Michael tiredly stood at the crafting table, organizing Ender Pearls and Blaze Rods in their respective piles. He jumped when he heard the all too familiar voice of Ami behind him.
"What are you doing?" she said, peering over his shoulder.
"Nothing, nothing," Michael held a hand over his heart. "Just making some Eyes of Ender."
"You mean the things we almost died for?"
"Yeah," the outline of a smile appeared on his face. "Those things."
"That's probably a little more than nothing, don't you think?"
"Well," Michael said, grabbing one Pearl and one Rod. "Probably, but I'm not looking forward to crafting all of these." Ami grinned and watched as the two items emitted a faint, golden light before merging together to form a wide, eyeball with a slit pupil.
"This is what we've been working for," Michael said, turning over the shiny substance in his hands. It shone in the light, and was quite pretty. "It's just a shame that we don't have enough." Ami froze, feeling a chill whisk its way through her body.
"Come again?" she said, dreading the truth.
"We have eleven Eyes of Ender, that is, once I craft them all. I thought eleven was enough. We need twelve to open the portal, and a few others as spares so we can find the portal in the first place. We have enough Ender Pearls, but..."
"We need to go back to the Nether," Ami finished, staring at the Eye. Michael was quiet for a moment, struggling to find the words.
"I don't want to drag everyone back in that situation again. We all almost died, Aiden and Izzy especially. It's too soon for us to be dipping our toe back in that portal, not after our last experience. They will all be scared - terrified of the horrors we faced back in there. I highly doubt anyone will want to go back."
"But we have to," she said, hesitating. "If we don't go back...we'll be stuck here forever." Michael looked at her with sad eyes.
"I know."
The morning dawned upon them all, and with that a couple groans and complaints. Ami found herself in the middle ground, amusing herself with watching Charlotte rouse Aiden. He reluctantly rolled onto the floor, making loud, dissatisfied noises as he went. Ami made her way to the main room, that is, she fell on the table.
"You guys should probably either move the table or move the room," she said, rubbing her tailbone. Michael shrugged, pulling out apples, melons, bread, milk, and oddly enough, salmon. He made a face and reeled back from the chest.
"Urrrgh!" he yelled. "Who put rotten flesh in the food chest? Come on, it's not that hard to know what you shouldn't eat." He opened the front door and threw the slabs of meat out, watching them fall with a smirk. He turned back and grabbed the rest of the food, placing it all on the table, just after Aiden fell on it. Pushing on his neck, Aiden grumbled as he helped himself to a juicy, cerise melon.
"So, plan for today," Michael said between the crunches of his apple. "We should probably do a bit of organizing at best. Other than that, I see no reason to put ourselves in danger today. Agreed?" A small chorus of 'mm's followed.
"So, no plan?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "That's different. Especially for you." Michael shrugged, leaning back in his chair and continuing to munch away at his apple.
"Everyone needs a break once in a while," he said simply. "Now I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to go have some time with my sweet, sweet chests." He downed the rest of the apple, core and all, and climbed up the vines that lead to the hidden chest room.
"I can't help feelin' like that boy's forgotten something," Chatlotte said, furrowing her brow. "But I can't think of what it could be."
"Hold on." Izzy shot up from her seat. "I need to check something." Without another word, she promptly rose from her seat and dashed out of the door.
"Wonder what she's all in a fuss about," Luke wondered aloud.
"This isn't a good idea," Izzy said, peering over the edge of the house. "Besides, I need to go and look for-"
"Come on," Aiden interjected. "We finally have a moment of free time, why waste it? I know you've been dying to try this, too. Michael can wait another minute, can't he? He's probably content with kissing his chests, anyway."
"Well...okay, just one ride down. Then I'll go find Michael." Izzy sighed. What harm would one ride down the waterslide do, anyway? Aiden was right, she had been eyeing this ever since they first arrived. She gazed over the edge again, the terrifying height of the pillar of water not fazing her at all. The sight of the pool of water down below excited her, and she only felt more eager to jump. One ride, right?
"Scared?" Aiden smirked.
"I should ask you the same thing,"
"Then you wouldn't freak out if I, say, did this?" With one swift move, Aiden pushed Izzy out of the window, down the tall column of water and into the pool. Taken off guard, Izzy squealed all the way down, her screams differing from that of exhilaration and initial surprise. She made a huge splash in the water, coming up for air after a few seconds.
