Day 7
Time: 2:45 p.m.
Location: Jerry's Tree
Jason landed on the main floor. The jet pack on his back whirred as it shut down. He took a cautious step forward, calling out for Jordan. Or anyone. He needed to tell him something urgent. There wasn't a response.
He ran around, but the only living things that met him were a bat and a cat. He stared at them for a good full minute, then turned around to go to the other side of the tree. Jordan must be somewh-
"Oh, it looks like Jordan has a visitor," a voice said from behind him. "Too bad he isn't here. How about we wait for him together?"
Jason whipped around, freezing on the spot when he was met with two white orbs. His own eyes, which were a light grey, widened behind his space helmet. Herobrine was leaning against the bark of the tree, almost casually. The demon grinned evilly at the spaceman. "While we wait, I do need to ask you something. Something very... important."
Unbeknownst to Jason, the demon had slipped a dagger out. The familiar, blood-splattered blade had already been dipped into lava, making it shine an iridescent silver-gold.
Originally, this blade was going to be a gift to Jordan when he welcomed the fact that he was what he was. But when he showed no signs of accepting it, Herobrine had kept it for himself. Now, it played a crucial part in his scheme.
The blade was enchanted, so that no matter what, the blood of its enemies will stain onto the metal. Herobrine had grown used to pouring lava over it so that the blade would be clean and ready for use. A slow smile crawled over his face as he spoke again. "Do you know that you are special, Jason?"
"How do you know my name?"
Herobrine shrugged, leaving the spaceman to sort through his thoughts. The demon pushed off the wall and stalked over to the railing, quiet as a cat. Devious as one, too. He was leaving Jason in suspense, and it seemed to be working by the way the spaceman was gradually letting his guard down. The demon looked over the massacre that was sprawled out across the ground. His son had been doing some dirty work, had he?
Good. That's how he should have grown up.
"Yes, you are special. You know what air is, right? The element." He could sense Jason nod behind him. "Well, I need a bit more intel on that particular element. And you, Jason. Are the only person that I could get it from."
NOW Jason knew he was in trouble. Taking a few hasty steps back, he tried to evade the swift punch thrown his way. He barely dodged it. The spaceman kicked his jet pack into gear, jumping over the railing of the tree. Suddenly, a rope of water tied around his ankles. Gritting his teeth, he swung up to try to get it off. Suddenly, warning signals flashed before his eyes. Lights blinked on inside his helmet. Words scrawled across the screen on the far right corner of the helmet's mask.
Warning: Overheating in process. Overheating in process. Suit shutting down. Running system check. Temp.- 98 Fuel-87% Jet power-13%
Shit. He squirmed, suddenly realizing how far away the ground was. If his jet pack failed, it would mean death. Suddenly, fire enveloped his body, the suit protecting him from being burned.. There was the overheating failure. But why was his jet power so low? He craned his neck, trying to kick away the rope of solid water that was wrapped around his legs.
Herobrine smirked down at the mortal, twitching his fingers towads him. Suddenly, Jason was jerked back into the main floor. The spaceman, now released from the two elements, scrambled backwards to get away from Herobrine. In a flash, Jason was grabbed by the throat and pressed against the wall, knife at the back of his neck. Normally, he felt his suit would protect him against any blade, but with the frantic messages scrawling across the screen in front of his eyes, he wasn't so sure anymore.
Herobrine smirked, placing the edge of the dagger right where Jason's neck met his shoulder. The chink in the armor. Slowly, he slid the blade across the suit, not drawing blood, but easily cutting the spacesuit.
Error. Error. Error. Error.
Jason gulped and tried to squirm away, but the knife returned to his now-unprotected throat.
"You will tell me what I want now," the demon growled out, making a clean slash. Jason's right sleeve started slipping off. "Or you will meet the same fate as Quentin.
"Husky?!"
The demon shut him up by placing the point of the white-hot blade to his shoulder. "What is the secret to the air element?"
