Chapter Text
“We’ve got company..” Lukas could hear Harper’s strained voice mixed with wariness, although it sounded like background noise. He was vaguely aware of her hand on his shoulder.
The first thing he noticed about Jesse’s face was the cut that ran across it-- something he gave her. There was blood crusted around the edges, yet Lukas could still see streams of shiny red forming and slowly dripping. Lukas felt a twinge of guilt at the sight of the wound, knowing that his sword was this close to slicing through her eye. Heck, he even could’ve done worse if his aim was any lower, and he did NOT want to imagine that.
Well, I’m no medical expert, but that might scar, even with a healing potion.. Lukas brought even more guilt on himself at that thought. Jesse was one of the most forgiving people he knew. Whether or not she hated the scar if she got it, Lukas already knew that Jesse would say that it wasn’t his fault. In fact, she’d probably blame herself for it.
The next thing Lukas noticed was, well, Jesse’s skin. It looked.. oddly dull and lifeless, likely due to the whole PAMA control thing. That alone made her look way different than the jewel-eyed friend he was familiar with. There was only one other time Lukas could recall where Jesse even looked close to her current appearance; when she’d set off the Formidi-Bomb and got knocked unconscious. Even then, she still looked more bright and alive than now.
Wait, isn’t this just me insulting her- His thought cut off as Jesse stepped off of the platform, slowly approaching the two.
“Your friend looks.. tough. You sure you can handle them?” Harper glanced at Lukas as he stood, pulling out his sword.
I am not sure at all. Lukas immediately thought, though he didn’t respond to Harper. He was fairly certain that his sword was on the verge of breaking, after being put against Jesse’s enchanted diamond one.
“WHY KEEP TRYING?” PAMA began, speaking its words through Jesse as though this were some kind of puppet-show. Of course, only with ‘slight’ violence and people that weren’t actually puppets.
“YOU WILL ONLY FAIL. JUST AS YOU HAVE FAILED TO LEAD THE OCELOTS.”
Lukas’ eyes widened, eyebrows raising. Did PAMA really have to do this?
“JUST AS YOU HAVE FAILED TO ‘SAVE’ JESSE.”
Lukas tensed up at that, yet he was determined not to make PAMA think that it was getting to him. Despite the trembling in his hands and the way he felt his breathing pick up, Lukas planted his feet in the ground, straightening out as best he could.
“AND JUST AS HOW YOU WILL FAIL TO PREVENT ME FROM MAKING EVERYONE ON YOUR HOMEWORLD.. USEFUL.”
Lukas was reminded of the fact that Jesse still had the flint and steel they needed to get out of here. Now PAMA had access to it.
Jesse took her sword off of her back as she approached. For a second, Lukas could’ve sworn that her hands twitched, although that could’ve just been a trick of his head. He would’ve dawdled on that thought for longer, but PAMA began to speak once more.
“YOU WOULDN’T WANT YOUR LEADER TO SEE YOU HURTING THEM, RIGHT?” It abruptly added. There was no way to deny what PAMA was-- not only was it really manipulative, but Lukas was pretty sure that the psychological taunts from moments before pointed to PAMA being a sadist. The true question was how on earth a robot went from being an innocent-looking microwave to.. this.
“I won’t hurt my friend, but I’ll be hurting you!” Lukas growled.
“ARE YOU SURE?” PAMA grinned widely, enough to make Lukas convinced that Jesse’s cut would start bleeding even more.
Lukas paused. He remembered when Ivor spoke to him about Jesse unchipping Petra. PAMA had to be trying to get to his head- this was just another trick of its manipulation. It was, it had to be. PAMA only cared for two things-- itself, and control over everyone. It just wanted to attack Lukas’ emotions, then immediately punch him and throw him into the void of endless networking. With a quick glance to the water behind him, he lowered himself into a fighting stance and raised his sword.
“Careful, Lukas- you’d better know what you’re doing!” Harper warned off to the side. Don’t worry, I don’t. It was a complete miracle he’d made it to a second fight with Jesse-- she was way more skilled in fighting. He'd seen this person swing Petra around before, and he was fairly confident that she could do the same to him.
