Minecraft Story Mode: Gods Don't Die

by MyLittleScrubs

The Ancients. Three godlike beings who wield power that made Romeo's look tiny in comparison. They are callous, cruel, and worst of all, they are immortal. They had destroyed countless worlds in the name of entertainment, so what's stopping them from destroying this one? Alex and her friends may have finally met their match... (Sequel to Minecraft Story Mode: Pain and Healing)

9. Chapter 9: Blank

Magnus cleared his throat and began to rehearse his lines for the seventh time. "Hey, Ellie. How's it going? So I heard you were having a pretty rough time and I thought it'd be nice for you to relax with me and...naw, that'll never work." He cleared his throat again. "So, Ellie! You, uh, like dates? 'Cause if you are, then you're in luck! ...holy shit, no. I sound like a freaking salesman." He cleared his throat for a third time and took out the rose that he had plucked from the ground just outside the temple. Then, he put the rose between his teeth and raised one of his eyebrows as high as he could, trying to replicate one of those casanova characters that he frequently saw in Ellegard's secret stash of romance novels, which he totally did NOT steal from and read himself. "Why hello there," he said in a deep voice. "I didn't see you come in...wait a minute, I'M the one who's coming in! Ugh, why does love have to be so complicated?"

The reason why Magnus was reciting his lines while standing just outside of Ellegaard's room was because he could no longer contain his feelings, as cheesy as that sounds. The rogue decided that if he couldn't confess his love to Ellegaard today, then he'd never bring himself to do it afterwards. Despite the other men warning him that Ellegaard was in a pissed mood, he wasn't deterred in the slightest. ...Okay, he was a little terrified right now, but hey, if there was one thing that Magnus was good at, it was doing crazy things before thinking them through properly. "Whatever, I'm just gonna yolo this," he finally muttered.

Taking a deep breath, Magnus placed his hand on the doorknob and slowly opened the door, hiding the rose behind his back. "Hey, Ellie, I just wanted to come up and see how you were…" He arrived just in time to see Ellegaard crumple up a piece of paper and throw it into a nearby trash bin. "...what was that?" "Huh?," asked Ellegaard, trying to act as calm as possible. "What was what?" "Whatever you just threw away," said Magnus, pointing at the trash bin. "Mind telling me what that was?" "...oh, that!," Ellegaard chuckled nervously, her face turning bright red. "Just...you know...taxes." "..." Magnus just stared at her. At that point, she just wanted to melt into a puddle and perish. Inside Ellegard's head, an army of miniature Ellegaard clones were screaming, "What were you thinking?!" while banging on the floor of her brain with their tiny fists. A few of them were strangling each other and getting oddly aroused by it.

"...taxes," Magnus finally said. Ellegaard nodded. "Yep! Darn taxes, am I right? Heh…" Magnus squinted at Ellegaard's face for a while, then started laughing. "Oh, good one!," he said, walking over to her and patting her on the back. "Yeah, taxes are the worst. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy...maybe...okay, I totally would." Ellegaard let out a massive sigh of relief. She had forgotten that Magnus wasn't as bright as the others. They didn't even PAY any taxes, for crying out loud! "Do you mind telling me why you barged in here without knocking?," she asked irritatedly. Magnus barked out a laugh, though he did appear rather sheepish.

"Ah, sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Just saw you in a pretty bad mood lately and wanted to see how you were doing, you know?" Ellegaard raised an eyebrow at what she heard. Magnus rarely ever apologized for anything. What was he up to? "Well...thanks for checking up on me," she said sincerely. "But I'm fine in case you can't tell, so you can leave now." She wanted to be alone for the time being and figure out how to respond to Isa's most recent letter. "Okay, okay," said Magnus, raising his hands up disarmingly. "I get that you're a busy woman and all, but being cooped up in your room all day CAN'T be healthy. And when that's coming from me, you KNOW it's serious." Ellegaard couldn't help but agree. Magnus wouldn't know "healthy" if it walked up to him and slapped him in the face. She couldn't even count the number of times she or somebody else caught him rooting around in their fridge and taking out all kinds of fatty foods. It was a wonder that he was still able to remain in a healthy and athletic state, but she supposed that was a given considering that he was the king of Boom Town and had to stay in top shape in order to contend with the griefers and criminals who were living there. "By the way," Magnus continued, "how'd your meeting with that big shot millionaire go? Sebastian Smith, right? I know Redstonia is going through some pretty heavy shit and all…" Ellegaard sighed. "No offense, Magnus, but when did YOU ever start caring about Redstonia anyway?," she asked. "Well...it's not Redstonia I'm worried about…," said Magnus.

It took a while for Ellegaard to realize what he meant, and when she did, she couldn't fight off the growing blush on her face. "Er...thanks," she said. "...listen, Ellie," Magnus said nervously. "I know you're stressed and all, but I was thinking if maybe...you could take a load off and we could go somewhere together. Just you and me." "Magnus...what are you trying to say?," asked Ellegaard. Magnus cleared his throat, reached behind his back, and took out a rose. Oh no, she thought. "Ellie," Magnus proclaimed. "I love you. I've felt this way for a long time now, but I didn't know how to tell you. Well...now I'm telling you. Would you like to go on a date with me?" At first, Ellegaard was too stunned to answer, and could only stare at the rose in Magnus' hand as the blush on her face grew larger. To an outsider, it seemed like she was just overwhelmed with flattery. But on the inside, she was panicking. She liked Magnus, and even though the rogue was a little rough around the edges, she still considered him to be one of her best friends. She knew that she could always trust him to watch her back when in dangerous situations and tell her the blunt truth when it was necessary. But she did NOT love him.

"I...I'm sorry, Magnus," she said. "I can't." Magnus shrugged, seemingly unbothered. "That's fine," he said. "We could always do this another time if you're too busy-" "No, you don't get it," said Ellegaard, shaking her head. "I don't love you. I can't return your feelings. I'm sorry, Magnus, but...this isn't going to work out." Magnus stared at her in shock. Even the rose in his hand was wilting a little. "You mean...that's it?," he asked. "You're not even gonna give me a chance?" Ellegaard shook her head again. "It wouldn't matter anyway," she said sadly. "I'm sorry. But we can still be friends, right?" At that point, a turmoil of emotions swirled around in Magnus' head. He finally decided to settle on the emotion that he was most used to: anger. "Oh, I think I get it," he said angrily. "You think you're too good for me, is that it? Well, I'm sorry that I can't live up to your standards, your majesty, but not all of us can be redstone experts like you!" Ellegaard stared at him in shock and hurt. "Magnus, that's not what I meant-"

"But hey, what the hell do I know? I'm just a goddamn griefer!," Magnus ranted. He crumpled up the rose and threw it to the ground, scattering rose petals everywhere. Then, he turned and was about to exit the room, but stopped for a moment. "And just so you know, Ellie, that stupid 'taxes' excuse didn't fool anyone," he said coldly. Then, he stepped out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Ellegaard slowly bent down to pick up the rose, which was now just a broken stem, and stared at the door, wondering how it all went wrong.

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"Wow," said Magnus, looking around with pure nostalgia. It had been ages since he saw this room, which definitely needed some tidying up. "Been a while since I've been here-whoa." He turned around, then stiffened. "What. Is. She...doing here?," he growled. Everyone else was confused and looked to where he was glaring at, and saw Olivia talking with a woman who was definitely not here before. "Call this a hunch," said Petra, "but do you two not like each other?" "Right, um," said Lukas nervously. "I forgot to mention - Olivia went on a little...expedition of her own, while you were gone." "And this 'Olivia' person," said Magnus, "came back with her? Did you know about this?" "Holy crap, I can't believe it!," exclaimed Jesse. "That's Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer!" "Well," huffed Magnus, "if you're such a big fan, then why don't you go hang out with her, then?" "Jesse! Jesse!," yelled Olivia. "Look - I found Ellegaard!"

"Just hang on a sec, okay?," said Jesse. "I'll go figure out what's going on." "Good. You do that," said Magnus as he watched Jesse walk towards Olivia and Ellegaard. Nearby, Petra gave Alex a quizzical look. "Sooo...you got drunk," she said. "Wanna tell me why?" Magnus couldn't help but start listening in, curious about their conversation. "Oh! ummm...so I met this guy," Alex said. "His name's Ghost. He offered me some liquor, I was tempted, then one thing led to another and… *hic*." Petra sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

Finally, Magnus became impatient. "What the hell's taking them so long?," he muttered angrily and strode towards Jesse, Olivia, and Ellegaard. Once he got close enough, he finally decided to announce his presence. "Oh hoo-ray," he cheered dryly. "It's Ellie. And here I was just starting to enjoy myself." Ellegaard finally noticed Magnus and glared at him coldly. "Hello, Magnus," she said. "Your voice is exactly as pleasant as I remember. Which is to say, not at all." "Ow. My feelings," said Magnus, taking a step back and pretending to be hurt. "Is that the same wit you're going to use to save the world?" "Why?," asked Ellegaard, placing her hands on her hips. "You here to tell me how to do it better?" "Oh, I would never dream of doing that," said Magnus. "Unlike you, I actually do things instead of just talking about them." "Hey!," Olivia cried angrily, stepping forward to defend her idol. "That's Ellegaard you're talking to! Show her some respect!" "Would you all cut it out?!," Jesse suddenly yelled. "Holy crap, you're all acting like crazy people! Uh, people? Can we please focus on the bigger picture? We have a very hungry Witherstorm in the process of turning the whole world into its dinner." "Yeah I'll admit," agreed Magnus, "that thing looked real nasty. And I've seen some nasty stuff in my time." "Too much for you, was it?," mocked Ellegaard. "Your usual brutish appearance didn't cut it?"

