How It Should Have Been

Chapter 1.2

"Lead the way."

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Reuben walked by my side, behind the redheaded girl. Petra was definitely something; shoulder length, blazing auburn hair, that seemed to glow against her ghostly pale skin. Her eyes were rich and dark, like chocolate, and her obviously toned body. She was a cutie, and definitely my type, if all people in this world looked like her, I was a goner. But she was very difficult to read, she had this stone cold expression on her face, in all the time we had been walking I had yet to see her smile. Maybe it was the fact that she was the first person I had met here, or maybe it was her undeniably attractive confidence, I resolved to be her friend. Reuben walked close to me, still terrified from the fight back in the canyon, he eyed Petra wearily, trying to verify if she was a friend. Maybe I should have more of his self-preservation, but I'm excited! Petra walked indifferently in front, not looking back once to make sure we were following, though to be fair we obviously didn't have anywhere else to go. She abruptly stopped walking, causing me to slam into her. I stumbled, closing my eyes, preparing myself for getting a face full of dirt. It never came, my eyes blinked open to discover Petra had caught me. A bright red blush spread from my cheeks to the tips of my ears, I almost shrank under her intimidating gaze, almost.
"Wow, for someone who is an expert sword fighter, you sure are clumsy," Petra smirked down at me. Reuben looked between us, wondering what was going on. I had to wonder the same thing. Petra cleared her throat and helped me up,
"This is my home." Petra gestures towards a cave, I look at her puzzled.
"Nice place, how are the neighbors?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow at me,
"Funny..." I laughed, giving her an excited smile. She leads me inside, the cave is just what you expected it to be. Cold and dark, a few torched were spread across the walls and there was a chest, furnace, and crafting table. But otherwise nothing, I figured she had to have a bed around here somewhere. I look at her skeptically. She rolls her eyes and gestures to the chest,
"Take some of those materials and make yourself a stone sword, we can't have you defenseless." I reached into the chest and pulled out two cobblestone blocks and a stick, silently thanking Notch that I remembered to read about crafting swords before I had left. After the sword was crafted I held it up for Petra and Reuben to see, a triumphant smile playing across my face. Reuben oinked excitedly, knowing what a huge deal this was. Petra raised an eyebrow in quiet confusion but didn't question me.
"Listen Jesse, I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something..." she trailed off, and for the first time, her eyes were muddled with uncertainty, I gave her my most encouraging and comforting smile. She crossed the room and took something out from her pocket.
"A wither skull! You can only get these in the Nether, which means you traveled there!" I said enthusiastically. She blinked at me, my unrestrained emotion.
         "Yeah, it's not a big deal. Anyway I was wondering if you want to help me with a deal," Petra said. I grinned at her,
          "What kind of deal?"
           "I'm trading with this guy, his name is Ivor, it's this wither skull for a diamond." I looked at her trying to determined she was serious or not. I mean come on, I may be from a different world, but even I know this deal seems sketchy.
            "I don't know Petra, this seems kind of shady to me." To my complete surprise she laughed!
          "All my deals are 'shady' Jesse, if they don't ask questions, I don't either." I looked at her dumbfounded, she laughed, like actually laughed. I no longer care if this deal could end badly, I would stick around forever just to hear her laugh again.
          "Alright, you've convinced me. Let's go!"
         We walk out of the cave, onto a bridge that connects the cave to the other side of the cliff. Petra turns to stare  into the distance.
         "Look. Endercon is all lit up," I glance over at her trying to figure out how to ask the question that had just come up.
"What's Endercon?" Petra looked at me like I had grown another head.
"Seriously? You don't know what Endercon is?" I nodded sheepishly and look at the ground. Petra sighed,
"Endercon is this annual event that honors the Order of the Stone's heroics." I blinked at her, I was lost at 'event'. Before I could ask her my next question, Petra looked over my shoulder and gasped.
"We've got company!" I looked over my shoulder, creepers! I glanced over towards the cave entrance hoping to make a break for it, no luck. A group of zombies limped out into the moon light.
"Whatever we do, we do it together," Petra yelled, we stood back-to-back, she seemed so calm in crisis while me and Reuben were silently freaking out. I felt bad for the little guy, we've been friends for less then a month and I've already gotten him into all kinds of trouble. I look over the bridge, the fall wasn't to bad, though after falling from Sky City, most any drop looked like a walk in the park.
"We've got to jump!" Petra nodded at me, while Reuben whipped his head towards me and let out a squeal of protest. I dived off, I couldn't help but show off a little, I did a backflip while falling then resumed the dive formation. Jess would have been proud. I slide into the cool water, I surface in time to see Petra and Reuben hit the water. They surfaced and I innocently at them. Reuben swam over and head butted me, clearly a bit ticked off that I had left him up on the bridge. Petra however is looking at me in shock,
          "Where the hell did you learn how to do that!" I ducked my head debating on telling her or not.
          "My brother taught me," I said, I had no problem talking about Jess, as long as she doesn't ask about anything else I'll be fine.
            "Come on, we have a trade to complete," she said, snapping me out of my daze.
We walked through the front gates, I gasped. It was amazing! My eyes were drawn to everything, the booths, the giant dome, and the rainbow beacon in the center of everything. Petra looked over at me,
"Yeah Endercon can be a bit overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it," she smiled, which was dazzling by the way. Two people came running towards us, the girl had dark skin, coal black eyes, her dark curly hair was pulled back into pigtails in either side of her head. She wore a lime green cap, a pair of googles placed on it, she wore a red and white shirt with black pants. The boy also had coal black eyes and dark hair, but the similarities ended there. He was tall and bulky with light skin, and he had a unibrow, mother would have severally disapproved that's why I didn't care about it. He wore a green tunic, it was obviously wore due to the random patches, he also had fingerless gloves, and kaki colored pants. They stopped dead when they saw me, I stood my ground trying to act confident, but I made sure there was an unassuming smile on my face.
"Petra, who is this?" the dark skinned girl asked. Not waiting for Petra to introduce me I walked forward and shook each of their hands.
"I'm Jesse! It's nice to meet you!" I said enthusiastically. Both of them looked a bit taken aback by my friendliness, but what can you do. They looked over at Petra for confrontation, she nodded.
"She's cool, I saved her in the woods. Jesse this is Axel and Olivia," Petra said monotonously. I frowned, I could have saved myself, thank-you-very-much.
"Look, me and Jesse have something we need to take care, can you guys watch Reuben?" She gestured to the tiny pig, he shrunk behind me, obviously not wanting to be watched by strangers. I knelt beside him,
"It's okay Reub, they'll keep you safe, then I'll come right back," I pet his head reassuringly, I look over Olivia and Axel. He went over to them nervously,
"Don't worry Jesse, he'll be fine," Petra put her hand in my shoulder, I tensed, but quickly relaxed. Axel and Olivia nodded
"We'll take good care of him, we promise," Olivia said sincerely. I nodded and turned to Petra, we started walking.
"Alright let's get this trade over with."

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Hey y'all, I've got to ask, who have watched DC's crossover, Crisis in Earth X? If you haven't, highly recommend all the shows. Shoutouts for the day are; @Lapis1324 and @TheGamerGirl14. Comment and Vote!
~Wolfe🐺