"Hey," Lukas said, a bit awkwardly, as he turned around fully and batted at his ears nervously. The ocelot ears atop his head flicked anxiously as he did so, blue-green eyes darting everywhere anxiously as he glanced away from Jesse. "You guys are back. How's, uh... how's it going?"
Several members of the audience shot the two of them faintly worried glances, before looking away again.
"Hey," Jesse said sharply, eyes narrowing as she raised a finger to point at him, before she let her arm drop, and a softer smile came over her face. "You came back."
Lukas was still batting at his ears and fidgeting with his tail anxiously, still avoiding her gaze. It didn't take a genius to tell that he was nervous. Yet he somehow managed a weak smile at that. "Yeah. I, ah... thought I'd show my face again."
The tension between the two hybrids was so thick that it seemed to be making the very air surrounding the two of them solid.
"Well, it-it's great to see it!" Petra exclaimed, looking from the tense face of the spider hybrid to the anxious one of the ocelot hybrid. "Your... face I mean."
Her attempt at releasing some of the tension flopped miserably.
Real-Lukas shifted uncomfortably, shooting the black-haired girl sitting next to him an uncomfortable look. Their eyes happened to meet as she did the same, before they both looked back at the screen in perfect silence.
Onscreen, another silence stretched out as the two of them just stared awkwardly at one another, the air around them turning to bricks as they regarded the other.
Lukas finally let out a sigh and stepped down the stairs as he walked towards Jesse. "Listen, Jesse, I'm- I'm not going to beat around the bush here. The last time we saw each other? With- what I said... I'm not happy about how things went down, and I... want to patch things up. I'm tired of us not talking to each other, so... I'm sorry," he finished, standing only arms' length away from the spider hybrid.
The spider hybrid stared at Lukas for a moment, her red and green eyes widening a bit, before she shook her head a little.
Real-Lukas winced and looked down at his lap at the sight of that, but Onscreen-Jesse wasn't finished. "Hey," she spoke, all of her arms crossing a bit, "I'm the one who's sorry."
Onscreen, Lukas's eyes widened a bit. Real-Lukas's head lifted so that he was looking at the screen again. "I wasn't in a very good... emotional state back there," Jesse continued, slowly, "and, well... it's not how I wanted things to end."
She'd barely finished when she found herself being enveloped in a warm hug by the ocelot hybrid, his eyes squeezed shut. She blinked for a minute, before a soft smile twitched over her features and all six of her arms lifted up to return the hug. "You're a good friend, Jesse," Lukas whispered into her ear, "that... means a lot."
Real-Lukas glanced at Real-Jesse, worry and hope dancing in his eyes. She put the worry to rest, reaching out and giving the blonde a comforting smile and a squeeze on the wrist.
"You two should seriously just kiss already."
Gill got a pillow to the face this time around.
Onscreen, the two hybrids stepped apart, giving each other lopsided grins.
"You two sound like you broke up or something," Petra hummed absentmindedly.
Both of them gaped at her, hot pink.
Real-Petra shot them both a smug grin when they both turned to stare at her, their own faces bright pink as well. This prompted a small round of giggling from the audience.
Jesse shot Jace a pleading glance, but he just put his hands up in surrender and shook his head a bit, a big grin plastered over his face. The message couldn't be clearer- You're on your own there.
Onscreen, Lukas cleared his throat, looking away from them both awkwardly. "It's, um, it's, uh... good to be back." His eye caught something, and his eyes widened as he walked towards the wall. The screen switched to show a little picture of Reuben with a framed pork chop on the wall. "Oh, wow. You framed it- um, him."
Jesse simply nodded once. "Yeah," she replied simply.
Jesse and Jace ignored the sympathetic glances shot in their directions, and did their best to ignore Isa and Cassie's empathetic gazes especially, since they were both starting to feel tears welling up in their eyes.
