Heather rested her hands on the balcony railing, sighing as she gazed out at the distant sun that peeked over the ocean horizon.
"Good morning." A voice greeted her, and she turned around as her official, legal husband stepped out through the sliding door with a mug of coffee in each hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Refreshed." She turned back to the ocean, making mental plans to go and swim once the air had warmed a bit. "One of those for me?"
"Both for me, sorry." Was his response, and Heather turned to give him a mock glare as he offered her one of the mugs. "On that note, though, I might have another cup. I'm still half asleep."
"Yesterday was a busy day," She affirmed, taking a sip of her coffee. It was hot, but not enough to burn her, and just how she liked it.
The previous day had been a whirl of excitement. Their wedding had gone off without a hitch, with all her loved ones in attendance. Even Theo had made it down in time, despite being still somewhat exhausted from fighting Null. Some of Herobrine's friends he had made while on Earth had attended as well, and overall it had been a very pleasant day.
No sooner had the reception ended, however, than she and Herobrine had been forced to dash for the airport to catch a flight. It had been a bit pricey due to the short notice, but the two of them had managed to find a place to stay on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. They could have, of course, waited a bit on their honeymoon, it really wouldn't make much of a difference, but after Null the two of them seriously needed a vacation.
It had been a stressful night of struggling with airports and connecting flights, but they had made it. They'd even had enough time to catch a few hours of sleep, while still being up in time to see the sunrise.
"Should we have kids?" Heather remarked offhandedly, and she was filled with mischievous joy as Herobrine choked on his coffee.
The silence extended for a moment. "…we've established that I can't-"
"I don't mean in the traditional way," she cut him off. "But there are other methods of getting kids. Adoption, and stuff." Herobrine cleared his throat.
"It's a possibility. Is that something you'd want?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure." Heather sipped on your coffee. "Can we get a puppy?"
"Sure."
"Yayyy." She rested her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Do you feel any different?" He asked.
"Now that we're married?" She murmured. "Mm… not really."
"Mm." Herobrine nodded. "I expect we'll get asked a lot less frequently at family functions when we're going to tie the knot."
"Yes, because those questions will be replaced with 'when are you going to have kids'?"
Herobrine sighed. "Oh Nether."
"We'll have to perfect our awkward laughs."
"Heather, please."
Heather giggled, acknowledging to herself that she was probably still loopy from a lack of sleep. And, just… drunk on happiness. She was married (for real this time) to her first and only love, with the best of both worlds she'd grown to call home within her reach. No one wanted to hurt them, and they had a week on a tropical island to rest.
"If you're getting a puppy, can I get a cat?" Herobrine broke the silence. Heather frowned.
"As long as they get along, yeah."
"I'm sure we can figure something out." His arm around her gave her a little squeeze. "Are you hungry?"
"…yeah," she searched her memory for the last time she'd eaten- a bag of peanuts on their first flight. "What are we going to eat, though? Sand? This cottage isn't exactly stocked up."
"I ordered groceries while I was making coffee. They should be here soon." He said. She tilted her head back to look at him in amazement.
"You're not as sleep-deprived as I thought."
"Not enough to keep me from being hungry." He smirked down at her. "I'm going to go check on it."
"I'll come too."
Herobrine headed back into the house, and Heather followed, discussing the rest of the day as they did so. There were a few tourist spots within driving distance that the two of them wanted to check out, but today would likely be spent recovering from their trip and probably scoping out the beach. Brochures for the island had promised a variety of interesting ocean life, though, Heather lamented, probably not any huge, laser-spewing pufferfish. They agreed to go check on the Elder Guardian and her children when they went back to Minecraft.
Not until their trip was over, though. This week was all about them.
This was a new beginning, and the future looked bright.
Notch grimaced as a loud crash came from the kitchen, turning an irritable look on the closed door.
"If you didn't like noise, you shouldn't have accepted our invitation." Alex told him, resting her folded arms on the table as she fixed him with a grin.
"Oh, I knew there would be noise." Notch grumbled. "I just didn't expect this much of it." Alex shrugged.
"They're young and clumsy, they'll get-" she was cut off by a yell from the kitchen, and both she and Notch swiveled to look in alarm. A moment later, the door was thrown open, and Noor stormed out with Kai trailing behind her.
"I said I was sorry," the latter protested. "It was an accident."
"How do accidentally stab me?" Noor snapped. Alex stood, stepping over to do damage control, and Notch rolled his eyes. The group was ever so slightly rowdier than Steve and Alex had made them sound.
