Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Glimmering rays of warmth glide into the Order Hall. It’s a pleasant Spring day, and the environment feels more lively than usual. The swaying leaves soak in the sun’s nutrients, the water sparkles perfectly like a painting, reflecting onto the vibrant petals of flower patches. Crisp and moist scents snake through the glassless windows, and the brittle papers are enlightened with a gorgeous glossy filter.

Here Lukas is, assisting Jesse recite their vows, who is repeating after him.

“…that I received the greatest gift without wishing.”

“that I received the greatest gift without wishing.”

“I, Jesse,”

“I, Jesse,”

“will forever and ever,”

“will forever and ever,”

“stay committed to you,”

“stay committed to you,”

“will never leave you,”

“will never leave you,”

“my one and only love,”

“my one and only love,”

“Petra.”

“Petra.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

“--And that’s it. That’s what I’ve got so far.” Lukas closes his book, “What do you think?”

“I LOVE it!” Jesse exclaims, their hands slipping away from their lover’s, “It’s great, Lukas!”

“Thank you, Jesse. But, still, you know, that’s just a rough draft.” putting the book away, Lukas crosses his arms and grins, “The finished product will be even better."

“I can’t wait to see it!” they’re practically jumping at the mere thought of broadcasting such a beautiful poem on their special day.

“Luke, did you seriously make a Shakespeare reference in that?” Petra asks, skeptical.

“Well, yeah.” he shrugs, “I couldn’t help myself. He’s a big inspiration to a lot of my works. Besides, Jesse said I could.”

“Don’t really understand all the cheesy poetic stuff, but alright. Go off, I guess.” she directs her gaze away from Lukas and rolls her eyes in Jesse’s direction, snickering under her breath as if saying ‘are you hearing this nerd?’

“Hey, I won’t do that for your vows, at least. Your request was, uhh, pretty specific.” Lukas smiles teasingly, “Doesn’t change the fact that writing needs inspiration, though.”

“I’m not saying don’t get inspired, Luke. I’m just saying–” she pauses, fumbling her words, “ugh. Just make sure it’s not super… corny, okay?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” he assures.

“I’m excited to see what he makes for you.” says Jesse, sheepishly rubbing their arm and glancing at their partner.

“Yeah, yeah, I mean… see, look, I just don’t wanna– I think–” heat crawling to her face like a cave spider, Petra uses a hand to cover the side of her face, ultimately failing, “okay, okay, fine. I’m sick of hiding it; I’m also excited to see what he writes for me. Luke’s really good at this.”

Pleased with hearing this, Lukas nods. “I won’t let you down.”

A moment of uncomfortable silence passes. The three barely move and don’t say a word until Petra gets bored of it; “So…?”

“Ah–! Oh, oh jeez, I’m late, aren’t I!?” the doors swung open, allowing the rapid footsteps following it to enter the halls.

“There’s our officiant!” Petra puts a hand on her hip, speaking rather chipper.

“Hihihi– hey, hello!” Radar huffs, catching himself before he stumbles and falls onto the ground, “Ooh, I am so sorry, Jesse– ahem, boss. I had to catch up on geometry homework and mom suddenly wanted me to do the dishes and wouldn’t let me leave until I did so! I would’ve called you or something, buuuut I was in a bit of a rush.” he explains, “Hope you understand.”

“That’s alright,” Jesse welcomes, “I know how it is sometimes.”

“Yeah. You’re fine, Radar.” Petra agrees, although minorly puzzled.

“Don’t sweat it.” Lukas chips in.

“Okay, good. I was really worried you guys would be mad at me or something! Heh.” he brushes himself off and clears his throat, “So, uh, did I miss anything?"

“Well, we just went through my vows to Petra.” Jesse glances at the woman, simpering, “Lukas read them since you weren’t here.”

“Again, sorry about that! I tried to get here sooner.” Radar adjusts his glasses and shakes his head, “Do you want me to go through them now, or are you busy?”

Lukas turns to Jesse, no words being said, as his eyes asked all the questions he needed answered.

“Uh…” they stop, pondering, “later, probably. There’s some stuff I wanna get done around Beacontown.”

“Sounds good to me!” says Radar with a tone full of glee.

“I’ll have you look at them another time.” Lukas walks to Radar’s side and places a hand on his shoulder, “You’ll get to read them at some point either way.”

“I know! But, agh, still…” the little guy’s heart might just beat its way out of his chest from how much excitement he seems to be experiencing, “I can’t wait!”

Lukas chuckles, moving his arm away. “I can’t wait either.”

“Well,” Petra switches the topic, “I think I’m gonna head out for now. Talk to Jack about some stuff, maybe. If I see him.”

“Oh, yeah! Isn’t he walking you down the aisle?” Radar inquires out of curiosity.

“Yeah… yeah, he is. I’m super happy he is, too.” Petra nervously rubs the nape of her neck, “I mean, c’mon! He’s one of my biggest idols!”

“Man, all this is making me think about my future.” Radar put his hand to his chin as he constructs his train of thought, “What if I end up getting married someday?”

“We’ll figure it out when we get there, yeah?” Jesse nods, restraining a snicker, “Let’s focus on what’s already ahead of us first.”

“Okay, you’re right. Sorry, boss!” he straightens up.

“Alright, soo… I’ll see you guys later, then?” heading towards the exit, Petra shoots a neutral look at the group.

“Yup.” Lukas nods, “But if you need me before then, you know where to find me.”

“I sure do.” she grins.

“I’ll see you around, Petra!” calls a waving Jesse, “I love you!’

Caught off-guard, Petra fails to hide a giggle. “Love you, too, Jess.”

A pure smile covers Jesse’s face as they watch their fiancée leave. “Well, like I said, I’m gonna get some stuff done around Beacontown.”

“I’ll see what needs to be done around here.” Radar responds, “Holler if you need me! I’ll see you later, boss!”

And then Jesse runs off, catching up with Petra. Lukas teasingly shakes his head. “Tch. I swear they only left right then just to spend more time with Petra.”

“Maybe so.” the intern shrugs, “It’s understandable, though. They only have five days until they officially get married!”

“Yeah. I’m honestly still in disbelief.” admits Lukas, crossing an arm to grasp his other.

“From what?” Radar asks, failing to understand Lukas’ confusion.

“Just… the whole thing in general.” Lukas loosens his shoulders, “It feels like just a month ago we had defeated the Witherstorm, fresh out of school, and now I’m a famous author and the two people closest to me are getting married.” he sighs, reminiscing, “It’s a lot to take in.”

“I bet! I see where you’re coming from. I remember hearing about the Witherstorm way back in middle school.” Radar concurs, “And now we’re talking about college in school.”

“Jeez, kid. You’re growing fast.” Lukas comments in a playful manner, releasing his arm.

“Heheh! You sound like my grandparents.” he jabs back at him.

“Oh, shut up, you.” he teases, offering Radar a fist bump, which he accepts, “Don’t make me feel old.”

The intern pauses, then changes the subject: “So, what’d you do for the vows?”

“I did my best to make it poetic. I think it turned out alright.” Lukas reaches for the journal.

“Can I see them?” his eyes lit up like stars in the night sky.

“Eh, maybe when I have more time. I’ve gotta get to the library for book signings before long.” he replies with a promising tone, “I swear you’ll get to see them, though. I’ll also help you go over rhythm and such.”

“Alrighty. Thank you, Lukas. Sir. Ahem…” the teen clears his throat.

“Just Lukas is fine.” he utters, speaking mildly fast.

“Apologies, my bad. Thank you, Lukas.” Radar corrects himself, “Well, then. May I escort you to the door?”

Playfully, Lukas rolls his eyes. “Sure. C’mon, bud.”

The blonde starts making his way towards the exit, gazing for a moment longer to make sure Radar is going with him. Golden sunbeams flood through the crack between the two doors, illuminating the quartz to a pale daffodil-yellow, a change from its usual white and gray. The smell of freshly watered plants wafting through the air grows stronger the closer they get to the doors.

“Hey, wait a second. I just remembered–” Radar breaks the quiet atmosphere.

“Hm?”

“Aren’t you Petra’s best man?”

Lukas’ eyes widened briefly as he was reminded of his important role. “I almost forgot about that. Yeah, I am.”

“Wow, you are SO lucky!” Radar makes a wide hand gesture, “I can only imagine being chosen as someone’s best man.”

“I know, right? I’m honored.” Lukas bobs his head, “I was dead set on her asking Olivia to be her maid of honor.”

“She’s actually gonna be Jesse’s maid of honor.” informs Radar.

“Really?” Lukas is perplexed hearing this information, “I thought Axel was their best man?”

“I was told that they’re both best man and maid of honor respectively.” he elaborates, fiddling with his tie via slipping it through his fingers, “Which makes sense, actually! If I was in Jesse’s position, I wouldn’t wanna pick one and leave the other out.”

“Understandable. Jesse’s like that.” Lukas chuckles, “I knew they’d make the right choice either way.”

“Always!” Radar seems rather happy after their conversation, “Well, here we are.”

“Alright. Thanks, Radar.” Lukas gets a hold of the doorknob, “I'll see you later.”

“Cya!” he waves him goodbye.

“Cya.”

Lukas walks through the doors and gently shuts them behind him. He squints when the sunlight pours into his eyes, raising an arm to shield his face. Recovering from the sudden wave, he observes the environment surrounding him. There are people carrying blocks and ladders to reach the lantern posts and connect them with off-white, nearly champagne-colored, banners. Everyone was working so hard to prepare for the big day and Jesse had never asked them for anything.

“Oh, hey! It’s Lukas!” calls out one of the town folks hanging banners, them and their friend waving hello.

Lukas waves back, pleased. Must be a couple of his fans. He’s as surprised as he is grateful to have them.

Continuing his stroll downtown, he can’t help but slow down to take in how beautiful the day is. The sky was clear of clouds, the smell of freshly cut grass and graciously cared for flowers soars in the gentle breeze, the stony streets were swept clean, the parrots merrily flew from perch to perch, and the colorful beacons seemed a smidge brighter.

Seeing posters of himself with the label ‘Free Signing!’ adorning the library’s outer walls, Lukas brushes the palm of his hand from the wood on the edges of the windows to the jungle door’s handle. The library was dimly lit, candles embellishing every surface that has enough space to hold them. Browns ranging in different hues and saturations drench every crevice of the place– it’s almost overwhelming.

“Lukas.” the librarian, sitting at her desk with an aged book, gives him a firm nod.

“Samantha. Hey.” greets Lukas, “So, where do you want me to set up my stuff–?”

“I already got it for you,” Samantha tilts her head to guide him in the right direction, which lies next to the window closest to the rainbow beacon, “it’s over there.”

“Oh, sweet. Thanks.” half nodding to himself and half to Samantha, he makes his way over to where she placed the spare table for him.

“You should still have a few minutes before they start coming in.” she sips her coffee, circling the cup and causing the ice to spiral.

“Alright, cool.” Lukas tugs the back of the chair and takes a seat. He brings the pen holder closer to him, taking a pen out to examine it closely. He repeats this process a few times with each pen he was provided, along with scribbling on a spare sheet of paper to test how each one worked.

Eventually, he got bored of aimlessly staring around and spinning a pen with his fingers when nothing was happening. “How’s your day been, Samantha?”

“...’s been okay.” she replies while twirling her glasses chain around her index finger, “Kind of uneventful, strangely enough.”

“Yup, haha, that’s odd,” Lukas comments, thoughtful, “days like these are usually busier days for you.”

“I’m not complaining.” Samantha finally pulls her eyes away from her book to give Lukas a snarky smile, lips remaining suctioned to her straw. 

Lukas laughs, “I figured.”

“Is that him–?” a small, feminine voice murmurs.

“Oh, oh! Oh my gosh, it is–!” responds a young boy's voice, who is very blatantly restraining himself from shouting.

He presents a warm and welcoming smile to the teen, waving in his direction.

“Oh wow, oh wow–” he bolts it to the table with a book clutched to his chest, “I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you in-person!”

“Haha, nice to meet you.” Lukas fixes his posture and pulls a pen from the cup, “What’s your name?”

“My name’s Noah.” The teen places his book on the table. It was the second book Lukas had published, which was going more in-depth about the challenges the new Order faced while at war with the Witherstorm.

“Nice, you got a hard cover and everything.” Lukas pulls the book closer to him and opens it to the very first page, “Is it okay if I sign the inside right here?”

“Yup! Fine by me.” Noah nods, bouncing excitedly, “I really love the sensory details you put into this one.”

“That’s good to hear. I was worried I went a little overboard and it wouldn’t be taken well.” his pen swirls and swipes across the blank space, marking his signature in.

“It was nasty, but in a good way.” Noah grins from ear-to-ear, picking up his book, “It felt like I was actually there. Hearing about it on the news was one thing, but seeing it written like that… Just– wow.”

“It was terrifying. And I thought we’d lose Petra for a while back there,” he admits, sighing, “but Jesse knew what to do, and they saved us all.”

“Hey, don’t give them all the credit! You and the others helped out a lot, too.” Noah insists.

“I know, I know. You’re right.”

“Well, um, I think I’m gonna get going.” he steps back, “It was so awesome to meet you. Have a good one!”

“Alright, you too. It was nice talking to you!” Lukas waves and tosses the pen back into the pencil holder. He watches Noah run up to his mom and start telling her about how jealous his friends are gonna be before he notices another customer enter. He fixes his posture again, but then hears a voice from outside the library:

“Everyone, everyone! Please gather ‘round!”

He peers out the window next to him. Jesse steps onto the rainbow beacon with Petra by their side, a crowd beginning to pool. A good feeling in his chest, he slides the window open and turns himself over to get a better look.

“Don’t worry, nothing bad happened. I just wanted to thank you again for all of the effort you’ve put into decorating Beacontown for the ceremony.” They began, “You all have done such a good job, and I couldn’t be prouder. I know you guys didn’t need to do any of this, but you did anyway, and it looks awesome!”

Before Jesse can continue speaking, the crowd starts an uproar of cheers and applause. They chuckle and wave, while Petra gazes approvingly at the crowd, nodding.

“As one last reminder, since it’s in five days, you’re all invited to watch the wedding ceremony from outside the Order Hall. If you haven’t noticed, my friends and I put up signs around town with information such as times, dates, and dress code. That’s about what I’ve got for today, folks. Have a great day!”

The crowd disperses, returning to what they were doing before. Conversations spark, people resume their walks, citizens go back to adjusting banners and planting flowers… The town has really shaped up to be something. It seems every time Lukas looks away, it improves, and the wedding preparations are only raising the bar.

Not only is he honored to be Petra’s best man, but also to fill in more than one important role at what might be the biggest and most anticipated wedding in one of the greatest towns of all time:

Beacontown.

Chapter Text

Every few seconds, someone shouts “Congratulations!”, or sends a simple “Can’t wait to be there!” in the group’s direction, and Jesse can’t contain their joyous laughter. Catching the contagious glee, Lukas smiles and his attempts to suppress his chuckles are foiled. Petra is getting flustered at every positive remark, including the tiniest ones.

“You alright over there, Petra?” Lukas teases and flashes her a grin. “Looks like your hair isn’t the only thing that’s red.”

“Shut up,” she commands, shying away and hiding the lower half of her face with her hand.

“I’m so glad everyone’s excited for us.” Jesse shoots a glance in Petra’s direction.

“I mean, why wouldn’t they be? They get to attend the wedding of the two coolest people in the world!” Petra boasts.

“No kidding. I can only imagine how you guys feel,” Lukas begins. “I mean, I got excited enough when Jesse showed me the ring. And I was at the proposal, and Petra asked me to be her best man… All in all: wow.”

“I’m pretty proud of the ring I picked out.” Jesse nods in agreement, “I think it suits Petra well.”

“I really like it,” she confirms. “If anyone was going to make the right choice for me, it’s you.”

“Aww, thanks, Petra.” Jesse’s cheeks flush a darker tint.

The ginger chuckles. “Of course.”

Lukas has to shield his eyes from the glint of light reflecting off of the colossal golden spike attached to the front of the Order Hall. Quartz blocks outline the stony stairs leading to the treasure hall, cloaked in shadows by the canopies, but the light of the redstone lamps swim through.

The automatic doors clunk open, prompting a ‘ding!’ sound effect to indicate visitors. Olivia had installed it for touring purposes, but it can be helpful for the workers, too. Such as–

“Radar!”

“Oh, hey! You’re back!” he beams, holding a few papers. “Welcome back!”

“How’s it going, Radar?” Jesse asks, tranquil.

“Pretty busy, as usual.” Exasperated, Radar runs a hand through his hair, “Lots of planning, lots of signing, and– hoo, boy– lots of speech revision.” His chest heaves as a few loose strands of hair fall in front of his face at the removal of his hand. “I haven’t even got to try on my suit yet!”

The whole trio is startled by that. Lukas jolts back, Jesse's jaw drops, and Petra's eyes shoot wide open. After all, the ceremony begins in only four days.

“Radar, it’s in four days– four fucking days– and you haven’t even tried your suit on!?” She sounds angry.

“I know, I know! I've just been really busy, okay!?” Radar's shoulders visibly tense as his posture shatters. “I barely finished all the work we needed done for today to be able to squeeze in my AP music theory homework! I have to make sure Jesse is all set for the wedding and the honeymoon without having to worry about work at all. I want both of you to enjoy it to the fullest.”

Jesse rests a gentle hand on Petra’s back. “Don’t overwork yourself, Radar. Even if you’re a little behind, it’s not a big deal, and I can catch up on it when I come back. You’ve got your own things you need to worry about, too.”

“I know, but–” he stammers, tripping over each word he tries to say.

“You’ve done more than enough work for today;” interjects the leader, “go try on your suit. I’m sure you’ll look amazing in it.”

“I’ll help you, Radar.” Lukas steps up, looking calmly at the young boy.

“But– Luke!?” Petra protests. “We have the mineshaft trip today!”

“I’ll try to be quick.” He turns his head. “I might show up late, but this is kind of important, don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah, but–” the formation of her counterpoint wilts while Lukas holds his inadvertent glare, “ugh! Fine, whatever! C’mon, Jesse!”

She grabs onto Jesse’s hand and yanks them along to exit the hall. They glimpse back at Lukas and Radar, but eventually they catch themselves and gently hold Petra’s hand, seeming to comfort her.

“What’s got her so worked up?” a concerned Radar asks.

Lukas crosses his arms and shakes his head, “I dunno. My guess is that she’s stressed about the wedding, but that’s still not an excuse to yell at you like that.” He faces the other. “I’m sorry, Radar.”

“It’s alright, I really don’t mind.” Radar shrugs. “Happens a lot. Getting– Getting yelled at, I mean.”

Lukas hesitates for a moment, double-taking.

“I… I get what you mean.” His eyes are briefly on the floor before he lifts himself to look back at Radar, “C’mon, let’s go try on your suit.”

—

All the accessories were neatly laid out on the bed. The room looks and smells like a hotel; the lamp emits a dusty light, the white bed sheets are clean and made nicely… the only thing different is that it’s compulsively organized by Jesse’s intern. Lukas counts to make sure he has everything Radar requested; if they’re missing something, he’ll go nuts. After multiple run throughs, he’s certain he has what they need. The door creaks, and he turns around.

Radar emerges in a teal tuxedo– sleek, fresh, and untouched by adornments– with his sleeves rolled and cuffed just below his elbows. The white undershirt sprouts from his collar, fixed to be as close to perfectly even as possible. His black belt has a shiny golden buckle, and the edges of his blazer barely brush its sides.

“Alrighty,” arms in a wide gesture, he presents himself to Lukas, “how do I look?”

“Wow.” Lukas fails to smile from his surprise. “It’s awesome. You look great, Radar.”

“Really?” His hands form fists, clenching his excitement, and rise close to his face.

“Really.” Lukas’ grin makes an appearance as he turns around to grab his tie. “Now, are you ready for accessories?”

“I almost forgot! EEK!” Radar jumps excitedly, almost bounding towards Lukas.

Amused, Lukas giggles. “Alright, alright! Hold still.”

“Actually,” Radar interrupts, “I’ll do it. I already got my dad to teach me how to tie a bowtie. Besides, I don’t want you to have to worry about helping me when we’re getting ready for the big day.”

Lukas pauses, but then he shrugs. “Okay. That works for me.”

The teenager smiles and nods, slightly tilting his neck down and slipping the ribbon around. He fiddles with both ends, pulling them together and tying them in a cross knot. He smooths the ends using the pads of his fingers, momentarily staring in analysis if it’s in the place he wants.

“There!” Radar perks up once finished.

“Uhh– hm…” Lukas’ expression drops; not angry, but rather puzzled. He gets a light hold of the other’s tie and fans the tips out with his thumbs. A light tug later, and the bowtie is all fixed up.

“Oh,” halts Radar, “thank you, Lukas!”

“Heh. No problem,” he replies, studying Radar’s suit again. “Um, did you… forget to button it?”

“Huh?” Radar sends his eyes downwards. “Oh. No, I didn’t; that was intentional. See, I would’ve buttoned it up, but I couldn’t decide if it looked better buttoned or unbuttoned." He moves the jacket around, alternating between open and closed, to highlight the differences between the two. “I wanted to wait and see what your opinion was.”

“Personally? I think both are good.” Lukas crosses an arm and taps his chin. “Do whatever you think is better, bud.”

Immediately, Radar buttons the jacket together.

“I figured that’s what’d you do.” Lukas teases.

“Hey, it looks more professional!” He urges. “I want to look my best, so that’s why I asked you.”

“I get it, Radar.” The blond rolls his eyes in a playful manner. “I’m just giving you shit.”

“Oh, okay,” Radar seems relieved, “good.”

Lukas’ eyes drag him all across the room. The cleanliness and organization is absurd to him, but that’s Radar’s personality; nothing out of the ordinary for him. He likes things in a very specific way. He sighs to himself before grabbing a boutonniere of forget-me-nots and facing his companion. “Got something else for you, Ray.”

The gleam of excitement is visible in his eyes. His shoulders tense and he lifts his hands, practically trembling with energy. If he’s this excited now, what’s the ceremony gonna be like? Lukas can only imagine. For the moment, he fumbles with the pin, trying to fasten it to Radar’s blazer.

“There,” Lukas approaches the tall mirror leaning on the side of the wall near the door, “what do you think?”

Radar gasps. He’s worn his fair share of suits and ties before, but this– this was for an entirely different occasion! He can’t keep a grin to himself, and it widens across his face (somehow) faster than Lukas’. His giggles and squeals take the place of his words before he can express his opinion.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!! It’s absolutely AMAZING!” He beams at a smiling Lukas.

“I agree,” Lukas sashes an arm around Radar, “you look awesome. You’re gonna do great, kid.”

“That reminds me! We still have yet to go over the vows,” he mentions.

“I thought about that,” agrees Lukas, “but I’m already running late to the mineshaft trip. Jesse and Petra are waiting for me.”

“Ah– yeah. I almost forgot about that.” Radar scratches the back of his head. “That’s fine. I have theatre practice tomorrow night, but maybe the day after that? Once I get my chores done?”

“Actually…” Lukas rummages through his inventory and pulls out an old brown journal. “I copied it down here for you.”

“Even better!” Graciously, he takes the book into his own hands. “I’ll practice later tonight when I get home.”

“Cool.” Lukas nods. “Anyways, I should get going to the mines. If I’m lucky, they’ll still be waiting for me when I get there.

“I’d hurry if I were you;” Radar suggests, anxious, “I don’t think Petra is the most patient person.”

“Huh. Who would’ve thought.” Lukas pulls the door open, which responds with a shriek.

“...Th-That was sarcasm, right?”

“Yes, it was–”

“Oh–! Oh, no!” Radar yelps suddenly. “NonononononononoNO NO!”

Lukas immediately grows concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m late! I’m so late!” He cries. “Mom’s gonna kill me if I don’t get home NOW!”

“I’m sure she’ll understa–”

“I hate to shove you out, Lukas,” Radar interrupts, stammering and giving a nudge to the author, “but I-I-I gotta get changed and go!”

“Alright, then. I’ll see you later, Radar, have a–”

SLAM!

“...good one.” Lukas sighs. He knows Radar abhors being late with every fiber in his body, and he’s sure that’s the case, but something in the back of his mind is telling him that something’s wrong. He himself has been scared of coming home late before, and came back to rather harsh consequences when he did, but he never really panicked this much.

“Hm.” he huffs. He’ll have to talk with Radar later and make sure everything is okay. But for now, he’s off to the mineshaft with his friends.

—

Groans of zombies drown out the ambience of bats squeaking and pickaxes clanging into ores. The upper walls are dusty, untouched by human hands, and the place reeks of rotten flesh. Eugh, gross. The smell was definitely not on the list of things Lukas missed.

And, of course, the croaks of undead mobs wasn’t the only thing Lukas could hear. Swords were slashing through flesh, their sparkling enchantments searing, and were wielded with near perfection by their owners. He knows exactly who they belong to.

Jesse puts their sword back into the sheath on their back. Wait, what kind of armor were they wearing? Was that iron? They gaze down the tunnel, while Petra’s expression turns sour, which Lukas thought was odd; after all, wasn’t going out into the unknown one of her favorite things to do?

“Still upset the rest of the gang isn’t here?” Jesse’s eyes revert back to their fiancée.

“Yeah.” Petra rolls her eyes. “Obviously.”

“That’s okay! We’ll still see everyone at the ceremony,” the other responds with a bright smirk, raising themselves to their toes and putting their face close to her’s. “Besides~ we can still have a good time here! Think of it like… a pre-ceremony honeymoon.”

One reason Lukas knew Jesse was the perfect partner for Petra was that they never failed to cheer her up and make her crack a smile. He’s glad that they’re getting married–

Faint guttural screeching echoed in the near distance. Zombies. Mildly nervous, he takes a glimpse at the two girls, who are too busy giggling and teasing one another. He prepares his bow and arrow, watching the melty-fleshed bodies slug towards the two. He lines up a perfect shot, and…

“LOOK OUT!” Lukas yells a warning, startling both Jesse and Petra, who duck down in an instant. He fires an arrow, piercing a zombie right through its neck and into another zombie, which creates a domino effect with about three of them.

“Lukas!” Jesse calls. “You made it!”

“Yup.” Lukas sneers playfully. “I told you I would, didn’t I?”

“You’re late, though.” Petra’s head sinks into her shoulders, giving the writer an agitated stare. “But thanks for helping Radar.”

Petra’s attitude has been rather nasty lately, hasn't it? Lukas can’t be the only one to have noticed. He shrugs it off simply as ‘she’s just worried about the wedding’, but even he can tell something’s off. First Radar, now Petra… he didn’t do anything wrong, did he? No, he doesn’t believe he did. Chances are, they’re stressed about the upcoming ceremony. Even he has to admit– he is, as well.

“Yeah, of course.” Pushing racing thoughts aside, Lukas’ head bobs. “I am sorry for showing up late, by the way. I know we haven’t gotten much time together lately.”

“Whatever. Apology accepted,” Petra grumbles, subtly rolling her eyes. “You’re not going to show up late to the wedding, too, are you?”

“Guys…” Jesse saddens.

“What? No! I would never do that to you.” Almost offended at the accusation, he attempts to convince her otherwise. “Petra, why would you even think I would do that to you?”

The ginger begins toying with her hair. “I know you wouldn’t, just– UGH!” Her grip tightens. “My friends are barely around anymore! And I’m starting to think that they don’t even want to spend time with me.”

“Petra, that isn’t true.” Her partner steps over and gets a gentle grasp of her tensed hand. “Lukas, Axel, Olivia, and all our friends will be at the ceremony. I’m sure of it.”

“Jesse’s right,” hopeful, Lukas concurs. “I’m definitely gonna be there. And if Axel and Olivia don’t show up? Hoo boy, you can bet your ass they’ll be hearing from me, and I don’t care what kind of Redstonia or Boom Town duties they had.”

“But they will be there!” Jesse exchanges a brief moment of eye contact with Lukas. “They’ve told me they’re super excited to come.”

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t be,” he adds.

Petra huffs. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I know you’re right.” She undergoes a deep breath. “Thanks, guys. I’ve been… really anxious about the wedding.”

“Understandably so. I don’t blame you,” Lukas sympathizes. “I can only imagine the amount of stress you two are under.”

“It has been a lot of work,” the mayor admits, warmly smiling at their fiancée with a tinted face, “but it’ll be worth it in the end.”

“I’m sure it will be,” approves Lukas. “Also, uh… Jesse?”

“Yeah?"

“Is that an iron chestplate?” he approaches them and gives a flick to their shoulder.

“I know, right!?” Petra can’t keep herself from snickering. “Gonna have some trouble being seen with someone wearing such dingy armor like that.”

“Hey!” Jesse snaps back. “I didn’t want to dent the good stuff. So, what? And look who’s talking with an iron sword!”

Lukas hadn’t noticed that before. Since when did she use an iron sword instead of Ms. Butter?

“How come I’m seeing that just now?” Lukas leans over and studies her weapon. “Where’s whatsername? The fancy gold one with all the enchantments?”

“Ahem, Ms. Butter?” Petra corrects, clearing her throat.

“Mhm. Where’d she go?” inquires Lukas.

“I, uh…”

Another swarm of mobs emerges from the dim tunnels, wailing like ghosts. Petra is ready with her sword in a heartbeat, leering teasingly at the other two as they draw their weapons. The two swordswomen trade affirming nods while Lukas backs up, nocking his arrow. The trio easily wipes through the parade of mobs, coordinating with no more than a few words.

“Hah, told you!” Gloats Jesse. “I haven’t lost my step yet!”

“Well, you sure showed me, aha.” Sweetly, Petra chuckles.

“Good job to you, too, Lukas.” They fistbump the other.

“Hey, it’s like you always say.” Lukas shrugs. “Teamwork…”

“...makes the dream work.” Jesse completes his sentence.

A good laugh with Jesse later, Lukas picks up on Petra carefully examining the way down the hollow. She did mention she was after something in particular down here, but she didn’t say what. It surprised him at first; he’s usually the one she tells first, but this time was apparently different.

Well, whatever it is, it has to be cool, right? She wouldn’t bring them down here for nothing.

One more mangled cry of an unknown creature goes off in the distance, and he has no idea what it could be. He remembers what Petra had always told him in their earlier years: ‘The anticipation is what makes it fun!’

So, he’ll take her word for it.

“Whaaaat was that–?” Jesse’s gapes.

“Come on, let’s race!” And off she goes; she was always a huge fan of races. “It’s monster huntin’ time!”

“Wait, what!?”

“Uh, no thanks! You guys have fun.” Lukas declines.

“If you lose, you owe me two iron, Luke!” calls the redhead.

“Oh, you little–!” In an instant, the blond starts sprinting in her trail. “BITCH! Get back here!”

Petra cackles in response. And despite the smile on their face, Jesse shakes their head, and begins chasing after the duo.

Footsteps are clattering against the ground, the trio coursing through the domain. Lukas hears his and Jesse’s names called a few times; he would’ve waved at them, but he’s too determined to, at the very least, catch up to Petra. He’s beaten Petra maybe once or twice, and he remembers in vivid detail that she told him she was going easy on him.

Was it true? He’ll never know, but she definitely isn’t going easy now.

He stumbles across Petra, surprised to see her halted, while she’s rapidly glancing around the cave.

“Ha! Wooo.” Jesse pants, pausing behind her to catch their breath.

