Nether Worry

Part 15

Pairing: Agent Washington/Tucker, Caboose/Church, Grif/Simmons

Description: In which the Reds and Blues come across a lonely Creative Mode dweller, Sarge makes about ten times more Iron Golems than are strictly necessary, and where Tucker learns that Wash is indeed not a replacement for Church and that may or may not be a bad thing after all.

A/N: So I'm thinking this fic'll be done by Chapter 20? Not sure yet: if it takes longer or shorter than that, I don't think I'll mind TOO MUCH? We'll see what happens.

"You're saying... that our ravine- a ravine we've lived near for, like, two years at least- is haunted? By spirits?" Church asked, sounding out his words accordingly.

"Damned blue poltergeists!" Sarge bellowed, snatching the blue ribbon off of the bottle Tucker had, trying to crush the pretty ribbon in his hand. "We cannot let this stand!"

"You really think there's something down there?" North asked, coming to stand at the edge of the ravine with Connie and Maine.

"Besides the Underground Fortress? There's an abandoned mineshaft too, I think." Connie remembered, saying it more to herself than to North.

Before York could crack a joke about the word 'shaft' being in mineshaft, Tex jumped to attention, getting right up in Connie's personal space. "DID YOU JUST SAY UNDERGROUND FORTRESS!?" She shouted, looking both shocked and furious.

"Um... yes?" Connie offered, not knowing how else to respond to the angry blonde presented to her. "I mean, it's been there for awhile... thought everybody knew about it by now."

"THE FORTRESS WAS UNDER US THAT ENTIRE TIME!?" Church boomed, his voice screeching to one of the highest octaves anyone had ever heard. "I DIED LOOKING FOR A FORTRESS THAT WAS LITERALLY THIRTY FEET AWAY FROM THE BASE!?"

"So those were not crickets chirping in the night..." Caboose mumbled to himself, looking concerned with this news. "Just screaming... I thought crickets screamed..."

South gave Caboose an absolutely horrified look. "What kind of fucking crickets have you SEEN, man!?" She asked, baffled.

Before Caboose could explain himself, Washington finally spoke up. "Can everyone just quiet down for a few minutes?" He asked rather politely, making everyone actually stop without any sort of violence starting. "Wow, that actually worked... anyhow, as you've all heard, there is obviously someone down in the ravine. Whether they are injured or not is still up for debate, but either way, we should still send a party down there to investigate. We're not going to form parties of two- according to Doc that didn't work in the Nether- so we'll all just go down together. As anyone can imagine, I, South, North, and Tex will stay here, while everyone else goes. Anyone is free to stay behind, but the more going the better. We can handle the canyon on our own just fine."

This seemed to settle surprisingly well with the Reds, Blues, and Freelancers. "Good to see that everyone's being cooperative. Now, we'll draw straws to see who will go down fir-"

"-LATER, COCKBITES!" South screamed, shoving a crudely drawn picture of a straw into Washington's face, afterwards jumping straight down into the ravine, Tex jumping in after her with a scream of victory and excitement.

"SOUTH!" North ran to the edge of the ravine, staring down after his twin sister. "Oh my God, my sisters gonna die!" He flashed York a worried look, giving him a single nod. "Tell Theta that I love hiiiiiiiiiiiiiim!" He screamed as he dove into the ravine after his twin.

"Well there goes your cooperation, Wash." Connie muttered, rolling her eyes at the twins and Tex. "Have fun watching the canyon while we're gone." Connie then threw down a rope, connecting it to the ravine wall as she safely followed after the other miners.

"... I CUT THESE STRAWS FOR FORTY MINUTES LAST NIGHT, YOU SHITHEADS!" Wash screeched, running to the edge of the ravine to throw the straws over the edge, glaring at the ones who'd already gone in. "I fucking hate everyone in this goddamn canyon."

Ignoring Washington's anger, everyone but Tucker and Junior entered the ravine, with Tucker lingering on the edge beside Wash. "Keep the bed warm for me, 'kay?" Tucker requested, giving Wash a peck on the lips.

Wash chuckled, momentarily forgetting his earlier rage. "Will do, Mister Chosen One." He promised, pulling Tucker into a longer, more intense kiss before pulling away, sharing a long look of worry and excitement with Tucker...

