(henry stickman distraction dance)
Please be aware that this chapter contains moderately graphic violence. Nothing too stomach-rolling, but... yeah.
also it's a heckin chonker of a chapter ok
Heather leaned back against Herobrine's chest with a sigh, closing her eyes as her head tilted back.
"Well… this isn't too uncomfortable."
"Glad you think so." Herobrine kissed the top of her head. "It seems we'll be here for a while."
"Correct." In his own boat, Notch reclined against the back, watching the sun as it disappeared over the far horizon. "Until further notice."
"Don't suppose we'll be getting much sleep." Alex remarked. "What with the drowned."
"The drowned will pose little threat." Notch brushed her off. "Though it would be wise for us to take turns keeping watch."
"I'll take the first shift." Herobrine volunteered, before Notch could do it for him. Heather sighed.
"Can I still sleep on you?"
"Of course."
This ocean was one of the bigger ones, it seemed. Their group had rowed for about half the day, and the only sign of land they had seen had been a small island. Notch had his heart set on staying in the water anyway, so it didn't really matter. As the sun began to set, they had pulled their boats into a group to spend the night.
There had been no sign of mobs, either, other than the fish swimming around in schools below them and the odd dolphin. At one point they had passed over a coral reef, but no temples. Heather was glad. Even though the guardians seemed loyal to Herobrine still, she didn't really want to take that risk.
Now, she was sitting with Herobrine on the bottom of his boat, in between his knees and leaning back against his chest. The stars were just starting to appear in the sky above her, and Heather shut her eyes with a sigh.
"How's the arm?" Herobrine murmured into her ear. She rolled her shoulder slightly.
"Better. Hurts though."
"Good. That it's healing, that is." He wrapped his arms around her chest, staring down into the water. They could hear Steve and Alex chatting, sharing food, along with a few murmured words from Notch. Besides that and the water lapping against the sides of their boats, it was quiet.
"I hope Notch is right." Heather commented. "That Null can't get to us."
"So do I." Herobrine sighed. "I'm trying to think of a way that he could. I'm sure Endermen can't teleport onto boats, he could teleport to the nearest landmass and boat from there."
"But he wouldn't be able to teleport directly to us, allowing us to move." She pointed out. Herobrine nodded.
"The water should have some advantage, at least." The two of them were quiet for a minute.
"Why do you suppose he didn't teleport to us when we were running away in the caves?" Heather spoke up at last. "Aren't we assuming he can track us?" Herobrine frowned.
"Perhaps he doesn't know our exact location… he hasn't come upon us yet. If he could, he likely would have caught up to us in the village."
"And we're assuming the mobs snitch to him because the piglins did…" She mused. "…ugh. It seems like he's changing over time, too. Because at first, the mobs didn't obey him…"
"It would certainly be simpler if we had a list of his abilities." He said with a sigh. "Whatever the case, traveling seems to be our best option for now, but hopefully the ocean will provide some measure of safety."
"Mm." Heather shifted, her legs starting to go numb from staying in the same position for too long. "What Theo said about him breaking the game… is really not encouraging."
"Indeed." Herobrine muttered. "He's growing more powerful, and more angry. And his mad speech when we escaped from his prison hardly fills me with confidence about his plans for this world."
"Right…" Heather stretched, then twisted, pillowing the side of her head against his chest.
"Goodnight, Heather." Herobrine's hand rested on the top of her head, carding through her hair. She hummed.
"Night."
The silence was broken by the hum of a Nether Portal.
"Heather." A hand gripped her shoulder, startling her awake, and Heather lifted her head to find Herobrine's gaze trained above her head. She turned to look, immediately spying a Nether Portal floating in the air above them.
"What-" Heather cut herself off as her question was answered. Null was standing on the small platform that spawned with it, peering over the edge with narrowed eyes.
"Oh my. Fancy seeing you here."
"Notch!" Herobrine shouted as Heather scrambled up, grabbing her sword. "Steve, Alex, get up!"
"Interesting tactic." Null commented. "Taking your stand in the middle of the ocean. Brave."
"Can't you just leave?" Heather snapped, heart pounding. She didn't know how to fight out of a boat!
"No." Null scoffed. "Well, tell you what. I need to have a talk with your husband. Perhaps if he comes with me quietly, I'll leave the rest of you be."
"Fat chance." Heather hissed.
