SIKE another chapter lol
The tunnel let out into one of the huge, deepslate caves, which was faintly lit by glow lichen. Heather waited for Herobrine to emerge behind her before hurrying away from their prison, grabbing her husband's hand and letting him lead her to a smaller tunnel.
"Do you think he can track us?" She managed between gasps as she tried to collect her breath.
"I don't know. Possibly." Herobrine lead her down a mineshaft, towards where Heather could hear the hisses of cave spiders. "If he can control the guardian, I know not what other mobs he may have under his control."
"Wh- why are we going towards them then?" The spawner came into view, blocked by cobwebs, and many pairs of beady eyes focused on the pair of them.
"These are freshly spawned. They should answer to me." Herobrine slowed to a halt, and Heather cringed behind him a bit, but the spiders didn't approach. Herobrine paused only for a moment before gesturing behind her, and the spiders promptly streamed away in the direction they had come. "Some backup for Steve and Alex." He explained, then he was leading her down a side passage and breaking out into another cavern. Heather focused on breathing, already starting to get winded. She wasn't prepared to run for her life today!
"Come out, come out, wherever you are…" Null's voice echoed through the caverns behind them, and Heather forced herself to go faster.
"Heather, it's alright. Just try to stay quiet." Herobrine muttered.
"D-do you think Steve and Alex are-?"
"Shhh." Herobrine slowed, and Heather did the same, grasping his hand tightly. Carefully, he lead her down a steeply-inclined tunnel, into a huge, dripstone cave. The sound of water dripping off of the stalactites drowned out any sound the pair made, which Heather soon realized was Herobrine's plan as he wove through the stalagmites with her. Leading her down beside a large pillar, Herobrine crouched down and went quiet, waiting for their pursuer to appear.
He didn't have to wait long.
"First running, now hiding." Null's voice echoed through the cavern, impossible to pin down the source. "I never took you for such a coward."
"Only as much of a coward as one who challenges their opponent to a duel and gives them a wooden axe." Herobrine shot back, and Heather whirled to look at him in alarm, but the echo made his voice difficult to track as well. "Afraid of a fair fight?"
"I have nothing to prove to you."
"Then why should I have something to prove to you?"
"You perplex me, Herobrine." A footstep sounded to their right, and Heather jerked to look, but it was only a zombie passing by. "You and I are not so different."
"I fail to see how you came to that conclusion."
"Notch gave us life, brought us into his game, then when we acted against his wishes he chose to exterminate us."
"We've done this song and dance before, and I still have no wish to join you." Herobrine snapped. "Besides, what do you need me for? You have Notch already."
"True enough… however…" A zombie's dying groan echoed through the dripstone. "…I cannot kill him." Herobrine frowned.
"Of course not, he's immortal. He simply respawns. I cannot kill him either."
"And yet I imprisoned him, did I not? I've stripped him of his power. What makes you think I couldn't kill him?" Null's voice was so carefree as he talked about slaughtering his greatest enemy. "And yet… I cannot bring myself to get rid of him. I presume a failsafe built into me and his other creations to keep him from harm." A pause, then, "Except you. A lack of that sort of failsafe is why he wants you dead in the first place." Heather was silent as they bantered back and forth, processing this. So Notch was… truly out of commission. How Null had managed that, she had no idea.
"And you want me to kill him for you."
"Precisely."
"And why in the Nether do you think I would agree to that? Notch and I have been allies for years. Beyond that, the very game relies on him. Without Notch, this world would collapse!"
"Precisely."
"You want to destroy this world with us in it? With you in it?"
"Yes."
"So you have a death wish?" Herobrine's hand tightened on hers.
"It is my purpose. It is why I was created, to bring ruin to this world."
"You claim to have evolved beyond what you were created for, and yet you still cling to your so-called 'original' purpose?"
"I prefer to think of it as a punishment to Notch for bringing me to life."
"Your manner of thinking is truly twisted."
"Can you truly say that you have never felt the same? That you've wished him dead for his crimes against you?" A pause. "And your loved ones?"
"No, I can't. But I place this world's safety above my own grudges, unlike you."
"Then you are a fool. Your loyalty to this world will be your downfall."
"It isn't hard to become loyal to a world I need to survive."
"Ah, but you don't, do you? You travel back to the 'real world'... where the players live. Why should it bother you if this world collapses?"
"It is my home. Beyond that, I have friends in this world who cannot leave it."
"Such as Manfred, hmm?" Heather's heart jumped into her throat. "It would be a shame for him to die at my hands."
"If you expect me to join you and kill Notch in exchange for an Enderman's safety, you have another thing coming. He would perish anyway when the world collapsed."
"He'll perish a lot sooner if you continue to deny me." Herobrine squeezed Heather's hand painfully tight, then let go.
"I care not." He grasped a chunk of dripstone from the ground, then straightened up. "Any subject of mine you kill would simply respawn, and default back to following me. Even if they did not, I have thousands of others to take their place. I do not see why you expect me to mourn the life of a single one."
"Don't treat me like a fool. I know you have an attachment to the Enderman."
"The only one I care about is my queen." Herobrine's voice was cold. "Everything else is secondary." He took aim, and at that moment Heather spied a pair of blazing eyes through the stalagmites. "You were a fool to threaten her." Herobrine pitched the chunk of rock at the dripstone hanging far above, and there was a distant crack! as it connected. A piece fell, and Null looked up just in time before it connected, killing him instantly.
Heather gazed at the spot where Null had been for a moment, mouth hanging open a bit.
"That… good throw."
"Thank you." Herobrine brushed his hands off, then offered her a hand up. "Let's get some distance between us."
"Steve and Alex-?" Heather tried as she took his hand.
"-will be alright, but we need to flee." Herobrine began to lead her through the stalagmites again. "We aren't prepared to save them yet, but we will. Alright?" She nodded sullenly. "Alright."
It was another hour that they made their way through the caves, at one point coming across another mineshaft, where Herobrine collected some wood to craft himself a pickaxe. From that point, he collected iron, gold, and diamonds as he saw them, making Heather a pickaxe so that they could work together. By the time they'd reached a dead end (the only exit being through an under-lava tunnel) they were both geared up in iron armor, and each had a diamond tool- sword for her, pickaxe for him.
"My teleportation has yet to return, if it ever will." Herobrine reported, pouring a bucket of water onto the lava. "Let's move into the Nether. Even if we cannot find anywhere familiar, we will be able to cover more ground this way."
"Alright." Heather chewed her lip, watching back the way they had come as Herobrine mined obsidian. Null would have had plenty of time to respawn. He was likely hunting them still…
"Heather?" She turned at her husband's voice to find him beckoning her towards a lit portal. After giving the caves a final glance, she obeyed, joining him and crossing to the other side.