"Whoa- that was... a little confrontational," Stacy said, somewhat defensively.

Onscreen, Lukas looked up, raising his eyebrow a bit. His tail twitched a bit and his ears flicked, knocking a few more ashes off of his head. "Okay... did I miss something here?" he asked, tentatively.

"Yeah, what's up with you?" Jesse asked mildly, turning to face Petra with a bemused look on her face.

Petra's voice rose steadily as she spoke. She wasn't yelling. Not yet. But she was definitely getting louder and more frustrated. "What's up with me? What's UP? I'm tired of all this- useless portal-hopping trying to find our way home! 'What's on the other side of that portal? A lake of fire and netherrack? Awesome! Let's go there!'" She used a dumb, hokey voice for the last few sentences, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Whoa," and Jace blinked a bit. "You're being a little..."

"Mean," Maya finished.

Petra's eyes narrowed a bit in worry.

"Okay, first off," Jesse said, calmly, "I thought this portal would just lead us to the Nether or something, at which point we could just wander back home. I did not know it'd be- er- Fire World, for lack of a more impressive name. Second, we're all pretty frustrated, Petra."

"Yeah, what Jesse said," Cassie said, taking off her glasses and using her shirt to dry to wipe off the thin layer of ashes on there but only succeeding in smudging the whole thing around. Jesse lifted her hands, weaving a quick handkerchief and handing it over to Cassie, which she took with a grateful nod and began to polish the lenses furiously.

"I know, I know, it's just- it's not really getting us anywhere!" the Blaze hybrid grumbled, another frustrated sound coming out of her throat.

Jesse paused, as if thinking, before something caught her eye and she looked back at Lukas. "Lukas, you're on fire again."

The ocelot hybrid yelped, and his tail started smacking everything in a three-foot radius (which included Jesse) in an effort to put the fire out.

Several members of the audience couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"See-! Ugh," Petra groaned, "this is what I'm talking about. We're stuck in a rut- go through a portal, avoid dying long enough to get back to this STUPID hallway-"

"Wash, rinse, repeat... yes," Ivor sighed, scratching his head and looking around the mile-long hallway filled with portals tiredly.

Cassie grunted a bit as she put her glasses back on her face, crossing her arms a bit. "Wish my aunt and her friends had at least left some signs around. Guideposts, maybe."

Jesse let out a long, tired sigh, rubbing her own head a bit. "Yes, well, unfortunately, it's not like we have directions for how this all works. It'd be nice to have... a map, or something. Honestly, I think at this point I'd even settle for a sign that points us in the direction of- well- I don't know what our world would be labelled, but yeah. So of course, there's going to be some trial and error-"

"And error, and error, and error, and error, and error," Petra snapped, throwing her hands into the air and marching off down the hallway.

"Umm... is it safe to go wandering off down the hallway without a buddy or something?" Lukas asked, frowning.

"Facemeat doesn't really think so."

"Thanks, that was really comforting," Cassie drawled in Facemeat's direction, the gladiator's expression darkening slightly at the heavy sarcasm in the redhead's voice.

Ivor blinked, a bewildered expression coming over his face. "Petra?" he asked, slowly.

"Where are you going?" Cassie finished the statement for him, that same perplexed look on her face.

"There may not be guideposts," Petra said, sharply, looking around at the portals and then giving them all a rather disgruntled look, "but someone's gotta be able to tell us how to navigate these stupid portals."

Hadrian frowned a bit but didn't say anything.

"Okay- this one's redstone." And Petra came to a stop in front of a portal that was lined with redstone, glowing a deep red and casting a strange, almost blood-like glow over the area.

Harper could feel her heart pick up- both in sheer excitement and in a crushing sense of anxiety.

On one hand, they might just be able to fix this whole mess that Crown Mesa was in...

But on the other hand, things could go very, very, very wrong if they played their cards wrong.

Let's just hope it was the former.