“No fair…!” Lukas stretches his hand out to balance on a wall.

Petra isn’t paying attention to what the others are saying. “Alright, where’d you go?”

“Where’d WHAT go?” Jesse asks.

“I’m assuming it’s whatever we’re after.” The writer heaves.

“Hah!” Petra points. “Look down there!”

The beast shrieks again; the echo relentlessly bounds off the walls and into his ears. He barely catches a glimpse of the shadowy figure before it disappears once more.

“So, you’re really not gonna tell us what we’re chasing?” Jesse glances at Lukas, who shrugs.

“Nope. The mystery is what makes it fun!” Petra jumps down to continue her pursuit. “C’mon!”

“Well,” following in her footsteps, Jesse leaps down and heads for the next tunnel, “what do you think we’re after?”

“I dunno.” Lukas carefully slips his way down, “It better be worth it, though. I might be losing two iron over this.”

“Then you better get goin’!” Their call travels through as they start running.

A short puff of his chest and Lukas is sprinting after them again. Soon, he regrets inhaling so sharply, because behind them are–

More zombies. Great. Just what they need.

Petra points that out after he notices, to which Jesse takes knowledge of. Outrunning the walking corpses is easy, but– naturally– that isn’t the end of it. The walls, the ceiling even, are infested with crawling arachnids.

“Look out!” Warns the warrior ahead. “Wall spiders!”

“I see ‘em!” Their partner replies, almost nonchalant.

“Because why is there ever only one threat!?” Lukas complains. He watches Jesse whip out their sword, and decides that’s the perfect time to get ahead. Face plastered in a wicked grin, he curves around them, reclaiming his spot on the leaderboard.

“Why, you–!”

He comes close to laughing at their vengeance-drenched tone.

“There! It went into that cave, Je–” Petra glances back to find Lukas on her tail. “Oh, nevermind, look who it is! It’s Luke!”

“Hope you brought your iron, Petra, because you’re gonna owe me!” He sneers.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” She takes a large leap down onto a lower platform, rolling when she hits, and carrying her momentum with her to stand. It always made Lukas nervous whenever she did brash shit like that. “”Annnd Petra’s in the homestretch!!”” she commentates.

Lukas looks ahead of him, targeting the cavern’s entrance. Vines trickle down the walls like water leaks and dangle at the fissure. He knows he can make it first if nothing goes wrong, especially since it seems like Jesse did such a good job with those spiders that–

“Hey, Lukas!” Jesse smugly greets, rushing past him. “Falling behind!?”

“Hey!” Lukas quickens the pace, his grit expanding from the knowledge that he had moved down to last place. “Don’t get too cocky, Jesse!”

They respond by sticking their tongue out at him. There’s no way Lukas is gonna lose two iron over a dumb race.

“Ack, jeez!” Being surrounded by spiders, Petra yelps. “More of these guys!”

In a snap, Jesse takes notice; they swerve ahead of Lukas and unsheathe their sword. “My turn to save YOU, Petra!”

They begin slicing their way through the spiders, though more and more seem to keep on coming. In any other situation, Lukas would ready his bow and help, but this is the perfect opportunity to win that race! He runs ahead.

“Hah! See you guys after I WIN!”

“Oh, HELL no, Luke! I’m not losing to some blond gayboy like you!” Petra shoves a spider with her blade and sprints vigorously towards the cavern gape.

“Says the ginger girl getting married to a WOMAN!” he retorts.

“Uh, hey–!? Excuse me!?” Jesse got stuck with the insects as their companions continued to race; they’d seen their checkered flag.

Sweat runs with the wind on his head. Adrenaline pumps and eats all his focus; his only thought is winning that race. He hasn’t competed like this in so long, so it must be all his bottled energy being sprung. It feels good.

He’s within range of the finish line, and he knows he can make it. Though, Petra’s right by his side, and is just as determined, if not, more determined to get there first. He’s going to make her pay up, no matter how much she wants to win.

He takes a few larger, clumsier steps towards the cavern. He surpasses Petra’s placement. Yes! He finally beat her at–

CRASH!

“Ow!” Lukas shouts, sucking a breath through gritted teeth, “ow, owowowow– major ouch!”

He jerks and briefly shuts his eyes upon a light kick in his side, hearing Petra scream and stumble over his body. She groans and lifts herself with her arms, turning her head to look at Lukas.

“Argh, what the fu–!? Ooh…”

Scraping against the stone had ripped skin off the side of Lukas’ chin. He cups a hand around the burning injury, lying on the ground and huffing desperately; he's too shocked to think rationally and ease the pain. He doesn't notice the blood until he glances down and sees a red smudge where he fell.

“Shit, Luke, I'm really sorry…” She murmurs, pulling herself together and approaching Lukas.

“It's okay, it's– ngh, not your fault,” he grunts. “I’ve been worse, haven't I?”

“I-I’ll see if I have something in my inventory that can help.” She steadies herself on one knee and sends a search party through her pockets.

“You owe me two iron, by the way,” he chuckles, his hand slipping from his face, now bloodied.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Hey! What are you guys–...” Jesse’s eyes shoot open when they see a puddle of blood, although small, “uh oh. Are you two okay?”

“I’m fine.” Nervous, Petra shrugs, momentarily gazing at them. “Luke got a nasty scrape, though.”

“Eh, it’s no big deal,” he turns over, inflicting a flinch on Beacontown’s mayor when they view the injury, “I did something stupid. I had it coming.”

“I have some leftover bandages, but I don’t have anything to stick them with,” says Petra, pulling the wrap from her pockets.

“That’s alright. I’ll just hold it.” His hand conceals the gash as he moves to align his back with the wall.

Petra hands him a wad of bandages. He grabs them with his cleaner hand and wedges it between his other and the scrape.

“We’ll get you properly fixed up when we get back to Beacontown, okay?” Reassures a worried Jesse.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Cautious, Lukas stands.

“Again, I’m sorry,” Petra apologizes, also standing.

“No, it’s okay, Petra,” Lukas declines the apology with a shake of his head. “Ow– I got too in the zone there. I should’ve just let you win.”

“Nah, don’t say that.” Her hands move to her hips. “It was awesome to see you get so competitive; you don’t usually do that.”

“You’re right,” he concedes while gently massaging his wound. It stung in response, so he switched back to applying pressure. “I guess I just really wanted to show you how I’ve grown since we were younger.”

“Oh, c’mon, don’t say sappy shit like that.” As a joke, she punches his shoulder.

“Ow!?”

“Luke, you don’t have to prove anything to me,” she promises. “And I mean that.”

“Aww, you two are so sweet!” Jesse coos.

“Thanks!” Lukas grins.

“Nonono, don’t start with that again, Jess.” Petra tugs her vest to hide her face.

“You know, Petra, you’re not helping your case by making yourself look even cuter,” they giggle, approaching her and playing with a strand of her hair. “Somehow. I didn’t know you could be even cuter.”

The redhead mutters incessant gibberish under her breath, refusing to allow her eyes to meet either separate being in the room. Lukas takes a few steps further, studying each crevice before them.

“So, uh… what’re we after?” He adjures.

Wracking their ears, the monster cries. If not for the echoes bouncing off the boulders, Lukas would’ve been surprised its vocal chords still work. It sounds incredibly vicious– almost insect-like– and slimy. When he creeps around the corner, he expects to see a massive creature ready to kill at will with a lust for death, spouting foul odors, but instead there’s…

…a llama?

“Wh–” he stands with his jaw agape, dumbfounded at what he sees, “What.”

The critter is calm. It seems (mostly) unbothered by the humans' accompaniment, sniffing curiously at the ground. It looks up and hums at Lukas, then pointing its snout at him, seemingly intrigued by his wound.

“A llama?” Blade in hand, Jesse seems about as astounded as Lukas is. “A llama!?”

“Awesome, we found it!” Petra approaches it nonchalantly. “Ohh, your owner is going to be so happy to see you.”

“Wait. Speaking for both Jesse and I here–” he gives Petra the side eye, “you know a llama?”

“You’re telling me this quest was to track down a stupid LLAMA?” Jesse is quite visibly disappointed. Lukas doesn’t really care; he’s not huge on finding cool treasures on adventures anymore; he’s more surprised than anything else.

“It’s not just a “stupid llama”!” Petra snaps back. “It’s– uh– it’s important, okay? It’s apparently, like, a “treasure-sniffing llama”, or… ugh! It’s important, okay?” Her tone quickly changes, urging her partner. “Please, just trust me. We just need to bring her back to her owner. It doesn’t need to be, like, a thing.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Jesse sheathes their sword. “If you say it’s important, then I trust you.”

Petra stays silent for a moment. Her eyes meet Lukas’, and he nods approvingly.

“Yeah?” Hopeful, Petra locks eyes with Jesse.

“Yeah.” they gesture.

“Good to see both of you make up so quickly,” Lukas quips. “Now, ah, what do we do about this llama? Is she friendly?” He approaches her with his hand held out like he was greeting a dog. She gives it a brief smell, but wasn’t too interested in it. She then gazes up at him.

“Well, I don’t think she’s angry at you, so that’s a good sign.” Petra leans to the side, her eyes on the llama. “Now, how about we get you outta here, huh?”

“Alright, we’ve got this.” hushes Jesse, beginning to creep towards the animal. “C’mere, llama-llama-llama…” they repeatedly click their tongue as a way to attract her, “Come on, come on…”

They get fairly close to her, and just when they’re about to grab her, she bucks back and kicks them directly in the chest, knocking them down. Just from the sight of it, it would’ve hurt a lot if they had been unarmored. Her hooves severely dent the armor, and it almost looks like it’s going to hang in there, but it cracks and falls apart onto the floor. Balancing on their elbows, they angrily look ahead.

“Are you okay, Jesse?” Lukas asks, turning to them.

“Hah! That’s what you get for wearing that dork armor.” Petra helps Jesse stand while teasing them at the same time.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Rolling their eyes, Jesse brushes themselves off. “I’ll have to craft a new set. Damn.”

Lukas removes the clump of bandages on his face for a minuscule moment, surveying the amount of blood it had soaked, before placing it back.

“Petra and I will get the llama, alright?” Jesse tells Lukas with an anxiety-ridden tone. “Stay back so you don’t get kicked.”

He steps back, continuing to watch eagerly.

Jesse and Petra sneak, slow and careful, towards it. When they’re in range, they quickly snag her; Jesse yanks the scarf, and Petra holds down the base of her neck and lifts her legs to get on top of her, attempting to hold her down using her body weight. Lukas doesn’t like their brash methods of grabbing her, but it would be difficult to tame a llama one-handed. He wasn’t surprised to see them both kicked off.

The Hero-in-Residence of Beacontown is lying upon dust and stone once more, and meets a llama to their face when they begin sitting up. Agitated, she spits in their face.

“Ugh!” Their face is now coated in warm saliva. It trickles down the blade of their nose and drips onto their chin. It clings to their eyelashes as they sluggishly unfold; it’s like someone splashed them with a bottle of clear glue. Quickly, they wipe it off with the back of their hand. “Gross!”

Petra stares at them with wide eyes and a reddening face. “Oh…”

“Petra,” out of a mixture of second-hand embarrassment and frustration, Lukas scolds her sternly. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“My bad.” She looks away and buries her face in her arm.

“C’mon,” Jesse urges, “let’s get after that armor-wrecking thing.”

“Actually, I–I think I’m gonna go back up.” Lukas confesses. “Take care of this scrape, see how Radar is doing… y’know.”

Petra stares at him silently; she’ll remember that.

“Alright, Lukas.” Jesse nods, gazing somberly. “Stay safe, okay?”

“Will do.” He nods. “I’ll see you guys around. Come find me if you need anything.”

“You got it.” Jesse waves energetically. “Cya, Lukas!”

He waves back. Petra lazily returns it; he guesses she’s upset that he’s leaving early, but he doesn’t see anything good coming out of putting himself in more danger when he’s already injured.

“Bye! Good luck with the llama!”

“See you later, Luke.”

Now, to find his way out of here…

It’d be the easiest to just go back the way he came, right? So, that’s what he does, taking more time to soak in the details of his surroundings, pondering different words to describe them with. Nothing about the cave has changed, but now he gets a chance to truly examine it. The collecting dirt piles, the muted vines, the glows of bubbling lava… all of it.

When Lukas emerges from the mineshaft, the scrape doesn’t sting as bad. Sudden light uncomfortably settles in his eyes, and his surroundings no longer smell cold and dead, but rather crispy and fresh. He receives a few anxious glances, likely because of his facial wound and his scuffed up armor, but he’s fine.

In most other scenarios, he would find the warmth of the sun pleasing, but right now, it feels icky on his face; he wants to go home, lie down with an ice pack on his face, and have Dewey in his lap.

He’s shocked to catch eye of Radar in the distance, clipboard in hand, talking to a few citizens and rapidly taking notes. He’ll stop by and say hello, since they’ll have to cross paths in the way they’re trying to go anyways, but he’ll try not to take up too much of his time; he’s aware of how he is about his schedule.

He walks down the street until he comes close to Radar, who holds up his finger in his direction upon hearing his footsteps. “Wait a moment, please, sir, ma’am, or whatever your preference may be, I’ll get to you in just a mo– AGH!” He yelps, nearly dropping his clipboard when he sees Lukas and his injury. The blond forms a small sheepish grin in response.

“Oh, jeez, Lukas, are you okay!?” He faces him. “There’s– There’s a lot of blood! It’s all over your hand!”

“Yeah, I noticed.” He adjusts the bandages again, now noticing the newfound crimson juices running down his wrist, making Radar wince. “I’m going to go fix that in a second here, actually. But, um, on the other hand… I thought you had to be home–?”

“Oh, yeah, I did,” he elaborates, “but I managed to convince my mom that I still had some more work to do around town. I have to be home by 9:00 p.m., though.”

“Ah, I see.” Lukas nods thoughtfully. “Well, then, I’ll let you get back to it. Just thought I’d stop by and say hi.”

“Thanks.” Radar smiles.

Playful, Lukas rolls his eyes to himself. How did Jesse find such a sweet and hard-working intern? He doesn’t know, and he may never find out, but he’s confident that he’s the best guy to officiate the wedding. His eyes meet the sky, and he smiles. His hopes are high that the upcoming day is going to be perfect.

But now, he should focus on going home and taking care of the ugly sear on his face.

—

“Mrrow!”

“Oh, what do you want now?”

“Mrrrp…”

Dewey the ocelot was loudly purring, flicking her tail and stretching her arms across his chest as he lay back and relaxed, seated in a corner of his house, staring at his cobweb-infested ceiling. He threw away the old bandages and applied new ones, able to keep it stuck to his face, and was holding a melting bag of ice wrapped in a washcloth up to it; it assisted with the burning sensation.

Dewey rubs her face against Lukas’ neck, demanding attention from him. He runs his free hand from the top of her head down her back a couple times, then cupping his hand around her cheek and petting her firmly, which only makes her volume increase.

“You are so needy, cat,” Lukas teases, invoking another meow from Dewey when he moves his hand away. He chuckles and sighs, continuing to mindlessly gaze at the tainted ceiling.

‘I still need to clean up there…’

In a moment’s notice, there came a hurried rapping at his door. He presumes it’s either Jesse, Petra, or Radar, but he’s unsure. He rises from his seat and goes to answer the taps, Dewey stealing his place. He swings the door open, and–

“Jesse?”

“Lukas!” They pant, dirty and exhausted. “Ohh, I hope you’re feeling better, because I need your help!”

“What?” On high alert, he shifts his stance and removes the ice bag from his face. “What happened? Is everything okay?”

He notices the prismarine encasing their hand. “And where’d you get that from?”

“I’ll explain later. We’ve got a bigger problem on our hands!” Jesse tugs his arm, one hand soft and warm, the other bulky and cold, tainted with the faint smell of oceanic salt. “Look!”

Lukas stares into the distance. Beacontown seems fine, but close to its entrance is a gaping hole spewing uncanny-looking creepers. They aren’t doing much, but it’s only a matter of time before someone’s put in danger.

“Oh.” Lukas stands. “Yeah, that’s– that’s definitely a bigger problem.”

“Get your weapons and we gotta go. I’ll meet you there, Lukas!” The door creaks as Jesse bolts off towards the face of danger. Lukas wasn’t much for danger anymore, but when Beacontown is in trouble, he knows what he must do.

“Stay here, kitty.” Solemn, Lukas glances at his cat. “Okay?”

She mewls her reply.

Moving swiftly, Lukas grabs his bow and arrows from the wall rack and sheathes an iron sword on his back. He runs outside and slams the door, observing the pit from afar. He can see Jesse fighting the countless creepers, slashing and kicking at will. Sprinting into action with the wind in his hair and the determination in his spirit, he might finally understand why Jesse is so keen on being the hero.

He meets Jesse at the scene, though he keeps his distance from the swarm of mobs. He nocks his arrow to his bow and prepares to aim, worried and still processing.

“Have you ever seen this many creepers before!?” Jesse calls out, splitting distance between themselves and a creeper with their sword and kicking it back into the pit where it came from.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a charged creeper at all before. Ever!” Lukas yells a reply, firing arrows as rapidly as he can. “But how are they charged? It’s not thunderstorming!”

“Tell THEM that!” They shout, rushing into a group of creepers and sending them back down into the hole as they explode. Lukas continues accompanying them with arrows as they lunge at another creeper with their sword. Then, their sword snaps, the top half of the blade being tossed aside and disintegrating as the bottom turns into dust in their hand and falls through their fingers. “Gah! Stupid cheap sword!”

“I’ve got your back, Jesse!” Though his swordsmanship isn’t great, he leaps in with his blade and knocks a creeper into the gape. Then, he sees a creeper approaching from behind, and lurches towards it, piercing and killing it. He turns back to see Jesse punching a group of creepers back into the pit with their newfound gauntlet.

“WOO!” They sweat. “That would’ve been dumb… if it wasn’t so AWESOME!”

Lukas stabs one final creeper.

“C’mon,” Jesse gestures, “we need to get this thing covered up again.”

“Got it.”

The duo gathers a hefty amount of dirt blocks and covers the hole up as fast as they could. Jesse is in a panic, while Lukas remains confused.

“I-I don’t know how we’re going to get this to hold.” Jesse pants, having a seat on a stone slab. “That Hellmouth blew right through the GROUND!”

“Um… Hellmouth?” Lukas asks, puzzled and mildly amused.

“I know. Crazy, right?” Jesse flashes a disoriented grin. “That’s what Petra and I decided to call it. Phew!”

He’s seen Jesse maybe once or twice in a state like this, and it bothers him. Something is wrong. The way their chest heaves, the way sweaty curls fall in front of their eyes, the way their hands tremble… they’re scared.

“Well, how about we start with a few deep breaths?” Lukas suggests, sitting in front of Jesse and gently clasping their free hand. “Not gonna be able to do much good when you’re panicking like this, right?”

Shoving a hand into their bangs, they take a glimpse at the Hellmouth, thinking about a decision, then back at the blond. “Okay, sounds– sounds good.”

“Alright, just… follow my lead.”

He shuts his eyes, guiding the other through each breath; in, hold, out… He feels successful when Jesse’s trembles begin easing, despite their hands still being clammy. He’s gone through this process a few times with others– Petra, The Blaze Rods, even Olivia once or twice, so this isn’t new to him. He’s glad he can use something that helps him to help other people.

“Better now?” His fingers slip away from the other’s.

“Yeah. Much better.” They nod. “Thank you, Lukas.”

“Of course. No problem,” he says with a smile full of sugar. “Now, the Hellmouth–?”

“I think we should talk to Jack about this,” Jesse gives their insight. “This seems like something he'd know how to fix.”

“I can get behind that,” Lukas agrees. “I'd like to get a chance to talk to him, anyways. It's been a while.”

“Seems like the right thing to do, then.” Quick to get back on their feet, Jesse stands and waits eagerly for Lukas. “C'mon.”

Lukas follows Jesse through the gates of Beacontown and into Bad Luck Alley. He could understand why people would want to stay back there, but he wouldn't do it himself. The place is riddled with cobwebs and unsanitary surfaces, and all the stray animals were filthy. Not unfriendly, though, which was Lukas’ favorite part: petting the cats.

Jack and Nurm's Emporium is in sight. He smiles at the sign. Though the situation is dire, he's been wanting an excuse to come here again. Jesse holds the door open for Lukas, who nods a simple ‘thank you’ as he walks inside.

No matter how many times he sees them, every time he's impressed by the amount of treasures they've collected over the years.

“I can't get over how much stuff he has.” He curiously examines the objects on display. “”The Upper Lowlands?” “Spider-Peak Mountain?” “The–” what does that say…? “The Ice Crags of Doom?””

“Really! The first time Petra took me here, she was calling out just about everything she read,” tells Jesse. “I was worried that all of Beacontown could hear us.”

“No kidding,” Lukas doesn't hesitate to concur. “She gets antsy like that sometimes. Love to see it, though.”

“Yup, haha, me too,” they laugh. “That's how you know she's truly happy.”

“I know those voices anywhere,” a gruff old man's voice makes itself known from behind the service counter. There's a hint of dramatic undertone, speaking as if narrating, in his tone. Lukas perks up, recognizing who it is without second thought.

“Jack!”

“That I am, my esteemed friends.” He whips around and struts out from behind the long desk to greet them properly. He treats Lukas to a tight hug and Jesse to a firm handshake.

“Nice to see you again.” Lukas can't prevent the grin tugging at the edges of his lips.

“Right back atcha, pal.” Jack pats him on the back a little rougher than intended, which makes Lukas minorly splutter. “So, whaddaya here for? Assuming you didn't stop by just to see me, y'know. Desert temple? Woodland mansion?”

“Careful, Jesse,” Lukas leans in and whispers. “Jack doesn't like…”

Jesse raises the gauntlet, curling and stretching their fingers a few times to hear the clunking of matching oceanic material.

“Or is there an update on the weddi– AAIE… Woah!”

“...prismarine,” he sighs, shoulders drooping.

“Yeah.” Somber yet firm, Jesse gazes at Jack expectantly. “THAT'S what we're here about.”

“Wow, huh?” Jack quakes, stumbling over his words. “C-Crazy glove you got there, Jesse. Not that I've ever seen one before. Looks real crazy, though. Crazy stuff.”

“Uh huh…” Lukas eyeballs the gauntlet suspiciously.

“Found this way underground, beneath Beacontown,” elaborates Jesse, flexing the glove. “Thought you might be able to help us figure out where it came from.”

“You did, huh?” He responds, keeping his distance from it.

Lukas says nothing. He doesn't want to interrupt, nor further upset Jack; he doesn't know much about this situation, either way.

Jack sighs, his shoulders sinking like a wrecked ship. “Found it on top of a creepy bottomless pit, right? Spitting out monsters?”

“Yeah! And it had a slot with, like, a weird symbol?” Jesse adds.

“Ugh, you should've never picked up that gauntlet,” Jack grumbles with emphasis on the word ‘gauntlet’. “It's not for us mortals to tamper with…”

“Wow,” Jesse rolls their eyes with a glance in Lukas’ direction, “I’ll be sure to remember that the next time I see a mysterious prismarine gauntlet.”

“That sass won’t fix the pit any faster, you know,” he snips back.

He doesn't want to see them fight. Lukas crosses his arms and leans on a nearby wall, watching anxiously.

“That pit... it’s as deadly as they come,” monologues Jack. “And that symbol you saw... was the symbol... of the Structure Block. Legend says it was a mighty tool that could grow civilizations like seeds, create cities in the blink of an eye,” he explains. “You need one of those to close your pit.”

“So, where can I get one of these “Structure Blocks?“” Jesse ponders. “Petra told me she thought maybe it was an Ocean Monument, because of the prismarine?”

“Seems about right,” Lukas off-handedly comments. “That would be my first guess.”

“Oh... it’s an Ocean Monument, alright.” He presents the two a vengeful glare. “The Villagers of Mushroom Archipelago call it... “The Sea Temple.“”

Speaking of villagers, Nurm emerges from the back of the store, remaining behind the counter. He says something, but Lukas can only make out the word ‘problem’. Regardless, he waves hello to him.

“Hey, Nurm!” Jesse greets, to which Nurm gives them a nod of acknowledgement.

“Yeah, you know Nurm, my other half–”

“Just say your husband, Jack,” Lukas banters. “Jesse’s engaged to a woman, you don’t have to hide it from them.”

“Oh. Cool!” Jesse smiles lightly.

“...Yeah. Anyhow– I was just about to tell them that I can't help them.” Jack mentions to Nurm, being not-so-subtle with his side-eye.

“What?” Jesse slouches, disappointed.

“Look, you know me.” Jack facepalms. “I love your early work. Witherstorm? Old Builders? Awesome. But, as a purveyor of fine maps and adventures? Your death would not only be terrible for business, but right before your wedding day? Petra, and everyone else in Beacontown would be… so sad.”

“It’d be tragic.” Nurm contributes.

“Hm…” Lukas huffs, solemnly gazing at the ground.

“Oh, no, lucky– don't give me that look.” He tries to shield his face, but his eyes stay glued to him. “I'm sorry, but I just can't.”

“Can't you, like, come with us or something?” Suggests Jesse. “Guide us? Protect us, if needed?”

“Vowed I’d never go back there again.” Jack shakes his head, sighing again. “Let me show you something.”

He approaches the large map representing the world in the wall and pulls a lever, activating a contraption. “It’s like I said before. The world's... a lot bigger than you think, Jesse.”

It shifts around, scraping stone against the walls and making atrocious noises. Lukas covers his ears as it works.

“Lemme guess,” Jesse starts, “the empty square is where we need to go.”

“Yep.” Jack confirms.

“Why's it missing?”

“I, uh... kinda... burned it,” he confesses, rubbing his neck. “I threw it into a volcano, okay?”

“What–?” The hero jumps back. “Why!?”

“You didn’t need that kind of danger anyway, alright?” Jack insists, stern. “I swore I wouldn’t take anyone else to that temple, ever again. I refuse to let it take anymore lives… especially when I have a special girl to walk down the aisle in a few days.”

Nurm retorts something.

“Oh, shut up, Nurm.” mutters Jack.

“Huh?” Lukas squints.

“Jack, you don't understand,” although subtle, Jesse is demanding. “We need that map.”

“And I hear you,” he urges. “I really do. But I swear to you… it's not worth it.”

“I found a gauntlet just like that, once. Teamed up with my friends, Vos and Sammy, to follow it's trail.” Tears start to well in his eyes. “You already know this story, lucky.”

Lukas nods in agreement. He himself feels a twinge of the grief in his chest despite never meeting them.

“N-Neither of them made it out alive… Hence, uh, you know, "lava," "map," "volcano." You– You remember what I was saying. Anyway!” he clears his throat. “But burning the map couldn’t erase the... horrible memories. And, thanks to the curse of my perfect sense of direction, I couldn’t forget the location of that temple if I tried."

“So, if you're the only one who knows where it is…” Jesse doesn't finish the question.

“Yep. Without me, you're never getting to that Sea Temple.” Jack bobs his head at a slight angle. “That knowledge is... my curse.”

Once again, Nurm mutters something that Lukas can't fully understand. If only Petra was here to help with translations; she's much better with villager speak than he is.

“Jack…” Jesse puts their hands on their hips, “I get that you’re haunted by horrible memories, but that’s no reason to sit around moping.”

Lukas glances up.

“What'd you say?” Jack gets defensive.

“You heard me,” they sass. “It’s time to get us some treasure and help you face your demons.”

“Jesse,” Lukas began, concerned, “are you sure you–”

“That sounds to me like a challenge.” Jack cuts Lukas off. “And no one, and I mean no one , challenges The Velvet Tornado– me– and gets away with it.”

“...NNNNevermind.” he shrugs. “Looks like you convinced him.”

“Nurm? Time to get our adventuring things!”

Nurm cheers. The couple walks to the back of the shop, looking through organized chests.

“Well,” Jesse looks at Lukas, “that wasn’t so bad.”

“I guess it could've been worse.” Lukas doesn’t return the look; his eyes are set on the entrance to the back room.

“You seem… down,” Jesse comments.

“I dunno,” he softly sighs. “Kind of upset that everything's going crazy right before the wedding.”

“It's alright, Lukas.” they pat his shoulder assuringly. “We'll be back before the ceremony, okay? I promise. You know the system under the order hall; we'll just go through the nether to get there.”

“It's not that I don't trust you, Jesse.” He meets their eyes. “I just don't want Petra to get upset because you're leaving again.”

“Well, I was gonna take her with us.” Mildly sad, they shrug. “She loves adventuring with Jack, so…”

“Speaking of her, where is she?” Lukas asks.

“Well, she had some… stuff going on over in Champion City.” Jesse messes with their hat, nervous. “Long story short, she had her bridal shower there and got her sword stolen, so she had to go get it back.”

“Ouh, Champion City?” Lukas cringes at the name. “I hate Champion City.”

“Yeah, I get it. I prefer Beacontown, too,” they concur. “It’s not all bad, though. Nice builds and such, all that jazz.”

“I don’t have a lot against it, I just don’t like Stella.” Lukas adjusts his position in the wall, now seeming less sad and more irritated.

“You've met her?” Jesse's eyes slightly widen.

“Once or twice,” he admits. “I've heard about her a lot. Mostly from Petra.”

“Oh,” they pause. “Makes sense.”

“By the way, did she tell you about the…” he thinks of how to word it, “the thing with Stella?”

“The theft? The bridal shower? Yeah, she did.” Jesse sounds upset, almost angry, speaking about it.

“No, the– the thing before all that.” Lukas gestures. “The big reason why she has a history with Champion City?”

“Um, no, I don't think so.” color them intrigued; they want to know now.

“Alright, then.” His head faces away from Jesse yet again. “I'm not gonna say anything, because I'm not sure if she'd want me to tell you or not.”

After a moment of hesitation, they roll their eyes. “Whatever you say, Lukas. Whatever you say…”

“Nurm, I told you, it's not the Admin's–” Walking alongside Nurm, Jack returns, and the duo look in their direction.

Lukas can make out Nurm's reply again this time: “I've decided.”

“UGH! Fine.” Jack says back, frustrated.

“What'd he say?” Jesse wonders.

“Nothin’. Villager stuff,” Jack excuses. “Nurm here... wants to make a new map of this place, what with the, uh, whole lava-volcano incident…”

Nurm excitedly chatters.

“Easy, Nurmie. Don't blow a gasket.”

“I didn't really know Villagers adventured,” comments Jesse. “That's so cool! Welcome aboard, Nurm!”

“Woohoo!” he chimes.

“He says “woohoo!”” Jack translates.

“Yeah, I figured that one out,” Jesse says with confidence. “So, that means we're off to the Sea Temple?”

“Don’t you think you’re looking a little…” Jack hums, “squishy for that?”

“Oh, come on, seriously?” Jesse leers. “You're wearing a vest.”

“Jesse's got a point, Jack.” Lukas murmurs.

“The Vest of Five Fists!” the adventurer retorts. “Gifted to me by the Singing Clerics of Port–”

“Okay, geez. I get it. It's a cool vest.” Jesse interrupts. “C'mon, I just need to make a quick pitstop and I can show you some REAL armor…”

“Ohh, boy.” Lukas whistles. “Jesse has some really cool armor, I gotta admit.”

“Alright then,” Jack huffs, his partner by his side. “Show me this “real armor” of your’s.”

