Some of these characters aren't mine, and I'll mark them in the ending note.
Enjoy!
"Agh, this coal dust is starting to get to me..."
"Nothing we can really do about that... Just tough it out, Aero."
"I know..." Aero, a boy in gray clothes holding an archery bow, spoke, "It's just getting hard to... ah... Ah-choo!"
"Artillery fire! Take cover!" another voice yelled, followed by a fourth voice laughing.
"Shut up, Criss..." Aero groaned.
The leader of the group, a girl named Vaati, stopped and held a Redstone Torch to a tattered map. Vaati wore a red bandana on her black hair, which was tied up into twintails, which sometimes gave her the appearance of having extra arms. She wore mostly black and red.
"It's somewhere around here..." she said. "Keep an eye out for any rail tracks."
"Right..." Aero said.
The third member of the group, Criss, was clad in a green hoodie with a facial pattern of a frowning creature on the front. Along with the hoodie, his hair was green as well.
Feeling a tap at his side, Criss turned to the fourth member of the group: Ender. Ender was slightly taller than the rest of his companions, and he wore a lengthy black coat with two purple eye markings on the hood. His purple eyes glowed luminously, lighting up his face and his short silver hair. Criss couldn't help but smile.
"What's up?"
There was a pause, and Ender shrugged somewhat nervously. He spoke in his native language: a series of unintelligible noises.
Detecting something was wrong, Criss took Ender's hand and squeezed it comfortingly, something which Ender accepted happily.
"Don't worry. I promise everything's gonna be fine."
Ender was silent for a moment, but then made another sound, nodding.
"Look alive, boys!" Vaati's voice startled both Criss and Ender. "We found what we're looking for!"
They looked past her, and sure enough, a mineshaft opened up ahead. Dark, quiet, and forboding, Criss was hit with a pang of fear, and he stood close to Ender, clutching his hand tightly. Ender turned and smirked at him, and Criss's face reddened in embarrassment.
Venturing into the mineshaft, the four soon made it to an intersection.
"Let's split up," Vaati said. "Criss, you go that way, Ender, that way. Aero and I will take this way."
Nodding, Criss let go of Ender and slowly walked down the pathway directed.
A few corners, and a wide smile appeared on his face. There on the wall were shimmering blue stones: Diamonds.
Pulling out a pickaxe supplied to him, he began mining the gems from the rock, when he heard what sounded like footsteps. Pausing, the noises seemed to go away, so he disregarded it.
Mining out a second diamond, he didn't hear the sounds resume, getting closer.
"Hello, boy..."
Criss froze, and his blood ran cold. He didn't recognize this voice at all. Turning, he looked at the speaker.
Or at least three potential speakers. At first sight there appeared to be a human girl with white hair and empty eyes clothed in gray. But then there were... things growing out of her back. Two skeletal necks, each attached to a skull. One was more human-like with a single large red light in the eye sockets, and one was more beastly, like a dragon, with one tiny red eye.
"Taking things that aren't yours? Didn't mommy teach you better than that?" yhe human-like skull spoke. Its voice made Criss shiver. "Give them to us..."
"Th-they aren't yours... They were in the rocks, and I found them."
"Wrong answer."
The dragon skull suddenly slammed into Criss's side, knocking all of his breath away. "Agh! Ow!"
"I'll say it again: Give them to us."
Criss didn't speak, instead rolling the diamonds across the floor to them.
"Good... That deserves a reward: Your death will be quick and slightly less agonizing."
Criss's eyes widened just in time for the dragon skull to clamp its fangs around his body, easily snatching him and hauling him into the air.
"AAAAH! Ender! ENDER!" Criss shrieked in terror.
The skull swung its head and threw Criss against a wooden beam. His body splintered it and continued on, slamming into the stone wall. He yelled in pain as he saw only stars.
In burning pain, Criss looked up to see his attacker, but they were already gone. Instead, he saw Ender terror in his eyes, running to him, and screaming something in his Enderlanguage.
Criss winced. "Ender..." He blacked out.
Sitting on the floor of the home of Vaati and Aero was Ghalia, the Queen of the alternate Nether world. She kept her white hair up in two long, curling pigtails, streaked with red here and there. She wore a white and red flowing gown down to her ankles.
At the moment, Ghalia was currently babysitting for the two, and she was currently playing with their daughter Izzy, in white and gray, and son Aran, in Red and Black. Suddenly, the three heard the door open.
"Oh, you're home early!" she said, smiling brightly. That smile disappeared when she saw the looks on their faces. "What's wrong?"
"Something happened to Criss..." Aero said quietly.
"Daddy?" Aran said, "What's wrong? Why is Mommy so sad?"
"Don't worry about it," Aero said, "Please go to your room for a little bit. Mommy and Daddy need to talk to Ghalia."
"O-Ok..." Aran and his sister left the room.
"What happened?" Ghalia said in a hushed tone.
"We don't know," Aero said. "He was unconscious when we got there, but it looked like something crushed him then threw him through a wooden beam and into the wall. Think he took a nasty blow to the head."
"Oh, dear..." Ghalia said. "... How... How is Ender taking it?"
Aero sighed, "Pretty damn terribly, actually."
"It's my fault..." Vaati said, ""I shouldn't have sent him off on his own."
"It's not your fault, Vaati, Aero comforted her. "It was impossible for any of us to predict this."