Jason grunted, pain spiking from where the knife touched his skin. He grit his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Lies," the demon hissed. Fire snaked over to Jason's neck, settling just above his skin. From an inch away, the spaceman could already tell what would happen if that fire touched him.
Jason shivered. Fire had always terrified him ever since his home had been burned down. The fear was rooted deep, making him shake in his boots. He cracked open his eyes, holding very, very still. His heart pounded and he didn't know if he was more terrified of the demon or the ring of fire.
"I am waiting..."
Jason swallowed, sending a brief prayer to Notch that his friends would forgive him. He didn't know what Herobrine wanted with the knowledge of the air element, but it couldn't have been good.
"Air... It's energetic and hard to tame. But if you're patient enough..."
Husky - Flashback
"Mam, why can't I go swimmin'?"
A young blue mudkip held his mother's hand as he asked the question he did every time they got near a body of water. The female amphibian sighed and shook her head. "Quentin, I've told you before already," she said the same thing she always did. "I want to protect you, if other people found out you were special, I'd have to leave you."
The smaller mudkip nodded, sadly looking out to the crystalline lake that sat so peacefully right in front of them. He glanced around, then back up to his mom. "What about dis one time? Nobody's around besides me and yous."
The toddler then have her a puppy-eyed gaze, sticking out his bottom lip pitifully. "Pwease?" he begged.
She sighed again, trying to resist the look her child was giving to her. Don't look, don't look, don't look, don't...
"Oh, alright. Fine, go ahead."
"Yay! Thanks Mam!" Husky cheered, skipping happily over to the edge of the water. He spread his arms out, and a giant wave came and swept him into the lake. The mother sat down near the shore, content to watch her child play. She sighed happily as Quentin made the water sweep him into the air, then he would splash down from ten feet above the water line. He performed numerous tricks, ranging from spins to flips to dives. Her child had always been good at controlling the water.
Suddenly there was a shout from behind her. She turned to find her ex-husband angrily making his way towards her, eyes never leaving Husky. A group of people were following him. The mother turned on her heel and shouted. "Quentin! Run!"
The young toddler stopped and stared, standing on top of a shaky pillar made of water. He dropped back into the lake and swam to the opposite shore. Quentin pushed all thoughts of his mother out of his head. This is what she had taught him; when she said run, he runs. Don't look back. It wouldn't help him.
He made a wave to push him to shore faster. As soon as the soles of his bare feet hit the ground, he ran. He didn't ever look back.
Location: The Nether
Husky limped through the maze of corridors, leaning heavily on a wall. He was exhausted, injured, starving, and dying of thirst. Things didn't look very good for him. He stumbled, falling to the ground. The amphibian let out a shaky sigh as his eyes closed. He was useless.
He ran when he should have stayed next to his mother, and he can't even get out of a Nether fortress. Sure, it was a maze, but she should be able to at least WALK.
Suddenly, a voice spoke. Husky flinched away, waiting for the pain that the voice usually brought. But it sounded concerned, for once. What? Why would Herobrine be concerned over him?...
"Husky? Ryan, get the water bottle." He felt someone kneel beside him, and when a hand touched his scarred shoulder, he hissed and rolled onto his bank.
"Oh god... No, not this. Not this!" Fingers lightly traced his scar, making him grunt and try to push the hand away. Thankfully, they left. The rim of a bottle pressed to his lips, and water trickles into his mouth. For a moment, he forgot about the pain and sat up, greedily taking the water bottle and downing it.
When he looked at his savior, relief flooded through him. It wasn't the demon, it was Jordan. "S-Sp-"
"When did you get this?" Jordan interrupted him by lightly touching his shoulder again. Husky flinched away, shaking his head. "He-Hero..."
That was all Jordan needed to hear. He growled and stood up, glancing at the others that came with him. "Nick, Ryan, you need to bring him back to the Overworld. Make sure you get him water. I'm going to find Herobrine."
