Chapter 28: Breakaway

Red lunged forward with all her might but came in contact with nothing at all. Red stumbled forwards and almost fell to the ground until something grabbed her from behind to halt her from falling. Herobrine stood behind her, his eyes were blazing wildly as he was fuming in anger and betrayal. "Scarlett…" He growled deeply and turned her around to look at him. Her black eyes momentarily went back to normal but persistently remained completely black. He saw this and suddenly put his hand to her forehead. Red was about to struggle to get away from him but he immediately grabbed onto her with his other hand and kept her in place. The hand that laid on her forehead began glowing white in color that matched the blazing fires that were Herobrine's eyes.

"L-let go of me!" Red hollered and kept struggling to get away but Herobrine wouldn't let her move. A few seconds later Red began to wildly thrash as the glowing got brighter and her black veins began to revert back to normal.

"I'm calming you down! The magic obviously doesn't have you thinking correctly to actually assault me. I won't stand for that." Herobrine kept his hand pressed firmly on her forehead as she kept thrashing like a furious crocodile in his grip. Herobrine frowned deeply and watched as his magic glowed brighter and suddenly Scarlett gasped and froze on to spot. Her eyes flickered again from black to normal before she closed her eyes and finally stopped resisting against him as she just stood there in place.

"What are you doing to her?" Blue questioned with a glare as Herobrine brought her closer to himself to finish what he was doing. Herobrine merely glanced over at Blue and then back at Red whose breathing calmed down and wasn't as battered as before.

"I just said I was calming her down. Then I will deal with you and Steve. You will pay greatly for this deception you have brought into my Red's head. You almost force me to defend myself against the very woman I love, who is also not fit to be fighting in her state. Am I truly the monster? You are the one attempting to break apart a family."

Blue growled and snapped furiously at that, "NO! YOU WERE THE ONE TO BREAK APART A FAMILY! YOU TOOK SCARLETT AWAY FROM ME FIRST! SHE'S MY FAMILY!"

"This is what she wants. She is a grown-woman who can decide for herself what she wants. I would hate to go back on a promise but I don't know if I can go on and not kill you. If you keep persisting to do this to us then I will have to go back on my promise and do you and my little brother off. Then finally Scarlett and I will have some peace from you interlopers." Herobrine replied to Blue and then glanced back at Red as she groaned and began to reopen her normal looking brown eyes.

"You'll never get peace! I will fight to the very end to get my sister back!-" Blue cut herself off when she saw Red blink a few times and look straight into Herobrine's eyes. Her confused daze soon passed as she realized what was going on as Herobrine brought his hand away from Red's forehead as he was finished with the spell to calm her black magic down. Her eyes immediately went to a glare and she tried pulling away from Herobrine much more weakly than before.

"Stop it, Red." Herobrine sternly ordered her but she wouldn't stop wrestling to get away from him.

"NO! Let me go! You're nothing but a damn liar! I-I'm not going to let you kill my child!" Red cried out loudly and began pitifully hitting his chest to be let go. Herobrine hardly flinched at her sorry attempts to hit him and let her go. He growled and grabbed onto her wrists to make her stop beating at him as he looked into her eyes intensely.

"Correction, its OUR child, Red, and I certainly don't plan to let you go! Whatever these fools have told you are the actual lies! I never uttered the words that I would ever harm you or our child in anyway. They only attempt to plant lies into your head to turn you against me. Why would I tell you I love you if I didn't mean it? You would be dead by now if I didn't care about you! I would have never gone to these lengths if I didn't care! I know you love me Scarlett and I know without a doubt that I love you. I've never loved another until you! I could have slaughtered you right now for attempting to kill me but I still didn't lay one ill hand on you! Listen to me!"

"Don't listen to him, Red!" Steve shouted from Blue, "He's only trying to continue to deceive you! Don't let him have that power over you! He will tell you anything to get you to trust him! He doesn't care about you or the child! He only cares about himself and his rule!" Steve yelled and finally but very weakly pulled himself away from Sapphire, even though he was severely hurt from all that he has endured so far. Blue looked at him nervously and was surprised he was still fighting back even though he was in not condition to do so anymore.

