Author's Note: Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I've been here. To be truthful, I don't use FanFic much now. But I have a bunch of shorter Minecraft stories I've had published on AO3 for a while that I've been wanting to post here!

Most of them still center around Celina, Steve, Brine, and the main Creaturae crew, but I have a few hundred Minecraft OCs, some of which are species outside of the vanilla game or closed species by other people.

Anyways! I feel like throwing some of those stories here! If you want to learn more about any of my OCs, you can check out my Toyhouse under StellarStarCelios where I have all of them! If not, I have a good chunk of them over on my CharacterHub, StellyCelios, but not all of them!

Here's the first chapter of a little story that's four years after, "The Broken Flame! I wrote this story based on a drawing I did a few years ago for an ask on my old Tumblr ask blog.

"Hey, Celina?"

Celina, who had just been about to walk out the doors of her castle's throne room, turned on her heels as a voice called her name. She had just gotten ready for her mining trip after packing everything she would need, including her enchanted gold pickaxe. She could see Brine heading towards her from one of the other doors in a light sprint. Celina stopped her movement and smiled. "Hello, my dear Brine!" She tilted her head and closed her eyes with a big grin. "Did you need something?"

Brine clasped his hands in front of his chest. "Are you going mining?"

The queen nodded. "Yes, I am! I was planning to go by myself, but if you'd like to join me, that would be okay with me."

The Demi-God blinked in surprise. "How did you know I was going to ask if I could come with you?"

The queen put hands on her hips. "How long have I known you?"

"Four years."

"And how well do I know you?"

Brine chuckled. "Better than I know myself."

"Yep!" Celina laughed and fluttered her big eyelashes. "I know you like coming mining with me. So, I prepared for you to ask to come with me." She gestured for him to follow her. "C'mon, let's head to the mines."

Brine smiled again. "Let's do it!"

"So, where exactly were you planning to mine, Celina," Brine asked as the minecart he was in rolled down an incline, following the cart Celina sat in.

Celina turned to look at her best friend. "Well… you know the western tunnel on the diamond level?"

"Yes."

"I was planning to branch off of there and look for some caves or ravines if we can find some other tunnels." She turned to look back ahead, seeing their destination coming up. The carts slowed to a stop at the end of the rails, screeching a tiny bit as they halted. Celina hopped from her cart, holding a hand out and helping Brine out of his cart.

The Nether Prince pulled a diamond pickaxe from his inventory, some redstone in his other hand. He saw Celina pull out her torches and pick. "So, should we just head down the tunnel and make our way to its end?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," the queen replied. She turned towards the west tunnel and began her walk, her Demi-God of a best friend following close behind.

The sounds of humanoid steps against stone echoed through the cavern as the two made their way through the tunnel, the light of torches set by the queen and her citizens glowing softly. There were no mobs, no danger here, only the peace of the low lights.

Brine followed his friend closely as the two made their way down the tunnels and around corners and bends in the stone.

The two reached the end of the tunnel and chose a direction, getting their picks ready and beginning to mine side by side. As they did so, Brine would turn and place some Redstone behind him. When Celina noticed this, she asked why.

"Just in case we get lost," he responded. "If we can't find our way back just by the torches, we just have to follow the Redstone trail."

Celina nodded. "That makes sense. Good idea! I never thought of that." She smiled and saw Brine turn back to the stone in front of them, continuing their mining. The sounds of diamond and gold against stone echoed through the mines, the tap, tap, tap sounds and the little pop of the blocks breaking were familiar to most miners, and it was going rather quickly with Celina and Brine mining together.

It wasn't more than ten minutes that Celina mined forward and felt her pick go through air after that block. She then mined to block a little lower, Brine doing the same, the two letting tiny gasps escape their lips. "Brine," Celina spoke. "Did we find a cave?"

"I believe we did, my queen," Brine answered back. "Looks like we've got some exploring to do."

