I like how ebony & brievel had two opposite reactions to theo's insistence he doesn't have a crush in the previous chapter
Herobrine lay silently in the corner of his cell, body draped unceremoniously against the wall where he had been tossed in a few hours before. He had yet to be graced by the numb comfort of sleep, his only reprieve being the splash potion of healing his captor had shattered beside him before leaving him. Unfortunately, while it had healed many of the smaller wounds, he was still in too much pain to make any attempt to escape.
Lifting one hand an inch, Herobrine summoned his enchanted pickaxe from his inventory, watching the purple light reflect off the walls of his prison for a moment before putting it back. 303 had made the mistake of not disarming him this time, most likely it just had not occurred to him. The other option was that he didn't think it was dangerous enough to take away - which, given his hold on his beloved, was completely possible.
Although… from their interaction in the last battle, it almost seemed like the two were on friendly terms. The boy had expressed a desire not to hurt her, and she was not afraid to stand up to him unarmed. Would it be safe for him to simply take her, whisk her away to the Nether?
Although, he didn't know if it was possible for him to teleport out, and the risk was too high for him to try. Perhaps when Notch came back - if he did, that is, but it seemed likely - he could make it out with her and take her far away. As far as he knew, the boy couldn't track them. He could find a safe place and wait it out with her, wait for Notch to clean up his mess, then they could return to their life in the Nether.
"Hey, wake up." A hand brushed Heather's arm, and she made a startled noise, lifting her head and blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "Why are you on the floor? You're a foot away from the actual bed." The blonde glared up at Theo, blinking the fogginess out of her vision.
"Call it personal preference. What are you doing here?"
"Hey, no need to be hostile." He put up his hands in surrender, sitting down next to her. "I brought you some food. You haven't eaten in a little while." She blinked, looking down at herself. That's true. So why wasn't she hungry?
"Thanks." She answered after a moment. "I'm not… really hungry, though."
"Oh?" Theo tilted his head. "Why not?"
"Um, I dunno. I remember being hungry before, but not anymore." She shrugged, pulling her hood down. "Maybe my food bar is empty or something?"
"Huh." Reaching out, Theo placed a block of oak planks next to her, then placed a cake on top of it, already divided into five neat slices. "Well, here you go anyway. I'd prefer if you didn't starve to death."
"Me too." Leaning back, she stretched her arms above her head. "...Theo?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you- is it possible for you to turn Manfred back to like he was?" She kept going before he could say no. "I miss him. He's not like he used to be, he- he's like a completely different person. Enderman."
"Sorry." Her heart sank. "I think it would be possible, but right now I can't risk a wildcard like that running- well, teleporting around wreaking havoc. I need him controlled." She mulled over his words for a moment.
"...'right now'?"
"Right now." Theo echoed. "Maybe once I take over the universe I can turn him back, and he can cause havoc all he wants, I'll be safe in my little bubble of reality." A smile lit up her face for a moment, but quickly died at the thought of the world in Theo's image. No Herobrine, no Steve, they'd be locked away somewhere. At least… if Theo did pull this off, at the very least she might have Manfred.
"Okay." She responded at last. "That's better than nothing."
"Mm." Theo linked his fingers together and rested them behind his head, staring up at the ceiling as he leaned back on the bed. "...hey, can I ask you about something?"
"Sure."
"What was-" He cut off, lifting his head. Heather raised an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head. "Sorry, thought I heard something. Anyway, what-"
The wall exploded.
Heather threw her hands up over her head as fragments of stone rained down on her, followed quickly by a burst of cold air. When she looked up, blinking rapidly to avoid the dust in the air, Theo was gone, and there was a giant, gaping hole in the wall beyond which was only darkness.
"Miss Heather." Spinning around, she found Notch standing over her, a hand extended in her direction. "Come, let's get you away from that drop."
"O-okay." She stammered, more out of shock than fear as she took his hand and let him pull her upright. "What did- what just happened?"
"I carelessly sent out some explosive charges in an effort to reveal your captor's hideout." He let go of her, shifting his hammer back into his now-vacant right hand. "Come, I'd rather not leave you alone."
"Okay." Heather followed him as he broke through the wall of her cell - apparently doors took too long -, marvelling at the ease at which she found herself around him. Even back when he was helping her with Null, she always felt... suspicious around him. Now, she felt fairly safe. Maybe this time he didn't plan to betray Herobrine.
Heather stepped out into Theo's base of operations, watching Notch as the god glanced back and forth.
"Would you prefer to stay here or track him down with me?" His dark eyes flickered down to her, and she blinked at the absurdity of him asking for her opinion before she responded.
"Come with you." Too many chances for her to get nabbed. With a nod, he started down the hall, his hammer dragging on the ground at his side.
The silence was broken only by the sound of their footsteps and diamond grinding against stone as the two slowly make their way down the long, twisting hallway. Theo had to be hiding somewhere from them, probably lying in wait to ambush Notch. What was his plan, anyway? Notch could just keep coming back infinitely, and it was basically impossible to trap him, right? Was he even going to try and fight him again, or would he just cut his losses and slip away, allowing her and (hopefully) Herobrine to be rescued?
At that moment, Heather passed a cell, and stopped short as she turned and peered through the window. Herobrine. The nether king looked like he was fast asleep on the ground, his chest rising and falling with his breaths but otherwise not moving.
"Notch." The queen whisper-yelled. "Can you- can you open this for me?" He gestured towards the door in response, and it swung open. "Thanks." She slipped inside, kneeling next to Herobrine's prone form and tapping his shoulder. "Herobrine?" There was no response, which struck her as odd. Herobrine was usually a light sleeper.
