Generated word of the day - Game
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It was like everything happened in slow motion. Petra's gaze was locked on the green team, watching in fury and disbelief as the gladiators stepped aside to let them pass without as much as a second glance. Her face had twisted into a raged scowl, feeling her blood start to boil. Em had tricked them! She never wanted to actually team up!

It happened in a matter of seconds, Petra was so distracted by the green team, she didn't pay attention to what was happening around her. It was Jesse's cry that snapped her back to reality, catching sight of her friend only moments before a gladiator's axe had been impaled into her.

"Jesse!" Petra screamed, bolting forward.

But it was already too late, Jesse's body falling limp onto the blood-stained bricks. Petra skidded to a stop, watching with wide eyes as her friend disappeared, leaving only her inventory behind.

"We did it!"

Petra's gaze shot up to Slab and Clutch, who were high-fiving each other. Fresh anger began pulsing through her veins, her blue eyes alight with rage. She wasn't about to let Hadrian get his prize that easily.

"What the-!" Slab called in surprise as Petra suddenly somersaulted between them, one of her arms scooping up a good chunk of Jesse's inventory. "Get back here!"

Petra hadn't been able to grab everything, but she had the redstone heart and that was what mattered. Leaping back up onto her feet, she bolted past the remaining gladiators, who were mostly preoccupied with taking out what was left of the purple team. Forcing every ounce of energy into her legs, Petra pushed on after the green team.

Her heart was thudding painfully inside her chest, the image of Jesse limply lying on the brick floor with blood pouring from the gashes in her armour, engraved into Petra's mind. Even though she knew Jesse wasn't truly gone, it was incredibly painful to see her best friend like that. She wondered how horrible it had to be for Jesse, who had had a clear view of Ivor and Lukas getting crushed the day before.

"I'm like so close, I can do this!"

Petra was ripped from her train of thought, looking up at the sound of Nell's voice. She spotted the remaining two members of the green team, where they were climbing up a vine covered wall.

"Not a chance in hell!" Petra bellowed, taking an impressive leap over onto the wall.

"Way to catch up, dude!" Nell called over to her as Petra climbed up to their level.

Petra wasn't paying attention to Nell, her anger filled eyes locked on Em. She watched, her expression changing from anger to one of horror, as Em suddenly attacked her own team-mate, sending Nell tumbling down towards the lava below them. While somebody like Jesse might have thrown their own race to help her, Petra didn't spare a second glance at the fallen player, instead glaring over at Em.

"Cutting off your own friend to win?" She growled.

Em didn't seem interested in responding to Petra, heaving herself up the last few vines to the top. The warrior quickly followed, effortlessly pulling herself up. She was nearly taken by surprise, Em waiting for her at the top with her fists ready.

"Not that easily!" Petra called, rolling beneath Em's punch just in time.

She rolled onto her back, kicking upwards so both her boots met the green team captain square in the gut. Using that same momentum to somersault backwards and get to her feet again, Petra flung around and bolted. Running as fast as she could, she leaped up the brick stairs, bolting out into the icy night air.

Em came huffing and puffing after her, as Petra skidded to a stop, leaning down to rest with her hands on her knees. She breathlessly looked over to the green team captain, who appeared surprisingly smug despite her loss.

"Now this is not what any of has had been expecting!"

Petra narrowed her eyes, glaring upwards at Mevia's announcement.

"In an unexpected turn of events-" Hadrian began angrily, his beady eyes locked on her.

"-Petra wins!" Otto finished, his delighted tone violently contrasting against the others.

"Thought it'd be that easy to take us out, huh?" Petra growled at Hadrian as he approached, crossing her arms over her chest. "You have no idea what you've got coming."

"We'll see how much longer you last without your leader's puny shadow to hide in." Hadrian threatened, turning away from Petra. He cast Em a cold glare. "And you! Our deal's off."

"Wait, what?" Em's smirk fell away immediately. "Jesse's out of the race, that's what you asked!"

"Leaving her team-mate hardly helps at all." Hadrian was already walking away, ignoring Em as she desperately called after him.

"You had that one coming." Petra remarked as Em's shoulders slumped pitifully. "Good job. You double crossed someone who actually saw some good in you, and you have nothing to show for it."

Em glared over at Petra, not saying anything as she began to trudge away. Petra glared after her for a moment, before hearing what sounding like footsteps crunching on the snow behind her.

"That was awful!" Jesse exclaimed as she came up to Petra, shivering.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you." Petra said, giving her friend a pat on the shoulder.

Jesse was looking shaken up and sore, but unharmed. She had her arms wrapped around herself, her t-shirt and overalls not providing nearly as much warmth as her armour used to. Several emotions made up her unhappy expression.

"I can't believe I let myself get eliminated." Jesse said, shaking her head as tears collected in the corners of her eyes. "What are we going to do now?"

"Jesse, that wasn't your fault." Petra said, putting an arm around her friend's shoulders. "I should have helped you. And not all is lost, okay? I got the redstone heart. I may not be Jesse the Wither Slayer, but I can still compete!"

"You!"

Jesse and Petra both jumped slightly, turning around to see Slab stomping towards them. Petra immediately narrowed her eyes, while Jesse shrunk back slightly.

