ayo
Review replies:
Brievel: (pan frying noises)
WTP Storm: SOMETHING needs to be done with Null.
LPK9: He's a sweetheart :)
Again, Herobrine stood before Notch's cage.
He had approached very carefully, watching out for pressure plates and tripwires, crouching to keep himself from activating any sculk sensors. He suspected the bell had gone off when he flipped the lever that revealed Notch, but he didn't want to take the risk of activating it some other way. He also dearly hoped that the guardian couldn't detect him - he was close.
Notch was still unconscious in the tank of water, unmoving. It wasn't possible for him to die, was it? No- at least, Null couldn't kill him. That's what he needed Herobrine for.
Herobrine mulled over his possibilities. He couldn't teleport, and neither, presumably, could Notch. Notch was heavy, he doubted he could drag him out while he was unconscious, so he would need him to be awake. What if breaking him out activated some kind of alert system? Null would immediately start traveling back to them, and he traveled very quickly with his enderman's help.
Herobrine grimaced, shaking his head. With so many unknowns, he couldn't plan out a proper escape beforehand. If all else failed, he could always leave Notch behind and come back for him later. Rearing back his pickaxe, Herobrine smashed the glass with a loud crash.
Notch slammed into the ground, unmoving, as the water flowed out onto the stone. Herobrine immediately dropped into a crouch, looking around warily for a sign of anyone having heard, but the maze remained silent. Slowly, Herobrine knelt beside Notch's prone form, nudging him with the handle of his pick.
"Wake up." He hissed. Notch was unresponsive. Herobrine rolled him onto his back, holding his hand over his face - he was breathing, good. That means his lungs weren't filled with water. Why wouldn't he wake up? Herobrine hesitated, then reached down, patting his cheek. When this did nothing, Herobrine slapped him across the face.
"Agh-" Notch grunted, dark eyes flickering as his head jerked to the side. One hand lifted, shaking, to touch his cheek, and his dull gaze landed on Herobrine. "What in-"
"Shhh." Herobrine hushed him. "Be quiet. Null isn't here, but if you alert his minions he will be within minutes."
"Guh…" Notch's head fell back to the ground, and he blinked up dully at the ceiling far above them. "What… happened to me."
"I was hoping you could tell me that." Herobrine sat down beside him, gaze flicking around tensely for any sign of an enemy's approach. "You've been taken captive by Null. Can you walk? We need to get out of here before he returns."
"Null…? How?" Notch tried to shove himself up, only to slump back down, hand pressing to his forehead.
"I don't know. What's the last thing you recall?" Herobrine asked him. Notch was quiet for a few moments, thinking back.
"I suppose…" he said slowly. "…all the lights in my world going dark." Herobrine frowned. That was how he and Heather had found it when they returned. By traveling to Earth, they had managed to avoid the fate that had befallen Notch, at least for a time.
"Well, let me catch you up to speed." He kept his voice low. "Null captured all of us. Heather and I went back to Earth to try and contact her friend, Entity 303, for help, and when we returned you and Steve and Alex were gone. Null attacked us and captured us shortly after. He imprisoned us in there-" He gestured to the obsidian wall that made up the guardian chamber. "With an elder guardian that he acquired somehow, so that we wouldn't be able to escape. He had Steve and I compete in this maze," he gestured the other way, "to find you, and I won. He had Steve and Alex fight me to the death, but we turned on Null and managed to kill him.
"Heather and I escaped while Steve and Alex kept him busy. We escaped to the nether, but soon discovered that Null has, as far as we can tell, all of the piglins under his control. We doubled back, and Heather is hiding with Manfred while I went to get you." Herobrine paused. "Also, his ultimate goal is to kill you, but he can't bring himself to do so because of some fail-safe built into him. So he's trying to convince me to do it for him." This prompted a wary look from his fallen creator, but Notch just closed his eyes a moment later.
"I suppose if you wanted to kill me, you'd have done it already." He muttered.
"I could've." Herobrine agreed. "I take it he was telling the truth about you being stripped of your power?" Notch lifted a hand, let it fall back to the ground.
"Yes."
"So no teleportation. Are you too weak to move?" Herobrine asks. "I can't carry you."
"Can you not teleport us?"
"No. My powers have been taken as well." Herobrine shook his head. "I don't know how he's doing this, I don't know how to stop him. But if he wants you dead, then you must still be a threat." Notch opened his eyes, looking up at him again.
"I hope that's the case." He gestured slightly. "Should've let me fix your eye when I had the chance, mm?"
