Work Text:
Everything had been flipped on its head. Jesse barely had time to process all the nightmares she'd experienced. She just wanted to curl up in bed and never go outside again. It had been two weeks and a few days since she'd killed the wither storm, and now she was doing exactly that. As the sun pierced through the curtains, she stayed beneath her warm blanket, eyes glued on the wall.
Normally Reuben would force her awake by now, sniffing through her hair and squealing. Of course, Reuben was gone. When she first saw that pig terrified and huddled by a waterfall, she never thought he'd impact her so much. He'd always been a fighter, much brighter than any of the other pixelated pigs in this world. She could've done so much to prevent his death… She really missed her pig.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Jesse sighed, pulling her hair over her face. Why couldn't she stop thinking about everything she'd lost? They'd stopped the storm! Everyone was safe now and could rebuild, pick up the pieces. Jesse was still wallowing in the temporary hut Axel and Olivia had made up, unable to move on. She'd had enough of being strong.
“... Nnfh… I wonder what the others are up to,” Jesse murmured, rolling over in bed. She stared, patiently waiting for someone to enter.
Unfortunately, nobody came. Sighing, she closed her eyes again. It was better they left her alone. She'd dragged them all into this mess and, while she couldn't do it without any of them, she felt really, really bad. She should've done something when she first saw all the materials for it, should've stopped Ivor while Petra was opening the chest, should've told Axel to leave that potion where it was.
Along with the Wither Storm, her heroes were fake. The Order of the Stone, each and every one of them frauds. While they had commendable skills outside of their “heroism”, they'd lied about all their important acts. They never defeated the sea monument's beasts, they never ventured out into biomes filled with ice spires to cure a village full of zombies, never killed ghasts. Most of all, they didn't kill the ender dragon. They never freed anyone! They just made the issues disappear with that dreadful Command Block.
And Magnus was the only one who stepped up when she needed help with the formidi-bomb, giving her his armour and… and ending up dead because he had nothing to protect him. That beautiful emerald leather was neatly folded up on the floor beside her, taunting her. Magnus was stubborn about her accepting it, but she wondered if she should've tried harder. It was so warm when she first put it on, and baggy. He had to tie the leather belt with string so it actually fit her body. That man was wonderful, full of fierce determination. She could see why Axel was so enthusiastic about him; she wished there was more time for them to get to know him.
“Jesse? Buddy, are you awake?” Speaking of Axel, he'd come to check on her.
Jesse raised her head a little, trying to catch a glimpse of her big brother without moving too much. She wasn't sure if she wanted him here or not. His heavy footsteps got closer and closer, then he peeled the blanket from her head.
Staring up at Axel, Jesse grumbled, “Go away…”
A snort escaped him and he leaned over, “That's not like you. Normally you're whining for attention.”
Rolling her eyes, she huffed. Maybe he had a point. Right now, she'd rather fade into the background. She wanted to dig a hole and bury herself inside right now, disappear and become a hermit.
“You wanna come outside for a bit? You don't have to help with the clean up, but I don't want you rotting in bed again because of some messed-up blocks.” Axel placed a hand on her arm, gently squeezing.
“... Wait, hey, that was years ago.” Jesse sat up almost instantly. No way he was bringing up their first building competition.
Jesse was about twelve and she'd only managed to sneak in thanks to Olivia's help in making her look older. She got to wear a cool hat and jacket, and walk around in stilts all throughout the day, even if she tripped up multiple times. They were making a piston-operated door, the idea being what Olivia thought up. Unfortunately they didn't win and Jesse had taken that as the end of the world, locking herself in her room for about three days. God, she used to be so embarrassing… She probably still was.
“That got you up. Come on, just a little bit more.” Axel smirked, ruffling her hair.
“Ugh, okay… Just don't annoy me if I come with you.” Jessie climbed out of bed, dusting off her overalls.
She stared at Magnus’ armour, then looked back at Axel. She could go outside without it for a little while; there wasn't any danger… Hopefully. After changing the bandages on her arms and legs, she stood up.
Seeing the remains of Endercon being cleaned up and houses beginning to be constructed filled her with a weird sensation. Jesse wasn't amazing at identifying how she felt, finding it easier to ask others about how they felt and go along with whatever they said. Olivia had told her before that she needed to think about herself more. Following slightly behind Axel, Jesse took in her surroundings, then took a deep breath. She needed a nice walk. The air - despite being outside - still made her feel unsettled. It felt too calm and quiet now that there were no stakes.
Axel placed his hand on Jesse's back, looking down at her, “Hey, you doin’ alright?”
Jesse's eyes widened momentarily and she met his gaze. Although no words left her mouth, she gestured awkwardly with her head, trying to get some point across.