... Until Junior ruined it.

The tiny fucker had been getting faster, and due to his silence, he was rarely heard before someone was tackle-hugged. Unfortunately, he chose a terrible time to tackle Wash from behind. "OH SHIT!" Wash shouted, losing his balance as he tipped forward, sending himself, Tucker, and Junior into the ravine.

Tucker and Wash screamed in terror and horror as they rode the slope down, clutching onto each other for dear life. "Junior, come to Daddy!" Tucker urged, holding out one arm to Junior, who was sliding down a little ahead of them. "We'll protect you, lil' man!"

Junior giggled at this, amused apparently by the utter terror in his parent's eyes, and waved goodbye as he teleported away. "THAT CHEATING LIL' SHIT!" Tucker yelled, before blacking out upon impact to the ground.

"Screeeee..."

"Scree scree scree."

Wash groaned, squinting as he tried to sit up, but he was too tired, and couldn't hardly move as he stared upwards, the opening of the ravine far off and distant. It was just before dusk above ground, and the sunset's orange hues could be seen on the edge of the ravine. Washington again moaned in exhaustion and pain, soon seeing a tall, black being standing just out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head sideways, watching as a grown, tall Endermen scooped Tucker off of Wash's chest, holding him bridal style. Behind the first Endermen was another, holding a docile Junior, who was sucking his thumb with one hand and using his other hand to hold onto the large Endermen's shoulder, eyes big and curious as he watched his parents from afar.

"H-Hey..." Wash wheezed out, trying to reach a hand out to Tucker and the Endermen, his arm shaking violently with the energy needed to keep it in the air. "D-Don't take him... Tucker, w-wake up... you can't take him..." His arm gave out, falling numbly to the ground as his vision speckled with black dots of distortion.

The Endermen stared down at Washington, watching the blond miner curiously. "Not chosen." It gritted out, struggling to form English on it's foreign tongue. It held Tucker out to Wash, if only to indicate what it meant by it's words. "Chosen One." It patted Tucker's back, carrying the unconscious miner away, following the Endermen carrying Junior.

A few seconds passed, with Wash teetering on his consciousness, when a familiar voice tisked sadly at his predicament. "Oh, this won't do at all, will it, David?" The voice asked, a face staring down at Wash from above, but the lighting made it impossible to make out his face. The person though, Wash noted, had two, thick, long braids on either side of his head. "That's too bad that they took Lavernius... but don't you worry, buddy 'ole pal! I'll take care of you."

Wash soon passed out, just as the stranger tossed him into a fireman carry, the younger miner falling into a fitful, but much needed sleep.

"Where in God's name are we?" Tex asked, walking down the abandoned mineshaft with Connie and South right on her tail. Tex carried a torch in one hand, and her favorite iron sword in the other. "I thought that you said that the damn Fortress was down here, CT!"

"It is. We just need to navigate a bit." Connie explained, looking a bit unhappy that she wasn't leading the group of three, seeing as she knew which way they needed to go to begin with, but she made no outward comment on the situation. "Turn left at the next hallway."

"Will you two tit-shits be quiet already! You'll get us all killed if you make too much noise!" South snapped, trying to keep her voice down. Unlike most of the others, she had once specialized in hunter vs hunter type games back home, so she knew better than to make a commotion.

"Sorry." Tex whispered, voice low and softer than any of the girls had ever heard. "Hey, what's that up ahead?" She held out the hand holding the torch more, eyes squinting as she tried to figure out what exactly the short shadow ahead was. "I'll be damned... that you, 'Lina?"

"Tex?" The shadow asked, entering the torch light to reveal herself as Carolina, hands going up to try and lessen the glare of light off of her eyes, that had, a few seconds prior, been more adjusted to the natural tunnel lighting. "Is that you? And here I thought I was the only one lost in this Notch forsaken mineshaft!"

"Oh, thank God it's you and not another Cave Spider..." Connie muttered, a sly smile on her face as she recognized the red-head. "Have you seen the others? After we all got in, everyone just took off. Hell, we haven't even seen Tucker, and he's supposed to be in charge of this mission!"

"I DID kinda fucking rush in like my ass was on fire..." South admitted quietly, blushing as she looked away from Carolina and Tex. "Guess I'm to blame for that shit... but yeah, we haven't seen butt-fuck anyone since we jumped into the ravine. Not even North!"

