re: last A/N: I lied lol
ok but for real I got some ideas so maybe now this time things will progress. for sure.
"I wish we had more info on him." Heather grumbled, carrying a torch to light their tunnel as Herobrine mined through the nether. "He just… popped out of captivity and now he can control mobs, has an enderman who teleports him, kidnapped Notch somehow? And also he set Alex and Steve's spawn points."
"I agree." Herobrine paused, stretching, and his shoulder popped slightly. "And trying to glean information from his ramblings does us little good, he raves like a madman." Heather scowled, nodding.
"I don't understand how he's… pulling this off when he's clearly not right in the head."
"A thirst for vengeance can be a powerful tool." Herobrine offered her a small shrug, continuing. "Oh, look." His wife peered around him to see a piece of ancient debris in their path.
"Cool." The two of them had been mining for about an hour now, and Heather was reasonably sure that they had left Null far behind, but they weren't about to take that risk again by going to the surface. Herobrine dug up the path in front of them, ensuring that lava didn't spill on them both, while Heather took the netherrack that he mined and filled up the tunnel behind them so that they didn't leave a trail for Null to follow.
"He also seems to have some way to communicate with the mobs under his command… from anywhere." Herobrine dug up the ancient debris and tucked it away. "Since he came almost immediately when I traded with those piglins."
"Mm…" Heather sighed. "And… also we don't know how he's controlling them. It's not like when he took Manfred- they're not mind-controlled, or anything, they just obey him." She felt a stab of longing. They still didn't know where Manfred was. "The guardian- the elder guardian would've attacked you on sight, wouldn't it? It wouldn't have let you get so close."
"Most likely." Herobrine agreed. "Does he bribe them? Threaten them? He may have been able to buy off the piglins with enough gold, but all of them? It seemed that every one I came across in my flight was hostile to me."
"Mm."
"As for the enderman who obeys him, perhaps threatened? It seemed awfully cowed. And I don't know that guardians covet any particular item enough to be bribed." Herobrine shook his head.
"Speaking of which…" Heather paused in her task of replacing blocks. "Should we go to the overworld? Would it be safer there? Surely the mobs that spawn at night wouldn't be under his command." Herobrine frowned, and she continued. "The piglins all communicate with each other, right? Zombies, skeletons, and creepers are all solo. And endermen…"
"Well," Herobrine cut in. "I have another plan." Heather turned to look at him, and found him staring at a small object in his free hand.
"What?" She stepped closer, and soon identified the item as a compass, which was pointing straight ahead. "Wait, what? You have a lodestone?"
"Experimental feature." Herobrine flicked the compass, and the needle spun in a circle before steadying again. "In the upcoming dimension update. It points to the portal through which you last traveled while in the Nether."
"Oh." His meaning hit her. "We're going back?"
"Surely Null wouldn't expect us there, would he?" Herobrine offered her a small smile. "We just need to keep out of sight of the mobs." She nodded, spirits rising a bit. Would they be able to break out Steve and Alex? "We should be almost there." He reported. "Come on." Heather nodded again, and the two of you fell back into your rhythm of digging up and replacing blocks.
Soon, the compass needle began to spin haphazardly, signifying that they had reached the correct X and Z coordinates, and Herobrine began to make a staircase up. A small amount of struggle later, they had reached the portal they escaped from earlier. How long ago had that been? They must have been awake for at least 18 hours at this point. Heather was tired, sure, but the circumstances of their situation keep her going. She simply couldn't stop and rest right now.
Herobrine took her hand, and she looked up at him before stepping into the portal.
The cave on the other side was quiet, lacking the sounds of zombies groaning or spiders scuttling - which was good. Heather and Herobrine slipped quietly out of the open, hugging the walls of the caverns as they made their way back towards Null's prison.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" She asked tentatively as Herobrine turned right at an intersection. "We were running for a while."
"Trust me." Herobrine smirked, pointing to his working eye. "I have an eye for this kind of thing." His wife audibly groaned at his attempt at a joke.
The longer they traveled, though, the less relieved Heather felt that there were no mobs, and more… wary. Why didn't they spawn? Were they all somewhere else? Was this some kind of trap? Were they even going the right way?
An elder guardian's face flashed in front of her vision. "Agh!"
"Shh!" Herobrine hushed her quickly. "What is it?"
"W-we're close…" Heather rubbed at her eyes, feeling fatigue weighing down on her the moment she closed them. "Just got guardian jumpscared."
"Ah." Herobrine changed his stance, lowering himself into a wary crouch, and Heather followed suit. "Be very quiet." She nodded, taking his hand and clinging tightly as he led you down the passage.
Before long, an obsidian wall came into view.
