<Jesse's POV>

We split into four teams of two. Lukas and I, Harper and Ivor, Petra and William, and Ruby and Sammy. We say our goodbyes, and set off in different directions.

We are lucky enough to find a couple horses early on, a black and a brown. Lukas reveals a pair of saddles he had picked up in the portals, and we cover ground much faster.

We're heading toward the city we kept our treasures from our adventures. I know one group was going to the city in front of the Temple, and I'm not sure where the others went. What I do know is that we're going to meet up with Ruby and Sammy somewhere near the city.

When the sky starts darkening, we build a small dirt hut and take shelter inside. It's just big enough for the two of us and the fire, and the horses are outside. Out of the blue, I notice that this is the first time me and Lukas have been truly alone together since I fell off the pillars at Soren's place. But then, we were with Reuben then, so that doesn't really count.

Reuben... if he hadn't followed me into the Witherstorm, I probably would have failed to break the Command Block. But he jumped into the minecart with me, and died because of it. Because of me.

I need to stop blaming myself for when people I know are dying. First Magnus, then Reuben, then all those people with the weird names... and then I had thought Petra died when I took out the Redstone Heart from PAMA's core...

I seriously want to hit something.

Lukas puts a hand on my shoulder. "You're thinking about Reuben again, aren't you?" He asks, quietly.

It's like he can read my mind or something.

"Yeah," I answer. "And Magnus, Sparklez, Lizzie... People keep dying near me. It's like knowing me is super bad luck or something."

I close my eyes and take a slow breath. "Maybe it'd be better for everyone if I left. Went and lived alone in the jungle where no one can find me. Maybe then no one else will die because of me."

I open my eyes to see Lukas shaking his head. "No, Jesse. It's not because of you. Everyone dies eventually. You just happen to be there when they do."

"You're Mr. Cheerful," I mutter under my breath.

"Just saying," he says, smiling slightly and scratching the side of his head.

A thought strikes me. "Speaking of which, what were you going to say last night? When I told you to stop talking?"

He freezes up, just for a moment. "Nothing important," he says quickly.

I doubt that, but I'll let it pass. "If you say so. We should get some sleep if we're going to make it back in time." A yawn escapes me, and I close my eyes again. Sleep overtakes me quickly.

~Lukas's POV~

I watch her as she falls asleep. She looks so peaceful and calm, not as if she'd just been considering leaving us and living alone in the jungle for the rest of her life. If she did, she would have to hide her home quite well, because I would search every last block of the biome until I found her, no matter what.

I take off my gauntlet and look at the droplet on my hand. Once again, I wonder what my powers are, and how to activate them. But now, a new, troubling thought enters my head.

Nothing comes without a cost. So what is the cost of these abilities?

After exploring the possibilities for a while, I push that train of thought away and drift into sleep.

Instantly, a dream hits me. I'm floating in the air, swinging my iron sword at the bright white eyes of a giant coiling beast. It opens its mouth, revealing long fangs, and hisses at me. I realize that the monster looks like it's just a scaly head and long tail, and its form seems to be made of several different layers.

I can't turn my head to look for anyone else, probably because I don't have the time to spare. It spits some strange liquid at me, and I barely dodge out of the way. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the end of its tail wrapping around a small figure and tossing it aside, and I hear someone yelling.

<Jesse's POV>

The yelling wakes me up. Lukas is thrashing around and shouting at the top of his lungs. He's still asleep, though.

"Lukas, wake up!" I say, pushing him. Nothing changes. I can hear what he's saying now; "How could you!" and "Die!" and things like that.

"Lukas!"

He's still stuck in his dream. Nothing's working, and there's only one thing I can think of doing.

I shove him against the ground, pin his arms down, lean forwards until our faces are almost touching, and yell, "Lukas, WAKE UP!"

He jolts awake, eyes wide. For a few moments, we hold the position in silence. He nervously says, "Um, hey, Jesse," and I sit back down.

"You were yelling in your sleep," I try to explain.

"No, no, that's fine," he interrupts.

"Bad dream?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"No, no, that's fine," I mimic him.

He smiles, and everything is silent again. I can tell he wants to say something, but he doesn't. Instead, he reaches over and gently picks up my hand. The song Ruby was singing right before we met her starts playing through my head. Why is it? I have no clue.

"We should keep going," I say, quietly, not wanting to disturb the moment.

"Yeah, we should," he agrees, but neither of us moves. The silence is comforting, somehow. Calm, but encouraging, in an "everything's going to be okay" kind of way.

After a minute, we break contact, me muttering something about the horses and Lukas about packing some food.

A few moments later, we're back on the horses and heading out toward the city. Hopefully, we'll find Axel and Olivia there, as well as other people.

*le timeskip*

~Lukas's POV~

I can't help but think about that moment back in the hut. When everything was silent and still, I could feel a kind of...closeness with Jesse. But I couldn't tell if she felt the same. And the dream I had, about the giant beast... I feel like I have to tell her.

"Hey. Um. Jesse?" I ask.

