Claire POV-

The trek back to the castle was filled with hugs and smiles between friends as everyone recalled their experience in as much detail as possible for those who weren't there to witness it first hand.

Jordan had kept hers brief.

Dianite showed up. She fought him. Failed. Was given the bow. Tom took the killing blow.

Though she was glad Dianite was dead and no longer able to hurt anyone, it still hurt her to think about it for too long.

Tom seemed to be handling it better, having magic and all, but also because he realized that Dianite only wanted him as a weapon, not caring enough about him to know that killing his friends would destroy him.

His words, not hers.

Her friend seemed to be happy knowing he had a fresh start, that he wasn't tied down to the orders of anyone.

Sonja and Tucker were as happy for Tom as Jordan was. They were all in silent accord that this change might be good for him, a way to truly find out who he is without the influence of his past.

Declan, on the other hand, was petrified at the idea of Tom being on equal standing ground as him on magic. The wizards argued that Tom might even be more powerful than Declan at this point.

Then everyone turned to find Tom using wisps of that dark magic to hide his face like a ninja mask while he slashed his sword through the leaves on the ground.

No real threat there where Jordan was concerned.

But despite the bickering, everything was somewhat peaceful, and Jordan's heart was more at ease now than ever before.

Sonja had been hugging her non stop, not daring to let go of her even once they reached the winding staircase towards the castle.

Though Sonja was slightly cutting off her airflow, she couldn't bare to tell her best girl friend to let go. Sonja had scared the hell out of Jordan too, when the fox eared girl had been on the floor surrounded by a pool of her own blood.

If it wasn't for Tucker's composed expression then, Jordan might have assumed Sonja was dead. But it turns out an arrow from one of the skeletons grazed her lower stomach where her armor didn't reach.

An injury that didn't reach the level of mortal danger Jordan's many wounds did, so despite Sonja's recent injured state, her friend felt the need to yell at her for that and for being so careless taking on the god of the nether all alone.

As they went up the stairs slowly to accommodate for Declan's pace, Jordan got the earful of a lifetime.

"You should have waited for one of us to back you up!" Sonja yelled, her fox ears almost flattening against her head.

"Both you and Tucker were busy with mobs remember? Besides, I think I did ok" Jordan said, turning around to see Stefan walking behind her, Tucker's arm resting on his shoulders as they both talked.

Stefan must have sensed her staring because he took his eyes away from Tucker and two pairs of brown eyes met each other.

Both of them smiled, even as Tucker and Sonja kept talking to them, but it was as if it was only Stefan there with her.

They hadn't had the time to talk about what happened earlier....

Just thinking about it brought a blush to her cheeks.

Stefan must have noticed it, because he looked down to hide his own blooming blush. The sight of that distracted Jordan enough that she missed a step on the stairs, and if it wasn't for Sonja's arm around her waist, she might have face planted onto the stone stairs ahead.

Turning back around, Jordan and Stefan locked eyes and laughed at her clumsiness.

A normal laugh, one they might have shared as friends before their kiss.

It was music to her ears.

Knowing nothing had changed between their amazing friendship even when their feelings might have branched off from it and bloomed into something newer.

Sonja turned her head back around and gave her a questioning glare.

Thank goodness everyone had been too busy with the fight to have noticed her moment with Stefan, otherwise she would have been getting an earful about THAT instead of her fight with Dianite.

Though now that she thought about it, Rupert was giving her weird looks. Then again, that wasn't very out of the ordinary to begin with.

Looking at the pirate now, Jordan noticed he was restless, looking at the top of the winding stairs with anticipation. Amy, arms wrapped around her fellow pirates, smiled above as if she had all the faith in the world everything would be right again.

Jordan sure hoped so.

Once at the top, everything had been just as they left it, and the gate was still closed.

Jordan helped the wizards set Declan down under a tree nearby before joining her friends by the gate.

"There is no key hole anywhere on this gate" Stefan pointed out, running a hand through the rusty gate as soon as she reached his side.

