Jesse's eyes slowly opened to find herself looking up at her bedroom ceiling. The room was almost completely dark, the only moonlight that usually found its way through the canopy of jungle leaves, blocked out by forming clouds.

Blinking slowly, Jesse pushed herself up on one elbow. She was still dressed in the T-shirt and overalls she had been wearing, not having intended to fall asleep that afternoon.

A small smile formed on Jesse's face, seeing the large, bulky figure beside her that was taking up most of the space on her bed. Lluna usually preferred to sleep outside in the barn with the horses, only occasionally coming inside and spending a night on Jesse's carpet beside her bed.

But this time, having sensed that something was wrong with Jesse, the protective llama had promptly decided to keep a close eye on her.

Jesse stroked Lluna's fluffy white coat, leaning down and planting a quick kiss on the sleeping animal's muzzle, before getting up from the bed so she could change into proper sleepwear for what was left of the night.

Something on her bedside table catching her eye, Jesse reached over to pick up the small note. She held it close to the window, using the moonlight to make out the words, seemingly written in Olivia's handwriting.

There's pizza in the fridge in case you're hungry. Hope you feel better.

Jesse smiled slightly to herself, placing the note back down on the bedside table and immediately making a beeline for the door. Having slept through dinner, she was indeed hungry. The again, even if she wasn't, she could always make room for a slice of Olivia's home-made pizza.

Jesse leaned with her back against the wall in the kitchen, taking a bite of pizza. As she ate, her thoughts began to drift back to that afternoon. The whole memory was kind of fuzzy to start with.

Jesse frowned slightly. She was feeling completely fine at that moment, like whatever it was never even happened. Now that she came to think of it, she had almost completely recovered on the way back home, if still feeling a little hazy.

What the hell had happened to her?

Jesse lifted her head, hearing a scratching noise, like nails on wood. She didn't have to puzzle over the sound for long, as Rascal all of a sudden came trotting into the kitchen, his tail wagging excitedly in the dark.

"Ah, you smelled the pizza, didn't you, boy?" Jesse said with a chuckle.

As if to prove her point, Rascal sniffed the air again and excitedly spun around on the ground. Chuckling, Jesse took a piece of chicken off the pizza, feeding it to Rascal.

Forgetting her earlier thoughts for a bit, Jesse spent the next few minutes eating and sharing her food with Rascal, cuddling the wolf in between. Rascal just eagerly lapped up all the attention.

Another sound met Jesse' ears, causing her head to snap up right as a dark figure appeared out of the shadows with a sword raised.

"Careful where you point that thing, Petra!"Jesse gasped, taking a step back.

"The hell, Jesse?" Petra hissed, lowering Miss Butter. "It's the middle of the night! I wake up to hearing sounds in the kitchen and Rascal's missing from my room – how did you expect me to react?"

"Maybe consider that you live with four other people who can get up in the middle of the night for more than one reason." Jesse responded, keeping her voice down as well.

Petra just grunted, and Jesse could almost sense her rolling her eyes in the dark.

"Glad to see you awake, though. You've been out like a light the entire afternoon."

There was shuffle as Petra opened the fridge, taking a slice of pizza out for herself.

"Didn't you have dinner?" Jesse asked sceptically.

"Dinner has long since been digested." Petra responded back, taking a bite of her slice.

In the dark, she gestured for Jesse to follow her back to the hallway. "Wanna come have a chat before the two of us retire back to bed?"

Jesse nodded, following Petra out of the kitchen. Rascal excitedly trotted after them, his eyes now locked on Petra's piece of pizza.

Pulling her bedroom door closed behind them so they didn't bother anybody else, Petra switched on her bedroom light. Jesse had to blink a few times to get used to the sudden brightness. As she did, something caught her eye.

"Are you hurt?" She asked in surprise, gesturing to the bandage that was visible beneath Petra's pyjama top.

"Oh, not you too." Petra said with a groan, sinking down on her bed.

Rascal jumped up after her, attempting to snatch the last bit of pizza. Having filled her desire for a midnight snack, Petra carelessly tossed him what was left of the slice.

"What happened back in the cave?" Jesse asked curiously, taking a seat on Petra's bed as well and crossing her legs beneath her.

"You first." Petra said, rolling over and sitting up. "What the hell happened this afternoon?"

"I have no clue." Jesse admitted, fiddling with her chestnut ponytail. "I'm back to feeling completely well again."

"But what happened?" Petra prompted her. "Had you been feeling shitty for a while and just hiding it like a pro?"

"No." Jesse responded honestly. "Something felt off to me about that cave when we first entered, but I didn't think much of it. Whatever happened to me then, it happened in a matter of minutes."

"I'd say talk about freaky, but it gets weirder." Petra said, pulling a hand through her wild mob of red hair.

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that your entire shoulder is bandaged?" Jesse asked her.

Petra rolled her eyes at Jesse, but nonetheless began to tell her what happened. Jesse's eyes grew wider as the story progressed.

"That's weird." Jesse finally said when Petra finished.

