"Can you throw up... like... inside your body?" Jesse asked, grimacing a little as she clambered out of her minecart with slightly wobbly legs. Lukas was stretching and rubbing his fallen-asleep leg from where he was still inside the minecart. Judging by the slightly green tinge to his face, he was wondering the same thing.
"Uh huh. I know, because I just did. About five times," Olivia replied flatly, as she walked towards a small staircase that was near where the minecart had come to a halt. Jesse followed once her legs felt less like they were emulating a bowl of jelly, and the soft sounds of footsteps behind her– and a slightly louder series of footsteps behind that– told the short girl that the other two were following her.
Her breath was practically taken away as they reached the top of the staircase, stepping onto a platform with archways looping above it beautifully. Dozens of minecart tracks led to and from it– maybe even hundreds. "Wow," she said softly, "look at this place!"
"All of these tracks converge at this point," the dark-skinned girl murmured as she looked around the platform with shining, fascinated eyes. Call them nerds, but neither girl could help being fascinated by the amount of redstone and work that this network must've taken. "You could probably get anywhere in the world from here."
Reuben let out a squeal and galloped over to a glowing, purple veil surrounded by an arch of obsidian. "There's the portal!" Jesse exclaimed, and walked over to it– running was currently a little much to be asking of her poor legs– the others following suit and gathering around it.
"That's our way out," Axel declared, boldly walking towards the portal.
"It must lead back to the surface," Olivia murmured thoughtfully.
Lukas frowned suddenly. "The surface is also where that creature is." Jesse noticed that he didn't call it a Wither– it was hard to imagine that living storm, with writhing tentacles and piercing, glowing indigo eyes and carnivorous, animalistic teeth as a Wither.
Axel abruptly came to a stop at that.
"He's right," Jesse said softly, frowning and reaching up to press her lips. "We have no idea what we're walking into. It could be dangerous."
The silence was deafening, and the heat– which had seemed to be left behind in the sharp turns and rushing wind of the minecarts travelling– crept back in the time that it took for Axel to slowly turn back towards the portal, reluctance practically radiating up his spine as he stared at the glowing purple veil of light in the doorway.
"Thanks for being so brave, Axel," Lukas said to the burly boy, voice quavering a bit as the words echoed in the firelit cavern.
"Alright." Axel swallowed. "I'm gonna go. I'm going. I'm going right now."
He didn't move a centimeter, eyes flicking back to the rest of the group anxiously. "Like... right... right now." His voice cracked a little bit.
"How about I go first?" Jesse finally suggested after a few moments, the silence stretching out for several seconds– long enough for Olivia to start fidgeting and for Lukas to give a fake cough.
"That's not what I was saying," Axel retorted, but as he turned to Jesse his relief was clearly written out in his face.
"I'm the only one with a sword– it's just safer," Jesse pointed out, deciding not to point out the fact that Axel was clearly frightened to go first. She didn't want to mention that a sword wasn't going to do anything against that Witherstorm.
"Well, if you absolutely insist." And Axel backed away, looking all too relieved that Jesse was going first.
The petite girl took Axel's place, coming to a stop just in front of the swirling, glowing purple doorway just in front of her, before turning to face the others. "Well... see you guys on the other side, I guess."
"Be careful," Olivia said softly, concern dancing in her eyes.
"Thanks, Jesse."
Jesse gave them a smile, turned back around, and strolled forwards, the portal tingling and making her skin feel odd as the feeling of perpetual heat disappeared.
She let out a silent sigh of relief.
Stepping through the portal, she felt even more relief– if not some slight confusion– when she walked forward and immediately felt cold water flood into her shoes, soaking her overalls up to her knees. She looked down to see that she was now standing knee-deep in a pool of water, with a small waterfall flowing into the pool and creating two other waterfalls that flowed over the edge of the pool.
Jesse waded deeper into the pool, letting out a more audible sigh of relief to herself. "At least there's no chance of me catching on fire now," she mumbled to herself, kicking up a small spray of water.
And then hearing a groan.
Jesse twisted to see a zombie lurching towards her, undead hands groping to seize her.
