Olivia awoke to a sting across her back, followed by fire as her mind caught up with the pain.

She let out a startled yelp, trying to scramble away, but she was in absolutely no position to do so. She found herself half-hanging from her wrists, which were chained to the stone brick wall she faced. Her back was exposed, and she could feel her shirt hanging awkwardly from the cut through it. As soon as she'd come to terms with her physical condition, a second means of stimulus became clear - a voice. Hero's voice.

"Vile coward!" Hero spat, accompanied by the clanking of chains that were surely binding him. "To strike an unarmed prisoner, an innocent!"

"The blow served its' purpose." A cold, smooth voice was next to speak, and a particularly violent shudder ran through Olivia's already-trembling body.

"O-Orion." She gasped. Her back still burned, had he struck her with a whip?

"Good morning, little spitfire." Though he greeted her as a friend, there was no warmth in his voice. "I decided it was about time we finish up our little game."

"N-not sure I want to play."

"Olivia, don't antagonize him, he's mad-"

"Not mad, merely intrigued." Orion interrupted, his voice the epitome of calm. "You have a few questions to answer, my fair lady."

"I'm no one's lady- I'm not even a lady!" Olivia twisted her head to bare her teeth at him. "What in the world is with your obsession with me?!"

"Perhaps if you answer me quickly and honestly, this will not have to get any more violent." Punctuating his words was another crack, and she yelped as another cut materialized on her back. She could feel warm blood soaking its way into the remains of her shirt, and she gritted her teeth.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to cease in your endless hunting of me." Orion's voice was as calm as if he were simply discussing the weather. "Every life you begin anew, you come back with a renewed hatred of me. Could you not simply find another demigod to harass?" Olivia blinked, swallowed.

"What the nether are you talking about?"

"You know of what I speak, Brine." Another crack, another wound. Olivia was still reeling from the pain when Orion began his next tirade, and she almost didn't catch the beginning. "I knew it was you from the moment I saw your sightless eyes. Quite a pity your village didn't kill you as a babe, isn't it? Perhaps you would have been able to come back with a sliver of hope of defeating me."

"What are you talking about?!" She cried out through her panting. The name Brine was familiar, hadn't Hero's brother mentioned it?

"Do you truly not know?" Orion scoffed. "Surely you've discovered it… no?" Olivia shook her head desperately, the fight nearly driven from her. "You are this world's incarnation of Brine, my bitter rival." She bit her lip.

"I'm not."

"You are!" Another strike. "I should think I of anyone would be able to recognize you by this point. Does his consciousness yet lay dormant?"

"Maybe! I don't think it helps your case either way! What are you trying to gain?! I'm not Brine, I can't stop something I never started!"

"Oh, no no no." She heard a drop of blood drip onto the floor. "Whether or not you realize it, Brine is conscious in you. He knows of what I speak."

"So?"

"So when he eventually comes to the surface, he may perhaps think twice before hunting me down for another clash of the titans." The whip struck her back once more, and she barely choked back a cry, half out of pain and half out of surprise.

"How does hitting me help?!"

"I intend to have a word with my rival." Another strike. "And a notable factor of bringing him to the surface is… stress." Another.

"Stop it!" Hero cried, nearly drowning out her own cry of pain. "You'll kill her!"

"That is the eventual goal, yes."

"What?!"

"Of course, it will not be the end of him. Brine will reincarnate once more. I only want to teach him a very special lesson."

"You're killing an innocent girl!" Hero's voice was raw.

"I do not care." Orion responded and Olivia grimaced, leaning her forehead against the stone brick. She truly was going to die here. Another stroke of the whip met her back, this one harsher. Another, then another, Hero's cries and struggles fading out in the background. She just grit her teeth, trying to muffle the sounds wrenched from her chest every time the leather met her exposed flesh. Couldn't he think of a less painful way to kill her?

She didn't notice the chill in the air until it was gone, heat licking around her wounds, and a great cry of rage suddenly stopped the torment.

"GET OFF!" There was a horrid groan of metal, then Orion gasped just before he was struck. Olivia could hear fire crackling as Orion hit the ground, making a rather undignified noise of pain. Hero snarled, and large hands grabbed her cuffs, ripping them from the wall. Olivia crumpled to the ground, hands coming up too late to catch herself, and she let out a whimper as her chin bumped the stone floor.

Hero's hands were on her in an instant, drawing her into his arms even as she seized and yelped from her cuts being disturbed. It was so hot. Her hands found his shirt, and she held on tight as he started to run. The heat subsided as they ran from the scene of her torment, and the next thing she knew she was bathed in sunlight.

"Help her!" Hero was crying out. "Someone! I need a healer, now!" His response was only shouts and screams, and the pounding of many feet as they ran from him. He swore. "#### it, HELP HER!" Olivia's mind was slow from blood loss, but she was slowly starting to put the pieces together.

Herobrine was Brine.

Also everyone was scared of him and she was gonna die.

Hero's yelling had long been drowned out by the pounding in her ears, but a new voice, familiar, cut through it.

"Hero! What happened to you?"

"Never mind me, she's going to die!" She was passed into a different set of arms, then flipped and laid face-down on a cold floor. She groaned, wondering if this was the feeling of her life leaving her. She had a feeling that if she wasn't blind, her life would be flashing before her eyes

"Calm yourself." Notch's soothing voice came through the pain. "She will not die. Get me cloth." There was a brief moment of shuffling, then the ripping of fabric. "She will only be tender for a long while." Strips of fabric were laid upon her wounds, and she jerked. "Calm yourself, Olivia, it'll be alright."

"Jus' hurts." She grit out through clenched teeth.

"I know. Hero, continue laying these on her back. I'm going to get some ointment." Rapid footsteps departed, but the warm hands continued to treat her.

"Hero?" She managed.

"Yes?" His tone was clipped.

"'Re you Brine?"

"Question for another time." He pressed down on her back with maybe a bit too much force, and she let out a yelp. "Sorry."

"It's okay." She whispered. More footsteps announced Notch's return, and he nudged Hero aside. A moment layer, a cool cream was being slathered across her back, applied with a soft cloth. Almost instantly, it began to nullify the pain, and a relieved breath escaped her.

"Who did this to you?" The older man murmured.

"Orion." Hero's voice was dark and bitter. "He snatched us off the street. Accused Olivia of being a reincarnation of his rival, and meant to bleed her to death."

"Oh my." Notch said softly, starting to layer cloth over the ointment. "How awful."

"Yeah." Olivia whispered. Now that the initial excitement of her near-execution was over with, the exhaustion from blood loss and panic was beginning to set in. "C-can I sleep…"

"Go ahead." A cool hand touched her forehead, lifting her head an inch and setting a folded bit of fabric beneath it. Maybe another one of his blankets. The thought made her smile, and so was her expression when she fell fast asleep.