The revelation

As Nuka came back to consciousness, he could feel that he was lying face down on a hard surface, experiencing intense pain both in his head and neck, prompting him to cough.

Groaning, he grabbed his throat and tried to sit up while his brain started to recall what had happened a few moments ago.

He had been running through the castle, desperately trying to reach Herobrine, with Einshine close on his heels, who was asking where they were running. But Nuka did not have the time to reply.

Fortunately, they didn't have to run for long.

A few minutes later, they had encountered Roxana and the others, and for a moment, Nuka was relieved, thinking that Herobrine was with them and therefore safe.

However, that relief quickly vanished and turned into panic when they informed him that Herobrine had stayed behind to look for him to get out of the castle together.

Nuka was distraught over hearing this, whereupon he quickly instructed Einshine to lead the others through a secret passage, out of the castle before racing down the corridor once again as he searched for Herobrine, still hoping they could get away before Null finds them.

Unfortunately this time, he didn't have to search for long.

A loud scream led him to the library, where, to his horror, he saw Null standing over Herobrine, appearing to be about to kill him.

Everything happened quickly after that.

He attacked Null to protect Hero but failed miserably, swiftly overpowered by that shadow, and then taken to this place.

After these memories rushed through his mind, his head shot up and anxiously looked around to see where Null brought them.

To his surprise, he recognized the room as Steve's Thorn Room, even though it changed quite a bit since his last visit.

Nuka's heart sank as he took in the sight.

Oh, how much he had wished never to see this place again.

Apparently Steve's guess of Null settling down here was right Nuka thought.

While he was looking around the room, he noticed that it had changed its color palette from a warm welcoming brown and blue to mostly black and red, making it significantly more darker and more threatening.

Even the windows had darkened, allowing only a hint of the dim light that came from an orange-red sky to get inside and illuminate the room.

However, he didn't need the light to see the ominous obsidian throne in front of him, though no one sat upon it.

Yet, it didn't calm him; quite the opposite.

It seemed so completely out of character for Null to vanish and leave him unsupervised here, especially since he wasn't chained or otherwise restrained.

But before he could dwell further on it, his gaze shifted to one of the pillars supporting the hall and he froze as he spotted a person kneeling there, hands chained over his head at the pillar.

An extremely familiar person!

"Hero!" Nuka exclaimed in dismay before he jumped up and rushed toward him, grabbing his shoulders and looking at him with concern.

However, Hero seemed to be unable to properly wake up, not fully grasping what was happening.

Nuka didn't have time to wait for him to get his mind straight!

Without hesitation, he reached for the chains, trying his best to free his friend, but his efforts were met with little success. For every moment passing, Nuka's movements became more and more desperate at the thought that the chances of Nulls return grew the longer he took.

Nevertheless, he persisted, still full of fear that Null could appear any second, preventing their escape.

But strangely he didn't show up.

Normally that would usually set off Nuka's alarm bells, but this time he was too distracted to care.

"Nuka?" he suddenly heard a soft whisper, before looking down to see Herobrine, now apparently more awake, looking at him confused before realizing what was going on.

"What are you doing here?!" he snapped at him, now fully alarmed and awake "Go! Get out and leave while you still can!"

But before Nuka could respond, he heard dark laughter behind him. Both of them froze.

Startled, Nuka whirled around, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw Null suddenly standing in the middle of the hall, observing both of them with a malicious grin.

"Oh no, how cute," he mockingly spoke a moment later, while Nuka still anxiously looked at him, trying to shield Herobrine from him as best as he could.

However, Null didn't seem particularly interested in him. Instead, his gaze remained fixed on Nuka, unsettling him even more.

"You really seem to care about him," he continued with a nod towards Herobrine. "I suppose I should congratulate Hero for managing to brainwash someone so thoroughly that he stays and throws away two chances to escape and save themself."

"You should have listened to him, boy," he added, turning his attention back to Nuka. "Now it's too late to run away."

He grinned.

"Even though I wouldn't have let you go if you had tried," he finished with a triumphant look at Nuka. "After all, there are still some questions to be answered."

With these words, his face turned cold and grim and before Nuka knew what was happening, he was graped by something invisible and thrown forcefully across the room!

(Change of view)

Herobrine screamed as he saw Nuka suddenly being torn away and thrown through the hall, propelled by nothing but a strong and swift motion from Null's hand! A brief moment later, the boy collided with one of the pillars, making him cry out in pain before falling onto the ground, now lying helpless among some debris that had also fallen from the pillar.

Null casually strolled towards him.

"So, shall we get started, or?" he continued venomously, addressing Nuka as he approached, holding the staff to his face, using his other hand to pin Nuka to the ground with his invisible power.

The boy had his eyes closed, one hand pressed against his stomach, his face contorted with pain and fear, accompanied by agonizing groans and whimpers.

Herobrine didn't know the extent of the injuries Null had inflicted, but it must have at least broken a few rips.

"Leave him alone!" he shouted with a hoarse and exhausted voice but neither Null nor Nuka seemed to notice him.