Drawing her sword quickly, Jesse hammered two blows into the zombie's head quickly and dispatched it in seconds. "Nope. Done with this. Don't need this. Nearly burned to death earlier. Don't need you contributing to the 'Kill Jesse' campaign the rest of the world's apparently got going."
Axel stepped through the portal literally a half-second after she said that, blinking when he saw Jesse had her sword out.
"There was a zombie," Jesse said as way of explanation, sheathing her sword as Axel stepped into the pool of water. Being as tall as he was, the water barely came up to only about three inches above his ankles.
"Oh." Axel paused, looking around as if he might spot it. "Is it dead?" He paused again. "I mean... y'know, dead-dead?"
"Yep." With that very eloquent response, Jesse stepped up a flight of steps, feeling water squish in her shoes as she emerged from the water. Axel followed, Olivia emerging through the portal a moment later with the sound of flitting sparks.
"Where are we?" Olivia wondered, as she too climbed out of the pool of water and gave her boots an absentminded shake– Jesse was pretty sure they'd just filled with water.
"In the dark." Jesse's green eyes scanned the landscape for anything familiar and came up with nothing. Some trees... a cliff... but nothing familiar. "In the middle of nowhere."
Lukas glanced around anxiously, one hand reaching a little deeper into his pocket. "Maybe we should bed down for the night," he said, as Reuben snuffled and looked around. "It's dangerous to be out when it's this dark."
"Thought we were headed towards a temple," Axel responded, almost belligerently.
Olivia shrugged. "We're looking for a giant building. It should be pretty obvious."
"Ivor said–"
Axel cut Lukas off before the guy could get any further than that. "Ohh, 'Ivor said'." He mimicked the comment Lukas had just made mockingly. "Well, then maybe this is the temple," he finished, sarcastically.
"Axel, c'mon," Olivia said, frowning at the burly boy.
Jesse could sense that the conversation was turning into some turbulent waters. She decided to change the subject. "We have to build a shelter," she interrupted, before anybody could start arguing and attract the attention of every monster within a twenty mile radius.
Lukas blinked. "I... thought that was what I said, but... uh..."
"You're right," Olivia decided to follow Jesse's change of subject, practically jumping on ship with Jesse almost gratefully. "We should hurry. I say we build a treehouse–"
"That'll take forever," Axel interrupted, "and we'll be exposed while we do it. We just need a quick and dirty hut."
"Look, whatever it is," Lukas cut in, "we gotta do it fast."
Absolute silence crept over them at that. Olivia put a hand on her hip while Axel crossed his arms and glared at the Ocelot. Lukas frowned a little at the glare, looking confused. "What?"
"In a hut," Olivia once again changed subject at the speed of light, turning back to Axel, "we won't know what's coming until it's knocking on our door."
"A treehouse is going to be spider town. I hate spiders."
"Why don't we just build a hut without a door and just leave a hole higher up so we can tell when day is? We can just break through the wall in the morning," Jesse pointed out. "And a treehouse will take a little too long for safety."
There was a pause at that. Finally, Olivia nodded grudgingly. "Fine. That seems like it could work."
It seemed almost like a matter of minutes until the hut, with a single hole near the top to give them an indication of the time, was finished, the whole group sitting around a small fire that Olivia had borrowed Jesse's flint and steel to make. It was surrounded by stone to avoid anyone catching on fire– Olivia's eyes had lingered on Jesse for a moment longer than everyone else when she said 'anyone'– and they were all sitting around the fire.
Well, Olivia was sitting next to it. Axel was standing near it, Lukas was in a corner by himself and hugging himself, and Jesse was far enough away from the fire that there was no chance of her catching on fire, but still close enough to get some warmth from it.
The silence in the hut was so deafening that Jesse had pulled out the fairytale book that she'd... er... borrowed from Ivor and was honestly debating reading it. Sure, she was sick and tired of fairytales after all of her research on her curse... but it was so quiet in here right now.
"What's that?"
Jesse almost jumped a bit at the sound of Olivia's curious voice, but she didn't. She just looked up from the nondescript, thick-but-small book. "It's a book of fairytales I grabbed back in Ivor's basement. I was curious, and, well..."
She could see Lukas looking at her intently now, out of the corner of her eye, but she decided to ignore that for now and focus on, well, her book.
"Oh man!" Axel suddenly exclaimed.