"All of you, SHUT UP!," Alex screamed. Everyone stopped and stared at her in shock. "This is ridiculous!," she yelled. "There's a giant wither out there and you guys are just arguing like children! Plus, your bickering is preventing Billy from taking his daily nap!" Magnus looked at Jesse questioningly. "Who's Billy?" Jesse sighed. "I'll tell you and Ellegaard later."

"Alex's right," said Petra. "We need to find some way to stop that thing." "I don't know if you've looked around yet," said Ellegaard, "but this place isn't nearly the stronghold it used to be. Most of our supplies are gone." "It would take a mountain of TNT to kill that thing!," said Magnus. "I hate to say it," said Ellegaard, "but you have a point."

"You're members of the Order!," said Jesse. "You two can't handle this?" "Whoa," said Magnus. "Give us a minute, all right? We just barely got here, we'll get it. But even if we had all the TNT from miles around, I don't know if it would be enough..." "If only Soren were here," said Ellegaard, "he might have something we could use." "Oh Ellie," groaned Magnus. "Not this again." "What are you talking about?," asked Jesse. "What did Soren have?"

"Soren had a kind of 'Super TNT,'" said Ellegaard, "stronger and more explosive than anything else in the world. The 'Formidi-Bomb'." "Yeah yeah yeah," said Magnus, "I've heard all about the 'F-Bomb' before." "Do you know where it is?," asked Jesse. "Can we get some?" "Well, there's a little problem there," said Ellegaard. "We don't know where Soren is. But you found us. Do you know where he is?" Jesse thought for a moment, then walked to the map with everyone else trailing behind him. "Our map could locate him," said Ellegaard. "Unless he's in the Nether or the End. But it's worth a shot." "He wasn't on the map," said Jesse.

After that, everyone went to do their own thing while Jesse walked around, talking to everyone else before turning the map back on. Magnus just stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at the back of Ellegaard's head. Ellegaard either didn't notice or just chose to ignore him, which was totally fine with him. He didn't need Ellegaard anyway. He never needed her. "Hey Magnus," Jesse suddenly greeted him. "Hey small fry," said Magnus, deciding to poke some fun at Jesse, just for shits and giggles. "No shame in admitting you can't turn that thing on. It's very very sophisticated." Jesse gave Magnus an angry glare. "I'm going, I'm going," he grumbled, walking away. "I know what I'm doing…" Magnus chuckled to himself. Who said that griefers needed TNT and explosions to amuse themselves? His chuckles died down when he spotted Ellegaard talking to "this 'Olivia' person" on the other side of the room. He grumbled and turned away to look at the wall. He couldn't care less about her. Things were OVER between them… which was what he kept telling himself over and over again. But...did he really mean it?

Finally, Jesse managed to turn the map back on again. Two beams of light, one red and one green, shot out from the amulet and hit the map, landing on the exact location of the temple. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around the map.

"All right," said Magnus, "there's your light, my light…" Suddenly, a third beam of light hit the very top of the map, a white one. "That's new," said Axel. "There he is," said Ellegaard. "Soren had his fortress deep inside the mountains. After the Order...broke up that's where he went to keep doing his experiments." "Look," said Magnus, "he invited me there a couple times but it always seemed a little…" "Weird, right?," asked Ellegaard. "It always seemed a little weird." "Then let's stop hanging around here and go get us some super TNT!," said Jesse enthusiastically. Suddenly, a fourth beam of light hit the map. This one was blue and it was slowly moving towards the white beam. "Blue? Blue?!," exclaimed Jesse. "That's Ivor!" "Ivor is going to Soren's!," said Ellegaard. "We need to move." Jesse looked at the map closely.

"It's not too far," said Jesse. "We could probably make it on foot." "Perfect," said Ellegaard. "We can wait til tomorrow morning and travel with a full day's sunlight." "Uhhh and risk that thing catching up with us?," asked Magnus. "I think I've had enough Witherstorm for one day, thank you very much." "Right," said Ellegaard. "Because getting caught out there in the dark is so much better." Everyone else began rolling their eyes. Geez, do these guys always find an excuse to fight each other? "I don't want to risk being outside when it gets dark," Jesse finally decided. "We should wait til morning so we can have a full day of sunlight." "An excellent call, Jesse," Ellegaard praised. "And far more decisive than either of us are being." "What a coincidence that it's your plan," said Magnus irritably, crossing his arms. "But fine."

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You'd think that after spending more than a decade away from a person who used to annoy you to no end, you'd quickly warm up to them upon reuniting. But that was not the case with Magnus and Ellegaard. In fact, it was the complete opposite. They had just arrived at a large room with four doorways, each one being labeled with the theme of a different member of the Order. Of course, both Magnus and Ellegaard wanted to go through their own respective doorways, and when they disagreed, another fight broke out between them. Petra, Axel, and Olivia could only stand there and watch awkwardly. Finally, after Jesse, Lukas, Alex, and Reuben managed to arrive after escaping the endermen, the two arguing heroes had enough and decided to split up. "That's it!," yelled Ellegaard, walking towards her own hallway. "I'm going. Once again, it falls to me to take care of everything. I'll find this 'Super TNT' myself!" "Oh no no no!," yelled Magnus, pointing accusingly at Ellegaard's back. "You do NOT get to be the one who walks away. That's it! I'm going." He began walking into HIS own hallway, the one that was opposite to Ellegaard's. "See! I'm walking away too now. 'Super TNT,' here I come!"

As Magnus stomped away in anger, he began to slow down and eventually come to a complete stop. He slowly turned and looked back in the direction that he came from, half hoping that Ellegaard would be running after him for some reason. But there was nobody behind him. He was all alone. Magnus slumped against the wall and covered his face with his hands, murmuring nonsensically. It was official. He was having a very, VERY bad day.

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Magnus felt like his face was about to break in two. He had been smiling and waving at the crowd for god knows how long, and for him, it was as close to pure torture as it could get. He knew that the celebration was a welcome event, especially after the harrowing ordeal that everyone went through, but at the same time, he wanted nothing more than to grab those people by their shoulders, shake them, and scream into their faces. A deep and selfish part of him felt that there was nothing to celebrate. Did they really think that throwing a stupid little party would heal all the physical, mental, and emotional wounds that the Wither Storm left behind? No, he didn't think so. And yet, they kept on celebrating. Magnus was usually considered the party animal of the group, but this time, he could no longer bring himself to enjoy the festivities. He tried talking to the other people, but all he heard from their mouths was "blah, blah, fucking blah." He tried eating some of the food, but it was like all the flavor had been sucked out of them. He may as well have been eating rotten flesh. Magnus wondered if it wasn't too late to go back to his obsidian tower in Boom Town and hide there forever, never having to step foot outside of it ever again. He could really use some alone time right about now.

Magnus suddenly felt someone tap his shoulder from behind. He turned around and came face to face with Alex, who had a worried expression on her face. "Magnus, are you alright?," she asked. "You look upset." Was it really that obvious? "I'm fine, kid," he sighed. "I'm just...tired from everything that happened, you know?" Alex nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I don't blame you," she said. "World saving isn't exactly something that happens every day." Magnus chuckled, but there was a bitter undertone to his voice, which Alex noticed. "Are you sure you're okay?," she asked. "You could tell me anything, you know. We're family." Magnus couldn't help but give a weak smile, despite everything that had happened earlier. Even after losing her memories and being separated from the Order for most of her life, Alex was still the sweet, kind girl that they adopted so long ago. Though she definitely wasn't as cheerful, that's for sure. "I'm fine, Luc- I mean, Alex," he assured her, slightly stumbling with her name. "Just got a lot on my mind, that's all." "...is this about Ellegaard?," Alex asked sadly.

Magnus' shoulders stiffened, and his smile became more forced. "Magnus...please tell me what's wrong," Alex pleaded. "I want to help you." "...no," said Magnus, slowly shaking his head and taking a step back. "I'm sorry, kid. This is something that even you can't fix." He turned and walked away, trying his best to ignore the hurt expression on Alex's face. At that point, Magnus made up his mind to head back to their old temple. On his way, however, he literally bumped into Ivor, who was also trying - and failing - to enjoy the celebration. Ivor was absolutely furious that Gabriel and Magnus had decided to continue their lie about them being real heroes. So when he realized that Magnus was the one who bumped into him, he scowled and was about to deliver a severe tongue lashing. However, upon seeing the rogue's sad expression and drooping shoulders, Ivor couldn't bring himself to do so. Magnus took one look at Ivor before shame filled up his face and he began to speed walk away from the celebration.

