Chapter 9

Misunderstanding

After finally escaping the cave that was almost their grave they made it safely back. When they entered the house the two males looked at the smaller one who was sitting up on his bed, reading that book like nothing had happened while the others were gone. Craig gazed sleepily over at them out of the corner from his eye, thankful for their safe return and company even though theirs were terrible.

"Well, how did the mining go?" he asked vaguely avoiding their eyes.

The taller one responded in an awfully sarcastic manner, "Other than the moron almost got me killed because of an Enderman we got more than a few stacks of iron and—"

"Did you say Enderman?" He interrupted him and the said moron from shouting again.

"Yeah, the freaky bugger would have killed us if I didn't have a bucket of water with me."

"So that's why you brought that water," Wheatley commented absentmindedly.

The two ignored him.

"Well let's hope he doesn't teleport into the house."

The moron blinked again, "Tele-wut?"

Again they ignored him.

"Did you get enough coal to smelt the iron?" the know-it-all asked the brawny male.

Suddenly he chuckled and looked at the purplish-pink haired male with a smirk, "So something did happen while we were gone."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about. Answer my question! We need enough to make iron for armor."

"Armor?"

They kept ignoring the poor moron.

He just smiled, "You're getting bossy and childish."

The smaller one gave him a glare, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're like that when something is on your mind. C'mon don't cover it up, I know you to well."

He stared at him for a moment of how he actually paid attention to him like that and gave him a death glare as he just laughed. Soon he gave in and sighed, "Fine… I just had a nightmare alright? It's nothing… important."

"You're such a horrible liar," Rick commented matter-of-factly as he moved towards a chest.

He was about to mutter a fact when he spoke again with a tint of concern, "What happened in your dream?"

Hesitating he lowered his gaze and couldn't speak for a while. He thought the other two males were going too interrupted rudely but surprisingly they kept quiet and stared at him for his explanation.

After a few more moment he recollected himself and told them his dream.

"Aw, that's sad, mate…" Wheatley muttered with sympathy when he had finished.

Fact glanced up from the covers towards Rick who stood there with a thoughtful expression.

He looked at him and suddenly…smiled, "Hey, it was just a dream right? Nothing to get to upset about"

Craig stared at him, stunned at what he had said.

He cleared his throat, opened the chest, and dumped cobblestone and other materials.

After a small awkward silence Rick tried to make himself clear, "Listen, I had a few dreams, more of day dreams, I guess… about this girl… I guess she was my sister… and a few comrades, I think…" He was painstakingly silent which caused the two to worry but soon he spoke again, "Even those it… uh, surprised me, I got over it. I'm sure you can too."

Suddenly Fact spoke with an odd, smug smile, "Who knew you'd have any friends."

The smile twitched

He chuckled as he said, "Don't make me hurt you."

Craig returned the smug smile.

Again the moron spoke, hoping to be noticed, "So, uh, about these Ender-people…?"

Rick sighed, "What about them four-eyes?"

"Yeah, I didn't get a good look at them last time are they, like, tall and dark colored?"

"…Yeah."

"Do they have purple eyes?"

"Yeah."

"Long arms and legs and all?"

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd have such a good memory."

"It's not a memory, there's one right there." Wheatley pointed towards the middle of the room.

The air in the room grew stiff and hot. Even Fact was too scared to look up from his book or even say anything to clarify a fact.

"Wheats… whatever you do… don't look into its eyes," the green eyed human whispered as he slowly reached for his sword.

"Why mate?" he asked stupidly almost looking at the creature.

"If you do you'll die is that a good answer?"

He gulped and adverted his eyes away.

After a few more moments of silence he noted its footsteps along the cobblestone floor and the sounds it made.

It was right behind him.

With great momentum he whirled around and swung his iron sword at the creature, forcing the thing to cry out and teleport with a dimension sound.

Soon the sound returned and he was attacked from behind. When he turned the Enderman's mouth was wide open as if he was going to eat him in moments. Rick wouldn't let him and sidestepped as he made his move she thrust his blade once more… but he was slow. The dark creature bit his neck, making him scream out in pain and scaring the two humans on the sidelines.

The moron, which made an incredibly stupid move, he grabbed a nearby stone sword and ran towards the beast while Craig shouted at him, "YOU MORON DON'T!"

It was too late he stabbed the Enderman in the back, cutting the struggling man in the process.

Suddenly the Enderman turned into shiny orbs which fell on the ground as they made small bell noises.

Quickly Craig jumped out of his bed and stumbled over to the wounded man.

"Are-are you alright?" he asked though he already knew the answer.

"I-I'm fine. I can't die on you two here," He cracked a smile, "I don't think you two would survive without a strong man like me."

The slender male narrowed his eyes harshly at the other and prodded his head with the book, "Don't get to cocky…"

Rick only chuckled.

"G-guuuuuys!"

The two turned their attention to the moron who was now running amuck with those orbs on his tail.

They blinked obviously curious.

Craig tore away from the chase scene and scanned through the book.

After a couple of seconds he began reading out loud, "'they are called Experience Orbs. Experience Orbs can be collected for, obviously, experience. They only appear after the Player(s) defeat a mob that is aggressive or passive. These orbs can be used to enchant weapons.' And quit breathing down my neck, Rick."

He only smirked and gave a grunt in pain as he tried to stand up, "Wheatley just let him come up to you they don't bite."

"Th-they don't?" He asked while jumping on top of a chest, thinking the orbs couldn't climb.

