I lied about it coming out in August.

Dawnables huffed out a breath, annoyed that her potion mixing had gone wrong yet again. She had picked up the hobby recently, figuring some time alone might be a good thing every once in a while. But potions were often difficult to create, and even the beginner level ones required some level of skill. Dawn was currently struggling with a fire resistance potion, one that might have been to advanced for her. She cleared away the remnants of the failed potion and decided to create on a simpler one.

Dawn took a water bottle from her worktable and sniffed it carefully to check if it was a mundane or awkward potion. It's lack of a scent informed her that it was indeed a water bottle, the right base for her potion. Dawn opened the drawer where she kept some of her reagents and picked out a dried spider eye. While potions were stronger with a fresh one, spider eyes were disgusting to collect and Dawn preferred to buy them dried at the market. She carefully placed the spider eye into the water bottle and put the lid on. The potion started to fizz and bubble.

After a few moments, the bubbles settled down to reveal an dark green weakness potion.

"Success!" Dawn smiled at the potion, her distorted reflection on the glass bottle grinning back at her. She checked the clock on her desk and sighed. According to the sun on the face of the clock, Sparklez and Ant had only been gone for barely an hour. Nothing to worry about. Ant was a strong man, he could easily defeat an unarmed Sparklez. Or could he? Sky had certainly struggled on the night Sparklez had gone mad. But that was different. Sparklez was different. Dawn felt certain he would't fight back this time. The self-loathing had been obvious in his exhausted face, and no matter how much Sparklez had tried to convince Dawn that it was for the good of all Minecraftia, she knew better. Sparklez had wanted to die.

Dawn blew at the hair that was suddenly in her face. Some of the pink strands had freed themselves from her braid and now hung in front of her eyes. Her boyfriend kept telling her she would look better if she cut it, but Dawn didn't want to. Too many bad memories were associated with the shorter hair and she was trying to start fresh.

She checked the clock again, but once again it seemed like time was at a standstill. If only a speed potion could speed up time as well as people.

— — —

— — — —

SkyDoesMinecraft switched his sword to his left hand, his right hand having tired of the constant practice. He was in the castle courtyard practicing his swordsmanship while he waited for his brother to come back. Sky's swordsmanship had never been as good as Ant's, but he knew a few tricks his older brother did not. And recently he been teaching himself how to fight with his left hand. After a lot of practice he could tell it was slowly becoming as strong as his right. Sky hoped to impress Ant when he got back. It had only been a few hours since Ant had left, and Sky was sure he would return soon.

Ant had always been an amazing older brother. He was strong and kind and an excellent fighter. He was smart and funny and great at parkour. Ant had been a steady part of Sky's life, even when it had all crashed around him. Which had happened a few times. Dawn's breakup had't been the first terrible thing to happen to the young Budder King. He had endured many hardships and Ant had always been there to help him out. But this time, when Sky could have been there for Ant, he hadn't been allowed to. It was a private matter, something between Ant and Sparklez, apparently. Sky just wanted to be there for his brother, wanted to help him in his time of need.

"What's so special about Sparkelz anyways?" Sky muttered. "It's like you have a crush on him, you talk about him so much." Sky knew it was just his jealousy speaking, Ant only had eyes for one girl. It was obvious to anyone who was in the same room as the two lovebirds. He couldn't even hate Sparklez for stealing away Ant, it wasn't the Nether Prince's fault the world didn't want to work out in his favor, Sky understood that now.

The practice dummy that Sky was sparing with was just about falling apart, so he moved on to a fresh one. As Budder King, Sky didn't have as much time to himself as he liked. He valued his free time, and while practicing swordsmanship wasn't very interesting, it was an important skill that any Budder recruit learned quickly after joining the Sky Army.

"Sir! Sir!" A recruit called out the her king, "There's a dispute going on in the kitchens, they want you to solve it." The recruit was out of breath, "Sorry for the disturbance, sir."

"It's quite alright," Sky smiled at the girl to reassure her. He sheathed his sword and followed the recruit out of the courtyard, back to the duties of a king.

GrailMore was not used to waiting. Perhaps she should have been after the past year's events with Ant traveling so much, but she was't. Patience had always been one of Ant's qualities that Grail admired, mostly because she didn't have it.

When Grail and Ant had first met, that was when she had been shown the true meaning of patience. It had been a few years ago, Grail had been taking a walk near the entrance of a popular mining cave when night it had started raining. She had taken shelter in the cave and had been fletching some arrow shafts because she had been running low. That was when she had heard a scream.

—

Grail looked up from her work, fully alert after the noise she had heard.

"Someone's in trouble," she said and shoved her arrows in her quiver. Grail started running down the path in the well lit cave.

"Help! Somebody, help me!" It was a young man's voice, Grail noted as she switched directions, going towards the screams. A few minutes later she saw the torches end, and a the edge of their light there was a man in leather armor cowering behind a boulder.

"Are you alright?" Grail whispered and strung her bow, prepared for any signs of trouble. The man jumped at her voice.

"No, it got me," he gestured at an arrow embedded in his lower leg. Grail's eye's widened at the wound, the man would be unable to run.

