Author's note
This is the second chapter. I already had it finished by the time I decided to upload my story. Hey, I'm a hard worker, okay?
Anyways, leave a comment or give a good review. Onwards with the story!
Ender-what?
I groaned, my hand reaching for my head. I felt a throb in my head, knocking hard on my skull. My eyes flickered open, my mind trying to remember what last happened.
I faced a pair of purple eyes looking at me with concern. My mind suddenly registered that I was covered by a weight, but also that there was a bit of pressure on my chest. I started to remember what was going on: The dungeon, the portal, the.. Girl? Those Endermen that attacked...
Everything suddenly connected when I recognized the eyes that were still fixated on me, a sign of worry in them.
"Andrea?!" I yelled, trying to get up. The dark-haired girl dropped down on the ground, just able to prevent herself from landing face-first. I sat up, looking around at everything. I was still in the living room, so I wasn't inside Minecraft. Tyler was sitting on his chair, his stare with gaping mouth from before still on his face. On the computer I could just make out the 'You were killed' sign covering the screen.
I looked at Andrea and could feel my heart skip a beat of shock: She was covered in bruises and her left-arm appeared to be... Burned? She was breathing heavily, trying her hardest to not fall to the ground. I got up and offered her a hand, but she came to her knees and pulled back a little, fear in her eyes.
"I won't hurt you." I said, trying to seem calm, something I definitely wasn't. My heart was racing at a thousand miles an hour, my head felt like a blown balloon and I was more then sure that I had a small blush on my cheeks. I kept my hand out, giving her an assuring smile. She looked down and mumbled something I couldn't hear before she looked back up and, slowly and surely, grabbed my hand. I pulled her up slowly as to not scare her with a sudden move before I turned to Tyler, who was still looking at the scene with his mouth open. I assured Andrea could stand before I turned to Tyler and tapped him on the shoulder. He shook his head heavily and exchanged one amazed gaze at Andrea before he turned to me. His screen behind him also showing 'You have been killed' on it. I looked him in the eyes and then back at Andrea, who was holding her hands together shyly, seeming a bit wobbly.
"What... The... Heck... Just happened?!" Tyler managed to yell, a bit to hard for my liking. Andrea shrieked back, almost stumbling over her feet but quickly regaining balance. I gestured him to keep calm, but he instead grabbed me by my shoulders and dragged me into the kitchen nearby, leaving Andrea in the living room.
"What is going on?!" Tyler asked me with both amazement and fear mixed in his look.
"I have no idea, but next time don't yell so hard!" I said a bit loud, but not to hard. Tyler his look quickly changed from the mix of fear and amazement to a mix of embarrassment and shock. I never really acted like that to Tyler, speaking up so hard to him.
"Well, then ask her!" He quickly composed himself, turning me around and practically pushing me inside the living room. I turned to him and gave an angry glare before turning to Andrea, who was examining things around herself, still seeming a bit wobbly. I cleared my throat to show her I was closer again. She looked at me and then turned one more time to the computers before slowly getting a bit closer. I did the same, trying to not surprise her.
I offered her a seat when we had reached the sofa, what she gladly accepted. She sat down, a sigh escaping her mouth. I sat down as well, keeping a meter between us. She looked down at her feet, which were shuffling on the floor, her hands between her legs. I tried to meet her eyes, but instead was greeted with her looking away. I sighed before taking a good look at her.
If you took all the bruises and that big burn-mark on her left-arm away, she was cute. Her skin seemed to be almost perfect, her body arched in a way that would, fair to say, make a man's heart melt. Her legs were thin, but still were strong enough to hold her up. Her chest was... Well, let's say 'decent sized' for a girl of, my only guess was my own age: 17.
She apparently had noticed me eyeing her, because she turned her back to me, causing her arm to move and her to gasp a bit of pain. I felt like my heart was stabbed when I heard her gasp of pain. I stood up, to which she looked at me. I felt her gaze follow me as I turned to the kitchen, where Tyler was standing against the wall, trying to compute everything. I just walked past him and reached inside a cabinet, grabbing the first-aid kit. I turned back to the living room, passing Tyler again, who had looked up only for short until going back to his own thoughts.
I sat back down on the sofa, placing the rude metal box in-between me and Andrea, who eyed the box with a look of curiosity.