"Where is Criss now?"
"He's at Mandy and Kimii's house," Aero said. "Those two are trying to make sure Criss gets well, but Ender is a wreck and refuses to leave his side. They can't focus on Criss..."
"I'd go... but I can't bring myself to look at what happened again... I'm scared for him..." Vaati said.
Aero hugged her tighter. "He'll be fine... He's been through worse, right?"
In the next room, Izzy and Aran had been listening in.
"We have to go," Aran said.
"Huh?" Izzy asked.
"Ender needs someone, and Criss needs Mandy and Kimii. If we go, maybe they can make Criss better again?"
Izzy thought about it, then nodded. "Okay."
Both of them silently slipped away.
Meanwhile, Ender was still almost hysterical. Trying to calm him down was Mandy, the girl he had been a caretaker of for the most of her early life. Mandy had long grayish hair, and wore a large winter jacket. Over that she wore a black coat with purple eyes on the chest.
She heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it, Kimii," she said, and left the room.
Standing at the bed was Kimii, a girl with green hair, a complex-looking dress, and a pair of black wings. She nodded to Mandy.
Ender sat next to Criss's bed, and he glanced up at Kimii.
"-Is... Is he gonna be okay...?-"
Kimii looked at him. "I can't be certain, but he's doing okay..."
There was a long silence.
"-Do you think I should do it?-"
"I told you, Ender. Whatever you think is best for you two."
"-B-But what if I scare him?-"
"Ender, you and Criss have been together for a while... Yes you two have the bridges you have to cross, but he places lots of trust in you regardless. It may surprise him, but he trusts you, and it'll help the both of you become closer."
Ender was quiet, then he held his head. "-Listen to me... He might never wake up, and I'm talking about this!?- I should've been there to protect him!-"
Before Kimmi could say any more, Mandy reentered the room, accompanied by Izzy and Aran, who walked up to Ender.
"Ender?" Izzy said.
Ender lifted his head, and looked at them.
"It's okay, Ender. Please don't cry. It's okay," she said, hugging him. Aran followed suit.
Ender couldn't stop the grateful smile that appeared on his face. He reached down and hugged them.
Ender then felt two more pairs of arms around him, and he knew Mandy and Kimii were hugging him as well. He smiled.
"Everything will be okay," Mandy said. Ender nodded in response.
The five of them stayed that way for about a minute, until the silence was broken.
"A group hug... And you don't include me?"
All heads immediately turned to the bed, where Criss sat up, slightly smiling and looking a bit weary.
"-Criss!-"
Practically leaping over everyone, Ender was by Criss's side, hugging him tightly.
Criss's face reddened. "G-Good to see you, too, Ender."
Ender looked at Criss, who noticed a faint red appearing on his cheeks. Ender turned to Kimii.
"-I'm going to do it.-"
Kimii nodded. "Okay, let's leave these two alone for a little bit." She quickly ushered everyone out of the room, and closed the door.
"Ender? Is something wrong?" Criss asked, he knew that he and Ender being together wasn't a secret, but he didn't have any idea what was said to Kimmi, let alone what it was about.
Ender picked up a small notepad and pen nearby and started writing.
'You trust me, right?'
Criss looked into his eyes. "Of course I do. Ender, I trust you more than anyone," he wrapped him in a hug. "Is something the matter?"
'No... But I need to ask you something important.'
"What is it?"
'There is a way that I can pass on the knowledge of my language to you...'
Criss's face brightened, and Ender took that as a good sign, but he still wasn't past the worst of it. "Really? Can we do that?" He paused. "Wait... How do we do that?"
Ender's face turned bright red, and he quickly scribbled this time and hurriedly passed it to Criss. When he read it, Criss's face also turned crimson.
"R-Really?"
'It's the only way, but I'm only doing it if you really want to, of your own accord.
So... Do you want to?'
Criss looked at him, red-faced, and nodded with a smile.
Ender returned the smile, and wrapped his arms around Criss. He slowlyt pulled him closer, and Criss shut his eyes.
Criss shivered when their lips met. Surprisingly to him, Ender felt much more nervous than he would have guessed. After a moment, Ender completed the process with a bite to Criss's lower lip, and a surge passed through his body. Criss wasn't sure if that was just because of the bite or the strange feeling now in his head. He was admittedly disappointed when Ender pulled away.
"-C-Criss?-"
The boy smiled. It worked. "Yes, Ender?"
Ender's smile grew, and he hugged Criss tightly.
"-I love you.-"
Cheeks red, Criss kissed Ender on the cheek. "Love you, too."
Suddenly, Ender yawned.
"You tired from worrying so much?" Criss joked.
"-Actually, I think I am...-" Ender admitted, embarrassed.
"Go to sleep, then," Criss said, laying Ender's head on his lap. "I'll still be here when you wake up."
"-You promise?-"
Criss smiled and gave Ender a kiss.
"I'll be the first thing you see."
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Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you enjoyed it, it's my first time ever writing anything yaoi-related... Maybe if enough people like this I'll write more about these two. I kinda find them cute.
Criss, Ender, Mandy, Ghalia, Aero, and Criss's attacker (the Wither sisters Styx, Twygz, and Lymbz) are my characters.
Kimii, Vaati, Izzy, and Aran were created by my friend.
Thanks for reading! ~3