Chapter 21: Tainted

Warning Tags: Mention of Body Parts and Blood

Throughout the large forest, the split up Team Crafted members and non-members desperately search through the thickets of the trees to find and regroup with the others. Among the lost Minecrafters, Husky is with Jason and Ian, Sky is with Seto, Dawn is with Amity, Butter, and Inker, Bash is with Bonkers and PewFace, WeedLion is with Blue Monkey and GoldSolace, Bodil is with Simon and Baki, Ant is with Cupquake, Nooch, and Woofless, Sierra is with Alix and Via, and Caveman is with Preston. The other famous Youtubers are nowhere to be seen or heard of, but have probably most likely escaped.

Amongst the lost Minecrafters, Mitch appears out of the dense forest with his faithful dog in front of him while he carries Jerome in his arms, refusing to stop and let his arms rest even though he could feel the burning feeling of carrying his best friend for a moderate amount of time.

Mitch glanced down at his best friend, hoping that Jerome can hold out for just a few more minutes. However, the irregular rising and falling of the Bacca's chest didn't ease Mitch's strained nerves and only encourages him to go faster.

After a few more minutes of running blindly through the woods and hoping to bump into someone who can help, Nacho picks up the scent of nearby Minecrafters. He stops running and intensely sniffs the ground, Mitch skids to a stop and confused as to why his dog has stopped running. "What's wrong, boy?", Mtich said, only taking a quick glance at the gray dog before returning his sight back to his unconscious friend. Nacho replies while moving his nose around "I've gotten ahold of several scents nearby. Two females, one male...in that direction!"

Nacho continues with his nose in the west direction, his body going ridged with his robotic paw lifted off of the ground. Mitch follows the direction of where his dog is pointing towards. After brushing past several branches, jumping over a couple of fallen trees, and running over several bushes, Mitch leaps out of the forest and finds himself in a very secluded part of the forest where almost no trees grew, just an plain field with a small lake.

However, in the field, Mitch looks ahead and feels a glimmer of hope when he sees Sierra, Alix, and Via make their way across the clearing, looking everywhere for some Minecrafter to come to their help. "Guys!", Mitch cried out, getting their attention and makes them all turn their heads. Mitch makes his way over to them, Nacho trailing behind him afterwards. The Minecrafters turn towards the Canadian as he reaches them. Via steps forward and exclaims "Mitch! You're okay!"

"Yeah, but there's no time to explain! I need your help, Via! Jerome was attacked by someone! I found him in a puddle of a purple substance!", Mitch replies back in panic. Via approaches him and closely analyzes the Bacca still carried in his arms. While running her hands through his fur, she pulls one of her hands away and stained on the surface of her skin is a purple substance. Looking closely at the substance, she immediately realizes that it's none other than the Taint. She shudders before pulling out a rag and wipes the Taint off of her palm furiously.

While she's doing this, she tells Mitch "I think Jerome got Tainted. Hurry and place him near one of the trees here. Luckily, I have the essential supplies in my backpack to at least lower the levels of the Taint he may have in his system". Mitch does as she says and places Jerome near a close tree. Via hurries over to where the two warriors are at and starts pulling out supplies. Mitch quickly remembers his sisters pulling out her Taint-stained hand and asks her in worry "Wait, what about you? Will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine, Mitch. The Taint can only get you infected if it's injected or ingested. It's practically useless if it gets in your skin. You can easily wipe it off", Via explained, quickly getting to work on providing some type of help to prevent Jerome from getting even more infected than he already is. Mitch steps back and lets his sister get to work.

Meanwhile, he turns back to Sierra and Alix, Alix is busy setting up a fire while Sierra gathers up some wood. Mitch seats himself on the ground as Alix starts a fire, surrounded by rocks and several sticks to keep it burning. "Well, there's no use in traveling deeper into the forest. We'll just stick here for the time being until someone comes to rescue us", Alix said, sitting on the ground as well and looks at the blazing fire in front of him. Alix sighs heavily as he runs his mechanical hand through his messy hair.

