"I'm so, so sorry, Jesse," Petra murmured. "I - no, we didn't mean for this to happen to you. It shouldn't have happened - to anyone!"

Suddenly she felt a cold, hard rage fill her.

"If you hadn't taken that stupid deal, you'd still be with us! He wouldn't have done that, and you'd be okay!"

Warnings: Meh, I haven't written it yet.
—
Okay. I just wrote the whole thing, in about half an hour, so here you go;
MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

Ship: It could be Jetra, if you want it to be. It could also be purely platonic. You're choice.

-.-.-.-

Dear Jesse.

Petra stopped herself there, biting the end of her pencil hesitantly. She didn't know how to word it, didn't know if it would make sense, didn't know if it was worth even doing it.

She did it anyway.

I'm sorry I haven't written to you in a while. It's been... complicated. Really complicated.
Ivor's trying to get us to go back to the portals, but in all honesty... I'm scared, Jesse.
I know, I know, I don't get scared. I'm Petra, I what would I be scared of? I'm not scared of anything, you've probably said it a million times. But what if things go wrong again? What if we end up in another murder mansion, back in Sky City where the mobs are everywhere, what if PAMA's up and running again?

I wish I could see you again. But I won't.

How could Hadrian do that? Disable the respawn points just as you died?

I'll get him back. I promise.

- Petra

Petra put her pen down, her expression filling with anger as she thought of Hadrian. She'd take him down.

For Jesse.

-.-.-.-

"Fine, Hadrian," Jesse said, already regretting his decision as he said the words. "You gotta deal."

He couldn't bear to look at Axel and Olivia's faces as he agreed to to the deal, couldn't bear to face the truth of what he had just done.

He had just agreed to one of Hadrian's deals - or rather, one of his scams. He never kept a deal, he always changed it so he would turn out as the winner. And as Otto wasn't here... Well, it was safe to say that Jesse would be going to the mines either way.

"I-I'm so sorry..." he whispered before Hadrian placed the last block. After he'd done so, he burst into sobs and darted past the gladiator - Slab, was it? - intent on going to his friends.

He didn't want to see their faces as they found out what he had done.

He had agreed to Hadrian's deal, and that was surely going to backfire on him. He wasn't known for playing fair - Hadrian, that is - and he wasn't going to let Jesse get the upper hand.

It was practically impossible for him to win in this case.

Once he'd gotten to the small village, he panted, hands on his knees as he tried to regain his breath.

It was also partly because he didn't want to see their faces. He knew he'd have to in the end.

"Jesse? What happened in there?" Lukas asked, worry evident in his eyes. Jesse was never this exhausted, as a matter of fact, he wasn't even panting anymore, just keeping his hands on his knees, keeping his head face down to the ground.

"Nothing. A-absolutely nothing," Jesse said, almost as if he were trying to convince himself.

Petra crosses her arms, giving Jesse a stern look he didn't see.

"Jesse..." Her voice was low, condescending. Even with her just saying that one word, it seemed to make Jesse fall out of his stupor and he jolted up, unwilling staring them in the eyes.

"Y-yeah?" he said, cursing himself for the stutter. The stutter just proved he was not okay. "What's up?"

"The sky," Petra said jokingly before her eyes showed genuine concern - for him? For her life? He couldn't tell. "Jesse, tell us what happened in there."

Jesse hesitated, just for a second, before he just decided to tell them the truth. They couldn't do anything to him, right?

Yeah.

"Hadrian made a new deal. If I win, I get to go home..."

Lukas, Ivor and Petra grinned at that, not understanding why Jesse seemed so upset about it. Only Harper understood what he was getting at - she knew Hadrian's deals firsthand, after all.

"But you guys have to go to the mines."

The others faces immediately dropped.

"But - but if I lose, we all get to go home!"

Jesse seemed honestly happy about that, a small glint in his eye showing happiness, although Harper didn't quite get it.

Why would Hadrian make a deal that Jesse could so effortlessly make go his way?

"Except me. I'll go to the mines in your place."

Ivor's, Lukas' and Petra's expressions dropped at that, although it seemed Jesse hadn't gotten the memo, as he was still giving that small smile.

"But you didn't agree, right? Right?" Petra asked, eyes glinting dangerously.

"Ma-maybe?" Jesse stuttered, hanging his head down again and staring at the ground for a solid few minutes. It was silent.

Up until Petra broke it.

"You idiot!" she screamed, making the other teams look at them curiously - they were already well-known enough for being the newcomers that had wrecked the games after five minutes, and now they were having shouting matches in public.

It was hard to not be in the centre of attention, to be honest.

"I - I'm confused..." Jesse murmured, backing away from the furious Petra. "Now you all get to go home! Isn't that a good thing?"

"No! No it's not!" Petra shouted, glaring at the younger boy. "We all have to go home, you included! You're - you're the glue that holds the Order together! Without you, we wouldn't have defeated the Wither Storm. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to help Sky City out. Without you - none of us would be here anymore!"

Jesse continued backing away, before he gave a small yelp. "I'm so sorry - I'm so sorry!"

He ran toward the dorms.

That was the last time Petra had been able to properly speak to him.

-.-.-.-

She should've seen it coming! It was so obvious, now that she thought of it.

Of course Jesse would attempt to rally the other players up, attempt to get them to be on the same side, attempt to thwart Hadrian's plan.

It was so - Jesse.

Petra thought it had been the end for the boy when Em came storming up to him, a stone sword in hand. But when she knelt down and offered Jesse her sword, Petra felt a true admiration for the former gladiator.

After all, she was just trying to find their way home, just like them.

And then they'd all stepped towards the Winning Platform, and they'd all gotten onto it, and by laws of the game, they'd won, all of them. Otto had the Atlas ready, he always played by the rules, and they were all set to go home.

Except they weren't.

Everyone had scattered as Hadrian had gone down from his pedestal, all of them but Jesse, who stood there defiantly.

Even then, Petra had a bad feeling.

And as she watched Jesse be beaten, again and again by this man who refused to give up, she honestly felt sorry for him.

He had to do this all by himself, because they didn't have any swords, weapons or anything.

When Hadrian has finally killed him, Petra had to admit that she felt a gaping hole in her chest, but she looked to the right of her expectedly, thinking he would appear there.

It was only then when she looked at Hadrian's expression that she gave a true, horrible screech.

Because the young boy known as Jesse was dead, killed by a man who had nothing better to do than to kill an innocent boy who had done nothing wrong.

Even as she was allowed to go home - since Hadrian stood by his rule now, of all times - she knew that she'd find her way back.

She'd avenge him.

So, to be honest, I wasn't planning on having Jesse die. Honestly!

I also wasn't planning on even doing this one shot now, but meh. I'll do anything to try stop school from coming.

I have school tomorrow. Fun.

I have to go to sleep though, because I'll die at school without it. Seriously. I know this wasn't on the one shots that I said last chapter by the way! I had a plot bunny, and this happened.

Can't believe I wrote this in half an hour. Lol.

Also, please read and comment on the author's note last chapter! I don't care if you don't read the actual thing, I just want you to tell me which one shot you'd prefer to be next.

That it? Cool. See ya.

- WriteCrazyForLife