Falling in Love -MCSM

The Green and the Blue.

(Jesse POV)

I sat at one end of the long table.
At the other end sat the king.

I believed I was right in calling him king, the whole castle-crown-leader aesthetic the dude had going on made it kind of hard not to assume. His gaze was glued onto me, not even glancing away to acknowledge the waiters who brought us food. I noted that they, like all the others I had seen, bore the same strange inky black markings. I was still curious as to what those actually were-

"We get our marks from The Stone." I jolted my head back to face the man sat opposite. He wore a smug smile, head leaning on his jewel covered hand. "I can just tell from your face that you're dying to know more, aren't you?"

"Yes, actually." I don't know why, but I felt like the best path forwards would only be to tell the truth.

I thought I should start asking for the truth as well.

"Ask away, Jesse, Leader of Stones and other various Rocks."

I reached for my goblet, glancing at the strange orange liquid before taking a sip. Not bad.

"So you can read minds."

"Only the best of us, dearie."

'Only the best. So the royalty?'

"Indeed."

I found myself laughing despite the strange situation I was in, taking another sip from the goblet before placing it back down on the table. The ding of metal against metal echoed around the room, making me notice just how empty it all was.

"Do you ever get lonely?"

The man before me paused mid bite, eyes seemingly searching mine for an answer. An answer entirely different to the one I had asked for.

"Not really. Every so often somebody like you comes along, and for a moment I can forget the worries and stress of leadership and just..."
He held up his goblet in a toast. I copied his action. "...Relax. As a leader, don't you feel the burden yourself?"

I felt no hesitation when I gave my answer.

"No. My team and I work together. Which is why I had to ask you something... your majesty?"

"Carlile , please."

"Carlile. I was brought here- here to you. So I must ask why my team has not been given the same opportunity."

The king grinned, mostly friendly, but with a hint of wildness- like a wolf that hadn't eaten, or a person being deprived of light.

"Oh, but they have, Jesse."

What?

Before I could voice my confusion, but I suspected that I didn't need to- not with the mind reading and all- the double doors opened wide once again, except this time it was for a person other than myself.

It was a boy, with less black markings than the rest of the people I had seen while in this underground kingdom, the ink-like colours only swirling around his fingertips, trailing up to wrap around his wrist. To some, it may have looked like a bracelet. Others, a handcuff.
I couldn't hide her gasp as as dropped my fork, the utensil long forgotten as it clattered against my plate. The noise echoed around the now less-empty room, but I was deaf to it all.

I recognised the eyes of the person. How could I not?

Dim despite the glowstone light, yes. Filled with fear, yes. But they were still the same brilliant shade of blue that I had seen at the building competition all that time ago. The same blue that stared helplessly at me from a chest while we both hid from an iron golem. The same blue that was highlighted with tones of anger when finding Soren didn't give us what we all desperately wanted. The same shade that only seemed deeper as I stood at the mouth of a cave in the dead of night, begging a boy to stay by my side.

For standing there, by the door, was a boy. A boy with blonde hair, a grey and orange outfit, and grey goggles, looking more exhausted and frightened than anyone I had ever seen in my life. A boy I knew all too well.

'Lukas?'

"Oh!" The king rose from seat, the scraping sound of the chair against the quarts floor, snapping me out of my memories, the consuming sight of blue fading away. "So that's his name."

He began to make his way over to him, and beckoned me to stand by his side. I did so at once, my food forgotten.

He took Lukas' hand, his thumb resting on one of the running lines of ink. "Do you like this one?"

"Y-yes?" I stammered, not understanding what he meant. "I like all my teammates."

Even though I knew Carlile would see into my thoughts, I couldn't help but let images of my closest friends slip into my mind. Olivia, in our treehouse, oh how I missed Home. And Axel, showing me his monster masks with the most adorable grin on his face, his dark eyes flashing with happiness.

And the eyes changed, going from the deep brown of a tree trunk to the colour of the leaves it sprouted. And the raw emotion in them was familiar to me, causing me to catch my breath just like I did every time I saw them. Aiden was so open. Wether it be hatred or friendship, nothing was hidden to you if you only looked in his eyes.

But this was wrong. Aiden wasn't my friend.

Memories of him saving me from what we both thought at the time was certain death begged to differ.

He had looked so scared them, jade eyes wide as he held onto my arms, stopping me from falling away. He was as scared as I was.

"You're telling the truth."

And then I was back in the room, the green being pushed away as I was brought back to the room. I cursed myself for being emotional, compromising the boy in front of me by forgetting about him. How had I forgotten about Lukas, even for a moment?

My eyes turned with my body, glaring at Carlile  who was adorning a smile as if nothing was wrong.

"What have you done to him?"

He laughed, a sound like a violin tuned wrong.

"Jesse, dearie, I'm curing my loneliness. I said it before..."

He waved a hand in Lukas' direction, dropping his wrist, and the guard who had spoken to me at the door appeared to take him away. I couldn't find my words, and my sword was nowhere in sight, so all I could do was lock my eyes with his to try and make him understand.

'I'll come for you. Lukas, I will save you, I promise.'

"People like you come around. People like you join me. People like you..." Carlile glanced at the door as it shut. "...Become my friends."

He swiftly held out his hand, and it was all I could do to take it and force a smile.

"Now, shall we return to our food?"

I swallowed. "Of course, Carlile."

"Excellent."