"But-" Thunder roared, making them jump and glance at the ceiling. "No buts, just help Quentin."
They sighed and nodded, helping the amphibian onto his feet so they could support him. Husky looked at Jordan, really looked at him. Then the resemblance struck. "You- you're..."
Jordan nodded, and that was all Husky needed. What he didn't need was for Jordan to take off his shades, showing a flash of white eyes before the mudkip passed out.
Jerome - Flashback
A young baca, alone and lost, sat in front of a sapling. He sniffed, staring at the sapling with sad eyes as he hugged his knees. Where had his family gone? One minute they were there, then they weren't.
A splash sounded from the small pond that was a few meters away. Lifting his head, the baca looked over to find a frog. Hunger entered his mind and, against his usual vegetarian diet, he leaped at the amphibian. The frog screamed and stumbled back towards the pond. "Not cool, man! Stop!"
The furry one stopped, as he was told. He blinked at the amphibian, dark brown eyes curious. "You... You talk?"
The frog sniffed, brushing dirt off the white tuxedo that was twice his size. "Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?" he snapped, but he couldn't hide the fact that his eyes were watering. The baca tilted his head to the side. "Hey, are you okay?"
The frog stuttered something, s shaking hi head. His black eyes flicked up to meet the baca. "No... I just don't want to be eaten."
To the frog's surprise, the brown one laughed. Glancing up, eyes wide in slight confusion, the frog jumped. "D-don't laugh! It's not funny!"
"I-I'm sorry. Hey, I wasn't really going to eat you. I just, um, wanted to give you a scare."
The green one snorted and rolled his drying eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, right. You so wanted to eat my legs. I bet you had a cooking pot set up back at home."
The baca looked down, shoulders slumping. "Well, I don't really have a home..."
The frog blinked at him. "No way, I don't either! We can be homeless buddies!"
The baca grinned at the frog, hope swelling like a giant wave inside him. "Really?"
The frog nodded and gestured towards the small pond. A lily pad floated in the center. "See that large leaf in the middle? I live under that!"
The baca frowned slightly. "Oh, uh."
"Wait, wait, wait! This is the best part!" The frog jumped into the pond, swimming under the lily pad. He surfaced slightly, with the foliage sitting on his head. He stayed like that for a few minutes, swimming around until he surfaced. "Incognito mode activated!"
The baca smiled and looked over at the sapling. "Well, I can do this!"
He lifted a furry paw, and the sapling sprouted into a tree. The frog's eyes widened and he jumped out of the pond. "Whoa! Can you make it any bigger?"
The baca furrowed his brow and clenched his hand into a fist. The tree started growing, slowly at first, then picking up a more frantic growth rate. Branches spilled out from the trunk, leaves unfurling and turning towards the sun. When the tree had fully grown into the size of a jungle tree, the baca stopped and grinned proudly at his work. "Ta-da!"
The frog clapped, jumping up and down. "That was so awesome! You should do that again and again and again!" He stopped and looked at the baca. "So what's your name? I mean, my new buddy has to have a name."
"I'm Jerome."
"I'm Kermit, buddy!"
Buddy... He liked the sound of that.
Location: The Nether
Jerome grunted slightly, sprawled out on the floor, unconscious. He was in a cell, with a nether brick floor, walls, and ceiling.
Outside his cell, Jason was pushed into his own. The spaceman was calling for the baca, but he went without a response. Finally, Jason gave up and got lost in his memories as Herovrine left them in the hot, dry prison. Husky was nowhere to be seen.
Jason - Flashback
A young boy, just above toddler age, stood next to a smoldering house. Another boy stood next to him. Each were covered in soot, each bawling their eyes out. Their throats burned from smoke and their clothes were singed.
One turned to the other, light brown hair matted with ash and soot. "Come on, Jason... Let's go."