"Then I'm staying." Null shrugged. "Until further notice. Also, I would look down if I were you." By the time she had turned to look at the water, a slimy, rotting hand had grasped the side of her boat.
Herobrine's pickaxe slammed down on the drowned zombie's head as it tried to pull itself up, causing the mob to explode into exp orbs, but it was far from the last. All around them, dozens of drowned were appearing from below, grabbing onto their boats and causing them to rock dangerously in the water. Heather lurched upright, grabbing Herobrine's arm to steady herself as she took a whack at one of the mobs attempting to capsize her boat. The zombie grasped the blade of her sword, growling and paying no heed to the blade cutting into its fingers.
"Heather!" An arrow struck the mob in the head, and her chin jerked up to find Alex nocking another arrow. As Heather watched, Steve vaulted from his own boat into Notch's, assisting his creator in holding off the drowned surrounding him. Heather grit her teeth, taking another stab at one of her own assailants.
A bright light caught her attention, and Heather looked up to find a stream of lava descending slowly from the portal towards a patch of open water. Where it landed, it hardened the water into cobblestone, at which point Null removed the lava and leapt down onto this new piece of land.
"Alex, shoot him!" Heather shouted.
"Heather! Focus!" Herobrine yanked her against his side, just in time for a trident to whizz past her head. She gaped, spinning to face the source, a drowned zombie who was rearing back for another throw. Before it could make it, however, Herobrine had hurled an iron sword which sunk deep into the creature's head.
"You've spent a lot of time hiding, Notch!" Null roared. "Afraid to come and face me? Afraid to look me in the eye after everything you've done to me?!"
"Simply taking precautions." Notch snapped back, slamming the hilt of his sword into a drowned's brittle skull. "I cannot die on a whim."
"No, you can't." Null's eyes narrowed with glee. "You can't. A fitting fate for the high and mighty ruler of this infinite world. To be powerless, and hunted down by your creations that you have oppressed. A fitting role reversal indeed, and one you entirely deserve." Notch gritted his teeth at the jab, starting to move towards the cobblestone platform, but Steve stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"We need to stay together! Don't let him bait you!"
"And Herobrine!" Null whipped around to face their boat. "Still you insist on resisting me. Don't you see how alike we are? We would be much stronger together!"
"Perhaps you should have thought of that before you tried to kill my wife." Herobrine snapped, beating back another zombie trying to crawl into their boat. Heather had her hands full herself, struggling to keep her balance in the shifting boat and also keep the drowned off of them. They just kept coming!
A splash caught her attention, and Heather's chin jerked up just in time to see Alex disappear under the water.
"Alex!" She cried out. Of course, if she died, she'd just respawn with Theo, but-
"I see the hacker has abandoned you to your own endeavors." Null continued to goad them. "His assistance was, ultimately, fruitless. As is your resistance."
"And how exactly does it aid us to give up?" Herobrine shot back. "That would only hasten our death, unless you sought to extend our lives through torture first. Resisting seems like the less painful option."
"It does? I'll have to fix that."
Behind Null, Alex dragged herself up onto the side of the platform, bracing her upper body on the cobblestone as she drew her bow and aimed for Null's heart.
The creak of the bowstring alerted him to the impending attack, and he jerked aside just in time for the arrow to sink into his shoulder instead. Null hissed, grasping the arrow by the shaft and yanking it out of his shoulder with a spray of black blood. Alex vaulted onto the platform, swapping out her bow for an axe and bringing it down on Null's head. It was dodged at the last moment as Null drew his own sword, swinging at her legs, and she leapt back to avoid it.
In Notch's boat, Steve slammed the crossguard of his sword into a zombie's head, then turned and leapt out of the boat to assist Alex. Notch scowled, clearly unimpressed about being abandoned, but he couldn't deny that Null was the primary target. He seemed to be doing well enough against the zombies, there weren't enough to overwhelm him. Or Heather, for that matter.
"We should get Null." She hissed to her husband. Herobrine nodded, dropping down to grasp the oars and move the boat closer to the platform. Alex and Steve were trying to take him out, but he was fast, and reckless, which had allowed him to stay alive so far.
Something slammed into their boat, causing it to shudder harshly, and Heather was forced to grab Herobrine's shoulder for balance. Another thud, then another, and the boat vanished beneath them, the item dropping into the water along with both of them.
