"Oh. So." Lukas let out a long sigh. "I guess I do die down there. Wonderful."
Jesse looked behind her as if checking to confirm that no, Lukas was not, in fact, behind her. Of course, he wasn't. "I- I thought he was right behind me!" she gasped.
"Well, if he's not here, then the only place he could be is..." Axel trailed off, eyes widening in shock, and Jesse finished the thought, whirling back around to the door. "He's still down there!"
Petra bit her lip, eyes widening. "Ivor has an iron golem, and all the ingredients to make a Wither down there! If he was to unleash it on this crowd of people..." Her eyes went wider than dinner plates in horror. "We have to act fast!"
Olivia jerked her head at Gabriel, who was going on about feeling pressure about coming to the keynote or something or other. "It just so happens that the greatest warrior of all time is in the building- we can ask Gabriel to help! This is the smartest way to help Lukas."
"I guess I'm stupid then," Jesse mumbled quietly, although still loud enough for Reuben and Jace to hear her. Both of them looked at her in confusion. "Why?" Jace whispered back.
"He's tough," Petra agreed, "I just hope he's tough enough to hold out for a bit longer."
"That's true," Lukas said, "I mean, I'm not sure there's much you guys could do about that golem. If Gabriel went down there he could probably smash it to pieces."
"Glad you think of it like that," Petra said, smiling at Lukas.
Onscreen, though, Jesse was shaking her head, having come to a decision. "I'm going after Lukas myself," she said firmly.
"That's why," Jesse whispered back to Jace.
"I- what?!" Lukas gasped, turning around to stare at Jesse. Aiden was staring with his mouth open, and Maya and Gill were staring at Jesse with what seemed to be almost respect.
Petra's eyes widened. "By... yourself? A-are you sure, Jesse?" she asked, sounding slightly admiring.
Jesse hesitated as she looked back at the redhead. "... yeah..." she said after a moment, turning back to her friends. "The rest of you, go get Gabriel."
"We're on it, Jesse," Olivia agreed instantly, both eyes brightening. Petra piped up with her own smile, "We'll find a way to warn Gabriel and then we'll meet you back here."
"Let's crash this party," Axel nodded enthusiastically.
"Be back as soon as I can," Jesse responded, crossing her heart and covering one eye. All of them grinned at the sign of her little oath.
Petra gave the black-haired girl a long look, the grin fading, before quietly uttering, "Be careful."
"You're- you're actually going back for me," Lukas said, eyes practically sparkling with gratitude. If he was a character in an anime, he'd be sparkling right about now. He looked over at real-Jesse. "Thank you, Jesse."
"Like I said," Jesse said, giving him a light but warm smile, "I'll do anything when it comes to my friends."
The Ocelots automatically glanced at Lukas, whose mouth was partially open as he stared at Jesse with wide eyes, as though expecting him to laugh or at least decline that they were friends.
Instead, Lukas turned back to the screen.
Jesse opened the door back to the basement, staring down into the darkness. "... here goes nothing," she said finally, before beginning to descend the staircase. "Alright... not sure how I'm gonna get Lukas without- A) getting my head knocked off by the iron golem, or B) getting spotted by the iron golem, since A is not a good option-"
She stepped off the stairs and cut herself off abruptly as she immediately whipped back around the corner, slamming her back into the wall and slapping a hand over her mouth as the golem looked in her direction, eyes wide. Reuben also remained utterly silent.
"Oh, Notch, more danger," Olivia groaned. "Of course there's more danger."
"You're quite brave, Jesse," Gabriel said in awe. "I can respect a person like that."
Jace elbowed the black-haired girl in the ribs, making her look over at him. "You just got the greatest warrior of all time to respect you!" he whispered, eyes lit up with excitement. She grinned back at him.
After a whole minute, Jesse slowly poked her head back around the corner, and tiptoed into the bookshelves when she saw no sign of the iron golem. "Lukas! Can you... hear me?" she whispered loudly.
"Jesse?" Jesse looked back as Lukas's blue-green eyes peeked over the lip of a chest, one hand keeping the lid lifted up. His eyes were filled with surprise. "You- you came back for me?" he asked, voice tinged with surprise.
A relieved smile came over Jesse's face. "Lukas! Over here!" and she gestured towards her.
The screen switched back as Lukas's eyes shifted, his eyes widened, and he let the lid shut over his head.
