time for random bursts of updates because I Forgot I kinda abandoned this lol
The next few hours passed in a daze.
Heather floated in and out of sleep, occasionally becoming aware of lights and voices around her before drifting off again. She had no idea how long it took, but eventually she managed to achieve consciousness and find herself in a small, wooden room.
She was on a mattress, which she pushed herself off of and struggled to her feet. She was dizzy, apparently the effects of the potion hadn't completely worn off yet. Bracing herself on the wall, she made her way towards the iron door on the far side of the room, with the intent of trying to get an idea of her location via the window. As she reached for the door to lean against it, however, it opened, and she didn't react quickly enough to avoid pitching forward and hitting the figure in the doorway.
"Whoa there." Black hands grasped her arms, and Heather tried to plant her feet underneath her, looking up.
"Theo?" She asked blearily.
"What are you doing out of bed? You're gonna hurt yourself, just wait for the potion to wear off." Grabbing Heather under the armpits, he hauled her upright, throwing an arm around her waist and half-dragging her back into the room. She let him, having a hard time processing what was happening here.
"Where's Herobrine?" She managed as her captor pushed her onto the bed.
"Locked up. I gave him a chance to leave me alone, but he was insistent." Theo flopped down next to her, watching as she struggled to sit up with the room spinning around her. "Sorry."
"Yeah." Heather gave up, falling back and staring up at the ceiling. "My head… feels like it's full of bees." She rambled, prompting a snicker from the boy next to her. "What the heck did you get me high on?"
"I told you those potions were weird. Oh- here." He paused, then grabbed her arm, tugging her upright and pressing a bottle of white liquid into her hand. She squinted at the item for a moment, then something clicked.
"Milk?"
"Yep." Removing the cork, Heather tipped it back, letting the universal antidote slide down her throat. Almost instantly, the lightheadedness began to clear, and as she blinked the buzzing in her skull faded away.
"That- is so much better." The blonde pressed a cool hand to her forehead. "Thanks."
"No problem." There were a few moments of silence, and a question she had neglected to ask him before popped into her head.
"Theo?"
"Yeah?"
"...you went home, right?" A beat passed.
"Yeah."
"Was it- are you okay?" He shrugged, staring at the wall.
"My avatar doesn't reflect the state of my physical body. Any damage to me there didn't cross over."
"You were hurt?"
"A little." She hesitated, then pressed onwards.
"What's- if you- if it's okay for me to ask, what's- what's so bad about your home life?" She stumbled over the words, but managed to get them out. Theo blinked, looking over to meet her eyes.
"Why?"
"Just curious. I guess. I mean…" Heather combed her fingers through her hair, trying to string together an acceptable answer. "You're… you have a lot going on. I wanna know why you are the way you are."
"You wanna know my tragic backstory?" He flashed her a grin, and she snickered.
"I guess."
"Well, there are some things I don't wanna talk about. But the general overview is…" He leaned back on his hands, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. "Well, my mother and dad fell in love and got married. They had me a couple years later. One of my first memories is my mother hurling a glass bottle at me and it shattering on my head." Heather flinched.
"Theo…"
"She was a real *****. She played off my injuries as my own stupidity and I didn't have the guts to tell my dad the truth. Until I was like 6 and my dad caught her in the act." She clapped her hand over her mouth. He was a baby. "They had a huge fight about it. I don't really remember it. Next thing I know, I'm shipped off to a 'child welfare center' and move into a rotating roulette wheel of families to take care of me for a couple months before handing me off to the next. This went on for four years.
"When I was 10 or so, my father came to collect me. Apparently he'd been unable to take care of me for a while, so he just let me shuffle through the foster care system." Theo scowled, his voice growing noticeably more bitter. "And even once he took me back, I never saw him. He was at work nearly all the time, and when he was at home he was sleeping, or doing work-related stuff, or just staring dully at pictures of my mom. Because apparently she's more important than his own child." He stopped, and his face relaxed a bit.
