HOLY FOOKING SHITE WE ARE ON CHAPTER 48 WHEN THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN AHFKLDJASWN oh hey it me ButterHunter here's the chapter 'scuse me while I go flip out in the other room WAKFENKAFMEK-


Chapter 48: Bones and String

The air was crisp. It almost stung, but at that point I could hardly care less.

It had been nearly half-an-hour since me and Susie left. Only a minute into the trip had we realized we forgotten to leave a note for Snowy and Andr, but at that point turning back only seemed like a waste of time. They would understand if my hunch was correct.

But my hopes were starting to fade. Susie, having already been slightly reluctant to take this trip, was now starting to voice her opinion that we should go home. "It's getting late, and we still haven't seen those two yet. We've passed by Blockington, that desert, and even another swamp. We need to get home before it gets too late."

I had long since been ignoring those comments. There was still over an hour before the sun set, and Aira had assured me that even if we didn't catch up to those two by then, we'd still have enough energy to get us both home safely.

I kept going, following gut instinct more than anything. Susie started shifting around behind me. I thought she was trying to convince me to turn back again.

"Cameron, please set us down. If you're gonna keep searching, at least let me go use the ladies room…" she quietly pleaded.

"O-oh, r-right…" I mumbled, and got us near a large hill in a forest.

I flew down and we gently touched the ground near the hill. I quickly dug a small hole into the mountain and, just for privacy, fashioned a door out of one of the trees nearby.

Susie thanked me and dashed inside, going about her business. I used this time to lean against a second tree and cool off for a second.

Now that I was on the ground again, and not flying… I started to wonder if we even still had a chance to find those two. I mean… I've just been assuming they've travelled more or less west, away from the house. But they could've been travelling in any number of directions. For all I knew, they somehow did a huge loop around the house and were heading east now.

And then, even IF my fears had been confirmed to be true… what could I even do? I mean… do I interrupt them? Do I casually stroll over to them before they can even begin to fight? Would they even FIGHT in the first place?

The thoughts of the whole mess being one big waste of time started to become more and more realistic and logical than I initially thought. Maybe… maybe I really WAS being paranoid as all hell.

The makeshift door opened with a squeak, and out stepped Susie. "Okay… I'm ready when you are."

I slowly started tying us back together. Susie noticed my hesitation. "Is… something wrong, Cameron?" she asked gently.

"Maybe… maybe you're right…" I quietly responded, my head hanging. "Maybe… I was just being overdramatic. If you… wanna start heading home… I'll get us going that way."

Susie looked at me, confused. "I thought you really wanted to keep looking for those two?" she asked.

"I mean… I do, but… at this point, I was sure we'd have found them. But we still haven't seen hide nor hair of them. Who knows? They might've gone around the desert, they might've turned towards the old bunker, they might've even somehow started going in a huge loop around the house for all we know. There's not much point in trying to find them if we don't even know where they are." I responded, kicking at a stray pebble.

Susie looked a little… worried for me. "Cameron…"

I shook my head. "No, you know what… let's just go home. I… I dragged you along with me here, and… I've wasted BOTH of our time. We should just go home and… forget this happened."

Although Susie seemed to be trying to convince me otherwise, she gave in pretty easily. I guess she really did want to go home.

Soon enough we were flying eastward, back towards the house. I reasoned it would take at least another forty-five minutes on the trip back, seeing as I wasn't going as fast this time around.

Susie curled up into me, sighing a gentle sigh. "You know you don't have to turn around just to make me happy, right?" she asked.

"I know. But let's face it: the odds of us finding them now, at this point… I wouldn't put money on it." I admitted, my voice a bit heavy.

Susie remained quiet. The next five minutes were silent save for the gentle wind in my ears.

And then…

"Cameron…?" Susie piped up.

"Hm?" I hummed, not looking back.

"Is it just me… or is that a plume of smoke over there?" she asked, pointing.

Confused as to what she meant, I looked over.

A huge plume of smoke was rising above the trees, a good hundred or so blocks away from us. Strangely, though, it didn't look like the trees were on fire at all.

I glanced back at Susie. Some bit of hope was seeping through my expression. "You don't think…" I started to ask.

"You can't be too sure." Susie responded.

I banked in that direction and gilded us both over, landing softly top the trees.

Once there we quietly approached the smoke and looked down.

A small campsite was here, complete with a tent, a large campfire, some bags, even a small map and compass. But just inside the tent, I could make out two bedrolls.

It was a pair of two sheets over some wool. And the sheets were gray and purple.

I sharply breathed in. Those HAD to be the sheets we gave Diana and Silk, right? Who ELSE would walk around in the wilderness with THOSE SPECIFIC COLORS?

I wanted to jump down there and see if the two of them were nearby, but Susie held me back. "Wait! We don't want to jump down there until we know it's them." she reasoned. "Just wait a little."

As much as I wanted to jump down there, I figured Susie was right. For all we knew, this was a very elaborate trap set up by some sort of hunter who wanted to lure in monsters. It would be much safer to wait until they two of them appeared.

So we waited. And waited.

The seconds turned to minutes. The sun started reaching ever closer to sunset. For a moment, I considered giving up and continuing home.

And then that's when the voices started coming from the woods.

"... -believe you made that shot, had to have been from fifty blocks away, at LEAST." one voice floated in, sounding impressed.