As Ivor watched Magnus leave, he heard rapid footsteps from behind and turned to see Alex running in his direction. "Ivor, I think there's something wrong with Magnus!," she said, panting heavily. Ivor nodded. "You're not the only one who thinks that, Alex," he said.

Magnus didn't stop until he was finally at the entrance of the temple, and by then, he was completely exhausted, sweat pouring down his face while he placed his hands on his knees and took in deep breaths of air. After catching his breath, he went into the temple, making sure to disable the security system beforehand. His first thought was to head straight to his room, lock himself in there, and just sleep the rest of the day away. For some reason, he found himself walking past his own room and heading straight towards Ellegaard's. He slowly opened the door and carefully walked inside, keeping his eyes peeled for anything new. Once he saw that the room was still the same as before, he sighed and closed the door behind him. Honestly, he wasn't sure WHAT he was expecting. Maybe for an undead Ellegaard to grab his ankle from under the bed and drag him to the pits of hell? He halfheartedly chuckled at his bad joke.

However, his smile died when he spotted an old photograph of the Order of the Stone standing on Ellegaard's dresser. He picked it up and brushed off the thick layer of dust that had accumulated over the item frame. It was a photo of him, Ellegaard, Soren, Gabriel, Ivor, and Ramus crowding around each other while giving the camera a huge smile. This photo was taken when they were only teenagers. Back then, Soren hadn't even discovered the command block yet. None of them had become heroes yet. They were just a normal group of friends who were just hanging out and having a blast. Magnus couldn't believe that Ellegard still kept that photo after all these years. Magnus had to admit, he was pretty close to crying. But he didn't.

Magnus placed the photo back on the dresser and looked around the room. He didn't care that he was basically peeking around a woman's room. There were numerous posters on the walls, and each one had a picture of some famous redstone engineer that Magnus never bothered to learn the names of. Hanging from the ceiling was a redstone lamp that Ellegaard had wired herself to turn on and off automatically whenever she clapped her hands. But other than that, Ellegaard's room looked like any other room that a young woman would have.

"What am I even doing here?," Magnus murmured to himself. He turned around and was about to head out of the room when something suddenly caught his attention. At first glance, it was just an unassuming trash bin that was placed in the corner of the room, nothing that really needed any real investigation. However, something was pulling him towards the trash bin for some strange reason, and before he knew it, he found himself slowly walking towards the bin and looking inside it. At the bottom were two crumpled up pieces of paper. Upon seeing them, Magnus suddenly remembered the time when he went into Ellegard's room to ask her on a date, which failed miserably. He also remembered seeing her throwing a piece of paper in that trash bin right when he entered this very room. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Magnus reached in and took out both pieces of paper. Then, he uncrumpled one of them and realized that it was some kind of letter. It was definitely not written by Ellegaard, because he had never seen this type of handwriting. But who would send Ellegaard a letter anyway?

"Dear Ellegaard," he read out loud. "How are you? ...Okay, perhaps that was a pretty stupid question to start off with. You've made it very clear in your last letter that you are not doing well at all. I just can't believe the nerve of that man! Who does he think he is, sentencing your beloved city and its inhabitants to ruin? But I'm ranting right now. I hope the lawyer that I recommended was able to help. Hopefully, Redstonia will live to see another year. But in the meantime, don't lose sleep over it. I promise that everything will turn out fine." He blinked at the letter, clearly taken aback. Was this letter talking about Mr. Smith? "Who the hell wrote this?," he murmured. Fortunately, there was a name signed at the bottom of the letter: Isa.

"Isa?," Magnus murmured, not recognizing the name. But apparently, her and Ellegaard knew each other well enough that they were comfortable exchanging letters. But if that was the case, then why didn't Ellegaard tell the others about it? Magnus uncrumpled the other piece of paper, which was also a letter. This one was definitely written by Ellegaard, since it was written in fancy cursive that Magnus couldn't make heads or tails of. But after a while of reading it over a few times, he was finally able to decipher the message. "Dear Isa," he read out loud. "Thank you for trying to comfort me with your newest letter. When Oliver comes back with this letter, be sure to tell him what a good boy he's been." Magnus paused for a moment in confusion, then continued reading. "Anyway, the reason I'm writing you back is because...well, things just got worse, believe it or not. I'm afraid that I may have upset Magnus. I know that me and him have gotten into a lot of arguments before, but this time, I'm not sure if he'll ever forgive me."

Magnus had to stop reading for a moment to get his wits back together. He had never felt this ashamed in a very long time. Judging by the contents of this letter, Ellegaard clearly didn't mean to hurt Magnus' feelings. In fact, he remembered her offering to be his friend on that fateful day. But instead, Magnus let his emotions get the best of him and ended up lashing out at her. It wouldn't have been so bad if he came back later and apologized, but Magnus found that he was unable to stop. He kept on mocking and teasing her in any change he got, and after a few weeks, she started doing the same thing to him. Before either of them knew it, the situation had devolved into a constant battle of petty insults between them, and neither of them were willing to stop what they were doing and attempt to patch things up between them. It was only until Ellegaard died that Magnus finally began to regret everything that he had done to her. But now, it was too late. No matter how much he wanted to, he can't apologize to the dead.

"I blame myself," Magnus continued reading. "I know you'll tell me that it's not really my fault, but it is. I should've chosen my words better. I should've told him the truth. I should've run after him when he was leaving. I should've done...SOMETHING. But I didn't. And now, I'm afraid that things will never be the same between me and him ever again. I really hope that won't be the case, however. Sure, we sometimes rubbed each other the wrong way, but I don't think he's ever HATED me before." Magnus had to stop reading again in order to compose himself. "Damn it," he muttered, punching the wall next to him. "Damn it, damn it, damn it." He really wanted to throw both letters back into the trash bin, or better yet, throw them into a pool of molten lava or something. Just forget about them altogether. However, a small part of his mind still nagged at his curiosity. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he NEEDED to know what Ellegaard's secret was. Why didn't she want to date him? What was the reason? And why didn't she want anyone else to find out? Magnus took a deep breath and continued reading the letter.

"Magnus came into my room earlier this evening and asked me on a date. But I just couldn't return his feelings. I'm not in love with him." Magnus had to wonder how selfish he was being for so long. If he truly cared about Ellegaard, he would've respected her feelings in the matter and acknowledged that they just weren't meant to be. Instead, he reacted with spite and anger, creating a huge rift between them, to the point where they could no longer even call each other friends, much less lovers. "Isa...the reason why I couldn't return Magnus' feelings is because…" The letter suddenly ended there. Magnus felt his heart pounding inside his chest. "Because what?," he whispered anxiously. "Because what?!" He frantically flipped over the paper and was relieved to see that there was more written on the other side. "...I'm a lesbian." Magnus blinked stupidly. "Whuh?," he said eloquently, then continued reading the rest of the letter until the very end. "I'm only attracted to other women. The others don't know about this. I never told them because I didn't want them to think I was some kind of a freak. Magnus is a good friend, and a good person to have my back...but I can't fall in love with him. Don't get me wrong, I do love him, but only in a platonic sense. I've never loved him romantically, and I don't think I ever will. It's YOU that I'm in love with, Isa." After that, the letter finally stopped. There were signs of teardrops dotting the paper, and most of the message had been scribbled out harshly. Magnus slowly looked back up, dropping the letter and letting it gracefully fall to the ground like a leaf falling from a tree. A torrent of alien emotions flooded his mind.

At first, all he felt was numb shock. Then, he felt anger. However, it wasn't because of Ellegaard secretly being a lesbian the whole time. Magnus may have been a griefer, but even griefers had standards, and he made it a point that transphobia in Boom Town would not be tolerated. The real reason why he started feeling angry was because Ellegaard apparently didn't trust her friends enough to tell them her secret. Was she really so afraid of them? Did she really think that they would turn on her just for being different, even after everything they've been through? Magnus couldn't help but feel betrayed. Finally, he felt shame, and unlike the previous two emotions, this one stayed with him. Not only that, it burrowed itself deep into his brain. He felt shame for ever doubting Ellegaard's loyalty. He felt shame for how he treated her and made her think that he hated her, which now that Magnus thought about it, he actually DIDN'T hate Ellegaard. A part of him still cared about her, even though he never showed it. But most of all, he felt shame for ever thinking that Ellegaard thought badly of him. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to turn back time, back to before this whole mess started. He wanted to hug her tightly and tell her that he loved her, but if she didn't feel the same way, then that was all right with him. He wanted to assure her that him, Soren, Gabriel, Ivor, and Ramus would never hate her for who she is. And if any of them did, he would personally knock their teeth out.

But of course, what's done is done. Ellegaard died believing that she would never be accepted for who she really was, when that couldn't be farther from the truth. If only she knew how they really felt about her. If only she knew how much they cared about her. If only...

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It took him a while, but after sifting through and reading more of the letters exchanged between Ellegaard and Isa, Magnus was finally able to track down Isa's address, which wasn't that far from the temple. He eventually arrived at a secluded cabin in the middle of the woods, which looked pretty homey, if Magnus had to be honest. He almost felt like a kid again, having just arrived from school and walking into the warm and welcoming embrace of this house. "...where the hell did THAT come from?," Magnus murmured, shaking his head. He opened the door and walked inside, and it didn't even take a second for him to realize that the house must have been empty for years. The smell hit him like a speeding minecart, nearly knocking him off his feet and causing him to gag. The inside of the house was, quite frankly, one of the most disgusting scenes he had ever seen. And considering all the things he had seen during his time as a hero, as well as during his rule over Boom Town, that was really saying something.