—

Treasures on display, tidy and trophy-like, the hall gleams bright. The same off-white banners adorning town were strung and tied into bows at the ends on the edges of the ceiling, and the amulet decoration above looks shinier than before. Bunches of sleek flowers are potted delicately and aligned with near perfection; they're all freshly watered, too. The seats on the sides of the aisles are also ready, open patches left to better present the treasures.

Standing by the Redstone Heart is Jesse's intern, Radar, gently wiping it down with a white cloth. On the very edge of the podium was a paper list about to fall off and onto a bottle of spray cleaner that had been spritzed on each artifact that needed it and removed every speck of grime and muck possible; it was Radar’s doing, so he obviously wouldn’t accept anything but perfection. Petra was there, too.

When he notices the group entering the halls, he stops what he’s doing, and Lukas finally gets a good look at how disheveled he is; he can’t get over his haphazard hairstyle and the lack of symmetry in his tie. Normally, he wouldn’t care, but for Radar? That’s abnormal. He can’t help but feel like everything is going downhill right before the ceremony. Hopefully, it’ll get better after it passes?

“Ohh, Jesse!” Radar’s smile of pure relief is accompanied by a short huff. Did he notice the cloth slipping from his hand–? “I’m so glad you’re here!”

“Hey, Radar. Hey, Petra.” Jesse waves, almost serene.

“Jesse!” Petra gushes, running up to them. They trade loving kisses on the lips.

“D’aww.” Nurm simpers.

The intern pulls a book from his inventory. “Anyway! There is a LOT going on. The decorations in here still need to be finished…”

“Here we go.” Lukas braces himself.

“The Cake-Baking Team would like you and your bride– Petra– to taste test the cake, the Wool-Makers Guild isn’t super happy about their booth being next to the Firework Union; understandable.”

“Radar?” Jesse assays to grab Radar’s attention.

“The delegate from Boom Town left word that she might make an appearance and leave you and Petra a “little gift.” Very odd? Blue hair? Smells like sulfur? Speaking of which, YOU should probably work on that speech you said you’d make just before the ceremony on the big day. Oh, and rehearse it! Why didn’t I factor in rehearsal time!? Stupid, STUPID!”

“Radar.” Jesse tries again.

“I’m sure I can shift a few things around, maybe push back your lunch with the Followers of Soren. They’re very strange, anyway; they’ll understand... maybe? And did you know Axel and Olivia finished their speeches, too? They wanted some help, so I said someone would try and give notes– when possible– but not to get their hopes up. AAAAnnd then, I left a general block of time for “Wedding Ceremony Related Disasters.“ Figured that would cover any of the various and sundry–”

“RADAR!” Jesse booms, their hands tensing with frustration. It even shocks Lukas a little bit.

“Ahh!” Radar gasps, snapping the book shut. “Sorry, got in the zone there. What’s up, boss? I see you brought friends?” He eyeballs the prismarine gauntlet. “And a new accessory?”

“Short version? The town’s in danger,” the mayor clarifies. “I stopped it for now, but I think this can help me fix it permanently.” They flex their glove. “I’ll be gone for a little bit.”

“G-Gone?” He stutters. “But, Jesse– what about Beacontown? Your wedding is right around the corner and– and if it’s really… in-in-in DANGER, who will protect everyone!? There’s no telling what could happen, and I have so few details! I am VERY nervous about this…”

Jesse sighs. “Radar, I think the town will be fine for ONE adventure. Lukas, Petra, and I have to do this–”

“Actually,” Lukas steps in, vaguely gesturing with his index finger, “I’m gonna stay here and help Radar. I’m still pretty drained from the mineshaft, anyways.”

He doesn’t look, but he can feel Petra’s stare digging into his chest.

“Oh, thank GOODNESS I won’t be alone here!” Radar marvels. “Either way– best of luck! I shall anxiously await your return!”

And he heads off towards the west wing, where his office is located.

“I’m gonna…” Lukas breathes, “make sure he’s alright.”

“Okay. You do that.” they sympathize with a depressing facial expression, “I’m a little worried about him.”

“Me too.” the blond agrees. “Glad I’m not the only one who’s noticed a change lately.”

“Something’s definitely up.” Petra crosses her arms. “Go check on him, and we’ll see you when we get back.”

He’s admittedly dejected that they’re leaving, especially so close to their wedding ceremony, but the last thing he wants to do is leave Radar alone. He’s hoping that he can get him to talk about what’s going on and he can find some way to help. Best case scenario, he just needs a good meal and a night’s worth of and he’ll be okay.

Walking down the west wing, every office door looks mostly the same except for the change in name tag labels on the door, along with the occasional stickers. The hallway is tidy and refreshed, almost like a hotel; chances are, it’s a victim of Radar’s recent stress cleaning. He comes across his office, and he can tell just by the door that it was going to be the most orderly office he’s ever laid eyes on.

With an easy grasp on the knob, he thumps the door. “Radar? You in there, bud?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” His voice doesn’t have the same energy as usual; it’s meek, but he can still hear it.

“Can I come in? Please?” He asks while pressing his ear against the door. “I just wanna talk to you for a little bit.”

“O-Oh, yeah, of course!” He permits. “Please, try not to mess up my order of anything, though? I just finished organizing everything.”

“I promise I won’t,” he swears, and with the light twist of the doorknob, he enters Radar’s office.

There’s not a speck of dust in sight. The walls are bare: no posters, no paintings, nothing hanging; there’s no customization whatsoever. It smells completely plain other than the faint nearly-empty air freshener in the outlet. From the furniture arrangement to the stacks of paper, everything is placed in absolute perfection. He admires the cleanliness, but it’s way overboard for his taste. He sees Radar crunching over at his desk, scribbling away at a piece of paper.

“Hey,” he mutters, kind and soft, “is everything okay?”

The teenager glances back, pausing his writing session and spinning his chair around. “Yeah, yeah, one-hundred percent! I’ve just been pretty busy lately, that’s all. No– No need to worry, heh.”

“You’re always busy, Radar,” Lukas corrects, relaxing on a nearby wall. “I’m not convinced. Your hair is a mess and your tie isn’t fixed the way you like it. Did you even notice?"

“Aha, umm…” Radar shoots a hand through his bangs and firmly tugs his tie. “No, I didn’t, but thanks for telling me.”

“Please be truthful with me.” His arms hang loose. “How are you doing?”

His eyes dart away to the wall, then to the carpet. He sighs. “Not… not great, to be honest.”

“Why?” He queries. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

“No, nothing’s happened, really.” He lays an elbow on the edge of his desk and rests his face in his hand. “There’s just a lot going on right now.”

“Yeah…” empathetic, Lukas heaves. “I know.”

“On top of that, I have school, extracurricular, homework, practice, chores, my job, and finalized wedding preparations.” He gives a light shake of his head. “Hnnnnhh, I have a headache…”

“It’s a lot. You always work really hard, and I admire that. I’m sure Jesse appreciates it, too,” the writer affirms. “But you need to take breaks sometimes.”

“Not until all my work is done.” Radar partially fixes his posture, grabbing his pen and redirecting himself to the sheet.

“No,” Lukas approaches him, resting a hand on his shoulder, “it’s fine. I’ll finish it.”

“What–!? No!” He insists, shocked. “It’s my work, Lukas! It’s my responsibility to get it done! You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“It’s also your responsibility to take care of yourself,” he asserts. “When have you last eaten?”

“Well, I had a snack–”

“An actual meal, Radar; when have you last eaten an actual meal?”

“Uh…” the intern folds himself, tightly crossing his arms over his stomach and pulling his knees in. There's no way that position is comfortable. “It wasn't that long ago, I swear.”

“Radar.” He doesn't like getting tough with him, but he needs him to get the message. “I don't believe that for a second. I asked you nicely to tell me the truth. Don't make me get too stern with you, alright? Neither of us would like it.”

He sighs. “Okay… I haven't had a full meal in like– three or four days? I think? Ah, I don't remember, I'm sorry.”

“Radar, oh my gosh.” Lukas flinches, his hand snaking away.

“It's not that bad!” He pipes in a short-lived panic. “I've got a drawer full of snacks in here, so I haven't starved. I-I've gone longer before, anyways, heh.”

“Radar, you've gotta be kidding me.”

“I'm so low on sleep and my head hurts so bad that I've hardly noticed my stomach growling at me.” he confesses. “Wait– did I take my medicine today…?”

“Keep this up and you'll end up like this one guy Jack told me about with all the to-do lists.” Eyes wide, Lukas can barely hold himself from stammering out of bewilderment. He shakes his head, facepalming. “Okay, no. You know what? You’re gonna go home, and do the following in whatever order you please: eat a decent meal, drink a glass of water, take your medicine, and take a nice hot shower. Then, you're gonna get a good night's sleep. You'll feel infinitely better in the morning and be able to get work done much faster, more efficiently, and you won't feel so bad as you do it.”

“But–” Radar attempts a protest.

“That's an order.” he commands.

“My-My-My parents–” Radar says falteringly, “I– I don’t wanna see them.”

“…Ah,” a somber expression creeps onto Lukas’ face. “I know that feeling. I promise it’ll be okay.”

An unstable breath is suctioned through Radar’s teeth.

Lukas hesitates. “Look, why don’t you stay in the east wing for a little bit– relax, chill out, read a book, whatever– and I’ll get you some food and a bottle of water. Or you can get it yourself; I assume you know where the pantry is.”

“I can do that myself.” The student pushes himself off the table to stand. “Thanks, Lukas.”

“You’re very welcome.” He goes in to hug Radar.

After momentarily holding their embrace, Lukas sputters. “Jeez, kid. You need to shower.”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry.” He steps away, flapping his hands, embarrassed. “I’ve been thinking about it all week. I’ll go do that now.”

Lukas watches as he hurries out of the room. Grinning, he shakes his head and puts a hand to his hip. Radar’s a little hyperactive, but his heart’s in the right place. Once he’s done listening to his footsteps fade, he turns and throws himself into the seat at his desk, observing the papers he was working on.

Alright, let’s see where he left off…

A few hours of work pass, and Lukas decides to check on Radar. He taps on the door, leaning into the wooden structure. “Radar? I’m coming in.”

Food conjures a pause before Radar’s speech. “That’s what she said.”

“Nevermind, you can fend for your-fucking-self.” Lukas rolls his eyes and stifles his laughter.

“I was joking!” He urges. “You can come in, Lukas.”

“Ohh,” the author chuckles, smug, “damn you teenagers and your stupid sex jokes.”

“I’m gonna be honest,” Radar, who's now with soaked hair and dressed in a white t-shirt, sitting on his bed with his lower half covered by a thick blanket, leers, tilting his head at an angle to glare, “you walked right into that one.”

“Ah, you’re right, I did,” he admits with a shrug. “Petra or Axel would’ve said the exact same. Don’t sweat it, bud.”

“Not sweating it.” He directs his gaze back to his book, crunching into a crisp apple slice. Radar? Not sweating it? That’s new.

“Well, you seem comfy, so I’m gonna leave you be,” he hums with a heartwarming smile “Anyway, just wanted to check up on you and let you know I’m heading home.”

“Okay. Cya, Lukas.” He doesn’t bother to wave or even look up; he’s too invested in whatever’s he’s reading.

He was going to tell him that Jesse’s concerned about him, but seeing his intense focus, he instead presses his lips into a thin line. “Bye.”

At least he’s managed to calm down and is enjoying himself. He’ll be fine; everything’s gonna be fine. For now, time to head home and settle down. It’s been a long day.

—

The bird of the sky soars over the lands, dragging its looping labyrinth of colorful beauty with it. It’s a cool morning, with dew drops sitting gently on the vegetation, and grass making a satisfying ‘swish’ when stepped on. Lukas sits on the doorstep of his house, his loving cat by his side. He has yet to hear of the adventuring group’s return, but he trusts that they will make it back safely and with the new problem at hand solved. No doubt about it.

All is well: the sky is beautiful, the air is clean, until jarring salty scents assault his nostrils. The earth quakes and his book falls out of his hands, startling Dewey, along with his horse. Perplexed, he studies his surroundings, particularly in the direction of Beacontown. And what he sees is… definitely not part of the ordinary.

A giant prismarine statue is right at the red gates of town, and he assumes its gaze is threatening as it stares down. The symbol on the back of its head is what he guesses is its weak point, and so he has a target. It’s time to suit up.

He dashes inside, gathering his armor and weapons. Once he allows the ocelot inside, he immediately gets to hopping on his horse, and heading down the road to Beacontown.

“Oho, well, whaddaya know…?” He murmurs to himself, almost amused. “We’ve got a ceremony to save.”

With a lash of the reins, his battle mount whinnies, and they ride off into the distance with an impenetrable determination to stop harm from being wrought inside the one and only Beacontown. The future ceremony is not about to be ruined.

Chapter Text

No matter how quickly Nutmeg gallops, Lukas isn’t getting to Beacontown fast enough. He’s nearly standing, hair matted against his head with the cool wind, racing towards the gigantic statue. He’s already seen what destruction has been done to town, and just that on its own is catastrophic; he barely notices that… the day has turned to night? Who knows what will happen if they can’t get rid of this prismarine monster soon enough?

“SO ANNOYING…” He hears it bellow, and it hurts his ears even from his current distance. He flinches, though his determination does not falter.

Right now, he needs to figure out where Jesse is. Even a small sound cue would be good for–

“Agh!” She yelps.

Looks like their friendship telepathy still works in spite of dire situations like these.

“AH,” the colossus turns, “THERE WE ARE.”

She draws her sword. “Alright, Admin. You want a fight? You got one. Here I am!”

He wasn’t sure if she knew he was there. Guttural laughter floods his ears, almost distracting him from the fact that the colossus reached into a building and grabbed Jesse. He catches her out of the corner of his eye, thrashing to no avail. He has to get somewhere where he can create a distraction fast.

Another lash of the reins, and he feels like he might get flung off the horse, but he can’t; Beacontown is in danger. Both his fear and adrenaline are (at least somewhere close to) an all-time high. He has to do this perfectly– every second counts– or he can kiss his friends and the town goodbye.

“LOOKING A LITTLE HELPLESS, “CHAMPION”...” the colossus remarks, “I’M USING “CHAMPION” THERE SARCASTICALLY.”

It prepares to eat Jesse. There’s nothing she can do in her situation other than resist and hope, but thankfully, she’s not doomed.

Lukas’ tremors are violent as he nocks his arrow, and he remains bouncing on his mount. He can’t mess this up.

‘It’s life or death.’

“HEY! Fuckface!” His scream feels impulsive, but it had to be loud enough to grab the statue’s attention. “Eat SHIT!”

He releases. He was aiming for the eye, though he has no idea if it’ll hit. His breath spasms with a quickening pace, refusing to calm until he shuts his mouth. Unaware, he urges Nutmeg to speed up.

He manages to relax his shoulders to a small degree when the colossus lets out a throaty groan, signaling that his shot hit. Nice! But his relief quickly reverts to its former tension when he hears Jesse’s high-pitched screams; she’s been dropped, and is now falling to her demise. Keeping the reins in one hand, he frees the other.

“Come on, Nutmeg,” he pats her neck, “you got this, girl, c’mon–!”

Watching her come close to slamming into the ground is nerve-wracking, but he grips her arm and slings her behind him before she collides with it.

‘Too close… WAY too close…’

“Hah!” She gasps. “Lukas!”

“Good to see you, too!” He blurts a greeting, turning Nutmeg down the street to ride away.

The colossus angrily calls for Jesse, the volume unchanged with distance, as they run. He allows his horse to slow down once they’re well out of sight, going from a canter, to a trot, to a walk, and then a stop.

“What IS that!?” Lukas exhorts an answer.

“Quick version? The Admin!” Jesse discloses. “He– like– built the world or something!”

“Okay…” he’s confused, but he moves on, “are you alright? I mean, he really had you up there. Everything still in one piece?”

“Lukas,” she huffs, “you just saved my life. Thank you!”

He was about to say ‘you’re welcome’, but the collapsing of buildings and destruction of blocks cut him off; that oversized hunk of prismarine isn’t gone.

“I sure hope you’ve got an idea here.” He glances back at Jesse, eyes glazing over with worry.

“I saw a spot on the back of his head,” she explains. “I’m hoping that might be the key to defeating him.”

“YOU CAN’T OUTRUN ME FOREVER!” The colossus yells. Thankfully, this time, the structures block off some of the noise.

“Looks like I’d better keep him distracted, then,” Lukas sighs, dismounting Nutmeg. “Take… good care of her for me, alright?”

“I’ll do my best.” Jesse nods. “Thanks, Lukas. Be careful.”

The reply went through Lukas’ left ear and out the other. Not that he didn’t appreciate it; his focus and panic were too high. He climbs the vines slithering down a brick building to reach its rooftop– a shooting perch– to ready his bow once again.

“COME NOW, JESSE,” the colossus demands, “ALL THIS STALLING IS JUST MAKING ME ANGRIER.”

“Hey, blockhead!” Lukas calls with a nocked arrow. “You want Jesse? You’ll need to go through me first! And I don’t think you stand a goddamn chance!”

He’s nervous, he’s very nervous; he barely finds the will to speak. It nearly seems like he let go of his arrow by accident, which lands on the statue’s leg.

“YOU’RE PROTECTING JESSE? OH, PLEASE!” A slow turn, and its glowy turquoise eyes are poking Lukas with needles. “ALL THESE INTERRUPTIONS ARE BECOMING ANNOYING. THAT. ENDS. NOW.”

A heavy breath later and he leaps down, stumbling over himself when he lands. He starts running, returning the threatening stare. He jumps and climbs over a few structures, subtly rising closer to its height. It’s hopelessly dangerous, but Jesse needs every second that she can get. He watches the colossal prismarine statue kneel down and disconnect its gaze with Lukas’, turning over its shoulder.

“I KNEW YOU’D COME,” he says. “EVENTUALLY.”

“You don’t know shit about me!” Jesse shouts back.

A smile cracks on Lukas’ face as he watches the colossus flail aimlessly behind him as Jesse climbs his back. He knows it’s been had.

“AUGHH, WHERE ARE YOU?” It groans, taking a step eerily close to Reuben’s memorial. Instantly, his smile drops and his jaw is briefly agape. His teeth grit, vacuuming a breath between tiny gaps, as his eyes dart between the colossus and his crawling friend.

“HEY!” She roars, firm and quick.

“OH, I’M SORRY,” the colossus sarcastically apologizes, lifting its foot. “SURE WOULD BE A PITY IF–”

Lukas gasps.

“OOPS.”

And Reuben’s memorial becomes no more than a pile of rubble and a shattered heart, maybe two.

‘He didn’t…’

“NO!” Jesse erupts, pain conjuring in her voice. “You’re gonna wish you hadn’t done that, motherfucker!”

‘You tell ‘em.’ Lukas affirms through his mind, since he’s no longer able to speak. Temporarily.

The colossus attempts to knock into her again to no avail. She further climbs its arm, having barely avoided being crushed to death. “Hoo, boy!”

“DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME, JESSE?” It questions, attempting to crush her once more.

She runs out of the way. “I don’t think. I know.”

Jesse continues her ascension, and Lukas can briefly view her taking a glimpse at Reuben’s destroyed memorial.

“CONFIDENCE: THE MARK OF A TRUE HERO,” the prismarine statue observes.

The author is filled with anticipation to the brim. He lightly plants his teeth into his lower lip, watching each and every movement, even if miniscule. He hears a loud ‘WHAM’ and the glow in the statue’s eyes flicker as it rasps.

“WELL… FOUGHT… MY… CHAMPION…”

The fabricated breaths are being pulled by Death itself just before the lights go out completely, and it bursts into a rainstorm of prismarine shards and crystals.

Lukas pulls out a sword to shield himself, taking steps back out of shock. He trips over the back of the platform he was standing on, falling onto his back. His sword slips from his hand and clatters onto the ground. He lies still on the icy stone for a moment to process, squinting at the sky above him.

It’s nighttime, though upon checking his watch, the day has yet to pass lunch time. White stars are sprinkled all over the black blanket of inky darkness, glittering with distant dreams, morning dew still sitting on the grass.

‘C’mon! Get it together, Lukas!’

He stands up.

Running to the scene, he finds Jesse lying with her eyes shut on the ground. Instant worry wells in his chest, and he sprints to get to her. He kneels by her side, praying silently to himself that she hasn’t moved on to be with her pet pig just yet. He taps her breastplate.

“Wha–?” She murmurs, craning her neck and massaging the back of her head.

“Stay behind me, Stampy!” He hears a familiar voice call out from the gates.

“Ah!” A yelp responds. “Don’t let the googlies take me!”

Lukas turns his head and Jesse sits up, staring in shock. Petra, Jack and a few others are fighting mobs entering from the gates.

“Oh, man,” she breathes. “Those are gonna keep coming in until we get the sun back up.”

Lukas gives her a hand in rising to her feet, and they both rush to the fallen clock. Menacing, its ticking booms, evaporating any other idle noises nearby. Radar looms over it, hands in his hair, unsure of its potential.

“Any idea how to use it!?” He raises his voice in order for his question to be heard.

Without a word, Jesse swings her leg over and gets on the edge of the clock, knowing she’d be unable to reach it otherwise. She cranks the handle, tucking the moon underneath the horizon and waking the sun. The lighting turns from silver blue to golden yellow, giving a lively tint to the town. Monsters begin burning and the townsfolk put their weapons away.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Stampy bubbles.

People are gathering the prismarine remnants of the colossus, pulling out crafting tables and forming prismarine blocks of their own. Graciously, they replace the blocks that were once parts of buildings. Salty smells waft through the gentle breeze. Everyone was eager to repair the town, and there is an underlying atmosphere hanging that says things will be okay.

“I can’t believe it still works!” Radar breaks the minute of serene silence.

“Man, this thing could be super dangerous,” Lukas mentions, giving a subtle glance to Jesse’s gauntlet. “How sure are you that this admin guy is gone?”

“You–” Jesse stammers, thinking, “You make a compelling point, Lukas. My hand is still trapped in this fucky gauntlet.” She flexes her hand, curling her fingers.

“Yeah…” he clicks his tongue, “not to be a worrier, but he might not be as dead as we hope.”

“I’m worried enough for both of us.” Radar shudders.

Jesse examines the clock. “Someone should keep an eye on this thing.”

“Yeah,” Lukas concurs, “I can take first watch–”

“Ahem,” Radar clears his throat, “actually? I’ll volunteer. I want to help.”

“Jesse, I’d say we both do it, but one of us should really get started on the repairs,” Lukas assesses to Jesse, then gazes anxiously at Radar, “It’s a nice gesture, but maybe you should just let me handle it.”

“Look, I promise,” the teenager starts, “the minute I see anything out of the ordinary, I’m coming to get you as fast as my hustlesticks will carry me!”

“...” Jesse and Lukas exchange glances.

“My, uh… my legs.” He gestures. “Come on, Jesse! I can do this!”

Somber, Lukas gazes at the young boy. It’s not that he doesn’t trust him, it’s that he wants him to be safe; he doesn’t have the same experience that he does, and he’d feel awful if something or someone hurt him.

“Alright,” Jesse makes up her mind, “Radar, I officially bequeath on you the title of “Clockmaster.””

‘Bequeath is a fun word.’ thinks Lukas.

“Thank you, Jesse.” He salutes. “I solemnly swear to uphold my duties as Clockmaster, and to only use my powers for good.” He then bows respectfully.

“Yeah, good–” Jesse stutters, giving a brief glance to Lukas, “–that’s good.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” he inquires.

“I…” she chokes, “I figured I’d start with Reuben’s memorial. I-It got pretty trashed.”

He knows. He saw it happen. But that didn’t change how horrid he felt about it.

“Oh, man,” he sympathizes. “Well, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry. That Admin, just… no respect.”

He looks at her anxiously, awaiting her answer, but then he sees her idly gazing at the ground with drooping shoulders.

“We’ll make things right, Jesse.” He steps closer to her. “We’re going to rebuild.”

The writer hesitates, trying to think of a way to change the subject. ”And, um… when I asked you what you were gonna do, I was actually talking about that glove of your’s.” He emphasizes the prismarine gauntlet with a vague gesture. “This whole “Admin” thing? It’s– well– it’s very you, I guess is what I’m saying. Well, I-I know you’re trying to settle down and run Beacontown, but…” his eyes shy away briefly, flicking his tongue to moisturize his lips, “it just seems like you can’t quit that life, you know? I mean, you don’t exactly see Axel and Olivia getting mixed up in stuff like this.”

“I thought… I thought I could run Beacontown and go off on adventures, but a lot of people either almost got hurt, or did.” She rubs her arm. “Because of me.”

“Aw, I mean… don’t be too hard on yourself, alright?” He attempts reassurance. “Everyone is fine, and they clearly love you.”

Jesse doesn’t respond.

“I– uh… I didn’t say any of that stuff to be mean.” The writer rubs the nape of his neck bashfully. “We’ve had a ton of adventures, and– and I just want you to be happy.”

She eyeballs him, skeptical, as he rests a hand on her shoulder.

He catches sight of the memorial. “I mean, that’s what that little pig wanted for all of us.”

She splutters, failing to say whatever words tried to come out. She buries her face in her hands, fingers scrunched in her hair, collecting her sobs in the back of her throat with the nets of her trembling breaths.

“Hey, I– oh, gosh…” He feels even worse now. A twinge of sadness pierces his heart; he has no idea what it feels like to lose a pet, let alone watch their memorial get decimated. He couldn’t bear to imagine what emotions he’d have if that was Dewey or Nutmeg’s grave.

Unable to think of another action, he pulls her into a gentle hug, cradling her in his arms as she rests on his shoulder. He softly sighs, stifling the words he wants to say. His eyes close, allowing Jesse some silence as she fails to prevent muffled sobs from pouring onto his armor.

Shortly after, another body joins the embrace. Lukas lifts his head, minorly surprised, and opens his eyes to find Petra wrapping her arms around them. They exchange eye contact, keeping the quietude and communicating through facial expressions and head bobbing.

“It’s gonna be okay, Jess,” she soothes, playing with a strand of her hair.

Lukas’ arms slide away, nodding to Petra before leaving the fiancées to themselves. It seems like he’s been given a chance to search for his horse.

He quickens his walking pace, inadvertently glancing around town, searching for any signs of Nutmeg. He tries whistling, clapping, and calling her name a few times, but he doesn’t find her.

“Nutmeg, Nutmeg!” He whistles, using his ‘talking to animals’ voice. “C’mere, girl! C’mere!”

He sighs when there’s still no sign of her nearby.

“Oi, Lukas!” Samantha’s familiar tone calls. “Are you looking for your horse?”

“Hi, Samantha.” He waves a greeting. “And, yeah, I am! Have you seen her?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. Over there,” she points behind an untouched building, puffy with bushes on one side, “she was hiding. Seemed pretty scared, but unharmed otherwise.”

“Oh. Oh, no,” he gulps. “Thanks, Samantha. I appreciate it.”

“Of course.” She crosses an arm, using it to rest her other elbow. “Wait a second. Before you go…”

“Yes?”

“Here,” she gives him a handful of wheat, “for her. She’s a sweet girl, and I couldn’t resist grabbing some for her.”

“Oh, awesome.” He takes it. “Thank you, Samantha. Where would I be without you?”

“I don’t know,” she chuckles. “Now, go find your steed.”

Lukas nods, and Samantha waves a small goodbye.

“Nutmeg, girl, c’mere…” he beckons, peering around the corner and shaking the wheat in his hand. There’s Nutmeg, her ears stiffly forward, but relaxing once seeing Lukas.

“Hey, hey. Look what I’ve got.” He shakes the wheat again, and she walks up to him. He holds his hand flat for her to eat off of. “Good girl…” he praises, stroking her neck. She moves her head down and nudges her head into his shoulder. He giggles, continuing to pet her, caressing the underneath of her face.

“Alright, why don’t we get you home, huh?” He asks with a wide grin on his face. “Do you wanna go home?”

She lifts her head, keeping her eyes on him.

“Alright, girl, I’m coming up,” he warns her, moving to her side and cautiously climbing onto her saddle. “Let’s get you home.”

She starts walking, hooves clopping on the streets, as he steers her towards the gates. He knows he should be helping work on Beacontown, but he wants to get Nutmeg home first so he knows where she is and she doesn’t cause any problems.

—

Lukas scours through the jackets in his closet. Two of them are the old Ocelots jackets he wore, and most of the others are leather jackets. Mildly frustrated, he sighs, continuing to scavenge. He eventually finds a soft dusty-brown coat that was gifted to him a few years back, and takes it. It was the most appropriate for the occasion.

He passes by Dewey, who is grooming herself, on his way out the door. He goes outside, gently shutting it behind him, meanwhile Nutmeg is dangling her head over the upper space of the stable he gave her, which was just shy of his own height. The moment his foot hits the porch, she tries to grab his attention while he’s readying himself to go back to Beacontown. She whinnies.

“Oh, what?” He heads over to her and pets her nose. As he moves his hand away, she laps at his fingertips, almost missing.

“Hey, no licking. What did I tell you about licking?” He lightly scolds, wiping his hands on his armor. He sighs, and his breath emits a cloud of frosty fog.

…Was it always this cold?

Eyes going around the area, taking a few steps towards Beacontown, Lukas gazes up at the sky, which is sending down gentle snowflakes.

‘Wait– it can’t be snowing. This isn’t a snow biome.’

This worries him. He turns back to his horse.

“Look, I’ll be back, alright? I swear.”

She snorts.

Lukas immediately starts sprinting for Beacontown. He spots an usual figure at the gates, and his first thought is exactly what he was concerned about: the Admin. He unsheathes his sword, prepared to attack and defend at will if needed. His chest heats up, yet the air only seems to grow colder. The adrenaline rush is too high for him to process that day changed to night once again.

He reaches the entrance, panting, ready to strike. He lurches for the Admin’s head, screeching as the ice shatters beneath his iron blade. He comes close to sending himself right into the Admin, but is instead simply knocked to the side. A shiver travels down his spine when his back hits the ground, though he manages to hold onto his sword this time. He swiftly brings himself back to his feet.

“You think you’ve got it all figured out,” the Admin regenerates his head, “don’t you?”

With the clap of his hands, strays are summoned in the area. Their crying armor reeks of decay, bringing a sort of moisture to their dry bones.

“Ahh, strays,” the Admin prattles. “Pesky little consequences of eternal night. And–” he chuckles maniacally under his breath, “Beacontown’s new neighbors! Until you take care of that clock. Remember: find the clock, save the town. Buh-bye, now!”

Then, he disappears into the ground as if melting from luscious Summer heat.

“Augh!” Yelping, Jesse whips out her sword. “We need to protect the people!”

“Run! Hide, everyone!” Someone he hadn’t seen before, along with Nurm, run in the other direction, shouting with warnings to the townsfolk. They run away, yelling in fear, as Petra, Jack, and Jesse work on fighting off mobs. Lukas himself decides to put his sword to good use, piercing the bodies of a couple zombies.

Once the monsters are disposed of, Radar comes running to the scene, very visibly uneasy.

“Jesse!” He grabs her attention. “I am so sorry! I was standing guard, watching it so close, but it– it just disappeared!”

“I know,” she frowns, “and now the situation is just going to get worse until we get it back.”

“Yeah.” Petra rolls her eyes, arms crossed. “From his Icy Palace of Despair, or whatever.”

