It was a normal occurrence for me to walk across the beach and look across the endless blue. Admiring the majesty that I had missed out of for so many years. It was nice and calming until I saw someone collapsed on the sand.

He was pale and drenched from the water he had probably crawled out of. I ran and leaned beside him. Turning him around in my arms, I wiped the seaweed from his face. "H-hello? Are you okay?"

I was quick to realize he wasn't breathing. I needed to perform CPR, and it was lucky that I knew how. Lifting his head back, I gave him the kiss of life and pumped at his chest until he coughed up what had been in his lungs.

"Thank, Notch!" I exclaimed, still holding him in my arms.

His eyes slowly opened as he looked at me weakly. His eyes wavered a bit. "Sjin? Is that you?"

I shook my head and wiped more seaweed off his face. "No, my name is Xephos."

"Xephos? " he asked puzzled before squinting. "I don't know a Xephos."

"No, you don't." I explained. "We've never met before. What is your name?"

He looked very confused which was expected after waking up in such a way. "I'm um... Sips."

"Sips,"I said, confirming or maybe just wanting to say it. "you've got quite a strange name."

He stared at me a bit before giving me a simple nod for a response. "Sorry, I'm a bit confused right now. Where exactly am I?"

"Minecraftia." I answered.

"Minecraftia? I've never heard of..." He sat up and looked around before seeing the ocean at his feet. "Did I wash up here?"

"Uh, yeah..." I answered, rubbing my head in worry. "You said something about a 'Sjin' when you came to."

Almost like a bolt of lightning had struck him, his eyes widened. "Oh, Notch! Sjin!" He stood up immediately and waded into the water. "Sjin?! Where are you?!"

"Hey!" I called out to him, confused by the quick movement. "What's wrong?!"

He looked round to me in a panic. "Sjin fell overboard with me when our ship was attacked. If he's not here then he's out there somewhere!" He turned back and screamed out as loud as he could.

I stood beside him until he lost all will to call out to his lost friend. His head lowered in sorrow. I patted his back calmly. "Hey... It's okay. We'll find him, I promise.

My try at making him feel better didn't work very well. "I failed to save him... He needed me..."

"Sips, I..."

Suddenly, he collapsed again and I managed to catch him. Everything had worn him down. The ocean had taken many things from him today. His ship, almost his life, and his Sjin...

0o0o

I carried him from the ocean all the way to the Jaffa Factory. I knew Honeydew would be confused when I came inside carrying a drowned stranger. "Who the hell is that?"

I laid him down on the top level where his bed and the hot tub sat. "His name is Sips. He was carried to the shore after his ship crashed. That's what he told me anyway."

"And you brought him here? What if he is dangerous?" Honeydew asked, half mad about what he just said and half because I put the stranger in his bed.

"He's not. I spoke to him, and I believe he is just the victim of bad luck. He's apparently looking for someone." My hands pulled his wet clothes off and covered him in the sheets. "That should keep him warm."

Honeydew sighed. "I still don't trust him. He's a stranger."

"So was I once, or have you forgotten?" I threw his clothes on a generator. Probably dangerous but effective.

He was taken aback. "That's different..."

"No it's not." I turned to smile at him. "You know it's just the same. Just give him the same chance you gave me." I headed back towards the rainbow hole that extended through the factory.

"Wait, where are you going?" He asked, puzzled that I was just leaving them so easily.

"To find his Sjin." I answered as I flew down and went out the front door that was way too small.

0o0o

This search was probably meaningless. This 'Sjin' could have drowned long ago. It was almost guaranteed. Sips was incredibly lucky to make it to shore as he did. Both of them making it was so slim, but I couldn't lose hope.

I walked down the beach again, realizing that this was going to be hard because I had no description of him. All I had was his name.

"Rythian!"

I looked up from my hypnotic stepping in the sand to see a figure standing a short ways down the beach from me. I knew that red hair well. Picking up my feet, I ran to meet her.

"Oh, it's the spaceman." she said casually, as I slowed to a stop.

"Zoey... What are you doing here?" I asked, catching my breath again.

She pointed out into the ocean. "There's a sinking ship in the water. Rythian flew out to see, at my request, of course."

"A sinking ship?!" I exclaimed, following her finger to the wreckage where the Mage zoomed around it so magnificently.

"Don't worry. Rythian said to wait here. He'll take care of it."

I wondered if it could really be Sips ship sinking in the glow of the sunset. Even more, could Sjin still be alive in there if it is. Anyway, I would just have to leave it to was nothing I could do at this point.

The ship sunk completely. Rythian was returning. I thought all hope was lost until his silhouette showed a second body draped in his arms. My heart jumped from my chest.

"Xephos..." He said, landing gracefully. "Why are you here?"

