Chapter 20

Unfortunately, her search for Nuka proved to be more challenging than she had expected. The cave was very complex, and Aurora had to clear mobs from her path using her bow repeatedly.

As a result, she had soon used up 10 of her 20 arrows.

But I can't turn back so soon, thought Aurora stubbornly as she looked around one of the cave passages with multiple branches, and from one of them, she could even hear flowing water. I've only been on the road for less than half an hour!

But there was no choice; she had to go back.

She had promised Roxana.

Aurora sighed and was about to turn around and leave when she suddenly heard a sound coming from the tunnel with flowing water.

Curious, Aurora turned to the tunnel and followed it until she reached a small cave with an underwater stream.

To her delight, she spotted Nuka sitting by the shore, gazing sadly at the water.

"There you are!" she exclaimed in relief, causing Nuka to startle and quickly turn to her.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded to know, and the sharpness in his voice made Aurora jump.

"I... I wanted to fetch some water," she replied finally, holding up the empty bucket. Nuka relaxed a bit and sighed.

"Oh, yeah... I forgot about that," he muttered quietly before turning back to the water.

Aurora stood there for a moment, uncertain, but since Nuka continued to say nothing, she decided to continue the conversation.

"But I'm also here to search for you and bring you back," she continued, moving a bit away from Nuka to collect some water.

"Really? And why?" asked Nuka, looking at her with surprise before smiling. "Are the others afraid I wouldn't come back voluntarily?"

"To be honest, yes," Aurora replied, causing Nuka to raise his eyebrows, and you could see curiosity flashing in his sea-green eyes.

"Who?" he asked, and Aurora felt a pang in her heart when she noticed the hope in Nuka's face.

He wants me to say Herobrine, she thought sadly, and her heart pinged heavy as she continued the sentence, knowing she couldn't give Nuka the answer he wanted to hear.

"Roxana," she finally continued with a sad voice, "but only because Einshine claimed that you wouldn't come back."

"I see," Nuka replied softly before turning away again, and the disappointment was evident on his face. "Why did he claim that?"

"Well, he said he wouldn't if he were you," replied Aurora softly, causing Nuka to smile briefly.

"Understandable," he replied quietly before his face turned troubled again.

"But you still want to go back?" Aurora asked, puzzled, whereupon Nuka nodded ,,Why?"

"I mean, I completely understand if you wouldn't want to return.", she added fast, before sighing ,,Herobrine... he treated you horribly. To be honest, I'm surprised he hasn't killed you a long time ago."

Nuka sighed deeply upon hearing this.

"You're right," he finally replied, to Aurora's surprise. "Herobrine could have killed me at any time. He could have just woken up one day and thought, 'Hey, I'll kill this guy now,' and he would have succeeded. But he didn't. And with that act, he showed me more kindness than the whole world ever has."

With those words, he sighed again, before turning and looking her dead in the eyes.

"I know you think Hero is a terrible guy," he continued without hesitation, before looking away again "and maybe he is. But you have no idea what my relationship with Hero is usually like. None of you know. You might know how he treats other people, but he has never been like this with me before."

"Okay, he did it once before," he added with a thoughtful look, "but we weren't friends then, so..."

"But that's not a friendship, Nuka!" Aurora interrupted him, to which Nuka looked at her with indignation.

"Well what is it then?!" he asked, his voice agitated, to which Aurora just sighed.

"I don't know," she replied dejectedly to Nuka, who had turned away by now. "But it's definitely not good. You can't stay with Herobrine..."

To her surprise, Nuka laughed at that.

"And what should I do then?" he asked softly, and even though he was smiling, Aurora could clearly see the fear in his eyes. "Leave Hero behind and go back to the Overworld so that the Minecrafters can hunt me down again?"

His voice cracked at the last words, and the anger disappeared from his face as he turned away again, running a hand over his face, visibly stressed by the whole situation.

Aurora sighed deeply when she saw this.

"No," she replied softly after turning away from Nuka and gazing at the dark water. "I don't want to see you back in chains..."

"Well, me either..." Nuka responded sadly, sighing before stepping closer to the water again.

"I'm surprised you still remember," he continued at some point, his voice heavy, and Aurora could only smile sadly.

"Of course, I remember," she replied before her smile faded, and her expression darkened again. "How could I forget..."

She sighed.

Back then, she wasn't a soldier when she was sent down to the dungeon to take care of the prisoners. It wasn't a pleasant job, but every soldier had to work down there for at least a month to complete their training. One of her initial tasks was to bring water and food to the prisoners, and that's when she had encountered Nuka.

Aurora grimaced at the memory.

Of all the prisoners she had "cared" for back then, he had looked the worst, which caused her to take pity on him and give him more water and food than she was supposed to.

Luckily, that had never been noticed.

"Thank you for all the food and water you brought me back then," Nuka continued with a soft voice, causing Aurora to sigh again.

"You don't need to thank me," she replied without looking at him. "It was my job."

"Yeah, I know," Nuka replied softly before lifting his gaze to look at her. "But you were the only one who was nice to me back then... even though you didn't have to."

,,I... I should have thanked you back then," he continued with a choked voice before turning his gaze away ,,But I...I was too afriad at that time..."

He shook his head and Aurora noticed the distress in him as he probably relieved some of these memories from that time.

"Well, at least I can do it now, now that we've met again," he added with a slightly trembling voice before turning to her and giving her a sad smile.

"Yes, that's the only good thing about this whole situation, I guess," Aurora replied with a smile before her expression darkened again.

Nuka's words touched her, and the fact that he had been too afraid to thank her back then shocked her deeply, but she wasn't sure if she really deserved his gratitude.

