Petra had spent the last ten minutes mustering up a fake smile as she walked back to the cabin through the forest. She had dried off any evidence of the tears that had been running down her face, a slight red tint to her eyes being the only evidence that she had been crying. Hopefully Lukas would buy it that she just went for a morning walk to clear her head after what happened the previous evening.

Petra's weak leg was beginning to quiver beneath her weight as she walked up the porch's steps, her muscles tired from the walk. She reached for the wooden door, carefully pushing it open and stepping inside the cabin. Immediately Petra froze, her eyes landing on Lukas who was working in the kitchen with his back facing her.

"You're up." She said in surprise.

"Oh, hey." Lukas glanced back at her, smiling. "I got up only about five minutes ago. At first I wondered where you disappeared off to, but then I realised you were probably in the barn with Ray."

"Oh, yeah." Petra quickly lied, scratching the back of her head. "Couldn't really sleep, thought I might as well go spend some time with her. How're you feeling?"

"Just a bit of a headache now, I'm good." Lukas said, walking over to Petra and offering her a glass of orange juice. "I know yesterday, or earlier this morning really, took us both a little by surprise, but I thought maybe we could still take Ray out today." He shrugged. "We both need to clear our heads a little before we make any choices, and I don't think sitting around in here while it's so beautiful outside is going to do us any good."

"That'd be nice." Petra said, beaming. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."

"What about you go give Ray a quick brush down and saddle her up?" Lukas suggested. "I'll make us a flask of coffee and pack up some cookies. We can have breakfast by the river."

Petra nodded excitedly, momentarily forgetting about her encounter with Jesse earlier that morning.
While she still really wanted to mend things with Jesse, Petra didn't quite know how to at that moment. And until she and Lukas can come up with a plan together, there was no point in continuing to mope around. At least there was hope again.

It was a little less than half an hour later when Petra and Lukas walked out across the grassy meadow, Petra positioned on Ray's back. She was sitting back in the saddle, holding the reins with one hand and letting her feet dangle out of the stirrups. The bay mare tossed her head excitedly as she walked, occasionally giving the blonde beside her a nudge with her head to ask for scratches. It was quiet between Lukas and Petra, but a comfortable silence.

As they reached the river's edge where they liked to hang out, Petra threw her leg over the saddle and dismounted Ray. She was steady on her feet despite her long early morning walk.

The moment the bit was out of her mouth, Ray lowered her head to the ground and pulled out a mouthful of fresh green grass. Chuckling softly, Petra gave the grazing mare a pat on neck, before walking over to where Lukas had already sat down. He had already poured them both some coffee from the flask, and opened the small container of cookies he had brought.

It was one of the small luxuries Petra had grown to love about living with Lukas – Baking was one of his hobbies, and as a result the cabin was almost always stocked with treats. They had only baked those cookies a few days ago, and there was still an assortment of snickerdoodles, choc-chips, shortbread, and coconut cookies left that they enjoyed for breakfast.

"I can never quite get over how beautiful it is out here, and I've been living in this cabin for almost three years now." Lukas said, grinning as he dipped one of the snickerdoodles in his coffee.

"It is beautiful." Petra agreed softly, smiling. "I think one of the main reasons I missed adventuring so much, was because I was constantly cooped up inside Beacontown or Champion City with nothing to do. Out here, surrounded by nature, with you and Ray? I don't miss adventuring as much as I used to."

Lukas began opening his mouth to respond, when Ray suddenly spooked at something. The mare stepped back anxiously, tossing her head and snorting. Her ears were pulled back.

"Ray? What is it, girl?" Lukas asked as both he and Petra glanced back at the mare.

Petra turned her head, her eyes following Ray's gaze to what had frightened the horse. She drew in a surprised breath of her own at the person standing on the other side of the small stream. Immediately both Petra and Lukas got to their feet, almost defensively. Their faces were both laced with shock and a bit of confusion.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt anybody." Jesse said softly.

For the first time Petra was able to get a good look at her old friend, up close and in broad daylight.