Heather got a gulp of air just before she went under, flailing in the water as she forced herself to remember how to swim. Blurry forms were all around her, many with glowing eyes, though only one had white. An arm wrapped around her, and she jerked away just before Herobrine dragged her up to the surface.
"Ah!" She coughed, finally getting her arms and legs to work enough for her to tread water.
"Come on." Herobrine dragged her over to Null's platform, all but pushing her up onto it before diving back under to deal with the drowned. Heather tried to wipe the water off of her face (a fruitless attempt) before staggering upright and lunging at Null.
She slipped past Steve to thrust her sword at Null's stomach, which he parried at the last moment before being forced back again by Alex. While holding two people off seemed to be doable for him, three was not. And now Herobrine was climbing out of the water, pickaxe brandished, to join them.
Steve swung at Null, and Null ducked under it, slashing at him. The attack connected, and Steve shouted as he staggered back. Null straightened, grinning, an instant before Alex's axe connected with his head and he exploded into smoke.
"Steve!" Heather rushed to check on him. The miner pressed a hand against his stomach, prodding at the rend in his shirt.
"It isn't bad." He reported, lifting the hem to reveal a shallow cut. "We should get out of here before he-"
"Comes back?" Heather's head jerked up, craning her neck to find Null perched on the Nether Portal platform above them. "Oops."
"We need to get out of here." Herobrine ordered. "Null will only continue bringing in more mobs, we can outrun them, I-"
"Oh, I somehow doubt that." Null cut him off. The entity placed down a command block, and Herobrine immediately moved to the edge of the platform, placing his boat.
"Heather, come-"
A huge splash interrupted him, and Heather whirled around to find herself staring into the eye of the Elder Guardian.
Alex immediately drew her bow, but the creature was already diving under the platform, out of sight. Heather searched the water, only finding drowned, before the guardian jumpscare flashed across her vision. Notch, in his boat, stood up to search as well.
Something heavy slammed into the platform, and Heather nearly lost her footing, Herobrine forced to scramble back before he fell into the water. Blue spikes appeared momentarily, and a beam of light connected with Alex's chest, a moment before a laser struck her and caused her to shout with pain.
"Kill it!" Notch shouted. "Don't just stand there and-"
"No!" Herobrine cut him off immediately. "Do not get in the water! She'll kill you first."
"She won't hurt me!" Heather called. "Maybe I can-"
"No, there's too many drowned." The guardian rammed the platform again, and this time Heather did fall, grunting as she hit the cobblestone.
"We can't just stand here and take it!" Notch made the leap from his boat to the platform, nearly losing his footing, and Herobrine grabbed his hand to steady him.
"We can bide our time until the opportune moment." He snapped. "I know you're unaccustomed to not having your way, but your safety is at stake, so give it a shot." Notch yanked his hand free.
"I-"
The elder guardian leapt out of the water, hanging in the air just long enough to strike Steve with a laser. Heather gaped, trying to stagger upright. On the edges of the platform, drowned zombies were beginning to pull themselves up, focused on Notch and Herobrine.
"Watch your back, Notch!" Null dropped down from his perch above them, a sword materializing in his hand as he landed behind Notch and took a swing at him. Notch jerked out of the way, swinging back, and the two exchanged blow after blow. Alex shot Null, knocking him sideways, and he growled.
"Get rid of her." He gestured to the water. Immediately, the platform was rammed again, and a drowned lurched out of the water with its gaze zeroed onto Alex. Heather scrambled up and lunged at it, beheading it before it could get to her.
Notch attacked Null again, who ducked under his first swing and thrust his sword at his stomach. Notch jerked back, clutching at a new tear in his shirt, and Steve tackled Null from the side. Heather spun in alarm as Null grabbed Steve by the throat, slamming him onto his back on the platform.
"We've done this song and dance before." He hissed. "What's one more round?" He gripped tighter, and Steve's body seemed to blur for a moment before he let out a strained cry and vanished.
"Steve!" Heather yelped. At least- he would respawn with Theo, right? Maybe Theo would come and help-
"Heather!" Herobrine's shout snapped her back to attention, and she scrambled away from a drowned trying to bite down on her arm. She cut it down with relative ease, then spied the guardian approaching again. Alex fired an arrow into the water, but it merely glanced off of the creature's scales as she dove under the platform. Null looked up with a grin as the guardian rose up behind Alex, jerking forward and impaling the archer onto one of her shimmering spikes.
