It took a good while, but after a while everyone made it back to the living room, where Hadrian and Mevia were quietly discussing something on the couch. After Aiden ran back to the private library and stuck the book he'd accidentally carried out back inside, and after Jesse came in and plopped onto the floor, eyes looking starry but not explaining why, and after Cassie and the others washed off all the redstone- when, in short, they were ready, Cassie picked up the remote and pressed the button to 'wake the screen back up'.
The title screen for the next episode came back on, and Jesse's shoulders immediately froze, while Ivor flinched as if he'd been slapped.
Ivor, Petra, Lukas, and Jesse were standing on a tiny island that was floating in the sky. Ivor looked as if he were about to fall off the island backwards, Jesse lunging forward to catch him with wide eyes. Lukas was squinting into something in the distance, ears pricked up, and Petra was gaping over the edge with wide eyes.
"That's- um- that is not comforting," Olivia declared, looking incredibly anxious. "How'd you even end up in that situation?"
"Well we will find out," Ivor said, although it was pretty clear from the way his eyes narrowed a bit that he was getting a bit anxious himself.
"Oooh, I don't like the look of that screen," Harper mumbled.
Just to get the discomforting image off the screen, Cassie pressed the play button again. Jesse's voice spoke up. "Previously on Minecraft: Hybrid Mode."
Instead of the narrator's voice coming on and speaking, Jesse and Lukas's fight came onscreen, making both of them wince a bit visibly. "Jesse, I'm just trying to help-" Lukas was saying.
"THEN JUST STOP!" Jesse roared, eyes brimming with unshed tears, "just stop and go be with your friends- go be with the friends you wanted to risk your life to save, because you just can't tell me to MOVE ON OVER MY BEST FRIEND!" And she shoved him down.
Lukas toppled backwards onto his behind, staring at Jesse in shock, before his own expression hardened into anger. "Fine." He got to his feet. "Fine! Forget I tried to help you. Forget about everything I've been doing to try to help you. Just forget it, okay?!" And he whirled on his heel and stormed off, tail flicking around angrily.
"I will. We don't need you anyway!" Jesse snapped, before whirling around on her heel and tearing off.
Real-Lukas winced and gave her hand a squeeze. There was a long moment of silence where Jesse was simply staring into the distance, before she carefully squeezed his back.
Onscreen, Jesse slowed to a stop, taking in a deep, shuddering breath, tears brimming in her eyes as she blinked, sending a cascade of tears flowing down her cheeks. She dropped into a sitting position, buried her head in her knees, and started crying quietly.
The screen faded to black, the words ONE MONTH LATER coming over the screen. It faded back in to show Jesse sitting on a couch, reading a book rather blankly. She turned the page, before turning another one not even a full ten seconds later.
The narrator picked up. "In one month, Jesse, Petra, Olivia, and Axel have been on lots of adventures, if their treasure room's any indication." Short pause. "But seriously, some of the new treasures are pretty cool, like the Eyes of Ender-"
Jesse huffed snappishly, staring at the book still. "Hey, narrator, stop trying to cheer me up and just get on with the story, will you?"
The whole group blinked. "... did... did you just break the fourth wall?" Hadrian asked, pointing at the screen a bit.
"... yes, I think I did," Jesse said slowly, her lips twitching a bit in amusement.
"Well, alright then, Miss Grumpy Cat." Jesse flinched a bit at that for some reason. There was a momentary pause. "The weird Puffer-fish thing is cool, too-"
"Moving on," Jesse said pointedly, looking up from the book to look at the ceiling.
"Alright, alright. Jesse hasn't seen Lukas after the fight. Everyone knows that they've had a bit of a falling out, but they don't know why. Jesse doesn't plan on dragging the situation back up."
Jesse looked up from the book again, frowning at the ceiling. "Well, of course I don't. After all, we don't need Lukas."
Real-Jesse's hand slapped over her mouth, making everyone look at her. The girl looked utterly mortified as she glanced at Lukas, who quickly composed the flash of hurt that had come over his face back into a more regular look. Not that it mattered, anyway.
