"Are you you're sure fine?"

I roll my eyes at Lukas, smiling as a nice evening breeze blows past us. "For the last time Lukas, I can walk around just fine now. Bones can support me again. No fretting necessary."

"I know I know, but-"

"No buts! I am finally going to get out of the Order Hall and see what's been going on instead of listening to everyone talk about it. I nearly died making sure this town survives, I want to see it for myself."

He grumbles but concedes nonetheless. I let my gaze flicker to the sky, a dozen of the new floating farms have already been built and more in the middle of construction. To my surprise, Olivia told me that most of the citizens want to make theirs permanent and they're going to beautify them once the water walls are taken down.

Which is great, my stomach reminding me of that one. The supply of food we kept has been dribbling down, to the point where some rations had to be made, but the farms are now producing food. It'll be a little rough, but we won't starve, which is always a good thing.

My smile dips a bit when I see a Beacontowner assisting a Redstonian refugee. We have been getting low on medical supplies from what Ivor tells me. Yet Petra and Axel say that the numbers of demons lurking about have been dropping every day. The numerous scratches on their armor prove that.

Someone squeals as we walk past them, fifth or sixth time today, excitedly pointing at me with a huge smile on their face.

I smile and wave back, most of the town has been relieved to actually see me moving again. Apparently my terrible condition wasn't kept a secret, like keeping it a secret would be possible in the first place, and everyone shows some form of relief once the see me.

A thought trickles into my head, one that generally isn't anywhere near my priorities. "Say Lukas, there hasn't been any resent to the flame couple has there?"

"Not particularly, everyone's been kind of avoiding them whenever they do come out of the Order Hall. They're not exactly social. If the hospital wasn't so booked they probably would have to be treated for some sort of shock or mental thing."

"True, very true. They don't tend to speak even to us, they have no interest being with other people, they can't live in the Nether, and I kinda don't want them in the Order Hall forever but I don't really know what to do with them. I've gotten somewhat relaxed with them, but I'm still uneasy."

Lukas shrugs, piercing his lips in thought. "Well they should stay here, in Beacontown, they have no where else. But let's just think about it another time, I'm not really worried about them yet."

"Fair enough." I send another smile and wave to another citizen. "You still have enough supplies to help build the floating farms right?"

"So far, we are running low though. Hopefully Axel and Petra will bring more wood back when they come back, or I'll tag along with them some day."

I groan, exaggerating an eye roll. "If you're gone though then Ivor is the one who watches over me, and sometimes that really makes me want to pull my hair out. Do I really even need someone watch over me still?"

"Yes, yes you do."

Lukas says nothing more after that, and I roll my eyes again while a small smile rests on my face. We're almost at the refugee complex now, where Lukas said Olivia's at all day. I'll talk to her and help her manage the town before Lukas picks at me that I have to go back.

We enter, the strong odor of blood and sweat flooding over me. I wince, not fully aware that the fevers some of the refugees got were this bad. I'll make a note to ask Petra and Axel to collect some flowers next time they go out. Make this place a little less depressing.

We weave our way through the many volunteers and standing refugees to get towards the back office Lukas built for Olivia. Almost everyone who isn't sick looks way better than when I last saw them fleeing from demons, so that's good at least.

I knock and open the door, already smiling as I walk into my friend's office. "Olivia, not completely stressed out are you?"

She chuckles, raising her head from a sack of papers. "Not yet, but really Lukas? You actually let Jesse come out today?"

"Yeah, he's been bugging me about it all I thought it wouldn't hurt to come out at the end of the day." Lukas causally leans up against the wall close to Olivia's desk. "How are your people doing?"

"Well I still have no clue about the people in Champion City, but people here are doing good. The ones with fever haven't gotten to a dangerous point, yet. We'll have to get some medicines to fully cure them soon."

I nod, slowly lowering myself into one of the chairs to not bother my ribs that are still slightly bruised. "Don't worry too much about it. Either Petra and Axel will clear away enough of the demons for us to go out and get those supplies or will begin to grow them here."

"Oh I'm more worried about the Redstonians in Champion City. Beacontown's becoming more and more self sufficient, I just have no clue about the people over there." Olivia sighs, drumming her fingers on the desk.

