"It's so hard to trek through here in the dark." Jesse muttered.

"Could you stop complaining already?" Petra hissed at Jesse. "This was you're idea."

"I know, but I can still complain if I want to!" Jesse argued back. "My boots are already full of water from wading through the creek, I've brushed against at least four different types of leaves that made me itch, and I just stepped on something that made the most unsettling squelching noise-"

"Jesse!" Petra turned around, propping her hands on her hips and glaring. "One more word and I swear I'll bite you. You're driving me insane."

"What, you'd rather listen to an awkward silence?"

"I'd rather listen to anything than your complaining."

Jesse sighed, promptly shutting up as the two of them continued to weave their way through the dense bushes. She wasn't sure for how long they've been trekking through the jungle, but it's been way too long. Jesse had a feeling both of them had to be pretty worn through at that point, because they've been endlessly getting on each other's nerves.

"It's not far any more." Jesse said, stopping and looking down at Maya's tracker in her hand. "And it seems Aiden is conveniently right where we need him."

When she didn't get a response, Jesse raised her head and glanced over in Petra's direction. The redhead had also stopped, staring up at the sky through a gap in the leaves. Rainwater glinted on her face in the moonlight.

"Stargazing?" Jesse asked sceptically.

"What time is it?" Petra asked, completely ignoring Jesse.

"Uh..." Jesse fumbled for her watch, trying to get a good look at it in the dark. The moment she saw the time, she knew exactly why Petra had asked. "Nearly 6 am..."

"Come look." Petra said, gesturing for Jesse to get closer.

Walking over, Jesse stopped beside Petra and looked up as well. She had to blink a few times to get the water out of her eyes, but as her vision cleared she saw the same thing Petra did. An awfully familiar sight, the moon trapped in one location in the night sky.

"Now that's unsettling." Jesse breathed. "Do you think Aiden is behind this?"

"I can't think of anybody else. It's not like Romeo's around anymore." Petra responded. "What I don't get is why?"

She sudden threw her hands into the air, nearly slapping Jesse with one. "Why any of this!?"

"I wish I had an answer." Jesse mumbled with a sigh.

"So Aiden wanted the command block-" Petra began to list things off on her fingers as they continued walking. "-He kept Rascal alive for who knows what reasons, he reversed my wolf senses, awoken whatever cat senses you missed out on having and now he's stuck the moon's cycle to create another eternal night. Can we have a second to take in how none of these actions have anything to do with each other!?"

"Maybe he just lost it!" Jesse said in exasperation. "Maybe he doesn't even have a freaking clue what he's doing."

Petra snorted and began opening her mouth to respond. She never got the chance however, when an arrow suddenly flew right at her from the shadows, embedding itself into the steel of her armour.

"Seems like we have some mobs who want to play." Jesse said, unsheathing her sword.

"Great, as if I hadn't had enough of those already." Petra growled, tugging the arrow out of her chestplate and raising her own golden sword.

"Let's move, their base can't be far now." Jesse said, exchanging glances with Petra.

The two of them ran forward, raising their weapons at the mobs that came into their path. Jesse kicked upwards, her boot meeting a zombie square in the gut and sending him down in a grunt of pain. Taking that as an opportunity, she brought her Nether Star blade down on the creature's head, the sword effortlessly cutting right through it's skull.

Ripping her sword out of the corpse, Jesse thrust it at the next target, a pulsing creeper only seconds away from exploding. It burst into a puff of gunpowder as the sword pierced straight through it. Jesse held her hand in the air, summoning her sword back with a flick of her wrist.

"Jesse! Over here!"

Jesse's head snapped in the direction she heard Petra's voice, seeing her friend waving at her from the distance. Breaking into a jog, Jesse ran over to Petra while burying her sword into every monster that got in her way.

Petra let out a fierce battle cry, decapitating a spider that leaped up at her. She turned to Jesse as the shorter girl skidded to a stop beside her, wiping the insides of the spider off Miss Butter.

"The hatch." Jesse said, seeing where Petra had scraped the mud and leaves away.

