Ender awoke slowly that morning. For about an hour he was half asleep before he actually awoke. When he did fully awaken, he realized that Creeps had scooted closer to him and had snuggled close to him. As of now, the little creeper was asleep still. Ender, now knowing where Creeps was, mostly because Creeps had decided at some point in the night to use his chest as a pillow, felt relaxed and started to drift off again.
At least until the door suddenly opened, scaring the living daylights out of the young enderman. Creeps awoke with a start, then snuggled close to him.
"Get up, you two," a voice commanded them. The voice came from a player standing just outside the door to their room. "You must be fed."
Ender sat up slowly, Creeps had turned around and buried his face in a blanket. Ender had to practically pry the other child off of the bed just to leave.
They were lead down the hall and into a large room filled with tables, and hundreds upon hundreds of other monsters such as themselves. Creeps's eyes widened in amazement, before they were told to sit by the player that had taken them there. After they sat down, Ender scanned the crowd quietly, searching for Herobrine. He saw him at a far off table, whispering to a group of mobs. Ender presently wondered what they were talking about.
After they had eaten, every mob in the area was sent to a different room, large enough that every one of them had adequate room to move around. "This place is HUGE," Creeps whispered to Ender, who laughed in response. They ended up being stuck in that room for a while. Ender sat against a wall, his injured leg still made it hard for him to stand up for long periods of time. Creeps climbed onto his lap and sat there, closing his eyes. "Still tired?" Ender asked him, poking the child in the ribs. Creeps nodded, eyes still closed. Ender began to look around for Herobrine, who eventually found the two.
"Hey, Ender, how's your leg?" the white-eyed Minecraftian asked as he sat next to them. "Better than it was," Ender replied, Creeps suddenly jumped and opened his eyes. "You scared me!" he said to Herobrine, who laughed loudly in response. "Geez, sorry. Didn't know that creepers were so easily startled," he snickered. Creeps looked away, slightly angered.
Herobrine then said, "Oh, by the way, I made some new friends while we've been stuck here. Come on, I'll introduce them to you."
Ender started to have a strange feeling that this wasn't just a normal group of friends.
Herobrine simply dragged him over there, said, "Hey, guys, these two are with us now," and then they all sat on the floor so Ender wouldn't have to stand on his sore leg.
"Man, those Hunters really screwed you up, didn't they?" remarked one of the mobs in the group, a skeleton. Ender nodded shyly, avoiding eye contact.
Another enderman was looking at him curiously. "You kind of look familiar…" the other enderman said, continuing to stare at Ender, which made him feel uncomfortable. Ender said nothing, hoping that then stranger wouldn't recognize that he had indeed killed someone.
"So, what exactly are we doing here?" a very short, female Wither Skeleton asked Herobrine.
A small grin suddenly spread into a wide smile on Herobrine's face. "Simple," he said. "We're going to break out of this dump."
Most of the group wholeheartedly agreed, while Ender and Creeps were lost in shocked silence. "You mean… Like… Escape?" Creeps asked, staring at the white-eyed player with a look of curiosity and wonder.
Herobrine nodded. "Exactly," he said, still smiling.
"Wh-what happens when w-we get c-c-caught?" Ender stuttered.
"Not 'when', you negative piece of crap," Herobrine stated, lightly thwacking Ender in the back of the head. "It's 'if'. And IF we get caught? If any of you get caught, fight like you mean it. I'm serious."
"And WHY are we listening to a child?" the skeleton from earlier muttered. Herobrine simply glared at him and said, "Alright, fine. You want to do this by yourself? Go right ahead."
That managed to shut him up for a while.
"W-we need some sort of p-plan," Ender said, getting kind of annoyed with himself because he was stuttering so much.
"Screw planning!" screamed a nearby creeper. "I want OUT! WHO'S WITH ME?!"
All of the other mobs in the room, and some guards as well, turned to stare at the group.
"Uh oh," Creeps whimpered. Ender tightened his grip on the little creeper as guards started to close in on the group.
"Nice going, Carson!" the skeleton from before bellowed, slapping the other creeper in the face. "Now we're done for!"
Herobrine leapt up and tackled the closest guard with an enraged scream, fighting for all he was worth. Ender raised a hand, summoned a ball of water…. Then promptly blew a huge hole through several walls. Alarms were blaring, and mobs were screaming and running towards freedom.
Ender grabbed Herobrine by the wrist as soon as he was about to land another punch to the guard's face.
"We're leaving, he said bluntly, then hoisted Herobrine to his feet and started running as fast as his one good leg could take him.
"Ender, your leg! What about the-" Creeps screamed over the loud resonance of shouting voices, Ender reassured him with a "We'll take care of it later"
The young enderman suddenly got hit by someone hard and fell forward. Turns out a guard had caught up to the two of them and hit Ender in the back of the head with the handle of his sword. Creeps flew out of his arms as Ender fell and slid across the cement floor, getting several cuts and scrapes in the process.
Ender's head was pounding with pain, and the determination to escape. The guard angrily kicked Ender in the face as he lay there, Creeps screamed for him to get up and keep running, worried.
Ender stood. Summoning a few icicles, he trapped his assailant by pinning him to a nearby wall, then kept running, scooping up Creeps.
He was jerked back suddenly by another guard, who then threw him onto the ground roughly. Ender landed on his back hard, feeling his breath being forcefully knocked out of his lungs, and before he knew it, there was a sword bring aimed at his throat.