After all, it was her sister's arrow that had initially led to his imprisonment.

"What are you going to do about Hero when we go back?" she asked at some point, causing Nuka to sigh.

"I don't know," he replied softly. "Maybe, I'll stay away from him until we can discuss everything."

"I think Roxana has already taken on that task for you," Aurora replied, to which Nuka looked at her in surprise.

"How so?" he asked, puzzled, and Aurora smiled.

"Oh you should have seen it", she said,with a satisfied grin ,,she yelled at Hero shortly after you left and gave him a good scolding like he did with you but this time it was about how one shouldn't treat someone like that and all..."

"But I don't know if he really understood," she finished with an apologetic look towards Nuka, who stared at her with wide eyes.

"Wasn't she afraid of him?" he asked in shock, to which Aurora laughed.

"No, she wasn't," she replied amused. "My sister just can't handle injustice very well. That, or she's just insane."

"Well, you seem pretty crazy too," Nuka responded with a smile. "After all, you're wandering through all these tunnels just to find me, without a weapon to defend yourself."

"Oh, I have a weapon," Aurora replied simply before standing up and showing Nuka her bow. "And besides, before I became a soldier, I worked as a miner, so I know my way around caves. But my sister was still worried, which is why she gave me this bow."

"I see," Nuka replied, lifting his gaze to her and giving her an approving look. "Well, I think we should head back home before your sister gets too worried about you."

Aurora smiled when she heard that.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," she replied, and Nuka smiled, gesturing for her to lead the way.

(Change of view)

They hadn't been walking through the darkness for long before they could see the glow of the fire in the cave where Herobrine and the others were hiding.

Nuka swallowed hard as he entered the cave shortly after Aurora, and he immediately felt uncomfortable when his eyes landed on Herobrine.

Sure, he had defended him in front of Aurora, but that didn't mean he was okay with what Herobrine had said.

With that thought in mind, he quickly lowered his head and tried to move away from Herobrine, but of course, he noticed him.

"Nuka!"

His demanding voice echoed through the cave, making Nuka stiffen, fearing that he didn't know what to expect.

Maybe another scolding?

Slowly, he turned around and looked at Hero, whose face showed not anger but rather uncertainty and maybe even guilt?

But before Nuka could think further, Herobrine sighed and lowered his gaze, gesturing for him to come closer.

"Come here," he said, and this time his voice sounded much calmer and softer. "Please..."

Nuka stood still and looked at him uncertainly, trying to decide whether to follow this request or not.

But eventually, he sighed and sat down beside him, thinking that he could always move away if Herobrine said something he didn't like.

Besides, it didn't feel right not to give Herobrine the chance to apologize to him if that was what he was planning on doing.
Even if Nuka doubted that.

"I... I'm glad you're back," Herobrine murmured a short time later while Nuka sat next to him, his arms wrapped around his knees, not looking at him.

"Yeah? Are you sure about that?" he replied eventually, feeling Herobrine tense up.

But to his surprise, there was no outburst of anger, only a weary sigh.

"Listen," Herobrine continued with a quiet voice, "what I said earlier... it wasn't meant to hurt you..."

He paused, and Nuka could see him desperately searching for the right words.

"I was just... worried. I know how Null is, how powerful and merciless he is, and how he could have easily defeated and killed you..."

He sighed.

"I care about you, Nuka," he continued with a serious tone. "And I...I don't want to lose you. I don't want you to throw your life away... not for him... not for anyone, not even for me. And...that's why I got so angry in the first place..."

Nuka looked at him with wide eyes when he heard this.

Was all this talking really what he was thinking right now?

"I know it wasn't right to yell at you like that," Herobrine finished with a strained voice, "but... I'm still not… used recognize other people's emotions...and I'm also a bit stressed right now, so can we just forget about what happened and move on?"

Nuka smiled when he heard that.

That was certainly not a good apology, far from it, to be honest, but Herobrine admitting that he had made a mistake was more than he had ever done before, and that was all Nuka needed.

"Sure," he replied with a friendly tone, leaning forward and giving Herobrine an amused look. "If you promise not to do it again."

"I can't promise that," Herobrine replied with a shake of his head before looking up and smiling at Nuka. "But I promise to try."

Nuka grinned when he heard that.

"I think that's okay for me," he replied, and Herobrine sighed in relief.

"Good," he said contentedly. "Now that's over, would you be so kind as to tell me why you suddenly stormed out of the hall earlier without saying anything?"

Nuka hesitated, feeling his tension rising at the thought.

But before he could answer Herobrine, Jason started speaking, causing him to jump once more.

"So are we going to plan something now?"

His voice, despite the fatigue, was full of impatience but also concern.

Nuka could understand the concern, even though he still felt fear towards Jason.

"No," Roxana replied wearily as she approached Nuka and Herobrine, handing each of them a steaming bowl of soup,before turning to Jason and Steve, who had also received bowls. "For now, we need to rest. Rest a lot. Especially these two."

With those words, she gestured towards Herobrine and Steve.

"We'll plan or next steps tomorrow."

Jason looked at her indignantly, and for a moment, it seemed like he wanted to disagree. But to Nuka's surprise, it was Steve who stopped him.

"I think Roxana is right," he murmured tiredly as he gently placed a hand on Jason's shoulder. "It doesn't make sense to sit down and try our tried minds to plan something now. We won't be helping anyone that way. We need to rest first. We can still plan tomorrow."

Jason looked at him uncertainly, still not entirely convinced. However, he eventually sighed in resignation.

"Okay," he replied softly before lowering his gaze and staring into the fire. "Then tomorrow it is."