Everyone had seen it.
There was a long silence from the narrator.
"I mean it. He's a great asset to the team, but without him, we work just as well. I certainly don't mind not having him around," Jesse insisted to the ceiling.
Another long silence from the narrator.
"... stop giving me that look."
"What look? I'm not giving you a look. I'm just a talking voice-"
Jesse shook her head and kept frowning at the ceiling, her brow furrowing a bit as she waved one finger in the air almost admonishingly. "No no no, don't give me any of that, I just know you're giving me a look from wherever you are-"
"Well, yes, because you keep lying to yourself-"
"I am most certainly NOT-"
"Just admit it."
"Admit what? There's nothing to-"
"ADMIT IT."
"Like I said, there's nothing to admit-" Jesse protested, but her eyebrow was twitching angrily now.
"JUST ADMIT IT."
"ALRIGHT, I WILL, I MISS HIM, OKAY?!"
There was a long silence after Jesse's loud snap at the narrator, where Jesse was glaring at the ceiling, before the angry expression fell right off her face and she slumped into the chair, an unhappy look coming over her face. "I've been trying to convince myself, but... truth is, I'm really, really sorry that I shouted at him. I wasn't in the greatest state back there, and I do know that Lukas isn't the greatest speaker of all time or anything."
"That's true," Lukas said, looking incredibly relieved to see that Jesse wasn't holding a grudge against him. "I'm not."
"I mean, his writing's not half bad, but when he talks he kinda messes up what he wants to say a lot," Jesse mumbled, staring at her book again and absentmindedly flipping a page.
"He probably meant it well," the narrator prompted.
Jesse shrugged, wincing a bit as all of her shoulders simultaneously shrugged, "He did, and I've been wanting to apologize since, but Lukas kinda went off the grid and hasn't really showed up since." She looked back down at her book. "... I need a distraction, all I've been thinking about for weeks is how I'm going to say I'm sorry."
Lukas shot Jesse a glance out of the corner of his eye. The black-haired girl was just staring anxiously at the screen.
"Yes, you've thought about hugging him, begging for forgiveness-"
Jesse looked up again, a faintly irritated look creasing her brow. "Okay, you don't have to explain exactly what I've been thinking-"
Lukas grinned playfully at Jesse, making her roll her eyes with a faint grin, the anxious look mostly gone now.
"- just saying 'sorry' and leaving it at that, spilling out this long cascade of words that involves some form of apologizing-"
"Yes, yes, I know what I've been thinking, now shut it, please-"
"- and wasn't one other option just throwing up on the carpet?"
Real-Jesse felt her face turn bright red as Lukas stifled his laughter, grinning at Jesse. He wasn't the only one; many other people in the room had started giggling. Ivor in particular was desperately trying to hide the way his lips were twitching.
"... yeah, but I've decided since that that's not a great way to say sorry," Jesse mumbled, slumping back into her chair and staring at the book that she'd been 'reading' the whole time, turning another page absentmindedly, as if waiting for a distraction.
Thankfully- or, well, perhaps not so thankfully- that distraction came in the form of a loud BANG.
Isa jumped a bit in surprise. "What was that?" she wondered.
"Ahh, there's my cue to leave," the narrator spoke, before a silence fell over the room. Somehow, that silence was different than the other silences he'd given- it was empty, meaning that- for now, at least- the narrator really was gone.
Jesse stared at the page of the book again, before setting it down and sticking a bookmark in there, and trotted downstairs.
A lot of yelling became audible as she opened a door at the base of the stairs, and she stepped down the last stair into a sort of kitchen, before she turned a corner to see Ellegaard shouting at Magnus at the top of her lungs, Axel and said King-of-Boom-Town roaring on the floor in laughter, Olivia pinching the bridge of her nose with a broad grin spreading over his face, Petra and Gabriel in stitches from where Gabriel was bent over laughing and Petra was nearly rolling on the floor, and Soren biting his thumbnail and nearly crying with laughter. Behind them was a rather large pile of ashes and burnt wood.
