After several moments of blank staring at the area where Nell wanted the statue, Jesse finally shrugged and began placing clay blocks as high as they could go at the back of the pedestal, so that two pillars rose as high as she dared let it go. Quickly using her six arms to propel herself onto one of the pillars, she started placing blocks in a general spiderweb-y pattern.

Reuben, Cassie, Radar and Jace picked up on what she was doing very quickly and called out encouragement and advice to her so that she didn't have to jump off, step back and look at it, and then go back to working on the statue.

Reuben's 'advice' was more of just encouragement, while Cassie pointed out areas that were too closely spaced and Radar rattled off advice and encouragement in a single breath. Jace simply occasionally pointed out that if you placed a certain block that way instead of that way, it tended to look better.

So, Jesse found that after only one or two minutes (in comparison to five or ten, like usual), she had a very respectable-looking spiderweb statue in place.

To top it off (and to suit the theme of Nell's shop, which seemed to be a surf shop), Jesse moved forward several paces from the spiderweb statue and built a surfboard in front of it. It was blue.

Jesse liked the color blue.

Nell beamed when she got a look at the new statue, her blue eyes lighting up. "That is some sweet work- noice." Turning to Jesse, she abruptly threw her arms around the shorter girl in a tight hug, startling the much-shorter spider hybrid a little bit. "Oh, Jesse dude, thanks!"

"It was my pleasure!" Jesse replied cheerfully the moment she could breathe again, Nell releasing her from the throes of the bear hug mere seconds later.

"Well it is an honor, mi amigos, and don't be strangers, okay?" Nell asked, giving Jesse and Jace a cheerful wave before walking back towards the shop and making a beeline for the jukebox.

Radar blinked at Nell a bit- he clearly didn't really know how to react to her. "Well, she is a... fascinating woman, isnt she?" he asked, finally. "Very free spirited."

Jesse chuckled a bit, turning to face Radar again and absentmindedly setting her hand on Reuben's head. (The pig-teenager glanced up at the hand, but didn't try to bat it off.) "Heh, yeah," she said agreeably, "kind of reminds of Petra back in her early days." She paused, before crossing her middle set of arms while keeping her lowest hand resting on Reuben's head. "Speaking of whom, you said she's waiting for me at the-"

Radar got what Jesse was asking and nodded, pointing in the direction of the pickaxes- which, of course, marked the mineshaft. "Mineshaft," he confirmed. "Mmhm."

Jesse glanced at her brother, letting an amused smirk come over her face. "Now, Jace, are we going to walk together to the mineshaft, or do I have to put a leash on ya, huh?" she asked her brother teasingly, putting one hand on her hip.

Jace grinned sheepishly, making Jesse's grin widen. "Haha... sorry. I was just excited. The last time I scored a point against Petra was weeks ago!" He threw his hands into the air to emphasize the point.

Cassie chuckled at Jace's comment. "You score points against Petra all the time, Jace, you'll be fine-"

Abruptly, an explosion of yapping came to life at their feet, and Jesse and Cassie jumped in surprise and looked down to see that a tiny wolf puppy was now running in circles around Jesse quite happily. Jace's grin grew, and he bent down and barked cheerfully to the puppy. It barked back at him but continued running in happy circles around Jesse.

Reuben grinned as well, crouching down to get a better look at the puppy before giving a fairly good bark at it. The puppy yapped back and kept dashing around Jesse in circles.

Jace's grin grew even more. Reuben had been trying to teach himself to talk to other animals- mainly chickens, cats or ocelots, dogs, and even a bit of Spider- with surprising success. Jesse swore that it was easier to learn when you were a kid, because she'd tried too and apparently had called Jace a "wet tiger" a few months ago in Wolf. But Reuben was fairly proficient in all of the languages now- enough to at least understand most basic conversations.

"Oh! Wink, get back here!" scolded a familiar voice that made Jesse look up in surprise, "leave Jesse and-"

Standing not seven feet away was Stacy Plays, her green eyes wide with surprise. And sitting on a low wall right next to her was Stampy Cat, a bewildered look fixed on his face as well.

But they weren't looking at Jesse right now. It wouldn't have made sense if they were, because Jesse was the leader of Beacontown and they surely knew that, so it shouldn't be a surprise to see Jesse. But they weren't staring in shock at Jesse right now, were they?

No, they were staring at the girl with brilliant red hair standing NEXT to Jesse.

"... Cassie Rose?"

Oh boy.

"Hey, Reuben," Jesse spoke up quickly, making the pig hybrid look up from where he was crouched next to the skipping puppy, "I just remembered, I left one of my better iron swords back at the Treasure Hall, and we're gonna need a few for the trip today. Could you go grab 'em?"

The pig hybrid blinked up at Jesse, looking slightly surprised. Usually, Jesse was very insistent on running back to get her own things if she'd left them, especially if it was a weapon of some sort. Reuben would offer to fetch things for her, but she told him it was okay.

It... may have been a slight protective side effect from when she'd told him to fetch the sword in the Witherstorm and he'd died because of it.

