MCSM: Shattered Souls [COMPLETED]

9- In Which Jandro Does Something Really Stupid

The initial explosion was deafening, a tremendous BOOM that shook the entire maze. We had all been nearly frozen with fear, and within seconds, would be the next ones to get blown up. Luckily, Jaq came to her senses and ran.

"GO GO GO GO GO!" she screamed, hurtling through the traps between us and safety. Justin was right behind her, and I forced my shocked brain to stop freaking out and start surviving. I bolted after them, grabbing Jenni's hand as I passed her still standing paralyzed.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the one explosion. The one that killed Joss triggered another, and another, setting off all the blocks of TNT under the maze. One of the other traps had apparently involved fire, because flames had sprung up along the walls and the craters that the explosions had left behind. I'm not sure how the stone was catching fire, but it was (just another horrific Farlands trick, I suppose).

Jenni and I reached the end of the aisle, finally making it to the center of the maze, and what was hopefully safe. I looked up to meet Jaq and Justin's shocked expressions...then finally noticed something.

Jandro wasn't with us.

I whirled around to the mess of explosions and fire I had just escaped from. No...

"No! HAN! NO!" Jaq yelled. Jenni was shaking her head in disbelief. "We didn't just lose both of them...did we?"

"No, look!" Justin shouted, pointing to the smoky remnants of the maze section we had been in. I squinted into the haze, and saw, with great relief, the dark-skinned boy racing towards us.

He leapt over one of the largest gaps in the ground and tumbled to safety with the rest of us. He was bleeding from a cut on his cheek and breathing heavily, but he was alive and whole.

Which is more than could be said for Joss.

"What the HELL were you THINKING?! Running back through the EXPLOSIONS and FIRE?!" Jaq shouted, though she sounded more relieved than truly angry. Still heaving too hard to speak, Jandro pulled a sword from his inventory. I quickly recognized it as the icy blue Aristan sword that had previously been Joss's. He held it up for a second, then dropped it on the ground with a definite clang.

Now Jaq looked mad.

"Are you telling me...you ran back there and almost got yourself killed...just to take his sword?" Jaq hissed, her voice dangerously calm.

"We...need...it...if any of us...gonna get out of here...alive." Jandro panted. Jaq practically swelled with anger.

"You almost DIED, Han! Do you never think?! What in the Overworld even made you think to go back for it? Are you insane?! Or just moronic?! Or were you purposely trying to get yourself killed? Or ALL OF THE ABOVE? How could you possibly be thinking of getting the SWORD when we need to SURVIVE here?!"

By then, Jandro had recovered his breath and was standing up straight. He gave Jaq a look of sheer defiance and crossed his arms. "I couldn't just let it get left. Or destroyed. And it would've been just fine if 303 got it, yea?"

"You could've DIED."

"Yes, we've established that. But I didn't, so calm down." Jandro rolled his eyes. I got the feeling that this was a repeat of a conversation that had happened many times over between the two of them. I previously had Jaq pegged as the rash one, but it seemed Jandro had his share of acting-before-thinking.

"That was kind of idiotic, though. It worked out, but...don't do it again." Justin said. Jandro gave him a sideways glance, ducking his head sheepishly. "Oh. Y'think so?"

"Absolutely." Jaq snapped. Jenni raised her hands before either boy could respond. "Okay, we get it. No more running into explosions, no more yelling. But personally, I agree with Jandro. We do need those swords to get out of here, and it'd be kind of terrible if 303 got ahold of another one. They should be a top priority...after our own lives. "

"Fine." Jaq said after a slight pause.

"So...what do we do now?" I asked hesitantly. I wasn't about to get in the way of Jaq and Jandro's 'sibling' squabbles, but we needed to move forward.

Jaq leaned down and picked up the sword that Jandro had retrieved, seeming almost surprised when she lifted it without problem. "He's really dead, then."

The dark-haired boy shuddered. "Oh yes. You didn't see it- his blood and inventory were everywhere."

Jenni gagged. "Focus, please. What do we do with the other sword? Because I sure don't want it."

Jaq took her own purple Aristan sword out of her inventory. "303 said we just had to hold the blades in close proximity, and they'd merge." She touched the tip of her sword to the pale blue one, and there was a bright flash of blue and purple light. I closed my eyes for a second against the blinding flare, and when I opened them again, the dark girl was holding not two, but one shining sword. It was a beautiful weapon, the blade shining infinite tones of violet and cyan. She swished it experimentally from side to side, making a rainbow of colours shine in crystalline tones.

"It feels...different." she said slowly, making faux slashes against imaginary enemies.

"How so?" I asked, but she shook her head. "I dunno. Hard to describe."

"It's so pretty..." Jenni ooh-ed. Jaq stowed it back in her inventory. "Yeah well, few more of us die, yours might look like that soon." She snarked. The smaller girl stiffened, looking suddenly nervous.

"How do we get to the next challenge?" Justin wondered aloud. For the first time, I allowed myself to look around. The center of the maze was a large dome, with a floor and walls of obsidian and a roof of colourful stained glass.

Jaq laughed loudly. "Pay attention."

I finally dragged my gaze from the ceiling, looking instead down at the floor. Right in the center was another portal like the one that brought us here, though much smaller. This made me wonder what had happened to the white gem-thing Joss had used to create the portal the first time...it was probably somewhere out in the ruins of the maze, along with the rest of him.

This saddened me more than it should've. I didn't really know Joss- and that was mostly his own fault, for being so unfriendly towards the rest of us. He had been almost a total stranger, but it was still a painful impact. One of our own was dead, and we were barely halfway through the first day.

"Oh. Right. Of course." Justin muttered. Jandro strode forward and offered his hand to Justin. "Shall we?"

Justin grinned, and took his hand with an air of mock superiority. "We shall. Let's see how else we're almost going to die today."

The two of them jumped down into the white circle, and Jenni was quick to follow. Jaq stood stone-still, her expression very different from the one she had worn only a few moments before. She looked confused, mad, and a little shocked.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly. She shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's just go."

She walked straight into the portal, falling down into it midstep. I sighed heavily and followed, casting myself into the white abyss that would lead us to the next trial.

---------------------

Tbh this was a filler chapter and rn I'm too tired to care

Question: who do you ship?? Who's your favorite Shard?

(sure hope it wasn't Joss haha)

(tho I don't know why it would be Joss, he was kind of a jerk)

Word count- 1236