A Living Nightmare - (MCSM FANFIC - Collab with eternal-eloquence) DISCONTINUED

Chapter 9 - The Discovery

Chapter written by eternal-eloquence 
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Jesse awoke with a start.

Her heart was hammering against her chest, drops of something clear and sticky slowly sliding down her forehead. An odd sensation of déjà vu swept over her as she jolted forwards slightly, keeping her eyes tightly shut, awaiting whatever torture the Warden had planned for her and... Lukas! Where was Lukas? The Warden better not have hurt him in any way, or Jesse would be sure to tear him limb from limb—

There was a sudden yet gentle weight on her shoulders, and Jesse tensed up. She was sure that the Warden would have her punished in the most severe way possible, now that they'd caught her. She prepared to hear his sly tone instructing the golems to take her down to the zombie mines...

"Jesse?" mused a male voice, reassurance caressing his tone. But... it wasn't the voice of the Warden.

Her eyes flew open.

Two calloused hands were resting on her shoulders, blue eyes fixed onto hers. Jesse didn't move a muscle, her eyes wide and fixed on the same spot, breathing ragged. The weight on her shoulders lifted, and shifted down to gently handle her wrists, slightly urging her to turn to the side.

She hadn't even noticed that her hands were shaking.

"Jesse," they repeated, this time in a tone much firmer than the first.

Jesse squeezed her eyes tighter and shook her head, tilting it backwards in hopes that this person would leave her the hell alone.

"Jess, look at me."

Reluctantly, she did so. She opened her eyes, which flitted over to the face of the person next to her. This time, it actually processed in her mind that the person she was looking at was... Lukas? Her still-wide eyes automatically trailed down to her own hands, resting on his palms, then met Lukas' eyes, only to see the worry pooling behind all the blue. How had she not noticed that before?

"Lukas?" Jesse meant to ask, though it came out a lot weaker than intended. "W-what happened?"

Lukas reeled back carefully, as if she would shatter without his support. "Honestly? I'm not so sure of that myself. I woke up and found you shaking and mumbling in your sleep." He fumbled with his words slightly, avoiding her gaze and fiddling with his sleeves, a habit of his that Jesse noticed he did whenever he felt intimidated.

She sat up straighter, rubbing her tired eyes. "Was it a nightmare?" It surely seemed that way. Even to Jesse, who had a heavy history with the terrors of her own mind, it was never that severe. In fact, the only time it had felt as real as it did was when she'd actually experienced it...

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lukas' voice suddenly said, seizing her from her thoughts.

"My dream," Jesse replied. "I mean, it had to be a dream, right? There's no other way. You were in it too, by the way."

"I-I was?" Jesse could tell that he wasn't genuinely surprised. His actions were unnatural, almost forced. The fiddling had switched from his sleeves to the collar of his jacket. "That's cool. Well—not cool, since you were, heh, having a nightmare, but... cool beans."

Lukas hoped that their little inside joke would throw some tension off of the situation (or at least make seem less stressful for him), but if anything, it only seemed to make things worse. He saw Jesse's eyes harden and scrutinize him, no sign of the previous fatigue that lingered in them a moment prior.

Sure enough, Jesse picked up a bout of suspicion in his tone. She pushed herself off the couch, crossed her arms, and shifted her weight onto one leg, something she tended to do when she was suspicious and demanded answers. It was the same pose she'd used when she was interrogating her suspects back in Cassie Rose's mansion, and she knew damn well that Lukas noticed that as well. "You're acting weird," she said plainly and directly. "You know something, don't you."