MCSM: Reformed Rescuers #4

Part 7 (Cassie)

Delcie glanced around the wide open room to make sure nobody was watching. She leaned in, as did the others. "This place is really big, and if you want to have any luck getting to the prison/mining place anytime soon, then we need to pass all of the rooms."

"Pass the rooms? Why do we need to get past all of them?" Cassie asked.

"Delcie narrowed her eyes, "Every time you get in the room, there is a hidden treasure box. Inside the box is a key. There are four rooms and four boxes."

"I thought you said this place was big." Carson scoffed, "This'll be babyfood."

"No it won't." Carrigan shook her head, "The rooms are full of traps and obstacles. Not to mention how large they are. They are each a little bit bigger than this room."

Everyone gulped and glanced at one another.

"Great." Radar laughed nervously, "Now I'm nervous."

"If we split up into the right groups we should be fine." Aiden said, "Is there some sort of... skill needed to pass of certain rooms?"

Delcie nodded, "The red room: preparedness. The brown room: balance. The blue room: brains. The purple room: strength. There is more to all of them, so just like the red room, you need to be ready for anything."

They thought for a moment. Aiden said, "I'll go to the red room. I'm pretty good at expecting the unexpected." 

Radar nodded, "That's a good idea. I'll go to the blue room. Who will come with me?"

"I would, but I want to go with a chick." Carson smirked. They all face-palmed thinking the same thing: He wouldn't make it out of that blue room alive, whether he was with someone who was actually smart or not. Carrigan smiled, "I'm really smart. I'll go with Radar."

Delcie shook her head, "You're coming with me. I'm not letting you go with a stranger."

"I trust him, Del! Besides, you and I both know that you need to go into the purple room." Carrigan shot back, "I promise I'll be fine." She looked her sister in the eyes. Delcie huffed, "Fine. But I get to kill him if you die."

Radar gulped and shook it off, "Okay, purple, blue, brown, and red." He said pointing at separate spots, "Go where you know you'd do best at."

They split up and agreed that the results would work the best. Cassie and Aiden were going to preparedness, red. Romeo and Stella were going to brown, balance. Radar and Carrigan were going to the blue room, brains. And Carson and Delcie were going to the purple room, strength. Delcie murmured, "Why do I have to go with this idiot?" She glared at Carson. He laughed, "Whatever! You're glad to be paired up with the hottest guy around!"

"I think the term 'overly narcissistic' suits you better." She grumbled.

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

Delcie and Carrigan explained the directions to everyone and where they'd meet up when they were finished. With one last 'good luck' to one another, they separated.

Cassie and Aiden walked side by side on the way to their room. "I wish we'd get a word a little more specific than preparedness." Cassie grumbled. Aiden nodded in agreement, "No kidding. But I guess that's the point of that room. But whatever happens, we need to have one another's backs."

Cassie sighed, "Yup. Ready for anything." She turned to him, "I know I don't know you well, so what's your backstory?"

He sighed, "Not good. I was a bully to Jesse and her friends for years. After they became famous, I became jealous. I stole her enchanted flint-and-steel and went to a place called 'Sky City'. It's a city that's literally high in the sky, and tried to take it over. I became so power-hungry that I pushed Lukas, Jesse, and the founder off of the island in attempt to kill them. I thought they were dead and began to set monsters loose all over the place. It was a mess! Luckily they landed in water and came back to defeat me. I realized what a great person Jesse was when she forgave me for all of the horrible things I did." He turned to Cassie, "What about you?"

Cassie sighed, "At least you didn't actually kill anyone."

Aiden's brows raised, urging her to go on. She looked up, but not at him. Tears were filling the bottom of her eyes, "I was looking for the enchanted flint-and-steel just like you were because I was trapped in the awful world I lived in and wanted for Winslow and I to escape. We gathered and gained the trust of all of the travelers in that world at the time. I set up traps and killed multiple of them just so I could get the flint-and-steel. It was the most horrible thing I could've ever done. I called myself 'The White Pumpkin'. I tried to frame some other people, including Lukas. His friends defended him though." She shook her head angrily at herself, "When Jesse found out it was me, I faked my death and then tried to take the flint-and-steel away from her. She defeated me, and I was caught in my own trap, surrounded by ender-mites." She looked at Aiden, "And after everything I did to her, and everyone else, she still gave me my best friend, Winslow, and tossed down a letter and a few blocks so I could live."

"What did the letter say?" Aiden tilted his head. Cassie said, "Basically that she forgives me and trusts me enough that I learned my lesson. She said that whenever I was ready to do good, to get out of that place and go through the open portal she left. She said she'd even give me a home in her town. I took a few years to finally get myself through that portal."

"What happened to Winslow?"

She looked down, "Winslow fell down to the ender-mites while we were trying to get to the real ground." Tears dropped from her eyes. Aiden felt bad for her, she'd gone through a lot more mistakes than he had. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it to comfort her, "I'm so sorry to hear that. I lost my friend Lukas through all of that. I mean-he's alive, but I lost his friendship. Luckily, he forgave me too. Don't worry, you'll get good friends that care about you. I know the order is your friend. But you have me too, right? We can relate to one another."

She laughed, "Yeah, I guess so." She suddenly gasped, "Look! The doors!"

He looked up too. He suddenly blushed, realizing that he grabbed her hand earlier. He awkwardly pulled his hand back and hurried to the door. He opened it to reveal what was literally a large red room. It was empty as far as he could tell, but everything was red, and it was overly suspicious. He crept in first, and Cassie followed after him.

After some walking, he suddenly stopped. Cassie stopped beside him, "What is that?" In front of them, there were gold pressure plates covering the floor, there were occasional blank spots. They looked to the sides and saw dispensers. Aiden looked around and sighed, "It looks like that's our only way through."

"Great. Just what we need." Cassie rolled her eyes, "Let's just aim for the non-pressure plates. Hopefully we can jump that far."

Their hearts pounded as Cassie leapt to the first space. She shut an eye tightly, expecting it to be a trap either way. When she was sure she was safe, she turned to Aiden. He sighed as well and gave her a thumbs-up. She nodded and turned back to focus on the task. She leapt to the next bare block as Aiden jumped to the one she went to first. Cassie made it to the other side, and Aiden was just two jumps from the end. 

He jumped to the next one, and to much of their dismay, lost his balance, and fell. He smashed one of the pressure plates and his eyes widened. The dispensers began to shoot arrows. Aiden hurried and sprinted to the end, not caring about stepping on them anymore, it didn't matter now.

The few seconds felt like hours to him. Cassie cheered him on and saw an arrow headed straight for his head. She reached out and grabbed it, pulling it back to her.

Aiden made it to safety beside Cassie and gaped at her, "How.. did you.. do that?"

She gaped as well, "I have no idea."