Jace stood up, having picked up very quickly on what Jesse was getting at. He acted like a kid sometimes but he was definitely not dumb. "Oh yeah... c'mon, Reuben, I'll walk ya there."

"Aww, Jace," Reuben complained up to his 'uncle' as Jace turned and started leading Reuben away, "I can go by myself!"

"Yeah, but I know a shortcut, so it'll be quicker this way."

Jesse hid a grin. Knowing Jace, he was going to take methods that LOOKED like shortcuts but actually took quite a while just so Reuben wouldn't overhear this conversation that they were about to have as they disappeared from sight and probably earshot quite quickly.

Best brother ever.

"Cassie- Cassie?!" Stacy exclaimed, looking startled at the sight of the redhead and finally regaining control of her tongue. "You're- you- how are you here?! I thought you died!"

Cassie winced as a couple heads turned in their direction. Stacy's exclamation had been a teensy bit loud. "Um... hi, guys," she said weakly, lifting a hand and giving a feeble wave.

Stampy goggled at her, scooting backwards instinctively and nearly falling over. "Um, uh, y-yo-you're not- you're not going to kill us, right?" he asked, voice rising into a nervous squeak.

The former White Pumpkin flinched and threw her hands up in the air, almost knocking her glasses off of her face in her haste. "N-no! No no no! Of course not! I-" She paused, realizing that the way she was about to put it sounded a little weird and that there was a small crowd of people staring at them in confusion and a bit of concern.

Jesse thought quickly before turning to the rest of the people- trying not to trip over Wink or step on his tail or anything- and waving casually at them. "Uh, nothing to see here, folks!" she called out to them with a slightly sheepish grin, aware that now Cassie, Stacy, and Stampy were staring at her as well. "We're just, um-" An idea popped into her head. It was a very, very silly idea, but right now any idea was a good idea to her.

"We're- practicing for the 'Find the White Pumpkin' tour this Halloween!" she blurted. "We're planning on adding a new aspect to it this year. B-but since it's completely new, we have to practice a lot to get used to it, so we're starting early this year."

Somehow, the extremely silly excuse Jesse had just come up with worked, and most of the crowd relaxed and continued going about their day. Jesse let out a little sigh of relief, shoulders dropping as she turned back to the other two, putting her hands up nervously. "Can you guys keep it down, please? Cassie's... trying to put all that behind her."

Stacy frowned at Cassie, crossing her arms and giving the redhead a dubious look. "Oh, is she?" she asked, in a rather suspicious tone.

Cassie flinched a bit this time, tearing her eyes away from them and looking at the floor. Her shoulders were starting to hunch, and Jesse was painfully aware that they were extremely close to Bad Luck Alley. Hopefully Cassie wouldn't just bolt off home.

"Do people know that she's the White Pumpkin?" Stacy continued, squinting at Cassie suspiciously. Stampy was fidgeting just behind her- looking as if he was trying to figure out what he wanted to say but not sure what it was. "Do they know that she was... a murderer?"

Thunder rumbled through the sky. When Jesse looked up to check the weather, though, there wasn't a dark cloud in the sky.

Weird.

"Well- they know that she dresses UP as the White Pumpkin for the tour thing every year," Jesse spoke, still keeping her voice low, "but... not everyone knows that she was the real White Pumpkin."

Which was true. Lukas had offered to change the information in his first book about the White Pumpkin once he'd finished most of it, but Cassie had told him (uncomfortably) that she'd done something wrong, so she had to face up to the consequences. Actually, her willingness to take responsibility for it was what had started changing everyone's opinion about her, although that was still a work in progress.

What had surprised Cassie the most was that most people... didn't really have a reaction. Sure, they treated her a little more warily, but most people still seemed alright with her. Even parents kept letting her babysit, although several did quit using her as a babysitter after learning that she was the former White Pumpkin. And the children didn't know (of course).

Jesse had been a little surprised, but figured out the reason after asking a couple of people.

They hadn't known Cassie when she was the White Pumpkin. They didn't know her as the girl who pretended to be a different person and then killed people using redstone traps. They didn't know her as the girl who was so desperate to get home that she'd been willing to do anything, anything to get home. No, they only knew her as the nice red-haired girl who kids really liked and who tried to be helpful all the time.

Sure, were they a little worried that she might revert to acting like the White Pumpkin? Absolutely. Actually, quite a few of the people who seemed the most casual with Cassie seemed to be the most concerned.

But they saw that Jesse seemed to trust Cassie quite a bit, and they all trusted Jesse's judgement. (This had made Jesse stare at them before going "Are you sure you're talking about the right person?" This had caused them to laugh.) They all had decided that if Jesse trusted Cassie- even if it wasn't ALL the way- then Cassie was okay.

Jesse still thought this trust in her judgement was a bit misplaced, but she'd decided not to voice that concern. She WAS the person who'd known Cassie for the longest out of the Hybrid Order, after all, even if they hadn't seen each other for years. And... she could tell when people were being sincere. She was quite certain that Cassie had been extremely sincere back then, and she still was quite certain that Cassie was sincere now.

