Uhhh… hhhheeeeeeyyy…

Okay, yeah, I'm extremely late again, I know. I've got no excuse for it again, I know.

But at least I'm actually uploading now! Hopefully I can get a boost of writing vigor for a while now…

Anyway, here's the chapter. Thanks for being patient with me guys.


Chapter 40: Premonitions

It wasn't until another thirty minutes until Susie woke up again.

In that time Snowy and I had finished preparing what we wanted to say to her. Snowy was particularly ecstatic about seeing 'her mistress' again.

Andr had been very glad to see us make the return. She said that Susie hadn't been doing so well right up until we came back. She'd been having a lot of sleepless nights, according to Andr. Heck, even Andr herself had a few dark circles under her eyes.

Once Susie finally did come out, the first thing she found was Snowy tackling her to the ground, squealing giddly. "Mistress! I missed you so much!"

"Ow… oh, Snowy!" Susie replied, having not realizing Snowy was back too. She quickly sat up and completely smothered the wolf girl into her arms. Snowy cuddled her right back.

Once they had their fill, Susie stood back up and saw me again, leaning against the counter. "C-Cameron…" she breathed, stepping up to me.

"Susie." I breathed back.

She couldn't say anything more. She simply hugged him again. The bags under her eyes had considerably lessened, but they were still visible. She seemed… more relaxed already. More there, if that makes sense.

I hated to do it, but I needed to grab her attention one more time. "Susie? There's… some people you should meet."

Susie looked up at me through our hug. "H… huh?"

She looked behind me to see… Diana and Silk. Standing very formally, almost stiffly, in front of her. Their faces were… somber.

Slowly, Susie let me go and looked at the two. "Who… are they?"

"Susie, was it?" Diana asked. "I'm Diana. This is my colleague, Silk. We… we first want to apologize. From the bottom of our hearts."

"Yeah, truly." Silk agreed. "We… we never wanted to cause you so much grief about Cameron and Snowy."

"You… you two…" Susie slowly murmured.

"Y-yes, w-we did take them in the first place, but I want to assure you that we didn't want to cause them any harm at all. Neither did we want an attack on you. Our old leader sent that attack on you and hurt ALL of us." Diana explained hurriedly.

Susie still didn't look very reassured. Quite the opposite. "You… you took them…" she murmured darkly, her normally calm and peaceful attitude quickly vanishing.

"Susie… calm down." I pleaded, rubbing her shoulders. "I swear they had good intentions. Otherwise I wouldn't be standing here, would I?"

Susie's eyes glanced back and forth between me and the pair.. "I… I guess…" she agreed slowly.

"So… can… can we put that behind us?" Silk asked hopefully.

Susie stared at the two for about thirty long, long seconds. Finally, she looked at me once more. I nodded, looking into her eyes. I told her with my eyes, 'they're not lying, I swear to you.'

"I… yes." Susie agree, relaxing her shoulders. "You… you were acting on orders, not… not just because you wanted to." she agreed, not sounding totally convinced. But it was better than nothing.

"Exactly." Silk agreed, her own form relaxing too. Even Silk seemed to slightly deflate.

It was a long time before anyone spoke again. When it was, Snowy suddenly had a realization. "Wait… where… where are you two… going to go…?"

The looks on Diana and Silk's faces said it all. The… the S&S Corps were gone. They… they had no other place to go.

I suddenly thought back to Silk's diary. She seemed… so sad while traveling. And then, when she found the S&S, it was… like a piece of her was complete. And Diana… well, I'm more than sure that she liked having Silk around too.

But now… they had nothing. They only had each other. And now the whole world was, quite literally, against them. Again.

I couldn't let them live like that. I'd been like before. It was the hardest time of my entire life, just being… alone. Listening to the voices in your head. Fear taking over, making you always move…

I can't let that happen to them. They deserve better. No one deserved that kind of life.

"Susie, Snowy, Andr… can I speak to you three in the bedroom… now?" I asked softly. The three of them looked rather confused at my sudden intrusion, but they complied and followed me into the bedroom. Diana and Silk just watched us as we disappeared through the door

"What's wrong?" Andr asked, taking a seat on the bed.

I started pacing. "I… I can't believe I'm thinking this, but… we can't just leave them to wander the world, hoping that they get to find a place to call home. At the very least, we need to give them a temporary place to stay, just until they can find somewhere for sure."

Susie looked at me like I was insane. "Cameron. They KIDNAPPED you and Snowy. They KIDNAPPED you." she repeated slowly. "And now you want to give them a bed here?!"

"Look, I've been around them for days now. I've gotten to know what they stand for. What they want. Their drive, motivations, all that. And they aren't the kind of people you think they are. They… they really go for what they care about. You know what I'm talking about, right Snowy?"

