A/N: Honest Liars has reached 1,000 views thank you :')

this thing is shorter than i wanted it to be, but.. meh. There really wasn't much i could do. :/

Genre- Tragedy

Jesse- F1st / First Female / Yellow Jesse

They didn't think exploring a worn down city that previously held an entire civilization would end so badly. Yes, they knew that it was a dangerous mission- almost all their missions were dangerous, really- but they didn't think it would get this bad. Even with Harper's warnings.

She'd given them all gas masks to keep from breathing in the airborne disease that killed the whole civilization. "Chances are, it's not there anymore," she had said, "but just in case."

As far as Petra knew, the only casualties before they got separated was Olivia's broken wrist and Ivor getting hit by an arrow from some traps, but that was it. And then they got separated. They were alone for a long while (which was something neither of the two were happy with) and, in that time while they were alone, fell into some traps. Petra was just fine, but Jesse's gas mask was broken.

After that, she started to stumble and fall. Her normal reaction would have been to laugh and shrug it off, but now, she was grim. And then she started to cough. And then she began to cough up blood.

At some point, they were able to make contact with the rest of the team, and told them about the situation. Luckily for them, Harper had something that came very close to a cure. They weren't any guarantees of it working, but it would have to do. They agreed on meeting in the room just by the exit, which is where they were right now.

No appearance of the others, as of yet.

Jesse coughed weakly. "Why does it hurt?"

There were spots of blood on her light blue armor, which was currently sitting in Petra's inventory. They had to remove her armor as she grew weaker and weaker, because in all honesty that armor was heavy and would not help Jesse at all, with how much she stumbled and fell.

Petra couldn't do anything but hold Jesse's hand and rub circles on her palm comfortingly. It wasn't something she ever thought she would end up doing, considering the fact that she didn't really like the woman much, but.. what else could you do?

"It's a sickness, Jesse, it's going to hurt."

Silence filled the room for a short moment, the only sound filling it being Jesse's coughs. "D.. Death sh-shouldn't-" a cough, "-hurt.." she mumbled. It was almost impossible for Petra to hear her, "It's... it's s-s'posed.. t-t-to be a-" she coughed weakly, "-a g-good thing.."

"You're not going to die, Jesse."

That was another thing the redhead never understood about Jesse. The girl had always thought of death as a good thing- as a reward. Jesse never understood why she cried the first time a friend died, and again when the other one did. His death almost interfered with the current mission at hand- Petra would almost call it a good thing that Jesse wasn't as affected by death as a normal person was. Almost.

Except it was how he died that affected her most.

Her attention was brought back to the sick girl in her lap when she began to cough again. She only caressed the girl's forehead, brushing away some of her bangs as she did so.

After Jesse was finally done coughing, she smiled up at Petra. "A-And.. h-here I th-thought y-you'd.. w-want me d-dead.."

Jesse's voice was a lot weaker and smaller than the loud and brash that the redhead was used to. She frowned, before breathing a laugh and masking it with a smile. "Maybe I've changed."

"It's only been.. a year..." The ravenette coughed, causing Petra to squeeze her hand. "'M n-not-" She coughed again. The fit lasted for almost an entire minute, "-not c-convinced."

Petra only hummed in reply, instead taking to looking at their intertwined hands, rubbing her thumb to the side of Jesse's own hand, her thoughts taking her back to to Crown Mesa.

It was there when Jesse had almost completely changed. And not just physically, with the tattoo on her arm and all. And it wasn't the events with PAMA, no, that wasn't what changed her. It was something else. It was the death of a friend.

Who knew that was all it took?

She hummed as she stopped rubbing circles, then looked down. Jesse seemed to be sleeping.

"Jesse?"

Silence.

"Jesse?"

No response. Panicked, Petra let go of Jesse's hand and moved it to her neck, feeling for a pulse.

She was met with nothing.