The Assassin's Curse

Chapter Eight- Part 2

PETRA

"I'm placing the last ingredient, Jesse!" I called, trying to mask my shaking voice. "Then I'm running to you!"

I didn't hear any response from Jesse, which scared me even more. The potion formed agonizingly slow and as soon as it had, I turned around, only to see a terrible sight.

"JESSE!" I cried. I stumbled over Romeo's fallen inventory, trying to reach her. Trying to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Is she...?

"No," I breathed. I was right. Jesse's stone-cold body lay in front of me, now a cracked statue of diorite. I crafted too slow.

My stomach turned as I stared into her cobblestone eyes. No, not into. At. She can't look back at me anymore. The potion of Restoration hung loose, useless, from my hands as I collapsed to my knees.

"Jesse, you better not die on my, not now, not after everything else you survived," I wailed. "Don't let this stupid armor take you out!"

I heard the potion bottle shatter as I clinged to Jesse's body, tears streaming down my face. I felt sick, ready to crumple to the ground and never get up.

"This is all my fault. I never should have left you with Romeo. I should've paid more attention to you instead of just crafting. I could've helped fight. I could've crafted faster. Oh Jesse, I never should've told you that the end could be near!"

I felt a pang in my heart when I thought of last night. "Thank you for... helping me through this." "Just don't die on me, okay?" Joking around, not knowing that foretold her terrible fate.

I didn't even get a chance to tell her how much she means to me.

I wiped my eyes and stared at her now-grey eyes, those eyes, those eyes that had swept me away when I first saw her in the forest all those years ago. Those eyes that would never again meet mine. I caressed her stone cheeks and hugged her tightly. Then jolted back up.

With a shock, I realized I could see her chest moving up and down. Through my watery eyes I could see the grey stone dissipating and the armor with it, purple potion staining her overalls.

Is she...? I took a step back and closed my eyes, not daring to believe. Then I heard a spurt of coughing.

"Jesse?" I knelt by her side.

"Pe-" she coughed- "Petra?" Jesse's eyes fluttered, and then those beautiful brown pools gazed up at me. "Are you okay?"

"Jesse! You're alive!" I cried and scooped her into a big bear hug.

We held each other for what felt like forever.

"How did you..."

"I think it was the potion," Jesse said. "But also... I heard your voice. I was about to leave, with Soren, Magnus and... and Reuben, but I heard you. You called me home." Then she did something that I never could have anticipated. She kissed me.

"Oh, uh, well, if we're going to be sappy..." I stammered, then got up my courage. I brought her lips back to mine.

As she leaned into me, I wondered why I hadn't done this sooner.

"Let's get out of here," Jesse said as we stood to walk out.

"Hey," I grabbed Jesse's hand. "You meant what you said earlier, right?"

"Of course," she said softly. "You're much too important to me to let you go."

As we left the building, I smiled.

I'm glad we have many more adventures ahead of us.

And there it is! Assassin's Curse has officially ended, and as soon as I have time, I will start writing more oneshots, and hopefully develop something for my Jesstra child/Reuben resurrection: Ruby! If you check out my Instagram, @jesse.softie, you can see more content about her!

Some of you may be wondering why there are no drawings for the final chapter. Well, this is because I wanted the imagery to be designed by you, and the reader's interpretation is always better than what I could draw! (It also might be because I'm crazy busy with tech week for the show FOOTLOOSE... 🤷‍♀️)

I hope you enjoyed!