"You did not." Charlotte's jaw dropped open.
"I did." Michael grinned, seeming to enjoy telling this story. "And we're going there once we're finished collecting supplies."
"Oh my god!" she squealed, a light in her eyes. Ami giggled quietly, never having seen Charlotte this excited. Michael had just told the rest of the group about this miraculous mansion in the sky, which hadn't been taken seriously at first, until Luke and Ami agreed with him. Now everyone was just as excited as Ami was.
"But we have to make it through here, right? Once we're done loading up we'll head back home and then set off for the other other house."
"You should really name your houses." Ami said, lying across the floor.
"Er - I'm not good with names." He scratched his arm.
"Clearly." Ami shook her head, pausing to think. "How about this place is Rucksack?"
"Or, or, or ... The Den?" Izzy pitched in, a smile spread across her dreamy face.
"Base Gamma!"
"Cotton Candy!"
"You all suck at names." Michael pressed his hand to his face.
"Then let's combine them," Ami rubbed her hands together, as a soft 'oh no' was heard from Michael. "The Cotton Candy Gamma Rucksack Den slash Base!"
"I'm not okay with this." he grumbled.
"I think that's fairly solid - providing you can remember it." Charlotte nodded.
"So...the CCGRDslashB!" Ami jumped up. "I love it!"
"I'm surrounded by idiots." Michael groaned.
"Well," Michael stood, dusting off his hands. Everyone turned their heads to look at him from the floor. "I think this should be more than enough to take home. We'll all have gleaming armour in no time!" A collective cheer rose from the crowd. "So I'm saying that, we should leave early tomorrow to make it back home in time for dinner. Agreed?"
"Agreed!" Ami saluted. Michael smiled, looking relieved.
"Wait," she said, confused. "What'll we do until night rolls around? It's the middle of the day."
"Glad you brought that up, Ami!" Michael clapped his hands together. "I think you guys should go out and explore for a bit. Don't go too far out though. I'd say keep together, too. I have to do a bunch of cleaning up in here yet, so I'll stay here. Come back before sundown."
"I think you oughta take a break once in a while, Mike." Charlotte crossed her arms.
"You'll work yourself to death!" A murmur of agreement and nods followed her statement.
"N-no. I need to get some crap together, okay? Trust me." He held up his hands defensively. Charlotte gave him a long, hard look.
"A'ight." she sighed. "Let's get outta here!" She ushered everyone up the ladder that lead outside, giving a final glance to Michael who meekly waved in thanks.
"Well now what?" Aiden stuck his boot in the sand. There was a moment of silence where glances were thrown around. Luke, ok the other hand, smirked and spoke up.
"I think it's annoy Aiden day. See? They both start with an A so that's how you know it'll be a great thing." he chuckled.
"It could be worse," Ami brushed the sand off of her pants. "It could be shove sand in Aiden's face day. But it doesn't work out very well."
"What's this about shovin' sand in Aiden's face?" Charlotte climbed out of the trapdoor, shutting it on her way out.
"Nothing." Aiden scoffed, marching away on his own.
Charlotte sighed. "That boy's gonna have to learn how to mingle sooner or later." She shook her head.
Ami stared after the pink haired boy that was already fading away in the distance.
"I'll stick with him." she found herself saying. "Otherwise he'll probably get lost."
"Go for it." Charlotte shrugged.
"Good luck." Luke called, raising an eyebrow. Ami darted after the vaguely visible figure, yelling at him as she went.
"What are you doing?" he asked once she had caught up.
"Well...you need...huff...someone to...huff...make sure you come back." Ami panted. "Can we stop for a sec?" He stopped in his tracks, allowing Ami to collapse on the ground.
"Whew!" she gasped. "I need to get out more often. Hey, when did we get on grassy ground again? Aiden? Aiden!" She looked up from the ground only to find that Aiden had already started trotting away. After catching up to him again, she stood in front of him.
"Okay listen," she started.
"No thanks. I'm leaving."
"Don't be an angry idiot, no one likes an angry idiot!"
"No one likes a regular idiot. Don't you get it? No one likes me, either." He stomped off. Ami went after him. "Wait, what? No, no, no, no. Don't go. I like you! You're not bad!"
He scoffed. "One in a million. You know just as well as I do that I don't have a use here. It was only a matter of time until I finally got the balls to get out. Tell everyone that I left and I'm not coming back."