"Was he the only one left on the boat?" I asked, looking at the man in his arms.

He was a bit lost but answered anyway. "All I could see, yeah. To be honest, he wasn't even on the ship. He was slumped over a piece of wood that had broken off..."

I leaned down next to his body as Rythian laid him down on the sand. I checked all his vital signs and he was surprisingly just fine. Nothing broken and breathing normally, but what if he wasn't the Sjin I was looking for? Then all of this would be for naught.

"He's got an awesome beard." Zoey commented, which was a bit uncalled for.

I looked up to Rythian. "Do you mind if I take him with me? I've kind of got a hand in this situation."

He shrugged. "Sure. I've done my part and I wouldn't want him hanging around Blackrock with us."

Zoey shrugged. "I think it would be cool to have a stranger hanging around."

Rythian shook his head. "No, Zoey."

I picked the man up and laid him over my shoulder. "I'll take good care of him, then. Thanks for going out there and saving him."

He shook his head. "I only did what Zoey asked me to do."

"Of course," I said, throwing the girl beside him a bit of a look. "You do whatever you are programmed to do."

She grinned. "What is it, Spaceman?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm gonna get out of here. I've kind of got something to take care of."

"Cool, Cool." She took Rythians hand in hers. "We need to get back, too."

"Lalna still got you on a short leash?" I asked.

"Ha," She scoffed. "No, not anymore. Apprentice became the master and the master became afraid. Let's just say I intimidated him. I was just too much, and he wasn't comfortable with me creating a machine that mirrored a human." She shrugged, "Figures, huh?"

"Yeah..." I wasn't too surprised. Everyone says Lalna is crazy, but then you talk to Zoey for five minutes and you know who the real crazy one is.

"Well, I'll see you." She pulled Rythian away and slowly disappeared from my view. I turned away too.

0o0o

I made my way back and laid the nameless man beside Sips on another bed. Honeydew stood beside me. "The amount of strays you've brought home today is ridiculous."

"I told you I was going out to find someone."

"Well, still..."

After doing the same thing with his clothes as I did with Sips, I tucked him in and breathed out. Even if this wasn't the right person, I could feel content that someone was saved. It felt good to sit and relax for awhile too.

"That's crazy that you ran into Zoey. That must have been interesting." He sat beside me, also taking a breather though he wasn't nearly as productive as I today.

"It was pretty interesting," I agreed. "Did you know she had ditched Lalna?"

He looked at me in surprise, "No way."

"Yeah... It's strange that she would ditch the man who took her in. I mean, she just appeared from the Twilight Forest one day. No name or anything, and he just took her in."

He nodded. "Yeah, I remember. She had that strange red hair and spoke to mushrooms like they could speak back. Everything about her was just so..."

"Foreign?" I said, smirking at him.

"Yeah... exactly." He smirked back at me. "It's always the weirdos who end up here."

"Tell me how you really feel." I teased.

0o0o

The next morning, Sips finally opened his eyes to find the other man lying beside him. The look on his face could melt the iciest heart. "You found him!"

I had fallen asleep in the chair, but his voice had jolted me awake and made Honeydew fall out of his chair. Rubbing my eyes, I looked to see him hovering over the sleeping man.

"Sjin." He shook him softly. "Wake up, Sjin."

"So, it is Sjin?" I said, happily. "Thank, Notch."

Sjin stirred and opened his eyes, only to be smothered by Sips in a hug. "Sjin..."

Surprise was written all over his face, but then he seemed to melt in his arms. "Sips... We are not in the ocean anymore..."

"Nope," His voice broke as he began to cry happy tears. "We made it, buddy."

It warmed my heart to see such a reunion, and Honeydew grinned even though he was still on the floor. "Aww."

Sips held him so tightly as if he would disappear again. "I thought I had lost you forever. When I couldn't reach your hand, I-"

"Shh," Sjin calmed him. "It's alright. I already know."

After everything that happened, they were happy to be together again, but their boat was gone and they were stuck on land. I wondered what they would do now.

"You can work for me, if you want." Honeydew said, days after they fully recovered from the shock. "I'll even let you borrow stuff to build another boat."

Sjin had loved the idea immediately, but Sips wasn't so sure. "Would you really be okay with that? I mean, we are just strangers."

Honeydew looked at me, knowing I was smirking before nodding. "Yeah, the more the merrier, right?"

"Yeah," Sips said, grinning. All of us exchanged happy looks. "Staying here would be great."

"Well, I guess we should welcome you properly then." He held out his hand. "Welcome to Minecraftia."

A/N: All of this is totally canon. Yeah… Just in case you're wondering, Sips and Sjin never did sail away, and eventually established Sipsco! The real company. The best company. How about a review, you beautiful person, you? ;)