"It's not hard, once you know how…" the other voice spoke up, sounding a bit more embarrassed.

Those voices were all too familiar.

Diana and Silk soon emerged from the woodwork, coming in from the north. Diana was carrying a few logs, and Silk had a skinned rabbit in her hands, freshly caught. They seemed… normal. Cheery, even.

I glanced at Susie. "I… I was sure they would be angry at each other for some reason… but… they seem normal." I whispered.

"Maybe we should… watch them?" Susie whispered back. "See if something happens?"

I nodded, and turned back. At the angle we were sitting at, the sun was directly behind us, so they'd have a hard time seeing us even IF they were looking directly at us.

Speaking of, the sun was just barely above the horizon. Sunset would begin in roughly twenty, maybe thirty minutes. Whatever we did, we needed to finish up quickly.

The two of them started going around the campsite, preparing things, cooking the rabbit in a large pot over the fire, adding logs and sticks to the fire, talking about how what they hoped for in their new organization… normal stuff that seemed like the stuff a pair of friends like them would talk about.

Soon enough, they finished their pot of rabbit stew, and were happily munching away. I started getting extremely confused. Was that prophecy… really just a red herring after all?

I turned towards Susie, to ask her if she still wanted to watch…

And was met with a hooded figure standing right behind her, looking right at me.

I don't think time has ever stood still for me as long as it did then. My face INSTANTLY went pale.

"H-Herobrine…!" I squeaked, my blood turning into ice.

Susie apparently didn't hear me. In fact, she seemed to be completely focused ON the two in the campsite, and had no indication that I was looking at her.

"Shhhhh~..." the hooded man shushed, gently laying a hand on Susie's shoulder. If she felt the hand, she gave no indication.

Anger flared up in me. I wanted that hand OFF MY SUSIE THIS INSTANT. But I didn't move. I feared angering him.

"I didn't expect to see you again so soon, Cameron." he quietly whispered, letting go of Susie and quietly walking around me to be on my right side. I watched him all with unblinking eyes, waiting for him to do something to me.

My heart was pounding. I could barely think straight.

He appeared to look down at Diana and Silk. "A pity. Such strong youths. And they chose a human like you." Herobrine quietly mumbled, no emotion in his voice at all. "Tell me… do they mean a lot to you?"

I was too frozen to even move. Five seconds of silence passed.

"Hm… I'll take that as a no, then…" he whispered, seemingly pleased with that result.

He suddenly… disappeared. In a puff of smoke, he was gone.

And now standing right next to Diana.

"I wonder… what would happen if I mentioned you…?" he asked, and without waiting he whispered something into Diana's ear.

Diana, who had been saying something else to Silk, suddenly stopped talking and… blushed slightly.

Silk looked thrown off. "What? What happened then? You can't just leave me on a cliffhanger mid-way through your sentence."

"S-sorry, I… I was just thinking about… something else." Diana replied, staring into the fire.

"About… what?" Silk asked, confused.

"I think we all know the answer to that, don't we?" Herobrine asked rhetorically.

I blinked, and then he was next to Silk. Again he leaned over and whispered something into her ear. But this time, I heard it.

"Cameron loves you."

Then he stood up, and reappeared at my side just as Silk seemed to realize something herself.

I wanted to move. I wanted to do something. But with him literally a half-block away from me, I couldn't move anything out of fear.

Diana noticed Silk's sudden pause too. "What… are you thinking about?"

Silk hesitated for a few moments. "N-no… nothing… it's nothing." she denied, not meeting Silk's face.

The silence carried over for a solid ten seconds. And then, Silk looked up at Diana and saw her still blushing.

A small, yet concerning, thought started appearing on her face. "You… you… wouldn't happen to be thinking about… Cameron, would you?"

Diana's face paled slightly. "I-I… m-maybe."

Silk seemed slightly more concerned about that, but I had a sinking feeling it wasn't because she was worried Diana was still thinking about me as a friend.

Diana suddenly looked up at Silk, blush in her cheeks. "W-well… YOU were probably thinking about him too, huh?!"

Silk looked taken back, pale in the face. "Y-you… th-that doesn't matter!"

The two stared at each other. I don't think either of them realized yet that the other had feelings for me. I wanted to move. I wanted to intervene. But, again, with Herobrine literally within arms length of them, I was hesitant.

Suddenly, Herobrine moved twice more, once to Diana, and again to Silk.

He then appeared on top of one of the tallest trees overlooking the clearing, staring down at the pair as they fully registered… whatever he had said to them.

The pair said nothing for a moment, until…

"Soo… Cameron was… really nice, huh?" Diana asked, hesitantly.

"Y-yeah… nice…" Silk replied softly.

Diana shook her head suddenly, grunting. "Ugh, why are we being weird about this? I mean… I'm concerned about the lovable doof, but… we didn't leave to KEEP worrying about him."

Silk seemed to agree, but focused on one word Diana had said. "Did… did you say… 'lovable?' I thought you two were just friends." she asked.

"W-well…" Diana murmured, blushing again. "I mean… c'mon, you can't HELP but like the guy! He's so sweet, and… warm…"

Silk groaned. "Ugh, there you go again about him being warm…"

Diana glared a little. "H-hey, I can't help it! You try being cold all the time and NOT obsess over warmth…"

"But it's always about HIM." Silk continued. "I'd be fine if you, I dunno, branched out, but you ONLY ever talked about HIM being warm, and not anyone else."

