CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

-Sky

I shoved a large piece of fallen cobble off my head and groaned, crawling out of my rocky hole. I saw Mitch sprawled to the side, bleeding and half-dead. I scrambled over to him, my ears ringing. I grabbed his arm and pulled it hard. Mitch moaned in pain and I looked at the heavy block over his stomach. I tried to push it off and when it fell to the side I gaped. His chest was a mess, his armour split through the middle and blood everywhere.

"Mitch, come on," I croaked, the dust coating my throat and the roof of my mouth, feeling weak and dizzy. Hands suddenly closed around my throat and I squeaked as I was lifted high of the ground, my feet kicking and my fingers trying to dislodge the fingers squeezing my windpipe. The blood was rushing to my head and my head thumped, my vision blurred. I saw Herobrine through the haze. He smiled.

"Perfect. Have you ever wanted to be made an example of?" Herobrine asked, and I tried to breath in but couldn't. I was going to suffocate. Well, this sucked. A huge piece of cobble was shoved to the side and it banged into another pile, and I watched as Jordan shakily stood.

-Sparklez

I crawled up and flopped against the rock I was against, my arm hanging limp at my side. I say Herobrine holding Sky up in on hand, his fingers squeezing him slowly, suffocating him slowly and painfully. Without thinking, I spoke up.

"No," I rasped, struggling up, my throat hoarse and my arm burning with pain. "T-take me. Let… let him live." Herobrine looked at me, cocking his head in that now familiar way, contemplating my proposal. Sky's fingers weakly scrabbled at his hand, his movements slowing.

"Fine," Herobrine said, dropping Sky suddenly. Sky slumped, taking deep, heaving breaths.

"Jordan, don't," Sky managed before breaking, curling in on himself and coughing loudly. Mitch stirred lightly and I saw his wounds. Herobrine marched over to me, feet crunching over the debris of the Sky Army Base and the dead bodies of our soldiers. He looked at me, studying me, and a slow smile spread over his face, his eyes glowing brighter.

"Welcome home, son," Herobrine sneered. My whole body burnt, and I felt tears mixing in with the blood and grime on my face.

Everything went out like a light as I spiralled into darkness.

-Percy

I crawled up, coughing, my body bruised and battered. I could barely breathe and the sight in front of me knocked out whatever of breath my lungs had managed to take in. Jordan stood silently in the middle of the wreckage of the base, over Sky, who looked like he'd seen better days. One of Jordan's arms hung by his side and his clothes were torn and he was bleeding.

"Jordan," I called out, my throat aching. He turned slowly and I stared, his gaze burning into me. Both of his eyes. They were both white. He looked at me for a second, his face unmoving, and then he simply walked away, into the woods. I stared after him and then exhaustion claimed me as I slumped across the ground.

-Hazel

I could feel the bodies under the rocks. They were there, ever present. I weakly scratched my fingers across a pile of dirt and rocks, digging it away. I found Leo buried under drown, barely breathing. I hauled him out and found Ant further off. He was gone. I couldn't see Percy or Annabeth anywhere but I found Ty, Brice and Tyler all relatively close to each other, each of them fine and breathing but badly injured. I set them aside with Leo and then continued my search. Anyone who could walk promptly stood up and helped. I was amazed. Most of them had broken some bone and were bleeding and bruised and badly knocked around yet they still helped their friends. Brice found Weed and Joey. Weed hadn't made it and Joey was a mess. Gizzy had been speared through and I had tried to hide his body before his friends could see.

"Hazel," someone called weakly. I stumbled over and stared at Mitch, his chest a mess, his eyes closed peacefully, his breathing shallow.

"Oh gods, Mitch," I said, sitting beside him and feeling the first tears forming. How was I still alive? I didn't understand. There was nothing left. All we could was get as many people as we could back to the base. Someone sat up quickly and suddenly, shifting dust of him.

"Jordan!" Sky shrieked, and he struggled up, and I saw the marks around his neck. Ty and Brice rushed to his side as he tried to stand. Brice pushed him back down and told him to stay put.

"But Jordan," Sky whimpered. "He's gone. He got him." We couldn't make sense of his words until it dawned on Brice. He clapped a hand over his mouth and his eyes widened.

"Holy fricking shit. He didn't," Brice said, taking a deep breath and pulling his hand away. "Herobrine didn't… kill him, did he?"

"No, no, he gave himself up. He was going to kill me and Jordan gave himself up. Now he's on Herobrine's side!" Sky said, and he dug his palms into his eyes and cried. "It's my fault. I should've been watching, I should've helped, I can't believe I let this happen!" I saw Jordan's friend Mark standing motionless, his face a mask of shock. Mark swore loudly and kicked a stone across the ground. It skittered loudly. He had found Nick's body before and the news his friend was dead took him over the edge. I heard a loud spasm of coughing and rushed to it.

"Percy!" I yelled. He smiled weakly and gave a half-hearted wave.

"Hi, Hazel," he muttered. He gently shook Annabeth, who was still unconscious beside him, bleeding from a wound in the back of her head, her blonde hair matted and sticky from it. I breathed a sigh of relief as she stirred, and then I slumped back against a remaining piece of wall.

"I guess we did it," I said to no one.

-Sky

It took us the rest of the day to get everyone back to The Fort. Tiffany and her nurses hadn't been expecting us and there was a tearful reunion. I saw some people I hadn't seen in ages who'd been trapped: Bash and Bodil, for instance. I thought back to the ruined base which marked our battle and thought of Ian. We'd found his body, dead. The thing that had hurt most was how he hadn't let go of Maddie's hand, even in death. After I'd been patched up, I stood by the windows and stared out. I swear to Notch I saw a pair of white eyes staring back.

"What now?" I heard someone ask. I turned around and looked at Ty, how wearily and battle worn he looked.

"I have no idea. I guess we rest up, and then we go after Jordan. We need to save him."

"Is it possible?" Ty asked sharply. I sighed, rubbing my face.

"I don't know, Ty," I said, and I looked at him, feeling the weight of this all on my shoulders. "Right now, I just want to have a shower and then fall asleep. Preferably in my bed and not in the shower." Ty gave a short laugh, looking out the window and standing beside me.

"It won't be the same without Jordan leading us," Ty murmured, and I nodded. "I guess we should make saving him a pretty important priority. We need him, and he's done so much for us. Even if we need to, he'd… he'd want us to end him. He wouldn't want to live like that. He never wanted that. That's why he hid it in the first place." I sighed and looked across the common room to the wall of names and thought of how full it would look when we got around to updating it.

"What are we going to do?" I said, laughing softly. "Who will lead us?" Ty looked at me sideways, a small smile on his face.

"You will." I was baffled.

"What? I can't lead. I would screw up!" I protested, and Ty shook his head.

"You've got to," Ty said, and then he walked away. I turned my gaze back to the window and looked out into the darkness, completely unprepared for what was to come.

~ THE END ~

Well.

I cannot express how grateful I am to have you guys as my readers and for following me through this and enjoying every bit as much as I have.

I am sad to announce the ending of our first instalment in Percy Jackson of Minecraftia.

Thank you to Baboosh123, for being my first reviewer.

Thank you to my IRL friends who nearly killed me multiple times for my choices.

And mainly, thank you to all of my readers who helped make Percy Jackson in Minecraftia happen with their support, criticism and overall love.

I love you all so, so, so much!

Please, follow and/or favourite me for an update on when I unleash the second instalment of Percy Jackson in Minecraftia. I don't have a defined date for it's release yet but I will do it soon.

Honestly, thank you all immensely. You are all the best.

(I apologise for my sappy behaviour)