I had some requests for more from this AU? So here you go.
Enjoy!
Eventually he gets used to it, which, to be honest, is scary as all hell, but he's just so tired that he can't muster up the energy to care anymore.
The ghost-demon-God has seen fit to live his life for him, and Steve's absolutely for checking out and letting the thing take over entirely. He's supposed to be dead anyway.
But no, because you're a selfish bastard, he thinks to his unwanted captor, and hears 'selfish' repeated back to him, his own voice distorted as though the thing is trying to talk and it's disgusting.
Alex remains a constant source of light and joy in his dark and stormy life. He doesn't know why it likes her so much, but he finds the effort not to complain. One too many questions had triggered a negative reaction that ended with cracked ribs and large, painful bruises across the parts of his body covered by clothes—for an otherwordly being, it's sure picked up quick on social nuances.
So, don't disobey, and he won't get hurt.
Funny how a body without a pulse or heartbeat can still feel pain.
][][][
"A-Alex come on, you know—Alex please, wait—"
"No Steve, I'm not going to let that tool think he can tell me what to do."
"Devin was—He was just being a jerk! You know how he is, he didn't actually mean for you to—"
"My mind's made up Steve. I'm going to get that wither skeleton skull."
Steve sighs, closing his eyes and shaking his head. More like you're going to get a sword through the chest, he thinks grimly, following dutifully behind. He's unsure if he's actually following her or if the ghost is forcing him too, but as long as it's with Alex he can relax and let it take control. It likes her, after all, so he's pretty sure it won't hurt her. Pretty sure.
She slams the door to her house open and stomps in, clearly in one of her moods, and Steve hesitates at the threshold, wringing his hands together. He watches her rummage through her chests with a strange detachment, like he's watching the scene from outside his own body. This wouldn't be the first time he's felt like this.
Her diamond sword is strong, but instead of keeping it for herself she tosses it to him. Startled and not expecting the action, he fumbles with the weapon before holding it tightly. His dead heart would be racing right now. It's not a good idea to give me a weapon, he can't help but think, looking at the blade and accidentally catching sight of his reflection. He grimaces, turning the blade away. He knows he looks horrible, with tired eyes and dark half moons below them. What can he say? Yeah the demon inside me doesn't like me very much so it throws nightmares at me when I sleep. What a character am I right?
Alex hasn't said anything though, and that's what endears her so much to him. Maybe that's even why the ghost likes her so much too, because of her spirit(hah!).
She's always been more of a bow girl, but she pulls out another sword and sheathes it. He doesn't comment, instead puts his own sword away, afraid he might catch sight of himself again.
"Aright let's go," she says, sweeping past him and marching towards the gate to the village. Steve sighs and closes the door, wrapping his arms around himself. It's a beautiful day, but death's always cold.
He catches up to her easily. "Do you even know where a Nether portal is?" He asks. He's kinda hoping he can talk her out of this insane challenge.
"Nope! But we can make one."
Steve makes a skeptical face, though she pays no attention to it. He feels the demon move under his skin, as if suddenly interested in the conversation. "And how do you propose we do that?"
She throws a knowing look over her shoulder. "Come on Steve, it can't be that hard. I mean, you've seen a portal before, right? They're, what...four, five blocks high? And four blocks wide, right?"
Shrugging a shoulder, Steve tries to ignore the buzzing in his head. He wishes she'd shut up about it, if only to quiet the thing inside him. He doesn't need it getting excited.
"Eh, whatever. Like I said, can't be too hard. We'll figure something out."
Steve shakes his head. She's asking for death at this point. If he's a good friend he'd tell her to stop this nonsense and drag her back to the village himself, but, to be honest, even though she's his best friend, dying had really flipped his views on the world. The ghost certainly likes the idea of having company, which is all kinds of gross when images and feelings not his own flash through his head. But, he ultimately decides to keep his mouth shut. He knows how she gets about these kinds of things anyway.
After a few solemn moments of silence on Steve's part, his eyes dart about their surroundings and if he had a heart, well, it'd have stopped at his realization. The cave, the place he died, its like she's heading straight for it.
"W-Where are we going?" He asks lightly, trying to keep the hysteria out of his voice.