Mitch gazes at the half-bionic man and notices the metal parts attached to his once scorched body. He asks Alix "So, how are you holding out with the metal parts on you?"

Alix glances at the warrior and responds calmly "Well, it took me some adjusting and the fact that I'm now only 50% human now, but I shouldn't let it get to me. Right now, I'm even more worried if eventually, all of us will be *static* CORRUPTED *static* by the time we're able to stop Herobrine". Mitch blinks his eyes in confusion when he hears the demented and harsh voice that erupted from Alix during his statement. What's more, the metallic part of him spark violently and turning both his robotic eye and his normal eye into serpent-shaped pupils. But when it sparked again, his eyes returned to normal. Mitch is a bit worried about the miner's welfare and asks him "Alix, dood...are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?", Alix questioned, wondering about Mitch's sudden worry towards his well being. Mitch replies with "You just said 'Corrupted' in a very demonic voice. You can't remember?"

"No. Huh...that's so weird. Ever since Oceanus removed that chip from my head, I felt more in control of myself. I can't understand why that would happen...that is, unless someone *static* NEEDS TO DIE *static* decided to put another chip in my head", Alix answered, shaking his head slightly. Mitch stares in shock as the same thing happens again to the miner.

"You just did it again!", Mitch exclaims.

"What? Mitch, are you sure you're not just fooling around?", Alix questioned, thinking that the Canadian might be pulling a trick on him to make him worry. Mitch shakes his head side to side before explaining "I saw what I saw, Alix. I would never lie about what I saw".

"Oh...I...I think I should lay down", Alix said, grasping the front of his hair. Mitch states to him "Yeah, maybe you should. Maybe all of this chaos that's happening to us to starting to make you crazy".

"Maybe...", Alix said with a brief chuckle. The Minecrafter lays against a nearby log and rests his body against it. Mitch looks in wonderment, thinking what could be causing

Alix's sudden burst of anger and disturbing statements that come and go whenever he talks.

At that moment, Sierra returns with a stack and wood and is curious when she sees Alix resting upon the log a few feet away from the fire. She looks over to Mitch and asks him "Hey Mitch. What's wrong with Alix? Is he sick?"

"No, I just told him that he would need some rest because earlier...well...he said some very weird things when I talked to him", Mitch admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Sierra sits down next to him as she places the stack of wood away and questions "Like what?"

"Well, during when I was talking to him, the robot part on his head sparked two times and he said in a very demonic voice 'corrupted' and 'needs to die'. Something is definitely worrying about that", Mitch replied back, glancing over at Alix as the miner is fast asleep on the log. Sierra sighs deeply before saying "I hope it doesn't have to do with the Taint. The last thing we need now is another person getting infected". Mitch winces slightly when he is reminded about the infection of the Taint. He glances over back to his friend and sees the Bacca resting against the tree while Via works endlessly on him, injecting antibodies into his system through needles and places a wet rag on his head.

"Please, Jerome. You're a tough Bacca. We've been through so much together and if I were to lose you like I lost Connor...I don't know what I would even do anymore", Mitch thought to himself, lowering his head and lets out a deep sigh.

Meanwhile, in the abandoned city of Blocktropolis, three black cloaked figures walk slowly towards the desolate streets, only things that are surfaced on the streets is thousands and thousands of body parts or dead bodies. Blood is stained almost everywhere in the city, from the sidewalks to the sewers that are just overflowing with so much blood. At the very beginning of the city where bodies or body parts started and never seemed to end, the three figures stop in their tracks and look over their surroundings.

"Wow...Enderlox did a real number on these Sky Army recruits", Sigma said, glancing around with his aqua-blue eyes at the multiple bodies and the half-destroyed buildings that still managed to stand tall.

"Same can be said here", Alpha replied, kicking a nearby severed human head out of his way.

"Well, we must do what Herobrine said. We must revive these deceased recruits into Dead Army recruits...and I have just the right power for this occasion", Zeta said, looking at the other men before pulling out his hand and causes a purplish glow to appear in his palm. He yanks his hand back and throws a glowing sphere radiating Taint into the air. The glowing orb starts flying throughout the city, sprinkling the streets with Taint and getting the infectious toxin into the body parts or deceased recruits.

