5 Days Before Incident

Jesse stood in front of one of the large windows of the Order Hall, staring outside. Her brown eyes were wide, watching in horror as she witnessed the one thing that she prayed wouldn't come.

Snow.

Fine white snowflakes were spiraling down from the dark grey sky, coming to rest on the dying grass outside. Strong gusts of wind were throwing about the small particles of frost, scattering them across the landscape.
As if things weren't getting bad enough already, Jesse had been terrified of this happening.

"Jesse!"

Jesse didn't even blink, hearing Petra's horrified call of her name. She heard footsteps thudding down the stairs, sounding like Petra was taking them two at a time.

"Jesse, did you see what's going on outside!?"

No doubt, Petra probably also just woke up to that shock. Just like Jesse did, a mere 15 minutes ago.

"Yeah." Jesse responded softly, not tearing her gaze away from the window. "Snow..."

She heard her friend's puffing breath as Petra stopped beside Jesse, eyes locked on the window as well. What made it even worse, was the fact that Jesse could see Petra's breaths coming out in faint white puffs.

"Damn, I can't believe this." Petra breathed, her blue eyes wide as she stared at the falling snow outside.

"With you on that one." Jesse replied, her voice low and emotionless.

Sighing softly, Jesse turned away from the window and trudge over to the nearest couch, sinking down on it. She leaned her head in her hands, taking in a long, shaky breath.

The past few days had been so horrible, Jesse had almost forgotten about the sick horse she'd been trying to nurse back to health.
They had heard nothing from Olivia ever since she left for Redstonia, and everybody were worried for the engineer. Jesse had found herself lying awake at night while it thundered outside, thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened to her friend.

The weather had been getting worse as well, it rained almost every single day. It seemed to have finally gotten cold enough for the rain to change into actual snow.

Jesse looked slightly up, hearing a grunt as Petra flopped down on one of the couches as well. Only then did she notice that Petra was still in her sleepwear, her bandanna simply pulled over her bundle of uncombed hair.

"You should probably go get dressed." Jesse said softly, resting her head back into her hands. "It's cold."

Petra snorted slightly. "Thank you for informing me on that last bit, no other way I would have known."

Jesse couldn't help but smile. At least she had Petra's sarcastic company to keep her spirits up.

There has been no new leads as to where the unnatural weather was coming from. The cold had begun flooding in from every direction around them. It was like the earth had begun to freeze over and Beacontown was the last area to get closed in on.

"Come on Jesse, cheer up." Petra said, sticking her leg out and giving Jesse's knee a prod with her foot. "Just consider this a... really cold winter? I'm sure it's going to clear up eventually."

Jesse simply shook her head, not even managing a smile at Petra's attempt to make her feel better.

She had hoped the same, that things would clear up. But it was coming too suddenly, too severely. Even if it did manage to clear up, she wasn't sure how they were going to pull through the rest of the winter. Beacontown wasn't prepared for that type of harsh weather conditions.

"My people are suffering because of this." Jesse whispered softly.

Ever since the weather had begun deteriorating, several Beacontowners and animals had also began falling sick. Whatever had affected their horse, were also effecting several animals around Beacontown as well as citizens.

It started off with everybody, like nothing more than an average case of the flu. Only for the symptoms to increase as the days passed, getting worse to a point where several Beacontowners had been admitted to hospital.

No medication or regular treatments seemed to work for whatever these people and animals have contracted. The only thing that slightly brought down the symptoms for temporary time periods, were strong brewed healing potions. Even then, they'd start deteriorating again after a mere day or two - three if they're lucky.

Only a small percentage of Beacontown had suffered from this mysterious decease, but the number of victims were slowly beginning to increase as the days passed.

"Look, I know things are bad right now." Petra said, hesitating as she tried to think of something that could put Jesse's mind at ease. "But-"

"But nothing." Jesse all of sudden cut her friend off, looking up at Petra. "We need to stop sugar coating the truth here, Petra!"

