Chapter 48

                                    

                                          
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( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 
                          
Hey. It's been a long while. How has everyone been? Not that I haven't done this before but there's plenty of new people here who have yet to get used to my schedule.
                          
I'm glad to see that people are still enjoying the book even when I haven't updated recently and commenting. Makes my heart all warm and fuzzy :)
                          
This is a short chapter, but it's okay - the next one is already being written and should be posted some time this week or so.
                          
Thank you all for reading SBHS and being so patient ♡ 
                          
—Crystal 🌸
                          
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"Uhm... well, it's all nine Withers?"
                          
"..."
                          
"..."
                          
"WHAT?!"
                          
Lukas tried to mollify the steampunk-fashioned man, holding his hands up at his chest. "Yeah, that's why we wanted you, a great and obviously super cool guy (I mean, look at this place), to come along! Your smarts could help us destroy it, especially with that weird command block thing."
                          
Soren stroked his chin with one arm across his chest, turning to his thoughts. He glanced at Gabriel, then Olivia, then Axel, before returning to Lukas. With both hands on his hips and a puffed chest, he said, "This doesn't sound particularly safe or secure... but it seems you have no other choice as you're coming to me for help." He nodded his head. "I'm in."
                          
Lukas sighed and both Axel and Olivia relaxed their tense shoulders.
                          
"But before we go, we need to get some things ready first." The Architect walked down the hall to a stairway. "Follow me."
                          
They watched him go down the quartz walkway and, with apprehension, tailed him. Soren went to a nearby chest and started digging through it. "Hm, none here. Can you all keep an eye out for gunpowder? We're going to need it to create the Formidi-bomb."
                          
Olivia choked on her breath, coughing, "Wait, you haven't made the Formidi-bomb yet?"
                          
"Of course not," he replied, "just having the materials next to each other is a volatile situation. It's fairly simple to create. We just need that gunpowder."
                          
He stopped searching through the chest and spun around. "Oh, and feel free to take as much as you'd like." His hands swung out to gesture to the many chests in the hallway. "I'm sorry it's not as organized as I'd like it to be."
                          
Axel giddily ran ahead of the others, looking down at the stream of items running beneath the glass floor. "This is where all the loot gets sorted, right?" He smiled at the others. "Things are starting to turn around. Do you guys hear that?"
                          
"Hear what?" asked Olivia.
                          
"All that stuff whispering, 'Take me. Take me now.'"
                          
She giggled. "I think it's saying, 'Olivia should get to take more than Axel!'" Her voice reverberated to mimic a ghost. "But why? 'Because she's cooler!'"
                          
"I'll just fetch the Super TNT," Soren suddenly interjected. "I'll be up there–" he pointed at the chests above the walkway– "once you all get the materials you need."
                          
"How are you gonna get up there?" Lukas questioned.
                          
The ginger-haired man shrugged. "I have my ways."
                          
"Okay then." Lukas turned around and looked at the others. "I guess we should get some gunpowder."
                          
"Oh, I'll take all that and more," Axel laughed as he rubbed his hands together. Olivia sighed but left to a chest next to her.
                          
Gabriel, from where he had been standing on the side, began to cough and Lukas flinched. Was he okay?
                          
The Warrior looked much worse than when they had gone down the statue corridor. His arm was much more bruised-looking and the color had drained from his face. It was obvious that every step he took was a step too much as he would almost fall and had to stop and cough his soul out.
                          
"Gabriel, you look terrible, seriously, I mean—"
                          
"Terribly handsome?" the mentioned tried to pull off, weakly cracking a smile that was quickly smothered by hacking and coughing.
                          
"No, just... no. Gabriel, sir, don't you think we should really do something about this? Get you to a hospital?"
                          
"My friend... as much as I would like to, remember, the mission is our first priority. We cannot let it slip from our grasp. We won't ever be this prosperous again, with at least two comrades by our side. Besides, the nearest hospital is probably miles away; we would not make it in time, seeing as we're inside a mountain in the middle of the wilderness."
                          
Lukas sighed in defeat. "Point taken. But I really hope that once the Witherstorm is destroyed, it'll just... go away. Even if my common sense tells me otherwise."
                          
The man nodded. "I must confess, I am the same way."
                          
They silently nodded at each other, tacitly agreeing that life was a cruel being.