WARNING: This chapter contains mentions of suicide.

Chapter 10:

Control

Katy's PoV:

After Aquarius left the room, its inhabitants slowly began to converse once more. Katy silently grabbed her best friend by the arm and brought him to the outskirts of the people.

"I still can't believe that we're in Minecraft," Bas admitted. He pushed aside the hair that had fallen in front of his face. It stubbornly returned. With a sigh, he tried again. "If you weren't here, I would think it's a dream."

"It's not normal Minecraft," Katy informed him. She readjusted the loincloth. "See the boy with the beanie?"

"Zalio?"

"No, Stone." He followed her gaze. "Would you believe me if I told you he was a pigman? Or that Lexal is actually two different souls in the same body?"

When Bas tried to catch a glance of the person in question, he received a glare from one of the two souls. "That's crazy," he whispered in disbelief. "How can that be possible?"

Katy couldn't offer a response. "Let's promise to only trust each other. We don't know anyone here. Who knows if they really are as good as they seem-" She stopped when she saw Télos and Hero making their way over.

"Hi, Katy!" Télos exclaimed. He was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You heard earlier, but I'm Télos, god of gold and ruler of the End because democracy takes way too long to be put into place. I'm also your god."

Télos nudged Hero. "Hero, you've got to smile. You're probably scaring your chosen," he stage-whispered. "Honestly, it's a wonder we're such good friends!" the god of gold finished with an exaggerated sigh and shake of his head.

"My name is Hero. I am the god of light." He gave a tiny smile, one that could be mistaken as a twitch of his lips. "I am glad to meet you, Sebastian Underwood."

The door to the room suddenly opened.

Aquarius was the first to enter the room. He nervously poked his head in. Silence quickly fell as his chosen followed silently behind him.

When the blue-haired man raised his head, Katy noticed that his eyes were bloodshot. He quietly closed the door behind him, and the two made their way over to the couch they had been sitting on.

Aquarius squeezed his hand as if to reassure him. "I'm sorry for lying to you all…" he apologized. He fell silent, unsure how he should continue.

"Start with y-your age," Aquarius suggested.

He nodded. "I'm fourteen. I'm turning fifteen next month."

His facial expression hidden by his mask, Aquarius simply put his thumbs up. His chosen glanced around the room with anxious blue eyes.

"My real name is Elizabeth Hardy."

Bas' PoV:

She had always been in his memories, ever since he was a child. His mother had been employed to the Hardy family as one of their several housekeepers. It was through this job that he met Katy and Renee. Katy was the daughter of one of the cooks, and Renee the daughter of one of the gardeners.

When he first had noticed Elizabeth Hardy, he was terrified. Her little pale face, and the way that she clutched her small teddy bear looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

Up until she turned ten – two years before the incident – she had never joined the three close friends. She would simply watch from afar with a longing that didn't belong in a child. She would always smile at them when noticed, but it never reached her eyes.

After many years, she finally tried joining them. He regretted how they didn't try to include her more. They thought that because she was the child of two rich and famous people, she would have a gigantic amount of friends from the private school she attended.

But they were so, so, so wrong. He should have noticed, he later berated himself. They were the only people that she had. When her limp and unconscious body was discovered in her bedroom, the explanation for why she had slipped into a coma was a heartbreaking one – she had attempted suicide.

And two years later, exactly one week before he had found himself in Minecraft, he had seen something even more heartbreaking. He had known that the Hardy family had gone on a trip, but hadn't realized the reason for their sudden departure. "Scandal!" the tabloids called out in big red letters. "Hardy family kills daughter!"

They had murdered her several weeks before. Money had been a strain on them, it was revealed, and the argument was that Elizabeth Hardy had wanted to die two years before.

"You're not her," Bas whispered. The blue-haired man stared at him with dull blue eyes. "You can't be. I don't know why you're lying about being her, but she's dead!"

The blue eyes widened. "But I'm right here!" came the horrified response. "I'm not dead! I can't be dead!" He looked around the room. "I swear that I'm telling the truth!" When no one answered him, he frantically began to check his pulse.

Lexal got to their feet.

Liz's PoV:

She pressed her fingers up against her neck, her heart pounding so loud in her chest that she was sure Aquarius could hear it. "I'm not dead," she managed to get out. She fought back tears as she felt her pulse underneath her fingers.

"Elizabeth?"

She looked up. The person before her was not one she expected to see. She expected Télos, Katy, or possibly even Hero, but the one that stood in front of her was none other than Lexal.

"You can be dead on Earth and alive on Minecraftia."

"Why are you being so kind to me?" she couldn't help but ask. Her mind was still reeling in shock from what she had just learned. "Earlier you were swearing at anyone who tried talking to you."

He sighed. "That was Aleks. I'm Lex. We share the same body. His body, to be honest," Lex quietly explained. "I'm from Earth too. I died in a car crash. That's how I know that you can be living here and not on Earth."

Tears began to spill over. She hated how much she was crying, but there was no helping it. She had nothing to return to. She was stuck on Minecraft, when returning to Earth had been her one reason for living.

But could her life on Earth have been considered living? She was little more than a hollow shell that quietly followed her parent's orders. If her mother wanted her to wear a dress, she would, despite wanting to wear a t-shirt and jeans. If her father wanted her to attend a prestigious private school, she would, despite wanting to go to Sebastian's school.

Her life on Minecraftia still controlled her. She had taken on the role of a god for the villagers because they needed one and she would feel horrible if she let them down. Yet she was in control of her life. There was no one stopping her from getting ice cream when she felt like. No one dictated her outfits and the way she acted. And two of the three people she had cared about on Earth were here with her.

She wiped her tears away with the end of her scarf.

On Earth, she was alone. On Earth, people ignored her. On Earth, no joked with her. On Earth, no one cared.

But on Minecraftia, she had a best friend who didn't hate her for her lies. But on Minecraftia, people wanted to talk to her, despite being different. And on Minecraftia, Aquarius cared about her.

To everyone's surprise, a smile spread across her face.