Like a wildfire, the Taint begins to spread everywhere and begins infecting the bloody bodies of the city. Out of the thousands of recruits, one recruit, who had his limbs ripped from his body, is lying dead on the streets when his ripped limbs begin to make their way back to him. His arms crawl using their hands while his legs stood upright and make short jumps towards the body.

All four limbs connect themselves onto the body, then the deceased recruit starts to ascend to his feet. While he is, his butter armor quickly changes into a dark and purple colored armor. It starts from his boots and a purplish glow starts traveling all the way up to his helmet. When the recruit opens his eyes, they are nothing but two streams of a light and dark purple colors while the center of his eyes are a void-filled eye color. The male recruit slowly turns to see three hooded men standing across from him. He looks in blank surprise as multiple bodies begin to stand in the streets, every single male and female Sky Army recruits have now been transformed and corrupted into Dead Army recruits. Recruits come out from everywhere, from the shattered windows from the buildings to crawling out of the sewers and soaked in blood.

The Dead Army recruits begin to gather in large groups, some stand at the very top of buildings and stare down at the hooded men standing at the entrance to the now over populated city. Zeta glance at both Sigma and Alpha, who nod at him before looking back at the recruits staring at them with dead eyes. Zeta looks out with his bright and white eyes and raises a hand, getting the attention of every single Dead Army recruit standing where they are. Even the recruits miles away from the others at the start of Blocktropolis stare outward, sensing that someone needs their attention.

Zeta looks around to make sure that every recruit is at attention. He steps forward and climbs on top of a destroyed car, easily keeping his balance on the heavily dented hood of the car. He glances up and begins to preach "My fellow Dead Army recruits...you all were once known as Sky Army recruits, but not anymore. From this moment forward, you all have no names. You have no past. You have no family. You have no purpose in life. All that you have now...is a new way of life that will be setting in once the Dead Army has reached its full potential. Every single one of you...will now be known by a number. Our orders came from the one known as Herobrine, the man with no visible eyes or a heart of gold. He is the one who will be leading us into a new era in which the Taint controls everything and that by law, every living soul out there, whether it be a human or hybrid, male or female, adult or child, will be infected with the Taint, willing or by force. And once infected, they will experience a vision, of their past and what the future holds for them. And in the end...they will represent a Negative Feeling, Emotion, or if they are lucky...a Sin, even. You all represent the Negative Feeling of Death. Even Death cannot surpass when it comes to Emotions or Sins. With this Negative Feeling, you will take orders from Herobrine and his minions at all times. Those who are willing to do what he says will granted with the positions of either Scout, Commander, or General. Those who defy him and refuse to take orders...will be killed slowly and tortuously. But even torture won't be enough to deliver the slow-killing pain to those who feel that they have a much higher chance of defying the once powerful God of the Nether and getting away with it. Those type of actions will not be tolerated. And when an order is given to any of you, you are to follow it as that is your only purpose in life...taking orders and causing death to every place in this entire world and to anyone who thinks that they can fight us off. Now, I feel like I've explained everything that you all need to know. Does every...single...one of you...understand...what purpose is now?"

At the same time, every single Dead Army recruit nod their heads once, their eyes remain emotionless as their mouths are nothing but a straight line.

Zeta jumps off of the car and approaches his comrades, but not before turning to the recruits and states to them "Then, follow my fellow assassins and I to your new home...your permanent home". He looks at the others and nods before beginning to walk away from the city. Slowly, the Dead Army recruits begin to follow the hooded men out of the city, walking in the same style as zombies would. Some of the recruits drag one of their feet while others stumble with their heads hanging off on their shoulder. The recruits standing on the rooftops of buildings slowly make their way down metal stairs attached to the sides of the crumbling buildings.

The three hooded men just walk quietly down a path as 999,999 Dead Army recruits are trailing right behind them. The men don't even seem to know that not all one million recruits are present. One was missing...and had survived Enderlox's onslaught against the former Sky Army recruits.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the depths of the forest, Amor endlessly trots down the path where the former Sky Army recruits had taken before being their doomed fate, then come back from the dead as now Dead Army recruits. The mare glances over her shoulder and sees Aver still fast asleep on her back, a frown on his face as Amor can hear him whimper and toss his head to the other side. She sense that he was having a nightmare.