Jesse bent into a crouch, shooting forwards, sword out in front of her. Lukas narrowly leapt to the side in a roll, finding himself right next to Harper. Jesse’s arms shot out to the sides, and she stopped last-second from falling into the water, teetering on the edge. Her head snapped towards Lukas, red eyes glaring into his. Lukas jumped to his feet, bolting in the opposite direction.
I’ve gotta get to that heart!
Lukas was aware of his boots pounding against the glass, before he was promptly shoved down, face meeting warm glass. He was only just able to roll onto his back when his sword was met with the gleam of diamond. Flinching, his sword clashed against Jesse’s, and he was conscious of her eyes boring into his skull. Their swords grinded against each other for a few moments, letting out a continuous, low screech.
Although he had both hands on its hilt, his sword slipped. Before Lukas even knew what’d happened, he felt a sharp stinging on the back of his hand, along with warmth tickling it. Hissing, Lukas instantly swung, landing a hit on Jesse’s face, which allowed him to squirm away and push himself back onto his feet.
He only realized what he’d done when he saw Jesse spring back onto her feet as well, which allowed him to see swollen red skin under one of her eyes.
Lukas took a step back, risking a glance over his shoulder where the heart had been moments before. Well, he was gonna have to leap into that hole to take it out. If I don’t do it now, it’ll be a farther drop.
Whipping around, Lukas bolted for the hole.
“Look out!” Harper shouted, just as Lukas saw a shiny, bluish-green orb fly in front of him. Was that an ender pea--!
Vwoop
And just like that, Jesse was right there, surrounded by purple particles.
Lukas wasn’t able to skirt to a stop. Instead, he ended up full-on charging into Jesse.
The last thing he heard was the shatter of glass before the ground fell beneath him.
++and now to jesse’s redstone hell++
Jesse wasn’t able to do anything in this situation.
She couldn’t stop herself from throwing that pearl, or from causing both Lukas and herself to fall through the glass. Currently, she could only hope that he didn’t get blinded, or something like that. Although, the last time she hoped for something, the complete opposite of what she wanted happened. Yeah.. she hurt Lukas.
As soon as Jesse had free will from this redstone hell, she decided that she’d pass out on the floor once she was sure everyone and everything was fine.
When she fell through the glass, she half-expected that she’d keep falling forever. She wasn’t facing the ground, so she couldn’t tell if she was going to hit something or not. Nevertheless, her back slammed into something hard, and the red tint she was familiar with vanished for a moment.
Jesse was aware of a searing wave of pain shooting through her body. It felt like sharp, burning blades were stabbing her all at once, embedding themselves into her flesh. As quickly as it came, the feeling was then washed away, replaced by a tingling.
Right then and there, Jesse figured out that one thing her armor couldn’t keep out was glass shards. Yeah, I don’t think that’s good for my health. Great observation, Jesse.
Jesse could only watch as she pushed herself up, jumping onto the rapidly-descending platform. Jesse could feel the thumping of the redstone heart, and she could immediately confirm one thing: her heart was indeed in sync with it.
..That was not a good feeling.
Jesse glanced upwards, spotting Lukas, who had just climbed onto the heart’s spire. He slammed his sword into the protective glass around the heart, scattering clear shards around it. He then crouched, gripping the edges of the heart and pulling. Jesse’s first immediate concern was Lukas being a bit too careless, seeing as he could’ve gotten handfuls of glass shards in his fingers, but then Jesse felt a.. tugging in the back of her head.
Along with the electric hum of redstone, Jesse could also hear.. something that seemed muffled. It was like there were several voices, all after the same thing. The sounds slowly intensified, until Jesse could make them out. Are those.. why do I hear screami-
Jesse jolted, doubling-over as a shockwave came over her. Her thoughts flashed red, and Jesse planted her boots on the ground as she clutched her head. She could feel the burning of each and every shard of glass that burrowed into her back, paired with the blood seeping from her face.
“NOOOO.” PAMA’s enraged screaming filled the air, joined with Jesse’s own screams of pain. Everything hurt-- from her head, to her sanity.. she hated it. There were bursts of shocks that came in irregular intervals, and Jesse hated how each burst made her body shake. She was this close to the edge. All it’d take would be one stronger shock, and then she’d be plummeting and her friends wouldn’t be able to leave this hellhole.