The other, dark brown hair the same as his, shook his head frantically. "No, I need... I need to get something." Without another word, he jumped, landing on top of the smoldering roof. After a short moment of searching, he found a hole in the roof. With the stupidity a seven year old should have, he jumped down it.
"Jason!"
The other one ran towards the house, pounding on the door, only to take his ands away when the wood nearly burnt him. "Jason!"
Jason searched through the rubble of the inside. Finally, after moving away a piece of wood that looked like it used to be part of a table, he saw it. The helmet. The orange visor was smeared with grime, and the blue cloth was smoldering. Quickly, the seven-year-old patted the helmet, getting rid of the sizzle that was coming from it.
He took it up in his arms, standing up and glancing around at the smoke-filled house. The smoke barely bothered him now. Tendrils of cool, clean air swept around Jason, warding of the noxious fumes.
The other boy was still standing outside, but he wasn't pounding on the door anymore. Instead, he was standing a meter away with his arms outstretched. Small swirls of purple and silver were coming off of his hands, traveling through the air and towards the door. The child trembled, willing the swirls further. When they touched the door, it shook. The kid's lips thinned, and then the door was blown off its hinges by the swirls. Finally, he collapsed, gasping on the floor. After a minute, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, hoping for an adult. What he got scared him to death. Crying out in fear, he scrambled away. Soft white eyes stared at him, then glanced towards the door as Jason came running out of the house.
Quickly, the new kid snapped his hand up to put on some strange-looking red shades. He stared at him, terrified. Jason walked over to his friend, offering a hand to help him up. The helmet was cradled in his other arm.
When he was standing, he quickly grabbed Jason and turned on his heel. "Come in, Jason! Get away from it!"
"Wh-what?" Jason yelled, having no choice but to stumble after his friend. When he looked back, the boy was still standing there, like a statue. The way he seemed to stare at them made him shiver. Suddenly, he dug his heels into the ground, pulling the other to a stop. "But wait! We forgot Jeffery!"
"Who?"
"My pig!"
"Oh, come on, Jason! If we go back, that thing'll kill us!"
"But its just another kid, maybe he was from our village."
The other shook his head, eyes never leaving the kid and the house. "No, it had eyes like what set our village on fire. White eyes. Demon eyes."
Jason shook his head stubbornly and turned back to the house, stalking towards the boy. "Hey, kid!"
The boy looked up over the rim of his shades, baby blue eyes wide. "Yes?" He asked quietly, as if Jason was going to hit him or something. "What do you want?"
"Are you from our village?" His friend asked suspiciously, coming back up to them. The boy paused, then shook his head, almost sadly. "No. I am, uh, I am running from someone."
Jason smiled slightly and held out a hand that wasn't holding his helmet. "Then we haven't met! My name's Jason, and this is Seto!"
The boy stared at his hand, then tentatively tapped it with his fingers. He smiled at the two, Jason and Seto, and held out his own hand. Jason grinned slightly, and tapped it like the boy had his. "I am -," the boy said.
"Hey, -! Well, we were about to leave here for... obvious reasons. You can join us."
The boy blinked ad glanced over his shoulder. Suddenly noticing the feeling of eyes watching him. His father must have found him! The young boy panicked, quickly shaking his head and stepping away from the two Overworld boys. "N-no, I think I know where I am. I- I will see you again someday, but I must leave now! Farewell!"
With that, the runaway turned on his heel and ran the opposite direction. Seto narrowed his eyes; he knew that the new boy was suspicious, but this only spiked his paranoia. He didn't know why the boy's eyes were blue now when they had been white a few minutes ago and he didn't want to know.
He turned around and started walking. "Let's go, Jason. Grab Jeffery and then catch up to me."
