Chapter 25
Under Skin
"I knew you'd see things my way."
Jesse cried out in surprise, and Titan lurched in terror, rearing up in a panic. Jesse was thrown from the mighty Clydesdale, crashing hard on the gravel, "Augh!" he still had a hand on the reigns, but the animal was in a crazed and desperate attempt to flee, so Jesse let go.
He ducked as Titan turned and fled, leaping over him and into the night.
So much for getting to the volcanic city quickly...
Jesse had ridden around the town, to avoid the crowds and to avoid any explanation. He had only run into a few spawns and the traveling went smooth. He still had a good hour or two before midnight, he'd know he'd make it.
Till now.
Jesse was still about a mile away from the entrance, and now Herobrine was here.
Herobrine stepped out of the shadows, his face passing through a branch, his form momentarily disturbed like smoke in the air before returning to its rightful place. "Careful...never trust a horse, they're crafty at both ends and shifty in the middle."
Jesse growled and got up, "Any smart animal would stay away from you."
"Any smart person would too."
Jesse growled again and started trekking. Herobrine was mocking him, trying to get under his skin, but Jesse was determined to not give him the chance.
Herobrine followed, "I'm honesty am surprised, here I'd thought you'd wait for Steve and Alex."
"I'm not going to wait for them to come back when you have someone up there."
Herobrine hummed, "I'm sensing a little hostility towards the couple. Are you still upset that Steve wouldn't explain his actions at the Gate?"
Jesse said nothing, pushing aside a branch and letting it swing back. It went through Herobrine's throat, and Jesse truly wished it had taken his head.
"You would enjoy that wouldn't you?"
He was reading Jesse thoughts, he was in his head-
Jesse snarled, "Go away Herobrine."
"I'm just checking to see your progress, because frankly I'm bored-"
"Don't you dare."
"What?"
Jesse glared as Herobrine stepped in front of him, walking backward to keep eye contact. "Don't you dare kill whoever you have up there."
Now it was Herobrine's turn to frown, "And what makes you think I would do that? What even makes you think I have a hostage?"
"It's the only way to get me up to you. And, because you would get bored, you kill them. Do that, deals off."
The demigod huffed, "Very well, I swear on Notch, not to kill the supposed hostage I have in the mountain. Happy?"
Thunder rumbled above them, and Herobrine glared up at the sky.
"Daddy issues?" Jesse snarked.
The whites of Herobrine's eyes flashed, "Sorry kid, you're not going to succeed where I did."
"What do you mean?"
"You're not going to get under my skin."
"I'm- You're not-"
Herobrine leaned in and Jesse actually stopped walking despite the fact he knew the other male was a ghost. "If anyone has daddy issues, it be the kid with the murdered parents."
Jesse flinched, he was stunned, "How would you-"
Herobrine smiled, "You have less than two hours kiddo. Better hurry."
Then he was gone.
But there were three zombies, two creepers, and five spiders in his place.
"Herobrine!"
The volcano rumbled. It almost sounded like laughter. Herobrine had been right, and Jesse had failed.
The Immortal had got under Jesse's skin.
Lukas was sitting on a broken pillar silent as the stone itself. Petra paced angrily back and forth in front of him. Both were trying to process in their own way.
"What makes him think we will stay here?!" Petra snapped. "Who put him in charge? I mean yeah -okay we kinda did - but who does he think he is?!"
Lukas said nothing, he was still going through what Jesse had said, still trying to filter through it.
"I don't need your help! I never have!"
"Does Jesse honestly think Herobrine isn't going to try something?!" Petra ranted, "Argh! The idiot!"
Lukas frowned, squinting a little.
"I don't need you! You'll just be in my way..."
"What about that thing Herobrine said?! He said it was a life and death matter! He must have a hostage; he wouldn't just go down to the village to kill someone! How is Jesse going to save them? I know he said Jesse should come alone but we could have thought of something- We could have helped! Augh!" Petra threw a rock, the stone hitting the temple wall with a loud crack, "Dammit! Dammit all!"