"Well…" Diana started, blushing again. "He was always… much nicer to hold."

Silk scoffed. "Gag me. 'Nice' isn't the first thing I'd use to describe him. More like 'stubborn.'"

"Well… then he was stubbornly nice…?" Diana offered with a shrug.

Silk seemed to genuinely consider that. "Okay. I'll buy that. You aren't wrong."

A sort of awkward silence filled the air for a moment, before Diana slowly looked back over at Silk again. "Umm… there's something that's been bothering me, though… what were you and Cameron talking about on the roof the day before we left…?"

Both mine and Silk's face paled a little. Silk quickly started covering her tracks. "O-oh, erm… we were, y'know… just talking about how you and I were leaving, a-and…"

She stopped, glancing away. Diana noticed, but before she could respond, Silk fired back, "What… what did you talk to him about? Y-you did say you were going to see him yesterday…"

Diana looked down at the fire. "About… the same things…" she quietly murmured. "He… he looked really sad about us leaving…"

She gently started hugging herself, her eyes closing. "He… he didn't want us to leave. I could see that in his eyes… I…"

"I wanted to stay with him so badly… so, so badly…" the skeleton lady murmured, starting to appear like she was shaking.

Silk was watching this whole thing with curious eyes, as Diana struggled to explain herself. "Then… then why didn't you say so…?" Silk asked.

"B-because… I-I figured you wanted to go to that new place more than stay there… so I never said anything…" Diana whispered.

"I-I never said anything because I thought YOU wanted to go." Silk replied.

Now Diana was looking at Silk with surprise. "Wh-what?"

"I… wanted to stay too… kinda… sorta…" Silk hesitantly replied. "B-but I thought, y'know… you were wanting to go to that new place too, so I didn't say anything."

Diana's eyes literally lit up. "S-so… y-you… you want to… go back?"

Silk hesitated for a second. Then she grinned. "Hell yeah. If nothing else, I wanna see that doofus's face when he sees us again."

The pair of them were grinning ear to ear. I… was understandably confused. Had Herobrine just… changed their minds? Are they… coming back?

I glanced up at the man in question. He was smirking. He noticed me and raised a finger, in a 'wait for it' gesture.

A bad feeling in the pit of my stomach surfaced again.

That's when I heard Diana whisper to herself.

"Maybe now… I can actually tell him that-"

"What was that?" Silk asked offhanded.

"N-nothing! I-I wasn't thinking about telling Cameron I love him!" Diana blurted.

She slapped her mouth shut, her face instantly turning BONE white. Silk stared at Diana, shocked. For a moment, they didn't say anything.

"W-why… why did I say that…" Diana stammered under her breath.

"Y-you… you love Cameron…?" Silk repeated slowly.

"I-I… I-I…" Diana stammered, trying to dig out of the hole she created. "I…"

And then she spilled it all.

"Y-yes… I-I can't lie." Diana admitted, looking miserably at her friend for having to tell her. "H-he… he's so kind… and so sweet… I-I tried to stay away, I really did, but… he just kept being so caring, so gentle… I couldn't keep myself away."

Diana was shaking. "I-I… I still can't believe I left… I never wanted to leave him…"

Diana weakly looked at Silk. "S-sure… surely… you understand what I… mean?"

Silk looked taken back. "Wh-what are you-"

"Su-surely… you like him too? At least… a little bit?" Diana asked, weakly smiling.

Silk looked flabbergasted. "H-how can you say that?! I-I don't LIKE him! How can I LIKE him?! I-I can't LIKE the guy!"

Diana was about to hang her head… when suddenly…

"H-how can I only like him when I already LOVE him too?!"

Now Silk was rapidly paling. She covered her mouth in fear while Diana looked on suddenly.

"This… they would never admit to each other about something like that so easily." I remarked. "Can… can they not hide anything from each other?"

Is that what Herobrine had done? Made it so that they couldn't lie to each other?

Had I not had any previous interactions with the guy, I might've thought that to be a stretch. But I was working from not only my first encounter with him, but the now almost positive feeling that he had poisoned me and turned me into that gray shambling mess months ago. If he had the power to do THAT to me, surely he could make people spill their guts to everyone else.

The sun was almost completely past to horizon by now: probably a good thirty minutes what little light was gone, and then maybe another thirty before the monsters would be out in full force.

And in the fading light, I suddenly remembered: glow fades to rust.

The sky was definitely becoming a rusty red color. It was almost time, if not already there.

Diana looked like Silk had just slapped her across the face. "Y-you… you like him… too?"

"I-I…! I…!" Silk started to defend herself, before…

Were… were her eyes…

Starting to glow crimson red?

"That does it." Silk growled, staring directly at Diana. "I told him to not get in the way between us. He didn't listen."

Diana was staring at Silk like she was starting to lose it. I couldn't tell if she also saw the glowing red eyes, but whatever she saw wasn't sitting well with her. "S-Silk?"

"Shut your mouth." Silk gruffly instructed, standing up quickly and shoving Diana out of her seat.

Diana, stunned, crawled away in fear, startled at her friend. "S-Silk! What are you doing?!"

"He can only love one of us." Silk responded, grinding her teeth together in anger. "And I don't plan to give him a choice."

