After another few hours (in which Ivor did a checkup on Jesse and declared her, to the bemusement of almost everyone there, perfectly fine and not at all affected from that very odd 'smoky' moment), they decided to return to the episode.

"So, when we left off a couple hours ago," Reginald was saying, to recap what they knew so far and get back on topic, "Jesse, Petra, Lukas, Ivor, and Milo found the Eversource."

"Which is Benedict," Jesse added, pointing at the little white hen in Isa's lap.

Benedict clucked happily.

"Yes, and as they're deciding if they're leaving the Eversource, taking it to the people, or taking the Eversource with them," Petra spoke up, "Isa throws me, Ivor, and Milo to the side using some seriously awesome martial arts skills."

Isa pinked a bit, but she looked pleased.

"That about it?" Magnus asked, bouncing on the couch in such a fit of impatience that he nearly knocked Ellegaard off the couch along with everyone else on the couch. Gabriel elbowed Magnus, who elbowed him back and accidentally caught Ellegaard in the ribs, and the redstone engineer yelped before poking him right back, making him kick out and catch Soren on the shin, making the architect grab a pillow and chuck it in their direction but hitting Gabriel in the face instead.

Jesse put a stop to that before it could go any further downhill.

"Yeah, just about," Cassie nodded, picking the remote up as she settled into the couch.

Maya and Gill exchanged anxious glances, and Aiden's short period of seeming a bit lighthearted had deserted him again, the celery-green-eyed boy staring at his shoes blankly.

Cassie pressed the play button.

The screen loaded for a few seconds, having been paused for so long, before it came back on, going back a few seconds to when Jesse was still crouching on the floor. Onscreen-Jesse hummed a bit, rising from a crouch into a faintly lazy standing position. "Would've been nice to know that you're a martial artist," she hummed thoughtfully.

"I knew it!" Isa hissed, green eyes nearly glowing with fury, "I knew you were here to steal from me!"

The spider hybrid simply looked at Benedict, clucking happily on the ground next to her, before she looked back at the Founder, halfheartedly raising all of her arms in surrender. "All I was doing was petting a chicken... let's just talk about this, alright?" she asked, calmly.

"I'm not sure there's anything to talk about," Isa hissed, still in that martial-arts position and looking as if she might launch herself at Jesse any second now. "Especially coming from the escaped convicts."

Real-Isa winced a bit.

"But I thought we were only being detained," Lukas complained

"It's just like I told you, Founder!" Aiden exclaimed, pointing at Jesse accusingly, "they're here to steal the Eversource!"

Ivor scowled a bit. "We just decided that we were going to leave it onscreen, didn't we?"

"Actually, technically, I think all I said was that it was cute," Jesse pointed out.

"But before that, back in the jail. We were trying to warn Isa, not steal the Eversource from her," Lukas corrected the black-haired girl sitting next to him.

Jesse nodded a few times, absorbing that statement. "Very true."

Onscreen, Jesse literally threw all of her arms into the air, making Benedict let out a squawk of alarm and flutter away. "What was I doing?! I was just petting the chicken!" she complained loudly.

Half of the audience was sent into a small giggling fit at that comment.

Onscreen, Lukas's tail flicked a bit, and he 'coughed' into his fist, although there was a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips and there was more than a little amusement glittering in his eyes.

"Aiden warned me that you were a pack of thieves," Isa practically growled, straightening up into a standing position, while Aiden wandered out of sight of the viewers, "and here you are, prepared to make off with the one thing our City depends on to survive!"

The spider hybrid got as far as opening her mouth to protest, before sighing and simply shaking her head a bit, shutting her mouth again.

"Boy," Aiden's voice rang out, making both Jesse and the Founder look in his direction to see the dark-brown-haired boy reaching into another chest that was labelled 'CREEPERS', "when you put it like that, I almost feel bad."

Maya and Gill exchanged worried looks. Here we go.

