Jesse let out a slow, relaxed breath, closing her eyes as she felt the sun beat down on her face and arms. A gently breeze was playing her long chestnut hair, carrying the smell of fresh cocoa beans through the air. Jesse began to smile, enjoying every bit of it.

She was standing out on the balcony of the tree-house, her elbows leaned on the wooden railing. It was a bright, sunny day. The jungle was bustling with life, parrots singing in the trees and two young, wild ocelots chasing each other through the undergrowth.

After Aiden's stunt of trapping them in 'temporary eternal night,' Jesse had a sudden new appreciation for the sunlight. Her smile faltered for a second, bitter at the thought of everything that had happened. After hearing that Rascal had attacked and killed Aiden, Jesse had thought it was something that would haunt her for days. Yet she still found herself almost... almost wanting to be happy at the fact that he was dead.

Jesse shook her head to herself, smiling again. She wasn't about to let her hatred and anger for Aiden ruin a good day. Everything turned out, after all.

The creak of a plank beneath a person's weight caught Jesse's attention. She glanced over her shoulder, her face lighting up at the sight of the person who stood a few feet behind her.

Petra's eyes were tired, but there was a faint smile on her face. Her red hair was a mess, her signature bandanna not there to keep it in place. She seemed to have just pulled on the first clothes she could find, over her sleepwear. Rascal stood by her side, Petra's one hand resting on his back.

"Well, isn't it good to see you out here." Jesse said, grinning at Petra.

"Eh." Petra just gave a shrug, walking over and leaning with her elbows on the railing as well. Jesse gave her friend a gentle nudge with her shoulder, still grinning.

Despite having been the one who got the most hurt in the final battle, despite being the one who nearly didn't make it out alive, Jesse hadn't struggled to recover from the battle nearly as much as Petra did. Petra did save her life – if Jesse had died in that cave sooner, the command block would not have been able to revive her. But of course, all the time Petra spent making sure Jesse was going to make it instead of focusing on herself, did have it's negative consequences. That was the first day she actually got up and left her room on her own free will.

"You know, I'm starting to understand what it was like for you after we defeated Soren." Petra said to Jesse, tracing the pattern in the wood with one finger. "Everybody around you is celebrating that the battle is over while you just feel... dead."

Jesse snorted slightly, causing Petra to grin as well.

"Well that's one way to put it." She said with a chuckle, shaking her head. She smiled at Petra. "It's good to see your humour's back."

"Don't get mushy on me, or I'll go straight back to bed." Petra said with a playful roll of her eyes, both of them returning to staring out over the jungle.

"So what's been going on the past few days?" Petra asked Jesse. "What did you do with the two airheads?"

"Who?"

"Maya and Gill."

"Oh." Jesse chuckled again. "At first, Lukas locked them in the shed, because we didn't know what to really do with them. And we were a bit preoccupied with you-"

"Skip that bit." Petra cut Jesse off, waving one hand at her.

Jesse just rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Radar stayed here a bit. It was actually pretty nice to talk to him again, and hear how things have been going in Beacontown."

"I thought we were talking about Maya and Gill, not Radar-"

"Let me finish, will you?"

"He actually didn't leave until yesterday, poor guy was quite shaken up and seemed to have been a punching bag for the Blaze Rods." Jesse shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Lukas is actually travelling back with him to make sure he gets home okay, and since he's using one of our horses-"

Petra snorted sightly, causing Jesse to stop and give her a questionable look.

"Is it bad that I didn't even notice Lukas isn't here?" Petra asked, laughing as Jesse elbowed her in the ribs.

"Getting to the point, they took Maya and Gill back with them." Jesse said, grinning as well. "They're going to spend some time in Beacontown's dungeons and – depending on their behaviour – get a second chance eventually."

"Aww." Petra sounded genuinely disappointed. "I was thinking up fun ways to execute them."

"Petra!"