"Redstone means smart people," Petra continued, looking over at the others as they came over from where they'd been standing a good distance down the hallway, "hopefully, smart enough to help us find our way home."

"Petra, I promise, we'll find the portal home," Jesse replied, calmly, which couldn't have been easy considering that Petra was acting like a hormonal teenage girl going through puberty.

"It's that or die trying, right?" Petra asked sarcastically, with a barely repressed roll of the eyes.

"Okay, Petra, you're really ticked off. More than just being frustrated should justify," and Olivia frowned a bit at the screen.

Petra frowned a bit, concern dancing in her eyes. "I- yeah, seems like."

Jesse looked as if she were about to open her mouth and say something along the lines of "Actually, yes, that does seem to be the case" but that just didn't seem like a good idea to her right now, because she just stayed silent.

"So... what are you saying?" Lukas asked, tail flicking around in agitation. "That you've- made up your mind, you're just going through this portal and that's it? We might find at ourselves at, at another Psycho White Pumpkin Mansion."

"Well that was insensitive," Isa said, after a moment. Real-Cassie's gaze had shifted so that she was staring at Winslow, the floor, the ceiling, Aiden- anything but the actual screen.

Real-Lukas winced. "Yeah... sorry, Cassie."

"... it's fine. It's a valid statement, after all."

Aiden's arm tightened around the redhead slightly.

He paused, realizing what he'd just said a second later, and gave a deadpan Cassie an apologetic look. "Um, no offense."

"None taken," she drawled back.

"Maybe that's what I am saying," Petra said sharply, gold eyes already beginning to glow with an angry heat, "maybe I'm just saying that I'm tired of Jesse calling the shots every. Single. Time."

Real-Petra immediately slapped her hand to her mouth in shock, eyes widening in shock. Jace's mouth had dropped open, Lukas's arms had tightened around Jesse, and all three of them immediately looked at Jesse.

Real-Jesse looked as if someone had just kicked Reuben.

"Wow. Okay. That was..." Slab frowned a bit. "That was not cool."

Onscreen, Jesse's eyes widened a bit. She looked a bit like someone had just punched her in the solar plexus, and she gaped for a few seconds.

"Oh my Notch," Real-Petra whispered, feeling as if she was being drenched in guilt, and she turned to stare at Jesse. "I- I am so-"

"I'm sorry."

Everyone's heads snapped so that they were looking at the screen, Jesse just staring at her feet and looking as if she might be blinking back tears. "I'll, um... I'll just... go over. And sit." She slowly moved so that she was sitting about twenty feet away, sliding down the wall and sitting like a small student would, "Over here. And not touch anything. Or go anywhere. You guys can... discuss... what decisions you... want... to... make..." She was trembling harder and harder, and tears were starting to come out of her eyes, but she still attempted a frail little smile. "About... the portal."

Real-Jesse just looked down at her lap silently, no longer even watching the screen.

She wasn't sure what her reaction would be if she did.

Maybe something along the lines of throwing up.

"Oh Jeb, Jesse I am so, so, so sorry," Petra groaned, pressing her hand to her face and feeling as if someone had kicked her.

"... I mean, I do get a little bossy, so..." Jesse shrugged, trailing off weakly.

"When? When have you ever been bossy?!" Mevia abruptly snapped, making the entire room look at her in surprise, "I've barely ever even seen you yell for longer than a minute!" (Otto and Harper exchanged openly surprised looks at this.)

Jesse mumbled, weakly, "Well, when Isa and Milo were arguing-"

"That wasn't being bossy, that was just them both being idiots and you getting angry about it!"

"Hey!" Isa and Milo chorused. (Reginald couldn't help but hide a small smile at that.)

"You're really not bossy at all, Jesse," Petra replied, quietly.

"Well, if you said it, it must be true, right?"

Petra blinked, taken aback.

"You notice things about people..." Jesse mumbled, tilting her head slightly, "so if you say stuff about me making decisions for others too much... it means I'm being bossy... so it's true, right?"

