Sequel to "Weakness" requested by @Ultra_Serendipity

Jesse wasn't sure how long she's been in there. She sat in the corner of the cell, slightly hunched over in pain. Her breathing was laboured, every breath agonizing. Her hands were swollen and stained crimson with blood, consequences of trying to break open the lock on the gate for hours on end.

Jesse shifted her position, hissing slightly in pain as the movement sent shock-waves of pain up her sides.

She's tried everything, and every single time she's been unsuccessful.

She attacked the guard who brought her food on her first day. He was swift on his feet, and had kicked her in the stomach, shoving her back into the cell. Food was scattered throughout the cell, and left that way. Jesse didn't touch it.

She knocked the guard out who brought her food the next day, before making a run for it. The iron golems had caught up to her, and dragged Jesse back to her cell. The Warden had her food rations cut as punishment.

On her third day nobody came.

On her fourth day, a guard simply pushed a plate with a pitiful amount of food underneath the gate of her cell. Jesse had kicked over the plate in rage, going hungry for another night.

Nobody came on the fifth day, and Jesse started eating some of the old food scattered about her cell to keep her strength up. She couldn't stomach more than a few bites.

By the sixth day Jesse was weak and her energy drained. She quietly stayed hunched in a corner when the food came, and didn't eat until the guards had left.

A sliver of her strength was restored on the seventh day and Jesse had tried stabbing the guard with the fork from the previous day's meal. She succeeded, but it obviously didn't hurt him too severely. She was thrown the ground and repeatedly kicked, until the Warden had stepped in. Jesse had no food that day.

On the eighth day, Jesse tried fighting, but was injured too badly to make it a metre out of her cell. She was thrown back into the cell, her food once again scattered onto the dirty, bloodstained cement floor. Jesse once again refused to touch it.

Jesse didn't fight on her ninth day. She was curled up in pitiful ball of sorrow when the guards came, and only lifelessly watched as they left the metallic plate of food on floor for her. She tried to resist, but eventually ate it out of desperation.

Now here she was on her tenth day. Jesse had lost count of how many times she had tried to escape. Her whole body was sore, visible scars and bruises all along her arms and even her face, her clothes stained with blood.

But here she sat with determination on her face, watching the hall intently as she waited for that day's round. Despite everything that they've done to her, she was ready to make a run for it again.

I haven't seen my friends for more than a week now. I don't know whether they're OK, or whether they're in as much pain as I am. I need to see them again.

We need to get out of here.

Jesse had her knees pulled up to her chest, her face buried in her arms. She stiffened when she heard footsteps, yet she didn't move. She waited till she heard the key being inserted into the gate, before she lifted her head.

The guard froze when he saw her move, obviously nervous. It wasn't a guard Jesse recognized and if anything – he seemed afraid of her.

Perfect.

Jesse only sat there, looking at him lifelessly. He eyed her suspiciously, before he carefully turned the key in the lock, holding the plat of food ready. The gate opened and he carefully reached in, putting the plate down on the floor.

Then the lifeless girl who was hunched in the corner leapt up all of a sudden. Before the guard had a chance to even scream, Jesse's fist had come into swift contact with his head.

Jesse rubbed her aching hand as she looked down at the guard laying by her feet, out cold. She needed to be quick, if she was going to get out of there before the other guards suspected anything.

Jesse hastily stepped over the guard and started to make a run for it. Her broken ribs were throbbing, her body sore with every movement. But Jesse didn't care, the pain not even coming to mind.

She carefully moved down the hallway, keeping her back against the cold wall of the corridor. She listened intently, stopping dead in her tracks every time she heard the slightest of noise. There were muffled talking coming from various parts of the prison.

Jesse wasn't sure where to go. Even if she knew her way out of the Sunshine institute, she wanted to find her friends first. If only she knew where they were being kept.

Jesse peered around another wall, before immediately retreating back when she saw the two guards. They were having a hushed conversation about something that sounded like a "wheat supply for cookies." Jesse rolled her eyes. I don't even want to know.

She waited until the guards started walking down a different corridor, entering a room through an iron door. Jesse slipped out of her hiding place, scanning the surroundings. There was a large staircase that lead to what appeared to be a lower level of the prison. A sign against the railing read "Mush Room."

Jesse felt her heart skip a beat in relief. The Mush Room! She recognized that name!

Making sure there were no other guards in the area, Jesse quickly tip-toed down the staircase. Luckily it was made out of stone, which meant no creaking planks.

It lead Jesse to a double set of iron doors, with the lever provided to open them. But she could hear many voices on the inside, so Jesse only crept up close to the door. She peered through the little window at the top, her eyes scanning the room. There were many prisoners scattered about the room, some of them wrestling and violently fighting over something in the middle of the room. There were also three guards roaming through the room, keeping an eye out to make sure the fights didn't get out of hand.

