

"Reuben!" he heard someone call out to him.

"Jesse!" he squeaked.

It was Jesse! Jesse was close!

Reuben tried to run to Jesse, but his voice only got quieter and quieter until the all he could hear were the enraged sounds of the monster behind him. Reuben already couldn't see real well with this costume on his head, but in his flurry to get away, he couldn't even tell what was a tree and what was a cliff.

By the time he finally managed to escape, he had no idea where he was. Scared for his life, he continued to run as fast as his little pink legs could carry him.

« … »

Axel had just barely caught it out of the corner of his eye. Aiden, the sniveling little sore loser, was eying a carefully positioned lava deposit, and with a swift kick, he broke one of the blocks keeping it contained. Axel only had time to point him out before everything was suddenly spinning out of control. Reuben's costume caught fire, he took off into the forest, and Jesse wasted no time before he dove off of their build and landed in a somersault, chasing after him.

"C'mon Axel," Olivia shouted, "Jesse needs our help!"

Axel looked down at the lava slowly creeping toward their creeper, almost there.

"But our build is about to go up in flames!"

Olivia frowned. "Fine! Stay then!"

She didn't wait another second before she too leaped off their build and made a break for the trees. Axel hesitated. He couldn't stay, though. He'd never forgive himself—if they ever forgave him.

"Awwww…" he moaned, swallowing defeat, and jumped after her.

So long, firework creeper machine, he thought, wishing he could a least take a second to give it a proper sendoff at least. You were truly the most awesome thing we ever built together.

As soon as Olivia saw him on her tail, she shouted ahead, "We're right behind you, Jesse!"

The three of them ran through the forest, with Axel a few paces behind them the whole time. He lost track of how far they'd gone, too preoccupied with just keeping up with them. With Reuben running ahead, there was no convincing Jesse to slow down. Though he was much bigger than either Jesse or Olivia, Axel hated running almost as much as he hated spiders, and he'd never been very good at it. Finally Jesse stopped and Axel caught up to them.

"I don't see him anywhere," said Jesse, clearly worried. "Reuben?!"

Olivia looked up at the sky, and so did Axel. The stars were just barely visible now, and the clear skies were growing darker.

"The sun's going down," she said, and Jesse turned around to look at her. "We've gotta find him, fast."

They sure did. One problem though, Axel pointed out, "He could've gone anywhere, and this part of the woods is huge."

Jesse looked at both of them in turn. "We stand a better chance of finding him if we split up."

And as quickly as their courageous leader spoke, the plan was set.

"If either of you get lost," Olivia added, "just use the lights from EnderCon to make your way back to town. Climb a tree if you need to. Got it?"

"Got it," Axel agreed, and without question they fanned out in search of their little buddy.

It wasn't long before the shouts of his friends faded as they got farther away. Eventually he couldn't hear them at all.

Axel had never been out in the unlit forest all by himself this late before. He wasn't scared. Axel liked to think of himself as a griefer of sorts, and above all, griefers were the most fearless people alive. Or not alive. If they got too fearless.

That said, Axel was definitely not too fearless. While he wasn't scared, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little uneasy. But he wasn't scared at all.

In fact, he was so not scared that had to remind himself to focus on the task at hand instead of other things. For some reason, his mind kept drifting back to the competition. It had all happened so fast that his brain was still struggling to process everything that had happened.

Was it bad that even now, he was still thinking about how all their hard work in the competition had been for nothing? Was it even worse that, assuming Reuben was all right, a part of him was hoping that the costume he'd spent ages on wasn't totally totaled? Was it terrible that part of him still wished he had stayed behind? Maybe then, they might have finally won something. For once.

Ugh, he moaned internally. Can this night get any worse?

Axel shook his head and realized he'd been stalling, which made him feel even worse.

"Reuben!" he shouted for the umpteenth time.

Axel could have sworn he heard a faint rattling and stopped dead in his tracks.

Spiders… he thought, I hate spiders…

Spiders were fast, and they could climb. Axel was not fast, and he could not climb. Also, the only way to get away from them was to hide in a one-block-wide space, which they couldn't fit through. The problem was, Axel couldn't fit through those either.

If he had to run and fight a spider in one night, he was gonna have to give that slime-for-brains Aiden a present in the form of a chicken bomb in his house.

It… wasn't dark enough for monsters to spawn yet, right?

