He knew there was something shady going on.
A nonstop string of curse words echoes through Jesse's head as the minecart carries him through the Nether. Exactly how it happened the first time.
Nothing- nothing! -is ever the slightest bit goddamn simple. It was bad enough that his life had been thrown completely and fully upside-down in the last three or so months, his world ripped out from under him and his faith shaken in everything he knew. Yes, that was a nightmare in itself.
But having to go through it all again?
He doesn't have a word strong enough.
At the very least, he knows he has someone to blame. Even if he isn't fully sure what on earth is going on, he has a scapegoat to point fingers at. Admittedly, that 'someone' is an obnoxiously all-knowing otherdimensional being, but still. That doesn't stop Jesse from being absolutely fucking furious at them.
He reaches up to wipe beads of sweat off his forehead, glaring aimlessly at everything. He hates the Nether, and hates the situation he was in. Hates everything he can possibly hate in this moment.
The minecarts rattle unnervingly as they hurry over the tracks at nearly unimaginable speeds. The first time through, Jesse had been a whole mess of emotions, most of them some variation of scared. Flickers of terror keep jolting through him now, though he's not sure if it's a natural reaction to the fact he was speeding over giant lakes of lava, or some weird déjà-vu effect caused by the loops.
Loops. So that's why Ere called this whole mess that. Jesse muses frustratedly. The name had seemed nonsensical at first, for the phenomena of dying and being able to respawn. But now he knows that was just a part of the larger picture- resetting back to the day his whole life had changed.
This is infuriating.
"Duck!" Lukas calls from behind him. Jesse drops his head, barely avoiding getting slammed in the face by a low-hanging piece of Netherrack. He's just barely sat up again, glancing back at the others, when Olivia warns "Watch it!"
Jesse ducks again, then comes up glaring. The motion was instinctive- an exact copy of what he'd done the first time without even thinking. It's eerie, to tell the truth. Although he's fairly smart, he doesn't have that good a memory for little things he had said or done three months ago.
But there's almost no thought involved when it comes to repeating the same things he had before. He's aware he can do things differently, but has so far been going with what feels most natural. Making the same motions, saying the same words. Almost like a script he's been set to follow.
The random thought whirls though his mind a few times before really sinking in. A script? A script. That's what it is. It doesn't feel like truly recalling and repeating what he'd said the first time. It feels like reading lines from a page.
What does that mean, though?
He doesn't have time to focus on it. The track has levelled out of the bumps and curves, revealing a formidable lava-fall directly in front of them. Jesse cringes out of instinct, his body reacting before his mind has a chance to remind him it will turn out fine. He's been through this before- he knows it doesn't end here.
"Okay, so...I'm not the only one seeing that we're running out of track, right?" Axel asks nervously.
"No!" Lukas exclaims.
"Good!" Axel shouts back, though it's hardly positive.
Jesse narrows his eyes, focusing on the small lever beside the track before Olivia even has a chance to call out, "Jesse, that switch! Now, do it!"
He stretches halfway out of the minecart, hitting the switch with ease. "Yeah!" he exclaims despite himself as the carts suddenly halt. Although he knows he'll be going through much worse later on, there's still something gratifying about that little accomplishment.
He doesn't have time to dwell any more on the puzzle of the loops right now. First, he's got to get his friends and himself safely out of the Nether. Then, the quest to stop the Witherstorm continues.
But he grits his teeth and makes a silent promise to himself.
He will figure all this out, no matter how long it takes or what he has to do. One way or another, he'll figure this out.
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ahh Aries, my favorite angry grump. you have no idea what you've got coming.
i think i need to make a separate book for Undetermined stuff oops
it's starting to take up a lot of space
YOU ARE READING
Short Stories and Oneshots
RandomI've started writing stories that aren't quite full books so here's a collection of them. Some are fandom-related, some aren't. Some are oneshots, some aren't. You get it.
