The three of them emerged from the staircase, looking around. "Where are the others?" Lukas asked, before they heard Axel's voice. They looked over to see the burly boy flailing his arms in an attempt to convince Gabriel.
"Dude, I dunno how I can be any clearer! Weird dude! Doing weird stuff! Freaky with a side of strange! Why won't you believe me?"
Gabriel arched his eyebrow. "You're, uh, not being very clear, there."
"He's probably trying to say it without causing massive panic," Jesse said, before grinning a bit and covering her mouth. "I, um, I must say, though, no offense Axel, but you're not doing a very clear job of it."
Axel grinned back sheepishly.
"Do you want me to tell you charades-style?"
"Oh please no," Gabriel said, slapping his hand over his face, "that would be worse than Soren's singing."
Soren blinked at Gabriel, a hurt sort of look coming over his face. "What's wrong with my singing?"
Onscreen, Lukas and Jesse giggled a bit as they moved towards the others.
"Believe me," Gabriel said, sounding exasperated himself, "that's the LAST thing I want you to do."
The giggles amplified.
"Four words. Six syllables. Sounds like: 'schmonster in the schmasement'." Olivia rolled her eyes at Axel.
Jesse and Lukas were giggling so hard that Jesse was actually totally silent from how acute her giggles were. This was making most of the audience snicker or giggle themselves- Jesse's laughter was contagious. Lukas was making the weirdest face from trying not to laugh.
Gabriel facepalmed, both on and off-screen. "Next," he said tiredly.
Olivia spoke up, quickly. "Wait, just-"
She was interrupted by a voice that made onscreen-Lukas and Jesse stop giggling. "I have a question for you."
"Oh, crap," Olivia said, touching her lip, "is that who I think it is...?"
Onscreen, Jesse looked at Lukas with this look that said "How in the name of Notch did this guy get up here without us seeing him?"
Lukas spread his arms out in a way that said, "How am I supposed to know?"
Gabriel looked in Ivor's direction. "Excuse me, sir. You'll have to wait your turn."
"What do people even ask you about?" Jace mused.
Gabriel shrugged a bit. "It really depends. Some ask me what the Ender Dragon looked like... others ask me what Ellegaard's favorite food was."
"What is- or was- or whatever it is- it?" Jesse asked, twisting around.
"Bread," Gabriel and Ellegaard chorused.
"Just tell me this- do you truly believe that ANYONE can be great?" Ivor asked, moving through the crowd. Gabriel simply shrugged and put his hands on his hips.
"With enough hard work, yes."
"Was that where I went wrong?!" Ivor literally spat, shoving past a few members of the crowd and coming to the base of the stage, "I simply didn't work hard enough?!"
Gabriel's eyes widened. "Ivor?" he gasped. "Is that really you?"
"So you do know each other," Petra said, eyes narrowing, "but how?"
"It's... a long story," Soren replied quietly.
Jesse looked from Ivor to Gabriel. "You know him?" she asked mildly, simply arching one eyebrow.
Gabriel glanced down at the girl with her left eye covered by a wave of hair, making eye contact with her. "I don't know if I ever really did know him. But what I did know... I didn't like." He shot Ivor a glare.
"The feeling is entirely mutual," Ivor seethed, walking onto the stage, "why don't you tell them the real story, Gabriel?!" He spit out the name as if were poison.
"Real story? What real story?" Lukas asked, brow furrowing. "What the heck is Ivor talking about?"
"I see time has made you bitter," Gabriel responded to Ivor's accusation calmly.
"And it's made you an even bigger fool," Ivor shot back, right up in Gabriel's face now. "These people were promised greatness, and I'm ready to deliver."
He started walking towards the back of the stage. Ivor was still very pale, but now he was muttering at a million miles an hour under his breath, hands shaking- although with rage or something else, no one could tell.
"Gabriel, you have to stop him!" Jesse shouted to the warrior.
The warrior glanced at her, then back at Ivor, a strange look that seemed to be a mix of uncertainty and... apology... coming over his face.