The mare stops in her tracks and reaches over to the man, rubbing her muzzle against his head. Aver groans as he awakens and quickly jerks his head up, panting heavily as he looks around. He glances down and sees that he is still on Amor. Aver sighs in relief as he rubs his eyes to wake himself up. He tells the mare "Ugh...sorry, Amor. I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamt that I was the one amongst the recruits who got killed by Enderlox. You know, I'm still wondering how out of every single recruit out there who have done their job better than I did, I was the only one who made it out alive".

Amor neighs softly at him. Aver gives her a sad smile before saying "I'll be fine, Amor. I just really need to find my friends. I'll be safe with them and not get infected with the Taint. Let's get going". Amor nods before looking ahead and resumes trotting down the path, Aver grasps her blond mane and looks down at her shoulder with a blank expression.

After a few more minutes of the mare trotting down the path, she suddenly stops walking and begins looking around. Aver lifts his head up and asks her "What is it, girl? What's wrong?" Amor looks to the right and neighs in exclamation, nodding her head urgently. Aver glances over to his right and can faintly see the glow of a fire several feet away from him. He grins and says "Oh, thank Notch. I think we found someone who can help us. Come on, Amor!"

Amor neighs in response and starts galloping in the right direction and towards the orange glow. Aver, however, ducks as he and Amor pass several branches hanging overhead as Amor gallops with all of her might. Aver ducks his head to avoid a branch and smiles triumphantly, only to get smacked in the face by another branch. He groans in pain as he decides to lower his body against Amor's back, rubbing his aching face.

Eventually, Amor leaps out of the forest and ends up in the clearing where Mitch, Via, Sierra, Alix, and Jerome are staying at. Aver lifts his head up and smiles when he sees his friends. Sierra is the first to look up and sees Amor padding towards them with Aver on her back. "Aver? What happened?", Sierra asked in shock, getting to her feet and takes a few steps forward, Mitch glances up and Alix is awaken and looks at the mare as well. Aver jumps off of the mare's back as he shakes a few leaves from his hair before exclaiming in fear "Oh man, it was so crazy, Sierra! So there I was, running down to catch up with the fleeing recruits, then out of nowhere, this glowing dragon flies out of nowhere and scares the crap out of everyone. I was still trying to catch up with the others, so I took a different path instead of the path that Sky told us to take by following Storm. I get there and I was probably the last person to reach the army, and the next thing I see is a thousand heads popping off of every recruit's body. I-I-I couldn't even describe the horror and terror that I witnessed and I was lucky to have gotten out of there with my life! When I looked around, I saw nothing but bodies and heads bleeding out all around me. Luckily, Amor found me and brought me here to find some help".

"Geez, that's terrible! Are you alright?", Sierra asked in worry, turning her head for a moment to see Via approaching behind Aver to see what the commotion is about before turning back to the half-devil man. Aver states to her as he rubs his scar "Other than a very painful and bothersome scar, I'm alright".

"Well, we aren't doing to do out here, either. We all got attacked and separated by Nero, Seto is back and not corrupted somehow, we're still looking for help, Via accidentally killed someone, and-", Sierra begins to explain, but Aver abruptly cuts her off by exclaiming in shock "Whoa! Wait! Via killed somebody?!"

He looks behind himself and sees Via standing there with a shocked expression. He grasps her arms and exclaims to her "You killed a person?! Dang, that's gotta be the first time I heard that one of my friends brutally murdered someone with no remorse or even the slightest of regret shown in their eyes. Was the person evil or tried to rob you? And most importantly, who was it that you killed?"