"I found a mine a few days ago, from what I explored it goes down pretty deep. We need to find lava or obsidian, so we can make a portal." Her tone is innocent, so it's not like she knows he probably died within fifty blocks from where they'll be and she's choosing this spot to torment him. It's more like a strange and unwelcome coincidence.
Just as he'd feared, they come upon a small, unassuming cave entrance that dives steep into the ground pretty earlier on. A good sign to any seasoned miner, it's no wonder she saw this and remembered its location for later.
He wants to do a lot of things as they head into it. He wants to vomit, he wants to run away screaming, he wants to curl into the fetal position and cry, he wants to kill Alex for bringing him back here. But most of all, he just wants to forget.
'Not a good idea,' he hears, more as a statement than an expression of concern, and for once he agrees with it. This is a very bad idea.
The thing moves his legs against his will.
][][][
So far he's managed to steer clear of the collapsed part of the cave. Alex is only looking for lava, after all, not diamonds or gold, so he can dig deep and break into larger caves, caves hotter than the surface and it's a good sign because that means lava's close. He's glad she's sufficiently distracted by her quest so he can easily steer her away from the parts of the cave that induce flashbacks in him. More than once he has to hide behind a corner or slip away from her to gag, as images, unbidden, play like a slide show across his mind, but he manages to get a grip and return to her without arousing suspicion. He always says the heat's getting to him, but he's not so sure she entirely believes him.
As long as she only gives him a look and doesn't ask questions, he counts that as a win in his book.
They find lava and she cheers, their skin soaked with sweat and caked in dust. She'd been lucky enough to find an underground pool of water, so she'd been able to fill a bucket with which she now uses to turn the lava into obsidian. Then, with a diamond pick axe she begins mining the dark purple blocks. Steve sits idly by, entertaining the thought of diving into the lava.
When she's collected around twenty five blocks she stops and sits next to him, wiping the sweat from her face.
"That should about do it!" She exclaims, slapping him on the back and drinking from a water bottle. She hands it to him but he only takes it to hold it, not to drink from it, which she doesn't notice as she walks back over to the obsidian blocks pushed into one section of the cavern.
"Hm. What do you think Steve? Four blocks high? Or five? I know for a fact that it's four wide, but I can't remember how tall it is."
He tries not to wince as his mouth responds 'five' without his express permission. But he's damned all the same.
He helps her, even though his stomach threatens to expel its meager contents throughout. While he places the final block, she pulls out a flint and steel. Her energy is almost palpable, and any other time he'd of found her enthusiasm adorable, but right now, in this state, he's too tired to want to understand the full implications of what they're doing.
She lights it, the soft purple glow illuminating the cavern. Steve holds his breath, but nothing happens and he relaxes. It's a small relief, however, because there's still an active portal mere blocks from him and he feels like he wants to die.
"Well, now or never," Alex says, jumping into the portal and smiling the whole time. He stares, considers deactivating it—destroying it—but decides against it. He follows.
][][][
The Nether is hot.
He knows this, expects it even. It had always seemed like a side note, from people who had returned from the Nether and told tales about it: There were great bizarre structures and exotic mobs. And it was really hot.
It's not just hot though, it's scorching.
The heat wraps around him like a physical thing, weaving fingers through his hair and sliding down his back and choking his throat. It's invasive and oppressing, and he struggles to catch a solid breath as his body adjusts to the extreme temperature spike.
A quick look to the side tells him Alex isn't fairing much better, but that's a moderate comfort. It's her fault, after all, that they're even here.
Luckily, the thing inside him comes in handy, dulling his senses and letting him adjust slowly to the change. He flexes his hands against a foreign block and focuses on breathing. To distract himself he looks around, noticing first and foremost that practically every block in sight is the same strange reddish block below him, rough yet somewhat spongy beneath his fingertips.
When the air stops feeling like liquid fire down his throat every time he breathes, he sits up and glances at Alex. She's just as awestruck it seems as himself, and it's really no surprise as to why. With his body already used to the heat and the Nether's intense atmosphere no longer feeling threatening, he can take in the beauty of the Nether in full.
