Redstone Nightmares

Act V - Chapter 25

Act V – Chapter 25

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains swearing. Reader discretion is advised.

(Minecraft: Story Mode and its characters belong to Telltale Games, not me.)

Antonio was the first one up that following morning. Carefully untangling himself from Oliender's vice-like grip as to not wake him, he carefully maneuvered his way out of bed. Passing by the second double bed which Jesse and Romeo were sleeping in, he suppressed a giggle as he watched his old friend spoon Jesse, both of their faces looking calm and serene as they slept soundly, oblivious to the world.

Baxter, noticing his owner was awake, greeted him happily.

"Hey Baxter!" he greeted back. "How're you doing, buddy?"

Baxter responded with positive vocalisations.

"That's good," said Antonio as he reached into an inventory and held out a bone. "You want a bone?"

Baxter happily took it. "Of course you do. Now I'm just heading up into the attic, so be a good boy and try not to wake anyone, okay?"

Climbing a ladder, he flipped a lever on the ceiling, which opened up an iron trapdoor. As he climbed through, the heat up there prompted him to remove his suit jacket, which he discarded near the trap door. Flipping another lever, he powered a simple redstone circuit which provided power to the redstone lamps he set up, filling the attic with light.

This part of the treehouse was a space that he usually reserved for himself, whenever he needed time alone to just sit down and think.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he did not notice someone slip through until they sat down next to him. It was Romeo.

"Ugh, how can you stand the heat up here?" he asked, removing his leather jacket.

"Spend enough time up here and you get used to it," said Antonio. "I come up here when I want to... get away, so to speak. Like, to have a bit of time to myself to think. Most of the time about Oliender..."

"Oh yeah, tell me about him?"

"Mate, where do I start? Even while I was still with you back in Sourcemist, I just couldn't help but feel like there was a part of me that was missing, y'know. And then of course me and Fred had to go and have a falling out, and there were times where I just couldn't stand to be in the same room with that big guy.

"Yeah, he was a bit too stubborn for his own good, I'll give you that," admitted Romeo.

Antonio went on to explain how his departure from Sourcemist didn't improve things at all, only made them worse. He told Romeo about all of the things he did before ending up in this world, trapped by Hadrian and Mevia.

He spoke about how Hadrian and Mevia had trapped him in this world, and that everyone was forced to compete in the games. He didn't compete much, as after that stint in the mines when he was eliminated once, he didn't dare try and compete again. He would not go through that grueling punishment again. He still hated Mevia with a burning passion for what she did to him.

And then he talked about how he met Oliender about six months back. When Antonio first saw him in action, he had been awestruck. The way he completely wiped the floor with the other teams while going at it solo. Then there had been a period of time where Antonio did nothing but watch the games just to observe him in action. He still remembered how he froze up when Oliender first spoke to him.