Snowy nodded. "Mistress, they really are nice people. They really aren't bad, they just… were under false premonitions. Give them a chance. Just one."

"I… I have to side with Cameron and Puppy on this one, Susie." Andr mumbled. "They… they don't seem like bad people. They got them both back here, after all. And if they really wanted to hurt them… wouldn't they already have done so?"

Susie looked between all three of us. It was obvious what she was worried about: me. Losing me. For all she knew, they were working so hard to make a good relationship just to stab us in the back at the last second.

But once she took another look into my eyes, her will folded. Not out of giving up or an unwillingness to argue or anything like that.

Simply because she trusted me.

"I… oh… okay." Susie mumbled, looking directly into my eyes. "But… if they… if they make any attempts to hurt you, or anyone here-!"

"Then I'll see it that they can't hurt us ever again." I promised firmly. Everyone present knew that I was being deadly serious about that promise.

Susie took one more deep breath. "Alright… they can share the last guest bedroom me and Andr finished while you were gone. I'll make another bed for one of them and another chest. Just for a week… right?"

"Just for a week." I agreed.

Susie nodded. "Okay… I'll get that done. Can you tell them…?"

"I'm on it." I agreed, heading out of the bedroom.

I headed right for Diana and Silk, who were huddled together, seemingly working together on something.

I cleared my throat. Silk looked up at me. "Oh, you finished already?" she asked, stepping away from her skeleton friend.

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Susie to finish up something, and then I have something to ask of you both." I responded. Diana and Silk looked grimly at each other.

A minute later, Susie came back downstairs and nodded at me slowly. "Okay… thank you Susie." I thanked. "Follow me you two. Please."

Diana and Silk followed me upstairs, seemingly nervous. "What are you, ah… going to ask us?"

I chose not to answer just yet. I instead lead them up the stairs and through the door. Just like Susie had agreed, there was two beds and two small chests at the foot of each, with a lamp and a small armoire.

Diana and Silk looked confused. "Wh… what's this?"

"I wanted to ask you two…" I started. "We… we basically made you, ah, leave your little organization. Well, they betrayed you, but… I still feel bad about it. You both… really seemed to like it there before. And… well, I don't want to force you to go wandering the world alone. So… if you want, we'd been willing to give you a place to stay for a few days. A week, even."

Diana and Silk's eyes widened. "L-live… live with you…?"

"I-if you want to, of course." I added.

Silk looked… emotional. "Y-you… you really care that much about us…?"

"Well, living with the two of you for a week has that kind of effect." I responded, rubbing my neck. "What'dya say?"

Diana and Silk looked like they didn't know what to say. They just stood there, looking from the beds to me.

Diana made the first move. She suddenly shot forward and clamped her arms around me tightly, visibly shaking a tiny bit. "Th-thank… thank you, Cameron… so much."

"It's not THAT big of a problem to lend you space, is it…?" I asked, taken by surprise of her reaction.

"St-still…" Silk responded, coming up to my side. "It's… it's hard to believe you'd… be so nice to us still, even after all that."

"Have you MET me?" I asked again. "I can't keep grudges for long. That's not in my nature. Besides, I… I don't want to see you have to worry about finding somewhere else. Here, at least you'll have a chance to look before leaving, right?"

The two girls nodded slowly in agreement. Diana's arms gently tightened around me, and soon enough Silk couldn't control herself and hugged into my back.

I chuckled slightly. "You two are so strange sometimes…"

They offered no response; they knew it was true.

Diana eventually had enough and left to go do something, probably thank Susie and the others for letting her stay as well. That just left me alone with Silk.

Silk sighed, choosing a bed for herself and sitting down on it. "This bed's even comfier than my old one…" she murmured, closing her eyes gently.

"Already settling in, eh?" I asked jokingly, sitting on the chest at the foot of the bed.

Silk glanced up at me. "I… Cameron, I…"

"Hey, hey… it's no trouble." I responded, patting her leg gently. "You and Diana deserve it."

Silk sat up, watching me with very watery eyes. "I… I can't… thank you enough. Really, I can't."

I was quiet, letting her talk. She seemed… happy. Truly happy.

"Do you… ah, need anything?" I asked. I had realized I hadn't offered anything for them since they arrived. How rude of me. They gave me things, I should be a better host!

"O-oh, umm… n-no, I'm fine… thank you…" Silk denied, blushing and glancing away. I tilted my head at her.

"W-w… well… there… there is one thing…" she slowly started, working up a harder blush. "Can… can I… have… umm…"

I goaded her with my eyes, nodding. 'Go on…' I urged softly.

