"This is enough iron to last us for ages!" Petra said excitedly, tossing her bag over her shoulder. "And I still can't believe we scored a diamond today!"

"It was good luck." Jesse agreed. She stopped, scratching her neck. "For once I can say it's worth all the mine dust that gets... well everywhere."

Petra chuckled, shaking her head. "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, once we get out of here you can go jump in the first lake you see."

Jesse snorted at her friend's words, continuing to follow Petra up the tunnel. The torch Petra held flickered every now and then, it's orange light dancing across the dark cave walls in a spooky way. It was so much different than Beacontown's mines which, despite being deep underground, were always fairly well lit.

A small, sad smile formed on Jesse's face at the thought of Beacontown. She didn't miss it as much as she had first expected she would, but still got the occasional pangs of homesickness. But adventuring with Petra had really been great, and Jesse has felt parts of her old safe awaking again. She really did miss being out there, doing whatever she pleased.

"Earth to Jesse." Petra nudged Jesse's shoulder with hers. "Heard what I said?"

"Sorry, got lost in thought." Jesse said, shaking her head to snap herself back to reality.

"Yeah, I can see that." Petra responded with a chuckle. "What's on your mind?"

"I was just thinking back to Beacontown." Jesse said, shrugging. "It's been how many months now? Nine? Ten? Man, almost a year."

"You miss Beacontown?" Petra asked softly.

"A bit." Jesse admitted. She glanced over at Petra, noticing a slightly downcast look on her friend's face.

"Hey, don't get me wrong!" Jesse said, putting a hand on Petra's shoulder. "A promise is a promise, I'm not leaving you."

"I don't want you to feel forced to be here." Petra said, stopping. "That's never what I wanted. I've always wanted you to be here because you wanted to be here."

"Petra, I do want to be here." Jesse said, turning around to face Petra. "I don't want this friendship to fall apart any more than you do-"

"Doesn't matter." Petra said softly, turning away from Jesse and continuing to walk forward. "You're still here against your will."

"No, Petra, wait!" Jesse said, jogging after Petra. "What part of I want to be here don't you understand? I'm not-"

Jesse never got to finish, Petra suddenly coming to a stop in front of her. She nearly rammed straight into her friend's back, slamming on the brakes just in times.

"Do you hear that?" Petra asked, glancing over at Jesse with wide eyes.

Jesse frowned, listening intently. She felt her heartbeat pick up the pace, something rumbling throughout the cave. She slowly glanced down, seeing the bits gravel on the ground vibrate.

"Petra..." She began, anxiously.

Both girls' heads snapped back upon hearing the sound of stone breaking, echoing through the tunnel. Just in time to see part of the roof cave in, clouds of dust blinding them.

"RUN!"

The words had barely left Petra's mouth before both she and Jesse were sprinting down the tunnel as fast as they could. Stone rained down around them, and somewhere along the line Petra lost a hold of the torch.

"Petra?" Jesse called anxiously in the dark as she continued to blindly race forward, constantly glancing over her back at nothing but blackness.

"Just keep running!" Petra called back her her.

Jesse felt Petra's hand grab her wrist, pulling her along into the dark. She was glad Petra did, her breaths already beginning to heave.

"It can't be much further!" Petra's voice was beginning to become raspy, cracking and breaking throughout her words as she panted.

Jesse didn't get a chance to think about whether or not she had the breath to reply. Something all of a sudden slammed into her back, the whole world going black before she even hit the ground.

And then it was silent.

-----------------------

The first feeling that came back to Jesse, was pain. Her entire body hurt, pain weakly pulsing down her back. Pressure was building inside her skull, feeling like somebody was trying to physically crush her head between their hands.

She was hot, sweat drenching her clothes and hair, trickling across her burning skin. The air was thick and heavy, making it difficult for Jesse to breathe. She could vaguely taste blood in the back of her mouth.

The more she began waking up, the more things Jesse began to notice. With every inhale, she smelled a vile mixture of dust, ash and even blood. She couldn't hear anything, but her own raspy breathing echoing in her ears.

A cough burst from Jesse's lips, struggling to properly breathe in the thick air. It was immediately followed by the noise of shuffling, and Jesse soon began picking up on another pattern of weak breathing. She felt something resembling the hand of another person on her arm.