I glared daggers at Herobrine. Even with his hood up, I could tell he was getting a kick out of all this.

He gave me a sarcastic 'have fun' wave, and then whipped his cloak around.

In a flash, he was gone.

"-ERON! CAMERON!"

I blinked and shook. Susie was suddenly screaming at the top of her lungs into my ears, her face a sickly pale green. "Wh-what what what?!"

"Cameron, didn't you hear me?!" Susie shouted, pointing. "They're gone!"

I looked back at the campsite. Diana and Silk were gone, the sounds of panicked shuffling growing distant.

"You just kept watching and watching, not responding to anything!" Susie explained. "What HAPPENED?"

"A lot of things." I grunted, grabbing my sword. "We have to stop them!"

And just like that, I leaped down and charged into the forest, Susie right behind me.

The dim light filtered in through the trees above, barely letting me see anything. Rather than try and see them, I instead relied on sounds: a distant twig snapping, a far-away curse, a scream or two.

I ran directly past tree after tree, trying to find any sign of Diana and Silk. Whatever Herobrine did to Silk, she was targeting Diana with intent to kill. I needed to break them up quickly, snap Silk out of it. I knew them both well enough to know that Diana would do anything to not attack her friend, but I wouldn't want to test that theory if her friend started attacking her…

I rounded around another tree and-

*WHAM!*

I ran face first into something, and I couldn't stop fast enough. Just my luck I ended up on top of a hill, too. Susie shouted in fear as I fell.

I grunted and groaned as I hit almost every block on the way down, finally coming to a stop at the very bottom some ten-twenty blocks down from where I started.

I groaned and looked up, seeing who I ran into.

Diana.

"D-Diana!" I called, quickly checking on the poor girl.

She grunted and opened her eyes weakly.

She shot up when she saw me. "C-CAMERON? Wh-wha, how did-"

"Long story, no time." I shouted, quickly silencing her. I quickly dug a hole into the hill and got Diana inside, barricading the entrance.

"Are you alright?" I asked first, holding up a torch.

Diana grunted a little, managing to stand up. "Sorta… aside from the fall, Silk… she's…"

She moved her hand, and I had to hold back from gagging.

Silk had bitten Diana HARD. It honestly looked like Diana had ripped a couple small arrows out of her midsection. They were bleeding rather hard, almost like Silk had tried to rip that potion of flesh right off of Diana. I noticed a few less dramatic cuts and bruises here and there too, most probably from the fall we just took.

"You gotta stay here a minute, okay? I need to go find Silk." I instructed.

"Nonononono! You can't!" Diana grabbed me, her eyes pleading. "I don't know what's gotten into Silk, but she's not right! I saw her literally annihilate a random sheep that she saw, thinking it was me! If she gets a hold of you-"

And then, that's when I heard a scream.

"Susie!" I shouted, and quickly jumped out of the little hut.

Susie was at the bottom of the hill, and there was a wild Silk on top of her. "YOU TRAITOROUS BITCH!"

Susie was trying to get the spider lady off her, but it wasn't doing much.

Well, until I came and, with little regard for finesse, kicked Silk off Susie.

Silk recoiled and jumped up into the treetops, cackling darkly.

I pulled Susie to her feet and pulled her into Diana's little hole, grunting from the kick. I must've kicked a bone or something, because I think I did more damage to myself than her.

Susie was breathing heavily. "What was that?" she breathed.

"T-that was Silk…" Diana breathed, looking surprised that Susie was here too. "I-I don't know what happened. One second she was fine, the next, she… she started attacking me."

It was then that Susie noticed how banged up Diana was in. Her nurse instincts kicked in, and she pulled out an emergency nurse kit and started doing her best to ease Diana's pain.

One rough patch job later, and Diana was patched up, but far from perfect shape. "Okay, that'll be fine until we can get you some proper medical attention…"

"WHERE ARE YOU, DIANA?" Silk yelled, just outside our little hidey hole.

"Wh-what do we do?! I don't wanna hurt her!" Diana pleaded, looking at me desperately.

Susie was also staring at me. She seemed to have a 'okay, you were right. Now what?' expresion on her face, intermingled with worry.

I… I didn't know what to do. I didn't think I'd have a murderous Silk to deal with. I wasn't ready.

And then, I suddenly had a thought.

I tore through my bag and pulled out the strange book, the one that gave me the prediction to come here in the first place. I thumbed through it quickly, trying to find anything worthwhile for our current situation. It lead me this far, surely it could help now, right?

Susie and Diana stayed quiet as I desperately tried to find something, anything, to work… "C'mon, c'mon…"

And then, suddenly, something jumped out.

"Reversing Effects."

"If someone is under the effects of some potion or other status condition that makes them act abnormally, it can be almost always be reversed with milk from a cow. Something about the neutral taste of cow's milk thins the effects of potions, though each one varies in how long it takes to take effect."

'Milk…?' I questioned silently, before shaking my head. I had no time to ponder.

"Bucket, bucket! Does someone have a bucket?" I asked desperately.

Diana reached into her own bag and procured one, a confused look creeping into her face. "Why do you need something so random…?"

"If this is right, I can calm her down… hopefully…" I responded, shoving the book back into my bag. "Did anyone see any cows around here at all?"

"There was one at the top of the hill, I think…" Susie asked, even MORE lost.