"Can… can I…" Silk stammered. She stopped, took a deep breath, and then tried one more time. "C-can I, umm… have, you know… a hug…?"

I blinked. That was new. Silk… well, she wasn't exactly the type of person to normally want a hug. Having her ask me that… noticeably threw me off, but I nevertheless recovered and nodded. "That's all?"

"Sh-shut up…" Silk lightly moaned, blushing furiously. She couldn't look me in the eyes.

I chuckled. "Alright, alright… come here." I cooed gently, scooting closer to her and reached out for her.

She seemed a little squirmy at first, but nonetheless accepted the hug, over time relaxing into my arms.

She seemed perfectly content with me there, gently embracing her thin frame. It was almost like Diana hugging me, simply enjoying my warmth.

Then, she tensed up. She gently pulled away, blushing furiously. "Umm… sorry. I… I-I…"

I gently smiled, clasping my hand around her shoulder. "Hey hey hey… it's okay. It's not a bad thing to want a hug, is it?"

Slowly, Silk shook her head. "Then why are you so embarrassed?" I asked.

Silk seemed like she wanted to say something, but just couldn't form the words. Eventually, she shook her head to clear it, then managed, "W-well… I-I just think you… you're being so… so kind… i-it's a little… overwhelming."

I chuckled a little. "Well… if you ever need anything else, don't hesitate to find me, okay? I'm happy to help."

With that thought, I exited the guest room, leaving Silk to herself. I didn't know it at the time, but if I had looked back, I would've seen Silk watching me the whole time I left, with a… different look in her eyes.

Slowly, I made my way downstairs. It felt very surreal being back home. It was as if everything was suddenly coming back to me, the way the floor softly creaks when you walk on it, the familiar sounds of talking echoing through it, even the little details like the handrail on the left side were so… nostalgic.

As soon as I made it down, the first thing I saw when I looked over were Andr and Snowy, cuddling each other like they hadn't seen each other in a year.

I walked close to the pair and leaned against the far wall. "Enjoying each other?"

Both of them heavily blushed when I spoke, but neither let go. "Y-yes…" Andr managed. "B-but I missed you too! I swear!"

"Yeah, yeah." I brushed off, grinning. "Say, where's Susie?"

"Bedroom. Though… I think I saw Diana heading in that direction too…" Snowy slowly murmured, unsure.

"Oh boy… I better go check on that…" I nervously muttered.

I headed over to bedroom door. I already could hear voices talking on the other side. Thankfully, neither of the two seemed to be yelling.

I knocked on the door. Susie called out, "It's open."

I opened the door, poking my head through. Just like I thought, Susie and Diana were here, Diana leaning against the wall and Susie sitting on the bed. "Am I interrupting anything, or…?" I asked.

"No, no." Diana murmured. "I was just… um… apologizing."

"She's been saying over and over how sorry she is about everything that happened." Susie corrected. "It's a little overwhelming, really."

I stepped in and stood in front of Susie. "Anything else?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing really. I've already told her I forgive her and everything… I don't know what else to say."

It was a little bit of an awkward silence while that statement hung in the air. Finally, Diana cleared her throat and slowly murmured, "I'll just… go and sort through my things…"

She slowly left, casting one more glance back at me and Susie.

Susie sighed. She looked up to see me watching her with concern. She weakly giggled. "You get so cute when you're worried…"

I blushed, but didn't say anything.

Susie patted the bed in front of her, looking… longingly. I understood immediately. I gently sat down in front of her. The moment I stopped moving, her arms wrapped around me tightly.

"I missed you… so much…" Susie whispered, a single tear drop flowing out of her closed eyes.

"And I missed you too…" I whispered back, hugging her just as strongly.

Susie shook a little in my arms… "I… I almost… gave up on you. I was… about to accept that… you were… dead. But then… that letter…"

She couldn't finished. Frankly, she didn't need to. I gently shushed her and pulled her deeper into my arms, saying, "Hey, hey… it's okay. I'm back. You don't need to worry about that anymore. I promise."

Susie shuddered in my arms. "Oh, Cameron… please… never let me go…"

I patted her back gently. I didn't respond.

We must've stayed in that embrace for nearly ten minutes, maybe even longer. I'm not completely sure. All I know is that when we pulled away, Susie didn't look happy about it.

I clasped my hands around her cheeks. "Why must you be so adorable…?" I asked softly.

Susie gently giggled. This one sounded real. She locked her eyes with mine and refused to look anywhere else.

It wasn't long before our lips met.

Susie, normally so strong when we kiss, seemed… afraid. Maybe it was a lingering fear that I was going to leave her again. That sometime, somehow, I'll be separated from her again. The thought terrified her.