Herobrine growled deeply like a predatory animal and held onto Red even tighter as he brought her closer to himself possessively. Red tensed up and tried to tear herself away but he certainly was not letting her go. "Scarlett, I've told you before I would rather lose my changes to rule then lose you! My little brother doesn't know how I feel! He never has, not even when we were children! They all are quick to call me a monster because of what I must do to become the King of Minecraftia. I only say it is mere justice by what I do. I kill because I must. But my rule would never be the way I envision without you Red. I cannot imagine my life without you in it."

"Just more sweet honeyed words that are just to manipulate you! He is a monster because he kills not for justice but because he's thinks himself a god and is nothing but power-hungry! He doesn't love you! He is incapable of love!" Steve yelled back in retort.

"SHUT UP, STEVE! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HOW I FEEL!" Herobrine roared back and was so in the moment, he didn't have time to grab Red back as she broke away from him and ran in the middle of the two opposing parties. "RED! Come back here RIGHT now!" Herobrine demanded as he watched her swiftly dart away from him. Steve extended his hand towards Red for her to take, but she only glared him in response before glancing back over at Herobrine, who was looking far from happy.

"RED!"

"No, Hero! Like you said I can choose what I want! I'm a big girl! I'm tired of people telling me what to do! Let me decide for fucking once and just accept it!" Red hollered back as she stomped her foot in rage. "I don't know who is lying to me and I'm so confused! I want to believe you Hero… I do but what if Steve and Blue are right!? How do I know you are not going to hurt me or abandon me!?"

Herobrine stood there with furrowed brows and the most intimidating serious looks that went right through Red and almost looked to peer into her very soul. "I cannot prove to you that I will not put you in harms way but I can prove it to you through my past actions. I have not once hurt you on purpose nor have I abandoned you, for I would not be here right now if that was the case. I can only hope you believe me that I love you and our child through words alone. I cannot prove it to you in any other way then when I tell you I love you. Those three words do not take for granted or lightly. They are only spoken to you and have meaning for you only. I might have talent in deception but this I promise with my life is not in anyway deceitful." Herobrine said with a softer voice that would take a fool not to see it was from the heart. Red stared at him and began to slightly tremble as her heart felt like it was aching in her very chest.

Steve looked annoyed that he obviously was losing Red's slight trust and Blue could see she needed to step in and help. "Scarlett, he also was the same one to deceive you in the very beginning! He lied to you to bring you here to Minecraftia! He says to look at his past actions and just because he hasn't harmed you yet doesn't mean he won't! He has already lied to you once, why wouldn't he do it again?!" Blue pleaded which earned a confused and extremely conflicted look from Red. She just didn't know what to believe, each side was sounding convincing in their own way.

Herobrine took a step forward and wanted to go over and kill Blue right on the spot. Red noticed him stepping forwards and had to make herself step back towards Blue and Steve from him nearing her. "I never lied to you! The situation was, yes, manipulative in nature but I did not lie to you! I told you who I was and you accepted to follow through. I never once lied!" Herobrine tried defending himself. Red growled and brought her hands to her ears.

"J-Just shut up all of you! I don't know! J-just stop talking!"

"Red, just listen to us…" Blue and Steve spoke up at the same time. Red flashed a glare at them and backed away from them as they took a step near her. Herobrine seeing them advance forwards towards Red, he quickly began rushing forwards to grab Red into his arms. Blue and Steve both gasped and began also chasing forwards after Red, who stood in the very middle. Red had no where to run as Herobrine grabbed onto her one arm and Steve and Blue grabbed onto her other. The two began pulling her arms back and forth like a twisted game of tug-a-war. Red's eyes widen as she stumbled from side to side as each party kept tugging her towards them, each one glaring daggers at each other.

"She's mine! BACK AWAY FROM HER!" Herobrine roared and tugged her roughly towards himself.

"She doesn't belong to you, asshole! She belongs home with me!" Blue retorted back with a vicious yell as she and Steve also tugged her back towards them. Red was at loss for words that she was actually being fought over in a rather childish way. She didn't know whose side to take. She loved Herobrine with all her heart, she couldn't deny that, but she also loved Blue with all her heart in a sisterly way. She wished she could just be with both of them and be safe and happy. Red let them tug her back and forth for a minute or two as they continued to banter back and forth before she finally had enough.

"STOPPP IT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and ripped both of her arms away from Steve, Blue, and Herobrine. Speeding and shoving past Herobrine in a blur, she began running as fast as she could away from the three and across the bridge to the Nether's rough netherrack landscape. Herobrine turned sharply and watched Red sprint away from them as fast as her heeled feet would let her run.