"Aver!", Sierra exclaims at him, making him turn to her as she frantically shakes her hand across her neck, telling him to drop it and not bring it up. However, the damage had already been done as Via is brought to tears again and glances away. Aver looks at her and is immediately stuck with confusion as he sees the winged woman looks away from him, tears begin to cascading. He hears Via take a short-lived breath before looks up at him with teary eyes and with her voice breaking, she manages to stutter out "I...I...I did kill someone, Aver. But out of all of the years that I've battled foes, I...I could never imagine that I would actually kill a person...and not feel bad about it. But...but it wasn't an evil person...nor was it a robber. I...I...I KILLED OCEANUS BY ACCIDENT!"

Via breaks out in sobs as she takes off, running away with her eyes covered. Everyone by the fire stares in shock, then slowly glare at Aver. Aver looks around and is shocked when he sees everyone looking at him with enraged looks. "What?! I didn't frickin' know! Besides, Oceanus is the last person I would suspect of getting killed in this fight against the Taint and our freedom. More or less, get accidentally killed by his own apprentice".

"You know, Aver...you should really take caution to other's feelings before you decide to break them", Mitch growled, furious with the man for making his sister cry over the past situation that she and Oceanus had dealt with. "And in case you're wondering if my sister is a murderer or not, she and Oceanus got into a confrontation with Enderlox. And in the conflict, she accidentally stabbed Oceanus and only meant to stab Enderlox out of self-defense for herself and protection for her mentor".

"Okay, geez...I'm sorry. I wasn't aware of that", Aver said, raising his hands in defense for himself.

"You don't sound like it", Alix added in, lifting himself off of the log. "If you want a eased mind, respect from us again, and Via doesn't get her spirit more shattered than it already is...go apologize to her. Otherwise, you'll never *static* LIVE TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY *static* get through this war between us and Herobrine". Sierra and Aver are both shocked by the demonic voice that erupted out of nowhere from Alix. The miner shakes his head again and frowns again, having lost his train of thought.

"Okay...I'm just gonna...go find her and...apologize", Aver said unsteady, stepping backwards before heading off into the woods to find where Via had ran off to. Sierra sighs as she shakes her head, but turns her attention to Amor and walks up to the mare. She gently pets the mare on her muzzle and says to her "Well, thanks for bringing Aver to us, Amor. I'm glad to see that you're safe".

Amor neighs softly back to her, but then, the mare gets a worried look in her eyes before looking away from Sierra and glancing into the forest. She lets out a loud neigh that echoes through the never-ending night, in worry about where her mate is and why he hasn't come back for her. Sierra walks up until she is up to the mare's neck and questions to her "What's wrong, Amor?" The mare looks over at her and lets out a sad nicker before looking back at the forest.

"Oh...I forgot. You were with Storm", Sierra said, realizing that Amor and Storm may have gotten separated from each other during the chaos with the recruits. She gently places a hand on the mare's neck before gently explaining to her "Don't worry, Amor. Storm will turn up eventually. He's a strong stallion". Amor gives her a sad smile before quickly losing it, too worried about the safety of her mate to feel any comfort from anyone or anything at the moment.

Meanwhile, a few yards away from where the clearing is, Via is laying against a tree, crying her eyes out after being reminded about what she did. She lifts her head up and glances up at the night sky, seeing the Blood Moon still holding its position in the sky. She sniffs before wiping away her tears, then her sadness turns into anger. She knew that she wasn't responsible for Oceanus's death. She knew too well that the Ender Dragon was the one who caused his death. And she knew that if she sees the dragon again, she is going to give him the same fate that she accidentally bestowed on her mentor instead of him.

"I'll get you, Ender Dragon. You're just using Ty as your own personal puppet to make it look like that he is being the bad guy", Via hissed to herself. She sighs heavily before taking a look at her still-healing wings, catching a glimpse of the exposed bone on both of her wings. When she looks up at the Blood Moon again, she immediately notices something standing on a nearby spruce tree.

Standing in one of the high branches is a medium-sized predatory bird. From what Via can see from the light coming down on the tree from the Blood Moon, she quickly sees that it's a hawk. The hawk has a dark-gray razor-sharp beak, along with a pair of purple eyes that always seem to be in a downward glare. Along with a built body of feathers and a pair of long wings, the hawk holds itself with sharp talons grasping the branch. Via looks in awe as the hawk ruffles with its feathers on its chest for a moment before darting its eyesight forward before looking down and sees a female Minecrafter sitting a few feet away from it.

