Final Days (MCSM Fanfiction)

Chapter 15 - Dropping Temperatures

12 Days Before Incident

It was quiet around the dining table. Nobody really said anything, their thoughts keeping them occupied. Petra, Axel and Lukas all seemed relatively calm, silently eating their food.

Olivia was looking restless, anxiously pushing her food around in her plate and glancing over at the window every now and then. She had received another letter from Redstonia that morning, explaining that the weather conditions were slowly continuing to deteriorate. Icy winds kept blowing in from the seaside every day, dragging down the city's temperatures.

Jesse was also silently picking at her food, more just distracted than anxious like Olivia. She had barely eaten anything since they sat down to eat.

"What did the vet say?" Jesse eventually asked, looking over at Lukas. "He came to check on the horse only an hour ago, didn't he?"

"He did." Lukas confirmed, looking up from his meal. "He's still uncertain as to what's wrong with her."

Jesse sighed, lowering her head back into one head and muttering under her breath in frustration.

"I'm sure she'll be okay?" Axel tried cheering Jesse up, giving her a pat on the back with his big hand.

"Yeah, yeah." Jesse just brushed her friend off with a sigh.

It was quiet around the table again, the atmosphere changing to an uncomfortable, heavy silence.

"Has there been any more news on Redstonia, Liv?" Lukas asked, trying to break the silence.

"Not since the letter that arrived this morning." Olivia responded softly.

"I mean, it's not 'town threatening', is it?" Petra pointed out. "They'll be fine, I'm sure!"

"I know, I know, I'm just paranoid." Olivia said with a sigh.

"Exactly." Petra responded, turning back to her food.

Thunder roared softly outside, causing everybody to glance up. Petra started to grin, loving every bit of rainy weather.

"Great, as if the weather hasn't given me enough sleepless nights already, I have to listen to this now?" Olivia said with a groan.

"How could rain possibly cost you a good night's sleep?" Petra asked, sounding astonished. "I never sleep as well as I do when it rains!"

"Maybe because we're different people with different opinions." Olivia muttered, glaring slightly over at the redhead.

"Okay, let's not start arguing over the weather of all things?" Lukas said, trying to keep the peace.

"I'm just going to call it a day." Olivia said, getting up from her chair and striding off.

"Huh." Petra leaned back in her chair, a smirk resting on her lips. "Usually I'm the one who'd leap up and leave the room fuming."

"You sound almost proud of it." Lukas responded raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe I am."

Jesse chucked slightly at her friend's words, before pushing her chair back and getting up as well.

"Are you done, Jesse?" Axel asked her in surprise. "You barely ate anything!"

"Not very hungry." Jesse said with a shrug, reaching out to take her almost full plate.

Before she could touch it however, Axel had quickly snatched the food for himself, excitedly saying he'll have it. Just rolling her eyes at her friend's antics, Jesse took Olivia's plates and carried them to the kitchen for the engineer.