"I have the amulet," Jesse said carefully, reaching into her pocket and then holding it out to Soren, the builder's back still turned to her.
Soren's eyes widened, but he still didn't turn to face Jesse. There was a moment's pause before he asked, "What?"
"Gabriel gave it to me."
Soren finally turned around to see Jesse with a plaintive look on her face, the amulet held out in his direction. "Gabriel?" he asked, quietly.
Jesse took another deep breath, the amulet dropping back to her side. "Gabriel asked me to reassemble the Order of the STone."
He blinked slowly at that. "They asked for me?" Soren asked slowly and wonderingly. "I've always known they needed me, but... I never was sure if they wanted me."
"Wait, what? Of course we want you," Ellegaard said, poking the builder in the shoulder with an odd look.
He blinked at her again, as if he might be dreaming again. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Magnus leaned over and slung an arm around Soren, having to practically sit on top of Gabriel to do so, the warrior letting out a grunt of complaint at this. "I mean, yeah, you might be kinda wacko, and a little weird, and a bit crazy- well, a lot crazy- well, my- my point is that you're definitely one of us."
Gabriel nodded from where he was now bent over, patting Soren on the knee. "You have always been welcome among us," he told the builder.
Soren just stared at them, gratitude shining in his eyes, before shifting so that he was staring at the screen quietly.
"It's lonely down here, without your friends," Soren mused.
"Ellegaard's your friend," Jesse offered, tentatively.
"That was a good idea to go with that," Magnus said, nodding wisely. "Brainy club."
"Yes. Now, can you please get off me, Magnus?" Gabriel asked, grunting again a moment later as he nearly fell off the couch.
"Sure. Scoot." Gabriel quickly obliged, and Magnus slid off so that now he was sitting between Gabriel and Soren. The warrior let out a soft, relieved sound, and rubbed the back of his neck before cracking it.
Soren crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Hmm, I dunno. Does she ever talk about me?"
"I'm not sure I would know. It's not like I know her very well," Jesse pointed out.
Onscreen, Jesse rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Sure."
"What kinds of things do they say?" A short pause. "Specifically. Give me an example."
"That you were missed," Jesse finally went for, rubbing one elbow awkwardly.
Soren blinked at her in surprise at this. "Really?"
"Maybe it was more... miss-ing," Jesse continued, slowly. "You have to read between the lines."
"Yes... yes you do." Soren gave the short girl a look. "But what about you? Are you my friend?"
Many glances were sent Jesse's way. Soren, however, was staring at the screen expectantly.
Onscreen, Jesse blinked. This image of Soren grinning and rubbing Jesse on the head with Lukas pouting playfully in the background superimposed itself over the screen. She blinked again, and it was gone, and a small smile came over her face as she nodded. "Yes," she replied.
Real-Soren's face broke into a grin. Gabriel smirked at him in amusement.
Onscreen, Soren's face also broke into a grin, and he threw his hands up into the air. "That's the best thing I've heard in years! ... Admittedly, that's not a very high bar."
Real-Jesse 'coughed'.
"Don't worry, I'll help you. That's what friends do."
Jesse opened her mouth, breathing in as though she were about to respond, when the door banged open and she jumped and whipped around. Lukas skidded into the room, blue-green eyes filled with panic. "Jesse?!" he practically shouted.
"Lukas-?" Jesse suddenly blinked, surprise filling her eyes, and she turned on her heel to see the ginger Architect.
Soren was staring. Like, he was literally staring at Lukas, mouth hanging slightly open, and his eyes were wider than dinner plates. Finally, he swallowed hard, coughed softly, and then said something so quietly that most members of the audience had to lean forward to hear it.
"Lukas?"
Jesse turned to look at Lukas, who was also staring. His blue-green eyes were flicking over the builder, practically drinking in the sight of him as if he'd been a cup of water in a desert. "Soren?" he asked after a few moments' silence, tentatively.
The word had barely come out of his mouth when the builder had Lukas in a tight hug, Lukas's arms pinned at his sides. Lukas blinked, eyes widening, before he slowly reached up to pat Soren on the back. He'd barely done it once when Soren let go of him and held him at arms' length, a big grin spreading over his face. "It's terrific to see you! And you're so much taller. Wait-" and he whirled on his heel, staring intently at Jesse. "That... Lukas just called you Jesse. Are you...?"
Jesse blinked at him, before holding out her palm. A strand of silk shot out of it and slammed into the floor. Soren's grin widened. "Fantastic!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air again.
"Hey, that's like what Blonde Guy did back at the temple!" Magnus exclaimed, pointing at the screen. Milo cleared his throat and gave him a glare before gesturing pointedly at his own hair.
The same thought seemed to have crossed Jesse's mind as well, but it had barely done so when suddenly Soren grabbed Jesse by the arm, and then Lukas, and then yanked them both into a tight hug. Lukas blinked, sharing a bewildered look with Jesse, before his expression softened into a happy smile.