The front door opened, and Notch turned around as Makena stepped into the community hall with Steve at her heels, both of them with an armful of carrots. Makena stopped short at the sight of Kai and Noor bickering, the latter clutching a bleeding cut on her arm.
"…should I be concerned?"
"They're fine." Notch stood. "Do either of you need a hand?" Steve shrugged, and two carrots fell from his arms to clatter to the wooden floor.
"Uh..."
"I'll get it." Notch headed over to join them, and the three of them transported their bounty into the kitchen. Inside, food preparations were well underway for their celebration. Sunny waved them over to the far end of the room where he was peeling potatoes, across from where Efe was putting the final touches on her cake.
"Half of those go here," Sunny pointed to the countertop beside the potatoes. "And half go in that box, to be turned gold. I'm just waiting on more-" Manfred teleported in behind him, holding a shulker box. "-nuggets. Hey!" Manfred chirped at him, setting the box down. The Enderman was sporting a red bow tie, a feature he'd adopted to be more easily recognizable to the new players who couldn't tell him apart from hostile Endermen.
It had been a full year since Notch had created the seven new inhabitants of his world, each one fully intelligent and fully unique. He had spent rather little time with them in that time, preferring to spend his time preparing new features for the game instead, but Steve and Alex had been ready and willing to take care of them and teach them how to survive. They had recently passed along an invitation to the group's 'birthday party', which Notch had hesitantly accepted.
Though it was loud and chaotic, Notch found that he was enjoying himself, peeling carrots and chopping them up to be added to a cauldron. It was nice to have a change of pace.
Soon enough, the preparations were complete, and the group transported the food out of the kitchen and onto the tables in the main hall. Noor and Kai were no longer feuding, though they still jabbed at each other with light insults, and as Notch looked around he could see a couple of faces missing.
"Where are Ari and Zuri?" He asked. Steve nodded towards the door.
"Running late." He said. "They went out in search of decorations earlier today, and there's been no sign of them since." Alex sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Clearly this was a frequent issue for the pair of them
"Are we waiting?" Sunny asked, eying a platter of steak longingly. "I'm sure they'll catch u-" as if on cue, he was interrupted by a creak from the front door. Notch turned to look along with them, expecting to see the absent members of the family coming through the door.
Instead, a pair of gray eyes peered around the door, framed by dark hair.
Notch went stiff, as did Alex, while Steve shot to his feet.
Efe gasped, and whispered loudly, "Oh, it's that guy-" before Makena hushed her. Neo did nothing for a few moments, narrowed eyes studying the occupants of the room, before his lips parted.
"I… smelled food." He mumbled, voice clear and audible in the silence. "An' I don't have any." His gaze slowly lifted to meet Notch's eyes. "…can I come in?" Notch's brow furrowed, and he glanced at Steve and Alex. The latter had a look of warning on her face, but Steve spoke up softly.
"He can't hurt us." He glanced at Neo, then around at his young siblings. "Might as well." Notch hesitated. Not only had Theo allegedly shut down any threat that Neo might pose for good, but Notch had seen next to nothing of his errant creation in the year since he was defeated. And with himself right here, it would be foolish for Neo to attempt an attack.
"Alright." Notch nodded toward an empty seat. "Come on." Neo hesitated, then slipped through the door and shut it behind him. No sooner had he sat down than the door burst open again, Ari and Zuri nearly tripping over each other in their haste to get through.
"Sorry we're late!" Ari exclaimed. "We had a heck of a time finding glow berries-" he cut himself off at the sight of Neo.
"Thanks for waiting!" Zuri chirped, completely ignoring Neo as she bounced up to the table and took a seat. "I'm famished, so we'll put up decorations after, I guess."
"Yeah, she nearly ate the glow berries." Ari followed her over.
"I'm good with that." Without hesitation, Sunny grabbed a carrot from a platter, and the room lost its tension as his siblings scrambled for food as well. Neo seemed a bit overwhelmed by the chaos, but he got over it quickly in favor of claiming some food for himself. His manner was docile, and Notch decided readily enough that he meant no harm.
The party continued late into the night, and, when morning came, Neo didn't leave.
ㅤ
THE END
well, im emotional.
this series has been in the making for four and a half years, this book itself for almost three of those. ending it makes my heart ache, but I'm also so relieved to have it finally be finished.
Will I write more of these characters? Possibly. Maybe I'll have another idea that nags at me until I'm forced to do something with it. but this is, at least at this point, the definitive ending of the series.
Whether you've been reading since I started posting The Nether Queen or you only read this series once I'd finished it, thank you so much for getting this far. without the support of my readers, I never would have gotten here.
I hope you enjoyed,
~FFF