Lukas hums, gazing away in thought. "Enough demons have been killed that it might be possible for Petra and Axel to make the trip. That way we could get a message across."

Olivia responds, her tone relieved, while my focus goes into reading her papers upside down. She sure is dealing with a lot of things, a log book open to how many wheat rations there are. I should probably begin helping with that soon.

"Jesse?"

Something about Olivia's tone forces my eyes away from a letter asking for animals pens and more incubators. Biting her lip, Olivia's eyes flicker to the papers before meeting my gaze.

"I don't think Redstonia will be salvageable."

My eyebrows spring up, a quick glance at Lukas shows that he's just as surprised. "Really? I didn't think-"

"You arrived and left while the demons were still there." Olivia words fire up, eyes glimmering with tears. "But when we left, there were fires burning everything. A few people's inventions exploded while we were leaving, and I'm sure there have been more. I just- I don't know. But with everyone still injured and acid in every nook and cranny there is, I don't think we should rebuild there."

Lukas shakes his head, pushing up from the wall. "Redstonia was a haven of knowledge and technology. You guys had books of every kind there, are you just-"

"Fires have probably eaten away most of them." Olivia's voice dips, the urge to go hug her jolting through my head. "Although at some point in the future we could send a team to go get what's survived.

I open my mouth, ready to comfort her, when she holds her hand up. Reluctantly, I keep my mouth close. Waiting as Olivia takes a deep breath.

"I've decided the people of Redstonia should stay here, in Beacontown."

My mouth flies open, on standby, as my brain runs through an analysis of that. Pros and cons instantly buzzing in my head, the urge to still comfort Olivia alive but confused. I certainly wasn't expecting this to happen the first time Lukas lets me outside.

Lukas clears his throat. "Beacontown isn't big enough. We have all the Redstonians sharing homes or in here. They're all going to want a house of their own soon enough."

"I know, I know. But everyone's already here, most of the Beacontowners have accepted a lot of the Redstonians, and-"

"Hey, of course they can stay." I nod slowly, forcing my thoughts to slow down about this. "We'll have to expand the walls, again, probably expand underground for the more dangerous tinkers. This will be a great chance to renovate Beacontown in general. I'll finally get around to building a proper town square which I've been postponing for over a year now."

Olivia heaves out a sigh, an excited smile bursting out. "Ah yes! Thanks Jesse! I really had no clue what to do or where to build if you-"

"Well what are friends for." I smile back at her, waving away her babbling thanks. "After everything you've helped with during the whole fire thing, I'd be cruel to turn you away. Worse than cruel, so cruel I can't think of a word for it."   

"Oh, thank you." Olivia smiles, playfully glancing at Lukas. "I would hug you, but Lukas is still paranoid about you injuring your ribs and burns."

Lukas smiles, rolling his eyes. "Hey! After Axel's hug of death prolonging recovery even more, I think it's best just to wait. Although I suppose I can't stop Jesse from hugging someone else if he wants to."

I distantly rub my ribs, remembering them shrieking as they popped out of place in Axel's hug. Kinda agree with Lukas on this one....

"So Olivia, anything-"

The door bursts open, Petra and Axel popping in. They both take a moment to acknowledge my presence, then raise a teasing eyebrow at Lukas. Petra already smirking as Lukas sighs.

"Finally let Jesse out now did ya Lukas? I thought I'd never see the day."

"I would just like to say that I wasn't holding Jesse prisoner in the Order Hall. Despite how much you guys seem to think that way about it." Exasperation drips from Lukas's voice, crossing his arms when we all just smile at him.

Axel snorts, rolling his eyes. "Sure Lukas, I don't suppose you'll be letting Jesse go demon hunting with us anytime soon?"

"Absolutely not!" Lukas glares at Axel, begrudgingly lowering his volume. "Believe it or not, I'm not trying to be mean. I actually want Jesse to recover quickly rather than doing stuff to prolong his recovery."

"Whatever you say dude..."

"Anyway," Petra turns to Olivia, flopping down in one of the office chairs with a yawn. "We picked off around ten demons or so today, their numbers are really starting to wind down a lot. Shouldn't be long 'til they're all gone."