She quickly dug out the tracker again, holding it out. One dot showed that Gill wasn't at the location, instead at the place marked C.B.
Another showed that Aiden was deeper inside the bunker itself. They'd be able to get in unnoticed, assuming Maya wasn't chilling in the first room.

"Let's do this." Petra said, glancing around once more to make sure they were in the clear, before reaching down and grabbing the hatch with one hand. She gritted her teeth.

"Everything okay?" Jesse asked.

Petra was silent for a second, before she just gave a stiff nod and heaved the heavy metal hatch open. Exchanging glances, the two girls nodded firmly at each other. Jesse swung her legs over the edge first, maneuvering her way down the ladder in the dark. Surprisingly, her eyes adjusted within seconds and she was able to see everything around her clearly.

"Argh, I forgot how much it smelled in the place!" Petra hissed behind Jesse, covering her nose.

Jesse's own nose wrinkled, the stench in the air a lot more potent than the last time she was there. It wasn't nearly as strong to her as it was to Petra, but her sense of smell had certainly improved.

"Okay." Jesse breathed, holding up the tracker. "Aiden is on the other side of this bunker. We can get to him-"

"I thought we're going for Rascal first?" Petra asked, annoyance tingling in her voice.

"Not while Aiden is still here and we don't know where Maya is." Jesse pointed out. "We might find ourselves in an ambush."

"Aiden will be expecting another attack from us at some point." Petra argued. "What if he's ready to use Rascal as leverage against me? That will not only cost us our revenge, but also risk Rascal's life."

"And how do you plan on getting Rascal out without confronting Aiden first, huh?" Jesse hissed.

"Fight me all you want, I'm going for Rascal first." Petra growled back.

She didn't give Jesse a chance to respond, turning around on the spot and stomping off into the darkness.

"Petra, wait- ugh!" Jesse balled her hands into tight fists, glaring after her friend.

Fine. She decided, turning around and walking in the opposite direction, keeping her eyes on the tracker. I'm going for Aiden first.

It wasn't uncommon for Jesse and Petra, or anybody in the Order for that matter, to get into fights. They all had very different opinions, and disagreements occurred daily. But at that moment, something felt off to Jesse. Ever since they left the tree-house that night, she and Petra had begun arguing about the smallest things. It was like there was some grudge between them that caused both of them to get annoyed at just about everything the other did.

Jesse stopped, raking her hands through her hair. Stress, that was all she could think of to blame it on. Both of them were fed up with the whole situation at that point, and terrified of how their mission would turn out behind the other three's back.

How could they separate in their situation?

Swinging around, Jesse's eyes desperately searched the dark for Petra again, wanting to run back to her friend. But she had absolutely no idea where Petra headed and she sure as hell couldn't call out to her. Jesse reached up and frantically combed her fingers through her long chestnut hair, probably tangling it up more than it already was.

She shook her head to herself - she just had to proceed with trying to find Aiden, and pray he doesn't get his hands on Petra first, or she ends up desperately needing her friend.

Raising the tracker, Jesse began to creep through through the hallways. She tried her best to make use of her improved hearing, but it wasn't nearly as refined as Petra's. And Jesse didn't have quite as much experience in following sound.

Let's hope Aiden isn't near the command block. Jesse thought to herself, realising in horror just how inconvenient that would be for her.

Oh, why did they have to be so stupid and split up?

Forcing away her regrets, Jesse slipped into the next hallway, creeping along the wall. Aiden's dot on the tracker was beginning to get closer and closer.

Stopping outside a door, Jesse pressed her ear to it. She could hear something inside, sounds she probably wouldn't have been able to pick up with her old hearing. But she still wasn't able to make out what exactly she was listening to.

There was a light turned on in the room, so Jesse did the next thing she could think of; drop to the the floor and peer between the tiny gap below the door. It was pretty hard to make out what was going on inside the room from there - but Jesse could clearly make out two brown boots, slowly making their way across the floor.

She lay there for a few more seconds, making sure there was just one person in the room. When she was certain, Jesse got to her feet again and slowly reached for the door's metal handle. She had her fingers crossed that it was Aiden inside and not Maya - Besides, if it was Maya, Jesse would be surprised at how big her feet were.