"Just go away. No one else is going to die! Go home!"
No one else...is going to die...
Lukas's eyes widened a little, "Petra hold up-"
"How could he push us away like that?" Petra was upset now.
"Petra-"
"After everything, after what he said to us at the festival-"
"Petra! !"
"What?!" She turned to face him, her eyes a chaotic pool of mixed emotions.
"Did you hear what Jesse said?" Lukas asked.
"How could I not?"She gave him a look, "You mean besides 'I don't need your friendship!'?"
"Just before he left-"
"He said 'Go Home!' Lukas!" She snapped.
"He also said , no one else is going to die!" he responded.
"No one...else? What the hell does that-" Petra's eyes widened as it clicked into place.
"We all remember what happened the last time Jesse had someone help." Lukas said quietly.
Petra covered her mouth with her hand, "He was talking about Rueben,"
"That's why he said what he said," He explained, " I get it now. He lost someone who tried to help last time. That's the reason he kept clamming up against us, that' why he wouldn't let us help..."
Petra moaned and sat down across from him, "He didn't want us to die either. That protective idiot..." She grabbed his hand, "Lukas we can't sit here and do nothing, we have to help him."
"I know, but how?"
"We can find Steve and Alex?"
"They could be anywhere in the Hallway, it could be too late by the time we find them." He thought on it, "What about Bach and the other villagers."
"I don't think with even the entire festival backing us up we could take on Herobrine." Petra looked off towards the forgotten village, the grave, "I've seen what he did to the last one..." she returned her gaze to him, "What if we just go after Jesse?"
"Herobrine can project himself anywhere without being physically here. What if he can also see us coming from wherever and kills Jesse? You said so yourself, he probably has a hostage, what if he kills them too. I think he meant what he said..." Lukas ran his spare hand through his hair, fingers shaking, "I don't know what to do Petra. If only we hadn't been so desperate to get home! We wouldn't have followed him to the damn Gate!"
Petra thought back on it, "Herobrine wanted something from Jesse back there."
Lukas rubbed his throat, "Yeah, I recall."
"But it doesn't make sense," Petra pushed, "Why would he kidnap some random person to get Jesse up there?"
"To finish his deal?"
"Yeah but last time he had us. Your life for whatever Jesse has. So what does he have now, that he doesn't have either of us?"
"He could use his hostage." Lukas suggested, "Jesse would give up anything for anybody."
"Yeah...but what could Jesse have, the He would want?"
"I don't know-"
The Portal flashed across the room, and Petra and Lukas quickly got up. Lukas turned, "Alex! Steve! We have- IVOR!?"
The older male stumbled through the magical door, one arm braced on a crutch. On the other side of him was Reginald.
"Oh sweet Notch what are you doing here?!" Petra let go of Lukas's hand and hurried over.
"I came here looking for you," Ivor said, "Using the directions Lukas left with me."
"Did you see a man and woman in the Hallway on your way here?"
"What? No, what does that have to do with anything?" Ivor looked around, "Where is Jesse?"
Petra cursed, "They must be in one of the side halls!"
"Why are you here?" Lukas asked, fighting a sinking feeling in his stomach,
"There was an attack-"
"In Ground Town!" Reggie cut in.
"What?!" the two youths gasped.
"Yes," Reggie explained, "It happened right during the middle of the worst storm I've ever seen. We got hit hard and fast, no one really saw what happened. But there were over four buildings destroyed, three burned. A section of the wall even caved in. And the spawns were going crazy, like they were rabid!"
Lukas eyes widened, "And you didn't see what hit you?"
"No! It came and went so fast, and just as quickly as everything started acting up they stopped and ran!"
Petra looked to Lukas, "Oh Gods, it was Herobrine!"
"Hero-what?" Ivor said slowly.
"Herobrine..." She repeated. "Ivor, he's the Lost Immortal."
The elder's eyes widen a little, "The Lost Immortal."