"That's great news! Which means you two can totally deliver a message to Champion City tomorrow, right?" Olivia immediately pulls out a blank piece of paper, quickly writing down her words.

Axel groans, pouting at Olivia. "Messenger? I don't want to be some lousy messenger."

Olivia pauses briefly to glare at Axel, who quickly stammers out a kinda apology.

"So Jesse?" Petra raises an eyebrow at me. "When are you gonna head back to the Order Hall? I'm pretty ready for dinner right about now."

"Excuse me?" I raise the same eyebrow back at her. "I'm finally allowed to see the sun again, and you want me instantly back there so I can cook for you?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Besides dude, you make the best food! Olivia's skill has really gone downhill, we need you for this."

I groan, rolling my head back. "Lukas can cook."

"No way, don't involve me in this. I bake cookies and cakes, actual meals are not my strength."

Grumbling at my friends, I hoist myself back to my feet. "Fine, whatever. But Lukas, don't you dare try to keep me in tomorrow too."

"Deal, you coming Olivia?"

"Just give me a moment." Olivia still quickly scribbles down on her paper. "Let me finish this and pack up the papers."

We all mutter different forms of okay, shutting the door behind us and weaving out of the refugee complex here. Giving our best wishes to people who come up to us, until we finally break out into the streets.

"Hey Jesse, sun's almost down." Petra tosses a grin at me. "See? You're not losing that much sun."

I huff, glaring over at Lukas. "I blame you for this. If you would've just agreed earlier then I would've been totally fine with this. But no, I only get a few minutes out of the Order Hall."

"You're coming out again tomorrow." He shrugs, totally unaffected by my grumpiness. "Besides, you shouldn't be out for too long anyways."

"Dude, you should really be more concerned about dinner. I'm thinking something like-"

"Fruit salad." I smirk at Axel as his face falls, grumbling something at me. "I will be making fruit salad tonight."

"Whatever." Axel shoots a pleading look at Lukas. "Can you please make a cake tonight? I can't be too healthy in one meal."

Lukas rolls his eyes with a chuckle. "Sure thing Axel, I'll even make it chocolate cake for you."

Petra hums and nods, agreeing with said choice. "I think cookies would be good too. We should celebrate Jesse finally being let out."

"Wait, hold up a moment." Lukas waves his arms around, shaking his head. "Jesse won't even need to make dinner if I'm baking so many sweets."

I grin, nodding with this idea. "I don't see anything wrong with that."

"I do! A: it's not healthy at all and B: I don't want to."

"It's a hard life Lukas." Petra mockingly pats Lukas's shoulder. "But I'm sure you can tough it out for the greater good of us all."

Lukas argues with Axel and Petra some more, going on about it's not good to fight demons and then eat so poorly. I just smile as my attention drifts away. It's really nice to joke around with my friends like this. I can't help but to feel happy when it's been so long since this has happened.

My smile soon begins to fade though. With most of the demons being taken care of then, I'm sure it won't be long until Petra packs up and Axel heads out to Boomtown.

I shake the thoughts out. Sure, they'll leave, but it's all good. Olivia and Lukas will be staying here, which is much better before this whole mess started. Besides, with Beacontown going to resemble Redstonia at some point, maybe I'll finally wise up and get myself an assistant too. That would be really nice.

We walk up to the Order Hall, Lukas firmly shaking his head as he opens the door. "No, I'll make cake and that's that. Nothing you can say will make me change my mind."

"Fine dude, whatever." We stroll into the Order Hall, the sunset shining spectacularly on our treasures. "But can you at least make it double chocolaty then?"

"No."

I quickly chuckle as we step up the stairs, heading for the kitchen. "Axel, are you not totally excited for my fruit salad?"

He snorts, grumbling. "Dude, I can't even believe you didn't have any sweets before we showed up. My stomach was almost ready to reject you as my friend."

"I'll make some chocolate chip pancakes in the morning, so you're stomach can never even think about betraying me again."

"See Lukas? Jesse here is saying all the right things. Good job Jesse."