I tried my best to reassure her by pulling her closer to me. I knew that Susie was just paranoid right now, for a good reason. Time will pass. She'll calm down. She'll go back to her normal self again.

Another five minutes was spent with us kissing. Surprisingly enough, Susie was the one to pull away first.

I stared deep into her emerald green eyes. "Feel better?" I asked warmly.

Susie nodded slowly, yet deeply. She yawned. I think she was still a little tired from worrying about me and Snowy.

Quietly, I tucked Susie under the covers of the bed again. Once under, Susie locked our gazes again.

"Please… promise me that you won't do anything stupid while I'm asleep… please…?" Susie murmured, her eyelids heavy.

I chuckled gently and kissed her forehead. "I'll certainly try." I agreed. "Rest easy, my sweet princess."

Her cheeks became tinted a darker green. She slowly closed her eyes, and immediately passed out again.

'Wow… I'm almost a little worried. If she keeps that up, then will she be able to sleep tonight…' I thought.

I brushed the thought away. She'll be fine.

Slowly, I wandered out, listening to the gentle snores from Susie…

A few hours later…

Dinner was a… well, I'll be generous and say, hectic affair.

I'm sure I've said this before, but I really need to work on making a better area for us to eat. Because now we had six people eating with us, and the counter could only seat four.

I ended up giving my seat away for Diana, and Susie actually volunteered hers for Silk too, though I know it was just an excuse to be near me.

It wasn't all that bad at least. We still had our two armchairs by the fire, which we turned around and dragged over to sit with the others.

Susie and I had gone out of our way to make a big dinner for us and our guests. There was so much good stuff on the counter that it was a miracle the others could even fit their plates on it.

Despite that, even with all the perfect chicken, steak, veggies, fish, everything Susie and I made, everyone managed a second helping. Honestly, it was probably the best dinner I've had at that point. For a moment, we were able to forget everything that had happened the past few days. We were just six ordinary friends who were eating a well-cooked meal together.

Everyone pitched in to help clean up. Though to be fair, there really wasn't much else that Silk and Diana could really do. Best they could do was help dry off the plates and wash the stove and oven, and even that was a little… well, short.

Anyway, everyone slowly started drifting their own ways, Diana and Silk heading to their shared room, Snowy drifting over to the fireplace, and Susie standing behind the counter, wiping it down one last time.

Only Andr stayed behind. She was leaning next to the front door, seemingly thinking about something. She seemed a little… squirmy. "Something wrong?" I whispered to her, leaning up next to her.

She glanced at me, then at Susie. Susie seemed to glance up, and make eye contact with Andr. The two made some sort of silent conversation, and then Susie nodded gently.

Before I could even ask, Andr suddenly tightly grabbed my hand, and quickly took me up to the very top of the house. The sight of our first kiss.

The next thing I knew, Andr suddenly knelt down and planted her lips onto mine, her face burning brighter than the setting sun.

Before I could even react, she pulled away and hugged me tight. "I missed you, Cameron… so much…"

I gently hugged her back, taken off guard by her very fast advance. "I-I missed you too, Andr…" I managed.

She didn't say anything for a moment. She seemed content with her embrace on me. Thankfully it wasn't one that threatened to crush me into paste, but it was still a little tight.

Eventually, she let me go and stared into my eyes. By that point we had both sat down, still within hugging distance, and my mind had fully shaken off the confusion, ready to actually love her back.

"Cameron, I…" Andr started, looking around embarrassedly. A lock of her long, brown hair fell forward in front of her eyes. I gently brushed it away, keeping my hand on her cheek.

The sun slowly reached halfway past the horizon. It illuminated Andr's face, bringing out the softness of her features, the delicate curve of her cheeks, the cute way her lips pursed when she was extremely nervous.

I couldn't take it anymore. I leaned forward and kissed her myself, savoring her faint warmth. Her arms tighten around me, and her face burns purple, but she doesn't resist in any fashion.

She always looked so thin, so fragile, like at any moment she would break. And yet she easily had more than twice my natural strength at all times. I always had to remind myself of that fact when we hugged, when we kissed.

I slowly applied more pressure to the kiss. My mind was on autopilot. Andr gives no resistance as I slowly push her backwards…

Soon enough, Andr's lying on her back, blushing harder than obsidian, moaning lightly in our embrace.

I'm not sure when we let up, or who stopped first for that matter. All I know is that when we did pull away, we were gasping for breath. That and the sun had fully slunk past the distant horizon.

"Andr…" I slowly managed, staring deeply into her swirly purple eyes.

She said nothing. Her breathing slowly returned to normal.