The real Order wasn't doing much better, even Ivor grinning a bit and stifling his own chuckle.
"Where's Ivor?" Harper wondered, making everyone glance at her. She shrugged when she noticed. "It's a valid question; he's not there."
"What in the name of Notch were you even doing?!" Ellegaard demanded, although a broad grin was on her face as she tried to fight giggles, "I think the whole TOWN felt that one!"
"Forget the town. Guys, you might want to make a bigger explosion next time, I don't think the people in the Far Lands felt it," Jesse said, a wry grin coming over her face. The others turned to see her and grinned upon seeing her.
Gabriel straightened up, still laughing. "I- I think Magnus was trying to t-teach Axel how to- how to use fireworks destructively," he gasped, before doubling over again, laughing helplessly.
"Well, they certainly succeeded. Is that one of the couches?" Jesse asked, looking at the charred pile of ashes and wood.
"No, that's the coffee table," Soren replied, choking back some laughter.
Petra was nearly in tears from how hard she was laughing. Jesse watched the Blaze hybrid, gold sparks spitting off of her and drifting lazily through the air, before a relieved sort of smile snuck onto her face.
Jace let out a relieved sigh and tightened his arm around Petra, the redhead giving him a grin.
"Glad to see your Wither Sickness is totally gone," Maya said, and indeed she sounded rather relieved. Petra grinned at her, too.
Another explosion rang out in the room, this time from the basement, rattling a few pieces of glassware off the table. Jesse's lower arms caught them automatically, the spider hybrid not even looking in their direction, and replaced them where they'd been on the table.
"That was righteous, dude!" Nell cheered, pumping her fists in the air. Jesse shot Nell an amused look.
"Um, thank you...?"
The door next to the steps Jesse had come down from banged open a second later, Ivor coming out of it. His face was covered in soot, and his robes were making a little trail of them behind him as he drew level with Jesse. He pointed accusingly at Magnus and Axel. "You two need to test your explosions somewhere else; I dropped in the wrong amount of Blaze Rod powder and nearly blew the whole house sky-high."
"You keep doing that by yourself," Soren murmured in return, a broad grin fixed on his face.
Both Real-Ivor and Onscreen-Ivor fixed their respective Soren's with a withering stare. Both Sorens managed to survive without being too terribly withered.
"Maybe you should move out or something if it bothers you so much," Ellegaard added, although her jokey tone of voice was very clear.
A thoughtful look came over Ivor's face. "... hm, that's an idea."
"D'you need help cleaning up?" Jesse asked Ivor, a bit more sympathetically than Soren or Ellegaard.
Ivor shook his head, sending another cascade of soot onto the floor. "No, it's alright. By the way, I spotted something you four would probably be interested in. I spotted a mention of an old temple and possible treasure in it in this old text," he noted, dusting some of the soot off his face.
"Ooh, more treasure," Real-Petra leaned forward, looking faintly interested.
"You're worse than that giant crab in Moana," Jace joked to the redhead.
She smacked him.
Onscreen, Petra stopped laughing, straightening up and blinking at the potionologist, a faint smile still on her face. "Really? Where is it?" she wondered, interested now.
Ivor pulled out a scroll and handed it to Jesse, who flattened it out on the table to show a map. Ivor leaned over the map, dark blue eyes squinting at the map as he dusted some more soot off of himself. "Alright, let's see, the text said that it was about..." He trailed a finger over the map, before decisively tapping a spot. "There."
Jesse peeked at the spot. "Hmm, it's not too far. We could probably make it back in two days if we go on foot," the spider hybrid mused.
Ivor handed her another piece of paper, which the spider hybrid opened to reveal words written in a sort of poem. "There was a poem that said would lead directly to the temple once you reach that spot. I copied it down word for word exactly as it was written in the text."
"Oh! Thanks, Ivor," and Jesse looked up and grinned at him, which the potionologist returned with a faint smile. She glanced over at her friends. "Well, should we head out?"