Despite her sight being overlaid with static, Jesse could still sort-of make out the figure that stood a few blocks above her. Logically, she knew it was Lukas. Who else would it be? However, she just... couldn’t recognize him. Jesse knew it was probably something related to the chip in her head- it looked as though Lukas were made of scrambled blocks and code.
Actually, that’d probably be able to describe herself-
“Jesse!” Lukas’ voice pierced the air, and Jesse snapped back to the main problem. She opened her mouth, but PAMA sent electricity through her limbs.
“YOU ARE BEING S1LLY.” It growled.
“Fight it, Jesse! You have to fight PAMA!” Lukas called out to her. Jesse would’ve yelled at him to stop focusing on her and instead focus on the heart, but oh well. Plus, she was doing her best! As best as one can when your consciousness has been taken hostage by a sadistic robot.
Jesse felt her head twitch once as PAMA brought herself into a stand. Jesse caught onto what PAMA wanted to do-- she could feel its eyes locking onto Lukas, along with her body becoming tenser. Despite Jesse’s best attempts to fight off PAMA’s intentions, PAMA launched her right at Lukas.
Lukas, MOVE.
“OH GO-” Lukas screeched, clearly not expecting that. He was cut off as Jesse slammed into his chest. Lukas and herself were sent careening into the air and to the edge of the heart’s platform, about to cash in their one-way tickets to death. Determined to not let that happen, Jesse gave a mental shove to the static that pressed at the edges of her head.
She came crashing back into control of her body, along with regaining the ability to feel her wounds and the shards. Despite the burning sensations, Jesse flung her hands out, which ended up with her dangling from the edge of the platform.
Not even a moment later, Lukas ended up grabbing onto her calves. Were they even called that? It didn’t matter. With the sudden weight, Jesse nearly lost her grip on the edge. Not to mention, but everything hurt ‘slightly’ more now.
“TH1S HAS GONE T0O FAR,” PAMA declared, which was evident enough.
“I WILL D3STROY YOU BOTH TO PRE5ERVE FUNCTI0NAL1TY.” Jesse’s hands were beginning to slide downwards.
“I can’t.. hold on for long, Lukas-” Jesse warned, sparing a glance over her shoulder. So far, it was a miracle that her knees weren’t dislocated or anything. Hopefully.
“Hang in there, Jesse! I’ve just gotta get to that heart!” Lukas called, beginning to clamber over Jesse.
At this rate, it was a complete miracle that Jesse was still holding on. She could barely think straight anymore, probably due to the buzzing and the fact that she could feel PAMA actively fighting her for control. Jesse dangled there, unable to do much more as Lukas got onto the platform and climbed right up to the Redstone Heart. As she tried to pull herself up, static flooded her head.
“Get out of my head!” Jesse was barely able to scream in retaliation. Her voice sounded raspy and strained, as though she hadn’t had water for a while, which she hadn’t. With one more push, Jesse found herself to be splayed across the platform.
As Lukas reached down for the heart, PAMA won the fight for control. It pushed her body up and began to speak. If only I could call PAMA a stupid fu-
“LUKAS. PLEASE, STOP. DO NOT.. DEACTIVATE ME.” PAMA begged, presumably seeking sympathy. Lukas said nothing, though Jesse could see the hesitation he held. He was searching Jesse’s.. well, PAMA’s eyes. She assumed that Lukas was looking for any sign of herself, which frankly was a bad idea, in her opinion. She didn’t want any more delay in PAMA’s destruction-- this thing had done more than enough damage.
“I KNOW I’VE MADE POOR DECISIONS, BUT I CAN SHOW YOU SO MUCH.” Wow, what an understatement. Lukas turned back to the heart, planting his fingers at the edges of it.
“I CAN HELP YOU FIND THE WAY HOME.” Lukas froze at those words, turning back to Jesse/PAMA. Currently, she was barely standing, her legs shaking so much that she thought that she’d fall over at any second. Her arms stretched out to Lukas, though he was clearly out of reach.
“I CAN BE USEFUL. TO YOU.” One of Jesse’s hands came to rest just above her heart, which was surprisingly steady. Lukas’ eyes narrowed.
“Sorry, PAMA, but you’ve never been useful.” He glared at PAMA, before giving a sharp tug to the heart. Electricity shot through her head, and PAMA tensed, clearly intent on charging towards Lukas. However, it was too late for PAMA. With one sudden jerk, the heart was held above Lukas’ head.