His exploration side, which had all but died after his untimely 'death,' isn't enough to distract him long from their purpose in being here. They need to find a fortress so Alex can prove some jerkwad in their village a fool. No easy task, and he's sure she'll garner respect and admiration over it, but why he came along with her is a mystery to even himself.
I like her. I do not want anything to happen to her.
He shudders, resisting the sudden urge to vomit. It can speak in full sentences, using a hundred voices to form a coherent thought. Steve doesn't dwell on what that implies for the future.
"You alright there Steve?" Alex asks, coming to help him up. He sighs, curling in on himself as he's want to do these days.
"Fine, it's just...wow is it hot."
Alex chuckles. "Don't I know it. Come on, let's find a fortress."
As she apparently doesn't see the problem they're facing, Steve grabs her wrist and yanks her to a stop before she can wander away.
"What, just go out and wander around until we get lucky? We'll die of heatstroke or exhaustion or something. No way we're just going to wing it."
She crosses her arms and raises her brows. "Alright hot shot, you got any bright ideas? Please, enlighten me."
He obviously can't just say that he feels a tug in a certain direction, but maybe he can play it smart. "Let's just be rational about this. We'll pick a direction and go a number of blocks and if we don't find anything, we'll turn back and go a different way. That okay?"
She shakes her head but smiles and pulls out some torches. "Oh Steve, where's you sense of adventure?"
Dead in a cave, where I should be. "Sorry if I don't find dying in the Nether very 'adventurous.' Let's go this way." He turns the direction he feels the thing pulling him towards, and starts walking. Alex drops torches behind them as breadcrumbs every so often, a sure-fire way to find the portal again, when this is all over. It'd be a travesty if they find the fortress and retrieve the skull only to get lost looking for the portal home.
He doesn't feel like talking, and he's thankful that either Alex doesn't want to or notices his mood and leaves him be. It's part of why he values her friendship so much, even if she does stupid things like this. She's always known when to push his buttons and when to let him stew.
The pull leads them to a fortress, of course, because why not. How the thing knows where one is threatens to give him a headache trying to figure out, but it ends up answering his unasked questions by flashing images of the portal he'd found and lit in that cave, and then it all starts to make sense. A demon from the Nether. Nice.
"Whoa," Alex whispers, standing next to him and ogling the fortress.
Steve finds he must agree.
The fortress is large, even with half of it buried under mounds of whatever block populates most of the Nether—netherrack, his mind is supplied. The brick it's made from is a dark burgundy, unlike any other kind of brick he's seen. There are long walkways that end in a few scattered bricks above a vast drop, and on them, like patrols, are wither skeletons.
They're big, bigger than a normal skeleton for sure. Their bones are dark, a kind of charcoal black that's as interesting as it is intimidating. And instead of bows, they carry stone swords, which drag behind them menacingly.
"Are you sure about this?" Steve asks, because he knows that it's rare for wither skeleton heads to drop, and they've never even fought one before. This could take hours, days maybe.
Alex takes a deep breath and pulls her sword free, giving him a feral grin. "Not about to back down now!" She exclaims, and charges forward.
He gives a long-suffering sigh and follows, but ultimately decides to stay back. Alex wouldn't appreciate his meddling until she asks for it, which is fine with him. He doesn't want to fight wither skeletons anyway, he's perfectly happy being called a coward for it too. If only Alex wasn't so hotheaded, he could be having his ongoing existential crisis at home instead of in hell.
That's what friends are for, he supposes.
][][][
She's formidable, that's for damn sure. Though never having fought one before, she learns quickly. It's to be expected, honestly. Sometimes zombies pick up swords, and some utilize them, if wild and erratic swinging counts, so it's not like she's never had to fight an opponent with a sword to the death before. But just from watching them, it's clear that these skeletons have some strength in their bones.
Their blows knock her back, but never off her feet. She's taken to using her smaller and faster frame against them, dodging their attacks with a deftness that only comes from experience. Out of the two of them, she's more likely to want to take a mob head on. Steve had liked outsmarting them to avoid conflict. Now they avoid him entirely.
"Steve!" He snaps to her, having drifted, lost in his thoughts. She's smiling widely at him, holding a skull up in the air. "I got one!"