"Scarlett!" Herobrine called out to her and was about to chase after her but Steve ran forwards with all the power he had left and slashed at Herobrine with his daggers while he wasn't paying attention. Herobrine felt a painful rip go through his back and he hollered in pain as Steve was able to get a decent gash across his back. Herobrine quickly summoned out his diamond sword and turned to block another incoming blow from Steve's daggers. "HOW DARE YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, STEVE!" Herobrine boomed like a low rumble of thunder and began fighting back and forth with Steve with very fast combat that was hard to keep up with. Blue watched in horror as the two began fighting with daggers and sword alone, the sparks could be seen flying from each weapon. Blue looked from them and back over to Red to see she already made it down the whole bridge and was now running across the netherrack aimlessly, all to get away from them.

"This is all going horribly…" Blue murmured and looked back in concern to Steve as he was somehow still managing to fight with his older brother. The two twin brothers relentlessly kept loudly attacking and blocking each other's onslaught. Herobrine and Steve both appeared like they weren't going to back down until someone was either dead or close to it. Blue was worried because Steve was in no shape to be fighting anymore. Blue could only watch in dreadful silence and anxiousness as the rival siblings battled it out without mercy to spare.

Red stumbled around the Nether, looking for any sign of a Nether portal that might be out and about. It wasn't until she found a small cave network that just so happened to be one of Herobrine's secret ones that had a portal inside. Rushing through the cave, she frantically looked around and was overjoyed to find the portal in front of her. She took no time hesitating to rush through it and end up on the other side of it. Stepping on the outside, she was now in the Overworld and standing in the middle of a cold snow biome. Red shuddered at the icy wind that blew by and send chills down her spine. She didn't dare go back into the portal though, even if she ended up in the most uncomfortable of places for someone who was only wearing a sleeveless dress. She couldn't go back now, she had to keep moving forwards, just to get away from all of them.

Putting her arms around herself, she began trudging through the heavy chilly snow while shaking as her teeth slightly chattered. She hoped that maybe she could find a way out of this biome, hopefully somewhere much warmer. Red floundered throughout the snow for a while until she came upon a cave in the distance. She took no time to head over to it to see if she could warm up and possibly try to figure out where to go to from where she was at. Rubbing her hands together for heat, she sat down beside some stone rocks that she could tell had coal inside them. "If I had a pickaxe then maybe I could get myself warm with that coal…" Red muttered and made sure to wrap arms around herself as she sat there with a troubled expression as she tried to keep warm.

"I don't know what to do…" Red placed her head down onto her arms that were wrapped around her, her knees up and keeping her arms propped up. "I want to listen to Herobrine but what if Blue and Steve are right about him? He has been somewhat deceitful with me in the past but does that make him that way now? When he tells me he loves me he seems so genuine. It would make sense if Blue and Steve were just trying to fool me though… But what if they're right? Oh God, I can't figure this one out! Its so fucking cold… I just want to hold Herobrine and cry… but he's not here and I don't know if he is for me or against me. So now I'm alone… Except for my baby… You're on my side, right?" Red whispered as she unwrapped her arms and placed one hand onto her tummy. She tried smiling weakly but only ended up breaking up into an outburst of tears.

"I don't know what to do! I'm so confused." Red sobbed into her hands and kept shuttering from the freezing draft of wind that breezed inside the cave from the outside. She sat there and cried until she accidentally fell asleep next to the stone of coal.

It was the next morning when Red woke up but found herself not in the same spot as before. She was now lying on a stone slab in a dimly lit room that was only lit up by the many candles that filled the room. Making a strange expression, Red pulled herself up in a sitting position and looked around. She was in a small dark slightly mossy stone-brick room that was covered with small lit candles. She appeared like she was sitting on some kind of shrine from all the small gifts like flowers, coins, precious stones, and food that were left at the front of it. "What the hell?" Red murmured and stood up from her spot. She glanced back at where she had been lying and shook her head, officially creeped out. 'This looks like some kind of shrine or place they would have some creepy-as-shit ritual.' Red thought to herself and soon began heading out of the room to only step into a much larger temple like room.

