Chapter Text
The four of them had been holding the golem at bay. Reuben and Lukas focused on distracting it as Jesse and Petra dealt as many hits as possible. Unfortunately, their gear wasn't strong enough to do any real damage. The redhead clicked her teeth together as she caught the brunette from stumbling over. They could only dodge for so long before someone could get seriously hurt. And she had a feeling that isn't the smallest of their worries right now. They all could hear loud rumbling and explosions from upstairs. Petra only wished that they could get away from this stupid golem and back to the others.
She glanced at Jess and Lukas, no offense to either of them… but they were giving her more to worry about. Jesse was helping to a degree but he had two left feet. And Lukas was more builder than fighter, which is self explanatory. She had spent more time looking after those two than actually dealing with the problem at hand. The brunette stumbled back as Petra pulled him by the collar of his shirt. Then hit the chunk of iron right after.
“I think you guys have given me better odds at taking it out, I can finish it off while you guys get back to the others–” The girl hopped back, standing between the two boys.
“Petra– we're not–” Lukas stammered.
The golem got up again and rushed at them, causing them all to dodge.
“Look. I know I'm not the only one hearing all of those weird noises from up there. I can handle myself, but you need to make sure Olivia and Axel are safe.” She backed away, corralling them closer to the exit. “Plus, I wanna beat the shit out of Ivor.” She winked.
“By yourself–?! We aren–” Jesse protested, pointing his sword at her harmlessly then to the golem in an exasperated motion.
“I'm not giving you a choice. Now GO!” She shoved them, forcing them to leave.
“PETRA–” They both yelled.
Before they could run back to her the golem had slammed one of its arms into some of the bookshelves in an attempt to hit a fleeing Reuben. Books toppled onto the ground left and right as their path was now blocked off. Jesse gritted his teeth, he could not believe that they had no choice but to leave Petra here. He knew they would be more of a hindrance as they were now anyway. The pink pig led the way back through the correct halls. Lukas stayed silent for a while, nervous due to Jesse's clear frustration.
“T…Thanks for coming back for me Jesse… I didn't know if anybody was going to…” He quickened his steps to catch up to the other.
“Normally my motto is ‘no man left behind’ but Petra changed that.” Jesse looked over his shoulder.
“I feel terrible leaving her alone like that. But she's strong, she will make it out. And after all of this I'll owe you guys one, big time.”
The other man nodded and slowly stepped up the stairs, pausing briefly each time he felt the ground rumble. His stomach suddenly felt queasy. They got closer and closer to the door, and now he could hear more clearly. People yelling could be heard in the distance. And… smoke? The brunette pushed through the door with his shoulder, his eyes burst wide as he stopped mid-step.
“Wha– What happened here?!” He rushed out, standing further into the now ruined auditorium. Reuben followed behind him, oinking loudly.
Most of the building's roof was gone, the stage was destroyed and blocks everywhere were missing. Some places had even been lit on fire, but it was clear of people. Lukas ran up behind him with the pig, looking around in a panic.
“We– we weren't even down there that long– what could've done–”
A loud roar cracked through the air, it sounded farther away. Whatever that was, it was big.
“That sounds nothing like the wither.” The blonde whispered.
“Where is everyone?” Jesse scanned all around him, finding nothing but debris.
His legs carried him as he jogged out of the entrance, seeing the night sky clouded in fire smoke. Endercon was destroyed, entire stalls were missing, parts of the ground and walls were thrown around. He looked straight ahead where the town gate was closed. Lukas stared in shock from right next to him. Reuben anxiously oinked at his feet. The brunette tried to think rationally right now, and shoved down the concerned feeling in his chest.
“Gabriel… Gabriel–! They have to be with him– there was a temple of his around here–”
“Right, Right. Me and Aiden tried to sneak in there once. If they aren't there it's at least safer than out here.” He beckoned Jesse to follow him.