Isa was frowning at them both, seeing them scoot closer to the little pink pig seated between them on the floor. Before becoming the Founder, quite a few people (she glanced at the couch that held Hadrian and Mevia) had made fun of her for having her pet- her best friend- be a chicken. Seeing the two of them, and the same relationship they had with Reuben that she had with Benedict, even if the girl had only met them both a few days ago, it was no wonder that she'd already developed a liking towards the two.
Onscreen, Lukas's expression grew sadder as he hesitantly asked her, "How... are you doing?"
Jesse stared blankly for a moment, before the corner of her lips twitched, and her shoulders sagged as she lowered her head to stare at the floor, hands clenching into trembling fists at her sides. "I... I really, really miss him."
Jesse and Jace exchanged a glance. Jace honestly would've been okay if it was just the group on the floor watching this scene, since he knew Jesse was pretty much going to spill out her guts for everyone to see, but he barely knew the others. He found it hard to remember all their names. He'd hardly even spoken to any of them before, for that matter. But it wasn't like he could just tell them to leave.
So he just turned back to the screen after a minute, reaching out blindly for some comfort.
He found Petra's hand and intertwined his fingers with hers, pressing his palm to hers and squeezing a bit.
After a short moment, she squeezed back.
Jesse glanced into Lukas's sad blue-green eyes, before she squeezed her eyes shut and turned away again. "Every morning, I wake up, and- just for a minute, or a few seconds, I pretend that he's just in another room, or rooting outside looking for carrots."
Lukas pulled the black-haired girl into his chest and squeezed gently, trying to convey his sincerest thoughts without actually saying anything. Judging by the way she didn't just try to shove him away and just stayed there, starting to tremble a bit, he'd succeeded. Jace let his head drop into his hands, Petra pulling the mocha-haired male into a warm hug. Axel shifted closer to the rest of the group, wrapping an arm around Olivia, who'd started sniffling a bit.
Soren closed his eyes and glanced away, Gabriel frowning and lowering his head to stare at his lap uncomfortably. Ellegaard turned around and buried her head in Magnus's chest, the Rogue leaning forward and hugging her as he surreptitiously dashed his hand over his eyes. Ivor gave Jesse a sad look, the black-haired girl not spotting it from where her head was buried in Lukas's chest. Harper stared down at her lap, before she instinctively reached out and grabbed a fistful of Ivor's sleeve, tightening her grip on it as she tried to get a grip on her feelings.
After a moment's pause, the woman not looking up from where she was staring at the floor and therefore missing the way his eyes darted to her in surprise, he carefully rotated his arm so that he could grasp at her forearm gently.
Maya wiped her eyes, Gill wrapping an arm over her shoulders. Aiden glanced away from the screen, an awkward look entering his eyes. Cassie pulled Winslow to her in a tight hug, burying her face in his fluffy warmth. Sparklez pulled off his sunglasses to hastily wipe at his eyes, and Stampy buried his head in Dan's shoulder, the other male comfortingly patting him on the back. Lizzie and Stacy exchanged sad looks.
Milo took off his hat in respect, while Reginald closed his eyes and bowed his head a bit. Isa picked Benedict up and gave the chicken a tight hug (not too tight, mind). Slab sniffled, while Facemeat scrubbed at his eyes and Clutch blew her nose. Em and Nell exchanged uncomfortable looks before returning to the screen, Otto simply shutting his eyes a bit. Hadrian exchanged a glance with Mevia, but to his surprise, the blue-haired woman appeared rather uncomfortable as well. He watched her for a moment, before turning back to the screen.
"For a moment, I get to forget what happened to him, and I do." She took in a deep breath, before letting it out in a soft, sad sigh. "And then, every morning, I get to wake up, and remember all over again that he's... gone."
There was a short silence, before Lukas stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the spider hybrid again. "I'm so sorry," he told her, voice a mere whisper.
Jesse just squeezed her eyes shut, lips trembling.
After a moment, he gently released her, rubbing his head with a sigh. "Okay, guys, I didn't just come back here to bum everyone out."
Real-Jesse let out a soft, watery laugh at that, extracting herself from Lukas's tight hug.
Onscreen, Jesse's lips twitched up in a faint smile.