The redhead opened her mouth to argue back, but then only sighed and sunk back into the couch. "Yeah, you're... you're right."

Jesse groaned softly, falling down on the couch horizontally. She stared up at the ceiling, watching as the familiar haze of tears began clouding up her vision. Third time since she woke up...

"Have you heard anything from Radar today?" Petra asked her.

"Not yet." Jesse replied softly, simply closing her eyes.

Radar had been the busiest of them all in the past few days, always being the one to send out messages, darting from place to place to carry across news or get updates.

He's also been trying to get on contact with Stella for the past week, with no success. After eventually riding out to Champion City, Radar had been met by a substitute leader looking after the place. Stella had apparently left soon after the weather began deteriorating, with no notice of where she was going, or when she was returning.

"Any news from..." Petra hesitated slightly. "...Olivia?"

Jesse felt a lump form in her throat. She only shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

"We'll find her, Jesse, don't worry." Petra said, getting up from the couch.

She lowered herself in a crouching position beside the couch Jesse was lying on, so their eyes were level. While Petra's face was layered with concern, there was still hope in her blue eyes.

"If we don't hear from Olivia within the next few days, we'll go looking for her. One of us can travel to Redstonia, see if we can find her, or any trace of where she has gone."

"No." Jesse whispered softly, turning her head towards Petra. "I can't let any of you go, what if... what if something happened to Olivia? And whatever it is, happens to you then? I can't loose anybody else."

Petra opened her mouth to say something, only to once again fall silent. For once, the warrior was out of things to say, out of plans, out of ideas. Slowly feeling the few threads of hope she had so desperately been clinging to, start to fade away as well.

Jesse's head tilted back to continue looking up at the ceiling, only for her eyes to fall close again. Her jaw clenched as she fought back threatening tears.

"I don't know how." Petra said softly. "But I do know that somehow, we will find a way. That's just who we are."

She reached out, her one hand taking Jesse's and giving it a gentle squeeze. As she did, a small frown found it's place on Petra's face.

"I hope your right." Jesse whispered softly.

Not paying attention to her friend's words, Petra wrapped both her hands around Jesse's, her frown increasing. Her friend's skin felt unnaturally warm against her own.

"Jesse?" Petra asked, getting up from the ground and sitting down on the couch as well.

Seeming to sense the concern in her friend's voice, Jesse opened her eyes. She propped herself slightly up on one elbow to face Petra, who was still clutching her one hand.

"What's wrong?" Jesse asked softly.

"You feel... warm." Petra said, her voice barely a whisper.

She slowly reached out a hand, carefully resting her palm on Jesse's forehead. Jesse didn't blink at her friend's touch, almost holding her breath.

Slowly Petra pulled her hand back again, her expression heavily laced with concern, an almost fearful gaze in her eyes. No words needed to be spoken, to carry the message across.

"How do you feel?" Petra asked softly, her voice having dropped even lower.

"Really just... tired." Jesse admitted softly, her own voice only just audible.

"Okay, let's keep calm about this..." Petra breathed. "This might not be whatever's been going around... you've been spending several nights out in that cold barn, maybe this is just... I don't know, a flu?"

Jesse only gave a tiny nod. She sat further up on the couch, pulling her hand free from Petra's and edging back.

"Just in case, I don't think you should be near me..." Jesse said softly, her voice threatening to break.

"We don't know if this is contagious." Petra pointed out.

"Exactly, we don't know." Jesse insisted. "But just in case it is, and it is in fact what I've caught..."

"No." Petra's voice all of a sudden rose above a whisper, quickly shaking her head.

Jesse was shocked to hear an audible tremble to her friend's voice, a sudden crack in Petra's fiery confidence.

"You're my best friend." Petra said, grasping Jesse's hand again and looking her in the eyes with a desperate gaze. "And if this is truly happening..." She swallowed thickly. "...I'd rather go down with you."

For a moment, it was silent. Jesse tried forcing down the sob she felt rising her in throat, tears welling up in her eyes as she choked it back. Petra pulled Jesse closer to her, the two girls enveloping each other in a tight hug.