“Wherever you’re going, I’m coming, too.” Radar taps his chest for emphasis. “I was given the title– and the power– of Clockmaster.”

Lukas gazes at him sadly.

“If it’s to keep Beacontown safe…” he declares, “I’ll do anything.”

“Really?” Lukas asks. Radar nods in response.

“Oh, man,” Jesse snickers, “proud of you, Radar.”

He seems surprised by that. “Really?”

“Of course!” Jesse chimes.

“Well, I…” Radar still seems to be processing, “I won’t let you down!”

“Alright, everyone,” Jesse gathers. “We’ve got a clock to find.”

“Can’t let you come along on this one, my love.” Jack hushes to his husband.

Nurm protests.

“I promise,” he assures, “I will come back.”

Nurm seems defeated, but he obliges.

“Just protect the town while we’re gone,” Jesse calmly orders, “alright?”

Lukas makes out the word ‘boss’ in Nurm’s sentence just before the two embrace. He catches Stacy and Stampy emerging from their hiding place out of the corner of his vision.

“Is that…” Stacy begins, “thing gone–?”

“Yeah, for now,” confirms Jesse. “Block this up after we leave, would ya?”

“On it,” she follows the command.

“Yes,” Stampy salutes, “we will defend Beacontown with our very lives!”

“Thanks, guys.” Jesse gives them a firm nod before turning in Nurm’s direction. “Bye, Nurm!”

“Bye!” Nurm replies.

“We’re all counting on you!” Stampy calls.

“I wish I knew more about whatever their quest is…” Stacy adds.

Jesse sets fire to a torch, emanating warm light, as she gestures for her posse to follow.

—

The gentle snowfall shows no signs of stopping, nor does the descending temperature. Lukas finds his fingers numb and his skin tinted. No longer do birds sing and bugs chirp; only the distant groans and wails of mobs fill the eerie atmosphere. Once fresh green grass has been cloaked in a crisp layer of snow, and a once sunny day has been turned into a forever night. He’s glad he brought a jacket, otherwise he would be shivering as much as Radar is.

He can’t help but feel bad for him. He’s much smaller and less prepared for danger than the rest of the group is– he isn’t even sure if he owns a weapon. Plus, seeing him quake so vigorously and grip onto his sleeves for life roots a guilty feeling in the pit of his chest. He couldn’t even think to suggest Radar brings another layer of clothing.

“Stay close.” Jesse commands, stern. Lukas uses it to excuse himself closer to Radar.

“Radar,” he broods, “are you okay?”

“J-J-Just–” he stutters, trying to stop his teeth from clicking, “Just a little cold, t-that’s all…”

Lukas is cold as well, but Radar is on another level. His fingertips dig into his arms, squeezing together as much heat as possible, and his jaw is clamped shut, preventing his teeth from chattering. His breath is inadvertently fast and labored.

His guilt continues ramping to higher levels. He knows it’s not his fault, but sometimes people just need a little help: the poor kid is so insistent on helping Beacontown that he’s barely concerned about himself anymore; he can’t bear to sit there and do nothing.

With a sigh, Lukas begins removing his jacket.

“W-What are you…” Radar whimpers.

“Here,” Lukas opens the jacket behind him as a signal to put it on, “this should help.”

“What–? Why!?” He tenses. “Are you s-sure…?”

“I insist. I’ll be okay,” Lukas promises. “I want that jacket back after this, though.”

“Yeah, yeah! O-Of course.” Radar cracks a smile, which infects Lukas to do the same. His voice is dry and meek. “Oh, haha, this is actually… pretty cozy. Thanks, Lukas.”

“No problem.” He smiles.

There’s a light tap on his shoulder. He turns his head, looking to his side to see Petra.

“Hey, Luke,” Petra mutters to him. “Uh…”

“Yeah?” He meets her eyes, perusing.

“Can we… um… talk?”

“I don’t see why not.” He shrugs. “Why? Is there something bothering you?”

“Just–” She sputters, her words resulting in failure, before latching onto Lukas’ arm.

“Gimme one second, Ray.” He lifts a finger, talking in Radar’s direction.

“Got it.” He nods. “In that case, I’ll go ahead and… walk a little more over here, then…”

The others get the message, and the duo starts trailing behind the group. They tread slightly slower, but they don’t fall too far behind.

“What’s up?” Lukas inhales, deciding to initiate the conversation.

“Look, I’m…” she sighs between speech, “sorry for being snippy with you lately.”

“That’s okay. Apology is both appreciated and accepted,” Lukas hums, pleased. “Question, though.”

“Ask away.” She gives him the ‘go ahead.’

“Is it because of the wedding?” He raises a brow. “I mean– the reason why you’ve been so prickly lately is because of the wedding. I know it’s been a lot on both you and Jesse’s shoulders.”

“Yeah, I think so.” Her chest heaves. “I didn’t mean to yell at Radar, or accuse you and our other friends. I just… really need things to go well. And the way everything’s looking now, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to, y’know?”

“No, I get it,” the author agrees. “This is life-changing. I’d be pretty pissed if something came and ruined it, too.”

“I’m glad you understand.” She softly smiles. “I love Jesse so much. I can’t wait.” Her eyes shoot back to the icy path, hands cupped over her chest.

“Oh, I know,” Lukas teases, a smug grin plastered over his face. “We all know.”

“Shut up, faggot.” She knocks his arm with her elbow. He chuckles.

Within the near distance, the creepy shriek of an unidentified creature is heard. Jesse– being the hero she is– moves to the front of the group, holding her torch out. The shadows melt, adding a familiar llama to the scene.

“Lluna–?” Jesse cocks her head to the side, perplexed. The llama bleats.

“Is that a scarf on that llama?” The mystery man asks.

“Huh.” Petra places a hand on her hip. “Think she ran away again?”

“So, her name’s Lluna, huh?” Lukas inquires, approaching her with his hand out. She gives it a sniff, to which he ruffles the fur on her head a little bit. “She’s sweet.”

“You’re telling me y’all know a llama?” Jack questions, approaching the animal to get a closer look. Wait– did he always have that eyepatch?

“This is Lluna,” Jesse introduces. “She’s kinda cute, right? Petra returned her to her owner, Stella.”

“She is cute, isn’t she?”

Oh, no. Lukas knows that voice anywhere.

“Everyone get away from my llama!” Stella demands.

“No…” Petra sighs, hiding her face. Lukas loudly groans, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, would you look at who it is!” Stella heightens the pitch of her voice. “I didn’t think I’d find you here, Luke.”

“It’s Lukas.” He growls.

“You know this chick, lucky?” Seemingly frustrated, Jack approaches him from the side and stands next to him.

“Kind of.” He slouches, not wanting to deal with her.

“I have no clue as to what’s going on here.” The man with white hair steps in. Lukas side-eyes him for a moment, then returns himself to the situation at hand.

Jesse sighs. “Vos, this is Stella.” She then turns to the other leader. “This is Jack, Vos, and Radar. Seems like you already know Lukas.”

‘Huh. That’s his name; Vos. I swear I’ve heard– wait…”

It just clicked for Lukas that Vos is one of Jack’s adventuring partners. Wasn’t he dead? He’ll have to talk to them later for some context.

“Jacques, was it?” Stella walks up to Jack, briefly examining him. “As in– the legendary champion?”

“Anyways…” Jesse shoves her agitation aside, “what exactly are you doing here, Stella?”

“My beautiful city is currently covered in a hideous coat of snow, that’s what,” she reports. “I came out to investigate, and– surprise, surprise– it’s you. If you’re smart, you’ll undo… whatever it is you did and put things right again.”

“Just…” Petra fumbles, making wide gestures with her hands, “wow.”

“Oh my gosh, wow.” Angry, Jesse shakes her head. “You are… absolutely fucking insane.”

“Watch your language, now, Jesse!” She grouses.

“For the love of fuck…” Petra facepalms, “we’re chasing the bitch that did it. You really think Jesse has the power to do shit like this?”

Lukas knows she’s swearing intentionally to piss Stella off. Honestly? He would do the same.

“Tch. Of course, because when do you ever have manners?” Stella remarks, rolling her eyes to herself. “Alright, let’s say I believe you, Jesse. I suppose I’ll just have to find a way to fix it. It’s my world, too, after all.” She mounts Lluna in an awkward position. “You’ll see, I’ll fix it all on my own. I don’t need any of you…” she searches for a word, “losers.”

Silence settles in the environment. Lukas looks up at the sky to find the moon rapidly glitching, spasming within an area of the outer void.

“Woah,” Jesse gapes, “the moon’s stuck.”

“Okay, that’s freaky.” Jack comments.

“So, Stella,” Beacontown’s hero-in-residence turns to her once more, “you were saying?”

“I was saying that maybe I’ll…” Stella chews her bottom lip, “stick around for a bit. Just to keep an eye on you.”

Petra heavily sighs. “Y’know, I’m all for fixing this shit so I can get married in peace, but does Stella really have to be here while I do it!?”

“You said it, Petra.” Lukas clicks his tongue. “You said it.”

The group keeps walking, with Jesse at the front, leading with a lit torch. He doesn’t know how much time passes, but they’ve crossed a good bit of distance; they have to get there soon, right?

Lluna makes a blatting sound again, echoes bouncing off the near mountains, and startles Radar enough to cause him to jump back. He bumps into Lukas by accident.

“Ack–!”

“Shit– ah! Excuse my language, Lukas, I am so sorry!” He apologizes profusely.

“Uh…” Jack hums, “you okay, Radar?”

“Yes! Yes,” he insists. “Totally fine.”

“Don’t even worry about it, Radar.” He shakes his head, smirking. He leans in and hushes to him, “Do you see the people I hang out with?”

“I– I guess you make a good point,” the intern stammers. “Still. I try not to make a habit of it.”

“Alright,” Lukas shrugs, “whatever.”

“Guys, shh,” Jesse asserts. “We need to keep an eye– woah…”

There it is. A giant icy palace, glimmering in shiny moonlight. It’s sleek, carved and smoothed to perfection, as if it were constructed out of pure diamond. Spires of beauty and upcoming challenges assist the shivers shooting down spines, not exclusively from temperature. Perfect detail coats the castle walls, and not a single drop of water rolls down the spikes. Lukas’ jaw drops in an instant: this might be the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Instantaneously, his journal is in his hand, and he’s scribbling away at the pages.

“I’m…” Jack abruptly halts, “actually kind of speechless right now.”

“Jack? Speechless?” Jesse gawks. “Lukas, you better write that one down.”

“Already jotted it down. Under…” his tongue flips over his lip, searching for the right section, “”rare occurrences and phenomena.””

“Hey, come on.” Jack gives Lukas a light elbow nudge. “Rude.”

In the process of writing details, Lukas tilts his head up to get a second look at the towering regal iceberg. He notices something– an odd circular golden… portrait? Wait, no, that’s the–

“Hey, found the clock!” Lukas points out.

He successfully redirected the eyes of the group to the gold time teller nearing the tip.

“Oh, perfect!” Petra grins. “But, how are we gonna get up there?”

“Well, the Admin mentioned “challenges,”” starts Jesse. “I’m guessing there’s gonna be– like– obstacles or something when we get there.”

“Wait, do I have this right–?” Stella queries. “Are you telling me that this “Admin” is so powerful that he built all of this instantly?”

“You sound almost jealous,” Radar whinges.

“”Almost?” Of course I’m jealous of power like that,” she exults. “Power is how the world is run, little man. It’s what people respect; what they listen to.”

“Stella, I know you haven’t met him yet, but I fuckin’ swear to you…” a slight bit of an accent emerges from Jesse’s throat, “this guy is nuts.”

“Yeah, you really don’t want any part of that,” Jack implores. “Trust me.”

“Huh.” Stella shrugs. “Lesser minds do often mistake true genius for madness.”

“On second thought,” he reconsiders, “maybe I can’t wait for you to meet him.”

“Oh, Stella,” Radar seethes through grit teeth, “you’ll never change.”

“Oh, I thought I recognized you!” Her head turns so her eyes can meet his. “You’re the quitter who used to work on my inventory management team!”

“Wait, wait.” Jesse waves her hands. “Do you two know each other?”

“Uh… yeah.” Radar scratches the back of his neck. “I– uh… I used to live in Champion City.”

“What?” Lukas stares, eyes widening.

Petra gapes. “You’re joking…”

“I don’t know what he told you to get on this little “team,”” Stella scowls, “but I don’t think he even knows how to use a sword.”

“You don’t know anything, Stella.” Radar’s shoulders tense, his hands balling into fists. “So… shut it!”

“Ooh, how do you put up with that little voice of his, Jesse?” She taunts, emphasizing her side-eye on him. “I know I never could.”

“Hey, Radar is–”

Quickly, Radar cuts Jesse off. “You know what, you? Know? What? No. I’m done putting up with your bullshit, Stella.”

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Stella grumbles, crossing her arms.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t, but there’s a woman in front of me who needs to learn a lesson, so listen up!” He demands, pointing a finger. “Do you know how many people I’ve seen you trick– No, steal from, and keep changing the deal on them? Too many. Too! Many! And I know how it feels: HORRIBLE! You think you’re SO high and mighty, when really you’re just a goddamn thief who can’t get over herself and always, always feels the need to keep everything for herself and shove others beneath her!”

“That’s repressed anger if I’ve ever seen it,” Jack off-handedly mentions to Jesse, who doesn’t respond; her jaw is clamped shut, anxious sweat rolling down her forehead. “You ever try getting him some therapy?”

“Why, you–!” Stella attempts to retort, but Radar silences her.

“Nuh-uh! Not done yet! It’s MY turn to talk, not your’s!” He fumes. “I tried so hard to make you happy, so hard to do my job just the way you wanted me to do it, but any time I made even the tiniest of mistakes, you blew! BOOM! As if I didn’t already have enough on my plate!” He denounces. “Schoolwork, homework, theatre practice, chores, band practice… and– and more that I can’t think of right now! I know there’s even more than that! FUCK you!”

Hearing this is terrifying. Lukas agrees with what he’s saying, but hearing him shout at someone like this is extremely out-of-character for him. Even Stella still seems to be in shock.

“Ooh!” Petra cheers. “You tell ‘er, Ray! Get her ass!”

“Radar…” cautious, Lukas approaches him; he wants to make sure he doesn’t take things too far.

“Look, if you’re so keen on being “tHe HeRo,” maybe you should take some inspiration from Jesse! THEY do the work! THEY help people! Instead of unprofessionally bringing a new–”

“You are just SICKENING!” She finally snaps back. “Have you always been this whiny!? No wonder your parents don’t love you! I wouldn’t, either! All this about “sChOoLwOrK” and “hOmEwOrK” and “cHoReS” never left you, huh!?” She taunts him by raising her voice to resemble his own. “You try so hard to be a people pleaser, but you never actually please anyone! I’m sure Jesse only hired you out of pity.”

Radar steps back, eyes shooting open. The pace of his breath quickens, but Lukas is unable to tell if it’s out of rage or panic. He assumes it’s a mix of the two.

“Hey, bud,” remaining gentle, Lukas sets his hands on his shoulders, attempting to ease him, “maybe you should calm–”

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” He retaliates loudly, aggressively loosening himself from his grasp. “Ah…!”

“I– I’m sorry, Radar.” Lukas apologizes, keeping his hands raised. “I didn’t mean to…”

“See?” Stella snaps. “Now look at what you’ve done!”

“That’s ENOUGH!” Jesse shouts. “All of you!”

Everyone’s eyes dart back to her. Radar winces.

“Radar, shut up about Stella! Stella, shut up about Radar! Can we not do this right about now!? We CLEARLY have a bigger issue on hand!” She chastises. “We’ve wasted enough time– let’s get going! Please.”

Petra opens her mouth in preparation to say something, but it shuts, drowning whatever words swam through her throat.

Lukas also keeps his lips sealed, shamefully glancing at the icy path. Guilt overwhelms his soul, weaving its needle through the fabric of his lips. He feels genuinely awful about upsetting Radar. He crosses his arms; he can’t bear to look at anyone.

The sour atmosphere sticks. No one says a word to one another. Lukas is compelled to comfort Radar, but he doesn’t dare approach him after what just happened. He may never forgive himself. Petra sheepishly rubs her arm, Jesse sinks her teeth into her lip, and he refuses to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Well…” silence shatters, and Jack clears his throat. “I haven’t seen anything this grand since the last time I visited the Overcompensating Builders of E’gesh.”

“No kidding.” Vos agrees, stifling a short chuckle.

Petra stops dragging her vision through the snow and looks ahead of her. “Oh, boy. My favorite: mystery levers.”

Her partner raises a brow, visibly skeptical, yet she gives the lever a tug. A platform grows from the ground, having a slight contrast between it and the rest of the palace. Bright fireworks are lit and shot into the sky, crackling upon explosion. Flinching, Lukas shields his ears.

“Aha, hello, everyone!” The Admin sprouts from the platform, laughing joyously. Too bad he can’t make his own ice as glossy as the castle’s. “Haha! Please, please! Gather ‘round! Don’t be shy!”

Jesse heaves. “Here we go again…”

“Ohh, look how– many of you there are.” His tone drops. “Lovely.”

The snowman waddles up to Jesse. “Your choice of company is… eh, I dunno. This place is really for the best of the best. Not… how do I say this…” he hesitates, “losers?”

“Mr. Admin, mighty sir,” Stella pushes her way to the front of the crowd with the flick of her locks, “I’m Stella, founder of Champion City. Maybe you’ve heard of me?”

The Admin pauses. “No, never.”

He then resumes his conversation with the gauntlet-bearer. “It’s actually perfect, Champion; I can see you all have dreams of greatness. It’s… very cute.” He strings out the length of his speech. “See, this construct before you? It’s meant to see who’s worthy of that greatness. Separate the strong from the weak,” he explains. “So, we’ll see how your little companions do, ‘ey?”

“You watch it, Admin.” Jack sneers.

“Well, don’t even worry about it,” Jesse sasses, “because my friends here aren’t weak.”

“Mhm. Cool,” the Admin dismisses. “If you say so.”

The second feels like a whole minute. Silence strikes yet again.

“Come, now, don’t be that way,” the Admin nags. “This? This is all for you! New creatures of my own design, as well as mining fatigue at every turn! Wouldn’t want you cheating, of course; I don’t like rulebreakers. It’s simple,” he starts elaboration, “you all want to get to that clock, but only the best of the best get to partner up with me in the future.” He widely gestures. “That could be you! Cooked this place up just for you. I mean, it’s pretty– hm. Well, I was going to say “pretty cool,” but with the whole ice motif, that just seems like I was going for a lame pun, so… anyway! Spectacular, though, innit?”

“Listen, Admin,” hands on her hips, Jesse shakes her head, “I’m here to save my town.”

“Well, of course you are!” The golem chuckles. “Because you’re a hero! Haha, it’s awesome! Ohoho, I am just ECSTATIC that you see things my way. So, how ‘bout we get this show on the road?”

His (literal) twig arms clap together, and the ground shifts underneath them. Lukas stumbles, failing to keep himself upright as it opens below him and he falls through the pit. His scream choruses with the rest of the squad.

—

Sights blend together as he descends, twisting blues swapping from peaceful to sinister. Lukas bounces off the flooring with a stab in his ribs of sheer cold. He approximately lands at the same time as the rest of the group, minus Jack, who is running down the side of the walls, leaping down, and sticking the landing. He doesn’t see it happen, but he knows it’s him, because of his “perfect reflexes” and “photographic muscle memory.”

“Nice landing,” compliments Jesse as she stands.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Here it comes. “Just my perfect reflexes and photographic muscle memory.”

“I knew you were going to say that,” Lukas simpers, also rising to his feet. “Verbatim.”

“You writers and your big fancy words.” He shakes his head. “What’s that even mean?”

“Word for word,” the blond explains.

“Could’ve just said that, y’know,” surmises Jack.

“Hey, verbatim is a fun word!” Lukas protests.

“Nerd!” Petra calls out.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Well, uh… we’re stuck.” Radar points to where they came from, and they now notice they’ve been trapped in. “The way is shut.”

“Yes,” Vos acknowledges, “now I suppose the only way out… is through.”

“Yeah.” Petra nods. “And smashing that clock!”

“Well, we’re not all going to be smashing that clock.” Stella counters.

“Say what, now?” Jesse’s accent makes an appearance again.

“You heard the Admin,” she reiterates. “He only wants the best of the best, and that’s going to be me.”

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding.” Lukas’ complaint accompanies a groan. He overhears Radar sharply sucking oxygen in through his teeth, and the tension rising in his body is amplified enough to where Lukas can experience it, too.

“Sorry, handsome,” the founder ridicules. “Might as well quit now.”

“Easy, Ray.” Petra tries soothing Radar, though keeping her hands off him. Thankfully, it seems to work.

“Nuh-uh,” Jesse denies. “No way, Stella. I’m taking you down.”

“Oh, I knew you were my rival, Jesse.” With her ego fed, she’s happy.

Lukas shoves another groan back down his throat, and instead rolls his eyes. As they progress further into the palace’s caverns, he slows down to walk with Petra.

“Okay, I gotta know,” he hushes, “how did you even stand her back then!?”

“I thought she was really fucking hot.” She gets the message, and also keeps her tone down. “Dumb, right!? I swear she wasn’t like that when I met her.”

“I believe you. I just–” he scavenges his brain for words, “ugh! I can’t stand her bitchass.”

“Me neither, dude,” Petra agrees. “Me. Neither.”

Lukas doesn’t find the interior as gorgeous as the exterior. The frozen crystal monsters are showing off their glistening teeth, jaws wide open, lulling out their railroad tongues, topped with crowds of minecarts.

“Wow,” Stella exclaims, “it’s… it’s amazing.”

“Hmph,” Jack huffs. “You’re his little buddy, Jesse. You know anything about this “partnership” he’s offering?”

“Imagine everything you could create– everything you could do– with a prize like that,” comments Vos.

“How can we even be certain that he’s telling the truth?” Lukas ponders.

“Okay, hang on a sec,” the mayor interjects. “I’m not the Admin’s “little buddy.””

“Pfft! I’m just sayin’,” Jack laughs. “You two were pretty chummy up there.”

“Come on, Lluna, enough of these losers!” Stella urges. “We’ve got treasure to find.”

The llama sneaks behind Jesse, lowering her head with her mouth wide open, preparing to close her teeth around the prismarine encasing her hand.

“Hey!” She jerks her hand away.

“Treasure-sniffing llama,” her owner boasts. “Mhm, yeah. Tell your friends.”

She slams her fist down, roughly grazing her back in order to force her to search for treasure and start sniffing. Lukas angrily leers at her.

“Hey, now…” Jack’s tone is unusually gentle despite his low scowl.

“Oh, that poor llama!” Radar shivers.

“What–!?”

“Hey, don’t treat Lluna like that!” Jesse chides. “She obviously hates it!”

“I think I know my darling Lluna a little better than you do,” the other scoffs. “Let’s go, Lluna.”

There’s pain in the llama’s eyes as she gazes back at them before following her owner.

“Well,” Vos begins, “that is certainly a woman who knows what she wants.”

“Are you kidding?” Lukas guffaws, almost sounding maniacal, completely dumbfounded. “She’s fucking nuts!”

Jesse hesitates. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” For a moment, Lukas stands like a creeper in a clowder of ocelots. “I just despise Stella.”

“Ah!” Vos excuses himself, changing topics. “Uh, well, no one knows better than me that the Admin’s traps and constructions mean business!”

“You’ve got a point there, old friend,” the adventurer breathes, “I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.”

“Yes, and it’s like the Admin said;” he adds, “not everyone might be… up for the task. I mean no offense by it, just– uhh… stating facts.”

“Radar and Lukas can handle themselves.” Jesse insists.

“Yeah?” Radar says reluctantly. “Yeah. Yeah!”

Vos sighs. “Fine, but if something happens to them, that’s on you, not me.” He turns to his friend. “Come with me, Jack. Let’s try and scope this place out.”

The duo walks away. Petra glances back and forth from Jack and Vos and Jesse’s posse.

“I’m…” she inhales, “I’m gonna go talk to them.”

Lukas squints as she follows their trail.

“Well, I have never been so offended.” Radar remarks, shaking his fists. “Not in my whole life!”

“Yeah,” Lukas frowns, “that wasn’t the coolest.”

“”Wasn’t the coolest?” “Wasn’t the coolest?”” Radar sneers. “Oh, hell no. Misfiling your acacia wood during material organization week “isn’t the coolest!” That was… that was just a stripe too far. Just! A! STRIPE!”

Lukas doesn’t interrupt. The guilt from earlier resurges and makes his heart hang heavy, and he wants to allow him to blow off his steam, even if he’s using him to do it.

He goes on another rant. “Just because I’m not some sword-swinging meaty fuckhead, they think they can walk. All. Over. Me. Th-Th-They think… they think– they look at me, and my– well, my skinny little arms, and they think they know me? Those bastards think they know me? Well, I’ve seen them, I’ve met them, and I know their goddamn minds aren’t even in the gutters anymore, they’re in the fucking sewers. The sewers, I tell you!”

“Uh…” Jesse raises a hand. “Ra–”

“Let him finish.” Lukas halts her. “I think he needs to get it out of his system. Badly.”

“They only thing they’re more wrong about than me is their fucking test answers. They don’t even try! They don’t even TRY! I know they’re stupid as all hell, because they’re easy! Super easy! I can’t STAND it, or their dumbasses.” He pauses his speech only to take a breath. “Look, I know I’ve been an embarrassment sometimes, and you two probably only see me as– as a stupid hormonal teenager and nothing more, but I’m going to prove myself. Finally; once and for all! Today. TO! DAY! And I– I, uh… I… guess I’m done… So sorry!”

He saddens near the end of his ramble, acknowledging the worrying eyes settling onto him. The rise and fall of his chest slows, the height of his adrenaline crashing.

“Will you– will you excuse my language,” he stutters, “please?”

Lukas nods. “It’s okay, they–”

“Radar, I need you to remember that out there the world is stuck in eternal night,” she walks up to his side, “and there are a lot of scared people back in Beacontown who are counting on us!”

He physically eases, but Lukas isn’t oblivious to the fact that his mind is still buzzing like a hornet’s nest.

“You’re right…” he says.

He hates that Jesse was pretty quick to shut Radar down. Although their nests are of different hives, they’re both whirling and hissing upsettingly. He goes beside him and lightly pulls his attention.

“We’ll talk later.”

“Oh…” the teen’s eyes gleam at him with festering fright, “o-okay.”

Oh, no. He didn’t mean to scare him. Now, he feels even worse.

“Hey, um,” Petra approaches the group, “we were talking and decided that it would be best– for everyone– if Radar stays here with Lukas while we go get the clock.”

Lukas puts his hands on his hips, cursing the redhead with a poisonous glare. If she always wanted him to go on trips with her so badly, then why does she push him away when they have the perfect opportunity!? He didn’t have to go to the mineshaft with her– in fact, he wanted to write– but he did anyway, because that’s what good friends do. He’ll remember this.

Suddenly, Lluna cries from a hollow.

“That’s it, Lluna darling! She’s got the clock’s scent, haha!” Stella praises, giggling. “Later, losers!”

And then they left.

“We’re wasting time!” decrees Jack, jumping into a minecart.

“Wait!” Radar calls. “The Admin built this whole place to eliminate people, right? Trick them? Sure, it looks like Lluna found something, but that’s–”

“–just what the Admin wants us to think!” Lukas completes his sentence for him.

“You saw the llama!” Vos argues.

“Jesse?” Petra goes over to a minecart behind Jack and Vos, extending a hand in her direction. “You’re coming, right?”

Lukas lays a hand on the edge of the minecart behind Radar’s, also reaching out to his friend. “We could really use a hand over here.”

He waits. He waits as patiently as he can, but the seconds feel like hours. A quiver in his fingertips conjures, and a spike of fear punctures his heart. Some alone time with Radar would be nice, he’ll admit, but if they're left by themselves, the other group outnumbers them, which would mean a harder challenge. Tick, tock, tick, tock, Jesse.

“…I’m going with them.” Jesse confesses. “Be safe, okay?”

Lukas wants to scream; this situation doesn’t seem like it can get much worse. He grinds his teeth, lips remaining glued together.

He breathes. “Okay.”

“Nice!” Petra chirps. “Let’s ride!”

He watches her leap into a minecart behind the others, doing the same with the one behind Radar. He peers over, eyes connecting with Jesse’s. Emotions drag blades within his chest, and the blood leaks onto his ribs and drips onto his stomach. The anguish can yank at him all it wants, but he has to keep himself together. For Radar’s sake.

Lukas braces himself with a deep breath as the minecart begins to roll. It starts slow, but then grows faster and faster each second. He’s anxious enough when they start moving, but it skyrockets when they shoot down a steep dip, and he yelps out of surprise. They’re transported to a network of minecart trails, adorned with various tunnels and detailed entrances.

“Oh, boy!” A yell rips through his larynx.

“Woah–!” Radar lets out a high-pitched squeak.

They continue to zoom across the twisted carnival ride, screams filling in the spaces the chugging of the tracks left empty. Lukas’ stomach is lurching, and he can sense the nausea creeping up on him; he doesn’t think he’ll vomit, but he will feel disgusting for a good 20 minutes or so.

“I question my JUDGEMEEEENT!!” Radar wails, sounding on the verge of tears.

“Watch out!” Lukas warns, promptly ducking his head beneath a low-hanging chunk of frozen water. He looks over and spots Jesse’s gang in minecarts, heading through an archway designed to be a spider. He’s beginning to come to a stop along with them, though their archway is built to be a skull.

“Well, that’s one way to get where you’re going!” The writer calls, trying to laugh off their situation. They’re halted, and Lukas stumbles his way out of the minecart. He leans on a wall to catch his breath for a second. “Wow! What a rush.”

“Yeah, you–” Radar huffs, “you don’t– say…”

“Are you okay?” Lukas softly asks, concerned. “I mean, it’s–”

“I’m– I’m alright, I’m oka–” he hurls over the edge of the minecart, choking and preparing to vomit, “Urgh… I am so, so sorry.”

“Are you gonna…”

“No, no!” He insists. “I’m okay, really. Just getting my adventure legs. I’ll be better in a min–” hot bile threatens to show itself again, his head further keeling over the edge.

“Here, we’ll wait a second.” Lukas carefully approaches him, making sure he knows he’s coming, and benignly rubs his back. “You’re okay, you’re all good…”

‘Oh, wow. I forgot how nice the texture of this coat is.’

Radar’s breath lightens, and he seems to calm down; his nausea seems to lift. He remains still for a moment.

“Be–”

The teenager’s body reels over, his spluttering muted as his thin, liquid-y vomit spills over and splashes onto the flooring, creating a vile yellow tint. He coughs incessantly, gasping and gagging for air, but the only thing filling his maws is the acidic, broken down food particles from his stomach. It drips down his chin as he violently trembles. Startled, Lukas steps away, trying not to cringe at the violating stench.

“Ooh, yikes…”

“Ack– Lukas, I am so–” his throat is ransacked again, hand instinctively raising to his mouth, “– so sorry. I t-tried to– bleugh– tried to keep it… keep it down…”

“Aw, no, no– it’s okay,” he rasps. “Are you feeling better now, at least?”

“Yes, for the most part.” He slumps down, arms dangling. “Ugh… that was so gross, though. Ew, ew, eww–! Germs everywhere!”