Tom smirked.

"Let me give it a try" he said before blasting a giant fireball at the entrance with no control whatsoever.

"Fool. Magic won't work on an enchanted gate such as this. Once closed, they are meant to keep everything out and everything within. We need to use these keys" Champwan said, crossing his arms as he put out the fire on a patch of grass before him.

"What do you mean keys? I thought it was only one?" Jordan asked, to which Champwan pulled out four rusty keys out of one of the pockets around his waist.

"Great. Now we have to find four key holes or figure out which of these is the key we need" Tucker whined, looking around the gate with Tom.

Despite their best efforts, it was Sonja who called everyone over to the left side of the gate, where she pointed at a stone block with some sort of dispenser door.

It was beeping like a machine, an odd thing considering the world of Mianite didn't have any sort of capability for such things.

"It's worth a try" Sonja said, taking a key from Champwan.

Then she dropped it as if it was burning coal when it had started glowing a bright orange.

"Declan!!!" Jordan screamed, turning back to the tree knowing full well this was some sort of magical issue.

Declan was fast asleep though.

"Why didn't it glow for you!?" Sonja said, pointing at Champwan while Tucker inspected her other hand which had touched the key.

"I don't know" Champwan said, kneeling down to look at they key curiously.

"Tom, come touch it" Waglington said from behind her.

Tom was all too exited to try, and once his green fingers made contact with it, the key glowed a dark green.

"Now Stefan, you grab it" Wag added, taking the key from Tom and placing it in Stefan's hands.

No glow.

"It must only be for champions or something" Sonja said, taking another key from Champwan and handing one over to Tucker.

One key glowed orange, the other a royal blue.

Tom took back his key from Stefan, and Wag handed her the last key, which glowed a bright red.

Slowly, the four of them inched closer to the still beeping block of stone. Once the glow from all keys reflected on its little compartment, the dispenser opened as if on cue.

There were no key holes, so the four champions placed their keys inside and the thing closed shut.

Seconds of listening to the machine beep went by until a little robotic voice came out of it.

"Key 1 detected. Key 2 detected. Key 3 detected. Key 4.....detected" it said, and the sound of metal moving brought all their attentions back to the gate which was slowly parting sideways to let them in.

The door was so huge and old it was a wonder it worked at all, and it was also odd that it had been opened by a machine.

Knowing only Ianite was on the other side, everyone shed off their heavy armor and gathered the best weapons they had been able to salvage from the mobs.

Everyone found a place near the front of the gate to sort themselves out, no one too sure what to expect on the other side.

After taking all her armor off and placing her cape back on, Jordan strapped the god killing bow and arrow quiver across her back and took a diamond sword from the pile of weapons, making sure to take another to give to Stefan who was still trying to work out the straps of his armor.

She laughed a little as she walked over to him, noticing how he stopped dead once he saw her approaching.

Making sure to keep her eyes away from his, she started unbuckling his left arm piece.

By the time she had moved on to his other arm, Jordan realized he was tracing the arch of the bow at her back.

"A god killing weapon" Stefan whispered "I'm surprised Mianite hasn't appeared to take it back"

"Give it a few days until he recovers, then I'm sure he'll storm into our house and demand it back, lightening and all" Jordan said, smiling at the thought.

"Our house?" Stefan asked, causing Jordan to look up at him, dropping his arm piece as her heart began to race in panic.

"I just thought that once we got Capsize back and find a place to settle in that.... of course you can live on your own if you'd prefer. Sonja and I can teach you how to build a house or the wizards could build one..." Jordan said, knowing full well she was ranting, trying to cover up her mistake.

She hadn't even noticed what she said.

'Our house' seemed like such a natural thing to say after they had been living in Jerry's tree together all this time.

"I wouldn't mind living with you. In fact, if it's ok with you, we could have a Jerry's tree 2.0 built." Stefan said, his fingers grabbing a strand of her hair and caressing it gently.