Before, she always used to berate me for looking into her eyes. Told me that she hated when I did it, made her self-conscious. Now, though, that girl was long gone. Matter of fact, I think she hated me NOT looking into them when we were together like this.

Slowly, I glanced at my wristwatch.

9:15 p.m.

"Oh, wow… how long were we out here…?" I asked myself, looking over at the horizon. I just realized how dark it was getting.

Slowly, we sat up, varied amounts of blush on our faces. "I… I guess we should get back, huh?" Andr asked nervously.

"Yeah…" I murmured, almost a little disappointed. Nevertheless, I pushed it away and smiled at her. "I'm glad I'm home again."

Andr smiled at me. It was a small, cute smile that suited her personality to the T.

She grabbed my hand gently and teleported us to her room, where I bid her goodnight.

As I stepped out, I nearly ran right into Snowy, who seemed to be thinking to herself. "O-oh! Master! I… uh…" she stammered, blushing the faintest amount.

I tilted my head. "Something wrong?"

"W-well, I was, you know, just…" Snowy started, not making direct eye contact. "I-Is Andr there…?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, she is. Something wrong?" I asked again.

Snowy blushed harder. "N-n-no! No-nothing's wrong, just… ah…"

Then she apparently gave up. "I, umm… made a promise to Andr tonight… that I would, umm… keep her company tonight…"

Have I mentioned how adorable Snowy gets when she doesn't know what to say? She seems to kinda shrink in size almost, the way she presses her arms and legs together and tucks her head downward, like a guilty puppy.

I chuckled and patted her head. "Then I shouldn't keep you waiting. She's right in there. Night, Snowy." I coaxed.

I started walking away. Snowy grabbed my arm and stared into my eyes. "W-wait! S-so… you're… okay with… me not sleeping with you tonight…?" she asked slowly, softly.

I chuckled again. "I think the better question is if YOU are." I responded.

Snowy blushed a little harder. She didn't say anything.

I nudged her towards the door. "Go. Andr probably wants a little more company tonight. I'll see you in the morning." I insisted.

She glanced at me, her face red, but she slowly knocked on Andr's door and opened it. She entered, but not before giving me one last 'goodnight' look.

I sighed. Snowy… she's a funny girl, she is.

Well, enough of that. I passed by Diana and Silk's guest room, carefully leaning against the door to hear in. I could hear one of them faintly snoring, while the other seemed to either be reading or writing something. Hard to tell exactly, but if I was right, wouldn't be too hard to guess who was doing what.

I made my way downstairs and quietly knocked on the bedroom door. A soft voice rang out from it, saying, "Come in…"

I opened the door and entered. Susie wasn't in bed. She was still wearing her day clothes. She was sitting at the foot of it… waiting for me, I guess.

I closed the door behind me. "Hey." I greeted. Not one of my better openings.

Susie managed a light smirk. She didn't say anything.

I sat down next to her, rubbing her back once more. We didn't speak. We didn't need to. It was a little hard to describe, but imagine a time where you and a person you feel very close to are together. You don't make any movements, no actions, you don't even need to say words. You can just THINK them, and you understand each other just fine. That's kinda what was happening between me and Susie.

We stare into each other's eyes. Her green eyes look much less tired than when I found them earlier.

Slowly, I kiss her. She returns the favor. No moaning. No tongues. Just a simple, sweet kiss. Just like our first.

While we kiss, we carefully got under the covers. We're so close, we can feel our heartbeats, beating together in perfect unison.

When we part, Susie sighs contentedly. She looks as though twenty iron blocks were slowly being lifted off her shoulders. For the first time since I've entered, she leans forward to me and whispers into my ear:

"I love you."

Somehow, even though I've heard people around me say it practically all day, those words reverberate inside my heart, sending sparks through my body. Susie looked SO much better than when I found her today. She actually had her smile back. Not a forced one that made her look like she'd forgotten how, but a real one, a true, deep hearted, caring smile.

I feel myself slowly drifting off. I'm in a safe place. Finally.

I muster enough strength to wrap my arms around her loosely, and try to whisper back to her.

"I love you too, Susie…" I think I managed. By the time I got to 'you,' I simply wasn't awake to hear it.

Minutes later…

I slowly open my eyes to be staring at Vivianna's face.

She's gently smiling down at me, my head once again in her lap.

I look up a little. Aira is nowhere in sight.

I open my mouth to say something, but Vivianna beats me to it. "Hush, now. We're alone again, Cameron."

Slowly, she allows me to sit up. I turn to face her.

"What do you mean…?" I start to ask.

"Aira and I agreed that to let me see you tonight, then her only tomorrow." Vivianna gently explained. "We felt that seeing both of us maybe overwhelms you sometimes to please both of us at the same time."

