Contrary to popular belief, I haven't actually died.
"It's been two weeks since we talked to Sparklez. I hope he's okay," Grail said to Ant over her plate of fruit. "I mean," she took a bite of an apple, "he can't be that far away. Right?"
"I don't know. I'm worried too," Ant replied.
"AntVenom! GrailMore! He's here!" a fresh-faced recruit burst into the dining hall, her golden helmet slightly off-kilter. "Sky said to tell you that CaptainSparklez is here!"
"Let's go!" Ant said with the sense of urgency he always had when something involved Sparklez. Grail abandoned her breakfast and stood up.
"Thank you," she said with a warm smile to the recruit, who blushed at the older girl's praise.
"Just following orders," the recruit said, and steadied her helmet self-consciously.
"Let's go!" Ant said again, and this time Grail followed him to the courtyard.
Sparkelz was there talking to Sky, his back to the couple.
"Ant!" he said and turned around to Ant's surprise and joy. AntVenom ran forward and embraced the demigod, happy to see his friend again.
"How did you know I was behind you?" he asked the other man.
"I recognized your aura, you have the brightest aura I've ever seen on a human."
"Oh," Ant said softly, and the two broke apart.
"My turn!" GrailMore exclaimed and she threw her arms and around Sparklez. He stiffened for a second then hugged back.
"So Sparklez tells me he's going to die for the greater good or something like that?" Sky interrupted. Sparklez pulled away from GrailMore.
"Yes, and no. That is the general plan, but if all goes well I also come back to life afterwards. I've done some research on this during my time away and I believe it can work."
"That's wonderful!" Grail grinned. "But I think we would like something a little more comforting than 'I believe it can work'."
"There's no reason for it not to work," Sparklez rephrased his statement.
"Better," Ant said.
"Now Ant, if it's at all possible I'd like to talk to you in private about a few of the details."
"Sure,"Ant said, "We can talk in my room. Is that cool with you guys?"
"Yeah, just leave me out of everything," Sky grumbled which caused Grail to jab him with her elbow. "Ow!"
"I know Sparklez must have his reasons, so let's go do something together instead. We don't hang out much, just the two of us." Grail winked at Ant as she led away the budder king. He gave her a grateful smile.
Up in Ant's room, Sparklez dropped his cheerful demeanor and Ant immediately noticed that he looked exhausted. That was a definite sign that something was wrong, Sparklez needed a lot less sleep than a normal human and but even then he was rarely tired.
"What's wrong?" Ant asked sharply, fearing the worst.
"Despite what I told GrailMore, I believe the odds are really against me. It is very likely that, once killed, I will not return. The Aether is a place I have only heard stories about, and I have no way of knowing if Herobrine told me the truth about it."
"What are your odds?" Ant asked softly.
"Lower than half that I'll come back. I don't want you to tell GrailMore that, I fear she'd be crushed."
"Yeah," Ant said with a sigh, "I won't tell her if that's truly what you wish."
"But still, whether or not I come back does not matter as much as killing Herobrine. If given more time, I am sure he could escape and find a way to enslave Minecraftia. It's getting harder to keep him under control."
"You mean, he can take over when he wants to?" Ant said fearfully, remembering what had happened last time he had seen CaptainSparklez with Herobrine's glowing eyes.
"No, I'm currently stopping him. But soon I won't be able to. I need to be killed soon. Does tomorrow work for you?"
"You…you're kidding right?"
"No, I am completely serious. You will be killing the most evil and dangerous being ever to exist, I think time is relevant. Please, AntVenom, if nothing else do it because it is my final wish."
"Sparklez…Fine, but promise me you will come back."
"You have my word. Now, as much as I wish to talk more, there is someone else I have to see before doing anything else."
"Dawn, don't close the door! Please, hear me out!" Sparklez begged, his voice held none of his former pride.
It was like Dawnables was looking a completely different man than the one she had dated, but it was't like she hadn't changed either. Dawn had let her hair grow out and the pink and purple shades had mixed together as her hair got longer. It was like symbolism for how messy her life got as time went on. Dawn had almost ignored Sparklez's pleas, she had a different boyfriend now, no need to bother with the old. But AntVenom had asked her to and she couldn't be a bad friend to him after he had only been good to her.