The two stepped forward and into the cave, seeing waterfalls coming from high above them, lava lighting some of the corners, and a few ores of coal and gold showing from the stone.

Celina's eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement and she began to wiggle a bit. Brine chuckled at her movement and asked, "Ready to mine, my friend?"

"Yes!" She pulled her pick back out and smiled widely. "Okay, so, there's two ways we can go: left and right. How about you take the left path, and I'll take the right?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll leave my redstone trail to find my way back here." Brine looked down to the left part of the cave. "Are you going to use your torches?"

"Yep! Okay, I'll see you in a bit, Brine," she said, patting the Lord of the Mobs on his shoulder. They both nodded, then split, making their ways down their paths.

Brine huffed a bit as he mined another block of stone, seeing the redstone within it. He hit it one more time and the block broke open, dust scattering about before popping into his inventory. He smiled, before that smile fell.

There was a tiny pain in the Demi-God's chest. One that he couldn't quite describe except as a tiny annoyance. It was a small stinging pain, but Brine didn't think much of it. He had probably just exerted himself a little too much with all that mining. That, and making sure the mobs down in this cave didn't bother him. Considering he no longer ruled the monsters, they would waste no chance in trying to harm him should the opportunity present itself.

Sighing softly and shaking off the pain, Brine popped his pickaxe back into his inventory and checked to see what he had found. Lots of redstone and iron, plenty of gold and coal, and some lapis and about ten diamonds. "A worthy haul for the kingdom," he thought aloud. "We can always take the redstone and make it into new contraptions for the gates… or for decoration purposes." He chuckled a bit. "Either way, we'll have plenty." With that, Brine began to make his way back towards the entrance of the tunnel, his steps quiet and his breathing picking up a bit.

As he walked, Brine noticed the pain in his chest becoming slightly stronger. It was actually beginning to bother him and he put a hand on his chest. Walking after all that mining must have really taken a toll on him, because the stinging wasn't going away. "Hmmm… maybe I just fought too hard in that last little zombie fight," Brine muttered. "There were lots of them." After a moment, he shrugged it off, trying to keep himself from giving into the annoyance. He had to make his way back to his queen.

Brine concentrated his energy for a moment, trying to send a mental message to Celina that he was heading back towards the tunnel entrance. Hopefully she was already on her way. Going down the tunnel, Brine noticed how much redstone he had used in his trail making. It's not like Brine couldn't find his way back himself, it was more along the lines of being able to help Celina find him should he get into trouble.

The ache in his chest was getting worse, and by the time he reached the tunnel's end, Brine was lightly panting from it. He was doing his best to keep his composure, he really didn't want to worry Celina when she saw him.

He waited for a few moments, until the light sounds of small footfalls came from the other tunnel. His head raised and he saw Celina coming down a few of the higher stone terraces. She had the biggest grin on her face and it warmed Brine's heart. "Hello, Celina. What did you find?"

Celina seemed to be wiggling in excitement. She pulled a diamond block from her inventory, showing Brine, as well as a few gold blocks. "I found a ton of gold and some diamonds! I was hoping to get some emeralds, but this is a pretty good haul. What did you…" Celina's smile began to fall as she looked at the face of her friend. "Brine… are you okay, dear?"

Brine frowned. "I'm fine, Celina… why do you ask?"

"Brine, you're sweating, and I can hear your heartbeat getting a little faster. And your breathing is quickening, too." She gently placed a hand against his cheek, seeing him leaning into her touch. "Did you get injured down there? What happened?"

Brine lightly pushed away her hand, despite how comforting her cool touch was to his now heated skin. He didn't know why he felt such a fever heat all of a sudden. It was very uncomfortable but he didn't want to worry his friend. "I'm… I'm fine, Celina. I think I just… overexerted myself. I did fight off quite a few mobs who were foolish enough to try and attack me." He tried to smile, but it fell as quickly as it came. "I'm fine."

