Chapter Text
They tied up the horses the moment the sun started to fade over the mountain peaks. Petra didn't let Aiden waste a second.
"Hurry up Aiden!"
Aiden double checked the knot on the reigns. "I'm coming, no point in finding the flower if we have no way home."
"No point in heading home if we don't find the flower," she retorted.
Aiden growled and stepped away from the horses, still unsure if they were properly secure. But Petra was right, no more precious time to waste.
The jungle swallowed them in one gulp like the behemoth that it was. Five feet in they needed the torches; seven feet in they could no longer see the clearing. Twelve feet later, they couldn't even hear the horses.
The jungle treated the torches like an infestation. Darkness tried hard to swallow the light in every best possible way. The orange-gold beams were only successful in spreading vision out a few feet, beyond that was black nothing.
In retrospect Petra and Aiden knew there was more than just nothing, when had it ever been nothing? Jungles were every traveler's nightmare. Caravans would take the long way, brave swords men would pass by, even those pressed for time would avoid Mother Nature's bad child. Yet here they were, pressed for time and in the heart of the last true wild.
Night was barely beginning and it had already started to fill the air with a chorus of sounds. Screeches, howls, hisses-
Oh boy, Aiden thought.
He was the one holding the torch, Petra chose to stay armed instead. That meant she had to stay pretty close to him, something neither were clearly partial to. Besides, while the need for light was wanted, it had to stay limited. How else were they supposed to find a flower that glowed in the dark?
There was hiss somewhere over to Aiden's right. He didn't get to register it, Petra stabbed out into the darkness, effectively snuffing out the intruder.
"What if it was friendly?" was his weak conversation starter.
"Hissing means spider," was her effective conversation ender.
Aiden frowned, shoving a branch roughly away from his face. It came back, snapping roughly against his cheek. He cursed.
Behind him Petra chuckled, "So that's where Lukas learned that word from." She sighed, "Lukas hated going through jungles."
"I think everyone does." Aiden answered. "...Sounds like you two were getting close."
"We've been traveling together for ages now Aiden. It's either that or hate each other, if that was the case we'd never get anything done."
Aiden said nothing as he pushed the branch back once more. This time he held it, waiting for Petra to pass, "You seem to know a lot about him..."
"Probably not as much as you," she answered, "Sure, we've been neck to neck traveling together lately. But didn't you two grow up together? I seem to remember always seeing you guys as a set back home."
"If you can call us a set. It was more of follow the leader."
"And who led , I wonder?"
He noted the venom, "Who do you think?"
She didn't answer, making her way a few feet ahead. Petra stayed in the torchlight, but she stayed near its edge, far enough from him."
Seconds dragged into minutes and from there, hours. Progress was slow, you couldn't move fast when you were trying to find a flower in a giant jungle. Did you rush through trying to find that needle in a haystack? Of course not.
Petra's patience grew thin with each passing hour however, "Are you sure you saw a flower's glow in here Aiden?"
"Yes," he said for the hundredth time.
"We should have found one by now, this is taking too long! It's probably morning!"
"Do you see any sunlight?"
"Well no-"
"Then it's not morning," he growled. Aiden looked up, barely able to see traces of moonlight far beyond the forest canopy, "The moon is right above us, we're probably around midnight."
Petra stabbed something in the bushes, "Just look over by those rocks over there," she snapped, "I'll check here in the ferns."
Aiden didn't need to be told twice, the tension between them was as hot and thick as the night air. He moved towards the rocks, grateful to get some space and get away from her attitude.
Attitude...
It was almost a cruel irony, being paired with someone who could match him for temper and snark. Now he had a slight idea how Jesse felt.
The rocks revealed nothing but bare stone and bits of iron, Aiden sighed, flicking the gravel away in frustration. He paused, it suddenly struck him that most of the rock was mixed with gravel in fact.
Shit.
Aiden cursed as the ground gave away beneath him, and he tumbled down a steep ledge. The torch flew out of his hand, rolling down the hill with him.
"Aiden!"
He covered his face with his arms, trying to shield himself from rocks and branches. Then as quickly as it started, Aiden felt his back slam against a flat piece of stone, knocking the breath out of him. "Augh!"
"Aiden what happened?!"
The torch caught up with him, stopping short by his head, Aiden looked up towards the night sky, lungs heaving for air.
The glowing purple eyes of an Enderman greeted him back.