When Jesse woke up, her body was stiff and cold. It took her a while to remember where she was, and why it was so bitterly cold.

Jesse groaned slightly, propping herself up on one of her elbows. She couldn't see a thing around her, it was so dark. But she was sure they were still in the basement.

How did I fall asleep? Jesse thought to herself, rubbing her eyes, wanting to get them to adjust to the darkness.

Finally she was able to make out the shapes of her friends. All of them were asleep, making Jesse wonder exactly how long they've been in there.

Jesse could see Axel, lying across two crates on his back, snoring loudly. Radar was still sitting where Jesse last saw him, leaning against the crate, his eyes closed and breathing rhythmical. Lukas seemed to have fallen asleep, whilst resting his head on his folded arms.

Jesse glanced around for Petra. Her heart skipped a beat when she didn't see her friend, but the shape of a large grey wolf instead, sleeping at the bottom of the staircase.

Jesse sighed heavily, lowering herself back to the cold, brick floor. Her back was stiff from the sleeping position, and her armor made it awfully uncomfortable to lay down.

She didn't need to look around for Olivia, as she could hear her friend's raspy, weak breathing behind her.

Jesse turned around, so she was laying on her back. Her eyelids felt heavy, but she didn't fall asleep again, no matter how desperately she wanted to regain some energy.

Jesse looked up at the wooden ceiling - which was actually the floor of the room above them. She found herself thinking deeply about a lot of things.

Were things OK back in Beacontown?

Were their horses cold back where they left them?

Had Stella remembered to feed Lluna and Rascal?

Jesse groaned softly, covering her head with her arms, as if she could block out all the unnecessary thoughts. She didn't need, nor want any extra stress on her shoulders.

Finally giving up on trying to sleep, Jesse sat upright. She regretted not eating any breakfast, she was absolutely starving now.

"Thanks, stress." Jesse muttered under her breath.

As she fiddled with a string of hair that had escaped her braid, Jesse thought about the upcoming duel she had with Soren. On the plus side, she now actually knew the identity of the man she was going up against.

But other than that, nothing was going like she had hoped. Why did Soren have them locked up in here? How long were they going to be locked up here?

So much for a fair fight. I'm going to be tired and weak with hunger and cold when I get out of here. Jesse thought grimly to herself.

She reached up to rub her eyes, feeling exhaustion creeping over her. But Jesse knew the chance to fall asleep while she was that uncomfortable, was most likely not happening. So she did the only thing she could think of; she started taking off her armour. Jesse could feel some of the warmth slipping away, but alas, she could finally move around a little more freely.

Disgarding her armour in a small heap beside her, Jesse lay down on the hard floor again, closing her eyes.

What have I gotten myself into? She thought to herself.

Despite being a lot more comfortable, as well as a lot colder, Jesse still had trouble sleeping. Might have had something to do that she was trying to sleep on a coarse, brick floor, or maybe it was because of Axel's snoring. Who knew?

Nonetheless, after an uncomfortable thrity minutes, Jesse drifted off to a restless sleep.

-----------

Jesse jolted slightly when she woke up.

"Bad dream?" Lukas asked. He was sitting close to her, trying to read something from his journal by using the flashlight.

Jesse just nodded numbly, sitting upright and rubbing her eyes which burned from the sudden light. As she looked around her, she noticed almost everybody was awake. Except for Axel, who was still snoring loudly.

"Glad to see you're awake." Olivia said softly, coming to sit beside Jesse. She was still looking pale and weak, but seemed to be doing much better with something warm on.

"Yeah." Jesse muttered, yawning again. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

Olivia grimaced. "I woke up to basically the biggest shock of my life." She said, looking a bit annoyed.

Jesse frowned. "Why?"

"All of us kind of forgot to mention Petra's... condition." Lukas said, nodding over to the wolf who lay at his feet. Despite the fact that it was a perfectly serious situation, there was a bit of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"It's not funny." Olivia hissed, her face going red. "I totally freaked out when I saw her."

"Be glad Axel didn't wake up, he wouldn't have let you forget it, ever." Lukas pointed out, before returning his attention to his journal.

Petra walked over to Jesse and Olivia, laying down beside Jesse and resting her head on Jesse's knee.

Olivia smiled. "Dare I say it, she's really cute as a wolf."

Jesse chuckled. "Careful, she might just kill you for calling her cute one day."

Both of them laughed. To Jesse it felt good to relief herself from some of the stress.

-------------

"I think it's time we come up with a plan."

Lukas' sudden words made Jesse jump slightly, as she was pulled from her train of thought. Its been a few hours since they had all woken up, and they haven't spoken much. Apart from the bit where Petra turned back. It kind of freaked Olivia out a bit.