Jesse's skin was the exact shade of rosy pink it was a year ago, an unnatural replacement for her formerly rich tan skin. Her chestnut hair dangled low below her waist and had lightened slightly, presumably from the all the exposure to sunlight. She was still wearing the grey cloak, although it wasn't wrapped around her in protective manner like before, revealing the clothes she wore beneath. Jesse was dressed in a pair of denim overalls that was faded and stained with dirt. One of the straps had broken over the months, and was uselessly dangling down Jesse's front. Beneath it she wore a light yellow T-shirt that was no longer quite it's original colour.

Over all she looked like somebody who had spent the last year of their life living alone in the woods.

"What... what are you doing here?" Petra asked, finally finding her voice.

"Apologising, first off." Jesse said, looking down at her worn leather boots. "Yesterday night, I... I didn't mean to hurt you, Lukas. I'm really sorry."

Lukas only nodded, seeming a little uncertain about Jesse's apology. But he didn't turn it away.

"And I'm sorry for disappearing." Jesse said, looking up at them desperately. "That day with Petra... I tried everything I could to stop myself, but it just happened. By the time I realised what I've done, it was too later and... and I didn't know how to face you guys."

She looked down again, tears collecting in her brown eyes. It looked like she was choosing her words carefully.

"I was scared and I ran. I shouldn't have, I know that. But at the time... it was all I could think to do. I spent months regretting it, especially after I found out just how much I hurt Petra. I hate that it took me this long to muster up the courage to face you guys again and... and I was really scared that it'd be too late."

Jesse took a deep breath, looking back up at Petra and Lukas. Tears slid down her rosy cheeks, her brown eyes glowing a faint red.

"I'm not expecting you to forgive me." She said softly. "I know I can't fix things overnight, but..." her voice trailed off.

Petra and Lukas exchanged glances. Lukas's blue eyes were heavy with concern, but Petra could see that he felt the same as her. They both wanted to help Jesse, risks and all.

"We want to make things right too." Petra said, turning to face Jesse again. She smiled, extending a hand. "Come on over here."

Jesse seemed to hesitant, uncertain. But then she slowly approached, stepping through the shallow water of the stream that separated them. She slowly reached a hand out to Petra's as well, almost like she was scared of burning her friend – not too unrealistic of an expectation. However the moment their hands touched, both girls stepped closer to each other and fell into a tight embrace. Lukas wrapped his arms around the both of them, the three of them hugging each other tightly. Even Ray pricked her ears, approaching slowly and reaching her muzzle out to snuffle the new addition to the group's chestnut hair.

None of them knew for how long they stood like that in each other's arms, deep down overwhelmed with the joy of being together again. Tears brimmed Jesse's closed eyes, although she wore a faint smile on her rosy face.

No words were exchanged when they finally let go of each other again. Without speaking, Petra gestured for Jesse to sit down with them. She hesitated, but didn't turn her friend away, sitting down on the grassy riverbank as well. Only shaking her head when Lukas offered her some coffee, and silently turning away the offer of a cookie.

"Where do we even begin?" Petra asked, looking down at the choc chip cookie in her hands that she no longer had an appetite for. "There's so much I wanted to say, but now that we're here..."

Jesse responded with a small nod, keeping her gaze locked on the green grass beneath them. A warm summer breeze brushed over the three friends, carrying the sweet smell of a blooming flower's pollen. Somewhere in the distance a bird began singing, a whole chorus of others soon following his lead. It was so peaceful, all accompanied by the rushing water of the river beside them.

"Where were you all this time, Jesse?" Lukas asked, looking up from his coffee.

"Not far, actually." Jesse replied softly, beginning to fiddle with a blade of grass. "I spent most of... well all of, my time here. In the forest. Mostly just walking. Trying to focus on how beautiful it is around me." She smiled faintly. "I tried keeping my distance from the cabin, but I still saw you guys occasionally, riding." Her face saddened again.