The back of her head suddenly got a heck of a lot hotter. Burning hot, even. Jesse’s head began to crackle with electricity, and she could even smell smoke. The heat rapidly spread, building up, then-
An inhuman shriek rose from Jesse, and it felt like everything was falling apart. It was like her body was thrown into flames then electrocuted several times over. Her body jerked as PAMA’s code evaporated, and she could just make out Lukas yelling her name. Distantly, Jesse could feel the rage and desperation of PAMA, which was breaking apart and scattering like dust. There was one last burst of red, and then darkness came to overtake her vision.
The electricity that ran through her veins dimmed, sliding away into nothingness and bringing her consciousness along with it.
++back to lukas++
“Jesse!” Lukas yelled. He threw the Heart off to the side, leaping off of the short spire and bolting right towards Jesse. Shooting out an arm, he (thankfully) grabbed her before she could slide off of the edge.
Lukas crouched over her limp form, looking for any other wounds she had. Obviously, he could see both of the major cuts on her face, and he felt a twinge of guilt at the sight of them.
Hopefully Jesse wont take that too personally, he thought. Still, he’d understand if Jesse had an overall negative reaction to him.
Other than the cuts on her face, Lukas wasn’t able to see any other visible injuries. It was a good thing, but he knew that there could be more under her armor. Not to mention, there were probably some psychological injuries. Lukas couldn’t even begin to imagine how the townspeople felt, having been under PAMA’s control for.. years. As gently as possible, Lukas lifted her up and slung her over his back.
“Okay, yeah. Let’s get outta here, Jesse.” He said, although there was nobody there able to hear it. And with that, he slowly ascended the staircase of redstone.
With a grunt, Lukas finally dragged himself and Jesse to the main level. The journey was time-consuming, seeing as Lukas didn’t want to risk jostling Jesse. Not to mention, but he didn’t want to risk tripping and getting a double-kill due to his carelessness. Honestly, he’d probably be a bit disappointed if he died like that.
Back to his main concern, Lukas laid Jesse onto the floor. His action was followed by the gasp of someone off in the background, along with the sound of footsteps rushing towards them both.
“You did it, Lukas!” Petra had been the first to exclaim, followed by Harper sighing something about the whole PAMA thing being over. Lukas wasn’t paying much attention to them-- currently, his main priority was Jesse. Yes, he knew that her heart was still beating, but he wasn’t sure if it’d stay that way. No matter how much he hoped it’d stay, there was always the chance that Jesse would puff into a scattered inventory right at his arms.
Someone stepped towards Lukas, crouching beside him and laying a hand on his shoulder. The weight was light, as though they weren’t really sure about their action.
“When you removed the redstone heart, it must have… severed the connection.” Ivor murmured. Huh. So that’s who that was.
Lukas decided not to respond to Ivor, instead talking to the only person who couldn’t respond or hear what he was saying.
“C’mon, Jesse. Wake up.” Lukas held one of Jesse’s hands with both of his own, praying that he’d get through to her somehow. “You’re way too tough to die like this. I mean, look at everything you’ve done! You’ve defeated the Witherstorm and saved our world, Jesse. None of us would be here without you. You’ve saved a bunch of people-- just think of the Sky City people, Jesse.” Lukas yammered on, hoping that Jesse was somehow hearing him.
This feels like a sappy scene in a book. Lukas realized, but it was a bit too late for that.
“There’s no way you can be defeated by some computer, you’re way too tough for that!” Lukas added on, “Jesse, wake up. Please.”
Lukas’ vision had blurred a bit, and warmth was collecting in his eyes.
There were a few moments of silence, the only sound being running water.
“This.. probably isn’t the right time, but that was a bit sappy,” Petra observed. Lukas turned around and blankly stared at her. Really.
“I entirely agree with that,” Ivor declared. Despite the moment, Lukas couldn’t help but let out a short chuckle, which he tried to muffle.
“Same here.” Someone’s hoarse voice added. Lukas silently nodded, before he whipped back around once he realized where that voice came from.
Jewel-green eyes, no longer tainted with red, met his gaze.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Jesse lifted her head, blinking.