Ok! I actually un-writers-block'd myself on this fic, so ive been writing, but I've been neglecting yall lol sorry. Hopefully ill have these next three chapters out over the course of the next few days.

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WTP Storm: those two need to kiss and make up already (/j)

Heather was startled awake by the sound of blocks breaking near her.

Her chin jerked up as she looked around, finding her allies still crowded inside her shelter with her. Herobrine was blinking up as well, looking for the source of the sound, and Heather froze, huddling into Manfred. Had they been busted already?

A block broke in the wall, and Theo's face appeared on the other side. "Hey."

"Theo!" Heather exclaimed, scrambling up to greet him. He removed another block as Herobrine hushed his wife quietly, and the hacker stepped through the gap as she threw her arms around him.

"Hey." He gave her a squeeze, then looked around, taking in Herobrine's bandaged eye and Manfred's ruined leg. "You guys aren't doing so well, huh?"

"Y-you could say that." Heather leaned against him, burying her face in his white hoodie. It was good to see him. Not only because he could probably deal with Null, but because he was her friend.

"Hello, hacker." Came Notch's weary voice, and Theo glanced at him.

"Hey, Notch, what's up."

"Notch has been somehow rendered powerless." Herobrine answered for him. "So have I."

"Ah." Theo let go of Heather, glancing around their hideout again as she took a step back. As she did, however, something occurred to her, and a grin crept onto her face.

"You're small."

Theo's gaze snapped back to her, then down at himself. "I didn't exactly have time to update my avatar." Theo looked exactly the same as when they had first met about five years ago, as a 17 year old. Heather had seen him in real life several times since then, so this was a bit… jarring. "Hey, would you prefer I leave you here?" The hacker crossed his arms. "I can go back. I'm already late for class." Heather snorted, making an effort to wipe away her grin.

"Please don't."

"What happened to Manfred?" Theo nodded to the enderman, who murmured a greeting.

"Null captured him and hurt him." Heather's smile faded at that. "For no reason except to be a jerk."

"Ah…" Theo winced at the sight of his injured leg. "Right, well… I should be able to help with that. Have you tried any potio-"

"Splash potions don't work on endermen." Herobrine cut in. "They're forced to teleport away."

"Oh. Lingering potions?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well-" Theo sighed, closing up the wall behind him. "We might have to wait on that for now, then. Where's Steve and Alex?"

"Null has them." Heather answered. "They're close by, in an obsidian tunnel guarded by an Elder Guardian."

"Well I should be able to teleport them to me… but…" Theo gestured upwards. "Should we maybe go somewhere slightly less cramped?" Herobrine hesitated, but nodded.

"We can't allow any mobs to see us. We can only assume that they are all under Null's control."

"Roger that."

"Nor can we go to any of our known living spaces," Herobrine continued. "He'd be looking for us there." Theo frowned, shrugged.

"Alright. Let me scout around and try to find a good place." The hacker ruffled Heather's hair. "I'll be right back." With that, he typed a command in mid-air and vanished. Heather sank down to sit on a stone block again.

"It's a relief to see him." Notch murmured. "I hope whatever Null did to us he cannot do to him."

"I doubt it." Herobrine told him. "He is functionally different from us. Null could no more change him than he could Heather." He looked over at his wife, who shrugged.

"A while ago, when Theo kidnapped me that one time, he told me that while in the game we're made of code as well."

"Yes," Herobrine allowed. "But our AIs are built… differently. With coherent and sequential coding so that we could be tweaked as needed. Yours and Theo's have no such restrictions, since you translated directly over from…" he gestured vaguely. "Being real."

"Alright, if you say so."

Theo appeared in front of them again, startling Heather, and this time he had a grim look on his face.

"I didn't find a safe place, not yet." He reported lowly. "But… I found something you might need to see." He cast a glance at Herobrine. "I don't think- I can't imagine why it's something you would do, so… it must have been Null. I don't understand why, but- just come look." He held out a hand to Heather and Herobrine, looking at Notch as he did so. "I don't think you're involved, so just stay here."

"Fine." The creator looked away. The Nether King and Queen took the offered hands, the latter casting a glance at Manfred before the world spun around around them and they appeared on a small, obsidian platform over an ocean.

Before them was an ocean monument, which had been almost completely drained of water, walls of obsidian keeping the ocean from spilling in on it. Only a single layer of water remained, held up by signs, in which guardians were spawning. As soon as they did, however, they fell out of it and onto magma blocks that lined the sea bed, slowly burning to death.

Theo turned a grim look on the both of them as they stared, listening to the shrieks and cries of the dying mobs. "Neither of you know anything about this, right?"

"N-no." Heather stammered. "What- it looks almost like a guardian farm, but the drops aren't being collected, why-"

"The Elder." Herobrine cut in softly. "This must be her temple." Theo shot him a quizzical look. "Null has an Elder Guardian chained up not far from where you found us." He continued. "She didn't attack on sight, but did as soon as we tried to escape. Even though the guardians know me to be a friend, and are not mindless like the undead." His voice was mournful. "She must be obeying in the hopes of helping her children."

"Oh." Heather's heart sank. "Wait, but surely there's something-"

"Hold on." Theo cut in, already typing a command. "I don't know how you intend to inform this guardian that her temple is fine, or keep Null away from it, but-" Abruptly, the open space filled with water again. Theo hastily typed another command, and a layer of sand appeared over the magma blocks, keeping the guardians from being sucked down into them again.

The mobs immediately started to swim up towards the trio, and Herobrine knelt down on the edge of the platform to greet them.

"Hero?" Heather managed nervously. "What if they don't like you?"

"They clearly don't like Null, I'm not too concerned." Herobrine assured her. Indeed, the guardians made no move to attack as they reached the surface, eyes poking up out of the water. Theo eased back away from the edge, and Heather was all too happy to go with him.

"Go somewhere else." Herobrine was telling the fish. "Underground, if possible. Someplace he won't look for you." The guardians obeyed, dipping back underwater and swimming away. Heather shifted over to the edge, peering into the water to watch as the mobs gathered up in a school and abandoned the temple.

"Won't more spawn?" She asked as they swam away.

"No," Herobrine shook his head. "Only a certain number can spawn per temple at a time. If they all leave without being killed, it will remain empty."

"That's… not how mob caps work." Theo cut in.

"Yes it is." Herobrine stood up, dusting off his hands. "You just wouldn't know because you've never seen guardians voluntarily leave their temple."

"I… guess?"

"Null will learn what we've done soon enough." Herobrine went on. "We need to find a safe place."

"And we need to help the Elder Guardian." Heather added. "And Steve and Alex."

"Let's find a hideout first."

"What about the End?" Theo suggested. "Are you concerned about the Endermen?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Herobrine frowned, still gazing at the water. "Null has at least one Enderman under his control."

"I could make a platform out of slabs, out in the middle of the void." Theo suggested. "Out of sight of Endermen on the islands, and a place where they're not able to spawn." Heather looked at Herobrine, who pursed his lips.

"That may work. At any rate, it is likely the safest place we can find. Anywhere on the overworld we run the risk of being discovered by other mobs, unless we hide inside a solid block of stone."

"And that would only be accessible via teleportation." Theo added. "Which you and Notch don't have."

"Right."

"Manfred does," Heather pointed out. "But it doesn't do him much good as he can't walk."

"I should be able to find some way to heal him." Theo assured her. "Alright. I'll take you back to him and Notch, then work on making a safe place. Then we can deal with Steve and Alex, and the Elder Guardian."