"Yeah?" She answers.

"The dream I was having last night... do you want to hear it?"

She nods, and I spill the whole story. Every last detail I noticed. As I finish, she says, "That is one creepy dream."

"Yeah. It was," I agree. "You know what that giant thing was?"

"No. Do you?"

"No clue."

We continue riding in silence, until Jesse spots a ladder on one of the trees. "Someone's been here!" She says excitedly. "We need to check if they're still around."

We lead the horses to another tree, telling them to stay put and hoping they will, and head up the ladder.

Jesse pushes up the trap door and I can hear her gasp. "It's...our tree house," she says, clearly stunned. She climbs inside and gestures for me to follow.

The house is quite big for a tree house; my guess is about sixteen by twelve by five. A redstone lamp is hooked up to one wall, but there's no power source. A battered armor stand with a pumpkin on its head is in the corner, next to several old EnderCon banners.

So this was where Jesse, Axel, and Olivia lived before the Witherstorm. It's clearly built by all three; Olivia's redstone abilities, Axel's griefer tendencies, and Jesse's...everything.

"I thought they would have come back here," she murmurs, bringing me back to the present. "But they didn't."

I nod and look out the window, distracted. What I see startles me.

"Hey, Jesse? Was this here before?" I ask, drawing her attention.

Several other tree houses are resting across the forest. I'm surprised we haven't seen any other ladders, but maybe they're just not out in the open.

I wonder why there are so many houses in the trees. In the past, everyone lived on the ground, in traditional buildings. Something must have happened to force them into the trees.

"No, they weren't," Jesse answers, coming up behind me. "We were the only ones around. For a long ways in any direction."

"That must have been lonely."

"No, not really. The four of us were plenty," she says, closing her eyes.

For a moment, I'm super jealous of Axel. He practically grew up knowing Jesse, living together, eating together, surviving together, along with Olivia and Reuben. He's been with her forever, and I've known her for about three months of my life. I know it's unreasonable, but it's there anyway.

Then something in my mind clicks. Axel's said himself that Olivia, Petra, and Jesse were his only friends before. Then I showed up, and got really close to Jesse. I was a stranger, an old enemy. He tried to push me away, to protect her. It had seemed to me that he simply hated me for no reason other than that I was an Ocelot.

But I understand now. He just wanted to protect his friends, his... family. They were like family to him, and I barged in and intruded on them.

I get it now.

<Jesse's POV>

The tree houses are definitely new. And what if... "Maybe they're in one of those houses," I say. "They could be close!"

"It's possible," Lukas says, shaking his head and blinking. "We should start looking."

We head down and start looking for ladders.

Several minutes later, we find our first one. I climb up and knock on the trapdoor. For a count of ten, I wait, and  no one arrives, so I climb back down and shake my head. He looks disappointed, but of course it's not going to be the first house. It never is, except in the books.

In the next house, we're a little luckier. A blue-haired woman opens the trap door. "What do you want?" She asks, but it sounds like an accusation.

"We're trying to find some old friends of ours," Lukas explains. "Do you know where Axel and Olivia live?"

She frowns at him. "No. Now shove off. I don't want the Hunters to find me." She shuts the trap door in our faces.

Several more houses pass in a similar manner as the first two. Either no one's home, or no one's willing to share information. And everyone's worried about some "Hunters."

I notice the sun beginning to near the horizon, and say, "We should take shelter soon. Either we ask someone for shelter or we head in one of the empty tree houses."

"Let's have a look at three more," Lukas replies. "We can ask there."

I agree, and we continue. The first house is empty. The second, a man with bright orange hair tells us to take a hike. And then we reach the third.

"You first," Lukas says, gesturing to the ladder.

I shrug and climb up. Instead of a trap door, like all the others, I reach a small platform, in front of an at-least-2-story tree house. Lukas comes up close behind me.

"This is different."

"Should we knock?" I ask, and without waiting for a reply, I knock on the wooden door.

A black-haired girl, maybe ten or so, opens the door. She looks at the two of us with dark brown eyes ringed with orange-to-yellow circles, and asks, "What do you want here?"

"Whoa, did we do something to you?" Lukas asks, taking a step back and raising his hands.

"You came and knocked on my family's door as the sun's going down and everyone's supposed to be asleep. Are you Hunters or something?" She looks mad.

"We're looking for some old friends of ours. Axel and Olivia. Do you know where they live? And if you don't, can we stay here for the night?" I ask, trying not to sound frustrated.

She sighs and turns slightly. "Mom! Some weirdo tools want to talk to you!"

"Jesse, I've told you before, don't call people tools unless-" A familiar voice says, and its owner appears in the doorway. "Jesse?"

"What?" The black-haired girl asks. "What's the deal?"

"Tell your father to come out here," she says, pushing the girl away from the door.

"But Mommm!"

"Jesse..."

"Fine! Fine fine fine." She turns and stomps away, as the older woman looks back at us. Suddenly, she rushes forward and hugs us both.

"You came back!"