"Jesse? Can you hear me?"

Jesse gulped thickly before coughing again, her throat drier than it's possessively ever been. "P-Pe...tra?" She croaked weakly, still fighting to open her eyes.

"It's me, Jesse, I'm here. You okay?" She heard Petra grunt. "Why the hell am I even asking that, of course you're not okay!"

Jesse coughed again, still trying to get her eyes to open. "At least... you sound okay."

"In comparison to you? Yeah."

Groaning softly, Jesse managed to blink open her eyes. At first she saw nothing but a blurry mishmash of colours. But after a few blinks, her vision began to sharpen a tiny bit. Coughing again, Jesse allowed her head to tilt slightly to the side. Immediately she met the two bright blue eyes of Petra.

Jesse's heart dropped at the sight of her friend. Despite looking alert, awake and somewhat panicked, Petra wasn't in fantastic shape. Dry blood was leading down the side of her face, patches of her blue bandanna stained with it. She was hugging one arm to her chest, her wrist bent at an odd angle.

"Petra..." Jesse breathed, fighting her sudden urge to throw up. "You look... terrible."

Petra snorted slightly. "Then you should see yourself. I'm fine."

"What happened?" Jesse asked weakly, coughing again. "We were running..."

"-and the tunnel caved in around us." Petra finished with a sigh. "I don't remember much either, I myself was knocked out pretty hard." She offered a hand to Jesse. "Think you can sit up?"

Jesse gave a small nod, accepting Petra's hand. She struggled, even with her friend's help, her sore body not agreeing with the action in the slightest. Petra was trying her hardest to help Jesse with one hand, keeping her broken wrist to her chest. Finally Jesse managed to upright herself, slumping back against the rock wall. Everything hurt, the world spinning and tilting around her.

"Here." Petra said, holding a waterbottle in front of Jesse's lips. She gratefully accepted the cool, refreshing liquid.

"I don't know how we're getting out of this, though." Petra said when Jesse finish drinking. She glanced around the small space, every side being a wall of rocks. The only light was from a small torch, probably one of the unlit torches in their bag that Petra managed to light.

"How long was I out?" Jesse asked weakly, closing her eyes again as she leaned her head back against the wall.

"I don't know how long I was out to begin with." Petra replied. "But after I came to... I don't know, I'd say about 15 minutes? Roughly?"

Jesse nodded in response, letting out another weak cough. She felt Petra's hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"How do you feel?" She asked her softly.

"Everything hurts." Jesse admitted. "My head feels like it's splitting open, breathing feels nearly impossible-" She coughed again.

"We're going to find away out of this." Petra said, the confidence in her voice faltering. "Somehow... some way."

"What about you?" Jesse asked, forcing her eyes open again to face Petra.

"Other than a throbbing headache of my own and of course my wrist, everything else seems to be working fine." Petra responded. "I got off lightly compared to you."

It was silent between the two of them for a few seconds, neither saying anything else. It was Petra's turn to sit with her eyes closed, her head slightly drooped. Jesse was occasionally glancing around the hole they were stuck in, feeling almost claustrophobic. How were the two of them going to get out of that situation?

"Do you think there is a way out?" Jesse asked softly, Petra immediately lifting her head at the question. "Or are we going to be trapped in here until we-" She stopped herself, not wanting to say it out loud.

"No." Petra said softly. "I refuse to believe this is the end for us, just... no."

She got onto her knees, moving over to the wall. Jesse watched as Petra pulled their bag closer, taking out her pickaxe. She flinched, the sound of the iron blade meeting stone, making her head throb.

Petra continued trying to either loosen the stones or break through them. She didn't have any success, only managing to wear out her good hand and the pickaxe. Sighing in defeat, she dropped the tool, sinking back against the wall.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Jesse asked softly, looking up at Petra.

"If I had just left well enough alone, you would have been in Beacontown. Safe." Petra said grimly.

"I meant what I said earlier." Jesse said softly. "I want to be here, with you."

"You're still here for the sake of being with me." Petra said softly, looking up at Jesse. "That's the cruelest thing imaginable. Forcing you away from the life you wanted, all so you can keep the last friendship going."