“I can give you another second if you need–”

“No, no! No, no, no, no.” He straightens his posture. “It’s not so bad. I can do this.”

He slugs over and exits the minecart from the opposite side.

The Admin sprouts from the ground again. “I gotta say, if you’re having a hard time with the– WOAH!!” he exclaims, sliding back from the vomit site. “Clean up on aisle you! Can’t have that around here, no sir!”

With the clap of his hands, it’s gone. Radar sighs out of relief.

“Anyways! Yes, hi, hello. Don’t do that again.” The Admin demands, voice monotone.

“Sorry!” An impulsive apology slips from Radar. “I didn’t mean to! Really!”

“You have one of the weakest stomachs I have seen, kid,” he insults. “I don’t think you’re gonna like what comes next.”

“Which is…?” Lukas raises a brow.

“All I’ll permit myself to say is that I hope you’re confident in your archery skills,” the snowy golem gibes. “You’re gonna need it.”

And he disappears without another word.

“Y-You’re pretty good with bows and arrows, aren’t you, Lukas?” Radar queries, visibly anxious.

“Definitely better with them than swords,” he scoffs, reaching into his inventory for his own, “that’s for sure.”

“That’s a relief,” the other awkwardly chuckles. “I don’t think I could shoot a bow to save my life.”

“I’m sure you could.” The author shrugs. “I could teach you; it’s not that hard.”

“That’d be awesome!” Radar cheers, evoking a giggle from Lukas.

“Alright. Well, we need to make one, first.”

“It looks like there’s a couple cobwebs here. We could get some string from that. And…” Radar thinks. “Oh, look! A dead bush. Great! There’s our sticks.”

“Radar, are you sure?” He questions. “I can do this by myself if you want me to.”

“No!” He urges, desperate. “I said I’m going to help, so that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!”

“Okay,” Lukas surrenders. “If you’re sure.”

“I insist.” Radar stiffens.

“In that case,” the blond begins, “you grab those sticks. I’ll get us some string.”

“On it!” He rushes towards the dead bush.

Lukas approaches the cobwebs, drawing his sword and twirling it into the patches. He slides them off his sword and safely stores them in his inventory.

“Got the sticks!” Radar seems to appear behind him with sticks clutched in his arms. He hands them to Lukas.

“Oh, sweet.” He forces a smile, walking over to the provided crafting table while Radar follows closely behind. He stares at the grid, unmoving, as the other peers over his shoulder, waiting for him to start crafting.

“I don’t craft much,” the teen admits, “but isn’t it–”

“Radar,” Lukas says, firm, but not cold.

“Uh…” he gulps, “yeah?”

“Can we talk?” He coaxes him by presenting him with a soft look.

“Yes, o-of course!” He pulls his hands to his chest, kneading his hands. “Am I in trouble…?”

“No, you’re not in trouble,” Lukas sighs, briefly closing his eyes. “There’s just something I need to get off my chest.”

“I thought you had top surgery years ago?” Radar jests. They both go silent afterwards.

“...”

“Snrk…”

“Yes,” Lukas plays along, annoyed only jokingly. “Ahem, ANYWAYS.”

“Okay, my apologies.” Radar rubs his arm. “I saw an opportunity and I had to take it.”

“It’s alright.” Lukas glances to the side. “It was funny. But, um, as I was saying… I’m really, really sorry for touching you earlier. I was only trying to help you calm down, a-and… I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“No, don’t apologize,” he insists. “I’m not the one who deserves an apology. I didn’t mean to scream at you like that, I was just reminded of–”

Words are lodged in the webs of his throat. A hand hides his lower face, as he attempts to bury himself in his upper body, his eyes rheumy.

“What?” The author comes closer to him. “Reminded you of what, Radar?”

Muscles tensing further, he sniffles. “Home.”

A wince escapes his lips before he promptly shuts his mouth. Every time Radar is saddened by something, so is he. He doesn’t know if relating to his feelings makes it better or worse.

“I… I’m not even supposed to be out here with you guys,” he snivels, tripping over his own breath. “I’m so inventory when I get home. I’m so inventory.”

Lukas finds himself speechless. The last thing he wants is something to happen to him, but he’s unsure how to help. He poses as a statue with his arms crossed for an elongated moment, listening to Radar’s choked sobs. Tears prick the corners of his own eyes as he approaches him, hesitating before lightly sliding a hand onto his shoulder. He flinches, but he doesn’t oppose it.

“I’m sorry that your situation isn’t as bearable as it deserves to be,” breathing deeply, Lukas consoles him. “I’m sorry that your parents aren’t as supportive as they should be. I’m sorry that your work seems endless, and I’m sorry that you’re having such a hard time with all of this. You’re working so hard, Radar, you really are; so much that it’s… kinda scary. You’re brave, and there aren’t enough words in the English language to describe how much better you deserve.”

“You–” Radar shivers, meeting his eyes with a tear-stained face, “You mean that…?”

“I do. I swear, I promise,” Lukas vows. “I wouldn’t have said any of that if I didn’t mean it. Look, I don’t know if your parents have ever told you this or not, but regardless, I’m proud of you. I’m so proud of you. I’m extremely proud of you.”

Radar’s lip tremors, and he says nothing. He only conceals his face deeper, muffling his gagging wails.

“Hey, hey, hey, c’mere; it’s alright, it’s alright,” Lukas moves in to embrace him, allowing him a shoulder to cry on, “it’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay…”

After a moment, Radar whistles, his arms slipping away from Lukas. “Phew. Yeah, I… I believe you.”

“Good,” he nods, “because I’m not bluffing. Trust me, you’re at a difficult stage of your life right now, and it’ll get way easier once you’re in your twenties.”

“That’s what I’ve been told,” the teenager concurs. “I’m really hoping it does; everything kinda sucks right now. Again– I greatly appreciate it, Lukas.”

“No problem.” A small breath of laughter, and he smiles warmly, stepping back towards the crafting table. “Now, let’s make you a bow and arrow, huh?”

“Do you have arrows?” Radar tilts his head. “I didn’t see the stuff to make them around here.”

“Uhh…” Lukas throws his head back, whistling while he examines the room.

“Go check those hoppers over there.” He points. “They might have something in them.”

“Okay.” Radar obliges, swiftly going over to the hoppers, peering into them before pressing the nearby button. A handful of arrows is dispensed into them. He takes them in his arms and brings them back to Lukas.

“Awesome.” He grins. “Now, let me make…” he pauses, beginning his craft, “your bow…”

Once the pieces are placed together correctly on the crafting grid, they form into one and create a bow. Lukas picks it up and flicks the string as a test.

“Here you go, buddy.” He hands it to Radar, who is bouncing excitedly. “Your very own bow.”

“Oh boy, oh boy!” He takes it and strikes a pose with it in a near instant, evoking a chuckle from Lukas. “I– I can’t think of something to quote.”

“Maybe you’ll think of something later.” Lukas shrugs. “Anyways, do you know which eye is your dominant eye?”

Radar pauses. “Wait, we have dominant eyes–!?”

“Yup!” The blond confirms. “It’s the eye you typically use to shoot. The way you figure out which one? You line your finger up with a spot on the wall, and look at it with one eye closed, then the other eye closed.” He gestures his finger from his nose out in front of him, going back and forth a few times. “Whichever eye your finger stayed in the same spot with? That’s your dominant eye.”

“Huh.” Radar thinks for a moment. “I didn’t know that.”

“Hey,” Lukas clicks his tongue, “you learn something new everyday.”

“You’re right. Uh…” Radar follows the instructions, holding still for a moment to process. “My right eye is my dominant eye.”

“Awesome. Mine’s actually my left eye.” Lukas stands by his side, placing a hand on his hip. “Are you left-handed or right-handed?”

“I’m right-handed,” he answers, lifting the hand guarded by his wrist brace.

“Alright, cool.” Lukas takes a minute to process. “Anyhow, do you want me to show you how to aim this thing?”

“Yeah!” He jumps. “So, is it like…” he positions himself based on his memory of Lukas readying his bow and arrow, “this?”

“Uh– hm. Not quite.” Lukas leans into Radar, aligning their shoulders, and places his hands atop his, fixing his placement. “See, it’s more like this.”

“Ohh! Okay, okay.” Radar nods. “I got it now.”

“Then, you nock your arrow like this.” Lukas stands upright again, pulling an arrow from his inventory and using it to demonstrate. “The more weight you draw,” he pulls the string, “the faster and farther the arrow will go. The less weight you draw,” he loosens, “the slower and less far the arrow will go.”

“Uh-huh…” he follows along. “How do I aim?”

“Use both eyes to look at the target,” he illustrates. “You want the target to be clear and the sight pin– right there– to be blurry. When you lock your vision, you should see a kind of outline towards the target.”

“What should I target?” He inquires.

“Um…” Lukas’ eyes dart around the place, “let’s hit that tree.”

“Understood.” Radar jerks around. “Targeting the tree now.”

“If you follow my advice, then–” Lukas releases his arrow. It soars through the air and lodges itself into the tree bark. “–you should hit it!”

He keeps his eyes set on the tree, awaiting Radar’s release of the arrow. After his hesitation, he fires, and the arrow skims the side of the tree, ricocheting off to the side and falling into the grass of the first shooting gallery.

“Aw, man!” He blurts.

“No, no, that was great!” Lukas is quick to praise him. “That’s excellent for your first shot!”

“Ah! Really?” Bubbles Radar.

“Really.” Lukas gestures. “Now, I’d say it’d be best for you to get some more practice, but I’d rather not keep the others waiting with this challenge room.”

“Oh, right.” Radar scratches the back of his head. “I almost forgot about that, heh.”

“I think it’ll start if you shoot that button up there.” The author points towards it, heading towards the other shooting gallery. “It’ll probably take you a few tries, but you’ll get it. And if you can’t, just call for me.”

“Alright.” He takes a deep breath, then shakes his fists with determination. “It’s time to prove myself. I can do this!”

“That’s the spirit!” Lukas cheers, nocking his arrow. “You got this!”

He releases, and the arrow is flung into the button across the gallery. Instinct tells him to check on Radar, but he knows that he can handle himself, and it might be best to focus on his part of the job instead. A sign pops out of the floor, saying ‘Shoot!’ when a mob target comes by. Another pops up, saying ‘Don’t shoot!’ when a civilian target comes by. Seems simple enough.

He’s ready for action! He fires at the monster blocks, missing maybe once or twice, but he passes through it with ease. It’s only stage one, so it should get more difficult as it progresses, right? He assumes so.

“How’s it going for you, Radar?” He asks, finding a good pausing point.

“Mmnh…” he hums, curling his lip back into his teeth. He fires one more arrow, and it lands on his last target. “Finally!”

“Alright! Good job!” Lukas congratulates, a wide grin spread across his face. “Ready for round two?”

“Yup!” He readies the bow. “Let’s get this party started!”

Lukas sneaks a hearty giggle beneath his breath. He rinses and repeats with the second round of the archery test, although this time was a touch harder. He hopes that Radar isn’t struggling too badly, especially considering the few squeaks that escaped from him, but it seems like he’s otherwise doing okay.

“Still doing okay?” He calls out to him.

“Uh-huh– mhm– yup!” His tone is genuine, but he isn’t sure if he trusts him with the information provided. “Okay–! I did it. Round three, let’s go.”

Lukas shrugs and moves on. He struggles to get through the third stage of the gallery, so he can only imagine how Radar– who is still yelping at random– is doing. They both get through it, and once they do, they meet in the middle, smiling like dogs.

“We did it!” Radar crows. “We actually freaking did–”

“Yeah, yeah, get on with it,” the Admin suddenly appears, exasperating. “You’re not done yet. Time for stage two!”

Yet again, he’s gone with the clap of his hands. The ground quakes, and the stone holding them up suddenly breaks apart. Shocked, Lukas stumbles, but manages to stay standing. He notices Radar about to fall into the raging ice river below, and he catches him before he descends.

“That was a close one!” Lukas huffs.

“What do we do, what do we do!?” Radar shrills, eyes zipping from place-to-place, jaw agape.

“Well, we can jump across the platforms–”

“No, not those!” The teen yells with fear in his eyes as he points a shaky finger. “Look behind you!”

Lukas whips his head around in a snap. Approaching them from the rear is a colossal snow golem, icicles dripping from its arms, with a pumpkin for a head. It retracts an arm, preparing to throw a snowball at him.

“Radar, watch out!” He tugs on his sleeve, yanking him down alongside himself. The snowball splashes into the rushing waters beneath.

“There’s even more of them now!” Radar warns. The other watches as more pumpkins are placed atop snow golems, awakening them. They grow closer and closer each second.

“We gotta go!” He thunders, making a ‘follow me’ gesture as he vaults onto the platform. “Follow my lead, we’ve got this!”

Radar dwells on the edge for a moment, staring down at the rapids, white tongues clashing together, sending icy threats to swallow him whole, as the pumpkin-headed golems continue to close in on him. His freeze response has been triggered.

“Radar, let’s go!” Lukas assigns himself the duty of pulling him back to reality.

“But, if I don’t– I…” he stammers desperately. “Lukas, I don’t wanna fall!”

“I know you can do it!” The writer encourages. “Don’t think, just do!”

“Y–” he swallows, “yeah, okay…!”

He takes a leap of faith. Lukas is ready to catch him if needed, nervously awaiting his landing. He fails to make the platform, but he can catch himself on the ledge. His fingers, colder than death but more alive than lightning, turn red from the pressure, and it’s hard to tell if his wrist brace is working for him or against him.

“This is it, isn’t it!?” He wails, eyes nearly shut.

“No, it’s not over yet!” Lukas kneels down and grasps Radar’s hand, hauling him onto the platform. The golems should be unable to reach them from there.

“Hahahaha!” Lukas triumphs. “We did it–”

“LUKAS!!” Radar suddenly screeches, giving Lukas a rough shove to the side. He gasps from the shock, uncertain as to why he did it.

“Radar, what–!?” Mildly annoyed, Lukas looks over. When he sees what’s going on, he yelps, pure terror settling in his chest.

A massive snowball bursts into flakes, colliding directly with Radar, and knocking him over. With flailing arms, he plummets into the bulls on parade, crashing against the surface. It shatters like ice, but it is the same liquid as the rest. He vanishes under the flow for a mere second, and that’s more than enough for Lukas’ stomach to sink deeper than ravines.

“RADAR!” He screams, pupils dilating into atoms. He peers over the edge and spots him drifting away with the current. “RADAR, NO!”

Emerging from the wilds, Radar loudly gasps with his tie floating and his hair streaked down his face. His arms are thrashing erratically, desperate to keep himself above the water.

“Lukas!” He cries. “I-I can’t swim!”

“Keep your head above the water!” Lukas instructs, trying to prevent his voice from cracking. “I’ll find a way down to you, I promise!”

“I don’t wanna di–!”

Radar is shoved beneath the water again, and Lukas can’t see him anymore.

His first thought is ‘He’s dead.’ and his second is ‘No, he can’t be.’

He’s so young, he’s too young. There’s no way this actually killed him. He doesn’t know what he can do.

“Radar!? Radar!” Lukas calls again. “RADAR, ANSWER ME, PLEASE!”

No reply.

“Shit…” He rises to his feet. His worry that the worst has happened and his refusal to believe it has gone to battle with one another. He curses under his breath, both at himself and his now sworn, ice-coated enemies. His head leers over his shoulder, his maws clamped shut, and all his eyes will let him see is red.

“You’re gonna fucking REGRET THAT!” He fumes, armed with his trusty bow and arrow and ready to attack, but hearing a loud thud in front of him prompts him to redirect his focus.

A giant snow golem, bigger than the last, stands before him. It roars with great rage, scooping several snowballs with its stretching arms and propelling them in his direction. He swerves and rolls around the packed balls of ice. Despite fully expecting to miss, two of his arrows hit and destroy the golem’s legs.

“Aha!” Lukas laughs, sliding underneath a projectile snowball to get within close range of the golem. He draws his sword, ready to cut that pumpkin right off its ugly head. He climbs, gripping onto clumps of slush like rocks. Just as he’s ready to plunge his sword into the head, icy hands surround his legs and tug at his body. He lets out a scream, a blend of horror and vengeance, but refuses to let go.

The iron blade is slammed into the beast’s shoulder, and the shudder that runs through it almost flings him off. Digging his cherry fingers into the glacier, he pulls his sword from the crystals, and raises it into the air with the single-minded intent to kill. It hurtles into the plant, provoking the creature to gurgle and screech. He cranks it further down like a lever before pulling his weapon back out and jumping to the ground for safety.

Although scarred, the pumpkin should work. He quickly takes it from the death site and slams it into the third spot on the wall. The door clunks open, and Lukas doesn’t waste a second dwelling in the challenge room. He’s panting like a dog, his chest heaving rapidly in a sweaty panic. He runs, and runs, and runs, but he can’t outrun the sheer anguish beating in his heart, begging to be released from its skeletal prison.

“Radar, god dammit, fuck– I’m so sorry…” he hushes, “I’m so, so sorry I couldn’t save you… shit, shit, shit, shit– god FUCKING dammit…!”

“Oh man,” finally, Petra’s voice comes into his hearing range, sounding sorrowful, “Jack…”

“Vos…” the man winces, “I let you down, buddy. Again.” Jack looks at Jesse, angry. “We could’ve helped him. You could’ve saved him! Now, he’ll be trapped. Trapped in the cold, obsidian clutches of the Admin…”

“Jack, you’ve gotta believe me,” Jesse utters, “it was impossible to save him!”

“Sure, maybe…” Jack obliges, though still upset, “Argh! I just can’t believe I lost him. Again!”

“Jack, calm down,” Petra eases.

Lukas nearly stumbles over himself ascending the stairs. His wheezes replace his breath, being squeezed from his lungs and forced from his lips; the burning in his bosom crackles like sparks, making him believe that his body is going to cave in on itself. He wishes his legs would give out and he could collapse onto the chilled stone tiles, but he doesn’t. He can’t. Not until Radar is avenged.

“Lukas!” Jesse chirps, happy to see him, though her pleasure quickly fades upon acknowledging that he is alone. “Radar–? Lukas, where’s Radar!?”

He bites his tongue and stifles his weeps, tears welling in his eyes. However, he forces himself to stay strong and keep going.

“The room… it was too much for us,” he bewails, exasperated to a long extent. “I mean, th-there were arrows and snowballs flying everywhere… Jesse, I did the best I could, but–”

Muffled cries for help. Sloshing waters. Catching eye of the tube system underneath, Vos, Stella, and– Radar can be viewed being transported through the complex. Lukas gasps, cusping his hands over his mouth. Radar’s alive! He’s not dead!

Stella yells something into the palace walls, but Lukas doesn’t comprehend nor care what she says. He doesn’t even hear what Jack says; he’s too overcome by intense relief that Radar is still living. He has no clue as to how he’s going to get to him, but he’ll come up with something soon. He’s not about to lose him a second time.

“Alright gang,” Jesse is the one to snap him out of it, hitting her palm with her fist, “right now, finishing is all that matters. We get to that clock, we save everyone. Including Stella.”

She leads them further up the stairwell. Lukas wishes he had more time to process, but there will be plenty of time for that later; what she said is correct. He trails behind them.

“Okay, no.” The Admin appears once again. “No, no, no, no, no. No! This is all wrong, people, wrong!” He badgers. “You’re not supposed to help each other, the losers are supposed to lose!” He hesitates, gesturing to Jack. “Like this guy! There’s no way he would’ve made it out if you weren’t giving him the intellectual assist. You should’ve just cut him loose! Jettisoned that baggage! Seeing someone like you held back by that? Ugh! Painful, just absolutely PAINFUL!”

“Fine, then just let him outta here.” Jesse crosses her arms. “Set him free if you really don’t think he should be here.”

Lukas draws his bow and arrow along with the rest of the posse. In spite of Radar being alive, he remains hungry for vengeance, and that can’t be satiated until he gets it. The Admin heavily sighs.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me,” the ice golem mutters. “It’s not often I give second chances. Oh–! One condition, though.”

Jack is lifted into the air by the Admin, getting tossed into another heated room with dangerous obstacles. “Get off me, you– hey! Ah, man. No, not good! Argh!”

“Jack!” Petra and Lukas yelp in sync.

“No!” Shouts Jesse.

“Let’s see how our bucko does on his own, aye?” The Admin taunts. “What do you think the chances are… without Jesse?”

“You–!”

The snow golem disappears without another word. Jesse, determined as ever, rushes into the lava room. Watching Petra run off after her, Lukas follows; he hopes that going through whatever challenge this is will somehow help him get to Radar.

Into the next room, Jack is seen stumbling onto a pressure plate. A shulker opens its box, spewing a disorienting arrow and raising him into the air once again.

“Ah–!” He yelps, flailing aimlessly, and– thankfully– avoiding the obstacles. “W-Woahhhh!!”

Jesse heroically runs in, aiming to rescue, but the ground caves in before she’s able to reach him.

“We gotta help him!” Petra barks with a wide stance.

Lukas studies the room, the intensity creeping down his skin in the form of sweat. His bottom lip curls in.

In a moment’s notice, Petra pointed towards a spot on the ceiling. “There’s a door!”

Upon noticing it himself, Lukas calls it out to Jack. “Go for the door!”

“He’s not going to make it!” Jesse worries. “We can’t just stand here!”

She sprints off towards the pressure plate that launched Jack into the air, triggering another shulker to spit an arrow at her.

“Jesse!” Lukas shrills, nearly stepping onto a pressure plate himself.

The mayor heaves. “Here we go…”

Wide-eyed, Lukas stares at Jesse as she levitates through the air. Her maneuvers are almost perfect– one swerve after the other– as she glides, riding a wave like it’s nothing. She and her skill never fails to impress him. She aligns her back with the same wall Jack got stuck on.

“Jack!” Lukas vaguely hears Jesse sibilate. “The door!”

He can’t make out anything past that; they’re too far up. However, his eyes remain locked, and he observes them as one attempts to drag the other to the steel door. One of the many magma pistons knocks them out of the air, and he steps back in order for them to have room to–

Another body crashes on top of his. He gasps and splutters, overhearing Petra fail to restrain her cackles.

“N-Nice landing,” Lukas comments sarcastically, coughing.

“Sorry!” Jesse rolls off of him. While lying on the ground, she gazes upwards, perplexed. “This… this is impossible. The Admin told us to go through his stupid challenge, but maybe we can find another way…”

A familiar bleating sound pops in from the neighboring room.

“Lluna!” Lukas is quick to get back on his feet.

“Are you kidding?” Petra questions while giving Jesse a hand up.

“If that llama can get to the other side of the wall,” Jesse declares, “then so can we.”

She sends her protected fist into the wall. It has no effect.

“Yeah, we’re never punching through that…” she mumbles, shaking her fist out, “anyone got anything to make a pickaxe?”

“I have some sticks,” says Lukas, pulling them from his inventory.

“Three diamonds!” Jesse grins.

“That sounds like a diamond pickaxe to me,” Jack adds.

Jesse approaches the crafting table in the room. Putting the pieces together in the correct pattern, she creates a diamond pickaxe, taking it into her hand when it clangs against the wooden block.

“Yes!” Petra whoops.

A smile pulls at Lukas’ face, watching them break through the iron walls and into the next room. There stands Lluna, blurting at their arrival.

“Hey Lluna,” he greets.

“The tubes…” mesmerizes Petra, “they’re going up.”

“Then, that’s where the others went up,” Jesse states, “and that’s where we’re headed, too.”

“Uh…” Jack mumbles, beginning a counterargument, “hate to point out the obvious, but we can’t– climb–”

Action! A shulker zaps him in the sides, forcing him into ascension yet again.

“Oh, no…” he groans.

One by one, the others become victims of the aggressive shulkers, soaring through the menacing spire of ice. Lukas sluggishly wiggles in the air, picking up on the hair raising atmosphere. He feels as if stuck in an elevator that’s pushing him into decisions that will form his destiny. It scares him, and he’s unsure if the others can relate.

He spots blotches of gold in the distance. Each tick from the colossal time mechanism rattles in his ears, sounding like bashes onto a gong.

‘The clock.’

“There!” Jesse bellows. “We’re getting close!”

“Excellent,” Jack adds, relieved.

A snort is evoked from Lluna as she whips her head around nervously.

“We shouldn’t dwell much here, though…” Lukas warns, “who knows how long until the Admin comes back and finds out we busted through his wall.”

“No shit,” Petra frets. “He’s gonna be super pissed. Like– super pissed.”

“I third this,” Jack falters.

“Like I give a fuck?” Jesse rolls her eyes. “I can’t wait to see the look on his dumbass snowman face when he sees we’ve beaten him!”

Jack chuckles anxiously. “Ha, that is truly– uh… heh, yeah, that’s– that’s a bold stance, Jesse.”

“It could be described as “bold.”” Lukas shrugs.

“That was hot, though!” Petra flatters.

Jesse giggles, swooning over her fiancée.

“Oh, shut your mouth, Petra,” Lukas grumbles playfully.

“Hey,” Jesse blurts out, “look!”

Lukas reroutes his line of sight. Stella and Radar are trapped in cones of ice, both alive. Immediately, despite their distance, Lukas can tell how disheveled Radar is. He needs to get to him as quickly as possible.

“Hahahaha!” Radar sings, catching eye of the group. Shivering, he moves a sloppy strand of hair out of his face. “Jesse! Woohoo!!”

“I don’t see Vos, though…” Jack mutters under breath.

“Hang tight,” Jesse tells them, “we’re coming to save you!”

“You better keep my llama safe!” Stella demands. “Especially from those…”

“Especially from–?” Jesse turns her head and sees a pale hybrid of a creeper and an enderman, sparkling with ice crystals.

Jack lets out a brief shriek. “Ah! More of the Admin’s freaky mobs!”

It releases an oxygen-ransacking hiss, zipping over to the squad in the blink of an eye. Lukas gapes, watching it flash just before it explodes. He’s shot onto a floating platform, his back hitting hard against the sheet of snow. The others land elsewhere.

“Lluna!” Stella cries. “Oh, thank goodness you’re alright, sweetie!”

“Ugh, man! I hate those… icy… Ender-Creepers…” Petra complains, “UGH!”

“You and me–” Jack hesitates, searching for his sentence, “you and me both.”

“Yeah, I’m– I’m not a big fan, either,” Lukas winces, trying not to slip while he stands.

“Oh, man, t-that looked like it hurt! I thought you were really in trouble!” Radar chatters. “One minute, you were falling through the air, the next– BOOM! C-Crazy shit!”

“My word, your voice is shrill,” Stella insults.

“Shut up, Stella,” Radar objects, seething.

“Aha, and that’s coming from the guy trapped in ice!” Jesse retorts with a teasing gibe.

“Okay, haha,” he laughs, “f-fair point!”

“Hey, we’ve got more of those Ender-Creeper fuckers coming our way!” Petra notifies, drawing her sword.

“And I still can’t see Vos,” Jack adds, solemn.

“Okay. We’re gonna have to divide and conquer here, people,” Jesse explains, deep in thought. “One of you go for the clock, one of you come with me and Petra to rescue the others.”

“Guys, we really don’t have time to waste,” Petra urges, making a wide gesture with her arms.

Though, only for a moment– a minute, at most– the world seems to stop spinning. Time slows, falling out of beat with the echoing ticks of the clock; Lukas thinks his heart may just stop. A gross, sick feeling rests in the pit of his stomach as the icicles in the palace poke his skin. He stays silent, refusing to let a word slip from his mouth, acting patient in spite of the fact that he was quite the opposite.

“Lukas,” Jesse’s eyes meet his own, “I believe in you; go get that clock. Jack, you come with us.”

A frozen shudder runs down his spine. “Yeah, alright…” he gulps, breathing deeply, “you got it.”

“Luke, look at me.” Petra quickly grabs his attention, and his stare sinks into her hazel green eyes.

“You can do this.”

“Lucky,” Jack turns to face him, “be careful up there.”

“Okay…” Lukas nods. “Thanks, guys.”

“We’re counting on you, Lukas!” Radar yells an addition as he starts heading up, making him briefly pause and smile.

He’s barely advanced, and the strikes are already getting louder. The stream of blood rushes loudly in Lukas’ ears, his heart pounding and mind racing. He fails to notice his pace quickening the closer he gets to the powerful machine. He reaches for his bow, crossed on his back with his arrows; he wants to create himself a climbing path. Firing arrows create an outline– covering a little less of one fourth of the circle– to give him something to work with.

By the time his bow is away, he’s running, taking the faint background chatter as encouragement. A gracious hand wraps around the lowest arrow, using it as a tool to hoist himself within closer range of the clock. He claws into the thick snow, taking cautious steps on each arrow. He no longer hears the clock; only his rapid beating heart and his booming adrenaline rush is being processed.

Of course, the arrows are not incredibly sturdy, and threaten to snap at the pressure of Lukas’ weight, yet, he doesn’t care. He positions atop the highest one and unsheathes his blade, doing his best to ignore the creaking and bending of his standing surface.

‘This challenge is over , Admin.’

It plunges into the glimmering golds. The powerhouse begins cracking under the might, successfully destroyed at last, and the sky goes from black to pink and orange. But the clock isn’t the only thing that’s cracking.

Snap!

The arrow he is standing on snaps like a twig. In an attempt to save himself, he fumbles– as if stuttering with body language– to no avail. He screams as he plummets, fully expecting for this to be the moment where he meets his demise.

“Woahh–!”

“Gotcha!”

He lands roughly in Petra’s arms. She comes close to dropping him, startling him and evoking a gasp, but she hangs on. Unfortunately, it loses its smoothness. He knows they’ve had their differences, especially recently, but she still comes through for him when she needs to, and he’s going to be forever grateful for that.

“Petra,” Lukas gawks, still in a state of surprise, “you just– you just saved my life!”

“Aha, no problem,” she smirks in response, setting Lukas down. “After something like that, it’s the least I could do.”

“Wow!” Jesse applauds. “Fantastic job, Lukas!”

“I gotta say, lucky,” Jack begins, heading towards him, “that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen you do.”

“Lu–” a stammering teen climbs onto the high platform of ice, ignoring his unorganized appearance, “Lukas!”

“Radar!”

The two run towards each other and clash into a hug. Lukas holds Radar tight, hand running through his sopping hair. All of his clothes are cold and wet, including the jacket he gave to him. With tears at the corners of his eyes, Radar tears their embrace apart.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” he repeats, weeping, “I-I don’t deserve this jacket anymore. Take it back!”

He pulls his arms out of the sleeves and bunches it together, shoving it into Lukas’ chest with his eyes sealed shut, refusing to look at him.

“Radar…” he tries to ease him.

“No! You said you wanted it back,” he lets go of it, burying his face in his arm, “so have it back!”

Lukas sighs. He’s right, he did say he wanted it back, but now an awful feeling is residing in the prison of his heart, trapped by rib cage bars. Visibly upset, he drapes it over his shoulder, and it sits, sinking, and pooling water on his shoulder pad.

“Okay, look, I hate to interrupt, but– uhh…” cautions Petra, “we still need to find a way outta here.”

“I can’t leave without Vos,” Jack insists.

“Petra,” speaking softly, Jesse approaches her fiancée, “I know you want to keep preparing for the wedding, and if you want to go ahead and go, you can. I promise we’ll catch up.”

The ginger hesitates. “If… if you say so.”

