Okay. I just want to clarify that this story is not on hiatus, but it just took me a really long time to write this. This is probably because of some writer's block, laziness, doing other things, and that stuff. I'm hoping that this will be the second-to-last chapter not including the epilogue. This story is never going on hiatus unless it says so in the description of the story, which I'm not planning on making it that way. This is a story that really needs to get done. IT'S BEEN OVER A YEAR! I'm, also noticing some plot holes that are kind of important but don't impact the outcome of the story. Yes, my characters have been eating food and drinking water/whatever these characters drink. Anyways, now to the chapter.

We both sit in silence for a while, staring at each other. Then Ant looks away, sighing. I look down and the tears begin to fall again. We sit there until Ant breaks the silence.

"You had a reason, didn't you?"

"I either had to fight him or face being teleported back. I didn't have a choice. I was originally going to knock him out, not kill him, but things didn't turn out that way."

Silence again. I know Ant is thinking many scenarios out in his head of what could have happened, but he won't think up the right one. Chim's death has a back story about its occurrence, and Ant doesn't know some of the most vital parts of the story. Parts that Ant needs to know before we face Notch again.

"This may be our last night Jordan," Ant says. "I want to know what happened. Why do you think staying up here is worth more than a life? Fighting Notch, risking everything. If I'm not wrong, you were the one talking about how hard this mission would be. Why are you motivated, Jordan? Why are you all of the sudden telling me that this mission is now more important than Chim's life, and you need to be here? From what I experienced so far, you're the one who was hesitant to go."

"It's a really long story," I say. "How long are you willing to listen?"

"It was that long of a battle?" Ant gives me a skeptical stare.

"No, but if you want all of your questions answered, then I need to start at the very beginning."

Ant bites his lip, then responds. "Okay. I'll listen and try not to judge. Start from the beginning."

So I tell Ant my story. All of it. How before my birth, Herobrine met my mom, and then they fell in love. I was born and given the name Captain Sparklez. The Nether mobs raised me to follow my father, which I loathed. I then told him about the night I ran away and my mother died. I built my house with Jerry at my side and then I ran into Ant. He introduced me to his friends and we bonded.

I then tell my side of the story about my first encounter with Herobrine since I ran away and why I jumped to the conclusion that Herobrine wasn't lying so quickly. I skip the recruitment part of the story because Ant knows about that part. I then tell him about my second encounter with Herobrine and delivering the letter.

"That seriously was you?" Ant exclaims. I give Ant a blank expression. "Sorry, continue."

I proceed to tell Ant about my doubts about the entire trip as we prepared to enter the Aether. How relieved I was when Ant suggested using his amulet. I also told him how I was amazed that it worked so well. I find the amulet unsettling for some reason, and now that I think about it, I always have since the day I met Ant(but I don't tell Ant about my feelings about the amulet). Overtime, I got used to the sick feeling, but it never went away.

"Where did you get the amulet?" I ask him.

"I've had it since birth," he says to me. "I don't know anything about its origins."

I then work up to the fight with Chim. How he caught me off guard and how he had actually been in the Aether to tighten security. When I told him why security was tightened, Ant gritted his teeth but let me continue. I then talked about the fight itself, but not in great detail. But I did describe how Chim knocked off my glasses and me swinging blindly to get the kill.

"I wasn't looking where I was swinging," I say. "The sun blinded me when my sunglasses were off. I grew up in the Nether, so I'm barely adjusted to the light in the Overworld, much less the Aether. I hit him with the flat of my blade, so I must have swung hard enough to deliver a fatal blow."

I tell him about the body. The regret and despair. I tell him about the emotional roller coaster of emotions that went through my mind. All of that doubt and fear in me that has built up for the last five years. Every secret, every bad memory, everything I had done to try to fit in with this world. Even though I have friends, I'm deep in isolation because no one would understand. My emotions swell through me and I start sobbing into Ant's shoulder.

Ant sits there awkwardly and then tries his best to assure me that everything will be all right. He knows about me, but he isn't shoving me away, perhaps because I need someone right now. We both relish in silence for a long time, thinking. I don't know what Ant is thinking. I lied to him about everything. I'm so scared of the truth, but the truth is what I need right now. It's what Ant deserved, so I gave it to him. I keep on sitting there, waiting, until Ant finally speaks up.

"I can get revenge for you lying to me later," he says. "But for now, we need a plan. Hopefully one that doesn't involve you losing your memory."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I respond. "I never lost my memory." Ant sits there shocked for a while, most likely concerned about my memory, so I continue talking. "But in all seriousness, the losing memory thing was a plan to scare the angels away from us and buy some time. I got the idea and Ryan tagged along with it. Angels are afraid of amnesia to the point where it drives Notch insane. A little something I learned from my dad."

"Any other tips from you dad that will be useful to us that you can remember?" Ant asks.

"Actually," I say. "Notch's memory powder sprung up a lot of memories I forgot about. For one, Notch's main weakness is his pride. He has an image of a perfect world constantly in his head that he shares with his people. Most people enjoy this type of world, and because Notch is used to this, he expects things to go his way. Obstacles are always squashed like a little bug, and now he wants that one annoying pesky bug, aka Herobrine, to finally vanish.

"Also, Notch's castle is guarded 24/7 by angels with guards changing every hour on the clock. It's the same in Herobrine's castle, except obviously not with angels. My father was afraid of the balance tipping, so everything about Notch and Herobrine are basically mirrored. Devils and angels, the Aether and the Nether, ect. Each with one ruler."

Ant sits there for a while pondering. "The imbalance was caused recently, but there's still something I don't get."

"What is that?" I ask.

"You're the son of Herobrine," Ant says. "But yet Notch has made no claim of having offspring. Shouldn't children affect the balance? And if so, where is this child?"

