Minecraft Story Mode Season 3, Episode 3: Every Rose Has Its Thorns

Part 13: "Skeleton" is definitely a synonym of "entertainment."

Jesse was holding a torch as she walked through the dark cavern. Romeo, Lukas, and Aiden were following her. Romeo was able to walk on his own, but he was still somewhat low on energy.

"Okay guys, we're almost out of the..." Jesse began. Her face fell when she saw obsidian blocking what used to be the cave entrance. "...cave," Jesse sighed.

"Let me guess, Cassie blocked off the exit so we'd be trapped in here and starve to death?" Lukas piped up.

"Yep. Let's split up into two groups and look for another way out. Aiden, Romeo, you two are heading to the left. Lukas and I will search the right side," Jesse responded. Aiden crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"It kind of seems like you're trying to get rid of me," Aiden pointed out.

"I'm not trying to get rid of you. I just think you and Romeo would work together better than you and me," Jesse explained. She and Lukas began to walk through the cavern to the right of the entrance.

"Guess we're doing a cave expedition," Aiden commented.

"By the way, Jesse was trying to ditch you. Don't take it personally though," Romeo confirmed. Aiden looked confused.

"How am I not supposed to take that personally?" Aiden questioned.

"I... I don't know. I just thought that would make you feel better. For some reason," Romeo said awkwardly.

"Do we have a torch?" Aiden asked.

A ball of crackling red lightning formed on Romeo's palm, which illuminated the cave with a red light. He grinned at the dancing electricity in his hand, then turned to Aiden and smirked.

"Yeah, we do," Romeo answered. He smiled sheepishly. "Well, sort of. It's not a torch, but it's a light source so it can perform the same function as a torch," Romeo added. He and Aiden walked down the left corridor of the cave.

Romeo's red electricity lit the way and cast an eerie red glow on his face. It made him look like an ancient and terrifying force to be reckoned with... which was odd to Aiden, who was used to seeing him as a sweet and harmless guy who seemed like an ordinary person he'd pass on the street.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Romeo asked. He didn't sound angry, just puzzled.

Aiden hadn't realized that he was gawking at Romeo or that his heart rate had increased as a response to fear.

Romeo hadn't picked up on any of the obvious clues that Aiden was afraid of him. He struggled to piece together the reason Aiden was staring at him, then eventually gave up because he was unable to figure out why. He decided the best solution would be to simply ask Aiden.

"I've just been wondering about something for a while. That... that red electricity you can just create instantly in your hands, moving my sword away from Jesse without even touching it, I've heard people say you can teleport. What the heck are you?" Aiden questioned.

The lightning in Romeo's hand died down a little. His eyes darted to the floor and then he looked back up at the sphere of electricity. Romeo noticed that its light was dim and it had shrunk to a size no bigger than a ghast tear, which he quickly fixed by restoring it to its full size.

"Sorry. It's just that..." Romeo noticed his mouth had gone dry. "You caught me a bit off guard there."

"It's fine. I'm not going to deck you in the face for not answering quickly enough," Aiden responded. His halfhearted attempt at a joke was followed by his nervous laughter.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence, which was broken by a chuckle from Romeo.

"We're quite the skilled conversationalists, aren't we?" Romeo quipped. Aiden couldn't help but snicker.

"Yeah, we definitely are," Aiden said sarcastically.

Romeo stared at the ground for a few seconds, then made eye contact with Aiden.

"Have you ever heard of 'the Admin', by any chance?" Romeo asked.

"Lukas was really into stories, even before he became a writer. He told Maya, Gill, and me about a lot of the stories he'd heard or read. There was the adventures of the Order of the Stone, the legend of a guy who ended up getting choked to death by cursed armor, and loads more. I found out about the story of the Admin from him when we were ten. Lukas said the Admin created the world and left the world when he couldn't find any great heroes worthy of his challenges. I actually thought I was worthy. I kept on waiting for the Admin to come and offer me a challenge or something. Stupid, right? Even if he did exist, he'd probably choose Jesse instead of me," Aiden replied.

Romeo winced and Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you ask if I've heard of the Admin? That's kind of a weird question," Aiden added.

Romeo knew it was too late to back out on the important piece of information he had been leading up to.

"I'm the Admin," Romeo confessed.

Aiden stared at him.

"You're joking, right?" Aiden said flatly.

"I know it's hard to believe, especially with how pathetic I look now... but I'm not joking," Romeo answered.

Aiden's eyes widened and his heart rate shot through the roof. An immortal, extremely powerful man who created the world was standing right next to him.

"Breathe, Aiden. Breathe. Oh man," Aiden whispered to himself. He inhaled deeply and let out a shaky exhale. "Sorry. That was embarrassing. I'm a coward," Aiden sighed. Romeo waved his hand in dismissal.

"Don't worry about it. You're not the first person to react to my presence with fear. You'd actually be the hundredth. Or thousandth, maybe? Perhaps even more than that. I haven't been keeping track, so I'm not really sure," Romeo said. He pressed his lips together. "I suppose I'm not the Admin anymore, though. Just Romeo now. I've been... reduced to a shell of what I once was. I lost most of my powers. Worse yet, using the powers I have left consumes energy," Romeo muttered. His expression was a mix of frustration and sadness.

The sound of rattling bones echoed throughout the cavern. Romeo perked up and his eyebrows rose.

"Did you hear that?" Romeo asked.

"Yeah. We've got company. Sounds like skeletons," Aiden grumbled.

A wide grin appeared on Romeo's face.

"You say skeletons, I say entertainment. This is going to be fun!" Romeo exclaimed.

The skeletons arrived with bows in their skeletal hands and Romeo looked absolutely ecstatic.

Aiden had learned two interesting facts about Romeo in the past few minutes.

Firstly, he was the Admin. Secondly, he had an appetite for combat.

Aiden readied his iron sword for battle and looked over at Romeo, who was holding a diamond sword in one hand and red lightning in the other.

Aiden managed to muster up some confidence.

"Okay. Let's do this," Aiden said.