A/N Hello, wonderful readers! I come bearing the gift of two more chapters of The Reborn King! I warn you that this chapter is a sad one, so tissues are advised. Well, Minecraft belongs to Microsoft, and enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7:
The Past
As he heard Steve keep the others away from the library, Levi looked down at his hands. They're shaking. He realized, his gaze going to the burning fireplace.
"I'm him, aren't I?" He said to himself in a whisper, knowing that none of the others could hear through the door and over the crackling of the flames before him. He slowly walked over to the mirror on the mantel, gazing at his reflection.
Herobrine stared back at him. He was an idiot for not realizing, and to his surprise, tears came to his eyes. He frantically tried to wipe them away, but more kept coming. He couldn't cry-He wasn't the same weak fourteen year old that he had been five years prior. He had killed the raiders, slain countless mobs, and hunted small innocent creatures. And he had enjoyed himself the entire time he did so. His white eyes made normally hostile mobs bow down to him, do whatever he wanted them to. He could even understand what Voices said, even though his canine companion was a wolf. What kind of monster was he becoming?
"I want to go in there." Aria said stubbornly, folding her arms. "I want to see what's wrong with him."
Steve gestured for her to go back to the table, and she reluctantly did what the miner said. He filled up a bottle for each one of them with the water that he and Levi had sitting in a cauldron.
"He's a jerk all the time, so I don't see why hearing about this prophecy upsets him so much. He said so himself. He can fight off monsters easily. So he could do the same to Herobrine."
Next to the pointy eared teen, Naomi shook her head. "Ari, haven't you realized the reason for why he can defend himself against mobs so easily?"
"He's a jerk, has no friends, and has ample time to train-" It was Steve's turn to shake his head.
"He can control the mobs if they see his white eyes. They think that he's Herobrine...And there's a reason for why I'm his only friend besides that."
"Why?" Naomi questioned. Aria suddenly noticed how interested she was in the topic of Levi.
"He appeared her five years. He fell from the sky into this lake near our house. Wolf and I managed to save him from drowning. But the strange thing about it all is that Levi only remembers his name, age, and birthday."
"When is...When is his birthday?" Naomi said, her grip tightening on her bottle. Why is she acting like that? Aria thought, watching her with interest in her blue eyes.
"April 13th."
The sound of glass hitting the wooden floor filled the living room. "Naomi, are you all right?" Aria questioned frantically, rushing over to her best friend.
"No..."
"What's wrong?" Steve said as he rushed out of his seat as well.
"Levi Novelo was the name of my childhood best friend...He died five years ago, on May 7th, 2010."
"The one year anniversary of Minecraft." Aria managed to get out. "But he can't be your Levi too..."
"That's what I thought at first. The Levi I knew didn't look a thing like this Levi, and he didn't act the same either..."
"How did he die?" Aria questioned, her hands shaking at her side. Levi couldn't be a ghost...could he?
The young girl stepped nervously out onto the playground, her sneakers hitting the ground roughly. What if no one wanted to play with her? She had just moved from another school district, and she didn't know a single kid. She stood solemnly on the edges of the play-toy, and when no one offered to play with her, she wandered over to the swings.
She sat there for the rest of recess, and after a week or two, that became the norm. Other kids her age were already caught up with their friends-They wouldn't give the quiet, shy girl a second thought.
But then one day, by a pure struck of luck, it all changed. She was swinging like usual when a soccer ball hit here straight in the face.
Tears sprung to her eyes, and she heard someone run over to her. "I'm so sorry!" She looked up to see a boy standing before her. "I didn't mean to hit you, honestly!" She sniffled.
"It's alright-"
"Let me make it up to you!" He said, a large smile growing on his face. It even reached up to his twinkling green eyes. "How about you become my friend? How does that sound?!"
"I don't-I don't even know your name..." She trailed off, looking back down at the ground.
"It's Levi! Levi Novelo!" He exclaimed, suddenly shaking her hand with an incredibly strong grip for an eight year old.
A small smile grew on her face. "My name is Gwen Jones."
"Nice to meet you, Gwen!"
Gwen soon realized that the blond haired boy that had become her best and only friend didn't have the best family life. She started to notice how he would come to school covered with scars and bruises. He would give a small smile and say that he had fallen, or something like that. But once Gwen became eleven, she started to read in between the lines.
"Levi...Are your parents the ones who gave you those injuries?" The black haired girl questioned him after school as they walked to their houses.
The smile faltered for a second. But he quickly regained it. "Nope! Last one to the end of the street is a rotten egg!"
Not long after Levi turned thirteen, Minecraft came out. He couldn't afford it on his own, so Gwen bought him an account as a belated birthday present. He had protested, but eventually agreed to it. Though he didn't have a computer of his own-he never said exactly why-The librarians let him play it on the town library's computers. He visited them the most out of anyone, after all.
It was two days after the one year anniversary of Minecraft. Thirteen year old Gwen noticed that Levi hadn't been coming to school, and the librarians hadn't seen him either. So she decided to visit his house.
She knocked on the door. "Hello?"
"I don't want a single one of your d*** girl scout cookies!" A woman yelled from inside the house.
"Mrs. Novelo?" She questioned quietly. "I'm not here to sell you any girl scout cookies...I'm here to see Levi..."
The door was opened, revealing a bedraggled woman. Her eyes were red, her long brown hair was in tangles. Gwen picked up on the scent of alcohol. "Levi's not home right now. He's at school."
"But Mrs. Novelo-"
"It's Evans." The woman interrupted her. "Novelo was the last name of my husband."
"But Ms. Evans," Gwen started, waiting to be interrupted once again. When she wasn't, she continued. "Levi wasn't in school today. He hasn't been since May 7th."
"...He's with his father now."
"Why?" The door was slammed as Levi's mom turned away from Gwen.
"Gwen dear, what's wrong?" Her mother asked as Gwen ate her dinner quieter than usual.
"Levi wasn't home..." She said, slowly spinning her spaghetti around her fork. "I went after school to his house....His mom answered the door and said that he was with his father now."
Her parents exchanged startled glances.
"Honey, Mr. Novelo died years ago, not long after Levi was born."
The fork dropped from her hand as her father spoke. "Oh no."
They called the police, and the next day, a call was returned to the Jones household. Levi Novelo, at age fourteen, had died in his house on May 7th, 2010. His mother, who had been alcohol intoxicated, had gotten angry at him and stabbed him with a knife.
Gwen then withdrew herself from society, playing Minecraft and watching anime in order to distract herself from the loss of her closest friend. But even then she still found things that reminded her of him-Like in the anime Fairy Tail, she would see Natsu Dragneel smile, and her heart would melt at the thought of Levi smiling on the first day they met in that same exact way.
Despite her withdrawal from society, she, under the username NaomiMinez, became friends with AriaFlight. The two started to chat over the internet, and almost every day they played together. The only day that Gwen didn't play was on May 7th.
Time for the questions! These questions are from LarkSweetSong!
Q: Naomi, How does it feel to be part cat? Can you see well in the dark?
Naomi-It's weird having my ears on the top of my head and having a tail…And I can see well in the dark. It's a really useful talent.
Q: Steve, what does it feel like to have all of these girls showing up at your house?
Steve-It's really strange. For the past five years, it's just been me and Levi. I haven't lived with a girl in years…
Q: Aria/Elf Boy, how long have you known Naomi for?
Aria/Elf Boy-About four and a half years, if I'm right.