"You jerk!" She yelled, coughing out a bit of water. "Come down here and face me like a man!" Aiden stuck his tongue out and made a leap out of the window, yelling as he fell the great distance. After an alarming splash Aiden surfaced, pounding on his head.
"Urgh, I got water in my ear..." He punched his ear, hoping to regain the hearing in the other one.
"Serves you right," Izzy said. "You pushed me out of a floating house to my doom."
"Aww, when you say it like that it makes me sound like a jerk."
"Because you are!" she laughed, throwing a wave of water on him. Aiden spat out a mouthful of water.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said seriously, but broke the dour look with a playful grin.
"Let's go again! I'll show you what a real jump looks like." She stepped out of the water, making her way back to the vine ladder.
"And my original one wasn't superb in itself?" Aiden followed her, smiling to himself. They climbed up the vines, ready to experience the thrill all over again.
Luke stared into the boiling pit of lava. It would be easy, he thought. Too easy. But when to do it? There wasn't an opportune moment any which way he looked at it. His plans kept getting bombarded by the groups', and he had to tag along. Well, Luke knew he could just leave, but leaving now would leave him without...everything. A home, food, weapons, and something to do. He sighed. He never should have met Charlotte. That woman may have brought him a great kindness, but Luke felt otherwise.
He wanted to be on his own, find his own path and roll with whatever came at him. But he just had to accept her offer, blindly following her and those other two like a lost puppy. Luke smashed his pitiable excuse for a hand on the stone beside him. He mentally cursed himself for doing what he did. Well, he thought, everything will have to come to a close soon enough. Maybe he could stay and find a way back home, wherever that was. After that? Well, once they were out of this world they would theoretically go their own separate ways, right? That's when he could leave for good, not arising any suspicion or making anyone think any different of him. Yes, that was when he-
"Luke? What're you doin' out here?" It was her. The one that brought him into this mess. "It's freezin'." Charlotte shivered, gazing up at the snow falling down on them.
"It's fine," Luke mumbled. "It's not that cold." Why was he mumbling? He needed to show some sort of restraint, at least something to mae her think that he wasn't a bloody idiot! She sighed.
"So somethin's on your mind. Don't bother to hide it, I can tell. I won't ask any questions, but I'll sit here in case you want to talk." To Luke's hidden disgust, Charlotte sat adjacent from him, the orange light of the lava flickering on her dark face. She smiled fondly. "You're right, it is warm." Luke sat up straight, hoping that the bubbling contents of the lava would give him the answers he was looking for. Sadly, they didn't provide. But Charlotte did.
"Y'know, you've changed a lot since we first met," she started, taking Luke a little off guard. His eyes trailed to hers, and she took that as a notion to continue. "The first time I talked to you all you seemed to do was push me away. Then again, not much has changed on that. I can't imagine how you managed to survive out there in the desert for so long, what, with no food or water." She paused again, as if waiting for Luke to say something. He didn't.
"You made yourself a bed in the sand, remember? Stayed underground until morning every night. Mind, the monsters didn't always go away when the sun rose. It must have been a good day or two that I was wanderin' around with Izzy and Aiden before we found ya. You didn't want to tag along with us at first, which I found strange. Then I told myself I probably shouldn't push it, so I left you some food and walked away. I still followed you, though." Finally, Luke spoke.
"Why are you telling me this? It's not like I forget what I went through."
"Reflecting is important, Luke." Charlotte said, leaning back in her seat. "After a few days of meeting you and giving you food, each time you were a little less abrupt with us. I think you must've warmed up to us in the end, since you're here now and all, and I just want to say I'm glad you did. I know you feel like the third, er, sixth wheel in our group, because no one here really sits with you and chats. Aside from us right now, I mean. Technically, I feel I count as more of a guide than a friend to ya. I'm not sure why." Her brow furrowed. "Mind, I'm not sure why I came out lookin' for ya. Call it instinct or somethin'. I just thought that you might have wanted someone to talk to, given recent events." Luke gave her a confused look.
"The Nether, I mean," she clarified.
"Oh," he said. "It wasn't that bad. Not worse than anything I've seen before."
"Luke, that was literally hell in the flesh. I don't care how many times you act cool about everything you come across, I know there has to be something that's bothered you for a while."
"Why are you acting like a mom? I'm not a delicate flower."
"But you're also not indestructible." Luke scoffed at her words. Charlotte sighed again. "It's human to have fears and emotions. You only make it worse for yourself if you bottle it all up. Believe me, I know."
"And what makes you think you know anything about me?"