At first, the hawk is startled by the appearance of a human in its territory, but when the hawk sees the bandaged-up wings slightly wavering on the woman's back, the hawk takes an interest in the human below it. The large bird turns its body slightly before proceeding to open up its large wings and starts flying in the air. Via watches with interest as the hawk glides towards her before slowing down its movements and stands a few feet away from her, steadying itself as it curls up its wings again. The hawk stares at the woman, its purple eyes glowing brightly in the dark.

"Wow...hey there", Via said, slowly leaning out a hand towards the hawk. The bird backs away from her hand, sensing that it might be a threat. Via gently explains "It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. I have wings just like you. Well, I mean...if I could use them if they weren't bandaged-up, but you know what I mean".

The hawk takes a look at her extended hand for a moment, then slowly steps forward with its sharp talons and feet and slowly lifts one of its feet to grasp ahold of her hand. The hawk slightly flaps its wings as it balances itself as it lifts its other foot before being able to balance itself on Via's hand. Via slowly brings her hand with the hawk towards her, gazing in amazement as she is able to get a closer look at the hawk. Its feathers lie in union with each other on the bird's body, gray marks tip the ends of the feathers.

"Wow...you're a beautiful hawk, aren't you?", Via questions in awe, raising her other hand and gently strokes the hawk on its head. The bird shuts its eyes and lets the human pet its head. Via thinks out loud "I wonder if you're a boy or a girl". The hawk glances at the human and lets out a short high-pitched screech. Via is startled by the sudden action from the large bird. However, Via takes quick notice of the hawk's different pitch when it screeched. She questions towards the hawk "So...you're a girl?"

The hawk glances at Via, and Via could swear she could see the hawk turning its beak into a faint upward grin. Via smiles back at the hawk before stating "Well, if you're gonna be with me, you'll need a name. Something...mysterious, something that says that you're not scared of anything". Via looks up at the sky and sees the darkness that never seems to go away, feeling like the night never ends. The sight of this gives Via an idea towards a name.

"I think I'll call you...Midnight", Via says, turning her gaze back to the hawk. The hawk screeches again, showing off a grin on its beak. Via smiles as she moves her hand to pet the hawk again, but she stops when she hears a familiar voice state "Via?"

Via glances over to see Aver walking towards her. Midnight is startled by the other human's appearance and proceeds to fly off. Via looks back and watches as Midnight perches herself on the same branch that she was standing on before. Aver winces slightly before saying "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to scare the bird that was on your hand".

"It's okay, Aver. As long as I can see Midnight from here", Via said, looking up and still sees the hawk perched on the branch, relaxing as she shuts her purple eyes and rests. Aver walks over to Via and sits himself right beside her, looking up at the sleeping hawk above them.

"Wow...I've never seen a hawk before, not even see someone being able to tame such a wild bird", Aver exclaims in awe. Via just shrugs before replying "I guess I have a skill when it comes to animals".

"Huh. I'm jealous, actually. But I guess it's something that develops over time the more that you spend time close to animals", said Aver.

"Yeah", Via said back to him. The duo stares at the hawk perched on the branch for a few quiet minutes, the soft chirping of nearby crickets puts an ease to both of the Minecrafters after the ordeals that they had dealt with.

After a silence glooms over, Aver looks at Via and asks "Hey Via, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did", Via responded, earning a chuckle from her and a brief laugh from Aver.

After the laughter subsides, Aver questions "Yeah, anyway...before all of this madness and disease happened...when we were back on the ship...I...I saw a book that actually caught my interest. Never in my life have I even bothered with reading, but this particular book just...sounded really interesting. I can't remember what the title of the book was called, but I...I remember clearly about what I read in the book. Basically...it just said all of this info and stuff about animals and us being connected into one big cycle and how...how pretty much everything represents something good...or bad. At first, I couldn't believe that junk, but...it just got me thinking one day...if...if we all represent something in this world...then, why are some people out there wanting to end it all by destroying our world?"

