Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 34

Ana's POV

I stumbled downstairs, bleary-eyed. My sleep, which had been peaceful at the beginning, had been punctured with dark visions, and the one sentence a terrified, broken choice had been chanting - the end has come.

Almost falling down the stairs but regaining my balance quickly, I walked into the kitchen - to find Dax cooking breakfast, humming as he worked. The place was full of nice smells, yet the benches and stove-top were empty of frying pans. Light filtered through the kitchen, giving it a friendly glow.

Dax turned around as I approached warily, greeting me with a friendly smile. He was cooking a pork-chop in his fiery hands, and was tossing it around a little too enthusiastically for my liking.

"Morning!" He said, and tossed me a plate after putting out one of his hands. I caught it, surprised. "Good morning... what are you doing?" He rolled his eyes. "What does it look like?" Dax turned his head and said to someone, "I thought you told me she was smart?"

Tash stuck her head round the door, an exasperated look on her face. She was cradling a pan in her hands, which were naturally on fire. I caught a whiff of cooking eggs. "She is. You just haven't seen her in the morning without coffee."

I threw a leaf at her, but she ducked out of the way. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you not want any breakfast?" I smiled innocently. "Not if it's steak, no." There was a slight pause, then Dax reached over and quickly stuffed a hunk of steak into his mouth and out of sight.

Tash rolled her eyes and I shook my head as I headed for the table. Roran was already up, studying a multitude of different maps spread out in front of him, all while consulting a piece of parchment that looked around a hundred years old.

"Doing your homework?" I joked, sliding into my seat. He glanced up, a little startled. "You could call it that. I can't believe the Ocelot Mage actually went to live in a jungle. She always prefered wide-open spaces."

"If you say so," I replied. Just then, Lyta and Hercules came downstairs. Lyta walked gracefully down the stairs, like the serene river with which she held her power. Hercules just jumped at the top of the stairs, landing at its foot and sitting down at the table like it was normal to skip twenty stairs at a time.

"Anybody up for toast?" Lyta asked, heading for the kitchen then stopping abruptly. "Oh, I see. Making breakfast already. Nice of them." Then she paused. "Is she - never mind. Don't want to know."

As she walked back, I got up quickly to see what the problem was. Only to realise Tash was just laying down the law, Dax giving attitude, and a resulting firefight.

I sat back down again. "Well, I am both sad and proud to say killing each each other with the natural elements has become the new normal." Roran shook his head. "I don't entirely know if that's something to be proud of, but alright."

Dax came walking in, the ends of his hair singed. "Breakfast," he announced grandly, and started slinging bacon at us. It immediately became a competition to catch the most bacon, with Hercules doing a dive and roll to catch his breakfast.

After that fiasco, Tash marched past us all with a sigh, and took a plate of food up to Loca, who was still resting from his recently healed ribs. When she came back, Dax was placing scrambled eggs on everyone's plate with exaggerated carefulness. Muttering darkly under her breath, Tash dished out the bread and remaining steak before falling into her seat.

People chimed in occasionally with compliments about the food, but mainly we just sat there and ate. Dax kept flicking pieces of steak at Tash to irritate her, who ended up passing them to me, so I could lob them back at him.