The two of them traversed over the now phantom of a city. There was almost nobody around, the entire town cleared out. A couple of monsters managed to sneak in due to the broken walls. They were able to make it to the gate, still cautious as Jesse moved to kick it down. He slammed his foot into it once, twice, and then three times as the fence finally gave in and broke with a loud crack. He bent down and crawled through the hole, the other two in tow as they ran through the grass. There were cyan lights in the horizon and the two of them ran through the forest, mobs were everywhere. Jesse picked up Reuben, who was falling behind as he did his best to run for his little life.
“Jesse come on, it's not too far ahead.” He whispered hoarsely, trying not to alert anything else around them.
They both were out of breath, they had no idea where their friends, Gabriel, or whatever did all of this was. But the temple will be their best…. bet…
Lukas’ footsteps slowed to a stop, his steps becoming more and more uncertain as they got closer to the temple. Jesse almost slammed into his back due to aimlessly chasing him. He stepped to the side and plopped the pig down as he caught what grabbed the others attention. The temple was right in front of them, but not intact. The top of it was essentially ripped open, just like the auditorium.
The blonde glanced at Jesse, uncertainty shining in his blue eyes. “This doesn't look good.”
“Yeah, no shot.” The brunette ran a stressed hand through his hair, his hands setting on his neck. “Let's just… let's see if there is anything inside.”
He moved ahead without any hesitance, shoes clicking against the stone staircase. The other man paused for a moment, still taking in the destruction done on the temple. Reuben nudged his leg, trotting ahead of him to catch up with his owner. Even the pig was being braver than he was. Lukas sighed and followed a safe distance behind, checking for signs of life or clues. He hoped that they were on the right track but it felt like they were grasping at straws.
Every time one of their feet made contact with the floor they echoed. The inside was covered in quartz, Lukas would love to take a moment to admire it but they had bigger priorities. He met up with the curly-haired man, who was inspecting something on the floor. He let Reuben sniff it.
“What did you find?”
Jesse looked back at him, standing up with a piece of cloth in his hand. “Do you recognize this?” He held it out to him. “Reuben doesn't know the scent so–”
Lukas gently grasped the scrap of fabric, as soon as his eyes hit it he knew what it was. It consisted of red and yellow nylon.
“It's Maya’s.” He put it in his pocket, running his fingers over it to try and soothe the unease building in his gut.
“Okay. So they were here.” The other boy walked ahead, trying to find anything in the piles of debris.
The blonde zoned out for a moment, this all happened way too fast. With way too little context. And he just hoped they weren't the only ones left.
“Lukas–! Come look at this!” Jesse calls out, standing on a collapsed piece of the roof.
As he approached he noticed Reuben sniffing what seemed to be remnants of a nether portal. He rushed towards it, touching the bottom of it, where the frame was still intact.
“Warm… It's warm!” he exclaimed. “They went through!”
“That is the best thing I've heard all day.” Jesse let out a sigh of relief. “So… how are we going to find them?”
“Well…” He tapped his chin as they made their decent back down. “This is something the order made so it probably connects to a lot of places. They could be… anywhere.” He slid down one of the concrete slabs that was slanted onto the floor.
Jesse wobbled down it behind him, landing with a trip of his feet. Reuben hopped down with ease. The pair made eye-contact, giving one another worried looks.
“But… maybe a good place to go is the other temple around here. I think it was the Orders…” Lukas shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.
Reuben snorted in protest at the notion of going back outside.
“There's another temple–?” Jesse groaned, running another anxious hand through the strands of his hair.
“Yeah… this one is Gabriel's exclusively. The other one is in the east, so we could get there on foot.”
Jesse tried to hide his frustration and nodded curtly, holding back the many questions and concerns he may have had. Lukas doesn't know all the answers. He headed past him out of the structure. A little pink pig follows next to his legs closely.
“It's not like we have much of a choice.” Lukas murmured as he followed him out, hopefully they will reunite with the others. Because how long can they stay safe like this?
Jesse and Lukas continued to trek through the oak forest from outside their town as they searched for their friends. They only had one lead to follow, and it wasn't guaranteed that they would find them. An unspoken truce was in the air between the pair as they aimlessly roamed the forest.