"And that's… pretty much the end of the story. I did teenager stuff for the next 7 years, by myself. Learned how to hack and stuff, went to high school and was hated by everyone. Hence why I ****ing hate it there. It's lonely, difficult, and painful. It's not like that here."
"I mean…" The nether queen interjected. "You're being hunted by the god of this world, trying to break past his personal firewalls, and are going to seal all the sentient beings away once you succeed. That sounds kinda difficult, lonely, and painful."
"At least I have some say in what happens to me. For once in my life." He snapped. "Instead of being hurt, maybe this time I can do the hurting."
"Theo!" Heather exclaimed, eyes widening in horror. "That's- a really bad mindset to get into!"
"Okay, I'm sorry." His expression didn't change. "It's a lot better like this, though."
"Please don't." She pleaded.
"What?"
"Go… evil." She shrugged. "Don't just… turn into someone like Null. Please." Theo huffed a breath, but nodded.
"Right. I'll do my best."
"Thanks." For a couple moments, neither of them moved. Then, before she could think better of it, Heather turned and threw her arms around Theo's neck.
"Hey-!" He yelped, grabbing at her arms, but froze as she hugged him tight and buried her face in his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled into his hoodie. "Sorry the people in your life did all that to you." There was a moment of stunned silence.
"...yeah, I don't think that milk totally cured you."
"Oh shut up." She squeezed him tighter. "You know I don't agree with what you're doing, but- I understand more now, at least. I understand why you hate Earth so much." He hesitated, then she felt a pair of hands rest on her back.
"...I'm glad." Slowly, he slid his arms around her, leaning into the hug. "That's… most people don't care."
"Most people are not like me." Heather paused. "Not since about 6 months ago, anyway."
"...yeah." He waited a moment more, then pulled away, and she let him go as he stared at the floor awkwardly. "I should go work."
"Yeah." She gave his shoulder a pat, and he jumped, but gave her a faint smile before leaving the room and closing the iron door behind him.
Theo closed the door to his captive's cell behind him, then leaned against it, letting out a soft breath.
What was he doing?
His heart felt swollen in his chest, painful against his ribs. He didn't understand where this affection had come from, it wasn't like Heather had started out liking him any more than anyone else did. Probably a lot less, actually. But… he cared for her so much, and every single time she interacted with him made it harder for him to go through with his plan.
He had to do something with Herobrine. Something to make him less of a danger, so that he could allow him to see his wife. He really wanted her to be happy.
Shaking his head, Theo teleported to his room, slumping down into a chair and pulling up a screen in front of him. Last time, Notch had interrupted him, but now he was far away. This time, he wasn't going to fail.
"I told you, she's fine." Notch gestured impatiently to a screen on his left, displaying a list of abnormal entities with the girl at the top. A full health and hunger bar were present beneath it. "Please allow me to return to my work."
"I don't mean alive, I mean safe." Steve's voice was firm. "I want to see her."
"Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to help you with that right now." The creator turned away from his steward, glancing at another screen filled to the brim with java code. "Her coordinates have been hidden again, undoubtedly she has been captured by the hacker. While unfortunate, there's nothing I can do until I can get through his barriers."
"Isn't there any other way?" A pleading note entered the miner's voice.
"Not as far as I know. Why are you so concerned about this all of a sudden?" Notch gave him a side-eyed look. "She has been in and out of his custody for the past few months. Why this now?"
"Call it a bad feeling." Steve shuffled a bit, looking down. "I just… feel like something's wrong."
"I see." Notch turns away. "Unfortunately, your feeling does not allow me to work any faster. Please leave my presence, so that I might be able to concentrate on the task at hand."
"Okay." Steve murmured a 'thank you' as well before leaving the room, retreating back to the living space he shared with Alex. While he had no doubt that they would be happier in their own homes, Notch was unwilling to leave them defenseless with Entity 303 roaming the world.
Turning back to his work, Notch input a new command and let his program run. Regrettably, it failed, unable to break through the shields 303 had built around himself. However, it did give him a rough estimate - somewhere to start.
Summoning his hammer in a free hand, Notch teleported. No matter how long it took, he would be rid of the intruder. There simply wasn't another option.