He can't help the small smile that tugs at his lips. He'd had to climb on top of a large room to avoid the skeletons below, letting them focus solely on Alex. Now he jumps down and meets her on the walkway, marveling despite himself at the skull she passes to him.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" She's out of breath, but her pride is shining all over her face. Steve can't wait to see the look on Devin's face when he sees the skull. He'd like to see Devin talk shit about Alex after this.
"You're amazing. Come on, let's get out of here."
Their departure couldn't be timed better. Three wither skeletons round the corner and lock onto them. They're fast, but Alex and Steve are faster.
"Looks like we got a little adventure!" Alex pants out, lagging behind. No doubt exhaustion is creeping up on her from fighting. She had been at it for the better part of an hour.
"Lucky us!" Steve calls back, skidding around a corner and taking off down the hall. The torches leading back to the portal are in sight now, all the incentive to keep going. Until—
"Steve!"
He turns 180 degrees, dead heart in his throat. Alex had fallen, tripped by lethargic muscles. Steve has a single moment of intense panic wherein the demon inside him rips through his thoughts, tears them to pieces to be replaced bya mantra of Alex is in danger. Save her. Alex is in danger. Save her. Alex is in danger save her Alex is in danger save her AlexisindangerSAVEHER!
It's the only thing he thinks as he sprints back to her, in a desperate race against the skeletons who've just rounded the corner and begin to bear down on her.
For a moment he thinks he might not make it, and it hurts, but a sword, the blade a gleaming light blue shimmering with power, materializes in his grasp, and he dives to block the stone sword from cutting Alex in half.
Instead, his sword deflects the blow and energy, pure and powerful, pushes the three skeletons back. He rolls, bounding back to his feet and holding his sword out in a challenge, baring his teeth at his enemies.
They don't hesitate to attack him, each working separately to bring him down. It's a futile effort, and even if they did have the capabilities to work as a unit, they'd fall all the same. He slices the first one clean in half, barely letting the dust clear before grabbing it's fallen sword and attacking with both, deflecting one skeleton's attack while cutting the arm off another. The wounded skeleton falls back while it's partner attacks with more ferocity, which intrigues him, but it doesn't matter as he disarms it and cuts its head off. The bones crumble to the floor before fading into dust.
Enraged more than he should reasonably be, he startles at his name being called, spinning around to stare at a severely confused and cautious Alex, who holds her hands up as she slowly stands up.
"Steve?"
He takes a deep breath and comes back to himself, blinking hard as he drops the swords in his hands. Alex watches as the diamond sword disappears completely, her expression openly scared.
"You alright?"
"Am I...? Yeah, I'm—fine." He doesn't sound fine, his words getting caught in his throat. He shakes his head, trying to clear the sudden black rage that had taken over for a moment, and looks at his hands.
"I—" He gasps, wincing as pain erupts in his back. The ghost dilutes it, but the burn just below his shoulder blade can't be completely ignored. He turns, gasping, and Alex makes a concerned, horrified sound, holding her hands over her mouth.
The wither skeleton with the missing arm is standing next to a normal skeleton, it's bow raised. The arrow it'd just shot is sticking out his back.
He feels the demon take over his mind, like a black cloud descending from the sky and promising a torrent of rain and rage and destruction. And he lets it.
When both skeletons are dust, worthless under his boots, he walks back to Alex.
"Pull it out," he grunts, turning his back to show her the arrow. His mind is a mix of anger, regret, embarrassment, sadness, and sorrow. He's not fully in control of himself, but he reigns in his emotions as best he can so as to not scare her more. Through the thing he can sense her fear and confusion, and while it is never his intention to scare her like this, it was bound to happen sooner or later.
Black goop, what he calls blood now, oozes from his wound until the God heals it, swelling the wound closed. Still, the dark 'blood' stains his bright shirt.
The walk back is dead silent. She doesn't dare speak, and Steve is perfectly happy with that. There's nothing to say anyway.
He doesn't bother waiting for her once he steps from the portal into the cave. He runs, awareness bleeding back into his consciousness as the sense of danger finally fades and he realizes the horribleness of what just happened.
Fuck, he's going to have a lot of explaining to do.
There's going to be a part 3 to this little AU.