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

Part 23: The Mysterious Map

 Jesse, Romeo, Lukas, and Aiden walked through an oak tree forest to reach the treehouse where Jesse once lived. The vast canopy of trees provided some shade and beams of light shone between the leaves.

Romeo noticed Aiden staring at him as the group walked together.

"...Did you want something?" Romeo asked. Aiden's eyes quickly darted away and his cheeks flushed red.

"Nope, I- I'm good," Aiden replied.

"Are you certain? You've been staring at me for a while," Romeo pointed out. Aiden laughed nervously and there was clear panic in his eyes.

"Staring at you? Why would I be-? I was probably just looking at something behind you," Aiden insisted. Romeo nodded his head and walked closer to Lukas.

"Lukas, I've noticed Aiden has recently been... terrified around me. I'm not sure what I could have said or done to scare him. But I thought that perhaps you'd know since you're a lot better at reading people than I am and you're very familiar with Aiden," Romeo whispered.

"Don't worry about it. The guy's just really self conscious of what people think of him. I'll always remember how much of a nervous wreck Aiden was during our first EnderCon Building Competition," Lukas responded. Romeo let out a sigh of relief.

"Something isn't my fault for once. Never thought I'd see the day," Romeo joked. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Thank you for clearing that up," Romeo added.

"Yeah, no problem," Lukas replied. Aiden approached Lukas and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Lukas, can I talk to you about something?" Aiden questioned. Lukas nodded his head and chuckled.

"Looks like I'm popular today," Lukas commented.

"Right. I'll give the two of you some space," Romeo decided. He walked over to Jesse. Aiden took a deep breath and exhaled once Romeo was out of earshot.

"Okay, I know you have dating experience and you've always been really great at helping me out... so I thought you might be able to give me a little relationship advice. There's a person I found out that I really like. This person is funny, talented, and just so sweet and adorable. The problem is that this person is way out of my league," Aiden admitted.

"First of all, calling your crush 'this person' seriously wasn't necessary. I already know who you're talking about," Lukas stated. Aiden winced and touched a palm to his forehead.

"Is it that obvious?" Aiden muttered.

"Aiden, I've been one of your closest friends since we were kids. I can tell how you're feeling even if you're trying to hide it. Here's my advice: spend some casual time with your crush first before you jump to a love confession or asking 'that person' out on an official date. It makes things a lot less awkward for everyone and helps you get to know 'that person' better," Lukas answered.

"That's some solid advice. I knew it was a good idea to come to you," Aiden said. Lukas smiled at him.

"Guys, we're at the treehouse," Jesse called out.

Jesse's treehouse rested atop a tall tree. It was made of cobblestone, oak wood, and dark oak wood.

"This is where it all began. Where Jesse, dreaming of becoming a hero like the legendary Gabriel the Warrior, honed her sword fighting skills," Lukas narrated. Jesse stifled a laugh.

"Wow, you're really good at making me sound cool," Jesse commented.

"Thanks, I try my best," Lukas chuckled.

Jesse walked up to the treehouse's ladder and stepped on the first rung.

"Okay, only two people on the ladder at a time. If it gets too crowded, we might accidentally bump each other off and that wouldn't be great for obvious reasons," Jesse decided.

Jesse continued to climb up the ladder and Lukas followed her.

"So... I- I'm alone with you," Aiden stammered.

Romeo let out an exasperated sigh. Aiden likely believed that he was about to murder him, now that there were no witnesses.

Romeo noticed that Aiden was sweating, his face was tinted with red, and he seemed short on breath. All signs seemed to point to Aiden being terrified by his presence. Lukas must have been wrong.

"Aiden, I promise that I'm not going to hurt you," Romeo assured. Aiden's expression became one of confusion.

"What? Look, I already know that you could never hurt me," Aiden responded. Romeo rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"You honestly think that I'm incapable of wounding you? That's quite possibly the most ridiculous notion I've ever heard. Since you clearly haven't noticed, I'll spell it out for you: I'm not weak. Sure, I lost some of my powers, but that by no means makes me helpless. I'm still dangerous. Don't forget it. Of course, despite the fact that I could absolutely hurt you, you've given me no reason to attack you and I do enjoy your company," Romeo insisted.

"Uh... I think there's a misunderstanding here. I meant that you could never hurt me because I think you'd never choose to," Aiden clarified. Romeo touched a palm to his forehead and his face became tinted with pink.

"Oh. Well, this is embarrassing. I apologize if I frightened you, I just thought I had to correct you on what I perceived as an insult," Romeo chuckled. Aiden smiled at him.

"Hey, everyone makes mistakes. Even I do. A lot," Aiden assured.

"You don't need to be so hard on yourself. You've made some good decisions as well, like putting your life on the line to stop Hit the Target. I feel like I shouldn't have to say that's hero behavior. Sure, you carried out a coup d'état of Sky City... but I took over Beacontown by impersonating Jesse, so who am I to judge? If it's any consolation, I think you're wonderful," Romeo replied.

Aiden's heart stopped, his mouth dropped open, and his face turned bright red. He tried to speak, but "I- uh-" were the only words that managed to escape.

"I'll take that as a 'thank you'," Romeo decided. Judging by Aiden's completely shocked reaction, Romeo presumed that Aiden wasn't used to getting compliments. Aiden cleared his throat.

"Sorry, you just caught me a little off guard. I- I appreciate the pep talk," Aiden responded.

Aiden and Romeo climbed up the ladder.

The interior of the treehouse had an oak wood plank floor with sparse red and gray carpeting. The walls were lined with a crafting table, a furnace, a few chests, a brewing stand, two jukeboxes, and several bookshelves. The treehouse also contained a bare armor stand, some wooden chairs, a bed with a red blanket, a flower pot that contained a blue orchid, and posters of EnderCon and Gabriel the Warrior.

Jesse and Lukas had already begun to search the treehouse for the final clue, and there were some books strewn across the floor.

"Did you find anything?" Romeo asked.

"We've checked the bookshelves and some of the chests, but we haven't come across the clue yet," Lukas answered. Jesse rummaged through a chest and lifted out a scroll of paper with a white ribbon. She removed the ribbon and unrolled the paper, and her eyes widened upon seeing that the paper depicted a detailed map of Beacontown and its surrounding areas. Most eye-catching of all was the red 'X' emblazoned on the map.

"Lukas, I actually just found something that I think might be what we're looking for. It's not really a clue exactly, it's a map with an 'X' marking a location, but I've never kept maps in my treehouse before so someone definitely planted it here," Jesse piped up. Lukas, Romeo, and Aiden gathered around Jesse and looked at the map over her shoulders.

"Maybe the 'X' is where Hit the Target's base of operations is? The person running this clue hunt is clearly trying to give us some kind of intel on Hit the Target, so it would make sense," Aiden guessed. Upon locating the red 'X', Romeo winced.

"Oh, Stella is not going to be happy about this. It's just outside of Champion City," Romeo commented.