At first, Jesse considering slamming open the door and barging in with her sword raised, running at Aiden with a battle-cry. But then she thought thought through the action, instead pushing the door opening carefully. Jesse didn't open it all the way, leaving it just slightly ajar so she could get a proper view of the inside of the room.

The room was large and spacious, almost looking like the Blaze Rods ran out of things to fill it with. There was a large map of the jungle taped up against one wall, certain locations circled and labelled with red paint. Jesse felt her blood run cold when her eyes caught the words "Cell Block". So that was what the mysterious two letters stood for.

Aiden was slowly walking towards the one end of the room where a rack of tools was positioned, sharpening his clear diamond sword as he did. His back was conveniently turned in Jesse's direction.

As quietly as she possibly could, Jesse slipped into the room, letting the door click shut beside her. She flinched, waiting for Aiden to turn around at the sound. But it seemed only her advanced hearing had actually heard the click.

Jesse took a deep, silent breath and pointed her sword right at the man opposite her. If she acted fast enough, she could plunge that sword right into Aiden's back before he was even aware of her presence.

But then Jesse lowered the sword a tad again, gulping slightly. It was already wrong of her to act out of vengeance like she planned to, but stabbing an enemy from behind while his guard was down and his back was turned? No, she wasn't about to stoop that low.

"Aiden."

Jesse's voice was quivering with obvious fear, but she kept her eyes narrowed in a fierce scowl and her jaw clenched. On the outside, she looked almost completely fearless.

Hearing his name, Aiden was quick to swing around. There was genuine surprise in his eyes for a moment, clearly not having expected to encounter Jesse again, less than twenty-four hours after their last encounter - much less her confronting him there in their base. But then the shocked expression was swapped out for a dark grin, eyes glimmering with dark intentions.

"Would you look at that." He said, gesturing towards Jesse with his blade. "She's back for more!"

"Cut the crap." Jesse hissed. "After everything you did, I won't stop throwing punches until I've managed to beat you to a pulp."

Aiden snorted, his eyebrows shooting up. "Hostile." He remarked.

"Pissed is a better word." Jesse growled.

"Tell me, Jesse." Aiden casually leaned back against the wall, acting as if there wasn't a blade of Nether Star pointed right at his throat. "What exactly are you doing here? You really think going up against me again, alone, is going to accomplish anything other than getting you killed?"

Jesse shrugged. "Maybe." She could only pray that Petra didn't unknowingly announce her presence.

"I always knew you were dumber than you looked." Aiden said, smirking. "And now you're proving just that. So I'm giving you a chance, go ahead and run off back home. I don't need to kill you yet, and watching your little group tear yourselves apart will be quite the show."

"We've been the Order for over a decade, I doubt anything you can do will 'tear us apart', so to speak." Jesse responded.

"Oh, you have no idea." Aiden pushed himself off the wall, walking closer. He guided Jesse's sword downwards with his own, so it was no longer pointed right at him. Then he leaned in closer, a mere few centimetres between his and Jesse's face. "Tell me, do you know what the burn on your wrist is?"

"Yes." It was a half-lie, but Jesse wasn't about to reveal that.

"And did you know that your friend has a similar one on hers?"

"Yes."

Aiden's smirk grew. If she wasn't waiting to hear what he had to say, Jesse would have kneed him somewhere very unpleasant.

"Clearly you're too stupid to even understand this, so I'll spell it out for you." Aiden said after a few moments. "At first, reverting the curse on your friend was merely meant to be a setback in your group, a painful one for your friend at that. But when I heard that you too had been under the curse, I knew I was going to have some real fun, more so when I discovered your inner beast.

Lions and wolves don't mix, Jesse, and putting that wedge of instinctual hate between the two closest members of the order is the start to tearing apart your group."

Jesse raised her eyebrows. She nearly took a step back, only just managing to keep herself in position.

"Lion?" She asked in surprise. "That's what I would have been?"