My face burns slightly. "O-oh."

"Not that it's a bad thing!" Vivianna quickly adds on. "Just… we felt that maybe some time apart would be good today. A change of pace, if that makes sense?"

I nodded.

"You seem awfully quiet tonight, Cameron, and you just got here." Vivianna mused. "Is something the matter?"

I blinked, realizing that I was simply staring into space. "U-uh, no, no, I'm okay. I promise."

Vivianna looks at me. She knows I'm lying. I'm bad at that.

Truth is, I'm worried about… well, a lot of things. Diana and Silk, Susie's condition, what remains of the S&S, and… and…

That… that man… Herobrine, I think was his name…

That man had sent more chills down my spine than anything else ever has. You know that old saying of someone walking on your grave gives you chills? Well, it felt like he was doing that times a hundred, like hundreds of him were walking on my grave all at once.

I shivered, and not out of cold. Vivianna saw this, and knew exactly what I was thinking about. She was, after all, able to read my thoughts.

Gently, tenderly even, she put her hand on my face and made me look into her eyes. "Hey, hey… I watched that too. I know you didn't hallucinate. And… I think that's why Aira and I weren't able to help. When he appeared before you, I… I felt so much power radiating off of him."

Vivianna glanced downwards. "I wish I could've done something to help you. All I did was stand there, frozen in place. It was like someone was throwing me in an ice block: Nothing you can do but stay still and watch."

I thought a little about this Herobrine character. Who is he, really? And what did he mean by, 'final hurdle for his plans?' I'm nothing special. I have special powers only because of Vivianna and Aira.

And, biggest question of them all… why didn't he just end me then? Clearly he was working for Old Bones before, there was no mistaking that voice from behind the painting. But he decided, while I was confused and scared no less, to simply… help me. He helped me get home. He had all the opportunity to feed me false directions, not help me, or simply gut me like a fish. That's clearly something he wanted to do.

A jolt of electricity ran through me, so much that if I wasn't sitting I would've fallen over. What if he was the one that fed me that dark potion, the one that made me meet Vivianna in the first place? What if he was the one that originally sent Aira on me?

'That would make a lot of sense about why Aria was so afraid of admitting defeat before…' I thought slowly. "And how he knew how to even make that potion in the first place.

In the back of my mind, I knew that that last meeting was not the last I'd be seeing of Herobrine. Something tells me that I'm heading for something that I'm not entirely sure I want to be a part of.

Vivianna looks down at me, seeing my look of fear and confusion. Can she blame me?

She gently pulls herself closer to me, gently humming. Her humming slowly washed away all the memories of Herobrine, instead making me focus on other things: a calm ocean, a bubbling oasis, the sound of a stream running through a forest.

I knew that I would eventually refocus on those things sooner or later. Heck, I doubted I could keep this away from Susie for very long, if at all. But for right now, I didn't want to think about Herobrine or facilities or horror. I just wanted to focus on the good things: My house. My friends. My FAMILY, more like it.

Vivianna's humming soon reaches the end. The memories slowly recede, like an ocean's tide. "Do you feel better now?" she asks me, offering me a small smile.

I lightly chuckle. "Yes… thank you, Vivianna…" I murmur, sinking deeper into our light embrace.

She holds me warmly against her smooth body, filling me with a sense of content. I can hear the faint sound of waves gently crashing against a surf. Her soft, delicate breathing, her almost mind-numbing warmth seeping into my bones like a hot bath…

I almost never moved. I wanted to be surrounded in this kind of comfort, this kind of safety, for as long as I lived.

The scenery slowly fades away from around us. Suddenly, I find myself at the bottom of an ocean. I could see the surface far, far above us. The water swirls around us, dark and fast. I wouldn't have been able to see anything, but from the ground three small blocks rise from the surface, illuminating the area around us brightly. Sea lanterns, I realize.

Vivianna doesn't even bat an eye. Her hug becomes a little warmer in contrast to the cold around us. She hugs me a little tighter.

I feel myself slowly leaning backwards. Vivianna follows after me. Not long after, I'm on my back. Vivianna is over me, gently staring into my eyes, her arms wrapped warmly around me. The ocean around us is still swirling a fair amount, but at that moment it was the farthest thing in our minds.

She leans down and kisses me deeply, practically laying on top of me. I did what I could, but it seemed like Vivianna became filled with some sort of immense desire, and had little to no control over her actions.

She pulls away after a good long time passes, both of us gasping heavily. She still stays firmly on top of me, squashing me gently into the small patch of sand we lay on.

"Cameron…" she breathed, her hair swaying with the currents still swishing around us. It only made her look even prettier in the soft glow of the lanterns, almost like moonlight.