The inside of the house looked nothing like the outside of it. The wooden walls were literally rotting away, covered in disgusting green moss and black ooze that Magnus made sure to steer absolutely clear of. Flies were flying around everywhere, most likely attracted to the piles of spoiled food hidden in the chests. A few of the windows had been shattered, possibly by some unknown robber who decided to try their luck at this house, then saw what it was like on the inside, said "Nope", and bolted out of here. Magnus was so grossed out that he didn't watch where he was stepping and nearly crushed something under his foot. He jumped back in alarm and stared at whatever he had almost stepped on. It appeared to be a small, black lump on the floor, with tiny bones peeking out of it. It took him a while to realize that the lump was actually the rotting corpse of a bat. "Oliver," Magnus murmured, staring at it with wide eyes.

After reading through the letters, Magnus now knew that a bat, which they affectionately named Oliver, had been helping them deliver the letters without having to leave their homes. And here was the little bat's corpse in front of him right now, having rotted away to the point where it was practically unrecognizable. Whoever Isa was, she must've been feeding Oliver to the point where the bat began to depend on her as his main source of food. And judging by the state of the house, she clearly hadn't stepped foot into it for a very long time. After delivering his last letter, Oliver must've been waiting in this house, waiting for Isa to come back home so she could feed him, waiting and starving… Magnus made a mental note to come back to this house after he gets a plastic bag from the temple. Since Oliver clearly meant a great deal to Ellegaard, he was going to bring the dead bat along with him - in the plastic bag, of course, since there was no way he was touching that with his bare hands - and give him a proper burial next to Ellegaard's grave, which was only located about a mile away from the temple.

Unable to stand the horrible stench anymore, Magnus walked out of the house, taking in deep breaths of that fresh, clean air. Then, he made himself comfortable by sitting on the grass, his back against the side of the house. Even though it was highly unlikely that Isa would show up, Magnus still decided to wait for her, just in case. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to tell her about Ellegaard, how she was the greatest woman that Magnus had ever known.

But of course, just like the past several years, Isa never showed up.

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Since Olivia, Harper, Gill, and Maya were assigned to Redstonia while Axel, Annie, Ghost, and Nancy were assigned to Boom Town, the two groups decided to travel together for a while. They went through the nether portal in Gabriel's obsidian fortress, which had just been renovated and moved closer to the Order's main temple, and once they got to the Nether, the two groups said farewell to each other and went on separate minecart railroad tracks leading to Redstonia and Boom Town respectively. Unlike the ride to Redstonia, which was mostly filled with awkward silence, the ride to Boom Town was the complete opposite due to how loud the group was. Actually, scratch that last part. Axel and Ghost were the only ones who were actually being loud on this trip. Meanwhile, Nancy and Annie silently gave each other deadpanned expressions of understanding. Men, they thought telepathically. What can you do?

"Aw, yeah!," Ghost cheered as they rode through the Nether at blinding speeds, the hot Nether air hitting them in the face. The former bartender took a deep whiff of the air. "Tell me what you smell, Axel!" Axel did the same thing. "All I smell is fire, lava, and...wait a minute. *sniff sniff* Holy crap, dude! I smell gunpowder!" "Damn right!," said Ghost, grinning from ear to ear. "That means we're getting closer to Boom Town. Are you all as excited as I am?" "I sure am!," cried Axel, then turned to face Nancy and Annie. "What about you guys?" "We're absolutely thrilled," Annie deadpanned. "I've only been to Boom Town once in my life, and it wasn't exactly the most...pleasant visit," said Nancy. "I only hope that this time, it will be better."

Ghost winced when he heard her say that. "Yeah, about that…," he said nervously. "Listen, I gotta apologize for that again. My pop may have been a skilled boxer, but he couldn't add two and two to save his life. He really didn't know any better. And neither did I…" Nancy gave a comforting smile and reached over to gently pat Ghost's shoulder, making sure not to fall out of her own minecart in the process. "And I already told you, all is forgiven," Nancy assured him. "You don't need to fret over the past, because there's no point. What's done is done. There's no need to feel shame and regret over you and your father." "I guess," sighed Ghost, biting his bottom lip. "But still…" "Well, this is new," said Annie, raising an eyebrow. "I don't think I've heard this story before. Mind sharing it with the rest of us?" "Yeah, I'm kinda curious as well," said Axel, leaning forward. "What's the history between you two anyway?"

"Uh...our history?," Ghost said nervously, sweat beginning to pour down his face. "Yeah, that's an interesting story, all right…" His eyes flicked around desperately for any distraction. "Well, it...um...it all started when...hey look! We made it!" He pointed at a nether portal from afar, which was growing closer and closer to them by the second. "Aw yeah, we're here again!," Axel cheered, pumping his arms up and down. Ghost just sighed in relief, grateful that he didn't have to explain the story to everyone else. Once the minecarts came to a complete halt and everyone got off, Annie tapped Ghost on the shoulder to get his attention, smirked at him, and mouthed the word "pussy" silently. Ghost made sure that Nancy and Axel weren't looking, then quickly flipped Annie the bird. Unbothered, Annie just walked past Ghost with the smirk still on her face. Nancy noticed it. "Why are you smirking right now?," she asked. Annie shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, you know...reasons." Nancy slowly nodded, though she didn't quite understand.

"Man, I'm so excited!," said Axel, jumping up and down like a child in a candy store. "What's with all the excitement, big guy?," asked Annie. "I thought you'd already been there dozens of times. Shouldn't you be used to that place by now?" "Hey, that doesn't mean I'll never get excited whenever I visit Boom Town," Axel proclaimed. "I mean, Beacontown is nice and all, but it doesn't have nearly as many explosions. Plus, I haven't been to Boom Town since that TNT competition with Mag-" Axel suddenly stopped cold, his voice slightly hitching at the end while his shoulders stiffened and his hands clenched into fists. Everyone else noticed his sudden change in behavior, and it didn't take a genius to know why. "Axel?," Nancy asked gently, placing a comforting hand on Axel's shoulder. Axel silently shrugged it off.

Ghost sighed and wrapped his arm around Axel's shoulders. Even though Axel was larger than most people, Ghost still visibly dwarfed him in size. "I miss Magnus too, kid," he said. "I didn't know him personally, but I've heard more stories about him than I can count. Which, heh, isn't all that many since I can only count up to the number of fingers I have. But, uh, that's not the point! My point is that Magnus was one of the best damn griefers in the world, and when he died, a part of Boom Town died as well. Sure, me and the other griefers tried to kill him on multiple occasions, and sure, we may have driven him into isolation for years on end…" Nancy and Annie stared at the back of Ghost's head in mortification. "...but in the end, he was our king. So how about this, Axel? Once this is all over, we'll come back to Boom Town and give Magnus a burial fit for a king. How does that sound?" Axel sniffed and wiped his eyes, then smiled sadly. "Yeah," he said. "That sounds great." "...okay, seriously?!," cried Annie. "Is nobody going to comment on the fact that the Boom Towners literally TRAPPED their own king?!"

"Hold up," said Ghost, holding up a finger to silence her. "No, I have a legitimate bone to pick here!," Annie protested. "Nancy, you agree with me, right?" Nancy was silent, contemplating on how to respond to that question. "Well...who am I to judge their traditions?," she asked. Annie just shook her head in disbelief. "Man, and I thought I was fucked up," she said. "Boom Town is full of nothing but psychopaths, I swear to god." "Hey, come on! Low blow!," said Axel, getting a little riled up. "Sure, the things they do are a little...questionable, but they're still-"

"SHHHHH!," Ghost shushed loudly. "All of you, shut up! I'm trying to concentrate." Everyone else turned to him with confused expressions on their faces. Ghost's eyes were closed and his forehead was wrinkled in concentration. He was taking deep whiffs of air, his nose just an inch away from the purple light of the nether portal, and his nostrils were flaring wildly. The others couldn't help but stare at him. It was like watching a bloodhound at work. It was pretty mesmerizing, to be honest. "Uh, Ghost?," asked Annie, her hands on her hips. "What the hell are you doing?" "While that wouldn't be exactly what I say, I'd also like to know," said Nancy. "I think he's smelling danger," Axel guessed, which was just about as ridiculous as it sounded. "Smelling...danger?," asked Nancy, understandably confused by that weird choice of wording. "What does that even mean?" "Being a bartender has its own ups and downs," Ghost explained, still sniffing the portal like a mouse. A very large, very bald mouse, that is. With a mohawk. "Other than getting to beat up people I don't like, I also got a good nose on my face," Ghost continued. "You start getting a good sense of smell after sniff testing every bottle of liquor that comes your way. And right now, something doesn't smell right to me."