So... what the heck. She might not have completely forgiven Cassie, but... she supposed that she trusted her.

"And they're... okay with that?" Stacy continued, still staring at Cassie suspiciously.

Jesse shrugged slightly. "Most people seem to be okay with her. I mean, sure, they're a little wary around her, but..." She gently set a hand on Cassie's shoulder, making the red-haired girl flinch automatically. "But Cassie's changed. She's not the same person she was back then. And..." She glanced over at the redhead, before giving Stacy a small smile. "She's much more like the Cassie I used to know."

"Did you know her before?" Stampy asked, sounding a little more curious now.

"Well, technically, yeah, because when I was a kid I lived in a lab which was called the Bureau of Amalgamology, and the lab had scientists that developed hybrids, and Cassie's aunt was one of the scientists, and Cassie and I were friends, but then I got brainwashed into forgetting everything so I forgot that Cassie existed, but my memories came back when we reached the Twin Moons world and I remembered Cassie, and-" Jesse paused upon seeing the completely blank and confused expressions currently on the two YouTubers' (seriously, what WAS a YouTuber? They'd never explained it) face. Judging by their expressions, they had no idea what she'd just said.

"Yeah, we were friends when we were kids," Jesse decided to summarize.

There was a long pause, before Stampy glanced over at Stacy with an unreadable expression. Stacy met his eyes, and the two of them regarded each other for a minute before Stampy turned back to Cassie, moving to get off the wall.

Cassie flinched automatically at that.

Stampy crossed his arms, regarding Cassie with a slightly uneasy look. "I... I don't know. But... if Jesse's okay with you, I suppose..." Stampy paused, before plowing forward, "I suppose we can at least peacefully co-exist."

Jesse had to hide a huge relieved sigh at that. If he'd said otherwise, well, that could've gone wrong.

Stacy's expression was still extremely stony, her arms crossed across her chest as she considered the idea. Finally, it softened just the tiniest bit. "Yeah... I guess we can call a truce or whatever." A moment later, her expression hardened again, and she raised a finger and pointed at Cassie, narrowing her eyes. "But look at us funny and I will sic Wink on you."

Cassie stared at Stacy blankly for a moment, blinking at the other girl.

"You... how can you..." Cassie reached up and held her head for a moment, expression pinching up a bit as she tried to gather her feelings. "How can you just... be okay with me... after... after I...?"

Stampy bit his lip. "Well, we're not... not okay necessarily. But... we're willing to let you try to redeem yourself, I suppose?"

Jesse could see Cassie opening her mouth and let out a little sigh, squeezing Cassie's shoulder and making Cassie look at her. "Cassie, you're human, like the rest of us. You're a person, just like the rest of us. It might take you a while. A long while. Heck, it might even take the rest of your life, but..." The spider hybrid paused, before smiling a little at Cassie. "But you can be redeemed. You just have to make that effort."

The redhead stared at Jesse, blinking rapidly. Jesse could've SWORN she could see tears beginning to well up in Cassie's eyes.

Finally, Cassie hid her face and started letting her shoulders shake. The spider hybrid didn't have superhuman hearing or anything, but she could've sworn she could've heard sniffling, which made a small smile come over her face.

Maybe it was just that Jesse was too nice. Maybe it was the fact that Cassie had insisted on spending six months in jail when they'd gotten back from their adventures and things had calmed down a bit despite her absolute hatred of feeling trapped, and had spent those six months in jail without Winslow or anyone to help assuage her phobia of being trapped. Maybe it was the fact that Cassie had been trying her damndest since the Twin Moons Manor to make up for it.

But anyone who could show that they regretted their actions this much couldn't possibly still be a bad person, right?


A/N: Foreshadowing!

Yeah.. I tried to make this more natural. Cassie just being forgiven without a hitch was a weird thing. She's spent some time in jail, she's clearly been working her butt off to try to show that she's really sorry, and she clearly regrets what she did. And not everyone has forgiven Cassie or trusts her- we see that with a lot of the other characters. Even Jesse hasn't fully forgiven Cassie.

But she does deserve a chance to show that she's changed.

Replies to reviews!

Princess of Muffins: Thanks! / Haha, I guess not, but thanks for the input!

TheAmberShadow: Haha, that would be pretty fun, wouldn't it? / Well, on THIS site. On other sites I've seen a few people who don't like him. / (chuckles) Nope. / Hopefully! / Sort of went with your idea! It wasn't exact, but it was a spiderweb!

aquagirl555: Haha, thanks! I'm glad you like it. / There's already a ginormous octopus statue right there though xD / Added a surfboard, how's that? xD / True.

appliances: Haha, thanks for the suggestion... fam. xD

CamronXTheXGamer: ... no. It was a joke. / Hm, thanks for the suggestion!

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Jesse has built a thing xD

LunarTheMooncake: Lol, neither will I! / Thanks for the suggestion, even though I didn't use it!

J.M.M.: Haha, I suppose that's true.

Toni42: Riiight?! / Yep, spider themed-statue. (And water. Water's nice, too.) / Thanks, Toni!

x.X. A.L. X.x