Mcsm Season 3 - Battered and Bruised

Chapter 7 - Fear

I walked into Jesse's kitchen and sat at the small table. I sat there in silence. I only came out of my room in order to be able to connect with the outside world. It wasn't much, but I could see out the window. As I stared out the window, I unconsciously teleported to the windowsill. I didn't mind, though. It was nice.

A few people who were stalking Jesse's house yelped and ran off. I stared at them, eyes half-closed. I sighed.

"Hey, you're finally out!" Jesse said from behind me.

Just then, I remembered what day it was. It was May 6th, Jesse's birthday. He didn't even look like he remembered. I smiled weakly at him.

"Happy birthday, Jesse," I muttered, smiling at him. He blinked in shock.

"I- is it already my birthday? Wow," Jesse stuttered, "I didn't even know you knew."

"Radar slipped it to me in conversation," I replied. Jesse chuckled and hugged me.

Suddenly, Radar slid open the front door. He looked at me and gestured with his eyes to leave. I nodded and stood up, heading back to my room.

Through the door, I heard muffled speech between the two.

"Happy birthday, Jesse! And since it's your birthday, I set up something nice for you!" Radar said.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that," Jesse said.

"Jesse, you're always under so much stress. It even stresses me out! But anyway, what I wanted to say was that what I set up was just a day for you, Olivia, Axel, Petra, and Lukas to hang out without having to worry about Beacontown! I will be taking over while you enjoy your special day," Radar explained.

"Radar, you're too kind. I'm really glad I have you," Jesse replied.

"Thank you, Jesse," Radar said shakily, "But The Order is waiting for you."

"Alright! Thanks, Radar," Jesse said, heading out the door.

I poked my head out to see Radar standing alone in the kitchen. I walked out.

Radar was tall and thin with deeply tanned skin. His hair was slicked back and shaved on the sides. He wore thick prescription glasses.  From the side, I could even see the lenses poking out of the frame a bit. He wore a green hoodie with a creme-colored sweater underneath. He had black worn jeans and green converse shoes.

Radar looked over to me and scanned me up and down. I wasn't wearing anything special, just Fred's hoodie and jeans. I didn't have any shoes on, just black socks. Radar looked me in the eyes with concern.

"I, uh..." Radar said, clearly trying to say something.

"What, am I scary or something? That's kind of a thing with admins," I joked. Radar laughed, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie.

"Um, yeah. You're pretty spooky looking. At least you aren't as scary as before though," Radar said. I laughed a bit before sighing.

"Yeah, about that. Most of us admins can't control our admin forms. Even after being an admin of two worlds for an equal amount of time, I could never master it. I'm... going to eventually look how I did before," I said sadly. Radar looked down.

"I... I'm so sorry-" Radar said, cut off by my laughter.

"Why are you sorry!? It's funny if anything!" I said through fits of laughter. Radar backed up, rather nervous.

"I- I'm sorry Radar, I didn't mean to sound crazy or anything, honest. I'm not gonna be like how I was before, I swear on it," I said, resting my hand on his shoulder. I looked at my hand and frowned.

It was... clawed. Just like before. I pulled it away from Radar, only realizing that I towered over him now, just like I used to. I looked down at myself and realized...

I'm changing a lot faster than I thought I would.

~~

"Hey, guys!" I said, running out to Petra, Lukas, Axel, and Olivia. They waved at me.

"Happy Birthday, Jesse! Aw man, I still can't believe that you're 26! Feels like just yesterday we were celebrating your 17th birthday," Axel said, picking me up in a hug.

"That was so long ago! Time really flies when you're with your friends, huh?" Lukas said. Olivia nodded. Axel put me down.

"Jeez, it feels like it all happened so fast, but every second was the best time of my life," Olivia said, resting her arm around my shoulder.

"Yeah. I really miss this. All of us together, you know," I said, hugging Olivia.

"You always say that," Petra joked.

"You're right, I do!" I joked right back. We all shared a laugh and started walking through Beacontown.

As we walked to the gate, I looked behind me and saw a familiar figure.

Radar was panicking while walking to his office. Romeo was right behind him, much taller for some odd reason, trying to calm him down. He noticed that I saw them, and he gestured to me to not worry. I turned back around to my friends.

"What was that all about?" Axel asked.

"I just saw Radar, panicked as usual. Romeo kinda gestured that it's under control though-" I said, cut off by Olivia.

"Romeo? Isn't that the Admin?" She asked, rather panicked. I nodded and her eyes bulged out of her sockets.

"Don't worry guys, he's a lot better than before. Besides, if he tried anything, I'd just hit him with Fred's gauntlet!" I quipped. Olivia nervously laughed.

"Well, that did nothing to calm my nerves. We should definitely check with them before we go, don't you think?" Olivia said. I thought about it for a moment and nodded.

I walked over to Radar's office. Pushing open the door, I finally saw why Radar was so panicked. Romeo looked identical to before, just with different clothes. Romeo snapped his head to me.

"Jesse, don't worry about this. It's fine. Everything is okay, Radar is just overreacting-" Romeo began.

"I AM NOT OVERREACTING!" Radar snapped. Romeo backed up, startled.

Romeo hit a bookshelf, not realizing his size. He wasn't his normal height anymore. He was tall. Like, really tall. If these ceilings weren't raised as high as they are, he'd be struggling.

"Romeo, how did you suddenly shoot up to nine feet tall in less than five minutes?" I asked, rather concerned. He shrugged.

"Jesse- please go, we have it under control! It might not look like it, but we really do!" Romeo said. Radar nodded. I shrugged and left.

"What did they say?" Petra asked.

"Romeo kept repeating over and over that they have it under control, so I left them to it. I trust that they'll figure it out," I said, walking out of the Beacontown gates.

"Whatever you say, Jesse," Lukas said.

Lukas was a bit taller than me. The tallest person in our friend group was Axel, standing at 6'5. Petra is a close second, standing at 6'3. Lukas is 5'10, I'm 5'7, and Olivia is 5'4. Petra always made fun of Olivia's stature, but it was all in good fun.

I'm really glad to have such good friends.