The End was cold. It was also dark. But Steve didn't mind, it actually made him love it more. It was a nice change from the warm and bright Overworld. He almost couldn't believe he had actually made it to the End, his dream having put him on edge.
Wither and Max were not as enthusiastic about the new location. Wither appeared startled, and Max was shouting at nothing in her crazy language of grossness. "All!' she yelled. "Tell! Sorry?!" Needless to say, Steve was pretty sure she was insane.
Steve decided to look around and see what his new home was like, other than dark. He quickly found that they seemed to be floating, but closer scrutiny showed that they were actually standing on an obsidian platform. Not too far away was a large island of yellow stone. Which Steve recognized as Endstone.
The Minecrafter felt a grin grow on his face. The longing had disappeared, he was right where he belonged.
And then a loud roar shook the sky.
Looking up, Steve couldn't see anything. Until two dots of purple appeared in the darkness, right in front of his face. He yelped in surprise, falling back and landing on Max. A wave of hot air blew over them as whatever beast it was breathed, landing on the platform. Another dot appeared, though it couldn't much be called a dot. It was like light at the end of a tunnel, and slightly downward. The light grew, and Max yelled: "Get down!" at him, pushing Steve to the ground. The beast paused at Max's words, but the light from its throat was already beginning to fly from its mouth, aimed directly at Max. Wither leapt in front of her, shielding her from death. He yelled in pain as the glowing acid burned at His flesh, but He stood His ground, refusing to let Max die.
The flow stopped a second later, the beast closing its mouth to cease its attack. Wither stood there, grey skin smoking, but almost completely unharmed in the sense that his flesh was only a bit charred, and He wasn't a pile of sludge and ashes. He started yelling at the beast, His words too quick and angry for Steve to understand.
He only stopped when Max put a hand on His shoulder. "Okay, Wither. Stop," she told Him. He frowned at her, but stepped back. She then turned to the beast. "Know is? Wither is a deadly! Kill you insufferable creature as black and useless as coal! You're incredibly me here! Or death! Dare to ever attack us again, I won't bother you be dead!" she yelled at it, switching between languages. After yelling at the very surprised creature for a few minutes, she stopped, taking a breath. "Sorry," she apologized to Steve and Wither. "The dark stresses me out."
Wither blinked at her. "Coal? You insulted it with coal?"
Max frowned at him. "I just said the dark makes me uncomfortable. So excuse me for being unable to come up with a horrifying insult within a second."
He held up His hands in surrender, but was grinning mischievously. "Hey, I'm not blaming you. Coal is a wonderful insult. I don't know how you ever came up with it."
Max punched Him in the arm. "Shut up," she told Him, shaking her head in a mix of amusement and exasperation at His antics.
The poor creature with glowy eyes was still bewildered. Steve walked over to it. "Don't worry," he said. "I have no idea what's going on, either."
The beast gave him a startled look, unsure how to react to anything, now.
Light shone from Wither's hand, He having made Max a torch to fend off the dark. She took the torch with a smile of thanks, then traveled over to Steve and the beast, raising the light source to get a better look at it. "Story true," she muttered to herself upon seeing the dragon that stood before her. It was black as the void around them, grey occasionally popping up among its scales. Its eyes were the most colourful thing about it, purple like Ender's had been, but they weren't swirling. Darker purple was used for it's pupils, which were narrowed in confusion.
"Stories?" Wither asked, and Steve marveled that Wither had been able to understand that Max had been speaking plural. It must have been confusing for the poor God, Steve decided. How annoying it must be to understand two languages, one a much poorer and twisted version of the other.
"Mother, legends, small," Max informed Wither. Steve was getting a headache from listening to her, so he decided to speak up.
"Wasn't there a reason you two wanted to come here?" he said, if only to make Max stop using that putrid speech.
Max swore at herself for forgetting, but Steve didn't even bother to try and deduce what she said, his headache growing worse. As Steve put a hand to his head to try and ease the pain, Max said something to Wither, who nodded. A path of obsidian appeared, leading from the platform to the island of stone. They walked across, Steve's vision blurring.
The dragon followed them from the sky, just watching. Until something flew across its path, in which case it either ate the flying thing, or shot at it with the same acid it had fired at Wither.
Steve kept his eyes on the creature as best he could, just staring up. A sharp pain would appear behind his eyes whenever he looked ahead at the Endstone that stood out starkly against the black void.