"Holy.. shit…" Red uttered in bewilderment as a whole gigantic mass of witches stopped what they were doing to look over at Red as she stepped out of the bizarre shrine room. They didn't all appear to look like the typical witch from Minecraft as they all had different appearances but one could defiantly tell they were witches. Red stood frozen in her spot and made a sheepish wave, "Hi?"

The second she spoke every single witch fell to the ground on their knees as if they were worshipping her. "The Black Queen has awoken! Praise the Black Queen! She is the beginning of our uprising, my brothers and sisters! Her black magic shall enlighten us to forbidden arcane energies past our understanding! Praise the Black Queen!" One of the witches that was knelt down in front of all the others hollered out loudly to the other witches in the temple room. Red stood there with an oddball expression and a raised eyebrow.

"What's going on now?" Red questioned with furrowed brows. The witches in the room began chanting in some different language as the one who had spoken stood up. She was unhealthily pale and had wispy black haired witch with smiling bright green eyes, who was clothed in a long black dress and had the stereotypical black witch hat placed on her head.

"You are the blessed Black Queen! Praise the Minecraftian divinities for your arrival! We thought we would never come to find the one with the black magic of the most revered Black Opal stone. We welcome you to our humble temple, my Queen! As this is now you're new home with us! My name is Maud Sybil and I am the leading witch here at this temple." The witch named Maud exclaimed with obvious excitement as she clasped her hands in front of her and then bowed her head to Little Red in respect.

"Uhh, I don't know about that but uh… how did you find me?" Red asked awkwardly and was kicking herself at the thought of now being kidnapped by a horde of witches that basically considered her their new goddess. Wonderful…

Maud listened very intently and frowned sadly, "A group of my witches found you sleeping in a cave in the winter lands all by yourself. You were practically freezing to death. Sensing your black magic from the stone we brought you back here where you belong."

"Greaat, more people telling me where I belong and what to do. Can't I just be left alone?" Red sighed heavily and thought back on Herobrine with sadness. Her heart felt like it ached for him even though she knew she couldn't be sure of his intentions. It was only a matter of time until Herobrine would find her, anyway, right? Unfortunately, she was still connected to him through this black magic and it the perfect tracking device to always find her. It also apparently was the perfect way to keep getting her into these strange scenarios, like she was in now.

"Of course, not! We will be here to tend and care to your every whim until the ceremony commences!" Maud clapped her hands loudly and seemed very excited by this 'ceremony' she was talking about. Red gave her a questioning look and didn't know if asking about the ceremony was a good idea but did so anyway.

"And this ceremony is…?"

"Oh, you don't know?!" Maud gasped and chuckled like it was the funniest thing she ever heard, "Well! It is when we let your spirit out of your mortal body! Then finally you can break away from such an awful small weak mortal prison and rule over us spiritually as our Black Queen till now and forever! Isn't that exciting!? You'll be free!"

Red's eyes widen at this and she couldn't help but gulp nervously, "Free me from my moral body? Um, really I don't think that is necessary! I kinda like my mortal body, actually!" Red replied sheepishly and backed away slightly from the overly cheerfully grinning witch.

"Oh you're too funny, my dear Queen! I just can't wait to prepare you for the ceremony's ritual! The rest of the witches and I have been waiting for far too long! But now you're here! Happy days, indeed!" Maud giggled airily and kept grinning in a way that was terrifying Red.

"Um, really I'm not kidding! I don't want to be separated from my body!"

"Oh, you crack me up, my Queen! Hear that everyone!? Our Queen is a real funny one! She said she didn't want to be separated from her pitiful fragile mortal body!" Maud said to the other witches nearby, who looked at her and all began cracking up all at once in loud hollers of laughter that echoed off the walls. Red looked at them all in dumbfounded by how they actually found this funny.

'This can't be happening to me!' Red thought in exasperation as the witches were all hollering with cackles and laughter, some were even in tears. Maud smiled warmly and turned back to look at Red. "Now what do you want to do first, my Queen?" Maud asked with her unnerving smile that never seemed to go away.

"Leave?"

Maud burst out in laughter again and put a hand onto Red's shoulder for support as she laughed ridiculously hard. "Hahaha, who knew the Minecraftian divinities could let us have such a hilarious goddess Queen! Oh, the good times we will all share! You're just too funny, ahahaha!"

'Well shit…' Red thought and looked absolutely aggravated by her situation. 'I should have stayed with Herobrine…"