"Well...that's a big question to answer, Aver", Via responded. "But...my best guess is that that's just how people are. Most people would think that evil people are born, but the actual truth is that bad people are made, not born. It's easy to manipulate a person so young to be good or to bad. But, in this case, it's easy to infect someone and make them do the opposite of what they were meant to do".

"Yeah, no doubt about that. By the way, I saw Jerome slumped up against a tree when I got here. Is he alright?", Aver questioned in worry for the Bacca's safety and health.

"I...I don't think he will be. Despite all of the sedatives and antibodies that I give him, there's a most likely chance that Jerome got infected with the Taint when he was attacked. I think that after a few more hours, he'll be corrupted and no idea who any of us are". Chances of him being able to fight the Taint is about 40%".

"Geez, I feel so sorry for him", Aver stated. "But, back to what I was saying...if we represent something...what can a hawk represent?"

"A hawk? Hmm...", Via wondered, looking up as Midnight remains resting on the branch, a slight gust of wind makes the branch wave for a moment, not disturbing the hawk.

"I guess from what I've read and heard...a hawk can represent the ability to see meaning in real-life experiences. And when you see a hawk in the air or even in your dreams...that hawk is bringing you messages about freeing yourself of thoughts and beliefs that are limiting your ability to soar above your life and gain a greater perspective of everything. But that's not all a hawk can represent. A hawk can represent more from courage and wisdom to truth, experience, and even leadership. Some of those attributes that...I wish I could express", Via replied, glancing away as she remembers about Oceanus's death.

Aver sees Via turn away from him and decides to add in "Via...you do represent those attributes. I see you displaying everything you said since the moment we met back on the ship when I first got recruited. There's no other person that I'd rather be friends with expect with the friends I have".

Via grins slightly as a faint blush appears on her cheeks, but prevents Aver from noticing. Aver also says "Look...the real reason that I came here was because...I wanted to say sorry for what I said back there. It was insensitive of me to go talking to you about murder and death. I know you didn't kill Oceanus on purpose, and I'm not going to call you a murderer 'cause you aren't one. We all make mistakes, some even might be worse than others...but overtime, we learn not to make those same mistakes again. I know that Oceanus's death will take you a long time to get over, but you need to learn that you can't give up on him. Whatever he said to you before he died...you take those words and let them power you to go through any situation in which you feel like giving up is the only choice. Giving up isn't an option, it's something you choose to place upon yourself. If you don't give up, you'll eventually find a solution to resolve any conflict that you faced with in your life. Not only that, but it'll make you a braver and stronger person. So...do you forgive me?"

Via looks back at Aver with slightly teary eyes before replying "Of course I do, Aver".

She brings her arms around Aver and brings him into a hug. Aver is slightly shocked by her actions, but doesn't reject her hug and proceeds to hug her back. Suddenly, unknown to Via, Aver groans quietly to himself as he experiences an intense pain on his head, making him shut his eyes. Then, a voice is heard inside his head.

"...Pathetic Minecrafter...when will you learn? Your laziness will catch up to you and make you incompetently to anyone you dare call a friend..."

Then, the pain goes away and Aver opens his eyes again, completely confused about what he had just experienced. Via notices Aver's tense muscles and asks him "Are you alright? You seem kinda tense".

Aver ends his hug with her as he gently pushes her away from him before saying "Yeah, I'm...I'm alright. I...I just...I just need to get some rest. All that running I did really tired me out. But...I hope you take my words into consideration. Come back to the camp when you're ready".

Via nods once before watching the man ascend to his feet and begins padding away and back to the camp. Via glances up and sees Midnight still perched on the tree.

"I hope that what you represent Midnight...will save the world and all of us living within it", Via thought to herself.

Back at the camp, Aver appears out of the forest and approaches into the clearing. While the others gather good and supplies needed for future use, at the tree where Jerome is slumped against, the Bacca is stiff and looking almost lifeless as his chest rises and falls at a very unsteady pace.

After he takes another harsh breath, Jerome reveals his eyes for a split second, showing red cat-like pupils surrounded by a neon green color before shutting them abruptly.