He took another step forwards only to find that nothing was underneath his foot. He yelped in surprise, falling. He continued looking up as he fell down into the darkness of the void, panic filling him. No! No no no no no no! He couldn't die here! He couldn't! He had just made it to the End!
A sharp tug on his foot ceased his decent and caused him to yelp again. Looking down, he saw Max struggling to hold him up with only her one hand wrapped around his foot. Wither's hands appeared on his leg, next, and they carefully pulled him back up, which was when Steve realized he had been confused about up and down. He had been looking down at the void below instead of the black sky above as he had thought.
"Watch where you're going," Max snapped at him, apparently still feeling stressed from the never ending dark that surrounded them.
"Sorry," Steve muttered his reply, squinting his eyes as pain flared within his skull yet again. Max huffed in annoyance, but seemed to notice his distress as she didn't appear as annoyed as usual.
Finally, they made it to the Endstone island. Steve should've been ecstatic. He would've been ecstatic. But his head hurt too much to let him do anything but focus on the pickaxes digging into his brain. He sat on a pile of Endstone. barely noticing his surroundings. He could hear Max and Wither talking with each other, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. His eyes were screwed tight in pain, his hands on his throbbing head. He didn't want to move at all. He just wanted to stay still as he could feel himself retreating into his mind, and something trying to get it. He couldn't fight it, it hurt too much. And slowly, very slowly, he fell asleep...
The last thing he heard was the woman's voice from his dream.
"I told you, Steve. No one can escape their fate."
"We did it, Wither!" Max cheered, looking around her at the End. Wither was looking around them, disturbed. She noticed. "What's wrong?"
"It's... different," Wither replied, seeming perplexed.
"Different from how you imagined it?"
Wither paused, looking like he was trying to figure out how to explain it. "I just know that nothing here is as it should be. That thing," He nodded at a purple eyeball, "is neither Ender's creation, nor All's. Its colour is all wonky."
Max frowned, a bit worried by what He meant. "Monsters of Dimensions..." she remembered. "A Mod."
"Mod?"
"All was rambling a while back about rocks and Mods and something called a Rift or whatever," Max told Him. "It said that Mods weren't something It created."
"Is that even possible? All is everything, isn't it?" Wither replied, confusion clear. "How can something not be part of the Universe."
Max shrugged in response, as confused as her best friend was. "What's the End supposed to be like?" she queried.
"There are much less Mobs, for one," Wither began. "And all these plants aren't supposed to be here."
Max gazed at the Endstone island, at the lush purple trees and plants and flowers, at the many black and purple Mobs and Mods inhabiting the area, at the swooping structures of weird blocks she didn't have a name for. "It's supposed to be much flatter, too," He added.
"Well, that's weird and worrying," Max said, beginning to look around for what they had came for. Her eyes fell on a squiggly plant that appeared as though it had been stretched and twisted multiple times. She stared at it, and grinned. Whatever that thing was, it could save her father's life. She walked over to it and knelt down, the Star swinging around her neck as she did so. She pulled the plant from the ground and tucked it into her pocket, ignoring the Star.
Minecrafter and God whipped around when they heard thump! echo around the End, the sound bouncing off the weird Endstone structures. Steve had faceplanted onto the ground, just laying there. He was perfectly still, which was extremely odd for the two friends to see. Everything seemed to freeze. The End got even quieter, the Mobs and Mods stilling. Then Steve began to convulse, his arms and legs lashing out wildly. Max heard a yelp of fear, but had no idea who had been the cause. It could've been her, Wither, a Mod or Mob, Steve, or even All. She had no idea.
Max rushed over to Steve to try and hold him still before he hurt himself, but everything else got there first. Everything but she and the Mods charged at Steve, even Wither took a step forwards, though He seemed to have no idea why. The Enderdragon shot acid at Herobrine's copy. The Endermen screeched in fury and teleported to and around Steve. The Endstone pulled up and around the Minecrafter so he couldn't avoid the attacks even if he were conscious.
There was only one thing that could cause so many things to attack Steve.
"All!" Max yelled angrily. "Stop attacking him, this instant!"
The Mobs didn't stop. Steve was still convulsing in his stone bonds, though this time it seemed to be more in pain. Max ran towards the other Minecrafter, Wither reaching out a hand to grab her, obviously not wanting her to near Steve, but she shoved Him out of the way. She grabbed Kreaya from its sheath and swiped it at the Endermen to make them back off. Kreaya didn't pull itself around like it usually did when Max held it. It stayed dormant until Max was protectively standing over Steve, and then it shot downwards, aiming for his head. Max clutched her sword tight, startled by the sudden move, and just barely stopped it from piercing into Steve's skull. With effort, the Akroatis yanked Kreaya away from Steve, a small dot of blood on his forehead where Kreaya broke the skin.