"Yes, and Steve and Alex, the people I told you about. They're the First and the Healer. Herobrine is Steve's supposed-to-be-but-actually-isn't-dead brother." Lukas said hastily, "We were on our way back to you guys, because we someone ended up on his target list. Well, more accurately Jesse is his target. Which is why he isn't here...He went to face..." he trailed off.
"So this Herobrine attacked us?" Reggie asked, "For what? Knowing you?"
"He must have known somehow that is where we were retreating to." Petra said. "He wanted to destroy- this doesn't make sense he wouldn't leave people alive. Anyone dead?"
"No," Ivor said, "There are a lot of people seriously wounded, including Isa. But so far no one is found dead. They were still sorting out when Reginald and I left to get you three."
Lukas's gears were turning, "Is anyone missing?"
"A few, but we were slowly finding all of them..." Reginald began to explain.
Lukas didn't hear, he was thinking about what Herobrine had said.
This has now become a life or death matter. If you don't meet me at the volcano by the time the moon peaks at midnight, someone will die.
Oh no, oh no,no,no,no!
Keep a close eye on your friends Jesse...
No, no, no, NO!
"We need to get our-" Petra looked over startled as Lukas turned and dropped his pack, yanking out a torch, "Lukas where are you going?!"
"To the volcano!"
"What?! What happened to staying here?!"
"Herobrine should have thought of that before he decided to mess with our group!"
"What the hell do you mean?!"
Lukas had lit the torch and was already running out of the temple, "Herobrine has Aiden!"
Terror had been Aiden's last thought before he had passed out. So it was terror that he remembered first as his eyes shot open.
He cried out, everything in pain. Aiden struggled to move, fighting to get his bearings in the hot darkness around him. But each jolting and desperate movement sent harsh needles of pain all over his body. The pain only increased with each struggle.
He winced, the pain getting the better of his panic. He settled down, too hurt to move anymore. Aiden forced himself to take slow steady breaths. Just breath, just breath. He waited, allowing his eyes to adjust, taking in the poorly lit room.
It was massive, whatever it was. He could only see so far before the darkness consumed once again. The place was all stone and obsidian, almost like looking inside of an old castle. There was torn carpet that ran through the middle of the room, and tapestries hung in shreds on the walls and ceilings high above him. A large stone table was beside him, he couldn't really see how far it actually went. Could this have been a banquet hall?
He took in the other senses next. There was a faint orange glow; it joined with a rumble and a foul smell. Aiden recognized the sulfur like burnt smell of lava. Everything was faded and decayed, covered in a layer of ash.
He concluded he was somewhere very old, near a lava source, and hadn't had a visitor in a long time.
Where could he be? There was nothing like this back in the world that contained Ground Town? He wasn't even sure he was in the same world anymore.
Aiden shifted, no, still couldn't move, it still hurt too much. He tried to remember how he got here, tried to remember what could have happened. He thought he could remember seeing Portal doors...But really the only thing Aiden could solidly recall was the Isa being injured and fighting off the zombies.
He looked around again, still unable to find anything at all that might be familiar. Where am I? Aiden thought.
Then, much to his instantly rekindled terror, someone answered. As if he had asked the question out loud.
"Where I need you to be."
Aiden stiffened, spotting a shadowy figure sitting a few chairs down by the stone table. He shifted, slightly distressed to find that he still couldn't move properly.
"Stop squirming," The stranger said, "I don't need you bleeding to death. I'm not allowed to kill you yet."
The voice was raspy, almost like a whisper. And the statement itself made Aiden's blood run cold like someone had inserted ice in his veins. His heart was pounding hard, "W-who the hell are you?"
The man snapped his fingers, and as if by magic, every torch in the room came ablaze in one large whoosh. The entire hall lit up, revealing its grandeur and true size, while also allowing Aiden to make out the true form of his captor.
His heart stop beating for half a second, or least it felt like it, and Aiden now remembered everything that happened vividly.
It was that monster.
The white orbs stared, a humorous glint in them, "Did you have a nice nap?" the other asked.