"What plan?" Axel asked, looking up from the piece of wood he had been fiddling with. Jesse had no idea where he got it. Knowing Axel, he probably broke it out of one of the crates, just for his own entertainment.

"If it's an escape plan, don't bother. The trapdoor won't budge." Petra muttered.

"No, I was thinking more of like, a backup plan." Lukas said. "A failsafe."

"A back-up plan for what?" Radar asked, looking confused.

"The duel." Lukas and Jesse said in unison, almost like they have read eachother's minds.

"What duel?" Olivia suddenly asked, looking flustered. Jesse flinched, realising they have not said a word to Olivia about why they ended up in Soren's clutches.

Nobody said a word.

"What are you guys not telling me?" Olivia asked, looking from Jesse, to Petra, to Lukas, to Axel, to Radar, and back again.

Jesse took a deep breath. "The whole reason we came all the way out here, is because..." She bit her lip. "Soren and I will fight eachother in a duel. I'm just not sure when."

Olivia gaped at Jesse. "B-but he wants you dead!" She gasped, looking over at the others with wide eyes.

"I know." Jesse said softly. "And believe me, after everything that happened while you were gone, I am aware of how powerful he is."

She didn't dare mention to Olivia how he nearly choked her to death in the treasure room and she sure as hell didn't mention the bridge incident.

"I don't get it, why are you going along with this then?" Olivia asked, looking at Jesse with wide eyes.

"Because she's Jesse." Petra replied flatly.

"I'm doing it for all of you, to save all of you." Jesse said, ignoring Petra's remark. She looked at Olivia with a sympathetic expression. "I mean... look what he did to you."

Olivia dropped her gaze to the ground, avoiding eye-contact with Jesse.

"Let's put the topic of 'Jesse agreeing to this duel', aside and focus on what we do next." Lukas said firmly.

"Is there anything we can do, though?" Radar asked, starting to adjust his glasses like he always did when he's nervous. "I mean, the cloaked- eh, Soren, wanted this duel specifically so we cannot interfere."

"Which means he's most certainly going to separate us from Jesse." Petra said, finishing Radar's sentence for him.

"I don't want to make a plan for you guys to help me." Jesse said softly. "I want a backup plan for you guys to get out of here safely."

"No way!" Lukas, Axel and Petra said in unison. Olivia and Radar just stayed silent.

"We're a team. We stick together." Petra said firmly.

"Exactly, what she said!" Axel said, folding his arms.

Jesse held up her hands before Lukas could argue too.

"Listen, please." She said softly, making them fall quiet.

"If it'll make you feel any better..." She looked through her friends, deciding which names to put where. "Lukas, Petra and Axel stay by my side, until the very last minute." She turned to Olivia and Radar. "I need you two to get out of here." She said softly.

Radar immediately looked like he was going to launch into a rant, but Jesse gently took his hand, shutting him up before he even began.

"I need you to take Olivia home." She said softly.

"What?" Olivia asked, confused.

"You've been through enough." Jesse said firmly. "I'd feel much better, if I knew you were safe back in Beacontown, or at least on your way."

"But I want to help..." Olivia said softly. Lukas reached over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Jesse's right, you've been through hell already." He said softly. "You should take it easy on yourself."

Olivia sighed heavily and nodded, folding her arms.

"What do you want us to do?" Axel asked, gesturing to himself, Petra and Lukas.

"I want you to look out for each other." Jesse said firmly. "And if anything goes wrong during this duel, the three of you need to be ready to take things into your own hands."

"Wait, what about you?" Petra asked, looking confused.

"I'll be with you, until I can no longer be with you." Jesse said softly. "Once he pulls me away from you for that duel, you need to focus on yourselves. Not me."

If it was up to her, she would've sent all her friends home. She didn't want any of them to get more caught up in this mess, than they already were. But she knew, no matter what she did, they won't let her go into this battle alone.

"Jesse.." Axel started.

"Just promise me, if something happens to me, you'll focus on yourselves and each other?" Jesse asked softly.

"Nothing's going to-"

"Promise me."

"Jesse.."

"Promise me."

"I.. I promise."

"We all do.

___

Uhm... yay for fillers?

Sorry for this filler right before all the action, guys. I know fillers aren't always great to read, but I don't want to rush into the plot. I try to avoid too many large time skips in between chapters :') 

Next chapter isn't a filler, I can promise that! XD

Feel free the continue theorizing about what might happen in the upcoming battle! I'll see you all with the next chapter in 5 days!