"All," Max hissed in anger. "Stop. Right. Now."
All didn't stop trying to kill Steve, the Endermen teleporting just close enough to try and attack Steve, before quickly moving away before Max could retaliate. The Endstone had covered the Minecrafter, restricting all of his movement, while leaving his vulnerable areas such as his neck, head, and stomach open to the Endermen's attacks.
If All didn't stop soon, then Steve was going to die. No doubt about it. He'd either lose too much blood from his many wounds, or he'd be squished to death by the Endstone. So, Max, not knowing what else to do that would help the situation, stabbed herself in the foot with Kreaya. Everything froze at her yelp of pain, and she hissed as she pulled the enchanted sword out of her flesh, its blade dripping with her blood. "Now that I have your attention," she said angrily, pain not helping her mood, "if you touch him one more time, I will make You regret it."
Oh, I see you're finally not acting like a wimp, anymore, are you? All's mocking voice said.
Max, he needs to die. You don't understan-
"What don't I understand?!" Max roared, furious. All's Minecrafter form appeared to her right, and flinch back at her yell, startled. "How do I not understand that you're trying to kill him?!"
I'm sorry, Max. But-
The kid's a pansy, anyway. Too bad I'm not letting myself rip his limbs off.
That's enough! Max, I have to.
"Like the Nether you have to!" Max screeched.
Max-
No! Don't try to calm her down! This is hilarious.
Don't interrupt Me!
Why? Is it annoying? Ooh~ Looks like someone's going to explode.
"How dare you," Max hissed, infuriated that All was arguing with Itself as It tried to murder. "How dare you try to take another person's life! You already killed Mom because You felt Ender needed to suffer! You killed the people Ender did! You murdered those the Mobs destroy! Everything is your fault! Everything!" Max screamed the last word, rage filling her entire body.
I- All said, sounding hurt.
Max... All's Minecrafter form looked broken by the Akroatis' words, a tear falling from Its non-existent face.
Max felt sadistic glee at All's mental pain. It made her even more furious. The evil version of All was laughing loudly, insanely, obviously enjoying the torment Max was putting Its suicidal self through. "Stop it!" she yelled, hating the laughter that bubbled through her, hating that All's hatred of Itself was leaking to her, despising that the happiness of not allowing All to ignore the truth was not all from the Universe. She was happy she was hurting It for hurting her, and she was terrified of that. It was revenge that had started this mess."Stop it!" she roared again, tears of fury trailing their way down her face as she laughed.
Wither said something, but she couldn't hear Him over all the noise, her laughter, All's laughter, Steve's pain, the Mods, the Enderdragon's wings. Everything was so loud! And it hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. She let out another screech, this one having no words to it, just a vocal manifestation of her conflicting emotions and pain. She shut her eyes, trying to block everything else out so she could get a grip on herself. Her fingers pulled at her hair, palm pushed against her ear, her stump uselessly shoved against the other one.
And then, everything went quiet. Except for two words:
I'm sorry.
It repeated over and over again, every part of All speaking the apology.
I'm sorry.
Wither's eyes were wide, the words pouring from His lips without His consent.
I'm sorry.
Those words were repeated by everything that was able to make noise, except the Mods, who looked on in confusion, and Steve, who was still unconscious.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
It repeated those words, sounding truly remorseful. The Mobs backed off, the Endstone pulled away from Steve, resuming its natural position.
"Shut up," Max growled, not in a forgiving move as she quickly knelt to assess the damage to the unconscious Minecrafter. Wither was still bewildered, and so didn't help. Max swore some foul words, Steve was too hurt to be moved. And if Wither teleported them, Steve would simply die in a bed.
Max grit her teeth. "Wither," she said sharply to gain the God's attention. "Does the Star make you Respawn with your wounds?"
"Er- No," Wither replied, confused at her question. Why would she ask such a thing? "Max! No!" he shouted when Max ripped the Nether Star chain off her neck and plunged one of the points into Steve's chest.
Max wasn't sure why she was doing this, why she wanted Steve to live so badly. Maybe she was trying to spite All by making the person It was trying to kill, live. Or maybe it was because seeing the usually moving Minecrafter be so still was unnerving. No matter what made her do it, it happened.