I huff, rolling my eyes as I enter the kitchen. Lukas grumbling and Petra chuckling to herself. Lukas and I start pulling out the various ingredients, Petra and Axel getting into this debate about who had the coolest kills today.

Although while preparing dinner, I catch Lukas peering at me time to time as he mixes his ingredients together. I put up with it for awhile, until I sigh and finally face him.

"I swear Lukas, if you're going to ask me how I feel another time today and tell me to relax, I'm sneaking out."

"Hey, no need to be drastic." Lukas cracks an egg, shielding his eyes from me and dropping his voice so our two arguing friends can't hear. "Besides, can you really blame me? You're recovering, but you heard Ivor, you should've been even better by now. A week ago you still couldn't walk without assistance or frequent rests. I'm worried part of you might never recover."

I sigh, throwing in a few more ingredients into my big salad bowl and mixing it up. "If you're worried about my spirit, I'm sure it'll be fine. Even if it always remains charred or something, at least I'm still me. Personally wise, I'm not as dull as my eyes."

"Okay, yeah, I suppose." Lukas frowns, slowly mixing his batter together. "I'm just worried you're still going to end up in pain somehow."

I smile, raising my voice again as to lift his depressed state. "I'll be in pain if Axel hugs me again, until then though, don't worry about it."

"Hey!" Axel pouts at me, a smirk bursting to life. "I didn't realize your ribs would be that sensitive."

"I'm not smelling anything delicious." The door swings open, Ivor has graced us with his presence. "What the heck are you making Jesse?"

Petra grumbles, and even though they can't see it, I roll my eyes at them while I cut up an apple. "Jesse's being lame and making a fruit salad."

"Really? That is pretty disappointing."

"Oh boo hoo you guys. Live with it. At least Lukas is making a cake."

Axel snorts, and I roll my eyes yet again as I mix the thin apple slices into salad. "He's not making cookies though."

"I'm making a chocolate cake! Geez, when did you guys get so spoiled?"

I turn towards the table, just in time to see Petra's nonchalant shrug. "Since you trapped Jesse inside and the only thing he could really do was cook."

"That's true Lukas," I wave the mixing spoon at him, "you really wouldn't let me do anything else."

I ignore his grumbles as I fish out the bowls and forks, carrying that and the big bowl of salad to the table. Smiling as my friends, despite their complaining, immediately begin to dish themselves. Getting a glass of water for myself and Lukas before heading to him.

Grabbing the cake pan for him, I set it down with his water. "Need any help?"

"Fire up the furnace please and then we'll just need to wait."

I do as he says, listening to the cake mix splat as it first hits the pan. My tongue gliding over my lips at the thought of the brown dough being transformed into amazing cake. I'm not going to hate on my own fruit salad, but dessert will definitely be the best part of this meal.

Once Lukas slides the pan in, we both go and sit down. The table mostly quietly while we dish ourselves a bowl. It isn't odd for my friends to be quiet like this though, they're generally super quiet when they're eating after all day of working. Rations either cut meal sizes or all of lunch, we chose lunch. 

The door swings open again, Olivia strolling in. "So what did Jesse make this- Hey, fruit salad! Good choice Jesse."

I chuckle, Olivia instantly sitting and getting herself a bowl. "At least someone here didn't complain about it."

"I didn't complain about it." I glance at Lukas, who's taking another bite of his salad and giving me this innocent expression. Which I have to tear my eyes away quickly because he actually knows how to pull it off.

"Hmm," Olivia swallows, quickly pushing a folded up piece of paper towards Axel and Petra. "I need you guys to deliver that to Champion City tomorrow."

Axel shovels food into his mouth, immediately skimming over the document once he does so. I roll my eyes and continue to eat. I'm so glad Axel has really learned privacy over the years.

"Oh cool." Axel folds the paper back up and slides it in his pocket. "You're staying in Beacontown too."

My fork pauses halfway to me mouth. What did he just say?

Slowly, lowering my fork, I peer cautiously at Axel. "'Too'?"

Axel and Petra glance at each other, Petra raising an eyebrow at him. "You didn't mention it yet?"