"Reuben?" he called out, quieter this time, and at that very moment, a patch of grass near him rustled. Axel turned on it and held his fists out in front of him. He never wished more that he'd gotten in the habit of carrying a sword with him like Jesse. After a moment, the grass shook again, and he couldn't tell if he should check it out, or run away from it.

Axel groaned, knowing what he had to do. It's why he was out here to begin with, right?

He swallowed, silently reminding himself of how not-scared he was.

Please don't be a spider, please…

"Reuben?" he whispered, "Is that you, buddy?"

A shadowed figure jumped out of the grass and screeched in his face.

"GAH!" he screamed.

Axel tripped and fell on his back. He scooted back on impulse and quickly pushed himself up enough to see, ready to fight the mon—

Chicken.

It was a chicken. Not a spider. Not Reuben. A chicken.

The chicken hopped onto his chest and stared down at him. He could see the evil pleasure in its black, soulless, beady little eyes.

Axel frowned.

"Stupid chicken!" he shouted, shoving the thing off as he got to his feet. It clucked a maniacal chuckle at him as it ran away. The little coward.

"Yeah, you better run!" He kicked some dirt in its direction. "Or I'll be eating you for breakfast! Ya little punk!"

After the chicken disappeared from sight, Axel quickly regretted shouting when he heard something else. For sure this time. The clear, distinct sound of a distant zombie groan.

There was no mistaking it, and it was definitely dark enough for monsters to spawn now. Axel had to admit, he was getting slightly less not-sacred. It was about time he called it quits, he decided—before a real creeper could show up to explode him into the air. How ironic would that be?

Axel just hoped that Olivia or Jesse had found the poor little guy.

« … »

Once Axel had made his way back to town, he was surprised to find out that the judging for the competition hadn't even started yet. He'd gone to see if the Ocelots had won again with their freacon beacon, but the setup crew were apparently as surprised as he was that the winning build wasn't there yet, and they seemed more than a little impatient. They'd allegedly been waiting for a whole half hour since they were supposed to get the materials and plans, and had only minutes ago received word that the results had been delayed due to 'complications'. They were happy to angrily relay all this to him in rant form.

Excited and curious about the news, Axel rushed back to the competition grounds. There, he found things not at all like he expected.

He expected maybe for there to be a fire team for the lava, or maybe an argument with staff about something or another. Maybe a riot about Gabriel or something? But none of those things were the case.

When he arrived, the entire crowd of a hundred or so people was passive, but on edge. There was murmuring and whispering of the dubious and worried variety coming from the impatient, the restless, and the nervous. The suspense was clearly killing everyone.

Axel didn't have the chance to wonder for long, as just before he could find someone somewhat official looking to ask about it, he spotted Olivia wandering the crowd.

Apparently she had had the same idea.

"Hey, Olivia," Axel whisper-shouted, for some reason feeling the need to stay quiet.

Olivia turned and noticed him as he quickly made his way over to her.

"Axel! Have you seen Jesse?"

"No," he replied. "What's going on here?" Axel asked, beyond confused at this point, and dying of curiosity.

Olivia looked around at the crowd and kept her own voice low. "Oh yeah, I've been asking around, and apparently, we weren't the only ones who were sabotaged."

"What?" For some reason, Axel didn't even think that could happen. A part of him, he supposed, either thought that the Ocelots were the only players dirty enough to pull a stunt like that, or that their team was the only one worth sabotaging. It kinda made him feel less special, actually, but it was still shocking.

"Yeah, they've been stuck here for a while trying to—"

"All right, everyone!" a loud voice called out of nowhere.

Immediately, the hushed muttering went dead silent, and all eyes turned to the central platform where a lady stood, slightly timid, paper in hand.

"I apologize for the long delay. We know how much time and effort has been put into each and every build, and the results are finally in. Uh, but first," she said, a nervous tone to her voice, "the producer of the project has something to say about the, um, the recent events, uh—"

The lady stepped down from the platform, and in her place, a rather irritable man stepped up. The crowd didn't applaud.

The man spoke slowly, clearly, and calmly, but his tone was almost scary.

"Due to a lot of finger-pointing and tattle-tailing, we have been forced to disqualify FOURTEEN teams this year," said the producer, a look of frustration showing clearly on his face, although if his tone was any indication, he was guarding a more disdainful one. "Which, may I add for some perspective, is more teams than we have ever even had in a single year, and just shy of a quarter of the total teams competing this year."

