Squeak!

Was the last thing Heather heard before the crunch of her heel, grinding the mob into the floor.

"Ick." She muttered, scuffing her shoe on the planks in effort to remove whatever remained of the unfortunate silverfish. "Where did that come from?" As if in reply, a second squeak caught her attention, leading her gaze to where it scuttled about merrily at the end of the hallway. "Oh joy."

It had been a few days more since her conversation with Steve, and Heather's wedding date was fast approaching. She was still putting off her discussion with Herobrine, reluctant to initiate a topic that may result in more stress for both of them. Reluctant to disturb the aura of nervous excitement that constantly existed around the two of them.

Dragging her sword from its sheath, Heather ambled down the hall, narrowed eyes locked on the blissfully ignorant creature as she approached its range of detection. The moment she stepped into range, it whirled around with a screech and hurled its body straight into her waiting blade. Immediately, another one popped out of a newly-formed hole in the wall. "Great."

Having nothing else to do, Heather made her way through the mansion, methodically clearing the building of monster egg blocks. Undoubtedly the work of the same creator of the TNT trap, so either Theo or Notch. Again, most likely Theo, as Notch probably wouldn't spend his time playing dumb pranks in favor of doing important minecraft god stuff. Or whatever.

The trail led Heather down to the basement, where she found, to her mild annoyance, a silverfish spawner. A good number of the mobs had already spawned, milling aimlessly around the basement until she appeared to become the target of their wrath. It took her a few minutes just to get to the spawner, while the mobs weren't particularly dangerous they were fast and also gross and she really didn't want them crawling up her ankles.

Five minutes later, Heather smashed the spawner with the hilt of her sword, sinking to her knees with a groan as the last of the silverfish was impaled on the tip of her blade.

"Some people get wedding gifts." She muttered crossly. "I get wedding silverfish in my basement." Gaze sweeping the dim room once more, she sheathed her weapon and turned to return upstairs.

The door was gone.

Heather blinked, then scowled at the wall of bedrock that kept her from passing through to the stairs.

"Oh, really?" She took a step towards it, then stopped, glancing to either side. Could she dig around it? How far did it reach? Although, she'd rather not break the walls if she could help it. Theo must be here, he had to trigger the wall. Unless it appeared when she broke the spawner? Was that something you could do with command blocks? It seemed likely enough.

"Theo, come out." Heather called, folding her arms to her chest as she glanced around the room. "Very funny, I'd like to go back upstairs now." No response. Maybe he wasn't there, after all.

Sighing, she spun around, tapping a finger to her lips. She could just call for Herobrine and get him to teleport her out, but there was probably some trick to this, some other exit. Theo wouldn't just lock her down here, right?

She turned back in the direction of the door, only to recoil as she was met with a pair of blinding, white eyes.

"Boo."

A scream echoed through the mansion, and Herobrine was on his feet in an instant.

He exchanged an alarmed glance with Steve, who was scrambling to his feet at the opposite end of the library, and silent agreement passed between them before Herobrine disappeared. He teleported to their room, then the roof, the kitchen, a sitting room she frequented - the size of the mansion made it nearly impossible to pinpoint the source of the cry.

A second scream sounded, and, though it twisted at his chest, he couldn't help but be relieved as it served to lead him directly to the source. Summoning a diamond pick to his hand, he teleported to the basement, weapon angled behind him in preparation to attack.

Heather stood in the center of the room, forced onto her toes as a pitch-black shadow held her with an arm wrapped around her neck. A second forearm was pressed over her mouth, keeping her from making any further sound, and just above her head were a pair of blank, glowing eyes.

"Hello." It purred in a voice dripping with satisfaction. "I was wondering when you were going to show up."

Herobrine wasted no time in teleporting behind Null and swinging his pick at his head.

Abruptly, his opponent disappeared before him, and he narrowly avoided burying his blade into Heather's skull. Dispelling his pick, he snatched her up in his arms, teleporting away.

Null could teleport? He didn't used to be able to teleport.

"H-oh boy." Heather stammered out, hands shaking, and appeared to be about to say more before footsteps slamming against wood cut her off.

"Heather!" Steve skid around the corner, sprinting to join them. "What's going- what happened?!"

"Null's here." Herobrine growled before she could take a breath. "We need to get out."

"Null?" Steve didn't react for a moment, face drawn with confusion. It had been far longer for him, Herobrine reasoned.

However, they didn't have time for a recap, as Null had already appeared at the end of the hall.

"Go on, keep running." He encouraged them. "See how far that gets you."