"Awww," Jesse practically cooed at the screen. Lukas rolled his eyes at that, but he had a smile on his face too.
Onscreen, Jesse smiled back at Lukas, just as Olivia bleeped into the room, followed closely by Axel charging into the room himself. Soren released them to look at the new 'guests'.
"Soren?" Olivia gave Jesse a totally confused look.
Jesse shrugged and mouthed, "Tell you later."
Lukas let out a relieved purring sound and tugged Jesse closer to him. She raised her eyebrow at him, but then they widened as Petra came in.
She was worse. Her skin was definitely a sickening shade of gray, the bags under her eyes were so dark that they were almost black. Her shoulders were hunched over, as though she were trying to curl into a ball while standing. Breathing so labored, you could hear it from ten feet away. Her formerly gold eyes were turning dead black. It looked as though she hadn't slept for centuries. Jesse shivered a bit inadvertently.
She looked as though she were going to die.
"Oh my god," Olivia gawked at the screen, "she's worse."
Jace's arms tightened so much around Petra that she actually winced. He let his arm relax a bit, but his hand was still resting protectively on her shoulder, lips pressing into a thin line.
"Nice to see you, Soren," Petra said in a faint, scratchy voice. She even sounded sick.
Soren's eyes widened. "Petra?" He walked over to her. "You look... terrible."
"Gee, thanks," Petra rasped, but then her eyes shifted to the side, and they widened.
Jesse looked over her shoulder and then automatically slapped her hand over her eyes with a soft gasp. The screen changed to show there was a single Enderman standing in the dead center of the lab.
"I thought we were safe in here!" Jesse squeaked in fear.
Soren responded, his voice having actually gone a bit higher. "The Endermen don't know they're being held captive. You can't escape when you don't know you're trapped. But... yeah. This is quite- quite bad."
"Not helping, Soren."
Another one teleported in, making the whole group automatically cover their eyes, Olivia raising her hand to shield her non-Enderman eye, in hopes that it might fool them.
It didn't. One of them started screeching in rage, the one next to it started, and then the two began screeching at each other.
"Oh crap," Jesse said, having turned her head away automatically. She was now peeking at the screen out of the corners of her eyes, as was most of the audience.
"You've upset them!" Soren accused her, although he seemed torn between glaring at Jesse and hiding behind her, "you've- you've altered their behavior!"
"Run. RUN!" Jesse exclaimed, the whole group whirling on their heels and rushing for the door without another word. Not that it really helped- because the moment they stepped into the hallway, she slapped a hand to her forehead and muttered something under her breath that was surely very uncomplimentary. The screen changed to show that the hallway was crawling with Endermen. There were so many of them that dodging around them without getting attacked seemed as likely as finding a needle in a haystack. Which is to say, NOT LIKELY.
"Oh Notch oh Notch oh Notch," Lukas chanted quietly, arm tightening around Jesse so much that it forced a squeak out of her.
"I wasn't expecting so many houseguests," Soren said onscreen feebly, although it was very hushed. "There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them."
Lukas glanced at him. "I can't tell if you're joking or not," he whispered back.
Jesse slowly dropped her head forward into her hands. "Just this once, couldn't something be easy?" she bemoaned in a sotto voce.
A/N: Aww, poor Jesse xD And wow, only two people got the correct age range/age.
RQTC: Winter or Summer?
Summer; we have a much longer summer break than winter break xD
LunarStarsMoon: (grins) / Oh. xD
AquaK13: Haha yep xD / And... nope xD Quite a few years off, actually.
Darkbeast Dend: Nahh, it's cool. / Of course you don't know, that's why I asked what you think xD
Kaos Ruin: Heehee x3 / I know, right?
Idon'tlikecheese: Correct. (confetti)
sailor. mikuchan: 'You Can Find It'. / (laughs) / Correct; but that's a really wide age range, so... xD
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Haha! / Umm... nope. A few years off xD / And yep! xD
Slayer88: Two years off xD
LunarStarsMoon: Hehehe xD / That's fine x3
Meow Shadow: (laughs) / Glad you like it so far! And yeah, my 'thing' is... cliffhangers xD / POST POST POSTINGGGG xD / A year or two off, actually, but very close!
SofiaTheWriter88: Lol yep xD / But yes. Yes he is. / Hahaha! xD / And thank you! I'm glad you like it so much.
RapidSammi: (laughs) / Agreee! / Um, two or three years off there, friend xD
Emily The Avenger: Nope! Wrong age range. xD / I know, right? xD
DynamiteHunter6: Really? That's interesting. Why's that? / Correct age range! and yeah, not asking you to divulge x3
EthanDaCabbage: Fair enough :3
x.X. A.L. X.x
