Delta 6 (The Pack)

Chapter 30

Warnings: None

~Lachlan's P.O.V.~

      The last wave of nausea trickles away, and I shake my head, striding into the burning wasteland that is the Nether. Instantly, a wall of heat and humidity crashes into me.

      "Awh man, this hot air is gonna ruin my hair." I mumble, combing my fingers through it.

       Behind me there are more whizzes as Jerome ducks through the purple mist of the portal, followed by Mitch, Sky, Ty, and Jason.

       "Jeez, I forgot how much I hated the Nether. I'm going to die of heat if nothing else." Jerome pants, immediately removing his diamond armour. When the rest of us cast him skeptical glances, he rolls his eyes. "Oh please, I'm not stupid. I'll put it back on if we run into trouble. And besides, that's a pretty big IF. This place might be a boiling death hole but that's really only if we go into a fortress, which we have no reason to. Pigmen and endermen are neutral, ghasts are weaklings, and magma cubes are easy to kill."
       "Fluffy has a point." Ty grins, poking at him. Jerome scowls at the pet name. "And look, I don't even see a single pigman out here!"

        Glancing around, I discover Ty is right. As far the eye can see, we are the only living things here. There isn't even the distant wail of a ghast; just the soft bubbling of a nearby pool of lava. It's like a fiery ghost town. That's strange... but then again, what is even normal at this point? I reason, watching as I stretch my fingers out to grotesque lengths. Best not to overthink it.

       "Yo Lachlan, you coming?" Mitch calls from up ahead, fluttering a few feet of the ground. Everyone else is ahead of him, their armour off, trekking onwards.
         "Yeah, sorry!" I shout, sprinting to catch up with them. I gaze around our abounded surroundings once again. "Just thinking is all..."

~~~

"...hey Jerome, could you do me a favor?" I call over my shoulder, huffing with effort as I drive my pickaxe into a block of glow stone, shards breaking away and tumbling to the ground below.
"Does it involve me getting up?"
"Yes."
"Then no."

I frown down at the bacca, lying there on a slab of netherrack, eyes shut with his hands behind his head. Sure it may be like a thousand degrees down here, and sure he may be dangerously overheating, his fur drenched with sweat and sticking to his skin, but it'd make my job a whole lot easier if he's just get his lazy butt up and help.

Ty, Jason, and Sky split off a while back, the three bidding their farewells to us as they headed off in their own direction to get where they're supposed to be in the overworld. Jerome, Mitch and I carried on our on path, which happens to take us directly past the largest known Nether Fortress in the Nether. With towering cliffs on one side, and an endless sea of lava on the other, the fortress is our only option. In preparation for this, I'm currently collecting tons of glowstone to make glowstone torches; a trick very few people know about. By sprinkling glowstone dust on a pole of netherrack, it's possible to make a torch like this in the Nether, if anyone was as stupid as we were and forgot to bring torches to traverse safely through a dark fortress. But collecting so much glowstone is so tedious, having to build upwards in this heat, and then breaking each individual block. Mitch is off scouting ahead, so he can't help, and it would be so helpful if Jerome could just use that sonic scream of his and shatter the glowstone all at once.

"Jerome! Stop. Being. An issue." I snap, my hands falling to my hips. "This isn't hard, but it'd be a lot easier if we could work as a team and get this done faster!"
Jerome glares up at me, pushing himself into a sitting position. "Well I'm so-rry your Highness." He drawls, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "I forgot your used to sitting around all day, having others do your work for you, while the rest of us work our butts of day in and day out for stuck-up snobs like you!"

The attack comes so suddenly, it takes me a moment to register the hurtful words. And the moment they do, I snap.

"How dare you! I get it that it's hot in here! You're not the only one overheating! But you have absolutely no right to automatically make these assumptions about me! Not when I've been contributing just as much as you this while time, not when we're supposed to be working together, not when you served a different King and kingdom than mine, and especially not when you haven't the faintest clue of what I've been through! So how rude can you be to assume these things, and be so inconsiderate as to not lend me your help for half a freaking second, so we can get this show on the road? We have a world to save Jerome, and all you can do is sit around, whining like a child!" I rant, stretching my legs out to step off the Nether rack pillar, and coming an angry step closer at each point, until as the last one I jab a finger into his chest.
Seething, Jerome slaps my hand away, fangs barred. "It takes one to know one!" He retorts, literally snapping at my face.
Pure hot red anger boils up, redder than the checkers on Mitch's hoodie. "At least I'm not a savage animal like you! I belong here, unlike you!"
At this Jerome's jaw snaps shut, and he takes a step back, hot tears brimming his eyes. "Is that how you see it then?" He asks, voice quiet but deadly. He laughs, shaking his head. "Then let's see how good you do without this animal."

And with that he picks up his diamond axe, turns on his heel, and storms away.

~~~

By the time Mitch returns, my temper has coooled slightly, but I'm still seething. The winged boy comes swooping down, urgency flashing in his eyes. I stand up to greet him as he lands roughly, hastening towards me.

"Lachlan! I know where all the mobs went! They're- wait, hang on... where's Jerome?" He asks, brows furrowing.
"He went ahead." I grumble, not daring to meet Mitch's eye.
"....what do you mean, he 'went ahead'?"
"We got in a fight." I admit, shrugging. "Jerome stormed off towards the fortress."
All the colour immediately drains from his face. "No! Okay. Okay okay okay. How long ago did he leave?"
"I dunno like.... half an hour maybe?"
"Grab your stuff. We have to go." Mitch orders, launching into the air.
"Wait, what? Why?"
"Just, hurry up! I'll explain on the way, but we need to get there, now. Or else, he might already be dead."

~~~
Question of the chapter:

I thought I'd experiment with a conflict between characters this time... what do you guys think?