"Stay here and don't try to remove the arrow, I'll be right back." Grail heard the rattle of a skeleton behind the boulder. If the two humans lingered behind their shelter, it would be on them soon. Making a split-second decision, Grail ran to a nearby rock and attracted the skeleton's attention.

She nocked an arrow and quickly sent it off towards the skeleton, ducking behind the rock to avoid the return arrow. A clatter of bones informed her that she had hit the monster.

Grail nocked another arrow, heart racing. This time it would be harder, the skeleton would be ready for her. She visualized where the skeleton would be, pictured herself shooting it in the ribcage. She was ready now.

Grail raised her bow and smoothly shot a second arrow directly into the skeleton's chest. It shattered into a pile of bones, it's bow and quiver dropping with it. Grail quickly put down a torch to ward away any other monsters and turned to the man she had saved.

"That was amazing!" he said, awe written all over his handsome face. Grail blushed slightly,

"It wasn't anything too special." (low key tho he needs a reason to be in the mine)

"Maybe not, but you saved my life!"

"I'm sure you could have figured something out." Grail bent to examine the man's injury more closely. "You're going to need help walking back. I didn't bring any healing potions with me." The man's face fell.

"Do you have any food with you?" he asked. Grail nodded and absentmindedly pulled out a loaf of bread from her bag and gave it to the man. She took hold of his leg with feather soft fingers and turned it over, the man hissed in pain.

"Sorry, is it okay if I patch you up? I should have asked before…" Grail normally wasn't so forward, but for some reason she felt comfortable around this stranger she had just met.

"Of course, I'm hopeless with that sort of stuff. My name's AntVenom, by the way."

"GrailMore." Grail said. "Nice to meet you."

"Pleasure," AntVenom said with a slow smile. He turned his dark eyes to meet Grail's lighter ones. "You mind if I call you Grail?"

"Only if I can call you Ant." Grail turned back to Ant's injury to hide her blush. This man was…something else. GrailMore breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw that the arrow had gone entirely through Ant's calf.

"Grail? Is there good news?" Ant asked nervously.

"Well, yes. This type of wound is something I can patch up. But it's going to hurt a lot."

"Better get it over with," Ant mumbled and pointedly looked away from his injury. Grail carefully snapped the arrowhead off of it's shaft, causing Ant to grit his teeth.

"Sorry," she whispered, not taking her eyes off her work. GrailMore put one hand on Ant's hurt leg and with the other she grabbed the feathered end of the arrow. "Brace yourself," was all she said before pulling the arrow out.

'Ahh!"

"Sorry, sorry." Grail quickly cleaned the wound with some water and wrapped a fresh white cloth around the injury. It stained the cloth red with blood, but Grail knew it would stop bleeding after soon enough. "It's done," she said and finally looked up to see AntVenom staring at her, face damp with sweat.

"Thank you," he said softly, sincerely.

"You're welcome, although next time I would advise you to not wander around in caves unarmed."

"Well, I'm usually really good at fighting," Ant laughed awkwardly. Grail raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sure you are."

"No! I really am! My sword broke," he motioned to the iron shards on the ground that Grail hadn't noticed until then. Ant tried to stand up and Grail grabbed Ant to stop him.

"Slow down, if you try to put too much weight on your leg then you'll seriously hurt it. This right now can heal, but you don't want to test it okay?"

"Okay." Ant smiled lazily at Grail. "You know, I really don't mind being like this, but maybe we should head back? Or not. I'm fine either way." Grail blushed bright red at Ant's words.

"Don't make me drop you," she threatened.

"You wouldn't," Ant said, sounding nervous.

"I would if you talk like that." Grail said, adjusting her hold so Ant was leaning on her for support instead of completely in her arms. She didn't complain when Ant put an arm around her shoulders. It was just for support, right?

"So you don't like me flirting with you?" Ant asked, sounding like a hurt puppy. Grail sighed in response, she had enough to deal with right now, and even if Ant was very handsome, she was sure he was just flirting because he was so grateful she had saved him. (Mmm?)

The two started walking slowly to the entrance of the cave. "But really, thank you for saving me. I could have easily died without your help." Ant said after a few moments of silence.

"I'm sure anyone else would have done the same."

"But no one else did. You did. If there's anything I can do to repay you, please tell me."

"Um, I don't know."

"You can talk your time."

"Okay."

Due to Ant's leg, it took about ten minutes for the pair to make their way to cave entrance. They talked while walking, and more and more Grail couldn't help but feel a connection with this man. He was someone she wanted to know.

"Do you mind helping me get home as well?"

Grail laughed and Ant smiled at her. He didn't even know what was funny, but she just made him happy being there.

"Of course I'll walk you home, what a ridiculous question to ask. Now, Ant, I have the answer to your question." Grail started walking down the well-lit path to town, forcing Ant to follow.

"My question?"

"A way to repay me for saving your life."

"Oh. Go ahead then."

"AntVenom, after you get home, would you honor me by being my friend?"

Ant blinked at her in shock. "Friendship? That's what you want? Not diamonds or gold or anything else?"

"Nope. I just want to be your friend."

"Well, heh, if that's really all you want then I'll be your friend 'till the end of time."

