Regret

It felt like an eternity running through the tunnels in almost complete darkness before Nuka was catching up on the others.

Some time ago, the torches and straight tunnels with sandstone walls had been replaced by winding passageways and the dark, cold gray stone that were typical of caves.

However, Nuka didn't have much time to look around as the little creature had been running at breakneck speed, leaving him completely exhausted as he finally reached the group.

They were still being led through the dark caverns by Roxana, whose staff was giving off a bright pinkwhite light and was the only thing that illuminated the darkness around them.

"You're back!"

Einshine was the first one who exclaimed in relief when he arrived, whereupon the others stopped and turned towards him, giving Nuka some time to catch his breath.

"It seems like my spell worked," Roxana added as she turned to him and smiled. But before Nuka could reply to her, Steve confronted him.

"Where is Notch?" he demanded to know, and the tone of his voice made Nuka flinch.

"I... I'm sorry," he stammered as he stepped back, looking at Steve with a worried expression. "I... I wanted to save him, but... but I was too late... Null... Null took him..."

"What?!" Steve hissed in response. "And you allowed that?!"

"What... What could I have done?" Nuka dared to protest. "I... I could never have defeated him..."

But Steve snorted contemptuously, and for a brief moment, Nuka feared he might strike or harm him in some way. However, before he could dwell on it further, Steve had turned away.

"I knew it was a bad idea to send a criminal like him," he growled angrily toward Roxana, who looked at him in surprise. "Now Notch is dead because of this useless idiot, all because you sent him!"

"But Notch isn't dead," Nuka dared to say, causing Steve to turn back to him. "Null just grabbed him and took him away before he would continue searching for us..."

"Oh, and that makes it so much better?!" Steve snapped angrily, once again looming over him.

Nuka found himself backing away and inadvertently pressing his back against a wall, looking nervous around for Herobrine, who was still being supported by Einshine, in hope that he would step in but he just avoided his gaze.

Why isn't he helping me? he wondered confusedly, but before he could think more about it, Einshine intervened.

"Leave him alone!" he demanded, glaring at Steve with an irritated expression. "Its not his fault that Notch is now in Null's captivity."

Nuka looked at him in surprise when he heard this.

He hadn't expected the griefer to stand up for him, but he was all the more grateful for it.

At least someone does it, he thought with relief, even though he still wondered why Herobrine didn't support him.

But before he could dwell on it further, Steve brought him back to the present, sneering at Einshine's words before turning to face him.

"But that doesn't make it any better, does it?!" he growled at Einshine, who then crossed his arms over his chest and surprisingly did not avoid Steve's gaze—a feat Nuka wouldn't have been capable of.

Before the griefer could respond, Roxana stepped in.

"That's enough now!" she exclaimed energetically, positioning herself between the two and regarding them with a serious expression. "Blaming anyone won't accomplish anything! Notch is gone, and we can't change that now."

"The only thing we can do now," she continued with a sigh, "is to get ourselves to safety before discussing how to proceed."

Steve looked at her grumpily for a moment but eventually sighed in annoyance, nodding, and then returned to Jason.

However, not without giving Nuka a dark look beforehand.

Nuka breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Steve's piercing blue eyes were off him.

He had come out of this situation better than he had thought, but still, the whole ordeal had not been exactly pleasant, especially since he had hoped for more support.

With this thought in mind, he turned to Herobrine, who was still sitting on the ground, leaning against one of the walls and still avoiding Nuka's gaze.

But before he could address him, Roxana spoke up again.

"So, if none of you is in the mood to continue arguing and possibly lead Null to us, we should move on now. We've already wasted enough time!"

With those words, she turned away and continued towards the dark cave, causing the rest of the group to follow.

While they walked, none of them spoke a word, even though Nuka would have liked to have a conversation with Herobrine.

However, he didn't want everyone to overhear their conversation, so he decided to talk to him once they had found a safe place to rest.

But Herobrine's behavior was deeply concerning to him.

Hoping to distract himself, he decided to hang back and look out for any mobs or potential dangers that might come from behind.

Unfortunately, there were few to be seen.

I wonder why, Nuka thought, confused. There are usually dozens of mobs in these caves, and even if they spared Einshine and me, they would never avoid us.