"...okay, that has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard," sighed Annie, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I mean, for starters, how the hell can you SMELL danger? It's freaking danger! It's not a physical thing that you can detect with your five senses! Also, why the hell would you 'sniff test' every drink that comes your way?" "Maybe 'cause I used to live in Boom Town, a place filled with ruthless killers who wouldn't think twice about poisoning my drink?," Ghost asked rhetorically. "...oh," said Annie, nodding in understanding. There was actually a time when she tried to poison Thomas' drink, back when she was still under Thomas' thumb alongside Alex and was trying to escape. However, Thomas actually managed to sniff out the poison in his cup of milk, and putting two and two together, punished both Annie and Alex by dunking their heads in ice cold water. Alex didn't even do anything at the time, but she was punished just the same. And as a result of that traumatic experience, Annie understood where Ghost was coming from. "So what do you smell?," asked Axel, honestly feeling a little silly upon asking that question. "That's just it," said Ghost. "I don't smell anything." "...THEN WHY THE FUCK WERE YOU WASTING OUR TIME LIKE THAT?!," Annie screeched.

"No, you guys don't get it," said Ghost. "Remember earlier?" "What do you mean?," asked Nancy, shaking her head in confusion. "Nothing happened earlier. We were just riding in those minecarts." "No, wait, I think I know what he's talking about!," said Axel, and one could practically see a lightbulb flash above his head. "You do?," asked Annie, crossing her arms in irritation. "Then please, enlighten the masses." "Well, on our way here, me and Ghost smelled gunpowder," Axel explained. "But now that we're closer to Boom Town than ever, the gunpowder smell isn't there anymore!" "So?," asked Annie, not really seeing the point. "So something's wrong," said Ghost. "Listen, I've been to Boom Town way more than the rest of you combined. Hell, I used to LIVE there. And never, ever, NOT ONCE, has there ever been a time when Boom Town didn't have that gunpowder aroma surrounding it like a bigass fog." "That...doesn't sound very healthy," said Nancy. Ghost shook his head. "Never said it was," he said.

"Wait, so what exactly are you saying?," asked Axel. "Are you saying that there's something...wrong with Boom Town?" "Yeah, I guess I am," said Ghost. "Something about all of this just puts me on edge, you know?" "Okay, this is just ridiculous," groaned Annie, pushing aside Ghost and Axel, or at least tried to, since both men were about twice as large as herself. "There's no way we're letting something as stupid as 'I can't smell any gunpowder' stop us from going through that portal and getting that item back. Do I need to remind you guys that Alex is still out there somewhere?" "...I don't sound like that, right?," Ghost murmured to himself, taken aback by how stupid Annie's imitation of the former bartender sounded. "Annie's right," Nancy sighed. "We can't afford to waste any more time. We need to go now." "Wait," said Ghost in a firm voice, holding out an arm to stop them. "What now?," Annie groaned. "Yeah!," Axel complained, getting a little impatient himself. "You heard what Annie said! We can't keep wasting our time like this!" "Look, I just don't want us to walk into some kind of trap," Ghost reasoned. "I'll go first and scout ahead. The rest of you follow close behind me."

Ghost turned to face the nether portal. "Alright, I'm gonna go," he announced. There was no response. "I'm going," he said. There was still no response. "Like, right now!" Still no answ- "Would you just go already!," Annie snapped, looking like she was about to strangle Ghost with her bare hands. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going," Ghost huffed. "It's just that...this is usually the part where one person selflessly goes first, then someone else goes, 'No, I'm the one who should go first' and…" "Um...actually...we'd prefer it if you just go first," said Axel. Ghost's eyebrows raised up in surprise. "Et tu, Axel?," he asked. Axel only shrugged and smiled sheepishly. Ghost then turned to Nancy. "Come on, Nance, you can't condone this, right?," he asked. Nancy rubbed the back of her head uncomfortably. "I mean...you DID try to choke one of my friends to death…" "Oh, come on!," Ghost groaned. "That was ages ago! And I thought you forgave me for that!" He huffed. "Fine," he sighed. "I'm going, I'm going. Geez, you can't trust anyone these days…"

With that said, Ghost stepped through the portal...and nearly fell from a few dozen blocks in the air. Fortunately, he was able to steady himself and keep his balance before it was too late. "Damn," he muttered, looking down from the great height. "I forgot about that." It turned out that the other side of the nether portal, even though it did lead to Boom Town, didn't transport people to the ground level like most of the other portals do. Instead, it was floating high in the air, almost guaranteeing that anyone who wasn't looking where they were going would fall through the air and possibly break a leg or two. In fact, the portal was literally the letter O in the "BOOM TOWN" sign that someone had constructed in midair out of green and black wool, no doubt as some sort of prank for newcomers. "Heh," Ghost chuckled, placing his hands on his hips. "Home sweet home." Even though he was now a changed man who no longer upheld the traditional "values" of Boom Town, that didn't mean he no longer had a soft spot for this wonderfully chaotic town. "Do you think he made it?," Ghost could barely hear Nancy's worried voice coming from the other side of the portal behind him. "Only one way to find out," said Annie. "Hey Ghost, we're coming through!" Ghost's eyes widened in fear. Aw, shit! "No, wait!," yelled Ghost, turning around and waving his arms like mad. "Don't go thr-"

But it was already too late. For some reason, Axel, Nancy, and Annie all decided to go through the portal at the same time, and since there was barely enough room as it is for Ghost to stand on, all four of them fell off the portal and landed on the ground with a painful oomph. Fortunately, Axel and Ghost's larger than average bodies were able to absorb most of the fall's impact, while Nancy and Annie landed directly on top of them, the men's bodies breaking their fall. Unfortunately, the two men might have gained a few bruises in the process. Axel slowly lifted his head up, having face planted onto the ground. His mouth was filled with dirt that had gotten into his mouth, which he quickly spit out and began coughing. "I *cough cough* forgot about that," he groaned. "You knew?!," yelled Annie, her back bent at a painful angle. "Why didn't you tell us there was going to be a fall?!" "I already said I forgot," Axel mumbled.

Nancy vigorously shook her head. "That was...quite painful," she said bluntly. Then, she realized that not only had she fallen on top of Ghost, but she hadn't even bothered to get off of him yet. "Oh!," she cried, quickly standing up. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…" Unable to finish her sentence, Nancy decided to just offer Ghost a hand and help him get back up on his feet. "Naw, it's not a problem," said Ghost, getting back up with Nancy's help. He placed his hands on his back and stretched, making cracking noises with his spine. "It's kind of my fault, anyway. I should've warned you guys about that drop." Annie got off of Axel and dusted herself off. "So this is Boom Town, huh?," she said, looking around. "Sure is!," said Ghost, turning around and gesturing to his home village with his eyes closed and a proud smile on his face. "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Boom Town!" "...uh, Ghost," said Axel, a nervous tone to his voice. "This is NOT Boom Town." "What are you talking about?," Ghost murmured, finally opening his eyes. Then, he stared at the scenery in front of him, shocked into silence. "...nope," he murmured, slowly shaking his head with wide eyes. "This is definitely not Boom Town."

Boom Town was a lot different from the last time they visited it, to say the least. Instead of the usual burning buildings and griefers running around waving TNT over their heads, there were now sparkling white houses lined up along a cobblestone path that was also lined with various different flowers. Grass was now growing everywhere, which was especially strange, since any green vegetation was an extreme rarity in Boom Town. Not only did the houses look completely different from before, but they were also exactly identical, down to the tiniest detail, and lined up perfectly. There were no screams, no explosions, and no maniacal laughing. It was just like your typical suburban neighborhood. "Uh...are we sure this is the right place?," asked Annie, also staring at this new place. "Because I imagined Boom Town to be more...well, fitting to its name." "Is it possible that we made a wrong turn back in the Nether?," asked Nancy. "Nuh uh, no way," said Axel, shaking his head. "That portal we just went through was part of the official Boom Town sign!" "The what?," Annie asked incredulously. "You know, the sign," said Ghost, pointing up at where they just fell from. "That sign right the-" He stopped and stared up at where the sign used to be. Now, there was nothing but thin air in its place.

"What sign?," Nancy questioned, looking up at where Ghost was pointing and seeing nothing. "I don't see any sign." "But guys...it was right there," whispered Axel, his eyes bugging out of his head in shock. "There was this big wool sign that said 'Boom Town', and the nether portal was supposed to be one of its O's…" "I don't see a sign anywhere," Annie said skeptically. "Are you sure you guys aren't just making this up?" "Hey, me and Axel have been to Boom Town way more than you have!," Ghost growled irritatedly. "If we say that there was a sign up there, then there was definitely a sign up there! Plus, what the hell do you think we just fell from?" "Calm down, Ghost," said Nancy. "I'm sure Annie didn't mean anything by what she said. And we do believe you. It's like you said, you and Axel have been here more times than either of us. So if both of you think that there was supposed to be a sign, then chances are that you're most likely right." "But then...where did the sign go?," asked Axel, scratching his head. "And why does Boom Town look so...lame all of a sudden? And...oh shoot! The portal!" Annie's eyes widened in fear. "Shit, you're right," she cried. "How are we gonna get back homes now that the nether portal's gone?" "Now, let's all keep our heads together," Nancy said calmly. "Just because our shortcut back home is now gone doesn't mean that we're trapped here. We'll make our way back on foot if we have to." "Yeah...yeah, you're right," sighed Ghost, calming down. "But what about Boom Town? What happened here anyway?" Nancy frowned. "If I have to guess, this is all Herobrine's doing," she said. "He's probably trying to make it harder for us to find the item by changing the town's layout entirely. A game wouldn't be as exciting if it was easy, after all."