"You WILL stand down, enderman," snarled the guard fiercely, eyes narrowing at the young creeper in his arms. Ender's head ached, but he knew that he wanted,no, needed to escape.
Ender kneed the new challenger where it hurt, then rolled out from underneath them and hurled himself upright, bounding over pieces of stone bricks, chunks of wood, and other debris from the blown-open walls. He saw daylight.
"We're… Almost there," he said to Creeps, who was clinging to him for dear life. "We're… Almost… Out…."
That's when it happened.
Something struck his ribs so hard that he felt something snap. A sharp pain resonated from the area as he fell with a strangled cry, landing face first as Creeps was flung from his arms a second time. Ender could hardly breathe after he fell to the floor. Every breath felt like torture.
Ender looked up and gasped.
The mysterious collector himself stood above him, wearing an intimidating set of iron gloves, his brown hair messy and his signature tuxedo dirtied with blood.
"Well, look who we have here," the man said, giving Ender a cold look that made him feel a pang of guilt. No… Sorrow. That he had basically failed. Failed to get Creeps out of such an unsafe environment, failed to allow the young creeper child to see sunlight again. The man suddenly kicked the young enderman in the side once more, another snap of what Ender assumed to be a rib breaking. Ender tried to call for help, but the pain was too great. His voice would not come out. Ender coughed, heaving up a dark, scarlet red liquid.
Blood.
"Such a shame," the man continued as Ender stared at his blood-covered hand in shock. "You and the creeper child were two of my favorite pieces in my collection."
"You…. Promised…"
Ender's voice was weak, raspy. But the hurt in his voice was clear as day. "You promised you… Wouldn't… Hurt… H-him…"
Ender coughed hard, heaving up more blood.
"You promised your compliance in return. And what have you done instead? Blown holes through the walls of my precious fortress. Fought off the guards that fed you, cared for you. Caused all of the pieces in my collection to betray me, their true master. Now… You will pay the price…"
The man raised a foot to crush Ender's skull, but suddenly a screaming blur tackled him to the floor, snarling with rage.
It was Herobrine.
White eyes ablaze in the poor lighting of the breached compound, dark, inky fluid flowing from them. The man didn't even really seem all that fazed by his efforts, he grabbed the boy by the wrist and threw him off of himself, sending Herobrine tumbling onto the debris covered floor.
"You as well?" asked the collector, calmly stepping over chunks of wood and stone to reach Herobrine. "Pity. I had quite the liking for you as well. A white eyed Minecraftian is a rare find indeed."
Ender was slowly trying to stand. I can't let Creeps be trapped here anymore. I have to get out. WE have to get out.
He suddenly heard Creeps's voice.
His head automatically turned to see Creeps shakily standing, calling for help. For anyone's help.
Ender suddenly felt a foot being placed on his back, holding him to the floor.
"Ender was your name, yes?"
The man's voice came from above him. His foot moved to Ender's side and flipped him over so that their eyes met. Dark brown eyes seemed to bore into Ender's soul. His vision blurred dangerously.
"Not that it matters now. I wonder what I should do now… Kill you, and make your little friends watch?"
With a wave of his gloved hand, guards suddenly walked into Ender's field of view. Two holding a very battered Herobrine back by the wrists, and one holding Creeps in a headlock.
"Or, should one of them die first? The creeper child, maybe?"
The guard holding Creeps tightened his hold on the young creeper's neck. Creeps cried out in protest, and worry for Ender and Herobrine, who both by this time were a bloody mess.
Something in Ender gave way as soon as he heard Creeps fearfully scream.
His restraint.
No longer would he lay there and watch as people died all around him. Especially not Creeps.
Ender flung himself up onto his feet, a guttural scream wrenched itself free from his throat as he summoned his blade and shield, attacking.
No mercy. Not for someone who thinks of me and my friends as objects.
He forgot about the pain from his most likely broken ribs. The stitches in his injured leg popped open but he didn't care. He flung himself at his new worst enemy and started attacking over and over, blocking all of except for a few counterattacks with his shield.
He suddenly received a hard blow to the temple, he saw stars as he hit the floor. His feeling of pain returned, so intensely that he tried to cry out. Nothing came out.
As for his opponent, he was covered in deep cuts and stab wounds, and one of his arms had dislocated and was dangling free from its socket. The man that had imprisoned the three children was swaying, most likely due to blood loss and shock.
Ender still stood, despite a having a pounding headache, among other worse injuries. He blindly felt for Creeps, who clambered up into Ender's arms.
He took off running, bounding through holes in the walls until he was once again outdoors. The cool, fresh air stopped Ender like a brick wall.
Ender fell, releasing Creeps. Creeps fell hard onto the grass, with a small "oof" that would have been more comedic in a less tense situation than the one they were currently in.
Ender gasped for air, but it was quickly being denied to him from the stabbing, sharp pains in his chest. He struggled to breathe. Every breath, every small twitch of a muscle brought nothing but pain. He felt as his chest, the blood from his wounds made his hands slick.
He could hear Creeps sobbing, trying to heal him, but not being able to focus enough to do it. Ender eventually noticed that Creeps had given up, settling for cuddling up next to him, crying. Everything reeked of blood.
I'm dying, Ender realized. I might not ever get to see the sky, or the moon, or anything ever again. This is it.
He felt lightheaded and nauseous. The world spun and swayed in front of him.
Then everything went black.