Jordan began taking off his chest armor, her fingers undoing the knots at his sides, trying to focus on that instead of the voice in her head that was screaming at her for practically undressing Stefan.

"You really dont have to if you dont want to. I completely understand if you want to live on your own wherever it is we end up" Jordan said, motioning him to lift up his arms to shrug the amor off.

"Tucker was actually just talking to me about that. He thinks we could all settle in Ianera after this. There is a good fishing source, good hunting areas for animals, and plenty of farming ground. Plus maybe once he regains his strength, Ianite could go back to his castle and we could house villagers to start trade." Stefan said, looking down into her eyes.

"It would be nice. Plus there was a nice house near the beach that isn't too destroyed" Jordan added, brushing the brown hair strands out of his face, and he almost seemed to lean into the touch.

"The one with the balcony? I noticed you looking at it. I-I would love to live there with you, as friends of course! I don't want you to think that I wanna rush anything after what happened" Stefan said, his ears turning bright red.

Jordan laughed at her friend, sat him down on the grass, and began working on the armor on his legs.

"We better claim that house first then, or Sonja will steal it" Jordan said, looking back up at her friend "As for what happened, I understand if you just kissed me in the heat of the moment..."

A part of her wanted to keep herself from bringing that up, afraid he might regret that moment between them. But, her and Stefan had always been able to talk about everything and anything, communication was one of the things that made their friendship so strong.

Luckily, there was no disgust on her friend's face, only shock.

"Of course not!" Stefan said "I've been wanting to do that for a while"

Jordan's mouth fell agape.

"Not in a creepy way of course! I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've liked you for some time, and I just assumed you didn't"

He really did like her... Even after he found out all that awful stuff about her.

But he had kept his feelings from her out of, fear?

"You're my favorite person on this world and any in existence. You have been there for me since day one. You made me laugh when I was sad, listened when I needed someone to talk to, helped me when I was lost, never once asking for anything in return" Jordan said, dropping the leg armor to the ground and sat down next to him.

"I really like you Stef" Jordan said, bringing a stray tear down his cheek.

Those were the easiest words to say, easier than she expected them to be. But they felt right.

"I do too. And we can take this slow, figure these feelings out day by day" Stefan replied, taking her hand in his "maybe not boyfriend and girlfriend right away but eventually?"

She loved having him as a friend, and it terrified her to think she might lose that.

The fact that he was willing to not rush into a relationship meant a lot to her, because he knew that after Dianite, she didn't want to rush into anything like that.

At the very core of their relationship, they were best friends. Jordan now understood that romance, specially theirs, was built on the strong foundation of their friendship.

They didn't need to rely on any sort of spark or passion, they simply understood and loved each other unconditionally.

And to her....that was beautiful.

"Good thing I'm in it for the long game. So...someday?" Jordan asked

"Someday" he said

That was a promise.

A promise to a future she had never bothered to think about. A promise that once this craziness dulled and they got to spend more time together, then maybe they could make it official.

"Deal. But what if Ianite can send us back?" Jordan asked, looking at the gate before them, wondering where her god was behind it.

"Tucker spoke to me about that too. If Ianite can send us back, we could choose to stay for a while longer, then we could all live in Ianera for a while. We could also return now. It's up to you" Stefan said "As long as I'm with you, I don't mind where I live"

Jordan looked around the area, saw all her friends, the people who had become her family when she had nothing.

After spending so many months around them, it was almost impossible for her to think of a life without them.

She missed her family more than anything, but she had a family here she needed to take care of. Once they had a new home established in Ianera and everything was settled, then she might be ready to return to earth.

"You seriously have nothing back on earth to get back to?" Jordan asked. Her mind was made, but she wanted to make sure Stefan felt the same.

He followed her line of sight and smiled after a brief hesitation.

"Nothing quite as great as this" Stefan said, getting up from the grass and pulling her back up.

Stefan hugged her before gathering his heavy armor with a bit of struggle and headed over to the wizards.

