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Lifting a hand to his face, Notch pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing the base of his forehead with his thumb.

"You have to be kidding me."

"This isn't our fault!" Heather protested indignantly. Behind her, Steve tucked a lock of her disheveled hair behind her ear.

"I didn't say that. But I am frustrated nonetheless." Turning away, the creator crossed the platform to his array of screens. "I was not notified when he escaped. I have no idea how long he's been roaming free."

"That's not great." Steve muttered, and Heather hugged shaking arms to her chest. Her hands hadn't stopped trembling since Null had caught her by surprise just a few minutes before.

He hadn't hurt her, just quickly relieved her of her weapon and pinned her against him until Herobrine had arrived. Herobrine had teleported away with him, ordering her and Steve to get out, and the miner had whisked her outside where he called out to Notch for assistance. The creator had teleported them to his personal world, somewhere in the void or other, and Steve had quickly filled him in on what they just experienced.

It had only been a couple minutes since she last saw him, but an uncomfortable feeling was already settling into her chest. Why wasn't he here yet? Granted, he probably wanted to stall Null for a couple minutes longer, and he probably didn't know where exactly they had gone, but… even that didn't make her feel much better.

"I can't find him." Notch's voice was irritable. "His coordinates are corrupted, I can't access them."

"What about Herobrine's?" Heather asked tentatively.

"I've never been able to access his. I assume he's still in the mansion."

"Probably." She twisted her fingers together, looking down at the ring on her finger.

"I'm going to go check." A diamond sword materialized in Notch's hand. "Possibly get the drop on this renegade." With that, he disappeared in a flash.

Heather didn't move for a second, just absorbing the situation, and Steve wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Null can't do a thing with Notch there." He assured her. "Herobrine will be fine."

"I'm sure he would be anyway." The blonde hugged her arms to her chest. "Still worried, though."

"Come on." Gently, he tugged at her shoulder, leading her towards the doorway behind her. "Let's go sit down. Standing around worrying won't help anything."

"Ah, yes, sitting around worrying is so much more productive." She smirked ruefully at her own joke, and Steve sighed as guided her through the opening.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I meant."

The mansion was quiet.

Notch started up the fifth staircase so far, wondering how and also why Bryn and his wife had felt the need to build such an immense building. It was very clean and pleasing to the eye, simple decorations adorning each hallway and staircase, but it became repetitive very quickly. They could have easily gotten away with a home an eighth of the size, and it wouldn't be so much of a challenge to traverse.

"Bryn!" He called out, but his only response was his own echo. It was possible the fight had moved elsewhere, out of the building. That would mean Bryn was on his own, Notch refused to search halfway around the world for him. Nether, he was just about finished wandering around this maze. "Herobrine!"

He turned a corner, and stopped short as his gaze met a trail of bloody footprints.

Slowly, cautiously, he began to follow the trail back to their source. Steve and Heather weren't injured, at least, not obviously, and he didn't think that Null could bleed. That left but one option as to the previous owner of the blood that now stained the white carpet below him.

The trail lead down the hall and into a side room, prints becoming more and more defined the closer he got to the source. The silence was chilling, now, and he couldn't help but feel that he was being led into a trap. Which was preposterous, of course, nothing could hurt him, but the nagging feeling continued to bother him regardless.

He turned through the doorway and was met by a gruesome sight.

Bryn's body lay in a pool of drying blood, half-curled around a sword that was pierced through the back of his left hand, pinning it against the floor. His other hand was pinned to the planks with an arrow, and a second arrow appeared to be buried in his eye socket. Notch frowned, lowering his head a bit. He was no friend of his rogue creation, but even he could sympathize with him in what must have been a painful death.

As he began to turn away, though, the 'corpse' drew a shuddering breath, capturing his attention once more. He was still alive? A moment's hesitation later, Notch was crossing the room towards him, kneeling by the body and reaching out to touch the weapons embedded in his flesh. He had always known that Bryn was strong, but, with the amount of blood here, he should not still be alive.

And Null had left him here, unconscious and at the total mercy of whoever should come across him next - provided he did not bleed out first. What a cruel being.

Reaching out again, Notch brushed the arrow in his eye with his fingertips, watching as it dissolved into shimmering sparks. He repeated the process with the other two weapons, watching as Bryn's body cured up a bit more. Carefully, he touched the skin around his mangled eye, trying to get a better idea of the damage, which appeared to great for it to heal on its' own. Hopefully a healing potion would simply reverse it.

Gently, Notch slid his hands under Bryn's motionless form, then got back to his feet. The younger man's head lolled a bit before resting against his chest, the smallest of whimpers escaping him in his unconscious state. His creator fixed him with a firm glare, perfectly aware that he would never acknowledge it. Then, he teleported away, leaving the mansion in eerie silence once more.

Moments after his departure, a jet-black figure crept from its hiding spot, gazing at the remnants of his actions in the center of the room. Drawing closer, he pressed two fingers into the puddle of blood and lifted them to the wall where he began to write.

I didn't write this chapter all that long ago- maybe 6 months? but the difference between this and my current work is clearly visible (at least to me) regardless. that's interesting

~FFF