31-Day MCSM One Shot Challenge - February Edition 2019

Best Friends

Jesse stood on the front porch of the treehouse, resting with her elbows on the wooden railing. Her chin was resting on her arms, her brown eyes gazing ahead at the beautiful green scenery of the jungle. In the distance she could just about make out the beacons in the sky.

A small smile formed on her face, thinking of what those lights represented. Each were for a different member of the Order, each of them shone for one of her friends.

Jesse's smile dimmed a bit again, and she let out a soft sigh. Her head titled slightly to the side on her arm, her eyelids lightly fluttering. The sun was still high in the sky, but Jesse was already longing for the evening to come so that she could sleep.

"Jesse?"

Stifling a coming yawn, Jesse lifted her head off her arms and tore her gaze away from the view in front of her. She looked over her shoulder, meeting the two brown eyes of Olivia. Her friend seemed to have a lot more life in her gaze than she did.

"You hungry?" Olivia asked her. "I just finished making lunch."

Jesse nodded, pulling herself away from the railing she had been leaning on and walking over to Olivia. There was a tint of worry in the engineer's eyes as she noticed just how tired Jesse seemed.

"Everything okay?" She asked her softly.

"I'm fine, just worn through." Jesse said as the two of them walked into the tree-house. "I know it's been a while, but it feels like the battle had ended just yesterday."

"I can understand that." Olivia replied, nodding her head. "I don't think my mind's going to settle for at least a few more weeks to come."

Neither of them said anything else, walking the rest of the way in silence. Axel hadn't bothered to really wait for them, already about halfway into his lunch by the time the two girls sat down. Jesse propped her one elbow up on the wooden surface of the table, letting her chin rest in her hand. She absent-mindedly poked at the food in her plate, not particularly hungry.

She couldn't help but think back to the beacons she had been looking at. It felt so wrong for the five of them to be known as the new Order of the Stone, when they've barely seen each other since the event that had gotten them their titles.

"You guys haven't heard anything from Lukas, have you?" She asked, glancing up from her food.

"No." Olivia responded with a shake of her head. "Nothing yet, but I did told him to come back if things doesn't work out between him and the other Ocelots."

"Blegh." Axel grumbled beneath his breath. "He's alright, but I don't want him under my nose the entire time."

"Axel!" Olivia scolded him, giving the griefer a slap to his shoulder.

"Any signs of Petra?" Jesse asked her next question, ignoring Axel's statement.

"Another no." Olivia said with a sigh, her shoulders slumping. "I haven't even seen her since the day we were all crowned the New Order."

"It's like she vanished into thin air." Axel added before shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

Jesse let her gaze drop again, feeling her hopes sink. She knew it was probably silly, but she had hoped the five of them could remain together as the new order of the stone. They've been through so much together, it felt wrong to be so split apart. But alas, Lukas wanted to see if he could mend the cracks in his relationship with the other ocelots, and Petra had... well, practically disappeared.

"Bud? What's wrong?" Jesse heard Axel ask, having picked up on her miserable mood.

"Nothing." She brushed it off, putting on a faint smile. "I'm just... not very hungry." It was only half-true.