"I hope this is important," Dawn said, her tone brisk, trying to hide her other emotions."What do you want?"
As way of explanation, CaptainSparklez took off his shades and Dawn gasped. His blue eyes that she had once loved so much were dull and dead-looking and every once in a while it looked they glowed faintly with a pale light.
"Oh my Notch are you sick?"
"Yes, dying actually." Sparklez said with a sigh. "May I come inside?"
Dawn opened the door for the Nether Prince and she moved out of the way.
"Would like some food or water? I made some cookies yesterday."
"That sounds wonderful, I would love some, if it's not too much trouble."
The two walked to Dawn's kitchen where Dawn gave him a plate of cookies.
"Thank you."
"Can you please tell me what's going on?"
"I know we didn't part on the best of terms, especially after what happened with Sky and I would like to apologize about that. I also can't tell you too much, but the important thing is that I'm doing this to rid of Herobrine-"
"I thought Ant had killed him."
"He did, but it was't permanent."
"You mean," Dawn's blue and green eyes were wide with fear, "Herobrine could come back?"
"Yes, but that's not going to happen. Dawnables, I am going to die tomorrow and doing so will rid Minecraftia of Herobrine forever. That is what I came here to tell you."
"Sparklez…I…I thought you were kidding earlier."
"I wasn't. My body is dying anyway, so it does't really matter to me when I die except that my death will destroy Herobrine." Sparklez ate one of the cookies. "This is delicious by the way."
"It's Bajan's recipe," Dawn said haltingly, and it was then that Sparklez noticed that tears were running down her face. He swallowed uncomfortably.
"Maybe I should go-"
"No! Don't leave," Dawn pleaded. "Surely you don't have to die, there has to be another way. Right?"
"I'm afraid not," Sparklez said gravely.
"Then, can you stay to talk for a bit? For a few hours?"
"Of course. Ant doesn't need me until dinner."
"GrailMore, I have something to tell you," AntVenom said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.
"From your tone I have a feeling I'm not going to like it," Grail murmured from her spot in Ant's arms. Ant sat up a bit on their mattress, and took his arms away from Grail. She sat up as well and looked at him attentively.
"When I was away, helping Sparklez, something happened between us. Sparklez started acting very strange and implied that he was in love with me. It was when he was possessed by Herobrine."
"Is that all? That's not so bad, I'm sure Herobrine just wanted to make you feel uncomfortable."
"No, that's not all. He also kissed me."
"Oh." Instead of being angry, Grail just looked sad.
"I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner and I would completely understand if you want to break up with me over it." Ant said, his voice cracking.
Grail pulled Ant into a tight hug.
"Of course I'm not going to break up with you, I love you too much to do that. And it doesn't sound like it was even consensual, was it?"
"No! It was terrible, and I felt so guilty about it. I felt physically sick at the time, I even passed out afterwards."
"Well, you're with me now, and Herobrine is going to be dead soon so you'll never have to go through something like that again. I forgive you, Ant. You don't need to worry about it anymore."
"Thank you, GrailMore. I don't deserve someone as kind as you as my girlfriend."
Grail giggled, "And I don't deserve someone as brave as you as my boyfriend, so we're equal."
"I was talking to Sparklez earlier and he said he wanted to get it over with tomorrow."
"Oh my Notch, that's so soon!"
"I know, but I think we should honor his wishes."
"If you say so…"
"And one other thing, I have a surprise for you when I get back tomorrow."
"Come on Ant, you know I don't like surprises."
"You'll like this one, trust me."
"You know I do," Grail said with a smile. She leaned forward and kissed Ant on the nose.
"Thank you for telling me about earlier, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry you had to go through something horrible like that."
"Sparklez will have to go through something worse tomorrow,"Ant said darkly, his mind stuck on the fact that he might soon lose his best friend forever.
So the next chapter is like the final real one then I think I might write an epilogue or something. Also this chapter is a lot longer than usual so thanks for waiting.