"Well, sorry to rain on your parade, but I've been alone since York went after North. I haven't seen anyone in awhile." Carolina explained, smiling at the group of girls. "To be honest, I'm glad you guys found me when you did. I was sure I was fucked when I heard you coming down the hallway. Any of you have a Porkchop or anything?"

"Yeah, I've got some meat left over-" Tex muttered, handing over one of her own rations of Steak. "-Eat it fast, kid. We've got some ground to make before anything else tries to fuck us in the ass." She waited until Carolina had started eating to get them moving again, making sure to take Connie's directions from before and turn left as instructed. "At least we're not alone, right?"

"Yeah. At least us ladies'll be sticking together!" South declared, though her voice was terrifyingly low, not to seem threatening, but to keep from attracting any Mobs' attention. "Right, girls?" She swung an arm around Connie's shoulders, doing the same with her other arm around Carolina.

Connie chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Whatever you say, South." She agreed quietly, winking at Carolina as the two continued on with South and Tex, closer and closer towards the Fortress.

"It's game over, man! Game over!" York exaggerated, pretending to faint into North's arms, trying to make North and Maine laugh. "North, tell my dogs... I love them... and tell the Director to suck it..."

Maine growled something that sounded threatening under his breath, while North chuckled in a fatherly manner, rolling his eyes at York's behavior. "You're such a child." He decided, letting York fall to the ground as he released the brunet.

"Buzzkill." York muttered after landing heavily on his back, the back of his chest armor now covered in dirt and gravel. "At least I'm not the one who got us lost as shit!"

"I didn't get us lost!" North argued, defending himself. "You were the one who came charging down the hallway like Herobrine was after you! We had to fight off a wave of Cave-Spiders, and then we got all turned around. This is your fault!"

Maine grunted his own opinion, but none of the other miners understood him and therefore pointedly ignored him. "Hey, that spider thing wasn't my fault! And you were just as scared as me," York shivered, recalling the awful memories. "Dude, I'm getting chills just thinking about 'em... all those creepy legs and poisonous fangs..."

North shivered, obviously uncomfortable with spiders as well. "Shut up, man," He almost begged, jumping as he heard a creaking sound nearby. "AH! What was that!?"

York looked behind the group, everyone else copying him as he did so. "S-Shut up, dude! You're freaking me out here!"

Maine, meanwhile, grinned evilly as he looked ahead, stopping mid-stride at a fork in the hallway system. "OW!" York gasped, he and North crashing into Maine from behind as the giant abruptly stopped. "What the fuck, bro!?"

Ignoring York, Maine dug into his backpack, pulling out a wrapped up package and handing it to York. "Wait... you got us something?" York asked, and Maine nodded, trying not to laugh. "Aw, thanks, man! I always knew you weren't as scary as we all thought!"

York opened the package, then promptly screamed in utter horror. Wrapped up in the package was a dead Cave-Spider, still leaking green venom from it's cold, dead fangs. North screeched as well, both miners taking off down one of the hallways. With them gone, Maine chuckled weakly under his breath, pulling out a few blankets from his pack so that Sigma could float out. Earlier, before they'd all gone into the ravine, Maine had hidden Sigma in his backpack. Even if they had met under odd circumstances, and had been admittedly terrified of each other at first, Maine and Sigma had grown rather fond of each other over time. Besides, Sigma had practically BEGGED Maine to let him come along, eager to investigate the mysteries of the ravine with the Freelancers and Blood Gulch Crew.

"Hello, Maine!" Sigma greeted excitedly, the Blaze floating eagerly around Maine, laughing at the slight of the dead Cave-Spider on the mineshaft floor. "It seems North and York weren't prepared for that little trick, hm?"

Maine shrugged, putting everything but Sigma and the dead Cave-Spider back into his backpack, giving Sigma a small smirk. "Ready so soon? Are you sure you don't need to take a moment to rest?" Sigma inquired, and when Maine shook his head, the self-aware Mob chuckled and nodded his body to Maine. "Then we'd best be off."

Church walked up a stone staircase into the entrance of the Fortress, the first to arrive it appeared. "Hell yeah!" He shouted, practically running up the stairs. "First here! Suck on that, Tex!" He yelled to no one, reveling in his own accomplishment.