"What?" Olivia asked, voice filled with trepidation.
"I'm going to tell you something," Axel said, his back facing the group. "But you have to promise not to freak out."
Jesse's glass heart, nestled safely in the pocket at her chest, began to beat a little quicker. "What is it?" she asked, anxiously.
Axel turned to face them. "I..." And he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of cookies. "Have cookies."
With absolutely impeccable timing, Jesse's stomach growled.
"One for me." He wiggled one cookie to emphasize his point, before going over to Olivia. "One for Olivia." The dark-skinned girl grinned at that and took the cookie with a grateful smile on her face. "One for Jesse." He handed another one to Jesse.
"Thanks, Axel," Jesse said with gratitude in her voice. She was about to eat the cookie, but stopped when she glanced over and made eye contact with Lukas. The blonde quickly averted his eyes.
"And one for Reuben." Axel placed the last cookie at Reuben's feet, the pig snuffling and looking at it dubiously. "Sorry, Lukas," Axel 'apologized'– Jesse could hear some insincerity in his voice, "I only have four."
"Oh, no, it's... it's all right. I'm not that hungry anyway."
Lukas's stomach, like Jesse's, picked the perfect time to give a roar so loud that Jesse honestly thought there was a lion outside the hut for a second. The blonde stopped and looked at his stomach for a second, a little awkwardly, before saying, awkwardness reflecting in his voice, "I'll... just... grab something in the morning. Or something."
The black-haired girl didn't even hesitate– she stood up, being careful to keep the cookie away from the floor, and walked over to Lukas, who blinked at her in slight confusion. She extended it. "Take it."
Lukas's eyes widened. "Oh– no, no, I– I can't do that–"
Jesse pushed the cookie into Lukas's hand as the blonde stammered. "I insist."
Lukas opened his mouth to say something– hesitated– and then gave Jesse a mixed look. One of gratitude, and one of that emotion that Jesse couldn't quite identify. "Thanks, Jesse." And the blonde began to eat the cookie, Jesse giving him a smile in return and sitting back down next to Reuben, who was eating his cookie with a reluctant expression on his face.
"That was for you, Jesse," Axel protested. "Not him."
Jesse simply looked at Axel for a moment, before simply looking back down at her book. Reuben snuffled and butted his nose against her leg, having finished his cookie a moment ago.
Deciding to open the book– why not– Jesse opened it to the Table of Contents and scanned the titles. Cinderella, Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Snow White, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan...
Absentmindedly, Jesse flipped open to a random page and found herself on The Little Mermaid. She'd always liked this story, although she'd never really liked the ending, sad as it was. The little mermaid can't bring herself to hurt the one she loved, even after he was married and she would die if she didn't, so she turned to sea foam the next morning.
But she wasn't looking at the story anymore, she was now looking at multiple little notes and scribbles in the margins of the story in sharp, almost overlapping scratches of ink. Jesse lifted the book and took a closer look at it, squinting at the writing intently.
'The Little Mermaid - possibly a cat. curse?'
'Save someone but they don't know'
'Thinks someone else save them'
Jesse turned the pages, confusion mounting a little bit as she continued reading the spiky, impatient handwriting.
'The person they love/save falls in love with someone else?'
Jesse abruptly realized that the notes in the margins was about The Fairytale Curse– specifically, the Little Mermaid strain. And this was in Ivor's library, so... was this Ivor's handwriting?
She frowned. Did Ivor have the Fairytale Curse? Or study it?
"If you had to," Olivia suddenly spoke, making Jesse look up from her book in slight surprise. "Which would you rather fight: a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?"
Recognizing the question from the one Olivia had asked her earlier today– was it really only today? It felt like such a long time ago– Jesse chuckled and gave Lukas a small smile. "Choose wisely."
Lukas's lips curved up into a small smile, and he chuckled a little himself. "Uh, that's a good one... let me think..."
"How can you guys joke around at a time like this?" Axel burst out suddenly, almost in disbelief, "Petra's still out there. She's all by herself. There's nothing funny about that."
"Petra wouldn't mind at all," Jesse replied immediately.
She was momentarily taken aback at her own lack of hesitation, but she really believed– could almost feel– that Petra wouldn't care if she were here. "She'd want us to keep our spirits up."