"I actually came back because I have to tell you guys something... it's about this weird run-in I had... with Aiden," Lukas finished, his expression turning from sorry and sad to deadly serious in the span of a few seconds.
"Oh, here we go," Petra grumbled, making Jace chuckle a bit as he re-emerged from her hug, wiping his eyes a bit.
Maya and Gill exchanged worried looks.
Onscreen, the faint smile on Jesse's lips fell right back off, and she let out a sigh. "Yep, we saw him too. The Hybrid Order of the Stone and the 'Blaze Rods' are just as friendly as ever."
"That's an understatement."
Petra's sarcastic comment made the room perk back up a bit, a few people letting out amused chuckles.
Onscreen, Jesse shared the same sentiment, smiling a bit, as Lukas continued with a frown on his face, "He's been so jealous of you and the rest of the Order ever since you saved the world from the Witherstorm. Convinced that he was supposed to be a hero..."
Real-Jesse frowned. Her 'diagnosis' on this version's Aiden was that he'd become unhinged. If he'd been unhinged before she'd heard this, she was now fairly certain he'd started becoming schizophrenic.
"Ever since he took over the Ocel-" Lukas stopped himself, clenching his eyes shut for a moment and looking as if he'd been slapped or something, before correcting himself, "the 'Blaze Rods', it seems like he's just gotten... meaner. Pushing Maya and Gill around."
"We noticed," Maya mumbled, only loud enough so that Gill could hear her. He nodded.
"Jealous?" Onscreen-Jesse asked, looking incredulous. "Why? Does he think it was fun having to run for my life in terror?"
"Jesse's got a point," Otto mumbled, only loud enough so that Mevia, who was seated right next to him, could catch an inkling of that. She nodded but said nothing in response.
"No... he..." Lukas hesitated for a few seconds, before blurting, in the manner of someone who had something unpleasant to say and wanting to get it off his chest as quickly as possible, "he thinks you're a big bully, Jesse, looting and keeping all the good stuff for yourself."
Real-Jesse flinched, and Onscreen-Jesse froze, eyes widening in shock. Her lips moved as she mouthed what Lukas had just said to herself.
Aiden had flinched a bit as well, but it was such a small reaction that no one had noticed, except Cassie, who glanced at him before glancing away again.
Onscreen, Petra let out a near feral snarl, making Jesse look at her in surprise as the Blaze hybrid's expression darkened, sparks spitting off of the Blaze hybrid. Petra was downright pissed right now. "That little piece of- I swear to Notch, I'm going to snap him in half next time I see him."
Aiden surreptitiously tried to scoot away from Petra a bit more.
Jace patted Petra on the back, a faint smile coming over his face as he laughed nervously. "Uh, Petra, I appreciate the sentiment, but... can we maybe... not do that?" Next to him, Jesse nodded in agreement.
Petra stared at him for a minute, deliberating this, before simply shrugging. "Maybe."
This probably didn't do anything to reassure Aiden.
"Uh, maybe... don't," onscreen-Jesse replied weakly, raising one finger into the air and wincing slightly.
Lukas spoke up again, making her look at him as Petra attempted to calm herself down and swatted at some of the sparks spitting out everywhere. "So, what'd you find that got Aiden so excited, anyways?"
Jesse grinned a bit as she reached into her pockets, pulling out the glowing flint and steel. "Check it out!"
"Wow," Lukas said musingly, walking right up to it and staring at the cyan glow in fascination along with Petra, "what a weird glow..."
"Yeah, I'm supposed to show it to-"
"YOU FOUND IT!"
Ivor literally seemed to appear out of thin air right next to Jesse, making the three hybrids let out a loud yell and jump away. The audience had similar reactions, at least half of them jumping out of their skin and three-quarters of the entire audience letting out a loud yell. Reuben let out a loud squeal, jumping into Jesse's lap and knocking the already-off-balance girl into Lukas and toppling the three of them to the floor. Dan and Stampy clonked foreheads and let out a twin yells as they grabbed at their heads. Benedict let out a loud squawk and flapped her wings furiously, making a storm of feathers fly into the air and hitting Isa and Reginald as Milo flinched and nearly toppled backwards off the couch. Winslow let out a loud yowl, making Cassie yelp inadvertently as the cat scrambled onto her head, digging his claws into her blue beanie.