"Hadrian wants you." Slab said, looking directly at Petra. "You made him real mad."

"Oh great, what is that slime ball going to go on about now?" Petra mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Come on." Slab growled, gesturing for Petra to follow him.

She exchanged glances with Jesse, both of the shrugging slightly, before getting ready to follow Slab. He looked over at Jesse, before suddenly giving her a violent shove backwards.

"Not you, respawn!" He snapped.

"Don't you even think about laying another finger on her!" Petra exclaimed, protectively standing in front of Jesse and glaring daggers up at Slab. "Whatever Hadrian wants to say to me, he can say it to both of us."

"Petra, it's okay." Jesse said softly. "Really, I'll just go back to the village. I'm not feeling super well after all this anyway."

"Are you sure?" Petra asked, looking back at Jesse. She hated seeing her friends get pushed around.

Jesse gave her a faint smile, and nodded. Petra could tell that Jesse was disappointed she couldn't go along, but really didn't have the strength to fight about it. One of her hands was still holding her side where she had been stabbed, her face looking a little pale.

"Be careful though, okay?" Jesse's face suddenly grew a lot more serious. "I don't trust these people."

Petra nodded. She reluctantly turned to follow Slab, looking back over her shoulder to see Jesse reluctantly slink back off to the competitor village. Taking a deep breath, Petra focussed on the path ahead of her again, trudging after Slab.

How could everything have gone wrong so suddenly? Jesse, the strength and foundation of their entire group, couldn't compete any more. If anybody could beat those rigged games, it was Jesse. How was she meant to possibly fill their leader's shoes?

Petra wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings, lost within her own thoughts as she followed Slab. She didn't pay much attention to what he was talking about, and completely missed it when somebody called her name from the shadows.

"You're one of those few words people." Slab suddenly said, looking over at Petra.

"Yeah I don't waste my breath on idiots." Petra finally said, scowling up at Slab. "Save it, blockhead."

Slab muttered something under his breath, facing forwards again and continuing on in silence. Petra sighed, looking down at the snowy ground again. She wouldn't ever admit it, but she was scared for what could be awaiting her.

Hadrian was very good at playing with her temper, and up until that point she had to refrain from drawing her sword at every encounter. Jesse handled his slippery attitude really well, and Petra honestly wished she had that skill at that moment. It was going to be really hard not to say or do anything she would later regret.

Petra looked around suspiciously as Slab lead her into a large, tall building, that he called "The Palace." Petra never had much appreciation for architecture, rolling her eyes as Slab went on about how impressive it was.

"Even though you're incredibly rude, you didn't waste my time." Slab said, stopping to turn and face Petra. "So we have some extra time to enjoy the place. I'll go get Hadrian." He began walking past her, before turning around one last time. "And don't touch anything!"

"Yeah, whatever." Petra mumbled, looking around the room as Slab wondered off.

It was definitely some sort of office, probably Hadrian's. There was a bookshelf off to one side, and a shimmering quartz desk standing in the middle of the room. The only thing that truly caught Petra's attention was a set of armour against the wall. She immediately recognised it as Tim's armour, although Petra hadn't had much interest in stories about him floating around. Not bothering to take a closer look at the shimmering set, she walked towards the large glass window instead and peered out.

Petra was surprised to see the village right below her. She wondered if Hadrian had a habit of looking down on all the competitors when they thought they were free from the Old Builders for a bit. The thought made her shudder.

It only took Petra a moment to spot their team, who was standing close to the dorms. Harper was pacing anxiously as she spoke to Ivor, occasionally gesturing with hands as she went. Jesse was standing beside Lukas, one of his arms around her shoulders. Petra was too far away to make out their expressions properly, but by the way Jesse hung her head, constantly reaching up to wipe her eyes on her sleeve, Petra could tell she was crying.

Gritting her teeth, the redhead's eyes narrowed. Hadrian hadn't even shown up yet and she already wanted to punch his front teeth out. She knew he wasn't going to stop gloating about eliminating Jesse after she had so confidently taken his deal. Petra didn't know how she was going to do it, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of sending their whole team to the mines.

Somehow, some way, she just had to win the final game the next day.

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I.have. been. wanting. to. do. this. switch. for. AGES!

I got this idea back in my February 2019 challenge, but it didn't fit my prompt, so instead I ended up writing Petra's perspective of some of the canon episode 8 storyline. I said I still wanted to revisit and write this idea, but never did.
After having replayed the game a few days ago the first thought that came to mind when I saw the word Game, was episode 8! After fumbling through ideas for a few minutes I remembered this concept I had and FINALLY put it down on paper!

This came out a tad shorter than intended, but I like the way I ended it! I over all really enjoyed writing this whole one shot, it's so much fun to swap Jesse out for one of the other characters in a scene and then playing around with how they would do and say things instead! Especially Petra, I really enjoy writing her harsher, more aggressive character a lot!

I already have four fanfiction ideas lined up for my next story that I'm struggling to choose between, and one of them actually focuses on this episode, so I really shouldn't be adding to that list- but i just want to say that I think this could be a really fun story to expand on!

I hope you guys enjoyed this one shot as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I'll see you in the next one with whatever the word generator decides to spit out next!