"I don't. I know nothin' about you, though I'd like to. You think you haven't opened up at all, but the truth is you have. Just by agreeing to travel with us you took a huge step in...er, something! Look, I don't pretend to know you like a bold print sign, but I'm not blind. Maybe one day you'll understand."
"Stop!" Luke snapped, jolting to his feet much to Charlotte's surprise. "Stop saying these things! You have no idea what I want to do! I'm having a much more difficult time than you realize, okay?! I...I've wanted to leave ever since I joined this foul excuse for a group! You're all so friendly, it makes me sick! I've already tried making my voice heard, because I noticed that Aiden was getting more reckless! He was starting to become dangerous, what the hell else was I supposed to think?! And you-" He stopped himself, realizing he had already spilled out too much. It was over.
"And I what?" Charlotte asked in a testing tone, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed.
"Nothing," Luke said, avoiding the question. "I, uh, need to go." He ran down the stone steps and quickly slid through the trapdoor, huddling up on a bed and grasping his skull in his hands. What had he done?
Meanwhile, Charlotte held her head in her hands, Luke's outburst still running through her head. She shouldn't have gone that far. He wasn't a child, she shouldn't have even brought up his dark days. Idiot! Of course he remembered the horrible way he used to live! Had she really forced him to join a group he never wanted to be in? What was she thinking...what had she done?
Charlotte climbed down the vines from the roof after a long time of thinking. She would just have to take the pain she had dealt, it seemed. Whatever, she could take it. She had to. Charlotte pushed open the creaky doors and walked over to the table, crashing in her seat.
"Oh no, what happened?" Michael was at her side immediately.
"Nothing you should concern yourself over," Charlotte said. "Just stupid girl things." Michael opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words. Instead, he sat beside her.
"Hey," he said. She looked up at him. "Nothing about you is stupid, okay? Especially girl things. You can rattle on about how much you're worrying about Aiden and Izzy's house-jumping, if you want. We are pretty high up and a wrong fall could potentially hurt them."
"No, no," Charlotte chuckled softly. "If they harm themselves that's their problem. I already warned them before, anyway. They seem to be having fun though. It's...about Luke."
"What about him?" Michael asked. "Did he do something to you? If he did I'll-"
"Michael, stop. Luke wouldn't lay a hand on any of us. He's just, lonely, or somethin'." Michael scooted closer to her.
"Lonely?"
"I don't know, he just seems a little out of it." Charlotte bit her lip, telling herself that Michael could wait to hear the full truth. "Put yourself in his shoes for a minute and think where he fits in. He doesn't really have anyone to talk to or hang around. Luke's always been a loner."
"I guess you're right." Michael stroked his chin. "Do you think we should try and set him up to talk to more people?"
"I dunno, Mike. I don't want to force him into anything."
"I'm not talking about force, Char, I'm thinking more of a gentle push towards improving his social skills. We could have it where he's in a position to talk to, uh, Ami."
"Ami." She gave him a look.
"It's worth a shot. Izzy and Aiden have a thing between themselves anyhow, and I don't see a world where Aiden and Luke get along. It's best not to complicate things." Charlotte sighed.
"Fine. But not a word about this to anyone, ya hear?"
"I swear it on my life." Michael smiled, getting up from his seat and heading over to another room. "I'll be over here if you need me, I'm almost finished with this chest."
Organizing again? Charlotte thought. That boy needed a hobby...wait. At that moment, Izzy and Aiden burst through the door again, having just finished another astonishing bound into the pool. Izzy was giggling, as per usual, but what caught Charlotte's attention the most was the huge grin Aiden had spread across his face. Maybe things did have a chance of looking up.
Izzy caught Charlotte's eye, and then spotted Michael climbing up the vines to the chest room. She had totally forgotten! Abandoning Aiden, Izzy sprinted across the room, frantically calling Michael's name. He raised an eyebrow at the girl running at top speed towards him. Sighing, Michael dropped down from the vines.
"What is it?" he asked, letting her catch her breath.
"I, huff, forgot to ask you, huff, something earlier," she said, taking a deep breath before she continued. "Remember at the old house how you had a wolf-dog thing? I meant to ask you, where did he go?" Michael suddenly paled.
"Rufus."
(YOU'D BETTER HOLD ONTO YOUR NONEXISTENT FINGERS, MINECRAFT LOVERS, BECAUSE THIS STUFF IS ABOUT TO GO DOOOOWN!)
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