Aiden's smirk fell away, the pride in his eyes vanishing. He pulled away, taking a step back. Clearly Jesse's surprise was even more surprising to him.

"The curse was reversed before I ever turned, genius." Jesse said, narrowing her eyes. "Your stupid plan might lead to some needless squabbling between me and Petra, but you're never going to tear us apart. My animal senses will never be as strong as hers."

"If you were never that deep under the influence of the command block, how was a mere scrape from my sword able to cut you down!?" Aiden suddenly bellowed at her. "I'm sick and tired of unreliable sources!"

"Well, wouldn't you like to know." Jesse said with a snort. "I don't know what your so-called sources are, but most of what happened in that battle is only known by the members of the Order. And good luck getting anything out of us."

"Laugh all you want, Jesse." Aiden growled at her. "I'll still tear your group apart, piece by piece. By the end of this, you'll be on your knees, begging me to kill you."

"Boy, you have high hopes." Jesse laughed.

She raised her sword again, gesturing it at Aiden. "And good luck with that. I don't even know what your plan is, but I can already tell it's filled with potholes."

Aiden snorted, the smirk returning to his face.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked, holding out his hands. "I am making your world, mine."

"Please tell me you're not trying to pull your stunts from Sky City again, this time with the command block?" Jesse asked in exasperation. "Didn't the way that ended teach you anything?"

"Oh I learned plenty from my mistakes. This time, it's going to be a success." Aiden began to slowly circle Jesse as he spoke, nonchalantly waving his sword around. "I don't know if you saw the time, Jesse, but the light is never coming back. I don't need a magical chicken to lay me some spawn eggs to create havoc with, I can just let nature do it for me!"

He stepped closer to Jesse, once more leaning in close to her. "Listen with those new kitty ears of yours. Can you hear the amount of mobs moving about up there?"

"You're insane." Jesse growled at Aiden as he resumed walking around her in a large circle.

"Call me what you like, the truth is the truth." Aiden responded. "There's nothing the Order can do, you can come at me as many times as you want. And once I tear you apart and cut you down, the world will be in desperate need of a new hero." He flung around to face Jesse, jabbing a finger at his own chest. "Me!"

I'll be the only person who can 'magically' bring back the sunlight, restore the world again. People will cheer my name on the same streets they once cheered yours." He grinned maniacally. "I'll finally have the title of hero I always deserved."

"It's not my fault you got sucked into the Witherstorm instead of killing it!" Jesse exclaimed. "If you really want to be a hero, do something to actually deserve it. You can't destroy the world, only to turn the tables and be the one to save it again. You saw how well that worked out for Ivor!"

"You are nobody to tell me what to do." Aiden hissed at her. "A mistake like yourself never deserved the fame she got! You were and always be nobody!"

Aiden lunged forward on the last word, thrusting his sword at Jesse. She let out a short shriek, not having expected the attack. Rolling beneath the blow, Jesse jumped up and got into a proper fighting stance. She glared at Aiden, rage surging through her veins.

"I'll make you regret ever thinking you could be a match for me!" Aiden bellowed, wildly swinging his sword at Jesse, delivering blows left and right that she was barely able to block. "I'll kill you!"

"What happened to death being too good for me, huh?" Jesse challenged, slamming her blade against Aiden's. "Your bloodlust will be your downfall!"

"Is that so?" Aiden asked as he shoved Jesse off him. "Says the person who came out here to kill me."

For a second, Jesse's movements faltered. Aiden was right, she was acting out of revenge just like him! But then her eyes narrowed, hatred blinding her.

"There is a difference between justice and revenge, Aiden. After everything you've done, not just to us, but to the world - You have thrown away every single second chance you ever deserved. And by killing you, all our problems end!"

Powered by the rage within her, Jesse lunged at Aiden, her sword's blow against his thrusting him backwards. Aiden staggered back, not having expected the amount of power in Jesse's blow. He didn't have time to react properly as she struck again, only barely blocking the Nether Star blade with his own. Jesse backed him up right against the wall, swiping his sword out of his grip with her own blade. The clear diamond sword skidded across the floor, far out of Aiden's reach.