“Are you sure you know where we are going–?” Jesse jogged closer to the taller man, hushed to not alert any monsters nearby.
From all this walking it felt like it had been hours.
“Mmhmm. I've read a lot of books on the Order, and they are not shy about revealing the coordinates of all of their supposedly secret bases.” He was quiet for a second then glanced at Jesse over his shoulder. “I thought you'd eat stuff like that up.”
Jesse side eyed him with a small huff. “I've… never been an avid reader.”
Lukas replied with a playful jab. “Huh. The more you know.”
“That was more Olivia’s thing. Axel would get bored and pigs aren't allowed in the library.”
Lukas nodded at that, he did happen to come across Olivia there a couple of times. But they'd only awkwardly wave to one another, nothing more.
“The others weren't a fan of that place either.” He chuckled, his face becoming solemn as he took in the reality of all of this.
It seemed Jesse had the same revelation, the two of them going silent again. They listened out for footsteps that weren't their own as they continued through the dark forest. It wouldn't be long until they ran into something.
The trees kept rustling in the wind, leaves and sticks snapping as they stepped their way through. A weird scuttling sound could be heard from behind the three of them, causing Reuben to get nervous and run into Jesse's legs. Which startled Jesse as fell forward slightly and bumped into the blonde's shoulder. He looked back at the creature with an annoyed look.
“This is not the time Reuben, we are in the middle of nowhere in the dark.” He hissed under his breath.
Lukas glanced back at them with sympathetic eyes. “Maybe we should bed down for the night. We are all tired and jumpy. Plus, who knows what will find us right now.”
“But what about the others? If we stop–”
“I would rather be alive if I am being honest. We will make way more progress once the sun is out.” Lukas rubbed the back of his neck.
Jess couldn't argue with that. “Okay.”
He slid the elastic of his suspender between his fingers. Thinking of their options. Right now, the last thing he wants is to be on the ground. There was plenty of wood around them.
“So… hut or a treehouse?” He stared up at the sky.
‘Olivia and Axel totally would've argued about this one.’
His green eyes flicked back down letting out a small exhale. Lukas watched, a saddened look on his face.
“I uh… I'm not sure. I'm fine with either. But, whatever it is? We gotta do it fast.” Wearily, he kept his head on a swivel.
“Let's go with a treehouse. It's functional.” He turned to grab some wood.
‘And familiar.’
Lukas adjusted his jacket, humming in agreement. “Sounds like a plan.”
They each got to work collecting wood, planks, and anything else they could get their hands on. Jesse focused on creating the base of it as fast as possible. As he did so, the other builder focused on secretly adding bits of flourish to the structure. To help it be sturdier of course. Jesse used the last bit of his wood to make sticks for the ladder. He placed them all, plucked Reuben from the ground and quickly retreated into the temporary base.
“Cool.”
Lukas put his hands on his hips with a sigh. He climbed up the ladder finally, thinking out loud. He could hear the other man mumbling to his companion about not having a campfire.
“The only thing we will have to worry about is spiders. Well, maybe if we'd built into the tree a little bit more, it could've -- Nevermind.” He caught Jesse's fully unamused expression as soon as he got to the top of the treehouse. “It's -- this is fine. It's good!”
“Uh huh.” Jesse still looked at him with a raised brow, pulling his legs to his chest. Reuben cuddled beside him.
The blonde did not know how to handle this situation. Well… he wasn't used to this weird energy between them either. He sat to the opposite side of him.
“We will make it to the temple tomorrow. I promise.” He tried to reassure him.
“I know– I just hope ‘Liv and Axel are alright. That's all I can think about right now. Who knows what they are going through.” Jesse pet Reuben to attempt soothing both of their nerves.
Lukas sighs and pulls his knees up as well. “Yeah… I'm worried about everyone too. Hopefully they are all together, who knows what Aiden would do under pressure by himself.”