Axel hesitated. "If I were her, I'd... I dunno." His face deepened into a frown. "It feels wrong."
"Fine, then," Lukas said, smile gone, "we should probably get some rest. We gotta start looking for this temple as early as we can. Now, um," he stood up, Jesse's eyes travelling to him, "my guess is, if we start at the portal, and kind of split up–"
Axel's gaze hardened into a glare. "Whoa, what are you doing?"
Jesse was slightly taken aback by the sudden amount of venom in Axel's voice. She looked at Olivia, who looked even more taken aback, if that was possible, and then at Lukas– but there was no surprise in his face. Just irritation.
"Did I do something to you?" Lukas asked impatiently. "I'd really like to know. You keep getting on my case for what seems like no reason."
"He's just trying to help," Jesse agreed quickly. Because his tone hadn't been manipulative or crafty or rude at all, it had been genuinely helpful and as if he was offering a suggestion.
Lukas glanced at Jesse, his eyebrows rising in surprise for a moment– before he looked back at Axel, gesturing at Jesse. "See?"
"Sorry, Jesse." Axel crossed his arms, his glare deepening as he stared right at Lukas. "I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this guy telling us what's what."
"I'm just trying to get ready for tomorrow," Lukas replied, matching Axel's glare and crossing his arms as he stared at Axel, even though that wasn't going to help at all, even though that was probably going to exasperate the situation even further.
Jesse was proven right when Axel shot back, "You're the only one wearing that stupid jacket." Lukas's blue eyes widened as his eyes flicked to his jacket. "Don't tell us what to do."
A flash of rage filled Lukas's eyes, and he stepped forward, his usually calm voice now trembling with rage. "Take. That. Back," he spoke through gritted teeth, vocal cords hardening to steel.
"Can't. Wouldn't."
"You know what," Lukas snapped, losing his temper, "I get to wear this jacket because I know how to build. But that doesn't mean that I don't know how to break things."
"Your threats don't scare me, now that we know how you really are."
Jesse and Olivia's heads were both swiveling back and forth as if they were watching a soap opera.
"Jesse, your friend is way out of line!" Lukas turned to Jesse, blue eyes flashing with anger. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I can only take so much."
"Let's just drop it," Jesse replied calmly.
Axel glared at Lukas. "Don't be like that, Jesse."
Jesse decided to make herself crystal clear, climbing to her feet as well. "Just. Drop. It," she repeated, emphasizing each word with such force that Lukas actually stepped back a little, blinking in surprise.
Instead, Axel turned to the blonde with a cold expression on his face. "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" And he gave Lukas such a forceful shove that the blonde staggered and fell to the ground, something slipping out of his pocket and falling at Jesse's feet as he landed. "Petra might be dead because of you."
Jesse clapped her hands to her mouth with an alarmed gasp.
"You're taking this too far, Axel!" Olivia exclaimed, startled.
Lukas didn't say anything, his shoulders beginning to tremble from where he was kneeling on the ground, hands and knees pressed into the dirt floor.
Jesse looked at the item at her feet. It was an ocelot plushie, with green beads for eyes and fluffy gold fur with darker circles decorating it. She bent down and picked it up, turning it over in her hands to get a better look at it, the fluffy tail flopping over in her hands. She was pretty sure it was her imagination, but the plushie ocelot was looking at her.
Then, in a perfect imitation of Lukas's voice, the ocelot said, "Hello."
A/N: Cliffhanger!
Haha, sorry. You should know me by now, I do stuff this way.
I was blatantly obvious about which curse Lukas has, but if it wasn't already obvious to you somehow, it'll be clear next chapter.
Okay, I'm going to cut off any person in the future who says "this is blatant Lukesse" and just say–
"Wait for the next chapter."
Responses to reviews!
LunarTheMooncake: Yeeep~
EllieRose27: Lol
TheAmberShadow: (chuckles) / Ahaha, I know, right? / Lol xD / Hehe xD
homeworkoverload: Where did I say that? Could you please explain what you mean? / (pats) / (laughs) I've done the same thing a couple times.
That's all for now! (Wow, so few reviews.) See ya, so long, and g'bye!
x.X. A.L. X.x