"Aiden-" Ami grabbed on to his arm.
"Just let go. If...If you can let go of Jack, you can let go of me." The words seemed to hurt him as he spoke. The blow hit her hard, her grip loosening. Without a word, Aiden continued on his way.
"No." Ami regained control of herself. Aiden stopped in his tracks.
"What?" he said.
"If you're going to leave...we're all coming with you."
"Yeah, right. You see how they treat me."
"You'll die out there alone!"
"I don't care!"
"If you don't care, then come back with me and we can talk about this inside!"
"Fine! Maybe I do care. But you were walking hand in hand with everyone else when Luke started dissing me. You can't say for a second that you sympathize with me!"
"Haven't you heard of lightening the mood?!"
"At another's expense. How fitting that it's me. Sorry Ami, but my mind is made up."
She watched as he tried to step away again, but Ami had had enough. She grabbed hold of Aiden's hand, her grip like a fly trap for his hand.
"What do you think you're - ?! Hey!" he yelled.
Ami didn't know how she did it, but somehow she managed to drag Aiden all the way back to camp, where the rest of the party, excluding Michael, sat and talked. They looked up upon her arrival, most shocked. Luke was more confused than anything.
"You brought him back?" The look he gave her was uncertain and doubtful.
"As far as we know, we're the only people that exist in this world. It would be best to keep everyone in one piece so long as we can. I'm not willingly losing another person." A guilty silence befell the crowd. "You'd all do best to be friendly." Ami finally let go of Aiden's wrist, a bright red mark left behind from her grasp.
"I suppose I should thank you, but I can't see what it is I'm thankful for." Aiden muttered, rubbing where the rose-red mark was.
"Apology accepted." Ami bit her lip nervously.
"I suppose it's all of us at fault, then?" Charlotte stepped forward. "It...It was right wrong of us to...to patronize and discriminate ya. Can I speak for all of y'all when I say sorry?" A couple nods here and there, from all except Luke.
"Have you forgotten what he's done? Your little friend Aiden brought forth the ambush of monsters that killed one of our own! He basically murdered Jack!"
"Jack's death was an accident, and you know it!" Aiden fired back.
"And so the guilty party admits their crime." Luke drawled. "I think that you intentionally lured those thing to the house. You wanted someone to die." He had gotten to his feet by now, and was getting closer and closer to Aiden's face.
"Liar," Aiden countered. "How was I supposed to know that they would all follow me?"
"Surely by now you wouldn't be so stupid as to think they wouldn't. You know, I think you wanted more people to die. Not just Jack. Perhaps Charlotte, the one that saved both of our skins."
"No,"
"Or even Ami, the only one foolish enough to have a heart for a killer like you."
"Shut up!" He struck Luke, his fist colliding with his jaw.
"You son of a-" Aiden hit him again, angrier.
"Boys!" Charlotte yelled, stepping in between them, holding Aiden's wrist and Luke's incoming fist with her arms. "That's enough! Brawling among us is the last thing we need to happen, alright?! If I see either of you hit another person ever, you'll deal with me at the reigns. Now break it up." The power of her words seemed to strike something within both boys, as their bodies grew less tense and drifted away from each other.
"Fine." Aiden stared at the grainy sand.
A rustle from beneath them shook the trapdoors open. Michael's head popped out, worn and exhausted but enthusiastic.
"Come in." he said, a smile on his face.
"You did this?!" A breathless Charlotte held a hand over her heart, her eyes taken with wonder. Michael really had gone all out on his decorations. Flowers of all kinds were sitting in small pots around the room, their colours bringing light to the dreary cave. Among these flowers vines had been hung up, adding more to the jungle vibe. Picture frames, some of them depicting images of swords and other weapons. were alongside vivid and vibrant banners. A music box was playing an upbeat tune in the corner. The decoration had completely changed the once dark and gloomy cave, and had turned it into something new and wonderful.
"Yes," Michael said with gusto. "I did. Tonight, my friends, we feast." He pointed to the table, which was covered in a thick pile of cake, while other foods were scattered around it.
"Michael..." Ami said, taking it all in. "This is...amazing. I can't...wow."
"Yeah," he said. "I did it." He seemed to be taken away himself, the smile on his face not daring to break.
