Chapter Text
Jesse’s eyes swept across the ruined lands. No cries for help, no screams of agony, no bodies trapped under heavy and unmoving ebony tentacles. Nothing. Still, he pushed on, his weary mind chanting, “Save them, all of them.”
His legs shook from exhaustion and his chest burned as he heaved in breath after breath. His arms ached from pushing wounded people to their feet, or hauling the unconscious back to the others through mazes of black ooze seeping from the fatally wounded Witherstorm’s body. The people thanked him profusely as they ran away from the heap of death and decay. He could do nothing but nod and run back towards it.
He counted his footsteps as he ran, keeping his breathing to a steady rhythm. He kept track of Reuben, who trailed loyally by his side, occasionally nudging tentacles or looking ahead for Jesse. It was his only way to prevent himself from bolting back to his friends, back to the ones who stuck by him through thick and thin, who would hug him and tell him it was all over and that they were going home. If home still existed.
Sweat dripped down his face and neck, down into the collar of armour that didn’t belong to him. Armour that could have saved Magnus, that could have saved a real hero. Jesse didn’t deserve it: he was half the man Magnus ever was.
He purged the thoughts from his mind with a shake of his head, going back to counting his steps as Reuben squeaked quietly at his reaction. Save them.
“Hello?! Anyone?!” he cried, voice raw and shaking. He cupped his hands around his mouth, slowing to a stop to survey the land in a spin.
His response came in the form of a groan to his left. He gasped, rushing over to the survivor who was trapped under a thick tentacle. He gripped it, and threw it to the side with a shout.
Jesse reached for the man, pulling him upright. “Don’t worry – it’s all over now. My friends are going to help you.”
The man nodded, giving him a tense smile. His eyes betrayed his pain. “I hope you’re right. Thank you.”
Jesse nods, patting him on the shoulder as he begins to limp quickly away from the dead beast.
All of them.
Jesse took a moment just to stand still, taking in the wreckage. Green grass was stained black and grey. Blood mixed with mud. Trees were fallen, leaving branches and leaves in mounds draped over by tentacles of darkness.
Reuben suddenly gave a squeal of terror, eyes widening and legs almost failing beneath him as he scrambled back.
“Reuben…?” Jesse, reaching out to his pig in concern, followed his line of sight, and his entire body froze.
The Command Block, stained with black goo and wither, stood proudly and untouched among the wreck of death.
“No…the Command Block?” he whispered, and the block in question twinkled innocently in question. “That’s impossible – the Formidi-bomb…I don’t understand. Soren said it would have destroyed it, but it looks fine!”
Reuben squealed again, shaking.
Jesse was one second – one second too late – from turning and running as fast as he could, when his feet began to lift from the ground.
The Command Block gave a hum, as though it was intrigued by the human squirming, terrified, in its grasp. The beam of light that was tugging him towards it shone brightly, but wrong, so wrong, like the sun shining during a foggy day.
“What?! Wait- no, no! Guys!” he cried, a small pang of relief flooding through him to see Reuben still stable on the ground. “Help! Over here!”
His heart was beating out of his chest. They had killed it, it had finally been over! It should have been destroyed! He flailed, panic fully flooding his system. What would the Command Block do? Kill him? Absorb him? Turn him into some withered creature?
“Reuben!” Jesse screamed. The pig backed away, scared and trembling. “Run! Go find the others! It’s still alive!”
At his word, the ground shook.
He was so close to the Command Block that he could feel it. The entire thing was buzzing, alive and reaching out for him. He could do nothing but stare at it as Reuben ran to get help, but he knew it was too late for him.
He was moving slower now, but he couldn’t help the choked cry that escaped him as he saw the massive tentacles that surrounded the Block start moving, and the ribcage that had kept it protected began to shift back into place around it.
The Command Block gave a violent pulse, and Jesse flailed as he watched the tentacles come back to life before his eyes, twisting their attention to him with curiosity.
“Jesse?!”
He looked over his shoulder to see the horrified eyes of his friends, and in that moment of reaching out in desperation, pain exploded through his entire body.
A kind of pain that you barely feel in the first moment, a tingling numbness. Then numb becomes pins and needles, then knives, then fire. Fire that burns and burns and burns until you couldn’t breathe or think or feel anything other than sharp, hot pain.
He had a moment where he looked down and saw a withered tendril, writhing and wriggling, pierced through his stomach. He wished he had time to process it, to realise, “Sweet Maker, I’m going to die” before another tentacle wrapped around his body and cut through his shoulder, and another through his thigh.
He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. But he knew, he knew, deep down inside that it was over. Everything they’d done, everything they tried to do was for nothing. The adventures, the fights, the time they’d wasted. It was over.
But he had a chance to save them.
He barely processed his own words as he told them to run. He didn’t understand his reason behind freeing his arm to throw them the Amulet. He never saw the ribcage surrounding the Command Block carefully fold in place protectively around him. He never saw Lukas and Axel being pulled back by the others to stop them from going after him, before turning and running from the shifting, alive, beast.
He never saw Lukas’ distraught face as he abandoned his friend.
The last thing he saw was the darkening skies, and clouds drifting lazily above him. The last thing he tasted was decay and blood. The last thing he heard was his own sharp breathing, and the roar of one of the Witherstorm’s heads. The last thing he felt was agony, so strong he could barely think, but he was lucid enough to get one thought in:
I’m sorry Magnus. I couldn’t save them.
Then, he felt the touch of the Command Block at his back, and he felt no more.