Petra was feeling worse and worse by the minute.

That was the thing- when Jesse was happy, you were happy. When she was upset, you couldn't help but get upset as well. Her contagious emotions were like a double-edged sword. Had to find a way to make Jesse laugh- or smile. At least smile. Otherwise she wasn't going to be able to explain this to Jesse.

And then she had an idea.

"Well, not really, because..."

Onscreen, Ivor shot Petra a glare before going over to where Jesse was sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor, hands folded neatly in her laps as she sat there, bottom lip trembling slightly. "Jesse-"

"I... it's fine... D... Ivor..." Jesse managed to make the smile a little bigger, but with the tears running down her face it just looked kind of heartbreaking. "You guys can make the decision if you want."

Onscreen-Lukas frowned, glancing at Petra with a 'see what you just did?' look.

"I'm on my period right now."

Jesse's head snapped up, and she looked at Petra in stunned silence for a moment.

There was three heartbeats of pure, shocked silence.

And then Jesse bit her lip, starting to shake.

Petra was worried now; did she just make Jesse cry by accident oh no this wasn't what she wanted-?

Jesse burst out laughing, covering her face with her hands and shaking with giggles. Petra joined in a bit, relieved beyond belief, and Lukas chuckled a bit as well, feeling his cheeks turn bright red. "Well, that... worked, I guess..." he mumbled, covering his eyes a bit in embarrassment.

Jace's cheeks were about the shade of apples, while Olivia was chuckling uncontrollably and Axel was clearing his throat awkwardly. Aiden's face was currently about as red as Cassie's hair, and Cassie was giggling as well, hand shoved up to her mouth. Maya was laughing now, face buried in her hands while Gill was just finding his nails absolutely fascinating.

Soren was whistling away at the ceiling. Gabriel was developing an extraordinary interest in this one thread on the couch, while Magnus was talking rather loudly about Ellegaard, and how pretty she was (now the entire audience had blackmail material, good going Magnus) and Ellegaard was just shaking her head in amusement. Ivor was taking a deep breath and letting it out shakily, cheeks burning red, while Harper was chuckling softly under her breath.

Stacy and Lizzie were shaking with silent giggles, while Stampy was biting his lip in an effort not to laugh because his face was so red, and Dan's hair was the most vibrant shade of brown yet, and Sparklez was clearing his throat over and over and over again, as if trying to cough something out. Em was blushing a bit but snickering, while Nell had just thrown her head back and started laughing.

Slab and Facemeat were both looking very intently at the screen, while Clutch was chuckling in a low voice. Mevia was just full-on cackling away, while Hadrian and Otto exchanged slightly embarrassed looks, the blush on their cheeks speaking much more evidently for them.

Onscreen, Petra sighed, looking rather uncomfortable, gold eyes no longer glowing with that red-hot heat. "Well... I mean... you tend to make pretty good decisions about 90% of the time. Even if the remaining 10% is just sheer dorkiness," she joked faintly.

Jesse smiled faintly at that.

"But... yeah," Petra said at last, her smile fading. "I didn't mean that, it's just..." She let out a long sigh. "I'm just not the greatest at controlling my temper. Especially when it comes to teammates... I think that's why I just don't like being in 'teams' in general... I end up feeling like everyone else is doing everything wrong and I'm the only one in the right. So I'm sorry."

Jace frowned a bit at that for some reason.

"It's fine, Petra," and Jesse smiled slightly. "It's not like you were purposely trying to hurt my feelings."

Slowly, Petra smiled back.

Petra took a deep breath and bent down next to Jesse, giving the girl an apologetic look. "Sorry, I'm just... really frustrated."

Jesse gave her eyes a slight roll, gesturing with one of her middlemost arms at the hallway. "Oh yes. Because any sane person would NOT get frustrated when dashing through an endless hallway of portals," she drawled sardonically, making Petra chuckle a bit.

Petra's smile fell a moment later. "So... uhh... we're cool, right?"