The seven-year-old nodded, still staring after the boy. He sighed and plopped the helmet into his head, then ran over to the half-burnt pen that his per pig was sitting in. Jeffery blinked and looked at him, still wearing that ever-blank expression. When he saw his owner, he stood and trotted over to Jason. Snuffling, the pig pushed his head into Jason's hand. The boy smiled and lead the pig out of the pin. "Let's go, Jeffery. There's nothing left for us here."
Location: The Nether
Jason sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. His shoulder still burned with pain, but he refused to look at the feather-shaped scar. With Herobrine asking about the air element, he couldn't help but go back and think about that one day the he and Seto had left their village after the demon had destroyed it for unknown reasons. He remembered how the boy had run after they had met. He and Seto had never found him, and the memory was blurry when he thought back. All he could remember was how the baby blue eyes looked slightly off, as if they didn't belong to the boy. That was the only detail he could remember.
And then there was Seto, who he hadn't seen for a while until the fiasco with Sky came up, and then he had...
He sighed looked to his right, where a barred window was sitting. The spaceman stared out into the hell, then sighed and closed his eyes. Jerome was in the cell next to him, but the baca hadn't responded to anything Jason had called. The wall between them hid each other from sight, so Jason had assumed that the fluffy was unconscious. He wondered why he was here.
The demon had already carved a feather on his shoulder an made him give away vital information on his element, so why keep him locked up in here?
Location: Alter
Herobrine punched the totem in the middle of the room, scowling. Fire crackled behind him, and the newly mastered wind swirled around the flames, making them grow larger than normal. The only element the demon had yet to conquer was Ecnorite, but there weren't any more wizards in the world that had mastered the element. There had been one, but then it had just gone and thrown himself onto a sword. Perfect.
Herobrine growled in frustration, shaking his head and pacing. He glanced towards the totem pole, which was made of five different colored blocks stacked on top of each other. The bottom was a orange-red, then the next was a light blue, then vibrant green with specks of brown. The next was white with light grey swirls wrapped around it. The top one, a silvery purple, was the last element that Herobrine needed. If only there was someone who could supply it to him.
There was a reason behind the scars he carefully tattooed into the Overworlder's shoulders. They were special, made to drain energy from the person's element. The energy would travel to the totem, allowing Herobrine to conquer the element. As soon as Ecnorite was mastered, the Overworld was doomed. But there wasn't anybody who could supply the energy or the information to the specific element, so he was at a dead end.
Footsteps tapped against the ground. Herobrine looked up as someone came rushing into the room. The demon smiled slightly, nodding to the person. "To tell you the truth, I didn't think you would actually manage to do what I asked."
The person nodded breathlessly, leaning on his knees. "I-I managed to do what you asked, and more."
The demon's eyes narrowed and he gestured for the person to continue. He did, without much hesitation. "There's a spirit, one that knows the fifth. He- he came here with your son. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw him soon."
The demon grinned wickedly and stalked over to one side of the room, where a shelf of book cases lined the wall. He plucked one black and silver book out from the others and flipped through the pages. His eyes scanned the page for a moment, then he tossed it over to the person. "Here, take this to Jordan and the ghost, make sure they still think you're him."
He nodded, flashing sharp fangs when he smiled. Dark, grey-blue eyes narrowed, pupil widening in the dim light, which covered most of the eye. "Will do, sir," the animal said, giving an exaggerated salute before turning on his heel. Slowly, he could feel a tentacle rip through the skin on his back, which quickly joined the one already there. The monster grinned again. He wasn't as dead as they had thought.
I would like to thank Guest 1, Guest 2 and Guest 3 for the suggestions of Jason being the air elemental person. And some of you wanted Sky to be it, but I already have a plan for him. So, yeah. Looks like Sky's animal isn't really gone, is he? When Jordan was ratted out on, I asked for who you guys thought it was. All of you got it wrong. :}
So I hoped you enjoyed this chapter of Insomnia, it took me a while to write it. It's over 4,000 words, by the way. So leave a review, it helps me know what I'm doing wrong or right! Goodbye, my peopleses!