Aiden straightened up onscreen, tossing the creeper egg that he'd taken out of the chest nonchalantly. "Yep. 'Fraid I'm going to be taking the chicken," he said lightly, as if this sudden personality change- to the Founder onscreen, at least, not the rest of the audience or onscreen-Jesse- was normal. "It's mine, now." And his celery-green eyes were filled with a cold light that was infinitely more scary than the hot rage he'd been brimming over with at the beginning at the episode.

And considering that had already been pretty damn frightening, he had just graduated from 'frightening' to 'terrifying'.

"W-what?" Isa looked shocked, and a little shaken. She regained her composure a second later, fists balling up. "This is outrageous!"

Aiden looked remarkably unfazed, just shooting Isa a nasty grin, as if daring her to do something about it.

Jesse crouched down and whispered to Benedict, who turned her little crowned head in Jesse's direction. "Eversource! Um... uh... 'Evie', okay? Imma just call you Evie. Evie, run over there for now, alright?" she whispered in a low voice.

Benedict just clucked a few times at her, blankly.

The spider hybrid let out an irritated sigh, rolling her eyes, before her eyes flashed red and she raised all six of her arms with a thrumming, malevolent hiss! Benedict, or 'Evie', let out an alarmed squawk and fled to a different corner. The spider hybrid jumped to her feet and whipped out her enchanted sword, turning just in time to spot Aiden throwing the creeper egg right at Jesse's face.

"Jesse, look out!" Olivia shouted, as if that had any effect.

Onscreen-Jesse automatically threw herself backwards, doing a sort of crab-walk as the egg soared harmlessly over her head and bursting against the opposite wall, a creeper thudding into the ground with a loud hiss, while Lukas bolted past Jesse and launched himself at Aiden. Petra, Ivor, and Milo jumped to their feet, Maya and Gill halfheartedly keeping them trapped in place with their swords.

"Why didn't we just ask Axel to come along," Jesse groaned, lunging back into a standing position. The creeper hissed at Jesse curiously, tilting its head, before zeroing in on Isa and menacingly approaching her.

"Wh-? Why didn't it attack you?" Lizzie asked, blinking a few times.

Stacy snapped her fingers with a soft sound. "Jesse's a spider hybrid. That must've made the creeper hesitate long enough to notice a full-out human and attack them instead- and that just happened to be Isa."

Jace began to make a comment, before something occurred to him, and his face went pale. "Oh. Crap."

Before the audience could ask what he meant, the sound of metal screeching on metal sounded, making the rest of them look back at the screen to see that Isa had whipped out two swords to face the creeper- which exploded in her face half a second later, having already started flashing white upon passing Jesse.

The spider hybrid let out a shout of alarm as Isa staggered back, hands automatically releasing the hilts of her swords, which toppled into the void of space beneath them, before almost following them. As it was, she barely managed to catch the edge of the ground with her fingers with a frantic "Oh!"

"ISA!" Jesse shrieked, bolting upright and dragging Lukas with her. Isa's normally stoic composure had broken, and she was now anxiously biting her nails. Reginald was scrambling to get back into his seat from where he'd simply fallen out, Milo was sitting on the edge of his seat, eyes wide.

Sure, he might not like the Founder... but she definitely didn't deserve to be lost in the void below them for the rest of time.

"No! No, no, no no no!" Isa chanted madly onscreen, legs swinging in the empty space beneath her as she struggled to pull herself back to solid ground.

Lukas let out a yell, making Jesse whip back around. The screen switched to show Lukas shoving Aiden in the chest, before drawing one arm back and swiping it. Aiden barely dodged it, but the claws that had shot out of Lukas's fingers caught Aiden in the cheek, leaving a few small claw marks on his cheek. Aiden's eyes widened, before his face contorted with rage and he slammed his hands into Lukas's chest, knocking him back a few steps. Lukas saw Jesse watching, already starting forward to help him. "I've got Aiden- save the Founder!" he yelled.

"Oh, you've got me, do you, Lukas?!" Aiden nearly snarled, before going right at Lukas.