Man. Axel didn't even do anything and he felt embarrassed.

"That being said," he continued, "I would like to thank those few of you who were respectful and honest in coming forward with information, and apologize in advance to those teams who may be wrongly disqualified. And to those of you who are truly guilty…"—the man paused for a tense few seconds—"I hope you're happy."

He took a breath and finally finished. "I will now hand the announcing back to Clara. Thank you."

"Holy cow," Olivia muttered next to him. Axel on the other hand was speechless, and only nodded in response.

Clara, he guessed, made her way back up to the small stage set up in the center of the building grounds, and pulled up her paper. She was clearly trying—and failing—to conceal her apprehension at the task of spelling out everyone's doom for them.

"Um, the following teams have been disqualified for griefing, or claims of griefing based on plausible cause, and 'eyewitnesses'." She didn't seem too certain about that last part. She cleared her throat, seeming to be stalling an extra second rather than making it easier to talk. "The Nether Knights…"

Man, good thing we didn't go with The Nether Maniacs…

"The Beaconators…"

Pft. I bet they don't even have a freacon beacon.

"The Ocelots…"

Axel blinked, and there was a bit of surprised disbelief at that one among the crowd as well.

He looked over at the Ocelot's build just in time to see Aiden's face melt into shock while Lukas stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at the floor. All the while, Clara just kept reading.

"I guess the 'nine-year winners' were sore losers," scoffed someone next to him.

Axel watched Lukas as he refused to look up, his expression one of seething shame. Olivia voiced his thoughts.

"Wow," she said. "I've never seen him look so furious."

"Pft. Serves them right," Axel said, glowering in their direction. "Dirty rotten cheaters."

Olivia murmured, seeming uncertain, "Yeah…"

Axel raised his brow.

I mean… right?

As soon as Clara finished, the crowd instantly erupted with shouts ranging from confused and distraught, to passionately enraged. From, "But we didn't do anything!" to, "Why are we being disqualified?!" to, "This is obtuse!"

Whaaaat?

Axel couldn't help but notice a distinctive voice shouting, "It's not my fault their build was made completely of flammable blocks!"

With everyone trying to claim everyone was cheating, and with Aiden being the piece of rotten flesh he was, Axel was amazed their team wasn't on that list. However, Axel got the feeling that if it had been more than a pile of charcoal and cobble, they would have been.

It took a whole minute for them to get everyone to calm down again, long enough for her to actually finish. Lukas, he noticed, was completely silent the whole time. He didn't seem to be fighting at all, which was somewhat honorable?

I guess…

"And now, the following are teams who have been disqualified through no fault of their own as victims of the griefings…"

She started to list them, but Axel wasn't paying attention.

Lukas didn't make a whole lot of sense. He was clearly the best builder on their team… and though Axel would never say this, if he was honest with himself, Lukas wasn't an awful person either. He was an annoying, stuck up know-it-all who clearly cared too much about his hair, but it's not like he was a stupid idiot like Aiden. So why did he work with those jerks anyway, when all they did was make it harder to win? He couldn't seriously be their friends outside of competing.

Ehh, he was probably giving him too much credit.

From Axel's experience, you could tell a lot about a person by the people they hung out with. Their group was funny, smart, charming, and awesome, because Axel was funny, Olivia was smart, Reuben was charming, and Jesse was awesome. The Ocelots were dumb, stupid, jerky, and lame, because Gill was dumb, whats-her-face was stupid, Aiden was jerky, and Lukas was lame.

He'd started analyzing people again. It was a bad habit. Understanding people meant either you didn't have an excuse to dislike them, or worse… you had to sympathize with them.

As it was, he was content to keep hating the Ocelots as a whole.

"And finally," Clara finished, "The Quincunx Stars. We are, again, truly sorry for the inconvenience. The winner of this year's competition will be announced shortly. Thank you all for participating, and we hope you enjoy the rest of EnderCon."

Clara finally left the makeshift stage, and the crowd began to erupt in protest again.

"Man, I wish Jesse was here for all that," Axel muttered.

"I wish Jesse was here period." Olivia sighed. "Ohh… I just hope he's okay…"

"Yeah," said Axel. "You and me both."

« … »

"Reuuuben!" Jesse shouted.

Fire. Why did it have to be fire?

"Reuben? Where are ya, buddy?"