"You both wait here. I'll be right back…" I instructed, jumping out of the little hidey hole. I sealed them in before they could even argue. They would be safe in there, hopefully.

I looked around me carefully, listening for any sound of Silk at all.

It was quiet.

Far too quiet

Aside from the gentle breeze passing by, there was no sounds at all.

I turned and gazed up the hill. Sure enough, a brown cow was casually grazing, completely unaware of what was going on around it.

I tore up the hill, grunting and wheezing as i made my way up it. From the bottom it felt more like the face of a cliff than a hill.

Eventually, I reached the top, some five minutes later. The sky was still fairly rusty-red, but it was fading. I needed to hurry up.

I quickly took the bucket and went to the cow. It gazed at me balefully as I placed the bucket under it.

"Just… hold still for a moment, okay?" I pleaded with the cow, patting it's head gently.

It stood very still as I, as quickly but gently as possible, milked it. In moments, I had a fresh bucket filled to the brim with cow milk. It probably wasn't going to be as good as cold milk, but at that point I couldn't have cared less .

"Thank you." I thanked quietly, giving the cow a soft pat, and turned towards the hill again.

And suddenly saw something flying at my face.

I only JUST ducked in time, but not fast enough for Silk's razor sharp teeth to graze my forehead.

I rolled out of the way and backed up to the edge of the hill, watching Silk.

She had collided directly with the cow I just milked, and was wasting no time in biting and scratching it all to hell. It gave a loud moo of pain and tried to run, but Silk was far faster than it.

In mere seconds, the poor creature fell over, bleeding from too many cuts and bites, and vanished in a *poof*. All that was left behind was a single raw steak, and… wait…

Silk turned to me before I could process what else I saw, cow blood dripping from the corners of her mouth. I suddenly felt a strong desire to flee.

Steeling my nerves, I held the bucket in my left hand and brandished my sword with the right. "Silk! It's me! Cameron! I'm not gonna hurt you! Just calm down!"

"Cameron, is it?!" Silk screeched, her voice dripping with unreason. "Nice try, DIANA, but that's just a low blow! Trying to convince me you're him!"

She started slowly walking towards me, her glowing red eyes fixated on me. I had half-hoped that me saying that it was me might've jarred her back to reality, but I kinda knew it wasn't going to work.

Blood was gently dripping from my forehead where Silk's teeth had grazed. Nothing life-threatening, but it still didn't sit well with me. Blood always made me slightly uneasy, especially when it was me seeing my own blood.

"You're already bleeding…" Silk cooed gently, suddenly stopping. "I bet it hurts a lot, huh?"

"Nothing I can't return two-fold." I taunted, with was partly true: surely I could make a slightly larger hole with my sword and not be lethal. But I was trying to NOT let that happen.

"Brave words!" Silk taunted, posing to leap forward. "But words is all they are! You pathetic piece of shi-"

She didn't finish her sentence before a something green flew in from behind me, nearly splattering Silk and causing her to recoil, hissing.

I suddenly saw Susie and Diana appear on either side of me, Diana with her bow drawn and ready to fire, Susie holding… a slime ball…?

"Don't lock me away again, Cameron." Susie warned, tossing it up like a stone. "Especially when dealing with murderous spider-women."

"Silk! Calm down!" Diana pleaded, her arms quivering as she held her shimmering bow. "We don't want to hurt you!"

"LIES! LIES! LIES!" Silk screamed, stamping her foot in frustration and glaring at us all with fury. "I won't rest until you are DEAD, Diana!"

"She won't listen to reason." I warned. "We need to get her to drink this."

I dropped the bucket on the ground safely and held my sword out protectively.

Silk lunged at me, but I was ready. She tried to leap for my face again, but Susie threw a slime ball directly at her legs and managed to get them stuck together.

Lopsided, she fell over, but quickly recovered and started swinging at me once more (guess she saw me as the biggest threat, what with my blue stick or whatever).

I danced around her, always remaining just out of her reach. Since I didn't want to hurt her, like, BADLY, I angled my blows so that she always was hit by the non-sharp parts of my sword: the flat of the blade, the hilt, that sort of thing. It was a bit harder than I was used to: kinda hard to teach yourself to hold a sword incorrectly so you don't hurt someone to badly.

Diana was keeping Silk on her toes. Quite literally, actually, as she kept shooting arrows around Silk's feet. She wasn't actually hitting her, but each arrow that lodged into the ground was making Silk jump out of the way and hiss loudly.

Still, even outnumbered three to one, she was putting up a very good fight. She managed to land a solid blow on my shoulder and rapidly changed targets on a whim. I knew we couldn't keep this game up forever: eventually we'd tired or she'd get lucky.

I backed off slightly, panting. Silk and I were circling each other, our eyes locked at each other. Diana and Susie were backed off, Susie trying to find a good place to throw more slimeballs (she'd been throwing them around to sort of trap Silk if she stepped in one) and Diana collected arrows.

Silk once again charged me, but she never expected me to dive back at her.

She couldn't stop in time as I bowled us both over. As soon as we stopped moving I grabbed Silk's arms and tied them together as quickly as I could, all the while her yelling and calling me a bunch of names I'm sure she'd never call me if she was in the right mind.

"Get that milk over here!" I shouted. Susie wasted no time, hauling the heavy bucket over.