Luke clapped his hands together. "Well, what are we standing here for? I say we have some fun! And that cake looks like a great place to start." Wide grins spread across everyone's faces - even Aiden - as they all dug down into the giant pile of cake and goodies. Ami and Luke had a contest to see who could eat the most cake, Izzy started singing along to the music, and Ami swore she saw Aiden laugh a couple times. As the party went on, no one seemed ready to rest.
"What's this song called, anyway?" Izzy asked Michael at the table. The cake, though long gone,
"Er...blocks, I think. I found it on one of my adventures."
"One? Have you been on many? Please tell! I do love stories." She rested her chin on her hands, her curly hair pooling over the table.
"That's right. You never did go into detail about these 'adventures'. Considering we have the time, why not have all of us share a story or two? It can't hurt." Charlotte swirled a glass of water in it's cup.
"Alright, I suppose." He cleared his throat. "Well, how about the last one I had? With Steve, I mean. Hmm, let's see..." Michael scratched his head thoughtfully. "We just went to the house in the sky, actually. We had been planning on taking down one of the bosses that we'd spent days researching. Months, maybe, if you push it. Anyway, uh, we wanted to try our luck at a beast called the Wither. It's this floating, skeletal being with three heads. It's all black, like Endermen, with purple eyes and such for each head. Steve and I found it, battled for what felt like forever, and then...we lost." He frowned. "And...in the battle, it was chaos. We didn't think it would be so powerful. We ended up being forced to split up, and here I am. Now with more people than I could ever imagine."
"There's only six of us, silly!" Izzy giggled. "Maybe we could try beating the Wither! Since there's so many of us, we could just...ka-pow!" She shot her fist in the air, falling backwards on the soft, cyan carpet.
"Show me you can successfully slay off a horde of monsters, and you have a seat reserved on the Wither Train." He smiled at her enthusiasm. "What's your story, then?"
Izzy put a finger to her chin. "So far my greatest adventure has been this one! But when I first got here, I found Aiden in a jungle. So we wandered for a bit until the jungle wore out, and Luke was there, alone. So we took him in for a while and slept in the trees. The stars sure are beautiful, weren't they? I'm not sure if we slept at all, but soon enough we were on the road again. We started to get rather hungry, which was trifling because we hadn't a clue where to get food from. I suppose it was lucky I saw an apple on the ground. We searched through all the trees and made out with enough to keep us happy for a few days. Hm, we just explored around for a while and then met Miss Charlotte one day. She was on a walk and came right up to us. Forgive me, my story isn't that exciting." she blushed softly.
"Isn't that exciting? To a normal person, any of our stories are not exactly run of the mill. We're in a different world, for crying out loud! Don't apologize. Besides, both Aiden and my story are roughly the same as yours." Luke shrugged, running his fingers through his hair.
"Pretty much." Aiden agreed.
"Have I told the story of Jack and I?" Ami proposed. A collective shake of heads straightened Ami's back. "Well, it's kind of similar to Izzy's story. Actually, a lot similar. I found Jack freaking out because square hands, and we formed an alliance for a bit as we chopped trees down with our fist. We slept under the stars too, but got ambushed by a Creeper. When I ran ahead I ended up bumping into Michael, and then we went back for Jack. Then we lived with Michael for a bit, ended up finding Charlotte on one of our adventures and hung out with her for a bit. Then she left, found you guys, and here we are. Funny how things work out like this, huh?"
"No kidding." Luke blew a low whistle. "What about you, Charlotte?"
"Mine's short 'n sweet. Woke up here, lived in the caves till I got a spark to explore. Then I met all of y'all and decided I'd stay fer a bit. Ta-da."
"When you said short and sweet, you really meant it." Ami smirked. "So now that our little therapy session is over, what now? There isn't any cake left, is there?"
"You ate all of it." Luke pointed out.
"Right."
"Well, it's well into the night. Should we at least attempt to sleep a little?" Michael suggested.
"Aww..." Izzy complained. "I was enjoying it. Do we have to?"
"...No. We don't. Whether or not you sleep is something I cannot control. But the fact that one of us, most likely me, wants to sleep, is my own problem. Goodnight, all." With a final smile, he walked towards the beds, collapsing on his. The rest of the group, at a loss for something to do and dreading the next day's travel, ended up in the same place as Michael. Their rest came swiftly and seemed to last momentarily, for soon the sun had risen again, and the group was ready to head home once more.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