"Leave him. We can return once we locate the hacker." Notch ordered, and Heather lifted her head to give him a pleading look, but her vision was drawn immediately to a pair of red eyes watching her from the corner of the cell.
The next second, he was gone, and there was a flurry of movement in the hallway outside as the blonde huddled down next to her husband's body. She heard a roar from Notch, then an explosion. She… probably didn't want to be in there right now.
Instead, she focused on Herobrine, who still hadn't moved. Did Theo drug him again, maybe? Or maybe he was sleeping deeply because he got hurt. Whatever the case, that really wasn't a good thing right now.
Heather heard a vwip and immediately scrambled back, looking up to see Manfred reaching for her. She whirled around and fled into the hall, only to get smacked in the side of the head by something hard and crash to the floor.
"Stay out of the way!" A male voice snapped, and she identified it as Notch as she shook her head to dispel the ringing in her ears.
"Y-yeah." Stumbling to her feet, Heather headed back towards Theo's base room, hopefully away from the fight. She didn't know if she could keep Manfred off of her, but he probably wanted her back in her cell anyway, right?
Huddling in the corner of the larger room, the queen pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She could hear the two of them fighting, but, as usual, she couldn't affect the outcome at all. At least, not without greatly endangering herself, and she doubted anyone would be very happy about that.
She cast a glance at the void, visible through the hole Notch had punched in the wall of her cell. It wasn't pitch-black, like she had originally thought, but more of a static grey-purple color. It… was unnerving, to say the least.
A crash caught her attention, and Heather looked up to see Theo fly into the room and bank hard to the left, just dodging as Notch's hammer slammed down onto the block he'd been on a moment before. Immediately, he set upon the god with a flurry of strikes from his sword, forcing Notch to summon a shield to block them before striking out again with a newly-formed diamond sword.
Heather could barely keep track of their rapid movements, neither seeming to have a great advantage over the other as they fought. Notch switched between several weapons as he found convenient, while Theo made use of bursts of teleportation to stay one step ahead of his opponent. Neither paid her any heed as their battle moved back towards the narrow hallway.
Abruptly, Theo teleported to the far side of the room, and Notch spun around, but neither attacked as they locked eyes on one another. Theo was panting heavily, blood visibly soaking through his clothes, while Notch didn't look like he'd taken any damage.
"How about a truce, old man?" Theo's playful voice broke the silence, and Heather frowned. He couldn't be serious. "Clearly I can't beat you."
"Clearly." Notch sounded unconvinced. "So why should I spare you?"
"Well, you can't exactly beat me either." Theo shrugged, his face unconcerned. "I'm fast, I'm agile, and I can regenerate my form. I'm practically invincible. Eventually you're gonna slip up, I'll kill you, and I'll break your teleport barrier before you can get back. I can hide anywhere in this infinite game, and continue messing with your perfect world."
"And your idea of a compromise?" Notch's voice was flat, his expression cold.
"You leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. I'll play around in my little corner of reality, you can play with yours."
"And you will, of course, stop detaining my subjects." Herobrine was his subject? Wait, she was his subject?
"Oh yeah, definitely." Theo gave him a cheeky grin. "Anyway, thoughts?"
"No." The next instant, Notch was in front of him, hammer lifted above his head, and Theo had to scramble to get out of the way before it came down on his skull. Whirling around, Notch carried through his swing and slammed his hammer into the hacker's chest, sending the teen's body into the wall with a sickening thud.
Immediately, Notch appeared over him again, and Theo just managed to throw himself out of the way before he was crushed into the stone beneath him. He teleported across the room, but Notch just followed, and this time the hacker couldn't dodge in time before the hammer slammed his body into the stone.
Heather opened her mouth to cry out as Theo screamed, but was interrupted by a burst of white light in her vision. Flinching away, she squeezed her eyes shut against the brightness, and the cool stone disappeared from underneath her. What the heck - ?!
"Heather!" A pair of arms flung around her neck, and she let out a startled noise as she blinked her eyes open. The blinding light was gone, replaced by soft sunlight streaming through window blinds. Where-? "Oh my- Heather we've been so worried, where have you been?"
"Mom?" She finally placed the voice, returning the hug. She was home. She was in her room. How did she - ?!
"Where did you go? How did you get back here?" Her mother pulled away, reaching up to hold her daughter's face in both hands. Her eyes widened. "Where did this bruise come from?"
"Bruise?" Heather reached up, pressing a hand to the side of her face as her eyes flitted around the room. "Um, I don't…" She had run into Notch.
"Oh, nevermind that. Are you okay?" Mom met her eyes with wide, worried ones, and Heather offered her a confused smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The only explanation she could think of was that Theo had sent her back. But why? And how?
"Where have you been? Heather, it's been two days!" Mom's words threw her off, and her smile disappeared in a flash.
"Two days?"
"You didn't answer my question, where have you been?"
"I don't… know." She lied, trying to make sense of what was going on. She was in Minecraft for more than six months. Maybe this was a dream? She knew that time passed more quickly in Minecraft, but this long? "It's… kinda fuzzy."
"Well- well, come on, we have to go downstairs and tell your dad." Mom pressed a kiss to her forehead, and Heather's smile returned as she scrambled to her feet. She was confused, disoriented, but she felt… good. Maybe she missed her home more than she realized.
She'd find her way back to Minecraft. For now, she was happy to be home again.