Jesse was just about to loose hope, when she finally caught sight of her friends. They were there!

Radar was sitting on a stone ledge, his head hanging low. Petra stood beside him, her arms crossed over her chest. She was repeatedly tapping her foot against the brick floor in annoyance. Nurm stood beside her, talking up a storm about something in Villager. Petra didn't seem too interested in what he was telling her.

Jesse wanted to get in there more than anything, hug her friends tightly and just hear their voices again. But she knew she had to be smart about it, she couldn't just walk in there. Not with three guards hanging around.

Jesse's eyes darted around the room as she scanned it for any possible entry points. There were a lot of cells along the walls, each with an iron door leading to them. She had a feeling the cell that her friends stood in front were theirs.

If she could somehow get into that cell, she could easily get their attention and talk to them without any unwanted eyes spotting them.

Jesse stood on tip-toes, trying to see deeper into the cell. There was an air vent!

It was tightly secured, clearly not a proper escape route for the prisoners inside the cell. But it was the perfect entrance.

Jesse glanced around anxiously. The pipe appeared to be just the right size, she should be able to sneak in easily. She just needed a way to get inside the vent in the first place.

Jesse was about to dart up the stair case, when she noticed it.

The familiar silver grid of an air vent, right in a hallway to her left. There was a sign saying "Zombie Mines", making Jesse guess that it was leading to another type of prison.

This vent wasn't secured on the outside like the vents inside the Mush room, because no unsupervised prisoners could get near it.

Jesse carefully heaved off the metal, climbing inside the vent. She put the grid back up behind her to avoid any suspicion, before she began to crawl through the dark tunnel. It was a painful process, but Jesse just gritted her teeth and continued onwards.

There was a slight scurrying noise, and all of a sudden a large rat came running directly at Jesse. She gasped, freezing on the spot.

The rat tilted it's head at the sight of her, before scrambling up her shoulder and running across her like she was merely part of the tunnel. The moment he was off her, Jesse shivered violently, suppressing the urge to gag. Yes, Slayer of the Wither, Hero of the world was scared of rats.

Jesse shivered again, before collecting herself and continuing to crawl through the tunnel. She silently prayed not to come face to face with another rodent. Soon enough she started passing the vents of the different cells.

Jesse inspected each one closely, until she recognized one as her friends' cell. She could just about make out their figures outside of the cell.

Jesse cautiously rattled the vent, careful not to make too much noise to alert any body else but her friends. They didn't seem to hear it at all, however.

"Hey!" Jesse whispered loudly, trying to get their attention.

She saw Petra lift her head and glance around her, like she heard something. Jesse's heart filled with hope.

"Petra!" She hissed again, gently rattling the grid once more.

Petra immediately turned to look at their cell, confusion spread across her face.

"What's up?" Radar asked her.

"I could've sworn I heard something." Petra said softly, stepping completely into the cell. Radar and Nurm exchanged surprised glances, following nervously.

"Over here!" Jesse hissed.

Her friends' eyes grew wide when they saw Jesse inside the vent. Immediately they dropped to their knees beside it, their eyes wide.

"Jesse?!" Petra and Radar gasped in hushed voices.

Nurm said something in villager, that Jesse suspected to be her name. She quickly started detaching the grid from the inside, carefully heaving it off, before crawling out into the cell.

Radar quickly threw his arms around Jesse's waist hugging her tightly. Jesse winched slightly in pain, but it didn't stop her from tightly returning the embrace.

"I was so worried about you, about what they did to you when you let me run.." Radar started softly rambling, sounding close to tears.

"Don't worry, I'm OK now." Jesse soothed him, as they finally pulled away.

"What happened to you?" Petra asked in worried tone, looking horrified at all the deep scars across Jesse's arms and the blood stains on the white shirt she was wearing.

"I fought a lot to get out in the past few days." Jesse said, deciding not to go into detail about everything that had happened to her.

"I'm so glad your OK." Petra said as she too hugged Jesse tightly.

"You're so cold." Petra said when they finally pulled away. "Where have they been keeping you?"

She didn't bother to wait for a reply as she pulled off her orange jacket and handed it to Jesse, who gratefully accepted it.

All of a sudden, red lights started flashing, and alarms went off through the entire prison.

"They must have discovered my cell is empty." Jesse said anxiously.

Immediately all prisoners were ordered to enter their cells, as the Sunshine Institute was on lock down. Nurm quickly shut their door as well.

"Do you have any plans, Jesse?" Petra asked.

Jesse sat down on the ground, so she wouldn't be visible from the outside. She just shook her head, looking down at the floor.

"Don't worry." Her friend said. "We will get out of this. Now that we're together again."