Jesse considered this, before wiping her face and nodding, a tiny smile coming over her face. "Cool-o-rama."

Real-Lukas chuckled a bit, recognizing the comment from back in the first episode.

"See?" Lukas asked, tail twitching a bit as he relaxed, "It's okay! Friends... being friendly! Eeeeeverybody being cool!"

The giggles began to amplify, and it was no longer just on the female side. Lukas huffed a bit, pouting at the rest of the audience a bit.

Onscreen, Cassie reached up and covered her mouth, 'coughing' a little (yes, she was totally coughing right here, not laughing at all, no sirree bob), but when she removed her hand her lips were still twitching up a bit at the corners.

Onscreen, the spider hybrid took a deep breath, getting back to her feet. "Well, Petra, if you think that portal's the one we should go through..."

"I do," Petra said calmly, giving the spider hybrid a nod.

Jesse put her lower set of arms on her hips, smiling slightly. "Well, then that's what we're gonna do."

Petra gave Jesse a sheepish little smile, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. "Thanks, Jesse."

And she turned and walked straight into the portal. Jesse followed her quickly-

The moment her foot entered the portal, her mild smile turned into a look of shock, eyes widening slightly.

The screen zoomed down to focus on her legs, small dancing sparks of electricity dancing along her legs.

"With every single one of the other portals," Jesse's voice spoke, as a sort of voiceover, "I've never gotten a feeling from any of them. Not like this."

And then she disappeared into the portal, the screen abruptly going black.

"Which makes me wonder what's up with this place, and if we didn't just made a terrible, terrible mistake."

"I think you did," Harper mumbled.

Ivor looked over at the white-haired woman oddly, eyes narrowing. "What... Harper, what is that supposed to mean?" he asked her, in a low whisper.

She looked over at Ivor, helplessly gesturing at the screen. "I... you'll see in a moment," she said at last.

Which wasn't ominous at all.


A/N: OML I'm so sorry about my terrible attempts at jokes xD

But, hey! Looks like that warning about the Prototype: Autonomous Management Agent we got a while back is going to come in handy soon~

RQTC: Best fact about Jesse that you've ever come across?

Jesse apparently catalogues her friend's 'hug styles' so as to give them the best hug x3

D'awwwwwwww

C'mon, guys! I know you guys can get the references if you just look closely!

Responses to reviewers!

LunarStarsMoons: Yeah, so you don't count unfortunately, but I love ya anyway (hug)

LittleAngelbun: Yes, yes, yes, yes, but no. You got pretty close though, good job!

MissyMattingly: Lol yes I feel like Telltale Games now, they're always sticking references in xD

Infernius Flashfire: Alright :3 / Ehhh... save Cassie. I mean, there's only two dead characters in the first arc, and then... three in Episode 6, and that's about it.

AquaK13: (laughs) / Yes, yes, and yes. That wasn't all of them, but good job! x3 / I'm sorry I just had to xD

Dr . MKNoble: Nope, not Markiplier. But yes to Element Animations! You're the first person to get that haha x3 Yes to Bill, but you didn't get all of 'em. Kudos for Element Animation x3

Darkbeast Dend: I'm glad you liked the chapters :3

DarkPrincess2001: (grins)

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Hahahaha xD / I don't mind her as the narrator, either x3 / Aww :(

GuestPerson13: Yes, yes, and yes (I think). Not all of them, but you got all the ones you guessed correct!

Infernius Flashfire: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, you repeated Batman... agggh I think you missed two xD Good job though! / Ahahaha are you really?

Toni42: It was a great chapter to write, haha x3 I'm glad you liked it!

BeliTheGhoti0304: Yes, nope. Yes, yes... and you did pretty well! x3 / :3

RapidSammi: Yep :3 / That's good! / Awww xD

NoItsBecky: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes... ahh, but you missed two. / I'm glad you liked the chapter! x3

If you want hints, just ask, and I'll put 'em in the next chapter's A/N!

x.X. A.L. X.x