The Wither setup rose and clicked into place, but this one had one skull at each end of the T. Ivor pulled out a skull- Petra's skull- and turned to glare at Gabriel. "I'm sorry this is how they had to learn the truth."
Gabriel's eyes widened as Ivor turned back to the Wither and tipped the skull into place. "Ivor, NO!"
It was too late. An explosion sent both of them flying off of the stage. A Wither rose from the stage, the strange, machine-like block- the Command Block- resting in its ribcage.
"Oh crap," Cassie said faintly, vocalizing what every person in the room was thinking.
Ivor stood up as people started screaming and running, a hard look in his eyes. "Creature- attack!" he ordered.
The Command Block glowed at the order, and the Wither started flying around the keynote, making people panic and start to flee, screaming in terror. Jesse looked around, before back up at the Wither, which was shooting a flaming skull-
Jesse dove out of the way, the fireball blasting a crater where she'd been standing only seconds before. Scrambling to her feet, she dodged another one as it soared over her head, barely missing her neck, and blasted apart the floor.
"Are you trying to kill us all?!" Gabriel yelled at Ivor.
Ivor glared back. "I'm not trying to kill anyone! If they hadn't meddled in things they didn't understand the Wither would be under my control!" he shouted back, furiously.
"Well then you shouldn't have scammed Petra out of her diamond," Jace snapped back.
Things started getting a bit weirder as parts of the floor, the walls, a few posters, a flowerpot, any and everything, started soaring towards the Wither, compacting with it and making it start to gain in size, making it bigger than it had been before.
Jesse looked over at Lukas. He was shaking like a leaf, eyes wide, looking like he wanted to bolt up a tree and stay there until the danger was gone.
"Everyone, stay calm!" Gabriel shouted, drawing his sword, "this foul beast is no match for me!"
"You can't go up against the Command Block, who knows what might happen?!" Ellegaard practically yelled at the warrior. He winced and rubbed his ears.
"What are you shouting at me for?! I can't hear you onscreen, can I?!"
Ivor pointed at Gabriel, looking almost like a naughty child tattling on another one. "Creature- attack!"
Gabriel leapt up and hit it with his sword. The Command Block didn't even dent, and he rebounded and slammed into the floor. Hard. Sword skittering out of reach. Everyone who wasn't in the Order gasped. Magnus was perched on the edge of his seat.
"Gabriel-" Jesse began, stepping forward to help, but Gabriel scrambled to his feet, whirling around. "No! Stay away!" he ordered her, making her stop in her tracks, fear showing in his eyes, "It's after me, not you!"
"Look at him, the might Gabriel!" Ivor mocked, and Jesse shot him a glare. "He might not be able to stop this creature, but I can!"
Jesse looked up at the Wither, getting bigger by the second, before looking back at Ivor. "I highly doubt that."
"Creature- retreat!" Ivor commanded the Wither.
The Wither did nothing but turn to look at him. The center head was black, with a single, glowing indigo eye. It was basically the perfect nightmare fuel. Ivor cleared his throat.
"Uh- ahem-" He shouted again, enunciating this time, "Creature- retreat!"
It began to advance towards him, and he snapped, losing all patience, "Retreat, I said!"
"Ivor," Jesse snapped at him, "what in the name of Notch are you doing?!"
Ivor glanced at her and back to the Wither. "Uh, no need to worry, my friends-"
"We're not friends," Petra, Axel, Jesse, Olivia, and Lukas all chorused. This prompted a few weak chuckles from the audience, although they were still fixated on the Wither.
"- I've prepared an elixir that will defeat this creature."
"An elix- oh." Onscreen, Jesse's face went snow white. "We're dead."
Jesse made a comprehending humming sound but said nothing, her own face beginning to drain of color.
Ivor took out a potion- the same potion Axel had used to replace the fancy one earlier.
"Uh oh," Axel said, eyes widening in horror.
Ivor chucked the bottle at the Wither, which smashed upon impact. But nothing happened, as expected.
Ivor stared, horror written across his face. "Impossible... it should've worked! I took such care!" he whispered.
"This is all your fault!" Ivor accused the teenagers.