"Well, look on the bright side," said Annie, who couldn't help but admire the new town. "At least this place seems to be a huge step up from the original Boom Town." Axel gasped dramatically, his hands over his face like a certain screaming person from a certain famous painting. "You take that back!," he gasped. Annie rolled her eyes. "Really?," she sighed. "C'mon, even you gotta admit how messed up Boom Town was. It was filled with tons of griefers, you had people blowing each other up left and right, and hell, even the KING of Boom Town wasn't safe from his own subjects. At least this new neighborhood seems pretty peaceful and idyllic, even if it is a little...boring." "As much as I don't like looking down on other towns and their traditions, even I have to agree with Annie," said Nancy. "This seems like a much nicer place than the one where me and my friend visited so long ago. It's quiet, it's peaceful, and it's sunny. I wouldn't be surprised if someone decides to move here for a relaxing vacation."

"...wait a minute," said Axel. "Say that last part again." Nancy looked at him in confusion but decided to oblige. "Well, I just said that this would be a nice place to go to for a relaxing vacation," she repeated. "No, not that," said Axel, shaking his head. "What did you say before that?" Nancy frowned in confusion. "Well, before that, I said that it was peaceful and sunny...oh." "Yeah. Oh," said Ghost, pointing up at the sky. Everyone else looked directly up at where he was pointing and saw two gigantic orbs of light high in the sky. One of them was the moon, which was slowly being consumed by the shadow. The other one...was the sun.

"...yep, I guess you were right, Nancy," Annie said nervously. "This is Herobrine's doing, all right." "Yes," said Nancy, nodding gravely. "Which means that this all must be a trap. It seems far too nice and pretty on the outside. I have a feeling that we'll have to delve deeper into this new town to get that item back...and we won't like what we see." "...well THAT's not ominous as hell," Annie muttered. "I guess we better get to work then," said Axel. "C'mon, we've wasted enough time already." The group of four began walking through Boom Town, which really shouldn't be called that anymore due to the clear lack of explosions. As they kept their eyes peeled for the hidden item, they couldn't help but be creeped out by the stiffening silence surrounding them. It wasn't the calm and peaceful silence, but rather, it was the uncomfortable silence that always kept people on edge, the kind of silence that upped the tension and was thick enough to be suffocating. The group began walking faster and faster until they were practically sprinting. They just wanted to get the item and leave as soon as possible.

"So where do we even find this so-called treasure?," asked Annie, starting to get tired from the sprinting. "It's gotta be in the only place that hasn't been touched," said Ghost, pointing at an imposing obsidian tower in the middle of the town. Sure enough, it was the only structure that hadn't been changed. The group ran all the way there and didn't stop until they were right in front of the tower, gasping for breath. "Man…," Axel panted. "I don't know about you guys, but… whew...this place sure gives me the creeps." "Oh, you don't say," Annie replied dryly, also taking in deep breaths of air. "Well, come on then," said Nancy, catching her breath first. "Let's go in there and get that missing item." "Hold it," said Axel, holding up an arm to stop her. "The last time me and Jesse got here, we fell down a trapdoor and almost got blown up by Magnus." He pointed down at a pair of wooden trap doors right in front of the tower doors.

"Seriously?," Annie muttered. "What kind of person puts trapdoors in front of their own homes?" "Magnus was super paranoid back then," Axel explained. "Everyone in Boom Town was trying to kill him so one of them could become the new king. So he hid inside this tower and put traps all over the place to keep out any intruders." "But if you and Jesse fell down those trapdoors, then how did the two of you manage to escape?," asked Nancy. "Oh, Magnus decided to let us go," said Axel. "He thought I was a griefer too, but Jesse was able to convince him otherwise. After that, we were able to get out of Boom Town by having Magnus and Jesse fight to the death in front of all the other griefers." He sighed nostalgically. "That was such an awesome day," he said. "You mean insane," Annie snarked. "Holy crap, this town was crazy. I don't know how anyone could've lived here." Axel took a step forward and pressed a button next to the door, then quickly stepped back just in time for the trapdoors to open up. A few seconds later, the trap doors closed back up and the main doors opened, revealing the inside of the temple. With the trap now disabled, the group carefully tiptoed around the trapdoors, just in case that they might activate again, and walked inside the tower. The inside was almost completely bare, with only a few essentials such as a bed, a furnace, and a chest. Other than that, it was just an absolutely gigantic room with an impossibly high ceiling and obsidian walls all around, giving the room a feeling that was somehow both spacious and claustrophobic.

"Huh," said Axel, looking around in both awe and disappointment. "I've never been in this part of the tower before. It looks so majestic, but also so...sad." "Yeah," Ghost agreed. "I mean, look at this. All he got was a bed, a chest, and a furnace. Even the other griefers got some bookshelves back in their houses to keep themselves busy. If this is what being the king of Boom Town is like, I don't think it's the life for me." "And to think that he hid here for so long like some kind of a hermit," Nancy murmured sympathetically. "Yeah, it's pretty depressing when you really think about it," said Annie. "But are you sure this is where the item is supposed to be? Because I'm looking around this room right now and I don't see anything that could be the missing treasure." "Well, what about that chest?," asked Axel, pointing at said chest, which had just been sitting there and collecting dust for all of these years. "I suppose it's the only thing for us to search through in this bare room," sighed Nancy. Annie walked towards the chest and opened it up, causing a cloud of dust to fly into her face. She coughed and waved it away, then began rooting through the chest. "Well?," asked Ghost. "Is there anything in there?"

"There's not much," Annie answered. "Just some TNT, some slime blocks...huh? What do we have here?" She took out a pumpkin that was colored white and had three holes carved into it to form a menacing face. "That's the one!," cried Axel, pointing at it. "That's one of our treasures!" "You mean this old thing?," Annie asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "It doesn't look like much. It's just a white pumpkin. Where did you and your friends even get it anyway?" "It's a pretty long story," said Axel. "We got it from an axe murderer who wore that pumpkin as a mask." "...so it's NOT a long story," Annie deadpanned. Axel chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "No, I guess not." "So, that's it then!," said Nancy, smiling brightly. "We have the missing treasure! Now we can go back and reunite with the others." "Assuming that they were as successful in retrieving the items as us," said Annie. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said Ghost. "C'mon, let's get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

With the treasure now in their hands, the group walked out of the tower and began making their way back through the strange, neighborhood-esque town. So far, nothing out of the ordinary had happened yet, other than Boom Town's strange and sudden transformation. But they still remained on their guard, remembering Nancy's words on this place possibly being a trap. After all, why would Herobrine go through all of this trouble of changing and twisting an entire town just so nothing could happen? But as the group got halfway through the town with nothing happening, their hopes began to rise. Maybe they would make it out of this place after all. Maybe Herobrine had forgotten about them and was focused on something else right now, whatever that may be. Maybe… Suddenly, one of the houses that were closest to them suddenly opened up its door, causing everyone to jump in fright. Nancy quickly took out her emerald sword and Annie took out a stone sword while Axel and Ghost, who were quite skilled in hand to hand combat, held up their fists in preparation for a fight. Then, they waited tensely, wondering what was going to happen next. They probably expected some strange and terrible monster to come out of that house and attack them. What they did not expect, however, was a blue haired woman to come out of that house. The woman was wearing a bright pink dress and had a plate filled with warm and scrumptious cookies in her hands. She gave a wide smile to the group, unbothered by the fact that they looked like they were ready for a fight.

"Why, hello there!," the woman greeted in a cheerful voice that also sounded incredibly forced and unnatural. "You all must be new here! Oh, no need to be so tense. Why don't you put your weapons down and try some of my recently baked cookies?" "...is this woman for real right now?," Annie whispered. "Wait a minute," said Axel, his eyes widening in shock. "I think I've seen her before! Yeah, she's the girl who tried to steal the Order's amulet from me and Jesse when we came to Boom Town for the first time." "That's Nohr," said Ghost, who looked just as shocked as Axel. "I've known her since we were just kids. Nohr, what's going on here? Why the hell are you dressed like that? What happened to Boom Town?" "All questions will be answered in due time," Nohr replied calmly. "For now, why don't you try some of my cookies? You folks must be starving right now." As if on cue, everyone's stomachs began growling at the same time. "Huh. Now that she mentions it, I AM pretty hungry right now," said Annie, clutching her stomach in discomfort. "Which is weird, because I could've sworn that I ate a beef sandwich before coming here." "It's a trap," Nancy hissed, showing clear discomfort from the empty feeling that began gnawing at her stomach. "We can't eat those cookies. They must be poisoned or something." "Yeah, sorry, ma'am," Axel said to Nohr. "But we're not hungry." That had to have been the biggest lie that ever came out of his mouth. "We're gonna be heading on our way. Thanks for the offer, though." "Okay," Nohr giggled, causing Ghost to cringe, since hearing one of his childhood friends actually GIGGLE like that was just downright bizarre. "But if you ever change your mind, just come back to my house and I'll give you all the cookies you want." With that said, she turned around and walked back into her house, closing the door behind her. Her movements almost reminded them of a robot. "Let's keep moving," said Ghost.