Jesse frantically nodded at Lukas as the ocelot hybrid turned back to deal with Aiden, sheathing her sword, and bolted forward. Onscreen-Isa let out a gasp as her hands slipped- Real-Isa screamed-

The spider hybrid dove forward and seized ahold of the woman's wrist just as she fell, half of her upper body practically dangling over the edge.

The audience relaxed slightly with a sigh.

Quickly, Onscreen-Jesse propelled herself backwards using her lower arms, managing to haul Isa and herself back onto solid ground, a few feet away from the edge of the island. Isa looked shaken, her hands trembling, but she managed a shaky nod in Jesse's direction. "Thank you..." she told Jesse gratefully, "thank you."

The spider hybrid gave a nod, but she was cut off as Lukas let out a yell.

"Lukas!" Jesse gasped, whirling around just in time to see the blonde ocelot hybrid go flying past Jesse- straight into open air.

"NO!" Real-Jesse shouted, Lukas's arms tensing in shock around her.

Besides Jesse's scream, the entire audience appeared frozen. The room was dead silent, and Jesse's voice seemed to echo through the hallways.

Hadrian's eyes were wide in shock, and Mevia had actually gasped a bit. Otto had a hand up to his mouth, his own eyes wide. Nell and Em were silently gaping at the screen, then at each other, then at the screen again. The gladiators were silently gaping at the screen, their jaws practically hitting the floor. Harper's hands were clasped to her mouth, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Dan and Stampy were clinging onto each other tightly, gaping at the screen. Lizzie had actually jumped to her feet, while Stacy was sagging against the couch arm and silently gesturing at the screen in shock. Sparklez was half out of his seat, and half sitting down, one hand braced on the couch arm while the other one rested on the back of the couch.

Isa had both of her hands to her mouth, eyes wide with horror. Reginald's hands had balled into fists on his lap, and Milo had actually slid out of the seat and was sitting on the floor, back resting against the couch. Even Benedict seemed to be silent, the chicken not clucking or fluttering around for once.

Magnus and Ellegaard had fallen off the couch into an entangled heap, although both were shocked enough that it didn't even occur to them to try to get out of the situation. Gabriel had instinctively grabbed for his sword but paused when it was halfway out of its scabbard, while Soren had practically catapulted out of the seat, tripped, and landed on Magnus and Ellegaard by accident. Ivor had jumped to his feet as well, although he knew full-well that it wasn't going to help matters in the least.

Aiden's hands were clenched into fists so tightly on his lap that he was starting to bleed a bit. Maya was on her feet, and Gill had turned into a stone statue, the only sign of life being that his hands were continually tightening on the armchair's arms. Cassie was actually standing up now, Winslow hissing from where the redhead had accidentally dumped him onto the wooden floor. For once, Cassie completely ignored Winslow, eyes wide with shock.

Axel's arms were tightening around Olivia so much that the dark-skinned girl was starting to try to swat him off to get a proper breath in. Petra had dragged Jace forward with her, eyes wide in what looked like terror. Jesse's arms had tightened around Reuben as she lurched forward, trying to reach to the screen and help Lukas. The blonde former-Ocelot was sitting there, his eyes wide with shock and beginning to shine with tears. He looked as if he'd been frozen in time.

They all knew that Aiden had, with the danger of sounding cheesy, lost his way. Insanity- or greed- or something- had affected him so badly that he'd lost his way and blundered onto a dark path that led nowhere good.

They just hadn't known exactly how lost he was.

"You... kicked me off the edge." Lukas's voice was so soft that had anyone else been talking, they wouldn't have caught it at all. As it was, it was perfectly silent in the room.

Lukas turned to stare at Aiden, a question on his lips, a question that he didn't dare ask due to fear of what the answer was going to be.

Do you really hate me that much?

Onscreen, the screen suddenly slowed down, showing that Lukas's eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open in shock. The screen switched to show that Jesse's mouth was also open, her own eyes wide as well. The screen seemed to glitch again, and Jesse was back in the Witherstorm, being crushed by the Witherstorm's tentacle. The screen switched to show Lukas, and it glitched to show that Reuben was the one falling, not Lukas- then the screen switched back to Lukas-

Jesse's arm swung up, preparing to fire a web to catch Lukas.