"May I?" I asked as I gestured at her arm. She looked at her arm and then back at me before she looked at her feet, considering whether or not to trust me. A sudden move of her own caused her arm to move again, making her gasp from the sudden pain-shot. That seemed to make her decide and she, after what seemed to be an eternity of hesitating, got closer and moved her arm to me. I grabbed it as lightly as possible, but she still gasped a bit at the pain, making me realize just how bad it was. I noticed a small blush on her cheeks though, causing mine to blush as well.
I opened the box and shuffled through everything until I got a lotion with 'anti-burn' written on it. I put some on her arm, causing her to gasp again, this time because of the sudden feeling of cold against warm skin. I softly rubbed the lotion across the burn, trying ever so slightly to examine her other wounds. She was close enough for me to notice a few cuts across her other arm. 'She seems like she was attacked by a dragon.' My mind went, until I realized the fact that Minecraft actually DID have a dragon.
"The Ender Dragon." I whispered to myself. It wasn't good enough though, because Andrea retreated her arm and shuffled back to the other side of the sofa, eyeing me with a look of pure terror. It all clicked now: She was attacked by the Ender Dragon and made it out, barely. I sighed and closed the kit, considering that the bruises and cuts will heal on their own and that the lotion should be enough for now.
"What are you?"
Both me and Andrea jumped up from the sofa. Tyler had slowly walked over to the sofa and had finally decided to break the silence. Andrea shrieked before vanishing, right before our eyes. A few purple particles were left were she once stood. 'Great.'
"You really had to do that, didn't you?" I said sarcastically, glaring at Tyler before looking around, trying to find the black-haired girl.
I heard a can drop, my sight turning to the kitchen. I slowly entered the room, noticing Andrea shivering in the corner of the kitchen. She appeared to have slammed into the wall, because she was holding her right-arm. A few tears were flowing down her cheeks. My heart felt like it shattered, the sight of the girl like that making me feel hurt.
"Andrea..." I started, but not finding the right words to continue. She turned to me and fell to the ground, emotionally collapsing. She cried, and hard. She was holding her head against her knees, which were clearly still trembling. I closed in on her, trying to keep my tears from flowing. She noticed me, but didn't respond, but instead just went back to crying. I sat down on my knees, reaching to her with my hand. She didn't do anything to avoid me, instead she kept on crying. I closed in a bit and looked at her with concern before making a final decision in my mind.
I took hold of her and grabbed her, hugging her with my arms. She was firstly shocked at the act, but soon went on with crying, this time on my shoulder. We stood like that for a little bit: The black-haired crying on my shoulder, me patting her back and hushing softly to comfort her. I was certain I was blushing, but shook my head a bit before looking at Andrea, who had started to stop crying. She sniffled, using her not-so-badly-injured arm to rub the tears away. I locked with her eyes, giving her a reassuring smile. It seemed to work, because I could just make out the ends of her mouth to go up a bit. She suddenly blushed, noticing that I was holding on to her very firmly. We quickly let go, a similar blush on my face.
"E-Everything alright?" I finally decided to ask, standing up from the floor. I reached with my hand, and after a bit of hesitating she took it. I helped her up, stopping her from falling down again.
"What did you just do?" Tyler asked, making me turn back to him and Andrea shriek back into the corner of the room. I gave him an accusing glare before going to the hiding girl. I took her by the shoulders, an assuring smile on my face, and helped her to the sofa.
"I do have a few questions." I finally said, interrupting the silence that fell after I brought her to the sofa. She wasn't shocked by my question though and collected all her courage, took a deep breath, and started explaining.
"I'm a hybrid. That means I'm half mob-half human. I'm half-Enderman, you might have noticed after... After I teleported. But I can't teleport well when scared, so I tumbled against the wall. And to answer a question I know you also have," She looked at Tyler with a look that said 'Because I know you would ask it' before continuing. "I was running away from those Endermen. I-I didn't know what to do until I reached a strange portal in The End. I jumped through it, ending in... In that chamber where you found me. And lastly..." She took a deep breath before facing me. "Yes, I was attacked by the... The Ender Dragon. But... I can't tell you why. Yet." She finished, breathing out, finally relieved from all the stress. I gave a kind smile, to which she slightly blushed. I turned to Tyler, who was once again going through everything. I decided to leave him like that and instead gazed back at Andrea, who seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep sitting.
"If you want, you can sleep here." I said, a small blush on my cheeks. She blushed harder before turning to me again."R-Really?" She asked, a bit of surprise in her voice, which I noticed had turned more relaxed and finally seemed natural: It was a sweet, soft and almost silk-like voice, that made me wonder how good she could sing. 'If she even knows what singing is.' My judging mind added. I shrugged and instead focused back at Andrea, who seemed to have calmed down completely.