But as the group kept on walking, they found it harder and harder to do so as time passed. For some strange reason, their stomachs began growling louder and more frequently, and their movements turned slow and sluggish. They became so hungry that even trying to think straight was becoming a challenge for them. Not only that, even more people, who were also inhabitants of Boom Town, came out of their houses and began offering them plates of delicious food, ranging from baked chicken to pumpkin pies. The women wore identical pink dresses while the man wore identical black suits with red ties. Each of them sported massive grins that threatened to split their faces in half. Everything about them, from the way they moved in stiff and jerky manners to the way they talked in that same cheerful and monotone voice, reminded them of those wind up toys that kind of moved and sounded like real people, but also kind of didn't. After a long time of walking, they should've made it to the edge of the town by now, but the cobblestone path in front of them seemed to stretch on forever. At that point, it became clear what their ultimatum was: either walk along a never ending path in some vague hope that they would make it to the end, or stop for just a little while and eat the food being offered to them before they end up starving to death. Finally, Ghost couldn't take this torture any longer.

"I can't take this torture any longer!," yelled Ghost, his eyes twitching insanely. The sight of all the food that they had been walking past and trying to ignore made him salivate so much that a large puddle of drool had already formed beneath him. "I gotta eat something, or I'm gonna starve to death!" He began stomping his way towards the nearest person, who had a plate of baked potatoes and bread in his hands. "Ghost, no!," cried Nancy, grabbing onto Ghost's arm. "It's a trick, remember?!" But Ghost was so overtaken by hunger that he didn't listen nor care. Instead, he roughly shoved Nancy aside, sending her crashing into Axel and Annie like bowling pins. Then, he ran towards the man, grabbed the plate of food from his hands, and gulped it all down. At first, all he felt was the pleasant sensation of steaming food moving down his gullet and filling up his stomach. But then, the visions started.

"Um, excuse me sir," said a meek voice. Ghost, who was cleaning the counter with a dirty rag, looked up and gave the blond girl an unnerving stare. She gulped and continued. "S-sir, I was wondering if you've seen two people here. One's a brown haired guy with overalls and the other's a bigger guy with a green hoodie. Have you seen them?"

Ghost had a predatory grin on his face. "No ma'am, haven't seen any people matching your description," he said. "But I do see a nice drink of water standing in front of me." The girl's neck hairs stood on end. "Name's Ghost. What's yours, pretty lady?" The girl glanced around and saw all the bar patrons staring at them. "Uh, it's A-A-Alex. Look, i-if you see my-"

"Alex huh?" Alex eyed Ghost as he walked around the counter to get to her. "Cute name. You tired of being a virgin, Alex? 'Cause I could easily help you with that." Alex gasped and tried to back away but one of the patrons grabbed her from behind and forced her to her knees. "Please Ghost!," she begged. "I'm not here for trouble! I'm just looking for my friends!" Ghost just grinned. "Then congratulations! You've just made a new one. His name's Little Ghost and he's just dying to get to know you." Alex wasn't sure she wanted to meet this Little Ghost.

She tried to struggle but the patron's grip was too strong. Tears began to drip from the corners of her eyes. "Aw, don't cry Alex," Ghost cooed. "Hey, how about I give your eye a little kiss? Could help with the swelling." He leaned in and puckered his lips…

Before he knew it, Ghost was snapped back into reality, panting heavily. He couldn't believe what he had almost done! Sure, that vision took place sveeral years ago, but that didn't make the memory of it any less repulsive or shameful. What if Alex never fought back? What if she decided to give up and let Ghost have his way with her? Would he have taken pity on her and not done the deed? Somehow, Ghost couldn't see his past self doing that… He glanced at the plate that he was still holding in his hands, which still had some leftovers on it, and quickly shattered it onto the man's head. The man was completely unbothered from having a ceramic plate being smashed onto his skull, if his unwavering smile was any indication. "Now that was just rude," he tsked. "Is that any way to treat someone who offers you food?"

"To hell with you and your damn food!," Ghost growled, punching the man in the face and knocking him to the ground. "Ghost!," snapped Annie, grabbing and pulling him away. "What the hell's the matter with you?! First you ate that food, then you were just standing there no matter how many times we tried calling you, and now you just smashed a plate onto someone's head and punched them in the face!" "Yeah, that was a little much, even for me," Axel said uncomfortably. "No, you don't understand!," said Ghost, his eyes frantically darting all over the place. "That food I just ate...it gave me these visions, only they're not really visions, they were stuff that actually happened before! I think there's something in the food that shows us the lowest parts of our lives or something. We gotta get outta here!" "You're not going anywhere," said Nohr, who had just joined the crowd of former griefers. The wide smile was still stuck on her face. "After all, there's so much food you haven't tried yet. Come on, take a bite of one of my cookies! You'll love them." In response, Axel, Annie, Ghost, and Nancy took out their weapons again and shifted into combat poses. Nohr sighed dramatically. "Don't you just hate it when new visitors act so ungrateful?," she asked. "Alright, everyone. Get them!" Like a flash of colorful lightning, the entire crowd converged on them. Never was there a better example of "strength in numbers" than this one. It wasn't long before all four of them were pinned to the ground, their weapons easily discarded and kicked away. Nohr walked up to them and smiled down at them with a creepy and condescending smile. "You still haven't tried my cookies," she said.

Axel opened his mouth and was about to tell her what she could do with those cookies when Nohr suddenly shoved one into his open mouth, then quickly pinched his mouth and nose shut to force him to swallow it. He ended up having a very similar vision.

"Find anything?," asked Jesse, walking up to Axel, who was busy admiring the contents of Ivor's basement. "I wanna steal that," he said, pointing at a potion on top of a shelf. "And that." He pointed at another potion. "I just wanna touch that." He stared at a red mushroom longingly. Something else caught Jesse's eyes, however. He walked towards another potion sitting on a lone pedestal. This one was brighter than the others and was in a larger glass bottle. "Oooooh, take a look at this!," he said. Axel walked up next to Jesse and stared at the potion in awe. "You're not gonna believe me, but I swear I had a dream about this," he said. "C'mon, Axel - make yourself useful and go find that skull," said Jesse. "Besides, we still don't know where Alex is and we need to go back to looking for her as soon as possible." Axel slowly turned to Jesse with a big grin on his face. "You have a crush on her, do you?," he asked. Jesse's face began burning red. "N-no," he stuttered, looking away. "You totally are!," Axel teased. Jesse sighed. "Let's just find the skull, alright?," he said impatiently. "I am…," said Axel, taking the potion and stuffing it into his pocket. "Uh, nope," said Jesse. "You're literally doing the exact opposite of what I just asked you to do. There's no way he won't notice his fancy potion is missing." "A good thief always covers his tracks," said Axel, looking around the room. He spotted another potion that was smaller and duller than the one he just took, but otherwise, it was nearly identical. He took that potion and placed it onto the pedestal. "Fixed it!," he cheered. "Oh, yeah," said Jesse, rolling his eyes and smiling in amusement, "the perfect crime."

"Nothing built can last forever, Gabriel!," Ivor declared, before placing Petra's wither skull on top of it. An explosion occurred, knocking Gabriel off the stage. A wither levitated above the stage with the command block between its ribcage. "Creature, attack!," yelled Ivor.

The enhanced wither flew around the room as people pushed and trampled each other, each one desperate to survive and escape the abomination. The wither saw Jesse and shot a wither skull at him. Thankfully, he was barely to dodge it. Suddenly, it began pulling nearby blocks and items towards it. It absorbed the objects and grew in size rapidly.

"Everyone stay calm!," said Gabriel, brandishing his sword. "This foul beast is no match for me!" "Creature, attack!," said Ivor, pointing at Gabriel, who jumped towards it and tried to shatter the block with his sword. However, the block wasn't even dented and Gabriel was knocked back. "What have you done?," Gabriel growled at Ivor. "Gabriel!," shouted Jesse, running towards him, but Gabriel stopped him. "No! Stay away! It's after me, not you!"

"Look at him!," Ivor taunted. "The mighty Gabriel! Looks like true greatness is out of his reach. He may not be able to defeat this creature, but I can! Creature, retreat!" The wither, no longer recognizable, only turned towards him. "Ahem. Creature, retreat!" "He's lost control of it!," cried Jesse. "No need to be alarmed, my friends," Ivor said nervously. "I have an elixir that will destroy this creature." He took out a potion and threw it at the block, but nothing happened. "What? Impossible! It should have worked. I took such care!"

"The potion," Olivia cried. "Axel! You've got to throw the real potion!" Axel, however, seemed very reluctant to part with it. "But finders, keepers!," he complained. "You thieves!," yelled Ivor. "You're ruining everything!" "A-A-Axel," Alex stuttered. "I really think you should listen to Olivia and throw the potion! P-please?" Axel sighed in defeat and took out the real potion. Jesse took it from Axel's grasp and threw it at the block, but the wither covered it up before the potion could reach it. "It's protecting itself!," cried Ivor. "Without the command block exposed… the potion is useless! It wasn't supposed to happen like this." Then he ran away.