"Get Notch." Herobrine ordered. Steve shot him a startled look. "Just go! I'll take care of-" and then Null was beside him, a black sword flashing through the air, and he only barely managed to dodge it with both him and his fiancée intact. "Take Heather. He seems more interested in fighting me."

"Don't you know how rude it is to talk about someone like they're not there?" Null drawled. "Surely you would know better than anyone, O Herobrine." Shoving Heather into Steve's arms, Herobrine latched onto his opponent and teleported them both to the other side of the building.

"Surely you don't think I can't see you trying to stall me?" Null sounded disappointed, letting his sword hang at his side as Herobrine scrambled back into a defensive position.

"I don't think it matters. It's me you're trying to get at, after all." He hadn't quite caught up with what was going on. How had Null escaped?!

"And what makes you think that?" A ripple of alarm went through him, but Null made no attempt to retreat, so Herobrine continued.

"You didn't hurt Heather, you just used her to lure me in. Your attacks so far have solely been targeted towards me."

"Good, that clever brain of yours has not been left to atrophy for the past 700 years." Herobrine's brow lowered deeper. He was, Null had… changed. He had judged him to be egotistical and overconfident initially, but his stint in the Nether seemed to have only increased it. Once again, he thought he was invincible.

The living shadow lurched forward, sword hurtling down towards his arm, and Herobrine jerked back out of the way. He followed up his dodge with a strike in return, but the blade of his pick flashed harmlessly over Null's back as the creature dropped into a crouch. The sword swung again, this time aimed for his ankles, but Herobrine teleported to the relative safety of a few blocks away.

Null had to know he could disappear at any time. Was he counting on the fact that he was trying to stall?

"I don't think you quite understand what's going on here." As if on cue, Null spoke. "I am not going to kill you."

"I could have figured that out on my own." Herobrine growled back.

"Do you know how long I rotted in the Nether?" Null continued, ignoring him. "Seven hundred and eighty-three years. To kill you now, before I can have my revenge, would be an act of mercy."

"Do you think we have been simply sitting around, allowing you to fester?" Herobrine shifted back, gaze locked on his opponent's blade. "You have no power here, Notch has made sure of that." Null scoffs.

"Your master does not-"

"Notch is not my master."

"-does not control me as much as he believes. I don't need to be able to control mobs to finish what I set out to do."

"You'll have to be content with being deleted."

"Oh yes, because that worked so well for you last time." Flashing forwards, Null swung his sword down through where Herobrine's body had been only a moment before. Bracing himself against the wall behind him, the Nether king wondered if he would be better off leaving while he had the chance.

"Come fight me. Coward." The entity goaded him, and Herobrine shot him a glare before teleporting behind him and swinging his weapon into Null's spine.

Null ducked, the blade only grazing him before he shot upright once more and swung his sword in a wide arc. The blade caught Herobrine's pick, nearly wrenching it out of his hand, and he stumbled to the floor in a failed attempt to catch his balance. Bracing his free hand on the planks, he moved to push himself upright, only to cry out in shock and pain as Null's sword was thrust through his palm, pinning his hand to the floor.

"I told you." Settling into a crouch, Null leaned on the pommel of his blade, prompting an involuntary yelp from his captive. "I don't need my former power to take you down." Gritting his teeth, Herobrine lashed out with his pick, driving his opponent back a step, before releasing his own weapon and grabbing Null's sword by the blade. He tugged on it, then yanked, but it resulted only in his good hand beginning to bleed as the blade was planted firmly in the ground. His next move was to teleport, but instead of moving an awful, crushing feeling overtook his body. A frustrated breath escaped him, and his head dropped to the ground.

"How easy it is to render you helpless." A cold hand snatched up his free wrist, and his wide eyes barely had a chance to flicker up to his assailant before an arrow pierced his palm and pinned it to the ground as well.

He's going to die. He was definitely going to die.

"Giving up already?" Null tsked. "You can still cry out to Notch for help."

"I think I'll pass." Herobrine ground out from behind clenched teeth.

"Wonderful to hear that your pride is still intact." Taking him firmly by the chin, Null tilted his head up, ignoring his failed attempts to wrench his head away. There was an arrow clenched in Null's other fist, and Herobrine had a sickening feeling that he knew what was planned for it.

"I told you already, I'm not going to kill you. Not yet." His voice was almost comforting, in a sort of mocking way. "But I will be finished with you, for now." Cold fingers traced his left eye, and Herobrine flinched away. He opened his mouth, trying to distract him, maybe stall his fate a few moments longer, but the next thing he knew the arrow was flashing towards his vision and he was cut off by the sound of his own scream.

Reminder that I post fanfiction for attention, please leave me reviews :')

~FFF