While I kept her restrained (turns out being a tall, heavy boy has it's uses), Susie poured the milk as best as she could down Silk's gullet.

Most of it got in, though I wasn't sure how Silk would feel about getting her hair washed with milk once she was sane again.

She was spluttering and gasping for breath as I got off her and backed, Susie doing the same. "Now what?"

"Well… as soon as the milk settles in, she should go back to normal…" I slowly explained, catching myself from adding on, "I hope."

Silk shook gently, and broke through her arm restraints. She looked ready to kill, and her eyes were focused directly on me.

She screamed something and charged, but Diana suddenly came flying in out of nowhere and kicked Silk off course, forcing the spider lady to recoil and focus on her skeleton friend.

Diana had her bow drawn once again, and Silk's fangs were as sharp as ever.

When the glow fades to rust…

I risked a glance at the sun.

The sky was losing its red color very quickly. Nevertheless it never looked more like rust than it had now.

Diana shook as she watched Silk. "Please, Silk, snap out of it! I don't want to hurt you anymore!"

Silk suddenly found two arrows Diana had left behind. She picked them up and glared at Diana with absolute rage. "Too bad I do."

And she lunged.

Time felt like it slowed down.

I realized what was about to happen seconds before it did.

Before I could even process it, my legs were already running.

Silk leaped up high, an arrow in each hand and bringing them down…

Aimed directly at Diana's eyes…

The finger Diana was restraining the bowstring with was quivering…

"DIANA!" I shouted, my own voice sounding far away and distant.

Just before she would've fired, I shoved her aside, into safety.

And looked up just in time to see a murderous Silk.

And she lodged the arrows just below my neck.

I shoved her off of me, but… the pain…

It didn't even look like she jammed the arrows that far in, but it still hurt like hell.

It felt like my blood was starting to pool up in my throat. Maybe that was actually happening, maybe I was just delirious from the pain, I can't be sure.

I managed to step backwards twice, before falling over backwards against a tree, feeling like I almost cracked my skull against it.

I glanced down and saw two feathered sticks poking out of me, just below my throat.

"Ah… that's a problem…" I managed.

And then I think I blacked out. I don't remember fully.

I remember swimming in and out of consciousness. I remember panicked shouts, distorted words, and the feeling of being carried somewhere else.

It didn't make any sense, at least not then.

All I know for sure is that when I finally woke up some time later, it was dark out, and I saw Susie and Diana both staring at me with identical expressions of fear.

"Oh thank Notch above!" Susie breathed again, her face so pale it was almost white, cupping her hand around my cheek. "Cameron, are you okay?"

I felt dizzy. My arms felt like iron, a massive headache was pounding away, and I had an intense desire to hurl.

"I'm… fine…" I managed, my voice scratchy. "What… happened? Where's…?"

"Silk… she came to her senses just after… you passed out." Diana explained slowly, her face white as death. "She just… snapped out of, looked around, saw you on the ground, and… I think everything just came crashing down on her."

I looked around. We… were in that tent that functioned as Silk and Diana's temporary traveling home. I couldn't hear any mobs outside, but they were surely out there at this point, waiting.

That's when I realized Silk wasn't here. "Where… where is she?"

"She's… outside. I think she's avoiding this tent. She… seemed really upset. Like, REALLY upset." Diana murmured.

Susie and Diana looked surprised as I suddenly rose up. My head lurched and my stomach churred violently, but I didn't care. "C-Cameron?"

"I-I… I'm going to go find her." I intoned, moving for the exit.

Two pairs of hands grabbed onto mine. "No no no! Y-you're not well! I-if a monster were to see you-"

"I-I'll be fine." I insisted, ignoring the pounding in my head. "J-just… stay safe, okay? I won't be long."

Before they could argue I stumbled out of the tent. It was very late, the moon was high in the sky. I was still out of it, and my desire to vomit was only growing, but… I wanted to find Silk.

'A-Aira? S-some help, perhaps?' I called out in my mind.

"Give… me a… a sec…" Aira's strained voice replied. She sounded woozy too: hitting my head against that tree would do that, probably.

Shakily, the winds obeyed me as I rose. I didn't trust myself, or my stomach for that matter, to handle flying too high, so I only rose high enough to clear the trees of the forest, nothing more.

Even so, the trip was very unsteady. Once or twice I felt myself about to lose control and fall to the ground, but I managed to recover and continue the search.

I carefully surveyed the trees, looking for signs of Silk anywhere…

"Aha!" I breathed, seeing a bit of vivid purple. I glided down towards the spot and landed some twenty blocks away, atop the trees.

Silk had her back to me, but didn't seem to have heard me touch down behind her. She looked too preoccupied in her own thoughts.

I slowly approached her and, my voice still rusty, called out, "Silk?"

The spider lady jumped a foot in the air and turned wildly to see me.

For a moment, she said nothing, but her eyes grew wider as she looked at me.

Then… the tears started forming…

"C-C-Cameron!" she wailed, charging over to me and throwing herself around me, bawling openly into my chest. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I'm so so sorry!"

"Woah, woah, Silk, not so loud…" I warned. Even IF we were up in the trees, making a lot of loud noises was probably a great way to get the entire mob population of the forest on us.

Silk continued to sob into my chest, muffled only slightly. I carefully cradled her head in my arms and sat us both down at the edge of the trees.