Olivia stretched, long arms nearly grazing the ceiling. "Sure. I'll just go grab some stuff."
"Same here," Axel said, dusting himself off as he stood off, "so are we meeting back here or what?"
Jesse looked at Petra. Petra arched her eyebrows at her in response, a faint smile coming over her face. "Why're you looking at me? You're the leader, right?" she teased.
"... oh. Right. Um, sure," Jesse said, blinking innocently at Petra and then the rest of the group. "I'll go grab some of my own stuff, too."
"Seriously, you don't look like you could hurt a living being," Stampy said, shaking his head at the screen.
Lukas patted a playfully-pouting Jesse on the back sympathetically, attempting to hide the grin on his face with little success.
As Jesse headed towards the stairs again, she heard Ivor saying, "Well, in that case, I can get started on my house."
"Oh- for Notch's sake, Ivor, I was joking," Ellegaard laughed, shaking her head at Ivor in amusement.
"Well, I'm not," Ivor replied contrarily, a faint smile coming over his face when Ellegaard rolled her eyes at him.
With a smirk and a chuckle, Jesse swung the door shut behind her, making the screen black out.
Axel grinned, making a lot of people look at him. "This should be interesting," he stated, amusement heavy in every word he spoke.
A/N: (laughs) So this chapter was the filler chapter from Hybrid, but with a lot of changes to it and a lot of breaking the fourth wall. xD This is probably the only instance this will happen in the story, but you know. xD
RQTC: What ships do you guys vote for? They CAN be platonic FRIENDships xD
So far the voting goes something like this:
Aidassie: 7, Danzie: 4, Stampcy: 4, Misa: 9, Hadrevia: 3, Bromance!Maiden (Maya x Aiden): 2, Friendly!Aidesse: 1, Jesse/Jace Rose (Jesse/Jace x Cassie): 2, Bromance!Pexel: 2, Bromance!Jaclivia: 2, Dancat: 1
So far, there's only two being considered, and that's Misa and Aidassie (no surprise there xD).
Emily The Avenger: Alrighty, cool x3
NinaNaranja: Hehehe xD / Peacefulness is great xD / Yay!
Stary Girl: That is a loooot of ships xD / Alright, thanks!
Beli0304: I think it's more like my mansion, but the others just stay in the house with me xD I don't know, that's just how I think of it. / Yay! xD
LunarStarsMoons: Well, thanks for the votes! / I'd rather completely be an animal. I don't want my loved ones dying.
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) I see. / Ahh, gotcha! (Don't worry, I ship Misa too. But I have no idea why xD)
Rabbits rule: I know that's what you were thinking, because that's what I thought some of the readers would be thinking xD / I think it's more of my mansion, it's just that the others stay in there. I don't know why, but that's how I feel about it xD
Guest: Alright!
homeworkoverload: (whistles) Okay! / That's cool! / (laughs) They say hi back xD
the indecisive bird: True xD / They can be FRIENDships xD / I have no idea xD / Thank you!
Slayer88: No, I was just trying to make a point xD / (laughs)
sailor . mikuchan: (grins) Alright, I see.
Meow Shadow: (laughs) / True xD / (shrugs) I like cliffhangers xD
Darkbeast Dend: (grins) Glad to hear it sounds so nice. / (shrugs) Ummm... I have no idea. Godzilla?
Mac: Alrighty!
RapidSammi: (laughs) Glad to see you're so happy.
Guest: Sure thing!
CrystalTearsofFaith: (laughs) / No spoilers x3 / I would love to, but can you just send me the link or something on Quotev or Deviantart or something?
Misa: I see you want Misa xD
ChoyofBonk: Haha, yeah, hi! / (cracks up) Well, good luck with that. x3 / Remember how Becky started cussing Gommie out before they disappeared? xD / Cool (thumbs up)
SofiaTheWriter88: I thought it was really funny that that was all of the ones I said NOT to vote for xD / Alright, thanks!
x.X. A.L. X.x