"I'm managing without it." Herobrine stood, looking around one more time. "Our temporary base is close by. I don't know that we'll have a chance to save Steve and Alex - not right now, anyway. Null set their spawns inside the cages he built for them."
"Ah." Notch frowned deeply. "Which is something I can do - reset their spawn points at will. Has he somehow harnessed my power?"
"I don't think so. He can't teleport." Herobrine offered a hand. "Come on, let's see if we can get you out of here. Stay quiet, I don't know if Null has any other traps set." Notch reached up to grab his hand, and Herobrine was nearly pulled over by his weight as he tried to drag him upright. Notch was bigger than him, taller by a couple of inches and considerably more muscular. Fortunately, centuries of manual labor had given Herobrine just as much strength, and he managed to get him upright.
Notch was obviously weak and weary, but he could walk with minimal support. Herobrine led him down to the hole he had broken in the wall of the maze, getting him outside and leading him to where Heather was waiting with Manfred. Herobrine could hear soft voices as they neared the hidden room, and propped Notch against the wall of the cave to dig up the blocks.
Heather jumped when the block disappeared, turning around and breaking into a smile at the sight of him.
"Herobrine!" She exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Did you find him?"
"I did." His gaze went to Manfred, who was still sitting in the corner with his leg stretched out in front of him. "How are you doing, my friend?"
".gniganam m'I" The enderman responded. Notch limped closer as Herobrine opened up a couple more blocks, helping his creator into the small space. Heather shuffled to make room, settling down next to Manfred. Notch sank down against the wall, glancing over and meeting Manfred's eyes.
"I see you found your enderman."
"Null had him." Heather said bitterly. Manfred nodded.
"?won tahW" He asked quietly. Herobrine slipped into the hidden base, replacing the blocks behind him.
"I wish I knew." He sank down onto a block, musing over their situation. "Even if it was possible to save Steve and Alex, I don't know that it would be worth it." Heather's face fell. "Considering that Null can just reset their spawn points back in prison."
"If we leave them here he's going to hurt them." She protested. "And they don't die very often unless they're being attacked. If we could get them away where he couldn't find them, it wouldn't be an issue, would it?"
"Yes, but rescuing them would mean revealing ourselves to the guardian." Herobrine sighed, dragging a hand down his face. What a miserable situation.
"I guess…" Heather voiced softly. "...we need to wait for Theo." Herobrine nodded.
"That may be our only option." He looked over to where his wife was slumped against Manfred's shoulder. "You should sleep."
"So should you." She countered.
"One of us should stay up to watch for Null."
"I'll keep watch." Notch spoke up. Herobrine spared him a tired glance, but he was too tired to argue. Heather was right, he needed the rest.
"Alright." Sliding off of the block, Herobrine leaned back against the wall, letting his chin droop and his eyes fall shut.
It was interesting to have Notch at his mercy, rather than the other way around.
Riley blinked groggily up at the ceiling as his alarm rang, the tone continuing until he fumbled a hand over to his clock to turn it off. Smash Mouth was right, the days really did start coming and not stop coming. Or was that years?
He forced himself to sit up, rubbing at his eyes as he glanced at the clock. Half an hour until class. Just enough time to get dressed, splash some water on his face, and grab a granola bar before sprinting across campus. Was 15 extra minutes of sleep really worth it to have to rush this much in the mornings? He was never taking a 7 AM class again.
Trying to force his brain to wake up, Riley reached over to grab his phone from his nightstand. Opening it, the first thing he saw is a text from Heather. He frowned a bit. It wasn't all that unusual for her to contact him, but at 3 AM? What was she doing up at that time?
He opened the message, skimming it over.
"Hey Theo, please come into Minecraft as soon as you can. Null came back and he's already hurt Herobrine and chased us out of our house. Notch can't stop him. We need your help."
Riley stared dumbly at his phone screen for a few moments. Null? He'd heard about the guy, some sort of rogue program that Herobrine and Notch locked away before Riley himself had ever made his appearance. Locking him away hadn't worked, then.
Riley rubbed his eyes, looking at the clock. He needed to be in class in half an hour. He'd already been late four times this semester - and this was week 6. Surely they'd manage until class was over.
Even as he set down his phone, though, rising to get dressed, a cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. What if he was wrong, and they were really in trouble? Time passed so much more quickly in the game, two hours for him would be the equivalent of… weeks. Anything could happen in that time.
Riley sighed, sinking down onto his mattress again. At the very least, that meant he could probably make it to class, even if he was late.
He crossed the room towards his computer.