"I didn't just come for you." Jesse said softly. "I mean, I did at first, but the longer we've been out here, the more I've realised that I missed being able to do this. I don't just want to go running through Beacontown's mines every once in a blue moon..."

"And you're not just saying this to make me happy?" Petra asked Jesse, gulping slightly as her voice faltered.

"No." Jesse said firmly. She weakly reached over, placing her hand on Petra's uninjured one. "I have more fun out here in a day, than I do in an entire month in Beacontown."

A weak smile found it's place on Petra's face as she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Jesse. Hugging her carefully because of her injuries, while Jesse embraced her back as tightly as she could.

"I'm sorry." Petra whispered. "I'm sorry I lead you into this death trap with me..."

"It was worth it." Jesse said, pulling back and looking her friend in the eyes. She felt tears prick her own. "Because even if we die in here... at least we'll be together."

Petra blinked away the tears forming in her own eyes, hugging Jesse again.

As she did, something caught her eye behind Jesse. A small spot of light, barely visible through the rocks.

"Hold up." Petra said softly.

"What? Petra what are you doing?" Jesse asked in surprise as she felt Petra carefully pull her away from the wall.

Petra carefully helped Jesse over onto the next wall, whispering a quick apology as her friend yelped in pain. She grabbed the pickaxe with her good hand again, wedging it into the gaps between the stone.

"Petra, stop." Jesse said softly. "All your going to do is weaken yourself faster-"

"No, I'm not." Petra argued back.

Gritting her teeth, she twisted the pickaxe, just about managing to ease loose the stone. Jesse inhaled sharply as Petra managed to claw out the rock, now too able to see the light shining in through the larger hole.

Ignoring how tired her arm was at that point, Petra began to desperately tug at the stones around the hole. Jesse watched hopefully as Petra managed to loosen another rock.

As the third rock was eased from it's tight spot, the rest of the rocks all cascaded across the cave floor. Petra stumbled back, just about avoiding to get her hand caught up in the avalanche of stones.

"You did it." Jesse gasped, her face lighting up. "You actually did it!"

Petra quickly grabbed their bag, slinging it over her shoulder, before holding her good arm out to Jesse. There was a large smile on her face.

Jesse grabbed Petra's hand, groaning painfully as she heaved herself up from the ground. Allowing Jesse to mostly lean on her, Petra carefully guided her out of the small opening. The moment they were able to stand up straight again, she draped Jesse's arm across her shoulder, wrapping her uninjured one around Jesse's back. She gasped out an encouraging 'almost there', beginning to stagger down the tunnel.

Jesse never thought she would have been as happy to see the sunlight, as she was when she and Petra stumbled out of the cave and into the sunlight. The landscape was bathed in a yellow glow from the setting sun, a gentle breeze being a nice comparison to the hot interior of the cave.

Both girls collapsed onto the grass, breathing in large gasps of the fresh outdoor air. They exchanged glances, both their faces laced with relief.

"I'll be honest with you." Petra said as she rubbed her forehead. "For a moment in there, I thought it was the end."

"That makes two of us." Jesse said as she collapsed onto the ground, closing her eyes and breathing in anther long, slow breath of the fresh air.

"Jesse?" Petra asked softly, causing Jesse to open her eyes again and look up at her. "Now that we're not... doomed. Did you really mean what you said in there?"

"Every word of it." Jesse replied, smiling.

Petra broke into a smile, her eyes alight with happiness. "You're really sure you're happy with this life? Even with unexpected events like-" She pointed back at the cave with her thumb. "-that, taking us by surprise?"

Jesse grinned at Petra. "One hundred percent."

___

...why does this sound so rushed even after editing it a gazillion times-

Over all, really like the idea and concept of this, hate how I put it together! I blame the fact that studying for a test series has left me mildly sleep deprived-

Speaking of sleep deprived, I'm way too beat to write anything else here, so this is going to be a nice, short A/N!

(also, another Jesse and Petra one shot - blame everybody who gave me permission to spam these xD I promise the last one shots of this challenge won't all be Jesse and Petra based-)

I hope you all enjoyed this one shot, and I'll see you tomorrow with a hopefully less rushed sounding one based on whichever prompt I draw next!