Jesse raises herself, sliding her hand onto her lover’s face while she wraps her arms around her waist, and shares a swift yet tender kiss with her. When they part, they stare longingly into each other’s somber-glazed eyes.

“Please come back soon,” Petra begs.

“I will.”

Lukas watches her leave the spire. She looks back at them, fearful and solemn, before leaping down onto a nearby platform and heading towards the exit. He hopes that she’ll be alright.

“What’s your angle?” Stella snips, breaking the silence. “Waiting around for the Admin?”

“I need to find him,” Jack repeats.

“Don’t worry, Jack,” Jesse reassures, “I’m gonna help you.”

“Uh, Jesse?” Lukas worries. “I would like to look for Vos, too, but I really think we should get going before–”

“Well, this is a little… disappointing.” Out of nowhere, Vos is poised on the edge of the icy platform with his back to the group.

“Vos!?” The adventurer marvels.

“Oh, I tried,” Vos prattles on, “I really, really did.”

“I…” Jack stammers, “how did you get here, Vos?”

Something’s wrong. Lukas can sense it looming lowly in the air.

“Ohh, Jesse, Jesse, Jesse, Jesse… I just don’t understand you! Letting your friends go?” Ignoring Jack, Vos continues rambling on. “Jack was supposed to prove himself, but you just– just coddled him every step of the way!”

For now, he keeps to himself; he’ll say something when the time is right.

“Losers…” with a familiar quote, the white-haired man turns around, revealing glowing red and yellow eyes; they most definitely weren’t like that before, “are supposed to lose, Jesse.”

“Vos, friend,” Jack vacillates with himself. “What are you doing? Why are you saying these things?”

“Are you seriously buying into all this?” Jesse scoffs. “Listening to the Admin’s batshit insanity!?”

“”Buying into it?”” Vos quotes. “Oh, you poor soul. I made it!”

Jack is utterly confused. “What?”

“Guys, I have a feeling that…” Lukas trails off, eyes set on Vos, horrified.

“Tsk,” Vos clicks his tongue. “Haven’t you figured it out yet, you dolt!?”

Startled, Jack takes an anxious step back. Vos’ feet slide across the ice, unaffected by the slipping hazard, flashing in bright colors and bringing pain to Lukas’ eyes. He covers his face for a moment, blocking some of the light, but continues to watch what Vos is doing. Unraveling the ribbons of light, he reveals himself with vibrant red hair and a goatee, a glowing red suit, dark gray skin, and those same, evil red and yellow eyes.

The Admin.

Radar gasps, vibrating violently and stepping further away.

“He’s the Admin!” Jesse gapes, shocked.

“Ohh, you are a smart cookie, Jesse,” The Admin, talking in a British accent, falsely rewards her with a back-handed compliment. “Of course I am.”

“Vos…” Jack quivers, falling to his knees, “the whole time…?”

The Admin facepalms. “No, not the whole time, you nitwit. The real Vos would’ve never survived in my Sea Temple that long.” He then faces Jesse. “I am disappointed, Jesse. You obviously just don’t have what it takes to really be my friend. My partner. Such a pity, such a waste…”

“All of that for some friends!?” Radar crosses his arms, clicking his tongue. “Jeez, dude… not cool.”

“I just can’t believe it!” The gauntlet-bearer bellows. “You tricked us! You seriously think that’s the way to make friends!?”

“Oh, c’mon. It was kind of exciting, right?” Beckons the redhead. “Sort of a “surprise reveal?””

“Ah, excuse me. Mr. Admin, sir?” Stella pushes the group aside, strutting in the Admin’s direction. “I just wanted to say that I would love to be your partner.”

“But, you… lost.”

“Technically, yes. But unlike them, I actually appreciate what you’re offering.” She counters, moving a dreadlock out of her face.

“You don’t say…?” The Admin seems intrigued. Lukas grinds his teeth, unable to say a word, leering at the blonde woman.

“Stella, I don’t know what your plan is here, but it’s going to backfire!” Jesse explains.

“Yeah!” Radar agrees loudly. “Jesse’s right!”

“”Backfire?” Jesse, sweetie, I’m telling the truth,” she jeers. “Jesse, I really appreciate you saving me. Love ya, mean it. But you obviously don’t understand the magnitude of what this… this paragon is offering.”

If Lukas could unclamp his jaw, he’d fight back, but he remains silent.

“Hey, we did exactly what you said, didn’t we?” Jesse says what’s on his mind for him. “We got your motherfucking clock!”

“Nuh-uh, nope!” The Admin denies in an instant. “You were more interested in saving those loser friends of yours! That practically negates all the other stuff.” He raises a hand, lifting Lukas, Jesse, and Jack into the air with him. “I gave you SO many chances! But– hah– it hasn’t ALL been a waste; no, no, YOU might not be worthy…”

The wave of his hand, and the glove on Jesse’s hand dissipates. As relieved as Lukas is to see it gone, he’s worried that isn’t the last of–

He suddenly feels something tight encasing his hand. He looks down, and sees the prismarine gauntlet– now in a shade of red– jailing his hand. “No–!” He gasps, shaking it aimlessly to no avail. It scratches his skin in more than one wrong way.

“Lukas!” Radar screams.

“Technically, Lukas here was the winner,” The Admin elaborates. “Oh, don’t get me wrong; there are quite a few flaws we’ll have to work through, but we’ll get there. In time…”

“Hey!” Lukas exclaims. “What are you–!?”

He flails mindlessly in the air, unknowing of what’s to happen to him. He meets Radar’s terrified eyes, looking back and forth from them and the rest of the group. Goosebumps lift on his skin as he senses himself on the verge of losing consciousness. He hears one last desperate wail from Radar before being teleported elsewhere:

“LUKAAAASS!!”

—

The world shrinks on itself, or maybe it’s just him. Lukas comes to consciousness on his knees in a void of nothing but pitch black. His vision is spotty, and he’s too dizzy to move, but he comprehends echoes of familiar voices in the distance. Petra, Jack, his friends, the Blaze Rods… even PAMA.

“Mmnh…” he splutters, looking down at himself. His clothes have changed; the designs are the same, but they are now in black and luminescent red exclusively. The rise and fall of his chest grows labored as he lifts his heavy head. Before him is…

The entrance of Beacontown, but it’s different.

It’s displayed on a twisted screen. A red tint washes over it, spirals warping his vision until he believes he’s hallucinating. Lukas is unable to tell what’s happening, but all that’s on his mind is saving Beacontown from the threat.

He can’t find the strength to stand, so he crawls. He thinks he may be able to save it, until something tugs at his left ankle from behind, causing him to drop to the floor. He rolls over, turning back, only to see an iron ball chained to a cuff on his leg. Overwhelmed by panic, he pants faster, flipping back over and trying to rush towards town. His arms are desperately pulling, but he’s moving at the pace of a lethargic snail.

“Help… help me!” He cries, his voice echoing in the emptiness of the environment.

He’s returned with cold laughter, which only terrifies him further. He collapses onto the ground once again, and the voices only grow louder, and louder, and louder. He covers his ears from the bellowing noises, curling up into a ball while repeating nonsensical pleas for help under his breath. He can’t last like this…!

GASP!

He’s awake.

Lukas doesn’t dare move a muscle. Not that he can, either way– he’s heavily chained and constricted into the position of an X. Looking around, he spots Beacontown in the distance, rocky hills and lush forests separating him from it. And, he seems to be in… the old Order’s temple?

What’s going on?

A sheet of red paired with hallucinatory spirals still cloaks his vision. Lukas grits his teeth and thrashes in his chains, making no further progress and only hurting himself. His shoulders tense, and his one feeling that isn’t burning pain or sickening visions is a cold, wet cloth draped over his shoulder.

The jacket. It’s the jacket he let Radar borrow. It’s still there.

As glad as he is to have some connection to the real world with him, it saddens him; it makes him want to sob. He has no idea what happened to Radar nor the rest of the group. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t even want to keep the jacket anymore; he’ll give it back to Radar when he sees him again.

… If he sees him again.

When a sudden zip sounds, Lukas stops examining his metal chains. In front of him is the Admin, hands hidden behind his back, tormenting him with a sinister leer.

“Hello, Lukas,” he greets, but Lukas isn’t having it. He huffs at him angrily.

“Now, now, don’t be like that.” He wags a finger. “I know you’re scared; you’re just trying to play it off as angry.”

Lukas blinks at him, confused, but still on high alert.

“Oh, I feel I should mention…” the redhead babbles, “with that gauntlet? I can read your every thought if I so choose, so I’d be careful if I were you.”

He says nothing. He only breaks their eye contact and draws his lip back, chewing it to relieve some distress.

“Nevermind that. Anyways…” The Admin floats closer to him, getting in his face, “you and I are going to have lots of fun together.”

And with the snap of his hands, he cackles, and pain begins to course through Lukas’ right hand, slowly seeping to the rest of his arm. His screams of agony are muffled by his teeth sinking deep enough into his lip to draw blood. When it stops, he breathes heavily, humming and moaning in pain, and he has a feeling that’s only the start of it.

More importantly, what’s going to happen to Beacontown? What about the wedding? What about his friends? What happened to them? If he can’t find a way out and get answers soon, he might as well consider everything he knows left for dead.

The upcoming wedding ceremony was looking bright, it was looking to be perfect, but now…

There may never be a wedding at all.

Chapter Text

Each lash to his body provokes a scream that weakens each time. Despite the immeasurable pain surging through his body, Lukas nods off, hoping to leave his current world for another. Almost anything is better than his situation right now.

The closing of his watery eyes squeeze tears onto his cheeks; the pain is so unbearable, though at the same time as it’s the only thing he can feel, he feels nothing. He desperately clings to the distant memories– including the bad ones– resurging and bringing a sense of comfort to him: Building at EnderCon, exploring Soren’s fortress, battling the Blaze Rods at Sky City, getting locked in a metal closet at Cassie Rose’s mansion, being under PAMA’s control, Respawning at The Games… everything, before and beyond. He’d rather relive any of those events than continue enduring the agonized bolts racing through him.

He doesn’t hear a word the Admin says to him. Rather, he spends the time remembering his times with Petra when they were just kids. When he was young, nonverbal, and vulnerable– she was always there. She had bought him gifts and took him to do fun things that his parents wouldn’t let him do whenever she got the chance. Sometimes, he wishes they could go back to–

“Oh, you cannot be out already, Lukas,” The Admin badgers. “We’ve barely even started!”

Lukas lugs his tear-stained face up to him, blinking his sticky eyes.

“Ah, good, good! You’re still awake.” He floats over to the hostage, his perfect curls swishing with him. “You should stay awake, too; thinking about the past won’t help you here.”

He had completely forgotten about the fact that with the gauntlet, the Admin can read his mind. He hopes that he can only view his current thoughts rather than dig through any place of his mind, but he may never be able to tell. For now, if he manages not to reveal too much information, he’ll be fine and everyone else will be safe.

Or, at least, they should be.

“Now, let’s switch up the method, eh?” The Admin lightly claps his hands a couple times.

Lukas screeches painfully as he plummets to the ground from the sudden release of his chains. His lungs swell as quickly as they deflate, and the burning scars running across his ribs sear as they push against his shirt, soaking in blood. When he hits the ground, he winces, coiling himself to be as small as possible. He strains to shut his eyes; they just won’t close. They’re shooting wide open at the sight of the red glove that he’s so desperately trying not to see.

“Lukas,” the Admin holds his hands behind his back, summoning a levitating book in front of himself, “have you ever heard of half-hanging?”

“Wh…” Lukas stammers, “What–?”

“Here, I’ll demonstrate!” He lifts him up into the air. His aching limbs dangle aimlessly, jolting once a brittle rope rests on his neck, tied to two wooden poles. This seems like an older method of torture. Or execution.

Lukas squirms instinctively, slim whines slipping through his lips.

“Ohh, don’t start with that. You won’t even feel most of it!” The Admin grumbles. “Aren’t you excited to be testing these out with me? They’re much more interesting than what you do in your day-to-day life, promise!”

The blond lowers his head, teeth lightly grit together. He hates this more than anything, but he knows it will be worse if he defies. He does nothing.

“Jolly good!” The Admin waves his hands, crossing his legs as if sitting in a chair. “Let’s begin!”

Lukas is glad he sucked in one last breath before the rope tightened. Its rough claws scratch at his skin, and it sinks its sharp fangs into his throat, drinking his oxygen like a vampire. His sputtering and writhing is pointless; he can’t breathe, and there’s no way for him to get free. It’s almost certain death, which prompts him to not resist accepting his fate as he loses his consciousness.

…But he wakes up.

He sees the Admin in front of him, his surroundings now foreign to him. A crocodile’s grin is plastered on his sinister face, sight digging into the other eagerly. Static floods Lukas’ eyes and ears as he lifts his chin to look at the reptilian hybrid.

“We’re not done yet!” He insists. “We’ve got lots more to go.”

The rope tightens again, returning Lukas to his exasperated, coughing state. He doesn’t know how many times he’s asphyxiated to the brink of death before being released, and then again as soon as he regains consciousness. His damaged screams are further and further drowned out by each tug before he goes completely silent.

Numbness takes over, remaining in control until he feels something wet tap his nose, accompanied by warm weight on his chest.

‘It’s only blood, I assume.’

Anguish rears its ugly head once more, evoking whimpers and labored breaths to escape him. His back is aligning with what feels like a mattress, a softened sheet resting on his chest. It’s light, fluffy, but any touch to his bare skin stings with great power. In response to the pressure sitting still on him, his eyes flutter open, intrusive tears smearing his vision. Although blurry, he can identify what’s in front of him as–

“Dewey…!” He pleasantly murmurs.

He lifts his lighter hand and runs it down her back. She purrs, pushing herself into it. Her paws putting weight on his chest hurts immensely, but he’s relieved enough to momentarily push the pain aside to pet his cat. Thankfully, she’s just as relieved.

Upon forcing himself to sit up, Dewey jumps off his chest and stands over his legs, holding her tail high while she rattles her fur. He grunts, feeling each breath traverse through his body. He notices his torso is bare, yet his goggles remain on his head, and all of his scars– both old and new– are on full display. To make matters weirder, he was in his own bed at his own house.

‘What’s going on?’ He wonders. ‘Is this another hallucination?’

“Hey, you,” it takes him a moment to recognize the voice as Petra’s, “you’re finally awake.”

Lukas stifles laughter, shoulders tensing and sending pain through his body once again. His teeth grind, and he freezes, trying to ease his breathing to lessen the agony. Despite his harsh reaction, he’s happy to see her.

“I found you on the ground outside Beacontown’s gates,” she explains. “You were out for a while. I have no idea what happened to you, but I can only assume it was the Admin’s doing. Urgh!”

He pulls his encased hand onto his lap. It’s heavy, swallowing a little less than half of his arm. The pale jewels adorning the knuckles are the same color as the glow of the undercoat, highlighting themselves among the darker crimsons. As freaky as it is, he must admit that it’s a beautiful gauntlet with incredibly precise details.

He hums in response to Petra, remaining silent otherwise. His cat lies by his feet and begins to groom herself.

“Lose your speech again?” Petra asks while rummaging through a chest, the sounds of glass bottles clinking together arising.

Lukas nods, voice hoarser than sandpaper. “A little.”

“Huh. I figured,” she says off-handedly, pulling a pink-tinted bottle from the chest. “You seem out of it. Which is understandable–! I just meant– like–” she sighs, “I can tell something’s up.”

“Yeah,” he agrees meekly.

“By the way, I took that bandage off your face,” Petra adds. “It was starting to fall off, anyways.”

Lukas brings a sore hand to his chin, gently grazing the patch of missing skin. He flinches back, sucking a blade of breath through his nostrils.

“Well, don’t touch it, dipshit!” She insults, taking a white cloth and moving towards the bed without closing the chest. “I was gonna help you with that, y’know.”

“Ah… no.” He tugs his sheets, pulling his head back while side-eyeing the potion; he’ll physically recoil and gag if he has to drink that. He abhors the taste of potions beyond belief, and in spite of never having tried a potion of regeneration before, he doesn’t want to think about the metallic salt from the ghast tears.

“Oh, chill out, I’m not gonna make you drink it!” She scolds, popping the lid off the bottle, puzzling the blond. She puts the cloth at the end of the bottle and tips it over, soaking some of the liquid but not causing a spillage. “Here, hold still.”

Lukas relaxes, lowering the sheets and releasing the tension in his body. He still feels the pain of every rise and fall from his lungs, but he pretends to ignore it. Petra reaches towards him with the cloth soaked in the pale rose fluid, thankfully not smelling as bad as it probably tastes.

When it comes in contact with his skin tear, he grits his teeth and purses his lip, resisting the urge to squeal. The treatment is cool, almost gel-like, and it should feel pleasant, yet it overwhelms him with icy burns. After trying his best to not move, Lukas jerks back, unable to tolerate the sensation.

“Do you want me to help you, or not!?” Petra snarls, removing the fabric from him.

“I– I do!” Lukas stammers. “I just… I-It just… hurts!”

“It’s gonna hurt a lot more if you let it go untreated!” She cups a hand around his cheek to stabilize him. “So, stay still!”

He grumbles, but he obliges. He watches Petra as she pulls her face close to his, pushing a finger behind the cloth and carefully massaging the wound. His face is lightly squeezed, kept in place by her ungloved hand. He forces his mouth to stay zipped shut, though it doesn’t drown out his painful whines. The other seems to be growing further frustrated by the minute.

“There. Done with that part.” Petra caps the bottle and sets it down. “Oh, shit. I forgot to grab the bandages. Hold on, I’ll be right back.”

She rises to her feet and approaches the chest. Lukas takes the moment of silence as an opportunity to study his glove. Using his free hand, he tries to curl his fingers underneath the gauntlet, but it doesn’t budge. The pointed ends dig into his skin, certainly leaving marks behind, and itch at him uncomfortably; he wishes there was a way to take it off for at least a second.

He worries if there’s even a way to take it off at all other than the Admin personally removing it. He may be stuck like this forever.

Petra sways, holding bandages in her hands. “Still got the gauntlet, huh?”

“Yup,” Lukas heaves, grasping his wrist. “I don’t know how we’re gonna get rid of it…”

“I’d say we go back to the Sea Temple, but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Petra yaks. “I don’t know how we’re gonna get rid of it, either.”

Lukas shrugs. “I– I hope I’m not stuck like this forever.”

“You won’t be.” The ginger breaks eye contact, unraveling a small portion of the bandages. “We’ll find a way to fix this. I’m sure wherever Jesse is, she’s doing her best.”

The softness of the bandages don’t sting as bad when applied to his wound. “You’re right.”

“Um… on a completely different note,” nervously, Petra changes the topic, “I’m gonna have to treat your– uh– other wounds.”

Lukas tenses, glancing down at himself. There are lines of bright red and deep purples across his ribs, swollen and ready to bleed. Those gashes are what’s making every breath hurt, and he worries that the pain of the medicine will be almost as agonizing as when they were first inflicted. He curls his lip back.

“I know it’s gonna hurt,” Petra puts the bandages aside, reaching for the rosy potion and thin cloth, “but this will help; they look like they’re gonna burst. You can grab onto me if you need to.”

The author observes her pop the bottle open, dunking the serum onto the textile. She takes a seat on the end of the bed and adjusts herself, scooting closer to him, prepared to come in contact with his skin, but the moment before she reaches, he jerks back and yelps:

“Wait–!!”

“What?” With the raise of her brow, she moves away, startled and confused.

“C-Can you…” he stutters, “can you give me– like– a count of three? Before you do it?”

Petra blinks with blank hesitation. “Yeah… Yeah, I can do that.”

Lukas sighs out of relief, releasing some of the tension in his shoulders. “Okay, okay. I’m ready.”

“Alright.” Petra leans in. “Three…”

Lukas attempts to further stabilize himself by taking deep breaths in spite of the pain racking his body.

“Two…”

He refuses to look at Petra and shuts his eyes; it’s not that he’s upset with her, he simply needs to do everything he can to avoid the pain.

“One…”

Cold medicine collides with his gashes, evoking him to loudly squeak. His eyes shoot wide open in an instant. He can feel every wet particle brushing every nerve, and his grip on Petra’s shoulder is the only thing preventing incessant squirming. His lungs severely retract back and forth, likely making things harder for the other.

His constant wincing and moaning shows no signs of stopping before she’s done. Managing to build a thought process beside the pain, he wishes Petra isn’t angry with him for how difficult he’s making this. A shudder runs down his spine at the removal of the cloth.

“Okay, done with that part.” She moves her hands away, bringing some temporary relief to Lukas. “I have to get the ones on your back and the one on your neck, and then it’ll be done.”

Lukas blubbers incoherently, unable to form a sentence, but Petra (somehow) gets the message. She repeats the process on his back, and– shockingly enough– it doesn’t hurt so bad. Of course, he still can’t keep himself quiet, but it’s closer to bearable this time. Once finished cleaning the injuries on his back, she moves to the scar on his neck, slowly wiping the large cut.

“D-Do you know–” Lukas sucks a breath through his teeth, “where Radar went…? A-And Jack?”

“No,” she breathes, “I haven’t seen them around, at least.”

“That’s terrifying,” Lukas shivers.

“Right? I hope we can find them soon.” The cloth at his neck slips away. “I’m scared for all of them.”

He sputters. “Definitely.”

“Anyways, I’m done cleaning your wounds.” Petra walks over to the chest, wadding the cloth in her hands and tossing it down. “You’re free to go.”

“Ah, sweet,” grunts Lukas, struggling to drag his legs off the side of his bed. “I should– ow– see how Beacontown’s doing.”

“Anxious, but… otherwise okay,” Petra answers. “They want to know where Jesse and the others went, but for now they’re not in any physical danger, so that’s good. Oh, by the way, Axel and Olivia came back.”

“Really?” Lukas grits his teeth as he strains to stand. “I’ll drop by the Order Hall and– ouch– say– fuck–! Hi to… them.”

“Or maybe you could take it easy for now,” the redhead suggests, closing the chest. “Because from the looks of it, you’re struggling to stand.”

Something pokes at him to just get up as quickly as he can, yet he’s aware it would be painful. Using his hands, he springs himself off of the mattress, standing tall. He makes sure not to move too quickly, shuffling against the floor with a groan. “Mmph…”

“I’m gonna head back to Beacontown for now. I might look for Jesse and the others, too.” Petra snakes her hand around the corner of the wall, gazing back at the blond solemnly. “You know where to find me if you need anything.”

Lukas limps towards her, stopping after closing a little less than half the distance between them. “I want to come.”

“I really don’t think you should,” Petra mutters. “Not while you’re like this.”

“Well, you never slowed down when you had the–” Lukas gasps for breath, slouching, “when you had the wither sickness.”

“That was different,” she retorts. “Everything was at stake. Things aren’t so dire now.”

“What about final wedding preparations?” Counters the writer, slipping an arm around his injuries. “What about your vows? What about my speech? What about the revisions? What about guarding the wedding rings? What about helping get ready for your honeymoon? What about–”

Whatever he was going to stay next was drowned out by him doubling over, vile coughs ransacking him of oxygen. His right hand goes to shield his face as he repeatedly splutters, provoking Petra to flinch and step back. Metallic tastes squelch in his throat and leak over his bottom lip, leaving him shaky as he fixes his posture and removes the hand slapped over his mouth.

His companion says nothing. Instead, she moves herself away from the corner of the table she almost ran into. She then clears her throat with a long, somber sigh. “Fine. I’m obviously not convincing you otherwise, and you bring up some good points, but I’m going to stay close to you; I can’t have you passing out in the middle of the street outta nowhere again.”

“Alright, alright…” Lukas huffs, taking a moment to stabilize himself, “that’s fine by me.”

“Good, because you don’t have much of a choice,” Petra imparts. “Put a shirt on. I’ll wait for you outside.”

Gently, the door creaks shut behind her. Lukas’ arm slips away from his ribs and dangles by his side as he sighs out of relief. Eyes briefly closing, he stumbles to straighten himself. He shuffles towards his closet, worn by age and dust. He keeps his favorite jackets hung within its walls, though his wedding attire is set aside.

He figures he’ll keep the rest of his armor in his inventory, just in case. After grabbing a striped shirt from the dresser nearby, he takes a spiked black jacket from the closet and tosses it onto his bed. He cautiously slides into his shirt, lagging his movement to avoid what pain he can. An arm snakes into the jacket sleeve while he makes his way to the door, only stopping once he catches a glance of the mirror.

His clothes were eerily seeping in black and red colors, the gauntlet’s faint glow traversing throughout the crimson; even the glass on his goggles has been tinted. He cradles the heavy glove as his eyes sink into the figure in the mirror– shocked, horrified, and a little bit impressed.

He really does look like a product of the Admin’s.

Lukas scrunches himself together in fear until he bounces back as a reaction to his resurgence of stabbing twinges. His resemblance to the Admin is uncanny; he was chewed up and spat out as a different person. The mirror shows his body, but not his true self. It’s somebody who’s replacing him.

He shakes off the dread before clutching his coat and making his way outside. As much as he wants to hide himself out of shame, there’s not much he can do. Especially in broad daylight. Things might be bad, but at least the wind is healthy, the plants sway, and still, the sky remains.

He takes notice of Petra sending a worried yet (subtly) eager glance his way as she walks off the porch. Although sluggish, Lukas trails behind, putting forth his best effort to keep up. He’s not keen on going downhill.

He’s not oblivious to Petra nudging her way closer to him. She tries to keep her pace similar to his with the intent to protect. It does evoke a sense of safety, especially since he was internally begging for her presence previously. He doesn’t want her to feel pressured to keep close to him due to his injuries; he already feels guilty enough about his current weakness.

“So,” Petra drawls, adding sound to the atmosphere that’s other than footsteps, “how’d you… end up like that?”

“Uh.” A lump gathers in Lukas’ throat as he stares ahead of him, wide-eyed. “I saw the Admin. He– He did some pretty nasty stuff to me,” he begins stuttering out. “He had this… this whip with like– iron beads all over it. He just repeatedly hit me on my ribs and my back until he got bored. I don’t remember all of it, but then he “demonstrated” this thing called “half-hanging” on me over and over again until I–”

His voice trails off when a calloused hand gently snakes over his wrist. Petra’s eyes are stretched wide open with overwhelming mixtures of surprise and terror, and Lukas comes close to returning it.

“Dude,” she hushes, bewildered.

“I, uh…” Lukas starts muttering a sentence, “yeah. It was– phew– pretty bad.”

“Yeah, no.” Petra shakes her head. “As soon as I can get my hands on this Admin guy? It’s over.”

“Uh,” Lukas gulps, “alright. Whatever you say.”

Petra doesn’t release his wrist. He watches as she moves in front of him before they make their way down the hill. Every single foot placement is delicate, his boots coming in contact with each pebble beneath him, following the redhead’s lead.

“Careful,” warns Petra. “Gets a little steep here.”

“I see it,” Lukas grunts, followed by several winces as they both descend. Shockingly enough, Petra is patient with him, ready to catch him if he falls and tolerating all the squeezes he sends through her hand. He wraps an arm across his ribcage once they reach the base of the hill.

“We’re almost there,” his companion reassures.

“Yeah, I know,” Lukas pants. “I have eyes, Petra.”

“Don’t sass me!” She snips back. “I don’t have to help you, y’know.”

“I was just joking, chill!” He defends.

Continuing their gentle stroll, Lukas eases once his eyes rest on Beacontown’s towering crimson gates. He keeps his arm pressed to his ribs in hopes to soothe some of his pain. It doesn’t work very well, but the miniscule relief he receives is enough to grant him some relief. When the two enter the range of the doors, they clunk away from each other and create an opening.

Petra’s hand slips away from his when the streets spread across the landscape and welcome them to town. Eerily unchanged from before, citizens are stringing wedding banners and pruning flowers for the big day. They’ve made so much progress with just that little trip; Lukas is surprised.

“Lukas!” An adolescent boy shouts. “Welcome back!”

The author lightly chuckles in response, pushing wisps through his throat. They sound forced, as each contraction of his lungs still burns his skin. Despite all the jabs remaining hurtful, he’s comforted by the familiar environment. He slouches.

“So…” he starts, turning to Petra, “you said Axel and Olivia were back–?”

“Yeah,” she nods in confirmation. “If I remember correctly, they should be at the Order Hall. I think they came back early for the wedding.”

“Makes sense.” He fixes his posture. He still finds it minorly confusing that they had returned before they planned to, but hey, who was he to complain?

“I was gonna head over there,” says Petra. “Do you want to go with me?”

A meek smile tugs at him. “Sure. That’d be great, actually.”

“Alright.” She turns her back. “Let’s go.”

And then she heads off, her pace remaining slower than typical. He takes another step, and the moment his foot hits the ground, the gauntlet begins glowing. Whispers scratch the inside of his eardrums, provoking a grimace; the sounds are worse than his pain. He instantly knows that this is the Admin’s doing, and his left hand cusps the end of his glove. The squeezes grow tighter and tighter each second, yet no relief comes. Lukas’ eyes shut so tightly that tears threaten to force their way out.

“Nonono,” he sweats, “where–”

He could swear he heard Petra call out to him, but he’s unable to make out anything she said. His eyes flutter open once his head goes light, and he finds himself in another realm in shades of red. Beacontown is clear of people aside from himself, yet everything looks recently cleaned, perfect to another level. It seems to be showing the day of the ceremony.

Sheer perfection isn’t the only thing that’s different. Tilting his head upwards, Lukas spots an unidentified structure floating in the air above the center of town. Everything is silent– not even the wind can be heard– except for the faint wedding bells clanging from its core. The light beaming from the beacons spark in synonymous colors, which only strikes more fear into his heart.

Strained whimpers escape through the crevices of his teeth while he locks his eyes to the levitating building. A ginormous bell is ringing the echoed chimes throughout the land. He’s so enamored by this… terminal that he pays no mind to the Admin approaching him from the side, swishing his scaly tail.

“This is my vision of Beacontown.” He crosses his arms behind his back, gazing pleasantly at the tower. “What do you think, Champion?”

“Ah–!” Lukas jumps to the side, startled by his sudden presence. “Oh, uh…”

“Be honest, now,” the alligator demands with a glare.

“It’s,” he gulps, “nice. I like all the– umm… detail you put into it.”

“Yes, it’s quite nice, isn’t it?” The Admin smirks. “This is just before I take all the decorations down.”

“Hm,” Lukas hums a vague reply.

“Because– well, you see…” he inhales, “it’s a bit difficult to have a wedding without a bride.”

“Wh– What?” The blond’s head jerks around to give him a bewildered stare. “What do you mean? What are you talking about!?”

“Look at what you’re holding,” keeping his smug expression, the lizard bobs his head in response. “Did you even notice that I’ve given you something?”

He sucks a breath, reluctant, then redirects his eyes to his hands. The one gripping his gauntlet has slid down to his wrist, sitting on the edge of relaxation, but unable to make it. When his shaky hand releases the gauntlet, he finds a familiar turquoise bandanna resting in his palm. It’s Petra’s.

Though on most other occasions, he’d be glad to see the dilapidated cloth, but the recognition of scarlet blood seeping into the fabric and dripping off the ends makes him hurl. It falls out of his hand like autumn leaves onto the path beneath him. He gasps, the tainted hand slapping over his mouth. A loud wince is provoked, and the sound bursts into the air as if it was TNT. His chest pumps rapidly and his heart mercilessly bangs on its skeletal cage, yet little does it know, there’s no way out.