Church froze, however, as he reached the top of the staircase, only to see none other than Caboose. The blue miner was sitting patiently on the rim of a long since dried out water fountain, his bright blue eyes surprisingly enough focused on a map in his hands. Church was surprised by the sight, having figured that Caboose would be the last person to think to bring a map along when entering the ravine, yet here he was, seriousness transcribed into his features as he examined the map. Church said nothing at first, still feeling bad after having abandoned Caboose many months earlier. Even though he'd been back for awhile, he and Caboose hadn't hung out one-on-one since before he'd left.

Suddenly, Caboose glanced up, and Church almost jumped. Caboose's eyes were piercing, but not judgmental in any way, as if he were merely studying the undead miner who had so selfishly left him so long ago. Saying nothing, Caboose moved over, patting the water fountain's edge as he ushered for Church to come sit with him. After a moment of hesitation, Church did indeed take a seat beside the younger miner, feeling awkward and strange beside his teammate. He had no justifiable reason for this other than regret, but Church knew that that wasn't the feeling in his chest as he stared at Caboose, feeling... warm, like the sun was shining down onto his bare stomach even though he was underground. It felt good, it felt nice, it felt... it felt like how he'd felt for someone else once.

"A map?" Church asked, after a few more minutes of extended silence. "Didn't think you'd bring one."

"What if we need to dig up? We would need to know what was above us." Caboose explained, showing Church his map. Above where they were, red dots meaning lava were around their cursors. "We will need to be very careful if we have to leave fast."

"Smart fucking thinking." Church commented, smirking at Caboose. "Guess you're not an idiot after all, huh?" Dear Notch, Church wanted nothing more than to slap himself as the words left his mouth.

'Guess you're not an idiot after all'!? The fuck kinda compliment was that!? Church almost groaned aloud at his own foolishness, but stopped himself, glancing instead at Caboose. Caboose had put away the map, and now just blinked at Church with a blank stare, almost appearing confused. Church swallowed, fumbling for some sort of reply, or excuse, or anything really! Anything would be better than that sad stare, that stare that quietly asked 'Why'. The thing was, Church had no idea what the why was for. Why did you say that? Why did you leave me? Why do you think I'm an idiot? Why do you keep failing me? Church sighed, looking away from Caboose, feeling out of place and invisible beside the miner. He almost wanted to be.

"I'm sorry." Church finally mumbled, still not meeting the other miner's eyes. "I just... I'm so sorry, Caboose. I didn't mean it like that."

Caboose blinked again, before smiling, catching Church by surprise as he wrapped an arm around the zombie. "I forgive you, Church!" He promised, before pulling on his backpack, flashing Church a wide grin of excitement. "Come on, let's go look for the others!" He said, grabbing Church's hand as he took off deeper into the Fortress.

Church almost cursed Caboose out as the stronger miner forcefully dragged him along, running impossibly fast, but he didn't. Church let out a sigh, a fatigued yet accepting smile on his face. As long as Caboose forgave him, it'd be fine.

A/N: Another chapter done! Hope y'all like it! That last scene was all for you, RoseAssassin26 (And me and my Churboose trash heart)! In the meantime, the Nether Worry Fanart Contest is still open, so if you wanna go for it, I'll paste the rules below:

1. All entries must be submitted to Tumblr, and placed under the tag #rvb minecraft au

2. Anyone can enter, but must have a Tumblr account in order to fulfill rule number one (I'm now allowing DeviantArt, too! Just PM on Tumblr, AO3, or FFN so I can check it out please!)

3. Please message me on Tumblr or on a site I have this fic on when you post your art, though this is not required of you, it would be greatly appreciated.

4. All participants will have their art placed in the story on AO3 (So long as it's a scene in the actual fic) (Jujukind will be assisting me with it after the fic is finished).

5. You can draw anything, as long as it's from the Minecraft AU and not yaoi. You can draw anything, from an actual scene to a comic, or even just one of the characters in their armor.

6. At the end of the contest, I'll pick out my top five favorites, to which I will write them all RvB fanfiction.

7. Writing is also optional, though it will not be posted in Nether Worry on AO3

8. That's about it. Have fun!

~CabooseHeart.