"If you can stand me that long," Grail giggled.

"More like if you can stand me for that long," Ant said, his face serious. Grail grinned, her face bright with joy.

They talked some more and all too soon had arrived at Ant's house.

"I'll be fine here," Ant said and unlocked his door. "Would you like to come in?"

"No, I should probably be getting home." The moon was almost directly above them, indicating that it was close to midnight.

"Of course," Ant nodded. He fidgeted slightly and Grail swore his face was red, but it was hard to tell in the dim light. "GrailMore?"

"Yes?" Grail felt her stomach sink. Surely he was going to tell her something bad. After all their joking, maybe there was some reason they couldn't be friends.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Oh.

"I…" Grail was at a loss for words. She couldn't do this. She couldn't date this man she had just met. But at the same time, she couldn't turn him down either. Deep within her she knew this could be the start of something wonderful, and ruining it would haunt her forever. But she couldn't just say yes, it was too sudden.

"You can refuse if you want." Ant said quietly, taking her silence for rejection.

"No, it's not that. It's just…I can't go out with someone I've just met."

"I don't usually do this either, but I've really felt something special with you."

"Then, can you wait? I don't want to rush into anything."

"Of course," the relief was obvious in Ant's voice. "How long?"

"One year. If we are friends for one year and you still want to date at the end of it, then I'll decide." Ant's brown eyes were wide with surprise at Grail's statement but he quickly recovered.

"If that is what you want, I guess I'll have to wait. And if after a year you don't want to date then I won't pursue you any longer." There was no anger in his voice, just simple acceptence. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need a healing potion for this leg. "

"Oh, sorry! I'll go now. Goodnight Ant, see you around!" Grail waved and left.

"Goodnight Grail," Ant said, smiling after the girl.

And so, for the next twelve months, the two became close friends, best friends, even. Ant's friends joked that they would make a great couple, that it was obvious he thought the world of her, but Ant just smiled. He was nothing if not the perfect gentleman. The only fault Grail could find in him was that he called her beautiful too much. It couldn't be true every time. He was surely exaggerating. But slowly, she realized she was falling for him in turn. Grail didn't believe in love at first sight the way Ant did, but as the two spent more time together she realized she was falling for him. Except it wasn't like falling, but was more akin to flying. With each kind word and honest smile Ant gave her Grail felt herself soar.

And suddenly the year was over and Ant was standing at Grail's door, bouquet of roses in hand. He rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

"Even if you reject me, I figured you'd enjoy the roses. Since, you know, they're your favorite flower and all." Ant met Grail's soft gaze. "Oh Notch, I can't take this anymore. Could you answer my quest—"

"Yes," Grail's sweet voice interrupted the mumbling man.

"What?" Ant blinked, thinking he must not have heard right.

"Yes! Of course I'll be your girlfriend!" Grail laughed merrily and stepped forward, taking Ant's hands. "May I?" she blushed, nervous now.

"Of course," Ant's voice was soft, nearly a whisper.

GrailMore leaned forward and kissed Ant, her pink lips colliding gently with his own. The bouquet of roses fell to the ground, forgotten. A few seconds stretched out into an eternity, and Grail realized she wouldn't mind spending eternity kissing AntVenom, their lips locked together forever.

—

Grail smiled. It felt like only yesterday that she had met Ant, in that dark cave, and that their connection had been created(:/). It had been a full day since Ant had gone to fight Sparklez, and Grail was starting to get worried.

"I don't have the patience for this," she muttered and turned to leave the room when she remembered something. "Oh, right! Ant told me that if he wasn't back in a day that I should check his drawer." Grail opened the drawer and found a letter inside. It had her name scribbled on the envelope. With a heavy heart(nah), Grail opened it. Inside was a rushed, scribbled note.

GrailMore,

If you're reading this than it means that it's been over a day that I've been gone. If that much time has past than I am dead. It might not even matter because Herobrine will have taken over Minecraftia but Grail, I am so so sorry. I didn't want it to end this way. It shouldn't have ended this way. I'm at a blank even thinking of this situation, I can't write anything coherent right now, I'm sorry. I really hope you never have to read this.

Eternally Yours,

AntVenom

Tears fell on the letter, the ink began to smudge. But Grail didn't care. How could she? Her true love was dead and he wasn't ever coming back. It was worse than a worse-case-scenerio, it was the end of GrailMore's world. Grail felt her throat close up as sobs racked her body. She clutched the letter to her chest, and through blurred eyes saw a box in the Ant's drawer, bearing her name in Ant's messy handwriting. It was't anything Grail had ever seen Ant with before. She sniffled, and hope tugged at her heartstrings, perhaps this was a way to save Ant—some secret instructions from him.

Trembling fingers opened the box to reveal a diamond ring inside.

I have a surprise for you when I get back tomorrow.

Grail broke down, fresh tears staining her face. She wailed, and her lament could be heard by the whole town.

This is the end of the Newcomer duology. I have no more works planned and it is unlikely that I will go back and edit this story, so I apologize for the mistakes. I blame inexperience. That said, I had fun writing this book and I hope it brought you as much joy as it did to me. End of Book 2