“Yeah… Must've been hell in there. I managed to talk to Gabriel about what it was like.” Axel looked forward, “He mentioned something about how there were so many noises at the start: screaming, chickens clucking, squelching and crackling. All the gross stuff.
“Then, one by one, each noise died out, like their energy was being ‘withered away’ or something. I'm glad I wasn't beamed up and eaten.” He added, patting her back.
“Oh, jeez…” Jesse grimaced. She'd arrived there by the time all the life inside had given up.
“Yeah. I wonder if that's the only real horror that guy's seen. I can't believe they were all frauds… Do you think it's bad that I still find them a little cool?”
“Well, I guess it isn't too bad?”
Axel nodded, “Thanks. I guess that's why you chose to keep the truth a secret.. So it doesn't look weird that I like them.”
Ah, yes, she'd decided to lie. Having so much lingering stress made her want to get over that stupid speech as quickly as possible. She didn't care about being the new Order of the Stone, and she wasn't amazing at speaking to such a big crowd. The audience ate whatever she spewed out anyway, so she supposed there weren't many issues. Also, she guessed that most of those survivors wouldn't be able to handle losing so much and discovering that they all believed the legends of fraudsters.
“... Do you think I made the right choice? Not getting Gabriel to tell the truth, I mean.” Lowering her head, Jesse stared at her shoes.
“Dude, I don't think it really matters. None of them know about the command block, so it'll be hard to explain. How about you stop worrying about it so much?” He shrugged.
Easier said than done. Worrying was something she hadn’t stopped once. Jesse wasn’t sure how to stop being so anxious.
The further they got from the hut, the more destruction they came across. Trees and dirt had been ripped from the ground, hills had been stripped down to bedrock, mountains had gaping holes. At least there were new caves to explore. Part of her wondered if the corpse of the wither storm would add to nutrients in the soil or suck it all out while it decomposed.
Axel stopped suddenly, pointing towards a cluster of flowers to the left of them, “Woah, never seen flowers like that before.”
“Like what- Oh…” Jesse stared at the centre of the cluster, seeing black roses surrounded by other flowers.
She'd never seen such dark blossoms. Before she could stop herself she was making her way across the grasslands and standing before the flowers. Bending over, she squinted, trying to avoid treading on any of them as she examined the strange roses.
“There's so many… It's… kinda pretty.” She murmured, as if being too loud would make all the petals detach and fly away.
Axel stood beside her, then hesitantly raised a foot. The flowers were clustered so closely that he would definitely tread on a few if he tried getting any closer. Eventually, he put his foot down, crushing a few poppies. The next step he took, he decided to brush some out the way with his sandal before doing damage.
Jesse watched his cautious approach, then decided to follow. She stepped in the same places he had, having to hop a bit to keep up with his long strides. Axel had always been big, but seeing his footprints always surprised her. When she was younger, she secretly prayed at night that she'd grow taller than him. Unfortunately her wish wasn't granted. It was always so annoying when he could see over things she couldn't.
They stopped just before the centre. Jesse tilted her head, “Why are they smoking?”
“Huh, must be their pollen or something.” Axel reached to touch one.
As his fingers brushed against the petals, he shuddered, immediately recoiling afterwards. He stared at his hand, his unibrow furrowing. A thin layer of dark violet powder coated his fingertips, making them feel cold and numb. He wiped his fingers on his hoodie. Some of the powder was still stuck to his skin, although there were noticeable streaks of purple on the green fabric.
Jesse frowned, “Does it hurt? We need to wash it off…”
“No, it doesn't hurt. It just feels weird,” Axel replied, “It feels cold.”
He tapped Jesse's nose, leaving a mark on her tan skin.
“Hey, it might be poisonous! You can't just mess around with it!” She exclaimed, quickly wiping her face.
The chilliness lingered for a while, tickling her nose. She sneezed, shaking her head. The powder was propelled through the air before vanishing like the smoke the roses were producing. Each tiny grain seemed to glisten as they fell.
“You could stuff these down someone's collar and freeze them,” Axel muttered, kneeling and plucking one of the flowers.
Watching him stuff it into his inventory, Jesse shook her head, “You just never learn not to take what's not yours…”
“It's part of nature; nobody owns nature. It's less cold when it isn't attached to the ground though.” He grunted.
“I guess you have a point,” Jessie sighed, “but it doesn't make my point wrong.”
She watched Axel pick some of the other blooms around them. Then he started navigating his way out of the circle. It was a little confusing how he tried not to tread on them yet still plucked a bunch from the soil. They continued their meander through nature. Axel fiddled with the flowers, squinting while he concentrated.