"And your powers?" Petra asked softly, discarding her cookie again. "How've you been dealing with them?"

"Keeping distracted helped, to some extent." Jesse explained, still not looking up. "But over time they build up and my emotions get..." Her voice trailed off. "Out of hand. And when in reality I'm sad or discouraged, all I really feel is... anger. It makes no sense."

"I guess this is all making me understand Romeo's story a lot better." Lukas mumbled, distracting himself by stroking Ray who had started nuzzling him from behind.

"Sometimes it was tempting to play with them, find out what I can really do." Jesse said, looking down at her pink hands. "But I've been refusing to learn how to control them. Mastering these powers would mean accepting who I am now and..." She gulped. "I don't want to be anything like Romeo. It's physically impossible to use these powers for good, so I'd rather not have them to begin with."

It was silent again.

"After Romeo's death, Radar, Axel, Olivia and I dug out everything we could find in both the Order Halls's library as well as Beacontown's public library." Lukas finally said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "We couldn't find anything regarding the underneath, and all we could find about the admin were false legends and stories."

"What exactly does the underneath have to do with this?" Jesse asked, frowning as she finally looked up.

"We were hoping Xara might be able to help." Petra explained. "After all Romeo took her powers, and somehow that didn't kill her like it did him. Problem is, we don't know where to even begin looking for a portal down."

For a moment Jesse stared at Petra, taking in her friend's words.

"A portal, like the one Xara rebuilt to get us back up from the oasis?" She asked, looking between Petra and Lukas. "There was one in the ocean monument we visited with Jack!"

"Excuse me, what?" Petra asked, her own eyes widening. "There's been a portal that close, all this time?"

"You're sure, Jesse?" Lukas asked as well, although his eyes were already gleaming with hope as well.

Jesse nodded her head vigorously.

"Definitely." She said in a confident tone.

"We just have one problem though, and that's how we're getting down there." Petra said, her face falling again. "We need something from the underneath to teleport us down there, more specifically something from Xara if it's going to take us straight to her."

"Did you bring anything back from down there?" Lukas asked.

"Oh, Binta's compass!" Jesse said, clicking her fingers. "I never got to return it to her in the haste when we fled. Jack has it in his shop on display."

"This is all fitting together like a puzzle, I'm almost expecting something to go wrong." Petra said, pulling off her bandanna and running her fingers through her red hair.

Lukas dug around for something in his pockets, before pulling out a pad of paper that he used for making notes when he got inspired. Flipping to a clean page, he quickly began writing.

"If we're not missing something, getting down there should be a piece of cake." He said thoughtfully. "We can get the compass from Jack, along with a map to get to the sea temple. From there on we can go straight down to the underneath. Finding Xara should be the only tricky part, considering the compass will probably take us straight to... what was it called?"

"Fred's Keep." Petra said. "The oasis isn't far from there, and I'm willing to bet that Xara would be there, still trying to restore it."

"This all seems too easy." Jesse said, getting to her feet and biting her lip. "What if Xara can't help us? What if the only answer is for me to die?"

"Obviously there is another way, otherwise we wouldn't have known Xara to begin with." Petra said, getting to her feet as well. "This is the best plan we've got, I say we go for it!"

"Petra's right." Lukas said, getting to his feet. He smiled, looking between the two girls. "We put this off for more than a year now, I don't think we should hesitate any further. Especially not when everything is so well laid out for us."

"Are you guys sure?" Jesse asked softly, her brown eyes housing uncertainty. "Why are you risking this for me? After everything I did to... all of you."

"Because you're our friend." Petra said, smiling.

"And we never give up on our friends." Lukas added.

Petra held out her hand, looking between the other two with a large grin.

"Who's ready for one last wild adventure?"

___

And I'm back from another unexpected break, but hopefully this time it's to stay!

A whole new journey is starting now... three of the friends are reunited, and they have their minds set on solving the puzzle they previously failed to.

Will they be able to succeed?
How many things can go wrong along the way?

Find out in the next chapter, only a couple of days from now!