I felt like I was simply savoring her warmth, slowly sinking into the sand below me. We did nothing but exchange sweet words and kisses together at the bottom of the ocean.

I almost wish I could've stayed longer, but eventually I felt a familiar feeling in my gut: my real body was starting to wake up.

Vivianna looks nearly devastated, but she understands. She gives me one last short kiss, then whispers to me, "Good-bye, my love. I'll see soon…"

Slowly, I close my eyes…

Minutes later…

Soon enough I'm back in the real world. I glance over to my right. Susie is still tightly clinging to my arm, her face so peaceful it would be a crime to wake her up.

I carefully, very carefully, I wormed my arm out of her grip and kissed her cheek softly. She moans happily in approval.

I got out of bed, quickly took a quiet shower and threw on some clothes, and headed out the door.

No sounds were being made throughout the entire house. I must've been first up once more.

I started to wonder what was going on upstairs with Snowy and Andr. My guess was that they cuddled each other to sleep most likely. I already knew all about how much they liked each other, but it wasn't something we actively discussed.

Now that I thought about it, I wondered if they were up yet. Maybe they wanted something different for breakfast today. Surely they wanted something other than eggs and bacon?

I quietly hiked up the stairs, making as little noise as possible. It wasn't easy, considering most of those stairs gave off a small creeeeak! noise every time you touch it, but I knew how to keep them quiet.

I passed by Snowy's empty room and Diana-Silk's guest room. Once I got to Andr's door I tried to peek in through the door, which was open a crack, but that bore no fruit.

Usually you could hear a light snore from Snowy or some soft sleep-talking from Andr. I heard that, but it seemed a little… softer than normal.

I reached for the door, and quickly realized that it was open a crack. I pushed the door open to see if they were up.

They were still fast asleep, holding each other with blissful expressions on their faces. Snowy was gently sighing happily in addition to her light, adorable snores, and Andr was sleep-talking, but it was a lot easier to make out than normal. Something along the lines of, "That's right, Puppy… you're so cute, Puppy… I'm happy too, Puppy…"

I quietly snickered. Even in their sleep, they still were completely adorable together.

I closed the door fully as I left, and started to make my way back downstairs.

As I passed Diana-Silk's door, I couldn't help but press my ear to it, to see if they were up yet.

Oddly… I couldn't hear anything.

I knocked gently on their door. No response.

I knocked a little harder. Nothing.

I slowly turned the handle of the door, knocking. Silence.

'They must still be asleep then…' I thought, opening the door and poking my head in.

My eyes widened.

Oh.

Well.

They…

They are most certainly NOT still asleep.

Well, at least not Diana.

Diana was sitting on her bed, wearing…

*cough*

A rather… revealing… outfit.

To be specific… her under-garments.

How she even wore them normally was a mild miracle. But now they were clearly out, free for the world to see.

And, let me just say… they were a little too small for her. And too tight.

She hadn't noticed me yet. She was busy looking down the shaft of an arrow, I guess inspecting it for damage.

She was muttering very, VERY lightly to herself, something I couldn't quite make out.

All at once, my face flushed beetroot red, and my eyes became the size of dinner plates.

'O-oh… I… I think I should… go…' I started to weakly think, my brain not all there. But before I could make another move…

She turned her arrow up to look down it a little better…

And then saw me, staring at her.

Next thing I knew, SHE became beetroot red, and the arrow hit the floor.

For nearly ten seconds we could do nothing but stare at each other in embarrassment.

Then, throwing quiet to the wind, I stammered, "Ummm… I-I-I'll… I'll just… g-g-go…"

I nearly slammed the door closed, very nearly collapsing in sheer embarrassment. There was a rushing sound coming from the bedroom, indicating that Diana was throwing an outfit faster than Snowy eating bacon.

When the noise died down, I, very, very cautiously, knocked on the door again. This time, Diana's voice weakly came to me, "C-come in…"

I opened the door to a 'clothed' Diana (Honestly, her outfit is a few stitches short of a shirt, you know?). Her face was still red.

I had a million things I wanted to say in that moment, but I couldn't make my voice work. Unfortunaly, Diana started for me.

"C-Cameron!" she lightly yelling at me, knowing Silk was still asleep. "W-w-why did you just… walk in on me?!"

"I-I-I kn-knocked…" I stammered. "N-nobody answered…"

Another silence filled the air. In a last ditch attempt to get out of there, I cleared my throat and quickly asked, "I-I'm going to make breakfast soon, how'd you like your eggs…?"

My feet were already taking me out the door. By the time I heard, "Sunny-side," I was already halfway down the stairs.