Reuben hates fire!

Jesse had been looking for what felt like hours. He searched until all that was left was moonlight. And moonlight meant monsters. He was soaking wet from wading through a small river, tired of walking, and all alone in the middle of the night, but he couldn't stop looking now.

"Come here boy!"

All that he got in response was a few other animals who were clearly disturbed by Jesse as they scurried away. Fine by him. That only meant he'd really know Reuben when he found him. Reuben would never run away from him.

You know… unless he was on fire.

Jesse noticed what looked like pig tracks on the ground. There was no way Reuben could have made all these on his own, but he decided to check it out anyway. Sure enough, they led straight to a herd of pigs much dumber looking than his best friend.

"Reuben? Are you in there?"

Once he got close, the pigs got excited and started squealing loudly. They seemed attracted to him for some reason, as they crowded around and started sniffing him. Did he really smell that much like a pig?

"No, not you gu—pigs! Go away! Shoo!"

He brushed them off and walked away. "Stupid pigs."

But then, he was reminded of something.

Oh, he thought with a smile. I have carrots!

Pigs loved carrots—which explained those pigs—and Reuben loved them more than anything.

Just as he pulled one out, Jesse noticed a chicken dive bomb into a bush and, curious, Jesse walked up to it. As soon as he approached, the chicken jumped out and clucked in his face.

Jesse raised an eyebrow. The chicken seemed almost… disappointed as it trotted away.

He just moved on.

"Reuben, I've got something for ya!"

Jesse noticed a little well in the ground and thought, surely, he wouldn't have… but he was getting desperate.

"Reuben?" his voice echoed back to him.

Of course, nothing. He felt kind of silly after just looking down a well for a pig, but it wasn't impossible. If Reuben had thought to put out the fire, then… well, you never know.

Jesse sighed. He just wished there was some sign of…

He saw smoke.

"Reuben?" he gasped out, putting the carrot back in his pocket. Just above a small rock formation, he spotted it, and found himself suddenly terrified as he rushed around it to the source. There, he found a tree that was floating midair, ablaze with fire. The tree was almost completely gone by now, and wasn't connected to any other trees, so it wouldn't spread.

"He must have run by here."

Jesse looked around, and nearby, he saw a small light source on the ground. He got closer to see what it was, and when he saw, his breath caught in his throat.

It was the Ender Dragon costume, smoldering in a little heap on the grass, but there was no Reuben porkchop.

Oh, thank the Creator!

This meant he was still alive!

He breathed a sigh of relief, and took a moment to relax as he stamped out the glowing embers.

Then Jesse took a deep breath and belted out one last time, "REEEUUUUBEEEEN!"

In response, he heard a distant but very clear, familiar, 'Oink!'

In an instant, all of his energy came back, and Jesse sprinted through the dark.

"Reuben!" he called again, and heard the same little oink.

Finally, he followed it to a small, dark cave. He swallowed.

Okay… I got this.

Jesse took one slow step inside. Instantly his vision was filled with a flurry of black and his hearing with the loud screeching of a million bats as the creatures came pouring out of the cave. Jesse screamed and waved his arms frantically over his head to get them away.

Agh, bats! Horrible things!

Heart still racing, Jesse slowly crept inside the cave again, and that's when he spotted it. A little pink tail sticking out of a little hole in the wall. Just in case his mind was playing tricks on him, Jesse pulled out his sword and poked with the handle. The pig wiggled and scooched forward, squeeing anxiously.

Jesse smiled brightly and whisper shouted, "Reuben!"

Reuben managed to turn around and bounced in his hole.

"Oiii!" Reuben squeaked in relief.

Jesse knelt by the hole. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you! Let's get out of here, Reuben."

Reuben shook his head and spun around in his hole, climbing deeper inside.

'No, Jesse!' he imagined him saying. 'It's too dangerous out there! Climb in this little hole with me!'

As much as Jesse would have liked to give Reuben a pep talk right now, they didn't have time. They were lucky to have gotten this far without encountering some monsters. So, he'd have to settle for the next best thing. Bribery.

"Hey, Reuben," Jesse said in a quiet but inviting voice, "I got a carrot for you."

Jesse set the carrot down and waited a few seconds, then out popped a little pink pig snout.

"Yeah, come on, it's okay," Jesse urged, pulling the carrot back slightly. Reuben was the smartest pig in the world, but he was still a pig.