Heather whirled around in alarm as Alex vanished, meeting Herobrine's eyes. His face was grim, one arm extended towards Notch as Null rose to his feet again.
"Now that those two are out of the way…" Null yanked the arrow out of his arm, tossing it into the water.
"Give it up, Null." Notch snapped. "This won't work. You'll never be able to kill me, not without Bryn's help, and he will never help you."
"Give it up?" Null echoed, incredulous. "Give up? When I'm the closest to retribution that I've been in a thousand years?"
"Your imprisonment was a result of your own aggression and hubris." Herobrine shot back. "You brought it upon yourself by challenging us."
"I was only doing what I was built to do! I was built to bring destruction!"
"Yes- in a structured way!" Notch retorted. "You were supposed to fulfill your function and nothing else!"
"Oh, so when Herobrine denies his purpose and goes and becomes king of the mobs, that's fine! But when I do it-"
"It was not fine, actually." Notch cut in.
"This is not the time for that." Heather hissed.
"You're contradicting yourself." Herobrine addressed Null again. "Were you simply fulfilling your purpose, or were you rebelling? It can't be both!"
"It was both!" Null snapped, all traces of levity gone from his voice. "Notch created me to want to destroy, to control- and when I pursued those goals, I was punished! Just as he gave you a love to learn and explore, and when you rejected his control he tried to destroy you! We are the SAME!"
"We are not the same, because I learned to live in peace with my situation, and you did not!"
"How could I be at peace when my very being drives me to go to war?" Null snarled. "I have as much right to exist as you do! Join me, and we could rule this world together!"
"If I die, the world goes with me!" Notch hurled back. "There would be nothing left to rule!"
"Every day my influence grows stronger, every day I own a little more of your precious world!" Null growled. "Soon that will not be the case, Notch, I will have my victory."
"Not if I don't help you." Herobrine said coldly. "And I won't." Null's face went blank momentarily, then twisted into a snarl.
"Then I will kill you too, you and your precious wife, and I will find a way to kill Notch on my own, and believe me I will find a way!" Null's voice rose to a fevered pitch. "I WILL FIND A WAY!"
"You may have stripped me of my power, but I will not go down easily." Notch snapped. "You should have learned that by now."
"This is precisely why I WILL kill you, because you are arrogant and foolish! Do you really not see the situation you're in right now?!" Null gestured around himself, sword waving carelessly at the drowned and the guardian, which was circling the platform just under the water. "You don't deserve this world, you never have! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!"
"Heather!" Herobrine shouted suddenly, lunging towards her. Heather spun around, wary of an attack from behind, to see an aqua blur flashing towards her.
Thud.
She hit the water, grasping instinctively at the handle of the trident sticking out of her chest. Her gasp for air was met with a rush of salt water as she sank, but her lungs were already filled with blood. She was sinking, pain radiating through her body with every faltering heartbeat.
Darkness began to encroach on her vision, and she became faintly aware of her blood staining the water above her before she passed out.
"Heather!" Herobrine threw his pickaxe aside without a second thought, lunging for the water where his wife had just disappeared.
"Bryn, don't be an idiot!" Notch grabbed him by the arm, yanking him back from the edge despite his frantic movements. "Focus on the matter at hand!"
"Let go of me!" Herobrine scrabbled at his hand, painfully aware of every tick that Heather spent under the water. "Let GO!"
"We don't have time for this! She's immortal, she'll be fine!" Notch snapped back.
"WE DON'T KNOW THAT!"
"Immortal?" Null echoed. "That's unexpected. I thought she was hardcore." Herobrine finally freed his arm from Notch's grip, stumbling, and he snatched up his pick again, hurling it at Null's chest. The entity's eyes went wide an instant before it hit, killing him abruptly.
"Bryn-" Notch began, but he was ignored, Herobrine scrambling to the edge of the platform where Heather had gone over the edge. He could see the faint glow of the enchanted trident far below, water stained red, and he was just about to jump in after her when his view was blocked by a huge eye.
He gasped, jerking back, but the elder only stared at him, not moving to attack. Herobrine inhaled shakily, feeling pressure growing in the back of his throat. "Your temple is safe!" He cried out. "We fixed it! Null has nothing to hold over you anymore, you don't have to obey him!" The creature was silent for a few moments, unmoving, and Herobrine could do nothing but pray that she believed him.