"Yeah, really." I said, a slight chuckle escaping me. She brushed a strain of hair that fell for her eyes away, making me find her even more cute then she already was. She simply nodded and I helped her up. I guided her to my bedroom, showing her the bed. She finally had a genuine smile on her face and almost literally dropped down on my bed, almost making me afraid that she had passed out.
"So soft..." She said, trailing of. I simply helped her lay down properly and put the blanket over her and closed the window-curtains. I put the door ajar and walked back into the living room, noticing Tyler at the computer, mumbling to himself. I decided to sit down at my own computer, clicking the 'respawn' button. My player respawned close to the base, so I decided to see where Tyler was. I found him busy gathering supplies in the chest-room.
"Where's Sky?" I asked, looking around. My question was answered by Sky stepping outside the crafting-room, holding an iron sword in her hand.
"Finally decided to show up, he?" She said, a bit of anger in her voice. We both looked at her and Tyler was the first to react.
"Did you see where the girl- I mean Andrea went?"
"No, why?" Sky said blunt, focused more on getting suited up.
"Well, she threw an enderpearl at my player and now..." I stopped, looking for the right words. I couldn't quite find anything else to say that wouldn't let it seem like we were crazy.
"Now, what?" Sky asked, now suited up with iron armor.
I looked at Tyler I.R.L., who nodded. She's a friend, she deserves to know.
"And now she's with us, in real life." I said, the last part something I never expected to say. Sky looked at me, then at Tyler, hoping that we would say something like 'Joke, ha! Got ya!', but it didn't come. We were dead-serious.
"Wait, she's with you, I.R.L.? Like, the person controlling her player?" She asked, trying to wrap her head around things.
"No, I mean that with that enderpearl, she's in OUR world. Not in the game, literally with us. She wasn't even a player. She's real, and she's resting in my bed right now." I said, trying to seem serious. I couldn't help but feel like this was some sort of dream, that hopefully soon ended. But deep inside, I hoped that what I said was true and I really just met an Ender-girl.
Sky just stared at us, standing still. We could hear some things in our headphones, but it was clear she had put her headset down. We waited like that until we heard the sound of rubber against skin, indicating she had put her headset on again.
"Sky?" Tyler asked, now focused on our friend.
"She's with you, in your bed, Archer?" She asked, sounding serious. I simply nodded with my player.
Suddenly, we were met with laughter filling our headphones, almost causing us to flinch at the sudden loud noise. It lasted straightly two minutes until Sky had calmed down.
"Don't you believe us?" I asked, still trying to get the ringing out of my ears.
"Of course! Only you two can lead to something like this happen! But that you, Archer Romanos, the hopeless guy that might never find the one, have a girl resting in YOUR bed?! Come on! Seriously?"
"Yes." I said, suddenly a jump of courage in my attitude. I never liked it when Sky brought my terrible love-life up, but this time something seemed to snap. "Is there something wrong with that? She is bruised and cut! She has a burned arm! She survived The End! SHE FUCKING SURVIVED THE ENDER DRAGON! She cried her eyes out on my shoulder! I tended her wounds! YOU do not have the right to react like THAT!" I finished, panting heavily. Tyler sat on his chair, mouth agape. He never saw me like that. Ever.
"You... You never curse." Was all Sky could muster. And she was right. To me, cursing was like cheating. Wrong, terrible and outright disgusting. But instead, I had just said the F-word straight against my one of my best friends.
"I-I'm sorry..." I could feel my heart break, tears seemed to swell up.
"Dude. I should be sorry. If what you said is true, then she's even more hardcore then me. Not even I would be able to hold it out in The End, let alone escape it and survive!" Sky said, praise in her voice. Did she just compliment Andrea? She never compliments another girl. Ever. This time, it was me who stood there in surprise and shock.
"We're getting off-track. She's resting right now, but what do we do with those Endermen that killed us and tried to kill Andrea? If we want to bring her back, if we're even going to do that, they'll definitely go after her. That tunnel leads into our base. Do we block it off, do we prepare for a war?! I just want to know what we're going to do with this!" Tyler said, worry growing in his voice. I looked at him I.R.L. and saw that he genuinely was worried for Andrea.