Why have I not thought of this before? Another child of the gods? I've always been unique, so knowing that there's a big possibility of another demigod is both disappointing and exciting. But then again, I has been so wrapped up in worrying about the mission that the possibility of another demigod didn't even come to mind.

"I guess we can sleep on it," I say. "We should rest for tomorrow."

"I guess," Ant says. He covers us with clouds deeper than we already were. "I guess we'll have to hope the cloud works. See you tomorrow."

"Good night." I lay down and instantly fall into a dreamless sleep asleep.

(Time lapse)

I wake up when the sun does, which is a good thing because the clouds do not offer enough protection to hide us from the angels in broad daylight. Probably because of how often clouds move or Ant couldn't judge how much cover we actually needed while in broad daylight when it was dark. I move the clouds to protect us more before a scouting group finds us. Being found is the last thing we need right now.

Ant is still sleeping, so my thoughts are my only company. Every once in a while, an angel passes us, but no angels spot us. I guess I'll have to wait and see what we do next. Ryan isn't here to form an amazing plan for us, so we'll have to rely on what my father taught me and Ant's knowledge as well. Hopefully we can actually pull this off. Fighting against a god will be tough. The final battle will be the battle that I reveal my powers, so hopefully this upcoming battle will be the final one. We had such a good plan, but it somehow went wrong. We entered with an unnoticeable amount of people, so how were we...

Wait. How were we discovered? We had a party of four, and Herobrine said three people plus me wouldn't be discovered in transportation to the Aether. But Notch knew someone who wasn't supposed to enter the Aether entered. How? I know Herobrine didn't intentionally give us wrong information, but there's something up. Notch should've thought an angel was entering the Aether, even with high security.

I ponder everything that happened recently when Ant wakes up. He looks at me for a while and holds my hand. We look up to the sky, noticing its beauty for the first time. A pure light blue illuminates the sky with some white and dark grey clouds swirls in the mix, with some shades of grey in between. Both the white and grey add its own beauty to the picture. The sun shines the brightest light. It is brilliant and beautiful but it hurts my eyes.

It takes a while before Ant speaks. "Well, what do we do now?"

"I don't know," I say. "We should start with trying to answer some questions. Then once we know more, we might be more well equipped to fight Notch."

Ant sighs. "Perhaps. Any theories about a child of Notch?"

"None," I reply. "All I thought of is another question."

"What is it?" Ant asks. "It might help us answer more questions."

"You know how I was supposed to travel to the Aether with three to four other people to enter the Aether undetected." Ant nods. "I brought three people, but Notch knew we were here. I know security was tightened and all, but we weren't supposed to be noticeable. Why were we?"

Silence again. I can tell Ant is in deep thought. Any theory that either proves Herobrine's deceit or his lack of knowledge is what we need. I can think of an explanation for either. Everything is mirrored, right? Same guards, same eating times, both have full command of their people, both worlds are mirrors. But all of Herobrine's followers knew about me. Notch never announced a child heir. There's only Jeb, who probably isn't Notch's child at all, but he is too old to have been my double. It's definitely someone else. But if a baby was never announced...

"We have to fight the final battle soon," Ant says. "Brainstorming is getting us nowhere."

"How about today we prepare?" I say. "Tonight, we confront Notch."

Ant sighs, looking in the distance. "Well," he says. "Waiting isn't going to do us any good. Might as well confront Notch tonight."

I sit down and cover myself with clouds. My mind wanders to home. Where is my home? Certainly it's not in the Nether, is it? But will I be able to go back to my old life after this mission? Would I be able to handle the guilt? Also, the thought of seeing everything after this battle, assuming I make it out alive. Chim, Ryan, Cave. They all had family and friends. And now their families and friends will mourn because of me.

Tears fall down again. Ant may never forgive me for not telling him the truth. Notch will forever be angry with me. Funny thing is I'm not too upset with Notch hating me but the idea of Ant hating me is crushing. Even though I really do deserve it. Fear is a funny thing. Fear is considered one emotion, but there are different kinds of fear. Fears that result in experience, random fears, fearing what you can't see, and so much more. And fear varies from person to person. Each person is unique and therefore has different fears.

The day goes by and not much is accomplished. Ant and I try to mentally and physically prepare ourselves but that doesn't really work. We brainstorm plans all morning and eventually give up around noon. We rack our brains for theories about the missing child of Notch but find none. Eventually, the sun goes down and Ant and I go to sleep. My mind throws thoughts around as I sleep, but I don't quite dream.

Ant and I wake up with the sun due to our anxiety. We prepare our weapons, making sure we don't forget anything. I look at the sky and realize my eyes don't quite hurt anymore with the light. I guess the Aether isn't as bright as I thought it was. I'm not shaking at the thought of fighting Notch like I thought I would be. In actuality, I feel calm. I guess I've always been destined to fight Notch. Ant on the other hand is nervous. But it won't help to worry about that. I hold Ant's hand to reassure him and we walk together to what we hope is the final battle.

Can I just say one of my greatest pet peeves with fan fiction? It's when people are catching other people on what's going on and they literally reiterate everything that happened in the story. I'm not talking about the way I did above, but when the entire events that occurred in the story are in one big fat paragraph surrounded like quotation marks so there's no imagination to how exactly the story was told and the story's summary is there and you didn't really have to summarize the whole story with all the details included when the audience already read like eight chapters of what that paragraph was about. I like the way I expressed Jordan telling Ant his story because I go into the parts of the story that Jordan tells Ant, but I don't go into detail about it and I let the audience know that there are some parts of the story that Jordan didn't tell Ant, and I tell the audience what those parts are. I also gave some of Ant's reactions to the story, which adds a bit of depth into the story in my opinion. Okay, nerd out!

-Sprinklez