Jesse buried her face into the fabric of Petra's pyjama top, softly sobbing into her friend's shoulder. She felt Petra's hands tightly gripping her jacket as she tightly held onto Jesse, clutching her like she could fall away at any second.

"We'll push through this." Petra choked out, her own voice shaking violently. "We'll all push through this, and.... if we don't, then we'll stick together for whatever is left."

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

Lukas and Axel both showed the same devastation Petra did. Nobody spoke a lot of words, the four of them just sitting together for what felt like ages - arms wrapped around each other, desperately holding on.

As much as Jesse wanted to continue on with her day, resume her hopeless, desperate search for a solution, her friends decided otherwise.

So Jesse was rushed back to her bedroom, where she eventually gave into her friend's desires and got back into bed.

Lukas and Axel both - reluctantly - left, to get a start on the day's tasks, catch Radar up on what was happening and proceeding to try and dig deeper into the mystery, like Jesse wanted to be doing. Petra had stayed by Jesse's side, sitting cross-legged on the side of her friend's bed until she drifted off into a restless sleep.

For once there was a distinct red tint to Petra's eyes, a sullen expression resting on her face. No matter how hard Petra had fought in the past to hide her emotions, she didn't even begin putting effort into it that day. For once having no intention to hide the fact that she was not only upset, but also terrified.

Jesse wasn't sure for how long she had slept, only knowing that it was more than just a few hours. By the time she woke up with a jolt, the light in her room had dimmed. The sky outside her window was a dark grey, snow floating down onto Beacontown.

Fighting past the grogginess on her mind, Jesse weakly clambered out of her bed and stumbled over to the window. Tears began to glisten in her eyes once more at the sight outside.

A thick blanket of snow had been draped over Beacontown, the place looking like it had been trapped in blizzards for weeks. Not a citizen was visible out on the frozen streets.

Jesse weakly pulled away from her window, reaching for her thick jacket that was draped over a chair. Ignoring her body's desperate wishes to go back to sleep and rest, Jesse wanted to go speak to her friends.

Voices were audible downstairs, nearly drowned out by the violent gusting of the wind outside. Jesse reached out a hand, wrapping her fingers around the door handle, when all of a sudden - everything went black.

Jesse stood frozen to the spot as everything around her was suddenly bathed in darkness. An immediately chill settling over her body as the heating system shut off, cold creeping into the air within seconds. The voices downstairs had also cut off completely, the sudden darkness having caught them by surprise as well.

The silence was suddenly shattered by a loud curse, sounding like Petra. Instead of rage, her bellow sounded like it had been out of fear.

Immediately the voices broke into life again, the three people clearly panicking. Somebody said something about finding a lantern, another said something about checking outside and Petra let out another string of curses.

Shaking her head, Jesse pulled open her door and stepped out into the dark hallway. She felt her way along the wall in the blackness, until she reached the top of the stairs. Croaking out a weak call to her friends.

"Jesse!" That was Lukas's voice.

"What happened?" Jesse asked as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, soon seeing the faint outline of Lukas's form.

"We don't know, it seems all the power went out." Lukas responded.

Jesse felt his hand touch her as he felt for her in the dark, before his fingers gently snaked around her arm and took a protective hold on her. Jesse allowed him to pull her closer, wrapping her arms around him.

"Feeling okay?" He asked her softly.

"Kinda crappy, but I'm fine for now." Jesse responded honestly.

"I got a light!" Petra's voice came from somewhere in the dark, followed by a lantern flickering to light.

Lukas kept a hold on Jesse's arm, leading her back down the stairs to where Petra was standing with the lantern. The redhead's face lit up at the sight of her friend, immediately placing the lantern down and running forward to hug Jesse.

"The entire Beacontown's gone black." Axel announced as he came back into the room. "We're not the only ones without power."

"This is bad." Petra breathed, her optimism from that morning long gone.