"Wait." I glance at Lukas, who has a growing grin on his face. "You're staying in Beacontown?"

Axel shrugs, scratching the back of his head. "Well I've been away from Boom Town for too long. There's this rule that a new King rises whenever the old one's gone for a month."

"What the heck Axel?" Utter shock bubbles from my lips, mind still registering what just happened. "You could have said that a couple of weeks ago when that month passed!"

Petra clears her throat before my mind truly comprehends that Axel is actually not leaving and will be- "Oh, and also, I figured I'd be hanging around too. Trouble always manages to find you, it's been crazier here than anywhere in the wild. You're probably more dangerous than any temple ever to exist. I'm sure one day you'll be digging in the mines to find some race of dwarfish people."

She grins at the end, my brain buffing as she winks at Lukas. I stare at all my friends, is this seriously happening? Or is this a hallucination of some weird medicine Ivor had me try?

I look at Ivor, wondering if he's real or a hallucination. He simply shrugs, the silence letting me think that this might actually be reality instead of-

"If you're wondering if I'm staying, the answer's yes." My eyes almost pop out at him, an astonished huff wheezing out from my lungs. "Those two fire people are ancient. I would never miss a chance to learn so much history from people who were seeped in it. Once they break out of their shells a bit more. "

"Hey, would you look at that Jesse." Lukas pats my shoulder, my gray eyes glimmering in joy as I smile bursts to life on my face. Energy and pure excitement rippling in my chest. Only growing and growing as I stare at all my smiling friends. A wild rush of energy swelling up.

"You were right, everything did turn out to be alright in the end."

[End]

****

Wow, I'm actually at the end. The legitimate end. I can't believe it. 51 chapters and I'm finally concluding this book.

Man, I just realized this could've been an even 50 chapter book. How cool would that have been? I honestly didn't think this idea would make it to 30, but here we are I guess. 

Like, I never would have thought this crazy little idea I got over a year ago would come so far. Just, think about this. 51 chapters that came from a teacher making me so mad I imaged my anger sending the doors flying in a fiery explosions when I walked out, only to think: "I wonder what would happen to Jesse if his emotions became fire?"

(Should I be thankful then that the teacher mad me so mad? I would have never published anything if it weren't for that one thought. Hmm... maybe.)

Although man, I sure did a lot with that thought. Experimenting with so many different types of writing I honestly can't believe people stuck with it over the entire time.

Just- oh my gosh, thank you for reading this far! I don't know the exact word length, but this is a very long book. So just thank you for reading along on this totally crazy plot that's changed drastically as I became more invested in it. 

Because of this book, I figured out what I wanted to write. Also, and pretty important too, I figured out what I'm bad at writing. The improvement in this book is obvious as I figure both those things out, refining the skills I wanted and just even getting better at the things I suck at.

Man, I don't think I'm fully comprehending that this is over. It just feels strange that I finally got here. This was the first thing I ever published here, and now I'm not going to be publishing it anymore. Ugh- what is this weird feeling? I don't want it!

Well, I am going to rewrite the beginning. I can barely think about it without cringing. (Like when new comments show up- I actually shrivel a bit that someone's reading that cringe.) Now that I know exactly what's going to happen too, I can actually set stuff up better. Thank you all for reading past that by the way, it really is the first thing I've ever published on Wattpad. And my skills have greatly improved since then.

(It has been over a year, I would hope so at least.)

Oh hey, maybe during the rewrite of some smaller chapters I'll just squish them together so I can have 50 chapters! Yes! I can have that nice number!

Although, I bet it would be a pain to change all the chapter numbers. It'd go fast on my phone, but Wattpad always messes up the order when I go on my phone. Every. Single. Time. Oh I was so furious when my chapters were out of order and they refused to go back in order for the longest time! My story does not go 5, 9, 7, 4, 6, 8 thank you very much.

Phew, that little rant has been built up awhile- and holy smokes this author's note is getting so long. I'm done, I promise. Just got a little mushy and when I do I ramble. I'm done, I'm done. 

Man, I do wish I could continuously thank you all again. But I shouldn't just mindlessly repeat myself. So for the last time, thank you for reading and good bye. See you in the next book!