Jesse looked up at Petra, smiling. She knew her friend was correct. Together, they could do anything.

"Could we use the vents?" Radar asked.

"It could work." Jesse said. "I only used it to get inside this room unnoticed, but they are spread throughout the entire institute."

Nurm nodded his head excitedly, talking up a storm about something in Villager – which Jesse unfortunately did not understand.

"Good thinking, Nurm!" Petra said, her face lighting up.

Jesse and Radar looked at them with confused expressions, waiting for Petra to explain.

"The whole place is looking for Jesse." Petra said. "Meaning no guards are at their normal posts." She gestured to the empty Mush room to prove her point.

"They're probably searching the place like crazy. If we could use the vents to get into the main hallway unnoticed, we could get out and make a run for the maze."

"But where will we go from there?" Radar asked anxiously. "We might get lost in there forever!"

"Anything will be better than in here." Jesse said softly.

"Then let's do this." Petra said matter-of-factly, slamming her fists together. "Before they find you in here."

Taking one final peek outside to make sure no guards could see them, they opened up the vent again. Petra went in first, with Nurm right behind her, and Radar behind him. Jesse waited till all her friends were inside, before she crawled in through the tiny opening as well. She put the grid back on behind her, securing it once more from the inside so nobody suspected them getting out through it.

They started crawling through the vents, with Petra leading the way. Jesse was glad to be at the back, as she frequently needed to stop to catch her breath. The exhaustion, lack of food and pain of her injuries were starting to catch up to her.

"Jesse?" Radar eventually whispered.

"Hmm?"

He looked slightly over his shoulder, their eyes meeting.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to apologize for, Radar." Jesse said, giving him as much of a smile as she could manage through the pain.

"If you hadn't let me run that day..." Radar trailed off. "And I wasn't even able to make it out of the building.."

It was silent for a minute, the only sounds being the muffled shuffling as they crawled along the vents. Every now and then they would halt slightly as they passed one of the metal grids, Petra peering outside to see where about they were in the institute.

Jesse was thinking of Beacontown. Were her citizens OK with no leader? Would she ever return to see them again?

Her mind drifted to the admin. He did all of this. She was tortured on his command, they were suffering at his will. He controlled this place like a puppet, he decided their fate.

Jesse thought about all the other people the Admin could be hurting at that moment. What has he done to Jack? Was he able to get his hands on Lukas? What if he decides to bring this fight to Beacontown?

Her thoughts were interrupted when they stopped again. Jesse leaned the front of her body down on her elbows, relieved to rest her sore limbs for a second. She just hoped they didn't have to go on for much longer, because frankly – she didn't know if she physically could.

"We're here." She heard Petra's hushed voice from the front.

There were the familiar sounds of the metal grid being removed. Jesse managed a faint smile. They were halfway there.

"Coast is clear." Petra announced as she crawled through the vent, quickly followed by Nurm and Radar.

Jesse heaved herself through the opening as well, winching as her sore muscles ached, her fractured ribs throbbing. Petra seemed to see her struggling, and reached out a hand to help Jesse to her feet.

"Where do we go from here?" Radar asked anxiously, looking around him.

The hallway was deserted, with no guards in sight. Jesse leaned against the wall, feeling slightly light-headed. She wrapped her arms around her stomach to try and ease the pain pulsing through her sides.

"I remember being dragged through here by the golem." Petra explained. "The main entrance should be in that direction." She pointed down the hallway.

Nurm said something excitedly, which Jesse assumed to be "let's go!"

However, the moment they started making their way down the hallway, still glancing around them for any guards, the alarms went off.

The lights flashed read, consistent beeping echoing through the building. It took the shocked prisoners mere seconds to realise...

"Security cameras!" Radar gasped, his eyes wide.

"Run!" Petra called, immediately taking the lead.

Nobody needed telling twice, as they heard the footsteps of approaching guards. Voices called out as they were spotted. Jesse just about managed to catch onto the words "get them!"

They increased their speed, their footsteps echoing through the hallway. Jesse felt herself fall behind to the back of the group. She physically didn't have the strength to keep up.

Using all her strength Jesse tried accelerating to keep up. Her vision went in and out of focus, it felt like the room was slowly tilting.

All of the sudden, something slammed into her back, immediately sending her plummeting to the ground. The last thing Jesse could remember was the sickening thud of her own skull against the cement floor, and the cries of her friends.

Then everything was black.

____

There will be another sequel to this, btw XD This was originally going to be much longer, but I don't want to make my one shots too ridiculously long. So instead I cut it in half. 

I'm having way too much fun putting Jesse through absolute hell. 

Feel free to leave more requests for me, whether they're one word prompts, actual plot lines or sequels to previous one shots!

I hope ya'll enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next one! bye!