"You'll regret not having an enchantment to summon it back." Jesse hissed at Aiden, pressing her blade against the defenceless man's neck.

Aiden didn't say anything, but his breath was racing. His green eyes were wide, sweat running down his face as his gaze fearfully flickered between Jesse and the weapon against his throat. There was fire blazing in Jesse's eyes, her actions fuelled with more anger than he's ever seen in her.

Jesse was ready to slit Aiden's throat. Her knuckles were turning white beneath the gloves of her armour, her grip tight around the blade's helm.

But then Jesse relieved the pressure.

Realisation of what she was doing dawned onher. She was about to kill somebody, and this time it wasn't to defend herself. Aiden was unarmed, his weapon out of his reach. She didn't have to kill him to end the battle. Her actions were purely out of vengeance.

"No." Jesse said, slowly lowering her sword from Aiden's neck. "I'm not you."

Aiden reached a hand up, tentatively touching his throat where Jesse's sword had been resting. He looked up her, silent for a few moments.

But then he grinned.

"You should have killed me when you had the change."

There was no time for Jesse to react as Aiden suddenly grabbed her sword from her hands, turning it on her. And before she could even think about stopped him, the blade was plunged through her armour. The Nether Star effortlessly broke through the normally indestructible set.

"So much for the Wither Slayer." Aiden growled as he threw Jesse backwards, smirking at her cry of anguish.

Blood pooled on the floor, the red a gruesome contrast on the white surface of Jesse's armour. Her eyelids began to flutter shut before the last note of her scream had faded away, head limply tilting back on the ground.

"What a pathetic excuse for a hero." Aiden said, his shadow falling over Jesse's form. "You-"

"JESSE!"

The door to the room crashed open as another person burst inside, raising their golden weapon. Petra's blue eyes were wide, her face laced with shock and horror.

"You're too late." Aiden said, grinning at the warrior. "There's no saving her now. You lost!" He laughed triumphantly, holding Jesse's sword in the air, blood dripping down the white blade. "You lost! I won!"

He looked over at Petra, the redhead on her knees beside Jesse with her own weapon tossed aside. Blood already coated Petra's hands, sweat glistening on her pale skin as her breath raced with panic. But upon hearing his cry of victory, she looked up at him.

"I don't think you have."

A figure Aiden hadn't seen creeping along the shadows of the room's perimeter suddenly leaped at him from the back. The Nether Star blade clattered to the ground, as Aiden's screams filled the room. Flesh tore like fabric, the wolf's bloodthirsty growls overcoming the screams of terror

Rascal had pinned Aiden to the ground, snarling aggressively. Blood dripped from his muzzle, dissolving in the pool of red beneath Aiden. The mans eyes were open, but empty.

In any other situation, Petra would have cried out her praises to Rascal, in any other situation she would have been glowing with pride and satisfaction. But at that moment, she couldn't care less that Aiden was dead.

Because Jesse was dying too.

___

I cannot express to you how much I love this chapter- I still remember grinning like a maniac and typing so fast that I was making a million mistakes while writing it, because I was having so much fun,, and I think I finished the book in the same day out of pure hype (actually no, I put the epilogue off for ages because I didn't want it to end XD)

I generally hate writing fight scenes, but this is probably my favourite one of mine I've ever written. Just finally answering all those questions, revealing all the plans, and pumping so much anger into Jesse that's she just blindly attacks Aiden, fueled by so much hatred and rage-

and don't even get me started on the twist ending, there's something I love so much about Jesse getting stabbed for doing the right thing.

Don't look at me like that, I'm not insane! I'm a writer, this is normal behaviour!

And Rascal being the one to end it all, THAT'S THE SPOTLIGHT THIS PUP DESERVED SINCE DAY ONE-

Okay but rambling Dani aside, uhm, Jesse might not live.

What are your theories for the last stretch of this book?
Jesse's been stabbed with a sword, created by the command block - if the wound itself isn't fatal, will the power do her in? Will Jesse live to see this book come to a close? What are her chances even?

And since I messed up, chapter 21 will be here in four days!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much I loved writing it!!