Minecraft Hardcore

Chapter 24: R & R

Ami bustled around her friends, barely avoiding an Izzy to the entire body. Luckily, she managed to keep herself and the bowl of mushroom soup she carried safe as Izzy sprawled into the wall. Izzy shook her head, dizzy from the impact, but clearly not hurt.

"Don't kill each other or anything!" Ami called.

"She has to learn somehow," Charlotte said, rolling her eyes and preparing herself for Izzy's next blow. As Ami headed outside she pondered about Izzy. She had insisted that Charlotte train her in combat, and though it was good for her to know how to defend herself, Ami couldn't help but worry. Izzy had certainly changed since Aiden's death, and she wasn't quite sure how healthy she was mentally. Ami sighed, shivering from the cold as she walked across the roof and to the obsidian cell. Now that she considered it, perhaps it wasn't right to keep someone locked up in a really small space for hours, days on end. Luke could go even more insane than he already was.

"Luke?" Ami opened the trapdoor on the top of the cage. "I brought you breakfast." She saw his dark lump of hair in the corner slowly move and look up. His face was blank, devoid of emotion. Unnerved, Ami passed down the bowl of mushroom soup into his shaking hands. Upon receiving the food, Luke almost immediately vanquished it. Some of the soup splattered on his face and clothes, but most of it went down his throat.

"Don't choke on it!" Ami exclaimed. Luke suddenly stopped his ravenous eating and glared at her with piercing eyes.

"It would be better though, wouldn't it? Having me die rather than live. I don't understand why you all keep me alive." His words surprised Ami. Not because of how lenient Luke seemed to be about his life, but the very fact that he spoke.

"You shouldn't think of yourself that way," Ami found herself saying, unsure of why she kept the conversation going. "It's not healthy." Luke laughed scornfully.

"Healthy? And keeping me here is? You lot are a riot." He went back to eating his half-empty bowl of soup.

"I still don't understand why you did it." Ami leaned her head in her hand, lying down.

"What?"

"You know what! Trying to kill me, for one thing, and then trying to kill everyone else!"

"Oh, that." Luke finished his soup neutrally, passing the bowl up to Ami. "Seeing as I can't leave, your friend Steve made sure to make this cell tall enough so that I can't just jump out or break it, why don't I tell you my life story?" Ami listened in, interested in what he was going to say. Luke cackled at her.

"You really think I'm going to tell you? Hah! A stubborn little wench like you doesn't need to know things she shouldn't. Go stick your gross face somewhere it belongs." Ami huffed at him, red in the face.

"For the record," she said, shutting the trapdoor with so much force that Luke jumped. "I was planning on making your life easier. Now, though..." she trailed off, getting up and leaving the boy to yell at her.

Ami put the bowl in a chest with a loud clatter.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" Michael confirmed worriedly as he crafted more armour.

"That little turd-ball is on my last nerve. I was going to be nice to him and not be a jerk, but I seriously need to get a counselor." Ami fumed.

"Judging from the lack of logic you just used in that sentence, I'll bet this apple that he said something rude to you." Steve threw an apple in the air, catching it with ease.

"I'm done!" Ami threw her hands in the air. "Aaaagh!"

"Now you're just being over-dramatic," Steve smirked. "We can give you some leverage to relax, though. I'll take over for his next meal, give him a piece of my mind." Ami sighed. "It's not that bad, really. He's just rude, obnoxious..."