Heart of the Jungle - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Thirteen: Vera's Story

Evening settled over Jumanji. Alex made a fire and they all sat around it as the jungle grew dark for the night. Spencer kept jumping at all the different nightly jungle sounds.

"Chill Spencer, jeez," chuckled Fridge. He jumped and cried out himself a few moments later when a bird overhead started calling. Now it was the others' turn to chuckle.

"So, you wanna talk about it now?" Bethany asked Vera, trying not to pry, but also curious. They all were.

Vera chuckled. "No, not really. But you deserve to know I guess." She stared into the crackling flames. "We were a team, the three of us." She nodded to Spencer's Bravestone. As her words continued, the scene melted away, just as it had done when Nigel had provided the backstory.

"Hey, it's another one of those things!" cried Bethany.

"A cut-scene," Spencer corrected.

"Yeah those!"

"Don't interrupt," said Martha.

While the others reacted, Vera didn't seem at all phased by it. A photo appeared, black and white, of the three of them, the once-team, Bravestone smoldering of course, Vera standing in the middle wearing a smirk, leaning with her arm resting on a very serious Van Pelt's shoulder, his arm around her waist. When she continued, it was in voice-over.

"He was always rather jealous of you - Bravestone I mean. Thought he always got all the credit for everything. That would get on anyone's nerves. But him, it made his blood boil..."

Many newspapers flashed before them, all with headlines such as 'Bravestone does it again!' and 'Legendary Archaeologist Makes Remarkable Find!' There was no mention of the other two team members. There was one that said 'Dr. Bravestone and Team', but didn't go into detail about names.

"...That's why he was so intent on finding the jewel. A chance to prove himself better than even the great Dr. Bravestone. It got to the point where you two were always arguing, you couldn't agree on anything, and I would always have to step in and break up your arguments..."

A clip showed just that, Bravestone and Van Pelt having an argument, growing increasingly angry, and Vera jumping in between them, separating them, grabbing them both by the collars of their shirts. It was strange for Spencer to watch him, well his avatar, in the scenes, almost like watching a video clip of yourself, but not remembering any of it actually happening.

"Together Russel and I had been studying Jumanji and the Jaguar's Eye for a long time, in between our work as a team. That's how we met actually, many years ago, through a mutual interest in the fabled jungle. He, Bravestone, thought it was silly, a waste, us investing so much time and effort into something that may not even exist. That's when we had the falling out. He left, and it was just us. And now it seemed like a good opportunity to pursue that." A pause. "Suddenly, it was different between us. It had never been that way before, but then we realized it had always been that way, we were only just realizing now - brief as it was." Here she paused again, and couldn't help but smile. Then the cut-scene continued. "When we arrived here, we were extremely determined. This was our life's work..."

The clip replayed from Nigel's backstory of them stepping out of the Jeep, only now the others noticed them put an arm around each other. More clips showed Vera with a camera, snapping pictures of everything. "Oh come on Russ!" she laughed when Van Pelt ducked away from her camera. "Smile!"

"...I kept wondering what we would do once we found it. We'd been working on this for so long that it was strange to think of it actually being over. And then, we found it..." The clip showed the group emerging through the trees, Vera and Van Pelt in the front, to find the great statue ahead. Van Pelt took a beaming Vera into his arms and spun her around in a celebratory hug. It was funny for the others to see him so happy, only having seen him angry really. "Our life's work, finally found. It was an extremely proud moment for both of us..." Again, she paused to smile a little at the memory. But that smile soon fell. "We climbed up the statue. He was ahead of me. I don't like heights, so I was moving slower..."

The clip showed the two climbing up the statue, aided by a long rope, Vera indeed far behind.

"Russel!" she called up. "What do you see?"

She was answered by a flash of green light, and him holding the jewel in his hand, already possessed by its power.

"I actually never reached the top of the statue, for the next thing I knew, he had the jewel and the curse was set." She paused. "And he wouldn't let it out of his sight. He wouldn't even let me hold it. It was funny, a couple of nights before we found it, he said to me, 'finding this jewel is going to be the start of a new life for us Vera.' And now look at us. New indeed."

The clip skipped ahead to her running through the jungle, jewel in hand, after she and Nigel stole it back. Distant shouting from the camp could be heard. "Sorry Russel," she mumbled. "But you left me no choice." She continued running.

She paused in her story again, and they all waited for her to continue. But she didn't. Instead, the cut-scene fell away, signalling her story was over. She just shrugged, eyes still locked on the flames. "There, now you have it."

The others absorbed this.

"Vera, why didn't you tell us?" Bethany asked.

"I didn't think it would be the best information to disclose upon us meeting."

"Now I get why you wanted to destroy it." Spencer nodded.

"Yeah. I'd hoped I would be able to free him from the clutches of corruption, but..." Her words trailed off and she shrugged again. She picked up a stick and tossed it into the fire. "Excuse me," she then said, getting to her feet and leaving the group of avatars sitting around the fire.

(There it is, now you have the backstory! :) Hope you guys liked it, thanks so much for all the reads, votes, and comments! :))