"Knocking someone out, isn't considered a nap. Now, who the hell are you?" he asked again with as much confidence as he could muster.
The stranger laughed.
Aiden flinched, then flinched again as the motion sent pain through his body. He looked down, finally able to see what kept him immobile.
Tightly wrapped around him, and forcing his arms behind his back was a thin grey metal. The strands were braided together, making them thicker and stronger. All along the wire small bits of metal stuck out, some painfully digging into his skin. His blood dripped out where the skin broke, staining everything -skin, metal, clothes- red.
Barbwire.
It explained quite clearly why it hurt too much to move. They wrapped all the way down, a second set even kept his legs together. One particular barb was digging into his already wounded leg. "What the hell?!"
"I'm rather fond of using barbwire. I'm not known to take hostages very often. It is such a hassle to keep them still, I'd really rather just kill people. But the barbwire seems to help with the squirming, at least a little." the other stated casually, picking a finger at his sharp teeth.
Hostage?!
"Who the hell ties people up with this stuff?" Aiden snapped angrily.
The man smiled, his teeth glinting in the torchlight, "It works, I already told you. And as an added bonus, you suffer and I am humored."
"You sick bastard! Who the hell are you and what do you want?!"
"I'm really not the monologuing type either," the other sighed wearily, as if he was bored. "But since I really have nothing better to do, and I can't kill you yet...I might as well, you won't live long enough for it to really matter anyway. So I will indulge you," he waved sarcastically, "Hello Aiden, I am Herobrine."
"Hero...brine?" Aiden froze.
He knew that name.
He struggled to put it together, where had he heard it. The temple back home? No. The journal! Isa's collection book! Yes! It was in the hidden page, the one covered in blood, the coded signature! "You're the Dark One..."
Herobrine clicked his teeth, tilting his head, "Mmm, no. The Dark One is usually considered the opposite of Notch. And while I have adopted the name, I'm most certianly not my old man's opposite. More of..." he thought on it, "More like the rebellious son."
Aiden stiffed.
Not the brother but the son.
He was looking at the true second Immortal.
Aiden swallowed slowly, "Y-you're not real, you-you are a myth."
"Myths don't kidnap you."
Aiden flinched.
"Honestly," Herobrine frowned, "How can you deny the existence of me, or Notch, or frankly anything to do with him, when I am sitting right in front of you tell you what I am?"
"What do you want?" Aiden asked quietly.
Herobrine stood, patting dirt off of his pants. Then he casually walked down the length of the table, closing the space between them. He stopped a few feet from Aiden, causally leaning his arm against a chair, resting his elbow upon it. "I want nothing from you. You are only here for bait, I'm afraid." he stated simply.
He treated Aiden as if they were merely speaking about the weather.
A thought that both terrified and infuriated him.
"Bait for what?"
"Whom, actually." the Immortal corrected, "You're here to bring Jesse to me."
Aiden gaped, "Jesse?! What does- Augh!" Aiden lurched backward- best he could bound as he was- in pain. Herobrine had simply leaned down and touched a singular finger to his forehead. The result of the simple gesture sent agony racking through him. The small bit of contact making his mind scream, like his skull would split open.
"I made a mistake though I'm afraid." Herobrine said, practically pouting, "When I look through those lovely little memories of yours all I see is you two fighting," he squinted in confusion as he straightened back up, "What in the world did Jesse see in you worth rescuing?"
Aiden groaned in discomfort, he had torn deeper into his skin and landed on his back. The weight of his body forced the sharp barbs in his arms to dig every harder and deeper.
"I planned on taking one of his friends. He has something I want you see? So it only seems fair that I would have something he would want in return." the maniac continued, "But it seems that you two have only started to be agreeable only just recently."
"Jesse isn't going to come," Aiden managed to spit out, "Not for me."
The other scoffed, "Cute attempt. But you clearly don't know him very well. He doesn't know it's you. But even if it wasn't, he wouldn't be able to live with blood on his hands now could he? I merely told him it was matter of life and death if he didn't come here." Herobrine thought on it, "Maybe I should have told him it was you; he might have been more desperate and likely to slip up."