Perhaps it's because of Null? He added mentally. After all, the mobs also avoided him when he was still a god. But can his power reach this far?

Nuka sighed.

He knew he probably wouldn't ever get an answer to these questions, so he dismissed them and focused on his task, which he couldn't seem to concentrate on entirely.

Sometime after hours of marching through another labyrinth of caves, Roxana stopped in a circular cave deep underground, announcing with both relief and exhaustion, "Okay, I think we can rest here."

A collective sigh of relief followed from the others, and Nuka was also relieved to finally get some rest.

After all this time running around in these caves even his feet felt like they were burning like fire.

"Are you sure we're far enough away from Null?" he heard Jason ask with a concerned voice as Roxana went to the center of the cave, knelt down, took some sticks and wood from her bag, and placed them in a pile.

"I hope so," she replied wearily as she wiped her forehead with her hand, before she stood up and ignited the pile with her staff. "We've walked almost 500 blocks, and we're almost at bedrock level. If he still finds us here, he'll find us anywhere."

She sighed.

"And even if and even if that is so", she continued ,,we cannot go further, we're all exhausted and tired and especially these two need to rest at least a little bit, before we go on"

With these words, she turned her gaze to Herobrine, who was leaning against a wall, looking more than exhausted.

And Steve, who now sat down on the other side of the cave and put his head in his hands, didn't look much better either, and Nuka felt a pang in his heart when he realized how weak the two of them were compared to everyone else, not to mention that Ethan had mentioned this was only the start of their deterioration.

But they're already in such bad condition. How could this get even worse? Nuka wondered as he approached Herobrine to see how he was doing and address his strange behavior.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked softly, but to his surprise, instead of talking, Herobrine just turned away from him.

"I told you not to go," he finally said and even if his words were quiet, Nuka could still hear the anger in them.

Nuka looked at him, confused.

"What?" he asked softly, causing Herobrine to raise his head and look at him with burning fury in his eyes!

"I told you not to go!" he thundered a moment later, hitting the ground hard with his fist, making Nuka flinch in surprise. "And yet, despite the danger, you went! Do you even know what would have happened if Null had found you too?"

"Hero..." Nuka murmured softly, taking a step back, hoping to calm him down while he was painfully aware that all eyes were on him once again.

However, Herobrine didn't seem to care.

"You could have been captured, injured, or killed!" he continued with an angry voice. "And all of this just because of this idiot!"

"But what else was I supposed to do..?" Nuka asked desperately, hoping to de-escalate the situation and quickly divert the attention away from himself. But Herobrine just sneered contemptuously.

"How about not running off?!" he snapped again, glaring at Nuka with anger that he had never seen in his eyes before.

Nuka just stared at him speechless, as he heard that.

He didn't know what to say….

He had only wanted to help, but instead of thanking him or at least acknowledging his attempt, he only received hatred and resentment from the others, not to mention Herobrine...

Nuka felt a pang in his heart as he looked at him.

Standing here and being lectured by everyone like a foolish child was almost worse than not being able to save Notch, and for the first time, Nuka felt a deep regret for staying with Herobrine.

Well, it seems like I always do something wrong, no matter what…, he added mentally, and he felt his hands ball into fists.

However, Herobrine seemed not to notice that.

Instead he just crossed his arms and continued to stare at Nuka angrily.

"Next time, you'll listen to me when I tell you to stay here!" he finally growled grimly, while Nuka lowered his gaze, trying his best to avoid eye contact with anyone. "Is that clear?!"

"Yes..." Nuka murmured softly, still without looking at Herobrine.

In reality, it was not clear at all, but Nuka had neither the strength nor the desire to continue this conversation.

It wouldn't do any good anyway…

By now, he just wanted the others to stop staring at him, so he didn't object.

Fortunately, Herobrine seemed to be done as well.

"Well, I hope so!" he growled before turning his gaze away.

Nuka still stood there with his head down, his body still full with anger and shame but more than anything else regret .

Regret, that he had been so stupid by thinking, he could make himself a little more popular with the others by offering to save Notch…

Regret that he had left the safe place of the castle just to be trapped down here…

And what was the worst of all, regret that he chose Herobrine as his friend…

"I'm going to... get some water," he mumbled before turning away and quickly leaving the cave without looking at anyone.