"Let's get a fire lit." Lukas said, immediately walking to their almost always unused fireplace.

"Any idea what could have caused this?" Jesse asked as Axel gave a her a pat on the back in greeting.

"No idea, bud." Axel replied, his shoulders sinking. "Maybe the storm outside?"

"We should maybe try and get a hold of Radar, see if he knows anything." Petra said. "He's been up to date with all these sorts of things."

Jesse sunk down on the couch with a sigh, resting her head in one hand. "That's meant to be my job." She said softly. "Yet I've been absolutely useless, while my intern is running around and doing all the work."

"Shush." Petra immediately scolded Jesse, placing a hand on her back. "Don't talk like that."

A gentle orange glow began to illuminate the room as Lukas got their fire going. Soft sighs of relief sounded out as everybody relished in the new heat.

The peacefulness was short lived as there was all of a sudden a loud bang, sounding like somebody had violently thrust open the front door.

"What was-" Axel began, his voice cut off by another loud thud as if the door was thrown closed again.

"Guys!? You in here!?" A familiar voice all of a sudden called out, footsteps thudding down the hallway.

Nobody even got a chance to take in who they just heard, when another figure burst into the room, skidding to stop in front of them. Petra raised the lantern at that moment, the person's face becoming clear in the dark.

"Olivia!" Everybody called out, leaping to their feet and rushing over to the engineer.

Olivia looked completely worn through, her expression dull and tired, yet panicked. Snow dusted her mob of tangled black hair, her thick winter coat damp.

"I was so worried about you." Jesse choked out as she wrapped her arms around Olivia, soon feeling all three the others join in the hug.

"I'm sorry!" Olivia choked out, her voice breaking away and halfway replaced by a sob. "I should have come sooner, I-"

"You have nothing to apologise for." Axel said, rubbing her back.

"Come over to the fire." Lukas said, gently taking Olivia by her wrist and gesturing over to the fireplace.

"What happened?" Petra asked her as they all huddled up in front of the fireplace, everybody's eyes fixed on the engineer.

"It was all for nothing." Olivia responded, burying her face into her hands and forcing back another sob. "Nothing! I should- I should have stayed here, with you guys!"

"Calm down." Jesse insisted, placing a hand on her friend's arm. "Tell us what happened? From the beginning?"

"There's almost nothing left of Redstonia." Olivia responded in a shaking, broken voice. "I arrived to find it layered in snow, only a few citizens left."

"Where'd the others go?" Axel blurted out.

"I don't know." Olivia whispered. "A lot of the Redstonians fled, leaving the town to try and escape the increasing cold. There was nothing I could do, but I still hoped I could fix something... By the time I gave up and made my choice to return, there was nothing left of Redstonia.

Those who didn't inevitably flee, they... they died. Some sort of mysterious illness that nobody were able to diagnose, it took out whoever was left."

"Olivia, I'm so sorry." Lukas whispered.

"No." Olivia responded, shaking her head. "I'm sorry for leaving you guys in the first place... We should have stuck together, and leaving didn't bring me anything but heartbreak."

She gulped, looking up at the others. "Beacontown... it's only a short bit away from becoming what Redstonia has."

"We know." Petra responded grimly. "Beacontowners have begun dropping here as well."

"That's not all." Jesse added softly, her voice all of a sudden falling back to a whisper. "The sickness that's been taking everybody? There's a chance I might have it."

___

Right, so now you all know what's wrong with Jesse!
For some reason, I was looking really forward to this chapter and I have no clue why. Either it's because of the friendship moments between Jesse and Petra, or the high levels of despair, who knows?

We're getting really close to unearthing some secrets and jumping back to the present, so lay down your theories while you can!

I find it low-key amusing how people were writing these enormous theories on chapter 1 where there were barely any clues, and now they're just silent while secrets are revealed left and right XD

Ooft, I'm nervous for the next chapter tho... Don't wanna disappoint readers, as freaking always xD

Anyhow, time for me to stop rambling. I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see ya'll in five days with chapter 17!