"Why don't you just get the death part over with!" Aiden snapped.
Herobrine lifted him up by the barbwire, "Can't I'm afraid," he said as he watched Aiden whine in pain, squirming in discomfort. "You see that hole in the ceiling up there?"
Aiden reluctantly looked up. There was a large round hole in the ceiling, allowing a crystal clear view of the night sky.
"When the moon lines up with that section of the roof, it will be midnight, then your time is up." Herobrine explained, "Jesse has then to get here."
"What do you even want from Jesse?!" Aiden said angrily, trying to ignore the fact that his life was now on a timer, "What did he ever do to you!"
Herobrine grinned, "Nothing, just like you. He is just unfortunate enough to be in possession of something I want. Granted there are a few perks but..." he shrugged, trailing off. "Once I have it, I can get done what I need.
Aiden felt his heart skip a beat, "Which is what-"
"I'm going to get back at my brother. The First, I'm sure you've heard of him. Lukas told you about Steve and Alex didn't he?"
Aiden tried to lurch away best he could, ignoring the agonizing pain from his bonds. "Are you insane? Steve and Alex are just-"
"You are still in denial?" Herobrine sneered, "The Immortal's are real kid. You're talking to one right now."
Something about the way Herobrine's eyes glinted finally clicked the piece of acceptance in Aiden's mind. He looked at the psychopath and knew he wasn't lying.
"Well- he-" Aiden swallowed hard before he could regain his bravado, "Y-yeah well, Jesse's stronger than he looks! He can handle a bedtime story like you easy! He killed a damn Witherstorm-"
"Who do you think created the concept of the Witherstorm!" Herobrine roared suddenly, he threw Aiden across the room.
"Augh!" Aiden landed hard, skidding a few feet, his blood leaving a smear on the ground. The pain was unbearable, leaving his gasping and struggling to breath.
"I'm the one who put the Witherstorm idea in Ivor's little head! I manipulated his grudge against his friends and watched my corruption fester in him like a weed!" the other raged, striding across the room. "I am no bedtime story! I am a walking nightmare! I have killed thousands of mortals, destroyed entire worlds! So what makes you think that Jesse can beat me?! He and all of his pathetic little friends are gnats compared to me!"
"Wha- how do you know Ivor-" Aiden stammered, "You don't-"
"Oh, but I do. I know so much more than you will ever know in your short worthless lifetime! But I suggest you keep quiet now," Herobrine hissed, "Because I swore to Jesse 'alive' not 'unharmed'. I'm not afraid to tear out your tongue little bug."
Aiden felt his mouth clamp shut, like an unseen force was keeping him silent against his will, like a hand pushing his jaw closed.
Herobrine's raged cooled, "That's better. Now, here is what we're going to do." He leaned over Aiden, giving him a terrifying glare, "You are bait, and you are going to be nice and distressed when Jesse gets here. Then he is going to give me what I've been after. Understood?"
Heart pounding and fighting past the force that kept him silent, Aiden opened his mouth, "What are you going to do to Jesse?" he whispered, "He's never done anything to you, what perks are there? Why do you need him to get at them?"
Herobrine smiled, "Oh, that's my favorite part, and you will find out why very soon. But first, you don't look nearly distressed enough for a hostage. And while the bravado is impressive considering , that just won't do."
Aiden's metal bonds dissolved in a sudden whisp of smoke. But before get up to run or do really anything, Herobrine snagged his chin with one hand; holding him tight and forcing him up onto his knees. Aiden struggled to grab onto the maniac's wrists, to somehow relieve the pain and pressure. But his bloodied fingers failed to achieve proper grip.
Herobrine pulled him close inches apart from his nose, his foul aura clogging his senses - he felt sick. "Tell me something Aiden," he whispered, his broad grin making Aiden's body run cold despite the intense heat of the air.
Aiden knew there was no way in hell he was leaving this place alive.
"How good are you at holding your breath?"
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