Silk had been resting in a tree that was on the very same hill we fought at. Even at night, the glow from the moon gave off enough light to illuminate the ground below us, and it was beautiful.

Silk stayed wrapped up in my arms for a very long time. Long enough for the headache to pass and for my stomach to finally stop churning at least. I still felt rather weak, but that was the least of my concerns.

Silk pulled away very slowly. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was pale. But she looked normal.

That was something I knew was good.

"I-I… I don't know what came over me…" she hoarsely explained, her voice shaking on almost every word. "I-I just r-remember si-siting at the campfire and… and…"

I ran my fingers through her hair, quietly shushing her. "It's okay. You weren't in the right."

Silk glanced down towards me neck. I looked down but saw nothing. "Does… does it… hurt?" she asked tentatively.

"Not… really…" I mumbled, touching where the arrows had been lodged. A large layer of gauze was already pasted there, no doubt under which was some form of medicine Susie had given me. "Most of the pain is from the remains of this headache…"

Silk looked ready to cry again. "I-I… I'm so sorry, Cameron. I-I… I can't believe I did that-"

"Silk, c'mon, it wasn't your fault." I insisted, holding her face by her cheeks and forcing her to look up at me. "You should be glad! Everything is fine, you're back to normal, I'm fine, the others are shaken but okay… what's there to be upset about?"

Silk shook gently. She stared up into my eyes, looking for some kind of anger or rage.

A fruitless quest, really.

Her pretty face still had tear tracks covering them, reflecting against the moonlight. I gently brushed the tracks away, quietly insisting that she did nothing wrong.

"Go on. Everything's back to normal! Call me an idiot, like you used to." I grinned. "For old times sake."

My dopey comment actually made a giggle escape her, try as she did to suppress it.

"...I… you…" Silk mumbled, glancing away, her cheeks going red.

She hesitated for only a moment before throwing herself against me once again, her face bright red, as she loudly yelled, "Oh, just kiss me already, you massive idiot!"

I grinned broadly, murmured, "I missed you, Silk," and slowly lowered my head down towards her.

She gave no resistance as I planted my lips on hers. I could actually feel her heart beating at a hundred blocks a second, and the moment I started kissing her she threw her arms around me and locked them there, clearly never intending to let go.

The kiss was short, almost like the one we shared at the house. But this one carried no sadness with it this time.

She, believe it or not, was the first to pull away, after a solid ten seconds. She… looked a little scared, even through her blissful expression. "Is… is this… okay?"

I blinked once or twice before asking, "Hm?"

"I-I mean… is it… right… for me to… to k-kiss you… when Diana already likes you?"

It took me a minute to fully process that. Once I did I… I started chuckling. Like, involuntarily chuckling.

Silk blushed heavily, and grew a little upset. "H-hey! What are you laughing about, idiot?! I'm being serious!"

"And so am I! And I'm failing." I responded, stopping myself as best I could. "I'm sorry, but I was under the impression there was no worries about something like that."

"B-but there is!" Silk replied, looking ludicrously at me, as though I wasn't getting it. "A-after all, h-how am I gonna look Diana in the face anymore if w-we both-"

"Hasn't stopped Snowy and Andr." I reminded. "And those two are all over each other. Hasn't stopped Susie from letting either of them stay at our house. And it didn't stop me either, when I was trying to get you back to your senses. And besides, if you and Diana ARE good friends like I know you are… then something like this shouldn't get in the way."

Silk looked like she wanted to argue more. I silenced her with another kiss, a very brief one at that. Once I pulled away I continued, "Silk, if there was ever a time that I felt that you and Diana were not good friends, I'd eat my own pants. Even now, with this… event… I'm confident the two of you can put that aside and become all the more closer."

"That's what friends are for, right?" I asked, gently rubbing her back.

Silk remained quiet. I took that as her response, and slowly stood back up.

"C'mon. We should get to bed, it's really late at this point…" I responded, looking up at the moon. If it wasn't well-past midnight at this point I'd be shocked.

Silk seemed afraid. "I-I can't go and face those two! Not now!"

"The sooner you talk to them about it, the sooner everything can go back to normal, you know." I responded, gently helping her back to her feet.

She seemed very reluctant, but she allowed me to take her by the hand and lead her back towards the tent, a thankfully short trip over the treetops.

There were no mobs in sight, nor that I could, once we got to the tent, so I quickly got to the door and whispered, "I'm back."

The flap opened and I was quite literally pulled back inside. "Oh thank Notch, I was just about to- oh!"

Susie was cut short (probably about to scold me for being out at this dangerous hour no doubt) by the realization that Silk was with me. She hadn't been very eager to come here, and now that she had Silk and Diana focused directly at her I bet she wished she could pull an Andr and get out of there.

It was tensely quiet for about thirty seconds in that tent.

Then I cleared my throat. "So… what's our plan for getting home tomorrow?"

The other three kinda blinked and shook their heads a bit, then looked at me as if just noticing I was there.

"What?" I asked.

"I… we weren't expecting you to-" Diana started to say.

"Bring me back…?" Silk responded quietly.

Diana went completely silent. Susie looked very uncomfortable. Silk looked like she just wanted to crawl into a hole and cover it with sand.

I groaned. "Guys, let's NOT worry about the incident. Can we PLEASE focus on the more pressing issues, like getting home tomorrow?"