Reuben climbed out and devoured the carrot, then Jesse picked him up.

"Good boy, Reuben!"

Reuben oinked happily and nuzzled his face with his snout.

Jesse set him down. Reuben looked guilty, probably thinking something along the lines of, 'I'm sorry I ran away. It's just that… I'm a pig.'

"Aww, it's okay, Reuben," he said, and joked, "Man, things really got really heated back there, didn't they?"

Reuben raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Jesse chuckled. "Bad joke."

Jesse started walking back and motioned for Reuben to follow.

"Now come on. We've gotta hurry back to town if we don't want to run into…"

Jesse heard a low groan, and for a second he stopped breathing. He and Reuben went quiet.

He spoke too soon.

Jesse turned back around and right out of the deepest part of the cave, where the moonlight couldn't reach, not one, not two, but three zombies crawled out of the darkness.

Reuben squealed in terror.

"Reuben, run!"

The two of them did. They ran until Jesse thought they were out of the zombies' range, and Jesse crouched behind a rock.

Jesse gasped for air.

"Whew, I think... I think we're good."

But not two seconds after, he heard a hiss from behind him, and spun around to see a green figure looming over him.

Jesse yelped.

He wasn't sure what in the Overworld came over him, but he had the sudden impulse to shove the thing backwards. So he did—as hard as he freaking could, then he grabbed Reuben and vaulted over the rock. One explosion later, and their cover was almost completely gone, but the two of them were completely unharmed.

If he had acted a moment later, they would have both been porkchops.

He put Reuben down and gasped for air again. "That was close—but I think—I think we're good now…"

Jesse really needed to stop talking, because just as he finished talking, an arrow pegged one of the only remaining stone blocks of their cover, right by his ear.

"Ah!"

Jesse looked up to see a skeleton looming over him, bow at the ready, aimed right at him.

"RUN!" Jesse shouted, and just narrowly missed another arrow as he scrambled to his feet.

The two of them kept running, Jesse periodically looking back. That turned out to be a mistake, because he ended up running face-first into a stone wall.

He turned around and looked for a new route, but now every path was blocked by monsters. They were surrounded.

This was not good.

« … »

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

—Philippians 2:4

Author's Notes

Wow, that sure was a bigger deal than it was in the game. XD And a lot longer than I wanted it to be. :/

Side note: That part where Axel describes himself as 'a griefer of sorts'… I could have SWORN I'd worked something like that in elsewhere, but for the life of me, I can't find it anywhere. D: So if any of y'all remember anything like that somewhere, please tell me. XD Anyway, it was an important detail, so better to have it in their twice than not at all.

Choice Notes

Choice notes… note:

None of my choice notes will contain spoilers for the rewrite itself, but they may contain spoilers for the game's canon. I will try as much as possible to keep them relatively relevant to the chapters they're in, but I may want to reference decisions for later, so if you're worried, don't read them. However, I will always keep the author's notes and glossary clear of spoilers, so you can read those worry free. :)

- Axel — So here Axel acts a little more reluctant about leaving the build than he did in the canon. This is to better foreshadow his character growth arc him being 'the selfish one'. They show this a little bit later when Axel refuses to give up the potion, but that was just stupid, and you can bet I'm not going to degrade his character with that nonsense. - .- Here though, the stakes aren't so high that even hesitating makes him look like an awful human being, and is sympathetic enough that, while we can all agree the life of a pet is way more valuable than winning a contest, we all get it. It's hard to let go of everything you've worked hard for, even when it's the obvious choice.

Glossary

- Chicken Bomb — In Minecraft, because it's a game, the laws of reality can be persuaded to break on occasion, which someone used to figure out a way to make what's called a 'chicken bomb'. In the game, the way it works is spawning a bunch of chickens on the same block with the walls closed off, and then breaking it, so the bounding boxes of the chickens is updated, sending them flying everywhere. Not unlike an actual bomb. For this world, imagine sticking a bunch of chickens in a box in a way they just barely fit, and setting it up right outside someone's door so when they open it, the chickens leap at the ability to move and go in the only direction they can: IN. Now their house is flooded with chickens, and they get an unruly surprise. :P

- Reuben Porkchop — When an animal in Minecraft dies, (or any mob for that matter) their body poofs into smoke and they drop an item or items. Pigs drop porkchops. Yum! :D