When the rush starts declining, his mouth is freed and his imprisoned hand trembles towards the fallen bandanna. Just when it’s within his reach, it disintegrates into a fine dust, disappearing with a gust of wind. He staggers to get his back straight, showing a fearful glance to the Admin.

“Oh, I love-love- love seeing your reactions to my visions,” the Admin giggles. “Now, this is just a blueprint– a sketch– but I think we could get this constructed, ey?”

“Don’t destroy Beacontown,” Lukas begs sincerely, voice raspy and nearing a whisper. His words twirl through the wind, riding away on the breeze.

The Admin hesitates, clicking his tongue. “I won’t destroy it. Simply… improve it.”

“By–” his chest puffs agonizingly, “Y-You’re going to–”

“I’ll answer further questions later,” the gator dismisses. “You’re going to adore it, I’m sure!”

He’s left with no chance to even make a sound before the Admin snaps his fingers and sends him right back to reality. The color that paints the landscape begins to seep through the screen as it disintegrates. It warps his vision and twists his head, as if the crimson blood hiding behind the daydream was mocking him. Its gurgly laughter fills his ears and swallows his limbs one-by-one, crawling over him until he is fully concealed.

Lukas blacks out for a moment. When he comes to, his left hand is sprung free from grasping the gauntlet. He goes stumbling back, the pace of his heaves rapidly increasing. His pupils jitter, his eyes shooting wide to provide them space. In a state of pure panic, he feels he might pass out again right then and there. Luckily, before he drifts, someone pulls him back.

“Luke, Luke–!? Lukas, can you hear me!?” Petra shouts, cusping his hand with her own and giving him light taps on the arm. “Are you there!?”

“Wah–! Uh, yeah,” Lukas shudders, wheezing. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“What the fuck just happened?” She questions, vaguely shocked. “You grabbed onto the gauntlet, and then you started mumbling about some weird stuff. I remember you mentioning Beacontown, but… I couldn’t make out what you were saying.”

“I– ah…” the author shakes his head, breaking eye contact and allowing his shoulders to drop, “t-the Admin showed me some… some stuff again. It was… terrible. Just– so awful…”

“I can only imagine,” his companion sympathizes with a sigh.

“He’s– ngh– following me… everywhere I go…” he strains. “It’s like he’s… h- haunting me…”

“We’ll find a way to fix this, Luke,” reassures Petra. “There’s a way to stop this. There’s gotta be.”

“And… I really hope you’re right,” he huffs.

The redhead promptly clasps her hands and sucks a breath through her teeth. “Alright, look. Let’s just go to the Order Hall, meet up with Axel and Olivia, and then we’ll figure out where to go from there, okay?”

“Yeah,” Lukas winces, forcing an awkward smile, “sounds good to me.”

“C’mon.”

—

A limp is repressed while the Order Hall’s doors greet Petra and Lukas with a hiss. The embellishments look even better than before with the new rearrangements; flowers now lined the aisle, and the seating was pushed back to make room for more decorations. In addition, an archway base was placed near the top of the stairs, waiting patiently to be adorned.

Beyond the decor stood two figures, easily identifiable as Axel and Olivia. Alerted by the doorbell, they turn to see the visitors.

“Lukas, Petra!” Olivia chirps. “You’re back!”

“Is this a test run?” Stifling laughter, Axel sends a tease to Petra, who playfully shakes her head in response.

“Aha, not exactly,” the woman jokes, flicking her fiery hair over her shoulder.

Lukas manages to muster a smile when his eyes meet the duo. Minimally aware of his sluggish pace, he winces when Petra tugs his hand and drags him down the lane. It feels like he’s going much faster than he actually is.

“Woah, Lukas,” Olivia gapes once they make it up the stairs, “what happened to your clothes?”

A bashful glimmer in his eyes, he removes his arm from Petra’s grasp and wraps it around his ribcage once more.

“And what’s up with that fancy-schmancy glove?” Axel adds. “It looks like prismarine, but– like– red.”

“Long story short: the Admin did some fucked up shit,” whinges Petra. “Ugh. I can’t BELIEVE that– that sadistic douchebag.”

“Well, guess what? You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” Axel gestures. “Because Jesse took him down.”

“And got his powers in the process!” Olivia grins.

“They…” The redhead rasps with her eyes wide, “they what?”

A familiar voice joins the conversation. “Were you guys talking about me?”

In steps Jesse, drenched in an overwhelming amount of uncertainty. Their pupils have thinned with a newfound change in the tint of their mocha brown eyes. The flannel they’re always wearing open has been buttoned up, minus one or two slots. Their jeans are blue, their hands are undamaged, clean, and the novel acrylics are sleek and colorful. Most importantly, their iconic cowboy hat, painted in faded pinks and mended with a red patch near the top, is nowhere to be seen.

Something so severe has occurred which caused them to change to a degree where Lukas can only view them as a husk of their former self. This isn’t the Jesse he knows; this is someone who has mutilated their mentality and mangled what makes them who they are. Everything about this is terribly wrong, and his poor unstable state struggles to process the wretch before him! Oh, the horrors! How can the disgust dissipate!?

“Yeah, actually!” The redstone engineer confirms. “Petra and Lukas are back! See?”

“Jesse!” Petra exclaims joyously, running towards her partner. “I’m so glad you made it!”

Briefly, Lukas is able to ignore his nausea and be happy for the couple. Petra leans in, hands sneaking under theirs, and gives Jesse a kiss on the cheek. However, oddly enough, they don’t seem to want it. They initially back away and squeeze an eye shut when she goes for it, but they end up accepting it reluctantly. It turns into the reason why his smile fades.

“Uh… hey,” Lukas hesitates. “It’s good to see you.”

The threatening tears are forced to stay inside. It’s unbearable to fight off the urge to cry, but he must remain composed for his sanity’s sake. In his mind, he’s ransacking everything. Himself and what he loves are covered in claw marks, yet the only ones bleeding are his own. His heart isn’t the only organ trying to thrash itself out of its bodily cage.

“Yeah…” Jesse squints. “Good to see you, too.”

The itch prods at his skin while his blood starts rising to a boil. If it wasn’t for his agony, he would have lashed out at the mayor by now. His fingers sink further into the grip on his clothes.

“By the way, Olivia and I made us all dinner reservations for tonight,” informs Axel. “Figured it’d be nice. Since, y’know… we’re all back together again.”

“Dress code?” Petra asks, placing a hand on her hip.

“Um, nothing fancy,” Olivia elaborates. “Just be– y’know, presentable.”

“Sounds good,” she nods as she glances at Lukas, who also nods in agreement.

“Awesome!” Axel chimes. “Soo, we’ll see you guys tonight.”

“Wait, you’re leaving already?” Petra questions with the tilt of her head.

“We’ve got things to do,” Jesse scoffs, drawling their words.

“Well,” Olivia sighs, “yes. We were gonna help them with some last minute cleaning and decorations. I’m also still working on that piano piece… but I think I’ve almost got it!”

“Yeahh… I made a promise over it, too,” the griefer fails to conceal his mutter under his breath. “But we’re totally still meeting up tonight.”

“Alright, fine.” Giving in, Petra lets her shoulders loose. “Then I’m also gonna work on getting some stuff done.”

Her elbow grazes Lukas’ side a few times. When he looks over to her, she makes eye contact and winks at him subtly. No words were said, but he got the message.

“We’ll see you later, then!” Olivia waves with a chime, prompting Axel to wave as well. Jesse simply stands alone with their arms crossed and holds a cold stare.

Petra’s hand gripped firmly onto Lukas’ open hand. A sharp inhale shoots through his nose as he’s dragged down the aisle of the Order Hall towards the exit. A brief glance back, and he wonders if he should say anything. The ice crystals from the glare raise hairs for space to sink into his skin. Something in the back of his head scratches at him to speak up.

“Did you see that–!?” His voice is hushed, yet it remains above a whisper.

“See what?” His companion slows down and releases him.

He makes an effort to catch up to her pace. “Like– y’know… Jesse? Something’s off.”

“Now that I think about it, yeah. Something’s not right.” Petra brings a finger to her chin in thought. “I mean, there’s no telling what happened with the Admin, but she did seem a little… different.”

“Phew,” Lukas sighs out of relief, “I am so glad I’m not the only one who noticed that.”

“Then again, she could still be out of it from whatever huge ass battle she had with the Admin,” she suggests. “Or she’s still worrying about wedding preparations.”

“I-I guess that’s possible, too,” Lukas rubs his arm as the doors swish open, feeling heavier than expected. “But… still. It’s weird.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” murmurs Petra.

Not another word is said as the two leave the Order Hall. The day has grown cloudy, and the gentle overcast blocks out the sun. Normally, Lukas enjoys this weather, but now it only instills more fear within him. As ashamed as he is of his cowardice, he reminds himself that it’s possible it was not the Admin’s doing. And if it is, he has a reason to be scared.

“Okay.” The minute the door shuts behind them, Petra yanks Lukas to be in front of her, her hands grounding on his shoulders. “We need to figure out how to get this gauntlet off of you.”

“Umm, yeah,” Lukas agrees. “But how? What’s the plan here?”

“I mean,” she lifts her hands from his shoulders, “we could always try pulling it off by force.”

Pursing his lips, he hesitates. “Okay. I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“Alright, then. Let’s see…” Petra leans down and observes the vibrant red gauntlet. She gets a hold of the end of the gauntlet, digging her nails beneath the edge and into Lukas’ skin. Air slips into the pocket and evokes a gasp. While pulling back, he places a hand above his elbow and squeezes.

“It won’t… move!” The ginger snarls through grit teeth. She goes to place a foot against his thigh for better balance and a stronger motion. His eyes tightly shut as he whips his head away and continues to pull, pains that were once trapped making themselves known. In spite of it, he holds on.

She grunts, “c’mon–!!” The glove still hasn’t moved an inch off his hand. Blood from the gashes are starting to soak back into its source, acting as a protective coating of sorts. Physically, the crimson liquid is flowing back into the wounds, but the mental story is different; it’s clawing its way to Lukas’ trembling soul. He wants to scream in anguish, but to prevent it, he clamps his jaw.

By now, Petra’s fingernails, shaded in a red hue, are the only thing lifting the end of the gauntlet. It presses into her, yet she persists, despite the incessant grunts escaping through the bars of her teeth and sweat trickling down the sides of her face. Each of their breaths is more weighted than the last, but neither of them can find it within themselves to stop.

“So… damn… close…!!” She spits. The quiver in her fingers travels to Lukas’ spine while she violently tugs. When she pulls herself in, it prompts the writer to do the same, his eyes fluttering open in the process.

“Alright, on the count of three,” determination cloaking her expression, she pants. Lukas returns it with a firm nod of acknowledgement.

“One…”

He braces himself.

“Two…”

This might work.

“...Three!”

Both yank themselves back in opposite directions. While Petra manages to hoist the edge of the gauntlet a distance that was enough to lift it from his skin, it applies pressures beyond it. He can view the blood pooling at the dip where the glove traps his wrist, smudged everywhere else beneath. With each force pulling themselves, the tension only continues to build. He could feel himself nearing freedom.

“Almost,” grits Petra, “got it–!”

The redhead enforces another desperate tug to go through, and Lukas allows her to. All reactions are restrained until a crack hideously jabs itself into their ears. The rosy juices squelch as the shards are squeezed into sending immediate sharp pains through his entire arm. His pupils dilate, and a gasp escapes the crevice his lips created.

“Ow– motherfucker–” he curses, stumbling back, “okay, stop! Stop!”

Petra had already let go, the accessory making a wet slap, when she heard the sounds of breaking. “Wh-What just happened!? Are you okay!?”

The intense pressure from his hand tightly cupping the shimmering gauntlet causes him to shake. Muted by his anguish, he grinds his teeth. His companion approaches him cautiously with sympathy and guilt glazing her shiny hazel eyes. It feels like an anvil crashed onto his shoulder and flattened his entire arm. The flesh outlining the glove is numb and tingles with contact, but everything within shrieks of stabbing pains.

“Don’t tell me…” she leans down, squinting in observations, “it’s broken…?”

A muffled ghast’s cry edges its way out of Lukas’ throat while murky red tears prick his eyes. “I…”

“Oh, nononono,” she frets. “I’m so sorry, Luke. I– I-I-I didn’t mean to! Really!”

“No, I–” he suctions a painful breath through his teeth, “I believe you. Apology accepted. I should’ve said something– sooner.”

“Okay, look.” Her longing eyes meet his, her hand slipping beneath his fractured arm as support. “Now that Jesse’s got the Admin’s powers, maybe they can get this thing off of you. Then, we can get it fixed, and things should go back to normal.”

“I hope,” Lukas shudders.

“Hmm?” As if their name was a summoning spell, Jesse interrupts their conversation. “I thought I heard one of you two say my name.”

“Jesse!” The next rise and fall of the ginger’s chest is out of relief. A smile expands on her face. “Alright, we need your help.”

“Already?”

The way they tilt their head upwards and rest their hand on their hip fills Lukas with unsettlement. There was no warmth or willingness in their tone like they usually had. Now that they’re closer to him, they notice their change in hairstyle; it’s become more formal and neat. He has an inkling that everytime he sees their new Admin form, he’s going to notice something new.

“Uh– well,” Petra stutters quickly before she sighs, “yes. See, I tried to get the gauntlet off of Lukas, and I– accidentally hurt him– and since I heard that when you defeated the Admin, you got his powers. And since it was the Admin’s gauntlet, I was thinking maybe you could… get rid of it?”

The Hero-In-Residence says nothing. They walk past Petra with a perplexed expression, raising a brow while eyeing the prismarine decoration. With a hopeful glint in his eyes, Lukas looks down at them as they inspect the imprisonment on his hand. His stomach drops into a pit as they stand so closely. He can feel the terror crawling on his back.

They click their tongue, seemingly unamused. Their hands are held behind their back as they straighten their posture and stare. “I don’t think I can do anything about it.”

“What!?” Petra and Lukas exclaim simultaneously.

“You’re serious–?” The woman gapes.

“Yes, I am.” Jesse crosses their arms and turns. “There should be a way to remove it without my assistance. You just have to find it.”

“But– we already went to the Sea Temple, and we’ve been through the Icy Palace of Doom or whatever it was called!” she rants. “And I dunno where else to look!”

“You better watch your tone with me,” hisses Jesse. “Lukas, you’re smart. Aren’t you?”

There was a condescending undertone lurking in their words. They were frustrated, almost angry, and he’s unable to tell whether he’s more confused or more scared. Whatever happened to them, it wasn’t good, and he wasn’t sure if he could uphold his trust in them for much longer.

“Uhh, yeah.” He nods with a bashful grin on his face. He says nothing further, despite the voice at the back of his head nagging him to scream.

“Jeez,” Petra scoffs. “Well, do you at least have any suggestions as to where we should look first?"

“Not really.” They shrug. “Maybe try looking a little deeper into where we found it in the first place.”

“That’s… not a bad idea,” the mercenary admits. “We should go and–”

“Actually,” Jesse interjects, bobbing their head as a vague gesture, “Lukas, I want to see you for a minute. In my office.”

Lukas thought this situation couldn’t get any worse, and yet, it did. His shoulders drop as he continues to squeeze his encased hand.

“What–?” Their fianc é e steps to his defense. “Did he do something wrong?”

“No, I simply want to speak with him,” they counter. “It’s related to the ceremony. Now, if you’ll excuse us…”

They whip themselves around and strut back into the Order Hall. Petra grumbles and Lukas raises a brow. He hasn't done much, if anything at all, to provoke them, so why? Why are they upset? Why has their friendly demeanor been replaced with such a cold and ungrateful one?

“Guess you…” the other pauses, “guess you better go see what they want.”

“I probably should,” he agrees. “I’ll– I’ll see you around, I suppose.”

“Mhm,” she hums. “I’m gonna get some stuff done, maybe see if I can find Jack and Nurm.”

“And Radar?” Lukas suggests. “I’d really like to find him again.”

Petra’s chest heaves a sigh. “If I get any information, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay.” He nods. “Well, good luck.”

She turns her back, ready to leave. “Right back at’cha.”

A painful chuckle escapes from him, evoking him to tighten his arms to himself with the resurgence. He finds his trudging movements awkward as he makes it back into the treasure hallway, Axel and Olivia having vanished from the room. Something about how the flower petals relax and gemstones glimmer on the ceiling ridicule him. He tries to convince himself that it’s only his hypervigilance getting to him, but no matter how many times he tells himself, he can feel the violent glare of eyes and vicious fangs gnashing their words.

He continues his unstable walk to the west wing of the building until he reaches Jesse’s office, which is the closest to the entrance. He vividly remembers them saying it was because it would be the easiest for them to get elsewhere faster if they needed to. Topping a calendar was a couple magnets in a medley of designs, scattered at random. After a deep breath, Lukas’ arm tingles after he releases the gauntlet to tap on the door.

With hesitation, he gives the door a light shove, closing it once he was allowed in. He finds the Hero-In-Residence, Jesse, standing– once again– with their arms crossed behind their back. They appear to be observing the posters, ranging from musical artists to video games, hung in their office. There’s incessant mumbling hidden beneath their breath, but Lukas is unable to make out a word that was said.

They turn their head around, their curls swishing in perfect sync. Their chin tilts upwards, and their eyelids slightly drop, pupils thinning. “Lukas.”

“Um,” the blond stammers, “hey, Jesse.”

He becomes more alert when they swing themselves around. No longer was the same welcoming comfort in their eyes; it has been replaced with cold judgement. As intimidated as he is, it’s kind of odd to see, as Jesse is shorter than him. In an attempt to distract himself, his eyes dart over to their mess of a desk, sitting behind a wooden billboard plastered in drawings and sticky note reminders with no rhyme or reason. Even though he remains missing, he can hear Radar’s voice: “This method of organization is a hazard!”

Oh, how he wishes he were here.

It’s not like he can do anything about it. The best way to get closer to finding him is moving forward. Dwelling on it isn’t going to help either side.

“Lukas!” Jesse snaps him back to reality. “Are you listening to me?”

“Sorry,” he apologizes. “I got distracted.”

“Yeah, I could tell,” they huff, moving their hands to their hips. “Ahem, anyways! As I was saying…” they drawl, “do you have the vows finished?”

“Just about,” he says. “I haven’t had much time to work on them recently, with all this shit going on and whatnot, heh. Both yours and Petra’s need some finalized revisions before they’re good to go. Once we get everyone back, that should be trivial.”

They cross their arms again, cocking their head to the side. “Are you so sure they’re coming back?”

His stomach drops in an instant, nauseating him. He’s barely thought of it as a possibility until this point. “Uh,” he hesitates, “t-they have to, right? We can’t have the wedding without them.”

“Well, if they’re not around anymore…” the mayor snarls, “then I suppose we’ll have to find replacements.”

“S-Sure, but–” the writer frets, “we’ll find them. I know we will. They have to be around somewhere, they couldn’t have just… disappeared.”

“Or could they have?”

Lukas gulps.

“You haven’t seen much of what the Admin was capable of, have you?” They let their arms hang loose, subtly shuffling towards him. “Of course, the power is in better hands– my hands– now, but what I discovered in our battle… was beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. Your– I mean, our friends could very well be inventory.”

Everything slows down. No longer is his heart flailing to escape; it only sinks, locking itself away to ache alone. Although his stomach is empty, his throat waters sourly in preparation to vomit. The pain in his arm ceases to exist in the moment.

“A– Alright,” he breathes. “Still. I’m gonna keep looking. Y’know… just in case.”

The other shrugs. “Do what you will.”

The silence that floods the room is agonizing. Though Jesse is unbothered, Lukas can hear it speak thousands of words, all at once. There is no sound, but everything is processed clearly. He once again clasps his heavy glove with his free hand.

“So, uh…” he begins, shattering eye contact, “was that all you needed me for–?”

“Should be.” Their hands return to their hips. “Lest you have a copy of the vows. If so, I’d like to see them.”

“Maybe.” Lukas checks his pockets, but he finds himself unsuccessful. “Nope. Don’t have them on me,” he confirms. “They should be at my house, though. If I remember, I’ll bring them when we go out tonight?”

“Yes, that’d be good.” They nod. “Well, I guess you’re dismissed, then.”

“Thanks, Jesse.” He lightly scratches the back of his head. “I’ll see you later, then?”

“Uh-huh,” Jesse hums inadvertently.

The author turns his back, resting a hand on the doorknob. “Cya.”

“Goodbye.”

The door swiftly creaks shut once a wide-eyed Lukas exits. A shuddering breath falls over his bottom lip before he starts limping away. Something within pecks at him to leave as soon as possible; he doesn’t understand this fear, but he picks up his pace anyways. He notices how awkward his movements are once he reaches the door, and slows himself down.

He stands in disbelief with an arm clutched to his chest. His torso is overwhelmed with agony. As much as he wants to collapse, he can’t bring himself to. An unsteady heartbeat and a nauseous mind beg him to leave– run as far away from Beacontown as he can– but he knows he can’t do that. If something’s wrong, he has to fix it. If not, things will go back to normal eventually.

At least, that’s what he’s praying will happen.

What he knows is that he can’t bear to be alone right now. Stepping down the white stairs, he tucks his right hand beneath his other arm in an attempt to shield the red gauntlet from the public eye, despite it being barely effective. He figures it may be a good idea to stop by the library to visit Samantha and calm himself down for a moment.

—

Not a soul had batted an eye when Lukas was on his way to the library. Everyone outside was heavily focused on fixing the decorations they had assigned themselves to. What glances he did get were quickly directed to another direction, and all the expressions were neutral. Shame blooms from his inner pit, wondering if he had done something wrong, or if it was simply his outfit reeking of the Admin’s presence. Well, the former Admin.

Either way, he allows himself some peace when the bell above the library door chimes. He considers the place his home away from home, and he instantly finds himself comforted by the smell of books, both fresh and old, when he steps inside. Samantha is not seen at her desk, so he assumes she’s elsewhere in the structure, likely cleaning.

He knows someone else who would be cleaning if he were here.

Or, at least trying to. He’d definitely offer to help. Agh, why can’t he stop thinking about it for just a few minutes!? Radar haunts his brain at every little reminding detail. There’s a chance he may overthink himself into a headache. Perhaps he already has.

Even the lighting is growing to become overwhelming. He shoves a hand through his hair and rests the other on the edge of the librarian’s desks. The urge to call for Samantha pricks at the back of his throat, but he resists; he acknowledges that yelling likely won’t make his condition any better.

Blond needles of hair dangle in front of his eyes, but he can’t find it in himself to care. Snuggling under a rheumy sheet, blurry blue eyes drag themselves along the thin wooden staircase and peer onto what’s visible of the second floor. His friend is nowhere to be seen, but when he stops and listens closely, he can hear the floorboards creaking under her footsteps.

He finds himself struggling to stay awake. Redirecting his gaze to the windowsill, he notices that her coffee maker is running, despite the lack of espresso in the air. The heavy headache causing his eyelids to sag competes with the lingering pain of the broken bone inside the gauntlet over trying to stay awake. While he hasn’t been awake for terribly long, he’s exhausted, and he’s about ready to call it a day with all that’s happened.

“Lukas,”

“Ah–!”

Samantha startles him. She stares down at him– intimidating to others, but Lukas sees right through her mask– as she carries a short stack of pale-colored books in one arm. She remarks, “you look awful.”

“Uh…” puzzled, the author hums, “uh-huh, yeah. It’s– umm… it’s been a long day.”

“I can tell,” Samantha snorts, continuing to make her way down the stairs. “New clothes, new accessories, everything. And you don’t seem too happy about it.”

“W-Well,” he stammers. “Yeah, no. I don’t like it, but this damn gauntlet won’t come off my hand.”

He presses two fingers down on his forearm, and it creates a tingling sensation on his skin with a painful throb below. A string of ruby fluid trickles and curves down the side from the innards of the glove. He keeps it away from the librarian’s view, smears it off, and wipes it on his jacket. Knowing there were rivers of blood beneath the accessory provoked a twinge of fear in his chest.

His companion reaches the bottom floor and places the stack of books on the edge of her desk. “Huh.” She shrugs lightly. “Odd. It does have something to do with the Admin, though, does it not?”

Lukas clicks his tongue. “It does. I asked Jesse to help me with it, but she said she couldn’t do anything about it.”

“She did?” She seems surprised, turning to him with wide eyes as she approaches her coffeemaker. “Ah, they made an announcement earlier. At the rainbow beacon,” she pulls herself together and elaborates. “Everything was so off-putting about it. For months now, she had never asked anyone for anything in relation to wedding preparations. But, just recently, she went around critiquing everyone’s work and demanding perfection.”

An unsettling emotion curls up within the pit of Lukas’ heart and resides there. He says nothing, but a petrified breath comes over him. Everything she’s describing doesn’t fit what he knows about his dear friend Jesse, but he has no idea what he can do to fix it, if anything.

“Surely, you’ve noticed something’s not quite right?” Samantha breaks the silence with a question. Her fingers slip around the handle of her coffee pot, redirecting her gaze; it’s filled with burning hot water. There are two plain mugs sitting next to the machine, which she delicately fills with the steamy liquid.

“Um,” he hesitates, “I-I mean, yeah, of course I have; how couldn’t I? I’m just… not sure how to approach it. I hope I can find more time to talk to them, so I can find out what’s going on.”

“You know them better than I do, Lukas,” his friend adds, opening a small dark box with light yellow details on the artwork and pulling out tea bags. “I know you’ll figure something out.”

“Fuck, I sure hope so,” murmuring, he squeezes a patch of his hair for some relief. “I really hope so…”

After dipping one of the bags into a cup, Samantha leans against the windowsill, her hands lingering near the end of the reddened curtains. In a perplexed manner, her sepia eyes bounce from each corner of the room to the next. Once she finishes observing, she walks over and pulls a cushioned chair from the casting shadows, moving it to her desk area.

“Have a seat.” She gestures. “I’ll make you some tea.”

Lukas huffs. Finally, some relief makes it to his vessel and allows his body to ease. “Thank you.”

“Mhm, of course,” the other replies, her focus already on getting a tea bag from the little box and placing it inside the mug.

“What flavor is it?” He inquires, sitting down in the chair provided. “Just out of curiosity.”

“Ginger lemongrass,” she answers, tossing herself into her office chair once she was certain that neither cup would spill after managing them.

“Ohh, nice,” Lukas hums. “Sounds good.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve had it,” she comments. “Anyhow… do you mind telling me a bit more about what you were doing while you were gone?”

Silence briefly consumes the room whole as a lump forms in Lukas’ throat. “Um… yeah, sure! I can do that.”

“You don’t have to.” Moving to the side, Samantha rests her chin on her palm. “I just figured going over it might give both of us a better idea of what happened to Jesse.”

“You might be right,” he huffs. “Okay, so, essentially what happened is that once we took down the giant prismarine colossus, the Admin appeared and sent us off on another journey. There was this huge icy palace– it was gorgeous, actually– and we had to go through these challenges in order to get the clock. You know the one–?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Anyways, Jesse sent me off to get it, and I did. Successfully. But, after that, one of Jack’s old buddies, Vos, revealed himself to be the Admin in disguise. Then, he put the gauntlet on me, and sent me… somewhere. And everyone else– besides Jesse, obviously– is… missing in action.”

“So, ah…” His companion breaks eye contact and glances to the wooden floorboards. “Who’s gone?”

“Jack, Nurm, and…” the blond hesitates, “Radar.”

“That’s not good.” She shakes her head. “I hope we can find them before long; the wedding is very soon.”

“Yeah. But also, I just hope they’re okay.” A slow blink, and he can feel tears poking threats at his eyes. He can no longer face his friend, and his gaze falls into his lap. How could he sit in the library and chat when lives are on the line?

“Now, now,” Samantha scoots in closer, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, “we’re going to figure this out, okay? You are the one and only Lukas of the Order of the Stone, and you are unstoppable, dear. This is all going to be resolved one way or another. We’ll find your friends. We’ll get rid of your glove. We’ll figure out whatever’s wrong with Jesse. It may take a while, but things will be alright.”

His watering eyes meet her own yet again. He believes her, but the incessant whisperings of the voices of enemies, mainly the Admin’s, prod at him in the back of his mind.

‘You’ll never find them.’

‘You’re stuck like this.’

‘This is all your fault.’

Lukas swallows the lump wedged in this throat, sniffling. “I trust you.”

The two pull each other into an embrace at the same time. There are no sounds present; not even the chirping of birds or the chatter of citizens can be heard from outside. Faintly, the smell of ginger and lemon lingers, but not enough for him to consider significant. It’s just the two of them, in a dusty library together. A long moment is melted down to a short one when Samantha’s arms slip away from his back.

“I’m sure Petra will help you if you just ask her to,” she suggests. “She’s on your side, and I’m certain she wants to help as much as you do. She couldn’t have gone by without noticing all of this.”

“I think she did. I hope she did.” Lukas nods. “She told me she was going to look for Jack and Nurm before she left. And she and Jesse got kind of snippy with each other, too.”

“Yes, she definitely would’ve picked up on that,” the librarian agrees. “They don’t usually do that, even from what I’ve observed. Of course, you and her would know more than I would, but…”

“You’re right, though,” he confirms. “I’ve known them for– oh, jeez– around a decade at this point, and they’re never like that. At least, not around us.”

“Then something’s definitely out of order,” Samantha emphasizes, turning with a light flick of her hair to grasp their tea, passing one to her friend, who carefully takes it in his good hand. “Careful, it’s hot.”

“I know, I know,” repeats the blond. He briefly blows on the edge of his tea, poking his upper lip out to take a tiny sip. The weak sourness blends wonderfully in with the other flavors, pleasantly warming his mouth. “Again, thank you for this.”

“Of course. It’s no problem at all.” A leg crosses over her other as she pulls herself back around to face him.

“By the way, I– uh… might have to get going soon.” Lukas abruptly clears his throat and stutters. “I’d like to get some sleep before I go out with my friends tonight. And if I can’t do that, it might be nice to get some writing done, too.”

“That’s fine,” she understands. “I’m happy I got to see you, anyways. I was beginning to worry if you were okay or not.”

He chuckles and flashes a grin. “Well, it’s good to know someone out there was worrying about me.”

“Naturally.” A solemn nod of agreement. “I’m sure many of the Beacontown people were anxious about your return.”

“And I’m sure many of them are anxious about all the sudden changes, too.”

Lukas peers down, having a staring contest with his reflection in the tea. Muted exhaustion sags below his sore, watery eyes. It’s invisible, but his face is covered in stains. Not dirt, yet it makes him feel incomprehensibly disgusting. He can’t bear to look any longer and redirects his gaze to Samantha once more.

“Finish your tea,” she gently insists, “then I’ll let you go.”

“Yeah, alright,” the writer obliges. “Will do.”

He proceeds to allow another sip to go down his throat. As long as he minimizes the movement in his right arm, the pain only buzzes beneath the numbness. It’s almost bearable. He’s itching to leave, but he finds himself in slow motion. Blue eyes rest upon Samantha, who turned herself to her open book on the desk with her hand around her mug, occasionally making an out-of-context comment. Lukas was interested in whatever she was reading, but he didn’t want to get himself too caught up in a good book before he left.