Dead silence, but I took that as agreeance.

"That's what I thought. I don't suppose there's another bedspread or something for me and Susie?" I finalized, clapping my hands together.

The three of them slowly unfroze. Although eye contact wasn't held for very long (if at all), the three DID seem to become a fair bit more at ease. For a time, at least.

Silk mumbled something about leaving something outside, and quietly set off to get it. Susie hesitated, but suddenly then decided she had something to say to her, so she took off after Silk.

Leaving just me and Diana.

Diana had been straightening the same bed sheets for about five minutes straight, so I knew she was worried about something.

I tapped her gently on the shoulder and asked her, "You look like you wanna say something. What's up?"

"O-oh! N-no… I-I…" she started to disagree.

She paused for a moment, then coughed. "Silk… she… is she…?"

"She's fine." I agreed, sitting down on Diana's bedspread and encouraging her to do the same. "Just a little shaken and… well, obviously afraid."

"..." Diana remained quiet.

"What? Surely you were worried about her too, being out there all by herself, with all the mobs and that." I offered.

"I… I was… but…" Diana mumbled, her voice trailing.

"You were… worried about facing her?" I guessed.

Diana nodded. Her hand was shaking a little.

I tenderly took it and held it in both of my own. "Diana, you don't have to be worried. She's just as concerned about talking to you as you are to her, probably even more so. But we don't have to worry about that right now. That can come tomorrow. For now… just know that Silk wasn't in the right. She had no way of controlling herself. She was just acting on a reckless rage."

Diana looked at me deeply. Her cheeks flushed a little bit more. "B-but… I… I can't face her… knowing that she likes you…"

"So what? You like me too, don't you?" I asked.

Diana's cheeks went even redder. She hesitated for a moment before adding, "B-but… she felt so strongly about you… even IF she wasn't in the right, she still cared enough about you to try and keep me away from you. Won't that make things… awkward?"

"Only if you let it." I agreed. "But that, I think, is a conversation best left between you and Silk."

Diana was turned completely towards me at this point, and it was clear that she was still unsure. I sighed with smile and pulled her close to me. "C'mon, I get the point…"

I embraced Diana. Once again, I was met with… something odd. Diana's cold wasn't as intense as I remembered it, again.

I pulled my head away so I could face her. "You're still not as cold as normal."

She blushed more. "I… I'm still not if you mean that as a good thing or not…"

The light of the lantern near us perfectly illuminated Diana's face, giving light to all of her rather delicate features.

By the time I realized I was leaning forward, my lips had already connected with Diana's.

She was incredibly tense, as though expecting someone to come barging in on us, or perhaps expecting me to pull away suddenly. But that didn't happen.

She finally pulled away some ten-fifteen seconds later, a deep blush covering her face. "I… that… Cameron…"

"I missed you, Diana… I really did…" I breathed, refusing to look at anything other than her.

For a good minute straight, Diana simply refused to move an inch. She was content into staring into my eyes, something I was all-too eagar to return.

Finally, a distant sound jarred us both from each other, and we quickly separated and returned to fixing up the tent.

Silk and Susie returned a few moments later. Susie looked much more at ease than when she had left, and Silk… something looked different. She… seemed more… relaxed, I guess is the word. She seemed… more… confident in herself.

I'm guess she and Susie talked a little, but I have no idea as to what. But I didn't pry: their business, after all, not mine.

Susie, believe it or not, actually had a spare cot in her travel bag for just such an emergency. Why exactly she was prepared for a situation in which there would be at least one extra person sleeping in a tent, or how someone's cot could possibly be in need of replacement on short notice, was beyond me, but I was glad we wouldn't be on the ground. Notch knows how many times I had to do that, and boy was it uncomfortable.

And before any of us knew it, the lights were off and we were all trying to fall asleep.

I was staying up later, though. I was watching. Susie, besides me, had somehow fallen asleep the moment her head touched the pillow, but I was wide awake.

Diana and Silk must've thought I was asleep as well. They started talking quietly, so quietly I missed most of what they said.

I only remember bits and pieces:

"...said that we're free to stay…"

"...that's great…"

Pause.

"...Silk, I… I forgive…"

"...D-Diana… you…"

Brief silence…

"Thank you…"

And conversation finished, and each of the remaining two fell fast asleep.

Both with a small smile of relief on their faces.

I sighed, and pulled the strange book out of my bag, the one that had gotten me into this tent in the first place.

"Thank you…" I whispered, patting the book gently.

And I soon, too, fell asleep, to the sounds of wind and leaves…


Dear lord, did I ever go on a tangent. This is easily the longest chapter I've ever made!

But, hey! At least we finally got Diana and Silk back! That's something, right?

And surely after all of this, the group can finally rest peacefully, and live a somewhat normal life?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *pounds fist into table*

YEAH RIGHT!

Well, anyway, readers, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

I still can't believe we're at Chapter 48! Just one chapter between us and that glorious Chapter 50! INSANITY!

I, for one, am VERY anxious to reach that point! So, how about we all hold onto our butts and get ready for that chapter, huh? You think THIS was the longest chapter I can make?

JUST WAIT FOR CHAPTER 50.

(oh yeh, if you wanna get your MC on with me, PM me or find me on Discord, I'm free to play almost anytime, except for the times when I can't)

Until next time, my awesome readers…

Stay Awesome! =D