I collapsed into a chair, mopping up my forehead with a spare dishtowel. I already knew that no matter how hard I could try, that image was going to stay with me for as long as I lived.

Why in Notch's holy name didn't Diana answer? I clearly knocked on the door. Multiple times! She should've at least heard one.

I stayed sitting down for a little while, until I heard more movement upstairs. 'Breakfast time.' I thought, heading for behind the kitchen counter.

Within five minutes, pancakes and bacon were sizzling on the counter, eggs right behind them. But above the noises of breakfast… I heard someone walking down the stairs.

I, in all honesty, PRAYED that it was Snowy, Andr, or even Silk. ANYONE but Diana after that mess.

Fate clearly had other plans.

Diana came down. I busied myself by pretending to checking if the pancakes were done. The last thing I wanted was to start an awkward conversation about… what I had seen.

Diana didn't seem too keen to start talking about it either. She pulled up a seat to the counter and sat there, just… not saying anything. Just watching me.

I silently slid her a plate of food. She just started picking at it while I got back to cooking the rest of the food.

Then, out of nowhere, she speaks up.

"I… I'm sorry."

I glance back at her. Her head is hanging a little, and she looks more ashamed than embarrassed. Her food was pushed off away to the side.

"...I'm sorry…?" I asked, confused. What was she apologizing for?

"I'm sorry that… I snapped at you back there." she managed. She avoided my gaze at all costs. "That… that was very rude of me."

"I should be the one apologizing, Diana." I countered. "I was, after all, the one who walked in on you like that."

Diana didn't say anything else, but she did scoot her plate back over to herself and start to nibble at her toast.

At that moment, the bedroom door opened and Susie stepped out, looking refreshed. She slid into an open chair next to Diana and smiled warmly at me, saying, "Good morning Cameron. Good morning Diana."

"Morning, Susie." I greeted back, sliding her some food (Diana said nothing.), "Food is served."

She started digging in wholeheartedly. The way she did it, though, kinda made me do a double take. It wasn't like she wolfed it down like she had never ate anything in her life before, but… well, she definitely was eating at a faster pace than normal.

'Did she… not eat as much while I was gone?' I thought to myself, idly buttering toast. 'Or was she just really hungry?'

Regardless of whatever the answer really was, those thoughts were driven out of my head when Snowy and Andr wandered downstairs soon after the thought, bidding me, Susie, and Diana a warm greeting. They quickly pulled the armchairs over to sit in them, rather than taking counter seats.

Eventually, Silk wandered downstairs. Her hair was slightly sticking up in a place, and her shirt seemed to be on backwards. "Mornin'." she murmured to everyone, quickly taking an open seat on the other side of Diana.

Everyone but Diana said something in greeting. Silk glanced at her, but said nothing otherwise. She sat down and took the plate I slid her.

We all ate in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, just no one felt like talking. We cleaned up and started to head our separate ways.

I myself was just about to grab a book I was part-way in when Diana tugged on my shirt sleeve.

"I need your help." she explained. "I need to tell you about… a nightmare I had."

I paused. Nightmares were something I understood extremely well. I followed her up to her bedroom. Silk was off doing Notch-knows-what, so it was just us.

Once Diana was sure she locked the door and closed the blinds, she turned to me and started talking, "I… I need to make sure that whatever we say in here STAYS here, okay? I need to trust you."

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. "If this is about this morning, then-"

"No, I thought we were past that!" Diana huffed, looking very concerned.

I sighed. "Then what is it?"

"I… I had a dream last night that… well, it involved… a strange character. A man. But… I only remember one thing about him." Diana explained, glancing around.

"What's that?" I asked, intrigued.

"I-I… I only remember his… glowing, white eyes."


Oh boy, more Herobrine nonsense!

Okay, I promise this is going somewhere. I know that it just seems like I'm tossing Herobrine in here just because he's an easy guy to play as a bad guy, but trust me, I'm working on an actual reason for WHY he's in my story.

Oh, and also, PLEASEDONTKILLME.

Like I said, I have no excuse for why I didn't upload sooner other than the incredibly lame excuse, 'I was busy.'

Well… now that I think about it, I do. I wasn't able to get on my laptop at all to type for weeks, maybe even a month. So I literally had this chapter and the ones for my other stories gathering dust while I could do nothing but sit there and take it.

I'm not wanting to explain what happened, but you guys are smart enough to think of a reason. Just know that I wasn't able to even touch my laptop for weeks.

Anyway, I hope you all did enjoy this chapter, late as it may be. I promise I'll update sometime sooner this summer. I have all the time in the world pretty much, so I can't say I was busy unless I get a new job, right?

Until next time guys, this is ButterHunter, and I'll see you next time. Stay awesome!