She never quite had the chance.

A foot suddenly slammed into Jesse's back, time going back to normal for a few seconds but a dead silence still filling the screen. Jesse tumbled right into Isa and knocked them both back off the edge.

Someone in the audience screamed.

Onscreen, time slowed down again as Jesse pivoted in midair, eyes even wider- though from terror or shock, it was hard to tell.

Aiden had a line of red scratches running down from where Lukas had scratched him, wickedly grinning at the two of them as Benedict drew level with him, clucking quietly and breaking the stunned silence that had filled the room, but very quietly.

Jesse stared in shock, all six of her arms raised uselessly as she stared at Aiden in shock.

And then time sped up again, and Isa and Jesse fell.

The screen blacked out.


A/N: Gaaaahhh, the ending felt terrible.

RQTC: What is one of your closet hobbies?

(coughs awkwardly) Otome games.

DON'T JUDGE-

Oh, here's the list of readers that I did a sort of 'shoutout' for, in order of name appearance.

RebekahTPE (Rebekah)
NinaNaranja (Nina Naranja)
LunarStarsMoons (Lunar)
CrystalTearsofFaith (Crystal)
Rabbits rule (Jess)
J.M.M (J.M.M)
homeworkoverload (homework overload)
Beli0304 (Beli)
sailor . mikuchan (Sailor Mikuchan)
Darkbeast Dend (Darkbeast)
the indecisive bird (indecisive bird)
Emily The Avenger (Emily)
SofiaTheWriter88 (Sofia)
LittleAngelbun (LittleAngelbun)
AquaK13 (Aqua K.)
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101 (Sasha)
Kaos Ruin (Kaos)
RavenBlaze4850 (RavenBlaze)

Wow, that's a lot.

the indecisive bird: Alright, if you say so :3 / (grins) / Thanks! / Ahhhhh. Same here. / I know, right?! And it had surprisingly good artificial intelligence for a PROTOTYPE. / Yep xD / Hahaha xD / You'll see, I'm not spoiling stuff x3

LunarStarsMoons: Yes, I did, you are right before Crystal x3 / (squeals)

Emily The Avenger: NO PROBLEM EMILY x3 / I'm glad to hear that! / x3

LittleAngelbun: Yee :3 / (laughs) I get them all of a sudden. One time I got one in the middle of a math test. ... if you're wondering, I flunked the test.

Insane Acrobat: (laughs) Wow, simultaneous nosebleeds. I guess there's worse things to be cursed with? / I'm glad you found it amazing yet confusing xD / Well, actually... (winks) / Nah, ti's fine. / Ahhhhh. Gotcha :3

AquaK13: (laughs) Yeah, both were awesome to write. / (grins) / Ouch. I've run into a glass door twice. (It wasn't the same glass door, if you're wondering xD) / Thanks!

homeworkoverload: (laughs) Yes, yes you are. / Gotcha (does finger guns) / :3

sailor . mikuchan: ...? / Alright :3

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Ah, I see. (It was Undercraft: Musical Mode.)

RapidSammi: Heehee x3 / I wish it did. I'm not sure if it does, tho xD

Jay: (grins) / Haha, nope. We do work together, but the roleplay that scene was based off of didn't have any TFG references, and I stuck pretty closely to it. / Yeah, random nosebleeds suck. / Thanks!

Beli0304: x3 Happy 100th chapter! / I'm pretty sure everyone caught that one xD and I ain't tellin'

DarkPrincess2001: Toni's warning was a warning, too xD

RavenBlaze4850: Thank you! / OMG, that would be amazing xD / xD / Not at all! / (looks at the ceiling and grins) / Ahhh.

J.M.M.: Alright, I see. :3

Jack638: I'm glad you like it! / I really hope too xD / Random ones, though?

SofiaTheWriter88: (laughs) / (grins) That part was fun to write as well. / Aww, thanks :3

NoItsBecky: (slowly smiles) I know full well. And I promise... this story will get even MORE confusing.

x.X. A.L. X.x