"There." Heather whispered, but Herobrine shook his head.
"The guardian would see us immediately." He whispered back.
"But Steve and Alex," Heather protested.
"They will be alright. We need to search for Notch. If we can free him, we will have a powerful ally against Null." Herobrine told her. She frowned.
"Alright… but if he's caged, does that mean he's powerless?"
"Perhaps, but he still may know something." Herobrine started to lead her around the corner of the wall. "We may not be on the best of terms, but, just as before, Null is a common enemy of ours." Heather pursed her lips.
"Alright… okay." Slowly, the two of them made their way around the obsidian room, soon finding the outside of the maze that Herobrine had been forced to solve. Herobrine knew that Notch was somewhere near the tunnel, but wasn't sure how to get in there. Hypothetically, they could just dig through, but Herobrine didn't want to alert Null or any of his minions of their presence. So, for now, they went around, looking for a way in.
As they neared the back end of the maze, a strange, staticy sound met Heather's ears. The closer they went, the louder it got, and the blonde winced as a headache started to bloom.
"What is that?" She hissed.
"It sounds like an enderman." Herobrine picked up the pace, and Heather covered one ear with her free hand. He's right- it sounded like an enderman's scream when one looked it in the eyes. But why would an enderman be angry down here? Was Null here…?
As they rounded the corner to the back end of the maze, Heather spied another obsidian room, jutting off of the rear wall. The sound grew ever louder as they approached, and Herobrine grasped his pickaxe as they got close, jaw set.
"Stand back." He muttered, and Heather backed up a step as he began to dig up a block of obsidian. She covered her ears as he worked, trying to block out the static sound, but it seemed to penetrate straight through into her skull.
Herobrine dug up a single block, then beckoned Heather closer, helping her through the gap. She slipped through, then stepped back as he came in behind her. The sound was even louder now, but Heather couldn't see the source until she and her husband had rounded the corner.
An enderman was laying crumpled on the ground, bound in place with spiderwebs. He couldn't move except to shake as water dripped from the piece of dripstone placed above him, the water steadily eating away at his leg.
"MANFRED!" Herobrine tore away from her, and Heather stood stock-still as Herobrine hastily placed the block of obsidian below the dripstone, stopping the flow of water. Manfred's staticy cries began to subside, and Heather stumbled forward, dropping to her knees beside him and using her sword to cut the cobwebs. Herobrine sank down on his other side, jaw clamped tightly as she freed the enderman from his bonds.
"Null," he grit out, "I presume." Manfred gave a weak warble in response, and Heather's hands shook where they clutched at her sword.
"How long have you been here?" She choked out. "What are you- how long has he-"
".oga syad em derutpac eH" Manfred responded. ".sruoh rof moor siht ni neeb ylno ev'I"
"Why?" Herobrine demanded. "Did he give a reason, or did he just do it to be cruel?!"
".ytlayol ym detnaw eH" Manfred got a hand underneath him as Heather finished, trying to push himself up. ".ti evig ot desufer I .niagA" He braced himself with his hands and made to stand, only to crumple with a shrill cry when he put weight on his injured leg.
"Manfred! Let me help you." Herobrine surged up, wrapping an arm around his back. Slumping, Manfred knelt, clinging to Herobrine and trying to keep his weight off of his injured leg. Heather averted her eyes, trying not to look at the nasty wound as she sheathed her sword. Would he… would he regenerate by himself?
"Can you teleport, my friend?" Herobrine was asking. Manfred chirped a bit, looking around.
".os kniht I" He reached out with his free hand, laying it on Heather's arm, and the three of them appeared outside the obsidian box in a large, deepslate cavern.
"Over there." Herobrine pointed to a small nook near the edge of the cavern, and Manfred teleported again, just inside it. "Heather," Herobrine gently removed Manfred's arm from around his shoulders, settling him on the ground. "Stay with Manfred, and keep out of sight. I'm going to look for Notch."
"Okay." Heather drew her sword. "Can you get me some deepslate to cover us up?"
"Of course." Herobrine retreated into the cavern, digging up a few blocks while attempting to keep the cave looking natural. In the meantime, Heather helped Manfred move to lean against the corner of their little hiding place, his wounded leg stretched out before him. Would potions work on endermen? They were liquid, they might just hurt him…
"Here." Herobrine returned to Heather's side with half a stack of blocks. They were regular deepslate, somehow, not cobbled. More Herobrine magic, she supposed. Before he could back off, Heather threw her arms around him.
"Be careful." She mumbled into his shoulder.
"Same to you." He squeezed her back, then let go, and Heather covered up their hiding place as he retreated back towards Null's maze.
oh look. manfred content. lol