"Think now that I have Dianite's powers, Lord Ianite will address me as his brother? Because if that happens I might have to kill your god, mate" Said Tom, running over to her.

Jordan rolled her eyes.

"Oh great Mecha Dianite! I'm sure your fellow godly brothers would be glad to welcome you to the family" she teased, walking over to the other champions.

"I'd reject them. I already have a family, and two brothers who don't constantly wage war against each other. At least I hope Stefan and Tucker are on good terms..."

They both linked arms, laughing at their jokes, but turned serious once they joined the others.

Because of Declan's weakened state after his little healing lesson, the Wizards, Champwan, and Bluebeard stayed behind to guard the entrance, just in case the gate decided to close on them and trap them inside.

That left the champions, Stefan, Amy, and Rupert to go get Capsize back.

After some very brief farewells and wishes of luck, the group gathered their weapons in hand began the last leg of their long journey.

Once inside the gate, they were greeted by a beautiful courtyard the size of a half football field, decorated with neatly trimmed grass and golden trees all around, even a few flowers here and there.

Following the stone footpath, Jordan noticed a grand fountain off to the side with huge cascades of glistening water, splattering water droplets so pure they looked like diamonds against the darkness of the End.

Odd thing was, this place wasn't like a regal temple. It looked like a place that once contained many people.

By the fountain, were some stables that looked to not have been used in years but were stocked with riding gear and hay.

Off to the distance, smaller homes could be seen, much like the ones outside the gate.

On the other side of the fountain, was a grand entrance to a beautifully decorated stone building, lined with purple tinted glass decorations and banners much like the ones the group had seen in Ianera.

The place was bigger than anything she had ever seen, and it's construction was heavily decorated. A place fitting for a god.

Once inside, Jordan noticed the nether stone scattered along the stone floors, and on top of it was that slimy purple liquid they had seen in Ianite's capitol. It was scattered in a few spots, but there was more than she had ever seen before.

She might have gone in to touch it, or inquire about it, but the sights all around her caught her eye.

The intricately build space had large floor-to-sealing purple windows, Including intricate mosaics of ender pearls.

What quickly caught Sonja's attention were the stone statues of guards lining the hallway. In her opinion, they were rather cute despite the giant lances that were twice her size and sharp enough to cut her in half.

Deciding to enjoy the moment, Jordan took out Stefan's phone from one of her pockets and took a photo with her friends, making funny faces at the statues. (Stefan just smiled, thinking it disrespectful).

She also took photos of the beautiful mosaic filled roof of the place. It's roof was so high up, Jordan assumed this place might have more than one floor.

It was truly beautiful, and unlike the abandoned buildings outside, this place was squeaky clean, not a dust particle on sight.

"This place remind you guys of anything?" Tucker asked, poking one of the statues as if it was some possible threat.

"That we need to step up our game next time we build OUR god a temple" Sonja said, spinning around in circles as she admired the roof.

"No. This place has the same structure as that castle back in Ianera, the one we found Ianite in" Tucker corrected

It was...

the giant entrance. The huge windows. The multiple floors. The building was arranged the exact same way.

"Maybe this place inspired it?" Stefan added, steadying Sonja after she resumed spinning.

"Let's just hope this place didn't meet the same fate as Ianera then" Tucker whispered, only loud enough for the pirates ahead not to hear.

Thankfully, they reached the end of the hallway with no problem. Right at it's center, there was a throne with giant Scales of Justice behind it. Scales much like the ones Jordan had built, but these were smaller and centered around the throne, as if guarding it's back.

She might have marveled at their design had she not met purple eyes.

There at the seat of the throne, was her god, smiling at them in a very godly composed way.

The pirates and Jordan stepped up away from the group, and bowed.

"My lord" Jordan said, meeting his gaze with a smile, a smile he returned.

"My dear Champion" the god said, then her addressed the pirates by their names and nodded at the others in attendance.