"Fighting isn't an option, they're with more and we lost almost all our stuff down there. They can get into our dimension through those portals, or just teleport like the first group. We have the luck to be immune against water, and if we're smart we wait until it rains to fight them, but they have shelter in that dungeon." Sky said, going down the options, putting Andrea to the side of her mind. From my perspective, we we're dead. Every time we would try and fight, they would kill us and leave us to respawn. This could go on forever.
"What if we sneak into The End and kill the Ender Dragon. Isn't that thing their leader?" Tyler continued.
"They also think separately, they don't have a hive-mind or stuff. Even if we manage to kill the thoughest boss in all of Minecraft, they would still keep going. And we don't have the stuff to fight the Ender Dragon!" I followed, my mind going into strategy-mode. And so we kept discussing strategies, theories,... We talked like that for what seemed like hours.
"Guys, Andrea is a hybrid. That means half-human, half-Enderman. Or, girl. Can she handle water?" Tyler suddenly interrupted. It was a valid question, though. I tried to come with an answer, but wasn't sure myself.
"We'll ask her when she's awake." I answered, not wanting to go to deep in Andrea's weaknesses. 'Why were they actually chasing her? What did she do in The End? She didn't steal something from them, I hope?'
"Guys, it's getting late and we also need sleep. Let's call it a day and just rest. We'll discuss this tomorrow." Sky said, making me notice it actually was 8 P.M. We gave Sky our regards and said goodbye before we logged of ourselves.
"I'm going home. Goodnight." Tyler said, packing his stuff, but leaving his computer. We waved goodbye and then I was alone. Well, not completely. I was surprised how well my friends took this all.
I was busy getting ready to change when I stopped in front of the door of my bedroom. I face-palmed myself, remembering that Andrea was sleeping in my bed. I was just about to change in the bathroom when I heard turning and twisting. I slowly opened the door, leaving a gap big enough for me to look through.
Andrea was twisting and flailing in my bed, turning around from side to side. 'A nightmare.' My mind guessed.
I stood their, watching the Endergirl twist and turn, my heart feeling bad. I got a bad ache spreading through my body, something in my mind making me walk inside, quietly as to not wake her, yet.
I stopped right next to her, gazing down. She was sweating, her arms going almost everywhere. She mumbled things like 'Don't go...' and 'Help me...'.
I couldn't stand watching her like this anymore and grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her softly. Her eyes fluttered open, her eyes locking on me. She jumped back, yelling.
"Who are you?!"
I looked at her with concern (and a blush I bet too). She looked around, recognizing her surroundings and me. She relaxed, although only a little.
"You had a nightmare, so I woke you up." I explained to her, a reassuring smile on my face. She seemed to have noticed that, because she took a deep breath and relaxed, finally completely.
"T-Thanks." She said, a bit embarrassed. She rubbed the back of her neck, a bit nervous. In the dark I couldn't see it that well, but I noticed she had put her boots of and her hoodie was actually just big enough to hide her body when she was on her knees. At that point I noticed she actually wasn't wearing shorts or anything, making me look away, trying to forget I saw that. Luckily for me, she was still a bit shocked from the wake-up and hadn't noticed.
We stood there like that, not certain what to do. I finally decided to break the silence with a daring question.
"Y-You want me t-to sleep next to y-you? I mean, to h-help sleep better." I asked, quickly correcting any other meanings behind my question. I caught her off-guard, because her head almost turned as red as a tomato. I couldn't help but blush as well.
"Really?" She asked, mustering as much courage as possible. I could tell she was really nervous and shy around people, even me.
"I-I mean, if you don't want me to, then..." I said, trailing of, my hand rubbing my neck. I started to leave, but got stopped right before I grabbed the handle of the door.
"Please! D-don't leave me." Andrea suddenly said, this time catching me off-guard. I looked back, noticing a tear in the light rolling down her cheek. I felt like I had just hurt her, my heart almost stopping.
I walked back to her, Andrea making a bit of space next to her in my bed. I didn't care about changing clothes anymore, falling asleep in my daily clothes something that wasn't unusual for me. I laid down next to her, my face blushing, for sure. Hers was to, turning very red, with tints of pink on her cheeks. We just laid like that, not saying anything, just looking at each other. Our faces were close enough for us to feel each others breathing. We were so close, as if I could just lean in and...
The thought caused me to turn away, my face surely red as heck. I felt Andrea turn to, her face maybe even more red then mine, if that was even physically possible.
My eyes felt heavy when I looked back, feeling that the Endergirl had fallen asleep, this time no nightmare. I gave a sigh of relieve before turning back, falling asleep myself almost instantly.