He sliced holes in the stems with his nails, the sizes uneven. Precision wasn't Axel's thing. He peeled away some of the leaves and petals, trying to make it easier to create a flower chain. At least she assumed that was what he was trying to make.
Staring at his attempt, Jessie reached over, assisting him. She threaded some flowers together, then joined it with what he'd made so far, “There you go.”
“You do that so easily. I'll be as good as you one day. I've got all the time in the world to practice now.” He smiled.
Jessie managed to smile back.
Eventually Axel had made two crude bracelets. He decided against adding any of the strange black flowers, just sticking to the reds, yellows and blues. He slid one onto Jesse’s wrist, the chain hanging loose. The petals tickled her skin a little. Feeling something so delicate touching her felt unfamiliar now. She hadn’t touched many soft things while the storm was raging, other than maybe the sand at Boomtown and the land of wool in the End.
“Now, don’t go and give that away,” Axel warned.
“Hey, I wasn’t going to let Lukas go hungry when we’d dragged him along.” Jesse crossed her arms.
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, well, you were doing much more running and fighting than he was.”
“You have a point. At least we found that apple,” she muttered.
“I know you wanted a cookie more.”
“I absolutely wanted it more.”
Thankfully Jesse didn’t have to learn anything from that mistake as she never ended up in a similar situation (ignoring the witch’s hut). Now that there was nothing to run from she could get food easier; everyone could get food easier. One of the things she wanted to make was pumpkin pie. A piece of steak would be nice too, or some soup.
A gust of wind rustled the trees as they walked, leaves falling and swirling through the air. The ones that had already fallen were too soggy to give any crunch when they stepped on them. This forest was relatively in one piece, although there were a few large patches where the wither storm had passed and uprooted the foliage and soil. Jesse was a bit curious how people would go about terraforming the empty holes, if at all. They’d already decided tearing down old buildings and restarting them entirely was a good idea, even if the lack of the tall walls in the town allowed mobs to get in. In the days following she’d managed to fight many off until exhaustion finally set in. Although this walk was refreshing, she could still feel faint aches and sleepiness in her body, along with the weird feeling that something was missing.
Her mind had blocked out most of her memory inside the belly of the beast. It felt like trudging through an ice-cold swamp, the miscellaneous material inside the wither storm moulding itself around her boots as she scrambled to follow Reuben. He knew where to go more than she did. She tried to keep her eyes closed and listen to the squeals, not wanting to look at the creatures embedded into the structures. As much as she tried to forget, seeing the haunted looks of humans and animals alike would never leave her mind. And to think Petra could’ve faced that fate if she didn’t save her… To think Gabriel could’ve permanently melded into the monster’s skin… To think any of her friends could’ve been a part of it! She shivered as unsettling visuals filled her mind.
None of that could happen anymore. They were safe now. A part of her would be lying if she said she didn’t have nightmares though. She was surprised everyone remained in one piece; everything had been so close to falling apart. What would she do without Olivia to figure out all the smart things and remind her to comb her hair? She certainly wouldn’t be as brave if Axel wasn’t worrying about things and making her want to keep him out of harm's way. Reuben, although he wasn’t here any longer, was her biggest motivator, Petra was too cool to die and.. Well, she may have been a bit afraid of Lukas at first, but he wasn’t that bad, like Petra said.
Oh, and Aiden had decided to help, even if it was quite late. She never thought they’d be on good terms again after she left the orphanage. Although, she couldn’t really tell if he actually cared or Lukas had forced him to help. Jesse could pretend it was the former for her own sanity, for now; she didn’t want to deal with even more worrying.
“Axel?” Jesse asked, crossing her arms.
“Yeah?”
“I… I’m not sure what we should do next.” She shrugged, “I don’t want to be in charge of all this.”
Rubbing his chin, Axel looked away, “Huh.. I guess you are technically the boss now. How about you go talk to Ivor?”
“Ehh…” Wincing, she smiled awkwardly.
“Oh, yeah. Uhh… I could come with you for moral support?” He scratched his nose, “Olivia would join us as well.”
Sighing softly, Jesse nodded. She’d have to confront Ivor at some point. An old man had more experience running things than a bunch of teens. Ellegard and Gabriel were off helping other villages and towns, and unfortunately, the most knowledgeable had ran off as soon as he was in danger.
“Come on, let’s head back.” Patting her back, Axel turned around.
Jesse lifted her head. She watched him walk a few steps, then scampered over and hugged him. Her brother stopped immediately, glancing over his shoulder. Quickly picking her up, he helped her onto his shoulders. He never forced her to say anything because he knew what she wanted most of the time. It was easier than someone asking for honesty. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she let her shoulders relax.