Finally, she looked away, focusing a laser on a drowned hovering nearby, and Herobrine let out a breath of relief. He slipped into the water, taking a breath before diving down towards his wife, her limp body lit only faintly by the glow of the trident buried in her chest.
As he neared her, the elder guardian shot past him, swimming underneath Heather's sinking body and nudging her upward with a flat part of her head. Herobrine grasped onto one of the blue spikes as the elder swam past him again, carrying him and Heather back up to the cobblestone platform.
As soon as they had breached the surface, Herobrine could see just how bad the damage was.
"Hey!" A voice drew his attention upwards, and Herobrine jerked up to see Theo standing on the obsidian portal platform with Alex beside him. "What's-" His gaze fell on Heather. "…oh s###."
"Get me a totem." Herobrine snapped, dragging his wife off of the guardian as gently as he could. The spokes of the trident were sticking out of her back, and he grasped the handle hesitantly, knowing he would only hurt her further by yanking it out.
"Hold on, hold on." Theo dropped down beside him, grabbing the trident, and it shrank abruptly into item form. "Here." He offered up a totem, and Herobrine pressed it into Heather's hand, heart in his throat as it exploded into green and yellow particles.
Heather's eyelids flickered, and Herobrine hastily pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her front and squeezing tightly until she started to cough, a mixture of water and blood pouring from her mouth.
"There, there you are." Herobrine muttered as she coughed, chest heaving as she caught her breath. Her arms came up to wrap around her chest, shuddering.
"Here." Herobrine looked up at Theo's voice, and he found the hacker holding out a copy of his white hoodie. He nodded thankfully, and murmured a warning to Heather before slipping it over her head. She made no attempt to fit her arms through the sleeves, just treated the hoodie like a blanket as she leaned back against Herobrine.
"What happened?" Theo asked softly, sinking down next to them.
"Notch insisted we spend the night out on the ocean." Herobrine told him, voice low. "Null found us, summoned drowned and his elder guardian. One of the drowned got her."
"Oh…" Theo shifted uncomfortably. "I see uh… you made friends with the guardian." The elder rumbled softly in response.
"Thanks to you, yes."
"Hey Theo." Heather rasped.
"Hey." Theo patted her shoulder. "That looked like it hurt."
"Mhm. It did."
"We need to get out of here." Alex spoke up quietly. "Null will be back any minute."
"She's right." Theo agreed, standing. "I'll find the nearest land and teleport us." He started to type a command, but Heather cut in.
"W-wait, where's Steve?" The question was met with silence.
"I thought Theo had sent him back already," Alex broke it at last. "Did he die again?"
"I never saw him." Theo shook his head. "I didn't know he died at all."
"But his spawn." Heather protested. "Shouldn't it be set in your base?"
"It should." Theo frowned, deleting the existing line on his console and typing a new one. "I can't teleport him here, it won't work."
"Null… got him, somehow?" Heather ventured. Herobrine set his jaw.
"It seems like it."
"Oh…" Heather hung her head, letting her hood cover her face. "…shoot."
"It's all broken, it's all broken…" Null muttered vehemently to himself, pacing back and forth before where Notch's henchman laid. "What's the point if I can't get what I want?!" He turned to glare at the prone form, willing the man to open his eyes. He needed his power back, he needed it.
The command block wasn't enough, and now he's lost his Elder, too. Not that it mattered, since the obsidian chamber wasn't of much use… the girl was immortal? How? Wasn't she from the other place, the outside place? Where they had no respawning or extra lives? Why couldn't she die? Or maybe she could, Herobrine said he didn't know- But Notch would know, wouldn't he? Unless he didn't. He was powerless. Null has all the power now.
Not all the power, not everything that he needs. Null plucked at the hilt of his sword, finding a splinter to dig away at until it came free. He was still under the control of the failsafe, no matter what he did he simply couldn't deal the killing blow. Even after all, he's still under Notch's control. Herobrine wasn't, Herobrine was free, why couldn't he see that? Why can't Null be free too?
Steve stirred, and Null stopped short, staring down at him with interest. Steve moved, and his body flickered, the light warping around him into green and red and blue as he pushed himself up. He opened his eyes, and they were jet black as he turned to look up at his master.
Null grinned. He's broken. It's all broken.