The man across from him opened his mouth to say something, but shut it right away. He let out a huff as he looked up at the sky. The moon was up high, it'll be some time before morning. He was busy feeling dejected before a fat drop of water hit his face. He wiped it away with a groan.
“Of course. Of course! This night could only get worse!” Jesse threw his hands in frustration as more droplets fell from the sky.
Reuben oinked at him worriedly as he stood up.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa Let's calm down here–” The blonde put his hands up to motion at him to relax.
“We don't have time to be calm Lukas! We are stuck out here in the rain, alone, with no weapons, and LOST–!”
“Jesse I know where we are–” He shifted uncomfortably, rubbing his arms due to the cold. His jacket wasn't helping.
“We were attacked by a freak in his basement, Petra is still there, and the rest of our friends are missing! Who knows what happened to them!” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ugh… I hope Olivia and Axel are all right, I hope Aiden isn’t with them.” He mumbled under his breath.
But unfortunately it wasn't quiet enough. Lukas caught what he said and immediately stood up, crossing his arms.
“Excuse me–? Aiden is my friend too! You can just wish that on him just because you don't like him–!”
“I hate him, actually. There's a difference.” The brunette hisses. “And here you are swooping in to defend him like you always do! Notch, you just don't give a damn about what he does! You’ve seen how he treats me and my friends!”
Lukas impulsively stepped closer. “I do care! And it's not like you guys are any better! You all waste no time to pick a fight–”
“Because Aiden starts it!” Jesse laughs humorlessly, pushing his hair out of his face. “Sorry I like to stand up for myself and my friends rather than being complacent. What? Are you afraid of Aiden?”
The man crossed his arms to mirror Lukas. “Maya and Gill I can excuse. They haven't truly done anything other than piggyback off of Aiden. But he is malicious, it isn't all fun and games. And you know that. You know better, Lukas.”
The taller man could feel the blood rush to his face in embarrassment. He knew Jesse was right but… he's never had someone call him out like that. It was embarrassing.
“I-its– I am not afraid of Aiden. I don't know where you got that idea from. He is my friend just like Gill and Maya are. Sure.. they are misled but I keep them on the right path–” he stammered out.
“Yeah. Until Aiden is around.” A dark finger poked his chest. “I thought you were the head of the Ocelots. But that psycho seems to have taken the cake from right under you! Look Lukas, you are here, not there. You aren't there to moderate them.”
Lukas gritted his teeth. He shouldn't, he can't feed into this. The other man is just stressed, he shouldn't take it personally.
But he does.
Lukas lets his composure slip, shoving Jesse back a little as he gets defensive.
“Oh really?” He laughs back at him. “Maybe it's not my fault your friends are such losers that they can't do anything for themselves! Do you really need to swoop in and protect them from the world?!”
Green eyes widened in the dark as he stumbled back a little. Reuben steadied his balance. The silence was suffocating, and the blonde man felt the regret sink in right away. He was about to backpedal before Jesse just shook his head at him.
“Yes. Because that's what friends do.” He said with a glare. “This is exactly what I am talking about. Sometimes I forget that you are their friend until you act an arrogant jerk out of nowhere.”
He lets out a loud scoff and turns away from him, walking to the other side of the treehouse.
“Leave for all I care, it's the end of the world and you still have time to worry about who is a loser and who is not. So if you can't handle being stuck with one, go.”
The hurt sound in his words didn't miss Lukas. Ugh, he didn't mean to say all of that. But he knows that whatever he says in this moment won't fix anything. His blue eyes trailed after Jesse as he laid down on the wood planks underneath them, lifting his arm to let his pig huddle with him for warmth. He just stood there, replaying the argument over and over in his head. He tried to make a decent apology but the words kept getting choked up when he tried. After a couple of minutes he sighed, his hands slapping his sides as he walked over to them quietly.
“Jesse I-” He peeked over and realized that the two of them had fallen asleep already. The brunette held the pig tightly as Reuben laid gracefully on his back.
He let out a quiet chuckle as pulled his jacket off, carefully settling it onto them without stirring them. Then he went down the ladder, leaving the treehouse.