Another silence cloaks the library. Normally, at least a few people would’ve come in and started looking at books, but not a single soul swung the door open. Taking a glance outside the window, no one was even walking outside; the only people to be seen out there were working on streaming banners or caring for flowers. It’s creepy for a place as populous and friendly as Beacontown.

Regardless, Lukas sat there and sluggishly drank his tea. The only time his friend looked at him during that whole session was when he grunted as he stood.

“Here’s your cup,” he says. “I’m gonna go now.”

“Okay,” she replies with a slight nod, immediately going back to her book. “Goodbye.”

“See you later, Samantha.” And with that, he was out the door. The sky is still overcast, and the day remains gloomy. Unfortunately, even if all the clouds had dissipated, he still believes today would be depressing. It’s the situation he’s in.

He finds himself standing idly and staring into space, mindless as a zombie; he barely notices the raindrops beginning to fall. Citizens remain working intensively, refusing to waste even a mere second of their time to look in another direction. Each glance Lukas takes, the more terrified he becomes. A shuddering breath squeezes itself out of his lips, and he begins trudging towards the gates.

He wants to go home. Both his body and his mind crave sleep– or any sort of break in general– from the chaos that’s happened in the past 24 hours. The most excitement– although dull and repressed– he’s felt all day was the current fact that he’s able to go home and crash. He’s fully prepared to give up and try again tomorrow until his wretched gauntlet begins glowing once more, and a downpour fades in.

He exasperates, “are you fucking kidding me …?” After taking a slow step forward, an absurd anxiety washes over him. He can’t figure out what’s causing it, but a loud and raspy voice in the back of his head is screaming at him not to go home; it isn’t safe there. But why? He can’t decipher it.

Pushing it aside, he pulls another foot forward, but as soon as it’s set on the path, he pivots around and heightens his pace in an instant, movements erratic. He books it for the Order Hall, running on a sudden rush of adrenaline with dilated pupils; it’s as if he’s not the one controlling himself.

Lukas stumbles to get beneath the arch at the entrance, hunching over and panting once stopped. His eyes shoot wide open, every painful breath being an exertion. Thick golden strands are sticking to his face, sopping wet with water. A droplet tumbles down to the tip of his nose and plunges to the stone. What the hell came over him…?

Once the rush passes, he attempts to grip a nearby pole with his right hand, but a twinge shot from the heavy glove causes him to release immediately. Instead, he fixes his posture and leans against it with his shoulder, cusping the glove with his other hand. He lifts his chin, and is now able to see someone fixing their hair with a bandanna while walking to the back of the Order Hall. Upon closer inspection, he recognizes them as Petra.

Lukas is gifted with some relief, given the grace of a smile that isn’t forced. His hand slips off the gauntlet as he unglues himself from the white pole and unsteadily makes his way into the hall. Thankfully, his footsteps are heard during his entry, and Petra turns her head.

“Lukas!” she greets pleasantly, finishing fixing her hair, before viewing his physical state. “Ooh, bad luck, huh? I thought you were gonna go home.”

“Yeah, well– I tried,” he huffs in response. “It started pouring as soon as I was heading towards the gates, and then I just… I dunno. I-I turned around and rushed here as fast as I could. For some reason. It was super odd.”

Petra scoffs teasingly, then her hazel eyes land on the still-glowing gauntlet. “Or maybe it’s not your luck.”

“Don’t be surprised if the Admin’s up to shenanigans again.”

“Jeez, there goes my plans for the weekend,” she chuckles. “That’s what I assumed it was, anyways. It didn’t look like it was gonna rain.”

“Today is going just great,” Lukas grits. “Absolutely fantastic. Wonderful, even.”

“Yeah, I feel you,” Petra heaves a sigh, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Well, now that you’re here, do you wanna see if Axel and Olivia need any help? I-If you’re up for it, of course.”

“Um…” after hesitating, Lukas slouches, “sure. I’ve got nothing better to do. I might be a little slow, though.”

“That’s fine,” reassures Petra. “I was actually gonna–”

“Ahem.”

As if his mood wasn’t already bad enough, Jesse waltzes into the hall, clearing their throat as a rude interruption. ‘She sure has her way of sneaking up on people, huh?’

“Petra,” they begin, seeming ignorant to Lukas’ death stare, “could I speak to you for a moment, dear?”

The redhead stammers, turning her head back and forth between her companion and her partner.

“I’m– yeah. Yes, you can,” she finally breathes out, going to follow Jesse.

Lukas trembles with anger, gripping the gauntlet tightly. His eyes are unable to leave Jesse. As Petra goes to stand next to them, wrapping her arm around their’s, he’s met with a brief frozen glare from the Hero-In-Residence while they walk away.

Rage is beginning to boil over; it feels like it’s going to start spouting over the edge of the gauntlet. Fingertips turning red, he can’t stand to sit there and watch any longer. The instant the pair is out of sight, he starts silently trailing behind them in their tracks.

As they go, Petra seems to be quietly urging Jesse to listen to her about something. They don’t do anything and just ignore her. However, their annoyance appears to be growing, judging by tension alone. Lukas manages to keep silent, and stands in anticipation next to the door, which– conveniently– is creaked slightly open. From there, he can hear a muffled conversation.

“Look, we need to talk,” Jesse starts.

“Yeah, I figured,” Petra introduces herself into the conversation via a snippy comeback, “isn’t that what you brought me back here for? I was–”

“No, no, don’t start with that,” counters the mayor. “You know how it is. I have a very specific way of how I want things to go, and you’re going to follow through.”

“Jeez, what the hell’s been up with you lately?”

Finally. He knew Petra wouldn’t put up with shit like that for much longer. He tries to let himself relax by leaning against a wall.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what it is,” Jesse bickers. “I told you. I want this to go perfectly. And it will.”

“So, all of a sudden you decide to start acting rudely? You weren’t like this before!” The redhead barks. “Look, we’re both super stressed– not to mention all the pressure we’re under– but you have no reason to be so demanding about fucking EVERYTHING!”

“I beg to differ. I’d say I have every right to be,” they defend. “I’m the one in charge here. You know that. What I say goes, and I say that you don’t wear that bandanna to the wedding.”

Lukas has to suppress his gasp. How could they say that? They should know by now that Petra’s bandanna is extremely important to her. For as long as he– or anyone, for that matter– can remember, she’s worn it everywhere. It feels wrong to see her without it. If he wasn’t trying to stay stealthy right now, he’d burst in there with a sharp retort.

“I wear this, uh, literally everywhere!?” Petra protests. “Name one time you’ve seen me without it.”

“You–”

“That’s right. You can’t!” She triumphs. “Because you haven’t.”

Jesse isn’t able to find a counterpoint. Good– because there shouldn’t be one. At least, not one that he knows of.

“So, that’s that. Case closed,” she firmly states. “I’m going to use it to put up my hair. That’s it. Whether you like it or not, it’s going to happen–”

“You know, I really don’t appreciate your attitude right now,” a hiss erupts from deep within Jesse’s throat. “Why don’t we fix that?”

Curious as he is frightened as to what’s about to happen, Lukas leans closer to the crack in the doorway for a better perspective, squinting. And with the snap of their fingers, a flicker of bright light bursts between the couple. Petra harshly groans, slamming her eyes shut and gripping onto her head. Lukas couldn’t be more stunned.

Once her eyes open, they appear bloodshot and muggy. A subtle difference, but noticeable if inspected closely enough. “Ugh, what did you…”

“Now, now,” the hero purrs, using a finger against their lover's chin to prop her head up, “why don’t we try that again, hm? What do you think, darling?”

A brief occurrence of hesitation. “Alright, I… I won’t wear the bandanna,” she replies with a breathy murmur.

No. No. This isn’t it. There’s no way in the Nether that Jesse would actually do something like that, and he knows that. He has to warn someone. He has to warn Axel and Olivia about this situation, if no one else. He straightens himself and prepares to leave, but stumbles and nearly trips before he can make a move.

“Is someone there?” Though he’s no longer looking, Lukas can feel Jesse’s piercing gaze stabbing him in the back. He remains still and doesn’t dare make a sound.

‘Stay. Quiet.’

Eventually, he moves out when he believes the coast is clear. His movements start slow, but then grow rapid as the distance between him and the room increases. He needs to leave. Now. If he’s spotted, it’s game over. He needs to find Axel and Olivia before it’s too late.

The Order Hall is the last place he wants to be right now. Once the doors shut behind him, he heaves a shuddery sigh of relief from within the deepest pit of his chest. His legs are weak, and he wants to slump against the wall at that moment, but he stands tall. He’s not going to get anywhere if he sits on his ass and does nothing.

Things should clear up once he finds Axel and Olivia. He’ll explain to them what’s happening, and they’ll help him find a solution. It’ll get easier from here on out.

—

It wouldn’t have taken as long if Lukas had the strength to move a little faster. The energy to search harder. Alas, he does not. Not right now. It feels as if the red gauntlet was absorbing as much as possible from him; he barely had it in him to feel pain anymore. Even the mere thought of picking something up with that hand made him cringe.

Everything seems hopeless. The world begins to warp in on itself as his slow descent to madness progresses. Paranoia is rampant and all friendly eyes shine with malicious intent. The sun’s rays that managed to spike through the clouds are venomous rather than soothing. This isn’t the Beacontown he knows.

After seconds of moments lasting hours, his weary eyes focus enough to see two familiar figures walking from the entry gates. A man with a green flannel and a band tee, and a woman with dreads and dressed in a red lab coat. Axel and Olivia. They don’t seem to recognize him, as they didn’t do as much as send a glance in his direction, lost in their conversation.

The overwhelming relief explodes in his bosom and spreads to the rest of his body, like an ocean wave crashing over a clump of rocks. He nearly loses his breath when he sees them; he finally has a chance to do something. A chance to fix this. All he had to do was wait. The steps he made were the biggest he’s made in hours. They seemed to slow down once they noticed him bounding towards them.

“Is that–?”

“Lukas!”

He stops to catch his breath– panting– once he’s within their vicinity. He doesn’t catch their reactions, but he imagines they’re shaken. If one of them ran up to him in a condition like his, he’d be taken off-guard, too. When he does lift his head, he sees Olivia reaching out to him, offering support.

“Lukas,” she softly mutters, “what happened to you?”

“Long story,” he huffs a short reply, taking her hand and stabilizing himself.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Axel begins, “you look like–”

“Hell?” Lukas interjects.

“I was gonna say like you’ve seen better days, but…” he pauses. “That works, too.”

“That’s the nice way of putting it,” he lightly dusts himself off. “But, yeah. I’ll explain another time. Once I’m a little better, hopefully.”

“I’m not sure I even wanna know!” Olivia remarks. “Regardless, I’m glad you’re, um… somewhat okay.”

“Yeah, me too,” Lukas agrees. “But, a-anyways– there’s something important I gotta tell you guys.”

“What is it?” Axel inquiries.

“Something’s not right with Jesse,” he urges. “I– I saw them– just a minute ago– arguing with Petra, telling her not to wear her bandanna to the wedding. And, obviously, she didn’t agree, but then– but then– they did something to her that made her all loopy and then she agreed with them. It was crazy!”

The two give him a puzzled look.

“...What?” Olivia asks. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know it doesn’t,” he grits through his teeth. “But you’ve gotta believe me. I just watched it happen.”

“I think I’m gonna need some more context…” Axel adds. “I don’t really understand, either.”

“S-So, I’m pretty sure you two missed it, but,” Lukas starts elaborating, “You guys know about Jesse taking down the admin and obtaining his powers, but I think it’s messing with them. They way they’ve been dressing, speaking, everything– It’s all different. It’s just… it’s not right at all. Something’s off.”

He hopes that his further explanation would connect the dots more sensibly and help them understand. He knows that they’ll be able to help him once they realize the severity of the situation.

“...Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?” Axel questions, puzzled, and almost aggressive.

“What?”

“It makes even less sense now.” Olivia plays with one of her loose dreads. “Chances are, Jesse's just stressed about the wedding and making extra preparations. Are you sure what you saw was right?”

“I’m sure of it,” Lukas insists. “Jesse’s been acting differently all day. It’s not even a ‘they’re just in a bad mood’ scenario; they’ve changed completely. It’s… borderline evil.”

Axel and Olivia exchange doubtful glances.

“Yeahhhh, I’m gonna have to go with Olivia on this one,” falters Axel. “I don’t think I believe you. You might be hallucinating.”

“You seem out of it,” she worries. “Dinner’s soon, though. Maybe you’ll remember more clearly after that?”

Lukas blinks slowly, a burning sensation rushing to his eyes, sourcing from a flame that flickers deep within. A warmth that was once comforting, but has grown out of control and started flaring with intense heat. He can feel his blood beginning to rise to a boil. It stings, but not as much as the disbelief he received from his friends.

“Alright…” he sighs. “Maybe you’re right.”

He wasn’t completely ruling out the fact that he could’ve been hallucinating– not yet, at least– because if he was, Petra wouldn’t have seen it, too. Unless the admin’s trickery affects more than just the one who bears the gauntlet. He’s too upset to think about it right now. In more ways than one.

“Well, anyways,” Axel switches the topic of conversation, “let’s head out. I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he grins.

As Olivia nods in agreement, they walk off as if nothing happened. Lukas stands there for a moment longer, stunned. As much as he wants to go with them, along with brushing everything off like it never happened, he can’t bring himself to. The idea of staying silent while surrounded by people who think he’s lost his mind makes him sick to his stomach. Not to mention the potential danger.

It doesn’t matter. All of this will probably blow over soon. If not, he’ll do something about it. He knows he can’t take this for much longer. Begrudgingly, he gets back on track, following his friends to the restaurant that they were meeting up at. As hungry as he is, he’s unsure if he’ll be able to get anything down. He’ll find out when he gets there.

He lags behind them, lingering at a fair distance. Thoughts are racing behind his eyes in an intrusive and angry manner. Despite all the lashing out and screaming his heart begs him to do, he keeps to himself and remains silent, continuing to trudge on. His dissociation remains strong when he meets back up with his friends, is seated at a table, and orders. Responsive, but not there. A small conversation is ongoing in the background, but he stares mindlessly at the river of patterns on the wooden table.

But soon, when his food arrives, he is met with another predicament.

Lukas can’t use his trapped hand to cut his steak, and there’s no way he’s gonna be able to do it one-handed with a fork. His posture clumps together, slouching over chin-level to the plate. There are markings where he had tried to cut it previously, but to no avail; there were barely any dents.

He gives up trying to do it properly and instead slams his fork into the middle of the slab and eats it from there. It looks ridiculous, but it’ll have to do. His previous nauseous had faded, and he is now delighted to finally have something to eat. He was so distracted by other things that the emptiness in his stomach eluded him. It felt so good to finally have something warm and fulfilling in his mouth.

He finally tears off a piece of the meat and chews it slowly, beginning to straighten his posture from being hunched over the plate. The tender juiciness spreads around his mouth, evoking an overwhelming yet comforting feeling. It’s odd, but he feels like this lonely situation is the most comfortable he’s felt all day. As he swallows his first bite, he glances over the table and notices something strange.

He’s being stared at.

Not by an obsessive fan in awe– no, Jesse was staring him down, the salad sitting before them looking almost untouched. He makes brief eye contact with them, before anxiously looking away once again. He restrains himself from blurting something out in response because he doesn’t think he’d be safe doing it. And just like that, the sickness overwhelms him again. He’s not sure if his food seems appetizing anymore, even if he does like it and does want to eat it. Would it be better if it was only him, or if everyone else felt the tension, too?

He remains silent, poking at his food with a fork in uncertainty. No one else is having conversation, which could be because they’re all busy eating their food, but normally their get-togethers are more lively than this. Jesse would be excitedly chattering away, accompanied by Petra’s snarky snapbacks, and Axel would crack a joke at every given opportunity, which always made Olivia unamused. Lukas would join whichever side he felt like joining. They were fantastic. The life of any party.

This time it’s not. Everyone’s quiet. Usually Axel is quiet when there’s food in front of him, so that’s not unusual, but Jesse would be non-stop talking between bites. They haven’t said a word all meal. Petra is off, too; her look is gloomy, and her movements are slow. Her eyes are not quite bloodshot, but something close– as if they were coated in a red glaze. It’s wrong. Everything at this table is wrong.

“Excuse me for one moment.” Jesse stands up, voice more passive aggressive than it needed to be. Lukas watches them walk away into another section of the restaurant, likely headed towards the restrooms. Although it’s likely nothing, something still irks him deep within. But he keeps his mouth shut.

He stops messing with his food and holds still. “Do you guys see what I mean now?” He falters, mainly speaking to Axel and Olivia, but eyeing Petra from the side. “It’s just off.”

Axel pauses, pulling himself away from his food to answer. “No. No, I really don’t.”

“Y–” Lukas stammers, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Why are you so insistent on this?” Olivia exasperates. “I don’t think anything’s wrong. I mean, sure, they’re a little grumpy, but that’s it.”

“Yeah. Sometimes you’re just down for no reason,” Axel shrugs in agreement. “Didn’t Reuben’s memorial get destroyed recently, though?”

“Oh, yeah… poor Jesse,” the engineer sympathizes. “That’s probably what’s got her so upset.”

“Oh, no. It’s definitely more than that,” Lukas insists, becoming agitated. “I was there. I saw it happen. This isn’t how they act when they’re grief-stricken; I know it. There’s something much more going on here. Not just with Jesse– with Petra, too.”

“You really need to calm down,” Olivia insists, furrowing her brows. “First you’re freaking out over Jesse, and now Petra?”

“Well, I mean Petra is a little off,” at last, someone agrees with him, even if it is Axel of all people.

“Right!? I told you–”

“Think she just missed out on some sleep, though.”

Lukas can’t stop his jaw from dropping on this one. Her eyes are more than bloodshot; something that feels almost… sinister. It changes the shade of hazel in her eyes. It’s not something he can see as sleep deprivation. He watched Jesse curse her, causing something to go straight to her head and start taking over. A parasite and its host. She hasn’t been the same since.

He shuts his mouth, and directs his eyes to Petra once more. She gives a slow blink, unresponsive and groggy. He’s questioning if the food in front of her is food she likes. More importantly, she’s entirely oblivious to the fact that she’s become a conversation topic, or that there’s even a conversation at all. It’s disturbing; it’s not something she would do.

“What…?” Lukas gapes, “I don’t… I don’t understand… how are you guys missing this?” He grinds his teeth in search of words. “It’s right in front of you, and you’re just denying it.”

“Or maybe– just maybe–” Axel makes eye contact with the blond, speaking in a near whisper, “you’re seeing things that aren’t real.”

“You think that power’s getting to Jesse, but maybe the gauntlet’s getting to you.” Olivia curls her lip back with a concerned look on her face.

At this point, Lukas is ready to stand up and storm off, but he manages to recognize that’d be immature of him. So, again, the inaction takes control. He won’t let the hopelessness win; not when he knows he’s beaten it before. There’s still something he can do.

“Once we’re done here, you should go home and rest,” suggests Olivia, “just… take care of yourself, alright? I don’t want things to get any worse with you.”

Suppressing a twitch when a shudder travels down his spine, Lukas looks away. Fine. If they’re not going to help him, he’ll do it by himself. Even if he is afraid to, even if there is a lot of risk involved, even if there’s a chance he’ll watch his world crumble before him. He’d rather sacrifice himself to make things right than let them continue to deteriorate as time goes on.

“Sorry about that,” Jesse apologizes bluntly, returning to the dinner table and taking a seat. Unable to speak out of rage, Lukas simply continues eating at a slow pace, hoping to leave sooner rather than later. Whether his wish was granted or not is a mystery, but finally, they leave. Axel and Olivia are conversing with each other, laughing under their breaths as if nothing ever happened. Out of the corner of his eye, Lukas notices Jesse interlocking fingers with Petra. Normally, such a sweet sight would make him smile, but this time it fills him with disgust.

This isn’t right. None of this is right. He’s been feeling it all day, but it’s only hitting harder now. If he doesn’t do anything, this is going to fester and spoil like an infected wound. Despite its remaining presence, he barely notices the pain anymore. As his friends walk further into town, he stands in the center of the barren roads, weakly wrapping his arms around his body.

Nothing happens. He stands idly beneath a sheet of moonlight in silence. Faintly, the groans of mobs are heard outside the gates. It’s something he’d prefer to hear over the rejection by his friends.

Heavy with hesitance, he redirects his vision to the sky. The moon’s not quite full, but will be soon. Either that, or it just was, and he missed it amidst the chaos. Stars are just starting to flicker into the limited realm of sight the world has. A gorgeous sight it is, yes, but there is no way to tell if they glimmer with forgiveness or shine with contempt.

No matter. He has to make it home in order to take notes. And feed his cat; she’s not going to be happy with him for abandoning her for so long. Not in the slightest. Exiting the structure, he immediately diverts from the group, heading home. His cat is the only one who can comfort him right now, even if she’s not trying to.

The air is crisp and chill, but the wind doesn’t blow. Everything is still as if frozen in time. Nobody’s outside except for him and the rest of the order, and they are walking different paths. The gates are wishing he leaves rather than telling him they’d love to see him again. The distant groans of zombies and jangling of skeletons no longer bother him. He just wants to be alone.

The moment Lukas arrived home, he fed his cat, and began scribbling away at paper scattered across his desk like a madman. It’s the most work he’s gotten done in ages. In vivid– whether true or false– memory, he was writing down all the strange events that had happened with Jesse today. The attitude, the refusal to help, the professionalism, the spells.

It’s not right, and he’s going to fix it. Whether it’s in one fell swoop or block by block, he’ll do it. He has a plan, and it’s about to be executed.

Him bursting out the door is the only thing that (temporarily) distracts Dewey from her food. Then, she goes back to eating.

Meanwhile, Lukas is sprinting downhill towards the gates of Beacontown as fast as he possibly can. He rushes through the opening gates as quickly as they close behind him, running past all the residents sleeping in their homes, past the familiar structures of miscellaneous things, past countless builds that folks have made, and past much more. So much more. He stumbles and almost trips over a stray rock in the path before reaching his destination.

The Order Hall.

Painted with a fresh coat of harmful intentions, disbelief, and secrecy. Despite being visually identical, it’s not the one he knows, loves, and trusts. Approaching the doors, cautious as to not activate its automatic features, he puts all of his attention towards listening.

He can hear their voices; Axel, Olivia, Jesse… but not Petra. He hasn’t heard her say anything in hours. He can’t make out any words they were saying, but he could tell from a hunch deep within that wedding plans were being discussed. They had to dispose of the bigger issue– him– in order to do that.

Jack and Nurm are gone. Radar is gone. They think he’s lost it, that he’s gone crazy, but he’ll let them. They can say whatever they want about him, or to him, but that’s not going to sway his decisions. The choice has been made and he’s not going back now. With the heave of his chest, his feet spring off the ground at high force, putting him back in a position of high speed.

The doors barely manage to accommodate his speed, but he gets in. He briefly slides across the slick rug before attaching himself to the floor, firmly holding down the ground where he stood.

“STOP!”

All eyes turn to him. Concern, anxiety, rage… it’s all digging its way under his skin. But he’s come this far, he can’t stop now.

“Wh–”

“No!” Lukas shouts once more. “It’s my turn to talk!”

“Why are you acting like this-!?” Olivia worries, raising her voice.

“Maybe we should just ignore him,” sneers Jesse, tilting their chin upwards to look down at the author.

“None of you are listening to me!” He insists again.

“I don’t think you’re doing so good, man,” Axel mumbles, just loud enough for him to hear.

“I’m fine,” the writer begins wading his way through the room, closing in on the altar. “But I have an objection for you. She’s CORRUPT!” He points directly at Jesse, who appears surprised in response.

“She’s been terrible to me and Petra all day, she’s been unnecessarily arrogant,” he rants, slowly stomping his way towards the culprit, “she refused to help me get this gauntlet off my hand, rudely telling me to do it myself,” the expression on her face is priceless as he gestures to his hand prison and continues to elaborate, “AND if that wasn’t enough, I watched her use her “new admin powers” to put a spell on Petra to make her change her mind!”

He’s right in front of their face now, staring into the new pigment of brown swirling in their eyes. Their hands levitate close to their face, as if they were preparing to catch whatever words were about to sharpen themselves against their teeth and fly out of their mouth. But suddenly, their mood changes, and their lower lip begins to quiver.

“Why…” they blubber, threatening to cry, “why are you doing this to me!?”

“Because I’ve watched you behave like this all day,” Lukas attests, “you’re malicious. Diabolical! And if this doesn’t stop now, you’re going to ruin things for Petra– no, you’re going to ruin things for everyone!”

“I… I…” weeps Jesse, tears pouring down their face at an unusually fast rate. “I don’t know what I did wrong!” They loudly wail, pushing Lukas out of the way and running towards the exit.

He whips around with a harsh tone, “that’s right!” He yells, certain he’s doing the right thing. “Get out of here!”

Their cries only grow louder as he speaks. The rest of the room is stunned silent. Lukas takes another confident step forward, his foot landing at the edge of the stair. “And don’t even THINK about coming back!”

Jesse finally storms out of the building, their sobs muted as the doors slam shut behind them. Lukas heaves a steady, relieved breath once they’re gone, stepping down to the base of the stairs. Now that the adrenaline has passed, a subtle worry creeps up on him that he could have handled that situation better, but for now, he’s content. It’s better than how it was.

“Well…” he starts, turning around.

SHING!

A burning mist faintly scalds the bottom of his chin, as if lava were perfume. He tilts his head slightly upwards, meeting Petra’s unsteady eyes, a fabricated look of fury painted over her face. He slowly raises his hands to the best of his ability, the gauntlet-caged hand barely being able to move an inch. His breath loses its pattern, and he stands in the open as if a criminal caught red-handed.

“...” He says nothing, only staring into the redhead’s burning eyes.

“You want to know why Jesse’s been acting like that lately?” Petra sneers insincerely, her voice oddly calm, “she’s been in charge of the wedding from the start, especially because I’ve been all over the place, not to mention also running the town.”

Lukas inhales, but Petra cuts in before he can speak.

“Then if THAT wasn’t enough, she also had to go deal with the admin’s challenges.. One of which included watching Reuben’s grave get turned to dust,” she rambles on, “so I’d say she has every excuse in the world to be upset!”

He lowers his hands, gesturing towards her in a desperate manner. “Look, I was just saying–”

“And since that wasn’t enough for you,” she hisses, “she’s been stressed out for AGES over this, all because she wants it to go well for us. And you pretend to be all helpful, but the second things started going to shit, you turned your back on her when she’s at her lowest. Just because you believe something’s wrong, you think you can go and change it however you’d like.”

“That’s not…”

“She wants the best for everyone, and it’s important to her that they get it. Including all of us, and including the wedding,” her chest heaves a weight-bearing breath, “but that’s obviously not something that’s important to YOU!” She jabs her sword closer to his throat, but he leans back barely enough to miss contact with the blade.

His breathing grows louder. Although he refuses to look, he knows Axel and Olivia are glaring at him with the same rage Petra is. The heat of the sword’s enchantments are still swirling at his throat, and he imagines the pain of being stabbed isn’t much different than it. “I…” he shudders, “I’m… weak. You said it yourself. You can’t be doing this to me.”

“Don’t try playing the victim here, Lukas,” she spits. Notch, that’s the first time she’s called him by his full name in that tone in ages.

“You saw my condition. You see it now,” he reminds her. “Petra, I thought your moral code was stronger than this.”

She’s incredibly upset by that statement. He sees a furious quiver shoot through her body like a tipped arrow. The chance of her plunging the sword right through his throat is increasing by the moment. She taps her fingers against the hilt a few times, but she eventually loosens up.

“Fine,” she states, “but I better not see you here again. Ever.”

The sword goes back into the sheath on her back, and a sudden pang of guilt hits him in the chest. She slowly shambles away, glancing back at him once before continuing her way to the doors. Axel and Olivia stare at him, too, and it might be the angriest Lukas has ever seen them before.

“C’mon,” Olivia redirects her gaze, passive aggressively targeting Lukas with her words, “let’s go check on Jesse.”

The instant all eyes are off of him, tears climb their way out of his own. A slow yet strong blink evokes the burning sensation and a twinge in his throat. He swallows, unable to process his own emotions at the speed they’re hitting. The urge to shout “wait!” is suppressed, and instead of reaching towards his friends, he grasps onto the gauntlet once more. This stupid fucking gauntlet that came in and ruined everything.

Once the trio leaves, Lukas collapses to his knees in tears. Gauntlet weighing him down, he uses his free hand to cover his face, although it doesn’t prevent all tears from slipping through and dripping onto the carpet. Loud sobs are released from his throat, echoing off of the lonely walls of the Order Hall. He squeezes himself tightly, teeth gritting and brows furrowing.

“Why…” he wails, “why did I do that…!?” He curls over the stairs, close to the floor, his nose nearly brushing against the carpet. He’s surrounded by an empty wedding hall that would rather host his execution than a beautiful ceremony celebrating love. The bells toll for malice rather than bliss. It stabs into him like a stack of daggers.

As his sobs progress to coughs, he dreams about how things could’ve been. He could’ve pulled himself together and understood the reasons behind the situation, but he didn’t. He could’ve seen his two best friends come together and join for life, but he didn’t. He could’ve focused on more serious issues like finding Jack, Nurm, and Radar, but he didn’t. This was all his fault.

Suddenly, something begins softly combing through his hair in a comforting manner, fingers gliding through the blond cascade at a steady pace. His weeps grow quieter at the benign touch, despite how strange it is to suddenly receive comfort from another person in a building you presumed you were alone in. He whimpers before finally managing to muster the strength to look up.

It’s Jesse.

They’re sitting atop the stairs next to him, legs slanted over the two lower steps. They meet his watery eyes, and they give a gentle smile– the gentlest he’s seen them all day. Despite the fact that he ruined them beyond repair, they came back to console him. Maybe he was wrong; maybe Jesse wasn’t off, wrong, or replaced, and they were merely in a bad mood for a while. Even after he had been horrible to them, they still came back to make sure he was okay.

The careful strokes continue. He’s unsure if it’s real or not, but he hears them faintly humming a tune, one oddly familiar that he couldn’t put his finger on. They allow him to let his emotions out, slowly shutting their eyes, despite how ugly the process was. He was grinding his teeth, and his tears and mucus were spilling all over his face. No matter, they didn’t mind it at all.

“I…” Lukas sniffles, voice cracking, “I’m sorry…”

Jesse’s hums come to a pause and their eyes flutter open. They gaze for a moment, and a flare flickers in their pupils before their expression changes and they seethe–

“You will be.”

They remove their hand from his hair as heat starts to gather beneath him. As the room goes dark, a circle burns itself around him, beginning to burst into bright orange flames. While he pushes himself up with one arm, Jesse stands and backs away, the two biggest flames dancing by their sides, and a sinister grin spreading on their face.

The hot tongues lulling towards him show no sign of stopping, and he stumbles over himself trying to stand up and escape. Blood rushes in his ears, the roaring of the fire growing louder and louder as it consumes him. Jesse is cackling with an echo in their voice as the ground begins to sink in on itself, taking Lukas with it.

He flails, and flails, and flails, despite it getting him nowhere. He glances down and notices his legs are gone. The floor is eating him alive. He reaches towards the sky as the flames grow higher and the maniacal laughter gets louder. The consumption is slow, yet painless, but terrifying nonetheless. “HELP!” Lukas calls out for help, screaming, one last time before succumbing to the distorted sinkhole.