"Yeah, you and Liv lucked out on that one." Petra replied, leaning slightly back. She looked hesitant before speaking her next sentence. "I'll be honest with you, Jesse, there was moment in there, where I was... scared."

"There's no shame in admitting that, anyone would be." Jesse pointed out. "Especially considering the position you ended up in."

"Rascal really did save me back there." Petra said, stroking the wolf's head that was resting in her lap. "If it weren't for him..." She glanced up at Jesse. "That door I told you about? Rascal wouldn't let me near it. He didn't mind at all if one of the others touched it, but as soon as I did... you should have seen him."

"He cares for you." Jesse said, putting out a hand to stroke the wolf as well, causing him to lift his head. "You two share an incredible bond."

She smiled sadly. "I'm sure if he had to, Rascal would give his life for you, same way Reuben did for me 11 years ago."

Rascal got up, giving Jesse's face an affectionate lick, before laying down with his head in her lap.

"And so would I, for him." Petra admitted. "Rascal's the first animal I've ever felt this way about. I don't know how else to describe it, but... I love him very much."

It was silent between them for a few seconds, both girls looking down at Rascal who lay in between them. He snuffled at Jesse's arm with his nose, beginning to affectionately lick her.

"Is this your way of telling me I need a shower?" Jesse asked with a chuckle as Rascal continued to lick her arm.

She looked up at Petra, her smile fading as she noticed her friend's expression. Petra's gaze was slightly distant, her eyes too resting on Rascal. Jesse glanced back down again, slowly realising exactly what Petra was looking at.

Rascal wasn't just licking her arm, more specifically the three slits in her skin. Old wounds, long since healed, but the scars having never faded.

"Well, guess these marks are a year old too now, huh?" Jesse joked dryly, trying to lift the uncomfortableness in the atmosphere. Petra simply gave a small nod in reply.

"Please don't tell me you still blame yourself for this?" Jesse whispered with a soft sigh.

"I mean, it's gotten better." Petra replied softly. "But it's not easy seeing your friend scarred and knowing you were responsible.

Hell, not just responsible, I hurt you."

"We all know that wasn't you, Petra." Jesse put her hand on Petra's. "You would never intentionally hurt me, and I know that. You had no control over what happened that day."

"Why did you hide it?" Petra asked, looking up at Jesse. "We never really spoke of this..." She looked down again, her voice growing slightly distant.

"I still remember that horrible moment where realisation sunk in that I had hurt you. You were barely conscious, in so much pain, coughing up blood... Wanting to get a bandage on the stab wound in your shoulder, I had torn off what was left of your sleeve. Taken by completely surprised to see the dressing on your arm.

Completely oblivious, you can imagine how I felt when we removed it and found the claw marks."

Petra gulped slightly, fixing her gaze back on her bedsheets. Sensing his owner's newly formed emotion, Rascal moved back over to her, nuzzling his head into her chest. Petra raised up an arm, hugging him close.

"I'm sorry." Jesse admitted. "I don't even know how I planned to eventually tell you guys about the injury. You were just going through so much stress and guilt of your own, my first instincts were to protect you from any more pain."

"Yeah, well." Petra looked up at Jesse with a sullen expression. "Which do you think would have hurt more, the honesty or the inevitable discovery?"

It was Jesse's turn to look down, knowing very well that Petra was correct.

"I'm sorry." Petra said softly. "It's in the past, and it's time I get over myself."

"No more secrets." Jesse added, taking Petra's hand in hers. "And that's a promise."

The two of them fell into a hug, tightly embracing each other. Rascal nestled himself in between them like he was a part of the hug, his tail thumping against the mattress as it wagged.

"We should probably get some more sleep for what is left of the night." Jesse said as she and Petra pulled away from each other.

"I'm all for that." Petra responded, stifling a yawn.

"I want to go grab myself a glass of water before I head off to bed." Jesse said as she got up from Petra's bed. "Want me to bring you anything back from the kitchen?"

"Nope, I'm good." Petra responded as she slipped back in underneath her covers, Rascal quickly going to lie down beside her. "Night Jesse."

"Night."

Petra flipped the switch beside her bed, darkness flooding the room again. Getting into a comfortable position, she closed her eyes and let out a slow breath.

It felt good to have finally spoken to Jesse about the incident. It was crazy how many parts of that adventure they had just never spoken of again. Petra was glad to get some of her thoughts off her chest.

Petra frowned slightly in the dark, some new thoughts stirred. Thinking back to the cave they had been in, and everything that had went wrong there.

"Tomorrow." Petra said softly to herself, closing her eyes again. "Tomorrow I'm going back there again.

Armour and all."

___

Filling in some old gaps! Back in SBTL, the topic of Jesse's injury kind of just got buried in the conclusion. Past me didn't quite know how to bring it up again after the final battle. But hey, new and improved Dani here, filling in her old plot-holes!

That aside, this chapter was a bit of filler, plot wise. As you can probably tell, we have an exciting Chapter 4 that'll be here in five days!

And hey, for the record... filler or not, this chapter contains some foreshadowing, on multiple occasions-