Minecraft Story Mode Season 3, Episode 2: Friends and Foes

Part 19: Reunited At Last

The walk from Lizzie's cute cottage to Xara's house was short, but it seemed much longer due to the fact that Romeo was absolutely dreading the visit.

He knew Xara was definitely going to barrage him with nasty rage-filled insults.

Then again, nothing she could say would be worse than what he already told himself on a daily basis.

Xara's house was a grayish purple. It had a dark purple roof and white square windows. A single birch tree grew in the front yard- it alone would have been enough to make Romeo's heart sink, but then he noticed a block of lapis lazuli next to the tree and began to cry.

Fred... I'm so sorry.

Romeo swallowed, wiped his eyes, and managed to fight back the tears.

He walked up to Xara's porch and held his fist in front of the door. He wanted to knock, but his fear of what could happen held him back.

After a few seconds, he managed to knock on the door... slowly, softly, and nervously.

Xara opened the door.

She was pale with wavy purple hair that went about an inch past her shoulders and fierce black eyes with dark circles under them- though the dark circles were almost gone due to the fact that she'd actually been getting sleep. During her time at the Sunshine Institute, the dark circles under her eyes were extremely noticeable because she'd barely slept for over a century.

Xara wore a purple long sleeved sweater, black boots, blue jeans, and a white and gray infinity scarf... the clothes she used to wear before Romeo forced her to trade them for an orange prison jumpsuit.

Xara gave Romeo a searing glare. She pulled out a bow, nocked a poison arrow, and pointed it at him.

Romeo couldn't believe that she was one hundred percent willing to kill him. Sure, he knew that Xara hated him... but he thought that some part of her- deep down- still cared about him.

"What. Do. You. Want?" Xara snarled.

"I want to apologize," Romeo told her. Xara's eyes widened and she lowered her bow.

Then her eyes narrowed again.

"Fine. But I will keep my poison arrows very close in case you give me even the smallest reason to use them... and trust me, I won't hesitate to use the poison arrows to kill you for what you did to Fred," Xara snapped. She sat down on a sofa and placed her bow and arrow on a side table. Romeo entered her house, closed the door, and sat next to her. Tears rolled down his face.

"Xara, I'm so sorry for locking you up in the Sunshine Institute, taking away your powers, and..." Romeo choked back a sob. "...killed Fred. I wish none of it even happened. I wish I could just snap my fingers and make all of that go away. I'd give anything just to have the three of us together again," Romeo managed to say.

Xara's cold gaze softened.

She looked at him and she saw her best friend Romeo... not the Admin, a monster who'd thrown her in a prison cell and killed Fred.

Xara wanted to tell him how much she missed him and that she wanted to be friends again, but she instead decided to hide it from Romeo. Xara knew that the best way to avoid getting hurt was to put up walls. She'd learned that a long time ago, back when she was just twelve years old.

Romeo seemed genuinely upset, guilty, and sorry for what he'd done. Maybe he wasn't lying to her. Maybe Fred's death was an accident.

But she would never actually say any of that to him.

Xara couldn't help but pity him a bit. Almost everyone hated him for what he had done, he'd lost all of his powers, and his self esteem was worse than it'd ever been... which even at its best was quite low.

"It's what he deserves," the bitter side of her argued.

"But Romeo was my best friend," the part of her that missed those days with Romeo and Fred in the cabin pleaded.

"Was," the bitter side retorted.

Any pity that Xara felt for Romeo vanished.

Like always, Romeo was pouring his heart out and Xara kept hers carefully guarded with iron walls.

"You don't have to forgive me. I'd totally understand if you didn't. But I want you to know that if you need anything... I'm here," Romeo sighed. Xara held back the urge to sob and give him a hug. She rolled her eyes at Romeo instead.

"Stop crying. You're getting tears all over my furniture," Xara grumbled. Romeo sniffled, wiped away his tears, and gave Xara the best eye contact he could manage.

"Xara, I know you better than anyone else in the world, so you aren't going to fool me with your apathetic attitude," Romeo pointed out. Xara couldn't stop the tiny smile that formed on her face.

It was almost like they were just kids in the cabin again.

"Fine. Yes, you're right. I actually care a bit. Just a little," Xara muttered.

"I've been working with Jesse to find out who the accomplice of the villain Hit the Target is. One of our suspects had a huge crush on me. I didn't return her feelings so we decided we'd just be friends-" Romeo began. He looked absolutely broken-hearted. "-turns out she's the accomplice and she was completely willing to betray me," Romeo continued.

"Oh, poor you! Wow, I wonder what that feels like!" Xara gasped, her voice absolutely dripping in sarcasm.

"Xara, please don't," Romeo mumbled. He sounded defeated, barely even trying to get her to stop. Romeo stared at his lap as his eyes filled with tears. "After she left I had this hollow, empty, broken feeling with a bit of anger mixed in," Romeo added.

"That feeling is betrayal," Xara told him. Romeo looked up at her.

"I'm so sorry. I bet I made you feel so upset when I betrayed you," Romeo apologized.

"Oh, you think?" Xara scoffed. Romeo began to loudly sob into the sofa and Xara felt that maybe she'd been a bit too harsh. Xara held her arms out to him. "Come here, you idiot," Xara said affectionately. Romeo instantly threw his arms around her. Romeo cried into Xara's shoulder as she gently ran her hand across his back again and again in an attempt to comfort him. "It's okay," Xara whispered. She felt tears run down her cheeks.

For a couple minutes they just sat there, hugging and crying. Two friends reunited at last.