Celina pursed her lips and furrowed her brows. "Are you sure, Brine? If I need to carry you back, or get a minecart and pull you, I can-"

Brine held up a hand. "I'm fine, Celina. I swear."

Celina opened her mouth to speak, holding up a hand. However, it fell and her mouth closed. There was something Brine wasn't telling her. Something was very wrong, but she didn't know what. Maybe he was getting sick? It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, considering she had seen this Demi-God get human illnesses before. However, she also knew how stubborn her friend was. She sighed softly. "If you say so, Brine. But if you need anything, anything at all, please tell me."

Brine nodded softly.

Celina tried to put on a small smile. "Alright. We should probably head back to the surface now. I checked my clock and it'll be sunset in a couple of hours. We've been down here a while. I also want to check on a few things before we head back to the castle, just a few things in the town square." She looked at Brine as he nodded, then let out a little cough. "Brine?"

"I'm okay, Celina," he muttered, trying again not to let out any more coughs. It was getting increasingly difficult, however, with the pain in his chest and now his throat growing. He closed his eyes for a second, drawing in a few breaths of cool air to try and soothe the ache.

When Brine managed to compose himself, he gestured for Celina to head down the tunnel the two had made. She hesitated for a second. Brine was starting to get pale now and he was sweating quite a bit. She really wanted to stop and try and figure out what was wrong with the Nether Prince, but she knew how stubborn and prideful he could be. He wasn't going to tell her if something was wrong easily. Maybe once they got to the castle, the queen could convince him to lay down and let her help him.

Celina finally let out a nod and began to walk, following the trail out of the naturally made tunnels and into the ones she and Brine had dug out. The being was able to match her pace at first, albeit with his breathing being a little more audible than it should have been. It was only a few minutes in that Brine's condition began to worsen, and Celina took notice.

The two walked quietly as Brine began to slow his pace, his walk becoming sluggish. His chest hurt so badly, it felt like lava was running through his heart and lungs. He put a hand over his chest and clutched onto his shirt, wincing softly. His breaths were coming out in little wheezes now, and Celina seemed to be able to hear this.

Celina turned on her heels to see Brine and her eyes went wide. He was wheezing now, his face pale and his body trembling. She knew something was wrong. "Brine?" She moved to stand next to him. "Brine, Brine, what's wrong, dear? Can you hear me?"

Brine tried to answer her, only for a series of violent coughs to escape his lips. His body went from trembling to violent quivering as he managed to stop, his breathing loud. His chest hurt, like flames dancing wildly in his ribcage. It hurt. It hurt so badly.

The Nether Prince managed to let out a groan of pain as the queen wrapped an arm around his shoulder, the other hand placed on his forehead. She immediately pulled it back. "Brine, you're burning up!" she exclaimed. "We need to get you to the surface-"

Brine grunted. "I'm-I'm… fine…" he strained out between coughs. He tried to move forward and that was when he fell onto one knee, hands clutching onto his shirt, eyes squeezed shut. He was struggling to breathe and when he opened his eyes, everything was blurring in and out. He could barely make out the torches along the walls.

Brine was now groaning and crying out as he fell and Celina gasped and rushed to his side in an instant. "Brine!" she shouted. She kneeled at his side and put a hand on his shoulder. "Brine, oh no, what's wrong?! Brine, can you hear me?!"

Brine could hear her but he couldn't speak, he was coughing and crying out with tears beginning to form in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. He let out a loud whine of pain as he shook violently. He could hardly breath, hardly see. What was going on? Brine was scared, terrified of what was happening. Was he dying?

Celina kneeled by Brine and held tightly to him, hoping that if she held on, he wouldn't pass out. However, those hopes were dashed into the stone when his eyes closed and didn't open back up. The queen gasped. She could still hear his heart beating, but he didn't respond when she gave him a good shake. His breathing was so heavy and rough. She quickly scooped Brine up bridal style, sprinting with her friends back towards the minecarts. She needed to get him help now.