"Yes," Rick huffed and staggered over to his bed.

Out of the corner of his blazing blue eye he saw the orb float up to him. Before he could even make any movement the orbs finally touched him and suddenly spun around him until they found his head and disappeared into his skin. He glowed for a few moments. As a late reaction he screamed and hurled himself off the chest onto the floor as if trying to knock the orbs out of him.

Craig looked at him with a pitiful expression.

"They won't hurt you, you idiot."

He winced at his words and whimpered to himself, muttering of how hurt his arm was now.

The other exhaled as he trudged over to his bed and nearly collapsed when he noticed the brawny male again.

His magenta eyes were glued on him for a few moments. Soon he traveled over to him until he was in front of him.

"Take your shirt off." He commanded suddenly.

Instantly the room was still… for at least a second when Rick began to smirk.

"Wow I had no idea you felt that way about me."

The other's eye twitched in chagrin, "If you weren't wounded I would've punched you. Take off your shirt so I can clean and bandage your wounds."

The green haired man said nothing but smiled as he did as he was told and placed the bloody shirt beside him while Craig brought out a wrap of bandages which were made from spider's strings.

Craig forcefully grabbed his arm and began wrapping the bandage around his arm.

Everything was quiet.

Finally after bandaging his arm he noticed the man staring at him.

He blinked and glared, "Staring is improper."

Rick cracked a small smile then avoided his glare.

It was silent again while Craig bandaged up his chest, as non-awkwardly as he could.

"… You just remind me of someone."

This caught his attention.

"Do I?" He commented nonchalantly. He blinked again, "You're making fun of me again aren't you?"

"Hm? No. I was serious."

"How surprising… who do I remind you of?"

He hesitated before responding, "… My… sister…"

The two were quiet though they could hear the moron talking to himself in the background.

When Craig was finished the conversation continued, "Do you really think…?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders, "Dunno. Besides, if so… they're… they're long gone now in the incinerator… but I highly doubt it. I think GLaDOS is messing with our heads."

The fact knowing male shuddered at the thought of the metal eating beast. They had only heard rumors about such things in the lab and if some were lucky… outside the lab.

At this point Wheatley was slowly starting to get on Rick's nerves. Finally he spoke towards him, "What are you going on about, you idiot?"

"There're more THINGS outside!" He answered shakily.

"'Things'? You mean… Endermen?"

"Y-yeah… they're carrying blocks around. Aw! They're like little working people! Oh there's another one… Hallo! He's-He's looking at him with his mouth open. Well that's an unusual sight isn't it? I guess he doesn't like being looked at…" After silence broke in he realized his dilemma, "Oops."

"Wheatley. You. Moron." The two said in unison as the Enderman the said moron was staring at teleported into the house with an angry growl which could make anyone's skin crawl.

He came straight for Wheatley.

It was a normal work day. Nothing completely unusual had happened in Aperture so far.

They were just starting on the core stage.

How would they look anyway? He thought to himself.

Suddenly crying concluded his thinking and came back into reality.

He saw a toddler girl with small brunette pigtails was sitting on the sidewalk sobbing.

Without hesitation the man rushed over to the child, "Wh-why are you crying little girl? Are you lost? Are you ok? Did someone hurt you? Did you hit your head?"

She was too busy crying to answer.

The man had no idea how to deal with children so his mind snapped into conclusions, "Y-you're lost yes? S-since there's no other parental figure around here… uuuhh… D-do you know your last name? Maybe-maybe your one of my coworker's children…"

Surprisingly the small girl drew her name in the dirt.

'Chell Williams'

"Williams? I-I know a Williams! Wow I had no idea he had a child. Alright. Come on then. I'll take you home. Chell was it?"

She nodded, frantically grabbing his hand.

He smiled happily, "Alright, off we go! Ah… I think it's, uh… this way."

Reality was brought back to him by hitting the cold floor. He bolted up right in surprise.

How long was he out?

Why did he feel pain in his chest?

He looked down and noticed blood.

A delayed shout escaped from him when he realized he was in pain.

Then his blue eyes shot up to see the two.

They two had a few wounds but otherwise fine.

Rick was holding him down while Craig bandaged him.

"Wha-what happened?! What's going on?!" he tried to free himself from the brute.

"Calm down, four-eyes." Rick spoke fitfully as he forced him not to move, "Take it easy."

"Wh-what happened though…?" He panted, feeling sweat bound down his face.

"When the Enderman attacked you, you fainted so we had to take care of the creature… You need to thank us for helping you defy death a few times now."

"Oh, s-sorry mate, uh… thanks."

"No problem… now… I think it's time to rest and call it a day right? Ok."

The man slowly rose onto his feet and moved over to his bed.

The moron blinked a few times then looked at the other who said nothing to him.

"W-what's going on?"

"I-It's just-…" he paused, "… I don't know if you'd understand."

With that he got up and strolled over to his nightstand to put his glasses down for the night.

Wheatley sat there for a while, pondering.

… The only thing he didn't understand was what played in his mind minutes ago…

O my god! I finally made one! :D I am SOOOO sorry I took so long D': I'm sorry I had to make all of you wait! I had no idea so many people would like this o.o That makes me happy 3 We had to move and loads of crap happened now it's almost Christmas! Again, sorry I took so long I didn't really feel like writing on some days and I have school and some slight issues going on. God knows when I'll upload another one but I'll try my best to get one out after New Years! :'D thank you for reading. Please stay with me!