Jesse threw her hands into the air. "Our fault?! You're the one who's going to unleash that- that thing on a crowd of people!" she yelled, voice actually rising an octave in horror.
"The potion- Axel, you have to throw the real potion!" Olivia hissed at Axel.
Axel was obviously reluctant. "But... finder's keepers."
"Axel!" Jesse nearly screamed, glued to the screen in utter horror but still unable to tear her eyes away, "this is the wrong damn time for finders keepers!"
"You thieves, you're ruining everything!" Ivor snapped back, having caught the whispered conversation.
Axel reluctantly pulled out the fancy potion, which Jesse snatched from his hand and pivoted, hurling at the Wither in a single fluid motion. A black skin crept over the block, just as the potion shattered.
Ivor went pure white. He dropped back into his seat, making everyone stare at him. His dark blue eyes were haunted and horrified, and his voice had dropped to a whisper when he said next, "We're all dead."
"It's protecting itself!" Ivor cried out. "Without the Command Block exposed, the potion's useless! It wasn't supposed to happen this way..." He backed away one step. Two steps. Before turning tail and sprinting away.
"What the hell?! You bring this monstrosity on us and then you don't even have the guts to face it?!" Jace yelled at Ivor, his voice cracking.
"Ivor! You coward, get back here!" Gabriel roared after him, but Ivor was long gone.
Suddenly, a purple beam of light fell on Gabriel, lifting him into the air. He let out a yell of shock as he started to rise into the air.
"I didn't know Withers could do THAT!" Olivia yelled.
Soren muttered a swear, his fists clenching. "They can't, usually. The Command Block- it must be altering the Wither somehow!" he seethed, eyes fixed on the screen in horror.
Olivia ran foward, but the moment she stepped into the tractor beam, she started to shake violently. A strange screech started emitting from her mouth as she started lifting into the air, the screech of only one mob possible. "Je-Jesse-!" she screamed through the screeching, "he-HELP-!"
Jesse reacted instantly, throwing her hands out. Strands of silk shot from each one, catching Gabriel on the leg and Olivia on the side. Jesse proceeded to lunge back a step, yanking with all of her might.
Both of them toppled to the ground, out of the tractor beam, grunting as they hit the floor.
Gabriel let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you," Gabriel said, quickly jerking the string off, Olivia pulling it off as well and Jesse scraping her hands off. "We don't have time to discuss that. Ivor was right about one thing... I can't defeat that thing. Not on my own." He looked up at the Wither, which was about the size of Jesse's treehouse, before he looked at the group, as if just realizing they were still there. "Everyone's running away... except for you. Will you help me?"
"Gabriel's asking for help," Magnus said faintly. "This- this is bad, isn't it?"
Jesse didn't even hesitate before nodding at Gabriel. "Of course," she agreed.
"Follow me!" And the five of them ran out of the keynote, none of them looking back as the world's worst monster was being created.
The screen faded to black.
"Ivor, what have you done?!" Soren groaned immediately, "you've- you've killed hundreds of people!"
"That thing got to the size of the treehouse in less than five minutes," Axel said, shaking his head. "It's just going to get bigger, isn't it?"
"Ignoring us being hybrids, we got tangled up in this because Ivor scammed Petra out of her skull, and we decided to chase him... and we couldn't even stop it," Lukas said, goggling at the screen. "Did we make things worse?"
"Exactly-" Ivor was cut off by Jesse, who shook her head. "I don't know what would've happened if we'd ignored it. For all we know, the Wither would've blocked the potion either way," she mumbled quietly.
"Oh, please, I'll take down that thing in a single swipe!" Aiden grinned cockily.
Em turned to stare at him. "The greatest warrior of all time couldn't even dent it while it was still the size of a normal Wither. What makes you think you can do anything more?"
Aiden scowled at her but said nothing when Jesse turned to shoot him a significant look.
A/N: Heehee :3
RQTC: How many of you have reread Hybrid at least once, and how many of you are reading it for the first time?
pensuka: (shrugs) well we will find out, won't we xD
AquaK13: There you go xD
Guest: x3
Meow Shadow: (high five) Here, have another chapter xD
x.X. A.L. X.x