Seeing that shouting wouldn't work, Herobrine gritted his teeth and desperately pulled at the chains, desperately trying to break free and protect the boy from the traitor, but it was hopeless...

There was nothing he could do to help Nuka...

Herobrine swallowed hard, feeling a wave of hopelessness wash over him as he realized that he had once again failed at the one thing that mattered to him most...

He had once again failed to protect the boy... and not only that...

He was again responsible for causing him suffering and pain.

He had failed to keep his promise...once again…

It seems Notch is not the only one making the same mistake over and over again... Herobrine thought remorsefully as he looked at the boy, who was slowly regaining consciousness, not knowing what pain Null had planned for him.

(Change of view)

Nuka groaned softly as he regained consciousness.

He didn't know exactly what had happened, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was injured.

Severely injured, judging by the pain in his body, that was more than terrible and made him unable to properly move, which was more than bad, considering the situation he and Herobrine were currently in!

Alarmed by this thought, his eyes shot open and froze in shock when he saw Null, now standing over him like a threatening black shadow among the debris of the pillar against which he had presumably crashed, the red-glowing staff aimed directly at his chest.

There was no doubt that he was the one who had done this to him...

Panic surged within him, and he tried to move away from him as fast as possible, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move an inch.

It was as if the air around him had turned to concrete, making his panic even worse!

I guess this is how people feel when I use my powers on them... he thought while anxiously blinking up at the shadow man, knowing he was now completely at its mercy.

"You see, the powers you used against me recently," Null suddenly continued with a threatening voice, his white eyes coldly scrutinizing Nuka, "are very similar to mine. A bit too similar for my taste. Which is strange because these powers should only belong to one person, and that's me!"

Nuka swallowed hard as he saw Null's eyes narrow at these words and his grip on the staff tightened.

He was obviously not pleased about this and Nuka began to fear what was about to come.

"So let's see where you got them from!" he growled a moment later, raising the staff and the next thing Nuka saw was him lifting the staff and aiming it at his face.

For a moment, nothing happened, and shortly Nuka was relieved but then the crystal suddenly started glooming strangely and the next thing Nuka felt was a terrible headache spreading rapidly like fire and quickly becoming unbearable.

It felt like someone was drilling a glowing nail into his head and the more he tried to fight and get away, the worse it got. Nuka thought his head must burst from the pain.

He screamed and tried to get away and would have doubled over in pain if he could have, as flashes of memories of various kinds surged into his head, sometimes passing slowly, sometimes quickly, but he wasn't the one controlling it as he usually did!

It was as if someone else was doing it for him and the more Nuka tried to regain control, the stronger and more intense the pain became!

At that moment, Nuka realized!

Null! He was in his head, somehow, digging through his memories like a miner through a mountain in search of diamonds, without regard for the pain he caused and without regard for Nuka's privacy...

No, please! Stop! That's not yours to see! He managed to think while being forced to watch as Null sifted through his memories, going further and further back through his life until he reached where his mother had still been alive.

By now, the pain had gotten so strong, that he could hardly think clearly anymore and he could feel his consciousness slipping away, while more and more images of his mother built up in his head until eventually, a clear image of his mother was etched into his mind.

Shortly afterward, Nuka felt the glowing thorn being removed from his head and the pain disappeared with it, at least most of it...

Nuka managed to breathe a sigh of relief, as slowly his other senses returned to him, making him not feel better.

In fact it made it even worse because now he could feel the damage he had suffered from this torture.

"What have you done to him, you bastard!" he heard, shortly after, Herobrine angrily shouted, causing him to open his eyes and try to look in his direction, but his vision was so blurred that he could hardly see him.

"Oh, shut up!" Null snapped sharply, making Nuka flinch and whimper, as it caused another sharp pain to his already persistent headache, "I just helped him remember."

He continued, turning his gaze back to Nuka with considerably more interest, but to Nukas surprise he also looked very exhausted, considering how heavily he breathed and blinked as if trying to clear his vision.

Apparently, the whole ordeal had taken a toll on him as well. For a moment, Nuka even thought he saw some sort of black substance dripping from his nose, looking a lot like blood.

Before he could examine it closely, Null wiped it away, emitting a low growl, seemingly frustrated about this, before turning back to him.

"That is... interesting," he continued after a moment, crouching down to look thoughtfully at Nuka, who tried to blink away the water in his eyes, this face already burning from the tears that had streamed down before "I didn't know I was capable of..."

He sighed.

"Seems lik, I can't blame you for having my powers," he muttered to Nuka, who was still trying to catch his breath, his body still full of pain and exhaustion from the torture he did before. "guess I can only blame myself for that."

Nuka's eyes widened as he heard this.

"What...what do you mean..?" he managed to whisper, startled as he noticed how hoarse and dry his throat felt.

Apparently, he had just screamed himself hoarse, but Null just snorted in response.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied disdainfully, rising and looking down at Nuka contemptuously. "I thought you'd be smarter, considering what you are. But it seems you've inherited that part from your mother."

He snorted and shook his head absentmindedly before turning away and scrutinizing Nuka with disdain.

"Aren't I right...son?"