"Ivor!," yelled Gabriel. "You coward, come back here!" Suddenly, a tractor beam shot from one of the wither's eyes and pulled Gabriel towards it. Olivia ran up and grabbed him, but it wasn't enough. "Jesse, help me!," she cried. Jesse also tried to pull Gabriel down, but the tractor beam was still too strong. Alex snapped out of it and grabbed onto him as well. But even with their combined strength, the wither kept pulling them closer and closer…

Axel wanted nothing more than to go back in time and punch his past self in the face for being so stupid. What was he thinking? This was all his fault. If he hadn't been such a reckless idiot and decided to steal the potion, then Ivor would've been able to control the Wither Storm without it going crazy and getting out of control. Sure, he wouldn't have become close friends with the others and never would've met his long time idol, but was that really worth the risk? Of course not. Because of him, millions of people have been traumatized by that terrible event, even if none of them actually died. Oh, wait. There was one person who died. Ellegaard...she ended up dying...because of him. He deserved what was coming to him.

Nancy and Annie could only stare in horror as Axel and Ghost's mouths were continuously being stuffed with food, their eyes shedding tears and glazed over as if they were in a trance that they couldn't escape from. "Now it's your time, sweetie!," said Nohr, tauntingly waving a cookie in Nancy's face. Nancy only glared at her definitely and kept her mouth shut as tightly as possible. Nohr's eyes slightly narrowed in irritation, the only sign of emotion that she showed other than blind cheeriness so far, and slapped Nancy hard in the face. This was enough to daze her for a moment, allowing Nohr the opportunity to forcefully pry open Nancy's mouth with one hand and stuff one of her cookies down the woman's gullet with the other.

The next day, it was time for Nancy and the children to leave this place forever. A small carriage rode towards the front of the building. Pulling the carriage was a man riding on top of a horse. The man had a scruffy beard, a fat belly, and seemed to spit every five seconds. Nancy couldn't help but cringe at the sight of that man. This is who that lawyer hired?, she thought. "Come on, lady!," the man yelled. "I haven't got all day!" "In a minute," said Nancy, annoyed by the man's impatience. "Please wait." The man snorted and spit into the grass.

Pretty soon, Nancy came out of the orphanage with the children right at her heels, holding hands with each other while staring at the carriage with fear and apprehension. "It's alright, children," Nancy said soothingly, noticing their fear. "Just because the orphanage is gone doesn't mean you're all homeless now. This man will take you somewhere safe and sound. It's another orphanage not too far from this one. Do everything he says and don't get in trouble, alright?" The children nodded shakily, then crowded around her and formed a giant hug. Nancy eagerly returned it. "Stay safe, all of you," she whispered. "I'll miss you all."

The children quietly entered the carriage, one by one, until it was slightly cramped. Only one child remained behind. One with short blond hair and blue eyes.

"It's not fair!," cried Alex, still hugging Nancy. Tears were dripping down her face, which she quickly tried to hide by burying her face in her caretaker's dress. "This is our home! Why do they want to take it from us?" Nancy sighed and comfortingly rubbed Alex's small back. "Some people are just like that," she said sadly. "They don't often consider other people's feelings about the matter. They just want to make...well, money." "I hate them!," Alex declared. "I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!" "Shhh," Nancy whispered soothingly.

"Ahem!," the man cleared his throat rudely. "Hurry up, will ya? I got stuff to do!" "Alright, keep your hair on!," Nancy snapped. Seriously, what was his problem?

"I don't wanna go!," Alex protested. "Please don't make me!" Nancy felt like sobbing again, but she had to stay strong. For them. "Alex, do you remember that little game we used to play together?" Alex looked up at her in sad confusion. Nancy held out two of her fingers to form cute little bunny ears. "If you chase two rabbits~," she sang. Alex sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes, then formed bunny ears of her own. "You will not catch either one~," she sang back, smiling sadly. "Just remember that little saying every time you feel sad or lonely," said Nancy. "No matter how far apart we are, I'll always love you, Alex."

Alex smiled brightly, hugging Nancy tighter. "I love you too, Nancy," she said. "Now run along and join the other children," said Nancy. "I'll try to keep in contact with you and the others as much as I can, alright?" Alex nodded sadly and went into the carriage with the other orphans. The man slammed the door shut behind her, then climbed onto his horse. "Yah!," he yelled, snapping the reins. The horse and its rider ran off, pulling the carriage along with them. Nancy finally let the tears flow from her face. She was going to miss them dearly.

Suddenly, a piece of paper twirled through the air before landing at Nancy's feet. She bent down and picked up the slip of paper, curious as to what it said and where it came from. It must have fallen out of that man's pocket, she deduced. Her eyes scanned the paper. Then, her legs grew weak and her face went pale. "No...NO!," she cried, dropping the paper and running after the carriage. But it was going too fast, and after about a minute, the carriage could no longer be seen. Nancy dropped to her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably.

With Nancy now under the food's spell, Annie was the only one left. She struggled as hard as she could, but there were just too many people piling themselves on top of her and keeping her still. "Last one!," said Nohr, taking out another cookie. "Open wide!" "Fuck you!," was what Annie wanted to say, but instead, she wisely chose to keep her mouth shut. However, she knew that wouldn't work. Just like with Nancy, Nohr bent down and forced Annie's mouth open with her fingers, taking extra care not to let her hands slip so that Annie could bite her fingers off. Then, she stuffed the cookie into Annie's mouth and forced her to swallow it by tilting her head up and painfully squeezing the cookie down her throat with her bare hands.

Thomas grabbed Alex as she was running past the alleyway and pulled her inside, then spun her around, grabbed the front of her shirt, and shoved her against the wall. Annie was standing next to him, her face covered with bruises. Thomas smiled wickedly. "Better say your prayers, freak," he said, spitting in Alex's face. "That big guy isn't here to save you anymore."

Alex looked into Annie's eyes, pleading for her to help her, but she just turned around. Thomas slammed her into the wall. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Tearing up, Alex turned her head to look at his evil, cruel, remorseless eyes. "You've got some nerve, huh? It all makes sense now! You teamed up with those losers and stabbed your own team in the back. You helped them build that enderman." Alex shook her head. "Thomas, listen to yourself!," she cried. "I couldn't have helped them. I was building the cannon with you guys."

"Liar!," he screamed, forgetting he was supposed to be quiet. "And I'm gonna make sure you never lie again." He took something out of his coat. "Recognize this?"

Alex's eyes widened. It was the blade of the wooden sword that Jesse used against those zombies before it broke. "W-w-what are you going to do with it?."

Thomas smiled. It was the smile of a madman. Without a word, he lifted Alex's shirt up, held the wooden blade in his hand...and began cutting red, bloody lines into her bare skin! She screamed and struggled and begged, but he only cut deeper and more vigorously. "T-Thomas!," cried Annie. "That's enough! She's learned her lesson!" "Shut up, you whore!" Focusing his attention back on Alex, he grabbed her face and prepared to stab the blade into her eye…

Annie broke out of her trance and began screaming for help, only for another cookie to be shoved into her mouth. As a result, the same vision played in her head repeatedly, reminding her of those dark, dark days. Why didn't she do anything when Thomas was torturing Alex? Why was she just standing there like a coward? Why didn't she do anything?!

Somehow, through all the visions plaguing her mind, something in the distance caught her eye. Or rather, someone. Ramus was standing not too far away, just outside of the crowd as a matter of fact, and was watching impassively as the crowd continued shoving that damned food down their gullets. She slowly reached out to him and stared pleadingly, unable to cry out for help due to choking on so much food. Ramus only glared and slowly shook his head.

It took hours, but finally, the deed was done. After Annie, Nancy, Ghost, and Axel were finally dead, the brainwashed crowd went back to their changed homes as if nothing happened. After the road cleared up, Ramus slowly walked towards the bodies and stared down at them emotionlessly. Each of the victims were now more reminiscent of giant bags of flesh rather than human beings. They had been stuffed with so much food that gravy, ketchup, and other sauces were dripping from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Every inch of their skin was now bulging outwards like fleshy balloons, having torn through their clothes and leaving them completely naked. These poor people had literally been forced to eat themselves to death.

Behind him, Herobrine laughed. "Oh, this is just fantastic!," he chuckled. "To be honest, I didn't think you were going to top what happened in Redstonia, but you proved me wrong!" He gave Ramus a friendly slap on the shoulder. "But we're not done yet," the remorseless Ancient continued. "We have so many other people to brutally torture and kill! Aren't you as excited as I am?" Ramus slowly nodded, not saying a word. Herobrine kept on chuckling and teleported away, leaving Ramus all alone with the grotesque bodies. As Ramus stared at their lifeless, glassy eyes, unable to look away, he tried to convince himself that he was innocent in all of this. It was that blue haired girl and the rest of the townsfolk who were responsible. THEY were the ones who stuffed them until their stomachs burst and their hearts stopped beating…

But those people had been brainwashed. Ramus had no such excuse.