Both girls laughed again, even Rascal joining in with a few excited barks. They looked down at him, and Petra reached over to stroke his head. Rascal closed his eyes in pleasure, nuzzling her hand.

"He's been sleeping with it, ya know." Petra whispered. "The coat, I mean."

"In a way he still has a part of his real parents with him." Jesse said, smiling sadly. She looked up with Petra. "But more importantly, he still has you."

"Oh you big sap." Petra said with a playful roll of her eyes, elbowing Jesse.

Chuckling, both of them once again returned to staring out in front of them.

"Where's the command block?" Petra asked thoughtfully.

"Shut down and locked up tight." Jesse replied. "Nobody is laying their hands on that cursed thing ever again."

"Damn, couldn't you have let me have some fun with it first?" Petra asked. "I wanted to see if I could get that cool enchantment on Miss Butter!"

"If you want, you can just straight up have my sword." Jesse said, laughing. "I'd happily trade it for Miss Butter, I'm terrified of it now."

"Don't tempt me, I might just do it. That thing's awesome." Petra said, grinning. "Miss Butter would feel betrayed."

"It's a sword, Petra."

"We've been over this, you don't talk like that about my baby."

They both laughed again.

"You know what I'm happy about?" Jesse said after a few seconds. She held out one hand, turning it around to reveal the healing scar on her wrist. "That these effects were reversed. My hearing's back to normal, and neither of us have been clawing at each other's throats again."

"My senses are still the same as they were after Soren's curse." Petra said. "Unnaturally good and sharp, but not to a point of annoying me." She grinned. "I don't think I'd ever want my human senses back at this point. I like being able to hear the shit you talk about in your sleep all the way from my room."

"I talk in my sleep?" Jesse asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you once recited an entire recipe for cheesecake in one go." Petra responded nonchalantly. "I wish you didn't, I was hungry after that."

"Dang."

An excited bark caught both their attention. They looked back to see Rascal wagging his tail as he looked between the tree-house and them. Jesse checked her watch.

"Lunch time." She announced. "This must be Rascal's way of telling us he's hungry."

"I hope Olivia fixed up something nice." Petra said, stretching out her arms. "I'm starving. Come on!"

She grabbed Jesse's wrist, pulling her into the tree-house. Jesse laughed, only barely staying on her feet and keeping up with Petra.

She was glad the fighting was over.

___

I like that, while The Secrets Beneath the Lies and The Night of the Mobs are two very different stories in many ways, I kept their endings close to exactly the same.
Some time after recovering from battle, Jesse's reflecting on their adventure, Petra shows up, they somewhat fill in the reader on what happened between the final chapter and the epilogue.

I had so much fun with this book, and it was an emotional roller coaster I'm sad is over.

I'll be honest, I thought fanfiction in itself was over for me, because before posting NOTM, I had somewhat lost interest. I had started on an original series and put a lot of focus into that, I was thinking more about my OCs than these guys.

But two things changed. First of all, I don't like my original work that much right now. It's stiff and somewhat unnatural. So I think it's good to, instead of rushing to put the series onto paper, take a step back and let myself learn more through fanfiction. I can't fix what I don't know how to change, and I honestly think another year (at the least) of writing more casual works on here and continue improving, is what I need.

Secondly, I was just reminded of how much I love writing fanfiction, and that there are still people here who read them, even if those numbers have go down. I love MCSM, and I'm not done writing fanfiction for it.

My next story isn't close to ready, so I'll be quiet on here for a while. Maybe I'll do another short writing challenge (Short short, like 10 days, I'm having a really busy year) in the meantime and find other things to do on here until it's ready. Please stick around, because there WILL be more stories! I just need to write them, and I'm struggling a little with time management on my last year of school.

I'm active all the time on my art Instagram, danielle_does_doodles, if you guys are interested in seeing what art I create nowadays, hearing me talk about the progress of my fanfictions and lots of posts about chickens and cats. Yep.

Before I sign off, I'll probably do another Things You Didn't Know About NOTM, so I'll see you all in that!