The screen went back to Jesse's, whose smile fell into a frown. "And... it's... right behind me, isn't it." She twisted to see the golem glaring down at her with blazing red eyes.
"GAH!" Axel yelped, jumping back. Lukas put a hand over his rapidly thumping heart, Petra bounced on her seat, and Olivia squeaked before slapping her hands over her eyes.
Jesse dodged out of the way as it swiped clumsily at her, but the space she could move in was limited-
"Hey!" The golem looked away as the lid of Lukas's chest shut, Jesse lunging into the nearest niche and crouching down so that it couldn't see her.
Upon seeing that Jesse was no longer standing there, and being too stupid to look around, it lumbered away.
"You okay?" Jesse whispered to Lukas. Immediately she winced at her choice of words.
Lukas's eyes peeped through the crack between the lid and the actual chest. "I've... been worse," he whispered back. "Of course, I can't say this is the best situation I've ever been in... any bright ideas?"
Jesse thought about this for a second. "... I think so. One second."
And the next moment, she jumped out of the niche. "Hey!" she shouted at the golem.
"I'm pretty sure he said 'bright' ideas, Jesse," Em drawled sarcastically.
Olivia groaned again and covered her eyes back up. "Ohhh don't die, Jesse."
The golem turned to see her, but Jesse was already lifting her palm and poking the tip of her tongue out of her mouth. For a single, terrifying moment, nothing happened, before a huge, heavy strand of silk shot out of her palm and slammed into the golem's chest, making it stagger back a step.
The screen sped up again as Jesse darted around the screen, the golem slowly swinging at her while streams of white silk poured from her hands, before it slowed back down to normal speed as Jesse landed on the stone floor again, scraping off the silk that was still protruding from her hands, before turning.
The screen switched to show the golem tangled up in the world's most elaborate spiderweb like a fly, struggling amongst the swathes of white silk.
"Okay, that was awesome," Nell said, grinning at Jesse. "Radical, brah!"
"Thank you, I think...?"
"Jesse?"
Jesse turned to see Lukas still staring at her, eyes wide with stunned shock. She didn't waste any time. "Hurry, it's not going to keep the golem forever!" she hissed, and Lukas scrambled out of the chest, racing after Reuben and Jesse through the bookshelves.
"Thank you," Lukas repeated. "Seriously, I owe you one, Jesse."
"I haven't done anything yet," Jesse replied with a shrug.
"Yet," Lukas pointed out.
"Axel's explosion knocked me back into the shelves," onscreen-Lukas was saying, "and by the time I managed to get up again it was too late. Thanks for coming back for me, Jesse. Didn't know if anyone would."
Jesse turned to grin at him. "No problem, Lukas," she replied, "what are friends for?"
The blonde blinked at her, his hair twitching again, before a small smile formed on his own face. "Thanks, Jesse. I owe you one."
"No problem," Jesse repeated, before jerking her head at her spiderweb. "Now, I would explain how I did that, but right now we should probably get out of here before the golem rips through, and try to stop Ivor from spawning his Wither."
"That's probably a good idea," Lukas joked back, making Jesse grin back at him before the two of them rushed back up the stairs and out of the basement. The screen faded to black.
Jesse's faint smile had faded, and she was staring intently at the screen. This didn't go unnoticed by Jace. "Something wrong, Jess?" he asked curiously.
"... I just have the feeling," she spoke slowly, hands tightening in her lap as she did so, "that something is going to go horribly wrong soon."
A/N: I think your feeling is spot on, Jesse xD
RQTC: Do you prefer two hour delays or two hour early releases?
I prefer the second option.
Guest: Muahahaha (wiggles eyebrows) You'll see.
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: I was writing and that just popped in xD so I was like 'coolio'
AquaK13: I know how you feel, fam xD
Guest: Noooothing (Lenny face)
Seastorm25: ... yeah but I'm too lazy to fix it xD Yes, yes I do get it xD
Guest: (cracks up) Haha that's- yeah, that's great.
RapidSammi: Lol xD sorry Sammi-kun
Luna96: I got a nosebleed during a math test once. THE MIDDLE OF THE EFFING MATH TEST.
Idon'tlikecheese: Yeah that was fun to write xD
sailor. mikuchan: Ahh yeah those are fun to write :3
Meow Shadow: (laughs) Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and of course! And no, I don't mind at all xD don't worry about it.
LittleAngelbun: Cool :3
x.X. A.L. X.x