"Ivor!" Soren was clutching at his heart in a panic. "How- what- why?!"
Onscreen, Lukas put his hand over his heart as Petra yelped, looking ticked off, "Dude, what's wrong with you?!"
Jesse gave Petra a look as Ivor actually started bouncing up and down in excitement, dark blue eyes nearly glowing, "This is the greatest find of our time!" He clapped his hands together near his mouth as he kept bouncing, eyes starting to sparkle with excitement. Sparkle, I tell you. It was unreal. "I can't believe you actually..."
"You are fanboying!" Jesse exclaimed, pointing at Ivor.
"What-? No, I'm definitely not- I have no idea what you're talking about," Ivor said loftily. This would've had more effect if his face wasn't already starting to turn bright red.
"I don't have any clue what that thing is," Nell said, leaning over and resting her elbow on the couch arm, "I mean, it's like super cool and all, but it kinda has to do something, or else fanboy over there wouldn't be so excited."
This almost lazy comment prompted a round of giggles from the audience.
Onscreen, Jesse arched her eyebrow at him, smiling at his antics. "Alright, spill, what's it do?" she asked, although his excitement appeared to be infectious, since she was starting to grin now.
Ivor looked up at Jesse, a huge grin spreading over his face. "That glow... that enchantment is the work of a very old group of builders- a group so old that they existed even before the Order of the Stone!"
Harper frowned a bit. "He's... going to say it, isn't he?"
At this, Otto, Mevia, and Hadrian groaned, making several members of the audience glance at them in confusion. A bit more subtly, Soren's jaw tightened, Isa's jaw twitched, and Cassie leaned one arm on the couch arm and kneaded her forehead a bit.
None of them bothered to explain the reactions, though.
A/N: (puts hands in the air) Woo! We're about to get this adventure going! x3 So excited! Can't wait to write out all those changes I've been planning x3
RQTC: What do you think my personality's like? I'm actually curious to see what people think of me. x3
By the way, the Indiana Jones reference is in the title of Chapter 84, to those of you who didn't spot it. x3
Emily The Avenger: Woot! (puts hands in air)
the indecisive bird: That's alright :3 / Yeah, it's long xD The rewrite's... probably gonna be pretty long too, now that I think about it. ... I'm super good at planning (hangs head) / Yay!
RWBYSTRQ: Thanks!
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) Well, here you go! / Pfffft yep xD
NinaNaranja: Honestly, I just kinda shrugged and was like, 'well, it IS his house'... xD / He does xD / If you want to have one, sure :3 I actually have a special thing planned for Chapter 100... (though they will have to take a break from watching the episode the chapter before... hm.
Peculiar Ann: Hey! (laughs) Yeah, Lukesse's great. / xD I like the Serpentine to a point.
AquaK13: (cracks up) Lavor is the best ship xD / Yes, I know right? / Yay! Two people got it! xD / Oh dear xD Sorry / Bai!
DarkPrincess2001: Indeed xD
Beli0304: And here is the chapter! / Yay, three people! / Me too! (winks) Adventure!
LunarStarsMoon: Ahh, sorry (grins sheepishly) / (laughs) Don't worry, I don't think a lot of people did. / Thanks! Glad to hear you were giggling :3
RapidSammi: (laughs) Nice.
CrystalTearsofFaith: Okay xD / (cracks up) Yeah, Ivor's great. He's like the drama and the humor all in one.
Rabbits rule: (laughs) Sorry, still a Lukesse shipper.
J.M.M.: I mean, I have that OC story up right now... and usually it's just me sticking MCSM characters into a different plot, if I have a different story in mind.
Darkbeast Dend: I've... answered this question three times now.
x.X. A.L. X.x