Steve began to convulse again, the Nether Star melting into his chest. He opened his mouth in a silent scream of pain, and Wither snatched Max's arm and pulled her away. Max looked at Him with wide eyes. "Why is he screaming?" she asked. Wither had given her the Star, and the Star was the thing causing Steve pain. The Star had been meant for her, which meant the pain must've also been meant for her.
"You just stabbed him in the chest. Of course he's screaming."
"Oh, yeah," Max said, looking away from Him, feeling bad that she had let the thought of her best friend purposely hurt her cross her mind.
Steve was still having a fit, the Nether Star melted completely into his body. Then, he stopped, holding completely still for a few minutes. Then he stood, and went ridge, his eyes closed, wounds still bleeding. A weird noise entered Max's ears, and she winced as it got louder. It seemed to be words she couldn't quite hear.
Get out of there.
"No," Max replied defiantly. She wasn't in the mood to do anything All said.
Max, you really need to leave.
And then Max was punched in the face. She stumbled backwards, holding her nose and yelping in surprise. There was a yelp of pain that she didn't make accompanied by a bright grey light. When she reopened her eyes -having closed them when the light went off-, she was staring at a pile of ash and an angry Wither, who was currently swearing at whatever had punched her, which she guessed was now the ashes. Then, she noticed that Steve was gone.
"Where did Steve go?" Max questioned, irritated.
Wither stopped swearing, blushing with guilt. "I - ah...erm... That wasn't Steve."
She glared at Him, but forced herself to not get too mad, as Steve was now...immortal...
Max realized she had just turned someone immortal just to spite the voices inside her head.
Max then realized what Wither had said. "What do you mean that wasn't Steve?"
"His colours were wonky; like they were being pushed away from his body," Wither explained. "Plus, he didn't seem to recognize you before and after he punched you in the face. That wasn't Steve."
Hey, Max! Tell your boyfriend I thank Him for saving your sorry-
"He's not my boyfriend!" Max almost shouted in frustration, startling Wither.
Oh ho ho~ Touchy subject?
"All, if you don't want me to stab a sword into my ears. I suggest you shut up," Max said coldly, and Wither gave her an alarmed expression. Thankfully, All shut up.
And then Max's foot began to hurt, the full pain of being stabbed finally reaching her brain now that she wasn't so angry. She yelped, and collapsed, Wither catching her. Within a second, they were back at Notch's castle, scaring a servant.
"Wither, why am I blindfolded?" Max asked irritably as Wither led her up some stairs. She had a cane to walk with for her healing foot, and it kept tapping on the steps. It had been a day or so since their End adventure, and Charlie was recovering. All had wisely not said anything to Max during this time.
Max tripped over some string, but Wither caught her before she could go tumbling.
"Happy late birthday, Max!" she heard a child say. Something wrapped around her stomach and she looked down to see cheerful green eyes curtained by dark hair peering up at her.
"Quirk?"
"Yup!" he said cheerfully, grinning up at her. It had been three years since she had last seen Quirk after finding his father and leaving them together.
"Are you sure?" she questioned. "Quirk is a little boy, and you're so big!"
He beamed at her. "I'm 11, now!" he exclaimed happily. "Dad says I'm growing too fast."
Max laughed. "I'm sure you are!" she said, ruffling his messy hair, him dodging away and laughing. The next thing she knew, Max had cake shoved into her hands. The day progressed joyfully, and it was only while Wither was entertaining Quirk did she realize something:
Max had turned something that wasn't Steve immortal.
3,587 words... I finally made a worthy-to-read chapter. Ah, that feels so good to finally finish this and get the guilt of not updating for a while away. It was last year I updated, after all. (hehe. See what I did there? Hehehe... ignore my attempt at funny.)
But we're finally getting to the finishing plot! Squee! Makes me so happy. So happy that I can't wait until the morning to post this. Heheh. Anyway, this is the final chapter to AMM, which means I'll update it one last time when the next part of the series comes out. I don't have a name for it, just yet, but it'll be in the update.
What happened to Steve? Do you peoples have any idea?
hope. rose. dawnstar/Dawnstar:
A very sneaky person. And you have a good point, but I have a something else to prove your point null but spoilers. Thank you for reviewing! It made me happy! :D
NotReallyAName:
Thank you! And, you may or may not be right. I'm just going to say you got it partly correct. Happy early holidays! (I'm early. I'm not late. Nope. Not late at all.)
AlliyahTheAuthor:
You have absolutely no idea how happy that made me. I applaud you for going back and suffering through my horrid early writing. Thank you so much, that made me smile.